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Here. I went for all three prompts at once.

—Ls, linking to both relevant threads

Here is a seasonal interlude. I went for all three of Novastorme’s December Writing Prompts. Yes. All three at once. And I may have given the RA another use just for plot purposes. This interlude is officially canon.

—Ls

Celeste is really really good and I love it so much because it was a demonstration of the fact that a ton of things people thought were not compatible were. You can't put accessibility options into a game billed on difficulty. You can't make a story heavy narrative game while still being a hardcore platforming game—the story people won't like the difficulty and the mechanics people will skip narrative. Hardcore gamers hate female protagonists, and they won't want to play as girls.

And all of that was wrong and didn't matter. Celeste is a "hardcore platformer", see. Not in the sense that it is hard, but in the sense that it focuses less on combat or battles and more on very difficult, precise platforming challenges that demand good play, thinking, planning, and high execution skills. Like Super Meat Boy. But of the games of its type, Celeste is probably the most accessible. Not just because it has accessibility options designed to make it possible for even people who have disabilities that would prevent them from playing the game from completing it, but also because it is very cleverly designed. It's good at teaching players, and at keeping new players from becoming intimidated. And while challenging, I wouldn't describe beating it as some privilege for the talented few. I bet all of you could beat the main game (there was an expansion that... is harder to get into and much harder to beat. But the main game is very completable) without being too frustrated. So if you came for the story, you will get an ending.

But if you came for the challenge, you won't be disappointed, because Celeste gives you control-breakingly hard content to play as optional content, for bragging rights (you must, alas, complete some of this to get to the expansion). Most obviously, Celeste has collectible strawberries scattered throughout its levels. They're hidden, locked behind extra hard platforming, or both—but don't worry, the game helps you hunt down the strawberries you missed if you want them all. Then, there are blue hearts, ususally locked behind cryptic puzzles, and finally there are tapes, which are locked behind nasty platforming challenges. Collecting a tape unlocks a B-side for the level, which is much, much harder. Beat every B-side and find their hidden collectibles, and you can unlock C sides.

It's so so brilliant. Just... go play it.

And yes, you do get King Knight in Shovel Knight Treasure Trove. And their multiplayer vs game. You get it all.

The reason for this that Treasure Trove was the original version of the game, which was sold initially for either $10 or $15, and was from a kickstarter. Everybody who bought that game or got a copy from the kickstarter had been promised all those extra campaigns for free, but as more and more of them came out and they became increasingly in-depth, it made more and more sense to raise the price, which they did, and then made each campaign except Plague Knight's available separately in case someone only wanted one.

I will say that on its own, Shovel of Hope (the original Shovel Knight campaign) is just this amazing, absolutely delightful and charming 2D platformer. While Plaugue of Shadows is... arguably weaker (and a lot more complicated), Spectre of Torment plays excellently and King of Cards isn't just really fun, it... also includes a collectable card game. And by challenging yourself in the mirror, you can actually play local multiplayer. And there's co-op now in Shovel of Hope, and you can change the pronouns and gender presentation of all the characters in that campaign, and every version of that campaign has special extras specific to the platform—switch has really extensive Amiibo support, 3DS had a streetpass multiplayer game, PlayStation has a boss battle with Kratos, and Xbox had a Battletoads fight and Battletoads armor (which changes how the game plays)... which is now in the PC version because of Microsoft's XBox/PC parity thing they want to do.

It was always really good and now it's just... so full of stuff and heart and charm and it is well worth the price of admission if you like 2D platformers.

I very much appreciate the kind comments. If you’re interested, I have the next part of the riff typed up, it should be available sometime this week. Until then, there’s quite a few other riffs on the Asylum.

If you’re interested, you could submit a riff. While there are a few guidelines, no Permission is required.

—Ls

I liked the jokes you made about Wai's name, and the "Says who?" gag. Also, that fic was trash, but some people left kudos about it?! Some people are just crazy.

It's a difficult (but not unfair) platformer which, despite not spending a lot of time on plot (relative to gameplay time) will stab you in the feels.

If you like platformers at all, have 5 bucks, and haven't played it yet, go get Celeste!

I can confirm that Shovel Knight and Owlboy are on sale

(I also found out that Elden Ring is on sale, so I grabbed it - people seem to like it so I figured I might as well)

A cute little story! I like the subversion at the end, with Meg siding with the humans instead of Diamond. It's nice she wants, on some level, to support her partner! I think I'm more on Diamond's side, myself . . .

One nitpick: "Mini-balrog" normally has a hyphen in the middle.

—doctorlit reads the Christmas interlude on Christmas

Owlboy - platform adventure game, you will not believe what they did with pixel art. Our mute hero, Otus, is your classic "underdog" protagonist; bit clumsy but not about to let that stop him from flying around, meeting people, and probably saving the world.

Hades - hack and slash, we all know the plot by this point so really I'm just mentioning this bc Supergiant announced a sequel and it wouldn't hurt to play this one

Terraria - like Minecraft, but 2D and with more characters/linear plot progression/bosses. VERY addictive.

Shovel Knight Treasure Trove - if you buy this version you get Specter Knight, Plague Knight, and quite possibly King Knight's story too!

edit to make it look better

Since this is apparently a thing I do now, I've decided to make an index page where each of them can be accessed, for easier reading. The page (which has some strong language in it) contains links to my recaps of U.S. SEALs 2 and Bridge of Dragons, as well as my latest venture, a more analytical sporking-adjacent recap of a very, very bad romance novel I've read. Major warnings for that recap so far are mentions of fire, more language, and an intensely creepy love interest who's only going to get worse in later chapters.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, happy holidays and/or end of December to those who don't, and a big thank you to those who check out any post on my blog!

I'm glad you enjoyed the intro to my magnum opus! And yes, 'Cow Fart Island' is my own invention. My cousin and I got a lot of mileage out of that one when we watched this movie together. But it's good that you're approaching this movie with an open mind, because the other two acts are... hoo boy. Looking forward to your reaction to those. xD

Thanks for reading!

Haven't gotten around to the rest yet.

I have one question: Did you make up the name "Cow Fart Island," or is that actually what they call it? I'm guessing the former (in which case brava, it made me laugh), but I'd believe just about anything. {X D

~Neshomeh

The development of Sean and Lux being broken up comes in TOS 23, which wasn't published for quite some time yet. In fact, it was published out of timeline order, since Jay and Acacia struggled with it. (It's the pedo!Elrond/Sue!Arwen one. I don't blame them.)

Anyway, our publication history for the earliest posting of Suedom is fuzzy, so we can't rely too much on what we think we know. If context clues suggest something other than what we have, it's possible what we have is wrong.

But in this case, it wasn't. {= )

~Neshomeh

Here is my riff of a How The Grinch Stole Christmas badfic. A bit late, but whatever.

—Ls

On Blogspot and AO3 now! Carlisle, Fáelán, and Émilie observe yet more badfic insanity, and Harry’s species is revealed... kinda.

Merry Christmas!

—Ls

I recommend all of them, especially Inscryption. They're all very mind-bending experiences that play with the tropes of games, but also the very nature of games and game-making itself. They're fundamentally love letters to gaming and I love them for it. Also The Hex and Inscryption have lore in common so definitely play both. They're all available under the Inscryption Beginner's Deck bundle for VERY cheap right now.

. . . and you're right, of course, they totally do get into a fight. To my embarrassment, I think the film version had overwritten my original memory from reading!

—doctorlit feels bookstores are no place for fist fights

The Poisoned Apple is in the original Purityworld worldbuilding as "A pureblood club that has an exclusive Dark Magic membership policy." Pretty much everything else I made up--I wanted Knockturn to be forbidden because it was more louche and adult-only, rather than full of Dark Magic, since Purityworld cares more about manners and propriety than light versus dark magic.

Arthur does fight Lucius in the books! It's how Lucius allegedly gets access to Ginny's cauldron to plant Tom's diary. It's just that in the books he sort of got goaded into it through Lucius' insults, whereas here he has more motivation to throw down. And neither Narcissa nor Molly is happy about this public brawling because, well, their husbands should be setting good examples for their kids! I'm glad that moment of accidental solidarity is good, though.

Thanks for reading, as always! Next up: the journey to Hogwarts!

...I have finished my magical journey of machine guns and evil helicopters, just in time to relax for Christmas. Join me, if you wish, in the last arc of the amazing movie Bridge of Dragons and read my recap here. Warnings: references to fire, explosions and BL 1, as well as more strong language. I've been pouring a lot of energy into these recaps and I really did have a lot of fun writing, so let me know what you think if you read any of them!

The Steam Winter Sale has started up, so a lot of games are now a bunch cheaper. This means now we can feel less bad about grabbing a bunch of games that we’ll totally get around to playing eventually we swear (or maybe that’s just me).

Since there’re a lot of games out there, I figured this would be a good time to make a thread for people to recommend ones they like to the Board at large.

(I’ll probably be by with my own recommendations later, but I wanted to get this thread started before I forgot.)

- Tomash

Even though it largely stayed close to its original analogue, there are so many little changes that it held my attention quite a bit. It was especially fun to get a greater glimpse of Knockturn Alley, even with the adult additions, since we never saw much of it in canon. I love all the stores you invented there! Oh, and nice job sneaking it that early reference to the Deathly Hallows in the one painting!

I have to say, seeing Arthur Weasley go absolutely feral on Lucius Malfoy was an unexpected treat! It feels so off for his character, but I can also understand how galling the deprivation of the Weasley family resources has been for Arthur, especially with all the kids he has to house and clothe and feed. (Though it's nice Ginny doesn't need to wear her brothers' hand-me-downs in this timeline!) But in a weird way, it was also rather satisfying to see Molly and Narcissa both scolding their husbands at the same time. I know Narcissa is no friend to Molly, but it was just . . . kind of nice to see them on the same wavelength, even if they weren't necessarily teaming up in any direct fashion? I guess I just subconsciously want everyone to be friends, and that moment had the right vibes for me.

—doctorlit, somehow cheering on both the dad fight and the double-mom-scold

I'll confess, the sudden writing energy influx isn't entirely welcome, since I planned on finishing a few books during this last week of the year... but on the other hand, I'm having the time of my life recapping bad action movies, so here's another one! Join me for another chapter of Bridge of Dragons, featuring a scene which is either the top or the bottom of direct-to-video schlock. Yes, not even a movie: a single scene which sits like an emperor on top of his throne over every single ridiculous, out there action movie I have seen.

Read the recap here, if you're so inclined. Warnings: references to fire, explosions, strong language, and discussions of women being mistreated (nothing very graphic or harrowing, and I'm not laughing at abuse, I'm laughing at the way the movie utterly fumbles its treatment of the topic).