#no way concept art will ever perfectly translate to game stuff | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ukiyokki · 3 years

Text

mars reads too much dreamnotfound fanfiction for their own good

a dreamnotfound fanfic recommendation list by your resident dumbass (me)

this took way to fucking long... i’m tired

below is a (very extensive) list dedicated to all my favorite dnf fics, ranging from quick one shots to 100k+ word monstrosities that devour the storage on my computer, forever incomplete masterpieces to ongoing works of art, you get the idea. i provided links for each fic/series for your reading pleasure. there will be no smutty/nsfw fics on this list, that’s just not my vibe lmao. this list goes in no particular order, and i’ll update it from time to time when i feel like it. now, without further ado, let us begin.

Heat Waves (complete) by tbhyourelame

(wtf else did you expect, looking at a dnf rec list?) amazingly well written, and while it’s not my favorite dnf fic it’s damn near close. in the midst of a brutal heatwave, a suffering dream comes to terms with the fact that he is desperately in love with his best friend. everything i could say about this fic has already been said by nearly everyone who’s read it, so if you haven’t yet caved into the hype, just go for it. you won’t be disappointed.

Gonna be around (completed) by georgescatcafe

(mc irl) my favorite dnf oneshot to date. just read it, i don’t wanna spoil for you :)

Inferno in the Sky (ongoing)by zairielon

(star wars au) an ongoing star wars au currently clocking in at almost 200k words. need I say more? everything about it absolutely slaps, each chapter is amazingly written, and it’s just good. also, can we just appreciate dream and tubbos dynamic in here? 10/10, amazing, must protecc. oh right, a summary: george, an exiled padawan turned engineer, must return to the jedi temple after attacks on it from an unknown assailant threaten the safety of himself and the other jedi.

Like Magic (ongoing) by KangarooKen, NotGra55 (Gra55)

(harry potter au) the unofficial official dnf harry potter au. we watch the young unlikely wizard pair grow up together throughout their years at hogwarts as they battle good old fashioned wizard racism. beautifully written, incredibly fun and suspenseful, and just an overall blast and a half.

GeorgeNotFound, Son of Poseidon, and the League of Minor Gods (ongoing) by Clichewho_69, Cygnvs, Trash_Kinggg

(percy jackson au) percy jackson au? check. “road trip” (technically quest but u get what i mean)? check. enemies to friends to lovers? check. this fic follows the plot of the lightning theif (albeit loosely), but everything is explained enough where you don’t have to read percy jackson to understand what’s going on. basically after moving to the usa, george gets taken to camp halfblood where he learns that a) gods exist. b) he’s the son of poseidon and c) he needs to prove that he didn’t steal zeus’s master bolt.

Protected (completed) by aenqua

(royalty/camelot au) my favorite piece of dnf media of all time. dubbed the official dnf camelot au, where dream is the heir to the throne and george is a servants son with a secret that couldp get him killed. these childhood friends grow up together and learn trust, love, and acceptance. (that summary did not justice to the masterpiece that is this fic) here’s the directors cut

The Hunter (completed) by HederEgo

(mc irl) a choose your own adventure fic with 13 different endings, where dream the hunter must kill george and stop him from beater the ender dragon. enough said.

The official dream team cowboy AU (series)(ongoing) by antsu_in_my_pantsu

(cowboy au) cowboys and outlaws horses and shit. and the big gay. it’s a cowboy au, what else did you expect? fucking yee haw (all seriousness this is a great read, i loved it so so so so much and i can’t wait for the final chapter to release).

This is a Drista moment, let's just accept it (completed) by Qekyo

dnf fic from drista pov. considering its unique perspective, it’s perfectly done. beautifully showcases a sibling relationship through drista and her memories/moments with dream, and it just works, y’a know? also drista supremacy.

Dear Dream (completed) by Qekyo

(wwii au) i don’t cry when watching/reading anything sad. translation: i’m a heartless bitch. however, this fic is the only exception. it caused me to cry so hard my mom walked in my room and asked if i was ok. ‘nuff said.

TECHNOlogical Wingman (completed) by Closeted_Bookworm

techno is the autocorrect ai on dreams phone, and he gains sentience. interesting concept, and the author fucking nailed it. great fic.

It Was Only a Fic (ongoing) by imagineitdear

dream starts reading a dnf fanfic (we’ve all been there buddy).

Teacher’s Pet (ongoing) by niyuha

(teacher au) in which dream is a high school english teacher and george is the new comp sci teacher in room 297.

Saltwater Secrets (ongoing) by earlgay_milktea

(mermaid/high school au) a great example of the shear amount of variety in fics this fandom has to offer. when i started reading dnf fics i would have never thought i’d find one about a mermaid george hopelessly crushing on his human friend, who happens to be his schools star swimmer. yet here i am, and i am far from disappointed.

Smash My Heart (incomplete) by dontrollthedice

george and sapnap are commentators for duper smash brothers tournaments, and george develops a crush on an up and coming smash streamer named dream.

roleplaying in the dark is harder than it seems (completed) by Alienu

laser tag. 10/10

solar system (completed) by quartzfia

(mc irl) george vists dream in pandora’s vault.

Ramblings of a Lunatic (completed) by jungkooksfic

ahh communicating through a notebook left on a shelf in a bookstore- what a perfect way to start a relationship.

Paint me like your French Girls (It's Charcoal, Actually) (completed) by Turtle_ier

(artist au) george is an art student, and dream is a model.

00:00:00 (completed) by isleofdreams

(soulmate au) 00:00:00 is the moment you meet your soulmate, as indicated but the clock ticking down on your wrist until the moment you meet. i’m not a fan of soulmate aus; this fic is the exception.

Blue Skies Smilin' At Me (completed) by kivy

(artist au) i don’t usually cry while reading stuff, but this brought me damn near close. george is a painting conservator and chats it is with the ghost of the artist if the painting he is working on. they fall in a love.

Current Location (incomplete) by hendollana

(influencer au) george simps for a hot american instagram model. who knew he’d actually follow back?

The Withering (series) (series ongoing, 1 work completed) by App1e_Juice

(mc irl) lore and world building and fight scenes and everything i crave. what’s not to love? something starts making the plants and crops around dreams village wither, and must team up with new friends to find the cause of the mysterious disease plaguing the land.

Minecraft, But You Can't Leave (complete) by facadecake

(mc irl) dream and george are sucked into their own private minecraft world together and must beat the game to escape.

Free The Game, Beat the End (incomplete) by goatgoatwasfound

(mc irl) a glitch in minecraft causes thousands of players from around the world to be trapped inside minecraft, with only one way of escape- beating the ender dragon. first dnf fic i ever read, and it’s still 10/10 for me.

Why don't you come a little closer? (completed) by lifeofandoms

george gets stood up by a date, and Dream pretends he’s the date to save george from the embarrassment. simply adorable.

lightning bug (completed) by saintachesP

(band au) while on tour, dream realizes his feeling for george.

Hold me closer (completed) by Treesofmyheart

(mc irl/dsmp) i just,, really like this trope.

Dizzy on caffeine (completed) by GleamingGreenGoggles

(coffee shop au) best dnf coffeeshop au i’ve read. periodt.

living a life of crime isn’t always easy (series) (completed) by itisjosh

(mafia/assassin au) stockholm syndrome except it’s not weird.

Inhibitions Make Interesting Situations (completed) by Ship_On_The_Sea

i pissed myself laughing. it’s just a dream and george being hilariously dense, flustered idiots. serotonin central.

thy eternal summer shall not fade (completed) by gracequills

(high school au) that moment when you recite shakespeare to your crush in your ap lit class instead of confessing (hate it when that happens).

All is Fair in love and Football (ongoing) by graciegirl2001

(college au) #1 favorite college au. in which george is a cheerleader, and dream is the football teams rising star player. this one gets extra points because of the amazing karlnap moments sprinkled throughout. *chefs kisses air*

online love (completed) by andbutso

(high school au) online classes go zoooooooom

Can’t help falling (completed) by isleofdreams

dream re-learns the guitar to sing to george on his birthday. beautiful. fluffy. amazing

dance in the rain and my arms (completed) by lazy_kitkat

george is a rain god, and dream is a wind god

Weather Boy (completed) by DaintyDiizzle

wouldn't you like to know, weather boy? (where dream can control the rain)

The color orange (completed) by anon

(mc irl) dream describes the colors of a sunset

Family Mode (completed)by Strawberry_flavoured_tears

they’re dads :,)

Breathing Room (incomplete) by papercranes

(band an) an amazing band au. the mad lad author wrote original songs for each chapter. above and beyond, mad props :). unfortunately, it’s incomplete

Piece of Clay (completed) by carbonbrine

(artist au) george is a sculptor and his sculpture comes to life- but oh no he’s hot.

Try (completed) by Not4typicalwriter

(royalty au) george must choose a suitor, but none of them are up to dream, his head knights, standards. or dream is hella jelly. also protective dream is perfect

When the Roses Bloom (completed) by HederEgo

(royalty au) close second for my favorite fic. go to royalty au for a quick serotonin bost. it’s all fluff and flowers and crushes, and i love it. criminally underrated.

Heavenstruck (ongoing) by dontrollthedice

george is dreams guardian angel, and dream want to find out more about him and his past life. bittersweet :,)

Bang and Burn (completed) by App1e_Juice

(spy au) george accidentally falls for target number 1 on sapnap’s secret agency’s hit list. this ones great, i love me a spy au :)

Can I get a uhh… (completed) by lemonskies

dream keeps pulling up to the drive through mcdonald’s that george works at drunk.

Pretty Stranger (completed) by anon

when looking for dream in the terminal, george sees a cute guy and decides to flirt.

Take my Hand (completed) by latinbias

(royalty au) another royalty au? poggers. surprise twists? double poggers. love this a lot.

seconds, minutes, hours, lifetimes (complete) by meridies

ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP *inhales to compose herself* roadtrip au. unrequited love, ignored feelings, longing, pining, you know the drill. absolutely love this one, its the best roadtrip au i have ever read, in any fandom. (maybe cause i identify with it a little too much, but thats not important. whats important is that you read this fic. right now. im waiting).

Message redacted (complete) by justyouraverageloser

(text fic) dream asks for a girls number and realises hes been given the wrong number. however, an unexpected relationship starts to form between him and the stranger on the other end of the line.

the waves (completed) by anon

(mc irl) this fic was written by the same anon who wrote the color orange, which is up there on my fav dnf oneshot list. dream and george know they have a higher purpose. they don’t know where they came from, or why they are seemingly the only humans in the world, or how they feel about eachother, or even where the skeletons come from, but they are sure of one thing: they have to beat a dragon.

The Dream Doll (completed) by PeppDream (Pep_Pizza)

(voodoo i guess) i’m a real big fan of fics with really out there or unique concepts, so naturally this one makes the cut! i really liked it, it’s really sweet and made me think a lot about what matters to me in the world. george finds a strange doll in an antique shop, and would really like to just stuff it in a drawer and forget about it. sadly (?), the doll has other plans.

last updated February 6th, 2021

#dnf #dreamnotfound #dream not found #dreamnotfound fic #dreamnotfound fanfic #dreamnotfound fanfiction #dnf fic #dnf fanfic #dnf fanfiction #dnf fic rec #dreamnotfound fanfiction recommendations #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #i’m ok i swear #i read too much fanfiction #i should probably go to bed

2K notes · View notes

littleeyesofpallas · 4 years

Text

Bleach - Name Games

I don’t know how I didn’t think to do this one sooner. Outoribashi(鳳橋) ROSE(ローズ) Roujurou(楼十郎) has a curious zanpakutou. For reference, his own name (which I’ve covered before) references the Ho-ou/Feng/”Chinese-Phoenix” and by association rainbows (yes, just like the pokemon) and considering his very 70s shoujo look --very Moto Hagio and Ryoko Ikeda vibes-- in conjunction with some other themes that I’ll get to later, it definitely feels like he was meant to be gay, although we sadly got basically zero real character development for him over the series to elaborate on that... But rainbows aside, the Ho-ou is why his hollow mask is a bird mask, and possibly the association with bird song could be where Rose’s music powers came from.

His sword’s name is Kinshara(金沙羅) written as (金):”Gold” and (沙羅):”Shala” which is a tree native to India, Shorea robusta, aka Sal tree. As a translation Viz’s “Golden Shala” is actually perfectly correct! It’s totally not any kind of translator error, but there’s really nothing to indicate what’s relevant about the Shala as a choice of name, so I’m going to dig into that instead. And to be fair, I’m not super sure any of this is exactly “obvious” even in Japanese; I think this one is a lot of Kubo just being a big nerd about stuff, because that’s just how he is...

So, to start, it has numerous connections to images of the Buddha in relation to death, birth, impermanence, and attaining enlightenment, but what I think it’s references is a part of the opening line of the Heike Monogatari(平家物語) which reads...

沙羅雙樹の花の色, 盛者必衰の理を顯す: “The color of the flower of the pair of Shala trees, displays the natural truth that (even) prosperous people inevitably decline.”

It draws on the buddhist themes of life and death to note the inevitable fall of the Taira clan in the Genpei war, even as the story itself begins with the rise of the Taira.

The Heike Monogatari is often considered a Japanese equivalent to classical Western epics like the Illiad; it chronicles the events of the Genpei war, which itself is sometimes compared to the English War of the Roses, due to a similar start in which a reigning sovereign’s lineage comes into dispute between two offshoot families. Notably the Genpei war ended the Heian period, a long standing era of peace in Japan considered the height of Japan’s courtly culture. The Taira clan in particular were the ones who established the prominence of samurai in Japanese government, and the end of the Genpei war established the first Shogunate, the effects of which would shape the next ~500 years of Japanese internal conflict.

Anyway... Point being that (沙羅雙樹の花の色,): “The color of the flower of the pair of Shala trees,” seems to be the reference point for the name Kinshara(金沙羅): “Golden Shala” and the sword itself being a long vine/whip ending in a Shala flower. The name is effectively synonymous with, “Fleeting prosperity.”

The release calls kanaderu(奏でろ) means either “to play an instrument” or “to dance” both of which are relevant readings given Rose’s music based powers and dancer based bankai.

Although I don’t actually get where he connected the Shala imagery with music in particular... I guess if you read the metaphor as “fleeting beauty” instead of “prosperity” it does kind of describe music as an explicitly sensorially in-the-moment form of art, but that feels like a bit of a stretch as far as intended reading.

His bankai is Kinshara Butodan(金沙羅舞踏団), retaining the same phonetics and kanji for Kinshara, and adding Butou-dan(舞踏団) which Viz translated as “Dance troupe” which is technically the literal reading of 舞踏:”Dance”+団:”Group” but it kind of dodges the fact that Butou(舞踏) isn’t just a word for dance as a general art form or concept, it specifically refers to the particular family of Japanese, post-war, Western influenced modern dance forms. It is most recognized, somewhat infamously, for a style using white body paint and extremely slow and hyper expressive controlled movements. This reframes the release call from its “playing an instrument” reading to “dancing.”

Kinjiki(禁色): “Forbidden Color” was the first ever Butou piece, performed in 1959. (note the homonym in Kin(禁):”Prohibited” and Kin(金):”Golden.”) It was based on a 1951 Yukio Mishima novel of the same name, and the phrase refers back to a Heian period law that restricted the colors that could be worn in court. But the book and dance piece used the historical reference to compare the taboo of homosexuality with the arbitration of petty court conduct.

So, “Gold (Colored) Shala” is basically a pun on “Forbidden (Colored) Shala” and “Forbidden Color... Butoh...” immediately ques up the gay associations, which then fall in line with other more readily established themes with Rose’s character, like...

...Rose’s name being Rose (and again his very BL manga aesthetic) is a pretty clear reference to the word/term Bara(薔薇) which is the Japanese for “Rose” but is a slang term for gay men, derived from the 1970s gay culture magazine, Bara-zoku(薔薇族): "Rose-Tribe/Clan.” (This same magazine ran a column for write-in editorials specifically from its female readers titled Yuri-zoku Heya(百合族部屋): “Lily-Tribe Room” which in turn is why Yuri is the slang for lesbians.)

The magazine’s popularity (as well as that of others like it) with women was a huge contributing factor to the style and content of 1970s shoujo manga. Which again is where Rose gets his general look of long wavy blond hair, European features, and frilly shirts from. In particular I’m reminded of Moto Hagio’s emphasis on European men, Ikeda Ryoko’s world famous historical-fiction Rose of Versailles, and Yasuko Aoike’s From Eroica with Love. (pictured above)

Also a fun tangent, but it’s possible Rose was directly based off Bjorn Andresen, but it’s a little hard to tell... Andresen was a huge influence on the 1970s shoujo aesthetic, specifically because of his role in the 1971 film, Death in Venice, where he plays an alluring androgynous boy that the movie’s protagonist becomes infatuated with. His youthful and effeminate looks made him something of a celebrity the world over, but where as many western countries antagonized him over his role’s implicit homosexuality (he isn’t actually gay himself) in direct reaction to his fans’ embrace of it, Japan’s general public didn’t really seem to care, so he only ever got attention from his fans there --he’s actually commented that he’s been very fond of Japan largely because of the way it was the one place he wasn’t harassed over his perceived sexuality during his early career.

Anyway, Rose could just be based off the style that Andresen inspired, but the reason I think he could be a reference to the man himself is that Andresen is also a musician and performed with a dance-band called Sven-Erics as their keyboardist. (I guess the dance-band thing could superficially tie back into the Butou theme, but honestly as a generic 70s-80s euro pop band the Sven-Erics definitely weren’t anything approaching the style of Butou.) But the specific linking of the way he looks and the music powers feels more deliberate.

I didn’t even think about the fact that I did Yumichika and Ruri-iro Kujyaku not long ago, and putting the two next to each other, I never realized before now that we had TWO fabulous flower and bird themed men in Bleach that Kubo never even put in the same room together. We were robbed.

#Bleach #rojuro otoribashi #otoribashi rose #visored

77 notes · View notes

foodbytesback · 3 years

Text

I Played Every Food Game in the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid

In light of increased violence by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, several game developers have to come together to create the Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid. And with over 1,000 games (available at https://itch.io/b/902/indie-bundle-for-palestinian-aid until Friday for just $5, of which all profits go towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), it’s no surprise that there would be a handful of food-related games. So let’s take a look at them.

I did, however, omit a few. There were a couple of food-related text-based RPGs, which is ultimately not a medium that I’m familiar enough with to feel like I could talk about and do it justice (and also most of them required at least 2 players). “Breakfast Cult,” ended up being more about cult stuff than breakfast stuff, which was disappointing (for the purposes of this, anyway). A couple, upon extracting the .zip files, seemed to be files of all Unity assets and no actual game, and eventually I kinda stopped caring. Sorry if I missed any otherwise, I did my best to gleam through the over 1,000 titles in this bundle.

Ace Baker

You’re presented with a list of ingredients with names that don’t resemble any food known to man, and it’s up to you to throw things together in combinations that will result in something that resembles a baked good before your partner comes home from work. There are icons next to each item, which vaguely suggest what it is, but the whole point is to sort of work it out yourself. I was just barely able to get a Perfect Cake before running out of ingredients, after countless Acceptable and Dubious attempts.

The UI was simple but effective, and I was almost a little sad that the list of fake applications off to the side couldn’t actually be accessed. Most of the dialogue (which is very slim, and basically bookends the game) with your partner, Nora, would be clunky if it wasn’t so tongue-in-cheek about how Cyberpunk-y it’s trying to be. The repeated use of “shiny” immediately brings to mind that one Spongebob episode where everything in the future is chrome. The fact that the player character and their partner are both asexual (yes, that kind of “Ace” Baker) doesn’t seem to have much to do with anything at first, but it’s worth mentioning that this game was originally developed for an asexual game jam, so think of it as a game that started off as being about an asexual person and then they added the baking afterwards, rather than the other way around (And even then, who cares? If you’ve got something against asexual people, get outta here.)

My only real critique is that after a while, the music loop stopped, forcing me to sit in silence as I studied my baking grimoire. But again, this was a little game hashed together for a game jam, that, if for some reason you didn’t want to get the bundle, is actually free on itch.io, so can you really complain?

Hot Pot Panic

What a classic conundrum: you’re at a hot pot restaurant with a friend, and, despite being all-you-can-eat, you have to control your appetite to avoid weirding out your friend. There’s basically two mechanics you need to keep track of: cooking the food in the hot pot, and managing the conversation with your friend. You click on the raw ingredients to put them in the pot, then wait until the sprites turn a golden hue and you start to hear a sizzling audio cue to eat them. Meanwhile, you have to make small talk with your friend, and pay just enough attention to be able to choose the correct multiple choice response to any question or open-ended statement she ends her side of the conversation with. But you have to be careful not to burn your food, however, because that won’t count towards filling your stomach, which you have to do before you run out of conversation topics. The whole thing is a delicate balancing act. I have to admit I failed at first because for some reason it didn’t dawn on me that you could cook more than one thing at a time?

The pixel art sprite work works very well; the foods are instantly recognizable and I could really feel the judging glare coming from behind the friend’s thick glasses. The background music perfectly matches the atmosphere, and, as already mentioned, other sound design elements like the sizzling cues from perfectly cooked meat prove to be vital to juggling the different elements of gameplay. All in all, a neat little game that perfectly encompasses the feeling of anxiety that comes with wanting to not embarrass yourself in public when all you really want to do is eat.

Putahe ng Ina Mo: Sinigang Edition

Ok, I’m gonna try to be nice to this one. On one hand, I love the aesthetic it’s got going on. Upon opening the game, you can tell from the background music, which I can only describe as “whimsical mad scientist,” as well as a stream of emojis flying past, that this game is supposed to be very goofy. Unlike other games on this list which were more point-and-click, the ingredients for your sinigang (a Filipino tamarind stew) can be picked up and thrown about as you wish. The fact that the art style is very realistic makes this that much funnier.

However, upon opening, the window forces a specific resolution that just would not work with my monitor. This may seem like a minor problem, as I was still more-or-less able to access all the ingredients, but imagine the mental state I was in: I’m already confused, and then the second I clamp the lid on the pot, everything goes up in smoke! How the fuck did I burn water? I ended up also watching a playthrough on YouTube, and they also, no matter what, burned the sinigang. Considering the name of the game translates roughly to “Your Mother’s Cooking,” maybe the idea is that no matter what, you’re never going to make it as well as mom. Or, considering my mom’s cooking, maybe it’s the opposite of that.

A weird, goofy little game that just didn’t seem to like my computer.

Sangwish

This is 100% in the vein of all those weird 2010s “[Mundane Thing] Simulator” games that were all the rage for a while. No instructions, no objectives, just a pile of food for you to play with. My immediate reaction was, for some reason, to grill the mysterious meat slices, but it turns out the stove there is just set dressing. Giving up on such pointless gourmand pretenses, I decided to just make the biggest sandwich I could. Eventually, there was so much on the sandwich that the bottom slice of bread started vibrating slightly, because physics. Then I tried to put my knife in the sandwich, but the vibrations knocked it to the floor, never to be seen again. Then I decided to throw all of my bread and most of the ingredients on the floor, never to be seen again. Here is my end sandwich.

Easily one of the sandwich simulators I’ve played all day.

Terroir

Much like a wine with a good terroir, this is by far the most complex game on this list (muffled snooty wine snob chuckles in the distance). The end goal is clear: grow grapes, make wine. But, as you can imagine, you are completely at the mercy of the elements. The ideal time to harvest your grapes is when they are at a ripeness of 4-6 out of 10. However, the randomly-generated months gave me month after month of cloudy and rainy weather, not allowing my grapes to get the sunlight they needed to get their ripeness above a 1. The only time my grapes ever hit a 6 was out of harvesting season, and by the time I was allowed to harvest, they had somehow dropped back down to a 1. And as you can imagine, a bunch of 1-star grapes will only make 1-star wine. The fact that I almost immediately got root rot didn’t help any, either. And because I tried to expand too quickly, buying an extra plot of land when I couldn’t even afford the grapes to grow there, I was thousands of dollars in the red within 3 years.

Is that a dig against the game? No. It’s frustrating, but in that way that games with a learning curve often are. The tile-based design is pleasant to look at, although much of the UI can be a little confusing to look at at first. And, of course, most of the “gameplay” is sitting and waiting for the wine critics to tell you what a bad job you did. Some of the few management choices you can make seem to not have much of an impact (my first wine wasn’t acidic enough, so I added pressed juice to my second batch that brought the acidity up to a 9, but then the mere act of bottling the wine brought the acidity down to a 4 somehow). It’s an interesting concept for a game that I assume I’m just not getting, but might give another chance at some point in the future.

#food #video games #food games #Indie Bundle for Palestinian Aid #Free Palestine

2 notes · View notes

thenixart · 4 years

Text

Chapter 6: Taxxon!

Sssirin had not been present for the birth of Toby Hamee or for the feast afterward. It was not that they hadn’t been invited, they were a member of the hive, [tribe] as the hork-bajir called it and free to participate in whatever ceremonies they felt like participating in. But they are not mentally hork-bajir, it was difficult to be excited about individual babies. Sssirin’s people laid eggs by the thousands; granted only a few hundred ever hatched at any given time and even fewer made it to adulthood. If the infant even lived that long, however long that actually is for hork-bajir, then Sssririn would be excited.

As it was, natural instinct dictated that grubs meant that the hive needs more food.

Hork-bajir are herbivores. A wild concept really. Sssirin hatched in the desert, most of the hives they knew were from the desert or the mountains. Only once a year after the rains were there any appreciable amount of vegetation at all to lure the herds near. Herds that lived perpetually on the move to follow the rains as to not starve. The idea that there were places in the universe with so much plant life that people could adapt to eating only that was mind-blowing. That this exceptionally verdant planet called Earth was so below the standards of the hork-bajir that they called trees thicker around than Sssirin themself, saplings was staggering.

As it was, they did not strip bark from the trees as they foraged. Not that they were incapable of doing so, quite the contrary as their teeth could tunnel through solid stone and they’d yet to meet a tree that tough. Sssirin only refrained because they were still learning the intricacies of bark harvesting. For her friendly demeanor, Loro Lok was a stern teacher when it came to the health of the trees, one bad cut could lead to the whole organism dying or getting infected and spreading sickness to the surrounding vegetation.

A stressful thought.

That’s why they were delicately snipping green twigs from the ends of bushes and plucking ripe little fruits that their hork-bajir hive mates would find edible. Really only going after things that had similar chemical flavor-scents to foods that Sssirin already knew that hork-bajir eat. No need to accidentally poison anyone. Sssirin sorted all gathered material into baskets of silk and grass attached to their rump to keep their claws free.

The pace of their work was only hampered by the need to indulge in their appetite: a few bites of dirt here, a songbird snatched out of the sky there. Sssirin, of course, knew the cause of the bottomless hunger of their people that constantly needled the mind and made taxxons crave the taste of the flesh of their own people. (More than usual that is. There are plenty of perfectly acceptable reasons to eat taxxon flesh.) The hunger of malnutrition. That no matter how much flesh you filled your belly with, it was never enough, that what you needed was inside the bodies of your comrades. A chemical generally provided by the living hives but due to drought and famine lead their people to abandon the hives for the marginal safety of the surface and then the aliens who promised much and did not deliver.

But something close by smelled like hive fruit. Sssirin increased the airflow through their spiracles and... yes! Nearby was some hive fruit! Somehow on this alien world!? Routing air intake through their mouth cavity they are able to track down the delicious smelling… fungus? It looked enough like a fungus to Sssirin, it had a main body of white strands and a spore-producing fruiting body. Maybe fungi were one of those things that just looked the same everywhere?

Burning need caused Sssirin to voraciously consume the pale pink-yellow fungi and some of the bark of the tree it was attached to and doing the same with the next shelf of the stuff that they found. Filled with shame, Sssirin carefully felled the two trees so that the surrounding vegetation wouldn’t get sick. And then for good measure, they filled the rest of their stomachs with ground bark and leaves. Nutritionally doing nothing for them but providing fiber.

Afterward, they tracked down the locations of more of the fruit smelling fungus and with great care harvested and wrapped some bundles of it in silk. Someone else in the hive might know more about it given that it was growing on a tree, and even if they didn’t the hork-bajir would probably figure out a good method for cultivating it. With their hindquarters weighed down with everything they collected, fungus fruit and bush fruits and twigs and all, Sssirin marched their way back to camp.

Turns out that the hork-bajir did know how to farm tree fungus. In fact, the fungus that Sssirin found was very similar to the ‘Cook it or die’ edible tree symbiote that they used in their traditional ‘Cold-Hot-Thick’ stew, which Sssirin knew were not direct translations of the hork-bajir language. The mixed low-frequency throat sounds were not something that the taxxon could hope to replicate with their own mouthparts and spiracles. Sssirin’s teachers added the art of cultivating fungi to their lesson plans.

Days later of consuming the fungus fruit regularly (small pieces remember, only small pieces) Sssirin noted a few immediate improvements to their general constitution like increased hemolymph flow and a drastic reduction in appetite. And after their molt, they felt like the healthiest taxxon outside of Hiveholm. They scuttled confidently up trees without the fear that falling was an absolute death sentence and proposed their plan to recruit more taxxons at the next big meeting.

////

Hearts pounding, heavy breathing, a gentle breeze flowing downhill. Sssirin knew all these things only increased the amount of their personal scent in the air. Still, Sssirin waited until they could see the starlight glinting off the teeth of the taxxon-Controllers before running.

...4-5-6-GO!! Sssirin lept sideways onto the trees lining the left side of the path. Their toes had hardly touched the bark before they were full out sprinting like their life depended on it. And it did. Not just because this was a raid and as a rebel the yeerks would very likely want them and their comrades dead. But also because they knew that they smelled absolutely, mouth-wateringly delicious from the tasty nutritious fungus fruit cakes webbed to their rump. And the fact that yeerks worked starvation shifts combined with malnutrition hunger of their taxxon hosts made a gestalt of very unpleasant death via being eaten alive. Sure taxxons cannibalize but under normal circumstances most have the manners to kill their prey before they start eating them.

The pursuers are adults, at least three of them. Sssirin is not. They have longer legs. Sssirin was in better health. Their tongues lashed at Sssirin’s back, snatching off a cake or two, and also tried to grab their feet to trip them up. Ha! Sssirin took advantage of the verticality of the trees to aid in dodging in such a manner that would make their hork-bajir teachers proud. They could not shake the taxxon-Controllers but they could not catch them.

But the point wasn’t to lose the pursuers.

After a few miles of chase the first pursuer fell into a pitfall trap. With the innate reflexes of their stolen bodies, the other yeerks were able to avoid falling into the same trap but that did not stop the second one from falling into the second pit. The slowest taxxon-Controller had caught on to the game and avoided the third one. Sssirin descended from the trees confidant that they were faster than the yeerk and that the yeerk was now wary of the young taxxon leading them into a trap.

But that was ok. The tribe only made the three traps. Resource limitations and all. There was always the possibility that Sssirin’s tasty decoy would have attracted more chasers than that.

RUN. RUN. RUN. RU--scent marker! Sssirin took a hard left, momentum skidding their body diagonally for a bit as they turned. They closed their spiracles and dove into the marked bolt hole. Muscles burning and adult taxxon teeth nipping at their spinnerets, Sssirin’s throat and belly pulsed desperate for a breath that they dared not take until they burst out of the tunnel and into the air from their speed and landing softly into a safety net of vines. Popping open their spiracles they pumped vigorously to reoxygenate their tissues. Sssirin descended to the ground drunkenly, uncoordinated from the traces of chloroform vapor stuck to their shell.

The last taxxon-Controller was much worse off, not even making it all the way out of the tunnel. Knocked unconscious by the noxious chemical that would take days to actually kill if it/they were left there to rot. After a few moments to let their head clear, Ssirin let out a series of booming hoots as loud as they could manage to call out to their hork-bajir allies.

The hardest thing to do was get the chloroformed taxxon-Controller into the empty pit trap. It/their shell was very thin, their flesh bloated and delicate, and hork-bajir have many sharp pointy bits. Sssirin ended up having to make silk mittens and knee covers for Jara Hamee and Aad Wanlo so that they could safely hop the taxxon-Controller back to the pit. Watching a pair of hork-bajir in mittens counting out loud to hop in unison is probably one of the most surreal images that Sssirin would ever see. Not the least part being the ginger baby hops that the two have to do to avoid rupturing the adult taxxon’s body from sheer velocity.

The pit traps were effectively, simple rounded wedges of glass, ‘car’ windows welded together and smoothed and then greased with liquid plant fats. Taxxon toes could not grip to the slick surface. The shape of it preventing their prisoners from getting leverage with enough legs to force their way out. After a day of rest, all of the prisoners were taken to the rocky narrow valley: three taxxon-Controllers, two hork-bajir-Controllers, and five human-Controllers. Sssirin dug holes to replant the pits and was charged with caring for the taxxon-Controllers after the yeerks refused to release their hosts and receive mercy. Grath Sha helped them hunt and keep the taxxon and human prisoners properly fed.

After a week only two of the freed humans decided to stay and join the hork-bajir’s hive, the others preferring to be amongst their own kind. The new hork-bajir didn’t give it a second thought and started integrating themselves into the hierarchy as soon as Kit Naab cut open their internal skeletons and pulled the yeerks off of their brains. The freed taxxons put it to a vote as was the taxxon way.

“Are you all determined that you all will not stay?” Sssirin asked with an inquiring curl of their third left tentacle. “This hive has abundant resources and good leadership.”

The taxxon with the call-name, Ssserrr, clapped their uppermost pair of pinchers together dismissively. It swallowed the hunk of bear flesh and internal skeleton it had bitten off of the feast pile before saying, “Does not matter. Many rebellions are better than one.”

Sssaloo, said entirely in clawsign as they attempted to swallow an entire elk haunch and leg in one piece, “No offense intended, small one, to you or the aliens. But laying too many eggs in one chamber has historically been a bad idea.”

“This one does predict a close friendship between our hive and your’s,” Hhhisis finished as they used their claws to rub mashed berries into the feathers of some small birds to change their flavor. Hhhisis offered a bird carcass to the younger taxxon.

Sssirin inverted their eyes into a smile and accepted the offering, “To the freedom of all peoples, then.”

“To freedom!” The others cheered. The hork-bajir having their own celebratory feast joined in with, “Free or Dead!”

#thenixkat #animorphs #taxxons #fanfiction

27 notes · View notes

adoranymph · 5 years

Text

[2:05 pm-ish, April 20, 2019]

Man, there is nothing that puts me in a fouler mood than when I let my own personal procrastination demon get the better of me on a perfectly free Saturday to the point that I don’t start getting any writing done until after 2 in the afternoon. I had planned to get up early and everything, and I even did. Sort of.

I scrolled through a ton of YouTube videos first, and before I knew it, it was nearing ten in the morning and I still needed to eat something. Ugh, so I did that…and then I committed the sin of hibernating on the couch for a couple of hours to catch up on some anime-related stuff. Though it was the sort that always manages to fuel my inspiration and imagination.

[Present Day]

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: that all’s no excuse, every procrastinating writer says that as they convince themselves to turn on Netflix or Hulu to “get inspiration” instead of writing and end up marathoning that show they really just want to finish so they’re caught up with everyone else, and because they love it so much.

Just the same, it did give me what I needed to open up my laptop and start working towards my writing goal for the day working on editing and polishing my manuscript: I finally got around to watching Kara No Kyoukai: Mirai Fukuin – Recalled Out Summer and Recalled Out Summer: Extra Chorus.

Okay, now that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot just by a name-drop, but let me explain. After all, that’s the whole point of this blog post: My love letter to Type-Moon. (And yes, I realize I’m not the first person to express said love in a blog post.)

Saber from the Fate Series and Ryougi Shiki from Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners

Type-Moon is a Japanese game company known primarily for their visual novels. Not really a thing here in the West, at least not as much if at all, but when I was first introduced to the concept of visual novels, I thought of them as choose-your-own-adventures played as an electronic game rather than read as a book. As I’ve come to better understand it, it’s kind of like that, you do make certain decisions that can lead to certain endings, but sometimes, as in the case of arguably Type-Moon’s most well-known visual novel, Fate/Stay Night, the point is to play through three different versions of the same story premise: kid gets dragged into ancient battle royale known as the Holy Grail War, and with each version of the story, or “route”, being played through, each featuring a different heroine for our protagonist, Shirou Emiya. One route builds upon the previous, and each route gets subsequently darker in terms of plot points and content.

Fate/Zero, incidentally (and my #1 favorite anime ever), is the prequel to that, and succeeds where most prequels don’t, since it’s a tragedy (I’ll go into more detail on that in my upcoming post about how Fate/Zero succeeds as a prequel). That was written as a light novel (kinda like a YA novel, or well, a shorter novel, so “light” novel) before it was adapted into an anime, and sets up the events of all three routes in Stay Night. So, it confirms that no matter what route you’re in in Stay Night, the events of Zero hold true for each of them. (Which is interesting when you consider the damage some of the characters in Stay Night have been living with since Zero, yet they may or may not come up in Stay Night depending on what route’s being played.)

Cover art for Fate/Zero blu-ray box set

The co-founders of Type-Moon, writer Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi, have come up with some pretty interesting and awesomely cool material in my opinion, and not only for Stay Night, which ultimately culminated in launching the Fate franchise, which has…a HUGE number of titles, and with the anime adaptations of Zero, the original of Stay Night, and the reboots of Stay Night covering the two subsequent routes that the original couldn’t really cover, a bunch more titles in the franchise have each been getting their own anime adaptations in turn, as though there was suddenly this HUGE frenzy for Fate title after Fate title to be adapted into an anime, demonstrating just how sprawling the lore and fanbase of this franchise is.

Promo art for Fate/Grand Order

And if that weren’t enough, there isn’t just Fate, there are other Type-Moon-developed visual novels whose worlds are connected to that of Fate. The only two I’m aware of for sure are Tsukihime and Kara No Kyoukai. (And then there’s Canaan, which was developed by Type-Moon too and its wonderful little 13-episode series in its own way, though I’ve been unable to verify for sure just how much if at all it’s connected with the aforementioned titles.) While I haven’t been able to get into Tsukihime much at all, since I can’t shell out to get my hands on the original visual novel, translated or not, and the anime is notorious for sucking so much that most deny it even exists, I have been able to get into Kara No Kyoukai, a series of films adapted originally from a seven-series online novel written by Nasu, and are seen by many as primers to the world of the Nasuverse (or the world of Type-Moon), which makes sense since when you see it you can recognize characters and plot points that feel like they were taken and reworked for things like Fate. Despite that though, they still do in fact exist in the same universe all as their own characters with their own stories.

Yeah it’s a lot. And the Kara No Kyoukai films cost a pretty penny, but this year I at long last got my hands on both the bluray box set of both the original seven films, as well as the additional film (Future Gospel and Recalled Out Summer: Prelude), and the extra special (Recalled Out Summer: Extra Chorus) just this year–stories that Nasu had an idea for after the original seven came out, but had not written in novel form. I’ve watched the first seven several times at least, but I was hesitant for the longest time about seeing the eighth film and the extra specials, since the first seven tied together so satisfyingly well, to put it mildly. But I finally gave in because I just love Type-Moon that much. And in the end, I was happy I got it, if only to have more Type-Moon in my life.

And that love compelled me to write out, essentially, a love letter conveying that love to Type-Moon. I’ve developed a lot of plot points for both my novel manuscript, as well as my style and voice as a writer, from the material I’ve seen from Type-Moon.

Cover art for blu ray box set of Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners original seven-film series

Fate/Zero was my induction, the jumping off point from which I finally took the plunge (some would argue watching the 2006 adaptation of the first route of Fate/Stay Night first is more prudent, but if I’m being honest, I tried that, and just couldn’t get through it knowing something like Fate/Zero was out there–I just couldn’t wait, though eventually I did end up owning and watching the original 2006 Stay Night, mostly because I was starved for Fate material until more of the anticipated new content came out, and because I was able to get a DVD copy of the series for $10.00–more than worth it, it turned out).

Promo art for Fate/Stay Night (2006)

Anyway, Zero pulled me in not just with eye-candy, godly levels of animation quality unprecedented in an anime TV series (considering how much budgeting goes into animation on the whole in the industry), and not just with its very epic concept of the Holy Grail War and all that that entailed as well, but also with its characters.

I adored Waver Velvet, the underdog student of magecraft who, despite being in over his head as the youngest participant in the War, manages to summon the hero Alexander the Great to act as his Servant, the one who’ll fight the other Masters by proxy with Servants of their own, all of them famous figures plucked from history and legend (with some creative license, in some cases a lot). And throughout the course of the War, they form an admirable friendship.

I despaired over the fate of Kariya Matou, who was basically the character that every show like this has, the one that gets ALL THE CRAP thrown at him, and undeservedly of course, as he tried so hard to win just for the sake of saving a girl from the abuses of her adoptive family, even with the cards stacked against him.

I relished in the development of the villain Kirei Kotomine, who could’ve just come off as your typical priest-that’s-secretly-a-bad-seed, but instead is SO much more than that, and it’s awesome.

Then there’s Gilgamesh, the sort of OP, arrogant villain you love to hate, but also the kind that has the power to back up his boasting being master of the universe.

Then you’ve got Saber, i.e. King Arthur, who despite apparently really being a girl named Arturia, all this time, still lives up to the namesake of the legendary King of the Britons.

And of course, my favorite of all, Kiritsugu Emiya. The relationship he shares with his wife, Irisviel von Einzbern, and their daughter, Illya; the motivations for why he does what he does unfolding as the show progresses, culminating in him finding redemption in at least being able to save the life of his eventual-adopted son, Shirou from the War’s fiery collateral damage at its climax; the epic rivalry between him and Kirei Kotomine; the way his methods clash with Saber’s chivalric values; the fact that he gets all of the best qualities of what I love so much about Takashi Takeuchi’s character designs. (Which is another way of saying he’s drawn so appealingly to me that he’s made it to #1 on my list of husbandos. That’s right, I said it!) The whole story and arc of his character is one of the, if not the, most poignant things I have ever seen in an any form of media. Never has a character made me physically ache at the thought of everything he went through, combined with the bittersweetness of his and Irisviel’s love story, as well as that of his love for Illya.

It’s basically everything I’ve ever wanted in a story’s emotional core or emotional foundation, and definitely served as a turning point in terms of my own writing, particularly seeing as how it’s a feels dynamic I’ve wanted to write for years. So thank you for that, Type-Moon: somehow, some way, much in the way that the universe miraculously weaves together a human being by a near infinite number of factors, you’ve managed to craft my own personal Holy Grail of an emotional story component.

Indeed, since the discovery of the Kiritsugu x Irisviel ship (an underappreciated gem depending on who you talk to), I haven’t found any ships to exceed that level of emotional perfection. I’ve found ones that come close, even ones that equal it, but thus far, in my eyes, Kiri x Iri is unrivaled, and probably never will be.

Sadly, this scene was not in the anime. Just in the Realta Nua re-release of the Fate/Stay Night VN game for PSP. 😦

In terms of ones that have equalled it though, one of those came unsurprisingly from another Type-Moon work, the aforementioned Kara No Kyoukai, and its main romantic core of the delightfully darkly complicated relationship of Ryougi Shiki and Kokutou Mikiya. That was another pleasant surprise. I had already fallen hard for Fate/Zero and everything it had to offer, but I’d heard of Kara No Kyoukai before that. It had been on my to-watch list for a while, but I’d say that learning that it takes place in same universe as Fate, the Nasuverse that is, it sort of drove me to get my hands on it a little sooner.

Cover art for Volume IV of the box set for Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners VII: …not nothing heart, with Shiki and Mikiya (OMG the feels)

My first copy was, admittedly, one of those many, many bootlegs floating around eBay (hem, hem), but at long last (especially since I got a bluray player (FINALLY) for this past Christmas), I was able to purchase the beautiful bluray boxset release of all seven movies, plus the special edition bluray for the Recalled Out Summer extras, because why not? Sure, again, the latter works basically as a sort of sweet but small desert to a large delicious main course, but that sweetness is worth it regardless, because it’s sweet, especially when you get treated to sweet strawberries in that sweet strawberry Hagan-Dasz ice cream of an extra story of things like seeing that (SPOILERS) Shiki and Mikiya eventually have an adorable little daughter named Mana, who for her limited screen time, does indeed seem to be the perfect blend of her parents. Plus it’s just great to see something so normal yet wondrous result from a romance that if not for a saving grace or two, probably would’ve ended in bloody tragedy.

Cover art for Recalled Out Summer box set featuring Shiki and Mikiya

Cover art for Recalled Out Summer blu ray set featuring Ryougi Mana (Shiki and Kokutou’s daughter, and Mitsuru Kamekura

So yeah, I’ve come to learn that when it comes to Type-Moon, where romance and personal relationships come in, the writing nine times out of ten shines (with the first true failure to connect with me coming in Fate/Extra Encore, and even then, because of the production studio behind it, it at least benefited me with flashbacks triggered by similar imagery used in another one of my favorite anime, Madoka Magica).

Again, sorry I haven’t been able to get into Tsukihime, but I’m not completely blind. There’s that anime adaptation that doesn’t exist ha, ha. In all seriousness though, I’m familiar with the basic premise, and some of the plot points seem to overlap other Type-Moon works. Plus there’s Wikipedia.

And Carnival Phantasm! Which is a little series Type-Moon produced as a celebration of their ten-year anniversary, something to reward the fans for being fans, and while I was at a disadvantage where a lot of the Tsukihime material came up, I still enjoyed it well enough, going on what I knew. But seeing as how Fate is arguably the most successful Type-Moon franchise, the ratio of Fate to Tsukihime material was almost 2:1. Which was awesome, as I basically got to see Type-Moon not only poke fun at itself and parodize its own characters, but actually give a sunnier if brief existence for some of these characters (because quite a lot of Type-Moon characters’ actual lives are SUCKY to put it lightly).

Screenshot of the Carnival Phantasm OP

For as sprawling as the lore of Type-Moon’s stories have grown, particulary with their Fate/Grand Order online game which seems to explore every single available Heroic Spirit that can be summoned as a Servant for your very own Holy Grail War, and the events of which have also been getting adaptations (the most recent exploring Gilgamesh’s past, and that has me intrigued if I’m being honest), there’re so many buried gems to find in there in terms of character and ideas and thoughts on life. Kara No Kyoukai in particular tends to philosophize quite a bit and contemplate things like reality, time, identity, balance, building a foundation for the world as a whole according to the Nasuverse. A bit like comic books, Fate in particular is one of those things where it’s debatable anymore where one should start, some answers being more correct than others, but once you find a place where you dip your toe in and get accustomed to the water, it’s easy to get wrapped up in what it’s various stories centered around the Holy Grail War are concerned.

I love stuff like that, and I’ve been inspired in my own work not just by Type-Moon on its own, but studio ufotable as well, which seems to be the ultimate Fate adaptation machine. Sure other studios do some of the lesser known titles (again like Extra), but ufotable got the reboot of Fate/Stay Night‘s second route, Unlimited Bladeworks, the adaptation of Fate/Zero before that, the film trilogy adaptation of the final Fate/Stay Night route Heaven’s Feel, and even the lighthearted quasi-AU Today’s Menu for Emiya Family, which is the Stay Night story if it was taken over by a cooking show, almost like Carnival Phantasm but not a parody, and still acknowledging the darker parts of the Fate universe, if distantly. Something about the care ufotable puts into their characterizations, along with the animation and art quality and the awesome voice-acting for the seiyuu and English VAs that end up getting casted (although I’m aware where the English casts are concerned that comes from the western licensing company that picks it up and not actually studio ufotable).

And then with Kara No Kyoukai, also made by ufotable, you get an expanse on this universe and its mechanics. It’s a bit vague on how magic works in both this and Fate, but I’ve actually found the idea of basing fantastic elements in the real word fascinating, not urban fantasy but something more than that. And the concepts it brings up. Like people having these things called “origins”, a certain trait from which their soul or being originated from within the Akashic Record, or “The Route” that once “awakened” in a person causes that trait to consume them. So if a person’s origin is “to consume”, and that’s awakened in that person (this requires a mage and the consent of the person who’s origin is being awakened), then they’ll say…embrace their desire to slaughter people en masse and then literally consume them afterward. Like this guy.

Ryougi Shiki vs. Shirazumi Lio – get him, Shiki, get that crazy S.O.B.!

Yeah, that’s the other thing. Apart from the things like origins and The Root or “Akashic Record” (which from what I’ve gathered is like the source of “everything” with a capital E: life, the universe, everything, and no, it’s not the number 42), Type-Moon’s world is what I like to call “beautifully dark”. Not a particularly unique thing, but either way, Type-Moon pulls it off well. There are moments of levity, but there are also very grotesque and disturbing goings-on underneath all that beauty, and even those things are beautiful in their own way. Sure, there are things like vampires or “dead apostles” floating around, and there’s a fair bit of bloody death, but then you’ve got corrupted Heroic Spirits who steal your heart and drink the blood from it like they’re squeezing the juice from a prickly pear, eye-powers that allow for a person to twist anything they want with their mind (including living human bodies), tentacle monsters crushing small children, souls jammed inside puppet bodies that start to fall apart to reveal their meaty, gear-riddled interiors, and life-sucking, magic-giving worms that consume the bodies of their hosts from within (okay we’ll file that under “beautiful grotesque”). And then there’s the aforementioned bloodthirsty killer whose origin is to consume and thus consumes the corpses of his victims (yeah, that Shirazumi Lio guy, see above, he does that)…when he doesn’t do weird stuff like contort them and mark them with the yin-and-yang symbol.

Just to list a few.

The name for Kara No Kyoukai in English is usually The Garden of Sinners, though Kara No Kyoukai literally translated actually means “The Boundary of Emptiness”. But a garden full of sinners is apt for one of the titles in the Type-Moon universe. In some ways that and things like Fate almost transcend storytelling when adapted well, and with godly animation and music (both Fate/Zero and Kara No Kyoukai‘s OSTs were composed by the incomparable Yuki Kajiura, who’s practically the authority on darkly beautiful and epic themes) to back up the engaging storylines.

And speaking of Yuki Kajiura, I’d like to take this moment to not only give props to her work with Fate adaptations, but Hideyuki Fukusawa as well, the main OST composer for the Unlimited Bladeworks reboot, as well as Kenji Kawai, who composed the OST for the original 2006 Fate–that adaptation might have its drawbacks, but that OST does wonders and is seriously underrated, especially considering this is the guy who composed the OST for the original Ghost in the Shell film.

youtube

Nothing is perfect, but nevertheless, this is a fictional world that I have fallen irrevocably in love with, much in the same way I did with Harry Potter, though I’ve grown since then. And I just wanted to extend and express that appreciation and love to something that has inspired me and the way I approach my writing going forward so incredibly.

So, thank you, Type-Moon, for the awesomeness you offer, in all its forms. You have my most sincere and utmost praise and respect. I hope that even when the last of the Fate routes, Heaven’s Feel, has finally received its full and deserved adaptation in the trilogy of films, that this is not the last the world will see of your wonderful content. You have more than earned your loyal and adoring fan base ten times over. You are amazing! ❤

Love Letter to Type-Moon Man, there is nothing that puts me in a fouler mood than when I let my own personal procrastination demon get the better of me on a perfectly free Saturday to the point that I don't start getting any writing done until after 2 in the afternoon.

1 note · View note

vrsystem-us · 5 years

Text

15 BEST GRAPHICS on Modern VR Systems

we don't get to talk about VR very often but we love it when we can and we love graphics so we figured it was a good time to feature 15 VR games with some of the most insane graphics let's just get started with number 15 and talk about Vader immortal it's by far not the best-looking game on this list but it has a few key things first it's one of the better-looking games on the quest the wireless oculus device the quality and detail they cram on the headset for this game in particular is just incredibly impressive but also now that it's on the standard rift platform you could really see the graphical effort even more but the big thing I want to point out with this game is just Darth Vader himself when he walks up to you and he stares you down you can really tell they put a Hall of the budget into him he looks incredible and the sense of presence he gives off when he's standing in front of you is nothing short of amazing you really feel like it's him so we're giving the game big points for that but moving on to number 14 let's talk about red matter VR red matter VR is awesome there are a few VR games on this list that are like this but I think whew look as cool the concept is you're exploring a Space Station lab on a moon of Saturn to investigate shady secret research projects it's like an alternate universe sci-fi cold war dystopia and if something went wrong so it's up to you to figure it out it's atmospheric but it's also strikingly detailed even more than you'd expect and some of the weird evil red visual effects they use in-game are a sight to behold really check it out but next at number 13 zero caliber VR this game is impressive in a different sense I mean it looks pretty decent but it's all how it comes together as a first-person shooter you have full movement around the environment and can take cover at will it's all freedom you have big guns that you can realistically hold and interact with different parts of it and there's just lots of explosions and the game doesn't really take a hit up close some things can look kind of crappy but when it's all in motion the ambition of the game itself makes it really visually impressive it feels like you're dropped into a real first-person shooter like Call of Duty or something since you shoot things and it looks cool that's what I'm trying to say and next up at number 12 we have Arizona sunshine a game that you might think at first it's just another throwaway zombie shooter game like you see on every other app store but this one actually looks damn good once you get into it the use of lighting in just the outdoor environments and just the art style of sort of being kind of artsy but sort of realistic make this thing quite a looker and more than you'd expect especially if you're running on a decent machine aside from just the bright color and the lighting and stuff the explosion effects and some of that stuff is really really impressive this game isn't like the absolute masterpiece or anything but it is absolutely solid and consistent and just fun to look at so that's why we considered it plus honestly it's just fun as hell shooting zombies is always cool and Arizona sunshine is of the higher quality so check it out but moving over to number 11 something I really want to talk about is the gallery part of the Ember stone this is actually the follow-up to the gallery call of the star seed which was a big hit for a lot of vibe players back in the day when it first launched it's a really cool puzzle mystery adventure game which already looked damn good and the developers cloud head games really stepped it up with ember stone I just look at it now that in the game story you're entering a new ancient hidden world everything is just bigger and more fantastical within the game so the art design and the graphic line should really keep up and make up for this it really looks better than ever visually and gameplay wise it's a massive improvement over a call of the star seed and I would highly highly recommend it but next at number 10 singularity 5 it's this awesome wave shooter that I'm really hyped to talk about it looks incredible and has a great sense of style the art direction is like a crazy high-concept sci-fi kind of artsy fartsy vibe that they completely nailed from the vision to the actual execution in the game not only is it stylish though but the on-screen menus and the fonts and everything like little things are really cool too it's just you know like I said sometimes with stuff it's just really the little details and when people really pay attention to every single individual element in a game they're making I just really appreciate there are a few other games like this on this list in terms of just like wave shooter type thing but it's still worth pointing out just because it's art style is so different and eclectic now at number 9 project cars to VR I still really firmly strongly believe that racing games are the perfect style of game to really get people into VR and just show them what it can do and right now really the best showcase of that is project cars - now straight up it's not my favorite racing game by any means but the VR component is just extremely extremely well done and the fidelity is perfectly translated to the VR options and in the best ways you really feel like you're in the car and there's still a surprising amount of detail on everything kick-ass graphics are needed to be able to properly convey a good sense of speed and if that's not done right the fun factor can drop instantly thankfully though project cars 2 succeeds and then some like from that - detail - just everything you want to blow somebody's mind put a VR headset on them and put them in a racing game and like I said earlier project cars - is the one to do it with at number 8 primordial this is a weird otherworldly first-person shooter with a single-player adventure and an arcade mode and despite there being so many other VR shooters this one just feels super unique and it looks great I think primarily it's because of the scope of this dense looking world as well as definitely these weapon visuals that the guns or weird gross weapons use are hyper detailed and cool and the game makes really fun use of glowing colors and bright neons - just great great effect it was made by like two dudes it's really amazing that it looks as good but we got to give them props next at number seven let's talk about how blade we love how blade here at game ranks and it also got of the arm oh it's just a damn good looking game it was a good looking game then and putting it in VR was a weird choice but it totally works the way it's set up essentially most at a time you're acting as the camera the game is still you know in third-person perspective only the camera has some slight movement and freedom with your head in motion and stuff there are other games that do it like this but I think he'll played is just one of the best-looking ones you know there is a loss in graphical fidelity in some spots as there always is with VR but experiencing this game in front of your damn face is still really cool and the characters and a creepy environment still look great and absolutely emulate you feel of playing it the traditional way honestly however you play it maybe you're watching this you don't even have a VR headset I'll say it again play hell-blade cuz it's a really cool single-player adventure anyway let's move on next at number six in death people describe this game in death kind of like as a Dark Souls VR game and yeah that works it has a lot of like great bow and arrow gameplay in it and it's a robe light so it has a satisfying challenge loop but gameplay aside it looks really good it's been hailed as one of the best-looking VR games and I really got it in particular point out how cool the enemies look and especially the way they move and animate here this is one that you just really kind of need to see to believe in motion like it's gotta be on your face as generic as that sounds I really think it's true some of the games on this list is better off you actually seeing them in person than a YouTube video with awful compression in 1080p showing it but getting down to the final five let's talk about Batman Arkham vr this is honestly like a relatively simple Batman experience this is really freaking cool and immersive and it looks so damn good and what started out as a psvr exclusive has been ported over and it's just really goddamn awesome it looks good on every platform because it preserves the look of the Rocksteady Batman Arkham games from style tough all that gritty detail and it puts you in Batman shoes literally it has a depth and scale of Gotham rooftops where you can look down to the busy streets below but also all of Batman's gadgets and his cool clubs are recreated with a bunch of really really fun detail this game is really more of an experience you know a museum type thing but it's really awesome and impressively running in real time I played this one like well over a year ago at least and I still can't stop thinking about how good it looks but moving on to number four just a quick one lone echo lone echo is awesome the movement and zero-gravity the puzzles and seriously I can't say enough good things about this one but it also looks awesome despite the simple premise of a Space Station floating through empty endless space it's the detail in the environments the lighting and really the character models you get up close and personal with that really impressive this one might make you queasy you know but the floating around in space is so much fun and I'd really recommend it especially because it's practically a graphical powerhouse dude but next up something I'm really excited to talk about at number three is Resident Evil 7 it's one of the more impressive triple-a VR outages Capcom definitely gambled on this one it's been probably a ton of money because the entirety of Resident Evil 7 can just be played in VR first of all this makes it incredibly scary the atmosphere and the graphics are preserved enough in VR to make certain sequences of the game still feel genuinely spooky also the detail of the character models is still insanely impressive those Baker's are messed up I don't know but really this is truly a VR game on a massive budget and if you can experience it you should because they gave it their all as long as you have the stomach for it it sucks EDD it's still just a psvr exclusive but still it looks damn good now down at number two let's talk about less of an official one its ally and isolation alien isolation is a crazy looker I mean creative assembly put a ton of time into the visuals here and just support in general with the game the dark hallways atmospheric lighting emergency lights the faithful level design that just really recreate that feeling the original alien it's a no brainer for looking good when it's also strapped to your face and ER this has to be access to with mods though there were like files in the game for VR support groundwork but it never came through as official DLC or an update like ii sega didn't support but it's worth tweaking fairly easily and checking out it's very scary and very moody and I think more than anything alien fans need to get themselves in this but finally at number one we want to talk about Robo recall okay where to start on this one ooh Robo recall kind of acts as like a nice graphical showcase for Unreal Engine VR stuff but thankfully it's also fun as hell but also more importantly on this list it's an absolute looker it's got a little bit everything you know semi explorable environments with impressively detailed city streets and tall skyscrapers where the scale actually feels properly massive up close and personal you have these highly detailed robot character models that really get in your face and look pretty amazing they can be blasted with bullets and damage and you can also grab them and slowly rip them apart with your hands before your very eyes and see all that stuff happening in motion in real time is so cool everything is shiny glossy detailed sharp it's highly stylized while also just making you feel like you're really there a robo recall is something really special everybody's gonna have different opinions on like what the best looking VR games are like there are more than we can even include on this list and everybody has a different type of preference for a graphical style and art style but these games look really amazing and we just wanted to highlight them but of course for VR enthusiasts down in the comments we want to hear what you guys are up to you what are you playing what do you think looks the best what are you really in love with what's whisking you away if you learned about a new game or something like that from us clicking the like button is the best way you can show appreciation and help us out we would love that but if you're new consider subscribing and hitting that notification about in it because we put out videos every single day but hey as always thanks for watching we'll see you guys next time

https://youtu.be/Ri5HKY6nguc

#vr system

0 notes

bestvrsystem-com · 5 years

Text

15 BEST GRAPHICS on Modern VR Systems

https://youtu.be/Ri5HKY6nguc

#best vr ystem

0 notes

gpamoments · 7 years

Text

NGEN Survery

1) What is your biggest fear? Shane: That someday I’ll be unable to go adventuring and be stuck in a nursing home or confined to bed rest. Zane: That I’ll end up being a burden somehow to my mum. She’s had so much to deal with and so I’m worried that maybe someday I’ll get into an accident and she’ll need to be a caregiver to me. Matthew: That somehow, someday I’ll force a girl into a situation that she’s not comfortable with by accident and she won’t tell me but that she’ll feel the same way I felt. I don’t ever want to be that person. Christopher: Dying young. I’ve got so much so much yet to do and not being able to do it is terrifying. Kelsey: That Isabella will die way before me. I don’t want to die second cause I don’t want her to do have go through that sort of hurt without me able to comfort her, but I don’t want to live more than a few weeks without her either. Natalie: Failure. The thought of being someone that my parents can be proud of, or that people use as a cautionary tale is horrifying. Karen: Becoming ugly. I know that sounds terrible, but I couldn’t imagine being like deformed or something and I don’t know how I’d survive if I was. Tamara: Not being remembered by anyone. I’m pretty scared of just like dying having no one around to care about me being gone.

2) Do you have any special objects from your childhood? Shane: I’ve got a whole twin brother from my childhood. Crazy, right? Zane: Not really. I kind of left the one special thing I had in England. It was a program from a play I’d gone to with my dad, but I didn’t want to be reminded of him. Matthew: I got a toy car that could be worked on when I was around ten for my birthday and it was really when I started looking into being a mechanic, even if it wasn’t serious. I keep it still though, since it was my start in the industry. Christopher: I have a signed jersey that I got from a football game I went to with my dad for my 8th birthday and he arranged for me to be able to meet a few of the players. Or maybe my Mom did, either way, it was really great. Kelsey: I’ve got a friendship bracelet that Isabella made me. It’s too small to wear now, but I still keep it in my jewelry box. Natalie: I have the first book I ever learned to read all the way through. It’s also what I made my first film on too, so it’s kind of important for me. Karen: I have a stuffed doll that stays on my bed at home, when I was really little I brought her everywhere and used to make her sit at the table and stuff with me. Tamara: I have this little pinky sparkly microphone that my older brother gave me when I said I wanted to be a singer at like age 4. I keep it on a shelf to remind me of my dreams.

3) What is your idea of perfect happiness? Shane: Out adventuring with Thomas and Kylee, making videos of our antics and getting paid to do it. Thomas admits me stole Emily from me, we get matching tattoos and bond over it. Kylee wears my shirts and looks cute, we have a happy an active sex life. I have all the money to travel whenever I want. Zane: Perfect happiness is a flawed concept that is unrealistic. There will always be something wrong in some capacity. I suppose perfect happiness is then just ignoring those things and focusing on the good things happening. In my case, I’d like to have a steady job where I save people’s lives and have a home life that makes my job’s difficulties much more bearable. Matthew: I live close to my family, I have my own garage and a loving relationship. I mean, probably, ideally with Mia, if things continue as they are. Christopher: Being able to take photos for a living. really, that’s all I’d need. Kelsey: Shopping out and about with Isabella, knowing I’ll be able to see my boyfriend later and having the money to buy what I want. Natalie: Making a film and having everything come together perfectly in the exact way I imagined it. It lets me know that my vision was a great one and that it translates how I was wanting it to. Karen: Dancing for an audience and having them enjoy it. That feeling of being lost in art and bringing everyone with you, it’s perfect. Tamara: Spending time with my friends at the mall or the beach and not having any responsibilities.

4) Give an unpopular opinion that you believe. Shane: There’s a thing as being too much in shape. Zane: There isn’t any such thing as soulmates. Matthew: Siblings make the best friends. Christopher: It’s better to be an only child than to have siblings. Kelsey: Star Wars is completely overrated. Natalie: Video games are a waste of time. Karen: Small boobs are way hotter than bigger boobs. Tamara: Redheaded girls aren’t that attractive.

5) On what occasions do you lie? Shane: To get out of trouble. Zane: I try not to lie that much, but I do lie to patients from time to time as part of the job. If they ask for test results or if there has been a diagnosis and the doctor hasn’t discussed it, I actually can’t tell them. Matthew: Sometimes to make people feel better. Sometimes when I don’t feel like talking about something. Christopher: I lie to keep my ass out of a situation I don’t want to be in. Kelsey: To my parents, mostly when I know they won’t approve of what I’m doing. Natalie: I mean everyone lies to keep things from being too awkward. So, that’s where I try to contain my lies Karen: I lie to my parents when I know they won’t like my choice in activities. Well, mostly my mom because my dad is pretty cool about most things I do. Tamara: Sometimes I lie about my feelings to people. I don’t like looking weak, so if I’m going to I try and avoid it at any costs.

6) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Shane: I'm not going to change anything, I’m awesome. Zane: I'd like to have a better memory, it’d make things easier for both school and just on the job in general. I do have charts that I can look at, but sometimes I waste time having to look up a medication that I’ve seen before but just can’t remember. Matthew: Being a bit taller would be nice. It doesn’t even have to be a lot taller, but a couple of extra inches wouldn’t hurt. Christopher: I'd like to be able to grow facial hair a bit better. Maybe time will fix that one. Kelsey: Uh, there’s like nothing because Isabella is perfect and that means I am too. Oh, like not physically? Nah, still not going to change anything. I like who I am. Natalie: I’d like to have a bit more curves. I’ve got an okay amount right now, but it all depends on angling and what I’m wearing. I’d like to have enough that it wouldn’t so drastically depend on those factors. Karen: If I was taller then I’d have a better shot at being a dancer. Well and if I had less boobs. Basically. I just need my mother’s figure. Tamara: I’d have bigger boobs. Not like huge, but just a nice C cup to fill out everything I wear better.

7) What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you? Shane: I’m not easily embarrassed, but I guess the most embarrassing thing is that I once got drunk and started having a conversation with my reflection, thinking it was Thomas. A friend took a video and sent it to me and everyone else later. Zane: I spilled my lunch all over myself my first day at school in the United States. There was a weird step up and I started to trip, but I managed to right myself. In doing so though, I tipped my tray toward me and my whole lunch went on me. Part of it was soup and it just looked like a pissed myself. Of course my mum was too busy working to come bring me a change of clothes, so I had to go around in those clothes all day. Matthew: Like most teenage guys, at one point I’d gotten an erection randomly but it was during gym and there was really no hiding it. Of course someone had to go and point it out to everyone. Christopher: I cried on my first day of kindergarten so hard that they had to call my dad to come and get me. For the rest of the year, I was known as the class crybaby and some unoriginal kids even continued that trend all the way through third grade. Kelsey: I was in the third grade and I really had to go to the bathroom, but the line was too long and I did not make it. All the other kids saw and called me Kelsey Tinklepants for months. Natalie: When I was around 13, I went to tell a guy that I liked him and he asked if I was joking. When I said he wasn’t, he laughed and called all his friends over to tell them what happened. Karen: I tripped down the stairs and fell with my skirt up in front of a bunch of people. And I was like probably 10 at the time, so my underwear were a ten year old’s and they had princesses but apparently that was uncool, so I got double teased. Tamara: Once I got sick on my teacher in front of the whole class. I was probably around eight and I just wasn’t feeling good, so I went up to tell my teacher that I had to go to the bathroom during silent reading and halfway through my explanation I just puked all over her. She was not pleased and I cried.

8) Who is the most important person in your life, and why?

Shane: Thomas. I don’t think it really needs an explanation. Zane: I guess at this point it’s my mum still. We’ve gotten so close after everything that we’ve been through together and I’d do anything for her. Maybe with more time that’ll change though. Matthew: I don’t know if there is a single most important person. I think right now it’s a tie between Noah and Mia. Though Mia is pulling ahead slightly in that race but if it ever came down to both of them needing me at the same time for something, I’d have a really hard time choosing. Christopher: I can’t try and pretend it isn’t to the point where it’s Eloise. I picked my school because of her. Juan is hanging in a close second though. Kelsey: There has never been a more obvious answer to a question in the history of the universe. Natalie: Lydia. I know I can go to her with anything and I have come to depend on that, on her being around. Karen: Me. I’m a person and I’m the most important one. I don’t do things for other people, I do them for myself. Tamara: Camilla. I’d be lost without her, I wouldn’t even really know how to function even.

9) If you could choose, how would you want to die?

Shane: I’d want to be doing something awesome. I don’t want to be wasting away of disease or whatever, I want to be living life. Zane: With dignity. People say that a lot, but it’s something I understand a lot better after being in the hospital. I want to die with my mental facilities about me, making my own choices until the end without everyone telling me how tragic my death is. Matthew: I guess I’d just want a death that isn’t too painful. Partly because I’m not big on pain and partly because I don’t want my family to have to watch me suffer. I’d want a death everyone can be at peace with. Christopher: Just give me something quick. I don’t want drawn out nonsense where everyone has to gather around for days just waiting for the moment. Get to the point, death. Kelsey: Everyone always says in their sleep, right? But like, then I’d be in my bedclothes and people would find me like that? I want to be looking damn good, so people will be like, oh no, double tragedy. She’s dead and she looked fabulous right before she died and no one got to enjoy it properly. Natalie: I’d like to die while I still understand the world around me. I never want to get to a point where I’m not sure of who I am or where I am. If I don’t have my mental faculties about me, I don’t want to keep going. Karen: I want to still be attractive looking. You know those old people where you’re like, wow she’s really put together? Yeah, if I get to the point where I can’t be put together it’d be horrible. So, I want to die while I’m still able to be put together. Tamara: Definitely in my sleep. I don’t want to be aware and in pain. Just take me while I’m dreaming about something and make sure I’m not suffering.

10) What was the wildest thing you've ever done, sexually?

Shane: So this girl I was with was like, you’re great with a camera right and I was like, yeah that’s what I do. So she was all, let’s make our own pron movie and I was like, okay yeah let’s do it. But she brought some props and costumes. She was very prepared for this.. Like, it ended up being hot to make, but not hot to watch back. Definitely not hot to watch back, it was really strange to watch back. Zane: I haven't been that wild of a sex partner. I guess once we left the curtains open and there was an apartment building not too far away with a window at the same level so they could have seen. Matthew: Once Mia and I had sex in my truck when it was in a parking lot at night. That was kinda wild. Christopher: I had a girlfriend who liked to have people watch, so like once we just invited someone in to watch us have sex. That was pretty wild, and a little awkward when I’d sometimes forgot we were being watched and then suddenly remember. Kelsey: I had sex in a classroom last year really close to when classes were about to start, so that was a rush. We definitely could have gotten caught. Natalie: I’m a virgin and I’m pretty tame when it comes to masturbation. Karen: I'd say that a threesome is definitely the wildest thing. Tamara: Nothing. I'm still a virgin.

11) When was the last time you cried?

Shane: I got drunk and saw this really cute video of a cat that was best friends with a tiger and I couldn’t help it. Zane: I made a mistake in the clinical setting and it left a patient in a lot of pain. It was fixable but it would take an hour and she was in extreme pain the whole time. Matthew: I hit my head on the bottom of a car the other day while working on it and it hurt like hell. Christopher: I don’t actually remember the last time I cried. Kelsey: I was watching a really sad movie and it just hit me really hard. Natalie: The last time I got sick, I was just feeling really terrible and I cried. Karen: I was having a really rough week at school and then I messed up some dance steps and got told off by my teacher. It was too much, I couldn’t help but cry. Tamara: I shed a few tears when I heard Victoria was going to go to prom with someone else.

12) Do you have any vices?

Shane: I can’t resist a joke, even if it isn’t the best of timing. Zane: None that I can think of. Maybe I can be a bit insensitive. Matthew: I don’t think so. I try not to have moral weaknesses. Christopher: I smoke from time to time. Kelsey: I am a gossip. Can’t help it, gossip is great. Natalie: I can’t think of any. Maybe I’m a bit prideful at times. Karen: I'm a vain person. So, yeah, my vice is vanity. Tamara: I might be a tad vain and prideful.

#survey #shane micklesen #zane harris #matthew steele #christopher quinn #kelsey steele #natalie martin #karen parker #tamara belden

0 notes