Low Key And Chilly Saturday
Apr. 18th, 2026 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYeah, it was a generally kind of quiet and mildly gloomy day, with cloudy skies and falling temperatures. The warmer "late winter/early spring" pajamas are back on, folks. *sigh* But I must say, I hit all of my goals for today --
Cleaning & Laundry: Yup, it was another one of those Saturdays, meaning most of my day was spent dusting my room, Swiffering my floor, vacuuming my rug, and putting sheets, blankets, pjs, and bathrobe through the wash. Started the whole process around 10:40 AM; broke for lunch about 1:10 PM; returned to it all around 1:50 PM; finished off the cleaning and the first load of laundry by 2:50 PM; and took the second load of laundry out of the dryer around 3:50 PM. *nods* Pretty typical Cleaning Saturday schedule these days, I think you’ll agree. At least I had some good entertainment while getting everything clean – “Fallout 3 Is Better Than You Think” by Jon of Many A True Nerd! His essay about why he thinks Fallout 3 is unfairly criticized (pointing out that a lot of the complaints people threw at it didn’t actually have that much merit because they were contradicted by, you know, actually playing the game) and why in some respects it’s the best of the Fallout games (for example, he’s always loved the Capital Wasteland for feeling the most desolate and empty and dangerous of all the various wastelands we encounter through the series). Interesting stuff – though, I admit, what stuck with me the most was him complaining about Legate Lanius, the guy you have to face off with at the end of Fallout: New Vegas and can just Speech check into leaving you alone, again (in the context of comparing him to Colonel Autumn, the guy you have to face off against at the end of Fallout 3 and can just Speech check into leaving you alone, and saying Autumn is better because at least he actually APPEARED EARLIER IN THE GAME AND PERSONALLY WRONGED YOU instead of just showing up as the “final boss” like Lanius) Mostly because, during his rant, he mentioned that Lanius has two contradictory backstories, and that Ulysses from Lonesome Road points out that it might not be the same man under the mask because no one has ever actually seen his face. Which NOW has me wondering if Legate Lanius was ever a real person, or just a myth made up by the Legion to scare outsiders...and that the guy you face at the end IS just some dude in the iconic mask, thrown at you in a last-ditch effort to scare you into surrendering or dying. And that’s why it’s possible to Speech check him – the guy under the mask may not actually want to fight the genuinely-badass Courier, after all! XD I’m sure I’m not the first to think of this twist, but I love it all the same!
Writing: It took me a little bit longer than I expected (there were more fiddly little edits to make than I originally anticipated), but I did indeed finish my final edits on Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” today! :D Covering –
A) Alice arriving back at the Skyeline and learning from Larry that Simon had indeed been taken away by the men in white coats – she said that she hoped the doctors could help him, and Larry said he hoped so too...because he needed everyone in the building to pay their rent so he could get paid
B) Alice heading back up to her apartment, only to be met by Victor waiting for her at the door – cue him revealing that he can just sort of tell when she’s in a bad mood, in the form of a feeling of “I have to find and help my domitor,” which – when she’s close enough – translates into having a rough idea of where she is; Alice confirmed that this is why he practically threw himself out the door yesterday (apparently the feeling was so bad it was like an alarm going off on his head), and apologized for not warning him, as she herself didn’t know about it. She told him that she’d ask Mercurio about it when she saw him tomorrow, which Victor said he’d appreciate...before starting to ask if it would really be so bad if he had some more blood from her. Alice shut that line of thought down right quick!
C) Alice bringing Victor over to the couch and telling him about her night – starting with discovering Pisha’s hospital of horrors and having to fight her (Victor was very sympathetic about poor Alice having to deal with an enemy threatening her with fire yet again), then moving onto her trip through the museum (Victor was surprised to hear the night watch at the museum was so lacking...and pleased to know that his blood had been so useful to keeping her hidden from both humans and cameras alike), then moving onto finding the sarcophagus missing and having to return to LaCroix empty-handed (Victor winced and was like “oh no, that must have been fun”), before ending with explaining that she’d been tasked with going to Hollywood and making Gary, Nosferatu primogen, talk regarding the sarcophagus’s whereabouts (because LaCroix is certain he had something to do with its disappearance). And then adding that she didn’t expect a warm welcome from the Anarchs of Hollywood because she’d foolishly mentioned seeing him coming out of Grout’s house the other night, and LaCroix had used that as a springboard to claim Nines had killed Grout and order a blood hunt on him. And that while she’d managed to convince the Anarchs of Downtown she’d been a mere patsy, they were still upset with her, and – yeah. Not a fun night!
D) Victor asking if she wanted him to accompany her to Hollywood, and Alice saying she would, as she enjoyed his company, and it would be useful to have someone around who could operate during the day...before adding mostly-jokingly that it would also be rude of her to insist he stay behind and stick him with the rent, should it come due, because she was the one with sources of income. Cue Victor staring at her for a bit before realizing that no, she genuinely didn’t know about his family situation, and asking her to look up the Van Dorts –
And Alice doing so and being like “your family is worth how much?!” XD And asking why Victor was in a crappy hotel in Santa Monica rather than in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills – Victor explained that it was because he’d left his home in a snit and he was trying to use as little of his parents’ money as possible to fund his trip, lest they try to control what he did by pulling the purse strings. *nods* Smart.
E) Alice then jokingly asking if Victor couldn’t use his riches to buy Hollywood out from under Isaac, and Victor laughingly telling her that he was pretty sure that would take longer than LaCroix would like...prompting Cheshire to tell Alice that such big purchase were a bad idea anyway and remind her that “eyes on you shouldn’t translate to eyes on him – not if you do value his freedom.” Which led to Alice remembering that Victor already vaguely knew the name “LaCroix” and thus might be at least a little bit on his radar, which in turn made her realize that yes, he could very well be in danger of the Prince taking him as his ghoul. Victor was a little confused when she first told him this, as she used the euphemism “buy you off me” to explain LaCroix suborning him – prompting him to assure her there was no amount of money LaCroix could offer him to make him work for the guy – but then Alice properly explained that she meant that LaCroix could force him to drink his vitae, switch sides, and maybe empty his parents’ bank accounts, and he was like “Oh – yes, let’s avoid that.” (While Alice worried about the fact that Tung in Santa Monica already knew about her ghoul situation, and wondered what it might take to convince him – and the other Nosferatu – to keep their mouths shut...)
F) And Victor telling Alice that he wanted to buy her something to thank her for all that she’d done for him – and Alice, after initially demurring, being told by Caterpillar “let him do this, it’s how he’s learned to express his appreciation,” remembering her clothing situation, and telling Victor that he could splurge on a new wardrobe for her if he wanted. Leading to them leaving the apartment arm in arm to do some shopping. :)
Whew! Hooray for that being done. Tomorrow, we post this sucker and FINALLY close the book on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland!”
YouTube: Well, there was no CaFae Latte compilation this week (I double-checked – Chris must still be busy with other stuff), so I was able to spend the night catching up on a pair of videos from the OXBoxtra team –
A) “I Played Pokopia on Painkillers for a Week and It Was Exactly What I Needed” by OXtra! Which was Ellen telling us all about how Pokémon Pokopia on the Switch 2 was a balm for her during a recent week that she had to take off due to her chronic cystinuria – a kidney disease that means she produces a LOT of kidney stones and gets a LOT of kidney pain. :( Pokémon Pokopia, in case you don’t remember, is the new cozy game from Nintendo where you play as a Ditto imitating its former trainer to revitalize a post-apocalyptic world – helping out various Pokémon, making habitats and eventually houses for them, and generally just fixing up the landscape and the infrastructure the humans left behind. There’s a lot of Animal Crossing vibes, as you might expect – in fact, it looks like a decent number of assets and animations were, if not straight-up taken from New Horizons, at least modeled on its stuff. Ellen adores it, though, and said it was the perfect game for a week spent on strong painkillers. Why? Well:
I. It’s just very nice to look at – all the Pokémon are rendered and animated adorably in this game, to the point where Ellen found herself gaining a new appreciation for Pokémon she didn’t actually care much for before (like Swablu, a bird Pokémon with cotton-swab-ball wings, who hops about like a little budgie). They really feel like they’re ALIVE in a way that they sometimes don’t in the mainline games
II. It’s got a lovely core gameplay loop of improving the environment, getting new Pokémon and new life into the area, then getting their help in improving things even further – and unlike in some games, the Pokémon actually do help you, as they are the ones that build all the structures around the place (yes, you the player have to get the plans, pick the plot, and provide the materials, but at least you’re not doing EVERYTHING). They also give you gifts from time to time, which can range from “aw, useless but sweet” to “oh damn, I actually needed this, thanks Pokémon”
III. The tasks in it are all pretty easy (grow plants, harvest food, figure out where to place buildings, ask Pokemon what they need to be happy, etc) and can be handled at your own pace – perfect for someone who is feeling loopy and knows she needs to rest, but also does not want to be bored (though Ellen admitted she might have fallen victim to the whole “toxic productivity” thing by recording her gameplay footage for this video – whoops!)
IV. It’s an extremely chill game with no lasting consequences for mucking things up – accidentally steal an item from a Pokémon’s house? Just put it back and they will be happy as clams! Accidentally destroy a Pokémon’s habitat while cleaning up the environment? Just restore it to how it was (or better) and they’ll cheerfully move right back in! Perfect for when you KNOW you’re going to make mistakes and don’t want them to become a big deal
V. It makes building things and improving the environment fun without encouraging everything to be PERFECT – a minecart track will be useful and run well no matter how “optimized” or “pretty” it is, for example. As someone who suffers from perfectionism, Ellen really appreciated that the game’s calm vibes combined with powerful drugs meant that she could just do the main quest in each area and leave coming back and making everything “perfect” until later. (Plus, the sheer care put into all the post-apocalyptic environments made her want to take her time exploring them before trying to tidy them up)
VI. And it made her laugh during a time where she was generally feeling miserable and sad, thanks to a combination of excellent writing (and localization) when it came to the dialogue of the various Pokémon, and various simply-ridiculous moments such as a Pokémon pulling a minecart out of the ether to take a ride. :p
So yeah – if you have a Switch 2 and aren’t feeling well, this might be a good game for you to pick up and play for a little while! I mean, this is a game that gives you an option to build a house and then ask an Eevee to be your roommate – how can you NOT love that? :p
B) And “7 Horror Games They Banned for No Good Reason” by OXBox! This week’s list video saw Andy and Jane talking about those horror games that got banned, or at least delisted, in various markets for reasons that maybe weren’t the best. Examples included:
I. Rule Of Rose not getting a release in Australia, New Zealand, or the UK because it was accused of having “obscene cruelty and brutality” and “in-game sadomasochism,” among other things – except it straight-up doesn’t have any of that. It’s instead a survival horror game about a nineteen-year-old girl named Jennifer being menaced by creepy tweens in a dark world with no proper adults, which simply had the bad luck of, one, having a trailer with some unsettling moments in it that maybe implied there was some of the above stuff in the game, and two, being released in 2006, which was one of the prime years for Video Game Moral Panic
II. Devotion, a game about exploring a creepy-mannequin filled Taiwanese apartment in the 1980s made by a Taiwan studio, getting taken off Steam because some players found an Easter Egg (or, as the devs claimed, a placeholder asset that accidentally made it into the final release) of a tao charm comparing China’s leader to Winnie The Pooh as per a popular meme in 2019, got mad, and review-bombed it until Steam bowed to the pressure and delisted it
III. And Night Trap, the world’s most famous FMV game featuring terrible trashbag-covered vampires menacing “teenage” girls in a trap-filled mansion, eventually getting pulled off shelves after being the subject of a congressional hearing where senators looked at grainy footage of women being ever-so-slightly menaced by goofy monsters and decided that this game ENCOURAGED you to trap and kill women, and furthermore “promoted violence and sexual aggression.” Apparently the controversy surrounding it was so bad that it “prevented constructive dialogue about an industry-wide rating system,” which is why SEGA pulled it in 1994.
Yeah – basically, if you’re a horror game, watch out! There is a very good chance bullshit banning will be coming your way.
*nods* A short list, perhaps, but it was nice to check every bit off, that's for sure. :) And now it is time for me to head to bed -- tomorrow is Post Chapter Six Of LB:DQ day, along with "watch the next episode of F:NV YOLO Remastered from Jon" day and "answer Moose's messages" day. And maybe play some Portal 2, depending on how long some of the other stuff takes. We'll see. Night all!
Cleaning & Laundry: Yup, it was another one of those Saturdays, meaning most of my day was spent dusting my room, Swiffering my floor, vacuuming my rug, and putting sheets, blankets, pjs, and bathrobe through the wash. Started the whole process around 10:40 AM; broke for lunch about 1:10 PM; returned to it all around 1:50 PM; finished off the cleaning and the first load of laundry by 2:50 PM; and took the second load of laundry out of the dryer around 3:50 PM. *nods* Pretty typical Cleaning Saturday schedule these days, I think you’ll agree. At least I had some good entertainment while getting everything clean – “Fallout 3 Is Better Than You Think” by Jon of Many A True Nerd! His essay about why he thinks Fallout 3 is unfairly criticized (pointing out that a lot of the complaints people threw at it didn’t actually have that much merit because they were contradicted by, you know, actually playing the game) and why in some respects it’s the best of the Fallout games (for example, he’s always loved the Capital Wasteland for feeling the most desolate and empty and dangerous of all the various wastelands we encounter through the series). Interesting stuff – though, I admit, what stuck with me the most was him complaining about Legate Lanius, the guy you have to face off with at the end of Fallout: New Vegas and can just Speech check into leaving you alone, again (in the context of comparing him to Colonel Autumn, the guy you have to face off against at the end of Fallout 3 and can just Speech check into leaving you alone, and saying Autumn is better because at least he actually APPEARED EARLIER IN THE GAME AND PERSONALLY WRONGED YOU instead of just showing up as the “final boss” like Lanius) Mostly because, during his rant, he mentioned that Lanius has two contradictory backstories, and that Ulysses from Lonesome Road points out that it might not be the same man under the mask because no one has ever actually seen his face. Which NOW has me wondering if Legate Lanius was ever a real person, or just a myth made up by the Legion to scare outsiders...and that the guy you face at the end IS just some dude in the iconic mask, thrown at you in a last-ditch effort to scare you into surrendering or dying. And that’s why it’s possible to Speech check him – the guy under the mask may not actually want to fight the genuinely-badass Courier, after all! XD I’m sure I’m not the first to think of this twist, but I love it all the same!
Writing: It took me a little bit longer than I expected (there were more fiddly little edits to make than I originally anticipated), but I did indeed finish my final edits on Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” today! :D Covering –
A) Alice arriving back at the Skyeline and learning from Larry that Simon had indeed been taken away by the men in white coats – she said that she hoped the doctors could help him, and Larry said he hoped so too...because he needed everyone in the building to pay their rent so he could get paid
B) Alice heading back up to her apartment, only to be met by Victor waiting for her at the door – cue him revealing that he can just sort of tell when she’s in a bad mood, in the form of a feeling of “I have to find and help my domitor,” which – when she’s close enough – translates into having a rough idea of where she is; Alice confirmed that this is why he practically threw himself out the door yesterday (apparently the feeling was so bad it was like an alarm going off on his head), and apologized for not warning him, as she herself didn’t know about it. She told him that she’d ask Mercurio about it when she saw him tomorrow, which Victor said he’d appreciate...before starting to ask if it would really be so bad if he had some more blood from her. Alice shut that line of thought down right quick!
C) Alice bringing Victor over to the couch and telling him about her night – starting with discovering Pisha’s hospital of horrors and having to fight her (Victor was very sympathetic about poor Alice having to deal with an enemy threatening her with fire yet again), then moving onto her trip through the museum (Victor was surprised to hear the night watch at the museum was so lacking...and pleased to know that his blood had been so useful to keeping her hidden from both humans and cameras alike), then moving onto finding the sarcophagus missing and having to return to LaCroix empty-handed (Victor winced and was like “oh no, that must have been fun”), before ending with explaining that she’d been tasked with going to Hollywood and making Gary, Nosferatu primogen, talk regarding the sarcophagus’s whereabouts (because LaCroix is certain he had something to do with its disappearance). And then adding that she didn’t expect a warm welcome from the Anarchs of Hollywood because she’d foolishly mentioned seeing him coming out of Grout’s house the other night, and LaCroix had used that as a springboard to claim Nines had killed Grout and order a blood hunt on him. And that while she’d managed to convince the Anarchs of Downtown she’d been a mere patsy, they were still upset with her, and – yeah. Not a fun night!
D) Victor asking if she wanted him to accompany her to Hollywood, and Alice saying she would, as she enjoyed his company, and it would be useful to have someone around who could operate during the day...before adding mostly-jokingly that it would also be rude of her to insist he stay behind and stick him with the rent, should it come due, because she was the one with sources of income. Cue Victor staring at her for a bit before realizing that no, she genuinely didn’t know about his family situation, and asking her to look up the Van Dorts –
And Alice doing so and being like “your family is worth how much?!” XD And asking why Victor was in a crappy hotel in Santa Monica rather than in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills – Victor explained that it was because he’d left his home in a snit and he was trying to use as little of his parents’ money as possible to fund his trip, lest they try to control what he did by pulling the purse strings. *nods* Smart.
E) Alice then jokingly asking if Victor couldn’t use his riches to buy Hollywood out from under Isaac, and Victor laughingly telling her that he was pretty sure that would take longer than LaCroix would like...prompting Cheshire to tell Alice that such big purchase were a bad idea anyway and remind her that “eyes on you shouldn’t translate to eyes on him – not if you do value his freedom.” Which led to Alice remembering that Victor already vaguely knew the name “LaCroix” and thus might be at least a little bit on his radar, which in turn made her realize that yes, he could very well be in danger of the Prince taking him as his ghoul. Victor was a little confused when she first told him this, as she used the euphemism “buy you off me” to explain LaCroix suborning him – prompting him to assure her there was no amount of money LaCroix could offer him to make him work for the guy – but then Alice properly explained that she meant that LaCroix could force him to drink his vitae, switch sides, and maybe empty his parents’ bank accounts, and he was like “Oh – yes, let’s avoid that.” (While Alice worried about the fact that Tung in Santa Monica already knew about her ghoul situation, and wondered what it might take to convince him – and the other Nosferatu – to keep their mouths shut...)
F) And Victor telling Alice that he wanted to buy her something to thank her for all that she’d done for him – and Alice, after initially demurring, being told by Caterpillar “let him do this, it’s how he’s learned to express his appreciation,” remembering her clothing situation, and telling Victor that he could splurge on a new wardrobe for her if he wanted. Leading to them leaving the apartment arm in arm to do some shopping. :)
Whew! Hooray for that being done. Tomorrow, we post this sucker and FINALLY close the book on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland!”
YouTube: Well, there was no CaFae Latte compilation this week (I double-checked – Chris must still be busy with other stuff), so I was able to spend the night catching up on a pair of videos from the OXBoxtra team –
A) “I Played Pokopia on Painkillers for a Week and It Was Exactly What I Needed” by OXtra! Which was Ellen telling us all about how Pokémon Pokopia on the Switch 2 was a balm for her during a recent week that she had to take off due to her chronic cystinuria – a kidney disease that means she produces a LOT of kidney stones and gets a LOT of kidney pain. :( Pokémon Pokopia, in case you don’t remember, is the new cozy game from Nintendo where you play as a Ditto imitating its former trainer to revitalize a post-apocalyptic world – helping out various Pokémon, making habitats and eventually houses for them, and generally just fixing up the landscape and the infrastructure the humans left behind. There’s a lot of Animal Crossing vibes, as you might expect – in fact, it looks like a decent number of assets and animations were, if not straight-up taken from New Horizons, at least modeled on its stuff. Ellen adores it, though, and said it was the perfect game for a week spent on strong painkillers. Why? Well:
I. It’s just very nice to look at – all the Pokémon are rendered and animated adorably in this game, to the point where Ellen found herself gaining a new appreciation for Pokémon she didn’t actually care much for before (like Swablu, a bird Pokémon with cotton-swab-ball wings, who hops about like a little budgie). They really feel like they’re ALIVE in a way that they sometimes don’t in the mainline games
II. It’s got a lovely core gameplay loop of improving the environment, getting new Pokémon and new life into the area, then getting their help in improving things even further – and unlike in some games, the Pokémon actually do help you, as they are the ones that build all the structures around the place (yes, you the player have to get the plans, pick the plot, and provide the materials, but at least you’re not doing EVERYTHING). They also give you gifts from time to time, which can range from “aw, useless but sweet” to “oh damn, I actually needed this, thanks Pokémon”
III. The tasks in it are all pretty easy (grow plants, harvest food, figure out where to place buildings, ask Pokemon what they need to be happy, etc) and can be handled at your own pace – perfect for someone who is feeling loopy and knows she needs to rest, but also does not want to be bored (though Ellen admitted she might have fallen victim to the whole “toxic productivity” thing by recording her gameplay footage for this video – whoops!)
IV. It’s an extremely chill game with no lasting consequences for mucking things up – accidentally steal an item from a Pokémon’s house? Just put it back and they will be happy as clams! Accidentally destroy a Pokémon’s habitat while cleaning up the environment? Just restore it to how it was (or better) and they’ll cheerfully move right back in! Perfect for when you KNOW you’re going to make mistakes and don’t want them to become a big deal
V. It makes building things and improving the environment fun without encouraging everything to be PERFECT – a minecart track will be useful and run well no matter how “optimized” or “pretty” it is, for example. As someone who suffers from perfectionism, Ellen really appreciated that the game’s calm vibes combined with powerful drugs meant that she could just do the main quest in each area and leave coming back and making everything “perfect” until later. (Plus, the sheer care put into all the post-apocalyptic environments made her want to take her time exploring them before trying to tidy them up)
VI. And it made her laugh during a time where she was generally feeling miserable and sad, thanks to a combination of excellent writing (and localization) when it came to the dialogue of the various Pokémon, and various simply-ridiculous moments such as a Pokémon pulling a minecart out of the ether to take a ride. :p
So yeah – if you have a Switch 2 and aren’t feeling well, this might be a good game for you to pick up and play for a little while! I mean, this is a game that gives you an option to build a house and then ask an Eevee to be your roommate – how can you NOT love that? :p
B) And “7 Horror Games They Banned for No Good Reason” by OXBox! This week’s list video saw Andy and Jane talking about those horror games that got banned, or at least delisted, in various markets for reasons that maybe weren’t the best. Examples included:
I. Rule Of Rose not getting a release in Australia, New Zealand, or the UK because it was accused of having “obscene cruelty and brutality” and “in-game sadomasochism,” among other things – except it straight-up doesn’t have any of that. It’s instead a survival horror game about a nineteen-year-old girl named Jennifer being menaced by creepy tweens in a dark world with no proper adults, which simply had the bad luck of, one, having a trailer with some unsettling moments in it that maybe implied there was some of the above stuff in the game, and two, being released in 2006, which was one of the prime years for Video Game Moral Panic
II. Devotion, a game about exploring a creepy-mannequin filled Taiwanese apartment in the 1980s made by a Taiwan studio, getting taken off Steam because some players found an Easter Egg (or, as the devs claimed, a placeholder asset that accidentally made it into the final release) of a tao charm comparing China’s leader to Winnie The Pooh as per a popular meme in 2019, got mad, and review-bombed it until Steam bowed to the pressure and delisted it
III. And Night Trap, the world’s most famous FMV game featuring terrible trashbag-covered vampires menacing “teenage” girls in a trap-filled mansion, eventually getting pulled off shelves after being the subject of a congressional hearing where senators looked at grainy footage of women being ever-so-slightly menaced by goofy monsters and decided that this game ENCOURAGED you to trap and kill women, and furthermore “promoted violence and sexual aggression.” Apparently the controversy surrounding it was so bad that it “prevented constructive dialogue about an industry-wide rating system,” which is why SEGA pulled it in 1994.
Yeah – basically, if you’re a horror game, watch out! There is a very good chance bullshit banning will be coming your way.
*nods* A short list, perhaps, but it was nice to check every bit off, that's for sure. :) And now it is time for me to head to bed -- tomorrow is Post Chapter Six Of LB:DQ day, along with "watch the next episode of F:NV YOLO Remastered from Jon" day and "answer Moose's messages" day. And maybe play some Portal 2, depending on how long some of the other stuff takes. We'll see. Night all!
