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ascendedastarionapologist · 3 months

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The Rite of Profane Ascention and Projected Shame: A Meta Analysis of Authorial Intent and Bias in Interpretation

If you are an Astarion enjoyer you are probably familiar with the following sentiments:

The crew member we can attribute this reading to would be Baudelair Welch, and they are not Astarion's main writer, rather the Senior Narrative Designer for Baldur's Gate 3. Astarion's creator and lead writer was Stephen Rooney, Rooney does attribute great assistance from Welch, however.

Welch was not initially part of the team, only being hired after the release of Early Access. As Welch as recounted the story, they saw Astarion during EA, wanting to become a part of the BG3 writing staff to enforce a particular narrative. The one that we are familiar with.

To better understand Welch's perspective on the concept of "Objectifying Fictional Characters" we must take a look at the indie game they developed during their time at Larian.

Don't Wake Me Up is a text based adventure game that puts you in the shoes of a game developer who is making a vampire dating sim. The twist being that the vampire character you created resents you for having romantic feelings for it.

While discussing the fact they wouldn't be adding "Good Endings" to their game, Welch describes their experience of having romantic feelings for fictional characters, often over real life people. A trend that, to their apparent frustraition, continued into their adulthood. I get this sense of shame, this desire to experience a more normative relationship with romantic feelings.

In a way, I feel kind of bad for Welch. I am a selfshipper, I think fictosexuality and genuine romantic interest towards fictional characters is morally neutral. However, my sympathy stops when Welch uses this to guilt their readers into feeling a certain way over narratives they don't have total authority over. Only very recently have people started to be cool about selfshipping, and phrases like "parasocial sexualization of fictional characters" does nothing to aliviate that stigma.

Hearing how the other staff talk about the endings, they do not share Welch's perspective more focused on player choice and the evolution of Astarion's Character through the player's eyes rather than a meta commentary on the relationship between player and character. As a roleplaying game, this is very much purposeful. Larian gives you the tools to tell the story you desire. To quote Neil Newbon,

"You might find him scary, and you should [...] but other people might really like that ending [...] going, actually I always saw Astarion going that route."

This a lot of meta context. Context that is not as blatant within the text as many who ascribe to this interpretation would want you to believe.

As a roleplaying game, BG3 gives you the option to depict your player character in a multitude of ways.

Is your player character a reluctant accomplace, determined to stay by Ascended Astarion's side no matter the cost? The game gives you that ability.

Do you see your character as an unwitting victim, a damsel to Ascended Astarion, a prisoner in a gilded cage? The game rewards this perspective in kind, the "freedom" lines coming to mind.

Or, perhaps your player character is mutually obsessed, a willing and enthusiastic participant in Ascended Astarion's villainous shenanagins. The game has options and responses that reflect this role as well. He is giddy, and gushes over how much fun you two will have if you lean into it.

A companion to this post, the poll I made measuring people's ending preference and weather not they were spoiled, is loosely tied to this. My methodology was, admitedly, a bit off. I neglected to add a neutral option, and of course my sample size is limited.

However, my theory was that among people that preferred keeping Astarion as a Spawn over Ascending him were exposed to spoilers, and my follow up question was meant to measure weather or not Welch's commentary had an effect on that.

Taking a look at the poll, the overall preference is for the Spawn ending, however, amongst Spawn enjoyers, they were often spoiled for his ending. I didn't get much feedback though, so weather or not this perception of Ascention had an effect on their choice remains conjecture.

What is interesting, however, is that through the polling process, (and the poll is still in progress at the time of posting this, so keep that in mind), the spilt between the other options were relatively even.

Make of that what you will.

Looking at all of this together, and from my perspective, I cannot see ascention as the "bad ending" , sense much of the argument for that perspective uses Welch's words as if they were gospel. To me, a bad ending is zombie astarion, or blowing up Gale in act 2, or letting Lae'zel perish at the Creché. I will however call it the EVIL ending. Ascended Astarion IS a villain, but I think the distinction between "bad" and "evil" is an important one to make. I cant see it the way Welch does, because I simply have an idiological opposition to their veiwpoint, a sentiment I feel is shared by many AA enjoyers.

I want to end this by stating very directly: this is not an attack on Welch as a person, rather a cirtique of of the bias inherent to the way they write and interpret fiction. A bias, I feel, people should be aware of.

#astarion ancunin #ascended astarion #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #my posts

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stolas-bgw · 10 months

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Play the Sidequests You Coward

Final Fantasy XVI is a litmus test for the patience gamers have for a story and worldbuilding.

FFXVI has got it's issues, it's combat is a bit over-reliant on the power of the dominant moves and is a little brain dead. It's crafitng system is... clearly forced in? Like the game did not NEED a crafting system and would probably be exactly the same without it. Late game the combat effects begin to obscure the screen and meld together so it gets to be a little difficult to tell what's going on.

That being said, the one and most common critique of FFXVI as being "objectively bad" are the sidequests. A critique I wholly disagree with and, to be honest, am sick and tired of hearing. When I see a reviewer critique the side quests as being boring and tearing away from the experience of the game, all I hear is "I didn't watch the cutscenes."

These quests are not just "collect 3 nuts, get shitty XP, and move on." These quests are world building and story fleshing out events. Some of the best stories are tucked away in these "fetch quests." These stories make the main quest feel MORE EPIC, MORE IMPACTFUL, not less.

As some have pointed out, CBUIII, the team that made FFXIV, clearly took their design for side quests from XIV and put it inot XVI. Except that's not true. They didn't take the structure for it's side quests, they took the structure from their main quests. FFXIV's main quest is filled with "go fetch 3 things," "go talk to X people," "hold my hand and give me a guided tour of X area." And to some people, these quests are "pointless filler." But to the people who are actually invested in FFXIV's story, you know these quests are ESSENTIAL to making the story as emotionally ressonant as it is.

The same is true for the sidequests in FFXVI. These quests feel as though they SHOULD be mandatory, not optional. But because FFXVI is a more mass-appealing game, CBUIII knew that not everyone would have the patience for dealing with these seemingly mundane issues. It was the correct move to make these sidequests. But they are anything but side content.

The sidequests are not boring fetchquests that give shit xp. They are story quests that flesh out the world of Valisthea, the people of the world, and Clive as a character. They show you why Clive fights for the right to live and die as you choose, they give the message of the game texture and depth. The main quests WORKS on it's own, but the side quests really elevate it, if you give them the time of day.

These are incredibly well written, emotionally resonant, and important missions that I am sick and tired for being compared to "shitty MMO quests." This isn't WoW where you help a random guy kill 40 boars and you never see them again. You getting that food to those people MATTER. Those people needed someone like them to reach out to them, or they may have had a much harder time integrating into a new life. Clive needed to see how horrible the world could be through the eyes of a child raised by a corrupt system. CLIVE would give a shit about the people who work for him and help them out when he can. He would want to LEARN about the people who are risking their lives day in and day out to help make their vision become reality.

Can some of the side quests feel boring? Sure. But that's kind of the point. These quests are grounded in reality and tedioum of life. Not nearly as much as in FFXIV, but still enough that it DOES test your patience and appreciation of the story and world. If you don't like that, that's ok it's why it's side content. But these quests ARE NOT MMO fetch quests. They matter and make the story better for existing.

#FFXVI #final fantasy 16 #final fantasy XVI #ffxvi spoilers #I know no one is gonna read this but jfc I had to get this off my chest #I've seen one too many ciritques calling the sidequests mmo fetch quests and it drove me up the wall #ff16 #ff16 spoilers

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levi501ackerman · 18 days

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My Chance Has Come At Last | Hange x Reader Fluff

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Summary: AU where Levi, Hange, and Erwin go Miche's birthday party. There’s a shit ton of people and Hange sees you in the crowd. Hange thought you were too pretty to talk to her. She didn’t expect her shirt to be the conversation starter between you two. Lots of Dead by Daylight references and if you don’t play that game I hope you still enjoy the story. JUST PRETEND YOURE LEVI LISTENING TO TWO NERDS TRY TO TALK TO EACH OTHER!!

Word Count: 2.2k

Authors Note: Song Correlation: "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths. Posted: 5/17/24.

Hange exhaled with rage and felt charged to knock the living daylight out of Levi. They planned on pregaming at Erwin’s place before going to Miche’s birthday party. Hange didn’t plan on Levi spilling wine on her top.

“Run little man.” She said fed up, but light enough to get a laugh from the two.

“You can borrow a shirt,” Erwin said, leading Hange toward his room. Hange rolled her eyes at how clean Erwin’s room was except for the pile of laundry on the floor. There were notebooks, papers, and his laptop on his bed. “You can wear whatever one you feel comfortable in.”

“I almost want to force Levi to lend me one of his shirts, but the midget’s clothes would just look like cropped tops on me,” Hange said.

“I heard that,” Levi called from the other room. Erwin closed the door to his room. Hange couldn’t count the amount of preppy polos Erwin had. Almost as if he bought the same shirt in ten different colors. He had some normal solid-color t-shirts, a few band shirts, and graphic tees. Hange felt a ping of excitement when she saw her favorite shirt of Erwins. It was a black Dead by Daylight shirt, with Ghostface from Scream taking a picture of himself and the character he’s killing: Leon from the Resident Evil games. In the back was an original DBD character named Thalita squatting and trying to get her plumped butt in the background. There was an injured Steve from Stranger Things in the background alongside another character Cheryl Mason in her Princess Heart outfit from Silent Hill 3. Hange always gushes over Erwin’s shirt when he wears it. She loved the game, but Erwin never was on at the same time Hange wanted to play. When she walked out, Erwin started shaking his head.

“I should’ve known—”

“All thanks to Levi I get to wear this shirt!”

“Hange, I want that shirt back.”

“But of course!”

“I mean it.”

From the outside of Miche’s house, the three could already hear chatter and music playing. They could tell a lot of people have been drinking and having a good time. Levi opened the door and a table along the entryway had a ton of presents stacked. Some people they recognized were playing the drinking game rage cage and on the other side of the room were some others talking to each other. Miche noticed the three entering and left the rage cage table.

“You made it!” He said with open arms and a pink-tinted face.

“Happy birthday, Miche!” Erwin said, handing his gift to Miche.

“Thank you! Thank you! You can just set it on the table.” Hange and Levi set their presents on top of others on the table. “Do you want watermelon margaritas? Nanaba’s making them! Really refreshing.” Miche guided them toward the kitchen. “Or do you want to start off with a shot?!”

“Only if it’s tequila!” Miche clapped Erwin on the shoulder.

“That’s my man!” He said with a large smile taking up his flushed face. Nanaba greeted the three over the loud music. Then she started blending the margaritas. Miche poured three shots, leaving Levi out who was the designated driver. Miche gave Levi a large solo cup filled with sprite instead. Hange noticed there was another table playing normal beer pong outside and she could only see through the glass doors one side of the table. She saw Christa and Sasha as one of the teams playing. They held their tiny solo cups and Levi's normal size together and told Miche Happy Birthday then they all swallowed their drinks.

“Nanaba, I’ll take a margarita,” Hange said.

“Coming right up, ma’am!” Nanaba poured the cold drink into a small plastic cup. Nanaba handed more margarita-filled cups to her friends. Pouring more for anyone who wanted one. She took a sip and noted how dangerous this margarita was because it was delicious.

“Wow Miche you were right! It’s refreshing. Nanaba you’re quite the mixologist!�� Hange said.

“Hey look who it is!” Connie and Eren greeted the three. They all hugged and said their hellos. Eren and Connie started catching up with Erwin and Levi when she noticed behind them Sasha and Christa started coming through the door. Behind the two was Armin and a really beautiful girl Hange never had seen before. You. She couldn’t take her eyes off you. Your hair looked perfectly placed, your eyes looked so lovely and your eyebrows were full. Hange found your bored expression intimidating, yet she wanted to see what you looked like when you smiled. She hypothesized that you might be like Levi where you look standoff-ish without a smile on your face. You looked like a healthy and fit girl. Hange would describe your outfit as preppy with a nice-fitting light blue sweater, white pants, a brown belt, and white shoes. You looked very clean. She wouldn’t be able to pull off your outfit. Hange normally wore a ton of long-sleeved polos thanks to her job’s uniform. You were too pretty for her and you were the type to admire from afar and never get a chance with. Hange wanted a chance with a girl like you.

Hange stuck by Levi’s side most of the night talking to familiar people she knew, but she couldn’t help but always glance over to the area of the room where you, Sasha, and Christa chatted. Even when Hange joined a game of rage cage she tried her best to never miss getting the ball in a cup in case you happened to be watching. Since Erwin was next to Hange, he kept having to drink because of Hange playing so well. Dirk, Nanaba, Connie, Armin, Jean, Eren, Mikasa, Miche, and Hange would holler and make a lot of ruckus when Erwin had to drink. It became so entertaining that the rest of the room watched the rest of the game. Erwin ended up getting the bitch cup and everyone was happily chanting, “Drink! Drink!” Even Levi was amused with how Hange managed to get Erwin fucked up.

“I’m not standing next to Hange in the next game.” Erwin coughed which drew out a burst of laughter from the group.

“Let’s go another round!” Eren said started refilling a small amount of white claw in the solo cups. The group cheered and Erwin sat in a chair next to Levi who was leaning against the wall.

“Hange are you playing again?” Armin asked and Hange shook her head.

“I’ll sit this one out.” She scooted Levi over and stood in between him and Erwin.

“You’re too good, Hange!” Mikasa yelled.

“Anyone that stands next to you is going to get fucked up!” Miche yelled.

“SASHA! GET OVER HERE AND PLAY RAGE CAGE!” Jean yelled. Hange looked in your direction, but Sasha coming toward the front room blocked you from Hange. You and Christa followed, Hange glanced away not wanting to reveal herself staring at you. As if one glance from her could reveal that she’s been watching you all night.

“That’s too much tequila!”

“The big cup needs more white claws!”

“Add lemonade to not make it so disgusting!”

“The fuck?”

“I’m playing one round and then we’re heading out!”

“STOP POURING TEQUILA!”

“We could add margaritas!”

“Holy shit the alcohols kicking in!” The room was getting louder and louder and everyone was talking over each other. Another round of the game was going and the excitement started to build again. Erwin was sitting in his chair dazed. Levi was going to have to carry the man back to his place. Hange started to get tipsy, her vision was getting worse causing her to blink so much.

“Oh my gosh! You play Dead by Daylight?! I love Dead by Daylight!” A sudden loud voice scared Hange causing her to bump into the wall behind her. She became more frightened when she saw you standing too close to her and looking up at her with wide eyes and a huge smile. Your eyebrows raised slightly anticipating Hange’s answer. Hange was tense because of how close you two were. Levi nudged Hange.

“Uh yeah.”

“I’M OBSESSED! I play nearly every day and I am ADDICTED! But I can’t help it! I typically like to run gen rushing builds, but lately, I’ve been using ‘For the People’ with ‘Buckle Up’. I’m a survivor main! What do you play!?” Hange blinked. She didn’t think she was drunk, but you were talking too fast and she was thinking too slow. Perhaps Hange couldn’t think straight when a straight goddess who apparently plays her favorite game was standing inches from her.

“Yeah, I play.”

“Do you play survivor or killer more!?”

“I switch.”

“Tell me who you play when you play survivor or killer!” Erwin laughed at Hange blowing her chance to annoyingly nerd out about Dead by Daylight. Cheering from the rage cage table was in the background for Hange. Hange was lost in your hopeful and glowing eyes, this was her chance to take you all in and she was drowning in your attractiveness. She noticed how the light blue of your sweater enhanced your pretty hair.

“W-Well—um—I find infinite tombstone Michael Myers fun! But Billy or Wesker is my go-to.” You squealed and shook Hange by her biceps.

“I LOVE GOING AGAINST TOMBSTONE DADDY MYERS! GRAB MY NECK!” Hange became red and not from the alcohol. “Who do you play as a survivor!?!”

“Kate or Felix, sometimes Steve—wait what’s your name?” You backed away and suddenly had this closed-off demeanor. You held out your hand politely.

“My name’s Y/N,” You said with an inside voice as if you were greeting your boss. Hange shook your hand, noting how soft they were.

“I’m Hange. Who do you main?” You pointed at a character on Hange’s shirt. Hange’s stomach tightened when you pressed a finger against her.

“Cheryl with the Princess Heart skin of course! Sometimes I play bunny Feng or Leon.”

“You look like a person who mains Princess Heart Cheryl.”

“I actually remade the costume for Halloween last year!” You wiped out your phone and Hange suddenly remembered she was in a house at a party. She looked to Levi who gave her a smug expression, which she ignored. Erwin was too drunk and too baffled to actually be processing that Hange was pulling a girl with the t-shirt he lent her. You showed the costume to Hange. Your skirt was so short, but for homemade it looked pretty well done. “I bedazzled the heart myself! It took the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy!”

“Really wow, you look really good.”

“Extended version too.”

“Wow.”

“So you play often?” You asked.

“Yeah, I’d say I’m pretty good at looping.”

“Give me your discord.” You demanded.

“What?”

“Don’t act like you don’t have discord.” You pushed Hange’s shoulder

“Right, uh I always forget um its—”

“Give me your number then. I like your glasses, by the way, they’re cute.” You thrust your phone into Hange’s space and Levi chuckled. Hange hesitantly took your phone and put her number in, trying not to show she was shaking. She admired how forward you were. Hange was always nervous talking to pretty girls and especially struggled with gorgeous girls like you. “We need to play together!”

“Yeah, that would be fun.”

“You better message me your discord user when you remember it.” You said walking away from the three. Hange exhaled for the first time in probably a while. She was so tensed from your presence. Hange watched you walk toward Sasha and Christa who were ready to leave. Miche was hugging them and thanking them for coming over.

“What a dweeb,” Levi said.

“Hey, she's the most gorgeous dweeb I’ve ever met!”

“I’m talking about you four-eyes. Unbelievable how you managed to get a girl’s number because of that stupid video game you play. Not only that you didn’t bite the bullet and ask her to lunch or something.” Levi said and Hange was on a high, replaying what she could remember of the conversation she just had.

“That’s a dead by daylight perk!” Hange said, referring to when Levi said ‘bite the bullet’.

“You idiot. Go ask her out to lunch tomorrow or something.” Levi started pushing Hange. “Do it before she leaves.”

“Okay! Okay! You’re strong for being so short!” Hange followed Sasha, Christa and you going out the door. Hange caught the door before it closed. She stepped out into the cold air noting how quiet it was outside compared to the house. “Y/N?” You turned around.

“Are you doing anything tomorrow?” Hange asked, not being able to hide her nervousness. Sasha and Christa turn around watching. You stepped closer to Hange getting too close to her again, which just turned her brain off.

“No, I’m not . . .”

“Well, I think you’re drop-dead gorgeous and I’d like to get to know you more. Maybe like over lunch tomorrow?” Hange blurted.

“Let’s do it.” You said. “Goodnight, Hange.” You waved and Hange’s heart was beating loudly. She couldn’t believe she scored a date with an extremely cute girl who liked the same game she played. Hange didn’t mind anymore that Levi ruined her shirt with wine.

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ALSO PLEASE LMK IF YOU PLAY DEAD BY DAYLIGHT!!

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theancientdarkbeauty · 9 months

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Payday 3 theory for New Character Designs

This is hella long, so the rest of it is under the cut, but if you want to see why that "Collar" is on Wolf and Dallas, from a lore and character design perspective, please click the "Read More"

Alright, you clicked, so you wanna know, what do I think the metal collars on Wolf and Dallas's necks are. For Wolf, you might think he was committing to the Dog Bit TM, but then you see an identical one on Dallas's neck, and he has no associations with canines of any sort in all of his years of being The Face of the Payday Gang (except for, of course, liking dogs on a casual level, he was on a team with John Wick after all, which could be counterargumented (Not a real word I know) by "but Jacket was on that team as well, and in his games, he is known for killing a good score of Doberman Pinschers" which is a bit of a theory for a different time) So the next thing you can assume, as you dirty minded Tumblr users, and as I've seen some other people say, is that they're just kinky bitches, to which I say BEGONE THOT! But in all seriousness I don't think Starbreeze would intentionally add something so noticeable to two of their most beloved characters and their only reason being "The tumblr and 34 community can logically go ApeShit now) Oh no no no my friends, if I can entertain your eyes for perhaps a paragraph longer, I'll tell you why that kinky shit in that google doc for Payday 3 with WolfHox using that collar thing would quickly devolve into more of a bloody angst story, logically.

You see, in short, these collars are helping them breath. Weird, right? But let me explain! Because, when you think about it anatomically, it will actually make a lot of sense. Lets take a look at our heisters in question real quick:

Wolf and Dallas respectively. Now, do you notice anything? (Besides, Dallas being bugged, this game works as intended) The collar is on the same place on both of their necks, right in their jugulars (yes you have 2, one for each side) Right on the Interior Jugulars/ Internal carotid arteries, though, considering the circumstances, probably the carotid arteries. This is common place knowledge, but for those who don't know, Wolf is very close to Hoxton, shown in game through various nicknames they give each other, and Dallas is the oldest of the OG four, being 44 at the time of Payday 2 (since I don't know the exact gap in time from 2 to 3, but if it is 10 years, like rumored, that means he is 54 as of "today") For reference, the other oldest character, Chains, was 37 at the time of Payday 2, Wolf 34, and Hoxton being a fucking child at 32. So, Dallas is an old man, and he's been smoking since... well the first game (that is 100% confirmed.) so his lungs are fucking WRECKED. But, why is this related? If Dallas's lungs are heavily damaged, running, vaulting, sneaking around, and doing normal heistery stuff, his lungs wouldn't be able to keep up with the oxygen needed to run his brain/other body functions. So, Dallas's lungs are wrecked, yeah, duh, but why would Wolf, the second youngest little man, need this "collar"? Also simple, he's a heartsick bastard.

Wolf lost his best friend, Hoxton, for 2 whole years, do you really think that this man, who basically lost everything, his company, his wife, his kids, his sanity, and now his best friend, wouldn't take to some pretty destructive habits? 2 years of chain-smoking and drinking and doing whatever he could to get his mind off it (be it committing violences or building machines) wouldn't take a toll on him? His lungs would be 100% destroyed, even after only 2 years, because, if I had to take a guess, he started those bad habits when he initially lost his job and went on a rampage. That man has probably been smoking for at least 2 years casually (with periods of mental breakdown chain-smoking) and then 2 more years of hard chain-smoking, non stop, destroying his body. Though, statistically, it takes 15-20 years to fuck up your lungs as bad as maybe Dallas's would be, so whatever Wolf was doing to get himself on that collar device thing must have been pretty hard core.

BUT I'M GETTING OFF TRACK!!! You clicked read more because you wanted to know what I thought the collars did! My thoughts? They artificially pump oxygen into our beloved heisters blood streams, to give them the stamina and brain function they used to have, but still probably being cheaper than a lung transplant. (A quick google search will show you that, for both your lungs transplanted, it would be $1,295,900 in America. Crazy shit, especially for 2 people. Also, if the lungs and heart were damaged, the collar things would be basically a necessity if the guys wanna run around as much as they do in game (don't ask me why you can sprint for like a minute in a half straight in a light ballistics vest when they are all old men, I couldn't tell you). Why doesn't Hoxton have one? Probably because he's a stubborn bastard. Why doesn't Chains have one? He's just built different. The fact that these things are adding extra oxygen to people's blood would mean that the collars are imbedded in their necks, which means if some pulls on them, major ouchies (plus theirs a lot of nerves there and it's really just a whole mess of a time)

THERE YOU GO! This took me 4 days to write, off and on, so for the love of god I hope I got everything right. My area of expertise is reptiles, not humans, but story writing and character development were my first things studied. But this is all head cannons, nothing concrete yet! Anyways, thank you for sticking with the ramblings of a mad lad, and have a wonderful day/night!

#payday 3 #payday wolf #payday chains #payday #payday hoxton #dallas payday #payday dallas #This was unreasonably long I'm sorry #BUT I'M SO PROUD OF MY THEORY CRAFTING GUYS!

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atelier-resleri-memo · 8 months

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Finished Chapter 3. My thoughts on this Atelier Gacha Mobile Game so far!

I'm in love with the music and writing of this game. Takahiro (writer) and Shinichi Yoshiike (writer, creator of Atelier) won. Also love that I don't have to spend anything to get through it, even 1 star units are helpful as long as you can invest time upgrading them.

Just wish they made the original characters other than Resna playable... It's very weird to see them in cutscenes wielding their weapon but end up as cutscene material (at the time of this writing). Hopefully whenever Steam version comes out, Izana, Valeria, Roman, and Saskia are available. I understand the decision to do so though (Having all 4 of them available as free units will fill out all 5 party slots immediately. Even though Shallistera is a free 1 star unit and a really useful one at that).

Cutscenes are very much a huge upgrade than any Atelier game you've seen. Team NINJA did a tremendous job with the motion capture work and the scripting of facial & body expressions.

Visuals-wise, my only nitpick is just the background blurring being too intense since the environment looks a bit non-existent (even though it's all 3D modeled and not a flat background image). Otherwise, everything is really great!

This game is fun, still not for everyone, but it's not as terrible as Atelier Online JP. You might hear people online putting out hate towards this game while clearly seeing that they haven't even checked out its mechanics (to the point that they're putting delusional statements about Atelier Online being better) but really, this is a huge upgrade to the Mobile Game Design this IP has experienced.

There is still room for improvement, regardless. Yes, the game is eye candy but the room for improvement lies within the external factors of the game (and by that, I mean the monetary side of things. And no, it's not about the pricing, it's about the lack of a Monthly Pass so far at the time of this writing)

I'm hoping for an offline release for Console and PC though. I love all the characters so far, but it still makes me sad that this is a Live Service therefore rendering all these well-written characters as a temporary occurrence. Since this has Atelier characters from past games, maybe there is a chance for the next Atelier anniversary milestone? Fans would need to raise their voices that they want an offline version too, of course.

#resleriramble #atelier resleri #atelier resleriana #akatsuki games #gust corporation #koei tecmo #gust atelier #resleri

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inkabelledesigns · 1 year

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Hey, been having a pretty rough start to the week, and really, a rough several weeks. Lots going on, lots of dread about the world, honestly just wanna go back to bed. But we're trying to look on the bright side and appreciate the little things. So I'm gonna list some good things that have happened recently and that are coming up so we can psych ourselves up. I find that putting something down on paper or in a place where I can see it makes it easier to embrace and appreciate, makes it more visual.

-Someone left a really sweet comment in the tags of my Gooliope custom. I've noticed a lot of people liking that post, and I love all the kind words in the tags so much. Thank you! She's one of my favorite dolls, and it makes me happy that she sparks joy for more than just me.

-I got to see my middle sister for her spring break. She just left to head back to school, but the time she was here was great. We celebrated my mom's birthday with a lot of great food and laughter, and there were many late night conversations that were fun. It was nice to reconnect.

-I got to play Animal Crossing for the first time and found that I love the fishing in it! It's a really fun game and I want to get back to it soon. I also found the Sanrio Amiibo cards for cheap, and I'm eager to see how they function once I'm a bit farther in.

-I'm slated to go to a convention soon! I can't wait to put my cosplays back on and go to panels. Two really awesome voice actors are going to be there, and I'm gonna try and work up the courage to take photos with other cosplayers. I'm especially excited to see the cosplay performers, I missed that last year but won't be this time!

-Another Splatfest is coming up! I can't wait to play more of Tricolor battles, they're such a good time. Thinking of playing on Team Nessie, but we'll see, depends on what my teammates think. I'm not a competitive player, I just have a group of four that enjoys playing together.

-It's my birthday next week (and also international mermaid day)! I'm not sure how I'm gonna celebrate just yet, but I do want to celebrate. I may ask my mom if we can go out to Goodwill or something during the day, I've wanted to check it out for a long time. I have friends who are streaming that night that I'd like to watch, but I'd also like to make some time for my annual birthday stream that week. Birthdays tend to be a time where you talk to a lot of people who haven't checked in in a while, and while I can get a little overstimulated, I do love having a portion of the night where I get to see a bunch of my friends for some drawing or other art. It's the one time of year where I like being the center of attention, it means getting to decide what I want to do and getting to do it together with the people I love. <3

-My persona doll is closer to done! She has a face, she has hair, she has shoe options that I can paint, she just needs clothes and wings (she's a fairy, and I'm debating how I wanna do them). I have some new clothing patterns that I'm excited to try out for her too. It's so cool to finally have a doll that feels closer to me. I loved drawing a face on G3 Draculaura.

-Dollightful released a new video showing off some of the face sculpts for G3 Monster High dolls, and I'm really excited about that! It got me wanting to customize more of G3, namely Lagoona, I have a great idea for a Shiny Vaporeon doll for her, but we'll have to see if it sticks. It also got me going on collecting resources for customizing G3 dolls, I have a post in my drafts that I wanna share soon that may help other doll customizers out.

-I got to design a character that I absolutely love, and brainstorming about it with my friends has been really fun. It's really pushing me to try more with hair. Been feeling really grateful for my friends in general, both those I talk to daily and the ones I haven't seen in a while. You're all wonderful and I'm so fortunate to have you in my life. <3

-Actually, I'm having a lot of fun all around! I got a great new idea for an AU where Henry is a guardian angel type character to Joey and gets stripped of his powers, so now Susie is watching over him and the studio with a cartoon Alice to show her the ropes, and it's SO FUN! I may have to bring that to my Bendy blog at some point. I'm brimming with ideas and gosh I wish I had more time to do art and audio for it, I'd love to voice some skits with Susie and Alice talking to each other.

-Mario Day passed and I finally got my hands on Bowser's Amiibo (thank you little sister for helping me out). I haven't collected Amiibo in a long time, but the siblings and I used to, and this is one we missed. I look forward to training him in Smash Bros. It'd be fun to pit him against Leg Day (Wii Fit Trainer) and Knave (Sonic).

-Been having a lot of fun at the Streamily Livestreams with the Bendy voice cast, lots of really funny fandom memes have come out of those and it's great. They never fail to make me smile. Been having a lot of fun at the ShazzandBoo Pokemon Livestreams too, what an absolute treat those have been!

Yeah, maybe life isn't so bad. There are a lot of things stressing me out, but there's so much to look forward to and enjoy, and those are the moments I'm gonna live for. Life is too short to let it keep you down, so we're gonna do our best and make it through!

Here's sending all of you the good vibes for a great Tuesday, a great week, and a great rest of March! Love you so much!

#long post #self help

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sho-minamimoto · 1 year

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ayano, 1, 11, 16, and a number of your choice

AYANOOOOO my girl....... i love u even though barely anyone else does </3

My first impression of them

my Very first impression from keeping up with the NEO news religiously up until its release and seeing her design for the very first time was "damn shes kinda hot"

But within the actual story, the very first scene she appears in is pretty brief and she's obscured by shadow, so i got a kind of mysterious and intimidating vibe from her What’s the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

Her relationship with Shoka and the lengths she goes through to save her is a big one but one thing that really sticks out to me is something Shoka says in one of her dialogue options on W3D2. I forget which option it is exactly (i just remember it's not one of the "perfect" options for the conversation that nets you a reward) but it results in Shoka sadly realizing she doesn't actually know much about Ayano on a personal level or what her interests are, and lamenting that fact despite how close they are and how much she means to her. It made something click in my head. Like, rindo and fret both had motoi and kanon narratively as role models that they idolized and see through rose tinted glasses, and they don't see their flaws or who they really are as people up until close to the end of their lives. And since motoi and kanon are team leaders I was initially disappointed that fuya didn't play a similar role to nagi (which wouldn't have really fit anyways, but by process of elimination + nagi being the third "main" member of the group that's where my mind was at on my first run) but it hit me There that the missing piece to the kids + role model trio was Ayano + Shoka. The fact that despite their closeness and for how much they clearly loved and cared for each other for 4 years, Ayano still put up a front + closed herself off and never allowed herself to be more of a friend on equal footing to Shoka than just someone who guides and mentors her, and the fact that Shoka herself doesn't even realize this until the end because she was happy simply to have Ayano by her side without thinking deeper about her, idk. It really struck a chord with me that i don't really see anyone else talk about A childhood headcanon

Hmmm because of Ayano only ever presenting herself as the mature Mom Friend it's hard to envision what she'd be like in childhood. But also she was barely an adult; only 19 when she died (despite what anyone says i find this completely believable. makeup and the way you dress + present yourself goes a long way in making yourself appear older). Because of the way she's so doting and protective of Shoka + unwilling to show any of her own doubts/weaknesses on her sleeve in front of her though, I'd think maybe her overall reticence and behaviour could stem from the lack of a role model in her own young age, and a subconscious want to become the type of person to Shoka she wished she had growing up. She very much overcompensated though and ended up being unable to connect with Shoka on a deeper level because of it.

A weird headcanon

I like to think ayano's game and shiba's game weren't that far apart from each other so they became reapers at around the same time and were close friends up until shiba started spiraling. And i think she dresses like that to match shiba they are coordinating tits out looks in my eyes.

#ask #neo twewy #i plan to write up a post abt ayano at some point going into those thoughts i have on her in more detail #if no ones going to dive into the scarce ayano text i will.

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thatangrybitch · 1 year

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Overwatch 2

I don’t really like overwatch 2 scratch that I actually hate it enrages me lol

1. No More Loot Boxes

Some people say that the grind wasn’t worth it and you had to end up buying the loot boxes or in game points or whatever it was anyway but Overwatch was one of the last few games where you could actually earn and purchase things with in game money. Season pass bullshit is one of the worse things that have happened to modern gaming and nothing can change my mind it’s all bullshit. I used to have fun waiting for the special events and the new skins, emotes, voice lines, sprays and highlight intros that came with them now any new shit that comes out is just a cash grab and it’s not worth it to me.

2. Character Designs

Some of the character designs are kind of off. This one isn’t really important as for the most part I love most of the overwatch 2 designs but some aspects or some of the outfits in general are just weird.

Pharah - I feel like they made her look washed out, her hair looks weird and they just made her suit color more vibrant and added a few unnecessary cuts and creases.

Tracer - Her design is cute but I don’t like the hair it’s weird looking, it’s too realistic or something idk but it just bothers me I feel like it’s not Overwatch’s style tbh I feel like the texture or something about her outfit is off as well.

Moira - I hate Moira’s new eye it looks like someone carved a piece off of Jason Vorhees mask and shoved it in her eye although I do actually like Moira’s outfit it should’ve been black imo.

Widowmaker - I don’t know how other people feel about widows hair but I certainly don’t like it. I preferred her ponytail, I also feel she should’ve had more colors to her outfit I feel there was a bitch too much gray and they just shoved armor on her.

Mercy - I like Mercy’s outfit although I would prefer the oranges and yellows to be more vibrant though the outfit overall is cute. I do not like her short hair though I feel as though it just doesn’t match her character.

Reaper - I hate Reaper’s new design it’s stupid they cut off all the sharp edges and then gave the man sweatpants. The only thing I like about his newdesign is the armor on his arms.

3. 5v5

Quite possibly the worst thing that happened to overwatch in my opinion besides the battle pass bullshit is that 5v5 garbage. Like it was fine the way it was. It feels extremely unbalanced and now if one tank is bad at the game your whole team struggles. The whole point of 6v6 is that it was balanced. There is a severe lack of protection for the whole team especially the healers. Most of the tanks don’t even have shields to compensate for the lack of the other tank. It feels like most of the tanks are just super buff offense characters with little ability to actually defend the team and keep them safe.

4. Overwatch 2 Force Update

The fact that overwatch 1 no longer exist makes me so sad. I truly believe this would’ve flopped and maybe they did too that’s why they literally forced it on us. Overwatch 2 is literally just one terrible giant update

5. New Maps

This might just be my eyes but some of the new maps follow the same layout as the old ones. I don’t know the new maps well enough to say which ones they are and I have a hard time remembering the old map names too so I’m just making a general observation here.

Side note some characters feel super overpowered lol I’m not gonna name names bc I don’t know enough factually in that area to make that statement but I’m just gonna put it out there

Ending on a positive note (although it’s hard to find one lol ok I’m being salty) the new characters are pretty cool and feel like they at least took some time to design them and shit

Ofc this is all just my opinion, you don’t have to agree with me after all we each have our own views on things and we are entitled to that. I just wanted to share my thoughts with y’all lol have a great day 😙

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #gaming rant #gaming #ow2 #just ranting #hate this game #gamer #overwatch characters #battle pass #rant post

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anime-grimmy · 2 years

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My thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

The game’s been out for almost a week now and Ive blasted through it in like 3 days because my sick ass couldn’t really do much but lay around and suffer anyways. Rn I’m trying to fill my Pokedex and I’ve started a second, way slower playthrough to really enjoy everything the game’s got to offer.

Criticism

So, Pokemon’s first open world game. We’ve all seen the memes, the game has a lot of bugs and especially performance issues. While I have not run into a high amount of glitches, except for some visual stuttering and one shut down, the performance of this game is sometimes atrocious. And this coming from someone who plays Monster Hunter World on an old laptop at 30fps where more than half the textures don’t even load. Sometimes the game dances on the line of death when it loads in too many Pokemon, or god forbid you’re on water because your switch will sound like a chainsaw trying to cut through a stubborn trunk.

And it really IS a shame, because the concepts and ideas of this game are a lot of fun! Like, this game IS fun but it does get bogged down by its issues a lot. Also bcs it does not have dynamic level scaling. Don’t tell me I can go everywhere and do anything, but then throw me in a zone I can’t go through. Don’t get me wrong, the whole “I SHOULD NOT BE HERE YET” experience is very funny and makes you look forward to going back to places, but the layout is just confusing. At the start, Nemona tells you the West Gate is for the first Gym Challenge, Arven tells you the East Gate is for the first Titan. You’d assume either way you go, the challenges in that zone are at least around the same levels but NOPE. You can beat the Gym Leader on the side of the first Titan relatively easily, but try to take on the Team Star base in the same area and be sure to suffer. This weird layout design goes through most of the game. Like, why is the Gym Leader that’s FARTHER North than Grucia weaker than him??? Like, you kinda HAVE to go through his town to get to the other one. It just does NOT make any sense!

I wanna say that Game Freak just needed more time but we know that even a year more wouldn’t have helped much, because Game Freak just isn’t a studio that’s equipped to do everything they set out to do. They’re short development time makes them build the games on an already wonky base, so even if they did suddenly extend the development by a year, I don’t think much would have changed since they had a faulty game design from the start. It pisses me off so much how Game Freak won’t or can’t reach out for help, they always try to keep everything in their small little team and not let outside hands touch their product (which ofc also is because of all the branding around it), but with their short 3 year development cycle, these guys just aren’t fit for the job to make the games they want to and the people demand. For fuck’s sake, they’re the biggest media franchise on earth, I do not understand what makes them think that one more year of development from the start or an extension of their team would do to fuck that over. So far the people stick with their games because they give us glimmers of hope and lure us in with great Pokemon and characters, but if this continues, they are slowly but surely going to lose their status as top franchise.

Because not making a game with this low res run well on the switch when the Xenoblade’s Chronicles games can be played on the system is unacceptable.

The Good stuff

Now that Ive got the negative stuff out of the way, I can go to stuff I really enjoyed. Because while I do have my fair share of criticism, this game also did a lot I liked.

For one, I am deeply saddened they removed the chugging balls mechanic from Arceus, this just makes catching Pokemon a hassle again. However, I do like the autobattle mechanic. It’s a bit rough because your Pokemon are so slow and once you run for 3 steps they’re back in their Pokeballs. But it’s a nice mechanic to get some off hands exp when traveling from place to place.

Speaking of traversal, I really love Kuraidon. The sound design of this Pokemon is immaculate, I love the scaly boy, he has so much personality and I love how you’re unlocking HMs for him through the Herba Mystica. It’s such a stupid pun but I love it.

As for the other new Pokemon, I’m hit and miss on them. A lot feel weirdly Fakemon. Like, the Flamingo and the Stork don’t feel like real Pokemon to me. Others, however, I really really liked. The Smoliv line is one of my new fav Gras types, Fuecoco has no braincells and I love him for that, and this game did give us some awesome new bug and fairy types. DUDE, A BREAD DOG?! HE’S SO CUTE!!(Spoiler for endgame)

And then the ancient Pokemon. I do prefer the ancient Mons to the futuristic ones tbh, and I like the concept also way more of trying to bring back old, extinct Pokemon to live alongside the present ones than bringing some from the future. Dude, like, the ancient Volcarona is so fucking cool, it’s my fav of the old mons.

(spoiler territory)

But on to the one thing I truly loved about Scarlet and Violet, the characters. Specifically the main three, Nemona, Arven and Penny (and Mr. Clavell/Clive). I never thought I’d like Penny and Arven at the start but holy shit they grew on me. Even Nemona, who I figured I’d like, took a turn in character I hadn’t expected.

Let’s start off with Penny since I have the least to say about her. It was pretty obvious she’s the leader of Team Star from the start, right? The predictability aside, while the Team Star story was nothing to write home about, by the end I did feel attached to this group of misfits, and Penny’s relationship with them is so sweet. Like, when after the game you can join her looking after the team Star bosses to see if they’re doing well in school, it’s so adorable. What I like about Penny though is how surprisingly sassy she is. Freaking hacker Otaku with no chill, I love it.

Then, Nemona. She’s like the epitome of a “nice” rival. I like that from the start it’s established that she is a great trainer, since she already has the Champion title, but the fact she chooses to start from scratch to grow alongside you just screams how much she loves battling and respects a good journey. She wants you to be the best because she sees your potential and she just knows she’ll have the best battle in her life if she helps you out. She’s a mix of a rival/mentor character, who at the same time kind of has a screw loose since battling is all she thinks about. But it all comes from an honest place and the fact she doesn’t act as a cheerleader and actually challenges you in battle when you’re not ready for it, makes her a great rival.

Lastly, Arven. (BIG spoilers) My sweet baby boy, I cannot believe Game Freak dumped so much trauma on you. It was obvious from the start that he had some parental issues, I did not expect it to be year long neglect. I mean, he hasn’t seen the prof in YEARS and has NO memories of playing together with his parent? And apparently his other parent walked out on them the MOMENT he was born??? Then he gets a dying dog, which thankfully got better (it did make me teary eyed by the end ngl) but then the one who’s actually dead is the PROFESSOR???? I hate how quickly he got over the fact, the dude just found out his parent who he hasn’t seen in years is fucking DEAD and has been for YEARS. I mean, I’m happy this makes him find new ambition and a new path in life but fuck me, let the boy process this for a bit.

But yeah, Arven’s story was my fav (im very weak for dogs ok.) Though, all coming together in the end and you running alongside your friends down the Great Crater was so damn cute istg. And the dialogue between them, getting to know each other, is so damn good. You see some different sides of them, showing interest in someone else but you, and it gives them some more dimension, I love it.

Now if Game Freak just FINALLY added voice acting, at least for the damn CUTSCENES, I’d be the happiest. Like dude, that last emotional cutscene really needed some raw emotional voice deliveries.

But yeah, all in all, Scarlet and Violet has a ton of fucking problems, but it also has a lot of good sides to it. Now if Game Freak just took it’s fucking time and accepted some help, they truly could make a great game from the get go.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scvi #thoughts #review #rambling #i really enjoyed the game #but it has a ton of issues #i do love the characters thought #such babies

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moonvalecrossing · 1 year

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Alright, top 3 favorite and least Gym Leaders of Paldea?

Hell yeah Fam lets do this! PROBABLY MORE SCARLET AND VIOLET SPOILERS KIND OF. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING. Also unpopular opinions probably! I aint stopping you from liking what you like. Nobody attack me for the following!

Favorites first.

#3. Kofu. I like the colors in his design. I like that he's a friendly old man. I also liked how they used him to introduce a side activity in the game that I might otherwise have completely passed by. Even though I wound up climbing the mountain around Cascarrafa in order to get to the other town he went to because I was scared to cross the desert and run into the part of Arven's quest that was out there. I want to try his cooking.

#2. Grusha. The last gym leader is always supposed to be the strongest and I did not expect to find the Ice Type gym in this slot. Of course, but his point in the game I was a tad over leveled. By this point in the game, even when I was swapping out and training entire teams for a gym/team star/legend battle I was already thinking about what mons I'd take to the elite four and any other endgame stuff so I already had a pretty good party set up. I sorta pulled the rug out from under this cool cucumber's sassy ass. It was absolutely adorable how he was clearly embarrassed when our character asks for a picture with him after earning the badge.

#1. Larry. Larry is we all. All of us are Larry at some point. This man is so tired you guys. He just wants to get his job done. He didn't want to be a gym leader, he's just really good at it so that's his job now. The poor thing is even one of the elite four. How did they manage to make a tired salaryman a pokemon trainer? I don't know but I'm so happy he exists 10/10 I would hang out and share a meal with him when he had some time off.

Honorable mention: Ryme. Her hair is dreadlocks shaped like skeleton parts. She's a rapping old lady and that is rad as FUCK. Yes, queen! SLAY! RAISE THE DEAD. NECROMANCY!! The only thing I didn't like about her design was the fact the people who made her model made her dress so damn tight that you could see her navel through the fabric as well as the damn creases where her thighs meet her abdomen. Not even rapping grandmothers are safe from the male gaze anymore, folks. Every woman wears vacuum sealed plastic in the future.

Now the least favorites! Preface: I don't HATE these characters. Well besides the unlucky duck who's sitting at the top of the #1 slot. I kinda really hate them but we'll get to that. <3

#3. Brassius. PUT DOWN YOUR PITCHFORKS, DID YOU SKIP THAT PARAGRAPH UP THERE JUST NOW? I don't hate him. But... I don't really like him too much either. I want to, don't get me wrong. I'm a sucker for artist characters. I've always considered myself an artist. But... this guy is a lot of what I hate about artist characters. A bit abnormal? The dude was standing on the damn windmill before the battle started and implied he watched us collect those sunflora from all the way up there. He uses the word 'avant-garde' way too much. Also, gonna say it now. His pieces of art aren't that great. He's got like 200 of the same sunflora statue all over Artazon. It's not even that impressive of a statue. Just slightly exaggerated of a regular Sunflora. And whatever that other work is supposed to be... yes, okay sure Brassius is such a skilled artist that his weird thorn ring thing needs to be shown on billboards all over that one city. At least they decided to give the multiple copy pastes of this piece different colors. And then there's the class he joins in during Mr. Hassel's teachings at school. If you pick the wrong emotion when he asks how he was feeling when he made that damn sunflora statue? "No no no... completely and utterly wrong!" Look here you avant-asshole. If there's one thing that really rustles my jimmies its 'artists' who get offended at someone having an incorrect interpretation of your art. You made a mildly constipated looking sunflora statue, not some great piece depicting Arceus mourning over having no choice but sealing Giratina away. Get out of my art class before you spread your bad personality to the younger students. Don't glare at me when those creepy eyebrowless eyes. You look 24 going on 79. Burgh will always be the superior artistic gym leader!

#2. Tulip. Okay, so overall I love this woman's design. Well besides whatever the Kentucky fried fuck is going on with her eyelashes. Like, goddamn woman. Stay away from open flames they might catch fire. How do you hold you eyes open with that much weight on them? However, the design is about all I like about her. We're introduced to her gabbing on her phone. She's not thinking about the gym battle she's about to be challenged to, oh no. She's too busy planning out a makeup line with someone. And this cake-up faced woman has the gall to decide the tagline for this new line of cosmetics should be 'naturally beautiful'. Uh, honey, no. Please do not enforce the idea that 'natural' beauty needs eyeshadow, mascara, lipstick, and the whole nine yards. It's bad enough that women end up trapped in a Schrodinger's Box of being 'slutty' and 'fake' if they wear too much makeup, or looking like a corpse or they're sick if they don't have enough makeup on. When she finally deigns to get off the damn phone she's quick to let you know that being gym leader is just a side gig and that her make focus is all about makeup. She then calls our character cute and says that her ESP training made us all the more beautiful. Woman your challenge was possibly my least favorite of all of the gym challenges. It was obnoxious and all it made me feel was a strong desire to have my Annihilape break your nose. And when we finally beat her? One of the first things she says is that she should take you under her wing before we find our big break somewhere else. You stay away from me, lady. This tube of purple lipstick is all I want in life. Oh, and I hope you trip on your heels when you get back to your absolutely packed schedule. Seriously, don't quit your day job. Quit your side gig. Let me battle someone with a better personality. Also? Ryme's got better taste in makeup than you.

#1. Iono. I hate this child. I hate this child so, so much. Gamefreak did an amazing job of recreating everything I hate about the stereotypic streamer girl persona. LOL SO CUTE AND RANDOM INTRODUCTION? Punny name? Oh, Iunno, looks like it! A weird-ass crazy vtuber design? Hot damn this kid's got it all! It's a good thing she's got simps like Electro King throwing money at her because after she filed her teeth down to get those absurd spikes her dental work must be an absolute nightmare. Like Tulip, Iono is clearly more focused on her job outside of working as a gym leader. She only cares about how many views you can get her. She even says as much before introducing her gym 'challenge'. We can't 'collab' with her unless we play a cheap man's version of where is waldo with some random guy she pulled off the street (who luckily just so happened to be someone we could easily recognize). If we can't get this narcissistic cotton candy brat the views she wants, we'll fail. Were I actually in this universe, my gym challenge would have ended right here because I would have called her out on that shit, walked right out of the gym, filed a complaint with the league, and bought tickets to the furthest away region I could as well as got my legal name changed as soon as I touched down. I'll be carrying my best pokemon on me at all times because there's no way in hell I'm getting jumped by rabid manlets because I called out their waifu. My brother keeps telling me she's a grown ass woman. Yeah, okay. I don't care how many thousands of years old that dragon loli is she looks like a child. The final cherry on this sundae is how she signs off after losing her gym battle. I'm guessing she's supposed to do that heart symbol with her hands as the camera zooms in on it but, unfortunately, her designers decided to give her some bigass sleeves that cover her hands. So in that split second zoom we get, all I saw was the camera zoom in on this child-looking streamer's non-existent boobs. Fantastic and not the least bit unfitting. I bet Electro King had more pokebucks for her after that one. Also she did what I absolutely hate and had an electric type that's immune to ground types because of FUCKING LEVITATE. Fuck. I hate that ability so goddamn much. How dare you make me dislike Mismagius in any way.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

#pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarlet #pokemon violet #gym leader #hot takes #unpopular opinion #don't fight me #shields up

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lliwless · 11 months

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tell me more about the sbi pokemon au? im interested if you planned out any teams or gave backstories for any of the people/their main partner pokemon

HELLO YES I'D LOVE TO!!! i'll put it under the cut because it's a LOT of rambling and i don't know how to make my thoughts concise LOL (seriously this is very long)

i originally made the AU when the DSMP was still at its height of popularity, i think right after hannah joined? the story was going to follow benchtrio going all around sinnoh, meeting EVERYONE from the dsmp who were living their silly little AU lives, and getting tangled in a bunch of Lore with the lake trio and creation trio, but a combination of burnout & lack of interest in a lot of the CCs after a while made me eventually downscale it to just being SBI-centric instead and cutting out a lot of characters. I still really like some of the ideas I came up with before dropping them though, regardless of how half-baked they are LOL.

in the original version, benchtrio were going to have the three starters - tommy with chimchar, ranboo with piplup and tubbo with turtwig. they'd eventually get other pokemon as the story progresses but I didn't really plan much before dropping the idea oTL

tommy was gonna catch a shinx who'd match his energy and eventually a buneary like in the comic (itd be a really cute story of enemies to "i would kill and die for you" bc i love buneary starting with 0 friendship in the game LOL), ranboo was gonna catch an abra bc "hes anxious just like me fr" and tubbo was gonna catch an onix. bc he would and i think the image of him looking innocent in front of a giant fuck-off snake creature of Rocks is funny as hell LOL

the story would follow all of them getting badges and working together to be the regional champion but along the way they'd realise they wanna do other stuff instead - mostly ranboo with pokemon contests and tubbo with breeding, aiding phil in research (he'd create a little garden/pokemon nature reserve around lake verity IT WAS GONNA BE CUTE!!!). i don't remember tommy LOL

here's art for ranboo doing pokemon contests (this is 2 years old im better at designing characters now i promise. i promise)

off the top of my head i also know that niki was gonna own a chain of bakeries with the main one she's usually at in eterna city, with food-themed pokemon from all types of regions gifted to her by wilbur (MORE ON HIM SOON). eterna city specifically because the bike mechanic guy would be jack fucking manifold the absolute legend AND THEYRE BEST FRIENDS IN THIS AU TOO!!!! jack would have electric & steel-type pokemon but his partner would be pachirisu who's basically co-owned by niki as well :3

SBI TIME philza was gonna be the professor and his partner is a specific murkrow called "chatterbox", shortened to "chat". no i don't care if it's too easy. he's seen as kinda quirky, kinda scary, because he's constantly followed by (and arguing with) flocks of murkrow wherever he goes - SPEAKING OF I DIDNT SHOW ART OF THEM. RAAAA

wilbur was phil's son and he honestly just wanted to fuck around and find out. his curiosity landed him a solid position at his father's side as a sort of apprentice as well as son, and while he contributed a lot of helpful work he also mostly just liked travelling around with his partner drifblim, almost becoming the charismatic face for sinnoh's research team instead of his more blunt, off-putting father. that's how he introduced niki to food-related pokemon :33 also he's evil and fucked up but i'll get back to that

TECHNOBLADE MY BELOVED!!!!! the regional champion, moved to sinnoh from unova when he was 18 after dropping out of college due to mental health reasons and wanted a complete fresh restart in a new region, trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. he started physically training in the wild with pokemon, living essentially as a hermit and travelling all around sinnoh, learning to live peacefully and control his anxiety while befriending pokemon on the way. he met phil by chance when camping in a forest and phil was like wow ur strong why dont u try becoming champion and techno was like ??????? and phil challenged him to a battle and techno understandably sweeped him and his team off their feet. and phil was like Yeah Holy Fuck You're Strong. go do the thing. go challenge ppl. and techno was like yea sure why not. he has not lost a single battle :) also he kept meeting up with phil after gaining his first couple of badges, gaining a reputation for being unbeatable, and got gifted a cleffa by phil when venting about his stress and anxiety and stuff. cleffa became techno's emotional support partner and it makes me so so happy :33

this post is already so long i havent even properly scratched the surface of the story and this is only the original version... i'm sorry i'm not a very good storyteller especially when it's so hard for me to keep track of my thoughts :') lmk if anyone's interested in any more ajhaghja

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yogurtverse · 2 years

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My prediction for the new season

Hello. A while back I made a prediction on the elimination of the new cast on the assumption that the original promo photos revealed the full teams. But now that the mipcom posters revealed the teams I think I'll guess who's getting eliminated

16: Julia

Nothing about Julia really sticks out to me. My honest guess is she'll be a valley girl and get voted out first for screwing up

15: Wayne

Wayne seems to be the leader of his hockey team back home and I can imagine him trying to apply those skills to the game but doing poorly. I can also see Nichelle seeing him as a threat seeing as him and Raj could get someone else on their side for an easy alliance and be the first person she eliminates

14: Ripper

I think Ripper is an online name and that he'll be an avid internet user of some kind. I could see him also butting heads or being the Ezekiel of the season with some outdated world views which gets him eliminated (maybe being a stand in for Ben Shapiro fans or something? IDK hope not) but I see him butting heads with other members of the team and being the first person kicked off it

13: Millie

I see Millie as being a headstrong team mom leader type, but I also see her butting heads with Axel who would also want to claim leadership of the team. Eventually, Axel wins and forms an alliance (maybe with Chase or Damien) and Millie gets voted off

12: Emma

I think Emma will be the ditzy Lindsay type of the season. Maybe she'll work with Nichelle similar to Lindsay and Heather, but my current guess is that Nichelle will team up with Caleb and use his popularity to influence votes, with Emma being deemed unnecessary and voted off

11: Raj

I just don't see him getting to the merge without Wayne. Maybe he'll try to fill his shoes but not get that far before his elimination

10: Zee

Might be biased as a lot of people see him as a first boot, but he's my favourite design so far so I want him to make it. However, I think he'll be eliminated just before the merge as a liability to his team

9: Priya

I could see Priya being a more plain character like Sky or Zoey to bounce off the more animated members of the cast. But for now I think that role will go to chase while she gets eliminated by Axel's alliance

Merge (Damien, Axel, Chase, Scary Girl, Caleb, Nichelle, Bowie and MK remain)

8: Caleb

I think the first thing to be established in the merge is a rivalry between Axel and Nichelles alliances. I could see MK joining the other teams decision to vote off one of them out of fear the alliance gets too strong later. Eventually Axel's alliance chooses Caleb for his strength and charisma, but not before him and Bowie get together.

7: Axel

Nichelle uses the same paranoia tactic that worked on getting Caleb eliminated by Axel on her. Members outside of the alliance are convinced to vote her off to ensure she doesn't get too strong later

6: Scary Girl

I think Scary Girl will get eliminated in a sudden death elimination, or an Izzy-esque situation where everyone is just fed up with her antics. I still believe my theory that she's trans, and will come away from the experience with her new name and identity and walk away happy

5: Damien

I think once Axel gets eliminated, Damien will spend the rest of the season trying to get Nichelle and Bowie eliminated, going to almost concerning lengths to do so. I could see him getting eliminated in a sudden death challenge or Nichelle and Bowie getting either Chase or MK to vote him off

4 and 3: Bowie and Nichelle

With this being a 16 member cast and a 13 episode run, a double elimination has to happen eventually, and it'll end with a team up of Bowie and Nichelle Vs Chase and MK. At the end of the challenge, Bowie will throw the challenge for both of them, resulting in Nichelle losing her chance at the million

2: Chase

The de facto main character with the most focus this season. I think he'll be the amputee character and make it to the finale determined to prove those who doubted him wrong, but lose in the finale to...

1: MK

I think MK will end up winning the season. I see her being a relaxed slacker type who can think outside the box and provide creative solutions when she needs to. She would also have the WT Cody effect where she'd make it far simply by merging and then not having much of an involvement with any drama.

So that was my prediction for the new season. Please let me know your ideas for who you think is winning or losing

#total drama revival #total drama #td

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askroahmmythril · 1 year

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The Durgon and Monster Catching Games

So recently, I had someone ask me about other monster catching / raising type games that I’ve played aside from Pokémon, and my thoughts on them. I got to thinking about that, so here’s a bit more detail on the subject.

Category 1 - The Baseline

Pokémon - So this is obviously the biggest monster catching series I got into. When the original games released in the US, I actually didn’t take major notice of them. What first got me interested was a comic adaptation of the first few episodes of the anime that was featured in Nintendo Power. I started looking more into it, really liked the various Pokémon designs and names, and decided to try it out, and was instantly hooked. I’ve thus been a fan since the original days of Red and Blue. That’s not to say it’s a perfect series, I certainly have my issues with it here and there, and miss the days of being able to import ALL my trained up Pokémon into the new games, but I still tend to enjoy the games for what new species they offer. I... will say though that Scarlet and Violet definitely showed they need to take a bit more of a development cycle between games... I sincerely hope they continue to patch and improve the game, here’s hoping. Still fun, but you can definitely tell there was rushing and crunch involved. (I do say this while working on breeding my third Paldean team, so obviously I AM enjoying my time with the games)

Category 2 - Other Series I Have Played

Siralim - I’ve only played one game in this series, Siralim Ultimate, however I greatly enjoy it. I’ve put a lot of time into the game on Steam. If memory serves, a few of my friends were into the game, I want to say Kit, Ark, and Chompie were all playing it on and off. I enjoy working with Kit to try experimenting with “gym leader” teams of a single family of creatures to see how their skills can interact. I don’t know too much about earlier games in the series, I think Kit tried Siralim 3, but said Ultimate was more user friendly.

Monster Sanctuary - I never really got too far into this one. It’s one I want to give more of a chance at some point, but I’ve been pretty occupied with other games. It seems like an interesting concept though, a Monster Catching game that works as sort of a Metroidvania platformer? Honestly a cool concept.

Dragon Warrior Monsters - Or is it Dragon Quest? I always get confused. Is that just a regional thing? Anyway, I did mostly enjoy the first two games (I never had access to the later ones). Mostly though I tended to just see how many types of Slimes I could raise. I remember not liking a few things though, the rather limited number of monsters you could keep, the fact that they left if you bred them, and that you were limited to four character names. Also while I get that it was supposed to be “your view” in battle, as well as just being how the early Dragon Warrior games were, it felt kind of lacking that you never actually got to see your own monsters fight.

Yo-Kai Watch - This is another one that hit some notes from Pokémon that I like. I liked the various creature designs and names. This game also hits a major point I want to make here : it’s NOT a Pokémon ripoff, as a lot of people seem to think. It definitely does its own thing, it has a very unique type of battle flow. It’s a game that’s not afraid to experiment, as I think I’ve been told the battle system even tends to change between games. I will say though that I tended to not really feel too in control during fights, and catching new Yo-Kai could be a bit annoying as you only got to even TRY to lure one Yo-Kai per battle to your side, and you only got one attempt to do so. Still overall, quite enjoyable. Though the whole Shadowside thing was... quite the tonal shift that I didn’t care for. Which I think I recall hearing that they toned it down / lessened the focus on it?

Robopon - Oh man, anyone remember this one? How far did the series even go, I honestly forget? I played one of them, and... my playthrough did not go well, haha. I kind of just ended up with this one cell phone based robot and got stuck in an area with stuff way beyond my level, an encounter rate that put any Zubat cave to shame, and no real way to survive, haha. It was another of those though where I did like the monster designs overall.

Coromon - This is another one I didn’t get too far into, but for a more direct reason : a major power level issue. Enemy levels went up very fast to a point where you were stuck grinding in each area for what felt like way too long to me. A friend of mine who was also playing the game, Lucy, stuck with it longer than I did, and it sounded like the problem doesn’t really get better as the game progresses... Monster designs were kind of hit and miss for me, but overall I did like them.

Touhou Puppet Dance Performance - Pretty much this is solidly just Pokémon with a coat of Touhou paint. Pretty solidly enjoyable, I liked it. The fact that you can basically pick whatever puppet you want as your starter was a fun choice as well. I think my only sticking point was it was kind of a hassle to get the game up and running since it required language support that my computer really did not enjoy having to use, haha.

Category 3 - Other Series I Know But Haven’t Played

Nexomon - Kit played this one, so most of my knowledge of this one comes from him, and just images I’ve seen. The monster designs themselves look really nice to me. From what Kit’s told me though, the game does have a bit of an issue with movepool starvation. Creatures only seem to get moves of their own type and normal moves, and that’s about it, not much in the way of coverage. Still the monsters themselves at least look nice.

Temtem - I’ve had a few friends that have played this one and... sadly it sounds like an exercise in frustration. Though again, what I’ve seen of the monster designs look good. I really want that water platypus to be an actual Pokémon... I forget what ALL the details are that make the game frustrating, but a big one I remember is breeding mechanics. Each monster has a randomized and hidden stat that determines how many TIMES it’s allowed to breed. So it sounds pretty limiting and the way it’s done just sounds like it’s purely there for frustration’s sake. It seems like one of those things where it takes a common complaint of “Pokémon is too easy” and veers too far in the other direction.

World of Final Fantasy - I at least THINK that’s what it was called? This one, Neo was largely into. From his description, I wouldn’t be adverse to trying this one out, but it’s one of those “priorities when it comes to buying things” issues I suppose.

Digimon - I never really got into Digimon. The monster designs admittedly don’t really do it for me, and the naming convention of everything being “somethingmon” feels kind of boring to me (I’m aware there’s probably some level of irony that I love classic Mega Man and most of the bosses are “Something Man.”). Naturally, nothing against anyone that DOES enjoy the series, it just never really caught on with me personally.

Category 4 - The Odd One Out

Monster Rancher - I’ve never actually played a main series Monster Rancher game. I DID however play one of the spinoff games... though I don’t really remember all that much about it. Just that it was a card-based game on the GBC I think it was? From what I know of the mainline series, the overall concept is an interesting one that sadly is kinda lost to time because CDs these days. However, from what I’ve seen of the game itself, I’m not sure how much control you really have in battle? Also I know one of the mechanics of the game is your monsters actually do age and die, which... kind of a turnoff for me admittedly.

That’s all I can really think of at the moment as far as my experience with various Monster Catching games. I feel like I MAY have missed one or two that I just don’t remember as clearly, and I’m sure there’s a ton of them out there that I don’t actually know of, haha. For now, time to go back to working on my third Paldean team because guess who’s having sleep problems~

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zavalas-bignaturals-lore · 1 year

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The Dawn Chorus

Destiny is a game with only a few outlets for self expression, but buildcrafting with a side of fashion speaks deeply to me. In addition to that of course, the lore of the game is one of its strong suits, and somewhere at the nexus of those three things comes this post.

The Dawn Chorus is not an exceptionally pretty helmet, its wide berth and overly bug-eyed protrusions make it difficult to pair with armor to create a cohesive look, but the one above is what I've been using since the release of the Dawn Singer set. I'm quite proud of it, honestly.

Each exotic comes with its own lore entry, short stories or snippets of info that in some way inform its relationship with the game or players. For Dawn Chorus, it takes the form of a "Song from a hymnal discovered in the Scorched Chapel, believed to be an account of the Risen named Hungren-3." Bungie as a developer and writing team often draws from religious imagery for much of their worldbuilding, and that is especially true in their reverent depiction of the Traveler and the Light as part of their narrative.

In this case, the hymn is descriptive of a Warlock of purifying Solar Light, a perfect flame in and of himself. Bungie's writers do an exceptional job at bringing together the intersection of play design and lore. The Dawn Chorus helmet enhances a Guardian's ability to scorch and burn their enemies, and the lore written here is in harmony with that.

Guardians are often likened to gods, be they small, single entry characters like Hungren-3, or mainstays like Ikora Rey. It is therefore interesting to me when Bungie draws stronger parallels between the Guardians and gods. This case is of course about the source text being a hymnal. Bungie tells a very direct tale through the song of a Guardian who smites his enemies with "Flame's Sword," a bald reference to the Dawnblade super ability in game. Here they rely on every trope of fiery purification, framed through devotion to the Guardian that protects the people involved in writing the hymnal. The narrative device of devotion is deeply tied to the Guardians and the Light, with an oft-repeated phrase that claims to be the truth of how to become a Guardian in favor of the Traveler. "Devotion inspires bravery, bravery inspires sacrifice, and sacrifice leads to death." In this way, Guardians can become a sort of self-perpetuating myth. A Guardian has the ability to inspire all those around them into the same path that leads to the raising of a new Guardian, and so on as the cycle repeats itself. A never ending sea of hope and inspiration.

While I have started this blog to organize my thoughts and really start digging deeply into the lore and language of a universe that I've come to love, I did not want to go too hard in this, the inaugural post.

#destiny 2 #destiny the game #destiny warlock #destiny fashion

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crystalelemental · 2 years

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“hamofjustice: i've definitely wondered if i've poisoned my own experiences by having the "i'm just running through this to get to postgame" mindset and exploring+remembering pretty much nothing on the way there, when imagining oneself in the pokemon world was the most fun part as a kid. it is a little disappointing that you kinda still have to go out of your way to smell the roses and use your imagination though, still towns of 4 houses with people who say 1 line each in 2022.”

I dunno, I prefer it over the opposite, which I’m going to start calling the Breath of the Wild effect, since it’s the only open-world game I’ve directly experienced. When everything open and there’s technically tons to do but it’s all very repetitive and boring, that’s way worse to me.

I think the real hit has been...as I’ve gotten older, I feel like I’ve had less time for fun. I can experience older games with the same excitement because I have established concepts and ideas within those games, and that carries over. But a new game needs that time and energy devoted, that I’m not always willing to invest because I’m tired, or pulled in too many directions by life, and don’t feel like I can dedicate, and then it feels hollow because yeah, it’s four houses with people who say one line each. It doesn’t feel like as much. There are also legitimate changes that do simplify things. Gen 8 is actually a smaller world. Each route is much smaller that previous games, there are fewer trainer battles, and a lot less side stuff to explore, because the game wanted to streamline its experience to facilitate EXP All by removing situations like Gen 2′s Team Rocket segments that go for 40 minutes of fighting the same four Pokemon. I can’t say it wasn’t well intentioned, but it does leave a gaping hole where an interested spooky Fae Forest should be, you know?

“3 minutes devoted to a character's vibe is pretty cool in comparison! actually putting stuff like that in the game would be a pretty welcome thing i would not complain about online for wasting my time and would make me enjoy every time i encountered them later more (also, i like that the elite four have been characters you actually know in the games lately, instead of four themed weirdo strangers. sometimes even the champion is some rando who said one line to you before)”

Just calling Diantha right out, huh? But yeah, I like getting to know these characters. I think the inverse is also fine though. Like, FRLG kept the same structure where you really don’t know the E4, but your post-game had stuff like the Four Island bit with Lorelei, and I think that’s great too. I don’t have to know them at first, but there should be something. I do like the idea of getting some time to know the gym leaders, and I think the best example we had of that was probably Gen 5, where you met almost all of them in advance of their battle, or their battle was immediately followed a segment learning about their character. That was great. I think it’s part of why Gen 5′s cast shines so much. If they could produce something comparable again, I think people would respond positively.

“(and in the language of pokemon tropes a rando saying one ambiguous line to you basically gives away that they're the champion. if i knew i'd have this much to say i'd just have reblogged it oops)”

You’re fine. But you’re right, I think it was probably a good move on their part to just...announce who is the Champion. The mystery was pretty easily solved early on.

“megazardx2: @hamofjustice Well, only Diantha was ever really a “rando” as far as Champions are concerned.”

Hehe, we all know about that one. Poor Diantha.

“Anyways, I agree; they’ve been putting a lot more effort into making Gym Leaders, E4 members and Champions into actual characters for players to engage and fall in love with for reasons outside of design, which is something I very much appreciate. I mean, the existence of Pokémon Masters is proof!“

I definitely like having character, but on the Masters note...I think it’s nice to have gaps too. I don’t need to know everything about a character, just enough to work with. Like...part of the fun of a character like Jasmine or Caitlin for me is that we don’t know everything about them, and have some room for interpretation. I know some find that bothersome and lacking depth, but I think it can be a nice experience at times, too.

#hamofjustice #megazardx2

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