#olnf rambles

[that-culdesac-kid]

Tamarack the "I'll stand up for what's important to you and be on your side no matter what"

[iwrite-sinsandtragedies]

Here comes the—

B-oyy~♡

Hello boyyy😂there he iiis~!

[prev.]

Look at the little Micha boy! He's such a little star!! Definitely that kid that people either love or hate, I think, lol. He's proobably gotten a little better with those social cues (maybe) but he's still very confrontational - he's that kind of person that's always questioning things and looking at them from every angle. His teachers don't know if he's a blessing or a curse tbh. Most adults probably feel that way about him!

He's very protective of Tamarack and very sweet on Autumn. He goes between He and They but gender is still a pretty dodgy subject to him, honestly - he doesn't really get the point of it beyond scientific and medical relevance. Overall, even if he seems a bit cool on the exterior and doesn't make friends easily, he's actually a pretty good and thoughtful kid and puts the work in for himself and others.

[sapphoscorner]

I have a longer post for this where I’ll go into detail on this, because I think people need to understand where this is coming from, but I really need our life fans to understand that game is queer and it’s so clear that some of you are avoiding making tamaracks mcs only because she’s a girl, and fat and because y’all hate sapphics.

I saw an anon asking for another game with a male li, as if 90% of otome games aren’t about straight romances or around men. Can we sapphics have something? Or do we constantly need people showing us down our throats men and men romances? Are y’all able to survive without men?

We have a fucking game where neither of the mcs are men, CAN WE PLEASE HAVE THID OR DO YOU HAVE TO BRING MEN INTO THIS ONCE AGAIN???? Because some of you seem, SO DESPERATE to have men in this to the point where you’re misgendering qiu and is fucking annoying

[dreamtydraw]

please... Darcy x Qiu crumbs... tell us more 👉👈

*Inhale* I already made a post about it once that resume the evolution of their relationship with some funfact here but let me dive further.

Rom com high school crush.

She’s his best friend’s sibling, they have seen each other afar for a long time, they have the familiarity you’d get off people who often see each other even if they don’t really talk.

There is this awkwardness of the jump between platonic care and affection to someone you grew close to the romantic attraction that both stop them from making any move or even thinking there is any move to.

They aren’t childhood friends they are childhood connaissance, there is a slow-burning connection that links them to each other and it’s scary because-

What if they said no ?

What if she just imagined feelings that weren’t there ?

What if

That is too scary to think about. The incertitude that if your selfishness for a romantic connection wasn’t reciprocated it would hurt more than just you two. It would hurt your close common friends, it would hurt your confort zone, it would be impossible to not be confronted to that refusal everyday when you get out of your house and see theirs and know that they are here too and you will bee seen but you don’t want to be seen.

The possibility of a failed relationship is scary, even more so when you deeply care for the other and want them to feel at ease after all they went through.

Darcie knew Qiu had a hard time when they were younger, Qiu noticed that Darcie changed when they entered high school, and they are proud of each other and want to cherish that growth.

They are content with what they have, despite yearning for more.

*inhale* in conclusion none of them would confess unless there is a 100% certitude that it would go well or when it’s already too late to regret it-

Step 4 is far away for now but if we can have an ending like with Cove where you reunite after college, they would probably confess at this period lol

Very long, long, long slow burn.

[theo-grayson]

Anyone who's taken a look at my notes knows I Fucking Ramble, so don't look here unless you wanna see me share way too many thoughts about Our Life: Now and Forever (including way too much about my personal life)

Guys. Oh my god. Where do I even start. Maybe with just:

Little things I love about the demo

I am a sucker for character customization, and this game delivers that in spades. You can choose so many different things, from your appearance with a doll maker/picrew type thing, your gender and pronouns (with a BUNCH of customization), to what your bedroom looks like, to little stuff like what kind of drink you get at a restaurant. This was present in the first game too, Our Life: Beginnings and Always (OL:BA), but it's more in-depth here, and I love it. And I love that you can see your little avatar when your character speaks. I feel like it just flows so nicely, and it makes me wanna replay it with different characters. Of course, you also get many different dialogue choices, and there are so many choices to pick from. I LOVE it.

So, I absolutely adore OL:BA, and I love Cove with my whole entire heart. But man, inside of me there are two wolves: one of them is a Summer Disliker, and one of them is a rabid Autumn Pinterest Girlie. I ADORE fall, colourful leaves, mushrooms, rain, etc etc etc.

So seeing that Our Life: Now and Forever (OL:NF) takes place in a sleepy town in the AUTUMN?? With scenery like THIS???

I want to live here in real life.

The art style in general is just so beautiful. The colours, the softness of it all, the spritework, the cg art: everything is so stunning. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing too.

On a different note, the extent to which you can customize your relationships with Qui and Tamarack is so cool. You can go through a slow-burn romance, as neighbours to childhood friends to crushes to partners. You can have a cute love-at-first-sight childhood crushes story. You can avoid romance altogether and have a chosen-family dynamic. You can have a poly relationship and date both of them. Not ONLY that, but even the way that they interact with you can be customized;

That's so cool!! You can choose whether a character looks up to you or takes care of you, or whether they prefer to compliment you or tease you. And you can choose the same kind of thing when you interact with them in turn! A visual novel having this level of depth in a relationship is so awesome. The game will even remember things: like, if you react negatively to certain types of interactions, the characters can remember and act accordingly in the future. That's so cool!

I like that this story seems to be a little bit more serious than the last game. OL:BA has basically zero stakes, and very little serious conflict. That's not a bad thing at all, it's very much supposed to be a comfy, indulgent game. But OL:NF begins Step 2 by showing that the main characters have drifted apart as they've grown older. Not only is that nice realism, but it also adds both possible comfort potential (bringing your old friends back together and having good times) AND possible whump/angst potential (watching who used to be your best friends drift apart completely). The (optional) jealousy mechanic could also add to this. Obviously the game isn't finished yet and I could totally be off the mark, but even if this kind of thing doesn't end up happening, the fanfic potential is also there!

I really like how complex the characters are. Even as kids, they have wants and motivations and flaws, and they're so likeable. They change throughout the story, because not only are they growing up and older, but they have their own experiences and personal struggles. And speaking of characters:

Quick thoughts about Main Characters

> Tamarack Baumann

Oh my goodness. Ohg. Tammy. She is so so important to me. She is so sweet and supportive, and she's so pretty. Look at her. Oh my god I love her.

I absolutely adore Tamarack, and part of it is that I relate to her in a couple ways. I grew up as the insecure fat girl. I love frogs and toads. The cello is my favourite instrument, and I would love to learn to play one day. When she first said that she lived with her Omi and Opa, I literally gasped in real life, because I lived with my Omi and Opi for about a year, when I was her age.

> Qui "Autumn" Lin

QUI!!!!!! I love them so dearly, their mannerisms and the way they speak are so so endearing. They change a lot throughout the story, which is going to be so interesting to see. And they are ALSO so so pretty. Oh my god.

As a trans person myself who is definitely playing as a trans MC, I'm so curious to see the interactions with Qui, since they struggle with their own gender identity as well. Also, when they do figure out their identity in Step 3:

What??? That's so cool!!!

In which I get a little bit too personal:

This is probably tmi but I don't care. To make a very long story short, I had a really shitty traumatic childhood. Especially around ages 10-15. Even disregarding that, I was always a 'mature for my age' child, who followed all the rules and was terrified of ever stepping out of line. I never got the chance to be a normal kid.

So, getting the chance to go through this game, being able to experience growing up in such a beautiful area, with a supportive family and no trauma and friends that care about you. It's just. So nice.

-

Anyways. I'm gonna go now and make a bunch of OCs to play through the demo with and make different choices, because the hyperfixation is truly all-consuming

[helpmyinterestsareverywhere]

I was listening to the OL1 ending song again (playlist was on shuffle, wasn't expecting it and hit me like a truck </3) and while I was getting teary-eyed listening to it, I got reminded that we got the smallest snippet of the ending credit song for OL2 (and I mean small - its like a line or 2 in one of the updates in Kickstarter)

I LOVED the trailer song we got with the kickstarter (I really like the voice of the singer and how they incorperate the title into the song and all the fun autummn descriptors and uhhghgh) and the small preview of the ending song is already so beautiful, I love how it's all slowed down and a gentle song and I just know it is also gonna end up making me bawl my eyes out once I've finished the game </3

(ESPECIALLY SINCE I BACKED THE KICKSTARTER AND I'M GONNA GET MY NAME IN THE CREDITS - I MEAN COME ON, IF I'M NOT GONNA CRY FROM THE SONG ALONE, GETTING TO SEE MY NAME IN THE CREDITS OF ONE OF MY FAVOURITE VISUAL NOVEL SERIES IS GONNA MAKE ME SOB UNCONTROLLABLY, I'M SORRY)

[sneakymcsneakerson]

I Did A Thing

So, I've been following Our Life: Now and Forever's development lately and these two have occupied my mind for a good while now. I finally figured out something to write for the little bio feature and felt like sharing!

[self-insert-nightshade]

More ol2 brain rot

Ft. An MC who likes art

This one is about drawing/sketching.

If youre an MC that likes to draw, the first things youre going to be drawing are parts of your new town. This might include your friends. Youve got plenty of new friends and have documented pieces for each one of them.

<><><>

Theres Qiu in his fort and surrounded by all his friends. He is always front and center in all of the pieces with him. Naturally those doodles or pieces revolve around other people. Its very rare for it to happen to be just of him because it seems like his life is full others. However there are a few generally doodles of his smiles or weird expressions youve seen on his face, he's very open and expressive especially around you. There have been the odd times where hes not facing the viewer but these you keep to yourself. You dont want him to know just how captivating he can be. Youve shown him different drawings but have only given a few to him if any and maybe only when he asks. He asks a lot though especially at first and youve objected to more of the doodles because you doodle him so much and you want to keep some and theyre so bad why qiu? And he's respectful and loves to watch you draw. However the times hes often watching you draw it's other people. Hed love to have you come over and just draw him for a bit but hes not sure if thats needy of him to ask or appropriate or weird. Is it weird to ask to be somebodys muse?

<><><>

Then theres Tamarack. You cant help but surround her with the woods and the trees and the leaves almost like when you first found her. If youve only been sketching or mostly only sketch, she is one you want to paint or color. You want to show the world just how beautiful and vibrant and warm she is. You love drawing the poof of her hair and begged your mom for glitter to add to her hair. You find leaves in autumn that remind you of her and it can be varying shades. If there's anyo e you wanted to try palettes with itd be Tamarack and her favorite colors (which include yours). You like to give her all of your little doodles of her knowing that she'll appreciate even the ones that come out wrong (according to you). Its only when you compare qius drawings to hers do you realize that you've never placed her with the group at whole, there's always a little bit of distance there or maybe its just her and the woods. When you go to draw her with someone, its either you, qiu, or granny and grandpa. She enjoys and will encourage any forays into other mediums and would love to not only watch you draw but join you. She'll try and return the favor of drawing you or something else (a gift, a song, something that encapsulates you as much as your art did her).

<><><>

Darren. Ren. You think he's cool but not as cool as Baxter. Youve got a couple doodles of him, mostly featuring him and qiu and baxter. You've tried to draw him on his own once but it never feels right. You tried to show him one of your better drawings you did of him and he made a face. Unsure of how to interpret it but not feeling particularly proud of it yourself, you told him that it was a work in a progress and some day youll have made a better one of him. He told you that he didnt want it and you understood. Wait did he mean the drawing or for you to stop drawing him?

<><><>

Baxter is amused. When is he not amused. He is, however, impressed with your skills. His favorite, and he's told you, is one featuring qiu, him, and darren. You got it and made him one of his very own. However you were surprised when he asked you to sign it. Your signature was in the works and not as good as your moms but, shakily and happily, you signed the piece in the corner. He told you that he'll keep it safe and cherish it but he said it with a smile like he was humoring you. You never asked him to and you figured a rich guy like him has better tastes but you appreciated the sentiment anyways. He is never drawn alone surprising. You get nervous looking at him too long even if you have the excuse of it being for a drawing. And he offers! He offers to pose or sit still for you but even if you said yes it probably wouldnt come about. If you were insistent though hed be surprised. You wont get much from him unfortunately. But his visage sticks enough with you to be able to draw it from memory. You doodled him and qiu laughing about something once and his eyes seemed to light up but before you could offer it to him he looked away and said that it looked nice with that default smile of his. He doesnt have to know that you ripped the doodle out and shoved it into his bag/pocket at one point. He should let himself enjoy things like that more often.

[otomes-and-tears]

Hey guys! so… we got the our life 2 extended demo recently, which is very exciting, and it gives a little insight on step 2 and how the character dynamics work with the main characters.

I thought this would be an amazing opportunity to remind you guys that my step 2 headcanons and fanfiction were written prior to the release of the OL2 extended demo, so they’re not canon compliant! Anything written subsequently will take into consideration the new information we get 💕

When the full game is released, I’ll make sure to tag in the masterlist what was written prior to he full release and what was written afterwards!

[that0nebird]

So I've been really into acnh and our life so I started making a list of villagers I think the characters would have and here's that..!!!

So for Qiu I was going purely based on vibes I won't lie, I feel like their island be super normal but in a very charming way.

So for their two Smugs I chose Shep and Henry. I think Henry would for sure be their favorite villager like look at that frog he is so Qiu coded. Shep is Qiu coded too so he absolutely stays. I have a feeling Qiu would just in general have a soft spot for smugs.

For their peppy villagers I chose Cheri and BonBon. I chose both of them for the same reasons I think step 1 Qiu would think they look very fun. They'd always be active on the island, like they would 100% be the resident island troublemakers.!!

For their Jock I chose Roald because look at those big dumb eyes, that scatterbrained bird has not a single thought rattling around in there. He would have been a starting villager that was too cute to give up.

For their Normal I chose Goldie and I feel like the reasoning behind this is obvious, Qiu's favorite color is golden (and who doesn't love Goldie?) She would be on one of their first mystery island and they would invite her ASAP.

For their cranky I chose Wolfgang because he gives me such step 2 Qiu vibes it's not even funny. Look at h i m like oh my lord there isn't a world where Qiu doesn't have Wolfgang on their island. He would definitely be a lucky autofill villager.

For their snooty I chose Whitney because of vibes alone. She's so adorable They'd have 0 choice but to keep her. Also step 2 Qiu would love her imo. Once again she'd be a lucky autofill villager.

For their Lazy I gave them Beau because 1 he's orange, 2 he looks like he'd be right at home in golden grove, 3 and most importantly like Roald they're a silly little guy with worms for brains.

And finally for their sisterly (Who I definitely didn't forget to add and had to poorly photoshop her on.) Phoebe. She's a phoenix that lives in a volcano, she is literally so cool they would love her.

It's TamaTime™ I went in extra hard for my cottagecore queen!

For her normal's I gave her Molly and Stella. I chose Stella for multiple reasons;1, I think she's such an underrated cottagecore villager 2, Not only is she a cottagecore staple she also gives me major grandma vibes so Tamarack would definitely get Stella cause she reminds Tamarack of her Omi. 3, Stella is sooooo step 2 Tamarack coded oh my godddd. Besties for life I say. Now I chose Molly because she's the cutest little duck and reminds me of Tamarack in step 1 based purely on vibes.

Onto her cranky boys ofc I had to choose Dobie. Dobie is the grandpa villager and she would get him for a similar reason to Stella and that's because he reminds Tamarack of her Opa. He would have a home next to Stella and she'd use the Happy Home dlc to make his house a little office. As for O'Hare he was definitely an autofill she got too attached to.

For her peppy(s) I chose Felicity and Tangy. Once again both of my girls are so Tamarack coded. Felicity I'm more of a general sense and Tangy is one again giving me step 1 Tamarack vibes which I love. Also semi-unrelated but step 1 Tamarack definitely would love peppy villagers as a whole.

For her lazy you know I had to go with Erik. He's a cottagecore staple, a sweetheart, he's a sleepy little orange antelope and I hate to repeat myself (not really) but LOOK. AT. HIM. He even has a snazzy lil sweater. Love him and Tamarack would too.

For her snooty I chose Willow because she's so bright, cute, she's a sheep 🩷, her catchphrase is "bo peep" and because shes a snooty ofc my girl is going to tell you exactly what she thinks at any moment. For the third time we have peak Step 1 vibes.

Her jock is Teddy not for any particular reason other than I think he'd be a starter villager she few too attached too and conveniently fit the island theme.

For her Sisterly I chose Deirdre because she's a deer, she has a forrest as her home, and her starter sweater reminds me of one you can choose in game for Franky.

I will be adding to this later but my brain will implode if I think about this anymore right now.

[badzstyx]

all the games i'm obsessed with playing but only the demo versions have been released.

[that-culdesac-kid]

So I was looking at Tamarack and Qiu's expression sheets a while ago and noticed that they have two versions of blush.

I thought: "Huh. I guess blush 1 is a soft blush and blush 2 is a deep blush?"

And since I was curious, I tried to compare the two by layering the images on top of each other.

That's when I realized...

TAMARACK'S NOSE TURNS RED WHEN SHE BLUSHES DEEPLY

AND QIU DOES THE SAME WITH THEIR EARS

THAT'S SUCH A CUTE DETAIL I-

Fic writers, this is a free real estate. Do what you want with this information.

[iwrite-sinsandtragedies]

wait, so, someone tell me if I'm wrong here:

Baxter is 3? Years older than MC in Now & Forever? (I've only played through once and have a shit memory lmao) MC is 10 which, I believe, makes him 13 right?

He's one year older than the MC in Beginnings & Always. So that makes him 14 in the step 2 scene, since MC is 13.

That also makes him 17 in the Now & Forever step 2 scenes, since 4 years have passed, I believe, while MC and group are all 14.

Like, damn 😂 Poor boy wasn't kidding when he said he started to feel the age gap after a few years. I mean, I laugh because the sudden change in dynamic for kids to teens is CRAZY when you think about it but also, that must have been rough for all of them too 🥲 jeeze.

Like, don't get me wrong here. It's, in my opinion, perfectly normal to have a 3-5 year age gap between friends when you're growing up. That is just the experience of the school system (which is usually designed in facilities of that age range) at work. Grade school, High school, etc. We can also take into account that it's a small town, which adds another level to familiarity with people outside of your peer group and makes that acceptable age gap even larger. Typically, anyways.

But, we also know that your teen years are very hard when it comes to finding where you fit, and that social norms dictate a lot of really stupid things and pressure people into boxes they're not made to fit for the sake of 'harmony'. So it's really kind of sad when you think about it, how it must have felt to be in Baxter's shoes once he noticed that difference between him and his friends 😞 I wonder how much of an impact things like that play in the overall story, honestly 🤔 Qiu is the youngest out of all the boys too, after all, so how are they inevitably affected by it?

It's food for thought anyways 😂 controversy surrounding age gaps has always really pissed me off, as someone who grew up with a lot of much older friends (3-70 year age gaps) and younger ones too, once I was also finally considered old. The wealth of knowledge two people who are possible generations apart from each other can take and learn and apply is so important to people as a species but everyone thinks age gaps are cringe and sus so I guess we'll just continue to grow stupider rather than stronger 🤷 oh well.

I'm interested to see what kind of dialogue the game uses with this. It could be an excellent plot point in the right hands! I hope that it doesn't fall into the same potholes most things do but, we'll just have to see.

[sapphoscorner]

You guys do realize qiu is not a man right? Like the whole point of their character arc is that they're not a man and it seems like some of you are treating them as a man.

i mean they have a whole arc around their gender identity. that was a pretty significant thing that happened. like i understand where you’re coming from here but they reason why they're so angsty in step 2 is because of the gender identity crisis.

Like, like you know that if you want a male love interest you can just play all the other otome games right? Are you aware of that? Are you aware that if qiu meet you irl they would not be your friend because you're being transphobic? Are we understanding this? Are we aware that olnf does not have male love interests?

[dreamtydraw]

DREAMTY DREAMTY THEY DROPPED ART OF TAMARACKS DAD IM GOING INSANE, THIS ISNT FAIR IM SUPPOSED TO DISLIKE THAT MANNNNN 😭😭😭😭

*shocked face as a patreon member who already saw him* BESTIE HE LOOKS LIKE A NAGITO KOMAEDA KNOCK OFF

YOU GUYS ARE WEAK IF YOU START TO SIMP THE MOST MEDIOCRE WHITE HAIRED MAN >:0 !

COME ON GET SOME SELF RESPECT ! YUSUF, MR LIN AND CLIFF ARE RIGHT THERE, SIMP FOR THE RIGHT DILF >:(

#tamarackprotectionsquad #fuckthisdude

Unless this man makes proper amend about how he neglected and caused harm to his daughter i am not going to like him regardless of his apparence.

I’m Sorry if i’m ruining the vibe but i will not settle down my opinion about a character who has been described has having made bad impact on his daughter’s life just because he has basic feature that are judged as attractive ( worse when there is a big variety of nice, decent and pretty other characters both in this fictions and in other fictions )

I’m not scolding you, you can find him attractive there is no harm on that ofc ofc , just don’t forget critical thinking alright ? You can both find him hot and hate his ass-

[rui-drawsbox]

olba x dumenshi lets goo

little ramble about the worldbuilding cuz it my favorite thing abt dumenshi jkdsfh

besides Ruri and Cove, everyone meets as adults. Derek meets them when Cove s 16-17, Terri and Randy when he's 19-20 and Baxter comes into picture when he's 23

Yeah i'm using Cove's age as the standard lmao, i also made Ruri a half gnome so they could grow up together like in the game lol (i mean at least that's the case with half elves but i just assumed it was something universal haha)

dwarves aaaare super hairy but i wasnt sure about giving derek a full-beard so lets just say he shaves (?)

since baxter meets the gang once he's an adult, to me he spent half his lifetime with the olnf cast but went to the elves continent with his parents and since he didn't liked how dismissive they were toward others races (specially his parents, istg theyre like peak traditionalists lol) he ran off and joined our little group yay

cove is like laios but the "sea creaures" autism instead of the "all kind of monsters" autism

Ruri (and mom, shes also a gnome to me) teached a little magic to Cove, specifically water and healing spells

since gnome magic and elf magic is different, sometimes Ruri and Baxter teach magic to each other haha

dont ask me about their roles in the dungeon i dont play dnd

to me. baxter was this super classy elf, and he shows that classy-ness with expensive elf-like delicate outfits lol

Ma is a drawf (mabye?) and Mom is a gnome, which makes Lee also a gnome! Liz is still a human/tallman. Intentionally didn't make anyone a halfoot bc of their super short lifespan (mabye shiloh or jeremy)

cove suffers when they have to kill mermaids