Memories of the Past!

I have a lot of thoughts to write about all of this, but I have been so busy. I hope to get to this tomorrow. I swear I'm not just ignoring it all.

Alright, let's start with my thoughts on the game as a whole.

In terms of a bastard game, this was pretty much everything I expected. I'm sure you guys are getting a lot of flack about the constant tribe swaps, but I absolutely adored constantly switching around and getting to meet everyone. I love that there were two returnee challenges, with three returnees in total. It definitely kept the dead active and participating, as well as having everyone be on jury. All of this is exactly what I wanted to see and have in a bastard game, and your execution of it was amazing <3

The only things I think that didn't go over so well, are the items and idols. I was really hoping that all the idol hunts were fake, like, the idea of having so many hunts and all of them being completely arbitrary made me really love the game so much more! ...until it was proven that they were all real, and there were just so many idols hiding away in the background. As someone who doesn't enjoy playing with items and idols, at all, even in the normal, small amounts, that really killed my love for this game come fake-merge when they all came out to play.

The rupees being useless was good though, still love that! Best mechanic.

I can't say I've been paying attention much for the past couple of days, so if there were any big twists during merge, I missed them and won't be talking about them.

Some of my favourite twists/mechanics: the jigsaw puzzle challenge coming back three times is the best thing ever. Though I think having it be the first challenge, last challenge, and final returnee challenge (so instead of RAF) would've made for a better challenge story arc, but all in all, A+ love the recurring theme.

Another fav was Lonk and changing up the entire board for it, those were some amazingly silly avatars 10/10 comedy, especially with it tying in to the first returnees.

Like I already said, the swaps and constantly changing tribes was great, it kept me far more engaged with everyone (which really showed once I got to fake-merge and my activity plummeted because I was always talking to the same people every day) but the best part of the tribes, imo, was the joint tribal councils. A lot of people don't like them, but I love them. They make even the simplest of TCs into something just complicated enough that you really have to work to make sure everyone is on the same page - though I can't speak of the execution of the one where they couldn't talk to the other tribe, but considering how great of a twist only being able to speak with mutual F6's was, I honestly think not being able to talk to everyone privately during a TC is a hilarious twist.

And speaking of my fatal TC, even though it caused me to go, I thought the way that people could still communicate using the like system and coded messages was really awesome (even though we kinda weren't supposed to? Idk, I feel like a bunch of us were anyway). I mean, Oaki basically told me that I was the vote using the like system of my old messages, so that was really cool. Even though it killed me, I think that was a fault of my own not following along with what Sidon and Epona wanted me to do, rather than getting fucked over by the twist itself. So yeah, having that ranking form turn into who we could talk to, was an amazing twist, and I really loved it.

Sadly, I do have a bit more negativity to talk about. My least favourite part of the entire game is technically also one of my favourites. The fact that we switched tribes so much made it so that I really didn't make any serious connections with anyone on a personal level. Usually I walk away from the game saying that I want to talk to basically half the cast post-game (but never do because I am literal trash at keeping up communications), but in this game, there's no one I really care to continue talking to outside of the game. Like, probably Epona, if they turn out to be someone I'm not already close to and talking with outside of all this, and maybe Sidon? Or Riju? But even then, not really. Now, I'm not sure if this is a problem with the swap twists or just the general player base isn't as... idk, personable? this game. I really don't know how this problem could've been fixed, or if maybe it was just me? But that's really the only thing I'm bummed about this game.

And finally, I just want to say that you mods have been amazing this game! I'm not sure if I've just... mellowed out when I'm playing Survivor these days or what, but I think this is my first game that there wasn't a single moment all game where I was truly frustrated with any of you about how the game was being run. There was a few moments during the "math" puzzle challenge, but that was more anger towards the challenge itself and fizzled out pretty quickly as soon as I realized that was sort of the point of the puzzle and what the answer actually was. Now, that could all be because it's a bastard game, so any grievances I might have almost had were quickly whisked away by the thought that that's the point of playing a bastard game, but really, truly, all in all, I'm glad I played and I had fun, so thank you <3

I really wish we had talked more. I did enjoy our brief time together, but I never could truly trust you, and I imagine you never truly trusted me either. I think the rumours I had heard about you before meeting you really ruined our chances, as I never expected you to be quite the outlier underdog that you turned out to be. It a shame that I never did get to steal your wings

An ally of my allies is supposedly my ally, right? We hadn't met before fake-merge, but literally all of our closets allies were all allied together. I'm really glad the both of us came in and immediately clicked. It's a real shame that we never got to talk about personal matters, as I know nothing about you! I really appreciated you and the fact that we were pretty much always on the same page with each other.

We never met, and you aren't particularly active in the ruins, so I really don't have anything to say about you. So here's a funny horse gif!

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Normally I'd do one person per post, but sadly we never met either. However, you are very active in the ruins, and you seem like a hilarious player. I'm really sad you got voted out so early! A shame you didn't get to be the returnee, that really would've been great! You also get a funny horse gif!

Dude, my bro, my prince. What are even words. I’m devastated that you’re not at FTC. If only I knew that you and Oaki were together, we could’ve been a dream team Courage alliance. You were my F2 from the start, and while Epona fought hard for that top space in my heart, overall I’d say you won it. You were an amazing ally to have the whole way through, even if you didn’t tell me everything - especially things that could’ve seriously changed up the game for us! Even while voting me out, you didn’t make me feel insignificant, so thank you. Seriously, just thank you for putting up with this game and sticking with it as hard as you did. What a hell of a game to come back into the Survivor scene with, but I’m glad you did. You really made this game worth it to play.

So you… existed? I’m sorry we really didn’t get to talk much. Which is to say, I think I know more about Magda than I do you. I’m sorry inactivity did you in, and I’m sad I never got to meet with the Chio who started the game strongly enough for everyone to still fight for you to stay even though you weren’t around. Maybe next time!