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durotoswrites · 3 years

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For the Ask Game! 🧑 favorite character to write? And/Or 📒any fics planned?

Sorry for the delay on these - my heat exhaustion has left me knocked out for a while.

🧑 Favorite character to write:

Short answer: Harvest Moon's Cliff (all incarnations)

Long answer: I don't think it's really any secret that my favorite Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons characters to write for are the ones that reside at Doug's Inn. I see Doug, Ann, Gray, Kai, and Cliff as a large, dysfunctional family – AKA Doug and all of his children, haha. There are so many different personalities in one small space playing off of one another, and there's so much fun to be had. I loved how all the guys in shared a room in the GBA version of Mineral Town. It kinda reminds me of those cheesy sitcoms where clashing personalities all reside under the same roof. That being said, there is a particular shy, reclusive young man who blossoms with confidence as he finds purpose in his life. Bonus: he comes with a vague, tragic past that has tons of potential for exploration. I have a hard time resisting woobie-type characters.

📒 Any Fics Planned?

Short answer: Yes. I also plan to bring more of my stories over from ffn to Ao3.

Long answer under the cut, heheh. I rambled quite a bit.

Ask me about my writing processes and stories!

I have so many WIPs that haven't been touched in years that I'd like to finish, so new planned fics aren't posted yet. Some of them have more adult themes than most of the stuff I've been writing, so I get flustered sharing them. I've been at a crossroads, as I feel that you can't have growth without changing things up. On the other hand, I feel like a lot of my readers associate my works with a specific “wholesome” feel-good mood. It's kinda nice to be known for something, although that might just be my ego talking, thinking that people recognize my work as a “type”.

Regardless, in the end, I feel growth is necessary.

I don't want to leave a lot of unfinished WIPs waiting because they stress me out and I have too many of them already, so I'd like to have a bulk of my new stories with a good chunk written before I decide to post them.

Among those include:

A longfic featuring Pete's farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley (A blend of HMDS with the FoMT plugin and AWL). It takes place in the same universe as The Shy Newcomer (Claire in Mineral Town) and there are a few overlapping moments, although Pete's story starts first. Pete's personality is verrry different from Claire's, and his story was kind of supposed to be the yang to TSN's yin. Pete's best friends in his story are Ruby (not sure if I'm adding Tim yet), Nami, and Rock. Readers will be treated to a poorly-socialized pre-Mineral Town Cliff (if you think he was bad at the beginning of TSN, well... heh... he's a wreck here).

Another planned unpublished story is a crossover of Harvest Moon and the movie “In This Corner of the World”, based on a manga of the same name by Fumiyo Kouno. It was written as a gift for a friend. I have the entire outline figured out and have slowly been filling it in. My friend asked for an AU where Claire and Cliff have an arranged marriage and live with his family in Akiyama, the hometown I had created for Cliff in The Shy Newcomer. I took the opportunity to expand the characters in his family. I have it written during the same time period and society as “In This Corner of the World”, but had decided to write a spreading disease as an allegory for war, but then COVID happened and some parts of it just got really hard to write. There are also a lot of sexually explicit content as Claire slowly grows and learns from her spouse that it's okay to express what she wants despite sex being a taboo issue. If there's enough interest in the story, I'll post it, but I worry it's a little too niche for there to be many people into it.

Pastor Carter and Doctor Trent are one of my favorite rare pair ships. I've had a partial draft for a story about them for a few years now, especially focusing on Trent growing up and acknowledging that he has an unhealthy addiction for things that he knows he can't have. There are some more adult/sexual themes in this piece, too, including the main character lusting after a married woman (who also happens to be his patient) and some lemons. (Does anyone call it that anymore or is it just referred to as “smut” nowadays? Haha) I always feel so bad for neglecting the folks at the clinic in-game and wanted to write a piece that focused more on them, Trent specifically. It's a multi-chap fic, but I don't think I'm going to let it get as long as some of my other pieces.

I also really want to write a short romantic oneshot for every marriage candidate in Mineral Town, around 1,000 words each. So far, I have one for Cliff and one for Gray. I want to write Claire with everyone, because I think it would be fun to explore all the different personalities.

I have more installments planned for A Single Day, including a day in the life of the following characters, all with drafts in varying degrees of progress:

Anna

Doug

Nora (yes, I'm writing from the point of view of the cat living at the inn)

More to come – I think Lillia and Thomas would be especially interesting to explore

I do still have that Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask piece I've been pondering where Link befriends the soul of the deku scrub child while possessed by the mask. I don't have much written about it, but I really love the world of Majora's Mask. Such a fun game.

I also think about the lead carpenter's son in Ocarina of Time and that weird side quest involving the blue chicken and the son being lost to the forest. Then that unique-looking kokiri girl explaining that all who get taken in the lost woods become stalfos. Like, did the guy die? Was he sick? Did he want to die? There's just so much going on there that would be fun to explore.

I also have played OMORI recently and have like... A LOT of feelings about it. I don't know what I'd write, but I'm still damn impressed at how well the characters are developed in such a short game.

Other games I've had vague ideas about writing for include the following:

The Flame in the Flood: I'm thinking a survivalist/action story fleshing out Scout's backstory a bit more and her thoughts as she's traveling. I feel like she's a very lonely person, but isn't given the chance to really dwell on it.

Night In the Woods: I'd love to write more about Mae's dreams and what they mean to her. She doesn't really talk to anyone about them openly, so it's really hard to tell her feelings about them in some regards. We know that she's distressed about them, but I'd like to dive a little deeper. Do the nightmares end after the games does? What about Bea's new nightmares?

Hades (Supergiant Games): I think it would be fun to write more about the events that take place before the game starts, like Zagreus's duties in the house of Hades, and expand on the strained relationship with his father.

#ask box games #writing #beck-a-leck

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bjy-on-ao3 · 4 years

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Fic Friday: Over Indulgence

It’s Friday again so that means it’s time for a new fic and time to get erased from a new tag on tumblr! This week I have an x Reader in the Hades (Supergiant Games) universe with one of my favorite gods from it!

As usual, you can find a link to the AO3 version in the Masterlist section of my blog!

Over Indulgence (F!Reader/Dionysus)

Potential Warnings: Aphrodisiacs, Dubious Consent, Drugged Sex, Public Sex

You didn’t often make trips into the heart of town - usually only when necessity called for it. It wasn’t as if you didn’t like the people in town, just you much preferred the quiet of your home on the outskirts of town near the fields and woods in the distance. Yet, you couldn’t resist the draw of the celebration held in town that eve. A grand celebration to give thanks for a bountiful harvest of the grapes your home was known for. Other crops, too, but none were as special to the townsfolk.

As you surveyed the throngs of cheery townsfolk, your gaze passed over the dais and chaise that had been arranged as a symbolic place for the god most beloved for a town whose livelihood depended on the profits of vineyards. Expecting to find it empty, your face twisted in surprise and your eyes widened when you noted it was occupied. No townsperson would dare to sit upon the chaise - to do so would’ve been an immense sign of disrespect or stupidly misplaced bravado.

The man sprawled languidly on the chaise could hardly be mistaken for one of the townsfolk. He sat with one leg bent at the knee and the other stretched out comfortably. Long, dark hair fell to his shoulders and tied off neatly, as vibrant and glossy as the grapes and leaves that festooned it. He was dressed in a pale violet tunic that flowed and rippled like water at the hem. A cloak fashioned from the fur of a wildcat was draped over a body so flawless at a glance it seemed nigh impossible to exist. Sitting there casually, oozing relaxation and confidence, the man could be none other than one of the gods descended to join your quaint little town festival. You had no doubts about that.

Nor did the townsfolk you noticed eyeing the reclining man with reverence and cheer. Some seemed so awed they were near dumbstruck. Others raised their drinks happily, many deep in their cups, toasting the man. Some chose not to look at all, as if fearful it might be an offense to meet his eye. The truly bold or lascivious stepped closer, trying to engage the god, seeking his wisdom and blessing or his company for more untoward purposes.

You couldn’t say you blamed them, whatever reaction or intention. By his looks and the seat he had so boldly claimed as his own, there was only one god he could be: Lord Dionysus, God of Wine himself. The town’s festival was receiving a very special blessing. Or perhaps Dionysus simply couldn’t resist a party where wine and fun were freely flowing.

Soon, the initial shock settled and you finished studying the beautiful god on the chaise. You turned on your heel, intending to go about exploring the rest of the celebration and hear what your fellow townsfolk had to say about such a rare happening. But before you could go far a deep, booming voice, rich and smooth as a well-aged vintage, caught your attention.

“Heeeeey, you there.”

Your brows knit with curiosity and confusion and you turned back, trying to discern who was being addressed and who had spoken. Your eyes fell on the god upon his makeshift throne again to find his easy-going gaze directed at you. You glanced back over your shoulder briefly, as if searching for someone or something behind you. Surely you weren’t the object of his attention, right?

“Yes, you,” he called again. “Come here, would you?”

A sudden tension crept up your spine, but you pushed it down stubbornly. There was no need to fear the god that allowed your home to thrive. Besides, from the accounts of him, Dionysus was a far more benevolent god than many of his kin, much loved by his worshippers. Though still, you couldn’t stifle the nervousness rising in your chest, unsure what he could want with you.

You stopped a respectful distance from his seat, mind racing. You were all too aware of the hush of the townsfolk surrounding you, certainly chattering and wondering about the same thing you were. “Where have you been hiding all night, babe? Think I’d have noticed a pretty thing like you before now, you know?”

The informal, familiar way in which Dionysus spoke was a surprise. Intimidating as it was to be so close to an actual deity, the air of his honeyed tone was warm, almost calming. Heat spilled across your cheeks, echoing the rosy glow on Dionysus’ own as you processed his words. But you knew he expected an answer, and you found your tongue quickly to give him one.

“I just arrived, my Lord Dionysus, it’s been a busy day,” you explained, trying to keep your voice level and polite, cringing internally at the stiffness. “What can I do for you?” You added. Surely he hadn’t called you over just to compliment you.

“You can come a little closer. I promise I won’t bite too hard,” Dionysus joked, flashing a charming grin your way.

Puzzled, but unwilling to disobey, you inched forward slowly, carefully. Why did you need to be closer? You could hear him clear as day already. Were you speaking too softly?

“Little bit more.” Another short distance fell away between you until you were standing just in front of him, feeling even more daunted so very close to him. Up close the immaculate details that identified him as a god were impossible to miss and his frame was larger than you had thought at first. “There we go!” He exclaimed cheerfully. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

Brows sinking again, you took in the short chaise that he was spread over, trying to decide where it was he meant for you to sit. “Um, where?” You blurted out, turning back to him.

“Where else? Right here, babe!” He declared as if it were the most obvious thing in the world while giving his lap a welcoming pat.

You could already hear the uptick in the surrounding whispers at the god’s loud answer. “Oh, right, my Lord,” you said, half-distracted by the gossip you knew was forming. But how could you deny the whims of a god?

“You can just call me Dionysus, babe,” he instructed as you sat down on his lap gingerly. He paused, a hand on your hip as he adjusted his position and yours along with it, and you felt the flush on your cheeks deepen. “So tell me, what do you think of the party?”

You didn’t answer at first, carefully considering your words, and trying not to focus on the fact you were sitting rather intimately in God of Wine’s lap. “It’s lively, for sure. We don’t have many like this.”

“Oh?” There was surprise in his tone as if he couldn’t fathom the idea. “What a shame. Why not?”

“The grape harvest isn’t usually this plentiful. I guess everyone wanted to thank, well, you,” you mused, reminding yourself of who you were having such casual conversation with as if were some routine, normal thing.

The answer seemed to please Dionysus and reinforce his cheer. “Glad I dropped in then! Can’t resist a party, especially not one in my honor,” He said. “You seem a little stiff, babe. Let me help take the edge off.” He noted, lifting one arm.

Your eyes flickered to the golden cup in his hand you had missed - though with the column of smoky haze drifting from it you weren’t sure how - as he raised it to his lips and took a drink from it. To your bemusement, the level of liquid in the small cup didn’t seem to have gone down at all. Just what kind of wine was in that chalice?

You had only a moment to wonder before he took hold of your jaw gently and leaned forward toward you. Your eyebrows shot up when his full lips met yours, though you didn’t try to wriggle away or stop him. His fingers squeezed a little tighter on your cheeks until your lips parted. With a brief brush along your bottom lip, his tongue slipped into your mouth, along with a hot mouthful of wine.

Half in surprise, you swallowed the wine - a taste almost overly sweet. His lips remained sealed over yours for a minute after, tongue content to tangle with yours and explore before he moved back. “There we go, that’ll do the trick right quick,” Dionysus assured you, lounging back against the chaise.

You weren’t sure just how quick he meant, though you knew already you felt warm all over. You attributed that to the heat of his body and the unabashed fashion in which he had thought to share the wine. “I gotta say, babe, you’re even sweeter than the wine. I think I need another taste.”

“If that’s what you want, Lor-, I mean, Dionysus,” you corrected yourself swiftly, though your face was burning even hotter at his shamelessness.

He bent forward again, his hand curling in the hair at the nape of your neck, and he kissed you again. The second was deeper, more feverish, and even without a mouthful of wine, a syrupy, alcoholic taste persisted on his tongue. All around you - despite the sensual distraction - the sense of eyes on you was almost tangible.

When the kiss ended, you were out of breath, feeling as if a fire was seeping into your blood, for a multitude of reasons. His face remained close to yours, violet eyes half-lidded and focused on you keenly, his breath tickling your skin. “Erm, people are really starting to stare,” you said in a hush. People had been watching with half-interest before, but you were positive their attention was growing much more intense.

“Don’t mind them, babe. Just pay attention to me,” Dionysus dismissed easily.

It was simple for him to say, sure. He wasn’t the one who would get questioning looks or an earful demanding why you had been making out with the God of Wine while sitting in his lap so brazenly. Even with that thought in mind, you felt like you didn’t care quite as much as you should. Something was muting the sense of embarrassment you imagined you ought to have.

“What was in that wine?” You asked, suspicious.

The warmth only grew and your heart beat faster in your chest, unrelated to your company or the many eyes glued to you. A light sheen of sweat beaded on your skin and a sensation like pleasant tingling or prickling swept over you. It was the strongest and hottest where your body pressed close to his.

“Just a bit of nectar, babe. Good stuff. Sweetest drink you’ll find,” he boasted without batting an eye.

“I feel a little.. off. Kind of hot,” you explained, your words coming out in almost a pant. What in the world was going on?

“Hot? Ooooh, right, it’s a bit of an aphrodisiac. Forgot how it affects you mortals,” Dionysus remembered, his voice becoming puzzled for an instant before returning to a casual manner.

“Oh, I-I see,” you stammered.

The heat was more and more distracting, as was the pulse between your thighs that beat in time with your pounding heart. Just as distracting was the feeling of something long and stiff making its presence known beneath you gradually. You would have been shocked how quickly it took effect if you had been in a less bothered state of mind.

Dionysus considered your state of distress, taking another sip from his chalice while he did so. “Don’t worry, babe, I can help you out,” he decided, in a casual tone one might use when lending someone spare change.

Your face and skin burned more when he adjusted the folds of his flowing tunic and your own - the both of you remaining well covered to anyone not nearby - until your core was pressed more snugly against something hot and hard, growing more so as the seconds ticked by. “Di-Dionysus,” you said in a gasp, gaze flitting about worriedly. “What if-what if they notice?”

“Let them. No one’s going to make a fuss. Did you forget who you’re talking to?” He reassured you nonchalantly.

Your lips twitched and you opened your mouth to protest again, but your will to argue died as a more tangible wave of heat rolled through you. The need to quench the burning in your belly and your cunt was suddenly outweighed the potential mortification of fucking a god where all your neighbors could see you. The feeling of said god pressed thick and willing so close to where you craved him did little to dampen your growing need. “A-alright,” you gave in with a groan, leaning forward and pressing your face into his neck.

With a short chuckle, Dionysus shifted you in his lap subtly until you felt the head of his cock slide between your folds, already wet from the potent effect of the nectar-spiked wine. He splayed one large hand along the curve of your ass and back against your skin, his golden goblet clasped casually in his other hand. The touch made you shudder, drawing in a deep, aching breath at the anticipation building alongside the lava in your blood. With a short, smooth half-roll of his hips, pulling you down towards him, he sheathed himself inside your dripping heat.

Your reaction was instant, a moan leaving your lips and immediately drowning in the cool skin of Dionysus’ throat. His length stretched you deliciously, enough that if the aphrodisiac hadn’t ensured your cunt was soaked, you were positive it would’ve been uncomfortable. Instead, the sensation of fullness was bliss, your pussy already clenching around him, even as he remained buried inside you unmoving.

The purr of Dionysus’ voice broke through the cloud of lust and fire, clear as a bell. “So tight and wet. You’re making to tough to leave it at just this, babe. Easy, just relax,” he soothed, though you could hear a husky strain that made his voice all the more enticing.

For a while, being filled seemed to be enough to satisfy the nectar piquing your desire. The burning in your gut faded to a low, steady smolder, and you breathed a relieved sigh. You sat up slowly, realizing finally that your current position slumped against Dionysus was far more telling than anything else. With some of the demanding hunger satiated by Dionysus’ cock stretching you, your anxiety returned to the townsfolk.

When you took in Dionysus’ face again, his cheeks were an even rosier stain and you imagined it wasn’t just his spiked wine. Your heart continued to beat an irregular pace in your chest, and you felt overly warm, but at least you were able to think somewhat straight. Enough to notice the people around you were well aware something was amiss between you and Dionysus.

Dionysus, on the other hand, was remarkably unphased aside from the warmer glow on his cheeks, sitting with a mirthful, almost sleepy expression, coolly taking long draws from his cup. He flashed a few smiles to some folks who wandered closer to snoop or catch a better look, thinking themselves unseen, and sending them scattering. His hand on your skin rubbed back and forth absently. How often he did these kinds of things to be so at ease? Though it occurred to you he had no reason to fear what mortals thought of him or his escapades. He was right - no one was going to make a fuss over something a god did, whether or not it was right in front of them.

You made the mistake of squirming in Dionysus’ and adjusting your position, making him hum in pleasure and his cock twitch inside of you. You bit your lip viciously, another surge of heat striking you like a bolt of lightning through your spine. The aphrodisiac hadn’t been completely satisfied - only temporarily sated, waiting to reawaken at the slightest provocation. “Oh fuck, Dionysus, I feel like I’m on fire again, worse,” you whimpered.

The cheeky smile that flickered over his lips for a second was lost to you, already distracted again. “Gotta speak up. What do you need, babe?”

Was he teasing you? Had he known that just a bit of cockwarming wouldn’t satisfy the nectar’s potent effects? Whatever the case, there was no resisting the returning fog of heat and desperate arousal, giving you a mind to do anything to abate it. “You. More, just more, please,” your voice sounded wild to your ears, needy.

“Can do, babe.”

Abandoned was any pretense you were behaving - you weren’t of a mind to care anymore and Dionysus hadn’t been bothered from the beginning. He set his chalice aside, careful not to tip it and spill out its endless contents. Both hands cradled your hips in a firm grasp, fingers rubbing ticklish lines over your burning skin.

“Shit, you’re gushing now, babe. Nectar really did a number on you,” he acknowledged, beginning to rock his hips against yours.

Each stroke of his cock was euphoria all its own, the heat fading each time he filled you, only to come roaring back when you were nearly empty. You bent forward, clinging onto his biceps with little shame, panting and whining low. “Fuck, fuck, so… hot, More, harder, Dionysus, please,” you begged breathlessly, grinding your hips against his, trying to match his unhurried pace.

“More of me? If you insist..” Dionysus dipped his lips towards your ear, hot breath tickling the shell of your ear. “Mm, you feel so good,” he purred, his words making the maddening tension and heat in your abdomen swell.

His hands clamped tighter over your hips, pulling you more roughly against him each time he pushed forward. His hips canted harder, his cock sinking even deeper. He moved you again in his lap, as easily as if you weighed nothing. The new angle added more friction to the buck of his hips, brushing your clit and a spot inside that had you clawing at his arms and your toes curling.

“Oh.” The word was a surprised gasp, a realization of just how good the new sensation was. “Right there, right there,” you chanted pleadingly. “Don’t stop.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Dionysus promised, a groan of his own punctuating his words as your cunt pulsed around him especially tightly.

With each roll of his hips, your control over your voice shattered more and more. It was too much to contain the cries trying to escape and even burying your face against him was doing less to dampen them. One of Dionysus’ hands abandoned your hip, tangling in your hair and tugging your head back so your noise flowed free. It was his turn to press his face to your neck, lavishing it with feverish, open-mouthed kisses and nips.

Any embarrassment or dignity you had possessed fled at the blooming tension in your gut and the ache of Dionysus’ cock pounding into you. You bucked your hips more urgently against his, egged on by the spiked wine and the lusty groans and growls ghosting over your skin. “Oh, Dionysus, fuuuck,” you crooned, your grip white-knuckled on his biceps as you bounced more wildly in his lap, sweat coating your skin.

“Get it all out, babe,” Dionysus breathed thickly, placing a sharper bite on your throat. “Louder. Let everyone know who’s making you feel so good.”

You couldn’t help but oblige him, caught up in the full pull of the aphrodisiac and the overwhelming sensations Dionysus wrung from you. The drone of the onlookers was drowned out completely by the volume of the lewd noises and words leaving your mouth. “Dionysus, Dionysus... oh fuck. I feel like I’m going... to explode,” you gasped out between moans.

Dionysus’ grunts and curses filled your ears, a complement to your bawdy chorus. Harder and faster you chased the tension, winding it tighter until it was on the edge of snapping. Just a little longer, a little harder, a little more friction, that was all you needed. “Aaa, Dionysus, I’m cumming, fuck, fuck, fuuuuck.”

When the hot coil finally burst, you thrust your hips even more desperately against Dionysus’, your cunt squeezing his cock for all it was worth and trying to draw him closer, deeper. Your words died away, a slew of obscene screams tumbling out in their wake.

“Almost there, keep making those noises,” panted Dionysus, his lips skating over your pounding pulse. “Feels so damn good.”

His grip in your hair stung, and his tight grip on your hip was sure to leave a mark later. His breath came in more and more ragged puffs. The steady tempo of his hips faltered, becoming sloppy and wild. “Fuck, babe, I can’t take it anymore. Here it comes,” he growled.

He continued to drive into you, hard and deep, as he came, only stalling when he had spent every drop of his cum inside. You became incapable of contemplating much else other than the tingling rapture beginning to die away and the hot, wet feeling of his cum and his cock filling you up.

When Dionysus reclined back against the chaise again, he didn’t bother to withdraw, dragging you back with him. You slumped boneless and exhausted against his chest, finally free of the sense that you were going to spontaneously combust.

“Feel better, babe?”

“I think so. Sore, but better. Not burning up anymore.”

“Hope you don’t mind keeping me company and drinking with me a bit longer?”

“Gladly. Just… maybe something a little less, ah, potent for me for now?” You agreed. You weren’t going to admit that weren’t ready to face the flood of questions your fellow townsfolk surely had. And just maybe you were interested in seeing if you couldn’t convince Dionysus to take the fun to a more private setting.

#writing #fanfiction #dionysus #supergiant hades #ao3 #archive of our own #greek gods #n/s/f/w #nsft #tw: dubious consent

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bumofthewild · 4 years

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Zagreus and Thanatos are brothers please delete that and stop promoting incest

hello

i’m gonna talk about the game so after this i advise people who do not want spoilers to not read after the read more. but if you want an answer regardless i’ll try not to be spoilery in my explanation.

tldr; apparently a dev has clarified that they’re not brothers here [x]

my friends say i can just link that and not go into it but i take these things really seriously! and it must be clear from my other asks by now that i don’t answer more involved asks in short sentences. so to start lemme just make it clear that i do not promote incest or any other harmful content like that. i have and continue to be pretty vocal about how much i hate the fetishization of problematic content on twitter, but i’m not as vocal about it over here because i just post art and don’t speak much unless i get an ask.

i figure after me saying this the question is how am i saying i don’t promote incest while shipping two brothers.

well i just don’t agree that they’re brothers. thanatos and zagreus were both raised by nyx, right. which makes them, in the usual sense, foster brothers. i mean that makes sense. BUT while playing the game it became clear to me really early on that that was never a relationship any of the characters including them entertained between them, and that they were more like childhood friends. certain dialogues you can get from the characters, such as zag saying things like “i always knew nyx wasn’t my mother” and that he felt differently from hypnos and thanatos who refer to each other consistently as brothers, and to nyx as their mother (while zagreus just calls her “nyx”), made me think that the game was trying to define their relationship differently. i believed these were attempts to distance the characters from the idea that they were brothers and i am pretty satisfied with that.

now i’m not saying that these aren’t things that make for a pair of foster siblings. i obviously don’t think you need to be related by blood to be siblings, or call whoever is your mother “mother” or whatever. that relationship is different for everyone. if you see the relationship as familial then that’s just what you see it as. i don’t think it’s a case where if something is making you uncomfortable then you should force yourself to get over it. really it’s just that while playing it i personally, ME PERSONALLY, didn’t take that to be their relationship. and i know a lot of other people don’t as well. and i think that the game has done this on purpose because it attempts to clean the incest out of relationships regarding other characters as well. i won’t say who for spoiler reasons, but for example there’s a character who is usually related to zeus and hades etc, and to prevent an uncle/niece relationship they rewrote that character’s lore. and that’s enough for me, because i am not interested at all in entertaining the problematic greek myths and would much rather focus on the sanitized versions presented to me in the game.

if the game had thanatos and zagreus acknowledge each other as brothers at all, i wouldn’t ship them. and i can say this because that’s how i felt about the beta of the game where that’s what they were like. i didn’t play the beta, my friend did, and they showed me old screencaps where the conflict of their relationship hinged on the fact that thanatos had to get used to a relationship where zagreus was no longer his brother. fans reached out to supergiant and were like “that's weird and uncomfortable because thanatos is a romance route” so they changed it to what it currently is, where they see each other as just childhood friends and the relationship was never familial.

to be clear, i’m not saying “oh it’s greek mythology so it’s bound to be fucked up”. i don’t think that’s a fair argument because the game simulates very human relationships for its characters despite the fact that they are gods or whatever, and it’s humans playing the game understanding it through their human lives and whatever, so if anything supergiant should be expected to clean that shit out of their game. thus i think they purposely tried to be ambiguous about the mythology for the sake of sanitizing it. but i also think that people are allowed to have different interpretations of things and whether you want to consider the original greek myths or just the game etc. is up to you.

if that’s not enough for you, then i think you’re just going to have to block or unfollow me and block the thanzag hashtag. because while you’re entitled to your opinion i think i am entitled to mine. i’ve given this a lot of thought since playing it the past weeks or so because i take these things seriously and have no desire to make people uncomfortable NOR THE DESIRE TO SHIP INCEST. and i also just want to have fun playing a game i really like and drawing a relationship i find very interesting. because i think, FOR ONCE, there’s a piece of media that is attempting to do right by its fans and allow for complexity on a side that is more moral than these things usually are.

#asks #anonymous #tw incest mention #i put under a read more because its long #sorry

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purgatoriorpg · 3 years

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VANAGLORIA. ⟡ HECTOR SOLORZANO. ⟡ 27, M.

CROWNED BY GLORIOUS ABUNDANCE AND TRIUMPHANT ACCLAIM, YOU STAND TO INHERIT PARADISE. AND YET IT IS THE ANNIHILATING LURE OF HELL THAT BECKONS TO YOU. Descended from a long and illustrious line of conquerors and pioneers, you are the first-born and only son of an empire without end. The culmination of the largest merger and acquisition in the twenty-first century, you were created with a single purpose: to succeed. The scion of a self-made entrepreneur that built one of the world’s leading construction companies and a blue-blooded real estate heiress, you were a boy king with all that the sun touched at your feet. Your parents invested everything they had into moulding you in their divine image, from private lessons in rule and conquest, to the art of war and politics in half a dozen languages. The path to greatness made no concessions for leisure or respite, but you became increasingly adept at channelling any scrap of time and diversion you had into your stolen escape. Hedonism, revelry, debauchery, excess—anything you could sink your teeth into was fair game. You craved complete and utter abandon, the uninhibited freedom to live, to indulge even for just a moment, in the fantasy that your life was your own. Is it hubris to long to be the master of your own fate, or hamartia? You have turned yourself inside out, from shell to skin to ichor, starved for purpose and meaning that doesn’t exist, hollowed out for want of something real. Heaven and eden hold no power over you anymore; if you have to go to hell itself to claw your freedom from the throat of god, then so be it.

DYNAMICS.

SUPERBIA, AVARITIA, ACEDIA & GULA. ⟡ THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED.

You were the children of old money and ancient houses, inventing new and proliferous ways of defying your circumstances with careless anarchy. The original circle of friends sworn to no higher purpose than pleasure and endless self-gratification. They knew everything and nothing at all about being chained, shackled to your predetermined future like Prometheus on the mountain. GULA was your first and oldest friend, the one who led you down the road to perdition, and the one who you abandoned there. The others with their glittering smiles and lavish, extravagant lives without imperative, never truly comprehended the depths of how well you knew him. He was a time bomb. A dying supergiant going supernova, hungry for the entire universe, ravenous with the desire to consume all that lay in his path. A part of you wishes you had let him do it. Envies him for it. You killed him—premeditated and orchestrated his death down to the alibi and autopsy. And yet you loved him, you all did. You cannot conspire to kill someone the way you planned to, if you did not love him enough to sink each knife into his back.

LUXURIA. ⟡ I WENT THROUGH LIFE HALF-AWAKE BEFORE YOU TOUCHED ME.

This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story. In the grand and glorious design of your existence, love would be an incidental byproduct of your prospective marriage. An unexpected consequence of a business transaction. And so you didn’t go into it thinking of love. Maybe that was the first mistake. You have never known how to commit to something without devoting blood and bone to it; you have never been a man of half-measures. He found you lingering on the precipice of sleep and nothingness, pulled you so hard and fast from life lived half-awake, you couldn’t even pause to gasp for breath or sanity. In a way, he ruined you. In a way, he was the only real thing you have ever dared to let yourself touch. You burned, blazed, incendiary whenever you clashed and tangled, tearing into each other like you could strip each other down to the marrow, run your fingertips, your lips, across each streak of raw wanting. You think of all the things that are forbidden, with him—a future, a life, a right to live. Things that you never would have thought to ache for if you hadn’t tasted love and learned what hunger truly meant.

FALLACIA. ⟡ EITHER WE EAT GOD OR HE EATS US.

How does that old saying go? Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. FALLACIA is not quite an enemy, too mercurial and volatile to be a friend, but nevertheless, she is a weapon in an arsenal you can’t afford not to have. In the battle between heaven, hell, and purgatory, she and her brother perched above the fray like twin seraphim. Or wraiths. Whatever they were, perfectly identical in their remove. You needed them. It was merely convenient that FALLACIA had played ally and conspirator to you long before the time came to get away with murder. Her unique sense of immorality and justice, her uncanny attention to detail and reasonable doubt, made her an unparalleled advantage. If Julian was to die, you would need her and her brother, and all the damnation and hellfire they could ignite. Like any good strategist and serpent in the garden, you knew not to push when you could pull. You gave her the ultimate choice: the ignorance of bliss, the sin and sacrilege of infinite knowledge.

CLOSED. ⟡ FC: ALEJANDRO SPEITZER.

#vanagloria.#c.#a.#original rp #skeleton rp #mystery rp #lsrp #lsrpg

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skyheld · 4 years

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@mercysought asked: “ names are there to be forgotten. “ from the priestess to ameridan | hades by supergiant games part i. sentence starters. | ACCEPTING!

He lets a finger run along the faded inscription on the sarcophagus, as though to read --- or sense --- by touch what can no longer be read by sight. Who lies here? Did I know you, or were you born centuries after I was gone? Gold gleams in the lines his finger have left in the dust, in the remnants of runes worn away by time, but still he does not know what it says. Din’an Hanin sits hushedly on its secrets, veiled in years and cobwebs. If I knew your name I could say a prayer, I could make sure the Dalish remember you.

He turns to her. His gaze is drawn to the touches of gold on her hands, her face; the marks that tell the world who she is, like the faded runes on the sarcophagus. One day they will wear away, and then who will she be, she who has no name but Priestess, she who is nothing but the one she serves? He frowns at her, holding her gaze.

“ What do you mean? Names are meant to be forgotten? They have no purpose after we’re dead and no longer need them for ourselves? “ He does not know what cruelty she has endured in life to make her speak so cruelly herself. Perhaps he should sympathize, but it makes him angry, because it seems intended to hurt him. Yes, him, specifically --- he who was forgotten by near everyone, and by those he helped raise to glory most of all. But Bran Kenric remembered him, the Ghilain clan remembered him, and the Emerald Knights remembered him. If not for that, he would not be here. The new Inquisition remembered him, and just in time to save the world from the danger he tried to protect it from.

“ I do not know how you can stand here, in a hall built to remember the dead, and say it should all be forgotten. What would be its purpose, if it were the way you say? Why would we build tombs for our dead, why would we write history down into books and record it in songs, if not for the comfort of knowing someone will remember us? If not because it matters? You are wrong “, he tells her, “ though I’m glad you are. “

#mercysought #meme:answered #ameridan:ic #catch me crying about them

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whitetigerdemoness · 4 years

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Welcome to the next chapter of Shooting Star. Character death warning.

Masterpost

Blue supergiants are the hottest stars in the universe, some exceeding 20,000 Kelvin. Our sun is only approximately 6,000 kelvin.

To say that his nerves were going haywire would be an understatement. Marc felt like he had spent the entire day half a breath away from a panic attack. Then he had one at the worst possible time. After the intense stress of giving testimony in court in front of dozens of cameras, the accusing, disgusted stares of the crowd as Nathaniel held his hand were too much. The two had left as soon as they were allowed to without even hearing the verdict. Bless his sweet boyfriend for supporting him through this. He knew Nathaniel had to be just as nerve wracked as he was, but the other boy somehow managed to keep a level head during this whole mess.

Then the akuma attacked.

Marc felt like someone had dropped a ten ton stone on his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He felt like his entire world narrowed to focus on the brightly colored akuma. Her greens were vibrant, blues dripping with malice, her orange...Volpina. In that instant, Marc was back in that condemned apartment all alone, fighting for his life against a snarling monster wearing a fox’s skin. Vaguely, as if from far away, he felt Nathaniel trying to pull him along. Trying to shield him when the akuma came after them. Felt his arms wrap around him as vines encased them both.

Darkness engulfed him as the plants took root in his skin, stealing his sight. Hot tears of regret rolled down his face as Marc thought about how Nathaniel could have gotten away if the other boy had just left him. Inwardly Marc knew that the red head would never do that. Even in the darkness, consciousness slipping away, he could feel Nathaniel’s arms around him. Warm and safe. His brave knight…

“My Treasure. Don’t cry, I’ve got you now.” A familiar voice whispered softly in his ear. One he hadn’t heard except in his dreams for so long now. Something was gently stroking his face as his vision came back. Purple, red, and ocean blue sharpened into focus.

“Penknight?” Marc breathed, not believing what he was seeing. “Am I dreaming?”

“No, I’m really here.” The akuma chuckled. “You see me in your dreams?” He smiled. Marc’s heart sank and grew at the same time. It was a weird feeling.

“Oh no, how did you get akumatized?” Marc asked, reaching a hand up to gently cup Penknight’s face from where he was laying in his arms. Penknight nuzzled his palm with a kiss and sighed.

“Nathaniel didn’t get akumatized.” Marc blinked as Penknight helped him sit up. Looking around he saw Paon crouched near them, helping Nathaniel to his feet. The red head looked just as confused as he felt.

“He’s a Sentimonster I made. Ladybug and Chatnoir went to recharge their Miraculous, but they will be back. He refused to leave you.” Paon looked troubled. “He’s so...human like.” She said to herself.

“Well, other than being purple.” A girl Marc didn’t know chuckled nervously. “Are...are you okay? I’m… I’m sorry about what I put you through…” The brunette looked down, shame faced. Her work-worn hands twisted nervously in her overalls. A lightbulb went off in Marc’s head.

“You were the akuma.”

“I...yes. I’m sorry…” She whispered.

“Don’t be. Happens to the best of us.” Nathaniel told her, giving Penknight an uncertain glance before laying a hand on Marc’s free arm. Other people in the street looked on curiously as they recovered from their post-miraculous cure daze.

“HOW did it even happen though? I thought Hawkmoth was gone forever, but today when those nasty neighborhood boys smashed my grandmother’s potted roses I heard her and-” The girl rambled, looking stressed.

“Did I hear you say her?” Ladybug asked as she swung down next to them from the rooftop, Chatnoir right behind her.

“Ladybug!” The girl exclaimed. “Yes! I know Hawkmoth was a man, but this was definitely a woman’s voice.”

“A woman?” Chatnoir pondered, exchanging a meaningful glance with Ladybug and Paon.

“No, it can’t be her. We checked! Several times…” Ladybug hissed, running her hands through her hair. Marc wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but with Penknight on one side and Nathaniel on the other (eyeing each other like two stray dogs meeting for the first time trying to decide if one was friend or foe) the green eyed boy had some questions for the heroine that couldn’t wait.

“Ladybug-” He began.

“Ladybug.”

Suddenly, holographic screens fizzled into existence in various places along the street, and in the distance. Featured on them was a bust shot of a woman in a flowing purple gown, a butterfly themed masquerade mask adoring her face. Silver hair spilled like a mountain brook made of starlight down her shoulders. Shimmering trails that almost looked like tears ran from under her mask, but her face was calm.

“Having lost contact with Gardener, I can only assume she has been struck down by you. My thanks go out to her for her service. She served her purpose as a distraction. This means that you, Ladybug and Chatnoir, will be on the streets of Paris to witness this broadcast. Paris, I...am Hawkmoth.” The street was deadly quiet as the woman made her address. All eyes were glued to the screen, waiting with bated breath for the ethereal woman’s next words.

“I am told combining the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous will grant a wish, any wish, to the one who does so. I have a wish, Ladybug. A very dear one. You took EVERYTHING from me, and until I get it back, I will take everything from you.” The woman stepped aside to reveal Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancouer kneeling, chained, in their prison uniforms. Marc heard Paon and Chatnoir both hiss with surprise. They were not the only ones. The street broke out into hesitant whispers.

“You will not get away with this.” Gabriel glared at the new Hawkmoth. “Ladybug stopped me, and she will stop you.” Hawkmoth did not reply. She only raised her cane staff, and pulled at the top to reveal the sword hidden inside. Her face impassive, she swung the sword in one swift, clean arc. Gabriel and Nathalie’s heads fell out of frame onto the floor, their bodies following soon after. Paon screamed and fell to her knees, Chatnoir trying to support her, face white as a sheet and trembling. Ladybug didn’t look much better. Hawkmoth faced the camera one last time.

“Everything.”

The screen went dark.

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The street erupted in chaos as the screens blinked out of existence, people screaming and clamoring to the backdrop of Paon’s broken sobbing. Nathaniel’s heart went out to Mrs. Agreste. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how she must be feeling right now. Almost unconsciously, he went to put his arm around Marc’s shoulders, only to find Penknight’s arm already there. Nathaniel blinked at him. Penknighted slowly blinked back, as if in challenge. Nathaniel felt the hair on the back of his neck rise with some emotion he couldn’t quite pin down. When Marc leaned into Penknight’s chest and the akuma (sentimonster, Nathaniel reminded himself) smirked smugly at the other red head, that vague feeling solidified into a territorial surge. Ladybug frantically breathing into her hands out of the corner of his eye in an attempt to calm down reminded him that maybe right now was not the best time to be fighting over his lover with what was essentially himself.

“We need to get them off the street.” He said to Penknight. The sentimonster narrowed his eyes slightly, but Nathaniel raised his eyebrows meaningfully and the knight sighed.

“...Come on.” He grumbled, gently removing his arms from Marc to pick up the sobbing Paon. He kicked Chat Noir’s foot with his own. “You too, Catnerd. Grab your Lady and let’s get out of public.” Ashen, as though in shock, Chatnoir nodded woodenly and took Ladybug by the arm.

“You know where to go.” Penknight told Marc and Nathaniel before jumping to the rooftops with Ladybug and Chatnoir. Nathaniel took Marc’s hand in his, silent for a moment, before saying;

“I actually have no idea where to go.”

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The moment the broadcast, seen all over Paris, ended Chloe Bourgeois was already halfway to the valet lot screaming into her phone for her driver to bring the car around NOW. Fifteen minutes later she was throwing open the doors to the Agreste mansion to find Adrien and Marinette seated on the couch in the foyer, their kwami hovering around them. Marinette was stroking the blonde’s hair as he stared off into space.

“Adrikins.” Chloe murmured, heart wrenching for her oldest friend. Marinette glanced up at her with hollow eyes, but didn’t stop her approach. Sitting on Adrien’s other side, she gently lay a hand on his back. This seemed to startle him out of his trance.

“Chloe?” Adrien asked, voice raspy.

“I came as soon as I saw.” Chloe squeezed his hand when he half lifted it in her direction.

“You saw?” Marinette asked.

“I’m pretty sure all of Paris did. Those screens were everywhere.” Which likely meant an akuma was on the loose somewhere.

“ He’s gone.” Adrien said numbly, staring not at Chloe but through her. “He’s- I mean, he’s been gone for months, but that was just away. This is gone.” The blonde girl was starting to get worried about his mental state.

“The miraculous cure?” She asked Marinette. The other girl closed her eyes, tears slipping out. “I tried. This...incident...wasn’t akuma damage. We haven’t heard from the prison, but I don’t think it worked. The Ladybugs didn’t go anywhere when I cast it.” The half chinese girl said, trying to keep her breathing even. Chloe closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself.

“Emilie?” She asked.

“Sleeping it off. Dusu and Samson are watching over her.” Chloe did a double take. Coming down the stairs was the fashion challenged akuma that Kurtzberg turned into.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” She eloquently questioned.

“What the fuck are YOU doing here?” The maybe akuma sniped back, before dismissing her with an impatient look at the doors. “Where are they?” he grumbled to himself.

“You-” Chloe started, before Marinette cut her off.

“Penknight is...complicated to explain. As usual.” She sighed to herself. “Right now we need to focus on Adrien and Emilie.”

“Yeah. Kitten could probably use a nap himself right about now. He’s...not processing this well.” Plagg said in a concerned voice from where he was laying on Adrien’s head, stroking his hair. A pang of longing flashed through Chloe as she thought of Pollen before she squashed it down. Her friend needed her right now.

“Let’s get him into bed then.” She said, helping Marinette guide Adrien to his feet. The boy was still staring into the distance like a zombie, occasionally mumbling to himself too low for Chloe to understand.

“Great. You guys do that. I’m going back to Marc, since that other idiot obviously can’t handle the simple task of bringing him to me.” Penknight grumbled, heading for the doors.

“Penknight.” Marinette said sharply in what Chloe liked to think of as her Ladybug voice. “You need to stay here until we figure out what is going on.” The akuma paused long enough to give her a sneer.

“I don’t take orders from you.” He said, before purposefully stomping out the front door.

“Oh my god that…” Marinette gave a frustrated hiss. “I do NOT have time to babysit him right now!” She growled.

“Penknight is a wild card Marinette. We can’t just let him wander around by himself.” Tiki said, glancing with a worried look between Adrien and the door Penknight had left through. Chloe sighed.

“Go after him Marinette. Plagg and I will take care of Adrien. He’ll understand why you had to leave. Maybe call that walking second hand store the two of you are dating if you’re worried about him.” Chloe tried to keep her voice light and airy to reassure Marinette, who had become a surprisingly good friend over the months since Hawkmoth’s defeat, but she could tell the other girl was seeing right through her. Marinette closed her eyes for a moment to gather strength before passing a comatose Adrien off to her.

“If ANYTHING happens Plagg, tell her where the miracle box is. I know there’s at least one more akuma still out there.” Marinette instructed him.

“You got it baby bug. Really hope there isn’t though.”

“Me either Plagg. Me either.”

This is the look Penknight gives Nathaniel when Marc chooses him to hug:

#miraculous ladybug #Holloa #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc anciel #marinette dupain cheng

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sherry-smith · 5 years

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Trapped Among Mortal Things

Lack of knowledge leads to questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers lead to knowledge. Knowledge leads to trouble. Seems easy, doesn’t it? Seems logical.

It wasn’t always like this, not until Earth was created. In the beginning, the true Beginning, trouble didn’t exist. That’s due to the fact that knowledge didn’t exist either, at least not what people currently label as knowledge. Crowley, of course, remembers what it was like; They create you, They fill you with the bare minimum you’re required to know - your name, your identity, your purpose - and then you’re free to go. There was no such thing as lack of knowledge because no one was aware that maybe, just maybe, they didn’t have the keys to unlock all the secrets of the universe; no one was even aware that there were secrets of the universe in the first place. This means, obviously, that questions didn’t exist either and, by extension, nor did answers.

It is believed that questions were invented by Lucifer when he asked why angels should submit to human beings. That’s not quite true. What he really did was use free will to point out that there was no reason for humans to be put on a pedestal and venerated as the Almighty’s finest creations. The War in Heaven begun and ended, and questions still didn’t exist; without them, free will seemed rather pointless.

Actually, questions were invented by a pretty stubborn and curiously clueless Archangel. At first all he did was knock at the Lord’s door - despite everyone telling him it was a hopeless mission, that They weren’t there anymore - and requested, in utter reference, for permission to descend in Hell. It was an odd request, admittedly. He claimed that he couldn’t bear the thought of those poor souls suffering from the wounds inflicted to them during the War; no matter the horrors they had committed, no matter how awful their sins, they still were creatures of the Lord and, as such, deserved some kind of comfort. Of course, the permission wasn’t granted - nor denied, which seemed good enough for the Archangel.

So he crossed Hell’s entrance. His sincerity and good will meant nothing to the fallen angels, least of all to Lucifer, still too full of pride to admit his defeat, or even accept help of any kind. Raphael was thrown out without hesitation. It took him a while to realise the price that little visit had costed him; his innocence was forever lost, and, as a memento, his wings turned as black as the darkest night.

Being stubborn, the Archangel - not quite Fallen, nor quite full of Grace - knocked again at the Lord’s door, furiously, desperately. «Why? - he cried out - Why would You invent pain and suffering? Why would You cast them out instead of proving them the Holiness of Your Love?» He didn’t know it yet, but in that moment he invented questions, and all their dreadful consequences.

He also didn’t know that They were still there, contrary to the popular belief. The door slammed open, shockingly. Raphael felt a tingly warmth in the middle of his chest as a hand pushed him, and then there was coldness, as he fell for miles and miles. He had understood the theory behind pain, but feeling it? Feeling pain is a whole other matter than understanding it.

He landed in a pool of boiling sulphur, horribly disfigured and deeply broken. Raphael was no more, and the Almighty disappeared for good. It truly was the end of the War in Heaven.

Lack of knowledge leads to questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers lead to knowledge. Knowledge leads to trouble. Easy as that.

Crowley never regretted inventing questions, not once. He’s always thought it was quite a clever move of his. The real problem was that nobody had bothered inventing answers yet, so at first one couldn’t see the brilliance of being able to ask questions; they seemed rather pointless.

Despite not existing yet, Crawly had a vague idea of what an answer should look like; it has to make sense and be satisfying, even when you don’t like it, no, especially when you don’t like it. But he couldn’t invent answers himself, having invented questions already, so all he could do was wait for someone to do the job.

Crawly was quite sure that knowledge was somehow linked to answers. At that time, knowledge did exist - as established previously - but it wasn’t part of this particular equation yet. The chain was more like: free will leads to questions, questions lead to trouble. Crawly was aware of the missing link, having thought about the issue for a long time. He was therefore delighted upon discovering that there was a tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden that could grant mortals knowledge. He was even more so upon discovering that Lucifer - no, not Lucifer, not anymore, Satan now - was looking for somebody to go up there and make some trouble. Obviously, he volunteered.

He didn’t really need to make trouble; he just had to lead the humans to ask questions, that was all. He crawled to Eve, mostly because she seemed more interesting than Adam. She also seemed to have a better understanding of her own free will.

«You see that tree? It’s called the Tree of Life and its fruits grant you the ability to tell the difference between good and evil. Such a pity God forbid you to eat them.»

«Why?»

Technically, you can’t see a snake smiling, but in that particular case one could feel the serpent’s cheeky grin. «Indeed. Why?»

He slithered away, hiding himself between the bushes to watch the Fall of Man from a safe spot. If he was lucky, soon enough humans would’ve invented answers. But that’s not what happened.

It is believed that answers were invented by the Almighty in response to a stubborn Archangel’s question, when he explained to him that, hadn’t They invented pain, there would have been no balance in the universe, things could’ve never worked in the long run; it was ineffable. That’s not quite true. They tend to ignore questions, so it wouldn’t have made any sense for Them to come up with answers.

Actually, answers were invented by a pretty clueless and curiously atypical angel. He was supposed to smite demons on sight and yet, once Crawly started talking to him, he was too polite to even ignore him. Yes, as soon as he heard the snake’s doubts, he had started babbling about the ineffability of the Great Plan, which was such a tedious subject; but at least he wasn’t rude, nor entitled. And then…

«Didn’t you have a flaming sword?»

«Er.»

«You did, didn’t you? It flamed like anything. It looked very impressive, I thought.»

«Er, well…»

«Lost it, have you?»

«Oh no! Not exactly lost, more…»

«Well?»

«If you must know, I gave it away.»

Two things crossed Crawly’s mind. First of all, this was no common angel. What kind of angel gives away his God-given weapon to mortals who, on top of it, had just been punished? It was a miracle he hadn’t fallen. But, to be fair, those days God was nowhere to be found; probably They weren’t paying too much attention.

Second, he had answered his question. “Have you lost your flaming sword?” “No, I gave it away.” Simple as that. He hadn’t batted an eye, as if answers had always existed. In the end, there was no need to wait for humanity to sort it out.

He couldn’t help but smile. Things were about to get really interesting. And this angel, this Aziraphale, seemed really worth to be liking.

Lack of knowledge leads to questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers lead to knowledge. Knowledge leads to trouble. But it’s not so easy.

It’s not so easy, because sometimes lack of knowledge leads to blissful ignorance, which may lead to either happiness or violence; sometimes knowledge leads to satisfaction or peace; sometimes questions lead to more questions, or answers lead to even more questions, in a vicious circle that can’t be broken because sometimes, sometimes, there are no answers, no matter what.

Crowley shouldn’t keep asking questions - one thinks he should know better. And yet… And yet he still does. He never stopped. His curiosity, his need for answers, turns always out to be stronger than any fear of consequences, however big or frightening they might be.

But they’re drowning everybody else?

What did he say that made everybody so upset?

What the deuce are you doing locked up in the Bastille?

Should I say thank you?

He likes asking questions to Aziraphale. He knows that, no matter what, he’ll always get an answer back. It’s comforting. It almost makes him forget how bad questions can be, it makes him feel like it’s not wrong to pursuit knowledge, like he himself - his own strange existence - is not wrong for being curious.

However, thing is, sometimes Aziraphale is not enough. He doesn’t understand the Ineffable Plan no more than Crowley does, and that’s frustrating. So, he plays with fire; he talks to the Almighty Themselves. He’s aware of the dangers but he’s not afraid. After all, what’s the worst that could happen to him? He’s already fallen.

God, You listenin’?

He’s not sure why he still bothers. There’s nobody up there, there hasn’t been for such a long time that one might even question the existence of a Creator in the first place. And Crowley probably will, one day, given his nature. But not quite yet. For now, he just looks at the starry sky and wonders where in the damn universe are They hiding.

For now, he just looks at the starry sky. He thinks about how long it would take to travel to the end of the universe, how long would it take to search it all, every planet, every nebula, every galaxy. He decides an eternity is not enough.

(He think about mountains and brave little birds and spaceships travelling at the speed of light)

What he does know for certain is that the universe itself won’t last that long. Protostars become red giants, which become white dwarfs; supergiants become nebulae or supernovae, neutron stars and black holes. He knows, for he had built them, a very long time ago; he created those intricate patterns, those complex chemical reactions that lead one way or another depending on as little as a the presence or absence of a single atom, those delicate physical laws that maintain everything in balance, a graceful dance across the light-years. There’s so much beauty out there, but it won’t last; the universe runs towards entropy and there’s no stopping it. Even if there’s no Apocalypse to destroy the Earth, life is ultimately doomed in such a cold and hostile environment. What’s the point of it if… there’s no point at all?

Hey, God, can You show me the Ineffable Plan? Not all of it, You can just spoil me the ending, will You?

Crowley feels lost, without references, without meaning. He tries not to think about it. He tries to keep himself busy - some little temptations, lunch at the Ritz, a bottle of wine - but ultimately he feels like a tightrope walker, torn between cheap materialism, existential dread and hopeless cynicism.

And so he asks, question after question. And so he longs for all the things he’s lost and all the things he’ll never reach.

Trapped among mortal things (even the starry sky will end) why do I yearn for God?

#fanfic #mine #good omens #crowley #angst

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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Infinity Thoughts

So I have something of a tradition of reading comics that will in some way tie into upcoming Marvel live action films. To this end with Avengers: Endgame approaching I read through, among other things, the TPBs ‘Avengers vs. Thanos’. ‘Rebirth of Thanos’, ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ and ‘Infinity’ volumes 1-2.

For the most part I rather enjoyed them. My respect for Jim Stalin grew and I’d argue Infinity Gauntlet may well be Marvel’s finest ever crossover event story of all time...Then I got to Infinity.

Hooooooooo-boy.

This was a lame story.

To be crystal clear the trades I read through collected the main issues of the event plus the tie-in issues of Avengers and New Avengers. Since all were written by Jonathan Hickman the tie-ins are actually essential to the reading experience and I was never exactly lost reading the story. There was a brief but well done reference to the Guardians of the Galaxy tie in issues that weren’t collected but that was it.

You know how I said my respect for Stalin grew through reading this stuff? Ell my respect for Hickman sunk...even lower than it already was.

First off reading Infinity seems to have been a waste of time for my personal purposes. Whilst I do not know what Endgame has in store Infinity War took precious little from this story. It just borrowed 4/5 of Thanos’ inner circle of henchmen (Corvus Glaive, Prixima Midnight, Ebony Maw) and also the Outriders, those four limbed footsoldiers Thanos uses to invade Wakanda. Speakin of which the mere idea of Thanos invading Wakanda was also borrowed from this story but it plays out drastically differently.

That’s not really a problem with the story just a personal complaint I had.

On the flipside something I can’t really complain about but will point to as a problem is that to follow the main story of Infinity you HAD to pick up the tie-ins I mentioned. A well written event shouldn’t price gouge you like that. Noticeably Infinity Gauntlet didn’t. Reading all 6 issues was a satisfying experience unto itself, I never felt like I was missing anything.

But saying Stalin is a better cosmic writer than Hickman would be redundant.

Another problem I discovered after the fact with this story was how the first 15 pages of Infinity #1 are literally just reprints of New Avengers #6 and the Free Comic book day Infinity issue. So 15/54 pages were stuff you’d either read before or could read for free.

This isn’t even getting into the writing problems in general. First of all Hickman had this insufferable habit of within issues themselves having like chapter breaks in the for of entirely blank pages with a grey title and symbol at the top. So you know...nice that you are paying for nearly blank pages amidst your £4+ comic books.

Second of all Hickman has this habit of like throwing meaningless lore at you.

In Infinity #1 for example he throws at you the brief backstory of this planet you have never seen before nor will see again as though it means something, complete with flashbacks and exposition about this planet’s great champion who’s already dead courtesy of the guy delivering the narration. And when I say it’s meaningless lore I mean Hickman has the guy say “Whatever happened to your proud champion to won the Water Wars and untied the tribes by defeating the Great Beast of Pol?”

Like...who gives a shit no one knows where or what Pol is or what the Water Wars were. The best part is that this is all adding up to this planet giving Thanos’ henchmen a tribute of several dead people.

Basically it stretched out 11 pages with meaningless lore to communicate Thanos is bad, Thanos has bad henchmen, Thanos’ demands defeated planets pay him tribute in dead people. Seems like you could accomplish that in maybe 4 pages at a push, especially for a villain everyone knows about already.

What makes this all the more confusing is that Thanos isn’t even really the central plot or threat in the story. This is in spite of being on the covers, mentioned in the solicits, the story’s name referencing stories that explicitly involve him and the story frankly existing because of his post-credits scene in Avengers 2012.

The story’s central conceit I guess is that it’s a war on two fronts.

Captain America leads most of the Avengers into space to join the Kree, Shi’ar, Skrulls, Annihilus and other alien races in a war against the army of the Builders. Meanwhile the remaining heroes (including Iron Man and the Illuminati) have to contend with Thanos who has invaded Earth looking for the sole remaining Infinity Gem and the last of his children, the half-Inhuman Thane.*

Essentially in spite of the advertisement Thanos is really just one of two antagonists in this story. And frankly clearly the one Hickman is less interested in compared to the Builders, whom shockingly, just so happen to be his own creations.

What follows is essentially a cosmic war story all about military strategy and game theory and so on, with very smart people doing very smart things.

Now in fairness conceptually this isn’t a bad idea whatsoever.

So what if Thanos is just one of two antagonistic forces. So what if it’s a war story. Those are ideas that can be done great right?

Yep...except...they aren’t.

Let’s talk about Thanos first.

His central motivation to kill his half Inhuman son is contrived and whilst it COULD have worked it just doesn’t.

As the lead in issues to Infinity Gauntlet make clear with Nebula, who claimed to be Thanos’ granddaughter, Thanos finds the idea of reproducing an affront to his nihilistic beliefs.

Thnos of course is in love with Death. As in he sees Death as a woman he’d like to make out with. To this end he committed his life to mass slaughter to win her love.

Thus entirely logically his creator Jim Stalin established that Thanos would not seek to have any offspring because, duh, if your goal is to kill as many people as possible you aren’t going to create MORE life.

So on the most basic of levels, Thanos even having any children seems out of character.

But it could have worked because the story does establish Thanos has killed his other children too. So it is entirely possible to argue that Thanos, whilst no celibate, made a point of killing his off spring to balance the scales, possibly even seeing his kids as mistakes of his youth before he’d entirely committed himself to Death.

Except the story doesn’t say anything like that. Thanos simply states the idea of Thane existing keeps him awake at night. In other words one of the 2 central antagonists has at best vague motivations.

To make matters worse Thanos is defeated via a total dues ex machina. Basically Thane undergoes a mutation as a result of Black Bolt unleashing a Terrigen mist throughout Earth, this causes him to inadvertently and instantly murder everyone within a certain radius by waving his left hand. He can only control this with the help of a containment suit one of Thanos’ inner circle, Ebony Maw provides. Maw acts as a kind of evil mentor/advisor to Thane, think Wormtongue from the Two Towers but more powerful and sinister, but we’ll get to him in a minute.

Anyway Thane is captured by Maw and presented to Thanos and whilst Thanos and his last surviving inner circle (they’re called the Black Order btw) Proxima Midnight are beating the shit out of the Avengers. Maw then says some shit about wanting to see if Thane has evolved and how he’s the only one who can beat Thanos. So Thane waves his right hand and encases Thanos and Proxima in a great big amber cube.

Oh and this comes out of exactly nowhere!

That’s the resolution to the final issue by the way. THAT is how this 2 volume event friggin ends. Pathetic.

More pathetic even than the already pretty pathetic motives and characterization given over to Ebony Maw and the entirety of the Black Order.

Look, the idea of Thanos having an elite entourage as opposed to just hordes of gneric nameless thralls** is a good one.

The idea of them worshipping him and/or Death is fine.

But beyond their looks we get little characterization from any of them. Glaive and Midnight are offhandily established as married. Black Dwarf is just a big dumb warrior thug. We get a mini-monologue about Supergiant’s childhood and why she follows Thanos in the pages just prior to hear death towards the end of the story. And Ebony Maw...nothing. We have no reason for why he acts against his master or what the fuck his agenda is.

What little we know of the Black Order comes from I kid you not a mini Marvel Handbook segment randomly inserted into the story that gives you like a short paragraph on each member and their abilities.

So you know...literally telling us instead of showing us who these people are and to boot it’s not even actually part of the story.

Then the story has the audacity to say that Thane, Hickman’s new underdeveloped character has and will become even worse than his Dad. His Dad who I will remind you literally caused universal genocide when he snapped his fingers and killed half the universe’s population...and THEN murdered all the cosmic beings. Oh but Thane is worse because he...can trap people in amber...?????

There is also precious little characterization or development lent to Thanos in the entire story, whereas the events its trading off of (Infinity Gauntlet, etc) absolutely did. Here Thanos is the big bad villain and little else. He isn’t even the biggest threat nor does he comprise the majority of the panel time.

That distinction goes to the Builders.

Oh lord...the builders. Who also count among their ranks the Gardners known as the Ex Nihili, the Alephs robot soldiers and exist in the superflow of the multiverse having created the Starbrand and other cosmic tools to shape the evolution of species across the universe.

Did any of that sound bland, boring, meaningless and simply pretentious mastabatory science fiction talk?

Well that’s only because it is.

Marvel has a robust cosmic lore to them. The first generation of that was really installed by Lee and Steve Ditko in Doctor Strange and to a much greater extent Lee and Jack Kirby in Thor, Fantastic Four, Avengers and other titles. That’s where we of course get guys like Galactus.

The second generation I’d argue was Jim Stalin who set up Thanos, Drax the Destroyer Adam Warlock, the Infinity Gems and also Chris Claremont along with his collaborators who birthed the Phoenix Force and the Shi’ar and so on.

The third generation was Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Keith Giffen. These guys added a few things to Marvel Cosmic but really their forte was more adopting stuff already in the Marvel universe and expanding it or using it in interesting ways. The best examples of this being their Magnum Opus, Annihilation which made Annihilus a Big Bad for the Marvel Universe, and ESTABLISHING the Guardians of the Galaxy that the movies took inspiration from. Whilst they didn’t necessarily create any of the Guardians they were the guys who essentially made them the space Avengers.

Hickman is essentially the headliner for the fourth generation and by far and away the most creative.

And by creative I mean he is very good at dreaming up ideas. He’s a classic ‘Big Concepts’ science fiction writer.

Where he falls down is in executing said concepts.

Whilst the past generation of Marvel Cosmic creators vacillated between going for something sweepingly epic or else fun and bombastic or something in between, Hickman’s work is devoid of the fun bombast of a Silver dude riding a surfboard in space but is also if anything trying way too hard to be ‘Epic Cosmic’ than anything the older creators did. And they at least were doing it at a different time when standards for comics were different.

Let’s take the Galactus Trilogy and Infinity Gauntlet as an example. In the 1960s presenting us a science fiction comic book antagonist who was an allegory for God was really impressive and him engaging in a debate with the Watcher about the nature of humanity was deep stuff.***

Similarly the Infinity Gauntlet was concerned with the burden of Godhood and acted as something of a bizarre love story between Thanos and death, the ultimate character study of the Mad Titan.

Hickman in Infinity though mostly just throws Big Science Fiction Concepts (tm) at you and expects you to be impressed by their mere existence, as though ‘the Avengers fight a big space war’ is something to be impressed by in 2013 when we’ve had how many stories like that?

Worse his Big Concepts aren’t just expected to be impressive via their mere existence but are also just...rather dull. There is little personality to the boringly named Builders and only slightly more in the pretentiously named Ex Nihili (Hickman loves throwing around very impressive big nonsense words for his science fiction crap, God forbid they be something simple and/or silly but memorable like ‘Galactus’, ‘the Infinity Gauntlet’, ‘Annihilus’, etc). The Gardners/Ex Nihili kind of look interesting but the Builders themselves are just the most boringly designed aliens ever.

When you see the Watchers or the Celestials you BUY that they are the oldest race in the universe, you buy they are cosmic beings on a higher plane than mere mortals. The Builders are just grey vaguely buggish dudes. Their footsoldiers the Alephs are worse. They’re generic Terminator rip off robots.

The art throughout the story looks pretty but it’s design sense is lame at best and it has the eternal problem of so many 2000s/early 2010s comics that the art looks beautiful panel to panel but is also stiff and looks like a series of very pretty portraits that lack life or the illusion of movement. Comic book art shouldn’t be a series if paintings next to one another conveying the highlights of a scene but an organic flow from one panel to the next creating the illusion of movement. Want to see this done well in a big event story? Check out Mike Zeck on Secret Wars or Perez/Lim on Infinity Gauntlet. Or hell anything Ron Frenz draws.

Okay, they look boring, they sound boring, their concepts aren’t used that effectively BUT...surely the Builders storyline has merit? Surely this cosmic war story is at least a good war story.

Well...yes and no.

The military strategy used in the story is pretty realistic and well thought out, speaking as someone who isn’t familiar with military strategy history or stories rooted in that stuff.

If nothing else the core concept of Thanos attacking Earth whilst the Avengers are off fighting on another front and the X-Men are divided (because of Schism) is basic and interesting use of strategy.

And the space warfare for the most part seemed reminiscent of Star Trek, speaking as someone who’s got novice knowledge at best of that franchise.

Here is the problem though...it’s also painfully dull for anyone who isn’t hyper into that stuff.

Which would be fine...if the story was solely contained within the main Infinity book.

I’ve long defended Secret Wars 1984 on the grounds that as it’s own mini-series it wasn’t obliged to follow thematic conventions or writing conventions of the solo or team titles, it could be it’s own sandbox. So if it wanted to be a light war story/series of fun action set pieces, fine.

So if Infinity wanted to be an Avengers space military strategy comic book for 6 issues okay fine. Except it wasn’t, it roped in Avengers and New Avengers into it too.

And at that point the tie-ins at the very least needed to have something more. You know like...personality.

The single biggest problem with pretty much any Hickman story I’ve read is that far too often the characters talk stiffly and unrealistically, with a coldness to them, a functionality. There is precious little personality or emotion to them. Even when the art is showing us emotion you simply see it as opposed to actually connecting with it.

There are only the briefest of smatterings of truly emotional or personable moments in the entire story and as a consequence they kind of stick out like a sore thumb. Smasher and Cannonball hooking up (out of nowhere in the story like there was no inclination they had the hots for one another earlier) and Sunspot quipping about it is the most human moment in the entire story closely followed by Manifold expressing exhaustion over constantly fighting.

The closest thing to a charismatic character in the entire story is friggin Maximus the Mad!

How do you do that in a story with Captain America, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Reed Richards, Namor and friggin Thanos!!!!

All this and the story exists for anything but a genuine creative drive. It exists because

a) Marvel needed to make bank off of Thanos’ cameo in Avengers 2012

b) Marvel needed to remind people Thanos exists after his cameo

c) Marvel needed to workshop some possible concepts for the then inevitable Thanos movie on the horizon

d) Marvel needed to amp up the Inhumans via their stupid cloud unleashed in this story so they could begin their dastardly master plan to supplant the X-Men with them

Ugh. I recommend you simply skip this story wholesale.

*The other 5 Infinity Gems were destroyed

**By the way in Stalin’s stories Thanos’ armies comprised of a diverse group of alien baddies. Here...there are different kinds of aliens but they seem to be a few species who all look the same. Hardly what Stalin and other artists rendered, which gave you an idea of the scope of Thanos’ travels.

If we’re going to be paying more money for comics nowdays could they maybe put in at minimum the same effort as cheaper comics from 40 years ago!

***The Watchers and Celestials by the way, Jack Kirby creations, get supplanted by Hickman as the oldest and most powerful race in the universe for the sake of his boringly named ‘Builders’

#Thanos #Infinity #Marvel Infinity #Avengers #The Avengers #Jonathan Hickman #jim stalin #Jack Kirby #black order

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agallimaufryofoddments · 6 years

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I visited the SuperGiant Games’ website for the first time just now (writing this shortly before 3 AM) and was pleasantly surprised to see they offered sheet music for free--most don’t do that, and as someone who plays piano, few things endear me more to someone/something than free, legal sheet music.

(Granted I raised an eyebrow at how they wanted your email and billing address for free items at ‘checkout’ -- free items thus effectively serving as a ‘harmless’ way to harvest such date from the site’s visitors -- but they could’ve just limited their free items to the wallpapers/ringtones rather than actually throw in sheet music so...still appreciated to a certain extent).

The reason I was on the site at all was because I’d looked for their early access games (HADES) on Steam but was puzzled when I couldn’t find it. Seems that one can buy it Early Access for $20 directly via Epic Games which...is a bit of a mood dampener. I was at least somewhat interested before, but I’m not keen on buying it through that company.

It’s not even so much the whole separate account and launcher download thing (I mean, that’s still a pain, but) as it is how I’m not keen on their business practices. Security issues, offline play, no cloud saves, pushing for exclusive rights, their whole regional pricing thing (which can often mean “more expensive”)...

...Well, I’ve heard they might be bothering to implement cloud saves soon, and I think I’ve seen a post or two wherein they refunded players the difference in money caused by regional price variation. Still--that feels an awfully lot like damage control at this point, so I’m reluctant to praise such actions so cavalierly.

And just look at their stance on User Generated Content in their EULA:

Any content that you create, generate, or make available through the Epic Games store application shall be “UGC”. You hereby grant to Epic a non-exclusive, fully-paid, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, and sublicensable license to use, copy, modify, adapt, distribute, prepare derivative works based on, publicly perform, publicly display, make, have made, use, sell, offer to sell, import, and otherwise exploit your UGC for any purposes, for all current and future methods and forms of exploitation in any country. You may not create, generate, or make available any UGC to which you do not have the right to grant Epic such license. In addition, you may not create, generate, or make available any UGC that is illegal or violates or infringes another’s rights, including intellectual property rights or privacy, publicity or moral rights. Epic reserves the right to take down any UGC in its discretion.

Bolding mine. In other words, whatever content you create and/or share through their store app is content you’re agreeing they can exploit for profit (”sell”) or advertise (”publicly display”) or do whatever with the content you’ve generated, forever and always. Notice that they don’t even say anything about credit.

So there’s the obvious content like your screenshots/vids that they could exploit--most likely for advertising--but then there’s things like mods or let’s plays, which this EULA essentially allows them to potentially monetize at any time. This doesn’t sit well with me at all. God knows Steam as a platform isn’t perfect, but this item in the EULA is alone enough to make me leery.

Come to think of it, did I make an Epic Games account before now? I’ll have to check; honestly, I’m tempted to terminate it if I do have one. At the same time...there’s still some interest in Hades on my part, and though the game’s subreddit FAQ says it will “most likely” be on Steam, and that it will release on other platforms beyond Epic Games once it’s out of Early Access... we’vs still got at least a year until such time, and that’s not a fun wait. (Not that the FAQ on the Epic Games’ website even so much as mentions the possibility of other platforms post-release... They would really love to have exclusive rights, huh).

The main thing Epic Games has going for it, in my eyes, is that its content is DRM-free. Now that is a strong selling point.

On the one hand, I’d probably appreciate being able to play HADES sooner rather than later. On the other, buying any game directly via the Epic Games store feels kinda dirty along with an iimplicit assumption I approve of their business practices as they are now, which I don’t. (And/or that I either didn’t read or didn’t care about the EULA, which I did read and do disapprove of).

Ugh. As for Sugergiant themselves...while I’m not exactly chuffed with them partnering with Epic Games on this, I do ‘get it’ to a point: they probably needed the financial support post-Pyre, or at least would/will receive a financial boost from expected sales. I wonder how much vs the potential profit they could’ve made from Early Access sales on other platforms? Perhaps more--at any rate, the safer, ‘guaranteed’ option of the two. So I do get it, even if as a consumer the situation isn’t favorable for me.

Ugh ugh. Maybe I should just give up for now and actually think about maybe finishing Transistor at some point. Haven’t played that in months. At any rate, it’s now 4:05 AM so I supposed I should schedule this post for morning...

#Hades #Hades game #Hades Supergiant #Supergiant games #Epic Games #Ugh--look. I've got a base interest in all things Greek mythology; it's in my blood.#But....not like this SGiant--not like this #Maybe I'll hold out for a while and then cave (but I might feel even worse after the fact so...)#I don't know. I'd rather not buy it via EpicG--I'd /really/ rather not

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ajoraverse · 6 years

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Another thing that, well, I’ll probably have to either retool or ditch. Beta AU side-story draft, taking place pretty much immediately after the last published one.

The Rose Quartz Project

The threat of red supergiant expansion and the ensuing shockwaves had chased gems off the first colony nearly eight hundred thousand years ago, for not even the sturdiest gem or their technology could survive it. The threat triggered the search for what would eventually become Homeworld, and only Homeworld's rejects returned to the first colony when it was safe to do so. They returned to a broken, burnt-out world and did their best to rebuild. Save for a few determined souls, no gem of means or worth to Homeworld would bother with it.

The temple in which representatives from the unsung pillars of gem civilization gathered was one of the few rebuilt and still well-maintained on the first colony, though much of its masonry retained scorch marks and low levels of background radiation from the sun's red giant phase. Nullification shields protected the interior from radiation flare-ups from the white dwarf remnant of the sun, making it more or less safe for occupancy.

On the way to the temple, each ancient visitor stopped at the mausoleum that housed the remains of the Great Maker and the entombed shards of the first few gems to pay their respects. The foundation stones, footings, and all wall stones cracked or shattered by the tidal forces generated by the sun's expansion had been replaced with similar masonry long ago by some unknown bismuth, and the only evidence that anything had happened was an inscription on a nearby plaque. Supposedly the interior was entirely reconstructed with materials from the new colonies, but Peridot felt too undeserving to enter the mausoleum and see for herself.

It had been tens of thousands of years since Kindergarteners last gathered like this. Peridot Facet-1F2 Cut-2AA had only been to a meeting once before, and that had been when she was newly minted as a Kindergartener and her mentor introduced her as her successor. Supervisors pretended not to notice when they traveled en masse to the first colony, and no one questioned what happened at the gatherings. Half of that was out of respect for arcane professions, half of it was out of a habit with origins long forgotten by most gems.

Peridot had gone alone and politely declined or redirected any questions regarding her new pearl's whereabouts. After all, the pearl would have been a novelty and distracted from the research issues at hand. They were here for business, not gossip.

Four peridots gathered around the small table set in the center of one of the four rooms of the temple. Four groups of gems for the four pillars of Homeworld society: peridots produced gems and maintained mechanical systems, bismuths built structures, anorthites provided physical labor for jobs no other gems would take willingly, idocrases wrote the programming that kept their technology functioning. Sixteen gems in all. There had always been sixteen, for the number was tradition. It represented the double magic number of oxygen-16. Eight neutrons and eight protons in the nucleus. Exceptionally stable. Oxygen-16 was a primary product of stellar evolution, formed by stars exclusively from hydrogen. Peridot thought the reasoning was a bit esoteric, maybe a bit pretentious, but she was hardly going to make an issue of it. She was the youngest and least respected of the sixteen gems, well aware that she had her position only because her mentor liked her and saw some potential in her that she never understood, and she certainly had no business questioning anything.

The eldest peridot--not the first, for the first had been shattered by White Diamond eons ago for too many instances of challenging her--spoke in the slow, sonorous tones of epochs as she discussed the new injector models, their improvements and problems compared to older models, recommended practices, and so on. As if she was reading strata and had hit a unconformity, she switched topics abruptly to orders from the Diamonds: larimars would be discontinued until further notice. They were finally deemed obsolete and production on them halted until a better use could be found for them.

Peridot said nothing, though she did do her best to ignore the regret starting to swell within her. She had enjoyed the process of making larimars. They were tricky, requiring cooled lava beds or igneous intrusions into limestone injected into just so and at a slower rate than typical, but lovely all the same. She had taken pride in the fact that all the larimars she made were perfect.

Still, it was not her place to speak up.

The eldest peridot opened the floor for discussion over some little detail of pressure requirements for beryls. Peridot remained silent, because ultimately the scales over which they were arguing were inconsequential in light of the fact that they could not control the native matrix to the extent their thought experiment required. There was only so much a Kindergartener could do with the geology of a given site.

Finally, after what seemed like entirely too long spent dithering over the tiniest of details, the discussion turned to the fact that Pink Diamond was expressing interest in starting a colony. Again. Peridot almost disregarded this, but Yellow Diamond's peridot seemed more certain that something was going to happen this time around. Yellow Diamond was hardly one for futile gestures, and certainly not one to order an exoplanet survey in another galaxy entirely without first having a plan for the results. The younger of the two White Diamond peridots mentioned that Pink Diamond would probably want a properly themed court, and euhedral pink quartzes were such a pain to produce well while still maintaining a degree of quartz sturdiness. Their colors were too prone to fading in sunlight, they did not handle extreme heat well, and an amethyst was more useful. And wasn't it a shame that the fibrous rose quartzes had been discontinued hundreds of thousands of years ago?

That brought Peridot up short. The issue with fibrous rose quartzes was that the dumortierite-like borosilicate fibers that gave rose quartzes their color also had the unintended side-effect of instilling a degree of independent thought and capriciousness that was unwelcome in quartzes. It was for similar reasons that blue quartzes had also been discontinued before Peridot's time: their coloration was caused by the same ilmenite inclusions that made Peridot off-color, but at concentrations so high that they could barely function in their assigned roles. But if they could tame those fibers...

"Why can't we file a proposal to reinstate rose quartz production for Pink Diamond?" Peridot asked at last, once she managed to find an opening.

"My Diamond discontinued rose quartzes because they started getting ideas," the younger White Diamond peridot, Peridot Facet-3C Cut-416, said in that superior air of hers. Peridot 416 certainly didn't like her and took every opportunity to needle her. "Those inclusions only ruin what might be a perfectly fine gem."

Peridot recognized the jab, for her own inclusions were no secret to them, and spoke before she could fully process it. "All the studies suggest that the problem with the inclusions was that the Mark was never programmed to take them into account. If we can establish pre-defined parameters for the Mark to build along those inclusions, we give them a purpose beyond simply getting in the way of Mark pathways developed in the crystal lattices. We can use those inclusions to program additional skillsets, or--"

"It doesn't matter." Peridot 416 sneered, making her wish she'd never spoken up. "They'll still be off-color."

The eldest peridot lifted a hand to stifle the argument. Peridot 416, who looked as if she wanted to continue, bit back whatever was on the tip of her tongue and settled back onto her stool. Peridot 2AA tried not to wring her hands under the table. Speaking up had been a mistake.

"There is no mineral that is completely free of impurities. It is the same with gems." The eldest peridot turned her attention to Peridot 2AA, who felt as if she was being examined. "We used to be more accepting of off-colors than we are now. For this reason, I agreed to allow Peridot 4DF's apprentice to take her place among us. Now then. You were talking about skillsets?"

Peridot started with a stammer that was so bad that she bit the side of her tongue. She took a breath and tried again. "I--I tested a hypothesis with the help of Idocrase Facet-9Z Cut-3GN: that the Maker's Mark can be reprogrammed to repair minor fractures in gems with the assistance of a mineral-rich liquid medium. The documentation is on the research network under the Gem Development Studies heading. The first few attempts on dud gems worked well, so I repaired my pearl with it. My pearl reports no lingering pain from the fractures, so I am confident in concluding that the experiment was a success. I thought, perhaps we can program the Mark to build repair nanobot factories within those inclusions. It's a simple adjustment in the programming--"

"Why go through all that effort when it's just easier to inject a new gem?" Peridot 416 asked, her expression almost bored and dismissive. "We already have suitable injection formulas and materials, we don't need to play around with the software just because we can."

Yellow Diamond's peridot leaned over the table towards Peridot 2AA. "Fascinating. Does the alteration of the gem's chemical makeup with new mineral latticework change the pearl's behavior any?"

"I... I really wouldn't know. The fractures were small enough not to be immediately noticeable." Peridot hadn't really thought on what side-effects might occur from replacing missing minerals. "I doubt it would be much different than having a few small inclusions."

[annnd this was supposed to go on to the elder WD peridot taking the idea to WD because Peridot 2AA has little real standing, having the project eventually passed to PD and approved despite WD's disagreement, and eventually result in the entire cut of rose quartzes having some ability to heal.

Buuuut, lol, PD = RQ so oh well]

#SU: Beta AU

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anflowcrat · 7 years

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Pyre (short review)

I didn't expect to like Pyre as much as I did. I considered Supergiant's previous games (Bastion and Transistor) to be overrated, carried mostly by their godlike music and art direction. However both games were lacking in the narrative and gameplay department, aspects I tend to value more highly. I felt as if the narratives in those games wanted to be much more profound than they actually were, and they were able to get away with it because the music and art direction were so good that it made the narratives seem better than they actually are. I've found, however, that with further analysis those stories just fail to hold up. They're without a doubt *fine* narratives, but certainly not anything special. It's the same story with their mechanics, while the barebones isometric action of Bastion, and the barebones action RPG of Transistor were all *fine* I certainly wouldn't recommend them over other titles in the genre.

You play those games for the art and the music, nothing more.

Imagine my surprise when Pyre was able to deliver on all fronts. Not only did Supergiant managed to maintain the presentation that propelled them to success, but they have also vastly improved the aspects of their previous games that were lacking.

Presentation: What can I say, they're good at what they do. [I might just skip the whole thing after this] The character designs are all on point, each character has a distinct sillouhette and they were their personalities proudly on their sleeves. The map looks fucking gorgeous, the use of color for each area is fantastic, making them feels just as alive as the characters that inhabit them. The animations are solid, the cute little hops that wagon does in the map are a nice touch. Though the splash arts for dialogue have limited animation, supergiant employs flashy effects to accompany the splash arts in order to better convey their emotions and it works perfectly. The music, though not as good as Bastion, is still very good at conveying the emotions it needs to.

Narrative: Much of the narrative's success is due to the simple fact that there's never been a video game narrative quite like this. A fantasy based sports game played by exiled in which the winner is granted freedom is a refreshing change of pace from "beat bad guy with magic if fantasy, with guns if modern/scifi."

(Note: I'm using "unique" to mean "rare" and not necessarily "the only one of its kind." Yes, I'm aware that Pyre didn't pioneer any of these points but they are without a doubt, rare.)

It's uniqueness isn't just found solely on its concept, as the concept itself allows for plenty more unique progressions in the narrative. For example, losing is not a failstate. At least not in the way failstates usually occur, in which you would have to restart whatever level it is you failed. Instead, since it is a sports game, you simply carry on, move on to the next match and try to win that one instead. This creates a more dynamic narrative than usual, as character interactions change between your allies and enemies depending on your wins and losses.

Another point of uniqueness would be the fact that your enemies aren't enemies, they're just playing the same game you are and they simply want to be free, just as your friends do. This makes battles more interesting and impactful as there are times where you would actually consider losing on purpose (at least I did) because you want them to be free just as much as you want your friends to be free.

And a final point of uniqueness would be that your characters leave upon winning. Usually, in permadeath scenarios, your characters would leave upon... well death obviously. But in Pyre a character leaves when you win a tournament, setting them free from the chaos in the downpour. This makes victories bittersweet as well as create an interesting gameplay decision (do you play your best characters because this is theoretically going to be a hard fight, or do you bench them in order to keep them around?) and it creates an interesting emotional decision (do you play your favorite character because you want them to finally be free, or do you keep them around because what the fuck Sir Gilman is fucking great and you don't want to lose him)

Don't take all this uniqueness talk to mean that that is the only thing Pyre has going for it. Both the worldbuilding and the characters are certainly on point. There are very few games in which I bother to read extra material in order to get a better understanding of the world and the characters, but Pyre managed to pique my interest enough that I found myself reading every little bit I could. The world feels vast and storied despite you only getting to see a small portion of it. The characters are all fun and varied, each of which will have trouble leaving my mind any time soon.

Gameplay: (I highly reccommend you play Pyre in the highest difficulty setting, and with all the handicaps active (once their available to toggle). This essentially forces you to actually play the game instead of just brute forcing it.)

This is probably the most divisive aspect of Pyre. Already I've seen countless of people complaining about Pyre's gameplay, which I don't understand at all because I heard nothing like this when Bastion and Transistor released and those, as far as I'm concerned, have infinitely inferior gameplay loops.

I just can't imagine playing Bastion if the only thing that existed about Bastion was its gameplay, considering that it was one of the most simplistic action games I've ever played. Likewise, I would never play Transistor if the only thing it had was its gameplay, its attempt to blend strategy and action was an utter failure as far as I'm concerned since it required little to no strategy and the action was dull.

But had Pyre released with only its versus mode, I definitely wouldn't mind playing it by itself. Don't get me wrong, it's not like Pyre's mechanics are super deep or anything, it certainly won't hold up as an esport or anything, but it does hold up as a fun party game. Remember fun? I remember fun.

It's basically fantasy basketball, or fantasy american football, in which you simply have to get a ball into their goal. Each character has an aura that surrounds them and if an enemy enters that aura, they get banished. A faster character will have a smaller aura, and slower characters will have a larger aura.

There's obviously much more to it than this (like character abilities and all that) but already there's more going on here than Bastion of Transistor ever had. There is an actual element of strategy here (granted, not that much, but its there) in which you have to decide which characters would be best suited in the matchup, and then you have to decide how to play that matchup. Whether you decide to go on a killing spree so your path to the goal is wide open, or you use your maneuvering skills to dodge every enemy and sneak a goal past them, or a more slow approach in which you slowly bring all three characters forward in order to create a wall and over power your opponents until you make it to the goal. These are only a few of the things you can do but this should give you an idea of your options and the creativity that Pyre allows you to express.

The action is more nuanced than ever here. It requires you to have tight control of your character if you want to dodge everything your opponents throw at you, or to be able to make a long jump into a goal, or shooting, or whatever else. My point is the mechanics here have more depth than the previous two Supergiant games, but more than that it's more fun. You can easily squeeze out more hours in the game after the campaign if you have a few friends to play it with, and if you do you'd likely have a new found appreciation for the mechanics (since as usual, versus games like this create more nuance when you're against actual people rather than AI. Upping the difficulty and activating all the handicaps certainly gets far but it's still not another human being.)

On some level, I do understand people's complaints. I think most of it is because a lot of people don't like sports and so when they see characters people putting balls in goals they tend to be put off. But if you were able to power through Bastion and Transistor's gameplay then you should be able to do the same with Pyre. And as I said, you should really try to play on higher difficulties or against other opponents and I can almost guarantee that you'll have more fun.

Conclusion/tl;dr: 8/10. Game's great. Not only that but there's no other title that's quite like it. The narrative and gameplay are both unique and the presentation is up to Supergiant's standard. It's their best game by a mile.

#pyre #supergiant games #gaming #review #indie games

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marulikestea · 7 years

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Transistor

I came across this game last 2015 because of my office friend Nats who wanted to cosplay Red for our company's COMICON Christmas party. Curious as to what kind of game it was, I searched it on google and was blown away by the wonderful artworks and in-game screenshots I saw. Wanting to know more, I went to its wiki page and realized that it's a science fiction role-playing video game developed by Supergiant Games, the same company that brought Bastion. I've been wanting to play Bastion several years ago but never had the chance to do so. It just proves that any game Supergiant Games releases is definitely to look out for.

And as the cherry on top of this rather delectable cake, Transistor makes use of computer programming concepts and terms as part of its unique storyline and gameplay. Being a programmer myself, this had certainly piqued my interest. So without further ado, I got myself a copy and played it on my PC.

(WARNING! MAJOR PHOTODUMP AHEAD WITH CONTENT SPOILERS!)

STORY

“Hey Red... we’re not getting away with this, are we?”

The scene starts with Red, a woman in a yellow dress, pulling out a mysterious talking weapon called the “Transistor” from a body of a seemingly dead man. The Transistor acts as the narrator of the story, and seems to be familiar with Red, hinting of a relationship that is yet to be revealed.

Red donning the man’s jacket.

As the two of them set forth in the vast city of “Cloudbank”, several unknown entities called the “Process” continue to pursue them.

They also encounter remnants of souls from former citizens who have "disappeared" along the way, to which the Transistor can talk to and absorb their functions.

Hello World.

A closer look of the Empty Set, a location in the city.

While trying to find a way to escape the city, a poster of Red can be seen at the end of the Plaza, indicating that she was a a very prominent and influential singer of Cloudbank. If the player chooses to stop by and look at the picture, the Transistor will mention something about the loss of Red’s voice, which will be explained as the story progresses.

A poster of Red at the end of the Plaza.

Red staring back at her poster, as the Transistor apologizes for not being able to protect her voice.

After finally acquiring a vehicle, the Transistor gave her coordinates on where to go next, specifically warning her not to go left. Red had other plans however, and decided to proceed left anyway instead of bailing the city, much to the Transistor’s surprise.

It then warned her about the viciousness of the Process, and how they’ll never stop hunting them until they’re captured and bring them back to the so-called “Camerata”.

“Look, whatever you’re thinking, do me a favor. Don’t let me go.”

Camerata on the background

The two then continued to look for clues at the Empty Set, the place where Red had last sung on stage. As they reached the platform, the Transistor reminisces about the past and a flashback of the previous night occurs; revealing the events of how Red had narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by the Camerata at the expense of her lover's life; the very same man who was lying on the ground at the beginning of the story.

The man had apparently taken the fatal blow meant for her, but instead of dying, his trace data was completely downloaded into the Transistor, causing his consciousness to assimilate and live on through the said weapon.

In other words, the voice that can be heard from the Transistor belongs to him.

It was also explained that Red was also partially processed into the Transistor, ultimately leading to the lost of her voice.

In return however, she gained ownership of the weapon, something the Camerata was not able to foresee.

A flashback scene of how it all began.

When the scene had shifted back to the present, one of the Camerata’s members that go by the name of Sybil (as the Transistor had called it), was already waiting for them. Almost 98% processed to the point of insanity, she later on transformed into a process herself and a battle shortly ensued. Once she was defeated, the Transistor absorbed her trace data and found information with regards to the whereabouts of the other Camerata, as well as Sybil’s motive behind targeting Red.

The Red’s lover greets Sybil thru the Transistor.

According to the Transistor, Sybil Reisz was the “eyes and ears” of the Camerata. She was the one who got closed to Red, but later on became too infatuated and obsessed with her. It is hinted in her data file that Sybil had romantic inclinations for Red and became frustrated when the latter was indifferent towards her. Blaming Red’s lover as the source of the singer’s aloofness, Sybil had convinced the Camerata to make Red their next target; hiding her true intentions of getting rid of her lover in the upcoming ambush.

Needless to say, her jealousy is what triggered the whole events of the story.

As for the Camerata itself, not much is known about its true agenda, aside from the identity of the four people who consist the group. Though the Transistor had mentioned that they were hunting people, the reasons behind it were still unknown. In hopes of getting answers from someone who knew them, the two went to their next destination to meet another member of the Camerata: Grant Kendrell.

Upon reaching High Rise, Red's home, they encountered the “Spine of the World”, a former landmark of Cloudbank that had turned into a Giant process. The monster’s presence affected the Transistor immensely, causing it to slur and speak incoherently as if in a drunken state. Once it was destroyed from the inside, the Transistor’s demeanor returned to normal.

As they drew nearer to Grant’s territory, private messages from Asher Kendrell, Grant’s other half, can be read through the OVC terminals all over the district.

It was stated in one of the messages that they wanted to meet Red; but due to precautionary measures, they’ve walled themselves in the Bracket Towers to prevent “them” from coming in.

The other messages from him shed further light to the current state of the city, as he confesses the Camerata’s actions behind their goals.

“When everything changes, nothing changes. That’s the Camerata’s creed, our mission.”

Asher admits that they were the ones responsible for the disappearances of several high-profiled people in Cloudbank. Like Red, these people who were deemed valuable and unique by the Camerata were handpicked for the sole purpose of acquiring their point-of-view; and incorporating it with the Cloudbank through the use of the Transistor to better improve the city according to the whims and demands of its inhabitants.

They wanted to give the people what they didn’t knew they think they wanted, and what they did was nothing personal.

“Everything we did– everything we’re doing, is for the Cloudbank.”

But the unexpected transfer of ownership of the Transistor to Red led to the loss of control over the Process. Without Grant (who was the previous user) to direct their actions, the Process are left to their initial basic functionality: to deconstruct the whole city.

Having no other means to stop them, the Cloudbank is then left in unstable state, growing worse and worse as time passes.

By the time Red had reached the two, both Asher and Grant had already committed suicide. A final note was left by former, saying that Grant couldn’t wait any longer, whilst he couldn’t live without Grant.

"Cowards.”

With only one member left alive, Red and the Transistor travel to Fairview, where Royce Bracket resides.

As the two back track to the starting point, most of the city had already been broken down into its initial building blocks by the Process.

At the place where Red have left her lover’s body, a proxy robot in a shape of a floating monitor contacts them, revealing to be Royce. He asks for a truce and tags along with the two until they reached the Fairview bridge that would lead them to the actual Royce.

While en route, the proxy Royce states that he was the one who found the Process; that these beings come from a different reality that is connected to theirs. Using the Transistor as a "brush", he and Grant were able to build and improve the Cloudbank.

He also mentioned in the passing about the possibility of hearing voices the Transistor downloaded to itself, albeit only the ones who have a close connection to the wielder. This explains why Red is able to hear her lover through it.

After arriving to Fairview and coming face-to-face with the last Camerata, Royce informs Red that the Process cannot be stopped unless the Transistor is returned to The Cradle.

"I love you. Bye for now. But I will see you again."

Agreeing to getting the deed done, a bright light engulfed the surroundings and everything turned into black.

Waking up to the sound of her lover's voice, Red found herself inside the realm of the device with Royce. He tells her the good news, that the Cloudbank is finally safe, with the Process being contained. But the bad news was, both of them got sucked in and were trapped inside. The only way to come back and rebuilt the city is for one of them to defeat the other.

Now both equipped with Transistor weapons, the two had a final showdown.

Royce, trapped inside after losing to Red.

After defeating Royce, Red returns with the Transistor to the outside world.

Red trying to unprocess her lover.

Elated that everything was finally over, the Transistor asked Red which part of the city she wanted to restore first. But Red immediately went towards the dead body of her lover and tried to unprocess him. When nothing happened, a sad Transistor told Red that it wasn't him anymore, that they could still be together this way.

It then dawned on her that even with the power she held to restore the city, nothing can be done to bring her man back.

Realising this, Red hugs the Transistor one last time before sitting down beside her lover's body and commanding the weapon to impale her, effectively ending her life despite the Transistor's frantic cries and pleadings.

Together at last.

A song is then played while loving memories of Red and her lover are slowly unravelled.

At the end of the game, the two are seen to be finally reunited at the Country (or afterlife), where Red is shown to have gotten her voice back as she greets her lover “Hey”.

“Hey.”

ENVIRONMENT

Red and Transistor, staring at the Cloudbank.

The world of Transistor is represented through a hand-painted and colorful isometric view, much like its predecessor Bastion. With stunning art visuals, impressive music written and produced by Darren Korb and lyrics put to life by the singing voice of Ashley Lynn Barrett, each element of the game compliments one another as it gives an overall wonderful gaming atmosphere and experience for the player.

For better understanding, I'll let the images talk for itself:

Beautiful graphic art during cutscenes:

Red and Transistor.

Anyone can't go on an empty stomach.

Privacy please.

In-game environment with diverse sceneries and structures:

GAMEPLAY

Transistor's gameplay is a turn-based battle strategy system reminiscent of the first Parasite Eve. You can perform skills called "functions()" every time the action gauge fills up.

Different sets of functions can be combined and equipped, depending on the kind of play style preferred by the user.

Functions can be obtained through levelling up or by absorbing trace data from previously processed high-profiled victims of the Camerata throughout the game.

You can also set this so-called "limiters" acquired from monsters that serves as handicap during battles. Each handicap is different, as well as its bonus the player gets from successful battles with it. The higheer the risk (or level) the limiters requires, the higher returns it rewards.

There's also a special area called "Sandbox" that can be accessed via Backdoors after defeating Sybil in the game. It serves as a resting area and training grounds that provides additional challenge stages for the player.

A secret paradise where you can mull over Red’s thoughts, listen to all the music inside the game and play ball with your dog-like process.

Each practice test entrances provides different challenges.

Inside the challenge room with its own sets of rules and goals.

CONCLUSION

I love indie games with an in-depth world and a controversial ending that makes people think, analyze and come up with their own interpretations as to why it led to that kind of outcome. It’s proof that it had connected with its audience and that they had become invested in the world the developers created. Transistor has proven itself to be one of those games, and as such has ingrained a special place in my gaming heart.

It's interesting how the world of Transistor strongly correlates our current reality with how technology is today, as well as our growing dependency towards it. Nowadays, everything is easily accessed and conveyed through the powers of internet. People are now more vocal and demanding via social networking sites compared to the previous generations. Gadgets from cellphones to PCs and other forms of consoles and mechanism are easily replaced and released in small span of time.

How do you handle and control such advancements in this present juncture? How do you answer the expectations from billions of people? How do you proceed next?

Enter the Camerata. These people who act as the "authority" of this world are no different than the present leaders of today's society, and are no strangers to getting their hands dirty when it comes to their ideals. They want what's best for the Cloudbank and its inhabitants, but their good intentions are marred with their concept of “sacrificing a few for the benefit of the many”. In retrospect, the manner of their execution is indeed morally wrong, but you can’t totally blame them for doing what they believe is right. But how do you exactly draw the line when it comes to sacrifices and ideals? And who can decide when it is too much?

Sometimes, circumstances warrant a hefty price and only the ones truly brave enough can pay and endure the price of such a burden.

Lastly, the ending regarding Red’s choice of suicide over the restoration of Cloudbank. I don't know about other people's opinion, but for me, Red as a person is like any other selfish humans out there, which makes for a more realistic and believable character. Humans in essence find the will to do anything for the sake of their loved ones, if not for themselves. Being the the former kind of person, it's very understandable for Red to decide to end her life rather than live a world without her lover. Sure, people may argue about having gone all the trouble to fight the Process and Camerata and gain the power to rewrite the city should entail some glorious heroic deed but Red is under no obligation to do such things. In the first place, the main drive of her journey wasn't to save Cloudbank, it's to find a way to save her lover. So when she had reached the end of the road and exhausted all possible means to accomplish her goal and even then wasn’t able to change anything, what was there left to do?

Most people would judge in a heartbeat about some things they can’t even begin to comprehend unless they experience it firsthand. Others are even arrogant as to easily say that she should have done this or that and that her decision made her a weak woman and all that.

Well that’s their prerogative I guess, even if their prerogative sucks and very shallow-minded.

If I were in her shoes, I'd certainly won’t choose a vast number of people I don’t even know or give a damn about over the people who I truly love and care for the most.

In the end, even if Transistor is only but a representation of a world in a science-fiction-kind-of-sense, such events may become an eventuality in the future.

There may even come a time when humans themselves are integrated into technology and become mindless singular drones. If that ever happens, would you rather stay and live on it or would you rather go somewhere far away into the country?

#game #transistor #supergiant games #review

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