#i got to level 20 just to build the vault

[ceo-of-sloppy-men]

“The vault was never finished”

The sole survivor, running on two hours of sleep last Saturday with a broken leg and probably a few too many bullet wounds: “hold my beer.”

#i got to level 20 just to build the vault #then spent 3 hours building it #I’m not done yet #incorrect fallout quotes #fallout 4 #sole survivor

[theminecraftbee]

I know that currently the hyper fixation is on Decked Out 2, but I remember you talking about Vault Hunters a while back and I finally got Prism to work so I wanted to know if you have some sort of guide to getting started in it? ^^;

oh, yes, absolutely! i'd LOVE to do a starting-out guide, i had one ages ago but it's very old information so it's not particularly good.

first, follow the steps to download - you said you had prism working so i won't go over those here, but my biggest "troubleshoot this way" is allocate more memory to java in prism's settings if the game won't launch, that's gonna be your problem like 80% of the time. also, i still get rare crashes (often if i've had the game open a while it's probably the known java memory leak problems), game will normally restart fine in that scenario, and the backups automatically run every two hours.

so, your technical steps are out of the way, and you want to start playing! there are two options: play a normal world, or go into the world settings when you create it, select the world type (the place you'd select a superflat world in vanilla), and switch it to 'sky vaults' if you want to play skyblock.

in general, i recommend playing sky vaults if you particularly like running vaults, if finding chromatic steel is your least favorite part of the game, if you enjoy building farms for materials, and if you want more of your resource-gathering to be tied to vaults or farms. i recommend playing vanilla if you like mining, if you want more breaks between vaults to find materials, or if you don't particularly like building farms and want it to be easy to play the altar without having to build any.

speaking of, once you're in your world, it's time to choose your difficulty settings! there are several gamerules to tweak these with. they're in your vault guidebook - not the quest book, but the black and green book. if you have cheats on (which you probably should), you will be able to click these settings in that book instead of running commands! it explains them there. personally, for a beginner, i recommend vault difficulty at easy or normal, i recommend vault mode as casual, and i recommend vault crystal mode as normal. vault loot is the one that is the most variable - personally i always play on either plenty or extreme, but that can make the earlygame go fast, so feel free to play it on default!

once you've decided on whether you're playing sky vaults or regular vault hunters and you've chosen your difficulty, my first recommendation is to follow the questlines in the quest book. until at least about level 20, most of the questlines do a pretty good job showing you what to do when. however, certain decisions aren't laid out, such as what skills or mods to take! that's because there aren't usually too many wrong answers on those, although if you want my OPINIONS on those i can give them in a different post in more depth.

however, as a general rule: you will want heal as one of your first skills, strength is good earlygame as well. mod-wise, when you'll need pickup upgrades for your pouches depends on when you start breaking chests with tools, you'll get a feel for it. now that pouches are unlocked by default though your first mod is a personal decision, just don't pick SNAD, lol.

additionally look up the recipe for animal jars and the animal pen, for some reason the game doesn't teach you those exist. animal jars work by shift-right clicking adult animals of the same species, putting them in the jar. you then place a pen, and put that jar in a pen. you can now feed the animals to breed them on a cooldown you see when you shift, and you can also swing your sword at them to kill them as though they are actual animals. this is a convenience that is much easier than having an actual giant pen of animals and i recommend using it. also having giant animal funny.

make pouches as soon as you can afford them in normal worlds; in sky vaults, rush finding enigma chests (the dark black/purple ones), which are rare but can have free pouches in them. earlygame pouches are basically extra shulker boxes but they get better powers later, use them.

early vaults are always very easy monolith vaults; it is always more worth it to light the couple of monoliths you're being asked to in order to complete vault than to pure loot.

however, bailing a vault isn't a failure; better to bail than to die, after all!

keep everything, but if that's overwhelming you and your storage, know that only vanilla materials are ever asked for by the altar, and even vault or mod recipes typically only require materials added by that mod, vanilla, and the vault hunters modpack, so you can throw out any and all decorative blocks. or don't! i don't i just dump them in storage but i have storage that can best be described as 'overkill'.

even if you unlock the vault compass first, you NEED a method to your vault navigation so you don't get lost and check rooms you've already checked. personally i turn right in the starting room, go straight until i hit a wall, go one row further away from the starting room, go in a straight line the other direction, and then unless i'm rushing for a specific room in a raw vault, i'm not normally efficient enough that i'm not ready to bail by the time i'm in front of the starting room again. however you may have a method that works best for you! mine probably works a little bad if you don't have a compass! just know some vaults are square, some are diamonds, and some are circles, so fancier patterns won't always work.

hopefully that's enough to get started! i hope you enjoy!

#answered #vh talk #vault hunters

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023)

Starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Noma Dumezweni, Art Malik, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Jessica Alexander, Martina Laird, Emily Coates, Christopher Fairbank, John Dagleish, Jude Akuwudike, Russell Balogh, Adrian Christopher, Lorena Andrea, Simone Ashley, Karolina Conchet, Sienna King, Kajsa Mohammar, Nathalie Sorrell, Jodi Benson and the voices of Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay.

Screenplay by  David Magee.

Directed by Rob Marshall.

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 135 minutes. Rated PG.

We are not going to debate whether or not there is any reason for Disney to film live action versions of pretty much every one of their classic animated films other than just as a way to make money.

That is just a given. Disney is raiding their own vaults to make longer, live-action versions of most of their classics. There have been over 20 in the last few decades. In fact, Peter Pan and Wendy came out mere weeks before this film. There are also two more planned for next year (Snow White and a Lion King sequel) and ten more in varying levels of development.

And, honestly, while most of these reboots are not as good as the films that inspired them, many of them have been pretty entertaining.

The good news is that The Little Mermaid is one of the better ones – as usual not as good as the animated version but getting decently close.

The original The Little Mermaid was the film that pretty much jump started the last classic wave of Disney animation, after about a two-decade dry spell of forgettable likes of The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Pete’s Dragon, The Black Cauldron and Oliver & Company.

The Little Mermaid was the first film to include the music of Alan Mencken and Howard Ashman, who also did the music for the next two Disney Classics – Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. (Ashman died of AIDS way too young while working on Aladdin.) Mermaid ended up including three tunes that became Disney standards (“Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl.”)

It was also the one which returned the films coming out of the Disney Inking and Painting building to critical success. It also did fairly well as far as box office, but it wasn’t until Beauty and the Beast that the Disney films started becoming smash hits again. Following The Little Mermaid was an entire slate of classics: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995) and the debut of PIXAR computer animation with Toy Story (1995).

 I’m not going to lie, I’m not as familiar with The Little Mermaid as I am with the likes of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. And, perhaps, that is why this film feels so close in quality to the original to me, because I am not as invested in the source as I was for those films. (The live action versions of Beast and Aladdin, while both great fun, were a bit of a disappointment compared to the real deal.)

However, the effects in The Little Mermaid are often stunning, the storyline hews fairly closely to the original (as far as I can remember), the music is wonderful (although “Kiss the Girl” may have been done a little too close to the vest) and the young, mostly unknown cast is impressive – particularly Halle Bailey as mermaid Ariel. Plus, Melissa McCarthy has loads of fun as the over-the-top, tentacled villainess Ursula.

What can I say? I really dug this new version of The Little Mermaid. In a world where IP is king, it's got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. It's got whosits and whatsits galore. You want thingamabobs? It’s got twenty.

Who could ask for more?

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2023 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 26, 2023.

#The Little Mermaid #2023 #Movie Review #Halle Bailey #Melissa McCarthy #Jay S. Jacobs

[freeuselandonorris]

https://www.tumblr.com/freeuselandonorris/748039869693050880/httpswwwtumblrcomfreeuselandonorris748005292

omg ok. my brain is a vault of stardew info ive been playing since release basically.. u get copper ore from the mines, found frequently on floors 1-40. once you find your first ore, the blacksmith will bring you blueprints to make a furnace to smelt it into bars so you can use them for crafting, building, upgrading tools etc. the mines are located near robin’s house and linus’s tent, if you just follow the path to the left of their homes!

haley sucks at first (tbh half do imo) but if u gift her things she likes and keep talking to her, she warms up pretty fast! all of them have liked, disliked, loved, hated, and neutral gifts and will give shitty reactions to disliked and hated gifts ):

i played the fuck out of cyberpunk !! i loved the story behind it, smth ab having a flashdrive stuck into my brain and then some hologram dude talking to me just does it for me. i love johnny sm. what boss are u coming up on?

omg anon ur an ANGEL. honestly my one criticism of stardew valley is that it just kinda…dumps you in it and doesn’t really give you any kind of tutorial lmao?? i’ve figured out a fair amount of stuff through trial and error and followed the journal quests but holy shit it would have taken me forever to figure out that u have to go to the mines to do mining. which like. now it’s written down OBVIOUSLY that’s where you go to do mining but sadly my brain doesn’t work like that lmao.

side note: i went and tried fishing after ur earlier post and oh my GOD it’s annoying. 0/10. took me about four goes just to time the fuckin hit right to get the mini game loaded. horrendous.

CYBERPUNK MY BELOVED!! i have had such an insane trajectory w this game lmao. i was SO excited when it first got trailed because it’s so obviously inspired by neuromancer (i mean frankly the plot is very nearly ripped off neuromancer entirely at times) and blade runner and cyberpunk as a genre is a longstanding intense obsession of mine. and then i got the 1.0 PS4 release when they were practically giving it away for free bc it was such a mess and i barely got halfway through Act 1 bc it was buggy as hell.

THEN like…years? later i got made redundant from work (if you’re non-UK, i think the USeng equivalent is laid off?), impulse bought a PS5 (thanks, adhd impulse spending!) and downloaded 2.0 and promptly got fucking obsessed.

cut for mild spoilers

like. i have never been emotionally invested in a game like this. i’ve never wanted to live inside a game like this! night city feels so so real, and i fuckin love playing as V (i’m playing boy V which is a v good gender experience). there’s some elements of the gameplay i find frustrating and the levels/perks system drives me slightly insane but the storyline, voice acting and the whole design of night city is mind blowing to me.

i have also never ever wanted to fuck a fictional character as much as i do johnny silverhand lmao. GOD. my screenshots folder is full of pictures of him with that cyborg arm on show 🥵 i’m kinda desperate to finish it so i can check out the fic bc i need johnny/V porn but i don’t wanna spoiler any of the endings for myself lmao.

ANYWAY so the boss fight i have coming up is at the end of play it safe, after the parade…i’m just about to start taking out the 3 snipers but i’ve seen on reddit etc that the boss fight at the end of this is hideous, esp if you’re not really highly levelled on body attributes which like…i think i’m on about 11 for body so not super low but i’ve been focused on tech ability (after tbf taking a pretty scattergun approach at first and regretting it). if the boss fight at the end of i walk the line is anything to go by i’m fucked — i gave up on sasquatch in the end and just ran into the cinema lmao, i literally tried about 20 times to get her 😭 my hand eye coordination is NOT good enough for this!!

i have phantom liberty waiting for me after i’m done w the main pack i can’t waittttt

#maybe i need a gaming tag? #gaming tag #answered

[dndeed]

Crit Role Miniature Rollout: C3E11 Chasing Nightmares

With Andrew Harshman

An archive and analysis of the minis used on CR.

Lots of action and plot development this sesh! New villain, new miniatures, new moon, and new questing horizons. Plenty of plastic and resin on display this episode, let us analyze the new models.

Buy yourself a chisel and bark at the moon, it’s time for Crit Role Miniature Rollout Campaign 3 Episode 11!

Chest and Trove 5E Condition Rings

Dwarven Forge Dungeons

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom

Dwarven Forge Chair

Dwarven Forge Castle Stone Stairs

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Cages

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Vaulted Open Arch Wall

Dwarven Forge Powerstone Charger

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Bars Insert

Dwarven Forge Pathfinder Plaguestone - Alchemy Poisoner's Bench

Dwarven Forge Dungeons of Doom Vaulted Large Curved Walls

Pathfinder Battles Crown of Fangs: Court of the Crimson Throne Torch Pillars

Terrain Crate Round Table

Terrain Crate Torture Rack

Terrain Crate Debris Barricades

Dungeon Lair Chair

Hirst Arts Large Crate

Halaster’s Lab Candles and Summoning Circle

Tiny Furniture Dark Magister Workplace (barrel on top shelf iteration)

Arcknight Spell Effects

Custom Campaign 3 Party Minis

D&D® Icons of the Realms: Spell Effects: Mighty Conjurations Arcane Eye Spiritual Weapon - Warhammer

Volo & Mordenkainen's Foes #27 Boneclaw

Night Below #42 Trained Carrion Crawler

Mythic Odysseys of Theros #03 Oracle

Monster Menagerie #20 Werewolf

Flaming Sphere - Blood War #27 Living Flaming Sphere

Monster Menagerie 2 #001 Giant Rat

Assorted scatter terrain

The Heroes

At last, there’s our boy! Chetney’s miniature looks amazing. Quite the imposing pose. And the paint looks very good from over here.

Like the rest of the party figures, Chetney’s werewolf form appears to also be custom. A very nice werewolf mini, Joe Manganiello would surely approve. But you know what would take this wolfmangnome to the next level? The werewolf’s shorts should really be the same colorful pattern as Chetney’s beanie. Ah what fun that would be. 

The Villains

Nightmare King Volo & Mordenkainen's Foes #27 Boneclaw Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

Zoinks Scoob, it’s a BUH-BUH-BUH-BUH-BONECLAW! Spoopy. Say, this is a pretty good model. With impressive table presence that makes for an intense looking boss monster, despite the rather flat paint. And for some reason the boneclaw’s skirt looks like it’s made of black pudding ooze:

Screenshot from C2E116

The Nonplayer Characters

Gurge Human Form Mythic Odysseys of Theros #03 Oracle Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

Wildman Gurge is lookin’ fit. And he’s got that sweet championship belt. No wonder he’s famous, this man’s got an impressive aesthetic. I like this character and I like this miniature.

Gurge Werewolf Form Monster Menagerie #20 Werewolf Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

Well will you look at that, Matt Mercer picked two miniatures with matching poses. That’s clever as all get out! Well played dungeon master. Not an especially engaging werewolf miniature, but I’ll give it a pass for the pose matching. Spectacular. Inspired mini picks.

Test Subject Monster Night Below #42 Trained Carrion Crawler Mini image sourced from minisgallery.com

A carrion crawler with a beanie, what fun! A bit puzzling, but fun. When I started collecting prepainted D&D miniatures, I kept encountering this model and not purchasing it. Cuz like, when I’m building a miniature collection, I don’t want a trained carrion crawler. I want a buck wild, ferocious carrion crawler! Kind of a curious sculpt with limited uses. But it just so happens that one of those uses is in a fey villain’s secret laboratory. Another great miniature pick.

Closing Thoughts

The mini rain is here after a three episode drought and it feels so refreshing! Now that all the PCs and their miniatures have been revealed, I expect some promotional miniature photos to appear on the Critical Role social media pages. Excited to get a closer look see at these fine figures.

See ya next sesh!

#critroleminiaturerollout

#critroleminiaturerollout #criticalroleminiaturerollout #cr #critrole #criticalrole #crspoilers #dwarvenforge #dndminis #critrole3 #cr3 #criticalrole3 #critical role #dungeonsanddragons

[mrpenguinpants]

I was serious when I said I was a complete Xiao Simp.

Since people have been asking about it. Here are my Xiao Guide/Stats/Build. 

First post: I was serious when I said I was going to 90 him on day one.

All Xiao Emotes and Poses: pictures

Xiao’s Name and Chinese Voicelines Translations: TBA

Sorry about my horrible quality and weird crops. Tumblr hates it when I try and upload a full screen screenshot. I keep getting an error and I’m too tired to deal with it. 

@127aliciia​ 

Lvl 90

I know it’s up to luck what drops you get but I find that when you solo the boss, more often than not, you get 3 juvenile jades instead of 2. Don’t worry about exp paper or mora since on the 02/26 there’s going to be a double leyline event. You basically get 3 opportunities to get double drops using 20 original resin. 

I’d say you should prioritize this way:

1. Artifact [just aim for a good main stat. You can artifact grind later.]

2. Mora [only if you are a struggling zhongli wallet like me. ]

3. Talent Books

4. Exp paper 

The new events will give you a ton of exp materials. You can level Xiao’s talents to 6 and you’re good. You can level up later. 

Ascension cost: 420,000 mora

Exp materials: 414 Hero's Wit, 13 Adventurer's Experience, 17 Wanderer's Advice 

Exp cost: 1,672,000 mora

Skill cost: 4,950,000 mora

Total: 7,042,000 mora

Weapon

I got his 5 star spear when I first started the game so I’ve just been using that. But the bp spear “Deathmatch” is not a bad option. My friend gifted my bp but I’ll probably stick with jade spear haha. If you’re f2p then you can use the prototype spears. I think prototype starglitter is better than crescent pike since most of your damage is going to be anemo. 

Prototype Starglitter

Deathmatch

Artifacts

Flower

Feather

Timepiece

Goblet

Circlet

I’m running 2 glad + 2 viridescent set bonus on him. To be honest, my artifacts are actually garbage besides my flower haha.

I would say:

Flower and Feather: You must have crit damage and crit rate. These are the easiest to farm since you can get glad pieces from weekly bosses. I just got unlucky. 

Timepiece: Atk% 

Goblet: Anemo bonus damage

Circuit: Crit damage 

Prioritize crit damage and crit rate for your sub stats. Atk% is fine. Use your energy recharge artifacts for support characters (but it’s not awful to have on Xiao). 

Talents

I’m a complete zhongli wallet and getting talent 9 to 10 costs 7000000 mora. I can 10 all his talents, I’m just broke. 

If you have anything under c6 xiao: Normal attack, elemental burst, elemental skill

If you have c6 xiao: Elemental burst, elemental skill, normal attack. 

C6 xiao is literally ult -> plunge attack -> eee -> plunge attack -> eee. Wash rinse and repeat. 

Stats

Team

This is the team I’m running with now. I still need to experiment a bit but Xiao is my main dps, Childe is my secondary, Zhongli is my shield, and Jean is my healer. I want to put bennet in just because bennet is stupid broken but I’m not sure. 99% why childe and zhongli are together with Xiao is for the meme. Jean is just there for the anemo bonus and to heal haha. 

I might also try Xiao, Venti, Zhongli, and Qiqi/Bennet. That seems like fun. 

Small gameplay notes

Xiao elemental burst ignores wooden shields.

I cancel my last normal attack auto with a charged attack (the spear vault). My preferred method is na -> na ->  na-> ca. I feel like that’s the fastest and easiest to do. 

E -> E then before the energy particles come back to you, use your elemental burst (q), so when they come back it fills up your bar. By the time your first burst ends, you can burst again. 

Elemental burst: plunge -> normal atk/charged to cancel -> plunge. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

Xiao takes no falling damage only if you’re plunging. 

Xiao’s feet don’t touch the ground when you sit. This doesn’t mean anything in gameplay. It’s just cute.

---

The man took all my fragile resin, time, mora, and books. And you know what? I would let him do it again. I’m a serious hoarder of materials so I had 40 fragile resin to do this. Let’s be clear. DO NOT DO THIS. IT’S NOT WORTH IT. I’M JUST AN IDIOT. 

Honestly, the biggest accomplishment of this year so far is making my pretty team. Childe, Zhongli, Diluc, and Xiao now. My team name went from “Waiting for Xiao” to “Xiao is home”. 

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin xiao #genshin impact xiao #genshin builds #genshin impact builds #xiao #genshin impact build #genshin guide #genshin impact guide

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #142: Ishtar

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making Best Goddess and, according to @hasishtardoneanythingwrong, a servant who has done absolutely nothing very little wrong, Ishtar! 

In this build, Ishtar is a Divine Soul Sorcerer to balance her blasting abilities with her divine nature and a Zeal Cleric to push her explosive capabilities and godhood to the max.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: The second part of the oldest bromance in human history.

Race and Background

Unfortunately WotC hasn’t figured out how to balance literal god PCs yet, but since Ishtar is a demiservant we can still technically call her a Protector Aasimar, giving her +1 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, Darkvision, Celestial Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, Healing Hands to heal some hands, and the Light cantrip.

Since she protects Uruk in her own special way, we’ll call her a Goddess Alliance Anarch. This gives you Animal Handling and Religion proficiencies, as well as some bonus spells as you level up!

Ability Scores

As the goddess of love and also blowing up mountains, your Charisma needs to be as high as possible. Follow that up with Dexterity, you can literally fly, that’s pretty fast. After that will be Constitution, you can take a lot of abuse, especially if it’s coming from the writers. Your Wisdom has to be next so we can multiclass, keep that in mind if you’re rolling. Your Strength isn’t amazing, but it’s not like you’re using it anyway. Finally, dump Intelligence. Not gonna dwell on that one, let’s just move on.

Class Levels

1. Sorcerer 1: Honestly I think “Divine Soul” is kinda selling yourself short, but we’ll work in the framework we’re given. You can cast Spells now, including your Divine Magic from the cleric spell list, using your Charisma. You’re also Favored by the Gods, giving you the option of adding 2d4 to a failed save or attack roll once per short rest.

For cantrips you get Thunderclap and True Strike for offensive options (I mean you do aim. Even if your target’s a mountain, aiming is important.) You also get Minor Illusion and Friends to manipulate people into doing what you want.  Finally, your stand against the Three Goddess Alliance grants you the cantrips Fire Bolt and Produce Flame to make the battlefield a little bit spicier.

For first level spells, you get Bless from being a divine soul, as well as Compelled Duel, Speak with Animals, and Thunderwave from being an Anarch. For your actually chosen spells, Mage Armor makes your outfit feasible, and Feather Fall will be very helpful once you start flying.

2. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers become a Font of Magic, giving you sorcerer points equal to your sorcerer level. Right now you can turn points into spell slots or vice versa, but it’ll get more interesting later. 

You can also cast Disguise Self, in case you have to, I don’t know, organize a servant-based wacky races kind of event? Idk, whatever.

3. Sorcerer 3: Third level sorcerers get Metamagic, letting you alter your spells to suit your mood by using sorcery points. A Transmuted spell lets you swap out its acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage for another option on that list. Meanwhile, you can use a Distant spell to double a spell’s range, making your archery much more effective.

You also become a Radiant Soul, spending an action to transform yourself and gaining a flying speed for up to a minute. You can also deal extra radiant damage to a creature you hit with an attack or spell once per turn. You can do this once per long rest. It’s not a long trip, but it’s free.

On top of that, you get second level spells this turn. Distort Value lets you halve or double an object’s apparent value for the duration, perfect for haggling with a certain someone. You also get Beast Sense and Shatter from your Anarch spell list. The former isn’t that in-character, but the latter is a good start to taking down that mountain.

4. Sorcerer 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to round up your Constitution and Charisma, giving you more health, better concentration, and stronger spells. What a glow up!

You can also cast the cantrip Resistance to add 1d4 to a creature’s next save, or use Find Traps to make sneaking into Gilgamesh’s many treasure vaults slightly easier. If it works.

5. Sorcerer 5: You’re a god, so you probably shouldn’t be messing up that often. To help with that, Magical Guidance lets you spend a sorcery point to re-roll a failed skill check. Maybe it’ll help.

You can also cast Fly this level, giving you more frequent flying miles at the cost of your concentration. You can also Conjure Animals if you want to show up that gazelle-loving sister of yours. More on-target, however, is your other Anarch spell, Conjure Barrage. Gosh, it’s almost like you’re an archer or something.

6. Cleric 1: This whole flying around exploding things is great, but I think we can put more pizazz on it. Or, as they say down in Amonkhet, let’s add some Zeal. That’s right, we’re stealing from two MTG planes this build! As a Priest of Zeal, you can attack as a bonus action if you attack as an action a number of times per long rest equal to your wisdom modifier. That sounds kind of useless, but as a Zeal Cleric you also get proficiency with martial weapons, meaning that yes, you can use a bow and arrow. The archer class really is made up of archers!

You can also cast and prepare Spells using your Wisdom, but we got the really good ones in your sorcerer list, so don’t worry too much here. You do get some more cantrips, though! Thaumaturgy lets you throw your godly weight around, Light lets you cast light again using a worse casting modifier, and Guidance gives a creature some helpful advice from their favorite goddess, adding 1d4 to their next check.

You also get some domain spells, but they’re both smites and you’re an archer, so...

7. Cleric 2: The real reason we’re dipping is for your Channel Divinity option, which you can use once per short rest. You could  use it for Turn Undead, forcing a wisdom save against all undead near you (with a dc of 8 + proficiency + wisdom modifier), but the much more fun option is Consuming Fervor. This turns one fire or thunder damage roll into its maximum instead of rolling. That will be very scary later.

8. Sorcerer 6: Sixth level divine souls get Empowered Healing. You might not have any healing spells, but just being around people makes them feel a bit better. This lets you spend a sorcery point to re-roll any dice being used in a healing roll near you once per turn.

Speaking of healing, we’re still not doing that! You can now Bestow Curses onto people. Serves them right, calling you a “useless goddess”. This is one of those creative spells, so have fun with it!

9. Sorcerer 7: Seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells! Anarchs get Dominate Beast and Stoneskin, and while neither are technically in character the latter could be very useful given your less than stellar AC. Also, literally turning yourself into gemstones is a real power move.

Your spell of choice this level is Ice Storm, letting you pummel a 20′ radius area with plenty of hail (or fiery debris, or just pure force), enough to turn the area into difficult terrain for a round.

10. Sorcerer 8: Use this ASI to grab the Spell Sniper feat, letting your spells ignore most cover, and spells you cast that require an attack roll have two times their normal range. You also learn Eldritch Blast to further flex on those dumb warlocks. They have to sell their soul and waste an invocation to get 300′ range blasts, and here you are with 480′ range and your soul’s intact! Hah!

You can also exude an Aura of Purity now, preventing disease, weakening poison damage, and granting advantage on a ton of status effect saves. 

11. Sorcerer 9: Ninth level sorcerers get fifth level spells, including your final Anarch spell, Destructive Wave. It’s only got a range of thirty feet, but it never hurts to prepare for an ambush. For longer range attacks, Flame Strike will do nicely. We’re still not quite at “blasting a mountain to smithereens” level power, but we’re getting there.

12. Sorcerer 10: Tenth level sorcerers can get the most out of their spells by making them Empowered, letting them re-roll a number of dice on their damage roll, up to their charisma modifier.

You can also cast Dancing Lights for a bit of a dramatic flair, or Creation to make gemstones out of thin air. Heck, you could even make a proper Boat of Heaven with this!

13. Sorcerer 11: Another two levels have passed, that means you get another spell level. Sunbeam gives you a reusable sunlight blast, dealing radiant damage and blinding creatures that fail their constitution save. You can use this attack again as your action each turn for up to a minute. Sadly this isn’t affected by either of your range enhancements, but you’ve still got plenty of airspace to work with.

14. Sorcerer 12: If we’re going to blast a mountain apart we’ve got to get serious. Use this ASI to get the Elemental Adept feat, focusing on Thunder damage. Once you take this feat, all dice on thunder damage rolls coming from spells always count as at least a 2, and they ignore thunder resistances.

15. Sorcerer 13: The first step to launching the literal planet Venus at somebody is actually getting the damn thing, and that means we need to leave the atmosphere at a moment’s notice. The closest we can come to that here is Plane Shift. You can also use this on enemy creatures as a melee attack

16. Sorcerer 14: Fourteenth level Divine Souls get an Angelic Form you can transform into as a bonus action. This gives you a flying speed of 30′ that is basically permanent until you’re incapacitated or you just get rid of them on your own. Have fun with those orbital bombardments!

17. Sorcerer 15: Sunburst sounds like a good pick for your eighth level spell. This one actually does get a range boost, which is good because it deals damage in a 60′ radius. Creatures within that radius get a constitution save, and failing that means a lot of radiant damage and being blind until it makes the save on the end of its turn. Sadly, it’s stuck on radiant damage, but it’s still an effective blasting spell.

18. Sorcerer 16: Use your last ASI to max out your Charisma so that whole “making the save” thing from last level never happens.

19. Sorcerer 17: To make those saves even less likely, our final metamagic option is Heightened Spell, causing one creature’s first save of the spell in question to be made at disadvantage. Basically you’re saying “like you had a choice in the matter”.

Speaking of spells though, we can finally pull Venus through for a charged shot, thanks to the ninth level spell Meteor Swarm. With a max range of 1-2 miles this truly is nuking the planet from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Here’s a step by step guide for removing a mountain. 1. Hang out in the Troposphere. 2. Cast Meteor Swarm, swapping out Fire for Thunder damage. 3. Channel Divinity, maxing out the thunder damage for extra fun. 4. Deal 120 Thunder damage that ignores resistances, on top of 20d6 bludgeoning damage. 5. Enjoy your new crater.

20. Sorcerer 18: Your capstone level of sorcerer gives you an Unearthly Recovery. When you’re bloodied, you can spend a bonus action to heal yourself for half your HP, once per long rest. You had enough trouble in the underworld as it is, no point in going back again.

Pros:

As I just mentioned in level 19, you can deal a lot of damage. Like, Sanson level damage, without all the nonsense attached to it. You’ve got big booms, and multiple ways to make those booms hurt even more than they should.

Flying on a spellcaster is just. Really, really good. Especially on one built for range. There’s almost literally nothing they can do to you up here. Like, arrows, maybe, but you can just retaliate with the literal wrath of god. Plus, you’re probably out of counterspell range, so there’s nothing the DM can do to you!

A lot of your spells are focused on damage, but you do still have plenty of variety in your spell list, just in case. And on the off chance you’re fighting someone in a silence bubble, you can just change your thunder spells to acid or something.

Cons:

For most of this build we’re relying on the Flight spell to get off the ground, which eats up your Concentration and has a chance of failure when you take damage. It’s not ideal.

Those Cleric Levels are very useful, but they still push back your spell progression by 2 levels, which means you’ll have even less time with your An Gal Ta Ki Gal Se than you would normally.

You can’t fly everywhere. Caves exist. Buildings exist. I mean you totally can blast holes to get where you need to, just don’t expect to be that popular with whoever owns the building. Also, fighting in cramped areas plays to your biggest weakness: squishiness. Your AC is only 15, and you’ve got barely over 120 HP, which as we just discussed, someone built like you can take out very easily.

#Fate Grand Order #FGO #Ishtar #d&d 5th edition #Fate and Phantasms #Sorcerer #Cleric

[oddlyhale]

IronQrow Villains AU

Ironwood and Qrow as villains in the RWBY show AU.

Ironwood is based off of the Three Snake Leaves fairytale, a story about a man who revived his dead wife with Three Snake Leaves. However, reviving her only brought him betrayal, as she lost love for him and tried to kill him with her lover. Able to survive, the man went to the King and told everything the Princess had done. She was then punished with her lover to be drown in sea on a sinking ship.

Qrow is now based on The Juniper Tree fairytale, a story about a young boy who was killed by his greedy step-mother that wanted the inheritance he would get from his father. She killed him, cut him up and served him as dinner to his unknowingly father, and forced her daughter to bury his bones under a juniper tree next to his real mother. The boy became a bird, singing about his story and received three gifts from strangers that listened. He gave the gifts to his family: his father got a gold necklace. His sister got lovely red shoes. And his evil step-mother got crushed under a millstone.

In this AU, for Ironwood:

He fakes being a good headmaster, only to reveal his true identity once the fall begins.

He is a man masked under oxygen, for his first death caused him breathing problems.

His semblance is to revive the dead, however he tries not to use it often, as it causes him immense pain and can run his aura dry.

HIs goal is to find his wretched ex-wife and murder her for what she did to him (she’s not dead in this one.)

In this AU, for Qrow:

Qrow is a bit psychotic. Not theatrically insane, like Tyrian, but he’s on a level of kalopsia (delusions of seeing things more beautiful than what they are.) He is quietly energized by mayhem and distress.

His semblance is shapeshifter, accommodating by being handsy with building his own crazy weapons. HIs favourite weapon is a giant hammer made of millstone.

He plays the ‘nice uncle, playful drunk’ for a while, under the Fall hits. Turns out his ‘drunkard antics’ were just him covering up his manic laughters and bursts of rage.

He doesn’t try to kill Ruby or her friends, but he warns her to not come for him, or he will kill them without hesitation.

His goal is to live ‘beautifully’ and die in the deepest pit of bliss. By that, he wants to live to cause harm and art, and die a masterpiece himself.

About the relationship:

Ironwood and Qrow are married (James proposed.)

Qrow is utterly in love with Ironwood, as is James for Qrow.

James finds Qrow to be the most endearing psycho he’s ever met, figuring out how Qrow has a hidden humanity about himself, as he cares deeply for music and art.

Qrow was smitten the first time he met James, immediately wanting to be his.

The two men met each other years ago, back when James was to be happily wed to his queen. He was thrown off the ship by the crazy woman and her secret lover, nearly drowning, had it not been for the single loyal servant that saved him. James’ semblance unlocked that day out of panic, thoughts of dying only fueling his semblance to be released. His body revived itself, waking James on the raft that the servant was on, but the act left James badly injured.

The servant was weeping, both in joy to see their master was alive, but in horror as to what had happened to James’ body. His right arm, his right leg, gnawed off by the active sea beasts in the water. His hip was chewed at, nearly severing him in two. Despite being alive, the only thing his semblance couldn’t do was regenerate some new body parts. And yet James was conscious, despite the bleeding and pain. Alive and pissed.

His lungs were filled with water, only a dead person could carry so much. Once they arrived at shore, finding no persons in sight to help, the servant ran out to the land to see if there was any civilization nearby. James laid in the raft in pain, waiting for the servant to return.

Somebody finally came, but it was not the servant. It was a lithe and tall man with dark hair and pale skin, eyes bright red like rubies. He stumbled onto the beach after seeing the frantic servant run into the village nearby, curiously wanting to see what the fuss was about.

“My,” Qrow smirked down at James. “You look like you need a hand.”

James stared blankly at the man, as if he were incredibly unamused. Until he replied, “are you pulling my leg?”

Qrow couldn’t help but burst into a short fit of laughter. James did too, but not for long as he was cut short. His back was killing him.

“I can get you a new body. And some.” Qrow assured. “Come with me. I know somebody.”

“At this point? Fine.” James huffed. After being betrayed by his queen and almost eaten alive by sea beasts, he could hardly imagine this stranger could make anything worse.

Qrow took James to the Whale, to Salem. After some convincing, Salem allowed Qrow to let James stay, so long as he was the one watching their new guest. Qrow agreed happily.

Qrow’s story was only filled with pain. He learnt from a young age that he was never loved by his step-mother, and being left behind by his sister. His step-mother murdered him in his sleep, cutting him up and serving his flesh like he was grade-A beef. His soul took the form of a crow, fueled by the rage he had for his step-mother. He wanted her dead, and by luck, he met Salem. She granted him the wish to have his vengeance, helping him turn back into a human. He was only a little boy still when he met Salem, growing up to look to her as his new mother.

After killing his step-mother, Salem took him in and had been at her side since.

James was soon recovering, but his rage was building deep within. All he could think of was his wretched wife, who was almost successful in killing him. She knew he couldn’t swim. How the sharp teeth of the massive sea monsters would eat at his body. He was ready to kill her, avenge himself.

James’ internal injuries couldn’t be fixed. He had to constantly wear a breathing-mask to help inhale more oxygen that his fragile lungs couldn’t take in normally. It was pain, feeling like he aged 50 years, even though he was only 20 at the time. From what he learned, Qrow was also the same age, at least feeling comfort in knowing somebody his age was around.

During James’ recovery - while Salem was mildly interested in this loner - it was Qrow who was the most intrigued. He loved coming to see James, see his progress so far. A new robotic arm, a new robotic leg, and some new parts had to be added in. Unfortunately, it meant much of James’ lower-half had to be remade, Half of his waist was not salvageable, meaning he’d have to lose a hip and his genital area. James didn’t care, wanting to be fixed already, and out of the stupid medical bed. Wanting to be strong again.

Though, he made a joke about giving him a massive metal cock, barking out laughter when he saw Qrow’s reaction of giggling like an embarrassed old woman. But, his wish was curiously granted.

As James was back up on his feet and trying to adjust to this new body, it was still Qrow who helped him. To the others that were residents of the Whale, they were surprised at how much time Qrow spent with James. Knowing the guy, Qrow could hardly process empathy. He would laugh at burning houses full of orphans, and dance on a dying man while he’s down.

But now, he was the most gentle, tender and kind to this perfect stranger.

Would you believe it when this story ends with the two marrying? After knowing each other for 5 years? Well, that’s how the story went. The two men fell in love, not caring for how crazy their lives would become. James loved this psychopath. And Qrow loved this vengeful man.

James was quick to become compliant in Salem’s plans, to start a new world and have their wishes granted. What he wanted was that bitch of a wife dead, and anybody else that associated with her existence. He didn’t care anymore if they were innocents, they had to be taken out. Feeling the same pain he felt.

Qrow had no goals, other than to live and serve Salem. To be the perfect little dog and grant her every wish. But now, his devotion turned to James. He loved him to bits, and would kill anybody for him. Already, James had killed quite a few people for Qrow, and that was probably one of the most romantic things he’s ever received. The only painful thing he could think is to live a life without James. Even his devotion for Salem couldn’t keep him alive.

Despite their chaotic life, the two surprisingly had a well-adjusted marriage and relationship. It was contentment, understanding and fun. They adored each other the same way they first met, and it seems that their honeymoon phase never ended, after 15 years together. They’d have a wedding dance next to a pile of dead bodies if they could, and they’d still be completely enamored by one another.

During the years together, the two had begun building their false identities among the people. Qrow had contact with his family, still there as Ruby and Yang were young and had grown to attend Beacon Academy. Ironwood had stolen the identity of a previous soldier of Atlas, taking their place and soon becoming the headmaster and general of Atlas. Their appearance was nothing to be judged, coming off as noble and normal.

When the time came for Beacon’s Fall, Qrow was the first to act. After the death of Penny 1.0, he had gone to murder the others in the Beacon Vault. He was successful in killing Glynda, Ozpin and the Maiden (transferring her powers to Cinder who is still in the gang), but he pretends to have no success in killing Ironwood, giving false hope to the heroes that at least one of their own is OK.

After that, he went out to go kill some more civilians of the Academy. Ruby and Yang realized their uncle was part of the evil team, and are broken by the betrayal. Qrow was quick to dismiss them as his family, skipping off merrily back to Salem.

When time passed and it was time to arrive at Atlas, it would be Ironwood’s turn to betray the teams. While cooperative and kind, Ironwood legitimately had no remorse for any of the kids. Quite frankly he wanted them dead, as well as the Ace Ops.

#rwby #au #qrow branwen #james ironwood #ironqrow #they're villains and having a gay ol time

[demonfox38]

Completed - Baba is You

I can't believe this is the first game I've perfected on Steam.

Like, I don't like achievement systems in video games, okay? I prefer to set my own goals. Sure, there are some achievements that are interesting, like learning to use a certain mechanic in a cool or efficient manner, visiting hidden rooms, or even running around with nothing but my character's default busted sword just to prove a point. Mostly, I just want to finish them. I don't go jumping through flaming hoops because I want people to think I'm cool. I'm from Iowa. I'm critically uncool by design.

If a game is good, I will put in the extra work. Like, getting 100% souls in "Castlevania: Aria of Souls" and 200.6% map completion in "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" is now just routine for me. With "Baba is You"? Well, circumstances are just a teeny bit different.

"Baba is You" is a puzzle game from independent developer Arvi Teikari. Your primary goal in the game is to create statements out of nouns, verbs, and conditions and use those generated rules to complete levels. It's basically catnip to programmers. These puzzles are packaged in cute, scribbly animations and gentle music. Ultimately, its soft presentation is the figurative sheep's clothing under which the wolf of this game lives, dragging its players through increasingly more complex situations, sitting there, laughing, its whole world wiggling in its adolescent mockery of you and your sluggish brain.

You're not always even Baba. I know. The absolute betrayal.

I originally saw this game being streamed back in 2019. A frustrating feeling overtook me as I watched the player work through the puzzles. I could feel myself solving them before she could, and it was making me itch. I didn't want to have any more spoiled without giving it a shot myself, so I purchased the game, put in a few hours, and then dropped it for two years. Hell, the major reason I came back to it was that I was babysitting my mom's very needy poodle, and I was more or less trapped on the couch with her during her entire stay. Had to do something. So, I decided this was it.

"Baba is You" really is the ultimate "Yeah, I'll get back to this" game. You know what I mean? There's always a handful of games that you make a little headway into, and then you think, "Yeah, I'll get back to this" and then drop it. I try not to be this way. Video games are expensive, and I want to get as much value as I can out of them. But man, does this game get overwhelming.

I mean, the TAS for a 100% run is currently around an hour and forty-five minutes. That's for 226 puzzles. That is a lot.

Granted, you don't have to finish every puzzle if you don't want to. The game can let you slide free with your first ending after completing only three subworlds on the main map. You know how many people get to that first ending? Like, we're talking maybe getting through 3 hours of gameplay or so. As of this posting, it's around 7.8% of all players on Steam. In comparison, here are first time ending numbers from other games I own on Steam:

"Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon" – 38% (Cleave the Moon)

"Trine" – 29.6% (Completed!)

"Dust: An Elysian Tale" – 23.9% (…And the Dust Settles)

"Fez" – 14.7% (Kill Screen)

"Psychonauts" – 13.2% (I Thought That Was Unbeatable!)

"Typing of the Dead" – 12.9% (Experimental Fiction)

"Final Fantasy VII" – 9.4% (End of Game)

That's right. From a percentage point of view, more players will put 80 hours into a 20+ year old RPG than 3 hours in this game. So, what's up with that?

At first, I wasn't struggling terribly with the game. I was making a pretty steady clip through it, stopping occasionally to check out the game's wiki. (BTW—view that on a laptop browser, not a mobile one. The background makes it hard to read some of the verbs and conditions.) My first tap-out in 2019 happened around the "Forest of Fall" block, when the game started introducing teleporting puzzles. My second brain-snap happened about 18 hours in the game when I accidentally created the phrase "Level is Key" in the puzzle "Fragile Existence," and then I realized that I could both create this level as Baba and had to create another level as a flag to win the overworld map.

And then there was a submap.

And another.

And another.

Holy crap, my brain was not ready for the mess that was Depths and Meta.

At one point, I stopped myself and reviewed why I was overcome with despair at my own stupidity. A part of it is yes, the game looks very cute, and the language used in the puzzles is very simple. So, when you don't get it, it's like saying you don't get "Sesame Street." And hey, maybe you wouldn't if it was in Mandarin and you only speak English. But, I did want to beat myself up for my sluggish responses and my growing feeling of helplessness. Why couldn't I beat the simple sheep game for babies? Was I really that stupid?

I think it helped to know what troubles I had my playthrough harder. This included:

Using text to push objects past barriers. (Yes, text exists in the world, and unless it's floating, you can use that text to move objects around. It's like hitting a car with a stop sign.)

Assuming attributes on an object that weren't actually assigned (i.e., assuming a door was locked or a wall would prevent me from moving through it, even if that wasn't the case.)

Manipulating text to double-layer nouns or break up commands by wedging an inactive/non-solid object in them. (See: Prison.)

Realizing that "you" doesn't always have to go to a certain destination. Sometimes, "you" just need to have something move over there or push something into where you want to go.

Remembering to use the "Wait" button to let moving objects finish their paths.

"Defeat" is a condition that applies only to "you", not objects in your possession. (They may instead be destroyed by "Sink").

Some rules need to be created and destroyed in the same turn.

Things that move on their own can be used to carry commands through obstacles.

Sometimes, you've just got to count your steps when you're taking an action and see if you can reduce them.

And granted, despite my stupidity, there were some puzzles that really clicked! I particularly enjoyed using the "Word" condition, as it allowed for me to treat both words and objects as a noun to make assignments. There were also times where I had to spell out the commands I wanted from letters left on the map. Fun! Natural! And hell, who doesn't enjoy a good block pushing puzzle, now and again? Super easy. Makes sense. Key is push, door is open. Of course!

Ass is Hot! Of course! (Wait, that wasn’t the solution...)

I tended to lock up more when the "Defeat" piece was on screen. I mean, you can always undo your mistakes, and there's no life limit or anything like that. But, hearing your player character go splat when you mess up is flinch-worthy. Additionally, I hated having to build complex paths for objects to follow. Like, screw the entirety of Adventurers. Also, learning what the "Lonely" condition meant felt very unnatural. It was hard to even tell why I was splatting until I read up on what it meant.

Interestingly, changing the language of the game only affects the menu's language, not the game itself. (I was wondering if adding a layer of comprehension to objects would stop me from auto-assigning properties to them or not. Makes sense that it's all in English, considering the "form objects from letters" puzzles.)

I felt bad when I finally gave up on putting effort into solving the puzzles on my own. I did. But, I was also 18 hours deep into my file in a single week, and I wanted to get back to my other hobbies. I felt that if I gave up on "Baba is You" again, I wouldn't finish it ever. And then, those 18 hours truly would be wasted. Also, I felt sick that only 7.8% of people had gotten to the first ending screen. The game isn't bad! It's hard, but not bad! I wanted to at least give it enough dignity to finish it off, even if I was more or less reading what I needed to build with one eyeball and building it with the other.

And hell. Given all of the version differences of this game and the amount of time that has passed since its release, it is a teeny bit YouTube proof. Not completely invulnerable, but I did catch a difference or two here and there. And it's not like the wiki's the clearest with what you need to do, even when they're telling you exactly what to do. You've got to mind your space with your words. At the very least, don't push anything aside or wreck it until you absolutely must.

I can't emphasize how much I felt bad about giving up. I mean, it's one thing to look at guides for other game types. You can get knowledge on how to beat a boss or level, but you've physically got to develop the skills needed to vault through that goal. With puzzle games, knowledge is 99% of what you need to accomplish your task. The rest is just putting in the solution as elegantly as possible.

92.2% of players didn't bother to do even that.

I won't pretend to say I know enough about puzzles to make an excellent puzzle game. However, I do think brevity would have helped this game. Like, think of puzzle games people like. "Tetris," right? Even a long game of "Tetris 64" lasts me a couple of hours at most. "Portal"? That's a handful of hours supported by plot and fun dialogue. So is the sequel. "Panel de Pon" / "Tetris Attack" / "Puyo Puyo"? Those are like "Street Fighter" arcade campaigns. Like, 15-20 minutes. To have a puzzle game go on for hours and hours without any character motivation or plot in sight? Yeah. That's going to burn a lot of people out.

Like, this game could have just the over world, a single hidden world, and then the Center portion, and that would have been more than enough. And then you know what could have been done with the rest of the puzzles? Put them in a new game! "Baba is More!" Bam! A second game, now with extra "Inception"-styled mind screws! Twice the money earned! (Yeah, okay. This plan might stink of capitalism.)

Making 226 puzzles is impressive. However, brevity is the soul of wit. Sometimes, design can be contradictory like that.

But, its achievements? Perfectly laid out. Truly finishing the game is likely to net you everything. I only had to put in a couple of hours after the true ending, and really, only fifteen minutes of that was solving the puzzles. The rest was just finding what I had missed. (I've heard rumors that "Baba is Baba" is bugged, but I think you just need to look up how to get the Level is Win solution in Meta figured out. The rest is elbow grease.)

I don't know if I can recommend this game. Again, having a case of the bad feels over that statement, especially since it seems like the developer has his heart in the right place. I'm hesitant to recommend this because when I was playing it, I had a migraine that lasted three days straight. Granted, there were possibly some external factors to why I had that. A fat polar vortex. Stress from work. Some hormonal influences. Not enough caffeine or water. Just generally living in the United States in the early 2020s. Plenty of things to crush my skull. I don't think it's in good taste to recommend something that will cause others physical pain. I mean, I'm used to games cracking my hands, but that's not exactly healthy behavior. I certainly wouldn't want to give someone an epileptic attack. Why would I want to drive a nail through their skulls, either?

I do think the game is solidly designed. It's a smart little cookie. But, it is unintentionally discouraging to get through, especially if you feel like you can't ask for help. Like getting a clue or an explanation is cheating.

Look. Try. Try hard. Be as honest and earnest as you can be. Just don't expect to do everything in your life alone, okay? I mean, there are times you've got to get an external perspective. I frequently had to crash after school with mathematics teachers and badger professors to explain topics outside of class. You think I was going to come up with how there are different kinds of infinities on my own? Hell no. I'm not creative in terms of mathematical proofs. But, I sure as hell can explain how different infinities work now! Even post-schooling, I still research topics, particularly when building or fixing things. I wouldn't have learned half of the things I've learned about maintaining game cartridges or building dollhouses without suggestions from professionals and enthusiasts. It's just part of life. You ask for help so you don't burn resources—especially something as valuable as time!

#post game evaluation #baba is you #demon is purge

[reaperintheroses]

Minuscule

Bucky x villain reader

A/N: I tried to keep the reader pretty gender neutral but if there are any pronouns other than they/them let me know so I can fix it. This is what I’m thinking to be the first week in my writing rotation so we’ll see how long this lasts. Also I know it’s short and a little rushed- I did my best. Also if you weren’t aware a magazine is where you pre-store bullets for a gun, and is, in this case, external. The reader talks about using a finished magazine to replace what they are stealing in case there is a weight sensor like in indiana jones. This specific mag. is made out of metal so it would work for the weight sensor. I don’t specify the rifle so that much is left up to imagination. 

Warnings: swearing, gun use, violence, crappy writing

readers power description

It was peaceful in a way, to sneak around as the rest of the world was sleeping. It really made you realize how small you were compared to the rest of the world. Just a mere drop in the ocean. You thought this way often. Realizing that no one would really care much about you. It was fine. You preferred to live in the shadows verse being one of the huge villains in the spotlight. That was a dangerous way to live. Far easier to get caught. You weren’t in this life for fame and anyone who was, you considered just plain stupid. You rose from your crouch on the roof of the building. You had to move fast if you wanted to get away and unfortunately, there wasn’t time to enjoy your surroundings. As cliche as it sounded, this artifact would have you set for life. It was just your luck that it was conveniently located in your current city and the heist involved one person with your exact skill set.

You worked for a group of black market mercenaries going under the name “the red merchants”. The group consisted of about 10 people with completely different skill sets and levels of training. None of you had ever met each other, only communicating through strange online chat rooms and a shared bank account. Recently though your group had fallen under shields spotlight and were placed on a government watch list. This would be your last heist with the group before completely dropping off the grid. Oh and the artifact you were trying to steal? An Asgardian jewel, worth billions. 

You turned around and strapped the gun you had been holding onto your back. You turned on the earpiece that you received in the mail a week ago and looked around to see if there was anyone around you who could possibly be working against you. After confirming that you were safe you made your way down the fire escape on the side of the building trying to be quiet as possible. When the static in your ear broke you stopped. “How far away are you?” a voice questioned in your ear. “About two jumps,” that was the reason you were so perfect for this job, see you had a superpower that allowed you to teleport short distances. You called these jumps. They were super helpful for stealth missions. “Let me know when you’ve completed the first. I can turn off the internal security for up to fifteen minutes, once you are inside you have to work fast. I’ve already started looping the cameras but if you have company it won’t take long for them to realize.” you sighed. “Understood, about to start the first jump.” The static returned showing that your fellow merchant had switched channels. You focused your energy and shut your eyes trying to be discreet. Making the first jump you looked around checking to see if anyone was around. You lifted your head to your ear piece, “First jump complete.” You ducked behind a dumpster and waited for further instruction. “In 60 seconds I’ll turn on the software. This is the last you will hear from me. Once your mission is complete destroy your earpiece and any evidence leading you to our group. It’s been a pleasure working with you.” It was sentimental, in a way. You almost felt sad. “You as well, thank you.” You switched channels in case there was anything else they had to tell you and started another jump. Taking a deep breath you ran into the portal that had been created. 

You came face first with the side of the building you were supposed to infiltrate. You recalled your notes about the entire layout of the building and the codes for each door. 2576. Nothing happened and you started to panic that was the wrong code and you would be locked out. You started to look around for other things you could use to break the system before it locked you out. You had worked so hard to get here and you would be damned if you got stopped before even getting in the building. You unstrapped your gun and raised the butt to hit the keypad as you heard a small beep and click. Moving one hand away from the gun with a confused face you used your other to grab the door handle and pull. ‘Okay strong start’ you thought to yourself as you placed your gun on your back and walked into the building. You saw a few guards walking away from your direction. ‘They must have just switched posts,’ You started another jump, trying your best to not make any noise as to make up for the time the door lost you. The jewel was located in the middle of the building in a vault, which was surrounded by about 20 guards so when you jumped in there you would have to be careful. Going through the jump you had just created you paid no attention to where you ended up as long as it was close to the jewel.

This of course was a mistake because when you emerged from the jump you were face-to-face with five armed guards who seemed to be on their break. “Hi there,” you raised your hand in a mock wave. They all reached to their sides where you assumed they had concealed weapons. Quickly jumping behind the first guard you kicked them in the back causing them to fall towards the table in front of them. Unstrapping your own rifle you hit them over the head before you took aim at the closest guard to your left. Once you hit them you kicked them in the stomach using the impact of your kick to throw the guard into the other behind them causing them both to fall to the ground. You aimed the rifle in the direction of the 4th guard grinning when you heard the impact of the bullet. The 5th dashed out the door. You looked back down to the guards who you were restraining with your body. “I always hate it when they run.” You sighed before jumping into the hallway right behind the running guard. Raising your rifle you let out a quiet “coward,” before hitting them over the head with the rifle, catching them before they fell and jumping back into the break room. You dropped the unconscious guard onto the floor before grabbing a chair and propping it under the door before locking it as well. 

Getting ready to jump again you thought back to the layout of the building. You imagined the very center of the vault, where there were no guards as a security measure, and thought about what it would look like. You had maybe 5 minutes left before the security came back on and you would be caught. You jumped again and looked around. You were face to face with the green jewel. The security was seriously lacking, the only thing protecting the jewel from your hands was a glass case. This really was too easy. You figured that sense Thor was on Earth he would be more involved with the safety of one of the most prized possessions of his people. Oh well. Made life easier for you. You stalked over to the jewel with your finished magazine in hand just in case there was a weight sensor. You outstretched your hand and right as you were about to close on the jewel you heard a break in the static in your ear. “The security countermeasures I put in place have a minute and 30 seconds left,” You withdrew your hand confused and turned around to face the wall. Why would they tell you that? You were well aware that you wouldn’t be able to finish in the time frame you were given. They said when they turned on the countermeasures that it could be the last you would hear from them. “4 of the avengers known as captain america, the falcon, the winter soldier, and of course thor have joined you, they are 1 floor away just thought I should inform you. Best of luck.” You squint your eyes. Not good. You fully switched off the earpiece before turning back towards the jewel. “I wouldn’t if I was you,” a voice came from behind you. You froze. “Of course you wouldn’t, falcon.” you replied before dashing for the jewel. Wrapping your hand around you turned around and looked. Calculating how well your odds were you realized that no matter how spent your power was there was no way you were getting out of here by taking them all down in a fist fight. You made eye contact with the winter soldier. Oh just lovely. Not only did he know exactly how your power worked he knew almost everything about you. This was just fan-fucking-tastic. Trying not to show how scared you were, you smirked at him before turning and facing the entire group that had come to try and stop you. “I would really love to stay and hear all about everything I’m doing wrong and how the only person I’m hurting is my self and so on, but I really must be going seeing that I have prior engagements that involve pawning off this rock and setting myself up on a beach with a margarita that has one of those tiny umbrellas.” Thor looked like he wouldn’t have an issue killing you in order to get the jewel back so you decided it was time to take your leave. Hopefully, they were slow enough that you could make it to the roof and have a few minutes to regain your bearings before they reached you. 

The falcon started to make his way over to you and right as he was about to secure you by the arm you jumped and almost fell off the side of the building. You stuck your arms out to help you regain your balance. Once you were sure you weren't going to plummet to your death, you sucked in a huge breath. ‘Maybe you would get away after all.’ You turned around and began to look at the sunrise and draw energy to yourself. Right as you were about to open your last jump to get you away from this dumpster fire of a heist you heard the door to the roof slam open and 4 sets of footsteps spill out from the stairwell. With an annoyed face you turned back around and faced the heroes that were still in pursuit of you. “y/n, I know that you don’t think it but you don’t need to do this.” Shit he knew your name, that makes everything even more difficult. “Shield helped me, they can help you too.” You rolled your eyes. This was a cute attempt but in the end it was pointless. ‘Bucky I’m not going to prison, I refused to be trapped down.” He recoiled slightly at the fact that you too knew his name. You blew out an aggravated breath, there really was no point to this savior monologue.  “I know this sounds super cliche but if you just stepped down I promise I will do everything in my power to help you.” You smiled a tiny bit. “Look, I appreciate the effort but theres really no point.” He continued to talk while you summoned more energy for a final jump. You cut him off, “Sorry lover boy, I’m just beyond saving.” You raised your middle finger in the hand not holding the jewel and started to lean off of the roof. Right as your feet left the edge, he started to rush to the side of the building. you summoned energy to help you jump. “We should do this again,” you shouted as you felt the energy surround you and you were pulled out of the air. 

#bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #bucky barnes #marvel #marvel fan #villain reader #sam wilson #steve rogers #thor #captain america #the falcon #the winter solider fanfiction

[roodllle]

Year in Review - Animal Crossing New Horizons

I started writing this review/criticism in May of 2020 but decided to update it as the year went along and post it on the anniversary of NH’s release. I would like to preface that this is mostly going to be full of questions of criticisms, I love this game. I have not been able to put it down since I got it on March 20th. My first AC game was NL and then I played HHD. I was ecstatic when they announced NH at E3 2019 and kept trying to find other games to fit in my AC shaped hole in my heart but I wasn’t able to fill it till this game came out. I feel like the pace of the game is great with how you build up to unlocking terraforming and 5 stars, and I feel like the updates are well timed especially with how crazy 2020 was for everybody. That being said there were some things that irked me. 

Some of the points I will bring up came from other people/commenters I have seen on here, Discord, Reddit, and Twitter that I also agree with. Some other points are from Youtubers such as ShayMay and ChuyPlays. And others are from me. 

With that out of the way, let’s get on with the review. Warning, I guess, don’t expect this to be an essay, this is just a patchwork quilt made up of thoughts.

Terraforming

I wish cliffs/tiers had a smaller level? Like how we’re able to make stepping stones for our rivers if we don’t want to put a bridge down/use our vaulting pole. I just wish there was a cliff alternative. 

Another cliff alternative would be if we could put bridges between cliffs. I think we’ve all been there where we see this picture 

          thought ‘we can do that!!” then realized it was photoshopped

When we go into terraforming, I wish a grid showed up on our island. It would make it much easier to avoid hitting the wrong square when I’m trying to change a river. 

Having us be able to “close” a waterfall from a lower level but not create a new on at the same spot. 

Also the fact we can add a 4th tier but can’t put anything on it is just strange to me. I know we have to have a limit to how high we can go, but at least let me put nature stuff, such as trees/flowers/bushes, on top of it instead of just a flat piece of land. 

Houses

Why no ceiling items? Find it odd they added a bunch of stuff in HHD and didn’t add that to the new mainline game

There’s no reason I can think of to why we can’t access our storage when we’re crafting inside our house. 

Buildings

Dodo Airlines

The Dodo Islands right now are very boring and barely use them. I have enough money and materials to not go farming and save up all my NMTs for when I go villager hunting, which has also become a rarity. I think it would be a good idea to make some islands seasoned themed. Have them be all rare, but have an island where it’s fall and has maple leaves falling, a cherry blossom one, one with snowflakes. I wouldn’t recommend they make Holiday themed ones, but having seasonal ones would be nice.

When I mess up a dodo code or accidentally hit ‘make a bridge’ instead of incline, etc. why do I have to restart the ENTIRE conversation instead of the characters just being “oh? did you mean “x” or “would you like to retype it?” like is it that hard??  

Resident Services

As much as I love Isabelle this game has made me very indifferent towards her. I think they gave her a role that didn’t need to exist. They could have either let us roam around without any warnings to who was roaming around our island, in the campsite, or any weather updates. Just have us rely on our villagers, the TV, and our eyeballs. OR they could have given us a social media like app and/or a weather app. Instead, they gave us Isabelle that only announces something once a month.

Nook’s Cranny

This might just be me but can they add a little DIY area in the store? Maybe just make to where you can only customize things?? This is more out of convenience than an actual problem  

Speaking of customization, since you can make medicine but also buy can we do the same for the custom kits and bait. Like make it where we can buy bait and also make our own custom kits? I just think it’s weird that they give us either/or for medicine but not for the other 2 that I honestly use way more than medicine.

Why do the Able Sisters get to have all of the colors of an item in their shop but Nook’s Cranny can’t? And why can’t we just be able to customize all items that have multiple looks/colors? Example, why can’t I just be able to change the wood type for the antique set instead of having to buy each one? I get that the furniture catalog is already small, but that’s not my fault. They’ve decided to not add past furniture sets into NH. 

Able Sisters

Let us multi select clothes instead of it just being how much we can wear. idc if it’ll just put those clothes in our personal storage and then we’ll have to run home and put it in that storage, I just hate having to walk back in and out every time I want a dress in multi colors. ALSO tell us if we already bought it, like a little storage icon or something

Why can’t we hang any article of clothing on the back wall, why do we have to either make it or have the OG qr designer come to our island? 

Why can’t we have the transparent option when designing clothes? I think it would make many designer’s lives easier instead of having to make 8 versions of the same outfit.

NPCs

I have played this game almost every day since it came out, minus 2 days. I have also been able to make friends on discord that help with trading/cataloging/etc. I have all of Saharah’s, Kicks’, Label’s, and Redd’s items. I have all of the fish/bug models I want and have no desire to “catch them all”. I haven’t talked to Wisp in months because I have most of the items and his idea of “expensive” is 10k bells. The only NPC I actively look forward to is Celeste because even though I now have all of her DIYs, she still gives out star fragments, regular large or horoscope, when I talk to her. 

What I’m wondering is if they’re planning on doing anything else with these characters. Before I speak further I’m going to weed out characters that I am actually fine with. CJ and Flick will always be there if I want a bug/fish model, I understand that Saharah/Kicks/Redd have a ton of stuff to get and w/o the help of my discord friends, I probably wouldn’t have gotten everything till late 2021. 

So that leaves Label and Wisp. I understand Wisp is there for beginners, but now that I’m at a point where I am a bell millionaire and have most of the Nook’s items cataloged, there is no reason for me to talk to him. I wish Nintendo had put in a system where depending on the person who Wisp is talking to, it determines how much money you have in your bank account/looks at your catalog, Wisp’s item’s worth goes up.

As for Label...I never saw her as viable. I also thought the tickets were dumb and you don’t even have to talk to her to have her items show up in the shop the next day. I think it would be great if when you bought all of her items, she decided to join the Able’s sisters in their shop like in NL and then have Gracie show up in her place for the weekly NPC. 

Where is Blanca? Or Brewster? Or Shrunk, Katrina, Gracie, or Kapp’n and his family? I understand we will probably never see characters like Harriet or Pete because they have been replaced by a new system, but what is the excuse for these other characters? I’m hoping they show up in year 2 of NH but...we’ll see.

Villagers

I think having your first villagers living in basic homes is a good idea but one that quickly gets annoying. I found Sherb while villager hunting for the 1st time and have had him ever since, but his house is stuck at basic lazy setup. Instead of me going back and forth on whether or not i should trust somebody enough to hold Sherb, get somebody else out, then get him to move back to my island, You can have it to where you let them leave, then just wait till he comes to the campsite to visit and reinvite him. You get his actual house and he still remembers you. This could also go for you accidentally letting somebody go or letting somebody go then regretting it. Also it’d be fun to see some old villagers again.

I was curious and looked back on past games to see how many new villagers were released each game and NH has been the least amount. NL released 112 new villagers in total while NH has released 8. I’m hoping they might release more down the line but, hella disappointing imo. Along with the Sanrio update and adding those characters to the game, I am more hopeful that they’ll be adding new characters!

Having an “event” of sorts where you visit a villager’s house and they’re looking inside their closet. They look at you in surprise when you walk in and sheepishly explain that they were going through their clothes/items. They then decide to ask you for help since they can’t decide what to get rid of/what to keep and think you have a good eye for that sort of thing. Basically, a way to get rid of any clothes/items your villager somehow received bc I guess Isabelle scolding them isn’t enough.

A big problem I feel like everybody has is the villager dialogue. Yes they added sub personality types for each personality but they are not perfectly cut in half, ex. are the Sisterly types where there are 4 B types and 20 A types, like?? How I have “fixed” this problem is by having one of each personality type on my island so I always have different conversations with my villagers, but I understand not a lot of people do that. Some people just want normal/peppy types on their island bc they’re cute as hell, I get it. I know it would be...difficult to come up with unique dialogue for all 399 villagers, including Sanrio, but....you could at least for the “gimmicky” villagers. Some examples of these villagers are Ribbot and Sprocket, Lucky and Ankha, the super hero squad, and Kabuki. 

Quality Life stuff

Why cant we sit AND wish on stars? And I don’t mean the sit emote; why can’t I sit on a bench and wish on stars?

It sucks when I’m about to hit my rocks or just do a lot of dig work and then my shovel breaks in the middle of it. To show the tool is about to break, cracks should start to form on the handle and get deeper/longer as you keep using it, starting when you have 5 uses left. You can also add an auditory element by making the tool sound like its struggling when you are using it. Net/Shovel/Axe/Fishing Pole can have cracks show up on the handle, Slingshot can have crack show up at the bottom of the 2 spokes while having 1 at the top of the handle. And the watering can have cracks at the base of the can.

If our inventory is full when I dig up a flower, why can’t I replace it with another flower to bury? And if I can dig up an item at an diagonal item, I should be able to bury it again at the same angle.

Other

Having more...liveliness?? on the island, idk how else to say it. Example is whenever you travel by plane there's a chemtrail in the sky afterwards, maybe just seeing other planes go by throughout the day. Maybe you can get a hint Redd or Gulliver will be visiting you tomorrow if you see their boats beyond the horizon, Redd’s just crusin’ and the Gulls’ boats looking messed up. On a week where you don't have a new camper, maybe have an old villager visit. That leads me too

I wish villager’s doors could count as “exterior decorating” and we can just put any ornamental on there instead having to hope that your villager will put the wreath on their own door. 

Conclusion

If you read this whole thing holy shit, thanks!! Go treat yourself on my part lol If you disagreed with me or whatever feel free to chat with me about it! 

#roodle speaks #animal crossing new horizons #acnh #animal crossing #ac #acnl #animal crossing new leaf #qtiepie

[wolf-mask]

Why Borderlands 3 is Disappointing

Borderlands 3 is a fun game mechanically. I’ve spent almost 6 plus DAYS worth of hours playing the game. I finished every side quest and every collectible. The only thing I haven’t done is collect all the echo logs, but I’ve listened to all of them. The only complaint I have with the game is the story. I’ve ranted to my friend about this and, like they said, 

“it feels like great writers set up a world and cast with a ton of potential and plans laid out, and then halfway through a different team of writers took over and there was 0 communication between the two groups.” 

There was so much potential for Borderlands 3 to be good, but instead it came out “Meh.” and that seems to be what everyone thinks. After watching multiple reviews, there are 4 points of BL3’s story that people pick out as detrimental to the story.

If I’ve forgotten anything, or something sticks out to you that can be explained away by canon, please let me know.

More under the read more

1. The Calypso Twins

I have 2 complaints about the Calypso twins: their unexplained motivations and the writers’ choice of focus.

This is my own personal complaint, but why do the Calypso’s have these motivations? Sure, I get it. Tyreen wants to open the Great Vault because she thinks its her birthright as the daughter of the first vault hunter. But why become a God? I understand the whole wanting to be the most famous person thing but she could’ve just opened the vault to do that, look at Lilith and the other Vault Hunters. So why become a God? How did she come to that conclusion? Why build up an army? Why cause galaxy wide pandemonium when you could just become a Vault Hunter like the current and past playable characters? She even says herself they came to Pandora to be Vault Hunters! So why start a CULT? None of that is really answered by the game. Instead we’re given surface level villains with a surface level backstory. We never find out how their mother died.

The main complaint I’ve seen in these reviews is the story’s focus on the villains. Tyreen is never given screen time. We never learn more about her nor does she undergo any kind of character growth to become a good villain, yet she becomes the Final Boss. Instead, Troy gets most of the character development. Troy is the main focus out of the two villains, he gets the character growth after taking Maya’s powers. Troy is the more compelling villain out of the twins. He starts from the bottom, forced to rely on his sister to live but she sees him as nothing more than a parasite. He’s constantly forced into the background, be a follower, kept under his sister’s heel as she gets what she wants.

After taking Maya’s powers, however, he figures out he doesn’t have to depend on Tyreen. He starts crawling away from Tyreen’s shadow to stand by himself. The cultists start to worship him just as much as Tyreen, he starts hijacking the echo calls, he starts disagreeing with Tyreen’s leadership. The scene in Jakobs mansion makes it seem like Troy is scheming on his own. All of this focus, compounded with Tyreen’s comments during Troy’s boss fight, hints that TROY will become the Final Boss. But instead of having a compelling villain who’s crawled out from under his sister’s shadow, we kill Troy and we’re left with the less interesting villain. If they HAD to go with Tyreen as the main villain, they should’ve given her character growth to make her more compelling. You’d think she’d show some sort of growth after having her brother killed and killing her father, but nothing ever from that. She just stays a one dimensional character throughout the main plot.

2. Maya’s Death

Maya’s death was severely mishandled in Borderlands 3. In the context of the story, Maya had to die eventually, but that doesn’t mean her death couldn’t have been pushed back though. 

Compare Maya’s death in Borderlands 3 to Roland’s death in Borderlands 2. In BL2, Roland’s death had more impact because we spent more time with him (Over half the game to be exact, 11 out of 20 story missions), he spent most of the game guiding the player, and we got to see him interact with other characters as well as see how his death affected other characters.

With Maya we spend less than a fourth of the game with her (4 out of 23 missions. She should’ve been introduced earlier and killed off later), we barely interact with her and we don’t see her interact with any other characters aside from Ava and Lilith. One of the things I loved about BL2 was being able to see the old Vault Hunters interact with each other in Sanctuary. When Maya dies, her funeral is played off as a joke, Lilith is blamed by Ava, and that’s as far as acknowledgement goes. No one besides Ava ever acknowledges Maya’s death. It’s as if her death is totally ignored.

Did Maya have to die though? Yes, but not immediately. When Tyreen drained Lilith, Lilith didn’t die. But when Troy drained Maya, why did she die? She didn’t have to at that moment. Throughout the story, Maya’s powers are an important plot point. Her powers are what allow Troy to experience some independence for the first time in his life. When Troy drained Maya he could’ve just stolen her powers and left her alive. This would have left her the potential for character growth. 

So why did Maya have to die? Because Ava had to become a Siren eventually. I don’t mind Ava, I think she’s fine as a character, but if her purpose was to show how Siren powers are transferred, we already have Tannis for that. They practically shove in Ava to replace Maya as soon as she dies. It’s like taking a child’s favorite toy and shoving a new one in their arms, expecting them to like the new toy immediately. They should’ve let Ava become a Siren later down the line instead. 

3. Ava’s Characterization

As I previously said, I don’t mind Ava. I think she’s an alright character as she is right now. Most people don’t think that though, and I can see why. Ava is directly responsible for Maya’s death. She disobeyed Maya’s directions and came to the Promethea Vault on her own. Due to her disobeying orders, Maya is forced to put Ava’s well being above hers. Ava further escalated the situation, leading to Maya needing to save her. This ends in Maya’s death. 

Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, Ava blames Lilith for Maya’s death and claims that they need to rush in without thinking. And later on she’s praised as being right for the same thought process! When Lilith goes to sacrifice herself, she basically tells Ava she’s right. Not only that, she gives leadership of the Crimson Raiders over to a 13 year old child with no experience who got her mentor killed. At no point is she forced to face the consequences of her actions, she never goes through a character arc. Ava has the potential to be a likable character but her characterization was so botched that most people hate her now. They player should’ve been allowed to slowly learn more about Ava and watch her grow before taking over Maya’s role. Hopefully the DLC that focuses on her will do her better.

4. Ignoring the Player

The BIGGEST sin of BL3 is how it treats the player character. The achievements of the player are constantly undercut and we are consistently ignored by the narrative. 

The whole game made me feel like I was the side character to the Sirens. All the other Borderlands games have focused on the Player as the main character. In BL1 the Vault Hunters killed the Destroyer, in BL2 the six vault hunters defeated the Warrior and defeated Handsome Jack, in TPS those six beat the Sentinel and helped Jack rise to power. In BL3, it feels like none of our achievements matter. As soon as we accomplish one thing, something bigger happens and that needs to be focused on. You got to Tannis after that pain in the ass fight with the Agonizer? Welp looks like Tannis is a Siren and you practically did that shit for nothing! We defeated Tyreen the Destroyer? Welp looks like Elpis is going to crash into Pandora and now Lilith has to go stop that. The only times I really felt like I was making an impact was when I wasn’t doing missions for the Sirens. 

At the end of the game Ava is more acknowledged than the player and given command of an entire army. This should’ve gone to the player! The character who’s busted their ass off to bring the Raiders back from the brink of disbandment, who’s done all the heavy lifting! Hell, before going down to Promethea Lilith asks YOU to take over field operations while she’s powerless. 

But what ticks me off the most is how the narrative ignores the player. Unlike the cut scenes in other Borderlands games, you are ignored. Nearly all of the cut scenes are in third person and you are NOWHERE to be seen. Maya being killed by Troy, Tyreen absorbing Troy and trying to crush the other Sirens, Tyreen killing Typhon, and Lilith’s sacrifice. We’re NEVER seen in those cut scenes. Compare this to the cut scenes in previous games, which are almost always in 1st person and if they aren’t, the 3rd person view is used when the cut scene isn’t important. In BL3, almost all the cut scenes are in 3rd person. The only time the player is acknowledged is when Troy phaselocks the player in the Jakobs Mansion, which makes this issue all the more frustrating.

Conclusion

Borderlands 3 is a graveyard of missed potential. The story could have been so much better than it came out as. I love the game from a gameplay standpoint, it’s so fun to play, but the main story is a drag to get through at this point. I don’t think it’s worth re-playing at this point and I’m going to wait for DLC to come out before playing more of it. Again, if I missed anything or you think something could be can be explained by Canon, please let me know! I have other little nitpicks I might talk about later but for now these are the main things that I think are wrong with the main story of Borderlands 3.

If you’re interested, these videos helped me in pinpointing what felt so wrong about BL3. They’re good videos to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ws6VRYEDw&t=431s (Tina vs Ava)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2qmhaRmcc (Main problem with BL3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lL0fAxjZnc (Wasting Maya)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibOPCU2adkE (Why Borderlands 3 is Disappointing)

#Borderlands #Borderlands 3 #BL3 #tyreen calypso #troy calypso #maya the siren #ava the apprentice #ava the siren #my post #my rant #they could have done it so much better

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

so i’d really like to finish my guardian takedown lore analysis, but honestly the game isn’t really fun to play at the moment anymore (even with the health debuffs they added) so I think im going to be taking a break for now because I’m just not having fun anymore.

this game has a lotta mechanical problems i think need to be addressed so im gonna summarize it as bullet points below. I’ll play the new dlc when it drops, but idk if i’ll be on more than that (grinding, end-game stuff) until they make some serious changes. I’ve been playing (near) daily since launch, followed the patch/hotfix notes every single week, and my patience has finally, FINALLY run dry, especially with that really disappointing Phase 1 Patch and then the hotfix this week not adding anything else. What is the balancing team doing??? 😩

tl;dr: FIX THE VAULT HUNTERS!!!!

anyway. That’s all I needed to get outta my system. I might log on to this blog every now and again to post some random shit that pops into my head (probably with regards to my AU), but I’m not going to be actively playing and posting for the time being. Goodbye (for now), and here’s hoping the new DLC is good!! 

guardian takedown only problems:

there’s a lot of waiting around, and sometimes it’s not explicitly stated that you’re waiting for something, so you’ll be lost on what to do next (not sure if that’s a dialogue glitch or not)

the crystal charge insta-death is bull. just. what the hell. at least make it so you just have to start over. killing ur players for failing a “puzzle” that they then have to fight all the way back to is so infuriating.

dying because you fell off a platforming puzzle is also bull. 

i remember playing the first DMC on my playstation in middle school and having a conniption over the part in the observatory(? it’s been a hot minute since I played DMC 1) with the disappearing/invisible platforms. I h a t e jumping puzzles. why are they in a section of the game where death is semi-permanent and a detriment to your teammates. i tried the takedown 2x with friends and both times one friend didn’t make the first big jump to the temple and had to wait for our inevitable deaths. that’s so unfair to them.

there’s absolutely no reason for a boss to have 12 fuckin immunity phases. 4 per health bar with 3 health bars? Who the fuck designed this? *pumps shotgun* i just wanna talk. 

i appreciate a tasteful immunity phase every now and again (the ones in the Valkyrie fight are actually p reasonable), but christ. that is overkill. I don’t mind the main boss fight, since u can end those early through certain actions, but jesus. the mid-boss fight is annoying as hell. you spend more time running from the immunity phases and finding the damn boss than u do actually shooting it.

drop rates are crap, which I guess should be expected given what happened with the Maliwan Takedown and the handful of months it took for them to fix that, but also you think they’d have learned.

in the maliwan takedown there’s a sense of progression thru the facility after you kill each area’s batch of enemies, but in this one it’s... dampened by the crystal charging sequences. you kill all the enemies in an area, press a button, and now you have to kill 3x that number of enemies in the same area, expect you’re just standing there motionless. It’s not fun.

the crystal charging stuff is just not fun in general. standing in a square is not entertaining. it’s worse that it was clearly designed for 3+ players when a majority of people play/grind solo

i gotta admit the boss fights just aren’t as fun as the Maliwan Takedown fights overall. I felt like a real badass fighting Wotan for the first time, but the main boss for this Takedown is kind of a bitch. Wotan’s fight is chaos, there’s so much shit happening at once and you don’t really have time to process everything and I love it. This one is p meh...

This would be fine and I’d 100% not care that much if there weren’t all these OTHER problems

General Issues with the Game

There’s no endgame stuff to play outside of the takedowns. 

I assume they’re working on the first raid given some stuff I found in the Guardian Takedown files, but I really wish they’d keep the seasonal events/areas. They give us the option to disable/enable them while they’re ‘active’, just give us the ability to do it whenever we want.

when i hop on i either run through Athenas (my favorite map), or farm a boss or two. I have all the loot i really need from the maliwan takedown/elsewhere, and the guardian takedown just... isn’t fun atm, so i have nothing to do.

I’ve reset my playthru multiple times to play the main story at m10, but u can only play it (and the dlc) so many times

Mayhem levels and modifiers are a hot m e s s

a majority of the modifiers just aren’t fun to play with

they incorporated like 2-3 fun modifiers (from the community), then added a bunch that straight-up aren’t. I’m fine with the game being more difficult, but at least give us modifiers that make it more entertaining to play at a higher level instead of more annoying. I like the ones that have trade-offs or add new ‘enemies’, but I hate the ones that just straight up reduce your damage output.

a majority of the weapons with the mayhem 10 anointment (scaling) do not work on mayhem 10 (we’ll go more in-depth with this later)

Player Characters (Vault Hunters!!!) are also a hot mess and a lot of problems plaguing them haven’t been fixed SINCE LAUNCH

theyre literally the basis of the game and its balance. why havent you guys fixed them yet. stop adding new content until they’re fixed. no new skill trees until the base 3 trees work ON EVERY CHARACTER.

seriously. Why is amara p much limited to using Phasegrasp. Why does Iron Bear not matter to Moze except to proc anointments. MAKE ALL ACTION SKILLS EQUAL AND HAVE HEFT.

i wrote an essay here about it bc i feel that strongly about this

SERIOUSLY FIXING UR VAULT HUNTERS WILL MAKE BALANCING SO MUCH EASIER PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU THEY ARE THE BASE OF UR BALANCING WOES

ZANE IS STILL UNUSABLE WITHOUT THE SEEIN’ DEAD CLASS MOD!!!!!!!!!!!

MOZE IS SCREWED BC HER DAMAGE IS TOO RELIANT ON ASE ANOINTMENTS!!

AMARA DOESN’T HAVE A FUCKING MELEE BUILD AS THE ADVERTISED MELEE CHARACTER???

FL4K’S HEADCOUNT SKILL IS S T I L L BROKEN EVER SINCE THE RELEASE OF THE MALIWAN TAKEDOWN

ARE YOU GUYS LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY *PLEASEEEEEEE*

BUFF AND FIX THE GODDAMN VAULT HUNTERS

Anointments were a mistake. Damage end-game is wayyyy too reliant on them

anoints should have a maximum of, like, a 20% damage bonus. the damage necessary to kill enemies *should be coming from the VHs themselves*. i don’t care if you have to revamp every single Vault Hunter’s skill trees and buff them all by 9000%. THEY DESERVE IT AT THIS POINT

at the moment in m10 there really isn’t much build diversity *even between Vault Hunters*. We’re all using the same 5 guns (OPQ System. Kaoson. idk. fuckin brainstormer? is that still a thing? jesus fuck) with the same 3 anointments (100% on ASE, cryo while SNTL, and 300% while 90%).

you want to diversify builds like you said during the gameplay reveal???? you want our choice in Vault Hunter to actually fuckin matter???? FIX THEM!!!! THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DEAL DAMAGE WITHOUT STUPID POWERFUL LEGENDARIES AND ANOINTMENTS!!!

Anoints also shouldn’t be common. At all. They should be, like, Pearl rarity. To let that happen, their damage needs to be tuned way the fuck down (again, 20ish % bonus MAX) and ALL ANOINTS NEED TO BE USEFUL IN SOME WAY

NOBODY IS GOING TO USE THE AIRBORNE OR SLIDING ANOINTMENTS JUST REMOVE THEM ALREADY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

obviously these changes can’t happen because they fucked up and buckled down with everything being anointed in m10, but still

imagine a world where the VHs actually did damage on their own without anointments and the damage buff from them was just an incentive to grind for the 100% perfect weapon and NOT A REQUIREMENT TO DEAL DAMAGE

>:(

A majority of gear is borderline worthless at M10

I’m fine with the difficulty of M10, i should let it be known. The enemy health isn’t really the problem IF ALL GUNS ACTED THE SAME AS THE OPQ SYSTEM

ffs.

you know, if you fixed ur vault hunters so they all did damage with just purple weapons (abt the same damage as legendaries w/o special effects) and removed the anointment requirement from late-game play, balancing your guns would be sooo much easier. you know. just saying.

right now only 10% (im being generous) of guns in the game are viable. 90% are worthless. We need AT LEAST 60-70% viable at M10. WHERE IS MY BUILD DIVERSITY. WHY ARE ALL LEGENDARIES NOW JUST “HEY THIS GUN IS STRONGER THAN THE LAST 4 WE RELEASED. HAVE FUN”

how to fix this problem? do as above: BUFF YOUR PLAYER CHARACTERS. MAKE ANOINTMENTS LESS STRONG.

then, at least the 10% already strong weapons would be stupid strong and OP as fuck, BUT AT LEAST WE COULD HAVE BUILD VARIETY!!! I don’t care if other people are dummy strong one-shotting everything in sight. I don’t! so long as they don’t play with me, I couldn’t care less!!! I want to be able to play with the unique, interesting legendaries. instead of the OPQ System. which, by the way, I dislike compared to the normal Q-System. let me use the frozen heart shield and the infiltrator mod. I don’t wanna be chained to the Seein’ Dead anymore :(

honestly at this point im starting to think removing slag was a mistake bc then at least we could use guns that aren’t solely damage-based guns. you know how fucked up you’ve got me that im thinking maybe slag wouldn’t be so bad this time around??? YOU GOT ME FUCKED UP B A D.

FIX THE GAME

IM TAKING A BREAK

MAYBE I’LL BE LESS UPSET WHEN I COME BACK FOR THE DLC BUT HOT. DIGGITY. SHIT.

#borderlands #bl3 #whelp #i needed to get that out #still frustrated... #just... fix the game #please #its so disheartening to see this STILL going on #like i know bl2 had the same problems #with the balancing #remember when they nerfed zer0 and buffed salvador? #but like christ at least they were messing with the vault hunters #now they're trying to brush their problems under the rug and it's really sad to watch #you would think they'd have learned from bl2

[chaosintheavenue]

7, 13, 20!

7. Which fallout doctor MOST deserves to get their medical licence (that they probably dont have) revoked?

Oh goodness, almost all of them! First place has to be Ada ‘take a bath in tomato juice’ Straus, though. She doesn’t even have the Medicine skill tagged hjfgh, and it shows.

Second place is Andy, for what happened to Beatrice in Vault 101. In fairness, though, he didn’t exactly advertise himself as a doctor...

Honorary mention goes to the Courier potentially performing surgeries. Whilst some Couriers might be medically competent, others really aren’t, and this can happen.

13. Do you have a favourite unmarked area?

The first one that came to mind is The One (random undetonated nuclear bomb lodged in the ground). I just remember the first time I came across it, I was half convinced it was about to blow if I approached it! It doesn’t make any sense why it was launched into the middle of nowhere, but... still fairly cool.

Also, in F3, you can pick up a radio signal that’s basically just a man saying he’s taken refuge just outside of DC (calling it that should have been an indicator of what was to come, in hindsight) and asking for medical attention for his son on a loop. If you follow the signal, you find a little shelter. In my first playthrough, I had a high Medicine skill and thought it would be a little quest to do to level up... then arrived to find skeletons. I wouldn’t exactly call it a favourite, but it was the first truly dark Fallout moment I experienced, and it definitely stuck with me.

( ^ just looked it up and found that that shelter is actually a marked location, but it’s not quest-relevant or anything, so it still counts. I don’t make the rules)

20. Dopest place to set up a player home in NV/FO3/76 Or favourite settlement location in fo4? 

I generally don’t use player homes as anything more than a place to store supplies, but the winner would have to be the Megaton House in F3! I still haven’t got far enough on F4 to build settlements, but I’d imagine Sanctuary would be my Sole’s main base.

#thanks for the ask! #mitsybubbles #death mention

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

Me: *being Chased by the Pig* Also Me: Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit shit shit shit shit sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-how’d ya miss?

So I spawn in next to a Gen and start doing it, but suddenly I feel unsafe. I see nothing in any direction but, in case it’s a Ghost Face, I’ll hide. So I go toward a pallet at one of those long wall vaults and see my fav thing. In one of the recent updates, the devs added little bits of broken walls by the burn barrels in the Asylum and Chapel, and sometimes Totems spawn in them. If not, there’s an empty space for a Survivor to fit into. And if there’s a Gen in place, it’s a perfect hiding spot completely blocked by sight and sound(crackling fire and Gen cylinders). I slowly walked into that little space and crouched. Seconds later, a Michael comes around the corner where the pallet is, looking for me. He circles the area almost long enough for me to get a crow. He leaves finally so I slowly come out of hiding and got back to the Gen. I feel unsafe again and see him coming out of the chapel toward me so I Sprint Burst back to that pallet and then slow walk to my hidey hole again. He walks by me several times again but gets Tier 3 off a Nancy hiding nearby. Spots me when I come out of hiding again, so I lead him on a merry chase across the map where he loses all of his Tier 3. I end up leading him to another map tile that looks the same and stun him with a pallet. I then hide in the little cubby in that tile and watch as he walks in circles. I made him waste three of his Tier 3s on Chasing me and when he finally managed to get me down after the last Gen popped, he face-camped me so harrrrrrd! XD Rank 10.

Played several matches as Huntress. I’ve improved a lot and I’m glad. Basically I just wanted to get her Perks unlocked so I can do Impossible Skill Checks Doctor.

Got many Iridescent hatchet downs. Not cuz I’m good but because Survivors decided to run into tightly closed off spaces where the chances of hitting their hit boxes were high af.

Bought Spirit. She has more useful Perks than the Plague. But I’ll get Plague next. I want to level her up a lot before playing as her tho so I don’t come across as a total newb.

So a Rank 1 dude who died 1st in a Trapper match against me tried to claim I was lame and played like a Rank 20. I’m Rank 12 and I play a few Killer matches a day but mostly main Survivor, so I’m not shocked I play bad. Anyway, he went on and on about how after a month I still sucked when he only bought the game 2 days ago and his friends taught him the ropes, so I must suck. I went on to play some more games while he still ranted in the chat, moving on to racist shit to make himself feel superior. I finally got the BP necessary to get the full build I wanted on Doctor(Impossible Skill Checks build) and see a familiar name in the next lobby. But as a different character. In 2 days this dude supposedly managed to Prestige two different characters three times each and had Perks on them that you’d only get from having LV 40 of certain other Survivors. Anyway, Impossible Skill Checks Doctor is a nightmare and I made sure to go after my good buddy first. Hooked each person relatively quickly, and they were screaming all match so it was easy to find them. He died first in the basement and I Hooked everyone beside him while he was being Sacrificed. No Gens got done. I then re-opened the chat where he’d finally stopped ranting eventually, to tell him that it was obvious he only bought the game 2 days ago since he was so bad he died first against a Rank 12 Killer twice. He told me I was mean and that he was going to report me(after I reported half an hours worth of racism from him) and blocked me.

So I never face Decisive Strike because I never go for the person who was just unHooked. I always go for the person who did the unHooking. Legit got called a coward for not tunneling someone who just got off the Hook. Why? Cuz he was salty that he didn’t get to use his Perk on me. Y’all should be happy you don’t get tunneled, wtf is wrong with some people?

Got a Challenge to use This Is Not Happening and get 6 great skill checks in 1 match. Problem is that you need to be Injured for the Perk to activate and I didn’t want to encounter the Killer personally to get hurt, so I ran No Mither for the first time. It was a Hag with a total hex build. I helped do the first Gen, got found, and the Killer assumed I’d be an easy down so they tunneled me for the remaining 4 Gens. A supposedly Rank 1 Hag who had traps that I kept tripping in the Chase, got ran around by a No Mither Survivor, got mind-gamed at several loops, and then got 360′d several times. And I Escaped after Sabotaging a Hook in her face while she was trying to Hook someone! We got her to whiff so many times in the endgame! I was accused of tryharding simply because dude couldn’t catch the already Injured player on the team!

Since I got tunneled in the last match I had to run the build again. Not only did I finish the Challenge, but I Escaped against a Rank 1 Nurse who attempted to tunnel me but lost me in every Chase she started. And I say tunnel as in she’d be Chasing someone else for a while and suddenly break off when seeing me, and then I’d lead her around a bit and lose her and then she’d stay in the same place mind-gaming herself.

I’m so gay for the ladies of DbD tbh istg.

#stuff

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #505 (October 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMAN! The Reign is over, and Superman does what we’d all do after being dead for several weeks and coming back to life: no, not visiting your parents, making out with Lois Lane.

Or more than making out, since the next page starts with a caption that says “Later...” and lets us know that they both had to take a shower. (NOTE: Check Don Sparrow’s section below for artist Tom Grummett’s definitive take on what happened in that scene.)

Their post-resurrection bliss comes to a stop when they remember a little detail: Clark Kent is still presumed dead. How are they gonna explain his return without making the extremely smart residents of Metropolis suspect that Superman and the guy who looks like Superman but with glasses are actually the same person? Superman’s mind immediately goes into “wacky bullshit excuse” mode and he starts spitballing ideas, like claiming Clark lost his memory, or was carried by underwater currents, or was abducted by aliens. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that last one would work, since there have been THREE major alien invasions in the past few years, but Lois thinks no one would be dumb enough to fall for that sort of thing. Really, Lois? No one?

At this point, Superman picks up some supervillain activity with his super hearing, so he gets dressed and goes there (though it would have been pretty intimidating for the criminals if she’d shown up in that shower rug). A bank uptown has been taken over by Loophole, a S.T.A.R. Labs accountant who stole a gizmo that allows him to phase through walls. When Superman shows up to arrest him and his henchmen (are they all villainous accountants?), Loophole literally puts his first through Superman’s chest, instantly killing him. RIP Superman, again.

Nah, Supes just swats Loophole away and breaks the gizmo, causing him to get his crotch area stuck inside a vault door. Now he has to change his supervillain name to “DickVault”.

(I freaking love Maggie Sawyer, btw.)

After that, Superman goes to one of the areas trashed by his fight with Doomsday and helps clean up the junk that’s still laying around there. It’s then that he finally reunites with his best friend and most valued ally: Bibbo Bibbowski. (Jimmy Olsen’s there, too, unfortunately.)

Bibbo also introduces Superman to the dog he named in honor of his home planet, Krypto -- and it’s Krypto who provides the most significant moment in this issue. The little mutt starts barking at some debris from a destroyed building, leading Superman to examine it with his X-Ray vision and find some kids underneath.

Turns out the kids had been trapped there since the Doomsday fight, leading some random passerby (fine, Jimmy) to wonder if Clark could be stuck in a similar situation. Superman and Lois look at each other... giving Superman an idea and providing the premise for next week’s issue.

Character-Watch:

First appearance of Loophole (real name Deke Dickinson, C.P.A.), who would become a running joke in Karl Kesel’s Superman and Superboy comics. While his phasing powers are tech based, he also has the metahuman ability to somehow convince attractive women to be his girlfriends/henchwomen despite being a balding little dweeb. In this issue he’s dating a blonde named Sheila (who wears a mask, so maybe she’s actually hideous), but I’m pretty sure he had other girlfriends in future issues.

Plotline-Watch:

As I said... holy shit, five years ago: no one draws Supes coming back to Lois after an extended absence like Tom Grummett. This scene is almost a remake of the one from that issue when Superman comes back from his time traveling jaunt. There’s also a callback to Man of Steel #25, when Lois hears a tap on her window and thinks it’s Superman, but it’s just some dumb bird. This time she gets it the other way around:

Don Sparrow says: “There’s a cute visual callback to the last time Superman returned after a long absence on page 18, when Superman is reunited with Jimmy. It’s a near identical pose to Action #643, where Superman returned from exile in space (and in that moment, infected Jimmy with Eradicator-based space sickness, womp womp).” I think he’s instinctively throwing Jimmy up in the air, hoping the cold of space will kill him. Unfortunately, both murder attempts were unsuccessful.

As seen above, Maggie Sawyer wasn’t too convinced that “Fabio” here was Superman at first. That changes when he calls her “Captain” even though she was recently promoted to Inspector, and she’s like “only a dead man wouldn’t know all the precise ranks for the local authorities!”

The surviving non-Supermen are seen arriving at S.T.A.R. Labs for medical care after the Engine City showdown. Don again: “There are some mild continuity issues stemming from Superman #82, which perhaps wasn’t completely finished being drawn while Tom Grummett worked on this one, as Steel’s costume is almost entirely intact, when we last saw it a week ago, it was in tatters. Ditto the Eradicator, who was a wizened husk, and now is apparently a scorched Ivan Drago.” Let’s assume Supergirl worked her clothes-shifting magic on Steel’s armor and the Eradicator’s, uh, hair.

There’s a short scene where Superboy is visited by his reporter pal Tana Moon, who tells him she quit WGBS and is leaving Metropolis. Awww. Goodbye, Tana. Or should I say... aloha?

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor Jr. has a scene with Dr. Happersen where he says he intends to control or destroy anyone who wears the “S” symbol. Basically, if he can’t date them, they should be dead. He also instructs Happersen to help Cadmus’ Director Westfield get in contact with disgraced genetician Dabney Donovan. Get ready for a whole lot of clone-related shenanigans in the near future.

And now, more Don Sparrow-related shenanigans after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

This issue is another favourite of mine, but I suppose all these issues around the Death and Return are faves when I really think about it.  My copy of this issue had the holographic fireworks cover, and it’s a good one.  I like that Superman and the Daily Planet are in natural colour, rather than holograms.  The cover credit goes Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood, so I’m not sure what the breakdown was (or if that’s just a handwritten cover credit, just in case?

The story opens with one of my favourite sequences ever, with Lois waking up on her couch, having fallen asleep following the events in Coast City.  I love the detail as she opens the curtain, we see her engagement ring, indicating she knows her real fiancée has returned.  This sequence is followed up by two pages of splashes of the passionate reunion of the best couple in comics.  All beautifully rendered as they float, locked in a passionate, sunrise kiss.  Just lovely (so lovely that I am willing to overlook a small colouring error, as Lois has black hair instead of reddish brown for one panel).  [Max: I can confirm that they fixed that in the collections.]

What follows is a very cute scene, and one of some debate among Superman fans.  There’s no overt evidence of what happened, all we get is a cryptic caption reading “later…”.   Again, I give credit for the subtlety of the writers, as they depict this scene in a way that can be read either way:  maybe Clark and Lois made love, and the “later” we are seeing is afterglow, or maybe Lois had a shower since she just woke up after sleeping in her clothes. Then, after calling his parents while Lois showered, Clark had a shower himself.  I feel like today’s writers wouldn’t feel the need to be so subtle, and might lose the sweetness of this scene.  

In previous posts, I’ve talked about my friendship with artist Tom Grummett, and how as a boy, I would wear him out with all my dumb fanboy questions.  Once I got older, and our relationship became a little more collegial (just a little closer to collegial, since I in no way consider myself anywhere near his level of skill or success) I would really try not to geek out too much when we would visit.  But the one question I had to ask was about this scene, and what their intention, or interpretation of it was, as I was always curious.  Once I had explained to him which issue it was (the guy has drawn hundreds, so they might not all spring to mind immediately!) he admitted that his assumption was indeed that they had sex.  So there you have it!  [Max: Hot damn! Another Superman ‘86 to ‘99 exclusive, folks!]

However you wish to read this scene, the choreography, and facial expressions as they horse around is really sweet and fun, and such a nice, light tone compared to the do-or-die pace the books had been for the last two years or so.   Their easy joking, and back and forth banter really do a great job of showing them as a real couple.

It’s a very nice pose on Supergirl as she lifts off, simultaneously spurning Superboy’s romantic complaints.

I quite like the design on Loophole, and his gang.  Loophole himself kinda harkens back to the silver age villains of the Flash as Loophole has a unique hairline, is an older man, with a pretty average build, which was rare for villains in the 90s. His gimmick is pretty cool, too, though we immediately see its vulnerability.

The tearful reunion of the now-sober Bibbo and Superman is also a great moment—if anyone rose to the challenge of living up to Superman’s example in his absence, it was Bibbo.  I discuss the scene in more detail in the observations later, but the image of Superman whipping away the debris on page 20 is a great visual, with the dust clouds creating great motion and urgency.

On the whole, a great first issue for the return to the never-ending battle, even if it brings us closer to Grummett’s last issue on this title (for a while).

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Could Superman referring to the Death and Return storyline as a dream, while stepping out of the shower be a reference to Dallas, and their famous about-face after an unpopular season, where Bobby Ewing emerged from the shower, alive and well, dismissing a yearlong storyline as a dream?

A coy semi-reference to perhaps my favourite line in the first Reeve Superman film on page 8, where Supergirl says “Easy steel, we’ve got you, then later adding, “ok, you got me”.  

A little more issue-to-issue dissonance with Superboy reversing himself from the end of Superman #82, where he said clearly that Kal-El was Superman, with Superboy pointing out that legally, he’s Superman and not Kal. [Max: I think he’s talking strictly in the legal sense, since he helps Superman deal with the legal problem on the next issue and all.]

For all the times that Superman has used his heat vision on guns (as he does on page 11), we’ve never seen rounds get burned off, firing on their own because of the heat.  There might be an idea there.    

An odd sorta-cameo by Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon, who Superman apparently defeats in the waterfront district. An eagle-eyed reader asked Larsen about it in issue #6 of Dragon’s own book, and he nixed any proper crossover rumours, saying it was just a shout-out from Larsen’s buddy Karl Kesel.  Eventually they’d meet in Superman/Savage Dragon: Chicago, a so-so crossover in 2002.

A slightly bawdy joke from one of the Loophole gang, on page 14, as the moll of Deke Dickson calls Loophole a “weiner”.  

GODWATCH: A stirring moment when Superman detects the faintest of life-signs, thanks to would-be super-pup, Krypto, and responds “God willing” when someone asks if anyone is alive in that wreckage.  The love and concern in Superman’s eyes when he says he’d “rather die” himself than let little ones perish is a tear-jerker moment for sure.  Bonus points for the cuteness of Superman heaping praise on Krypto, with the line “if that dog could fly, I’d put a cape on him…”

Question:  Does Jimmy know? He comes up with the solution to the Clark problem very conveniently.  Maybe he’s smarter than we (and by we, I mean Max) give him credit for? [Max: It was all Krypto! Okay, I’ll concede that maybe Jimmy is as smart as a dog.]

#superman #karl kesel #tom grummett #doug hazlewood #superboy #steel #supergirl #S.T.A.R. Labs #eradicator #loophole #maggie sawyer #dan turpin #sydney happersen #tana moon #bibbo bibbowski #krypto #dickvault #the man whose dick is a vault