Dog Talking Buttons Scary

... at me. "Sure, it was scary and boring and somehow scary-boring ... I could that of a dog. Her debuff was concerning, but ... of the inn's customers were talking among themselves and either staring ... Saliss likes to push people's buttons. Being a Turnscale is a ...

... at me. "Sure, it was scary and boring and somehow scary-boring ... I could that of a dog. Her debuff was concerning, but ... of the inn's customers were talking among themselves and either staring ... Saliss likes to push people's buttons. Being a Turnscale is a ...

... the discs and pressing the buttons, a translucent barrier went up... protect her from the Intimidating dog. Somehow. Another thing I need... her mentally. ['He might look scary, but you're Anya, master of.... Who do you think you're talking t-" "But it's not enough...

...changer. I'd make a really scary biosuit, and I'd debut ... his fireballs. I was talking to Clock and he told ...and you should be fine. Dog fights will be met with ... intent. Regarding Rule #7; dog bodies count. If you're up ... Frankenstein's puppy." "The roadkill dog chimera was one of the ... so affectionate. He's a dog, but with three times the ...no reason to push any buttons. "It's not the nicest city ...

...changer. I'd make a really scary biosuit, and I'd debut ... his fireballs. I was talking to Clock and he told ...and you should be fine. Dog fights will be met with ... intent. Regarding Rule #7; dog bodies count. If you're up ... Frankenstein's puppy." "The roadkill dog chimera was one of the ... so affectionate. He's a dog, but with three times the ...no reason to push any buttons. "It's not the nicest city ...

... with what looked like a dog collar around her neck. Sloan... something in her sleep. The buttons on her jacket were in .... Ramsey butted in. "She's probably talking about how we're planning to ... to criticism. There was this scary white-hair girl the other day, ... the shifty house. Somewhere a dog barked. What was today. Thursday? ...

Update 2: I think the WWII references are genuinely there. However, this is probably because of I have no mouth but I must scream. In the video-game Nimdok worked with Mengele to develop the elixir that AM uses to torture people. We even see elixir all over the company building in development. This explains the red and blue, WWII references, some of the building design choices, and could explain why next episode is “The Machine”. In the short story that’s what they call AM. Update: I’m going to make a retraction I don’t think this is a one to one WWII situation anymore. The references on the articles like LINE (TIME), FRAME (life magazine had the same labeling and was in the 1940s), the term Angel of Death, the date, the reactions to the logo, and the south Germanic/Austrian design of the village gave me that impression, but I don’t think this is the case. Due to new info while researching more. Not sure why all of that stuff was there though. Ignore like 99% of this post just look at the slides with the evidence the other stuff is wrong I think. Sorry. I still think he’s evil and wants to hurt the villagers though. For some reason everything to do with Hacker’s character made me uncomfortable. He felt so vaguely familiar in a bad way. I kept trying to put my finger on it. I want to believe it’s nuanced like what everyone else says, but my gut tells me he’s a loser scumbag like we all thought on day one and this isn’t morally grey. I couldn’t understand what the hell TCO, TDL, the outernet citizens, and Hacker were doing either. Their motivations and characterization made no sense given the current telling of events. Then it sort of clicked. The backstory is isn’t the full picture. It’s designed like propaganda the workers would get. We’re way too caught up in questioning TCO, the abuse victim, to figure out if he deserved what happened to him. There were no lasers, 99% chance he made the tunnels people escaped from, the flashback shows he was nonviolent at that point, he flinched at TDL when he landed, and he didn’t laser Agent. Most likely, TCO was complicit and gave some half assed assistance to people. That sucks, but TCO isn’t a threat or even complicit in wrongdoing anymore. The line of questioning and mistrust should be focused on the abuser kidnapper stalkers, not their target. Hacker is being given crazy benefit of the doubt due to the nice music and pretty pictures. This is a controversial claim, but try to have an open mind to what I’m saying. Have it regardless of whether or not you agree with the writing choices if it’s true. I think that this season is based on WWII. The appeasement, the constant surrendering, allowance of a dictator to rise to power, ignorance of what was happening, supporting the rise of fascists, and the eventual genocide. Right now everyone is letting a violent, abusive, willfully ignorant, hate filled, and untreated schizophrenic reach unchecked power. Due to fear of TDL, guilt, and a desire to return to normalcy. Preface: I don’t think Alan is antisemitic. If this is the goal it’s an anti Nazi message. To lull you into being ambivalent then call you out for ignoring your gut feelings about Hacker at the end. I’m Jewish myself this isn’t intended to be antisemitic or insensitive. In fact, a lot of my personal experiences with antisemitism are why I suspect this. AvA’s plot has always involved genocide. TCO and TDL started it in their internet conquests, King Orange and Purple attempted it in Minecraft, and TDL was probably going to do it too. These genocides take on different forms for different reasons. This season is being framed in a more realistic and serious tone than the others and is more carefully constructed. So if genocide is happening again, it’s going to look more serious and realistic. Not the cartoonish stuff we’ve seen before. The only way to depict genocide in a serious tone is to base it in reality. I’m worried that Hacker is a nutcase conspiracy theorist like the Nazis were and blames the villagers for Newgrounds. He wants them gone. We never see his whole cursor side of the conspiracy wall. We don’t see those townspeople ever again in Rocket Corp post Mitsi. In fact we don’t see them at all anymore. The village Victim and Mitsi land in is a Germanic one. The gnome children, home designs, and wreaths are all Germanic. The game Agent is said to be surprisingly good at is Backgammon, a game that’s popular in Jewish circles but otherwise pretty niche (I learned about it from Hebrew school). There’s an article clipping about the white paper doll esc stick figures randomly going missing. Was this really from newgrounds? You’d think people would know about the giant attack with tanks and exploding buildings given people survived like Agent. The news article shows a certain *type* of stick going missing. Newgrounds had a ton of casualties from different groups. Grey or black sticks only. The mercenaries who aren’t are not considered a part of the staff. A motivator to target the village is the green life particles. We see in the news clippings they were used for medical technology. We know research on these particles is being done. How did anyone get them though? Well, if there’s a village full of people whose appearance freaks Hacker out, made of these particles, that he fears, then they’re perfect targets. If he did some sort of harvesting operation on the villagers he kills four birds with one stone. Get rid of the villagers, have power over revival, project hate for a target he’ll never reach, and expand his company. Rocket corp structure: Victim has pictures of all the workers being an identical uniform grey. There’s a hierarchy of the shade of grey and their position in rocket corp. The light grey are menial workers that don’t know what’s going on. Or have a limited understanding. These workers have started showing up in super high numbers on the outernet. Like they’re occupying the main city. The dark grey were shown as part of the construction of the facility expansions. I’m pretty sure the fenced off area is where the dark grey workers reside and they’re more insidious than the ones we’ve seen thus far at the surface. The dark grey are produced in the fenced off section Blue passes. Then there are the police files. Agent makes an arrest of a dark grey employee attempting to steal the tools at 2am. We know the dark grey do “dirty work” as they’re the ones in the fenced off area and the ones building the extensions. Why would an employee, specifically one who’s given classified information about the “company”, attempt to steal the tools? There are two stacks of files on the table. One has red dripping stamps and the other has normal green ones. In the photo under it Hacker is on the left side and Mitsi is on the right. Agent is in the middle giving Hacker bunny ears which is synonymous with tricking or playing someone. He was with the worker stealing the tools when he was seen. Even though it was supposedly him catching the guy. If your “company” Buys ammunition Arrests people Has multiple holding cells Produces guns Makes cattle prods which are used in slaughterhouses Has an air force Tortures people for information Has workers infesting the whole outernet suddenly when their home is far away Hires a militia That isn’t a company anymore. That’s a militant dictatorship. TCO is dealing with a military embedded in a civilian population not just mercenaries. That’s why he needs TSC. The trucks were odd. You’ve got this shot of Hacker and Mitsi waving a truck off with receipts in the corner. These sheets have some really strange items. The truck is called reg02 which implies it’s a military regiment. Inside are water bottles, batteries, and food. However it talks about ammunition refunds at the bottom. Why are you sending off trucks with supplies used for militaries, calling the truck a regiment, and talking about refunding ammo? What kind of tech company are you running? Backstory plot: Even the portrayal and narrative of the backstory is super right wing. The idea of a girl who is always cheerful and patient being made purely to make a man happy, carry his emotional burdens, “fix” him, and then get thrown in the fridge, so he can “fight in her honor” is sexist. Torture victims don’t get cured by manic pixie dream girls they need urgent psychiatric care and medical attention. Even if Mitsi was qualified, she wasn’t, you’re not supposed to date your therapist. You’re either someone’s boss, their therapist, or their romantic partner. If the gender coding was reversed where Victim was a girly stick and Mitsi was a manly stick it would look weird as hell. Terrified torture victim girl, with no social support, starts dating her therapist, who has a huge social group, who’s her boss, after he keeps insisting they’re a couple until she gives in and goes with it. It only looks okay because she’s a girl who acts like a girl. Women aren’t made to make men happy then die to justify their abuse of other people. The idea that Mitsi was this endlessly loving, patient, gentle, and kind individual who would support Hacker is impossible. Mitsi cannot be both the pinnacle of morality, have pursued the relationship she had, and agree with Hacker now. It’s all contradictory. Sexists don’t consider what a woman would believe, or want though. Especially post mortem when there’s no more to extract from her except abuse justification. In the eyes of sexists women are either demonic manipulators or angels who can do no wrong. No in between. The only nice thing we see Hacker do is help repair a windmill HE broke. Everything after had a financial or romantic incentive. This isn’t the case for Mitsi who is shown trying to save lives in her last moments at her own expense. She’s shown as naturally friendly with people too. Despite what I think was a weird relationship it’s clear she wanted to be and thought she was a good person. Mitsi is not an extension of Hacker though. Her good qualities say nothing about him. Few admirable qualities are given to Hacker in his backstory, only the idea that he could’ve been happy and moved on. Even the romanticism of agrarian life was common in fascist movement propaganda. The land is seen as beautiful while the people on it are untrustworthy. Fascism was portrayed as all about “Germanic agrarian life” and “protecting their women and children”. To thinly mask bigotry. The Villagers and Mitsi: When Victim lands his rocket onto the outernet Mitsi checks to see if he’s okay. His first response is to throw her off of him in fear and discomfort. When the two meet the villagers he is shown to confuse them with mouse cursors. Due to their pointy white limbs and triangular shapes. This freaks him out. When he realizes they’re not cursors he calms down a bit. However, the cursor and appearance based fear of the townfolk still lingers. When Victim walks past the window, the window showing a the village, he sees the mouse again and flips out. In the montage he’s shown to be scared driving the truck with one of these villagers. The thing is, Mitsi looks like those villagers. Victim doesn’t just see the cursor when he walks past the window of the village. He sees it walking past her office. Victim swats at her twice in the flashback. Victim didn’t like talking about the cursors around Mitsi. He swats her in the flashback when she tries to look. This is the second time he had done so and it was after a decent amount of time, given how the company had developed. He had no problems showing Agent the most crazy conspiracy wall known to man. He didn’t mind showing Mitsi the mind scanner. It was specifically cursor related subjects and specifically cursor subjects with her he avoided. Did he secretly hate Mitsi? Of course not. Victim was clearly fond of Mitsi and misses her a lot. What made Mitsi this weird “exception” for him? Mitsi is dressed in a way that makes her look more like Victim and the grey workers. Even though her base is the same paper-doll esc look. Mitsi is coded as very pretty, charismatic, and graceful. So Hacker was scared of her and hit her, but when the completely foreign looking ones showed up he hid behind her. Then once she was a source of romantic attention, praise, money, popularity, emotional labor, and physical labor suddenly she’s a “good cursor” that he isn’t as scared of. It’s classic bigot psychology. How would Mitsi not notice? Well the story has gone out of its way to establish Mitsi as gullible. In the corndog short she falls for the couple’s discount scam. Because the idea of romance and a cute bow blinded her. We know Mitsi had wanted to talk to Victim about something before Newgrounds. Her to do list says they had a conversation he kept putting off. TDL and Hacker’s alliance in the context of WWII: Why does TDL side with Hacker and why step in now? Nobody had expected Stalin to form an alliance with Hitler in WWII. Stalin stood for everything Hitler despised and Hitler was a huge threat to him. In fact, one of the main justifications of the Nazi rise to power was to counter against the communist aggressors in Eastern Europe. Between WWI and WWII Russia was extremely weak and unstable. This is why they withdrew from WWI. After rebuilding the Soviet Union saw Hitler became too much of the threat to ignore. The nations formed a non aggression pact. The Soviet Union’s goal was to expand and not get involved in another huge war. Their focus was taking over weaker areas. This failed when Hitler launched a surprise attack on Stalin to invade Russia. This pushed the Soviet Union into siding with the allies. This new context may be the framework to understand what TDL is doing. His logic might have been that Hacker was a threat, but TCO TSC and Alan would deal with it. Hacker is a bigger danger for him and will do way worse to him if he loses. Virabots and TDL’s bands look like cursors just like the villagers. TDL was the more enthusiastic participant in Newgrounds. Hacker does the same swat at TDL that he did at Alan and Mitsi. Mitsi and TDL are framed to look similar from Hacker’s POV. They don’t look alike!!! They have nothing in common! The two only look similar to him because TDL can sometimes have the triangle/pointy arms Mitsi does and so do his bots. The same jumpy behavior oddly absent with TCO who should be just as scary if not more for him. TDL isn’t plotting against TCO or TSC he’s trying to avoid the laser shredder again. When TCO got captured, TSC was shown to be inactive, Alan failed, and Hacker got a major power boost, TDL had to show up to negotiate. He had no other option but to involve himself. Hacker doesn’t even look too surprised to see him. He’s moderately disgusted and uneasy. It recontextualizes what TDL was doing in the destruction flashbacks. I don’t think he was targeting civilians. If he’s the “communist” stand in then he was going after the tools he thought were evil. He doesn’t attack the angry birds he attacks the slingshot they were going to be thrown from. While TCO attacked the websites he disliked, TDL was attacking the buttons used to support said website. Even TDL’s Virabots reflect this. Make an app that can’t be deleted so Alan has to delete his other apps. This leaves TDL approved applications on the PC. Otherwise the computer burns. Ending evil content from being produced by brute force. The Virabot only wanted to attack TSC, the leader of the group. The rest got thrown to the side. Why throw them to the side if the mission was murder? TDL targets the social media platforms for his Virabots first. Places humans get the financial incentive to mistreat animations. The Soviets were infamous for recruiting spies. These spies would go into the US, Britain, and Germany to collect intelligence. TDL has spy cameras employed. There’s been a lot of comparisons made between the mannerisms of Red and TDL throughout AvA. Does this mean Red is a spy? Or on TDL’s side somehow? Nope! Red had never met TDL before the showdown. He happened to be in the front and TDL was shocked at sticks challenging him. Red has lived his entire life on the stick page like his friends and was scared to leave. He’s been willing to kill for TSC and die for Green. On his own speedrun Red is the least violent. TDL killed Red first and stomped on his corpse. Saying that Red is in league with TDL is as irrational as saying the villagers were in league with Alan. Since they looked like cursors. Red is a red stick figure with a few shared mannerisms. Except every cast member has TDL behaviors from TSC to Yellow to Purple. He may get accused of spying for TDL, but it won’t be true. Why frame the story the way it’s been?: It may seem very strange to frame the story as a nuanced conflict, guilt trip so hard, and then throw in a death camp at the end. Unfortunately, it’s realistic. The sad truth is that people didn’t care about what the Nazis were doing until it was too late. Not nearly enough people. At the time of WWII, although people didn’t love Hitler, many had sympathized with the German invasion of Europe. Few wanted to get involved to stop it. Post WWI Germany was thrown into a state of economic ruin. Common post WWI perception was that Germany was severely wronged. Does anyone remember WWI from history class? Other than one guy got shot then everyone started killing each other? Just like Newgrounds, nobody knows like anything that was happening or why. All we know is there was a shoot out, TCO and TDL were a team, tunnels let people escape, and Mitsi died. That allowed the policy of appeasement to happen. Hitler was enabled to militarize then take whatever countries he wanted with limited to zero pushback. Western European powers were said to be just as bad or getting what they deserved, and communism was still seen as the biggest evil. The concentration camps weren’t common knowledge until the soviets took over. Or they were ignored. Ignored by people that weren’t paying attention to the news or didn’t know the ones getting persecuted. Not enough people cared enough to notice or worry that prejudiced groups would be targeted. In fact, the victims were mistaken by the US as Germans. That’s why so many refugees got rejected and couldn’t escape. Mainly due to the fact that some members were part of the German government during WWI pre Hitler. Right wingers went as far as to say that Western Europe should join the axis to fight communism. Due to their shared heritage and dislike of it. That Britain was manipulated by Americans and Jews and Communists into opposing the Nazis. Was Hacker’s sympathetic origin offensive if this is the true intention of the story? I don’t think so. The Disney like telling of Hacker’s origin isn’t to make him sympathetic or understandable. It’s to put you in the mindset of his enablers. It’s so you don’t wish horrific death and pain on the oblivious workers in retaliation. Even if you didn’t support him maybe a fellow viewer did or you thought it was fine to hold either opinion. Thus cheering for the workers to all die horrifically is hypocritical. Since we have the same reaction watching the propaganda they get fed. War in every shape is a tragedy, even the extremely justified ones. The town reaction to the color gang: The color gang drawing the Rocket Corp logo and showing it to the town elicited an odd reaction. They seemed uncomfortable and upset. Like they put their hands up or covered their faces and kept walking. As if they were borderline offended by it. If this analogy is true the color gang was accidentally shoving a defacto hate symbol at random people on the street. Details in Hacker’s character: There are a few details around Hacker that associate him with this. First the name just sounds like Hitler. Same amount of letters same beginning initial same end. Another reason is the day season 3 in its entirety has taken place on. It’s on April 29th. The following day, April 30th, is the anniversary of Hitler’s suicide. He did so after marrying a woman on the 29th. Hacker is supposedly going to get some version of Mitsi back soon. If the TDL deal goes to plan. He also has a pet sheep. Both Hacker’s death and the death of the sheep are foreshadowed in the thumbnails. Hitler killed his dog first. We have not gotten any merchandise of Hacker as he looks currently. Only the original Victim. No plushies and no hints at him in animation versus. If Hacker as he is now will be based on a real life fight wing dictator they’re not going to sell merch of that. It would be seen as careless and offensive. Another point is the angel of death TCO poster. The Rocket Corp employee that painted it described TCO as “like an angel of death”. I thought this was oddly specific. TCO has gone by like 30 million names by now. Why this one? So I looked up what the angel of death is a reference to. The angel of death was a nickname given to the Nazi Josef Mengele who would perform atrocious experiments on prisoners and select people to die in the gas chambers. This doesn’t sound like TCO at all right? Sure he’s been complicit but it’s out of character for TCO to be compared to that. Except it said TCO looked LIKE an angel of death. He resembled one. Who does TCO resemble the most? Hacker. TCO looks like Hacker and he looks like an angel of death. Hacker is the angel of death. The death camp operator. Next is his general relationship towards animals. Hacker’s sheep was terrified of him when he first walked by. This is despite Hacker supposedly being a decent pet owner. Hitler’s dogs were notoriously scared of him. His sheep wasn’t the only animal scared of him. Every single animal is afraid of him. The eel TSC makes in the rocket corp building freaks out and surrounds TSC like it’s desperately trying to protect him from the eraser. The sheep bolt away from Victim when he’s driving the truck in the flashback. The next photo shows one rolling over for Mitsi. The big fish go to Mitsi and she catches one but Victim can only get a small one. Like they’re avoiding him extra hard. Hell, even the Virabot does the same thing the sheep does. The Virabot jumps so hard the camera breaks off, went behind TDL’s legs, and didn’t approach Hacker alongside TDL. The murderous bug robot made by the literal dark lord was scared of him. Keep in mind these same Virabots charged at awakened TSC. They’re not afraid to die, but for some reason they’re afraid of him. Agent: The staff has gone out of their way to say that Agent isn’t a bad guy. Alan said “he’s supposed to look cool” in the qzey reaction video he and another animator said Agent wouldn’t torture the color gang. If this analogy is true though, what the hell is Agent doing? Well there was a guy who initially joined the Nazis for money and popularity until he found out about the camps. Schindler would save as many people as he could from executions by claiming they were essential workers. For his weapons factory. The AvA popularity poll said Agent was really good at Backgammon. The objective of Backgammon is to make sure that all of your pieces get out of a box. Doing so while avoiding the surrounding enemy pieces. If enemy pieces are on the same square you can’t move. Agent could very well totally 180 now that Hacker isn’t present and help TCO. Because the enemy pieces are gone and he’s not being watched. Another thing about Agent is he put 4 3 into Hacker’s name because he thought it sounded cooler. Well, 43 was the number of an organization that combated a Nazi resurgence in London. He also made bunny ears behind Victim’s back and is shown standing between him and Mitsi in the photo. This could further explain what TCO was doing during the mercenary chase. We see he has opportunities to shoot lethally in two places. One was on the river where all of the mercenaries including Agent were in a line. Then later he has a chance to shoot Agent on the iceberg, but not the other mercenaries. If Agent is crucial for protecting the villagers, then TCO has to be careful not to kill him. On the same end, Agent has to make an effort to go after TCO while the mercenaries, Hacker, and the Rocket Corp staff are watching. It explains why TCO wanted TSC involved so badly too. If TSC awakened he could effortlessly take out the mercenaries while TCO grabs Agent out of the way and then they all pummel the Rocket Corp military. Since they have way more bikes, guns, and weapons at their home base not just the ones chasing TCO. The mercenaries are a branch of a much larger threat on the level of TDL’s Virabot army. submitted by /u/Distinct_Skirt_893 to r/AlanBecker [link] [comments]

I’ve been a 911 dispatcher for twelve years, the last seven on the graveyard shift. You think you’ve heard it all after that long. The drunks, the domestics, the panicked fumbling for words after a car crash. It all becomes a kind of white noise, a rhythm of human misery you learn to navigate without letting it touch you. You have to. It's the only way to stay sane. My district is a sprawling, sleepy county that dies after 10 p.m. It’s mostly soccer moms and retirees. The worst we usually get on a weeknight is a noise complaint or a teenager who's had too much to drink at a bonfire. The job, for me, had become a cycle of caffeine, fluorescent lights, and the low, constant hum of computer servers. I was burned out. Deeply, existentially tired in a way sleep couldn't fix. The calls were just blips on a screen, voices to be processed, categorized, and dispatched. I was a human switchboard for other people’s worst days. The first call came on a Tuesday, about three months ago. It was 2:47 a.m. The deadest hour of the deadest night. The line lit up on my console, but not in the usual way. It wasn't a cell call with a GPS ping, or a landline with a registered address. It was just a raw signal, designated as 'unregistered VOIP.' Not unheard of, but rare. I clicked it open. "911, what is your emergency?" Static. A thick, wet sound, like listening to the radio underwater. It crackled and popped, and underneath it, I could just barely make out a sound. A whisper. "...hello? Can you hear me?" It was a child's voice. A boy, I thought. Maybe seven or eight. He sounded like he was trying to talk without moving his lips. "This is 911," I repeated, my voice a little louder, a little clearer. "I can barely hear you. What is your emergency?" The static swelled, almost swallowing his voice whole. "...he's back. The man in the mask is back." A chill, cold and sharp, went down my spine. It was a professional chill, the one that tells you this is real. This isn't a prank. "Okay, son. Where are you? I need an address." "...hurting mommy," the whisper came again, breaking with a sob. The static sounded like a swarm of angry insects now. "Daddy's asleep on the floor... he won't wake up." "Son, I need you to tell me where you are. I can't send help if I don't know where you are." My fingers were flying across the keyboard, trying to get a trace, but the system was kicking back errors. No location data. No subscriber info. Nothing. "The old house," he whispered, his voice fading. "At the end of the road... please..." Then the line went dead. Not a click, not a hang-up. It just ceased to exist. One moment it was there, a line of static and terror, and the next it was just a dead channel. Even without an address, 'the old house at the end of the road' was enough. Out on the western edge of the county, there's a long, unpaved road that just sort of peters out into the woods. And at the end of it, there's one house. A big, derelict Victorian thing that’s been empty for as long as anyone can remember. It was a local legend, the kind of place kids dared each other to spend a night in. I dispatched a patrol car. My senior officer, a guy who's been on the force since before I was born, came back over the radio about fifteen minutes later. His voice was flat, laced with the kind of annoyance reserved for rookies and time-wasters. "Dispatch, Car 12 here. The property is secure. No signs of forced entry. Place is boarded up tighter than a drum. There's nobody here. Hasn't been for fifty years by the looks of it." "10-4, Car 12," I said, my own voice betraying none of my confusion. "Are you sure? The caller was a child. He said his family was being attacked." There was a sigh over the radio. "Listen, the dust on the porch is an inch thick. The boards on the windows are gray and rotted. If someone's in there, they're a ghost. We're clearing the call. Tell whoever's playing games to knock it off." I logged it as 'unfounded' and tried to put it out of my mind. A prank. A sophisticated one, maybe, using some kind of voice changer and a VOIP spoofer. Kids these days. I was too tired to care. A week later, at 2:47 a.m., the same line lit up. The same static. The same terrified, whispering voice. "...he's in the house. I can hear him walking." This time, I felt a knot of ice form in my stomach. "Son, is this the same caller from last week?" A choked sob. "He has the mask on. The one with the scary smile. Mommy's screaming." Faintly, through the storm of static, I thought I could hear it. A woman's scream, high and thin and distorted, like a sound being played backwards. "I'm sending help," I said, my voice tight. "Stay on the line with me. Can you hide?" "...in the closet," he whispered. "He's coming up the stairs. I can hear his feet..." The line went dead. I dispatched two cars this time. I told them it was a repeat call, possibly a hostage situation. I didn't want them to be complacent. They took it seriously. They set up a perimeter. They used a bullhorn. They broke down the front door. The result was the same. An empty house. Thick, undisturbed layers of dust on every surface. Rotted floorboards, peeling wallpaper, the smell of decay and forgotten things. No footprints. No child. No man in a mask. No sign that a human being had set foot in that house in decades. My supervisor pulled me aside the next morning. He's a large, patient man who has the weary look of someone who's seen it all twice. He told me to drop it. "It's a glitch," he said, not meeting my eye. "Some kind of cross-chatter from another jurisdiction, or a recurring electronic echo. Don't waste county resources on it. If that call comes in again, log it and move on." But I couldn't. The boy's voice... it was too real. The terror in it was primal. You can't fake that. Not even the best actor in the world can fake the sound of a child who thinks his mother is being murdered in the next room. The calls kept coming. Every Tuesday, like clockwork. 2:47 a.m. Each call was a slightly different piece of the same horrible puzzle. "...he's hurting daddy now. There's... there's so much red..." "...mommy stopped screaming..." "...he's looking for me. I can hear him opening doors..." Every time, I sent a car. Every time, the result was the same. The cops got angrier. I was "the boy who cried wolf." My supervisor gave me a formal warning. My colleagues started looking at me funny, whispering when I walked by. They thought I was cracking up. Maybe I was. I started losing sleep. On my nights off, I'd find myself staring at the clock, my heart pounding as 2:47 a.m. approached. The silence was somehow worse than the calls. I became obsessed. During the day, instead of sleeping, I went to the county records office. I needed to know who owned that house. The paper trail was a mess. It had been sold and resold, owned by banks and holding companies. But I kept digging backwards, through dusty ledgers and brittle property deeds. Finally, I found it. The last family to actually live there. A deed from 1968. A nice, happy family with a mom, a dad, and two kids. A boy and a girl. That wasn't enough. I started spending my days in the library's basement, scrolling through decades of local newspapers on a squeaky, ancient microfiche reader. The stale, papery smell of the archives filled my lungs. I was looking for anything related to the house, to that family. For weeks, I found nothing. Just property tax notices and school honor rolls. And then I found it. An article from a cold, late autumn day in 1975. The headline was stark: "Local Family Slain in Apparent Home Invasion." My blood ran cold. I zoomed in, my hands trembling as I adjusted the focus knob. The picture was grainy, black and white. It was the house. The same steep gables, the same wide porch. Police cars were parked haphazardly on the overgrown lawn. I read the article, my heart hammering against my ribs. A husband, a wife, and their ten-year-old daughter, found dead in their home. The cause of death was... extensive. The article was vague, using phrases like "brutal force trauma." The police report mentioned a possible intruder, a figure a neighbor had seen fleeing into the woods, described only as a tall man wearing some kind of pale, expressionless mask. But the last paragraph was what made me stop breathing. "The family's eight-year-old son," it read, "remains missing. Police found evidence he was hiding in an upstairs closet during the attack, but the boy has not been found. A state-wide search is underway. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that he was abducted by the assailant." The crime was never solved. The masked man was never found. The little boy was never seen again. I sat back in my chair, the library basement suddenly feeling like a tomb. The static. The whispers. The closet. The man in the mask. It wasn't a prank. It wasn't a glitch. Was I listening to a ghost ? The next day at work, I felt... broken. I walked into the dispatch center like a zombie. The hum of the servers sounded like a funeral dirge. I couldn't keep it in anymore. I had to tell someone. I grabbed my supervisor and one of the oldest dispatchers, a woman who’d been there for thirty years, and I dragged them into the break room. I laid it all out. The calls, the timing, the empty house, the microfiche article. I showed them the copy I'd printed out, the grainy picture of the house, the headline. I expected them to think I was insane. I expected them to tell me to take a leave of absence. They didn't. They just looked at each other. It was a look I’d never seen before, of a grim, tired resignation. My supervisor sighed, a heavy, rattling sound, and rubbed his temples. The older dispatcher, she just stared at the article, her face pale. "So it's started again," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "What do you mean, 'started again'?" I asked, my voice shaking. "What is going on?" My supervisor sat down heavily. "Kid," he said, and he looked a hundred years old. "We need to tell you about the man you replaced." He told me the story. The dispatcher who had my seat before me. He'd been a good man, sharp, dedicated. About a year before I was hired, he started getting strange. He was obsessed with a specific address. The old house at the end of the road. He kept sending cars out there, insisting there was a child in trouble. The patrols always came back empty. He started pulling old files, spending his days off at the library. He became withdrawn, paranoid. He claimed he was getting calls no one else could hear. "We checked the logs," my supervisor said, his voice low and serious. "The system never registered the calls he said he was taking. We pulled the audio recorders for his console. There was nothing on them but dead air. We thought he was having a breakdown. Stress of the job." My blood turned to ice water. "The system... it doesn't log the calls for me, either. They just... show up on the screen and then disappear. They don't go into the call history." The older dispatcher nodded slowly. "We know. It’s the same. He told us what the calls were about. A little boy. A man in a mask." I felt like I was going to be sick. "What happened to him?" I whispered, though I already knew the answer. "One night," the supervisor continued, his eyes fixed on the linoleum floor, "he took a call. We saw him on the console, talking, his face ashen. He was typing a report, then he just stopped. He stood up, grabbed his jacket and his keys, and walked out without a word. The call was still active on his screen, but none of us could hear anything on it. We just saw the open line." "Where did he go?" "He drove out to the house. His car was found parked on the road the next morning. Engine was cold. Doors were locked. He was gone." The silence in the room was absolute. "We searched," the old dispatcher said, her voice cracking. "The police did a grid search of the entire woods. Dogs, helicopters, the whole nine yards. They went through that house from the attic to the cellar. They found nothing. No sign of a struggle. No footprints. No him. He just... vanished. Wiped off the face of the earth." I stared at them, my mind struggling to process what they were telling me. "Why... why didn't you warn me?" I stammered. "How could we?" my supervisor shot back, his voice rising with a frustration that had clearly been festering for years. "Hey, new guy, welcome aboard. By the way, this console might be haunted, and the last guy who sat here disappeared. Don't worry about it.' You'd have thought we were crazy. We thought he was crazy. Until you came in here today with that same damn story." He leaned forward, his eyes locking onto mine. "This is what you're going to do. The next time that line rings, you do not answer it. If you answer it by mistake, you hang up immediately. You do not talk to him. You do not engage. You terminate the call and you clear the line. That's an order. Do you understand me?" For the next few weeks, I was a ghost myself. I did my job on autopilot. Every sound, every flicker on the screen made me jump. I dreaded Tuesday nights. I drank so much coffee I could feel my heart rattling in my chest, just to stay sharp, to stay vigilant. I thought about quitting. I thought about just walking out and never coming back. But where would I go? Then, last night, it happened. It was 2:45 a.m. I was staring at the clock, my knuckles white from gripping the edge of my desk. The minutes ticked by like hours. 2:46. My mouth was dry. My heart was a drum solo in my ears. 2:47. The line lit up. The unregistered VOIP. It felt like a physical blow. I flinched back in my chair. My training, my instincts, every fiber of my being screamed at me to answer it. There was a child in trouble. That was the job. But I remembered the pale, haunted face of my supervisor. The story of the man who had vanished. You terminate the call. I let it ring. Once. Twice. The flashing light on the console seemed to sear my retinas. My hand hovered over the button, trembling. I couldn't just ignore it. I had to answer. I had to. I clicked the button. "911, what is your—" The static was a roar, louder than it had ever been. It was a physical presence in my ear, a wall of noise. And through it, the boy's voice came, not whispering this time, but screaming. It was a raw, ragged sound of pure agony and terror. "HE'S GOT ME! HE'S GOT ME, PLEASE! HE'S TAKING ME! PLEASE, SIR, DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME! HELP ME!" The sound ripped through my professional detachment and tore right into my soul. This was it. The climax. The moment the boy was taken, replaying for all eternity. My hand flew to the keyboard to dispatch a car, a purely reflexive action born of years of training. But I stopped. My fingers froze over the keys. He's gone. This already happened. It's not real. The boy was sobbing now, his screams turning into choked, gasping pleas. "Please... you promised... you said you'd send help... don't leave me..." I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I was a 911 dispatcher. My job was to send help. And I was going to sit here and listen to a child be abducted or murdered and do nothing. "I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice thick. "I'm so, so sorry." I reached for the 'terminate' button on my screen. My finger was a millimeter from the glass. This was it. I was choosing to save myself. I was choosing to let him go. And then, the screaming stopped. It wasn't a fade-out. It was an abrupt cut, as if a switch had been flipped. The roar of the static dropped to a low, sinister hum. The line was still open. Silence. My heart was in my throat. Did I do it? Then a new sound came through the headset. It wasn't the boy. It was a man's voice. A whisper, just as terrified as the child's had been, but older, hoarser. It was distorted by the same underwater static, the same swarm of electronic insects. It was a voice trying to push its way through an impossible distance, through time itself. And it was a voice I felt, deep in my bones, I should have recognized from an old staff photo in the hallway. The whisper was faint, but utterly, terrifyingly clear. "...he's here." I froze, my finger hovering over the screen. The voice was ragged, desperate, broken. "...he sees you. Through the line. He's looking right at you." A cold dread, so absolute and profound it felt like death itself, washed over me. I slowly, involuntarily, looked up from my console, across the darkened dispatch center, towards the plate glass windows that looked out into the night. There was nothing there but the reflection of my own terrified face in the glass, my skin pale in the glow of the monitors. The whispering in my ear continued, a final, chilling plea from a place beyond hope. "...please. Get me out of here." submitted by /u/gamalfrank to r/nosleep [link] [comments]

Gobble gobble gobble, merry Thanksgiving, r/patientgamers! Today we give thanks for all the wonderful games we got on Sony's first console. Emulation note: some games from this time did not use full 3D, but instead use pre-rendered 2D backgrounds as an illusion. Upscaling ruins the illusion because characters look far more crisp and smooth than everything else. For these, use the original resolution. RULES This is NOT a retrospective. This is a list of the games worth playing on the console NOW. Only the best version of a game can make the list. If you think I missed a classic game, there's probably an explanation in a comment I made on the post as to why. All games on a list are worth playing despite any criticisms I may have for them. Only consoles & PC (Windows/DOS) are considered. No arcade/Neo-Geo, mobile, or other home computers like Commodore 64. MAME is difficult to work with & high maintenance. Mobile changes architecture too often for all-time lists, and often don't support controllers. Home computers rarely meet rule #2, and require a mouse/keyboard. Other versions may be mentioned for reference. I default to PC when available. If it's better on console, I'll put it on the console's list. Usually though, it's better or the same on PC. Games with the same name as another game will be clarified by year or console within (). Games not released in North America will have the region abbreviation within []. Alternate names will be included within {}. My lists are only in increments of 10 to make it easier to track. If there are 61 good games, I have to make a cut to make it an even 60. #50: Parappa The Rapper Parappa is a delightful rhythm game about a rapping cartoon dog, who is on a journey to impress his crush, who, naturally, is a flower. He learns karate from an Japanese onion, how to drive from an African-American moose, learns how to scam people from a Jamaican iguana, how to cook from a British chicken TV chef, then rap battles them all in a row to see who goes first in the bathroom line so he can take a dump, because he almost shit himself on his first date. Incredibly memorable, with songs that legitimately slap. Sadly it's basically unplayable. The timing for pressing buttons is way off, which is a non-starter for a rhythm game. Nearly. It has a certain sense of twisted logic that you can almost get a sense of after a while. Until the chicken level, which just does whatever the fuck it wants. What I described to you is basically the entire game, it's very short. It probably shouldn't be on this list, but I enjoyed myself & I still love it despite how much it sucks at being a rhythm game. I would give it a much higher recommendation if the remaster had fixed the controls instead of making it worse. Or if it had included this level. #49: Parasite Eve II PE2 is love it or hate it even more than the original game. The story is still interesting, but does not go in the direction that the first game would have implied, nor does it have the same tone. The gameplay is more streamlined, but is no longer trying to do the split genre thing, so if you liked that a lot in 1, you'll be disappointed. It still has gameplay variety in terms of balance between puzzle solving, exploring, combat, etc, and the gameplay loop is well crafted. Regardless of comparisons to 1, it's safe to say that it's a solid survival horror game in a vacuum. Even then...now is as good a time as any to say it: tank controls blow, they are the bane of the PS1's library. I get what devs were trying to do with cinematic camera angles in horror games at the time, but that makes tank controls at least twice as bad. PE2 is way too hard for how annoying it is to control. This is high on my list of games that badly need a remake. #48: Medal of Honor The best thing about this game is that it's classy. It was made by Steven Spielberg, and is a cinematic, mature take on WW2. The tone & level design feels unlike most shooters today, with their ADHD Fortnite colors, battle passes, and busy menus with pop-up ads. Thus, going back to the original cinematic shooter feels fresh, and definitely worth playing. Unfortunately, the controls feel like an alien designed them, and even with remapping, it's playable but not particularly satisfying because the hit detection is still bad by modern standards. Since shooting Nazis is most of the game, this ranks pretty low, but still squeezes in as a recommendation. How can I NOT mention it, right? #47: Bloody Roar 2 Bloody Roar is a fighting game series best known for having ridiculously complicated movesets. I'm talking 200+ moves per character. This is implemented very well, and 2 is generally considered the most balanced & interesting of the lot. It controls tightly & even looks pretty good as far as 3D PS1 games go. I greatly respect the effort put into this, and I think that a game should exist for people who like the complexity. At the end of the day though, I just cannot with this game. I greatly prefer fighters that don't require a PhD in Bloody Roar to not suck are more straightforward to pick up. This might be your favorite fighting game, and I am cool with that. But this is my list, so here it sits. #46: Syphon Filter With Syphon Filter, 989 Studios bravely asks the question: "what if we made Metal Gear Solid, but like...half as good?" Well, that's not entirely fair, the whole approach seems to be more of a B movie equivalent, complete with cheesey voice acting & constant plot twists. Yet, SF shoots a little too straight & takes itself a little too seriously to truly nail the goal of dumb fun, if that was indeed the goal. So the tone is strange, I really don't know how to feel about it. It's not quite a parody, and it's not quite badass. Yet, the plot is still...let's say engaging, despite all that. The gameplay is a similar story. From a modern perspective the controls are kinda garbage, but once you get used to it, it does have a certain logic to them. Similarly, the level design seems haphazard on first inspection, but then you realize it's open by design. There, are many objectives, some of which are optional, some of which aren't directly stated. The stealth is not as Solid (heh) as Metal Gear, but well done in its own right. This all makes exploring & experimenting quite fun. In conclusion, I wasn't always exactly sure what this game was trying to do, but it sure did do whatever that was. Kinda. #45: Jumping Flash! Widely considered to be the first fully 3D rendered game, all the way back in 1994. This is a first person platformer, featuring a triple jump that gets you dizzyingly high, and also features shooting, boss battles, and Doom-like corridor levels to break up the semi open world platforming levels. It's short, but a nice palette cleanser game. See here for my full review. #44: Medal of Honor - Underground Underground is a sizeable step forward in gameplay, level design, multiplayer, and arguably story. Unfortunately the gameplay still FEELS nearly as bad as the first from a modern perspective. It doesn't replace the original either, since the campaign is the only reason to play either of them. #43: Jumping Flash! 2 The worst thing you can say about these games is that they feel like they should have been a pack in game. They would still be short with both bundled together. Wouldn't have been happy to pay $120 in 90s money to play both games, but with no investment they're a lot of fun, and the level design & draw distance are a bit better this round. #42: Syphon Filter 2 2 tightens up the gameplay mechanics and storytelling from 1, and is less haphazard. The parts that aged like milk from 1 are still more or less here. It's the same formula as the rest of the PS1 Trilogy, but 2 is certainly the most realized version of that formula. Basically any given 3rd person shooter/3rd person action game since PS2 is better, but the approach to level design is still what stands out. It's pretty good, but not the most urgent thing to clear from your backlog. #41: Ogre Battle - The March of The Black Queen This is the first Ogre game, and it is good from the jump. Unfortunately light on story, which is a strength with later games. One could argue the graphics are the best in the series: despite being the oldest it focuses on the sprite work instead of 3D, which generally works better for these types of games. 64 & Let Us Cling Together are better, and so are a decent amount of other SRPGs. I'd still recommend this though, the mechanics differ enough on every entry. #40: Tomba! 2 - The Evil Swine Returns Tomba went from 2D in the first, to 3D in the second. Sort of..it's mostly 2.5D, but you also move backwards, forward, or diagonal in a straight line sometimes. Sort of like you're on rails...hard to explain but maybe most accurately described as 2.75D. Which is weird, but unique. Genre is also hard to describe. Platformer with Metroidvania influences. Backtracking is involved, the world is semi open at times, and you can go after various objectives. I like Tomba 2 for similar reasons as Syphon Filter. It allows you to approach the game in various ways, and rewards you for trying things out and exploring. The voice acting & music are grating, but the visual aesthetic is charming, if weird. #39: Wild Arms A JRPG set in a world mixed between fantasy & the old west. It is mostly 2D sprite based, and battles are in 3D. In retrospect, a lot more RPGs from this era should have gone that route, it is a lot more visually consistent. 2D is better for exploring, 3D is better for big moments, even if the 3D is...not great. Is this the objectively best Wild Arms game? Maybe not...but it's the only one that really kept my attention besides maybe 3, and mostly because I like 3's art style. There is something about 1 that makes it feel more like a real world. #38: Twisted Metal 2 Twisted Metal is the premiere vehicular battle series, and it doesn't have any true competition. There's not much story, but the lore & tone is badass. 2 is easily the best PS1 Twisted Metal. It plays a lot better than 1 with more content, and doesn't lose the tone like 3 & 4. The main thing holding it back is the controls & hit detection, which are not great, especially when compared to the PS2/3 games. TM2 is a bit of a historic relic at this point, but not completely replaceable by Black et al. #37: Brave Fencer Musashi A 3D action platformer that is alleged to be Square's response to Ocarina of Time, but that's hard to believe due to how silly this game is in comparison. It's really more like a Goemon game with the sense of humor & focus on platforming. BFM is fun to play through & have some laughs with, but I have to say, I couldn't tell you anything about the characters or plot at this point. There's a lot of platformer mascot competitors that are more memorable. Then again, nothing stands out much as frustrating that I can remember either. #36: Tales of Destiny The second "Tales of __" game, a series of games that, like Final Fantasy, are almost never in the same storytelling universe. Instead, they're connected by a unique style of action RPG gameplay, and focus on characters over main plot. Destiny has aged better than some of the newer Tales of games, but many of the negative tropes started here too. The story is simultaneously too high concept, yet predictable & meandering. The characters have depth, but often buried under several layers of anime tropes that take a few dozen hours to whittle away at. The voice acting is often incomplete, especially the "skits" (optional cut scenes). The graphics are behind the times (for the better in this case if you ask me, I'm not a fan of early 3D). Tales of had not yet jettisoned random encounters, and the encounter rate is high. Still, despite my gripes, I like the Tales of formula. The gameplay is still pretty original to this day, and it feels nice to just...marinate, in a world with characters that feel somewhat real with interesting character development, despite the nonsense surrounding them. Tales of is almost inherently a B-tier franchise, but it realizes this, and plays with the concept. #35: Soul Edge {Soul Blade} Fighters with weapons did not mix very well up to this point. Sometimes they existed, but Soul Edge/Soul Calibur uses weapons to craft unique movesets & fighting styles, without breaking balance. I really enjoy the focus on mixing up strike levels (high strike vs mid or low) & basic special moves, rather than chaining combos that make my thumb hurt from abusing the D-pad. Traditional fighters have their place, but I have always gravitated to Soul Calibur. But, as you might expect, the later Soul Calibur games look & play significantly better, so this isn't high on the list. Still, Soul Edge is different enough, with a darker tone. It has a lot of different challenges & modes to keep you busy. Check it out before settling on your favorite SC game, especially if you're interested in the lore. #34: Breath of Fire IV 4 is BoF honed to gameplay perfection. But BoF is not known for gameplay innovation: it's solid, but by the numbers turn based combat. 4's story is not as stellar as 3's, or even 2's in some ways. It's good, but slightly rushed, with unanswered questions. That being said, 4 is the second best BoF game. There are no painful downsides to it, it's a very enjoyable classic style RPG. Looks better than 3 as well, or at least has a more interesting art style, inspired by watercolors. #33: Ghost In The Shell Armored Core + Spider-Man. Short but sweet, and higher effort than you might expect. The levels are small but don't feel like it. There are lots of ways to approach enemies since you can climb walls. Written by the manga author for extra authenticity. Personally, I prefer the anime movie's tone & approach, but the manga's tone & episodic nature works better in video games. The anime cut scenes & music add to the presentation a lot. Even the common clunky PS1 era controls feel natural since you're piloting a heavy tank. #32: Alundra Alundra is a top-down action RPG that's closer to action adventure with puzzles & platforming sections. In other words, a darker, harder Zelda. This is a positive but also a negative. Hard isn't always bad, but a lot of the frustration comes from the puzzle progression being illogical half the time. Some puzzles are quite fun & you feel like a genius when solving them, but this is inconsistent: give each puzzle a real try, but don't be afraid to be quick on the trigger of pulling out a guide once you stop having fun. You don't have momentum when jumping, requiring you to be very precise. But enough complaining: what Alundra does best is the story, it's more memorable than many games higher on this list. It's about going into the dreams of others, and it gets creative. There are plenty of areas to explore. The overall gameplay/combat is fun, and satisfying. One of the better Zelda alternatives. #31: Bushido Blade Unlike other fighting games with weapons, Bushido Blade is realistic. If you get hit without blocking or deflecting the blade, it's almost always a one hit kill. It's also possible to maim the opponent by hitting limbs, which dramatically decreases their chances of winning. As you can imagine, this is a lot less mechanically complex compared to other fighting games, but makes for a unique experience because of how deliberate every move becomes. The polar opposite of Bloody Roar, if you will. The variety in weapons is welcome, yet I find myself defaulting to the same weapon to make things even. There is an attempt at balancing weapon reach & swing speed, but could use some work if they wanted it to be a more serious competitive fighting game. #30: Tenchu - Stealth Assassins Tenchu is one of the better ninja games. I don't mean the best franchise with ninjas in it, but a "ninja game": one where you actually FEEL like a Ninja. Ninja Gaiden, TMNT, etc go for spectacle & flashy martial arts moves. Tenchu -Steal Assassins is about, well, stealth assassination. Other "stealth franchises" like Assassin's Creed give up on game balance, making you all but invincible regardless of approach. In Tenchu, you're easy to kill, with a solid amount of enemies in each level, enemy spacing that facilitates ganking if you are discovered, and no checkpoints whatsoever. There are mandatory bosses though, and the combat is pretty well thought out for the time. You can see the influence of Tenchu in modern 3D action games, particularly Dark Souls. There is no stamina bar, but attack animations are deliberate & interruptable. Hitboxes are surprisingly fair, dodge rolling is effective. Unfortunately there are tank controls. You turn faster than your average horror protagonist, so it's playable, probably the least irritating use of tank controls that I can think of. The presentation is mixed. The soundtrack isn't attention grabbing but does exactly what it should by setting the tone well. The voice acting is just awful, especially the main character Ayame. The graphics are ok, but the draw distance is horrible. Not too immersion breaking though, you won't realistically see very far in constant darkness. #29: Legend of Legaia The main reason to play this game is the unique fighting game + turn based JRPG combat system known as "tactical arts". I had a lot of fun with it, but the enjoyment falls off the further you get into the game. There is a very clear formula to winning, and once you see it you can't unsee it. The story is bleak, bordering on grimdark. It reminds me of The Walking Dead (TV Version). It goes: strong character moments>try to do good thing in new area>bad things happen, sometimes for no reason>repeat. Some unique story beats repeat several times too. Yet, LoL doesn't have much to say about these cycles specifically, it's like they did it on accident or to pad time. The beginning was strong, & the ending satisfying, but the last almost half of the game can feel like a slog at times, without much subtext to keep you thinking. LoL has fully 3D graphics, which were impressive at the time, but haven't aged as well as others. The music ranges from catchy to annoying. It would be cool to see a refined version of this general format. #28: Fear Effect 2 - Retro Helix FE2 is a mix between Tomb Raider & Parasite Eve, which is itself a combo of Resident Evil & an RPG. FE2 is a legitimate competitor to all of them. The cell shaded graphics age the visuals better than just about anything on the PS1. Pretty good voice acting for the time. Sexed up in a way that's not (too) cringey. Uh...if you're into that sort of thing. Obviously I'm not, and I'm judging you for being a pervert. It's clear where to go for the main story most of the time, but there is plenty to explore. Sometimes a little too much, I don't think the game justifies the length. The inventory system is frustrating if you're in a hurry to use something (like choosing a weapon in battle). I appreciate the option to ditch tank controls, but the analog control is not great in a modern context. Well, they tried. Lastly, some of the puzzles are too difficult. If you can get past these issues, you will have a good time. #27: Tenchu 2 - Birth of The Stealth Assassins 2 has the best story in the series, slightly better graphics, smoother animations, QoL improvements, far better voice acting. A level editor is now included. The draw distance is still bad, but slightly better, and there is a smooth transition effect that looks almost intentional, instead of rendering block per block. Still stuck with tank controls, despite coming out well after the Dualshock. The level design comparison is mixed. More colors & daytime missions seem like a good idea, but sort of ruins the aesthetic that 1 nails so well. The levels themselves are better on average, less copy paste, but the first level in 1 is still somehow the best Tenchu level on PS1. The worst part of Tenchu 2 is that there is NO MUSIC, a truly baffling decision after the perfectly suited music in Tenchu 1. This sucks, but overall I do prefer 2. #26: Breath of Fire III Peak BoF. The character ideas are the best part. The story is good, though the pacing can be challenging. The presentation is well done too: the sprite work, the music, the backgrounds. The usual BoF gameplay is standard JRPG fare, but there is more complexity in 3 than usual, such as the dragon gene system. While it doesn't reach the highest highs of my favorite JRPGs, BoF3 is consistently good, with a sense of adventure. #25: Future Cop LAPD A no-nonsense third person mech shooter. And by no nonsense, I mean plenty of nonsense: the world building/lore in this game is wild. Yet Future Cop is very straightforward. Deploy to a problem area, see cool level/enemy design, walk linearly to the problem, shoot the problem, receive new weapon types sparingly but steadily. This is not a criticism. In fact when the levels get more open occasionally, they get less fun. Feels a little silly getting lost in your giant mech with nothing to shoot: Future Cop doesn't have horror to fall back on like Doom with its infamous "getting lost while trying to find 3 keys" segments. Future Cop is at it's best with tight corridors packed with enemies that force you to strafe well to avoid enemy fire & switch vehicle modes regularly. Presentation is great, not the least of which is the sound design. It gives you plenty to listen to/overhear, but not enough to distract you. The dispatch lady, for example, is delightful, but not constantly yapping or bossing you around. Even the early 3D graphics & FMVs more or less hold up. After you complete the campaign, you unlock a new mode that is the very first MOBA game. As much as I dislike MOBAs, that alone cements this game in history. #24: Tales of Phantasia [JP] The first Tales of __ game, and you know what? Still one of the best ones. It's not the weirdest or most unique, some people even complain that it borders on cliché, but that is a strength here: sometimes Tales of gets lost in the weeds. In my opinion, main story is stronger than usual, with higher initial stakes, which keeps you interested. But Phantasia still has all the Tales of things that you expect, like the focus on characters & worldbuilding. Combat has improved since Phantasia, yet it's mostly fully formed from the beginning. The game is voice acted with good sound quality for the era, and the pixel art is great. #23: Colony Wars A hidden gem first person space combat shooter. CW gives you various objectives, and sometimes gives you a certain amount of time to complete them. Yet, there is rarely a fail state, unless you die of course. The story adapts to whatever level of success you were able to accomplish in the mission, so there are many unique levels that you can only access when you have specific outcomes, as well as different endings to the game. CW doesn't do a good job of explaining this, so play blind to the end, then follow a guide upon replay to explore the additional content. The repetition hammers out some of the nuances of the setting, which makes it more interesting than the first time. The gameplay is very fun. Difficult at times, but not unfair. You're never struggling with the controls, it's more about positioning & alternating your weapon types to avoid overheating. Even the visuals hold up to a certain extent. #22: Oddworld - Abe's Oddysee Oddworld is a 2.5D puzzle cinematic platformer. It is about slavery between different alien species, ultimately using their slaves as a food source because they burned through their previous resources. Also there are quirky characters & comedy, fun for the whole family! The level design reflects the ultracapitalist world that the story presents. The pre-rendered backgrounds are detailed, but show a run down factory, held together by the outer space equivilent of duct tape. You need to talk to other aliens of your species to recruit to your cause, and to get around other alien species. There is a lot of thought put into the other alien cultures, and your approach will very based on what you learn about them. The worst part is that it's very hard, with a bad checkpoint system. Oddworld is something of an antithesis to contemporary 2D platformers, but just as competent if you were getting tired of the tropes. #21: Legend of Mana You can now only attack left & right, with occasionally imprecise hit detection. The plot is a bit scatterbrained, and ultimately inconsequential to the overall series' plot. And yet, Legend is one of my favorite Mana games. The hand drawn 2D artwork is gorgeous. The music is incredible. I love replaying small bits just to experience the peerless presentation. I can do this because LoM is not a daunting investment, due to being split into multiple small stories. Some of the side plots don't even interact, but I was invested, it felt more like a real world. How often is there a main plot in real life? I felt more personally in control due to the "land make" system. And it exudes a sense of adventure better than most games. Lastly, despite those controls, the combat is still pretty fun to master, and most importantly, moment to moment gameplay is fun. LoM is different, and imperfect. But cool. #20: Colony Wars - Vengeance An overall improvement to the original. Better controls, better hit detection, better graphics, more content, and still with branching story. However, it sadly no longer has the cool narrator/CO from the first game, they got sued for doing a shameless James Earl Jones impression. Enemies are more aggressive, making it even harder despite the gameplay improvements that make it easier. So I'd understand if you liked the first better. #19: Parasite Eve Part survival horror, part JRPG. Does the gameplay marriage work? Opinions vary wildly, and I'm not honestly sure how I feel about it personally. It didn't ruin the experience though, the experience being the story, writing, music, and tone. Even this is not universally liked, but that's why I like Parasite Eve: it's not afraid to be unique. This was a good era for experimentation, and PE stands out even then for the storytelling themes. It does desperately need a remake though. It's a tough sell if you have no experience with early 3D jank. Then again, just about every aspect of Parasite Eve is easy to get wrong in a remake. #18: Ape Escape A 3D platformer made basically as an excuse to advertise the new DualShock, but as a result, it has aged better than most. What was once a gimmick controller with 2 sticks turned out to be the standard for decades to come. Ape Escape is centered around capturing other apes in different locations with various tools. Objectively, the level design is too straightforward, but subjectively, the theming & fun use of gadgets distract you from it. You can occasionally explore, and there are minigames to break up the regular gameplay loop. But in general, you run through a curated theme park with bright colors, and that's OK sometimes. #17: R-Types {1-2} The first two R-Type games in one package. Surprisingly, they hold up. Or at least 1 does. I view the original R-Type the same way as Final Fight. Is it better than R-Type? Its probably a classic. Is it worse than R-Type? Might be playable but why didn't the devs learn the right lessons from R-Type at some point in the last 40 years? 2's difficulty balance is way off, and is overall a mixed bag. Not unplayable, but the worst one in the series. There is a mode to play them both back to back as one adventure, which is pretty cool, like an endurance mode once you master both games. #16: Legend of Dragoon Legend of Dragoon's graphics/cut scenes are good for the time, though it does have those low resolution 2D backgrounds. The story is epic at times, emotional in others. It's an experience, but with a few caviats: the translation is not very good, and the pacing drags at times. It is best when it focuses on characters and smaller moments. Combat is mostly turn based, with real time combos called Additions that you can dial in if you have the right timing. I like it, but don't think it gives you enough incentive to use more complex Additions, due to the risk/reward balance. If you dial wrong, you get nothing. The Dragoon forms add an additional (and sick as hell) layer to the combat. I'd like to see a more updated and streamlined version of this combat, but like so much innovation on PS1, no one followed up, so this is what we have. #15: Gran Turismo It's hard to over state how big of a deal GT was. Someone in the comments may say "x game did x first", and that's probably true. But GT is like the first iPhone: nobody had ever done all the things together, and nobody had executed it anywhere close to the same level of polish & presentation. Or class. There are "car dudes" & "racing fans". Then there are "motorsports enthusiasts". GT is most certainly for the latter group. GT is like Apple in some of the negative ways too, like hiding useful options beneath several layers of menus in the name of aesthetic. But never enough to be limiting. Most GT games outdo the first, though 1 isn't the worst one. So if you ever run out of things to do in GT2, you will not be disappointed. #14: Incredible Crisis Follow a Japanese family through their chaotic lives as they rush to prepare for their grandmother's birthday party! What? That sounds boring? Well, get ready to put on your wolf mask, finger a girl you just met on a ferris wheel, and prepare some javelin missiles for that 300 foot tall pink teddy bear kaiju in the distance, because this game is bonkers. IC is a proto WarioWare game. There are 24 minigames that last maybe 2 hours, but none of that time is wasted. There is plenty of variety in gameplay, and the game left me smiling at almost every moment. #13: DoDonPachi [JP] Overall lesser known, but often listed as one of the best shmups of all time by shmup enthusiasts. The gimmick is the scoring system that requires you to keep chaining combos together quickly or lose points. This is a great way to show how you are improving in a more concrete way than regular scoring. The story/lore is limited as you might expect, but the true ending is pretty wild if you can get there. Not the easiest game to get into, and the console ports have some minor limitations. But I definitely recommend playing this of you are a serious shoot-em-up player, it's one of the classics. #12: Lunar - Silver Star Story Complete Cute. That's the word that comes to mind when describing Lunar. It's certainly not cute all the time, the story takes some turns. But at their heart, the characters are likeable, upbeat, and you want them to succeed (even with the terrible jokes). The combat is turn based, but tactical positioning in the field matters. Enemies have level scaling, which is always a terrible idea, but the implementation is among the best I've seen. You can avoid encounters, which combos well with the level scaling. At least I never had to grind. Good 2D pixel art, good cut scenes, incredible music. It does the classic tropes but challenges enough of them that it doesn't feel like you've played it a thousand times already. #11: Silent Hill There are good survival horror games. And then there are the first 4 Silent Hill games. This game is probably going to be remade soon. It should be, and it will probably be good. Yet, the original presentation is irreplaceable, in a way. The iconic fog was implemented to hide the limitations of the draw distance, same with the limited light from your flashlight. Even the low-poly character models, or the infamous PS1 texture wobble add to the atmosphere in a certain type of way by giving off an uncanny valley, unreal vibe. But the best part about Silent Hill is the writing & lore. Few games are actually "horror", especially in this era. There are "scary games" that rely on jumpscares & gore. Then there are horrifying games, that make you question your own sanity. Unfortunately, there are mandatory tank controls, which keeps Silent Hill out of the top 10. #10: Einhander Einhander is a 3D horizontal shmup. Normally, I prefer pixel art since shmups are 2D anyway, but Einhander takes advantage of 3D by switching camera angles, making the action feel more cinematic. The gimmick is stealing weapons. When you shoot an enemy, they will sometimes drop a gunpod. You choose between 3 ships to pilot. One ship allows you to carry 3 gunpods but only use one at a time, another allows you to carry 2 that can be fired simultaneously, and the third can only carry 1, but the default machine gun weapon has double power. I usually stick to the last one, but there are reasons to prefer one over the other. The sound quality & music is impressive for the time, the sound files must have taken up most of the CD. The level design is just OK. You may not notice because it's fairly short & has great presentation, but it's more noticeable upon replays. Still, one of the best shmups ever, and my favorite on PS1. #9: Lunar 2 - Eternal Blue Complete Lunar 2 is slightly better than Lunar 1 in just about every way, gameplay, and story (the character interactions may be better in 1 though). 1 is no slouch, and they're very much connected. This is the ideal scenario for a sequel. #8: WipEout 3 - Special Edition [EU] WipEout is an excellent futuristic racer, on par with F-Zero. The soundtrack is the most memorable part for me. It's very 90s techno, in only the best of ways. There are a lot of vehicle choices, good track variety, multiple game modes, and surprisingly solid physics. Air brakes on the triggers allow you to brake lighter than normal, leaning towards a specific direction, which add a lot to the strategy. Lastly, weapons set it apart from F-Zero, and are implemented better than similar games. #7: Valkyrie Profile A 2D action platformer when exploring, but when you attack or get hit by an enemy, it switches to turn based combat with the addition of combos. The graphics are beautiful, especially the backgrounds. Great soundtrack. The story is intriguing. You are a Valkyrie resurrected to fight for Odin in Ragnarok. Your job is to recruit others who have died nobly. When recruiting, you learn about the recruits' past lives, and also get a glimpse of youf past life too. If you learn everything, you get the true ending, which is way cooler. Norse mythology is often used in games, but it is rare to see it told in such a...mythological way, as seen here. And yet, it still feels personal & emotional, a metaphor for systematic oppression & cycles of abuse in real life. The only negative is that it's pretty dang hard, and you more or less need a guide to get the true ending. Picking easier modes than "Hard" also limit the equipment you get, which counter intuitively can make the game harder on easy mode, or at least harder for full completion. #6: Tekken 3 Tekken is the benchmark for 3D fighters, and 3 is still one of the most beloved entries in the series. 3 is easily the best PS1 Tekken, and the blueprint moving forward. There were later attempts at innovation, but many were rolled back in the next entry, or replaced with a different gimmick. A big reason for this is how responsive the controls are, and how solid of a base 3 is with movesets & balance. It is easy to pick up, but has a high skill ceiling. Certainly later games look better graphically, and the story can be mildly entertaining to follow, but you have all you need here, at the end of the day. #5: Vagrant Story Vagrant Story's combat system is an inventive combo of turn based & action. The action parts keeps you engaged & teach timing. The turn based parts give options. Oh the options. It's not TOO difficult to pick up, but gets pretty complicated, with features like chain combos, striking certain parts of the body, weapon creation, Break Arts, etc. You definitely have to keep learning the systems & experiment. Menu management can get out of hand, but the game mostly keeps you moving. I'm not in love with the color palette, a lot of the game is in stone caves/buildings, of various browns & greys. But everything rendered in 3D, with impressive character models that look like a PS2 game. It's top down, kind of like Metal Gear Solid. The story also took inspiration from MGS in some ways, the political intrigue, cinematic quality, tight pacing, even espionage elements, but medieval. There's a lot to like, with gameplay elements that are still unique to Vagrant Story to this very day. #4: Gran Turismo 2 GT2 is even better than the first Gran Turismo, with even more content. In fact, it still has the most amount of content of any GT game, and even has exclusive content such as Pike's Peak. The graphics, soundtrack, physics, and progression are all better too. #3: Xenogears An incredibly inventive RPG with an incredible story & impressive graphics (for the time). The gameplay starts off familiar, and they mix it up with mech battles later on. I don't want to say much else, just play it. Unfortunately they seem to have ran out of money on the second disc, and the ending is therefore not as strong as the rest of the game. It's still great, I mean look where it is on the list. But it's hard not to think of how it could have been. #2: Castlevania - Symphony of The Night SoTN is the first Metroidvania styled Castlevania. Instead of having a single weapon & sub weapons, there are dozens of different weapons that you can find, and many different weapon types. Different clothing, shields, items, forms you can transform into, and more. You're always discovering something new, and creating new approaches to combat & movement. Some of these can be combined in unexpected ways. Sometimes in broken ways that the devs didn't intend, but that's also fun. The level design is top notch, and the mid-game twist of the inverted castle makes it even more memorable, if over reliant on flying by that point. There are tons of secrets, great boss battles, legendary music, and great sprite work. A must play if I've ever seen one. #1: Metal Gear Solid + VR Missions Trust me when I say that there are no words to describe Metal Gear Solid as a franchise. I've tried. It makes me sound schizophrenic. It's the ultimate "you had to be there" experience. But I promise: it makes sense in context, when you're the one playing it. The series' story has been literally life changing for me. Not only is the gameplay also amazing (though takes a while to get used to in this one), but there are a ton of unique ideas stuffed in that can only be done in the video game format. MGS has a lot of love and detail put into it. I still sometimes discover something new that I can do with the games systems, or a minor detail that in all likelihood, few people would ever notice. VR Missions is the epitome of this. They had so many more ideas for stealth levels that they just...made them anyway & put them on a second disc without a story attached, for free. MGS is an icon. Then, and now. Think I missed a classic game, or question why I chose the PS1 version? Check here and here respectively. submitted by /u/Not-Clark-Kent to r/patientgamers [link] [comments]

TLDR for backstory: Hasan and Ethan, and their respective communities (including the subreddits in question) have been going back and forth regarding the topic of Israel-Palestine and Ethan Kleins beliefs regarding it, and the ensuing drama that has resulted. r/h3h3productions is a pro Ethan subreddit, and r/LeftoversH3 is an anti Ethan subreddit, with both getting into various bouts of drama with one another. Ryan Beard intended to make a video overviewing all the history behind the Ethan Klein and Hasan drama and providing his opinions abd criticisms for both sides of this conflict. Ryan's Tweet in full: Hey everyone. So I have decided to pussy out of making a video about Ethan and Hasan lol. When I announced that I was working on a video trying to give a level headed perspective on the situation critiquing everyone involved, I didn’t expect that I would be threatened by Hasan and attacked by the h3 snark subreddit for weeks and get a bunch of threats in my DMs. I’ve kinda realized that everyone on the internet is super entrenched in their opinions on this stupid drama war, and no one is really interested in hearing me try to give nuanced takes on it, and I kinda just wanna swear off talking about leftist/liberal infighting in general l. Anyway, free Palestine. If you all wanna think that I’m a liberal Zionist because I think Bad Empanada is a disgusting psychopath for his history of doxing and brigading and threatening to kill people and harassing people and saying the left should care less about anti-semitism, you can feel free to see me that way 🤷🏻‍♂️. And if you wanna call me a pussy for backing out, you would probably be right. I just think the online left is an absolute shit show right now, and I just wanna move on and do my own thing Note 1: the "H3 Snark" subreddit he's referring to is (most likely) the LeftoversH3 sub, as many members of the previous H3 Snark subreddit migrated over, and both are negative towards Ethan Klein; the H3H3productions subreddit also commonly refers to LeftoversH3 as the snark subreddit. The original H3 Snark sub appears to have been abandoned/deleted. Note 2: the "threatened by Hasan" comment is referring to a message made by Hasan in his discord server shortly after Beard announced their video, which Beard responded to sarcastically stating "I'm shaking in my boots" The h3h3productions subreddit (Ethan fans) and LeftoversH3 (Hasan fans and Ethan critics, and the sub referenced by Beard) have very different reactions to the announcement: h3h3productions post: Ryan Beard will no longer be making a video on Ethan and Hasan, says he was threatened by Hasan and snark Comments: Notice how he didn’t say any H3 fans attacked him. Good job guys way to set the bar on how a fanbase should response to an announcement of a critical video Man, I was kinda looking forward to this video too lmao. I was interested to see how someone (mostly) unrelated to this would present everything and what their opinion would be. Fuckin snark. I mean, I was actually looking forward to his video because he seemed to want to point out the issues with both sides and I was hoping that would mean we finally get a critique that explains what Ethan is doing wrong but without being extremely biased. Snark is going to say it was really H3 fans posing as Hasan fans and snarkers lmao It's actually a bit of a shame because there are things Ethan could be criticised on - and Ethan admitted as such and apologised for some of them during the debate - and I think Ryan Beard would have been very good at being straight down the line with it. The problem as I see it is the Hasanark communities are scared of that because they know their actions look insane and unhinged regardless of any criticism levied at Ethan. Secondary to not wanting to have to deal with the backlash, it sounds like he got a taste of what Ethan has been dealing with and that also changed his opinion on how Ethan has been responding. I would bet his take included something about Ethan’s ‘behaviour’ lately and he realized why he has been responding the way he has. Honestly: would be an absolute power move from Ethan, if he would let beard boy call in and let him present his critique live. I‘m pretty sure Ethan wouldn’t mind the discussion since he knows pretty much every shit slinging angle by now. And if he has a point, I’m also sure Ethan would want to know. This is the most reasonable thing he could have done. He almost fucked around and found out. Even the thought of critiquing Hasan warrants harassment, death threats and attacks from the snark. These people are just as deluded, or maybe even more, than the MAGA freaks who worship Trump as their savior. I honestly think they are worse than the average maga moron. Yeah, smartest choice of his life. Hasan and his followers are insane and dangerous. I wouldn't want to make a video involving them right now either. Unfortunately, that's exactly what they want, to bully creators away from "level headed nuanced arguments". Yup the creators who've decided to jump into the drama for the views have all initially had a good response to their video and then bam exposed for something weird. I think this may be a landmark in historical pop-cultural because the dust hasn't even begun to settle. I don't know what that will be exactly, but it sure feels like this entire drama and the real life genocide, various invasions, has me thinking 2030 that we'll be wising we were back in '25. It's very telling that Ryan didn't withdraw due to hate from this sub. Dude was going to critique Hasan and Ethan, only got hate/harrasment from one side 🤔 Gets attacked by one side and says everyone entrenched in their opinions. Is making a video supposedly being critical of both sides. But only gets attacked by one side and doesn't think hmmm maybe both siding it is the wrong path. Also this shit has gone beyond a stupid drama war. This shit is effecting the real world in noticeable ways. Viewing it as just drama shows a lack of understanding of the whole situation. Sure some of it is petty internet drama. But when one side is radicalizing young people into supporting terrorists and hating America... ya we're beyond both siding this situation. My takeaway is that he loosely both sided it on "everyone entrenched in the drama" to escape the attacks because he got a taste of the snark hate brigade and didn't want more. In his heart of hearts he knows what side is wrong, he even says the harassment came from Hasan and snark. It's a coward move and he admits it. Like with Willy recently, every creator that gets targeted by snark needs to be a united front in wiping them off the internet. Big creators and the media need to pressure Reddit to fire the snarker they have in admin level positions for the site and stop bending the rules for the sub so they can continue to death threat people and fester like a tumor. It's only a matter of time before these psychopaths actually hurt someone irl and Reddit is going to be culpable as fuck after refusing every legal request and bending the rules so they don't have to end the sub I totally agree what was he thinking with this whole thing I don’t blame the guy. I do think that he’s trying to both sides the conflict, but I get it. Dudes got a brand to protect. I don’t think he’s trying to both sides it, he’s been passionate about antisemitism for a long time and he’s made it pretty clear where he sits on most of this. I think his angle was like “I’m going to show that you can make reasonable well-intended criticisms of Ethan Klein without being a psychopath like these people”. But it became clear that A) adding more criticism to the pile right now is both redundant and kinda cruel even if you mean well, and B) no amount of nuance will make any difference to the psychopaths. Most people on Ethan’s side aren’t just blind supporters, we probably share some of Ryan’s nuanced critiques to some degree or another, but this really isn’t a time that we care to hear them. Meanwhile the people against Ethan have become so rabid that they don’t want to hear moderate criticism either, they want blood. There was just no audience for this LeftoversH3 post: Zionist friend of the show Ryan Beard boldly steps down from making a Ethan/Hasan video, cites threats by Hasan and h3snark sub, which is not even active Comments: As a frequenter of this sub I really haven’t seen that much chatter about him. He went after destiny but finds us scary? Weird As someone from h3snark, h3h3_productions and leftoversh3. I’ve never heard of this person, nor do I care about this dumb both sides video they’re crying about They are truly not as important as they think they are Let's be real - he's blaming H3Snark for it because he probably got death threats from people in the main sub and the only way to extricate himself from more abuse from them is to denounce their enemies. Why do I think this? First of all, as anyone who doomscrolls this sub knows, he barely comes up at all, and, when he does, it's primarily criticism of his position on Zionism (and denial of it). Second of all, the minute male host mentions ANYONE to denounce them as bad, suddenly they get rabid DGGers "fans" of H3 that suddenly cyberstalk, bully, and send death threats and worse. Just like other right wing crybully fans, for some reason. It's way more likely that H3 fans, who habitually harass people now, harassed Beard for even daring to taking a "middle road" on male host's sociopathic behaviour. They might have even pretended to be from H3snark, if we wanna be charitable about it lmao. For real though, male host is basically a stochastic terrorist now. It's like the early days of LibsofTikTok where every person Chaya lied about suddenly gets death/bomb threats. It's not at that level yet, but it's the same anti-social behaviour, and male host should be condemned for it he realized theres no way to put this at even grounds and knows h3 sub doesnt accept any neutral positions, but sure blame snark that never bullied anyone lol Threatened by Hasan is the most hilarious thing ever. There's a whole clip chimp factory of youtubers with more subs than Ryan who make defamatory videos about Hasan every single day and Hasan literally does not care about them, but Ryan thinks a post in Hasan's discord about people who only speak up about I/P now that it's safe is a personal threat to them because coincidences do not happen and everything in this world revolves around Ryan Beard. Maybe I missed something, but what did Hasan ever say to "threaten" Ryan Beard? Hasan made a post about thom yorke suddenly changing his Zionist stance because “social Media pressure” and all the hit dogs hollered because their narcissism makes them assume Hasan is talking to them specifically Hasan made a comment in his discord about people who are only speaking up about Israel now that it's safe, but were completely silent for 19 months of the genocide. And Ryan thinks it's about them because...Oreo said it was and that's all the proof they needed. Hasan didn't say anything. Hasan criticized "people who have been silent about genocide until now, trying to get clout" which was in reference to some streamer. Ryan, in their infinite wisdom, assumed that they were the center of the universe and cried. Hit dogs holler. Ryan Beard is a Zionist shill who supports Israel How are people like this not embarrassed saying "free Palestine" for lip service and then nothing else in June of fucking 2025. Do you have anything else to say about that??? About what's happening right now??? No??? Weird how they can never show proof funny thing is he's blaming hasan and "snark" because he knows it won't result in any serious retaliation towards him and h3 community will praise him for it, whereas if he blamed h3 they'd punish him for it forever Considering H3Snark isn’t even active anymore, I wonder if Ryan is a) lying, b) receiving messages from fungi/randoms claiming to be from H3Snark, or c) too dumb to realize that the sub has migrated submitted by /u/Gorotheninja to r/SubredditDrama [link] [comments]

And Wayward Odyssey is back to its more regularly scheduled programming. Stynek and politics, oh boy, everyone's favorite! Let's get back to it then, shall we? https://preview.redd.it/3l7y4f7k1w8d1.png?width=2453&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e31ed71c1e89adfb031742edafd8d1f3dd4d7dd Extra thank you to /u/Eager_Question for proofreading this chapter and for Andes' cameo in the chapter~ Thanks for cover art goes to /u/Between_The_Space! And, as usual, thanks to /u/SpacePaladin15 for his own great work and letting fanfiction flow, and everyone who supported and enjoyed the fic thus far. Your support keeps me motivated to provide you more~ First - Prev - Next Memory transcription subject: Stynek, Suddenly Awakened Venlil Child Date [standardized human time]: January 7th, 2137 I felt myself being shaken awake in the middle of the night. I couldn’t be sure whether it really was the middle of the night or not, of course, The humans always kept the lights on in my room, only dimming them somewhat when it was nighttime. That was nice of them, considering I was used to the constant light and sleeping in actual darkness would be scary. Still, just because it wasn’t dark didn’t mean it wasn’t night. And it also didn’t mean that it felt good to be stirred awake like that, so I just shut my eyes again and grumbled. As more of my senses and sensibilities activated, I realized that I wasn’t actually even in my bed. Instead, a pair of hands carefully wrapped around me, cupping me to a shoulder. Now, there were times before when Noah woke me up by shaking me carefully or even by just lifting me out of bed and carrying me around. But those were not done in the middle of a good sleeptime, and rather in the morning. And on top of that… those weren’t Noah’s hands and arms holding me. I would recognize the feeling immediately. These were thinner, more slender arms with smaller hands… I let out a sleepy grumble, trying to indicate that I want to go back to sleep, but the grip holding me in the unknown human’s arms did not at all weaken. Instead there was a gentle hushing noise from the human, as if trying to coddle me back to sleep. Well, I didn’t like being taken out of my bed in the middle of said sleep! “Staahp…” I groaned, lightly batting my mystery holder. “Wanna ‘eep…” In response, the grip still did not loosen, but the human holding me did pat me on the back gently. That was nice, even if it didn’t satisfy my want to go back to resting in a soft bed. I wiggled some more only to have the hands hold me tighter and the human to hush me down again. “Wanna my bed…” I mumbled. There was more gentle hushing, which did not help. I finally decided to open my eyes again and figure out what was happening. I was no longer in my room, for once. Over the shoulder of the human carrying me, I could see that we were actually in a hallway and they were very quickly walking down it. All the lights were dim, like they usually are at night, and nobody else was around, which was unsurprising with human sleep cycles. So I was being carried somewhere in the middle of the night. Did I eat something wrong again yesterday? I thought I’d be feeling queasy by now if I had… Deciding to figure things out further, I shifted my head to take a good look at the person who was carrying me, only to realize that it was… ”…Sara?” I asked, recognizing the human woman. “Shh… Yes, that’s me, dear. Just relax and sleep.” She cooed as she made her way all the way to the door to the back of the facility and left. The outside was dark, and the sky wasn’t starry with how cloudy it was, but thankfully the exterior lights prevented the darkness from being too overwhelming. The chill of Earth’s night ran through me as a breeze blew past us, but Sara seemed completely unperturbed. She instead kept walking all the way to a grouping of human cars off in the distance. “Where are we going…?” I asked, looking around. There wasn’t anyone else present, only Sara. And now she was approaching one of the cars, still carrying me. “It’s a surprise. Don’t worry, just relax, it won’t take long to get there.” She answered vaguely. Once at the car, she opened the back door and plopped me on the back seat, while she herself took the driver’s seat. The car started with a loud growl and took off almost immediately. Though it was moving towards what I now knew was deeper into the Facility’s territory, not out of it like when me and Noah visited the Petting Zoo… “Is it like a petting zoo again…?” I asked, feeling excited about an experience like that. That was a really fun day! Even the dogs were fun to play with! “No, nothing like that…” Sara replied, glancing back at me from her seat. She shot me a light smile, seeing that I sat comfortably in the back seat. “But trust me, this is something much more important and much better.” She focused on the path again, while I tried to figure out what it could possibly be that she was talking about. If it was important then it had to be something that had to be planned in advance. That meant I likely already knew of it in some way! Because the humans, despite seemingly trying, are really bad at doing big important things in secret. I mulled over the important plans I’ve been told of that were to be happening, but nothing seemed to fit, except one specific thing. Even that didn’t quite fit, but it seemed like the best guess I’d have. I wasn’t sure why we would be going to another building that I knew was there but never had to visit for it, but it was the most reasonable thing to guess. “My implant? Is it happening early?” My tail wagged in excitement, as another piece of the puzzle suddenly clicked. “Is that why we left the drone behind?! It’s happening today?!” Sara let out a chuckle. “Much closer, but no. Not that. But you’re right, I left the drone behind for a reason.” She said, focusing on the road. She wasn’t turning her head towards me anymore, but in the little mirrors I could see her and she looked happier and more cheerful than I’ve ever seen her. “Is it related to you specifically picking me up?” I tried to lead her on for further hints. “You won’t guess it, Stynek.” Sara tried to dissuade me. “But the answer is ‘kind of’. It’s related to me being the one to pick you up but not directly.” I returned back to ruminating on what it could be anyway. It was still within bounds of the facility, but in this other building I never was to, and it was something Sara specifically was related to. Sara was a biologist, if I remembered right, so maybe it is something medical but not the implant itself? Thinking about it, I remembered something about Sara distancing herself from working with me after that one argument we had. I didn’t hold a grudge, but I also hadn’t seen her since until today. I partly felt bad about it, but I also couldn’t do anything about it. Until now that is. “Hey, Sara…?” I called out to her. “Yes? Do you need something?” She asked, but then, without even waiting for me to answer she spoke more. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” “No, I am okay, just sleepy.” I replied with a yawn. “I wanted to say that you do not have to keep away. I like you like others. You are nice, even if sometimes in annoying ways.” “Oh, Stynek…” Sara sighed. “It’ll be okay. Thank you, but it’ll all be fine either way now. Plus, we’re here.” Sara stopped the car near a big paved area. The building was still a bit in the distance, but she got out and went ahead to pick me up again. I was awake enough by now to walk on my own, but I didn’t mind being carried around either. Especially since it was making up for the fact that I didn’t get a proper rest. As Sara walked, she approached not the bigger building, but a smaller structure in the middle of the big paved field. I realized that she was constantly glancing at me, as if expecting me to have a reaction to it. I tilted my head at her in confusion. “Do you not recognize it?” She asked me, realizing my confusion. Sara then gestured to the small structure she was bringing me towards. I squinted, darkness making it hard to figure out the exact shape of it, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure it out. “No.” I answered with a negative earflick. “Have I been here before?” “I guess it makes sense that you would not remember it…” She sighed, disappointment obvious in her voice. “You haven’t been here, per se, but you have been inside that ship.” “That is ship?” I asked with surprise, looking at the structure again. It seemed so… blocky! Box-like! Un-ship-like! But that also did remind me of how little I knew of human cultural aspects. The only buildings I’ve seen, for example, were also boxy and rectangular, so I assumed this was a building. But maybe humans do buildings in other shapes too. Still, while I have seen a few buildings, what I have never seen was a human spaceship. Which was weird, considering I arrived to Earth in one. “Yes. Hold on, I’ll show you.” She patted me on the head quickly Sara approached the structure and pulled out her pad. After a few taps, presumably some sort of remote control, the ship’s ramp lowered and it looked more ship-like that way. Sara did not waste time and went up the ramp. The insides of the ship were pretty cramped-looking, but considering how small the vessel was as a whole that was not surprising. Once we were onboard, Sara lowered me down and I stood on my own, looking around curiously. While she went right for the console, starting to activate something, I examined the main area. There were a few offshoot doors with buttons to the side. I reached and pressed one of them… And that opened up into a big white room. I did not remember this ship from the outside. I also did not remember the ship from the inside. But this room… I remembered this room. In my panic, I assumed it was the freezer back when Noah and Sara first brought me there. And in my barely conscious state, this room was the only thing I could perceive enough to remember at the time. The extra cool air and the stark whiteness contrasting the greys elsewhere on the ship, those being not unlike grey of the arxur ships. Plus, all the memories from that day were blurry for me. “It is ship you brought me to Earth in!” I concluded, turning around to look at Sara. She was now seated at the console, quickly tapping away at the keys. “Yes! That’s right. We’re on the Odyssey now.” She nodded, not even looking at me. “Do you know what that name means?” “No. Is that not just name?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. “It’s Greek in origin. Just like the names we chose to present ourselves to the Federation with. It comes from the title of an ancient book, one of the oldest that we still have preserved. And while it is the title, the word itself came to have a meaning of its own - it means a long and eventful journey that ends with a return home.” She explained, more and more little lights appearing on the dashboard in front of her as she kept tapping away and doing something as she spoke. “As much as I have bad memories associated with this ship now, the title is still fitting. Though it will be even more fitting soon enough…” She kept doing whatever she was doing. I looked around a bit again and felt a yawn coming on that I couldn’t contain. Without being carried around and with the conversation dying down, the sleepiness was coming back. “Hey, Sara…? Why did you bring me here so early? It is fun to see this again, but why not during day?” I asked, rubbing my eyes groggily. “Shh… It’s okay. It’ll be over soon… The journey ends with a return home, after all…” Sara mumbled. Suddenly there was a hum. I felt the whole ship rumble for a moment and realized that Sara wasn’t just tapping at the console for nothing, she was starting the ship up! “Wait! Already? Why? What about Noah? And implant? And other plans?” I asked, stepping away from Sara. The woman was just grinning at the screen in front of her now. I got a lot better at human expressions. It was a smile. But it was off. There was something wrong about it. “It doesn’t matter… All that matters is that you will be back home, safe and sound…” She just spoke, still not even looking at me. “Sara! Stop right now!” Noah’s voice came from behind me as I heard loud footsteps. The ramp must still be down! “Noah!” I called out happily, wagging my tail in excitement. If he was there, then everything would be alright. Even if Sara went crazy and tried to just take me home without explaining, he’d stop her now. “Noah…” Sara hissed. “How…? The alarms didn’t go off, I made sure of it!” “Kiara was watching you, Sara. She saw you leave and thought you might do something to yourself, so she went to get your therapist. She also asked me to check on you. But I decided to check on Stynek first. And what do I find but an empty room. Then Andes stumbled out of the utility closet next to her room, barely coherent after being fucking tased! What the hell did they do for you to electrocute them?! Are you insane?!” Noah swung his hands in the air, being more angry than I’ve ever seen him. “They were in on Kiara’s scheme too. They thought I was on my way to say my last goodbye to Stynek, and tried to force me to go to whatever intervention Kiara planned. I didn’t know she roped you in too though…” Sara sighed. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone. But this can’t continue, Noah. Stynek will be going home tonight.” “Home? Sara, you…” Noah spluttered, struggling to find words to reply for a moment. “You’ve really gone off the deep end, didn’t you? We still haven’t properly revealed ourselves! If you show up to Venlil Prime with a trail right back to Earth and no costume, you’ll doom us all!” “If they can’t accept us after the rescues, then they won't, no matter how much we prepare or scheme. I’m done with lies, Noah.” Sara’s arms moved, her hands clutching her elbows shakily. “It’s always the delays. Wait until we can explain things to Stynek, wait until we establish contact with the Federation, wait until we earn goodwill via rescues, wait until we prepare further… And now I hear that it’s more waiting! Not to mention the rumors that priorities are shifting and the venlil cattle exchange is being pushed back in favor of zurulians because there’s slightly less of them and zurulian help would be more important to secure!” “That’s just a proposal someone floated around, you know full well the plan is still the same! And we can’t spring the news unprepared, we have to work up to it! It’s basic diplomacy!” Noah shouted. I didn’t like seeing him this angry. My ears lowered as I wound up standing an equal distance from both arguing humans. “And what about Stynek? Have you asked her what she wants? Or have you still not developed an ounce of respect for the one you claim to want to save so hard?!” “What’s the point of asking her anything when you lot brainwashed her into believing your every word?!” Sara shouted, stepping closer towards Noah with a stomp. “It’s like you’ve intentionally done everything to make sure she would never fit in with venlil ever again! Teaching her all human things, telling her everything her people thought was wrong, convincing her that being separated from her mother is good for everyone, taking her to hang out with dangerous animals… I was right. Nobody had any plans of returning her but me.” “Brainwashed her?! Are you completely out of your mind?! We’ve just been teaching her to–” Noah spoke, but suddenly his breath hitched and his word got cut off. He looked down to his forearm to see a small dart sticking out of his forearm. Sara, in meantime, had a small miniature gun of some kind in her hand. “Noah!” I called out in distress and rushed over to him. He tried to step towards Sara, but before he could even clear half the distance, he collapsed. “Stynek… run…” He mumbled before his eyes closed. I let out a shrill bleat of panic and started shaking him, but he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t moving, he was laying prone, his eyes closed, and he wasn’t moving! A pair of hands grabbed me from behind firmly and I immediately realized it was Sara. I started kicking and swinging and screaming, but Sara managed to hold me anyway, dragging me away from Noah. “Calm down, he’s just asleep… Will be for a while, the dose was intended for you…” Sara said. “Stop struggling, this is all for your own goo–AAGH!” In my flailing I managed to reach Sara’s face with my paw and drag my claws across her face. Her scream shocked me and made me freeze, stop moving and stare at my own bloodied claws. Which was a perfect opportunity for Sara as she dragged me back and practically tossed me into the medbay room. And before I could react to it, she slammed the button and the door shut on me. “Wait, no!” I shouted, standing up and rushing back towards the door. I tried punching it and pressing the button from the inside, but instead of opening the door it just made a buzzing sound now. Sara locked me in! “Let me out! Sara! I do not want home! No home! Want humans safe! Want Noah safe!” I shouted, my language quickly degrading as my distress grew. My cries fell on deaf ears though, it seemed, as the humming of the ship intensified. I felt the floor vibrate for a moment before lurching, I heard a distant sound that seemed like the ramp closing back up… And then, I heard a distant, loud sound of an alarm. But it was too late, as just moments after it, the floor lurched and I was knocked down on my butt. “No!” I yelled and started clawing at the door. “No! No! Stop! You can’t do this! Stop! Go back! I don’t want to go! Not like that, not yet!” I slipped back into my native language, but subconsciously I knew that even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered. All I was left with was the deep sinking feeling in my stomach, amplified with the force of the ship’s launch. I kept clawing and crying out and begging Sara to stop, but it was fruitless… I was being taken home. I never thought that it could ever be the worst thing in the world, but in that moment that’s precisely what it was. Memory transcription subject: Dr. Erin Kuemper, UN Secretary of Alien Affairs Date [standardized human time]: January 7th, 2137 The administrative station in orbit around the planet where Outis Hub was located was a surprisingly peaceful retreat. At first I expected it to be as chaotic as the Theseus is on a calm day, but no. Perhaps it was attributable to the fact that the station itself served as little more than an observation post. Any actual workers handling the cleanup of the Hub resided within the hub itself, its accommodations being multipurpose enough to account for any species. My inspection of cleanup procedures had already happened and everything was going according to the book. We expected a lot more damage to be done to the facility as result of potential panics or psychotic breaks that didn’t occur, so it really was more literal cleanup, as well as removal of anything that was particularly gojid-specific, such as the libraries or the food supplies. Those would be replaced with venlil books and a dietary mix that would be more appropriate to a venlil once we expanded the hub enough to accommodate them all. But, despite the inspection being done, I decided to linger on the station for an extra day. A good night’s sleep and a moment’s peace was rare, and I wanted to take it while I could. One could never know when problems could arise. At least the only problem we were facing from the Federation right now is their particularly excessive friendliness. Slowly beginning to open diplomatic relations and revealing details slowly would be the next step, but Elias wanted to give them time to calm down after the news broke out before we started contacting anyone. The reveal of who we are could not be rushed. The sudden ringing of my pad snapped me out of my thoughts about humanity’s plans. The FTL communications relays we were using allowed anyone to easily contact someone across star systems, as long as they had compatible devices, and I wasn’t sure why the Federation limited themselves so much in that regard, even with the arxur war in place, but I definitely found it convenient. The few things that did need my input could just be resolved remotely. Like this call from Andes. I picked it up, and it was a video call. There was a moment of buffering before Andes themselves appeared on the screen and they looked… Well, bad would be an understatement. Their hair was a complete mess, clumpy and sweaty. Their face was pale, with cold sweat running down their brows. The image was shaking, and the background was shifting as they were limping down a facility hallway, one hand on the nearby wall. “Andes? Good… morning? It’s early morning at Theseus right now, isn’t it?” I asked politely. A feeling of dread started coming over me as I realized that they were panting. Panic or recent moment of exercise? “Sara took Stynek!” they gasped out. “You have to tell them you have to–I don’t know–trails–track the trails–she can’t get out–the Federation–” “Calm down!” I shouted, shocked at the frantic state they were in. Andes, while occasionally snarky, was one of the more level-headed staff at Theseus, so to see them this panicked was making me panicked too. “Take a breath and explain what’s happening, step by step. I didn’t get any of that. What did Sara do?” “She fucking tased me and fried my implant and ran the fuck off on the Odyssey and–I think she might have hurt Noah, I, I don’t know, the guards are there, I’ll probably need a fucking hysterectomy,” the camera wobbled and I realized they were limping along a wall. “Fucking endometrial–” “Hysterectomy? What?! Andes, you–” I struggled to process the flood of semi-disjointed information flowing my way. “Are you hurt? You should get to a doctor! And the Odyssey, it, it’s not even up to our shipbuilding standards anymore, why would–” “She's taking Stynek home, because she didn't take fucking leave like I suggested she do every week for the past three months! Think, Erin, she's–” they hissed in pain, “I tried to stop her, but my stupid nervous system is not impervious to electrical shocks!” “What?! How did it happen? Why? Where was the security?!” I shouted, clutching my pad so hard I could hear it creak. “I don't fucking know–get a perimeter or–or somebody to check subspace trails out of earth or–something!” “Shit… Shit, shit, we don’t have ships capable of capturing something like the Odyssey… Andes, you go and get medical help, right now… Fuck, thank you for calling, I need to make other contacts right now!” I signed off. “Good. Bye! Oh shit the–” I cut the call off before they could finish, though I saw that the camera’s view went tumbling as the last thing. Didn’t matter, hopefully they could get help, but for now I had a way bigger emergency to deal with. I started rushing towards the Communications, where I hoped I’d be able to contact who I needed, but before I could even make a single step, another call lit up on my pad. This one I was expecting. I picked it up, but didn’t stop walking through the station’s hallways, even as the ever-sunglasses-wearing face of General Cora Jones, looking actively frustrated for once, appeared on my pad’s screen. “Dr. Kuemper, you have just heard everything Dr. Savulescu-Ruiz said, yes?” She asked. “Yes! And where were your men?! I thought you brought a bunch of your people in specifically to be on guard for this possibility! Why didn’t they stop Rosario?!” I shouted, my voice slipping into almost shrieking. “I am aware of the failing in security measures. The men in question were away on a mission related to the same case - that leak from months ago. We got an anonymous tip, and once I verified it, I passed the information to my team. What I did not expect was that Sara Rosario, the one behind that leak in the first place, would sell out her outside collaborators just to arrange a one night’s distraction.” She scowled. If not for the direness of the circumstances, I might have had time to commit the rare expression of genuine frustration on Jones’ face to memory. “Can you intercept her? Deploy the FTL inhibitors? Remotely hijack the systems?!” I asked, desperate to find an answer. “We cannot hijack the systems because the Odyssey is not connected to any of our systems. When we’ve been doing overhauls using the new technology, it was preserved entirely as it was.” Jones lowered her head with a sigh. “I knew I should have bugged that hunk of junk, whether it was going to a museum or otherwise. And as for the inhibitors, she just went past their range. We cannot do anything to stop her short of shooting the ship down. And she’s got two hostages aboard. One of which is too important to lose.” “Two?! She got someone other than Stynek with her there?” I asked, just barely avoiding slamming head first into a wall and making a turn. “Williams. He tried to stop her, it seems, right after messaging to sound the general alert. By the fact that the Odyssey just entered FTL and he is nowhere to be found now, it appears he was not successful.” She explained. “Shit, shit… Okay, this is manageable. I just have to contact the arxur.” I tried to reason. “They have a military presence and they have vessels that can actually capture the Odyssey without destroying it… I’ll get comms to make contact with Isif and request assistance. It’ll be hard on Stynek, but–” “That’s the other thing, Dr. Kuemper.” Jones spoke, her tone growing even more grave. “I hoped to save it for the morning’s briefing, but the arxur do not appear to be a likely source of help.” “What? What happened?” I stopped in my tracks and brought the pad closer to my face. “A few hours ago, Chief Hunter Isif has arrived to Wriss and was immediately placed under… Well, a house arrest. It’s not an official detainment, but we should expect that by the end of today he will stand trial in front of all the other Chief Hunters, overseen by Prophet-Descendant Giznel himself on suspicion of treason.” The general explained, gritting her teeth. “And as we have not been surveying the arxur outside Isif’s sector, we were caught unawares. Giznel sent forces from Chief Hunter Shaza’s sector to take control of Isif’s sector for the duration of the trial.” “Trial for treason…?” I gasped, running possible scenarios through my head. “Shit, why did it have to happen now?! Not a few days later… We were preparing to make open contact with the rest of the Dominion, but right now we need unquestioned help!” “Indeed. The timing is inconvenient. Hence me warning you that contacting Isif will be pointless.” She sighed. “I doubt Rosario knew about that, but her timing could not have been worse.” “Okay… Okay, we can still intercept her.” I reasoned, starting to walk again. “Coth. I’ll contact him. He’s not there with Isif on Wriss, and he has enough authority to make a mission like that happen. It might be more complicated with Shaza’s arxur in the sector, but…” “You plan on using his compliance to humans?” Jones asked, quirking an eyebrow. “I plan on using our alliance.” I said firmly. “Plus, even if his authority was superseded by that of Shaza’s arxur on command from Giznel, he has gained some experience acting covertly, or so I heard. With our whole species’ survival and the prosperity we could bring to the arxur at risk, I expect he will do the right thing, regardless of the potential obstacles.” “Then it appears you’ve got it in hand.” Jones adjusted her sunglasses. “I will need to deal with those arrested hackers and continue surveillance of Isif. I will notify you when his trial starts. In the meantime, good luck with Coth.” She shut the call off, and just in time for me to have reached the comms center. I pushed the doors open, and everyone was already looking at me, as if waiting for me to arrive. Right, comms likely would have gotten the news first. That made sense. “I need a call to Captain Coth of the Dominion. ASAP!” I called out and immediately the technicians got to work. I went right up to the front screen, but as I was passing the various communications officers, I noticed a familiar face and couldn’t help but pause. “Reynolds…?” I asked, thinking that I might be mistaken. “Ah. Dr. Kuemper…” Lisa Reynolds looked up from her console. She looked about as frazzled as the rest of the technicians. “Seems like we know who was behind that leak now, huh?” “What are you doing here? Is Jones having you spy on me now?” I narrowed my eyes on her. “N-No, ma’am! Honestly! I was just assigned here for my good service, and I’ve been here basically since the moment the gojid moved out.” She raised her palms in front of herself defensively. “I didn’t even know you were coming for an inspection personally and General Jones made no personal approaches to me since our visit to arxur territory, ma’am.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. I had bigger things to deal with right now, regardless of how truthful Reynolds was. While the officers were establishing a line to the Dominion, I walked over to the front and took the seat. So much going wrong at once… And how much of it was my fault? When did Rosario’s mental state deteriorate so much as to go for what might as well be a suicide mission? Was her mental state deteriorating at all, or was she just acting all along? Maybe, if it was deteriorating, I might have contributed to it… I immediately thought back to the last conversation I had with her, where I unintentionally implied a possibility of Stynek staying on Earth for good. I remembered that I wanted to apologize and talk to her properly after, but I never crossed paths with her to do so, and then I left for this stupid inspection… And now I was stuck here, off-world. I’m going to have to line up a lot of video calls to the facility, maybe even conferences with the Secretary-General and his other advisors… Suddenly having a small squad of various communications officers and administrative officials was coming in handy. I did not expect the staff to be useful this soon… “Dr. Kuemper, the line is active, we’re dialing Captain Coth now.” One of the staff notified me. I straightened myself out and adjusted the disheveled hair. I doubted I could look not panicked, but Coth was never one to care for appearances of others, only his own, and even if he did, he would understand the distress… Hopefully he can stop Sara, or find someone else who can. Otherwise, if things go the worst way possible, humanity might just be doomed… First - Prev - Next submitted by /u/Heroman3003 to r/NatureofPredators [link] [comments]

I have now read every Stephen King novel, 6 years to the day since I started. I had always wrote him off as “too popular to be good” if that makes sense… like generic pop music or CGI-inflated superhero movies... and thought of his books as “Goosebumps for adults”. I checked out IT from the library on a whim and was immediately hooked. I didn’t intend to read them all, at least not for a while. I read the ones that were common on the top 10 lists, then the top 20, then got absolutely lost in the Dark Tower saga, then eventually I was reading whatever was still available at the library or on Hoopla/Libby. When I realized I had about 20 to go I figured I might as well go for it and started hunting them down a bit more. I only purchased one, Christine, to save for last, and then a second, IT, to celebrate and begin a re-read. Is SK the greatest writer of all time? No, of course not. His flaws are well documented and most of them didn’t bother me. However, he has to be in the top, if not THE greatest storyteller ever. Each one is an absolute journey that puts you right there and often makes you nostalgic for a time you never even lived. And… you’re never safe. Sure, going into the ending you might expect a character to die, but even in the first 50 pages he might drop something like “Then Richard laughed merrily as he enjoyed what would be his last birthday alive” and BOOM you're knocked off your feet. I was also blown away by how much of it is non-horror. There’s fantasy, mystery, drama, crime, and even romance. At the time I had no idea he had written The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Stand By Me, and more. I found most of these 70+ books to be far more fascinating than scary. But when it does get scary… it goes deep. The ending of Revival painted a picture that will stay in my head a LONG time. BTW, in these 6 years I have read just as many, if not more, non-SK books. I do try to be diverse and not a bunch of old white guy authors. That’s a post for another time. Here's my official ranking, with a couple scattered notes. I’ve included everything I’ve read, including short story collections and novellas. I also combine the 8 Dark Tower books into one, as I find them impossible to rank. These are not set in stone. Anything beyond the top 4 can shift up to 5ish spots depending on my mood. BEST OF THE BEST IT The Dark Tower - Entire Series • Dark Tower I - The Gunslinger • Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three • Dark Tower III - The Wastelands • Dark Tower IV - The Wizard and Glass • Dark Tower 4.5 - Wind through the Keyhole • Dark Tower V - Wolves of the Calla • Dark Tower VI - Song of Susannah • Dark Tower VII - The Dark Tower Under the Dome - I was surprised to find later how much people hate the ending. I loved it, and the entire world it built. Revival - Just wow. The Green Mile Insomnia Doctor Sleep The Institute The Tommyknockers - I had heard this was one of his worst. It was bonkers. The magic trick scene was probably the most unsettled I’ve ever been reading anything. Needful Things FANTASTIC Christine - My final one, so it will always have a special place. Sleeping Beauties - I KNOW this does not belong this high, but I read it while on a trip and I was totally drawn in. The Talisman Pet Sematary - Don’t start with this one lol Salem's Lot You Like It Darker - Oh yep he’s still got it. The Shining Misery Cujo - cry emoji The Eyes of the Dragon - This is almost a kids book! 11/22/63 Duma Key Rose Madder End of Watch Finders Keepers Mr. Mercedes The Stand - I realize this should be higher… I had too much hype for it. The Running Man Skeleton Crew - THE JAUNT The Mist - I read this separate from Skeleton Crew so it gets it's own thing. Later The Long Walk The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption Bag of Bones GOOD Billy Summers Nightmares and Dreamscapes Black House Blaze Firestarter Carrie Dreamcatcher Desperation - One of the best starts of any book. The Regulators The Dark Half Dolores Claiborne If It Bleeds Full Dark No Stars OK Holly Cell Joyland Gerald's Game Thinner Elevation The Dead Zone - I made the mistake of reading this in the middle of The Dark Tower series which has to be why it's lower. Rage Lisey's Story NOT GOOD Gwendy's Final Task The Outsider - This gets a re-read soon. I read it before any of the connecting books, I’m sure I’ll like it better now. Cycle of the Werewolf Roadwork From a Buick 8 The Sun Dog The Colorado Kid Blockade Billy Gwendy's Button Box *Gwendy's Magic Feather - Not SK but part of the trilogy that was just straight-up bad. UNRANKED / NON-FICTION On Writing - This is fantastic, I just can’t include it with the rest. I still have a few novellas and short story collections to get to, including a few that it’s been a crime I haven’t finished (Night Shift, Art Pupil). But it’s always good to have a little more to go. Plus I'm sure he's gonna crank out a few more by the time I finish this post. “Go then, there are other worlds than these.” Also I’d be happy to talk your ear off about any of these and give recommendations so ask away! submitted by /u/scottmwilsonbooks to r/stephenking [link] [comments]