#subnautica: new years eve

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SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER IS FINISHED. LETS GO GIRLS.

[simlicious]

Happy New Year!

I hope that this year will be a good one for all of us! My creative juices are a bit dried out at the moment and I need to recharge from the awesome but eventful December before I release the revised Advent calendar set and properly move into a new simming year! I’m just taking some time catching up on some series and I started a new cardigan knitting project. Read more about the knitting project and my New Year’s Eve under the cut!

The knitting pattern by Brenda Lam was rather pricey, but I was sold at “if you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Marshmallow, now is your chance” (and the winter sale at Etsy). The project is pretty easy, straightforward, and fun to knit. I can knit it while watching Netflix :) My first swatch, where I tested out some different stitches and needle sizes:

And here is the final swatch before starting the real deal. This is how it will hopefully look like 🙂 It is super big, super soft, and super squishy! And I'm in love with the sage green yarn 💚 I just love chunky knits, they are cozy and warm and so quick and easy to make.

But enough of my knitting endeavors for now!

I chose to have a rather quiet New Year’s Eve. My brother recently bought a VR headset and he asked me if I wanted to try it out... of course I did! That was so much better than I even imagined. My parents tried it out too. Luckily, there was not much horror to be found at the beginning of Half-Life Alyx, which was the game that we tried out. It was made for VR and is really awesome. You can pick up pens and draw stuff on the walls and throw around all kinds of junk. That alone is really fun! And standing on a balcony and feeling a slight fear of height is definitely a new gaming experience. Feelings seem to be enhanced compared to regular gaming on a screen due to the immersion. I kinda want to try out Subnautica in VR, but I am also very terrified at the thought! Later, I went to my parents’ house and we ate Raclette and watched Three Nuts for Cinderella (the 1973 one). My parents did not know that movie and I could not let that stand! 😆 We did not care about the whole countdown to midnight and just continued to watch the movie. So now I am waiting on my final order of yarn so I have enough to knit the whole cardigan (I need about 20 balls (1 kg) of yarn, but I am knitting with 2 strands held together, so 2 balls at a time, and with the huge needles it goes very quickly, so it is not as bad as it sounds. Also, the wool was on sale, yay) and I am just taking some time to relax and recharge.

[paper-mario-wiki]

EY IM STREAMIN ‘ERE

https://twitch.tv/papermariowiki/

come join me in the big cold ocean, babe. come jump into the shivering pool of water that is subnautica

also it’s new years eve so that cool too i guess

music requests: ON

[programaticallydelicious]

What’s the opposite of a hardcore game?

So I’m sure you can think of a couple of “hardcore” games off the top of your head. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are probably near the top for a lot of you. What defines those is an argument for someone else, and has been made a multitude of times.

I’m here to talk about their opposite. A lot of people, when asked what the opposite of a “hardcore” game is, would immediately jump to “Casual”. Something like Bejeweled, or Angry Birds. That...isn’t exactly correct. Casual games are targeted at people who can’t sink a great deal of time into a game in one sitting, A few minutes here, a few there, maybe an entire hour sometime. And with how the “casual” market is mixing in paid mechanics on mobile, there’s an argument to be had for them being an entirely different form of hardcore.

But I digress.

What is the opposite of a “hardcore” game? Is it an easy game? Maybe, maybe not. Is it a simple one? Not necessarily. Is it forgiving? Potentially. The opposite of a hardcore game is one that gives the reins to the player, and lets them control their own experience. I, personally, have never been one for hardcore games in the way the term gets bandied about. I don’t like games punishing me for my poor reaction time and variable coordination.

I like games that let me choose how to proceed. And to give a good idea of what I mean, I’m going to go through my steam library (not all 800+ games of it, just the ones with at least 60hrs of playtime), and explain exactly what they did that ensured they weren’t hardcore.

1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (751 hrs)

Unsurprising, and easy to explain. Bethesda games, in general, give the player as much control as possible. Want to do the main quest? Have at it, nothing can stop you and if something does, just pull up the console and nuke it to death with the kill or disable commands. Don’t like something? Modding can fix it. Want something you don’t or can’t have? Modding can fix it. Want to shoot something? You can! Stab them? Sure! Want to pretend quests don’t exist and live as a hermit in the woods? I’ve done it!

I think you get the picture.

2. Fallout 4 (663 hrs)

Do you need to ask? Look above, I explained it there. Also, the VATS system is actually surprisingly cool to play with, and I really, really enjoy waltzing around overleveled in tricked out power armor as everything the bad guys throw at me winds up just plinking off and maybe killing them for me.

3. EVE Online (500 hrs (logged on Steam, at any rate))

This can’t be right, can it? The MMO known mostly for having a learning curve so steep it‘s a cliff with an overhang? Not hardcore? I’ve gotta be high!

No, it isn’t hardcore. EVE gives the player a fantastic amount of control over their experience. You can pick what skills to learn, what kinds of ships to fly, whether to produce, raid, lead, gather, trade, or mission run. Personally, I racked up most of these hours about ten years ago when I was doing a lot of asteroid mining on a second screen while working on stuff in college. It was slow, relaxing, and impressively predictable overall.

4. Starbound (214 hrs)

I have a love-hate relationship with this one. I racked up most of that playtime in the early beta, when the mechanics were wonky and unbalanced and the playstyle was still being worked on. I can’t enjoy this game anymore, because all I want to do is find a pretty planet and build a base I like on it. But the prettiest planets are pretty good at killing you, and the best materials to build with are rare, in places good at killing you, or incredibly expensive. I could build safely on a barren world, but...it’s a barren world.

5. Terraria (166 hrs)

I love this game, I really do. But I can’t play it with other people. I like having a safe home, and while you can make safe homes in hardcore mode, they’re a pain in the butt to design properly and the allowances you need to make to keep things out are less than appealing to me. Meaning I end up running two worlds with my character as a raider, and that gets...tedious after a while.

I once built an entire village for all of the NPCs in the game (there were fewer at the time), only to watch them die over and over because someone went to hell and killed the wall of flesh.

6. Space Engineers (143 hrs)

Do I really need to explain this one? I made a bunch of voxel spaceships, in space. Was fun, and neat, but last time I poked my head in it was still lacking in things to do long-term. Too much control, not enough content, basically.

7. NieR:Automata™ (126 hrs)

This can’t be right, can it? After all, it’s a twitchy action-RPG with a philosophical bent that feels like the illegitimate bastard lovechild that Nietzsche and Goethe abandoned in the dark forest at midnight on a new moon. (In short, it’s that impossible thing known as an object made purely of edge)

But it is. The game has a massive variety of potential play-styles and difficulties, from “all but literally does everything for you” to, well, bullet hell. And the chip system lets you suit all sorts of preferences (the taunt/crit build is OP as all hell, but I ran with a berserker build that boosted speed and healed me on damaging or killing enemies). The game is as punishing as you allow it to be, and Platinum Games did a fantastic job of that.

8. Subnautica (110 hrs)

I’ve beaten this one multiple times. It actually gives you a lot of control in terms of where and how to build, and how you go about progressing. But the truly great bit of control the game gives you is that it never forces you to progress. You move through it exactly as far as you want to, and it does a great job of getting you to want to.

Sadly, it has two things that really break that. Two enemies, specifically. Warpers, and crabsquids. Warpers can be avoided, are localized, and can become a non-issue by progressing far enough.

Crabsquids are seething gelatinous bundles of undiluted killjoy who prevent me from safely building in my favorite biomes.

9. Stardew Valley (94 hrs)

I really think this one is self explanatory. If it isn’t, it will be as soon as you play it.

10. ARK: Survival Evolved (93 hrs)

This game doesn’t belong on this list. Too much of the time listed was spent fighting the mechanics/trying to get things to work, as opposed to playing the game. It’s neither hardcore nor its opposite.

11. Plague Inc: Evolved (63 hrs)

My favorite thing to do in this game is running the neurax worm. The Christmas scenario in particular is great. This game is an RTS with short playtimes, immediate feedback on choices, and fantastic levels of replayability. Combine that with their scenario editor, difficulty settings, and the huge variety of things you can play as, it makes it as my favorite non-RPG on Steam.

Some non-Steam mentions that are self-explanatory: Pokémon, The Legend of Zelda: BotW (I enjoy the other games too, but they don’t qualify for this), Age of Empires II (I abused the shit out of a bug in the scenario editor), Pharaoh/Caesar III, and the number one timesink of any game I’ve ever played: Minecraft.

In summary: The opposite of a hardcore game is one that gives the player enough leeway to make their own decisions. Not necessarily by giving them multiple choices or paths, but allowing them to proceed at their own pace, potentially with their own choices of mechanics and/or difficulty. And most importantly, it doesn’t punish the player for those choices.

[chaoticpma]

Thank you Seán

Piggybacking off @whiskeyinthejamjar here, I wanted to join in and share some of what @therealjacksepticeye means to me.

I joined the community in late 2014/ early 2015, right at the height of Five Nights at Freddy’s through the King of Squirrels himself, Mark. Immediately I knew this would be someone I’d stick around for and follow for a long time. It was clear he loved and cared for each and every single one of his subscribers, he was unique. His bubbly personality was infectious, and he never failed to brighten my day.

Jump to April of 2015. I met my then boyfriend. I can’t begin to tell you how close we became over Seán. We spent hours together watching videos, crying with laughter and bonding in an incredible way. We spent more time than we’d care to admit theorising about not only FNAF but the introduction of Anti.

This is what Seán does. He brings together people and creates a community where we can all share ideas and be ourselves.

Some of my fondest memories to date are of the times we spent watching your videos. The og Subnautica series especially. That was truly something special to us, and forever will be. We stayed up past midnight on Christmas Eve finishing the last episode and being overwhelmed with emotions. You did that. You continue to create experiences for people all over the world. They aren’t just videos to us. They were never just videos to me.

I’ve been following you for the past 4/5 years now. And boy has it been nothing short of life changing. It’s been heartwarming watching you create more and more, growing a community that now spands 23+ million people. Sure there have been ups and downs but that’s life. You’ve taught me so much and we’ve never met. You’ve been a beacon of hope, a friend, a comfort for so many years.

I could go on listing every single series that’s touched me, but the ones that ultimately stand out are the ones that impact you the most. Watching you play the games you cherish, now that’s special. Getting to see you absolutely light up over something (I’ll never forget your reaction to Trico being able to fly) and sharing with us everything you love about a game from the graphics the story right down to your own memories from childhood. It’s so incredibly special to be included in something like that. Because we’re seeing you. Not just JackSepticEye, but Seán William McLoughlin. Your inner child.

I could go on but I fear this is long enough. I want to say thank you. Those 2 words will never be enough to encompass all that I truly mean. You brought light to my life, you introduced me to so many new games and things I never would have seen had you not played them. You introduced me to so many new people, youtubers included. It’s almost nostalgic at this point watching you, Mark, Bob and Wade start making goofy videos again. I never really knew how much I missed it. I hold those Prop Hunt videos dear to my heart.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything you’ve done for me and will continue to do. I thank you for creating this massive community that continues to spark joy and inspiration every day. I thank you for being you. I thank that lost boy in the cabin for deciding to post to YouTube and for sticking with it. Thank you Seán, you’ll never know how much you truly mean to me 💚

[foursprout-blog]

25 Gamers On The Most Gruesome Story That Stuck With Them Long After They Finished Playing

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/25-gamers-on-the-most-gruesome-story-that-stuck-with-them-long-after-they-finished-playing/

25 Gamers On The Most Gruesome Story That Stuck With Them Long After They Finished Playing

Unsplash / Nicolas Gras

1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl

“In S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, there were several underground research labs full of all kind of spooky and paranormal badness and other sorts of anomalies. It was like exploring a haunted house except the ghosts were real and there’s a psychic force slowly driving you insane. Also it’s pitch black and you can get lost really easily.” — Innalibra

2. Outlast 

“Outlast and Alien Isolation gave me so much anxiety I had to stop playing them.

I managed to complete Outlast and Outlast 2, but I haven’t touched Alien in years. There’s no way I’m going through 20 hours of that shit.” — HearTheEkko

3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

“That game fucked with your head so much using the sanity meter. For those that haven’t played it here are some of things that would happen:

When entering a room, the character may turn into a Zombie, and ‘die’ a moment later or after going through some doors.

Attempting to cast Recover may cause the character’s torso to explode, resulting in a (fake) death of the character.

When entering a room, the character’s limbs may explode in a systematic order, going for the head, the arms and then the torso, resulting in a (fake) death of the character.

When entering a room, the character may shrink or grow while moving. This is most commonly seen in the strange curved corridors of the Forbidden City.

When entering a room and when holding a gun, the character can shoot at nothing at random times or turn around and shoot at the camera leaving a fake bullet hole in the screen. (Similiar to the Prologue of the James Bond movies, and in Resident Evil 2.)

When attempting to reload a gun, it may go off in the character’s stomach, resulting in a (fake) death of the character. This is most prominent in Max’s chapter, for he is the only one without a bigger gun than his flintlock pistols. Revolvers in other chapters have been known to cause this phenomenon to occur as well.

When entering a room, the character’s head falls off (but can be picked up), and levitates on screen reciting ‘HAMLET’.

The screen goes black, as if the TV went off.

Bugs may appear to be crawling on the TV screen.

The game will lower the gameplay volume while displaying a green volume bar, similar to real on-screen TV settings.

The screen goes black and changes to video mode, and you will hear your character getting eaten until they ‘die’. (Even without a ‘Break Free’ control stick, the unseen Zombie can still be pushed away)

A false sneak-preview of a sequel to the game, called ‘Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Redemption’ (the original planned sequel to ‘Sanity’s Requiem’) will appear.

Upon saving your game, a message will say, ‘Are you sure you want to delete all of your Saved Games?’ If you say yes or no, the saved files will be ‘deleted’.

A ‘Blue Screen of Death’ will appear.

You will see the image you see when you start up or reset the game, quoting Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’ in Edward Roivas’ voice.

When the controller is left idle long enough, a still ‘screensaver’ shot of Pious will appear on the screen until a button is pressed.

When you open your inventory screen, all your inventory spaces appear empty.

When entering a room, the character may be unable to move or attack, and the player will get a fake system message telling that a controller isn’t plugged in, while the many zombies attack them.

A fake screen message will appear, congratulating the player for finishing the demo of the game.

The camera begins leaning as the Sanity Meter lowers.” — -eDgAR-

4. Doki Doki

“My old roommate was playing this game and I thought it was some dating sim game. So, I left and went to play some game and I hear him yell ‘JESUS FUCKING CHRIST NO!!!’ and was like ‘yo, wtf dude you alright?’

I kid you not he was white as a fucking sheet and literally shut his computer (gaming laptop) and proceeded to go outside. I’ve known the dude for two years and worked with him for one. He hates going outside… But, not after Doki Doki. That shit made him contemplate life.

I’m scared to even buy the game if it did that to an anti-social recluse.” — xItz_Anthonyx34

5. Bloodborne

“Everything about Bloodborne is disturbing and eerie, the atmosphere, the monsters the unpredictability of the world itself, by far the most tense I felt playing a video game.” — Novasex 

6. Until Dawn

“Until Dawn was pretty fucking well done. At times it was like they were trying to hard, but over all one of the best horror anything I’ve played/watched/read.” — murderousbudgie

7. Amnesia

“I got a cracked version of Amnesia from a friend.

Loaded it, stepped into the main hall, heard scary noises. Have never played again.” — iKILLcarrots

8. Condemned: Criminal Origins

“There is no game that has filled me with a worse sense of dread than Condemned: Criminal Origins.

Yes, the graphics aren’t great and there are a few things that aren’t great, such as the story or a couple levels, but still. I have yet to play a game that has such a good sense of suspense, dread, and fear of the unknown.

It has such good enemy reveals, such as the mannequins in the department store. Or the starving corrupted beings in the sewer.

It uses audio and visuals perfectly, and has very good foreshadowing, such as how you can sometimes look behind you and catch a glimpse of the late game enemies, or how it purposefully misleads you for things such as the locker jumpscare, or how SKX isn’t The Match Maker.

Overall, C:CO is a phenomenal game and I highly suggest everyone to play it if they want a great psychological horror game.” — PhReAkOuTz 

9. Subnautica

“I’ve played a ton of horror games – my roommate and I went on a kick where we’d stream ourselves playing every horror game we could find, from big names like Outlast/Outlast 2 and RE7 to lesser known indie games.

Subnautica has honestly scared me way more than pretty much every one of those. It’s just that feeling that there’s something out there, especially when you’re diving into new areas. I’ve literally jumpscared myself by accidentally driving the Seamoth into a tiny fish without noticing – there’s just way more chances to run into something unexpected that won’t be given away by the soundtrack or something else (most horror games really give away their jump scares).

Love that game.” — blay12

10. The 11th Hour

“I always remember the 7th Guest & 11th Hour creeping me out. The way the games gradually descended into the eerie parts made it more disturbing than games that start right out with the horror and jump scares.” — wj333

11. Silent Hill 

“They might not hold up as well now but I remember being scared shitless playing the first Fatal Frame and Silent Hill games as a kid sitting in the dark down in my basement.” — TheLastSpoonBender

12. Dying Light

“Playing Dying Light at like 1 in the morning. Especially when you got to the point when the running zombies were introduced.” — PM_ME_UR_BOOBSICLES

13. Gone Home

“Gone Home. I was so sure my dead sister’s corpse was going to suddenly tap me on the shoulder. Especially down in that stupid basement. I sprinted to all those lamps immediately.” — olive1112

14. Doom 3

“Probably Doom 3, especially in that dark corridor where the babies were crying.” — DejectedHead

15. Riven

“I remember playing this game as a kid and being absolutely terrified when the wahrk swims up to the window. I could never figure out why everything about the game made me feel so creeped out and uncomfortable but I think [the] emptiness and isolation was what did it.” — JosefGordonLightfoot

16. Dead Space

“The Dead Space series, especially the first game. That game made me jump so many damn times. I loved it!” — nope_noperstein

17. Parasite EVE 

“Parasite EVE for PS1.

Playing it as a kid probably has something to do with why it was so scary to me, but seeing people infected with a sentient parasite and grotesquely mutating was pretty intense.” — Serukaizen

18. Manhunt

“Manhunt, that shit was pretty intense when it first came out… Using things like piano wire to not only choke people to death, but to actually saw the guys head off…

Also came with classic lines such as ‘I can smell the shit in your pants’ whilst being hunted.” — Jee187

19. Penumbra: Overture

“Penumbra: Overture is scary shit, and has a terrific story as well. The entire series is great, although Requiem is more like added content than anything.

The SCP games were super low fi but actually pretty terrifying, too.” — ZeusAmmon

20. SCP Containment Breach

“SCP Containment Breach. I am not trying to sound like a manly badass but there are few horror games that can scare me in the same way as SCP Containment Breach. I always quit the game early because I get scared of the sculpture and don’t feel like playing after that.” — Edgyfaggot6969666

21. Half Life

“I couldn’t play Half Life. Never even saw the first enemy. The sounds and suspense stressed me out too much. Dead Space got me too. I’ve played plenty of horror games but couldn’t do those. I’m sure there were a couple others between those two I’m forgetting. Just some of em strike me the right (wrong?) way.” — rectalstresses

22. First Encounter Assault Recon

“I enjoyed the creepy darkness and sounds/jumpscares in the F.E.A.R Series.” — Uppgrade

23. SOMA

“Have y’all played SOMA? It was good but everything freaked me out even days after I finished it.” — Shiruet

24. Resident Evil 

“Resident Evil 7 is so disturbing and graphic. I had to look away so many times.” — ccr3ds

25. Spooky’s House Of Jump Scares

“Spooky’s House Of Jump Scares.

It starts off cartoony with the cardboard cutouts.

But it goes downhill fast.

And they keep doing the cardboard cutouts to keep you on your toes.” — Pasta-hobo 

[transhoverfish]

hey remember that marg fic ive totally been planning then putting on the backburner for like 3 years now?? i added another chapter!!! its gonna get finished ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

[transhoverfish]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! i sat down and WROTE to get this finished and out today/last night PURELY due to new year's eve being the title of the fic

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ok oops i forgot to post this here. theres actually TWO new chapters!! rejoice!!!

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i feel like that one image of the tiny guy offering the sword to the giant guy. you know the one. im the tiny guy and the sword is marg fic and the giant guy is u all

[transhoverfish]

CHAPTER 2 OF MARGUERIT FIC IS A GO

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babe wake up new chapter of nye just dropped. babe. babe are you listening.