Living in imagination

Tired yesterday, tired today, tired tommorow

[i-slept-for-13hours-ohshi]

Tw: horribly written mentions of blood and dead things

I love the idea of the brothers pretending not to be fucked up for Mc's sanity at the beginning of the exchange program. One rule was if you slaughter something don't let the human see you covered in the carnage oddly specific but it happens often enough that it had to be specified. Spoiler alert: Mc doesn't give a shit.

The first one to break the rule was Mammon. Dead ass middle of the night Mamms walks in full demon form covered in blood. It was like 4am! How was he supposed to know the damn human was still awake!??? Your first thought was Mammon was hurt and rushed him to find where the blood was coming from you even tried calling for Lucifer to heal him- What did he do to have a caring human like this in his life? Wait. fuck. DONT CALL LUCIFER. Have mercy on your first man Mc! The Great Mammon already has to power wash himself! He doesn't wanna get strung to the ceiling!!! After a little chat while spraying Mammon down with the garden hose in the back yard~ this little experience becomes a secret between the two of you. You might not be bothered by blood or demons but Mammon isn't getting punished for being the one to find out.

Second to break the rule was Beel. He might have forgot you were sharing a room with him? He was going absolute ham devouring some type of weird ass Devildom animal in the middle of his bedroom floor when you walked in on that... mess. Like the entire room was a mess- of course it was... The animals was alive when it was brought in there... Y'all made eye contact for a solid minute before you broke the silence.

"you're gonna clean this shit up right?"

"...Yes"

"ight"

Then you left at neither of you brought it up again.

Third was Levi. You were walking out of the shower, he was walking to the shower covered in blood and bits of something??? Leviathan would have a fucking heart attack if demons could- You, his best friend and dearest Henry, you're gonna him as some sick murder! And Lucifer's gonna bury him alive in the back yard and let Cerberus pee on his grave for the next 200 years!! And cancel his preorders!!! HIS PREORDERS!!!!!!! He could just crawl in the deepest depths of the ocean and vanish! You of course didn't give a damn about your demonic best friend being covered in unidentified giblets because fucking Asmo used all the damn hot water again!

Asmo was the next brother to objectify you to blood and gore~ you're pretty close with Asmo so it's normal for the two of you to have casual conversations when one of you is in the bath/shower. You wanted to chat so you just walk into this man's private bathroom while he's bathing in blood- it could have been something else but there was literally three whole ass dead bodies. Asmo couldn't even think about the punishment Lucifer was gonna dish out because you just saw him. Humans can't handle seeing this! you- you're gonna hate him... The only living thing that only really saw him... He thought... You just casually started talking about your day like you didn't walk in on Asmodeus the fifth born lord of hell Avatar of Lust washing his ass with the blood of sinners ...Mc, Hun, Darling, SWEETHEART are you fucking okay????? He somehow loves you even more now but damn.

Satan pulled a Mammon and came home at the ass crack of dawn covered in some type of liquid that used to be a demon. He did his normal ritual after commiting wrath filled slaughter. Satan stripped off all his bloody clothes except the boxers while walking to the kitchen, grab the jug of milk with the suspicious red hand prints on it, chug the milk while showering (gotta stay hydrated), maybe cry because he knows better and should control himself, mop and floor and clean his bloody clothes. You saw Satan getting the milk in his boxers... He doesn't know you saw him and you're keeping it that way. How would you even start that conversation!? Hey buddy, I saw you half bloody in your Pusheen boxers sobbing while drinking straight out a gallon of milk at 2am! Like????? You don't usually mind you business when it comes to this family but you're gonna mind your own fucking business here.

Lucifer didn't expect you to bring him coffee, he also didn't expect you to find the houses secret torture chamber but here the fuck you are. This demon can't hide shit from you can he!? First the attic now this! Don't you learn??? HOW DID YOU EVEN FIND THE SECRET PASSAGE!? Lucifer can't get over the amount of courage and audacity you can fit into that human body of yours????? He's a demon, covered in blood and other things, in the middle of torturing a demon that crossed him and you're asking if he takes sugar in his coffee????? He can't. He fucking can't. What is this human and why did he let them in his house??? You not only confused Lucifer that day, but gained his respect.

Belphie was a little late to the party so it took a while to stumble upon him covered in blood that wasn't your own. You were going to do your laundry when you found Belphie bloody and stripping in the laundry room- so that's where Satan gets it from? Belphegor could literally cry. He just fixed things with you! He- he can't go back to you hating him! He's a changed demon! He's gotta fix this!

"it's uh... Tomato sauce."

"Belphie I don't care if you killed someone. If you have to do demon shit it's perfectly fine."

Then you threw your laundry in with his bloody clothes and left. Where the fuck did Lucifer find this human???

[thalfox]

OM devs are killing this game aren't they? Since NB came out, maybe even before, it seems like problem after problem over something either getting changed or deleted they're like "🤷🏻‍♀️ oh well. Fans are saying what? We can't hear." This makes me so sad.

[quick disclaimer: for those who don't want to read criticism, please skip! I'm not a fan of the "stop being a hater!!" anon messages, pls go read Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher.]

OM Struggling

Yeah, imma be real, it doesn't seem like they really care anymore. Ultimately, all their decisions will come down to money - the entire purpose of the game is to turn a profit - but I admit I've been struggling to even work out what they're trying to do right now.

I'll share some of what I've written on my server lately...

~

Endangered Whales

So far we have:

Shorter event stories, no romance

Fewer event rewards

Gacha cards that are functionally useless

Gacha cards that are more expensive

No more birthday events

No more player birthday phonecalls

Shorter devilgrams, less romance

Devil trees locked, with poor rewards

More items costing irl money

In short, Nightbringer requires a higher grind for less reward, has practically got rid of all romance in an otome game, no longer celebrates it's own characters, offers deliberately weak cards in gachas, and removes incentive to progress.

Meanwhile the OG game parrots the same events thus also have no romance anymore, will have no more story which also makes cards functionally useless, and thus removes incentive to play at all.

The only reason I can think of for making Nightbringer deliberately less appealing to players (harder rewsrds, single sin cards, general game imbalance etc) is that other than truing to maximise whql spending, the intent is perhaps to try and keep people hooked on the OG game as well.

After all, if you can get gacha cards with better odds there, and read the same devilgrams and events in the OG, with your potential horde of story keys and stronger cards, maybe they can tempt you into splurging on not one event gacha, but two, and not on one VIP membership but two.

Fellow players will likely think that's bonkers, because who has the time and/or money to spend on two games with identical rewards?!

And I agree but... a) whales will in fact do that, and b) when it comes to the business side of Solmare, they will absolutely be pushing for both games to be returning a healthy profit.

tl;dr they're incentivising people to still play the OG by making NB less appealing, in the hope whales will pay money on both.

Now I'm not in a position to say whether that strategy will work or not, because I don't know what the whale spending stats looks like. It could very well be that compared to the whales, the rest of us are neglible in our contribution to profits...

But even if that is true, it overlooks that whales are not the main contributors to the Obey Me's success.

And if a game gets less popular, the whales will leave as well.

Not to mention, if the whales don't feel like they're getting the same return on their money regarding plot and romance as before, that's likely a deal breaker for them too.

~

When Two Cakes Aren't Better

Alas, quite a bit of evidence points to this scenario being the case, that Nightbringer is being made less appealing to try and tempt people to play both games.

Most notably atm the OG game has exclusive rewards as part of the half HDD celebrations, while NB does not.

HDD, and it's half anniversary, is the major promotional tool of Obey Me games. There is usually a huge exclusive gacha with a UR for every demon, outfits, plus an extra long event.

But with birthday events abandoned with no announcement, we could very well be looking at either HDD being only the current log in rewards in the OG game, or a gacha only "celebration" similar to birthdays, or the OG game only doing so.

Either way, I don't think it's likely we'll get an extra long event to celebrate, and if we do get outfits for every char, we can already be sure such things in NB will likely cost real money ಠ_ಠ

tl;dr Solmare are trying to have their cake and eat it too, by giving players tinier slices on purpose in the hopes we'll pay (money/time) for two plates instead of one.

~

Why OM Succeeded... Til Now

All in all, I think they've really not put proper thought into why Obey Me was originally such a rapid hit.

Partly it was the pandemic and its captured audience of course, but it was also a super accessible game - the mechanics were easy to understand, there was no struggle to read the first season, early events were fun to read and had good rewards even if you were new and couldn't get that far, and you weren't punished for not having gacha cards each event.

That together with a cute storyline that explained why you were there and why you had to get to know everyone, with a straight forward goal of collecting pacts plus unfolding backstory that added twists and turns...

It was all very compelling. And it maintained that through Season 2 as well to a large extent. Fun story, not unachievable for new players but with good progression for existing players.

It was compelling.

Season 3 things went off the rails. The story had way too much filler, there was little to no progression, and most importantly, it was inaccessible not only to new players but to many existing ones too. The difficulty jumped by a ridiculous margin. The rewards were lessened. Progression was thrown aside.

The game was no longer compelling, but Seasons 1 and 2 still served to bring new players into the game, even as those who remained were now mostly staying in the hope that things would improve.

Season 4 squashed that hope. Nightbringer killed it entirely for the OG game but suggested a potential solution that yes, fucked over existing fans, but if it kept the game world and our beloved characters alive, many were prepared to take that leap of faith.

But the way in which they tried to make NB appeal to existing players ended up completely failing to make it at all compelling for new players.

There is no good story reason for needing introduced to everyone as a new player, and the weak one that is used is soon discarded. There is no compelling backstory to be revealed, instead an overly complicated time jump that doesn't even apply properly to new players. Even if there are twists and turns, there is no solid foundation to make them have the pay off they did in S1-2.

And the game mechanics are not accessible or pleasing. There is no straight forward progression in scores or story.

Rythym games aren't accessible. Period. But especially not compared to OG OMs battles which were uniquely accessible compared to most gacha/battle/RPG/otome games.

(And yes I say this as someone who enjoys the rhythm levels and does well in them, it is still less accessible!)

Building cards that succeed is also not accessible, with no good progression - rather barriers are built in.

Rewards are few and far between.

A new player is not going to see the point in playing.

An existing player is wary of this being tossed aside in a year, and unwilling to play two games instead of one for paltry rewards.

If Solmare has enough whales they likely don't care but imo the loss of potential is staggering!

~

Obey Me had such a loyal fan base, but when you take all the romance out of an otome game, when you cast aside character and relationship development, change the entire game mode from battle to rhythm, and then kneecap the game in order to try and force people to play two apps instead of one...

I guess to them it makes sense on paper.

But to a lot of fans, every other game suddenly seems a lot more attractive, with even non-otome games like Twisted Wonderland providing more emotional character relationships and payoff, with carefully crafted events, and a storyline that unfolds slowly, fully voiced, with incredible writing.

Now that 18+ game What In Hell Is Bad is on the horizon, offering many of the same characters as OM, and with Twisted Wonderland and miHoYo dominating the mobile game field...

I do worry for the future of OM, which was already a little fish in a very big pond.

~

As a last point, I do get quite a few people asking me what to do about all this and the thing is, there's nothing anyone can do.

Solmare will put out the game they want to put out, and those who want to play it will do so.

If the whales provide enough cash, the game will continue as is.

If they don't, Solmare will either rethink their strategies, or pivot to yet another app and repeat the cycle.

Fate is, as ever, in the hands of the rich.

The only advice I can give you is to choose carefully with whom you spend your money and time, and what return you are actually getting on it.

Games are for having fun, so play the games that give you fun!

[a-local-idiots-shitpost]

seems to apply only to B and up, and man you wouldn't believe how long it took me to get all of this

-------------------------------------------------------

Nightbringer Surprise Guests

Lucifer

I'm feeling good. Why don't we open a bottle of my prized Demonus?

1. Tap Face

2. Rub Head

3. Rub Chest

I know you want to give me a high five, don't you? Fine, just this once. Call it a special occasion.

1. High Five

2. Rub Chest

3. Tap Arm

Mammon

We'll be invincible if we Team up!

1. Rub Face

2. Rub Face

3. Rub Face

Hey, hey, hey! The Great Mammon makes his mark!

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Rub Head

Leviathan

Haha, let's experience tha taste of victory together!

1. Tap Head

2. Rub Face

3. Rub Head

Let's great each other like Normies would!

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Tap Face

Satan

We won thanks to me.

1. Rub Face

2. Tap Chest

3. (Rub/Tap Chest, Tap/Rub Arm, Tap/Rub Head, Rub Face) Tap Face (couldn't get one with more hearts???)

Is this how one shares happiness? Give me a high five.

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Tap Chest

Asmodeus

A win for me is as natural as breathing air!

1. Rub Head

2. Rub Chest

3. Rub Arm

Come on, hold out your hand. High five <3

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Rub Face

Beelzebub

Thanks to you, I was able to get through it despite being hungry.

1. Tap Head

2. Tap Head

3. Rub Chest

Not bad, huh? It's time for a victory hamburger!

1. High Five

2. Rub Chest

3. Rub Arm

Belphegor

You want to hang out with me? All right, you got it.

1. Rub Head

2. Rub Face

3. Rub Head

All right... you want me to hold up my hand, right?

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Rub Head

Diavolo

It really does feel good to win, doesn't it!

1. Rub Head

2. Rub Head

3. Tap Head

All right, let's savor the joy of victory... Just you and me!

1. High Five

2. Rub Face

3. Tap Face

Barbatos

Was I of any help to you?

1. Tap Head

2. Tap Head

3. Rub Head

Is this where we do the so-called "high five"? Someone taught me how to do it.

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Tap Head

Solomon

You're my best student, you know? As your teacher, you make me proud

1. Tap Chest

2. Rub Chest

3. Rub Chest

Hey! It felt good to win like that, huh? We make a truly amazing teacher and apprentice team, am I right?

1. High Five

2. Tap Chest

3. Rub Head

Simeon

I'm super excited right now, but how about you?

1. Rub Head

2. Rub Face

3. Rub Arm

How about we see whether exchanging greetings will deepen our bond?

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Rub Face

Luke

...So how was it? Did I look cool?

1. Rub Head

2. Rub Face

3. Rub Arm

Okay here we go! It's time for a high five!

1. High Five

2. Rub Head

3. Rub Head

[heartfairy]

sorry dude can’t hang out I’m making up scenarios in my head. sorry no it’s gonna take up all my time.

[cosmicstarlatte]

pt.13

[Dinner at the castle]

Diavolo: Thank you everyone for coming!

Lucifer: Thank you for having us

Diavolo: Barbatos has prepared a special meal for us

Lucifer (coughs): Ahem, yes, well, thank you Barbatos and sorry about yesterday

Barbatos: No need to worry, we bury the hatchet tonight yes?

Barbatos (placing a plate in front of MC): I added extra of your favorite

MC: Thanks Barb!

Beel: (squints at his plate & MCs)

Barbatos: Is something the matter?

Beel: ...No.

Beel: Excuse me I have to use the restroom first.

Barbatos: (squints)

Lucifer: Excuse him, he must clearly not be feeling well...Please don't mind him Lord Diavolo.

Diavolo: Yes well, let's eat before the food gets cold!

[Everyone takes a bite and start choking and gasping for air except MC]

Barbatos: I may have had help from Solomon for tonight's dinner!

Barbatos: I do believe we are even now!

MC: REALLY BARB!?

[Everyone crying and begging for help before losing consciousness]

Beel (popping out): I KNEW IT!

MC: AND YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!?

Beel (petting a Cat-Satan plushie): I wanted to be the last one standing

[tragedyofdevotion]

I didn't think I could love Solomon more than I already did but nightbringer proved me wrong

[oldblog-ileft]

still can’t get over the fact that solomon learned we traveled to the past and his immediate reaction was “shit, i guess where my apprentice goes, i go” AND HASN’T LEFT US THERE SINCE

YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY COMPREHEND HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS MAN

“mc is special. you’ll see.” PLEASE I ADORE HIM HES SO SWEET AND WE GET TO LIVE WITH HIM NOW??? he’s just so friendly and caring, and it genuinely feels like a close bond between teacher and apprentice

our relationship with him feels borderline doting in nightbringer, like he’s so openly prideful of us it puts lucifer to shame AND HES SO CARING TOO????

but the hillarity of everyone assuming we’re a demon learning under a human skdhdhd please diavolo you were not slick

[achiveofmemes]

The person I reblogged this from deserves all the good things.

[ladyfarona]

Silly and random ObeyMe headcanons!

Beelzebub can summon a hoard of flies using just the sound of his wings. One time, because he hadn't done it in a while, he accidentally called a hoard of butterflies instead.

...Mammon is terrified of butterflies. The above incident did not end well, and yes, fire was involved.

Leviathan almost died laughing due to the butterfly incident. It's how he found out he has asthma. Levi always carries an inhaler with him, and all his brothers know what to do when he's having an attack, though surprisingly, Asmodeus is the most helpful and soothing, and is Levi's go-to person when he is sick.

Once when Asmodeus and Satan went to the carnival together, Satan got separated and couldn't find Asmo for hours. Satan later made the mistake of going to into the House of Mirrors, where he found his brother having a "good time" with several park guests. Everyone involved was kicked out of the carnival, including Satan, even though he had nothing to do with it. The only thing that saved Satan from having a wrath meltdown was the cute kitten keychain he'd won earlier that day.

When Belphegor was a baby angel, he used to sleep on stars. If he feels particularly down, Belphie will wander off into the magical firmament high above the Devildom to nap on one of the stars Diavolo created. The warmth always comforts him.

The local barista always has Lucifer's morning coffee ready. Being a creature of habit, Lucifer has ordered the exact same thing for several hundred years so the barista never has to question his order. Lucifer usually comments on how good the coffee is and tips well, making him the barista's favorite customer.

[sleepingbutawake]

Am i the only one who imagined Beel summoning flies like Gargamel from Smurfs?

[thickness-protection-program]

Why is this heat so hot 😩

[fagapult]

It’s the heat

[thickness-protection-program]

Source?

[mamoswole]

[thickness-protection-program]

[pepsimansthickjuicymeatyschlong]

[obae-me]

Lucifer does indeed cry if he watches a show or movie and the dog dies, you cannot change my mind.

He'll cover his mouth and turn his head away and just have a few dramatic silent tears, but that's all you get.

[sleepingbutawake]

*smiles evily* Make him watch A Dog's Purpose. Both films.

[kosmogrl]

[luxthestrange]

TWST Incorrect quotes#380 No Yuu

Lilia: I have to ground you! I am grounding you! You are grounded!

Mal: What about school?

Lilia: Fine...Other than school...And no TV!

Silver: The TV's broken...

Lilia: Then no computer!

Sebek: Waka-sama needs the computer for school...

Lilia: Then no...uh...no Yuu!

Mal: What?! No Yuu?!

Lilia: NO YUU!

...Why would Lilia ground mal? give me your opinions

[kaiijus]

Lets play the game called "how did you find my blog and what made you want to follow"

[i-slept-for-13hours-ohshi]

if you had to pick one dateable or side character to act more demonic / openly fucked up / worse who would it be?

🔥♥️Diavolo♥️🔥

🍰☕💚Barbatos💚☕🍰

📚💛Simeon💛📚

⭐✨Solomon✨⭐

✨-_-✨Raphael✨ -_-✨

💖🔥💀Thirteen💀🔥💖

🎠🐎Mephistopheles🐎🎠

none of them. stop asking

Voting ended onFeb 23, 2023

If you could say who and why in the notes somehow that'd be nice! 👍 I don't usually do if they were worse posts for the other characters, but I'm curious to see if there's interest in the concept.

[absolutepokemontrash]

Random Things that are just Canon (tm) Whenever I Write an Obey Me Fic

Barbatos is just… REALLY hot. The entire Devildom thinks so, INCLUDING THE BROTHERS. Is it the competence? The butler mystique? The fact that he’s the only one with common sense?

Barbatos is aware of the above statement.

Asmo aggressively scrapbooks. If you think he doesn’t have at least thirty pictures of everyone each, you’re wrong. This man is sneaky when he wants to be.

The lower parts of the walls in the HOL have tiny scratches all over them from when Satan was a baby.

All babies that the brothers have ever had to babysit end up calling Mammon “Mama”

[sleepingbutawake]

Its the common sense. Its always the common sense.

[zac-n]

If this isn’t in the game I ain’t playin’