#probably incoherent

[trainwreck-of-thoughts]

Write for yourself but write for someone else at the same time, write for someone you know well, find the overlap of your interests, think about how their perspective differs and how it might complement your own, think back to old conversations and stray facts they mentioned, scroll their blog and scroll yours and compare the two, write the opening lines to a dialogue.

Then surprise them with it and see what they think

[foggy-milk]

Going through the new vineyard is very disorienting. After playing the game since its release I’m not used to there not being a steep hill down to the riding hall.

Also since I’m starting the story over again on my alt account it’s frustrating that it’s hard to keep the quests in order. Since they took off some day blockers it’s unclear what quest comes first. For example I was talking to Linda and she says Alex won’t arrive till tomorrow then after that discussion is finished Alex pops up in thin air and has a quest for me aswell as Linda. Linda still says Alex won’t arrive till tomorrow but Alex is right next to me talking to me about Anne and Lisa. More than mildly frustrating.

Then! I go to the circus and Ydris is wondering where his stupid clown is and the clown xin is standing right next to him. Then fin disappears down the road and we have to go get him.

Replaying the game just turned into the worst episode of Dora the explorer. My next alt account will be named Dora because wtf is going on with quality control.

You may say well it’s a kids game what do you expect? I expect it to have the same pacing as when I was a kid, where I had to work to get the things I wanted in game because it felt rewarding like I accomplished something. Example: the kalters, where I had to build trust with them to adopt a fjord. That was so rewarding!!! The feeling was great! I actually had to build rep-or with them and the fact that they weren’t friendly with me at first meeting felt so organic!

[brittanagirlcrush]

I'm scrolling Tumblr (as you don't 4:36am when you should be sleeping) and saw a post deriding Santana fans for saying how evil Finn was when Santana was just as bad and was addicted to bullying and would have outed some she hated. (That's a really long paraphrase - the OP wasn't that wordy but that's the gist I got)

And, I gotta say ...

No. Just no.

Santana could have outed Karofsky. She didn't. She threatened to do it if he didn't play her beard but she wouldn't have. She was too afraid of people finding out about her ... She was a bitch, absolutely. But she wasn't heartless.

Addicted to bullying? Wow. I don't even know what to say to that. She was a bitch and could slash you with her vicious words but I don't remember her throwing people into dumpsters (Finn did that). Or shoving them into lockers. I don't remember seeing her throw a slushy (I assume she did at some point but we never saw it). She actually stood up to Karofsky when he was bullying and threatening Kurt and Blaine.

And Finn was a class A douchebag. He was a bully - threw Kurt into dumpsters (or had him thrown in), slushied Rachel, was a complete homophobe towards Kurt. He was dating Quinn but went for Rachel. Lies about sleeping with Santana (Santana kept his secret - until Finn said she wasn't worth it - he hurt her, so she lashed out. A true bully/villain would have made sure Rachel knew right after it happened). Dating Quinn again, dumps her for Rachel.

Outing someone is not okay. He didn't just "snap". She was halfway down the hall when he called it out. Then doubled down by saying she was afraid that Brittany didn't love her back. Then called her a coward. Because she insulted him and he wasn't smart enough to come back with anything. She wasn't bullying him.

I have written a lot of posts about Santana and her behavior and I'll probably do it again.

I wanted to ignore that post; just write it off as ill-informed and go to bed. But I needed to vent.

Santana was a class A bitch, no doubt about it. But she wasn't evil or a villain.

Elevating Finn as if he wasn't a bully, a cheater, and a jerk?

Nah. No me gusta.

[loserbitchfemme]

i was gonna post more yearning since my first post seems to be so agreed upon (many thanks) but i do have a burning question for the lesbians of tumblr: did realizing your lesbian identity soothe your feelings of dysphoria (or just general lack of connection with your sex), if you had any beforehand?

i ask this because for so long before understanding that i was, in fact, a lesbian, i felt such an odd and uncomfortable disconnect with my femininity— i can recall times when i was like 14 where that feeling was so awfully intense. at that point i had identified as bisexual for years, and admittedly i would continue to do so until recently. it wasn't always so bad but for the longest time i never felt that i could really call myself a woman, wholeheartedly. looking back, i'm now kind of realizing that i just straight up could not define or try to explore the prospect of being a woman at ALL outside thinking about how i would display femininity whilst being in a relationship with a man. it's a little unsettling, and quite disillusioning to look back at my preteen and early teenage years and just see how deep in the trenches of comphet i had been (granted, given my particular circumstances, it's something that i fully understand). i could really go more in depth for such a long time about this but that's for another day (*´-`)...

i am very grateful these days! since i have been able to get over myself and accept that i am a lesbian (i feel like i've known for years— it just took me a while to get to the point where i felt secure enough to accept that. i could also talk about at length about how much of a fraud i felt like in my attraction to women), i feel infinitely more comfortable in myself and to properly express that feminine part of me (beforehand, i felt as if it was very performative). though i am barely into my grand lesbian journey, i do find myself infinitely thankful for the community. despite everything that is against us, i have never felt more safe and comfortable in my sense of self.

[indecisiveavocado]

NaNoWriMo

So apparently nanowrimo shut down.

Like, gone. Gone gone.

I've been participating for a while, long enough I have Young Writer's Program stuff. For those who don't know, you can write stuff there in the program itself. They advise you to have backups, but this is aimed at kids and adults aren't the greatest at backups either.

Last September, which was I think when I learned about everything, I went and did a big backup of my YWP stuff.

Apparently, at some point between last November and now, they shut down. No warning, no nothing. They sent an email to some adults without specifying a date, but nothing for kids, who of course are less likely to be on social media and stuff and able to learn it that way.

And so if you didn't back it up?

Too bad.

...Is the org trying to piss everyone off as it dies?

Idk I'm just having Feels. Nanowrimo was like the only thing that could get me to finish a decently long story reliably. Last year it didn't, but I blame my introduction of a new character who slightly overran the story on like the second to last day or something. Still.

Sorry this is almost certainly incoherent.

[mistysyringe]

interesting how misty appears, on the surface, to be very much a group-oriented person. however, if you dig deeper you'll notice that her alliance to the group depends solely on the strength of her alliance to the individual. by this i mean -- her loyalties to her best friends and 'boyfriend' override those she feels towards her teammates. she's willing to defend and befriend ben, she actively searches for kristen's body in the snow so the others don't get to it first, she expresses contempt at the thought that lottie would dare to intrude upon her 'bond' with natalie, attempts to isolate and possess her, etc and. the moment natalie dies, misty's quick to snip the tether from the group. initially, she seeks a replacement (shauna) but once that fails to work out, she simply adjourns.

it's probably one of the saddest things about her. on the surface, she tries to hard to grip onto even a shred of attention, but deep down, she realises it's not destined to be hers. because if there's one thing misty's expert at, it's being alone.

[indiestsnake]

WORLDLESS HAS ONE OF IF NOT THE BEST COMBAT SYSTEMS I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED AHHHHHHHHHH

I’ll never be able to properly express all of it but I’m gonna try. very long post, here’s a cut. also spoilers for both the combat’s endless depth and some story stuff, this assumes you’ve at least reached a certain almost perfect foe. enjoy!!!! >:)

the perfect timing function is appropriately, perfect. every combo, ranged, close, basic has an addendum hit with bonus absorption damage that only works if you press the button at the right time. Some are told to you, like the melee strikes after ranged combos or the axe and seal. but the midair combos have them too. and the basics. and they work with quick swap. Almost any move can become any other move with enough precision. and knowing which one’s can combo into which adds yet more depth and variety.

but wait a damn minute, it doesn’t stop there! Different addendum hits do different things. Aven’s seal addendum has him dash back, so if you want to stay close, it’s sometimes faster to just combo out of the second seal hit. But Edda’s axe cannot combo out until the end strike, and you can quick swap to Aven at the end of said strike, which causes him to do the same backdash move. that’s like. four different factors to decide mid-combat if it’s a good idea. ON ONE MOVE.

holy fuck, there’s so much more!! Edda’s charged basic does more damage if you perfect time the release, but that same perfect timing launches the opponent. and placing an opponent in the air switches a whole lot of shit around, so sometimes you really don’t want them in the air. so you have to decide if you want to time it right. the perfect release, what was once just a “do more damage” skill check, now has depth and player choice. even if it’s small, it’s remarkably enthralling to play.

good fucking lord, I haven’t even mentioned techniques. both characters get three. all combo out of everything and anything. and they all have different functions. AND BY THE WAY!!! at any time, you could have one, or two techniques ready. not only does that open ridiculously cool and damagaing combos, unified division and glance of tomorrow fucking DOUBLE that depth of choice. save, spend, spam, whatever, it’s your choice!!!!

and I haven’t even touched the defensive turn.

When you first get Aven, he seems useless defensively. why halve damage when you could negate it with Edda’s parry? evade is slow to start and end, parry is automatic. It feels like a safety net, an option to use when you don’t know the parry timing. so is Aven useless defensively once you get good? you know the answer. not even close.

first, deflect. Extra absorption damage for good release timing, making defend more skill-based. healing deflect, which further encourages skillful timing to maximize damage. and assimilation is the cherry on top. with the improved assimilation, you will always be able to fully heal from the damage you took defending, assuming you timed your deflects right. and healing on its own is useful for obvious reasons. and you get massive all-element damage. and a turn interrupt against magic-based attacks (including Summum’s fucking evisceration triangle). AND IT LOOKS COOL AS SHIT. SO THE DAMAGE IS NOW WORTH IT AND DID I MENTION A DEFLECT NEGATES ABSOPRTION METER LOSS

and then you get learning parry timings, learning deflect timings. taking into account elemental weakness, perfecting defense. learning what can be guard-impacted and what can be assimilated. perfecting your timing and maximizing speed through precision. figuring out that seal reveals all block types (get fucked Summum), learning what things are too fast to deflect. it never. fucking. ends.

this game’s skill ceiling has shot so far up it stabbed the ones from above in the eye. you are never too good to keep learning. I have 100%ed this game three fucking times, beat the lightning nightmare as only Aven, beaten Summum more times than any sane human should. and I haven’t truly mastered it. because GODDAMIT, WHEN DO YOU USE THE CHARGED AXE?!?!?!

even after all I’ve done, I am not perfect. I miss my timings, I miss my parries, forget what combos into what. I literally learned like- one month ago that teleporting in after a ranged string is slower than the dashing strike unlocked in the skill tree, and now I can’t hold forward all the time in order to perfect my timing.

this game’s combat is near-perfect. Summum levels of almost perfect foe, maybe more. it is addicting and deep and fluid on almost all skill levels, from spamming Edda’s bow to beating Summum with your eyes closed. I love it with all my heart, and it is the best combat system I have ever played. ever.

thank you for reading. go try to beat that almost perfect foe again ;)

[berry-puree]

Woah I'm definitely not going to feel guilty about sleeping in late (until 8:45) RIGHT? It's a NORMAL HUMAN THING for a person to do, and therefore I should not feel bad.

hahahahahhahahahahahahahhkillmenowhahahahahahaha