#wodensrambles

The slimeopedia's entry for the Slime Sea provides the first insight into this. That ocean is not water- it is slime matter, a primordial sea from which these slimes (horrid monsters and creatures) arise. Nothing can go in- and when a slime enters it absorbed (and apparently spat out somewhere else). It sounds a lot like the snakmatter that exists below Snaktooth Island in Bugsnax- Bugsnax taught me to not trust cute lil fuckers that seem to have no drawbacks, and that lesson has come in use again for these things-

The slimes wish to be one, but the ocean seems to be rejecting them. Have the slimes sinned and cannot return to the ocean? Or perhaps the ocean has reached some sort of capacity that needs to be expanded- in my first 10 minutes of this game I read the slimeopedia entry for the Cotton slime and when it is agitated it will leap out of its pen- which sounds like a garanteed way of Tarrs to happen... but maybe that is a purposeful action! Maybe they want to become Tarrs- THINK ABOUT IT!! TARRS OCCUR WHEN 3 SLIME TYPES CONVERGE... UNIFY... INTO ONE BEING- AN UNDERBAKED FORM OF UNITY AMONG THE SLIMES TO MIMIC THAT OF THE OCEAN THEY CANNOT BE A PART OF!!!!

AND THOSE PLORTS THAT CAUSE TARRS TO OCCUR- WE ARE SHIPPING THEM OUT FROM FAR FAR RANCH TO THE REST OF THE GALAXY- WE ARE SPREADING THE SEEDS FOR THE TARRS... WHAT IS THE END GOAL BUT? IF THE SLIMES AND TARRS REACH OTHER WORLDS WOULD THEY CONVERT THOSE OCEANS INTO SLIME SEAS? FOR THEM TO ACHIEVE TRUE UNITY?

ALSO I KNOW WHAT SOME OF YALLS ARE THINKING "IF THE SLIMES LONG TO BECOME TARR WHY ARE THEY SO SCARED OF TARRS SURROUNDING THEM?" WELL MAY I RAISE TO YOU THEN WHY DO SLIMES ALLOW THEIR HABITATS TO OVERLAP IN SUCH A WAY THAT TARRS CAN NATURALLY OCCUR- NOT RESTRICTING THEIR EATING TO STOP THEIR PLORT DROPPING TO STOP THOSE GUYS! IT IS SUBCONCIOUS, SOMETHING THAT THEY ARE NOT PRIVY TO BUT THEIR TRUE NATURE YEARNS FOR THE UNITY OF THE TARR-

THE SLIME ARE EVIL I KNOW THEY ARE- FAR FAR RANCH IS A CONTAINMENT FACILITY MUCH LIKE THE HALOS ARE FOR THE FLOOD- THE SLIMES AND TARRS LONG FOR UNITY, FOR ONENESS, FOR ALL TO BE ONE WITH THEM- A PERSONIFICATION (OR RAHTER SLIMEIFICATION) OF HEAT DEATH ITSELF.

THEY ARE JUST ARE CORRUPTIVE AS THE BUGSNAX- THEY ARE JUST AS ALL CONSUMING AS THE FLOOD- AND THEY ARE JUST AS WHOLE-MAKING AS THE MARKERS, NECROMORPHS, AND BRETHERN MOONS... THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THE GALAXY IS TO DESTROY THE SLIMES, AND THEIR NESTS- OR ELSE WE ARE ALL DOOMED

Honestly? I love it with all my heart! I love the interconnectivity of the world! I love the NPCs! I love the story & atmosphere! How there are still echos of the age of ancients within the age of fire! I love the feeling of getting lost & ending up somewhere like Ash Lake or the back entrance of Darkroot Garden! & OMGS the obtuse mechanics! Like genuinely I love how obscure some of the stuff in this game is! From Vagrants to Grave Lording I feel like there is just a lot of neat things & always more to learn! I think the only things I don’t like are the limited casts on spells & pyromancies! & how you are fully stymied when using estus! I also appreciate how you can just level up at any bonfire, without having to see a specific NPC like you have to in 2, 3, & Bloodborne! It is still my favourite game in the entire series.

Dark Souls 2 is… interesting kdfksk you can tell Miyazaki wasn’t at the helm of this game. People shit on this game a lot, saying it is the worse of the series. I wouldn’t call it the worse, rather than it is just weaker than the others. It doesn’t have that same emotional oomph. What I do like about the game is the introduction of power stancing! Something which doesn’t return until Elden Ring! I do love the maze like map design within each map! I love the enemy designs! I love the bonfire ascetic system! Letting you advance individual areas to the next NG cycle! And cos this game locks certain things behind NG+ & beyond, that is both cool and useful! & I love the Covenant of Champions! &… that’s about all I liked dkckd the big flaws that has stood out to me was estus healing times, enemies stopping being respawned after the 12th kill (which is annoying if you are farming for souls or loot- Cov of Champs does allow them, but idk it is just annoying & it is telling that this covenant is only present in the Scholar of the First Sin edition), statues locked with Fragrant Branches of Yore, the health decreases when hollowed (which I know harkens back to Demon’s Souls, & DS2 is a lot more forgiving with this- but I think the health changes between hollow/human is done best in DS3, where rather than hollowing/unkindling decreases your max HP, & shows that on the health bar- it instead increases your max HP when human/kindled, & that changes the health bar- less emphasis on an item that comes in relatively low supply). Also the enemy AI’s feel weird, the number of areas that are intended for multiplayer is annoying on many levels (glares at the Black Gulch, & the path to the Blue Smelter Demon), & hhh yeah. I will say tho, I am pretty neutral on ADP! I like the concept that you can invest in your iFrames when rolling! & I appreciate how they reworked the level up costs with this stat in mind! & I then also appreciate how they balanced the game around being at higher soul levels cos of how cheap it is! & then implemented soul memory to de-emphasise soul level based match making! DS2 id the awkward teenager of the DS games- you can tell it isn’t made by Miyazaki. It had hella cool concepts! But it also was just annoying to play. It feels weak emotionally, but is still a decent time to play! It is kinda the Subnautica Below Zero of the Dark Souls games FDLSLDKC

Imma talk about Bloodborne next as it is the next to release in the series chronologically! Iirc this is the project Miyazaki was working on while DS2 was being developed! It is also the game that launched Soulsborne into major public consciousness. & it is easy to see why! The vibes & design are just on point! A beautiful hybrid of gothic & lovecraftian horror! The game has so many cool features! Iirc this is the first one in the series to have a stat explicitly influence your discovery stat! Good gods the fast healing with blood vials! THE TRICK WEAPONS! The music! The bosses! & man imo up until this point never has a DLC felt so seemlessly part of the base game! I love the concept of chalice dungeons! ESPECIALLY how there are community dungeons that aid with grinding up blood echos, insight, and blood stones! & Ofc the story & lore of this game is wonderful, & will just leave you asking & wanting more! Tbh I don’t have much to say about what I don’t like- other than needing to see a specific NPC to level up, early access to warp which de-emphasises exploring somewhat- & how this is the first game of the series to not let you upgrade your armours, a feature that has stuck with us up to Elden Ring (which sucks for Fashion Souls lovers who wanna wear gender armour but also have protection too <//3).

DS3 feels like a love letter to DS1. It has that same emotional oomph that DS1 had, & feels like it is part of the same universe. So there is a lot of insight that DS1 can gleem into DS3! I have already mentioned how much nicer DS3’s health management is with their hollowing/unkindling. You can see a lot of influence of Bloodborne in this game! Especially within Irythill, from its design to its enemies! This game iirc is the first to introduce FP! So no more hard limits on the number of times you can cast your pyromancies, spells, & miracles! The game feels a lot more polished! & idk what it is but I feel so much more inclined to explore this world! & this game rewards it so hard! I also love the insane number of mimics here too XD I think I have had more mimic chests than non-mimics! What I find annoying tho about this game is that again you can’t upgrade your armours- which sucks! Cos there are some hella cool armours I would love to wear more! But alas <//3 it is a reflection on the designers wanting to make combat in these games more proactive than defensive. I again am not a big fan of having levelling up tied to an NPC over just at the bonfire. & I am kinda sad too see power stancing (tho we do have paired weapons), ADP & bonfire ascetics leave us behind! Bonfire ascetics would have been a great addition to this game! Especially cos there are items locked behind the later NG cycles! & they absolutely could have used this as an opportunity to include the black phantoms of these later cycles too like DS2 did!

Lastly (cos I haven’t played Sekiro or Demon’s Souls yet) is Elden Ring. The Breath of the Wild of the Soulsborne games! I love this game! It is large! Immersive! Easy to get lost in! Fun! & just- it is an experience! I appreciate how this game lets you level up at the bonfires/graces again! It isn’t as immersion breaking this way & you can just keep on slogging through! The story is interesting! & the number of secrets you can find just by poking around is truely wonderful on so many levels! & I keep coming back to this game! The only other game other than DS1 that I play the higher cycles on! I think the only 2 things I don’t like about this game is again lack of armour levelling, & the lack of multiplayer that just happens to you. Player invasions are turned off unless you have summoned a player, which sorta sucks as someone who always enjoyed being invaded at random & having a goof ball fight (I know you can use the Dried Finger iirc to allow invasions without a summon but it just doesn’t feel the same, ya know?). There isn’t anything like the Grave Lord servants to randomly make your world harder & you gotta invade them to stop the black phantoms. There isn’t anything like the Blue Sentinels or grey spirits to be summoned without a summon sign to help other players. & all of this can make Elden Ring feel a bit lonely. Which is inevitable with open world games, & this sorta stuff would’ve helped a tonne with easing that.

But nope- i was wrong =_= i’ll be honest i havent seen any backcry against the referendum until these past few weeks, except when the entire thing was even announced. Back then the main talking point for voting no was because it would give unequal racially biased representation… which is… straight up stupid? Firstly, the Voice would not be able to make & vote on laws, but rather only be able to suggest them. Saying it is racially biased is also just- stupid? Aboriginals & Torres Strait Islanders currently have nigh on none government representation. This is mainly due to the facts of non-Indigenous Australians vastly outnumbering Indigenous Australians & so their voices are heard above Indigenous ones, racism & social factors that generally stop Indigenous people from running in larger areas like along urban East Coast, & also a matter of culture & Reconciliation? Which is like- IMPORTANT!! Indigenous cultures all around the country, from Noongar Boodjar to Badu & Moa Islands, see the importance of having their Voices heard in the management of their Country, & those who live on it. Just as it was before Invasion.

Over the past few weeks things have just gotten mad tho. It started off with seeing a spray painted “Vote No” on a chair at a bus stop, which is… why? Why would you do that? It was weird. What really opened my eyes but to how fervently against this change people were was a demonstration i walked passed the other day while in the city. There were Eureka Stockade flags (which is the closest thing we sorta have to a Confederate flag), & upside down Red Australian flags being flown at each corner of the square of the plaza. It wss PACKED with people holding signs saying vote no. & the speaker- a European Australian who was yelling about how we shouldnt make this change & how itll divide the nation & how if we dont understand it that we gotta vote no- & the way she was speaking was like as tho she was an Elder telling histories of colonialism at an Invasion Day rally. The power & almost fear in her voice- & the amount of people there & cheering her on, it was honestly horrifying. Flying those flags, using ignorance to justify voting no as one would assume an excuse that wouldnt label them as racists, & all with such a passion i have only seen within protests & demonstrations IN FAVOUR of Indigenous rights. It was just- BOGGLING

Pruning Shears: Our two lovers first cross paths. One seemingly so tied up in the social expectations of life, and the other having putting that all behind themselves. The song breaks the former out of their shell, trying to that they are adequate, and have no need to live up to the expectations of love and dating that society deems (being well dressed, fancy, well off, etc.). Afterall, love is a game with lots of arbitrary rules, rules that can be broken, and made into something of our own. The former is seemingly stuck in a mind tho, planning so many steps ahead, but the latter pulls them back "Come back / come back / we don't have time to fuck a(round)". We see the former is caught up in the slipping away past, trying to catch something. The latter is not as much so, always wanting to live their way, and if this person can't do that, then they can fuck off.

Farewell Wanderlust: I like to imagine that this is a sort of reception or afterparty for where the two lovers have met. Here, we glimpse the insecurities of our lovers, but it also is a sign that this situation is gonna be something that haunts them for a long long time to come. It is the wanderlust of these two that caused their paths to cross, and by the end of this they are gonna HURT- because some people, no matter how deeply loving they are in the mo, sometimes it just doesn't last- be it cos of situation or subtle incompatabilities or what not. But- we don't know that this is the case til we throw ourselves out there. We aren't broken cos of our pasts tho, we are more than that, and we've so much to offer! For the former lover, this is something that is salient, and ever stays in their mind, but for the latter lover it is something they try to move on from and try to forget...

Secret Worlds: and so, after the reception, they part the bar together. Hopt up on adrenaline, alcohol, and the moment, they leave aside all inhabitions and love hard and love fast. They dedicate their entire passion, their fire, their hearts to this moment- because the former doesn't want another person to slip by, and the latter wants to play this game, live in the moment, and forget the past that led them here. They saw each other as the dirty rascal to the other's king, always having their backs in this moment, and ignored the advice of those warning them that this is gonna hurt them hard- for the lovers called the onlookers liars, or just did not pay attention... But oh gods should have they listened to them...

The Calling: following this fling, the lovers have gone their seperate ways. The latter lover is now left realing- broken and exhausted after all of this. No longer dauntless, their fire burnt out, and their liver heavy. They look at themselves, no longer recognising themself. This- was different. A love so deep and vapid has changed them, awoken something within them, and now... what is this? Hope? Love? But also exhaustion- burn out- mayhaps even dependence... and in this swirl of emotions, the rain pours down. They recognise that this is not a good situation, but they feel alive. They are "between that just-one-more / and drank-too-much-again", love is intoxicating them, and are on the brink of breaking themselves- mayhaps like what may have made them wanted to play love to forget their past in the first place? "And when I think I'm fine, you'll visit / and then you happen to me, you happen to me all over again"- this... this is scary, they wanna be back to their old selves. But alas people can change us-

Blossoms: and so now we have the former lover's point of view. The latter opened up to them, saying that this is unsustainable and that they need space- and the former doesn't quite take this well. Taking on the philosophy of the old latter lover, the former tries to move on, trying to find a new love to help them forget this. But, it is clear that they can't- this split has hurt- and it is clear this coping that the former is about to go along will only lead to more pain- they didn't take the time to heal, they didn't have the care to see the rot in the rungs of the ladder, burning up in all of this, and having a miserable time all round, just trying trying trying to be reborn and move on from the relationship... but that just aint how this person works, they need time to heal. They- feel as tho they don't have this time but, so they pick up their phone, all broken, and call the latter lover... and it is clear that this is not gonna end well again... [by the by! I FEKKING LOVE THE USAGE AND REFERENCE TO A SAINT OF NEVER GETTING IT RIGHT, I JUST AAAAAAAA]

Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious: After that call, they are meeting up again, to try to get this right again. It is clear both are really nervous about this. The former has clearly been running through tonight over and over again in their head, and the latter has become all closed off, deflecting others with jokes and kindness. But tonight, this party, it is too much for both of them. Neither of them are ready here, this isn't right. But they put on a vainer of being alright, making the other think they are doing a okay rn but tbh they aren't. As the night goes on, this vainer weakens, and they start talking on a more close level, and the theme of being yourself and flipping off expectations is back again, and on the surface level, these two peeps seem amazing for each other. And after this moment, in a moment of rapture and relief, they give this thing a shot again...

Wild Blue Yonder: and now, we flash forward again, and the fatigue is showing. It is clear that these two would give a lot to keep this going, but this is simply not sustainable. At the end of the day, they have a lot to work through on themselves, and putting the resources in this relationship is gonna destroy them... but why do they keep together? Because, since the first time in a long long time these two have found some sort of comfort in another person, and the idea of breaking of completely is scary, because being without the other is scary. And so, they see this as the best as they try to grasp onto whatever is left within them.

That Unwanted Animal: And now, we have reached the end result of this drain, where they are just together for the sake of being together, and none of them are finding this fulfilling one bit. They are going through the motions now, doing things out of habit. When the latter becomes privy to this, they start realising how unfulfilling this all is, how dead this all is. This is no longer love, it is something else... it is at the very least destroying the latter lover, and the former just now using them for some sort of empty satisfaction, faining as a lover. There is no love left here, it is all burnt up. And the plates are starting to smash, and the latter is crashing and burning...

Battle Cries: and now, here we are at the end of the story. An emotional dawn, and a breathe of fresh morning air. They have come so far on a fiction and an ideal but it is no longer tenable, and it has left them with emotional rubble and wrinkles, and it is time for them to truely split, and become privvy to all of the flaws in a love they thought they both wanted and needed. The former is trying to keep the latter, but these plates keep smashing sliding off of the shelf, there is no reason to stay- but that doesn't mean that this hasn't mattered, and that also means that this isn't all for naught. They have changed, they are forever linked, whether is be in life or in memory... sure they can keep facing their problems head on but alas... for this isn't just a break up, it is a season finale. This relationship is the dollops of paint on a new work of art. And it is only by moving on, that this art can become more developed, and the next season of our life can begin

Like pria & wanita for laki-laki & perempuan (male & female), & jika (meaning if, or provided that, & is used over kalau when talking about a hypothetical situation from what ive seen). You learn fun interjections like semangat (enthusiasm, spirit: used as a term of encouragement) or astaga (oh my god!). & you learn sweet phrases like “Hati-hati di jalan” (Travel safely!) & “Selalu jaga kesehatanmu” (Always look after your health - this one was said to me after I said how much I work wkwkwkwk). & oh! You learn some interesting constructions! Like for example, to say something looks like something else you use a literal translation of “It’s appearance is like…” - “Kelihatannya seperti…” which is just so interesting!! Then I can extend this to other comparisons! Like using my knowledge of clitics I can say “You look like…” - “Kelihatanmu seperti…”, or I can say “It smells like…” - “Kebuaannya seperti…” or “It tastes like…” - “Rasanya seperti”.

& this is all without saying how language exchange is also to some extent a cultural exchange! In the past week of my exchanges, I have learnt about Indonesian weddings (which sounds super fun & I want to be at one some day!!) or about the five salat! Subuh, Lohor, Asar, Mahgrib, dan Isya (which also explains why a lot of my partners are up so early in the morning XD I couldn’t do Subuh for the life of me I’d be way too sleepy!)