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#teleport hub
mawofthemagnetar · 2 months
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Father's Day
“So, hold on a minute,” Iskall held his hands up, “back up, because I must have missed that. You’re a FATHER?”
“Well, yeah?” Jevin shrugged, scrolling through his comm, “What’s so hard about that to believe?”
Iskall, by way of a reply, simply gestured at Jevin’s person from his head to his slimy feet.
“So? Okay, yeah, I guess it- is a little hard to fathom. I do, uh, have a certain- aura of coolness around me. But yeah, no, I’m a dad. And a damn good one, too. I mean, a slime-dad, which is a little different than a regular dad. But for a slime-dad, I’m top-shelf. Of course.”
“Uh-huh. And how does a slime-dad differ from a regular dad?” Iskall folded his arms.
“I don’t gotta, uh, chase after my kids as much as you guys do. They’re pretty much ready to go once they hit full-size. I do my bit by checking up on them periodically. Anyway, point is, I gotta go. My kids are throwing a father’s day bash, and I can’t be late.”
Iskall rubbed his temples.
“Okay, couple questions. One, father’s day was three months ago. Two, is there a Missus Jevin you’ve got stashed away somewhere? Or a Mister Jevin? Or-“
“…Why would another person be involved?” Jevin asked, tilting his head with a squish of slime, “Like, literally, why? Who needs help to become a parent?”
“…Uh…you know what? No. You want to learn about the parrots and the bats, go talk to Keralis.”
“Sure, whatever. Anyway, to answer your second question, it’s ‘cause if you try to do father’s day on the actual, like, day, renting a big enough hall is stupid expensive and it’s all just kind of dumb. And a hassle. So we host it whenever.”
Jevin glanced up from his comm.
“Wanna come? Meet my kids, I mean.”
Iskall rubbed his forehead.
“Sure, why not. Hit me with it.”
They tapped their comms together, and Jevin clacked his jaw together- the slime equivalent of a smile.
“Okay, so uh…All my kids know you guys as their aunts and uncles. So if they start calling you “auntie Iskall-“
“-Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m used to it.” Iskall nodded, “Should I wear something special?” 
Jevin waved a hand. 
“Nah, don’t worry about it. You’re fine as you are. Anyway, let’s go. Not good to keep my kids waiting!” 
And Jevin tapped a few options on his comm and vanished. 
<iJevin has left the game.> 
Iskall shrugged, tapped over to his server list, and selected the option for the Hub, with the teleport coordinates visible in the centre. 
He tapped it, and vanished. 
<Iskall85 has left the game.>
When Iskall opened his eyes again, he was standing outside a colossal building, looking like some kind of conference centre. It was made of smooth quartz, with a fake parking lot full of fake vehicles that had clearly taken some builder a long time to put together. 
Jevin was standing there, tapping his sneaker impatiently, the blue slime slosh-slosh-sloshing against the ground. 
“Alright, c’mon, let’s get moving.” Jevin huffed, “We’re already a couple minutes late, and my kids worked really hard to put this on.” 
“I’m coming, I’m coming…” Iskall muttered, brushing off his pants and following Jevin towards the doors.
Iskall was assuming that Jevin’s family would have set up a few tables in a corner. He was a slime; and the way Jevin was talking, Iskall had assumed a big family. Maybe ten kids? That would be a pretty big family. 
Then Jevin and Iskall stepped into the conference hall. 
“HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DAD!” 
Several thousand slimes bellowed all at once, a wall of sound so deafening that Iskall could feel his bionic eye nearly shake out of its housing. 
He blinked his one eye, darting it around the room in shock. There were hundreds of small tables around which sat an unfathomable number of slimes in all colours of the rainbow. The room was a riot of wild fashion choices, and a deafening rumble of clattering bones and squelching bodies.
“I- I-” Iskall stammered, as he reached up and tightened the nut holding his robotic eye onto his skull’s mounting post.  
“HEY EVERYONE!” Jevin shouted back, “THANK YOU!” 
“Is that Uncle Iskall?” a deep voice said eagerly, “It’s so nice to meet you!” 
“You have…THOUSANDS…of children. Not ten. Not twenty. Not even a hundred. THOUSANDS.” Iskall stammered. 
“Yeah. I’m, uh, the father of all slime hybrids. It’s not a big deal, to be honest. Some other slime would’ve absorbed a skeleton and decided to think about itself if I hadn’t.” Jevin shrugged. 
“All. Of them. ALL OF THEM.” Iskall clutched his head in his hands.
“Yeah? It’s not that difficult. You just, like, shed some slime on a large enough pile of biomass, it’ll grow into a kid. How is this so confusing for you? That’s probably where humans come from.” Jevin shrugged. 
He rubbed his slimy hands together with a hideous squelch, and started traveling through the room, eagerly greeting each and every one of his kids. 
Iskall staggered over to the snack table, piled high with compost, cinderblocks, and beer. He popped a bottle, and started chugging it.
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mollymations · 7 months
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The Susan 128 Experience.
Excellent news, it's technically probably possible to beat the first level of Susan Taxpayer with 128 Susans at once!
Yeah so since it's SMBX2 the supermario128 cheatcode works just fine in Susan Taxpayer meaning you can do this, can't pretend this was my discovery or anything (imperfect-cherry-blossom pointed it out this morning) but it's fun to mess around with
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What I didn't realize after playing with this was that it'd carry over into other levels and the hub world so when 127 Susans split from the first after I entered the hub, I decided to see if I could beat the first real level with them. Verdict: Probably?
The first challenge is that for whatever reason, at least when I was doing this, only one Susan could Briefcase Bash or Ground Pound. I dubbed her Alpha Susan, and she's the most important player on the field at all times. Do NOT let Alpha Susan die, otherwise your mission is impossible.
Alpha Susan basically needs to stay at the front of the party at all times which is easier said than done. Briefcase Bashing at the beginning can help at least for the first section which is important since the stage starts off with a wall of papers only Alpha Susan can destroy. The enemies aren't so bad as long as you keep track of where Alpha Susan is so she doesn't die.
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The first real challenge is the papers you need to roll into because all the other Susans are guaranteed to get in your way. Thankfully, since this is built on SMBX2, you can do that cool Mario glitch where crouching under a 1-block tall ceiling will push you out the opposite direction of where you're facing, and Alpha Susan can at least destroy the first stack of paper with a Briefcase Bash. Once Alpha Susan gets pushed through, the problem becomes all the other Susans.
See, the camera won't only follow Alpha Susan, it follows ALL the Susans as a collective mass and any Susans that try to leave those boundaries teleport a bit closer to the group. So basically, you end up having to slowly push a group of Susans through the wall until any Susans that got stuck behind the last few obstacles get teleported back into your group. A feat that took me maybe 6 minutes to do because the camera REALLY tries to fight Alpha Susan.
Getting past that obstacle gets you to the donut and you really just have to hope Alpha Susan gets it, in my case she didn't and I have no idea which one of them did. Alpha Susan immediately died after that, which made the level impossible but I kept pressing onwards anyway.
The next biggest task is opening a door.
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This door, to be specific. The Susans can handle the rest of this room pretty easy since they all push each other up but that works to their detriment in the end of the room since they need to go down to progress and the camera, as I said before, will respawn any that try to leave the group. This probably took me longer to get through than the rolling obstacle to be honest, it required me to push a third of the Susans behind the wall separating the previous obstacle from this door and then hoping they would keep the camera low enough to let a Susan get through the door.
The next room had no problem until I reached a wall of papers that none of the Susans could destroy without the Alpha Susan who died several rooms ago. The Susans DID manage to push themselves into the hidden door you use to escape during Crunch Time but unfortunately there's a floor blocking their path so they all just get bunched up into a corner.
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This is right when I got stuck (and also apparently when I took the only screenshot of the attempt) and I didn't want to fight the Susan Horde to get past that one door again so I called it quits and ruled that this is probably possible for someone more persistent than me.
Rest in Peace Alpha Susan you did not deserve death by potted plant.
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rayshippouuchiha · 5 months
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Ray Ray, darling Void. I need to impart to you the AU that has been eating my brain for months:
Casually Magical Stark Industries.
Just, sure, there's the Statute of Secrecy, and most creatures have their own rules about "don't tell the normies" but it's an open secret in SI and a good chunk of their behavior policies revolve around keeping accidental harassment to various creatures at a minimum (and getting the targeted harassment destroyed with prejudice. Let's just say that leaving a silver crucifix in any of the common areas, and especially in front of the fridge, is grounds for immediate termination... of employment.)
Like, I imagine it starts with Tony, who has known that magic is real his whole life. He believed as a little kid believes, but (and I will take this headcanon to my grave) Howard had to bring him on one of his Cap Finding Expeditions for Reasons(tm) and during that time Tony and some of the workers met Santa. And once you've met literal, actual Santa Claus, there's no room for disbelief. So, once he takes over SI and sees all of the magic going on, he goes to legal to get some protections put on the books; and legal, most of whom are fae, look at this normal ass human (normal as in not magical, ofc) who is Supremely Unbothered by the supernatural presence in the company and actually seems to want to protect and... encourage it? Well, he has accidentally won the undying loyalty of a very small, but quickly expanding, Court.
Also, lets be real, Tony grew up a disgustingly wealthy genius. He has Zero concept of what is normal for people. He can build a circuit board at age 4 and an engine at 8, other people can teleport or turn into wolves, it's all on the same level to him.
Suddenly, there are two orientations: one for "this is your new job" and one for either "so, this is how you avoid getting cursed by legal/eaten by accounting, yes those are literal" or "welcome to SI, yes, we know you're magical" depending. SI eventually becomes the go to place for non-baseline human people to get a job and just an unintentional magical hub. A good 2/3rds of the entire company is some flavor of non-baseline and it works because the board and most of the baselines in upper management are too disconnected to realize that their employees are magic, or everyone has silently agreed that There's Nothing To See Here.
Tony doesn't know magic is supposed to be secret, he just thinks some people are more shy about their natures than others. Legal and PR (filled mostly with various types of demons/fiends) have a long running bet for when he'll finally get clued in (they, of course, being bound by the Rules, not to inform him themselves.) He manages to keep magic a secret completely on accident, by not realizing there's a secret at all.
I love everything about this
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the-broken-truth · 9 months
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A Father's Son [Part 3] - Miguel O'Hara w/ Teenage Spider Son Reader
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Summary: I gathered my personal documents and the Sleeper Symbiote given to me by my mother, and made my way to The Spider-Society for the final time. Using the Gizmo Watch, I teleported to Earth-121, a world where neither I nor Sleeper existed. Here, I began my new life, only to unexpectedly encounter someone I never thought I'd see again.
Taglist: @christinesdemoness1958
[Earth-928 / Spider-Society / Main Hub]
My fingertips touched the surface of Miguel's Research Tablets, the information I was seeking was right before me but I needed time to look through it all. He made notes on possible locations for finding Orphaned Versions of my Late Sister, Gabriella, but there was something preventing him from collecting her in each world. That's when my eyes locked with the keywords of Earth-121:
Critical Notes: The Boy doesn't exist in this universe nor does any other Spider-Person, it would be a waste of time to look in this universe for a replacement of Gabriella.
'Perfect.' I thought as I lifted my Gizmo Watch to my face and locked in the coordinates and waited before the red glitching portal appeared before me. I took an exhale before I stepped into the portal and went through the flow of the portal's pull before I reappeared on the other side - standing on the building of newspaper building. I slid the Gizmo Watch off my wrist and placed it on the ground before I stomped on it, shattering it into pieces. I looked at the place around me before I used the ladder on the side to reach the alley to the side of the building. First things first - I needed to make a residence for myself. Hopefully, they had some move-in on the same-day apartments.
[About 3 Hours Later]
"So, you've moved from overseas where your parents live and came to New York for a new life of your own. Aren't you kind of young to make that choice of your own?" The Apartment Manager asked as we walked to my new apartment unit with a clipboard to her chest and the keys to the apartment connected to the clipboard.
"I was sick of living with my parents, they were too...divided and they expected me to always break up their fights, so I decided to leave and have my life as my own," I said as I followed her with my hands in my pockets.
"That's an understanding path to take, young man; hopefully you will have a better life here. Now, allow me to tell you the rules: There really aren't any rules in this unit but as long as you don't take anything that isn't yours, you won't have any issues with your neighbors. You can have parties if you want but please keep in mind that there are elderly people that live on this floor. Your rent is due every month on the 4th but you paid for your rent for 5 months so you're good." We stopped at the door as she took the keys off the board and held them out to me. "Here are your keys and please enjoy your stay with us."
"Thank you, Madame," I said as I took the keys, opened the door, and walked inside - it was bare but it was finally mine. I better go get some new furniture.
[Another Hour Later]
"Okay, so that's the sofa, loveseat, armchair, rug, coffee table, and bedroom set for delivery. Is there anything I am missing?" The Seller asked as he looked at you with a smile on his face.
"No, that's everything. Now, how much is the first installment and delivery fee?" You ask as you reached into your pocket and pulled out your debit card before handing it to the man, he pressed the price into the machine before sliding the card, and the signal light lit up, showing that the payment went through before he handed you the card and the receipt into your hands.
"Okay, we'll deliver it at the end of the day when the traffic isn't so bad." The Seller said.
"Perfect. I can go do some grocery shopping before heading back home. See you later, sir." You said as you waved your hand at him before placing your card back in your wallet.
"Something is amiss," Sleeper said from the depths of your mind.
"What makes you say that, Sleeper?" You ask as you looked around to see anything wrong when you took a deep breath through your nose and the scent of blood in your nose, running, you found yourself in an alleyway with a single body in it - a young girl with long brown hair and her eyes closed as she cried - she had scratches on her body, somewhere still leaking blood; she looked like she had been in a fight and ran away with no shoes on. Honestly, she looked like you but as a female.
"Hey, are you alright?" You asked as you walked over to her - she jumped in fear and looked at you with her brown eyes - eyes that you were too familiar with.
'Gabriella. She's in this world too. But, what does she look so...hurt?"' You thought as you kneeled before and looked at her with your tender brown eyes.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is [Name]. What's your name and why are you in this alley?" You asked the girl as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"My...My name is Gabriella and I was bullied by some kids in my former neighborhood for not having parents or siblings." The girl - Gabriella - said as she hugged her knees to her chest.
"What happened to your parents?" you asked her
"Father died a long time ago but my mother ran away with another man after he died I was living in our old apartment until the landlord made me leave. I've been living on the streets since.
"Gabriella...would you like to live with me and I could be your elder brother?" You asked her as you held your hand out to her, "I can't be your father but your eyes remind me of a sister that I lost a long time ago. I would give you shelter, food, water, clothes, and the love of a brother. Do you accept?"
Gabriella looked at your hand before looking into your eyes and reached for your hand before nodding. You rose to your feet and pulled her off the ground before picking her up and walking out of the alley with your new little sister. You knew that since you didn't exist in this universe to begin with, it wouldn't cause a collapse; Miguel's Notes were helpful, in some way.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Partner?" Sleeper asked from the depths of your mind.
'I'm not going to leave her alone in this world, if I can help her, I will; what kind of big brother would I be if I didn't?' You asked Sleeper.
"Makes sense, let's hope O'Hara doesn't come to this universe." Sleeper said before saying, "I'm hungry, when can I eat some bad people?"
'Tonight. We'll go on patrol tonight.' You thought while carrying a sleeping Gabriella back to your home.
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Wizard101: Nice convenient world doors to travel through. Teleport to each world's hub. Get around fast. :)
Pirate101: get in your boat and drive there lol
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carionto · 6 months
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An idle mind invites the unseen guest
This one became a bit of a hub for tying and referencing other stuff I've written in this little verse of mine. Every underscored bit links to a different relevant story for context.
_________________________
Us Humans have always been... active in our endeavors, whatever we pursue. For as long as we have studied ourselves, the one constant remains true - we want to do something. If we don't have a crisis to solve, we cause one. If there are no more mysteries to solve, we invent new ones. If we are left alone, we make someone.
Well, that last one has a new alternative now.
Ever since we slipped back into the universe, out of our pocket in-between dimensions and saw -- it -- stare at each and every one of us for the briefest moment, we can't forget, no matter how hard we try by distracting ourselves with everything imaginable.
If our minds, touched by this incomprehensible malice, are ever left alone, with nothing to do, nothing to ponder, nothing to fear - it emerges. For some it feels like a memory, others behave as though it were a hallucination, some even can't shake the sense of it being within their mind. Even the youngest who were alive during the slip, even in the womb, exhibit signs it haunts them as well.
We don't know yet if this phenomenon can be inherited or if you had to be alive in even the simplest of forms to be "marked" with this "curse". What we do know is that as long as we continue to engage ourselves in any and every activity, it is kept at bay.
Certain animals seem to also experience this, but currently this is merely a theory. Is this something anything with enough sentience can suffer from? Does it pursue any kind of advanced enough mind, or was our slip a trigger. If others slip in-between, will they too be exposed to it and it's rageful and hungry gaze? While we want to know, we also have sworn to not give it any chances. Unless we have to, nothing and nobody will ever utilize slip technology again.
The trouble with coming to any solid conclusion is our natural inclination towards mental disparity. Studying the Human mind is one of the oldest of fields, doubtful we'll ever fully crack it. Learning that the other sentient races across the Galaxy also have never reached a "conclusion" with their equivalent to psychology suggests it is an endless journey. Good. A fallback option. But not everyone is inclined towards such study or thought. Hence our seemingly chaotic spread.
There are as many ideas as there are people, plus one more for whenever two people interact. - Want to tear open time-space to teleport planets? Sure, here's unlimited funding. - Want to bring back pre-historic dinosaurs on a dubiously habitable planet? Hell yeah! Permission granted. - Want to build a deadly race track in the Oort cloud? You didn't ask and we probably couldn't stop you anyway.
As long as we stay active, pursue every idea, create chaos, cause problems, maybe even find an enemy to war against, it doesn't bother us. We hope we will never have to deal with it. We hope it is just a mirage, a nightmare, anything other than what we instinctively know to be true: It is real. It is angry. It is hungry. It has seen us. It haunts us. And It hates us.
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(Its perspective)
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satur1day · 2 months
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My predictions for post high school plans for the bad kids
Kristen: dropping out by the end of this season or switching class to monk/fighter or both. probably going to fantasy trade school (like Ally)
Riz: I can see him going to college with adaine but I can also see him just going straight into being a private investigator/spy. If he does go to college either paid for by some wild sum of money they make this year like the klavaxus hoard or I could see Fabian paying for it. Worth noting u could also really see Fabian and Riz becoming an adventurer duo or getting an apartment together (with Adaine?)
Adaine: going to college (maybe Fabian paying for it?). I could see her deciding it’s not for her after that but I also think she might enjoy it a lot. Also getting more involved with oracle stuff probably studying history of divination or some other semi niche major. But I feel like it will have to do with history
Fig: she’s going to finish the the year I feel like or get a GED somehow but I don’t think she’ll go to a bard college or any college really, her house in the pit becomes a sort of hub for the rest of the bad kids with teleportation circles made by Ayda she goes back and forth between there Elmville and leviathan
Gorgug: maybe opening his own (magical) mechanics shop making items and magical vehicles for adventurers I think he would really love that. I also think the slower pace would be good for him (good for all of them really). Maybe it’s on leviathan and he hangs with Ayda and fig but I think where ever he was he would still meet with them
Fabian: I think he lives the most “true adventurer” life but quickly it becomes too much. He lives a more peaceful life but still goes on wild quests every now and again just with months inbetween. As mentioned before I think he has an apartment (let’s be honest a house) with Riz and probably Adaine too (at least as long as she and Riz at the same school) maybe regularly goes to forgets shop to “work on the hangman” but it’s really just to hang out, sails to leviathan even tho he could just take a teleportation circle because that’s what PaPa would do
I believe they will all stay close friends 100% even if they aren’t all together all the time anymore or if they are across the world. It will be different but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.
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ANOTHER POLL
Edit: option 3 no longer viable. Unstable on 1.18.2
Edit 2: nvm we’re using continental
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hezzabeth · 3 months
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The description of the space station is based on my own experiences during a ten hour layover in Singapore.
"Are you alright? Do you have a bout of telesickness?" Brigadeiro Bun asked as Revati stared off into space.
"Telewhat?" Revati asked, her brain snapping back into place.
When Amma and Nanni heard that Revati was about to go off-world, they tried to prepare her.
"It's not like your other wasteland adventures where you wandered into a city on foot! You'll need to buy tickets; then apply for a tourism visa," Amma explained.
"My what?" Revati asked, completely confused.
"The actual teleporting takes less than a second, but you will have to spend at least an hour in customs and immigration and four hours in the teleport waiting your turn," Nanni added.
It was all incredibly exhausting and confusing.
The teleport hub they were waiting in was deliberately designed to make people forget they were waiting. Bright, expensive shops with intricate displays created pathways to different teleportation gates. Massive, giant flowering bushes surrounded by clouds of butterflies brushed against the glass ceiling. In the center of everything, there was a crystal pond. Robotic bronze mermaids swam up and down underneath the lily pads.
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"Telesickness! It's okay, a lot of people not used to teleporting end up with upset stomachs," Brigadeiro reassured her, handing her something small and pink from his shirt pocket.
"This should help, their stomach stabilizers! I bought them in the bathroom," Brigadeiro smiled helpfully, and Revati took one, popping it into her mouth before promptly spitting it out.
"It tastes like gasoline," Revati grimaced.
"You're not supposed to eat it! You rub it on your temples," Brigadeiro explained gently before picking the stomach stabilizer up off her lap.
"Please don't rub that all over my temples; it has my spit on it," Revati pointed out, shutting her eyes.
"Are you sure you're not sick?" Brigadeiro asked.
"I'm just exhausted; we've teleported so many times I have no idea where we are," Revati sighed, closing her gritty eyes.
"We're at the Anh Do memorial teleport hub; he was a figure from southwest Sydney legends! When he was a baby, he was on a boat attacked by pirates. Then he grew up to become a famous children's writer and artist," Brigadeiro rattled on.
Revati felt herself slump to one side with exhaustion, her head landing on something soft.
Brigadeiro's home wasn't even technically a planet. Rather, it was a series of six space stations, each representing different areas of a land once known as "Australia." The Southwest Sydney Station was so big it had its own weather patterns, ecosystem, and geography. Most of it consisted of expensive tourist resorts, beachside towns, and theme parks. Brigadeiro had explained many times before that his family was part of the 15 million-strong workforce that lived in the secret employee-only towns and cities. Someone, hopefully Brigadeiro, was gently massaging her scalp, and Revati felt herself fall into a drowsy, dark state.
Revati wasn't sure how long she had been snoozing when the screaming sirens suddenly filled the air. Revati's self-preservation instincts kicked in, and her eyes snapped open. Within seconds, she was back on her feet, reaching for her mace.
"You had to leave the weapon at security back on Mars," Brigadeiro reminded her as hundreds of people suddenly started flowing out of the teleport gates. The air was thick with sirens and flashing blue lights as the crowd swelled around her. Brigadeiro snatched her hand, and together they were swept forward in the tidal wave of chaos.
People were everywhere, their faces blurred by the rapidity of the moment, their shouts and cries a blurry nonsense of at least a dozen different languages. In a second of terror, Revati found herself thrown down. Feet pounded on her back as she curled herself up into a ball. There was a sudden break in people, and Revati saw a glimpse of the mermaid pool. Revati forced herself forward and grabbed the pool's safety fence, hauling herself over the edge. She landed with a splash into the shallow water. For a few moments, all Revati could hear was the pounding of the mob and sirens.
All Revati could feel was her body as the robot mermaids bumped into her before swimming away. The glass ceiling above had clouded over, turning an eerie white. There was a sudden buzzing on Revati's wrist, indicating her bangle had an incoming call. It was the android. Of course, it was.
"Ignore," Revati groaned, sitting up, and a tiny mermaid bounced off her cleavage. Somehow, half her shirt had managed to get ripped off. The crowd wasn't as thick, but people were still charging past the shops heading to some unknown destination. The sirens suddenly stopped.
"All interstellar teleport gates have been switched off temporarily! We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused," a lady's voice chimed over the speakers. People slowly stopped running and instead began to shuffle around.
Tiny first aid drones began to zoom out of the shops, attending to the fallen. Through it all, Revati scanned and searched. Spotting Brigadeiro was far harder than usual since many people in the hub had pink, curly hair. Finally, she saw him across the crowd in the doorway of a chocolate shop. A woman was lying at his feet. Revati slowly stood, her legs wobbling, before climbing out of the pond. By the time she managed to push her way through to the storefront, she had heard several whispers. There had been an attack on another Space Station known as “Cairnes”. The crowd consisted of tourists and travelers who fled when an employee opened up a teleportation gate during the attack. Brigadeiro was attending to the woman who was bleeding all over the shop floor from a gash on her temples.
"Oh, thank Goup!" Brigadeiro cried, wrapping Revati in a smothering hug. Brigadeiro was, of course, a little shorter than her, and he nuzzled his face into her shoulder, sobbing.
"It's alright, I'm fine," Revati assured him, petting his back, and Brigadeiro sobbed.
"It's not that; Cairnes has been destroyed! Millions are dead," Brigadeiro's voice choked.
"Destroyed?" Revati gasped. The bleeding lady on the ground twitched, and Revati let go of Brigadeiro in order to check her. The lady was a bit older than Revati, probably in her late twenties. She had the pale, sickly skin and brighter blue hair of those who came from the northern parts of Mars. Her haircut, however, was similar to the trendy “mushroom cap” style she had seen on the space station – short with a blunt fringe. Revati reached into one of her pants pockets, pulling out a trusty medibandage, and stuck it onto the woman’s temple. Even while unconscious, she had the expression of someone fully capable of starting a riot in a coffee shop. It clashed violently with her bright purple tropical print shirt and neon pink watch. The watch. Revati grabbed the unconscious lady's hand to examine the watch.
"SOS Emergency Medical Information," she said to the watch. Its screen flickered, and a tiny 3D hologram of the lady appeared.
"My name is Pauletta Chuchotor, I am twenty-nine years old! My blood type is B- and I'm allergic to Venusian swamp gas," the hologram said cheerfully, and suddenly the hologram switched off as tight fingers wrapped themselves around Revati's wrist.
Revati glanced at the lady who was now staring at her with bloodshot green eyes.
"My personal information isn't for you," she said in a deep, raspy voice.
"Good to know," Revati said. Pauletta Chuchotor was staring at her curiously.
"I don't forget faces easily," she said, her fingernails still digging into Revati's wrist.
"Ok," Revati replied uneasily, wondering if the lady had a brain injury.
"You look a little like someone I met a long time ago," Pauletta said, as if accusing Revati of something terrible.
"I got a message from Dad; the news says all the teleporting hubs have been shut down! He says we should leave the hub and take the workers' bullet train back to Paprika Station before they stop running," Brigadeiro said, gesturing to his grey bracelet.
"A bullet train? Like the one in Olde Landon? I thought this space station was supposed to be super advanced?" Revati asked, completely confused.
"It is, but teleportation has a weight limit of six hundred kilograms; the trains are used when we need to transport bulk goods and supplies to different resorts," Brigadeiro explained.
"I also need to go to this Paprika Station; I will follow you," Pauletta Chuchotor remarked, and Revati exchanged a look with Brigadeiro.
"I mean, it's not like we can stop her," Brigadeiro pointed out.
The train ride to Paprika Station turned out to be far more exhausting, bewildering, and strangely smelly than teleporting. Everyone seemed to know Brigadeiro Bun, and by extension, everyone seemed to know Revati.
"Bridgadeiro! Your mama said you would be back for Applefestus! And is this the famous Revati from Mars?" An old lady with orange hair said to them as they waited for the train.
"I may have mentioned you in my messages home; this is my mother's friend Mrs. Jambalaya from church," Brigadeiro said as the old lady descended onto Revati in a cloud of vanilla perfume.
"Oh, she's so pretty! Such big amber eyes! And who's that?" She asked, nodding at Pauletta, who was standing several feet away from them, staring into the distance.
"No idea, we think she's an injured tourist," Brigadeiro admitted as Revati quietly blushed. No one in Olde Landon had ever called her pretty.
"Bridge! Did you hear about the terrorist attack? My dad said appliances from Mars did it," someone yelled when they finally got onto the cramped train. A teenage boy with dark skin and fuchsia braids was waving at them from a row of seats.
"We were at the capital telehub when it happened! Revati, this is my cousin Pecan," Brigadeiro explained as they sat down.
Pecan gasped with horror. "Oh, Goup! You're the girl Bridge is bringing home for Applefestus! You probably don't want us talking about the war," Pecan remarked.
"It's fine; I'm too tired and freaked out to care," Revati assured him.
"Why don't you take a nap? The ride to Paprika Station takes around four hours," Brigadeiro said, tapping his shoulder. Revati sighed gratefully, her head dropping onto his shoulder. Before her eyes shut, she spotted Pauletta standing on the other side of the carriage, staring at her with dried blood still in her hair.
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thecreaturecodex · 1 month
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Archon, Wheel
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Image © Paizo Publishing
[Sponsored by @razzelmire. I really like how fleshy the eyes of the wheel archon look, and the weird sinewy tissues in the hub/mouth. It's interesting that they are inflexible paladin types explicitly in the flavor text, more so than other archons. Is it because they're less humanoid? Is it a reference to the Book of Ezekiel, and how its depiction of God (in the first two thirds, anyway) is judgemental and destructive? Or was it an author trying to differentiate different flavors of Good for different celestials in the same product? It could be all of these, or none of them.]
Archon, Wheel CR 16 LG Outsider This being is a wheel the size of an elephant, seemingly made of fire and golden plates. It has a staring eye on each spoke, and its hub is a mouth-like orifice.
The wheel archons are among the least humanoid of the archons, and among the least forgiving. Wheel archons are stubborn and indomitable, and rarely go on missions requiring tact or diplomacy. They are often sent to deliver a message to a prophet, or as a herald of the armies of Heaven. A wheel archon’s view of good and evil is rigid to the point of inflexibility. They are excellent at following orders, but eschew moderation and forgiveness for righteous wrath. They view themselves as the arbiters of Heaven’s laws, and are willing to be judge jury and executioner all at once if need be. They do not tolerate dishonesty in any form, and respond to lies with violent retribution.
A wheel archon’s strategy is as direct and forthright as everything they do. They fly into the thick of battle, spraying flames and slamming into enemies with their spiked rims. Their stern gaze can dispel illusions and force shapechangers to resume their natural shapes, and if they suspect that they are fighting disguised enemies, use this ability liberally mixed with attacks. Fires created by a wheel archon, whether by its spells or sprayed from its fiery spokes, burn through fiends despite any fire resistance they might have. Wheel archons do not accept surrender or surrender themselves unless they are explicitly ordered to do so by a superior.
Wheel Archon CR 16 XP 76,800 LG Huge outsider (archon, extraplanar, good, law) Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +39, true seeing Aura all knowing eyes (30 ft., Will DC 24),menace (20 ft., Will DC 24)
Defense AC 30, touch 18, flat-footed 20 (-2 size, +1 dodge, +9 Dex, +12 natural) hp 253 (22d10+132) Fort +15, Ref +21, Will +18; +4 vs. poison DR 15/evil; Immune electricity, fire, petrifaction, sleep; SR 27
Offense Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good) Melee slam +26 (3d12+9/19-20 plus 1d6 fire) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks fiery spokes, focus gaze Spell-like Abilities CL 16th, concentration +19 Constant—true seeing At will—discern lies (DC 17), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects), scorching ray 3/day—flame strike (DC 18), empowered holy smite (DC 17) 1/day—antimagic aura, heroic invocation, holy word (DC 19), prying eyes
Statistics Str 23, Dex 29, Con 22, Int 21, Wis 22, Cha 16 Base Atk +22; CMB +30; CMD 40 (cannot be tripped) Feats Combat Expertise,Dodge, Empower SLA (holy smite), Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (slam), Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Spring Attack, Whirlwind Attack Skills Acrobatics +34,Fly +34, Intimidate +28, Knowledge (arcana, history, local) +27, Knowledge (planes, religion) +30, Perception +39, Sense Motive +39, Spellcraft +27; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal, truespeech SQ holy flames, spiked rims
Ecology Environment any land and sky (Heaven) Organization solitary or procession (2-5) Treasure incidental
Special Abilities All Seeing Eyes (Su) All creatures within 30 feet of a wheel archon take a -5 penalty on all Bluff checks. Any creature in disguise or in an alternate form in the area must succeed a DC 24 Will save or be sickened as long as it remains in the aura and for 1d4+1 rounds thereafter. Fiery Spokes (Su) As a standard action, a wheel archon can spray fire in a 60 foot radius. All creatures in the area take 16d6 points of fire damage (Ref DC 27 half). A wheel archon can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. Focus Gaze (Su) A wheel archon can focus its gaze on a creature within 30 feet as a move action. The creature must succeed a DC 24 Will save or return to its original form, dispelling spells and negating supernatural abilities. Whether the creature succeeds or fails its save, it is immune to that wheel archon’s focused gaze until the end of the archon’s next turn. Holy Flames (Su) Fire damage dealt by a wheel archon’s spells and effects ignores the fire resistance of creatures with the evil subtype, and deals half damage to creatures with the good subtype. Creatures with the evil subtype and fire immunity, such as devils, are treated as having fire resistance 20 against a wheel archon’s fire spells and effects. Spiked Rims (Ex) A wheel archon’s slam attack deals bludgeoning and piercing damage.
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strobbylemonade · 3 months
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Custom Disc Installation Guide for Hermitcraft Season 9
I've seen a lot of people struggle with specifically the custom discs, so I made a guide on how to install the mods! It was originally posted as a twitter thread, along with a guide on how to get the world download.
How to install the Custom Discs mod for Decked Out / Hermitcraft 9 world download. Note: I'm assuming you already have the world installed. If you don't know how to do that, you can follow my previous guide here.
1) Follow this link https://oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/#jdk17-windows…
2) Scroll down and download the "x64 Installer" (or whatever is more convenient for you).
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3) Open your Downloads folder and double click - you may need to right click and "Run as Administrator" if it's not working. Then, click Yes and install the program.
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4) The installation software should then open. Just follow the instructions and press Next, Next, and then Close.
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5) Open up the Hermitcraft world download. You may have seen the "To play Decked Out as the hermits experienced it..." message in chat. Click on "[Click here]".
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6) Press the first link ("Hermitcraft runs on Fabric [link]")
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7) Press the download button, then Download for Windows
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8) Double click the fabric-installer to open.
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9) MAKE SURE THE VERSION IS 1.20! Leave everything else as their defaults. Make sure "Create Profile" is checked. Then, press "Install". - If you can't install, open your normal Minecraft launcher and run 1.20, then close Minecraft.
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10) Go back to the Hermitcraft world and download the other three mods. Make sure you download all three of them!
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11) Open your Minecraft Launcher and go to Installations. You should see "fabric-loader-1.20". Hover over it and press the folder icon on the right hand side
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12) Open the "mods" folder. If you don't have one, create a new folder and name it "mods" (no capitals or punctuation)
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13) Drag and drop the three mods you just downloaded into the "mods" folder.
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14) Close Minecraft, and then press "Play" on the Fabric installation
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Open Singleplayer, and then your hermitcraft world, and everything should be in working order! To get to Decked Out, you can either visit by the Nether Hub (DO is East/Red 2), or teleport by: /tp -523 103 2171
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If you have any issues, feel free to reblog / comment with your problem (with a screenshot of your issue if you have one) and I'll be happy to help.
Good luck, and happy running!
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transgamerthoughts · 16 hours
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Abandon All Delusions Of Control
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this is another cross-post. which is funny because I've paid for a domain name redirect to my tumblr since like 2016.. i never know what site is gonna explode these days. less people follow me here than anywhere but this write ups been passed around so...
I've been playing Dragon's Dogma 2 and while I'd love to talk about gameplay or interesting moments, the game's found itself something of a cultural lightning rod. It is a game with many friction points arising in a cultural moment where gamers are, perhaps more than ever, convinced that "consumers" are kings.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is not readily "solvable" and you can't min-max it. You will make mistakes. You will be scraped and bruised and scarred. Pain is sometimes the only bridge that can take us wher ewe need to go. And gaming culture, fed the lie of mastery and player importance, does not understand that scars can be beautiful. I love this game. I think it's a miracle it came out at all.
I also think in spite of the success it's found… that 2024 might be the worst possible year for it to have released.
Let's ramble about it..
It's easy to feel like Hideaki Itsuno and his team miscalculated the amount of friction that players are willing to endure and while I don't think that's true (he didn't miscalculate moreso stick to his particular vision) it certainly appears that we've reached a point in gaming where players, glutted on convenience, don't really know what to do when robbed of it. I've heard folks complain that they can't sprint everywhere or else balk learning that ferrystones required for fast travel cost 10,000 gold as if these shatter DD2 into pieces. I'm vaguely sympathetic to these concerns but at the same time they seem to spring entirely from a lack of understanding of the game's design goals. Much like how folks demanding a traditionally structured RPG narrative from an Octopath game misunderstand what that team is trying to do, players asking to sprint through the world or teleport with ease fundamentally misunderstand what Dragon's Dogma wants. The world is not a wrapper for a story. It is the story. Dragon's Dogma is a story factory whose various textures create unprecedented triumphs and memorable failure.
It is crucial to the experience to allow both of those to occur and live with whatever follows.
I'm always cautious of talking like this because it can come off as smug or superior but I think ultimately that's the truth of the matter here. This was not a well-played franchise before now and even if it's a AAA title, there's a way in which this game is meant to elide most AAA open world trends. You are expected to traverse. If you want relatively cheap and faster travel, you're meant to find an oxcart and pay the (quite modest) fee to move between trade hubs much like you would pay for a silt strider in Morrowind. Even if you do this, you could be ambushed on the road and in the worst case the ox pulling the cart can be killed. Something being "possible" in a game doesn't always mean it is intentional but Dragon's Dogma continually undercuts the player's ability to avoid long treks. Portcrystals, which act as fast travel destinations, are limited and ferry stones (while not prohibitively expensive compared to weapons and armor) are juuust expensive enough that you need to consider if the expense is worthwhile. Once is happenstance. Multiple times is a pattern. And the pattern in Dragon's Dogma is to disincentivize easy travel. It screams of intent.
Something I could not have imagined playing games growing up is the ways in which even a decade (or two) could lead to radically different attitudes on what games should provide. That's an audience issue to an extent but it's also something games have brought upon themselves. The "language" of an open world game has been solidified through years climbable towers, mini-map marked caves, and options to zip around worlds. When a game deviates from that language, the change is more noticeable than ever.
Hell, even Elden Ring (perhaps the closest modern relative to Dragon's Dogma) allows you to warp between bonfires and gives you a steed to ride. But that's also a much larger game! DD2 is not a large game and the story is not long. Yes, you can spend untold hours wandering about into nooks and crannies but a trek from one end of the world to another is still significantly shorter than bounding through most open worlds and a run through the critical path reveals a speedy game. Not as speedy as the first but brisk by genre standards.
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exploration is the glue that binds the combat and progression system in place. Upgrading armor and weapons requires seeking out specific materials and fighting certain monsters. Gathering the funds for big purchases in shops mostly comes from selling your excess monster parts. The entire game hinges on the idea of long expeditions where you accrue materials and supplies on the road and then invest that horde one way or another once you return to town. It's not simply a matter of mood and tone for you to trek throughout the world without ease. The gameplay loop is built around it.
There's another complicating factor that I'm less interested in diving into and it's the presence of certain microtransactions at launch. Principally I'm against MTX in single players games, particularly conveniences of which most of DD2's microtransactions are. But I also think there's been a fundamental misunderstanding of what many of these are. Among the biggest things I've heard (repeatedly!) is that you can pay real life money for fast travel but that's not true. You can buy a single portcrystal offering you one more potential location to warp to. It's a one-time purchase and the only travel convenience offered. This has transformed, partly because of people's lack of familiarity with Dragon's Dogma's mechanics, into a claim that you can pay over and over to teleport around. I think that assumption reveals more about the general audience than anything else.
I think it is worth entertaining a question: does the existence of this extra port crystal signify a compromising of the game's goals regarding travel? That's not a discussion that folks seem to be interested in having—instead opting for more emotional and reactionary panicking—but it is the most interesting question. On face the answer is yes and that raises the follow up question of whether or not the developers had knowledge this convenience (though one-off) would be offered to players. If so, did that knowledge affect how they designed the game? Even slightly? It seems rather clear to me that these purchases are a publisher decision; there's nothing in the game's design that suggest the dev team wants players to have access to an extra portcrystal. As we've established it's quite the opposite!
They want you to haul your fucking ass around and get jumped by goblins, buddy.
Which is many words to say that as much as I care about microtransactions from a consumer standpoint, the way in which they undermine Dragon's Dogma 2's goals is a fair reminder of the ways in which they hurt developers. Ultimately, I do think that these purchases are ignorable and in that sense (combined with the misinformation surrounding them) I'm a little burned by the consumer-minded discussion. Doubly so because of the way it feels, at least in part, tied into a certain kind of rhetoric that's been on the rise lately. Instead, I find myself drawn to the question of the damage they do the devs and if more onerous plans actually would force their hands into undercutting portions of their own designs. The shift of many series into live-service chasing suggest so but even as I entertain these thoughts I don't get the sense that Itsuno and his team were forced to reshape their game world to encourage these microtransactions. The world is as they want.
If it wasn't, they wouldn't make it so failing to act quickly in a quest to find a missing kid stolen by wolves could end with you being too late. They wouldn't make it so buying goods from an Elven shop without an interpreter was a hassle. It's present in Every Damn Thing!
More interesting to consider is why this particular game became such a lightning rod of passion when I'm going to assume that most people caught up in the discussion have no particular fealty to the series. The answer is a combination of factors but there's something about the genre that ignites the panic we're seeing as much as the culture moment we're in. When people try to explain that these MTX purchases are not needed, it's confused for approval of their inclusion but that's not something we need to grant. I don't think anyone wants these things here and when they say "you don't need them" they are referring to the more complex thought that the game is better played without them. But this is not heard because the idea that you'd want to opt into friction and discomfort is not something that the general audience is likely to understand. They're wired against it. They crave ease.
not everyone, mind you. DD2's enjoyed a lot of excited reactions (there's tons of folks who like this game as it is and are happily playing it) but it has faced plenty of folks railing against "bad" design choices but the fact remains that those "bad" choices were intentional.
I'm writing about this stuff instead of, say, the wild journey I took solving one of the Sphinx's riddles because the immediately interesting thing about Dragon's Dogma 2 has been what it's become as a cultural object. It is a game suffering from success. Never designed for a general audience or modern standards but thrust into their hands due to Capcom's ongoing renaissance. Dragon's Dogma is a fine game whose cult status is well earned but the reason DD2 garnered this attention (and therefore becomes a hot-topic game) has as much to do with Capcom's ongoing success rate as anything else. In some ways, it actually IS a good time to release a game like Dragon's Dogma 2. There's certainly a curiousity in place. Partly borne of goodwill and also from folks' genuine desire to try something new.
and yet, we're in a odd moment in games. consumer rights lanaguge, having been fundamentally misunderstood and reconfigured by gamers as a rhetoric for justifying their purchase habits (I'm paying the money! why can't the game do exactly as I demand!?) has stifled many people's ability to have imaginative interpretations of gameplay mechanics. they don't ask "what is this thing doing as a storytelling device" (which mechanics are!) and rather default to "what is this thing doing to me and my FUN and my TIME". which are not bad questions but they also misunderstand the possibility space games have to offer. While we can attribute some of the objections that has arisen to players' thoughts about genre itself and the way in which Dragon's Dogma positions friction as a key gameplay pillar, the fact of the matter is that we would not be having such spirited discussion about these things in, say, 2017. not that things were great back then, but I think the audience is worse now in many, many ways. sarcastically? I blame Game Design YouTube.
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Even if there were no microtransactions, we'd still be having a degree of Discourse thanks to a key game mechanic: Dragonplague. It is a disease that can afflict your Pawn companions which initially causes them to get mouthy and start to disobey orders. If you notice these signs (alongside ominous glowing eyes) then your Pawn has been infected and you're expected to dismiss them back to the Rift where that infection can spread to another player. The game gives a pop up to the player explaining this the first time they encounter the disease. However, some players have ignored that warning and found a dire consequence: an untreated Pawn can, when the player rests at an inn, go on an overnight rampage that kills the majority of NPCs in whatever settlement they are in. This includes plot-important characters. The reaction's been intense. Reddit always sucks but man… just look…
I understand some of the ire. It's a drastic shift from your pawn being a bit ornery to instantly killing an entire city. On the other hand, the game does warn of potentially dire consequences if a Pawn's sickness is ignored. Players have simply underestimated the scale of that consequence. Surely no major RPG would mass murder important characters and break questlines! We're in post Oblivion/Skyrim world. Important NPCs are essential and cannot be killed, right? Well, wrong and this is another way in which Dragon's Dogma chases after the legacy of a game like Morrowind more than than it adapts current open world trends. This is a world where things can break and the developers have decided that they are okay with it breaking in a very drastic way. It's hard to think of anything comparable in a contemporary game. We don't really do this kind of thing anymore.
The result has been panic and a spread of information both helpful and hopelessly speculative. Is your game ruined? Well, maybe. There is an item you can find which allows for mass resurrection but that's gonna require some questing. But some players also say that you can wait a while and the game will eventually reset back to the pre-murder status quo. What's true? Hard to know. Dragon's Dogma doesn't show all of its cards and won't always explain itself. We know entire cities can be killed. We know that individual characters can be revived in the city morgue or else the settlement restored (mostly) with a special item. Dragonplague is detectable and the worst case scenario is, to some extent or another, something that the player can ameliorate. Those are facts but they don't really matter.
That's because players issue (panick? hysteria?) with dragonplague is as much to do with what it represents as what it does. Players are used to the notion of game worlds being spaces where they get to determine every state of affair. They are, as I've suggested before, eager to play the tyrant. Eager to enact whatever violences or charities that might strike their fancy. They do this with the expectation that they will be rewarded for the latter but face no consequences for the former. Dragonplague argues otherwise. No, it says, this world is also one that belongs to the developers and they are more than fine with heaping dire consequences on players. Before the dragonplague's consequences were known, players were running around the world killing NPCs in cities because it would stabilize the framerate. They're fine with mass murder on their own terms. they love it!
This is made more clear when we look at how Dragon's Dogma handles saving the game. While there are autosaves between battles, players are expected to rest at inns to save their game. This costs some gold, which is a hassle, but the bigger "issue" is that they only have one save slot. Which means that save scumming is not entirely feasible though not impossible with a bit of planning. What it does mean, however, is that the game is saved when a dragonplague attack happens. you have to rest at an inn for this to trigger. which saves the game. They cannot roll back the clock. The tragedy becomes a fact. It's not the only time Dragon's Dogma does this. For instance, players can come into possession of a special arrow that can slay anything. When used, the game saves. Much like how players are given a warning about dragonplague, they're warned before using this arrow: don't miss.
If you do? that's a real shame. The depth of this consequence is uncommon in today's gaming landscape. Games are mostly frivolous and save data is the amber from which players suck crystallized potentialities. Don't like what happened? No worries. Slide into your files and find the frozen world which suits your proclivities. You are God. In Dragon's Dogma, you are not god. The threads of prophecy can be severed and you must persist in the doomed world that's been created. The mere suggestion is an affront. The fact that Dragon's Dogma has the stones to commit to the bit in 2024 is essentially a miracle.
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It's easy to boil everything I'm saying down to "Dragon's Dogma is not afraid to be rude to the player" but that doesn't capture the spirit of the design. It invites players to go on a hike. It makes no attempt to hide that the hike is difficult. But that's the extent of it. It offers little guidance on the path, doesn't check if you're a skilled enough hiker. Your decision to go on the hike is taken as proof of your acceptance of the fact that you might fall down.
This is not unique to Dragon's Dogma. In fact, this is part of the appeal (philosophically) of a game like Elden Ring. The difference being that even FromSofts much-lauded gamer gauntlets (excepting perhaps Sekiro, conincidentally their best work) offer more ways to adjust and fix the world state to the player's liking. Even the darling of difficulty will offering you a hand when you fall. Dragon's Dogma is not so eager to do so. In a decade where convenience is king for video games, that represents both a keen understanding of its lineages and a shocking affront to accepted norms and expectations.
The core of Dragon's Dogma, the very defining characteristics that earned it cult status, are the same things that have caused these modern tensions. It is both a franchise utterly consistent in its design priorities and entirely out of touch with the modern audience. Dragon's Dogma 2 has come into prominence during a time where imaginative interpretation of mechanics is at an all time low and calls for "consumer" gratification are taken as truisms. It is a game entirely at odds with the YouTube ecosystem and the very things that give it allure are the tools that have turned it into a debated object.
This flashpoint of discussion is proof of Dragon Dogma 2's design potency. It's also a sign of the damage that modern design trends have done to games as whole and the ongoing fallout that's come from gamers learning design concepts without really understanding what designing a game entails. And, uh… I dunno respond to that or how to end this. That's both very cool but it also bums me out. Dragon's Dogma 2 is a remarkably confident game but games are long beyond the point of admiring a thing for being honest.
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gummmy · 9 months
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Brain rot that has been plaguing my mind for ages.
Mikey accidentally teleports them to the 12k vers and they’re now being hunted by shredder and his hooligans 
Edit/update link to the fanfic hub
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foone · 3 months
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So the way crossing between worlds works in Mundane Kaya Sona is that theres fundamentally one type of transport: magic can be used to make a jump between two worlds.
(under readmore cause long. This is world building info rather than a story, but I wanted to write it down for my own reference at least)
The difference is where it's done from. There are points where the magic flux between worlds is thinner. Teleporting is far easier at these points, but they're linked to the connected worlds. So from a given point on world A, you can only travel to world B, but traveling there is much easier (allowing for less talented wizards to make the jump, with less mana needed) and the amount of people or cargo you can take with you is greatly increased.
While not at one of these nodes, you can still jump between worlds, but it's far more difficult: the amount of skill needed is far higher (or you'll end up Nowhere), the mana cost is immense, and and the amount of mass you can bring with you is tiny. At most you can bring another person, maybe two, and you can't bring more than you can carry.
You might think you could go by yourself and take two people's worth of cargo, but it doesn't work that way. The innate magical ability of humans means it's easier to bring them along than some unthinking metal or stone.
The upside, however, is that you aren't limited to the flux links: you can go from any world to any other world, with some limited control of where you end up (usually enough to not land in the middle of an ocean, but not enough to chose what house you appear in). You can't jump to somewhere else on the same planet, but with enough time and mana you could jump out to another world, then jump back in to elsewhere on the planet.
Each world has some number of flux points, which are rooted in the underground mana infusing the bedrock. They stay roughly stable over long periods of time, but do drift with the continents on planets with active plate tectonics, and a large enough earthquake will shift their positions as the flux density of the planet changes.
The number of flux points a world has is inversely corrolated to the amount of surface mana available: a saturated world like Kaya Sona will only have one or two, while a dead planet like Earth could easily have 20-30, all linking to different worlds.
It's been theorized that there could be super-saturated worlds with no subsurface mana: such a world would have a magical barrier so strong that it would have no flux points. This mathematical possibility can't be proven however, as the strength of the barrier would also make it impossible to port into, so these worlds (if they exist) can't be visited.
Inversely it's possible that a world could go beyond dead into negative mana, much like was achieved in The Desolation in Southern Monnon after the Wizard Wars. A world with a negative mana field would be filled with flux points, hundreds or even thousands of them. Although this sounds useful at first (it'd be the ultimate hub world for interplanetary travel), it's less than useless. With a negative mana field it'd be impossible to port back off the planet, making all those flux points useless. But porting at a flux point to another world's flux point requires mana at the source, and not the destination: this means a port route that leads to a negative mana world is effectively one way. You can go there, but you can't get back.
This (along with other natural and human-made hazards) makes exploring the network of port routed inherently dangerous. You could end up somewhere you can't return from. The Kaya Sona Academy explores these routes using pairs of wizards: the first jumps them both down a port route, and the second can jump them back out if the destination is dangerous. Moonstone is used to shield some mana in the even of a local negative mana field, but there's only so much that can be done if the destination world is aggressively negative.
This is one of the main reasons the Academy trains so many wizards: aside from the ever-present need for war wizards, a frightening number of newly trained wizards go on one of their exploration duties and simply never return. It's not known (or really even knowable) how many of them ended up stranded on a world without mana, rather than dying too fast to have their companion port then back out.
There is at least a little safety built into the system: a flux point destination that's not "clear" will be difficult to port to, and wizards exploring unknown port routes are taught to be able to notice that difficulty and abort the jump before they end up appearing inside solid rock or deep under the ocean. But this safety doesn't extend to things like forest fires, hostile inhabitants of the destination world, or mana fields so negative that you can't port back.
So, this all results in the following situation:
Highly trained wizards can port between known worlds with some amount of precision, bringing along themselves and one or two others. This is used by the empire to communicate between the Capitol and invasion fleets across the many worlds, as well as to slip small attack groups into key positions. A common strategy for the empire is to assassinate the leaders and generals of a target nation before the main army arrives. By the time the main force arrives, their forces will be in disarray and unable to mount much of a defense.
As for the army, they're limited by the flux network. A well-supplied army will be able to send hundreds of troops through a flux point an hour, but they need to travel across the worlds in mundane ways. This limits the speed that the empire can expand, as they need to build supply routes on previously conquered worlds before they can move on to connected worlds.
So, the slowness of the main army combined with the incredible speed of high-magic movement behooves the empire to act in subtler ways: along with the targeted assassinations and surgical strikes, they often incite existing factions against each other, supplying existing rebellions with intel, magical supplies, and promises of support when the army arrives.
It's not an uncommon story for a newly contacted world to undergo years of clandestine meddling by Empire agents, culminating in a civil war that devastates all sides, only for the winning side to enjoy mere weeks of triumph before the Empire's army arrives and they realize all the promises of future support mean nothing when they're outnumbered a dozen to one by a newly arrived interplanetary army. If they're smart they welcome the invaders in hopes of securing some sort of viceroy/governor position. If not, well... The assassins of the Empire can appear anywhere without warning, and they're very good at their jobs.
Once a world is conquered, the local flux points are mapped, their destinations are explored, and the supply lines are built out. The Emperor devices where to move to next, and the Empire of a Thousand Worlds expands ever onward.
Kaya Sona te Kaya. Kaya Sona te met allumis - the slogan of the Kalic Empire. "Kaya Sona* is great. Kaya Sona will be forever"
* Kaya Sona is the name of the world, the Capitol city, and in synecdoche, the empire itself.
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I hope Princess Peach Showtime sells well.
Not only because it could lead to Peach getting her own spin-off series of games rather than just a one-off (something that I think is long overdue), but it could also lead to Nintendo having more faith that Mario's female leads can carry games by themselves, which in that case...
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Here's my idea for a Rosalina game.
Feel free to steal this random Nintendo employee who might be reading this:
1 - The Genre
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If this game were to ever happen, I'd want it to stand out from Super Mario games so it wouldn't seem redundant, so it would not be a platformer. It wouldn't be a sports game, minigame collection, or puzzle game either. It would be a subgenre that the Mario franchise has yet to dip its toes into.
I want Rosalina's solo game to be a Space Action RPG that emphasizes real time combat.
Not turn-based, like Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi, etc. I imagine it would play a lot like Kingdom Hearts, just swap out a keyblade for Rosalina's wand:
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She could shoot beams of light at enemies for long range attacks, levitate them with her wand only to slam them on the ground, create a comet shower to rain down on enemies, manipulate gravity to deflect their attacks or slow their attacks down, briefly create a force field around herself to shield herself from an attack, emit extremely bright light from her wand to temporarily blind enemies to stun them, use her Grand Star final smash as a spell, maybe for some attacks she just outright uses her wand like a sword, etc. There are so many spells they could either make up or take from her previous appearances that she could use for her moveset. She wouldn't even have to be limited to using her wand! She could do the spin from Galaxy/her spin from 3D World as an close range attack, teleport to short distances away to dodge an enemy, fly, briefly become intangible, etc. Reminder, she has already been shown to be able to do most this stuff anyway!
Of course she wouldn't have all these abilities at the start, she'd unlock different spells and abilities throughout the game as you gain more exp by defeating enemies.
The main collectible and currency of the game would, of course, be Star Bits. The can be used to buy items (healing items, alternate costumes, etc) or to...actually I'll mention the other function later. Star Bits can be found lying around on every planet (as can other various items that can help you during gameplay) and be gained by defeating enemies.
Each level would be a different planet, and the Comet Observatory would act as the hub world as it did in Super Mario Galaxy, and would be used to travel to each planet. Perhaps there could be minigames between each planet where you fly through space controlling the Comet Observatory whilst collecting Star Bits along the way? Eh, I'm not sure. It sounds fun but maybe it'd be simpler to just travel to planets like how Mario did in Galaxy.
I imagine each planet would have a certain number of missions to complete on it before you can move to the next planet. Maybe their could be side-missions too, but they wouldn't be compulsory unless you want to 100% the game. At the end of each mission, you have the choice to return to the hub world (for a reason I'll explain later) or to just move on to the next mission. If you do choose to return to the hub world before you completed every mission on that planet, you can continue from where you left off later and would not have to re-do any missions you had completed on that particular planet so far. What would each mission involve? Well...
2 - The Premise
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I think Ubisoft owns Cursa but they would be the perfect antagonist for Rosalina. Mario has Bowser, Luigi has King Boo, Wario has Captain Syrup, Peach now has Grape, so why not let Rosalina have her own nemesis? I know Cursa seemingly died at the end of Sparks of Hope but Cursa is literally made of a fragment The MegaBug so perhaps the same thing has happened again, a fragment of Cursa survived and mutates into a new form. I'm also aware Sparks of Hope isn't canon and likely takes place in a different universe than the one the mainline Mario games take place, but Cursa is a mutant cosmic entity, it wouldn't be so hard to believe it could travel to different universes. Cursa would still remember the events of Sparks of Hope, and seek revenge on Rosalina and rid the universe of all lumas. She would create a new army (of both her own creation and possessed aliens) she would send to capture all lumas.
If Cursa is the villain, the game starts with her making a direct attack on the Comet Observatory. Cursa attempts to possess Rosalina again, but Rosalina reacts quickly and creates a force field to protect herself. Cursa then orders her army to go after the lumas. Realising there's no time to fight each army member one-on-one, Rosalina gets in front of the lumas, briefly puts down her shield, and readies her wand to unleash a huge blast of light and energy to blast most of the army off into space. But Cursa strikes her just as she does so, and the clash causes a bigger, more unstable blast, that sends both Cursa, her army and the lumas away. Rosalina is left injured and soon passes out.
Cursa and her army would survive the blast and still be out there, in search of lumas.
Either do that or just have some new bad guy (preferably one who uses dark magic/symbolises dark matter to contrast Rosalina's star/light aesthetic) kidnap lumas. I don't really care what their name would be, but for the sake of this post let's call them...Void (placeholders don't have to be creative, shush). I'm gonna refer to Void with he/him pronouns but I don't have any specific gender in mind for Void. Void could be female, or genderless, etc.
As for Void's plan, maybe he could plan to absorb half of the lumas for energy so he'd become powerful enough to destroy the universe (except for the rest of the captured lumas), and then would force the other half to transform into whatever he wants (essentially, his plan is to remake the universe so he can rule it). He too would have an army, but of his own creation. Rosalina, naturally, would be the one to stop him given that it's basically her duty, not only because she's the mother of the lumas but also because she's the protector of the cosmos.
If Void is the villain, he (along with his army) would attack the Comet Observatory in the beginning instead. Void would not have to power to possess people, but he can absorb the energy of others. Void would go for the lumas first but Rosalina, in an attempt to protect the lumas, gets in the way and creates a force field around both her and the lumas. Void relentlessly attacks the force field in an attempt to break it, but it's no use. Despite this, Rosalina can tell Void won't give up, so she teleports outside the force field and the two battle, meanwhile Void's army attempt to break down the force field. It doesn't break but as the battle continues it does start to weaken. An unstable blast is caused in a similar way it's caused with Cursa; Rosalina readies a blast of light and energy (since it's one-on-one this one isn't as big), Void also tries to hit her but with a blast of darkness instead of light (something like a shadow blast), and when the attacks clash it sends the lumas and the army flying.
Rosalina and Void are left alone. Rosalina's tired but not severely injured. She's concerned about the lumas but Void, enraged by what has just occurred, manages to catch her off guard due to her fatigue and grabs hold of her to absorb her energy. This leaves Rosalina weakened and she passes out. Void leaves to search for his army and lumas.
The opening would be the in-universe justification as to why she lacks certain abilities (like the spin, teleportation, etc) at the start of the game (I imagine she'd be able to levitate herself and other people or objects, but that's it).
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I don't have an entire story planned out, but basically Rosalina will eventually regain consciousness, manage to track down whoever the villain is (it's her job to watch over the cosmos, and with the Comet Observatory this is not a difficult task) and follows them in their search for lumas. She'll regain her energy (and hence the rest of her powers) as the game progresses. She loves the lumas dearly, and won't give up until she's saved every single one!
On each planet, some lumas are on the run from the army, and some have already been captured are guarded by the army, waiting for Cursa/Void to arrive so they can hand them over. Captured lumas are kept frozen in ice crystals found all over each planet in the game.
This is where those missions come in. For most missions, the objective is to save a specified amount of captured lumas, but some missions might be "Defeat [X] amount of enemies" or "Collect [X] Star Bits" or "Find/Go to [X]", etc. Side-missions could be escort missions where you help escort a citizen of that planet get to where they want to go safely whilst protecting them from enemies, or finding a stolen item and returning it to an NPC you've interacted with.
3 - The Hero(es)
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The only playable character is Rosalina BUT you can have two lumas in your party as partner characters at a time (they're kind of like Rosalina's Donald and Goofy), and they'd work similarly to how Sparks of Hope handles the Sparks. The lumas would float beside Rosalina at all times during gameplay like the one in Mario Kart Wii.
After completing each world (or at least the first 10), one luma can be added to your party once you've saved them.
Polari is the first saved luma that can join your party, then a Yellow Luma, Red Luma, Green Luma, Blue Luma, Pink Luma, Hungry Luma, Lumalee, Comet Tico, and finally Lubba.
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Some lumas have abilities they perform themselves , and some simply have effects on gameplay but don't do anything during battle. So for example:
(Abilities)
Polari can periodically turn into a small black hole that sucks in enemies.
Yellow Luma transforms into a Launch Star that Rosalina can use to launch herself further away than teleporting would, and can be used as a method of attack to dash through enemies with.
Blue Luma can transform into a small ice comet that will freeze enemies temporarily if they make contact with it.
Lumalee can grab items (except for star bits) from afar without Rosalina having to do it.
Hungry Luma can collect star bits from afar without Rosalina having to do it.
(Effects)
If Red Luma is in your party Rosalina will take less damage from attacks.
If Green Luma is in your party the duration of time Rosalina's force field can stay up during gameplay is extended.
If Pink Luma is in your party Rosalina will regain some of her HP when her health falls below 20% her total HP (but only 3 times per mission).
If Comet Tico is in your party the Cosmic Spirit, a clone that can help Rosalina in battle, will appear when her health falls below 20%.
If Lubba is in your party, the power of Rosalina's attacks is increased.
All lumas can be flung at enemies like Rosalina does with Luma in Smash, although here the power of this move depends on each individual luma's size.
You would only be able to swap out party members in the hub world, which is why there's an option to go back there at the end of each mission. Lumas can level up either by gaining exp whilst accompanying Rosalina in battle or by being fed star bits (see? I didn't forget about the other function!)
(Bonus) - Alternate Costumes?
I mentioned earlier that perhaps star bits could be used to buy alternate costumes. They could just be for aesthetic purposes, but I think it would be cool if each costume altered Rosalina's moveset.
Some costumes I have in mind are:
Cosmic Spirit
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In this form, in addition to her usual moveset Rosalina can possess enemies, and maybe even the lumas so you can play as them. However, she is slower and cannot teleport.
Guitarist Rosalina
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In this costume, in addition to her usual moveset, she can produce shockwaves when she strums her guitar as an attack, swing her guitar at enemies (like an axe), and moves at a faster speed, but she takes more damage than usual from attacks and cannot do her spin. Although I'd replace the guitar in the picture with the one she has in artwork for 3D World's soundtrack.
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Young Rosalina
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This costume would majorly alter Rosalina's moveset, so no using her wand, no teleporting, no flying, and her spin is weaker. It would essentially be a hard mode. I imagine her moveset in this costume would be more hand-to-hand combat focused. Perhaps she'd jump on some enemies as a nod to Super Mario games, maybe she could throw starbits as an attack, etc.
I'd rather Rosalina not use power-ups on this adventure (to keep this game distinct from other games in the Mario franchise), so no Fire Rosalina, Cat Rosalina, etc.
Some other costumes could be Rosalina Halloween, Rosalina Aurora...basically her Mario Kart Tour costumes other than the power-ups. They'd definitely just be for aesthetic purposes though, no affects on gameplay.
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And that's all I got!
TLDR, Nintendo should make "Kingdom Hearts but it stars (ha) Rosalina".
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mewling-central · 2 months
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Made a thing of an intercom announcement in a teleportation warp hub, because I can. Probably could've done better, but I need to use the best take the moment I get it. Here's a transcription and translation:
"Asl nliwayeğo cu-Vulvren cu-Lijaxel cāza-Vofağláf, vujt'al cu-Livmanznaf cu-Łt'ējn: tsa-levp'ā cu-lezrağn cu-ācèya, āgxōnr azmvlacwœ tcē-yú-wal xel-Verel fr-lce cu-abravrk'ūn pux-lejni tsa-lce yú. Má ēdzējağleyāf cu-flacwœ tcē-yú-wal xel-flacwœ ālxōr. T'ezl ēzr̄fl pi-lisa, má ēdzējağleyāf cu-flacwœ tcē-yú-wal xel-flacwœ ālxōr. Lcanznin tlezn tsa-avren fl. mVulvren cu-Lijaxel cāza-Vofağláf cu-stux ‘ōf tsa-levp'ā nar nedzasláf kxun-flacwœ, kā tcān danloxel cni-lesar tsa-zāsláf."
"This is an announcement from the Department of Interplanetary Transportation, a subdivision of the Ministry of Progress: due to system malfunctions, gate 2-1-3 bound for Erel at 16:00 has been delayed by one hour. All passengers boarding gate 2-1-3 must proceed to gate 16. Once again, all passengers boarding gate 2-1-3 must proceed to gate 16. Our deepest apologies for this inconvenience. Thank you for teleporting with us today, and we hope you have a safe warp."
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