...Back on that grind... my God. (First time with perspective.. could be better, LOL)
HOLY?!?! DUDE, I HOPE NOT!! I understand how it feels, too, and it's going to be awful if you lose somewhere where you belong. Praying that doesn't happen!
so um
I’ve got….
not fantastic news?
uh
so a teacher saw I was on tumblr and called my mom
no biggie
annoying but not horrible
but uh
my parents blocked it on my computer
not a huge deal
again, annoying and limiting, but not the end of the world
but then I told my mom that tumblr was my home
somewhere where I felt wanted
AND BOY DID SHE NOT LIKE THAT
so uh
she wants me to delete my tumblr
she said she would think about it but if she got another email then she would delete all of my socials
I really really don’t wanna lose you guys
I’m scared
like really scared
I Love You all
hopefully mom doesn’t delete my account…
I have never cackled this hard.. HELP ME AGQVQW
This was a good use of my two hours
SHHHHH, SHHHHHHHH NUH UH DON'T FALL INTO THE HOLE... I'VE BEEN STUCK IN THIS SAME MINDSET FOR AWHILE. UR ART IS GOOD MAN!!
Me: *actually starts liking my artstyle overall*
Another artist: *exists*
Me, now crying because theyre better and im worthless and I deserve nothing:
-weeks later-
Me, comfortable with an aspect of my art style: :D
Me, after interacting with a moot who does it better: *sobs*
Yoo!! Check this stuff out! Peak writing over here!
Prologue: Falling Down I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. Epilogue:
An actual good interpretation of the game. I was struggling a lot to be able to piece what was happening exactly. I do enjoy this game, but I found it to be lacking compared to the original. But this definitely makes sense for that ending in a way LOL.
Finished Everhood 2, and I may as well share my thoughts about the story. While I'm not sure if I'd say the story is better than the original, I think overall I actually may have preferred this game more to the original.
The pacing was far better for me, characters had a lot more time to breathe, which gave me a lot more time to get invested in them and really grow to care about them, which was unfortunately a nitpick I had with the original, as the majority of it's characters, barring a few, didn't really leave an impression on me, as it felt like they went by way too quickly.
But enough about that. I've got some thoughts to empty out regarding the story. Particularly an analysis regarding the Main Antagonist…
I think the main idea that Everhood 2 attempts to communicate is the nature of conflict within all storytelling and its relationship with the ones who experience said stories. This is most prominent in both our role as the player and through the character, The Root of All Evil / Shade.
The Root of All Evil isn't actually evil in and of itself, even if it's very much the core cause behind the evil characters in the story. There's no denying it's role as main antagonist, yet being the main antagonist does not necessarily denote it as being truly evil.
The entity itself holds no malice. It's an "entertainer," as it describes itself. While we are misdirected into reading it as evil incarnate and our ultimate nemesis in the game, it would be far more apt to label this entity as conflict itself, rather than evil itself.
Shade is the primary motivator of the story. The plot is set into motion by the stopwatch guiding us to them, where they immediately put on a grand show of their so-called "evil intent." They are present in the beginning and always on the sidelines, behind multiple characters, orchestrating massive, grand schemes, and giving us our central purpose: to find enlightenment and defeat the villain who antagonizes us time and time again. Each antagonist has some form of relationship with Shade, whether directly working with them or merely being influenced indirectly in their grand, cosmic game.
Yet, when Shade loses their puppets and is brought to confront us one-on-one, we begin our path to achieve enlightenment regarding the nature of our adversary, our role, and our entire quest.
Shade holds no particular drive to harm, and as said earlier, they lack any true malice. If anything, they treat you cordially when the game begins to reach its end. The enlightenment the player receives, confronting the End of Time as the literal end of the game's world, through the journey to meet God, implies that we are going to see God as an individual when we find our enlightenment, a character unto themselves, some unknowable entity that knows all. And this is not technically incorrect.
The twist is ultimately that we, ourselves, are already God in the world of Everhood. We are the player, after all. And so, the entire story revolves around us. The very fate of the world is determined by us. We lack conventional omnipotence, instead being a transcendent being that exists beyond the world and is unable to enter it directly, acting, instead, through a silent proxy and relying on others to complete our goals when needed.
Shade, as our counterpart, is just as much a God as we are. Shade manufactures conflict for the sake of the story to continue, as that is their ultimate purpose, being the embodiment of conflict itself. We, as players, are brought to overcome conflict—to give ourselves satisfaction and feel complete as we triumph over a truly memorable adventure. Shade's only goal is to entertain us with stories. Shade is transcendent as well, as conflict ultimately exists in all storytelling, yet unlike us, it exists in the world of stories, not in reality (well, not as we know it in fiction). Just like us, it acts through proxies and vassals to complete its goals.
Both the player and conflict necessitate the existence of the other. Shade is obsessed with us because we are their purpose. Their entire purpose is to create challenges to entertain us. That is why they exist: to put on a show for others to enjoy. An "entertainer", as said earlier. Thus, why so often Shade is found associated with Jesters. They are both based around the concept of entertaining others.
The plot is based around common set-pieces seen in adventure stories. Journeying to a mysterious island with a strange curse, or traversing colorful locales to get the power to confront a ferocious dragon, said to be the representation of our internal darkness. All steps on the journey to beat the villain: all motivation to keep us driving forwards to complete the story.
Ultimately, this is why Shade can't actually be "beaten." Why there's no real final boss battle against the main antagonist. We can defeat its proxies, and it even tries to give us a climactic final battle and ultimate villain utilizing Riley (proceeding to accidentally exert too much power and kill them instead, because nobody's perfect), before settling on using itself as a proper final challenge after the credits roll in a jaunty mock fight.
Conflict is the root of all storytelling. As long as stories exist, conflict will exist. As long as Everhood keeps getting played, Shade will still exist. And, as said by the Divine Mushroom, the quests will never end.
It never ends in Everhood.
Hey, wait a minute, that's not advice. What was I on?
I like to think of life and every single day like a book! Every time you go to sleep, you flip a page in that book. Don't even try going back a few pages because every single page you pass has been glued shut by Gorilla Glue and Flex Tape.
Father Time himself has prevented you from doing time travel, and at the end of your lifespan, he quizzes you about everything in your life. And if you don't pass, you get sent a new book.
You are forever stuck in Father Time Life School.
Anyway! That's my advice! :)
IM PUTTING ALL OF YOU IN A CAGE
PLEASE SPARE MY WIFE
Too late I HAVE HER NOWWW
HAHAHAHA NUH UHH
PLEASE SPARE MY WIFE
Too late I HAVE HER NOWWW
WE DO, also my fault man. While I was checking if I could make any codes, I couldn't. I'll let you know when I can, I'll probably pay for the premium if I don't get a free code.
I kinda wanna join toy house because I see so many people use it but at the same time I hate saying hi to people let alone like asking for an invite, I heard someone say that apparently users get invite codes a lot (very different from ao3 lol I been on since like 2021 and haven’t gotten a single invite code) and like how apparently some artist will just be like “just ask I’ll send one” but like uh fuck no I can’t ask my teachers a question unless we’re besties let alone some random artist for an invite code that they more than likely don’t have any use for
Fuck social anxiety