#will definitely talk about my pc more in the future

[whtmr-24]

If he's already giving you lung cancer via secondhand smoke, might as well join him—

Lovely art by @sio-mai11 thank you for always indulging in my delulus 🫣

[danieyells]

Could you imagine if MC doesn't break the curse and dies? And then cutting to a year or two into the future and a couple of the boys are hunting an Anomaly only to get attacked by a bunch of flower monsters, they do manage to beat them back only for them to hear an all too familiar voice asking if they're still alive.

The Anomaly appears before the Ghouls in the most vicious and cruel way possible, in the corpse of MC and in the most mocking tone possible it says, "Hi~ Did you miss me?"

Idk I think that would really mess with the Ghouls.

I don't think the Academy would release them if they turned into the anomaly lmaooooo I guarantee you they will kill them on campus, if they don't keep them locked up for study. They sent Taiga to kill the one that cursed them specifically because Taiga kills things, they want those things dead. In the weeks leading up to their last day they'd be kept somewhere in Mortkranken, being studied and experimented on while flowers grow out of their head and eyes. And maybe some of their friends would want to let them out, but they'd be convinced against it--if they're released the Institute will send someone to kill them. Someone who isn't attached like they are. The best hope they have is being locked up right now.

But yeah if somehow they got out or something. . .I dunno, I think it depends on the ghoul. A lot of them would be very "you are not them anymore" and not show mercy--the ones who would be shaken by it would be more invested in capturing them. If they can talk they can be reasoned with, perhaps they'll come back willingly? But if they're attacking them they have to fight back--although it didn't attack Taiga that we're aware of. We don't even know if the Kyklos can fight, but assuming it does.

Oops my list of responses got long. Some are more intense(?) than others lol

Jin would feel a little tinge of regret that with all his money and power this couldn't have had been prevented. He would try and capture them, but if that weren't feasible. . .he might have had some kind of tracker made when he learned they got away from the Academy. They'll be able to find them and capture them. For their memory he'll make sure they find a way to cure this curse. Maybe, just maybe, they can be un-cursed and they're still in there. So they need to keep the body.

Tohma would do whatever Jin asked of him, assuming he's still working with/for Jin at this point. If Jin says capture it he'll try and capture it. If Jin says kill it, kill it. If he's on his own, he knows he should capture it so he'll try and do that but, again, if it can't be done then cut it down.

It'd definitely bother Kaito. Assuming he doesn't grow a backbone, he'd freeze up. He might try and talk to and reason with them. But if they start trying to attack him he'd have no choice but to fight back, or someone who's with him would fight it for him. Because he wouldn't be able to get past that he's hearing them talk and if they sound scared or in pain or upset by all of this it would be so hard to keep going. But they'd have to. He'd somehow end up capturing them by pure dumb luck.

Luca would just apologize and promise to avenge them before cutting them down, assuming he doesn't eventually understsnd that he needs to capture, not kill, the anomalies. Considering PC's dead, he'd probably have learned by then and he'd spend forever trying to capture them, even if it were on his own.

Alan, like Luca, might pause for a bit but then mercy kill them. He'd feel awful about it afterwards though. Like, you'd need to give the guy a minute for real. Yes, he knows they were already dead and that wasn't really them anymore. But it still feels bad.

Leo. . .I feel like he'd've learned whatever he could about Kyklos after the failure tk break their curse. Like, c'mon, they must've found something out. At some point, he'd learn Ed knew something too and he'd get information out of him. He'd know things the Institute doesn't know. For example, the Kyklos' victim may not be dead in there. The Institute said they'd die but Ed said they'd just turn into the anomaly--the Institute is likely the one that would kill them. So he'd make sure they get captured, or at least make sure they escape instead of get killed if they can't capture them yet. If they can be cured they might be able to come back. And they will fucking owe him. (But, man, he's used AI to fake people's voices before and it's 1000 times worse having that kind of thing used against you. Gross. Hopefully his gum over their mouth will shut them up. Even the way they breathe is way too loud.)

Sho, I think, would still be following Leo's lead. He's be surprised Leo doesn't want them killed until Leo fills him in on everything he learned from Ed. Sho'll be really determined to capture them if there's a chance they're still in there. He'd apologize that Hyde would probably be examining them though. If he tries anything weird, just threaten to curse him, okay? You can't unless he takes his stupid mask off but like. You can threaten him, I'm giving you permission.

Haru would chat right back. Try and convince them to come willingly. If they couldn't be convinced. . .well, sorry, he has to take them in. No hard feelings, right? If they're still in there at all, they have to understand better than anyone how important this is!

Towa would be fucking furious. Like, for a while, too. He very well might slaughter them without mercy. How fucking dare it. The way Alan was beating on Takeru's ghost? Imagine that but with lightning. Maybe an explosion or two. Reduced to ashes. He did not give that thing permission to speak to him. And how dare it use his Dandelion's voice to do so. How fucking dare it think he would feel bad in response to it. It should have knelt and begged for mercy instead of mocking him if it wanted to keep living.

Ren would wince and complain about that being disgusting. C'mon, that's super tasteless. And corny. He's seen this exact kind of thing in a shitty horror movie he watched. . . .he watched it with PC even. Ugh, they're definitely mocking him. Okay, here comes the inner tube, time to go back to the Institute, buddy. Can you not talk the rest of the way maybe? It'll make him feel bad.

Taiga shot the thing before it could even talk. Not dead though, oh no, it just can't walk. Yeah, he did miss you, kitty cat. You've been wasting away out here! It's okay, you actually smell even better, you're gonna taste even better like this! Whoever Taiga is with has to watch him talk to this thing like he knew and loved it while he eats it alive. Keep fighting, kitty cat, keep scratching, good. If they're still in there at all he wants as much of them as he can eat. When he's done it's the most full he's felt in a long time.

Romeo, like Towa, would be disgusted and pissed off and just. Not even be there for it. Oh, no, the second it tried to use that disgusting imitation of PC's voice he was shooting it he was blowing it up. Stop talking. STOP TALKING. How dare you mock Romeo Scorpus Lucci! How dare you TAKE SOMETHING FROM HIM and dangle it, tarnished, in his face! Die!

Ritsu would inform them they've committed some crime against anomalous law by escaping the Institute with intent to spread their curse, and he would be taking them in and having them tried. Sorry, but he won't be defending them this time. He can't forgive what the curse has done to them, but if they come willingly perhaps they'll be given a more gentle treatment and sentencing. Perhaps if they help the Institute they'll be able to be treated and released. Isn't that better than running away forever?

Subaru would feel so bad. . .that they turned into the anomaly is only the anomaly doing what its nature dictated. And now they're only following their new instincts. They know he doesn't want to harm them. Please come back with him. He understands they aren't trying to hurt anyone, and he won't fight if they don't fight. But he can't let them get away, either. Surely if they can speak they're reasonable. If they keep running away someone will kill them. Please just come back. He knows they don't want to be locked up like Lyca was, but it might be what's best for everyone. . .he'll do everything he can to see to it that Darkwick or the Institute treat them well. . . . Of course, he'll fight if he has to. But he'll refuse to use lethal force. Either they'll be captured or they'll escape. No other options.

Haku. . .I think he'd feel bad, but it wouldn't impede him any. He doesn't wanna give them up to the Institute, knowing how they'll be treated, but. . .what's the other option, letting them run free and cursing more people? Letting the prophecy fulfil itself and some calamity happens? Nah, sorry, but they've gotta come back. Not even for the Institute--it's about the Prophecy. If they don't go back soon surely something bad will happen. Things have already been going downhill since they escaped. He'd laugh and play his flute and lock them in with him. Isn't this familiar--but a little backwards? Right back where they started. He's taking them to Darkwick. Time is a flat circle, or whatever.

Zenji, assuming he's still floating around and somehow ends up in this situation, would be so upset and frustrated. . .and he's pretty helpless in these situations too. I assume, as a ghost, Zenji is aware of spirits, and he'd see their soul may still be in there and implore whoever he's with, if they can hear him(I assume he'd be with Subaru) to carefully capture them. Because they may still be in there. Maybe he'd try and communicate with their spirit. Maybe he could get them to control their body just a little bit, just enough to get them captured. If nothing else, even if they die, their spirit can be released right? They should be allowed to move on if they want. They can't do that trapped inside their cursed shell. (But if not he wouldn't mind being ghost partners!)

Ed has met plenty of Kyklos before. He already knows the deal. They are a Kyklos now. There's nothing wrong with that. Congratulations on being freed of humanity--although perhaps they would be happier as a different sort of anomaly than this. He considers letting them go--this mission wasn't about them after all--but he asks if they're happy. He looks into their soul to find if they are happy. They are not. Their instincts will make them run or fight or seek humans to spread their curse to, and they, like a freshly turned vampire, don't have much control outside of their instincts. Kyklos never do. Ed has already graduated and he can go home now. . .and the Greek branch of the Institute will know better what to do with a Kyklos than the Japan branch, he suspects. He's not sure how they'll manage it. . .but instead of taking them to Darkwick, he'll get them out of the country somehow. He'll keep them safe until then. Somehow. Just don't get caught until then, okay? So he lets them go, because he, unlike others, can understand an anomaly. (Towa can also understand, but he was too pissed off to hear them out, of course.) He'll be back for them, because he isn't beholden to the Institute. He wanted to stay in Japan a little longer but this may be more pressing. . . .

Rui. . .god what could he even do. He would feel so bad because Ed already told him they're still in there, somewhere. Would it be more merciful to kill them? It's what the Institute would expect him to do, and they may get on his ass if they learn he didn't even try. . .he'd laugh about them putting him in a tough spot. The Institute didn't get any better in their absence. Will they kill them if he takes them back? Will they at least try to cure the curse after the fact or study them or something first? Is it better to just kill them now?? Is it better to just let them go???? But they'd hurt people. . .in the end, he's a pacifist. If it prevents damage to others and he doesn't have to do the killing, he has to capture them and hope for the best.

Lyca, I think it'd depend on how much they still smell like themself. If they smell like themself still, just heavily obscured by all the flowers, he might try and talk to them and capture them, but if not. . .he'd get mad that this awful thing is using his friend's voice and trying to trick him. He'd probably just kill them then.

Yuri isn't a fighter anyway, but he'd immediately take it out on them verbally. How dare they run away before they could make a breakthrough, how dare they make him look like a failure by escaping??? They should have felt honored to be his test subject! They should have felt honored to be advancing such a valuable study! Even if they died, someone else could live thanks to their sacrifice! Or they could have lived!! So they are getting captured and they sre going back to Yuri's lab and no one else is going to touch or study them without his approval and supervision and he WILL find a cure for their curse, even if that cure doesn't bring them back for additional scolding! Now, Jiro, capture it.

Jiro would be curious as to how much of that talking was still them. He'd keep talking to them. Asking them questions. Do you remember our names? Do you remember what you studied in class? Do you remember the missions we went on? Do you remember when Yuri did this? Do you remember when I did this? Do you remember when you said that? Do you remember how you felt then? Do you feel anything now? He'd be so curious about what's going on in their head and if it's still the PC or if it's just the parasitic anomaly. He'd be studying them and fighting them--and he'd be very certain to capture them. Because he needs to know everything. And if they're still in there, wouldn't it be amazing if they got them back? And, of course, because Yuri told him to. Even if they're gone and their life can't be salvaged, there's so much to be gained from capturing them. Don't make it easy on him. He needs to know what they can do, too.

[meltedbluecaterpillar]

Okay guys immersion break. The demon within me is starving so ima feed him. A while ago I talked with a friend about sex in Twisted Wonderland. Specifically dildos. You know how there’s Bad Dragon? Do you think they would have a version of that?

Think about it like this. So, Malleus is the future king of his country. Is it illegal to order a dragon fae dildo and pretend you’re fucking the future king? Is it taboo? Is it something people don’t talk about? Is it something people DO talk about? Would Malleus be upset knowing people want to fuck him?!

Then there’s porn. How likely is it to see Beastman x Human porn? ‘Human Girl Takes Wolfman Raw!’ Shit like that? Is it popular to have videos of mixed species? Is it educational at all? Sex with a merman turning into a softcore documentary on Animal Planet? Are there laws on interspecies relationships? Like how donkeys and horses make non fertile babies? Would that be something they talk about?

Okay back to the dildos; I think that for the Savanaclaw boys… It’s kinda funny how it works in my mind. I think lions are very popular in the dildo department but they’re one of those ‘special order’ things. The idea of fucking Leona or Falena is definitely on someone’s fantasy bucket list. But again is it taboo to own something modeled after a member of the royal family? It’s different than Malleus’ situation because not all lions are members of the royal family… So it’s a loophole haha. I think hyenas are very niche dildo wise. They’re seen as ‘dirty’ but also… There’s a special allure to those kinds of guys. The roughness is pleasant so I think a hyena dildo would be much harder to find. Not because of taboo but most people won’t find hyena men sexually attractive… Maybe… Wolves are probably the most popular but also they’re the most basic and easy to mass produce. Who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashion knot?

This kind of sexual world building is my favorite and you will never see me post about this normally. It all lives in a big document saved on my PC and in my mind where I make Twisted Wonderland more realistic and fun in a bad way. Your favorite Twst character is the worst, and I can make him worse!

[browzerhistory]

got krita on my laptop and made a test drawing -w-

talking about how i liked the program below the cut ↓

i looked at medibang on steam at first because i figured it'd be free like it is on mobile but it's SEVENTY DOLLARS??? apparently it has an animating feature on pc but no way in hell am i paying $70 for that. so i got krita instead. it's obviously a lot more complicated than medibang mobile, and i like that because it offers a lot more options for customization of brushes and such, but it's also confusing for me as i previously only drew on mobile.

i have a touchscreen laptop so i used a mix of that and keyboard commands for this piece. it felt a little clunky and unintuitive, but i'm willing to bet that's because i don't normally use drawing programs on pc. i figure i'll get used to it as i draw more and poke around in the settings and stuff. this piece took me about two hours, mainly because i was figuring out how to set things up.

my main gripe is that i wish there was an option to turn off rotation with zoom. i'd prefer if pinching on the touch screen just zoomed in and out and there was a separate place to like, enter the angle of rotation you want your canvas to be at. maybe there is an option for that, but i haven't found it yet.

overall i'm pretty satisfied with it! it's definitely simple compared to like, photoshop or other high-end softwares i've tried before, and the ui is pretty nice. i'll stick with it unless i find some horrible feature i hate or something in the future.

[maeshelix]

HI HI... it's Leolithe here! FINALLY INTERACTING. I see you in the notes of my Lotus posts and i am DEATHLY curious to know your opinions on the Lotus system! Both as characters in general and also what you'd love and/or hate to see in their story. The idea of a Sentient AI mimic who is a system is so incredible to me, but I wonder if there's anything about Natah, Lotus or Margulis you would change?

Also, how many of you have played Warframe? Has everyone tried it or is it just not everyone's cup of tea? Should I direct my questions to specific people in the system? I'd love to hear more Lotus thoughts!! :3

Before we respond, here's a message from Rokoko:

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOUR ART IS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD AND YOURE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE LOTUS OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAAAAH 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉💃💃💃💃💃💃💃💃💃

Now, to answer your questions. I'll start with the last ones.

We've all played Warframe, and each have found something to enjoy in it.

We used to play it on the Switch, long before we found out we're we. Eventually stopped for reasons I can't remember. Probably because it was Warframe on the Switch. Lmao.

Recently ported our account to PC, which has been nice. Caught up on everything, so now we're just taking turns making frames and enjoying the loop. Learning how to mod. Deep in the grind. Ignoring rivens cause they scare us. The usual, I'm sure. Lmao.

Asking specific members for their opinions is fine. Just will take longer to get answered. Unless you're lucky. We can't really control who fronts, unfortunately. But you can still do it, if you're curious about one of us. They'll definitely appreciate the attention. Probably. Lmao.

On the Lotus, we absolutely love her. Love all three of them.

Zero loves Lotus and Natah the most. She's an AI, so she relates to their struggles, but we are all enamored with them.

Marguils' resolve, Natah's tenacity, Lotus' deducation. Their histories with Ballas. Their histories with the Orokin in general. Their histories with eachother. With Marguils' memory, her legacy, before she came back. Their love for the Tenno. Their children. Their dedication to protecting the origin system.

All three are amazing. Their plurality is very interesting, originally being a synthetic mimic with two different sets of memories in them. Eventually culminating in three different entities in one. It's unique and engaging.

Our favorite characters in Warframe, to be sure. They're amazing.

We'd love to seem their plurality be more noticable, in the future. We're all in on them being plural, but it is admittedly easy to miss. A line of dialogue unheard, a helmet left uninteracted, a line of text left unread, and you're probably not gonna know they're plural. We want them to start bickering during a mission. We want Lotus to be explaining something, ony the go silent for a time, then for Natah or Marguils to take over. We want some way to talk to them outside of missions, for character moments.

I don't know how likely any of these will be, personally. But we'd like to see them.

That's also what we'd change, honestly. The inability to change between the three was annoying, so we'd remove that from The New War. Or add a fourth option of "take turns". We want to see them interact. We want a blatenly in-your-face system.

We'd hate for Natah and Marguils to be forgotten, eventaully. For Lotus to be considered the default. For some convoluted story beat to fuse them all into one mind, as is annoyingly common in system stories. Since that's the only good end singlets can imagine for a system. Natah and Marguils getting forgotten would be disappointing and annoying, but if they all fused into one we'd probably drop Warframe immediately.

Hope these answers are good @leolithe. Don't know if I did a good job of expressing our love for this system but, we do truly love them. Thank you for the question.

[chrysanthemumgames]

before going into the meat of my ask, let me just say that i loved the newest update. the entire court sequence was a lot of fun to read! now onto my qs:

not sure if this is an intentional choice to allow for more hcs or a downstream consequence of light-hearted romance genre but sometimes the pc feels a bit phantom? undefined, maybe. it's hard to say because sometimes the pc is very well defined. this may however just be my preference and interest in backstories rearing its head, so take that with a grain of salt. I'd like to go in depth but tumblr asks isnt the format for it. do you have a survey/inbox for player feedback?

also, also is the mythology of dionysus going to be incorporated more in future installments? the little bits youve added have all been great and wonderful and I'd love to see the somewhat underrepresented god's wild myth/os explored in your universe.

Hey anon! Thanks first of all for reading and the thoughtful feedback. I've noted something similar to you with the PC being a bit undefined sometimes, and I'm hoping for at least a partial remedy with the new systems I'm building and implementing in the edit phase. I've already added a little bit of more defined backstory to the character creator, explaining certain aspects of their life growing up. It's perhaps not as full-blown as, say, the NPC backstories, but this is partially intentional, as the PC is someone who is sort of yet to define themself and their place in the world.

Hopefully I can strike the right balance between a malleable main character and one who feels like a real person and part of the world. That said, if you have specific instances of this you'd like to talk about or just elaboration on the point, I don't have a feedback form or anything, but I'm happy to get emails! chrysanthemumgames01@gmail.com, if you aren't averse to the idea. :)

And yes, more Dionysian stuff will be appearing. Some in the first game as I work out a Dionysian/Persephonean sliding scale of magic and places PC can shift it, and likely some more in the sequel, as some routes will touch upon stories where Dionysus was involved. I know of at least one so far that definitely will, and considering the early stage of planning I'm in, I wouldn't be surprised if more did.

[argentumcor]

Sandrock Thoughts, no particular order

-Ya'll, Logan's hair isn't super long, it's Aragorn's hair, just tied back. He's a Dunedain ranger, of course it's Aragorn's hair.

-He really is. I just actually me him on my replay and he's just such a decent heroic person oh my goodness. Dunedain ranger, I'm not kidding. I wish actually there had been a flirt option to essentially say 'well now I've heard you talk...' instead of all meta. Out here being the dangerous, rough man defending the decent folk of Sandrock from the definite dangers of the wilds, taking all of that on himself. He isn't exactly Aragorn, though I think there's parts of his design are meant to call back to movie Aragorn, who had a lot of elements to his costume design meant to call back to westerns- that sort of duster jacket thing he wore, for instance.

-The dynamic between Justice and Unsuur (and the cat Captain) is one of my favorites. Justice is a great character in his kind of tired lawman way, plus he does have some great lines- "tracking device? What kind of budget do you think we have?". Unsuur does, too. ("Is it so wrong for a mole to love a princ--" "Yes."). It's a really great dynamic and I actually wish we'd gotten more of the Civil Corps and Logan teamup.

-I know Unsuur is a potential love interest but he makes me all maternal. That boy is my son and I will have no word said bad about him. You just leave him and his rocks alone!

-Speaking of kids, I really like the kids in this game. Jasmine is pretty great as the town princess, essentially, and Andy is a delight in his chaos gremlin ways. Pebbles is cute as, well, essentially an extension of Rocky and Crystal and a representation of what they see in Sandrock. Child characters can be too precious or too annoying easily, but there's a sincerity to them and a genuine stumbling childishness.

-I haven't had the PC have a kid because those mechanics seem like more intensive farm animal ones. Thematically, it makes sense because it's a game about forging a future for a town, but. But I would like to enjoy playing the game.

-The horny French moleman just has to be a reference to the horny French moleman of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He's fun. That whole mission is fun even the platform part where if you screw up enough the game asks if you'd like to skip this part. Heh, and assault rifle for boss killing wins.

-Someone wrote Qi to be very Sheldon Cooper but it works because they hit it just the right amount and he is, in fact, as much an agent of chaos as Cooper or Andy or Elsie in his enthusiasm for giant robots. Being as the Vega 5 rep asks how you worked with him and didn't throw him out a window, his scientific peers are quite happy to have him tinkering away in the ass-end of nowhere and so is he.

-Elsie's story is a nice tale of maturity that the player plays a very small role in. You just give her some fish, really, and serve as a sounding board. Her story is hers, and I see her as just being a year or two into adulthood while most of the town's love interests are in their mid-20s (this is explicitly stated about Logan, who is a few years younger than Owen we know for sure and probably Justice).

-I kind of wish that, if you get both parties past a certain relationship level and you still haven't flirted with them, that some of them courted each other. I have found out that this can happen for Owen and Amirah under certain conditions- not a pair I'd have picked- but I haven't seen it. It would make sense for this to happen in such a small town and with the game's themes.

-Owen courting Amirah makes sense- she's an out-of-towner and is written and designed to be stunningly beautiful, but it's not a good long-term match IMO. Owen wants someone to run the Saloon with, and he really cares about the Saloon, as it is his family's legacy and he runs it really well. He has no angst about the Saloon, thank God. This really is what he wants. Amirah is very introverted and...well, women like that, their great beauty tends to make them mercenary or cynical about romance for good reason- look at how often people hardcore hit on her- and Owen is a romantic at heart. He's romantic about Sandrock and the Blue Moon and a thousand other things, but Amirah is a cynic in a lot of ways. Amirah likes being in Sandrock because she finds it inspiring in a challenging way and allows her to be an introverted beauty, but she doesn't and can't love it and its people like Owen does.

-I could see Owen with Jane or, as I've read in fic, Mi-an. Jane grew up in Sandrock but left and came back, so there's distance there from the town dynamic I think is crucial to the crew pairing off but a love for the place. She likes people. Mi-an as she develops gains more confidence, she loves to fix and grow stuff, and loves the town, too. Writers don't seem to embrace Owen/Amirah often at the moment, possibly because they're unaware of the quest and it's non-intuitive.

-Arvio gets a bad shake from fanfic, poor guy, but his is a tale of growing up in life and business. I really like his and Amirah's plotline. Musa basically tells him to actually think if he's going to chase big dreams and then he damn well does. He is another one, like Elsie, it's hard to see as a romantic interest for me but that doesn't mean I dislike him. What's interesting about his height- he is the shortest adult male townie, I think- is if he talks about his past you realize he might have been malnourished and a child laborer in a quarry.

-Heidi's a fun and a grounded career woman. I like her 'smart country girl who wasn't interested in city life' vibe. She mentions her dad pushing her to find someone, which all the older people would, but her focus makes sense. I think it would be really funny, and fun, if she sort of paired off with Qi of all people. They work together so much in the main plotline and she does rein him in. It's a fun dynamic even if platonic, at any rate. Them dating would mystify the townsfolk hilariously, you have to admit.

-Fang is interesting and I get why many ladies love him but...it seems an uneven relationship. There's something coercive about how one would get involved with him, some feeling that you're taking advantage of someone you're helping, at least to me, YMMV. It may be my age. He is a really interesting character with his personal tragedies and deep sense of medical ethics.

-Pablo is there. He may have more going on, I am happy with how my character looked so I didn't go into the salon much. If he had a store selling other stuff I'd probably swing by more...or had more commissions. If the fashion show story had more meat- I'm not there yet in my second playthrough- maybe I'd feel different. It's the talk of the town when it happens but there has to be a story with talking Logan and Fang into it and I'd like to see that. Maybe I missed it.

-I generally wish there were reactions to you getting involved with someone specifically more. Maybe there are and it wasn't something I was paying attention to because I am a Logan girl and that only happens later in game. Nasty thing to code for in a kind of complicated game, though, and even more writing in a writing-heavy game. It does make it seem like it's a secret relationship though. These people are realistically so gossipy that it would be a subject of conversation.

-I like the ranch family and Cooper's rambling and sort of earthy madness are endearing. He's written as much more...closed-minded in fanfic than the game if you actually listen/read his rambling. His issues with Elsie are issues of parenthood and being far too alike, not some sort of 'but the old ways!' thing. His rambling to Fang about vegetarianism isn't actually judgmental, more curious; I think he really appreciates what Fang does for his ranch and family. It's so cute how he adores his wife and she adores him, the latter of which is surely a mystery to the rest of the town.

-Hugo and Heidi are mutants themselves, as Vivi wandered through some kind of gas when she was pregnant, giving Hugo his superstrength (short skinny Cooper is a brave one for antagonizing him so often), which Heidi got as well. I've seen in fanfic Logan (and his unnamed mother) as mutants, which they are at least with hair color which is commented on so it isn't just stylized blond. It's kind of cool that there's some mutations that aren't harmful, though when Heidi explains her strength she hints that it is known to be debilitating.

-In fanfic, of course, the Church of Light gets run down, and the plot does make that easy, but in game it is a lot more nuanced than the hostile-to-religion culture of most fanfic writers, which is to be found in Burgess. Burgess is a doofus, no doubt, but he isn't only that. When he gets free of the people manipulating him, undermining his confidence, treating him like a weak-minded idiot, he starts to grow. He's still a doofus a lot but he is also capable of serious insight and leadership. The quest where you make him a confidence hat to preach really shows that. Also, Burgess is the one who made the really insightful point about equal application of the law at Logan's trial- that Logan agrees with- that made me drop my controller. He says a lot of great things about what forgiveness means, too, and he really is going to be a good and wise minister. It would have been complicated to code, but I kind of would like the character model to lose a little weight after the conspiracy transpires because I like to imagine his weight was a part of how he was being run down- and also eating meals with Pen, who eats like a high-intensity athlete.

-I'll have to pay attention to Rian to see if his habits change post-conspiracy. I'd have liked him to open a furniture store after that, actually, the way Mi-an opens a plant store after some quests. It almost feels like cut content, as there's a great big building next to the museum that seems set up to be a shop. This is what I'd call a AA game, so stuff had to get prioritized, I get it.

-Have a pregnant model for Dan-bi post conspiracy. They kept talking about their future child but I'm not clear if that's an upcoming or ongoing plan until, you know, they have one. It would have been nice to have more going on with that. Again, I get it.

-When you know the twist with Grace, it becomes more obvious what's going on early on. She needs the insulted lunchbox thing to get food to Logan, Haru, and Andy, for instance; not sure this tracks with the timeline stated in game, where she contacted them after he train hijacking, but it's so small it could have been missed if it's off.

-Nia is very dull in a game full of big personalities. I get why she exists and she's not a stupid person, but she feels like she's from another game. Maybe it's her too-cute body language and kind of generic character model. YMMV, though I do see fic writers feel the need to punch her up a lot.

-I like Grace and I think she's more someone who would be my friend as a peer than the others who get more of that. I wish she had an outfit during the invasion that showed what she really was, some kind of Black Widow suit instead of her waitressing outfit, but near as I know the only people with a plot-related costume change are Elsie and Logan.

-I kind of wish this game had quest-modding tools. Most of the quests are text only and I really do want more. The pet DLC came out in May and I feel like the storylines have a lot more to give- again, maybe I just haven't found everything- so who knows.

-The Free Cities' governmental structure is different and not stupid. It's pretty clear there's not a strong what we would call federal government- these are in effect city-states. Trudy has a lot of power as mayor over Sandrock and she doesn't really answer to anyone but the locals. The population of humans worldwide seems low, which makes sense given the Calamity and its dangerous aftereffects. There's a fear, I think, of the Peripheries spreading. It does create a political tension because there's land to the south but no one can live there. They can barely live in a good chunk of the Free Cities' territory. Sandrock only exists because of ancient water generating tech, Duvos can't produce enough food for itself (this may be self-inflicted, as they are extremely Soviet which you can see if you know Soviet jokes; whoever wrote this was smart).

-Someone in a fic had most of Sandrock's assorted prior-to-invasion misfortunes be sabotage and I wonder if that was the canon intent. Howlett's death is stated to end the truce with the Geeglers, but how did they know he was dead? The Bandirats were the ones breaking the Greeno pipes in an attempt to find the princess, but it's not clear how it would help, though the queen is crazy...maybe it was part of some deal, because that starting right after big investor Musa had been convinced to give Sandrock a chance and is himself in town is suspicious when the Valley of Whispers had been there being a no-go zone forever right next door. With the road being built, you have to think Tiger and crew were in a bit of a panic because things weren't supposed to start getting better for Sandrock.

-Musa's pretty cool. Gives good business advice. Acts like a real investor who is a decent human being, too, yes they are out there...not in Silicon Valley or DC maybe, the Orthanc and Barad-Dur of the United States.

-It is thematically relevant that the superfund site gets turned into the Happiest Place in the Free Cities. Catori seems like a satire of a conniving entrepreneur at first pass- she's another one I think doesn't get a fair shake in fanfic but has a good story in game, I think part of it is her accent which is a little grating- but no she actually wants to build something better. She has a dream and she's trying to make it work. She has to learn how to think and she casually builds all these castles in the sky in conversation but when it comes down to it she actually goes and figures it out in a way that actually works. It's not just belief and a dream, it's risk and thought and hard work and a dream; someone who wrote this actually knew a thing or two about Walt Disney and admires him. Not many cozy sort of games would have you get returns on your investment from a theme park entrepreneur but this one does! And explains what an angel investor is, too, like outright explains it.

-There's some broken English in a few places in the interface ('get a discount when consuming in the store' for relationship perks) and in a blurb asking for a Steam review in a billboard outside the game center, which is bizarre because the majority of the game is written by people who know English so well they can handle dialect well. Weirdly, it's sophisticated broken English- 'when consuming in the store' is a very archaic turn of phrase.

-The PC gets some real great dialogue despite being restricted to one or two lines. That takes talent. A few of my favorites:

Some absolute bullshit is going on...."how are you so strong!" PC, well aware of the BS: "I don't know, diet maybe!"

"What did they make in this place anyway?" PC: "Shampoo! Evil shampoo!"

-Speaking of...the ancient evil corporation is named frelling Geegle, and the post-apocalyptic lizardman cargo cult of the Geeglers uses sendups to Google logo art as their graffiti. It's great. It is also not nice at all to Google in a not generally anti-business way; this is anti-corporatism. It's specifically definitely anti-Google.

-The theme of environmental stewardship is really well done. It's not heavy handed or anti-civilization. I thought it'd have the boilerplate bad and sometimes hateful Lorax knock-off like everything else but it doesn't. There's a groundedness and humanity to it. It's outright Tolkienian.

-The imp and fiend designs are the most disturbing monster designs I've seen in a video game for a long time. They creep me out because they're so clearly things that used to be human in a game with people who are definitely human and you're talking to all the time and are being affected at that moment by the thing that made these monsters this way. They are, unlike all the mutant animals who are part of an ecosystem if often a dangerous and bizarre one, not right. If they were in a Banjo Kazooie game or something like that, they'd be just another enemy, but in this context they are downright disturbing and the game leans into it just the right amount. Style over graphical intensity as always.

-I know Portia is the game that started this but what I like about Sandrock is the people and I just don't get that from Portia. I guess it's because I'm a gun-toting western hick myself and the region reminds me so much of home. The Free Cities are an interesting setting and a lot could be done with them, but I'm not really interested in Portia and maybe not the other places. I like this place and these people, like I liked Kirkwall and those people in Dragon Age 2, but have no interest in anyone really or the places in the rest of the series afterward (you would have to pay me a lot to even read the follow-on comics; I do not even check the DA wiki for updates on the plot anymore). This could change depending on what Pathea does next, of course.

-I am floored and delighted by how smart this game is written, I cannot say it enough. Hope is hard to come by these days, I find, but this silly game gives me some.

[campaign-spotlight]

Campaign Spotlight FAQ

Now that we're halfway through Season 2 this seemed like a reasonable time to add a pinned post! We're going to try to answer the questions we've gotten via email and Tumblr DMs. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to get in touch!

I'm a GM and I'd like to be on the show! How do I get in touch with you about that?

Send us an email at campaign.spotlight@gmail.com! Or send us a Tumblr DM. But email is infinitely smoother for everyone.

I'd like to be on the show, but I don't have a campaign to talk about!

This is a big part of why we've added the PC intros to the Season 2 episodes. It's a chance for players to showcase their creativity too! If you feel like introducing a future episode, send us an email at campaign.spotlight@gmail.com.

I'd like my GM to be on the show! How do I make that happen?

Have them send us an email at (you guessed it!) campaign.spotlight@gmail.com. It makes more sense for us to talk with prospective guests directly.

I have a cool campaign, but I'm under 18. Can I come on the show?

First off, it's been wild to learn that anyone born in the 2000s uses Tumblr. But in answer to this question - we're always really psyched to hear that people are running creative and innovative campaigns, but fundamentally this is a podcast by and for adults, and so we're only going to be interviewing guests who are themselves adults. To be clear, this is less a "the podcast is all about sex and drugs!" type adult show and more "the hosts are in their thirties and talk about stuff like comfortable mattresses and well-organized filing systems on the podcast" type adult show.

Where do you get the music for the show?

Other than a couple guests who have written their own intro music, Reilly writes all of it. If you're wondering how all the music lines up so well when Perry or Kit or Max or Erika introduced their campaigns at the beginning of their interviews - it's because those are all custom compositions from Reilly. We're working on ways to share more of Reilly's music with all of you, so definitely watch Reilly's Bandcamp.

I have a new game system / actual play / third-party supplement to promote. Can I come on your show to talk about it?

If you have an interesting and creative campaign you've run, and something you've made as a result of running it is available for purchase, and if it's distinct from anything we've discussed on the show before, then get in touch with us about being a guest on Campaign Spotlight! If it doesn't really make sense as an interview, get in touch with us about advertising. We're not averse to running ads, but we'd always keep them clearly distinct from our interviews.

This is a cool show. How can I support it?

Thanks for asking! Subscribing to Patreon helps pay for hosting and other expenses, and subscribing and/or leaving reviews and comments on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube helps other people find the show. Ultimately, helping other people find the show helps us find new guests with unique and thoughtful campaigns to share.

[exo-wvrse-bbl]

07/05/24 - d.o.

Is the song okay everyone..?

Ah that’s such a relief 😌

Since you guys are liking it I’m very happy🕺🏻

Woah i’m feeling very energized due to the support🤣

It’s my driving force everyone, really thank you

I will continue to show good sides everyone

I’m of course eating well, you don’t have to worry about food with me kkkk

You guys should eat well💪🏼

As expected you are all eating well💪🏼

Very good, you have to keep on eating well~

Popcorn vs Nacho Popcorn wins

Double caramel popcorn wins *

Ah, though I can’t give up on nachos with cheese sauce, however now it’s popcorn kkk

Let’s go with eating both

What’s diet, just smash it (eat it) Eat, then just work out If u don’t want to work out then just eat one kkkk

When will something that can make us return back to how we usually are even after eating 100 hamburger or pizza by just clicking on a switch come out

Please develop it…

Ah is it very no conscience…

Max amount of pizza, about one pan…

For hamburgers one is the most delicious

Though i can eat more but it is the most delicious to eat just one hamburger

Pine nut 100 pcs vs popcorn 100 pcs

It’s bad if you eat 100 pcs of pine nuts you’ll get stomach ache

Definitely 100 popcorns

Many of you are getting hungry since we’re talking about food🤣

Tripe soup Kimchi stew Soybean paste soup rice Frozen samgyupsal Meat sashimi Gamjatang Army stew Chicken

I’ll stop now

Usually it is easy to be tempted if you watch a video, it’s usually hard to be tempted just through words like this

Seems like i kept on talking about food..

Everyone thanks so much for liking the album..

Hope you can be happy when you listen to the songs😌 I will keep on giving good energies in the future!

You’ve worked hard today!

Sleep well today and have a happy day too tomorrow~

*ksoo's fave popcorn from megabox

source in desc

[felassan]

A few more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago -

"Solving the endings of Mass Effect 3 [for the Next Mass Effect], I don't know, I don't know what you do. I mean, looks like from the trailers to me like maybe they've moved it pretty far into the future, so, that would let you kind've collapse the probability spaces maybe, I don't know, it is a problem for sure".

"I'm curious to see what the Mass Effect TV adaptation ends up looking like because they've taken a crack at it a couple of times". [note this video was streamed ~1 year ago]

[source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

"I don't remember how long the pre-Fade part of the Mage Tower is, all I remember is that Luke filled it up with stuff"

The Deep Roads in DA:O "probably could have been half as long as they are"

There are so many interactables in the Mage Tower in DA:O, "probably a bit much"

"I have one memory expansion mod installed to make it a bit more stable. The reason it crashes and is so unstable on modern computers is because you crank up the fidelity which makes it use more memory, and it's a 33-bit executable and it literally can't use more than 2 gig of memory and then it explodes. So yeah there are a couple different patches that let it use more memory, that definitely improve the stability"

Early in the Broken Circle quest, you can talk to a blood mage that you've just fought while she lies on the floor, and she asks you not to kill her. At this point in the quest, Mark said "Yeah, I feel like this bit, in a modern BioWare game would've been a little bit more circumspect. They wouldn't have been labelled 'Blood Mage' and maybe there would have been a conversation before the fight"

Chat asked "What do you think about canon endings in games like DA or ME?" Mark replied, "I mean you need to have canon endings. My feeling on canon, I don't really like what we did with some of the comics and that for DA where they just assumed things about Alistair. DA:O in particular, well ME3 is the worst, DA:O of the DAs is the most divergent, so if you wanna reuse some of these characters you kind've have to decide what canon is for those. The games have tried to respect peoples' choices. The comics and that have been a lot less good than that because I think the writers wanted to use Alistair, Wynne, Isabela or whatever. So you kinda have to treat those as if they are, y'know, multiverse a little bit if your canon is divergent. I don't love that but DA:O in particular is so divergent that to use the characters at all we had to do something. I kind've feel like maybe we should've just not used the characters but I wasn't the one driving the narrative on the comics"

[in the Mage Tower in Broken Circle] chat asked "So what exactly are those darkspawn flesh sack things on the wall?" Mark replied, "Blight corruption. I guess, demon pods.. unclear. Just something to differentiate it from Mage Origin I think, to be truthful"

DA:O is a little "confused in terms of magical sources and what goes with what. The team started to disentangle some of the magic sources since DA:O. It's a bit confused here, like is all magic from the Fade? Then what about blood magic, what about the Blight, what about lyrium? And so it's been sort've a [effort to reduce these a bit]"

Because the PC can be a healer, solo fights like against Duncan in the Fade in DA:O had to be balanced super-easy

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

[source]

[whenwillderekhalebehappy]

so i just started playing fallout 4 ,,, here are my preliminary opinions

- lame storyline, i don't want to be married heterosexual. idc abt this fuckass baby either.

- fr tho, it feels like the devs just chose the most generic backstory they could think of so they could get that part out of the way. it's not interesting or good. moreover, if that actually happened to a person, they'd be traumatized and terrified, not running around looking for guns and stimpaks. like, it feels like my character doesn't even give that much of a shit that this happened. like ooh the world ended, my wife was murdered, my infant child was kidnapped, it is 200 years in the future, but yeah no i don't have any questions, ill just roll with it. LAZY WRITING!

- also: how does the survivor know that his baby is still alive. the story has him frozen, unfrozen to witness murder and kidnapping, frozen again and then unfrozen to start the game. how am i supposed to know when that kidnapping happened? like yeah it could've been recent but it could also have been 100 years ago.

- upon exiting the vault you immediately start like 11 quests. why?? for what reason?? i just got here??

- do not love that feral ghouls will just lay on the ground waiting for you to get close enough so they can attack you. 1. its annoying, you get ambushed every time. 2. why would they be doing that, are they sleeping? waiting? doesnt make sense for them to be doing either of those things. they're feral, they wander around attacking whatever comes near them, they don't lie down and wait for prey, thats just ,,, not how they work?

- i especially dont like that the ghouls also dont show up as hostile on the little navigation bar until they get up. the whole point of that is so i know if there's hostiles in the area. if all the hostiles just sneak up on you, there's no reason to look at it.

- the fact that you can just max out your SPECIAL stats kinda defeats the purpose of those stats. the point is that it allows you to pick strengths and weaknesses for your character, instead of it being skills you can learn. it adds difficulty and personalization.

- i genuinely don't like the "improved" graphics. maybe its because my pc is shitty and i have to run low quality, but i cant see shit. especially all the harsh shadows make it really hard to gauge depth and to see things on the ground (like feral ghouls waiting to attack you).

- why is VATS under Q. thats dumb

- follow up: why are we now using the enter key and arrow keys in addition to wasd. let me keep my hand on the mouse instead of constantly having to switch (update: after 10 hours in-game i found out you can also press E, still stupid)

- why cant i just go up to people and ask them shit. why do i have to wait until they want to talk to me.

- i do like the whole settlement building thing. ive been having more fun with that than anything else tbh

- it is nice that you can make radaway and you dont have to rely on scavenging or bartering for it

- they are harsh on the raiders. like i get that they're enemies but labelling them 'raider scum' is a bit much. like thats still a person.

- in the intro thing they say war never changes at least 3 times. i get it. dont overdo it.

- also in the intro, they just say the US ended ww2 by dropping the bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki which is a VERY BOLD statement about history.

- i've barely encountered anyone who's nice. ive met preston and his friends but beyond that its basically been nothing but raiders. where are the friendly npc's? it makes the whole world feel hostile and empty

- the variety of weapons and mods is ,, actually a little too much. i don't know the difference between a pistol and a revolver, let alone what a receiver is. the game kind of expects you to just , understand what all these things mean and how to best modify your weapons. I don't. i barely know what i'm supposed to be looking at. "um yeah i definitely prefer the hardened enhanced glowsighted tempered auto pipe revolver pistol over the hardboiled standardized incendiary double barreled shotgun rifle" <- statement dreamed up by the utterly deranged

- recently encountered super mutants, why do they yell at you that they are super mutants. i know that. i mean, the character technically doesn't since no one's bothered to explain all the new creatures to him, but still.

anywho, ive only been playing for a week or so, so there might be more redeeming qualities later on. but so far im not very impressed

[hopeymchope]

Honestly kinda wish the Master Detective Archives Rain Code side stories weren't DLC that needed to be paid extra for. Would've been cool if they were unlockable in the base game, like Desuhiko's side story could be unlocked once you obtained all his Gumshoe Gabs, and so on and so forth. Think that'd help to boost the game's replayability. Thoughts?

I have mixed feelings, I guess. As a consumer, I'd prefer to have everything on the physical game card/disk/whatever. Of course I would. I'd rather just have more content at my fingertips for $60 than have to pay more to get something that only exists on a hard drive or in the digital ether.

But I also get why these are DLC. There's been a ton of talk about how this is a much bigger-budget game than any of the Danganronpa titles, it took much longer to make/complete, and it therefore needs more money/sales to turn profit. There's also the fact that with narrative-driven single-player games, it's pretty common for DLC to be used as a way to prevent players from trading the game back in shortly after launch once they've seen the whole story; doing that devalues the game and reduces sales that go back to the actual publisher/developer, so of course they want to resist it. As such, dragging out the DLC like this at least gave players who bought it at launch and loved it an extra reason to hang onto their game for months after they've seen all the built-in content.

But back again on the other side of it, we have multiple questions and counterpoints. First off: We don't know what this supposed "bigger budget" is. We don't know how much bigger it is. We don't know if it's partially offset by being (initially) a Switch exclusive (did Nintendo pay for that?) or if that was just done because they only wanted to pay to develop for a single platform. Furthermore: They won't have this drip-feed of DLC to sustain the releases when (or if? .... nah jk it's definitely when) the game comes to platforms besides the Switch. So how important is it really for them to have that? Are they going to include the DLC with the base game in future releases on PlayStation/XBox/PC/whatever, trying to attract new/repeat buyers by boasting of a "Complete Edition" or something?

So I guess I don't know. I understand the desire to keep the game alive longer for launch buyers, but I also have the natural desire to just... have it in the game. I suppose you probably wouldn't want to gate hour-long cases behind collecting all the Gumshoe Gabs, though. More logically, you'd unlock each one by completing a chapter or something. Or just in the post-game. After all... unlike the DR titles, Rain Code doesn't really have any post-game content. Besides this DLC stuff, that is.

I think the best middle-ground solution would probably have been to include all the DLC in the Collector's Edition at the very least.

[shinovii]

Question: What do these...

have in common with...

these?

Initially this was gonna be a simple topic on my mind to ramble about, but I guess with the latest words from a soft gaming executive hitting the community in 2024 I now have more of a need to talk about this than ever. It's funny how gaming over the past couple decades went from something rather simple and expressive to complicated and, admittedly, dull in some areas. Wait did I say funny, I meant "completely baffling" and the worst of it, imo anyways, comes from this pretty egregious push towards a digital only future we're seeing, with no consideration for physical media, storage space, possible alternative formats to use, or even us gamers wanting to actually possess and own our games. Yeah we live in an age where media is offered to us in such convenient ways, but with gaming it is a whole other beast entirely and as such it requires a different way of thinking in regards to convenience. Thinking that needs to address some of the issues I have with what's presented to us nowadays, starting with...

Video games back then were pretty small in comparison to the massively large scale stuff we've seen these past couple generations, with every gen growing further and further to reach this point. However with that came this rapid race to pushing out not just the biggest of games, but the most visually stunning games as well...sort of. While there have been plenty of games that went for gorgeous stylized looks and graphical effects there have been way more games that aimed for graphics so realistic and lifelike, it resulted in detailed effects and textures that likely took up a ton of file space. Listen, I don't mind if a game looks great, but if the game's high resolution graphics and such are why it ends up with anywhere over 100GB of data to store then clearly we have a problem. I get it, 4K and 8K resolutions are indeed a thing, but to be honest it is not that much of a necessity in the grand scheme.

The overwhelming file size isn't just cause of graphics either, lack of optimization is just as prevalent and boy does it show. Okay sure, devs have to work under a deadline, gotta get as much of those release day sales as possible, but if optimizing a game to scale down the file size and keep it looking good and performing smoothly is a hassle, then maybe something has to give in order to make it easier to manage. Ya gotta know what's best to prioritize if you want the gaming experience feel fun for the player and save space for more, ya know?

Remember how simple storing game data was, where all you had to worry about was simply having a memory card was all you needed to keep your progress and you had the choice to buy or rent a game to pop in your system? That's what my question earlier was about, stuff like SD cards, flash drives, SSDs and HDDs all store data like the memory cards of old, however there is one difference: the latter mostly stored save data and occasionally DLC for some consoles, the former can fully store games.

After the 7th Generation there definitely was a push towards being able to play games digitally but imo it always felt sloppily done even to this day, unless you played on PC where everything had a designated file directory you could set up of course. For consoles sure you only had to buy an SD card or SSD for extra storage, but it didn’t practically feel like a requirement until games started taking up more and more space. Add onto that the save data, update patches and loads of DLC, and you're piling on more and more files to keep track of with every game you get. That hits even more when you realize that the you fill up more space buying digitally than physically, though nowadays that applies more to Nintendo Switch owners since Playstation and Xbox have treated physical copies like glorified installer discs since the 8th Generation.

Speaking of installer discs I should probably talk about the physical side of gaming, since now there's more of a prevalent discussion amongst the gaming community going on. I've always wondered why out of all the Big 3 in gaming, it was Nintendo that kept it mostly right on what format to use for games and how to store it, especially now. They had cartridges down to a science from the NES to the N64 (the handheld scene was well done too), their disc based systems were touch and go with the Wii being their best one, and when it came to the Switch they didn't follow the trend at all and went "cartridges are fine enough for what we're doing," kudos. I say all this because, for the most part anyway, all of the base game that gets released on Switch is in the cartridge, leaving you extra room for DLC and some digital games that may not take as much space in your storage. That's something I appreciated way more than one would think, as it let me pick and choose what games were worth buying physically and what won't eat up my SD card space, something I feel is greatly missing elsewhere to be honest.

Granted I know cartridges are probably more expensive to manufacture but it's clear the gaming industry wants to shy away from DVD/Blu-Rays as the years go by, however I do wish there was some consideration for not just cartridges, but other physical ways to store games and reduce all the clutter. SD cards are as abundant as can be and come in various capacities, I wouldn't think it'd be too hard to make great use of that and solely store games and DLC in em (shoot Sony themselves toyed with SD card-sized cartridges with the Vita before, they could've tried that format again without the Vita's failures weighing em down). A single SSD could potentially store those 100s of gigabytes that one game had and they're just as readily available to produce too, imagine a system that contained a slot for you to plug one in that had the game ready to boot anytime and could store any extra content.

The options are right there and they'd be great logical next steps in how to sell physical copies of video games, or any media for that matter, but man it's crazy how unnoticed they've gone. I just wish it were given some thought and considered at least.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would dare say that gamers need to feel comfortable not owning their games, that is perhaps the biggest slap in the face to anybody who picks up a controller old and new. For decades it was pretty much an unspoken agreement between the gaming industry and the gaming community that we buy their games and thus we owned em until we either traded it, gave it away or sold it simple as that, but nowadays (since this past decade even) the industry has gotten bold. Between scummy business practices, horrible business mindsets and finding any which way they can to screw people over, it's disrespecting to the very essence of why we play video games.

Now I'm not gonna trash the very notion of digital gaming as a whole, it's here to stay and has been for a long time, but I cannot and will not accept it being the only way we play games when having the options and balance of choosing between it and physical titles in a better format is a perfectly fine way to go whenever we wanna buy a game.

The more limitations and restrictions you place on gaming and the more shenanigans you cause the more likely people are to relent against the industry, and when people relent well...

Hey, a service issue is a service issue is all I'm saying, there are definitely people out there who won't mind the high seas if push comes to shove.

[anime-cat-with-bong]

So I decided to get that fanservice anime games bundle on Humble Bundle, and like...the fucking cowgirl samurai in a bikini games are actually good????????

I really didn't expect much going into them, but these games are so much fun. A few thoughts I had (kinda long post incoming):

The combat feels really satisfying and flows so well. Especially when it comes to things like switching weapons or characters mid combo to extend said combo.

The Xtasy/Dare Drive forms were both badass and fun to use. I really like the risk vs reward feeling that makes you consider the right time to use them.

The plot isn't really anything special or amazing, but it's got that same vibe as a super campy grindhouse B-film which I personally adore.

I honestly really liked the characters. Again these games aren't trying to have the deepest plot in the world, but the characters are fun and memorable. Like I genuinely love them and feel attached now.

I even grew to really like the character designs a lot. Like hell yeah Aya. You go rock that bikini, feather boa, and cowgirl hat while you bathe in the blood of the undead. Again it's just so campy and silly I can't help but love it.

The music goes way harder than it has any right to. "Ichiban Wa Me" has been stuck in my head and refuses to leave.

Origin in particular has amazing combat. Combos flow well, hits feel really impactful, and it's honestly just downright addicting. It also almost reminds me of the Dynasty Warriors games with how you can feel really strong and unstoppable against basic enemies, but boss fights are still challenging and require you to focus.

I definitely think Origin is the better of the two in terms of gameplay, but there's a lot I did really love about it in Z2. One of the biggest things being the chase mechanic which I would really like to see return in a future game along with the more polished gameplay that Origin has.

While I do actually like the more "realistic" look of Z2, I think I like the more stylized anime look of Origin more. It's just much more visually appealing in my opinion, and I hope they continue with it in the future. (I'm also dying to see Kagura and Saaya in that art style)

As much as I've fallen in love with these games they do have some issues worth mentioning though. Mainly the fact that they are a bit buggy.

Z2 doesn't really have any game breaking bug that I found, but sometimes camera angles can get a little wonky. Especially when you're cornered and targeting an enemy. Also hitboxes on some enemy attacks can be a little taller than they appear to be. This is most noticeable with shots from guns that will hit you even when you are jumping high above them.

Origin can take some messing with to get working properly on PC, and even once it is working it's known to crash on occasion which will corrupt your save file. I haven't run into this issue myself, but it is a thing I've seen people talk about so I think it's worth mentioning. While annoying it is possible to protect against this by just making a back up of your save file in the event it does happen. Also worth mentioning that in a few cutscenes the models can be a little shaky. It's honestly not a huge deal at all, but it is noticeable when it happens.

One other negative I will say is that the regular prices are a little high. Especially with Origin which also has bonus missions that you have to buy as DLC. These missions are only $.99 a piece, but I still feel they should have just been included in the base game. I highly recommend these games, but I do suggest grabbing them on sale.

I'm honestly glad I got that bundle if for no other reason than these games, and I definitely plan to put a lot more hours into them to master the combat fully. Needless to say I'm a fan now, and I'm actually really hoping they continue to do more with this series. Maybe with a slightly higher budget even. I see a lot of potential with these games.

[kiddphel]

What classes do you think Miguel would pick for himself in different ttrpgs? (I'm mainly familiar with DnD so I don't know the name for 'class' in most of the others, but I think most of them have an archetype system). Either way this is an excuse for you to talk about it more, if you like, because I think it's a fun concept

Firstly anon I love you (platonic)

Miguel is the type of guy who could make a pc that is really smart and actually back it up with good ideas he thought of himself. I think in DnD he would play a warlock :] Probably wants to play a fun cool race but settles with half-elf for his first character.

In VtM I think he would have fun with a Brujah. Not that he himself is a Brujah, but I just think he would have a good time and make one cuz it would be fun to roleplay one. I also just think he would like their Disciplines. In Werewolf I think he'd play a Glass Walker Philodox. That one is mostly me and him making a joke since he's from the Future and Glass Walker's patron is a Spider.

I do not think he would like Cyberpunk on it's own but I think he would like Shadowrun. He would find magic in the future setting really cool and play a mage. Depends because I think he would like both a support or combat role. But definitely a mage and wants to see the astral plane. Also I'm inviting his brother to this cuz Gabriel is my best friend and I KNOW he would love to play a Technomancer.

And then we can read Eclipse Phase together cuz I'm still learning how to play that one

[chrysanthemumgames]

I just read chapter 8 and wow, it was so amazing! I don't even know if I prefer the aftermath of the chapter 7 fight + the ending with the fruit and all, or if I prefer the whole Orpheus and Eurydice thing!

Eurydice literally tackling Orpheus out of the Underworld had to be one of the biggest "she did WHAT" moments of all times for me, but it was so great! Especially with it allowing a good ending too! Or well, at least as good as it could have been given the circumstances. Not to mention, I quite admire you for making something inherently "funny" still being more shocking and suprising than anything else thanks to how you described it. It could have easily turned into a comedic scene considering what happened, but somehow you avoided the pitfall. I also really liked the small detail to allow the MC to stim out of stress during the whole ordeal. It's these little details and how much freedom we get over them that truly make your game special - well, among other things.

Back to the fruit scene though... It's interesting - I was somehow both surprised and unsurprised that it was such a "mundane" thing. It's a bit hard to describe, but on one hand I thought that maybe eating the fruit would be something dramatic, and on the other hand it also felt like people in the Underworld would just treat that as something "normal" to do. Well, I'm assuming if the MC keeps the fruit for now but doesn't eat it yet it may turn to be more dramatic later heh - but that wouldn't really make sense for my specific MC. I really love the fact we can decide to share the fruit though! Again, such a nice thought.

That aside, I have a two questions if you don't mind!

First one is about the magic sharing thing (sorry if it was asked before and I somehow missed it!). Will we be able to determine how our MC feels about their "partner's" magic? I don't mean how they feel about the fact the magic is shared in itself - we can already determine that - but really how they feel about their partner's specific magic. Hades saying he finds the MC's magic rather pleasant was so sweet, and I'm curious if we'll be able to determine how the MC feels in return, basically.

Second one is about Orpheus and Eurydice. In my ending to the story, they will be staying half of the year in the Underworld and half in the mortal realm (I love the parallels with the original Persephone deal here too!) - for any good ending where it's relevant (I'm assuming there are variants), will we be able to talk with them a bit more in future chapters, once they've calmed down and all? Especially since it would be interesting for the MC to discuss being a demigod with Orpheus I think - all the more since he was raised as a mortal and the MC as a god. During the whole trial thing, my MC talked with Eurydice because it's what made sense - they were sort-of-friends at that point, and it made sense that she would be the person my MC would seek there and the one easier to "influence" out of the two to help them succeed, but that means he didn't have the opportunity to interact with Orpheus, sadly.

Thank you and have a great day!

Heya! Thanks as always for the reading and the feedback. :) As to your questions:

I don't have the next book planned down to the individual choices or anything, but I'm pretty sure that one will come up, yes.

Sort of the same answer, really. I do think I'll be looking for opportunities for the PC to talk to other demigods (besides Pyri), and an Orpheus who is around some of the time is definitely an option there. So I suspect there will be, depending on where they are and what they're up to, further opportunities to interact with those two!