#pacing has improved SO MUCH in later games

[docholligay]

FINALLY FINISHED FLOWERS SPRING JFC

#love the series! #boy did i undersell the time #iscah! don't feel bad! #a) i set the terms #b) i was glad it was you because you've always been great #so i love to fuck up in your favor! #the whole last hour after the vfeast #i was yelling END END END #pacing has improved SO MUCH in later games #been at this game 15 hours talking about fucking pancakes and nicknames #The VEIL HAS BEEN RETURNED DISAPPEAR MAYURI AND ROLL CREDITS #Anyway this makes it sound like I hated the game which isn't true #full review in the next few days

[ohimsummer]

RANDOM HORROR GAMER! SATORU HCS

— one(1) suggestive under the cut so minors dni, gamer! gojo x reader, established rs, explicit language, some gamer! reader, pet names (sweetums, baby, (my) love), the link has body horror!!, horror-loving gojo in general <3

⭑ ࣪ ˖ sum’z notes.ᐟ gojo playing outlast and resident evil and silent hill and fnaf and and

horror gamer! satoru who always likes you around whenever he starts playing. doesn’t matter if you’re cooking, showering, or out for the day—and prefers you in his lap while in his comfy gaming chair, but if you’re even just on the bed nearby then that’s totally okay, too.

horror gamer! satoru who finds it so cute when the jumpscares actually startle you. laughs when you let out a yelp or a scream, giggling a ‘relax, baby’ as if his heart didn’t stop for a second at the same scare.

horror gamer! satoru who asks your opinions and recommendations on what games to play, even if you know nothing about them. if he’s stuck between two games, he’ll let you be the tiebreaker, shoving the two options in your face for you to choose from even if your reasons are inane. ‘you like the art on this one better? the title sounds cooler? okay, come check it out with me!’

horror gamer! satoru who finds it comforting whenever you’re cuddled under him while he plays. your scent and the warmth of your body soothes him, makes the scares a little less frightening and he calms down way quicker when he gets to hug you so tight. (refers to you as his emotional support y/n)

horror gamer! satoru who’s just about always eating his words about how terrified the game is making him. talks so much shit going ‘oh this dumbass monster isn’t even that scary’ and you just like to humor him even though you can feel his heart pounding in his chest.

horror gamer! satoru who enjoys when you also talk a little trash with him. ‘i could totally take that monster on, right, baby?’ ‘hell yeah, it looks weak as shit, you could destroy that thing.’

horror gamer! satoru and you both frantically talking over eachother when he gets to a fast-paced area of the game, parts that require swift puzzle-solving or thinking quickly on your feet. ‘fuckfuckfuck where do i go, where do i go ?!’ ‘that way, THAT WAY, no the other way, oh my god, run!!’

horror gamer! satoru who likes handing you the mouse/controller and watching you play. guides you through some parts when you get confused, and always returns your victorious grin when you’re able to get past the really scary or difficult areas by yourself.

‘look at my baby gettin’ through the little mini-boss after 26– ow, fine, 18 tries! so proud of you, sweetums, guess my super-awesome gaming skills are rubbin’ off on ya, huh?’

horror gamer! satoru who lets you get jumpscared even when he knows a scare is coming up. ‘didn’t wanna ruin the experience for ya, baby’ while he’s almost spitting out his water from trying to hold back laughter.

horror gamer! satoru who you have to gently drag away from his setup when he starts getting frustrated. he’s been stuck on this one part for hours now because of rng or the boss is just ‘stupid and rigged’ and insanely hard. you can see his jaw clench, his moves getting sloppier in his exasperation.

horror gamer! satoru let’s you pepper kisses up and down his neck, over his jaw and cheeks, on his forehead as you murmur suggestions to take a break in his ear. you hold your own drink up in an offer for him to take a sip, before slipping away to grab one of his favorite sweet treats to hopefully ease his frustrations. ‘give it a rest and come cuddle with me for a bit, my love, you can always try again later.’

horror gamer! satoru who buys another controller (in your favorite color) so he can play co-op horror games with you. he loves watching you improve, proud when he doesn’t have to carry you as hard anymore. and it feels so much more fun because it’s like you’re experiencing the scares together, not the same as when you’re just watching him play.

horror gamer! satoru who goes horror game-hunting with you. he loves that your interest in them has grown so much, and you two can actually talk in detail about them since your ‘horror knowledge’ isn’t at base level anymore.

horror gamer! satoru likes that you’re not just watching him play and listening to him explain what’s going on anymore. you’re more heavily intrigued in the game lore and spotting tiny details or references in the games.

you’re playing a multiplayer horror game with satoru, exploring a different room of the house since you two have split up to cover more ground.

‘oh, wow! satoru, look at this little figure on the desk!’

his avatar makes its way over, and he’s a little excited to see the tiny evil within 2 reference on the piece of furniture.

‘it’s obscura, isn’t that so cool?’ ‘fuck yeah, wonder if there’s any more hidden around here somewhere?’ and you both keep an eye out for any other allusions to more horror game characters.

horror gamer! satoru who convinces you that playing in the dark is so much better. and it is, it makes the whole experience that much scarier, and you hate (love) it. you find yourself peeping into the dark shadows of the room, goosebumps raised on every inch of skin. and also wanting to punch satoru in the throat when he grazes a finger up the nape of your neck, laughing at your fright when you just about jump out of your skin.

horror gamer! satoru who buys little trinkets or figures of horror game characters. bought you a silent hill nurse figurine to go next to his of pyramid head. you both dressed up as said characters for a Halloween party once, and then ended up, um, undressing eachother in someone’s bathroom later that night…

horror gamer! satoru who knows all kinds of horror game trivia and he loves exchanging facts with you, even if you tell him stuff he already knows. again, he just loves that you share his favorite interest! tell him over and over about how [char.] is your favorite horror game villain or how [song] makes that scene so much creepier! he will eat it up again and again and again.

horror gamer! satoru who gets so excited whenever you present a new game to him, especially if it’s one he hasn’t seen before! ‘holy shit, baby is this a new release? fuck, we have to play this tonight!’

a casual (horror-themed) date night with horror gamer! satoru could be going out to see a new scary movie in theatres, or even just staying in to play your favorite horror games together. on nights like those, he likes to suggest cheesy, parody, or nostalgic horror games like slenderman or some .EXE game.

tagz: @anthoosies @staryukis @hellkaiserinphoenix @biscuitsngravie @elusivemoon @rxddxvotion @babytoshiii

#satoru gojo headcanons #gojo satoru headcanons #jjk headcanons #gojo headcanons #satoru headcanons #gojo x reader #satoru x reader

[southangel]

hi! romantic stan and kenny (separate) x reader whos afraid of the dark? like they could be hanging out and then the power cuts off? thanks ! <3

Stan and Kenny with scared of the dark Reader

Warnings: none

Notes: Gender-Neutral, also assuming they’re already dating reader. Sorry for it being a little short!

Stan Marsh

The way I see this happening would be during the very first time Stan invited you over to his house.

After weeks of dating, Stan finally felt ready to actually have you over at his house for the first time, without getting nauseous.

He told you that he wanted you to be over at 6:30 to watch a movie together, the whole time he was mentally panicking and pacing around his room on what to do.

What genres do you like? What if you don’t even like movies, maybe a show?

After you eventually came over and was sitting on the same couch as him, big achievement, light rain started pouring.

None of you minded it, well, not until there was thunder.

Stan could tell you seemed uneasy, so he held your hand, not knowing that it was because of the sky getting increasingly darker over time.

The last thing Stan expected was to hear a quick but loud scream from you as the TV shut off in-front of your eyes.

You unexpectedly grabbed onto his arm, not really meaning to like that. Nonetheless, Stan knew he shouldn’t be so happy at your action considering how terrified you seemed.

A phone flashlight was the best he could do for now, trying to comfort you the best he could even though he really isn’t that type of guy.

The best way that Stan can comfort you is through physical contact and affection, but he doesn’t know it you would be uncomfortable with that or not.

He really does care about you, he just needs to learn how to express it better.

Whenever you both have sleepovers together, Stan always remember to turn on a nightlight or keep a small light on for you just in case.

It would make him upset to know that you’re uncomfortable or scared, so he tries his best to cater towards your fear.

Since then, Stan has tried his best to help you improve and lose your fear of the dark, not caring how long it’ll take.

Stan has also gained a habit of buying you packs of glow sticks, the ones from any dollar store that you snap to light.

He wants you to always have light, in a way where you can remember him without being scared at the same time.

“I want you to think of me when you light these, okay?”

Kenny Mccormick

I feel that Kenny would be more experienced with fears like this.

Kenny has Karen to take care of, so she most likely has a fear of the dark or something similar.

Even though he doesn’t live in the best area or environment, he wants to hangout with you, which is why he invites you over.

Kenny knows that you would never judge him for his lifestyle or being poor, which is why he trusts and loves you so much.

His options were limited, but he didn’t really want to spend another day at Stark’s pond, talking about things you would both forget about the next day.

Once you came over to his house later on in the day, he took you straight to his room without even engaging with anything going on in the living room.

Kenny pulled out a box from inside his closet, revealing a board game for you both to play.

Throughout the game, there were multiple light flickers and such. You thought it was normal, normal until all the lights in his house cut out.

You didn’t know if it was the weather, problem with the electricity, or even the bills not being paid, but the cause didn’t matter as you immediately reacted.

Kenny saw how your reaction shifted playing parts on the board, shaking and speaking in an unsteady tone.

He moved over and took you into his arms, trying his best to comfort you as much as he could.

Even though Kenny was still hooded and you couldn’t really understand what he was saying, it made you feel more comforted for some reason.

Kenny would be the best at comforting you with his words and actions, even though he’s more of a physical affection guy.

He cares about you a lot, a lot to where he saved all of his money to buy you a small but portable flashlight.

Since then, you and Kenny’s relationship has grown closer, and you love how he’s considerate enough to do these things for you.

Don’t worry, you paid him back for the flashlight.

“I know it’s not much, but I want to help you as much as I can.”

#south park x reader #stan marsh x reader #kenny mcormick x reader #kenny mccormick #stan x reader #stan marsh #south park x y/n #south park

[theresattrpgforthat]

hello! I've played the fallout ttrpg (the one they had to pull the rights from when it was pretty much done so they called it Exodus instead), I wish it didn't suck so bad! Is there any system I could borrow that would fit with Fallout's setting? I love the world in itself, but Exodus was rushed and published half-baked

THEME: Fallout

Hello friend, I have quite a few games for you to check out today! Some of them are direct homages, while others simply just have elements that might remind you of the video game.

Rebels of the Outlaw Wastes, by Nerdy Pup Games.

Play misfit outlaws fighting against the authoritarian Powers That Be in a hyper-saturated, film-grained, retro dystopia. Save the future with the power of friendship, whoopass, and explosions! Features sticker-based character advancement, effortless cinematic vehicle action, and player-driven Ride-or-Die system usings d4s, d6s, d8s, d10s, and d12s.

This game is a bit more colourful and punk-rock, and a little less morally grey than some of the more popular Fallout games. The designer cites some pretty colourful inspirations, such as FLCL and Six-String Samurai, but also concedes that you can make the tone fit that of Borderlands, Fallout, and Mad Max. It depends on how you build your world - what tech was there before? What kinds of weirdness persists? What beliefs have survived?

You’ll make skill rolls that can be boosted by gear or your personal style, with anything above a 4 granting you a success, with bonuses for rolling even higher at an 8 or a 12. Badges are the representations of character growth, tied to the skills that you choose to improve, somewhat like how concentrating on certain skills in Fallout gives you access to perks. If you want a stripped-down basic idea of the rules for this game, the designer has a Pay-what-you-want playtest that you can download for free, just to dip your toes in the water.

Earth: After Death, by Hammer City Games.

Boasting deep and crunchy mechanics reminiscent of the golden age of 90s TTRPGs, Earth, After Death focuses on OSR-style gaming, dungeon and hex crawling, fast-paced combat, high lethality, and a unique and fascinating setting to explore.

There’s plenty to do: kill mutants, explore ancient ruins, get lethal radiation poisoning, find a gun that has infinite ammunition, use psionic powers to blow up peoples heads, replace your legs with tank treads, and more!

This is a chunky, old-school style game that takes care to mention that your level-up system is just like the advancement system in Fallout games. You’ll be dealing with mutations, ghost machines, bartering for gear, and hex-crawling through dangerous wastelands. The character sheets point to a lot of moving pieces, so if you like wrangling together a character that does exactly what you want them to do, you’re going to have a lot to play with here. It looks like mutation is also a pretty big deal in this game, with over 100 different kinds advertised on the game’s store page.

Right now just the Wasteland’s Handbook is available to purchase, but the kickstarter for this game will be taking off later this year. If this sounds like your kind of game, then maybe hop over to the website to get in on the first full edition as it releases!

Fallout: The Roleplaying Game, by Modiphius.

In 2077, the storm of nuclear war reduced most of the planet to cinders. From the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new civilization will struggle to arise. A civilization you will shape. How will you re-shape the world? Will you join with a plucky band of survivors to fight off all-comers and carve out your own settlement? Will you team up with pre-existing factions like the Brotherhood of Steel or Super Mutants to enforce your own ideals on the Wasteland? Ghoul or robot, paladin or raider, it’s your choice - and the consequences are yours. Welcome to the Wasteland. Welcome to the world of Fallout.

Utilizing Modiphius’ celebrated 2d20 cinematic role-playing system, the Fallout RPG will take players on an exciting journey into the post-apocalypse! Create your own survivors, super mutants, ghouls, and even Mister Handy robots. Immerse yourselves in the iconic post-nuclear apocalyptic world of Fallout, while gamemasters guide their group through unique stories and encounters. The 2d20 edition of Fallout is as close to the bottlecap bartering, wasteland wandering, Brotherhood battling excitement as you can get.

Modiphius gets the license to make a lot of games for different properties, so a Fallout game fits in alongside other big titles like Dune, John Carter of Mars, and Alien. This company uses their own 2d20 system, with a focus on inventory and Perks in an effort to make the game recognizable to any typical Fallout fan.

That being said, the game has come under fire for being poorly edited and inconsistent when it comes to finding the right rule. The company updated the game last year and released a Settler’s Guide book, so this might be something that’s a bit more read-able now. But if you want something set directly in the Fallout universe, this is your game.

WASTELAND, by MaelikGames.

WASTELAND is a simple tabletop RPG about adventurers in the world that has only recently became hospitable after a War that might not end all wars, but almost ended the world. You and your friends decide whether this world is bleak and hopeless, like the one in Metro, or somewhat whimsical, as in Fallout. 

Much of the inspiration from Fallout appears in the character options of this game. Arkanites are homages to Vault-Dwellers, Radkin are inspired by Ghouls, and robots are, well, robots. The talents also look like they are directly inspired by Fallout perks, such as Animal Friend, which allows you to turn hostile animals into allies. Gear and inventory are both very important in this game, which is something that I never find surprising in post-apocalyptic games, since having to track inventory feels like a pretty important thing in a game about scarcity. Your skills are also based on a percentage of success, because you’re rolling a d100, with the goal of rolling under your target number. If you’re looking for a game that can mechanically reflect much of what’s available in the Fallout video games, this might be for you!

Dystopia Rising: Evolution, by Onyx Path.

No one knows how long it’s been since the world was blasted with nuclear radiation and became infested with the undead. The survivors of the Fall were the first strain of deviation of the human condition and were able to make it through the rapidly spreading epidemic. Finding a community of decent size in this world is rare; finding one that has any concept of equality or morality is rarer still.

Oh, and people have the unnerving ability to come back from the dead, regrown from the very virus that destroyed the world.

This is a completely different world from Fallout and yet I think it might still be worth talking about in this rec post. Dystopia Rising has a rich, detailed world, with various factions and faiths, and your characters are differentiated by the Strains that have helped them survive. There are plenty of conflicting beliefs that can be the seeds for unlimited conflict, including various faiths in things like evolution or the preservation of humanity, strains that give you psychic powers, and a universal ability to come back to the dead so many times before you’re turned into a mindless zombie.

There’s plenty of opportunity to fight things hand-to-hand, but there’s just as many possibilities to politic your way out of tough scenarios, which is a hallmark of Fallout New Vegas. Not only that, there's no clear "good guys": this is a complicated world with complicated people. If you want a game that carries a lot of similar themes of Fallout but puts you in a new setting, maybe check out this game.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Extinction Punk, by Extinction Punk.

Wastoid, by Jason Tocci.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #fallout #post-apocalyptic #bittersweet futures

[loveandleases]

Nsfw alphabet for M? Please, they need more love! I've gone through their tag like five times already!

And M you shall have! Below the cut ~ Kara ABC

Isaac ABC

Cam ABC

G ABC

Ardent ABC

A = Aftercare - A nervous little wreck. After the first time, M will develop better ways to provide aftercare. They will try and be comforting while blushing. Cursing because they don't know what to provide/do first. Do you need something? Cuddle....from them? Oh, so embarrassing!

B = Body part - Their favorite body part on their body is their tummy. They are happy with their shape and are happy they have accepted themselves. On their partner, it's the thighs. They really, really have a thing for thighs. Especially if those thighs are straddling them.

C = Cum - Will apologize for getting cum on you, will even try to help clean it up right after.

D = Dirty Secret - They have a folder of porn that they like and have labeled it "how to improve your game"

E = Experience - 0 experience. They are experienced with themself and that is it.

F = Favourite Position - They have no idea! It will be something they need to practice to decide. I'm sure there is someone who could help them.

G = Goofy - Not so much goofy as nervous. They will shake ever so slightly, be unsure of what to do, and how to react. Should they look in your eyes, or at your body, or when things are happening? Don't mind their mumbling they just want to remember this for later.

H = Hair - M is shaven, there is no hair downstairs. They make sure to keep on top of it, and have several types of lotion/accessories to ensure smooth surface.

I = Intimacy - I can't go too into detail because M will be able to experience their first time with MC. Just know they are touched, oh so touched. (i don't just mean physically)

J = Jack Off - Male M tries to keep something near by to cum into, (they don't want to relive the eye incident.) Female M really wants an anime-themed sex toy. Like she has links.

K = Kink - They really like the idea of clothed sex. Or MC sliding between their thighs and vice versa.

L = Location - Does their apartment count?

M = Motivation - Thick thighs! Also touch, especially when that touch is on their arm/shoulders.

N = NO - Not doing a threesome!

O = Oral - Both, or at least they think. Only one way to find out. (M really wants to try giving oral, and is down to take critique to get better)

P = Pace - Marshmallow, will be very sensual. Want it to last, and want to enjoy the moment and their partner. They need help to work up to being rough.

Q = Quickie - They would be all alright with it. But to them, it doesn't seem as intimate.

R = Risk - Absolutely, M is willing to learn and experience so much if they have someone they can trust.

S = Stamina - With a partner especially in the beginning only once. They will improve that though. With themselves, easily 4 times.

T = Toy - They own no toys, they would like toys.

U = Unfair - When M gets more experienced they would love to tease. Starting out, it would short-circuit their brain!

V = Volume -So loud this one! They can make so many sounds not just moans. It's as if they're trying to hold back but they can't.

W = Wild Card - M has a designated hand for when masturbating. A specific position, setting, mood light all of it.

X = X-Ray - Male M has a 6.9 inch 🍆. Completely shaved both, male M and female M.

Y = Yearning - Extremely high sex drive, so touched starve. They could only handle a little bit of foreplay before...well.

Z = ZZZ - It would take them easily over an hour to fall asleep, besides a partner they might not even rest the night! Going over the entire situation, their thoughts, and how they imagined it. All of the things!

#loveandleases #love and leases #m #6:09 #prime time #alphabet #ns-fw

[darknightsblog]

Hello! I think it is my first time posting but I really wanted to convey this feelings to you. I downloaded Dark Nights a few days ago and I swear I've been obsessed with the game since then. I can not stop playing it even though I already finished all the routes and got the achievements. I honestly hold this game so dear to my heart and I'm talking so much about it to my friends. When I read the news about a DLC and saw the art I was speechless. I think I stared at that page a whole day! I love so much how everything looks and can't wait for the full experience! It's the only thing I look forward the most this year. I also hope you're doing well and not pushing yourself too much, I can only guess how much work you're putting in, but please watch over your health as well!!

Secondly, I do have some questions. Will we get in the future some art of the characters in the form of like setting it as a laptop background or even phone background? And when the beta version is out, how can we sign for it? Or how would the whole process happen?

Then again, I thank you for your efforts and this amazing game and can't WAIT to play the DLC and see what it has the offer. Seeing the new routes include my absolute favs, I'm so excited for it!

Hi andee! Thank you for giving Dark Nights a try. It makes me happy that you enjoyed all of the game. Dark Nights is my first project, so there's a lot I can improve. I take feedback from the community at heart, so I hope the DLC will be a better experience. This year, I try to pace my workload. You're right about health is the highest priority. I plan to release some wallpapers for desktop & phone later. Perhaps some CGs that might be suitable. I haven't drawn all of the cast in their own theme yet. I'll get through it at some point.

A while ago, I released public applications for editor, proofreader and beta testing positions. Unfortunately, it's no longer possible to sign up for it. However, you'll get to enjoy the game fully polished upon its release. Anyway, I appreciate your kind words and I hope to hear from you again!

[room-surprise]

Delicious in Dungeon Anime Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Spoilers for season 1, episode 2 below the cut! There may also be mild manga spoilers so proceed with caution.

This episode was great! I think it was a big improvement on the first. Honestly no real complaints... I do kind of wish both Marcille and Chilchuck could have had stand-alone episodes dedicated to their character development, to allow for a deeper focus, but I understand why they didn't do it, and the pacing was still excellent. I do still sometimes feel like the show is in fast-forward at times, because with 3 meals in one episode, it feels like the characters finish eating, and we jump cut to them saying that they're hungry again, without anything to help really impress upon viewers that time has passed. Makes it feel a bit like we're reading a collection of short 4-panel gag comics instead of a continuing story… which, early Dungeon Meshi DOES have that as part of it's format, but it changes with time, as we get into longer individual stories.

During the Basilisk/Doni and FIonil section, I really do miss some of the dry humor from the manga. ("Hurry, he's getting cold!" "Move him closer to the fire!") The hilarity of slowly preparing a meal while someone is dying of poison has unfortunately been lost, which makes Doni and Fionil much less memorable characters…. But it benefits the other 2 stories in the ep to have more time so I think it was the right choice to make. It also gives people something to go back and read the manga for, since it's a little different! If you're reading this and you're an anime only, consider reading the manga while you watch the anime! I promise it's worth it. I'm excited about next week because I think they'll devote the entire episode to Laios and the living armors, which is me and my spouse's favorite early DM storyline, and the part where we both said "Oh, I LOVE this manga..." and got really invested. It's 2 chapters in the manga so it could be an entire episode…. which also would make sense, if that's why they needed to crunch 3 chapters into episode 2. Just like the first episode, animation was fantastic, and as usual the weakest points are when characters are just walking or talking and not doing much. Everything more dynamic is just bouncy and adorable and full of life. Very rarely is anything animated in a dull or flat way. They're doing their best to use "move a drawing around" or "zoom on a drawing" for comic effect and I think it's working well so far. There's some great animal animation in this episode, the bat flying around and the basilisk chasing Marcille in particular. Translation was better this time around, no dumb modern or game references in the dub ("newbs" "as if" etc.) … But there are differences between the subtitles and the dub script that change how easy it is to understand what's happening. When Senshi tells Chilchuck to cut up the giant bat, the subtitles make it hard to understand what he's telling him to do, and the dub makes it a lot clearer. In the subs when Senshi calls Chilchuck a half-foot child, the subtitles say "I'm not a child" and the dub says "I hate it when people call me 'kid'"… The latter is more interesting for keeping the mystery going for things that happen later in the story. If the show continues like this, I think the English dub may be the more satisfying way to watch it (even though the Japanese performances are great), mostly because the subs are very literal and sometimes miss things that the English dub somehow manages to include. And for some reason Netflix isn't including translation of Japanese signs on-screen during the subtitles, but they DO provide them when you watch the English dub. A lot of Dungeon Meshi's humor is sometimes in those background signs so completely missing out on them sucks. Anyway those are my thoughts for this episode! See you next week Meshiheads.

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #my stuff #chilchuck #chilchuck tims #marcille donato #marcille #dungeon meshi spoilers #spoilers #anime #anime review #review

[within-your-eyes-if]

September 1st Update

Hello everyone!

First off, thank you for all the messages stating how much you love my story! I read them all and deeply cherish them ♥ Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but I once again thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the love and support!

Secondly, I will be answering more asks and scenario requests soon, I've just been very tired the last few days. Sorry for taking so long!

Now, on to the progress update.

I'm redoing some of the later parts of Ch3 because I'm just not happy with the pacing. I might split the chapter into two parts because it's feeling rather long. But I'm still deciding on that.

Regardless, this change will not affect what I've already written.

Now, I won't lie, progress has been slow this month (*nudges Baldur's Gate 3 further under the rug*), I've also been improving the fight scenes in Chapter 1. They are not great, I'm sorry. It's been on my mind for a long while and I received some pointers on how to improve them. This isn't the only improvement, however.

I decided I am not going to do personality checks. That is to say, you will not be punished for saying something out of line for your character. Personalities are not black and white, and I see the flaw in a system like this, as one shouldn't expect someone to react the same in every situation. Saying abnormal things for MC will still garner special reactions, but I repeat: you will not be punished for it.

There are a few other things I've changed and added (tongue piercings among them), but I'll save the details for when I update the game, hopefully sometime this week or next.

I believe that's all for now, so I hope you all have a great day, week, and month!

Thank you once again!

#within your eyes if #interactive fiction #text based adventure #text based game #progress update

[effortandmore]

caught looking: chapter 7 (knj x ksj)

summary: of course Seokjin has heard the rumors. most of them boil down to this: kim namjoon will get fired from the kiwoom heroes after this season is over. he’s the kbo’s youngest manager in history, one of korea’s darlings, always on every 30 under 30 list, and everyone is sure he’s about to tumble from the tower he’s built. or, namjoon is probably going to lose his job and seokjin is probably never going to make his dad proud, but they have a better shot at overcoming those two things together than they ever have alone.

pairing: seokjin x namjoon

rating: e for everyone for now but there is adult content in later chapters so no minors pls

genre: etl, fluff, eventual smut

au: baseball, specifically the kbo

warnings/tags: idk... swearing, drinking, and general sports things? some blackmail kind of and discussions of homophobia in sports. a drunk ex being drunk and pushy. eventual smut of the gay variety.

wc: chapter: ~4800

chapter summary: jeongguk has them all figured out, and seokjin finally figures out one very important thing

hello! here are chapters one two three four five and six if you'd like them. or the whole thing is on ao3 here . thank you!

***

Even before Seokjin officially started at Kiwoom, he thought bringing Jeongguk onto the team would be a good idea. Now that it’s a done deal, he knows without a doubt it was the right move. Sure, it’s not a seamless transition, nothing is, but even though he still has to look at the positioning card with every hitter, he’s fitting in faster than anyone could have expected. 

The team loves him, which is the most important thing (at least according to Namjoon, who seems to have forgotten that pitching is technically the most important thing).

Taehyung’s mood since Sangwon left has been vastly improved, and he takes it as his personal mission to spend as much time  as possible getting Jeongguk up to speed. Daily now, Seokjin sees them together everywhere: the locker room, the weight room, on the field, the training room. They’re practically inseparable, and it’s done wonders for the whole rotation. 

Jeongguk is slotted in second, and he’ll be starting once or twice a week. He still likes to pick up bullpen innings, but the pitching staff has cautioned against it, and Jimin agrees. They have to protect his elbow. Jeongguk is young, with a lot of potential, and overthrowing now will only lead to problems later on when he presumably will hit his peak. Namjoon explains this to him in hushed tones, and Jeongguk listens with wide eyes, like it’s the most interesting thing anyone’s ever said to him. Seokjin is sure this is one of the things people like about the kid immediately—it’s hard not to feel like you’re incredible and important when someone’s looking at you like that. 

And he always looks at Namjoon like that. 

Seokjin isn’t at all a little jealous, but only because he thinks that the way Jeongguk is so obvious about thinking Namjoon is incredible might make the way that Seokjin thinks so, too, a little less obvious. Or, he hopes it does, anyway. 

For a week after his arrival, Jeongguk watched every game from the dugout. Everyone could tell it was making him crazy to be so inactive—he spent them pacing around and muttering to himself when he wasn’t watching each batter intently, trying to memorize every small detail about them.

Today, though, is his first start. Seokjin and Namjoon have been talking through strategy with the coaching staff, holed up in Namjoon’s office. 

(When things are busy like this, and they’re focused on work, Seokjin almost forgets the unprofessional thoughts he sometimes has about Namjoon. Almost forgets laughing in a hotel room with him in Busan, almost forgets the way Namjoon sounded when he said, “I think you’re great, hyung,” in a low rasp.)

“Hyungs,” Jimin calls as he taps on the doorframe, “I think something’s wrong with Jeongguk, can you come?”

Namjoon shoots Seokjin a panicked look as they both rise and follow Jimin to the training room. There’s two hours before the game starts, about forty five minutes before they need to be on the field, and Jeongguk is sitting in an ice bath with his eyes closed and his headphones on, belting out an IU song that Seokjin hasn’t heard in years. 

“He won’t move,” Jimin says. “He shouldn’t be cold like this before he starts and I can’t get him out.” 

Leaning forward, Seokjin grabs one side of his headphones and pulls it away from the pitcher’s head before he lets go and it snaps back. Jeongguk’s eyes fly open and he scrambles to sit upright in the tub when he sees them all standing around him. 

“Hyungs?” he says curiously as he pulls his headphones off. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you hurt?” Namjoon asks, the words coming out quickly. He’s concerned, obviously. Players don’t just choose to sit on ice unless they’re injured and Jimin makes them. 

“No, I would’ve told you if I was, why?” 

The poor kid looks genuinely confused. 

“Most people don’t use the ice unless I make them,” Jimin says. “And you’ve been in there a long time.” He bends over and grabs one of the pitcher’s feet, hauling it up out of the water as evidence. “You’re getting wrinkly.” 

Jeongguk smiles brightly. “This is my pre-game ritual! Being in the ice bath sucks, right?” 

All three men around him just nod in agreement. Jimin and Namjoon look as bewildered as Seokjin feels. “It does,” he agrees. “So, why are you in there?”

“Because then, when things are hard during the game, I remind myself that I made it through the ice bath, so I can make it through anything.” 

It would be insane if he didn’t look and sound so completely genuine about it. 

Namjoon is the first to say something. “That actually… makes sense I guess.” Jeongguk nods happily. “But you should get out soon, okay? We need to get your arm warmed up.” 

“Yes, hyung. I promise.” 

Jimin still looks horrified, but something about how earnest Jeongguk is about the whole thing makes Seokjin think it will be okay. He steers Jimin away and leaves Namjoon and Jeongguk to talk through any last minute adjustments or ideas for the game. 

“He’s a weird kid,” Jimin says. It comes out slowly, like there’s more to the sentence that he doesn’t add. 

“Yeah, it seems like it.”

“I think I like him.”

“Me too, Jiminie.” 

***

Whether it’s because of the unusual pregame preparation, his talent, or something else, Jeongguk pitches a nearly flawless game. Seokjin and Yoongi watch from the box as he sails through seven innings in 92 pitches. It’s not perfect, but it’s about as close as anyone would have imagined. 

Yoongi is grinning like Seokjin hasn’t seen him do since university, and every once in a while, after a particularly well-delivered pitch, he slaps Seokjin’s thigh and bounces up and down in his seat a little, like an excited kid. 

“How’d you know he could do this?” Yoongi asks, pleased. 

“I didn’t.” Even Seokjin is surprised at the performance. “I knew he could keep the ball on the ground, but I didn’t realize he would get so many strikeouts, too. It wasn’t like that in Busan.”

“Taehyung’s influence?”

Seokjin shrugs. “Must be.” 

Winning with Jeongguk as the starting pitcher brings Seokjin the kind of pride he’s always chasing. That silent confirmation that he’s good at what he does, that he knows how players will work (or not) together. It’s a win for the players, of course, but it feels like a personal victory, too. He even gets a text from his father telling him it was a good call to bring over the kid. Praise from Minjun is always sparse and feels hard-won, so even though Seokjin stopped measuring his worth by his father’s approval a long time ago, it still feels good. 

By the time he makes it down to his office after the game, he’s in a great mood, ready to have a victory drink with Hoseok and play video games until he thinks he might have carpal tunnel syndrome. Yoongi told him to take the next day off, so he’s extra optimistic about how much progress he’ll be able to make in his game that night. It’s been a long time since he’s let himself indulge in foregoing sleep to play more, but he might allow himself that luxury tonight. 

He’s packing up his bag and thinking about what delivery to order when there’s a knock on the door.

“Hyung?” 

“Oh, hi Jeonggukie! You worked hard today, thank you.” 

Jeongguk smiles wide, his teeth on display. “Thank you, hyung! That’s why I’m here, actually. I wanted to, well, thank you for the opportunity. I know you convinced everyone that I belonged here, and I’m glad you did.” 

“Me too,” Seokjin agrees. He keeps packing, but Jeongguk makes no move to leave the doorway. “Is there something else?”

The pitcher nods quickly. “Yes. Some of us are going out to celebrate and I was hoping you would come, since I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” 

“Oh, that’s nice of you to ask, but I’m kind of busy—” 

Suddenly, Namjoon appears next to Jeongguk in the doorway. “Are you coming with us?” He looks like he’s just gotten out of the shower and changed, his hair still damp and sticking to his forehead in places. 

Well, this changes things, even though it shouldn’t. 

“Yeah, of course. Just let me finish packing up.” 

Jeongguk looks between him and Namjoon and won’t wipe the shit-eating grin off his face. Seokjin knows he’s been caught, and he just hopes the kid has enough goodwill toward him to keep his mouth shut. 

Luckily for Seokjin, he does. Instead, as they walk to the subway, Jeongguk grabs his sleeve and pulls him to the back of the group, teasing him quietly. “I know your secret, hyung,” he whispers. This earns him a flick on the forehead which is enough to distract him from the way Seokjin flushes with embarrassment. Soon, the two of them are half-walking and half-wrestling all the way to the station, where they start getting looks from every passing adult, wondering why two grown men are tackling each other down the escalator. 

“Everything okay back there?” Jimin calls when he and everyone else make it to the bottom of the escalator well before Seokjin and Jeongguk. 

Jeongguk freezes and looks embarrassed. “Yeah!” he shouts back. “Hyung flicked my head.” 

“Hey! You tried to trip me!” 

“You took my hat!” 

“You deserved it!” 

They argue all the way to the train when Namjoon finally asks if he needs to separate them like they’re his children. 

“No!” They both practically yell at the same time, before turning to look at each other and then bursting into laughter. He can’t even remember what they were fighting about in the first place when, out of the corner of his eye, he catches Namjoon watching them double over with a fond look on his face.

They suck it up and behave for the train ride, just quietly kicking each other to see who can take it the hardest without flinching or making noise. By the time they make it to the same sort-of divey sports bar he’d met Yoongi and Namjoon at weeks ago, he’s sure his shins are bruised.

It’s loud in the bar, and thankfully, Jeongguk is distracted enough by everyone offering to buy him drinks that he finally leaves Seokjin alone for a while—long enough for him to find a booth to slide into and text Hoseok to see if he wants to meet up with them. Before long, a pink cocktail gets set right in front of him, and Namjoon takes the seat across the table. 

“What’s this?”

“Dunno,” Namjoon shrugs. “Told the bartender my friend liked disgustingly sweet things, and he sent me back with this.” 

Next to him, Yoongi snorts. “You’re a dick,” he tells Namjoon.

Yoongi’s right, but Seokjin takes a sip of the drink anyway. Unfortunately, it’s delicious. 

“You like it?” Namjoon asks. 

“Yeah, thank you.”

The three of them don’t even have time to start a conversation before Jimin, Taehyung, and Jeongguk are pouring themselves into the booth, too. Jimin sits, of course, across from Yoongi, right next to Namjoon, and smiles at him sweetly before he whispers something in his ear. Seokjin feels a little sick, the now familiar combination of jealousy and guilt making a home in his stomach again. 

At the other end of the table, Taehyung and Jeongguk are rehashing the game excitedly. Even though he’s not really involved in either of the conversations, he’s glad he came. It’s not an all-night gaming marathon, but it’s just as nice (maybe better) to see Yoongi and Namjoon arguing the finer points of modern defensive strategy—Yoongi is surprisingly pro-shift and Namjoon thinks it ruins “the spirit of the game the way it was intended to be played”—while Jimin, Taehyung, and Jeongguk passionately debate who would be better at darts. 

“It’s obviously me,” Jeongguk says confidently, taking the opportunity to flex his bicep. 

“Sure, you’re good at throwing things, but darts is about finesse, and Jiminie is the most graceful person on the whole planet,” Taehyung retorts. 

Jeongguk rolls his eyes. “You haven’t seen me try to be graceful. I can be graceful! Plus, you’re biased.” 

Jimin laughs, clearly pleased with the attention. “You’re right, Jeonggukie, he’s my soulmate, after all. Also, he might win. He’s willing to cheat.” 

“Hey!” Taehyung protests, but it’s all a show. He winks at Jimin when Jeongguk isn’t paying attention, instead looking around the bar for an empty dartboard. 

When he spots one, the three of them scramble out of the booth to prove who’s the better player, but Seokjin just feels frozen listening to them. 

Yoongi and Namjoon don’t seem to have been paying them much attention, because they’re still talking about how any change to baseball ruins the sport (Namjoon), and modernization isn’t always evil (Yoongi). 

“Doesn’t that bother you?” Seokjin blurts, absolutely interrupting their conversation. 

“What?” Yoongi asks. 

“No, not you. You.” He points at Namjoon. “Doesn’t it bother you that Jimin calls Taehyung his soulmate?” 

At the question, Namjoon looks thoroughly confused. Maybe it’s some sort of open relationship thing? But that, from the apparently kind of traditional man who thinks the designated hitter would be some sort of death blow to the institution of baseball and everything it stands for, seems unlikely. 

“No,” he says carefully. “Why would that bother me?”

“Well,” Seokjin says, gesturing a little wildly, “because of— well, because of you know! You and Jimin!” 

Namjoon says nothing, just continues to look at Seokjin like he has two heads. Yoongi, for his part, smirks, looking like he’s about to burst, and asks, “What about Namjoon and Jimin?”

“I saw you!” Seokjin whispers loudly to Namjoon. “In Itaewon, remember?” 

Yoongi is in full-on hysterics now, laughing so hard he’s wheezing. Seokjin isn’t quite sure what the joke is. 

“You saw us…” Namjoon says slowly. “You saw us, and you thought we were… together?” 

“Obviously,” Seokjin replies. 

It’s no longer clear if Yoongi is even getting any oxygen, he’s flushing and has tears on his cheeks and every once in a while he just slaps the table. 

“Seokjin. Hyung.” Namjoon is amused now, a dimple poking out as he smiles at Seokjin and speaks softly. “You know that Jimin brought your roommate home that night, right?” 

“What?”

“While you and I were out, Jimin brought Hoseok home. And, if I’m not mistaken, he’s done it after that several times.” 

Seokjin feels dizzy. Logically, he knows the booth isn’t moving, but it seems like it is. He feels hot and dizzy and a little confused because Hoseok had been trying to tell him, and there may have been other signs—like Namjoon showing up to Seokjin’s hotel room in Busan, or falling asleep on his shoulder, or just the sheer amount of time Namjoon seems interested in spending with Seokjin and not Jimin. 

“So, you and Jimin…” he says weakly. 

“Are friends. From college. Like you and Yoongi.” 

“And Jimin and Taehyung?” 

“I’m pretty sure they share a brain cell, but they’re definitely not together. In fact…” Namjoon points to the high top where the three of them are playing darts. Jimin is giggling while Taehyung practically hangs off of Jeongguk, and he’s either whispering something to the pitcher or sucking on his neck, Seokjin can’t tell. “I think Jimin’s been trying to play wingman since Jeongguk got here.” 

Yoongi, finally not laughing anymore, chimes in. “Pretty sure that’s not the only match he’s been trying to make.” 

Namjoon hides his face and whines at Yoongi, “Can’t you go back to shutting up?” 

Seokjin can’t even process that, he’s still stuck on the fact that Jimin and Namjoon aren’t together. Which means that all this time… 

“You’re single?” Seokjin chokes out. It’s not any more embarrassing than anything else that’s happened in the last several minutes, but asking does make his neck hot and probably his ears turn pink. 

It also throws Yoongi back into hysterical fits of laughter. 

“Painfully single,” Namjoon confirms before taking a drink of his beer. 

“Oh.” 

“You know we have a no-dating policy on the team?” Yoongi reminds him for absolutely no reason because Seokjin is definitely not thinking very hard about what Namjoon looks like shirtless now that he’s decided he’s allowed to, since Namjoon is confirmed single. 

“I think you’d better remind Taehyung of that,” Namjoon says, tilting his beer toward the high top, where things are escalating past the limits of public decency. 

“You’re their boss,” Yoongi says quickly. “I’m not going near that. Actually, I don’t think I need to be here for any of this, but thanks for the entertainment.” He scoots out of the booth and pulls his coat on. “I’ll see you in a couple days. Don’t be stupid. Or, don’t be more stupid than you have been.” 

Seokijn and Namjoon give a coordinated eye roll at their boss and wave goodbye.

“So, do you want to talk to them?” Seokjin asks, nodding toward Taehyung and Jeongguk. Jimin looks positively gleeful watching Taehyung say something to Jeongguk that makes the pitcher choke on his beer. 

“No fucking way,” Namjoon says, shaking his head. “Once Taehyung decides he wants something, it’s futile to try and stop it.” 

“Try and stop what?” Jimin asks as he approaches the table. 

“Nothing,” Seokjin and Namjoon respond in unison. 

“Mmhmm… Well, have fun, hyungs. I have to go meet Hobi.” 

Seokjin squawks. “My Hoseokie?” 

“Oh, hyung. Cute. But I’m pretty sure he’s mine now,” Jimin says with a wink. 

“Should I…” Seokjin trails off, not sure how to ask. 

“Nope! You’re safe. He’s coming to mine. See you on Friday, hyungs! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

Namjoon mutters something about the list being impossibly short, which makes Jimin cackle as he shrugs on a denim jacket and walks away. 

“I can’t believe you thought—”

“Shut up,” Seokjin interrupts. “Respect your hyung.” 

Namjoon is laughing, and he’s gorgeous, and Seokjin finally doesn’t feel guilty for thinking so. It makes him practically giddy. 

“I’ll respect you by buying you another drink?”

“Sure Namjoonie,” he says, placated, as Jeongguk and Taehyung approach the table. 

“You’re leaving, too?” Namjoon asks. 

Jeongguk has the decency to seem a little bit embarrassed, but Taehyung has no shame. “We sure are. Gonna go practice.” 

“Practice?” Seokjin repeats, an eyebrow lifted. 

“Yep! But I think Jeonggukie is doing the catching this time, if you know what I—”

Namjoon lets out a loud groan and drops his head to the table. “Stoooooop, please,” he whines, muffled. 

Thankfully, Taehyung and Jeongguk leave after that, and if Seokjin didn’t now know more about their potential sex life than he ever wanted to, it would be cute—they’re hand in hand, and Jeongguk looks absolutely smitten. 

“Well, it’s just us again,” Namjoon notes as he lifts his head back up. 

“Yeah,” Seokjin says, the atmosphere suddenly a little awkward. Or, at least he feels a little awkward. Now that he knows Namjoon is single, and he thinks maybe what he’s been feeling isn’t entirely one-sided, he doesn’t actually know what to do. They work together, which complicates things, and Seokjin hasn’t even tried with anyone since Seungwook (which didn’t really boost his confidence for obvious reasons), so he’s a little at a loss for what comes next. 

“Still want that next drink, hyung?”

Namjoon’s voice sounds a little wobbly and his knee is bouncing, like maybe he’s nervous. And when he smiles at Seokjin across the table, kind and sort of hopeful and a touch shy, Seokjin thinks maybe, for the first time since even before they met, they’re on the same page. 

He thinks back to the night they walked all over town, and how brave Namjoon was at the end to tell him about Sangwon, and Seokjin thinks maybe, this time, he can be the brave one. 

“Another drink sounds good. Want to come back to my place for it?” 

Seokjin can’t remember the last time he brought someone home. He tries to be respectful of Hoseok, and Seungwook wasn’t really into getting to know Seokjin that well, anyway, so it’s been a long time. So, the taxi ride to his is quiet—he looks out the window and tries desperately to remember how much dirty laundry is on his floor (thank god for Hoseok being a neat freak so Seokjin’s room is the only one he needs to be concerned about), and Namjoon is still bouncing his leg like he was at the bar, only now, Seokjin can tell he’s also occasionally sneaking glances when he thinks Seokjin won’t notice. It’s sweet. 

Once they’re inside, it starts to miraculously feel more normal between them pretty quickly. Namjoon busies himself looking at the photographs and figurines around the living room while Seokjin makes them drinks. Neither he nor Hoseok really drink beer, but he does have some whisky around from last time Yoongi came over, and Namjoon seems happy enough with that. 

“Did you want the tour?” he asks, handing Namjoon a rocks glass. 

“Sure! I like it already,” Namjoon says. “It’s so different from my place.” 

“Yeah?”

“You’ll have to see it sometime.” Right after he says it, he grins and covers his mouth with his free hand, like he can’t believe he said it. 

“Smooth,” Seokjin remarks, feeling a little more confident than he can remember feeling in… forever. 

“Was it?” 

“No, but you’re cute so I’ll allow it.” 

Namjoon laughs. “Cute? No one says I’m cute.” 

“Ah, well,” Seokjin shrugs. “It’s the dimples. Without them you’d be a five at best.” 

For a second, it’s like Namjoon isn’t quite sure if Seokjin is joking or not, but then they make eye contact and both burst into laughter. It helps to make Seokjin feel like the nervousness is leaving his body. It’s nice. 

“Tour?” Namjoon cocks his head toward the hallway when he catches his breath, and Seokjin leads the way. 

The apartment isn’t big, but there’s plenty of space for both him and Hoseok. They each have a bedroom, Seokjin explains that Hoseok has the master because Seokjin is a benevolent hyung who is always willing to make sacrifices (even though it’s really because Hoseok does most of the chores and keeps the place clean and it’s the least Seokjin can do). 

When they get to Seokjin’s bedroom, Namjoon pays more attention, asking him about his gaming computer and all the things that go with it, looking at his shelves carefully, like he’s cataloging little facts about Seokjin as he goes. For his part, Seokjin doesn’t think there’s anything that exciting about any of it, but it’s keeping Namjoon entertained, which is putting off anything awkward. 

He’d got Namjoon to his apartment, but now that they’re there, he’s nervous about everything (or nothing) that might come next. 

Finally, after answering Namjoon’s one hundred questions about MapleStory, it gets quiet. 

“It’s not that interesting,” Seokjin says as he sits on his bed. Namjoon’s spinning half circles in the gaming chair, complaining that it’s so much nicer than his office chair and that he should get one like it for work in between asking who all the characters in the game are. 

Namjoon sets his drink on the desk, and Seokjin tries not to cringe that there’s no coaster—at least it’s not in a room where Hoseok will notice. 

“Maybe I just like to hear you talk,” he says, planting his feet so the chair stops spinning and he’s facing Seokjin directly. 

There is a 100% guarantee that Seokjin’s ears are pink. “That’s a line, Kim Namjoon.” 

He gets a smirk in response. “Not if it’s true.” 

The air feels summer evening thick between them, despite the aircon running in the apartment. Seokjin swears he can practically feel it hanging there, the way that birds know before lightning strikes. He swallows, and even his throat feels syrupy slow. 

“What is this, Namjoonie?” he whispers, realizing that somehow, since Namjoon stopped spinning, they’ve been moving closer together, imperceptible movements compounded to the point that he can feel Namjoon’s breath on his lips. 

“I think this is me about to kiss you,” Namjoon replies, and all the teasing is gone from his voice. “If that’s something you want.” 

Seokjin nods. “Yes, pl—”

“Hyung! I’m hooooome!” 

Hoseok. 

Namjoon and Seokjin both drop their heads at the same time, and knock them together. Seokjin yelps and spills his drink all over himself and the bed, while Namjoon groans before he starts laughing.

Seconds later, Hoseok appears in the doorway. “Hi hyung… And Namjoon-ssi.” 

“Hey, Hobi,” Seokjin says. “I, uh,” he gestures to his whisky-covered shirt. “I should go clean this up and change.” 

Standing, Namjoon clears his throat before grabbing his glass and downing the rest of his drink. “I should go,” he says. “It’s pretty late.” 

The disappointment Seokjin feels is palpable, and apparently written on his face, because Hoseok looks apologetic, and Namjoon asks quietly, “Walk me to the door?” 

Luckily, Hoseok takes the hint and says goodbye to Namjoon, excusing himself to his room, and Namjoon uses the restroom, giving Seokjin the chance to change into something not covered in alcohol. Without thinking much about it, he pulls on an old hoodie that had been strewn across the back of his desk chair. It smells a little like Namjoon now, and he’ll never admit how much he likes that. 

“I had a good night, hyung,” Namjoon says, when they meet back in the living room. 

“Me too. Sorry about Hoseok,” he replies. 

Namjoon just laughs quietly and shakes his head. “Terrible timing.”

“The worst,” Seokjin agrees.

“Maybe we can try again, sometime.” 

“I’d like that.” 

Namjoon steps closer to him, pulling him into a hug. It’s nice—he’s warm and bigger than Seokjin, and it reminds him of hugging in Busan, except this time he’s able to let himself enjoy it more. It’s everything he can do not to just melt into it as he wraps his arms around Namjoon’s waist. “You know we have a no-dating policy on the team,” Namjoon teases in a whisper, mimicking Yoongi from earlier at the bar.

“Is there a no kissing policy, too?” Seokjin asks, lips brushing against Namjoon’s pulse, feeling his breath hitch. 

“I hope not,” Namjoon sighs. 

As they pull apart, Namjoon leaves a barely-there kiss on his temple. “I’ll call you,” he promises. 

Seokjin feels like his head is on fire in the spot Namjoon’s lips touched his skin. It’s incredibly distracting. Enough that it’s all he can think about, wants to touch the spot to see if it actually feels warm. He’s so busy thinking about it, that the reply he comes out with is, “Not if I call you first.” 

Namjoon laughs again—and Seokjin’s seen his laugh so many times for so many reasons, even just tonight it’s happened more times than he can count, but he’s pretty sure he’ll never stop wanting to be the cause of it. 

“You’re a dork,” Namjoon says. 

“I think it works for me,” Seokjin says, shoving his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. 

“I think so too.” It’s so fond, Seokjin wants to scream into a pillow like a teenager. “Goodnight, hyung.” 

Namjoon gives him a sweet smile as he leaves the apartment. It’s totally reasonable, Seokjin thinks, that he watches Namjoon as he leaves, watches him wait for the elevator and flushes when Namjoon gives him a wave before he gets on, and then peeks through to give him another before the doors slide closed. 

Back in the apartment, he slumps against the door with a sigh. He can’t believe he was so close to having Namjoon’s lips on his, can’t believe that he’d been so wrong this whole time, can’t believe that his crush seems to be just as into him. Everything he’s been thinking about the past couple of months is almost about to be his reality, and he’s thrumming with excitement. If only he’d been able to act on it. 

He hates waiting sometimes. Seems so unfair after all the time they’ve already wasted. Seokjin lets out another long sigh. He’s going to call Namjoon in the morning, but first, he’s going to kill his roommate.

#seokjin fic #namjoon fic #seokjin imagines #bts imagines #bts fanfction #kvanity #seokjin x namjoon #fic: cl

[yjyt85r98r]

Aikatsu song reviews: Onaji chikyuu no shiawase ni

Song

This review might not go as in-depth as I want, or I might edit it later, because despite the fact that I like this song, I have not listened to it very many times.

This song feels fairy-like, but not in the traditional "small and delicate and ethereal" way. It's more like a "grand awakening" kind of way. Like taking heavy steps as flowers sprout out of the ground.

I think this is a good song, but I always feel kind of scared to listen to it because the beat is so loud. Aikatsu has done this with a few of their ballads, but this is the first and one of the worst. I get what they're trying to do. They want to give the song a 'heartbeat', to make sure it isn't boring. But in the end, it just hurts my ears and makes me unable to focus on the rest of the instrumentals.

I like how the key change doesn't happen all at once – instead, the song slowly lures the listener in and out of the new key. I find that type of key change far more pleasant and interesting than the kind that happens all of a sudden with no transition.

Anyway, I think that this song is a ballad done right. Ballads sort of have a bad reputation among those who prefer fast-paced songs, and when I hear a mediocre or overly-simple ballad, I can honestly understand why. But I think this one is pretty good. Of course it's not perfect, and I'm sure it's not for everyone, but it's still really nice.

Vocals

The first time I listened to Sakura's vocals, it was in a duet song, and I thought that I would never actively want to listen to a solo song by her. But then I listened to this and changed my mind.

This song makes really good use of her voice's breathy quality. The vocals are mostly soft and gentle, but with surprising bursts of strength that make them much more interesting to listen to. That one low part in the chorus is especially fun... she almost sounds like a completely different person.

Lyrics

I... feel bad insulting the lyrics... but the English translation kind of reminds me of an 11-year-old's first attempt at a serious song. I don't think it's fair to say that about the Japanese lyrics since they contain some pretty high-level vocabulary that maybe an 11-year-old wouldn't know. I think it probably sounds better if you're fluent in the language, which I am not.

But I feel like these lyrics are exceedingly rare for an idol anime. These days, it feels like there aren't that many songs with lyrics about nature, so these lyrics are refreshing. They have a tone reminiscent of a poem or a folk tale, or even a sort of benevolent commandment, which is also quite rare. They feel strangely nostalgic.

Choreography

One of the most ballet-like dances in Aikatsu, outdone only by Aria's performance. It has the same problem as a lot of choreography for slower songs: a bit too much energy. Most of the dance is slow, but then suddenly there will be this fast series of leaps and spins. The dance would be too boring without them, so I don't think it's a bad thing. It's just a thing that happens when choreographing a slower song. If there was any way to improve it, I think that would just be to create a better flow between the energetic and calm parts.

I feel like the choreography of this one might have influenced the choreography of Alicia's song. Some of the poses and movements are similar.

The dance seems like it would be fun to do.

Visuals

This was one of the most visually experimental performances in Aikatsu, or at least in season 1. They had the performer jumping off a platform, moving patterns on the stage, partially blurred shots, plants briefly obscuring the screen, and a sky that changed mid-song. The CGI was starting to get better, and they made full use of that.

And the stage design! It sort of looks like a level of a nostalgic video game, but I couldn't tell you what game because it isn't any one in particular. It just looks really magical. I love the fireflies and the lily of the valley flowers, and how they're so big that it makes the performer look like a little fairy. Sakura's aura matches the visuals so well that could be mistaken as part of the stage. And the way it grows when it first appears is so whimsical. It's all so pretty, it's a shame it was only used in the anime, like, once.

Good points: Good vocals Bad points: Beat is too loud

Rating: 7.3/10 Personal rating: 7.3/10

#aikatsu song reviews

[snapscube]

I played FFXIV a while ago but had a hard time getting into it at the time, and I'd like to give it another go but don't really feel attached to my previous character and want to start fresh. Do you have any advice on getting really immersed in the game? I feel like you mentioned going through something similar before it really clicked for you so just wanted to ask! Hope you're having a good day :)

ABSOLUTE MOST IMPORTANT TIP: Take your time. Settle into the world. Create a character that you really like, and remember: it’s a role-playing game! Certain aspects and mechanics of the game you gotta do a little extra mental legwork to fully appreciate from an immersion standpoint. So roleplay! Take in the sights! Talk to NPCs if that’s your jam! But above all, pay attention to the story and the in-game tips. You don’t have to 100% understand everything right away. I sure as hell didn’t. But you’re only going to get out of the game what you’re able to put into it. It’s gonna be a long journey, so pace yourself and don’t try to rush through to The Good Parts. It took me like 2 years, no exaggeration, to get to Shadowbringers. It doesn’t ACTUALLY take that long to do the MSQ if you’re fast tracking it, or hell even just prioritizing it haha. I know of plenty of people who completely caught up with the story in a matter of a couple months or so. But that’s the beauty of it. I took my damn time getting there. I took MULTIPLE breaks, some for months at a time, and only ever came back when I was ready and the game seemed like something that would hit. And I still got an incredible experience out of it that remains my favorite game and one of my favorite stories ever. So, yknow, I would say in the early hours of the game you might find yourself a little bored or lost. Those are the moments where you want to make sure you’re playing enough that you find a HOOK for you to latch onto. Experiment with different content. Pick up as many blue quest icons as you can, the ones that unlock features & content, and see if you come across something fun. In my experience, it only really takes one or two mechanics or jobs that you find enjoyable to push you into sinking some serious time into the game. And once you’re giving the game your time, you’re likely going to realize that the game in turn really RESPECTS that time, and tries to make the most of it. A lot of features feed into each other, and if you’re enjoying something like, say, crafting really early on, that’s gonna snowball into a million other things you can do later down the road. Once you hit the point where you’ve found a rhythm and you’ve discovered what’s fun about the game to you, it’s all about the journey from there. So relax, give it your attention, and take it at whatever pace you find comfortable and enjoyable.

Here are also a few stray ideas you can take with you:

- I am one of the many who will insist that the game’s writing gets MONUMENTALLY better from Heavensward (The first expansion, included in the free trial of the game) onward. And when I tell you that the change in writing quality and the approach to appealing dialogue and pacing is nearly INSTANT, I really mean it. I would say, if you want to really understand why the story is revered as much as it is, you need to at least push through to Heavensward and see if the improvements to pacing and dialogue appeal to you. If they do, I assure you that (in my opinion) it only gets better and better from there. I can not actually express how good Shadowbringers and Endwalker’s stories are. It’s the kind of thing you NEED to experience to understand.

- There is a wonderful list I’ve linked here that will actually help you track what kinds of content you can unlock in-game based on whatever level your character and MSQ progress are at. It’s extremely thorough and if you need help finding stuff to do, this is a great resource.

- In a similar vein, the official FFXIV YouTube account has a really cute and genuinely well made/helpful starter guide series you can watch if you want some starter tips directly from the team

- Do not worry about the subscription cost for a while. I assure you, if you need to, you can get literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours of content out of the free trial. It took me over a year to get to the point of the game where the free trial gets locked off in terms of MSQ and character level, and even then I hadn’t even done like half of the available content.

My fingers hurt cause i’ve been typing this on my phone so I’m going to stop talking now :) Let me know if you have any more specific questions though and I’d be happy to answer and/or give my take on stuff! I love love love talking about this game.

#ffxiv

[6ad6ro]

ok. i finally finished final fantasy vii rebirth. and i wanna talk about it. i guess you could call this my "review". this post will be vague and spoiler-free unless you click on the "read more".

i do love this game, but it's an absolute mixed bag: story: 10/10 combat mechanics: 9/10 music: 9/10 art direction: 10/10 voice acting (jp): 10/10 open world (non-quest stuff): 4/10 sidequests: 6/10 minigames: 3/10 pacing: 1/10 does this game have flaws? yes. is it as good as the og ff7? no. but is it worth playing? absolutely. i almost feel like this game needs a "cheat sheet" in order to know what parts to play and what parts to avoid. but the good parts (mostly the linear main story stuff) is SO gd good that it's still a must-play game. ok but now i'm gonna go into details (and spoilers) under the rm cut.

so i'll go over some of my scores. firstly, the story is the main reason to play this. they def fuck around a lot, maybe they bait and switch a bit too often, but in the end it makes for a very compelling (or at least interesting) narrative. at first, i was REALLY worried that this game was gonna turn into just some "fan pandering nightmare". and it felt like it was "ff7 without it's claws". esp when everybody was dancing like pop stars and aerith and tifa kept high fiving. but... it def got into that good ff7 trauma we know and love later on. and respect to them for following through with killing aerith. yes, they did what i sorta expected. they teased tifa dying instead, teased aerith NOT dying, and then killed aerith anyway. they EASILY could have left her alive, but they didn't. they kept in the loss angle, which imo is what makes ff7 "ff7". i kinda LOVE that now you have a batshit cloud "seeing" aerith's ghost like it's star wars. and everyone else seems almost... afraid of him. and rightfully so. also i LOVED the zack stuff, even though it was absolutely confusing. i like that they're hinting at zack somehow breaking through his reality into the rm universe. i also like the tease that... idk... will there be another "party" involving zack, kyrie, biggs (if he's still alive or not)? regardless, a great story!

the combat feels mostly improved over rm. the gameplay is fantastic with very few flaws. difficulty is way more balanced than rm, with easy feeling a bit harder and normal feeling less unfair. the only times i felt frustrated by the gameplay was when they laid the "stone" status effect on too thick in parts bc it felt cheap. is it as good as the og combat? no. it still def has the unfun "you desperately need to heal but don't have a charge and the enemy is immune to everything so you just die" thing. but credit where its due, the "free item a few times per battle" materia fixes a lotta those issues.

the music is incredible. the remakes of old songs generally kick ass. some of the new music was pretty good, too. though it gets a point off because a lot of the open world stuff music felt... generic? this is just a situation where the og game's music is TOO GOOD, so the new music will always be fighting this sort of uphill battle.

the art was perfect. just the shading alone... like jesus this game is absolutely beautiful. i took so many goddamn screenshots in game, and they'd often end up looking like key renders, even tho it'd just be a random ss i could take at any angle. this game went above and beyond all expectations.

the voice acting... there was SO MUCH and it was all SO GOOD. tho i did switch to jp voices. bc... in this sorta storytelling, eng just sounds like "drama club"? idk there's a reason the language of origin cast is usually better and that's just how it is. it was perfect.

ok now we're gonna get into some of my issues, starting with the open world. it's not ENTIRELY awful? some was genuinely fun and exciting. but the majority was busywork. like it's so weird when the mainline stuff was so good that this would feel like a shitty ubisoft game. and chadley... fuck that dude. worst character in the series. but for SOME gd reason he ends up talking to you nonstop! i hit the point where i'd wince any time i heard his "radio" turn on. he took an already mediocre open world and made it way worse. fuckin chudly.

the sidequests that weren't just repeated busywork were usually neat. tho some were bad, and others withstood their welcome. the cutscenes/dialogue were usually fun or genuinely great, but they too often came at the cost of wasting your time. they often had shit rewards. and they often incorporated the shittiest "minigames" ever (i'll go into this more in a minute). example: you gotta find ingredients for a character who is learning to cook. but it isn't just going out to find them in the world. no no no. you gotta follow a dog (ftr i love the song) as they slowly meander through a jungle, running into every mob they see. and when you finally get to where the "salt" is, there's a dumb scavenger hunt minigame where you need to find only the 5(?) salt piles that look like the photo. THEN you gotta get on your chocobo and look for mushrooms in a confusing, puzzle-like terrain. which also involves a smelling/follow the direction minigame, which always leads you into mobs. and once you get to each mushroom? there's this STUPID picking minigame. after all that, what reward do you get? an accessory that functions like maybe the worst materia in the game, but also takes up the accessory slot, making it even more unusable. FUCK this game sometimes, lol.

speakin of "fuck this game", the minigames. the 200 minigames (exaggeration, but it really feels like that many). some are genuinely incredible, like the piano minigame? which might be one of my favorite minigames of all time, it's legit THAT good. or "red xiii rocket league". but for every good minigame, there was a mediocre one. and then a terrible one. or one that gets WAY too hard in higher difficulties, like the mog game which starts fun but ends up dogshit and unplayable a few levels in. even tho the good and passable minigames are the majority, the bad minigames? they're maybe some of the worst minigames i've ever played in my goddamn life. like, by design, they're almost anti-fun. i genuinely believe some of the people in charge of the bad minigames should be blackballed from the industry. it's bewildering.

and finally that brings us to the pacing. if you play the game the way they seemingly expect you to play, getting to each new area and sidequesting a bit before continuing on with the story? then you'll spend five hours of mediocre/bad sidequest for each hour of good story. that's even worst if you're a "completionist" at all, you can triple or quadruple that number. we all loved remake because it "expanded the midgar section". we were all hoping they'd do the same with the og open world. the very idea of "big open world, but so much bigger" seemed incredible. but they certainly gave it to us! like they gave us exactly what we said we wanted, lol. when i first started playing rb, i was mostly completing each area. by the second or third area, i was more than 50 hours in. "burnout" is a gross understatement. all the mediocre sidequests combined with the sometimes unplayable minigames ALSO COMBINED with fuckin chudly? and i actually started to hate this game. it made me miserable. i'd get to a new area and just roll my eyes. i'd see a new minigame tutorial pop up and i'd mash "cancel". but wouldn't you know it, once i started skipping most minigames/sidequests? i started havin a ton of fun. turns out this pacing issue can be mitigated a lot. straight up you can ignore most of the open world, and i would actually strongly recommend it. if you DO wanna sidequest a bit between story, i'd say put on a podcast, set the difficulty to easy, and turn the voices down (bc chudly). and don't do everything. oh no. just do enough to unlock the chocobo, to buy the best materia chudly has from that area, and maybe get the summoning. even THAT is probably too much. bc near the end of the game, you get the opportunity to go back and finish a bunch of the stuff you missed the first time. and i actually enjoyed a lotta that stuff then! it was almost like a period of rest and relaxation before the end story stuff.

there are ways, intentional or not, to make this game feel even BETTER than remake. when you skip most of the side stuff, it's paced incredibly well. so it's hard to say it's a bad game. it's actually a really GOOD game with "too much side content". if you treat the open world stuff as just like, a living, detailed world you glance at as you zoom by? it's actually really cool that it's there. i have a couple more pros/cons that i wanna mention, but i don't know where else to put em. like the end fights. thematically, i adored em. in execution, it went on for way way WAY too long. it was like a 15 (yes FIFTEEN) phase fight. on normal, i swear it felt like it took close to two hours, full of unskippable cutscenes and only like one checkpoint. it also takes away al of your team composition too, consistently forcing you to use characters you don't wanna use in the hardest fights in the game. first time, i got through to the very last sliver of final sephiroth's health, only for him to cast some dogshit unblockable "everyone is at 1hp" move at the end. it was ok bc "i'd prepared for this". so i instantly had one character use a gigapotion on the other, who i switched to so they could dodge just to be extra safe. the potion... missed? how? and then before i had a chance to use another, he killed the remaining character. bad game. shit game. but whatever, i hit retry. and i couldn't believe it. it sent me back 7 phases. i was livid. it had sucked the air outta the room. so i said fuck it and restarted the whole fight from the start on easy, because i can't tolerate that kind of scumbag game design that wastes a player's time. and wouldn't you know it, turns out i'd been at the very end of the fight when i died. if the potion had gone off like it shoulda, i would have won, no question. ironically even on easy, that trash situation happened again, but the potion actually went off this time, that was the only difference. but yeah. fuck that fight. it was cooler thematically than the final fight in rm, but it was three times as long, and three times more unfair. fuck whoever designed this fight, they too should be blackballed from the industry, lol.

the last thing i wanna talk about is queens blood. bc my feelings on it are sorta all over. so it starts out kinda boring, like as basic as ff8 triple triad, but wayyy less fun. and you're very limited in who you can play and what cards you can add to your deck. the ai seemingly "cheats", but it's so "linear" that you can win anyhow. and they musta known they'd lose most players, so they legit give you the ability to "flip the game board" at any point in the match and start over with zero punishment. they knew the game wasn't rly fair by design. but it's still good they had the easy retry feature, or they woulda lost me too. the qb experience sorta continues this way until you get to the latter junon area, where suddenly you run into... idk what to call it. intense difficulty spikes? like this dickwad who's playin a rockabilly guitar. FUCK that dude's deck and FUCK his ai. almost single-handedly got me to drop qb altogether. i was absolutely done, had decided qb was just a poorly designed game. thankfully, right after junon they have this big tournament on the boat to costa del sol and it's really fun. you suddenly are getting cards that have actual strategy. and suddenly qb opens up. there was a slight misstep after the boat where they make you play these stupid "puzzle" versions of qb, but you can look up guides and, even if they aren't fun, they help teach you about the game. anyways, i cautiously started playin more matches in later areas (skippin fights that seemed too lame), and before i knew it, i'd kinda fallen in love w the game. it also helped that they started incorporating this fun n bizarre story, too. so idk. i'd say play qb the same way you play the side content, skip a lot of it until you get to the end game? and then go back with cards you bought or won and finish the ones u missed. it's so weird that so much of this game works this way. and i could see someone arguing that "it's just a bad game". because when most games hand you content, even side content, most players expect they should at least give the content a fair shot. it really is kinda poorly executed. but! there are so any ways to mitigate the bad and focus on the good. knowing what i know now, i like this game even more than remake (which i really REALLY love). rebirth was fuckin great. and thank fuck i didn't get spoiled, tho i never wanna hafta try n rush through a 100+ hour open world ever again. i'm really excited for part three, just hopin i can remember to skip over a lotta the optional stuff. also hoping i won't have to buy a fuckin ps6 or whatever just to play it.

#final fantasy vii rebirth #spoiler #spoilers #final fantasy vii spoilers #final fantasy vii rebirth spoilers #long #i had a lot to say

[daeyumi]

How would you recommend people practice digital art? Your work is beautiful and I'm curious what journey brought you to this point <3

Ooh this is a good one- okay so imo, the most important thing is to practice by drawing/painting things u enjoy. If you’re drawing something you love, that automatically makes it easier to want to keep doing it & improving.

As far as the technical side of it goes, I’d say experiment & try a bunch of different processes to find what works for you. There’s obviously tons of different tutorials out there from people who have wildly varying art processes and I think it’s important to try many different ways of doing digital art, because the possibilities are quite literally endless.

Personally I recommend doing studies of game screenshots or even other artists’ work that you admire, in order to help understand how people use color, value, shade, etc. (I used BotW screenshots for studies personally early on, because I really admire the game’s color scheme and it helped me get a much better grasp on how I wanted to use color in my own work, especially as it pertains to environments & landscapes.) I also personally find studies to be a lot more productive than watching tutorials, because it allows me to go at my own pace and just observe- but obviously everyone has a different learning process so what works for me may not work for everyone.

And don’t be afraid to use the resources that are unique to digital art! Things like filters, HSB adjustments, curves/levels, even just different brushes can all help you get your art looking the way you want. Personally, procreate’s “color balance” options are my best friend- I use that option a ton even still, especially when I’m planning out my color schemes.

I’d also say, more as a general art tip than something specific to digital art- if you have an idea of something you want to draw or paint, but you don’t think you know how to do it or don’t think you have the skills to draw it yet— do it anyways!! Look up all the references you can, see how other people made a similar piece, and just draw yours anyways! You’ll learn a lot more by stepping out of your comfort zone and just going for it then you will by “waiting until you’re ready”. And if you don’t end up being happy with the finished piece, you can ALWAYS redo it later— just because you’ve drawn something once doesn’t mean that you’re never allowed to revisit that concept.

Overall I’d just say, experiment, play around & have fun! Find what you enjoy and it will make creating your art a lot more fulfilling.

I hope this is helpful somewhat! 🩷

#answered asks #dae answers #art process #anyways ofc if you do studies of other ppl’s work make sure you either don’t post it or if u do- EXPLICITLY SAY that it is a study! #i’m sure the vast majority of ppl (esp artists) know this already which is why i didn’t go into it in the main body #but always give credit where credit is due if you’re doing a study or otherwise heavily referencing another person’s work in order to learn #hope everything here makes sense haha #but overall just try to have fun with your art!

[morgana96]

What Went Wrong with the Lancer Quests?

(Warning: Lancer Class Quests, Rogue Class Quests, and other Minor ARR Spoilers Under the Cut)

When I first started Final Fantasy XIV, I already knew I’d be maining Dragoon. Estinien is my favorite character and the one who drew me to the game in the first place, so my interest in the job was well cemented before I even picked it up. And while I like to play all the other jobs as well, Dragoon has remained my favorite to this day, and the one I play on the most often.

Which is why it’s quite ironic that I think the Lancer quests are some of the worst in the entire game.

It didn’t really hit me how bad the questline was back when I did it as a sprout, especially since it was my first one. But several years and many job quests later, Lancer stands out as tragically inadequate, even compared to some of the other class quests from A Realm Reborn.

Based on what I've seen from other players, I'm hardly alone in this opinion. But rather than just complain about it, I want to take a close look at the questline. It’s a good opportunity discuss the story’s key issues, as well as suggest new ideas for a potential rewrite.

To prepare for this, I’ve recently replayed the questline so that I can give an accurate and proper review. I doubt anyone who actually writes for this game will ever see this. But I'd still like to put my thoughts out there, especially since it can lead to good discussion about how the game could be improved overall.

Problem #1: The Plot Puts Too Much Focus on the Wrong Things

Writing a good story requires an understanding of balance. Characters, plots, and themes need to work together in order to create a strong narrative, because when even one of these elements is lacking, the entire story gets dragged down. This is exactly the situation I think is plaguing the Lancer quests; instead of a balanced narrative, it throws way too much focus on its attempted theme, neglecting the characters, pacing, and plot and leading to an ineffective story overall.

The main theme the story tries to convey is the idea of courage vs recklessness; in their training, lancers are encouraged to harness their sense of courage in order to face dangerous foes, while not slipping into reckless behavior that could end up getting themselves or others hurt/killed.

Now this in itself isn't a terrible lesson or anything. The problem is that the Lancer quests put way too much of the narrative focus on it. Everything the characters do and say feels like it revolves around this attempted theme, leaving them feeling like broken records instead of engaging and enjoyable characters. The WoL also spends most of the storyline having to complete various “tests of courage”, both those assigned by Ywain and those that Foulques forces them to join him in. It starts to feel repetitive rather quickly, especially when that’s all that’s being offered in terms of “plot”. And because the plot and characters are so underdeveloped, the theme being pushed so desperately just comes off as an annoying hindrance by the end.

The finale only emphasizes the problem, as the truth behind Foulques’ actions is revealed with barely six minutes left in the story. Many years ago, he was a lancer in the guild, and participated in robbing the guild with several friends and compatriots. But when he felt guilty and tried own up to it, the other accomplices framed him as the sole criminal, resulting in Foulques being subjected to anti-Duskwight prejudice and eventually imprisoned, while the others faced no consequences.

This sudden revelation leaves the player with unanswered questions and unresolved issues. Who and where are Foulques' ex-friends and co-conspirators? Are they still out there continuing to profit from their clear corruption/prejudice? Why isn’t there a more significant reaction from the guild to the truth behind this scandal being revealed? Why was such a significant plot point introduced with barely any time left in the story? And why did Foulques spend six quests throwing the Warrior of Light and others into random peril instead of, you know, actually trying to get revenge on those who horribly wronged him?

In my opinion, the story needs less repetitive theme pushing and more focus on the past guild robbery and those involved. Instead of random lancers-in-training, Foulques’ main targets should have been his former co-conspirators (perhaps going as far as to kill them one by one), and the WoL would have had to work with Ywain to discover the motive behind the attacks. This would be a much more engaging plot to watch unfold throughout several quests, and it would add some much needed intrigue and character growth in a nearly lifeless narrative.

The theme of “courage vs recklessness” can also still fit into a rewrite. Foulques would probably still judge the entire guild as “cowards” due to the cowardly actions of his former friends. He might also consider his recklessly vengeful actions “true courage”, regardless of whether innocents were caught in the crossfire or not. Meanwhile, Ywain could take the satisfying step of righting the Lancer’s Guild’s past failures; by finally holding the other conspirators accountable - and acknowledging that the guild must do better from now on - it would drive home that having the courage to admit to mistakes is just as important as courage in battle.

Problem #2: Foulques is a Poorly Written Character

I’ve actually seen a lot of players talk about Foulques over the years. For a minor character introduced so early on, he has quite the cult following, and I think it’s safe to say that I’m not alone in thinking this character deserved better.

To be honest, I don’t really like canon Foulques. But the reason I dislike him is mainly because whoever wrote him did a pretty horrendous job. He had potential to be an interesting and complex villain, as his justifiable anger about the wrongs committed against him could have warped and twisted his moral code. But instead, he spends the quests acting like a presumptuous jerk who thinks hazing lancer recruits will prove he’s the pinnacle of “true courage”.

The backstory they created for Foulques is honestly one of the most sympathetic in the game. But again, it isn’t even revealed until the back end of the final level 30 quest. Until that moment, you get ZERO explanation as to why Foulques is doing what he’s doing. No clues, no subtext, no steady and satisfying reveal - only a rushed exposition dump that feels disconnected from the character’s personality up until then.

You can’t just drop a complex and nuanced backstory at the last second and call that good writing. The upbringing and backstory of a character is integral to the character’s overall personality, much like how it is for real people who grow up and experience different circumstances. Yet somehow, Foulques’ backstory feels like an afterthought, dropped at the last second instead of integrated naturally.

Again, the best way to remedy this is to refocus Foulques’ motivations and actions. Adding the other co-conspirators as secondary antagonists would allow them to become the main targets of Foulques’ rage. Meanwhile, the background characters in the lancer’s guild could be collateral caught in the crossfire of his goals.

Furthermore, featuring these false friends as characters would be a good chance to show the consequences of not punishing them. Based on how they treated Foulques, there’s a good chance several - if not all of them - went on to continue their corruption in other ways, especially if they felt confident that they could keep getting away with it. If these further misdeeds were to be revealed, it would further show that the Lancer’s Guild’s actions failed not only Foulques, but the later victims of the co-conspirators.

Problem #3: Ywain is Underutilized

Ywain’s probably not someone brought up often when it comes to people’s favorite NPCs. In fact, I’ve seen certain players actively hate him because they consider him complacent in what happened to Foulques.

But honestly, I think Ywain is as much a victim of the story's bad writing as Foulques is. It’s not like he knew about all of this and was conspiring to hide the truth from the WoL/others or something. He finds out about Foulques' history in the literal final moments of the story, and because that history was thrown in so haphazardly late, his reaction is haphazardly rushed and poorly written in turn.

Overall, I think the biggest problem with Ywain is that he feels like he’s hardly participating in the story at all. Technically, he is the other main character in the WoL’s journey to become a lancer, and should be an important part of the plot. But instead, Ywain is a largely inactive presence; he spends most of the questline standing in a single spot of the guild and telling the WoL to go off on their own somewhere. He’s stationary both physically and in terms of development, which I think was a huge error in judgement on the part of the original writer.

I can’t help but compare this characterization issue with one of my favorite class quests: Rogue. Jacke, V’kebbe, and Perimu don’t have the issue Ywain does. They join you on various Rogue’s Guild missions, fight with you through several instances, and regularly banter with you and each other so you get a good idea of who they each are. Hell, these three even continue to help the WoL long after they graduate from Rogue, becoming allies with the Doman Ninjas and providing them with intel and extra manpower when needed.

The Rogue Quests did a much better job of utilizing their NPCs than what we see here. It’s practically impossible to become invested in a character that feels so removed from the plot itself. It’s no wonder Ywain gets forgotten - and even hated - when the lancer story gives him literally nothing to grow on. Instead of letting him be an actual character, the narrative regulates him to a one-dimensional mouthpiece used to assign the next set of tasks.

My frustration with the in-game writing only grew when I learned Ywain’s backstory from the lore book. Back when he was still a Wood Wailer, he and Landenel (the Wailer Captain at Camp Tranquil who was in Company of Heroes) were very close friends. At some point, a lack of judgement led to Landenel making a serious mistake - one that would have gotten him in a lot of trouble, and would have been exacerbated by the undeserved disdain Landenel often faced as the son of a known criminal. But wanting to protect his friend from unfair treatment, Ywain took the blame for everything and was kicked out of the Wood Wailers, though his name was later cleared and he was given the guildmaster position.

Ywain essentially did for Landenel what the co-conspirators refused to do for Foulques. This could have been an excellent way to give the two a comparable history, and if anyone would be insulted by the betrayal Foulques faced, you’d think it would be Ywain. But once again, this all goes to waste because the Lancer Quests never bring up Ywain’s history. I can’t understand how such relevant information ended up being ignored and left out, especially since it could have helped flesh Ywain out and allowed him to understand Foulques a little bit better.

In an improved version of the Lancer Quests, Ywain needs the narrative room to develop. He needs to be more involved in the plot and the tasks set for the WoL, so that the player can actually get to know him instead of just going to him briefly for their next assignment. He and the WoL should learn about Foulques history at an earlier point in the questline, and given his history with Landenel, it would make sense for him to be sympathetic. Ywain doesn’t necessarily need to agree with Foulques’ methods or means of revenge. But creating a common ground between them would greatly improve the nuance of both characters.

~~~

Thank you so much for taking the time to read! I plan to post my rewrite ideas sometime in the near future, but until then, I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts about this questline and its storytelling.

If you enjoyed my writing, please consider sharing and leaving feedback!

#Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #Lancer Quests #Foulques of the Mist #Ywain Deepwell #Long Posts #My Writing

[cottoncloud0]

little hope review *SPOILERS*

i was gonna write this ages ago and i literally forgot about this lmao but i promised the two people who are interested in these reviews that i would write another and tbh i find these really fun lol.

(reminder that this review is in no way professional, it is just my personal opinion and a bit of fun)

(side note i will only be talking about the theatrical cut)

PROLOGUE

this prologue was really interesting for me, both parts. i love that they didnt actually show any of the bus driver and it gave a really good mysterious aspect to the town of little hope, especially with the state trooper warning the bus driver about the town.

omg i cant even begin to say how much i enjoyed the second part of the prologue. the character building of the 80s family is so good. it established the dynamics of the group brilliantly without it being too obvious what the actual plot will be. i also likes that it kind of left you in the dark of whats going on, almost connecting itself to the first part of act one.

quick side note, i just learned that the choice you make on how tanya should escape the fire (going down the drainpipe or going through the window) directly affects taylors and tabithas deaths e.g if you chose the drainpipe like i did taylors demon will be the hanged demon and tabitha will be hanged and if you chose the window taylors demon will be the burned demon and tabitha will be burned at the stake.

ACT ONE

if im being completely honest i really didnt like taylor in the beginning lol. but i think thats a good thing. i mean its boring as fuck to play a game where you like every single character and none of them have flaws (this is also why i have a mixed relationship with locked traits but ill talk about that later).

okay lets talk about the pacing. when i first played little hope i thought that by the time i finished act one i thought i had ALSO finished act two. i think that says everything that needs to be said.... but seriously act one was way too long. this seems to be a theme in the early dark pictures games, like i said in my man of medan review.

i do think that the introductions to the characters were done really well though because even though almost of the characters had relationships previously to the game you could still develop or break any of them during the game. even when youre still in the first few chapters you can affect ,for example, taylor and daniels relationship drastically only with a few choices.

(i know this because i accidently got their relationship to like under halfway with like three choices 😭)

ACT TWO

what do you mean the supposed main bit of the story is the shortest section in the game? what do you mean it has less than half of the amount of chapters act one has? WHAT DO YOU MEAN????

in all seriousness, i completely forgot about some of the chapters in this act like 'lost' and 'troubled history' but on the other hand it also gave us one of the most memorable chapters in the game 'surrounded'. this is actually baffling to me because how do you make the most boring sections of the game immediately move onto one of the chapters i enjoyed most? its just quite inconsistent so now in my memory i can only really remember the bus crash, the bridge, the church and the house. and can i just add that only one those segments is in act two, which i think is supposed to be the main part of the story.

although, i did really enjoy the demons in this act and i think the developers did a great job of introducing the demons (the only gripe i have with it is that they were introduced quite late into the story but i think i feel that way because act one was so long and the demons were only introduced in the ending chapter of act one). i feel its a massive improvement to man of medan when they were trying to introduce two threats at the same time with one taking a backseat almost as fast as it was introduced.

i also liked how all the characters got back together about halfway through act two and in a completely natural way as well. it doesnt feel forced or rushed it just feels normal and how i would expect a group of terrified civilians to act with each other.

ACT THREE

there seems to be a pattern in all of the acts in little hope. forgettable first halfs and memorable and incredibly fun second halfs. act three is no different.

i think the fact that i could remember almost everything that happened in the ending but i had to go back on the chapter wikis to remember any of the first two chapters says a lot.

honestly the start of this act just feels like a plot extender and an extra opportunity to get people killed. BUT THE ENDING OF THIS ACT I LOVE <3. i like that i takes a quick break from running away from the demons to develop the mary storyline (which i will ALSO talk about later) and the choices you make really do matter and they actually make the players think about the choices theyre making because the 'right' answer isnt clear throughout the game so youre really left in the dark and have to make the call completely off your own accord.

quick final bit before we get onto the ending, but i also love the segment when everyone is running away from their respective demons and john and angela are the last one out there. the reason i love this section so much is because it can really define how angela is as a character or how you want to play her, which can also affect the ending.

right. time to talk about 'full circle'. i dont think words could describe how fucking annoyed i was when i had kept everyone alive right until this chapter only for taylor and john to be killed because of a mechanic that i didnt even know existed. AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THERES MORE PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENECED THIS.

the locked traits mechanic is very cool, trust me, but the fact that it was never ,at least, given some hints that it would be the decider of the characters fate and that they were something that genuinely matter.

at first i thought that they were just pre-determined flaws that each character had lol.

THE END

little hope has a total of seven endings and i do actually want to touch on a few of them because holy shit some of them are insane 😭

the ending i got was: vince called the police and another protagonist was alive. this resulted in andrew being revealed to be anthony (like in all endings) and being taken away in a police car as it is also revealed that the other protagonists (in my case daniel and angela) were hallucinations.

i get why some people would hate this ending, i do too, only because the previous game also had the exact same plot twist??? and that is just so uncreative that they couldnt figure out a different ending to give to one of the games. in my opinion if they DID actually give a new ending to man of medan or little hope i would 100% want it to be man of medan, which i can now confidently say is my least favourite game made made by supermassive.

quick side note, ending 5 is fucking insane and if you got it on your first ever playthrough i would have loved to see your reaction lol.

for those who dont know what the fuck im talking about ill give a quick summary of ending 5.

to get this ending vince must have not have called the police, andrew has the gun and it has at least one bullet in it and mary had to have been excecuted. after the initial cutscene, andrew aims the gun at his temple. megan then appears behind andrew and screams at him, causing him to shoot himself. After it was revealed that andrew was anthony/the bus driver all along, his corpse is shown laying at the doorstep.

like what the fuck.

RANDOM SHIT

in all honesty i had no clue on what to pick regarding the mary situation. i think i chose like 4 different choices all contradicting each other in my playthrough, but seriously what is the objective 'right' path defending mary or killing her?

as for collectibles, i found i think 43 (?) secrets, all black pictures, 4-5 white pictures and the gold pictures. in this game it is already such and improvement to man of medans exploration system. for example, if opening a certain door or picking up a certain item the game will show you this '>>>>' which means it will move you onto the next segment and oh my god this has made exploration so mad more enjoyable and easier can i just say.

CONCLUSION

this game is miles better than man of medan. i enjoyed the aesthetic, gameplay, concept, characters (some more than others) and yeah it was overall a good game (not better than house of ashes though ;) )

EXTRA

CHARACTER RANKING

Angela (the funniest character in lh, she had humour but also a serious personality, where was she for half the game? 😭)

Daniel (so sweet and caring to everyone, love him and taylor)

Andrew (he is THE male protagonist but we love him for that, anthony is deeply traumatised 🙏)

Taylor (hated her in the beginning but she grew on me, he deaths are so brutal lmao but she is so incredibly funny)

John (alcoholic and annoying, he did really care about angela though)

RATING

6 or 7/10 / 3 1/2 stars

as always if youre still reading by this point respect to you my friend and tysm for reading i hope you enjoyed me waffling about random games for 1,750 words ilysm <33333

#this was supposed to be out a week ago #oopsies #anyway the house of ashes review will probably take a while bc i have SO MUCH TO DUMP ABOUT THAT GAME #but it will be out sooner or later #little hope #andrew little hope #angela little hope #taylor little hope #john little hope #mary milton little hope #the dark pictures anthology #supermassive games #game review

[lilafeuer]

Doomed Worlds - Interval 33c

IWAD: Plutonia: Revisited Community Project (2011) a 32-level megawad for The Plutonia Experiment. Compatibility: Vanilla Screenshots: Used Nugget Doom source port, various cosmetic alterations to liquid flats, pickups and weapon graphics My thoughts:

My thoughts: PRCP is an arguably major improvement over its numbered predecessor, it's tighter, more consistent, more focused, most of its levels don't outstay their welcome and the formula of Plutonia feels more authentic and respected. 90% of the maps were enjoyable for me, except for some of the late game but this is per megawad tradition, as the last ten or so maps tend to start showing signs of fatigue or becoming more annoying to play than difficult. It's funny, the first time I played this I actually liked it a lot less than PL2, it's more of a Plutonia 1.5 and is scaled back in terms of fancy visuals and grandiose map spaces, but really it was the abundance of large maps that really hurt PL2's pacing and format, so now I have a much greater appreciation for PRCP on a whole. It kept a lot of PL2's BS to an absolute minimum, with a couple odd exceptions, and its Icon of Sin battle at the end was, while honestly more overwhelming also felt a lot more possible if you were quick enough. It's bad enough being under pressure when you're trying to shoot at a giant face, it's worse when you need to hit the face in a very specific spot, which thankfully was not the case here. PRCP can still be pretty long, but its longest map took a little over an hour and it was halfway through the WAD, otherwise a little under a handful of 30 minute offerings sprinkled mostly towards the latter half of the WAD and they are for the most part much better than PL2's biggest levels. I feel like the Casalis would consider their signature mapping style more respected with this entry, maybe even giving it their own personal approval as a love letter to their iconic works. Ten years later another PRCP has since come out that I have yet to play. Will this one be even better? Only time will tell.

3.5 Cacos outta 5

#doom #doom 1993 #classic doom #doomworld #doom modding #id tech 1 #first person shooter #boomer shooter #id software