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#namelesstunnelgrub – @little-brisk-archive on Tumblr
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the continual discovery of fresh types of nonsense

@little-brisk-archive / little-brisk-archive.tumblr.com

PLEASE READ THE RULES call me soph (she/her) ἰσδάνω δ᾽αὐτᾶς ἄγαν ἄγχι: τερπνά φαίνεταί μοι πάντα λέγει γένεσθαι -- sappho, probably (x)
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sewer-swan asked:

i have been using Lion's Claw Giant Crusher in Elden Ring, and have found you can literally walk up to bosses and smash L2. They will go to their knees before they're able to kill you. LOOK AT MY FLIPS SON, I say, jumping over the low swings, landing ducked under the high swings, armouring through everything else. i trade blows with Niall and win. it's intoxicating. I'm going to make a montage

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i love this update and am pounding my fists on the table chanting 'montage! montage!'

#i feel this is the STR equivalent of my first playthrough's addiction to bloodhound's finesse#sweep in under every attack; sweep out again; then again; proc bleed; enemy defeated#unhinged that you can put lion's claw on a colossal. unhinged. i love it#artorias would be proud#soph plays elden ring#namelesstunnelgrub#making me want to go work on my strength build....
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sewer-swan asked:

also when creating a souls character, are you the type of person to make a carefully polished face or like, a blue and red girl with a beak

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in ds1 i just use a default face* because i can't be bothered. in bb and ds3 i make middle-aged women with prominent noses who look like they've seen some shit, mainly. or i try to and then settle at a halfway point because i can never get those sliders to do what i want and have no patience. i wish i was a monster guy tho, i definitely take the appearance of my little zombie people too seriously. i can't help it, i want to be hot. when i play ds1 offline i still spend hours farming humanity so that i never have to play hollow. if i do any of the londor shenanigans in ds3 i spend thousands of souls on purging stones to keep from looking hollow. i can't help it!

(this is one of several ways in which the underimplementation of the beasthood mechanic in bloodborne is a huge letdown. on my first playthrough i kept taking off my hat to see if i looked any more like a werewolf and was so disappointed every time. :( )

* i only looked at the customisation options in the ds1 remaster for the first time like two days ago and must say that 'hormones' might be the funniest slider scale i have ever seen in a character creation menu, not least because the bad formatting makes it look like the poles are 'young' and 'old'. ah yes, the two genders, etc

eta: meanwhile, on twitter

(tweet by twitter display name ‘make up a souls guy’ reading ‘souls guy who never wears helmets because they spent too much time in character creator’)

#soph plays dark souls#namelesstunnelgrub#who strikes me as definitely a blue and red girl with a beak type
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sewer-swan asked:

I love short stories so so so much and write them because I am still a beginner writer, and I love how you talk about them :v;

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this is lovely to hear, but also, my darling grub, what i am saying is precisely that the short story is not a beginner genre! it is not fiction lite! there's a reason that it's a genre with comparatively few masters -- i can think of more great living writers of lyric poetry than i can of short stories, which is saying something -- and the reason is it's fucking hard to make a good one!

the short story may in general require less of a time commitment than the novel and thus be easier to see to completion; it may require less up-front investment than a novel and thus be easier to let go of or less costly to abandon; the short story in general has a narrower scope than the novel and thus may require less planning and may be easier to hold in mind as a whole, and easier and less costly to revise. (may be; in general. not always!) these things may (may!) make it more congenial to a writer who is trying to learn something about writing, who wishes to experiment, or who wishes to reduce risk, whatever their level of experience, but they do not mean it is an easy natural starting place or exclusively a workshop environment.

short forms have their own demands, and require kinds and degrees of precision and subtlety that long forms are not beholden to. this is utterly banal as a statement about poetry: no one would claim with any seriousness that a sonnet is an easy form because it is small. it baffles me that anyone would claim it of any short prose form. i think anyone who does must simply not have read many short stories.

it is not a genre you ever have to move on from. write short stories forever, if you want to. they will change and grow as you do, and you will find as many ways of doing them as there are ways of thinking. 

#also the concept of the novel as the prestige genre is bizarre on its face because listen.#most novels are bad.#the key to all mythologies#topics in literary criticism#namelesstunnelgrub
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sewer-swan asked:

what are your favourite hollow knight enemies and charms!

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:)

just wiggled down into the sofa a bit because it is so nice to think about this game i love. 

my favorite hollow knight enemies in the sense of having affection for them are probably the mantises. they are the only people in the game who still seem to have a grip on like. ethics. and i support that. and i am also very susceptible to approval from a matriarchal warrior tribe, you know? my favorite enemies in the sense of fun to fight might be loodles and death loodles, just for their sheer silliness and sense of play. they’re just goofy! they invite you to abandon strategy, to be as the loodle and just jump around running into things like an idiot. i love them. 

i was just thinking about how i like the charm system and think it offers the right range of capabilities—the ori sequel adopted a similar system (along with a lot else clearly inspired by hollow knight) that just does not work as well, which made me appreciate hk’s all the more. my basic charm setup for just running around tends to be 

  • wayward compass—even now with this map almost perfectly memorized i can’t quite shake a feeling of unease if i do not have the compass equipped
  • gathering swarm, for the filthy lucre
  • grubsong, especially if i am doing any tricksome platforming
  • mark of pride—or longnail if i need to save space, but (see above: mantises) i have an emotional attachment to mark of pride.
  • and, of course, when the time comes, voidheart. voidheart always, voidheart forever. if i were to get a hollow knight tattoo, and i have not ruled this out, it would be the voidheart charm.

and then whatever makes sense to add for the task at hand. i quite like quickslash, and shaman stone is pretty sick. for a lot of boss fights i find sharp shadow very helpful (fuck a watcher knight). goofy combos like defender’s crest with spore shroom (stinky cloud!!!) are fun, as is the posse build with all the minion charms. i do have a very serious softspot for grimmchild my problem baby and their ‘mnaaah!’ attack sounds and the way they curl up at your feet when you rest. but they have also gotten me bombed in the face by oomas and in trouble with mantises and so on enough times that i think twice before bringing them anywhere. no manners! but generally i think i tend to not be just silly and playful enough with all the nonsense you can do with charms; maybe on my next run i will get more inventive.

#soph plays hollow knight#SILKSONG WHEN is the other feeling this left me with#when!!!!!!!#namelesstunnelgrub
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sewer-swan asked:

Labyrinthine times in bug land, part 2. So the first place I went was back to the Fungirl Wastes, because I recalled Hornet leading me to an obstruction somewhere near the middle. (Having heard Hornet's voice, doesn't the way she keeps just ahead of you seem almost playful? Helpful? It's like she wants you to see her throw that needle & dart off. Need to try shooting a Vengeful Spirit at her back next time, see if she dodges it. She can take it, I'm sure...)

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This obstruction was an absent bridge, thorny tendrils lazing over some platforms above. (Unn, perhaps?) A few walljumps cleared it up. No sooner had I entered a new place than someone locked me in, though, and there was no walljumping out of it. (I ran into the first glass window there like a very stereotypical bug, too. What a perfect moment of immersion.) Going forward, I was assaulted by some militaristic joggers who I methodically rendered into pieces on the floor before continuing.
[ed.: welcome to the city of tears. i love taking these assholes off their money. i also love that you refer to those guards as ‘joggers’ which makes it even more joyful to take them off their money.]
The music here was cheerful for the city of gray stone and running rainwater that I emerged into. Opposition grew weaker, a drizzle of civilian bugs soon ended. (While I don't drown, they do. If we are just animate armour, though, how do we keep on going when our regret/shadow/soul is drawn out?) Soon I saw Hornet again, and after she implied I'm looking to restore this shattered state, I was left without the rematch I was expecting. A plaque valorized the sacrifice of the 'Hollow Knight'.
This Hollow Knight quickly became lost. After skipping out the hut of a blacksmithing beetle with my first upgrade, duller swords dotting the drab pavement, I found there were very few places to go. Long past having killed everything I found an elevator, and spent a while banging it into the floors and ceilings trying to get it somewhere new, tormented by a sweet cheeping. When I reached the source it immediately blew itself up trying to kill me. Figures.
A bug behind a desk called me a grubby little wanderer, but by this point I was beginning to feel like a grubby little prisoner. Tossed some antiques I found at him to recieve Geo I could not spend. A variety of knights tried me. Some flying, some large, some with lances or greatnails, all of them chewed up and spat out much the same. If my back-and-forth search for an exit could've trodden them to paste, it would've, but it did at least get me a grub to rescue and another Rancid Egg.
My third online search (1: 'is Salubra a grub'? 2: 'hollow knight bouncy mushrooms') was on what the hell I was missing, and 'there's a Stagway somewhere near the top left' was all I needed. The six-hoof express was found, and thundered me off to Queen's Station. Sweet relief. Got stuck into a platforming challenge immediately. Threading the needle between two spike-strips after walljumping feels... Really good. My prev platforming experience: those "pit full of planks" descents in Souls.
[ed.:  i deeply love your appreciation of challenges as you confront them; the platforming in this game is sparse but always beautiful. i am very excited for your accounts of future experiences...]
Right afterwards, I met a wonderful being. In a room not far away, a kind of masked, six-legged bug, comparable to a giraffe in proportions, named Willoh. She went from munching somewhere overhead to rambling sweetly about "little treats" while I was wondering if she was an enemy and clutching my nail close. Still deeply tempted to look up every spoiler possible to ensure this lady remains okay. The little attentive noise when you walk into the room... Lovely, lovely, lovely.
I did want to go up into the subway ocean, and look for treats for her. But I didn't want to bribe my way into her affections, and she was so perfect, there, that I left her alone out of a certain respect and yet felt very very clear, and emboldened, as I jumped on the Stagway elsewhere. (and my writing has almost caught up to the things I did today! Those will probably be written tomorrow.)
#i am but a humble conduit for the experiences of this tunnel grub#soph plays hollow knight#i have so many other things to say and one hundred percent of them are spoilers#the willoh experience tho i tell you what#ahem#it's fine i'm sure. it's fine#namelesstunnelgrub
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sewer-swan asked:

Labyrinthine times in bug land. So, I fought my way to the bottom of the Fungal Wastes without finding the cartographer. And if the mantis clan didn't want to be slaughtered to a bug, they ought to've offered me directions somewhere else. By the time I peeled the Mantis Claw off one or another, 900 Geo had amassed in my pocket and I wanted only one thing: enough charm slots to fit my old compass, my old Gathering Swarm, and my lovely new Dashmaster. So then I fought my way back up.

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Once I'm confident, things generally go at a pace that doesn't stop to wipe off blood or pick up chump change. Neither do I really get a picture of the layout and route. After stumbling on (read: killing one of) what seemed to be harmless baby fungal balloons on my way up, I put them & their parents on the 'no kill' list together and kept going. I came out in... Queen's Station. Well, that's new. I proceeded cautiously at first, being on two health.
My intention was to find a bench, naturally. First door I go through, things begin sounding a little deep and watery, and once I see a jellyfish swanning limply around I put two and two together. The queen runs a strange station; despite myself, I'm entranced. The plan is if I hit 1 HP, I'll retreat. Funny thing, though. After I kill a medium jellyfish easily, it has a postmortem missile that does 2HP damage. Straight back to the bottom of the Fungal Wastes I go.
Nothing if not stubborn, I just climb out again. Try a different door and get a banker. Fuck bankers. Door number 3 gives me a Stagway, and I'm out of there. (Isn't the stag beetle so wonderful? Their deep voice and panting, the way their legs fly in all directions in the gallop. You really get the sense of this... Old thing, an alien life in the darkest tunnels, hearing the bell from anywhere. They never ask for anything. It makes me suspicious of this society. As do tolls for benches.)
Back to Dirtmouth with 1500 geo, I find I can afford one charm slot when what I need is two. To say I misremembered the prices would imply I remembered an actual figure. Numbers? Navigation? One thing I do remember is obstructions to where I want to go, and there was a spiky one in the blue tomb area that said "walljump me". So I go over there and do it. I had to look up 'Brooding Mawlek', because I did not read it during the fight. This is exactly the fight I wanted.
It counterattacks when struck. It eats 40 nail hits and is still alive(?!) The mortar-vomit attack appears almost impossible to slip between at my skill level. The first combat encounter to really kill me like Souls did. If we rewind back to my Souls days, we will see a worship of difficulty and a definition of 'cheese' that encompasses virtually anything that makes the game easier. How wonderful to've gotten a little wiser, now. I swapped in my focus-shell charm & parried the mortar with it.
Then, when that wasn't enough, I took it even further. I employed the ultimate in "have an easier time", actually, and stopped fighting the thing to go explore somewhere else a bit. First time doing that! Will write about it soon. Hope the more detailed format is okay; writing closer to the doing, so I recall more, and had fewer observations than usual. (Capital write-up will likely have more)

i have no brain but these are so soothing and wonderful to receive. i started a fresh run when you started messaging me about it and it is fun to see it through the anticipation of someone else getting to encounter each thing for the first time. 

the stag beetle is one of my favorite things in any video game ever. ‘oh! this is a game about restoring public transit!’ was a key moment in my falling in love with it. (in the same way that dark souls is a game about repairing elevators, but more satisfying.) 

i also feel grateful that something punished you for breezing through your hornet encounter in greenpath. 

#soph plays hollow knight#tumblr user namelesstunnelgrub also plays hollow knight#has ideal username for it#etc#namelesstunnelgrub
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sewer-swan asked:

Much has happened in bug world. Greenpath, mapless, stymied me so bad I went over the blue tomb again, top to bottom, twice. The hidden grub has been found!! An illusory wall that required multiple hits, which is almost a dirty trick on top of a dirty trick, but the audio & visual cues were there. With the money from this I acquired a Simple Key from the suspiciously maskless shopkeeper, then used it to get jumpscared by a big friend in Dirtmouth. Who I now adore. So that's what Rancid Eggs do.

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Returning to Greenpath, I managed to reach the cartographer; it's a nice touch how he sells the most precious part of mapping for a lower price than his more savvy wife sells the bonus parts, huh? Hornet killed me twice and then I figured out she has like one attack that punishes a cross-stage heal, and you can heal for free after being hit by some moves. Instant toast. I love Moss Chargers so much. It's also v deft how they're used to teach you combat usage of the mothwing dash.
Other small things; the way "defeat things to unlock the Hunter's notes" aligns you with the thrill-kill behavior the Hunter surely expects of you. "Harmless" in the notes of birds I'm expected to kill... Morally suspect. Also enjoy how Zote is the first living bug with asymetrical horn length on his mask. Yeah, I can believe you've lost a chunk from getting beaten up.
[some time passes]
After turning my new beloved Mothwing Cloak on every combat encounter and zone, I found Salubra and made my first Hollow Knight related search online; 'is Salubra a grub'. Apparently she's a slug. Also good. Since I make firm mental notes of impassable places, my next stop was the Fungal Wastes. Immediately shocked into a foolish death by a yelling mushroom rolling all over me like a cute bowling ball. There are many things in this game I do not want to kill. Blind pacifism speedruns ensued.
The fungal balloons were still a pain in my ass though, and I lasered several of them with Vengeful Spirit while platforming. Video game morality is always trying to like, codify itself and assign points; I really like the simple fact of the mushrooms defending their young, and you being able to get by without killing them. They pose a threat to you that matters. But you still feel like a bully for jumping in with your nail & your respawns, scattering their lives and moving on.
Not that any of that is hugely subtle, but it doesn't need to be. Clean contrast with the mantis warriors right after, you wonder what *their* deal is and then the writings in mantis village basically say "If you're looking for trouble, you found it, wimp.". The way they fight is disciplined, they pull filthy ambushes compared to the guileless mushroom people falling off their own cliffs, etc. Relatively guiltless kills, just when I wanted to start fighting again.

listen this narrative of playing hollow knight is just delighting me. i keep trying to devise responses worthy of it but i just think instead everyone should enjoy seeing it played by an ideal player of it and described by an ideal describer of it. 

#by the time you see this i imagine you will have found the mantis lords#whom i have long imagined as an ideal encounter for you specifically#i hope you bowed to them for me.#soph plays hollow knight#namelesstunnelgrub
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sewer-swan asked:

Mostly because of you I am playing Hollow Knight, and it's very good. When the False Knight's face popped out of their big helmet, I sat there and said "you cannot be asking me to kill this.", so I had to harden my heart before knocking them down again and getting to second phase. I truly did not want to kill you, big gormless thing. I am also tormented by a crying grub that I can hear but not see in a specific room.

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this account made me realize that false knight is a great condensation of the themes of the whole game. 

big scary thing!!!!! run! kill! smash! --> oh no, it’s just a small weak scared thing, poor little guy! --> but wait, it’s not okay to respond to feeling weak and scared by appropriating power to wallop whatever comes along for no reason whatsoever! it must be vanquished! --> uh hang on... did the head of his giant hammer just.... get up and scuttle away? because it’s a bug. okay. ohhhkay. everything is bugs. right. i’m sure that’s fine.

-- the hollow knight experience

and you will find all the grubbos! i inform everyone at this stage that there are people in the world who do not make it a priority to find all the grubbos, because i want everyone to share my very low opinion of humanity. 

i am so happy you are playing this game and i want regular updates!

#soph plays hollow knight#and you should too#namelesstunnelgrub
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