#GODDAMN its been a while since ive done a deepdive like this

[fbj723]

what if,,,, hypothetically speaking,, i do a frame by frame analysis of the nocti v nigel cg,,, ahahaahaaaa,,,,,,

I AM GONNA PUT THIS HERE NOW THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR SANDS OF WRATH AND, OBVIOUSLY, SPOILERS FOR THE CG

i do recommend watching the cg first before reading all this since i will mention a lot about nocti and nigel's movements using timestamps for the vid since my storage hates me and i can't really properly add multiple clips 💔

!! LINK TO CG ANIMATION HERE !!

I WILL ALSO BE USING MTL FOR ALL THE DIALOGUE SO I'M VERY SORRY IN ADVANCED IF THE DIALOGUE IS INCORRECT TO WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS

from the get-go i will mention that before nocti entered this fight, skk had a m.i.n.d link with nocti. and since skk is poisoned, nocti is gonna feel the same over the time

aside from him coughing up vital fluid at 0:39, you can really see the poison start getting to him when he fights. starting from 0:14 you see nocti's movements getting slower and slower which becomes more obvious when you see him throw less punches/kicks and his reaction time worsening, allowing nigel to easily counterattack

callback to his last fight with nigel shown at the beginning of the chapter

ER05-01

i would also love to point out how nigel is such a good foil for nocti. from the opposing color schemes to their behavior. nigel having a black color scheme to fit with the whole idea that he is an assassin hiding in the shadows (which is an often recurrence of him throughout the story by either him watching nocti in the distance or showing up unexpectedly). black can also be associated with power and death, connecting to the fact that nigel carries such a strong poison to where there's no known cure, which allows nigel to easily control others to his bidding and/or make them suffer. as opposed to nocti having a white/vibrant red color scheme to fit how bold or loud he is. red can be associated with anger and white can be associated with purity/innocence so it fits with his personality too (since nocti is often left in the dark of a lot of situations back when he was in the purifying force)

ER05-08

around 0:46 - 0:57, 1:05, 1:18 - 1:33

essentially any part where nocti is heavily breathing

ER05-01 structure that this narrator is mentioning is nocti

this is probably leaning more into hc territory, but i think out of all the playable constructs we've met, nocti feels the most "human." he eats, drinks, sleeps, has breathing patterns that the narrator loves to point out, basically does a lot of human practices that constructs don't need to necessarily do, but he does it out of habit. he even believed at one point that constructs can get sick (obv they can't)

dialogue at 0:27

nigel: "you are still the same as before" nigel: "everything covered by anger" nocti: "nigel!!!!!" nigel: "you always thought my poison could only be attached to weapons, right?" nigel: "never doubted what i said"

callbacks to the last fight nocti had with nigel. when nocti was at his lowest, that's when nigel finally spoke. nigel alludes to nocti's naivety again, making nocti finally realize the poison wasn't contained in a separate attachment/weapon, rather nigel is the poison itself

ER05-12 nocti telling skk where the poison might be (remember at this time he still didn't know how nigel injects the poison, he just knows nigel has the ability to do so)

ER05-08 nigel pointing out nocti's naivety

the realization of where the poison's actually located, after the dialogue at 0:27

the location of the poison is more obvious in the reference sheet of nigel (since the ref removes the cloak he's wearing) (link to tweet about nigel that includes this ref)

callback to when nocti and skk first began to plan how to track down nigel after the rediscovery of nigel's poison

ER05-12

callback to him saying "leave everything to me" shown in the previous image.

the light in nocti's hands in the animation is skk (figuratively, not literally ofc LOL), having faith in him that he WILL beat nigel and will give him their all to help. though honestly, all he ever really needed was someone to trust him unconditionally

2:15 - end

"give that bastard a taste of our true wrath"

"partner"

the peak embracement of nocti and skk's partnership. this was the missing piece that he needed to finally beat nigel.

ever since the beginning of this chapter nocti has implicity or explicitly stated (whether it be through his first encounters with skk or in flashbacks of his hubris being in the purifying force/early days of cerberus) he prefers to work alone and leave it at that. he thought it'd benefit everyone if he didn't rope people into his mess, and he fully believed finding and confronting nigel again is something only he should burden

ER05-06 nocti and skk took turns asking for context of what's been going on

skk, cerberus, and the people of new oakley however say otherwise.

skk, in their words, "took a gamble" and just had a gut feeling to stick around and help him and even be down to consider him as a partner

ER05-05

ER05-06

it should probably be noted that skk saying they believe him "just because" carries a lot more weight than at first glance. having someone believe him without him really needing to prove himself with evidence makes nocti appreciate skk a lot more than when he first encountered them in EX05 or at the beginning of this chapter, showing that skk isn't like everyone else he's met and perhaps has a chance to be friends or more with them

ER05-11 first instance of nocti calling them partner

ER05-11 nocti "subtly" correcting vann with referring to skk as his partner

these screenshots can keep going on and on but you get the idea LOL they call each other partners from ER05-11 onwards.

21 and vera believe cerberus isn't complete without him

ER05-15 despite nocti technically being considered as a part of the purifying force at this time, vera and 21 will always believe he truly belongs in cerberus

and the people of new oakley see him as a brother/friend they could rely on and share a drink with

ER05-09 after nocti saves new oakley he gains a lot of respect from the people in town and they all decided to celebrate nocti's win

for most of his life he was practically feared or looked down upon by the people he was with 'cause of his loud and reckless demeanor, and to finally have that revelation that he IS wanted, needed, LOVED even, that people are able to put their trust and faith in him, that allows him to be the best version of himself he could ever ask for

am i looking too deep into this? probably

there's probably a lot of bias from that whole analysis i just love nocti ok—

i do wish we can see more of his backstory. he's one of the few that actively hide it (with the addition of vera not revealing it out of some respect for him), and i just wanna do a deep dive of how he became the way he is today. he's also one of the older constructs given his frame id (BPO-03), makes me wonder how or why he became a construct in the first place-

anyways, that's my rant for the month, ty for reading if you made it this far lol

have some love and a cookie you deserve it ❤🍪

#GODDAMN its been a while since ive done a deepdive like this #honestly i cooked this up out of pure boredom while i was in class and honestly idk if any of this made sense #just let me scream into the void abt nocti ok i love him WAY too much #fbj rambles #pgr #punishing gray raven #pgr noctis #战双帕弥什 #パニグレ