#assassins creed origins scenery series

[fereldanwench]

Hi, I'm Wench! 💙 I'm 36, my pronouns are she/her, and I'm a connoisseur of DILFs, coffee, and nail polish. If you'd like to know more about me, you can check out my about page here, or if you'd like to peruse the stuff I make, you can check out the links below.

🎨 ART | 📚 FIC & VP STORIES | 📸 EDITS & VP | ⚙️ MODS | 🛠️ RESOURCES

Goro Takemura Master Post

Valerie Powell Master Post

Goro + Valerie AU Master Post

Featured Goro x Valerie Content

🔞 NSFW & Adult Content Warning This is not a minor-friendly space, and I strongly discourage anyone under 18 from following me.

📝 What I Post My original posts are mainly about Cyberpunk 2077, specifically Valerie and Goro, with a life update, selfie, or shitpost thrown in for good measure. 😘 Other game series I enjoy and create for include Tomb Raider, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Outer Worlds, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout.

🔁 What I Reblog I reblog a mixture of video games, movies/shows, art, scenery/aesthetic, fandom history/commentary, and meme posts. For a full scope of what you’ll find here, you can check my tag page!

💌 On Following Back I get very overwhelmed by super active dash, and I am just about at my limit for how many blogs I can keep up with--I can't guarantee I can follow everyone back. I don't follow minors at all, and I typically prefer blogs with at least a basic tagging system, e.g. tagging for a game or character at minimum.

📃 Miscellaneous - I queue or schedule many of my posts, and my queue can be as long as a few weeks out. - Ask box is temporarily closed as of July 2023. DMs are available to mutuals only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Accounts

Q: How do you make your Cyberpunk 2077 screenshots? A: The main tool I use is the Appearance Menu Mod, which is used to spawn NPCs, decor, and lighting. I wrote a very detailed guide on how to get started with AMM, available here.

Please note as of December 2022, this guide is somewhat out of date, and I haven't had the time to update it. The method described here still works, but there are other options that are less cumbersome. You can check my CP77 Help tag for more recent information.

I also use Reshade for the Cinematic DOF and Real Long Exposure shaders, and I occasionally use the paid Otis Injectable Camera for hotsampling or if I need to unlock more camera movement. All color editing is done in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Q: What mods do you recommend? A: I have a list that I update every few months that links all the publicly available mods I use in my game as well as a more general mod tag for any mods that look interesting/useful.

I’ve also dabbled in making some of my own mods (mostly pose packs), which are available for free at my Ko-fi shop.

Q: Is Valerie's preset/NPV publicly available? A: Nope, I only share Valerie with very close friends who I know will take good care of her.

Q: Is Valerie available for RPing or OC shipping? A: Although I'm very flattered by the interest, she is not. This is not a roleplaying blog, and while I love getting to know about other people's OCs, I'm currently not interested in Valerie having a romantic past with anyone else's characters. However, I am open to plotting non-romantic relationships between Valerie and mutuals' OCs. 💙

Q: Do you take commissions? A: I currently don't take commissions of any kind, although I am sometimes open to art trades with mutuals (art for art, VP for VP, or VP for art). I can't guarantee my schedule will permit it, but if it's something you're interested in, feel free to send me a DM! 💙

I'm fereldanwench in most fandom-oriented spaces. These are my main accounts:

AO3

Twitter

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Dreamwidth

Pillowfort

Pinterest

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Reddit

Ko-fi

I'm not an active participant in any Discord community, but I do lurk in the AMM Community, Cyberpunk 2077 Modding, and Men of Night City servers under the same name.

The banners on this post were created from a combination of my personal virtual photography and Flaticon graphics.

#📌 #t: wench.txt #pinned post refresh since it's been a few months <3

[happymeishappylife]

Games I Played in 2022

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I waited so long to play this game, refusing to watch any videos on it or learn about it because I knew when I finally got it I just wanted to fully immerse myself in it and so I did. AND IT WAS FANTASTIC! I was not disappointed in the least and had an absolutely magical time travelling the land of Hyrule, doing side quests, and honestly enjoying the story so, so much! I played this game for hours sometimes even just hopping on a horse and letting it go to enjoy the beauty this game has too. I can’t wait for the second one and I am absolutely so elated to have finally gotten to play such a masterpiece.

2. Assasin’s Creed 2

Having wanted to play the Assasin’s Creed games for forever, I’m glad I finally got a chance to start from the beginning and jump into them. After the first I was worried about the game mechanics being boring but this second installment really amped it up and made for such a fun time. I love the story of Ezio Auditore and I also love running around Italy, building up places to their former glory, and getting help by Ezio’s boyfriend Leonardo DaVinci, lol. Knowing what leaps and bounds between the first and second game also makes me excited to play through the rest of the series and see the rest and all the incredibly immersive stories they have to tell.

3. Fall Guys

Another game I’ve wanted to play for years, but I don’t have Playstation Live so never did, but now that this is on the Switch, my goodness I’m having a good time. Plus now I can play as a Dalek and its hilarious. Also what I love about this battle royale game is that while you can be a jerk and sabotage other players, at the end of the day its mostly based on skill to determine if you win. And while I haven’t won a lot of games, it is soooo satisfying when you do.

4. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Much like the second game, we get the same great characters, same fantastic exploration and building up Rome mechanic as the first game that made this one just as much fun. After the slightly disappointing ending in the second game it felt good to finally stop the Borgia too. My only complaint was I thought the mechanics of the second game were perfect and fun to play, but introducing the full sync mission quests to everything annoyed me and though I learned to ignore them after a bit, it felt bad to have ‘Failed’ a full sync mission even if doing it my way was more fun. Also I really enjoyed the twist ending with Desmond at the end and can’t wait to see the fallout of killing Lucy.

5. Pokemon Legends Arceus

I always wondered what it would be like to run around with Pokemon and actually really understand the scale of being around such wild creatures. That part of the game was fun and I had a good time. But unlike other Pokemon games where you can delay story and collect and grind, this game felt a little staler because you had to advance the story in order to do everything you needed to do and then after beating it, it sort of felt like what’s the point to staying in the world? Still had fun with it, but I’m hoping hopping back into the regular games satisfies me more especially since they have taken this open world approach.

6. Assassin’s Creed

As I said, finally picked this game up to play the series and while it was good to get the origins of the game and the story of Altaire, the mechanics felt a little boring and monotonous so I was nervous that’s what most of the games were going to be like. Still at least the scenery and story was interesting enough to continue with and it was a good first game that I’m sure was a bit of a step up for it’s time.

7. Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise DLC

Started playing this when it came out to continue with my Animal Crossing love. Played it for a while and enjoyed the decorating of the vacation homes a lot. It also felt like a nice way to extend my play of the game past what I previously thought I was going to do. But after a while I also got bored and gave it up so I haven’t been back since.

8. House Flipper

Not wanting to go through the motions of travelling to the vacation island just to decorate homes, I thought I would get a simpler game to play instead. Having seen youtubers play I soon realized that the Switch version is pretty limited in what you can do compared to PC, but it was still relaxing and a nice thing to do with my hands if I have friends over and want to talk, but have background noise too.

Games I Replayed in 2022:

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

#2022 rewind #games i played in 2022

[margareit]

ASSASSINS CREED ORIGINS SCENERY SERIES ▷ ↳ Alexandria

#assassins creed origins #assassins creed origins edit #assassins creed #assassins creed edit #ac #acedit #aco #acoedit #my edits #gamingedit #assassins creed origins scenery series #scenery sceries #gamingnetwork #gamingscenery

[lilatreus]

All of my thoughts on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla!

Of course there are major spoilers for the game and ending. I know it’s been out for like three months now but you never know so I’m putting it all under the cut. And yes this is pretty long. A summary is at the end of the entire text.

also pls don’t send me hate like y’all did for what I said about odyssey literally these are just my opinions on the game if u dont care for them pls just skip I have a lot to say about it and there is actually quite a few things that I really enjoyed when playing the game and if u do read it pls don’t hesitate to shoot me messages and talk to me about the game bc I really enjoy the franchise and I need some more people to talk to in this fandom.

What I enjoyed about the game!!

The blending in with the monks/prayers in the streets to get pass the guards!!!!! Dude!!!!! I know it’s like a really small detail but it just made me so happy because it reminded me of when you had to do that in the first assassin’s creed game. It’s a nice touch of nostalgia and really liked it.

The “glitches” (while some were annoying) I’m super super happy that they were kind of bringing back the glyphs from assassins creed two. I loved doing them because I loved trying to get the little movie. It was really nice of them to bring that back so we can get another little movie like the one from AC2 again.

I think we can all agree: Hytham was a great character. I wish he was more involved in the story than already but that’s just me. I really liked his character so much he’s my favorite from the game.

Desmond having some Easter eggs and basically coming back into the series again was great. It was also a nice touch to see the vault from assassins creed three (the place where des dies). It really makes me miss connor and his band of assassins. I miss assassins creed three :( I want more about Connor please put out some more comics with him in it or some easter eggs please I’m begging you. Also fuck u haytham kenway I hate u.

Shaun and Rebecca being back and now it’s canon that they’re together is fucking awesome. I’m actually really happy about that and I missed them so much. I’m glad they’re in the story again. (Rebecca dude I was so worried that she died like no fucking joke I was so upset I thought syndicate really killed her off).

The game itself actually did very well keeping with the lore we were given from assassins creed origins and was actually doing pretty well trying to connect it to the first assassin game.

Speaking of lore I do think they did the best they could to expand upon the not so well liked lore from odyssey and try and fix it but also it did feel a little confusing but I guess that’s just because i didn’t finish the Asgard missions yet so who knows.

The scenery was very very beautiful and I throughly enjoyed walking around and just admiring the view no matter where I was on the map.

Reda just becoming immortal is so funny and the fact that he was just sitting there telling stories about Aya and Bayek.. please my heart. I love them so so much. The letter Bayek wrote??? Soulmates I’m telling you.

Also I did like that they fixed their plot hole for why Bayek and Aya aren’t known for anything history wise in the story (or mainly why Bayek isn’t in the assassin’s history books and Aya, as Amunet, is really the only one written down). I’m very glad that they explained it and I really think I’m just super happy that Bayek was brought back for some easter eggs within the game.

Basim is very handsome and I liked him but I don’t know how to feel about the ending with him. Yes I do love his character and it was super cool to hang around him and do a couple of missions with him but also it felt weird that now you’re technically playing as the bad guy.

Eivor was really cool to play as. I enjoyed running around as them and doing missions. I like the fact that Eivor was basically like “yo you guys [ pointing to the brotherhood ] are fucking crazy but you guys [ pointing to the templars/order of ancients ] are really fucking crazy and weird.” I really loved basically being an assassin and using the hidden blade again. (Yeah I know they technically aren’t an assassin but yknow just an honorary one).

The Canterbury Tales!! The fucking pardoner’s tale!! That was super cool to do I loved those stories and being able to do them in the game made me super happy. I know it doesn’t actually fit the timeline given it wasnt written until like centuries after the game took place but I just thought that side mission was neat!

Fulke was a very cool templar and I thought her character was really really interesting. I wish they did more with her honestly.

What I didn’t like about the game:

So! Speaking of templars! Boy oh boy I have a lot to say for that subject. So for “the order of ancients”:

— I think my biggest problem with this game (as well as odyssey) is that the templars (“OOA”) aren’t actually important to the game anymore. They’re barely in the story now like out of all 20 or so people you have to kill within their order only like 5 or 6 are actually important to the storyline and that’s my biggest problem with it, because now killing the templars is just like a “well since you’re in the area you can kill this dude” and I really hate it. I truly believe that’s why I didn’t like odyssey that much solely bc they made doing the most core part of the video game series a damn side mission and that also goes for Valhalla.

— Also so many of the templar stories, like scenes we get after you kill them, were just so bland. They don’t make them like they used to and that’s another big core part of the series lost.

— They’re straying very far from the main plot of the series and that’s why these last two games didn’t feel anything like an assassin’s creed game. (And you can’t say that “it’s just different because they’re taking place in a time way before the templars were called templars” bc assassins creed origins did very well to changing their game and how they play but also keeping the main goal from previous games: To be an assassin and kill the templars.)

— Also they need to not show us the outline of who the templars are because I could tell who “the father” was as soon as I was able to see the order tab. Please Ubisoft do better.

I know I said this before however the fucking Beowulf mission. My God Did I Hate That. I was really looking forward to the dlc and to see what they did with the story sucked. In Odyssey we got actual Greek monsters and gods and I expected to be given that in Valhalla for the norse deities. And it didn’t happen. (As of right now I can’t comment on the Asgard missions because I haven’t finished them but I’ll probably edit the post and put them in later)

As of right now with the ending and lore shit I’m really kind of indifferent with it. On one hand they are trying to fix the lore that they kind of fucked up in Odyssey by adding more things to explain it better but also that means they added on unnecessary stuff that makes no sense. On the other hand I really hate that Layla is now technically canonically dead because shes now in the grey and basim now has the one thing that would’ve kept her alive. I really wanted them to do more with her like they did with Desmond. I genuinely enjoyed her as a main protagonist and it sucks that she is now dead. Layla deserves so much better honestly!!!!

Also on des: While I don’t want to smack away a fan service gift that includes desmond; it did kind of feel weird that he’s back in the series. Honestly I don’t know how to go about this. I’m super excited that technically desmond is back in a way but on the other hand I wanted them to focus on Layla more and :( Idk man it’s complicated. They have to stop changing the story’s main protagonists Layla deserved to be in more games and hopefully she will be because her “death” felt so cheap. I also wish they explained what happened with her during the year apart from odyssey and Valhalla.

The side missions I have no problem with except for the fact that the little side mission icon just stayed in the place you first show up to to get the mission. I miss the old side mission mechanic bc this new one felt really really confusing and it made me get lost quite a few times.

This one might just be me but I guess they’re expanding more on the gods reincarnating but they’re not focusing on the sages anymore? Like when will Elijah Miles (the newest sage) be shown?? Odyssey fucked up that lore bit but now they’re not even talking about it because any isu god can reincarnate or can take ahold of anyone if they interact with a piece of eden or something. Idk this one little bit is super confusing for me right now and I don’t like that it’s confusing so I will be doing more research on the isu (again) to understand what the fuck is going on with this damn part of the lore.

I know that this is a game where you kill people but this whole game felt so gore-y that I like had to drop it for a bit. Like dude I didn’t really expect that. This one I really feel like is just me. I did not expect to like hear bones breaking when I played it.

The storyline felt kind of all over the place like yes I could understand the big part of the story but also it was all over the fucking place. I just miss the old plot I really do that had a system that was so good it caused several games to follow it’s lead. (I miss AC1 please remaster that damn game)

Also maybe it’s just me but the story felt so slow at the beginning when ur going to England. Literally I hate to say this bc I love this whole series but I was more happy about finally finishing the main storyline than I was while playing the game.

All in all: I did like the game. I did have fun even though some parts were rough. I’m super glad that they got rid/fixed the ship mechanic because I hated every fucking naval battle in assassins creed and that’s something I was worried about doing when I saw that we had longships in the story. The game was enjoyable and it had a lot of great side characters like Hytham, Gunnar, and Yanli. Basim was a treat, though I hope they explain more about him bc I’m going to be honest he’s a bit confusing with this whole loki thing. But yeah this is all I have so far on the game. If you actually read all the way down here comment or like shoot me message to talk about it bc I really really want to talk about the game. Pls pls pls.

#assassin's creed valhalla #ac valhalla #assassins creed #eivor wolfsmal #layla hassan #desmond miles #assassins creed origins #assassins creed odyssey #I’m tagging those two bc I do talk about it within the entire text #I really hope these make sense bc if not they’re just going to sound like ramblings by a crazy person

[daniloqp]

20 best E3 deals on PlayStation, Xbox and PC games and equipment

20 best E3 deals on PlayStation, Xbox and PC games and equipment

https://theministerofcapitalism.com/blog/20-best-e3-deals-on-playstation-xbox-and-pc-games-and-equipment/

E3, the annual video game fair, is a wave of news and trailers for upcoming games. It may be virtual this year due to the pandemic, but after these announcements we are seeing more game sales than ever before. Microsoft has its Unlocked offers on sale, Sony has discounts on popular titles and by the end of this month we are likely to see the annual Steam Summer Sale. It’s a good time to protect your game library and spend time indoors as temperatures rise this summer.

Special offer for team readers: get one One-year subscription to WIRED for $ 5 ($ 25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (optional). Subscriptions help us fund the work we do every day.

If you buy something through links to our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.

PS4 and PS5 deals

God of war.

Photo: Sony Interactive Entertainment

See our other guides, such as Best PS4 Games, The Best PS4 Accessories, Best PS5 Games, i The best gaming headphones allowed.

HyperX Cloud Stinger Core for $ 30 ($ 10 discount): These already affordable headphones are now even cheaper. It is comfortable to wear for long periods of time and the microphone does not interfere. Works with PS4 or PS5.

God of war luxury edition for $ 23 ($ 7 discount): A modern classic, God of war follows the adventures of Kratos and his son Atreus in the beautiful, cold world of Norse mythology. In addition, you can spin a very cool ax. The deluxe edition offers you some luxurious leathers and armor.

Grand Theft Auto V: premium edition for $ 20 ($ 10 discount): I remember when GTA it was mostly a game for one player? Now that’s it and more, with lots of fully online multiplayer content to explore.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for $ 30 ($ 10 discount): One of the most non-traditional Assassin’s Creed games, Valhalla puts you in the boots of a Viking warrior traveling through the beautiful but divided kingdoms of Saxon England.

Borderlands Next Level Pack 3 for $ 47 ($ 23 off): The third entry to the Border lands The series is as addictive as its predecessors. Shoot and loot your way through an alien planet and collect thousands of different weapons along the way.

Mortal Kombat X for $ 12 ($ 8 discount): After playing the last one Mortal Kombat, all I could think about was going back and playing the previous post. Nothing makes a double feature better than that Mortal Kombat X Followed by Mortal Kombat 11.

Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition for $ 35 ($ 15 off): This is a complete remake of one of the most influential survival horror games ever made. If you are fond of making lame in a dark hallway that may be full of zombies or not, this game is for you.

Full edition Horizon Zero Dawn for $ 15 ($ 5 discount): The long-awaited sequel is just around the corner, but the original is still an absolute blast to play. It is beautiful, luxuriously detailed from top to bottom and features memorable characters and scenery. In addition to the robot dinosaurs.

Best deals on Xbox / PC games and equipment

Red Dead Redemption 2.

Photography: Rockstar

From Microsoft Offers Sale unlocked it started earlier this month and runs until June 17, so some of those offers will go pretty quickly. As you participate, read our other Xbox guides, including the Best Xbox One Games, Best games in the Xbox X / S series, Xbox Gift Guide, and ours Xbox X / S Series Tips and Tricks to get the most out of consoles.

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[openmik2]

Middle Earth: Shadow of War- Review

So just recently I've decided to replay through Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. For those of you who don't know Shadow of War is an open world fantasy RPG that is the second installation of the series, using it's popular predecessor, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, as the jumping off point. The question is, Is it worth coming back to?In this review I'll be deciding whether or not this game can be considered "precious" or if it's just another big pile of shrakh.

First up let's start with the plot. You play as Talion, A Black Gate guard who is, by all means, dead. Not got your attention yet? How about if I tell you he is sharing a body with an Elf smithy by the name of Celebrimbor which in turn gives you all these magical abilities like dominating creatures and orcs to make them fight for you? Got you now? Good. Essentially the story revolves around you and ol' Celebrimbor trying to take over Mordor to defeat Sauron once and for all with the use of your new ring of power. As far as stories go this one has me hooked from the get go! The story is split into multiple character quests spread across all the regions in the game so you'll definitely have your fill of scenery and Nemesis (we'll get to that later) encounters. One great way this game keeps you on your toes is by introducing new features constantly! You can be 8 hours deep into this game and it can still tell you "oh hey you've got this far so you have the ability to (spoilers) now". It's a great way to keep the game fresh and really feel like you're getting every penny you can out of it. Let's talk about the aforementioned nemesis encounters. One of my favourite things about this game is the unique encounters you can have with orc captains throughout the game. You have the option to hunt them down or alternatively, they can hunt you. Hunting them requires you to find "worms", lesser orcs with information about captains, their strengths and, more importantly, their weaknesses. These "worms" are scattered all over the world and can also be used to send death threats to captains in the hopes of gaining higher levels of loot. Watch out though, not all captain take kindly to being threatened! Captains can appear anywhere at anytime. When you fight a captain and get him to "break" you then have the option to shame him (decreasing his level OR on the rare occasion INCREASING his level and sending him doo lalley, for lack of a better word), Making him one of your own soldiers in your ever growing army against the dark lord or choosing to fight to the death if the orc isn't fond of betraying his current master ( this is also rare but does happen) The great thing about the Nemesis system is that you just don't know what's going to happen. e.g. You could kill an Orc captain only for him to cheat death and to suddenly appear at the worst possibly time (possibly when you're already fighting two other orc captains) to exact revenge upon you OR you could have a favourite orc in your army only for you to turn around and see him standing there with the word BETRAYAL under his name, spouting traitorous words and thirsting for your blood. Honestly lopping his traitorous head off hurt me a lot more than it hurt him... Each Orc is said to be unique and, to be honest, I'm inclined to agree with this quite ambitious statement. Sure there's a few with the same first name but different profession and there are only a finite amount of voice actors in this world but for all intents and purposes each orc has it's own strengths and weaknesses. You'll think you've seen it all but I myself have played this game for about 80 hours now and just the other day I found a new orc captain I had never seen before so keep that in mind when you're playing through! The strategic player will want to play against a captains weaknesses for example If the captain you're hunting happens to be afraid of caragors, it's probably a good bet to run into his settlement with a small pack of them. Then watch him run away squealing.

Onto the gameplay, a fairly important part of video game culture, would you not agree? I'm not the best at summarizing but I reckon I can do it here with just one word. Smooth. If there's one thing Monolith Productions knows, it's how to make a game feel and look dynamic and free flowing. The combat is very well executed (pun intended) with a large skill tree that let's you mix up playstyles to suit your needs. You can mix and match the skills as much as you want until you find the style that suits you best, whether it be stealthy as a church mouse or gung ho like a grizzly bear on steroids. The combat system is the same as the system from the Shadow of Mordor game, with obvious signs of being heavily inspired by Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham series. If you are not familiar with this then let me break it down for you. You hit "X" to slash, "Y" to counter, "B" to stun and "A" to dodge. I personally see nothing wrong with these combat controls although some may deem it a "button mashing" game which y'know... technically all games are so... But I digress. The system works and it works very well. The controls are simple and easy to pick up, whether you're new to the genre or coming back for more it won't be long before you feel like a bonifide badass blademaster. The movement and climbing is also pretty smooth apart from those few times where you mean to climb up one wall but end up leaping backwards into hordes of angry vengeful captains out for your blood. If you've played any of the earlier Assassins Creed games you'll know exactly what I'm talking about, as will your demolished controller.

Let's have a look at the online features. Shadow of War keeps to the old adage "if it aint broke, don't fix it" as you can see by the leaving in of the vendetta side missions from the original Shadow of Mordor. The vendetta missions remain the same as from the original game where you simply are tasked with going after a captain in another players world whom is responsible for killing said player. This rewards you with "vendetta boxes" which contain gear and possibly powerful orc followers so don't miss out! Also who doesn't like a bit of vengeance even if it's on someone else's behalf. The newest addition to the online features is a lot more substantial. Throughout the game you will be tasked to take and hold forts all across Mordor using your fresh army of orcs in the single player. This feature is also used as a new online game mode where you are tasked to attack OTHER players strongholds, facing up against the orcs that THEY have dominated and chosen to protect their fortress. It's super fun to pit your own selection of specially chosen orcs against someone else's and seeing who comes out on top. This feature also awards gear on completion and player attacks on your fort only affect your fortress control after you finish the game so enjoy that while you can.    Another new addition to the series would be the gear; pickups in the form of swords, armour, daggers, bows and (naturally) rings. These range in rarity and power; the rarest and most powerful of which can only be found by defeating legendary orcs and using their weaknesses against them. Each piece of equipment has one slot for you to insert a "gem".  The gems come in different categories e.g. wealth gems, life gems and strength gems. These gems give you bonuses depending on what kind of equipment you use them on. For example, if you use a wealth gem on a weapon, you're more likely to gain loot from your kills whereas if you use a wealth gem on a piece of armour you increase the XP gained from fallen enemies and so on so forth. In summary Middle Earth: Shadow of War is definitely worth an initial playthrough and after your first completion of the game you will no doubt be ready to craft new unique stories between you and the Orc leaders of Mordor in no time! Take my word(s) for it, you'll have a blast! 

 Final Score: 8/10

#videogame #review #shadow of war #middle earth

[blindrapture]

out of the way hippo, i’ve got running to do

In case anyone is curious as to what I’ve been up to lately, besides general life maintenance and family stuff: Assassin’s Creed Origins, on XB1 specifically.

To my best recollection, I hadn’t actually played a single Assassin’s Creed game before. My brothers both have had a lot of them over the years, and I’ve seen stuff from the earlier games and probably got to play around in one of them at one point. What I knew of the series didn’t exactly grab me. I, uh, really don’t care about the periods of history that most of the games have covered. The framing story looked pretty cool, but not nearly enough to warrant getting into the bulk historical stuff. And that just left the core gameplay-- combat-oriented open-world stealth. You know what I thought that sounded like, as a kid? “Every fucking knock-off PS2 game my brothers love that I have trouble sitting through even when I am interested.” So this was a franchise I could generally ignore.

Origins, on the other hand, added Discovery Tour. I could explore Ptolemaic Egypt without combat? In fact, with a first-person toggle that the main game didn’t even offer? I can change characters, I can fuck around, I can learn the landscape at my own pace? If I want to take the time to learn about 2000-year-old pottery techniques and the development of mummification rituals, I can??? That can be the game???

There’s a button that, when you press it, lets you take control of an eagle? And just fly around, or stop and admire the scenery from different angles?

You can go into the fucking pyramids? Just head on in there and pull out a torch? And learn the internal layout of the actual real tombs???

You can ride a camel from Alexandria to the Hippodrome and then go into that Hippodrome and JOIN A HORSE RACE

A year after getting Origins, I decided to give the main game a fair shot, and well okay I’ve got to admit that I’m really into it. I love being a medjay, only attacking those who are a danger to others, otherwise basking in the sights and following the Nile coastline. I love playing on easy mode. The game still challenges me.

Here is the transcript of a ramble I sent a friend yesterday.

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:41] I knew hippos were in the game but there's a difference between being aware of their existence and having one waddle into a stealth mission you're trying to do

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:42] I was quietly approaching a camp on the Nile

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:42] I had the element of surprise, it was night and the guards were dropping asleep

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:43] And then the enemy-detected-you thing went off, I thought there was a guard I missed, I look and it's a hippo nearby in the river that's looking in my direction

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:43] This happens occasionally, an animal will see you and the game treats it as an Enemy being Alert, if you stay away you're generally fine

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:43] So I paid the hippo no mind

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:44] And just tried to sneak into the camp in a direction away from the hippo

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:44] Within seconds of me letting my guard down, facing the other direction, intent on sneaking forward-- BAM, HIPPO HAS *RUN* UP TO ME AND CHARGED

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:44] HIPPOS ARE *FAST*

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:45] I TRIED TO RUN AWAY FROM IT, away from the camp, BUT IT IS FASTER THAN MY FASTEST SPEED

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:45] BEING CHASED BY A FUCKING HIPPO IS EXHILERATING

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:46] I'm not exactly scared of the hippos, they're tough enemies but slow to turn around and I'm fast with my attacks, but the problem is you can't exactly kill a hippo quietly

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:47] You can't even really sneak up on a hippo

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:48] The only way to confront a hippo and not risk unnecessary death is to fight it brutally and relentlessly in a dirty noisy animal brawl

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:48] Imagine yourself as Link and make intense "scrawwww" noises as you swing your weapons violently

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:48] That is the energy you need to take down a hippo

Jordan Dooling, [16.11.19 03:49] So anyway, the guards at the nearby camp were very aware of me when I had dealt with that problem

What all this means is. I apparently love this kind of 100-hour open-world game? It explains why I found MGS5 to be such a perfect experience. I might actually just plan Really Like Assassin’s Creed. And I’m happy to discover that!

#me talking about me

[rachelkaser]

Catch-Up Critic: Assassin’s Creed Origins

This review was originally set to come out shortly after the game was released. But life happened, and things generally conspired that I couldn’t publish it for ages. Originally the nuts-and-bolts part of the review was more extensive, but I basically decided to keep that part short because my deeply critical inner fangirl demanded I spend the most time on the story part.

This will come in handy when I publish my series critique of Assassin’s Creed next week. Stay tuned!

When I first heard the whispers about the Egyptian Assassin’s Creed back in what feels like the late Cretaceous, I had my doubts as to how it would make the story work. This would be the first time the series set a game in the period before the historical Hashashin and Knights Templar existed, so I was skeptical of how it could tie it to the existing narrative without feeling contrived.

For the most part, that worry was assuaged. The game’s narrative is probably better for not being tied so closely to the tangled mess that is Anno Domini-era Assassin’s Creed. That said, it suffers from a few pitfalls that keep me from really loving the story, for all I do like the main characters.

First, the Basics

It’s the age of Cleopatra, and Bayek of Siwa, a member of a now-defunct order of warriors, is on the warpath. The death of his son Khemu has sent him on a murderous rampage, looking for those responsible. Assisting him in the quest is his wife Aya, and the two eventually realize they may have stumbled on something bigger and more sinister than either of them ever realized. By the end of the game they realize they must expand their purpose beyond avenging one crime if they’re truly to help the people of Egypt -- effectively becoming the first Assassins.

The (somewhat literal) sandbox in Origins is the biggest I've ever seen in an AC game [this was written before I played AC Odyssey], encompassing what feels like the entire Egyptian empire. The terrain is varied, from rocky and swampy to sandy to forested. The scenery is by far the best thing about the game, at once arrestingly beautiful and rather forlorn.

Bayek is generally a likable protagonist, far more world-weary and intelligent than the last couple of AC leads have been. His and Aya’s relationship is a refreshing new spin on the series’ usual take on romantic relationships, being an established, loving marriage that strains under weight of grief and anger. That said, there are some points where their characterization strains credibility...but we’ll get to that.

The open-world traversal is serviceable, if a little boring. The combat is also much more fun than the vast majority of the games in the series. If there’s one good thing I can say about Ubisoft’s efforts, it’s that they have managed to finally evolve away from 1 & 2′s atrocious “one opponent at a time” combat, even if the evolution came in painfully slow fashion over about five games.

The animation quality is generally of a much higher quality than in the last couple of games, and everyone in the game. That said, I question the need to hunt and kill the Egyptian wildlife. It’s not really in-character for Bayek -- in fact, it hasn’t really been in character for any of the Assassins except for Connor and Edward.

Also, speaking as someone who’s actually ridden similar animals in the real world -- what the fuck is with the horses in the game? I’m not just talking about how they behave (though it’s nice to see the ancestors of Geralt’s Roach teleporting all over the sands), but more about how they look and move. I realize the horses of Roman Egypt would be quite different animals to the Quarter Horses of my time, but still ... who is responsible for these swan-necked beasts and their incredible uncomfortable-looking gallops? How is it, when horses have been in the games and reasonably well-animated for ten fucking years, they’ve suddenly become something out of one of those girly Barbie PC games from the nineties?

Quest-ion for you

Now we’ve got to get to the problems I have with this game’s story, and what it means for the series in general.

It feels like, as the Assassin’s Creed series goes on, the story structure loses more and more of its load-bearing beats. To be clear, AC has had basically the same story since the beginning: Personal misfortune forces the main character to claw up to Master Assassin status and find personal fulfillment in the Creed. I challenge you to give me a game in the series where that’s not the basic structure, other than Rogue and the sequels to AC2, of course. And as we get into ever-higher franchise numbers, every game seems to be in a bit more of a hurry to get that pesky initial development out of the way so it can get to work handing the player tasks to complete.

Let me break it down even further: Altair, in AC1, starts the game as a cocky little shit who thinks he can get away with everything, and it takes a long, drawn-out sequence of having his hooded head smacked around to bring him down to earth. When you start the meat of the game, he’s been stripped of his rank and has to work his way back up. Along the way, he must grow his mind and devote himself to the spirit of the Creed in order to match himself against a conspiracy that’s miles over his head. That’s the character arc.

In AC2, Ezio has an extended sequence roaming Florence, making friends, and getting into trouble. He’s established as a sweet, if reckless boy who really loves his family. When that family is torn apart for reasons young Ezio doesn’t really understand, he goes on the attack. Over the course of about twenty years, he takes the Creed to heart and sets about dismantling the entire operation that led to his father’s and brothers’ deaths in the first place, for the good of society more than for his own personal gratification. That’s the arc.

AC3: Connor grows from being a kid with a narrow sense of justice, to a man who takes the teachings of the Creed to understand moral grey areas, gaining a more nuanced reason why he opposes the Templars, and also how he can steer the course of the society around him in a better direction.

AC Liberation: Aveline hunts Templars initially because her Assassin Mentor tells her to, and only after she rescues her mother does she come to a greater understanding of what the Assassin/Templar conflict is actually like and decides for herself why she wants to be an Assassin.

AC Unity: Arno is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and has to grow from a silly kid to a serious, politically-savvy adult in the space of a few months, finding the internal strength to oppose the people he loves like family (in theory, anyway; I don’t think it quite managed to sell that story, but the thought was evidently there).

But recently, the games have seemed to steamroll past these essential bits of early character development, as if they are incidental to the arc. They aren’t, and it’s starting to look more and more like the devs don’t realize that.

In Syndicate, for example, the Frye twins’ personal misfortune that prompts them to act out is the death of their father Ethan. While the central conflict of the story that prompts most of their character growth comes from their differing viewpoints, the death of the Frye pater familias is still intermittently treated as serious business for them. Since we never see or know much about Ethan or what he felt for his kids, it doesn’t mean much and ends up stunting the likeability of the characters.

Similarly, in AC: Chronicles, we’re dropped headlong into the stories of the three protagonists and never really given insight into what they feel about the conflict with the Templars and why they’ve come down on the side they have. In that case, it’s mostly because all three are novel/comic characters who have already undergone their essential growth in other media, but their stories still feel as though they’re missing crucial elements.

So it goes with Bayek of Siwa. We’re supposed to be attached to him (and to a lesser extent, his wife Aya) and invested in his quest to avenge the death of his son. However, literally the only time we spend with him pre-revenge quest is a five-second lingering close-up intercut with acid trip memories of the incident that prompted the quest. Then we smash cut to him killing the first of his targets, screaming about how he wants his revenge, when we haven’t even been gifted with his name yet. It’s as abrupt as it sounds.

Why Are We Here Again?

Speaking of said revenge quest: For something that’s so important to Bayek, and crucial to the plot of the game, it’s treated with almost startling flippancy by everyone else. Aside from one kind comment from Cleopatra, almost no one seems the least bit sensitive to the issue. Keep in mind, we’re talking about the on-screen murder of a child.

For example, Bayek’s relationship with his wife Aya slowly sours over the course of the game. If this had happened because their relationship simply couldn’t bear the strain of their mutual tragedy, I’d understand, and call that a mature depiction of a relationship, even. After all, you’d think, if anyone would be on Bayek’s side when he’s working through his grief, it’d be the mother of his murdered child.

Instead, Aya seems far more concerned with ingratiating herself with Cleopatra then she does with avenging the death of her son -- and it’s hard for me to see a good reason for that. Cleopatra is telegraphed as someone with good intentions who might fold under power, and any series devotee already knows she’ll be killed by an Assassin later in life, so it’s pretty clear she’s not above becoming a tyrant. There’s a good reason, gameplay-wise for Aya to be so besotted -- it’s to make sure an increasingly-cynical Bayek has to associate with the most known figure from the time period, someone he otherwise wouldn’t approach with a ten-foot pole. But story-wise, it’s just a little baffling.

For example, when she’s telling Bayek she has no intention of returning to their hometown towards the end of the game, she asks him what higher calling he answers to. When he responds their calling is that they’re parents, she responds, almost casually, “We were parents.” Her child was murdered in cold blood a short time ago, I’ll remind you. No mother would say that. Nobody would say that.

Bayek, for his part, is single-minded in his focus to bring his son’s killer to justice, and it effects every aspect of his character. He’s portrayed as being incredibly kind and friendly to children, relating to them and bringing his parenting skills to bear during investigations, and distraught when his actions indirectly harm them.

That said, even he’s not immune to rocky inconsistencies in tone and character. Late in the game, he approaches Cleopatra, having murdered several members of the Order on her command. When she commends him and offers him a new set of targets, he complains that he feels like a glorified hitman and none of the people he killed were involved with his son’s death. She brushes him off and tells him about the enemy she wants him to kill. Less than five minutes after complaining that Cleopatra’s using his quest for vengeance to further her own political agenda ... Bayek seemingly forgets this and, with no further reassurances from Cleo, excitedly wonders if this latest Order target is the one who killed his son.

Now What?

As much as I want to adore this game, there are certain problems with the story and the need to fit Bayek in to the role of Assassin as other characters have played it in the past undercut its meaning and emotion.

I’m going to be looking at the series’ overall story as it currently stands, and Origins marks a watershed moment for the current generation of AC games. Where it delivers on crunchy combat and open-world gameplay, it fails in character growth and consistency.

#assassins creed #game review #catchup critic #bayek of siwa #assassin's creed #assassins creed origins

[jorrmungandr]

Assassin’s Creed Origins: It’s Fine

Hey! Another sorta game review-ish thing.

Assassin’s Creed Origins is a perfectly fine game. It’s got some incredible scenery, some decent writing here and there, but the core gameplay is a bit lacking. It’s a problem with AAA games in general, and more specifically the type of open-world games that Ubisoft develops.

First off, the good stuff: This game is absolutely gorgeous. You could generalize it as all deserts and farmland, but it does an incredible job of adding variety to that basic formula. Every region looks different, every little town has its own thing going on, every nook and cranny feels intentional. Even without being able to run it at max settings, I am often blown away by how good it looks. And it has a good photo mode, which is always fun.

The writing is kind of a mixed bag. A lot of quests feel like pretty thing excuses for going to a place and murdering people, or finding some sunken treasure, or what-have-you. But the protagonist, Bayek, is very well-realized. I enjoyed how he was written to be kind of a goofball, and he felt more like an actual member of the society he was in than most AC protagonists. I like that they are consistent about him believing that vengeance is good, actually, and you should take it if you can.

So, the gameplay. Climbing on stuff is as good as it’s ever been, though it is occasionally frustrating when Bayek cannot climb something that clearly has cracks he could use as fingerholds. This is the thing that’s been polished to a mirror sheen over the course of this long series, the main appeal from the very beginning. Even in the largely rural setting of Ptolemaic Egypt, there are plenty of temples and ancient ruins to clamber all over.

The combat sucks. It’s trying to add a more Dark Souls or Witcher-ish dimension with the shield, but it doesn’t really work. It ends up being the same old thing, you get enemies in combos until their health goes all the way down. Sometimes, tougher enemies have big shields, and you gotta charge up a stronger attack to get past it. The only times I’ve died in combat are from being lit on fire and not noticing my health dropping in time to jump in some water or roll around on the ground.

Part of the problem is that there is no enemy variety to speak of. This is a common problem in these types of open world games. You get the vague categories, which are then translated exactly into each faction. They may have different tricks up their sleeves, but it has never been relevant.

This is the essential problem with the game: it’s too easy. It’s designed to be beaten, you’re not supposed to ever struggle while playing it. The method it uses to entertain you is passive, not active. You are not engaging in the world directly, it’s more like seeing it from a thousand feet in the air. Oh, there are farmers in the fields, doing their work. Oh, there are greek soldiers, roaming the countryside. You only interact with the world through side quests, and even then it is all proscribed, pre-written dialog, pre-determined action. Bayek is on his journey, you’re just watching it.

So, overall, it’s a great game to play while listening to podcasts, but it gets a bit boring after a while. The only thing it really has going for it is the variety in scenery, which, again, is really incredible. Maybe my expectations were built up a bit high by all the talk I heard about it last year on podcasts and social media, but I expected something really different, a new direction for the series. But really, it’s essentially the same.

Playing this game, I keep thinking how much potential it has, squandered. All this work put into the world, getting it to look so incredible, and you just wander around climbing on stuff and murdering people. They keep trying to make something new by bolting things onto the formula established in the very first Assassin’s Creed, but they’ve never really succeeded.

I started playing this game right after finishing Dragon Quest XI, and I was struck by how loose it felt. Animations are approximated to what they’re supposed to do. Every sword hit may not exactly connect, but you know what the animation is implying, it’s fine. People clip through clothes, animals clip through riders, everything is always bouncing and colliding at odd angles. Nothing is exact, it’s all just close enough to how it needs to be.

This is in contrast to DQXI, which was very exact in everything. Animations in battles lined up perfectly. Camera angles were chosen carefully to always show things at their best. Models are constructed to never clip or bend in weird ways. There are no relevant physics to speak of, besides the ability to jump, which is carefully limited as well. There are lots of invisible walls to keep you from getting into awkward places you shouldn’t be.

It struck me how both games were trying to simulate a world, but with very limited scope to tell a particular story, and yet they ended up feeling so incredibly different. There seems to be a tendency in big western RPGs to try to simulate the world, and then figure out what story you want to tell in it. If you can just get all the pieces working right, then you can figure out something interesting to actually do with them afterwards. Whereas in JRPGs, you get the opposite, you figure out the story and then see what bits of the world actually need to be simulated.

The latter gives you a much tighter, more focused experience. Not to say that one is better than the other, necessarily, it’s merely an interesting juxtaposition, starkly demonstrating the divide. And it goes WAY back, to the earliest examples of both genres. Look at Daggerfall, with its hundreds of square miles of simulated countryside. Compare it to Dragon Quest 5, which was exactly as big as it needed to be to accommodate the story it wanted to tell.

#assassin's creed origins #game review #my writing #bayek #got a little ramble-y in this one but whatever #it was fun to write #review #long post

[persephinae]

some thoughts on AC Origins so far (under cut for length)

@leok-rogue - if you want to read

so i’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed Origins for the first time.  Bayek has killed 3 of the Cultists, and I’ve met up with Aya who’s killed 2 on her own.

I love Bayek.  He’s very gentle, kind, noble, and honorable beneath all his pain and thirst for revenge.  Even while plotting the downfall of the cultists who took away his son, he still stops and helps everyone when he can.  He’s still a Medjay at heart.

I haven’t seen Aya much in the game yet, but she seems to be very very intelligent, courageous and fierce, cunning, and loves with a fierce passion. While Bayek was wandering in his grief and trying to make sense of their tragedy, Aya was already 2 steps ahead plotting from shadows and meeting with people who could help her.

The game is beautiful. It brings the ancient world to life - you get to see the Library of Alexandria, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and the city itself.  You get to see people from different cultures since Alexandria is a port city and heavily greek.  It was really cool actually to see ancient Egyptians, Greeks, various African cultures, and even a smattering of northern Europeans, all mixed together in Alexandria.  You get to see ancient tiled mosaics, persian rugs, ancient temples (both Egyptian and Greek styled), people being people and swimming in the Mediterranean or haggling or whatever.  It’s done in a way where it’s believable and suitable for the time period.   You also get to see different styles of dress from different cultures, and glimpses of politics and how the city operates.  Even the animals are incorporated in a way that’s believable and you can see how people would interact with wildlife native to the region.  So again, very cool.

However..  it doesn’t quite feel like a lived in, breathing world to me.  It’s too pristine.  You can see the class differences between people and how they dress, but that’s it.   There’s hints that there’s a poor section of town, or poor villages, but again, everything is pristine and clean.  Also, while you can certainly go into most buildings and take a peek at how those people live, it feels like there are no secrets or history, despite being in a region that’s already thousands of years old at the time of Cleopatra.

I hate to compare, but I keep finding myself comparing the game to the Dishonored series, which despite being older games and not as polished, managed to do more with the background scenery and cityscape than most games.  Dishonored manages to use the background/city as a prop for the story.  Dunwall and Karnaca are set up in different ways to expand on the story, be integral to the story, and unfold their mysteries.  There’s a history to each city, and secrets to discover.  Dunwall, with it’s bleary grey Victorian steampunk whaling aesthetic, and Karnaca with it’s beautiful but deadly facade set in a Mediterranean aesthetic.   The settings make the town seem more alive.  And strewn about each city are secret lives you get glimpses of in journals, secret histories and lore found in discarded books, and always the Outsider watches from the Void.

Also, to a slightly lesser degree - the Witcher 3 captures that feeling as well.  Its cities also lend itself to the story, the wealthy sections vs the poor sections, hidden alleyways, secret ruins, NPC’s that actually talk to you, the high lonely solitude of Kaer Morhen, all lend itself to the story.

There’s nothing like that to be found in Origins.  So now it’s getting a bit boring as I do all the side quests and I’m tempted to just get back on the main quests and be done.

#Cat rambles #about AC Origins

[ges-sa]

New Post has been published on https://ges-sa.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-review/

Assassins’ Creed Odyssey Review

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Sparta!!! Yes, a lot of people will shout this when playing the game, especially when performing the iconic Spartan Kick. Assassins’ Creed returns with Assassins’ Creed Odyssey and this time we go even further back than Origins, about 400 years before in fact, the setting is in Greece during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.

One of the biggest things people will think is how cliché is it doing a Greek Mythology setting? Well I’m happy to report that the game does not feel clichéd at all, it feels fresh yet familiar and having the two protagonists helps as well. We had an interesting interview with the script writer of Odyssey Daniel Bingham and you can listen to the interview here.

You can choose to play as Kassandra or Alexios siblings and part of Leonidas’ bloodline, their journey will take them all over Greece to uncover some secrets, understand the war (Even tipping the scales) and ultimately trying to find the staff of Hermes. In the present, you play as Layla Hassan who uncovered the spear of Leonidas and tying this into the animus reveals the DNA of the two protagonists and making you choose which path to follow.

As with all the AC series, the game is very tied to historical stuff, but the writing was done superbly to make it fresh and feeling new. Naval battles have also returned from Black Flag and add a lot of enjoyment to the game. The map is huge, and you can easily get lots in just one province for days exploring, doing side quests and just checking the scenery.

You can partake in the war between Athens and Sparta and there is a War System that controls this in the game. You can influence the outcome of the war in regions and this will also affect how the region reacts to you.

The RPG elements of Odyssey is the best yet in the series. With your equipment, you can equip different kinds of weapons and armour, upgrade them, dismantle them, sell them or go to a blacksmith to engrave enhancements on them, on an open slot, to improve the weapon. You unlock new engravings in different ways, like progressing further in the story, levelling up or doing quests.

On the ability/skill side, you now have more freedom on what you can upgrade and what you want to focus on, apart form unlocking new abilities or skills you can also upgrade some to a better level. There are three major sections, Hunter, Warrior and Assassin. Some abilities/skills can drastically improve gameplay so choosing what to unlock/upgrade first can count a lot to your journey.

Assassins’ Creed Odyssey is quickly becoming my favourite release in the series so far. It has everything that fans ask for great improvements, return of favourite gameplay, new gameplay and lots of options and a massive map. A great contender for Game of the Year![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”31981,31982,31983,31984,31985,31986,31987,31988,31989,31990″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Additional Information

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Reviewed on: PS4 Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One Genre: Action RPG / Stealth Age Rating: Mature Publisher/Developer: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Quebec Estimated RRP: R899 Release Date: 5 October 2018[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Likes

Naval Battles Return

Sparta!!!

So much more to do

Dislikes

I need a month off to play this game

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#Assassin's Creed #Assassins' Creed Odyssey #Greek Mythology #Megarom #Odyssey #Sparta #Ubisoft #Gaming #Reviews

[margareit]

ASSASSINS CREED ORIGINS SCENERY SERIES ▷ ↳ 1/?

#assassins creed origins edit #assassins creed edit #assassins creed origins #assassins creed #acedit #ac #acoedit #aco #gamingedit #assassins creed origins scenery series #scenery series #my edits

[vanceencounter-blog]

My Faves of E3:Part 1

Microsoft

Favorite Game: Cyberpunk 2077- I have been excited for this game based solely on the merits of the Witcher 3. CD Project Red left a great impression on me with that release  (I have never played Witcher 1 or 2, don’t @ me). I am typically not willing to fully sign off on a game until I see actual gameplay footage. While the general public did not get footage, we did get an awesome cg trailer that did a great job building excitement for the game. 

The world seems vibrant, colorful and unique. It also seems jam packed with many different locations, types of people and activities. We see the V(your customizable protagonist) riding a train, driving in a night rider esque car and while we didn’t see them flying, it seemed to heavily imply that was possible as well. People of various augmented varieties were seen throughout, allowing them to shoot hoops better, lay a beatdown on a sparring construct and even alter their facial appearance.

CDR did a great job with Witcher making a dark and interesting world while not making a game devoid of fun or humor. That tradition seems to carry on here, based on V’s exposition. He states that Night CIty is worst place to live in in America but everyone still wants to live there. More of a town of dreams where bad things happen, than a full on city of darkness a la Arkham City. This sets the tone of the game nicely, along with the pumping synth music, vibrant lights and even the font for the game itself.

I have learned that the game will be first person instead of third. This has caused backlash among the CDR faithful, hoping for a cyberpunk version of The Witcher. I am not at all shocked or appalled by this change. I like seeing developers be able to stretch their wings and make new types of games. If we kept devs locked into doing the same thing forever we would never get Horizon Zero Dawn or Child of Light. As an augmented human being in a futuristic setting, it makes much more sense from a gameplay perspective to be an fps. This allows you to have augmented vision and have better control over aiming your guns.

I can’t wait to hear more about this game. I fear that we won’t have a release date anytime soon but I appreciate CDR’s dedication to their craft. Witcher has bought them some well earned breathing room and freedom to take their time making a polished product. They have also promised to have continual post game free content, as is their tradition. For now I remain excited for the next glimpse they provide us.

Honorable mention: Gears of War 5- I have been a long time fan of the Gears series. I was unemployed and dropped out of school at the time of the first Gears, which meant I had a hell of a lot of time to myself. Time I spent playing a copious amount of GOW. My proudest achievement to this day is “Seriously”, which was presented to those who had 10,000 online ranked kills. It was one of the only online games I actually spent the time and energy learning the glitches to allow me to play on even footing. So you can understand how I may be interested in another entry to the series.

This Gears glimpse did not pick off right where the last game left off. Instead we see a JD with a messed up arm in some sort of incubator like device, with a shaved head and facial scar. Marcus and JD don’t seem to be getting along anymore. Even Kait and JD seem to be at odds. This leads to Kait and Del striking out on their own to find out the truth behind Kait’s newly acquired locust pendant. It was her grandmother’s which seems to lead us to believe Kait may be Queen Myrrah’s grand daughter.

I love the fact we are getting a game about Kait and Del. Marcus has had more than enough time in the spotlight and JD wasn’t terribly interesting. As a PR move, this is genius as well. The game’s main character has never been anyone but a burly white male marine.  By following Kait as the main character, it helps silence the criticism the series carries for being too much of a “bro shooter”.  This story seems personal and poised to offer many twist and turns. It seemed like there was some definite friction that was gonna happen between our two protagonists. I would be surprised if we didn’t at least play some of the campaign as JD and Marcus but would not be disappointed if that were the case.

From a gameplay perspective we didn’t get to see a tonne of new weapons yet. This is slightly disappointing given Gears’ track record of cool and unique weaponry. I do know a few people who would love to take up those bone sticks and bash people online. There were quite a few new enemies including the locust who gives up said bashing sticks, a leech like creature and some DBs, that seemingly have been taken over by a locust infection of some sort.

Cyberpunk gets the nod here for me, as it is a brand new property in the video game space.

 Ubisoft

Favorite Game: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey- I have been a long time Assassins Creed Die hard. The series has been a real roller coaster ride, with the highs of ACII and ACIV Black Flag and the lows of AC III and AC Syndicate.  I think Ubi made a smart choice putting the series on pause and reevaluating it’s direction after the general populace started to fatigue on yearly releases. AC Origins proved to be a triumphant return, albeit in a different form. A form which Odyssey seems to embrace and enhance.

Odyssey is even more of an RPG than Origins was. In addition to gear with levels and rarity distinctions, they have added dialogue trees and the the ability to choose your character at the start of the game. RPG elements have been blended into games for years now but I can not get enough of them. The ability to customize your character through their perks and your weapons of choice, lets the player fight in the manner that best suits their playstyle. Now the story can play out in a similar fashion by allowing you to direct character interactions however you please.

Another issue the franchise has had is the division between the life of the Assassins which is grounded in reality and history and the science fiction elements of their present/future story line. They seem to be leaning more into the scifi elements of the future in this entry. Rarely do we see any of the artifacts of the god like alien race. When we do, it tends to just be the apple and every now and then we catch snippets about the number or details of the remaining artifacts. Based on the abilities the spear of Leonidas grants you, it would appear that it is one such item.

I’m torn between the inclusion of this weapon. In terms of the modern day story it makes sense that the Assassin’s and Templars would come into contact with these items and use them to their benefit. The problem is the game is based in the real world so if these items were used frequently and openly in the past, surely we would know about their true power today. At this point I think it would behoove Ubi to either turn up the sci-fi in the past and finish out the story of the gods or drop the god storyline and make these period pieces solely. From a gameplay standpoint I like the idea of getting more interesting weapons. This would allow each Assassin to feel even more unique from game to game and the devs would have more game mechanics available to them.

Regardless of these concerns, I am excited by the freedom the gameplay and story provide. Being able to choose your gender and character without the loss of a defined character is great. Not saying Brodie was the best protagonist in Far Cry 3 but I prefer that over the silence of the Far Cry 5 hero. Any game where I can collect sweet loot and level up always has my attention and as such I remain hyped for AC.

Honorable Mention: The Division 2- The Division is back! Enough time has passed to be excited, especially because I never played any of the DLC. They are doing quite a few things that makes this look more than a rehash of the first game.

First off, the setting is summer time in D.C.. This gave us more variety in scenery, with a jungle environment shown off as well as the typical urban environments. The devs also had more freedom in the clothing options they provided to the player, as they now no longer have to worry about getting frost bitten.

Enemies look a little different this time out. There are now heavily armored enemies that signify they are going to be bullet sponges. This is a welcome change from the first game where a random high level enemy would be taking a hundred bullets to the toque before they would drop. Non-armored enemies do appear but are much easier to dispatch than in the first Division. The time to kill dropping I fully endorse and I appreciate them attempting to ground the game further in realism. Enemies had some new tricks up their sleeves, such as gooping a player to the ground causing them to need their team mate to release them. I hope this is indicative of an effort to have more unique challenges to face along the way.

The enemies aren’t the only ones with a few new tools in their belt though. There were some new gadgets like a device that split into little bee-like things and heat sought an enemy before exploding.  The biggest and baddest additions to your armory come in the form of high level special weapons. Once you hit the end game you will be presented the option to wield a grenade launcher, a 50 cal sniper or a torque bowesque cross bow. I am always up for more differentiation between party members and players, so I think this is a great change.

The raids will be launching soon after the release of the game in order to give players a chance to gear up and get high enough level to participate. The raids are 8 players and will require good gear and high level play to conquer. Personally I find this sort of end game content much more interesting than grinding endlessly in the dark zone. We didn’t get much about the dark zone but this first look at the game was more than enough to sate me for now.

 In this instance Assassin’s Creed wins based on the hooks it has had in me for years. Division I enjoyed but has a lot to prove. I am hoping they have heard the player’s feedback and are able to turn that into a game with a deep end game, diverse enemies and characters that feel like your own.

Sony

Favorite Game: The Last of Us 2- This is one of those games I think you could release nothing about and still have people lined up outside of their local game store on day one. I think they have done a good job so far giving us just enough information to tantalize without overloading though.

We started on a scene where Ellie is at a dance and life seems to be going a lot better for her these days. Joel isn’t seen but is eluded to by a fellow community member. This seemed like a very deliberate decision to leave him out of the spotlight and make Ellie the focus. In fact in the whole trailer he never showed up once. The developers have stated that this is her story but I would not be surprised if we had the inverse of The Last of Us and have one or two Joel levels. The trailer continues with Ellie dancing with another woman and ends up kissing her. People who never played the The Last of Us dlc may not know Ellie was a lesbian but the devs have stressed this is a part of who she is, making it important to display this. I am all for getting more diverse characters in games over having the 100th old grizzled army vet character. Unfortunately for her life isn’t all kissing girls and dances though.

We quickly cut from her at the dance to being out in the dark, shanking an enemy from behind. The cut scene looked great but in true Naughty Dog fashion the in-game graphics were just as impressive. The first thing that struck me was the visuals but as the trailer progressed it was the movement that stuck with me. Everything Ellie does seems realistic and once she engaged with a group of enemies it became clear the level of immersion we will be experiencing.

The melee combat seems much more refined and interesting in this game. Any weapon an enemy holds Ellie can pick up. Even if it’s a heavy one handed weapon it will just become a slow two handed weapon for her. The melee kills were so detailed and unique they seemed like pre-scripted quick time events. When she killed an enemy their arrows clattered to the ground and Ellie would physically pick them up rather than having them just pop into your inventory when stepping on them. This was a lot to take in before even factoring in the exploration.

There is a jump button now included in the game. This sounds like a game changer when it comes to traversal and the ability to sneak up on enemies. Speaking of sneaking they have significantly increased the nuance of hiding in tall grass. It is no longer a simple “I’m in the grass so I’m invisible” situation. Enemies can now spot you if they are close enough which makes things much more harrowing. You can now duck under cars as well but the enemies will search under them for you. In a section of a supermarket they also showed her squeeze in between shelves to flank her enemies. This breadth of options makes simple scenarios have many different ways to tackle them. In that super market section you will notice enemies tell one another to spread out and search for you. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to their AI.

Each enemy knows that you are in a given space once alerted. This leads to them searching for you until they find you and not giving up like in other stealth games. They also have individual names, which their compatriots will call out. Changes like this make every grunt seem like a real person rather than a nameless thug. They also do not have patrol routes but move with a sense of purpose based on contextual clues they have. All in all it seems like Naughty Dog is poised to raise the bar for gaming yet again.

Honorable Mention: Ghost of Tsushima- This is a game we knew next to nothing about but it blew me away with its impressive showing. From the get go it was visually striking and unlike anything else we have seen. The use of color was striking with very muted tones at the start which easily drew the eye to the red tree matching the leaf that the main character, Jin, picked up.  Apparently this is very much an open world game and the focus of the demo was a side quest. The fact that there was this level of detail in an open world game is impressive to say the least.

Once the titular ghost arrived on the scene of the crime he runs into three mongols terrorizing the locals. In typical Samurai fashion they square off before he one shots the opposition. The combat seems more involved than something like Arkham Asylum. It reminded me of For Honor where blocks and parries will be vital to survival.

Once Jin got closer to the temple it became a stealth section or so I thought. The devs confirmed he could have went in the front door swords blazing but he probably chose the smarter option. By using his grappling hook he was able to sneak in through the temple roof and dispatch of the enemies silently. The grappling hook is only one of many weapons that our protagonist will unlock throughout the game. It shows the necessary transformation he goes through from samurai to something more, in order to overcome the tremendous threat the mongol hordes pose. There was a section where he stabbed an enemy through a sliding screen door which was very cinematic but was not scripted. The end result would have been the same with backup being called but it would have come to fruition differently based on how you tackled the enemies. As I have mentioned time and time again, I value this level of player agency very much and can’t wait to see all the options available to the player.

In the end he had to confront his ally as she was threatening to kill the proprietor of the temple. Jin states that we should be fighting the mongols rather than out own country men. She chooses to rebutt with steel. Once again the swordplay seems very intense with slow mo dodges and sword clashes. Flaming arrows rained down around your battle and started a blaze as your duel waged on. The fact that this was not a main mission but had such a memorable set piece bodes very well and earned it my honorable mention.

#ghost of tsushima #the last of us 2 #sony #microsoft #ubisoft #gears 5 #cyberpunk 2077 #assassin's creed #The Division 2

[theblizzardblonde]

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

           Vikings. Who doesn’t love a good Viking movie, tv show, or game? Assassin’s Creed wowed the gaming world with their newest addition to the series: Valhalla. It had been several years since the last release date of Assassin’s Creed, which was Odyssey, which took place in the Roman Empire, so this was something fresh and new, and very intriguing to Assassin’s Creed fans. The series had first started out in 2007 and has been making games everyone to two years with each game theme being more and more exciting.

The graphics for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are beautiful, not too incredible, but the scenery is great and the story line is incredible. The game starts off with you playing as a Nordic child in a Viking village that is having a party than undergoes an attack. The game is based off of this child growing up and wanting revenge for the ones who attacked his village and family. As the child is thrown on a horse to escape the attack, he quickly jumps off to show his bravery and courage, which is heartwarming, but gets the players heart racing!

           The combat of the game give almost a Mortal Kombat feel, it really showed the violence that you would see if you were living and fighting during the time. The weapon sound effects are much different and shows more of a connection between the sword and the person being attacked. The fighting is swifter and smoother and shows much better graphic design quality.

The music for the game, like all Assassin’s Creed games, is great and shows the history behind the theme presented! It gives you the feel of living in the time of the Vikings. Another interesting and different part in this game is that you are able to customize buildings and your village, adding a blacksmith, or showing off collection items that were collected from quests. This is not done in any other Assassin’s Creed games that I have played, so it really helps makes the game your own.

There were also many similarities between this game and the other Assassin’s Creed game that I had played, Origins. In Origins, which is based in Egypt, the game had a falcon to see from higher ground, as well as ships to use when needing to cross large bodies of water. This is also shown in this game, the bird to view the map from is a raven, which relates more to the Viking culture, and the ships are more Nordic than the other game. Overall, the creators of this game did a great job incorporating history and violence into the game, which giving it such a beautiful design.

[baby-come-bach]

All writing asks!

Oh daaaamn! Thanks, bro!! @brynhildr13 !!!!

In response to this post!

1. What is your preferred place to write (notebook, laptop, cellphone, etc.)?

~Normally I try to do everything on my laptop in Zoho’s Notebook app. I seriously love the app, and there’s a desktop and mobile version that will sync so if you’re on the go you can still edit your notes! If I’m ever stuck I’ll hand write in a paper notebook and that usually works really well for me.

2. When did you start writing?

~I started writing back in the third grade, when I wrote and illustrated a comic series called The Evil Substitute Teacher from Mars! Obviously it was of a third grade quality and I had no intentions of being a writer at that point, but it was the first time I seriously flexed my skills even though it was just for fun!

I started writing fanfiction in my freshman year of high school.

3. What is your favorite thing to write?

~I love to write stories that take characters through intense emotional journeys. I absolutely love quality character development when you can track it from beginning to end.

4. Fluff or angst?

~Angst. I have little to no interest in writing a love story or love encounters as the primary plot. It’s hard to emulate the kinds of emotions people feel during those encounters when I’ve had minimal experience.

5. How would you describe your style?

~Hmmm . . . I would say . . . healthily balanced between pragmatics and prose. I try to make things as literal as I can when there’s action happening, but when I describe character’s emotions I literally love to pour on the cheese.

6. Where do you usually find inspiration?

~In general, for overall fanfic concepts I’ll find it in the source material, in a detail that wasn’t well-expanded. For specific ideas within a story, and for specific language to describe something I’ll borrow from both the source material and other writers in canon-based fics.

7. Do you listen to music to help you write?

~Hell yes.

8. What’s the biggest “challenge” for you as a writer?

~I love to write and I mainly write for myself - meaning I write the stories that I would want to read. But it’s extremely easy to fall into the “Nobody else will want to read this/Nobody is reading this = it must be bad and I’m a terrible writer” mindset. Surprisingly, that hits me harder than comparing myself to other writers. I understand and embrace that my style is different and the way I tell stories is unique. I actually really love how I write in comparison.  I also struggle with pacing.

9. Where do you usually go to write (bedroom, living room, etc.)?

~When I’m at home, my bedroom. However, occasional changes in scenery do wonders for my inspiration, so I also love public libraries. When it’s very late at night (and it usually is because I’m a night owl to begin with and I work two jobs), I love to go to Denny’s. The people at my local Denny’s know me by name and I have the same server almost every time. They let me sit there for hours and hours (and if I do stay, I always leave a gigantic tip).

10. Can you give us a sneak peek of your current WIP?

~We’re mid-fight scene and this is unedited (I’m just really self-conscious lmao). It’s from my Dissidia fanfic, A Petal Among Thorns:

“’Cosmos's assassins!’ the Emperor sneered. He laughed, calling his staff from its resting place next to the throne. "I'm glad you could make it!" Removing Cloud first would be the most important thing. That, and deflecting Terra's magic. Cloud lifted his sword behind his head and slashed it down, and an arc of power careened off the blade towards him. The Emperor slammed the end of his staff into the ground and called a cluster of purple mines in its path. The Blade Beam collided with the mines and they detonated on contact in a cloud of smoke, the sound booming through Pandaemonium.”

11. How many stories have you written so far?

~18, though not all are complete.

12. What’s your favorite thing you ever wrote?

~In the first version of A Petal Among Thorns, I wrote a giant fight scene between a goddess and her warriors. It was intense and epic, and really maximized my skills at the time, and I loved every second of it.

13. How many chapters does your longest series have?

~Well, the new and improved version of A Petal Among Thorns has 45 posted chapters at 171k words, and I’m working on 46. The original Petal, which I finished, ended with 64 and had 108k words. Both are my longest so far. the most words, though, is Horrible Bosses with just under 200k.

14. What’s my favorite character/person to write for?

~This is so tough. But I think the Emperor for A Petal Among Thorns. He’s a classic kind of “Muahahaha” villain and I absolutely love getting into that evil headspace.

15. “OCs” or “Reader” inserts?

~If it’s an either/or question, then I say OCs. But nothing against Reader inserts. I love those, too. If it’s a do I read or write them question, then not really. I did one back when I was in high school. But I do read them and I support writers who do. There’s no such thing as cringe culture anymore so don’t let any elitists make you feel shitty for writing them.

16. Can you tell us anything about your current WIP?

~Sure. I’ve got four major ones:

1. A Petal Among Thorns (Dissidia Final Fantasy) - Cosmos just sent a group to take care of the Emperor since he’s been plaguing her and her warriors, but they’re caught unprepared when they realize he’s been secretly amassing power.

2. The Krypt (Mortal Kombat) - The group just found Master Hasashi and Kenshi, two out of the whole group they’ve been looking for. Their next order of business is to escape the spider caves, but it won’t be so easy.

3. Legends Yet (Final Fantasy XII) - Balthier and Fran are preparing to infiltrate the Archadian Palace to go after a special item. Little do they know the palace is more prepared than they thought.

4. This is My Punishment (Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus) - The Turks go looking for Vincent after he fails to report in. They confront Dr. Hojo about it, but he’s smug and disinterested.

17. How long was the longest fic you ever wrote?

~The longest COMPLETE story I ever wrote was the original A Petal Among Thorns with 64 chapters at 108k words. The longest INCOMPLETE story I have right now is the rewrite of A Petal Among Thorns with 46 chapters at 171k words. The most words I ever wrote was Horrible Bosses at just under 200k but with only 15 chapters.

18. What fandoms do you write for?

~Final Fantasy and Mortal Kombat and Hetalia are pretty much it right now, but a variety of FFs! I have written for Assassin’s Creed too, and Voltron, and I did one very self-indulgent Black Butler self-insert.

19. What is/are your favorite fandom author/authors?

~Poisonous Panda on AO3 (she used to have a tumblr but she deactivated for some reason), and Jaydee Grey on ff.net

20. Have you ever written an AU?

~No. All my stories take place in the actual world and parameters of canon. Although, I guess Petal could be considered one, since Rosa was never called to the cycles in any Dissidia game except Opera Omnia . . . ?

21. What’s your favorite AU trope?

~I don’t know if I have one. I read them but they’re not my go-to. I usually stick to canon stuff first.

22. A fanfiction cliché you can’t help but love?

~Hmmmm . . . I think descriptions of eyes. Not like, the word ‘orbs’ or anything, but the use of gemstones to describe color. I love the aesthetics associated with gemstones and their luster and how they shine, so if someone has “emerald green” eyes, or “amber” eyes, “crystalline blue”, etc. It makes me understand that their characters’ eyes are aglow with something, that they have character or passions or an ideas.

23. For how long have you been a fandom writer?

~I started my freshman year of high school, so . . . 10 years?

24. Have you ever had an idea for a story and forgot about it?

~No, I usually write stuff down right away. But as I develop my stories they rarely stay along the path enough to end up using the idea. Either the plot point is too out in left field now, or the characters are too far along in their journeys to make it work in-character.

25. What do you do to motivate yourself to write?

~Motivation? I don’t know her. 

In all seriousness, I have ZERO self-control, so I can’t bribe myself. I mostly use my own desire to see my stories finished, plus nice comments and reviews from users on AO3 and ff.net. They’re so few and far between that a single one can make my entire day.

26. How did you find out you like to write?

~I’ve always enjoyed telling stories, from the third grade up! Making my own comics, and novelizing games I used to play, like Pac-Man World 2! I sort of never stopped, but WHAT I wrote matured as I grew older and joined fandom.

27. Are there any writers (fanfiction writers or not) that have inspired you to start writing?

~No, I was writing in general before I knew what fanfiction even was. But what inspired me to start writing fanfiction in particular was reading a Dissidia fic on ff.net by the name of Slash and Burn, that hasn’t updated since 2011. Reading that fic made me realize that the stories and scenarios I was coming up with surrounding these characters I loved could be transcribed and posted, and that other people were doing it too! I simply started writing down what I already was imagining for these characters outside of the events that happened in their games.

28. What’s your favorite fandom to write for?

~Final Fantasy, hands down!

29. Describe your style in three words.

1. Balanced

2. Introspective

3. Natural

30. What would you say is the most ‘famous’ fic you’ve ever written?

~Definitely The Krypt for Mortal Kombat on AO3. Writing for an active fandom is vastly, vastly different than writing for an older, stale one. The Krypt has the most comments and shares. On ff.net, it’s Horrible Bosses.

31. Blurbs or drabbles?

~Drabbles. Flesh it out more! I wanna be more immersed in whatever this is!

32. Have you ever written smut?

~I have written ONE SINGLE SHEEPISH scene in chapter 13 of Horrible Bosses. It was my very first attempt at smut and it is god-awful. Go check it out on AO3 if you want (and can withstand the second-hand embarrassment!)

33. How long does it usually take for you to write?

~LMAO that depends entirely on if I can get started for the day. If I can start and I can stay focused, I’ll easily write 3,000 words in one sitting. If I can start but I’m not focused I can usually still grind out anywhere between 100 - 500 or so words. But I’ll go days without touching Notebook if I can’t even get started.

34. What’s your favorite font to use when writing?

~I don’t put much stock in fonts but the one I’m using now on Notebook is Montserrat. I will change it every so often if I want something new though. Changes in scenery help my focus most times.

35. Which do you prefer to write: longer or shorter fics?

~Longer definitely. Shorter fics are easier but I love the challenges associated with aligning plot points with character development, as well as pacing.

36. how do you keep yourself inspired?

~My love for the fandoms I’m writing for usually does it. I love these universes and characters so much that I want to spend more time with them and watch them grow and change in ways that are or aren’t necessarily spelled out in canon. That, and the idea that since I’m writing stories I would want to read, then I’m the only one who can tell this story in my own way, so it has to be me.

37. Have you ever written something you didn’t like but posted anyway?

~Hell yeah. It be like that sometimes. Sometimes you stare and stare at a chapter and you absolutely hate it but you can’t figure out why and eventually you get pissed and say, “Fuck it, i have to post this to move on,” and you do. Specific examples for me are a few chapters in the new Petal.

38. What is your “strong suit” as a writer?

~I pride myself on my characterizations, to be honest. I feel like I have a good sense of who these characters are based on canon, and I can translate their reactions well to situations that test them.

39. What’s your favorite trope?

~I actually really, really love when characters are injured or slipping physically or emotionally, but they keep it to themselves for the sake of others. It can be for any reason - they don’t want to be a bother, they think they should be strong enough to handle it, etc.

40. How many likes do your fics usually get?

~Depends. The most I’ve gotten on anything was ~70 follows/favorites for Horrible Bosses on ff.net, and 128 kudos on The Krypt on AO3. Those are outliers, for the most part. My more popular fandom fics float around 20 - 40 kudos, my smaller fandom fics float around 5-10. The mean average for AO3 kudos across all my fics is 32, and the mean average for ff.net favorites is 14.

41. Have you ever used a prompt?

~No. it’s very, very hard for me to imagine characters into scenarios that I didn’t myself come up with?? I’m not sure why.

42. What is your weakness as a writer?

~Pacing.

43. Have you ever cried or felt any emotion while reading something you wrote?

~Yes, I cried when I wrote the aftermath of the large battle I talked about earlier, between Cosmos and her warriors in the first version of A Petal Among Thorns.

44. Have you ever done a collab with another writer?

~No, I’m too self-conscious.

45. One thing you love about fanfiction.

~I love how it allows fans to expand upon these worlds and universes that were created for us. I love how it allows us to demonstrate our love by interpreting things that were either not touched or not expanded upon in canon. It also allows me to express myself in a healthy and creative way.

46.  What’s your favorite emotion to cause on your readers?

~Nothing makes a person sexier than physical pain. But I also love anger and regret.

47. What’s your favorite thing about writing?

~See above. Writing fanfiction is another way that I express my love for something that matters so much to me, which are these pieces of media I write for. It also gives my daydreams purpose and doesn’t make me feel like I have to bottle them up!

48. Do you post your writing in any other platforms?

~Yep! AO3, ff.net! I’m Keyblader41996 on both.

49. What app/apps do you use to write (word, notepad, etc.)?

~I’ve got notes all over! I’ve got some in Notepad on my Mac, and I have some in Notebook by Zoho on their site and app, I have some in my paper notebooks, I have some in my college textbook margins and notebooks, etc. My favorite to use is Zoho’s Notebook.

50. One thing you don’t like about fanfiction.

~Thinly veiled, arbitrary and unnecessary bullshit that is masqueraded as “constructive criticism” when I didn’t ask for it, and when it’s easier for the commenter to just, idk, LEAVE THE FUCKING FIC?!?!?!!??!?!?! Rather than spend ALL that time just to be shitty???????????? get away from me.

51. Least favorite trope?

~I dislike time travel.

52. Favorite words to use when writing?

~I love facial descriptions and body language: He crossed his arms. Her eyebrows furrowed. She winked coyly. His fists balled at his sides, trembling. She jumped, clapping her hands enthusiastically. etc.

53. Least favorite words?

~I hate describing clothes and bodies/figures. Hate it.

54. Do you usually like what you write?

~It depends. I cycle through different phases. (1) This is great. (2) Oh god, what the fuck??? is this??? (3) I can’t even look at this, it’s so bad. *Stops writing for days* (4) Wait, why did I hate this so much? It’s a great starting point! (5) Edit (6) YESSS YESSSSSS YASSSSS!!!!!!!! (7) Post

I can start at any one of those numbers and go from there but it’s always in that order no matter where I start.

Thanks so much for asking me these!! I love them!!!

#brynhildr13 #my post #baby-come-bach #writer asks #thanks man #writing

[amayanocturna]

Assassin's Creed Tag Meme

With the impending release of Origins coming out in October, this seems suitable to do. So here is a meme of some of my favorite things in the series. Tagged by @turquoisetacos  

Favorite assassin: Ezio Auditore (he has always been my favorite and that's because AC2 was my first AC game) 

Favorite Templar: Élise de la Serre 

Favorite game: AC2 (followed by Unity and Black Flag) 

Favorite setting/place: Italy -- Rome especially 

Favorite female character: Élise de la Serre (followed by Sofia Sartor, Mary Read and Anne Bonny) 

Favorite dead character: (How charming of a question) Caterina Sforza...? I honestly don't know 

Favorite side-character: Shaun Hastings 

Favorite AC: Chronicles Assassin: I have none cause they didn't interest me much, honestly 

Favorite villain: Either Haytham Kenway or Pearl Attaway 

Favorite Assassination: Charles Lee was pretty good. Difficult to play, but it was portrayed well 

Favorite DLC: Liberation was enjoyable 

Favorite weapon: Besides the obvious hidden blade? I loved that pistol sword Edward had. That one was fun 

Favorite soundtrack: AC2 definitely 

Favorite plot-twist: Bartholomew Roberts turning out to be the Sage 

Favorite modern day character: Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane Favorite line: I have so many.... but among the many is: "How is it that you're a woman?" "Jesus, Edward! Do I really have to explain it?" 

Bonus: Thing you are looking forward to most in AC: Origins: A few things: Scenery, music, and the new combat/parkour system

I tag... @ugh-my-back, @butterscotcheye, @nermallion and.... anyone else who wants to do this

#tag #assassins creed