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willidleaway · 3 years

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OK, let’s talk about Deltarune Chapter 2. Right off the bat two things:

Toby Fox could have been charging 20 USD for this or asked people to pre-purchase the remaining chapters to play Chapter 2, and I’m frankly very surprised (if delighted) that he didn’t.

Soundtrack’s bopping. If you don’t feel like playing two free chapters of a game, which by themselves will give you nine hours of a brilliant time in an absolutely insane world filled with mad characters that all still manages to hold together somehow, I can still recommend giving the OST a listen and then a buy if you are so inclined.

And with that and the spoiler-free lead image out of the way, let’s actually (largely incoherently) talk about Deltarune Chapter 2 below the Read More line. Spoilers galore, including for a bonus enemy ...

OK, so this guy is still a card:

But some non-positive observations to begin with: the Castle Town is nice to look at but maybe a bit uninteresting for the moment, since it’s a completely separate Dark World from the main underworld of Chapter 2. It seems perhaps like a decent hub world for people who haven’t replayed the previous chapter and need some refreshers, especially with the dojo challenges. But some of the other mechanics associated with the Castle Town like recruiting, fusing items, and so forth are as yet unclear. But perhaps it hints at more interaction between chapters through the Castle Town.

And that’s all the non-positive observations I have about Deltarune Chapter 2. It’s not even a negative observation, just taking note of potential seeds being planted for the remainder of the game.

Now. Now now now now now.

I don’t know how Toby Fox manages to continue coming up with such a diverse array of antagonists all so ridiculous and insane in their own special way, but he continues to outdo himself. And not only is Queen insane but so is literally everything that happens in Cyber City and then in Queen’s Mansion, like the layers of truces across Queen and her quasi-willing peons:

and indeed, ye Triumphant Returne of Rouxls Kaard, absolute card:

But the madcap side of things doesn’t mean there isn’t real attention to fleshing out everything introduced in Chapter 1, in tandem on both the narrative side and the gameplay side. As far as the latter, we can (finally) get party members other than Kris to undertake at least basic standard non-magical actions on their own that don’t cost Tension Points, which is very much welcome. But at the same time managing TP well is even more important than before. A lot of careful grazing makes certain fights a great deal easier, in a way that I didn’t really notice for most of Chapter 1 (with the possible exception of Jevil, who I still haven’t successfully pacified). The attacks are correspondingly far denser and often don’t leave too much margin for error, but as someone with minimal hand-eye coordination I still had a reasonable time completing Chapter 2.

Well, except for one particular enemy.

oh god this fight used up every single recovery item I had

Spamton NEO is an interesting enemy, arguably more so than Jevil, and I’m not just saying that because I managed to spare Spamton but still haven’t had any success with Jevil. For one, finding the pieces of the key for Jevil’s cell is straightforward, whereas finding the Empty Disk for Spamton is itself a nightmarish dodge-fest. But more importantly, you actively have to seek Jevil out in Chapter 1, whereas your first encounter with Spamton is actually mandatory as part of the main story and then you optionally follow up on Spamton’s lead later to be able to face off against his NEO form.

Perhaps relevant to the forced nature of Spamton’s introduction is his relevance to Deltarune as a whole despite his bonus boss status. Compared to Jevil’s dialogue, Spamton’s babblings seem far more directly tied to the central themes of Deltarune around choice or agency, or rather a lack thereof (in stark contrast to Undertale’s general ethos). Jevil mostly just wants to wreak mischief and chaos; Spamton is fuelled by a need for freedom, to no longer be a puppet of ... something. And facing him in this way obviously clearly affects Kris, whose own free will is in real question ...

Oh yes, it seems now we’re really getting into the real core of Deltarune’s story, with all of the lore about the Roaring and more talk of the Knight leading up to this ending. But are Kris and the Knight one and the same? Or is Kris a puppet of the Knight? Or ... is it even the other way around? (No idea if that makes any sense but it sounds like a cool thing to throw out there.)

And another thing: this staticky smile ...

I would guess that’s Chapter 3′s boss once we actually go through this new Dark World, but why does this static remind me of the static you see behind Spamton’s glasses in some of his creepier shop dialogue? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but there’s certainly an embarrassment of riches to over-analyse, even around Chapter 2′s bonus boss.

And I haven’t even talked about every other character being amazing. Susie of course continues to undergo really positive development, but Noelle seems to get the bulk of the attention honestly—we not only get her to finally interact with Susie, but we also learn more about her past as well her family, both about her lost sister (strongly implied to be named December) and her mother. The latter we get not only through more dialogue with her father Rudy but also in an implicit sense through her interactions with Queen, which may well mirror her fractious relationship with an overbearing mother.

Ralsei’s characterisation doesn’t try to expand as much, instead continuing to detail what’s already been planted throughout Chapter 1—his rule of the Castle Town, his awareness of the danger posed by the potential dark/light imbalance, and so forth—but nothing quite as revelatory as with Noelle. It doesn’t mean I can’t try my best to ship Kris with Ralsei though ...

Anyway, fluffy boys and mean girls aside, it’s also nice to see characters like Berdly—who seemed like a completely incidental one-note gag character in Chapter 1—get fleshed out with reasonably compelling (although obviously insane) motivation and backstory, and one wonders which other characters may get this sort of treatment in future.

Speaking of other characters as well, how cute and/or cool are all of the new enemies and enemy-adjacent characters???

Part of me suspects Tasque Manager in particular is actually carefully engineered to break the Internet. But my favourite is Swatch, who gives off weirdly Tuxedo Mask-esque vibes to me:

And an additional bit of speculation: I strongly suspect we’ll see some persistent things across the chapters that aren’t necessarily linear in progression. When I brought Spamton’s shadow crystal to Seam, they basically chided me for not having Jevil’s crystal (for god’s sake Seam it’s not for lack of trying), but then said this:

Is it possible that the game’s keeping track of certain global things outside of any of your individual saves, and some of these certain global things might not just have to do with optional bonuses ... ? Is it possible that some of these certain global things may enable cross-chapter nonlinear gameplay to accompany all of the other Castle Town mechanics introduced in Chapter 2?

Or do I just not want to replay all of Chapter 2 if I manage to pacify Jevil?

Time will tell. How much time?

Only time will tell on that front too, I guess.

Overall: Chapter 2 of Deltarune is another spectacular episode in Toby Fox fleshing out this unbelievable yet somehow credible world in his madcap way, and you can bet I will be watching for future chapters with great interest.

PS: I finished Chapter 2 of Deltarune to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now—

look expiration dates are important okay

#undertale #deltarune

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curious-minx · 3 years

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Notable 2020 Video Game Soundtracks That Can Be Enjoyed As Standalone Experiences

Video Game Music is gaining recognition, with many soundtracks receiving vinyl pressings, orchestral concert reviews, and an increasing presence on music streaming platforms such as bandcamp and Spotify. We’re also witnessing the uprise of indie video game development teams where games are being made by the sort of passionate type of game designer that takes soundtracks seriously. Soundtracks by small teams of developers such as Celeste, Undertale, Disco Elysium, Hollow Knight, RuneScape, and Lisa: The Joyful are titles with soundtracks that easily stand up against the likes of bigger budget productions made by reliable sources of video game music like Square-Enix and Nintendo.

2020 is no exception in terms of having one of the biggest budget soundtracks around with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which builds upon a legacy of industry-standard-creating soundtrack work. Taken as a whole, Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s soundtrack is clocking in at over 8 and half hours of music. The soundtrack has three composers with the Beethoven of video game music, Nobuo Uematsu, most notably coming out of retirement to get the job done. Here are some other amazing 2020 video game soundtracks more conducive for standalone background listening:

TETRIS EFFECT by HYDELIC

Genres: EDM, Ambient Pop and straight up Ambient

Describing this album makes me feel like I’m some sort of burnt out fanciful raver, head permanently lodged in the clouds. The level of giddy technicolor enthusiasm rivals that of Icelandic Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi, but if he wanted to keep his post-rock firmly planted in the outdoor music festival on Mars territory. Despite the album’s notable two hours runtime, each and every song feels like its own uniquely crafted composition, no repetitive motifs or nostalgia-baiting.

There is unfortunately still a Tetris movie in some sort of shaggy state of development in Hollywood right now. The movie is being billed as a dull biopic about the creator of the Tetris game. Whereas listening to Tetris Effect you imagine a Tetris movie directed by someone more fitting like the Wakowskis. Tetris Effect’s opening song “Connected (Yours Forever)” is a bonafide vocal pop song, like a more sugary CVRCHES-style cooing of the lyrics:

“I’m Yours Forever

There is No End in Sights For Us,

Nothing Can Measure the Kind of Strength Inside Our Hearts,

It’s all connected we’re all together in this life, don’t you forget it

We’re all connected in this”

Try your best not to imagine a cast of Hollywood’s most beautiful plucky orphan mutant misfit youths using the power of Tetris to heal a broken and dying planet!

Notable Track: Next Chapter

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HADES by DARREN KORB

Genres: Progressive Metal, Folktronica, Folk Metal, Dimotika, Greek Folk Music

Darren Korb has become one of the most notable video game composers of the past decade. Korb, an integral member of the Supergiant family, continues to outdo himself with each and every soundtrack. Bastion and Transistor originally found Korb creating a niche for himself with downtempo folk-infused electronic soundscapes and even some vocal pop with collaborator Ashley Barrett. Hades is an altogether different beast for Korb, who much like the developers of Hades, have found themselves at the height of their powers.

Korb also contributes vocals on this album, and I can say without hesitation that these are some of the nicest vocals I’ve ever heard from a video game music designer, because video game musicians are bonafide musicians.The album clocks in at two and half hours and separate from its game is still an absolute thrill ride.

Notable Track: In The Blood

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DEFECTIVE HOLIDAY by MECHATOK

Genres: Ambient Trance, Balearic Beat, Progressive Electronic, Nature Recordings, Spoken Word, New Age

One glance at the album artwork is all it took for me to know that I must listen to this album. Defective Holiday is an indie walking simulator that is explicit about its intentions: a lightly interactive one hour experience. This soundtrack clocks in at only 31 minutes and it is purely the most conventional album in terms of length.

Last week in late November, Mechatok announced a collaboration with one of the leading zoomer Swedish cloud rap mavericks Bladee, the cofounder of the Drain Gang. Last month gives a pretty clear picture of what kind of circles Mechatok is floating in on. Highly online gonzo vaporwave maestro James Ferraro is another apparent influence on this soundtrack, especially regarding the way the sinister mundane dialogue is woven into the soundscape. There’s one particular track on the Defective Holiday OST, “Rescue Shot Buibo”, that is adorned with standard trap-style drum fills that give the album a shot of energy before wandering back off into the haze. This soundtrack and video game is all about the pure vibe and aesthetic nature that are currently trending in these extremely stressful times. In a time where all of our holidays were defective from the very start, I think the casual walking simulator will remain a genre high in demand. I have a feeling we’re going to hear a lot more from this empathetic young German.

Notable Track: Valley

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Last of Us II by Gustavo Santaolalla, Mac Quayle (and Ashley Johnson)

Genres: Ambient, Cinematic Classical, Dark Ambient, Spanish Folk Music

The Last Of Us is a horror game where the music itself is arguably playing a critical character role, which can only be expected billing two titans of audio visual soundtracks. Of course Academy Award winner Santaolalla knows his way around a soundtrack. Wielding a resume of astonishing versatility in various TV and film projects, he might have found his higher calling in not only video games but in the horror music canon. Last of Us is an extremely emotional series, and with the wrong soundtrack, the experience could become insufferably bleak. The occasional splashes of color and light are what make this soundtrack so unsettling and eerie. Not since Silent Hill 2’s Akira Yamaoka has there been such an effective standalone horror video game soundtrack experience. No wonder Gustavo Santaolalla is one of the only video game composers integral enough to the game to warrant a cameo banjo-playing character model based off of him.

As if having one major composer from prestigious TV and movies wasn’t enough, Mac Quayle, composer of the whole Mr. Robot series, contrasts against Santaolalla’s acoustic contributions. The soundtrack itself is sequenced in a way that switches between the two composers. “The Cycle of Violence” composed by Quayle, a track that more than lives up to its name, is immediately followed by Santaolalla’s somber “Reclaimed Memories.” This dance between violence and heart is what the Last of Us excels at as a franchise, and that is why this soundtrack is an effective stand-alone experience.

The only disappointing part of the soundtrack is that Ashley Johnson, voice actor of Ellie’ three songs, is not included in the game’s official tracklist. Ellie’s “Take On Me” a-ha and “Future Days” Pearl Jam covers have made a little history by being the most powerful songs sung by a video game character. When Ellie sings and plays on her guitar they aren’t some little Easter egg idling moments to provide levity for this heavy revenge horror story. These songs are used to make some of the strongest character development choices made by a video game character seen in recent years. Ellie is joining a small club of singing video game characters alongside Parapa the Rapper and maybe the cast of obscure Atlus title Rhapsody: Musical Adventure.

Notable Track: Unbroken

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Persona 5 Royal Straight Flush Edition by Shoji Meguro

Genre: Acid Jazz, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Lounge, Jazz-Funk

This is one of those soundtracks that, much like Nobuo Uematsu’s work in Final Fantasy, is really the heart and soul of the entire Persona franchise (and his work in the adjacent Shin Megami Tensei universe is equally as noteworthy). Persona 5 Royal finds Meguro making his most complete, funky, and otherworldly opus that sounds like no one else in the biz.

You will find many people online scouring message boards, subreddits, bandcamp features, and Yahoo Answers looking for more music like Persona 5. Outside of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, how many other games are packed to the brim with truly foxy songs!? Persona 5 could not predict how badly the title “Throw Away Your Mask” would age, despite the game being more than ahead of its time with the majority of NPCs wearing PPE. Be a good Joker, put on your mask and keep chasing Meguro’s acid jazz-infused dragon through many more semesters to come.

Notable Track: I Imagine

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Streets of Rage 4 by Olivier Deriviere & Various

Genres: Electro House, Nu Jazz, Synth Funk, Acid House

Composer Olivier Deriviere is a living definition of a video game soundtrack journeyman. He has a career stretching back to the early 2000s working on notable big budget titles like the divisive 2008 Atari fifth Alone in the Dark installment and Remember Me, an unsung buried gem from the PS3/360 era Capcom title. Remember Me is where Deriviere’s electronic leanings started becoming especially prominent in his sound. On the Streets of Rage 4 soundtrack Deriviere has completely come into his own element, developing a whole new sense of campy playfulness.

Electronic French House music can be a divisive genre. For every Daft Punk commercial success there is a band that ruffles feathers like Justice. I sense a strong presence of late departed French House titan Philippe Zdar of Cassius as well. If you’d played this soundtrack for me out of context, I would have guessed an obscure voguing tape from the 80s or a really talented mysterious DJ set. Instead, this is a sequel to a classic beat em up franchise that left a portion of players disappointed by the game’s four hour playtime. The soundtrack is over an hour and fifty minutes long of high octane House music bliss. Much like the Tetris Effect soundtrack, it is truly impressive how much depth these tracks have when they could have easily been nostalgic recycled beats. Sometimes a game’s soundtrack can offer more post game enjoyment than an actual game.

Notable Track: Chill Or Don’t

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Hylics 2 by Chuck Salamone & Mason Lindroth

Genres: Experimental Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Hypagogic Pop, Stoner Rock, Jazz-Rock

A soundtrack that comes closest to capturing the experience of hearing the Earthbound or Katamari Damacy soundtracks for the first time. The Hylic indie RPG series is a wonderful and strange beast that is ready to frolic and show its playful side. Hylics is a part of a recent uprising of indie games being developed on the RPG Maker software. 2020 year has left us all with variations of the same stressed out adjectives: Weird. Messed Up. Surreal.

Why not listen to an album from a game that is the perfect embodiment of that surreal mantra? Step away from your computer, draw a bath, and put this album on. Thank me later!

Notable track: Xeno Arcadia

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Ultrakill: Infinite Hyperdeath (Act I Soundtrack) by Heaven Pierce Her aka game developer Arsi “Hakita” Patala

Genres: Drum and Bass, Industrial Metal, Ambient, Progressive Metal, Acidcore

Nothing says “modern indie game development” more than a game built completely from the ground up by one person. Ultrakill’s developer “Hakita” is one of those kindly folkloric DIY figures that make video games such an extensive art form. The game is a painstaking gloriously bloody ode to Dooms of yesteryear but with plenty of its own fine tuned style. The perfect soundtrack for when you’re painting your personal Hell a darker shade of gore, but also would really like to kick your ass into shape if you need an adrenaline boost to your Quarantine blues.

Notable Track: Panic Betrayer

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Risk of Rain 2 by Chris Christodoulou

Genres: Progressive Rock, Space Rock, Space Ambient, Post-Rock

Something about the country of Greece brings the best kind of futurism out of the country’s composers. Christodoulou’s Risk of Rain 2 soundtrack is no Bladerunner knock off. This soundtrack for the colorful sci-fi indie rougelike is punchier and less nocturnal than your typical synth-heavy sci-fi soundtrack. Risk of Rain is one of the more successful Kickstarter series around and has the best quality an indie game can have: it feels like a labor of love on all fronts. There’s no reason a rougelike like Rain of Ruin or Hades needs a soundtrack this good, but Christodoulou casts a spell with his electronic-driven prog rock that makes you want to keep respawning. A huge missed opportunity if Christodoulou does not get to soundtrack an earnest sci-fi action-adventure for even big screens. Oh! This soundtrack also features some spoken word segments from Werner Herzog; what more do you need to know?

Notable Track: The Rain Formerly Known As Purple

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Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus by Guillaume David

A big debut project from an up-and-coming composer Guillaume David. Prior to the making of this soundtrack, David was a video game voice actor who worked on a Resident Evil Devil May Cry crossover voicing the character of “Hunk.” Warhammer 40K might become a franchise that more people will care about solely based on the quality of this installment’s soundtrack. When you see the title Warhammer 40,000, what sort of sounds come to mind? If you guessed “Neo gothic cyber Gregorian chants that seamlessly melds the ancient and futuristic”, you would be correct. A turn-based action game could possibly fall into dull territory, but with a visual identity as strong as Warhammer 40K melded with a suitable musical atmosphere, the action and world becomes irresistible. This soundtrack is a brisk 56 minutes and the other soundtrack on this list with a more conventional runtime. Not a second is wasted on this dynamic and fantastical soundtrack. Prior to hearing this soundtrack I had no intention of ever looking into playing a game based off of something as convoluted as Warhammer 40K, but now I very much want to know what these robot priests are about. That’s the magic of a quality soundtrack.

Notable track: Millenial Rage

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Honorable Mentions:

Happy Listening!

#Video Games #Video Game Music #Soundtracks #Top 10 #Video Games 2020 #Final Fantasy 7 #Persona 5 #Streets of Rage #Hylic #Utrakill #Risk of Rain #indie games #Square Enix #Warhammer 40k #last of us #Last of us 2

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autopotion · 3 years

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8 22 23

8. best soundtrack: ohhh my god. tough. it might be cheap to say final fantasy tactics because i've been thinking about it a lot lately, but i do think that soundtrack is really very thoughtful and intricate, and makes smart use of its leitmotifs. it's a bit of an acquired taste imo because it's not as immediately catchy as some other video game osts, but it's meatier than most vg osts i've heard and i do love it a great deal; like the game itself every time i listen to it i feel like i unearth more in its musical themes.

in terms of other soundtracks: ffvii's ost is probably my favorite of the mainline ff series for nostalgia alone (though ffvi and ffix also have great soundtracks). i also really enjoy the soundtracks of hades, outer wilds, stardew valley, tales of the abyss, and undertale. and big shout out to the dragon age inquisition bard songs, elizaveta khripounova killed it

22. if you could immerse yourself in any game for a day, which one and what would you do: jeez. i don't think i would want to be in any of these games, i'm too much of a coward. it might be fun to be a tactics bard since i'm a musician IRL (yeah okay so bard's gender-locked but here's the thing: i'm butch i'm allowed) but i also don't want to get killed because a huge bird decided to fling a meteor at me. stardew valley would be okay if i could just stand on the dock staring at the ocean or the river for six hours, but it wouldn't be especially scenic. if i could like, breathe underwater or something, abzu would be lovely, i'd love to just swim in the ocean forever... explore the ruins

23. biggest disappointment you've had in gaming: hmmm. ffvii remake ended up being okay, like i have my complaints but i also think it did a number of things extremely well, so not that. i started mass effect andromeda this year, but i knew that game was bad, everyone knows that game is bad, so i have no one to blame but myself for playing it and being like "this is bad." man you know what i think banner saga? my sister recommended me that series, she really loves it, and i played through the trilogy last year and came away with a bad taste in my mouth. there's stuff i liked about it i guess but it felt incredibly reactionary and weirdly hostile & conservative. i talked about it with my sister and she was like "oh yeah never thought about it like that before" but it was still like... a shame that a game series she swore by felt kind of shitty to play. don't think i'll come back to that one

#quiznaibus #fury brand #thanks!!

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jaypelt · 4 years

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Cheers for Five Years of Undertale, and its Everlasting Effect on Me

Been a while since I’ve done one of these... I might even be rusty at it! Honestly, what I’ve got right now are more vague thoughts than coherent words in my head. I wasn’t sure if I’d even do this, since I felt it wasn’t entirely necessary. Everybody had so much to say! But spurned on by the display of someone very close to me, the cogs in my head couldn’t help but start turning for me too. So here I am. This isn’t going to be easy, though. Because if you read this, I need you to understand the depth of my feelings. Even if just a little. So I’ll do my best to bare my heart yet again, for the sake of it and everything its done for me. Everything it’ll keep doing for me.

The beginning is usually always one of the hardest parts. A blank space devoid of anything, that you’ve got to somehow miraculously fill with thoughts somebody else could understand. But Undertale is rarely a subject I ever have to struggle so much with. It’s been a long, long five years.

This is re-treading old ground that a number of those who know me are already familiar with, however, I don’t think this would be complete without it. But it will get very, VERY personal. If you’re not comfortable with that, then uh... giving you another warning now. But pushing forward...

Right before UT came out, I hadn’t begun to really unravel quite yet. But I was very close. It was somewhat of a rough transitional period as I moved on from my middle school to high, losing very dear IRL friends and generally continuing to struggle with school, as I had been for years. Untreated ADHD is real nasty. But I’d always had at least some friends, either online, or ones I made throughout the year, to rely on. And I didn’t really think about things. The start of this school year was no different. Even having a... perhaps questionable choice of boyfriend, but, well, he was my first.

I struggled with just about every aspect of school from basically the start, but having a small group, and especially an online partner to come home to everyday, helped me at least get through. In the coming months, however, I’d start to encounter more turbulence. Through aforementioned partner, I met someone who’d come to rely on me far more than he should have. Made even worse by the fact that he was a full grown adult while I was only 14, which will be a recurring trend. And has been for most of my life.

We hit it off pretty quickly, becoming good friends and talking to each other outside of mutual friend spaces. And through that, he started to open up about his problems. Living with a family that treated him poorly, suicidal urges, and particularly, an abusive boyfriend. If you know me well, I’ve probably definitely talked about this at least a little.

My daily routine starting becoming supporting this person through all of his troubles. Sitting in skype calls or exchanging messages for hours at a time on the daily. Rarely did a day go by where I didn’t, slowly sinking into an apathetic pit from overextending myself for the sake of his mental health. I couldn’t even help him improve, all I could do was just try to keep him alive. Which, well, I did. For months.

Everything else fell to the wayside as I was constantly stressed about the life of someone I cared about. Obviously my school life suffered even further. I grew withdrawn from everyone, and kept only to the few online friends I had. However, in the midst of this downward spiral, just before the ball really got rolling, a certain game came out. Exactly a month after it had come out, October 15th, 2015, I’d become interested after all the talk on tumblr about Undertale.

After watching a playthrough on youtube(I didn’t play for myself at first, a pity), It’d personally resonated so strongly and gotten me so hooked that it was something I invested a fair amount of my time into consuming content about. I grew super attached to all these characters that’d made me laugh, smile, cry... just this whole spectrum of emotions. And someone in particular, Alphys, really caught my attention after things had begun to get worse.

She felt so... relatable, though I couldn’t possibly tell you all the reasons. When I think about it, we’re not really the most similar, but something about her just hooked me. Maybe because she had all these things going on that nobody knew about. And that she lied. And felt so anxious interacting with anyone after she’d previously been much warmer and closer. That she was closer to “disappearing” than she seemed.

Whatever the reasons, the months moving further along, consuming content about UT practically became my lifeline. I reblogged heaps and heaps of posts about it, watched videos, listened to the soundtrack, even started drawing because I’d been so inspired. When I was just stuck in this horrible pit of second-hand depression, it was the one thing that still made me happy. I started to really think about why it mattered to me and how. It’s funny, I’d read books obsessively for years before then, but UT was the thing that really got me thinking. It was all downhill from there, I tell you. Now I’m an artist and a writer. Horrific.

But, unfortunately, for all its good... it couldn’t stop what was to come. I was still getting worse and worse, with no end in sight. I’d already been supporting... let’s call him Phil, for a few months. And in December of that year, my boyfriend completely dropped off the grid for a while. I’d see him appear online sometimes and I’d message him, but no response, then right back to offline. Finally, he came back, approaching me with something he obviously was uncomfortable about.

To make a long story short, he’d come to the conclusion that he was straight, and decided to end the relationship. What’s bad is that... honestly? I was already doing so poorly that I had a hard time caring. But we did pretty much stop talking, and I leaned into Undertale all the more. Anyway, time continued to pass. Not without its few ups, and mostly downs. I got used to being called “mature”, usually followed by “especially for your age.” “Phil” told me that if I were legal, he’d date me. I’ve got a crippling fear of screwing up with people that’s stuck with me to this day, after a few occasions involving him. I considered doing some... not so great things to myself. Thankfully, I was always so averse to physical pain that it didn’t become anything extreme.

As for the few ups, there was “Phil” finally managing to leave his abusive relationship, when he’d tried previously and fallen into such a bad depressive episode I had to talk him down. So that was something. He’d even started going to therapy after the second break up.

Not that it did a whole lot. The school year began approaching its end and nothing had really changed. I’d been going through all the same motions for around half a year or more. My sleep was terrible, I was passing almost none of my classes, had practically no friends to speak of, and just felt... tired. All the time. But during this... the minute beginning of a monumental shift started. Another character in UT had begun to clutch me in his grasp. Even more strongly than Alphys. Flowey. Through the posts a singular person on tumblr had made about him and my experience with the geno run, I came to understand the dumb little flower more. Which is also funny, because he was previously my least favorite. Even, yes, after the Asriel reveal.

I’m having a difficult time weaving together this convoluted timeline of events, but it was around... perhaps March or early April that the person whom I’d been supporting for almost a full fucking year completely disappeared. Without a word. The one thing I’d tried to stick to for so long was just. Gone. So I drifted about with, well, no purpose.

By the end of the school year, it probably goes without saying that I was... not doing great. But one those aforementioned acquaintances I’d only just started to become actual friends with came forth to me with a question. That being if there was some way for us to keep contact during the summer. So I gave her my email, which would turn out to be a decision that saved my life. Because things would only get worse before they got better.

This is getting to be way, way, way too long. So to summarize, summertime came around and I’d been in pretty close contact with... I’ll just call her V. She was... well, unlike anyone I’d ever known. Someone who stood out with the intelligence you could just see in their eyes. Outgoing, charismatic, compassionate... all those sorts of things. We were opposites in a lot of ways. Or, at least, it felt like it.

Some things happened, like “Phil” coming back after months of nothing. Me immediately slotting back into my role of being a pillar of support, but then screwing up and hating myself for it. But honestly, that ain’t shit to the rest of the whole shitshow.

For a bit of context, my parents are divorced. So for most of the previous years, I’d been going to my mom’s place during the summer and staying with her the whole time, to make up for how rarely we’d see each other otherwise. That year... she was beginning to run low on money. She lived next to my granny, but still basically alone, compared to how she’d been staying with someone else in hotels for the few prior years.

After learning she didn’t have enough to pay rent and might be kicked out, she tried to appeal to her mom, who said she wouldn’t let her stay. Why? I don’t know. After that, she spiraled into a panic. And, well, the ever faithful little worker bee, I stepped forward to try and console her in any way I could. She seemed to recompose, at least a little. It wasn’t great, and she thought she’d have to do some unsavory things in order to survive, but... I thought that, just maybe, I’d done something.

But... later that night, she started drinking. Which... well, put her in a mood. Exacerbated by the day’s earlier events and the fact that she was taking medication that responded poorly to alcohol. She came over to where I was sitting, my little makeshift desk I’d put together to set up my desktop, with my little sister just in the other room. Just... a warning for this next part, it’s... grim. More grim than anything else in this thread.

She proceeded to tell me she was going to go upstairs and grab the gun my granny kept in her room. And berated me for thinking I’d done anything to help, saying she “wasn’t like my little friends” that I could simply talk to. With that, she walked away, heading upstairs. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so crushed in my entire life, to this day. I broke down crying, sitting in that chair.

Yet, somehow, I managed to stop when I saw her coming back down. She walked back over, pointed the gun at her head, and told me to give her a reason she shouldn’t do it. And also to this day, I.... still don’t know if I said what was right. It was all I could think of. I quietly told her that if she did it, I’d pick that gun up and do it to myself. Same as her. And I asked if she wanted to be responsible for that.

It was true, too. By that point, I didn’t care anymore.

And if there’s one thing I can say about her, it’s that she’s always cared about me. In a horrible, twisted way especially, that night. It was enough to make her silently pull the gun down, go back upstairs, and put it away. One last time... she came down, walked past me to the front door and simply said “I love you.” before going out to sit on the porch.

I’m not sure I’ll ever truly get over the events of that night. I spoke to V afterwards, as I’d been keeping in regular contact, as I said. And even been speaking to her throughout the day about what was happening. I think she was panicking just as much as I had been, and told me to go find the gun and unload it. So I did. Bawling my eyes out the whole damn time. Afterwards, I took the bullets and threw them in the large neighborhood garbage can.

The rest of the night’s a blur. I don’t recall if anything else happened, I just remember waking up tired the next day. My uncle was in the house, as he’d been staying with my granny for a while, but hadn’t been around the night before. I tried to talk to him, but.. couldn’t bring myself to open up. Even though we were pretty close. I went back to my dad’s.

That wasn’t the end of it, either. For the next coming months, I’d get drunken calls and live in fear of being put right back in the same situation. It got so bad that I stopped answering my phone altogether. I broke contact with my mom entirely. I still hate answering or making calls.

Anyway, a few other things happened in the summer, like my applying for online courses. And the subsequent ridicule from my dad’s side of the family for the decision. Tell you what, the stress of taking a test to try and join that online program, then going to golden corral and having to struggle to not cry in front of everyone there was... not the ideal way to spend a birthday. Happy 15 years to me.

So.... that was that. I still went through with online courses and everything kind of... slowed to a crawl. I tried to do school work, but depression and still yet untreated ADHD prevented me from making any substantial progress beyond a few finished classes. For a while I simply... existed in a limbo. All I did was get up, get on my computer, maybe talk to a few people, and play Overwatch. Maybe look at tumblr, as I remained into Undertale. V and I lost contact after school started back up. I never blamed her for it. In fact, I preferred it that way. She didn’t deserve to have such a burden placed on her, and I still... feel guilty for leaning on her so much.

But I’m very thankful. I hope she’s out there living a good life, wherever she is.

And this! Is where we finally get to the not depressing parts! And only... what, 29 paragraphs in? Sheesh... I know I wanted to really illustrate just how shit things were to demonstrate just how much UT did for me, but this is taking it a bit far, isn’t it? Ah well... already made it this far. In for a penny, in for a pound. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! I’m sorry. Truly. And I love you so very dearly.

Time went by and I kept doing my thing. Playing Overwatch(a practically self-destructive behavior deserving a therapy, frankly), talking to the few friends I had that I kept at an arm’s length, that sort of stuff. “Phil” and I no longer talked, thank goodness. Obviously I was depressed as all hell, not bothering to shower, eat, clean up, or do laundry for days on end. I spent more time asleep than I did awake, on most days. Did I say this was where the not depressing part was? I may have lied a little.

Blah blah “more months go by”, you know the drill. Until... I believe, November of 2016. After cementing my love of Flowey ever deeper, I’d started to follow more blogs putting out content for him on tumblr. In particular, the most important ones being I’lltrytobegood, Flowey-Answers, and later happyflowey and Corruptedflora.

It all started with a stream. I joined an art stream of LLA(Lovelyladyartist) on picarto as he worked on ITTBG. I kept quiet for the first few streams I joined, being too anxious to really out myself in any capacity. But little by little, I was coerced out of my shell. Particularly by one SilverKhaos, who I think at the time went by SilverSlayer or something. Anyway, he got me talking. And through that, I started making friends, bit by bit.

Also through the stream, I was introduced to CC(CuteCatDoodles) of Flowey-Answers. I obsessively read through the entire blog in a single sitting, just... having such a good time with it. And... strangely enough, it... got me feeling oddly better. Like I’d finally started to breath after not being able to for what felt like such a long time. If just a little. The next day, I got out of bed early, cleaned up, took out some garbage, and made breakfast. Just a simple plate of scrambled eggs. A simple, easy morning for most any average person. But for me? It was one of the most special mornings I’ve ever had.

Likewise, I did the same with Ding’s happyflowey, of reading through all of it in a single night. My head hurt like a motherfucker, but I tell you, it was worth it. The effect perhaps not as profound, but still very meaningful to me, as well as sowing the seeds of yet more relationships to form. If far off in the future, as far as this timeline is concerned. I still adore all of those dumb, charming little flowers so much. Mania would come to inspire my first ever OC, in fact. Thinking about that blog makes me miss when the UT fandom was more active here, even though I never participated in the fandom at large. But I’m grateful for the memories and incredible amounts of enjoyment getting to read it all brought me. I have way too many cropped images of Hysteria.

I wasn’t immediately better, but it was all the start of something new. I kept up with the streams, also joining in for CC’s. For hours upon hours a day, I’d just hop into them and spend the day talking away. I had something to really look forward upon waking up, starting to adjust my schedule so that I at least didn’t miss TOO much. I was able to really make friends, it felt like. Even though I wasn’t and still am not the most socially adept.

And as luck would have it, because picarto chat was and probably still is pretty unstable to this day, it just happened to go down and that led to... the creation of the discord server! It started off small, but steadily got more and more joiners from the growing population of the streams. LovelyLadyArtist, CuteCatDoodles, BrySkye, Flowers-Without-Pots, SilverSlayer, KRS, Donut, Mr.Quarter, Dragoler, Stilla, Chara, RotmModdy, Rowdy, Dunal, and probably at least a few others I’m forgetting... all names I encountered there and most of which I still see daily.

Through that server, we started keeping up even when there wasn’t any stream going on. Just goofing off and having a good ‘ol time. Already I was... well, doing a helluva lot better than I had before. All because of the gathering of a small community surrounding this indie gem. And even further centered in a niche specifically about Flowey! Who, and I’d forgotten to mention this before, I’d found a surprising amount to relate in. He’d become a big, BIG hyperfocus. Which is why I’d met everyone at all. Truly, it’s crazy to think how possible it is for me to have never come down this path.

From there on, I continued to meet new people, established new relationships. I even got invited to an RP server, creatively named “Flower RP” :p. At first I was hesitant, perhaps not even initially 100% interested. But as people really got into it, I felt an incredibly strong Fear of Missing Out. Leading to the creation of a character still near and dear to my heart.... Zorch. The result of contributions from many friends, from design ideas, to character concepts, and even his name(thanks for that, Rowdy). And... I began to write. It wasn’t great at first. very short form, and I didn’t know how to approach the roleplaying mindset, or even how to properly characterize him.

But over time... I got better. I became more confident. I really got into the nitty-gritty of character writing and discussion. I joined in on hours long discussions about the characters, lore, and narrative of Undertale. I’d wake up just to be there as soon as chat began to move, all the way to the point where everyone was finally asleep. I started to be able to help people again. For months, participating in this RP, in this chat, in this community was what I lived for. The joy that I felt in being among friends all working towards and talking about a common goal and interest is, well, honestly still somewhat unrivaled.

Paci, Pots, Neue, Castor, Silver, Nightmare, Rowdy. Me. All of us joined together in mutual love for a game, spurred on to feverishly create our own content about it. I kept up for months on end, living by the mostly same routine for probably the longest I’ve ever stuck to anything. Eventually... things happened and the server’s gone quiet. We had problems with management, people feeling excluded, targeted, etc etc. It was a very... consequence heavy RP, most of us were almost complete newbies to the roleplaying game, and many came to care rather deeply about the ongoings of it. Perhaps too much. But, well... I’m not sure it could have been prevented.

Sometimes, I still wish I could go back to that point of my life. I know someone else who does too. Even more than me. But I know not to try and emulate the past, as alluring as it may seem. So I push forward. Leading to yet another server with its own events. Clement, myself, Rowdy, Zielo, Neue, Moddy, Vee, Mini, Nappy, Tia, Silver. Some familiar names, some new. All still with the foundation of Undertale, but it quickly became a thing for us to just... chill and talk about anything. There was real love in that place. It was at this time that I even started going to therapy! After some struggling with the family. It helped a lot.

In time, that server, too, went under. For reasons that have long since been buried and forgiven. It no longer exists, after being deleted entirely, but I’ll always remember it. And we did eventually all(mostly) gather back together someplace new, which is still being talked in. Even gaining some new additions recently! If any of you guys are catching this one, I love you!

And we come to the final and most recent group. One I wasn’t actually a founding member of, instead being a late joiner. Comparatively smaller than all the ones before, but filled with just as much love. Pip, Ding, Kink, and Cola. Remember when I mentioned happyflowey sowing seeds, and then didn’t even expound in further detail about corruptedflora? Well congratulations, you’ve reached the payoff.

It all started after I began interacting with the mun of CF, Kinko, and became mutuals with them. We usually just spam reblogged from each other on occasion for a while. That is, until I got messaged, then sent a friend request through Discord. Which, even still, didn’t immediately go anywhere. But eventually... some things led to another, and we joined up in a particular server. Not one I’ll be naming, but times were... turbulent in there. It went under and we lost contact a bit after that.

That is, until completely out of the blue, I just get invited to a server with them and some pals to just join in on Roblox shenanigans. Imagine me, sweating and anxious as hell after getting asked to join a server with two people behind blogs I adore, considering Ding was there too. Cardiac arrest, I tell you. And obviously more than just them too! But the night turned out to be so fun that I forgot I’d ever been so anxious in the first place.

From there on... the rest was history. There’s been many, MANY ups and downs, but I’ve found yet more people I love very, very dearly. And they’ve gotten me to open up about the way I feel the most. In the past years, I could never tell someone I loved them, no matter how much I really wanted to. The words just couldn’t come out, but they... they brought that out in me. And now I can say it whenever I want! Like now! I love you guys!!! So much!!!! And not just you all, but everyone else too!!! And much love to Kink especially for being a driving force behind me making this, as well as just being a goddamn star.

So... as a final ovation... LLA, CC, Bry, Drago/Paci, Pots, Silver, Donut, Quarter, Stilla, Chara, Moddy, Rowdy, Neue, Castor/Skater, Tia/Nightmare, Clement, Zielo, Vee, Nappy, Ding, Pip, Cola, and Kink. As well as some stragglers like Log, Ingrid, and Jai. I’m probably still forgetting some... but thank you all for being my friends. It’s been a long, long five years. And yet, many of you are still in my life. In at least some form. There aren’t words enough to express my gratitude towards every single one of you for the most incredible years of my life and pulling me from what can be called nothing less than the fucking abyss. You all made and continue to make life worth living.

And thank you, Undertale. The game behind all of these relationships. The game that inspired such strong feelings in me when nothing else could. That made me into an artist and writer. The reason I’m still alive. The game that changed my fucking life and will continue to affect me, I believe, for the duration of it. I really cannot overstate just how important you were and still are. There’ll never be anything else like you.

#this is probably littered with mistakes and things that didn't need to be there #Like the sheer amount of context provided for how poorly I was doing #But too late to change things now!#My brain hurts too much to bother proofreading #So take this raw and unfiltered thing and do what you will with it #Or don't #It's a rough read #Don't push yourself through it if you can't #Or simply don't want to #long post

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woodys · 4 years

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So for some random reason back in 2010 I started keeping track of my own personal “Song of the Year”. They were just songs that I a) abused on repeat, b) could listen to at anytime. Laugh or Cry or whatever and just feel in my element in. and c) were just ideally comfort songs—No matter how many years passed these songs just transcended and stapled and defined my entire year and that point of time of my life. It was just a fun thing to do then, but now that everyone’s like ‘omg end of the decade’ and all that it’s hit me how important it actually was for me to keep up with that and how in recent years how music has become so important to me. I don’t think i’ve ever published them all everywhere ( i’ve wanted to, but i can’t recall a post of me doing it ) so i’m going to now. Even if 2019 is breaking my rules and norm of (1) song for the year. So even though no one asked, these are the top songs that defined my decade.

2010 — Toy Story: "You've Got a Friend In Remix" ( Toy Story 3 was also released this year. Stayed as my most played song for maybe 4 years. )

╚ ♥ Honorable mentions: Tonight, Much Better ( this the year my jonas phase went full throttle after seeing them in concert rip )

2011 — Take You To Rio ( It’s been a minute since i’ve seen it but Rio still is one of my top 10 animated movies of all time. I will NEVER not dance to this song. I also recall seeing this movie the same day I met my first pet, Izzy. )

╚ ♥ Honorable mention: Lighthouse ( every joe jonas fc i had at the time somehow had to reflect this song and i always made it work no matter what ALWAYS LIKE NEVER FAIL )

2012 — When Can I See You Again ( Unfortunately this is still one of the songs I can’t get back to listening to properly because I heavily associate it with my mom, but Wreck It Ralph was one of our movies and it’s also one of my top favorite UNDERRATED animated movies of all time. )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mention: Super Mario 3D Land | Special World 8 (Crown)

2013 — First Time ( The Jonas Brothers were calling themselves doing something and I met one of my very best friends through this song which started the beginning of a flurry of OCs i’ll never forget. I also remember crying hearing this song live, next to my mom, the day before my birthday as they’d come in concert. Also linking the video because it’s always the best one they’ve done in my opinion. So glad for the Jonas Brothers carrying me through the decade, honestly. )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mentions: MitchiriNeko March , Found

2014 — Tonight ( One of my favorite OCs of all time, Spike, was thriving and alive in a RPG that handed me another pair of forever friends. He was a brony, and also a DJ. The first time I heard it was in a MLP music compilation. This song became his “theme song” and eventually my entire muse that defined him. I contribute Spike and this song to being the turning point of me tripping into a huge vibe for EDM / dance music. It really breathed life into his character and in turn, me offline as well. )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mention: Jadakiss - Who's Real ( aka the only rap song you’ll ever catch me listening to and even then its the clean version)

2015 - PORTA VISTA ( If you know me you know this song. )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mentions: Bunny Day, Cephaloparade

2016 — Snowy ( Or also affectionately known as my beloved Snowy.mp3, my best friend talked me into playing Undertale. I really spots games for me, so if he says i’ll enjoy something I believe in him that i’ll enjoy it. He was right on this one. It was MLK Day, I streamed it, and I played for like 8 hours straight to finish it. However, Snowy, one of the first tracks of the game has my heart and forever will. I’ve made beautiful memories with this song, including my most favorite one that includes my mom. It took me nearly a year to be able to listen to it again without breaking down, but it fills me with so much love and joy. Only the in game/pitch corrected version though. The soundtrack version is less peaceful and too fast! </3 )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mentions: Wait For It, I’m Still Standing

2017 - NOCTIS ( FFXV ruined my life. Got a PS4 and honestly, it was a great, smooth, year for the last year for my mom and I to be together. Also now that i’m thinking about it, to pick this song is really grim to think about as a foreshadow of what’d happen a year later. yikes. )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mentions: Pokemon Sun & Moon - Royal Avenue , Fighting Onward, Ski ( Ski for the sole reason it dropped on an ACTUAL RARE SNOW DAY in my city and made everything that much magical )

2018 - Snow Day ( i have a very vivid memory i’d rather not go into detail about with this song. but i do remember it being along big changes that were happening in my life. moving, death, and everything else. )

╚ ♥ Honorable Mentions: Night Changes ( still can’t listen to this one either tho haha ) , Lúcio - Bem-vindos à Society 2.0 (Viemos para ficar)

2019 - CATCHY SONG / Back & Forth / From Here ( I’m breaking my tradition of just one song in favor for three. Music was a HUGE part of my year and I couldn’t choose JUST ONE to blanket define this year, a big year of growth and love. The Catchy Song is because Spotify told me so and it wasn’t wrong i love that song , Back and Forth is the song I had on repeat when I first met my cat, Richard, and From Here is ... man. From Here came from Rocket League, something that really became a big love of my life this year. It hits me in a way I can never describe. I can lay around, close my eyes, and transcend to that song.

╚ ♥ Honorable Mentions: BONE DRY, Chasing Shadows, Used To Be, Playing With The Boys ( Cover )

I love seeing how much my taste varies and all the memories these songs bring up for me. Here’s to another decade full of songs! ♥

#2k19 tag #this took so aggrevatingly long to do but was very therapeutic to venture down a decade of my life through music. like big wow #*#**

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doctor-ciel · 5 years

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"What is OneShot and why should I play it?"

Ah, what a wonderful question. OneShot is an indie RPG with a 97% rating on Steam and a 98% from Google users. Its developer is Little Cat Feet and its composer is Casey Gu. It's a really cute metafictional game with interesting gameplay and endearing characters! Its description on Steam says, "OneShot is a surreal top down Puzzle/Adventure game with unique gameplay capabilities. You are to guide a child through a mysterious world on a mission to restore its long-dead sun. The world knows you exist."

"Metafictional, you say? Does that mean it's like Undertale or Doki Doki Literature Club?"

Oneshot was actually made before either of them! It was first released in 2014, while Undertale came out in 2015 and DDLC in 2017. It also had a Solstice update in 2016, but I'll talk about that later.

In terms how similar it is to them, I'd say Oneshot is by far more like Undertale than DDLC. The only way it's similar to DDLC at all is that it directly breaks the fourth wall, rather than "leaning" on it like Undertale does. But aside from that, the two games aren't alike at all. First of all, it's not a horror game. In fact, as far as I recall, there is little to no horror elements in the whole game. That's not to say it's saccharine, of course, in fact it's far from it. Speaking of which.......

"I'm really not in the mood to cry. Should I play this game?"

Absolutely not. Chalk that up to another way this game is similar to Undertale(note that I'm only comparing it to Undertale and DDLC because they're the most popular indie meta games -- I could talk about Oneshot's similarities to OFF, for example, but that's a post for another day). Anyways, Oneshot is a VERY emotional game. Without going into too spoiler-y territory, it gets you to care about the characters and the world a LOT, and then puts you in very stressful situations regarding them.

"What was the "Solstice update" you were talking about earlier?"

For the longest time, Oneshot had about half or less the content it has now, had lower quality sprites, and also if you closed the game you couldn't play it again(which, I mean there were reasons behind that, but it's nice that they removed that bit). The whole game was made in one month, but it was free to download.

Then, one day in 2016, an update came out, called the "Solstice Update." I am CERTAINLY not going to tell you what the update was about or the details of how it impacted the game, but for now all you need to know is that it doubled the content, added more to the story, and showed us characters that were only hinted at in the original iteration of the game.

"I'm starting to like the idea of this game, but I'm still on the fence. What are some things about the game that you like that will seal the deal for me?"

Oh boy, I'm glad you asked! As I said before, the characters are endearing, and they also have good character design. The world building is amazing, and focuses on a few specific things that really make the game unique(for example, clovers, libraries, robots, luminescent rocks called "phosphor", rams, the sun, etc.). It also takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, but not neccesarily our world, and (and this is important) it also isn't one of those gritty hellscape worlds where life sucks. The art and soundtrack are also amazing, in fact I'm listening to the soundtrack as I type this. The plot is fantastic, well-paced, and has moments of tension while also having lots of cute and fun-filled moments. The gameplay is unique, but I won't spoil how. And if none of this is working for you, then the main character is a cat child named Niko who loves pancakes, and if that alone isn't the cutest fucking thing, then I don't know what to tell you, you heartless person.

"Should I really get into it?"

I mean, I just wrote a paragraph talking about all the things I love about it, so this may be just a bit biased, but....... yes. Yes you should. The fandom may be small and relatively inactive, but we could always use more members, and I also don't think anyone should miss out on an opportunity to play a game as amazing as this.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. How do I get into this?”

If you want to play the game yourself, you can buy it on Steam for $9.99, or buy the soundtrack bundle for $18.87. If you can't or don't want to buy it, this is a good playthrough of it that includes the Solstice content(if you watch these, I'd look up how to get to the Solstice content after you watch the all endings video, otherwise you might be very confused). Here is the official OneShot trailer.

"I have watched the trailer and played the game and holy shit you were right, this game is amazing! But the fandom is so small and inactive! What should I do?"

As Ghandi says, be the change you wish to see in the world! We can't do much to make other people join the fandom, but we can produce content ourselves! Make fanart, fanfic, and edits, no matter how "skilled" you might consider yourself to be! In fact, if you are a new or unskilled artist, fandoms like these are the perfect place to master your art! I can assure you that every work is appreciated by the underfed fans, and there's not a whole lot of pressure to make masterpieces here! We're all just appreciating this game together. If you're looking for some good OneShot blogs, I'd recommend @daylightsavings, @daily-niko, @here-at-the-eleventh-hour, @oneshotfanbase, @asktheoneshotcast, and @incorrect-oneshot-quotes-blog

#oneshot #oneshot game #niko #the world machine #the entity #calamus #alula #magpie #rue #rowbot #rpg #indie rpg #indie rpgs #game rec #long post

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anime-grimmy · 4 years

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Favourite Gaming Soundtracks of the 2010s

It’s the end of another decade and what a decade it’s been. So much has changed in “just” 10 years, so many cool things have happened, so many amazing games have been released. Since it’s the end of the year I thought I could talk about some things that are dear to my heart. I love music and with so many dope games came just as amazing soundtracks. So, I just wanna let out my thoughts for my favourites. This is not really ranked, but I’ll tell you which my favs are from my favs.

But first, some “honorable mentions” for soundtracks I really enjoy, even though I’ve never played these games.

- Dark Souls / Bloodborne Mystic and gritty, but strangely calming from time to time

- Hollow Knight It came coming on with YT Autoplay and to be honest, I can’t complain. All in all a great soundtrack

- Persona 5 Dude, talk about style. It’s not quite my type of game, but holy fuck, the music is my JAM

- God of War (2018) I DID play this game and I loved it, but the soundtrack didn’t really stick out to me THAT much. Some tracks are downright bone-chilling and epic, but it didn’t have such a big impact on me all in all.

Anyways, on with my list.

Pokemon Sword and Shield

I’m gonna start with a recent one since it’s still fresh in my mind.

I always liked the Pokemon Soundtracks. Though most of the time simplistic, some tracks just have such iconic melodies. However, from Sinnoh onwards, I started liking single tracks more than the soundtrack as a whole. For example. even though most people say Cynthia has the best Champion theme, I can agree an the melody being amazing, but for me, the theme is so loaded, I don’t like it (best Champion theme is still Lance). Alola, for me, started having an upcurve on the soundtrack. I liked it as a whole, though I can’t really remember what exactly stood out to me.

Now Sword and Shield. Dudes, keep going on that route, your OST is amazing. I’ll be honest, the BEST thing of this game is the soundtrack. All have this kinda sporty/cheery sound and even though, let’s say, the normal battle theme isn’t that of a banger, the number of amazing single themes is just so high. Bede’s theme is basically the only thing I like about him, Marnie’s has such a cool tune (and all the metal covers on YT, BRO) and even if many people don’t like Hop’s theme, I really dig it. Some parts remind me of Mirror B.s theme, I dunno why.

And then you have my fav tracks, Rose’s Final Fantasy theme, Toby’s amazing Battle Tower theme AND THE GYM BATTLE MUSIC. I really didn’t like the gym leader theme at first but while playing the game, after each gym leader, it got me more and more stoked when the battle began.

All in all, Pokemon Sword and Shield has an overall enjoyable soundtrack. Filled with bangers, for me it made the game itself so much better.

Animal Crossing

Though I haven’t played the game in a long time, I still listen to the music.

Animal Crossing is just laid out to be this chill and calming ensemble of melodies. And it works. When I’m stressed or have to work on stuff I don’t want to, I usually just put on Animal Crossing music. It calms me and just gives me this warm and fuzzy feeling. It also helps when I have problems sleeping.

A soundtrack to just lie back, close your eyes and just enjoy life.

Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild

Continuing with calm music, let’s talk about my favourite Switch title.

This game often gets flag for “having no music” or too little of it. I know where you’re coming from, but I just think the limited use of the soundtrack makes you appreciate it even more. The moments when the music is used is carefully chosen and that makes it special. Be it the few piano notes that play while the day goes on, the little notification that you’ve entered a new area, the unexpected high energy when you’re fighting (most of all bosses) or the indescribable fear you feel when a Guardian spots you.

There are a few favourite moments I have of the game.

First is the start, when you first leave the cave, run out and this vast landscape opens before you. Just those few piano notes made me all excited for this new adventure. Like dawn is breaking.

The first time I rode on a horse over this wide field and suddenly, the music starts swelling. It was almost magical, the music rising just like my excitement.

The last thing I love is the difference between being in villages and outside. When I noticed that you always have some kind of melody playing when you’re in a settlement it dawned on me how quiet it was outside of them. I love this contrast between being alone in the wilderness with all the quiet and the sudden swell in music when you’re with other people.

This OST amazes me with how much emotion it can convey with often just the smallest amount of notes. An amazing soundtrack for just as an amazing game.

Super Mario Odyssey

So, last Nintendo game on this list, I swear.

This one is a small surprise, but at the same time, it really isn’t. I’ve never really been a fan of the main Mario games, they just aren’t really my thing. (the spin-offs are my jam). However, I’ve always enjoyed Mario’s music. The upbeat tunes really get stuck in your head and the melodies are always so recognizable. Heck, my favourite OST was from Super Mario Sunshine back in the day!

With Odyssey, I really enjoyed both the game and the soundtrack aspect. The worlds are colourful and the gameplay is super fun. Combine that with the stellar soundtrack and the game was such a fun experience, it’s definitely in my top 10. But what I really enjoyed is the diversity of the track. When you listen to the soundtrack on Youtube and you just click on two different parts of the video, I can guarantee that they’ll probably sound completely different but at the same time somehow coherent. The best tracks, in my opinion, are the upbeat ones for sure. The feeling of excitement and adventure just swells so much it’s amazing.

Then you’ve got “Jump up Superstar”. I fucking love this song. It’s so much fun, has such a great tune which gets stuck in your head and the lyrics are so easy to sing along. All things I love in a song. I actually listened to the song on repeat before I even got the game and I couldn’t wait to get to New Donk City to LIVE the song. And I wasn’t disappointed, it was one if not the best moments in the game.

Great game, great soundtrack, 100% fun.

Bravely Default / Bravely Second

(technically on a Nintendo Console, but whatev) I’m just gonna lump this two together, since BS’s the sequel.

Now, JRPGs aren’t really my thing. They often take too long for my tastes, I can’t for the life of me concentrate on the story and characters and after some time they just get stale for me. But now and then, I pick up a series I actually finish and that was Bravely Default and Second. I think I just have such a huge soft spot for the series cause of the art style/atmosphere and the fact that I played 8 hours straight of BD on a flight from Canada home.

I haven’t played the games in forever but when I think about what I like about them, there are 3 things I always think about: characters, art style and soundtrack. The songs might sound generic to most, but to me, with my little knowledge of JRPGs, find them quiet unique. It does at some points remind me of Final Fantasy but I think something just makes the tracks just sound like Bravely, though I can’t put my finger on it.

I don’t know the names of the themes, but even now there are just certain tracks which I link to a certain reaction. Like “oh no, not them again” or “Now shit is getting down”. Or every time the main theme plays, I get absolutely pumped.

Haven’t played the games in forever, but the soundtrack’s still in my mind.

Kingdom Hearts

From one RPG to the next, here’s a very special soundtrack. Kingdom Hearts is a franchise near and dear to my heart. It’s one of the first, if not THE first, RPG I ever played. I just get so nostalgic with this game. I can just remember watching my brother playing KH2, seeing two characters from my favourite franchise run around with this spiky haired boy with this stupidly big key. So much stuff happened I didn’t even understand back then, but just seeing these animated characters laugh and cry and go on this grand adventure, little me was mesmerized.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too happy with KH3. I’ve waited so long for it, just like hundreds of other people, but the end product just, I dunno, lacked the heart it used to. One thing however didn’t, the soundtrack. As sad I was to not enjoy the game as a whole as much as I wanted to, the soundtrack became one of my instant favourites. It sounds grandiose and has so much emotion. Each track sounds amazing but the OST really shines in its more calm and beautiful themes and its epic ones.

My favourite songs are the serene ones, however. “Sincerely Beloved” and the other Utada songs are some of my favourite songs ever and I can’t tell you how close I came to crying with the Sea Salt Icecream Trios themes. Heck, I played Xion’s theme back in the day on the piano and I still can play it now.

As much as KH has gone down in heart, the soundtrack stands up there as one of the best, much thanks to Utada Hikaru as well. It will always be important to me and just reminds me of my childhood. Some very fond memories.

Undertale

Well, let’s get outta the nostalgia feel and turn it up a bit!

Ah, Toby Fox, you madlad. Creating such a great game and subverting so many expectations. Undertale really had a big impact on the gaming scene but for me, the soundtrack really lasted. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the characters and story very much, but I still listen to the soundtrack regularly.

Undertale’s OST is comprised of sad, melancholic, upbeat and downright hype tunes. It has a wide spectrum but Toby Fox really does know how to push Leitmotif. All themes kind of flow great into each other but still manage to stand out and are recognizable. Each character theme fits the character perfectly and I love how their themes usually have some melodies/instruments from the area they’re in. And speaking of areas, as much as I love the character themes I just might prefer the atmosphere tracks even more. I mean, “Snowdin” just sounds like this super laid back, cute little town, “Home” is such a calming song and “It’s raining somewhere else” has such mystique. And, of course, the fact that the tracks have character/plot relevance is just amazing.

Not to mention, Toby Fox created one of the best Meme songs in existence.

Love the game, love the soundtrack even more and I’ll listen to “Death by Glamour” til I die.

Horizon Zero Dawn

I’m so happy I picked up this game. I never bought it cos A, I feel overwhelmed by open world games, and B, it COSTS SO MUCH. But I found it for half the prise and I bought it right before exam week. I know, smart move.

But anyways, the soundtrack. There aren’t any tracks that really stand out to me but I just like it as a whole. It’s such an atmospheric OST and when listening to it as BG music you just HEAR where you are, which tribe you’re in, what you probably did in the game when it played.

And that’s actually a big factor. All in all, I don’t think it’s such a special OST. It sounds great, most tracks are solid, but what really makes it shine is how much it enhances the experience of the game. The gameplay and story are great, but the OST just makes everything so much better, with setting the tone and atmosphere and all that.

I could go on and on about this game, but the soundtrack can be shaved down to a few words. Solid, great and atmospheric.

Monster Hunter World / Iceborne

So, I’ll drop this to second to last because I already made a super long analysis of the soundtrack. I’ll link it here.

https://anime-grimmy.tumblr.com/post/188601659768/some-monster-hunter-ramblings-possible-spoilers

But to put it simply, this is probably my favourite soundtrack at the moment. I just haven’t experienced so many emotions while listening to an OST since a certain game that’s next on the list. I still can’t listen to “Succession of Light” without almost crying (who am I kidding, I cry every time). I dunno why, but so many tracks make me feel such a barrage of emotions, be it excitement for adventure, hype for the hunt or just simply a childlike wonder.

Simply a great soundtrack that will be on top for a long time.

Okami

Technically a game from 2006, but the PS4 version came out like 2017 and I REALLY WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS GAME.

This is my absolute favourite game of all time. Since I played it first when I was about 9 years old, I just really loved this game. I replayed it more times than I can count and dude, I speedrun this game in record time.

For people who don’t know this game, you play as the Sun God Amaterasu, who has been summoned in the body of a white wolf. You job is to banish the evil from Nippon. To say this game awakened my fondness of Japanese culture is, well, spot on. I’ve played this game before I even knew what anime was. The atmosphere, style, themes and mostly the music mesmerized me. It was all so, well, foreign. Even nowadays it stands out from anything else I’ve played.

But on to the OST. Next to it being just amazing in general, it just is so Japanese and that’s what has always stuck out to me. I grew up with very traditional and classical music, back then I didn’t even listen to English/American music. So to hear these melodies and instruments that just sound so unfamiliar was very intriguing. And that just topped of the already amazing tracks. Okami does a great job of having super epic, exciting but also sombre and atmospheric music. It’s also very animated and comedic with it’s use of music. So, the mix of foreign sounds and great timing of amazing tracks just makes the experience all so much more memorable.

Even after 10+ years, Okami never gets boring and no matter how much I play it, the moment I face a boss and the epic music swells, or the moment a calm scene passes and the melody slows, my heart fills with emotion and I’m so glad I played it again.

Well, that’s that! I know it probably often sounds kind of sappy, but music is very special and important to me. If music doesn’t evoke emotions in me, I don’t care about it, even if it sounds great. For me it’s important that, when I listen to a soundtrack, I can remember the game or the scene it played in and the emotions I felt in that moment.

Soundtracks are supposed to make a emotional connection between you and the game and that’s why they are essential. At least that’s how I see it.

Anyways, if you made it this far, I bow my head to you. Thanks for reading and I hope you could somehow share my perspective of these games’ soundtrack. Feel free to tell me about your fav tracks!

It’s been a nice decade, enjoy the rest of 2019!

#favourite gaming soundtracks #2010s #pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #animal crossing #legend of zelda #mario oddesy #bravely default #undertale #kingdom hearts #monster hunter world #monster hunter iceborne #okami #horizon zero dawn #rambling

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mtt-brand-trans · 5 years

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Blog info

I seem to be getting a (small) influx of followers from being @ed by undertalegorls, so here’s a rough outline of what my blog is and hopefully will be in the future!

About me/the blog

I haven’t quite decided on nicknames yet, but for now call me Chris! A lesbian who just recently discovered she’s butch but has been in the Undertale fandom for years. She/her but also testing out he/him, 16, autistic, white and cis. This blog was only started about a week and a half ago, I purposefully made it on Undertale’s fourth anniversary!

As a lesbian, I will obviously be paying special attention to the [gru voice] gorls. But worry not, I love all of Undertale and Deltarune, and you should see plenty of all your favs! Despite what I said in the first sentence, Mettaton is even one of my favorite characters!

I hope to be able to make my own content! For now all I’ve done is make (debatably) funny posts, but I enjoy writing metas and even make art from time to time! I’m mostly good at realism, but every now and then I take a stab at fanart.

My relationship with Asg*re is...... complicated. I was mostly neutral on him until I started following evenmywordsare and undertalegorls, so now my opinion is neutral-leaning-negative. For now my official stance is that if Toby wanted us to like Asg*re, he should either actually redeemed him, made him do something less terrible than kill six kids, or have made him the villain. In my personal canon interpretation, Asg*re is either the villain, living on the surface away from everyone else post-pacifist, or straight-up doesn’t exist. I don’t think about him much so kindly don’t message or ask me about him, I just felt the need to make this bullet point because apparently Asg*re is a hot topic of debate.

Made a vent post about it the other day (epic cringe comp) but there’s a lot of internalized misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc. this fandom needs to unlearn. Hopefully this blog can be a place that I and other people can do that. This does mean, though, that there’s a lot of fanon dissing, especially when it comes to sans and gaster. If I’m ever making fun of them, it’s because I’m making fun of fanon.

I LOVE listening to the soundtrack and picking out leitmotifs, I’m currently working on a google doc that’s compiling them all. I’ve even found some new leitmotifs!

I queue things up to be posted every hour on the hour from 8AM-3PM Pacific time(aka while I’m at school).

Stan list: Alphys, Undyne, Toriel, Shyren, Knight Knight, Papyrus, QC, Snowdrake, all the Amalgamates, Muffet, Mettaton, etc. etc.

Blog rules(?)

Y’all I am a minor. Please be kind, respectful of my boundaries, nothing too nsfw(especially cuz I’m asexual), I’m not giving out a bunch of personal info, etc etc you know the drill

Discourse will likely happen. Probably mostly making fun of asg*re and critiquing the fandom. As undertalegorls so eloquently put it, “not discourse free but all opinions are right.”

If I say anything out of line, tell me! Putting this in the blog rules so that everyone will see this, instead of reblogging those posts that say that. I cry into my pillow when I say something in the wrong tone of voice to the lunchlady, if I say something insensitive send an ask, dm me, anything and I will apologize publicly. I will of course try not to do that, and generally try to talk about subjects that are in my lane, but I think it’s best to put this disclaimer just in case.

No fucking inc*st, no p*dophilia, no other nastiness. This means no asg*riel, no s*riel, no fr*ns, not f*ntcest, no burgerpants and Mettaton, etc etc

Ships that squick me out include kr*sie, mett*lphys, pap*dyne, asg*re x anyone, sp*de k*ng x anyone, frisk x anyone, chara x anyone, asriel x anyone.

No sexism, homophobia, transphobia(this includes gendering the nonbinary characters), biphobia, racism, xenophobia, ableism, etc. You will be blocked for that. I don’t want to put up with that on here, tumblr is where I go to at the end of the day after putting up with all of that at school. Please don’t be that guy.

Uhhhhhh have fun! First and foremost I just want this to be a place where Undertale fans can have fun and enjoy good content. Feel free to send me posts or rec me blogs if you think it’s something I’d like!

#blog info #rules #how do i link to this in my discription on mobile #long post

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a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats · 5 years

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anyway let’s do a top howevermany video games of 2018 (that’s “that I played in 2018″, and not “released in 2018″) before the year rings out (I got three hours) no particular order in here by the way, and the readmore’s after the first entry so don’t worry too much about this here post length (at least on the dash) Games in this here post: Lobotomy Corp, Pyre, Cultist Simulator, Deltarune, Hollow Knight, and while I didn’t write about it because I hven’t played enough of it yet, I want everyone to know that HEARTBEAT is delightful Lobotomy Corp I... sort’ve have complex feelings about this game. Because it does a lot of weird stuff and I don’t necessarily agree with every single thing it does. I think it’s even bad in places, sometimes, but overall it’s a game that tried to make something mechanically complex out of an SCP-like setting, and that’s a niche that I think has been empty for a very long time, given how convoluted some of those containment procedures get, and while I dunno if they hit it dead on, they certainly did a good job of it. It’s basically a little manager game where you’re managing an SCP-like facility, you start out knowing nothing about the abnormalities and as you interact with them you get more “points” which can be spent on unlocking info that help you deal with the abnormality safely in the future! This gets pretty interesting at best and pretty russian roulette-ey at worst, I distinctly have a memory of botching my first interaction attempt on one only for the thing to immediately break out, fly into the center of the facility, and murder everyone in an extravagant fashion. Like a lot of my beefs with the game, though, this happens exceedingly rarely, so it’s okay (and I could’ve retried that day if I wanted to). To boot, the game sort’ve creates stories in and of itself, not unlike dwarf fortress or something, where someone botches something in the facility and it has widespread consequences and you’re suddenly running on all cylinders to find out what buttons that thing pushed and how to get them unpushed, and it’s super awesome when you manage it. I had one time where a beehive abnormality managed to infect a few employees with spores, and it turned into a whole ass situation (that you can read about here, it’s long by the way) that IIRC took down like, half the employees in the facility. I should’ve reset, but I didn’t, because I Won. And any game that gives you that vibe can’t be all bad. On top of all this, the game does have a plot, I don’t think everyone ever is going to love it, but it’s not bad, and honestly some of the plot related challenges later in the game are some of my favorite thematic set pieces in a good long time. If you like resource management games, visual novels (a little bit, the plot is there, it’s in visual novel format, and it’s pretty good), and don’t mind a bit of anime plot (or even prefer it, maybe!), consider this one.

Pyre Pyre is a game about a person (you) that falls into a sectioned off part of the world called The Downside. The game starts with you, unconscious, and being rescued by a group of people, where you learn that you were exiled from The Commonwealth, to The Downside for the crime of literacy, and that literacy is extremely valuable in the downside because a literate person is required to perform The Rites of Flame which are sort’ve soccer ball games where you try to get your team to throw a crystal ball thing into the opposing fire. These rites eventually free a single person from the downside, using a tournament format. Over time you learn about your fellow team members, why they were exiled, among other things, you learn about the history of the world, and find out exactly how bad The Commonwealth actually is in some ways, and you, eventually, do something about it. The plot is legitimately fantastic and despite this there are at least 2 “overall endings”, and at least two endings for not only all of your team members, but also for the members of opposing teams, as you can lose to them on purpose to let them escape instead of your own dudes. All those tie into the over-arcing plot, which is to send people back to the corrupt other side to resolve the conflict going on there in secret. So you may not want to let some people go back because they won’t be much help, or they might actively hurt things. Some characters might even be better suited to life in the downside as a whole. It’s also neat to see your liaison on the other side that’s helping you perform the rites steadily reacts to how the overall situation is developing on the other side. The soundtrack is also fantastic, seriously top notch. If you like narratively driven games, games with good characterization, games with a just sort’ve full bodied plot in general, and don’t mind a bit of sportsball, you might take a look at this.

Hollow Knight People call things Dark Souls Inspired a lot, and that unfortunately is rarely a good thing, as dark souls difficulty when done poorly is a huge frustrating mess and it’s a testament to how well FROM did things in that game that it’s as fun to play as it is. And of course a lot of games just aren’t dark souls inspired at all and it’s used as a tagline, but with all that said I will say Hollow Knight is absolutely Dark Souls Inspired in the best way. You’re a little fella and you mysteriously arrive to a town called Hallownest, no knowledge of why you’re there or what you’re doing, and you set out to romp around in the caverns beneath the town. For most of the game you just sorta listen to NPCs talk about things and you slowly piece together the plot (maybe, it’s certainly not required and it’s certainly not guaranteed), unlocking upgrades and such along the way. Basically a metroidvania, with attrition based combat based around knowing your limits and when to go back and rest, along with more traditionally difficult boss fights. It all culminates in a big fight with the big bad and if you did everything right, you get to figure out what the hell was actually going on (sorta). It’s a beautiful game, the character looks like exactly the sort’ve character to never talk, partially because he doesn’t have a mouth, admittedly, the combat feels great, and the NPCs are a delight, I really can’t think of anything bad about this game, unless you just don’t like platformers, or prefer easier games, or something. If you like metroidvanias, a bit of a meloncholic tone, inferred plot from dialogue and item description clues, and don’t mind having to wrestle the game a little bit, I’d say give this a shot. Deltarune Like everyone else, I played Deltarune the day it came out, and had no idea what to expect, probably because we got 24 hours of warning and no tell that it was a new game at all, and ultimately I found out that it was a marked improvement over Undertale (which isn’t to say Undertale is bad, of course). Party based combat was a blast, the game just sort’ve in general warmed my heart (after scaring me briefly right at the beginning), and honestly I’m very very happy that the focus on pacifism was taken out because it was great the first time, but I feel like it’d just be more of the same to functionally “quote” Undertale, so I’m super happy with that decision, and really as a companion piece to Undertale I think it makes a load of sense as a bit more “grounded” take on the whole “combat in video games as a means to an end” thing, that (mostly) manages to not lose the good vibes. I don’t think I could’ve been happier with it, really. If you love to be happy, I highly reccomend deltarune (and it’s free anyway so whynot right) To be real, if you like top down shooters, games that don’t take themselves entirely seriously, or games with just sorta positive vibes in general, take a look. Cultist Simulator I’m gonna be honest with You, The Reader, and say that I do not like reading a whole lot, in general. This is important because Cultist Simulator is a game with a lot of reading in it, and honestly, I loved it regardless. It paints a fantastic picture of a world with Actual Occult Business of some description in it, and it manages to have a unique UI that didn’t make me throw my hands in the air out of frustration and quit. I’d say that this UI, would be a fantastic way to do adventure games in the future, in general, in fact. It is that good. The game itself revolves around you, a person that, up until just recently, was working at a hospital as a ferrier (so someone that wheels around wheelchairs with people in them). One of the patients you wheeled around leaves you a package, you open it, and find an address to a bookstore, a person, and a load of money. You move on from that in a very free-form fashion and Things Happen, I legitimately can’t tell you anything more the game is all about learning how to do things. To go on about the UI more, you have cards, initially you have a reason, health, and passion card. You use these cards in slots to cause certain effects, so putting health into the work slot gives you money and vitality after 60 seconds have passed. You can put the vitality in the dream slot to get a prompt to get more vitality, so you work with health again (after it’s cooldown has expired), get another vitality, put them both in, you got a “hardened physique” skill card and another health card. This is basically how the game flows and how you get access to everything in the game, there’s obviously more to it then hard labor, but again I can’t talk about it too much or I’ll ruin it. And while I’m here, it’s really nice that they didn’t just base it on the Cthulhu Mythos and call it done, it’s a unique, original setting and it’s great. Got no hate for the Cthulhu Mythos but I feel like I’ve seen or heard it A Million Times. If you love adventure games, resource management games, reading, narratively driven games (kind’ve, the plot and characterization is mostly on the side, but it is there in a way), or just really want to see an occult game that isn’t based off Cthulhu, check this one out I say.

#bats writes #long post

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my-words-are-light · 6 years

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10 Songs Tag

Finally, a tag game I can finally be in despite lacking any WIP to speak of! Thank you, @raiswanson (Also, fantastic taste with Undertale)!

Fortunately, even though this isn’t a writing specific tag game, I will use songs that are connected to my writing and how so.

Rules: Write down 10 songs you’re currently obsessed with, then tag 10 people.

1) The Second One by Machinae Supremacy

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Out of so many songs I listen to, The Second One has a dear place in my head. I love its beat and, like so many other Machinae Supremacy songs, I love its lyrics. This is where I think the vocalist truly shines, whereas he’s rather divisive in every other song.

This song fits a certain sort of character. A character who is tormented by the harm they’ve wrought and that they’re capable of. But they’re working through it, thanks to the people that believe in them. People who are actually capable of good, who aren’t inflicted by the same vices they are. But this character wants to be like that as well. Although they’re not “The One”, they can be a hero all the same.

2) Perfect by Ed Sheeran (with Beyonce)

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Oh don’t give me that. I’m a sucker for a good romance and, cross my heart and hope to die, Ed Sheeran utterly nails the tear jerking, heartfelt love between two people. Beyonce, albeit a bit questionable at times, is the second one (tee hee, puns) and gives the story of the song its second leading role that compounds the message better than anyone alone could.

To define a good romance is hard for me but Ed Sheeran sings it better than I can say it. That said, I like to believe I’m a better writer than that so I’ll at least say this: everything you’ve heard about love being the most powerful thing in the world is true, for better or worse. It drives you to act, it drives you to care, and it drives you to want. But there’s something important about that last point; it drives you to want not just for your sake, but for the people you love.

3) Silent Melody by Working For A Nuclear Free City

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Like inFAMOUS itself, this song makes me feel empowered. The lyrics and instrumentals alike conduct throughout my body. At last, I believe, I feel like I have the entirety of God’s power coursing through my arms. What’s important here isn’t that the song sounds as much or says as much; it’s that it feels as much. The song is, most importantly of all, visceral.

If you ever want to tell of a story of a godlike being, or someone who believes their power is as such, this song is a perfect fit. Put it on repeat for eight hours and get writing.

4) I’m Born To Run by American Authors

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Many thanks to @brynprocrastinates for introducing me to this song. This is basically the musical version of a character running down a hill in a verdant valley and then leaping off a cliff only to fly high above the nearby town. It starts off good and pumping but it’s after the second chorus that it really shines, coming to life with truly electrifying energy that makes me feel unstoppable.

This song is perfect for a traveller on an epic adventure, preferably not a grimdark one. Who truly enjoys the freedom of travel and the wind beneath their wings as they take flight.

On that note...

5) Don’t Worry by Hiroyuki Sawano

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Goodness gracious, does this song come late in the game. Not only do you have to get a Skell, which is at least 20 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles X, but then you have to get the bloody flight module, which is about double the way through the game. I’ve had exams that didn’t feel like they lasted that long. But that’s the wonder of it; as they say, a pleasure delayed is a pleasure magnified. And once you’ve fought and struggled and worked to get that flight module and you go on your maiden voyage, this beautiful song plays.

There’s a contrast between this entry and the last; while I’m Born To Run fits well with the commencement of a journey, Don’t Worry has no better place to be than the journey’s zenith, when you peak above the clouds and see the heavens and be among them, and it is beautiful.

6) Further by LifeForce

DAMN THIS FIVE VIDEO LIMIT!

Oh whatever. I discovered this song at the end credits of the freeware game Iji and I fell in love for morbidly depressing reasons. What a perfect yet awful time for the song to play. Make no mistake; it’s not bleak, since you’re definitely making progress, but it’s to a deep darkness. Worse yet, you want to go there. There is something there that will save you by dooming the both of you.

It’s a very nihilistic song but with a sense of progress. Never did I think I’d hear something like that.

7) With Me by All Ends

Of course it’s a Sonic song. The series has a bad reputation for its gameplay and a stellar reputation for its soundtracks. With Me from Sonic and the Black Knight is no exception; this absolutely atrocious game has one of the best final boss themes for the series. The vocals are from the viewpoint of the villain, who has their reasons for doing the things they do but it’s clear they cannot be allowed to continue.

We say villains are more than monsters. Villains are heroes of their own stories, with their own reasons and motivations. This is a gracious mercy we offer them but With Me makes it perfectly clear: they do not offer such mercy to heroes in kind. They will fight, they will fight hard, and heroes must answer them.

8) Jet Set Run by Yuki Hayashi

There are very few things I can say about this track that other people haven’t, and better at that, but this truly is a fantastic song for fist-pumping heroic moments. Seriously, there are analyses of this song. Look for them.

9) Welcome to the Show by Britt Nicole

No, this song has absolutely nothing to do with that My Little Pony song by the same name. However, I LOVE this song. It is as energetic as all get out and it’s like a theatre and a rock concert inside a giant hamster ball rolling down the Mountain of Doom towards the Fortress of Doom.

Whenever I think about a light-hearted adventure story featuring a cast predominantly full of girls, I think of this song. I think of that cast kicking arse without angsting and without worrying about their bad guys who are unambiguously evil but lightly so like Lord Hater. Just them, bad guys, and a whole lot of fun. I love this song.

10) Kryptonite (AOL Session) by 3 Doors Down

Yes, this version takes the final slot instead of the normal radio version. This song, this version, is my most favourite song of all time. This version specifically captures the desperation, the loneliness, and the sheer powerlessness one feels as they try to do the right thing. But it’s something worth doing even while it’s destroying you.

This song inspires my visions of heroism. Both Renna Gonn and Destiny Pride take cues from this, albeit in very different ways.

Tagging: @cog-writes, @yurax-mae, @kaleidic-art, @ononokinonon, @limbonix, @derpyslurpy-da-derp-master, @destiny-smasher, @sakura-rose12, @greenhousewriting, and @byjillianmaria.

#tag game #favourite song #music #songs

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autisticawesomeness-archive-blog · 6 years

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I saw on your SpIn page that you like comparing written storytelling to other mediums. Do you mean like a book that was turned into a movie or something? Or could you give an example so I understand better? It sounds really interesting and close to one of my SpIns! (private response or not, doesn't matter to me)

THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME AN EXCUSE TO INFODUMP YOU WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL PERSON

And nope, that’s not what I meant (seriously, do NOT get me started on books that I’ve read that were turned into movies. it.... won’t end well), but it’s understandable confusion!

What I meant is that every piece of media has a type of storytelling and certain narrative elements that are unique to them. Let’s compare books and movies for example: the reason you have to change books when turning them into movies is because books and movies are fundamentally different mediums.

Books, for starters, are text-based medium. Books tell a story. While most writers know the ‘show, don’t tell’ rule, books are still ultimately told through words and not images. All images can to be described by words, but the reader will fill in the blanks with their own imagination. Books have the luxury of getting completely into the main character’s head, and can therefore make things very, very clear, by giving the character internal monologues, for example. It’s also generally understood that you’ll spend at the very least a couple of hours reading a book, most likely a couple of days, so books can go into great detail about the characters/plot/worlds, etc.

Movies, however, are a visual medium. Movies, unlike books, do not tell their story, they show it. While movies do have a point of view through which the story is told, it is usually less clear than in books; additionally, in movies, scenes can switch between characters on the drop of a hat, whereas in books, this would generally be discouraged unless you have a clear mark where the change can happen (between chapters, for example). Movies also have a shorter ‘runtime’ than books; movies can take up a maximum of three hours before the audience starts complaining that it’s too long.

(Movies also have one other major advantage over books: audio. While certain audiobooks may have simple songs or sound effects, movies have an entire soundtrack. They have sound effects, they have hand-picked songs for scenes, they have completely new songs composed, etc. etc. The soundtrack is used to define the mood of any given scene and/or the entire movie. Depending on how good the soundtrack is, it can make or break a movie. This is not relevant to the comparison, I just wanted to point it out.)

So, when adapting a book to movie, you will obviously need to deal with changes in medium. Because books have the time to be more detailed, movies will need to cut out subplots or even change the main plot in order to fit it into their own, much more limited, runtime. Movies also need to adapt the written descriptions to actual images; this can be a problem, if a) the fanbase is particularly picky, or b) if the directors/producers/whoever in the production staff is lazy. In addition to this, movies can show the story from more perspectives than the book usually can and/or will, so it will often give different characters a larger role in order to be more engaging to the viewer (for example, spending more time with the villain than the book does, in order to build suspense). This, too, will often lead to changes in the plot.

This is why change when adapting books to movies is necessary: ultimately, books and movies are different mediums that have different rules of storytelling, and what works in one might not work in the other. Anyone who demands that books cannot be changed when adapting to movie is quite frankly not thinking about it hard enough.

(That said, there’s also something called ‘I don’t care’ syndrome in Hollywood, where they only use big-name books to market their movie, rather than try to make it a faithful adaptation (see also: Percy Jackson). This, understandably, pisses off the fans of the book. Frankly, I hate this. If you’re gonna adapt a book, at least try and make it resemble the original, please and thank you.)

This example got out of hand, but my point is that all mediums of storytelling are unique. Some quick examples of how other mediums (can) tell stories (under the cut bc this is already way too long whoops):

Comics are a medium between books and movies, in that they are a visual storytelling device, but can spend more time on developing their characters/plots/worlds than movies, because people are willing to buy multiple volumes of a comic.

American superhero comics are especially fascinating to me, because they’ve created such a vast universe that DC (and Marvel I’m pretty sure, though don’t quote me on it) have destroyed their entire universes multiple times just to try and get some control back over them (spoiler: it didn’t work). That stories can get so vastly out of hand seemingly without anyone noticing until it was too late is incredibly fascinating to me.

Video games are in a unique position because they are interactive; the player actively makes decisions in them. With some small examples like tabletop RPGs, visual novels (though you could argue those are games), and choose-your-own-adventure books, this is the only medium that has access to this. Because of this unique feature, they can incorporate things such as ‘karma’ endings (aka if you make bad choices you get a bad ending). They also have some other features they can utilize to make their storytelling more unique (such as the ‘save’ function, which Undertale did especially well), but I’ll leave that bc I suck at games so I know fairly little about them.

TV shows are like movies but better, imo. TV shows have the exact same advantages and disadvantages as movies, except that they have one thing movies do not: time. TV shows can take multiple episodes (the length of which varies, but serious adult shows seem to be around the 1 hour mark per episode) to tell their story, and thus they have the time to incorporate more detail/subplots than movies. Of course, this does mean that you need to learn how to pace TV shows differently than movies, and also you need to actually have the attention span to watch one (which. I do not. yikes).

Animation is yet another form of audio-visual storytelling, but this one has the added bonus of not needing to be limited by making things look ‘real’. In fact, it’s better if they do not. This makes animation one of the best types of media for fantasy/sci-fi shows that need more creative visual storytelling than live action movies/tv shows will allow.

Anime is a sub-genre of animation that I find particularly fascinating, because anime isn’t western, and therefore follows different storytelling rules than I’m used to. Just a little western animations vs anime comparison:

Western: moving characters, even in the background; animation quality is fairly consistent throughout the show (except maybe in the latter eps when they run out of budget); backgrounds are usually not that detailed; usually episodic rather than plot-driven; usually focuses primarily on humor rather than serious emotion/plot; primarily used as a medium for kids’ shows.

Anime: background is static, only lips of characters move; backgrounds tend to be very detailed; animation quality explodes during fight scenes/emotional climaxes; usually plot-driven rather than episodic; is more often used for serious storytelling than western animation; used equally as a medium for kids’ and adult shows (and can therefore delve into more mature themes than western animation generally does).

I know anime usually gets written off (at least in the west) either because people don’t like the art style or because of the ‘yaoiz/weaboo’ fanbase, but it’s a really unique medium of storytelling when it isn’t pandering to creepy men and/or pedophiles.

(Houston the anime industry has so many issues I’m gonna cry)

I’m too new to Podcasts to know clearly what the rules, advantages, and disadvantages to this type of storytelling would be, but with the huge success of podcasts like Critical Role and The Adventure Zone, I think that there is certainly a draw to this type of storytelling that no other has. I really should start listening to see if I can figure out what it is.

So yeah that’s basically my main special interest! Lots of me thinking about what the most innovative use of HP would be in a game, what the uses of live action vs animation is, whether a certain story is better told through TV or book, etc. etc. I love it so much and PLEASE if you have any questions ask me! But! Again, thanks for asking I love infodumping!

#personal posts #I'm.... so autistic lmao #mirrorverse

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