#not in full though because you know. games are interactive and making the iteration interactive in the same would isnt possible

[avidlylivid]

so many swag epic awesome tmnt iterations (/gen /pos) and then I realise I Have Not Solidified Mine

anyways need to actually make the au premise other than random fun facts about them and their dynamics then come up with a name and then :3 the guys !!!

[carlyraejepsans]

speaking of dr, there's something that really annoys me about how shallow the ship discourse around kr4lsei is. I'm not sure I'm 100% behind this for the same reasons i doubt toby will go full in with noelle's mom being abusive, ie "those are very delicate and complex topics to handle, does he have the time and space to deal with them in deltarune's story?" so take this with a grain of salt.

(warning for brief mention of incest, so I'm putting this under a readmore)

i think the discourse being framed as "thinking ralsei is presented as a romantic interest" vs "thinking ralsei is compared to kris' brother or like a family member" is incredibly stupid because those are... both true at the same time. yes, there's an unskippable "tunnel of love" scene, and it looks like ralsei could have somewhat of a crush on kris. but ralsei still 1) looks just like a dreemurr, 2) clearly plays, as a character, on our feelings and memories of asriel from playing undertale, as evident by their designs and their names being anagrams 3) i am 99% sure Noelle was going to say "that kinda looks like asriel" while looking at him eating cotton candy with Susie, and Susie herself suggests telling toriel he's "a long lost cousin". either way, if ralsei is meant to play on our feelings towards asriel, then as asriel's sibling, kris is likely gonna feel similarly.

are you uncomfortable? good! you should be. that's the point.

it's not random that the snowgrave route was framed and portrayed with the imagery of a wedding. first the freezering, then the thorn ring are explicitly compared to wedding rings. "we're just friends"/"we're something else". "YOU'VE BEEN MAKING [hyperlink blocked (...LoVE?)], HAVEN'T YOU?" noelle with whom kris had a strained relationship, whose feelings (platonic? romantic? we don't know) we brute force in what is the most chilling, manipulative, cruel iteration of chapter 2's story we could take... it's almost as if deltarune uses kris being forced into romantically coded situations they're deeply uncomfortable with as a way to showcase their lack of agency in the story.

and being pushed into romcom-like situations with a guy who looks like their brother works pretty darn well to follow that pattern, if you ask me.

now, if a forced romance with noelle represents their lack of agency in regards to the player, then... a forced romance with ralsei could represent their lack of agency towards Fate. The Plot/Story. unskippable cutscene, remember? not to mention ralsei's whole purposepilled shtick he clearly has a complex about.

this does raise a couple of questions about susie though, as the third option in the "who would you take to the fair with you" question, the one option kris seems to agree with, as well as being a character who is actively resisting the narrative.

because there's people who are very much FOR krusie, just as there are people against it, i doubt their getting or not getting together would work to represent kris gaining their agency back. and i believe i speak for everyone when i say that susie is going to play a huge part in that arc. either way, i'm curious to see how this develops.

idk! like i said, I'm not sure just how much toby is gonna go into this because it IS a very delicate subject. but it's an example of what i mean when i say "there's more to fandom than shipping" and "fixating so hard on Shipping Good Things" can be detrimental to analysis. I'm not cancelling anyone with this post, go on doing your thing whether it's kr4lsei or r4lsusie or krus1e. but if your first thought going into this was "I'm gonna ignore the part where the game compares ralsei to asriel because that would make my ship incest and that is Bad and uncomfortable" then... that's a very cheap way to interact with media? lol. sometimes being uncomfortable IS the point. god knows utdr makes you uncomfortable on purpose sometimes. ok rant over :P

[ladyirisreviews]

Final Fantasy 5 (GBA) - Review

Out of all classic Final Fantasy games, it breaks my heart that this one didn't get a 3D remake like 3 and 4 did. This is one of the best Final Fantasy games and if it had gotten that treatment it would be one of my favorite games ever.

The plot starts with one of our protagonists, Lenna, seeing her father, the king of the kingdom of Tycoon, off as he is heading for the wind crystal, one of many crystals that give the world life. He suspects something must be going on because the wind stopped blowing, and so, he flies away on his drake, but without realizing Lenna left the castle in an attempt to follow him.

Meanwhile, another of our protagonists, Bartz, who I renamed as Baldz, is riding along with his Chocobo, when he hears a very loud crash and goes to investigate.

He meets Lenna, who is unconscious in front of a meteorite, and even closer to it he finds an elderly man named Galuf, who appears to have lost his memory, and only seems to remember that he had the mission to check on the wind crystal, and Bartz decides to tag along with both him and Lenna.

With no clear path to the crystal, they go inside a cave, where they spot a pirate ship that seems fine despite no wind to sail with.

In an attempt to steal it the group gets captured by the pirate gang, they are then interrogated by their boss, Faris, who seems preoccupied by the pendant Lenna is wearing, which is the same as theirs.

After listening to what they have to say they agree to take them to the wind crystal, where they also join the party to see what's going on.

After finally arriving they see the crystal is in pieces, then they see what appears to be king Tycoon, who tells them they 4 are the chosen ones by the crystals, and that they must protect them.

And so the adventure starts.

If it weren't for the 3D Remake of Final Fantasy 4, this game would be the one with my favorite plot so far, but the enhanced dialogue of FF4 3D took its place, this is still a good plot for an RPG of its time though.

While relationships between characters are still kind of simple, they do interact a bit. There's also a lot to discover about each character. We might be lacking the cutscene direction from Final Fantasy 4 3D Remake, but it makes the most of what it has.

There are emotional moments that feel impactful and sequences of events that are quite gripping, and the music adds a lot to these scenes, it's incredible what they were able to manage with the limitations all things considered.

The interactions are still far too little and simple for my taste, but I do appreciate them existing at all, it's definitely a step above all of the previous games.

Other than that, this game has one of the best antagonistic characters from the whole series, and it isn't even the main villain, it's more of a henchman of the main villain.

Not only is he the centerpiece of one of the best sequences in the game, he clearly grows as a character and interacts with the main group a lot during the encounters you have with him, he is definitely more fun to see than the main villain in my opinion, and I am glad he periodically shows up for the rest of the game from the moment you encounter him for the first time.

And that's pretty much everything I'm willing to say about the plot, it was definitely a step in the right direction for the series.

Now moving to the gameplay, it is again an ATB battle system, and it behaves more or less like in Final Fantasy 4, character bars fill over time and when they get full you can act.

I love that the bars stop every time an animation plays, it makes it so much easier to plan your moves, and I feel like this is the best iteration of ATB in the whole series because of the rest of the mechanics it adds.

Outside of turn order the combat is the same, attack, item spells, you can multi-target spells, you know how it is.

What sets this game apart from the others is the Job system, and it's one of my favorites in the franchise.

After you arrive at the wind crystal, the crystal shards give you various jobs, and you are free to assign any job to any character you want.

But also, each class levels up with the AP you earn after combat, unlocking skills for each class, BUT ALSO you can assign an unlocked skill from any class a character has, so the character could be a monk who knows basic white magic, anything goes.

The default class, called freelancer, can equip 3 skills and is also able to equip all equipment types, normal classes are restricted on what they can wear.

The whole system is truly lovely, letting you build your characters from the start while also giving you more classes as you advance on the game is such a fun ride, and you can also create some nasty combos with it, I heavily recommend coming up with disgusting builds.

The dungeon design is more or less what you might already expect from the series at this point, but at least there's a handful of puzzles this time around, which is a step forward at least, I still wish there were more to the dungeons, but that's a recurring feeling in this series to me.

Having said that, this is still one of the most fun Final Fantasy games, the plot is engaging enough and it takes unexpected turns, the new job system is nothing short of amazing, and there are a lot of memorable setpieces.

Out of the first five, this would probably be my top pick for someone starting out.

I can only imagine what the team that 3 and 4 3D remake could have improved if they were able to do a 3D remake of this, I really hope it happens someday, a day when Square Enix decides to embrace old aesthetics without compromising the game, come on it would be cheaper to make than any other game they are releasing, but I can only dream.

Definitely try this game if you haven't already, I will be replaying it multiple times in the future and will keep on dreaming it gets a remake of some kind too.

[dreamstormdragon]

Sorry for another ask but I am curious I know you said you can relate to Raph and Don is your fav. I will get to the point lol. What is your opinion on Raph? For the iterations you have seen of course

Oh this a welcomed one!

I adore Raph. He's one of my favorite character types - the gruff, protector who inside has this heart of gold, he just has to work through some stuff.

Rise Raph, will be first to go in this department, what a himbo, what a gem, what a sweetie. He's still got some of his rage, but he's more so the protector of the family. I love details like the bandage on his chest, that smile. His interactions with his brothers and April are so funny and wholesome. (The Lair Games and The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle are my favorite episodes for some choice brotherly moments)

Then we get to 2003 Raph, who is the one I first saw, the one who made me adore the character as a whole. This is the one I related to the most, because of the mix of his heartfelt moments, mixed with sometimes being too much.

Shoutouts to Lone Raph and Cub, for being the best Raphael episode. This boy just wants to save his loved ones and his brothers and father, bring out the best in him. Meet Casey Jones is another great Raph episode, because we see how Raph can turn OUT if he's not careful (and showing his merciful side, which I feel like is a character trait, that doesn't get talked about enough?)

Like, this boy could've laid Casey out, truly could've beat the snot outta him and left him hanging, but he DIDNT'.

I also, really appreciate in Hunted the way that Raph specifically wanted to *wrestle* with Leatherhead. There was no fear of his strength or his temper, just full out respect. I remember I read this AMAZING fict, btw involving them by Halogalapaghost: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53261914 Oh my gosh SO GOOD.

I really enjoyed the storylines they gave Raph, throughout 03, because he was trying to be better from what he was - even though, some of it was still his pissing contest with Leo, but ohhh so good... and Same as It Never Was Raph?

HELLO?

SIR?

YES?

THANK YOU

(Oh man, do not get me started on SAINW. DO NOT GET ME STARTED-)

This is gonna turn into just a 2003 Raph post, if I'm not careful. He's my SECOND favorite next to Donnie if y'all haven't guessed yet.

Because NEXT ON THAT LIST IS 1987 RAPH

DUDE HAD S TIER RIZZ.

Oh who am I kidding? Raph's always got rizz. It's just a matter if the writers will LET HIM HAVE A W.

Raphael Meets his Match was one of my favorite episodes of 1987 for that very reason. He's snarky, he will OBLITERATE you verbally, but this dude had rizz!!!

Honestly, he always makes me laugh.

NOW IF WE'RE TALKING RAPHAEL-

2007 RAPHAEL

Oh man, this totally gave me a type when I was 11... Gruff, armored, badass motorcycle, I was fresh off my Sonic phase (yes I was a Shadow stan, let's just get that outta the way now)

My Linkin Park listening, Shadow the Hedgehog loving self, was fresh off of getting caught up on 03 when this dropped.

That movie had no right being that fun. I know it's up in the air whether or not it's ACTUALLY 03 canon but it hurts no one to think it is so I consider this Raph to just be the 19 year old ver of 03 Raph. Lot of time to grow and adjust. The Nightwatcher look for him, was SO good and that scene where he's fighting that demon? LOVED IT. Still die laughing to this day.

I need to read the 07 comics, because I know there's a Nightwatcher origin comic.

The fight between this Raph and Leo too... this was one where, Raph had some good points. Leo had issues to work through but then he comes back and just expects everyone to be ready to go back to how it was... and Raph's been keeping things in check, while Don and Mikey tried to keep them financially afloat, (frick I should've included 07 Donnie too, but again *points to "I see them as the same just older"*) and Raph had to keep the city SAFE.

Some of the BEST ficts I ever read, involved that fight in the rain. Mmm that was good HOT SOUP

But then... my favorite Raphael of all time...

IDW Raphael is everything, I love about him and more. He's this protector, he's still got his temper, but his bonds with his family, with Casey, with Alopex...

It's just all coming together so nicely and I ADORE moments like these, where we see him calm, where we see his SMILE. WHere everything in his world, for just ONE MOMENT is all right. Where he's okay.

I love that and I adore Raph/Alopex, I love it more than RaphXMona. (I ALSO LOVE THIS ONE. IT'S GOOD BUT RAPHLOPEX IS MY OTP)

And I do not have an opinion yet on Mutant Mayhem Raph YET, but we will get there.

Thank you for coming to my RAPH APPRECIATION HOUR!

[flecks-of-stardust]

Pinned Post Eyyy

Call me a name enough times and I'll probably start responding to it, which is what happened to me with Fleck. I also go by Stardust. Pronouns are yes and whatever is funny, but as a general rule of thumb, please use neopronouns and they/them for me if I don't know you. I also use mirror pronouns.

Not a spoiler free blog. I can and will post full spoilers of the stuff I'm interested in. Most commonly blogging about Rain World (including Downpour) at the moment, with a smattering of Hollow Knight and Bug Fables stuff. You can blacklist the main tags if need be.

I may occasionally talk about politics related to my home city. If I do, it'll be tagged with #hong kong rants for blacklisting purposes.

If you talk about hating any sort of arthropod and wanting to kill them I don't want you here. I don't care if you have a phobia or if you have a legitimate reason to be afraid, I don't want to see bug hate. Yes this includes wasps, yes this includes mosquitoes, yes this includes generally unpopular bugs. I block on sight if you leave comments like that on my blog.

For those interested in getting a better look at my header image, here is the associated post!

Current main project(s)

I run @innocence-wont-save-you, an interactive fiction game about Unparalleled Innocence! You can find more information about it on that blog and its pinned post.

I sometimes post IWSY stuff on this blog as well, particularly stuff that is not in character for the IWSY blog. Those posts are tagged with #IWSY, which also includes posts that I find relevant to the overall story. I love talking about the story and the worldbuilding I've done for it, so feel free to talk to me about that! I will gently nudge you over to the blog itself though, because it's designed to take questions like that!

I am also conducting independent research on people's experiences with imaginary friends. If you'd like to participate in the research, this post has more information and a link to the survey.

Other projects

You may have seen me talk about Dreamless and Deathless on this blog before. Those are now split off from their respective source material into an original story universe, Godslayers. Their respective tags, #dreamless au and #deathless au, now serve as archiving, if you'd still like to look through them for whatever reason. They are not linked because I'm unsure of how much I'm comfortable sharing; expect posts in there to be pruned.

I have some stuff related to my Hollow Knight work that I am comfortable sharing, though!:

bug color vision, specifically worldbuilding around non-human color vision that you can use for your buggy writing

language analysis of hollow knight, which is what it says on the tin

and there is #translation complaints, a series I started to talk about Hollow Knight's Chinese translation. It's been a while since I've updated this, but I will go back to it eventually.

Crochet Patterns

I currently have two released crochet patterns! All are free to use, and if you make one with my pattern, feel free to tag me to show me what you've made!

Mini Iterators — Make your own fun sized iterator puppet! (Cloak not included.)

Tiny Slugcats — Make your own pocket sized slugcat!

Tag directory

I crochet and knit a lot, as you may be able to tell from my header! I have dedicated tags for my crochet and knitting projects, which are #crochet shenanigans and #knit mischief respectively.

I have a general tag for my art, #my art, for non-fiber art pieces as well.

Writing wise, I've put a lot of my writing on Tumblr. Rain World pieces use the tag #rain showers, and other writing (usually prose) is tagged #little natterings. Additionally, I've put a few multi-chapter stories on my blog, which are:

#the echo of destruction, a series of seven stories about the iterators.

#avengeance, a four chapter short story about Arti.

#lunar greetings, a five chapter story about Moon and those she meets.

#memory fragments, a series that features the various members of Survivor and Monk's family. This is currently still being written.

All of these stories can also be found on AO3, where I use the same username.

I'm very lazy about following people, so if I talk to you a lot but haven't followed you, don't take it personally. I just like to keep my dash tidy.

For my own use: Pup Masterlist

[isabelknitwits]

Update 2/5/2025

Pre-production is in full swing! We've just finalized our asset list, shot list, working agreements, pillars, and schedule to turn in by tonight. Simultaneously, we've been beginning planning our assets and the basic layout of our scenes.

I was tasked with making some concept art for the environments, and simultaneously making color concepts for our scenes. Here's the environment visdev for the attic and the shop:

And here are some thoughts I wrote out when I sent them for approval:

the lighting is overall very warm - the lights are yellow, the shadows are deep pink, and the INTENSE shadows are cyan (theyre compliments and theyre also symbolic of our main characters). this upper room is a bit dark and so it's especially warm, downstairs it's going to feel slightly more pastel because there's going to be sunlight filtering in through large windows

there's a lot of wood going on - in particular, all the furniture looks like old, antique wooden furniture that you might get from a thrift store

all those props inside the room - especially the yarn balls, pin cushion, and spool of thread, and anything else we make of that sort, should be SIMPLE. im talking props in a video game that you can't interact with simple. they are only ever going to be in the background to simulate clutter. i want us to have that cluttered feeling but i also beg of everyone to not make the models even remotely complicated

i put seam rippers on the ground as sort of environmental storytelling? because then it feels a bit more realistic that berry would say theyre strange for insisting to use their unique weapons. also there are propaganda posters, i made them blueish kind of like berry, i don't know if i'm confident in that decision though

The general consensus I got was that we have a slight conundrum that everything is meant to be interesting at eye level for humans, since we're in a human shop, but we're telling our story from down below. I tried combating it by adding decorative rugs and stray stuff on the floor and maybe some overflow merch just being set there... And then under the table back there is a cat bed. The cat's lair, lol

In class, I also worked with Sam and Rianne to determine our working agreements and agree on a consistent scale, which led me to create this image:

Next up is doing some revisions and variations of the concept art, and then getting started on models. I'm going to be iterating on layouts, setting up file naming, and starting on some models for the environment.

That's about it for now! See you next Wednesday.

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Cobalt Core

Before me, in this article about Cobalt Core, there are two paths. One of those paths is an elaborate sequential set of posts, where I keep trying a better and better way to improve on the core article. It starts out as a simple draft sketch and then it becomes a big bloated mess with a dozen digressions and analysis of all the forks of ideas presented in the interface or the time loops of the story, all of which don’t relate and then as you progress through loop after loop you wind up at a tiny, tight article that’s maybe four sentences long, and concludes with I really like Cobalt Core, you should play it.

Or I’m going to tell you a normal, straightforward article about this indie deck builder space ship game because if I get this done quickly I will have more time to keep playing Cobalt Core.

As a necessity because this is a game with a time loop in it, there’s a risk of spoilers if you care about those things. I’m not going to tell you about the plot beyond the fact that there is a time loop, something you learn in the first… five lines of dialogue? I think? Still, I will mention things about the characters I find charming and that may involve giving you information you want to discover on your own.

Cobalt Core is a rogue like sci fi deckbuilder by Rocket Rat games and Brace Yourself Software. It came out in 2023, which is to say ‘After everyone lost their minds about Slay the Spire.’ It starts you out with a simple premise of a spaceship, crewed by three doofuses in space. You fly through space having encounters with a repair ship, random space anomalies, wierdoes, jerks, dingdongs and oddballs, oh and also, sometimes, spaceships that want to kill you. When the game comes to combat or soccer (which is a kind of combat really) the interface puts two space-ships face-to-face with one another, and hands you cards.

To do anything with your ship (more or less) you need to play a card. The ship has a gun, permanent shields and temporary shields, and the ability to move, and to do any of these things you need a card that lets you do it. Cards cost the card to use but also can have an energy cost associated with them, and that simple premise is the fountainhead from which a sprawling, complex, wonderfully intricate set of potential interactions flow, creating a delta of exactly the kind of game design I get all brain wormy about.

Whenever you defeat an enemy you have a chance to add a card to your deck, and whenever you defeat a special enemy, you get a chance at an Artifact, something special that alters and improves the rules for how you approach the game.

And while you’re learning all these things, you die the first time, and the game sets you back to the start and you have to start all over again, but crucially, your characters don’t. They know they’re in a time loop. They remember things. Dialogue with enemies gets built on because they recognise them. Jokes get buttoned, then redone, and then iterated on. All of this works to present you with a game that’s funny and charming and witty and also full of different kinds of player reward.

In my outline I have this note of ‘okay, now talk about the things I like’ and that feels like I just did that. This game is full of different reasons to keep playing it! It’s economic enough with my time that a run is maybe 40 minutes and that’s a good unit of time for a play experience, and that means that even though I’ve been playing it for 20 hours, I know for a fact I’ve only really played with about 5 of the characters to any depth, and there are at least 3 characters left, one of which I don’t know anything about. The progress bars at the end of the game loops show me there’s still more to get out of this game!

I suppose the characters are something I love about this game. Each crew member changes the cards available to you, as the cards represent them learning things and developing tricks to make the ship work in a particular way. That means each character both has their own personality but also they change the play of the game. I’ve been doing a lot of Drake runs recently, which has meant sometimes I’m running the ship without ever repairing it, since I want to be low on hull and high on shields, so I can shoot bosses really hard for 2-3 hits. I’ve had builds which are about feeding Riggs cards so I can fly away from almost anything while I loop through my deck, letting an artifact nick my opponent’s health away every time I do another loop. Whenever I try a new character in the crew, I know I need to keep Dizzy around because he’s so good at making sure my ship survives random problems, and these are just the mechanics of the characters.

They also socialise! They tell jokes! They make fun of one another, they react to the time loops with one another, and they’re a delight doing it. Any given combination of characters produces a different variety of reactions! Starting out you have a nerd, a jock, and a screwball, but when you swap out the jock for say, an edgy bad girl in the form of Drake, suddenly there’s sass and concern back and forth. There’s Isaac, who is a delightful and sweet little goat with anxiety, and all the other characters respond to his anxiety in different ways — what’s more, he’s functional in that space, he’s not defined by wailing about his disabilities or people giving him grief about what he can’t do.

All of this is while the game gives me bags full of random interactions! There’s an artist named Tooth who will give you a bunch of garbage cards that don’t seem to do anything – like, +1 health, -1 health. Guess what? There are cards they can interact with and suddenly there’s a puzzle for even these deliberate kinds of garbage! There are cards that create other cards, to represent charging things up! There’s a card that counts how many times you’ve played it, so you can use it to ramp itself up over the course of each combat, and it feels great, but then you’re in another fight and realise you have to deal with it in its ‘set up’ mode again!

I really like Cobalt Core, you should play it.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[queenburd]

okay well i did end up breaking so below is a just a wild ramble about BaL antagonist

It's just a sticking point to me that the Vake is so distinct from the Mr Veils that you see literally anywhere else and how some BaL players will never see those aspects since there's just so so little Veils content altogether that isn't locked behind a PAYWALL

Veils content:

Paisley (FATE locked) One interaction in the Deeper Discordance A singular line in Heart's Desire: Power ending The two Veils gifts in the Sacksmas content (FATE locked) The twitter account The Kickstarter released story (for a single person who could share the journal pages) Clues in SMEN

You can find bits about what people say about Veils but in terms of interaction that is it. You get the most here from Paisley although the Kickstarter story has traces of how Veils itself thinks.

Mr.Veils in most of these places is a thing that terrifies, undoubtedly cruel and dark, but it is eloquent. It bargains, it's a master of etiquette, it makes garments for its fellow Masters and attempts to mediate between them. It views its Vake hunts as part of its little “hobby”, really just a way to keep the edge off, while trapped in the Neath. It's a master of shadows, disappearing in plain view. Whether it still cares about fashion is an arguable thing, but it would state and had stated that it does. It loves that clothes can be a definition that you can choose. ("Wear it. Become something else. […] Don't wear it. Become something else." -Paisley)

It's really obvious there's a dark intelligence to it, where it revels in being absolutely terrifying but is willing to leave that implied. You leave it alone, and it leaves you alone just fine. Whatever it's doing, it's got plenty going on that it will never consider you, the player, a threat either physically or mentally.

The Vake, though?

Look, it's still intelligent and it's still scheming but it is only with regards to the game it's playing with hunters. I'm. God okay look I don't know where to start so I'm gonna start with the thing that strikes me the most and that is the way it talks. It's having a completely breakdown in language. All caps, all the time, strings of words that don't form proper sentences.

If you fail the checks in Impersonating Veils then Fires recognizes you because you are TOO GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT. Veils the Vake is such a shadow of the self that it is in other stories that other Masters can hear it in how it speaks. They're already preparing for its imminent demise. It's been clearly having a full cognitive breakdown much more recently than the other cities. It's out hunting almost every night. It's becoming brazen enough to not even wear its cloak, it forgets to.

You are for so much of BaL hunting a thing that is already a remnant of its former self, and if you never did BaL you would never see this aspect to it?? And if you only did BaL, you would only have knowledge of its unending cruelty, up until hunting the three iterations of Veils at the end. You'd be suddenly interacting with the Veils of the Third City (It looks the most cunning of them all.-BaL), Veils the Intriguer (The power and cruelty of this Veils are not in its body.-BaL) Two-thirds of the surviving aspects of the Vake are centered on schemes, intelligence. They are remorseless, but they're leagues more regal in stature than the Vake, or the Curator Veils that remains.

It's such a contrast to the rest of what you see in BaL when you actually interact with the Vake, I guess. And the Impersonation part is just so revealing to me that these aspects of its self have been so buried by that point.

I guess it becomes extremely interesting to argue, from a roleplaying standpoint, if battling/hunting you specifically has led to such a fast deterioration, if you choose to try to do the FATE locked stuff first and see that contrast. It's why I want to play that stuff so badly. Otherwise you're left with something that is... Admittedly rad and extremely Dracula-esque, but not the whole picture of this monster you're fighting and its hidden depths.

Which is why I was kicking around the idea of doing SMEN so long too but I'm Not Gonna

This post would NOT be possible without the extremely thorough work of @dyke-quixote through its old @vake-hunter account, again, serious thanks for all the work you've done. I'm trying to not just straight copy Emil's outfit, we've made very different FLOCs, but know that if I end up taking a Sophisticated Attache and renaming it The Veiled Intriguer, it's a direct homage to you. Fucking genius move.

-------

Nobody has to read anything here, this is just FLOC stuff below pbbt:

Look, I have to be direct, I haven't even STARTED BaL yet, because I'm scheming and want to have my macro plan figured out. I'm having a lot of different ideas and I can't nail down which compels me most.

To the Anachronistic Tailor, Veils is this twisted, cunning thing that baited them into a hunt to begin with. The Master of the fabric trade, cutting off their supply, keeping them from working, forcing them to find other ways to get materials, posting snide insults in papers about their work, sending assassins after them. They think that they and Veils are alike in many horrible ways; they hide behind this face of garment, both of them recognizing that clothing is merely another form of communication, manipulation, camouflage. It's a disguise. They'll both play the game of Respectable, but they're both, underneath it all, half-feral and vicious, trapped, ready to claw apart anyone in their way. That's what it feels like, to the Tailor. Not that Veils would ever respect them as an equal, but would see them as a reflection of itself, and would bait it for the love of a hunt where the line of predator and prey blurs and smudges enough to become lost.

If you play that straight, and include Paisley and roleplay the assassination attempts as from Veils, then when you get into BaL and you learn it's breaking down, there's a gorgeous conflict from the horror of realizing that this is destroying the other half of your horrible beautiful fight. Do you strive and claw to save an aspect of its intelligence, just so you can fight forever with it in some way while it does cruel things to other people you don't care about? Do you end its life completely and live with the emptiness, because the best hunt of your life is over but it was only a shadow anyway, and this is a kind of dignity to not be a broken beast anymore? (Do you cope with the fact that you are the reason it became that broken?)

Do you just..... stop mid-Ambition? So technically, the hunt never ends? And your monster, maybe, has a chance to recuperate? (It never would. It's too hungry now.)

But then there's the other play, where the Vake has been this way for perhaps decades, long enough that Fires had all the time it would ever need to prepare for Veils' death. And you learn you were never up against a thing that showed a distinct interest in you, it's never lured you in, it never schemed to play with you, why would it?

And once you sit with this, and your whole body aches with the lie of it all, and you make the choice to take everything it's thrown away and claim it for yourself, you ask: who told that lie to you, then?

And I just think both those ideas are interesting, and they both end in extremely different ways and both start in different ways. One of these gets to really pull apart the Veils of the little lore that we have (and I get to maybe post ALL MY FUCKING DRAWINGS OF VEILS THE INTRIGUER), and one of them leaves the Tailor with all the means they ever wanted, without anyone ever in their way again (exactly as they had hoped in the start when they started a spite-fueled hunt to get their supply under their control), but with infinitely more questions, and much, much more miserable.

Feeling myself becoming intensely fixated on my FLOC and how I want to do their ambition BaL and how I want it to culminate and I want to talk to people about it so bad and get second opinions on what would be most compelling but it would reveal the intensity of the fixation and I’m feeling Shy. About how the antagonist makes me want to chew on drywall.

[ilikedesertduothe-normal-amount]

Watchers being Good Parents

Our newest Watcher's name was Grian.

He was not born a Watcher like all of us were in those days. No, he was born human. He lived on a world that him and the other inhabitants called Evo, short for Evolution. A world only possible with our abilities.

It was only natural that they knew of us, because of how strong our influence was. As it became clear that the one the others called "Grian" had the potential to become one of ours, we studied both his interactions with other Evolutionists and the way humans on other worlds interacted to make sure we could support him as best as we could.

We watched as his Empire grew.

We watched as him and his fellow Evolutionists decoded our riddles.

We watched him slay the dragon.

Then, as he entered the portal to return to his world, we revealed ourselves. At first, he was afraid, and suspicious upon discovering that we were the ones who laid the riddles. However, he agreed to join us.

We gave him sleeping quarters and let him rest, as the fight with the dragon had exhausted him. The next morning, he asked us where his friends were. We apologised and told him that only one of his friends had any kind of potential to become a Watcher, but we had left her with the other Evolutionists.

She had such a small chance of succeeding. We figured it would be kinder, really. Grian had lived so far from the others for so long we had thought that he wouldn't mind.

We were wrong. He yelled and cried and pleaded, until eventually, we summoned PearlescentMoon to join us.

"Pearl!"

"Grian? You're a Watcher? What's going on here?" The pair embraced, Grian explaining everything to his friend. He was happier after that.

Not as happy as he had been on Evo though.

When we asked him why, he said he missed the others, especially Taurtis. We were confused. Grian and Taurtis nearly went to war. On other worlds we had Watched in preparation for Grian's (and now Pearl's) arrival, war was a terrible, sad thing, full of danger and death. But to Grian and the others, war was fun and pranks and games with friends and enemies alike.

We accelerated Grian and Pearl's training after that, allowing them to Watch their old friends, though they were not quite strong enough to return.

Before they could grow stronger, Evo simply vanished.

There had been signs, but we had ignored them, daring to hope for the sake of our two "children" for lack of a better word. Both of them were understandably devastated. They trained hard, but eventually both of them realised that our way of life was not for them. Grian left first.

He came to us quietly, one night, and told us that he wished to leave us, to go to a new world and make a home among the people there. We agreed, finding a world that we believed would suit him. It was known as Hermitcraft VI. We taught Grian how to hide his Watcher form, and choose when to reveal it. Then, we opened a portal and sent him to his new home so he would arrive with the others.

We still check in on him regularly. Hermitcraft has been through many iterations since, now on its ninth. Eventually, Pearl joined him on the eighth iteration. They are both happier than they ever were with us.

We miss them, of course, but we would never have forced them to stay with us.

Whoo, that turned out a bit longer than expected. I didn't really factor the life series into this...AU? The Good!WatchersAU, because I wasn't sure how to fit the ending of 3rd life into the image of the Watchers being really good parents. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Oh, and of course, @eliastheownerof16axolotls. This one's for you. I don't know you IRL at all, I just saw your post and decided to make an AU out of it.

(Feel free to do anything with this AU if you really want to)

[papenathys]

Hi so I’m an English major who, thanks to the atrocious American education system, has had very little interaction with other literature. Any suggestions for where to start? I tend towards the darker stuff, but I love classics.

here are some book recommendations for (mostly) non white authors:

freshwater by akwaeke emezi: a young nigerian woman named ada battles lifelong with various iterations of her own self, these multiple personalities shaped by deities rooted in Igbo cosmology and myth. a difficult read; personalities/POVs bleed into each other, introspection precedes plot and there is a TON of trigger warnings (dm for info). nevertheless, harrowing, powerful study of the long-standing politics of trauma, faith and sexuality.

running in the family by michael ondaantje: after a bizarre dream leaves him shaken, ondaantje decides to journey home to sri lanka on a quest to piece together long-buried stories about his family, especially his deceased father. this book is a fictionalized memoir; history and folklore often overlap, but it's good throughout, rooted in the bittersweet warmth of lost culture and nostalgia in 1970s sri lanka. 100/100: made me ugly laugh and then reduced me to tears.

susanna's seven husbands by ruskin bond: one simply doesn't read only one ruskin bond book; I don't ideally recommend one specific story. yet this is probably one of his darkest novellas yet, narrated by a north indian boy who grows up next door to a beautiful, enigmatic biracial heiress with a long line of dead husbands and a property brimming with mysteries. it's chock full of deadpan humour and really wtf moments written in the classic bond vein. don't watch the trash movie, the novella is a gem!

kitchen by banana yoshimoto: following her grandma's death, a japanese woman moves in with two unlikely friends. I never thought potted plants, phone booths and refrigerator lights would make me want to scream into my pillow for 1 hour but oh, well. cooking!! kitchens!! bowls of katsudon to warm your soulmate's hands!!!! urban loneliness!!! poignant look into intimacy and grief!!! accidentally falling in love!!! murakami wishes he could write like this!!! (research triggers though!)

china dolls by lisa see: see's books are all beautifully atmospheric portraits of chinese women and their experiences in different points of history. I recommend china dolls, which is about three young asian american women navigating the world of nightclubs in 30s/40s San francisco. twisted and complex female relationships, a nuanced look at the exoticisation and perilous lives of asian americans during WW2, and of course, compelling storytelling.

the neapolitan novels by elena ferrante: charts the life of two intelligent young girls, best friends lenu and lila, from childhood to adolescence to maturity, starting from 50s Italy, against the backdrop of their violent, eventful neighbourhood in naples. equal parts chaotic academia + bildungsroman. mixed feelings about this one because while I liked the concept and characters, the translation felt pretty mediocre to me and many turns of phrase were lost. also someone lied to me and said it's sapphic goldfinch, which, no, it's not :(

reading lolita in tehran by azar nafisi: gorgeous memoir about the author's time as an academic woman in 70s Iran: her fight against the regime, her expulsion from the uni, creating a secret girls-only book club at the height of the leftists/student led 1978-81 Iranian revolution etc. The book is divided into phases like lolita, austen etc where parallels are drawn between the themes in the western texts and the lives of the Iranian girls in the book club. can't recommend it enough.

the interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri: from a couple trying to rekindle their marriage through a storytelling game to a little american boy's affectionate bond with his bengali babysitter, this really cutting and impactful collection of short stories deal mainly about the expatriate indian experience in US. jhumpa lahiri can keyboard smash and it would still create pulitzer prize winning prose.

bunny by mona awad: a young woman pursuing an MFA in creative writing, is inducted into the unsettling, seemingly saccharine world of a sugary cliqué called the bunnies. it's like a cocktail blend of moral ambiguity and voyeuristic opulence (the secret history) meets absolute feral campy horror (ahs coven), bitchy bratzy vibes + dark academia (literally what's not to love) and it gets well.....unhinged. someone on this site compared it to donna tartt and stephen king getting hammered and punching out a collab novel and tbh I agree :D

the kite runner by khaled hosseini: pretty sure everyone has already read this but idc. it's a story about afghanistan, a story about family and friendship, a story about loving and creating stories and flying kites and how sometimes history crawls out of muddy empty alleys to stick a knife into your back. I know not many people like hosseini on tumblr but honestly this novel just made such an impact on teen mimi, I can't not recommend it. heavy trigger warnings, dm for info.

sister outsider by audre lorde: if you are looking to begin with reading on intersectionality audre lorde is always a great place to start. this is a collection of essays, speeches and vignettes about lorde navigating her multiple coexisting and inextricably bound identities as a lesbian, a Black woman, an activist, a cancer survivor and a poet. this is a masterpiece of a collection, and I particularly adore the sections on the uses of anger and an open letter to mary daly.

love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez: so many people walk into this book expecting a genuine tender romance or something and that's why they get disappointed. my dude, it's ggm. this book is about the lush world of colombia in the late 18th century, the perils and ridicule of obsessive love, it's infused with magical realism and fascinatingly grotesque imagery and a rich array of flawed characters, but,, it's not your average slowburn coffeeshop romcom so like.?? idk why people misread it so!

I hope you'll find something to your liking from the handful I recommeded. additionally, please consult this list for non-western classics (it's pretty normcore; personally don't care for some of the picks under india but it's a good place to start with all the basics), this list for indigenous literature and this list for indian academia and classics.

[isthatmanahimbo]

Coming in hot today with another recommendation: Herlock Sholmes!

Herlock Sholmes is a secondary character in Great Ace Attorney Adventures and Resolve, part of the Ace Attorney series released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2015 then rereleased in a collection titled Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for the Nintendo Switch in 2021. It is clear that he is meant to be a reference for Sherlock Holmes, the infamous detective, and indeed his name in the Japanese is actually just Sherlock Holmes. He presents us with the archetype of the Sherlock Holmes character – the genius auteur investigator who cares deeply about murder in order to feed the monster of his ADHD or other neurodivergency. In a rare twist of the archetype, however, Herlock needs maybe a little more help to get from A to B, vis-a-vis the logic train.

When the player first meets Herlock in the second case of the game, he is perched upside-down on a hutch desk in the middle of a murder scene on a freighter boat, and he only gets better from there. This man hangs from light fixtures, he'll clamber into a display case he most certainly does not fit into, he'll get right in the player character's face with his glasses, take one look at the world around him, and smugly pop off with the stupidest, most unhinged tirade you've ever heard from an adult man. And it's your responsibility, as the player character and fledgling lawyer, to translate that cocaine fueled mess into what could be considered a coherent thought. Bless him, Herlock Sholmes notices when something is afoot, but he does not put the story into context at all. If this man's brain could be visually represented, it would be one of those puzzles that uses pieces from another puzzle to make such monstrosities as a rearing mustang steam train. Truly baffling. I love this idiot.

And considering his calling in life is to be a crime scene investigator, we cannot pretend he does not have people's best interests at heart. It would be a stretch to call him truly altruistic, but he does use his powers and his fame for good in a remarkable way, and he is known for being on the side of the angels. This is especially apparent when he, at quite a young age, adopts the daughter of his friend and cares for her as his own. You know we like a family man here, and Sholmes certainly loves and protects his family, just as they love and protect him.

But now we've gotten to the part where we have to talk about Sholmes' downsides. To begin, though he has people who could reasonably be called friends in the form of Ryunosuke and Susato, and even perhaps in Gregson and Gina, it is clear from their interactions with him that it is not necessarily out of admiration that they interact with him, but out of grudging respect (though more often, it is because Sholmes has butted his head in and everyone else is too awkward to demand that he get out). And we see, as clearly as any other iteration of the Sherlock Holmes character archetype, that his focus is intensely on the case on the problem on the puzzle. In between the rush of a case and sulking in the fetal position on the couch, we can safely hedge our bets that Herlock Sholmes does not fuck.

And finally, what is arguably the hallmark of a himbo is his silhouette – does Herlock Sholmes dazzle me with his impressive stature? Well...he certainly is something to look at, in his full deerstalker-trenchcoat getup complete with steampunk goggles, but when he sheds the coat, his physique is, er, shall we politely say unimpressive. Given that we are told in the narrative that Sholmes frequently skips meals when he gets a little fussy, it's not terribly surprising that he looks as though he could be caught unawares by a stiff breeze.

Indubitably, my dear friends, this man is not a himbo.

Total Himbo Score: 12

[dysfunctionalcore]

Oh ok, I’m going through everything

it may not be lore accurate but im going off by gamplay

Warframe. You’re in a world that’s been ruined by fighting and advancing technology. You awake without an idea of what you can and must do, you must learn that by yourself.

Terraria. Same idea where you’re thrown into a world without being told what to do, you just learn what you can and will do and it’s a game that very should be played at your own pace.

Minecraft. Need I say much? Same concept as Terraria, the difference is that both these games are in “familiar” worlds where you have some idea of what to do.

Assassins Creed. This is a little difficult to pull from, since there are so many games. But it could be that your character should and is able to complete tasks to help themselves or their friends no matter what it takes. This could parallel slugcat messengers, or rivulets campaign.

Risk of Rain 2. New unfamiliar world where everything wants to kill you. Your goal is unclear until you actually make it to the end.

Horizon Zero Dawn. You’re actually in a familiar world, but your predators aren’t familiar, they’re machines. This world was ruined because of the advancement of machines and human error.

(skipping HaND and just cause since I thought it would be funny to have slugcat in those worlds)

Portal 2. The relation between iterators and slugcats. In Portal, you are always being tested, you feel powerless in the sense where you are doing the same thing over and over, testing. You realize then that you have control than you think and you just need to act on that. I think this parallels how slugcats interact with iterators, especially if they’re messengers like hunter and spearmaster.

Ultrakill. You know why. Killing is fun, in both games. Ok but really, ultrakill puts you through a world that’s unfamiliar to you, which is the reoccurring theme with this, and your only instructions when you play (besides controls for new items) are “Mankind is dead, Blood is fuel, Hell is full” and this sets the mood instantly for Ultrakill. The coolest part is that all those combos and tricks you learn, the game doesn’t tell you those things. Both games reward you for learning something new by just feeding you more happy chemicals. And that’s not even the bulk of it. You meet a random god, and while it’s different how you interact with them, the message is the same for the both of them. They must fulfill their purpose, no matter the cost. They don’t just stop cause one fall. They have to fall twice before changing. maybe I should just have a ultrakill x rainworld crossover rant

Finally, Outer Wilds. This one is last since the spoilers. So anyone reading this who hasn’t played Outer Wilds first.. GO DO THAT.

You are stuck in a cycle of death. Simply put. You find yourself in a loop of exploring the planets of your solar system in a short period of time, so you try to make the best of your loop since you know it’ll end soon if you’re not careful. The lore though, an ancient species occupied the solar system before you and suddenly disappeared. They came looking for a signal which they believed to be the key to all life in the universe. But they never found it. Now that’s your goal, to find this Eye of the Universe and start anew. A way to say that you ascended.

Wonder what other medias that can totally crossover rain world with, be it lore paralels or just cool for them to be in that setting

[hualianff]

ASMR/Streamer AU

Thinking about an AU with video-game streamer HC and ASMRist XL. Both have huge followings on Youtube and other social media; both never show their faces.

On his channel, MantouASMR, XL uses audio from everyday things like cutting fruit or typing at his computer. Other times, he plans out a general script to help his viewers sleep or motivate them for the day. XL writes and reads his own poetry, as well as sings on his channel too.

XL strives to be the most attentive and considerate content creator. He is constantly reading his viewers’ comments and taking up their suggestions for future videos. Anything to help his viewers get through their day or lift their mood.

(One time, XL read a comment from the parent of a child who was MantouASMR’s superfan. XL’s voice apparently helped their son sleep when he’s scared of the monster under his bed. In his next “Time to Sleep” video, XL iterated a short thank you message for the son and his parent for listening and watching his videos, and he hoped he could continue helping in the future.)

(Another time, XL read a comment from a student who said his voice helped her concentrate on her maths homework—though she mentioned she still doesn’t understand integrals and derivatives. The following day, XL uploaded an ASMR math lesson.)

XL’s voice is known to be very soothing, his whispers as airy and delicate as a spring breeze. His lower register is smooth like honey, and anyone who happens to hear his melodious laughs on a live stream instantly falls in love with his character.

On the other hand, HC’s voice is enticingly deep but has a deadly edge to it. He has no shortage of vulgar language, especially when it comes to playing with other streamers. When HC posts an occasional video that’s not video-game-related such as a rare Q&A, he’s somewhat more pleasant.

Of course, HC is incredibly grateful for his followers’ support. He just finds himself involved in too much internet bullshit even when he respectfully minds his own business. HC supposes that it comes with being China’s number one video game streamer—Crimson Rain Ghost King—watched by millions all around the globe. However, this doesn’t stop HC from being vocal about his opinions and expressing himself without giving a fuck what others thought.

Naturally, HC and XL are in completely separate circles on the Youtube platform. As far as their fans are concerned, a mellow ASMRist and a brash gamer don’t interact with each other...

Here’s the catch: Hualian are secretly married.

XL and HC have been together for over ten years now—married for just under three years. They felt no need to disclose their full relationship when HC began gaining popularity as a streamer, nor when XL’s channel tripled in size a few years later.

In his lives, XL often mentions his mysterious husband a lot. For the third anniversary of his channel, XL retells his wedding day. The picture for the video is of HC’s and his intertwined hands with a red string attaching their middle fingers.

HC was the first one to subscribe to XL’s channel (from a side account). He never fails to remind XL that “Gege has many gifts to share with the world.”

Out of nowhere, a trashy review journal bashes XL’s videos, calling them unoriginal and lowkey creepy because XL is “...a full-grown man whispering random shit that people love for some reason.” HC tries to keep XL from reading the article, but he’s too late. What’s worse is that other media sites speculate XL’s identity after, trying to expose him.

XL has experienced media backlash in the past. This event has him revisiting trauma where he nearly lost everyone in his life. He also went through severe depression and has developed major anxiety since then. One of the main reasons XL started his Youtube channel was because he wanted to be the person of comfort he wished he had had during those dark times.

Witnessing how affected XL is by the article and online hate, HC’s already-thin patience is close to snapping. That specific journal does nothing but writes drama-seeking shit about creators with a notable platform–HC included. Not that he gives a fuck about it.

Except they made XL their next target, and that is unacceptable. HC promptly makes a video grilling the hell out of the journal and the writer who published the article, making it very clear that, “Whoever reads and supports this bullshit are the scum of the Earth.”

HC uploads the video, then proceeds to make a XL-care-burrito. He feeds his husband, keeps him warm, and cuddles him all day. After dinner, XL feels renewed with energy, thoroughly enjoying his Saturday with his biggest, most devoted fan. XL decisively unwraps himself from the burrito and goes to make that sewing tutorial ASMR video he planned for the weekend.

HC’s viewers are once again curious as to if he has connections to XL. They begin digging up evidence but after the short investigation, it seems not to be the case.

Of the two instances XL couldn’t edit out him saying his husband’s name on live, no one seemed to agree on what the two muffled syllables were. XL never shows above his chest (he wears a facemask in case of a slip-up) or goes into too much detail with his stories. Both XL and HC’s other social media accounts are squeaky clean. Plus, you can count on one hand how many times HC has mentioned anything about his personal life.

Their fans stop their analysis, for the most part; XL’s viewers adamant about protecting his privacy and HC’s viewers not wanting to piss their idol off.

With Youtube being an important and time-consuming side of their life, XL and HC make sure to balance their personal, professional, and romantic lives as best as they can, or re-evaluate priorities when things begin to go downhill.

In addition to streaming, HC works as an animator for a respectable company. He has flexible work conditions and schedules.

HC during his stream debuting a new popular game: “I helped make this game, of course I know what I’m doing.” XL watches from the side wearing an adoring and proud smile.

XL is an open and free-spirited soul, so he switches side jobs often such as a barista, salesman, model, etc.

HC’s other hobbies include photography, music, traditional art, and bowling. (He has impeccable aim for obvious reasons.) XL enjoys seeing his friends (SQX, MUA; MQ, lawyer; FX, lawyer), cooking, reading, and skateboarding.

Extras:

-HC often streams with XL in his lap.

-Hualian create NSFW ASMR for themselves.

-(HC in their bed, listening to one of XL’s ASMR videos...

XL, smiling like a minx and slipping into bed shirtless: “Why watch my video when you have the real thing right here?”)

-Someone edits a comedic video with XL and HC’s voices, comparing their styles and approaches to speech. It garners lots of attention for their respective channels, the hashtag #mantouxcrimson ??? trending for a few days.

Video title: You’re friends with both Mantou Gege and Crimson Rain

(In the video)

Situation 1: You haven’t started your homework and it’s already midnight.

XL’s voice: “Whatever you do, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You can’t do things well if your mind is unwell. Try to finish the things that need to be done, but be kind to yourself~~”

HC’s voice: “You little fucker, what have you been doing this whole time!? If you don’t do your job in the next five seconds, I’ll make sure to bury your worthless dead body where no one can find you-“

(Brainchild with @no-one-says-hi)

[4ragon]

mics59

Also, if u wanna do Miles fine by me, i loved your analysis or Gregory, I'd love to hear what you have to say about Miles

Lol I mean sure, I’d be happy to talk more about Miles Edgeworth.

You know, I actually REALLY hated Edgeworth my first AA1 playthrough. Specifically, his finger waggle. Do you know how long his finger waggle lasts?? It felt like forever, because you couldn’t click through that finger waggle. Just just had to sit there and deal with that finger waggle.

And then. And THEN. Manfred von FUCKFACE decided to have an even WORSE finger waggle. It was three times as long! And three times as smug!! And he was insufferable and I hated it!

Anyway, I think that’s kind of what endears you to Edgeworth so quickly in that first game. You start off with a smug, insufferable bastard, and then you come to understand what made him who he was, and you come to understand that he was a victim of the system as much as he was a player. Manfred took this kind young man and twisted him, and this finger-waggling son of a bitch suddenly becomes a deep, complex character in an instant.

I think making Edgeworth the defendant in that final case was the greatest character decision, because it sort of forces a change in perspective for both the player and Edgeworth himself. Having him rely on us (on US, not just on Phoenix) suddenly gets us far more invested in his story and his wellbeing than anything else could’ve.

I will say this, Miles Edgeworth is one of the most Dynamic characters in a video game I have seen (aside from like Luke fon Fabre, though that is a different genre of game entirely). Miles starts as your rival, and by the end of game 1, has to learn to trust and rely on Phoenix. And then, he needs to start learning to trust himself again. There are a certain ilk of characters that get worse with every time they show up in game (cough Larry cough) but Miles Edgeworth continues to grow and change and develop with every iteration. He saves the day several times over, and becomes far more secure and confident in himself.

AND THEN WE GET THE INVESTIGATIONS GAMES

I love the Investigations games. AAI1 is DEEPLY flawed, don’t get me wrong, but again, the two games are full of so much development and growth even beyond what we got in the main trilogy. AAI1 he gets to show just how far he’s come, and he gets new main characters to interact with and grow from. AND THEN!!! AAI2!!!! Man if you haven’t played AAI2 it’s maybe the best game in the series, at least find a playthrough on youtube, it’s worth it. Edgeworth once again has to completely reevaluate who he is, who he was, how he got to where he was, his relationships, his morals, just PLAY IT!!! PLAY IT IT’S SO GOOD!!

Also every relationship he has is so good. Phoenix, and Kay, and Gumshoe, and Lang, and Justine and Sebastian and shit dude, he’s this pompous shithead who becomes this paragon of righteousness and honesty, despite still being this kind of emotionally stunted awkward dramatic asshole. He’s multifaceted and genuine and dynamic and awesome. He’s so good. I love him. 10/10.

[lacquerware]

2020 Recap - My Year in Gaming

2020. What a year for video games. I had big plans for last year, but in the end I did very little besides play video games, and I don’t think I’m alone there since we were all stuck at home looking for a way out of reality. I wanted to do a year-end recap as I’ve done sporadically in past years, but this one will be different than the typical “Games of the Year” format because despite all the games I played in 2020, almost none of them came out in 2020, and some of the things that defined my year in gaming weren't even games. 

Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4)

RE3 was one of the only games I played in 2020 that didn’t coincide with the deadly pandemic's spread across the US. RE3 is, of course, a game about the spread of a deadly virus in Anytown, USA. It was an appetizer, I guess. 

When the Resident Evil 2 remake dropped in 2019, there were some things I loved about it, and a few things that felt like steps back from the original. I feel much the same about RE3. I had also theorized that a Resident Evil 3 remake would be better off as RE2 DLC than as a separate full-length game, and considering how short RE3 turned out, with some of the best sections of hte original cut entirely (namely, the clock tower), I stand by my theory. 

Oh well, at least Jill gets this rad gun, which for the time being is the closest thing to a new Lost Planet we can hope for anytime soon.

Sekiro (PS4)

Sekiro is the first video game I ever Platinumed. This is partly because conquering the base game was such a spartan exercise that going the extra mile to get the Platinum didn’t seem so bad, but it’s also surely a result of the pandemic. I needed a project and a big win. Who didn't? 

I wrote at length about why I like Sekiro more than every other modern FromSoft game, and also about the game’s cherry-on-top moment that reminded me of blowing up Hitler’s face in Bionic Commando. Please read them!

Death Stranding (PS4)

Release date notwithstanding, this was obviously the Game of 2020. I wrote about it here, here, and here. This game bears the distinction of being the second one I ever Platinumed. It took 150 hours. Only then did I learn I had a hoverboard.

Streets of Rage 4 (PS4)

This is the only 2020 game I played for more than a few hours. In fact, I cleared the entire game at least five times. I still don’t think it captures the gritty aesthetic of the prior Streets of Rages (nor even tries to), but this is probably the best-feeling bup I've played. Huge bonus points for finally bringing back Adam, but in the end I found it hard not to pick Blaze every time.

Blaster Master Zero 2 (Switch)

What impressed me about this sequel from Inti Creates was that it wasn’t just more of the same, even though that would've been fine. BMZ2 builds on its already excellent predecessor with a catchy new format where players can freely cruise the cosmos and stages take the varied form of planets—some big and sprawling, others short and sweet. Hopping at will from planet to planet without ever knowing what experiences and treasure each one held felt like system jumping in No Man’s Sky and island hopping in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, both of which felt like opening presents.

Dragon Force (Saturn)

Charming, satisfying, and addictive as a bag of chips. Unlike a bag of chips, when it’s over, you can do it all again. And again. And it’ll be different each time! This might be the first strategy game I've truly loved. Better late than never.

The PC Engine Mini

The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 Mini seems a particularly justifiable mini-console for people outside Japan because so many missed these consoles entirely, the games are hard to obtain, and the lineup includes titles spanning the entire convoluted Turbo/PC Engine ecosystem—the TurboGrafx-CD/CD-ROM², Super CD-ROM², Arcade CD-ROM² and SuperGrafx, in addition to plain, old standard HuCard games. I myself didn’t know the first thing about these systems before. It’s like reliving the nineties again for the first time. 

Most of the titles included are simple action games that don't require a command of Japanese, but make no mistake: being able to understand Snatcher and TokiMemo does make me feel like an elite special person worth more than many of you. 

(Side note: From a gender representation perspective, the difference between Snatcher and Death Stranding is stark. Virtually every interaction with every woman or girl in Snatcher is decorated with ways to sexually harass her. Guess someone finally had a conversation with our favorite auteur.)

A Gaming PC

I’d threatened to transition to PC gaming for years after beholding the framerate difference between the console and PC versions of DmC in 2012, and last July I finally took the leap, buying an ASUS “Republic of Gamers” (ugh) laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU. It seems like consoles are getting more PC-like all the time, especially with all these half-step iterations that splinter performance and sometimes even the feature set (à la the New 3DS and Switch Lite), so with the impending new generation seemed like a fine time to change course.

In the half-year since, I’ve barely played a single PC game more recent than 2013, but just replaying PS3-era games at high settings has been like rediscovering them for the first time. 

I also finally experienced keyboard-and-mouse shooting and understand now why PC gamers think they're better than everyone else. Max Payne is a completely different game with a mouse. Are all shooters like this??

The USPS

Early in the year, I rediscovered my childhood game shop, Starland, which is now  an online hub known as eStarland.com with a brick-and-mortar showroom. To my delight, it has become one of the best and most modestly priced sources for import Saturn games in the country, and I scored Shining Force III’s second and third episodes, long missing from my collection, for a mere ten bucks each!  

In June, I treated myself to a trio of Saturn imports from eStarland: the tactics-meets-dating-sim mashup Sakura Taisen 2, the nicely presented RTS space opera Quo Vadis 2, and beloved gothic dungeon crawler Baroque. Miraculously, this haul amounted to just around thirty dollars total. Less miraculously, they never arrived. This was the second time I’d had something lost in the mail in my entire life, and also the second time that month. Something was wrong with the USPS, and it wasn’t just COVID pains. We would soon learn Trump had been actively working to sabotage one of the nation’s oldest and most reliable institutions in a plot to compromise the upcoming presidential election.

Frankly it’s a miracle there’s still such a thing as “delivery” at all, and a few missing video games is the last of my worries considering what caused it, but nevertheless this was an experience in my gaming life that could not have happened any other year. I won’t forget it.

*By the way, USPS reimbursed me for the insured value of the missing order, which was fifty bucks. So I actually profited a little off the experience.

Mega Everdrive Pro

I love collecting for the Genesis and Mega Drive, but I will not pay hundreds of dollars for a video game that retailed for about sixty.  The publishers never asked for that, and the developers won’t see a (ragna)cent of the money. I'm also far less inclined to start collecting for Sega CD, since the hardware is notoriously breakable, the cases are huge and also breakable, and the library just isn't that good. 

Still, I'd been increasingly curious about the add-on as an interesting piece of Sega history, so when I learned Ukranian mad scientist KRIKzz had released a new Mega Everdrive that doubled as a Sega CD FPGA, I finally took the plunge into the world of flash carts. This has proven a great way to play some of the Mega Drive’s big-ticket rarities I will never buy—namely shmups like Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer and Eliminate Down—as well as try out prospective additions to the collection. I never would have discovered the phenomenal marvel of engineering and synth composition that is Star Cruiser without this thing, but now that I have, it’s high on the shopping list.

The Mega Everdrive Pro is functionally nearly identical to TerraOnion’s “Mega SD” cartridge, but slightly less expensive, comes in a “normal” cartridge shell instead of the larger Virtua Racing-style one, and supports a single hardworking dude in Ukraine rather than a company with reportedly iffy customer service.

Twitch

Getting a PC also resolved issues that had long prevented me from achieving a real streaming setup, and much of my gaming life in 2020 was about ramping up my streaming efforts. I even made Affiliate in about a month. Streaming has been a great creative outlet and distraction, as well as a way to connect with other people during the COVID depression and structure my gaming time. Find me every Monday through Thursday 8-11pm Eastern at twitch.tv/lacquerware.  

Metroid: Other M (Dolphin)

PC ownership also gave me access to the versatile Dolphin emulator, liberating a handful of great Wii exclusives from their disposable battery-powered prison. 

One of the Wii games I fired up on Dolphin was Metroid: Other M, a game I’d always wanted to try but had been dissuaded by years of bad publicity and the fact that I never had any goddamn batteries. I know I should temper what I’m about to say by acknowledging that I was playing at 1080p/60fps on a PS4 controller so my experience was automatically a vast improvement over that of all Wii players, but I’m increasingly confident Metroid: Other M was the most fun I’ve ever had playing a Metroid game. I haven’t decided yet if I’m willing to die on this hill, but I will just say that if you like the Metroidvania genre in general and aren’t particularly attached to the Metroid series’ story or its habit of making you wander aimlessly for hours, there’s a very high chance you will enjoy Other M—especially if you play it on Dolphin.

Don't Starve Together (PC)

Don't Starve is the only game my friend Jason plays, so last year I tried to get into it with him. I respect this game's singular devotion to the concept of survival, but make no mistake: every session of Don't Starve ends with you starving to death. Or freezing. Or getting stomped by a giant deity of the forest. The entire game is staving off death until it inevitably comes. Even when death comes, you can revive infinitely (in whatever mode we were playing), which means even death is not an end goal. There is no end goal. You don't even have the leeway to "play" and create your own meaning as you do in similarly zen  games like Dead Rising. 

Don't Starve is a game for people for whom hard work is the ultimate reward in and of itself. Don't Starve told me something about Jason. 

G-Darius (PS1)

In the early fall, Sony announced they were dropping PS3, PSP, and Vita support from the browser and mobile versions of their PSN Store, and since the PS3 version of the store app runs like a solar-powered parking meter in Seattle, I decided this was my last chance to stock up on Japanese PSN gems. 

Among my final haul, the PS1 port of G-Darius proved an instant favorite. Take down the usual cast of mechanized fish in a vibrant, chunky, low-poly style that perfectly inhabits the constraints of the original PlayStation hardware. I believe this is the first Darius game that lets you get into giant beam duels with the bosses, which is quite definitely one of the coolest things a video game has ever let you do. The PS1 port is also surprisingly feature-rich, including some easier difficulty levels that present an actually surmountable challenge for non-savants.

This one’s coming to the upcoming Darius Cozmic Revelation collection on Switch alongside DARIUSBURST, a good-ass romp in its own right.

Red Entertainment

In my effort to shine a tiny spotlight on some of the unsung Interesting Games of gaming, I found myself drawn again and again to the work of Red Entertainment. First there were cavechild headbutt simulator Bonk’s Adventure and twin shmups Gates of Thunder and Lords of Thunder on the PC Engine Mini. Then I streamed full playthroughs of the PS2’s best samurai-era, off-brand 3D Castlevania, Blood Will Tell and the Trigun-adjacent stand-‘n-gun, Gungrave: Overdose. Then I was dazzled by Bonk’s Adventure’s futuristic spin-off cute-‘em-up, Air Zonk, which was also sneakily tucked away on my PC Engine Mini in the “TurboGrafx-16” section. It turned out all these games were made by the same miracle developer responsible for Bujingai, the stylish PS2 wushu game starring Gackt and a household name here at the Lacquerware estate. How prolific can one team be???

Month of Cyberpunk

In November, I started toying with the idea of themed months on my Twitch channel with “Cyberpunk month.” It was supposed to be a build-up to Cyberpunk 2077’s highly anticipated November release, but holy shit that didn’t happen, did it? Still, I always find myself gravitating toward this genre in November, I guess because I associate November with gloom (even though this year it was sunny almost every day). A month is a long time to adhere to a single theme, but cyberpunk is such a well-served niche in gaming that I could easily start an all-cyberpunk Twitch channel. The fact that we’re so spoiled with choice makes Cyberpunk 2077’s terrible launch all the more embarrassing. Here are just some of the games I played (and streamed!) in November:

Ghostrunner Shadowrun (Genesis) RUINER Remember Me Transistor Rise of the Dragon (Sega CD) Shadowrun (Mega CD) Cyber Doll (Saturn) Binary Domain Shadowrun Returns Blade Runner (PC) Deus Ex: Human Revolution Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Observer

Shadowrun on the Genesis gets my top pick, but the two most recent Deus Ex games are great alternatives for those looking for something in the vein of 2077 that isn’t infested with termites.

Lost Planet 2

Every year. I played through it twice in 2020.

Dead Rising 4

I slept on this one too long. While it's a far cry from the original game, it's easily the most fun I've had with a Christmas game since Christmas NiGHTS. This is the game a lot of people thought they were getting when they bought the original Dead Rising with their new Xbox 360--goofy, indulgent, and pressure-free.

Devil May Cry 5: Vergil (PS4)

Vergil dropped for last-gen consoles in December and breathed a whole lot of life into a game that was already at the head of its class.

Nioh 2

I’ve only played a few hours of Nioh 2 because I promised my friend I’d co-op it with him and wouldn’t play ahead. But he’s a grad student with two small children. Nevertheless, Nioh 2 is my Game of 2020.

And that's it! Guess I'll spend 2021 playing games that came out last year, and maybe eventually getting vaccinated? Please? 

[sirpoley]

On the Four Table Legs  of Traveller, Leg 4: Random Encounters

In part 1 of this series, I described how Mongoose Traveller's spaceship mortgage rule becomes the drive for adventure and action in a spacefaring sandbox, and the 'autonomous' gameplay loop that follows.

In part 2, I talked about how Traveller's Patron system gives the DM a tool to pull the party out of the 'loop' and into more traditional adventures.

In part 3, I talked about Traveller's unique character creation system, and how it supports the previous two systems, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that I've seen in play.

In this part, I'll talk about how each of these three systems interacts with, and in fact, relies upon, Traveller's random encounters.

The Many Random Encounters of Traveller

Traveller really takes the concept of random encounters and runs with it. Just in the core rulebook, there are random encounters for…

-          Encounters during space travel (with different sub-tables for travel near a space port, in settled space, wild space, and so on),

-          Encounters on foot in a starport, rural area, and urban area,

-          Encounters with the law (that is, random legal complications tables for accidentally or deliberately breaking laws on strange new worlds)

There are also several 'honorary mention' tables that interact with the random encounter tables, such as:

-          Random asteroid and random salvage tables,

-          Random passenger tables,

-          Random "bounty hunters come to repossess your ship if you didn't pay your mortgage" tables

-          Full random monster generator tables—this one is particularly impressive. When an alien 'animal' is encountered, rather than having hundreds of pages of animals, it seamlessly moves into generating a fully-unique animal on the fly

-          Random patron tables (these are truly in-depth: they generate who your patron is, what you're asked to do, random targets for your mission, and even who the opposition is).

-          A random piracy table (unfortunately buried in the spacecraft chapter, not near the table where pirate encounters are rolled), that provides inspiration for just how the pirates manage to get the jump on the party and what they want.

-          Of course, special mention goes out to the procedural subsector generator which is a full chapter in the book, in which the DM can generate the entire setting for the campaign.

What's impressive about Traveller isn't so much the volume, or even the quality, of the random tables, but how tightly they're tied into each of the other game's systems

Space Encounters

As Traveller is a game primarily about space travel, I'll focus on the Space Encounter table.

Sorry for the janky photo; I don't have the book on pdf. (Traveller Core Rulebook, 2008, p139)

This table is rolled on pretty much whenever the DM feels like it (the rules say: "roll 1d6 every week, day, or hour depending on how busy local space is. On a 6 […] roll d66 on the table below"). Many of these results tie in to subtables (any result of salvage, collision, mining, trade goods, or patron has additional rolls), but the photo above contains the most important part of the space encounter system.

Compare this table to the one from D&D's Manual of the Planes I used as an example in my series on wandering monsters:

Manual of the Planes, 2001. p. 151

Now, obviously, D&D's encounter table here is for an explicitly dangerous place—literally Hell—but the only result you can roll on the table that doesn't ­immediately move to combat is "72: Mercane trading mission." Thus, any time this table is rolled, there is a 99% chance of initiative being rolled.

Traveller's random encounter table marks its "unavoidable" encounters in bold (typically they're ones that immediately start a battle or some kind of dangerous phenomenon like a collision), though "patron" is also on there. There are only 7 results that are bolded this way, and only 6 of them are explicitly dangerous. Some of the non-bold rolls can result in battles as well depending on the party's actions, but there's no assumption of violence.

This is representative of most of Traveller's random encounter tables: they're not, by and large, random battle tables, but universe simulators. Depending on the context of the adventure, this means the random space encounter table could mean one of a number of different things. For example:

-          If the players are pirates, this becomes a random pirate target table. Most of the results are unarmed NPC ships that would be perfect targets for piracy. However, some are police or military vessels that would cause real problems for the party.

-          If the players are blue-collar miners and salvagers, this becomes a random treasure table, where the various derelict, asteroid, and salvage options become possibilities for work.

-          If the players are in trouble (suffering from a medical emergency or a mechanical failure), this becomes a random rescue table, where you get to find out who answers your distress beacon, and what their intentions might be. Additionally, the tables tell you how long it takes for rescue to arrive (for example, in lightly inhabited space, you have a 1-in-6 chance every week that a spaceship shows up. At that point, you're running up against hard limitations of fuel reserves on your ship as to whether life support will give out before rescue arrives)

-          If the players are simple traders, this table is a random flavour table, mostly adding a bit of flavour to the world while only occasionally having major impact on play.

"That's all well and good," you say, "but what does this have to do with tables?"

Encounters and Mortgages

Even with the bank taking most of the party's trade profit, without close attention to random encounters, the 'trade loop' can quickly turn into a 'roll dice and watch numbers grow' game. In a single iteration of the trade system, a lot of random encounters are rolled:

-          A Space Encounter in the origin system while flying to the 100-diameter limit (you can't safely use Traveller's FTL drives within 100-diameters of a planet),

-          A Space Encounter in the destination system while flying to the world from the 100-diameter limit (in the case of a mis-jump, which lands you far from the target world, this can use the more-dangerous less-settled options on the encounter table),

-          A Legal Trouble Encounter check upon docking with the new spaceport,

-          One or more Spaceport Encounter checks while in the spaceport and picking up cargo.

-          One or more Random Passenger rolls if passengers are picked up

That's four or more rolls on random tables just going from one planet to another. This means that what might otherwise seem to be a straightforward (and therefore boring) trading game becomes, in practice, a series of minor adventures and close escapes full of danger. Remember, any time a pirate is encountered, there's a real possibility the players will be forced to jettison their cargo, which typically represents all of their accumulated wealth. The stakes are very high.

These high stakes also provide motivation for your players to accumulate wealth beyond simply keeping the banks off their backs: ship-scale weapon systems are very expensive (in the millions of credits), but even one or two upgrades to a basic ship can give the party a huge leg-up against non-player ships (who usually fly unmodified ships lifted directly from the book).

Encounters and Patrons

Virtually every random encounter table has a one or two entries that result in the party meeting a patron, which, as I described in the second part of this series, are the keys to adventure in Traveller. Math isn't my strong suit, but back-of-the-napkin calculations suggest that around one-in-five trips between worlds will involve a run-in with a patron, and thus the start of a classic-style adventure. Note that while the book does provide tables to generate patrons, it really isn't practical to do this on the fly. What this does mean is that, as DM, when you have a free afternoon or just a couple of hours, you can create and queue up your own patrons in advance and trust that, at some point, the game's procedural universe simulation will put them in front of the party.

Encounters and Character Creation

Traveller’s character creation system is different. So different, in fact, that it can be tempting to cut it out altogether and replace it with something conventional.

The rulebook recommends that, if possible, patrons should be drawn from the PCs' existing contacts and allies. I don't think it explicitly mentions this, but hostile encounters should also often include the PCs' existing enemies and rivals. This ties player characters' backgrounds directly into the action of the game's 'present' timeline. In addition, it's actually much easier as DM to pull out a character that you already have in your rolodex sometimes than come up with a new, characterful pirate captain for each random encounter.

Missing Legs

Unless you really know what you're doing, Traveller runs a serious risk of collapsing if any of these four legs (mortgages/trade, patrons, character creation, and random encounters) is removed or seriously modified. Unfortunately, the game doesn't make this clear in any particular way, which is why my previous DM (who, again, is very good) struggled visibly with his two campaigns.

If you decide mortgages won't be a major aspect of the game, you have to remove or severely nerf the trade rules, or your party will be rolling in cash almost immediately. Because the trade rules are the primary motivation to move around (and thus, roll random encounters), you have to come up with another reason for them to do so. (Note that it's possible, during character creation, to be loaned a Scout Ship without having to pay mortgages on it. As DM, you should consider disallowing this, or at least be aware of the implications if this reward is rolled)

If you decide trading won't be a major aspect of this game, you have to find another way for the party to make money (lots of money) or they simply won't be able to pay their mortgage. You also have to find a reason for them to travel from place to place, or they won't be able to justify the cost of fuel, crew salary, and other expenses. The  game will run serious risk of defaulting to jumping from one patron job to another. This isn't inherently bad, but it's a lot of work for the DM, and, at some point, becomes a railroad of quest-to-quest with no other real alternative. You're also cutting off the party from meaningfully interacting with the spaceship upgrade system—there's pretty much no other way to raise the millions of credits needed to buy extra laser turrets and stuff for their ship.

If you decide patrons won't be a major aspect of the game, you might find that the party never leaves their spaceship. Skills other than those related to trading and spacecraft operation will never be used, most of the equipment chapter and the encounters and danger chapter will be left unread, and those wild and unique planets you spent ages generating before the campaign will go completely unnoticed.

If you decide Traveller's character creation is too unbalanced and ought to be replaced by a point-buy system, you might struggle to weave the players' contacts, rivals, allies, and enemies into the campaign (if they even have those), and you might miss out on having hired NPCs running around on the spaceship. This in turn means that there's many fewer opportunities for roleplaying during travel. Additionally, your players might then operate with the expectation that Traveller will have anything resembling game balance, and, as such, be frustrated by the game's hugely uneven random encounters.

If you decide random encounters won't be a major aspect of the game, you might find that the party never meets a patron, never has the opportunity to engage in piracy, never has any trouble watching their credits climb and climb indefinitely, and never has much motivation to make money (and thus, go on adventures and travel around) beyond paying off their mortgage.