Started Astalon: Tears of the Earth

Apr. 22nd, 2025 12:00 am
schneefink: Dracula's castle (Castlevania castle)
[personal profile] schneefink
After a long day of classes (on a bank holiday, too) I treated myself to some grapefruit + nougat ice cream and then planned to spend some time reading, do some housekeeping in preparation for hosting a guest (very exciting), and then write some overdue review posts, maybe prepare some recs if I'm feeling ambitious.

Instead I spent most of the evening continuing to play Astalon: Tears of the Earth. I'd seen it recommended quite a few times on r/metroidvania and I was very curious, so when I saw it was on sale I bought it even though it's not entirely smart to start a new game 2.5 weeks before an exam. Ah well.

You play as a group of three adventurers in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that investigate (read: fight their way through) a tower from which comes a substance poisoning their village. One of them sold his soul to the titan of death, and in exchange every time you die you are transported back to the entrance of the tower.

I also saw it described as a "metroidvania with roguelite elements," which made me a bit skeptical because the other game that claims that is Dead Cells and that didn't convince me when I briefly tried it. But that description isn't really accurate because it doesn't have the procedural generation of a roguelike, it has the exploration of a metroidvania, and that's my favorite part of the genre. It just doesn't have checkpoints and very little healing. But there's plenty of shortcuts to unlock so landing back at the beginning is much less frustrating than I'd feared. And unlocking shortcuts is very satisfying; the exploration is satisfying in general, with plenty of secrets to discover. Plus, there are not that many but enough character interactions that I care about the characters as well.

After about eight hours I've beaten three bosses (one of them I'm pretty sure is optional) and discovered around 35% of the map. Spoilers )

Homesick

Apr. 19th, 2025 11:41 pm
gourdier: White flowers on a green background. (Default)
[personal profile] gourdier

What a mess this whole trip has been. To distract myself, I've been rrading like crazy; I'm now on book four of O.R. Melling's Faerie Chronicles, which is all about the protagonist's journey throughout Canada, especially Ontario. I have some thoughts about it as a whole, but aside from all that, the descriptions of Toronto make me wish that I was back home (although I'm not a Torontonian).

In two days I'll be on a plane headed back and I'll be SO happy to have this disaster of a vacation behind me.

Community Thursday

Apr. 17th, 2025 07:02 am
vriddy: Hawks perched on a pole with sword-feather in hand (hawks perched)
[personal profile] vriddy

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.


Over the last week...

Posted and commented on [community profile] bnha_fans! Vigilantes anime watch-along continues :D

Signal boosts:

  • [community profile] newcomers may get busy again as more Tumblr people consider migrating (I understand there were more layoffs and the skeleton crew is now extra-skeleton). If you like helping folks settle in, consider keeping an eye on the comm! Saw crossposts on the [community profile] the_great_tumblr_purge as well, which may or may not pick up again.
schneefink: Scarland castle (Hermitcraft s9) with the sun shining through it (Hermitcraft Scarland)
[personal profile] schneefink
[tumblr.com profile] mcytrecursive had author reveals. I wrote three fics! I have periods of feeling very insecure about my writing, so it was especially nice that I had a good time writing all three, felt very positively about them, and then got very nice comments.
The first two are probably readable without knowledge of the fic they are based on, but all of those are great and you should read them anyway.

cut your chains in shining blue for [archiveofourown.org profile] strifetxt, Hermitcraft
Recursing: Untamed Beasts by [archiveofourown.org profile] WhisperNorBury
1.6k, Cub & Scar gen, prequel
Summary: Five times Cub killed Scar's summoner.
AN: My assignment, and the hardest one to write. Especially to settle on the five things, for a good progression and to make each of them different and interesting. I think it turned out very well! I was almost done when I remembered that Minecraft has respawns so now most of it takes place on hardcore worlds.

Etho's Escort Service From Hell for [archiveofourown.org profile] alice_not_alice, Hermitcraft
Recursing: MailDemon AU by [tumblr.com profile] azzayofchaos
1.5k, Cleo & Etho gen, demon AU
Summary: Cleo has fallen into Hell again, and this time she might need the help of a friend to get out.
AN: I wanted to write a treat for Alice, discovered this AU in the prompts, and wrote it basically in one go. Cleo and Etho are so much fun together, and I was reliably informed that I did achieve "funny."

(watch) where fears and dreams come true for [archiveofourown.org profile] Odaigahara, Hermitcraft/Life series
Recursing: lost in the dark (he's got a heavy heart) aka Hunger AU by [archiveofourown.org profile] definitelynotshouting
2.2k, Grian & Scar & Cub gen, canon divergence
Summary: Scar came with Grian when he left Hermitcraft and figured out a different way to keep him fed.
Cub finds them.
AN: Tagged as "downright fluffy compared to the original (a low bar)," but it does still have some angst, it would not be Hunger AU Grian otherwise (at least not without changing the premise.) Hunger AU is very angsty which is great but also made me want fix-it fic (at least partially...) and when I remembered that it's set in season 8 and thus pre-Scarland I got the idea for this, and I think it works.

I also got a fantastic gift:
star of the west horizon by [archiveofourown.org profile] Odaigahara, Hermitcraft
Recursing: a rare talent indeed by [archiveofourown.org profile] these_godforsaken_halls
6.7k, Grian & Cub & Scar gen, fairy AU post-canon
Summary: “I’m leaving for a while,” Grian tells Xisuma, who goes very still indeed at the suggestion that a fairy might spend the night outside of the hollow. “Just for a few days, now that I’m healed– I won’t be going far, and I’ll be extremely careful, I swear it, you don’t even know careful until you’ve seen how careful I’ve been, and Scar’s saying I’m much better at hiding than I was, anyway, so there’s no need to worry on that account.”
“Goodness, er, well–”
“And I’ve already packed, including all the pixie dust I’ll need,” Grian says firmly, “but you can look through what I’m bringing with me, if you’d like. To be sure I haven’t taken anything I’m not supposed to.”
“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Xisuma says, and this is good, because it means Grian successfully diverted him from the main thing he was likely to object to. Grian can fly circles around Xisuma if he’s devious enough. He used to dodge scouts all the time, before–
Before.
He used to bait hawks.
Why I love it: Gorgeous. Fantastic character voices and relationships, perfect post-canon road to recovery, beautiful backstory flashbacks, wonderful atmosphere, just, so good.

I had such a good time with this exchange, I already look forward to [tumblr.com profile] mcytblraufest, which is doing a Battleship format this year and I'm excited.
vriddy: Hawks looking back cheekily holding a feather (holding feather)
[personal profile] vriddy

I posted another bunch since the last post :)

Prompt: Food poisoning

'Now' also matters | Dabi/Hawks | 900 words | rated T
Summary: Hawks gets a visitor after a night of misery.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

Prompt: Sunburns

Icarus, who flew too close to the sun | Dabi/Hawks | 1k words | rated T
Summary: Hawks burns. More specifically, his face.
Sunburns suck.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

Prompt: Twisted knee

After the fall | Dabi/Hawks | 1.6k words | rated T
Summary: Dabi falls off a ladder while building his latest shed... Alas, one cannot just staple a knee together to keep moving.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

Prompt: Crying

Make your bed, (say a) lie in it | Miruko/Dabi/Hawks | 1.1k words | rated T
Summary: Dabi and Rumi are cuddling in Hawks' bed, asleep. Hawks watches them and just like that, months of compartmentalisation and lying to himself fall apart.
This cannot last.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

Prompt: Magical curse

Quirk or curse | Dabi/Hawks | 1.7k words | rated T
Summary: Magic doesn't exist. This is not a curse. This has got to be a fucked up quirk of some sort.
-
Hawks deals with the aftermath of a run-in with the CRC.
Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

Community Thursday

Apr. 10th, 2025 05:30 am
vriddy: Hawks hand sign to wait (pst pst)
[personal profile] vriddy
Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Commented on [community profile] common_nature.

Commented on [community profile] booknook.

The BNHA Vigilantes anime started, so I posted the first reaction post on [community profile] bnha_fans and promoted the watch-along on [community profile] anime_manga :)

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