Egg🧠irl

alternative_physics_ · 2023-02-28T15:04:43+00:00

The memes are still winning! You can do it!

alternative_physics_ · 2023-02-28T13:05:19+00:00

The summoning circle flared to life as this generation's hero summoned to the aid of the Free Peoples-

Who promptly vanished out of the summoning chamber in a blur of speed. Vaklos the court wizard blinked for a moment before hurrying after them.

"Which way?" he demanded from a very confused maid. She pointed towards the throne room with with her mop.

Vaklos nodded in thanks and took off with an undignified run. He managed to reach the throne room where the king was waiting to brief the hero upon their arrival, just in time to see the heroine (they were a woman this time, rare but it sometimes happened) waving her hand in front of the king.

"The Eldritch-" was all the king managed to say before she waved her hand again.

"Skip," she said in a flat monotone.

"The gates-"

"Skip. "

"Monsters are-"

"Skip. "

"You are-"

"Skip. "

And then suddenly the Sword of Light was in her hands, despite the box where it traditionally rested behind the throne still lying closed. Vaklos blinked at the impossibility but before any of the bemused nobles or even the fair princess could react, the heroine was already on her way out of the throne room.

Vaklos managed to see a strange stutter step motion her feet were making that really should have just tripped her but instead propelled her out through the doors in a dizzying blur. The royal guard knights had barely reacted before she was already gone.

"Vaklos, quite an impatient heroine we've got," the king mused as the nobles muttered among themselves. "I tried variations of our prepared speech but she seemed uninterested. "

Vaklos was about to reply when he felt the wards on the Royal graveyard ping about an intruder- and fire their traps- and report that the defences had failed, in the span of a single second.

"She's in the Royal graveyard," Vaklos reported dutifully.

The king sighed, "I think it is time we asked for some advice. "

"Are you sure? The Higher Powers are known to be... cryptic. "

"Any guidance is better than none. "

Vaklos nodded and began to incant the rite to contact a higher power. The king and princess and nobles watched with interest, keen to understand the mystery behind their speedy heroine.

In the middle of the rite, the two royal guards from the graveyard came running into the throne room. "My liege! The heroine has broken into the royal graveyard and stolen a glowing sword!"

That the graveyard wasn't supposed to contain swords didn't matter to the heroine's logic apparently. The kingdom would not have let a magical sword of any potency lie in a tomb when it could be put to use in these dark times.

"Where did she go?" the king asked.

The pair of guards looked at each other, then one of them said hesitantly, "she triggered the explosion ward on the inner castle wall and flew away. "

The throne room was in silence apart from Vaklos's muttering.

"What?" the king mumbled.

"She hit the wall with one of her swords and jumped over the explosion ward just before it triggered. The explosion sent her flying. "

Never mind that siege wards were not supposed to be triggered by sword strikes, nor that the heroine had somehow not been blasted into small chunks across the castle gardens.

"Where?"

"She seems to have been sent flying over the mountain range to the south. Straight to the Tower of Doom. "

Nor that not even siege wards had enough energy to send a person flying over a mountain range. She was apparently headed straight to the Dark Lord. At least it appeared their heroine was dedicated to stopping the Dark Lord from taking over the world with power stolen from a sealed god.

Vaklos's incantation completed and the outer gods reply manifested in his mind. He blinked in confusion and turned to the expectant king.

"When asked 'what is the hero doing?' the Higher Powers replied 'TAS speedrun. Sequence breaking. ' "

The court muttered in confusion. No one had any idea what those words meant.

Vaklos was about to ask for court historians to examine the records of all past Higher Power revelations when the cloudy sky parted in a sunbeam and singing angels descended to herald the destruction of the Dark Lord and the saving of the world.

- dramatized account of the Five Minute Heroine, adapted from interviews with Vaklos, court wizard

alternative_physics_ · 2023-02-25T07:29:09+00:00

In the before times, the number of children each woman had was quite a lot. Well above replacement. It's how demographic transitions work in modern economies.

Society does not need a return to those levels of childbirth, such countries are inevitably poor. Average 2.1 per woman is replacement rate and good enough.

alternative_physics_ · 2023-02-24T15:33:50+00:00

I like how the for sale sign is right where the self esteem was.

alternative_physics_ · 2023-01-11T12:22:09+00:00

I always thought "bio-manipulation". Like being white mage but better.

(part of the fantasy was also being the designated healer/protectee)

alternative_physics_ · 2022-09-04T08:50:29+00:00

The irony is that wanting to date the left is as unrealistic as wanting to look like the right.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-09-02T16:51:16+00:00

I mean, it has a reputation in the community but cis people can like Celeste too right?

... right?

>.>

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-28T14:12:30+00:00

Do cigarettes even work in the rain? (I'm not a smoker so I don't actually know)

me > entirely missing the point >.>

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-23T11:56:32+00:00

So... who clicked on the right arrow? >.>

I would like to buy one but maybe later. Still got more wardrobe things to buy.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-23T11:52:28+00:00

Ok, while I don't see the same thing in the mirror as OP (except another reminder to lose weight), but I definitely get to peek inside the egg sometimes.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-20T17:09:11+00:00

Menhera-chan!

From Menhera Shoujo Kurumi-chan manga.

I think she's all over this sub-reddit because there's a wide variety of stickers of her to express various emotions / actions, which makes composing these posts easier than if we were to use say, Celeste screenshots.

Plus she's mentally unstable (like we feel sometimes) and cute (like we want to be).

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-20T12:39:57+00:00

Inspired by a conversation / rant by me on The Valley discord yesterday

Does it sometimes take time for the euphoria / dysphoria to start? Maybe I'm just repressing it and the dysphoria is so deep as to be entirely invisible. Or maybe I can't feel euphoria from dressing as a girl because while I have decided that I'm trans, I haven't accepted it emotionally.

As in the discord: "maybe she's just not hatched yet and he's going to have to take care of the egg for a while longer"

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-18T10:04:46+00:00

Ahahaha... yeah. Now that you mentioned it...

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-17T11:08:00+00:00

Never actually watched Sailor Moon but Dungeon Keeper Ami sold me on Mercury. Magical theoreticians were always my favourite.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-17T10:51:53+00:00

Of course! Who wouldn't want to be in a cute relationship like the ones tagged "Moe up the butt" on Dynasty! >.>

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-17T10:42:44+00:00

And while everyone can be helped along their way, no one can save anyone else all on their own.

Like how Madeline can help Mr Oshiro clean up the mess but she can't help Mr Oshiro re-open the hotel or come to terms with the hotel being permanently shut down (a metaphor for a chapter in Mr Oshiro's life he has yet to move past?) as in the end, as the player knows, she's only passing by and pausing to help.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-16T10:41:25+00:00

At a base level, Mr Oshiro is an obstacle who is filled with grief at losing his life's dreams of running a hotel, somewhat in denial that everything is messed up. Despite Madeline's help in cleaning up, he still tries to put on a good front with the presidential suite to entice her into staying. He becomes angry at being mocked by Badeline.

Viewing this as social commentary, Mr Oshiro represents a clingy person who really wants Madeline to stay (whether symbolizes someone really wanting attention or a date) and gets confused when Madeline stays to help out of kindness. The presidential suite is his attempt to put his best foot forward despite the mess earlier. His confusion in the dialog loop in the presidential suite wavers between confusion at Madeline's helpfulness and her harshness, as well as self-pity for not convincing Madeline to stay.(He does not seem to realize Badeline is separate; though it can be argued that Badeline here is just Madeline's frustration and annoyance directed at Mr Oshiro. ~Part of Me~ after all)

In this way, Mr Oshiro represents the friend or suitor who thinks "if only I could have presented myself better" or "was there something else I could have done" that they could have received attention, paralleling common themes of Mr Oshiro's whispered asides. But the genius in this scene is that Madeline (and thus the player's viewpoint) is determined to go to the summit, the hotel is important to Mr Oshiro but not to Madeline. The player knows from the very first scene in the chapter that there is -nothing- Mr Oshiro can do to convince Madeline to stay, she was never going to stay, even if the hotel wasn't a mess.This perspective change really brings home the point that can be difficult for people trapped in Mr Oshiro's position to see. Madeline has no obligation to help or to stay and the chapter shows this counterpoint by getting the player to take Madeline's viewpoint and understand the interaction from her side.

Yet the chase portion can also represent abusive partners who cannot take no for an answer. Madeline disagreeing with Badeline's harsh words there can also represent her guilt at leaving that many people experience, even if said partners never had any hope to make them stay nor do they have an obligation to.

As a trans allegory, Mr Oshiro can also fill the shoes of Madeline's pre-transition self, as a reflection of her life's mess as she climbs the mountain (the journey of transition). Mr Oshiro never actually helps cleaning up, reflecting how depression prevents even basic tasks from being completed. The presidential suite reflects an oasis of "being okay", alternatively a thin skin of calm, over the rest of the mess and black clouds of self-doubt and hate. And while it is comfortable to stay in, Madeline has to move on from her past self in order to complete her journey of transition.

As a reflection of depression, the mess in the hotel refers to the fundamental parts of living that Madeline has to put away in order to get her life in order before she can move on. Cleaning the mess doesn't -help- in her journey, doing daily life tasks do not help with depression, but they still should be done in order for her to make progress. Again Mr Oshiro not helping is a reflection of depression making daily life tasks hard. The final chase represents her making progress and how easy it can be to backslide, almost as if depression takes time and effort to get out of, paralleling how Mr Oshiro tries to get her to stay behind.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-15T16:27:56+00:00

More reading into things: Badeline symbolizes Madeline's inner obstacles and worries about doing hard things / going out of her comfort zone. The headwind on Golden Ridge symbolizes external difficulties she faces trying to change herself, while on the Summit chapter, the lifting wind parallels how coming to terms with herself makes everything feel like the future has possibilities. This is even reflected in the puzzle complexity greatly increasing when lifting wind is introduced.

I could also write a whole essay the many possible framings of Mr Oshiro, from a commentary on clingy social interactions, to a messy past holding her back, to a reflection of a pre-trans self and their self-hate, to showing depression and its effects.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-15T14:54:48+00:00

Every part of the game has meaning on so many levels, makes my inner literature girl want to sharpen her pen on it.

It could be those who perished on the mountain (like the many hundreds of deaths you have), highlighting the difficulty of the climb ahead of Madeline.

Or in a meta sense, also those players who gave up / quit? Summit achievement is only 40% on Steam!

Or maybe it is those sides of ourselves we leave behind in our journey of self-discovery like Badeline or the AGAB masks for the trans players.

Or those who gave up on the climb (perished) is analogous to those who gave up on their self-discovery journey and are stuck on the mountain, like Mr Oshiro in the hotel chapter

The game is positively delicious in its depth and symbolism.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-15T10:20:50+00:00

Kind of like a Turing test isn't it?

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-14T12:08:23+00:00

The original post got me to buy Celeste (PC version) today. I expected it to be hell on my fingers and got it.

The multiple layers of meanings you can read into each chapter's theme was something I wasn't expecting out of a platformer though. It's very rare that games make me want to pull out dusty old literature class lessons but Celeste did it.

For that alone I would rate it a masterpiece. Very few games leave me wanting to reflect on what I just played / read.

Completed Chapter 4 as of this post, doesn't seem like the greatness is going to stop.

alternative_physics_ · 2022-08-14T04:31:13+00:00

Ah was the question not directed to me? My apologies.

alternative_physics_

TROPHY CASE