Ahh, console video games (or vidcons as I call them). the ultimate medium of expression, able to convey any emotion ranging from hatred to love, loyalty to fear, all in front of our eyes. Ah, and with lovingly crafted art, music, and the ability to control the action, vidcons are the ultimate combination of the high arts. While I tend to play the stoic, I will be the first to admit that vidcons haven driven me to cry, to scream and shout, to feel actual hate; such is the power of this force beyond our wildest reckoning. And here I am, before you, to temp your tongues with the taint of such a tantalizing topic.
And the Japanese, the true geniuses behind the world of video games. Pah, I throw my scorn upon such incompetents of the West who would mock the true art of the Japanese with 'games' such as Baldur's Gate and Madden. Perhaps it is that the West is not as intelligent as the East, but this is a matter for another day. Japan has given us such masterpieces as the Final Fantasy series, Star Ocean, Wild Arms, and of course, Arc the Lad. Yes, some of the finest vidcons in the world were created by Japanese. I come to you today to ask you in all earnesty, what is your favorite vidcon? I will reveal mine after the grand debate has illustriously begun, but not before the first poster falls victim to my plot of discussion.
In other words, this is a thread on an imaginary forum our avatars frequent. The topic can fluctuate, and its mostly just general discussion.
cat :3
Sounds surprisingly accessible for a university whose entrance exam is on a randomly picked field of science. Good luck on the monster hunt!
I'm considering reinstalling Gensheesh now
Edited by StepexNo2 on May 2nd 2023 at 12:46:28 PM
"Please do not reproduce this textbook." - S. Banach & A. Tarski
Har har har
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
(x2) 
I assume that this "Wisdom Gala" is meant for the general public to engage in, correct?
Also,
If my memory serves me right, the Darshans are the different branches of the school. Do you at least know what usually happens in the Interdarshan Competition?
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Carmine at the Beach
x3 
Those games sound quite interesting! Unfortunately due to studying for final exams, I don't think I will be able to participate in them. But good luck!
Great, I just uncovered that the trailer music record label I was following just produced another adventure-themed orchestral album. That's like the third one in a few months, right? Why do they think orchestral music is superior to sound-design music?
A new orchestral album is out? That's actually not bad. Why are you reacting negatively to that?
Because it doesn't sound intense enough for me. I feel that sound-design music really delivers on that intensity where orchestral music falls flat in that department. Here's an album preview
of one of their adventure-themed orchestral albums from two years ago. Suspense obviously isn't what they're going for.
Marnie, that's some great music! I think it fits very well for those recent animated movies such as Strange World. Maybe they're producing more of those albums for advertising for similar movies such as that new Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken movie. You should learn to appreciate that kind of music more.
"Paldea has a lot of different Pokemon from those in Kitakami." - Carmine
Tama May Cry 4: Order of the Toons
I agree, it's always good to have an open mind for that kind of stuff!
Of course there's nothing wrong with having issues regarding the direction they take.
Mortefi
& It’s designed for the general public, yeah, so it’s not made to be super hard.
With Round 1 of the competition over, I can tell you the details. The contestants are Tighnari for Amurta (apparently alumni are valid participants), Layla for Rtawahist (extremely sleep-deprived, only really nominated because of rumours about sleepwalking), Cyno for Spantamad (also an alumni, tells terrible jokes), “Madam” Faruzan for Haravatat (kinda arrogant, insists everyone call her Madam), Kaveh for Ksharewar (once again, he’s graduated, he made some poor decisions and ended up completely broke, he’s an idealist who has trouble with the here and now), and, finally, representing Vahumana is… Hat Guy. That’s his official name on the files. He wrote a few papers about old Inazuman culture, and someone (not him) submitted those in lieu of an entrance exam. He got in, and then got nominated for the competition. Hat Guy is better known to us as Wanderer, or a few other names he’s discarded and erased.
The first round was finding some special butterflies released with many others in the opening ceremony. Tighnari, being a biologist, got first place pretty easily with some butterfly bait. Second place went to Faruzan and Kaveh working together, but they couldn’t split the points and ended up drawing lots. Faruzan won, and got the points. Third place was Layla. Tomorrow’s competition is in Sumeru’s desert.
Reading back what I typed, I guess I did my commentating job pretty thoroughly here.
Edited by KitkatKK2 on May 2nd 2023 at 5:38:20 AM
"Mortefi, researcher at Department of Safety, Huaxu Academy. For inquiries about Tacetite weapons, you may visit my lab."
Har har har
(x1)
That's certainly a colourful cast of characters, I won't lie. Then again, I've met different people who are all like at least one of the types you've described. You'd be surprised how many people the sentence "he made some poor decisions and ended up completely broke, he's an idealist who has trouble with the here and now" can apply to.
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The Gayest Bowser
I cannot lie, that itinerary list reads like a collection of characters from a play.
"Doctor, I did say look for the Spymaster. Or should I say Spy....Master?"
Tama May Cry 4: Order of the Toons
Ooh, stage pways awe weawwy fun to watch! What's an itinerary dough?
Simply a planned route or journey lil Milktchi. Maybe later this month, we'll make an itinerary to a theater for plays to see!
Mortefi
When I say Kaveh made some bad descisions, I mean it. In short, he had a "customer" who allowed him to build his magnum opus, now known as the Palace of Alcazarzary. Unfortunately, there was a few mishaps along the way, including a storm that wiped out all progress and ruined the material. With no building material, he had to buy the new stuff out of pocket. The materials he wanted to use to meet the vision he had were expensive, so he had to not only use up all of his savings, not only sell a lot of his stuff, but also take out a loan from the very customer he was working with. He would tell you now that that's the worst decision he's ever made, and I would tend to agree. The payment for the job wasn't near enough to cover the debt, and he's still trying to pay it off to this day. While Kaveh is a genius architect (even by Akademiya standards), he's pretty terrible with money.
That's part of the reason he's participating in the competition. The prize money would be enough to let him get out of his current situation.
Edited by KitkatKK2 on May 2nd 2023 at 6:41:36 AM
"Mortefi, researcher at Department of Safety, Huaxu Academy. For inquiries about Tacetite weapons, you may visit my lab."
Har har har
(x1) 
I've met some people who were bad with money, but taking out a loan from your customer so you can have enough money to give them what they want is honestly not something I've experienced before.
Aether, mind if I show your post to Boris? He can use some reassurance that I could be worse.
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Mortefi
Go ahead. I've got more anecdotes about his terrible financial decisions too:
-Bought 20 keychains, which were supposedly to fund healthcare for sick children. Healthcare is free in Sumeru.
-Is too much of a people-pleaser to reject any job, regardless of if he knows that it's absolutely not worth it. Once stayed up for three days straight for a total of 4000 Mora.
I'm pretty sure a lot of his issues come from his empathetic and people-pleasing nature. That, and the fact that he needs his every project perfect. There's nothing Kaveh does "just for a paycheck".
"Mortefi, researcher at Department of Safety, Huaxu Academy. For inquiries about Tacetite weapons, you may visit my lab."
The Gayest Bowser
EEEEEK. This "Kaveh" sounds like it'd only take a light breeze to exploit him utterly. Lord Himeno would absolutely run him down to fine paste if she ever met him. Poor rube.
Edited by klom99 on May 2nd 2023 at 8:22:37 AM
"Doctor, I did say look for the Spymaster. Or should I say Spy....Master?"
Mercenary Anarchist Ace
Damn. This poor guy will be fodder to those oil sheikhs…
Har har har
(x3)
Hello. Please ignore Baron Gilgamesh Wulfenbach's profile picture here. This is Boris Dolokhov, his servant, typing. My master is currently brushing his teeth.
Herr Aether, I would like to inform you that the anectotes about your friend made me feel much better about the young Baron's own spending habits. I am glad that the Coffee Shop Incident of June 1895 was the worst our treasury experienced, and that nothing like your keychain incident has plagued the empire yet. You have assured me that our financial problems are not beyond repair.
Thank you for your time.
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Mortefi
& Yeah... I don't say this to be mean, but Kaveh is pretty easy to take advantage of. I'm just glad that (despite how much they say they dislike each other) he has Alhaitham to balance him out. Alhaitham is quite the opposite of Kaveh. He's the realism to Kaveh's idealism. The almost-robotic rationality to Kaveh's emotional and empathetic decisions. While I've been discussing the flaws of Kaveh's personality, it's not all bad. They call him "Light of Ksharewar" for a reason.
Please, tell me more about the Coffee Shop Incident of June 1895.
Har har har
(x1)
How do I explain this...
Wulfenbach had to pay off some personal debts, and he thought it'd be a good idea to make cuts to the state budget to solve it, so (long story short) that's why Brandenburg is no longer part of the empire. This apparently happened in the two years I was stuck in time.
I can understand why. I can hardly find a way to get angry at someone making mistakes because they're naive, and I'm unironically impressed at how someone can manage to be so optimistic that it's to their detriment. From what I know, I think if everyone saw the world like Kaveh did, his naivety wouldn't hinder him as much.
Actually, have you met Kaveh personally before? I assume you have, given how much you travel.
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Carmine at the Beach
Gonna sleep now. Good night guys.
Good night. Sweet dreams, everyone.
"Paldea has a lot of different Pokemon from those in Kitakami." - Carmine
Mortefi
I've met him a few times. I'm a lot closer with Alhaitham, but I would consider Kaveh and I friends. Kaveh's personality isn't so much optimism as it is him wanting everything to be perfect, knowing that it's not, and acting like it is anyway. He knows when he's being taken advantage of, he just wants to believe that there's good intentions at heart. And, in the majority of cases, when there isn't, he digs himself into a deeper hole, admits it, regrets it, and moves on. "In a perfect world" is one of his favourite phrases. Alhaitham won't hesitate to remind him that the world isn't perfect, and he still has to pay rent.
Edited by KitkatKK2 on May 2nd 2023 at 8:33:49 AM
"Mortefi, researcher at Department of Safety, Huaxu Academy. For inquiries about Tacetite weapons, you may visit my lab."
Tama May Cry 4: Order of the Toons
[1] Good night girls! I kinda feel like staying up for a little while, the night is fun.
Like yeah Candy Pakupaku, things feel more interesting in the dark but we got work tomorrow so we gotta get some beauty sleep. I suppose an extra hour of hanging won't hurt.
Carmine at the Beach
Just woke up. How was your sleep, everyone? Mine was pretty bad because I had trouble falling asleep for some reason.
Poor Mina. My sleep was okay, but there were a few loud noises outside which was a bit annoying.
"Paldea has a lot of different Pokemon from those in Kitakami." - Carmine
Tama May Cry 4: Order of the Toons
*yawns happily* My sleep was nice and warm, I almost felt like staying in a little more. Sorry that your sleep didn't go as well.
I won't lie, I stood up a bit since I was watching someone play Max Payne on my computer. I did get some rest though.
cat :3
Update on the filtering portals: the bacteria colonies are well and thriving! Me and a crew will probably be installing said portals this weekend, so expect some downtime for the transit system in that period. But no need to worry, the party is still happening!
"Please do not reproduce this textbook." - S. Banach & A. Tarski
The Ice Queen
Hey! Sorry for being gone for so long. Apparently a few days ago was the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's arrest?
Tama May Cry 4: Order of the Toons
No need to apologize though you might wanna prepare for some explaining...
Hold on. An anniversary for an arrest, wtf? Who does that s#!t?
Is it actually okay to have an anniversary for the fall of pricks like that? *
Edited by MkayRose on May 3rd 2023 at 9:48:20 AM
Meet the Tamas!◊ This is where it will end, by my hand.
-Amurta (bio) is running a animal behaviour lesson turned into a rhythm game
-Haravatat (linguistics) is running a game where you have to ask yes or no questions about a seemingly contradictory story to get to the truth
-Ksharewar (mechanics/physics) is running a board game where the goal is to get your piece across the board using as few pieces as possible
-Vahumana (history/archeology) is running a game in which you find “relics” (boxes full of prizes) hidden around Sumeru
-Rtawahist (astronomy/astrology) is running a game where you rotate a toy in order to get the shape of a constellation (and apparently getting a lot of inquiries from actual Rtawahist scholars about how the toy can be used in actual study)
-Finally, Spantamad (elementalism/Ley Lines) is not running a game, but instead roping adventurers like me into clearing out Domains full of monsters for them.
As for the actual competition, I’m not totally sure. All I’ve gathered is that there’s a representative from each Darshan, there’s three rounds, and that the first round starts today.
Edited by KitkatKK2 on May 2nd 2023 at 4:01:04 AM
"Mortefi, researcher at Department of Safety, Huaxu Academy. For inquiries about Tacetite weapons, you may visit my lab."