Akira Kurusu

Hey, there! I'm from India.

I've applied to a weekend Japanese course and plan on taking the N-4 test. I do wanna get better at the language to potentially secure a job in Japan. I'd like to interact more with people in the language down the road and also would like some advice in planning :).

Any help would be great!

On 9/20/2017 at 11:30 PM, SeekingCassandra said:

 

 

I came at the series backwards - I played Inquistion first, so as it was my first love, I love it well. I think the story telling with Inquisition is so huge and nuanced compared to Orgins and 2. It could be argued that very fact makes Orgins better, story wise, because it is a more complete focused story rather then a million little details twisted together into a complicated braid like Inquisition was. I think the reason that many found Inquisition 'less' then Orgins was that you had to go find the story where as Orgins was much more linear and obvious - devil really is in the details in Inquisition.

2 was . .  I mean I love it, don't get me wrong, but it was kinda crap, wasn't is? It really was just a transitory story line spliced in to set the scene/bridge the gap between Orgins and Inquisition. I mean, I really do love it - named my dog after one of the characters and all, but it just felt super lackluster sandwhiched between the 2 tour de forces of O and I. I mean, I love Varric's storytelling, but the whole recounting of events gimmick didn't quite do it for me. Felt a little forced, I guess?

 

Yeah, I am pretty anxious for whatever they put out next. I folllow Patrick Weeks specifically on Twitter precisely for any commentary on the new DA project. He's also just funny, but mainly there for any commentary lol.

 

PS. Yes! That Solas revelation was such a curve ball! But then when you go back and play through again with the knowledge it's like . ..  so obvious! They left clues and Easter eggs about it all over the place!

Totes agree with this. But, then. Mark Laidlaw just left Bioware! @_@... and now I don't know what's really happening.

Hey, everyone! 

Sorry I've been off for a while. Was so engrossed with my new youtube channel I lost focus with everything else. If you're interested, you might like to check out some of my videos. I have combined my passion for human psychology with anime to produce something you might want to apply to your real life or stories. Here's an example:
Breakdown of Light's Incredible Emotional Intelligence | Part - 1

Looking to be more active here. Cheers!

Hey, everyone! 

Sorry I've been off for a while. Was so engrossed with my new youtube channel I lost focus with everything else. If you're interested, you might like to check out some of my videos. I have combined my passion for human psychology with anime to produce something you might want to apply to your real life or stories. Here's an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZLm63VIZTY&t=2s

Looking to be more active here. Cheers!

Hey everyone. Since 2009 I had always wanted to make a youtube channel. I was inspired by the Red vs Blue and abridged series and loved watching Yahtzee, Gigguk's videos. But, then college happened. Since being on this guild, I started getting a lot of confidence into pursuing what I want. I finally ended up making a decision to upload 2 youtube vids every week. So, this is a big WOOT for me. I created my first video on the anime Neo Yokio and I enjoyed it so thoroughly. Now, it might be bad and little rusty... but I'm so pumped to keep making more. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XePdHi7BE8&t=1s

Here it is. If you'd like. Please provide feedback. All your valuable criticisms will go a long way in helping me become better :).

P.S - I'm already working on the next one.

2 minutes ago, SeekingCassandra said:

I don't think I've been a card carrying member of anything, really. Quite exciting, methinks. . . 

 

Anyhoo, Hi! 

 

Current WIP is a Historical Drama set someh where around 1720s in the West Indies. Yes there are pirates. No there isn't Johnny Depp. First, insanely, stupidly rough draft is finished, and working on first coat of polish as I try and transcribe my chicken-scratch handwritten draft into text format. Yes, I am still working on this monster. 

 

Also have had some moderate success with a fanfic or two. Mainly my HP fanfic novel length WIP . . . someday it will be finished, and hopefully it won't take another decade. It seems  some Dragon Age fanfiction is in my destined future as well.

 

I am a dialogue heavy, super heavy on characterization, super light on actual description or plot kind of writer. Hoping to mentally beat myself out of that by reading some of the kings of detailed description and am about 62% through Leo Tolstoy's "The Cossacks"

 

 

Top 5 fave books would have to be: Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Good Omens by Gaimain/Prachett, Tie between Harry Potter Series and Artemis Fowl series, and fifth place to some crummy romance novels . . ..  I wish I could give a rank to some heavy, bleak Russian Lit or something, but as much as I love the stories, gosh darn it are they a tough read. 

 

 

Yo, what'd you think of the Dragon Age series post Origins? Origins is one of my favourite games of all time. (love love LOVE Alistair), but I felt it went downhill from there. Inquisition didn't really do it for me. I mean, it was a solid game from all fronts but just so... unmemorable, except for revelation of Solas... which has me very intrigued for the sequel.

I'm one of the few people who is really excited about DA:4. Patrick Weekes is easily one of the best writers at BioWare and the fact that he's heading the writing team for the next game gives me high hopes. Also, Alexis Kennedy is involved, he's f***ing awesome!

32 minutes ago, Plazmotic said:

Hi everyone! I’m on hiatus from writing until mid October but I still want to be a part of the conversation. Been writing fanfic for ages now but I’ve been attempting to write a novel for the last 7 years or so. Didn’t quite get my act together until last year though. My preferred method of writing is on my laptop, away from home either at the library or a local coffee shop I enjoy. It’s hard to pick my favourite story but right now it’s a tie between Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler.

Interesting picks. I must say I've never heard of either of the two. What are they about?

Heyo, 

Currently, I'm taking theater classes and my instructor is one of a kind. He made me understand a lot about the emotions of humanity rather than techniques for drama. Which is why I'm revisiting some of the most iconic characters and stories and finding out where my own voice lies. Recently, I've been drawn to the likes of Tyler Durden (Fight Club), Light Yagami (Death Note) and Johan Liebert (Monster). What makes me attracted to these people is the amount of conviction they have in what they speak. Despite their questionable character, their actions line up with their beliefs (not so much for Light ... which is again what makes him so interesting)... So I'm interested in such grey characters and what makes them tick.

I really like writing things that contain a lot of humour but have dark overtones. I'm more keen on the emotions and the behaviour of character rather than the story. Eitherways, I'm still a novice at the end of the day, and look to push my interests into my strengths and hope to write characters as great as those mentioned above someday.

53 minutes ago, zeroh13 said:

I wish!

 

Mostly, life just happened. The beginning of the new school semester is stupidly busy.

 

Now that things have settled a little, is anyone interested in continuing the Bard's Guild?

Aye, how's school? Yea, Totes understand how stressful it might be :P. Let's just pace ourselves in a way so that we can spend atleast 30 mins everyday, yeah?

Yo, what happened to the guild? Did y'all run off on some secret mission without telling me?

Oh crapp! I haven't gotten to reply to previous prompt. Thanks for all your inputs people, it was super helpful. Here's my prompt #3

 

Quote

Oh.  The night has gone for away too long. Will it never end? I must say, my old-and-weary eyes have never seen such a sight. I had my own encounters with spirits back when I was a young girl, but they were few and far in between. They never really roamed this land as freely as they are now.

Oh, well. I suppose as long as I keep the green fire out and do my incantations, I should be fairly safe inside. I do wish to know how the other folks are doing, but I have not the strength to move myself so far down the hill. Besides, as far as my encounters with spirits have gone, they aren’t very hostile. Misunderstood, yes… but definitely not hostile.

 

Who.. or what could be the reason behind this happening? I did hear tunes from a flute playing. Could it be the Mad Bard? Nonsense, we haven’t seen a bard in ages. The last one, in fact, was a student back at Magi Academia while I was teaching and she was a lovely little darling. Ah… all this thinking has tired me out. I best get to bed.

8 hours ago, Wobbegong said:

Whew, I was just barely able to say all of that in thirty seconds. 

 

Your video game sounds a lot like the one in Ender's Game, although to an extent that game was standardized for all participants with the intent of seeing how each responded to different challenges. But your pitch doesn't tell me much about the plot of your story: is it about the game itself or some of the players?

Yep, I realised the problem is that I'm a really fast speaker. I need to tone that down. Anyways I'd rather give this a few more shots, pitch in other ideas. 

"Hey, so my idea is basically about this video-game that runs like the matrix system and analyses a person's psyche to procedurally generate challenges for him to overcome. I'm taking cues from all self-help books to visualize life like a videogame and how all your problems are caused by stories you tell yourself. With success of Inception and anticipation of Ready Player One, plus the whole ethical debate on videogames, I think you'd be interested in this one. Would you like me to tell you more about it over breakfast?"

Prompt #1: An exercise in POV

Persona 5

1:02:39 - 1:10:39

Heavy inception shit goes down as two peeps are trapped in Metaverse Castle. Bitch boy comes and fucks Ryuji up. MC get pissed and decides its time to summon his Pokemon.. I mean Persona.

POV: This is from Ryuji's perspective as he watches MC unleash his persona in all his badassery.

Quote

I could feel my back lying on the ground. My fingers ran through small cracks in otherwise solid stone floor, which was pretty wet. It was faint, but I could definitely hear the sound of water current flowing nearby.

 

 I slowly opened my eyes.  It was too dark to see anything. I had to blink multiple times to make sure.

 

Yep, I’m not blind. It’s definitely dark in here.

 

I could, however, trace a small outline of the ceiling. There were thick blocks of stones everywhere. Using the strength of both my hands, I managed to lift my upper body and sit on my butt.

 

Effin’ hell! My head hurts!

 

My head was spinning all around. I had to comfort it with my right hand to hold steady why my left hand tried to find some sort of support.  I touched upon another block of stone, running my fingers upwards, I felt a small crevice. I clenched tightly onto the small opening while slowly lifting myself on my feet. As my left hand slowly ran further up the wall, I hit upon a metallic object, It made a clanking noise. Turning my gaze towards the object, I saw a huge cuff hung upon a large chain which ran all the way up to a long horizontal bar. The cuff was large enough to fit my neck. I examined the metal bar for a bit. Many such neck cuffs hung down from it.

 

What the eff?!

 

I then shifted my attention to what was in front of me. It was a large metallic cell door. The kind you’d see in those medieval RPGs. This was a prison cell!

 

Ouch!

 

While massaging my head, I felt a large bruise behind my right year. That’s when I remembered what happened. Four-eyes and I were attacked by Kamoshida’s men.
 

Hang on, where’s Four-eyes?!

 

It didn’t take long for me to find him as I turned around to find him sleeping on a wooden bed, he seemed pretty comfortable.  I knelt beside the bed to get a closer look. He seemed fine by all measures. Whoever put us here was pretty generous with him. I put my hand over his messy hair and shook him to see if he’d wake up. He twitched a bit and made a grumbling noise.

 

“…Hey” I whispered.

 

“Hey! Wake up” I repeated.

 

This time, his eyes opened wide through his glasses. He slowly got up into a seated position, his elbows rested on his thighs as he held his forehead with his right hand.

“You alright?” I asked

 

“Yep, you?” Four-Eyes removed his hand from his forehead, his voice was unnervingly calm.

 

“Yeah, more or less.”  I turned to face the metallic cell door. “Looks like this ain’t no dream. Ugh! What’s going on!?”

 

What the eff just happened!?  How did our school turn into some sort of a castle? And what the eff was up with Kamoshida?

 

I was fed up with all this bullshit. I walked towards the door and gave it a good hard kick.

“Hey, let us outta here!” I screamed. “I know there’s someone out there!”

Nobody came. I could feel my head ready to explode.  I walked over to Four-Eyes. He was clearly just as confused as I, but he remained calm. I could not understand him and watching his cool face only pissed me off further.

 

“Damnit! Where are we!?” I asked him. He just gave a blank look, clearly having no idea himself. “Is this some sort of a TV set…?”

 

Just then, we heard a loud screaming noise echo from outside. It was a terrifying scream of someone undergoing some sort of torture that was only slightly less painful than my dentist’s appointment. At this point, Four-Eyes got up. We both rushed towards the door to get a peak at the source.
 

“Th-The hell was that just now…?” I asked. Four-Eyes either did not listen or totally ignored my question as he kept staring in the direction of the screaming. There was then another loud scream, but this one seemed different. Were there more people around? I didn’t have much time to think about it as another voice cut through the screaming. This voice had a commanding presence to it. If the people were being tortured somewhere, he was definitely the one doing the punishing. The voice also sounded eerily familiar.

Kamoshida?

 

“Whoa… whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…” I couldn’t believe what was happening. “You’re shittin’ me, right?”

 

Again, Four-Eyes just blankly stared in the direction.

 

What the heck is the deal with this guy!?

 

“C’mon man! This is real bad…!” I turned around. “Isn’t there some way outta here!?”

I looked over to Four-Eyes and found him staring at me. This was the first time he seemed to be actively listening. I was almost frightened for a bit.

 

“C’mon, we gotta do something!” I told him.

Four-Eyes, still calm as ever, pulled a finger in front of his lips, signaling me to be quiet. I was about to ask him what his intentions were before I heard strange noises of footsteps. I say strange because they made these strange clanking noise just like the metallic cuffs hanging around.

 

It soon became clear to us as the source of footsteps appeared, a group of guards all suited up in medieval armor, complete with a shield and spear. Their faces were covered by creepy blue masks that showed no expression.  

 

“Be grateful that your punishment has been decided upon!” One of the guards bellowed as he walked towards us. “Your charge is ‘unlawful entry’. Thus, you will be sentenced to death.”

 

“Say what!?” I blurted out loud. Death!? Are these guys for real?

 

“No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle.” Spoke a familiar voice, the same voice that seemed to be talking to the screaming people.

 

“Huh? Wait…” I know that voice. “Is that you, Kamoshida?”

 

Sure enough, Kamoshida walked towards us. He wore red bathrobe and slip-ons with seemingly nothing under them. The bathrobe was littered with heart shaped patterns. Kamoshida also had a golden crown above his head, like he was some sort of a king. Yet, what was most different about him were his eyes. Instead of the usual raven black, they were menacingly golden.

 

“Who?” came the reply from Four-Eyes who finally spoke up; as usual he was totally useless.

 

“I thought it’d be some petty thief, but to think it’d be you, Sakamoto…” Kamoshida said as he looked at me. “Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven’t learnt your lesson at all, huh?”

 

Kamoshida’s face grew nastier as he grinned widely. He then turned his attention towards Four-Eyes. “And you brought a friend this time… because you can’t do anything for yourself.”

I clenched the bars of the metal doors tightly. “This ain’t funny, you asshole!”

 

“Is that how you speak to a king?” Kamoshida looked back at me, his golden eyes piercing straight through mine. “It seems you don’t understand the position you’re in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me-the king.”

 

HIS castle? Kamoshida, a king? What the eff!?

 

“The punishment for that is death.” Kamoshida rubbed his chin as he said this. I could see an opening through his robe. He really had nothing underneath save for his tighty-whities.

 

Gross!

 

 Kamoshida raised his arm to his side and above his shoulders, as if giving a command. “It’s time for an execution! Take him out!”

 

“S-Stop it…!” I muttered weakly. Suddenly, all my anger and energy seemed to have slipped away.

 

He ain’t messin’ around. He’s really gonna effin’ kill me!

 

One of the guards reached into his pocket to pool out a long keychain. He fiddled with it for a while before finding the right key and opened the door. They all slowly made their way inside. I took a few steps back, until I could move no further, my body refused to. I was frozen stiff! I was breathing five times faster and could feel my heart ready to burst through my chest.

“…Goddamnit…” I said under my breath, taking in some of my own sweat into my mouth as I did. I was sweating all over.

 

This is effin’ it. What do I do?

The guards moved past Four-Eyes, who didn’t seem capable of moving either, and closer towards me. I had to do something or else this was it. But, what?

What do I do?

 

Out of nowhere, I felt a tinge of shock run through my body.

 

I ain’t dying in here!

 

And just as suddenly, I regained control of my body. A huge rush of adrenaline coursed through me. Without thinking twice, I rushed forward.

 

“Hragh!” I cried out loud as I maneuvered the closest guard, knocking him down. “I ain’t down for this shit!”

 

The guards’ formation was such that there was nobody behind the one I just knocked down. The door was completely open. All we had to do was make a run for it. I looked over towards Four-Eyes. He still wasn’t moving. “C’mon, we’re outta here.”

 

But, before I could make a move, another guard immediately cut my way. He was a head taller than me and twice as wide. There was no way I could beat this guy. The guard drew clenched his left fist and swiftly struck me right in my stomach before I could even think of what to do.

 

“Nnngh… Oww…” I sank down to my knees. All the wind was taken out of me and I struggled to catch my breath. I stared pathetically at the crevice in the stone floor, which was now blurring out. The guard moved closer towards me to deal the final blow. By this time, I had all but given up.

 

This was it. There’s no more hope.

 

However, the guard stopped in his tracks, long enough for me to get my breath and vision back in order. I looked up. It was Four-Eyes! He was holding the guard back by his arms.

 

What’s he doing? He’s gonna die!

 

“Just go!” I screamed at him. “Get out of here…! These guys are serious!”

 

“Oh? Running away, are we?” Kamoshida spoke in a condescending tone as he looked towards Four-Eyes. “What a heartless friend you are.”

 

“He ain’t a friend...” I said. It was true. We had just met. There was no reason for him to stick around. Besides, somebody had to get out here alive to tell the truth. “C’mon! Hurry up and go!”

 

“What’s the matter? Too scared to run away?” Kamoshida seemed to be challenging Four-Eyes, only to be disappointed by his lack of reaction. “Hmph! Pathetic scum isn’t worth my time.”

 

Kamoshida walked towards me. He grabbed my shirt and lifted me up.

“I’ll focus on this one’s execution.” He said with a wide grin. Two guards came up behind me and each held my hand. Kamoshida then began throwing punches straight at my stomach. I let out a huge groan. He might not have been as huge as the other guard, but his furious punches were way more brutal.

 

“Lowly scum!”  Kamoshida said, he was now beaming with excitement. Clearly, he derived some sick enjoyment out of this.  He made his way up to my face, delivering a powerful right hook. I could taste blood in my mouth.

“Useless pest!” He cursed again, this time he lifted his right hand up in the air and hit me on the back of my head, right where my bruise was previously. I fell down to the ground. At this point, I could barely lift a finger.

 

“…Hmph! Where’d your  energy from earlier go?” Kamoshida simply spat at my face. The guard lifted me again by my collar and just threw me aside like I was some sort of a ragdoll. I hit the floor on my right side and could hear a crack in my arm. It was painful but I could barely let out a sigh. I plopped over on my stomach helplessly.

 

“A peasant like you isn’t worth beating. I’ll have you killed right now.” Kamoshida declared.

 

“Have you lost your mind!?” I heard Four-Eyes voice. He seemed to be rather slow on the uptake.

 

That idiot!

 

“What?” Kamoshida seemed surprise. I heard his footsteps turn around and move towards where Four-Eyes was.  “Don’t you dare tell me who I am.”

 

“That look in your eyes irritates me.” Kamoshida said. There was a sound of foot hitting flesh followed by the sound of flesh slamming against a wall and a groan by Four-Eyes.

“Hold him there…” Kamoshida said, pretty sure it was to the guards. “After the peasant, it’s his turn to die.”

 

Four-Eyes crazy antics had given me enough time. I tried to lift myself up, but it was useless. I lifted my head. Kamoshida was walking towards him. Behind him, Four-Eyes got back on his feet.

Stay down, idiot!

 

He rushed forwards towards Kamoshida but was held back by two guards, who each took him by a hand and pinned him back to the wall.

 

“No… no, I don’t wanna die!” I cried. Kamoshida simply laughed.

 

I looked over to Four-Eyes. He was struggling against the guards. It was useless, he was no match for them. Still, he kept struggling.

 

But then, he just stopped. His arms fell down from his shoulders like deadweight, his head sunk into his chest. For a moment, he just lay there, lifeless. The guards too seemed confused by this behavior and looked at each other for explanation.

 

Is he dead?

 

Then his head popped back up. His eyes, now wide open, were darting all across the room.

 

What the heck is wrong with him?

 

Apparently, I didn’t have time to worry about him as one of the other guards lifted me up by my collar and pinned me to the other side of the wall. Much as I tried, I couldn’t shake him off. With his other hand, he lifted a sword and pointed it right between my eyes.
 

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

 

A huge scream cut through the cell. I glanced from the corner of my eye. Everybody turned to look at Four-Eyes. He was now twitching and turning like a madman, sweating all over. The guards were clearly uncomfortable. Kamoshida seemed really pissed. He turned his gaze towards me and lifted his finger.

 

“Execute him!” He commanded.

 

“That’s enough!” Four-Eyes shouted.

 

What the eff?

 

“What was that?” Kamoshida said in a surprised tone.

 

I felt the grip around my neck loosen as the guard let go of me. I fell down on my knees, yet again, gasping for breath, yet again.

“You desire to be killed that much…?” Kamoshida turned and walked towards Four-Eyes. “Fine!”

 

He signaled the guard near Four-Eyes  who hit him with his shield, knocking his glasses off. The two guards crossed their spears around his neck, holding him up against the wall. The one that had his sword pointed at my face walked towards him. Kamoshida lifted his right arm as a command for the guard to kill. As per the command, the guard raised his sword.

 

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came through and knocked the guard off their feet.

What the heck!? What just happened? Did Four-Eyes do that?

 

Four-Eyes was facing the ground. Something was off about his face. The guards who had pinned him slowly let down their spears. They body language seemed… almost frightened. Four-Eyes slowly lifted his head. He was now wearing a white bird-shaped mask with black outline around the eyes.

 

Where the heck did that come from?

 

Apparently, he was just was surprised at the appearance of the mask. He put his hands around the mask and tried to pull it away. It didn’t seem to come off so easily. He kept struggling until I heard the sound of flesh tearing. Blood slowly trickled down from his face.

 

The heck!?

 

Four-Eyes finally managed to rip off the mask, letting out a huge spurt of blood fall all over the room.

 

Was that shit attached to his face?

 

I could only look in horror as he turned his gaze to Kamoshida, his face half covered in blood. But, there was something more to him this time.

 

Wait a minute! Those eyes!

 

I was right. He now had the same golden eyes as Kamoshida. Four-Eyes didn’t seem the least bit bothered by what had happened to him. Instead, he seemed rather comfortable. His lips sslowly turned to reveal a sinister grin. With the blood dripping all over and those golden eyes, he looked way more terrifying than Kamoshida. Nobody thought this to be truer than Kamoshida himself. He was frozen in his place. He had his back to me so I couldn’t make out his expression but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t grinning anymore.

 

Then, out of nowhere, blue-flames burst forth from Four-Eyes. It reached out towards his arms and legs. The flames slowly covered his face. For a brief moment, he had a devilish aura around him. It was totally out of this world. Then, to confirm my fears, I heard the most sinister laugh ever. It echoed throughout the room. No doubt about it, this WAS the devil himself.

 

Kamoshida and the guards slowly moved away from Four-Eyes, who was now totally engulfed in the flames, which were flying everywhere. I had to cover my eyes from the sheer brightness. Through my fingers I looked deep into the blue flames. Something emerged from there. There was a bit of red in the flames. I tried to look harder. 

 

It seemed to form a rough impression of a face. Two narrow eyes and a mouth that was beaming widely. The face then flew upwards. As it did, two long horns grew around it. Slowly, the flames started to give away and reveal the shape of this monstrosity. This thing had long slender limbs which were covered by a red trenchcoat. He wore a top-hat and a cravat which would all be totally cool if it wasn’t for his face which was simply a combination of eyes and grinning mouth made purely out of fire.

 

But where is Four-Eyes!?

 

And then I saw him, below the creature. Four-Eyes slowly stood up with a wide grin. His whole attire had changed. Gone was the Shujin Academy uniform, he now wore a slick black trench-coat with gray collared shirt and black trousers. He also had brown heeled boots and red gloves. If I had to take a moment, I’d say it was the coolest thing I ever saw. But, there was that whole crazy monster behind him.

 

Just a moment ago, He was no more than a mere Harry Potter knockoff. Who the heck is this guy?

 

I looked closer that the beast behind Four-Eyes was all wrapped up in chains which originated from Four-Eyes’ hands. Somehow, he seemed least concerned by all of this. He slowly lifted his arms up in the air and the beast did the same.

 

Are they connected to each other?

 

I then figured out that what I thought were the coattails of the beasts’ trenchcoat were actually wings, which he spread wide open and caused a huge gust of wind. It was so powerful that all the guards, including Kamoshida, flew up on the other side of the cell and hit the wall. Somehow, I was unaffected. Kamoshida quickly got up and, without looking at Four-Eyes, immediately dashed out of the cell.

 

And me? Well, I could only stare at what was happening.

“Wh-What the…”

 

Phew! That was 3.3k words. I can't believe I ended up being that productive in a single day. Thanks for the prompt! Feel free to tear this sucker down!

On 8/12/2017 at 0:07 AM, Coco P Loco said:

I'm from a town called Nuneaton, which is in Warwickshire, right in the middle of England. It rains for most of the year and is cold, which I don't do well with. I've adjusted pretty well to the Mumbai climate over the last few years, but the heat and humidity in May and October are killer. I do best right now during the monsoon, and in 'winter' from December to February. 

I hear that the Hyderabadi Biryani is to die for! But will play havoc with a healthy eating plan... To be saved for special occasions only!

 

As for Indian cooking, I can various basic dishes. I learnt a lot from YouTube, a few cookbooks, my sister-in-law, and a Punjabi neighbour. I find I can make healthier versions of many dishes without impacting the taste too much. 

 

I've never been to either Hyderabad or Bangalore. Apart from Biryani, what's the rest of the food like there? 

Nice. What made you move to India? Was it the marriage? Hyderabadi food is usually on the spicier side. Lots of Islam influence since this was a Nawabi area. Best is during Ramazan when you have Haleem and all other food on the street :D. 

 

On 8/12/2017 at 1:37 AM, Plazmotic said:

I know it’s not the same but my parents are from Bangalore; I grew up in Canada. Up until I was an adult we used to go back every other year though, so LET ME TELL YOU food there is the bomb dot com.

Ohh, are your parents Indians? Or did they just live in India? That sucks that you don't visit Bangalore anymore. I'm mostly gonna go back there in 2 months. Could have bumped into each other :P. Yep the food is amazing. I can't imagine the life of a vegan in India doe.

1 hour ago, Coco P Loco said:

I'm from England, but moved here 10 years ago. I get around the rice and bread by cooking most of my own food, and eating lots of dal and salads too, which are filling.

Where are you from originally?

Wow, what part of England? The adjustment to climate must have been rough. I'm starting to learn a bit of cooking too. Have to, if I need to get anywhere with my diet xD. 

I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. And as a Hyderabadi, it's really hard to resist Biryani.

Akira Kurusu is the protagonist of Persona 5. A game that has had a major effect on me. It has reshaped my beliefs on time management, people management, etc. What shines out is that he has been wronged by the world and has immense social pressure onto him but has chosen to rebel. His archetype is The Trickster. The trickster seems to be a comedy of opposites. For every good aspect of his persona there is an equal and opposite aspect. In religious stories his role is very diverse. He is the breaker of taboos. He provides comic relief to a religious myth. And he will pull off elaborate schemes to teach a moral lesson or expose the folly of men.

He  is everything I wish to embody

Highly recommended to watch this video

14 minutes ago, Coco P Loco said:

In India, but I'm over in Mumbai...

Ah. I had gone to Mumbai for an interview last month. Has a lovely air to it. Were you born there? I've been struggling to get my diet in order since Indian food is so heavy on rice and bread. xD

I like what Sorkin said about writing and rewriting. He drew an analogy with a sculptor who sculpted this really famous man. When somebody asked him how he did it, he said "I looked at a piece of marble and removed everything that was not the man."

Sorkin said that the first draft is your piece of marble. Then your remove everything that is not a part of the conflict. He also said to print the first material and have it by your side and start your rewrite completely fresh on a new page. This gives you a hedge against laziness and you'll find new and better ways to write the same thing. (Though Idk if this would be feasible for books. Screenplays are usually 120 pages max)

Essentially, rewriting should be much easier since it's more problem solving. You need to stop thinking like an artist at that point and start thinking like an engineer.

7 minutes ago, zeroh13 said:

I always run into the problem of dialogue vs description. But in my case, it's because I was trained in writing scripts, where the general rule of thumb is that you focus on the dialogue, and if you describe something, it had better be fucking important. It's someone else's job to decide what color that curtain is, and what that character's dress looks like, and what exact facial expression that other character makes. It's a collaboration. But with a novel, the focus shifts to descriptions, thoughts, and feelings, and it's all on you (unless you are doing a collaboration) to paint the world and bring it to life.

 

I can dig out some books to recommend if any one is interested in screenwriting.

Same here. And what's worse is my inspirations for screenwriting happen to be Aaron Sorkin (took his masterclass), Edgar Wright and Joss Whedon. All of whom have heavy emphasis on dialogues.  

21 hours ago, VellaMal said:

 

 

Ooo, interesting idea, Akira! I'd love to see where the idea goes as it develops - I've seen a lot of the AI side of that sort of story, but nothing really on the video game concept. 

Thanks! These are things just bouncing off my head. But my dream since a kid has always been to write an epic fantasy series following this guy from his childhood to veteran adult age. Right now, I really just wanna write something fun and cheery that also features an underlying sadness. Teenage years are best for this and it's no surprise that my two favourite stories this year happen to be Persona 5 and Spider-man: Homecoming. What I love about these two and what I wish to do is just focus on a small part of a town and really flesh it out so that it feels like a real neighbourhood. You know, a place where everyone knows where to get their sandwiches. A place with it's own local sports club, etc. I want to do something really small scale and give an impression of a larger world full of adventures which I may or may not visit.

BTW! I read your blog. The idea of ferryman is really interesting. I'm very curious to see how this goes forward :). I read the first chapter and I do share the sentiment about Wilem being a total dickwad. But, I'm interested to see how his character progresses. I'm also curious as to why he is such an ass to his aunt and wants to do things by himself. Is there a backstory to this? 
 

Tanim started the water boiling, and got out the tea things 

^this line kinda made me go what? XD Interesting setup though, all things being said!

My problem with writing is I struggle to make relatable content for people in my country. I'm from India and I grew up having really niche interests. I got a computer early and gorged myself with videogames and RPGs (JRPGs, which is a niche even in gaming industry) while also watching lots of animes. Needless to say, I my tastes and interests were totally out of sync with my country. So when I try to write something that is "relatable", it just falls flat and I don't know what to do. I just want to write on themes that are universal.

This is most interesting. Thank you for making me a part of this guild. You may call me The Mad Bard. 

I used to write as a hobby. I won a writing competition at a national festival which I leveraged to pitch some sketches to this youtube channel. I got kicked out of that but one of the girls there was dating this dude from a game company who was looking for a writer. So I got referred and then worked on my first videogame, which flopped and I was laid off. I'm trying to put together my own game with few people I grew rapport with. While at the video game company, another writer told me he used to be active in a writers forum and interact with Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club). He passed me over a workshop document for writing that Chuck had given to him. I never got time to get around to it. I think I will now. If anyone here is interested, I'd be glad to send you the document as well.  (I know I'm breaking the first rule here with this)

I am always confused as to what I want to write. What genre? What aesthetic? Should it be a game, movie or book? Since I love anything and everything. I wish to write about anything and everything. Only yesterday did I scribble down the purpose of my writing. I made a page long description as to what kind of stories I wanted to tell. Then, I realised I could boil it down into one sentence.

"I'm going to show people the deepest darkest truth about themselves that they refuse to see."

I think, I can work around anything as long as it follows this purpose  I look forward to this. ^^

p.S - I have also written a brief description for a new idea for me book here. You can check it out if you wish

Yo! I'm currently in Hyderabad and will move to Bangalore in few months. Anyone here from around these areas?

Just now, SkyGirl said:

 

 

Welcome to the Rebellion, both of you!! Writers are very important to the success of our movement and I'm so glad you have arrived!  

 

@Akira Kurusu, are you a new writer? Or a writer who is new to the rebellion?

I've written for blogs and freelance sketches. I also worked on the narrative of a full-fledged game. But professionally all of this only accounts to one year. I have always been writing as a hobby. But, that's something sporadic and I wish to make it regular.

8 minutes ago, Bookish Badger said:

Hi there and welcome to the Rebellion!

 

I think you've got an interesting premise there. Here are the questions that I'd have as a reader:

1. If the game is tailored to the individual, why are some (many?) people being shattered by it? 
   • Are the victims playing it wrong? Did they set their security filters wide open or turn off internal security protocols to make it more "real?"
   • Is there a software glitch? - a bad DLC, for example, that only some players received? (and for extra complexity, by which only some were broken?)
   • Is there some basic incompatibility (Physical? Mental? Biochemical?) between the victims and the game?
   • Is the human psyche too complex to be reduced to computer algorithms?
   • Were the victims already broken in some way that the game made worse - or was the game trying to make them better and they quit playing too soon?
2. Why do some find so much benefit from the game? What are they doing differently, if anything?
   • Are they self-deluded, and actually as messed up as the obvious victims?
3. Are the victims being intentionally targeted?
   • By the software studio? (why? over-enthusiastic beta testing?)
   • By other gamers? Maybe by the very ones who reaped the most benefit, but at the victims' expense?
   • Hackers employed by the competition?

As for what I'd "hate" to see, I'd not want the antagonist to be a shadowy faceless evil mega-corporation that puts profits over human suffering. First, we've all seen that done to death from Alien onward (and well before then, I'm sure). Second, corporations - no matter how faceless and mega - are run by humans who would have to be able to live with themselves while doing evil, shadowy things. Such humans would be either fanatics or sociopaths, and neither play well enough in large numbers to keep such a big operation going.

 

In fact, my only complaint about Ready Player One was that the evil corporation representatives were so generically evil and callous. Why? What made them that way? Other than that, it was a terrific, thoroughly enjoyable book!

 

Almost as bad would be a conspiracy of god-complex scientists using the mega-corporation and their game to either take over the world or modify humans in some way to make them "better," which has started to go horribly awry.

 

The other thing you'll want to be careful of is anything that might seem derivative of Ready Player One, Snow Crash, and other novels that revolve around VR video games. 

 

Hope this helps in some small way. Good luck to you and happy writing!

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. Here are my answers

1. Plenty of good suggestions here. Some that I did not think of first time round.
   • There is essentially no wrong way of playing it. The difficulty settings are adjustable as in a normal game and it's up to the user to decide that.
   • Yes, like all games, there are genuine bugs in this. Some shutdown cases are genuine faults due to the game.
   • I think this routes back to difficulty settings. No physical incompatibility as such. In fact, their physical appearance pretty much is shaped by how they subconciously wish to be percieved. (An Indian in real life could be white, a boy could identify as girl, etc)
   • Yes, as advanced as the game is, it's still nowhere close to the human psyche. What I've thought of is that it takes note of the most important memories and guages other psychological factors like the player's self esteem, to which it assigns a level, and then runs the simulation to create its world. It is by no means as complex as The Matrix.
   • Sort of like Dark Souls. The game merely acts on the narrative that goes on in the player's mind. It provides challenges that the player feels he/she is struggling with. This could be harrowing experience for people but, at the end of the day, a game is designed to be beaten. P.S.Y.C.H.E is no exception. Some people just do not see it that way and give up. So yeah, if the players were broken in a way, the game would only make it worse. This self-fulfilling prophecy that works in real life works here too. It can be addressed as something developers are trying to fix.
2. This is where things get real interesting
   • People who benefit the game already have seen the game as a challenge that can be overcome. They see it as an inner reflection and feel like they are improving as a person while playing it. People who are at peace with themselves might find the game to be a soothing walk along a countryside where they explore wildlife. Some might find liberation in their sexuality, etc. Overcoming the challenges in a way helps them overcome their insecurities and it also improves their real life. A side effect of this could be people getting addicted to the game world, but in this case they haven't really overcome the challenge. A game is meant to be beaten.
3. I haven't really thought deeply about this one. Thanks for pointing it out
   • Nope. The studio has no malicious intentions.
   • Other gamers are good possibility. With sharing and co-op available, it's pretty easy to sabotage the game. People could take their real world grudges and exercise them here. Players are very vulnerable psychologically when playing the game.
   • Hackers are definitely going to be a thing. Can't have a game and not have hackers :). Though I wish to have a prominent role for them that is accurate to how they function in real life currently.

I share your sentiment and I have no intention of a malicious corporation. I had planned it to be a company that's really proud of the breakthrough technology they have created and are trying their best to defend it. They do have genuine concern over the mental shutdowns but they value their business as well and closing down the game would be a huge blow to them. So, they might try to shush people here and there. But, it's purely to keep the game up and running while they fix the bugs and not some evil agenda. Like how GTA 5 is a violent game but that does not make Rockstar Games an evil company.

Again, my aim here is to give a picture of how videogames are currently percieved by the media. There are extreme arguments on both sides of coin whether this is harmful or helpful to people. Whether it can be considered art, etc. This is basically to give a firm perspective on all of that.


Thank you again for your feedback. It made me think of a lot of things I would never have thought of. This community is something else.