u/DekuTier

Seriously though, this is probably the funniest Rhythm Heaven game out there.

Not even a joke, just serious question. That condition is NOT fun to deal with. So much anxiety...

I personally would put Steady Bears at the top because it's just so dang adorable. It genuinely melted my heart the first time I played it. I actually made a video where I ranked every single game like in this tierlist if you're interested: https://youtu.be/4CWL2J5yDeE?si=JAY2uCwVJd7cfftj

I'm not gonna lie. Rhythm Heaven ds might be the least possible out of all of them ;-;

This is a power system that I have been working up in my mind for years now. It's gone through tones of revamps and iterations, and I basically had to start over from scratch at one point.

But I think I've finally gotten it to the point where I think it's finalized, and the rules are coherent and explainable enough to be satisfying at least to me. So here it goes. The Ambience Power System explained:

Ambience:
Ambience is a golden gaseous substance found on the planet Runic. From it, all living creatures are born with affinities that map onto the elements of the universe. A person’s affinity is largely determined by genetics, but sometimes they can vary if members of two different family elements intermingle. With each person’s affinity, their atomic mass defines the upper limit of the amount of energy they are allowed to expend through ambience before they run out of energy. Whenever a person is using ambience, they're essentially converting the ambience into their elemental affinity which causes heat loss. That heat loss is what's burning their mass and thus energy reserves. The better skilled the master is, the less heat is lost on conversion. The atomic number of a person’s affinity on the other hand determines the amount of energy that they HAVE to extend in order to perform a rune art.

Runearts are spells that ambient masters cast in battle that are typically stronger and more versatile than just basic ambience manipulation. With normal manipulation, if you say, took an individual with a Hydrogen affinity, and they were able to shoot water out from their mouth like a water gun, that wouldn’t take any additional mass from them, as their simply manipulating the oxygen already present in the air, with the hydrogen from their affinity to create a simple attack.
Bonds however, require a lot more force and power to execute, and thus are usually reserved for Runearts. 

Bonds are essentially Runearts that you’re able to cast, based on your connections to other affinities.  An example is if we took the same Hydrogen affinity individual from earlier, but instead they cast a Runart for H3O+, Hydronium acid. This is a much more powerful and devastating attack, and thus is required to be performed with a Runeart. And this power is only achieved if the Hydrogen user has a former bond with an Oxygen affinity of some kind.
Usually Runearts are denoted as the type of element first configured as the style of art (so Hydrogen Art: Hydronium Crest Wave), before the user casts the symbols through the air using their ambient extract as a pigment for the cast.

Runes are just materials with Runearts scribed onto them, which essentially stores reactions and chemical effects. They are the pinnacle of Ambience mastery because unlike Runearts, creating a rune requires the user to inscribe their ambience strong enough so that it can be a functional activation device. As such, Runes are usually only produced by machinery and used for things like factory production, since those are actually powerful enough to infuse ambience into objects. Very few individuals can create runes by themselves, and it’s usually only basic things, like a water activation spell, or the most common, NaCl runes which are used in cooking. Even Runes have a shelf life after so many uses, with the most powerful Rune lasting literal centuries, and some seemingly being immortal, as inscribed on ancient cave walls as some historians research in the world. While creating Runes is almost impossible for most masters, activating Runes is as simple as infusing the right ambient signature. As such, they are a common military weapon deployed during war time. Think of it as grenades or gas bombs some soldiers use.

Ambient Extract: Ambient extract is the substance that is formed when ambience mixes with human blood after stirring in their body. Every human has this substance, but only talented ambient masters are able to access it for combat uses. Now the basic use of the extract is just for casting Runearts as stated earlier, but there is also a special technique known as “Ambient Extraction” in which the user drains their reserves of ambient extract to use in battle. Think of it as burning the excess fat in your body left from your constant ambient intake. The reason why this technique is so powerful is because unlike regular ambient usage, ambient extract doesn’t consume your atomic mass. It does however consume your ambient extract which does need to recharge over time just like your mass, and unlike regular ambient, an improper extraction can drain your mass all the same. As such this technique is usually only reserved for the most elite of masters, as mastering it is really difficult, and imperfect usage of it is downright dangerous.

This was actually really fun to do because I know me and my brother discussed this topic all the time. Recreating these excellent games irl would be quite the spectacle not gonna lie.

TLDR at the end. This is gonna be a long one.

So, I've considered myself a leftist for quite so time. I was always pro-feminism, and even wrote off most anti-feminist arguments as just "misogynist" men that didn't want to "look inward" or whatever. That was until the 2024 election where Trump won again, and the left including myself were completely baffled. "How did someone as obviously evil as Trump win" I asked. I even had fairly good male friends of mine who were some of the nicest people I knew, blatantly admit to me that they gleefully voted for him. It was at this point that I could write it all off as just "men are all secretly evil, and hate women and minorities", but that answer never sat right with me. I knew it was more complicated than that, and that there had to be something more to it. Cue my more critical lens at leftism, and the online left space as a whole.

My analysis over the past few years has led me to rethink my preconceived biases and think maybe men have it worse than what I thought. Over the course of my analysis, I've discovered 3 main points about online leftist culture that I think legitimately and rightfully led to the alienation of men, and until they are addressed MEANINGFULLY will not solve the manosphere problem that leftists complain about so much. Those 3 points I discovered were and what I would like to call them:

1. Moral Bullying
2. Hierarchy of Oppression
3. Women rool, men drool

Moral Bullying:

The left has this broad issue that I've noticed, and it's kind of frightening to see. We are strangely ok with what I like to call "moral bullying." What I mean is that you have normal bullying, where you make fun of, harass, or generally just demean another individual on the basis of stuff like them looking ugly, them being weak or nerdy. Stuff my middle school classmates would bully you for. Moral Bullying on the other hand is the same type of thing. You still demean, harass, ruthlessly mock and make fun of a person online, only when you get called out for being an asshole, you hide behind a supposed moral or systemic framework that "justifies" the bullying. I see this all the time where a woman or feminist online will say some completely unhinged take, and a bunch of leftists (including myself) would flock to the comments to defend her. Saying stuff like "it's just one crazy person online." "She has a reason to feel this way," etc. And what I don't think us leftsits realize is time is that this needless coddling of objectively bad people in our spaces made us look bad, because it not only showed our extreme bias, but it was also really cruel to men that have been legitimately wronged by women to essentially say "yeah you're hurt, but suck it up bucko! Women have it worse!" And it has this cooling effect where young guys would legitimately come to me, saying that they have this problem with a woman, but are too afraid to even defend themselves for fear of looking sexist.

I think this video by Justin Jordan really puts things into perspective on what I'm talking about: https://youtu.be/ESmnAHZhgrI?si=ztIDR5dhQ24smqL3

Essentially, he talks about how the lack of empathy in general online is justified through a lens of "social advocacy" or "calling people out" when in reality it's just a cheap way to score internet points on those designated as the "right targets." It's sickening, and genuinely disgusting to see my fellow leftist who are supposed to care about standing up for what's right and fighting against cruelty, to engage in this type of behavior.

Hierarchy of Oppression

   This one is a little more complex, but I'll lay the groundwork. I've been in left-wing spaces for a while now. From 2020 -onward to be exact. And something that I started opening my eyes to is that we are just as tribalistic and hierarchical as any other subgroup or culture, to an almost ludicrous degree if you really look inward. And I was always accommodating to this kind of behavior. I mean stuff like generalizing all men as potential predators and creeps. Treating women as these holy bastions of morality who could never do no wrong, and if they ever did, it was always "explanable" due to some systemic reason.

I was there for the "man vs. bear" debate and legitimately defended the majority of women's opinion online, simply because I thought that the loneliness and hurt guys felt was "no big deal" and that we as guys could just "get over it", not really considering the actual long term effects of this type of demonization.

The truth I see now is that the amount of vitriolic or flat out bigoted behavior you're allowed to get away with on the left is directly linked to the perceived privilege factor you have. With white, straight, cisgender, male being the peak of privilege, and queer, disabled, women of color being at the bottom. And this reverse hierarchy if you will is problematic for a lot of reasons.

The biggest reason however is that it's bad due to pure essentialism.  We as leftists have an inability to criticise or hold accountable people at the top of our hierarchy, no matter how bad they act, what mean stuff they say, as long as it's towards people at the top of the privilege hierarchy, "it's no big deal" and "not as harmful." And I used to accept this framing because I thought it was true. A feminist spewing blatant anti-male hatred wasn't as harmful as the reverse happening, because women aren't typically ones to commit violent acts.

What I didn't consider however is that this framework downplays just how bad some guys have it. Not every white man has 3 million dollars in trust fund money, a stable social life, and infinite job offers to keep him stable. Likewise, not every minority is a poor, poverty stricken mess. I say this as a person of color that grew up in a pretty privileged upbringing. My family never struggled that much financially, I had access to good education and resources, and even graduated with a bachelor's degree recently. Yet, if I went and randomly said some mean stuff about white guys online, I would still be defended as if I'm at the bottom of the rung, despite my pretty privileged upbringing.

Likewise, you see the opposite effect, where even daring to criticize an objectively bad woman, or person of color as a white man would get you heavily scrutinized or accused of racism. I've even seen that sh*t with people like Candace Owens. A terrible person, but you would legitimately get told off by the left for daring to call her out as "It's not your place to criticize a black women" even if said black women is spewing literal n*zi rhetoric.

Or in an even more egregious example with the whole Dj Muel debacle (if you don't know, look it up, it's a bit too complicated to explain in this already long post), where leftists like F.D. Signifier were unironically defending Dj Muel and his blatantly abusive behavior. It was completely appalling, and it shows guys even looking to join the left, especially white guys that "hey, if you join our movement, we WILL NOT defend you from abuse or harm," and it's obvious from anyone looking on the outside.

Women rool, Men drool

Ok, so I will admit that this last point is a sort of mixture of many things. It's about the general lack of empathy towards men that goes unaddressed by the left, the hypocrisy with feminist beliefs, and the overall "solution" most leftists have for the manosphere being weak and ineffective.

This phenomenon of women rool, men drool has been so prevalent in our society that I even noticed it as a kid. I would notice how in most kid's cartoons and even adult media, men are often portrayed as stupid, incompetent, disgusting, and all around a worthless group of people, so much so that it's even played off for laughs. Think shows like Billy & Mandy, Spongebob, etc. And I think this soft reinforcement leads to similar sentiment in online and even real life spaces.

When I was in marching band in high school, the band director would blatantly show favoritism towards the women in the band over the men, saying remarks like "what's up with guys and their inability to listen." The director was a guy too. And though he did engage in pretty questionable behavior around the girls in our band, overall the bias towards women was more net good than bad.

The point I'm trying to get at is that the left seems to think there is zero thing as female privilege, and that men have all the social, political, and moral power at their fingertips. And this is simply not true. Worst yet, whenever a situation does arise where a woman blatantly has more power and advantage over a man, it always gets reframed as a problem with patriarchy and the way men act, and thus not "really" female privilege.

Women and young girls are seen as more innately valuable than men and young boys. "That's just because patriarchy views them as objects," even though being seen as disposable waste is arguably the worst in my opinion.

Women have overwhelming power and privilege in any dating or social context. "Well this wouldn't happen if men weren't so horny over women all the time." Etc, etc.

Female privilege simply isn't a thing in leftist spaces, and any contrary evidence is simply brushed off as patriarchy once again, regardless of whether or not they directly benefit from it or not. We as men are still responsible even if they get all the reward. And it's not to diminish women's issues by any means. Most of the privileges they benefit from are directly what leads to their problems as well. It's a double edged sword.

But the issue here is that whenever it's a woman suffering from a legitimate problem, it's a systemic issue that has to be solved by fighting the patriarchy. But when it's a man or boy having those same issues. "Men just need to be better. Teach men to see women as more equals. It's men's fault why they're so lonely" and stuff of that nature. It's a blatant hypocrisy.

I think this video by Vaush shows it best: https://youtu.be/KNbhYBUasco?si=2EwrEyyCheuDYiaE

Even though the woman is objectively in the wrong, it doesn't point to a broader systemic issue with women feeling entitled and superior, but is instead just that individual being bad. Meanwhile, if a guy online says something terrible or evil, suddenly every guy has to speak out against this one individual and condemn them, less they be supporting the patriarchy. And that's the crux of this last point.

Men are always, innately the problematic ones. We're always the people that need to look inward. To change as a person. To work on ourselves rather than blame society. Women are always perfect and moral in everything that they do. And the only time they can be criticized is if they're a white women, harming a poc or minority group of some kind. Other than that, any of their bad actions can be excused as just them "lashing out because of patriarchy" and that they're never really in the wrong, since they're the oppressed ones.

I think this entire analysis over the course of 2 years has really opened my eyes, and forced me to stop blindly following feminist narratives on everything. Even though I am still vehemently a leftist. Still anti-capitalist, anti-maga, and despise the people in the manosphere that abuse these social causes for their own self profit. I can acknowledge that it's mostly us that were the problem. Our inability to properly address the very real grievances of young men is what led to how things are the way they are right now. And it's not just as simple as "All men are secretly evil and just want to control and hurt women." That's simply a lazy answer that I'm not at all satisfied with.

TLDR;

I feel like the rise of the manosphere is primarily the left's fault because we have an inability to seriously talk about men's issues, without framing them as the aggressor or cause of the issue. We treat women as these perfect beings who can do no wrong, and even in cases where a woman is blatant, abusive or harmful, there's always an excuse or justification for her actions, but never for a man.

We treat women's issues as if they're systemic in nature, while we treat men's like they're individual failings. Leftists are overwhelming accepting and even play defense for men constantly being sh*t on in society, and think of it as empowering, instead of being deeply abusive and traumatizing to young boys online.

As a result, young men get radicalized by far right figures not because "they were sexists the entire time" and simply wanted to control women. It's because these far right figures acknowledge the hypocrisy. They acknowledge how mean women can be sometimes. The blatant double standards we as a society have, and they don't sugarcoat it. They don't tell men they're the problem for people whose actions they have no control over.

They're not told they need to just suck it up and take harmful rhetoric and hate against men as if it's just normal and a natural result of their innate oppression of women. They're not told that they're life is magically good and perfect just because of their skin color and sex.

I know this advice sounds trite, and maybe even condescending to some people, but I genuinely believe it. Sometimes, I think we just have to be nicer to men. Stop always making fun of them. Making them the butt of every joke. Thinking of them as disgusting, worthless, and dangerous. We need to be nicer to men.

If so, which ones do you think they would have? 🤔