#its designed for level 1 but maybe people would have more fun at level 5 or something?

[rwby-confess]

60-something confessions, weve paid our tribute, what are YOUR confessions

Okay, here goes 10 confessions from me:

1.

I wish we had seen Pyrrahs friendships, I think she and Ren would've been good friends since both of them are so level headed.

I headcanon that they would take care of the school garden together, Pyrrah would struggle a bit with delicate plants but same time be happy to be able to learn from his peers new things for once.

One day she learns that Nora and Ren are orphans. Her respect for them grows, seeing them as so much stronger for not having the same support she had growing up, yet here they are thriving. She makes sure to invite them over during holidays and for other things they possibly missed out on as kids.

She doesn't care for cooking but often goes to shop for ingredients with Nora.

2.

I think Freezerburn is incredibly soft.

Weiss is able to cool down hot-headed Yang and Yang is able to melt away the Ice Queens tsundere tendencies. :'-) <3

3.

I miss seeing the street fashion influence when it comes to designs, ofcourse I understand why it isn't there as much anymore but I can still moan about it.

Yangs' tsuyome-esque looks was my fave, it was fire and I wanted to cosplay it so badly.

Ruby's look reminds me of something I wore when I was 12yo actually

4.

Only on my second watch I realised that Ironwood looks really hot with this look and it's a shame that it got SO little screen time. And same with Winters first look.

5.

Also on my second watch I realised that the straps on Oscars' gloves are green not black ???

6.

Remember bootleg Neptune from volume 4? Yeah he sure exists. But what if he did more?

Weiss is trapped in Atlas, she's lonelier than ever, she can only go to places and events dad approves of. And this guy keeps coming around, maybe they meet at the Schnee Manors garden, why not go for a bad boy?

They have fling going on, for Weiss it's mostly out of boredom and finding him good looking. If she's trapped might as well have fun. Maybe they'll get in trouble or have some other sort of side plot going on together but eventually when Weiss gets a window to escape out of Atlas, she's faced with a decision.

Stay with the guy who obviously finds it insane to trade living high life in Atlas to go chase some pals she met at school in other kingdom. Weiss snaps out of the rose coloured glasses after hearing this, ultimately choosing her friends.

Idk I just wish they let them do the usual young people fuck ups and learning experiences if there's going to be whole volume of them sitting around

7.

Yang's probably closest thing Oscar got for mother figure...

8.

The bird thing. Make Raven tell Weiss and Yang how the experience was as she remembers, give them reason to be shocked. So here's my suggestion:

Maybe the process was violent since current humans aren't used to magic in any shape, they're stripped from their autonomy in that moment and it's humiliating.

Like Amber was in the chamber beneath Beacon, Oz did it to Branwens there in similar way? Underground to not attract grimm, no one to hear their screams, its cold and dark, they're stripped like Amber to act as guinea pigs for this man.

Qrow has (more or less) made peace with all that trauma and what happened since he thinks its suffering for the greater good. After all, the man doesn't really have home to go back to. He doesn't want to bring misfortune to people he loves and the tribe doesn't really want him back.

However Raven learns that Salem can't be beaten, meaning she and Qrow suffered for only to be ideal candidates for a suicide mission...

9.

I want Qrowin angst, please crwby, I want to suffer lmao

Give Qrow absolutely losing it, calling Winter after Atlas falls asking her if she knows where the kids are? Where did she last saw them?

And when Winter tries to answer Qrows questions she can't bring herself to say it; they're gone. She was there and she couldn't save them, not even her own sister. The words just won't come out... and after the silence she tells him to meet her in Vacuo, after all he deserves to know.

Whatever differences they had in the past feel so miniscule now.

(Aaand I headcanon that both of them craved for a "normal" family, making this little story even more horrible!)

10.

Yang "shooting" kids' leg on live TV should've had more consequences me thinks. Give me atleast someone commenting or being vary of her.

Her arm is brand new Atlas tech according to Tai, maybe someone would see it as an issue after finding out that she got it for free from Ironwood himself.

Maybe anti Yang propaganda being showed around town could've pushed her to work with Robyn (lol)

"Quite frankly miss I'm about to piss myself right about now, so this one is on the house"

[everygame]

Super Mario Bros. 2 / The Lost Levels

Developed/Published by: Nintendo EAD / Nintendo Released: 3/05/1986 Completed: 14/05/2023 Completion: Beat it by using warp zones (1-2 to 4-1, 5-2 to 8) and abusing saves at the most miserable parts. At least I'm honest! Version Played: Switch Online Trophies / Achievements: n/a 

How many times have I played the original Super Mario Bros. in my life? It must be thousands, from the real thing, pirate carts, emulation as early as Nesticle… of all video games it is probably the platonic form of the video game, the first screen the most indelible image, beating out Pac-Man or anything modern.

It is the Mona Lisa to art, or Dancing Queen to pop. Something we all know, something you respect, something that, probably, you never need to look at or hear again.

I do think that’s how I feel about the original Super Mario Bros. A masterpiece that I don’t really want to touch. In fact, even though I’ve never played The Lost Levels, I’ve played Super Mario Bros. so much that I approached this almost without curiosity, and after playing it for a while and slamming into its absurd difficulty spikes, I put it down for a long long time.

Because I just found it boring. The story goes that when developing VS. Super Mario Bros., Nintendo’s unusual (US-only!) arcade remix of the NES original, Miyamoto and his team had such fun making the levels more difficult that they thought it would be even more fun if they made an entire game of extremely hard levels–and with Nintendo all-in on the Famicom Disk System, a new Mario game wouldn’t even have to be a huge production. They could just slam it out on disk, quickly.

The thing is… as a level designer, I’m keenly aware that making extremely difficult levels is… well, it’s fun! But it’s fun because it’s easy. You just have to do a couple of things. You make everything that the player has to do require them get it perfect or at the absolute limit of their player character’s abilities. So the platform is as far as it can be for them to land on it at full speed. And then the other thing you do is that you trick the player as much as possible. You know that they need to jump there to make it across, so why not put a block in their way so they’ll bump their head and not make it! Funny!

It’s one of the first thing a level designer does, and I have been as guilty of it as anyone. It’s why games like Limbo are bad, because they’re tuned exactly this way. The player doesn’t play. They just do exactly, exactly what the designer is demanding that they do, with the frustration that what they’re being asked to do is either obscure, difficult, or both.

The funny thing about The Lost Levels, though, is that despite its fierce reputation, the game isn’t made up of only these moments. In fact, when you play the Lost Levels, you become aware of what it is that you’re good at in a Mario game and which parts of the design or controls you’ve never got a hook on. Because while I wouldn’t claim the levels have any meaningful overarching design concept, they generally just… play like a Super Mario Bros. level, until you get to a difficulty spike or a lie.

Playing the Lost Levels, I realized: I’m actually not bad at getting past Hammer Bros.; I guess I’ve internalized how to do it. I can get past fire bars!

But a springboard? Fuck me. It’ll kill me 99 times out of a hundred. I just can’t hit the button at the right time, and maybe I never will. From about the second level of this I’m fucked.

The cleverness, then, of the designers at the time was to work out which of these things were going to fuck the most players. What ways of playing Super Mario Bros. people hadn’t internalised. So it’s not just jumping to hit things at Mario’s limit, sometimes you’re having to awkwardly jump to platforms below you, or hit blocks just right so you don’t immediately suicide and can then get on top of them later.

It’d probably be fine if you didn’t have to generally play through the entire fucking level just to get back to the bit you fucked up! Unlike the classic argument for this (“you’re getting better at the game each time you have to run to the bit you got stuck on!”) here you’re already good at Super Mario Bros. so used to it, generally, that you’re bored of it. And then you do a bit that uses a muscle you’ve maybe never used.

This is probably fun to some people, and I’m sure it was fun to a room full of Nintendo game designers in 1986, but it’s not for me. I mean they really are taking the piss at some points (like 8-2, where the exit is actually completely hidden without a bit of luck or foreknowledge.) 

Some people–many people–are still happy when Dancing Queen comes on the radio. It’s possible you’re one of the people for whom more Mario is always a good thing, who consider the slippy inertia and brown graphics as good as a warm bath. If you are, this is largely more Mario, just sort of unfair in a way that is only rarely interesting.

Will I ever play it again? The Lost Levels, originally Super Mario Bros. 2 “for Super Players” truly was for the super player in that if you could finish it without using warps you got an extra world–where you only got one life. And if you beat the game eight times, you got four extra worlds. I will have a noodle on the SNES port of this one day but I just don’t feel like I need to see any of those extras…

Final Thought: The Lost Levels stands out to me as a situation where an American video game executive actually was correct, which even as I type it I can’t really believe it. Howard Phillips, Nintendo’s product analyst, gave such poor feedback to this that it was decided that it shouldn’t be released in the US.

I don’t think Phillips was thinking this way, but The Lost Levels represents a moment for the Mario franchise where it could have faced stagnation and irrelevance. Nintendo of Japan was thinking in the past. Think of Lode Runner, a series that really doesn’t come up in conversation at all, but in the early 80s was a phenomenon. Sequels and remixes were released endlessly, in a flood, doing nothing but creating more and more difficult and obscure games that you couldn’t even begin to play unless you were a Lode Runner master. I myself remember trying to get past the first level of Hyper Lode Runner on the Game Boy as a kid and never managing it.

It would be possible to hypothesise, actually, that in being forced to remix Doki Doki Panic into Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3 as a true evolution of the platform game as a whole was begat.

Not that I’m saying that’s what happened or anything. Just interesting to think about.

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up digital copies of exp., a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Some Divinity-related math I started typing in a reply but it got too long so it gets a post instead:

Assume each player contributes 1 point of damage. 

A fireteam of 6 therefore does 6 x 1 = 6.

Now take one player out, but add 25% to the others: 5 x 1.25 = 6.25, or ~105% of 6.

Change the buff to 15%: 5 x 1.15 = 5.75 ~ 95% of previous damage, a net swing of 10%.

To break exactly even (i.e. same damage with or without Div) the buff would need to be 20% (5 x 1.2 = 6) 

With a 15% buff, not having Div would have to cause each player to lose 5% of their damage to break even.

Whether aim can cause you to lose >5% of your damage depends a lot on *how* you’re doing damage. It depends on the burstiness of your damage, length of damage phase, the usefulness of AoE/DoT damage (remember Breach & Clear Anarchy?) and weirder factors like “are you using weapons that don’t care about crits (Xeno, Wardcliff, etc.)? Are you using weapons that give other advantages for hitting crits (Whisper, Hawkmoon, etc.)? Are you a Golden Gun/Nighthawk Hunter, for whom one missed shot might be 15% or more of your damage? Or are you a Nova Bomb warlock and your damage depends entirely on whether Big Happy Fun Ball goes for the right target?”

All of this math assumes each player does equal amounts of damage. In reality encounter design and player loadouts vary so much that it’s impossible to even say how often this assumption is true. For instance Kingsfall Day 1 a large chunk of our Warpriest boss phase damage was being put down by three Star-Eater/Golden Gun Hunters, so taking someone else off direct damage to run Div and ensure all of those shots hit would be an excellent investment even if Div only gave a 5% buff. By contrast we used Wardcliff for the sisters, which doesn’t even do precision damage; in that case a 15% Div buff, i.e. incurring a net 5% damage decrease, makes Div not worth it.

In conclusion: at a 25% buff, in all situations where Divinity gave a usable crit bubble for five attackers, it gave a net damage increase (i.e. was “worth it”). At a 15% buff, whether it is “worth it” becomes highly situational, dependent on factors like team composition and encounter design.

And now for the opinions section:

Do I like this change? Not really, no. I don’t feel that Divinity was distorting encounter design in a significant way. Oh, they took it into account like they do all meta-relevant weapons, but it certainly wasn’t a back-breaker like Gjally or Whisper. That “usable crit bubble for five attackers” clause cuts out a lot of bosses. In the last two new raids Div has only been useful in a single encounter each. Even in Kingsfall, which followed the old “sack of HP” design philosophy, it’s only useful in two encounters (Warpriest and Oryx). Raiding - okay, “six-player pinnacle activities” - is Div’s only use-case; it’s not like it rules the roost in every situation. The hitboxes of Destiny bosses aren’t known for their consistency, either - ever tried to hit Taniks in the head? Div is also a one-person weapon, not a mandate for an entire fireteam. I just don’t believe it’s a problem that needed addressing. 

Then again, I’m not Bungie. I don’t know how much Divinity has messed with encounter design behind the scenes, or what they have planned that might be disrupted by it. Maybe this is like the Sleeper ricochet nerf where they know it’s going to screw with stuff that hasn’t yet been released.

Anyone implying that hyper-precise aim should be a required skill for Destiny content, even extremely high-level Destiny content, can go play CoD and leave the rest of us the hell alone. Even leaving aside the issue of how aim is a “skill” with hard physical limits that are a lot more common and restrictive than people realize, the fact is: Destiny is not a twitch shooter. It will never be a twitch shooter. It literally can’t be a twitch shooter, because of how its netcode works. Destiny does not have “dedicated servers” the way games like CoD or Battlefront do. Why do you think the PvP players are always bitching about how they totally hit that shot? Its server architecture will always cause a certain level of network latency, and that level is much higher than “pure FPS” games - higher than I think a lot of people who play other online multiplayer games realize. That constrains how fast any player can be expected to act or react. You can’t hit perfect shots if the visual on your screen is literally inaccurate. Yes, I do think it’s reasonable to ask for a certain base level of aim in content like Day 1 raids. But success should never be conditioned on near-perfect aim, if only because Destiny literally doesn’t work like that. Remember the hideous rubberbanding on Atraks damage in DSC Day 1? Remember the year of Whisper, where you were SOL if you couldn’t hit three rapid precision shots on a moving target? 

Do you really want to combine those things?? 

You do not.

[they-them-that]

Ranking Precures based off their design and concept Part 2.

9. Heart Catch Precure

This is my favourite Precure season besides the original for the art style alone, despite putting it in the middle. I love the dresses and floral theme! The designs are so eye-catching although it does admittedly feel similar to Ojamajo Doremi.

There is the problem with Cure Sunshine being a trap character but not because she's willingly gender nonconforming. Feminizing GNC characters and framing nonconformity as a restriction when it's normally the other way around epitomizes traditional femininity as "natural" which is a harmful message for GNC girls and trans kids.

8. Star Twinkle Precure

I'm biased for an alien themed Precure because that's right up my alley! All the colours look so nice together and the outfits are playful and fun to look at. They could've done more to really embody their theme though, I wouldn't think of space just by looking. Especially when the alien precures just look like normal people with different ears.

7. Kira Kira Precure A La Mode

I love how much they committed to the idea and they went for two concepts here; pastry and animal! The actual outfits are so cute on their own but the pawed shoes and giant animals ears and tails are next level! It's probably Precure's funnest season in terms of theme. Zero subtlety and I love it.

6. Go! Princess Precure

It's a lot to look at but I just love the extravagance of it all! The hair is extra, the dresses are intricate, and they execute the princess theme so well! All the details just add to the luxury of it all but nothing actually feels out of place for me.

5. Yes! Precure 5 (Go Go)

Their hairstyles have so much personality and the butterfly theme helps make them distinct. Both outfit versions scream classic Precure which I love and the Go Go ones are a simple but noticeable upgrade. It's an understated yet perfect step into group precures without doing too little or too much!

4. Fresh Pretty Cure

I don't even know how to explain why I really love the appearance and style of Fresh Precure as it feels understated. It's just so cohesive to me, there's obviously a stylistic theme but the girls are still strongly distinct and character driven in their design. Their look feels original without relying on an obvious theme. It's hard to put my finger on but I just know that I love it!

3. Hug! Precure

My favourite in terms of design, only knocked back because of its concept. They just look so gorgeous, I especially love the makeup! Their colour pallets are soft and they're just mesmerizing to look at. It kind of throws me off because they end up looking older than their actual age but I think this is the prettiest Precure line up!

2. Witchy Precure

This is the most clever concept in Precure to me! I love the idea of having the same girls getting different magical girl outfits, it keeps it exciting! They also have very strong personalities that makes their individuality shine through their clothes while the witch aspect is never compromised. It just creates a lot of variety and cool ideas! All the outfits are stunning as well.

1. Pretty Cure

Feels like it should be a given the classic would get first place, they were the blueprint after all. Maybe it is nostalgia talking but the outfits are still top notch! It feels knightly with the shoulder and chest pieces reminding me of armour but the frills and bows add that touch of flare and femininity. Cure Black's outfit has an edge to it that I don't see from other precures and her outfit feels practical on top of stylish! Cure White's is more graceful that captures an elegance that hasn't been repeated since. They contrast each other perfectly! Shiny Luminous has a princess look that suits the theme, even though she does stick out to me. Nonetheless, they still slap and can't be any more respected!

[snugglebuddyhan]

Saw people talking about things they've never done in warframe and wanted to list some of mine

20 things I've never done in the game as a legendary 3 player with over 3K hours:

1. Other than the quest I've never done one of Kahls missions. I remember reading about it before it was released. I anticipated it so much I literally counted down the days and when it dropped my reaction was pretty much "oh....." it just didn't excite me the way I thought it would. I love Kahl as a character, but his missions are probably the most anti fun thing to be implemented into the game. The only thing that could maybe persuade me into doing them one day is the ephemera, but I wouldn't count on it

2. Never attempted to fight the tridolons by myself. Am I capable? Yes, but eidolons in general don't interest me enough to want to fight all 3 of them without a team, especially after ranking up with Onkko and buying all the arcanes. I'm worn out and over it. Plus, the whole night cycle system is annoying and is another contributing factor. I don't like timed farming or having to try and remember while I'm busy with other things to check when it's night time and usually by the time I remember to check the day cycle is just starting. So, screw it. The eidolons as a whole are a pretty cool concept tho. I mean, giant sentients? They're like the titans of the plains. We're ants to them. The size difference is actually amazing and for someone who is megalophobic fighting them can be both equally terrifying and exciting. I just hate the way de decided to execute the whole thing. Makes it less desirable to do imo

3. Never reached the level cap. I do a lot of steel path endurance runs on Ani for fun, but it has never crossed my mind while in there to try and fight long enough to reach the cap. First, it takes a while to reach it and I don't have that much patience. Second, I don't trust that the game won't crash or my lan cable won't decide to randomly disconnect resulting in me loosing everything and third, I just don't see the point in doing so other than maybe the bragging rights that come with it. I do a few hours and then I dip and restart if I'm up to it

4. Never stayed long enough in the index to fight John Prodman. It only takes an hour, but I just really hate the index. I'm always ready to leave as soon as I spawn in and 9/10 people make the process more boring than it already is with all the rhinos running around hoarding points. Just green globes everywhere you look. I know why they do it, but it's not my preferred play style. I don't really care too much about efficiency, although often times the whole hoarding process makes the missiom longer than it should be anyway. I just want to have fun if I'm going to be there and GOD forbid you don't follow their plan. I've been cursed at so many times and have been witness to other players who are just trying to help being called slurs that I refused to go back in for a very long time. The index is more toxic than it is being on a try hard tridolon team. You're basically given no freedom to play. I'm not a bot and neither is anyone else on the squad. The most I'm willing to do if asked is to not roam the map if I'm the host. If people want to play by a certain strategy maybe they should consider using the recruiting chat instead of throwing temper tantrums like a little child. Meta mentality is an illness

5. Never gone past zone 8 in eso. Literally no point. I just rinse and repeat

6. Never manually put together a K-drive. I rarely use them to begin with, so I don't see a reason in trying to make one of my own. If and when I decide to use one I just use the infested one, bc it looks the coolest. No other K-drive aesthetic comes close to beating its design

7. Never attempted the conclave. Saw that it was pvp and said no, thanks. Pvp makes my anxiety levels shoot through the roof. Adrenaline runs so high I can't even concentrate. It's not fun to me and anxiety is something I already struggle with every waking minute of my life. No need to make it worse

8. I have never attempted to max out all the schools. I think I have 2 left. I tell myself to just get the farming over with, but I loose interest as soon as I go to buy the lenses. It's not a hard process. All I have to do is put a lense on Sayrn and farm eso or just simply do my usual things and my focus will build up over time, but I just can't be bothered for some reason

9. I do sabotage missions and find caches for fun, bc I'm a glutton for treasure hunting, but in all my 7 years of playing I've never gotten nitain as a reward

10. Aside from ranking them I've never equipped a hound or moa as a companion. Their designs are cool, but they don't serve that much purpose to me

11. I've never used a specter. Actually, never even built one

12. I have health restores (the ones that instantly restore all your health) in my gear wheel, but have never used one

13. Never built the smoking body ephemera, bc I can't be bothered to farm the ash piece I need. The circuit made it easier to obtain, but I don't care for it therfore I don't pay it any mind. If he's there for the week I'll never even know it

14. Never played with an incarnon weapon. I know how good they are, but they don't interest me right now. I don't care too much about power. I have weapons I like that get me through whatever I'm doing with no issues and I'm content with that for now

15. Anytime I need standing for my syndicates I just do whatever and let it gradually fill up instead of picking missions off the syndicate tab

16. Never used traps to capture a cephalon target. My focus and ability to follow their movements while scanning them is pretty good, so no need

17. Never picked a spy fissure even if it was the only mission in the tier I was wanting to run

18. Never said anything in the region chat. I just sit back and mind everybody's business

19. Never played the shawzin

20. Never subsumed all my base warframes. I only subsume them when I have a need for their abilities. There's no harm in just getting it all over with, but just like a few other things on this list, I couldn't be bothered

[mixdown01]

Notes from research on showreels

I was looking up tips for creating a showreel - specifically one for sound - so compiled some of the stuff I found. The first source had a lot of SD tips as well, so I included them.

Here's all my notes and sources on what I read!

6 Tips For Creating Your First Sound Design Showreel: | A Sound Effect

[mostly for game design but still useful cause doing design for games would be a shout]

Start with a Stereo bed for all generic "base" things (room tone, wind, general ambience) than add SFX in mono for stuff that makes noise - and automate that to camera position

Unique soundscape and ambience for each different camera position

(more for games) Little things matter when doing foley, beef it up - when cloth moves it should move, zippers, bodyfalls and impacts can always be bigger than you think. Each chara has different outfit, therefore have fun with deciding how that outfit sounds when it moves

Make stereo SFX mono : When things in distance sound too 'wide' due to source mats, and therefore doesn't sound like its positioned correctly, make things mono.

Related to above - if source sounds too stereo but needs to sound wide, convert source SFX to mono and add stereo reverb + widening plugins (Valhalla Supermassive and iZotope Ozone Imager are free recommendations)

For redesigns, replace what music is doing in the scene with cinematic SFX (i.e: for a horror scene, add "metal hits, drones, and risers to emphasise all of the key story beats")

Short and snappy showreels for the win - around a minute is his rec, with 15 sec clips and 5 sec filler if needed

don't start it with 5 second of silence - add a little sound effect to start/end titles!

Build the perfect showreel: 10 top tips | Creative Bloq

[tips for first showreel build - mostly for animation but still has relevant tips]

Cut Ruthlessly - only your best work

Keep it short - 1 to 1.5 minutes in length - studios look at a lot of reels

Start and End well - begin and end the reel with your best work, specifically ending with your second best piece and starting with the first. But keep in mind that the rest should still be decent work

Think of showreel as an ad; which aren't usually more than 30 seconds long. You are selling something.

(More for animation) match your reel to the studio! for instance, don't put in Orc models if a studio does architecture visualization.

(more for animation) Indicate what you created - in student films often its group work, so be clear in what you contributed

(Animation but could be relevant to film portfolio) Show inner workings: Shot breakdowns, software used

Better to go for simple and well done than complex and mid

related- Technique beats individuality (might be more for animation, but could apply to film)

Be a Sound Designer - Episode #1 - Building a killer showreel - sounDesign

[Tips and examples of reels - relevant to first reels]

Should flow well - avoid choppy fade ins and outs

using existing footage of a film trailer, animation, etc and doing a redesign is alright for an entry level position if you have no other work - Make sure to credit properly

2 minutes is borderline too much. keep it around 1 minute with a snappy edit

Put your reel in your linkedin profile

MY THOUGHTS/IDEAS

once I get a rough idea of what to put into it, going into AE and/or Blender and mocking up some transitions and short filler to design to in order to transition from clip to clip could be a good idea

movies - Whats the best way of presenting a sound design showreel ? - Sound Design Stack Exchange

[people answer the above question]

reel should depend on who views it: Musuem curator, Film producer, ad agency...

Redesign again - make it interesting and pleasantly surprising.

particles and colors - theatres and museums, maybe, but def not for film and tv. Viewers want to see something they relate to

How to make a Sound Design Demo Reel (designingsound.org)

[pretty simple and goes over a lot of the above]

Label your responsibilities - make everything you did clear.

Add details to your credits - if your doing sound design, your doing audio editing as well most of the time. Foley Artist, Recording Engineer, VO record, ADR, mixing engineer, music editor, and music supervisor are all valid credits that you probably have done.

showreel - What to put in show reel - Sound Design Stack Exchange

[another Q mostly about content]

Include what you want to work in - i.e Game audio creation, commercial based prod/post prod audio, long term linear media like film, quick contract work like logos and short SD projects.

[kirnet]

so the dnd campaign that i was gonna start got pushed back a few weeks but i wrote a stand alone oneshot as an intro to the world and game and all of that. would any moots wanna maybe play it over this weekend or friday or something?

its a more whimsical local adventure thats designed to be pretty short. its designed for completely new players to teach them how to rp and explore but i can adjust it to be less of a tutorial and more challenging. it would just be run over discord bc idk how to use roll 20 and would be pretty low tech. if that sounds fun lmao

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Nabbit

Debut: New Super Mario Bros. U

Nabbit! You all know him, you love him, you asked for him! By which I mean we got an Ask asking to cover Nabbit, and I had previously no intention of doing so but it made me think, hey, I WOULD like to talk about Nabbit! Thanks @oddity-txt! 

Nabbit! Like. Nab it. Cause he’s a rab-a thief, he’s a rabbit thief you get it yeah. This guy is a real piece of work, let me tell you! He steals items from Toad Houses and runs off with them! Those are for Mario! Can you believe not everyone in this economy agrees with hoarding power-ups to give them away to Mario in wacky chance-based minigames? So its up to you to chase him down. And chase him down you do! 

But why does Nabbit want these items? Does he just enjoy the thrill of the chase? Or is he just trying to provide for his family? Can he sell them on the item black market? Why would there be an item black market when you can find this stuff anywhere on the street? Mario doesn’t care. Mario wants to attack the symptom of the problem rather than addressing the systemic cause.  

Still, I feel like we need to have a good talk about what Nabbit is... other than a hooligan, obviously! Earlier I called him a rabbit but taking a look at him, it’s fairly clear he’s wearing some kind of rubbery rabbit suit, with only the black arms and feets sticking out... So of course we need to speculate all the possibilities! Possibility A is that he is a human or some other known character in disguise, which isn’t fun. Next! Possibility B is that he’s an actual rabbit wearing a rabbit-shaped bodysuit, which I quite like because it is absurd. Possibility 3 is none of the above and he is some mystery creature, which I’ll leave up to YOU to imagine because I’m not entirely sure what that would be. 

Point number 2 about Nabbit’s ambiguous identity: the bandanna! It has a similar (but not identical) design to Bowser Jr.’s bandanna, and even though he does not work for Bowser, it just feels like a strangely specific design choice! I can get why Junior wants to look ferocious, but Nabbit is more of the stealthy type right? Because of this I’ve always envisioned Nabbit as having actual fangs under the bandanna, like the Impostor from Amongus, which you can’t disprove because he’s never been seen without it.

Or maybe it’s just fashion. It’s probably just fashionable. 

This isn’t the last we’ll see of Nabbit of course! The developers of New Super Mario Bros. U had precisely three (3) new ideas, and damn if they weren’t gonna milk them for all they’re worth! I could get upset that characters from the New Super series get this treatment when other more beloved characters from spin-offs don’t, but also, come on... look at the guy! I can’t stay mad at him! He’s purple!

So in Nabbit’s next ever appearance, New Super Luigi U... he became playable! Wow, that was quick! With Mario gone, they scrambled around the office for anyone they could find to fill his place, and they settled on Nabbit! They’re not paying Nabbit extra though, so he kind of had to phone it in.

In this game, Nabbit is totally invincible! Why? Maybe he is like Wario and simply does not care enough to get hit. He can’t use power-ups because they didn’t have the budget to design new costumes for him and he can’t pick up items or ride Yoshis. The game frames this as an “easy mode”, but what kind of easy mode forces one player to always use it? Let’s be honest, it’s because they didn’t want to make a brand new character. The Year of Luigi was a tough time for Nintendo! 

So rather then collect power-ups he just puts them in his bag, and they get converted into 1-Ups at the end of the level. Is THIS what he was stealing those items for? Is Nabbit’s ultimate goal to reach immortality through illegally trading 1-Up mushrooms? Maybe something like that probably. It’s kinda fun that he’s a ‘bad guy’ but Luigi and friends don’t really mind keeping him around. 

Nabbit also appears in spin-offs of course. Enough spin-offs that he feels like a proper modern Mario character, but sparsely enough that you think “wow, they put Nabbit in this game?” when they put Nabbit in the game. Here he is in the Rio Olympics, and you could make a very easy joke about him being a thief in Rio de Janeiro, which I won’t. Instead I will ask: why the heck is he carrying his sack in a marathon! Just let go dude! Don’t they have changing room lockers in the Olympics?

Here he is in Golf! As DLC, for all the six people out there who loved Mario Golf World Tour so much they simply had to get new characters for it. This picture labels him as an Eagle but I’m pretty sure he isn’t one, though I might be wrong. 

Here is Nabbit, well known thief, outlaw, and general ne'er-do-well as a doctor! I mean, I know the healthcare system is a scam but this is a little on the nose don’t you think? He just put a pill sticker on his thief sack and called it a day! Can we even be sure there are pills in there? What if he is prescribing patients with stolen Super Acorns from Acorn Plains 5 - Rise of the Piranha Plants? Oh no! 

Nabbit Mario Kart? It is more likely than you think! Of course only in the mobile game with a gacha. They could’ve done it in Mario Kart 8 but they know people will pay good money for Nabbit! Well jokes on them because I got him in the gacha for free. Nyeeh. 

Nabbit is also in Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam! Did you know this? I didn’t play Paper Jam, so I didn’t. I’m sorry. You need to catch him in order to get Bros. Attack items. At one later point, you even fight him! Or rather, fight enemies he kept in his bag, while he naps in the background. Is that legal? He can also pop out behind you and steal your hammers to whack you with. Yeouch! 

However, he also fights ALONGSIDE you for some fights against Bowser’s minions, acting basically like a fourth party member, except you can’t control him or anything. He gives the Bros. healing items from his bag or will occasionally bonk an enemy himself. Hooray for morally ambiguous characters! I guess he’s cool with anything as long as he gets what he wants. 

Finally, I would like to talk about Nabbit in Super Smash Bros.! As one of the few original things to NSMBU, he of course appears in the Mushroom Kingdom U, alongside equally iconic characters like Beanstalk and Water Geyser! In this game he’ll grab people and stuff them in his bag, and then proceed to just... fly away, so they are killed. Wait a minute. A thief who kidnaps characters only to kill them and himself...? That sounds familiar! 

I knew it! This wasn’t really Nabbit at all, but rather Tac from Kirby Super Star sneakily disguised as Nabbit! Sakurai thought he could sneak you into this stage to satiate his never-ending lust for Kirby Super Star references in Smash... He wasn’t even content just having you in Smash Run and Smash Tour! 

Well, mystery solved everyone! I think we can go ahead and end this post while we arrest Tac for his crimes of identity theft, and not regular theft, which isn’t really an actual crime after all. 

[courtney-deserved-better]

Just out of curiosity, who are your top ten favourite td characters?

ooh fun ask!!

honorable mentions go to:

dawn, who i enjoyed as a character but left way too quickly (and is kind of overrated imo)

gwen, who sucks as a character but had a lot of potential

duncan, who kind of got worse each season but had some entertaining moments (and also his voice is >>>>)

bridgette, who i liked until she started dating geoff (but this may be bc she reminds me of a childhood friend i miss lol)

dj, whose character got worse in the later seasons but was awesome in island

shawn, for being hilarious

kitty, bc i thought her arc and character was cool

and heather, im sorry it took me so long to see her as the girlboss she is

and as for my top 10:

10. it definitely took a while but anne maria has really grown on me (she was ROBBED in roti) and she has such a fun voice. that episode where she's literally punching blocks of ice?? queen shit

9. jasmine is one of the best characters in pahkitew island hands down. she's capable, level headed, and her friendship with sammy was so sweet. also love her voice

8. scarlett's ending was horribly written but i love the premise of quiet nerdy kid actually being super evil. some of my favorite small moments from pahkitew is when her facade would drop for a second and she'd make a face or deadpan something

7. even though she got such little screen time, eva will always have a special place in my heart. strong with weird friends who wears purple and has a hard time interacting with people? girl mood

6. sanders is so, so good. as fun of a character as macarthur is she's also a lot to deal with and sanders was being patient and civil almost all the time, even when macarthur didn't show her the same respect. she literally fucked up her own BROKEN ARM so they could keep going with the race?? biggest badass in td hands down. major respect.

5. leshawna. do i even have to explain this. i want her to be my friend but i would probably be so in awe of her that id be too anxious to talk to her. shes so strong so supportive so sweet and absolutely iconic. she deserves more love and should've won a season

4. i know emma gets a lot of hate but i love her. bossy older sister with trust issues around romance? big fucking mood. she has some funny moments and her relationship with kitty is fantastic, super entertaining. maybe i, a fellow control freak, relate to her a little too much but shhhhh

3. i dont think these last three are gonna be a surprise to anyone. but anyways alejandro is a manipulative icon which i love. hes so smart in how he plays the game its very refreshing to watch, and he also has his random drama queen moments which are funny. his character design is also very aesthetically pleasing

2. hes probably overrated for the amount of screen time he gets but noah. dude had a lot of funny lines and SO MUCH wasted potential. easily my favorite character in the ridonculous race. he’s just very entertaining and is really fun to write for

1. ive never kinned anybody and never will but if i did it would be courtney. girl has been my comfort character since i was like twelve. i relate to her a LOT and no matter how badly they screw up her writing (and they have FUCKED it up) she will always be the character i root for. she’s got an inexplicable and embarrassingly special place in my heart. im serious i dont think ever ive liked any character in any form of media more than courtney. theres something wrong with me but its ok <3

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Lies

Warning: Spoilers! And possibly having your heart torn into pieces. Other than that, have fun!

We open up with Marinette figuring out the recipes for the power ups as the new guardian.

I am disappointed that she still has not stopped oogooling over Adrien when he appeared on the news. Especially since she was allegedly with Luka by then. (I'll explain what I mean in just a minute)

Adrien was tired after the day he had as Adrien, which is a contrast of what Marinette believes his life is like. But being Chat Noir is the highlight of his day...

...only to not see Ladybug show up for patrols. And we see that it was all due to her figuring out the powerups.

Also, the patrols are a thing in cannon and I am still not over it after "Truth".

Chat Noir hoping for an akumatization so he can escape his civilian life radiated the same energy as Alya asking for akumatizations to interview the temporary heroes on her IG post. I get it, but still! We do not have people in danger for our needs.

Plagg being the one who announces any voice messages for Chat and asking for cheese through the feature on the Chat Phone brings me a whole other level of life.

Also, the whole milk thing at Le Grand Paris bar counter. It was hilarious, but also very sad. He really missed his m'lady

He ends the patrol after he saw Kagami training with her mom. And the smiles on his face! *Cries in Marichat and Ladynoir*

Plagg is the one that encourages Adrien to move on from Adrien, just like he applauded him from doing so in Loveater.

Kagami apparently said that fencing lessons are scheduled an hour in advance and Adrien (with that goofy grin on his face) knew what was up!

Both Ms. Tsurugi and Gabriel are very pissed at one another for the schedule change. That's hilarious, although everything comes at a price.

The parallels! Kagami is apparently learning Russian at her mother's request. Truly is a reflection of Adrien, civilian life wise.

Kagami? Lying???? The hell???? Who are you and what have you done to Kagami????? (Why am I surprised, y'all did this in Desperada)

She lies to their parents and the teacher to be in the art room with Adrien. I get it, teenage rebellion after being under an uninvolved parent, but still!

I like how the writers gave Kagami another dimension by saying she loves art, but her mom does not like her passion for drawing.

To Kagami's mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR DAUGHTER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH???!!! HER DRAWINGS BELONG IN A MUSEUM!

Also, art reflecting the truth? Hmmm.....

Since people like mentioning that Marinette has a thing for people with absent parents after "Truth", I will now say that Adrien has a thing for people who are great at drawing. I do not take criticism.

Kagami is hinting that Adrien's civilian life is not his true self (thank you for understanding him!)...

...but also says that being a "clown" (it was the Chat pose) is also not who he really is. The fandom would disagree with you. Although that brings up the question of whether both personalities merge to form who he really is and cannot be seen completely by anyone in any part of his life. But he is more like Chat Noir regardless.

Also, I want to see Adrien and Kagami spend more time together prior to this episode to see why she was not pleased with him being a clown if that's who he truly is, because her repositioning him against the wall made me feel like she is trying to place Adrien into a mold that reflects the image she might have created in her mind. (I don't know, this was just the first thought that came in my mind.)

They almost kiss, with Adrien being taken into shock (not terrified as we thought) until the alarm saying they have fencing lessons starting interrupts them and Adrien runs out, not before BLUSHING LIKE HELLO?!?!?

This is what I referred to in my second point and confirms what everyone was saying about this episode: this is "Truth", but through Adrien's perspective. Finally, an Adrien-centered episode!!!

To continue, every time Adrien and Kagami are together or were about to kiss, a sentimonster appears, with Ladybug trying to do something about it. Just like Lukanette, just like Adrigami: being a superhero affects your love life as a civilian.

Chat being thrown off the roof by accident and being rescued will never get old or less funny lol.

Montages continues up until the boat scene, where Adrien missed the intro to the performance, but I will never get over the fact as to how Adrien made it there before Marinette. It is beyond me.

Kagami not letting Adrien stay for 5 more minutes. Hmm...

Their cute moment together was what will lead to the demise of Adrigami as Kagami noticed he dropped the infamous lucky charm bracelet. *le gasp!

Why *le gasp*? Because 1) I fear it symbolizes that something will happen to Adrienette or that Adrien has forgotten about her, and 2) Wait until later.

Kagami revealed she lied so she can spend more time with Adrien alone, lying about leaving rehearsal earlier, lying about the fencing lessons rescheduling, and who else knows what else so she can be with him.

She tells him she loves him. But Adrien notices Ladybug and an Akuma. Oh boy, he wasn't able to give her any attention.

Because he left towards the direction of the boat (and said he left something there), Kagami used that to conclude it had something to do with Marinette. Oh boy.

Either I missed an entire scene about Ladybug knowing ShadowMoth's name, or we were not supposed to know how they know until this episode. It feels out of place to me, but oh well.

"I..am...AN INCREDIBLE SWIMMER!" still cracks me up even when I know how important it was in protecting her secret identity.

Happy Birthday Prince Ali!

Apparently, Kagami lied that her mom was in charge of watching over Adrien (or maybe not? I can't tell at this point.)

Yep, Kagami believes that Adrien is going after Marinette and probably resents them both if her facial expression says anything

We get to see that Ladynoir moment from "Truth"!! I love these two and their banter.

Adrienette stans, not much has changed. Adrien was concerned that he lost the Lucky Charm bracelet, for real. But said again because he though he would be clear of the lie since he thought he had it on him.

Kagami confronts him with it. AND THIS IS HIS SHOCKED FACE SCENE FROM THE TRAILER!!!

Thinking that she lies to get out of being with her, she leaves. With the bracelet. The leaving part is understandable, especially because she does not know about him being Chat Noir or what entails him to do. But why take the bracelet???

Adrien is also saddened by what happened. He also liked her.

We've never seen that part of city hall. Well designed in my opinion.

She was the akuma in City Hall with the glowing sphere! We were right!!!

Adrien feels guilty, though it is not really his fault. He has a duty to Paris!

Why is the music sounding different in French.

Jagged Stone. How do I feel about you after learning you purposefully abandoned Luka and apparently Juleka? Also, what's with the song??? (Rhetorical question. Do not answer)

We were wrong about Kagami's power: it paralyzes people who lie, not kill everything in its path.

Jagged, you abandoned your children. And you apparently lied about your age?!?!?! Both episodes show something about Jagged Stone that make him seem like an awful person on the inside.

Ladybug, how do you know about Lies's powers?!?!? There is a hole in the plot here! Unless there were other paralyzed civilians that gave her power a dead giveaway.

Chat Noir, if you lie as a civilian for whatever reason, of course Ladybug will too, since as a civilian, you need to lie to keep your secret identity a secret. Same rules apply to Ladybug, especially as the guardian.

The Lucky Charm is a drone, not a camera like I thought. How the hell did I get into an ivy if I can't tell the difference?!?!

Chat Noir pretending to lie is funny. It might also be his peppy attitude to lying. Also, his funnier version of ShadowMoth's name.

Ladybug finds the akumatized object and gasps. I wonder if its only a eureka moment or also the fact that she recognizes the bracelet, especially if its custom made.

Brutally honest people does not exist (we have all lied at some point, even Kagami who is usually brutally honest with people), but animals can't lie.

Fang being involved in destroying the akuma is cool.

This is the moment that we dreaded so much, yet knew was coming: CHAT NOIR DIES!

JK! He actually is paralyzed by truth because he jumped into the glowing orb. We were right that this is an anguishing scene to watch, but we're wrong about the part that he's killed. Yet, he still unnecessarily sacrificed himself and caused Ladybug to be angst about it.

WHAT IS UP WITH CHAT NOIR BEING HAPPY ABOUT SACRIFICING HIMSELF?!?!? AND DO NOT SAY ITS BECAUSE HE TRUSTS LADYBUG!

Yes Ladybug. Chat is crazy. And also crazy for you. And you are right about the crazy unconscious part. My Ladynoir heart!

ShadowMoth almost won until Fang bit off the charm bracelet. Thanks Fang!

Chat backing away from Fang licking him is a mood.

My favorite Ladynoir moment of the evening: Ladybug telling Chat to stop sacrificing himself and Chat saying she likes her adorable angry face. Her smirk afterwards.. And then their pound it.

But no seriously Chat. You need to stop doing that to Ladybug. She cannot take it anymore

Plagg said that even if Adrien loves someone else, he is likely to go back to Ladybug. Just like he goes back to Camembert. Seriously, despite his cheese analogies, he gives great wisdom.

Not Kagami almost beating up Adrien during his fencing lessons. And Mr. D'Angercourt notices this too as he stopped Kagami's final blow.

Also, isn't it illegal in fencing to push people? Oh boy.

And there's the Adrigami breakup scene: Adrien telling Kagami that he enjoys their time together and Kagami knowing their is sincerity in him. It is sort of unclear who actually ended things when Adrien asks if they could still be friends, but Kagami ends it all by saying that she will let him know once she can face him again. Ouch.

Adrien is hurt and stares at the lucky charm bracelet with what looks like sadness. Once again ouch.

Like Lukanette, I want to see Adrien and Kagami be happy together at least until halfway through this season. The issue is that it will hurt them more in the end.

Also, I noticed the difference between Luka and Kagami when ending their respective relationships. It hurt them both, but Kagami was more forward about it and Luka was somewhat passive. It could be based on what they know about their now exes (Luka knew that Marinette had feelings for Adrien and was not secretive about it even when they were together if the truths her friends said and the opening scene to this episode reflect this, whereas Kagami only has a suspicion and Adrien does not say anything regarding to it.

Also, I really did not like how the breakup on this end resulted in. While more realistic for a lot of people, it did not help that it involved Kagami as there are people who will go after Kagami after watching this episode, and I believe that the writers know this. Kagami is a good person who has a different response to the trust issues and lack of communication, as well as lies in their relationship. Not saying its a perfect one, but an understandable one. In conclusion, don't trash Kagami, especially if you saw this coming.

I take back what I said before; this is my favorite Ladynoir scene. I want to hug them both because they have to lie and keep secrets from everyone, even have some secrets between themselves! But at least they can trust each other! Excuse me while I cry over how much we are being fed. Also, the fact that they broke up with their respective partners makes this both heartwarming and heart breaking.

Overall, this episode is just as good as Lies! It is the first fully Adrien-centered episode, which makes this a first and already exciting. While I did not like how their breakup was handled, it was realistic and showed that honesty and communication are important. Also, can my children be happy together for longer than an episode??? I swear, their pain hurts me.

But at least Ladybug and Chat Noir have each other's company to get them through. May us Ladynoir stans continue to be fed!

[arctimon]

The Big Hero 6/Pokemon Crossover We All Wish Would Happen

Over the past couple of weeks, members of the Big Hero 6 fandom have been drawing/making mock-ups of the team with their respective Pokemon partners.  Now, in total accordance with being late to every single trend ever, I will now do the same, but I won’t be backing it up with wondrous drawings.

Mostly because I can’t draw. Some of the members were really obvious, and some...weren’t.  Out of everyone, Hiro was actually the hardest one, and I actually am still not really sold on my choice.  That’s mostly because the specific Pokemon is not his schtick.  There’s not really a Robot Pokemon.  There are certain members that were tremendously easy.

And we’re going to start with one of them: Go Go. 1.) The picture I drew of Chibi Go Go and Cinderace (which I still have to finish, for the record) doesn’t actually depict the Pokemon I’d put with her.  Cinderace would be her second choice.  The first?

Falinks, the Formation Pokemon.

Genwunners may not know this one, because it’s from the newest Pokemon games, but it’s very symbolic of Go Go: there’s six of them, it’s pure Fighting-type, and it has a signature move in No Retreat, which is basically a Pokemon version of “Woman up!”.  It raises all of its stats in exchange for it not being able to escape from battle.

But Go Go never escapes from anything, so it’s appropriate.

Plus they have the discs as well. Cinderace would be her backup, mostly because of the speed and rabbit parellels for her roommate, who is up next.

2.) Honey Lemon actually had the most options for her, because she’s the cutesy one.  That means she can be handed literally any Fairy type and call it a day, but what fun would that be?

Especially because there’s another bunny Pokemon that she’d be with...and that’s Lopunny.

It doesn’t really delve into her superhero side because it’s a bunny and cute and furry and all that jazz, but imagine HL’s completelyf amazed face when she gets one.  The squeeing would be nonstop.

Her secondary would be a Fairy type, and something that would change colored flowers based on the mood: Flabebe.

3.) Wasabi was also entirely way too easy, and he gets, in my opinion, one of the coolest Pokemon that was introduced back in X and Y: Aegislash.

I can’t even think of a proper backup for him; Aegislash is just that good.  Plus, if worse came to worse, Wasabi could grab him and swing it around himself.  But not too much, because the Aegislash line have a thing about possessing people with their tassels. His backup is another blade-related one: Bisharp.

Dark/Steel, cool design, somehow got Laser Focus as a level-up move in the latest games.  Pretty much a no-brainer. 4.) Karmi is also an easy one, and her inspiration came from one of the occupants of her lab when Hiro came to offer his help in “City of Monsters”: Mr. Varicella Zoster.

What Pokemon is cute, semi-translucent, looks like something scientific, and is also a psychic powerhouse (you’re assuming Varicella Zoster is not)? You guessed it.

Reuniclus.  The Multiplying Pokemon. The origin of it is based off of cells and amoebas, which is a perfect thing for a very scientific person like Karmi.  And the imaginary story in my head has her getting her partner first through the mysterious means that the team has to investigate. Her back-up plays off of her other project: the tech rose.  And the only Grass/Steel Pokemon (Ferroseed/Ferrothorn) isn’t really much of a fit.  So we’ll play off of her wannabe superheroics with another plant-based masked powerhouse: Roserade.

What’s better than a bouquet that has flowers for fists?  Nothing. 5.) Fred is a mascot for a “living”, and I think it would be funny if his partner would be very similar to a mascot, and that would be Bewear.

No, it doesn’t have cool Fire/Ice-type moves, and it’s not a lizard, but it’s a pun name, and I think Fred would appreciate a Pokemon with a pun name. Plus, I couldn’t really find anything that had Fire, Ice, and was a lizard.

At least with Bewear you can chain-breed Ice Punch onto it from Cubchoo, thus making Cubchoo an even greater Pokemon than before. His backup is one of the Pokemon based off of kaiju: Tyranitar.

Do you think that Fred is actually a Pokemon guy, or is Hiro the Pokemon guy?  Methinks it would be a collaborative effort to try to get everyone else to know what the heck they’re talking about.

6.) You didn’t think I would forget about Baymax, would you?  Now, you’d think that with being a healthcare companion would make me want to go for the obvious choice.

Blissey. And...you’d be partially right. But Baymax can’t just sit on the sidelines and heal, even though that’s his...purpose. Nah, we gotta get something a little more...metal.

Melmetal, to be precise. He’s very Baymax-y in the anime when Ash has him, and plus he’s got a two-fist move in Double Iron Bash.

Oh, and we’ll just give Mini-Max Meltan for funzies. 7.) As I was writing this up, I scanned back through it and was like “Who am I forgetting?”.

Oh nuts, Hiro is the one I was forgetting. So here’s the thing.  I actually really like the idea of giving him Magnezone, because of “lul magnetism” and all that.

And I was struggling to give him a back-up when I saw @baymaksu​ and his drawing of him and Riolu, and it just clicked for me.

Plus the mental image of Hiro manipulating Aura just like Ash gets me excited. So there it is.  My long, exhaustive post about Big Hero 6 and their Pokemon partners, based off my twenty some odd years of being a Pokemon trainer. I wonder if I should do the villains next.  Or maybe the Beta Team. Or both.

[unproductive-software-blog]

𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬

Bloodborne is a perfect video game to some people.

Bloodborne is a critically acclaimed video game.

Bloodborne is beloved by a shockingly active fanbase given its status as a single game released over 5 years ago.

My most popular post on this blog is a “quick tip” reminding people that the player character model has a highly detailed spinal protrusion. This post was popular because I used simple sentences and the word “sexy” while talking about a popular video game on Tumblr.com

My best friend’s Aunt loves playing Bloodborne. Her son, who played in an emo band and grew up with Danganronpa, has also loved Bloodborne since he was 13.

Bloodborne is exactly what people who hate video games hate about video games, right down to the presence of guns.

Bloodborne is also exactly what your run of the mill game reviewers are always saying they want: tonal cohesion and consistency, with story and gameplay harmonizing in a singular and jaw-droppingly detailed setting.

My friend at age 7, Evan, would have loved Bloodborne, because “you can kill in it”.

I lived with someone whose primary hobby was working out, who plays maybe one video game per year, and he and I devoured Bloodborne together. We made fun of it the whole time for being stupid and unfair, but never earnestly considered dropping the game. Our character was named Chad. He used the worst, slowest, dumbest weapon in the game, the Kirkhammer, nearly exclusively, and had an orange face shaped like a crescent moon. We never touched his Arcane or Bloodtinge stats, despite hitting the “soft cap” on strength-related damage increases about 1/3 the way through the game. We hit level 105 within 44 hours of play, and made a joke of the game’s “true” final boss. We then joked about how dumb that ending was, and put it away, before years later playing through Sekiro together and treating it with an earned sense of extreme reverence.

I have an incredibly close friend who once told me they “play video games for the writing”. Not even the story, but the writing. Bloodborne is one of their favorite games. They relate to it on a personal level given their life experiences. They are probably the closest thing to an expert on Bloodborne lore someone can even be without making things up. This person is also a professional games journalist, whose work I read consistently and dutifully.  I consulted with them before writing this article, to see what they thought about some of my more negative opinions on the game. I asked what they thought about the fact that you can fist a pig to death in the game, and how the game design essentially begs the player to do it at times. They called me a crass term for female genitalia. Well, I would rather be someone who gets called a pussy than someone who calls others pussy for their opinions on a video game.

My best friend Aidan, a successful and well-adjusted scientist, athlete, and off-and-on hardcore gamer, took one look at the game, the pig fisting, and the dismal nighttime setting, and determined that Demons’ Souls and Dark Souls were more his thing

My former co-director at our now-defunct video game studio, Studio Casting Key, likes Bloodborne. He and I played it together online. He paid for my PS+ account, because he’s a good friend, and friends don’t let friends pay for Playstation Plus. He and I were doing research for a Lovecraft-inspired RPG we were concepting at the time. He lamented that Bloodborne’s developers clearly wanted players to engage with its story and characters, but needlessly obscured much of that content from them. I disagreed at the time. I make it a habit to disagree with people when I talk to them, in order to coax out a more nuanced and intelligent version of their opinion from their subconscious. Playing “devil’s advocate” (the devil in this case, fittingly, being Bloodborne) I said that I liked how obscure the story and side content was, because it’s “more eldritch that way”. I said I wanted our game to be a card game where the cards are written in a fictional language, and the only way to learn what they did would be through play, but many of them would have disastrous consequences. Then he said he said something or other about his favorite character, whose name I struggle to recall even now, having fully completed her storyline in my third playthrough. I didn’t know who he was talking about, but silently felt cool for not caring one way or the other, because caring about the story in a game like Bloodborne was, to me, nonsensical. I was, like Micholash, Host of the Nightmare, from Bloodborne, navel-gazing hard.

Over the course of our playthrough, my friend’s internet-approved build was causing him frustration. He said that building up beasthood was impossible. I thought he was dumb to try and do something the internet said would work. I had no idea what beasthood even meant. I have currently played Bloodborne for well over 100 hours and have still never actually filled that stupid beasthood meter. That mechanic is stupid. It’s the developers’ fault for putting it in the game, not my friend’s fault for assuming a mechanic in the game would “work” or “be fun” just because it was in the game. We continued to take turns making fun of the game and praising its sound design (which, when listened to alone with headphones, actually includes a lot of glitches, such as the same one second loop of audio sometimes repeating endlessly during the battle against Rom, the Vacuous Spider, or the painful pop which damages my $500 Bowers and Wilkins headphones every hour or so during regular play) until reaching Micholash, Host of the Nightmare, and stopping because that fight was “stupid”. “Why would they even put a puzzle boss in a Souls game”, we wondered aloud as we gave up on the game for what once again, felt like the last time.

Why, then, did I return to Bloodborne, a game I only ever pretended to be interested in as a way of relating to my more casual gaming friends, and spend all of my free time for the last month on a 100% playthrough of the game, reading every bit of text I could find within the game and online? Because, as fans of this blog (if any exist) would know (if they existed), I played Demons’ Souls, and discovered just how rich the “Souls” series of games can be when one devotes 100% of their attention to playing and understanding them. Demons’ souls has puzzle bosses, and they are awesome and meaningful. Bloodborne, I assumed, must share the worldly perspective of the other games in its “series”.

Unfortunately, Bloodborne is not in the Demons’ Souls series of games. Bloodborne is what happened when From Software stopped being the dark horse game developers who made that weird flop Demons’ Souls (you know, that timeless masterpiece that changed gaming forever?), so Sony begged them to come back home (and bring their die-hard audience). From Software, now a ravenous beast reveling madly in the blood (money) of its fandom, could not resist Sony’s Pungent Blood Cocktail (money), and devised to create a game so utterly appealing to gamer bros and modern game critics alike, that they would all have to buy Sony’s bloodbourne (Uyghur slave labor driven) game console, the PS4.

Yeah, Bloodborne does have some themes in it. I personally love the theme of people getting so caught up in fantasy/ideals/religion that they let the real world fall to pieces. It’s just too bad the whole thing feels so totally lacking in self-awareness. It’s practically hypocrisy. As if getting to NG+7 is any more noble than Micholash, a villain of the game, spending all his days lost in a dream, vainly searching for meaning where there is none. Video games are basically the new religion anyway (especially if you correctly think of modern social media websites/apps as giant, horribly managed MMOs). Back in the day, people used to spend their free time in real life, thinking about real life, and having ideas about real life that they called religion. People kept building on those ideas, and they got pretty unwieldy, especially with all the money involved. Nowadays, people spend all their free time in video games, thinking about video games, and having ideas about video games that they call content. People kept making content, content about content, and content about that, until it got pretty unwieldy, especially with all the money involved. Attention has always been monetized, but I guess everyone’s just gonna keep letting it happen in this current form until we start having wars over the stuff. Then they’ll invent something else.

Near the beginning of this game, a little girl asks you to help her find shelter after you kill her father, who had become an insane killing machine. You tell her where to go. Then you go there, and she’s not there, like every other character you’ve led to safety. If you return to the place you met her, she’s gone. For most people who even make it this far into the quest, it ends here, with a big unsatisfying question mark. I looked it up, and she died on the way to the safe house. The only way to tell is to kill an enemy you have no reason to return to and see that he has a bow you never saw the girl wearing in the first place (she isn’t modeled). How were you supposed to find that? Was I supposed to go searching the city, worried sick (I was), until I found this? It’s extremely stupid, because if the game had allowed me to do as I pleased, I never would tell a little kid to run through a gauntlet of madmen and monsters by herself, I would have escorted, or even carried her. From Software didn’t let me do that, however, because that would mean modeling the girl, or worse, letting me kill her. You see, it was part of their design philosophy at the time that just like the “enemies”, any character you can see, you can kill. This philosophy led to a lot of interesting decisions in the Dark Souls games, but those games never featured any child characters, likely for this reason. This makes suddenly seeing a child, and having the option to save them, hit so hard at first; you feel like you’re saving the last sliver of hope and innocence in a world gone mad. This makes it feel all the more pointless and contrived when she dies due to the developers refusing to go all-in on their own design philosophy. Instead of making another game about moral choices, self-sacrifice, and the relative easiness of doing things the wrong way, From Software chose to rob their players of any real meaning this scene would’ve had in the name of keeping the game “consistent” and “cohesive” (my least favorite words in modern games discourse).

Enemies bleed when you attack them. Your character can get blood on them. It’s a great feature that adds a bit more ickiness and realism to your actions, making you feel a bit like a monster yourself at times. However, the blood effects are so stupidly exaggerated, that your entire character can become dyed red in a way that is only ever (unintentionally?) hilarious. If it is intentionally hilarious, then the game should try to say something with that humor, and double down on it. As it stands, Bloodborne is a ridiculously stone-faced game that tries so hard to make you feel bad, while doing what Killer 7 (consuming your enemies copious blood spray), No More Heroes (blood rain, hyper-gore moves), and Space Funeral (overuse of proper nouns containing the word “blood”, Leg Horse) did as satirical jokes making fun of this exact type of excessiveness. Bloodborne also has serious elements in common with those same games (uncertainty over who the real victim is, hallucinations, kidnapping/abduction, trauma, enemies that sound something like a real person in severe pain/anguish), but it dives so head-first into the deep end of edginess for the sake of edginess, that it reduces the impact of its violence when it actually has something to say about pain/trauma/mental health. 

Also, you can fist a pig to death in this game, and the game design practically begs you to do it.

It’s ridiculous failures of game design like these that cause people to not take video game experiences seriously. It’s moments of investment in a story or theme or tone being subverted by nothing but cowardly game design, a refusal to create additional assets, and over-adherence to a tone or theme regardless of how the player is made to feel in real life, that causes gamers to grow desensitized and turn to stupid jokes when discussing the medium, as opposed to real criticism of games as art, not just entertainment.

I refuse to laugh it off and say “it’s just a game, dude”, because I really do love video games. To shrug away these tone-deaf moments would be to dismiss all the genuine emotional experiences I’ve had with games, including the genuinely funny ones.

I refuse to let my $30, 130 hour investment in a video game control my emotional responses!

I refuse to become an insensitive, unthinking, sarcastic person in the name of turning off my brain and enjoying a game for the gameplay!

I can enjoy gameplay WHILE thinking deeply about a game and its place in the world, and I can do it while MOSTLY criticizing the game!

If you can’t do that, you’re probably too young to be playing a game like this! This is why we call it M for Mature, because it takes MATURITY to spend time with a flawed and excessively dark game like this and NOT get weirdly desensitized!

Brains on people!

[pickedproducttblr-blog]

7 best cheap golf simulators Under $1000 in 2021 – [Tested]

The golfer would love to have their own golf simulator setup, but unfortunately many aren’t able to afford mid-range simulators because the mid-range simulator price near about $5000. On the other hand, many golfers want to practice day or night but aren’t willing to pay more than $1000.

If you belong in this category then this article suits you. However, as golf simulator technology has advanced, very cheap solutions have appeared in the market.

There are some cheapest golf simulators available in the market to help you improve or enjoy golf in this COVID-19 situation, and in this article, I’ll review and compare our picks for the best golf simulator for under $1000 and some even are less than $500 bucks.

Things you should keep in mind before choosing best cheap golf simulators

Before we go further, you ought to understand that you'll get a limited experience with these sorts of cheap golf simulators. Some devices measures some shot data, simulation software, and maybe a net or mat, but not much more than this. Detailed shot data and more extra features you will get on a high-budgets simulator like SkyTark Golf Simulator, Trackman Golf, etc. But you don’t get advanced features on the cheap golf simulators. However, you’ll still get good experience and these cheap golf simulators can get your job done in terms of improving your game. We have tested all of those simulator setups. Some offer fewer features than others, but all of them give an exceptional home/outdoor golf simulators experience for the cost.

1. OptiShot 2 Golf Simulator for Home | Golf in A Box Series

Key Features:

Expanding library with 15 world-class golf courses.

Ability to play up to 4 players.

3D realistic environment.

Hit all shots from tee to hole.

Play with your own setup.

Practice shots from anywhere on the course.

Size: 1.5M long x 1.2M wide

High-quality dense foam and turf

Lightweight, easy to store, and has firm foam-based.

What’s Included:

Golf Simulation Software by Dancin’ Dogg

Infrared Optical Golf Simulator Swing Pad

OptiShot Practice Net.

OptiShot Hitting Mat

USB Cable, 10 feet long.

2 foam practice balls.

2 adjustable rubber tees.

Pros

Best visuals and course options

Training academy adds to the practice options

Only true studio system under $1000.

Comes as a package box and just plug it in and play

Swing stats with distance, speed, path, and clubface angle

Play online against other golfers

Cons

Doesn’t track actual ball flight, so you can miss launch angle

Graphics aren’t as good as other simulator sets

2. Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor for Golf Indoor and Outdoor

Key Features:

Professional-level accuracy: Distance accuracy is within 2.5% similar to Trackman, which is more than $30,000.

Set up within the 30s — Simply open the app, connect to your device via Bluetooth and start playing.

The instant real-time video feedback comes with a shot trace and data overlay which makes it easier to understand cause and effect.

Access your history to view averages, trajectory, dispersion, and standard deviation for each of your clubs.

Gps satellite view.

You can use it at home and outdoor also.

Pros

Very cheap price, under $500.

High quality and accurate

Whatever you needed, included in the box.

Can use your own sets

100% portability

Cons

Only compatible with ios(iPhone, iPad) devices.

Need a computer for a permanent home setup.

3. Rapsodo R-Motion and The Golf Club Simulator and Swing Analyzer

Key Features:

Play real rounds of golf with your friends by attaching your own clubs.

15 top courses included.

Incredibly accurate club and ball data.

Runs on your PC — no launch monitor or projector needed. 4 hours long battery life.

Extremely easy to use — just provide your own mat and net and start playing!

Play any time, no matter the weather.

What’s Included:

1 sensor

Clip

USB dongle

Charging cord

Pros

The incredible accuracy of the simulator

High-quality graphics

Software quality is also good

Cons

Don’t support Mac

Some users failed to connect to PC

4. FlightScope Mevo — Portable Personal Launch Monitor for Golf

Key Features:

You can use it at home, on the driving range, or even on the course.

MEASURE: It provides accurate real-time performance data to help you train and improve with every club in the bag.

EVALUATE Data parameters that include carrying distance, clubhead speed, ball speed, smash factor, vertical launch angle, spin, apex height, and flight time.

Automatically capture data and video on your mobile device.

Save and compare data over time to trace your progress.

Your videos and data are captured and stored automatically, allowing you to review each session, share together with your coach, and analyze your progress over time.

Real-Time Performance Data includes:

Carry distance

Clubhead speed

Ball speed

Spin rate

Launch angle

Smash factor

Apex height

Flight time

Pros

Very affordable

Usable on all OS

Truly portable system, using GPS for swing data analysis

A small device fits in your pocket or golf bag.

Cons

Accuracy can be affected sometimes by monitor placement.

Metallic stickers must be attached to every ball hit, which can take time

5. tittle X Home Golf Simulator 2021

Key Features:

The best home cheapest golf simulator has E6 Connect with 4K ultra-high definition.

Provides real screen golf experiences in various practice modes.

An impressive reaction rate of 0.1 sec provides no delay in data transfer.

The smart stick offers the ability to play golf at home.

Up to 8 people can play golf with this simulator.

Title X home simulator analyzes your swing with a fancy designed lightweight sensor.

What’s Included:

Title X Device

Swing Stick

E6 Connect Product Key

Charger Cable and Manual

Multi Clip and Bands

Fixed 4 Clips

Pros

Simple design, easy to use

12 courses included with purchase

Instant, live feedback on every swing.

Cons

Without a computer, you can analyze data

6. Phigolf Mobile and Home Smart Golf Game Simulator

Key Features:

Connect the app to your TV and immerse yourself in realistic golf courses available fully HD.

Enjoy a round of golf without the necessity for extra setup. Use the swing trainer included within the Phigolf WGT Edition and begin playing without nets or balls.

With the swing trainer measuring only 2 ft, Phigolf WGT Edition allows you to enjoy golf in your own front room.

Bad weather won’t stop you from having fun. Play golf anytime, anywhere; challenge your friends online — all at the comfort of your house.

What’s Included:

Game Simulator

Swing Stick

Pros

Realistic

Can play in your home

Has multiple practice options

Really cheap

Cons

Doesn’t allow the use of real clubs or balls

Can only be used indoors and not on range or course

7. Matro Home Screen Golf Practice and Playing Simulator Tmax Swing Baro

Key Features:

You can play golf at your home or office or wherever together with your loved ones at any time.

Courses and Ranges Are ahead of You — This amazing unit can bring the golf courses and driving ranges into your home or office, wherever you’re in by TV connection.

Easy reference to TV and Just Play Golf — Connect main body with TV by HDMI cable and just play golf, no need internet or computer.

Perfect Equipment for The Novice and Experienced Golfer — it’s great to play and practice golf for both the novice and therefore the experienced golfer.

What’s Included:

Playing Simulator Tmax Swing Baro

Sensor, sensor clip

Practice stick

Pros

Multi-functional

Usable at home

Very easy to set-up

Affordable

Cons

Doesn’t allow the use of real clubs or balls

Can’t be used on range or course

Conclusion

Golf simulators became a lot more accessible and affordable over the past decade, and this suggests more golfers than ever before are ready to have their own personal setup.

Even a cheap golf simulator is often a huge boon to your golf toolkit. Finding a simulator package that may meet your needs is certainly possible with some research.

Each of the simulator options reviewed above offers excellent value for the price. We’ve given you the information you would like to create a decision; now it’s up to you to go the remainder of the way.

While it’s likely that no golf simulator setup will tick all of your boxes, some will come pretty near to doing so. If you wish for an excellent better experience, consider increasing your budget.

We highly recommend reading consumer and professional reviews of golf simulators to accumulate useful insights on how they really perform. this can assist you a lot within the decision-making process.

FAQ

What type of computer do I need? Can it be used on a Mac/iPhone/iPad?

Each system will have its own list of minimum system requirements. generally, though, you’ll need Windows 7 or later, 4gig of RAM, and a minimum of 1gig of disk drive space. an honest graphics card is going to be required to point out the courses in high definition, and you’ll need a powerful processor just like the Intel i5 or newer. Most of the listed systems here will work on Mac also as Windows PCs. However, you ought to double-check with the manufacturer before making a sale.

Will, I should buy these golf simulators?

No. Each listed simulator comes with everything you want to have to play, with the exception of mobile apps and computers. Of course, you’ll also need your own golf clubs to play, and you’ll always prefer to purchase more courses.

[inventors-fair]

Referential Treatment

Cngrats to our Runners-Up this week! @starch255 with Flight Instructor, @nine-effing-hells with Disastrous Offensive, and @misterstingyjack with Fascinating Orchid // Otherworldly Gorger!

~

Flight Instructor

It took until the flavor text for me to catch the reference, which is a good sign! This doesn’t feel unnatural in a standard magic set. I like how you let vehicles “barrel roll” while they were uncrewed - it feels unintuitive, yes, but it makes the card simpler and more powerful. The discard cost is steep, but is sometimes exactly what you need. The fact that you tap the vehicle is great for power-level reasons, but it’s also really cool that the physical card itself rotates. I’m unsure if this quite falls into a rare slot: it’s pretty simple to grasp, and isn’t incredibly powerful, but the P/T especially makes it feel a little more appropriate. II think this would make a lot of decks a lot better, and people would be happy to see this. That’s an important part of any card, but especially a rare.

-

Disastrous Offensive

Now, see, the klenadthu campaign was only really disastrous in the movie, whereas in the book they didn’t even go to klendathu, and in the TV show it was the last alien planet they visited, not the first- oh, sorry. I like Starship Troopers. I will try to not let that taint my opinion of this card, but honestly, I really like it. I love how incredibly destructive and disastrous it sounds and feels, even though its mostly trinket text, depending on the exact format. My biggest issue with it is the cost. Settle the wreckage was this cost, but it gave the opponents lands, which is a huge tradeoff. But this card just kills everything. The black does make that feel more appropriate (though I’m pretty sure you could do this in mono-white), but even adding a second color doesn’t warrant such a low cost for what is usually going to be a one-sided board wipe. I think this needed to cost at least 5, maybe more, or have some sort of additional cost. Right now, I think it would make control decks a little too hard to kill. But still, I absolutely adore the card, even if I might just be playing favorites.

-

Fascinating Orchid // Otherworldly Gorger

I remember watching little shop of horrors as a kid, and I gotta say I love this card, but it may be a touch strong. The front side feels great. It reminds me a bunch of thing in the ice, but I also like the ticking clock on it. The back side is great; it feels good, it feels worth the effort, and it’s a great mechanical representation of the character. I just worry that it’s too good! There’s three things in specific: first, I think four blood counters is too few. I think it could easily happen in a single turn just by attacking, especially since it counts both sides. I think one or the other, or only adding one counter at the end step if a creature dies would be better. Second, it can flip at instant speed, which is just begging for trouble. It means that if this has three or even two counters, a single removal spell could be a massive blowout. You attack with a 2/2 flyer, they kill a random creature with an instant, flip this, kill your flyer, get another plant. Lastly, the fact that it puts a +1/+1 counter on every plant is kind of overkill. I think that it might be fine if the earlier two issues were fixed, but I think just maybe a counter on itself (to mimic the blood counters from earlier) would be fine. I also think this could maybe afford to be a little smaller anyway, since it grows so quickly. Turning from a 0/4 to a 4/4 could be some good symmetry. But honestly? It’s really hard to hate this card. It just feels so fun and big and scary and cool. I think there were safer ways to design this card, but the design as a whole is still really good.

~

And there’s the runners-up! See you a little later with the commentary, hopefully up today.

-Mod Mr. ShinyObject

[fearlessmayee]

Top ten AFHF documentary moments, go!

Thank you for asking sea, but you've really put me in a dilemma, how the f am I supposed to choose 10? All of it was my favorite, he shined like the sun throughout the entire thing.

1. We got to see him in his element, him being nervous and excited just anticipating to share his passion with us. Can you imagine him thinking wishing to run away, and yet, staying put, squaring his shoulders and facing it head on. Hoping to give up, yet hoping against hope to do it again, even if it's just one more time.

“I hate this feeling [before going onstage]. Helene always said to me, that's a choice is it nerves or is excitement? It’s the same. Only now I look in the moment I feel it, but I look at it differently. […] I always have this feeling before in my mind where I’m thinking ‘if I could run away, I would’ but now I’m thinking ‘just get me out there!’ ”

2. You can see, that he is so far away from his ''image'' of One direction, yet the same teenage boy having this unattainable dream of being a singer, and that lad from donny. Expectedly, yes, he has grown and changed throughout the years, but his fundamentals and core remain the same.

“You know coming from a situation like One Direction it was never gonna be a walk in the park becoming a solo artist. I’ve had shit to deal with.“

2. BRUH, Vulnerability? from a white male? In his 20s and 30s?Who's an reputed artist? Who's a millionaire? I-? This line was just so true, and raw, and REAL.

“When everyday is the same, it’s hard to feel creative and its hard to get any kind of inspiration”

3. This sentence to me represented acceptance of struggles, usually a strong personality would rather not acknowledge his/her/their struggles. They'd rather be seen as someone who can do this in their sleep instead of saying, that yes my life is hard sometimes.

“Too many times in my career have I had to pick myself up and go ‘right let’s go again’ ”

4. Efforts, the sheer efforts. When you're at the level that you are, you happen to start putting significantly lot less effort in your work. Instead here's this baby, who is working even more hard, putting in extra energy, time, and assets into honing his craft. A true dedicated artist.

“I put in a lot of work with Helene over Zoom as well because of that I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited over a gig and I finally feel like I’m gonna get out there and not just enjoy it for fucking just bathe in it. Love it.“

5. Right, an artist who values his fanbase instead of taking them for granted and only using them for their money? you're kidding! An artist, who regularly emphasizes the importance of his fans, and never forgets to thanks them? Right, you're dreaming! An artist who meticulously plans a free festival for his fans? You're delusional

“Just the togetherness. That’s what makes me feel like I can take on the world. Because with that lot behind me, who’s gonna fucking stop us?”

6. Helene. That relationship - its closeness and intensity -- really surprised me. You can tell that they share a deep meaningful emotional bond. She's a mentor for him in every way and its clear she loves him as much as he loves her. A pretty rare sight, in between people who don't give really seem to give a fuck about him. There's a mother/son vibe there and he seems to trust her as completely as she admires him. Tbh, Helene I cried too.

“I trust Helene implicitly. She can tell me after I smashed it and I’m trying to read between the lines. Today, today she was fucking crying man.”

7. The moments the band were given to really what they can do, jamming out (including the strings going for it too.) Steve is phenomenal as is Michael, but they're all incredible frankly. The band was so cool, I'd also like to mention the other artists and people who's work The production design, the set design, the lighting, the sounds. Everyone except the marketing and advertising department, should clap themselves for a job well done.

8. Charlie. How well he gets Louis. How loyal he is to Louis, how much he appreciates who he is and what he can do. And how extraordinarily skilled he is at what he does himself. In fact this demonstrate just how good Louis is at finding people whore superb at what they do. He did his job phenomenally, exceptionally.

9. The fans as shown through the lens, which might be a substitute for through Louis eyes. Their love, their pride and delight came across so clearly .I loved that all the rainbow flags were given the spotlight - instead of being skimmed over, Only the Brave was a true moment. Similarly Two of Us, was a real moment, the fans knowing how much the song it meant for him, and understanding its value and being respectful about it. How they seemed shell-shocked and speechless during changes.

10. Maybe most of all, the reckless, fun, fuck it all style of the celebration shots moment and the band euphoric celebratory hug, showing their bond and relationship clearly. I absolutely loved those moments in the film because they were so Louis. He may be the leader but he's also a literal kid, a partner in crime some might say, pure unpredictable fun.

Watching the AFHF documentary, I feel every emotion that Louis went through and I know that we all are felt them together. He was just so happy and confident during the concert. A God on the stage. Anyone who has doubts Louis performance abilities, I urge you to watch 5 minutes of this. The immensity and intimacy are like nothing I’ve experienced with any other artist.

He is a real person, instead of some carefully crafted media persona; he is genuine artist, instead of any fake popstar wannabe; has real talent, instead of pretending to be talented; he is humble and kind, instead of someone advocating to be humble and kind, he is gold, instead of being glitter, and he is the SUN, instead of the moon who leaches of off someone else's light.

His character and personality was really visible. This was better than any interview, any promo, anything we could have hoped for. His standards are so very high, and he’s truly harder on himself than anyone else around him. I've no idea how he doesn't drown in the pressure and instead finds a way to break the expectations. Truly, As many have already commented, Louis always delivers, because what he gives is from his incredible intelligence and his big heart.

The reason it was fucking unbelievable was yes, ’cause I played me music and I sang some shit, but more importantly that we all are in the same room with the same idea, the same intention, the same feeling... And that, more than anything, is what I’ve come away from these situations feeling just this togetherness, and that is what makes me feel like I can take on the fucking world.

[thatgamefromthatad]

3 more games like Merge Mansion - the genre is evolving!

More and more games like Merge Mansion (two-item merge games) are being released and I can hardly keep up, but I’m glad because I find this genre so satisfying! Here I’ll review three more relatively new games, which are all unique in that they break off quite a bit from the original Merge Mansion, and include their own mechanics not seen in the other Merge Mansion-esque games I’ve covered!

You can see my original Games like Merge Mansion review here, although it’s quite outdated as many of those games have made significant changes since I wrote that in early March. I’ll try to add some updates to the original post sometime in the near future to better reflect that current status of each of those games. You can also find links to the other two-item merge games I’ve previously reviewed in my final ranking at the end!

Read my full reviews of Plantopia, Merge Adventure and City Boom below:

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Plantopia: Merge Garden (Early Access)

Developer: Voodoo

Release Date: May 7, 2020 (Early Access)

This game is an interesting one because I only found it recently and started seeing ads for it recently although it’s apparently been around for about a year. I’m thinking it was soft launched and only recently made available in my region. The title screen indicates it’s still early access so that would make sense.

An initial release/soft launch date of May 2020 would actually make it older than Merge Mansion, which I believe was released in Sept. 2020. However I’m not sure about the exact timeline as they could have been in development/soft launched around the same time and the games are actually quite different overall so the basic similarities could be a coincidence.

This game truly amazed me because although it has the basic elements of what I would consider a Merge Mansion-like game, that being the two-item merge mechanic on a two-dimensional grid-like board viewed from the top, with item generators and item collection objectives, it’s otherwise very different from the other two-item merge games I’ve played. There are at least three separate boards, possibly more considering the tool shed and flower lab unlock a bit later in the game, and instead of completing objectives by getting items right off the board, you use items from the greenhouse and tool shed boards to start growing plants and then harvest the resources. The flower lab adds an additional step, as you can take the plants you’ve harvested to that board and merge them further to create bouquets and oils etc.

This game is probably the most complex and challenging out of all the two-item merge games I’ve played, which I think makes it more fun but less relaxing. Basically if I want something to play mindlessly while chilling out and watching YouTube videos I would play Merge Mansion or Merge Friends, but when I want to play something more advanced and for a longer period of time I play Plantopia.

🌼 Art: 3/3 (although I mostly prefer all 2D art, this game does the 3D/2D mixture better than some other games and I just love the colors and style of the different plants, boards and products. It all feels very “cottagecore” as the kids these days would say lol. The 2D character designs are also OK and pretty cute)

🌼 Story: 2/3 (it’s definitely a step above the “moving into this old mansion with my grandparents” story, I did get to know the characters a little better and some of the objectives are plot-related, such as growing aloe to help another character with his sunburn, or growing a special flower that reminds another character of her late husband etc. But I wasn’t really feeling like I wanted to learn more, and the storyline didn’t have a huge influence on my overall experience)

🌼 Gameplay: 5/5 (definitely the strongest game in terms of gameplay in my opinion, like I said it is more challenging and there’s more to think about but it makes for a really fun and varied experience!)

🌼 Variety: 2/3 (although there are three whole boards and you unlock different plants as you go along, there isn’t as much variety in the merging part since you basically just merge seeds into sprouts, sprouts into younger plants etc. until you have the full plant to place in a plot. You know exactly what you’re merging up to and there’s no thrill of discovering a new item by merging up. The items also come from boxes or from preset, unmovable generators so there’s no fun in discovering new generators either. But it is cool that each plant has its own planting requirements like more water, more fertilizer, more light etc.)

🌼 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 4/4 (another huge advantage of this game, there’s no energy system so you can play for very long, the only time constraint is waiting for plants to grow)

🌼 Overall Enjoyment: 4/5 (I’m definitely very impressed with this game but the things I mentioned in the Variety section are probably the biggest thing that prevents me from giving it a 5/5 overall. It is exciting when you unlock something new by progressing through the game but I especially enjoy moving up item ranks and discovering new generators, so in that area this game didn’t really do it for me. But otherwise it’s really a great game and a very unique entry within this genre!)

🌼 Total: 20/23

Merge Adventure - Dragons!

Developer: Ludigames

Release Date: March 25, 2021

First of all, even though the full name of this game includes the word dragons, I haven’t seen a single dragon unless one was mentioned in the written adventure logs, which I don’t usually read.

With that out of the way, this is another very unique game in terms of merge games as it is also an RPG. Some of the items you merge on the board are used to equip your hero, while others are used to unlock new adventures that yield different loot upon completion. You don’t actually get to engage in battles since the adventures themselves run on an idle system where you just get an adventure log to read to how your hero is doing and then collect the loot after a certain period of time. It is definitely something new for two-item merge games and deserves credit for the unique concept, but execution-wise it unfortunately fell short in a lot of ways.

🗡 Art: 1/3 (the art here isn’t necessarily awful but it is on the uglier side compared to a lot of the other games in this genre, specifically the board pieces. Maybe I’m biased because I prefer fun and colorful items, and these items involve a lot of wood and metal and such, but the board often seems so monochrome I can’t even tell certain items apart or remember which item track they belong to. Some of the level 1 items are just differently-shaped scraps of metal. The hero design isn’t bad but I only have one character to base that opinion on. We’ll get to that later)

🗡 Story: 2/3 (I honestly can’t remember if there’s an overarching plot but I will give it a point for the adventure logs, even though I usually don’t read them, it is cool that you can read what your character’s doing and how they obtained the loot they ultimately bring back)

🗡 Gameplay: 2/5 (I want to give it more points for being unique but despite the interesting concept I did have trouble with the gameplay. First of all, it has one of the smallest boards out of all the games I’ve played and a lot of different generators, which guarantees your board will become clogged very quickly. The numbers in the corners of each tile are supposed to help you keep track of what level items you have I presume, but they only make an already cluttered board look more cluttered, and the fact that I already couldn’t tell some of the item designs apart means having all the items crowded and jumbled makes for a very confusing and frustrating experience. Getting new items through loot from adventures seemed cool but then led to more frustration with more items to squeeze onto my fully packed board. Also I have no clue how to get more heroes, I’ve only had one this whole time playing so far, so there’s not much more to the RPG experience other than equipping more powerful items)

🗡 Variety: 2/3 (technically there’s a wide variety of items but as mentioned previously the very monochrome nature of the items makes the experience feel less varied and you can barely enjoy discovering new items when you’re just trying to find space on the board 90% of the time. Also, most of the item tracks just go: item, bigger item, bigger fancier item, biggest fanciest item, or, piece of item, more pieces of item, mostly put-together item, fully assembled item)

🗡 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 1/4 (your time is limited by the energy system, generators needing to refill AND waiting for your hero to return from an adventure)

🗡 Overall Enjoyment: 2/5 (sadly I didn’t really enjoy this game, although I guess my favorite part would be merging up weapons and other equippable items to make my hero more powerful, which isn’t something I could really do in any of these other games)

🗡 Total: 10/23

City Boom

Developer: Playwind Ltd.

Release Date: April 9, 2021

This game is very interesting as it’s the only merge game I’ve personally played that has you compete against other players. This game actually works pretty much exactly like a game I played loooooong ago called Coin Masters, where you gain coins by attacking or raiding other people’s bases while spending coins to build up your own base. The main difference here of course is that the other way to get coins is to merge items and complete requests, while in Coin Masters it was like a slot machine thing. I checked and they are not made by the same developer.

Anywho, the multiplayer aspect of this game was exciting since I definitely have a competitive streak, and I’ve been playing every day to try and climb up the leaderboard (I’m in the top 1,000 so far lol!) However this game is still new and pretty wonky, and it aggressively tries to get you to buy things, much more than any of the other two-item merge games. Also, this game is one of those games that’s very reliant on a constant internet connection so if you don’t have great internet (which I don’t) you will have a lot of issues with the game freezing, just a heads up.

💰 Art: 3/3 (I got to admit I’m a sucker for the cute, colorful and cartoony, and I just can’t get enough of the silly little cats in this game 😂 I appreciate that the 3D art style in this game is very consistent in all parts of the game, and this game also has 3D animated sections: for example, when you go to attack another player a cat rolls up in a little tank and rockets fly around)

💰 Story: 2/3 (there isn’t really a linear story but I give it a point for the different themed areas you progress through as you grow your town, plus the personality put into the cat characters)

💰 Gameplay: 3/5 (I do enjoy this game, especially the fact that I get to compete against other players, but there are a few issues. This game has a lot of limited time events, there’s seriously like 2 or 3 running at a time and seem to change every day, which does add some fun and variety, but creates a unique problem of having event-specific items on the board that I don’t know what to do with when the event ends. I don’t know if that event will come back again or if those items are just completely useless and should be sold now. Currently they’re just keeping my board very clogged. Also, this game really aggressively pushes overpriced microtransactions, which can get very annoying, but I will say that I was still able to play and enjoy the game a fair amount without paying anything. Lastly, the items make a really off putting clunk sound when they merge. May not seem important but it makes the merges less satisfying for me personally)

💰 Variety: 2/3 (There is a variety of event items but as far as the main items there’s very little variety, basically just four categories of items, so I put this in the middle)

💰 Playtime vs. Wait Time: 2/4 (what I like is that there are a lot of chances to get extra energy but what I don’t like is that rather than having energy refresh one at a time every few minutes, you have to wait like half an hour for all the energy to refill at once)

💰 Overall Enjoyment: 4/5 (honestly despite all my criticisms of it I kept coming back to this game, I really enjoy the competitive aspect and none of the problems with it are to the point where it seriously impedes my ability to play. That’s why I kind of have a separate category for overall enjoyment to begin with, because even if a game scores well or poorly in specific categories that won’t necessarily reflect my overall experience)

💰 Total: 16/23

Rankings

Plantopia (scored the same as Travel Town but after playing Travel Town for a while I’ve gotten more bored with it. Plantopia is the new reigning champion! 🎉)

Travel Town

Merge Design

Mergedom: Home Design

Merge Friends

Miss Merge

Merge Mansion

City Boom (scored the same as Merge Mansion but I preferred it less)

Merge Life (note: the linked review is outdated as the game has undergone a lot of updates since I wrote it, I will update it at some point but take the current version with a grain of salt)

Merge Matters

Merge Villa

Merge Adventure (scores the same as Merge Villa but I think I was a little harsh on Merge Villa to begin with, this game is much less playable)

Thank you so much for reading!!! I hope these reviews helped you if you enjoy merge games as much as I do! 💖 You can find more of my full game reviews here and follow me for more stuff about mobile games. Have a great day 🥳