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adastraperfortuna · 3 years

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I Played Cyberpunk 2077

Ultimately, Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent video game. It’s hard to talk about it without acknowledging the backlash that it received around its launch, but the backlash was directly proportional to the amount of marketing that it got. This happens to a lot of games – and frankly, a lot of my favorite games. If I were working at CD Projekt RED and I was responsible for the kind of marketing that resulted in the kind of expectations that they built for themselves, I’d have to take that sort of stuff into deep consideration. But, as someone who bought the game, enjoyed the game, and desperately wants to talk about the game, I’m not sure that it matters. So, to reiterate: Cyberpunk 2077 is good.

There’s so much game to Cyberpunk that it might be easier to start by talking about my favorite part of it that isn’t a game: the photo mode. I’ve joked before about my favorite gameplay loop in Star Citizen being “taking screenshots,” and that’s not my intent here, but some of my favorite games in recent memory have made it easy to look over the memories I made during their runtime. Interspersed within this review will be some of my favorite screenshots that I took – the inclusion of precise controls for things like depth of field, character posing/positioning, and stickers/frames helped to make my screenshot folder feel less like a collection of moments in a game and more like a scrapbook made during the wildest possible trip to the wildest possible city.

And what a city it is. Night City is my favorite setting in a video game in recent memory. It’s not incredibly difficult to make a large environment, but to make a meaningful environment where every location feels lived-in and the streets are dense with things to see and do? That’s a challenge that very few studios have managed to step up to. More than that, Night City feels unique in the landscape of video game cities – whereas a city like Grand Theft Auto V’s Los Santos is rooted in a reality we’re familiar with, Cyberpunk’s retro-futuristic architecture (and overall aesthetic) help lend it a sensibility that we’re unfamiliar with. It really feels like stepping into another world - fully fleshed-out, fully envisioned.

The environment is obviously beautiful and unique, but I was surprised by just how ornate it was. The thought and consideration that went into details as minor as the UIs you’ll encounter in and on everything from car dashboards to PCs and menus both diegetic and otherwise helps the entire world feel diverse, detailed, and cohesive. While everything feels of a kind and everything is working towards the same design goals, the sheer amount of variety was shocking.

The biggest thing that stuck out to me about Night City itself within just a few hours of playing was how vertically oriented it was. Not just in the “there are tall buildings” sense, though there certainly are tall buildings – I’m talking about the way that Cyberpunk uses verticality to tell stories. The first time that you end up high enough above the skyline to see rooftops will inevitably be during one of your first encounters with Night City’s elite. The hustle and bustle of street life fading away as an elevator climbs up the side of a building and you emerge into a world you aren’t familiar with was astounding. That claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded by monoliths isn’t only alleviated by attending to the rich, though – for similar reasons, my first journey out of the city limits and into the “badlands” will stick with me. Cyberpunk successfully manages its mood and tone by controlling the kind of environments you’ll find yourself in, and while that may seem like a simple, sensible, universal design decision, its consistent application helped ground the world for me in a way that made it feel more real than most of its contemporaries.

Something else that makes Night City feel real is how Cyberpunk implements its setpieces. In a decision that reverberates throughout the rest of the game, CD Projekt was clearly all-in on the notion of immersion and seamless transitions. While it was consistently surprising and exciting to find bombastic moments embedded in the world’s side content (one standout involves Night City’s equivalent of SWAT descending from the sky to stop a robbery in an otherwise non-descript shop downtown), it never took me out of the world. And, on the other end of the experience, the number of memorable, exciting story moments that were located in parts of the city that you had wandered by before helped make the world feel almost fractal, this idea that every building and every corner could house new adventures or heartbreaks.

One thing that did take me out of the experience, unfortunately, were a few of the celebrity (or “celebrity”) cameos. While I think that the core cast was well-cast, with Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand in particular being an inspired choice, the game, unfortunately, wasn’t immune to the tendency to include recognizable faces just because they were recognizable. Grimes plays a role in a forgettable side quest that felt dangerously like it only existed because she wanted to be in the game. There are also an almost concerning number of streamer cameos (“over 50 influencer and streamers from around the world,” according to CD Projekt), and while most of them completely went by me, the few that did hit for me only served to disrupt the world. The only perceived positive here is that most players won’t have any idea who these people are.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing that broke immersion in the game. Due to what I can only assume are particularly harsh memory restrictions imposed by the game’s release on last-generation hardware, the game has some of the most aggressive NPC culling that I’ve ever seen. While NPCs don’t strictly only exist in screen space, it often feels like they do, as simply spinning the camera around can result in an entirely new crowd existing in place of the old one. This is obviously rough when it comes to maintaining immersion in crowded spaces on-foot, but it gets worse when you’re driving. Driving on an empty road, rotating the camera, and finding that three seconds later there was an entire legion of cars waiting for your camera to discover them, far too close to slow down, was always a deadly surprise. It doesn’t help that your cars take a while to slow down.

Cyberpunk’s approach towards cars in general is interesting. While I certainly had trouble with them when I began playing, I eventually began to get into their groove. If you want to learn how to drive effectively in Cyberpunk, you have to learn how to drift. After the game’s latest substantial patch, the team at CD Projekt finally fixed my largest problem with the game’s driving – the minimap was simply too zoomed-in, making it difficult to begin to make the right decisions on when and how to turn when traveling at speed. Now that that's resolved, however, whipping and spinning through the streets is fun, and the cars feel appropriately weighty. I’ll still occasionally boot up the game just to cruise around its streets and listen to the radio.

Speaking of the radio, did I mention that Cyberpunk 2077 has one of the greatest game soundtracks that I’ve ever heard? The radio is filled with great original songs from some pretty great musicians, but that’s not where the soundtrack’s beauty starts and it certainly isn’t where it ends. The original soundtrack (composed by P.T. Adamczyk, Marcin Przybylowicz, and Paul Leonard-Morgan) was consistently beautiful, moving, and intense. The world feels gritty and grimy but ultimately beautiful and worth saving, and a great deal of that emotion comes from the soundtrack. While the heavy use of industrial synths could’ve lent itself towards music that existed to set tone instead of form lasting memories with memorable melodies, the sparkling backing tones and inspired instrumentation helped keep me humming some of its tracks for months after last hearing them in-game. I’m no musical critic, I don’t know how much I can say about this soundtrack, so I’ll just reiterate: it’s genuinely incredible.

It certainly helps that the encounters that so many of those tunes are backing up are exciting as well. I was expecting middling combat from the company that brought us The Witcher 3, and while the experience wasn’t perfect, it was competitive with (and, in many ways, better than) the closest games to it than I can point to, Eidos Montreal’s recent Deus Ex titles. Gunplay feels tight, shotguns feel explosive, and encounter spaces are diverse and full of alternate paths and interesting cover. My first playthrough was spent primarily as a stealth-focused gunslinger, using my silenced pistol to cover up the mistakes that my feet made when trying to avoid getting caught. Trying to sneak into, around, and through environments helped emphasize how complex the environments actually were. While it’d be easy to run into a wealth of the game’s content with your guns loaded and ready to fire, that may contribute to a perceived lack of depth in the game’s world design. I’m trying to write this without considering what other people have said about the game, but this particular point has been something of a sticking point for me – there are individual, completely optional buildings in Cyberpunk that have more interesting, considered level design than some entire video games, and the experience of evaluating and utilizing them was consistently mechanically engaging and exciting.

The sheer number of abilities that the player has can be almost overwhelming. While leveling does encourage the player to specialize into certain traits, especially when said traits can also serve as skill checks for the dialogue system and some traversal opportunities, every trait houses a bundle of skills that each house a sprawling leveling tree. Far from the kind of “three-path EXP dump” that you’ll find in a great number of AAA titles, Cyberpunk’s leveling experience can be legitimately intimidating. It’s difficult to plan the kind of character you want to play as when you’re trying to project eighty or a hundred hours forward for a character that will be constantly encountering new kinds of challenges. I certainly didn’t begin my playthrough by wanting to be a stealth-focused gunslinger – in fact, I was originally aiming for a melee-focused hacker build. While I was drawn to what I was drawn to, hearing stories from other players about the kind of builds that they ultimately considered to be overpowered made one thing exceedingly clear: Cyberpunk is a game that rewards every kind of play, possibly to its own detriment.

Cyberpunk’s main story is notably short. I wouldn’t consider this to be a problem, considering the sheer amount of engaging, exciting, heartfelt side content, but it might be the core of the difficulty scaling plateauing so early on. As you progress deeper into the game you’ll find that almost every build, as long as you are willing to commit to something, is more than viable. Look around long enough and you’ll find people saying that every single build is overpowered. For me, that fed into the central power fantasy in an exciting way. By the time that I rolled credits a hundred hours in I was more or less unstoppable, walking into rooms and popping every enemy almost instantly. For others, this was a problem – it can be frustrating to feel like all of your work to become stronger wasn’t met with an appropriate challenge when the time came to put it into practice. This is a difficult problem to solve, and I don’t have a solution. I’ll fondly remember my revolver-toting, enemy-obliterating V, though, so I can’t complain.

Regardless of the scaling, however, the content you play through to arrive at that pinnacle of power was consistently, surprisingly robust. While the differentiation between “gigs” and “side quests” is confusing (word for the wise: gigs are generally shorter and more gameplay-centric missions that are designed by CD Projekt’s “open world” team while the side quests are made by the same team that made the main quests and are generally longer and more narrative-centric), both kinds of side content are lovingly crafted and meaningful. Of the 86 gigs in the game, every single one of them takes place in a unique location with a hand-crafted backstory and (almost always) a wealth of different approaches. These don’t exist separately from the rest of the game’s design philosophy, even if they are made by a separate team, and you’ll often find that decisions made outside of gigs will reverberate into them (and, sometimes, the other way around). I’ve played a great deal of open world games, and never before has the “icon-clearing content” felt this lovingly-crafted and interesting. While the main quests will take you traveling across the map, the side content is what really makes it feel dense and real. You’ll be constantly meeting different kinds of people who are facing different kinds of problems – and, hey, occasionally you’ll be meeting someone who has no problem at all, someone who just wants to make your world a little bit brighter.

It’s surprising, then, that one of the most obvious ways to integrate that kind of content in Cyberpunk is so sparsely-utilized. “Braindances,” sensory playback devices used to replicate experiences as disparate as sex, meditation, and murder, play a critical role in some of the game’s larger quests, but they almost never show up in the side content. You would imagine that the ability to freely transport the player into any kind of situation in a lore-friendly way would’ve been a goldmine for side content, but its use is limited. This isn’t even a complaint, really, I’m just genuinely surprised – I wouldn’t be surprised if they used them more heavily in 2077’s expansions or sequels, because they feel like an untapped goldmine.

Another thing that the game surprisingly lacks is the inclusion of more granular subtitle options. While the game does let you choose the important stuff – whether or not you want CD Projekt’s trademark over-the-head subtitles for random NPCs, what language you want the subtitles to be in, what language you want the audio to be in – it doesn’t include something that I’ve grown to consider a standard: the ability to turn on subtitles for foreign languages only. As the kind of player who avoids subtitles when possible, I went through most of Cyberpunk with them off. Unfortunately, a tremendous number of important cutscenes in the game take place in languages other than English, and I didn’t know that I was supposed to understand what these characters were saying until I was embarrassingly far into one of the prologue’s most important scenes.

NOTE: I was pleasantly surprised to discover after replaying the ending of the game earlier today that they've fixed this issue in a patch. Nice!

I can only complain about the game’s language support so much, because there’s something important that lies between the player and the story they’re there to experience: a fucking incredible English localization. Ironically, it’s so good that I can’t help but imagine that most players won’t even think about it. It’s easy to notice and talk about an excellent localization when it’s from something like a JRPG, something with a clearly different style from what you’d expect from a work made in English, but never once in my entire playthrough did I even briefly consider the idea that it was natively written in anything other than English. I knew that CD Projekt was a Polish studio, but I just assumed that they wrote in English and localized it backwards. The language is constantly bright and surprising, the jokes land, the characters have memorable quirks, everything feels natural, and the voice acting is legitimately some of the best that I’ve ever heard in a video game. Both versions of the main character’s voice were damn-near instantly iconic for me, landing up there with Commander Shepard in the upper echelon of protagonist VO. I can’t praise it enough.

That said, even if the localization was incredible, it’d be hard to appreciate if the meat of the story wasn’t up-to-snuff. I was ecstatic to discover, then, that Cyberpunk 2077 has an incredible story. Every great story starts with a great cast of characters, and Cyberpunk hit it out of the park with that. The core cast of side characters are some of my favorite characters in years. Judy, Panam, River, and Kerry are all memorable, full, charming people. Kerry Eurodyne in particular is responsible for my favorite scene in a game since the finale of Final Fantasy XV. The quest “Boat Drinks,” the finale of Kerry’s quest line, is quietly emotional and intensely beautiful. He, and the other characters like him, are more than the setting they’re in, and the way that the game slowly chews away at the harsh and bitter exterior that the world has given them as it reaches to their emotional, empathetic core consistently astounds. Night City is a city full of noise, violence, destruction, and decay, but you don’t have to participate in it. You don’t have to make it worse. You can be different, and you can be better. You don’t get there alone, you can’t get there alone, and Cyberpunk is a game that revels in how beautiful the world can be if we are willing to find the light and excitement in the people around us.

Of course, Cyberpunk is a video game, it’s an RPG, and the story is more than a linear progression of memorable moments. Something that struck me while making my way through Cyberpunk’s story was how expertly and tastefully it implemented choice. I’m used to games that give you flashing notifications and blaring alarms whenever you're able to make a decision that matters, so I was initially confused by how Cyberpunk didn’t seem reactive to the things I said and did. The game would give me a few options in conversations, I’d select one of them, and then the story would progress naturally. However, as I continued, I began to notice small things. One character would remember me here, a specific thing I said twenty hours before would be brought up by someone there, an action that I didn’t even know I had the choice to not take was rewarded. The game slowly but surely established a credibility to its choices, a weight to your words, this sense that everything that you were saying, even beyond the tense setpiece moments that you’d expect to matter, would matter. It was only after going online after completing the game that I realized just how different my playthrough could’ve been. While nothing ever reached the level of the kind of divergent choices that The Witcher 2 allowed, there were still large chunks of the game that are entirely missable. Three of the game’s endings can only be unlocked through the completion of (and, in one case, specific actions in) specific quests, and multiple memorable quests were similarly locked behind considerate play. This isn’t really a game that will stop you from doing one thing because you chose to do something else, most of the choice-recognition is simply unlocking new options for the player to take, but it always feels natural and never feels like a game providing you an arbitrary fork in the road just for the sake of making it feel artificially replayable. CD Projekt has already said that they made the choices too subtle in Cyberpunk, but I deeply appreciate the game as it is now – more games should make choices feel more real.

It helps that the dialogue system backing up some of those choices is dynamic and the cutscene direction backing those scenes up is consistently thrilling. The decision to lock you in first-person for the entire game was an inspired one, and it resulted in a bevy of memorable scenes made possible by those interlocking systems. There are the obvious ones – being locked in a smoky car with a skeptical fixer, getting held at gunpoint by a mechanical gangster with his red eyes inches away from your own and a pistol’s barrel just barely visible as it presses against your forehead, having to choose between firing your weapon and talking down someone with a hostage when in a tense, escalating situation. There are also a million smaller ones, situations where the scale of the world becomes part of the magic. The first time that I sat down in a diner and talked with someone I had to meet or the first time that I rode along through the bustling downtown of Night City as a politician sized me up will stick with me because the perspective of the camera and the pacing of the real-time dialogue interface combine to make almost everything more powerful. There’s so much effort put into it – so many custom animations, so many small touches that you’d only see if you were staring intensely at every frame. All of that effort paid off, and the controversial decision to strip third-person out of the game was ultimately proven to be one of the smartest decisions that CD Projekt has ever made.

Another decision that helped power an exciting, engaging story was how the game freely manipulates the time and weather during key story moments. It’s a small touch, it’s one that you won’t notice unless you’re looking for it, but every once in a while you’ll walk into a place during a crystal-clear day and come out five minutes later to discover that it’s a cold, windy, rainy night and you have a city to burn. Along with the first-person limitation, this initially feels like something that could only harm immersion, but when it’s backed up by a story that motivating and scenes that thrilling you’d be hard-pressed to notice it outside of the flashes of telling yourself that this scene or that scene is the best that you’ve played in a long time. This also helps avoid a problem that games like the Grand Theft Auto series consistently face – instead of letting scenes happen at any time, compromising direction, or doing something like a timelapse, sacrificing immersion, Cyberpunk manages to always keep you in the action while also presenting the action in its most beautiful and appropriate form. There are moments where it truly feels like it’s meshing the kind of scene direction that’d be at home in a Naughty Dog game, the gameplay of Deus Ex, and the storytelling of the WRPG greats, and in those moments there is nothing else on the market that feels quite like it.

I sure have talked a lot about this game’s story, considering the fact that I have barely brought up its central hook. The early twist (unfortunately spoiled by the game’s marketing), the placement of a rockstar-turned-terrorist-turned-AI-construct firmly in your brain after a heist goes wrong and your best friend dies, helps establish a tone that the rest of the game commits to. Johnny Silverhand starts as an annoying, self-centered asshole with no real appreciation for how dire your situation is, but by the end of the game he had more than won me over. Reeves’s performance was really stellar, and the relationship between him and V is incredibly well-written. More than that, his introduction helps spur on a shift in the way that you engage with the world. The first act is full of hope, aspiration, the belief that you can get to the top if you hustle hard enough and believe. After you hold your dying friend in your arms and are forced to look your own death in the eyes, though, things begin to turn. Maybe the world is fucked up, maybe it’s fucked up beyond belief. But there Johnny is, telling you to fight. Why? Every time you fight, things get worse.

But the game continues to ruminate on this, it continues to put you in situations where fighting not only fails to fix the problem, but it makes it worse. Despite that, it’s positive. For me, at least, Cyberpunk’s worldview slowly came into alignment, and it’s one that I can’t help but love. Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about how important the fight is, how important believing in something is, even if you’re facing impossible odds, even if there’s no happy ending. It’s a story that posits that giving up is the worst ending of all, that your only responsibility is to what’s right and to the ideals that you and the people you love want to live up to. The game uses every story it can tell, every character it can introduce you to, and every encounter it can spin into a narrative to drive that home. And, when the ending comes, it was phenomenal. All of the endings were powerful, effective, and meaningful to me, but I’m more than happy that I went with what I did.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent video game. It’s not flawless, but no game is, and at its core it's one of the most fun, beautiful, narratively engaging, and heart-filled games that I’ve ever played. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough, and I sincerely hope that everyone who has skipped out on it because of what they’ve heard is able to give it a shot someday. Maybe they’ll love it as much as I do. Wouldn’t that be something?

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themarissaharrison · 4 years

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So Much Work To Do | Discord

DISCORD THREAD #004

Who?: Marissa Harrison, Nicola Slone @nicolaeisms , Cleo Lopez @cmlopezofficial When?: Shortly after Nicola & Alex’s thread where Alex tells Nic her Father is in New York. Where?: Blue Bar -> Cleo’s Penthouse Mentions: Cordelia Lopez (NPC), Jackson Kingsley (NPC), @thealexkingsley

Triggers: violence reference

MAJOR PLOT DEVELOPMENT?: Yes. Marissa, Nicola, and Cleo talk about how they will protect themselves amid this news.

MARISSA

"Something has come up at home, I'm leaving early today. Can you please reschedule tomorrow's scholarship interview for next week?" Marissa spoke to her PA as she tidied away her desk in the gallery. As quickly as she could, she ran through her schedule with the PA, rebooking anything that she couldn't do from home for the next few days. If what Nicola said in the group chat was as serious as it sounded, she knew that she would need the time to be with the blonde. Out of all of them, Marissa was the least busy, the gallery being more of a hobby than a means to make her income. "I'll let you know in the morning when I'll next be in, push all important E-mails to my personal? ... Thank you. You have a nice weekend.". With that, Marissa left, keeping an eye on the group chat as she rode the elevator down to the underground parking lot beneath her building, got into her car and headed straight for Blue. Her head was spinning with what Nicola had said, he was in New York? What did that mean? Why? How? She knew she needed to keep those questions at bay for now though, she needed to pick her up, keep her calm, drive her home... When Cleo was home, then they could have those conversations, together. That was how they had promised to deal with things going forward from Montauk; together. Riss parked up right outside, and walked into the bar, straight up to Nic's office, letting herself in and walking straight over to her, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay, baby... I'm here... I got you..."

NICOLA

the day she’s been trying to bury deep in her thoughts has suddenly arrived, smacking her on the face. nicola is getting lightheaded with the series of thoughts running through her mind. she’s past halfway done with her bottle of rum, and it’s been almost an hour since alex left. from the crystal clear flashbacks she’s had of the things she’s went through with jackson, the suffering she’s been through with his crew when they dealt with her, to her escape, the fights, being able to survive on her own. his laugh starting to ring in her head all over again, now combined with the imagination of lauren dying and him standing over her body, laughing his heart out. she kept spacing out as she replied to the messages in the groupchat she’s shared with marissa and cleo. she knew that if this was before, she wouldn’t tell them a thing and will keep this on her own. but this is now, and she promised to the both of them that she’s not keeping anything from them anymore. that she’s not going to deal with this on her own. she was deep into her thoughts, running her finger along the rim of her glass when the gallery owner arrived, immediately relaxing as she was pulled into a hug. “hey….,” she croaks out, shutting her eyes while marissa holds her close for a hug. she couldn’t keep this to herself anymore. “i’m scared, riss….i’m so fucking scared.” she hides her face on her neck. “he knows…he knows that i’m here. and he….i’m scared that he might….he might be behind those bars, but those doesn’t stop him from planning whatever he wants to do.”

MARISSA

Marissa couldn't help but feel this panic, this weird fear inside her that she had no idea she even had. She had never met this man, she had never been involved in anything like this in her life. Sure, she had met her fair share of evil people, most CEOs fell into that psychopath group, but never anything violent... Never anything like what Nicola had been through. Even Cleo had more of an understanding about all of this than she did, the Cove's owner had been by Nic's side through her worst nights... Marissa had been doing a fucking reality TV show. If she had known... If she had known that that was where Nicola had gone... She sighed heavily as her arms were finally around the other. Every evening when they came back together after work, this embrace relaxed her more than any alcohol ever could. But, right now, it took up everything inside her... She could feel Nicola shaking, she could feel her fear and it broke her heart. "Hey..." She breathed back, a hand coming to the back of Nic's head, holding her closely as she placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I know...." Marissa whispered soothingly, her other arm wrapped tightly around her waist. "It's going to be okay, Nic... It's going to be okay... I don't know what we're going to do, or what this even really means... But it's going to be okay... I got you... I love you..." Marissa closed her eyes to stop any tears from falling because fuck her heart hurt so much right now. "Let's go home..."

NICOLA

nicola clings on to marissa for her dear life, the negative thoughts have been subsided the moment she had her close, though....she couldn't help but imagine what he might look like now. she still remembers standing over his dying body before walking away. from how alex have told her about him.... she takes in the brunette's scent, one of the things that pretty much sends her to a calmer state. she's not alone in this now, she's got marissa and cleo to talk about this with. but god, somehow that terrifies her too, she doesn't want them, especially cordelia, to get hurt because of her. this is why she didn't want to be attached to anyone before. but these two....she cannot ever distance herself from them. she tried, but somehow not just fate, but the people they love have done their ways to bring them together, to have her second chance with marissa. nicola knew that moving away from them isn't the answer. she stares up into those hazel eyes as her breathing has calmed down, leaning up to plant a soft kiss on her lips. ".....i love you....," she exhales deeply, burrowing her face on her neck for a moment. the older woman then stands up from her office chair, taking the gallery owner's hand to hold. she's had a little bit too much of her drink, looking for comfort that it'll never have like marissa and cleo has. "yes....please."

MARISSA

Marissa makes sure to hold her tightly, to hold her close and focus on keeping her own breathing steady so that the other could use it as a guide. She has seen Nicola scared before, she has seen the panic in her eyes when she wakes up from nightmares when they were Chicago... But never like this... Never so much that she hurt so deeply by just holding the blonde. She scared too now, but not for the same reasons. Her fear of being left, again... It weighs heavily on her shoulders, but instead of letting it take over, Marissa vows to herself as she holds Nicola that she will do everything in her power to keep hold of her. It wasn't just by chance that their paths had crossed again when they did... The ones they both loved, the ones they had lost... They had done this, and she needed them to know it wasn't for nothing... She wanted Lauren to know she was going to take care of Nicola, no matter what. Riss kisses her back softly, bringing both her hands to her cheeks and wiping away and tracks of tears with her thumbs before letting her bury her face in her neck for a moment. Marissa can tell she's had a lot to drink, not just from the almost empty bottle on her desk, but from how loose she felt in her arms. "C'mon, baby... Let's go..." She said quietly, taking her hand and squeezing it a little before grabbing her back from beside the door and then leading her down through the bar and out onto the street, nodding at the security detail who knew to follow behind them. Marissa opened the door and helped Nic into the car before walking around and getting into the drivers side with a small sigh as she turned on the engine, placing her hand first on Nic's thigh for a moment before pulling away and driving back towards Cleo's house. It wasn't a long drive at all, not much over fifteen minutes, and Marissa kept a hand on Nic's the whole way until she pulled into the parking lot of Cleo's block. "We're gonna get through this, Nicola... All of us, together, okay?"

NICOLA

nicola holds on to marissa while she helps her stand up, intertwining their fingers and grabbing her gym bag as they headed out of her office. she wasn’t the calm and collected nicola sloane as she usually is the moment they walked through the bar and way out of the doors. though she still tried to be, standing close to the brunette. she kept on spacing out in the car on their drive back home, only to be snapped out of it a couple of times by the bumps on the road that marissa’s car was driving on. she squeezes her hand once on a while, staring off the distance and somehow….starting to formulate a plan in her head on how to protect the people she loves the most. there are voices in her head at are screaming at her to just leave, leave like she’s done before, to get out of there or it would be her fault if they all get hurt. yet a louder part of her is shouting back that she should stay, because it wouldn’t do any better for cleo, cordelia and marissa if she leaves. nicola wants to stay, she needs to stay. she’s not leaving this time; she’s not going to face this alone. it takes her a few moments to realize that they’re already at the cove owner’s place, staring back at the younger woman when she spoke. “okay…,” she mutters in reply, looking down at their hands before glancing back up at those hazel eyes. “i’m not going anywhere with you three.”

MARISSA

She made the decision not to turn on the radio, or any music during the car ride home. She figured there was enough noise happening in Nicola's head and she didn't want to add to it, all she wanted was for Nic to know she wasn't alone. She didn't have to do this alone. Her own thoughts were flying around as she was driving, eyes focused on the road. Riss had to keep telling herself to keep it together, that she wasn't going to leave, that if she was she would have been gone already. She wouldn't have text... That's how she disappeared last time, wasn't it? Without a trace... If Nicola wanted to go, she would have done... Pulling into the parking space, Marissa closed her eyes a second and took in a deep breath before looking across to Nicola. God, the expression of her face, the fear in her eyes... Keep it together."We're not going anywhere..." She said gently as she tucked some hair behind her ear and kissed her gently. "Come on baby..." Riss sighed as she got out of the car, coming around and taking Nic's hand as she led them to the private elevator that went straight up the Cleo's penthouse. When they were inside, the gallery owner held Nicola closely, hand running up and down her back. She was never any good with her words, Cleo was far better at talking than Marissa was... But, she knew how to calm Nic, she knew how to make her feel less alone... How to feel loved... When the doors pinged open, Riss noticed Cleo's bag on the side and her coat hanging up. "Cleo?" She called out quietly, not wanting to wake Dela if she was down for her afternoon nap. Riss walked Nic through to the living room and to the couch. "Sit down baby... Let me get you some water..." Marissa kissed the top of her head before glancing up as the Cove owner came into the room. "Hey, baby..." She offered as much a sad smile as she could.

CLEO

For the first time ever, she regretted coming up with the plan for the wildlife sanctuary. Today had been full of meetings: concerning which animals from which zoos and sanctuaries and rehab centers were suppose to eventually move to the new one, concerning construction and the progress there, meetings with biologists and zoologists and vets; it was a busy day and her phone was off, having told her PA to only alert her for anything serious involving her three girls. Turns out, that wasn't the case. It wasn't until she finally had a break (six meetings down, five more to go) when she finally got to check her phone. And thank the gods she was already sitting down, otherwise she might have passed out. Jackson was back... more or less. He was in New York- in prison, still, but in New York. So close to Nicola... She canceled the rest of her meetings and had them be rescheduled in a few days. She'd been about to head to Blue when she got a call from a parent of a friend of Cordelia's (she'd been staying over the night before) that she was sick, causing her to have to make a decision before making a detour to instead pick up her daughter and bring her home. Gods, today was just so fucking peachy, isn't it? After getting Dela back home and situated in bed, finally asleep with some necessities, she'd been about to head out to grab her things to get ready to go to Blue when she head Riss's voice. She sighed softly, heading out to the living room to them. She was still in her typical pantsuit and gods, her feet were killing her. But seeing her women... The younger blonde smiled softly. "I'm so sorry- I had my meetings and Dela's... shit, I'll explain later." She felt so guilty... She should have been there sooner. She softly kissed Marissa's cheek before taking a seat next to Nicola's, carefully taking her hand before softly kissing her cheek. "Hey, my darling..."

NICOLA

once nicola’s back hit the cushion, she shuts her eyes close as she starts to drown in her own thoughts again. she could feel the whole room softly moving in circles, at the same time, she’s fighting these repetitive flashbacks off her mind. i am safe. i am safe. i’m in a safe place, she says to herself over and over, the voices she’s hearing are a blur. she knew those belonged to marissa and cleo, but she couldn’t bring herself to responding. she was just too exhausted; she could feel her mind close to being worn out just because of what happen today. jackson kingsley is in new york, at rikers island, in jail, but still. the laugh in her nightmares seemed to play again, and she had to hold herself together, marissa’s seen enough today. she’s seen a drunk, terrified nicola sloane already, she’s got to help herself. she lets out a low hum as she felt the restaurant owner sit beside her, taking her hand to hold. she squeezed it gently before finally opening her eyes and glancing to the woman by her side. “hey….,” she croaks up, managing to put up a small smile at the other. “where’s dela? how is she? what….what happened to her?”July 12, 2020

MARISSA

Marissa didn't realise how relieved she was going to be until she actually saw Cleo. The fact that she knew the other woman had much more experience in... Whatever it was this was... Marissa was never a great comforter, but by God, Cleo was. "It's okay..." Riss muttered gently as she kissed Cleo gently then moved away, taking off and hanging up her coat. "Is Dela okay?" She asked, furrowing her brow with concern as she picked up both her back and Nicola's gym bag and crossing through the room, going out of it for a few seconds to put the bags in the bedroom before coming back and moving straight through into the kitchen and pouring out a few glasses of water, watching through into the living room as the other two women spoke to each other. Her eyes clocked a bottle of wine on the side as she had to take a deep breath and clench her teeth together to stop herself from grabbing it. Instead, she ripped herself away from the sink and came back into the room, handing Nic the glass of water. "Here... Drink this..." She said softly, perching on the table opposite the two women.

CLEO

Cleo bit down on her lip. On one hand, they were suppose to focus on Nicola. But on the other hand, she couldn't possibly keep this from them. She was their daughter, too. It was only fair. "She's... She's resting in bed. I picked up due to her feeling sick- but she should be okay soon. I promise. She's asleep right now and will be okay, my loves." Cleo wrapped her arm around Nic's shoulders, softly kissing her cheek. Once the brunette joined them, she was quick to reach out for her hand. Her thumb softly caressing her skin. For a moment, she wasn't sure what to say. After all, what do you say to learning that the bastard who ruined one of your loves's life is more or less in the same city as them now? She took a deep breath. "I... I know you're scared, my darling. And gods, you have every reason to be. But I promise you: things are going to be okay. You're going to be okay, we're going to be okay. It's okay to be scared. But I can assure you that everything's going to be okay. He's not going to do anything. We won't allow it- you won't allow it. It's okay, baby..."

NICOLA

for a second, nicola was distracted from her thoughts by her worry for cordelia, if something has happened to her. she wanted to get up from the couch and immediately check on her, but she knew she was in no condition to see her right now, especially the fact that she isn’t just drunk, but also spaced out because of the very thing that alex has told her today. she doesn’t want to be weak for the three, she wanted to make sure she’s able to protect them well. she takes the glass of water from marissa and takes few short sips, before putting it down on the coffee table. they kept of reassuring her that it’s going to be okay, that they’re going to be safe. even though he’s behind bars, the bar owner doesn’t want to settle on just that. “i want us to improve our security detail. when you three aren’t with me, i want—i need at least one bodyguard with you three.” in a snap, she devised a plan in her head, as if she hasn’t had a lot to drink at least an hour ago. “i need you three to be safe at all times.”

MARISSA

Marissa runs her hands down her face as she tries to take all of this in without having her mind run into overdrive mode. She wants to know everything, all the details now, but at the same time she could see how broken down and scared Nicola was. She didn’t want to put any pressure on her shoulders. Marissa knew though, she knew she needed to take care of them all. She needed to make sure none of them got hurt. She punches the bridge of her nose as she takes a deep breath in, nodding when Cleo said Dela was feeling under the weather. She made a mental note to have someone bring some soup to the apartment from Delas favourite soup kitchen. But, other than that she was going over those words. She had to keep them safe. Marissa was so fucking glad Cleo was there, her words soothing her as well as Nic. “We will be... Yes, I was thinking the same thing... Just to be on the safe side. And, I want around the clock surveillance too. Updated cameras outside all our places...” Marissa pushes herself up to her feet, pacing with one hand on her hip and the other in her hair. “It should be enough... Especially since he is still behind bars...”

CLEO

"An update with security is good, I agree." Cleo nodded. It was doable. The younger blonde had her own security team but she knew that neither Nicola nor Marissa would rest easy over this. She made a mental note to hire more guys and to have three guys with Cordelia when she wasn't there. "And the clock surveillance is good, too. I've been meaning to update mine here." Cleo softly kissed the bar owner's temple before nuzzling her face against her. "It's going to be okay... We're going to be an okay. With the updates, we should be alright, my darling. The four of us are going to be safe and protected." It was hard to promise something like that. And she was a woman who took her promises very seriously. So this being an obstacle for them, and a very unpredictable one as well... It was all so difficult to say. But by the gods, she wanted to try. She wanted to try to keep her family safe. Glancing up at Marissa, she held her hand out. "Please... Please sit with us, my sweetheart? Please?"

NICOLA

having marissa and cleo to help her think of how they would update their security really has helped her, nicola couldn’t fully concentrate of what to do and how to deal with the fact that jackson kingsley is close to where she is. even though there’s a small part of her that wanted to run away and deal things on her own, fly off somewhere the danger is with her. but she made a promise to marissa, cleo and cordelia, that she isn’t going to leave them anymore. plus, lauren wouldn’t want her to be alone, especially now. “i….i just need you two here, and i need to check up on dela later—does she need anything?”

MARISSA

Marissa could feel it happening, the overdrive setting in. It was how she had always dealt with panic and stress, work through it. There was so much to do, so many things that needed to change, and her mind was going haywire with all the things that could go wrong if she didn’t get it right. They should all be on the same system, able to get access remotely. Tracking. Facial recognition. Key codes. Locks. Personnel checks. Fuck, what about the businesses? All of this was spinning around, if Nicola wanted them to keep safe then this was the least Marissa could do. After seeing the way Nic reacted when Marissa didn’t take the security seriously, when she slipped off in Manhattan with Aaron... She wasn’t going to do that again. She couldn’t. Marissa nodded along as she paced to Cleo agreeing, but when she asked her to come and sit down she shook her head. How could she sit down right now? “I’ll stay here,” she replied, glancing back to them. “But, I’ll be in the home office. I’ll have someone bring her some soup from the kitchen on 4th Ave. I have so much work to do...” Marissa said, the last bit coming out as slightly louder than a whisper before she took off into the office, closing the door behind her.

#discord #c; nic #c; cleo #p; so much work to do #d; so much work to do

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wheremytwinwatches · 4 years

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[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 23

Last time: Ling debated leadership philosophies with Bradley, we got a flashback to Scar’s bro, and Winry was Good. Onwards!

Episode 23 - “Girl on the Battlefield” Run for it, Ling! Looking a little worse for wear, Ling’s booking it through the streets as some very confused civilians look on, and Bradley gripes that “that reckless fool” is beginning to annoy him. Uh, I assume that when you tell Gluttony to follow his scent that you aren’t going to travel together? Even the most basic NPC might be curious about seeing their Fuhrer run through the streets with a Goth. In the alley Ed’s still comforting Winry as some cops clean up the rubble, he hands off the pistol to one of them and asks for Winry (still wearing his coat, daw) to be taken somewhere safe, he’s gonna go help Al out with Scar and NOPE NOPE NOPE [Ed]: “I’m sorry… When this is over, I’ll explain everything.” NOPE NOPE NOPE Boy you just guaranteed something bad is gonna happen to one of you two, do you even realize you’re in an anime? What, are you gonna ask for a picture of her “for good luck”? For Leto’s sake, Winry’s lingering grasp on Ed’s arm as he walks away… you turn around right now, buster! Don’t you DARE let things end on this note! [Winry]: “Why… why is waiting the only thing I can do?” Ok, first of all you are FAR from the mere damsel in distress, Winry. Second of all, as much as it would cheapen the whole “Winry is the creator of the Blonde Trio” thing from last episode, I can’t help but think it would be SO COOL for Winry to use this incident as a drive to learn Alchemy, or build an Iron Woman suit to help out in battle/rescue. Roy and Riza are still fiddling with the radio as reports of Winry going to Central Command come through, Riza’s off to support them in the field. Roy takes a moment to say they’ll meet up at an abandoned house outside of town and give her the address- ha, yeah no. This is Colonel Mustang we’re talking about, as if it could be that simple. Calling it now, despite Riza insisting he stay out of the field, the “address” Roy just gave her is secret orders to do something or other, and of course she won’t read them until after everything’s over. Yeesh, Ling’s still running, with Gluttony keeping close tabs on him. Aaand either he or Lan Fan are bleeding a fair amount. Bradley’s keeping up with the red trail, at the sound of an explosion just gripes about “Scar, again” and tells Gluttony to go deal with it. Ok, so it’s Lan Fan’s who’s bleeding out, she’s trying to get Ling to drop her, arguing that as much as he holds to “A king needs his people” that they’d be just as lost without him. Their clan versus one injured bodyguard? To Lan Fan there’s no choice, for the greater good someone must be left beNONONONO. Young lady you put that shuriken down this instant! Ling, stop her!

Oh for Leto’s sake, now we’ve cut away from that awfulness to Scar vs Al, who is an absolute BEAST when it comes to combat now. Earthbending giant stone hands, all Scar can do is keep jumping back and pity Al for the harm Alchemy has caused him. But Al rejects his pity, argues that it was through Alchemy that Ed saved his life, and to reject his Alchemy-supported form (but isn’t rejecting it kinda the whole point of the show? Eh, whatever) would be to reject what saved his life and the efforts of Ed. Scar’s response is Sudden Steam Cloud and an attempted sneak attack, but Ed enters the fray. Alright, time to get this battle going in earnest! [Gluttony]: “Oooh! I found you!” Ok, still of two minds about Scar and what should happen to him, but damn me if this isn’t a perfect Enemy Mine scenario. Oh hey, is this the first time that the Elric Brothers have seen Gluttony? While they’re reacting to seeing yet another Goth, Scar lays the smackdown. Alright, let’s- Cut back to the Xing alleyway? Bradley still walking along the blood trail? But what about Lan Fan? Nevermind, back to the train depot where Scar’s Hand O’ Doom did some harm to Gluttony, but then Headbutt. And a shoulder charge right into a shipping crate, good Leto. Then back to Bradley with his now [hurried footsteps] Then Gluttony getting double-kicked by the Elric Brothers to Scar’s shock (Enemy Mine, Enemy Mine, Enemy Mine…) Then Bradley turning the corner and drawing his sword What Lan Fan’s blood-covered hand Bradley shocked What No Ling, why? Why didn’t you stop her? Wait what ok what the Leto is going on now? Shirtless!Ling has just jumped out of a storm drain and holy crap he’s all pirate badass now with scimitar in his teeth and a grenade shoved down Gluttony’s gullet. But, Lan Fan… Ok, have to set that aside for now, the grenade was brutally effective against Gluttony… for just a few seconds, his upper body’s already reforming. Ling shouts for some strong cable from the Brothers, not sure if tying him up is going to be all that effective. Actually, it’s very effective; Gluttony’s regeneration is trying to counteract the pressure of the cables, meaning unless he can break the metal (which is still a possibility) then Ling’s gone and caught himself! But he still had to leave- Oh. OH. Oh my Leto that is disturbing and genius at the same time. Also, that poor dog! Seriously, dogs have had a real hard time in this show, haven’t they? [Bradley]: “That was well played, girl.” Ok, so… Lan Fan is a badass. But maybe you should get that stump looked at? Please? Up top Scar’s shocked at the revelation of a Homunculus- right, sorry buddy, but you’re still a murderer, so Riza’s gonna kneecap you while driving up in the getaway vehicle. Gotta say Riza, the white coat, glasses, and hair down look is good on you! Ah right, their Conspiracy means they have to pretend not to know it’s Riza as the MPs run up, they need to trust Roy on letting this Mysterious Stranger get away with Ling and the captured Gluttony. In the meantime… Alright Scar, just stand down and what the oh my Leto NOT NOW! I wanted you to come back to the show, little girl, but this really isn’t the time! Ok ok, we can still salvage this, she’s come all this way to see Ed so… oh, no. She’s looking for a short Alchemist in a red coat! Winry! Winry, get over here! Well ok, she’s protecting her “savior’s servant” now, deems it time to retreat so she good Leto blows up two train cars in a matter of seconds with Alchemy. Note to self: do not make May mad. Damnit damnit damnit, things were going so well but now the music’s all oppressive, Scar’s gotten away again. Meanwhile Riza’s heading to the safehouse when Ling says they need to go back for Lan Fan, Riza says ok as long as it’s quick AAAAARGH welp we’re boned, Bradley saw them and through Riza’s disguise. So much for the Conspiracy. Bradley: “That woman driving… I’m sure she’s Mustang’s. I’m tired of playing games with that upstart.” AAAARGH oh my gosh how are we only halfway through the episode AAAAARGH daw that’s a cute picture of Lan Fan eating AAAAARGH oh wait she’s armless now so she can’t even do that AAAARGH oooh is she gonna get an automail arm? Away from the depot May is patching up Scar’s leg as he broods about Winry, how no matter what he does hatred keeps spreading. The MPs are searching, so they start sneaking away… but where’s Shao May? Pffft! Looks like Al picked her up from the battle, didn’t want to leave the poor thing in danger. Said poor little panda bear tries biting back, but Soul Armor, so no. You’ve got a new master now! The Elric Brothers have been brought to Central by the MPs, where Winry’s waiting… along with Bradley. Whuh oh. [Bradley]: “That’s a nice, honest friend you’ve got there. Make sure you both take good care of her.”

Wow. Subtle. Aaaand now it’s time to tell Winry everything. Yay. Aw, Winry. It’s not selfish to want your parents to have come back. And don’t beat yourself up over waiting. Aw! Ok, that is adorable, getting a call from Rush Valley about how everyone misses her (work). But horrid flashbacks to needy retail customers aside, this is just what the doctor ordered. [Winry]: “I’m sorry… I’ll be back home soon.” (Somewhere Pinako looks up sharply and snarls “Excuse me?!”) “Just hold on… I won’t be much longer. I’ll help everyone… Thank you all.” Sorry Ed, but you’ve gotta let your mechanic get back to work. And hey, her heading back to Rush Valley means being away from Bradley’s grasp! We’re giving goodbyes at the train station, promises to take care of their automail… come on boy, spit it out! Aw, don’t chicken out on me now Ed, you turn around and- [Ed]: “The next time I make you cry, I hope they’ll be tears of joy! And Al and I will be back in our normal bodies, and I’ll make you cry out of sheer happiness! That’s a promise!” Heh! So while Winry does have to see the backs of two people she loves again (Al bumping Ed with his elbow and Shorty yapping at him), it’s on a much better note. Maybe…? [Winry]: “All this time, have I been… falling for him?” YYYYYYAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSS [So Tephi actually stopped by right when this scene happened, she’s cackling over my shoulder. I’m too giddy about this to complain, moving on.] Hey Roy! You gonna take the Elrics to the safehouse now? Oh hey Doc, what’s your role in the Conspiracy now? Ah right, Lan Fan and her missing arm. Yikes, no anesthesia? I know this isn’t a hospital but dang, Lan Fan I’m so sorry. So is Ed, but Ling shuts him down, saying he was the one who suggested this. Aw dude, please stop beating yourself up. Hey, she’s awake! And got the idea to use her arm as bait from when Ed did it fighting them, hah! Still, hard to be a bodyguard when missing a limb. Perhaps a certain mechanic could help you out? Come on Ling, get up and check on your lady friend! Or chat with Roy, that works for now. Alright, good to see everyone getting along. Now to deal with the Goth Ball you have in the side room- [Roy]: “He and his friends appear to have connections among some of the military’s senior staff.” [Ling]: “Just some, you say? It goes far deeper than that. Your Fuhrer, King Bradley…” *Open Eyes of Seriousness* [Ling]: “I believe it’s possible that he’s a Homunculus too.” Here we go, reveal time! Ling recounts how he saw an Uroboros tattoo under Bradley’s eyepatch, working with Gluttony against him and Lan Fan. But Ling doesn’t get the same “Goth-Sense” from Bradley that comes from Gluttony, and the others argue that Goths can’t reproduce and he has a son. But Doc says that the kid is adopted. No direct blood relation. Roy says regardless of him being monster or human, it just makes it easier to kick him out of the boss’ chair. For now, it’s time to interrogate Gluttony, then get his Stone to heal Havoc/be taken back to Xing/heal the Elric Brothers… aw man, it’s Ruby Madness.

Come on guys, it’s a Philosopher’s Stone! Horrific origins aside, it can work for all of you, just set up a schedule and- Uh oh. Gluttony just overheard “Colonel Mustang”, recognizes the name as the one that killed Lust. And he Bulks out and oh good Leto what’s wrong with your stomach buddy, eyes do not go there. Fellas? You may want to ru GAH what the Leto was that?!

#wmtw #where my twin watches #full metal alchemist #full metal alchemist brotherhood #fmab #fmab 23 #ranubis

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castellankurze · 5 years

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No One Sleep in Garlemald

This is the new top contender for dumbest thing I’ve ever written.

Literally pounded out at 3:30 in the morning on a wave of nyquil.

Canon is for schlubs anyway.

[obvious music cue]

...

Tires screeched on the paved asphalt of the thoroughfare as a sleek black vehicle took a hairpin turn at unreasonably high speed, its back end slewing dangerously as the rear wheels left parallel arcing lines on the surface. With split-second timing, a fireball flew out from the adjoining road and struck the spot where the car's rear bumper had been a moment ago, scattering sparks amidst a blast wave of heat that rocked the vehicle.

A moment later a second vehicle, identical to the first, roared out from the same arterial, driving recklessly through the dissipating fireball in an effort to catch up to the first, changing lanes with a jerk of its steel body and accelerating with a fierce growl to pull alongside. "SHOUKO!" snarled the steel-masked driver of the second car over the thrum of the twin engines. "WHERE ARE WE GOING?"

Shoji snarled a lot more often nowadays, Shouko reflected.

"I DON'T KNOW!" she shouted back as the sound of propellers announced their pursuit regaining lost ground. "I TOLD YOU, THEY HADN'T RELEASED THIS CONTENT BACK WHEN COUNT MCFUCKFACE THREW US BACK IN TIME!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW?!" he roared. A moment later and they were interrupted as gunfire stitched the street around both cars. Aerial machina descended from the rooftop levels, guns blazing. Not for long, though, as from the backseat of Shouko's car Saika clambered up onto the headrest, balancing there precariously as she drew her luminous bow, aimed as if she had all the time in the world, and fired off a glittering arrow that jammed itself into the lead flyer's starboard engine, which detonated and sent the machine into an uncontrollable spin. Shouko whooped as she watched the explosion in her rearview mirror. From the other car, Reika leveled her sniper rifle and fired off a shot that cored through another vehicle's fuselage and must have killed the pilot, because it immediately tumbled out of the sky in a tail-over-head spin.

Even as the stricken machina slammed into the face of the nearest building, the ground pursuit came stomping from around the corner, an entire magitek armor squadron, chasing after the twin cars like an entire flock of armored killer ostriches. The leader opened up its main cannon, and the weapon glowed in readiness for another fireball. Fortunately, that was the moment Miyumi peeked her head over her headrest and though wide-eyed she rose just enough to level her sceptre, firing off a shadowblast that tore into the weapon's housing and blew the thing to bits, taking most of the attached vehicle with it.

The rest came tromping on, though, ceruleum guns chattering continuously as they tracked the frantically fleeing roadsters. Shoji gunned his engine as Miyumi sank back into her seat beside him, damn near cutting Shouko off as he weaved to and fro across the road. Shouko bit down a curse as she shifted frantically and swung around his other side. Four wheels still felt weird but damned if she was gonna let Shoji show her up.

"I really thought this series was supposed to be about swords and sorcery?" Kanako said, sounding dazed from her spot beside Saika in the rear seat.

"Shizuka and Erika have swords and you and Miyumi are sorcerers, what more could you want?" Shouko asked, sounding almost carefree as she gunned the engine and pulled ahead of Shoji once more, grinning as she spied Shizuka seated beside Reika as calmly as if she were riding the bus one normal morning.

Kana looked at Erika, who just shrugged. "I gave up on things making sense three reality jumps ago," she said.

"Relax! We're almost there!" Shouko crowed, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"How do you know? I thought you said you didn't know this place?" Miyumi questioned.

"Yeah," she agreed, lifting a hand to point at the massive structure ahead of them, a triad of towers stabbing into the sky like the world's most immense pitchfork. "But I know that design."

Sure enough, the thoroughfare opened up into a grand square, currently occupied by a phalanx of armored Garlean soldiers. And standing amidst their ranks, safely behind the front line, was the figure she'd hoped she'd see. "Hey, Erika, come slide over here and take the wheel," she said, twisting to clamber out of the seat even as she said it, leaving the tall girl to yelp and hurry to take control of the suddenly-driverless car. Shouko perched on the cushion of the rear seat, grinning up at Saika. "Ready for this?"

"I don't know what the goal is... but I'm always ready!" Saika assured her with a confidant smile.

Shouko winked. Then she jumped from the sidewall of the moving car.

As she fell in the seemingly suicidal leap over the bare asphalt, she closed her hands in midair and a phantom form took shape beneath her, a crimson motorcycle made of gleaming light with its handlebars held firmly in her hands. Saika had jumped only a half-second behind Shouko, and dropped into place just behind her, and Shouko jerked the handlebars to steer away from the car, the vehicle leaving a trail of fire as it shot away and tore through the assembled soldiers, most of whom scattered and dove for cover rather than try to stand up to the sudden and unforeseen attack. Saika scattered arrows in their wake, making the sudden panic worse as Shouko steered a path through them, angling in on the figure she'd spied from afar.

"HEY VARIS!" she yelled out as they closed on the pale-haired man, and she hauled back on the handlebars to pull the motorcycle into a wheelie. "GET FUCKED, YOU FASCIST SHIT!"

The front wheel of the motorcycle slammed into Emperor Varis zos Galvus and ethereal as it was, the vehicle bucked as it punched into the armored man and drove him to the ground.

Flaming carnage in their wake, Shouko quickly steered the bike back towards the cars, bursting from the gathered soldiers once more and pulling alongside her own just in time for Saika to leap back to the car as the motorcycle began to fizzle and fade. Shouko grabbed hold of the car's wheel and scrabbled to get back into the driver's seat as Erika vacated it. "Was that our goal here?" she asked.

"Dunno, but man that felt good. I wanted to do that for two expansions!" Shouko said gleefully, pumping a fist.

"YOU TOOK US THROUGH ALL THIS JUST TO SETTLE A GRUDGE WITH A VIDEOGAME NPC?" Reika screeched from the other car.

"A larger problem," Shizuka interrupted, pointing a finger at the rapidly-dwindling space ahead of them. "We are running out of road."

"Just take it easy," Shouko said, reaching a hand down to the lever between the seats, grinning from ear to ear as she swelled with the power of the words she was about to say. Only Shizuka could ever set someone up like that. "Where we're going, we don't need. roads."

She hauled, thumb pressing down the button, and the front and rear fenders on the car shifted position, wheels rising up into their wells as magitek devices swung into place. Within moments, Shouko's car had lifted high off the road, with Shoji's vehicle following a step behind in her wake, leaving an enraged legion of Garleans behind them as their black hulls disappeared into the night.

#FFXIV #Completely normal RPG #spite is the spice of life #'aaooowwwaggh car can't be canon'#I'm gonna smash my grill into Varis' face and you can't stop me #the nyquil walrus made me do it #Initial D #music #Fast and the Furious: Aldenard Drift #I REGRET NOTHING

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waringawaw153-blog · 4 years

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What's new in Farm Expert 2017 PC

As a teenager, made anyone yet dream of spreading up to become a farmer, wasting the days charging close to your back lawn next to your own toy tractor with attempting to see sheep in the regional field to bring home with you? No, just me? Anyway never mind, even if this took place your childhood ambition, Farm Expert 17 provides the chance to accept also ride the very own farm! The sport is nicely varied, with you having to fully prepare fields before crops can be increased, to making sure you push livestock otherwise they move too childhood and die, this game can undoubtedly enhance the organisational skills.

Farm Expert 2017's been hidden, cultivated and brought in by Silden and sold on the local produce market by PlayWay S.A.,FE17 definitely has certain preliminary appeal if you enjoy a good simulation game. The game boasts some very beneficial look as far as the weather is concerned, a match soundtrack when you hop in to your tractor and plenty of to do to keep you tiling away for hours on end.

However, all these parts are let floor before a little unfortunate and persistent bugs, together with some fairly horrendous directions and physics for the cars. And although it is very varied, it goes through from a lack of depth which could give a little underwhelmed. There is and a multiplayer side on the game, while getting this to really act remains more akin to brown secret than computer games.

With no word to talk about let's walk permission because of the nitty-gritty of what you can do from the sport. Because there is quite a bit. Today by I right start, I do first want to come good with cry that it was my own former ever real farming sim game (unless I could count Stardew Valley?) so I just want to move forward and around sorry for any really noob-like comments. Going on…

Setting up is appealing easy, with fill in you're met with a menu asking to build a page which is only a trouble of establishing a call with move on since here. FE17 contains a number of ways you can pick by entering Free Travel and Multiplayer (I'll talk more about the multiplayer in the flash). For me, however, the first go-to status remained the Tutorial. There's somewhat of a language barrier with approximately incorrect time and grammar, but once you get forgotten to the idea all pretty straightforward. This performed, however, consider myself almost five seconds to figure out exactly how to help repeal because I stupidly thought it was a regular WASD setup rather than having to press Z first in order to change government. But once these hiccups, I did find myself enjoying the game. There's something strangely meeting about having to experience the motions of changing up to a piece of equipment, hitching this in place, folding this out and then merrily tootling down toward your own subject designed for a being work.

Once I had learned the basics of actually shifting and farming, I jumped right in work my fully-fledged farm. You get some options to choose from, basically ranging from Easy to Hard. Naturally, as a total amateur, I decided on the Calm option. Thanks to our decision I started off with a great calculation of cash and a significant healthy amount of procedures already in my possession, i really can press on with believe our main field, gathering a few plants and getting to work. I found myself rather enjoying our schedule as a farmer, finally achieving the target of motivation a tractor.

Yet, I gradually started to see several affairs. For beginners, the handling of the instruments is just not up to scratch, specifically on the street that you'd think will be smooth but for some ungodly reason cause your cars to bump along constantly. The game also doesn't seem to element in the included significance of machines you hitch on to your tractor, allowing you to accelerate at a lot the same time as you usually would. After a while, I learned that the physics in the game might produce some very horrendous cock-ups.

And later on, I too learned that the ground really had absolutely no influence on the rate regarding the car, allowing you to charge full speed up high mountains then carry on your own mini-adventure…

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So yes, the real physics on the competition put anything to get desired. But the real gameplay is fairly varied. So if you never want to just push around stand and returning crops all the time, then no worries! You can go into animal husbandry having a number of different options for which animals to keep and ensuring that to hold them fed as well as offering them for meat just before they die of older times. Or you might grow orchards to make your own delicious fruit, having to fertilize and harvest the supply yourself, and even have to lug the envelope time for the truck! But you may do want to bond with clear old-fashioned crop farming, in which case you have to choose the plants depending on the season, carefully cultivate fields properly and then make sure not to go by them over or otherwise they'll be destroyed!

There's also vehicle maintenance with trouble to take into thought, so you have to fill up up your own tractor with petrol to hold it working, make sure that fine with neat (as obviously, it is critical for tractors?) as well as repair or better this currently then once more to make life easier.

Pretty varied, exactly? Right. Unfortunately, this selection does not translate to depth or order. So of course, you can grow your plants, care for creatures and spread fruit orchards. But there's no variety in pricing in the stores, so there's no need to look around for top buying or selling prices as every shop will give the same results. This lack of economy frankly lets down the whole practice. Your being do want food, but not any run or time outside their pens. You never also have to supply them yourself because anything you buy gets automatically assigned to the authors plus the monster somehow get admission on the food themselves. And with orchards, after yard and fertilizing them there's nobody else you really need to do until they're able to be accepted. This lack of depth turns the game in new of your calendar watching experience.

You can hire a workforce to help you out, and watch them go about their drive is vaguely interesting at first, but soon loses the novelty. Other NPCs in the entertainment do not provide any conversation and generally, work to completely look at and give the world a appearance of excitement. Without success, I must say.

There is too supposed to be a multiplayer part for the game, but lord only gets how you can actually meet people. I've trawled many forums with others having related concerns with no resolution forthcoming. Multiplayer is there anything that is created last minute, so perhaps it will be improved in the future?

The first thing I'd say is that this game does not really boast the most amazing graphics, with some of the textures looking pretty difficult and quite a few popping issues going on. But I'd assume the vehicles seemed pretty good overall, and the weather effects were quite well done. There's something oddly fascinating about watching puddles found on the field while this raining.

It also has a little terra-forming effects as well, so when you're preparing your industry some of the machines you use actually form trenches and other changes in the realm, that changes how the vehicle may handle over them, that is quite effective. And starting what I understand from doing a bit of reading, something which doesn't go on here Farming Simulator sport or some other competitors. Character styles are attractive plain and forgettable, but besides the unnecessary NPCs, there's not really enough characters in to take much notice.

I personally recovered the soundtrack really enjoyable. There was something a little entertaining about the music opening up when you shot into your own tractor. The fact that the inlet regarding the engine changes depending about whether the inside or outside the car was quite nice too. But, once you saw the cycling positive impact, Farming Simulator 17 Big Bud DLC Download that leads as a bit annoying. Also, every time you got out of the tractor the character would for some reason think they were start and become the right sound. As well as that a handful of the vehicles which took absolutely no doors still played the door shut sound each time you got off. A complaint for me, but still a tap.

Due to our lack of exposure to previous farming sim games, I found myself enjoying Farm Expert 2017 at first, but the moment I had partaken to all the varied tasks I found myself getting bored very rapidly. With at last many the errors could attest to be relatively frustrating. If this tough happened a somewhat more improved and had a little detail added to it, i would absolutely price it top. The multiplayer certainly feels tacked on next the entire experience only becomes somewhat of a drag eventually.

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melburndhhn181-blog · 4 years

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10 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Grand Theft Auto Herunterladen

GTA 4 Review Game

Rockstar's vivid tale of Niko Bellic, an immigrant with convictions good enough to rocket him through the crumbling foundations of Liberty City's earth of control crime, is immediately out on PC. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games shipped this past April, with this you'll find a few changes and improvements those who waited are guaranteed to enjoy. Despite what's been put in, if you've already enjoyed the unit versions it's cruel to commend picking this up, even though it now includes break for up to 32 players with the multiplayer games plus a sturdy, easy to use replay editor for report and forming clips from your in-game actions.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise rocketed to pile popularity with Grand Theft Auto III's let go with the bottom charges were appointed for a different style of game. Since then we've seen slight modifications and squeezes to the central solution with Vice City and San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV is another move forward. This is a game that strips down a lot of the more zany problems from games past. You won't be performing any remote control helicopter missions or lowrider matching problem here. Rather, the target is with realism, a more mature awareness, and cause GTA into the modern.

Leave from offering with your cousin Roman, a small time operator level to clear exaggeration, you'll move your way upward out of criminal rings before you get what you want. Unlike GTA figures of the preceding, though, Niko isn't trying to establish himself because some sort of badass for the ages, driven to charge the city no matter what. He's searching for anything, and the assignment he undertakes are really the only way for him to discover this. He may perform a number of ruthless bill (that people, by the way, instruct him toward), yet there are moments during the story where you can work the name down the trigger or create a fine while to how things proceed. Despite the kind of senselessly violent tendencies many may see with GTA characters, Niko is the exception in many respects, like she has a signal by which he performs.

The sport infrastructure has been build more convenient, though there's still space to improve. If Niko fails a vision, a message demanding to retry it puts up as soon as you respawn, then when you fail you don't waste your entire arsenal. Getting across the gargantuan metropolis is made easier in hailing cabs that bear you to waypoints upon the record. Stealing a car with make yourself is always an option, what is the more immersive element of actually trip in the cab's backseat the whole time, staring away the displays on the passing lights. For anyone who's short on time or would prefer to forego the casual hazards of effort across a GTA world, the cabs are indeed welcome.

Still, you'll be complete quite a bit of mission restarts, and that usually means repeating large chunks on the obstacles. Many missions break down in the original travel segment, some type of growth event, a struggle, also a escape. Getting from the on-foot shooting sequences, a real frustration with the clunky control ideas of games history, have been achieved much better with the introduction of a case system with, as with many PC versions, mouse and piano aid for wanting and injuring. Coming from behind cover that feasible to blind fire, rapidly place revealed to help unload some shots, or move shelter to help mask, a system that doesn't always do perfectly but is a definite step up to the collection. It's possible to use a gamepad as well, which sells vehicles better than a mouse and piano. You can also switch freely between the control devices. Coping with the two input methods depending whether you're energy or shooting is very difficult, but it's big that Rockstar figure the idea here without forcing you to fiddle with a control input menu toggle. And if you have to take one, this much better to take from a moving car with the mouse and keyboard.

Some of the mission structures can be really extraordinary then drive well in the situation of the narrative's way, but however the franchise's burden and slip nature hasn't disappeared. You may be resolve a mission perfectly until you accidentally tap a steal car, inadvertently shoot a entry crucial on the mission, or misinterpret a new set of path which involve precise moment about a mission's phase change, and this quits people absolutely again off to try again. About can translate that within the challenge, but this a startup that's become a little familiar at this point and continued existence will likely frustrate series veterans.

The strength of narrative with atmosphere along with the amazingly detailed world are definitely likely to build great influences with whoever dives in that edition of Liberty City, but GTA has always been about moments. Remember that point people turned off the stunt jump and landed on the pedestrian after slamming with the light post with the police chopper crashing on the ground from the background, setting away a chain of explosions rocketing through the stalled traffic? With the PC version you'll be able to actually prevent to type of thing using the replay feature. Hitting F2 may save a bit of gameplay roughly 30 seconds slow to the hard get with make it for use with the integrated replay editor. This collection of devices will allow you lower in filters, join together clips, add text, attach music, adjust camera angles and more so you can recreate your favorite scenes however you see fit. Choose a chain of photos of people firing at traffic jams through a invasion chopper? Remember to hit F2 every time you're wearing which circumstance and joining them together must happen no problem, grant anyone the possibility to rescue and taste those quirky, seemingly impossible-to-repeat seconds to show up in GTA's unpredictable world.

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If you believe anything in that station, IGN might acquire a part from the selling. For extra, learn more.

To start the editor mode Niko uses the cell phone, which play as a sort of heart for numerous activities. That extends in to play in the course of vision for looking at letters also gossip with the game's vibrant, well-realized NPC population as well as function as a device built to allow players to live Niko's life like that stayed a real one. NPCs can song to words, for order, with no purpose other than increasing your awareness of the character. You can continue dates, manage a game of runs or group, with handle relationships much like you might outside of Rockstar's world. Many of these diversions turn out to be absolutely tedious after a while, but they're entirely optional so you can just keep them only if you prefer.

Outside of that there's plenty to discover in Liberty City, a stunningly realized virtual translation of New York City caked with all the dust, show, and reduces you'd presume to make certain while strolling behind a actual street. There you can participate in the quest, sure, but also immerse yourself into activities strictly frivolous, from proceeding to Internet shops and click on through fictional junk packages to meeting again in the dimly lit residence and absorbing the surplus of codes with businesses that, happening conventional Rockstar style, wryly torpedo common culture.

The line staple radio is very much intact in GTA IV. When decided against the web and group phones it seems like a bit other of a anachronism, but it still presents the playoffs fantastic soundtrack and a procession of fake talk method with sarcastic advertising. Perhaps with GTA V, the hero can finally cause a good iPod.

PC gamers will get more freedom when it comes to music collection, as Rockstar has involved Independence FM with this version. Since you're bound to get tired of learning on Dragon Brain and Pisswasser eventually, you can weight with songs files to a game book to act while this location is beaten to, go you a better chance to learn something you want must you choose to go on one of the adrenaline fueled cross-city cop chases GTA is famous for.

Then there's the online play, an important addition for the strings with a portion of the game that's been expanded with a better player limit in the MACHINE story with superior search functionality. Read through Niko's cell phone you'll find a wide variety of opportunities for show, by races to deathmatches to a number of team-based games with more specific rule sets. The real sketch from the online portion here is to engage in 32 person chaos across the expanse of the city in open mode, but the structured content's there for players searching for a bit other organized. It would include happened pleasant to visit a little extra cooperative modes instead of those already packaged in the console versions, but the multiplayer remains a strong component of this item to the freedom that provides those who venture online.

Online or away from there's no doubt you'll be impressed with some of GTA IV's visuals. It's not so much the character models, but the sheer diversity of the city's sections, from the glitz of Liberty City's "Times Fair" to the dirt slathered over the industrial areas, Rockstar has given one of the most authentic, believable settings ever perceived with gaming. Yet with the COMPUTER version, you're going to need a particularly effective structure to notice in all the splendor for a good framerate, since flat at our own system (Core 2 Quad 2.40 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 768 MB GeForce 8800 GTX with Vista 32) we stayed giving performance problems even after toning down some of the settings, and some of the effects (the shadows in particular) didn't look so intense as displayed with substantial resolutions.

The good is employed even better. Stellar voice acting throughout an entirely unbelievable total of sharply written dialogue shares and lights GTA IV's thrilling story. As you're driving all along the starting sequence of a mission another time you'll often become cured to a entirely different, cohesive dialogue line between the passengers from the auto and then grasp the time taken toward that Rockstar has worked to impart this planet with mixture and personality. But this also etched in every environment, in the fragments of pedestrians to the background horns, train track screams, and universal mechanical cloud that fills big locations that Rockstar's managed to get so perfectly here, with leads closely to Liberty City's authenticity.

Verdict

If you've so far neglected to record GTA 4's stunning modern metropolis of Liberty City, by all means get this game. The GTA formula has been improved and retooled in this model to become more suitable, more realistic, and finally more adult, although it even gets remained in brambles taken over by games past. As far as settle a virtual time goes, managing the collective system, night time, travel practices and https://gtadownload.org/gta-san-andreas-review/ explosive forays of virtual dynamo Niko Bellic remains a single that'll stay in your thoughts for times to come. The PERSONAL COMPUTER version comes with a few added elements, such as online filters for obtaining matches, the ability to save clips and alter them together, added images with control options, as well as a superior player capacity in some of the multiplayer modes. Though you'll need a high-powered order to very feel the COMPUTER SYSTEM version's enhanced visuals, Liberty City remains a phenomenon to consider.

#Grand Theft Auto #Grand Theft Auto PC Download #GTA Reviews

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iamnotadamnedmonkey · 7 years

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NPCs for Demon/80s teen movie game

Father Jonathon McRiley is head of the Catholic church, a kind and friendly man, who preaches love and tolerance. The Church itself is an ancient stone building, rumored to have been there since before the town began.

Pastor William Lowell is his opposite in the Baptist church, full of fire and brimstone, eager to condemn anyone who doesn’t follow his creed. His church is VERY new, all bright and shining, lots of glass and spires. People say a white robe and hat hang in his closet, fi you know what I mean.

Jannifer Tweed is in charge of the UU church, and general does not give a fuck. Rumor says she engages in nude dancing in the woods when the moon is full. The UU meets at a building that used to be a k-mart back in the day.

Lower School, Middle School, and High School. You guys generally don’t care about the lower two. The High school is run with the iron fist of Hauer Kalin, the new Principal. He’s a real hard ass, by the book, his way or the high way type of guy. His secretary is the well-loved Bill Cove, a sweet old man who has been involved in the school system for many years. A lot of people are upset by how rudely Hauer treats Bill, but Bill waves it off with a laugh. Some kids say the two are lovers, but kids say that about everyone.

Olga Waterhorse is the art teacher, as well as the best known lesbian in town. Kids say she is romantically involved with Jane Quirl, the rather pretty new gym teacher, but no one has caught them doing anything more than talking. Jane does seem to have drawn the attention of all the male teachers as well, with all of the single ones trying to date her. She’s turned them all down, saying she doesn’t date co-workers, which may have led people to claim she’s a lesbian.

The Science teacher David Longhorn has recently returned to work after a bad accident, and seems to be a changed man. He’s adopted a super atheist viewpoint of science, and has had several complaints filed against him by religious parents who dislike his constant dismissal of creationism et al.

People say the choir teacher Max Delhorn is the last of the hardcore hippies. He was at Woodstock, Man, and he’d be more than willing to sit down and tell you all about it. He’s also the best source for weed for kids, as long as you got the money. He’s real old school, and only charges 10 dollars for a dime bag.

Coach Jake Tailor is a god damn demon. He is the only person in the school even harder than the Principal. He’s clearly a sadist, from how hard he drives the team. But the school wins championships, so no one has the balls to report him… or if they do, they are ignored. The gossips say that he is the reason the last principal was fired. Except he wasn’t fired, he just packed up and moved one day, and didn’t tell anyone. So they fired him.

The Rachels are five Seniors, all named Rachel, of course. They are the queen bees of the school, laying down rules for dress, dating, and the like, at least, if you want to be popular. They’ve driven at least five kids to suicide through bullying, that people are aware of.

The Geek Squad- 12 unpopular nerds who have banded together out of love of popular culture. 10 boys, 2 girls, they LARP in the woods, wear capes to school, and basically insist people bully them.

David Whales should have graduated two years ago, but he dropped out instead. He’s still found near the high school, looking for vulnerable teens that he can take advantage of, and pimp out. He has a house on the bad side of town, where you can always go if you’re looking to pay for sex.

Brand Hex, an up and coming technology giant, has moved into town. It only took them three months to raise a ten story building JUST on the other side of the town limit, so they could ignore the building limits. They have a dedicated fleet of self-driving cars they have let out into the town to work as a free taxi service. No one is really sure what business they are in, but they sure have a lot of money.

An archeology team from the state college has come in to excavate a site in the nearby mountains. Apparently, they’ve found an ancient worship site. The researchers are really tight lipped about it.

The local tabloid rag has been publishing photos of a ‘Fossilized Angel’ that they say is in the mountains as well, but are refusing to tell people where they found it. Most people think someone snuck onto the dig and took a picture of weird statue. It sure looks like am elongated skeleton with wings. The paper also claims big foot has been spotted in the woods, and is responsible for recent cattle mutilations.

John D Mills Maximum Security Penitentiary: A prison for only the worst of the worst offenders. No one inside is the type of person who even pretends they were innocent. The new Warden, John Smith, is apparently a political appointee, sent in to clean up some civil rights violations. Or possibly make whole new ones.

It’s a small police force, barely a dozen men, sheriff included. They tend to be very lax. As long as what you’re doing isn’t harming anyone else, you can slip under the radar. The Sheriff Keith Yulidfer has even been known to sit down and share a drink with teenagers caught underage drinking, as long as they’re chill about it.

Mayor Denise Malapo has been Mayor of the town for as long as any one can remember. No one bothers to run against her any more.

The Old Man of the Mountain: A statue in the middle of town, of an old man seeming to crawl out of a black of stone, have of his body still interred. It’s supposed to be modeled on the local guardian spirit, and, if you really need help, sometimes offers advice.

The Hobbit Hole is the local Nerd store. It’s owned by Creepy Carl, a nerd of extreme obnoxiousness. If his general misogyny wasn’t bad enough, he has this habit of making little wire dolls of people who come in the store.

‘Things Acquired’ was burnt down three months ago, but no one has bothered to clean up the burnt out wreckage. It was only open a week before the ‘mysterious fire.’ It had set itself up as a shop for ‘anything you might want, at a price.’ Although rumor says most of the town was there the night it burned, no one has been arrested or charged with any crimes. Adults who have been asked about it generally mutter the words ‘too cliché’ before changing the subject. The owner, one Dedric Eville, is missing, presumed dead.

Several younger children have gone missing, supposedly after arranging to meet someone online. The police have done several public safety campaigns about stranger danger. Most everywhere you go in town, you can find missing posters.

A local biker gang, The Low Flyers has their hangout as a bar on main street. They tend to be away during the week, but always show up on weekends. They have an agreement with the police that they can be as loud as they want, as long as they handle all fights internally.

One of the best known people in town is Old Mother Dismas. She’s an ancient woman, in her nineties if not over a hundred, but she’s always out on the front porch of her house, offering lemonade and fresh baked cookies to anyone who so much as glances her way. She often seems too good to be true, but no one has any dirt on her. The best rumor about her is a junkie looking for a fix once tried to steal her TV. She walked in on him in her bath robe, and just looked disappointed at him until he put the tv back, and then painted her house to make it up to her. She has a REALLY big dog named Honey.

Lucy Zalinski runs and owns the local diner, called, imaginatively, Lucys Diner. Eight months pregnant, and still working. Most people stop in to eat there at least once a week, the food is to die for.

The local graveyard is much bigger than accounted for by the rather limited population of the town. Sometimes, in the right light, the grave seem to go on for miles.

The Boundary City Library is considered to be the biggest in the state. Sometime in the sixties a government project expanded the library downwards, to use as a secondary backup for the Library of Congress, but that project fizzled out. No one is supposed to go down in the Stacks, but every kid played hide and seek in there at some point. Rumors of ghosts are generally just that.

The nearest hospital is a good hour away by car. But that’s okay, because no one ever really gets hurt that bad in this lovely town. Why, the worst that generally happens is a broken arm, and those are set by Kindly Dr. Jonas White, one of the few doctors left in the world who still makes house calls.

The Home Farms stretch over the hills. A good place to pick up some extra money in the fall, picking apples and reaping corn. George Home turns a blind eye to parties thrown in any of the old Home Barns he no longer uses, and the occasional kegger out in the fields.

All the other type of places you’d expect are there too, but those are the ones that stand out.

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sauntering-down · 4 years

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a dream

the first bit was pretty disconnected from everything else - i’d gone to South Shore Mall with my family and we were just leaving. my mother’s car was this enormous pickup truck instead of an SUV. she took a wrong turn when we reached the highway, so in order to turn around, she went up this steep, zig-zagging ramp onto the overpass. due to the angle and where i was sitting in the backseat, i couldn’t see anything but the sky; it was incredibly disorienting and frightening not being able to tell where the road was and even my mother said it was a difficult ramp and you needed a lot of practice to be sure you didn’t drive right off the edge.

fast-forward, i guess, to the next day or something when i was in school.

i was in what i’m pretty sure was a math class, taught by someone vaguely resembling my sixth-grade teacher, populated with a bunch of subconsciously-generated NPCs and also a few girls i knew IRL. they looked like they were still in elementary school and i think i was the same age, but we were nonetheless in high school. it might’ve been right before a weekend or holiday, because we weren’t really doing much work. there was a girl named Samantha who had the same last name as a kid i went to elementary with, but she looked nothing like her; she was kind of the class outcast and was always sitting alone, keeping to herself. knowing that feel intimately, i decided to go ask her if she wanted to do some workbook page together. unfortunately, i only said like two words before she got inexplicably offended and walked outside to do her work in the hall... maybe she was an outcast for a reason, idk. so i did my own stuff, and then a couple of girls showed off a cheerleading routine about the Crusades (???) and some of the other girls made some really funny comments about it. i wanted to write them down, but my notebook was almost completely full of notes and writing and pictures that looked like they’d been cut from magazines, and by the time i found some empty space, i’d forgotten what the girls had said.

finally the class was just about over. i had to take home a bunch of stuff in my cubby and my backpack was extremely heavy when the bell rang. i made some kind of self-deprecating joke about still needing to check my schedule to see where i was going next, but strangely enough, there were absolutely no locker shenanigans in this dream! those are like, a staple of my school dreams. so i went upstairs (which mostly looked like the actual second floor of my high school, though it’s not hard because it was just a rectangle) and started searching for room 241. i went the wrong way and realized the room numbers were going down, so i’d have to loop all the way around the second floor and would probably be late... fortunately, i made it before the bell. actually, there were only a few other students there when i got in. the room was kind of odd - trapezoid-shaped with gray carpet and these weird wooden desks. i went to take my seat, but the chair was missing - almost all the desks were missing chairs for some reason. i snagged a swivel chair from the computer desk and settled down and a minute later everyone else showed up.

no idea what this class was actually supposed to be; the teacher was a man i didn’t recognize and these two women dressed in very nice suits were also present, apparently to give us some kind of assessment. they were talking to the teacher, the rest of us were just hanging out and waiting, and gradually we noticed... hey, it’s getting really hazy in here for some reason. one of the women said not to worry about it because we needed to get started. but within a minute, the ‘haze’ was very obviously smoke pouring in from somewhere. i was closest to the door and i was going to look outside, but the other woman blocked the door, telling me this test was extremely important; after another minute or so and the smoke thickening, she moved and i peeked outside. the hallway wasn’t as bad, but i could see just past the library where a bunch of bookshelves had been set up in the corridor, and they were on fire. i relayed this info to everyone else and the teacher told us to grab our stuff and evacuate immediately. we did so; other classes had started doing the same even though the fire alarm never went off.

just like in my IRL high school, taking the stairs across from the library put us close to the front doors, where some teachers were directing everyone out and telling us to stay in groups and go sit on this huge pavilion right outside, even though getting further away would probably be a better idea. i walked out and went a little ways until i was kind of at the edge of the crowd, then sat down with my backpack. Lauren showed up and joined me a minute later, so we talked about how wild this was, because we’d had loads of fire drills but never an actual fire.

once everyone was outside and gathered on this pavilion, things got weird... a bunch of news organizations showed up, then the teachers started tossing commemorative t-shirts into the crowd like some kind of concert?? i mean, the building was literally burning behind us... i got like six different t-shirts of various designs and sizes. and then i found out all five of the cats i’ve ever had were actually in the school at the time, among a TON of other cats, though many of them had run off when the fire started and only Earl Grey had been caught and put in a carrier so i could take him home. i texted my brother about this situation and got Earl Grey from one of the teachers. students were starting to disperse at this point, but there was still some stuff going on - i went into the gym, where a bunch of tables had been set up and were loaded with things that’d been saved from the currently-burning parts of the school. lots of board games, for some reason. we were being encouraged to take stuff home so it’d be safe. i wandered around a bit, lugging my heavy backpack and a stack of shirts and now a cat as well. there was a really cute stuffed panda i kind of wanted, but they were charging actual money for it and i didn’t have any cash, so i left.

on my way home, i ran into some sort of bobcat and her kittens walking along the street in the opposite direction. Mama Bobcat hassled me a bit, chomped on my finger, but i managed to fling her over a fence and she left me alone... and then i was attacked by the fucking TIGER who’d been behind her. that was more of a battle. had to rip half the damn thing’s face off before it gave up. finally i made it to my street, which was inexplicably packed with small, identical houses built closely together. found my house and went inside, where my mother and brother were doing stuff... my brother had gotten my text and told my mom about the fire and the cats and all, but neither of them seemed very concerned about it. i think i woke up at that point.

#dream #i'm not sure why Lauren is always popping up in my dreams??#she's hardly the childhood friend i miss most... that'd probably be Jordann

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terryblount · 5 years

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GRID – Review

Picture this: It is January 2009, and there’s me in a sweltering office playing a game I just picked up with some Christmas cash. I had seen a friend play this the year before, but the highly-detailed yet almost creamy graphics still captivate me as I finally fire it up on my own PC. That game was Racedriver: GRID, and I was coming up fast to my first turn gunning a sexy black Dodge Viper.

I tense up, press right on my keyboard, and something totally unexpected happens – the Viper ACTUALLY TURNS! Now wait just one second, this did not say sim-racer on the box! How can extremely responsive controls and realistic physics coexist with action-packed and enjoyable racing in the same game!? Gosh, you can even rewind the time a la Prince of Persia if you make an accident.

The opening of the game takes you through a brief montage of the racing disciplines. This is the first time I ever played a Nascar game!

As a then hardcore Need for Speed fanboy, this was like nothing I had ever played before. Codemasters had stumbled upon an incredible marriage between sim and arcade racer with Racedriver: GRID that totally changed my perception of what this genre can do. Now this union has reached its eleventh anniversary in the form of 2019’s GRID, and the relationship is still going very strong in my opinion.

Turbo flutter

Like any marriage there have been some rough patches. While by no means a bad game, GRID 2 blipped on the radar and then simply drowned amidst the releases of other heavyweights like Bioshock Infinite and GTA V. Then there was Grid Autosport which tried to introduce complexity in an effort to match the gameplay modes of modern racing games, but sacrificed its own identity in the process.

To make the series relevant again, Codemasters brought 2019’s GRID back to the roots of what drew gamers more than a decade ago. In this way, GRID is defined by an overall design that just wants to get the player behind the steering wheel as quickly as possible so that they can get down to what really matters: damn fine auto sport. It is what I wanted from this game, and GRID certainly delivered.

Cockpit view without the steering wheel is also an option. Sim-racers should be happy. Also, have you ever noticed what utter imbeciles spectators next to the road can be.

From a gameplay point of view, the physics once again straddle that elusive middle territory between realism and arcade gameplay. The responsive steering and they way the cars stick to the road gives control to the player, and make the cars predictable in how they will handle. This consistency allows skilled virtual drivers to own their talents, but also avoids an overly steep learning curve.

Moreover, I really liked how each of the cars feel so different that they could practically be turned into their own separate games. The F1000 cars drive like a bar of soap on a prison floor in that they whizz around the twisty, closed circuits like lightning.

The Minis, on the other hand, have only four gears and drive a slower and more sluggish race around the track. They turn pretty fast, but building up speed to pass your opponents is a little harder. Then there are the touring cars which allow for blistering speeds on the straights in street races, but those hairpin turns will force you to come all the way down to 2nd gear if you don’t feather the throttle properly.

Why don’t more racing games have replay options!?

GRID’s arcade heritage comes out in the forgiving perks of the gameplay. The acceleration of the cars is perhaps a little exaggerated, particularly in the NPC drivers, but at least players have the option to catch up after an rendezvous with the tire barrier. As mentioned, the ability to rewind time returns here, and players will only have a limited number of these which helped me not to abuse this feature like I tend to do when playing Forza Horizon.

Speaking of which, GRID’s nemesis system was one of the key features mentioned in the game’s marketing campaigns. Theoretically, whenever you give another NPC (including your team mate strangely enough) a particularly hard knock, they will mark you as a ‘nemesis’. Woe betide you if you get within striking distance of their car once you put a sizable dent in their Camaro.

In practice, I barely noticed anything at all even after evoking bloodlust from more than one driver during a race. I don’t insist on the inclusion of this feature per se since an NPC trying to play demolition derby while you are just trying to race could become infuriating. Yet, it could have been a cool addition if it was actually noticeable, or worked properly.

Auto detailing

Aaah yes, the graphics. Whether off-road or on the track, Codemasters has always created outstanding visual fidelity in their racing games regardless of other shortcomings. I will never forget those DirectX 11 tessellated puddles in Dirt 2 since it was one of the first, useful implementations of this tech. GRID has no intention of breaking this tradition.

This game is a beauty. Aside from a blurry road texture here, and a flat-looking building there that snuck into view, the cars and tracks have been beautifully recreated in lightly stylised visuals. All the lines, curves and reflections on cars have been rendered in sharp detail, and the tracks are highly reactive to light and the refractions of sunlight from the surface of the tarmac.

A basic livery editor is always nice

GRID is sure to compliment these visuals with bone-rattling audio so you can really feel those pops and roars from the exhaust pipe as you gear down on the straight for an upcoming turn. The game even comes with support for Dolby Atmos, which I can only imagine to be an utter eargasm if you have the gear.

Do some people actually have access to this for their PC’s these days, or is this just a feature carried over from consoles? Anyway, you can tell Codemasters wanted to make something that looks good and that keeps within their tradition of running well on PC. Such a shame that my entire Dirt collection has now been nullified because Games For Windows Live. There’s a place in Hell for you Microsoft.

Lumps with the gravy

Rather than prattling on about the small little nit-picks which are cancelled out by the positives anyway, there is one unavoidable issue with this game, namely the scaling of the difficulty. When set to medium, even with manual sequential transmission starting right at the back of the grid, I could make utter mincemeat out to the competition.

I miss the the thing from the first game where the commentator could read my name. What’s the point otherwise of having a generic name like Pieter!? At least I get to fly my home colours.

I actually got a little bored with how efficiently I was feeding other drivers lungfuls of my dust, so I cranked the AI up to ‘Hard’. Suddenly everyone turned pro, and I felt like that driving school student who accidentally turned onto highway.

The gap was between medium and hard is simply too harsh, and the proof is in the hot laps before each race. For the unfamiliar, this is essentially a single lap against the clock where your time determines your position in the starting grid. The difference between medium and hard difficulty is nearly THREE SECONDS in the hot laps (for the front spot). If you know racing, this is practically an eternity.

Seeing the checkered flag

I know that some yobs on the internet are throwing around phrases like ‘bare-boned’ when describing GRID, but I actually appreciate the removal of all the pink fluff. I play this stuff all the time and I have watched too many racers plunge headlong into the muck because they tried to shoe-horn a ridiculous narrative into the game, or force the player into a convoluted progression system.

GRID gracefully sidesteps all of that by offering beautiful aesthetics and a simple roster of races for the player to complete. The focus here is on the actual driving and giving the player the opportunity to hone their skills within a consistent gameplay structure. The variety is built into the different tracks and skills required to drive all the different cars. This is not about what happens off the track.

I would insist that all gaming developers should play GRID because THIS is how you do a reboot of a series. Nearly every single strength of the first game has been replicated here, and the upgrades available through modern technology have been used to enhance the experience, and not as crutch to cash in on fans’ nostalgia.

Nice graphics

Great controls

Enjoyment in simplicity

Variety in cars and tracks

Harsh difficulty adjustments

Useless in-ear chatter

PC Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Controller

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iftekharsanom · 7 years

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GTA 6 Release Date, Latest News, Rumours Gameplay .

We all know that Grand Theft Auto 6 DE Released in September 2013, Grand Theft Auto 5 now has more than three years, so eagerly many fans await the next chapter of the series. Related: Nintendo latest change

With the confirmation of Red Dead Redemption 2 the chances of a new Grand Theft Auto are seen in the next few years have become even thinner. Red Dead begins this year, so there's a long wait until we see another Rockstar game. 5 GTA is currently the best selling video game in history, a staggering $ 1 billion in its first 24 hours of publication to win titles. The last entry in Rockstar has 60 million copies worldwide on all platforms, new ports for PS4 and Xbox One included. We know almost nothing about GTA 6, but after Techradar, now the pre-production is typing. We have everything you collect 6 here via GTA knows so keep choice for news, rumors and trailers. GTA 6 Publication - On leaving? We have no information on when GTA 6 was released, and Red Dead Redemption 2 will not be for at least another year in 2017, it is likely more.

GTA 6 - do you have what it means? The first official information on GTA Odor in June came from the Rockstar President, Leslie Benzies, who joked that the game in the early stages of development. "We do not know what GTA 6 will be, but we have some ideas," Benzies said in an interview with Develop. While the concrete confirmation of what stage of development is far away the game Benzies has given us some tips on how the process of the idea begins. "That's the first idea Where are set, the first question, so that the missions set ... you do different things in Los Angeles than in New York or Miami card and history working together, and history is a basic flow like It works, so you can override the mission. " It can also be seen that at the end of the GTA lifecycle, Rockstar already had some general ideas about what designed GTA 5 would do. The game began life about 5 years, but was only in full production for three of them. "We have more than 45 years of ideas that online GTA is the focus at this time no break between the 5th term and then also some things online ... we want to do things, DLC, I do not know how to describe exactly - we want to make and choose the right ".

The last bit of GTA 6 is about the size of the GTA 6 map. According to a new rumor, Rockstar Games may try the whole new US GTA 6 instead of a single city. With the rumored release date set somewhere in 2020 (we know, it feels like a million years away), it is apparently Rockstar, the time to re-create with the whole country. We recommend you do this with a pinch of salt, although you doubt it will literally take 100%. We believe that 6 GTA could represent multiple locations in the United States, reduced significantly with intervals between each. It may be how the team managed to cover the entire US and turned it into a navigable map that takes an hour and a half in real time to drive from one place to another. Could it be what awaits us in 6 GTA? We can just wait.

GTA 6 History - WHAT? As GTA 6 is most likely removed for at least three years, understandably, we know absolutely nothing about the game's plot or functions. We are up to date when a snatch snacks provocation but until then our wish list out of GTA 6 some of the most important things you like to see in the game.

GTA € 6 - what we want to see Here are the 10 things we see in GTA 6, as if finally released: 1) Strong female leadership Every GTA game a strong male connection, whether the trio Franklin, Trevor and Michael GTA 5, GTA 4 Niko or good old Carl "CJ" Johnson GTA San Andreas had. It's time that Rockstar Games show you how well you in the introduction of a strong female character alignment as part of a multiplayer system like GTA 5. We can not a single sign of strong female support from Catalina in GTA had deal 3, Either. Rockstar has been criticized in the past for a sexist attitude towards the female characters in games, thanks to its taste for prostitutes and strip clubs. What better way to prove the negative that bad an import

2) A cool place One of the best things about the GTA Wish List 6 is a new position. Vice City, Liberty City and San Andreas: So far, the GTA series has explored three key areas. We also have in London and Alderney played in some titles under the GTA. Although there are 15 or more GTA titles, which is a very close location to the Games circuit. We believe it will be refreshing, a new city in GTA to explore 6. a GTA game in Chicago set Imagine, Philadelphia, New Orleans or Washington DC. 3) A series of stories in various cities Or even go a step further. Forget GTA a new location. Why have one when you can have two? Players have been a game of GTA Spanning expected two cities, and thanks to the power of Xbox One, PS4 and PC today certainly 6 GTA is the time to try an idea.

4) Addition of fuel gauges We are not sure how annoying it would be but in any case another layer of realism and emissions would add panic if you constantly check the fuel gauge, have your vehicles during world chilla. Also, a fairly tense game would be if you had to change cars halfway through the race, as your original car had run out of gas. 5) Best Vehicle Variant Although GTA 5 brought the bikes back, we would like available GTA 6 to follow for the variation of the vehicle. If the series continues on the path of San Andres, would not it be appropriate that the GTA 6 introduced skates and skates to cross the avenue?

6) Increased number and variety of lateral line If rock continues the system of multiple actors, secondary missions will be much more important. Instead individual cases with smaller characters, secondary missions make each character seem more subplots, where the topics lower level stories more personal characters. Also we would be happy with a growing number of side missions, with a little more variation on the types of missions we perform below - Find more missions, please. 7) The best shops, more houses and best city GTA 5 San Andreas is undoubtedly big - bigger combined in scale than the last three GTA games and Red Dead Redemption, in fact. But, more does not necessarily mean more interactive. As he traverses San Andreas's seemingly endless terrain, he soon realizes that there is much to do outside missions, minor missions, or strange meetings and aberrations. Yes there are a few places on Vespucci beach and a variety of smaller shops if you leave the pavement but really enjoy the improved interaction with shops, houses and buildings in the New World.

8) An interactive urban population The same applies to citizens. 5 GTA was an incredible game, but sometimes the city was strangely empty. You can insult and curse pedestrians through the streets, but different from what were just placeholders. In RPGs like Skyrim, NPCs always have a purpose - whether it's just a story to flip, or give a side quest. Although GTA 6 NPCs offer only occasional quest or protection mission, it would be another level of realism in the game. There may be potential for more interactive NPCs with the protagonists for other reasons. Part lying in front of one side of the road, bleeding and a handy transient called an ambulance or send him a packet of drugs. 9) The FPS option from the beginning GTA 5 introduced for Xbox One, PS4 and PC an optional first person shooter mode (FPS) for the game. It's a great opportunity, the truly impressive experience is having awesome GTA and Rockstar has been implemented so you can play through the entire first person game. Certainly change the combat system and drive sections GTA 5, but we realize there is to enjoy is perhaps not the best way the game from start to finish. While it may not be for everyone, the FPS option from outside should be available to everyone in any case. Then you can decide how to play the game and adjust your viewing angle to your specific game style.

10) Download PC simultaneously Needless to say true, but we love a simultaneous console and the PC release for the next GTA game. We are tired of waiting for the autumn of PC connection - GTA 5 PC processing has not yet come up with now times have to wait more than a year since the original version. 11) VR Support The addition of a first person perspective on GTA 5 added a layer of

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terryblount · 5 years

Text

GRID – Review

The opening of the game takes you through a brief montage of the racing disciplines. This is the first time I ever played a Nascar game!

Turbo flutter

Cockpit view without the steering wheel is also an option. Sim-racers should be happy. Also, have you ever noticed what utter imbeciles spectators next to the road can be.

Why don’t more racing games have replay options!?

Auto detailing

A basic livery editor is always nice

Lumps with the gravy

I miss the the thing from the first game where the commentator could read my name. What’s the point otherwise of having a generic name like Pieter!? At least I get to fly my home colours.

Seeing the checkered flag

Nice graphics

Great controls

Enjoyment in simplicity

Variety in cars and tracks

Harsh difficulty adjustments

Useless in-ear chatter

PC Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Controller

The post GRID – Review appeared first on DSOGaming.

GRID – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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terryblount · 5 years

Text

Cyberpunk 2077’s UI coordinator talks about gangs, romance, difficulty & more

Alvin Liu, UI coordinator of Cyberpunk 2077, has spoken to wccftech about their upcoming role playing game. First of all some bad news; no Lady Gaga folks. I hope Liu is toying with us, even if it sounds definite. I would love to see Lady Gaga and Keanu Reeves together in the game.

Liu claimed that each individual gang will have different characteristics and goals, meaning each encounter will most likely feel unique and decisions will probably have more weight for the player. Now that’s something I really like.

Romancing in video-games was never intriguing to me, until I played The Witcher 3 as its characters were extremely well made and fleshed out. Take Yen and Triss for example. Those two had completely different personalities and choosing between them was a very hard decision mainly because of who they were rather than simply choosing between a black-haired and a red-haired. As such, it makes me very happy reading that CD Projekt RED is following the same romancing example for this title.

Moreover, it seems that the game’s world will be… open, meaning there will be no restrictions of where you can go. Of course there will be areas with powerful enemies but the UI will help guide you. Chances are you will die painfully when you visit higher level territories, however the option will be available to players.

There will be multiple difficulty settings and the game will even have a hardcore mode which sounds similar to Metro’s ranger difficulty, where the UI is disabled for maximum immersion. I really like the sound of that.

Of course if you are not keen with shooters and you just want to enjoy the story, there will be a setting or settings for you; you can even use the smart gun we saw last year and make firefights even easier. To be honest I wouldn’t recommend it since the firefights looked awesome but I understand we all have our personal preferences here. Who knows, if the shooting mechanics are terrible (fingers crossed it won’t) maybe everyone will end up using the smart gun.

Of course, the big reveal at E3 was Keanu. Can you talk a bit about how that happened?

Absolutely. What we wanted to do is to find the right celebrity match. It couldn’t just be someone from a romantic comedy movie or something.

Yes. I mean, there were rumors about Lady Gaga!

She’s pretty cyberpunk, so she could fit in! But um, yeah, no Lady Gaga. A lot of people in studio love The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic, Speed and all that stuff and he was just a really good match for our game genre and what we’re trying to do. When we approached him he was like ‘Yeah, I understand the artistic vision behind this, I can get behind it.’ He was just on board with it, which was great.

I’m wondering whether this is something you have been planning for quite some time, or is it more recent?

We’ve been keeping it a secret for definitely many months. I don’t recall exactly when, it’s hard to pick an exact time when it first started. But everything was very smooth. And it was great. I think keeping it a secret was super hard. I remember the first time I heard someone told me and I was like ‘Really?!?’

Keanu’s character, Johnny Silverhand, is also deeply rooted in Cyberpunk lore, correct?

Yes. Johnny Silverhand, he was like a super rebellious Rockerboy who is very against mega-corporations, he would happily run in and torch the lobby of a mega building, just throw the torch in the grounds and go ‘Screw you guys!’. He’s very different than real life Keanu Reeves.

He actually represents what we call Rockerboy from the tabletop Cyberpunk game. That was one of the classes, basically a rockstar. That’s a lot harder for us to do in the game we’re trying to make, you know, you can’t spend eight hours talking about preparing for a tour and going across, but we wanted to keep the spirit of the lore, so that’s what he represents.

He’s also supposed to be long dead in Cyberpunk 2077, right? So he’s kind of a digital ghost.

Exactly. So this is like 50 years from when he disappeared. I don’t want to spoil it, but being a digital ghost allows him to not be you know, like 80 or 90 years old. But there’s a lot more for you to discover about what’s happened to him.

I noticed that in the E3 2019 demo, the dominant theme was attempting to upload human consciousness into machines to attain immortality. Is this going to be prevalent throughout the whole Cyberpunk 2077?

There’s a lot of things we’re trying to do. The Voodoo Boys specifically are very obsessed with that, but other gangs such as the Maelstrom gang we showed last year, they want to be like, the ‘perfect humans’. So their theme is like making them solve this, you know, like replacing an eyeball or something, because, you know, it’s better to see the doctor. And they’re the most the best in the Superman realm. And it really depends on which gang you talk to. But we explore it all, it’s going to be a very big game, we’re going to go to look at different storylines, different characters, and we’ll talk about, you know, transhumanism, we’ll talk about what it means for a company to come in and be very greedy. And you can have romances in the Night City, for example.

Since you mentioned it, can you talk a bit about how romances are going to work in Cyberpunk 2077?

I don’t want to do spoilers, but we want to write very strong characters. We want to have personalities that you can interact with. If you remember from The Witcher 3 where Yennefer and Triss had very different personalities, it was interesting navigating how you would talk to one or the other. So to that effect, we’ve selected some NPCs who’ll have very rich relationships. But we also have, since it’s a modern world, you know, one-night stands exist, so something like that is also possible. And also like in the real world, you can also just exchange money for sex.

Earlier we were talking about corporations. Can you tell me how many will be in the final game?

That’s a good question. I don’t think anyone stopped to count because we have both big and small corporations. We have Militech, they’re kind of like the American military kind of corporation because the government military doesn’t really exist anymore. But people sell them, you know, name, tags and security. So this company kind of represents that. We also have Arasaka and in our history, those companies had a huge fight and that resulted in someone setting up a nuclear bomb in the city. That’s a large Japanese company, very secretive, they do a lot of secret projects. There’s also Orbital Air, they handle space, airplanes and stuff like that. There are so many companies in Cyberpunk 2077.

Right. And of course, beyond the corporations, you also have the gangs in Cyberpunk 2077. Are there any other factions in the game, though, beyond the corporations and gangs?

Yeah, we also have, obviously, the people just trying to live and you know, stay alive in Night City. We also have what we call the Nomads. Outside the city, we have people who just don’t want to live in the city for whatever reason. Maybe they have some very strong family ties in their community, or maybe they hate the idea of, you know, being a corporate slave, working for gangs, and they want to be strong and independent instead.

Does that mean we’ll get to explore the outskirts of Night City, too?

Absolutely. You’ll be able to go out in the desert of California and view things like power plants, abandoned highways and stuff like that. So you’re not just limited to Night City. It’s a really cool place to use our cars and drive them fast, as it’s hard to go super fast in the city. We do have street racing, though.

If you commit crimes, is the police coming after you? How does your ‘outlaw system’ work?

The way that works is that they are basically up for hire, basically, the laws exist to take bribes from corporations. So a corporation might pass a law that you can’t sell medicine anymore, and they’re going to enforce it. The only reason they got that law passed was that they bribed the government and they’re only using it as a proxy. So it’s not a place where you want to trust the government necessarily. There probably are some good people out there also, but it’s a city of people trying to constantly get one up on each other.

We have a system that we’re still iterating upon. People will, you know, not be nice to you if you start killing many people. There are some people you can’t kill because that might have blocked a quest and that’s just by design, but it’s not what our game is based upon. So I would compare it to The Witcher 3 where if you chopped off the head of a villager in the middle of nowhere the guards wouldn’t show up out of nowhere. But if you’re in a big town and someone from the guard sees you and the people nearby run away screaming for help, people will come and try to stop you and they’re going to be usually pretty powerful. We also have what we call the Trauma Team.

Oh yes, I recall them from that memorable trailer.

Yes, they are a sort of police/medic ambulance. They come in and help save you as long as you have their coverage plan, then you’re taken to a medical facility.

Is it possible to get arrested and go to jail after committing enough crimes?

Sorry, I can’t spoil anything about that.

Okay, sure. I assume you’ll have dynamic weather in Cyberpunk 2077, right?

Yeah, we’ve got acid rain as well. Night City is a very polluted city and we’re also exploring that kind of stuff, pollution and global warming and everything.

The NPCs will scatter around when that happens, I reckon…

Yep, that was happening in The Witcher 3 too. When the rain came, people would seek shelter. Generally, we’re trying to make the NPCs very believable, we want it to feel like this is a world where people actually live in, which would make players want to spend time in the world as well.

I imagine the NPCs have daily routines, too.

Indeed. Of course, if you followed someone for fifteen hours, you might see the same thing repeated a few times. But we’re trying to make them do interesting stuff. Again, I think the best comparison would be Novigrad from The Witcher 3.

In terms of the overall scope of Cyberpunk 2077, what are the main tenets you laid out for yourselves during development?

Three things, we’re going to do a really awesome open world that players just want to live in and we’re going to do a very strong story. In Cyberpunk 2077 we’re going to add this new layer of how you make your character and how you want to play the game. So you can play as a hacker person from the outskirts and you learned how to hack you know, from like, scavenged devices. And they really want to hack with a vengeance because they want to, you know, avenge someone or something. Or you can play as like a someone who loves swords and just loves running in and chopping people off with swords. That, I think, will add a whole other layer of how you experience the game yourself. Right? You’re going to be able to live in this world, play how you want with your character but also be involved in this really deep and engaging story.

Sounds great. Is the whole of Night City open from the start? Or is it like unlocked over time?

We’re not going to have this locked, invisible wall where you can’t go past it because we show a message on the screen saying you must go back. It doesn’t make sense, right? It’s like I just crossed the street, what’s the issue? So we won’t have anything like that.

But you might venture into some places where enemies are way tougher than you can handle.

Yep. We have UI to help lead players. Actually, in the demo, you can see the NPCs levels and that will give you a quick gauge of how to make sure that you want to engage. We are an RPG after all and that’s one of the implications of an RPG, you want to do progression. But like in The Witcher 3, you could always just run to Novigrad, you could have skipped the Baron quest, you could even go to Skellige if you managed to get enough money to pay for the boat. That freedom in an open world is pretty awesome and I think Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be very similar. But of course, you know, in The Witcher 3 when you were like level one and went to Novigrad you didn’t have a very fun time. You might expect something similar here, but you can still go if you want to.

Will there be multiple difficulty settings as in The Witcher 3?

Yes, of course, of course. The most fun one I think will be the Hardcore setting where we turn off the UI you live as well. And that will be a real challenge for a lot of players. Also, at the same time, if you want to play more casually for the story and maybe you’re not experienced with shooters, which was a real big concern for us. We want to tell a story and maybe you’re a big fan of The Witcher and you’re not comfortable playing a shooter, we have settings available for that. We even have weapons for that. If you recall from last year’s demo, we had a weapon called the smart gun, which helps you aim. The bullets were much slower and usually a bit weaker. But if your aiming isn’t your forte, you can always pick up the smart gun.

There was a bit of negative feedback regarding your choice to go with a first-person view only for Cyberpunk 2077. Some people also have issues with nausea and similar medical conditions.

We’re going to have many settings for that, starting with a Field-of-View (FoV) slider. We’re also considering accessibility at a very strong level, including stuff like subtitles for people who might have trouble reading some of the text in our game. That’s very important for us. But with the first-person perspective, we are able to do a lot of new stuff, we can do much more immersive dialogue for example compared to the last game (The Witcher 3) where it was kind of obvious when you were going into combat because you saw the black bars, the camera would move… But in this game, since it’s first-person, literally you can shoot someone within a second. You pull the gun and you’re immediately shooting people. That to us is really important and really immersive because it feels like danger. It was one of the big reasons why we actually switched from third-person.

There are still times when you see your character though, right?

Yeah. Even in the demo we saw today, a lot of people might have missed it, but driving was in third-person and the transition was very seamless.

Of course you can look in the mirror and see yourself through reflections, right?

Yeah, yeah, that’ll be really cool. I think the character customization is going to be really well received. When you go unlock the super rare outfits you get because you have super high street grad and you have a high reputation with a local gang, we want to make sure that you can see that. Since you can customize and create your character you will see that as well, if you take a different skin tone you’ll see that on your hand.

Our items have RPG stats, you can craft them and feel rewarded for that. You’ll also be able to modify the weapons a lot, be able to attach things like a suppressor or a scope and also craft and modify those as you wish. You can change a gun’s type to maybe start shooting thermal bullets, which can actually light on fire because they’ve just built up so much heat. But you can also shop for strictly cosmetic items, such as shirts and jackets.

We can justify that because you look super cool, so you get more street cred game. It’s like, hey, you get more street cred experience because you looked cool killing someone. And that to us is a cool balance for items that might make no sense combat wise but because of that, you earn more reputation doing it, which actually makes sense gameplay-wise.

Cool indeed. What can you tell us about the implementation of real-time ray tracing on PC? Also, can you reveal the hardware that ran this E3 2019 demo?

Ray Tracing was on [in the demo]. We were showing off Ray Traced Emissives, Sky Light, and Ambient Occlusion. However, I’ve seen super impressive screenshots internally about raytracing (they get sent out in a digest e-mail), so we’re clearly still working on it as they looked more impressive than what I remember seeing in the demo. Especially at night and with neon reflections. NVIDIA also has representatives and work with our studio to continue to improve and utilize this technology, similar to The Witcher 3 and Hairworks.

The game was running on Ultra, but we are continuing to improve our visuals.

The game demo was running at 1080p, but our trailers and publically released assets are at 4K. The UI is designed mostly at 4K (eventually it will entirely be at 4K native), but we have the technology to swap assets and do intelligent scaling to handle 1080p, widescreen, 720p, 1440p, and so on. We can also design specific UI at 1080p and other resolutions, on a need by need basis, such as on a screen or graphics with heavy icons that might look bad otherwise.

A lot of people, after seeing last year’s debut gameplay demo and the hardware it was running on, have become a bit wary of how Cyberpunk 2077 could look and run on consoles and low-end PCs. Is that a challenge in terms of optimization for lower-end hardware?

Actually no, we have a very custom engine, the RED Engine. And actually, we’re targeting consoles as first-class platforms and it looks amazing there. So obviously, if you spent, you know, $2,000 building your PC rig, it’s going to look better on that. But the graphics are quite amazing for what you’re going to get from Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles and low-end PCs.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on April 16th, 2020.

Thanx wccftech

Cyberpunk 2077’s UI coordinator talks about gangs, romance, difficulty & more published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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