I read Halo novels, AMA.

halo/rvb sideblog of zita @zitasaurusrex she/her or whatever i don't care

[bloodgulchblog]

about me / this blog fanfic lives over here master chief ask blog & thel 'vadam ask blog (sometimes) Old: getting into halo novels, if you want to do that to yourself Newer: 10(.5) book suggested list to get you from 2001-2025 (Any% no Forerunners route) resources for working on halo ocs

Mostly Halo, rarely RvB, sometimes other stuff. Non-Halo science fiction I thought the blog might like to hear about goes under #not halo. Tags for specific books are #halo: novel title, most jokes i make are under #halo shitposts. askblog commentary is under #ask john-117, or #ask thel 'vadam.

[bloodgulchblog]

I think $20 armor set vs random req packs that you have to gacha and grind for without guarantees are both bad. The second one didn't personally feel as bad to me but I worry that it's more dangerous to someone inclined to throw money at it instead of grind because they're gambling with no guaranteed end point to their spend.

Apples and oranges but worms in both.

[bloodgulchblog]

Taking a break from reading about Robert Heinlein.

Wolves in eastern Europe right now.

[metaphysicpareidolic]

never let sucking at video games stop you from becoming hyperfixated on video games

[ur-haruspis]

HALO: CAMPAIGN EVOLVED (2026)

The Most Dangerous Game

"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to fast-forward the pleasantries and get to the part where we get the hell off this ship."

[metaphysicpareidolic]

these nerds are no match for my indomitable spirit and growth mindset

[churchyaoi]

lasky and palmer for @poisonheadcrabsalesman :-)

[appoarsin]

Palmer and Lasky ambushed on Zeta Halo

[bloodgulchblog]

DRAGON AGE, a single player rpg franchise, was forced to implement an always online multiplayer mode with micro transactions in 2014. Mass Effect had already had to do it a couple years earlier.

It is unrealistic to act like Halo 5 would have had the choice not to.

It sucked and would have been good if this did not happen to video games but it did.

[bloodgulchblog]

i need everyone who tells me how evil and exploitative and king satan the req packs were to remember that halo 5 came out 2 years after csgo added microtransactions. it's a year younger than destiny with its eververse store. fucking overwatch, the patron saint of the mid '10s lootbox bullshit, released one year later. star wars battlefront ii was released two years later.

halo 5 had to do some kind of microtransaction monetization because that had become an expected industry standard and also gave the game a revenue stream that did in fact allow further development with frequent free updates introducing new weapons and maps. halo 5's microtransactions mostly impacted one specific game mode that wasn't the most popular/classic (it was warzone, which we've never seen since) and it was also easy to play that game mode by using the free stuff you got when you logged in and using a few games' worth of points to get more as needed. you'd find cosmetics as you played. i know because i did it. i spent the summer of 2016 grinding strategically for armor sets and i had a huge collection. (also yeah they didn't mix and match it was helmet as one item and the rest of the body as another, which was less fun, but imagine you're trying to get 2 things instead of 3 or 4 when you picture trying to complete halo 5 armor.)

i get not liking that, it sucked when you used to not have to grind for points to get randomized packs to grow your armor collection instead of earning access to specific armor sets you wanted through specific goals. but that was the landscape then. 343 devs weren't supervillains coming up with new ways to make gamers suffer. the bosses said "we want microtransactions, that is the standard now," and everyone wanted to keep having a job.

at least there was no fomo, because (i think with the exception of championships team skins? maybe????) things did not rotate out. it was annoying trying to chase a complete set of a rare armor, i guarantee there were people who spent money they shouldn't have on req packs trying to get an unlock they wanted like a gacha game. i think people being able to just buy the armor they want for a set amount of money where it is clear exactly what they will get and how much it costs is probably better if it has to happen at all, but it was still like. again. not fucking overwatch, you know?

(also it still sucks paying $20 for a cosmetic don't get it twisted.)

[bloodgulchblog]

blugh

[bloodgulchblog]

i feel bad for lehto. he tried to be overall pretty even-handed about the remake, has had some nice things to say about it, and then had one emotional comment about a thing that he particularly didn't like that had been important to him (the look of the ring) and now every grifter is acting like he's on their side and thinks the entire thing is garbage.

[bloodgulchblog]

like i'm glad that we all hate marty now but he was just one fish. in 2000s gaming culture, sexual harrassment and thinking sexual harrassment is funny was the water.

20 years later people have certainly been mopping, but we're still knee deep at minimum.

[bloodgulchblog]

2006 was a wild time to decide what counted as a cute and fun old halloween party story for a memory book about your job, it seems

source

[bloodgulchblog]

[kat-w-writes]

Update!

Iron & Gold - Ch 22: Basilisk

Roland looked down at the threads in his hands, held so tight that their data sliced into him. The engines were completely inert, now—had been for days. So why did he still have a death-grip on them?

Read the new chapter here!

or read from the beginning!

[kat-w-writes]

#Grief! Catharsis and lack thereof! Small 3D printed cats! Miller being awkward! Side characters being expanded upon!

For the interested, Cali Cats are real and you can print your own: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1545913

[linguinnicalzone]

“This armor suits you, but it cannot hide that mark.”

With the Arbiter painted the logical next step is the Shipmaster, formerly the Spec-Ops Commander, but better known as Rtas ‘Vadum or “Half-Jaw.” He’s Arby’s Sgt. Johnson, the badass by his side throughout the events of Halo 2. He is responsible for some of my favorite halo quotes of all time, like this amazingly delivered line in Halo 3:

“One single Flood spore can destroy a species. Were it not for the Arbiter’s council, I would have glassed your entire planet.”

😳