#it's the original zelda. fuck you that's an rpg

[mitzirockerextendeduniverse]

[Hi! For... god, years now, I've had this massive Spreadsheet (yes, it requires a capital letter) of retro JRPGs I've wanted to (1) play my way through and (2) blog about. (1) was fairly easy after I stopped trying to play on original hardware, but I found it surprisingly hard to do (2) without it devouring all my free time. So instead of a dedicated blog, I'm just gonna do these short summary posts here whenever I beat a game. There's two in the backlog right now, starting with...]

What it is: The Tower of Druaga (ドルアーガの塔 Druaga no Tō) for Famicom, released on the 6th of August, 1985, developed and published by Namco. Based on the arcade game of the same name from June 1984, also published by Namco and chiefly designed by Masanobu Endō, creator of early scrolling shmup Xevious, it's the first game in - the Spreadsheet as a whole, yes, but also the Babylonian Castle Saga, a collection of (for the most part) vaguely RPG-like action games that tell the story of a prince named Gil, his lover, the priestess Ki, and their quest to restore peace to their loosely-Babylonian fantasy world.

What it's about:

I think the attract screen puts it pretty well! There's some more wrinkles to the backstory, which I mostly got from a strategy guide released at the time - an invading empire, the goddess Ishtar, the precise mechanics behind why, exactly, this is our heroes' last chance to save their kingdom - quite a lot for a mid-80s arcade game. It's pretty thin by RPG standards, but as a setup, it works, and I found it surprisingly engrossing.

How it plays: How do you make an RPG work in the arcade? Apparently, you turn it into a Pac-Man clone. Okay, that's a little flippant; Druaga may be a maze chase game, but there's a lot more going on in it than in most arcade games of its day. On the surface, it's a game about running around mazes, killing monsters, and grabbing keys to get to the next floor, until you defeat Druaga and rescue Ki on the top of the tower. All you have to do is fight your way to the sixtieth floor, right?

In any other arcade game of its era, maybe, but not here. Almost every floor of the tower also contains a hidden treasure that can only be revealed by performing a specific action unique to that floor. The higher Gil gets up the tower, the more he'll need them, from books to reveal the layout of darkened floors to a series of items that turn the increasingly common dragons from the most dangerous enemies in the game to an easily ignored afterthought. Pretty much every useful item in the game (there's several duds and a few traps) is needed to defeat Druaga, so knowing where they are and how to reveal them is absolutely key to beating the game.

The catch - because of course there's a catch - is that neither the treasures' locations nor their revealing methods are signposted at all. Every single one has to be trial-and-error brute-forced out, and they can get pretty arcane - entering a fairly long cheat code, defeating several enemies in a specific order, walking over a particular tile in a particular direction... The intent was for arcade-goers to 'solve' the game together, figuring out all its secrets over the course of weeks or months, but when you don't have a friendly mid-80s Japanese arcade crowd to help you out all you're left with is a mountain of guesswork. Or a walkthrough, which has been a standard bonus feature on its Namco Museum rereleases since the mid-90s.

What I thought: I had a lot of fun with this game! Admittedly I was using a walkthrough (in Japanese, because part of the purpose of the Spreadsheet is to practice my language skills) to bypass about half of the Intended Experience™, but the other half, the straightforward arcade action Pac-Man-with-a-sword gameplay loop, was engaging enough in its own right. Gil controls really well, you never feel like you're fighting the programming instead of the monsters, you can always tell why you died even if the game took a cheap shot, and its insanely generous continue system lets you jump right back to the level you were on with all your items intact when you run out of lives. It's still tough, but it's tough in a fair way, breaking up its fast-paced action into discrete digestible chunks with a chance to breathe between every floor. And frankly, though it is 1980s quarter-muncher hard, I've played indie puzzle platformers that were much worse.

And I do think it succeeds at distilling the RPG into an arcade format, though the result is only an RPG by the loosest possible definition. Despite the lack of numbers and exploration (well, in a sense) there's a distinct feeling of progression to Gil's journey up the tower, a kind of character growth uncommon to - basically any genre outside the RPG in 1984. As Gil collects treasures, he grows faster, stronger, better at navigating the labyrinths, to the point that, despite the increasingly tougher challenges the game throws at you, it almost gets easier the further along you get. With the continue system I mentioned, you can even jump back to floors you've already cleared (mostly to replace a particular item that occasionally breaks) and breeze through the monsters that once gave you so much trouble. It's this kind of thoughtful design that makes me really appreciate Druaga, more than I honestly expected to when I first booted it up. Give it a try, it's pretty good!

[moxpunk]

Moxie's Big-Ass Retrospective on Games She Played This Year

There's going to be a lot of games under the break, and I'm going full-hog on spoilers. Honestly, I'm going stream-of-consciousness with these, so there's not going to be a clear point made for some of them. Just how I remember them and how I feel now looking back.

Final Fantasy XIV This is my current MMO of choice, and it's been this massive part of how I spent my time this year. The patches and content continue to be great, even if I breeze through it all in a few days after the patch when plugins/mods are back up. I've definitely noticed a dip in my interest lately. I think it's because we've hit a good stopping-point for the plot and junk, so most of us are just waiting until the pre-patch of the new expansion next year. RP continues to get fucking worse and worse for someone that plays a lalafell, since the community at-large (especially the modding community) is actively hostile towards lalafells and their players. Having to check every single venue to see if my middle-aged potato is going to be treated like a child by the hosts gets exhausting after the umpteenth time. Still love the game and I poke at it on a regular basis.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom One of my favorite games I've played this year, but also one of the most frustrating in hindsight. There was a ton of lost opportunity in multiple aspects in this game, and it's sorta the thing I keep coming back to in my head. I loved the exploration and fucking around with physics and just getting to play around in Hyrule. It's a magical experience that I think transcends the fact that 2/3rds of the map is essentially re-used. The Underground was a missed opportunity to shove lore of ancient civilizations in there, Ganondorf was a missed opportunity to finally depict him as a tragic hero with Hyrule being the villains for once, and no plans for DLC or even a Hero Mode is a massive miss for me wanting to return to the world.

Baldur's Gate 3 Hands-down my favorite game of the year by a massive margin, but like TOTK, an immensely frustrating experience. The game is half-cooked in so many areas, and the bugs are plentiful to the extent that they can't really be ignored. The pathing system continues to be the Larian Special of being jank as all hell, with my characters running in the opposite direction of the path it lays out for them. I played this one on stream, and I cannot remember a single stream where I didn't have at least a handful of frustrations with the combat system. Hell, I had to completely restart my file in the middle of Act 2 because Karlach's romance bugged out. I continue to be very upset and frustrated at how goblins are treated, doubly so since in order to pursue the Good Route with Halsin, you have to attack fucking children. I don't care if they're goblins, they're kids. Also very disappointing we don't get a single short-race origin character, meanwhile half of the cast is some form of elf. At least it's nice letting me be full-on cock-out trans. Despite that, the writing and characterizations in this game are unparalleled. It's immensely refreshing to finally have a RPG where you fucking roleplay, after years of it being dialogue that doesn't matter in the slightest other than "points towards the good/evil ending". I love the Brain Slug Squad immensely. This game is probably going to become part of my "play this every year" list because there's just so many different ways to play through this game.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Been waiting for this game (or a game like it) for fuckin' years, and it's everything I wanted and expected. I know a lot of people went into the game expecting some massive thing that lasted hours and hours, but my memories of JSR/JSRF was a game that I could reasonably beat in an afternoon or two because I just get into the flow and know what I'm doing. Cyberfunk is the purest successor to JSF that I can thing of where it just adds to the fun formula of the past. Incredible game, love seeing the mods coming out for it, hope we get another game in the universe since Team Reptile said they aren't doing DLC.

Pizza Tower Love this game, adore the movement and the music, absolutely fell off at about the halfway mark. I think it's because a lot of stuff was coming out at the time, and I just kinda played those instead. One of these days, I'll beat it and be very satisfied, but for now my gremlin-brain that demands collecting every single collectable and getting at least an A-rank on every stage gets exhausted just thinking about it.

Elden Ring Opened the game up after upgrading to a new PC, marveled that I could run it on Ultra with the game keeping a smooth framerate, killed a few enemies, remembered about the fucking giant ants in this game and how there are zero mods to remove/change them, and then turned the game off and uninstalled. Begging someone to make a mod that gets rid of the fucking ants. Please. I've already gotten every trophy in the game last year, so any incentive I have to return is predicated on that.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty So, I'm going to give my thoughts about the base game and the DLC, since I played both. The base game continues to be this utter fascination to me where my brain adores just existing in the cyberhell future of nonstop advertising (if I have to hear YO YO YO MY CHEWERS SHROOMERS AND FUMERS! one more time I'm going to fucking strangle someone to death) and ultraviolence. The game continues to ride that weird line of "might as well do every side-quest because they're quick enough to get to and there's hardly any compared to Witcher 3" and "oh my god I do not care about these fucking sidequests other than I have gremlin-brain". Doing anything with sniper rifles or heavy machine guns is an exercise in frustration thanks to there being zero silenced sniper rifle until late-game and there being no unique HMGs.The DLC is... fine. It's fun antagonizing Idris Alba, it's not fun that the DLC is based around a stealth build, it's extremely not fun that the changed ending is deeply unsatisfying from a narrative standpoint.

Pseudoregalia An adorable little game that I enjoyed quite a bit for the very short time I got to fool around with it. Love the movement, love the style of the graphics, love the little pieces of story. Game doesn't get enough love, so here's me giving it some more.

Potionomics I fucking adore this game. I think what helped endear me was getting to do all the voices on-stream, but who cares this is my retrospective and I get to be biased. Loved the romances and characters in there. I absolutely headcanon Xid as being trans, Roxanne turns me into a babbling idiot, and I relate to Luna so hard it almost hurts. I enjoy that characters remain your friend if you already picked a partner, and you have to have a conversation about "hey, you were kinda flirty for a while and I feel a little weird about that now" for each of them. Breaking the economy by the third competition was immensely satisfying.

Paradise Killer I slammed through this game over the course of a single sleepless night thanks to Super Depression. Love the character designs and how bold they are, love the lore behind the world, got kinda sick of it taking so long to travel from place to place, gremlin-brain refused to let me part with the game until I collected everything. Hope to see a prequel/sequel of some sort, because Lady Love Dies is such an interesting character and I liked the bugfuck-weird world.

Peglin It's Peggle, you're a goblin, you get funky ball powerups, adore playing this game on my phone in short bursts. Not much more to say, it's my potato-chip game.

Rimworld Friend gifted this to me and I got horribly obsessed for like a week. It's a lot easier to grok than Dwarf Fortress thanks to the UI and information being easier to comprehend. I never know how to do the crazy shit in these games, I usually peak at having a little self-sustaining settlement with like 4 characters that live their little lives until a plague or bandit raid sweep through and kill everyone.

Halo: Master Chief Collection Another series of games I got obsessed with and pounded out before dropping it. Halo 1 is like twice as long as I remember, Halo 2's remastered cutscenes are fucking gorgeous and it continues to be my favorite out of the series, Halo 3 I'm lukewarm on it's whatever, Halo Reach is... eh I don't care, ODST I petered out of thanks to playing it with an ex that does not understand videogames, Halo 4 is a slog. Didn't do any multiplayer.

Helltaker Finally played it, beat it in like 2 hours, thought the puzzles were fun and the art continues to rattle around in my noggin.

A Hat In Time Another game that I finally beat after owning it for like the better part of a decade. Cute little game, I don't have a clue what any of the updates and junk do these days. The big mountain level is a fucking nightmare to navigate and explore and that's why I fell off last time.

Puzzle Agent Played this one on-stream because I'm Minnesotan as all fuck and I enjoy Professor Layton puzzles. It's just as good as I remember, even if it's incredibly short.

Kingsway Love the premise, adore that it takes me back to the Windows XP era of using my parents' computer. I had like one good run that died in the middle of things, and I never really went back. I should do this game again at some point.

Loop Hero Another procedural game where progress is usually bottlenecked by gathering base resources in each run so you have a fighting chance. All my runs sorta ended up the same by a certain point and I wasn't really having much fun anymore.

Lethal Company Game scares the absolute shit out of me, I cannot play this game for extended periods because I get heartburn from fear. Excellent experience with friends.

Super Mario RPG I didn't have a SNES growing up, so I never got a chance to play the original. So far, I've been greatly enjoying the remake! I don't have much to say because I've only played like four hours of it on stream.

Katamari Reroll Just beat this game again on stream last week. Extremely fun, extremely short, Lonely Rolling Star continues to make me get emotional and cry, my memories get mixed-up with We ♥️ Katamari when it comes to the final sequence of levels.

World of Warcraft I made the return, and holy shit have things changed in-game. The UI actually looks like it's part of a cohesive artstyle, catching up with the story and questlines after bouncing in the middle of Shadowlands is honestly kind of exhausting, and the RP community is still splintered and fractured between Retail and Epsilon. Controller-support has been my biggest gripe since XIV's is fucking stellar and I do not have the wrists/hands for putting my abilities on the keyboard anymore, I either have to use my janked-out mouse buttons or a controller using ConsolePort which is... serviceable but nowhere near good. Uh, I don't particularly care for the dragon-stuff in WoW's lore, and I still haven't done a single dungeon since I play Brewmaster and I'm so out of whack with WoW tanking that I just don't bother. I'm usually doing RP on my endless ranks of characters if I'm not playing with my girlfriend. Season of Discovery has been a fun thing to do with my friend and our guild, it's sorta what I wanted out of Classic when they announced it. The "No Changes" thing was stupid because we'll never get back the lack of information and endless time we had back then, so I'm very happy to have World Of Warcraft Chopped And Screwed Edition. As much as I still have massive, major gripes with Blizzard and ABK in general... Azeroth is still home for me. It's been important to me as a person. Wouldn't have realized I was trans or poly without it.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT My thinks and feelings on all the games I played this year in 2023. I guess to sum up the year in general? It's been a real shit year for me. Went through like three big breakups, my art output's been dogshit in quantity thanks to mental-health issues, and for the first half of the year people just sorta generally treated me poorly which exaserbated a lot of problems. I'm recovering, but I've noticed it's been a lot slower than it has been in the past. Games are a huge hobby of mine, so I'm glad I've gotten to play some bangers this year. Being more active on Tumblr's been good for my mental health, since I finally feel like I've got a community again after not really feeling like I've had one in forever. Love you guys, stay weird. 💖💖💖

Sorry not sorry for this being so long.

[a-drama-addict]

🎲🎮 🥪🎒 for Chloe, Chronos, Dari and Sigrid? c:

Thanks for the ask laya!! :] RAMBLE TIME WEEEE [Ask game]

🎲 If your OC played a pen and paper RPG, what class would they pick? Warrior, mage, thief, ranger, cleric, paladin, druid, necromancer, bard (or other, if that’s not enough)

Chloe: Ohhh she would pick thief no question about it. She would see the opportunity for the most ‘little-shit class to pair with a little-shit backstory’ and THRIVE

Chronos: Chronos would probably pick mage (it’s the only thing he knows) or necromancer! He already finds it fascinating enough in DAI itself but in an RPG? He’d love all the lore so much

Da’revas: Druid!!! He loves nature!!!! He wants to turn into a silly creature!!!!!!

Sigrid: Oh she’d also pick necromancer no doubt. Her special interest unfortunately is death and everything around it- BUT she would also love to pick something like Monk or Druid. Those classes radiate such peacefulness to her that she would really yearn for even if only in a pen and paper RPG

🎮 If your OC lives or would live in the modern world, would they like video games? What would be their favorite game?

Chloe: No they’d give her headaches <3 staring at a screen too long would give her headaches (<- woman who refuses to get glasses and then sits way too close to her screen)

Chronos: Yes but only farming sims. He would fuck with Stardew Valley so hard it wouldn’t even be funny anymore

Da’revas: He would not like video games to be honest, he’s a board game fella you know, he can’t be video-gaming, he’s frolicking in the grass

Sigrid: She’d love old video games, like from the 80s-90s, like: The Legend of Zelda 1986, the original Fallout games, Prince of Persia, Street Fighter II and Super Mario 64. She loves old shit

🥪 On a scale from ‘burns water’ to ‘5 course menu’ how well can your OC cook?

Chloe: She knows how to cook, but not spectacularly or anything like that. It would be edible, and some things she can definitely make well- but most things are like “This is okay”. Once Bela moves in semi-permanently into Hawke’s estate they cook together, which makes Chloe think she’s a master chef “LOOK at me cooking for my GIRLFRIEND”

Chronos: He’d be a good cook definitely, he learnt baking from his dad when he was a kid and cooking from both his moms. He definitely enjoys it too- whenever he gets the chance he helps around in Skyhold’s kitchen

Da’revas: Noooopeeee. He can’t cook. He’s good at GETTING food (i.e. hunting), he knows which stalls in the market have the best foods for the best price- DONT ask him to cook it he will BURN everything

Sigrid: Can’t really cook too bad but not well either? She’s never been taught, she didn’t live with her adoptive family (before bhaal) long enough to learn. And when she was in the temple of bhaal she didn’t really… cook much (Because of the cannibalism). When she’s out on the road with the others Gale and Will try to teach her how to cook- so now she’s certified “Okay at cooking”

🎒 If your OC had to pick three things of all their belongings to keep, which would they chose?

Chloe: Oh EASY. Her favourite (not blood magic related) knife, her mabari and her journal <3

Chronos: NOT easy. I think he’d keep his hair brush, the compass he got from his parents and gloves he and Iron Bull made together once (for combat reasons only. No gay reasons at all.)

Da’revas: Necklace he got from Merrill and Tamlen, the ring Morri got him aaaaand because he’s a sap a drawing Kieran had made once (one of those ‘my family’ drawings most kids make at five years old)

Sigrid: Ohhh tough one too actually. I think Sig would keep her weapons (practical), a locket with a strand of Karlach’s hair in it (she’s also a sap) and probably the owlbear cub (that’s her emotional support creature)

[terriedirewolf]

Wasteland 3 was on sale a little while back and I've been wanting to play that since I saw it existed. Most people don't know this game series existed. Those who do, know it from fallout, and probably never touched the games before. Those who know it from fallout know it from old fallout. Back when they was 2d and played like a point and click that threw the simple item puzzles into the sun and decided to dungeon master a dnd game but with guns and robots. Plus, the original game is archaic and has graphics that more resemble a board game than a video game, and the second game came out like 20 years later. I mean I'm all over ancient and archaic games, and I only have managed to ever scrape my way through half of that thing. I even used a guide. I beat zelda nes without pulling a guide out until that teleport maze in the final dungeon.

So anyway, wasteland 3 is now my favorite rpg, and I've been reevaluating a few of my projects because of it. I have a number of games that can be loosely crammed into the definitions of RPG. And I missed something crutial with my party based one: specialization. Now I missed wasteland 2, but my previous favorite rpg was fallout 1. And that game only let you directly control and stat manage one character. You could get companions, but they didn't factor into things the same way. Wasteland, having always been a game where you control a team of post nuclear idealists with government issued integrity, does not let you make a god teir character like in fallout. The third game makes you make a team. This team can and will be more effective than any single player rpg protagonist for a number of reasons, and it is very hard to fuck it up. I love the shit out of how well they get this across. Like, I could go into depth about how wasteland 3's opening bit is one of the best tutorials ever crafted. Rides a real nice balence of understanding what players might expect going into that, making them rethink their approach, and showing off just how fun and rewarding that all can be. Sort of un-hack-and-slashing the rpg system, while also making sure to be as brutal and rediculous as possible.

Funny thing is, I already kind of understood the importance of this kind of specialization when designing concepts for a real-time tactical third person shooter. Trying to lean into the mmo tank, healer, hitter trio that seems so inexcapable. Healers and tanks are tricky, if possible to do in wasteland 3 though, and that's what I think is really facinating. As far as I can tell, you can't do that without fundementally changing how these kinds of games function, but this does it pretty well, at least early on, and I'm trying to work out exactly how? Healers are somewhat negated by the fact that it's hard to play that kind of support role. Meaning every character that would be put in risky situations frequently, has to be capable of healing themselves. Tanks are less viable cause the combat relies a lot on cover and damage mitigation by default, meaning everyone again, kind of has to do all of that themselves. I think what's going on is what happens outside of combat.

Wasteland stats are funny, cause they were a fucking mess in the 80s game. You had to roll the damn characters, then tag a number of skills. And it was not clear what all of them did. And half of them might not actually do anything. Fallout used a similar system, with atributes and skills, but in a much more coherent way. The details of the SPECIAL system has been praised before, just know it used to be significantly more in depth than the nonsense in fallout 3 and onwards. Wasteland 3, and from what I can tell, 2 as well, uses a similar system, this time spelling CLASSIC cause tradition at this point. Comes complete with perks and backgrounds to further customize your rangers with little tweeks like doing more damage in exchange for getting hit for more damage, or getting more action points when you kill an enemy. The long winded point I was getting to is that the vast majority of skills are not combat skills, but exploration skills. Arguably, the only reason combat skills are seperated out so much is to keep everyone using different ammo pools. If you want a good balenced squad, you want one, maybe two combat skills per char, and the rest going into stuff like the speech and trading skills, repair and computers. Maybe some weapons experts or power armor mechanics. Cause these let you avoid fights. Or at least help getting better gear and the jump on things you have to fight.

Game isn't perfect, but it's by far one of the best designed crpg's I've ever touched, and very fun in a lot of ways. Almost makes me actually enjoy math. That's hard to do. I only math when I need to, and it takes all the energy my two brain cells can squeeze out.

And like, drawings here later maybe. I keep not drawing as much as I want to. There's a ton of cool stuff I'd like to show off, but I didn't get around to sketching the mf's out yet. Hopefully I get around to doing that and whoever's here can look at more than my badly structured ramblings.

[dicecast]

Okay, serious question professional critics have been and will be debating for decades to come, but I'm sure you know better than them: Are games art? This is not question of quality-most art in all forms sucks-the argument how we define art and its purpose, function. Some argue games themselves aren't, but may contain art within them. That in a narrative driven game, the story may be art, but that's seperate from the game itself. Would a puzzle count as art? Would Solitaire? A slot machine?

I keep trying to answer this question and then I keep putting it off cause I want to get it perfect and then it inevitably gets lost and I never respond so lets just go for it. Yes, Videos games are art, if we can identify any medium as art. The only arguments I can see that would deny video games as an art form would also dismiss Film as an art form. Now there are many differnet ways that a Video Game can be art, its a very multi facaded medium, but a few include

Story, the obvious one. Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, the Baldur's Gate Series, Fallout New Vegas, the Witcher Series, Dragon Age, I have no Mouth and I must Scream, Legacy of Kaine, Undertale, God of War, are all good examples of this. (I like RPGS)

Mixing Mechanics and Story- Portal, Silent Hill 2, Bioshock, Deux Ex, Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2, Walking Dead, all of these are examples of narrative and story being mered on a fundemental level. The Soulsbourn Games by fromsoft do a really good job of illustrating some very buddhist themes in there mechanics.

Pushing the medium forward. Resident Evil 4 is a fucking stupid game but its incredible genre invovations and the fact its fun as fuck pushed the entire medium forward. Same with Dead Space, Half Life (which is also you now..good), Monkey Island,

Mechanics as a way of viewing systems, or to have a vibe. Mechanics can be used to make you understand the world different from a system level, Paper's Please is a great example of this, a lot of Civlization Games or TTRPGS do this, Far Cry tries to do this. Resident Evil 2 Remake really does capture a sort of panic which is very impressive, Princeo of Persia, the original Thief Games, Sympathy of the Night

Video games as expression. This Dragon Cancer, No More Heroes, Braid, Even Postal, an uttelry vile game does express a certain Alt Right attitude (fuck garbage)

Video games as system design, just the brilliance of seeing a bunch of systems override together.

Mood Pieces. The Zelda games are masters of this, but also Shadow of the Collosius,

Purely mechanical Design. Doom is a great example of this, but Missile Command, even tetris has a lot of soviet aethetics in there

I think a puzzle counts as art, or has the potential to count as art, if it can change the way your mind thinks. A good puzzle doesn't just have you solve it, your brain twists around in order to change the way you view things. Like Braid requires you to like...unstuck your brain to understand the puzzles, its incredible

SO yes, games are art....but not all games are good art

[rye-in-a-coat]

Hiii Rye, how does your tagging system work? I'm guessing it has something to do with Toki Pona but I'm curious

That's a great question, let's go through some of the tags I use in this blog.

Also. This will be a bit long.

GENERAL TAGS

The most well known and used is ofc, #ryeblog ,which is given to any post I reblog. It comes from "rye" and "reblog". Another interesting fact is that when I reblog many posts in a short time, I call it a "ryeblitz" (ryeblog + blitz [German for lightning).

For original text-based posts of mine, the tag is #handful of grains, which comes from the fact that I am Rye; but also because originally there was a tag called #sack of grain that never got used and was intended for large text-based original posts.

Images and videos get #pics and flicks, except if these are art. If the art was posted by the artist it gets #art of them and if it's someone else's art it gets #art of those.

#letters to rye will be the tag used in this post, as it is for the asks I answer.

#poll #tag game #ask game #quiz Self explanatory.

Prev tags get marked with #Previously on Tags: and then I mark my answer to those with a #My reaction to that information:

MEDIA TAGS

Quite self explanatory, if I'm reblogging some cute art from blorbo from my shows, tags would look like

#ryeblog #art of them #my shows

Must be understood that this system isn't 100% reliable. If I don't have a tag for a media because I have no knowledge of it or even interest; it won't get a tagged or have a tag.

Imagine this, a fanart featuring characters from the shows A, B, C and D. I only have tags for B and C. Only appliable media tags are #B and #C.

This is why you can find stuff like few Chainsaw Man fanart in my blog, but a tag for Chainsaw Man doesn't actually exist. When I reblog Out of Touch Thursday, I don't do it with a tag for the Lucky Star anime. Characters don't have tags in my system.

I can't give a full list of all of them, but here's the top 45 as of now:

#moomin

#deltarune

#sparklecare

#toh (The Owl House)

#sonic the hedgehog

#dhmis (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared)

#su (Steven Universe)

#tf2 (Team Fortress 2)

#pokemon

#lwa (Little Witch Academia)

#hatsune miku [Ok. It's ironic that this is a character. There's no tag for Vocaloid btw. Cuz of my lack of knowledge on the matter.]

#mlp

#minecraft

#fnaf (Five Nights at Freddy)

#undertale

#bluey

#danganronpa

#homestuck

#breaking bad

#cunk on earth [It applies to other media with Philomena Cunk like "Cunk on Britain"]

#neil cicierega [Technically a person. Applies to all his work. Forgot to mention, artists and bands also fit in this category.]

#tove jansson [Again. A person. This tag exists to not tag her with #moomin in non-Moomin issues.]

#talking heads [Again, a band.]

#jerma985 [A person.]

#spiderman

#undertale 2 [Yep. That's a game. A parody fan-game RPG of Undertale. This tag isn't for Deltarune. I found many people tagging Deltarune as Undertale 2.]

#animal crossing

#hetalia

#loz (Legend of Zelda)

#adventure time

#epithet erased

#lemon demon [Again, an artist; also not everything Neil Cicierega does is for Lemon Demon. This is why this tag is also a thing.]

#omori

#mcyt (Minecraft YouTuber)

#tally hall [A band.]

#barbie

#doctor who

#ghibli

#tetris

#touhou

#ytp

#ella minnow pea

#ena

#they might be giants [A band.]

#alexkansas [Applies to all his work. Currently MISTERMANTICORE]

NOT THAT SPECIFIC TAGS. THEY ARE THE SAME LEVEL AS THESE

#the past for the stuff about the past. The limit of how old has to be the thing to be tagged with this is 20 years.

#language is for everything linguistics, scripts, phonetics, anything of that matter and related. This tag isn't for swear swords, those bitches don't fucking get tagged.

#chemistry #geology #toki pona [An artistic constructed language by Sonja Lang] #handwriting #cursive #flags [Because vexillology was too long and I never knew if I was writing it right] #maps #biology #philately [#stamps is out of use] #reaction image ,etc.

MEET THE SPECIFICS

These tags exists because I have decided to.

TAGS THAT USE TOKI PONA WORDS

#pilin This Toki Pona word describes many concepts, like feelings, emotions, the heart in its both physical and emotional form. However, in this blog, this tag shall only be used for the heart (organ or not) and heart shapes and heart-shaped things.

#kili This word describes fruits and vegetables, all the edible parts of a plant. I also use this tag for stuff made with kili, like French fries, jam and jelly or milkshakes.

#mun This word doesn't just describe the Moon but also all night-sky objects and space objects. This tag replaced the now abandoned #astronomy as stuff like a blanket with sun and moon motifs or the fanart of a furry on the Moon aren't quite related with the science of space.

#kala This word describes fish and all the aquatic animals. Axolotls, whales, jellyfish and crabs may not be fish, but they sure are kala.

#pan As a Spanish speaker you probably have realised this word is for bread. That's right, it's for grains and all grain products. Stuff that is pan but not bread: tortilla, beer, peanut butter, crackers, communion wafers, tejuino. This tag isn't for pansexuality, Tumblr just colours it like that.

#pipi The word for insects and all the little bugs and crechurs, so it includes stuff like spiders and worms.

#waso The word for birds, flying animals and winged animals.

#soko The word for fungi. This tag replaced #mycology.

#akesi The word for reptiles. This tag isn't used for "non-cute animals" as the original meaning of the word expressed and was corrected in 2021.

#kijetesantakalu The word to describe procyonids and musteloids, like ferrets, racoons and tanukis. For the non-Toki Pona speakers. The reason why this word is long and very specific is because it's an April Fools joke that just got too popular.

#in front of them sensors I wears glasses, I like characters that wear them too. So this tag is for that. It also applies to stuff like sport/lab goggles, sunglasses and other eyewear.

#the florist's For flowers. The name is as in a flower shop, just like the butcher's or the chemist's.

#city made of light For photographs of, or art depicting urban light during the night. The night scared us, so we killed it; some beautiful examples of this massacre to our health are Times Square, the Las Vegas strip or Hong Kong neon capital of the East.

#KÖT For cats! The word "köt" isn't for cat in any language btw.

#i do the squeaking For ratas and mice. Tag name based on that one post with the mousegirl house wife.

I don't tag furries for some reasons: First is, what is a furry? Are Moomins furry? Are Sonic characters furries? Furries' opinion on what is furry and what is not a large broad spectrum of thoughts. Second is so people don't block furries from me. If you don't wanna see furries, go and try and see how many tags you need to block to see none, and you will still see some cuz not everyone tags. Also, furries don't get tagged any of the animal tags.

#boyfriendposting Those posts that are like "yeah, sorry that your boyfriend..."

#fake posts Those posts that are made to look like many and have some theme.

#fauxnetics People trying to spell pronunciation using non-standarized methods like the IPA, usually just causing more confusion. Example: "How do you pronounce Chara? Car-uh, Care-uh, Chair-uh or Char-uh?"

#illinois chess Games (doesn't have to be chess, but if chess, funky non-standard chess) [usually board games] with strange setting or rules, impossible to understand. Tag named after this thing from 20020.

#present as the past from the future Meme/joke posts describing modern/contemporany history or the current world as how we speak of the past. Example: "Cowboys were a sort of itinerant warrior class common in Meiji-era Texas."

#rainbow #emoji #ethanol [Alcohol found in drinking alcoholic beverages] #radiation #tbh creature #tea #picrew #9/11 #plush #tell-o-phone [Telephones] #tell-o-vision [Televisions] #jesus #gastronintestinal issues #isobutyl propionic acid [Ibuprofen] #rain #butane [Alkane of four carbon atoms, fuel in cigarette lighters] #loss ['Loss' by Tim Buckley for Ctrl+Alt+Del] #snow #blåhaj #R-Ë-PLANE [Airplanes and similar aircraft.] #ZUG [German for trains. Anything on rails.] #mpreg [Male pregnancy] #cool S [This one.] #aspirin ,etc, probably there are more.

I hope this ask has answered your doubts. There's probably more tags out there.

Now for an example.

Example.

Tag-relevant details: A Sparklecare Cometcare AU fan art piece made and posted by Edward featuring Barry Ill and Uni Sock Cornelius in a night picnic. Uni is wearing her rose-tinted goggles, holding a milkshake with a cherry on top, there's another one present next to Barry. Barry is holding a sandwich with visible lettuce and tomato, there's another one next to Uni. The picnic blanket has the colours of the rainbow. There are stars and hearts around them, the picnic case also had a heart detail. On the field there are white small flowers.

Tags: #ryeblog #art of them #sparklecare #in front of them sensors #kili #pan #rainbow #pilin #mun #the florist's

The tags after the Sparklecare one could be in any order.

And this is an ideal case. As I have stated, I'm not 100% reliable and this sytem isn't either. I sometimes miss some tags.

As a final detail. Comments about the post will go after all of these tags and will have proper sentence capitalization and punctuation. This is the hierarchy the tags go which I sometimes miss too.

[digi-tama-in-your-pocket]

I saw your So You Want to Buy a Vpet post, and one thing stood out to me in that you mentioned the Digital Monsters Color are not newbie friendly , which I take it the rationale being they run their evolution timer too quickly due to protein and sleep.

This is the one bit I sort of disagree with, because it always felt like a brand feature as one of the vpets to teach about growth, death, or in the strange lore of Digimon (following Buddhism) the idea of reincarnation

As a pet raiser I feel like the kidlike philosophy (which i definitely possessed with the orignal vpets when I was young) of wanting to hold on to the same pet or put it in cryo in order to preserve its form to stare at sort of goes against the concept of them being creatures we are responsible for into objects we own.

From a gameplay perspective a quicker timer also let's you explore the roster better. In a similar sense to Pokémon nuzlocke runs it opens up experimentation and new sentimental attachments to monsters other than our favourites

The digivice and anime forgo this in chase of constancy and mass appeal. For me it loses its original flavour and makes "digital monsters" and "Digimon" somewhat two distinctive separated fanbase. It always makes me slightly taken aback when fans prefer the RPG games to say, redigitalize or world championship on the DS, or say world championship is boring.

Actually I considered them not newbie friendly because they are expensive. And because they were Premium Bandai exclusive, they are kind of hard to find for the already expensive price tag they launched with. And with a price point like that, they're fairly basic. I don't think someone who's just getting into this hobby is going to want to drop more than half a hundred bucks on a virtual pet that they might not even enjoy especially when other virtual pets are more feature heavy.

As for your opinion, I can appreciate how you feel but to me it just sounds like another case of Casual gamer vs Hardcore gamer to me. I hesitate to use the word "Gate Keeping" here but if people want to keep their pet alive longer and have an easier time raising them, we should let them, especially if the features that enable this are mostly optional. We don't have to freeze our digimon if we don't want to.

Besides that, the easier digimon are not immortal, they can still die with neglect. And it's a little funny to call the mindset of wanting to keep your digimon "childlike" given... it's a fucking toy. So it's not like the lesson of life and death and possible reincarnation ( though I don't know how a kid is supposed to glean that from an LCD pet with no dialogue ) is going to be lost on a kid raising a virtual pet. But adults already understand this concept. But are less likely to appreciate it when they're likely more busy, and frankly, more likely to actually buy a virtual pet than a child. It's like "okay yeah I get it, but I still wish the window for mistakes was more narrow so my greymon doesn't fucking die before I go on my 10 minute break for work."

And again, I'm recommending these to NEWCOMERS, not enthusiasts. Like you wouldn't recommend someone with no video game experience play Zelda 2 The Adventure of Link as their first game, even if you actually love it, you'd start them with something easier and more contemporary, and slowly ease them into it.

I can't speak on the video games because 1. I've only played like three and finished none of them. And 2. Digimon just keeps making completely different styles of games, and I don't think most people play them for virtual pet aspect. They're likely in it for the story more than anything. At least that's my impression from trying Cyber Sleuth, currently the most popular digimon game, and being bored to tears because it was almost nothing but human characters talking. There is just no accounting for taste, but you can't act like people are wrong for it not aligning with your own.

[lawtistic]

"liam, what are your predictions for game of the year 2023?"

i am so glad you asked.

there aren't a lot of competitors this year, but the competitors we DO have are fucking insane

the most obvious ones are tears of the kingdom and the resident evil 4 remake, both are extremely well received games from absolute monster franchises who have won 2 or more game of the year variations in the past (resident evil with the original re4 in the famitsu and spike game awards and the resident evil 2 remake in the golden joystick, and legends of zelda winning the award for ocarina of time in the british academy game awards and the d.i.c.e. awards, and breath of the wild winning it in THE game of the year awards as well is in a few other variations)

totk and the re4r are where i feel like most of the tension is going to be and are going to be the most glaringly obvious choices for the winner, this year.

then you have assassins creed mirage, which isn't even out yet, but is experiencing a lot of hype due to ubisoft returning to their original direction with the assassins creed franchise in this game and abandoning a lot of the soulless game mechanics you see in the RPG era of the games. this makes mirage promising, but mirage has been faces with a lot of skepticism. with the previous storylines being generally confusing, mirage has a lot to live up to in terms of not only plot, but general reception as well. valhalla disappointed a lot of assassins creed fans and lowered the bar for ubisoft's future games involving the franchise. this, along with the fact that while assassins creed is a very large franchise, it has never won any variation of a game of the year award. despite the fact they have 11 main series games under their belt and several spinoffs. it'd be stupid to say mirage doesn't qualify as a contender, but it doesn't look like it's the game that will bring home the bacon this year.

then, there's the spiderman 2 game. the first game had received a lot of commercial success and belongs to a very large company and the hype for the second game seems to be quite a lot. it is by no means in the same league as totk and re4r, but it wouldn't exactly be a shock if spiderman 2 came up and steamrolled those games, anyway.

tl;dr there's a mean competition going on, and really promising games. i can't decide whether tears of the kingdom or the resident evil 4 remake would be a better winner, but in my personal opinion, i'm rooting for re4r. spiderman 2 looks promising as well, and mirage is definitely a candidate, but i don't personally see it winning this year.

[jayjtheunsispiciousmelodicathem]

I was tagged by @rayatii, so here I go

1. Are you named after anyone?

As far as I'm aware, no. Unless you consider nicknaming myself to count for this, then probably after James from the pokemon anime, and

2. When was the last time you cried?

Several weeks ago when I told a homophobe to shut up and somehow not getting beaten up by him, and then later when I told my mum about that I also came out to her - tears of both fear and happiness

3. Do you have kids?

Nope. I'm not great parent material to be honest.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I'm not really sure, I can't really tell sarcasm when I see it, that includes myself, so if you see me using the "/s" tone indicator know I'm rolling my dice there /gen

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

Chess and currently learning some of the tournament card games. These are sports no matter what you think qualifies as sport - football is also a game and yet it's counted as sport. Either way if that answer doesn't suffice, I was pretty big on basketball in middle school, and the boys bullied me for it in middle school. Then they realised that it's actually kinda fun, and I have fallen out of practice by that time, and grew to hate it like most other physical game-sports.

6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?

Their linguistic quirks. Accents, regional words, peculiar mispronunciations, particular patterns of misspelling things.

7. What’s your eye color?

Deep brown, can't tell the exact shade. a mutual friend of Raya and I said once that I have "very loyal eyes" to compare them to the colour of brown dog eyes.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. I want to see my blorbos happy. Although if "bittersweet" was an option here, I'd go for that.

9. Any special talents?

I don't consider myself talented in any particular way, but I know my friends would send me strongly worded PMs if I gave that as my answer, so I'll say, what many of them always put at the forefront of the good stuff about me, "Good at learning languages", and personally I'd also say "Pattern recognition" (especially when it comes to languages)

10. Where were you born?

Masuria (southern part of former East Prussia, WHICH SHOULD NOT BE CALLED EAST PRUSSIA, "EAST" PRUSSIA WAS THE ORIGINAL PRUSSIA, THEN ONE OF THE PRUSSIAN RULERS GOT BRANDENBURG INTO HIS COUNTRY AND CALLED THE WHOLE THING PRUSSIA, AND NONSENSICALLY RENAMED PRUSSIA PROPER "EAST", LIKE THERE'S MANY DUMB NAMES IN THE WORLD BUT EAST PRUSSIA TAKES THE FUCKING CAKE), Poland

11. What are your hobbies?

Learning languages, learning about languages, playing ttRPGs, learning ttRPGs, writing (poetry and prose), reading (mostly prose but I like poetry too), traditional board games, traditional card games, modern board games, modern card games, zelda, graeco-roman mythology, mythology, history (chiefly before Napoleon) and many many more. I can already think of some stuff I missed but I don't want to make this post infinitely long

12. Do you have any pets?

Not I myself but my family has three cats! A tabby named Kati, a british shorthair named Boniface, and a ragdoll named Lucifer. We also used to have a yorkshire terrier named Little Knot (translating from the polish name, we don't have the same connotation of knot in regards to canine genitalia, the original name is Supełek)

13. How tall are you?

Last time I checked, 173cm

14. Favorite subject?

Language stuff. RPG stuff. too much stuff.

15. Dream job?

not one in mind. I thought I wanted to be a translator but with how I'm doing in college, I doubt I'd become that :')

and now for the 15 other people, lessee... @awerzo @nerothething @angeloftheeasterngate @carrotsareaces @quilveor @leosoularrow @cutthroatchorus @kettukakku-blog @mrvauxs @norislandia @hedgerian and I think that's about the extent to which I can name people off the top of my head have fun!

[axewchao]

I may not have gone out and dressed up for Halloween (partially because it's getting colder these days), but my kid OCs still can!

First up is Ellie, dressing up as her idol, Goombella! Complete with her own Tattle Log for all her RPG needs! No clear ideas on where her big adventures could start, but whenever adventure calls, she'll be ready!

Kinda hard to find decent refs of her that weren't… y'know. For adults =w=""

Second is Tuno, as one of his favorite heroes, Young Link! He was introduced to the Zelda series with OOT and MM, becoming glued to the latter game while Tuna preferred the former.

Armed with a sword (that hopefully isn't real) and shield, Tuno's ready to defeat all the monsters and save the land! Look out, Majora, there's a new silent protag in this world! And he's all too glad to take you down!

Third is Leon, as Kirby! Specifically Yo-Yo Kirby, because hey, yoyos are Leon's thing already and he likes how versatile Kirby is.

And I guess one of the perks of being a Koopeleon is being able to change your hair and tail color whenever ya want. Lucky bastard; never has to worry about hair dyes or contact lenses for cosplays! I don't even cosplay and I'm jealous!

Fourth is Tuna as Ness! Most of his understanding of Ness comes from Smash Bros, but that kid's baseball bat was all Tuna needed to see in order to declare Ness as his favorite character of all time. Oh, if only he could send people flying with a single swing just like Ness… It'd be so awesome! Totally worth the inevitable scolding from his parents!

Leon was originally going to be Ness (Ness uses a yoyo and wears stripes, Leon does the same, etc.), but lost a game of rock paper scissors XD

Last but certainly not least is Dusty, dressed as the one, the only, The Great Gonzales Jr.! He hopes to one day be as strong as that Yoshi, maybe even take on the Glitz Pit when he's older! Then and only then can he prove to his sister once and for all that wrestling is better than kickboxing! >:3c

Admittedly this costume was not my favorite to color. Or draw in general, since wrestler outfits seem to range from "Just Spots All Over" to "Who The Fuck Designed This And Why The Fuck Would You Wear It." I guess there's some appeal that I'm missing because I'm not into wrestling myself… o3o

[sevenmothz]

hello fellow filthy casuals

Hello and welcome to my gaming blog! I’m @singull and this here is where I post all about video game shit. I’m a horrible easy mode player and I’ve hated Anders since playing Awakening lmao.

I primarily play games with stories (RPGs that allow me to make my own protagonist are my top favorites), but I’m also a slut for games that allow me to make a town, settlement, city, what have you…that said I’m not super keen into the management-type games. I just want to make snazzy looking places and watch NPCs roam them.

The Dragon Age series is my main boo that I’m always clowning for, but I also enjoyed Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077, and the Final Fantasy games. I also spent more time than I thought I did playing and replaying Grand Theft Auto V lmao. I’m also obsessed with the Devil May Cry series, but I’ve only ever properly played through and finished the fifth game bahaha (thank you YouTube game movies).

Other than the time I invested several years of my life on the first Destiny game, I’m not into online shit. I prefer to play on my own, thank you very much. Destiny really was fucking sweet though and right up my alley for Aesthetics…

Links to regularly used tags and liveblogging below the read more.

Below is a list of not only tags I commonly use, but also games I have liveblogged about. I do play more than what is listed, but I just don’t always post about what I’m currently playing through.

tags:

general blog posts

screencaps

videos

my art

my fanfiction

games i play:

animal crossing: acnl, acnh

baldur’s gate: bg3

beyond: two souls

cyberpunk 2077

destiny

dragon age: origins, da2, inquisition

fallout: fo4

final fantasy vii

final fantasy x

final fantasy xv

final fantasy xvi

god of war: 2018, ragnarök

grand theft auto v

infamous

kingdom hearts

legend of zelda: breath of the wild

life is strange

mass effect: me1, me2, me3, andromeda, legendary edition

sleeping dogs

tropico 5

the witcher: wild hunt

miscellaneous games

[this-is-not-a-slow-burn]

Anyone have some game recs? Looking for games that will run on my laptop with a controller. Cheap or free is good!

Must have:

Controller support or mouse based movement

Solo or AI controlled companions

Not a fan:

Multiplayer

Turn based RPGs

Soulslike

Horror (I mean you can rec it, but I'm very picky about it)

Games I've played and loved:

The Witcher 2 & 3

Dragon Age Inquisition and DA2 (and part of DAO but the controller support is janky and fuck the fade)

Cyberpunk 2077

Watch_Dogs 2 and Legion

Assassins Creed Odyssey, Origin, and Valhalla

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

Fate series (wild tangent games RPG)

Disco Elysium (have not finished it yet)

A whole boatload of old 80's - mid 00's "adventure" point & click and puzzle games like The Longest Journey, Myst, The Room series, Secret Files: Tunguska, Return to Mysterious Island etc.

Games I liked but they're just ok

Kingdoms of Amalur

Victor Vran

Van Helsing

Pillars of Eternity

Tomb Raider remakes

Games I wanted to like but couldn't get into

All of the post NES Zelda games (esp. didn't like BotW)

Tacoma

Detroit Become Human

[cryptideye]

Kris isn't a player insert but their gender is up for interpretation. It's like in a voice acted game where you can name your character, so no one actually calls your character by name. So it can be whatever you want.

I'm sick of people like you harassing people and acting like they're awful for having headcanons. I've seen 12 year olds get freaked out at by people like you.

girl what 😭 please point out any time ive "freaked out" at any kids, or where I was aggressive in my post. I just said I hated an *argument I saw people use* and then explained why I disagreed with it. All I did was present my opinion, and you're acting like I personally bullied kids over it. Do I really need to hand-hold and add a thousand "but it's just my opinion it's okay if you disagree honey uwu uwu uwu"s to my posts for them to not be taken as a personal attack? I literally said *in the tags* that I wasn't mad at people who did this on accident or because they didn't connect the points together that I made in my post. How does this read as the ideology of a bully to you? You are overreacting, I'm allowed to have an opinion just as you are (even if you're wrong) LMAO. stop trying to villify me because you dont like my opinion

But this ask kinda pissed me off so I might Actually be a little mean here to You Specifically because I'm so sick of explaining this

Your argument here doesn't make much sense to me. In most games where you can name your character, there isn't a literal scene saying you don't get to choose who you are in this world. Kris isn't customizable! There is an entire CUTSCENE about how they aren't customizable! You literally make an entire custom character, name them, and they are then discarded and you play as kris instead! the game is REALLY clear that kris isnt just a normal rpg protagonist like youd get from games where they’re more customizable. The fact you even made this comparison at all proves you didn't fucking get the point of my original post! If you acknowledge that they aren't a player insert, why are you comparing them to a game where you can name a character whatever you want? If Kris isn't a player insert like you said, why is it OK to misgender them when they are *exclusively* referred to by they/them in the text? Their mom calls them they, their teacher, etc. You can argue they're nonbinary to make the character more neutral and relatable to all genders (which I bring up in the tags of my post), but they're still exclusively they/them in game.

Using your "characters not referring to the player by name" argument, if the point was for kris' gender to be up to interpretation why wouldn't deltarune just... Do this? I'm sure the writers are more than capable of avoiding using any pronouns at all for kris, so why use they/them exclusively? Especially in a series where multiple NON player characters are also they/them only like blooky and monster kid. We also see multiple characters not referred to by any pronouns at all in game like the shopkeepers (though seam is called they/them on stream) and undyne before she is properly introduced, so it is DEFINITELY possible and something realistic to take into account here.

I have NEVER seen this shit happen with cis characters who by go exclusively he or she which is why this bugs me so much. You can name link whatever you want in some of the earlier Zelda games, but you don't see people arguing that his gender is up to interpretation, or that him being a dude isn't canon because they choose to see him as a girl. This ONLY happens with nonbinary characters (and sometimes trans character, or just those who are androgynous but it's mostly NBs) and I am sick of arguing about this!

[themattress]

My Top 30 Favorite Video Games

Inspired by @ultraericthered’s Top 30 Favorite Anime post. 

Although I’m doing mine in countdown form, ‘cause it’s more fun that way!

30. Super Mario Bros. - Arguably the first “blockbuster” game to be released, not only does Super Mario Bros. still hold up over 35 years later but it’s a gift that keeps on giving with how many different incarnations, remixes, fan games using its assets, etc. that we have now.

29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - OBJECTION! While I cherish the entire original Phoenix Wright trilogy of the Ace Attorney franchise, I’ll always be the most partial to the original outing. The sheer audacity and hilarity of the concept, which is grounded by endearing characters and compelling mysteries, shines brilliantly in this little, easily accessible game. 

28. Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa - While similar in many ways to Ace Attorney, Danganronpa boasts a variety of more actual gameplay than mere point-and-click text scrolling. But what really makes this stand out, beyond gameplay or even the strength of its concept, story and characters, is the atmosphere it creates. For good and for ill, traversing the pristine, neon-lit hallways of the abandoned Hopes Peak Academy looking for clues as I’m forced to play by Monokuma’s twisted rules is an experience that will stay with me forever.

27. Star Fox 64 - Beyond all the entertainment this game provides through memes, it’s really just a fun, reasonably simple but just moderately complicated enough game that’s accessible to any player even if they usually don’t go for aerial shooters. It’s also one of the earliest console games that I ever played, so of course it’s going to hold a special place in my heart.

26. Batman: Arkham City - It’s an impressive feat when an open world game can still feel so claustrophobic in all the right ways, and that’s what Arkham City accomplishes. This game is essentially The Dark Knight to Arkham Asylum’s Batman Begins, escalating the action, suspense and sheer Batman-ness, providing unlimited opportunities to enjoy yourself playing as Gotham’s defender and facing down the greatest Rogues Gallery in comic book history.

25. Red Dead Redemption - Look, I know that Red Dead Redemption 2 is technically the superior game. But its complicated story, sprawling cast of characters, and vast canvas of a world can be pretty daunting, whereas I feel like the original Red Dead Redemption struck a much better balance. Allowing open world freedom within the confines of the straight-forward story of John Marston’s redemption really makes you feel like you’re in an old Western film, and the way that choices you make as a player impact the way that film ultimately turns out is one of the strongest arguments for video games being worthy of consideration as true art.

24. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - So, ten years ago an open world adventure video game series releases its fifth entry...and to this day, we’ve had no sixth, in favor of expansions and updated re-releases of said fifth entry. But that’s not a sign of laziness; it’s a sign the developers know they hit such a peak in quality that they have no need to rush anything further out the gate, as Skyrim is a gift that keeps on giving. Addictive in how unlimited in possibilities it is, with each playthrough never being the same as the one before, Skyrim is a gaming masterpiece that I don’t think I’m going to get bored with playing anytime soon.

23. Super Paper Mario - This may be an unpopular opinion, but I vastly prefer this game’s action-platform-RPG hybrid gameplay style to the prior installments’ traditional turn-based RPG style, which feels more at home in stuff like Super Mario RPG and the Mario & Luigi series. But gameplay aside, I think this has the strongest story of any Mario game, trading in the usual “save the kingdom/princess” fare for saving all of reality, with legitimate emotion and drama and even character development. It’s one of the Wii’s shining gems, to be sure.

22. Epic Mickey - This game’s graphics are by and large unremarkable, its gameplay is fraught with issues (that camera is unforgivable), and it’s nowhere close to the best on its system or genre. But Epic Mickey is a case study in where the effort put into crafting the game’s world and story, not to mention the obvious love and respect for the material being worked with, pays off. Any Disney fan will love this game for its story, which puts Mickey front and center as an actual character rather than a mascot and dives deep into his history as he meets his “half-brother” Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and its mystical, unique atmosphere - what the graphics can’t deliver, the fucking music more than makes up for. All of the game’s flaws mean nothing compared to the sheer heart on display, and I treasure it greatly as a result.

21. Batman: Arkham Asylum - I already mentioned that Arkham City is the superior game, but as was the case with Red Dead Redemption and its sequel, personal preference strikes again. The simpler story and narrower confines of Arkham Asylum just appeal to me slightly more, and I feel like the borderline horror atmosphere this game has could never fully be replicated by all of its sequels and spin-offs. Also, you can play as the Joker in this. WIN.

20. Metal Gear Solid - And on the subject of Arkham Asylum, it owes much to this game, which created the template of a lone badass hero having to use stealth and weaponry to liberate a government-owned island from the lunatic terrorists that have taken over. Hideo Kojima famously never wanted this game to have any sequels, and I can definitely see his point, as it’s a complete and wholly satisfying experience in of itself and I don’t feel like it’s ever been topped. At the very least, it’s certainly the most enjoyable of the series to me.

19. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Also, speaking of “borderline horror atmosphere”, we have the freakiest game that the Legend of Zelda series ever put out. What was supposed to just be a gaiden to Ocarina of Time mutated into this beautiful monstrosity that’s become just as iconic. Nobody who plays this game is ever going to forget that fucking moon and all the constant jumping back and forth in time across three days as you try to prevent the apocalypse of Termina. It’s the kind of gaming trauma that’s well worth experiencing.

18. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - Like Majora’s Mask, this game is a case study where you can take a bunch of recycled assets and gameplay, and then make something unique from it if you have a well-crafted story with a dark and disturbing atmosphere. It’s hard to experience or appreciate the transition between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II without playing this midquel, which takes the narrative and characters to deeper levels without being pretentious about it and sets the stage for the proper console sequel perfectly. And if you can’t get into it being on Gameboy Advance, then just play the PS2 remake (which is arguably the superior version anyway) and you’re good! Just...don’t mind the cards, OK?

17. Sonic CD - And now we have another game about jumping back and forth through time to prevent an apocalypse! See the common threads at play here by this point? Sonic the Hedgehog is at his best in 2D gameplay, and I personally enjoy this the best out of all the 2D games in the series. As obscure as the Sega CD was as a system, it was powerful enough to take the blue blur’s speed to its maximum level, set alongside beautiful graphics and a kick-ass soundtrack (well, two different kick-ass soundtracks; and I actually prefer the US one). 

16. Pokemon Black & White - While there were advancements made to story and graphics and gameplay features in the third and fourth generations of the Pokemon series, nothing felt as truly ground-breaking as the second generation games until the fifth gen with its Black & White games. This was arguably the game series’ peak in quality on all fronts, but its specifically the story that lands it on this list, as its well-written and paced, subverts many formulaic elements from the previous games, is set in one of the most unique regions in the Pokemon world, and has a timeless message that has only grown more relevant with age. 

15. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - The whole series could really go here, but fortunately the most recent entry is the perfect embodiment of said series, with every playable character there’s ever been and then some. The sheer variety is unmatched by any other fighting game out there, and its story mode, “World of Light”, is quite possibly the greatest video game crossover in history given how many characters are featured as both fighters and spirits.

14. Super Mario 64 - I’m pretty sure this game used to be higher in my favor, but replaying it on the Nintendo Switch recently has made me aware of how, as the first game on the Nintendo 64 and the first 3D platformer, it’s poorly aged in several areas. However, I must stress that it is still a very good game. The fun of going to the various worlds within paintings in Peach’s Castle hasn’t changed, nor has how smoothly and seamlessly Mario managed to make the jump from 2D to 3D. Just like Super Mario Bros., the number of games that owe something to this one is too great to count, and that’s an achievement that remains timeless.

13. Dark Chronicle - Also known as Dark Cloud 2. I hadn’t heard a damn thing about this game before renting it on a whim many years ago, and I was caught off guard by just how good it was. It’s got a simple but effective story and likable characters, a timeless atmosphere, beautifully cel-shaded graphics, dungeon-crawling gameplay, action-RPG combat gameplay, literal world-building gameplay, and even a fishing minigame! This game can actually stand besides the Zelda series without shame; it’s truly an underrated gem.

12. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Oh, speaking of Zelda, this game goes full Lord of the Rings-style epic fantasy with it and it is glorious. Between the near perfect gameplay, beautiful 3D graphics, and one of the best stories in the series (with one of the best characters: Midna), Twilight Princess’ most prevalent complaint from critics all the way up to its own developers is that it wasn’t even MORE expansive and awesome given how long it was hyped, and if that’s the biggest issue with the game then I’d say it’s in pretty good shape.

11. Super Mario Galaxy - Super Mario 64 may be held back a little by how its aged, but no such thing is holding back Super Mario Galaxy. Super Mario Odyssey might be as good or possibly even better, but I just don’t hold the same feelings of amazement and respect toward it that I do for this game. From the blitzkrieg-style attack on the Mushroom Kingdom by Bowser to the discovery of Rosalina’s space station, this game had me hooked from the first few minutes, especially with it blaring that awesome orchestral score the whole way through. To this day, I maintain that this is Mario’s greatest 3D adventure. It’s simply magnificent.

10. Final Fantasy X - Ha! See what I did there? This game has caught flak for some of the awkwardness that comes from being the first fully 3D entry in the series, but I think that’s tantamount to nitpicking when compared to all it does right. To me, this was the last really good installment of the main Final Fantasy series, with a story and world so brilliantly developed that the game earned the immediate breakthrough success and acclaim that it found in its native Japan. 20 years later and, as the HD remaster has shown, it still holds up as one of the most engaging JRPG experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.

9. Banjo-Kazooie - At the time, this was basically Rare’s copycat version of Super Mario 64, although considered about as good. Now, however, there’s a difference: the aging issues I mentioned for Super Mario 64 don’t apply for Banjo-Kazooie. Whether replaying it on the Nintendo 64 or on whichever Xbox you’ve got, this game is still just as fun, imaginative and hilarious now as it was back then. It’s quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made.

8. Pokemon Crystal - The definitive edition of the Gold & Silver games of Pokemon’s second generation, taking what was already a phenomenal advancement and improvement to the first generation and making it even better with additional features such as the ability to play as a girl for the first time and a more clearly defined storyline centered around the legendary Pokemon featured on the game’s box art. Pokemon had been written off as just a passing fad up until this point. This was when its staying power as a video game juggernaut was proven.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Talk about a win right out of the gate for the Nintendo Switch! This game returns the Legend of Zelda series to its roots while also applying all that has been made possible in video games since the original game’s release, and the result is an enthralling, addictive, open world masterpiece that has set a new standard of quality for both the Zelda series and for many modern video games in general.

6. Kingdom Hearts II - The Final Mix edition to be precise, although in this day and age that’s basically the only edition people are playing anyway. This game is the apotheosis of Kingdom Hearts as both a video game series and as a concept; filled to the brim with Disney magic and Square Enix RPG expertise and paired with some of the most refined action-based gameplay there is. And when it comes to bringing the original Kingdom Hearts trilogy’s story to a close, does this game ever stick the landing. The series could have ended right here and I would have been completely satisfied (and its reputation would be a lot better off, too!)

5. Pokemon Yellow - While I maintain that this game, the definitive edition of the original first generation Pokemon games, still holds up as fun to play even now, I’ll admit that it’s pure bias that it ranks so high. It was the first proper video game I ever played, there was no way I was leaving it off the top 5! Its blissful nostalgic atmosphere is always such a delight to return to.

4. Banjo-Tooie - Remember when I said Banjo-Kazooie was “quite possibly the greatest 3D platformer ever made”? The “quite possibly” is because its in stiff competition with its own sequel! And personally, I’m in Banjo-Tooie’s corner; something about how inter-connected its worlds are and the addition of so many things to do all while maintaining your full moveset from the original game is just beautiful to me. Both it and its predecessor are like obstacle courses that I never tire of running through, which is the hallmark of brilliant game design.

3. Kingdom Hearts - Another case where the sequel may be the superior game, but my own personal preference leans toward the original. And in this case, it’s a highly personal preference: this game and my memories of playing it for the first time are so very dear to me. The characters and worlds of Disney put into an epic crossover RPG was like a dream come true for me and no matter how far the series it spawned has deteriorated, nothing can detract from the magic of this game. It’s got a certain, indescribable feel and atmosphere that’s never truly been replicated, and that feel and atmosphere still holds up whenever I revisit it. The gameplay may not be the best, particularly when compared to Kingdom Hearts II’s, but the charm of the story and the characters and the world and the very concept more than makes up for that. As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of Disney and Square’s greatest masterpieces.

2. Final Fantasy VII - I was aware of the hype this game got and was totally ready to call it overrated, but damn it, it got me! I don’t know what it is about this game with its blocky early 3D graphics, poor sound quality to its excellent soundtrack, and frequently mistranslated script that proved to be so gripping and enjoyable to play through, but man did it ever Limit Break its way into my heart. This is considered a JRPG classic for a damn good reason.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Do I really need to explain this one? It’s famous for being frequently cited as one of the greatest video games ever made, and like Final Fantasy VII, its hype is well-deserved and totally justified. Whether you’re playing it on the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, the Wii, the 3DS, and hopefully the Nintendo Switch in the future, there is a magic quality to this game that permeates through every step you take in its fully 3D world. It’s a triumph that has stood the test of time, cementing the Zelda series as truly legendary.

[toukenramblings]

Video Games: Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, Aizen Kunitoshi, Atsushi Toushirou

Oh ho, a fun lil headcanon set like this is so funnnn~!

Warnings: Not much I suppose?

Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki

Sweet MuMu adores video games where we can travel the world. Fantasy world, modern world, past, present, future, he don’t care! An open world game will suit him best! There’s so much to do, and like a lil puppy, MuMu want’s to explore it all!

Extra bonus points if there’s a part of the game where there is something to do with the ocean. He adores the sea after all! Boats, driving them, exploring the ocean, exploring the unknown, oh this TouDan will drink that shit up.

The games that come to mind are Assassin’s Creed: III, Black Flag, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. Why? Most of them deal with exploring new lands and some of them deal with piloting ships! III, Black Flag, Odyssey, Origins, Valhalla to be more specific. Syndicate has guns and classy fashion. A little too much for Mutsunokami but he loves playing with the guns in the game - they are very similar in make to his own after all. he also rly likes the sea shanties in odyssey because i rly like them too

If Mutsunokami wants to relax and not play Assassin’s Creed where he goes around stabbing everything that moves, he will play Subnautica or Abzu or Journey to relax. Maybe even Animal Crossing! He loves the cute little animals but I personally think that games where he can just explore the world and meet new people and learn lore just make him happy the most.

Games MuMu would never play are horror games or anything with spiders in them. So Bayonetta and Devil May Cry are out. He loves the idea of gun-toting protagonists but nope, nope. Spiders? Bye fam.

Now that I think about it, he would just be Blathers. He can play Animal Crossing but Gods help him the minute he sees a spider in that damn game. “I THOUGHT THIS WAS A PEACEFUL GAME, WHY ARE THE SPIDERS TRYING TO KILL YOU” cue controller thrown at the television.

Oh MuMu adores party games! Can’t play Smash Bros or Mario Kart for shit. Watch him pay too much attention to the background and yeet himself off of the stage because he saw something shiny. He can kinda play though, but again he gets distracted the most. Buuut ask him to play Mario Party with the rest of the swords and damn right he will play!

Can and will make video games turn into a drinking game. MuMu adores competitive gaming with the rest of the citadel. Will start taking bets on who is gonna win and lose, and sure he may be a pouty loser but he’ll be fiine. But damn right he’ll yeet a tantou to ensure his win. No he won’t he’s not that cruel.

Mutsunokami also adores rhythm games! Taiko no Tatsujin because of Don-chan and the idea of playing with a lil taiko drum as a controller. He’s very much into music after all. There are times when he stops playing a game to just listen to the music and take it all in!

A guilty pleasure game he plays is probably Ghost of Tsushima. No he’s not checking out Jin’s ass whenever they go to a hot spring, what are you talking about? MuMu enjoys it because sometimes just going back to your roots and stabbing a ho is just what you need. dear khotun khan, eat shit

Aizen Kunitoshi

Aizen is also super big on rhythm games. As said above with Mutsunokami, Taiko no Tatsujin will be a favorite of his. He has a secret collection of Don-chan merch, no one is stopping him damn it. Just fucking tRY and take away his precious Don-chan(s). The only ones that can touch his prized collection are the rest of the Rai swords, other peeps he is close to, and maybe you if you two are close/you ask nicely. Get him some Don-chan pajamas and he’ll cry.

Aizen is also pretty good at fighting games, Street Fighter coming to mind because he adores over the top bullshit and the colors! The colors! He mains Ryu though, but he’s more than willing to try new characters!

He’s also pretty competitive at times, so he would adore playing fighting games with the rest of the swords at the citadel. Hotarumaru and he are always playing Smash Bros or Mario Kart, which ends up with a lot of broken controllers. Hotaru has been slightly banned from planning highly competitive gameplay though.

Other games that I know Aizen will be into will be Animal Crossing when he wants to relax. He loves the little yearly festivals and events in the games and it kinda mirrors how life works in the world. Of course he adores Digby and Isabelle, and has threatened Tom Nook with Hotarumaru before. “Don’t you cheat me you stupid tanuki, don’t make me get my brother in here.”

Games that Aizen cannot play are puzzle games. He doesn’t mind them, he just finds them really boring. He watches Akashi play them sometimes but even then, Akashi will conk the hell out. If you play them and have Aizen on your lap watching, Aizen will be amazed at how you are so good at them!

Aizen cannot deal with horror games or sad emotional games. He’s pretty emotional himself and will need a lot of hugs after. He will refuse to play Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons as they remind him of Hotarumaru and himself a lil too much. Horror games is because he’s too scared to. Hotarumaru doesn’t mind them, he likes playing them while Aizen and Akashi cling on to each other and scream in terror.

Aizen also loves games that not only have great music but the visuals and colors just catch his eye. Katamari Damacy comes to mind and he loves the main character a lot. The music! The colors! Ohh man its the best.

A guilty pleasure game he would love is the monster catching genre, Pokemon is an idea but he also loves Yokai Watch. Yokai Watch feels a lil more closer to home, plus Yokai Watch had a crossover with Taiko no Tatsujin! He immediately wasted no time and effort to try and recruit Don-chan. iM STILL TRYING TO GET DON-CHAN ON MY TEAM U LIL SHIt but also im rly biased towards yokai watch and digimon

This lil guy will also love collecting plushies of any characters of the games he plays! Don-chan is his first choice of course but catch him and Hotarumaru in a little cuddle puddle with 70 other plushies from various games!

Most of all, Aizen loves games where he can play with others! Friends, family, you! It doesn’t matter to him! He’ll drag you from your office to relax and just cheer anyone up with something fun! “Come play with me! You promised after all, master! I’ve found a rEALLY cool and fun game to play together with Hotaru!” bless him he’s trying his best

Atsushi Toushirou

Like Aizen, Atsushi will mostly enjoy multiplayer games because of his multitudes of brothers, younger and older. He’ll pick out games like Mario Party, Mario Kart, classics for sure. But then there’s games like Wario Ware or Smash Bros. He wants to play games with as many people as possible! He loves it when he can play with you and his brothers!

If Atsushi wants to play something more solo, he will play something along the lines of Cooking Mama. Houchou got him addicted to it gee i wonder why Houchou loves the game so much but Atsushi just loves the dishes that he can prepare and it almost feels like he can cook! He once tried to follow exactly what Cooking Mama did in the game for cooking once uh...it did not end up. But none the less, he loves the colors and the music of Cooking Mama!

He is also a big ol fan of life simulation games, Animal Crossing being his favorite. Again he and his siblings can all play together and the calm atmosphere almost lulls him to a peaceful sort of sleep that he adores the most. He loves the relaxing vibe and sometimes wishes to live there, wherever the hell these guys live.

Next to Yagen, I think Atsushi will lowkey adore horror games. Yagen does it just to get a rise out of the rest of his siblings and Atsushi is kind of the same. Sure Yagen finds the most gorey and atmospheric based horror to scare the crap outta his siblings, Atsushi will probably play the more jumpscare based horror games just to get a scare outta them too! What good is a horror game if you’re not scared as well??? Damn right he’ll wait until it’s night time to play these games!

Atsushi also does love RPG games! Star Ocean, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, come to mind first. He just loves going on big adventures! Exploring new worlds, meeting new people, learning new things! Bonus points if the game has a really emotional story, catch him and his brothers crying about whatever happens on screen.

Atsushi has a secret fondness for rather childish games. Pokemon, Yokai Watch, so on and so forth. YEs he’s trying his best to be mature and stuff, supporting you his saniwa and all, but sometimes he just wants to be himself and have fun! He has a few mascot plushies from his brothers too, shhh.

Atsushi is also terrifyingly amazing at turn-based strategy games. Mario + Rabbids being a favorite because of the colors and overall fun atmosphere. Fire Emblem is a close second. He knows exactly how to keep his units and characters alive, what upgrades to give them, so on and so forth. “General! Come look at what I did in my game! Wouldn’t it be cool if we could also do something like this?!” he says that as Rabbid Luigi yeets himself off of normal Mario and soars through the air like a bird, landing gracefully without hurting himself. Atsushi no.

He’s the most likely of the TouDans to get into the indie gaming scene, looking at new and upcoming content creators to see what they make! He wants to support them as much as he can!

He’s also one of the more responsible of the TouDans in terms of games. Others will start buying them on a whim but Atsu knows there’s a budget to be had! He isn’t as money crunching as Hakata or anything but he knows his damn limits!

Another game genre he’s secretly into are visual novels. He loves the budding relationships between characters, romantic or not, he loves seeing where they end up! It’s like he’s growing with them!

[notafrogblog]

Who wants to read an entire fucking essay I’ve been writing over the last few months it’s about viddy games wooooooo

Video Games's Popularity

16% of entertainment hours in 2018 were spent playing video games, according to a study by The NPD Group, an American market research company (Stych). Video games have become more and more popular as they have become easier and easier to access through consoles, computers, tablets, and phones. Video games and gaming have become some of the most popular topics to watch on youtube, twitch, and other platforms, which is shown by the fact that youtube has a trending section just for video game content. I myself watch video game content whenever I get the chance. Merriam Webster defines video games as "an electronic game in which players control images on a video screen." If you use that definition for video games, it means gaming is a lot more widespread and prevalent than you'd first think. It would be a struggle to find anyone below the age of twenty who's never played a video game in some form. There are thousands of people in online communities who discuss video games and the people who play them, on sites like Reddit, Twitch, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and more. Video game music, posters, clothing, and general merchandise is popular and lucrative for the companies that make and sell the products. People continue to invest their time, money, and energy into playing and enjoying video games. Video games are such a big part of the online community and my life that I decided to take this opportunity to learn more about them.

While researching this paper, I found different types of sources than I was expecting. Many articles on video games are outdated, poorly written, or simply didn't contain much information. Most possible sources were game reviews, tabloid-esque gossip, or talked about events occurring recently in the gaming community. These weren't very helpful for the type of topics I wanted to discuss. When I set out to write this, I expected to find more analyses of video games or game genres as a whole, or perhaps more in-depth writing. Although I did find articles that were in-depth, they were often very niche, scholarly, or outdated. Video games as a culture moves indescribably quickly, with new games always being released. The vast amount of content and places to share said content on the internet makes video games so widespread, it's near impossible to categorize and talk about video games a whole, rather than individual games or franchises. I suppose that's why there are so many game reviews. People are always looking for new games to play, new content to view. I did my best to find articles and sources I could use to talk about video games a whole, as a culture, and as a complex and nuanced form of entertainment. Part of my own interest in video games is due to the large variety of games and game content available. I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about video games, especially after researching this essay. But I don't know much about games as a whole, or why people play them. As much as I love to talk about and watch video games, I don't play them often myself. I wanted to know what made other people love playing video games so much. Both my brothers are very engrossed in their respective games and consoles, and I found myself wondering what compels them to put their time and energy into something that doesn't give me that same satisfaction. Which begs the question, why do people play video games? What keeps them coming back? What makes video games so enjoyable?

I started by looking in the school databases, and on credible sites like the Washington Post and the New York Times. Video games is such a broad topic, but many articles focused on specific games or events. While I researched, I wondered what is so compelling about video games. I had some hypotheses. Video games often have a plot, a list of tasks to complete, or some sort of storyline. I found an article about the stories and plotlines of first-person shooter games, one of the most popular genres of games. In the article, David M. Leeson explains what differs between a multiplayer and a single-player shooter: "Most multiplayer shooters are gameplay-driven: play sessions consist of one or more matches, in which players compete with each other (either individually or as teams) to win the game, either by scoring points or capturing objectives. Most single-player shooters, by contrast, are story-driven: play sessions consist of one or more levels, in which the player is told the story so far and then must overcome a series of obstacles to find out what happens next." Already this provides some insight into what compels people to play video games. Multiplayer shooters, such as Fortnite, some Call of Duty games, Battlefield games, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, depend on other players to keep you interested. Winning a match is the main objective. In single-player games, the goal isn't to win a round, it's to complete the story. In a way, this makes a single-player shooter similar to a book or a movie. The difference between them is that the player takes an active part in moving the plotline forward, which keeps the player interested and motivated to find out what happens next.

A storyline isn't the only thing that can be necessary to keep a player motivated. The gameplay plays a big role in keeping the player interested in continuing the game. Games have two main parts, speed and strategy. Speed-based games rely on fast reflexes, immediate feedback, and quick thinking to be enjoyable. Games like these require you to be in the moment the whole time, ready to react to whatever is thrown at you. Games that are more speed-based include titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and endless runner games such as Temple Run or Subway Surfers. Despite being very different games in style, aesthetic, plot, and goals, these all rely on speed as a main mechanic. Another aspect of games is strategy. Strategy-based games take a slower route, and are more based on planning and thinking before you act. Strategy games often have some sort of back-and-forth mechanic between the player and some sort of other entity, usually a non-player character (npc) or the game itself. This includes games such as battling games such as Pokemon, storyline games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and many mobile games. Strategy games require the player to think about what they want to do before they do it, and often have multiple storylines or options for how to play the game or what to do when. All games have elements of both strategy and speed, but usually one takes precedence over the other. Each category of game has its pros and cons and its own problems.

There are a few problems with speed-based games that the developers must remedy for the game to be enjoyable. Firstly, games with speed-based mechanics are often very easy to pick up and learn. Many Super Smash Bros. players will mash buttons or spam attacks rather than use combination attacks or the full variety of moves available. Speed-based games must introduce a learning curve for players to learn new skills, become better at the skills they already have, and some sort of challenge that requires those skills to be used. Another problem with speed-based games is the lack of variety. One character with only one set of moves can quickly become boring to play. Most games don't have this problem, with many games having multiple characters. Breath of the Wild, however, only has one playable character, Link. Nintendo keeps BotW from becoming boring by having Link have many weapons and clothing to collect and choose from to use, food items to temporarily boost stats, and a way to upgrade Link's health points as the game grows more difficult. Many endless runner games (i.e. Subway Surfers or Temple Run) lack this attribute, which causes players to become bored of them after playing for a while. While they may include customizable or lots of character choices, the changes are purely cosmetic and don't impact the gameplay.

Strategy games have issues as well, most notably those to do with speed. Strategy games often have a slower pace, and making the pace too slow can cause players to become bored. This was an issue with the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, a 1997 turn-based rpg by Square Enix. Final Fantasy VII is set to have a remake by Square Enix, the first part of which was released on April 10, 2020. An article I discovered addressed some flaws in the original game as well as what the remake should have to make the game better. The article reads: "Modern releases of Final Fantasy VII include an option to speed up combat by a factor of three, and after turning it on, you quickly learn that you almost never need to turn it off to more carefully manage the flow of battle, such is the monotony of just attacking and healing over and over. This speed boost is greeted by latter-day players as a crucial "quality of life" improvement. It doesn't matter how many oakleaves you've acquired in 22 years; when letting the player essentially skip the gameplay is treated as a godsend, you don't have a very good game." (Vogt) As said in the quote, the ability to speed up gameplay shouldn't be necessary. The gameplay is also described as monotonous. Games must be interesting to keep players motivated to continue playing. Keeping players interested in the game is a big part of video game making.

Game designers and developers must put player enjoyment first when making a game. Even if the ultimate goal is to make money or gain popularity in the community, player enjoyment is what leads to a game's success. If a player isn't having fun playing a game, they won't recommend it to others, or join an online community about it, or even continue playing it. For this reason, I decided to find information about the process of game design and development, where ideas came from, and how enjoyment of the game came into the mix. I found an academic study of a game jam in 2013. A game jam is an event where multiple groups of game makers come together to make games in an allotted time using a given prompt. The study discusses multiple aspects of the game jam, including initial ideas, prototyping, and game development and testing, the latter of which is shown in the quote here: "Participants [in the game jam] removed systems within the game (e.g. attacks requiring combinations of buttons rather than single buttons) or reduced the total number of components used (e.g. fewer game levels or types of enemies). Swapping mechanics occurred when already implemented systems were buggy or dysfunctional or when playtesting (personally or with others) showed them to be overly complex or unintuitive." (Zook) This quote shows how game developers must think about how the players will interact with mechanics, especially mechanics they aren't used to. Mechanics are how you do things in the game, whether it be with certain buttons, an item, movement, interaction with the environment, or a combination of these. Mechanics must be easy to pick up on and learn for beginning players, but difficult to master so as to keep players entertained. The quote shows how initially complex mechanisms such as button combinations or buggy systems can be unintuitive for the players, and therefore need to be fixed. If a player has difficulties with the game's function, it won't be fun to play. Games must be fun if they want to keep players interested.

For this paper, I interviewed one of my friend's younger brothers, an avid player of video games. Ian plays video games for a few hours every day, he says, on xbox, nintendo switch, and mobile devices. In the interview, he says that what he thinks makes video games enjoyable is having fun. Although he plays video games more suited to younger users, there were a few things he had to say about games he disliked. The main things he didn't like about games were the difficulty (too hard, too easy) bad graphics, or he "wasn't as interested as he thought he was." His viewpoint as someone who plays a lot of video games is very useful for the question I'm asking. Difficulty of games is something that is hard to balance for game developers. As discussed earlier, the mechanics must be intuitive so the player can pick up on them easily. However, if the entire game is easy, the player will get bored, just like Ian did.

"What makes video games enjoyable?" is the question I've tried to answer. So, what does make video games enjoyable? I'd say it's a variety of things. Video games are so complex, and what makes them entertaining is even more complex. There's such a huge variety of video games available to play, on dozens of platforms and consoles, and in many different ways. Expecting to find just one answer for such a broad question would be unjustifiable. So, I've determined a couple things that make video games enjoyable. As Ian said, games should be fun. Fun means different things to each person, so different games will be better for different people. Different difficulties and styles of games will be different for different people. A more casual game style, like mobile games or kid's games, might be more enjoyable for a gamer like Ian. However, strategy based games such as Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, or shooting games such as CS:GO might be more suited to older players. In short, what makes video games enjoyable is the variety of games there are to play. Games are for everyone, and each type of video game has people who enjoy it, and people who don't. There is no one clear answer to this question. Unfortunately, this means that if I want to be more involved in playing video games, I'm going to have to try some games and find out what I like. If you're interested in video games, I suggest you do the same.

Works Cited

Jabr, Ferris. “Can You Really Be Addicted to Video Games?” New York Times, 22 October 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/magazine/can-you-really-be-addicted-to-video-games.html. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Leeson, David M. "Northrop Frye and the story structure of the single-player shooter." English Studies in Canada, vol. 37, no. 2, 2011, p. 137+. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A294194389/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=e5b85bc6. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/video%20game. Accessed 5 November 2020.

S., Ian. Personal interview. December 2020.

Stych, Anne. “Americans' favorite forms of entertainment are digital.” bizjournals, 28 March 2019, https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/03/americans-favorite-forms-of-entertainment-are.html?page=all#:~:text=The%20shift%20to%20digital%20is,research%20by%20The%20NPD%20Group. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Vogt, Ryan. "For all its greatness, Final Fantasy VII wasn't a good game. Let's remember why." Washingtonpost.com, 7 Apr. 2020. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619723232/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=0b17c660. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Zook, Alexander and Mark O. Riedl. "Game Conceptualization and Development Processes in the Global Game Jam." School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, http://www.fdg2013.org/program/workshops/papers/GGJ2013/ggj13_submission_4.pdf. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.