#kieuecaprie asks

[kieuecaprie]

I must ask... Does Elpis have any particularly strong opinions on any of those funny managers? :3

As tempting as it may be to give you the full list and go off one by one, which would indeed be easy, it's probably best to pick off a few notable ones that caught the deer's eye (or ire).

Prethinker (Brian) - Elpis tried to reason with him but got shot down because they're just a "dumb animal" with "no intellect to speak of". So now they just plain hate him, full stop. Not enough to want to end his existence, more like they want to style on him in his own battle of wits. So, their opinion? "I despise him and I want to beat him at his own game, maybe then he'll realize what a pompous mee he is."

Duck Shuffler (Buck Ruffler) - Initially, when they moved to Toontown, they were somewhat intimidated by this manager's presence due to them being a newbie in the Toon Resistance at the time, but after training and getting acquainted with Buck, they really want to join Buck on his escapades to the casino and win BIG BUX. Their opinion of Buck is: "Used to be scary but is actually just a little goober. An idiot. A dummy. And if anything happens to him, I will shoot everyone in this room, and then myself."

Rainmaker (Misty Monsoon) - After an initially rough encounter with her, Elpis just kind of feels sorry for her because it just seems like she wants to have a good time but can't due to 1) some toons attacking cogs on sight and 2) her boss wouldn't like it. Nevertheless, they have attempted to make contact with her and tried their hardest to make friends with her. So far, they have been attempting to bring her a picnic and is currently trying to figure out her favorite drinks, which would be easy if it weren't for the fact that, well, robot and robots don't take kindly to most toon drinks, if at all. She is one of the biggest reasons why El has the opinion that they could potentially make friends with the cogs in the end, and maybe get them to loosen up and not be so stiffy and all about money and profits. Their opinion of Misty is: "One day I'll show you that toons and cogs can get along, Mity. I'll keep trying, no matter how long it'd take, for both of us."

Major Player (Dave Brubot) - I haven't experienced his fight in-game yet, despite having MML kudos awaiting promotion to level 10 because I'm slowly working on everything else first. I can wager that Elpis was initially weirded out when they found out about the video tape containing said manager's hijinks (if you could call eating cereal several hours straight as such...) but hearing that he was behind the snazzy tunes in the buildings they've invaded as well as hearing about the live performances, they're pretty much a fan. Maybe not as crazy as some because they tend to carry an air of composure (as much as a toon can be anyhow), but if they were to actually meet Dave, they'd probably be inwardly screaming the entire time.

Firestarter (Flint Bonpyre) - Actually feels really sorry for this dude, to the point where they've started to hype him up whenever they cross paths and encourage the poor guy, even when he accidentally sets something flammable on fire. This, of course, also means they want to crush him with a boulder but it's because they love him (platonically speaking, btw).

Chief Operating Officer (Thomas Saggs) - Not a manager, per say, but at the moment he gets a special spot here. Despite disagreeing with Thomas's opinions on some things (such as not really doing much to stop the cogs from taking over), they do find some common ground in a lot of things, as well as just generally appreciating the discussion as it is a welcome break from the wackiness of the toons and the outright hostility from most cogs. They have quite a bit of respect for him and are probably gonna be sad when the Toon Resistance decide to take on the Boardbot HQ, whenever it finishes construction that is, 'cause that means there's a possibility of fighting him.

High Roller (High Roller) - NON-CANON - Absolutely loves High Roller, in fact, they love High Roller so much that they have a shrine dedicated to Their Quackjesty in their home's attic. They never leave home with the green rubber duck and will happily shout out HR's favorite catchphrase: "It'ff High Roller time" and then High Roller all over the floor. Okay, okay, but to be serious about this, if High Roller were to exist in canon, they'd be a big fan of the fused cog, maybe not to the craziest extent but they'd still carry the green rubber duckie and be proud of being a member of the Low Rollers.

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Those are the ones that kind of stood out to me right now either because I haven't truly experienced their battles in TTCC yet or because I haven't given too much thought to Elpis's opinions of a particular manager at the moment.

[kieuecaprie]

I think I asked Liliana's favorite foods in the past so now I want to know everyone's favorite foods.

While you did already say you asked for Lily's favorite foods, I'll put it here for completeness's sake (and also because it's on the bluebird hellsite which is prone to being broken down at a moment's notice):

Liliana Silvernoon - She likes sweet things, her utmost favorite being jelly-filled donuts (no, not the 4Kids variant, the actual jelly filled donut). However, she wouldn't say no to anything chocolate-related, unless it's too sweet, there's some sweets that even she can't really handle.

Azie Nolastnameyet - Despite looking like a tough looking half-demon (this will make sense once I get around to updating my "Games Finished in 2023" list, I think), she doesn't really like spicy foods all that much, not because they're too much for her, but more that they really can't challenge her, but she ain't really much for sweets either. So, what would be her favorite? Hard to say, really, but she has an affinity for fast foods, you know, burgers, fries, pizza, that sort of thing. That said, she also has a bit of a soft spot for ice cream, so that's something she and Lily can bond over.

Elpis Elmglow - Being a Toon, it'd be... difficult trying to pin down their favorite foodstuffs. I could say that they like baked goods such as pies and stuff but they use that for fighting robotic corporate suits and are probably super sick of it. Fruits and vegetables seems like a reasonable option for them especially since it doubles as them getting ammunition for their trap gags.

Unnamed Octoling - After having travelled from Inkopolis to Splatsville and back, I can safely say that their favorite foods are the Shwaffles, which are probably no longer being sold at the current moment in the Splatoon timeline due to the Crust Bucket being out of business. Nowadays, they just chew on Crab Trap Sandwiches whenever they drop by the Crab-N-Go, which is just fine for them seeing how their funds go into their Salmonid research (and getting Scrungus actual FOOD and not just whatever he chews on). They're fond of sweet stuff but unfortunately, that's also Scrungus's favorite and the little guy will NYOMP anything not tied down (or locked away in a cage), so unfortunately, they're gonna have to do without... for now EDIT: Cleaning up the formatting of this answer post, it was a little too hard to read and I don't really like having too many words scrunched up together like that. If I wanted words scrunched together, I'd go write an essay for a class or something.

[kieuecaprie]

what's her college major/biggest hobby?

I am VERY tempted to just say "video gaming" and leave it at that because she's living a rather isolated life but I don't think that'd be quite satisfying.

That said, I don't know much about college majors because, well, while I have been through higher education myself, it was mostly on autopilot so I barely had much information retained about the whole ordeal.

But if I were to be in her shoes (or... lack thereof, she can't wear shoes, at least, not shoes made for humans and the like) and I had to have picked one?

I would imagine she would be an art major with a minor in computer science (the world she lives in is a modern fantasy, so anything dealing with technology is a boon... just like in real life ha ha :') ), although she hasn't pursued anything beyond that, the ordeal burned her out severely.

And I know it's an either/or question but I think I'll answer the other half too:

Her biggest hobby is not video games, although it comes very close, she loves that hobby to bits and thrills in hearing the stories of other people, albeit fictional, it's a way to live vicariously through those who have adventures due to her era not really lending itself to a life of adventure.

(After many world-changing events and many, many mysteries being solved, adventuring became less lucrative and exciting overtime, with people deciding to take up other works or go take up studies. The last adventurers that had made their mark would've been her parents and a small group of friends they had made.)

No, her biggest hobby would have to be playing music, something that was inspired by her father, who was a bard. Like father, like daughter and all that. She isn't very good at it, she struggles a lot and tends to almost quit at the first sign of adversity but she is trying her best.

But video games are definitely a close second, followed by collecting plushies, which I have tried to depict in a couple of images I drew a while back but I don't think I could come close just yet. Maybe when I sit down and have the motivation to do it.

[kieuecaprie]

Is she a hardcore gamer?

A bit from column A, a bit from column B. She enjoys playing games but isn't too keen on dedicating her life to it. Not even to be a content creator. That said, she does spend a great deal of time on gaming and has been known to hyperfixate if something grabs her interest.

[kieuecaprie]

I'm bored, so I'm gonna answer questions about my one singular OC (no, not the gote in the pfp, though I should get to them at some point): Liliana Silvernoon.

Just use the funny ask button (or... click here? (does this work???)), I suppose. Just know that I've disabled anonymous asks. (I'm also doing it on Twitter atm, yeah, the bluebird hellsite, you can find it here: https://twitter.com/KieueCaprie/status/1614247707454889985)

I should note that I'd like to work on a project involving this character, so some questions might either get a non-answer or be danced around because I want to keep some cards to my chest.

[kieuecaprie]

KieueCaprie's List of Games Finished in 2023: Entry #12 - Armored Core 6

So, technically, I could've called it good after finishing the game once but it kind of asked me to do it again another two times. So, I obliged it and I'm kind of glad I did. Hit the read more if you want to hear me ramble about it.

The teal deer of this is that this is one of the best games I've played in 2023 so far despite all the FromSoft Moments™ and the FromSoft PC Port Moments™.

Initially, I was somewhat excited for this game, well, about as excited as I can be (it's a little hard for me to be excited for things these days, don't think I have the energy to spare I guess?). Although, the first hurdle was figuring out what edition I wanted... I picked the digital deluxe one since the other editions, while nice, were expensive and I don't have much room, ESPECIALLY with my plushie pile that slowly increases in size overtime.

The game is GREAT, I loved the visuals, though I had to turn down the effects at one point because it was getting to be too much, the gameplay felt like a significant upgrade from AC4A, which was the last AC game I played before I retreated back to AC1 to do Project Phantasma, and while the combat felt fast, it wasn't ridiculously fast as AC4 and AC4A, despite having Quick Boosts and Overboosts (okay, Assault Boosts) in the game, plus I had the benefit of playing on PC which meant I could bind gyro to the game via Steam, which I did, although it did mess with the hardlock function as I found out incredibly late into my NG1 playthrough.

However, the game was prone to technical issues as I was playing a FromSoft game on PC. I was one of the lucky ones to not have to deal with constant crashes but instead, I was rewarded with a time limit where if I play too long, the game will eventually crash. I don't know if it was connected to the game having a memory leak, the GPU having a fit over shaders, or my undervolting of GPU and CPU both, but I barely had any issues with any other games besides this.

On the topic of difficulty, I thought the game was... okay with its difficulty but I feel like there were too many spikes in the earlygame. The helicopter proved difficult at first until I actually got a handle on the new controls and Balteus was absolutely not very fun until I found a build that could handle him (and then I immediately shitstomp him twice more with the same build, although I swapped to another build on the third go-around and shitstomped him with that to prove I'm not a one-trick).

The story was probably the most involved I've seen it being in an Armored Core game what with the chatter in missions from the gung-ho Redguns to the Vespers who harbors one of the best and one of the worst characters in the game (Redguns also has another terrible character, this isn't to say I think they're bad, they're just hatesinks) and the endings are pretty great, reminds me of all the endings in... AC4A, I think? Although probably without the whole... you know...

Also, I loved the fact that melee is actually viable in this game. In older AC games, melee kind of felt like an afterthought where they were very clunky and slow and didn't track very well. Sure, they HIT LIKE A TRUCK when they hit but you're better off using something else. It was pretty bad to the point where I relished the chance to use MOONLIGHT since that meant I had a melee that shot laser waves, making it not as useless.

Between Laser lances, pulse blades, pile bunkers, and even your own core, I loved trying out all the melee options although I did just go with the blades with the occasional lance on one build, and of course, I still made a build with my precious MOONLIGHT!

All in all, I think this is a very solid game, although the game is prone to the typical FromSoft PC Moments™ supposedly. I enjoyed it. Anyway, here's all of my AC builds I used throughout the three playthroughs:

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[kieuecaprie]

KieueCaprie's List of Games Finished in 2023: Entries 3 and 4

#3: Armored Core (PSX)

Started: 13/1/23 Finished: 13/1/23

"Now hold up" I hear you ask, "Why on earth are you playing this again? Didn't you literally just finish this last month?"

Yes, of course I did. But I'm playing it again because, as it turns out, Project Phantasma, a game that allows porting of AC1 saves, was a game that was never released in Europe but you know what did?

Yep! Armored Core 1 was released in Europe but we never got Phantasma! So that meant playing through the game again on a US version just so I can port the save over.

Now, of course, I could just use one of the many super-saves scattered around the internet but, well, they all have Human+. I'm not too keen on Human+ and, unlike AC3's OP-INTENSIFY, you can't unequip Human+, so I decided to run through the game to get both KARASAWA and MOONLIGHT so I could go into ACPP with the two best weapons of the game, and it was an excuse to go back and see how far I came ever since I first started playing the series.

It actually felt A LOT easier the second time around now that I knew what I was doing. Hell, Nine Ball barely gave me much trouble this time!

#4: Armored Core: Project Phantasma (PSX)

Started: 13/1/23 Finished: 14/1/23

Initially, I wanted to play through the campaign normally but the arena kept bothering me for the longest time because I didn't have access to everything I wanted and it was beginning to get real frustrating.

So, I went back to Armored Core 1, killed Nine Ball again, and brought Oberon Alpha forwards to Project Phantasma to compete in the Arena. Naturally, the low levels fell by the wayside but playing through the higher ones made me appreciate the balancing attempts made in later games. For one, no heat meant you could just bumrush someone with high enough defense and tear them to shreds, so it was basically a who had the better turn speed and FCS contest, which was exacerbated by the AI cheating at every turn, they don't have to deal with the clunky camera controls like we do.

But after a lot of tears, I eventually made it to the top and got the Finger, so now it was time to go and play through the campaign, which was definitely a step up from the first game's short mission structure, although saying that, it felt like PP was a bit too short, especially when Finger would shred everything in a matter of seconds. Not even Stinger could stand up to such an onslaught.

However, I enjoyed my time playing it, it was a good game and made me remember why I enjoyed Armored Core to begin with.

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