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jadbalja · 3 months

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On mass culture eating itself, the current creative desert, etc. (part 2) A: it's probably worth watching the UK version only A: this Roland/Dillard combo is very uninspiring for a novel of this seminal nature. I have trepidation. But then I had the same for Sandman and that turned out okay K: I confess I didn't see the US remake. John Cusack annoys me and there was no way it could live up to the original. Plus as you said, I didn't feel like watching a show about evil vaccines was comforting during the pandemic, when there was plenty of that nonsense in real life. A: the strip mining of the 80s/90s cultural landscape for material in our currently depleted creative industry continues K: Yeah, sometimes they get it right, like Sandman. K: I feel like Neuromancer could never have had its day though. For the 80's and most of the 90's, it would have been too speculative for most showrunners to portray without looking silly. Then suddenly the cyberpunk future arrived, and it wasn't quite what Neuromancer predicted, and overnight it became dated. K: Johnny Mnemonic was about as close as it came to a 90's Neuromancer. A: [..feel like Neuromancer could never have had its day though. …] though now with Musk's Neuralink, some people are thinking "jacking in" might be possible in the near future K: But I can't write if off entirely because as Cyberpunk 2077 (both the game and anime) showed, there's still juice in the genre, and depicting that kind of world. A: [Johnny Mnemonic was about as close as it came to a 90s Neuromancer …] I liked Johnny Mnemonic. And that too was Gibson K: Yes re things like Neuralink, but we're sort of 2/3's there now compared to 1984 when the book was written. What I meant was more that we know already that so much of cyber culture is going to be kind of mundane, full of grifts and so forth, an evolution of human nature rather than a revolution. Intellectual minnows like Musk look at books like Neuromancer and now try to backwards-develop their realities, rather than those books being prophecies as they once were. K: Yes there's stuff yet to come with AI and it will be interesting to see how the show portrays them. I recall the AI that got Swiss citizenship in the book, still a very fun thought experiment in ethics, philosophy, law, etc. Just a matter of time before it happens. K: But… like those robots from the 1940's who could "talk" and smoked cigarettes and whatnot, first we'll see silly things like that robot person the UAE called its first robot citizen. K: With Musk in particular it's hard to say where Neuralink is on the spectrum from making an interesting display centerpiece through groundbreaking scientific development, because he has enough money that he could conceivably hire the right people who use it wisely and make real breakthroughs. Or, it could all just be PR bluster. K: He apparently can make rockets. Can't run a social media platform to save his life. And his cars are a bit iffy. So, mixed bag. A: I think Neuralink has some way to go and he’s not the only one working on a brain-tech interface. MIT was demonstrating some such stuff a few years ago. A: To me the gap between the world in Neuromancer and the one we actually have (without a Neuralink possibility) is one of the mundane taken to its technological apex vs the human struggle taken to a technological abstraction. “Breaking ice” for hacking, artisanal objects for surfing the web, an underground ethic to the outsiders working in tech, and existential dilemmas of AI. Versus of course, today’s reality - machine computation cheapening real creativity, the web as an extension of cultural stagnation in another form, and mass produced and commodified tech interfaces. A: The 80s cyberpunk is an aesthetic state of being, I think, more than a template for a prediction. Now in nostalgia, it is a lament for what we could have had and did not get K: Yes you've summed it up perfectly.

#sci-fi #culture #Neuralink #William Gibson #Neuromancer

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just-another-storyteller · 2 years

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I realized I haven't posted about my WIPs in ages so I should uh, probably do that at some point again. So.

Main WIP: Finding Magic

It's a High Fantasy story, and I'm currently working on its 4th draft! Once that's done I'll ask a friend to read it, incorporate the feedback, ask other friends twice more and maybe then I can start trying to get it published?? Feels unreal but here we are. Story follows Runa and Laith who, after getting a strange letter from Laith's grandpa, leave their home village and go looking for him, accompanied by a Duskian (regarded as Evil, I used to have just named them demons and still need a new German name for them lmao), a unicorn, and a dog.

Seldnacs

Seldnacs are an open species by FelonDog over on dA, but they're original enough I'm putting them here - They're getting mostly short stories, but will pop up every now and then.

Started but currently on kinda sorta hiatus

Changes: This one, along FM, was one of my first stories and I definitely want to finish it eventually... Bear with me because you'll be able to tell it started when I was a teen lmao. It's kinda sci fi-esque, the story starts with a strange laboratory experimenting on mostly teens and children by adding animal DNA to theirs, basically creating beastfolk, just that it often isn't as pretty as most fantasy beastfolk. The characters eventually decide to try and fight/escape, leading to them having to figure out how to survive now that they look Like That.

Rainbow VN: An Urban Fantasy Visual Novel/Dating Game; it'll have six different characters, and the plan is that every character gets a Get To Know route followed by a route split into Romance, Friendship, and Supernatural routes. Quite a bit has been written for a NaNo once, but I gotta re-plan a lot of it.

Unnamed Horror WIP: Another former NaNo WIP, its first draft is pretty much finished but it'll need a lot of editing. It follows two kids whose trip to the local woods turns south when they end up somewhere very, very far away from home...

Solarpunk WLW WIP: Started for last year's NaNo, though I actually had to give up that year 😔 It has, as the WIP title suggests, a Solarpunk setting (futuristic but very hopeful, lots of Green Tech, etc), the protags are two older ladies (70s-80s) who meet and fall in love.

Fallen or Loyal: After humankind got sapience, the Heavenly Host split into the Loyalists, who want to follow God's Plan and lead humans back into Safety, and the Fallen, who believe that humans' free will is more important than safety. I've already written quite a bit, but I'll probably have to re-plan a lot of it and figure out where I wanna go.

I've been rotating these in my brain

Unwanted Transformation: It definitely needs a better title lmao, set in the same world as Finding Magic; a young woman got cursed by a Duskian to be in a dog's body for reasons she doesn't know, and she's trying to get a young Orc guy to help her a) track down the Duskian and make him explain, and b) get back to her friends and girlfriend.

Dracula Sequel: I may have Dracula Daily Brainrot, and a Vampire OC lying around with no story to be. I'll hold off on actually starting until DD is finished (vampire was originally a Van Helsing OC, but I want the story to follow the OG book more closely), but it'll be about revenge; a while after the happenings of Dracula, one of Drac's "children" (biological from before he was a vampire? Someone he turned? Idk yet) decides she's finally ready to get revenge on the people who killed her father.

Hyenas: I just really like Xenofiction and love hyenas; the story will probably follow a young spotted hyena who's just left their pack and has to join a new one, working their way up from the bottom, but naturally, there's now things threatening her new pack. I'm considering adding some fantasy elements (like, say, the yeens having magic), and/or including more hyena species aside from Spotted Hyena.

Rebels with a Cause: In a cyberpunk dystopia setting, a ragtag group of misfits tries to take the unjust government apart. Still gotta figure out a lot about what said government is actually like... Doing... Tho.

#long post #my wips #writeblr #writerblr #I have some more on Indefinite Hiatus but the post is long enough as is #finding magic #changes #Seldnacs #rebels with a cause #rainbow #rainbow vn #NaNo 2020 #nano 2020 project #nano 2021 #Nano 2021 project #dunno how to do read more on mobile sorry mates

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vorish-egos · 3 years

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Hot Sauce

Contains: Safe and Soft vore, G/T, slight foodplay

5 pages long

This wonderful fic was written by Mar from Vorish Egos server. All credit goes to them. Give them a lot of support and love. <3

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“Hello everybody, my name is Markiplier and, uh welcome to the stream! I can see more people have joined in the past...10 minutes, oh my lord.” He leaned forward almost, his attention shifting from his computer monitor to the camera positioned on his desktop and back with the monitor displaying that of a live stream chat. Weeks prior from this stream, Mark had sent out a tweet asking fans which game he should re-play, since he hadn’t yet had Cyberpunk and he didn’t wish to spoil any future video plans so soon. He planned to do a live stream, just for a couple of hours to give fans what they wanted while interacting with them and allowing them a live reaction of him replaying an older game. Both you and Mark had seen that many people recommended Cuphead, which was quite ironic of the circumstances of the stream, and after counting most of the tweets it was decided that Cuphead was the winner. Fans could tell from Mark continuously running his hands through his hair and drafting one of his bright colored shirts that he’d been screaming and sweating quite a bit. You almost couldn’t stop yourself from laughing when Mark stormed up from his chair and off to another end of the room, yelling and threatening to throw his own headphones. Seconds after he’d sat back down and apologized to anyone that might’ve been listening while laughing all giddy through his entire apology.

So where did you fit into this equation? How did you somehow wind yourself up in Markiplier's room during a stream?

Mark streamed a couple of days before the current stream and, being the supporter friend of him that you are, you decided you would send him tips or bits to help support the channel. Around the same time, he was holding a contest. He asked fans to send out dares that Mark should do through either tips or the chat and whichever one received more popularity would be decided for the current stream. Such as downing an entire bottle of hot sauce or dying his hair during the stream. Months before this, scientists released that shrinking tech had been perfected and released into the public and being sold as a small pill. For 24 hours, you’d been a few inches tall and immune to any kind of disease or danger to your body. Of course this kind of formula hadn’t been perfected and no one was quite sure if the tech itself would be stable enough to return a person’s height back to its normal state. But that wasn’t on your mind. You were almost positive fans would’ve been completely weirded out by your idea of a “dare” and simply ignored it entirely.

You dared Mark to shrink you down and “vore” you on stream. It took him a few minutes before he noticed the message going through the chat box in his stream, almost being spammed by other fans who suddenly agreed with this odd idea. He laughed, quirking a brow as he usually did when he thought something strange and deep down, he knew you were joking. Yet fate decided differently when the population of two states and a county said yes to the dare. It was almost shocking to you how many fans had closeted vore fetishes and wanted to see Mark swallow someone alive. CaptainSparklez did it. Sean hadn’t done it yet but he said if Mark did it anytime soon then he would take his chances. Mark almost wanted to let his fans down, tell him that even if the idea seemed almost absurd to him but as more tests of the pill went on day by day, the more possible it was for Mark to gain possession of the pill himself.

And here we were, you, his keyboard, and a bottle of hot sauce and salt laid against his desk as he glanced down at your little, 5 inch form. “Fuuuuck, I didn’t think everyone was excited about this one thing! I didn’t, I really didn’t. But I came prepared…” He lifted up the bottle of hot sauce and salt up to the camera, then he extended his hand out flat to desk for you to climb on. For the past 2 hours you were both attempting to get adjusted to Mark carrying someone small and you getting used to how nervous and unsteady his touch was at first. Now, as your bare feet gently pushed down against the palm of Mark’s hand he almost seemed to have stopped himself from flinching this time. His hand was steadier this time, the squishy skin of his palm accommodating to your little form. Making sure to be careful, almost concentrated, he lifted you up to the camera for everyone to see.

You waved towards the monitor, fashioning a smile before letting out a smile giggle as Mark used a finger to gently pop at your tummy. “This is my friend (Y/N) and as many of you know, they started this whole...stream dare thing that I’m doin’ and, as you can see, no they are not CGIed or 3D printed. This is very much a real, living, breathing person in the palm of my hand right now oh my fucking god.” Mark gently placed you back down, awkwardly giggling again as he spoke and leaned forward, looking off to the side to giggle to himself and take everything in. Meanwhile Mark’s chat was blinking to life with replies, fans on one end sending Mark support and fans on the other end weirded out yet wanting Mark to start already.

He noticed this, looking down as he let out a heavy sigh with a wide smile. “It’s been decided by the public that they want us to, uh, do this thing, you know? Are you ok? Are you sure about this?” You shrugged, unsure of yourself now that he was asking you before you explained to Mark that your heart was pounding but both from excitement and nervousness. He lifted his hand to you once more, this time reaching over and gently rubbing at your shoulder with his thumb to calm you down, which the action itself seemed odd but you made it known that you appreciated the sentiment anyway. “Alright guys, I guess let’s fucking do this!” He ran a hand through his hair once before taking a swig of water. He fingered with the bottle of hot sauce for a few seconds before he was ready, inviting you into the palm of his hand once more. You were in one hand, the bottle of hot sauce in the other one. “I really don’t know how people usually do this, but I think I’m supposed to taste you first and then make you more edible looking?” You shrugged, the both of you laughing awkwardly together but you more or so at Mark’s giggling.

Hesitantly, Mark brought his open hand to his lips, your world of view already filled with so much of Mark’s face that now the only thing you could see was his mouth and the pores surrounding his cheeks. He exchanged glances with the desktop monitor, as if looking back and forth between you and his before only the tip of his tongue poked out of pursed lips. He gently poked you in the face with it, sending you into a fit of tearful laugh as your feet dangled out of his hand. He looked away, giggling awkwardly once more as he looked at you with a look full of embarrassment and mock hurt. “W-What am I supposed to do?! How am I supposed to do this?!” You wiped your eyes, gesturing to your body and expressing to Mark that you wanted him to lick you, for real. You made the comparison to that of a popsicle. You asked if he was able to get a taste of you. “No” he’d said in response, as if not wanting to agree with you but clearly having no choice.

He brought you close to his face once again, leaning his face himself until he was almost leaning on top of you now. His lips encompassed your entire vision and you almost blushed red from the distance but you reminded yourself what you were doing. His lips parted, his tongue poking out a little more now from a mouth that was slightly ajar. You couldn’t catch a glimpse inside aside from his front rows of teeth you could see and the only thing that filled your vision at the moment was the wet, pink, almost wriggling muscle. It wasn’t at it’s full length, you knew this for sure and it seemed to be half your size already. Quickly but carefully, he gently slid his tongue from your chest up to your face, now covering it in more saliva. Instinctively, you had leaned away from the tongue and Mark had already finished pulling away as soon as you’d done this. He made a face, confirming that he was able to grab your taste now as he let the flavor dance around in his mouth. You questioned him about your taste, using your sleeve to wipe the wet substance from your face. “Kinda salty but really sweet. It’s so weird, it’s like...salty caramel almost. At least I know I won’t be needing this salt.” He giggled, moving the salt to another side of his desk and turning back towards you.

He licked you once again, both of you still quite hesitant but more accepting of the touch. Then, he proceeded to uncap the bottle of hot sauce and gently sprinkle you in it. He took another swig of water and grunted awkwardly, checking up on the stream chat before he proceeded. “You guys ready? I’m gonna do it now…” He waited a few seconds, watching as the chat blinked to life like a heart palpitation with the answer “Yes.” He nodded a few times, now seeming quite nervous himself before you gently pat the palm of his hand. He looked back down at you with such care in his eyes, displaying how worried he was over your well being before you smiled. He nodded and took a deep breath, raising you up slightly above his head as he was prepared to take you in legs first. “This is gonna be so fucking weird…” He commented. You laughed and nodded, situating yourself differently so that now you too were ready.

You watched as Mark’s lips parted, much wider this time than before as threads of saliva broke from the white pearls of his teeth. The angle that Mark was holding you above his mouth illuminated with the help of the ceiling nipple in the room, giving you a view of the dark, fleshy chasm sitting below you. Humid air wafted against your toes. The pink muscle pulsated under you, wriggling as if preparing to accept it’s next snack. Right in the back you could just make out the vibrating silhouette of the red chandelier, surrounded by dark, fleshy walls of pink and red. Squinting almost allowed you to catch a glimpse of the back of Mark’s throat, your vision beckoning you to travel to except that the back of Mark’s tongue blocked you from seeing the entrance of his throat. The salivating chasm soon came forward, his lips gently closing around your ankles and sealing them with the fleshy, pink mass. Here goes nothing. You squirmed a bit, laughing a tad bit as his tongue licked hesitantly at the bottom half of your legs. He licked and licked, the tongue exploring any exposed skin and cleaning away the hot sauce and also continuing to tickle at you before his lips parted once more.

The two of you sensed that he couldn’t taste your ankles for long and had to keep going with the process at hand. You could see your legs and toes, glistening with saliva as you began moving downward and more towards his mouth. He moved you closer until his lips closed around your hips, your legs sliding along the tongue as more of you entered his mouth. He licked at you and the hot sauce, somehow being able to find your taste that the muscle was searching for even through your clothes. He occasionally looked from you to the stream chat and back until he only kept eye contact with you, making sure that you were ok through the entire process. He wasn’t used to having something in his mouth without chewing it but you were both trying something new. He held you there for a second like that, swallowing down any excess saliva before proceeding. The tongue shifted under your legs, lifting them up and giving you a sense of close you were to the back of his mouth. You guessed that you must’ve been three feet, at your height, from going toe to toe with the pink chandelier in the back of Mark’s mouth. You started taking into account how big you probably were, the wriggling muscle under you practically a small blanket.

More of your body was brought into his mouth, his tongue extending out and helping to take more of its prey inside as Mark hummed almost happily and his lips closed around your upper abdomen. He seemed to be enjoying your taste more than he’d let on before and his mouth seemed to be producing more saliva at a surprising rate as he swallowed every few seconds. He almost seemed to be sucking at your body, clearing the hot sauce off and grabbing at your taste the best he could. If you wiggled your toes, you could feel something fleshy and circular almost tap them in response. When he’d grunt at this in response, you didn’t have to second guess that your toes were face to face with his uvula. He’d have to...start swallowing you by now. He seemed distracted, almost absorbed by the taste consuming his tongue entirely but he looked at you and knew what you were thinking.

He nodded, gently tapping you with a finger and you tapped him back to signal that you were ready. He swallowed once more, though this time he made sure to take extra care in bringing your feet along the trip with the excess saliva and hot sauce. You could feel it, your legs squeezed up against the roof of his mouth and his tongue pushing your feet against the uvula this time until something below clamped around your ankles and pulled at them. His throat. Glk. He swallowed once again and he opened his mouth once more, the tongue stretching out and slipping under you as both worked together to lift you into his mouth. Soon, only your hands stuck out past his lips as you watched your thighs be sucked up by Mark’s throat. You barely had time to gather your surroundings a little more as Mark’s head turned and faced the camera. He gave the audience a glimpse of his little snack before closed and left you in humid, wet darkness.

More comfortably now his tongue licked and prodded at your body, cleaning away at the remaining hot sauce and sucking your taste onto his taste buds. Glrk. The tongue lifted you up and your hands were now sucked into his mouth, teeth clamping shut and now completely locking you inside of his mouth. Mark grunted, cocking his head back slightly as he placed a finger against his throat. You wriggled slightly, attempting to get more comfortable as your body was dragged down towards Mark’s epiglottis, now less of you within the confines of his mouth and the rest of you travelling down towards his..stomach. His stomach, your final destination. You gently rubbed and pat at the tongue, using the chance you had now to feel at it best you could. Not only were you teasing Mark but the muscle felt so strange and alive under you that it seemed like another living organism entirely. Gluck. You felt Mark exhale against you, understanding that this was it as he took one large, hard swallow.

Your body was sucked into Mark’s throat, the back of your brushing against his uvula as he tried his best not to vomit with how large you were and with how horrible his gag reflex was. The good thing was that with the way he positioned his head, gravity assisted him alongside the amount of saliva the hot sauce helped his mouth produce. You almost saw it impossible that your eyes were open the entire time, seeing the last moment silhouettes of the tongue and those rows of teeth behind sealed lips even with a saliva drenched face. You sank, your body being pulled into Mark’s and making the tight, slick journey down his gullet. Mark kept that finger against the bulge you made against his Adams apple until the little bulge and he gulped against, exhaling heavily.

You could hear it, the wet slickness of his muscles working on hugging your body down to it’s final destination. The gurgling and groaning from the stomach that anxiously awaited it’s large, new snack. The rhythmic, almost melodic beating of Mark’s heart as you passed it on the trip. Then a sphincter opened up below your feet and your body was deposited into a fleshy, warmer chamber as you slipped into his stomach. On the outside Mark felt this, gulping to help ease you down his throat the entire way as he hadn’t usually swallowed something as large as you nor had he really prepared himself outside of a banana. He sat back in his desktop chair, placing a hand against his stomach once he felt you slide inside. The stomach walls immediately pressed themselves against your body, the space hugging you even though it wasn’t too cramped. You squirmed, Mark letting out a surprised giggle as you situated yourself into a more comfortable position within the dark space.

Mark placed a hand against your little form, feeling every inch of you wriggling and squirming inside of you. He smiled wide, eyes squinting as he stood up slightly from his chair and attempted to take in the feeling. He laughed, looking towards the stream chat in awe. “Wooooooah, this is so fucking weeeeird.” His voice verberated and echoed through the darkness like a loud speaker and you chuckled, touching and feeling at the walls around you. “Duuude, can you hear me in there?” You responded by gently tapping one of his stomach walls, then lightly pushing since you doubted he would’ve been able to feel you in there. He giggled once more, rubbing back in response. You asked him if he could hear you. “It’s so weird, I can hear you but you’re so muuuffled. Guys this is so weird, I have to step away for a bit I’m so sorry…” Mark put a hand up to his mouth and let out a small belch, loud enough for the viewers to hear. He laughed, embarrassed but too engrossed in the feeling of a living person inside his belly to care.

Mark had now left the desktop and off into another room, settling down somewhere comfortably with a hand still on your tiny form. You sat there with him for a while, Mark beginning to rub at his stomach and rub at your little form. The two of you shared your experiences of being eaten alive by Mark and you each laughed it off, now forgetting how nervous and embarrassed you were. Soon, Mark had returned to the stream after a few minutes and apologized to his fans for the inconvenience. He continued Cuphead, his gameplay much calmer this time during the stream as he would occasionally look down at you, calmly sleeping and enjoying the confines of Mark’s stomach as much as he was. Maybe this experience wasn’t so bad.

#markipliervore #markiplier/vore #g/t vore #safe v.ore #soft v.ore

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rorodawnchorus · 3 years

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The Devil Judge, Ep.1 Meta

(On the re-imagined justice process, imageries, parallels in South Korea and our world today)

As with all dystopian fiction, it is not exactly a far-fetched imagining of our world. Instead, it is a critique of our society which seeks to amplify the inequalities and suffering of society through some exaggeration.

The Devil Judge is that: it "re-imagines" South Korea today with a sprinkle of cyberpunk aesthetics (a little too much bluish green tint) and dystopian imagery (of homeless people, a very dirty subway and dingy backalleys on a rainy night).

I kept thinking it was a dystopian "future" but was wondering why they were using only Samsung Note 20 instead of some Samsung futuristic prototype phone. So, those phones do keep audiences grounded in the reality it is portraying -- this is the alternative South Korea of today.

We are barely halfway into the first episode and we've got this extremely charismatic, anti-hero male lead strutting red carpets and making verbose declarations like "I am the power. By the judicial authority delegated to me by the people of Korea, I will run this court. And it is the people who hold this power." (Not verbatim but that's the gist).

Then, meet associate judge Kim Ga-On who seems to be against how the system is running. He seems to be the outlier who rose to his ranks from the bottom class of society (which his colleague Oh Jin-joo says, he looks like he's from the shanty town of Seoul). We start off, barely into the drama at this point, with a dramatic scene of a kindergarten bus ramming down barricades and charging towards the Court building. A group of kindergarten children crossing the road there (I've just no clue what businses kids would have near the court building tbh). A little girl tripping as they were rushed across the road, Ga-On jumping to the rescue, and unable to pick her up in time, shields her with his own body. Kang Yo Han is just there, taking a heavy gun from the guard and unhesitantly opened fire at the bus driver who was flooring the pedal. He misses the driver's head and hits the headrest before firing again. The bus swerves and flips. The driver loses consciousness and Ga On (again!) jumps to the rescue. So, here the tone is set. We've got this "devil judge" who seems to be the ultimate modern day anti-hero who's given immense amount of power.

Much more interesting is that in this dystopian South Korea, we've got what seems like a publicly elected judiciary (or Kang Yo Han is perhaps the first?) and that has always been something that has been discussed in legal academic. Not the idea of electing the judiciary but that the argument of the judiciary not being publicly elected can be seen as slightly out of tune with democracy. (In legal academic, however, this is theoretically seen as being balanced by the separation of powers; ie. the executive branch (=government) and elected members of Parliament/Congress are supposed to be fully separated from the judiciary and should therefore never interfere with the judiciary. But, of course, these are all theoretical stuff. They look good on paper and when discussed in legal essays but in reality, it can often be different (if not, the exact opposite). This series takes things to yet another level by imagining the inception of a publicly televised and publicly voted trial.

This goes against the nature of trials in general because in our world today, the judiciary (wherever it may be) typically have mechanisms (ie. laws and codes) to prevent manipulation by media. The principle of fair trial requires that no external influence affects the process of adjudication (ie. the judgement by judges). There also tends to be avoidance of trial by public opinion because the way the law is interpreted and applied can be rather technical and different from what people may say or think about a certain trials, the decision delivered and also sentencing. Trial by jury is the nearest it gets but that too can be a fairly technical process which do also include considerations like avoiding a two-day trial to prevent influence by the media or other agents on a jury member's decision. (A recent drama mentioning this is Law School). The thing about this idea of trial by the public is that standards of morality can be very subjective and varies from person to person. Judgement by judges are not entirely free from the influence of morality, but the process is a litle more stable through the processes of interpretative practices, case precedents and legal theories. Previously in another Kdrama, Miss Hammurabi (2018), Judge Lim Ba-reun became slightly frustrated by his friend's comment that having a jury trial is like "true democracy" because the "people gets to decide" and he even thinks the judiciary should be elected too. Lim Ba-reun sarcastically said he must have loved every elected politican since they were elected by the public. He tells him grimly that no jury has ever found a policeman who had beaten up a Black man to be guilty. He also pointed out that Nazi, the Holocaust and Hitler were all supported by the public.

In this series, the premise allows all of these imaginings to be realised and played out. It is peak criticism, I think, when they portray the scenes of the TV producer being excited about the real-time ratings and viewer ratings. And also the scene of the broadcasting channel's chairman dancing in joy when he received realtime report of the ratings (vowing to treat his equally wealthy friends to a meal). Even when his other friend seemed appalled by the decision delivered by Judge Kang, the Chairman could not hide his joy in the skyrocketing viewership ratings. This really reminded me of the entire Produce 101 franchise which also heralded the shows for putting the decision in "The Nation's Producers" (ie. voters) and emphasised how it is the Nation Producers who put together ("produce") the National Kpop group that is bound for success and set to receive national love. All of this illusion collapsed (and the Korean franchise died along with it) when the court finds its producers guilty of voting manipulation. The Devil Judge seemed to have a similarly dramatic flair in its emphasis of TV production gimmicks, camera angles, cuts of a person's reaction, etc. The President of South Korea (who has a very light voice, a penchant for orotund speeches and a lack of concern for national policies) and all these top 1% of people tuned in were on the edge of their seats watching Judge Kang orchestrate this theatre of public trial. Kim Ga-On watched him closely and was sure that Judge Kang had something up his sleeves and was definitely up to no good, yet he couldn't tell. When he finally delivers a verdict (that yes, this was a case of professional negligence and not negligent homicide), Ga-On was crestfallen and frustrated because it carries a mere 5 year imprisonment maximum. But Kang turns the table and brings up the newly passed legislation which allows accumulative sentence which then resulted in 235 years of imprisonment.

This sounded very much like how some Korean netizens had previously wondered (online) why Korea couldn't have a sentencing system like the US where the years of imprisonment can go up to 100 years or 500 years. Again, this was like realising an alternative South Korea that many have perhaps tried imagining. Episode 1 ends with Judge Kang stepping down from his high seat when a victim's family member bowed deeply with her hands clasped, as though in prayer, and even kneeled to him. This corresponded well and tied perfectly into the religious/godlike imagery represented in the justice's robes which is reminiscent of the pope's robes and resembles a priest's robe, and the app they named DIKE or Diety of Justice (正義의 神). When Judge Kang hugs the old woman with a compassionate smile, teary eyed and full of empathy, he ends up yawning barely a minute into consoling the weeping woman. Ga-On witnesses this and realises, all of this must have been a gimmick after all. He had his hopes up when Judge Kang serves the sentence of 235 years. The episode ends.

I think this series is set to be a great one. (Just as Law School was amazing too!) It has tons of stuff to unpack, lots that goes into the cinematography and camerawork. While characters do seem a little more like caricatures rather than realistic people that are properly fleshed out in the narrative, there is still promise to push beyond these caricatures. I think there is also a lot in the imagery of dystopia and the constant bombardment of messages from the government (which is often the mainstay of dystopian fiction) which emphasises a certain narrative which they want the people to believe. For example, Kim Ga-On is travelling up the escalator when there were ads of the DIKE app, ads on electronic billboards on the justice system, paper posters plastered in the dark backalley where a high school girl is being dragged away by two men saying "The government will now create a safe South Korea". That last one is perhaps the most glaring one to me because when I was in Korea, it was repeated to me by different Korean individuals: "Your things are safe. No Korean will steal it. (Not sure about foreigners though!) You are safe. Crimes don't happen. I checked and there are no sexual offenders living in this neighbourhood." But... spycams can be anywhere. Men secretly follow women to their homes and try to break into them. Sexual harassment can happen anywhere. Robbery and theft can happen.

Personally, my paranoia and anxiety won't ever let me believe such words. No narrative, self-made or otherwise, can convince me enough to think that I am in a safe place. I would always have a nagging thought at the back of my mind telling me danger can be lurking just about anywhere. I think Koreans today do have high levels of confidence in their country. Most people do think it is safe to be walking around in the dead of night without any worry. (Again, I do not quite share the sentiment.) But this is a kind of self-made narrative because I also know my countrymen who travel to other countries like the UK and say "I feel absolutely safe walking the streets in the dead of night while I won't feel the same in my own country" when those are simply ideas they've planted into themselves through the mindset that [This country is better than my country and therefore safer.] There is absolutely no correlation between a "better" country and crime rates (or potential of becoming a victim of crime). Not to mention, being an Asian in a Western country sets you up as a likelier victim of hate crime...

So, I was saying.... This narrative of "safe Korea" is already existing in South Korea today. The need for mass surveillance or a spycam detecting task force in public toilets don't add up with a "safe country" image but the sentiment planted into the people seems to be strong despite all of this. However, Koreans do call South Korea "Hell Joseon". Youth unemployment can be a concern is a country like South Korea and a graying population, increasinly empty gray towns like the one mentioned in the series are all concerns which are ever-present in the public conscious. The mention of plauge and unemployment too must be a major concern now. In a rather similar vein, this narrative of DIKE or trial by the public through app voting creates a sentiment that people can take into their own hands and deliver justice. But what about the people at the margins of society who are homeless and do not own smartphones? What is this concept of democracy that places power in the hands of people? Is it a mere illusion or is power really in the hands of people?

..................................................................................................

(A side note on how the indicted chairman of the company responsible for mass poisoning of an entire town had brushed off concerns about a failing filtration system and the move of industrial plants to Southeast Asia. As a Southeast Asian, it is also something on my mind how South Korea has moved out of China and moved most of its plants to Southeast Asia for cheap labour. But what about the pollution here, the appallingly low wages they pay Southeast Asians (both white and blue collars!) in comparison to the few Korean expat managerial staff or engineers they station out here? I remember how I was at the hospital at 2 am and a small group of blue collar workers in their work uniform came in with their injured colleague; this can only mean they were at work past midnight due to some accident and we are still in the midst of the pandemic. What kinds of welfare and benefits are these blue collars provided with?)

#The Devil Judge #Park Jinyoung #Jisung #악마판사

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tilbageidanmark · 3 years

Photo

Movies I watched this week - 28

3 by Miyazaki:

✳️✳️✳️ Never-Ending Man: Another wonderful NHK documentary about Old Man Hayao Miyazaki after his 2013 retirement, and as he slowly comes around to create one more animation, the short ‘Boro The Caterpillar’. It follows him unobtrusively for a couple of years, walking from his simple house to his office at the studio, drawing drawing, struggling with self doubt and old age, and yes - driving a bit in his old Citroën 2CV.

It’s such a privilege to be so close to a legendary artist and watch him at close range - 8/10.

✳️✳️✳️ Kiki's Delivery Service, one of my most favorite Ghibli masterpieces, about a 13 year old witch, who flies on a broom to a new city in order to build her independence. With a magical score by Joe Hisaishi.

- Best film of the week!

✳️✳️✳️ Castle in the sky, Miyazaki’s 3rd feature from 1986, an cyberpunk adventure fantasy which contains many of the elements and characters which will show up fully formed in his later films: Sheeta looks like Kiki, Dola behaves like Yubaba, Pazu as a stand in for Haku, etc. I prefer his quieter, more personal, smaller stories.

✴️

Exit Plan (“Suicide Tourist”) is a Danish film about a quiet man with a terminal brain tumor who signs up for an upscale Norwegian hotel specializing in assisted end-of-life fantasies. Starts as a dark existential tale, ends with a kind of ambiguous mystery.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is the guy.

✴️

The Aerial (”La Antena”) is an innovative Argentinian silent film from 2007, about a city that had lost its voice, and its only savior, a boy without eyes who is crucified on a Star of David. It’s a surreal allegory in German expressionism style, a weird black & white fantasy about mind control. In short, a unique and inaccessible fairy tale.

“Mommy, are you there?...”

(Photo Above)

✴️

For comparison, I revisited ‘Un Chien Andalou’, Bunuel & Dalí disturbing, groundbreaking masterpiece. Even though every outrageous frame of it is part of history now, the raw imagery is still shocking - Pure id. I can’t imagine being in the room in 1929, and watching it for the first time. No wonder the two surrealists were disappointed at the audience's positive reception.

✴️

2 from French director Mia Hansen-Løve:

✳️✳️✳️ The Future / “Things to come“ from 2016. Isabelle Huppert is a resilient middle-aged philosophy professor whose life suddenly suffers multiple setbacks.

It only has 6 scenes with background music, each punctures the quiet delivery of the story at an emotional peak: A Schubert lieder, a Woodie Guthrie song on the radio, a lullaby...

I loved it!

✳️✳️✳️ Goodbye First Love tells about a romance between a 15 year old and a boy who leaves her, and then comes back 8 years later, after she settles down.

Unhurried, sensitive story-telling, reminisces of Eric Rohmer, with careful use of music and language. It also has a couple of scenes shot here at the Kastrup Sea Baths and on the grounds of Louisiana museum.

Loved it! I’m looking forward to see her new ‘’Bergman Island’.

✴️

Love in the afternoon, the last of Eric Rohmer’s ‘6 Moral Tales’. Exploration of sexual and spiritual virtues in 1972 Paris, by a traditional married man who carries on a platonic love affair with an old flame.

✴️

The White Ribbon - Austrian Michael Haneke’s dark, multi-layered tragedy. In 1913, a series of upsetting events occur in a small German village. A horse trips on a wire and injures its rider; a woman falls to her death through rotted planks; the local baron's son is hung upside down in a mill; parents bully their children; a man torments his long-suffering lover; another sexually abuses his daughter. People disappear.

Relentless inquiry into abuse, cruelty and despair. Shot in gorgeous Bergmansk black & white.

(This is an Italian speaking copy). 8/10

✴️

2 more from 1973:

✳️✳️✳️ First watch - Soylent Green, a pessimistic science fiction story happening in 2022. Very prescient in its dystopian prediction of global warming, over population, resource depletion and income equality.

The 2 minutes opening montage was paced brilliantly. 7/10

✳️✳️✳️ In Scarecrow, Gene Hackman and Al Pacino are two drifters who becomes friends as they hitchhike from California to Pittsburgh. 6/10

✴️

In Pig, Nicholas Cage is a reclusive mountain man, living out in the woods outside Portland, OR, gathering truffles with a female pig, who is his only friend. One night, some tweakers attack him and kidnap the pig. His journey to bring her back takes him on a surprising and completely unexpected places.

Very un-American!

✴️

“… and Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln”

6 episodes of the 1982 TV series Police Squad!, a spoof of police procedurals - shorter and funnier than the Naked Gun movies which it later spawned. Zucker-Abrams-Zucker production.

“Who are you? And how did you get in here?

- "I'm a locksmith, and I'm a locksmith”

✴️

“Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?'”

Every time I watch Hot Fuzz, it gets better. "Not just one of the best comedies of all time, it’s one of the best movies of all time", for sure.

Editor Tony Zhou, of ‘Every Frame A Painting’, shot an excellent video essay ‘How to do visual comedy’ about Edgar Wright.

Jim Broadbent as Inspector Frank Butterman: “He had one thing you haven't got... A great, big, bushy beard! “

✴️

Re-watch: Wag the Dog, blackest of black comedies, utterly cynical, nihilistic view of politics. Americans can always be distracted, can always be manipulated, and can always be led to believe anything the powers-to-be needs them to. You can fool all of the people all of the time.

“Look, look, look. He's fine as long as he gets his medications...”

Amazingly, it premiered one month BEFORE the Lewinsky scandal!

✴️

The Invisible Guest, a forgettable and predictable Spanish murder-mystery thriller from 2016. Best part was the soft, minimalist European style score (or am I just going deaf?)

✴️

How to Become a Tyrant, a new docu-series narrated by Peter Dinklage. 6 short episodes about Hitler, Stalin, Gaddafi, Kim Il-sung, Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein. (Mao is referred to, but doesn’t get his own chapter).

And it doesn’t mention trump, even as a Wanna be Dictator - probably because he didn’t succeed in his (first) attempt.

✴️

Seaspiracy, the most depressing documentary I’ve ever seen. Ali Tabrizi starts investigating plastic pollution in the ocean, and quickly realizes that it is commercial fishing that is the bane of our existence. Basically all fishing must be banned, as there will be no more live fish in the seas in 2048. There were some ‘controversies’ about the claims the movie makes, but they came from mainstream entities, who support incremental change.

Utterly disgusting: We deserve all that befall us.

✴️

A colorful and dramatic Vatican drama, The Two Popes, with excellent ‘Odd Couple’ performances by Anthony Hopkins as the first Pope in 700 years to step down and by Jonathan Pryce who doesn’t want to succeed him. Re-watch.

- - - - -

Throw-back to the art project:

Salvador Dali Adora.

Kiki Delivery Service Adora.

- - - - -

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

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smilepal · 3 years

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👥 Describe your initial concept of a character, and what they’re like now.

❌ Share a plot point you were planning that has been scrapped. (If you haven’t changed any major plot points, share something minor you’ve altered.)

🎭 Are there any characters that play a bigger role in the story than initially planned? If so, why?

📚 Name a book or story that influenced you. (Alternatively, name an author/writeblr whose work or advice influenced you.)

Well I’m going to answer this using my cyberpunk OCs because most of the writing I do these days tends to be academic and dreadfully boring (and lacking in interesting plot points/character intrigue 😅)

1.) Hiro started out as an original character that ended up being shaped to fit the cyberpunk universe. I’d known I’d wanted to play with a futuristic universe at some point. I’d recently watched the Blade Runner movies and wanted to explore that genre more deeply, and it got me thinking about grimy cityscapes and lots of neon lights (and ever-present curtains of rain). Hiro started as a street punk/troublemaker and in that regard, not much has changed. He still finds himself neck-deep in trouble, and has a very anti-government (or in the CP universe--Corpo) mindset. His personality has changed/deepened though. He’s become more empathetic, and has a stronger code of ethics. There’s also more vulnerability there, it just takes time to see it/for him to trust someone enough to show them. He did get an even angstier backstory though so it’s a trade-off 😂

2.) Oh boy how long do I have? A lot has changed. As far as smaller details go--Hiro’s fighting style has changed pretty drastically (not at all inspired by the fact that I apparently cannot aim a gun in-game to save my life). He’s more of a close-range/melee fighter now, that rushes into the fray instead of being patient and using a sniper rilfe on enemies (which was intitally his style). He was also better at stealth. I mentioned it before, but his personality has changed and is a bit softer/more empathetic. He was orignially much more unlikeable/colder and even I didn’t like him very much. He started out as much more of the “asshole main character who is the “good” guy even though he’s not very nice” and I’m way happier with him now. His relationship with other characters has also changed a lot, especially with the inclusion of Vic. His relationships with other characters have definitely gotten healthier--and went from eh he thinks they’re attractive so he’d probably go for them to “you don’t need someone to date--you need a good fucking role model and someone to call you on your bullshit, and healthy platonic/familial relationships”

3.) One of the biggest characters that has played a role in my story is the inclusion of Vic. I’d intiallly thought of Hiro’s story being completely separate from hers, and it started as “oh how do you think those characters would react? They have such different personalities, would that work?” and a curious question turned into--”oh my god we’ve been talking about this for four hours and it’s almost 3am and we need to sleep but lets talk more about this tomorrow” She’s definitely helped me to develop deeper nuances in Hiro’s personality, and how he interacts with others, not just with in-game characters. I’ve also learned a lot about writing about character relationships because of her--even ones that, while beneficial for both parties aren’t perfect. They can be messy and ugly, but still have possibilities for growth present too. Both her and Hiro have also made me re-consider how I write characters with trauma/do better research and not just draw on past/personal expriences/have made me a more mindful writer.

4.) Honestly, I’ve always been really inspired by reading my friends writing/seeing their characters/how they develop them and it’s definitely had a lasting influence on my personal writing style. I did grow up reading a lot of fantasy novels and that’s definitely one of my preferred genres of writing. Sci-fi/futuristic settings are still new for me, and its been fun exploring new settings. I’d previously thought I didn’t like the genre that much, so I’m happy to find that isn’t always the case. I have a definite soft spot for Victorian pieces--I love the aesethetic and elements of horror that are often worked in.

Hiro is mine but Vic belongs to @shinycorvidae

Thanks for asking! These really made me dig into my writing a lot. Always happy to answer ☺️

#cp2077 #writing about writing #Writing memes #hiro oda #Cyberpunk hiro #victory delvin #character development #character growth #platonic relationships are healthy too kids

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wickednerdery · 4 years

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Title: Out of Time: High Time Author: @wickednerdery Fandom: Marvel Pairing/character: Loki x Stark!OC Rating: Mature Summary: “I intend to enjoy this realm to its fullest.” Notes: Continuing my strange little foray into cyberpunk with Loki on a futuristic Earth (after his escapes with the Tesseract in Endgame?). Bits of drug use, mainly, in this one!

Masterlist - Previously

While the brothers are eager to leave, Loki lingers, strolling along The Power Strip with great interest. It was chaotic, more so than the black market even, but thrillingly so. Music and sweet smelling smoke pours from various open doors, beings mingle and crush and drink together with a rowdiness that makes the god smile.

“We should lay low for awhile,” Cyro instructs, then continues. “I’ll go ahead, make sure it’s clear, then send the intel.”

“Nonsense, what in the nine realms for?” Loki dismisses, picking a club at random to enter.

Cyno gives a nod of acknowledgement to his brother, then follows the other. “Because we just jacked what, I’m guessing, are mutant ballerina’s from a major corp. You think they won’t come after them, after us, with everything they’ve got then you’re insane.”

“Possibly.” Loki chuckles, ordering a drink before leaving Cyno to cover it when his mind trick doesn’t work. He slips easily to a recently vacated table and shifts into a form more suited to the crowd of patrons. “But no matter. Now that I’m clear of your petty debt, I intend to enjoy this realm to its fullest.”

"By clubbing?”

“No,” Loki laughs him off. “No, I’m going to finish my drink and then seek out Ms. Stark.”

“She could still be in on this thing, you know?”

“I doubt that.” Anything is possible, of course, but Loki will happily play the odds on this one. “And, either way, now I’ve something for her. Something of interest.”

“Blackmail.”

“Information.”

The man sighs, rather giving up on his anarchist employer. “You keep causing static, they’re gonna pull your plug.”

“I welcome the attempt.” Because ‘they’, whoever they are, would lose. “Now have a drink and relax, for Norns’ sake.”

“No thanks.” Cyno wants out. Out of Loki’s presence, out of the bar, out of The Power Strip...He wants out of it all and into safety, if he can find it.

A dark laugh of amusement escapes the god’s lips as he drinks, eyes following his (former?) employee’s exit. He stays, watching those around him, before two Midgardian beings enter. While his interest starts as merely passing when he catches bits of conversation, and realizes it’s about Ms Stark, he keys in.

The walls pulsate, the floor rolls, as Hak helps Ana out into open air. She takes a deep breath, but only inhales lingering tainted smoke. There’s a rush, her stomach turns and knees give way before the officer catches her under the arms.

Hak digs into pocket, pulls out a spare mask. “Cover your face, I’ll give you a clarifying tab in the car.” It’ll clear her mind enough to function until the drugs leave her fully and she crashes out.

She slips the fabric over her nose and mouth, blocking enough smoke not to be re-upped. As they approach the unmarked car Ana sees someone in the crowd that both surprises and confuses her.

“Ana!” Orson calls out, his tone more amused than cross. “I’ve been looking all over for you, where have you been?”

“Where you found me,” Ana slurs her counter. “...Whoever you are...Not Orson.”

“Yes, well...” Orson’s chuckle is close-lipped before he carries on. “I think it’s time we get you back home.”

“I was just taking her,” Hak offers.

Orson’s eyes flick to the other without recognition, then back to Ana. “I can take her, you should return to your...usual tasks.”

Something about Ana’s Head of Security’s behavior is off, but Hak can’t pinpoint what, exactly, it is. “Okay...” He looks to Ana. “Let me know when you’re home.”

There’s a hum of a reply when she wavers from one into the other’s arms. She instantly realizes something is wrong; this is not Orson. “I...I’m gonna be sick!” She stumbles away, retches and vomits up red from Lace. She digs into pockets, finds her own clarifying tab, and sets it against her wrist to be absorbed. It’s for emergencies, overdoses, but she needs to be clearheaded enough to self-protect. At least until she’s sure this person isn’t an outright threat. Ana returns steadier, but the supposed Orson takes her arm nevertheless. “I’m fine.”

“Nonsense, Stark.” His grip tightens as she tries to pull away, he stares directly into her eyes. “Just let me help.”

Now she knows who it is, but says nothing except to concede, say goodbye to Hak. By the time they are exiting The Strip she’s reactivated her ID coding and discreetly begun charging her shock bracelet. “Where are we going, Loki?”

The facade of Orson fades with a laugh; Loki grins. “Your home, of course.”

“I’m not bringing you to my home.”

“Oh, but you should.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’ve important information for you, and I imagine yours is the safest place to share it.”

Ana looks the god over carefully, wary. “What kind of information?”

“The important kind,” he smirks back, unwilling to budge.

“Tony, get a secure car. return the bike”

Ana is passable as sober by the time they arrive, which makes the news all the more enraging. “Are you sure?” Osborn was a weaselly, money-grubbing, power-hungry, asshole not to be trusted...but this went beyond that.

“What purpose do I have to lie?”

“You’re the god of lies.” And that was just the most obvious one. “Where are the girls now?”

“With their brother.”

“The Yak samurai?”

“Apparently.”

She nods, thinking, which is proving difficult in her comedown. “Do you...have any proof?”

“Besides the girls?”

“You don’t have the girls.”

“I could get them back.”

Her eyes lose focus a moment, she waivers, but when Loki moves towards her she puts up hand to stop him. “It’s fine, thank you.” She takes a deep breath, straightens. “You said you had help, from someone inside, what about him?”

“Cyro, I don’t know his last name, and his brother, Cyno, yes. I might be able to get Cyno, but I imagine the one you want will be less inclined to speak.”

“NDA?”

“What?”

“He signed an NDA, a Non-Disclosure Agreement?”

“Oh, I’ve no idea,” Loki dismisses. “But he’s not very fond of me.”

"Can’t imagine why after you blew up his cushy job for a major corporation.”

“Corrupt major corporation and I merely aided him in doing the right thing.”

“Right...” Ana smirks. “Well, thank you for the information. I’ll have my people look into it.”

“You don’t believe me.” He can sense it.

“If I took you at face value, I’d be an idiot.”

“Fair enough.” He smirks, steps closer.

“And I’m not sure why you’re even coming to me in the first place.”

“The goodness of my own heart?”

Ana snorts. “Don’t insult my intelligence.” He wants something, she’s just not sure what.

“Perhaps, if I can get the brothers to speak to you, that would be helpful?” Loki switches topics rather than risk being pressed for an answer.

“It would.” She’ll still have them and everything Loki’s claimed thus far vetted, but it will help to hear their version of the story. “Now, if you’ll excuse me -”

“Oh, but I would like to speak with you more.” He’s no intention of leaving now that he’s gotten in.

“I...” Dizziness and nausea takes hold in a final wave, then leaves her with the deep exhaustion of a crash. “...Just...” She lowers herself onto the couch. “Need to rest.” Her yawn is long, wide, and body slumps forward to rest her head on a throw pillow. “...Hold on...”

Loki watches with a mix of confusion and amusement as the woman falls fast asleep before him. “Well, that was rude.” He heads over, examines her slumbering form. “...But interesting...” The god crouches to meet her eye line, then reaches out to tuck a bit of blond hair behind her ear. “What an odd creature you are, Ms Stark.”

Because it’s been so long...Hak is Hak Barton, descendant of Clint “Hawkeye” Barton - he’s police and human - “Tony” is her AI (like JARVIS and FRIDAY with the OG Tony Stark), and Orson is (when not actually Loki like in this piece) is Ana’s mutant head of security. All else you’ll just have to go back to prior pieces to figure it all out, lol! But, haha, yeah, Loki decided this was the best way to get closer to Ana...I honestly don’t think he felt he had anything else that might hold her attention long enough. So now the fox might be in the henhouse, as it were, given Ana just passed out with him still there, LOL!

Gifs made off ones I found on Google, then combined myself.

Still/Always playing with this one, feel free to share ideas/thoughts/suggestions/headcanons!! 😉

Tagging: @lady-crowned-with-stars, @beccaliciooouuusss, @fuckthatfeeling, @v-2bucky, @ultrarebelheart, @tarithenurse @latent-thoughts @chibiyanai @lukeevansandjdmobession @sweetfictionalworld @ladyfluff @theangelsfightwithdevils @holykryptonitekitten @kpopgirlbtssvt @michellearel1 @mousee555 @dangertoozmanykids101 @toozmanykids @iwasbusybeingdead …If you wanna be added, just lemme know!!

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teaandgames · 4 years

Text

The Tea Times - June 2020

Well, we’re officially over halfway through the year at this point. I know for many people it feels like we’re dragging ourselves over that point but try and keep your chin up. All bad things must end. In the world of games it’s been a rather packed month, with some high profile releases and some unexpected announcements coming out of the woodwork. Hopefully that’ll tide us over for the second half of the year where things will, hopefully, start to look up.

At A Glance

Valorant, Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, Desperados III, The Last of Us Part II, Summer in Mara and Pokemon Cafe Mix released.

Resident Evil 8: The Village, Crash Bandicoot 4, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2, Pokemon Unite, Pokemon Snap and Lost in Random announced.

Kingdoms of Amalur is getting retooled!

Rumour mill: Far Cry 6 and Batman!

UK strikes out at loot boxes!

Playstation 5 is revealed!

Cyberpunk 2077 Re-Delayed!

The Releases

My goodness there’s a lot to get through this month. Let’s begin with Valorant, a team shooter developed by Riot Games. Many team shooters have jumped up and been smacked right back down but Riot Games, the League of Legends lads, have some proper grunt behind them. I’ve heard a lot of positive chatter about Valorant, and seen some exciting videos, so there’s every chance. I’m too incompetent for these type of games but if you’re not then it released on PC on the 2nd June.

I’m also too incompetent for Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection but that’s not going to stop me. While it’s not much of a collection, containing only Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Alert, there’s a lot of love in the package. The retooled art is nice to see, while also preserving the spirit of the original. It’s a heavily nostalgic game and a reminder of when RTS games were about the base building and not screaming at your teammates. If you fancy a trip down a FMV-laden memory lane then it was released on the 5th June.

Desperados III caused some long forgotten light bulb to spark in my head, though I can’t really explain why. It’s a real-time stealth game set, rather unsurprisingly, in the Wild West. Was there much stealth there? My mind has been too corrupted by images of people blind-firing at each other with revolvers. Still, Desperados III seems to have an action element to it as well for when you’re bored of killing people and stashing their bodies. It’s also getting decent reviews too, which is encouraging. If you fancy some rootin’-tootin’ throaty slittin’ then Desperados III came out on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on the 16th June.

Summer in Mara is a funny one. It popped up constantly on my Facebook, sending me ad after ad. Normally this would turn me against a game but, in a rare twist, it actually got me pretty excited. It’s a farming game, with an exploring element to it and I am all about that. It also looks gorgeous, in screenshots at least. I actually didn’t realise it was out yet so I will soon be booting up either Steam or my Switch to get on that. I’m ready to waste another hundred hours. It released on the 16th June.

Well now here’s one that’s been doing the controversy circle. Released on the 19th June, The Last of Us Part Two was quickly subjected to review bombing. Possibly because it committed the cardinal sin of acknowledging that the LGBT community exists. Ah well. That nonsense aside, it’s picking up top scores and awards, much like its predecessor. It appears to be heavily story focused though the physics, by the look of it, are top notch too. If you liked the original then give it a whirl. It was released on PlayStation 4 on the 19th June.

Even more unexpected is Pokemon Cafe Mix. Not too much to say about this one, to be honest. It’s a pleasant little puzzle game about serving folks in a cafe, which is staffed by Pokemon wearing adorable outfits. It’s free to play, with microtransactions, and seems like a nice little game to kill a few minutes. It dropped on the Switch on the 23rd June.

The Announcements

It seems like every five minutes, I found another game that had been announced. Not least of all is Resident Evil 8: The Village. If you remember, I adored Resident Evil VII and I hope that the sequel carries on its spirit. It’s certainly in first person and the trailer gives me hope. It also has an old man in a flat cap with a shotgun which always gives me hope. The trailer is absolutely dripping with symbolism too. It should be coming out next year.

Next in line of the unexpected sequels to nostalgic games is Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, which has a trailer set to The Rockafeller Skank just to maximise that early 2000s nostalgia. As you might expect, it’s about time. That title has its tongue buried deeply in its cheek. It looks like a proper return to form too, with bright colourful graphics and a fresh Cortex plan to ruin. While I never got on that well with the Crash Bandicoot franchise, I know a lot of people will be excited for the return to form. It’ll be out on October 2nd.

Lord, they are cranking out Bloodstained games, aren’t they? Back in 2018, the original Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon came out, which was an old school Castlevania game in all but name. A companion game, Ritual of the Night, made things 2.5D. Now however, we’re back to Curse of the Moon with Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. It looks like it keeps the old school Castlevania art style, which is nice to see. If you’re in the mood for an older flavour of game, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 will be out on the 10th July.

The second controversy on this list is a new Pokemon game, Pokemon Unite. In this case, the ire may well be justified. Pokemon Unite is a MOBA, of all the bloody things, which is a bit of an odd move. It’s a pretty heavily saturated genre, full of big names, and I don’t honestly know how much market Nintendo will be able to carve out of that. Add in the fact that it has a definite connection to Chinese company Tencent (which doesn’t have the best reputation) and it goes some way to explaining the mountain of dislikes the video has gotten. Ah well. A release date has yet to be announced.

What is much more up my street is Pokemon Snap for the Nintendo Switch. The original was one of the highlights of my emulation days. Basically, you ride on a little cart through the world of Pokemon, taking pictures of them in their natural habitat. Then Oak looks through them and reveals how weak of a photographer you are. It’s not a game for everyone but if you always wanted to see Pokemon frolic around like normal animals then Pokemon Snap is your game. No release date yet, though.

Still not too sure about Lost in Random to be honest. I think I just like me some dice games. It’s set in a fairly dark world where people’s fates are decided by a roll of the dice, but it also has something of an upbeat tone in the vein of Tim Burton. It’s an action-adventure game, with some pretty heavy looking combat, set in a gothic fantasy world and all of those are good things. If you like the sound of it, then Lost in Random will be out next year.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

Well this is one I wasn’t expecting. I did a whole piece about how the intellectual property had been handed around like a game of hot potato, even landing in the hands of the state of Rhode Island at one point. THQ acquired the property rights in the end and they’ve now announced that they are giving it a fresh coat of paint, which is being handled by the folks at Kaiko, who did the Darksiders remasters. So it should be fairly decent.

What confuses me is that the things they are working on are the graphics and the gameplay. The two things that Kingdoms of Amalur didn’t really suffer from. The game always looked pretty gorgeous, to be honest. It captured the spirit of a fantasy forest nicely. I never looked at it and thought, damn this needs retooling. Same with the gameplay really. It wasn’t anything amazing but it wasn’t screaming for a remaster.

Honestly, Kingdoms of Amalur’s biggest flaw was from the core design. The huge open levels with bugger all in it, quests that didn’t really do anything interesting and long lore dumps that put you to sleep. That’s not really going to change if you’re just doing surface level stuff. Still, we don’t know for sure what they’re changing so you never know. The remastered version should be out in August.

The Rumour Mill - Exotic Locales And Batman

The first of our rumours this month revolves around Far Cry 6. The latest entry Far Cry 5 was set in North America and revolves around a cult, which probably hits a little too close to home for some people. If that’s not your bag then you’ll be pleased to know that Far Cry 6 will be set somewhere more exotic. No exact details at the moment but I imagine there will be sunshine and clear waters. It’s also supposedly due to be released before April next year, COVID19 depending. If the rumour is true, we’ll hear more about this on July 12th.

For those more interested in the caped crusader then you may be interested to know that there’s a good chance of Warner Bros. announcing two Batman games in August this year. This rumour is fuelled by the fact that two domains have been registered. They point towards two titles, ‘Gotham Knights’ and ‘Suicide Squad’. The second one is more obvious and probably inevitable, given that we’ve had a whole film about them. Not sure about Gotham Knights though. We should hopefully have more info at DC’s fandome event on the 22nd August.

UK Says Loot Boxes Are Not OK

Following on from the example of companies like Belgium, UK ministers are asking for a review of evidence with regards to Loot Boxes in games. The issue comes from the definition of Loot Boxes as gambling. It’s not an unreasonable definition, as it encourages people to put in a varying amount of money for the chance at getting something rare and exciting. Everybody wins, of course, but most of the time it’s basic stuff that entices you to try again. Sounds like gambling to me.

People aren’t too happy with advertising gambling to under 18s so this decision has a lot of weight to it. If Loot Boxes are declared to be gambling, then games will be required to remove them or change them up so they can be sold to under 18s. They may even remove the games entirely. How enforceable that will be remains to be seen but it will likely make it harder for multiplayer games to be marketed in the UK. Not a happy thing but we’ll have to wait and see what the evidence says.

The Sleek, Sexy… Router?

Well here’s an interesting one. Sony released their first images of the PlayStation 5 design this month and people are already disagreeing with it. I can see why. It’s a very sleek, futuristic design. Minimalist white and grey in an obelisk like shape. I’m in two minds about it myself. On the one hand, it’s quite sleek and attractive. It doesn’t look like a ‘console’ which I think is a good thing. It looks memorable.

On the other hand it looks like a wireless router. You’ll have to make your own mind up on this one.

Re-delayed

Just a quick one to end on. CD PROJEKT RED are fully committing to making sure Cyberpunk 2077 is ready to go. To that end, it’s been delayed back to November 19th. They’ve been fully transparent as to why as well, which is refreshing. Essentially, while it’s good to go content-wise, they need extra time to go through everything and iron out those bugs. A good reason, as reasons go.

They did however release some new gameplay trailers to keep people going, so make sure to check those out to remind yourself why it’s worth waiting until November! That’s all for June, see you in July!

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sixteenandsixteenhundred · 3 years

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The Guy Who Saved My Life

Summary: This is an alternate epilogue to The Sun ending I wrote after several days of joking that I could’ve written a better plot (I'm not saying this actually is better it's just a silly little wish fulfilment piece I thought I would share). There are a few things that don’t exactly adhere to the world of 2077 simply because I think the stuff in the original TTRPG and Cyberpunk Red is cooler. This is also a reminder to everyone to go and read or re-read Never Fade Away.

Words: 2.6k

Warnings: Spoilers for several character deaths, as well as events that lead up to The Sun ending.

A/N: Is this a crappy first draft with minimal editing? Did I pressure myself to finish and post it before 2020 ends? Did I spend valuable time writing this when I have three unwritten essays due in soon? The answer to all of these questions is yes.

Also on AO3 here

‘Hello, Night City! Drag your asses out of your sad sack and turn to face the sky!’ The radio chirped as V pulled herself out of bed, greeted by the afternoon sun. She was on autopilot, completely lost to the chaos of the city below until the cold shock of the shower snapped her back to reality, if that’s what you want to call it.

‘But for all you sitting in the gutter, looking up at the smog, here’s someone you ain’t heard in a while - Johnny Silverhand!’

‘Off.’ V barked, but it came out ragged and broken. She coughed. Blood. The radio fell silent.

‘Good afternoon, V. I trust you had a restful sleep.’ Alva’s voice was flat, empty, it scratched at the back of V’s skull and sent tension down into her fists.

‘Not now, Alva.’ A quiet chirp and the AI fell silent. Obedient.

Finally, a moment to herself - she hated it. Hard to be alone when you don’t recognise the bitch in the mirror.

She remembered the stench of loneliness that had bombarded her at Kerry’s mansion. There was only one thing in this damn apartment that didn’t smell just the same. She pulled the first clothes she saw off the floor and managed to dress herself before reaching for the samurai jacket Rogue had given her.

She hadn’t worn it all week, but then again, she hadn’t done much that warranted getting dressed since everything had happened, since everything had gone wrong.

It didn’t make any sense. Johnny had been a construct in her head; he’d never worn the jacket and she’d never been able to smell the guy, but instinct told her it smelt of him - cigarettes and tequila and something she couldn’t even place. She pulled the sleeves down as far as they would reach, hoping to cover the tattoo.

Reality called again, or rather Emmerick did. ‘Ey, boss.’ Hearing a familiar voice helped more than she thought it would; hurt a hell of a lot more too though.

‘Em, shit. Couldn’t ask a favour, could I?’

‘For you? Anything.’

‘Tell him the job’s off the table.’ V waited for a response but wasn’t surprised that she didn’t get one. ‘No renegotiating, not some other time, just call it off.’

‘Sure thing,’ Emmerick replied. ‘Couldn’t come and do the honours yourself?’

‘I got something else I wanna do, besides, you can handle him; don’t be afraid to put some lead in him if he starts anything; fed up of that schmuck.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

‘Call me with anything urgent; I’ll drop by in a day or two. Oh, and call off Del, I won’t be needing that ride.’

‘Will do, boss, and no worries, take your time.’

Her agent flickered off as she hung up. Before heading out she grabbed the pistols, Pride and the Malorian, and donned Johnny’s aviators to hide her bloodshot eyes.

It wasn’t far to the alley behind Misty’s - V’d made sure she stayed in the neighbourhood, even if she didn’t amble about it the way she used to. The kids loitering on the steps gave her a wide berth, staring wide-eyed at NC’s newest legend, snickering behind their hands when she stumbled and slipped on a flyer. She managed to catch herself, but her heart sank as she waited for a snide comment that never came.

Viktor wasn’t shocked to hear the door open or the metal grate give way, but he sure was surprised to see V stood there before him. Neither he nor Misty had heard from her other than a quick call to say that she was alive, and rumour had it she’d only shown her face at The Afterlife, her own damn club, once or twice.

‘What can I do for ya, V?’ Viktor stood from his chair and welcomed her in.

V’s eyes scanned over the room for a moment, eyebrows creasing in confusion.

‘Fuck, Vik… I dunno.’ It hit her that she had no idea why she’d come here. ‘Don’t know why I’m anywhere anymore.’ V perched on the end of Viktor’s desk and closed in on herself; eyes cast downwards, shoulders hunched.

‘Sorry for bothering ya, Vik.’

He stepped forward and put a sturdy hand on V’s shoulder, crouching to make eye contact. She started a little at the touch but didn’t pull away.

‘Don’t worry about it, you’re always welcome here kid.’

‘Thanks.’ The gratitude was hushed and heavy with regret.

Viktor pulled his friend into a hug, and, for a long moment, there was only the muffled drone of the city above them.

Tears began to creep down V’s face, emerging from behind the glasses.

‘What the fuck am I gonna do, Vik?’ V posed a question they both knew he couldn’t answer.

She kept talking just to fill the silence of the clinic. ‘I killed ‘em all Vik. Rogue’d be alive if it weren’t for me.’

Viktor kept his arms tight around her, scared if he let her go she would crumble. ‘Rogue was great; she just had bad luck, nothin’ anyone could have done. Blood isn’t on your hands.’

V’s memories of that night were hazy but one stood out, crystal clear. Rogue’s body, limp and contorted in the bowels of Arasaka tower, Pride still clutched in her hand, finger on the trigger. The thought of it made her feel nauseous.

‘Isn’t it Vik? Whose is it on? What about Jackie and T-Bug? Evelyn Parker? Takemura? Scorpion?’

Her final question was choked out in a whisper. ‘What about Johnny?’

Viktor knew what he could say - Johnny Silverhand died 55 years ago to a bunch of greedy corpos - but he knew that wouldn’t do jack shit with the state she was in right now.

The heavy grate screeched open again. Nerves fried to shit, paranoia scratching at the nape of her neck, V turned, in one swift movement pulling the Malorian on whoever had intruded. She held the pistol in her left hand.

Shit.

Misty froze, raising the cups of coffee she held in each hand. ‘Only me, V.’

V holstered the gun, cursing under her breath as Misty approached, setting down one of the cups beside Viktor.

‘Sorry, shouldn’t’a barged in like that.’

‘Nah Misty, shit, I’m the one who pulled iron on ya.’ V removed the aviators and pulled her hands across her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and bruised, her skin gaunt and lifeless. Calling her a living legend might be a bit of an overstatement.

The buzz of NC set in again. The silence between the three friends was oddly comfortable, considering none of them had a damn clue what to say to each other.

A minute of shuffling and sparse eye contact passed before V put the glasses and a brave face back on.

‘I’m gonna head outta the city for the night.’

‘V...’ Misty wanted to stop her but knew she was pushing her luck.

‘I can’t stand it here; it’s all so loud. I gotta delta.’

‘Shit, can’t pretend to know what’s going through that head of yours. Just take care of yourself out there, kid.’ Viktor downed the last of his coffee before it had a chance to go cold.

‘I’ll drop by again tomorrow, promise.’ V’s voice was laced with guilt, desperate for her friends to stop worrying about her. ‘Managed to get some sleep last night, ya know.’

Misty and Viktor saw a familiar blank look set on V’s face as she gazed passed them, looking for something no one else saw.

‘Hey, that’s great V.’ Misty chirped.

‘Just as I was slippin' outta my head, finally, I-‘ Fuck. What was she doing? What did she think she’d say next?

There are some things you don’t tell anyone. The fact that, just as she lost consciousness, right arm stretched out across the empty bed, she could've sworn she’d felt cool, smooth chrome resting in her hand? That was top of the list.

Scrambling, tripping over her own words, V was quick to change the subject

‘You guys ain’t gotta word about me.’ She gave a single, hollow laugh. ‘Hell, I stormed Arasaka and made it out alive, or so I’ve been told - I’m untouchable.’

Viktor and Misty mustered their goodbyes. They wanted to reach out, ask if she wouldn’t stay in the city for tonight, they could all grab a pizza and talk crap until the sun came up again. But V had said it best herself; she was untouchable.

Jackie’s Arch was waiting for her back up in the alley. Sure, it wasn’t the safest place, but V preferred to keep it locked up back here. Besides, I wasn’t like keeping something in a garage has ever deterred a thief, she knew that from personal experience. She dragged the bike out onto the street and it revved to life, radio crackling over the noise of the engine.

‘-Significant roadblocks up in Northside. NCPD are aiming to clear the roads quickly but that’s about all the information we have. For now, we’d advise against any unnecessary travel through the district and we’ll keep you up to date with any breaking information.’ The announcer’s voice fizzled out and a song took its place. V sat for a moment, calculating, before speeding off ‘round a corner, cursing under her breath.

Autopilot set in again, and V was barely sure of where she was until a red light flashed up ahead of her. She considered just running it, but at the last moment, the bike came to a screeching halt.

Looking around, V recognised a few buildings, washed out and faded. She hated this part of town – never any good jobs and always tinged by some sad shadow of the past.

The lights turned orange but V’s eyes were instead cast down an alleyway, and she couldn’t resist the pull that drew her in.

Resting the Arch against a wall, V’s slow steps took her deeper into the shadows. The buildings here were old, concrete beginning to crumble, plants sprouting through the cracks – it was odd to see anything in this state. Sure, it wasn’t V’s favourite place to be but it was hardly bad real estate, and wild plants growing in the middle of NC? Not a typical sight.

Enchanted by the story this place wanted to tell her, V pushed on until she met the end of the alley. Looking up at the building before her, a memory stung in her chest. She’d never been here before.

There were no signs left to indicate what this place might’ve been, but plants burst from every escape they could find, moving gently in the wind to beckon V inside.

Then it hit her. She half expected that blue, glitching static, ‘Relic malfunction detected’ flashing across her vision, but there was only silence.

It was too quiet for Night City, even the noise and chaos seemed to have abandoned this place.

The doorway had collapsed in on itself a long time ago, a tree now twisting its way around the rubble, barring V from entering. She clambered up a rusted, crumbling fire escape, working on a muscle memory that wasn’t hers until she was two floors up, facing a boarded window.

It didn’t take V much effort to pry the brittle wood away from the building, which was just as well considering she had little left.

Through the window, V stood in a small entrance hall, remnants of a staircase falling away behind her. Putting a hand against the door before her, every ounce of strength evaporated from V’s body. She took a deep breath, a moment to calm herself down. In a weird twist of fate, she’d’ve given the world to see his flickering blue form right now.

Putting her weight against the door, V pushed into a larger room. Plants had escaped from their ornamental pots and weaved across the floor, a few even daring to entangle themselves in the gaudy chandeliers that hung from the high ceiling. Beneath the plants and long-settled dust, booths with plush, syn-leather seats were scattered with bottles and glasses, a few cheap pistols even scattered about.

Whoever abandoned this place was quick to delta. Probably had no idea they wouldn’t be coming back.

In the centre of the room sat a grand bar with a pale marble countertop. V pulled herself up to sit atop in, tucking her legs under her as she looked down onto the lower counter. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for.

A skewered receipt confirmed what she already knew:

ATLANTIS

3:16AM, MARCH 8TH 2024

The order was cheap vodka shots and a slew of cocktails she’d never even heard of, but that didn’t matter.

Dismounting to rain the cabinets below, V pulled out a bottle, the label long since faded and worn away. V tossed the lid onto the floor and took a long swig. Even then she couldn’t put a finger on the strange liquid, but it burned her throat and that was good enough.

V set the bottle down, trading it for a rusted corkscrew that had been abandoned half a century ago.

‘If these walls could talk…’ With that she deltaed, jumping down from the fire escape and pacing back over to the bike.

Somewhere along the way, the city gave out to dusty open fields, old Petrochem plants dotting the barren landscape. V pulled the bike off to the side of the road and began wading through the scrap and rubble to a familiar slab of concrete.

V wondered if anyone had been here since their visit; the metal sheet lay undisturbed bearing her messy inscription:

JS 2023

She flipped the sheet over – there was less graffiti on this side – pulled out the corkscrew, and got to work.

The sun had long since set by the time V was finished. She carved a thin channel and stuck the cool metal into the dirt at the edge of the concrete. After propping it up with a few worn-out tyres, she took a step back to admire the new inscription. Her penmanship, if you could even call it that, was shoddy, but she couldn’t care less if anyone else could read it.

Across the bottom were four names; T-BUG, SCORPION, EVELYN PARKER, GORO TAKEMURA, each with 2077 scratched below them. Above them were three more. On the left of the sheet;

RACHEL ‘ROGUE’ AMENDIARES

2077

STILL THE BEST

The right-hand side read;

JAQUITO ‘JACKIES’ WELLES

2077

“THE ONE THING WE CAN’T DO IS BE AFRAID OF OTHERS”

She’d left the central space blank until last, as if leaving it unwritten made it any less true. But eventually, she’d managed it, tears falling onto the metal as the night’s chill crept into her bones;

JOHNNY SILVERHAND

2023/2077

THE GUY WHO SAVED MY LIFE

Finally, V dug a small hole in front of her plaque, dirt embedding itself beneath her nails. She drew Pride and placed it in the earth before her. The Malorian sat heavy in her hand, and as much as she willed her hand to set it down beside Rogue’s pistol, every inch of her body resisted. The gun found its way back to the holster at her hip.

After burying Pride, V laid back on the concrete, looking up at the few stars that were visible once you left the city. She pulled a cigarette from a pack in one of the jacket's pockets – she certainly didn’t put them there – and lit it.

Closing her eyes, V tried not to think about the body below her. She pulled the jacket tight around her against the chill of the Badlands, alone.

#cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #cyberpunk 2077 alternate ending #alternate ending

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fuse2dx · 4 years

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August ‘20

Ruiner

Ruiner frames its action at an isometric tilt. There’s a lot of red; in the game’s interface, as the prominent colour of the neon lighting that adorns its stages, and in the blood that is frequently spilled. Its cyberpunk setting isn’t anything particularly new, but as a unifying aesthetic, the glitchy effects, and out-there personalities doing their best to cope in a dystopia do well to build a convincing and intriguing world. Stages are action packed and throb with electronic noise and big loud industrial bass hits, with the play being akin to an arena shooter; enemies surging at you in bite size, minute-at-a-time waves, with each of these closing out with a grading screen serving as the pat on the back to keep that dopamine rhythm pulsing. It’s a pretty hypnotic cocktail.

These stages evolve out of a singular hub city, and while it’s not particularly big, there’s just the right level of hubbub, and it has a lovely Hirusawa Susumu track acting as an excellent, melancholic mood-setter. Based on the size of its world and the the quick-fire action being split between a very small number of stages, it’s not surprising to say it’s fairly brief - I mean, how could it get so big? But what is important is that it’s plenty of fun and and has style by the bucketload. I got a good kick out of it.

Carrion

On one hand, a horror game where you play the horror is just the kind of flip on a genre that’s needed to freshen things up a bit. On the other, it’s one straight out of the spoof ‘Peter Molydeux’ playbook. What a carri-on.

... I’m sorry. After your initial escape from a lab, Carrion centres around a hub world, with individual stages then breaking off to allow for more specific themed stages. What you’re trying to do within these is to spread your big, goopy self around, where certain spots will act as save points but also count toward unlocking an alternative path back to the hub and opening up new routes in the process. What’s unique to this particular metroidvania take is that while there are new skills that open up new routes, your movement in general is uniquely freeform - point in a direction and off you go, free of any worries about platforming and the gravity that’d otherwise bind you. While it may not be the most precise movement given the size to which you grow - and boy does this become a point during some forms of combat - it does remain responsive, and quite fun to simply shamble about like a giant congealed blob of bloody, multi-toothed sinew-y mess. Everything scales up nicely on both sides of the fighting, with distraught pistol-equipped humans turning to shielded folks with flamethrowers, all the way up to drones and mechs that are just as mobile and / or deadly as yourself, even in spite of your own upgrades that allow for more ranged, varied, and sharper extremities. It’s not especially long, and is never so taxing as to demand too much expertise of you, but it is fun and importantly, quite unlike anything else out there.

Yoku’s Island Express

Pinball continues to feel like a lost art form to me, with the nuance of skilled play being more like a foreign language than another type of game you can easily pick up. Yoku, newly-appointed postmaster, is but a tiny little bug, and as such is indebted to these skills in his efforts to travel and clamber about an environment much larger than he. Flippers are casually littered about to shoot you from one area to the next, but there’s also plenty of sections you’re led to by the story that are small yet just detailed enough to play like a neatly sectioned off area of a complete table - complete with requirements for precise shots to move forward, and those inevitable moments where you have to sit back and watch as your ball falls with miserable, exacting precision between the flippers. Failure typically sets you back a few pickups, but given these are just as quickly re-earned, you’re never punished too hard - there’s certainly no three strikes and out mentality here. It’s a very friendly interpretation of pinball’s mechanics, and there’s a decent enough story layered on top, with its characters and art demonstrating enough pleasant charm that you can definitely see this being a great way to introduce pinball to a younger audience. That’s not to say it’s not enjoyable from an older player’s point of view - just that you know what’s being presented is a wisely palatable version of a classic hobby, rather than the arse-kicking ordeal you may be used to.

Rime

I am certain that Rime would love me to compare it to a certain Fumito Ueda PS2 game. There’s the ultra-minimal scene that’s set as a boy washes up on an island; a sparse, beautiful, somewhat Mediterranean set of landscapes, and with very few ways to interact with it all that don’t involve clambering over things or shouting out in wordless desperation. But as you’ll have noted, I haven’t found it in myself to justify using that game’s name here.

As much as I wanted to give this a chance, it often felt directionless, uninspired, and at worst, slow and tedious. The puzzles are derivative of any number of games I’ve played before, and the biggest danger is that you might assume as to their difficulty and over-engineer your approach, rather than not be able to tackle them. The platforming is simplistic and regularly drawn out with ledges, ledges, and more ledges to climb across and dangle from; even if you were to find a way to fall to your doom, as is tempting, it is unlikely to take you back much further than a few seconds. Crucially, there’s really very little to sink your teeth into on any front, and even when the game does finally start to weave some plot threads into the game’s canvas, it’s well into the latter half - long after I’d already racked my brains for any hint of an allegory that’d fit, and given up on expecting one. Sadly, to the point that the actual story felt like a cheap afterthought when it did finally start to unravel. This bounced off me much harder than I’d expected - I came away wishing it had forged a bit more of an identity and a purpose rather than just an aesthetic strung together with some weak elements of play.

If Found

As far as interactive elements in visual novel-type games go, If Found has a different approach to most. The story’s primarily told by means of a diary - one that’s full of witty observations, personal reflections and enigmatic sketches - that you actively erase as a means to push events along. The diary belongs to Kasio, a trans girl returning to their small Irish hometown after a stint away at university in the city; a return that’s not met in the warmest or most understanding fashion. As a mechanic, the erasure of this diary is loaded with meaning; peeling back layers of a scene often matches a more poignant set of observations, and the scrubbing of such personal details away offers a painful reflection on an identity being chipped away at. It’s very much a story about finding one’s self, about coming of age, and as it rides these highs and lows it does an excellent job in making you ride along these alongside the characters, and it does one hell of a job to make you think about the compassion that you both see and offer in the world outside. I’ll put my hands up and say that there are some elements of the story running in parallel to this main one that didn’t gel with me quite so well, but this is a minor footnote to an otherwise highly enjoyable play through. In a short space of time, Annapurna have done a great job in winning me over with their publishing choices - particularly in holding up the kinds of voices and ideas that fit these smaller titles so perfectly.

Double Kick Heroes

It’s a rhythm game. I like rhythm games! It’s about a zombie apocalypse. Oh no. It’s... a heavy metal rhythm game? Ok, maybe we can work with this.

After a trailer name dropping a bunch of familiar artists - Jinjer, Carpenter Brut, Gojira - what surprised me straight off was that none of these licensed artists featured in the game’s story mode. They’re all sectioned off in a separate menu, and while on the bright side they’ve each given a unique stage with a visual theming in keeping with the bands in question, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Instead, all tracks throughout the story were composed by just one person, and with only a small handful of featured musicians being included to diversify things. It starts with more (arguably) palatable hard rock numbers, but goes up to and includes grindcore, death metal, black metal and the like, meaning that not only is it going to put a lot of folks off right away, but that it’s asking a heck of a lot for one composer to cover all of these sub-genres with the appropriate care. While it was refreshing to hear some types of music I’d normally not expect to hear in a game, some tracks inevitably grated, and while I enjoyed some others, I wasn’t ever bowled over too strongly either.

The story itself is fairly by the numbers. It sees an on-tour band fighting back against a zombie uprising, and has unsubtle references to any number of heavy artists, albums and songs shoe-horned in at every opportunity. It also bears the hallmarks of its dialogue being written by someone that has a very particular sense of humour which personally all fell very flat. While the team undoubtably do love music, the over-enthusiastic style rubbed me in a similarly uncomfortable fashion as Jack Black does regularly, with his half-comedian, half-musician schtick. The gameplay itself is based around the drum parts of its songs also corresponding to different weaponry on your car that holds the hordes back, and while this on its own can prove tricky, higher difficulties also mounts other expectations - like steering your vehicle, or alternating pedals to shoot different parts of the screen. Some of my frustration with all of this is likely my own fault for having chosen to play on the ‘Hard’ difficulty, but traditional wisdom feels a little bit lost when you can still get damaged when your combo meter is racked up well into triple digits.

In all, Double Kick Heroes presented some pretty unique gaming scenarios; like having to work out the best controller configuration to play blast beats with, or asking out loud “did I just hear the words ‘we are Genital Absolution’ coming from a Nintendo console?”, and it’s clearly a small team working on something they really care about. I respect that. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was hoping, but I hope they’re proud of what they’ve created.

Manifold Garden

A puzzle game taking significant inspiration from the works of M.C. Escher is a pretty good starting point in my eyes. It being presented in a wonderful manner certainly doesn’t harm either; from the UI all the way into the game, it’s beautifully clean and defined, opting for delicate shading rather than messy textures, and with its intricate, recursive geometric patterns, you’ll likely find cause to stop and take stock on a regular basis.

One button looks after your basic interactions with the world (pushing, picking up, and so on), with your other crucial way of interacting with the world being the ability to approach a surface and then assign it as ‘the new down’ - spinning everything about an axis, planting your feet to it, and changing your perspective on everything. There’s a nice steady introduction of puzzle pieces as you ease your way in, but they all stem gracefully from these simple mechanics. That I - not the world’s greatest puzzle gamer - was able to enjoy this without every getting too stuck may hint at it perhaps not being as complex as some puzzle fiends might desire, however this amounted to me coming out the other side with great waves of satisfaction, and nought but positives to say. I would go so far as to say that it’s the most fun I’ve had playing a puzzle game in a long, long time, and to boot it’s also perhaps the game where I’ve used the screenshot button the most copiously. Wonderful stuff.

#ruiner #carrion #yoku's island express #rime #double kick heroes #manifold garden

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comfort-questing · 4 years

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hey look, I was cleaning my closet and found (among many other things) some stuff I wrote years ago… so tidying it up and presenting a weird little cyberpunk/fantasy/whatsit

…She fell while climbing the Memorial steps - she was not entirely sure how it happened, and dazedly she picked herself up and climbed on because she still had to get to the top, after all. The bronzed door swung silently back from her hand at her gentle shove.

Lady Arden, wearing extremely tidy-looking armor with a spotless gray uniform surcoat, was sitting on on the hallway benches just inside. She raised her eyebrows in sudden notice.

Mika saluted. “Ma’am.”

“Mika.” Lady Arden dispensed with titles and such - no “Shadow Captain Simons,” not even “well met” or “hullo.” “Mika, you need to rest.”

“I can’t, ma’am. I’m here for ammunition and off again.” There was goblin blood spotting her boots, she saw as she looked down, and an uneven purplish splash of it on her trouser knee. She realized her gaze had dropped, then, and quickly returned it to Lady Arden’s worried face.

“How long has it been since you’ve had a rest?”

These were numbers she thought she’d never forget. “The attack came at 9:07 PM on the 17th, ma’am.”

Lady Arden’s blue eyes were hard as elfshot, perhaps as cold. “It’s now 2:55 AM on the 20th. I won’t ask you for the maths - that’s far too long. You can’t continue like this. Something will slip.”

“Are these orders for all the captains, ma’am?” There was something behind Lady Arden’s eyes that made her uneasy. Or perhaps she’d been fighting back the tides of dark creatures so long that it was hard to recognize a look of anything save fear or rage or pain.

Lady Arden nodded. “All captains returning will have the same, if that’s what you mean.”

Mika could feel her breath rushing in and out, swelling smoke-dry lungs and rustling through a throat hoarse with shouting. She let herself think about rest, about her cot in the bunkroom - heavens, about any horizontal surface in a place not under immediate attack - and almost wavered. “But - ma’am, I’m - I can’t just vanish off duty now.”

Lady Arden’s lips became a thin, puckered line. She seemed about to speak, then turned as the hall door opened and one of the younger runners stepped into the foyer.

“Ma’am,” the runner said in a small flat voice, “you’re wanted in the clinic. Clearances and questions regarding the Shadow Captain Zorrin.”

In that silent moment after, Mika felt her world softly turning upside-down.

The runner was new and tousle-headed, probably recently invited; he quailed at Lady Arden’s eyes and stepped back. Lady Arden swore, a few measured and deliberate words, then - “Not with others present, you.”

“Rann? Ranevna Zorrin?” Mika heard herself repeating dumbly.

“Yes.” Now Lady Arden’s hands were on Mika’s shoulders, their faces a reach apart. “You captains have been running on four hours of sleep a night for weeks, and we’ve had you out for the last two and a half days now, against every kind of goblin creature and the worse they can give us. Go. To. Bed.”

“I don’t want to go to bed.” She blinked dizzily into Lady Arden’s face. “I want to see Rann.”

“Your feelings about going to bed are unimportant. Your thoughts about going to bed are not important.” Lady Arden gave her a little shake, making her sway on her feet despite the gentleness of it. “The important thing is that you go to bed, all right, Mika?” She let go of Mika then. “And you do not want to see Shadow Captain Zorrin; you do not want to see what happened to her, not on this little sleep I promise you don’t.”

All things echoed a little, somehow, and seemed far away. Mika shook her head. “No. I do want. Take me to her, and I’ll rest as long as you like, after.”

Again, Lady Arden’s surcoat seemed too bright, too clean; her hand too languid and thin in its leather half-glove as she gestured toward the door. “All right, Mika. We’ll go, then, both of us.”

It was not that Mika had never been to the clinic before. They all had, for flu and chills and sprung ankles and such. But like the rest of them, the Memorial building clinic had changed and readied for war. You knew, somehow, that no one was there for a cold anymore, even when you were still halfway down the hallway from the door. Something in the soft flutter of voices, the urgent patter of feet, the mechanical whir of dim noises.

Some luckless girl from Gamil’s division was waiting on the bench outside the clinic door, cradling a bent arm against her; it took Mika a moment longer to see the bloodied plastic tokens in her hand of another fighter’s death - an arm-cuff now lightless with the buckles undone, a division medallion. One of the runners was helping her up now, opening the door into the clinic proper. Another came to Lady Arden. “Ma’am - regarding the Senior Shadow Captain - “

“When we’re alone.” Lady Arden cut her off sharply, with a gesture to Mika. “This one to see the Senior Shadow Captain while we talk. Give her a blanket and a bit of floorspace after, if she won’t go to her room.” She shot a hard look at Mika before the runner separated them, but there was sympathy behind her eyes now.

Mika did not know what to expect when the runner waved her into the room where her friend lay. She stood frozen for a moment, taking all in at once - the predawn dark outside the round window, the row of blinking incomprehensible lights along the edge of the shallow basin-shaped cot, and the tattered shape lying there protected beneath the half-cover of glass.

“Rann?” Her whisper was swallowed without a trace by the hush of the room.

Rann’s face was covered from the lips up by bandages; her chest barely rose and fell under her ragged, blood-stiff surcoat that was now more dark than gray. They had left her in her gear, and even the wide cuff on her left wrist remained, patterns playing meaninglessly across it in a vain attempt to establish connection. Part of the left side of her armor and surcoat had been cut away, Mika saw as she stepped closer, and what was beneath was covered, too, by clean white bandages. Her right arm held needles and monitor leads, taped to her bruised skin, connected no doubt to the dreadful and confusing lights-scatter in the edge of the cot.

“Rann, it’s Mika…”

No answer.

Mika was still holding the blanket and pillow the runner had handed her, hugged against her as if in protection. As she felt herself slipping, her knees giving way, she somehow managed to fumble her armload outwards.

Between landing on the floor and sleep there was hardly time for thought, much less for the tears already welling under her closed eyelids. She did not hear the door open, did not hear the doctors come in, but they stepped around her cautiously, and one remarked softly, “I’m not sure this one really cares much about the promotion, somehow.”

–

When she woke, her arm-cuff was signalling, whistling to her about status changes. Acting Senior Shadow Captain, it said, the letters blinking at her.

Acting Senior. With that it all came back to her. She jolted awake, sitting up, gasping at the tug and burn of sore muscles and re-opened cuts.

Rann. Rann must still be alive, or she’d be Senior free and clear, none of this Acting matter.

From across the room, a soft voice in the dimmed lights: “Oh, dear. You shouldn’t have woken yet; it’s only just dawn now.”

It was one of the nurses; Mika thought she recognized her from previous careless times. “How’s Rann?”

The nurse shook her head a little. “Fading,” she said. “And maybe the best thing for her now, poor girl.”

You did not call a Senior Captain poor girl, thought Mika - and you did not say that death was better, no matter what pretty terms you put on it -

In the covered cot, Rann lay under a blanket now, her gear off and the battered cuff taken from around her wrist. Mika wondered if wherever they’d stashed it, it still read Senior Shadow Captain. There was still the pale blue drape over the upper part of Rann’s face, laid lightly, concealing.

Before the nurse could chide, before the sick fear in her stomach could stop her, Mika reached out and, careful not to touch her friend, pulled the cloth back.

Long jagged gashes, draggled skin stitched carefully together, the right side of Rann’s face a patchwork of bruised skin and bloody lines. Even the empty socket where her right eye had been was seamed and scored darkly. The soft tawny hair had been clipped away back from her face, leaving her smaller, vulnerable-looking, like the child in the picture of long ago that she kept on her dresser in the bunkroom…

The nurse was clucking her tongue and elbowing Mika back. “Your hands aren’t even clean, you’re still exhausted, you shouldn’t be troubling with this anyway. Let her go in peace, child.”

Mika startled upright. “Do you,” she snapped, shaking, as she stepped away, “have any idea who I am anyway? I’m Mika Simons. Acting Senior Shadow Captain Simons.” The anger was almost a relief in its clarity. “I’m not a child and she isn’t a poor girl and we are fighting to protect this city. If we’d wanted to avoid nasty stuff and blood and pain we’d be in the shelters now, not here. And as for Rann - she’s my friend, and nothing will make me give her up till I know she’s dead.”

Silence. More silence.

“Or then,” Mika heard herself add.

Across a brief space of air, the nurse was looking more surprised than anything else.

“I’m sorry,” she said after a moment, her voice calm. “I didn’t recognize you, dear - I mean, I didn’t recognize you, Acting Senior Shadow Captain.”

“That’s more like it,” Mika said. She reached down, very carefully, and let the tip of her finger brush the back of Rann’s hand. She thought she saw her friend’s fingers twitch in return, but she didn’t allow herself a second look; it was better to believe so than otherwise. Her head was spinning again. “Take good care of her. I’m - I’m going to sleep some more, before I head out again.”

“I’ll get a cot for you?” said the nurse tentatively.

“No.” She felt her smile stretch painfully across the grazes and bruises of her face. “No, the floor’s fine.”

#lady whump #whump #whomp #i dunno all the tags #crow writes a thing

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audiogrizzly · 4 years

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Top 5 Games of 2019

It was a little tricky to construct a top 5 for this year, though there have been a couple of surprises. I wasn’t expecting the year to be a bit crap as we are no w on the cusp once more of a new generation. But 2012 wasn’t all that bad of a year (PS4 and Xbox One would release in 2013) and at the moment, everyone is doing alright. PS4 has sold through over 100 million systems, Nintendo are definitely on an “on” generation with Switch, Xbox has been able to get back into peoples good books with things like Game Pass (on both Console and PC, their PC side they seem to really be turning around), there’s even interesting things happening in the mobile space with Apple Arcade.

This won’t be the last year where my top 5 games are full of current gen titles, I am expecting the new systems to drop in around November, last time it was hard to find a top 5 specific to PS4 (as I listed each platform separately back then). It IS however, another list of mostly AAA tier games. If you want to know what smaller more “interesting” games I have been playing, check out my honourable mentions at the end.

Also, follow me on Melee. It’s this new image blogging service from Imgur which you can download now on the IOS App Store (its just on iPhone at the moment) and it has seemingly been built to help people share gaming related clips and images off of places like Twitter and Instagram (and err, here on Tumblr). I posted a couple of daft clips of me failing in Modern Warfare and Destiny 2 and it didn’t take long for them to amass a few likes and comments.

That sounded like a sponsored advert but ain’t nobody paying me for this. Let’s get into my top 5

5. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

I was about to select Gears 5 to be my number 5 until I saw sense and cast my memory back to when I started playing Jedi (all the way back in November. I was impressed by its intense action, impressive visuals and great characters. I especially enjoyed the 4 armed pilot who always complains. I did feel that towards the end I got sick of managing large groups of enemies so I dropped the difficulty to get through it, but I still haven’t achieved 100% of activities on all planets so I can still go back to it one day.

4. Borderlands 3

We all knew this was coming but not even I had any idea that we would have been actually playing it in 2019 way back at the start of the year. For me, I look at the game. I don’t care about weird magicians or their insane sounding legal woes, all I’m interested in is the work of a team who deserved better for their last title, but am still glad returned to what they do best, looting and shooting. I enjoyed rejoining these characters I have followed over the last 10 years, all the referenced to older games, cameos from characters from Tales From the Borderlands and The Pre Sequel and was sad to see some people go. I still have about a year of extra content to go through and I really appreciate the efforts they have made to make the game last longer than just one playthrough through in the Proving Grounds, Circle of Slaughter and Mayhem modes. Though I have always tended to stick to Borderlands games and create builds for each and every vault hunter, so I will be doing that.

3. Mortal Kombat 11

It’s been a while since I last put a fighting game into my end of year round up. And I HAVE fallen off MK11 a little bit, but this entry reminded me of how impressive it is for Nether Realms to pack their fighting games with some many things to do and keep people playing outside of just going into matchmaking and fighting others. The Vault this year is basically another little adventure full of exploration and puzzle solving and the Towers of Time give you plenty of challenge and direction of many months to come. You also have to give the developer credit for never backing down on the brutality of the game, they must have all got their heads together after DC Universe vs. and vowed never again to make watered down versions of Fatalities. It is a game that keeps getting better and better.

2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare

I was debating whether or not to include this years CoD. I always get the same type of enjoyment out of it each year, people complain that it never changes but I’m glad it sticks to a formula. Of course they are not identikit games, there are new maps, new modes, new ways of building your loadout and new touches, like how in this year you can snap to edges to stay in cover while you shoot, there’s the new special equipment system where you can drop ammo or reduce your footstep noise. Having doors you can either peek through or smash open adds another level of strategy, there have been times where I have been able to escape being under fire by closing a door, re-positioning and then wasting whoever just wanders in.

The campaign this year, good to see it back, but whatever, the co-op mode is Spec Ops again, like it was back in MW2 and 3 but on a much larger scale, I have yet to complete one of these btw. But as always, it’s the multiplayer that does it for me and Modern Warfare deserves credit for being what must be the first AAA game to feature cross platform play, not just launch with it. I know that games like Fortnite are popular, but I don’t see that as a AAA title, it doesn’t have the full package, it’s just a mode and it started off small. Call of Duty is expected to be big each year, has a lot riding on it and allowing for cross play is a big step. I especially appreciate being able to play with a keyboard and mouse on PS4 and being able to matchmake only with people playing with controllers on PC, in fact, I have never really given the game much of a shot on PC before as I know people just fall of it, there has often been low player numbers reported on the PC versions of CoD and it looks like it won’t have that problem this time round due to cross play.

Modern Warfare still has to contend with Destiny 2 and Overwatch for my time as my main multiplayer game but it’s still as fun as ever.

1. Control

Put this down as my main “surprise” game of 2019. A game which was not on my watch list, though I was aware of it as you can’t ignore a game from the makers of Max Payne (I did skip Alan Wake and didn’t care much for Quantum break though). Bought it at the last minute before its release, downloaded it and was wowed by the sinister nature of the environment you run around in. This weird fictitious US government agency which looks into paranormal activity which you seem to have become in charge of because you picked up a mysterious weapon from the deceased Director while searching for your brother. What then follows is about 12 hours of wacky powers and odd video clips as you unearth what has been going on in this strange ever morphing building.

I especially loved how the game never holds your hand too much, the map of each floor is vague enough that you also have to rely on in-game signposting to move around, as well as a bit of memory work. There is also great humour involved too in some of the PSA posters on a lot of the walls, the antics of the caretaker and the videos you find of Dr. Darling throughout the game.

I did have a few weird technical issues with the game throughout playing, but still found it to be visually pleasing, there was this weird hitch that used to appear after coming out of the pause screen that always threw me, it would be followed by a few moments of low performance before getting back into the smooth action. But this didn’t stop me from having a great time with Control. Perhaps the game that will be the most prominent in my head when I think of 2019.

So there you have it, control is my best game of 2019. But let’s look at the other new games I played throughout the year in my honourable mentions:

Gears 5

The Outer Worlds

Days Gone

Apex Legends

Far Cry New Dawn

Trover Saves the Universe

Concrete Genie

Devil May Cry 5

Tom Clancy's The Division 2

And also a special mention to these old games that were rereleased/remastered/repackaged etc in 2019:

Borderlands Game of the Year Edition Remastered

Halo Reach

And now, a look at the games I have on my watchlist for 2020:

Cyberpunk 2077

Last of Us Part 2

Ghost of Tsushima

Halo: Infinite

Watch Dogs Legion

Phantasy Star Online 2

Gods & Monsters

Doom Eternal

Overwatch 2

Diablo IV

Minecraft dungeons

Marvel's Avengers

Carrion

Streets of Rage 4

Will they all even come out? Let’s find out, happy new year!

#mortal kombat #modern warfare #control #star wars #melee #borderlands

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theliterarywolf · 5 years

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So, Let’s Talk ‘Love Death and Robots’ (Episodes 1-9)

Netflix's newest foray into the world of adult-oriented animation Love Death and Robots is one more nail in the coffin of the notion that any adult cartoon has to suck off the teat of Family Guy or South Park.

The spiritual successor to the 80s sci-fi animation anthology Heavy Metal (in more ways than one, since LDaR was originally supposed to be a Heavy Metal reboot but lack of funding and copyright hell got in the way), Love Death and Robots gives us 18 different short stories brought to the screen in the medium of animation that range in all emotions from shock, horror, disgust, sympathy, hope, and, yes, even sadness.

Just like I did with Season 4 of Black Mirror, I am going to give my personal thoughts on each segment for those who want to know what they're getting into. However, since each of the stories in Love Death and Robots only range between 8 and 17 minutes, I will not go into spoilers.

Also, to do things a bit differently, I will also add in the ratings of 'Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?', to reveal if the sci-fi elements in a story were prominent or if it was more fantasy-oriented, and 'Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?' to reveal, well, just that.

Tl:Dr – I personally found Love Death and Robots to be a very-much welcome breath of fresh air to both the fields of adult animation and anthology shows. I forget what medium/site posted it but there's the sentiment of Love Death and Robots being what Black Mirror has been striving to be for its past two seasons.

And, yes, that comment is pretty damn appropriate. Love Death and Robots elegantly combines the darkness and unease of the technological unknown of the scientific condition with looks at the human condition as well as snarky dark humor. If you can stand blood, gore, and the occasional female-presenting nipple, you should definitely give it a watch.

And now, for the actual thoughts on each story individually. Remember, no spoilers.

Episode 1 - Sonnie's Edge

Be still, my Teratophile heart. Love Death and Robots' first entry hits the ground running, slashing, and biting with a strong female character and the dismal underground world that she’s successfully made her bitch. The first half of this short grabs you and doesn't let go until the second half starts and, admittedly, slows things down. Breathtaking for sure, Sonnie's Edge isn't my personal favorite of the anthology, but I can definitely see where a good chunk of the money went for LDaR.

… I also see this story getting the same treatment by tumblr that this website did to the San Junipiero episode of Black Mirror.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Bio-Mechanical Engineering of minor-kaiju type monsters. Also, the mental link software used for fighters to connect with said creations.

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes to a TV series of Sonnie's Edge. Unlike some of the other stories in LDaR, the nuances and universe set up by the brief glance we got would work wonders if worked into a 12 episode show.

Episode 2 – Three Robots

In the biggest full-frontal flip of tone, Three Robots yanks us out of the grimy Cyberpunk future of Episode 1, to a comedic look at a post-apocalyptic one with our titular three robots taking a sight-seeing tour through a long-decimated city. Discussions are had about human nature from a neutral, but still comical, outside point of view and that's all I will say because, going any further will bring in spoilers.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Three of them, in fact, each representing a different aspect of robotics: one sleek and cold-looking, one humanoid with a neutral face, and the human-friendly models.

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

Honestly... No. The story, as well as its ending serve their purpose best at the length and scope it has in its run-time.

Episode 3 – The Witness

'Yeah, but –'

No.

'If you just –'

No.

'It really is one of the best on--'

NAH, G, THIS AIN'T IT!

There needs to be a phrase: 'Cool Universe; Shit Story, Brah' to slap onto pieces of media that have a great aesthetic and a great universe on display... But just an awful story.

Because The Witness fits that phrase to a tee. If anything, the only aspect that The Witness has going for it is the stark color scheme against the dismal urban landscape and the sex.

Lots. And. Lots of boob-shots and bush-shots in this one, folks.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Did it? I don't even know what kind of technology was displayed in this episode. Apartment-based leather sex-clubs?

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

This would probably have been much better if it had an hour or so to build up the characters and the twist rather than flashing everything at a breakneck pace and forcing us to sit through a drag of a story.

Episode 4 – Suits

(No gif for this one; tumblr, you guys are slacking)

Best. In. Fucking. Show.

This one is definitely one of my top two favorites for the entire series. Everything is there: character, universe, writing, it's all great. Especially since, considering that it follows the 'Last Stand' trope and it would have been extremely easy for the writers to go 100% grim and miserable.

No, that... * sigh * that comes later.

You like farmers? You like mechas? You like farmers in mechas fighting aliens? You will now!

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Yes, several of them!

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

If we ever got to a point where Pixar made films for adult audiences, a feature-length look at the universe of Suits would be the vein they would need to hit.

Just maybe with a less noticeable frame-rate 'style'.

I'd also like to add this: a lot of people these days seem to have the issue with sci-fi and fantasy-oriented media because they feel as though they only cater to kids/teens (either the characters will be 'young adults fighting “teh systemzz” or high school bullshit). That and the worlds depicted don't draw anyone in due to how... unrelatable they are.

The fact that the characters in Suits are your typical hard-working, middle-aged farmers just trying to live their lives... while still having to fight carnivorous aliens in mecha-suits re-purposed from farming equipment really makes the short seem that much more human.

Episode 5 – Sucker of Souls

(No gif, again...)

Oh boy! The Castlevania Cinematic Universe looks great!

Seriously, this was the first moment during my viewing of LDaR were I was left wondering 'I thought... this was a sci-fi anthology..?'

That being said, though, I'm always a sucker for unique hand-drawn animation and the abrasiveness of the characters flow nicely together. Even though you can pretty much tell, at the five minute mark, that things may not end up too well, it's a fun ride in the same vein as the Brendan Fraser Mummy films.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Well, you see, the thing is, I – No.

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

It probably could be a good Adult Swim animated series (in the same vein as The Venture Bros). But, other than that, it stands fine on its own.

Episode 6 – When the Yogurt Took Over

(Gif not from the show but still appropriate)

This... Seems to be the dividing point for a lot of people in regards to LDaR. You have a lot of people saying 'Oh, this one was dumb; it didn't make sense' or 'the animation was too cute to be so gruesome'.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. However, a lot of the people complaining that it was dumb or didn't make sense probably didn't grow up with the same dark comedy/gallows humor that many of us did/have sought out. Things like Little Shop of Horrors, Dr. Strangelove, Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei, Dead Like Me, Metalocalypse, Black Dynamite (the animated series), and others that I can't find right now because Google keeps trying to recommend me to Family Guy of all things when I type in my searches.

The story here is short, poignant, and pretty close to home despite the title giving you what you're getting on the tin.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Not really a robot... But the scientists in the story were working with genetic engineering. So, there you go.

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

Mm... No. This is another 'watch it as is and get the best effect' story.

One more thing, though: The Narrator of this story is none other than Maurice LaMarche.

Mother-fucking BRAIN from Pinky and the Brain!

Episode 7 – Beyond the Aquila Rift

It is... so hard to do Cosmic Horror correctly in recent times. The notion of creating tales that show just how small we are in the grand-scheme of the sleeping nightmare behemoths who keep the universe running in the space between their frantic thoughts... Is overwhelming to a lot of people. So a lot of first-time attempts at it ultimately fail.

This story, Beyond the Aquila Rift, is one of my favorite entries to LDaR. Right up there with Suits.

And I will leave it at that.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Space-travel, hibernation gel/tubes, space-stations.

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

And even that is a hard maybe because while you could build up the characters and their relationships a bit more, the resolution of this story works fine either way.

Episode 8 – Good Hunting

Is... Issat – Is that GOOD Steampunk in front of me? Oh Lord, it's been years! More hand-drawn animation for this one but the way it melds not only technology, magic, imperialism, and friendship but still incorporates the message that technology and progress can be used for great good and great evil... It depends on the morality of those wielding/pushing for it... Is really a high point in both writing and execution.

The animation, especially whenever the technological aspect comes in, really shines.

… You know, in hindsight, that last line could be seen in bad taste.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

The whole set-up is British Imperialist forces bringing Steampunk and subjugation to China. So, yeah, a lot of copper and a lot of steam in here.

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

I know I've been shoving everything into 'could shine as a film on its own' category, but Good Hunting really is the type of story I would love to see expanded out and directed by someone like the late Satoshi Kon (Paranoia Agent, Paprika, Millennium Actress).

Episode 9 – The Dump

(Honestly, I’m not even sad that I can’t find a gif for this one)

This one... Ah... This one.

I ... Hm.

Y-you want to see old, dangly redneck penis? Y-you see old, dangly redneck penis for a good few seconds in this one.

But, yeah, this one is definitely... a story. Your typical 'stuffy white-guy pencil-pusher comes to scare old, grungy countryman off of his land/old, grungy countryman decides to tell stuffy white-guy pencil-pusher the story of why he's on said land...

And to go any further would be spoilers.

It's not bad, it's just... Interesting.

Did it Have a Robot – Yes? Or No?

Well, it depends. Do you see pollution as more an aspect of sci-fi or an aspect of socioeconomic discussion?

Could this Stand Its Own as a Feature Film/TV Series?

I don't think anyone would want to see more of this story in either form, truth be told. It exists fine on its own.

And that's Part 1 of my little write-up on Love Death and Robots. This got a little long so I'll be posting Part 2 tomorrow and linking it HERE when I do! Seriously, if you can you should definitely watch the series and support some good adult animation so Netflix will push for more stuff like LDaR, Bojack Horseman, Aggretsuko, and The Kirlian Frequency... And less stuff like that damn 'Brickleberry But They're COOOPS This Time~!!'

#Wolf Watches #love death and robots

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madscientistjournal · 5 years

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I Didn't Break the Lamp: Interview with Blake Jessop

Today, we’ve got another interview with one of our I Didn’t Break the Lamp authors. Blake Jessop is a returning author, who also had a story in Battling in All Her Finery!

DV: Tell us a bit about yourself!

Blake Jessop: I’m a thirty-eight-year-old Canadian short story writer. I did a master’s in creative writing at the University of Adelaide, and my style is a constant push and pull between fancy MFA prose and a profound desire to blow things up with a heavy metal soundtrack playing in the background.

DV: What inspired you to write “End User Agreement” for I Didn’t Break the Lamp?

BJ: I used the Mad Scientist Journal’s anthology theme as a writing prompt … and came up completely blank. I couldn’t think of a way to make an imaginary acquaintance cross over into the real world. That got me thinking about what imaginary friends really are, and why we need them.

I love writing about artificial intelligence, so I started toying with just how real the imaginary friend might be. Trying to figure out what would qualify an AI as “real” forces us to confront what exactly makes us real. In the end, I decided that regardless of how corporeal the imaginary acquaintance might be, what matters is whether or not you believe it is … and what you do about it.

DV: Emily Theory reads very realistically, especially for a character in a near-future setting. Was she inspired by a real life person or multiple people?

I taught a psychology lecture about cognitive biases at McGill University for a few years. While researching it, I discovered attachment therapy, and its horrible failure to understand why and how humans bond really stuck with me. Emily, the ex-Pentecostal hacker with attachment anxiety and a severe pizza addiction, started taking shape then and there. She was a character without a story until “End User Agreement,” so the other parts of her personality reflect my own fears about loneliness, longing, and finding a place in the world.

For the record, the unpleasant specifics about how attachment therapy works are real, and they made it easy to build both Emily’s verve and her insecurities. Good story ideas are really all we have to thank attachment therapy for; it was a stupid concept and richly deserves its place in the dustbin of bad ideas.

DV: Your story involves an AI who has gained sentience as the “imaginary” acquaintance. With the advances in machine learning, how realistic do you speculate this could be?

BJ: “End User Agreement” is an adventure story more than hard sci-fi, but I tried to keep the technological details as reasonable as possible. Drones that can deliver pizza or decide who to kill all by themselves are both things that either Amazon or the US military are working on right now. I’m personally optimistic that agreement between human and machine intelligence is possible, so I tend to write about it positively. With any luck, the first really sentient AIs will have someone nice like Emily to interact with, and will decide they’re better off letting us live.

There are a lot of scarier ways this could play out, however, and anyone who wants to know more should check out Nick Bostrom’s “Superintelligence,” which is deeply researched, often terrifying, and a lot of fun to read.

DV: If you had an imaginary friend growing up, what was their name, and what were they like?

I can’t ever remember having an imaginary friend of the magnitude of a wise-cracking tiger from “Calvin and Hobbes,” and I feel a little sad that I didn’t. On the other hand, all I’ve ever had to do to start hearing voices is close my eyes; I just give them names and write them down. I don’t have as hard a time telling them apart from the real world as Emily does … but I haven’t dreamt up any characters that accomplish quite as much as hers do, either.

DV: What’s on the horizon for you?

It’s been a good year so far in short story writing! I told a modern fairy tale about a Soviet engineer and a rusalka, re-told the fable of Theseus and the Minotaur on Venus, and feel very lucky that DreamForge Magazine took a chance on a really crazy cyberpunk story I wrote about elephants, punk rock, and renegade gene sequencing. I am also giddy with excitement (rare for me, look at the beard) to be working with Mad Scientist Journal again, after debuting with them last year in Battling in All Her Finery. These anthology themes keep dragging my favorite characters out of me. I also have three Twitter followers @everydayjisei, if anyone wants to get in touch to talk about robots!

I Didn’t Break the Lamp: Interview with Blake Jessop was originally published on Mad Scientist Journal

#Blake Jessop #I Didn't Break the Lamp #Interview

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