#jamesafloat

[the-luckiest-man]

@jamesafloat said:                                                                                                                            wowowow holy crap. So I’m the guy who made HHR (and who, much to everyone’s chagrin, voiced Joshua and a buncha other NPCs in the mod). In all of the five years since releasing I never saw this take, and it’s easily one of my favorites. Thank you for giving it the benefit of the doubt and for seeing it with a critical eye.    I totally agree with the moments of paternalism with the ‘natives’. I hoped that counselling with Salt-Upon-Wounds, instead of feeling like 'teaching the natives’ would feel like counselling with equals. But it’s not terribly subtle. Amy Wilks’ “witch doctor” business… yeah I get that. I do like the reveal, and I like her… cause of course I do. But 'local crazy lady’ would have been better.      As to Carrie and down’s syndrome… I don’t know if this made it in to the final version but the original intention was not as a cure to down’s but as a cure to seizures to which Carrie was prone. Carrie is a boss, she never needs to change, I probably made some missteps in presenting her but I cared about avoiding ableism.                                                                              And totally agree about Livius’ falling too much into the ‘villainous gay’ trope. If I was writing it now it’d probably be queerer, but likely because I’ve learned a lot in the past few years. I really loved Livius as a character and have been pretty sad to have so many people be annoyed at his place in the plot.                                                                                                                                     

Hey! So excited to see your reply on this post! I hope it’s okay to re-post here (in the most awkward way imaginable because Tumblr is a broken wreck) because I’m super interested in the things you have said.  Hope my review didn’t come off as too vicious ;)  Despite the criticisms I have, I’m still super impressed by all the work you did to bring us the mod; it was obviously a shit-ton, and in my opinion storywise still quite superior to vanilla HH.  While it’s important to be able to criticize the media we all consume and create, I definitely don’t want to downplay or ignore the unpaid labor of love that fan creators do to enlarge this sandbox we all love to play in.

I didn’t get the bit where the cure for Carrie was for her seizures...either it didn’t make it into the final text or I missed that somehow, so that’s awesome to know, cuz I definitely was mad when I thought it was about “curing” her, as herself, LOL!  As I said, I fuckin...I love her.  So much.  I would fight God for her.  Nuff said.

I read a few of the comments on the mod page back when I first downloaded your mod and yeah, people who thought Livius’ storyline was annoying or pointless are bad and wrong, that’s just how it is, sorry, I don’t make the rules.  Like I said, I’m very anti-Legion (oh man I LOL’ed for like, ten minutes straight when Brutus got offed) but I probably spent way more time than is humanly reasonable thinking about Livius’ storyline and imagining how it could turn into some kind of redemption arc (that’s the most fun part of the Gay Villain, of course. The inevitable enemies-to-lovers story you write in your head)  In all, I accept his role as Gay Villain because it was sexy and tragic.  Others’ mileage may differ; I definitely can’t speak for all gays.

The parts about the natives, yeah.  Well, that whole treatment in vanilla HH and in FNV in general needs some serious looking at.  The whole history of the Mormons in Utah and the native tribes there is uhhh....not good, as we know, and the blatant sidestepping of that entire history is just one aspect of how the game in general fails spectacularly when it comes to Native representation.  But there are some native FNV fans here on Tumblr who are re-writing Honest Hearts, as well, with a Native storyline and focus, involving actual tribes and bands who live in that area -- it seems really cool!  I think @comrade-shrimp is heading that effort if you wanted to check it out.  Anyway, thanks again for finding my little review and adding your words!

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Two

As requested by @lokalelyen​! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

Spoilers under the cut!

Exploring time!

Hmmm... Suspicious indeed.

Oh, hi there....! He wants me to find his compass for him.

Okay... Don’t trust the birds, got it.

This is like the third narrowly placed tent on a cliffside. Do not like.

NO ONE WILL EVER NOTICE THIS!

Yeah, you’re Legion alright.

OKAY I GET IT.

His companion perk. I don’t want this. Time to leave camp and explore Zion Valley. There’s two paths to take: water and traps or mountains and monsters. We’re taking water in hopes that Brutus springs traps and blows himself up!

You’ve really let yourself go after “Napoleon Dynamite”, man.

Majestic.

Eww.

Never mind. I like you.

I fell in the river heading to Casca’s evil bird cave.

I found no birds in the cave. I found this instead. Oh and the compass.

Casca is happy! And yet another person hints at something being off....

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Six

As requested by @lokalelyen​! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

Spoilers under the cut!

WE FOUND JOSHUA!

More narrow cliff sides. Not unsettling in the least. 

Rae asking the real questions here. Let’s start with number two....

Wtf

Last time I checked, I did.

Beware Courier Sneakerdoodle.

Umm... Do you need water...?

If you say so. Let’s start over, this time with “you’re a hard man to find”

HA!

I didn’t need to know that.

Still got the canon Joshua melodrama down pat.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Your ex wants to kill everyone in the valley, it’s kind of a big problem.

Maybe sending a letter wasn’t a good idea after all....

No really. He’s a big problem.

Come on, help a friend out!

We know.

Fine be that way, punk.

Let’s go with balance here. You need some chill.

Clearly!!

I know where this heading....

I’m still the protagonist after all. Would feel neglected if people didn’t have me running errands.

We’ll come back to that option later.

At least you admit you aren’t a great judge of character.

DUN DUN DUNNNN...

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Ten

AAs requested by @lokalelyen​! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

Spoilers under the cut!

For the hell of it, I decide to ask Mordecai for the blessing...

Yup. Going as well as I thought.

I know man, this sucks beyond belief.

I’m going to crawl under a rock and die now.

Joshua’s feelings are not something I have any business using as a convincing tactic. Imho, showing your granddaughter you’re the better man is more important.

Nah, she really does.

YEAH, you show him!

Back at Angel’s point, everybody has their reunions.

I got this not questionable at all serum from a powerful immortal spirit living in a dirty basement.

He’s over 50 Amy!

Stabbing time.

You’re a good mama. Mordecai wants to talk to me too.

I’m always down for a good bbq.

I’m glad you got peace of mind, friend. I really am.

I DO. I KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT IT. Btw, how are you feeling?

Punk. Fine, be that way. I gotta go find your army anyways.

Welp. The Bloodstones are out..... or are they?

This is so embarrassing.

Alright, that’s settled. Let’s go to the Highlanders. Gotta ask them their thoughts on the Legion first.

I love you guys.

I’m going to need a bath with how slimy I feel after all this convincing. The Sun-and-Moons are pacifists and don’t need to be dragged into this. That leaves the Locked Horns... who’ve done nothing but shoot at me so far.

I know a guy in the Mojave you’d get along great with. Want to help us fight?

This can only be interesting.

Wait....Nuka-Cola.....?

OOOhhhh, that’s what that room was for. Goody.

Ofc there is......

IT’S NOT THE FULL HONEST HEARTS EXPERIENCE WITHOUT A DRUG QUEST FOLKS!

0/10 Needs more seizure inducing colors and mild nausea.

How curious.....

Dammit.

Another mysterious figure looming in the distance. Oh boy.

I don’t even understand how this works.

Uh. Yes.

Ohhh, god... this is going to hurt.

What what?

THIS IS WAY TOO FUNNY FOR A SERIOUS MOMENT.

Literally. The volume spiked for the gunshot noise. Gave me a heart attack.

The End is Now.

Next up is how the info you offered him affects his end choices and confronting Livius!

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Seven

As requested by @lokalelyen​! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

Spoilers under the cut!

Let’s talk to Joshua a little bit before we go interviewing the locals.

“Who are you?” I mean, it’s not like we don’t already know who you are, but go ahead.

Idk, I’ve had some pretty wild things happen to me. “Tell me about the New Canaanites”

Hmmmmm

That’s because it was a bad idea, Joshua! “Do you believe in their God?”

“He talked to you.....?”

In the broadest sense, the Creator of this story did send me here soooo.... “Why’d you bring the yahoo’s downstairs with you?”

Fair point.

lol

LOL! “How’d you survive?”

Oh har har, very funny dude.

“How did you become Caesar’s right hand man?”

That... didn’t work out too well.

I do want to know how you rationalized that.

Love makes fools of many people.

He sulky now. Now it’s time to visit New Canaan!

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Four

As requested by @lokalelyen! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

Spoilers under the cut!

The Big Man is happy you found an informant and then he starts this crap.

Why would I ever deceive you, buddy? 

Oh my godddddd.... Stop being extra!

“My informant is totally trustworthy, my man!” :3

You bet your butt, I can misdirect if need be. Now get to the good stuff.

That explains so much.

It’s okay you can admit you’re thirsty.

It’s like Joshua was stressed or something.

You could’ve just paid me to deliver a letter without needing to resort to kidnapping and gratuitous bloodshed!

Sigh. Okay. As soon as I walk out of the tent, I’m greeted by this guy:

NO KIDDING! I’d bet 100 caps you were the one who put the graffiti on those tents. Back to Amy with the news that the Boss man will slaughter everybody if Joshua doesn’t cooperate! Yay!

Who’s doing this for his sake?! I’d like to avoid a massacre. :[

Before we go, some questions for the optional part of the question. “Why are you called One-Tenths?” (The killing she refers to is the old wars in the valley that Salt-Upon-Wounds mentioned earlier.)

I’m not crying, I swear. T.T

“Tell me about Joshua Graham”

ELDER GRAHAM. *wheeze*

That’s actually really nice. “What happened?”

And the rest they say is history....

Next up, we’re off to find the Burned Man!

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Thirteen

As requested by @lokalelyen! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

BIG END GAME SPOILER ALERT. If you haven’t read any the previous posts, now is not the time to start.

ROUTE 3: Forget the Past and Remain in Zion

Instead of selectively picking and choosing what to share, I give him both sides for the New Canaanites and let him come to his own conclusion.

Not a bad reaction. Now both sides for the tribes. The Bloodstone’s motto is “Us above all” and are a bit brutal.

They also are over hunting the local Yao Guai.

All-Clouds wants the Bloodstones to be less violent.

The Sun-and-Moon live a peaceful lifestyle.

“Your conclusion?”

But ultimately, he wants me to make the final choice. Fine.

He agrees with me.

You’re really good at that.

And we’re off to the races!!!

His grand pre-battle speech:

Not as edgy as the Legion version or poetic as the New Canaanite speech. These are the words of a very tired, old man.

I have a couple more questions for Livius.

No I will not stop asking questions! It’s my job! Hate to break it to ya, but your army is losing out there.

That is what courier means, what were you expecting...?

I think Joshua has something to say about that.

We fight Livius and the final summary bugged to display the same thing as ending one. :/

But! Now Joshua is willing to share what happened immediately after his loss at Hoover Dam.

IT’S A TRAP... Err... another trap....

What did Caesar do?

No amount of makeup can make Eddie look pretty.

Eeesh.

And...?

That sounds in character for Caesar. With a few swears interspersed.

You can tell him sorry, but it really should have been more along the lines of ‘sorry I made you relive the experience’ not ‘sorry it happened.’

An asshole.

That’s sweet. Enjoy the rest of your life in peace.

And that’s all folks! Thank you for reading!

[kourumi]

Honest Hearts Reborn Review                     Part Eight

As requested by @lokalelyen​! A screencap snark commentary of the mod “Honest Hearts Reborn” by JamesAfloat.

Spoilers under the cut!

First to greet me in the New Canaanite’s Zion base is Nibley, the historian.

This is a good start! RAE’S SMART, DON’T BE THAT WAY MAN!

I’ll take it. “Tell me about yourself”

You sound like a cool fellow.  He explains a little more on his history and encountering the New Canaanites while wandering the Wasteland.

Wise words. I like him. Now for the quest goal “How do you feel about the Burned Man?”

One vote in favor of Joshua’s return. On to the Bishop.

It only took me 10 hours.

Hi, I’m Courier Six.

He talks a lot. This is only the parts where he gets to the point. Speaking of which....

Ofc you have work for me! I’d feel neglected if you didn’t! Before I go what do you think of the Burned Man?

Hmmm... That doesn’t add up. Your friend Nathaniel thought he was real, why wouldn’t you believe him?

His first task was to shoot some geckos in a nearby house. Found lots of interesting notes. You a liar, Mordecai.

That’s one vote for and one vote against. The town architect is my next target.

Honestly, that’s more qualifications than most people have for jobs in the Wasteland. “Tell me about yourself”

Idk Arroyo’s pretty sweet.

I hear that place is pretty bad.

That’s the spirit, dude. “How do you feel about the Burned Man?”

Yes, I know he was a New Canaanite, that’s why I’m asking.

You are absolutely right. It does matter. Let’s look inside.

No, you’re definitely qualified to be an architect.

Two against and one for. Last, but not least is the missionary.

IT’S YOU. ‘Looking for my cousin’ girl.

We’ve met.

Yeah.

I can’t blame him, but I won’t. “Tell me about the New Canaanites”

Her answer is pragmatic, but loving and I respect that. Gotta ask the obligatory question here: “What do you think of the Burned Man?”

That’s very, very scarily accurate.

Her yes ties the votes, leaving me to be the deciding factor for their fate. :[

Awww, that’s so sweet.

Okay, I’m adopting you now.

Now it’s time to seek out the various tribes and Zoe is going to help me out!