ATIYATHESEEKER'S PROFILE

Final Fantasy Tactics
The end is nigh. Just unlocked Mullonde on the map, and I don't want to spoil too much more of the game. Considering I'd only ever gotten as far as unlocking Cid before, I have reached uncharted territory. Managed to get Ramza to learn Ultima but my gods, there's a reason why they gave me the OP T.G. Cid. That fight where I can learn Ultima, of course. ;-;

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
What a journey this one has been. The other day, I'd completed the other main sidequests, made the best greatsvord, and... well, I used Gremory's weakness against her, but certainly shoved it up the ass of the final bosses. All I would have left is to fight the secret boss and the secret level but... shucks. I've won. There enough left open to allow for a Ritual of the Night 2 but... shucks.

IGA, his team and his backers are all living proof that one can create a worthy spiritual successor indie game from a jilted dev and a beloved franchise. This passionate game made the perfect alchemical formula for success where others have only turned gold into lead. I don't think I need to say who.

May Bloodstained sunder the night once again, someday. But for now, this was a blast to play and I highly recommend it.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Been playing this almost exclusively. Just finished all the cooking sidequests. Never again. Given that the last ingredient had a base 1% drop rate, was obscure, and I needed two of them? Fuck that noise. Regardless, I'm on the last stage of the game. I wanna get the sidequests done before the finale. Two (maybe three) optional bosses, and handing over an endgame material as a burial gift.

After that? I'm going to alchemize the ultimate big-ass sword, march up to Gremory, and shove said greatsvord where the moon don't shine.

Also. I don't know if there's any discussion in Bloodstained's fan communities about this, but... is a hellish ice cave a Japanese myth and legend trope? Because the most postgame of postgame dungeon in Dragon Quest 3's GBC port was also an ice cave. I could also see this being like Cocytus, the final layer of Hell in Dante's Inferno, considering that such a layer is also eternally frozen over. Hard to say.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Speaking of hellish ice, I managed to steal Burich's magical ice gun the first time I attempted the fight in this save file. First attempt too, despite only a 29% chance for Nazreen to filch it.

And that's the only progress to report this time. Bloodstained and depression have been eating away at my free time for games. I'mma little inchworm, moving an inch at a time ♪

I am severely worried about my ability to finish anything this time. That said, I'll see what I can do in spite of everything, even something more linear or short. Just going to go with something that doesn't take itself too seriously.

I recently came into a 1-bit asset pack... with no trees. I may have to borrow these tiles, heheh. They look good, and I like the ladder and well too. ;)

Chapter Twelve: Thereby, Become A Monster

November 11: Afternoon
*white noise from outside, and a curious whine from Dogmeat*

I know, boy. I, I need to collect my thoughts. Holy moly, what a day. Craziest day in the Commonwealth wasteland to date, and I don't know how to recite this all. I'd love to start at the beginning, but it's a looooong fuckin' story. So why not get to the point, I guess? Ugh.

Kellogg's fucking dead. My son is still missing, and I don't know where to find him again. And if you remember the Brotherhood, they've just flown a big-ass airship over the skies just minutes ago, deploying vertibirds and everything.

I spent all night last night following Dogmeat. Managed to sneak past two of those big-ass Deathclaw monsters fighting each other. Got attacked not only by mole rats -- one led by a glowing green one like an alpha wolf -- but also by the Mechanist's bots. It doesn't even begin to describe what happened when I found Kellogg's base.

That asshole was holed up at the ruins of Fort Hagen. Old military base. I probably would've been stationed there if I got through basic training, in between being called to trouble. So... maybe a week at most before deployment. Turrets were up and running, so I took those out with a combat rifle I found days ago, fittingly enough. Might retire the pipe sniper rifle I've cobbled together, because this .45 packs a punch. Ol' Longshot served his purpose well.

Once I snuck in through the big garage, I was swarmed with synths. Even found one that really knew what it was doing. If they weren't sneaking up on me and firing those pale, piss-poor lasers, they were charging at me with shock batons. I was lucky enough to find one that had a combat shotgun. Never liked the double-barrel ones, so I scooped that up and wrecked bots with it.

By the time I got to the inner quarters of the joint, Kellogg was aware I was on my warpath. Taunted me. His voice was still sandpaper on the snout, but his words... his words weren't what I expected. Halfway through he damn-near began to negotiate with me with ice in his blood. Telling me this was a bad idea. Even commending me for making it as far as I did.

I didn't care. In retrospect, I know he was jaded from all the fucked-up shit he's done. Killing my husband and taking my son was just another Tuesday for him. I know it. But despite how cold and aloof his words were, that only made my blood boil. I passed through an office with two American flags to get to a computer room. Gadgets of a make I'd never seen before. And there's the scar-faced fucker right before me, with two hand-picked synths as his backup.

I don't think I'd told you that I modified Danse's gifted laser before. I managed to find a working pistol grip, even a comfy one. I held that thing white-knuckle as he told me he'd given Shaun to the Institute. I snarled at him as he told me I was dead for meeting him. But you know something? I remember exactly the last words I said to him. The last coherent ones before I shot up this mixture of Psycho and Buffout I brewed up. The last threat before I burned his androids to ashes with Righteous Authority, and the last threat he'd ever receive from the only one who could take him down.

*silence*

"In one-hundred years", I told him, "When I finally die, I hope I go to Hell so I can kill you all over again. You piece of shit".

I meant every word of it. The coward pulled his Magnum on me, and up and vanished. I now know he used some kind of cloaking device, not unlike the one I took from the safe in the speakeasy. Danse had mentioned it before when we talked shop. It was a Stealth Boy. But even as he hid from sight, both Dogmeat and I could smell him. When he moved too much, his body resembled shimmering air. By now, I knew how to read angles when his .44 slugs punched through my hide.

The combat drug I spiked burned as it pumped into my veins. For a moment my memory blacked out in the induced rage. Not long enough for me to miss how I took that bastard's life. I had gotten the bad itch from Psycho maybe a week ago. I was coherent enough from excessive use to stay focused. Can't help but feel this is exactly how Grognak would fight, if he were real.

My laser beam sliced Kellogg's fucking head off. Broke the Stealth Boy too. After I was done burning extra holes into his lifeless face, I punted it harder than I'd ever kicked in my life. Something fell out of his skull when it cracked against the metal doors. Something digital. I scooped that up and his hand cannon, and too consumed with rage to make sense of it all, I stormed out of the fort.

*silence again, then sniffling*

I'm holding Nate's murder weapon in my hand. Th-this was nothing. My body aches from the bullets, and the lasers, and electrical-burned bruises. I don't know how to find the bogeymen of Boston. If anyone knew where the goddamned Institute was, they'd... they'd...

...this was all for nothing. I killed him for nothing.

*Dana begins to sob ugly*

What have I become?! What's the fucking POINT?!