#the graphics and game style were so unique

[jaybleeps]

Just saw the game “Manny’s” by Bonesaw577. It’s so cinematic OML. The endings were so good, they caught me off guard. Tyler was such a real piece of art

10/10 Would definitely watch it again

[lowpolynpixelated]

Bloodborne PSX One of the best fanworks on the web

Though the PS4 boasted and still boasts an impressive library of releases, for many (myself included) the system served to be bought for initially one purpose, to be the Bloodborne Machine. Most of the people in my life who had a PS4 during its generation either bought one exclusively to play Fromsoftware’s Nightmare Hunting Adventure or had initially got one solely to play the game and ended up getting more games afterward. It’s a phenomenon the game industry sees time and time again, with previous generations having swathes of fans buying entire consoles for one or two games. As far as games go though, Bloodborne is at the very least worth the price of entry. At the time, it was heralded as Fromsoftware’s most cutting-edge and impressive game to date. A gorgeous gothic world filled with creatures ripped straight out of H.P Lovecraft’s nightmares, a haunting soundtrack showcasing beautifully composed choral scores and a combat system that incentivized aggression and speed to achieve brutal and bloody efficiency. It’s no wonder then why Bloodborne still has such a large following behind it. Fans of Fromsoftware have hoped for a sequel or PC port year after year to largely disappointing results. But where the community shines is in its fanworks. 

From fanart, comics, music, animations, and even fan-made video game spinoffs, the game has been shown a monumental amount of love since its debut in 2015. One of these fanworks was released back in 2022 and has since become one of the most famous pieces of fan-made content surrounding the game, this of course, being BloodbornePSX by LWMedia. An incredibly impressive feat of coding and art direction, the game serves as a “Demake” of Bloodborne’s first Yharnam segment, made to look like and play as if it were made on the very first PlayStation console. With some custom-made areas and an entirely unique boss to boot the perfectly paced experience is both a treat to fans who have been orbiting the game since its earliest days and new fans looking for the best and brightest fanworks to interact with. 

The game has since gone on to be covered by a variety of news outlets all over the web, along with its creator receiving much-deserved attention for her efforts. One Lilith Walther (AKA b0tster on social media) holds the title of developer for the project. A long-time video game enthusiast and FromSoftware fan herself, she’s had quite an impact on the community I’m sure she’s very proud to be a part of. Later in the article, we’ve got an interview with Lilith herself about both Bloodborne PSX and her current project, “Bloodborne Kart”, but first, let’s talk a bit more in-depth about BBPSX.

(Official launch trailer for Bloodborne PSX, uploaded January 31, 2022 by LWMedia on Youtube)

Bloodborne PSX:

So, what exactly is Bloodborne PSX? To start, let’s answer what precisely a “Demake” is first. Demakes often have the goal of remaking the likeness of a game either stylistically, mechanically, or both, as if it was developed on retro/outdated hardware. Famous examples of Demakes include “The Mummy Demastered” developed by Wayforward as a sort of tie-in to the 2017 film “The Mummy” in the stylings of a 16-bit run and gun adventure against armies of the undead, and “Pixel Force Halo” by Eric Ruth games which take the prolific XBOX franchise and shrinks it down to a Mega Man-esque platformer reminiscent of the NES’ 8-bit days. Demakes are intensely attractive looking, not only into the past of video games and their developments but just how creative developers can be with games that they love and appreciate. Bloodborne PSX hits as hard as a Demake can in my opinion, blending masterfully recreated graphics with perfectly clunky early PSX gameplay quirks that go above and beyond to make the game not only LOOK like it belongs on the nearly 30-year-old console but feel right at home on it as well.

(A screenshot depicting the player character “The Hunter” facing off against two fearsome Werewolf enemies. Screenshot sourced from the Bloodborne PSX Official itch.io page)

Gameplay:

Starting off with the masterfully recreated clunk in the gameplay, Bloodborne PSX “shows its age” by hearkening back to a time when being seamless just wasn’t an option. Much like adventure action games of the past (and much UNLIKE its modern inspiration), you’ll be cycling through your inventory delightfully more than you’d expect. Equipping keys, checking items, and even the trademark weapon transformations are all done through the wonderfully nostalgic menu and inventory screens. Taking one of the foundational parts of Bloodborne’s combat system and making it such a more encumbering mechanic is nothing short of sheer genius when it comes to ways to really make you feel like it’s 1994 again. On top of this, the Hunter’s movement itself has been made reminiscent of classic action titles. Somehow, both stiff enough to feel dated and fluid enough to make combat that same rush of bestial fun found in the original, it goes a long way towards the total immersion into that retro vibe the game sets out to give the player. Anyone who grew up with Fromsoftware’s earlier titles like Armored Core and the King’s Field series will be very familiar with this unique brand of “well-tuned clunk”.

(A delightfully dated looking diagram showing off the controller layout for Bloodborne PSX’s controls. Image sourced from the Bloodborne PSX Official itch.io page)

Graphics:

Speaking of old Fromsoftware games, though, let’s talk about the absolutely bit-crushingly beautiful graphical work on display. As I’m sure you’ve seen from the videos and screenshots included in the article, BBPSX’s art style and direction are nothing short of perfect for what it aims to be. While playing, I couldn’t help but notice every little detail (or lack thereof) in the environments meant to emulate the experience of a game made on 30-year-old hardware. Low render distances, chunky textures, blocky polygonal models, just the right amount of texture warp, it all blends together to create an atmosphere that I can 100% picture being shown off on the back of a jewel CD case with a T for Teen rating slapped into the lower corner. While playing, something rather specific that called out to me was the new way enemy names and health bars were displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen while fighting. As a big fan of the King’s Field games, this small detail went (probably too much of) a long way toward my love of how everything’s meant to feel older. Other games trying to match the more specific feel of King’s Field, like “Lunacid” created by KIRA LLC, also include this delightful little detail, a personal favorite for sure. 

(A screenshot depicting the second phase of Father Gascoigne’s boss fight, showing off the game’s perfectly retro art style. Image sourced from the Bloodborne PSX Official itch.io page)

Sound design/Soundtrack:

But where would a game be without its sound and score? No need to fear, however, because Bloodborne PSX comes complete with a chunky soundscape that will make you want to check and see if your TV is set to channel 3. A haunting set of tracks played by fittingly digital-sounding MIDIs ran through filters to sound just as crackly as you remember backs up crunchy sounds of spilling blood with low-poly weaponry. Original sounds from Bloodborne have been used for an authentic sounding experience, but have also been given the CRT speaker treatment and sound like something you remember playing on Halloween 20 years ago. If you watched the launch trailer featured above then you know exactly what I’m talking about. The Cleric Beast’s trademark screech and Gascoine’s signature howl after his beastly transformation have never sounded so beautifully dated, and I’m here for every bit of it. Even the horrific boss themes we know and love from the original Bloodborne have been brought through this portal to the past. One of my favourite tracks, the Cleric Beast boss theme, might just sound even better when played on a 16-bit sound chip. It really cannot be understated just how much weight the sound design of the game is pulling. In my opinion, the only thing missing is that sweet sweet PSX startup sound before the game starts crackling through the speakers of a TV in the computer room.

(The Bloodborne PSX rendition of the Cleric Beast’s boss theme. Created by and uploaded to Youtube by The Noble Demon on March 20, 2021)

Interview with the developer:

Before writing this article, I had the absolute pleasure and privilege of talking with Lilith Walther about some developmental notes and personal feelings about inspirations and challenges that can come with the daunting task of being a developer. Below are the nine (initially ten, but unfortunately, a bit of the interview was lost due to my recording software bugging out) questions I posed to Miss Lilith, along with her answers transcribed directly from the interview. 

I’d like to start this section of the article by saying Lilith was an absolute joy to talk to. During the interview, I really felt like she and I shared some common ground on some topics regarding how media can have an impact on you and what sorts of things come with video games as an art form. After some minor technical difficulties (and by that, I mean my video drivers crashed), I started off with something simple. The first question posited was: “What got you into video games initially?” Lilith’s response was as follows: “When I was a kid, the family member of a friend had a SNES lying around. I turned it on and didn’t really understand. I was a guy on top of a pyramid, I walked down the pyramid, and some big ogre killed me. Later I learned that was A Link to the past.” and after a brief laugh continued, “A couple years later my parents got a Nintendo 64 with Mario64 and Ocarina of Time and that was it. Never put the controller down since then.” 

She then went on to describe what precisely about Nintendo’s first foray into 3D Zelda had hooked her. “I’ve heard this story so many times. It’s like you’re not even playing the game. You’re just in the world hanging out in Kokiri forest collecting rupees to get the Deku shield, and the game expects you to! It was just, ‘run around this world and explore,’ and that really hooked me.” I couldn’t agree more with her statement about her experience. Not just with a game as prolific as Ocarina of Time but many experiences from older console generations that could be considered “the first of their kind”, or at the very least some of the earliest. Lilith also described her first experience with a PlayStation console, stating: “Later on I got a PS2 which played PS1 games. I didn’t end up getting a PS1 until around the PS3 era, so I guess I’m a poser. I remember my sister bringing home Final Fantasy 9 when it was a relatively new game. If it wasn’t my first PS1 game it was definitely my first Final Fantasy game. Of course I went back and played 8 and 7 afterwards.” A solid answer to a simple question. 

The second question I asked was one starting to move toward the topic of Bloodborne PSX and its namesake/inspiration. Or at least the family of systems it was released on: “What PlayStation console was your favorite and why?” Lilith’s answer surprised me a bit. Not because I disagreed, quite the opposite, actually. But with such a big inspiration for her work being games from the PSX-PS2 generations, what followed was a pleasant bit of insight into one of her favourite eras of gaming, to quote: “I can give you two answers here.” To which I assured her she was more than welcome to, but she was set on having something definitive. “No no I’m only going to give you one answer. I can give you the correct answer that I don’t want to admit, but it was the PlayStation 3. It’s so embarrassing but I genuinely was hooked into the marketing of the whole ‘The cell processor is the smartest thing in the world’ and all that. It really seemed like the future of gaming and I was all about it. I think I owned an XBOX360 before but I did eventually get it and really enjoyed it. It took a couple years for some of the best games to come out but I really did.” A few examples she cited as being some of her most memorable experiences on the console were Uncharted 2, Journey, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Warhawk. All games I’ve seen on several top 5 and top 10 lists throughout my life within the gaming space. A delightful show of affection for a generation personally very dear to me as well, in which she ended the segment by declaring “Hell yeag”, a bit of a catchphrase she’s coined online.

Getting into the topic proper, my third question was one about her personal relationship with Bloodborne: “How did Bloodborne impact/appeal to your interests?” A question that received perhaps my favourite answer of the whole interview. From her response: ”Oh that’s a big one. Going to the opposite end of the poser spectrum, I was a Fromsoftware fan before it was cool. One of the games I played religiously on my PS2 was Armored Core.” A statement which made more sense than perhaps anything else said during my time with her. “Then later in the PS3 era everyone was talking about Dark Souls, this was when I was in college. I finally caved and got it and saw the Fromsoftware logo and thought ‘Oh it’s the Armored Core people!’ I played and beat it, really enjoyed my time with it. I skipped Dark Souls 2 because everyone told me to hate it, I still need to go back to that one.” 

It’s something I would recommend anyone who hasn’t played Dark Souls 2 to go and do. “Then Bloodborne came out and I thought ‘Alright this is the new one, gotta play this one’ and I was a huge fan of all the gothic stuff in the aesthetic. And how do I explain this, I do really like Bloodborne. I like the design, and the mechanical suite of gameplay, as a video-gamey video game it’s very good.” The tone shifted here to something a bit more personal. “But as well, I was playing it at a specific time in my life. I came out in 2019, I know Bloodborne came out in 2015 but I was obviously just playing it non-stop. It was just one of my ‘coming out games’, you know?” For those who maybe don’t understand the statement there, “coming out” is a very common term used within the Queer community to describe the experience of revealing your identity to those around you. Whether it be to family, friends, or co-workers, almost every queer person has some sort of coming out story to tell. Lilith is speaking in reference to her coming out as a trans woman. She elaborated: “Obviously I can only speak for myself, but I just feel like when you make a decision like that, that part of my life just ended up seared into my brain, you know? Bloodborne was there, so now it’s just a part of me. And it definitely influenced some things about me. It was there because I was working on Bloodborne PSX at the time, but it had an impact on something I’ve heard a lot of other Trans people describe.” She went on to describe the concept of “Coming out a second time” as sort of “finding yourself more within your identity” and becoming more affirmed in it. She described both Bloodborne and her development on Bloodborne PSX influencing large parts of her life, a good example being how she dresses and presents. As a trans woman myself, this answer delighted me to no end. I, for one, can absolutely 100% relate to the notion of media you experience during such a radical turning point in your life sticking with you. There are plenty of games, shows, music, and books that I still hold very near and dear to me because, as Lilith stated, they were there. All the right things at the right time.

Halfway through our questions, we’ve finally arrived at one pertaining specifically to the development of Bloodborne PSX: “What are some unique challenges you’ve faced developing a game meant to look/play like something made on retro hardware?”

Lilith answers: “So there’s two things, two big things. One is rolling back all of the quality of life improvements we’ve gotten over the years in gaming. Not automatically using keys is always my go-to example.” Something as well I mentioned in my short talk about the game’s gloriously dated feeling gameplay above. “That was definitely very very intentional. Because it’s not just the graphics, right? It was the design sensibilities of the 90s. Bringing that to the surface was very challenging but very fun. Another big part was, since it was one of the first 3D consoles, I wanted to recreate the hype around the fact that ‘ITS IN 3D NOW!’ So if you go into your inventory you’ll see all the objects rendered in beautiful 3D while they slowly spin as you scroll through them.” This is a feature I very much miss seeing in modern video games. 

She continued, “I think the biggest one was the weapon changes. Bloodborne’s whole thing was the weapon transformations. Like, you could seamlessly change your weapons and work them into your combo and do a bunch of crazy stuff, and I kind of said ‘that needs to go immediately.’ So now you have to pause and go to your weapon and press L1 to transform it, that was extremely intentional. So once I had those three big things down it all just sort of fell into place. Like the clunky UI and the janky controls. You need jank and clunk, and I think that’s why Fromsoft games scale down so nicely, because they are jank and clunk.” 

A point I couldn’t agree with more. Despite all the modern streamlining and improvements to gameplay, Fromsoft’s ever-growing catalog of impressive experiences still contains some of that old-school video game stiffness we’ve (hopefully) come to appreciate. She went on to make a point I was very excited to share here in the article, “It was just a lot of trying to nail the feel of the games and not just the look, right? Like I’m not trying to recreate a screenshot; I’m trying to recreate the feeling of playing this weird game that’s barely holding together because the devs didn’t know what they were doing.” In my humble opinion, something she did an excellent job with. 

Fifth on the list was a question relating to her current project, Bloodborne Kart, a concept initially drawn from a popular meme shared around social media sites like Tumblr when the buzz of a Bloodborne sequel was keeping the talking spaces around Fromsoft alight: “Anything to say about the development of Bloodborne Kart or its inspiration?”

Lilith answers: “So first off Bloodborne Kart is less trying to be a simulation of a PS1 game and more just an indie game. It’s not trying to be a PS1 game, I just want it to be a fun kart racer first. Starting off of course is Mario Kart 64, that’s the one I played back in the day. But I looked at other games like Crash Team Racing and Diddy Kong Racing, but also stuff like Twisted Metal of course. I always used those as a template to sort of look at for design stuff like ‘how did they handle what happens to racers after player 1 crosses the finish line.” The next portion of her answer was initially a bit confusing but comes across better when you consider certain elements present in BBK’s battle mode. “And also Halo, like for the battle mode. I had to do a battle mode and it kind of just bubbled to the surface. Split Screen with my sister was such a big part of my childhood. Thinking about Halo multiplayer while I was making the battle mode stuff.” 

Her answer to the previous question began to dip into the topic of our sixth question: “Are there any unique challenges or enjoyable creative points that go into making something like Bloodborne Kart?”

As she continued from her previous answer: “One of the biggest quirks of the battle mode I had to figure out was how to tell what team you were on at a glance, and that came back to Halo again. I started thinking about how you could tell in that game and it hit me that the arms of your suit change to the color of whatever team you’re on. It was just something I never even thought of because it’s so seamless. So that gave me the idea to change the kart colours, and that’s the most recent example of me pulling directly from Halo. It’s wild how a small change like that can turn your game from something unplayable to something fun.” I would agree. Tons of small details and things you don’t think about go into making seamless multiplayer experiences. Some of which we take for granted nowadays. She then made a point about one of the most challenging aspects of BBK’s development, “The most challenging thing was definitely the Kart AI. AI is just my worst skill when it comes to game development among the massive array of skills you need to make a game. It’s really hard to find examples of people coding kart driving AI, You know? You need to make a biped walk around you can find a million tutorials online but if you need to make something drive a kart, not really. I was really on my own there. A lot of the examples out there are very simulation oriented. Like cars using suspension and whatnot, but I’m making a kart racer. So I started simple, I put a navpoint down and if it needs to turn left, turn left, if it needs to turn right, turn right. And I just kept adding features from there.”

Moving onto our last three questions, we started to get a little more personal. Question seven being: “What’s your favorite part of Bloodborne Kart so far?”

Her answer was concise in what she was excited about most, quote: “The boss fights.” Short and sweet but she did elaborate. “Translating a big part of Bloodborne is the boss fights. So I made a short linear campaign which is basically AI battles and races strung together. Some of those stages are just boss fights which are unique to the rest of the game. When you make a video game you sit down and you make all your different modes of interactions, and then you make a multi-hour experience mixing and matching all those different modes in more complicated ways. I think the most interesting part is when that style tends to fall away and it ends up building something entirely unique to that experience.” An example she gave was the infamous “Eventide Island” in Breath of the wild, it being a unique experience where the game’s usual modes of interaction are stripped or limited, forcing you into a more structured experience that ends up being a majorly positive one. “That’s what the boss fights are in Bloodborne Kart. They do multiple game mechanics like a chase that ends in a battle mode. Like Father Gascoine’s fight where he chases you, and after you blow up his kart he turns into a beast and picks up a minigun.” That sounds absolutely incredible. It’s very easy to see why she’d pick the boss fights as her favorite element when they’re clearly intended to be such unique and memorable experiences. 

Our last two questions veer away from the topics of development proper and focus more on our dear dev’s personal thoughts on the matter. Question eight posits: “What’s your personal favorite part of being a game developer?”

After some thought, she gave a very impassioned talk about something she considers to be the best part of the experience: “When people who aren’t game developers think about game development they think of things like ‘oh well you just get to play video games all day and have fun’ but it’s not! Except for the 2% that is, and it’s near the end of development. When all the pieces fall into place and you start actually ‘making the game.’ Game development, especially solo, you’re so zoomed in on specific parts. Because you’re not making a game you’re programming software that’s what making a game is. You spend months working on different systems and then you actually sit down and make a level, and you hit play and it you go ‘Oh my god, I just made a game’. That part is what sustains me. It’s magical. That’s the best part when it comes to true appreciation of the craft aside from the reception.” An answer that I don’t think I could’ve put better if I tried. 

My last question is one that I consider to be the question when it comes to interviewing anyone who works on video games. Perhaps a bit basic, but heartfelt nonetheless: “Anything to say to anyone aspiring to be a game developer?”

Lilith’s answer: “Yes. Just do it. For real. This is what I did and it always felt wrong until I looked at more established devs echoing the sentiment. You cannot plan a game before you’ve started making one. The example I always bring up is the team behind Deus Ex wrote a 500 page design document for the game and almost immediately threw it out when they started development. Just start! You’re going to have unanswered questions and I think that trips people up. Don’t start with your magnum opus idea, start with something simple and achievable. I feel like a lot of people set out with the goal of making a triple-A game, and that’s good! But it can’t be your first game. Game development is creating art, just like any other form of art, and it’s like saying ‘my first drawing is going to be the Mona Lisa’ and it just doesn’t work like that. You need practice and development, and it’s difficult to see that because games take so long and so much, so it’s definitely seen as a bigger undertaking. But it’s still art. You’re still making mistakes and learning from them for your first project. Your next game will be better. View your career as a game developer as a series of games you want to make, and not just one big game.” A perfect response to an otherwise unassuming question. 

Lilith’s passion and love for video games were reflected very clearly in every response she gave during my time with her. Her dedication and appreciation for the art form can be seen in every pixel of Bloodborne PSX, as well as the development logs and test builds of Bloodborne Kart. I really do think that the way she answered my final question speaks volumes to the type of attitude someone should take up when endeavoring to make art as intensive as a video game. Whether it’s fanwork of a game that’s important to you or an entirely new concept, do it. 

(developer of Bloodborne PSX Lilith Walther, image provided by Lilith Walther via Twitter)

Closing:

If you’d like to check out the positively phenomenal experience that is Bloodborne PSX  I’ve included a link to the official itch.io page below the article, as well as a link to the official LWMedia Youtube page where you can check out Lilith’s dev logs, test videos, and animations about her work and other art. Thank you so much for reading, and another very special thank you to Lilith for setting aside some of her time to talk to me about this article. Now get out there and cleanse those foul streets!

Links:

Bloodborne PSX official itch.io page: https://b0tster.itch.io/bbpsx

LWMedia Official Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/@b0tster

Lilith Walther Twitter page: https://twitter.com/b0tster

[anacdoce]

A soft breeze of summer

Pairing: Astarion x you (f!reader)

Rating: T

Word count: 1.2k

Warnings: tooth-rotting fluff

Summary: "Suddenly, you turn to him, a mischievous smile spread all over your face. “Can you catch me?” You shout at him. And then you start running into the field.

Astarion feels his heart swell with love. He loves you deeply. That is one of the few certainties in his life. 

He smiles. And slowly gets up, giving you time to flee. He will play your game. And he will catch you, like he always does."

a/n: summer is ending, and I already miss it! So, this is my goodbye to summer, like a serenade, if you like.

I was inspired to write this piece by the beautiful screenshot from @casualya, and from Terrence Malick style, one of my favorite movies director.

I hope you like it as much as I loved writing it!

The divider used is from @saradika-graphics

Lots of Love to all of you 🖤

Read on ao3

Astarion is lying on the floor, over the blanket that you carefully had spread over the summer's dried vegetation in the shade of an oak tree. One of his hands rests beneath his head, while the other holds your back, feeling your steady breathing, while you take comfort in his embrace, nestling against him.

He savors this moment, basking in the simplicity of just being with you. 

The sun is high in the sky and the day is hot, but there is a soft breeze of cooler wind that comes and goes, from time to time, soothing the heat.

Here, with you, he has no obligations, no burdens. The only thing he has to do is to enjoy your company on this perfect day of summer. To feel your heart beating against his chest, listening to the wind blowing against the field of wheat near you, that lovely sound of the dried wheat bustling against each other. 

He closes his eyes, relaxing his body to the music of the cicadas nearby, singing nonstop a love song to summer. It’s peaceful. It's perfect.

Your breathing is heavy and even. You fell asleep in his arms, and he can’t help feeling the amazement of this simple and precious act of yours. It's still a surprise to him the safety that his arms can offer you. Just months ago, he couldn’t have dreamed of having these perfect moments in life. To have something so precious to care for. To have you. He. A vampire. Living a perfect and quiet life. Filling his undead heart with such a great love for this lovely being who chose him over everyone to spend the rest of your days with. 

Astarion smiles at his thoughts. A genuine and contented smile. It's so nice. He is happy. Truly happy. 

He breathes in deeply, summer scents all over. And yours. Your familiar and unique scent. Not your perfume. The smell of your skin, of your sweat. He can't help but to squeeze you. Are you really there? Are you even real? Is this happiness his to feel?

You stir, and he feels guilty for waking you. You were so peaceful…

You yawn, stretching your arms. “Was I sleeping for too long?” 

“For some time, yes.” He replies, softly.

“Oh, I'm sorry.” 

“Nothing to be sorry about, my dear. My arms are yours.” He says sincerely.

You move and sit beside him, and Astarion feels some kind of emptiness when you leave his embrace. He could have stayed like that forever, holding you close.

He watches as you stand from his side and walk straight to the edge of the wheat field. Your bare feet, moving slowly through the dried grass. You stop when you reach the first strands of wheat, brushing your hands through the golden ears, tilting your head slightly upward, enjoying the soft breeze.

Astarion shifts to properly look at you, leaning on his elbows. And what a beautiful sight you are. You stay there for a while, with your dress swaying gently in the wind. Your free hair dancing in the air. You are like a living painting, another sweet memory to guard in his memory.

Suddenly, you turn to him, a mischievous smile spread all over your face. “Can you catch me?” You shout at him. And then you start running into the field.

Astarion feels his heart swell with love. He loves you deeply. That is one of the few certainties in his life. 

He smiles. And slowly gets up, giving you time to flee. He will play your game. And he will catch you, like he always does.

He starts running, chasing you. He doesn't see you, but he can hear you laugh, your joyous, nervous laughter. And he keeps chasing.

After a while he spots you, with your back turned to him. You don't see him, so he takes that advantage and puts in practice his stealth skills. Astarion crouches, concealing his presence between the wheat, approaching you slowly and silently.

You search for him, but he is nowhere to be found. But he sees you, and he knows you are waiting. You are waiting for him to catch you. Oh Gods! How he loves you…

He is close to you now. And he can hear your racing heart, leaving a tender smile on his lips. When he finally is close enough he leaps to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and rolling with you to the ground. 

Astarion positions himself above you, basking in your image while you laugh, with your glittering eyes. But not because of the sun, but because you are looking at him.

“It’s not fair Astarion!” You protest, tapping his chest, leaving there your hand to caress his skin.

“I don’t play fair, Darling.” He smirks, entangling his fingers in your hair.

You stay like that for a while, only gazing at each other. And Astarion sees how your eyes smile at him, how your lips crave for his. Your mouth, slightly open. Waiting. Inviting him. And he obliges, kissing you gently. He closes his eyes and he feels your lips in his. And he feels how you hold your breath at his touch, at his much-desired touch. And he waits, brushing his lips softly on yours. Finally you gasp, and you hold him. You hold his head, gripping his hair fiercely, pressing him against you, pressing his mouth against yours. Your lips, urgent against his. 

He doesn’t know for how long you kissed, and he doesn’t care. He is not in a hurry. 

When your lips finally part, you glare at him, leaning your head to the side. You don’t speak, but no words are needed. Astarion can feel your warm love embracing him.

You reach for a wheat ear, plucking it from the ground. Then you tuck a strand of his hair behind his pointy ear, as the wheat you just plucked.

“There. My beautiful summer elf.” You cup his face and kiss the tip of his nose softly. No one else has ever kissed his nose before. Just you. Only you.

Astarion smiles. A big wide smile, revealing his fangs. He feels light. Light like a feather. And he feels loved. Truly loved. You make him feel this way, always.

“Do you love me?” He hears you whisper, a faint of fear in your voice.

“My sweet little girl… I love you. I love you more than I ever thought possible. And today I love you more than I did yesterday, and less than I will tomorrow. I love you, Darling. Don’t you ever doubt that. Ever.” Astarion rests his hand in your face, stroking your cheek with his thumb, and you lean into his touch, pressing your face against it. And you smile, a sweet and tender smile, full of love and reassurance.

You make him happy, a happiness he never believed he could have. You care for him, in a way he thought no one ever would. And he will do everything in his power to watch you smile, like you just did, for as long as you bless him with your presence in this world.

Thank you so much for reading my story. Likes, reblogs and comments are very welcomed!

[thealexchen]

who the fUCK is that in the new LIS trailer bc thats not the max i know 😭 why does she look so different help

maybe its bc arcadia bay was known for its warm hues and this just feels completely different but even the art style was changed to look more generic :((

The main reason: they made Double Exposure Max more conventionally attractive. Ironically, while Max's redesign in Double Exposure tries to make her face more unique, it winds up making her more generically pretty.

LiS1 Max was deliberately designed to look like a young, plain and mousy teenage girl. She dressed simply and safely so as to not stand out. It conveyed her shyness, awkwardness, and indecisive nature and was an example of Dontnod's eye for character design.

This Max is... I dunno. Her design doesn't say anything. I'm not even that bothered that her hairstyle changed, but it's literally Steph's hairstyle on Max's head and doesn't communicate much about Max's personality as an adult. Same goes for her clothing-- as a teen, her graphic tees and plain gray hoodie immediately depicted her as a shy, youthful wallflower in an eclectic private art school. In Double Exposure, her wardrobe is indistinguishable from any other young working professional her age: a yellow beanie, a green peacoat, blue jeans, red and blue cardigans with feminine necklines.

As for the rest of her appearance, somehow her face shape has completely changed to become more slender, especially her jawline.

LiS1 Max, with her square jaw, distinct from her chin, and dark circles.

DE Max, who suddenly has filled out cheeks, with a softer jaw that blends into her chin.

In LiS1, Max had asymmetrical lips, with the bottom lip fuller than the top lip. In Double Exposure, her lips are fuller, rounder, and perfectly symmetrical. Her nose is also more symmetrical: wider, rounder, softer, and less pointed (especially between her nostrils) than her nose in LiS1. All of this serves to soften and feminize her appearance.

While freckles can fade naturally with age, in Double Exposure, Max's freckles are barely visible in most shots. She has flawless skin with an even more realistic skin texture than the models in True Colors (which looks uncanny to me, in my opinion).

But the main thing is her eye color. In LiS1, Max had medium blue eyes that did not particularly stand out against her skintone and hair color. During the warmly lit scenes like golden hour, her eyes are desaturated even further.

But in Double Exposure, Max's eyes are suddenly ice blue, unnaturally bright and piercing. Even in dark scenes, her eyes have a sparkle to them. Unfortunately, her eye design seems to be carried over from the "anime-fied" eyes in the remaster, which were larger, shinier, and brighter than the original game. The difference is truly astounding:

LiS1 Max's eyes, which had the same texture as the rest of her model. Her irises appear dark blue with little depth.

And now, DE Max's eyes, which have a distinct "glassy" texture compared to her skin and hair. Her irises are suddenly ice blue and the pupil is larger with a very bright reflection.

I know that D9 wants to show off a new "grown up Max" who has grown into her confidence and femininity with a more cleaned-up appearance. But Max was already done with puberty in the first game, so she wouldn't suddenly be sporting a softer jawline and filled out cheeks at 28 years old. This was a huge missed opportunity to instead depict the effects of accelerated aging due to stress and trauma on Max's face: sunken cheeks, dark circles, acne, skin discoloration, and forehead wrinkles. Instead, Max Caulfield got the Hollywood beauty treatment.

[venusvity]

After a stellar first year as a group, Venus hit 2019 swinging. They began their "Video Game Era," officially titled "VSCAPE," promoting their upcoming series of video games that would come with every comeback. VSCAPE would be a three-part series in which the girls would be put in three different genres of video games: fighting, action, and simulation.

People weren't exactly sure how seriously Angelico would take this project until their third mini album, "VSCAPE: BATTLE ROYALE," was released along with the accompanying video game under the same title. Of course, you had to buy the album and video game separately, but both came with photocards, so fans were more than happy to spend their money. Fans were even more shocked when the game was good, with stunning graphics that felt utterly out of Angelico's budget.

VENUS IN 2019 AT THEIR COMEBACK SHOWCASES: Bliss (21 via Battle Royale), Baebi (20 via PUNCHOUT), Chloe (19 via LOVE&LOSERS), Sena (17 via PUNCHOUT), and Jiah (16 via Battle Royale).

The game would be similar to Mortal Kombat but less violent. You could pick which Venus member you'd like to fight as and be paired with randomized villains or other Venus members, resulting in many hilarious reaction videos created by their fans, Constellations.

BATTLE ROUND, the title track, would win eight music show trophies and sell over 1 million copies, becoming the first Venus album to achieve this and the first group in Angelico history to have over a million sales.

They would release the second part of the VSCAPE project, another mini album and video game titled "VSCAPE: PUNCHOUT." Many fans expected the same type of gameplay from the first VSCAPE project but were shocked to be met with entirely different graphics and gameplay. This game follows the player through an apocalyptic world, trying to find the cure for the disease that's destroyed the country of South Korea. The graphics and gameplay are very similar to TellTale's The Walking Dead game, which is not shocking as they were the studio behind it. The game was praised for its interactive story elements, the girl's voice acting, and an overall storyline that had many constellations crying by the end of it.

VISION BOARDS FOR BATTLE ROYALE, PUNCHOUT, and LOVE&LOSERS.

PLAYER ONE would be the title track for PUNCHOUT, securing the girls' 12 music show wins as well as being certified platinum by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) for 100 million streams just three months after its release. This would mark the second Venus song to achieve this.

The final and most iconic part of the VSCAPE series is "VSCAPE: LOVE & LOSERS," with the title track "LOVE SIMULATOR." The game is just that: a dating simulator featuring all the girls. Though the game concept was quite controversial, as many fans saw it as pandering to a specific audience, the art used for the game was heavily praised for its cute and unique style.

FAN FAVORITE OUTFITS FROM THE VSCAPE ERA!

Though the game was hit or miss by fans, the song took over South Korea. "Love Simulator" received positive reviews from music critics and appeared on many year-end rankings of the best songs in 2019. Rolling Stone placed "Love Simulator" at number 24 on their list of the top 100 songs in 2019. On the National Circle Digital Chart, the single peaked at number two. The Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) certified it double platinum for surpassing 200 million streams in South Korea. The song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for accumulating over 100 million streams in Japan.

Love Simulator would have 17 music show wins to its name, something virtually unheard of from Angelico. It is the 4th most-awarded song in music show history.

Venus would win their first Daesang this year, taking home Song Of The Year at MAMA for Love Simulator and Best Dance Performance—Female Group. They would also go on to win the Grand Prize at the Seoul Music Awards, marking another Daesang win for the girls.

[basil-does-arttt]

Devil May Cry 2. The pimple-faced teenager of the series, widely regarded as the worst game in the franchise.

While yes i agree with this viewpoint to some degree, and i think all the jokes about it being the worst one are funny... i honestly dont think the game is THAT bad. In fact, i think people give it too much shit.

Ill start out by saying this: no, the game isnt amazing. Its under-developed, rushed, and in no way is it up to the same standard as the other 4 games. Im not saying its this perfect game, but its not as horrible as some make it out to be.

Ive played through the game on the original PS2 version and the remastered version, and although im yet to complete Lucia's campaign, i can confidently say the game is mediocre at worst really.

First the gameplay: Boring? Yes. Definitely. Do you like standing in one place and shooting everything for 15 minutes untill it drops dead? This is the game for you. But you dont have to do that, it just happens to be the easiest option because the controls are so jank. I spent (some) time myself learning the combos, turns out it depends on the way you angle the joystick, and once you get the hang of it, its not that difficult to S rank combat encounters at all. Its annoying, but not impossible, and the combos can honestly look pretty cool imo.

The movement is also another thing, the dodge animation takes way too long to perform but i do like the forward dash. Its a nice alternative to using stinger as a makeshift movement dash, i wish they kept it for furture versions of Dante. (Yes i know theres the trickster dash, but he doesn't do a flip)

I also really love the flying mechanic with aerial heart, and the different kinds of core thingies you could combine as a whole. A unique feature that kinda got combined into other things in Dante's design.

A few of the bosses, if they had been fleshed out and maybe balanced a bit better, could've been just amazing too. Furiataurus for example. One boss i feel was done well though was The Despair Embodied, and although you can just stand around and shoot it to death like everything else, you do actually have to put effort in to not get hit and die. (Trismalga is also kinda in that boat too, a well(ish) done fight you actually have to put effort into, but i personally didn't like it.)

Next, level design: You have to admit they did some cool things with the level design. *some*. The whole "grungy city" vibe is something i found very interesting, and the trippy purple iteration of lower town was, while infuriating to navigate thanks to the camera and graphics (esp on the ps2 version), was actually quite neat. I also really liked the clock tower in Lucia's campaign.

And also, the music. Can i just say, i think dmc 2's soundtrack is my favorite one out of all 5 games. The ambient background tracks are almost dreamy, especially Lucia's ones, the boss themes honestly go hard and the piano track that's repeated throughout the whole soundtrack just sounds good. If you take anything away from this post, its that you should listen to the soundtrack. (I reccomend the tracks "Unholy Relics", "Cry for the Moon", and "Shoot the Works")

The character designs are another thing i think they did well in this game. In my humble opinion, Dante's dmc 2 style is the best looking one in the whole series. Lucia also looks quite cool, her devil trigger form especially.

The characters themselves, Dante especially, need work, but might i remind you the developers were rushed when making this game. They didn't have enough time to do everything they wanted to do, 6 months before the game was supposed to release they didn't even have it in working condition. It was only thanks to Itsuno stepping in as the director that we got this game in the first place, and all he could do was salvage what the team had already created and get it in a releasable state before launch.

If only they had a bit more time (and maybe resources), dmc 2 couldve been quite the cool game. Though, on that note, if it werent for dmc 2's catastrophic faliure and Itsuno's prompt pestering for a sequel so the franchise didn't die outright, we wouldn't have gotten dmc 3. Though i think Capcom would've made a 3rd game regardless of the scenario.

All in all, i dont think dmc 2 is that horrible of a game. If you have the remaster collection, or even the original PS2 version, at least try it. Give it a go, play through the first few missions and kill one or two of the bosses.

Don't take it seriously, just have fun and enjoy the game in all its janky half-finished glory. If you look at dmc 2 that way, i think you'll enjoy it a whole lot more.

Or dont. Yknow, its your choice.

[oddygaul]

Zenless Zone Zero

Well, I’ve been playing the shit out of this game, so fair warning, there will be significant brainrot ahead.

Overall, I really dig it. I’m a huge mark for character action games, and well-done life sims tend to suck me in; Zenless Zone Zero is nailing both those aspects pretty damn well. In fact, it’s nailing them well enough that… how do I put this… it starts to slip into the territory of being A Good Game Generally, rather than just a gacha. And while this is a big accomplishment for ZZZ, this also puts it into direct conversation with other full-price games, resulting in its gacha elements causing more friction than Honkai Star Rail’s ever did*.

*I’ll be comparing this to HSR a lot, because I play way too much of both and they’re made by the same developer. I recognize that it is pretty odd and potentially even problematic to A / B compare them when I could be looking at the game through the lens of, you know, Gaming At Large. But hey, that’s why this is a subjective journal and not a holistic review blog! It is what it is.

So, the aesthetic of this game fuckin rules - it’s like, late 90s to early 2000s VHS-core. The main characters run a Blockbuster, for Christ’s sake. Presentation-wise (and systems-wise, and, hell, music-wise), ZZZ is obviously borrowing a lot from the Persona series, but like… great? I’d love it if more things cribbed that style and made it their own, from the confidant hangouts, to the small but comfy explorable areas, to the dynamic menus with edgy character poses. The character design itself is all superb, all the way down to the crowd NPCs - some the shopkeepers here have cooler designs than the main characters of some other games. Even aside from the designs, ZZZ is doing a lot with lighting and color desaturation that really lends it its own unique vibe. They actually have a cohesive artstyle in here! wild.

The presentation of the story is also killer. Sure, a decent chunk of the conversations are just models lip-flapping at each other - although they at least emote and pose a bit here, unlike the Star Rail dialogue scenes with their demure princess waves. In the main story, though, we get not only a heap of fairly lengthy cutscenes, but also this really cool comic panel-style presentation.

I feel like there was a bit of a trend in the PS3/360 era of games to present a game’s story in this comic panel / storyboard style. I understood the motivation: games increasingly demanded a more involved, consistent storytelling approach, rather than the ‘One big rendered cutscene at the beginning and end’ they used to get away with, and the generation’s increased visual fidelity meant that doing even basic, in-engine cutscenes took a lot more resources to make something half-decent. In Spyro the Dragon on PS1 you could get away with a fun little 15-second gag with a barely animated polygonal yeti or whatever; in the PS3 era, you were going up against tryhards like Metal Gear Solid 4. Amidst this landscape, the pitch of having your illustrators pretty up some storyboards and put them in the game sounds like it’d save a lot of work - plus, consoles were finally outputting a high enough resolution that this sort of flat image wouldn’t be compressed to hell.

Thing is, I always kinda hated that approach. In some cases, I think that’s the popular opinion - I fuckin love Bayonetta, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone defend its weird slideshow cutscenes. Even in games where the execution is perfectly fine, though, it rubbed me the wrong way. I think of Infamous - objectively, the art’s solid and fits the tone of the game, and the motion graphics aim to capture some of the dynamism typical cutscenes would provide. Despite all that, it still feels cheap to me - all of the panning, effects, and graphic imagery feel like they’re trying to polish up something that inherently doesn’t fit.

In ZZZ, though, I’m loving every one I come across. It’s obviously still done for efficiency reasons - there’s already a handful of characters that exist only in these panel scenes, saving the team the effort of having to model and rig them. But the freedom this allows for staging and storytelling is huge; the characters are more expressive here than anywhere else in the game, and we’re able to see situations with huge crowds and new locales much more often than would be possible in typical cinematics. And the illustrations are genuinely good, too - full of character, cool poses and creative compositions/angles.

if everything actually had to be modeled, there's no way we would've gotten Legally Blonde Nicole

Plus, the cutscenes are constant, and boy do I love the animation here. It feels so rare nowadays for a high-budget game to do stylized 3D animation of this ilk. Your biggest budget games are all going for the cinematic look, and pushing realism as much as they can - and while I know an immense amount of work and craft goes into animating something like The Last of Us, boy, I just could not care less about something so lacking in flair*. Even bigger properties that use a stylized artstyle these days, like Breath of the Wild, still tend to lean towards fairly naturalistic animation. Zenless Zone Zero’s cutscenes, on the other hand, spin and stretch motherfuckers around like we’re back on the PS2, are filled with forced perspective, and I am absolutely living for it. It’s not even reserved only for bombastic action scenes, either - we get honest to god character acting-focused conversation cutscenes.

*Seriously, take me back to the Naughty Dog that animated Jak & Daxter. Jak’s hero animation is top tier to this day

Of course, the combat animation slaps too; each of the playable agents is absolutely dripping with character. Even characters whose designs initially left me cold won me over once I saw the amount of care put into their movement and combo strings. It’s honestly shocking to me that this is the same studio that made Genshin Impact, a game I dropped after about 2 hours because of how lifeless all the animation felt*. Unique run cycles for every character, actual non-human designs, the flourishes everyone has when stopping mid-combo to snap them back to idle, the absolute synergistic audiovisual bliss of the parry… it’s really impressive stuff from a young team.

*Same studio in name only, totally different team, I know, but still

Mechanically, I have some mixed feelings about the combat as a whole. Zenless Zone Zero is, without a doubt, aiming to present complexity and depth as a team battler - that is to say, it’s more about team synergy, tag combos, and knowing who to use when, rather than soloing as any particular character. Nonetheless, I really would’ve appreciated individual characters having a bit more depth to their movesets; a jump, a launcher, cancels, anything. As outstanding as all the animation work is, there’s some characters that only have a normal attack string on square and one special attack on triangle. Like, sub-Dynasty Warriors level of complexity here. It’s rough.

This is where ZZZ’s gacha nature gets a bit ugly: so far, more complex kits and skill expression are mostly locked behind rarity, which is kind of scummy. In Star Rail, for the most part, 4-star characters are defined as such due to their numbers: they still have mechanics and complexity, they just aren’t tuned as high as the limited characters. Hell, in some cases they have more complexity. Ruan Mei is an almost incomparably stronger unit than Asta, but Ruan Mei’s play pattern is fucking boring: you use skill every three turns when it runs out. Asta, meanwhile, basically has her own risk & reward minigame that demands more thoughtful SP management.

In ZZZ, on the other hand, the lower-rank characters straight up have less going on in their kits. Nicole has like… one tech, sorta. Anby has one single animation cancel to chain her normal into her special quicker. Lucy’s only skill expression is choosing whether to tap special or hold special. Meanwhile, Zhu Yuan, a limited character, has a normal string that bounces between melee and ranged attacks, can be dodge-canceled at any point in the combo to branch into variations of the string, and a hold-normal attack string that’s completely different and has the same branching dodge-cancel tech.

It’s one thing to lock raw damage and meta viability behind a gacha, but locking the characters that are mechanically more interesting to play straight up sucks. If I hadn’t been lucky enough on the standard banner to pull exactly the two characters I find the most mechanically satisfying, I don’t know that I’d still be playing - and this is the point where ZZZ begs comparison to other, non-live service character action games. Sure, it’s probably not fair to compare a random A-rank’s moveset to Devil May Cry V’s iteration of Dante, a feature-creeped nightmare of a kit 3 console generations in the making. But what about Sengoku Basara Sumeragi, my personal character-action GOAT? By all accounts a mid-budget title, yet it offers 40 full characters chock-full of more unique mechanics and animation cancels than you can shake a stick at.

Fuck, can we please get a new Sengoku Basara? Please? I’m desperate out here. I’ll take anything, y’all.

There’s also the inherent issue that plagues every action RPG (usually deftly avoided by the character action genre), which is the delicate balance of player success depending on the numbers vs actual mechanical skill - a balancing act made even more noticeable due to the gacha genre-standard of characters taking weeks of grinding to level up. This is a topic for another day, but suffice to say, a big part of the reason Honkai Star Rail works for me as a very pretty version of Cookie Clicker is because of the Autoplay option. In Zenless Zone Zero, if you’re not willing to grind out the same mob fight for a week or two, you’re gonna hit an endgame roadblock of doing chip damage to a boss you’ve mechanically mastered because you’re underleveled, and boy, that never feels good.

For all those issues stemming from the gacha, I will say, it’s great that the story missions let you use the characters that are actually supposed to be present for those missions, even if you don’t own them. Aside from how nice it is to have an opportunity to put the whole roster through their paces, it goes a long way for actually getting invested in the story. Honkai Star Rail’s storytelling is a hot mess for many reasons, but it’s always particularly jarring rolling up to a sidequest at like, a local theater troupe with a wanted space criminal, the sitting president of a completely different planet, a ten year old child, and a shirtless cyborg cowboy, none of whom have canonically met each other; ZZZ’s approach sidesteps this issue. The proxy angle even provides a pretty valid diegetic explanation for why agents that don’t know each other might be working together.

Now that we’ve sort of meandered back to the story after talking about animation led us on a long detour - the story is surprisingly solid. In particular, I really appreciate how straightforward the writing is. I don’t know if the issue lies with the original text or the localization, but Star Rail’s dialogue, even in simple missions, tends to be incredibly meandering and overstuffed; ZZZ is a lot better about letting all its characters talk like actual humans. It also helps that the plot so far is a lot more grounded, and spends more time focusing on each faction’s group dynamics rather than the overarching plot. These games live and die by their characters, so leaning into those strengths is a smart move.

Zenless Zone Zero is, unfortunately, fully in line with Hoyo’s weird conservative politics - in particular, 1.0 and 1.1 are absolutely stuffed full of copaganda. With how many safety regulation jokes they made at the construction company, I initially hoped they’d lampoon the police faction a bit, or make a commentary on how comically heavily armed New Eridu’s police force are. In a vacuum, Zhu Yuan shouting combat lines like “Stop resisting!” or “Freeze, hands up!” while blasting someone with her gigantic, ‘JUSTICE’-emblazoned rocket launcher shotgun feels like it ought to be satire. Every time we talk to the officers, though, it’s just line after line about their solemn duty to protect the people of the city, how essential and important they are for the community, and so on and so on.

This wholehearted embrace of the world’s current power structure is something Zenless Zone Zero approaches in nearly the exact same way as Star Rail. In both games, your playable character is someone that’s sort of operating outside the law - in Star Rail, as the maverick organization that is the Astral Express, while in ZZZ you work as an illegal proxy. Despite this setup, any time the protagonists come into contact with a governing body, they are no less than thrilled to help them enforce the will of the law.

In Star Rail, you aid the local governments (one of which is an undemocratic monarchy) in committing massive cover-ups to hide their failures from the populace not once but twice. In ZZZ, you aid the police to an obsequious degree - playing along with them to not arouse suspicion is one thing, but helping them organize a fucking community day on Sixth Street? Fuck that. Hell, said community day is even shown to initially be DOA because none of the local residents trust the police - and you best believe we get two full scenes of the MCs changing the resident’s minds, resulting in them spouting shit about “Oh, it was our fault for judging the police too harshly - they really do have our best interests at heart!”

is it tho

There’s an argument to be made that the N.E.P.S. are a little different, given that they exist in a post-apocalyptic world with monsters popping up every day - and ZZZ’s copaganda is certainly a little less flagrant than something like Spider-Man helping the NYPD install civilian surveillance networks in Insomniac’s Spider-Man. And, sure, perhaps this can help excuse why they post fully armored, rifle-wielding soldiers in the Lumina Square DMV, and provides some justification that their existence is more helpful than the real world’s civilian-murdering property guards.

Thing is, though, at every turn you’re hit with dialogue and situations which make it clear that, no, they’re the normal cops. Every other sidequest seems to involve calling the N.E.P.S. in on somebody or helping with an investigation, and for every time we see them handle ethereal activity, there’s two instances of them being called in for petty property theft or something similarly minor - even the playable character has heaps of dialogue choices threatening to call the police on someone*. Much like Star Rail’s reactionary politics were strangely at odds with the ‘blazing a new path’ ideals of the trailblaze, Zenless Zone Zero’s obsession with the police puts a damper on its underground, counterculture aesthetic.

*Including a case where both options threatened this, leaving me without a non-narc dialogue choice.

illustration by Lv01KOKUEN

And finally… I don’t know where to fit this in, so I guess it just goes in its own little section at the end here. Lots of people, myself included, have touched on the Persona inspirations - and they’re certainly significant. One thing I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention as a huge influence is Yasuhiro Nightow’s Kekkai Sensen / Blood Blockade Battlefront. From its sense of style to its worldbuilding, ZZZ damn near feels like fanfic to me. Hell, it’s right in the name - BBB? ZZZ? And this is on top of the dimensional crossover / big city vibe, the retro fashion, the different factions. Victoria Housekeeping might as well be Libra 2.0 - Von Lycaon is a damn near perfect 50/50 expy of Klaus and Stephen Starphase. And then Belle / Wise, who assist these powerful fighters in a noncombat role just like Leo, also turn out to have some sort of special magical eyes granted to them by untold powers from within the dimensional rift??

I’m here for it, don’t get me wrong - love Nightow. But that can’t be coincidence, right?

[collegetennisoriginstory]

(same anon as about the difference in m&f ROs & attraction) Thank you for your reply! It was an interesting read. I will add that some of what I was thinking about was also based on fashion choices and looks (based on the previous art breeder images) - f!G and f!Sam both looked aesthetically very feminine to me, which is not my style, while if I remember correctly from a different post f!Rayyan dresses more sporty/masc-leaning/gender neutral. But behavior/personality/energy is also an important part of this of course. I don't know if the characters themselves would identify as more feminine or masculine, if either (or if the art breeders even were a very good representation re: make up and styling and such)... but it's something that really affects my own attraction to ROs, so I sort of go off whatever impressions I get when it comes to that! Things like, "would this woman wear a dress or not" and long versus short hair and styling etc... Like, for even more context, my ideal female ROs are butches and studs -- but those specific identities are extremely hard to find in anything hahah...

Ooohhh that totally makes sense. I go into more detail on how I picture the F!RO styles in (slight) relation to the ask, but let me know if you guys are interested in M!RO styles too.

I'd say F!Rayyan definitely dresses more masc (a longstanding sore spot with their traditional muslim parents) BUT as I mentioned previously, in casual "civilian" clothes, F!Rayyan does wear a headscarf at the very least, and tries to avoid outfits that show their midriff. Just a nod to their upbringing. They go for a more outdoorsy/tough look.

But yeah f!Tobin doesn't dress femme per se, in casual clothes they'd be just as likely to wear something like a simple t shirt and jeans or a thrift store find, but they clean up nicely and would go to say, a formal event in something more femme, like a low cut v-neck dress. They go for comfort, yes, but of all the f!ROs they're probably the most stylish (perhaps tied with G when G is "trying".)

F!Sam's eclectic in their dressing and goes through different phases / is versatile in their style, but I'd say their go-to is something a little more casual/nerdy/laidback, like graphic tees with funny slogans, video game/book references, and/or something fun and unique.

F!G straddles edgy-chic (leather jackets and skinny torn jeans) with femme-chic, can rock anything from boots and a pantsuit to a full-on femme fatale gown to an ordinary cotton shirt /jeans combo.

[goldensunset]

What's your opinion on Nomura saying he wants KH4 to be kind of like a reboot of the series? I'm personally a bit worried about what that means for the graphics and gameplay, but like, I'm probably always going to be mourning the loss of the old modeling style so I don't think I should be taken seriously on that front. Graphics change aside, it seems like most of the information we've gotten on KH4 boils down to "Yes it's in Tokyo" and "Guys it's not gonna be a crossover with TWEWY, Please Stop Asking". Really not sure what to make of it so far.

i really have no clue what he means by that... honestly i'm fine with the new style although i do see the concerns with kinda making it seem more generically anime prettyboy final fantasy-esque but like. we've only seen two characters so far and that was two and a half years ago and we already know they're planning on changing some things so who knows what the final product will look like. idk.

my one concern- and i say this as someone who personally likes simpler and more realistic designs, as well as like serious hardcore worldbuilding and dark stuff- is that kh will lose its weird, goofy, disney positivity charm. sora's design just needs slightly more color to it, nothing too drastic. the city of quadratum being hyperrealistic in a direct jarring contrast to everything else we've ever seen in the series is SO cool i just hope the final version has some unique charm to it. obviously i hope it's still kinda bleak bc i think that's the point of the story here but y'know? i hope they tell the story they're trying to tell while also making it feel magical in some way

see while i can't say i personally have any interest in the disney aspect of things (i understand that's what the series was supposed to be all along but me personally i'm in it for the original story side of things) i also never want kh to totally leave that dimension. i think they need to get better at implementing it into the story- akin to how it originally was in the first game, or in khdr, bc both of those were amazing. like prove to me that this disney crossover is the best way to tell your story bc i know you can do it. it shouldn't feel like two separate games, one of which can be entirely filtered out with almost no bearing on the plot

the other thing is like the collaboration with disney is a limitation- but it's a limitation that breeds creativity. if we let nomura do whatever he wanted he might run off the rails and make it too gritty. but having to keep the family-friendly positivity at the core honestly makes it way more interesting imo. and i think he knows that- i think he has a heartfelt story about connection and humanity and love and memories etc to tell and he's gonna tell it. i have faith in him (maybe not faith to write every single game's dialogue and scenario lol but like. in terms of general plot direction he knows what he's doing)

truthfully, as long as the series never stops being ultimately an uplifting tale of hope? i don't care what they do with it. i hope they keep adding dark and serious and weird stuff to it and i hope they keep coming back to the joyful refrain over and over again. that's the ideal story to me- one that takes you so, so low, but brings you back up at the end. that's what kh has been like all along and that's like the main draw imo

they've been leaning more into the possibility of sad endings without perfect resolutions lately (i mean i truthfully don't see how the khux crew is gonna reunite on this mortal plane without more ghost shenanigans.) but like. a bittersweet ending of fondly remembering someone lost to you is incredibly heartfelt and you can make peace with that. i like that more than the idea that you'll always get everything you want and things can always go back to how they were. i think that's what nomura was getting at with kh3, how the destiny trio can't get their innocent childhood back but that doesn't mean their bond is gone. it doesn't have to be a classic disney fairytale ending to be an uplifting one and honestly it hits my HEART. bittersweet ending supremacy. kh is about losing things and finding new things and being connected etc etc i'm repeating myself but i'm insane about this series and long story short as long as the love is there i'm not going to complain

if we're talking about kh4 specifically? really no idea what to make of it... the big question is as follows- is sora's predicament going to be resolved in this game or is that for another game. if it's for another game it's going to have to be a numerical kh5 and i kind of don't have confidence in the team to uh. um. finish more than one new numerical game at this point lol. plus just assuming there would be a gap period with other games in the middle there then sora would be away from home for a lonnnnng time. it could happen but it would require his best friends to reach him there too and get stuck and like oh man how is anyone getting home now. is the series ever gonna end

like maybe kh4 being a reboot would quite genuinely mean shifting the entire overall setting of the series to unreality for the time being. we've discussed the nature of the heart and human connection in this whimsical childhood fairytale world, now let's put these philosophical debates in the real adult world now! who knows. it honestly all depends on how much nomura thinks he has left in him. or if he does plan to retire whether he's gonna pass it off to someone else or just end it somewhere randomly. like truly we're getting kinda mixed messages here like simultaneously he's talking about retiring someday while also saying he's introducing a new phase to the series. ok but how long will that phase be bestie

[submalevolentgrace]

hey videogames enjoyers, play a little 'what if?' game with me.

imagine an alternate timeline where the modern first person shooter didn't and doesn't exist. no call of duty, no titanfall, no borderlands, no bioshock, no pubg, no overwatch, not even halflife. they never existed. there was however still a small experimental game way back in the 80's called 'wolfenstein 3d' that basically nobody remembers, leaving pretty much no cultural impact or legacy on the gaming landscape. and sure, around y2k if you fell down some very specific internet forum rabbit holes you'd find a small niche community playing some equally obscure successors inspired by wolfenstein: doom, quake, hexen, and some weird one called rise of the triad; 'wolfensteinies', the community called them, in honour of the original. most gamers would be put off by their confusing and frustrating mechanics, but of course, everyone that stuck around long enough to really get into one of these cult-canonical 'big four' in the genre was captivated by them. people in this tiny community loved their wolfensteinies so much that it was a (true) running joke that basically everyone was trying to make their own version of one.

but if you played these unknown games, or even just attempted to describe their characteristics to other gamers, they'd look at you like you were insane. who'd play games like that? they have such ugly primitive graphics, and you just shoot people with bullets that come out of your eyes somehow and you have to keep picking up fuel for the shooting, and the enemies shoot you back, and you're stuck in some kind of unfathomable maze and have to keep walking and opening doors until you find your way out, and you keep having to shoot at enemies the whole time while running out of shooting fuel? people play that for fun???

and over the years there were a few attempts at making something approaching this bizarre "shooting people from your eyes and opening lots of doors" kind of gameplay more mainstream for various 16-bit and early 3d consoles… but despite being both faithful to the wolfenstein roots and also bringing something fun and unique to the table, they always did poorly both critically and commercially, even with a big brand tie-in like pokemon or final fantasy attached, so were forgotten.

and the genre of wolfensteinies died out.

but then, something unusual happens in the early-to-mid 2010's; the indie game scene kinda explodes, and goes fully mainstream. it's never been easier to get your game up on steam or even a console's digital store, and with the boom in experimental indie games playing around with what's possible, a new type of game - a whole new genre! - blasts onto the scene: the "wolfensteinie". nobody seems to know where the genre or name came from, but suddenly every other indie game that comes out is a wolfensteinie or has wolfensteinie-style mechanics in it. mainstream gamers and fans of this brand new genre have still never heard of quake or doom let alone the original, but 'wolfensteinie' popularity has skyrocketed. confusingly, however, all these indie darling wolfensteinie games - that are ostensibly drawing inspiration from wolfenstein 3d or else why would they still be calling themselves wolfensteinies - none of them are really first person shooters… the first person shooter still doesn't exist, or at least hasn't for decades. some of these games have a first person viewpoint but most don't, many have guns in them but many don't, a few of them take place in mazey castles i guess, but it honestly kinda seems like none of the people making these games have ever even heard of wolfenstein 3d or the big classic wolfensteinies.

so what even makes a modern game a wolfensteinie then, if none of them are fps's? well it's the coloured keycards and dogfood, duh! that's what wolfensteinies are all about! you collect coloured keycards to unlock the respective coloured doors, and there is dogfood that you can eat. everyone knows that's what a game means when it says it has 'wolfensteinie mechanics' in it! and since these mechanics are so popular, game designers want to put them into as many of their games as possible. an action adventure wolfensteinie with soulslike combat, a dungeon crawling dating sim with wolfensteinie mechnics, an island hopping life sim wolfensteinie! although as the genre has broadened its appeal, the mechanics have obviously been softened a bit for the average gamer; it's generally accepted that painting over keycards to open unmatched doors and storing dogfood as an inventory item for later instead of having to eat straight from the bowl still let a game count as a wolfensteinie, or at least 'wolfensteinish'.

the word 'wolfenstein' is still literally in the title of the genre, but its roots and history and identity have been so unrecognisably mangled that most people seemingly don't even question where the name came from, whether this 'wolfenstein' thing might have originally been its own unique game, with its own unique mechanics almost completely unexplored in the modern genre. what would fans say of the original genre-defining game?

"eww, that's so ugly and basic, we have way better games now with keycards and dogfood in them, if opening doors in a maze is what you find fun gameplay."

imagine that world. no first person shooters are made, but the market is absolutely flooded with indie games - and AAA titles now too! - all proudly claiming lineage from wolfenstein 3d, all absolutely certain that what makes them part of that lineage is coloured keycards and dogfood. imagine the absurdity. imagine you were one of those big four cult fans from back in the day, struggling to even find a copy of 'doom community support edition' that can run on a modern operating system, while fans of keycard and dogfood games think you're nuts for wanting to play something as obscure, bespoke, ugly and just plain uninspired as doom.

imagine that reality. keycards and dogfood being the cultural legacy of first person shooters.

because, yeah, this post is an old gamer's lament for the absurd reality that exists with a little genre that for some reason is still called 'roguelikes'.

rogue? nethack, angband, linley's dungeon crawl, adom? a massive amount of complexly interactive elements allowing for inventive solutions and emergent gameplay unlocked through iterative knowledge and creative thinking of available tools? people play that for fun???

"eww, that's so ugly and basic, we have way better games now with permadeath and procedural generation in them, if playing the same bits over and over and over is what you find fun gameplay."

[arimiadev]

visual novels I finished in 2023

I played quite a few visual novels in 2023, most of which are indie, and I want to share some highlights from that list. these are all VNs that I played all the way through and loved, so treat this also as a recommendation for each of these.

mahoyo

In the mansion on the hill, there lived two witches... It is the late 1980s—the twilight of an era of beauty and vigor. A boy moves to the city, barely missing two witches living in modern times. The boy leads a completely ordinary life. She carries herself with gallant pride. The girl lives a sleepy, hidden life. Each walks a starlit path. One would never expect their paths to cross. The story of how these three disparate people came together is soon to be told.

I've ranted a ton about mahoyo here and how much I love it. it truly is one of the best looking visual novels I've ever seen and one of my all-time favorites. I'll never be able to approach game direction the same after playing this. please do yourself a favor and play it, it's finally on steam.

model employee

Model Employee is a corporate horror visual novel where players take control of  the latest individual amongst millions to start working in one of Tethys' online shopping labyrinthine warehouses. Just discharged from the hospital and massively in debt for their life-saving cybernetics, the player-character must adapt to the "extreme" work-life balance of a Tethys Team Member- but they have help.  Penny, the artificial personality that controls all security, waste disposal, and employee surveillance in the facility, specializes in reinforcing an especially cutthroat variety  of workplace culture- and she's taken an interest in you.  With a vibrant cast, PC-98 inspired visuals and multiple endings, Model Employee is a modern horror story that'll stick with you long after you've clocked out of your shift. If you want to get ahead in your career, you gotta be willing to take some risks.

model employee is such a tightly structured visual novel for being made in just one month, making full use of everything while surprising you at every corner. every part of this game was so well planned and thought out- dystopian corporate satire isn't my cup of tea (we're living it) but the way they present everything in this game makes it feel so much more intense.

itch.io

beary the hatchet

It's Halloween 199X, and you killed someone during your morning shift. Honestly it's inconvenient. This job was imperfect, sure, but you got to wear a mask with no questions asked and the pay was livable. But now you'll have to keep the body in the backrooms till your shift is done. Bummer. "You're... the absolutely WICKED and AWESOME Bearwater Grizzly Killer, aren't you?!" ...and now enters the dreaded true crime fan.

beary the hatchet is such a uniquely lovely game to look at, even if the subject matter is grim. I love the color palette and tones in this, I love the 2.5D graphics, I love how expressive all of the designs are. it's a game oozing with style.

itch.io

disconnect

Late at night, a phone call from a friend keeps disconnecting from you... On and off, on and off, constantly... ...What would you do if you realized your friend wasn't who you thought they were? And how would you react when the truth was finally revealed? ("̷̢̑W̸̨̊o̸̫͊u̷̱͝ḽ̸͛d̴͉̐ ̵̚ͅy̵̜̽o̸̥͗u̷̮̎ ̷̜̏s̶̤̄t̸̥͐i̴̻̕l̸̰͝l̸͉̓ ̷͕́ȁ̸̩c̸̡̓t̵̜̊ ̵͓̈t̶̙̄h̶̦͂e̸̩͠ ̸̩̅s̶̘̏a̷̪͛m̵̮͒e̴͖͑ ̸̭́w̷̨̚á̴̱y̵̯̑?̶͎̌"̷͈̆) Find out what happened to our scaredy-cat protagonist, Indie－a famous horror storyteller on the H-T-M (Horror, Tales, and Mystery) forum. What would she do when she unintentionally uncovered a mystery hidden deep within her own home?

I love the style of disconnect and the unorthodox way of getting to the truth of the matter. I'm not normally one to play furry VNs, but the designs are adorable and I love the presentation of the game, it has a lot of animation in it. there's also one moment not too far in on this screen that made me scream...

itch.io

curse of the juniper tree

Curse of the Juniper tree is a tale of two siblings, a cursed tree and an isolated village. It is a short kinetic visual novel featuring 2d exploration. Walk around the snowy village and talk to its inhabitants! Story is loosely based off the fairytale called The Juniper Tree by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812.

this is a lovely and short story about two siblings living in a frozen land together. it's a very atmospheric story with so many beautiful blues and detailed character designs. the controls were a bit hard to figure out at times but it's worth your time.

itch.io

reaplaced

Grea Perrim is a reaper of souls, and it's her duty to bring the deceased to the other side. But in the world of reapers, death isn't any kind of equalizer. The value of a soul is directly tied to the peculiarity of its death. Grea's supernatural senses bring her to a Halloween house party with three costumed guests. She soon finds the most valuable kind of soul: the victim of a locked-room murder. In order to reap the soul, Grea must unravel the identity of its killer and explain its death in full. Is this the work of a human? A witch? Or something else entirely...?

reaplaced is a fun little whodunnit set on Halloween about a grim reaper out on the hunt who finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. it's much more indepth than I was expecting and the soundtrack is wonderful—there's a lot of small touches to it that make it great.

itch.io

dual chroma [demo]

A gilded king, a powerful sorceress, and a malevolent figure governing a foul legion of beasts in a ruthless war against the Light.  For centuries, the Galens Empire has thrived upon the ancient tragedy that formed its foundations. No more than a fading past inked upon the pages of history, the Empire reigned in relative peace—until the monsters returned.  As the newest advisor to the Second Prince, you find yourself at the heart of a captivating saga, where mystery, magic, terror, and romance intertwine. Your choices in this narrative will determine not only the Empire's destiny, but also the fate of your heart. But take heed, for the path you tread may shatter the shackles of doomed love or repeat the ruin of Galens' past.

I don't play many otome demos but I played several that were submitted to otome jam this year, with dual chroma being one of them. I was surprised by the amount of care and attention put into the demo- it feels very solid with a lot of polish put into easing the player into this high fantasy world. I think I had an issue with how the tooltips would be shown (probably the frequency of them, as the in-line tooltips are very helpful) but it's been months since then.

itch.io

we know the devil

Anyone can kill the devil; that's why they always make teens the vampire slayers, the magical girls. But some kids can't even get that right; and that's why meangirl Neptune, tomboy Jupiter, and shy shy Venus have to endure one more week of summer camp and each other, singing boring songs about jesus, doing busywork for adults, and hoping god's radio can't hear them. Before they can leave the summer scouts, they've got to spend twelve hours in the loneliest cabin in the woods and wait for the devil to come and live through the night--or not. You know.

we know the devil didn't release this year but I finally got around to playing it. it's a visceral experience, something that feels foreign and familiar at the same time. I love the direction for it, the sketchy monochrome sprites against the colored photos- parts when there aren't any characters on screen feel that much more real, like you're watching found footage because of how tense everything is.

itch.io

doppelganger

The story is set in an alternate universe where the player is struggling with the memories of what they know to be TEMPUS and the mysterious look-alikes who pull them every which way. Can the player figure out the truth about this twisted world and return to the guild?

okay this is a bit of a weird one to end on, I just wanted to talk about it. doppelganger is a game made by holostars staff, i.e. the staff for the vtubing company cover corporation. I went into it expecting very, very little but I was presently surprised by how competently it was made. a lot of "bad" visual novels aren't fun to play, because they're overly long, extremely wordy, and aren't fun to read. I'd say doppelganger is "so bad it's good", which is a rarity for VNs- it's campy at times and over the top but doesn't overstay it's welcome, the pacing is remarkably good for what seem to be first time devs.

I cannot recommend this though if you're not already a fan of holostars tempus, as this is essentially just merch for them- think of it like a higher production voice pack or art pack. if you don't know each of the boys then you'll be lost, but if you do then grab another friend and play it, it took me about 4 hours to finish it with friends.

itch.io

[itsbenedict]

Games I Played In 2023 And Whether Or Not I Thought They Were Good (Part 1/4)

Once again, a year has passed, and I spent a considerable chunk of it on video games! Here's what I thought about [e: some of] the ones that I played.

1 - [2] - [3] - [4]

Potionomics

This game is- well, I've never played a Recettear game, but apparently it's a Recettear knockoff? You run a potion shop, and you hire adventurers to go into dungeons to get ingredients for your potion shop, and the whole thing's on a timer where you have to pay off a big debt by the end... apparently there's a formula it's aping that I'm unfamiliar with.

But it's very fun- it's got two main unique mechanics, one of which is a potion-brewing minigame about balancing ingredients in certain ratios which is challenging- and the other of which is an STS-style deckbuilder card game where you haggle with customers in lieu of combat. Both systems have a lot of depth and interesting options and I enjoyed them a lot.

Other standouts: the cast of support characters you can rank up social links with are great (love love love the coffee-addled workaholic moth girl and the comic relief cat pirates with a surprisingly dark backstory), and the fully-animated 3D character portraits are really fun and expressive.

Nitpicks: the time system having one time block reserved for the hour it takes to go home after visiting town is... an awkward choice (holdover from the Recettear structure they're aping?), and lategame you kind of cap out in potion-making capacity and it becomes kind of tricky to progress. Also the story's kinda predictable and the villains who don't later become party members are paper-thin.

Horizon: Forbidden West

God this game pisses me off.

Horizon: Zero Dawn, its predecessor, was a fun open-world game about hunting robot dinosaurs and uncovering the surprisingly elaborate story behind why there are robot dinosaurs. I enjoyed it a lot!

Forbidden West has everything Zero Dawn had... and also mountains of tedious cruft to pad out the game's runtime which all infuriates me to no end.

The story is still quite good! And the robot dinosaur fighting is still quite good! Those are the important parts, and they nailed them... but I have complained at my friends for hours about the bafflingly bad design choices that plague every other aspect of this game constantly. It's... there's so much, I want to like, make a video going into the details, but in short...

The cool and versatile weapons from the last game have been split up into piles of slightly-different weapons with different elements so you have to carry around and upgrade ten times as much crap and are forced to spec into a build that locks you out of effective experimentation

Every little noncombat action in the game has some very realistic and pretty AAA graphics animation that takes too long and wastes your time constantly during basic gameplay and kills flow dead

The very cool procedural climbing mesh thing... gets arbitrarily turned off in inexplicably oiled-up puzzle ruins that very badly want you to push a crate around in every way it's possible to push a crate around in order to waste the maximum amount of your time

Cooking "system" which is the most comprehensively useless thing anyone probably spent dozens of hours implementing in their video game

Item wheel that contains every consumable item in the game regardless of whether you currently have any and is basically unnavigable during tense situations like, say, combat, when you need it

So many repetitive sidequests about some poor fucker who went missing and might be in danger and is every single time dead to a bunch of robot dinosaurs obviously. Lot of missions designed to kill time rather than show you something cool or have interesting story.

There's a lot to like and it's super cool but god there's so much to be mad at. Respects the player's time 0%. I'm gonna go off about this more later for sure.

Disco Elysium

Oh my god, this game. It's... really something. You might be familiar with it from memes on Tumblr, about its comically inept slash deranged protagonist and his partner with the patience of a saint- but it's doing so much more than I expected from the out-of-context screencaps.

Like- yes, it's fucking hilarious. I love that about it. But it's also this incredibly detailed work of worldbuilding that creates this whole setting that's doing... some wild stuff. Like, you've maybe heard it's very political? Well, it is, but about weird alternate universe sci-fi politics that sort of halfway resemble our own, and it's thought through all of these invented social dynamics. And it's got a great sense of atmosphere- it knows when to be funny and when to be solemn and how to blend the two for maximum effect. It's a dark comedy, but it's all built on a dead-serious reality and a really effective story.

And- it is a murder mystery game about solving cases! It works very well on that level! It manages to be open-ended and let you solve things in a variety of different ways using this complex RPG stat system of creatively-designed psychological stats, while making sure the central whodunit (and a bevy of fascinating satellite mysteries) stays on track. Extremely good on a game design level.

(also some shit happens in this game that i was not at all expecting and can't even go into without spoilers, but- but holy fuck, the way this game opens up and the things it manages to hide in plain sight... just mind-boggling. incredibly impressive.)

Tunic

Speaking of hiding things in plain sight- neither this nor Disco Elysium came out this year, so I can't call either of them GotY, but... if they had, I'd have a hard time deciding.

Tunic is incredibly clever. On the surface, it's an isometric soulslike thing with a low-poly Zelda-y aesthetic... but there's not just the surface. There's layers and layers to this thing. The first layer it hits you with is that most of the game's UI is in a made-up rune script, which you have to learn, which is a fun challenge and caused me to spend a few hours making a tool to catalogue and decrypt the damn thing- though I eventually learned to sight-read it. But that's just- that's like, the tip of the iceberg, the most obvious twist to what this game is.

There's, like... I don't want to spoil what there's like. The whole thing is about peeling back the layers and figuring out which seemingly arbitrary aesthetic choices were secretly meaningful, and seeing how the game transforms as you figure out the different sorts of secret structure layered on top of each other. It's actually best compared to The Witness, although there's still a pretty meaty and challenging action-adventure game to tackle while you're uncovering the hidden patterns and deepest lore. It's a fascinating intellectual challenge and highly recommended to anyone who likes giving their noggin something to chew on.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Man, so... this game is very impressive, but it's in a weird place due to some awkward design decisions and cut corners.

This is a direct sequel to smash megahit Breath of the Wild... sort of. It's very weird what it's doing. It really wants to be a self-contained thing, to the point of throwing out major setting elements and story concepts from BotW entirely so it can do its own thing... but on a mechanical level, this is the same game, with some very cool new mechanics and a cool-ish new story bolted on.

(Said story... it has one extremely cool plot twist that's also a gameplay twist, delivered effectively in a nonlinear way that creates this great sense of dawning comprehension. Otherwise... kind of a nothingburger. Ganondorf is boring and has no coherent motivation, there's no explanation or real plot relevance to the [spoilers] that seem like such a central thing, and... the whole thing revolves around a technologically advanced precursor civilization that's completely different from the technologically advanced precursor civilization established by the last game, of which all evidence has been meticulously scrubbed from the world to... I guess avoid confusion? The one huge central plot beat really works, and the rest is... low-effort nonsense.)

So, mechanically... the developers made this very odd choice to... have the game take place in the exact same map from the first game, except warped and remixed by geologic upheaval just enough to force the environment designers to redo every bit of landscape more or less from scratch. Like, all the same recognizable locations, but a step to the left. In theory, not a bad idea- but then they layer on top of that a threefold expansion to the world.

TotK has three world maps- Hyrule, the sky (full of floating islands now), and a third spoilery area that's the same size as both of those. The game's economy is thus weirdly trifurcated- crucial resources are located in all three areas, so you need to go up and down and up and down a lot. And so is the game's content- there's a roughly comparable amount of stuff in BotW and TotK, but TotK splits it across three maps, making each area feel largely empty, with a lot of wasted space.

This effect is especially noticeable in Hyrule, which... if you've played BotW, you won't really find anything new there. It's all the same places with a few tweaks, so there's not much sense of discovery if you played the original. There's a bunch of landmarks and areas that exist purely because they were there before and it'd be weird for them to disappear... except now instead of some secret or loot there, there's just nothing. Wasted space. And both the sky and the other new map are pretty homogeneous and unrewarding to explore once you've seen the four or five types of things they have to offer- they're mainly made up of recycled assets.

TotK is... I think strictly better than BotW, with more content and more fun core mechanics, but it's a worse experience than BotW if you played the first one. If you haven't played BotW, Hyrule will still be fun to explore, and you probably want to jump straight to TotK.

-

I'm... gonna have to break this post up to get to the 21 other games I played this year, otherwise it's gonna be stupid long and take forever. Stay tuned!

1 - [2] - [3] - [4]

[cubist-thrawn]

@thrawns-backrest as promised, I hereby present to you an overview of my little research trip to worlds unknown. (Now that I finally have the time to do so, after submitting my Bachelor's thesis. Thank goodness it's over.)

It all started out as a simple wish to get practice in drawing humans again, or in general, more realistic subjects. I've gotten a bit rusty after spending two to three years almost exclusively on cubism.

In comes my ongoing hyperfixation on the Ghost prison comic, specifically Moff Trachta. I get the genius idea to combine the two, not only would I get some practice drawing again, but also an opportunity to rotate a blorbo in my head some more. There was only one problem, I could not find any drawing references, for months.

Highlighting again, I'm still quite rusty in the drawing department, so I was not really keen on painstakingly reconstructing Trachta from every angle, solely relying on the comic, especially since half of his face is obscured by a breathing mask plus the ocular cameras. Which makes it a bit difficult to understand his facial structure and therefore, how his limited facial expressions work. The one panel showing him before the injury did help a bit, but it wasn't sufficient enough in the long run.

So I needed external references, and I am really confident that Agustin Alessio was relying on them too, not only for the established characters like Anakin Skywalker or Mace Windu, but for all of the recurring cast in the comic; it would also make sense for his artistic style in general. There are artists, who can make up unique human faces on the go, and keep them consistent with every comic/graphic novel page, but I believe, for the majority, this is unnecessary, additional work. (I mean, consider the Marvel comics, no penciler will spend their limited time meticulously drawing every damn rooftop in New York city, they copy that shit, or use references in some way or other, chances are, the same goes for people).

My first rounds of research were not really successful, the closest I got in vibes is Karl Urban as Lord Vaako in "The Chronicles of Riddick".

There are certainly a lot of parallels between Vaako and Trachta, they are both idealistic (and power hungry), high ranking commanders in a dark army/empire, who seek to usurp their masters and ultimately fail in the endeavor. (Except, Vaako did not die, he just had to wait a bit longer for a new opportunity to seize control).

Unfortunately, their faces did not match as well as their vibes, I had to look somewhere else... Well, I looked and I looked aaaand nothing came of it, so I paused the project for a few months.

But one day, on tumblr of all places, and through a reblog of Wil Wheaton of all people, I stumbled upon this gem of an image:

First of all, the premise here is hysterical and the aura of the new millennium painful but what really stopped me in my mental tracks was the dude crawling out of the computer screen, his face looked familiar, too familiar

Hmmmm 🤔

Hmmmmmmmmm🤔🤔

Too many similarities to be accidental and that meant, I was back in the game. According to the description, the image was published in the Playgirl magazine in the first issue of January 2000. There was no other information, but I am a historian and I know how to find things.

I started my curios journey with a reverse image search and by googling the image title, but 'Virtual Carnality' only lead me back to the original picture and tumblr, so I had to look for the actual magazine, which I wanted to avoid. Because academic experience with somewhat similar mediums and second hand experience with porn magazines through earlier research on Russian homophobia taught me, there's usually no easy access to this particular genre of print medium, especially when it's older than 20 years. There are no institutional databases (that I know of) and barely any digitally archived issues available. As expected, I did not find the fated Playgirl issue, what I did find instead were bounds of scientific articles referencing Playgirl and other similar magazines as sources. The topics around them ranged from the history of the US american porn industry, to the conceptualization of heterosexual female desire, from queer and gender studies to copyright law; there was everything and a good deal of what I skimmed open access too.

It was an interesting detour but it did not bring me closer to my goal. What I tried next was the official Playgirl website and suddenly there was hope in sight, they had an archive category... some random past articles... not what I was looking for, how unfortunate. Most of their content was hidden behind a paywall as well, but creating an account and paying a monthly fee of 13$ with no way of knowing if they even keep a proper digital archive of past issues, was in my opinion not a worthwhile investment. If only I had the name of the model...

Next I scouted Ebay for information. There was a chance some seller might have included the table of contents in the product scan and perhaps a name I could use. (Btw, the going rate for a vintage Playgirl Jan (1) 2000 lies somewhere between 40-60€, last time I checked). This idea did not yield any results either. I was about to call quits for the day but I had to try one last search

one last rearrangement of key words.

And surprisingly I was not disappointed.

I finally had a name

Praised be the gay porn community of adonismale.com and their extensive Playgirl database of male (porn) models and actors.

Here I could add an additional paragraph about the importance of media preservation through communal effort but I've used up all the spoons I had for today.

Summa summarum, I'm pretty sure I'm not hallucinating Alessio basing Grand Moff Trachta visually (to some degree) on a porn actor going by the name of Cheyne Collins, specifically on his appearance in the "Visual Carnality" photo shoot for the first Playgirl issue of January 2000.

Do with this information whatever you want.

[fishymom-art]

So I wanna talk about my experience with the game “8:11”

OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS!

TW: Panic Attack, Health Issues

I want to immediately say that I absolutely loved playing this game. The art style is an absolute delight, the sound design and the music are great, and the characters are very unique and beautiful, and I love all of them. All the designs of other characters are wonderful and never seen before. All in all I think this game is fantastic, especially considering that it’s an indi-game.

But there are two things I want to mention.

First of all, the reason why there’s a trigger warning. While playing this game, my heart went ballistic. First two times it was just a horrible pain in the chest, probably caused by stress. But yesterday I had a panic attack while playing it. I was visibly shaking for at least 5 minutes after that. Despite me being almost done (yes, I continued playing despite everything, because I didn’t know the pain was caused by the game), after yesterday, I decided not to finish the game. It was just not worth risking my own health.

Now, I want to say that this is just one instance. I’m known for having problems with stress. But I’ve never had a panic attack, heightened heart beat and visible shaking due to one game. On one hand, good job, you managed to make a very disturbing game. One the other, it is literally dangerous to one’s health.

I know that in the beginning they ask if you want to see a graphic depiction of Leon’s death, but there was nothing about depiction or mention of anything else later on in the game.

So that’s one thing. The other is that the game is very overwhelming (which could also be the reason for the panic attack).

The story follows a non-binary priest Ryker who goes to a cursed, abandoned Basilica to investigate the death of their friend/father figure Leon, and hoping to avenge him. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, I really hoped it was.

But sadly, the story was… well, too much. In the sense, that there were a lot of things that were slightly unnecessary, and made the plot confusing, because at some point the main story is lost behind all the additional things.

For example, there is a romantic line with another character by the name of Accardi and a few other romantic lines between other characters (f.e Accardi and Juliek). I found it slightly unnecessary because it deviated from the main plot soooo much. I would’ve understood if it was somehow connected, but that story was completely out of place. A nice change of pace in some places, but still out of place.

The other big thing was the complicated story behind the past of the Basilica. Basically, the priests acted as surgeons too, practicing some unorthodox methods on the deceased, forming their own ways to revive or pass them on to the afterlife. There is also a thing called Generations, connected to it. I assume it’s just what the people are called after they die? A new generation of their life begins? I dunno. Again, very confusing.

This is all started with the return of a character Gabriel who in the beginning of the game died by his head being blown up because he looked into a cursed book. Which I think was awesome. It was a great way to show what this book is capable of. But bringing him back in the middle of the game for him to die soon anyway and thus beginning a different part of lore (aka Basilica’s curse)? It was confusing. I think the whole thing with generations, surgeons, and Gabriel could’ve been taken out and maybe put into a sequel. Then the characters could’ve concentrated more on the original story about grief and loss. But because of that new supernatural cultist thing, the story gets lost by the end of the game and it becomes confusing.

There is also just a lot of moments that are, again, unnecessary. A lot of Ryker’s dream sequences made the story confusing. Some of the flashbacks with Leon were unnecessary (except the one where they met and the one in the tent, because it shows the reason why Ryker became a priest. I think those were very important and interesting).

Also, God, the Basilica itself is just so incredibly confusing. I know it has something to do with the curse, but I think if you wanted to make it giant, you could’ve executed it in a slightly different way. Maybe make it giant, but do a little nudge nudge wink wink to the reason (maybe through hidden books or Easter eggs) and the curse, but talk about it in the sequel more, so the player can concentrate on Leon.

The supernatural, the talking to the dead, and all of that is very cool. I think adding the thing that Ryker is special in some way is very cool and could be done in a fantastic way, but it’s confusing in the end, because you don’t exactly understand what makes them so special.

And then there’s Vittorino. I have mixed feelings about him. He does carry most of the story and most of the best scenes in the game, but god I wish there was a bit more to his character. If you want to make him a semi bad guy, then commit to it. When he just appeared, it was clear who he is and how, but then he gets lost in his madness and his motivation becomes unclear and repetitive. Also there are scenes of him being blind??? But then he’s not????? And there’s a semi-secret door where he is a literal monster?????????? Huh??????

Also all the dream sequences get mixed with reality and you just don’t understand what is what at some point.

ALSO ALSO. THE BEETLE??? What was his purpose??? God, I loved his character and to be honest, I think his design is my favourite, but like. He’s supposed to be Ryker’s guardian angel but then bashes their head against the sink just for the Hell if it??? Make up your mind, man, you confuse me.

And don’t even get me started on Dante’s story. I was okay with it completely the whole time, but by the end it all turns on its head and like. Huh? What? Was he a human or not??? Huh???

Yeah, anyway. The game is great, but the writing seems more like a draft. There are wonderful and great ideas that were executed poorly. It has great potential and it is legit scary and I hope to see more. The characters feel loved by the creator and this is what I adore about this game. It feels loved. But then again, this post exists. Thank you!

[caw4brandon]

The Magic of Potterverse Games

As a child who grew up watching the Harry Potter films. There's always this interest in wanting to be a part of the Potterverse. Something about the whimsical world that entrances us all to one day, join the hallowed halls and leave a mark on the universe and on Hogwarts itself.

So, with that said. Let's explore a more immersive side to the franchise that allows one to coexist in the universe with familiar faces to guide us as we navigate the world of Muggles and Wizardkind.

- There Once Was a Boy -

Destined to be a Star ~

Back when the movies came out, game developers tackled the interesting concept of doing magic like Harry Potter through the Harry Potter film-based games.

To make it short, see [Flatlife's - Evolution of Harry Potter Games] The games were made in a variety of ways. You play as Harry Potter, traversing around the grounds of Hogwarts. Solving puzzles, going to classes, and combat various foes.

Despite the fact that the graphics are simple and often seen as horrendous. The games as a whole, were considered a success. It laid the foundation for the desire to learn the skills of a wizard/witch and explore the school grounds. Applying the lessons in combat and winning the day as Harry Potter. But that left the question;

What if, instead of playing as Harry Potter. We play as our own self-insert character?

The good news is, becoming a Hogwarts student seems a lot more accessible with the mobile game <Harry Potter: Magic Awakened>

Of course, this isn't the first attempt in the Potterverse's history of self-insert games. In 2018, another mobile game <Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery> was released to the public as well as the highly anticipated console game <Hogwarts Legacy> released in 2023.

I think it's worth mentioning, regardless of your opinion towards JKR's views. The lasting effect of this franchise has raised a generation of fans and their love for magic.

- Welcome to the Dueling Room! -

As a film-only based fan of the franchise, I find that; NetEase, Avalanche, and Jam City managed to capture the wonders of using magic and being in Hogwarts. Due to the nature of the universe's magic system, the games used several ways to tackle the issue of using magic.

In Magic Awakened, the game uses a mana-point system that limits spell casting. The game also uses a Card Game base in which players can mix and match card types and upgrade for significant effects.

The cards come in a variety of references. From summons of popular magical creatures, famous props, and the spells themselves.

In Hogwarts Legacy, your spells are limited to what I like to call, a Hotkey Shortcut. By limiting the slots to four different abilities. Players can combine a limited set of spells in combat to deal with the more fast-paced nature of the game.

The game emphasizes the importance of using potions for that quick boost and custom clothes as additional cover. Because the game has a special condition/ finishers called "Ancient Magic" the player is encouraged to travel around and find unique upgrades to improve and build resilience. It's simple, quick, and also the most fun game to use magic.

In Hogwarts Mystery, the combat style is a lot slower and has a two-punch effect. The first part of the duel is decided by Aggressive, Defensive, and Sneaky moves. Similar to the Rock, Paper, and Scissors game. Which when won, allows the first strike.

After that, the player is given a list of spells with various effects. The spells can sometimes cause massive damage and sometimes even stun/skip opponents for one turn. Because Hogwarts Mystery is a decision-making game, it's often regarded as the weakest attempt at magic.

- Do you Like My Scarf? -

Magic spells aside, The game's respective story is awfully predictable and bland. From the little that I personally played and hear from the folks of the community. The three games did the safe thing by doing the <Fantastic Beasts> route.

They distance themselves to different eras of the Wizarding world's history. By the game's own description, Hogwarts Legacy is set decades before Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Following a special witch/wizard who enrolled at Hogwarts as a fifth year.

Hogwarts Mystery is set roughly a generation before Harry Potter. Making them seniors who just graduated when Harry just entered. Meanwhile, Magic Awakened is set after Harry Potter. Close to around the time when Harry, Ron, and Hermione's kids started their year at Hogwarts.

Each year deals with its own type danger. From a dark magic rebellion to a cursed student of a deranged sibling to whatever Magic Awakened was trying to do. (I'm a bit slow to that game)

My issue with these games is, there seems to be this tendency to make the MC a center piece to the story. While it is, after all surrounding the MC's life. I couldn't help but feel that as far as developments go. Nothing is interesting about the MC's canonical story.

The games are also wasted with issues of telling via dialogue but not showing via action. The drama of the story didn't feel as impactful. While the player's decisions can sometimes change the outcome. It is far from being as big of an influence as I thought it would.

As far as playing the game itself goes, I only played Hogwarts Mystery till year 4 and stopped out of boredom.

I am enjoying Magic Awakened so far since it doesn't make the MC take center stage but rather uses the side characters to put weight to the story and to the playable cards. Granted, I'm not as active.

That said, I am still looking at a lot of its interesting parts from an outside perspective. So I would very much like to hear a rebuttal.

- Return to Hogwarts, Join My Dorm! -

Back when I was still playing the game, I came across a few users who interact on social media as their own MCs. They would use screenshots of their characters and write a treasure trove's worth of lore and developments. Discuss their favorite crushes and build more lore upon their OCs.

Seeing the encouragement and love between users and their OCs, got me to start uprooting my HPHM character; Sadie mac Lir and interact with quite a few names in this community outside of the games.

But after realizing that the story is just not as rich as I'd imagine, Sadie transferred into the world of <Murder The Crow> following Hector Dagger, the story's original character, and was later added with Jamie Robyn who is now a placeholder in Magic Awakened.

In spite of the situation with JKR and some of the whispers of this fandom's dark side. The fandom is still going strong as ever. While I have distanced myself, I still linger with the friends I made along the way. Most come from an artistic perspective with their OCs and art in general. Some of them are just good conversationalists.

It felt like being in school again. To learn from one another, socialize among fellow housemates and discuss plans for the future and have fun little interactions. Being in cliques and enjoying the other bit of magic that is not in the games, friendship.

In conclusion, I think it's been a wonderful journey for Harry Potter's gaming side of the fandom. The games went from being Harry to becoming your own Harry. To forge your own path in a world that is rich with possibilities and build friendships in-game and out of the game that might last lifetimes.

For a fandom as big and equally as problematic as Harry Potter. The Potterverse games have proven that it truly is not our abilities that show who we truly are. But rather, it's our choices that make the significant change.

Thanks for Reading

- Caw4B -

[satoshi-mochida]

Game Boy Advance shoot ’em up RPG Sigma Star Saga coming to modern consoles, PC in 2025 - Gematsu

WayForward will release shoot ’em up RPG Sigma Star Saga for modern consoles and PC in 2025, the companies announced. It will be powered by Limited Run Games‘ Carbon Engine. Specific platforms were not announced.

Sigma Star Saga first launched for Game Boy Advance on August 16, 2005.

Here is an overview of the game, via WayForward:

About

In the year 2005, WayForward took gamers across the galaxy to discover new worlds and alien species. Twenty years later, it’s time to go back! Sigma Star Saga—the Game Boy Advance science-fiction adventure that combines elements of 2D space shooters and RPGs—is scheduled to return in 2025. Licensed by Bandai Namco Entertainment and powered by Limited Run Games’ Carbon Engine, this highly requested cult classic will be released on modern consoles and PC, as well as on a Game Boy Advance-compatible reproduction cart. Featuring a unique mix of top-down planetary exploration and side-scrolling shoot ’em up space battles, Sigma Star Saga casts players as Allied Earth Federation pilot Ian Recker, who infiltrates the alien Krill Empire as a double agent in a last-ditch effort to save mankind from their onslaught. To do so, Recker must work with both humans and the Krill, exploring six planets utilizing an ever-expanding set of tools and abilities, and jumping into the cockpit to engage enemy forces in intense shmup-style combat using more than 70 different Gun Data items. Gorgeous pixel-art graphics, epic boss battles, and a twist-filled story with multiple endings await. Additional details about Sigma Star Saga, including information on platform availability and news about physical editions, will be shared in the months leading up to the game’s launch.

Key Features

The Game Boy Advance classic returns after 20 years!

Top-down RPG-style exploration mixed with action-packed space-shooter battles!

Survive as a double agent for the humans and the Krill, and discover the secret of the six planets.

Stunning pixel-art graphics and fantastic soundtrack.

Explore using tools like the Scanner, Krill Boots, Wings, and more.

Customize your ship with more than 70 different Gun Data items.

Branching story with multiple endings.