#the games are long which is the only downside but very worth it

[yamikakyuu]

I'm listening to Harlan's CoC games since many have ties to Malevolent, like the first appearance of the Butcher, and I'm on Game 1 and just hearing them talk to Armitage, talk about Anna Stancyk, the 3 soldiers and Shubby, with all the knowledge I have from Malevolent is so fun. I definitely see why people who'd listened prior to Malevolent or during the early seasons get so excited. Even the creepy crow typewriter makes an appearance. I'm listening in "order" but I can't wait to get to Witcher's Mark and my boy Collins.

[laxmiree]

[CN] MLQC’s Lucien Wonderful Moments Date English Translation

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!! ⚠️

This post contains a detailed spoiler for a date that has not been released in EN yet! Feel free to notify me if there are any mistakes in the translation~

Lucien boops Snowball's nose, his tone hinting at jealousy.

"You've been praising this little guy a lot."

"Pfft, is Professor Lucien jealous?"

Translation under the cut!

[Notes from Lux: Here’s the CN video link if anyone wants to follow along with his Voice Acting.]

A car moves slowly on the vibrant countryside road, joyful laughter spilling out of its windows from time to time.

Lucien casually rests his hand on the steering wheel, looking ahead, and quickly comes up with a Chinese idiom.

Lucien: The victory is in the bag. (shèng quàn zài wò)

MC: Idiom with wò… crouching tigers and hidden dragons! (wò hǔ cáng lóng! - 卧虎藏龙 - fig. mean talented individuals hiding their talent)

Lucien: Just a reminder to this beautiful contestant, this phrase was already said during our first round of the idiom chain game.

MC: Then, how about… I control my destiny! (wǒ mìng yóu wǒ - 我命由我- a phrase, not an idiom)

Lucien: [chuckles] That doesn't seem to be an idiom. Is Miss Producer starting to cheat?

Lucien tilts his head and looks at me with a smile. I sheepishly stick out my tongue, wracking my brain as I search through my vocabulary.

The gentle spring breeze seeps through the gaps of the car window. Looking at those cunning eyes, I have a sudden inspiration and break into a sweet smile.

MC: I like you~ (wǒ xǐhuān nǐ~)

Lucien's demeanor briefly halts for half a beat as though he doesn't expect my answer. But then, the smile on his lips grows bigger.

The warm afternoon sunshine reflects brightly in his upturned eyes, making them look particularly beautiful.

Lucien: [chuckles, then sighs] This is the most sophisticated cheating I've ever seen, so I concede defeat.

I cheer joyfully, but before I can utter a word, an electronic broadcast interrupts me.

"Distance to the next highway toll booth is 1.5 kilometers ahead.”

I glance at the phone screen and see it shows another hour and a half to the camping village.

Lucien suggested this camping trip to an ecologically pristine village with beautiful scenery, though the only downside is that the journey was a bit long.

I turn to look at Lucien, who appears to be in a good mood, and can't resist asking the small question that's been lingering on my mind.

MC: Lucien, what made you suddenly want to take me to this camping village?

Lucien: It was recommended by a colleague from the research center. I heard the scenery there is nice and worth a visit.

Lucien: I originally wanted to find an opportunity to spend time with you, and just last weekend we went to see a play, which gave me a very legitimate reason to invite you on a date—

Lucien: To create “beautiful moments”.

He deliberately emphasizes the words "beautiful moments", causing me to momentary pause as a recent memory quickly floods into my mind.

—[Flashback Start]—

At the entrance of the theater last weekend.

Lucien and I walked out of the theater hand in hand. I was still sniffling, lost in the storyline of the performance we just watched, unwilling to let it go.

Just as I was about to wipe away the tears at the corner of my eye, a warm hand handed me a tissue and gently dabbed it beneath my eyes.

Lucien: [gently] If this little audience member keeps crying, I'll have to go find the production team for an explanation.

MC: I'm just really moved by the play...

MC: At first, when I saw the protagonist growing up under the shadow of his mother's depression, I thought he would fall into despair.

MC: But he was able to diligently record the beautiful moments in life and ultimately salvaged himself...

MC: I just tried to put myself in his shoes, and it's really hard to be as optimistic as the protagonist, so I couldn't stop my tears.

Under Lucien's gentle gaze, I rambled on and on, completing my "review" of the play. He patiently wiped the corners of my eyes and offered a comforting smile.

Lucien: I actually think the lady by my side also has a pair of eyes that can discover the beauty of life everywhere.

His sincere praise caught me off guard, and I couldn't help but feel a little buoyed by it. My heart, which had been saddened by the protagonist's struggles, also eased a bit.

MC: If I had a "Book of Beautiful Moments," the first thing I would record is how Professor Lucien always generously praises me~

Lucien chuckled softly, and the strands of hair hanging over his forehead swayed gently in front of his thick lashes.

Lucien: [chuckles] I'm just stating facts. She shares the beauty of the sky with me and finds satisfaction in good weather...

Lucien: —Isn't that kind of you very much like the protagonist?

MC: Then next time I discover something beautiful, I'll make sure to record it promptly.

MC: Let's see if I can fill several volumes of "Wonderful Moments" just like the protagonist!

—[Flashback Ends]—

I casually remarked and thought it was nothing but a joke, yet Lucien silently remembered it in his heart. I come to my senses and blink.

MC: So, the reason you suddenly decided to take me out to play is to create more wonderful moments in my life?

Lucien: I wonder if it's because I'm not "competent" enough that you don't have much to record, so I deliberately created this opportunity.

Lucien: Of course, it's also to show myself off a bit.

He adopts a tone of pretended grievance that stirs a feeling of itchiness in my heart, I suppress the curve of my lips, nodding in mock annoyance.

MC: Well, in light of your "timely remedy," I'll reluctantly start recording officially!

✂———————–

MC: ...Lucien takes me camping;

MC: Before we set off, Lucien made me a cup of hot chocolate.

MC: While playing the idiom chain game, Lucien deliberately went easy on me...

As I speak, I open the Notes app on my phone and mutter to myself, recording a dozen or so entries. But as I continue to write, I suddenly feel something is amiss.

MC: Wait a minute, why do all these "wonderful moments" have Professor Lucien's shadow? I'm starting to suspect that I have a “love-brain”*...

[T/N: "恋爱脑" (love brain) is a Chinese internet buzzword that refers to a mindset that puts love first above everything. It refers to individuals who are deeply in love and often become consumed by their emotions, making it difficult for them to think about anything else. This phenomenon is characterized by extreme devotion to their lover, often leading to uncontrollable emotional dependence and intense desires to be with the other person... If anything, from the way Lucien takes her casual remarks seriously and uses them as a reason to hang out with her, this word describes Lucien more LOL]

Lucien: [with a pretending-don’t-to-know-anything tone] Oh, really?

Lucien is amused by my muttering, and a hint of sly self-satisfaction shines in his long and narrow eyes.

Lucien: [chuckles] It seems the Great Producer has already fallen into my sweet trap.

Lucien: Because my goal is to dominate your today's "wonderful moments" list through this trip.

MC: Hmph, then I won't let you succeed. Right now, I'm going to come up with something completely unrelated to you.

As I speak, I catch a glimpse of a white shadow flashing in front of the car. But before I can react, Lucien has already hit the brakes.

[Sounds of the car suddenly braking]

Almost simultaneously, a strong arm instinctively protects me in front of my chest.

Lucien: ...Are you okay?

He removes his sunglasses and swiftly scans me with his gaze as if confirming whether I'm injured.

I stare blankly ahead. After a moment of daze, there's no movement in front of the car, and my heart leaps into my throat.

MC: I, I'm okay...

MC: Lu, Lucien... Did something just rush onto the road?

Lucien: I'll go down and take a look first. Stay in the car and don't move.

He smooths out my disheveled bangs and then gets out of the car after turning on the hazard lights.

Through the windshield, I see him quickly walk to the front of the car. His gaze instantly shifts downward, as if he's spotted something, and he crouches down.

Did we really hit something?

Just as I nervously stretch my neck and am about to get out of the car to take a look, Lucien suddenly stands up, cradling a bundle of white fluff in his arms.

MC: Eh?

I take a closer look and can't help but exclaim in delight—

It's an adorable little Pomeranian!

Under my expectant gaze, Lucien quickly gets back into the car with the little Pomeranian in his arms, then raises the pup's paw and waves it at me.

MC: Hello there, cutie! How did you end up on the road?

Lucien: This little fellow must have gotten lost. I didn't see anyone else outside the car.

I follow Lucien's gaze out the window. The road is very quiet, there's no sign of anyone around.

MC: Is it injured?

Lucien: It wasn't hit just now. When I got out to check, it was still some distance from the front of the car. It's probably just a little startled.

As if understanding, the Pomeranian snuggles its face into Lucien's palm coquettishly. Its dewy eyes shift between Lucien and me, softening my heart.

I tentatively reach out my hand towards its nose, intending to let it get accustomed to my scent before attempting to pet its little head.

However, as soon as I reach out my hand, the little fellow enthusiastically licks my fingers. In the next moment, it leaps over the center console and goes straight into my arms.

MC: Wow, what a good little doggy!

MC: And it looks very clean, not like a stray dog... Could it be lost?

Lucien leans in and turns the collar of the small Pomeranian, discovering a small round tag. On it, it reads "Snowball*" and a string of numbers.

[T/N: the pet name, "雪糕" (xuě gāo), actually means "ice cream bar/popsicle"  LOL. I take some liberty in translating the pup name because “雪” (xuě) word alone means “snow” (while “糕” (gao) means cake). Imagine that this fluffy white bundle looks like a snowball so I give the pup that name :D]

MC: "Snowball"? Is that its name?

Lucien: Mm, below should be the owner's phone number. Let me try contacting them. Maybe the owner hasn't gone far.

Lucien takes out his phone as he speaks and quickly gets connected. After briefly explaining the situation, a wave of gratitude comes from the other end of the line.

??: Thank you so much! I stopped at the service area for a break and took the pup out of the car for a walk. I forgot to bring it back into the car.

??: I've already turned back onto the highway. I'll be there in about forty minutes!

??: Will it delay you?

Lucien doesn't respond, he just looks up at me and gestures with his eyes, as if asking for my opinion. I quickly nod in agreement.

[asking for opinion from the family leader.jpg]

Lucien: No, it won't. Then let's meet at the nearest gas station to the toll booth on the highway.

After a brief conversation, he hangs up the phone and shakes his head at me helplessly.

Lucien: [smiles helplessly] Looks like our journey might be delayed for a bit.

MC: What a careless owner! How could they forget such an adorable little dog?

I affectionately rub Snowball's head. It seems to whimper aggrievedly, then it straightens up, leans against me, and licks my cheek.

The adorable and silly look melts my heart once again. I exaggerate by placing my hand over my heart, then I scoop Snowball into my arms and give it a tight cuddle.

MC: Lucien, it's just too cute.

Upon seeing this, Lucien boops Snowball's nose, his tone hinting at jealousy.

Lucien: You've been praising this little guy since earlier until now for so many times.

MC: Pfft, is Professor Lucien feeling jealous?

Lucien: After all, I was the one who wanted to make a good impression today, but I didn’t expect to be outshone by this "little attention-seeker".

MC: I think, it's actually quite timely that Snowball showed up.

I mischievously wink at him and raise Snowball triumphantly.

MC: Just when I couldn't think of any beautiful moments unrelated to you.

MC: The appearance of this cute little fellow right now just fills that gap perfectly~

Lucien: Is that so?

Lucien presses his lips together thoughtfully, his clean fingertips lightly tapping on the steering wheel. He puts his sunglasses back on and, as if on a whim, starts the car again.

Lucien: Buckle up your seatbelt, let's go.

MC: Huh? Where are we going? Aren't we supposed to wait for Snowball's owner?

Lucien: MC's words just aroused my desire to win.

Lucien: In order not to lose to this little fellow, I have to put in some extra effort during these forty minutes of waiting.

Lucien: Before that, let's go find some more unexpected wonderful moments.

✂———————–

Ten minutes later, Lucien drives us to a countryside field.

The golden sunlight blankets the emerald green grass, while wisps of light mist hover amidst the sea of green.

Excitedly, I hop out of the car while holding Snowball, and find myself unable to tear my eyes away from the beautiful scenery for a moment.

MC: It's so beautiful! Lucien, how did you know there's a place like this nearby?

Lucien: We passed by here when Miss Producer was fully focused on playing the idiom chain game just now.

Lucien: The meeting point I arranged with Snowball's owner is very close to here, so it was convenient to stop by on the way.

MC: [sweats] What? During that intense idiom chain game just now, you still managed to notice the scenery on the sides of the road?

Upon hearing this, Lucien seriously crosses his arms, one hand supporting his chin as if deep in thought.

Lucien: Hmm, after all, even in such a tense moment, Miss Producer didn't forget to use "sweet words" to bribe her opponent.

MC: Pfft-

I can't help but laugh, but Snowball in my arms suddenly wriggles restlessly, as if trying to break free from my embrace.

MC: Do you want to go down and play?

I carefully place Snowball on the ground. It sniffs around with its tiny nose and then happily starts running around us.

MC: [laughs cheerfully] Hahaha, Snowball, you're so fearless, don't you?

MC: Even after such a day full of twists and turns, you can still play so happily!

Lucien: A puppy's mind is very simple.

Lucien: Perhaps in its eyes, it simply unexpectedly took a risk to venture into an unfamiliar place and met with a beautiful and empathetic Jiejie (big sister) who understands it well.

Lucien: And now, this Jiejie has brought it to a playground where it can run freely, so why can't it be happy?

MC: Oh, come on, it's definitely the credit of this reasonable and understanding handsome Gege (big brother).

I jokingly gesture with my hand, but as I watch Snowball's carefree figure, I can't help but ponder Lucien's words with a thoughtful expression.

MC: That being said, it seems like any simple thing can easily make a puppy happy.

MC: Whether it's the company of its owner, a friendly pat from a stranger, a passing butterfly, or even just a small treat...

MC: I often see videos of dogs being scolded by their owners. One moment, they're scared out of their wits…

MC: Then, the next moment, as soon as their owners call their names with a smile, they instantly become happy again.

MC: So, is life filled with beautiful moments everywhere in the eyes of a puppy?

As we talk, Snowball runs around a nearby grassy area and then returns to Lucien's feet, panting. It looks like it's tired from playing and eagerly starts pawing at his pants.

Lucien cooperatively lifts it, and it comfortably stretches lazily in his arms, then leans against his arm and rests.

Lucien pats its head, his expression somewhat resigned.

Lucien: I originally wanted to create a "wonderful moment" for MC, but it seems like Snowball is the one enjoying it more.

MC: Indeed, we should learn from puppies and embrace the spirit of enjoying every moment. I can't let Snowball beat me~

As I say this, I take a deep breath, and the fresh air instantly fills my heart.

MC: So pleasant... If it weren't for the tight schedule and better scenery waiting for us, I'd want to camp right here.

Lucien looks at me upon hearing this, seeming to contemplate something. After a moment, he gently places Snowball into my arms and gives me a mysterious wink.

Lucien: I've received the classmate's wish, please wait a moment.

He walks around to the back of the car, opens the trunk, and folds down all the rear seats, creating a spacious area.

[Lucien’s car being an SUV is really useful in times like this huh-]

Then, he hangs the small decorative lanterns that were initially used for the tent on the roof of the car. Finally, he shakes out a small thin blanket and spreads it on top.

After finishing all this, he bends slightly and makes a gentlemanly invitation gesture.

Lucien: Please, have a seat.

MC: This is...

Lucien: Our time is indeed limited, not enough to set up a proper tent.

Lucien: So we'll have to use this "temporary camping spot" instead, I hope you two* don’t disdain it.

[T/N: He actually uses 小朋友 (literally means: child) as the term of endearment to refer both of them (so the more literal translation should be “I hope the two children don’t disdain it”). I change it for an obvious reason here, but I swear it’s not as bad as the english language makes it to be-]

I stand still for a moment as his intention dawns on me. Pink bubbles seem to bubble up in my chest, making my heart move up and down in the ripples it causes.

I compliantly put on airs, playing along with his gesture as I cradle Snowball and settle into the car.

MC: Can you see a look of "disdain" on our faces?

I raise Snowball, showing a coy and obedient look at Lucien. Snowball, oblivious to the situation, cooperatively wags its tail and barks cheerfully at Lucien twice.

Lucien chuckles softly, then takes off his sunglasses with one hand, his gaze shifting between Snowball and me.

The vast expanse of clouds above his head begins to slowly drift away, revealing the warm and radiant sunshine.

His deep gaze is imbued by the golden sky, revealing a hint of childlike innocence and simple contentment.

Lucien: Indeed, I can't see it, because I can only see two adorable faces.

His doting tone is unreserved, and I satisfactorily squint my eyes, my heart full of joy.

MC: This one-of-a-kind camping area, with Professor Lucien's intention behind it, is priceless and worth more than any amount of money.

MC: I cherish it so much; how could I possibly disdain it?

Snowball seems to understand my words. With a "woof", he jumps down and happily rolls around on the blanket.

Both Lucien and I are amused by its adorable appearance. A gentle breeze blows by, and my entire heart feels light as if it's strolling in the clouds.

Our gazes lock into each other, and this tranquil moment is so beautiful that I truly want to record it in some way.

But I don't take out my phone to make a note. Instead, I instinctively reach out and gently pull Lucien to sit beside me.

The warmth beside me makes me unconsciously lean closer. I nuzzle his shoulder clingily, my heart filled with softness.

MC: Professor Lucien, you've succeeded.

MC: Now my mind is filled with countless wonderful moments, and each of these moments is related to you-

MC: Me leaning on your shoulder, your scent filling my senses, and us sharing this unexpected encounter of scenery together...

MC: And even if these moments aren't intentionally recorded by me, it's okay.

MC: Because every little thing that has been happening with you has already integrated into my world since a long time ago.

The breath above my head becomes even more gentle and elongated. Lucien enfolds me in his arms, his warm breath almost as if it's seeping into the depths of my heart.

Lucien: I am honored to be part of all the “wonderful moments” of Miss MC.

Lucien: As the sole recipient of this “award”, I will remain humble and continue to work hard, bringing her even more happiness.

I smile in his arms, but suddenly, I think of something and pull myself away from him a bit.

MC: But it's not fair, I've listed so many 'wonderful moments' of my own. How come you haven't shared a single one with me?

Lucien seems taken aback by my sudden mention of this. He is struck silent for a moment, then a flicker of wounded expression crosses his face.

Lucien: Perhaps because I thought even if I didn't say anything, MC would know what I’m thinking—

Lucien: My "list of wonderful moments" is very simple, so simple that it has only one item.

Lucien: Now, do you still need me to tell you this one and only item?

He stares steadily into my eyes, with an irreplaceable radiance that ebbs and flows in the depths of his gaze.

I softly laugh, and my entire heart feels as transparent and bright as if it has been meticulously polished.

MC: No need.

I shook my head, the stray hair on my forehead bringing a slightly unbearable itch, gently brushing against my heart along with the gentle spring breeze.

I gently cup his cheek in the palm of my hand, and the world becomes unusually quiet, only the sound of two hearts beating can be heard.

MC: You don't need to say anything.

Because in those beautiful eyes, I only see myself.

————Fin———–

[Bonus Phone Call - Want it Now]

Lucien: Hello? Are you busy?

MC: So, I was about to take a lunch break—I was just thinking about you, and then your call came.

Lucien: It seems like there's always some kind of wonderful little tacit understanding between us.

Lucien: Then tell me about it.

MC: Haha, here's the thing. The company's pet club is planning a charity event.

MC: They plan to sell some handmade items and donate the proceeds to animal shelters. But I don't have any inspiration for what to make at the moment...

Lucien: Mm... I just received a delivery that might be helpful to you.

Lucien: The owner of Snowball sent us some things as a thank you. There are small felt keychains shaped like Snowball, as well as cartoon-style standees and cross-stitch fridge magnets.

Lucien: Looking at the note in the delivery box, it seems that the owner of Snowball designed them personally and also has the same ones at home.

Lucien: Perhaps we can also make some similar small items.

MC: Wow! They actually make these for their pet? The owner of Snowball is so thoughtful.

Lucien: You can tell that Snowball is truly cherished, so its owner makes these everyday little things, wanting its presence to fill every corner of their home.

MC: Hmm... Just like how my phone screensaver is you, and all the photos hanging around the home are of you?

Lucien: If what you're saying is that feeling of 'even when you're not around, I still want to see you first thing’...

Lucien: Then we're the same.

MC: I have another idea, I wonder if Professor Lucien shares the same idea as me.

Lucien: Hm?

MC: Even though my screensaver and chat background are pictures of you... I still want to see you right now.

Lucien: What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing. So I've already brought your favorite milk tea and the Snowball keychain, and I'm on my way to see you.

Lucien: I checked the navigation, and the route from the research institute to your company is very smooth.

Lucien: In twenty minutes, both of our wishes will come true.

[girllookingoutwindow]

I might be wrong but wasn't it LW that named Daphne a diamond of the first water, bc the Queen said she was flawless? Therefore launching her as the most desired woman in the ton. And starting the whole a "diamond" needs to be named? Then I've always thought in season 2 LW timed her edition to come out as Eloise is presented, specifically to interrupt the proceedings because she knew Eloise was uncomfortable. And the Queen would be completely distracted sometime before Eloise had to go through. Could be wrong but with LW I'm reminded of the song "one night in Bangkok" bc of the line "thank God I'm only watching the game, controlling it." I love when Violet finds the tea on Lord B, and says "we'll talk" bc it's what women do. A flurry of gossip later It saved Daphne from a horrible fate of a loveless marriage to that gross man (he used his status to get a servant of his pregnant and then abandons her and the child. Was this servant girl allowed to even say no to her employer with power? To preserve her innocence/reputation). It seems as if it's the only way a woman could influence her life or make a change.

Also Pen often sets the rumors straight, when others go too far in their speculation and it could blow up as something else entirely. The ton trusts LW's word bc she didn't lie. If she hadn't said what she'd said about Eloise it could have been worse. It softened the social blow, it was merely a smaller transgression though, not as bad as her and her whole family ruined which if it had been exposed elsewhere it would have. The men would have been fine but the the others prospects of marriage would have been damaged or non existent. Same with Marina, the Featherington's had to be socially distanced from even knowing what she was up to, or they would be ruined. It wasn't that she was cruel to Marina, to me, but loves her sisters enough to save them from what Marina did (I can understand her motives, but her cruelty towards Pen and callous way she marked Colin as an easy target upset me). My favorite real life example of how people gossip that could be good, is Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. Married at 17 in the 1770s, to "the only man in England not in love with his wife" and she was the main Whig party hostess, meetings, parties, and she even canvassed for votes. Parlor room behind the scenes politics. But the downside to gossip is that opposing sides will try to defame through gossip too, and caricature depicting the Duchess as an indecent woman who'd kiss men for votes in order to get Fox elected. That's a very quick overview of an amazing, yet flawed woman (her gambling). But it demonstrates for me at a time when women had very few rights, if you were in a higher social class, through gossip you can start change. Georgiana, as a Whig hostess, as a fashion icon of her time, a woman with the "common touch" very popular with the people, even though she was "her Grace" helped gain traction for her causes, wider rights, abolition and supported American colonial independence during the war. Whether it's a bigger or smaller issue, gossip can be both good and bad. The only time I really dislike it is when it's used to just purposely hurt others, instead of informing or questioning social outdated norms, its just a personal attack designed to hurt someone cruelly (Cressida making remarks about how many children Violet had and what that meant about her and her family...ooo I was not ok with Cressida there or her mama lol) .

I think Pen is sometimes judged too harshly, she'd been ridiculed and ignored in a society that already didn't value her as much as a man. Her future prospects to Her seemed dim, bc all Her life..... words like what Marina said, have been said to Her. Her worth was her family's good name and who she married, how much money they had. So she took some control and power for herself in the only way she could. Through gossip. Sorry I've rambled so long! This is an interesting topic though. 😊

Hi, anon.

I love this analysis. I agree with everything you said here.

I think I'm going to rewatch season specially because of this topic. I want to do an analysis about the nature of gossip and how affect the characters. Maybe more of one part because I think it's going to be long.

I think gossip has a force and doesn't need to be bad. It's neutral and it can show the real nature of the person who's using it. And like you said, Pen never lies. She says the truth, sometimes she even gave proof and her intentions were always good. She does it because nobody else want to see it. Nobody wants to listen the truth, she tried, and nobody was listening to her.

Colin never wanted to see Marina didn't loved him, because he didn't care, because he didn't loved her either. He was lying to himself. Eloise didn't want to see why Pen wrote about her, because she didn't wanted to accept Pen advertised about it many times, and she didn't listen. Daphne and Violet were practically saved by her, the marriage for Daphne, the Violet's reputation. We have so many moments of her helping them.

Gossip is a tool. A tool used women without any other weapon to protect themselves. I think it's a relationship between the female aspect of it and why society sees it like something wrong. Because words can hurt, and yes, they can be used to shame, and make damage, but gossip is a the weapon of the people who's not going to be heard otherwise.

Thank you so much for you message.

[barbwritesstuff]

I remember reading how much choice script (or steam??) Took off the profits u made from blood moon. It was an astronomical amount tbh. With that in mind, would you recommend choice script or itch.io for new writers?

It very much depends on what you, as a writer and game developer, are hoping to achieve. There are downsides to writing with choicescript, but there are also benefits. Ditto with Steam and itch.io. I think it's important to weigh up all the options and make your own choice based on your goals.

Breaking it down.

Choicescript is (in my opinion) the easiest coding language out when it comes to making interactive fiction. You really don't need any coding skills to be able to make a game with choicescript, which was why I used it to write Blood Moon. I had zero coding experience back in 2020 and would not have been able to make a game with Twine or Ren'py at the time.

However, choicescript is not an open source language, which means, if you want to make money off your game, you have to publish it with Choice of Games or one of their imprints (Heart's Choice or Hosted Games).

They will take 75% of royalties, which is steep, but they also have a pretty dedicated audience which you probably won't reach if you don't publish through them.

And I think those numbers are significant. My independent games, despite being pay-what-you-want, usually only get a few hundred downloads. My choicescript game has over ten thousand. 25% of $70,000 is better than 95% of $200.

Steam vs itch.io is a very similar situation.

Steam has an upload fee of $100 and takes 30% of revenue from games, but Steam also gets more than 10x the traffic than itch.io. So, while itch.io only charges a small amount in processing fees, you're probably going to get more sales from Steam.

All that said, I am bad at marketing. I also struggle with spelling, so need extra help editing and proofreading, and am still very much a novice when it comes to coding. I also do not have the money to pay for much out of pocket. I get a lot of value from working with publishers like Choice of Games because I get that extra help and support. That might not be true for you.

I've seen some independent game developers create really dedicated audiences, craft amazing games, and market themselves really well. They regularly get thousands of downloads on their games. For them, publishing with an open source language like Twine, and doing so on a more independent friendly platform like itch.io, is 100% worth it.

Doing so also gives you more creative freedom, as choicescript is very limited it what it can do.

Ultimately, it's a choice, and the right choice is going to change depending on the individual, their needs, and their goals. I'm happy to talk about this more and answer questions, because I think writers should help each other, and the best way we can do that is openly sharing information.

Hope that all makes sense. Sorry it was so long. 💙

[oltammefru]

After having done IS4 D15 ending 3 here's my first impressions on the gamemode. Do note that I've only played this gamemode on D15 since a friend farmed difficulties/progression tree for me:

The squads are all relatively balanced, there's a lot of interesting options between them. I favored Support Squad in my first clears for early snowballing reasons but I think I'll likely play something like Scientism more once I learn the stages better. All the class squads seem relatively balanced with each too.

Lin is really goated she is so very useful.

The early game is incredibly fucking snowbally. If you do well early game and transition into midgame with a decent team, it is so easy to get to the point where the game is just over. In the run where I did 3rd ending, I had like 8 E2 6stars, 28 collectibles, and about 30 life + shields at the end of floor 3.

Objective shields, in particular, early game ones, are way more impactful. Often times they're the difference between an entire collapse level worth of collapse.

Collapse effects are far far more negatively impactful than rejections. I know a lot of people had a lot of issue with IS3 rejections but honestly I think they just rarely ever affected the game.

One thing I liked about the design of IS3 stages / the light system is that basically every stage is made much much easier if you choose to leak a few elites, and leaking on one or two stages is rarely enough to fuck up your run on your own. In contrast, in IS4, every leak you make is incredibly impactful and has long-lasting impacts. Life itself as a number only matters in the sense that once you leak once, there's not much of a downside to leaking more so you can use that to take hard stages you'd otherwise leak like 10 on. (I have a post planned analyzing leaking in IS3 vs IS4 and how it contributes to the various themes of the gamemodes.)

6 stars are even more dominant. Part of this is because of the fact that the +1 hope cost to 4 stars and above (proportionally) affects 6 stars the least, but also because hope is way more plentiful and you only have limited squad / deployment units, so you might as well spend your hope on the more slot-efficient units.

Collectible quality is much much higher. Basically everything is at least somewhat good, every variant collectible is just incredibly efficient for its effects.

Golden chalice is honestly kind of mid? Unlike other collectibles, which have instant effects, chalice takes a while to scale up, while not being great early game (which is the main point in time where you really want good collectibles, because of how snowbally IS4 is). It's also far from the most efficient thing you can do with your money, if you get a -50% shop even with chalice it's generally better to spend at least some of it?

Robbing shop on F3 is way way better as an option now (although I've done it quite a few times in IS3 too, I think it is an underrated option in IS3). The F1-3 rob combat is much much harder though.

There's a lot of combats with <25 enemies there seems to be an emphasis on combats with lowish enemy counts. Like I said before, in IS4 it is much more important to play stages perfectly than in IS3 but I do think this creates an interesting gameplay dynamic where like if you've accepted you're going to leak on like Musical Disaster (very easy to leak on that one!) it doesn't even feel that bad to leak a few more.

Emergencies give way more exp than normal commands (and the gap seems far bigger than previous ISes).

Foldartals are neat. I like them a lot. Some of them feel pretty imbalanced though, in particular the one that has an accord that turns selected nodes into Bosky Passages and maxes out your index is so stupidly good compared to most of the other high rarity bottom ones.

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 213 Trivia (Part 1)

I guess things were going too well for too long..?

Gen's drawing of Senku here was probably inspired by very early chapter cover images. I don't know why else he'd be holding an exploding container.

We've now got three interpretations of Whyman: the generic one, Luna's, and now Gen's.

I like how Gen's has arms and legs coming out of the skull!

Finally! The Kingdom of Science can watch Dr. Stone together!

As long as someone animates it…

Kenjiro Takayanagi of Shizuoka University is considered one of the main pioneers of television, succeeding in displaying the character イ (i) on his Braun tube display in Dec 1926. Over the next few years, he improved the image allowing more detailed images such as human faces.

By 1939, Japan's first television station began broadcasting from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). After the war, Takayanagi Sensei's work was used as a foundation for other televisions and related industries around the world.

If everyone thought working on a second cell phone after they'd spent months making one was bad, they're not ready to hear about what they'll need to make for television broadcasts. (Senku also never changes...)

I didn't realize how big their other boat was. I guess things made in the USA really are bigger?

The Perseus not being the biggest ship anymore makes me a little sad :(

SAL 9000 is a reference to HAL 9000, the AI antagonist from Space Odyssey. It stands for "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer", so in this case it might be "Senku programmed" or even "Sai programmed"!

The "NES" (actually the Famicom again, both in the drawing and Sai's comment in the Japanese version) and SAL 9000 don't have the exact same specifications:

SAL 9000 is specialized for math operations and thus has a longer word length (16 bits vs 8) which allows more significant figures in the numbers. They've also got more RAM (SAL has 16 kB while the NES has 2).

The downside is that because they used parametrons, their clock speed (how fast they can do calculations) is slower than if they'd used transistors.

The large amount of ROM they've also got could imply that they have several built-in programs. Xeno's work, perhaps?

CRT screens only reach a maximum diagonal length of around 40 inches (~101 cm), as a larger screen needs a larger tube, and the thickness of the glass increases with size to handle the vacuum without shattering making it very unwieldy with the added weight and thus not worth manufacturing for sale.

Senku's here is obviously much, much bigger. Possibly even world record; the biggest CRT screens made were 61 inches (~152 cm) on the diagonal.

SAL 9000 has both air and water cooling, probably used depending on what's better for individual parts. Normally you only need one or the other.

It'd be good if they could get the carbonated water maker in there and ferment some alcohol faster too using the computer's heat…

SAL 9000 also has 3 phase power like modern power transmission. They're AC power sources, phase shifted by 120° so that at any point in time, their sum is 0. The advantage to this is that you don't need return lines for the current, so you can use half as many cables.

The games shown are inspired by Tetris (featuring Ishigami Village and Roppongi!), Pacman, a combination game of Gyruss and Tempest, then another combination game of Galaga and Asteroids.

The transmission towers can only be headed towards the dam, so we have an approximate direction for where that is! There's a few rivers nearby in modern Tokyo, but over 3,700 years they've probably changed a lot.

(Next part)

[jakethesequel]

Thinking about... elves and dwarves. Plus, gender.

Post-Tolkein, post-D&D depictions of elves and dwarves in popular fantasy stories have an interesting contrast. They almost always come in a pair, typically with an established cultural rivalry to boot, which makes sense. Though both long-lived non-human humanoids with great skill for combat and craftsmanship, they're opposites in a lot of ways: short and squat vs tall and skinny, subterranean industrialists vs arboreal ecologists, gruff and direct vs gentle and patronizing... and one is typically very strongly masculine, the other very strongly feminine.

It's common for both dwarves and elves to be given very little sexual dimorphism. Curiously, though, it's usually only the elves who get described with words like "androgynous." Mentions of the limited dimorphism of dwarves usually only come about through jokes about bearded ladies. Where are the dwarf women? Not in the Hobbit or LOTR. Not in Snow White, I don't recall in Narnia. Some movies don't mention dwarf women in the first place, leaving it open that they may be off-screen or just may not exist. But still, think of how many male elves you've seen on-screen. Compare that to zero female dwarves. Isn't it odd?

Even a lot of video games and TTRPGs that do include female dwarves often pull back significantly from the supposed androgyny of dwarves, giving them roughly the same dimorphism as humans (with the downside of making female dwarves hard to tell apart from a curvier halfling). They usually let elves keep their feminine androgyny, though. The feminine elf men are fine, they're often sex symbols even, but masculine dwarf women are consigned to be off-screen or de-masculinized. Why are they not worthy of depiction?

It's like... the androgynous elf man is still allowed masculinity, his maleness can't be revoked. Some viewers might see him as less-than a more masculine hero, but his femininity also makes other viewers see him as more sexually desirable or available, so it balances out. The feminine elf man is still a man, if not the manliest. The feminine elf woman and masculine dwarf man present no questioning. The masculine dwarf woman, though, is hardly worth even being depicted.

There's some horrible implicit misogyny that says that a woman who is perceived as masculine has no place, saying: "The dwarf woman can't or shouldn't compete with the dwarf men for cool action shit because a man would be better, and her masculinity makes her undesirable as a woman." But we hunger for the taboo, or at least flirt with it, so we throw in a joke about bearded ladies. "A woman who needs to shave, how ludicrous!" and then everything moves on. Even the elf women are allowed to do some cool action shit, as if they've "earned" some agency by over-performing femininity. Dwarf women don't even get to exist.

I feel for the dwarven bearded ladies. A woman deemed tainted by masculinity isn't allowed to exist in a cis-hetero-patriarchal society. You're not a man, but you're too ugly to be a real girl. You're forced into the shadows, acknowledged only for jokes or derision. Presumably the hidden dwarf women still exist, still labour and laugh and love in dwarven communities, but out of sight. Out of mind. "Maybe," they say, "you can do the work of a real girl, just not as well. We'll let you, just as long as you remember where you stand, and you don't shame us by existing too much in public." That's the fate of the masculine woman, the clocky broad: You get to be treated like a woman for all the bad stuff, but your very existence will be denied if it might benefit you, with the rare sole degrading exception of the bearded-lady circus act.

In short: There should be more dwarven women, unapologetically as masculine and bearded as advertised. But we won't get that in fiction unless society can change to accept the lesser-than women that already exist. Misogyny (+lesbophobia, misogynoir, transmisogyny, intersexism and other very relevant intersections) is still a powerful force preventing that. Be nice to a bearded lady today. Or a lady who recently shaved. Give them both 100 dollars. Do anything, IDK.

[popplebot-art]

Been fantasizing about what I'd want the battle system in my RPG concept to be like, and I think I have a vague idea (not trying to talk big yet, I just want a clear goal to work towards)

Something with fairly traditional JRPG gameplay, but with status effects HEAVILY expanded upon as a mechanic, and situations where enemy behavior might change during battle

Every enemy has a wide variety of moves, many of which are only enabled (or disabled) when under the influence of specific statuses. Some enemies even inflict statuses on themselves or each other. So, how you manage status effects can greatly alter the flow of battle

Every attack the main characters can use have multiple possible statuses they can inflict. Every monster has its own weaknesses and immunities to specific effects, meaning different monsters might react in very different ways to certain attacks

Some status effects also grant immunities and weaknesses to other statuses while active. You might inflict Gloom on that minotaur if you're afraid of the flower enemy dusting it with Enrage powder. Or if an enemy is ALREADY Enraged, you'll have better luck inflicting Berserk, causing it to attack its own team. The Panic effect comes with its downsides, but it might be worth casting it on your whole party to prevent incoming Drowzy magic

And of course, bosses would have their own set of reactions to status effects as well. Ngl I always thought the solution of "bosses are immune to everything cuz we didn't feel like figuring out how to balance it" was kinda dumb

Anyway, this is all just talk rn, just felt like sharing some ideas. Sorry for such a long, non-art post. I won't do this TOO often, but maybe just when I've got some ideas I rly wanna talk about

Also if you know of any games that already did something similar to what I'm talking about, feel free to share them in the comments so I can look them up for additional insp

[four-loose-screws]

Hello there, I’ve been playing a lot of Engage lately and I’ve been really enjoying it a lot. I’m writing in to ask you on what your general stance is on the whole discourse that has surrounded how certain S-Supports were translated. As for me, after reading a couple of them through, both the original versions and the localization, I personally don’t see that much a difference or disconnect between the two. While yes it can be argued that the localization did toned down a couple in a few cases, but even still I don’t think the general tone is really lost and in most cases it seems the only real notable difference is the usage of some select words in place of others which in a couple of cases might skewed into something that seems more platonic, but the rest of the conversation still seems to generally be pretty direct with how it’s translated. I also feel that even the original Japanese conversations generally speaking don’t feel nearly as romantic as they’ve been in previous games which has given me the impression that relationships in general are just simply greatly downplayed in Engage, and while that’s definitely apparent in a few other areas of the game I’ve definitely noticed it a lot through those conversations. It should be worth noting that I encountered the original Japanese conversations through Google Translate as well as other people’s own translations, and even with Google Translate I was still able to see what the initial tone of the dialogue was generally supposed to be and personally speaking didn’t think to was all that different from the official localization (minus a couple of choice words). I do think it’s worth noting that the wake-up events generally are more romantic than the conversations, or at least have more direct implications of it which I thought was interesting. However even with all of that, I would like to hear your opinion on all of this, from someone who is a speaker of Japanese, to get a further perspective on all of this. Thank you for reading this admittedly super long question as well as all the hard work you do for this community, hope everything is going well for you.

Hi and thanks for the support! :) Things have been a wild ride for me for a while now, but in an alright kind of way.

I chunked this out into 3 parts, because my brain gets lost in a whirlwind if I don't chunk up my writings.

Pt. 1 - Opinion Time!

My own personal opinion, in its own tiny little vacuum, is that I don't really care what changes a localization makes, for the most part. I see some changes as unfortunate - like those that put in pop culture or meme jokes that won't age well, in a game not already dating itself on purpose. But I don't have reason to become emotionally invested when I can look up and read the Japanese in my free time, analyze the differences between JP and localization in my free time, and use my blog to share those findings to those who don't know both languages.

The downside is I'm not available to blog like I used to be, but there's always been other people out there who know Jp./Eng. and are filling in the gaps. It's not a fun time to be subjected to the "LOCALIZATION STUPID, LOCALIZATION TEAM YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD" tone you sometimes see, but sifting through good and junk information is how research has always worked.

Now, to add on some nuance, because the world is a complex place and simplicity is a rarity. I think that it is very very valid to mourn what is lost because localization teams are trying to sell a product to a different audience, and simply cannot commit to trying to directly convey the exact same experience the JP version offered.

Not everyone is going to see the positives of localization as worth the cost. I love seeing FE spread to people I never imagined it would, because localization teams work hard to make the text engaging for non-JP audiences.

But media preservation is important too. Heck, I'm basically devoting my entire life to preservation by translating a collection of 20-30 year old novels! It's perfectly valid to value preservation of media over maximum outreach (and the big profits that come with it).

Also, just because I feel like pointing it out, I don't see localization as censorship. I feel like censorship is much more violent - a group in power trying to entirely eliminate media that does not fit their agenda for the purpose of control, etc. It's not like Treehouse is going around the internet, trying to remove and hide any record of the JP script or anything - they're just trying to guess what will sell the game outside of Japan, and protect Nintendo's brand. Nintendo could stop fan JP vs. localization analyzers at any point, but they don't, our content is all still out there for those who want to know more about the JP versions.

Pt. 2 - Talking directly about Engage & the S support conversations

Now, as for the conversations themselves!

My initial impression - Wow, the localization of these S supports compared to the Awakening days, is so different I'd think Engage was from a different franchise entirely! (For those who didn't play Awakening - the localization entirely rewrote some lines in many S supports - particularly many of the CG image quotes, in which each character says their final romantic words to Robin.)

Depending on the exact conversation, Engage's localization takes slightly different approaches towards making conversations with child & teen characters more platonic. Framme's support changes 'partner' to 'ally.' Meanwhile, Anna's support changes 'partner' to clearly mean 'business partner.' Clanne says "all I think about is you" in JP vs. "all I think about is helping you more," to shift the focus from implied romance, to keeping his relationship with Alear strictly as a master / guardian relationship.

For characters over 18, their conversations were not altered to remove romantic implications.

And, that's about the extent of it. Anon, you are exactly right in the summary Google Translate helped give you - the localized conversations always follow the original Japanese, save for toning down any lines w/ under 18 characters, that originally felt more romantic than platonic.

There is one huge sign that even the JP version wasn't as serious about committing to every S support being romantic, though - the CGs. Every character under 18 wears the ring on their middle finger instead of the wedding ring finger. Now, one could argue that the CGs are only that way because the artist was told to focus on the NA / international release, and I think that is a very valid possibility, but... many of the characters of all ages don't even wear the Pact Ring at all, and just hold on to it in their CG. And then there's the fact that the emblem rings are all worn on the wedding ring finger, when no one in the game has a romantic relationship with an emblem, so... yeah. I still don't think we're meant to read too hard into what wearing any ring on any finger means in this game.

I don't see any reason to do a deep analysis on any of the conversations, the changes are really that simple. But, as I always say, if anyone ever wants to see specific conversation(s) translated, then just send an ask my way! Straight translations tend to take less time than answering questions because I don't have to organize my personal thoughts, so they tend to be addressed the fastest!

Pt. 3 - Talking about Engage's romantic aspects in general (or lack thereof)

Overall, it is pretty easy to pick up on the sense that the devs weren't as interested in the romantic features of FE this time around - and in fact as I was writing all this out, I found a dev interview that briefly confirms the development of the game centered around Alear and the Emblem mechanics. The wake-up events might have been written as a middle ground to balance between those who wanted more romance, while taking focus overall off of the romance, but I've seen no sign of that being true in dev interviews.

Fire Emblem is Fire Emblem, and each FE game is always a grab bag of "What's coming back?" So it was always inevitable that even the romantic aspects would be toned down at some point, despite them being so present and essential to the popularity of three whole games in a row (Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses). I'm a long time fan, who knows that's how FE operates, so I enjoy it. But understandably every game will cause some controversy with those who aren't used to, or don't like, the rapid changes.

To me, as a fan since the GBA/GC days, Engage feels kind of like a fun return to GBA form, where supports always felt like a roulette wheel. Which relationships would read romantic? Platonic? Would the relationship seem platonic in the A support, then the characters get married in the ending card anyway? Would family or platonic pairs get an ending card? Who knew!

That being said, make no mistake!! Engage leans as hard as ever into FE's main overarching theme about bonds - that bonds are strength, and the glue that carries all FE protagonists to victory! There's just not as much of a focus on the romantic bonds this time around. In true FE form, you never know when the devs are going to dump, or at least shift focus away from, previous features.

I think I've gotten all I had on my mind typed out now - but anyone can feel free to follow up the conversation if you want in another ask!

-----------

(Note for full context: I read through about 10-15 or so of the S / Ring Supports before starting my reply to this ask, picking out some of the youngest characters, as well as a random sampling of others for balance. ...I didn't even try to read them all, I could only handle so many of essentially the same conversation in a row, before my head started spinning, ha ha.)

[smash-64]

2023 Game of the Year Countdown #2 The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure Nintendo Switch, 2023 (PSP, 2011)

Twelve years after the initial release in Japan, we finally got the finale to the Crossbell games. Some fans were a bit impatient, but I say it was well worth the wait for official localization.

Combat in Trails games, especially the PSP games in the earlier part of the series, was probably at its peak with Azure. New games have more options and tricks, but I think it was still really fun when things were a bit more limited. I definitely prefer the older style for the quartz and orbal arts, but it was really interesting to see how the Master Quartz were first integrated into the combat system. I actually love how powerful the combination of the Master Quartz are when you also get the Burst gauge. I think I was able to have something like 25 straight turns at one point after timing everything just right. Maybe that’s just a bit too powerful, but it was definitely fun.

Fans play Trails games for the deep, interconnected stories and the interesting characters, and Azure delivers. The Crossbell games are often voted as the best games in the franchise, and a lot of that comes from the characters. Rixia Mao shines as a supremely interesting, and very powerful character, which makes her a fan favorite. Arianrhod is introduced, and remains a favorite through the Cold Steel arc for many players. Randy Orlando. Tio Plato. Each character gets time in the spotlight and brings something unique to the table in combat. The story also has many twists and turns. There is a chance that players might feel that the story tries to run in high gear for a bit too long at points, but I didn’t think it detracted from the overall story.

Truth of a Rainy Day, Unfathomed Force, Traces of D, 8-bit Fateful Confrontation, and Miss You are my favorite tracks from the game. They each bring something different and I love them all. Truth of a Rainy Day is somber and slow, Unfathomed Force feels like you’re really up against an impossible foe, Traces of D is a little bit creepy, 8-bit Fateful Confrontation sounds like a Megaman tune, and Miss You is very friendly and welcoming. One of the best OSTs in the Trails series.

Being able to play the official localization, having not been able to play the Geofront version, brought new appreciation for Crossbell. As I said before, it’s often voted as the greatest Trails game, and I now also see what those fans do. There’s just so much coming together at this point of the series. I do not exaggerate when I say I was even excited to see what would take place at the West Zemurian Trade Conference, something that sounds supremely boring on name alone. I guess the only downside would be that players would need to play at least four games before this one in order to get full appreciation.

[ghostpalmtechnique]

I've previously posted about Barrage (2019) [x] [x], which was about a an alternate 1930s where hydropower rather than fossil fuels was the main source of electricity. Nucleum (2023), which has 50% designer overlap, is set in an alternate future in which nuclear fission has been discovered in 19th-century Saxony.

In this game, players build buildings and railroads, and connect the buildings to power plants and uranium mines (or imported coal) to power them for victory points. The game feels very open-ended at the beginning of the game. Powered building in Prague are worth double points, but Prague is far from any sources of coal, so it's a terrible place to start when you haven't dug any uranium mines, and there's only one nuclear-capable power plant on the map at the start of the game.

Players take turns by using action tiles or passing for income - money, workers, and VP. Money is needed to build urban buildings and import coal and to purchase action tiles; workers are need to build mines, turbines, and railroad track.

The rub is that (somewhat like cards in Newton), action tiles also serve as the railroad links that you build, so extending your network requires deciding which action tiles you are willing to give up. (Below are a set of starting tiles on the right, and a sampling of various purchasable tiles that might come out during a game on the left.) When used as track, if an end of a tile matches the color of the city or track tile it is connecting to, you get to take that action(s) on top of your main action of building track.

Each player will have the same starting actions, but in different permutations. The actions are buy another tile(s), build an urban building, build a mine or turbine, take a contract, and power a building. There are also icons that bump you up on the income tracks.

They also have asymmetric boards of "experiments" (asymmetric bonuses and powers that can be obtained), although I would not say the game feels highly asymmetric until people unlock their top-level power. My experiment board is visible at the left edge of the top-right picture here.

Like Barrage, there are also contracts to fill and neutral buildings on the board, which can be helpful for tempo.

I've only played the one time so far, but this seems likely to be my game of the year for 2023. (Voidfall also has a shot, but I suspect that's going to be a challenge to get to the table before the year is over, because of how long a game it is.) The main downsides are that setup was a somewhat cumbersome and that the game is an incredible table hog.

[alphawolfstabs]

Hey Billy

First off in Resident Evil: Afterlife somehow Wesker is using and holding TWO FUCKING DESERT EAGLES. That seems a bit problematic to me a little bit but you know movie magic right?

Now for the actual question.

If we were in a zombie apocalypse what guns would you use? How would you suit up in a situation like that if you were in let's say The Last of Us, Walking Dead, and Resident Evil kind of situation? Okay maybe not those exact choices maybe start off gentle and scary like The Last of Us.

MOVIE MAGIC IS SO WHACK. T W O DESERT EAGLES??? Jfc, good luck doing that irl.

Anywho-

This will probably be a long post.. whoops but here we are.

STARTING WITH The Last of Us bc currently, in love with that game so it’s fresh in my head:

WEAPONS:

• first things first, some kind of switch blade or, ofc, trusty butterfly knife. Reason being: you’re gonna need a knife or two, you can’t really go in guns blazing all the time, especially for the fckn clickers.

• Pistols: I’d choose a nice classic Colt 1911 pistol. Reason being is quite simple. It’s very popular and has been for a while, John browning gun, 9mm which I find snazzy, low recoil, can be made withhhhh.. polyester I think? Which makes the carryweight good. DOWNSIDE: it can roughly hold 8-10 rounds in the mag, which depending on the situation could be really good or really bad.

Another neat pistol I’d choose would probably be FN Five-seveN. The ammunition is a 5.7x28mm…? 26? 28? One of those- anyways it’s known for its low recoil but good penetration skills. 20 rounds ‼️ The pistol has a Picatinny rail on the lower frame for mounting accessories such as lights, lasers, or red dot sights which would probably be good for certain situations.

• Rifles: I think I would keep at least two rifles on my person- yes they’re big BUT rifles. One that I, for sure, would choose would be the Mossberg 464. Reasons: ITS A LEVER-ACTION. It’s a snazzy gun, good for long distance and such. Not to mention, I just.. I have a problem BSHSJDJEJ. unfortunately, it does only hold 6 rounds but that’s okay bc it’s worth it.

Another Rifle would be the FN SCAR. Reasons: It's a gas-operated, short-stroke piston system, which is known for its reliability and reduced recoil, usually holds 30 rounds, quick change barrel system- over all? I think it would be pretty good against clickers

• Shotguns: LEVER ACTION SHOTGUN. Reasons? ....It's a lever action shot gun man, that's all tbh- one downside is how it only has roughly 6 shots but that's okay bc mmmm lever action.

• How I would suit up: If I'm not experienced and it's just happening, I would be that idiot wearing hoodies and converses and jeans. I have emotional attachments to my jeans fgjakfgdafh

• However If I am experienced and I know what I'm doing: I would probably wear lighter clothes, like a t-shirt and probably still my jeans, because jeans actually would protect me alot- and if I could find some, I would also wear body armor. I would most likely have a good book bag to fit all my shit in like medical supplies, food, water- all of that snazzy shit.

The Walking Dead:

So for this I would take a much much different approach. I would own ONLY two guns, since the noise can draw herds towards you.

• I would have a fckn SEXC Colt Python revolver. [Think rick Grimes- his gun.] Reason: It's a fucking BEAUTIFUL gun, its a .357 magnum so it's got a kick to it and its GOOD. I would use it for emergency use. The second gun I would use would most likely also just be the silly 1911.

• As for more silent weapons, I would use a crossbow. Probably a compound crossbow tbh- Because the mechanical advantage provided by the cam and cable system, along with the increased arrow speed, contributes to the accuracy of compound crossbows- So it's rather very very fast and effective.

Suit up:

If I'm just starting out I would become a hermit. Stay inside with my shit until I run out and need to go get supplies. However If I'm used to everything, I think I would suit up in a similar way as I would in tlou, simply because that, to me, is the simpliest and best way to suit up.

Now I would LOVE to do this for resident evil but, alas, I do not know that game the best. However if I ever get around to watching a gameplay of it, I'll most likely make a post and tag you :)

Thanks for this ask btw!! I love talking about "What if" Situations fgejkgfeakfuy

[pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer]

Games in 2023: Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (2/2)

I, uh, ended up with a lot to say, and rather than practice restraint and edit it down I decided to just split this in two.  The first part goes over collection features and the three games in Vol. 1.  This one covers the three games in Vol. 2 (and it’s still pretty long).

I’ll also repeat my spoiler-free tl;dr: While these games do show their age, the collection provides excellent ways to mitigate the negatives, plus there are two decades worth of in-depth guides across the internet to help you along.  What holds up is a bundle of very unique and fun mechanics set in a world overflowing with both charm and heart.  I absolutely recommend it.  The collection has two volumes (that line up exactly with a major pivot in the series)—if you only get Vol. 1, I would recommend starting with either BN2 or 3 (BN1 is largely foundational and understandably rough around the edges), and if you only get Vol. 2 I would recommend starting with BN6 (it’s remarkably well-refined and far less divisive than BN4 and 5).

Resuming execution…

So now we come to…BN4.  Right.  Well, first things first: as I’ve said previously, I find it really unfortunate that this game has the reputation that it does considering the vast quantity of work that must have gone into it.  BN4 takes the series in a completely new direction, with a completely overhauled art style, and…how many new systems?  Emotion Window/Full Synchro, Dark Chips/karma, Soul Unison, Operation Battle, Free Tournament, e-Reader functionality…plus they made an entirely new villain who wasn’t even being manipulated by Wily (but still tied back to him through being his son).  Not to mention that Red Sun and Blue Moon feel like equal counterparts, which is one advantage it has over BN3.  They put in WORK, and BN5, BN6, and all of SF exists because of all that work and experimentation.  I’d like to remember BN4 as an ambitious game.  However, that…proves difficult.  Let’s see, what’s a good positive starting point…how about the Emotion Window?  It’s a neat way to add a new layer to the combat, and provides a comeback mechanic as well as rewarding you for skillful play.  While I do miss easy BugFrag grinding, Full Synchro as a reward for countering provides an immediate in-battle reward, letting you push your advantage and inflict some huge damage.  If you do poorly, however, you gain access to Dark Chips, which…are a really interesting concept, if you ask me.  Unfortunately, I think they really erred on the side of caution with balancing them out, and the downsides just don’t seem worth it: get a major bug, lose access to Soul Unison, and PERMANENTLY lose HP??  No single fight justifies all that, let alone a single attack.  Still, I do want to try a Dark run someday just to get firsthand experience with the mechanic…though it’ll probably be in BN5.  Anyway, Soul Unison!  Or Double Soul.  Whichever.  Love it!  Short-lived but big impact transformations based on familiar Navis, really hearkens back to MegaMan’s “Now I’VE got your power!” roots in a unique way!  Where did it come from?  Who knows! (Nobody.  Nobody knows.) Yeah, much as I love Soul Unison, I wish there was some kind of attempt at explaining where it came from, especially for so radical a shift from Style Change, which was already fleshed out and well-liked.  They vary a bit, but some of them are really cool and fun to use, and six is a generous amount of forms to have easy access to…when you eventually get there.  But, uh…let’s see, I talked about Patch Cards earlier, I haven’t tried Operation Battle or Free Tournament…eh, alright.  Let’s really get into it.

Now I love tournaments.  The N1 Grand Prix was great!  But a game structured around 3 tournaments…is a bit much.  It can get very tiring, not helped by the fact that it feels weirdly difficult to get your hands on decent chips.  Maybe to encourage use of your Souls’ chip-charging abilities?  And it tends to feel very disconnected from the “overarching” plot where you fight ShadeMan twice and then have to stop a meteor.  Still, it’s not too big of a chore to fight your way to Duo (who looks WAY cooler than his Classic counterpart, don’t @ me).  But apparently I’m not the only one who really struggled with Duo.  Well, I rarely even made it past Dark Soul tbh.  The point is, things take a turn, you realize you only have half your Soul Unisons, and you see “Start game 2”, and BAM: mandatory new game+!  Where everything has more HP and you realize the tournaments are completely randomized.  Then you get the rug pulled out from under you again when you realize you have to do new game++ just to get that last damn Soul…I’m so glad I knew about this ahead of time.  There’s enough despair in remembering that there are separate achievements for getting all Souls in each version.  Like…why?  Why, when they were making the collection, did they decide this was the game they wanted to require you to play so much more of?  Meh, I shouldn’t complain so much, I already wanted to try out all the Souls, it’s just that feeling like I HAVE to do it kinda…oh, nevermind.  The real problem isn’t even that, it’s that so many of the random scenarios are samey and/or some variety of frustrating.  You have to run through ACDC Area and usually also Town Area for every scenario in the first tournament, and then you have to run through Park Area for every scenario in the second tournament.  There’s a bit more variety in the third since they open the world map, and I do like that they tried again to fill out the world, but there are high odds of the player being checked out by that point.  And the mini-games, my gosh, the mini-games…some aren’t so bad.  But a lot of them are.  Everyone has their own most hated tournament scenario (mine is KendoMan) and it’s in large part due to awful, awful minigames (stop eating mY INPUTS).  It just…the frustration compounds upon itself the more you play, and so very few of the stories you get feel at all worth it.  I don’t want to feel this way about BN4.  I’m honestly trying to be fair.  Everyone always just dunks on BN4 and the last thing I want is to be a part of that.  But it’s such a frustrating experience, man.  Somehow I just keep ending up venting.  Oi.

Ah, what else…Regal is kinda nothing in this game, but I like him in BN5 and having the new villain be Wily’s son is interesting.  Also I appreciate the effort to change up the names of the evil organizations: WWW is…whatever that is, Gospel is a NetMafia, and Nebula is the Dark Chip Syndicate.  That’s a neat little detail I like.  I’m also really into the concept of Dark Souls, I think doppelgangers are the shit, the Sonic OC comic I made in my teens had Dark Souls as a recurring plot device because I like it so much.  Uh, having a new method of traversal in the C-Slider is an interesting idea to try out, and it is kinda fun to ride.  I wouldn’t even mind the hunt to put it together if it didn’t reset every cycle.  Oh, and this is where the Boktai crossovers start!  My experience with Boktai is still virtually entirely second-hand through BN and SF, but I dunno, I’ve always really liked the crossovers, I just think it’s cool that they happened.  BN4 starts a bit light with just the Gun del Sol chips and Django and Otenko giving you a fetch quest that ultimately nets you the Nebula Code, plus the attraction in Castillo, but it’s still really cool.  And it leads to even cooler things later!  BN4 really is the BN1 of a new trilogy: it’s foundational, and rough around the edges, but there is still value in seeing it for yourself.  Just, y’know…settle in.  Pace yourself.  I’m gonna move on now.

Okay, BN5!  This is another one I have a lot of nostalgia for, I should probably clarify that right up front.  It’s a divisive game, and I understand why, and I would NOT recommend this as someone’s first Battle Network.  But no matter what, it’s special to me.  Not to say I don’t think it has genuine merit, of course.  Let’s just start with the elephant in the room: Liberation Missions.  Boy can they be tough.  Making an alternate game mode required to progress is always going to rub players the wrong way, I get it.  But it’s kinda difficult to actually outright lose one, really.  Also I like being able to control so many different Navis, and having the structure of recruit, liberate, repeat allows for version exclusive content to be front and center without compromising the entire game’s structure (like BN4’s tournaments do).  It’s a very unique way to try something new with the battle system, and honestly, I think in part it seeks the same thing BN3’s Time Trials did. (I didn’t talk about them before because I still haven’t done them shut up) Battle Network has always considered quick and efficient deletion a key component of mastery—that’s why how long a battle takes is such a big part of your busting level.  Time Trials dial that up a bit with further restrictions: a (soft) time limit and a pre-constructed folder.  Similarly, Liberation Missions encourage quick and efficient deletions with a (hard) time limit, clearing multiple panels if you can win in a single turn, and requiring you to be familiar with several Navis in combat as well as keeping them all well-positioned on the overworld.  Considering this is the fifth game in the series, it makes sense to aim more for experienced players who know their way around a NetBattle and are looking for fresh challenges.  It’s for this same reason I don’t recommend it for newcomers, and for this same reason that kids playing this game would find Liberation Missions particularly vexing.  Of course, in the Legacy Collection, Buster MAX does work with every Navi you control…

Well anyway.  BN5 builds upon BN4’s foundation much the same way BN2 builds upon BN1’s.  Dr. Regal and Nebula are brought back, now as a far more present and serious threat that actually manages to occupy the entire internet within the first hour of gameplay.  Dark Chips are overhauled, now collectible as any other chip and needing to be deliberately put in your folder.  Soul Unison undergoes some minor tweaks, the most significant being that their charge shots now scale with MegaMan’s attack level.  Chaos Unison is also introduced, a way to both get one more turn of access to a Soul’s abilities AND use Dark Chips with relative safety!  While you are still locked into first-tier viruses and chips throughout the main game, you don’t feel nearly as underpowered as in BN4, and higher tiers are unlocked during the post-game (and can be toggled!) rather than needing to replay the whole game.  Even Patch Cards are overhauled.  The Boktai crossover is also expanded, introducing the Otenko chip and giving Django a full series of Navi Chips, as well as introducing Crossover Battle…though, that’s not in the Legacy Collection, unfortunately.  You do get Crossover Points from ranked battles, though, so you can still use the Boktai Trader.  Also…well, first of all.  BN5 actually has another secret transformation system…Cross MegaMan!  Not to be confused with the Cross System from BN6. (You will confuse them.  It is confusing.) There’s a Patch Card that you can use to overwrite MegaMan’s standard form, not unlike Style Change…except this one imbues him with the power of another Navi we know far too well.  That’s right…Bass Cross MegaMan!!  There are actually two slightly different versions of Bass Cross depending on which version of BN5 you’re playing, but they’re both exceptionally powerful and permanent unless you deliberately turn them off. (You can still use Soul Unison, though.) Of course, Patch Cards didn’t make it overseas, so this legendary form was Japan-exclusive…at first.  But that changed when BN5 got an enhanced port on the DS!  If, while playing BN5DS, you had in the DS’s GBA slot a copy of BN5 in which you had earned the Bass icon on the title screen, you unlocked the ability to play as Bass Cross MegaMan!  But the DS version didn’t stop there…it added one more Cross MegaMan form.  A form unlocked by inserting a Boktai game into the GBA slot…a form imbued with the power of the sun!  Sol Cross MegaMan!!  Yes, it was truly an astounding form…but it’s not in the Legacy Collection.  So.  That sucks. (On a related note BN5 also featured a crossover with Duel Masters in the form of a Giga Chip featuring a monster from that series.  Y’know, for completion’s sake.)

It really is too bad that the features from BN5DS didn’t make it into the collection, though I can understand the desire to preserve the original experience of the GBA games.  Come to think of it, the collection also doesn’t include the various things related to the Battle Chip Gates released alongside the second trilogy…that might be more difficult, though Star Force DX found a way to incorporate the Wave Scanner functionality…eh, not a big deal.  Point is, the GBA games are still plenty complete. (Though this is the only entry to not include Mr. Match, and that is unforgivable.) BN5 stands out as a very unique entry in the series, and I hope to see opinions on it improve over time.  Just, be sure to get some experience with one or two other games in the series before giving this one a try.

Finally, we have Battle Network 6.  As BN4 was foundational like BN1, and as BN5 built upward like BN2, BN6 is the culmination of all the work that came before just like BN3.  Even before the collection came around, there was already a dedicated community of players who found a way to battle online using this game, because the BN formula is so well-refined in this entry that they refused to give it up.  Chip restrictions are reworked to a more case-by-case basis, facilitating the demotion of all non-Navi Mega Chips to Standard class—Megas are exclusively summons, and this persists all the way through Star Force.  The game has two separate but compatible transformation systems: Beast Out and the Cross System (not to be confused with Cross MegaMan).  Crosses are the evolution of Souls, giving MegaMan access to another Navi’s powers, but are far more accessible this time around.  Souls required the sacrifice of a compatible chip and lasted only 3 turns, but Crosses can be activated at any time from the Custom Screen, and last indefinitely unless you pick another or are hit by your elemental weakness and knocked out of the form.  These are kinda busted!  I love them!  Beast Out, meanwhile, lets MegaMan control the tremendous power of the Cybeasts the game’s plot centers around, powering him up quite a bit but only lasting 3 turns.  After the form expires, you can try to activate it again if you really want to, but doing so will trigger Beast Over, rendering MegaMan invincible but sending him out of control until the custom gauge fills and the form fades away; if your enemy survived, MegaMan is left crippled, leaving you in an even worse situation than where you began.  The Beast Outs are a lot of fun to use, though the way they move to auto-aim chip attacks can at times put them right in the line of fire.  Personally I’m a huge fan of Beast Over, too, though it’s quite rare I find myself in conditions where it seems worth the risks.  But I have used it, unlike Dark Chips (which are no longer a thing), so I’m inclined to say it’s better balanced.  There’s also one more variation: Beast Cross, performed by either being in Beast Out and activating a Cross, or being in a Cross and Beasting Out.  Each Beast Cross mixes the Cross’s aesthetics with those of your version’s Cybeast, resulting in a variety of really cool designs, and you have access to the abilities of both forms plus a unique attack that replaces Beast Out’s chip-charge claw slash.  If you’re hit by the Cross’s weakness, you revert to normal Beast Out, and if Beast Out’s turn limit runs out, you lose both forms, so you need to be careful not to use up all your options too quickly.  Being able to combine forms like this is really cool, and only serves to deepen this game’s already robust form system; I’m fairly confident in saying that I like it even more than Double Soul, though it’s difficult to compare to Style Change so I can’t yet name an overall favorite.

Something interesting about Crosses is that, after you get your first Cross and the associated tutorial, the other four are completely optional.  In BN6, you gain access to version-exclusive content as you progress through the plot, but that content is entirely removed from the plot (save which Cybeast MegaMan obtains, but that’s a minor enough change that the cutscenes always play out the same).  This gives the plot room to breathe, and allows for the version-exclusive Navis to each have their own unique scenarios tailored to their own theming as opposed to sharing “one-size fits all” scenarios in BN5.  After doing these scenarios, you not only get a new Cross, but you gain that Navi as a Link Navi, meaning you can operate them while exploring the net any time you want!  Having the world open up to your other playable Navis is very freeing, and you’re encouraged to use them through various overworld obstacles that can be cleared with certain Navis’ abilities, though you’re only required to use them during a few parts in the plot where Lan temporarily loses MegaMan.  This is all described as a function of BN6’s new PET model, and I appreciate that there’s something to go off of instead of leaving us scratching our heads like Soul Unison did.  I really appreciate the benefits of this approach, though there is a part of me that wants to give BN5 credit for incorporating version-exclusive Navis into the plot more.

There’s a handful of other mechanical changes.  Side-quests from BN2 and 3 were brought back, though I find their implementation here to be a notable step back (the short version is that Request Points are superfluously restrictive).  The Navi Customizer here is another contender for its best iteration, now giving you a little extra space off the visible grid to better cram more programs into it.  Doing so does cause bugs, but BugStop is very easy to get if you know how, rendering it a moot point and letting focus be on the enhanced freedom of customization.  I also think it’s neat how the internet is designed so that you can access (nearly) every region of it from Central Area 3.  It’s easy to overlook given that Lan can just go to different towns and jack-in from there, but this makes getting around with Link Navis far easier.  Combined with the unlockable links on Lan’s homepage all leading to different regions, the net has never been easier to navigate.  The Boktai crossover is also back, now adding a series of Navi Chips for the Count of Groundsoaking Blood—obtained through a boss battle with the guy!  Of course, the original English release of BN6 cut virtually all of this, even the post-game area and sidequest, which always stung.  Many have said this was due to Boktai’s poor sales overseas, though more recently the developers have laid the blame on limited cartridge space; I do believe the devs, but it also makes sense that when choosing what content to cut during localization, the Boktai content was first in line.  Thankfully, the Legacy Collection is based on the Japanese builds of the games, so all Boktai content is retained and officially translated into English for the first time! (Except for Crossover Battle, of course…also there’s a weird bug regarding Django3, check some guides if you want to complete your Mega Chip library.) I suppose this would also be the time to talk about the successor to the Virus Breeder, the Virus Battler.  After buying a certain item, “rare” variants of viruses will begin to appear, and after defeating them, their data is stored for use in Virus Battles.  Virus Battles are a gauntlet of fights where you select and place the viruses you’ve gathered onto a battlefield in place of MegaMan, and then let them fight the enemy viruses to see who comes out on top.  Again, the inspiration from the Virus Breeder is clear, but the execution is very distinct.  It’s certainly a novel concept, but when I tried to complete them, that novelty quickly wore thin.  You don’t actually control the viruses, they operate on the same AI they use as enemies, which involves a degree of randomness.  What’s worse, these battles are timed.  I found these incredibly frustrating, and for a good while they were the only thing keeping me from finishing the post-game.  At this point the only thing I still like about the Virus Battler is that the final one ends with a fight against BlastMan, proving that he’s so weak that even generic viruses can kick his ass.  I like that.

From what I’ve seen, BN6’s story isn’t regarded quite as highly as BN3’s, but is still generally well-liked.  I enjoy it a good deal, but I think the fact that the whole second trilogy is so cut off from the first unfairly handicaps it.  BN6 is very self-contained, which on the positive side means that you can readily recommend this as someone’s starting point despite it being the final game in the series.  Unfortunately this has a negative impact on its ability to function as a finale, though I will say it does a surprisingly good job of that regardless.  The game starts with Lan and his family leaving ACDC Town, which they’ve lived in since the very beginning, and moving to Central Town in Cyber City.  As a direct result, there are virtually 0 returning characters on-screen for 90% of the game, which is a hard pill to swallow and puts a lot of extra pressure on the new characters and locations.  And it’s not all bad: I really like the way Cyber City and its various towns are structured, each focusing on a different aspect of “next-gen net society” to create a varied yet cohesive whole.  I also appreciate that the villainous operators, annoying as they may be, interact with each other FAR more than in any previous game, having their own group dynamic which actually informs some plot developments later on.  However, the main sticking point for most people comes in the new friend group that forms around Lan at his new school.  The game itself on more than one occasion refers to Mick as the new Dex, and while I can somewhat see the influence, the comparison does feel a bit forced.  Mick certainly has some potential as a character and has a couple of really good moments, but he has to shoulder an unfair amount of emotional weight due to the reduced cast and I just don’t find him up to the task.  Hell, they never even gave his Navi a name.  I’ve never seen a “major character” with bigger NPC vibes.  There’s also Tab, who runs this game’s chip shop.  I literally cannot think of another thing to say about him, because he gets so little focus.  I guess Iris counts, but she only interacts with anyone other than Lan right near the end of the game, and is tied into the game’s plot in a way that sets her apart.  In any event, I like Iris well enough.  She’s sufficiently mysterious to hold the player’s attention, and she gets a bit of character development before the game’s over.  She certainly feels more important than her X series counterpart!  Dex, Maylu, and Yai do all make a return at the end of the game, and that is nice, but man, the entire second trilogy spends so much time putting these characters off-screen or just acting like they don’t exist.  At least BN4 gave battles and Souls to two of their three Navis!  This may be the biggest contributor to making the two trilogies feel disconnected, and it’s a real bummer.

There are some connections, though, and some very interesting ones.  Probably the oddest-looking choice is that the Cybeasts are multibug organisms just like Gospel from BN2—it’s not a problem by any means, it’s just surprising to see the concept suddenly come back, especially since bugs were more or less supplanted by Dark Power during the Nebula duology.  It is kind of nice, though, and others have pointed out that it helps explain why SciLab had some knowledge of multibug organisms in BN2.  One connection I really like is how BN6 ties back into MegaMan’s origin, with the program that allowed Hub’s DNA to be encoded being not only part of why Dr. Hikari was tapped to help out in Central Town, but also the reason MegaMan is able to contain the Cybeast.  And of course, Baryl and Colonel’s involvement is a major plot point, as is the return of Dr. Wily.  Surprisingly, all three of them are fleshed out rather well!  Like I said with Iris, this Colonel is far more interesting than the one in X, and even with BN5 setting up for it I was shocked to see what they were able to do with Wily.  The decision to give him a redemption of some kind is…something to think about, for sure.  But again, the way he’s presented specifically in this game really lends itself to that.  At first glance it can seem like Lan is stupid to offer Wily a chance to reform, but when I got to it in this playthrough, it struck me that Lan was not at all eager in making this offer.  I don’t have the script in front of me right now, but I remember him sounding a bit hesitant, like he was forcing himself to do it out of a sense of principle and not just shrugging off everything the mad doctor’s done over the past six games.  Maybe I’m reading something that isn’t there, I don’t know.  But if it is there, then honestly, it’s enough for me to get behind this development.  I’ve said this before, but one of BN’s most recurring controversial writing choices being how easily some villains are forgiven is almost certainly a facet of the series’ theme of connecting with other people; even if it is a flaw, I think it’s a necessary one.  Morality and redemption are complicated topics, ones I’m not even entirely sure about myself.  If nothing else, these games commit to their stance.

BN3 is peak Battle Network, but so is BN6—for different reasons.  Even with so much working against it, the game still provides a satisfying end to the series, especially with that epilogue.  It’s nice to have a Mega Man series that ends on an ending rather than a cliffhanger!  I’ve always been against the idea of a Battle Network 7, but y’know…after reconnecting with the series like this, after seeing how well the collection is doing and how much passion went into it, after hearing someone propose the next game being more of a spin-off starring Patch…I’ve changed my mind.  I do think the Patch spin-off would be the best way to approach it (and I really, really hope they rename MegaMan Jr, I don’t know what it is but I hate that), but even if we do get a BN7 that adds a new chapter to Lan and MegaMan’s story, I’ll be super-excited about it.  BN7 or not, though, I’m glad we got this series and this collection.  It doesn’t matter if I never try the online features, or if Battle Network remains a closed book, because I got to experience it, and this new outpouring of love for it proves that it’s an experience so many others have shared.  What happens or doesn’t happen next can’t change any of that.  No matter what…we’re always connected.

[ivyprism]

You play otome games? Which ones do you recommend??

I've only really gotten into it. But I do have a few ones I'd recommend.

Warnings: Long, also mentions 18+ content in Sims recommended.

My current gamer grind is Arcadia Fallen. It's a beautiful game and I recommend it. My favorite route, so far, is Kaiden. I saw that man and I immediately wanted to marry him. My second favorite is Michael. You can customize your MC and it comes with LGBT+ representation. :)

I also recommend Love Spell: Written in the Stars. I loved it, I am a very simple girl. The routes are predictable to some extent, but they're beautiful and very worth it. I have two favorite routes: Marcello and Jamie's route. Marcello is for the more stakes route and Jamie is less stakes, more slice of life, and I adore it. The third would be Aslan. But there is a route I want to play REALLY bad, but it's not out... So a small downside is that the main protagonist will always be a girl. This one has 18+ subjects that you can skip over if you like. I wouldn't recommend this game if you are not over the age of 18.

Another good one is Witches and Warlocks. My favorite route is Zero and Lawrence. This one comes with LGBT+ representation like Arcadia Fallen. It's free on Steam! It's simple, sweet, and to the point. It's very wholesome.

A Witchy Life Story is also a really good game! Don't know if it counts as an otome game, but the routes are fun and it's interesting! It comes with LGBT+ representation and a customizable MC with the ability to change pronouns.

I then recommend Tailor Tales. This game is also free on Steam. You can customize your MC, but you can't change her gender. A small thing about this game is that it touches on R18+ content, so I wouldn't recommend this game if you're not over the age of 18. My favorite routes were James and Gray.

My Candy Love is a good one to start with though. So, this game is in the mobile app store and on the desktop. The only gripe I have with it is that the AP system is absolute garbage. This has LGBT+ representation after the high school arc (this is the first part of the My Candy Love story chronologically). This one touches on 18+ topics like Tailor Tales, but I believe it's optional. I wouldn't recommend this game if you are not over the age of 18. Unfortunately, the MC's pronouns are unchangeable and remain feminine. You can customize your MC too.

-H

[thechariotrider]

An Introduction to Emulation

There are a lot of really cool old games, but actually playing them can seem quite difficult. Fortunately, there are tools available that make old games much more accessible. The most powerful, by far, is emulation. If you have ever wanted to learn how to play classic video games that aren't available on modern platforms, this post is for you.

TLDR: Emulation recreates old hardware (like game consoles) using software, allowing games to be played on modern systems. It's an incredibly cool technology that, while it has some minor downsides, is overall an important tool for preserving game history and enabling new game experiences.

What is the issue?

Game companies don't always make their older titles easily playable on modern hardware. There are so many important, influential, and fun video games released on older hardware that can't be bought on any modern platform. In fact, game companies sometimes go out of their way to remove their titles from modern storefronts. After Bandai Namco released Dark Souls Remastered in 2018, the original version of Dark Souls was removed from Steam, presumably to encourage people to buy the newer, shinier, more expensive release. Game history is important, and it's incredibly rewarding to engage with. Unfortunately, if you limit yourself to what is only available through official channels like Nintendo Switch Online, Steam, GoG, Xbox, Playstation 5, you will miss out on a lot of cool games.

Games are often designed to operate on very specific hardware. Games made for the N64 can't run on a Sony Playstation, and vice versa. Even on PC, a platform which is generally much more customizable, games can be made obsolete through software updates and new operating system releases. Software's dependency on hardware makes it harder to access as technology progresses. Because of this dependency on specific hardware, it takes a non-trivial amount of effort to keep games "up to date", and often companies decide it isn't worth the effort. I can still read books from the 1500s because fundamentally, they are just words and those are easy to bring to modern formats. Film too is relatively easy to keep functional. As long as you have a device that can run mp4 files, you have a lot of options with regards to how you watch a movie (even if those files have to come from an unofficial source). This isn't to imply that lost media and preservation challenges don't exist for books or movies, but the fact that I can easily access books that are several decades old, but many influential console games released even in the past few decades aren't playable on natively modern hardware says a lot. Fortunately, we have a solution. Emulation

What is emulation?

Emulation is software that performs the same function as hardware. Put simply, it lets games designed for one platform run on another. For instance, Dolphin is an emulator designed to play GameCube and Wii games. Dolphin runs on Windows 10 and 11, and allows you to play GameCube and Wii games on PCs. Emulators can be designed to recreate pretty much any piece of hardware. There are emulators recreating handheld devices like the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Java phones, and Playstation Portable. Other emulators are designed to run old PC games designed for Dos, the Amiga, or Commodore 64. There are even emulators designed for modern systems like the Switch. It should also be noted that emulators aren't exclusively used on PC. There are emulators designed to run games on Android phones or modern consoles. Every emulator is different, coming with its own set of features, requirements, and drawbacks.

It should be noted that most emulators also require ROMs or ISOs. ROMs and ISOs are the file type most commonly used to store game files. If emulators are a virtual recreation of hardware, ROMS and ISOs are virtual recreations of the software that would be inserted into the actual hardware.

What all can I do with emulation?

Emulation is a powerful tool that could be used for a variety of things. Most obviously, emulation is excellent for playing older games. While they certainly can do that, they can also do so much more. For instance:

Emulators make it much easier to play old games on the go: I can't carry a SNES with me everywhere I go. It's big, requires a bunch of cables, and I probably won't even have a TV to play it on. However, I can always bring my laptop with me. I have a SNES emulator installed on my laptop that lets me play SNES games anywhere. If I have a few moments in between classes I can boot up Front Mission, Tetris Attack, or any other SNES game I want. As if that wasn't enough, I also have NES, GBA, and DS emulators on my laptop, taking up very little hard drive space. Convenient!

Emulators let you customize your control schemes: Most emulators give you a lot of choice in how your controls are set up. For my laptop emulators, I simply use my keyboard because I don't want to carry a controller around with me. But, if I wanted to, I could plug in my Switch Pro Controller, or any other controller to play these games. This feature alone has some non-obvious advantages, such as...

Greater accessibility in control schemes: For people with physical disabilities, who might be unable to comfortably use a SNES controller, emulators allow them to relatively easily substitute the original controller for one they find more comfortable to use. This makes the emulated versions of classic games far more accessible than they would be on original hardware. As with all disability infrastructure, adding considerations for disabled people helps everyone, and a great example of that is...

Customizable controls are great for challenge runs: All sorts of interesting challenge runs become possible with emulated controllers. Have you ever wanted to play Link's Awakening with a Dance Dance Revolution pad? Well, set up an emulator and map its controls to the dance pad and you are good to go! You can't do that on an original Game Boy!

Save States let you bypass unfair nonsense: Old games sometimes have a reputation for having a lot of cheap deaths, and some definitely live up to that expectation. Some emulators come with save state features that essentially take a snapshot of the current game state that can be returned to at any point. If an upcoming platforming section has a lot of precarious jumps with impossible to dodge enemies, you can make a save state to go back to that challenge instantly, instead of having to replay the whole level again. Very nifty! Also, some emulators have rewinds, which serve a similar purpose.

Fast forwarding saves time: Some emulators let you increase the game speed, allowing you to bypass slow sections of a game. My friend Harry who runs the Video Games Are Bad YouTube channel recently released a video talking about how the speedup feature on his Seam Deck GBA emulator that made the experience of playing classic GBA Yu Gi Oh games much more enjoyable because he could skip the opponent's long turns. For JRPGs, games with cutscenes, or many other games, this is a great convenience feature

Emulators bypass region locking: Many classic console games were only playable in consoles from the right region. Japanese Playstation games could only be played on Japanese Playstations. While it's certainly possible to bypass this restriction on original hardware, it requires you to modify the console's internals in a very technical and easy to mess up process. Emulators bypass this entirely, making it easy to play games from other regions and see all of the differences between versions of the game.

Romhacking and Translation patches: Beyond playing games in their original form, emulators make it possible to play romhacks, mods, and other alterations. Translation patches allow players who don't speak a certain language to play games that didn't receive official translations. Famously, Mother 3 was never localized for a North American release, and to this day hasn't seen an official English translation. Fortunately, the game's very passionate fans translated the entire game to English, allowing tons of Mother fans to finally play the third, and best, entry in the series. Romhacks are similar, but instead of being used for translation purposes, entire game mechanics are altered. With romhacking, designers can create fan campaigns, edit game balance, create jokes, and many other things. Romhacking is a world of possibility that lets games be experienced in new ways that would be difficult to experience on original hardware.

Speedrunning: While the rules surrounding emulators obviously vary from game to game, some speedrunning scenes (especially those for handheld games) use emulators for their runs. Without emulators, some games would be much harder to speedrun, and would have smaller scenes as a result.

And more!

What are some Downsides of Emulation?

Clearly, emulators have a ton of advantages, even if you have the original hardware. However, for as great as they are, and they are pretty great, there are some downsides worth considering when using emulators.

System requirements: Emulators function by recreating hardware through software. Doing this takes a certain amount of the host machine's CPU power. For older systems this usually isn't a problem, but the more recent and complex an emulated machine is, the better your machine needs to be to smoothly run the emulator. Naturally, it's a lot easier to emulate a Playstation 5 than a Playstation 1. If your computer isn't powerful enough, there might be some emulators it can't run. I personally haven't run into this myself, but its something to keep in mind.

Finding ROMS and ISOs can be tricky: While emulators themselves can usually be downloaded easily, ROMs and ISOs are a different story. When searching for ROMs, some people come across sketchy looking websites that are filled with ads and give the impression they could give you a virus, and some of these sites very well might. This isn't to say that there aren't ways of safely obtaining ROMs and ISOs. In the past, there was EmuParadise, a quite extensive ROM library that was safe, however following a legal threat from Nintendo the site had to remove the ability to download ROMs. MyAbandonware is a pretty safe site and is my go to for PC emulation, but doesn't have much in the way of console gaming. The Internet Archive also is pretty safe, but might not have everything. In the future I want to make a post detailing ways of safely obtaining ROMs and ISOs as that is a nuanced issue, but for now know that there are safe downloads online. ROMs and ISOs NEVER come in the form of EXEs, so never run an EXE downloaded from online. Beyond that, it never hurts to do a quick google search about the site in question to find other people's experiences with the site in terms of safety.

Emulators aren't always 100% accurate: Because emulators are recreating hardware with software, it isn't always perfect. Some games don't run exactly as they would on original hardware. Textures might not appear properly, in game mechanics might be a bit wonky, and there might be some visual issues. For older systems, these kinds of problems have been largely ironed out and these emulation issues are extremely rare, but they pop up from time to time when emulating more modern systems. In my years of emulator experience, I have only encountered serious emulation errors once. Fortunately, most emulators are in continuous, open source development so visual issues often eventually get fixed. Even if the game does have some problems, a flawed, visually imperfect game is better than nothing at all.

Isn't emulation illegal?

Some people might be hesitant to get into emulation because they feel it is illegal, or that it's essentially piracy. This technically isn't the case. In 2000, Sony sued Connectix, who had recently released the Virtual Game Station, a commercial emulator for the Macintosh. The Virtual Game Station was designed to only play legal games. Players had to insert the Playstation game they wanted to play into their computer in order for the emulator to work, meaning the emulator didn't inherently enable piracy. Regardless, Sony sued Connectix, arguing the emulator infringed on their copyright and stole Sony's Playstation code. However, the court ultimately sided with Connectix. While their software did recreate the function of the Playstation, it did so with its own code which had been reverse engineered from Sony's hardware, meaning that Connectix didn't violate Sony's copyright. Sony v. Connectix established the legal precedent that emulation was entirely legal, and this has born fruit for modern game companies. Many PC games released on Steam and GoG run off DosBox, an emulator that runs Dos games. These releases come from the current rights holders and are entirely legal, even though the games use emulators. For more evidence of legal emulation, look no further than the Wii Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online service, both of which are commercial emulators.

While emulation is legal, the sharing of ROMs and files without permission from the copyright holders is illegal. As such, downloading ROMs from the internet is technically illegal. However, there is certainly a case to be made that, while it isn't always legal, it can be ethical to emulate classic games. If I wanted to legally play a GameCube game, I would have to go online and buy a used copy online. Depending on the popularity and rarity of the game in question, used game discs can cost anywhere from dozens to hundreds of dollars. Buying used games and the hardware to run them can be extraordinarily expensive and would put many games out of the financial reach of many individuals. It's also important to note that none of the money spent going to buy these used games is actually going to the developers who made the game.

In general, I'm actually not a huge fan of piracy, especially for indie games. My rule of thumb is that if a game can be purchased on modern hardware, I won't use emulation to play the game. I only use emulation to play games that are out of print and impossible to buy legally in a way that supports the developers. Unfortunately, there are tons of games that I can only realistically experience through emulation, and in that case I feel no guilt for doing so. I can't deny the developers a sale if they aren't selling the game. Further discussion of the ethics and legality are interesting, but might be best approached in a post of their own.

Conclusion

Emulation is an incredibly cool technology and one of the most powerful tools in the fight to preserve gaming and its history. Emulators can be complex, and in the future I hope to write further blog posts detailing the intricacies of emulation in more detail, laying out emulators I recommend and discussing other emulation and game preservation topics.

If you have any questions about emulation, game preservation, or any related subject, feel free to ask.

Have a good day.

[kindahoping4forever]

Hey there!! Hope you're doing well with all the craziness this week with tickets and stuff!! Personal wise and 5sos related things wise hahahaha I'm here to ask you a question if you don't mind...🙃 My friend and I are considering getting soundcheck for one of the concerts but the thing is, we're not entirely sure what that entails 🤷‍♀️ We would love to know a little bit about it to make sure it's gonna be worth it spending that money... Have an amaaaaaziinig day!!

Sure, I'd love to help! I did soundcheck for the first (and second lol) time last year during Take My Hand and I'd say it made for a very fun and special but exhausting day.

Things will likely vary slightly this time since there are now two different soundcheck packages, with separate activities made available to the top tier. (All the details are available here but essentially, the Friends of Friends package includes the soundcheck experience plus access to a private lounge with photo ops, drinks and merch shopping.) But the traditional VIP experience has you checking in with VIP Nation in the early afternoon (you'll receive an email a few days before explaining what time to be there by and where you'll check in for your line number and laminate. At my shows, check-in officially began at 2pm, with soundcheck scheduled for 4:30 and to my memory, it began closer to 5) and waiting in line while everyone gets sorted. (They had a merch stand near the line for us to shop while we waited but I'm unclear on if that's just for the FoF package now.)

When it's time, you're led into the venue (according to the number you were assigned when you checked in) and after a bit more waiting, the band comes out and plays a song (occasionally it's something from the setlist, but typically it's not. Afterwards, they sit on the stage and a short Q&A session begins. (This appears to only be available to the FoF package now but previously, in the VIP Nation check-in email, there would be a Google form for fans to submit a question for the band. If your question is chosen, you're pulled aside during the check-in process.) This part is fun vibes (I think they expect silly questions and are game for it but they clearly get excited when someone asks something of actual substance) and after they answer a handful of questions, maybe 5-10 depending on how long Ashton talks the answers are, they get up and play another song. That concludes soundcheck and then typically you're allowed to stay inside the venue and take advantage of the low lines for merch, restrooms and concessions before the doors open to the rest of the public.

So the actual soundcheck is probably only a 30-45 minute experience but you do get 2 extra performances (and there's often fun, unexpected choices! At my first show, they did Valentine and Long Way Home and for my second, they did Moving Along and Voodoo Doll lmaooo) and to basically chill out with them during the Q&A. A lot of people also appreciate the exclusivity of the experience, as phones and cameras are prohibited (there were unfortunately multiple instances of leaked content last tour but for the most part, what truly happens during each soundcheck is a mystery to all but those in attendance lol). Also if you have GA for your show, being let into the venue before the majority of attendees is absolutely a bonus (my shows were GA, which I hate so honestly the early entry was the main reason I upgraded). The only real downside to it tbh is that it makes for an extremely long day, especially if you're GA (and depending on where your venue is located, you may be waiting for soundcheck in heat/direct sun). Your frame of reference could be different of course, but I am traditionally not a GA girlie nor a line camping girlie, so I was dying by the end of the night after being on my feet basically non-stop for 9-10 hours. (Oh, the gloriously ravenous Taco Bell feast that took place when we got back to our hotel 🤌🏻) But otherwise, it's a lot of fun and if you can afford it, I think it's worth giving a shot at least once, to have the experience!