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#my artstyle changes like every hour
thwackk · 2 years
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here’s diana comforting wally after barry’s death
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notlumenera · 2 years
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long time no niki
[photo id: a drawing of streamer nihachu leaning on her left hand facing the camera, but not looking directly at it. she is wearing a grey-blue long sleeved shirt and sitting in a grey gaming chair. /end id]
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pencakesstuff · 11 months
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when i first started drawing, i did it for fun and just for myself, but recently i feel like ive been drawing much more to impress?? i guess >> to impress who, idk, but it makes me not enjoy drawing as much xd i rlly need to get back to drawing for fun and not worry so much about what people think of it ^^
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akosijayjay · 2 months
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January and February dump
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This is my most recent work of Lloyd, and my most recent work in general. I made this in the computer room at school with a painful high-sensitive mouse. We have these special course thing in our junior high, so every tuesday after class, I get to be in the computer room. For six hours... (My course is Visual Graphics Design. I'm kinda regretting it now since I've been thinking of becoming an architect... I can't change my course now since it's too late. Which is stupid.)
I'll try to draw more there! I really like drawing with a mouse cause I like the challenge. And since I'm not accustomed to a high-sensitive mouse, it'll be a bigger challenge for me!
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I made these two in traditional then polished them digitally since I straight up just used a pen. I rarely use a pencil nowadays so I can learn to fix mistakes without erasing it. Usually it ends up looking like chicken scratch but I'm getting better.
My Harumi one is so bad lol.. When I was making it, my classmates around me were messing around and moving the chairs in the process, making me have to draw strokes with shaky lines. It's not that noticeable though since I made the lines thicker.
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I was planning to make something for Rebooted's anniversary but I got busy... (And lazy) The PIXAL one was inspired by an animatic I saw.
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If you compare the previous Arin portrait, yes, they don't look the same. I'm trying to find a look for Arin, as I do with every character, that I'll be satisfied with.
By the way, I'm kind of basing Arin's hair with my classmate's hair. Which is funny because my other classmates compared this artwork to my classmate, who looked nothing like Arin but have similar hair, commenting they're the same. (I'm not mad because I actually find this a bit humorous)
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I was trying to make an animatic and this was going to be the sketch. But then again, I got busy and lazy. (Mostly lazy)
I accidentally changed their facial features a bit by accident on the second page because I forgot to reference the first page. It was tiring flipping pages every 5 seconds, ok! Also, I drew it after 2 days when I drew the first page, and I didn't have a design I liked for them yet. (...I just noticed Jay has different eye colors in both pages...)
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I think I'm sticking to these looks for Lloyd. I'll try to make it accurate to this. (I think I did great with the first image of this post. Though, I made him too round for my liking.)
Discard the growing beard post redesign Lloyd has. That beard thing was supposed to be where his chin was until I realized it was too small. And it's still too small.
Child Lloyd is so cute! The eyeshadow wasn't intentional at first, but then it got me thinking, what if Lloyd had an emo phase? And now emo child Lloyd is my headcanon.
Pre redesign Lloyd kind of reminds me of TommyInnit, and I find it quite funny. Maybe it's the facial gesture, I know a lot of TommyInnit fanarts with that silly face.
For Dragons Rising Lloyd however, I want him to have long hair with his post redesign face. I'll try to make full body designs of the 4 Lloyds.
You guys probably don't care, and this is the first time you've seen me because I don't have an exact artstyle and I dont post as much, but I'm going to put descriptions now since this blog is going to be a silly little art dump! And blog posts are supposed to be descriptive. Which I should've done in the beginning and explained my works..
Anyhow
If you liked my art, thank you!
If you saw me before and told me I did well, thank you and I'm sorry!! I know my previous posts have gotten comments and I'm sorry I didn't respond.. I'm not trying to be ungrateful, I just don't know how to express my appreciation for your positive feedback! Or just reply in general... I get nervous even when I'm wearing my mask..
Please don't hate me, I'm just really anxious to show my work to people I don't know to the point where I might think people disliked my artwork when it's the opposite..
(I'll probably copy paste this in future posts now lol. But I AM thankful that some of you guys think my works are great!)
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kingspacebar · 21 days
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Is there any particular artist, show, game, or movie that inspired ur art style? It’s so pretty ^^
I have so many!!! I definitely can't name every single one but heres a few that have been extremely influential to me!! This took me 2 hours to write i am SO sorry lmao
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Puyo Puyo (Specifially Fever, Quest, and Tetris)
CUTESY BRIGHT BRIGHT COLORS!!!!!! Thats everything I love!!!!!! I'm pretty sure I talked about this when I first got into puyo puyo but I for SURE instantly decided that yep Im steering my style in this direction sorryyyyyy!!! I just think its so fun and silly and cute and rahhh it makes me so happy.
Especially for the work I do most often, which is character portraits without backgrounds, I will often look at puyo puyo posing just to get ideas!! (I've drawn Arle's dumbfounded pose 100000000 times becus I love it so much). The puyo puyo anatomy has very noodly arms and legs but with big ass shoes and accessories which is probably my favorite design thing in the world....
I seriously recommend just looking through the Puyo Puyo Nexus wiki for pose ideas (if you want something cute/silly of course) because every single one is just perfect. I am trying to get out of some dumb art habits of my own right now, but hopefully in the future you'll be able to see more goofy poses with sillier effects :3
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Muse Dash Again I want you to look at the COLORS. Its so bright and this time you can really tell where I took my shading style from. I dont want my shadows to be dark I want them to be PINK or PURPLE. thank you. For my own art, I really try to make it so the darkest "black" is actually a deep purple or blue, and as I keep making art that dark color keeps getting just a bit lighter haha...
This is also the reason I color my lineart the way I do. I just really want to add as many colors as possible into the image. And if the image looks a bit more pink after that then thats just an extra perk!!
I also need to bring up the animation because they're just so bouncy and alive!!! This is like an instant stunlock for me, I have to look at them, theyre so BOUNCYYY!!!!!! I don't do much animation but every other week I get the sudden urge to try tweening again just to eventually get to the point I can make something similar to these for my own ocs lol
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Great Pretender This show has some of the most gorgeous art ive ever seen. All the backgrounds are so bright and colorful. I dont usually draw art with backgrounds anymore sadly, but when I used to I really tried to study these for them. And I hope in the future I can make more art and show how far I've come.
Though I;ve changed to a more chibi style in recent times (thanks puyo puyo), this was still one of the first times I had ever watched a show and said "Oh my god I love this artstyle I need to get better at art" and Its always in my mind for that reason.
Ive definitely stolen lots of elements from the style. Though they've gotten more subtle over the years. I dont really know how to describe it any further but I hope you understand what I mean by looking at these screenshots,,,
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inkangeliguess · 2 months
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Oh my god, I absolutely LOVE The Nightmare route in Slay The Princess
Spoilers plus long rant under the cut
(@the-local-eldritch-microwave please check out this game i beg of you. It's several hours long but its great)
Ever since I saw a playthrough of the demo, the Voice of The Paranoid was my favorite voice and route. I love stressed out characters in general, but I loved how unsettling it is when you uncontrollably fall asleep and then wake up only to die of fright. The second time you go in was pretty anticlimactic, as basically the same thing happens with only the Paranoid being there and the Narrator being completely confused at your sudden death AND even saying "I'm so sorry"
What makes the updated version so good is the execution. The first part is basically the same, but the second part is so much more intense. Your character just experienced dying of literal fright over someone you first assumed was normal turning out to be an eldritch horror. Story wise, the Voice of The Paranoid makes you feel this with how much of a contrast he is compared to the Narrator and the Voice of The Hero. The Hero gets nervous occasionally, but never to the degree that The Paranoid gets.
This stress only continues when you go inside the cabin. Every second round, the cabin always changes in appearance. What makes the Nightmare route's change more jarring is how mild the change is. For the Razor, the Damsel, and the Captive (the routes i've rewatched so far), the change of the cabin is too extreme, which while it does convey the mood of the route, doesn't have the same effect as the Nightmare. The room itself seems to 'perfect,' with the most obvious difference being the wider door frame and overall lack of door. The subtle change plus the Paranoid's overall mood keeps the player on edge.
Things start ramping up once you get to the stairs, which don't even try to be subtle with its attempt to hide the overall unnatural feel of the cabin. Then it hits you with the reveal that you are stuck. You can't go back. You can only go forward and confront the inhumane Princess.
You're finally in the basement, which does a fantastic job of conveying the idea that once again, you're stuck. You do not have an actual choice in the matter. No matter which way you go, you are going to be hunted down by this creature and you will most likely be killed.
The moment of truth happens and you finally confront the Princess. While she was unsettling in the first chapter, her appearances have been completely twisted. Her limbs bend irregularly, her face is cracked and shaded in a way that makes it look like it's not even her actual face, her appearance constantly flickers and looms over you, giving you the feeling that you have no power over her, weapon or no weapon.
Finally, you start talking to her. She almost kills you again, until the Paranoid suddenly, without explanation, starts mumbling "Heat. Lungs. Liver. Nerves" over and over. You don't even have time to question it, because it somehow is keeping you alive, but barely. If you choose to talk to her with all the 'Explore' dialogues, her unsettling demeanor never wavers. The conversation feels realistic, with certain actions causing the Paranoid to start panicking and chanting desperately.
The last thing i'll point out about Chapter 2 is that the Hero and the Narrator hardly talk. It's as if they themselves are frightened of the entire situation. That is until she pulls off her mask. You don't get to see what she looks like, but the Narrator's description is more than enough to give it its effect.
Then there's the artstyle change. I originally thought it was just to convey you dying again, but it really changes the name of the Route. The Narrator's description and the visuals give the idea that this may not only be your nightmare. The Princess is most likely suffering as well.
Then after all of that, THE NARRATOR HIMSELF GIVES UP. You are left in a state of not being sure whether you're dead, but your mind has clearly given out.
We then move on to chapter.. uh... "The Moment of Clarity." You wake up, and for once, everything genuinely feels wrong. One could argue that in The Arms Race and Mutually Assured Destruction turned everything on the head by adding pretty much all the voices, but everything is thrown off in The Moment of Clarity. You're not even in the woods, or in the cabin for that matter, you're somewhere else. It's a place that vaguely feels like the woods, but it isn't. On top of that, the Voices can't remember what happened very well. Their memory isnt completely wiped, but the fact they have trouble remembering at all is completely new.
Not only do the voices not remember what happened, pretty much all the voices are talking now. With all their contradicting personalities, it's unclear what the truth is. The timeline is everywhere, the Narrator is no help, and there is still no feeling of safety.
"Maybe you're shattered in your own way." OH MY GOD THAT LINE ABSOLUTELY SLAYS ME (no pun intended). Even if it's swept under the rug by the other voices "not being philosophical," considering the stakes of the route, it just messes with me
My one complaint is the Voice of the Smitten. It's usually funny how down bad he is but it seriously is not fitting for the route at all.
It's interesting how they all consider the Voice of The Cold to be the voice of reason in the moment. In the Narrator's words, all the other voices have been traumatized to the point they can't be talked any sense into. Since the Cold is just so unfeeling, it's pretty much your characters only drive into move on except for maybe the Opportunist.
For once, none of the Voices question the mirror, not because they've accepted that there is no mirror, but because they've accepted that the Narrator thinks there is no mirror. It gives you how much of an idea that the Voices and in extension your character has given up. Hell, the Voice of the Stubborn even tells you to smash it at one point.
Something i havent mentioned much of is the music or sound design, but it really helps give off the atmosphere. In this 'third' chapter, the background music is a ticking clock and a breezy noise you may hear in a quiet room. Paired with the surreal landscape of the black forest and the floating cabin, it further gives off the idea of everything being a dream, or by extension a nightmare.
When you're told to pick up the blade, you're once again stuck. You aren't given any other choice except for the illusion of a choice. Some of the options are even blacked out, saying that 'you've tried everything else. Don't you remember?'
The way she climbs out of the pit. You only see her face at first, then her abnormally long and lanky arms. Then you see her legs, with her bare feet looking like hands, reminding you of a spider or a monkey, but definitely not human. She isn't interrupted once she's in full view, leaving you to stare at her and her outstretched hand and cracked mask.
Remember how I mentioned that in the demo, the Narrator is so shocked by your sudden death that he says 'I'm so sorry.' There is now a complete contrast with this new version. When you take her hand, he ends off his sentence by saying "I can't believe you just made me say that. I hate you." and with full sincerity, not even in a joking or petty manner.
"Why is it so cold?.."
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zucchichat · 8 months
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(just some sketch i did for the art club-)
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From the post about my art trademark (omg u guys I WANNA HUG U ALL AND SQUISH U TILL YOURE MASH POTATOES U GUYS ARE SO ADORABLE AAAAA💖💖💖)
And the post to imitate my artstyle, i have come to a conclusion:
- you guys see my art trademark as my:
SKULL SHAPE: I was actually surprise by this, i REALLY didnt expect that😳😳😳 is the head shape that unique??? caz i used to see it everywhere- (twitter mostly) actually, there's kinda a reason behind why i choose this shape :) im really bad at drawing skulls, esp when its complicated, so i simplify it as much as possible to avoid an extra hour on the skull alone☠️ (my average time to draw head this style alone is fucking 10-15 minutes, THE HEAD ALONE OMG- just sketching no color NOTHING-)
EXPRESSION/FACES: i never thought ppl will say that too tbh, i thought i draw expression like many other ppl🥹 maybe ppl see Ink as the most expressive tho, since he IS 💖💖💖 when i draw characters, there's nothing behind those expression, i draw them mindlessly and brainless-😭
THE ONE LINE BROW THING: maybe this i can agree lol :)) I've been inspired alot from Japanese and Korean artstyle + itsroxxanex. Sooooo i did that, my friend used to kinda mock me ab it so i change to 2 brows for a while but IDK ONE BROW IS MY THING- it took just less space and i love simple things <3
SHADING: hmmm i dont really know ab this tho 😭😭😭 i think my way of shading is very generic. The only thing i think made my art pop is the highlights. Im kinda obsessed with light so jajdhdjsod I WANT LIGHT EVERYWHERE. Watching too much RossDraws just made me obsessed with color dodge- ...the shadows i just use default brush and mutiply and sometimes at more colors, thats it 🥹💖
JUST YOUR ARTSTYLE!: i dont think i have an artstyle yet 😭 idk i still change my style alot since June and im still growing, i changed my brushes almost every week and overall just utmost chaos. I somewhat still not satisfied with my artstyle, i want to soon find an artstyle that by just a glance you'll know its me😳😳😳 (ik its kinda weird)
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woodchipp · 28 days
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I'm gonna be honest - along with OMORI pressuring the player into choosing the good ending lest Sunny kills himself, the whole DUET cutscene doesn't strike me as anything but very blatant emotional manipulation either. Every mention of it I saw was followed by fans talking at length about how thoroughly devastated they were left by that moment, but if you look past the Feels and focus on the Reals, what is there to be devastated about, really?
The (supposed) purpose of the cutscene is to show Sunny placating his depression by recalling the good times he had with Mari and his friends... except that is exactly what he's been doing via Basil's photo album throughout the entire game. That's what Memory Lane, which you have to go through right before the final boss, was there for. And just like the aforementioned two, the good times showcased in DUET are glurgy, meaningless fluff. They don't tell you anything new about the characters and they don't show them helping each other through thick and thin as people you could call "real" friends are supposed to. The fact that the cutscene itself looks like a PowerPoint slideshow or something you could theoretically cook up in Windows Movie Maker doesn't help, especially if you remove the music track altogether.
I think one of my "favorite" moments is Sunny and Mari meeting Kel and Hero, which is represented by the latter two literally popping out of thin air
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You'd think that as a story with the power of friendship as one of its central themes, the game would show how the characters became friends in the first place and what makes them gel together, but no. This is all you get.
It's the same thing with Aubrey and Basil. The gang meets Aubrey for the first time while she's crying on the sidewalk before the game cuts to her introducing Basil to them. Was them comforting Aubrey over her lost shoe enough for her to befriend them? How exactly did she and Basil meet? I dunno, you tell me! Think about the plot so the writer won't have to!
So emotional. So peak. Two hundred thousand dollars was spent on this.
Speaking of Sunny and Mari, the cutscene's Peakest™ moment is the smash cut from a bright shot of Mari embracing a younger Sunny to a gloomier shot of the older Sunny sitting there all alone and morose, which delivers the message with all the subtlety of a nuclear bomb explosion
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she passed on The Emo to him. truely devastating. also why do they both look malnourished. what the hell is this artstyle
Yes, game. I get it. The grass was greener when Mari was alive. That's roughly her gravestone's epitaph. What is the point of this? What am I supposed to cry about?
That brings me to what I believe is the main problem with DUET, and a problem with the game itself as well - the story doesn't put in any real effort to flesh out the characters you're supposed to feel bad for, yet expects you to feel bad for them anyway. Even after playing the entire 25 hours of this game, I don't know anything about Sunny, nor can I recall anything noteworthy about him except from him calling lemons "oragnes". I don't know anything about who Mari really was except that she's treated by the narrative as if she was Jesus in the flesh. They're not characters - they're effectively cardboard cutouts, and I have no idea why the game's imploring me to shed tears over two cardboard cutouts.
The cherry on top is Omori straight-up vanishing after the cutscene ends. One could argue that Sunny's victory was temporary, but that's not indicated - Omori seems to actually vanish once and for all after the game's events, and the main menu even features Sunny himself as opposed to Omori to mark the change. Because we all know that severe depression can be treated by thinking happy thoughts, right? tfw the powerpoint slideshow was so cringe that even the depression decided to peace out
Maybe I wouldn't have been as harsh if the story had Mari kill herself instead of it being a cover-up for manslaughter. Maybe then I'd have been able to see the tragedy. But given the context of the plot twist, all I can see is a coward and a liar soothing his well-earned guilt over committing a serious crime and lying about it in the most laughably melodramatic fashion possible.
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Hi, you probably don't remember me, but you reblogged my art a few years back! Since the 2nd of September, 2022, I could not stop thinking about the tags you left on this post:
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I mean that in a good way! I have no idea who you are, but I promised myself that I would remake my art better and make a pizza combination that would make you proud... (and yes, I have NOT stopped thinking about it in the last 2 years. in fact, I go back to this past just to giggle at the tags you left every so often) So, you can respond to this if you like, but what would YOU think is the best pizza combination if Tom and Harry were to order one? P.S. Asking this since I'm revamping my banner and I so badly want to change their pizza order, who better else than to ask you what would do them justice? (I've also updated the art so if you wanna check that out LMAO)
hiii, I definitely remember your art, and I’m flattered that my very silly comments that I made when I was probably half awake and sleep deprived at a very late hour managed to make you giggle.
“what would YOU think is the best combination if Tom and Harry were to order one?”
Man, I honestly don’t know 🤔…
I saw this ask like a few hours after you sent it, and I was like hmmm, and I spent quite a bit pondering on it, and I’ve been pondering on it since, but i’m still not sure..
Yk, I feel like he (Voldemort, that is, or Tom) probably doesn’t like pizza. idk. he just doesn’t seem the type. if he did, he’d probably like something like Prosciutto e funghi, Margherita, and..maybe a veg pizza? with like, olives and stuff? maybe not?? idk.
thin crust or thick crust? thin.
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Harry, I think he’d like Caprese, Pepperoni, Margherita, Quattro Formaggi, etc (maybe even pineapple and ham?? 👀)
and thin crust or thick crust? probably both. maybe…I noticed that in the uk, thin crust is more prevalent over thick, thick crust seems to be more of an American thing…i think he’d prob still like it tho, he’d demolish a deep dish pizza anytime.
So if they were to order a combo, maybe it could b a combination of some of these. Anyways yeah.
honoured that u value my opinion enough and thought to ask me.
(Btw, I went to look for the updated art u mentioned, but I couldn’t find it…I bet it’s just as cute and nice as the original though! I rlly like ur artstyle)
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senvurii · 8 months
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hey hi this is so random lol. i found you like 3 hours ago, scrolled through your INCREDIBLE art for 2, now i just made an account to let you know that this is my exact artstyle envy. please just give give hands give me them i want so bad ))): i do not even care that you havent posted in a hot minute here, i just, pls, i love, ctommy is just AAa
haha thank you so much :)))) unfortunately it has been many months so my art style has changed (improved?) since what you've last seen, but still, i hope my new work will still impress you!!
these past recent months I've been getting a bunch of heartfelt and nostalgic messages. i know I've basically left this place behind (as much as i despise to say it), i will never not love ctommy lol. i still read fics of him sometimes, he's still a character that has completely changed my viewpoint in media. its funny to say that with every new favourite character i discover, i see him in them. so i think ill draw him again soon
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destiny-smasher · 4 months
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Stuff From 2023!
List of things of note I experienced in 2023! A few things didn't technically release in 2023, I'm sure, but yea. Will contain my 'Top 10 Games I Played in 2023' as well.
Firstly, something I played a lot of this year in bursts but doesn't quite crack my Top 10 is Vampire Survivors. Very addicting, did some very fun goofy shit that had me laughing and engaged in a lizard brain way. Appreciated the many Castlevania references and jokes, too.
A couple of games I played every weekend for a few hours across many weeks this year were Project Zomboid and Roots of Pacha, both in a group 4. We had lots of fun with those two, and I think they're both great co-op time-sink games. Zomboid is a zombie survival sim that has way more attention to detail than its graphics may imply. It's still in early access but the depth to its is honestly pretty dang impressive. Pacha iterates on the Stardew Valley formula in a ton of small but deliberate, thoughtful ways that make for a nice twist on that Harvest Moon style game.
REMAKES
There were so many great remakes this year, on top of just amazing games in general, I can't fit them all into my Top 10. So here's a segment dedicated to most of the remakes I loved this year.
The remake of Super Mario RPG was such a surprise, and turned out very damn well. That game, turns out, is very near and dear to my heart and I did not fully appreciate that until this remake was revealed. It comes just shy of cracking my Top 10 list and that's honestly only because I finished Mother 3 finally right at the tail end of the year. This game manages to still feel weirdly fresh even today just due to how fucking strange it is, and the remake speeds up the pacing a bit while also adding in some new mechanics and a chunk of new post-game content. Everything was handled so well. This is like the new gold standard of complete one-to-one remakes of sprite-based games imo. I will admit the artstyle is a bit 'off' in some ways but I think it's very clean looking and captures that 90's CGI spirit really well, all things considered. And the music, OOF, so damn good.
The remake of Dead Space I don't have much to talk about, but it's very well produced. It's remade so well, in fact, that it felt like my memories of the original, even though I know it's not an exact recreation. Very well done and still holds up as a great horror action game with these improvements.
The remaster of Metroid Prime is so impressive it feels like a remake, even if the game is identical to the original aside from presentation and some control changes. It's an iconic classic, and yet I have no patience to do the Chozo Artifact stuff, so I actually did not roll credits on this version BUT still thoroughly enjoyed reliving the game with a very nice new coat of paint. It makes me excited to see what Prime 4 will look like on, I expect, more powerful hardware.
SHOWS/MOVIES
The year started strong with a TV adaptation of The Last of Us. While I've come to have conflicted feelings with the franchise at large, mainly due to its leading boss man, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this series. Very well done adaptation that picked and chose what to keep and what to change and honestly makes for a better story as a whole if you ask me, while not really replacing the game's tactile interactive tensions. Cannot wait to see what they do with Part 2 tbqh. I loved that game more than the original but also felt it was worse as an overall game/experience/narrative. But a fresh take on that same plot could potentially address a lot of the issues I had with Part 2, while simultaneously not really 'replacing' it, either.
The Bear. If you haven't seen it, it's just. Very good television. Two seasons in and it's sitting up there chasing Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul as one of the best live action series I've ever seen. Season 2 did such a great job of giving us deeper dives on the various characters and building toward an organic and rewarding conclusion that still leaves room for another season to theoretically wrap things up. Nothing too crazy with this show, it's super down to earth, and it owns that very well with editing and pacing that varies per episode, kind of in line with the different character perspectives.
Super Mario Bros.: The Movie had me worried for a while, mainly due to the animation studio and casting. And while I'm still not 100% sold on this celebrity casting, I will admit it didn't weight the experience down -- even if it's still the second weakest element by far. The weakest element is the writing. It's not, like, offense -- it's loyal to the source material and works, it functions. But it's not doing anything beyond pushing us from set piece to set piece. If anything, the movie is a bit too short for all of the stuff it's cramming in. But on the upside, there is a lot of amazingly rendered visuals and music to take in. A real treat for fans of the franchise, and the most loyal gaming adaptation in movie form, I would say.
Across the Spiderverse is in essence the first half of a two part film. That makes it kind of difficult to talk about, especially when it's also a sequel, and the production sounds like it was marred with bad management and crunch. But the results they came up with actually met my hopes and expectations for a sequel, and that is saying something, as I had very high expectations. I completely adore this film's stupendous sense of style, editing, framing, writing, and the way it's making meta-commentary on multiple levels on top of just being an effective narrative on its own. This is animated storytelling running at full capacity in my opinion, and in general just film doing all of the kinds of things film can do. So it's no wonder that there's still a rub -- this is the first half of the story they planned. The editing, animation, framing, effects, acting, action sequences, music, writing, theming, just Farore's sake, this is SUCH a damn banger of a film and one of the best movies I've ever seen, which, again, is kind of insane given the circumstances. I can only hope they don't fuck up the conclusion.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was quite the surprise announcement, and as it turns out, quite the surprise adaptation. I won't spoil much but I will say that by the end of the first episode, it becomes very apparent that this series is no mere by-the-books adaptation, and does something unique and edifying, even if it still maintains a certain surface-level depth I wish the franchise would push beyond. Either way, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to going in, and I think it makes for a great companion to the rest of the series. The animation style was super fun, as well, with some great action sequences.
But Blue Eye Samurai sucker-punched me, having released before I'd even known about it. This show is something else, something unlike any other animated show I've seen besides Arcane. And it's not like it's mimicking Arcane, it's just the closest I can think to compare it to: a quality, thoughtfully framed, thoughtfully written, made-for-adults animated series. It tows the line between fantasy and realism in a refreshing way, its protagonist is great, its cast is compelling, its plot goes to some neat places, and things just feel very well thought-out and well-executed. Slap this in second place behind Arcane as the TV series I am the most excited to see more of in the future, just ahead of The Bear.
Something I did near the end of the year was watch The Hunger Games movies, back to back over the course of like, a week. Have not read the books but man, watching these sure made me interested in doing so at some point. I totally get why people were so enamored with this franchise, and honestly, I think its themes and messages are more relevant now than they were when this franchise was at the peak of its popularity. The films certainly have glaring issues for my tastes but yea, I managed to really enjoy them as a whole despite my lack of mainstream sensibilities. Looking forward to reading the books eventually.
Another thing my wife shared with me was 花ざかりの君たちへ (often called 'Hana-Kimi' for short). Specifically, the 2007 version, as, uh, apparently there are multiple adaptations of this. It was a live action Japanese drama about a high schooler who was born female but transfers into an all-boys school, identifying as a boy while she is there. There's more to it than that, and I won't say it handles everything the best (it's from the mid 2000's) or concludes things in quite the way I'd have preferred. Not to mention it's kind of weird seeing many tropes I'm used to seeing in anime rendered by physical, real actors. BUT it was overall a really sweet, adorable, funny, heartfelt, and reached for pro-queer expression in a time and place when that wasn't mainstream yet (and honestly kinda still isn't depending on who you ask).
Good Omens Season 3 also dropped this year. I actually don't have much to say partly because I think a big element of it is just not knowing what to expect going into it! But it was also very good, very fun, pretty damn gay, I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers hard they get to wrap it up the way they want.
All right! Onto my personal top 10 GOTYs.
TOP 11 GAMES
(I played and finished in 2023)
11) Mother 3
The one entry on this list that did not actually come out this year -- in fact, it's never technically released outside of Japan. Originally release in 2007 on the Game Boy Advance, this quirky RPG has developed quite the reputation. I started playing the fan translation back in like 2020, and only got around to finally finishing it this year. While that likely did tarnish the experience a bit for me, so does the final third or so -- it kind of drags on a bit, and any old school format RPG that requires grinding to progress can become a bit of a chore.
Thankfully, Mother 3 did earn its hallowed reputation in my eyes now that I have experienced it. I totally get the passion for this game now, and I am a convert. It makes me want to finally finish Mother 2, aka Earthbound. But here's the biggest thing about Mother 3 I weirdly did not expect going in, yet smashed my face in like a hammer by the time I finished it:
without Mother 3, there is no way Undertale/deltarune would exist.
The DNA for Toby Fox's works is achingly obvious in its relation to this game, specifically. I won't spoil anything and I won't go into my long list of evidence like an Ace Attorney case, but trust me, there is ample evidence to make this claim.
And that also means that Mother 3 stands on its own merits as doing things that RPGs just plain were not doing in 2007, and in some ways still aren't today. Aside from some pacing issues further in, the characters in your party aren't as developed as much as I'd like. BUT the overall narrative it tells, especially in those opening chapters, have a rare kind of earnest, human magic to them that most games just don't let themselves fall into. And it concludes in ways I did not expect and yet offered clarity as to why it is so beloved, and how Toby Fox was so inspired to put his own mark on the gaming landscape.
I owe a great deal to Undertale, personally, and as such, I also owe a great deal to Mother 3. You don't need to have played others in the series to enjoy it, you'll just be missing some referential stuff here and there. It's quite playable and unique by today's standards and I strongly recommend it if you want an RPG that is heartfelt, funny, fun mechanically, and has some simple but hard-hitting things to say about the world we live in, and what we are doing to ourselves and that world.
10) Super Mario Bros. Wonder
What can be said that hasn't been said already? Nintendo knocked it out the park with this one. This was everything I've wanted in a 2D Mario for like 15 years. The only thing 'missing' from it is playable Rosalina, but hey, we finally got Daisy in a mainline Mario game, so I'll take it. After a decade or so of dragging their feet with low-effort but enjoyable 2D games, Super Mario Wonder finally, at long last, captures what makes Nintendo games great and with their best foot forward. They haven't done 2D Mario this well since World on the SNES in 1991. And they have never put this level of production into a 2D game since... ever?
This is one of the all-time best 2D platformers out there, and for once it finally feels like 2D Mario is running on all cylinders as a big budget passion project kind of game. You love to see it.
9) Scarlet Hollow
This game isn't technically finished yet, as it is episodic, and its developers wanted to release Slay the Princess in the interim, but that doesn't stop its quality from being good enough to make my list. This game is doing the kinds of things visual novels should be doing, the kinds of things I wish to do in a sense with my own visual novel development.
It's a horror themed experience but balances the high tension with actual real stakes very well against mostly down-to-earth conversations, with lots of great tricks and touches of presentation you don't typically see in indie visual novels, along with a fantastic art style, charming characters (my favorite character has turned out to be the one I immediately disliked at first, and that's rare for me), and meaningful choices.
I can't wait to see how this one wraps up but even as it stands it's one of the best things I experienced in 2023.
8) Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Redeemed
I will admit I skipped Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after giving it an honest go in like, 2019 or so. A few hours in and i couldn't stomach it, the tonal whiplash from Xenoblade 1 (one of the best RPGs I've ever played) was too much for me. But then Xenoblade 3 came out last year, and is also one of the best RPGs I've ever played, even better than the original for my tastes.
But I wasn't prepared for the DLC to drop a whole ass side-game on us, a self-contained prequel to 3 that serves as narrative cohesion to tie the whole trilogy together with a bow on top, complete with perfectly tuned fanservice (and not the sexy kind, although grown-up Rex and Shulk, well, yes) that really respects its fanbase for investing hundreds of hours in this franchise.
Matthew is easily one of my all-time fav RPG main characters, probably the favorite RPG main character when I think of it (as main characters specifically go, anyway), and his game is a fraction of the length of many RPGs out there. But as usual, the entire cast had their charms, the story was nicely paced, the gameplay and overall length was just about damn perfect for what I could want from the genre.
As an expansion to a pre-existing game, this is one of the top 3 best expansions/DLCs I've ever played. When taken as a side story to an overarching trilogy, I'm not even 100% in on the lore and I still enjoyed the hell out of it, it's just the kind of thing that hits a tone of 'damn, video games are a fucking unique medium that we can do specific narrative things with across years of telling a story.'
I don't know where Monolith Soft is going next, though the ending certainly offers some intriguing teasing, but I suspect I will be there day one to see it, and am looking forward to it.
7) Pikmin 4
Given the long wait (10 years!) one might understand fan concern over the state of Pikmin 4. Turns out, that extra time was spent making this game fucking good. It's not the largest, most impressive, most complex, most inspiring, most 'anything' game I played this year, and yet I can't help saying that this is a damned good video game. It really nailed what it set out to do as a sequel, incorporating just the right ideas to spice up the formula while bringing things back to how Pikmin 2 was, and improving on the series in basically every way -- including stuff to do!
This is easily the most Pikmin game... in a Pikmin game. I still haven't 100%'d it. Without giving away any details, I'll just say that when a game rolls credits and you're only like, halfway through its content, and it just keeps going, that's just kind of wild. It would've felt like a great game even then, but the breadth and depth it ends up going to in order to keep giving you ways to engage with its wonderfully detailed world and addictive mechanics, I love it.
I just want more of it. Give me DLC with more Dandori content, the formula and feel just works so well at this point.
6) Sea of Stars
How the hell I forgot to include this one on my list initially is boggling. Easily one of the best indie games I've ever experienced. The writing is nothing to, well, write home about, but it's not bad. And in fact the story has a lot of great things going on, from an interesting world to a very potent arc with the leading support character (who, let's face it, is kind of more the main character than your two main characters).
The game's art and music are phenomenal, capturing the essence of 90's era RPGs but clearly doing things not capable back then. Made even sweeter, the game is a prequel to the studio's prior work, The Messenger, which I also played and adored in tandem, kind of going back and forth between the two once I was partway into Sea of Stars. The way this RPG repurposes songs from Messenger as well as all kinds of seemingly superfluous elements but makes it feel cohesive is pretty great.
The game also trims a lot of the fat you'd find in older RPGs, as well as lets you customize your experience in a modern way using collectibles you can toggle on and off to grant all kinds of effects, like increasing or decreasing the difficulty in various ways.
The homage paid to classics like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG is clear but it's not at all copy-cat-ing, instead wearing those inspirations proudly on its sleeves and forging its own path with its own ideas. A fantastic collection of party members, a wonderful world, amazing presentation, and environments and pacing that help it stand apart from the genre that inspired it. I wish we got to know the leads better, there is a lack of character growth in many ways, but that's me grasping at straws to critique, it's just a fantastic experience and the studio should be very proud of what they've accomplished.
5) Hi-Fi Rush
This is gonna be a running trend from here on out, but on any other year, Hi-Fi Rush would've been my GOTY, easy. From this point on, we're talking measures of inches rather than miles in terms of my love for these games.
Hi-Fi Rush finally delivered on something I have waited like 20 years for: a rhythm action adventure where playing the game in sync with the music felt fucking cool and gave me emotional resonance in a way only this medium can. The humor was charmng. The visual aesthetic is almost peak 'my taste.' The music was groovy with a few tracks I did not see coming but loved seeing how they were incorporated. The story was surprisingly fun! The characters were fantastic, I loved the entire main crew in a way I rarely ever do and would jump at the chance to spend more time with (and hey, there's a whole bunch of post-game I have yet to do, so I intend to in 2024).
The only real thing I could reasonably ask for from this game is a way to play as those other party members in post-game content or new-game plus or something. And who knows, maybe we get that some day. Even if we don't, what they came up with here is the next best thing besides. And what we got is one the most video-gamey video games I have ever played, a real classic and one I think will go down as one of my all-time favs. A passion project given meaningful time, budget, and creatives to bring it to life.
Had this game offered multiple playable characters, a bit more development in its story, and maybe a stronger climax, it'd be higher. I still love it to death and want more games like it regardless.
Hi-Fi Rush is exactly what kind of game we could have gotten more of if the Internet hadn't pushed gaming into a 'live service' direction. It is literally the spirit of a PS2/GameCube game given modern form. And either way, we did get it, at least, in that form, and it fucking rocks.
4) Resident Evil 4 (Remake)
This year was big for remakes and remasters, but one stands tall above the rest, if you ask me. The original RE4 has stood as my fav in the franchise, the one that got me into the franchise, the one that got me into M-rated games in the first place. Lots of nostalgia, but it's held up surprisingly well over the years despite some limitations of the time (mainly the controls) and some older-fashioned sensibilities ("with ballistics, too~").
But Capcom fucking nailed it with this reimagining. Like Final Fantasy VII: Remake, this game is not a remaster, or a one-to-one recreation. It is a brand new game, built from the ground up, reimagining the original entirely, complete with new mechanics and story. But unlike with FF7, this is also shockingly authentic and loyal to the original at the same time. It remixes elements from the original game, maintains most of the original's map design, adds in new stuff, removes some of the more goofy shit -- and even 90% of what feels 'removed' is revealed to be repurposed for the Ada side story DLC.
It looks great, it sounds great, the adjustments to characters and story are improvements across the board, (except for Hunnigan, RIP) the gameplay is improved in intensity and feel and action and replayability. And yet despite all of this, it balances that campy tone of the original just enough to still evoke what I loved about the original's tone. And it doesn't outright replace the original game, either. The two are now like different recipes of the same sandwich or something. There's reasons to revisit the original, though for me this has now replaced the remake of RE2 as my fav in the franchise.
I really don't know where they go from here but I will look forward to it, and regardless, they fucking nailed this one.
3) Street Fighter 6
Two Capcom games, back-to-back? They had a fucking good year in my eyes. The interesting thing about this particular entry is that unlike the others on this list, I will be continuing to play this one for hours and hours into 2024, especially with more fighters still planned. And in another year, this would've easily been my GOTY.
After all, Street Fighter 6 is the single-best traditional fighting game I think I've ever played. And while fighting games are my overall personal favorite genre, I'm more of a Smash player who also loves the hell out of Street Fighter and then dabbles in Tekken and whatever else releases. Street Fighter has always been one of my go-to top multiplayer games since I got into the franchise with SF4 in 2010. While I did enjoy SF5 well enough, it just didn't keep me hungry to come back for more like 4 did. SF6 has fixed that problem by way of a multitude of changes.
It has easily the most fun single player mode I've seen any fighting game have. Like, yea, The Subspace Emmisary (and even then, I don't love that mode like other folks do, I kinda think it's... fine?) but tbqh World Tour is just better in most every way. You get to build your own fighter, earn and mix and match different costumes and individual character special moves with each fighter's fight style. You get to just hang out with the SF characters, get to know them as people, their hobbies, their fears, their insecurities, their passions besides just beating the shit out of each other. On top of this, the realistic art style shift (a by-product of the RE Engine) seals the deal on what Street Fighter 6 is aiming to do: humanize its cast.
Is it still wacky as fuck? Is it still comical and weird and goofy? Hell yes, it is. Is the story mode deep in its narrative? Not in the slightest. But it's still stepping confidently in a direction fighting games should be trying to, not being too self-serious, but also being earnest.
And I haven't even touched on the mechanics! The Drive System alone is a brilliant addition that adds a sort of 'stamina' system that works so well to add an extra layer of decision making and tension. The game's not perfectly balance imo but for how much is here it is surprisingly damn well balanced, especially given they have insisted on not pushing out a single balance patch since it launched in June. For most any other competitive game, that would be like suicide for the scene, but the game seems to be thriving and selling extremely well for the franchise. And it's earned it.
I will absolutely be continuing my warrior's journey into 2024 and I can't wait to see what else Capcom has in store for this game.
2) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Out of every game I played in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom is easily the most technically impressive. From a design standpoint, from a 'how in the hell is the Switch doing all of this without exploding' standpoint. From a 'holy hell how is there this much stuff in a single player game' standpoint. From a 'oh my goddesses that stupid batshit idea I had 100% worked because it actually did make sense' standpoint.
Where Breath of the Wild opened our minds as to what an open world game could be -- fully designed like one giant interconnected 'level' -- Tears of the Kingdom replied in much the way I expected: it pulled a Super Mario Galaxy 2. What I mean by that is that this is a direct sequel, building directly off the foundation of the original. You know. Like video game sequels almost always used to. And which many very successful ones still absolutely do.
But Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to wow me all over again by adding to that open world's verticality in insane ways -- the Depths alone are probably my favorite 'mechanic' from any Zelda game ever besides the time loop of Majora's Mask (and what that did for the story and gameplay). But beyond the scale of the world basically doubling and then some (floating islands and caves on top of Depths), I was curious how this game could stand tall after Elden Ring, which is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time at this point. Elden Ring was Fromsoft's reply to BOTW. And yet Tears of the Kingdom still managed to have something new to say in spite of that very strong reply.
Tears of the Kingdom opened the door to let players essentially create their own mechanics. By removing the abilities Link had to engage with the world before, and replacing them with a brand new toolset that includes abilities you just... don't see games give you, because they'd be 'overpowered,' TOTK designs its massive world in ways that invite you to use those 'overpowered' abilities however you see fit.
Being able to interact with the world and objects in this way, being able to fuse them together to create all kinds of effects, or new methods of transportation, even interacting with things not just spacially but in respect to time, it's nuts and fun and I've already poured like 130 hours with still so much I haven't done. And that's the thing: this game wasn't designed to be 100%'d. It was designed to just... be experienced, as much or as little as you want. And games on this level of scale/budget just do not have the guts to let so, so much 'content' be missed out on. And this game does.
It's a technical achievement and while I had my doubts with how strangely little Nintendo had to show, I am very glad that the experience itself manages to breathe new life into one of my all-time favorite games while improving on it in so many ways. It won't convert you if you didn't love the original -- this is a Super Mario Galaxy 2 style sequel, after all. But it's essentially replaced the original in ways I didn't think would be possible.
The story? Oof. Uh, not so much the story, let's ignore that part. That's what Nintendo wants you to usually do, anyway. But everything else, just. Din-damn.
It expands upon the first game's already fairly open-ended nature in an exponential way that I suspect developers will spend years to come trying to pin down, much like how they've spend the past 6 or 7 years trying to replicate BOTW's open world design.
For much of this year, I thought this was personal GOTY. And for many it will be, because it's just an extremely impressive video game.
Number 1...?
Going into this list, I kept telling myself, 'man, on any other year, this would be my GOTY. And if you know me personally you likely have already figured out what my GOTY is by omission. But the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized just how close these top 5 games are, it really is like centimeters instead of inches, and they each -- well, every game I've mentioned here, beyond the Top 10, as well -- offered something edifying that I was very satisfied with.
And no, it's not Baldur's Gate 3. While I have spent hours playing it in co-op and a little bit solo, that game's just not really for me, exactly. Like, I can enjoy it, and I have massive respect for the dev team and what they accomplished with it. But I don't much care for D&D, and the game just didn't do very much for me personally, I lack the motivation to finish it. Remove Karlach from the game and I have next to nothing to really attach myself to, personally. I definitely get why it's many people's favorite game of 2023, though, and I do think it's a bit of a wakeup call for what can be accomplished by just making a GAME instead of struggling to contort it into a service etc.
Street Fighter 6 is fucking fantastic but it could still use some more actual fighters and incentives to keep playing besides monetizing its players in weird ways. I love it, and it will be the game from 2023 I end up playing the most (it already is, I think). But if it ended as it is, I would be very satisfied.
Hi-Fi Rush is oozing with originality and style and I adore it to death, and when I finished it, I was very satisfied.
Resident Evil 4 kept me addicted for over 100 hours, had an amazing DLC expansion, oozes replaybility in the specific ways I like for a single player action game (rogue-likes besides). I am extremely satisfied by it.
Tears of the Kingdom is so massive and fun to just explore that I know I will continue to play more in the months to come. Will I ever revisit it entirely? I'm actually not sure! That massive length does lend some repetition, even if it's the kind I find therapeutic and satisfying.
And that's what made me realize something. My personal GOTY did not just satisfy me. It made me hungry. It filled me up in a way I didn't think was possible and yet I still hunger for more, because I enjoyed it that fucking much. I played through it twice and still hunger for more. I know I will play it a third time eventually, but mainly I just have not been to remove from my brain the particular ways it made me feel, ways that only a video game can. Nothing about it felt like it needed to be overlooked.
SF6 and RE4 had dubious monetization, TOTK had a story I found to be like 90% boring and it still maintains many of the flaws of the original. And Hi-Fi Rush, while amazing, just didn't scratch the particular itch this game did for me.
1) Lies of P
If you told me that Lies of P was a game developed by some sub-division of FromSoft, I'd believe you. Which is to say I would also believe that it was made by people who wanted to break free from some of the shackles of the now infamous 'soulslike' genre.
A narrative that actually makes sense by the end? Opening up options for the player without requiring specific stat levels? Encounters and boss fights that feel ravenously challenging without just feeling like cheap bullshit? Music that crosses borders beyond 'angry chorus, angrier orchestra'?
Lies of P doesn't quite eclipse Elden Ring, but that's an absolutely unfair comparison given the utter scope and scale and variety that game packs. But Lies of P improves at the FromSoft formula in specific ways, while making concessions in others, and as a result it's just an experience that seeped into my brain like no other game this year, not even Tears of the Kingdom, despite that I put half the hours into this one.
I love all of the games I have mentioned here, you could honestly swap around the order of this top 5 and I could mentally meander a way to justify why, no, actually, this one was my favorite game of 2023. In a year so awful for the people who make games, yet so amazing for games themselves, Lies of P is exactly the kind of game I needed. I needed someone to show me that you can make something directly inspired by someone else's work, yet fine tune it in all the right ways to make it stand just as tall in terms of quality and design. Lies of P made me feel things in ways only a handful of games ever do -- and I would actually count Hi-Fi Rush among those in a regard.
But Lies of P also told a story I found compelling. It had mystery, tension, buildup, it started off seeming like it would do the vague FromSoft schtick only to 100% come together, make sense, be rewarding, and offer a 'true ending' that I got on the first playthrough, organically, without looking things up, because it just... felt right. Not only is the game adapting FromSoft's formula into something its own, it's also doing that with the story of Pinocchio. The gameplay and the story congeal together not in the 'perfect' way that it does with games like Celeste or Undertale, but rather in a more... messy way, like a puppet aching to become a real boy.
The game is full of loss, in its world and for you as the player, who will die many times. But unlike much of FromSoft's catalogue, I never once felt like I died because of bullshit. Was I trolled? Sure, the game definitely 'trolls' you in classic FromSoft fashion, lulling you into a sense of security only to sweep you off your feet. But unlike how FromSoft does it, these circumstances can always be avoided if you're cautious. And if you're not? Hey, 'We got you! We gooottt youuu, haha' and you lose a couple minutes of progress, rather than like fifteen minutes and also an entire level's worth of souls because oh right, this section you just got through is kind of bullshit cheap.
Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls. But the thing is, Lies of P takes the parts I love about Dark Souls, admits it can't pull off quite the intricate web of level design, but then throws away everything I do not like about Dark Souls, improves on the things I already liked, and then pushes me to meet it on its level.
The satisfaction of being a boss you spend an hour, two hours on, cannot be understated. It's a feeling unlike any other, and one only this medium can provide. And Lies of P kept me motivated, like Sekiro before it, to keep improving, keep growing, keep trying. And unlike Sekiro, it gave me so many more tools to play with, to learn, to balance in an arsenal with intent. Enemies have elemental weaknesses if I so choose to exploit them, the moveset of one weapon's handle can be applied to a completely different blade, my robotic arm can leverage things in a pinch, or be the backbone to dealing with a boss. Mastery is rewarded with practice. A vicious boss that annihilates you in five seconds can be defeated without a single scratch if you practice enough. Mastery, creativity, quick thinking, and reacting are all rewarded here.
I am more than the hands pulling the strings, I am more than a puppet, I am human. And games like this can only be made by humans, who get that specific itch that only video games that challenge us can scratch. It's not an itch everyone has, but that's why it's my GOTY and not yours, innit?
With its unique setting, its wonderful music, its cozy hub area, its narrative that offers just enough to make me care, but not so much that I am bored or feel misled, its amazing boss designs, and its wonderfully tactile and engaging combat, Lies of P is a game I just can't stop feeling something about whenever I am reminded of it.
It epitomizes so much -- not all, but much -- of what I love about what video games can do, what adaptations can do, and much like how Toby Fox was inspired by Mother 3, what people can do when they are inspired by someone else's work.
As far as I can tell, this is developer Round8's debut game, and just. Holy hell, what a way to come out swinging. I haven't seen a debut game hit this hard since, I don't know, Bastion.
Close your eyes. Come to me. Feel all right.
I did, and I do, and given what you teased at the end of this game, I have extremely high hopes of what you come up with next. And in a landscape where things feel more difficult to get excited for with each passing year, much less new IP, it's so damn refreshing to have both Hi-Fi Rush and this game standing out as signals that, hey, some folks are still willing to invest bigger budgets into new games, new ideas.
Again, a battle of centimeters here and at this point I should wrap this up and go to bed.
But yea, Lies of P reminded me of what makes me, specifically, human, in a very particular way that only it has. And I honestly think out of all of single player games of 2023, I think it will actively stand out in my heart the most in the years to come.
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justaprismolover · 3 months
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LOST MEDIA ? GUYS IM BACK FROM THE DEAD BUT WITH SOMETHING NOT PRISMO RELATED BUT I NEED YOUR HELP, PLEASE SPARE ME
I APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY. I AM SO SORRY BUT I NEED HELP.
I have some media on my hands that i cannot find, but it cannot possibly be lost, ive been looking for it for hours and i cant find it anywhere. bear with me-
when i was getting ‘a little too old’ for kids cartoons, but i would still watch them, there was a new show that came out on [likely] nick jr. other possible programs for this could be sprout, disney jr., or PBS, but i dont think was on PBS. this mustve been around 2010-2014. it was a show about these scientist kids who all lived [?] in a labatory. im PRETTY sure all of them were either all monkeys, or different types of animals, maybe with different lab motifs like a rat and a bunny, since those are lab animals. the main character was this know it all monkey that i HATED as a kid because he was the one who solved EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM like the little gary stew that he was. his little thing was that every time there was a problem, he would shout, “EUREKA”! and then he would solve the problem with science or friendship or whatever. i just remember thinking how annoying it was that he had no flaws.
i remember this one episode where another monkey character got sick. he was a lighter shade than the main character and im pretty sure he was just a younger side character who wasnt exactly there all the time. i think he was a younger sibling of sorts? anyway, he got sick and he had to stay home all day. from what i can remember he was the only one who was shown to have a home, unlike the other kids, who lived by themselves in the lab. he kept on wanting to go to this party his friends were hosting, but his mother said he was too sick to go. she served him this weird mushy food that he hated and didn’t want to eat, but the bowl she served it in was the exact shape of his head, so he had the idea to make it look like him and sneak off. he went to the party and all of his friends were concerned for him and told him he should be getting rest at home. i cant remember how the episode ends. i think he was one of my favorite characters, and i also think that there was one female character who was obviously dressed in all pink so that you knew she was a girl.
i also remember a bumper for the show where the gary stew mc said his eureka catchphrase as a green potion popped up with a speech bubble, though this could have been something im making up. i remember feeling annoyed when it appeared.
the artstyle was 2D and had a thick outline look to it. it looked kind of like wow wow wubzy.
it was not wow wow wubzzy or sid the science kid. i do not think it was AstroBlast, but if someone pulls up an episode like the one i described, i might change my mind.
below i have some poorly drawn visions of what the show may vaguely look like. the first picture depicts the MC, and the second is the bumper. ill reblog this and add more if needed as i kind of remember what the episode i described looked like. also if you dont want to see non-related prismo stuff block the #notprismopostingsorry tag.
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metalic-madnezz · 9 months
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I love the scene artstyle but it's so tedious to draw it takes me hours to do the lineart and it's not really fun for me 😞😞 Idk if I'll draw in it as much anymore I have the tendency to change styles every 2 seconds and I can see how that may be annoying especially if u follow me cuz u like one of my styles just for me to completely change it next post 😭
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jaymber · 10 months
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First off I wanna preface this by saying I haven’t been in the CP2077 fandom for very long and I’ve been following you for even less time but I absolutely adore your ocs, and seeing them cross my dash makes me smile every time I also love reading the tidbits of lore around them..I truly love them and everything you do and I cannot wait to see more 🖤 -ps do you think you could maybe do a up close of gabby’s tattoos? I’m real curious about them
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Welcome to the fandom and thanks so much for your kind words! It means a lot to me!!!! 💜💜💜💜💜
And sure! I can do that, but keep in mind that I can't focus on modding more than like, an hour, so all their tattoos are rushed! Well, Gabby only has one technically, the other marks on their body are either supposed to be a birthmark or scars (I'll get around to make them into real scars eventually but... y'know...)
And hope you don't mind me rambling a little either! So here's a Keep Reading!
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Oops, had to make Gabby bald for that one hehe 🤭
I'm gonna preface this by saying I can't draw, all these were taken from free vector sites. These are four different filigree images I put together, plus the sign of Venus (♀).
The thorns filigrees are a reference to Jesus' crown. Gabby got their tattoo after being fired from Militech for blowing their cover as a double agent and left for dead by Arasaka assassins. It's a symbol of their rebirth, but also a symbol they rejected their father's power (he's a descendant of the founder of Militech) to join the "mortals", the lower class.
The two other filigrees I used are inspired by rococco art, which is known to be a pastel and irregular artstyle with too many details. It suits Gabby's personnality.
The sign of Venus is both a nod at their gender (they partially identify as a woman) and their essence as a cambion (half-succubus). Lucifer is the former name of the planet Venus. Their stage name is Venere di Luce, Venus of Light.
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Gabby has other markings on their body. Two scars and a birthmark.
Gabby's birthmark is a reference to the number of the Beast. I was inspired by The Omen. So, in some occult beliefs, the term "Antichrist" refers to all children born from a demon and a human, not just Satan. It's just another sign that Gabby isn't fully human.
Their scars are both branding marks made from hot iron and Holy Water. The one on their neck isn't as visible usually, I used Photoshop tools to make it clearer. It's the symbol for the Death's-Head Moth, a XBD "studio" who hired Gabby after they were fired from Militech since they cannot die, making them the "perfect doll" for them to play with.
It was applied to them shortly after they started hanging more and more with Maelstrom. Gabby had agreed for the scene, since they thought the mark would fade away pretty quickly. They didn't know the DHM's leader knew about their demonic nature. It's just there now. Forever. It'll always hurt a little bit.
The second branding scar is a symbol of Maelstrom. Gabby eventually broke their contract from the Death's-Head Moth to work with Maelstrom instead. They didn't want an initiation cause they like their face a little too much for that, so they chose a different approach to make themself an official associate of the gang.
They were publically branded by Royce, and yes, it was extremely painful. The scar looks right on some angles only. I'll make them into real scars eventually!
Also, I'm using your nice ask to say that I've changed Gabby's eyes to give them a more unnatural look! They're literally the goat now 🤭
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miutonium · 2 years
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I can't sleep because i am lowkey nervous about tomorrow but also I just want to show yall basically my art progress (in terms of rendering) in the spam of 1 year contracting Utonium brainrot hhhh it's so surreal to see how different both of them looked like ahaha
(for guide, first pic to last, 1st week july 2021>3rd week july 2021>21st Nov 2021>9th Apr 2022)
Also witness me talking about each journey of my progress undercut lol
I cAN TOTALLY EXPLAIN THE FIRST 2 PICS. The first one is exactly from a year ago when my brainrot just started and I was like "well fuck I guess I have a new f/o now". If you ever see or feel familiar about the first art even though you prooooobably never see it,
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its because it was an original picture for this redraw a few months AFTER that pic
Also if you notice, the art style for that one is totally different from others and shhh the reason it was like that is because initially I want to draw them in my actual artstyle around that time and I dont want it to follow the same artstyle like in the show. My friend said Utonium kinda reminds them of that guy from clo.udy wi th a ch.ance of meatb.alls and im like "oH SHITTT". There's more drawings of Utonium pre-brainrot era with this kind of artstyle in my folder but I don't think the world is ready for that yet lol
Anyway as I progresses to the 2nd pic, I changed my mind and was like "wait I actually WANT them to look like they're in PPG and not my own artstyle" so I slowly draw both of them to look more like the ppg style if you understand what I mean??? Althoughhhh in the 2nd pic I still want him to look a bit like my own style with my own touch and despite how much I don't like the reboot, I actually like his gray hair on his sideburns??? So if yall remember that phase and followed me from way way in the early days of this blog, I used to draw Utonium with those streaks before I gradually stopped doing that because of.... actually idk why I stopped??? I should totally add the grays back because I love it actually lol but anywayyyyyy the 2nd pic was also around july too me think? So there's probably like a few weeks gap between the actual totally real not clickbait picture of Chloe and Utonium 'together'.
That was how my render looked like for a few months until november (the 3rd pic).
So in the 3rd pic, I discovered this very magical spectacular magnificent function on CSP called t E xt U r e and holy fuck, let me tell you, I feel like I am a changed person. I was never the cringe person with mediocre render like I was, this legit marked a cultural shift in me, I just feel like I've been blessed by god himself. I spammed the fUCK OUTTA THOSE TEXTURES like it was MY BUSINESS. i pAID CSP FOR FULL PRICE I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE IT TO ITS FULL CAPABILITIES AND SQUEEZE IT OUT OF ALL IT'S WORTH. Although I must say, my render time after that significantly increases. By standard I used to render around 3 hours? Now this bitch took 6 fuckin hours to completely. It wasn't a daijobu era ngl 😔😔😔
And holy fuck do I have a fuckin field day with it. You think I was a changed man back then? I have ascended, I am now r e b o r n. My friends feared my, my peers stared at me, my teachers are baffled by the amount of brainrot I drew at that time. How am I real?
I rendered like that for around 4 months until I discovered something even more cooler:
B L E N D I N G M O D E
Okay jk but hhh anyway for my current render; it's kinda more like an accidental discovery? I wanted to look for ways to cut render time because it was really tiring for me to render with a fuckton of texture layers and I also wanted to emulate my fav artist's render style soooo bad (it was luoman if anyone asked) and I kinda figured out how they did it? I mean they still do it better but like I was really inspired to be like them and lemme tell you, I cried for 3 days 3 nights unpaid vacation time when I figured it out. I wasn't kidding when I say I feel like I am a new person. I am quite pessimistic tbh, I'm insecure about my art but like this is the first time in like 3 years ever I feel like I did a major progress and I feel really good.
Why did I made this post? I actually dont feel good about myself, maybe because I am nervous about my test tomorrow and I just need a quick mood boost from myself. I don't believe I did any progress. But now, after typing all of my thoughts at 3 am, after I just put art phases of my braunrot together, kinda believe I actually did progress and I am proud of myself ;w;
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space-hair · 1 year
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don’t read this even though it’s on me for putting my cringey thoughts in public u_u
i am trapped in this never ending loop with art and more and more i just wonder what’s the point anymore. if 9/10 times i’m not having fun and am actively hating every moment what am i even doing. i know exactly everything that i’m struggling with and yet unable to get out of it. i really struggle with change and hyperfixations and all or nothing and so i have a few small things i let myself watch/read/get into because i’m terrified of losing my few hyperfixations and if i leave it’s gone hard and the fear of change keeps me desperately clinging onto my little safety blanket of medias i let myself watch/etc . on top of it because of my memory issues i am losing more and more of the little content i do even have, so i end up rewatching/reading/etc just to remember it all . and i’m trying really hard to branch out and watch/read new things but i’m constantly overwhelmed and just feel so stupid over it but at the end of the day i’m just such a repetitive creature mostly cause of mental uwuness and it’s killing me every art way. i know that if i just let myself consume anything outside of the 5 things i do it could open me up creatively so much but it’s also so terrifying. and the unknown is just horrific in any media, so i get too scared about not knowing cause i just always need to be prepared for things and you can’t when you’re getting into new things and all that. and then it’s like. i have been trying really really hard to get into a bunch of new things, and nothing. like there’s no creative spark or new incentive to draw new things there’s no inspiration at all. and whenever i do try to make something new i get so attached only for there to be nowhere that i can talk about my things and innevitabely they just die a few days and it just feels like all this lost potential. cause i’m just alone and there’s nothing that can really be done about it. i always feel like going back to when i only let myself have one oc because the inevitable death of creation just haunts me. i have horrific projection of life onto inanimate objects and knowing i created something and it’s just gone sucks. also my artstyle sucks. like it doesn’t suck conceptually i’m a fine artist but i can’t let myself go anywhere because of repetition and fear of change. like i have it in me to improve but no motivation or inspiration and the scariness of difference and change is too much to bear so i draw the same shit over and over and cannot escape it and how can i wonder why i feel so disasstifisifsifeied with art. i don’t know if it’s even truly lack of consumption that leads to lack of newness and inspiration , if its that i’m really struggling mentally and it all spills out into art, or if like the hard reality is maybe i’m just dragging a dead horse trying to always draw. although i don’t think art will ever leave me it’s like . i spent my whoel life learning about art and constantly drawing and improving and it’s like. is that it? did i just spend all this time and it’s just done? the sparks of wanting to draw become fewer and fewer and more i have to draw out of obligation or whatever. because i’m an artist. so i have to. and i want to, it’s just that i don’t want to. there isn’t an hour in a day that goes by that i don’t think about art or drawing or feeling guilty if i don’t and feeling shitty if i do and i guess like that’s not mentally healthy but it’s like all i have in life. love other things like knitting and violin and all that but it’s just a hobby that i like and it doesn’t give me the same happiness art is supposed to but doesn’t anymore. it’s all so dumb anyways. i am trying to read dungeon meshi and i’m like... i’m terrified to do it because i don’t want my previous hyperfixation to leave me because i just shape my life around certain things cause it’s just what is keeping me going or whatever. also i am so stupidely dumb even just sound effects of noises or whatever is killing me. i don’t wanna see drool even in a comic because i’ll puke. and it’s like idk i’m too uncomfortable to be a good artist anymore. i can’t get over myself enough to create art.
my biggest love and hate with art is design. i love to design characters and ideas and whatever else but i can’t help but get sucked in and too attached but then after a few days there is nowhere else for it to go so it fades away which just sends me into such a depressive panic every time. i want to design but every time i end up crying because i just can’t . do anything with my designs. i don’t even want to in theory, i just want to design and create . but cause i made oc’s now everything has to be something and hwen it’s not i just get so upset. its’ embarrassing but sometimes i just can’t do anything for months because of attachment struggles.. i have a pencil or a package container that is on my room floor and i feel like it’s just a part of the room now, the pencil likes being on the floor and it would feel sad if i picked it up so i cna’t. i know it’s stupid it’s just not something i can easily break out of . i draw full things in not even 5 minutes, fully lineart/colour/sahde etc pics can take me no more than an hour. so designing something where a lot can be built onto it is great because i try but can’t draw slower even when i’m realy trying. but then i get too attached and eventually nothing more can happen and i hate it all.
i just wanna draw and be happy :( rant over cause i’m going to have a panic attack over having to change my tissue box because i have severe mental issues
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