#how to solve system launcher keeps stopping | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jaggedwolf · 3 years

Text

air support, we need you (or: tscosi 2x09)

some bomb dropping, ofc, spoilers below duh

same game, top three things i had feelings ‘bout in reverse order

3. time skip time! Everyone could use a bit of a breather, even if it can’t live up to Arkady’s goat farm dreams

I thought all the planet assignments made sense, even if the completionist in me wanted it to differ more from the split that had already happened this season

ok ok the shipper in me was 50-50 but we’ll address that later

2. my man park!! is back!!!

Showing up with an anti-aircraft missile launcher as a wedding gift. I kept joking that Park would keep up his finale trend of showing up as a surprise being cool (as cool as Park can be anw), and thought it wouldn’t happen till it did!

and him also quietly saying the defector wasn’t Shelly....Park...are you going to talk about this...

narrowly avoided extended crew singing for the third time, will he keep up this success rate?

I would take a mini-episode that just followed Park in the second half of the season (Park: I am an independent man who needs no crew)

1. Arkady attacking Krejjh because she thinks they’re an enemy, AND then McCabe pulling a gun on her to make sure she didn’t run away. Bro. Bro, that shit was a direct hit to the id. Do I even have words for how good that was

Knowing what was about to happen as soon as Arkady said “You” in that tone of voice, ugh

Krejjh saying Arkady instead of First Mate Patel in desperation, and then brushing it off with a :D after

But god, McCabe. They’ve been so compelling this season, and yeah, maybe they’re approaching everything like a nail with the hammer they’ve got that shoots bullets, but the point is, it fuckin works

Arkady buys the threat (the promise of her crew’s safety?) more than she buys Krejjh’s reassurances

(though reading the transcript, Krejjh specifically telling Arkady “Science Officer Liu will never forgive you”, not “forgive us”, is excellent too)

“the only authority figures yet to disappoint me” / “I’m not an authority figure” / “you don’t get to decide that” is just like. embedded in my mind. just McCabe going no, you don’t get to run verbally either.

Do you ever think about how Arkady and McCabe had like, different kinds of fucked up childhoods compared to the rest of the crew. Like obviously McCabe ending up an agent so young and the stuff about their family suggests a pretty secure background, but it feels like the IGR and Dwarnian war starting when they were 12 gives them a kind of cynicism that meshes well with Arkady’s, in a way that’s distinct from how Arkady and Violet’s morbidness mesh, or Arkady and Sana’s pragmatism

ok more character feels under the cut

don’t scandalize the grandparents

A married man!

Impressed he made it through the season with no baddies wrecking his oxygen

Always ready to point out that Arkady is actually as much of a nerd as he is

AKA I didn’t realize it was a Mozart reference till he said so. Arkady defies the jock-nerd chart

okay who of Arkady or Krejjh is gonna tell him about MMA fight outside, or did they do a whole team debrief. For Arkady’s sake I’m hoping not the latter, though I guess everyone else would like an explanation for McCabe’s gun-pointing??

likes solving problems without guns, would prefer solving them by FLYING SPACESHIPS

Krejjh watches McCabe’s gun strategy work on Arkady and goes “do you folks really live like this?? why???”

I do love that their first thought on what to do next is to run a bunch of supplies around, probably between human populations that are going to be a wary at seeing a dwarnian show up. (Eat it, Eejjhgreb)

Kinda wonder if their feelings about getting choked out by their buddy are in fact more complicated than “it’s chill dude, please don’t do something stupid”

The cutest vow

who needs to calm down your crewmates with annoying words when you can just point a gun at them

Seriously where is the human-dwarnian war AU where it lasts longer or happens later where McCabe is the baby sniper posted to Arkady’s unit and they squabble a bunch (and perhaps kiss? When I wrote my third ever ficlet for this fandom never did I anticipate actually being interested in that)

what % of their Mirzakhani choice was thinking “what if Arkady tries to run from the goat farm and no one’s around to point a gun at her” jk jk

Their exclusion of Park from authority figures that didn’t disappoint them is fascinating. Is it that he left hoping for Shelly when it probably wasn’t her, or that he isn’t an authority figure anymore, a combination there of?

Or worst of all, is it that when he didn’t kill Krejjh back in 1x10, that really was a disappointment, no matter how much it might’ve been mixed with relief, and you can’t undo that moment?

What if they and Park talked. But I don’t think Park is going to goat planet, so that seems unlikely.

Their apology to Sana for heightened Martineau security! And Sana reiterating the profound gratefulness bit, gah

mostly read other people’s words and yet sparked consideration of two different OT3s, her power.

you know what, everyone deciding Sana is the best person to read words makes complete sense

There was one specific moment this episode that sent my mind into a tizzy about V/A/S, and it was Arkady going FINE GO ASK THE CAPTAIN THEN at how firm Violet was that Tripathi would be the one driving her, not Arkady.

I need you to understand that my V/A/S OT3 opinions are such that my shipping feels were more set off by that than Sana and Violet telling Arkady they were proud of her for choosing goat planet or whatever, like I don’t even know what dynamic was so captured by that argument, rip at Arkady having to be systems apart from them again

Though ofc my heart was buoyed by Sana’s earnest “Kady, you do more than that”, I want these two to go do a job together again, I miss that

To shift gears, I cannot believe “Lenny” started out as Sana being absolutely furious at the people threatening her crew and has ended up a teasing in-joke between her and Park, my Sana/Park shipping feels were very content. (When does Sana learn that Park didn’t get to hear the long list of fake crimes the Rumor crew specifically confessed to Lenny? This must be fixed. Tell him about the diamonds!)

Campbell said “Park, let me show you where we’ve been sleeping.” and my brain went. Wait. This is actually a good OT3?? Park is already unnerved by Sana’s earnest captaining, he should get unnerved by Campbell’s default magnanimity, please consider this

this is also where I point out that all these major characters have very convenient names for indicating ships solely via letters. V/A! B/K! S/P/C! This may solve my ot3 tagging problem...

get off that cotton candy boat, vi

Haha I loved that line from Doc Robinson she’s so no-nonsense, love Violet agreeing to work with her

Doc also said menders and I thought about this post again and also the team split and ahhh

But no, I very much liked Violet gently crushing Arkady’s goat farm dreams, and the two of them awkwardly discussing the very awkward stage things are at while still getting a feel for how the other operates

These nerds are trying and I’m still fond of them

at some point I was gonna make fun of Vi for not being able to drive before realising 1. she probably didn’t want to deprive the others of a vehicle 2. that would be incredibly hypocritical of me

wait does the igr have excellent public transport when they aren’t bombing it i take back every bad thing i’ve said abou-

*ahem* same question about the MMA fight debrief I had for Brian, it would be so funny if the situation was so rushed that like, Arkady+McCabe explain to Brian on the farm and Krejjh has to tackle everyone else

tick, tock, walking bomb, when it stops, nobody knows

arkady is so whumpable, and this show knows it

Redundant, but love how terrified of herself she is after hurting Krejjh and how strangely reassured she is by McCabe’s gun antics. And how she doesn’t like thinking of herself as an authority figure on the ship even though she literally is as First Mate

is ready to monologue about all major life events and the crew frickin knows it

is trying to help herself and stuff, still grumbling about it. in worse shape this season than last - probably all the constant discussion of the inevitable war just kept building stuff up and she kept ignoring it because haha who wants to deal with this prickly mess of a person haha

did i mention she’s the best

hope she gets her full goat farm dream one day, even if it’s not on actual goat farm

#tscosi #tscosi spoilers #jaggedwolf rambles #real rambling times yikes #mine #tscosi reviews

34 notes · View notes

shadows-snakes · 3 years

Text

Clones vs Caf

I'd like to think that on Kamino the Clones aren't given caf or sugary things, to like keep them in top condition. So, the first time they would have those things would be in space on the job, right?

The clone wars is still new, its only been about a few months and Obi wan is in space on his cruiser and notices that none of the clones have touched the caf machine. He talks to Anakin about and his former padawan says he noticed the samething. Next time Obi wan is with Cody, planning for the next battle, he casually mentions that they are allowed to drink from the caf.

Which leads to a group of clones all huddled up around the forbidden caf machine all too afraid to go first. They all know what caf is, they read about it when learning about what types of cargo pirates go after and what supplies should be prioritised when evacuating. All it's supposed to do is give them more energy. That doesn't sound like a bad thing.

"I'll do it." Cody says, grabbing one of the disposable plastic cups. The liquid is warmer than he thought, but it's nice, comforting.

He takes a sip and his eyes go as wide as dinner plates. The rest of the clones follow suit, wanting to know exactly why their brother looks like he knows exactly how to end the war.

Chaos runs rampant.

There's no more caf.

Obi wan is in his room when it first starts. The force warns him that something is wrong, but he assumes it is just a warning to be extra careful at their next battle, general Grievous was going to be present. There's a loud bang in the halls, like a body hitting the wall then thudding to the ground, followed by cheers. Reluctantly, he pokes his head out, raising Anakin he has some idea of what's going on outside. The hall is just filled with clones running into each other at full force, helmets first. Some of them are just running, arms flailing behind them going somewhere. There is someone in the vents. Maybe more, but someone is definitely in the vents. And there is so much talking that it doesn't sound like basic anymore, or mando'a.

Walking through the chaos, trying not to get hit with a clone, Obi wan concludes that it's not just the clones who fight, it's also the ones in charge of piloting and other stuff.

Obi wan sighs, realising that this was going to be a long battle, and goes into responsable dad mode.

"No, Boil don't put your knife in your mouth."

"Please don't climb the hyper drive while it's active."

"Cody? Cody where are - What are you doing?"

(cut to Cody with crazy hair in the briefing room as that meme with the dude trying to solve the conspiracy - you know the one).

Obi wan slowly backs away and closes the door.

We will never know what Cody almost figured out. Order 66 He's super big brain right now.

The escape pods. Obi wan runs through the mess of bodies that clutter the ship to find a window. Outside the blue streaks of hyperspace greet him. He sighs with relief there's still time. The Master Jedi begins to make his way down to the escape pods, only stopping to help a trooper who got stuck in the ventilation system.

He locks all the pods in place to make sure none of them got to the planet sooner once they were in orbit.

Now all he had to do was come up with a plan that super charged super soldiers would pay attention to.

"Alright." Obi wan begins, "A group will come in from the left and then-"

"We'll use the missile launchers." Cody interrupts.

"Yes Cody, but first we-"

"Charge at them full force." Waxer chimed.

"With canons!" said another.

"We could ram them with the laats!"

"And use the missiles!"

The room erupted into cheers. Kenobi feels like he's aged about a million years.

Meanwhile on the Resolute, Anakin is taking every, and any, idea that is being thrown at him with enthusiasm.

Finally reach the planet surface. The separatists are already there, waiting. But the cruiser hasn't stopped to orbit and no-one is going to the gunships. They are headed full speed towards the surface and there's no turning back now.

By some miracle they land in one piece with everyone thankfully still on board. All the clones are geared up, fully decked out from head to toe, standing ready at the cruisers exit. Waiting with baited breath.

With one last, desperate attempt to have some semblence of order, Obi wan asks in the unsettling quiet that has been created.

"Does everyone remember the plan?"

The large door opens, the planet's natural sun shining in and someone in the crowd yells "Take 'em out!"

With one thunderous battle cry they come swarming out like ants. Every single clone on the ship.

The droids don't stand a chance. They're being ripped apart by bare hands. Clones are being shot but aren't staying down, as if the wound was just a minor inconvenience.

In the distance Obi wan can sense Anakin leading the charge. He signs hopefully for the last time today, and opens a chair watching the battle. General Grievous spaceship flies away off in the distance.

"Wish I could do that."

Once the caffeine has worn off none of the clones can be commissioned for like a week.

Word gets to Palpatine and he immediately sends word to Kamino to give the clones caffeine, this war can't end that quickly.

Masterlist

#Clones #Star wars #Star wars the clone wars #Swtcw #Clone troopers #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #501st #212th #Commander cody #Captain rex #Jedi #General Grievous #palpatine

146 notes · View notes

psyga315 · 3 years

Text

Sometimes It's Worth It All to Risk the Fall... A Rewrite of Volume 8, Finale

This part is going to be the most heavily overhauled part of the Volume, since we’re going to be moving the two final episodes over to Volume 9. As such, we get two full episodes worth of content that will be wholly original. For right now, however, let us begin with…

Trial

We open with Ironwood greeting Qrow, knowing full well they are done being friends.

“Qrow. I’m only going to ask this once. Stand. Down.” He stands up, getting a hold of one of his guns.

“No. You’ve done some stupid things in the past, but this… this takes the cake.” Qrow slowly approaches him.

“I’m not the one who ran through someone with a blade. You’re a madman, Branwen.” Ironwood said.

“I’m not the one who killed him, genius. But go ahead, keep being a bone-head. Worked wonders for you in Beacon, and I’m sure it’s doing wonders right now.” Qrow knows this is a deep wound and he salts it.

“I have done nothing but my hardest to pick up the pieces Ozpin left behind. If he were here right now, he would see the work I’ve done and marvel.” Ironwood clearly doesn’t want to fight Qrow and tries to delay this as much as he can.

“And yet, here you are, leaving behind pieces for us to pick up. Oz would be really proud of you, James… No… Friends call you James. To me, you’re nothing but a bloodthirsty general.” He then opens fire as Ironwood dodges out of the way. The two have a rather intense gunfight set to a rock song. It’d be a Quarreling Song between Qrow and Ironwood, sung for by Jeff Williams and Caleb Hyles respectively, in which it argues whether sacrifices are necessary. Ironwood argues that sacrifices are indeed necessary for a better future while Qrow argues that no one needs to sacrifice their life if it’s going to be in vain. For this hypothetical song’s title, something like “No Heart, No Brain” or something that ties into them being the Tinman and Scarecrow. That or if you want to be cheeky, “Sacrifice, Pt. 2”.

We have to remember their characters up to this point, especially for the rewrite. Ironwood believes sacrifices need to be made, thanks in large part to learning under Ozpin and getting the wrong ideas from him. Mettle kicks in to stop him from worrying about sacrificing things like Mantle or his army. Qrow, on the other hand, has a crisis of faith with Ozpin and believed that every sacrifice made was for nothing. Ironwood only served to bolster that reminder and have him realize that every Headmaster has sacrificed only for their own personal gains. What makes it worse is that the people sacrificed were almost always his close friends: Clover sacrificed by Ironwood, Shiro (and others) sacrificed by Lionheart, and Summer sacrificed by Ozpin.

This sets up an interesting crossroads where both Ironwood and Qrow, who would otherwise be heroes given optimal circumstances, are villains or close to being one. Ironwood’s office gets shredded as Qrow pulls out all the stops, transforming into a bird to disorientate Ironwood, using his bad luck to cause Ironwood to fall over or run out of bullets, and using his weapon to cut into Ironwood. In the middle of this, Qrow brings up how he sacrificed nothing, only for Ironwood to reveal his broken body and reveal that he has indeed sacrificed himself. He just has the misfortune of living through it and not dying like the rest of the heroes, not to mention the curse of knowing your sacrifices were for nothing.

The battle ends with Qrow breaking a window and having Ironwood on the ropes, Palpatine vs. Windu style. He holds Ironwood at sword point. Ironwood’s aura breaks and his Semblance goes with it. He is stuck in a pile of remorse and regret. He looks up to Qrow and tells him to finish it. Qrow, however, just says:

“You don’t get to rush this.” Just before he hits, though, an arrow whizzes past him.

“That was a warning shot.” Robyn said.

“I didn’t realize idiocy is a disease. This monster’s too dangerous to be kept alive!” Qrow said.

To make a long chat short, Robyn tries to argue with Qrow that killing Ironwood isn’t the answer, that it won’t bring Clover back, the usual ‘if you kill him, you’ll be like him’ bullshit. Qrow brings up that every moment Ironwood is alive is a chance for Atlas and Mantle to fall in flames. They could change it for the better, but it has to start by killing Ironwood. Just as he’s about to pull the trigger, we hear two clicks. One is from Qrow’s gun, the other is from Mettle.

“So… What you’re saying is that I’m the sacrifice needed for Mantle’s future?” Qrow’s eyes widened as he gets up and points his gun at Qrow’s head. “Do it then. Shoot me like I am one of your soldiers. You’ll realize then just how easy it is to shoot anyone who poses as a threat…” He aims his second gun at Robyn. “Or a hinderance.” There’s a tense moment as either person is just moments away from killing someone. Then…

Ironwood puts his guns away and calmly walks off. “You don’t have the resolve to finish what you’ve started.” His Aura gives way yet again, having only recovered enough just to use Mettle one last time. Qrow is left there to ponder if he was about to do the right thing. Robyn comes over to comfort him.

We cut to the whale. We see Weiss and Winter do a sisterly team up to fight the Grimm armies as the Ace Ops wonder what to do about the bomb. Harriet votes to have Ironwood arm it anyways, knowing that, chances are, it will blow up while Marrow votes not to. However, they don’t need to wait for long as they see that the bomb is armed and ready to go off in an hour. They turn to see Watts holding a phone and smirking.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that Watts had hacked into the bomb using the credentials from Ironwood to activate it. The reason for the time delay is so that they can take the bomb and bring it to Mantle, blowing it up and making it look like Ironwood did it to force its people to comply. Before the Ace Ops can rush him, Neo and Cinder leap in and make short work of them. However, they are the Ace Ops for a reason. Marrow Stays Cinder and holds her in place long enough for Harriet to rush over and kick her.

Vine holds Neo in place while Elm smashes her. Basically, the two pairs mess up Cinder and Neo until Watts hacks into their weapons and makes them work against them. Fast Knuckles freezes up and locks Harriet’s upper body in place, Fetch flies back to Marrow and smacks him, and Timber refuses to come out of the inappropriate launcher mode. In an effort to get it unstuck, Elm smacks it and accidentally causes a missile to launch, with Watts guiding it towards Marrow. Vine uses his Semblance to block the missile but it blows up and drains his aura, right as his throwing star comes back and stabs him in the chest.

The Ace Ops have no time to even say goodbye to their mortally wounded friend as they are stuck right where the villains want them. Despite this, they manage to have one final stand. Harriet gets so pissed that she breaks her own weapons and runs over, smacking Neo with a Gravity Bolas. Elm uses the blunt end of the launcher to attack Watts and get him to relinquish his phone. And, of course, Marrow uses Stay one last time on Cinder and Neo, freezing them in place. However, he’s drained and is about to lose control at any second.

Harriet comes in clutch, however, fastening the bolas around Cinder’s neck and trying to choke her out with it. This triggers Cinder’s memories of when she had the collar and it’s a baaaaad move on Harriet’s part. She bursts into flames, knocking Harriet’s aura out just as Marrow’s runs out too. Cinder rips the bolas from her throat and, wanting to get revenge, is about to grab Harriet’s neck with the Grimm hand. However, Marrow runs in and takes a mortal wound. Harriet becomes distraught and sees as Marrow dies without any sort of last words. Vine had expired a few minutes prior. With them dead, the two remaining Ace Ops are at the villains’ mercy when suddenly Cinder gets sniper rifled. Cinder turns to see Ruby and co arrive, now having finally evened the odds.

But then, Cinder sees Emerald and the true title of Trial comes in as Cinder tempts Emerald to return to her side. This is Emerald’s trial. Is she truly remorseful for what she’s done or does she only care for Cinder?

That’s when we cut to black…

Midnight

Ooooooh yes. Yes, we are doing this.

We open with Qrow, slinking through the Atlas halls. Everyone is noticeably gone from their posts. He realizes that Salem’s forces are causing the priorities to shift to her. Otherwise, he would have been gunned down. All he has for opponents are robots that have gone haywire from Watts’s hacking and engage in kamikaze attacks. Unlike in the original, though, Qrow doesn’t just fire once then give up, but rather apathetically cleaves through each of them. He drops his weapon and lets the last one finish him off, but Robyn comes in and shoots down the robot before it can explode.

She confronts him for his suicidal behavior and Qrow admits that killing Ironwood to save Atlas and Mantle would fall under the logic of sacrifice that he loathes so much. Not to mention the unrest that would come from his death as he experienced first hand with Lionheart and Ozpin. He asks Robyn if people would cheer for his death, to which Robyn instantly rejects. His death will not solve anything. Yes, he needs to answer for his crimes, but a summary execution will only make their situation worse.

What they need is a revolution. Something to upend the system of an Atlas council overlooking Mantle and neglecting their needs. She briefly mentions how this was a problem with Mantle even before Ironwood took his two seats, since Mantle has been stigmatized heavily for causing the Great War. Maybe even hint to that idea I had written a year ago where the Mantle that actually caused the Great War became Atlas, left the rest of Mantle to take the fall, and that Ozma was well aware of this but let it happen anyways because “we are in a time of peace”. Qrow seems to be moved by Robyn’s words and promptly joins her side. We’ll see them commandeer an aircraft that’ll get them to Mantle later in the episode.

Another scene that will be later in the episode will be Jacques and the Councilmen figuring out how to restore the heating to Mantle. Not a huge scene, but just to catch us up on where Pietro and Maria have been, as they find themselves also working with Jacques to fix the problem. We can even have a funny quip from Jacques where he wants to go down as the man remembered for saving Mantle and everyone being like “bruh, you put it in this situation in the first place.”

Emerald and Cinder stare each other down. Ruby goes up and tries to Silver Eyes the problem away, but Neo rushes her, with Yang rushing to her defense. We get a good look at Ruby & Yang vs. Neo while Watts takes on Blake and Yang. Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Oscar rush up to Emerald as Cinder taunts Oscar about how he lost the last time. Oscar retorts that he won’t be fighting alone this time.

As Team ALPN/ORNJ/JNPR2 fight Cinder, Emerald is frozen in fear. On one hand, she doesn’t want to fight for a Grimm commander seeking to destroy the world. On the other, she really wants to stand by her waifu’s side. Unfortunately for her, Cinder begins to gaslight her or whatever abusive partner trick this is:

“Come now, Emerald… You remember how poor and desolate you were before I found you… I picked you up from the gutters and gave you a life you could have only dreamed of.” For the first time, though, Cinder sounds incredibly genuine with what she says. As she does, we cut…

To a younger Cinder. This is where the flashback kicks in. However, we’ll be expanding on this quite a bit. For one, we can see Rhodes try to get Cinder out of her confinement, only for someone (tempted to make it a younger Ozpin, as though Cinder killing him back in Volume 3 would be some form of karma but might be too dark) to stop and tell him that “we live in a time of peace.” This sets Cinder off something fierce, since people would rather turn away from uncomfortable subject matter. The story continues as normal until Cinder kills Rhodes.

We get a montage of Cinder trying (and failing) to adapt to her life of freedom, ironically proving Rhodes right that she’ll never stop running. I’m thinking a few montages where she goes from town to town, working for a bit before either her past catches up to her (wanted posters, most likely) or she is reminded of her painful experiences, in which case, she runs more.

We’ll see her meeting with Salem, though my idea of how, admittedly, would be too fanservicey. Something “she ends up seeing what Salem’s old team used to be like and it was filled with people who are clear counterparts to the team she’s currently with, like Merlot is Watts, Tock is Tyrian, and this big buff girl based off Helios is Hazel.” Realistically, I’d see the classic WTCH set up. The long story short of it, though, is that Salem asks Cinder a question:

“You keep running from a society that is filled with problems but you never stopped to ask yourself… What do you want most of all?”

And that’s when we get Cinder saying her desires that she said in V3.

Cut back to the battle at hand as Cinder offers Emerald to join her side. And, shock of shocks…

She accepts. She immediately backstabs Oscar and Jaune, allowing Cinder to rush past Nora and Ren to grab the bomb and commence the bombing of Mantle, ranting about how Atlas had ignored the people in pain for far too long and that now it’s time to pay for their actions. However, just she is about to gloat about having power, she notices that Jaune and Oscar… weren’t really there. She realizes what just happened as she sees Emerald joining Ruby and Yang’s battle against Neo, just long enough to grab the Relic of Knowledge.

“What are you doing!?” Cinder asks her.

“Before I work with you and take even more lives… There’s something I want to know… Jinn!” Emerald shouts into it as Jinn appears. Without any hesitation (knowing that Cinder or someone else can easily steal the final question from her), she asks: “Does Cinder… truly care for me?”

Jinn looks to Emerald and pouts. Her power could be used for anything… And yet, like before, she is used to air out dirty laundry.

But, she complies and gives her a look back at her past. We see the scene in Volume 3 where Cinder meets Emerald unfold, this time in Maya, where we see things from Cinder’s perspective. When she cornered Emerald and noticed how desperate she was, she was reminded of herself. She thought about how Rhodes took her under his wing. She offered to do the same, almost genuinely. It seems as though Emerald got her answer…

Then we see her interact with Emerald on different occasions, including when she slaps her. We get deep into Cinder’s thoughts about how she viewed Emerald as the weak self she discarded long ago and thus, she treats her like shit because of her past. Not even taking her recent action to defend her at Amity with the slightest amount of gratitude.

Jinn concludes the flashback by telling her “yes, she did truly care for you… But that has long since went away. I hope it was worth it.” Jinn then returns to the Lamp as it dims. A moment of silence later and Cinder is furious. Not just at the fact that Emerald wasted a question, but that her past was revealed to all of her worst enemies at once. She rushes to kill Emerald, Emerald freezes and flinches in shock… And then…

STAB!

Cinder finds herself impaled on Crocea Mors. She coughs up blood as she sees Jaune in front of Emerald.

“So… that’s how broken you truly are… I have nothing left for you… but pity.” Jaune takes the sword out, refusing to kill her. Though, it looks to be a mortal wound. Emerald’s eyes widen as Cinder begins to writhe at her wound. Her arm goes out of control, and she begins to hyperventilate.

“No… I won’t die… to a mere insect like yourself! Do you realize who I am!? I am strong! I am feared! I’m…”

“Weak.” Ruby tells this to Cinder. Her eyes then begin to glow as Cinder goes “oh shit”. With nowhere to go, she takes the full blast of Ruby’s silver eyes, which also turns the immediate area inside of Monstra into stone. Cinder notices her arm begin to shrivel but still trying to stretch to its length. Cinder’s on her last legs and she knows it. She desperately tries to find some way to linger on…

And that’s when it dawned upon her.

Immediately, she cheap shots Ruby with a fireball and flies off. Neo holds off Ruby and Yang to distract them. Cinder sees Salem, still on fire (though the embers and stasis seem to be dying down) and, clutching to her wound, tells Salem that, yes… Without her, she is nothing. But, because of her…

She will be powerful.

Her Grimm hand impales Salem’s chest and begins to absorb the magic from her. Salem can do nothing but watch as her magic is being drained. However, it became fortunate that Cinder doesn’t steal her magic. As she sees the stab wound close on Cinder, Salem realizes that Cinder is robbing her immortality and lust for destruction. Though, not entirely.

See, they were curses from the Gods and not directly magic. As such, trying to absorb or otherwise destroy them wouldn’t exactly work. Not even Maidens can hope to replicate it, so the most it gives Cinder is a healing factor and, as the Brother of Darkness’s curse came from the Grimm Liquid… Oh yeah.

Cinder’s arm begins to grow more onto her body and she cackles in a maddening fit of laughter as the Grimm part over takes her, almost like a certain black goo. It then engulfs her head, creating a sort of Grimm helmet. We are introduced to the Hound 2.0: Cinder Fall.

One immediate difference is that she retains not just her Maiden powers, but also her intellect (‘haha, Cinder is dumb though!’, I meant as in she’s not as brainwashed as the previous Hound). She thanks Salem for the gift as Salem glares at her. Obviously, this moment has become Cinder’s “letter of resignation”. Now she goes back into the fray with her new powers in tow. I don’t want to say she goes all Mortal Kombat 9!Sindel on their asses, but… It’s a new power upgrade for Cinder and her big W for this volume. Try as they might, they can’t land a decisive blow against her. Winter is the closest, but she’s also the one that almost gets mortally wounded.

Cinder takes the bomb, with only ten minutes left on it, and flies out with flaming Nevermore wings. That’s when Penny interferes and the two have your boring superhero dogfight you’ve probably seen Nerdstalgic take the piss out of. Look, not all fights can be winners and you need at least one bad fight for this rewrite. However, visually, it is pleasing to see with Cinder and Penny blasting fire and ice at each other, utterly decimating both Atleasan and Grimm armies.

Meanwhile, RWBY manage to beat their foes now that ALPNE joined up as back up. Now all that’s left is to take on Cinder and get the bomb back. Weiss and Winter dual summoned a Nevermore and they try to rush out, but unfortunately, Salem’s timer has just run out and she is free to curbstomb them. Ruby tries to get her Silver Eyes to work on Salem, believing that, since she’s part Grimm, maybe that could stop her in some way, but Salem immediately goes right for her and smirks.

“You will be a fine addition…” She drags Ruby, shrugging off any and all attacks on her, while she finds a pool of Grimm Liquid. Ruby knows what she is planning to do… But, just then…

Boom!

Harriet and Elm come in and knock Salem by surprise. Harriet says that this changes nothing about them wanting to arrest RWBY, just that they have a bigger fish to fry. Salem goes for a 1v12 and… well, if people insist that Adam and Ironwood wouldn’t be able to solo half that, it shouldn’t come as no surprise that Salem finds herself on the losing end of the battle. This was the outcome she wanted to avoid for so long: unity. Despite the division she gave onto Atlas and RWBY, they still manage to work together to overcome her. Worse still, Neo and Watts decide to join the winning side and defect to Cinder.

However, the battle, now that everyone else is getting involved, becomes chaotic. In the chaos, Harriet takes the phone from Watts and renders him useless in battle while Yang finally beats Neo and sends her flying. During this battle, Cinder finds a weak spot and exploits it, mortally wounding Watts and sending him falling to his death to the city of Mantle.

Cinder, now edging to the brink of insanity, takes the bomb in her hands and rushes to detonate the bomb at Mantle. However, Ruby stuns her long enough for Penny to take the bomb. Realizing what must be done, Ruby and Penny look at each other. Of course, Ruby insists she drops the bomb and gets out of there, but Penny tells her like it is.

“I’m tired of letting people decide for me… All it’s done is make this situation worse. So, please… Let me make my own choice.” Penny hands Ruby her Floating Array and flies off to the whale. After a few moments… boom. The bomb goes off and destroys the whale. Cinder is furious at having lost the opportunity to obtain her powers, but then she gets a big surprise when she gets stabbed in the back by Winter. Making matters worse is that Ruby’s eyes go off and clear away some of the Hound armor on Cinder, forcing her to retreat. Still, a massive win on Cinder’s part as she gets away with a lot more power than what she started the volume off on.

We end with everyone gazing at total awe at the explosion going off. We see that Penny had sacrificed herself to hold the bomb in place so that it destroys only the whale and makes Salem’s regeneration time the longest it’s been. About twelve to twenty-four hours.

Which brings us to our final episode:

Creation

It has been an hour since the bomb went off. The heat on Mantle begins to be turned on again, however the Mantleans are still afraid of Atlas for their willy nilly neglect. They do not trust Jacques as the person who restored the heat, but they’re not going to tear him limb from limb when he comes on to announce his role in saving Mantle. However, that’s when the civilians point out his ships that rescued people were destroyed by Grimm. As a result, they blame him for killing more Mantleans and they shun him. I want his comeuppance to not be some sort of “lol, boom” and then he’s dead. Give him consequences that are inherently tied to his character.

Just before things get into a riot, Robyn and Qrow arrive to try and calm down the situation, reminding them that the Grimm will only make their situation worse. Robyn doesn’t make a rousing speech (since the episode will be pretty long already) but she asks whoever would be willing to finally stick it to Ironwood and the Atlasian Council to come with her. People comply, with Qrow slinking away into the background.

We then cut to RWBY and the rest at Pietro’s shop where he learns the unfortunate news. Despite knowing he can bring her back, he’s still upset because he doesn’t really know if he’s able to split his aura again. The despair he feels causes Emerald to be remorseful at the fact that she killed Penny and made it look like Pyrrha did it. Ren then notices some aura petals coming from the Floating Array. He realizes that Pietro may not even need to split his aura, then asks Ruby, since she was the last person Penny spoke to, if she had received the Maiden powers. She shakes her head and Winter can confirm that it hasn’t gone to her either.

Ren then confirms his suspicions. Penny is still alive, since she would have otherwise clearly had Ruby or Winter in her mind when she died. There’s a short scene that confirms that, yes, she had backed up her aura in the Floating Array. Now comes the solution of rebuilding her and transferring the aura over. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done, as the Grimm invasion left Pietro’s shop ravaged and Atlas is still engaged in battle with the Grimm (albeit now at a reduced level than when Salem was invading). Not to mention that Pietro is branded as a criminal. Penny is stuck in this state of being and knowing that causes Ruby to have a breakdown.

She realized that this was the massive consequence to betraying Ironwood’s trust and trying to win a battle with just their group. This is followed with a brief bit where both sides talk about how they basically failed what they set out to do. However, Oscar brings up that even though they have failed, they also succeeded. Salem’s suffering the greatest setback she’s ever had, they made Ironwood’s dream a reality, and they managed to Mantle. He admits the chances someone will come to Atlas’s rescue are slim to none, but what matters is that they had the truth come out.

He pauses.

“Speaking of the truth…” He closes his eyes and lets Ozpin take over.

Immediately, RWBY, Jaune, and Nora turn their weapons on him. Ozpin calmly addresses his people.

“I know you have a reason to despise me. I also know that you’ve walked a day in my shoes and have learned the painful lesson I had learned. However, you confronted the consequences of your actions instead of running away like I have been doing all my life. This past day has taught me just as it had taught you. And I feel like I should share with you what I know about the Relic of Creation.” We’re not gonna drag with lengthy exposition, so after that, Harriet, Elm, and Winter arrive. They were told by Ironwood to take them to the Vault. Not as criminals…

But as challengers.

We cut to the Vault where Ironwood is standing by the door. His posture is relaxed, yet there’s tensed shoulders. He sees some guards enter the room and allowing RWBYALPNE in. He’s surprised that Emerald’s with them, but he nonetheless lets her in.

“What is this about? If you still want to levitate Atlas into the sky…” As Ruby was about to bitch at him, Ironwood shakes his head.

“This entire kingdom will crumble if we continue to bicker. I’ve seen you lot risk everything to save everyone. I’ve also heard of Penny’s… sacrifice.” He frowns a bit before he continues. “However, Salem will not stay dead for long. However, with the Relic, we can ensure that she can.” Oscar seems perplexed with the idea.

“You know that Salem can’t be killed. Many have tried, even herself. What makes you different?” Ozpin asks.

“…” He acknowledges Ozpin’s return for a moment before he talks. “I will use the Staff to recreate the bomb, then merge it with Salem’s remains. When she reforms, the bomb will be fused to her and will be detonated, restarting the process over and over. The Staff can’t destroy her, but what it can make will.”

“But… then Atlas will…” Weiss said.

“I know. But that’s a sacrifice I am willing to make. Or… at least that’s what I want to believe.” As he says this, Ren can see the purple petals of fear and he is the first to step up.

“But you don’t, do you? You don’t want to commit to it and take responsibility.” Ren said.

“I have always taken responsibility for my actions. And this is just another one.” He then holds his arms out and tells them the reason he called them here. “It’s time for you to take your responsibility. Fight me for the right to use the Staff.” As he says that, guards flank the door leading to the Vault, making a simple B-line impossible without getting shot. Harriet, Elm, and Winter join his side, even when Ironwood insists that they stay out of it. However, he can’t fault them for doing what their heart desires. He steps forward, guns drawn as we hear the Mettle click. The petals on him turn white. Ren calmly closes his eyes.

“You can’t be serious… We’re going to trounce you!” Jaune chuckles only for Ren to tap his shoulder.

“This isn’t a test of strength… This… is a question that must be answered: ‘can you match my resolve?’” With that, “Be Strong, Hit Stuff” plays as the group engage in battle against Ironwood. As stated before, Ironwood is fighting a losing battle, but it gets dragged out on the merit that both of them have run ragged. It breaks down to some smaller scale fights: Winter vs. Weiss and Emerald (ironic given how the Openings always had the two fight each other), Elm vs. Ren and Nora, Harriet vs. Jaune and Blake, and lastly Ironwood vs. RBY.

These become more philosophical debates in the form of battle. The Schneebowl ft. Emerald is about devotion to your savior, as Winter and Emerald were pulled out of shitty lives but placed in the care only for their use to their plans. Elm vs. Renora could have the hotly debated “was Mantle more important than Atlas” discussion. Harriet is lashing out about her loss of her friends to Jaune, who just goes “yeah, I know that feel, bra” throughout the whole fight. Harriet, mid-fight, reveals Marrow’s motivation to join the Ace-Ops was to better the relationship between Humans and Faunus. She even reveals that she was a Faunus herself, but that she took a more drastic measure to hide her Faunus traits and removed the rabbit ears she had.

However, it’s Ironwood vs. Ruby, Oscar, and Yang that gets the most focus. We have Yang and Ironwood trade punches as we finally hear Yang thank him for the prosthetic. He apologizes if he ends up breaking it during the fight and that, regardless of outcome, he knows Pietro will make Yang a new one.

Finally, we have Ruby and Oscar’s fight with Ironwood which will no doubt fan the flames of Rose Garden shipping and cause a delicious flame war to follow. They come to blows with the fact that they trusted so little in each other, Ruby calling him out for expecting people to follow his orders exactly and Ironwood calling Ruby out for being exactly like Ozpin and asking him when she would have told him the whole truth if Mantle wasn’t at risk.

By this point, Harriet, Elm, and Winter lose, with Weiss and Winter having a badass final strike. At the same time, Qrow and Robyn come onto Atlas with the HH in tow. I’d say that RT would have had an entire army of rioters accompany them, but because of recent events, they decided to nix that idea and just have the HH.

Ironwood manages to take Yang out, predictably breaking her arm. Oscar is tired out because he and Ozpin just took hours of torture at Salem’s hands. It’s down to him and Ruby, but they’re both tired out. Ruby uses the last of her Aura to boost herself to Ironwood and, using Penny’s sword, chops off Ironwood’s robot arm, literally disarming him. Ironwood’s Aura is turned off and he realizes his path, his resolve, couldn’t match that of Ruby’s. Instead of blubbering or ranting, he calmly tells Ruby that whatever she plans to do with the Staff, she must take note that she will endure the consequences. He’ll probably instruct her that the genie inside the Staff will want blueprints. With that, the gang head over to the gate to open it using Penny’s swords as a sort of key.

Yang stays behind and tells Ironwood that they apologize for omitting the truth, but before she could finish

Ironwood turns to Winter, Harriet, and Elm and is about to calmly give them his last order as general, when suddenly…

STAB!

Qrow impales Ironwood from the back.

“I made a promise that you’d take the fall… No matter what.” Qrow coldly whispers to Ironwood. He lets Ironwood bleed out as he faces the remaining Ace Ops. Holding onto Clover’s charm, he taps into his Semblance and causes each of them to fumble and lose their weapons. Robyn comes in and yells at Qrow.

“DAMN IT! THIS ISN’T WHAT WE AGREED ON!” Robyn loaded her gun, but notices it jammed… Another use of his Semblance.

“Sorry, tuts, but in a revolution, the tyrant often loses his head.” Qrow smirks and is about to behead Ironwood, only to see Yang from afar. She had witnessed him stab Ironwood. Ruby comes back to check up on Yang and sees the bloodied general. Yang calls him out on betraying them, believing Harriet to be right, only for Qrow to retort that she betrayed them all, then asks her a simple question:

“When you were in the Vault, you knew your mother was the Spring Maiden, right?” With that, the other shoe finally drops as Ruby looks over to Yang and realizes this mini-betrayal. “You talk a big game about having people tell you the full story but when it’s your turn, you decide to omit crucial facts.”

Ruby, having been personally betrayed by her own sister, hurries off into the vault and proceeds to shut the rest out. Not even Oscar can break through the door. Harriet loses it and believes the gang was in on this, but seeing how they betrayed they feel, she quickly assumes that, no, they didn’t know Qrow turned traitor despite her warning. Qrow smirks and flies away via bird transformation. Robyn finally gets her weapon ready and fires at Qrow, only for bad luck to activate again, ricochet and stab Harriet right in the chest. Her fate is left ambiguous.

Ruby activates Ambrosius and the scene goes pretty unaltered except for the choice in music. It’s now a more dark, sinister song, almost in tune to Salem’s theme or even the song used when she begs the God of Darkness to bring Ozma back. This is to play into the awareness that, like what Salem did long ago, Ruby is going to indirectly doom Remnant to bring back a loved one. And that there are going to be consequences for her trying to fight for every life.

As Penny is “revived” and given her human form, Atlas begins to fall and everyone can see and feel it. Ironwood chuckles and in his last words, he gives everyone his final order: Save yourselves. We end with Penny asking Ruby what she had done as Cinder looks at the falling Kingdom and chuckles to herself, giving us the final word:

“In the end… Chaos wins.”

Stinger

Qrow witnesses the fall of Atlas for himself, but looks to a list he has written down. On it are two people: Tyrian and Theodore. He smirks, then flies off.

Conclusion

And that was how I would rewrite Volume 8. Honestly, this was a bit of a work to give every arc a pay-off and I feel like it might have been better off if a few were excised. There are obviously still problems, such as this still not being Weiss’s story like it was hyped to be. However, the overall point is to fix some major problems with Volume 8 and obviously, the piss poor fight with Ironwood was what motivated me to do this rewrite.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know your thoughts down in the description below.

#RWDE #RWBY #Rewrite #Volume 8

3 notes · View notes

partly-cloudyskies · 5 years

Text

Outer Wilds fucked me up

I’m probably gonna think about this game for a good long time. It joins games like Undertale and Night in the Woods and Fallout: New Vegas and Chrono Trigger and Myst for games that make me think about… just… all sorts of shit. So yeah. I’m gonna think about Outer Wilds for a good long time.

At the very least, I’m going to write about it.

Massive spoilers below. Don’t read if you haven’t beaten the game. Go play it. Or don't. I'm not your boss.

I think about Chosen One narratives, of one person anointed above all others to be the select who achieves the impossible. And it’s easy, at first, to see Outer Wilds fit into that narrative. I wake up to the stars wheeling overhead while a campfire crackles just out of sight. I’m an astronaut about to take my first flight and I’m part of an idyllic village in the coziest planet of a star system of wildly hostile planets. Even its name, Timber Hearth, evokes cabins and campfires and warmth and trees. An onomatopoeia for a planet and a life and how it’s something I want to save. Because I do want to save it, because 22 minutes after waking up, the sun Timber Hearth orbits contracts into a single point of light and then explodes out in an expanding blue-white wave of destruction.

And then I wake up to the stars wheeling overhead while a campfire crackles just out of sight. A time loop, narratively, signifies unfinished business. There is a problem so profound and existentially vital that failing to resolve it causes one’s life to rewind so the problem can be tackled again. Whether it’s time travel or your traditional ghost, stuck retracing the steps to some regret that lingers past death.

So it’s safe to assume that as a result of being caught in this loop, I’ve been selected by some unknown force to stop the sun’s death, to save Timber Hearth. Because surely it’s something worth saving. Surely the destruction of a place and a people so charming is the result of some cosmic misunderstanding or a malevolent force that needs correcting. With every death, the mask of a Nomai, the ancient aliens that inhabited this solar system long before my time, plays back my memories as if to review what I had done, and what I had done wrong.

The first time I blasted off, I died in one of the dumbest ways possible. I landed on the Attlerock, Timber Hearth’s moon. Found a barren patch of lifeless dirt and stepped out. And suffocated. Because I forgot to put on my space suit.

Your Chosen One, everyone.

It takes time and several more deaths.

A lot more deaths.

But I have a computer which collects all the clues I get from blindly scrabbling over planets, meeting other Timber Hearth astronauts and stumbling over the remains of Nomai settlements, reading their writings. Eventually, a picture starts to emerge. Of the nature of the Nomai, why they came to my solar system, the purpose of the machines they left behind, why they died.

And the nature of my sun.

And that’s the ultimate twist, in my eye. There are mysteries. There are questions about what it means to exist and what it means to want something, to explore and discover. But to me the real twist is why the sun keeps exploding and it is revealed on a crumbling space station in a decaying orbit that causes it to fall into the sun.

There, a computer that monitors the sun’s status tells you on know uncertain terms that the sun is dying because… it’s old. It’s old, and it’s time for the sun to die. The destruction of all these worlds, of Timber Hearth and its people, isn’t the result of some experiment gone wrong or some evil that needs a champion to combat it. The destruction happens because it is time for these things to be destroyed.

It felt like a murder mystery where the reveal is there was never any murder. But there are still victims. People for whom this death is unfair, unjust, and demands a reckoning that never happens. And it’s all the more outrageous because it’s happened before.

The Nomai were endlessly curious, a nomadic race of aliens who travel through space in great Vessels. When one Nomai vessel came to this system, it was out of curiosity. They were in pursuit of some great mystery called the Eye of the Universe; a signal older than the universe itself. What they got, when they warped into the system, was disaster. Their Vessel is caught in the vines of Dark Bramble and attacked by the things that live there. Three escape pods break from the dying Vessel. One never survives Dark Bramble, and two land on worlds that are only slightly less hostile to their existence.

Yet they survive, and they seek shelter and build settlements and the populations of the two escape pods eventually establish contact with each other and they populate the star system. Their ruins can be found on every planet and in several space stations they construct in between. They write their stories in spiraling script on the walls and specific names are repeated often enough that they form characters in my head. Small stories and big stories. Debates and disagreements and relationships and mourning.

When the Nomai die, it’s when a comet enters the star system carrying in its nucleus a rock that gives off a lethal radiation called Ghost Matter. The stuff still exists, albeit in small pockets. But back then the entire system was bathed in it and the Nomai died where they stood. Or slept. Or sat at tables set for a meal. The moment they came to this system they never stood a chance.

There was no murder, but there were so many victims.

But before their death, the Nomai worked towards a single purpose. The Eye of the Universe, the signal that brought them here, was still out there and right up to the moment of their death they were committed to solving it.

It’s in this solution that I discovered the nature of this character I played. I thought I was a Chosen One, sent hurtling through time to somehow make it all right. But how do I make it right when the sun is at the end of its life. And how do I make right all the stars overhead, which are also dying, their explosions visible when I zoom in with my portable telescope?

It turns out that I don’t. Because I was never chosen. There was no grand design. At least, not one that I was a part of. This whole thing was a bizarre accident, countless years in the making. My character is little more than mote of dust that had slipped into the gears of a broken machine whose creators have died.

In attempting to understand and reach the Eye of the Universe, the Nomai undertook an ambitious project that converted the entire star system into a machine that was meant to destroy and recreate itself endlessly until it pinpointed the Eye of the Universe’s location. The theory and execution of it is all written into the walls of their ruined laboratories and workshops, but the practice of it never took off. Crucial parts failed, the energy was insufficient, then the comet came and the Nomai were wiped out.

It’s only at the end of my star’s life, when it explodes and releases unimaginable energy, that the power the Nomai machine needed becomes available. Which triggers a cascade of cause and effect as old mechanisms come back to life which ensnared me an unending time loop. It also kickstarts the search for the Eye of the Universe. The Nomai probe launcher finally fulfills its purpose and finds the Eye.

But only after nearly 10,000 loops.

There are ways to resolve this. The game doesn’t really seem to care if it’s “beaten” or not. I could, if I wanted to, simple exist in the game. I could skip over the waves of Giant’s Deep. Plunge into the black hole in the middle of Brittle Hollow and watch the sun explode from the edge of the solar system. I could watch the sands of time literally trickle to its end on the Hourglass Twins. I could go to Dark Bramble and…

On second thought, let’s not go to Dark Bramble.

I could do all these things because bringing about the end of the game means bringing about the end of the loop, and that’s when death is final. Final for my character and final for all the stars and the planets and the village on Timber Hearth. There are ways to really screw things up in this game, and my character goes from being a mote of dust caught in the gears to being the pebble that jams up the cogs and unspools the springs and sends the wheels careening off their axis.

But finding the Eye of the Universe means destroying the machine.

It also means going to Dark Bramble. Fuck.

If you’re familiar with the kind of science fiction that concerns itself with the nature of time and life and death and the cosmos, the ending of Outer Wilds probably won’t be that much of a surprise. But it’s okay to not be surprised by something that you’ve seen before and are seeing again. It actually might be appropriate in a game of loops and repetitions.

And by destroying the loop engineered by the Nomai machines, the character becomes a part of a greater loop; a cycle of cosmic death and rebirth. And maybe the Eye intended for all this to happen. Maybe it brought the Nomai to this system, where they built these machines, where they died this death, so that the player character could complete their work and bring their Vessel to the Eye as they had intended so long ago. A reckoning so long in the making.

Or, again, maybe it’s all just random. But even randomness was accounted for in the Nomai machine, so it’s no stretch for the Eye to do the same.

Even if the ending was telegraphed, it’s beautifully done. And the game’s moments are more in the process. Death comes easily in Outer Wilds, so the player starts to accept its inevitability. And even then there’s the triumphs that come before it. The tricky maneuvering to get your spaceship to dock with a shattered space station. The elegant solution to a confounding puzzle. The realization of the connections between people and places. The game is dense with mysteries and coming to their solutions becomes the high points interspersed throughout the cycle of death.

And so I’m gonna get Personal here, kind of. Cuz this game happened to me at a time where I’m kind of Stressed the Fuck Out.

I don’t know how many times we’ll tell ourselves as a species that it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. It feels trite. But it’s also a survival mechanism.

I’m in the middle of some Bad Shit at this time in my life. I almost hate to say it, my reflex is to say that other people have it worse. And of course they do. But this is my damn Tumblr post so I’m going to be selfish inside of it. About the only thing I’m willing to bring up in this context is that I’m looking for a job. And. It’s awful! The job searching process is one of the worst and worst and also worst things a person can do! I love to write, but I can barely concentrate because I’m so nervous about how much I need a new job! I’m a bundle of anxiety because some recruiter out there decided to take a break from paging through hundred of emails, one of which is mine, so that they can go grab a sandwich!

It’s easy to feel small. And forgotten. That is, in fact, how I feel. And trapped in a cycle of resumes and rejections. If I’m lucky. Most of the time it’s resumes and silence. And it’s been that way since December last year. So yeah. About a year of that.

So a video game where I die, over and over, and puzzle over the nature of this existence, might be a video game that resonates with me, in this moment I find myself in.

There’s a certain comfort in loops. But there’s also something exhilarating about breaking the machine and running from one end of the solar system to the other, like Prometheus carrying fire from Olympus.

I can’t even begin to imagine what breaking the machine might look like in my own life. But it’s a nice thing to indulge in on a computer screen. And in the meantime, I’m still in my cycle.

I have to hope all the defeats and the triumphs are leading to something, but I feel so tired of it all.

I’m glad I played Outer Wilds. It’s charming and cute and grim and awful and scary and hopeful and accepting. It uses a lot of they pronouns and I think we should normalize that just generally.

There’s a soundtrack. It’s great.

And it makes me feel like I can hang on, because maybe the next time will be better.

#outer wilds #outer wilds spoilers #aaaaaaagh

105 notes · View notes

jaremmywade · 3 years

Text

minecraft "not responding" and does not work.

Minecraft not responding on launch or startup is a very common problem that the players started encountering in 2015 or so. Reddit[1], Minecraft, Microsoft[2], and other forums were overfilled with questions on how to fix Minecraft not responding on startup or Minecraft not fully loading. Although some experts claim that the issue is most prevailing with the 1.13, 1.14, and 1.15, the problem seems to be software/hardware related.

Minecraft is a sandbox video game launched by Mojang Studios. It's built on the Java programming language and was first released in November 2011. Upon the release, its download has been steadily increasing. In 2016, the downloads topped to 100 million and the surge in interest did not slow down in 2020[3] when the sales officially reached 200 million with 126 million monthly gamers. Since these numbers are outstanding, the issue when Minecraft does not respond on launch is really frustrating.

The actual problem is simple – when the gamer uses the vanilla launcher, Technical Launcher, Twitch, or another Minecraft game/file, it triggers the Mojang window to popup, which eventually freezes with a notification “Not Responding.” The frozen screen never launches the game, so the user has to force-quit this page and try again.

In some of the cases, Minecraft not responds and the screen generates a dialog box saying:

Java(TM) Platform SE binary has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.

Such notification may turn not only Minecraft unresponsive but any Java-based application[4]. In most of the cases, this error happens due to video driver issues that crash Java application and restricts people from launching Java-based games and apps.

In this particular case, Windows users should fix Minecraft not responding problem by checking the video card driver and then update the NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce, Radeon ATI, or Intel video driver if it's out-of-date. However, that's not the only culprit of the Minefract not responding error message. Apart from video driver incompatibilities, the game may not be launched due to the following reasons:

Missing Java updates;

Missing Windows updates;

Unfinished Mincraft's installation;

Outdated Minecraft;

Missing administrative privileges;

Discord overlay.

The list of reasons why Minecraft is not responding with the applicable fixes

FIX IT NOW!

To repair damaged system, you have to purchase the licensed version of Reimage.

There are many reasons why people encounter the Minecraft not responding error on startup or launch, but the most typical are the ones listed above. If you have a suspicion about which solution can help in your case, find the steps explained below and apply it. Otherwise, try each method one-by-one.

Method 1. Install Java updates

FIX IT NOW!

To repair damaged system, you have to purchase the licensed version of Reimage.

Since this game is written in Java programming language, outdated Java may be the problem why Minecraft keeps saying not responding. If the game keeps crashing, freezing, or fails to respond on load, find out the versions of your OS (32 or 64-bit) and update Java accordingly.

Right-click on This PC icon and select Properties.

Open System type. Here you should see the type of your OS.

Once the type is clarified, navigate to the official Java site and download a compatible update.

Run the installer and finish the Java update installation process.

After that, open the folder and copy the file version folder that you see.

Now press Windows key + E to open Windows Explorer and then navigate to the following path (depending on the type of the system)

Paste the Java file version folder that you've copied before.

After that, launch the Minecraft mod manager and click Edit profile at the bottom of the screen.

Finally, extract the file that you have just downloaded. Open the folder and copy the file version folder type.

C:\\Program Files\\Java (for 32 bit) C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java (for 64 bit)

Method 2. Install Windows updates

To fix Minecraft not responding issues, we recommend installing the latest Windows OS updates. Luckily, this process is automated, so all you have to do is:

Press Windows key + I to open Settings.

Open Updates and Security section and click Check for Updates button.

Wait while Windows is looking for available updates on the server. When the updates are provided to you, click the Install Updates button to install them.

Finally, restart the PC.

If that did not help, we strongly recommend updating video drivers. As we have pointed out earlier, issues with the NVIDIA, NVIDIA GeForce, Radeon ATI, or Intel video driver can crash Java and, subsequently, turn Minecraft unresponsive.

Right-click on Start and select Device Manager.

Expand the Display adapters section.

Right-click on your graphics card driver and select Update Driver.

Select Search automatically for updated driver software.

Wait while Windows is searching for the latest driver updates. Install the driver.

Restart your machine.

Method 3. Update/reinstall Minecraft

FIX IT NOW!

To repair damaged system, you have to purchase the licensed version of Reimage.

If the two solutions above did not help to fix Minecraft won't work issue, then we recommend trying to reinstall the game completely as the installer may be compromised or unfinished.

First of all, you should start Minecraft Launcher.

Click on the Options button and select Username.

Finally, click on the Force Update button.

After the update, restart your computer and try launching the game.

If the game update left the startup screen of Minecraft unresponsive, remove Minecraft completely and download it anew:

Press Windows + R simultaneusly, type appwiz.cpl in the dialogue box, and press Enter.

Find the Minecraft, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.

After removal, restart your machine.

Once it boots up, navigate to the official Minecraft site and download the official installer.

Before launching the installer, press Windows key + R and type “%appdata%”. Press Enter.

In the opened directory, you should find three folder names.

Open each directory and remove the Minecraft's folder from them.

Finally, restart the computer and then launch the installer under administrative privileges.

Local LocalLow Roaming

Method 4. Run Minecraft in an administrator account

FIX IT NOW!

To repair damaged system, you have to purchase the licensed version of Reimage.

Some people reported that they managed to fix Minecraft not responding by running the game in an administrator account. The issue may sometimes be triggered due to the lack of permissions and restricted access of the user. To solve this issue, follow these steps:

Find the main executable file of the Minecraft installer.

Right-click on it and select Properties.

Select Compatibility and mark the option Run this program as an administrator.

Method 5. Remove Discord app

FIX IT NOW!

To repair damaged system, you have to purchase the licensed version of Reimage.

Discord app is often used by Minecraft players as it allows gamers to intercommunicate during the gameplay. However, often the Discord's overlay may disrupt Minecraft causing its unresponsiveness. Therefore, if you are not using Discord, we strongly recommend uninstalling it when Minecraft won't respond.

If you are not sure if Discord is the culprit, then try disabling it in the first place.

Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to open Task Manager.

Click Startup and find Discord app on the list.

Click Disable.

After that, restart your machine. If disabling Discord did not help, try to uninstall it.

Press Windows key + R, type appwiz.cpl in the dialogue box, and press Enter.

Find Discord on the list, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.

Finally, restart the machine.

Repair your Errors automatically

ugetfix.com team is trying to do its best to help users find the best solutions for eliminating their errors. If you don't want to struggle with manual repair techniques, please use the automatic software. All recommended products have been tested and approved by our professionals. Tools that you can use to fix your error are listed bellow

0 notes

xseedgames · 6 years

Text

Zwei: The Arges Adventure - Localization Blog #2

Tom here again, for more fanboy gushing over Zwei: The Arges Adventure!

I’ve already touched on the game’s amazing script, and I’ll definitely go more into that in my next blog entry (there’s a lot to talk about there, as this is easily the strangest script I’ve ever worked with, on multiple levels!), but I figured I’d take this opportunity now to instead discuss some of the new and updated features that our amazing programmer was able to cram into this release. I’d rank most of these under the “quality-of-life improvements” category, though some are more along the lines of old but notable features from the original 2001 PC version which have been adapted to run more readily on modern systems and integrated more thoroughly into the game proper.

Note that in all cases (except where otherwise noted), the original functionality from the 2001 Japanese release still applies – there are just additional options now as well. Also note that while the additional options described all reference making use of controller buttons, allowances have been made for keyboard shortcuts that fulfill the same functions when applicable, so you keyboard-and-mouse gamers should reap some benefits of Matt’s coding prowess as well.

Anyway, let’s dive right in, shall we?

Feature: Quick-using food items in the heat of battle.

How it works in the 2001 Japanese release: In order to use an item, you first have to make sure it’s located on your hotbar (which has 12 available slots). Then, during gameplay, you have to either right-click the item with your mouse, or press the item’s corresponding function key (F1-F12) to use it. If you don’t want to drop your controller to use the mouse or keyboard for this task, no problem: there’s a button you can press that moves control of the game down to the hotbar, at which point you can press left and right to cycle through to the item you want, then press another button to use it. Afterward, you can press another combination of buttons to deselect the hotbar and return to regular gameplay. Time does NOT stop while you do this, however, so good luck surviving the enemy onslaught as you attempt to perform all these tasks!

How it works now: Just press one controller button to instantly use the left-most consumable healing item on your hotbar. After doing so, all other consumable healing items contained therein will shift left as far as they can go, ensuring that the slot you just freed up by using that one item is now located along the right side of the hotbar rather than the left. The reason for this? Well, when you pick up new items, they get sent to your hotbar first, as long as there’s space for them there. And if the blank slot on your hotbar happens to be all the way on the left, then whatever item you just picked up will end up being the first one you use next time you press the item button. But if the blank slot is on the right, whatever item you just picked up will be the LAST one in line for use – meaning, you can customize your own personal “eat list” that determines exactly what items you use on the fly, in exactly what order. Bit of an improvement, wouldn’t you say?

Feature: Switching magic/tools in the heat of battle.

How it works in the 2001 Japanese release: Your hotbar doubles as your equipment slots, so the only way to equip a magic jewel (which determines Pokkle and Pipiro’s attack type) or specialty tool (which allows for various puzzle-solving special abilities) is to add it to your hotbar, then “use” it (via one of the methods listed in my previous feature description), which places the Japanese equivalent of an “Eqp.” symbol over it, signifying that it is now equipped and ready to use. If you “use” that same hotbar slot again, you’ll unequip that item. And if you want to switch to a different magic jewel or tool… well, you either need to open your inventory, drag the new item onto the hotbar in place of the old one, then right-click it to equip it and close your inventory, or – alternately – just keep every equippable magic or tool you think you might be using in the near future on your hotbar (never mind all the food items this is preventing you from prepping!), and press the corresponding function key on your keyboard to equip it whenever the need arises. Siiiimple, right?

How it works now: Whatever your controller’s equivalent of the L1 and R1 buttons happen to be can now be used to cycle through all of your available magic and tools via a single hotbar slot. If you have no such item in your hotbar, but you’ve got one in your inventory, no problem: pressing L1 or R1 will automatically equip whatever you’ve got available into the first available hotbar slot. And from then on, you can just press L1 or R1 to instantly swap it out for whatever the previous or next equippable item in your inventory happens to be. Even unequipping your magic is part of the cycle, for those rare times when you’re attacking enemies who have resistance to all elementals, or when you’re attempting to solve puzzles that call for the use of Pipiro’s base magic.

Feature: Dropping bombs or dynamite to blow up enemy artillery or large rocks.

How it works in the 2001 Japanese release: Oh, this one is really fun. Or rather, “fun.” In quotes. See, bombs and dynamite don’t work the same way as any other items. You can’t “use” either of them – attempting to do so will simply do nothing at all. Instead, you have to “discard” them. Using a mouse, this is accomplished via drag-and-drop; assuming there’s a bomb or piece of dynamite on your hotbar, you’ll need to click it and hold the mouse button, then drag it onto the main game screen somewhere and let go to drop it at that spot and set its 3-second fuse. This is made considerably tougher if you’re using a keyboard or controller, since you’ll have to press the button that transfers game control over to the hotbar, scroll over to the bomb or dynamite, press and hold the item-move button, then use the D-pad or arrow keys to move that item onto the main game screen, and finally let go of the button to drop the bomb/dynamite and set its 3-second fuse. But even after that, you’ll need to use the previously mentioned button combo to transfer control back over to your characters before you’re able to move out of the way of the explosion, which… doesn’t always happen in time. And worst of all, if you use any of these methods to attempt to drop a bomb or piece of dynamite, but the location you’re trying to drop it is considered invalid (maybe it’s a little too close to a wall, for example)… well, it’ll just cancel the whole operation and force you to do it all over again. There’s no mincing words here: using bombs and dynamite in the original version of this game suuuuuuuucks…

How it works now: Erm… you press the SELECT button. Basically, if you have at least one bomb or piece of dynamite on your hotbar, pressing the SELECT button will automatically drop it (or drop the left-most bomb or piece of dynamite, if you have multiples on your hotbar) at the closest valid location. That’s literally all there is to it!

Feature: Switching characters on the fly.

How it works in the 2001 Japanese release: There are three options. (1) You can click the character portrait on the bottom-left of the screen. (2) You can press the button to transfer control of the game to your hotbar, then move the cursor over to the portrait on the bottom-left of the screen and “click” it with the item-use button. (3) You can press the Esc key twice, though only if you’re standing still and… really, only if the game feels like honoring those keystrokes (it gets temperamental sometimes). Those are your options.

How it works now: …Yeah, uh, there’s a button for this now. In fact, since Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection allows for two different control schemes (one button to attack, one button to switch characters; or, one button to switch to Ragna and perform a melee attack, one button to switch to Alwen and perform a magic attack), we decided to mirror that functionality in Zwei: The Arges Adventure with protagonists Pokkle and Pipiro. So whichever option you liked better in the other Zwei game, that option will be available to you here as well!

Feature: Playing the “Typing of Ys” and “Mona, Mona” minigames.

How it works in the 2001 Japanese release: These two minigames consist of an Ys-themed typing tutor and a reverse block puzzler (your goal is to avoid making combos at all costs, since you’re trying to build a sturdy block ladder so an infatuated bunny can climb to the top of the level and rendezvous with his true love). They’re pretty awesome. But they’re also a little… unusual in how they’re played. Basically, you have to unlock them in-game through special means, after which point you’re told that “something seems to have happened on the desktop.” Now you can play them whenever you want… from the launcher. You know, the window that pops up when you first boot the game, which allows you to adjust config settings and such? Yeah. You have to exit Zwei in order to play either of these minigames, because they’re only executable from that. They’re part of a small collection of what I’ve come to call “desktop apps,” which also include the likes of a clock, a calendar, and a calculator – all of which are usable ONLY from the launcher.

How it works now: First off, I should note that there is no launcher anymore in our English version of the game. At all. Matt doesn’t believe in launchers, and intends for every configuration option to be accessible and adjustable solely from within the game. So running these minigames from the launcher is simply no longer possible. But that’s okay! It’s kind of beside the point, in fact. The thing you really need to know here is that there’s a third notable minigame as well, called “Zwei Shooting.” It’s a classically styled shoot-em-up (also known as a “shmup,” if you’re rad), and it’s playable (in all Japanese versions of Zwei!! and in Zwei: The Arges Adventure alike) via an arcade cabinet in one specific town. This town has three other arcade cabinets right next to Zwei Shooting’s, but none of them actually have any games attached to them: one just shows you the instructions for Zwei Shooting, and the other two are literally just there for decoration. So we decided, why not assign the “Typing of Ys” and “Mona, Mona” minigames to two of the unused arcade cabinets? And while we were at it, we decided to make them playable right from the start, so as soon as you get to this town, you can play either (or both) of these minigames to your heart’s content! (Which means the conditions for unlocking them in the Japanese version now net you something else entirely, of course…)

Feature: Guiding your pet through dungeons and collecting items via the “Pet Monitor” app.

How it works in the 2001 Japanese release: Once again, this is a “desktop app” that you can run only via the game’s launcher, though this one is available anytime after you’ve acquired a pet in-game. This particular app, however, is largely passive, as your pet meanders through town and into dungeon areas, only occasionally reaching a crossroads or being forced to make some other binary decision (Go left, or go right? Fight the wildcat, or run away? Enter this new dungeon area, or go back home?). When the time comes to make one of these decisions, the pet will turn to face the camera, and you’ll be given the two possible options to select from. Mouse over the one you want (or wait a few seconds and let your pet make up its own mind), and then just keep on watching as the adventure unfolds. Your pet’s exploits can ultimately net it level-ups that will help it be a more effective AI companion during battle in the main game, or perhaps it can net you some extra food items to be used in your own adventures (which are transferred to the storage chest in Pokkle and Pipiro’s house next time you load a save-game).

How it works now: Once again, since there’s no launcher anymore, there’s no more Pet Monitor desktop app. What there is, however (and I’m going somewhere with this, I swear!), is the ability to leave your pet behind at Pokkle and Pipiro’s house as you go off on your journey. This option exists in the original Japanese version too, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason to ever make use of it – there’s never a time when leaving your pet at home would be more beneficial than bringing it with you. But now, it all makes sense! If you leave your pet behind, the Pet Monitor app will automatically appear as part of the HUD when you leave Puck Village, and it will remain on display (with the option to minimize it) the entire time you continue your adventure. So while you’re off fighting monsters and winning back your stolen macguffins, your pet is out somewhere in the same set of dungeons at the same time, finding treasure and fighting wildcats! And any time one of the Pet Monitor’s binary decisions appears on the screen, you may either mouse over the desired option to select it as before, or – if you’re in the heat of battle and can’t put your controller down, for instance – press the L2 or R2 button to select one of the two options without ever having to disrupt your flow. Finally, when you return to Puck Village, the Pet Monitor will automatically minimize as your pet hurries home to pretend like nothing ever happened. It’s the very model of efficiency, and adds a whole new level of meta-gaming to your journey!

There’s plenty more to discuss, as there have been a bevy of other adjustments made as well (not just mainstays of PC production like widescreen support and achievements, but also simple yet welcome tweaks like the addition of a single button to open the inventory screen, or the streamlining of the game’s formerly rather cumbersome shop functionality). But this blog entry is already quite long, and some of the additions we’ve got on tap are directly tied to the game’s text in some manner… so those are stories best saved for next time around!

Until then, take care, and remember: if you tweeted about this blog entry on behalf of XSEED Games, chances are you Arges.*

…What can I say? When it comes to puns, I’m all about the low-hanging fruit, because it’s just so Ysy. So try not to Mona Mona too loud about it, and just keep on Monitoring this Tumblr for future updates!

Pipi, cheeri-ro!

*Note: This is actually not the case, as the person who Isges is currently off becoming a Mother 2.0. But the pun was deemed worthy of standing on its own merits, and has thus been left intact for your groaning enjoyment!

#xseed #xseed games #xseed blog #Zwei: The Arges Adventure #long post #post: tom #Falcom

36 notes · View notes

superdeliciouspersonstudentfan · 4 years

Text

How to Fix Battle.net Error in Windows 10?

Battle.net error is common nowadays as it appears due to incompatible drivers, third-party apps, and more. If you are facing it, then don’t worry. All you need to do is check out the underneath methods. With the given solutions, you will surely solve the Battle.net issue conveniently. So, make sure to follow the steps accordingly and enjoy the game in leisure time.

To resolve such error, the solution is quite simple as users just need to do, restart the Windows operating system. This is one of the potential methods that work in eradicating the error by resetting the Agent process to fix a few discrepancies. Upon startup, the procedure might initiate downloading and installing the required data and game updates. To reboot the Windows 10 system, click on the Start icon, and then choose the Power button. After that, tap on Restart from the following options.

Method 1: Turn off Background Programs

There are some programs that may stop the Battle.net launcher on your device. So, it is highly recommended to turn off running background applications if possible. Here are the following instructions and learn how to disable background programs conveniently.

First and foremost, press Win + R hotkeys together on your console.

Insert “msconfig” into the required box.

On the succeeding pane, go to the General tab.

Now, click on the Selective Startup button.

After that, tap to uncheck the “Load Startup items” box.

Switch to the Service tab.

Next, check the box stating, “Hide all Microsoft Services.”

At last, press the Disable all button.

Then click Ok to apply the changes.

Method 2: Run the Battle.net Launcher as Admin

Due to the lack of administrative privileges, such type of error is quite reasonable to appear on your Windows PC. That’s why users need to try launching the Battle.net as Admin. Here is how to do it:

Find your way to the “C:\Program Files\Battle.net.”

On the following page, right-tap on the “Battle.net launcher.exe” file.

Choose the Properties from the available options.

On the succeeding pane, click on the Compatibility tab.

Now, Check the “Run this program as an Administrator” box.

Finally, tap on the Ok button and confirm the changes.

Method 3: Disable Third-party Antivirus Temporarily

Most of the time, the third-party antivirus creates hassles with the gaming software and results in such as Battle.net error message. In case your operating system also posses similar issues, then it is better to disable the antivirus on a temporary basis. Here is how you can do it without making too much effort.

Go to the Start Menu button.

Tap on the Search bar and type Control Panel into the box.

On the Control Panel window, click on the Apps and Features.

Now, choose the Uninstall or Remove programs.

From the following installed program list, tap on the best match.

Follow the remaining instructions and uninstall the software accordingly.

Method 4: Update the Windows System

Due to the outdated or incompatible system, drivers can create such Battle.net error on your device. So, it is better to keep your Windows system up to date. For that, check out the listed points and learn by way you can update your outdated drivers easily.

Tap on Win + I hotkeys on your console.

On the Windows Settings, click on the Update and Security section.

Now, move to the right tab and choose to check for updates.

If there is any update available, select the Download button.

Lastly, wait until the update download and installs on your system.

Once done, reboot your Windows PC.

Method 5: Check Windows Secondary Logon Functionality

Pursue the following steps to know how users can enable the “Windows Secondary Logon” service on Windows PC.

To begin with, click the Win + R button to open the Run Dialog box.

Write “services.msc” in the text area.

Tap, Ok, and continue.

On the following page, scroll down and search for Secondary Logon.

Double-tap on the best match and proceed.

Press on the Dropdown menu and choose Automatic option.

If the service is not running, then tap on Stat and activate it.

Hit on Apply.

Then choose Ok to save the changes.

Now, close the running programs and restart your system.

Method 6: Reinstall the Agent

In case the system applications are not working properly, then it is better to make a fresh install. Especially if your system is suffering from such type of error, then it recommended to forcefully reinstall the Agent to eradicate the hassles in no time. To reinstall the Agent, users need to do is:

Firstly, close the Battle.net launcher on your system if it’s open.

Look for the Tool folder and right-click on it.

Choose the Delete option and remove it.

Now, open the battle.net app.

With this, the procedure would forcefully reinstall the Agent automatically. Hopefully, this will resolve the problem that you are facing on your Windows operating system.

Aron smith is an inventive person who has been doing intensive research in particular topics and writing blogs and articles on brother printer support and many other related topics. He is a very knowledgeable person with lots of experience.

Source: https://magicdirectory.uk.com/blog/how-to-fix-battle-net-error-in-windows-10/

#How to Fix #Windows 10 #Battle.net Error #Brother Printer Support #Computer

0 notes

truemedian · 4 years

Text

Paying for Tekken 7’s frame data, explained

poly-lt-wire-logo

Image: Bandai Namco Studios/Bandai Namco Entertainment Frame data shows the ‘rules’ of fighting games, and we deserve to see it Paid DLC for a game’s training mode is pretty unusual. Bandai Namco recently charged Tekken 7 players $4 (if they didn’t have the season pass) for a long-requested feature, one its producer had resisted for a variety of reasons: the ability to see frame data — the speed of every move in the game, in 60ths of a second — displayed on screen in the game’s training mode. Here’s the thing: Players who are serious about the game probably bought it, confusing those who don’t understand the intricacies of fighting games. Why would anyone care about this data so much that they’d be willing to pay for it?

Animation is gameplay

Tekken 7’s frame data display is hardly the first of its kind, but it solves a long-standing problem with the game’s community. Like improved netcode for better online play, showing frame data is necessary for any fighting game that wants to be taken seriously. Keeping the frame data from players in a fighting game is like Ikea launching new flat-packed furniture without instructions. The community will figure it out eventually, but things are probably going to be ugly for a while. It’s going to take a little bit of time to explain why this information is so important, and to do so, we have to begin with the basics of fighting games in general. Imagine the action of a punch, in slow motion. The arm winds up, and then plunges forward. The fist strikes the target, and then the arm pulls back to its starting position, ready to strike again. It may be helpful to slow down these clips by playing them and then pressing the “slow down” button to the right of the play button, or step through them by frame by frame by pausing and pressing the left and right buttons. The phases are the same whether you’re animating a simple punch, a flying kick, or the swing of a blade. We can break up attack animations into a starting motion, the moment of impact (note the spark effect), and the recovery time it takes for the fighter to return to their ready stance. In Tekken 7’s training mode, and thus these videos, the characters turn blue to demonstrate when they’re recovering from attacks. Now think of the character that’s taking that hit. For a fighting game to feel satisfying, those hits need to carry some weight. Whether the successful attack sends the opponent flying, or gets stopped by a strong guard, there should be a moment where the opponent absorbs the force of the blow and can’t act. We call that “stun”; in this case, it’s either hit stun or block stun. You can see it very clearly when Paul turns blue in these videos. Without windup and follow-through in the attacks, and stun and other hit reactions to properly sell their impacts, an action game is lifeless. Even a sandbag reacts to a punch. What I’m describing here is basic cause and effect, and the tricks fighting games use to force you to feel both. Designing these interactions well is crucial for a fighting game to “feel” good, much less be playable at the expert level. Everything also has to be balanced for the game to be fun. If a single attack stuns the opponent for too long, or if the character recovers too quickly, it could lead to a character who can attack a blocking opponent forever with no fear of reprisal, or even a character who can kill with a single hit. In this extreme case from the original Tekken, shown in the video above starting at the 1:30 mark, King has an elbow attack that breaks an opponent’s guard and stuns them for half a second. King opens them up for so long that he can walk in afterward to land a free hit or even launch a combo. It both looks wrong and is clearly absurd in practice, but remember: This is one of the first 3D fighting games ever made. Balance wasn’t on the menu yet. Even so, a sufficiently severe issue with balance — and there have been some bad ones in the past — can instantly kill a fighting game. If one truly unfair character or tactic completely takes over play, the average fan is going to walk away. At the same time, competitive players actively seek to exploit any crack in a game’s design, so keeping attack animations balanced is a tall order. In a game like Tekken 7, which at the time of this writing includes 47 characters, with hundreds of animations for each one, balance is a never-ending battle. Each of these interactions has to feel good and look good, and they have to work together to create a competitive environment that’s both understandable and fair. Getting all that to happen is a ridiculously complicated task. But part of that challenge can be mitigated, at least somewhat, by providing accurate information about exactly what’s going on to the players. If there’s something off about your game, your most dedicated fans are going to find it. Right now, for example, they’re a bit concerned about Leroy Smith. Would they have found these issues without the frame data? Absolutely. But having that data allows the most analytical players to know exactly why the character is unbalanced, and share that information with both the community and, by extension, the developers. So now that we know a little bit about how fighting games work, let’s dig into why the frame data is so important. If the design of a fighting game is its geography, then the frame data is a map players can use to learn how to get where they need to go. Here’s how it all works.

Counting frames: the 60 fps clock

We use the word “frame” here not necessarily in reference to individual frames of animation, but as a unit of time. We can chop up an hour into 60 minutes, and we can chop up a minute into 60 seconds. In the very specific case of video games that run at 60 frames per second, we can further chop up a second into 60 frames. This is the clock on which most modern fighting games run. It’s also why it is essential for a fighting game to run at a consistent 60 frames per second, regardless of platform. Anything less directly compromises the play. There’s no room in competitive fighting games for a game with a variable frame rate; this is a genre built on precision and repeatable strategy. Neither can exist in a game running at an inconsistent frame rate. Here is where the frame data becomes crucial. Tekken 7’s newly released frame data tool shows (as “Startup Frame”) that the standard left-hand jab has a startup time of 10 frames. This is the fastest move in the game, and a unit of measurement itself. For comparison to faster-paced 2D fighters, the fastest attacks in Street Fighter 5 start up in three and four frames. The fastest move typically wins in fighting games, especially in Tekken. A quick jab will always counter a big kick, and only a precious few “armored” moves can push through a fast strike. Heavier characters can have slightly slower jabs — 11 frames — but, as we’ll see, this is a serious handicap. A 60th of a second — 16 2⁄3 milliseconds — means a whole lot in this world, is what I’m trying to say. It can often mean everything.

Recovery and punishment

When Paul throws his whole body into a shoulder check, he’s naturally going to take a long time to return to his ready position. In fact, he takes so long that he’s open for 16 frames. (Tekken 7 tells us this directly under “Frame Advantage” in the frame data tool: +16 for the defender.) A quarter-second is an eternity in fighting game time, and having blocked the attack, Julia has a wide range of choices with which to counterattack the defenseless Paul. In Tekken 7, this is called a punish. Some moves might deliver a ton of damage or be difficult to defend against, but that possible reward for the attacker comes with a major risk. If the defender blocks that powerful launcher attack or low sweep, they get an opening wide enough to counterattack for big, guaranteed damage. In Tekken, a move is “unsafe” when it leaves the attacker at a disadvantage of 10 frames or more when blocked. The defender can usually punish with a quick jab. In the finely tuned Tekken 7, each additional frame of disadvantage represents another level of risk. At 12 frames, fast characters can often score a fair amount of damage and the initiative to keep attacking, like this punish that gives Julia an additional five-frame opening. At 13 frames, they might be able to get a knockdown. This is a big opportunity in a game like Tekken, where you can literally kick the opponent while they’re down. At 15 frames and above, most characters can launch the opponent into the air, starting one of Tekken’s trademark juggle combos and robbing the opponent of a major chunk of their life bar. But Tekken doesn’t put blinking neon lights that say “hit me now!” over the characters’ heads. It’s up to the player to learn which moves are safe and which are unsafe, and then to recognize those moves, punish them on reflex, and reap the rewards in damage. That skill is born from study, practice, and experience. To this end, Bandai Namco has also added a “punishment” drill to Tekken 7’s training mode, which teaches easy punishes for every character. This raw knowledge is considered a foundation that any serious competitor needs to memorize and master, more important than the flashy combos that most players learn first. And yet, until this update, new players had to figure everything out on their own, without the benefit of the actual numbers being provided. It’s a grueling process, but a necessary one. Now that the frame data is available, however, everyone benefits.

Frame advantages mean fighting games are actually turn-based

In a system where the fastest move typically hits first, tiny advantages — even of a single frame — can decide who’s going to attack and who’s going to defend. Though Tekken is a real-time game, players do take turns, in a sense. In the above exchange, Julia attacks first with a dashing elbow, and Paul blocks her. Julia has left Paul an opening of two frames; we call this advantage. That’s not enough to punish Julia for damage, but Paul gets to move first. When both fighters use the same fast jab in this situation, Paul always wins. It’s effectively Paul’s turn to get on the offensive. If Paul attacks from here and Julia successfully guards, eventually Paul will give the advantage back to Julia by leaving another tiny opening, and it’ll be her “turn” to attack again. Though players can often intuitively understand who moves first just from looking at the animations, having the exact numbers for common situations gives advanced players another level of control. For example: Julia’s Party Crasher elbow hits in 11 frames and gives a seven-frame advantage when it counterhits, which happens often, given its lightning speed. With numbers like that, it’s one of her best moves. And having the numbers available means that we know this definitively; it’s not something anyone has to guess at, or work out through repetition and testing. The information is right there. But what does that information tell us? At a plus-7 frame advantage, Julia can try for any attack with a startup of 16 frames or below. Are you starting to see why this data is so important in evolving the level of play? If you know the frame data for the rest of Julia’s available moves, you know exactly what will hit and what won’t. Data becomes strategy, in a very direct sense. If the defender tries to attack, the fastest move wins, and Julia will always land her counterattack. A lot of players call this being “frame-trapped.” Against a player who’s thoughtlessly mashing attack buttons at all times, I can be pretty sure to land a counterhit Party Crasher, immediately use Julia’s 15-frame combo starter, and repeat. Against a more experienced player, I’ll predict that they understand the severity of a seven-frame disadvantage, and try some evasive action like a backward dash or a sidestep. I can try and halt my opponent’s retreat by charging forward with a quick attack, cutting their ankles with a fast low kick, or running in with a throw. Needless to say, a high frame advantage is a strong position, and it’s all the better if you understand how to maximize its potential. To do that, you need access to the numbers.

Vital information, and a competitive standard

Not every player needs to understand this stuff — just every serious player. The highest-level players have known about frame data for decades. They’ve bought guidebooks, they’ve dissected videos, and they’ve experimented in-game. The best, and most effective, competitors in the fighting game scene don’t just have the best reflexes or the best instincts; they’re almost always also the best at breaking down and understanding the systems that make the game work. Playing a fighting game against one of the best players in the world is like playing four different games of rock-paper-scissors at the same time, and frame data represents just one of them. Frame data is behind many of the mind games being played at high levels of Tekken and many other fighting games. If you aren’t aware of these situations at all, or choose to ignore them, you’re effectively playing poker without looking at your cards. For competition, it’s that big a deal. Modern fighting games style themselves as serious competitive esports complete with pro tours. Tekken 7 had a particularly strong 2019, with one of the most vibrant international scenes in fighting games. But if developers are serious about fostering professional players, they need to give the audience — each one a potential pro in the making — the stepping stones to get there, and that includes access to frame data in-game. The feature needs to become a standard for the genre. Depending on how in-depth the tool is — Tekken 7 will soon be able to analyze your game replays and give you suggestions, as part of this same DLC — it might well be a feature worth paying for. But it must be available, one way or the other. Pro-level games deserve pro-level features, and players willing to make the time investment to improve deserve some help getting up there. As with tutorials, if these features can’t make it to launch, years late is better than never. But while I gave no thought at all to buying my $25 season pass this year — I mean, look at how cool Leroy is — frame data display needs to be a basic, free feature. People simply need to know what cards they’re holding if the game is going to be fun to play, or watch. Read More Read the full article

0 notes

enterinit · 5 years

Text

Warhammer: Chaosbane and other games coming to Xbox One this week

Warhammer: Chaosbane and other games coming to Xbox One this week. Layers of Fear 2 (May 28, 2019) The cameras are all focused on you; the center of the scene. Not just in character, you are the character. The part to play is singularly yours. Written just for you.You are met with silence. No barking orders from the director. No call to action that you need to become this version of yourself. The demand to act fills your mind, but the script pages hold no words. Your past has helped to mold you into what you are, forced upon you the skills required to hone your craft. That same past has scraped deep furrowing scars into you, not on the outside where the world can see, but in a place buried so deep within that it has become shapeless. You push those memories down but let the experiences drive you into who, or what, you must play. Darkness surrounds as you stand silently in the spotlight, the only sounds to be heard over your heartbeat are the distant breaking of waves against the hull and the sound of cameras pointed in your direction preserving this moment for eternity. A deep and commanding voice rises from the distance. Act. What part will you play? Cricket 19 (May 28, 2019) Earn World Glory At The Pinnacle Of Cricket! Lead your team to international glory with Cricket 19. The truly global cricket simulation from Big Ant Studios, the leading name in authentic, realistic cricket action, Cricket 19 allows you to take control of your team, from club through national level, and lead them to T20, ODI, or Test Match glory. Create your own club, stadia, sponsor logos and uniforms via Big Ant’s acclaimed Cricket Academy to recreate your local matches and dramas! Dive into the deepest, story-driven career mode in the history of cricket video games. Build a rookie player’s career from their junior years at club cricket. Perform well and before you know it, you’ll be leading your nation on to the field. Key features include: Deep player, stadia, logo and scenario creator.Full support for all formats of cricket - T20, ODI and Test Match.Real world AI and tactics.Dozens of teams to choose between. Features: Career ModeAshes ModeWorld ChampionshipScenario ModeAcademyStadium CreatorLogo CreatorMatch Type CreatorCompetition DesignerTour DesignerUniform Creator

Void Bastards (May 29, 2019)

Forget everything you know about first-person shooters: Void Bastards asks you to take charge, not just point your gun and fire. Your task is to lead the rag-tag Void Bastards out of the Sargasso Nebula. You make the decisions: where to go, what to do and who to fight. And then you must carry out that strategy in the face of strange and terrible enemies. On board derelict spaceships you’ll plan your mission, taking note of the ship layout, what hazards and enemies you might encounter and what terminals and other ship systems you can use to your advantage... Move carefully through the dangerous ships, searching for supplies and manipulating control systems. React to what you find - will you detour to the generator to bring the power back online or will you fight your way into the security module to disable the ship’s defenses? Choose carefully when to fight, when to run and when just to be a bastard. Use your hard won supplies to improvise tools and weapons, from the distracting robo-kitty to the horribly unstable clusterflak. Navigate your tiny escape pod through the vast nebula. Flee from void whales and pirates, and politely avoid the hungry hermits. All the while you must keep scavenging for the food, fuel, and other resources that keep you alive. Void Bastards features a 12-15 hour campaign that you can complete with an endless supply of prisoners, each with their own unique traits. When one dies, another steps forward to carry on the fight. Don’t worry though, as any crafting progress you’ve made is retained from one to another.

Warlock’s Tower (May 29, 2019)

Watch your step! Warlock’s Tower is a punishing puzzler with levels designed around one simple rule: one move equals one life lost. Solve 100 + complex rooms as brain melting puzzles await you in the dungeon, factory, library, private chambers, and warehouse as you need to outwit zombies, flying eyes, slimes, and more.

Outer Wilds (May 30, 2019)

An open world mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop. As the newest recruit in the Space Program of Outer Wilds Ventures, a fledgling space program searching for answers in a strange, constantly evolving solar system, you’ll have to discover what lurks in the heart of the ominous Dark Bramble and to see if the endless time loop can be stopped.

Warhammer: Chaosbane (May 31, 2019)

Buy the game now and enjoy access to the closed Beta phases and a pack of 4 additional helmets. To access this content, search for “Warhammer Chaosbane Beta” on the Microsoft Store and download from the details page. The Private Beta first phase will be available for preload on March 6th and open from March 7th until March 13th. In a world ravaged by war and dominated by magic, you must rise up to face the Chaos hordes. Playing solo or with up to four in local or online co-op, choose a hero from four character classes and prepare for epic battles wielding some of the most powerful artefacts of the Old World. THE FIRST HACK AND SLASH set in the Warhammer Fantasy world4 CHARACTER CLASSES, each with unique gameplay, skills and equipmentAN XXL BESTIARY with over 70 monsters aligned with the Chaos Gods and epic boss battlesOPTIMIZED FOR CO-OP: solo or with up to 4 players, local or online, the class synergy and interface have been designed for co-op

Among the Sleep: Enhanced Edition (May 31, 2019)

Among the Sleep is a psychological horror game where you get to play as a two year old child. You get to experience the world through the eyes of a toddler with a vivid imagination that could easily scare your pants off. Welcome to an atmospheric horror game with an eerie feeling of helplessness. You are abruptly awoken one night and find the house completely dark and empty. You start searching for your mother, but she is nowhere to be found. What you find is a teddy bear that warns you that everything is not all right and that it is crucial to find out what is going on. This is the start of your dark adventure in the world of a scared child.

Golem Gates (May 31, 2019)

Golem Gates is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi blend of action-strategy and card battler, pitting your conjured armies against otherworldly forces. Choose from 100 cards (known as Glyphs) and unleash diverse units, buildings, buffs, and more in tactical combat across single player, co-op, and multiplayer. An ancient threat surges from the Golem Gates, and only the Harbinger stands guard. Wielding the nanite-infused power of The Ash, you must protect a world ravaged by ancient wars. Key Features: Choose your Glyphs: Customize your deck from dozens of units, buildings, traps, buffs, debuffs, and techs.Streamlined tactics: Play cards/Glyphs directly into active combat and adapt at a moment’s notice to defend, flank, and fortify.Hours of unique content: Single player campaign, challenge scenarios, solo/co-op survival, local and online multiplayer, and more. Full 4K gaming on Xbox One X: Enjoy the gorgeous spectacle of science-fantasy warfare and screen-filling magical mayhem

PixArk 1.0 (May 31, 2019)

This game is a work in progress. It may or may not change over time or release as a final product. Purchase only if you are comfortable with the current state of the unfinished game. Welcome to PixARK, a vast, wild world filled with vicious dinosaurs, magical creatures and endless adventure! To survive in this mysterious land, you must tame creatures both ferocious and cuddly, craft high tech and magical tools, and build your own base out of cubes. With a robust character creator, an infinite number of voxel based maps and procedurally generated quests, your PixARK adventure will be completely unique. Team up with friends to form a tribe, or play on your own. Spend your time building a towering fortress or go on a quest in a sprawling cavern. Fly on the back of a dragon and smite your enemies with a magic wand, or ride a mighty T-Rex and blast your foes with a rocket launcher. In the world of PixARK, how you play is up to you – as long as you survive! FEATURES: Over 100 creatures to tame, train and rideVoxel block building systemProcedurally generated mapsProcedurally generated questsCreative Mode, where you can build anything you can imagineExtensive character creation tools, and character progression systems with skill trees and customizable stats Read the full article

#Games #XBOX

0 notes

ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years

Text

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 38)

Penny wrapped her arms around an AFA grunt's legs and held them down, Ruby jumped on her back and used her like a step-ladder to smash her horns into their face.

Blake catapulted Weiss right over a rifleman's head. The AFA gal does the smart thing, aims for the one heading in a straight line than somersaulting through the air, but most of those shots just zip right on past where Blake was a second ago. Weiss lands feet into first into her chest, knocking her down to the ground; she steps off, Blake pounces on her, smashing her palm into her face just as she's about to raise her gun to fire, keeping her down.

A baton grunt charged to his buddy's aid, raising his weapon up high before a gloved hand attached to a black sleeve grabbed his wrist. Yang slowly shook her head at him, before she punched him in the face with her free hand.

The AFA got plenty of hits in and landed some shots, and while they certainly hurt, it was clear they were losing, and losing fast.

From inside her rover, the Captain got back on the loudspeaker. “Regroup! Regroup!”

What remained of the Alpha Squad broke off and ran for the rovers, the last rifleman putting their back to the wall of vehicles, two baton-wielders covering their sides, and a big gal with an even bigger shield up front.

The Rangers reformed behind Ruby, a diamond with Penny in the center. She glowed and blasted out some much needed healing goodness, made it a lot easier for all of them to stand and look badass.

Without a field medic of their own, the AFA could only have their lead grunt bash her shield and hurl insults at them as their shooter reloaded.

From inside the Core, Eluna smiled.

From his office in Candela, Jacques scowled.

Ruby looked back at the others, started whispering, “I'll distract shield girl; Yang, get left; Blake, get right; Weiss and Penny, team-up and take out the shooter. Then: finisher.

“Ready?”

The others nodded. “Ready.”

Ruby let out a war cry, everyone around her suddenly glowing with red auras that told their enemies they were in for a very bad time.

They charged!

Crash!

The shield grunt blocked Ruby's horns, got in a few quick bashes with her baton as she held her back.

Blake and Yang rushed the troops on her side, put them down for the count with a 3-part-combo, or a much less graceful but still effective punch to the gut before a bash over the head.

The way now clear, Penny and Weiss both rushed up Ruby's back, launched off the shield grunt's helmet, and landed at either side of the rifleman still trying to decide which ranger to shoot first. With two kicks into both sides of their chest, they solved that problem for them.

The last grunt pushed Ruby off of her, smashed her shield in the side of the face and sent her staggering back.

She grins, up until she notices that she's surrounded.

Ruby recovers and shakes her head. “Need a quick tutorial about how the finishing move works, Weiss?”

“Nah,” Weiss says as she and the others get into their poses, one after the other. “I think I've got it.”

Ruby grins. “Awesome.”

The Rangers glow with power once more, auras of animals surrounding them: a Sapphire Fox, a Citrine Cat, an Onyx Bear, and an Emerald Mouse. They shoot up into the sky, twisting together before they curve downa and make a beeline into Ruby.

Glowing with all five of their colours now, she crouches low and leaps into the air, tilting her head back as the aura of the Ruby Reindeer above her does the same.

Then, they both turn their horns down, the other animals grin and bare their teeth.

The shield grunt's eyes widen, and she raises her shield and braces herself for a world of hurt.

“WRATH OF THE WILD!”

The night turns into day straight out of a really good drug trip. The AFA grunts on site shield their eyes, Jacques yells as he's blinded, Eluna smiles as she had already put on her extra-dark shades. When the multi-coloured smoke clears, there is one VERY down and out AFA grunt laying on the ground, just like the rest of the Alpha Squad.

Yang chuckled as she turned to the lead rover. “You going to tell your boss to write this off as another loss, or what?”

The Captain popped her head out to scowl at the Rangers. “Not yet.” She activated her comm-crystal. “Mr. Schnee, permission to deploy the BADAAS!”

“Permission granted, Captain,”�� they hear through the speakers.

Weiss frowned. “The BADAAS...?”

“The Big-Ass Defense And Assault Suit,” Penny explained. “It's an acronym for the magitechnology developed from the Shepherd Suit MK II, after the MK III made it largely obsolete.”

“That is one of the stupidest names for military gear that I have ever heard in my entire life!” Weiss cried. “What does a BADAAS even look like?”

The ground began to rumble. Soldiers in the other rovers drove off to make room as the Captain's ride began to transform, protective plating shifting and reforming around arms, legs, and a torso, revealing much more serious firepower than your standard AFA rover is equipped with—things like an energy lance, a minigun, and even a grenade launcher turret up top.

“Like this,” the Captain said.

“… Oh...”

The Captain raised the minigun up at the Rangers.

Whirr…!

Qrow's Commands:

Defeat The Captain with A Finishing Move

Don't get hit by her Sticky Bombs.

Freeze.

Weiss turned to the others. “We have weapons, right? Because one, there is no realistic way we're punching, kicking, and headbutting that thing to death, and two, if we can, that'll seriously break my suspension of disbelief.”

Ruby nodded. “Yep, we do! I've got a scythe!” she said, her rune glowing, before turning into a scythe that probably had way more moving parts than was strictly necessary.

<I've got my breakneck,> Blake said as hers turned into a yellow, fancier version of her usual gear—hey, if it works, right?

“I have two swords that can be easily reconfigured into a bow or a claw,” Penny said as hers split into two beams of light, and turned into twin blades. “I used to have more, until I realized that was too 'OP,' and demeans the Rune Rangers' theme of requiring teamwork and coordination to take down foes too powerful for an individual.”

“And I've got my bear hands!” Yang said, smashing her fists together as her rune turned into twin gauntlets.

Weiss scowled at her. You couldn't see into the visors of their helmets, but you could just tell.

She pulled out her rune, found herself holding a weaver's staff. Realistically speaking, something like this would be no better than a regular staff if you don't have the Gift, but since the Sapphire Rangers are always the ones with all the cool magitech or the really obvious mystic powers, let's just assume you do, princess.

“Is there a version of it that's more sword-like?”

Boom. Runeblade, with an unlimited supply of all four of the Elemental Essences, to be combined however you damn well please. You want me to throw in a Spellslinger so you can make like your grandpa and go stab and shoot things?

Weiss tested the revolver, watched the blade catch fire, freeze over and with water flowing in the ice, crackle with electricity and miniature gusts of wind, then get a metallic sheen with clouds of dust all around.

“I'm good,” she said as she turned it back to normal.

Want a primer on what you can do with the power of the elements at your fingertips?

“I think a hands-on lesson will suit me much better,” Weiss purred. “Hey girls? You mind if we rewind to just before she points that gun at us?”

“Sure,” Yang said, “but this idea of yours better be cool!”

Weiss winced. “… And I find myself actually sorry to say that it will be...”

Rewind. Unfreeze.

“Like this,” the Captain said.

She raised the minigun up at the Rangers, they readied their weapons.

Whirr…!

Weiss turned the revolver to Water, stabbed her sword into ground.

A giant block of ice rose up in front of the Rangers, just in time to block the near-solid line of supercharged-lead flying at them.

“What the hell?!” the Captain yelled as she stopped firing.

The ice wall shattered, icicles and frozen bullets raining to the ground.

“Spread out, and keep moving!” Ruby yelled. “She can't hit us as easily if we do!”

“That's what you think!” the Captain snarled as she readied her grenade launcher.

Thoom. Thoom. Thoom.

Sticky bombs landed all over the field, flashing bright red with a handy circle around them showing just where you don't want to be when they go off. The rangers hot-hoof it around them, until Yang just happens to step on one of them just after it landed.

“Oh, MOTHERFU--!”

Boom.

Thanks to the power of CENSORSHIP!, she goes flying off instead of turning into a black-and-pink mist.

“YANG!” Ruby yells as she and Penny run to pick her up.

The Captain sees the opportunity, points her energy lance at them. The sides of it begin to light up, ending in a big ball of crackling, concentrated magic that's only getting even bigger.

Might want to do something about that, kiddos, just saying.

Lightning pours out of Weiss' sword and into the BADAAS. Inside the cockpit, all the fancy holos and magitechnical systems malfunction, flashing red and spitting out error messages like crazy. The energy lance fires off at half-charge, Ruby, Penny, and Yang duck as the shot just grazes their helmets before blowing up a patch of bedrock behind them.

“Stop screwing with my mech!” the Captain yells as her mech makes like a break-dancer on three cans of Sgt. Pick-U-Up having a seizure.

“Then stop screwing with the Valley!” Weiss yells back through gritted teeth, trying to hold her sword steady with both hands.

“Blake!” Ruby yells as she Penny heal Yang and pull her ass back up. “Get the grenade launcher!”

<Already on it!> Blake cried as she fired her breakneck's hook on the base. She pounces into the air, flips the gears in reverse, and goes zipping upwards.

Schwing!

You can see the ghost of her swing in the air for a moment, before the grenade launcher starts to jerk and fizz.

The Captain yells as she smashes a Big Red Button.

All lights in the BADAAS go off, except for the chest which is only growing brighter and brighter...

Ruby and Penny get Yang haul ass to behind the rovers. Weiss stops shooting sparks out of her sword, makes a line of ice heading straight for Blake, and starts skating on it. Blake lands on her feet, slips and lands on her ass, wonders what the hell was that all about, until she notices the way everything's gotten so bright all of a sudden.

Weiss grabs her by the arm as she zooms on past.

The BADAAS' EMP goes off.

Weiss and Blake go skidding and rolling on hard, unforgiving ground after her sword suddenly stops making ice, the chambers in the revolver go dim.

The Captain catches her breath as she reboots her mech. “That was a very good effort, I'll admit...” she says in between pants.

She turns to where Weiss and Blake are just picking themselves up, the tank treads and the boosters in her mech's legs engage.

“… But not good enough!”

The BADAAS comes screaming towards them, faster than anything that big should be able to move.

Blake and Weiss did the smart thing and jumped in opposite directions, to the sides of the thing charging towards them.

Penny climbed up the side of the rover she was hiding behind, helped Ruby and Yang up to the roof.

The Captain missed, disengaged the turbo, spun around, and aimed at the one she could take out without getting shit from her boss:

Blake.

Everything went into slow-mo.

Blake turned around, eyes widening and ears pulling flat as the BADAAS came for her, too close to dodge this time.

Yang picked Penny up, aimed, and threw her straight her at Blake, before she repositioned, picked up Ruby, and threw her at the mech.

Everything began to go back to normal speed.

Penny slammed into Blake, getting her out of the way of just a second before she got turned into kitty paste—or sent flying off against all laws of physics, I guess.

The Captain gritted her teeth, leaning forward up until a scythe head came ripping right through the hull, the tip of it coming within an inch of her face.

Ruby lost her grip on the handle from the inertia, flew off between BADAAS' legs, rolling on the ground until she finally stopped near Weiss.

Yang saw the mech coming straight for her and the line of rovers, turbo still engaged; she jumped off and hauled ass to the others.

The poor saps hiding inside them hung onto their asses.

The sound of screeching metal and suspension screaming for mercy filled the air as the rovers flew and flipped around like the toy cars of a two-year old having a tantrum. The BADAAS' screeched to a halt, but the scythe was still stuck in its hull.

The Captain tried to get it off with the mech's arms, only ended up driving it deeper as the minigun and lance acted like paddles. “AGH!” she yelled as she tried to push it out from the inside. “WHO THE FUCK DIDN'T THINK OF GIVING THIS THING CLAWS FOR GRABBING?”

Back at Candela, Jacques glared at Dr. Nefarious over to the side.

The not-so-good doctor just chuckled nervously, giving him a sheepish smile that was missing several teeth.

The Rangers regrouped, watched the BADAAS struggle with its new ornament.

“What's the plan, Rubes?” Yang as she ran up.

Ruby smiled. “We go all out on the Captain while she's distracted, and end this with a finishing move.”

Yang grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

They readied their remaining weapons and were about to start running, when Weiss sword suddenly sparked back to life.

“Can I use my elemental fire like a rocket?” she asked as she turned the revolver.

Penny nodded. “Yes. Yes you can.”

Yang grinned as they got ready. “Great news, passengers: Air Xiao Long is happy to inform you that we've entered into a partnership with Schnee Aeronautics! Our first joint trip is boarding now...”

Inside the BADAAS, the Captain kicked at the blunt side of the scythe with her boot, until the holos started to flash once more.

“Warning: Incoming Missile Detected.”

The Captain dropped back into her seat and ducked below the scythe. “Give me a visual!”

Yang was grinning as she headed up the five-Ranger-rocket, her fist already cocked.

The Captain couldn't see into visors of her helmet, but she could just tell.

#rwby #the keeper of the grove #white rose #fanfic

2 notes · View notes

wallpaperdroidhd · 4 years

Text

Fix Google Play store “Download Pending” error

If you are facing the Google Play store “Download Pending” error, here is an article to help you fix it.

Google Play Store might at times display you the Android download pending error because of numerous reasons like multiple Auto Updates/installs, No free space on device, Disabled Background Data usage, etc. Here is a complete guide to fix the error easily.

How to Fix Google Play store “Download Pending” error

Here are some worthy solutions you can try to fix Google Play Store “Download Pending” error –

Check Internet Connectivity

Check if your internet connection, I.e., Data or WiFi is ON and properly connected.

Try switching the Airplane Mode toggle off, wait for 15 seconds, turn it on again, and then try downloading apps from Play Store.

If the problem still persists, check if you have a proper signal for the internet.

Restart your device

A simple restart could help you get away with this error.

Long press the power button.

From the menu that appears, select Reboot or Restart.

Do check out – Enable Dark Mode switch in Quick Settings on OnePlus 7 series

Stop Auto Updates and Pending Downloads

Most of the time, when you connect to a WiFi, Play Store pushes all the apps for download or updates. This causes stress on the system and mostly none of the apps are either downloaded or updated. so try stopping auto-download.

Go to Google Play Store.

Tap on Menu presents as three horizontal lines on the top left corner of the screen.

Go to My Apps and Games.

Here you will see the apps that are getting updated or downloaded.

Just tap on the “×” button in front of them all and then update the apps one by one.

Free Storage on Android

A reason you might be receiving the “Download pending” error on Google Play Store is because of jammed memory. You will need to free some space on your Android device so as to fix this error if it’s occurring because of memory or space insufficiency.

Go to Settings > Space.

Free up phone memory by deleting pictures, files, apps, etc. That is unnecessary. Or you could move it to a laptop or PC if it’s important.

If you are still facing the issue, check of your SD card is in proper working conditions. If everything is right with the memory, but still you are faxing the issue, try the other solutions given below.

Editor’s pick – Download OnePlus Launcher 4.4.6 for OnePlus Android 10 devices

Reset App Download Preferences to fix Play Store Download Pending error

If you are using WIFI or Mobile data but the app download preference on your Play Store is set to one particular medium, then “Download pending” error is obvious. Try true below solution-

Go to Google Play Store > Menu > Settings > General > App download preferences.

Here, choose the option of “Over any network”.

Enable Background Data Usage

If Background data usage is not allowed to Google Play Store, it will not download apps when you keep it running in the background. The apps will be downloaded but not in the BG. To enable Background data usage for the Play store.

Go to Settings > Data Usage > Data saver> Unrestricted Data.

Scroll down and locate Google Play Store.

Enable Background Data Usage toggle.

Do not miss – Download Tool All In One to Unlock Bootloader, Flash TWRP, Stock images

Check if Google Play Store is down

Apps tend to go down for some time for numerous reasons. One possible reason you might be facing the Android “Download Pending” error could be because the Play Store is down.

Check if Play Store is down by visiting sites like Down Detector.

Check if Google Play is Updated to the latest version

If you have not updated Play store to the latest version, you might be facing this error. updates are essential to keep an app working properly.

Go to Google Play Store.

Go to the menu on the top left corner present as 3 horizontal lines.

Tap on Settings> About.

Go to the bottom of the page and tap on the Google Play Store version.

If you are on the latest version, you will be shown the message ‘Google Play is up to date’.

If that didn’t help, below are a zillion great solutions you can try.

Clear Play Store cache

The cache is accumulated files and data that are unnecessary. Clearing it is important to keep an app in proper working condition.

Go to Settings > Apps or Application Manager> Google Play Store.

Tap on the app.

Tap on Storage> Clear cache.

Make sure to NOT hit the Clear Data option.

In case you are receiving the Google Play Store Error Code 910, here’s how to fix it the simple way!

Clear Google Play Services Cache

Google Play Services is the soul of Google apps. Anything wrong going on in Google apps could be because of Play services error or junk cache. Try clearing it.

Go to Settings > Apps or Application Manager> Google Play Services.

Tap on the app.

Tap on Storage> Clear cache.

Make sure to NOT hit the Clear Data option.

Clear Play Store Data

In case none of the above have helped you so far, try the below steps.

Go to Settings > Apps or Application Manager> Google Play Store.

Tap on the app.

Tap on Storage> Clear Data.

Clear Google Play Services Data

As said before, Google Play Services have a lot to do with Play Store. If clearing cache alone didn’t help, try clearing data.

Go to Settings > Apps or Application Manager> Google Play Services.

Tap on the app.

Tap on Storage> Clear Data.

If you are facing the Google Play Store Error Code 0, here is how you can fix it.

Uninstall Previous Play Store Update

An update could at times be a reason for such errors. If you recently updated Google Play Store and you have been facing the android download Pending issue since the update, we recommend you follow the below steps to uninstall the recent update.

Go to Settings> Apps or Applications Manager.

Locate Google Play Store.

tap on it and then tap on Uninstall Updates.

If the error doesn’t solve now, you will have to reinstall the updates by following the same path as above.

Enable disabled apps

Disabled apps tend to cause issues with other apps. So if you have any disabled apps, you need to enable them.

Go to device Settings> Apps or Applications Manager.

Scroll to the bottom.

You will see the disabled apps at the bottom of the screen.

Enable them.

Also check – AZWhatsApp Apk Download Latest Version 10.20

Disable VPN Service on your device

A VPN Service allows you to download apps and access content without any geological barriers. This might be causing errors in Google Play Store. You will have to disable it.

Go to Settings > More or More Networks> VPN > Disable VPN toggle.

Check for System Updates

If your device has received an update notification, and you haven’t updated the device system yet, it’s time you do it. Updates are essential to keep the system running smoothly. The error might be occurring because you haven’t updated your device yet.

Go to Settings > About Phone > System Updates> Check now.

If an update is available, install it.

Remove Google Account/s

In case nothing above helped, try the below solution –

Go to your device Settings > Accounts> Google account.

Tap on the menu icon present as the three dots on the top right corner.

Tap on Remove account.

You will have to remove all the Google accounts on your device.

Once you have removed all Google Accounts, go back to add your account in order to access Google services.

Go to Settings > Accounts > Add account.

Add your Google Account/s.

Don’t miss – Download Tubemate for Android; install TubeMate Downloader

Factory Reset your device

This will be the solution of last resort unless you want to use Play Store browser to download apps. But if you are okay with backing up and performing a factory reset on your device, it will be much better.

Go to Settings > Backup and reset.

Make sure that the toggle of Backup up my data is enabled.

Choose the account To which you want your data to be backed up. But make sure that you have access to this account.

Now go back to backup and reset and tap on Factory Reset.

If still, you are not able to fix Play store download Pending error, you can use the below option –

Download apps from Play Store Browser

If none of the solutions mentioned above helped you, this one should.

Go to Google Play Store official site.

Search for the app/s you want to download.

You are good to go!

In case you still couldn’t fix the Android download pending error on Play Store, feel free to ask us in the comment section below. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Stay tuned with us for more such posts!

https://www.androidjungles.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/About-Android-Jungles.mp4

Also see –

Fix “Google Maps No Sound” error

Check Android Screen time on Android devices

Enable 960FPS Slow Mode and Macro Mode on Oneplus 7 Pro

Download and Install TWRP Recovery on OnePlus 8 Pro [Unofficial]

Add Apps to OxygenOS Parallel Space on OnePlus devices

Happy Androiding:-)

The post Fix Google Play store “Download Pending” error appeared first on Android Jungles.

from WordPress https://bit.ly/3gpPT3S via IFTTT

#AndroidJungles

0 notes

dogmapod · 5 years

Text

04 Los Illuminados

Hey folks, welcome to the show Dogma: A Podcast About Cults I’m your host Denis Ricardo.

This show is about cults. The origins, practices and abuses of cults. So, if you are uncomfortable with descriptions of sexual, physical and mental violence and abuse, this isn’t the show for you.

I’m gonna try to keep it light and fun, but this stuff can get kind of dark… so you’ve been warned.

Our story begins in ancient Europe, in a region that would later be known as Spain on a remote island. existed a pagan group.

It is said that this pagan group was wiped out by another group that would later be known as the First Castellan. Both hold similar worship practices, so it is unknown if these similarities were just held because of they were both in the same region, or if it was a form of dominant syncretism.

The evidence of their similar beliefs are found on cave paintings on the island, which showed a worship of a species of bug endemic to the island.

In 1478 the Spanish Inquisition was founded by the Catholic monarchs of Spain Ferdinand II and Isabella of Castile. It was founded after the ousting of the Moorish Caliphate and the reunification of a Catholic Spain. Its job was to oust any Jews, Muslims and people accused of witchcraft and paganism from Spain.

Eventually the Inquisition made its way to this remote island and seemingly eliminated our group of pagans and installed a noble family, the Salazar family, to govern the island. The Salazars had the ancient caves sealed. However, a small group of them survive and practice in secret for the next several hundred years.

Some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s the 8th Castellan, the leader of this pagan group, came to power. He and his pagan group convinced the reigning Salazar to allow him to practice openly, eventually turning the nobleman to follow their practices. Salazar felt he should atone for the sins of his ancestors and open up the ancient caves.

Doing so released a parasite that had been growing in the cave for these hundreds of years and it seemed to infect the locals. These parasites were the same bug that were worshiped so many years ago by the pagan group, so the 8th Castellan got to work on perfecting a way to reproduce an even stronger variety.

It was an act only for the clergy of this pagan group and for Salazar to willingly be infected with this enhanced parasite, which attached itself to the nervous system of the host, altering their mood and cognitive function. The newly infected laypeople began life again as normal as possible, though many were recruited by Salazar and the Castellan to create a militia, amassing arms and creating a military base on the island.

Sometime before the fall of 2004 the US president’s daughter was kidnapped by a terrorist group that was working with the island militia as part of a plot to spread their parasite around the world in an act of bioterrorism.

A single agent working for a US anti-terrorist task force was dispatched to the island with the help of police from the mainland of Spain to rescue the president’s daughter.

It was surprising this agent was chosen, he seemed to have very little background in anti-terrorist activity, though he was involved with helping to stop a bioterror attack on his first day as a police officer. His name is Leon S. Kennedy.

He was hired afterward by the US government to work with another agent Jack Krauser to address more bioterrorist activity in South America, though he seemed to have lost Krauser along the way.

Upon arrival to the main village on the island the US agent was attacked and the local police he came with were killed by the cultists.

Leon escaped an attack by a group of locals and makes his way to the main village. The villagers all look sick and sallow, moving mindlessly like ants. In the center is an effigy with two burning bodies, the two Spanish police that Kennedy arrived with.

He is contacted by his intel-support Ingrid Hunnigan who informs his about the village.

Kennedy attempts to make his way through the village, but is spotted. He fights off an onslaught of villagers, knows as Ganados, attacking him with pitchforks and other farm equipment including a chainsaw.

Kennedy was certain this would be his demise, but the bell of the church rings, and as if under a spell, the villagers disbanded and headed toward the church.

Things are not all well for Kennedy, though. He attempted to investigate further, but is captured and incapacitated by the chief of the village Biotores Mendez. While Kennedy is unconscious, he is injected with the very parasite that has infected the village, Las Plagas.

Kennedy regains consciousness and finds himself held captive with a man named Luis Sera. Sera was formerly a researcher of Los Illuminados.

They worked together to escape and part ways after Kennedy finds out Ashley Graham is being held in the church from Hunnigan.

Kennedy finds himself attempting to fight off Mendez, but is easily overpowered. When Kennedy believed everything to be over, he is rescued by a woman in a red dress rappelling from the roof of the house they are in. Kennedy recognizes this woman as Ada Wong.

Kennedy believed he was in the clear after this encounter, but it was just the beginning.

As he arrives to the church, he realizes that the doors are locked. He sees that there is a key that is made up of Los Illuminados insignia. He realizes that he needs to retrieve these pieces.

Retrieving the pieces is not easy, as he finds himself facings all different types of obstacles, including a giant salamander, a giant man and villagers whose heads explode and reveal at monstrous squid-like being with barbed tentacles.

Kennedy returns to the church and rescues Ashley Graham. He plans their escape but not before they are met with the leader of Los Illuminados Osmund Saddler.

Saddler reveals he has infected Graham with a Plaga in order to carry out his plan of world domination. This plan includes a convoluted plot for Ashely to infect her father with a Master Plaga so he can give Los Illuminados power and money to take over the world.

They escape and are faced with Mendez, now willing to show his true, centipede body. Kennedy corners him in a barn and sets it ablaze, killing Mendez. Kennedy and Graham head towards the island’s castle for refuge, but now without facing zealots with more transforming heads and a blinded man with claws for hands.

In the castle they are faced with Salazar, now fully integrated into Los Illuminados. The two are separated by Salazar’s traps, making things much easier for the player because they don’t have to worry about Ashley getting killed. I mean… Kennedy is furious and makes his way through the castle.

During all of this, Sera is searching for medication that will remove the Plagas from Kennedy and Graham. He catches up with Kennedy, pills in hand, but Saddler comes out of fucking nowhere and kills Sera with a gross barbed appendage that he then sucks back into his body and it all looks very phallic.

He makes his way through the castle, having to find more goddamn keys and is aided by Wong at some point. Kennedy is apprehensive to fully trust Wong because she was a double agent while he was attempting to escape Raccoon City. Despite this, they both def want to fuck.

He faces a shit ton of more zealots and even a goddam clockwork robot of Salazar, because that is a completely practical thing to have built just in case the castle is infiltrated by just one US agent.

Leon is then face-to-face with Salazar, who allows himself to be sucked in by this weird fleshy plant that transforms him into some gross hybrid plant thing. But it’s not big deal, because it’s an easy boss fight TBH and Kennedy moves forward to the military compound.

If you’re playing the Gamecube version, this is where you have to switch disks.

Kennedy has to make his way through a barrage of militia members who are also infected, and it ain’t easy. Seriously, how the fuck do you get past that guy with the minigun without dying once while you have to also solve a fucking light puzzle? Christ…

Kennedy moves forward through a kitchen and is attacked by a flaming Ganado hiding in an oven, which I swear to God, freaks me out every damn time even though I know it’s coming.

Leon is then faced by Jack Krauser, and clearly they know each other, but if this is the first time you’re playing you’re like “Um, who the fuck is this guy?” You don’t find out until like ten years later when Umbrella Chronicles comes out on the Wii, so real convenient Capcom.

Krauser is working with Wesker and whatever is left of Umbrella to get Las Plagas to work in tandem with T-Virus or something. It’s really not clear. Oh, and Ada’s also working to get this sample, so duh you couldn’t trust her. But you can definitely bone.

Krauser is defeated and Leon unceremoniously finds Ashley and the convenient radiotherapeutic device that removes Las Plaga. Why was this thing ever built? What purpose does it serve for Los Illuminados, I thought they wanted to infect everyone? It seems really counter intuitive, but whatever, you both are cured. Leon grabs a Plaga sample, probably to be destroyed or studied or something. That really isn’t ever made clear.

Leon finally confronts Saddler who transforms into this gross spider thing with with an eye for a head. And excuse me Saddler and everyone who wants to take over the world in Resident Evil, how are you going to do it when you transform into this mindless monster? I get that you have telepathy with the Plagas and other virus zombies, but it just doesn’t seem practical. And the US government has showed they are more than willing to nuke an entire town just to get rid of nasty monsters like you. But hey, boss fight, right?

Ada shows up out of nowhere again and throws Leon a rocket launcher, the deus ex machina of all Ressy games. Leon shoot Saddler and Ada steals the sample because surprise, she’s working for Wesker (or is she? IDK play the side game with Ada and you’ll find out she’s a triple agent!). It’s all very erotic between the two, even though she’s always just going to be a bad guy. She throws him a bone, by which I mean a jet ski key with a teddy bear keychain.

The island is set to blow up, so Leon and Ashley make their way down an annoying timed route to the jet ski. I alway hate these timed escapes, they just feel like a cheap way to build tension.

They get on said jet ski that escape. The game’s about to end but not before the 15-year-old child Ashely hits on Leon, saying they should try and fuck when they get back to the White House. Leon says no, which is honestly very surprising for a Japanese game, and they ride off back to mainland Spain, which is hopefully not too far away because jet skis can’t really go very far.

Now here comes the fun part, where I beg you for money. I come to you hat in hand, asking you to go to patreon.com/dogmapod and throw a few bucks my way to help support the podcast. I can’t offer much for tier rewards, but no matter what level you donate at, I will get the episodes out to you early and you can have access to the joke episodes like this one where I explore pop culture cults as well as unrelated, cult-esque articles and podcasts that don’t quite fit with the format. At higher donations I will take suggestions for cults and do an episode on those. Thank you so much if you decide to be ever so gracious. OK, now back to the show.

So ends Los Illuminados. But not Las Plagas because it’s mutated and used in Africa to infect the indigenous population and it is all vaguely racist because you’re a white guy killing all these black people. But that has nothing to do with a cult, so I’m not gonna talk about it.

Thanks again so much for listening. That was our episode about Los Illuminados. Hope you didn’t mind this joke episode, but I’m going to try and lighten the mood every once in a while with a fictional cult because real cults get depressing.

Next time, we’re going to look into a real cult that has actually committed an act of terrorism and used popular media to get young followers.

Until then, take care and goodbye.

Citations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4?wprov=sfti1

https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_4

https://www.ign.com/faqs/2005/biohazard-4-bonus-disc-game-script-ps2-674283

Song Credits:

“Frozen Jungle” “Qulques Rue Sombre” “Where You Hear the Prayer (McGuffin Theme)” “Battle Theme” and “My hobby, destroy the universe, why? (Evil character’s theme)” by Monplaisir under the name Komiku (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Komiku/)

All other music was composed by Senbongi Misao & Uchiyama Shusaku

#resident evil 4 #re4 #ressy 4 #capcom #video games #nintendo #playstation #gamecube #wii #religion #spirituality #podcast #parody

0 notes

terryblount · 5 years

Text

Far Cry: New Dawn Review

Far Cry: New Dawn is the latest installment in a series that recently turned fourteen years old. New Dawn is not a DLC; it might be considered as an expansion of Far Cry 5 since it continues that story but I think a sequel is a better word to describe it.

I am amazed the game does not have little ponies.

Far Cry was one of the best FPS (first person shooters) that mixed action with stealth and while the first game was a pretty realistic shooter with a sci-fi twist, the rest did not follow in its footsteps. Far Cry 3 and Primal had some supernatural nonsense (this one does as well) but nothing close to the sci-fi elements that were introduced in the first game. I honestly enjoyed every game until Far Cry 4. After FC4, though, I reached my limits mainly due to the lack of creativity. Ubisoft tried to change things with FC5 and it did, though those changes were not enough to make the game feel fresh or interesting (at least they removed the towers).

“Problem makers must be solved. So rabbits, are you problem makers or problem solvers?” – One of the twins right before bashing someone’s head with a helmet.

These are the twins, so instead of having one boring villain now you get two in the price of one!

Since Vaas (“You are so fucked Jason”), no main villain really made an impact on me. The story was always an important part of the Far Cry games and without a solid antagonist the story, usually, falls flat. Of course no matter how cool Vaas was, the gameplay evolution of the third game is what made Far Cry what it is today (and in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I love stealth games).

Oh dear God please do not remind me of that music.

Even today, I believe that Far Cry has the perfect stealth mechanics in any FPS game. Not only that, but with each new iteration the Far Cry series only becomes better. Unfortunately though even if the gameplay has always been good, most of the other parts were not so much. I thought the fifth game will be the end of the series but, apparently, I was mistaken. I was also surprised as I thought New Dawn would be a glorified crappy pink re-skin (since it hasn’t even been a year since the release of Far Cry 5). Looks like it wasn’t – or at least not as much as I initially thought – and to be honest, I liked it in spite of all the pink crap (even if it does make the game feel like it was built for little girls!). Seriously, the pink colour is frigging everywhere! I did not like the game as much as Blood Dragon which, in my opinion, was amazing – and I am still hoping for a sequel – but New Dawn is better than Far Cry 5.

“If I wasn’t blind as fuck I would have joined the fight” –Grace Armstrong, probably the best sniper in Far Cry 5 but not anymore.

For the sake of spoilers I am only going to say that the game continues exactly where the fifth game ends (or to be more precise from a specific ending since there was more than one). Seventeen years after the incident people resurface and start to rebuild the world. A group of ruthless murderers called the Highwaymen, led by the twins Mickey & Lou, terrorize the inhabitants of Hope county in Montana (I get it’s a catchier name but why not Highwaywomen since most of them are women? I mean even the leaders are women. Just a thought).

“Are you ready to go so fast that your pubes will pull back and tickle your asshole?” – The Monkey God’s faithful servant Hurk right before handing me the keys of his deadly car.

After the near complete annihilation of the safe haven Prosperity, Carmina Rye (the daughter of Nick & Kim Rye from FC5) asks survivors lead by Thomas Rush to help them. Since Rush is helping to rebuild communities all across the country, with the help of experts he has recruited over the years. Shit hits the fan very soon though and a full frontal assault begins at the train where Rush and the rest of his people are using for transportation. That’s where you take the role of the captain of the security who, minutes after the attack, rushes in to save his people. Unfortunately, everyone dies and Rush gets captured. The captain as the sole survivor is being found by Carmina who leads him to Prosperity and the fight against the Highwaymen begins.

Don’t even ask! Seriously just don’t.

The story is nothing special but certainly more “believable” and enjoyable than what we got in Far Cry 5, though most characters – with a few exceptions – are nothing extraordinary. While there is a comedic tone here and there, the actual story is rather serious. I mean, it is a survival game so how fun can it be right? Speaking of which, if you could adjust some things, remove some others and put zombies in the mix, this could easily pass as a “The Walking Dead” game (which could have been better than the one we recently got). I also do not know why Ubisoft chose to, once again, go with the silent protagonist (maybe it is the RPG elements which Ubisoft tries to put in every single bloody game it makes but more on that later) but for me it’s getting tiresome; this is not a sandbox RPG for the love of god.

“Lollypop lollypop, you are going to eat dirt lollypop” – Little girl outside the arena before I enter with the fight name Lollypop.

The voice acting is pretty good but the lip-syncing is not always that great. Moreover, most of the characters from the previous game return in this one. The main antagonists, the twins, are OK I guess. They are “psychotic” and “logical” with extremely violent tendencies and without showing any kind of empathy or sorrow, however they are not very menacing or scary and their looks do not fit their characters. As such, they become a bit forgettable.

Yap, this is where I found the naked guy.

I mean, take a look at Vaas. His looks matched his personality almost perfectly (he could be psychotic and insane while at the same time he could be funny and clever) and most importantly there was a serious reason for you to fear him and hate him at the same time (I think the writing was better as well). The twins failed to emotionally engage me with their personalities/looks as I basically didn’t really care or worry for anyone except for Rush. Even so, there is a part involving the twins that I really liked though it becomes forgettable rather quickly (if you’ve played the game, you understand the part I’m referencing). I do not want to spoil anything more but I have to say that some of the returning characters make much more sense in this world rather than the one that Far Cry 5 was based on.

“Loot them but do not defile them” – Father Jerome while I am going through someone’s pockets.

Visually speaking, the game looks just as good as Far Cry 5, and some may say that it performs a bit better than it. The only performance issues I’ve encountered were some random stutters (from time to time) and, for some odd reasons, the subtitles kept resetting whenever I was launching the game. Other than these two minor issues, though, New Dawn ran fine on my system. For more details on performance please read John’s analysis.

Well terrorizing and killing innocents is hard work, he deserves a break, a permanent one.

Music and sound are fine. There are some audio glitches though they occurred rarely, but Christ the music playing at the outposts is frigging horrific. Terrible, just terrible (no wonder why all the highwaymen are losing their fucking minds after listening to it). Thankfully, there is another radio station that plays classics and although I am not a big fan of that genre, it sounds heavenly better than the other station.

I told you BOY, you are not allowed to play with grenades before dinner! Now go eat your veggies and come back to teach you how to politely stab people in the face!

Now let me address the elephant in the room – not actual elephants like in FC4 as there aren’t any ride-able animals this time – the RPG elements. Yes, Ubisoft did implement some of the changes/features we saw in games like The Division or AC: Odyssey. Unfortunately, Ubisoft keeps copying and pasting stuff to every game it makes, even if these elements do not fit in specific titles. What it doesn’t seem to understand is that New Dawn’s lasting appeal won’t be extended by adding them, and that all of its latest games look alike and/or play the same. In reality, what these RPG elements actually do is make the game boring and repetitive as hell, and I’m certain that no one wants unnecessary grinding that does not come with, at least, worthy rewards. Also, I find it really stupid – in a Far Cry game – to shoot an enemy 100 times in the face so that you can kill him/her, just because he/she is one or two levels higher than you; it’s bullshit.

That crap is all over the place so that’s why we call her Glitchy Gina, she doesn’t like that as you can see.

“I always hated that motherfucker” – Gina after shooting some random highwayman.

I do get that some people like this but it makes no sense to me in this particular series. But hey, at least you can turn off the damage numbers and enemy health bars, thus making it a bit more tolerable. Thankfully, I did not rush the main story and all the missions I completed were on the same level I was, so I never had to shoot someone in the face more than once (or maybe twice if they wore a helmet). On the other hand, I had a couple encounters with some mutated animals which could only be killed by shooting specific parts of their bodies.

Even the god damn fire is pink…the bodies?! What bodies? No, there are no bodies here.

The shooting is – as always – pretty good and the non-restrictive cover system works, once again, great. The melee combat is also solid and I do appreciate the return of the knife take-downs. Actually, these may be the best take-down animations I have seen in a Far Cry game. You can use numerous melee weapons like bats, pipes and shovels but all the stealth take-down sequences feature a knife. As for the advertised new weapon, the saw-launcher, it is cool but I stopped using it the moment I realized there is still no gore or dismemberment in the game.

“Go sinner, with our blessing and hope” – Leader of the hunters before I go burn everything to dust .

Stealth, as usual, is great but some parts felt a bit weird since you can now move the camera while doing take-downs and using skills like the chain take-downs (which worked perfectly in the previous games but did not this time around or maybe I was doing something wrong which I doubt since I have played extensively all of the previous Far Cry games). By the way, I will never understand why you throw a bat instead of a knife when you do the advanced take-down.

This nice old lady is a killer, she might not look the part but she is, trust me.

Instead of a skill tree you now have perks, just like FC5. You earn perk points by doing challenges like killing ten enemies with a handgun. After a specific part of the main story you get access to some new perks which I found unnecessary. Honestly, if I knew what these silly perks exactly did, I would had never unlocked them, though that’s a personal opinion as I am almost certain that some people will like them.

He seriously expects me to take the apple?! I am no Snow White father, oh wait wrong book.

Weapons customization is completely gone. All weapons are pre-made and there is no way for you to make any modifications no matter the weapon you choose. To be honest, I didn’t really mind that very much. However, I was really annoyed by the newly introduced weapon rarity level system. Due to this system, players will need a level X weapon to kill a level X enemy as anything below that feels like a water-gun. At least almost every weapon feels unique and has different stats.

“You will be the Shepard of my people” – Joseph Seed.

Surprisingly enough. there are no fetch missions or annoying side-quests in New Dawn. All of the side content is tied to the main story. I am truly amazed that there isn’t any of Ubisoft’s classic fetching crap flooding the map. Speaking of the map, it is smaller than before and most of the surrounding areas are radioactive (thus impassible). Furthermore, Ubisoft did something interesting with the outposts this time around. In the previous Far Cry games, players could liberate outposts and after that they could use them as resupply centers and/or fast travel points. This time if you capture an outpost, you can abandon it and the enemy will take it back from you. You can then re-capture it though it will be much harder as enemies will be tougher (though the rewards will also be better).

The Cap after a bloody fight taking over an outpost. I wonder who cleans all the mess he leaves behind.

The most important currency in the game is Ethanol (which translates to power fuel) and Prosperity, being your home-base, needs several things to expand and grow. You can upgrade many parts of Prosperity, like the infirmary or the garage, and you need Ethanol in order to upgrade them (which you get mainly by capturing outposts). There are three upgrade stages, with each stage providing different bonuses. The only thing that needs more resources than Ethanol, so that it can be further upgraded, is the main building (as it requires specific people called Specialists so that they can operate specific sections of your home-base). I honestly prefer this way of upgrading your base compared to the older games in which you had to hunt numerous animals to get skins for crafting better equipment. At least this makes more sense now.

It’s so funny that they think they can put me down with fists and bats when I have already killed hundreds of them, just by staring at them. They should be fleeing up the mountains crying for their mommies.

One great addition to the game are the Expeditions. These missions are taking place in different locations outside Montana (like San Francisco) and they have a very simple goal; steal shit from the Highwaymen (so the baddies are all over the states but live in Montana? And you also fly all the way to these locations with a chopper? Oh well). These missions are a nice break from the green fields of Hope County and can be done solo or with a gun for hire.

“They penetrated our defenses so deeply” – Bean, creator of Wikibeania, after the attack on Prosperity.

Speaking of which, and just like the previous FC game, guns for hire are back. These are people or animals who are willing to follow your command into battle, from a cute doggy to an angry wild boar and from an old lady with a sniper to a guy with a mask and bow who says absolutely nothing in the whole game (he just moans a lot… and he sucks by the way). In order to recruit them you will usually have to do a mission involving them like rescuing some nice doggies from some evil twisted motherfuckers who are butchering them. My doggy, by the way, had more than a hundred kills.

I fed these guys to the dogs, stupidity is untreatable anyways.

As for the game’s boss fights… well… they are awful. I mean… OK… I get it; it is not that easy to make a memorable boss fight in a, mostly, realistic first person shooter. However, making your boss absorb enemy fire like Sponge-Bob is not the freaking solution. Put some armour on them or do the hide and seek trick, make it a melee-only fight, hell even make a god damn QTE-fest sequence like Far Cry 3 did; it will still feel better than what we get in New Dawn. Seriously, in the final fight the boss had 3 arrows stuck in its damned head for the first three seconds of the cut-scene… it was ridiculous I tell you.

The Rye family reunited! Even after everything I have done I still don’t get a hug. Ungrateful bastards!

“Even if there are less cars now people still drive like assholes” – Gina after being hit by another vehicle.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, there are microtransactions in the game. Truth be told they are not intrusive and you can get almost everything with the in-game currency, but if you want to unlock every single weapon then get ready for some glorious grinding. Microtransactions have no place in a single player game in my opinion. It’s unacceptable, plain and simple.

Currency for microtransactions. I donated all of mine to my pet friends.

In conclusion, Far Cry: New Dawn is OK. It’s certainly not the best Far Cry game but it’s way better than the previous one (even if you include all of its DLCs). Is it worth purchasing and playing it right now? Maybe. All I can say is that I didn’t encounter any problem that could ruin my experience (I mean it doesn’t have the awful and crazy spawn times that were happening in the previous game). If you liked Far Cry 5, chances are you will also like this one. If you lost interest in the series after Far Cry 3 then this might also be a nice breath of fresh air. At least it was for me and it has been a while since I had fun with a Far Cry game.

Melee

Stealth

Shooting

Upgrades

Cover System

No Busy Work

Weapon Variety

Villains

Boss Fights

Freaking Pink

RPG Elements

Silent Protagonist

Microtransactions

Lack of Customization

Playtime: 17+ hours total

Computer Specs: CPU: i5 4440, GPU: MSI 960GTX 4GB, RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB HDD: Crucial 275GB MX300, OS: Win7, 1080p

Far Cry: New Dawn Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

0 notes

linuxlife · 6 years

Text

Linux Life Episode 31

Hello ladies and gents and welcome back to the my twisted world of me and Linux. So as I said recently I have rebuilt an i7 desktop and for a few weeks I admit I was running Windows on it for a while. I have nothing against Windows 10 but after fighting with malware for a few weeks. I was getting tired of it.

I intended to dual boot the system with a Hackintosh system. Now I admit I have not used Clover for a while so I was willing to be forgiving to it as I had problems in the past. I hoped it had improved but apparently I was wrong. I installed a secondary 1TB drive into the machine so I did not interfere with the Windows installation. I had been messing around with certain games I could not play on Linux.

However I admit I screwed up the installation and formatted the wrong drive and wiped out the Windows drive (some would say no loss). Then when I installed the kexts (driver files for OS X I needed) Clover locked me out of the installation. This is why I stopped using it in the first place. I hoped it had updated and stopped doing that but apparently not.

So what has all this got to do with Linux I hear you ask. So with now no working Operating System as I had destroyed my Windows drive and the Hackintosh had failed I decided it was time to go back to Linux where I had less issues. OK, gaming was slightly limiting but to be honest I am not a huge gamer and playing these modern games realised a lot of them were not much cop.

Now I originally did not install Antergos on the machine because I was having issues changing from Nouveau to NVIDIA drivers which would not allow me to change the resolution of the screen.

Since then I have changed my video card connection. I was connecting the NVIDIA card via the VGA connector but I seem to get less problems using the DVI-D connector on the card. So I changed cables and now the issue seems to resolved and I can set my monitor to 1280x1024 which is the designated format for this Dell monitor I am using.

So as I had no OS I could get working I went through a few options. I looked at Druager which is a particularly new distro which is aimed at gamers. It has a low latency kernel in order to speed up response. Now I am sure this is handy but because its a new distro it still has a few bugs and the store was a bit dodgy. I did not like they were trying to create an interface that was very gamer orientated for example the start bar was about a third of the way down the page.. Now I am sure if you are a regular game player you think this is ideal. Sure it could be moved but that was their ideal position decision. Strange so after about an hour I decided it was not for me.

I then installed Linux Mint and while it is more than functional I think as I have got used to a rolling distribution many of the programs were way back and as soon as I had to start adding PPAs just to get things up to date. For all Mint 19 has this new rollback system I find it inconvenient.

So I downloaded Antergos again. Now I have documented many times for all I like Antergos. Cnchi its installer is very broken but once past it you never use it again. Some will give up at this point and to be honest I would understand if you did so.

It can be amazingly bad regarding things screwing up. So I can understand many who don’t like it and go elsewhere like Manjaro. however Manjaro I have explained my issues with it. However Antergos do keep trying to fix it, sometimes breaking it worse.

So I downloaded version 18.9 of the ISO and upon starting the installer it searches for an update to Cnchi. It found the update but as soon as the update went to run it crashed. I said I have had issues with Cnchi, so I immediately pulled up the terminal and attempted to run it in terminal.

The updated version of it (version 16.2) it seems to be missing certain archives. I install the ones it lists but still it is not working. I head back to the internet and find a solution after about ten minutes if searching the Github entries. It seems the guy has forgot to put the things in the PKGBUILD when compiling.

Now he realised that 10 minutes after I started the installer and provided a quick fix until he managed to put the package correct. So I actually managed to get the Cnchi installer running. Its bad when you have to search through bug reports to find a solution just to get the OS installer to work. but as I knew I liked Antergos I was willing to do so.

If I had been new to Linux I would have abandoned it long ago and gone onto something else. Put I persisted then it installed but due to me being so distracted I installed it with the Gnome desktop. i tried to switch to MATE by installing the certain files and changing the setup but the icons would not display so i must have missed a step or something.

So I had to reinstall it. Cnchi still had not been fixed so I had to run through the Live CD quick fix again but finally I got Antergos installed using the MATE desktop and everything was good. As I said earlier I have changed to the DVI-D connection so it defaults to 1280x1024 I did not even have to set it up.

Also the Cnchi setup included the option to install the NVIDIA driver automatically so saved me a lot of time having to download it and play with it. The reason why Cnchi had updates is 16.2 now includes a few more Window managers. It now included Deepin, i3 and Openbox which it didn’t before.

They probably have fixed it so it works now but I think I caught in while it was changing over. I eventually managed to get it installed and set about installing all the usual programs I use.

All was fine until I tried to install Shutter (which is a screen capture tool). Previously I had issues with Perl when trying to get to install from the AUR but they resolved that. This time I hit issues with two libraries that missing and would not download so I could not build Shutter first was Orbit2 (a CORBA client) and the next one was Libbonobo which used the Orbit2 library.

So I browsed around the Antergos forum to no avail for answers. So I had to figure how to install these libraries as the new ones did not want to install. Luck would happen and on Archive.org they keep an archive of old libraries from the Arch Linux set. So I managed to find older versions and install them using pacman.

Finally I managed to get Shutter to build but it was a nightmare that I had to search all over before I could compile a program that should have been reasonably simple. Now if this had happened to me at the beginning of using Linux say back at Episode 1 I would of abandoned trying to do it.

It’s funny I definitely have a much higher tolerance to dealing with errors which I didn’t have previously. Reason being I guess once its working it very rarely goes wrong. I tried other screen capture tools but I found Shutter the best so it was worth the hassle.

People say rolling releases break a lot. I have had a few programs cock up but nothing major. Even then it is normally fixed the next day so it is not a problem for long.

So now the i7 desktop is running Antergos which previously I could not really do. sure I could reinstall Windows but to be honest I really don’t have any desire to do so. I unlike many Linux users do not have an outright hatred for Windows it has its uses. But I admit I have less grief with Linux.

When it has its issues they can be harder to solve but nine times out of ten. Issues are very few and far between. Or if there is an update issue it’s solved quickly. Which is why I like a rolling release as opposed to the Mint/Ubuntu models.

I was trying to play All the Mods 3 on Linux but the Twitch program available for Linux does not include the Minecraft mod plugin. The FTB Launcher does not include All the Mods 3. Eventually I managed to use MultiMC 5 and by using a zip containing the list I have managed to get it running on Linux.

Anyway I think that’s enough waffle for this episode. So until next time... Take care.

#linux life #linux Antergos #Linux mint #Linux Druager #Shutter capture utility #Minecraft #All the Mods 3 #MultiMC 5 #waffling

0 notes