#this is a coherent and official tier list

[polaroidcats]

It just hit me. For part 2 of assigning german/austrian songs to the marauders, this time with Remus:

Egoist by Falco.

You know it's true.

(This is the only Remus bashing you will ever get from me, he is my babygirl and he has never done anything wrong in his life ever)

Oh wow okay I didn't know I'd be coming home to Remus bashing in my inbox today but here we are! Why are you calling him an egoist? Just because he abandoned his pregnant (so very straight) wife (so very straightly) and didn't take responsibility for that until a 17 year old kicked his ass? Idk what you're on about, that's a weird AU, Remus would never do that.

I see your Falco and I raise you: Junge Römer. You know Sirius played that song on repeat for like a week and thought he was the funniest person ever because of Remus's name.

Also I should note, I'm a bit tipsy (ON REMUS WINE!) atm so this is NOT the official German Remus playlist, this is the shitpost version of the official German Remus playlist, here we go, no thoughts just vibes:

Okayokay I'm thinking abt austrian music now and since we're pretty much the only 2 people invested in these playlists anyways I won't worry about the musicians being well known or not (though I'd love to know which of these you knew and which you didn't!).

May I sugesst Wolfgang Amrbos' Die Kinettn wo i schlof as homeless Remus Lupin's crying song. I feel a bit bad about putting this on the list because the song is genuinely so good and emotional and it made me cry when I was a child (I grew up listening to Ambros) but yeah. Uhm. No further explanation, also idek if you'll understand the dialect lol

DIALECT! When making the german Sirius list one of my Remus thoughts was what the german equivalent to welsh/scottish remus is and I've come to the conclusion that the obvious answer is Vorarlberg. SO obviously Vo Melo Bis Ge Schoppornou has to be included on the list. No I don't understand much either but it's still german (and imho one of the sexiest german accents, I said what I said).

Ham kummst is toxic wolfstar divorce AU core!!!!

Okay this one is actually a serious (lol) suggestion I think Remus would actually really like and relate to Sie mögen sich by Kätpn Peng! ALso maybe Tier by Käptn Peng?

Meine Sonne by Grossstadtgeflüster as angsty REMUS POV either poa era or first war or sth

Also I know this is officially the inofficial Remus list but i had another galaxy brain idea - Aurélie by Wir sind Helden is a song about french Sirius in an AU of our german marauders AU.

oKAAAY ANYWAYS BACK TO AUSTRIAN MUSIC Ich Lebe by Christl Stürmer is also a Remus/wolfstar song now, because I said so.

sepp haT gesagT wir müssen alles anzünden is just pure chaos marauders vibes tell me I'm wrong.

okayyy back to remus Irgendwann bleib I dann dort by STS is also Remus. ANd Gö, du bleibst heut nacht bei mir is needy Remus in a werid fwb situation with remus or sth idk

ALso since I've given up any pretense of choosing things that make sense I also suggest 1001 Nacht is about wolfstar friends to lovers slowburn. YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE

Okay also I just wanted to add something by AnnenMayKantereit because why not, and I'm sure there are better songs but I decided on 21,22,23 purely because of the youth/death themes and bc Jily died at 21 and Remus and Sirius died in their mid-late thirties.

okay now i made myself sad i need one more nonsense answwer and then i'll post this glorious completely coherent masterpiece

I was going to go with LaFee for a tasteful last song but then spotify suggested Tokio Hotel and who am I to disagree?! you can't tell me angsty early 2000s german teenage werewolf remus lupin DIDN'T listen to them, I'm sorry but he really felt the lyrics of Durch den Monsun.

yeah idek what this is i'm sure it's EXACTLY what you expected (lol) uhm i blame the remus wine. Any thoughts on the playlist??

[poeticpains]

Alright. I've been chewing on the ETN movie news all day, and I think my thoughts are finally coherent enough to follow. I'll put it under a read more, mostly because it's probably going to be pretty negative and I don't wish to yuck anyone's yum.

First of all, I'll just say outright that I think including fans in the production of the movie is a bad idea. Allowing them to have cameos is, while still a little too close for comfort for me personally, one thing, but fully allowing fans to have directorial input on the season itself does not sound like it will end well in any way, shape, or form. What if they insist on a decision that Joey hates, but he does it anyways because they paid? Or what if Joey insists on a decision that they hate, and they wasted all that money?

I will be completely honest: do I want to be a part of the movie? Yes. Yes, 100%. I would love that. But that is not the question. The question is: would having me, a random 20-something with no professional film or writing experience, be involved with a movie be a good idea? And the answer to that is no.

(And I really don't want to hear about how this allows for us fans to have so-called representation. People with $350/$2,500/$3,000 just laying around do not represent me, and I'm sure that many of you feel the same way.)

Second of all, I am wary of anything that asks for funding with this little planning having gone into it. There is no cast list, no filming location, and contradictory statements on the nature of the movie itself. Is there even a script written? Is there even a story laid out? Joey has had four years to figure this out. And yeah, I know that I'm one to be talking about slow story writing, but the difference is that I'm not asking for $250,000 (at minimum!).

This is especially relevant when you consider the $3,000 donation tier and the promise of being in the movie as an extra. It says on the IGG account that it will be in the US, and yet the Twitter account says this:

I don't think I need to be the one to tell people that if you're US based and they end up filming in the UK, you're going to end up spending a lot more than $3,000 to simply get what you paid for.

This isn't me saying that I won't back it — I do plan to at one of the lower tiers, just to get the perks (I would be especially interested in the script). I'm just saying, as a friendly reminder, that it's basically akin to gambling, at this stage. Don't give them any amount of money that you're not prepared to lose entirely.

I know that a similar thing to this happened with the board game, and look how that turned out, in terms of fandom satisfaction. I don't know many people who actually enjoy that game; even I house rule a lot of it just to make playing it somewhat fun.

And finally, I really wish the Escape the Night Twitter account would get someone better suited to PR to handle their social media. It is wholly unprofessional and a terrible look for an organization that is allegedly trying to seek a place on one of the "traditional" streaming services to be getting into slapfights with people on their official account.

I realize that this post was pretty scathing, but I feel like it's deserved. I try not to be super negative on this blog, and avoid the worst of the drama, because I want my account to be a place of community. I just didn't want to ignore this.

I do have hope for the movie. I want it to happen, and I want it to be good. I want everyone to get what they paid for and be satisfied. I want to be able to get closure for Joey's story. (I want to see a 20 minute makeout scene between him and Matthew. With tongue! I'd give $350 for that!)

It seems that, at least for now, all we can do is hope.

[leqclerc]

I know sebchal is your main ship but have any others that you like?

Hello! 👋🏻

This is always a tricky question because I’m the type of person that gets ride or die invested in one particular thing that becomes a hyperfixation and then it consumes me and it’s all I think about day and night. And that’s Sebchal for me (still, even with how everything’s changed and how little content there is and how it’s probably heading towards a natural decline in terms of their product life cycle.)

The only F1 pairing that came close to that feeling for me was Brocedes between like 2015-2017. They were my first ship in this fandom, my gateway into RPF, and generally my biggest hyperfixation (until Sebchal). These days it kind of feels like that chapter is closed, like their story has sort of arrived at an organic conclusion (at least until there’s another Significant Moment that can be woven into the Tapestry of Lore) and that there’s not really anything new to add or explore through writing for example. But I do like to revisit old fics sometimes, especially the ones that were really significant for me (both my own writing as well as beloved fics by other authors). A lot of them stuck with me through the years, to the point where I will vaguely remember the plot or a very specific line from the fic or something. It was a time in this fandom that I look back on fondly. ❤️ Also shout-out to Hulkenrez 😭😭😭 This one feels very retro, most people probably don’t even remember their teammate days anymore, but that was a fun one!

Then there’s the “I like them but not necessarily romantically/not as an endgame pairing” tier. That would be Charles and Alex, Charles and Daniel, Sebastian and Daniel, and Charles and Pierre. Pretty self-explanatory, they’re intriguing options to explore but I don’t have it in me to be a multishipper (as in, shipping one character/driver with more than one person as an OTP) so to me they’re kind of interesting side options but not what I want in the long-term. If that makes sense? They’re not my first option but for example I wouldn’t mind getting gifted a fic/gifset/edit centered around them if someone really wasn’t vibing with Sebchal. That’s kind of where I’m at with these.

Followed by “I don’t ship really them but I totally get the appeal and will occasionally read fics about them if the writing floors me (affectionate)” and this tier features some surprises, including Carlos and Lando and Max and Daniel. I’m not up to date with the lore, I don’t necessarily go down rabbit holes, I probably can’t name Significant Moments off the top of my head, but I’m like, I get it. I’ve read fics about them and probably enjoyed them. It’s about as close to shipping as I can get ajsdkf

Honestly, most of the pairings for me fit into this category of like “no strong opinions either way.” They exist, I don’t really think about them all that often, maybe I will read a fic here or there if it’s really hitting for me, but they don’t rock my world, I probably don’t go looking for content/fics about them on purpose, but I won’t like die if I do come across them/engage with them.

No official tier for this one but I love a good rarepair!! Like if you wrote a Charles/Xavi fic (that doesn’t bash the other party obviously) I would be 👀 Mia/Britta?? Sure, why not!! Charles/Robert Lewandowski?? They do have reverse flags and this mf has been to F1 races in the past. I know Charles/Joris has been tentatively on the rise. Again, why not. Maurizio/Toto??? Hell I have written about them before, we love old men in love. 😤 They’re like fun little side quests or spin-offs from the main story. In conclusion: ✨Rarepairs✨

I started typing out this reply last night actually, but then you inspired me to actually try and coherently explain this via a visual medium, so I made a tier list absolutely no one asked for 😭🙈

TL;DR:

~check under the cut for the stuff I don’t like~

And finally. The lowest tier. The stuff I just can’t get on board with at all and probably have their tags filtered. And currently the main NOTP for me is Charles and Carlos.

I wasn’t really sure where to place Charles and Max, because they’re not quite on a Charles/Carlos level for me, but at the same time I don’t really vibe with it either? Although over the past year or so I’ve found one-sided unrequited Charles/Max (from Max’s side) might be my guilty pleasure. So they’re going a tier up because I can kind of work with it, while the NOTP is giving me nothing but negative feelings ajsdkfg

[catiuapavel]

With Tactics Ogre being remastered, I’m excited about my favourite game being made accessible on actually viable modern gaming platforms and I’m excited for new people to experience this incredible story.

That being said while I was initially eager to see more, I’m actually put off by what’s been shown so far.

Visually, it looks like a downgrade of the PSP version. People complain about the sprites and, fully zoomed in, I do think they look a little smudged, but I’m vastly more bothered by this completely tasteless decision to add bloom in everyone’s portrait like it’s the middle of summer and they’re looking directly at the sun (at least Hamilton is frowning appropriately). I think Masao Tsubasa’s art was perfectly fine as it was.

However I appreciate that they’re no longer cutting character portraits, I understand that the PSP screensize caused this but the new layout for dialogue boxes is very welcome nonetheless.

I also... do not like these outer-map environments that are just map artworks blurred out so they look like a mess of muddied colour. It’s weird because the sky gradients of the previous versions worked marginally better so to swap them out for something that doesn’t even look good doesn’t make any sense to me. 

It’s distracting to the eye and take away from the actual nice-looking maps.

These changes don’t make the game look awful, and I’ve seen worse in other Square Enix remasters, but it still looks like a visual downgrade of a 2010 game and that’s not really a good thing.

The far bigger offense: The voice acting. After Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy, I kind of knew what to expect the second I read “fully voiced cutscenes”. Horrid delivery of lines across the official trailer has comforted me in my stance against games having voice acting for the sake of listing it among their features regardless of quality.

Beside there are a few characters I have envisioned a specific voice for and I don’t want to be contradicted (starting with Lanselot Tartaros, rip to the dark low quiet voice you should have had)

As for the gameplay...

Alright so the apparent changes made to the gameplay are the only reason why I’m interested 

I don’t care for the change from the class-leveling system back to the unit-leveling system. I thought the class-leveling system was actually interesting and considering every post Tactics Ogre SRPGs that took inspiration from it all followed the leveling system of the original, I thought it was a nice change to experiment with a new one in the PSP remake.

I know this system was flawed because you’d have unique classes joining you in late game segments at lvl 1 and you had to grind for them to match your party but let’s be honest... if characters still join you at lvl 1 in the remaster, the problem will persist. So I hope the original system will be revised before being implemented. I’m not opposed to either system.

HOWEVER what I’m really excited about is

1. The removal of the “3 hearts before the death of your unit” system in favor of permadeath (granted you let your unit die after 3 turns without reviving)

2. The limited amount of items per character. This is an interesting mixture between the original SNES game that allows you only ONE item per battle (if you don’t choose an accessory in its place) and the PSP remake that lets you use any so long as you have them (and the skills to use the higher tiers). With the aforementioned permadeath, this means you can’t waste your limited amount of Blessing Stones and must pay close attention to your unit turns while keeping track of your item usage if you want to heal/revive/cleanse conditions.

(Pictured below: the SNES equipment slots. If you can take your eyes off the minicock, you can see the Heal item in the Item spot next to the character)

This is a very good compromise between the two in my opinion and I imagine this will enhance the difficulty in a way that’s not at all artificial and actually coherent with the game’s design!

3. The limited skillset + finishing moves replacing skills in the roster. With my experience of the game, this means building units for specific roles and consequently paying more attention my party formation while advancing through maps.

4. REGISTERED PARTY FORMATIONS???? Since it looks like units will have to be built for more specific roles, being able to save your different battle parties and select them easily before entering a fight is ideal. Considering the diversity of enemy types and environemental settings, I think this is a really interesting addition. 

So i’ve gone from excited to disappointed but cautiously intrigued. I’m not expecting any change or additions to the story and the art but I wouldn’t say no to:

1. Fixing the Obdilord family tree logic across Neutral and Chaos route. I understand why they did it but... No actually, I don’t understand. I know they consciously decided to make Nybeth have a separate family on Neutral and Chaos routes but I think this is far more confusing than not explaining it at all or just stating he has two wives and lives a double life (I mean he revived his wife in his daughter’s body just to see what would happen so this doesn’t seem too outlandish coming from him)

2. UNIQUE portraits for un-recruitable but memorable story bosses the likes of Hektor Didarro and Guacharo.

3. Fixing Andoras’ portrait (It’s not broken or anything, I just don’t like it. Every art of him for the remake as well as his SNES portrait are leagues above) (fixing =/= adding yellow lighting to it)

4. During an interview post PSP remake, the team mentioned they did pretty much everything they wanted with that release except maybe for an ambitious 3-routes split to chapter 4 for Denam, Catiua and Vyce... Well... I would have never known I wanted this had they never mentioned it but now that they’re remastering it, they simply have to bring this concept back (in the worst case I’ll settle for a full fledged Princess route diverging more than Lord route)

5. Recruitable Andoras - I know, I know, we already have a recruitable Dark Knight but I think they should make it so you can recruit BOTH but... not in the same timeline so you’d have to replay Lawful route twice or live with the consequences of your choice (but it HAS to be Lawful route, I insist)

6. Aging Arycelle up to at least 25 years old. Reading “19 years old” in the Warren Report always gives me whiplash.

[diana-skye]

Have 27 (more) One Shots

I made a one-shot rec list last year for my birthday, and since I cannot pass up any opportunity for tradition, I am doing it again!

The list turned out to be almost all rare pairs, totally unintentionally, which says something? I think? I don’t know what!

(The numbers are not rankings, I just needed a visual aid to count all the way to 27) (I am stretching the definition of one-shot to include anything under 20k)

Onward with the list!

1. When the Hurlyburly’s Done by @aibidil (Gen, 7k, T): I have yet to make a rec list without an Aibidil fic and who knows if I ever will! Their writing is always full of humour and heart and clever turns of phrase and this 8th year Goyle character study is no exception. It also forms the basis for my Official Goyle Headcanon™.

2. I have always lived in the castle by @pacific-rimbaud (Hermione & Tom, 3k, T): This story has spare, poetic prose that blew me out of the water. I remember thinking about it for ages after I read it. It’s something completely different and truly special.

3. 5,400 miles by @lqtraintracks (Ginny/Pansy, 2k, M): This Ginsy road trip fic will make you feel the summer heat even in the winter. It will make you feel like you know something about LA even though you’ve never been, and it will remind you that some broken things can still be fixed.

4. Longing by @scullymurphy (Remus/Fleur, 4k, M): I kept having to double check that this fic was what I was thinking of because even though it is pretty short, it feels longer in my mind? Scully does A Lot in under 5k here. There is a scene in a cabin in a rainstorm that I think about with an astonishing regularity.

5. Big Teeth Little Red by @pacific-rimbaud (Remus/Lavender, 4k, M): This charming, witty, sexy, Halloween-party themed fic is like a personal checklist for me. A library? An age difference? A Sirius/Ginny side pair? Check, check, check. Also, this + the above PR fic show such an incredible range and the reason why choosing a single one would have been impossible.

6. Hermione Granger’s Infinite Reading List by @hawksquill (Romione, 3k, T): As someone who convinced a friend to join Goodreads literally last week, and as someone who constantly buys books I don’t have time to read... I felt deeply seen by this. It is a super clever textfic full of amazing book titles and banter between all our favourite bffs.

7. Let’s Workshop This by @roseharpermaxwell (Dramione, 3k, M): Another one in which Hermione is all of us (i.e. writing smut during work hours). It also has all my favourite Dramione tropes (i.e. pining, coworkers, Draco in glasses), and is an absolute gem of a one-shot.

8. Old Enough - by @provocative-envy (Sirius/Ginny, 7k, M): Listen. I have been a PE fan for ages, and I sure as heck subscribe to her AO3 updates, and when I tell you that the noise I made when I got the email for this was inhuman, I mean it. My favourite niche pairing. A favourite writer. They get drunk together at a wedding. I cannot describe to you how that makes me feel in a way that is even remotely coherent. 

9. Dear Tom by @suliswrites (Ginny/Tom, 8k, E): This dark, sad, beautiful story is exceptional. Do check the tags, but it is absolutely a top-tier fic for this pairing - and for any pairing really.

10. A Beautiful Fool by @ladykenz347 (Hansy, 8k, M): This is a Hansy Gatsby AU. Need I say more? (It is deeply tragic and just a little bit hopeful and I positively adored it).

11. three knocks upon the door by @lunapwrites (Lily/Tonks, 6k, E): This is a stunningly written dark mystery. It was originally posted in Untagged Fest and as I recall, swept the awards (with good reason!). A true hidden gem.

12. The Ballad of Sir Sirius, the Brave but Dim by @bluestringpudding (Kreacher POV, 6k, G): A wonderfully absurd tale in which Kreacher, the squire for Sir Sirius, suffers greatly. Another spectacular Untagged Fest gem!

13. Shuffling the Cards of Fate by @ptwritesmore (Sirius/Sybill, 3k, M): This is the kind of premise where I see it, my eyes bug out of my head, and I open a tab at the speed of lighting. PT makes this unconventional pairing work with truly exceptional finesse.

14. The Christmas Gala by @catmintandthyme (Dramione, 4k, M): I loved this sweet, sad, special Christmas Cinderella retelling. And it has gorgeous embedded art!

15. Table for Two by maeshowers (Pansy/Sirius, 3k, E): Is it embarrassing to reference my love of the ‘getting drunk together at a wedding’ trope twice in a single rec list? Regardless, everyone in this is such a mess and I love it so much.

16. Things You Shouldn’t Do at Christmas by akissinacrisis (Hinny, 10k, E): A story about the way that some things are just inevitable. Another one full of the sort of messiness that I love so so much.

17. Fixer Upper by @provocative-envy (Pansy/Charlie, 10k, M): A Bakery AU featuring one of my favourite ever Charlies. Pansy & Charlie have so much chemistry and the writing is so great and I love it a lot. (Also there are sharks. All bakery AUs should include sharks.)

18. R. v. Riddle by devdevlin (Tomione, 18k, M): A muggle AU courtroom drama. It is creepy and complex and so well done.

19. The Hush of Waiting by victoria_p (Wolfstar, 7k, T): An older fic (2006!),  tragic in the way only Wolfstar can be. Stellar characterization and multiple lines that had me gasping out loud how beautiful they were.

20. Inferno - by @jadepresley (SECRET PAIRING!, 6k, M): This fic is so clever. The secret pairing is so, so good. A must read!

21. Beneath the Yew-Tree by BelladonnaLee (Tomarry, 3k, M): An off-brand pairing for me, but a very on-brand dose of gothic horror! Chillingly atmospheric.

22. break on me like light by epsilonargus (Sirius/Charlie, 6k, M): An inspired pairing. Top tier hurt/comfort vibes. A slow-burn within 6k. What more could I ask for, truly.

23. Smoke and Mirrors  by sophh (Bill/Pansy, 2k, T): A charming rom-com, featuring holiday parties, awkward situations and the start of something cute. An excellent dose of fluff!

24. Room Serviced by pir8fancier (Dramione, 6k, E): A classic! From 2004! I’m so glad I had this recc’d to me and got the chance to read it. Hoping I can pass the favour along! Angsty and messy, this is an excellent rendition of Dramione’s relationship.

25. Richard by @indreamsink (Dramione, 5k, M): A story about grief, second chances, and dragons. A highlight of this year’s DHr advent for me, with really lovely writing.

26. One Day / The Day by @icepower55 (Panville, 3k): I read this literally minutes ago and simply had to add it to the list! I loved this Panville - it really leans into the inherent conflict and difficulty of the two of them together, while still being an incredible love story.

27. Funny Little Feeling by DianaSkye (Harry/Tonks, 8k, E): I hope you’ll excuse an impertinent little self-rec for my birthday. I had such a fun time writing this story and I think it’s my favourite of my one-shots.

[pride-vns-blog]

LGBTQ VN Week: Day Four! (6/21)

Wow, we’re already at the fourth day of LGBTQ visual novel recommendations! You’ve probably seen this preface on previous parts of this list, but if you haven’t read my first post, that writeup’s “One note before we get started” section, explains more clearly what this list is and why I’m writing it!

Plenty of visual novels talk about sex and intimacy, so for today, I’ve set aside four with my personal favorite approaches to the topic — CODE:Phantasm’s 404 Error: Connection Not Found, parade’s No Thank You!!!, SugarScript’s Cute Demon Crashers, and Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: An Orc Dating Sim, plus a conversation with Mitch about his creative process on Tusks.

Head on in to hear about your little brother dyeing his hair pink, a truly inscrutable protagonist, freeloading demons playing Mario Kart, and inspirational Skyrim mods!

404 ERROR: CONNECTION NOT FOUND (CODE:PHANTASM)

Itchio Tagline: “Sometimes connecting to others is harder than loneliness.” Genre(s): Slice of life; drama. Release Date: July 30th, 2017 (demo); TBA (full version). Content Warnings: Text-only depiction of sex and sex work; adult content.

404 Error: Connection Not Found is the story of Ren Matsuura, a camboy who ran away from home after turning eighteen and supports himself financially through camming — but thanks to his agoraphobia and general anxiety, he rarely goes outside, to the point that he’s pared all his social connections down to casual conversations with his clients and lying to his younger brother Haru about what he does for a living. When his brother decides to come visit for the first time since Ren moved out, Ren is forced to confront the fact that his guilt and shame have driven him into a corner with no support system. In the span of the demo, he starts to try and reach out to the clients he has a more regular relationship with to prepare him for Haru’s eventual visit, ending on a cliffhanger that seems to be leading directly into the plotline of the main story.

This visual novel’s demo is the shortest of all the stories on my entire list, to my knowledge, but it’s also the most memorable demo I’ve played in a long, long while. As someone who’s had to contend with similar mental illnesses in the past — paranoia and agoraphobia unsurprisingly have a pretty high degree of comorbidity! — I felt like Ren’s slow struggle to make progress for the sake of his younger brother was written sincerely, thoughtfully, and believably in the timespan of a single demo playthrough. Ren can be funny, when he’s not spiraling internally, and his rocky progress at trying to talk to others more honestly is loaded with plenty of funny jokes and quips about his takes on things. He’s a sympathetic, well-rounded protagonist who comes across strongly in the demo alone, and I ended up really rooting for him to make it to a place where he was happier with his life.

There’s another aspect to the story that I ended up really liking, too: the fact that sex work, especially jobs like camming, can be extremely common among LGBTQ people who can’t support themselves financially in other ways. Ren can’t go outside and can’t interact with many people without severe, earth-shattering anxiety attacks (a few of which we see in the demo!), so this job is what he’s got. It’s a job that’s sustained him for years, and although it’s certainly fed into his own relative isolation, 404 Error seemed to walk that careful balance of making it explicit that it’s Ren’s own lack of steady support for his mental illness instead of the simple fact that he does sex work that causes his interpersonal problems. I’m optimistic about the remainder of the story’s handling of those kinds of things, too, because what was present in the demo was sympathetic and sincere! There’s not very many sex workers or camgirls/camboys in visual novels outside of an extremely tiny handful, let ones alone in conjunction to stories that acknowledge of the way LGBTQ people as a whole can struggle with more convential jobs, so Ren’s genuinely empathetic personality and the hope I have for his future makes me excited to see where CODE:Phantasm takes 404 Error from here.

404 Error: Connection Not Found’s free Yaoi Game Jam demo is available now, and you can follow the CODE:Phantasm team on Itch.io, Twitter, or Tumblr to stay updated on their progress with Ren’s story.

NO THANK YOU!!! (PARADE)

MangaGamer Tagline: “This summer vacation begins with a car accident...” Genre(s): Comedy; drama; mystery. Release Date: June 28, 2013 (Japanese); February 27, 2015 (English).  Content Warnings: Adult content; multiple sex scenes; frequent sexual harassment; blood; drugs; violence; death.

Right off the bat, I think parade’s debut visual novel (as a studio, at least) does a lot of interesting things and definitely seems to be aiming high with creating distinct, memorable stories. The art in No Thank You!!! is gorgeous, its voice acting is top-tier, a lot of the side characters are compelling even beyond the space or role the narrative gives them, and the love interests alone are all fully-realized characters with interesting stories. Romance option Ryu’s route, in particular, fleshes out the larger sense of mystery and the other characters to an astounding degree! That’s to say nothing of the most unique mechanic — which I mostly call the NTY!!! button — that offers you the chance to say “no thank you” in a variety of scenes without always telling you what it is you’re saying that to. It’s occasionally a little too easy to guess, but at certain points I ended up lulled into a false sense of security with that easiness that the game was all too ready to take advantage of with a much less obvious choice.

One of the sticking points with No Thank You!!! that I’ve seen other players express, on the other hand, is the way protagonist Haru is written. That’s not to say his writing specifically is bad — parade clearly had a vision in mind for Haru’s personality, and from his sketchy beginnings to his clearer end, he’s a coherent character with a consistent narrative. While the crux of the story is more insight into Haru, where he came from, and what the truth behind all those mysteries might be, though, Haru’s behavior still underpins a lot of what drives the romance routes forward. And his behavior... The official quote on his personality, “[s]exual harassment is an everyday activity for him,” can at times seem like it’s underselling exactly how often he tries to grab an ass. It’s no surprise that a fair few other players I’ve seen have walked away with pretty strong opinions on Haru as a character. (I’m personally not a huge fan.)

But to me, a divisive protagonist who you don’t actually fully understand as a character — Haru’s thoughts on a lot of key things are far less accessible than the likes of Aoba Seragaki or most Western M/M protagonists, which leaves you knowing most of his thoughts or feelings via his interactions from others — seems to go perfectly hand-in-hand with the way the visual novel as a whole operates. No Thank You!!! puts you at a distance by Haru’s viewpoint being occasionally “indecipherable” (to use the official phrasing), and then it throws you further with its sometimes-unpredictable NTY!!! button mechanic, but the strength of its other individual pieces taken together still sold me on it as both a solid set of mystery stories and an 18+ dating sim.

Also I really like Maki.

No Thank You!!! is available for a sale price of $19.95 on MangaGamer’s store (18+), and you can read more about parade’s story and characters on MangaGamer’s designated No Thank You!!! page (also 18+).

CUTE DEMON CRASHERS (SUGARSCRIPT)

Itchio Tagline: “A short and silly consent-friendly and sex-positive VN!” Genre(s): Modern fantasy. Release Date: April 7th, 2015 (Mirari and Akki’s routes); August 15th, 2015 (full version). Content Warnings: Multiple sex scenes; detailed uncensored nudity.

I don’t think I could sum up Cute Demon Crashers better than the Itch.io tagline does — it’s short, it’s hilarious, and it’s got an emphasis on consent that meshes perfectly with its goofy “a bunch of incubi and one succubus come to the mortal realm to have sex” plot. The characters are all charming and fit perfectly into its universe, with distinct personalities that come across clearly without ever feeling hamfisted in the limited time that the script lets you spend with them. Although this isn’t necessarily a romance game, especially given that incubi and succubi are “closer to what people know of as aromantic” according to the SugarScript FAQ, its cute, thoughtful writing and adorable design in everything from the characters to the user interface mean that there’s plenty of love infused in every aspect of Cute Demon Crashers.

Like yesterday’s We Know The Devil, Cute Demon Crashers is one of those visual novels with a distinct, memorable mechanic that almost placed it squarely in Tuesday’s creative design list. Cute Demon Crashers is one of the first visual novels — or, by my experience, the first altogether — to implement a mechanic specifically themed around stopping in the middle of sex. If you’re ever uncomfortable or you just plain want the scene to end, you can hit a button and protagonist Claire will talk with her partner to bring things to a close. (There’s also an option to just plain old not have sex with any of them, and spending time with the characters!) A lot of the dialogue in these scenes in particular is thoughtful, nuanced, and reads to me as being a pretty realistic depiction of how someone like Claire might ask those questions or express those kinds of concerns. 

The way Cute Demon Crashers handles intimacy and sexuality, by another measure, is one of those things that I think has also had a not-insignificant impact on the visual novel community as a whole; I’ve seen a fair number of people who’ve apparently never enjoyed an 18+ dating sim before talk about how its portrayal of sex resonated with them or brought them some measure of comfort. Because of the SugarScript team’s relative investment in the English-language visual novel scene as a whole, too — this project was born out of NaNoRenO and I’ve seen them promote development forum hub LemmaSoft or other small visual novels more than once — the compassion for the player that’s written into every aspect of Cute Demon Crashers seems to extend naturally to everyone else around the team in real life, which is something extremely special.

The entirety of Cute Demon Crashers is available now for free, and you can find out more information on its upcoming sequel (Cute Demon Crashers: Side B) on the SugarScript Twitter, Tumblr, and Itch.io!

Itchio Tagline: “GAY ORCS available in YOUR AREA.” Genre(s): Romance; fantasy; community building. Release Date: July 18th, 2015 (First Day demo); January 1st, 2018 (FUARLANG/full main story); TBA (individual route endings). Content Warnings: Adult content; sex; mentions of violence.

Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim, from head to toe, is one of my favorite depictions of sex and intimacy in video games — and with every gradual update, especially the most recent FUARLANG build that finished out the mai storyline, I’ve only become more sure of that. There’s an endearingly genuine quality to its art, character dialogue, and even in things like the NPC autonomy feature, where your companions have just as many chances to sway things like group votes or decide who’s on watch as you would without NPC autonomy being enabled. 

Interested to hear Mitch talk a little bit about his design process and the inspiration behind Tusks, I got in touch and asked him a few questions!

Thanks for taking the time for an interview, Mitch! While the title might be fairly self-explanatory, haha, how would you outline Tusks: An Orc Dating Sim in more detail to somebody new?

Tusks is a visual novel where the player joins a group at an annual orcish gathering, in a forest at the edge of a semi-mythical version of Scotland, and you then travel with this new found family and get to know them better. Most of the game is your group getting into adventures, talking to them one-on-one at camp at nighttime, and making decisions about how to go about your travels. The game's cast are all queer, and the game itself is an exploration of queer identity, community, history, and our relationship with the idea of monstrosity/Otherness.

I think it's fair to say that Tusks, as well as your larger body of work, deals a lot with intimacy and sexuality, especially the intersection between those two things; this is probably a question you've thought over yourself a fair bit, but what in particular interests you about those topics that drives you to explore them in Tusks and your other work?

Part of it is the fact that intimacy and sexuality are areas that can be massively important to queer people (especially since many of us are marginalised as a result of our sexuality being seen as deviant) but there aren't a lot of mainstream sources that play with intimacy and sexuality in relevant ways. And part of it is just because exploring sexuality for its own sake can be fun as well!

Definitely! There's always room for more fun with depictions of sexuality, haha. The premise for an all-orc dating sim is definitely a memorable one, and one you've fleshed out incredibly well with the thoughtfulness of your worldbuilding and character dynamics. What was the original inspiration that you built Tusks on, and what helped carry you across the finishing line of completing (for the most part) its story?

It was a lot of different threads coming together: I'd been playing a modded Skyrim save with an orc character who, in my head, was gay and had left his stronghold so to find other orcs like him and establish his own wee found family. That happened at the same time as me finding out about the NaNoReNo visual novel game jam, plus wanting to work on a game that actually put queer characters and discussions first and foremost rather than us just being a token presentation.

As for what carried me through, there was lots of things: the excitement of getting to tell stories that you just don't see in mainstream games, getting amazing feedback from players, and then at the end when I released the full main story on New Years', it was sheer bloody-mindedness.

There's a fair few interesting mechanics in Tusks, especially with regards to NPC autonomy; can you share a little bit of insight on why you decided to include those and how they function in the code?

NPC autonomy's a small but effective way of just slightly upsetting this idea that in visual novels, the player character gets to make all the decisions -- it automatically puts you in a decision-making leader role, and it's up to the writer then to narratively justify that -- which can be difficult if you're wanting to tell a story about a group of equal partners. So instead, NPC autonomy lets characters vote on things or lets characters potentially turn you down for romantic encounters.

It's an optional feature, so it's possible to play the game without it being on -- it just slightly changes the flow of the story and makes it seem a tad-bit more like you're part of a collective, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes sense! I think my playthroughs where NPC autonomy was on were definitely more interesting, by and large, because it really does add a lot to that sense of cooperation and community.

If you had to pick just one, what non-human (and non-orc) creature do you think more people should appreciate?

I'm really interested in exploring things with strong mythological connotations like minotaurs, since they're surrounded by particular ideas like labyrinths, being half-human and half-animal. I'd also really like to see someone explore the monstrousness of hags from [Dungeons and Dragons], because I think there's probably a way to talk about them and explore their relationships to femininity, presentation, glamour magick, witchcraft, and power.

Good choices! Those are both definitely really interesting ones. To wrap things up, are there any LGBTQ visual novels from other developers that you'd like to recommend?

I'd recommend checking out The Bitter Drop, by Isak Grozny; Ladykiller in a Bind by Christine Love, and We Know the Devil by Date Nighto!

Perfect! It's been a pleasure talking to you, Mitch, and I'm looking forward to your future projects.

Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim is available now for a reverse-sale price of $2.02, and you can support Mitch Alexander’s work on Patreon or follow his “nonsense” on Twitter and fully-released work on Itch.io!

[scifimagpie]

In and Out of the Closet: A Fat Girl's Personal Style Journey

Content warning: this article deals with body image issues that may be triggering for some readers. Discretion is advised.

I am a member of the Disney Generation. This is hardly a revolutionary claim or point to make, but for a fat femme girl, who's also bisexual, it comes with invisible baggage and fears.

Full skirts, improbably round breasts, delicate waists, paneled gowns, shimmering fabric, vibrant colours, and jewels shaped my idea of not only desire, but also royalty. Studying history from a young age, I saw rich fabrics, precious treasures, embroidered and lined gowns, and I admired it. Drawing endless pictures of dresses and gowns, often with surprise cut-aways and deep decolletage, I both desired them and wanted to be them. Formal garb was both my ambition and my most secret hope, but it was also something I believe impossible for myself.

Fat girl life

My mother's body image issues left a deep impact on me, and readily transferred over to my own. I had always been sort of tall, but wished I was taller. Hating my muscles and fat, seeing the curves as proof of a lack of fitness - I didn't grow up within a corset, or with bound feet, but the cage and constant pressure of the BMI chart was just as strangling and hobbling.

In the 90s and 2000s, flatness and muscle and bones were the beauty ideal. I used to daydream about surgery and liposuction and waking up with a body that moved, looked, and felt different. For years, I tried to get by on 1000, 1200, or whatever number of calories per day would work - inevitably failing when encountering food, of course, or when sabotaged by my mother, who'd encourage me to 'live a little' and eat a salty or sweet treat, caving in to her own cravings. But soon, it'd be back on the wheel of nagging to exercise, not for the joy of movement, but to deal with the shame of my flawed body.

 In this way, I spent my teens and a good portion of my twenties - trying different techniques to shed stubborn pounds that were as good as nailed to my flesh - due, unbeknownst to me to hormonal imbalances. I learned to like certain things, and aspired to climb buildings and corners and walls and roofs, assuming that only by losing weight could I attain those literal high hopes.

At the same time, in the back of my mind, fashion and clothes I liked were often weighty. Elegant layers, oversized cuts, voluminous skirts, corsets swooping in to hug a waist I didn't think I had - these were things I associated not with femininity alone, but with being regal, imperious, and respected. Later, I became intrigued by swooping, voluminous clothes - Jedi robes, Amidala's gowns, even oversized boxy cuts in music videos. Finding ways to mingle these elements with layers has led to an unexpected but perfect style intersection for me.

#outfit #selfie #clinic #spoonielife

A post shared by SciFiMagpie (@scifimagpie) on Aug 23, 2017 at 2:39pm PDT

I stopped confining myself to things I 'could wear', and started experimenting with revealing my skin, taking inspiration from slimmer models as necessary and trying out a variety of looks. Overly modest circle skirts, sarongs with jeans underneath, a million skin-tight black turtlenecks, black and white tiered skirts, fishnets and lacy patterned tights, steampunk leather corsets, knitted sweaters and business-like skirts. Eventually, I achieved a more defined and coherent look, featuring cocoon sweaters, leggy wrap dresses, layered corset-cut vests, flowing circle skirts, and oversized scarves - where I'm at these days. Older style elements make their way into clothes, but I dress with more deliberation, strategy, and joy these days, not seeking to hide my shameful corpse under oversized tie-dye t-shirts and baggy jeans or in ill-fitting and suiting button-up shirts.

The personal is political - pencil skirts included

I've hit a point where I can not only incorporate a variety of influences, but I receive social praise for my skills in doing so. I've begin to feel like I inhabit my own body, that it is not broken, ugly, or in need of repair. The vibrant body-positivity movement has helped this immensely. Then I saw this.

At first, I simply ignored it, because I didn't understand it and couldn't relate to it. But after talking about it with a friend, a sort of Pod People-like realisation snapped over me, and I considered that yes, most fat women ARE dressing according to this code. Pretend it's 1950 or face a return to the same old standards and shames. In my retail days, I had to wear carefully coiffed and chosen outfits and makeup, while my very tall, slim manager wore pilling sweaters and got not a word of criticism about it.

Chatting with my friend Katie de Long, who is also both a ferocious feminist and enthusiastic fashionista, I was dismayed and alarmed by the through-line of this pattern. In her words [edited slightly to remove my part of the conversation],

"...There are societal biases that make it MORE needed for fat women to prove their femininity.

No one ever thinks of the "hot curvy girl" as being draped in loose, structural clothes.

They see her va-va-vooming in a waist-training corset and full face of makeup. Anything that "erases" the figure or the curves is seen as undesireable, even if it fits properly and is well-tailored.

I think another thing is that plus sized women are trained to hide their size. We see Christina Hendricks or Amy Schumer's curves as being desireable.... so long as they're in a close-fitting pencil dress.

But I do admit I'm pretty prey to that shit too. I avoid wearing loose clothes, wear things too tight rather than too lose.... and get really sexual, lots of cleavage, short skirts, slit-up-to-there, etc. I love exaggerated shapes. So I've always hated really drapey clothes, or close-fitting clothes that don't highlight the figure (fuck you, leggings).

Plus, and I know this is victim-blamey, my first semester of college featured a police officer advising the girls in the freshman class to NOT wear loose clothes because it's easier for a rapist to get them off, even without scissors.

So for me, when I wear loose clothes, I have really nasty panic attacks about the idea of someone peeling them off me without my consent. When I wear tight clothes, I feel confident, that they'll have to use scissors, which is more likely to give me an opportunity to either get away, or seize the scissors and take out an eye. As well, my style's fuckyou femme, so for me [as a rape survivor], I feel like my gender and the violence I've suffered because of it is erased when I put on loose, minimalist designs."

What to wear?

At the end of the day, even though clothing choices are fraught with danger and hidden signalling that can be hard to understand, finding a way to express oneself through attire can be very important. From talking to my nonbinary "enby" friends, I've gotten even more insight into this. What strikes me as funny and maybe even uplifting is that my experiences with feminism and trauma have taken me in a circle. Instead of pretending to be a man, or having no identity at all, or seeing my childhood dreams as unattainable, I've been able to make my innermost desires come true.

There's an old saw idea that feminists are ugly, hairy, unconventionally feminine, fat, and basically undesireable. But taking back a sense of inner worth has given me the tools to fight my inner ugliness, wear makeup without feeling as though I'm faking something, and stop hiding my inner exuberance. There is freedom in ugliness and invisibility, and a merit to reclaiming or defying constraints - but at least for me, there is more joy in this new, permissive ground.

Ultimately, I hope that my experiences can make people feel a little better about their own secret desires and hopes. A lot of hay has been made about how 'style has no size', but there's still fierce debate about 'who can wear what'. But simply wearing what one wants isn't as easy as it sounds, and takes time. If you need it, take this as official permission to try out that thing, regardless of your gender. You are not 'too old' or 'too fat' or 'too thin'.

You are enough.

And it's okay if it doesn't look right at first. What matters is that your clothing expresses who you want to be.

Additional reading:

A Nigerian designer using fashion and style to explore feminism and self-expression

Information about the cost of existing in a female body and/or having periods and breasts

The ways we judge women and how it affects their careers *** Thanks for returning to the nest. Leave a comment and say hi! I want to hear from you. Keep up with the new releases by getting on the mailing list. Buy my books on Amazon, and keep up with me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and the original blog. This is the one and only SciFiMagpie, over and out!

[aurimeanswind]

Sunday Chats—Furious Edition (4-9-17)

Here I am, in a post Fast 5, Fast and Furious 6, and Furious 7 world. I guess let’s talk about it.

Relaxing Sunday & Your Name

To kick things off, today was the first Sunday I officially had off from work since Christmas. I had missed a couple here and there, but it was either because I was sick or because of PAX. So this was the real deal. I mean, I should take some weekends off every now and again, but I never do. I almost always work Saturday and Sunday, and it is pretty killer. Sunday is my favorite day of the week, thus me sharing it with all you lovely readers.

So I kicked off my Sunday getting up early and going to a nice matinee. I had heard good things about Your Name, an anime ass anime movie, and I’m still hungering for romance (as always) so I made the time to go see it.

I really enjoyed it. Above all else, the film is astoundingly gorgeous. Some of the best drawn settings I think I have ever seen in a Japanese animation. The landscapes especially legitimately blew my away. It’s a love story between two young folks, a boy and girl, who keep switching bodies when they go to sleep. The premise is really cool, and they make it cute and wonderful in all the right places, and there were twists, which in general I didn’t expect. But there were aspects of it that were frustratingly long to come to fruition. For me, this tactic usually works very well, but it was just the pacing and the way the two characters were introduced that was very confusing or just not to my liking. In the end, I just needed those romantic feels, and I feel like I never fully got that payoff. The way it goes is something that I’ve seen a great deal in anime, and has worked for me in others (see: Waiting in the Summer) but I just don’t think there was enough of that relationship.

I still really liked it, and feel it was a well told story. It was Ghibli-eqsue, but more grounded, so worth a look

Fast and Furious I guess...

Okay I’ll talk about Fast and Furious.

I have been really hesitant to get into these because it’s y’know... cars. I don’t like cars. I like speed and action that involves cars, but the focus on cars usually gets away from me. And the focus around them was definitely my least favorite part about the three F&F movies I watched. I thought Fast 5 was by far the weakest, and I’m not sure why it’s regarded as the best. The intro was too long, and the big set piece scene of dragging the safe around, which was awesome, just went on for waaaaaay too long.

It was still a ton of fun though. Way more love for Gal Gadot because of her role in Fast 5 and 6. She was super cool, and one of my favorite of the team members. The assembling the team, the heist prep, the running from Rock-Cop, all of that worked for me, but I just felt there was more of it and it was better in F&F6.

I mean, Fast and Furious 6, as I was explaining to a friend earlier, is top-tier because of this incredible scene alone:

But 6 really just hit the ground running and never stopped. The London chase scene, the fucking tank, it was all so good.

Oh and this:

And Furious 7 was really great too. It was maybe too much for me because I was so fucking tired watching it I was falling asleep, but these movies are incredibly exhausting, to be fair. 

I appreciated multiple set pieces in Furious 7, instead of hanging on just one. Also to be fair: 6 had a bunch of great set pieces, but there were like six in Furious 7. It was fucking nuts.

I enjoyed them a ton, Fast and Furious 6 is like, far and away the best one to me, and maybe I’ll go see Fate of the 8. I don’t know. 

BUT THERE. I WATCHED THREE OF THEM. I SAW THE FIRST ONE A LONG TIME AGO. LEAVE ME ALONE JOEY NOELLE.

What’s on Tap

Since it’s just Persona 5 still, I’ll talk a bit more about it. I am about 55-60 hours in now, and I feel like maybe I’m halfway through? Maybe more.

LOVING IT. Literally everything about it is incredible and feels almost hand-made for me. It’s difficult for me to not be hyperbolic about it when I start thinking about it, but it’s also difficult for me to nail down what’s really all that great about it when I’m not in it and playing it. Like, a couple days removed form the last time I played it, I’m sitting here thinking, “well, is it really that good?” and that’s because I need to hold this to the highest of judgement. I can’t just say it’s better than Persona 4 Golden and mark it as my new #1 and be done, I need to be thorough here. As soon as I am a couple hours into my next play session, I’ll be head over heels again. I dream about it. I think about it always. I couldn’t even tell you why right now because it’s all hazy. The game is just that good.

We talked about it a ton of the podcast last night, and I think we had a really great discussion. All the new mechanics, all of the enhancements, they show a team they just really gets their fans, their fanbase, and also understand their own shortcomings. They poured their heart and soul into this game, and did it both for themselves, but also for a fanbase they clearly care a great deal about. I don’t think I’ve seen a developer outside of Naughty Dog so in tune with what their fan base wants even better than I, as a massive fan of theirs, could have imagined.

Again, I’m sure its hyperbolic, but the game makes me emotional, gives me chills and misty eyes in all the right places, and as I’m still very much in it, it’s hard for me to write coherently about it. I don’t even know how I feel about it right now, especially considering I’ve hit such massive moments of intrigue just where I last left off. I can’t wait to see more.

Oh and we’re giving away a copy of Persona 5 on Irrational Passions Podcast! If you are in the UNITED STATES ONLY you can tweet @IrrationalPod on Twitter with the #PersonaQ with one thing you think looks cool about Persona 5 and enter a chance to win a steel book copy of the game!

Questions:

I feel like I conveyed my feelings on the series pretty well, but here are some other highlights:

When the Rock drops the Eff-Bomb almost right after he first appears in Fast 5 is great.

When the Rock throws that guy around the interrogation room.

When Vin Diesel just LIFTS A CAR AND NO ONE QUESTIONS IT?!?!

The Paul Walker tribute was quite good.

The idea of Vin Diesel consistently having superhuman abilities is just generally really funny to me.

All the set pieces. The London chase may have been my favorite.

The movies are good, sometimes great, not amazing. But I’m glad I watched them.

There are so many. Morganna in your bag is a great call out. Watching the character’s faces change in scenes is actually really great. Ryuji’s reactions are great, and so are another character that you see later, that I’ll refrain from going into. All the touches and attention to detail in the Metaverse.

That one they drove from one building, to another building, TO ANOTHER FUCKING BUILDING.

I am 55-ish hours in. I don’t really like comparing the characters to other Persona characters. I fell in the same trap from 3 to 4. And I know these games are going to get a lot of comparisons, but honestly they are so different. It’s not as fair to the characters, specifically, to keep going back and forth comparing them. I think the way they develop those characters merits comparison, but maybe not the people themselves.

As for the best girl stuff... Listen, I honestly really fucking hated where all of the “best girl” “my waifu” bullshit with Persona 4 went. Not just because I think I got the brunt of it being a huge fan of Rise, but there is this weird ownership/dismissiveness to it. Like, I totally get, respect, and love the reasons people loved Chie, or Yukiko. I think by saying someone is best, even in a joking manner, because it all starts jokingly, can be a bit dismissive to other folks, and that was the stuff I really hated about the Persona 4 discussions I got dragged into. When people shit on Rise, who I legitimately  love, again, my favorite video game character of all time, it honest to god hurts and offends me. Sure I’m probably being too sensitive, but Persona should be personal, it should feel incredibly close to your heart, that’s what that series is asking of the player and what its going for, so I want to really set a precedent for that going forward. Lead by example or whatever, and not make this some bullshit arbitrary competition.

I know that was way more agro a response than you were probably expecting Jacob, and sorry to get all intense there. Currently I have not chosen a love interest in my own personal story, and still have one female companion left to join the party (going off boxart alone, and what I’ve seen in the story) so I am waiting to get to know her. I’ll say this: my feelings are confused and all over the place. Figuring out where I land will be very hard.

Well, and I tweeted about it this week, I did apply for a recent editor position. This is probably my 6th or so application. In all fairness, this and my last one were probably my strongest, with the ones before being far more disorganized, but yeah. I tweeted saying “please stop asking me about it” in a (mostly) joking way, but I think it came across as a little rude. I obviously incredibly super appreciate all the support and notifications that came through from folks saying that the job listing was up and I should apply. I got a text almost the moment it went up from a friend letting me know I should apply. I’m humbled so many folks believe I’m qualified.

I just also know the reality that choosing from local San Francisco people as well as their own freelance pool will absolutely come first. I’m in neither of those camps, so it’s pretty much already shipped. And I do know these things, I’ve heard stories, I’ve poured my heart and soul into these applications before, and I’ve never once even gotten a call or email. I’m not trying to be pessimistic or dismissive, just want to set the proper expectation.

Thank you all so much for your support. I’m too lucky to have you all cheering me on.

Haha Persona games like really big long supernatural mystery novels! They massive page turners, which leans right into the mechanic of it being a day-by-day progression!

I’ll say this Logan, and you’re gonna love it when you get to it, but the characters are very smart. They sit down and have big discussions and conversations asking each other the same questions you ask yourself while playing, and even come to realizations you yourself may not have gotten too. Especially where I am at in the story, there is a kind of secondary mystery going on that is perplexing both me and my gang of misfits, and the conversations surrounding that mystery or thorough, explored, and just super well done.

Fuck. This game is so good.

EPCOT is super cool! For me, I’ve never really been there as an adult, and it only gets better then. I mean honestly, just walking around the World Showcase is super cool. There is food from a bunch of different places, beer and alcohol from there as well (if you’re into that Harold). I really liked Mission Space, but it’s pretty intense, I don’t know if you’d like it. They have a Green version that’s not super motion-y so you may have fun with that.

I really loved the Ellen/Bill Nye ride there, but apparently that’s gone now. Otherwise, just enjoy the setting, enjoy the food! It’s probably the most fun park to just look at, in my opinion. Oh, and the spaceship Earth ride is a classic!

I did not, but it was definitely immensely sad. It gave me a greater appreciation for Paul Walker and his work. They were running a promo on the Xbox Video Store, where I rented all the movies from, where a portion of the proceeds went to the charity foundation that Paul Walker helped start, so that’s good.

I don’t know... Like, probably the characters that just feel like big copies of the other universe’s characters. Like Firestorm feels like a cheap human torch. I know he isn’t and Firestorm probably came first or whatever, but one character just never felt as interesting to me.

I don’t think there is a standout disaster comic book character for me though.

How about all the characters from The Walking Dead, even though I’ve never read the comic and just really hate the show now.

Like a lot.

When I want to. When it’s time.

I had to look this up because I had no idea what it was. Seems silly and dumb. Roger Pokorny tweeted this out at some point this past week, and I thought it was fucking hilarious:

I believe it’s edited, but it’s still so fucking funny.

The Rock is so great. I realized this week that I don’t think I had ever actually watched a movie with him in it. Like, Moana does not have him physically in it, even though he is so good in it. But yeah, he is really the thing that pushed me over the edge to watch them. And Joey Noelle’s borderline harassment. 

And the safe dragging was great, just went on for too long.

Yeesh. I don’t know. I’m probably living my biggest regret, and it’s probably in regards to finding love.

But really, I don’t know. Taking as long as I did to finish school? Getting sick in high school? I have a lot. Many my closest friends would say were “out of my control” but... That lingering responsibility really messed me up.

This is a great questions! Beignets is the answer. There was this local restaurant near me that only served beignets during their Sunday brunch, and they were so fucking good. It was the only thing that could get me to tear my ass out of bed on the weekend back when I was in grade school.

Then, suddenly, THEY STOPPED SERVING THEM. And literally no good reason was given. I know I could just go to New Orleans and get beignets any day of the week, but i don’t have that power or capability!

Ahg. Still makes me so mad to this day.

Shoutouts

Shout out to P Studio, for taking my heart.

Again.

That’s all I got. Sorry for the shitty shoutout this week, but I am tired from all my furiousness. 

I’m gonna go crash now. Love you all. Love your support.

keep it real.

[operationrainfall]

Title EARTHLOCK Developer Snowcastle Games Publisher Snowcastle Games Release Date March 8th, 2018 Genre RPG Platform PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, XBox One Age Rating E for Everyone – Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood Official Website

EARTHLOCK might seem like a strange choice after my last RPG review. After all, it was also crowdfunded and developed by a small indie group, so it might seem as though I was stepping into a trap once more. But I’m nothing if not an optimist, so I decided to give EARTHLOCK a shot. It’s actually been on my radar for a while, ever since I saw it listed on Steam and Wii U as Earthlock: Festival of Magic. Turns out it’s a good thing I waited, since this is the most complete version of the game. The question is, was this indie RPG worth the wait? Or should I have left it on my wishlist?

It’s quite evident early on that EARTHLOCK was inspired by RPGs of yore. Several of the typical tropes can quickly be checked off. Mysterious energy source providing magical creatures? Check. Sinister forces at play trying to take over or destroy the world? Check. Band of merry miscreants brought together in common cause? Double check. Honestly the plot is the least interesting thing about the game, despite dropping you into a compelling and rich world. But that’s not to say it’s necessarily a bad thing. Much like Legrand Legacy, EARTHLOCK is more of a loving tribute to the games of our past than just trying to cash in on our nostalgia.

If only you were playable, sweet Frogboy…

One of the things I like most about the game is how well streamlined many aspects of it are. Ranging from the combat, the exploration, the side quests and the crafting, every major part of the game is easy to implement and typically easy to understand. Take crafting, for example. So long as you have a recipe and the right ingredients, you can turn them into new weapons, items and other goodies. Most important are Harvesting seeds, which your lovable bookish Hogbunny Gnart specializes in. By watering plants grown on Plumpet Island or in pots found in cities, you will have more than enough raw ingredients to craft the majority of your healing items, which has the upside of you rarely needing to spend money in stores.

Side quests are as simple as talking to someone to generate them, satisfying their request and then reporting back. While many of them are simple fetch quests and hunting trips, they still provide good experience and other rewards. Best of all, the game makes use of mysterious froggy Onurasi statues to offer a way to warp back to the HUB area of Plumpet Island. It flows like delicately interconnected clockwork, and the upside is that you’ll always know what you’re supposed to be doing, though you are given leeway to wander about.

You can grow nearly all the ingredients you need from your beautiful garden.

Like many classic RPGs, there is a varied cast of characters, and for the most part the tone of the game is whimsical and somewhat laid back. You’ll eventually recruit a group of six very different characters, all with their own personality quirks and distinct combat utility. While part of me does feel there was a missed opportunity not allowing characters to change into different classes and thus offer more replay value, the variety here is still appreciated. That is especially true because each character has two different stances they can alternate between in battle, which provide very dynamic combat options. For example, your thief Amon can steal and poison or switch to a gun-toting stance, which allows him to hit high-flying foes. Another example is Taika, your loyal stormdog who can use elemental breath attacks in one stance and protect the entire team from the elements in another. You can probably tell there’s a lot of nuance in combat, and that’s one of the things I most enjoyed about the game.

Much as I liked the combat, this boss was a giant pain in the ass until I found the Cloak Talents.

One thing the game does differently is the use of Bonds between characters. You can go into battle with two pairs of characters. As they fight together, their Bond will increase, unlocking passive perks (such as immunity from poison or increased critical attack chances) as well as additional Talent Points (more on that later). Each pairing provides different benefits, so it’s in your best interest to constantly change up your teams, since you’ll never know what the next battle may require, especially the boss battles. That Bond is also used for your Super moves, which are essentially powered up versions of their regular attacks that hit multiple targets. While I may have been a bit underwhelmed by the Supers lack of visual and audio flair, they were nevertheless vital in battle.

Additionally, the higher your Bond, the more times you can use the Supers, which is why you never want to go into battle with a pair of units at anything other than max Bond. The only thing that detracted from my desire to max out the Bonds with every character was when I discovered the max level cap for all characters is level 20. While not every game needs to max out at 99, the moment I reached that precipice I lost a lot of interest in casual combat, since doing so only provided a minor amount of Daler (currency in the game) and occasional items for crafting. It didn’t ruin the game for me, but I do hope that Snowcastle Games has designs to implement DLC for EARTHLOCK later on that increases the level cap and gives more areas to explore.

Though I enjoy the battles in the game, I do have to admit they lost their luster in the latter part of the adventure. This is because I had maxed out my levels about 20 hours before I beat the game, which turned the last third of the game into a grindfest. Not for levels, but to get items for crafting and especially for Talents. By using the Talent Board, you can equip your character with Stats, Abilities and Perks. Stat Talents are pretty basic increases to things like Armor (boosting your DEF and Magical DEF) and a variety of others. Ability Talents open up new attacks, but are pretty much character specific, so don’t get too excited about crazy combinations. Perk Talents meanwhile are passive bonuses that help you in combat, such as allowing you to auto revive or providing an extra turn when you dodge an attack. The only catch is having Talents to equip on the Board and having enough TP to equip them, since each placement requires one TP. Luckily, each time you level up or increase your Bond to a certain point, you’ll get more TP. The only thing I didn’t much like about the Talent Board was that you couldn’t remove Talents, only swap them with different ones in your inventory. I would have loved an option to clear my Boards and reapply Talents, but that’s sadly not possible. Overall though, I felt the Talent Board opened up your options in a positive way.

The Talent Board was reminiscent of similar systems in some Final Fantasy games, and opened up some nice options.

Visually, EARTHLOCK is a delight. There’s a certain handcrafted charm to the design, as is evident in the well drawn portraits that show up when the game loads or in the distinct feeling of each area of the game’s world. While the character models are a little more primitive, I still thought they did a good job of exhibiting distinct personality just in their visual style. Though the music in the game is fine, I found it to be really quiet when playing the Switch portably. Anything less than turning it up all the way left the game sounding muted. Even when dialed all the way up, the sound effects lacked the distinct punch or memorable tunes I associate with many classic RPGs. Still, what’s here is obviously lovingly made, so I am not saying this to be cruel, but just to offer my honest appraisal of the art. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, but there’s a lot more good than bad.

This handsome gentleman will assist you with all your warping needs.

While I enjoyed my 70 something hours playing EARTHLOCK, I do feel the need to summarize some of my irritations with the game that kept it from a perfect score. Even though overall the game runs fine, I’ve encountered some odd quirks. Perhaps the most perplexing is how one tutorial says to use the X button to activate abilities on the world map, when Y is what actually activates them. This was a bit problematic early on, since you need some of those abilities, such as Gnart eating berries or Amon excavating scrap, to satisfy side quests. More serious was in a couple of dungeons I was exploring and managed to loop to the beginning of one area from its own exit. Visually, the game has a few oddities as well. The Mirror enemies would knock themselves backward with their own attacks, often pushing them off the screen, meaning I couldn’t see their health meter or tell when I was targeting them. Also, the way icons are stacked over character’s heads during battle to indicate buffs or debuffs is very hard to translate in a coherent way, especially when there a bunch of them.

It’s a pretty wide world to discover.

While I do like the crafting aspects of the game, it’s sometimes hard to know where to go to get the right items for recipes. Many are only found in quests or by hunting monsters, which was exacerbated since the bestiary doesn’t show you what their drops are. Also, since you mostly craft all your items, I wish there was an option to split a crafted item into its component parts to use to them in crafting higher tier items (Spud Blast and Spud Blast+, for example). Lastly, I wish you didn’t have to return to the HUB area of Plumpet Island to warp to other Onurasi statues. In a game so well streamlined, it would have made more sense if you could jump from any statue to another one.

The camera mostly behaved on the world map, though occasionally I encountered issues like this.

All in all, I’m glad I finally got the opportunity to take this game off my wishlist. I did enjoy my time with EARTHLOCK, and felt I got a really solid little RPG for $29.90. Though there are some quirks that prevented this from a perfect score, there’s a lot more to enjoy, from the crafting to the combat to the characters. While I do wish the plot was a bit more elegantly crafted, since it mostly felt like a haphazard rollercoaster ride, what’s here is a worthy effort. If you are nostalgic for the RPGs of yore and want to play one on the go, you need to pick up EARTHLOCK on your Switch.

Never forget, Gnart is the very best Hogbunny!

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

Review Copy Provided By Publisher

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REVIEW: EARTHLOCK Title EARTHLOCK

[infotainmentplus-blog]

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