#Its so weird to have an entry in this series where the main characters names are left in untranslated Japanese

[pandadrake]

More things should have canon chibi animal mascots for the main characters.

Spoiler mention below the cut

This was basically my vibe for Case 2-4, like damn Asougi chill.

#my art #dai gyakuten saiban #the great ace attorney #ryunosuke naruhodo #kazuma asougi #barok van zieks #Its so weird to have an entry in this series where the main characters names are left in untranslated Japanese #cat meme #the great ace attorney spoilers #dai gyatuken saiban spoilers #I drew the fuck out of that steak for some reason idk #I am not an anime artist

[medakakurokami]

I finished over 100 visual novels, here’s a long post with some recommendations

Last month I hit 100 Finished VN’s over on the VNDB and I thought I’d shoot out some recommendations while the Steam Summer Sale is going on (even though some of these aren’t going to be on Steam)

I already have finished up some stragglers and caught some shorter titles so it’s up to 104 Finished, but all the better. I have been reading some VN’s since 2015, but it really became a hobby and a genre I was invested in during Covid lockdown in 2020. I had trouble getting into some of the popular titles, but a couple of games that were lesser known at that time really blew me away that year and I started digging more into the medium. I still have a lot to try out and other classics I’m still interested in trying, but here’s a top 10 I’m confident in recommending to most people, at least the kinda people that would follow this blog. A few of these recommendations are actually multi-part series, but hopefully accessible all around.

Planetarian ($10 on Steam and Switch, ~$5 on sale)

This is a very late entry onto this list but I think it’s an easy recommendation. This is a very short 2-4 hour visual novel that got a well received 2 hour movie adaptation in 2016, but it was strong enough that even while knowing the plot everything still hit hard. It is a story set 30 years after an apocalyptic event destroys most of the world, as a human junk-trader comes across a planetarium with a somehow-still-functional robot named Hoshino still performing her daily duties after 30 years without customers or coworkers. It can come across as a bit saccharine, but it is a quick, well made, and effective tearjerker.

Narcissu 1st & 2nd (Free on Steam)

Narcissu’s first two parts are pretty compelling stories to do with suicidal ideation within the scope of the terminally ill. Which is to say they’re also real tear jerkers, and pretty open about some harsh self-reflective emotions. They both have stellar endings, and can be quite immersive despite the very limited artwork (if the screencap looks weird, the game’s art exists within a narrow strip on the screen, with a sentence or two reading out the story underneath it). Maybe the least accessible on this list, but a $0 price tag makes it easier in some sense to get into.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni / When The Seagulls Cry (~$50 on Steam, $30 on sale)

Umineko you’ve probably already heard of, and here’s me recommending it. Umineko comes in two parts, on Steam referred to as the Questions Arc and the Answers Arc. Despite the split, the overall story follows the events of a certain day on Rokkenjima Island in 1986 as a family meets to discuss their inheritance and their family’s mysteries. Unbeknownst to them they are soon haunted, over and over again, by the revenant of the Golden Witch said to live in the woods of their family’s island.

I’m in the minority of preferring the Questions Arc, where well written and deeply human characters find themselves in deeply inhumane and nonsensical scenarios. The Answers Arc back seats some of that to start delving into an esoteric explosion of clues and backstories, and was still very entertaining even if I was more invested in the episodic stories than the overarching mystery. This may also be seen as inaccessible, $30-50 for a slightly older title and over 140 hours long on average playthroughs, but it is deeply absorbing.

Witch on the Holy Night a.k.a. Mahoyo ($40 on PS4 and Switch)

Mahoyo is me and Nasu’s marriage counselor, it really made me see the good in him. It follows a young witch co-habitating with her magic colleague and the puppy-like boy that unwittingly steps into their world at risk to his own life, just as unexplained apparent murders are witnessed in their town.

This could possibly be a higher level recommendation, though it was apparently intended to have sequels and you can somewhat feel that in the isolated feeling of its main conflict. Despite this, the game is definitely worth experiencing for its classy charm and extremely well made action sequences that at times make you forget you’re not watching a full anime film. It’s also a showcase of Nasu’s strengths in writing character interactions and comedy, and he finally lets Show take over and stops Telling you piles of mage society worldbuilding quite so often. It is also has some of the highest quality production value I’ve ever seen, second maybe to...

Marco and the Galaxy Dragon ($20 on Steam/Switch, less than $10 on sale)

Marco and the Galaxy Dragon is an explosive opera of art, energy, color, and of course music. It follows the orphaned Marco and her dragon compatriot Arco as they hunt for treasure across the cosmos, finding their way to Earth on the hunt for Marco’s mother.

If Umineko’s 140 hours seems steep, Marco has you covered with a quick 6 hour rundown of a rebellious orphan fighting back against her space alien menace to find her own sense of place and identity in the universe, along with ALL the friends she made along the way. If Mahoyo feels like an anime film sometimes, Marco actually just has fully animated FMV cutscenes that are fun as hell and have their own unique artstyle to the VN itself. Thousands of pieces of artwork and a 52-track OST fill the game’s short runtime with no cut corners and and overflow of passion from the devs. Honestly even if you don’t want to read it go buy it, it’s cheap and they earned it.

White Album 2 (You’ll have to be creative to find this one)

This is the only recommendation that’s currently only available in an adults only 18+ Rating for the English translation. That being said, it’s one of the few erotic VN’s that felt justified in its pornographic scenes. The story is split into two releases: Opening Chapter and Closing Chapter.

Opening is a short and powerfully delivered love triangle narrative following Haruki, Setsuna, and Touma as their hastily formed 3-man light music band falls into itself with feelings. It’s charming but gut wrenching and sweeps you into its drama very effectively before kicking you on your ass in the end.

Closing Chapter is a long and drawn out disassembling of their lives as they fail to heal from the wounds of the relationships seen in Opening. It, to great effect, takes the readers own experience with how fun and passionate the Opening Chapter was, and shows how trying to cling to halcyon days can make us so dispassionate about our present lives. Painful stuff! Good music, too.

The Princess, The Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart 1 & 2

a.k.a. Noratoto ($40 on Steam for both, ~$15 for both on sale)

This is a very personal recommendation, and maybe one more easy to make on this blog where many of my followers might be receptive to sincere but slapstick ecchi comedy as art. Every route is highly different however and to me, some are pretty average for galge, while others stand out as amazing. The comedy writing as well feels like it was written by someone with actual comic writing experience, and not just regurgitating the usual ecchi manga jokes.

The general premise of Noratoto is the protagonist Nora, being transformed into a cat by Patricia the princess of the Netherworld, and he must reverse this curse via a kiss before it becomes permanent. A benign fairy tale premise, but one that somehow gives way to underlying stories about existence and finding purpose in families and where that leaves those without families or with abusive or divided families (it is from the same developers as Marco and the Galaxy Dragon, and the themes of finding identity without family match up very closely). Uniquely it is a visual novel written somewhat in 3rd person, narrated by a motherly voice as if the VN was being read to you as a bedtime story.

Like I said, it is dependent on route and some come across as your usual ecchi gal-game schtick, but some stick out, and if every route was as high quality as Nobuchina’s in the 2nd game, it would probably be my favorite visual novel.

The Original Ace Attorney Trilogy ($30 on most platforms, $10 on sale)

You’ve almost certainly heard of Ace Attorney already and have most likely played it. This is me telling any Ace Attorney fans reading that the original trilogy still reigns supreme (regardless of Turnabout Big Top). This is also me telling anyone who has held out on trying Ace Attorney to try it, and to start with the original trilogy.

Obviously this trilogy follows the Meme Man Himself, Phoenix Wright, as he defends the innocent and brings the guilty to justice acting as both lawyer and his own main investigator. While each case presents a unique mystery, the original trilogy has an underlying arc that reaches from beginning to end with a massive conspiracy that Phoenix has to breach to bring justice to the perpetrators and resolve the memory and regrets of his beloved mentor.

These games have some speedbumps as you may be banging your head against the wall trying to find the right evidence, but the experience that breaks through does so with gusto, succeeding on what it sets out to be: games that make you feel like you’ve brought justice to the world.

Utawarerumono Trilogy ($40/60 each on Steam, trilogy bundle $62 on sale)

Utawarerumono was my first proper visual novel, and it set the standards pretty high. I’ve posted about it several times in the last few years, and it remains one of my favorites. It is a labor of love on the part of the developers (the same developers as White Album 2), who developed the latter two games over the course of several years and have made this the spearhead of their company for the time being. Which makes sense, since it is about war.

The first game follows a masked man who is given the name Hakuoro waking up in a rural village with amnesia, confused about the strange population of beast-men living there. Despite not understanding his situation, his ingenuity brings the village prosperity. When the local lords try to put the village under their thumb, Hakuoro and the villagers are able to turn the tides against them. Their village grows into a kingdom as Hakuoro seeks the mysteries of himself and the world around him.

The latter two games pick up some twenty years after the conclusion of the first, and follow a man who is given the name Haku, waking up in the woods with amnesia confused about the... you get it. He is met by Kuon, a young girl on her way traveling to the capital of their nation of Yamato. Haku graciously accepts her help getting out of the cold woods, and decides to join her to the capital. As events play out, Haku finds himself under the direct command of the nation’s leader the Mikado, and carries out missions on his behalf as the nation continues to drag itself into war and conflict and Haku also seeks the truth of his identity.

These games are expansive in scope while still putting a large focus on the day-to-day lives of its characters. Around 100 hours across all three games it is impressive how much story it manages to fit in, but the pacing does bounce around between sweeping conflict and sleepy conversations. It is also in part, a strategy RPG game with the battles in the war being controlled by the player. These are decently made, especially well in the third game, but don’t ask too much of the player and the story remains the main focus and biggest portion of the runtime.

The House In Fata Morgana a.k.a. Fatamoru

($40 complete version on PS4/Switch, ~$40 main game + expansion on Steam)

I’ve gushed about this enough on this tumblr, I’ll keep it brief.

You are a formless soul who is led by the hand of a mysterious maid through the doors of a mansion on an unknown plane of existence. Through each door lies a story of the house in a different era, all following people bound together in ways that leave them cruelly and violently undone by the end of their stories. The connection between these stories, the mystery of the house and the supposed witch that resides within, and the mystery of You the wandering soul all slowly unravel in a bloody show of catharsis and soul. The game is dripping with traumatic poetic text, grating beautiful music, and all of its atmosphere geared toward being oppressive yet enticing. One of the best things I’ve read.

Honorable mentions:

Va-11 Hall-A and Endless Mondays get shout outs as some of the best Original English Language VN’s I’ve read, with cool artstyles and a mature cast they manage to be fun and relatable. Va-11 Hall-A delivers a great arc for its protagonist and Endless Mondays has great dialogue on the threat of automation of creative industries.

Grisaia Trilogy and Hatsumira are both absolutely raucous trilogies that are a lot of fun. Not wholly recommendable to all, Grisaia has some strong moments and a hilarious unique cast but is a mess overall (but we love Michiru). Hatsumira is a bit more consistent, a more stable and fantasy-oriented Grisaia.

A.I. The Somnium Files duology are detective games with highly divisive endings, but great comedy and characters that make them very easy to get through and enjoy the whole way to the end. It’s just a toss-up whether you’ll like that ending.

Sakura Wars games are finally being translated, and they are a great showing for anyone who wants to try some classic dating sim stuff but with some pizazz thrown in with the setting and mecha combat.

The Tears to Tiara duology by the same developers of Utawarerumono and White Album is also one to keep an eye out for. The first game's definitive version isn't available in English and the second game is stuck on the PS3 and no longer available digitally, but if they ever come out on Steam they are worth your time.

Nanairo Reincarnation and Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche are also two solid ecchi comedy galge. Both have surprisingly deep and genuinely heartbreaking underlying mysteries and conclusions.

I still have a lot I wanna read, Planetarian is the only Key novel I’ve read. On the docket are Labyrinth of Galleria, Little Busters, the 9 -nine- series, and Kara no Shoujo and White Album 1 releasing on Steam this year. Some classics I didn’t mention are Fate/Stay Night, Muv Luv, Steins Gate. Muv Luv I read Extra and enjoyed it, but never pulled the trigger on reading the rest, I may at some point on a whim. Steins;Gate I played through half of on PS3 and now my PS3 is in the closet, the VN is really good and has a unique atmosphere to the anime, buuuuuuut knowing the plot has made it hard to want to restart on PC or another console. Steins;Gate is good, if anyone is reading this far and hasn’t seen the anime or read the VN, do it.

#long post #i'll only tag the main ones #planetarian #narcissu #umineko #witch on the holy night #marco and the galaxy dragon #white album 2 #the princess the stray cat and matters of the heart #noratoto #ace attorney #utawarerumono #the house in fata morgana

[sneakyscarab]

hello! it's been a while since ive written out my thoughts about touhou! part of the reason why is that i've been working on a website of my own, which now hosts all my grimoire of nina entries with enhanced bonus features! plus a lot of other things on other pages but this is the relevant part to this post. i'm not sure whether i want to continue making tumblr versions of the posts now that i've set this up, but for now im gonna do both a tumblr edition and a neocities edition. with that out of the way lets get started on...

Touhou 1-5 PC98 Extravaganza!

after finishing the main series (and taking a probably needed break from bullet hells for a bit) I went back to the beginning and checked out the first wave of Touhou, the 5 PC98 games!

putting this up front, while i absolutely respect what these games did to kick off the series and get things going, i cant say i was very fond of them, so the overall tone of this writing is on the neutral to negative side. just something i feel i should note. with that said, let’s get started.

Touhou 1 - Highly Responsive to Prayers

Highly Responsive to Prayers is a weird game. contrary to what one would expect, the First Touhou Game is not a vertical scrolling shooter like others. HRtP is instead a sort of breakout/arkanoid type game, where you control a miko-shaped paddle named Reimu running back and forth bouncing a giant yin-yang orb that clears up tiles, beating a stage once you’ve cleared the screen. it does actually have whispers of the series’ future though, with turrets in levels that shoot bullets towards you, Reimu having a amulet-shooting ability (influence the orb's movement), screen-clearing bombs, and menacing boss fights.

you heard me right, this breakout clone has boss fights, and theyre kinda wild. every 5th stage is a boss, which have big hitboxes and shoot out tons of bullets and other attacks which you have to simultaneously avoid while also manipulating your orb in order to hit the boss (because only the orb does damage). After beating the first boss youre given a branching path between Makai or Hell, and either choice gives you 15 more stages for a total of 20.

overall HRtP is a very bizarre and not particularly great game, but its uniqueness makes it really stand out, and if you're in the market to play a weird breakout/bullet hell game for whatever reason you should try it out.

Touhou 2 - Story of Eastern Wonderland

now This is a Touhou game! released alongside HRtP at Comiket 52, Story of Eastern Wonderland is what i would say is the true first Touhou game, being a vertical scrolling shooter with 6 stages, fancy boss fights, and ridiculous characters.

right out of the gate SoEW shows off how wacky the PC98 era lore is, with the first stage containing not one but two military tanks as boss fights. the third stage's boss as well is a weird metallic wall with 5 "eyes" and innumerable laser cannons. its wild. as for gameplay, it's pretty much what you would consider Standard Touhou, although with some features missing that havent been invented yet, notably the movement-slowing Focus mechanic.

one interesting thing about this game is the colour choice: likely due to palette restrictions pretty much the entire game is a combo of red+purple, with the occasional blue+green sprites. even marisa is not immune, having bright red hair only in this game alongside a purple robe+hat.

its very surprising how close SoEW already is to the modern gameplay loop, although i guess it shouldnt be Too surprising considering scrolling shooters are like one of the first game genres ever made. its a pretty fun time, but also pretty rough around the edges.

Touhou 3 - Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream

if you thought we would stablize into the regular style now that we've seen SoEW, you'd be off the mark. Phantasmagoria of Dim Dream is actually a VS game in the same style as the later PoFV and UDoALG titles! it was really surprising to me seeing just how much experimentation was going on with the series this early in its lifespan, but I suppose that happened a lot back then.

in terms of gameplay PoDD plays surprisingly similar to PoFV, with the same enemy combos, sending spells at each other through a charge meter, and summoning yourself as a boss fight on the other guy's screen as an ultimate move. it even has the same insane boss summon rebound mechanic and the same cheating bastard final boss ai!

one funny difference is that, since faeries hadnt yet been established as go-to mooks, the enemies during duels are a variety of random things. besides ghosts you just have star, moon, or heart shapes with ' ' and ^^ faces. theyre so abstract I kinda love it lol.

like SoEW its surprisingly functional for its age, although also like that game it still lacks features like focus, leaving it being unpolished in comparison to newer variations of this formula. unless youre a PC98 enthusiast id recommend playing PoFV or UDoALG instead, especially since the multiplayer on this one is local-only.

Touhou 4 - Lotus Land Story

now things are starting to standardize. Lotus Land Story is another vertical scrolling shooter and adds in a bunch of features not in SoEW that would go on to be series mainstays: focus, boss phases, boss item drops, and most notably having Marisa as a deuteragonist! if SoEW was a standard touhou missing some features, LLS is taking steps to a full on touhou game, missing just a few mechanics from EoSD, notably the spell card system and point-of-collection line.

LLS is also notable for a few other reasons, one being the character Yuuka who is one of the few PC98 characters to get remade in the windows games, and the other being the origin of the iconic song Bad Apple!! which got remixed by nomico and memed half to death.

Its pretty good, albeit still rough around the edges and missing the sort of spark thats found in later entries.

Touhou 5 - Mystic Square

Mystic Square is where we settle in, playing identical to LLS, which means theres not much to talk about. there are 2 more playable characters than LLS, with both Mima and Yuuka. Mystic Square also includes the 4th and final PC98 character to get remade later in the Windows canon, Alice Margatroid. besides the name and the blonde hair though theres pretty much nothing connecting the two Alices together. if you liked Lotus Land Story you'll probably like this too, i dunno.

alrighty with all those games out of the way its time to talk about the characters of note. and of course if theres one name thats synonymous with PC98 its...

Mima! appearing in four of the five games of this era, Mima is the most consistent character besides Reimu and Marisa, and yet she has never been seen since Mystic Square. this may be a hot take, but i think Mima is emblematic of a lot of the qualities of this era that make it hard to get into from a story perspective. for starters, Mima is incredibly inconsistent. She shows up 4 times and is basically a different character each time; being a random Hell boss in HRtP, a vengeful spirit bent on destroying all humanity (except Marisa i guess?) in SoEW, a woman of few words and a short temper in PoDD, and a snarky bully who tells blatant lies just to see how people react in MS. she also has a weird conceptual design and wack power scaling, being a ghost who was never alive, always been a ghost, who also for some reason has like dragon wings but only when she gets angry (Marisa also has these in PoDD which is really bizarre) and shes able to simply escape being magically sealed away as if she was cracking the seal on a pickle jar and casually beats up everyone in Mystic Square without even blinking. While i do like elements of her character (her lying bastard personality from MS is pretty funny and I see why people would want that back) i think its for the best that she stays in the PC98 era, the one seal she cannot break free of. If she were to come back, so much would have to be rewritten either of the world around her or Mima herself that she would basically be a different character entirely, which i think would cause way more drama than her return is worth.

moving on, lets talk about Genjii! this old fart is basically Reimu's grandpa who is also a magical flying turtle. since Reimu doesnt know how to fly in these games, her pops Genjii gives her a ride whenever she needs to go solve an incident. He also acts as a straight-man to Reimu's comedy in her storylines, often questioning the bizarre things that she says or weird noises she makes. he's just a funny turtle grandpa and i'm here for it. while Genjii has never officially appeared in a game in the Windows era, ZUN has stated that the reason is that he's just enjoying his retirement. Reimu can fly on her own now, so he's just resting in the pond out behind the shrine, doing whatever it is grandpa turtles do in their free time. good for him :>

the last character spotlight is for Meira! she's a cool samurai lady from stage 2 of SoEW who was also Reimu's gay awakening :P (for context, Meira and Reimu's pre-battle conversation is a bit where Meira claims to seek the Hakurei Maiden [for her power] but Reimu assumes that Meira's hitting on her. After clarifying that Meira wants to fight Reimu and take her power after winning, Reimu counter-offers by implying that she'll take Meira as her girlfriend if she wins.) this was almost certainly just intended as a joke, but considering that Touhou Project is basically a yuri wonderland its very funny to see gay implications in literally the second spoken conversation in the entire series. besides that, Meira also has cool attacks utilizing her sword where she makes huge slashes in the air that explode into bullets after a second, which were probably inspiration for Youmu's sick swordplay five games later.

and thats the PC98 era! with these games under my belt ive now played each whole-numbered entry in the series, woo~! so having played them all, what are my thoughts on the origins of Touhou?

i'll start by clarifying that i am generally not a 'Retro Gamer'. while i acknowledge the importance of early entries into series, they are very frequently rough, unpolished, or just straight up unfun because the devs are still working out the kinks on how they want the series to go. this is doubly so for games from this pre-2000s era, where game design in general was still a new concept and most games were working off arcade standards of high difficulty to steal quarters. early Touhou is not exempt from this, these games are missing a lot of features added later that make the games more fun, and the difficulty is much higher with a lot more 'bullshit' design like bullets that spawn on your character or a lack of proper resources given on respawn leading to a cycle of death.

all said, i cant say i really enjoyed my time with the PC98 titles. you may have noticed that i didn't mention 1cc runs so far in this article, and the reason for that is i couldnt find the motivation to keep trying for more runs like i did with the future games. mix that in with the bizarre, nonsensical, and often self-contradictory writing and you have a recipe for mediocrity. PoDD in particular is an absolute dearth of writing and worldbuilding. most character interactoins are like one sentence long, and the plot involves two scientists on a "Probability Space Hypervessel" who somehow invited in the characters from Gensokyo to the real world so that they could capture them and steal their magic for clout. In Marisa's route after she beats them up they give her a weapon as a reward which is a ICBM with a smiley face that Marisa names Mimi-chan and rides around instead of her broom. like its all so ridiculous you can just tell that these were like student projects done by a dude in his free time and not a serious attempt at making a world or story.

overall i just really have trouble finding passion for these titles compared to the later entries, to the point that i had to shove all 5 of these games into a single article and its about as much writing as Subterranean Animism alone. im sorry if youre a big PC98 and/or Mima enjoyer but theyre not for me, and i have to say im glad that Touhou moved on and evolved past this point.

thank you for reading, and i'll see you next time, whenever that is!

#grimoire of nina #touhou #touhou pc98 #touhou 1 #touhou 2 #touhou 3 #touhou 4 #touhou 5 #touhou project #highly responsive to prayers #story of eastern wonderland #phantasmagoria of dim. dream #lotus land story #mystic square #wow thats a lot of tags lmao woops

[applejamzscribblez]

Writeblr Introduction

Hi everyone! I'm new to the writeblr community, and I've seen that a lot of writeblrs have introduction posts, so here's mine!

***

My name is Apple! I've been writing forever, but I eventually lost motivation with it, as my work kept piling up. I'm at Uni now, and I want to get back into writing!

Genres~

My favourite genres are Apocalypse, Fantasy, and Science Fiction - my love being Science Fiction! Usually the things I write are a weird mix of the three. I also enjoy reading these! I really don't like romance, so all of my work will not be romance based, or will have small romantic sub-plots.

WIP~

I have a lot of WIPs that I need to start, but the idea is there! (The problem with most of my work is that it just stays in my head!!) My current WIP is a Vampire detective noir set in a futuristic, blade runner-esque city. It is a mix of blade runner (as referenced before!!), matrix, and your classic detective-noir movies. I was also inspired by the game 'The Wolf Among Us' - I love how they mix classic fairytales with the gritty, gruesome backdrop of a corrupt city. Many of my works are inspired by video games!

Books I'm reading and recommend~

I am currently reading 'In the Miso Soup' by Ryu Murakami, and I'm loving it so far!! I love weird and strange books, so this murder mystery really gripped me within the first few pages. I can't wait to find out what happens next! (Also, I did pick this up to look at because of the cover!! Don't judge a book by its cover and all that, but the cover for this book is incredible!)

Some more books I would recommend are:

Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky - A post-apocalyptic book set in the Moscow Metro. We follow Artyom as he journeys through the Metro to deliver a message.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin - Set in a totalitarian state, we see the change of perspective of our main character, D-503, through a series of journal entries.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk - The book that went on to become a cult-classic film, this book tells the story of the mysterious Narrator, and his relationship with Tyler - a charismatic soap salesman and extremist.

The Whole Town is Sleeping by Ray Bradbury - A short story following Lavinia Nebbs as she walks home amidst rumours of a woman-strangler. The descriptions of the town and the environment are so good, it makes me feel like I am in the book, sitting there with Lavinia!

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster - A short story about an isolated world, where people are taken care of, and can only communicate to one another through the use of machines.

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writing community #creative writing #introduction #textpost #applejamz #book recommendations

[conchelle]

Aight let's discuss Yorumorukimiri. Unlike the other Towelket games where each game has its own confined story with very little real continuity between them, Yorumorukimiri is very much it's own series with very specific portrayals of characters and it's own lore and world rules that stay consistent throughout the games.

I was going to make a separate post for each of these games as I played them but I just couldn't be bothered...it felt kind of like trying to judge a show based on every individual episode without having the full picture. So now that I've played through (most of) the final game, I'll start writing my thoughts on the first game of the series now.

There are three games in this series. Yorumorukimiri, Bonds of Tails and Girl of the Beginning. They're all pretty long for RPG makers games to be honest. I spent about 46 hours in total playing through this series.

So, let's start with Yorumorikimiri, the first game in the series.

The premise is pretty simple. You play as Moochasu who's transferring to this new school. But turns out this school is weird as hell where nobody, not even the students talk. The only exception being two of your classmates. A friendly catboy named Keita and another girl who transferred during the same time as you.

So you and Keita do some investigating on what's really going on with this school and next thing you know, you're in this strange world called Yorumoru Kimiri. There's monsters called "Lizards". There's a creepy giant girl sitting off in the distance. There's four evil women who will kill you if you're unlucky enough to come across them.

Basically everything sucks and there's only one saving grace. A dog named Wanko fishes an angel out of your heart and it's the only thing that will keep you safe in this horrible world.

So you and Keita escape and meet up with some other survivors and the story goes on from there.

To start things off, I'll talk about the writing in this game since it was clearly the main focus.

This game definitely takes itself a lot more serious compared to previous Towelket entries. Not to say the other games were all just fun silliness but there was always a thin layer of self awareness and gags littered throughout that make for a pretty unique tone for these games. Like yeah, a premise where the main characters are cursed to walk in 4 directions like RPGmaker characters is silly but you better believe it'll play this plot completely straight until the very end.

Now that's not to say that this game is completely humorless and dry. There's tons of funnies sprinkled throughout. In fact these moments actually made me caring a lot more for some of the characters in the long run.

However when the story wants to be serious it absolutely will be. And I've gotta say, I was consistently engaged throughout it. Now there is something to be said about the pacing in which these events are told but I'll get to that in a bit.

What I want to discuss is honestly probably one of the first things that stuck out to me. The way the game looks and generally presents itself. To put it bluntly it's not really great. Towelket has always reused tilesets and I've never really been put off by it. Typically it's apart of the Towelket charm but geez, this game really does just feel like a mess of reused scenery we've already seen thousands of times. Nothing really feels like it fits. It feels like this game really just lacks its own visual identity.

Warau has it's own visual identity by recoloring the usual tilesets to be less saturated and using heavily edited photos as backgrounds which give it this almost gothic look throughout the game.

Other games do the opposite and opt for a more shiny and pastel looking color palette, all using the same tilesets. Basically what I'm saying is. These games don't need to have brand new shiny pixel art every time. What matters is how it's presented and how it makes itself relevant to the story we're experiencing.

However Yorumoru unfortunately just doesn't seem to have much of it's own visual identity. It feels more like a cluttered mess of things that worked much better visually in previous games.

Basically it just feels overly distracting to look at. The latest update of this game does do a little to make the game look nicer by replacing the overworld sprites with much more detailed and larger versions of themselves but to be honest, while the sprites themselves look nice, they to phase through a lot of objects...even during cutscenes and it gets really distracting at times.

Like this could have easily been fixed had the character just been set to stand literally anywhere else during this cutscene. But whatever, it's not that big of a deal. Just a little distracting at most.

This game is about 18 hours long. There are plenty of segments where you can easily go hours without experiencing combat of any form. I vividly recall this particular chapter which was probably 80% dialogue with very few spaces to actually stop and save. Basically, the game began to resemble a visual novel more than an RPGmaker game during the midpoint. Did I have a problem with that? No. Absolutely not. If the game has a story to tell me without the need for random monster encounters and pointless drawn out explanation, I'm 100% fine with that. I'd rather them just do that than try to pad out the time with meaningless busywork in attempt to remind me that this is an RPGmaker game.

And I will say, what was being told was actually pretty engaging and interesting. I was very interested in what would happen next however there was just one issue. How this section was presented was just...boring? The story wasn't boring. Absolutely not. However there were certain scenes that had a lot of text and information being put on screen without anything remotely interesting happening visually.

Characters would often just stand around and talk. I get it, it's difficult to do much in terms of interesting cutscenes with RPGmaker, however when the game already lacks an interesting visual identity, that particular segment really did feel like it was dragging on a lot more than it should have. And it's really a shame because it's definitely a section I would like to revisit in hopes of picking up on things I might have missed.

Thankfully I can say that this is the only game out of the three that have this kind of issue.

I won't get too much into spoilers since, really it's a lot and it's difficult to talk about without trying to explain the context for this game and the next ones.

So, the characters. How are they? Are they good, are they bad?

Well, they're a little inconsistent. It's not their portrayal that's off, not at all. Rather the cast just feels extremely unbalanced. The characters that are allowed to actually develop and get lots of screen time are fairly interesting and engaging.

Chihedomusubi was great. Uikechuke was great (though some of her scenes suffered from pacing issues). I was very interested in these two characters throughout the entire story.

(Honestly I could write a whole separate post on just how interesting Uikechuke is as a character. Someday. Maybe)

Keita was alright. He starts off as the comic relief character and the bits he shares with the main cast are entertaining. It never felt like he overstayed his welcome when it came to these bits. He always reacted appropriately to situations when the story took a more serious tone.

He gets his fair share of development as well however once a certain character joins the cast...a lot of the scene involving him really just end of revolving around that particular character and nothing else. It honestly felt a little frustrating and I lost significant interest in anything Keita had to say once it became apparent he would only be having back and fourths with this character whenever he was on screen.

Then you have the characters that suffer from "Air syndrome". For anyone who's new to Towelket, sometimes certain characters will be labeled as "Air" or like "Like air" some kind of variant of that. This basically means that they're going to be written out or just outright forgotten by the story. It's a bit of a running joke however in this game it really just bums me out.

While there aren't any characters that are actually explicitly labeled like this in this game, all the symptoms are still there, unfortunately. Characters like Minpo and Warawau are present but they're both forgotten by the story before the first chapter even ends. Minpo moreso as she's barely even mentioned until hours later when the game remembers that she is in fact still apart of the story.

Warawau on the other hand felt like she only existed to fulfil a specific purpose before being written out entirely. Which was a huge, huge disappointment. I really did feel that her character had potential. There are a handful of moments where characters talk about her and what's said is very interesting stuff that I would have loved to actually see in action. Unfortunately she just doesn't get the screen time I felt she needed to feel like an actual character rather than a tool to get the story moving forward.

The you have to protagonist, Moochasu. As always he's a silent protagonist however in this game it really, really, really does not work at all. You see, only for the first quarter of this game are you actually playing as Moochasu. Does he have relevance to the story? Yes, he does. However for the majority of the game, the focus is constantly flopping between different characters. Characters that are much more interesting than our protagonist. And their individual stories and character arcs just outright don't involve him.

Like I would even go as far to say that characters like Chihedomusubi and Uikechuke are much better suited protagonists that Moochasu since their actions actually influence the story and it's progression a lot more than Moochasu. The fact that he's a silent protagonist that barely acts as the protagonist half the time just leaves us with this weird character who feels more like a prop than anything.

Of course, towards the end it all leads back to him but by the time the ending happens you're left more confused about his character than anything. It affects what I believe would have been a pretty solid and touching ending had this character just been allowed to be relevant.

I've complained a lot in this post lmao. But that doesn't mean the game is bad! Trust me, I only complain this much when I believe something really good could have happened here. Not to mention I was trying to avoid spoilers because...let's be real here it's just a lot.

Overall, I did enjoy this game. Despite everything, I think it was a pretty solid introduction to the world of Yorumorukimiri. I'll probably revisit it again someday, just at a much more reasonable pace lmao.

Uhhh once again I'm not gonna add it to the Towel rating. I'll probably just treat the entirety of Yorumoru as it's own big game sooo we'll get the rating once I do a write-up on final game.

#towelket diary

[professoraurabolt]

Hi my very dear and lovely friend @cherubimeyes asked me to answer every single question to the Layton meme, yes all 40 of them, so umm, basically, I die. (yes i'm tagging you because look look look look look l-) Putting under a read more because, you know.

Oh and uh, obvious spoilers for like, every game

1) Who is your favourite character?

Luke, it's Luke, always has been always will be, he's just a boy and I love him so so so so so so so much. He's just so silly he makes me so happy anytime I see him, he’s literally just a 13 year old boy and he’s my son :')

2) What’s your favourite game?

Hate this question, hate it because there's things about every PL game that are my favourite and I genuinely love every entry in the series. Though if you made me pick, it'd say either Lost Future or Spectre's Call, I can't choose between those two at all so you have to take that as my answer hehe.

3) What’s your favourite soundtrack?

Lost future hands DOOOWN, they went so hard on the OST for this one like it's insane, like so many of the songs on that soundtrack are so memorable and they stand out so well I jUST AAAA. 

Plus the main theme makes me cry every time I hear it is so good. I love all the Layton main themes tbh they always fuck so hard lol but Lost Futures one is just the best to me its so all over the place but in such a good way.

4) What’s your favourite puzzle?

Ummmmmm I can't remember tbh, even more of an excuse to go play every layton game again lol. I do like sliding/jigsaw puzzles so anything along those lines would be one of my favourites!

The Alchemist Lab from MM’s and AL’s daily puzzles are a big favourite of mine! 

5) What’s your favourite setting? (Misthallery, Monte d’Or, etc…)

I really fucking love Misthallery, like just the vibe for it is so good to me, mainly because it really does come off like a weird English town that's you'd just stumbled upon while exploring. Plus it's so….Misty..

6) What outfit of Luke’s is your favourite?

Gonna go with the OG trilogy on this one, sorry I just think his jumper is cute, I do love his other outfits though they're such a look. So hyped to see what his new outfit is going to be but I already love it!!!

7) What’s your favourite cutscene?

Maaaaaaaan there’s so many that stand out it’s hard for me to pick one!!! Any scene with Claire, all the fight scenes, the ferris wheel scene, the one where Luke gets fucking kidnapped and just screams for like a whole minute, any scene with Randal, the little cutscene where Arouras getting her new outfits (why was she Irish btw?), the ending to PL vs AA. They’re all so good to me and I love them all so much, insane. 

8 ) What’s your favourite end credits song?

Azran Legacy's, I know AL isn't everyone's favourite because of how the story is but come oONNN THE END CREDIT SONG IS SUCH A GUT PUNCH, especially with the original Japanese lyrics to it!!! Genuinely sad they never dubbed over the end credit songs with lyrics because holy shit all the songs hit different with vocals added, I love you saxophone but you will never be a vocalist.

9) What’s your favourite minigame?

The tea mini game, I love giving those two the most rancid tea possible and watching them cry over it. I am really just a 5 year old making "potions" for people to consume and get sick from. Over favourite is the hotel mini game, I always feel super bad if i can’t get them both a bed before their first night at St Mystere but I love hearing them bitch and complain about their room layouts so much, Luke gets two beds just as a treat. :)

10) What’s your favourite animal/pet? (The bunny from MM, the parrot from UF, etc, etc.)

I love the bunny minigame but honestly the parrot, for the sole reason that you can name it My Dick and have Clive say "just sit back, and watch My Dick work its magic", like that is never not funny and if you say otherwise you're lying.

11) Do you have a favourite quote? If yes, what is it?

“Isn’t that odd, I find that odd! Doland, do you find that odd?” - Professor Layton

It is, in fact, odd.

12) If you could have a spinoff game about one character, who would you choose and what would the game be about?

Still holding out for that Luke solo American game, or just any Luke solo game, I know there was a mini one for Pandora's Box but I want a full game, send him out into the world to solve mysteries please he’ll love it.

I’ll also take an Flora, Emmy, or even Randal solo game, though I have no fuckin idea what kind of game. You think I could get a Randal farming simulator game??? Please???

13) If you could meet any character’s voice actor and have them say something to you as their character, who would you choose and what would you have them say?

I really wanna meet Luke's UK voice actor and ask her to say "Professor, have you heard of the hit new game Among us? Pretty Sus innit", I don't care how much money I have to pay for it, no price is high enough.

14) If you could punch one character in the face, who would it be?

Bill Hawks, I hate the government and I still want that bitch dead.

15) Would you change how any of the games are executed? If yes,what would you change?

The only one I'd change would be Azran Legacy, all I’d really do is just make the story more fixed/linier instead of giving the choice to the player, I just found it made the game feel a lot shorter than it is.

16) Did you enjoy PL-vs-PW?

YES YES YES I FUCKING DID SO MUCH, Mainly because this game gave me Darklaw and I don't talk about her nearly as much as I should, she takes up so much space in my brain. 

I do suck at court cases so the ace Attorney parts were a bit challenging but other than that, it's a good game and I love it a lot teehee

17) Do you have any headcanons? If yes, what?

I do not, aside from like small things that I really can’t think of off the top of my head I got nothing, I’m sure if you sat me down and asked me to think hard enough i’d come up with one but my mind goes blank when i’m put on the spot lol

18) Did you cry at any games? If yes, what ones)

Yes, all of them, every single one, there is no exception. PL games just hit me in the emotions too much and make me so and cry and throw up everywhere.

19) Do you prefer the 2D art or the 3D art?

Gotta say 2D, no hate to the 3D style because I do actually like it, but not everyone translates well over to 3D, especially with how most of the Layton characters look.

That being said, hopefully they���ve improved a lot for the new game, but man I do think the push to make every game 3D is… not a good one lol.

20) How many times have you played your favourite game?

Ohhhhhh man idk, I replay the whole series like every year or so but it's been a while so I don't remember. Definitely more than once, I think I replayed Lost Future as soon as I completed it the first time because there’s something wrong with me.

21) Do you cosplay any characters? If yes, who? If no, would you like to? Who would you choose?

I used to cosplay as Luke a lot back when I was younger, haven't done it since because you know, I got other things to cosplay, but I could probably pull off his look a lot better now than I did then, my hairs actually short now. I would need to but everything again because despite not growing since I was 10, I have outgrown his old costume, still got the hat somewhere though hah!

22) Do you have any merchandise? If yes, what? If no, would you like any? What would you get?

I don’t have a lot but that’s just from me not going out to get it! I have the Eternal Diva Luke plush who’s one of my oldest plushes and I love him so much!!! Other than that, I have the Fangamer Curious Village t-shit which I wear whenever it’s clean, and I have a bunch of fan merch too! I just try and pick up PL stuff whenever I can but I definitely want to get into collecting more of it!

23) Has the series had an impact on your life?

Um??? Yes??? You think playing a video game at the age of 11 wouldn't??? This game has impacted me in ways I can't describe and helped spark my love for art and storytelling and creativity, so without it I wouldn't be nearly half the person I am today, it's hard for me to articulate exactly how, but trust me it has and I am so grateful for it.

24) When did you first discover the series?

I got Lost Future advertised to me in 2010, I don’t think i’d heard of the game series before, I wasn’t as chronically online as I am now so back then TV ads really did work on me lmao

25) How old were you when you first discovered the series?

I was about 11 or so, you know, a crucial age to have media influence your entire life.

26) How did you discover the series?

Again, it got advertised to me, so I asked to get Lost Future for christmas and my life has been a downward spiral ever since lmao

27) Will you play Layton 7?

Oh man you can tell this meme is old lmao

I can't even remember what Layton 7 was originally going to be??? Like I know it ended up being Kat's game but I know it was planned to be something before that, but I seriously can't remember what it was. But umm yes I will play layton 7, I'm one of those annoying fans that will play anything in a series regardless of its quality.

28) Do you have any ideas that could easily be future games?

I can’t think, they’re literally making a new one and I have no idea what it could be at this point, so they can throw whatever they want at me at this point and i’ll take it.

29) Did you enjoy Mystery Room?

Honestly, I never played it. I know I should and I probably will at one point, but I didn't have a smartphone when it was released so I kinda missed out on the hype for it unfortunately, again I might play it now but yea we’ll see, Alfred is a whole mood dhdjbwhd

30) If you could tell one character something, who would it be and what would you say?

I’d say to Clive that he had the right idea but a giant mobile fortress wasn’t the brightest idea, if he had the money to build a giant robot toy, he could’ve just exploded parliament instead. Think smarter Clive, also have fun rotting in prison, hope you stay there.

31) Did you enjoy Eternal Diva?

I LOVE ETERNAL DIVA SO MUCH!!! It’s such a Layton movie, like it's the perfect video game movie to me!!! it's just, so Layton. Everyone I've ever met has been subjected to this movie at some point in their life, it’s like important research in order to understand what’s up with me. If I'm friends with someone who hasn’t seen it yet, don’t worry, you soon will.

32) What was the saddest moment/s in the games for you?

Literally all the endings??? That’s why I keep crying like a bitch over all of them.

Though Luke leaving to go to America will never not make me cry, like just the whole set up for it as well as the end cutscene just, god that sucks so much wAA. Also any mention from Luke about his family makes me sad too, like both in Specters Call and PL vs AA, I don’t know why I just find it sad, boy deserves so much better than what happened to him in Specters Call like come OOON, Weird kids deserve so much love.

Oh also, the reunion scene in PL vs AA wasn’t sad but it still made me cry, so mad it never got turned into a cutscene.

33) Have you met people as a result of playing the games?

YES! MANY! A good chunk of my early online friends were from our shared interest in Layton! Even today I will happily bond with someone over this game and I am always happy to introduce people to it, it’s just such an amazing series that I really can’t praise enough. Hey you, dear mutual, if you’re reading this and you’re a Layton fan and you’ve never talked to me, you’re already my friend now because you have amazing taste in video games. 

34) Do you want more games or do you think the series has run its course and is fine as it is?

OK SO, I ANSWERED THIS QUESTION A WHILE AGO AND ORIGINALLY I SAID NO, BUT THAT WAS BEFORE FEBRUARY 8TH 2023. I am bouncing off the walls and eating the furniture and kicking and screaming for a new layton game. I am so interested as to how this new one will play out but I am so HYPED for it and I’m so glad it doesn’t look to be going in the direction I was fearing it would go in if they made a new Layton game!!!

35) What Layton meme did you enjoy the most? (Clive and the snails? Desmond’s bread hair?)

Regret to inform you that I’ve been a Layton fan since 2010/11, so umm… I’m 42 years old, and uhh… baseball, if you even care. No attatchment to the source material it’s lost on me now, those quotes are just burned into my head from being 12 years old.

But I do 100% love Clive and snails, he’s so wrong by the way and I would put snails on him in a heartbeat. 

36) Has a moment in the games ever scared you?

I used to be really scared at the fact that everyone in St Mystere were robots, like that just unnerved me so much, but that was 100% from me being scared of robots at the time I first played it, I’m better now but it still weirds me out a bit lol

Other than that, can’t really think of anything, anytime they all get 

37) What’s the wackiest NPC you have ever seen?

All of them, LEVEL-5 just knows how to make insane looking characters that will kill you, I know a good chunk of them haven’t aged well but you know, not much I can do about that.

As for the wackiest, literally all the kids in Mistalery, there;s something so up with all of them I don't wanna go there ever.

38) Do you ship any characters? If yes, what are your ships?

Outside of any canon/canon implied ships, not really??? I never got into PL shipping it was just never for me, though I will admit that Ranlay is very fucking good and I appreciate it a lot. But yea I’m kinda more interested in all the found family stuff that goes on in PL games more than anything else!

39) Are you going to buy this art book when it comes out in November?

The original post for this meme is deleted so I can’t even check when this meme was posted. But umm, no I guess, if they do a new artbook for the new game then yes I will get it, no questions asked

40) Can you play any of the soundtracks on a musical instrument? If yes, what instrument and what soundtrack(s)? If no, would you like to learn? What ones would you like to be able to play?

I cannot play an instrument because I spent all my time learning how to sing instead, and I can’t even sing any of the layton songs because they’re all in Japanese and I don’t KNOW Japanese. Maybe if I ever learn one day then yea i’ll learn to play the ending credits.

#AURA SHUT UP #professor layton #ok well. um anyway. screaming and crying and throwing up everywhere still

[theresistanceneverquits]

Ranking the Terminator film/show entries cuz I’m super normal guys

T2: Judgement Day - Undisputedly the best entry in the series and a masterclass in making a riveting sequel that builds upon the original story. Could watch it every day. Mwah.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Okay yeah this is super niche but listen. It’s like a slightly lower-quality sequel to T2, and I really enjoy how they adapt the Terminators sent after John as he’s older. My selling point on the show is how we get to see John be a bleeding heart, but then it slowly hardens as the people closest to him instill in him that he has a duty to perform for the sake of humanity. It was just very compelling to me and added a lot to the story. Also really should have been named for John, since he’s the main character. But whatever.

The Terminator - The blueprint. The thing that started it all. While I would technically rate this #2 as far as quality goes, it is still the most simplistic due to the nature of, y’know, inventing the franchise. But it is a very compelling plot and a freaking cool action movie. Plus it’s uh. Basically the only time we see Kyle Reese in any of the James Cameron films so.

Terminator: Dark Fate - Cameron’s chosen sequel. I…enjoyed it. I was extremely haunted by the fact that little John got killed in the opening despite the apocalypse being called off, but I did enjoy that specific Terminator’s character growth. They sort of reutilized Cameron’s role from Chronicles, to the point that I sorta wished they had just used Cameron. And I did think the twist of the girl being the leader instead of her child was cool, but I felt it was also a little demeaning of Sarah’s role in T2.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - Here’s where we get to the part where I really don’t care about these entries. This one isn’t directed by James Cameron, the plot is mostly forgettable, and its inclusion just feels like they’re rinse and repeating the story and driving it into the ground. Like either start the apocalypse or don’t. But it is an interesting option for how Skynet rose to power.

Terminator Salvation - It sort of acts as an origin of the war. I’ll admit I largely don’t remember the plot, but it’s a cool concept. It was also weird how John was interacting a lot with Kyle while knowing he’s his dad, and lowkey setting him up with Sarah, but that’s true to the original film.

Terminator Genisys - The first Terminator film I ever saw. *sobs* Even when I knew practically nothing about Terminator I very much did not like this movie. Both the male leads felt slimy, and Sarah felt pretty helpless the whole time. It also had a bunch of additions that just felt like a cheap remake of the original rather than trying to add anything to the lore. It was needlessly confusing and like. You could just go watch the original film, it doesn’t have to be this complicated. Plus why did they spell genesis like that, it’s such a pick-me name.

#the terminator #terminator #I have no clue how to tag this #obligatory ‘these are just my opinions’ disclaimer #it really makes no sense to like the last three entries though I’m sorry #come at me for chronicles if you want but I stand by it being faithful to the first two films while adding worthwhile worldbuilding

[translationandbetrayals]

Another Megami Tensei Info Dump

So, continuing where I left my last post, Shin Megami Tensei 1 was the moment Atlus started stablishing itself as an unique company with a weird voice, in an RPG that took many design ques from western design (roleplaying in a way that affects the final outcome, the alignment system is similar to the classic DnD one, the mazes and level design are clearly inspired by Wizardry... this could be its own post, but it doesn't belong in this course), mythological and religious themes from all around the world, but mainly drinking from shintoism and christianism (which would become a recurring theme, Izanagi and Izanami are just as important to MegaTen lore as Yahwe or Lucifer), all wrapped in a package where the art, aesthetics, and writing where heavily inspired by many dark or post apocalyptic manga and anime from that time (some of the ones directly mentioned by the staff in interviews are Violent Jack, Devilman Crybaby, pretty much all Go Nagai's works, and while I don't recall if it has been directly mentioned, the Araki's influence in the art and overal work on the franchise is palpable). This disjointed combination of influences, combined with basically one of the first examples of monster catching in videogames, featuring negotiation with otherworldy and moody being to get them in your side, it ended up being a hit, not a huge one, but it definitely found an audience. Obviously this resulted in a sequel, Shin Megami Tensei 2, which isn't that different from its predecessor, but we also can see how Atlus writers and artists started adding some philosophy into the mix (like, stuff that comes from actual classical philosophers and the like).

Not content with just that, Atlus also started experimenting with spin offs, which would end up being on of the main characteristics of this franchise. From the 50+ entries in all of Megami Tensei only 5 (well, arguably six, but that's another discussion) are mainline entries, with one of its own spin offs becoming the most popular. The 90's for them where an era of experimentation, where every new entry tried a new thing. The Majin Tensei games tried to bring the formula to the SRPG genre with gameplay similar to Fire Emblem or Shining Force, Devil Summoner maintained the exact same gameplay but changed the setting to a cyberpunk futuristic city without all the law, chaos and religious stuff. Last Bible also took on a lighter tone but it tried to imitate the Dragon Quest games. 

But the most influential of its spin offs was probably SMT If..., which took all this mythological stuff but put more emphasis on the characters and translated it to a high school setting, which ended up becoming of the Persona series. 

Persona distinguished itself for being lighter than the main series, eschewing a lot of the overtly religious themes and replacing with jungian psychoanalysis. Demons where now Personas (which are just stands, someone REALLY liked Jojo's), each character represented a card from the Tarot, and the enemies represented shadows. The main concept of personas is of course completely lifted from Jung's theories on the human mind. And of course, what's the best way, the best setting for this exploration of the psyche? Well, a high school of course. But not just an high school, one using all the tropes and conventions from popular animes. By all accounts, this weird combination shouldn't have worked, it's just a messy bunch of everything the devs liked and thought. But, while the first entry has it's fair share of flaws, the games found an identity and this amalgalm of tropes and Jung resulted in a hit. While in the 90's they still weren't that popular, during the 21st century Persona kept evolving and taking more and more from anime tropes while maintaing its core concepts, resulting eventually in becoming one of the biggest names in Japanese RPGs.

Now, the 2000's where a lot more things happened, one game in particular is one of my favorite games of all time, but I don't have the time to keep this going. However, if whatever cosmic forces that handle fate and my ADHD match my energy, I should be able to save the semester and finish a short video essay about Nocturne. So, that's all from me (for now).

-Andrés Hidalgo

#Japan #Sci-Fi #submission

[peachscribe]

peach’s summer book list

i had a lot of fun compiling the list of books i read during the 20-21 winter, so i decided i would do a summer one as well! i still have a lot of books i own but haven’t read, so im definitely not lacking in material

if you didn’t see my winter list, how my book list works is basically like this: i read a book that i own but have not previously read, write a short summary immediately after finishing the book, write down my thoughts on the book, and then provide a rating for the book. i also might include background info on why i read this particular book/feelings about the author, but that depends on the book. that’s how each entry works

without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

okay so i absolutely adore another book by andrew smith (written after grasshopper jungle) called the alex crow. it’s one of my favorite books of all time, so naturally i wanted to see if grasshopper jungle would make me feel similarly. just like the alex crow, grasshopper jungle’s plot is. so fucking weird. it stars austin szerba, a teenage polish kid who lives in ealing, iowa, and is often sexually confused regarding his girlfriend shann and his best friend robby. and in ealing, iowa, austin and robby accidentally and unknowingly unleash an unstoppable army of huge six-foot-tall praying mantis bugs that only want to do two things: fuck and eat. and i just have to say: andrew smith’s got an absolutely dynamo writing style. alex crow is similar, where it’s a book about kind of everything all at once, framed in a moment centering around teenage boys. it’s fantastic, and it’s more than a little gross, and i love it. this book made me feel so many things, and i thought austin was such an amazing narrator and main character to identify with. this book has it all: shitty teenage boy humor, fucked up science experiments, and poetic imagery that will make you want to cry. and explicit lgbt characters.

412/10 andrew smith what do you put in your water i just want to know

2. Burn by Patrick Ness

patrick ness has written a plethora of some of my favorite books (such as a monster calls, the chaos walking trilogy, and the rest of us just live here) so when i saw this one in the store i knew it would be a great one. burn is an alternate history fantasy that takes place in 1957 frome, washington, during the height of the cold war, and it begins with a girl named sarah and her father hiring a dragon to help out on their farm. but there’s not just dragons, farm living, and cold war tensions; there’s also a really shitty small town cop, a cult of dragon worshippers and their deadly teenage assassin, a pair of fbi agents, and a prophecy that sarah’s newly hired dragon claims she’s a part of. i think eoin colfer’s highfire was on my winter list, which also featured a story that included dragons and shitty cops, so when i first began burn i thought it was funny to have two books that had both things. you know, if you had a nickel etc etc. but that’s really where the similarities end because burn is entirely it’s own monster (dragon). burn is entirely invested in its world, and its fascinating. not only that, i had no clue where the book would take me next. there were so many surprises and amazing twists that honestly just blew me away. this book also includes beautifully written complicated discussions on family, race, and love - it features interracial and queer romances as the two most prominent romance plots which was such a nice surprise from a book i wasn’t expecting to have that kind of representation. this book is witty, fast-paced, and a very heartening read - i absolutely adored it.

9/10 dragons and becoming motivated by the power of love and friendship are so fucking cool

3. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

i hate this book! as meat loves salt is a historical fiction novel which takes place in seventeenth century england, which is going through a grisly civil war. the protagonist, jacob cullen, is a servant for a wealthy household and is engaged to another servant in the house. but due to certain events that are almost entirely jacob’s fault, he flees the house and is separated from his wife. from there, he joins the royal army and meets a kind soldier, ferris, and the two become fast friends. jacob and ferris’s relationship begins to bridge past friendly, and jacob struggles with his homoerotic feelings as well as the growing obsession and violence inside him. also, they try to start a colony. listen, i don’t know how to describe the book because so much happens, but it basically just follows jacob and all the terrible decisions he makes because he is, truly, a terrible person. ferris is kind and good, and jacob is scum of the earth. he sucks so bad. the entire time i was reading this book (which took absolutely so long), all i wanted was for jacob to just get his ass handed to him. i wanted to see him suffer. and it’s not like i just personally don’t like him - i believe the book purposefully depicts him as unsympathetic even though he is the narrator. i did enjoy the very in depth and accurate portrayal of what life would’ve been like in seventeenth century england, and i think it was interesting to read a character that is just the absolute worst person you’ve ever encountered and see him try and justify his actions, so if you enjoy that kind of thorough writing, then this book would be perfect for you. however, i did not see that bitch ass motherfucker jacob cullen suffer enough. i’d kill him with my bare hands.

2/10 diversity win! the worst man on earth is mlm!

4. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

i know ive had a friend tell me how great one of schwab’s other book series is, but truthfully i bought this book because the cover is sick as hell and it was on a table in the store that advertised for buy two get one free, i think. something like that. anyway, this savage song takes place in a future in which monsters, for whatever reason, suddenly became real and out for blood in a mysterious event nicknamed the phenomenon. august flynn is one of these monsters, but he takes no pride in that fact and only wants to feel human. kate harker is the daughter of a ruthless man and is trying her hardest to be ruthless, too, but deep down she knows it’s just an act. their city, verity, stands divided, and kate and august stand on either side - but when august is sent on a mission to befriend kate in the hopes of stopping an all out war, the lines begin to blur. this book rules. august and kate are such interesting and dynamic characters, and the narrative is familiar while still being capable of twisting the story around and taking the feet out from under you in really compelling ways. this savage song is part of the monsters of verity duology, and i can’t wait to dive into how the story continues and finishes.

11/10 sometimes you can judge a book by it’s cover

4a. Our Dark Duet by Victorian Schwab

this is the sequel and finale for this savage song and i’d figure i’d update everyone: fantastic ending, beautiful, showstopping, painful.

12/10 loved it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for schwab’s other books

5. White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

oh boy. okay. white is for witching is about a house, and it is about the women who have lived inside of it. when her mother dies abroad, miranda silver begins to act strangely, and there’s nothing her father or her twin brother seem to be able to do about it. she develops an eating disorder and begins to hear voices in the silver family house, converted to a bed and breakfast by miranda’s dad; and she begins to lose herself in the house and the persistent presence of her family legacy. white is for witching switches perspective dizzingly and disorientingly between miranda, her twin eliot, miranda’s friend from school named ore, and the house itself. this story is a horror story as much as it as a tragedy as much as it is a romance as much as it is a bunch of other things. oyeyemi brings race, sexuality, nationality, and family into this story and forces you not to look away. this book is poetry.

(like i mentioned briefly, this book heavily deals with topics of race and closely follows miranda’s eating disorder. read responsibly, and take care of yourselves)

15/10 this book consumed me and i think i’ll have to read it another 10 more times to feel it properly

6. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

okay. okay. strap in for a ride. these violent delights is a romeo and juliet style story, taking place in glittering 1920’s shanghai. the city stands divided - not only between the foreign powers encroaching on chinese land, but also between the scarlet gang and the white flowers, who are at the height of a generations-long blood feud. juliette cai, heir to the scarlets, has recently returned from four years abroad and is determined to prove herself ruthless enough to lead. roma montagov, heir to the white flowers, is standing strenuously on his place as next in line due to a slip up four years prior and is desperate to keep hold of his title. and in the midst of juliette and roma’s burning history with each other threatening to combust, an unnatural monster lurks in the waters of shanghai, loosing a madness on scarlets and white flowers alike. this book has it all - scorned ex lovers, political intrigue, deadly monsters, and all set on a glamorous backdrop of the roaring twenties. i absolutely was enraptured by this book and the way it plays around the story of romeo and juliet so well that it easily became it’s own monster, but with the punches and embraces of something classically shakespearan. gong does just an absolutely breathtaking job of fitting this fantastical story amid the larger world of shanghai and the real life historical events that had shaken the city to its core. completely immersive and outstandingly heart racing.

17/10 i was chewing on my fingernails for the last thirty pages and will continue to do so until the sequel is released (our violent ends, 16 nov 21)

7. The Antiques by Kris D’Agostino

you ever heard of the american dysfunctional family story? this is most definitely that. at the same time george westfall’s cancer takes a turn for the worse, a hurricane hits the east coast, and suddenly all at once the issues of his health, the hurricane, and all three of his children’s achingly dysfunctional adult lives are crashing into each other. reunited by george’s death, the westfall siblings have to face their grief, each other, and the problems in their own lives they attempted to put on hold while planning their father’s memorial. this is a nice story about grief and loss and love and somehow finding the humor amidst it all.

(this book does include a depiction of an autistic child who does experience several pretty bad meltdowns due to ignorant people around him not understanding how to cater to his needs. im not an authority on what depictions are or are not harmful, but i do believe this depiction is ultimately loving and well-intended.)

7/10 it made me laugh and cry and was generally one of those books that somehow hit you close to home

8. Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

fierce fairytales is a poetry anthology that reimagines classic fairytales from a modern, feminist viewpoint, acknowledging that the line between hero and villain, monster and damsel, are not as clear cut as the classics try to make you believe. this book also includes illustrations done by the author herself, which i think is really cool. my personal favorite story reimagining was the story of peter pan and captain hook, called ‘boy lost’ which looked at how peter and hook’s relationship began and rotted. all in all, i think this collection of stories had a lot of important things to say and said them in frank, easy to understand poetry and prose.

7/10 beautiful message and pretty prose, but at times a little cliche

and that’s all from the summer! my fall semester starts tomorrow, and overall i feel very good about all the reading i did this summer. i even read four other books not on this list for work! so i definitely feel like i made the most out of my time, and im really glad i was able to read so many stories that made me feel a variety of different things

thanks so much for reading this list, and let me know if you read or have read any of these books and tell me what you think of them!

happy reading<3

#book recs #book rec #book rec list #grasshopper jungle #burn #as meat loves salt #this savage song #monsters of verity #white is for witching #these violent delights #the antiques #fierce fairytales #just like my winter list i did write ever review immediately after finishing the book and i think. #i think here you can really tell what my immediate reactions were based on how the review is written fbfjfjd

[magicalgirlgrimoire]

Genesis of a Genre: Part 1

Defining the four key archetypes of Magical Girl characters found in Japanese Magical Girl media.

I feel this wouldn’t be a great body of research without outlining some kind of historical context for the media were talking about! In this mini-series of essays I’ll be going over the first part of my research, which seeks to define the key influences of the Magical Genre, including industry and production influences, and provide an outline for reoccurring archetypes and conventions found in the narratives. This focuses mainly on Japanese Media, but I might do one about the history of western Magical Girl stuff too!

I pose there are four key archetypes for the protagonist (and sometimes supporting characters) of any Magical Girl franchise: The Witch, The Princess, The Warrior and the Idol. Any given Magical Girl may be one or a combination of several; for example Usagi (Sailor Moon)  is a combination of the Warrior and Princess while Akko (Little Witch Academia) is the Witch.

Girl Witches and Growing up

Many writer have cited the Witch as the first true Magical Girl Archetype; Sally the Witch and Magical Akko-chan are often regarded as the progenitors of the Genre. Both were published in the notable shoujo magazine Ribon in the 60’s and both were adapted into anime by Toei; Ribon notably also published several of Arina Tenemura’s works, including the Magical girl series Full Moon while Toei is the studio behind Sailor Moon’s anime in the 90’s, as well as creating both the Ojamo Doremi and Pretty Cure franchises in the late 90’s and 2000’s respectively. Sally was influenced by the popular American sit-com Bewitched, but reimagined to focus on an adolescent girl-witch who must keep her identity secret. She was often alone in her quest too, perhaps with a magical pet confidant, unlike future entries where Magical Girls would be a part of a team or have complex relationships to others with powers. There were ideas of destinies or even secret royal birth-rights, but ultimately the protagonist was simply a girl, who was born with magical powers.

These early entries set off the precedent for Magical Girl as a genre being inherently linked to themes of coming of age; the magic of the young characters often being allegorical for childhood innocence and ultimately being abandoned or given up as a part of their growing up. It’s notable at this point in the genre, very few or no women worked in these spaces; both Sally and Akko are written by men. I wonder how the genre may have been different if it was not the case; could these young girls be allowed to grow up magical if a woman wrote their stories? I feel this is a reoccurring theme in so many future works, so stick a pin in that.

In the contemporary sense, while Magical Witches aren’t quite as frequent as they were in at the start of the genre, there are still several shows that carry on the tradition. Ojamo Doremi, while borrowing several features from later warrior/sentai styled shows like Sailor Moon, has the lead characters as girl witches again. Madoka, though stylistically more a Warrior styled show, also alludes to the history of magical girl as a genre with the naming of it’s initial antagonistic characters being “witches” while the leads are “puella magi” or literally maiden witches, though the way it explores these themes is a conversation for another essay. Lastly, Little Witch Academia is the most recent notable example of the pure Magical Girl Witch. The franchise is like a true homecoming for the genre; I could wax on about how it’s a culmination of everything the genre’s gone through in the last 60 years. From it’s allusions to flashy transformation sequences, to it’s shift in focus to friendships between girls, Little Witch Academia is an absolute treat; it’s main character being named Akko undoubtedly a homage to her ancestor of the same name.

Idol Aspirations

As the genre progressed, women were…allowed into the magazine offices. The genre was reinvigorated in the 70’s, and with these new author came a shift in focus. Stories began to take more elements from Shoujo staples, with more focus given to interpersonal relationships and aspirations of the characters coming into place. 

The Magical Idol singer is this weird niche specific thing that sort of came from this period of time, though I think she signifies more than  her actual appearances across the genre. Authors for the first time wanted to create stories that reflected the goals of its readers- and at the time that meant Idol culture and aspirations of being a singer or celebrity. While contemporary examples of a by-the-book idol character is a bit rare since values have changed over time, she was the first step in magical powers for Magical Girls no longer being a part of a divine destiny or something to grow out of but instead powers being the means for Girls to achieve their goals. Magical Idol singers also often incorporate the characters noticeably aging up when turning into their alter egos, serving a duel purpose of giving younger viewers a sort of aspirational character to live through while also unfortunately allowing the animators to get away with fan servicey shots of the more mature looking character. 

The originator of this subgenre would be Magical Angel Creamy Mami, though Mermaid Melody would be an immediate example I’d personally think of for the Idol type character (with a big old additon of the Princess archetype too), a better example would be the aforementioned Full Moon, in which the sickly Mitsuki transforms into a Magical Idol singer to both live her dreams as a singer and to reunite with her childhood love. I’d also argue that series the Utena and Madoka follow along with this influence; in both cases the characters agree to engage with the magic of their worlds to achieve some kind of goal or dream. Still, I feel there’s lots of potential with this kind of outlook in Magical Girl stuff..!! Perhaps in the future we’ll get more magical girls focused on their careers… 

Warrior Princesses

I feel throughout this essay, I’ve been noting how the Warrior and Princess archetype often overlap with the other genres, as well as each other. I believe this is because the ancestor of these two defined archetypes is one and the same, and also the series I believe that actually started magical girl as a genre; that being, Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight.

Princess Knight, and bare with me on this, is a story about a Princess born with both a “girl” and a “boy” heart. She forsakes her life as a princess to escape some cruel fate that’s in store for her, and masquerades as a prince by using her “boy” heart. While this is an extremely dated view on gender, it immediately gives us three defining features of magical girl as a genre: First, the Princess archetype, which often holds influence from european fairytales and magical destinies; Second, the Warrior Archetype, in which the lead character must don a more traditionally masculine role of protector against some evil power, and lead a double life; and lastly, the introduction of gender roles as a theme into the genre, and the role of femininity and masculinity in the identities of our characters.  

All of these tenets are then repeated in both Sailor Moon and Utena decades later, and it’s arguably these two series that carry it forward to influence future franchises. As the major examples of these archetypes are one and the same, it is difficult to parse the two apart, even though they are quite different. 

So I’ll try anyway! 

I believe the Magical Warrior is defined as a main character or team of characters who are joined by a destiny to fight against some greater evil, while the Magical Princess is defined as a character who is destined to inherit or reclaim a great power linked to a monarchical structure. Both may have themes linked to western fairytales and fantasy, though often Warrior type characters have a wider breadth of influences while Princesses remain closely linked with ideas of  fantasy and fairytale royalty.

While Magical Warrior is definitely the most prolific of the archetypes in modern times, arguably overlapping with nearly every storyline, I think Magical Princesses are fewer. For example, Tokyo Mew Mew is a clear cut Magical Warrior story; they girl’s aren’t born with powers (So not witches), they aren’t doing it for a personal goal (so not Idols) and none of them have some divine destiny (not princesses). However it’s a lot more difficult to find a pure Magical Princess story; in Mermaid Melody, but the story overlaps with both Warrior and Idol archetypes. Princess Tutu might be the best example, as it’s a story of retribution deeply linked with elements from european fantasy.  

#magical girl #sailor moon #tokyo mew mew #full moon wo sagashite #revolutionary girl utena #pretty cure #little witch academia #mermaid melody #essay #context #princess tutu #princess knight #ojamo doremi #puella magi madoka magica

[henlp]

Bravely Default II

This is a weird experience. Normally, I find it pretty easy to quantify whether a new game in a series is better or worse than its predecessor(s). Even when game 1 and game 2 are so different from one another, I can at least see what each game does by its own merits, then make a decision on its oveall quality and where it’d rank for me.

About halfway through Bravely Default II, and I still can’t do that in this case. I knew that it wasn’t the same dev team working on the sequel (hence the different art direction), but I didn’t realize how mechanically BD2 would contrast with Bravely Default and Bravely Second. Yet another notch added to Squeeenix’s belt-suit of incompetence, because even if the same team isn’t working on a sequel, surely you’d at least have them play the previous games to learn from on what to do, be it better or the same.

That being said, I can’t deny that I’m having fun and enjoying the game immensely. It’s GOOD that I struggle to compare it to previous entries and figure out if it’s better or not. At least I’m not being sold cut-out cosmetic DLC. While some things might be lacking, compared to the other two games, it does also offer some improvements; namely, the difficulty curve is properly balanced, and the writing much less bare-bones. I prefer my turn-based RPGs to have its own unique characters, mechanics-wise, but I guess my collectionist tendencies make me appreciative of RPGs with job systems.

Here’s some things that could be taken and improved in BD2, which I might revisit at a later date:

BD2's difficulty is much more well-balanced compared to its predecessors. The difficulty slider felt like a crutch to make up for a poorly thought-out challenge curve. However, all the other settings need to be updated and come back: toggles for No EXP, No JP and No PG; encounter option of either default or aggro (actively avoiding combat will hinder the difficulty balance, especially if enemies are visible and you can physically avoid them);

While we're at it, make this Options menu a singular button press for a tiny window at the corner of your screen, like in the previous two games. Other small changes or returns can make the UI much more user-friendly and improve QoL features (ex: the wheel for the Jobs menu > the awkward list to one side);

Make galleries a better reward for those looking to fill them up. A bigger preview window for enemies/characters/equipment, that you can also full-screen to rotate the models. Seriously, you had a bigger preview in the 3DS games, compared to this one on the Switch;

Bring back costumes. It's okay that only Freelancer and special costumes can be available, rather than every Asterisk look being accessible at all times. Maybe tie the feature to the game itself, where you're incentivized to get clothes based on environments, either as sidequests or crafting;

If the overworld isn't flat and we have a controllable camera, then make it more versatile. Even if you take that away in dungeons, don't put in random camera restrictions as you explore;

In a game where characters can take up to four moves at a time, the action setup feature from Bravely Second needs to come back. No need for auto-battle, the speed feature makes up for that, but it's cumbersome having to go through every action before you can activate the Repeat, only for a new enemy group to appear that forces you to redo everything;

Bring back more weapon types and armor proficiency (and then rebalance the optimized equip mechanic, excluding accessories). In games where you're constantly shifting classes, more options means less of a hassle in re-equipping your characters if each class will have more personalized proficiencies. This also means that there's not going to be classes that are superior as main jobs (ex: having an Arcanist as Main with Black Mage relegated to Sub-Job);

Weight system is fine as a limitation, but comes off as a new crutch, this one to make up for the features and options previous games had. If equipment is more varied and oriented towards certain roles (melee, defense, speed, magic, healing), then it'd be silly to equip heavy armor when using speedy classes, unless it's a piece of armor that has a unique effect to make up for the stat impairment that would come from using it (could be subject to change, depending on endgame);

#bravely default 2 #bravely default #RPG #videogames

[self-loving-vampire]

Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)

Ultima 7 was pretty much my introduction to RPGs, and I could not have asked for a better pair of games to ignite a lifelong passion into that genre. There is a real reason why this is still considered one of the best RPGs ever made.

While Ultima 7 is often discussed as a singular entity, it is actually two separate full-length games with one expansion each. For this post I will focus on the first one, Ultima VII: The Black Gate, as well as its expansion: Forge of Virtue.

I recommend playing the game using Exult, which adds some quality of life features (such as a feeding hotkey and a “use all keys” hotkey) as well as the option to use higher quality audio packs, implement bug fixes, and change the font into something easier on the eyes.

Summary

The protagonist of the Ultima series is “the Avatar”, a blank slate isekai protagonist from our world who has previously travelled to the world of Britannia several times and saved it from many threats, also becoming the shining paragon of the virtues meant to guide its people.

In this game, you once again cross the portal to Britannia to save it from a new and mysterious extradimensional threat. As soon as you arrive, you immediately discover two things:

1- A violent ritualistic murder has just taken place.

2- There is suspicious new organization called “The Fellowship” gaining adherents throughout the land.

It is up to you to investigate these developments.

Freedom

In terms of freedom, the Black Gate has plenty overall but there are areas where it is not quite there.

Once you can manage to get the password to get out of the locked-down town of Trinsic you are free to go nearly anywhere in the game right away and have multiple means of transportation to accomplish this, such as moongates or ships.

And there are some very real rewards to exploring like this as well, such as various treasure caches and other interesting findings. 

The world is actually very small by modern standards, especially when settlements occupy so much of it, but both the towns and the wilderness areas are dense with content.

Notably, the game also allows you to perform various activities. From stealing to making a honest living by baking bread (which is something you can do thanks to how interactive the environment is) or gathering eggs at a farm.

Where it falls short is in terms of having multiple possible solutions for quests. Generally there is only one correct option for how to complete them.

That said, there is a bad ending you might be able to find in addition to the canonical good ending.

Character Creation/Customization

This is one of the big minuses of the game. While you can select your name and gender (and with Exult also have a wider selection of portraits) that is about it for character creation.

All characters will start with the same stats and there are no character classes. You can develop your stats through training and specialize through your choice of equipment, but by the end of the Forge of Virtue expansion you will have maxed stats and the best weapon in the game (a sword) regardless, and you will definitely need to cast a few spells to progress the main quest as well.

This can make every playthrough feel much like the last, as there isn’t that much of a way to vary how your character develops or what abilities they’ll end up having. You will always be a master of absolutely everything in the end unless you go out of your way to avoid doing the Forge of Virtue expansion.

Story/Setting

While the game is a bit too obvious and heavy-handed about its villains, there are still many interesting storylines in the game that deal with mature subjects that remain relevant today, such as cults, drug abuse, workplace exploitation, and xenophobia.

However, the setting as a whole is greater than any individual storyline taking place within. With the exception of most guards and bandits, every single NPC in the game is an individual with a name, schedule, living space, and defined personality. This was not the norm in 1992 and even today there’s not many games that really implement this well. The world is also very detailed in terms of things like the services available to you, the general interactivity of the game world, and the sheer amount of things that populate every corner of it.

The initial murder is not only a strong hook for investigation but also a shocking scene in its own right. The Guardian also proves to have a significant presence as a villain, using a mental link to remotely taunt you based on the context of what is happening. For example, if your companions die he may offer you some exaggerated, mocking pity.

Immersion

There is something very interesting and comfortable about just watching the various inhabitants of a town just go about their daily lives. They work during the day, eat at certain times (either at home or at one of the many taverns in the land), and sleep at night. They don’t just strangely repeat one single action during the day either, they may do things like open windows when the weather is nice or turn candles and streetlamps on at night.

In terms of immersion, Ultima 7 is my primary example of a game that does an excellent job of it even if there’s some weirdness going on with the setting. Even after having played so many more games throughout my life, only a few are on the same level as either part of Ultima 7 when it comes to immersion.

Gameplay

There are three broad aspects to the gameplay here that I want to discuss.

The first is combat. It is actually simple enough that you can call it almost entirely automatic. You simply enable combat mode by pressing C and your party will automatically go and fight nearby hostile enemies based on whatever combat orders you have selected for them (by default, attacking the closest enemy).

This is certainly better than having an outright bad or annoying combat system as the whole process is simple and painless, but I still wish there was more depth to it. Your stats, and especially your equipment, still play a role but other than things like pausing to use items or cast spells the whole process is very uninvolved.

I kind of wish there was more depth to it, but at least the other two areas of the gameplay are reasonably good.

The next aspect of gameplay is dialogue, which uses dialogue trees for the first time in the series. Previously, it required typing in keywords, which are retained but as dialogue options you can just click on rather than remember and type.

While the keywords are not really written as natural language most of the time (requiring some imagination to determine the specifics of your dialogue), the system is very easy to use regardless. It definitely lacks depth compared to something like Fallout: New Vegas, but so do most games.

The third and most notable thing is the way you interact with the world in general. It is both extremely simple and very immersive at the same time.

Ultima 7 is a game that can be played entirely with the mouse (though keyboard hotkeys make everything much more comfortable). You can right click a space to walk there, you can left click something to identify what it is, and you can use double left click to interact.

For example, double left click over an NPC to talk to them (or attack them, if combat mode is enabled), double left click a door to open it, double left click a loaf of bread to feed it to someone, and so on.

But there is more. By holding your click over an item and dragging it, you can move it. This has various applications beyond just being how you pick things up and add them to your inventory. For example, sometimes objects may be hidden beneath other objects, or objects may need to be placed in a specific location.

There are some downsides to this system. Particularly, the issue that keeping your inventory organized can be time-consuming when it has to be done by manually dragging objects around, and this can also make looting relatively slow.

Despite this, I think this kind of interaction system has a lot of potential. It just has some clunky aspects to be ironed out.

Aesthetics

Ultima 7 was very good-looking for its time, and although modern players will not be very impressed by how it looks or sounds, it still remains easily legible in a way that some other old games are not. That, and the ability to identify anything with just a left click, makes this a very easy game to make out at the very least.

Some of the music of this game is very distinctive too, and will likely stay with you after a full playthrough.

In terms of style, the Black Gate does have a bit of an identity while still having a very familiar medieval fantasy setting with things like trolls, animated skeletons, dragons, and liches. While there are aspects that help the setting distinguish itself a bit, they are relatively subtle.

If I had to describe the feeling of playing this, I’d call it “open and laid back”. While the main quest deals with a looming threat to the entire world, the game does not follow this overly closely at first, letting you deal with it at your own pace and without having your exploration options limited by the story.

In fact, when I was young I often just ignored that and went to live in a creepy ruin in the swamp.

(Don’t expect many pictures in these reviews, but have one of my “childhood home.”)

I’d say that Ultima 7′s second part (Serpent Isle) has a much stronger and also darker and more isolating atmosphere overall and that has a lot of appeal to me in particular, but the Black Gate is definitely more open and less linear, and I also appreciate that.

Accessibility

It pleases me to say that Ultima 7 remains extremely easy to pick up and play. Even setting up Exult is not complicated in the least.

The gameplay is intuitive and simple, the UI is minimal, stats are basic (and not even that important), and the combat is automatic. I expect that this is not only the easiest point of entry into the Ultima series as a whole but also likely even easier to get into than many modern RPGs!

It does have some aspects that may be a bit clunky, like all the inventory-related dragging, but it’s definitely not obscure or complicated even to someone who has not read the manual (though I’d still recommend doing that). I literally played this game as a tiny child who could barely read or understand English and still got really into it.

The one thing I’d like to point out is that the game uses a type of copy protection where at a couple of story points (including an extremely early one to leave the first town) you will be asked some questions that require using the manual and external map to answer. You can just google the answers for these.

Conclusion

As I write more of these reviews there will be many games that are interesting, but deeply flawed. Games that are worth trying out but maybe not finishing, as well as games that had interesting ideas but that I can’t entirely recommend due to serious problems that will easily put people off.

But I do not think the Black Gate is such a game. I can easily recommend it with no qualifiers despite the fact that it is almost 30 years old. This is really a game that all RPG fans should at the very least try for a few hours, and not only for its historical significance. It is genuinely a good game worthy of its praise.

I will review its sequel, Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle, next.

#vampire reviews rpgs #ultima 7 #the black gate

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really THAT Bad?

How many fucking times must I talk about this movie?

I feel like this movie doesn’t need an introduction. Everyone knows this film. Its reputation precedes it. It didn’t bomb and it’s not generally considered one of the worst films ever made (at least on the level of films like Robot Monster or The Cat in the Hat), but this movie is easily one of the most divisive films ever made. This film has generated enough arguments that, if we harnessed the energy of all the flame wars it has caused, we could probably power the entire world until the heat death of the universe.

With the impending release of Zach Snyder’s bloated redo of Justice League, I’ve decided to go back and ask myself of this film here… is it really that bad?

THE GOOD

Here comes the most uncontroversial opinion: the action scenes in this movie rock (or at least two of them do). The standouts are the titular showdown, which almost makes sitting through the rest of the movie worth it, and the epic warehouse fight Batman gets into, which is like something straight out of the Arkham games. It’s so good. And aside from that, a lot of the cinematography in the film is good. The film knows how to look good, though unfortunately it does end up being a lot of style with little substance.

On the subject of Batman, I think Ben Affleck is a great and inspired choice. I certainly think he’s worthy of standing alongside Batmans like Clooney and Keaton, easily embodying both the Dark Knight and Billionaire Playboy aspects fairly well, though the writing does not always handle him quite as well as it should (we’ll get to that soon enough). Henry Cavill, while still a rather dour Superman, is as good as ever as Superman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was a great choice here, especially since she didn’t have control so that she could insert anti-Arab racism, like some DCEU movies.

Perhaps one of the movies most impressive feats is how, in an uncharacteristic moment of brevity, it manages to condense the backstory of Batman into the prologue, getting it out of the way and not making us sit through yet another Batman origin film. This is literally the only thing the movie has over the MCU; where that franchise just has the character Spider-Man inexplicably in existence without even a hint of his origins, they just get Batman’s tragic backstory out of the way so we can see him beating the crap out of people. If more superhero movies want to take this route and just condense the backstory into an opening montage like this, I’d be down for it.

THE BAD

I really could just say “most of the movie” but that’s such a cop out. Let’s actually look at the problems. Let’s work our way up through the things from least problematic to most, shall we?

The best place to start is what Zach Snyder did to Jimmy Olsen.

Jimmy Olsen is made into a CIA spook who is brutally killed early on, and yes, that was Jimmy Olsen. Snyder put him in to shock audiences with his senseless murder, and also because he felt the character had no place in his series. Does making Watchmen just turn people into joyless husks who like to horribly bastardize iconic characters? Jimmy Olsen is ultimately a small microcosm of the film, but he is the sum total of everything wring with the early DCEU. He is bleak, soulless, and shows a critical lack of understanding about the comics and why people enjoy them.

Now let’s move on to the more exciting problem to discuss: the villains. I don’t even think it’s worth wasting much time discussing what’s wrong with KGBeast. While it is kind of interesting they’d think to use the guy at all, the fact he never dons the costume and dies by the end of the film is unfathomably lame for a character named KGBeast.

Now, onto the main antagonist, and the most infamous part of the movie: Lex Luthor.

Lex Luthor is horribly, horribly miscast. Jesse Eisenberg is a great actor for sure, and he’s effective in movies like Now You See Me, The Social Network, and the Zombieland films. But here he is being asked to play one of the most diabolical cunning geniuses in comic book history, and rather than play him as such, he plays him like a cartoonish twit. This Lex is utterly unrecognizable as Superman’s greatest foe. Does anyone think Lex Luthor would send a jar of piss to someone as a joke before he blows them up? That’s more something the Joker would do on an off day. Lex is not cunning, not intimidating, and not diabolical in the slightest, and yet there are moments where Eisenberg’s acting chops shine through and Lex, for a moment, is almost engaging. Luthor really suffers the way Doctor Doom tends to in film adaptations: the filmmaker clearly doesn’t get why people like the villain, and decide to do some weird, unique take that will only cause to alienate fans.

But perhaps the worst of them all is Doomsday. Doomsday has exactly one claim to fame, and that’s killing Superman, so as soon as he shows up if you have even a passing awareness of the character you know how the movie is going to end, which robs the film of tension for its last battle. The fact he also appears with little buildup and doesn’t have any characterization doesn’t help; Doomsday is just the Big Gray CGI Blob that superhero movies try and pass off as a final boss for the heroes to fight. This has worked precisely once, in Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk and Venom did not make it work, and this film is nowhere close to being in the same ballpark as Venom.

By and far the biggest problem, though, is the movie’s incredible length and its very existence in the franchise at this point in time. This is an epic superhero crossover in which two of the biggest comic book characters of all time fight and then team up… And it is the second movie in a franchise. While they do a good job of establishing Batman rather quickly, Wonder Woman comes out of nowhere. And then at the end, Superman ‘dies.’ We have had one single movie prior to this to make a connection to the guy, and yet here he is getting a temporary comic book death with no buildup whatsoever that we know is going to be reversed sooner than later because the movie telegraphs this to us.

Imagine if, instead of building up the character over the course of a decade and putting him in all sorts of different stories, the MCU went right from Iron Man to Endgame. You go from a simpler, character-driven piece to a massive crossover where a hero dies right away, and it doesn’t give anyone time to care. Tony Stark had multiple films worth of characterization under his belt before they threw him in a crossover, let alone killed him, but Snyder expects you to give a damn about a Superman who just started his career in the previous movie of a franchise.

And the ass-numbing length of the movie is no justification. Even before the director’s cut came out this film was a slog, and the director’s cut really does nothing to earn its existence. All it does is add more runtime to an already tedious and bloated film, leading to the same exact ending and fixing none of the overarching narrative problems of the thing. The problem with any director’s cut is that ultimately the movie is still going to be Dawn of Justice, it’s still going to lead to extremely rushed character decisions, and it’s still going to be a mess. You’d have to redo half of the film to make this into a worthwhile and coherent narrative that’s actually worthy of being an entry in a superhero franchise.

And to top it all off, the movie spends far too much time foreshadowing for its own good. People criticized The Mummy for shoehorning in way too many shared universe elements right off the bat, and if that movie was bad for it, so is this one. The cameos from all the members of the Justice League, while striking, could be excised from the plot with little to no impact, and the Knightmare sequence is just excessive and weird.

Is It Really THAT Bad?

The answer to this question has never been harder.

On the one hand, this film does have some merit. There is some good casting choices, good cinematography, good action… But then, on the other hand, the film is overly long, pretentious, has poor writing and dialogue, mishandles everyone aside from Superman, and is just incredibly unpleasant.

This film is in many ways the exact problem Christopher Nolan created with his Dark Knight trilogy. Nolan, by grounding the fanciful characters of comic books into a realistic setting, created a climate in which someone could suck any sort of joy or meaning out of comics. The success of his films meant that people would see dark, gritty realism as preferable to joyous, colorful escapism, and the negative effects of his films, however good you find them, are still felt today even as filmmakers are finally shaking off the grit. Dawn of Justice is the zenith of Nolan’s style of superhero film. There is nothing fun, joyful, or engaging to be found here; it is simply the characters you know and love forced into dark, miserable scenarios that ends in death and misery. Where’s the fun? Where’s the color? Where’s the wonder, the excitement, where is any of it? This film paints a bleak and miserable and hopeless picture of a world of superheroes. It really makes me think of this rather famous comic panel:

I absolutely hate this movie, but not because I think it’s bad. I hate it because it has enough good ideas where it should be the best thing ever, but it really isn’t. It’s a miserable slog of a film that does nothing to justify or earn its massive runtime whatsoever. It really does belong somewhere between 5 and 6 on IMDB, because I can almost see why people like it, but it just isn’t even remotely close to being how good its fan say it is. This is not a good superhero movie, and this is not how we should want superhero movies to be. There is a market for serious superhero fare of course, and there’s no reason that these films can’t engage with mature themes or anything, don’t get me wrong. But this is absolutely not the way to do it.

#Is it really that bad #IIRTB #Review #movie review #Batman v Superman #Dawn of Justice #Zach Snyder #Batman #Superman #DCEU

[margridarnauds]

Okay, I’m apparently still on this but....as much grief as I’ve been known to give AC in the past (and I will continue to after this)....we’ve really come a LONG way. 

Like, we’ve had degrees of gay representation in the series since Da Vinci back in the days of Ezio, even as far back as the very first game, but like....in AC Unity, which came out in 2016, we had next to nothing, besides the Marquis de Sade, and most of his flirting with Arno can be brushed aside as nothing, especially when his flirting with Elise is highlighted and more overt. We got the Chevalier d’Eon, but they’re generally referred to as “he” and treated more like a man in a dress. Rogue, also 2016? Nothing in the main storyline (the modern storyline apparently drops some lore on Harlan Cunningham and Arend Schut Cunningham, but....I didn’t notice it.) ORIGINS, taking place in a setting where it would have been very easy to slip something in (and that was only made...about three years ago)? We get one reference, and the character is (1) a villain and (2) designed to be as repulsive as possible. Syndicate gave us Ned Wynert, Jacob Frye, and Roth, but all three of them are played fairly subtly. (Though, in all fairness: I WON’T count that against them given the time period - It’s the Victorian Era, and I DO think that there’s enough to intuit, especially reading the database entries. I’ll give the Syndicate team props for putting in as much as they could.) Odyssey did a good job, being the first game in the series where you actually had the ability to play your character as queer, albeit not without controversy due to That DLC, and quite a few side characters being queer as well, and it definitely laid the groundwork for Valhalla.

It isn’t to say that Valhalla’s the FIRST one to do anything, but between Birna explicitly being in love with Soma, Erke and Stowe, Azar explicitly being genderfluid, a love letter that you can read from two women, and Randvi being in love with Eivor (who’s canonically a woman, and has a feminine name), even if you choose not to actively romance her, along with the other romance options...I definitely think the series is making leaps and bounds. Like, these aren’t blink and you’ll miss them characters, these are characters who are tied into the CORE of the game. You can’t miss it, you can’t ignore it. I know the series has gotten its share of flack for historical accuracy, given that all the enemies are randomly generated as either men or women and there’s no OBVIOUS discrimination against Eivor as a shieldmaiden (personally, I’d point out that there’s quite a bit of subtext if you look for it WITH the idea that Eivor’s canonically a woman in mind), but also? Frankly, the entire series rests on the idea that there’s a worldwide custody battle over alien artifacts that’s been going on for over two thousand years and has involved almost every famous person ever - It’s really weird where the suspension of disbelief rests sometimes. And it’s VERY, DEEPLY satisfying seeing this happen with The Viking Game™, given that Vikings are everyone’s go-to MANLY MEN WHO ARE MANLY. It’s getting increasingly so that Straight Gamer Bros can’t ignore the subtext, because it’s very blatant. It isn’t PERFECT, but I do think that it’s trying, especially from where we were just a few years ago in the series. 

#playing valhalla

[tirorah]

Road to Berlin – The Strike Witches Magnum Opus?

Hello! It’s been a long time. I don’t plan on returning to Tumblr long-term—it simply stole away too much of my time and energy, and I had to do what was best for myself. However, I thought I’d pop in for a very special message.

You see, Strike Witches’ third season, Road to Berlin, has now reached its halfway point. And I need you to watch it.

“Strike Witches?!” I hear you say. “That weird show about girls with no pants that you’re obsessed with for some reason?”

Yes, exactly! Hold on, don’t run away yet! Sit with me for a spell and allow me to explain my boundless love for this silly, emotionally gripping show. Allow me to tell you why it might affect you in the same way, and why Road to Berlin may be the best offering yet.

Welcome to the 501st Joint Fighter Wing

If you’ve heard of this anime, you’ve undoubtedly heard of (or witnessed) its rather infamous claim to fame: a group of teenage soldiers fighting strange creatures in an Alternate Universe World War 2 Europe, flying around with guns and magic-fueled leg machines, and none of them are wearing any decent trousers.

That takes some getting used to, doesn’t it? I’m not going to deny that. But while Strike Witches’ rather peculiar design decisions are inescapable, there’s one thing you need to take into account: Season 1 aired all the way back in 2008. And over those thirteen years, it’s evolved into an experience unlike anything its roots would suggest.

Strike Witches has always been a strange beast. It has a large cast and divides its activities evenly between (light) war drama and slice-of-life shenanigans. And there’s fanservice, lots and lots of it! But the show’s emphasis on risqué camera work, and how that camera work is handled, highly depends on which entry you’re watching.

You see, Strike Witches is strangely ambitious. It could’ve easily taken its bizarre concept and pushed that to its limits, bringing in as much fanservice as possible and playing a simple story in the background as window dressing. But it was never satisfied with just that. Even early on in Season 1, the show deals with heavier themes like pressure, trauma and loss.

And then there are the characters, the undisputed stars of the show. Twelve strong and all with different backgrounds and personal quirks, they may at first seem like TV Tropes come to life. And certainly, sometimes they are. However, as the series progressed, things started to change. Even Season 2, arguably the lightest and silliest of all entries, featured material that built on character development and character growth earned in its predecessor.

With the movie and a trio of OVAs to round out the cast a bit more, the stage was set for Road to Berlin.

The Difficult Road Ahead

When this season was first announced back in 2018, two things stood out to me. First of all, the key visual and promotional video released along with the announcement were much more similar in style to the movies and the OVAs, featuring serious-looking characters and stormy clouds. Secondly, for the first time in Strike Witches history, an entry received a subtitle. Yes, the OVAs were named Operation Victory Arrow, but that was merely wordplay to spell out “OVA.” It wasn’t wholly serious.

Road to Berlin, however, is deadly serious.

Let’s start with an overall theme. The vaunted 501st Joint Fighter Wing has had some major victories, but much of the continent is still under occupation by the Neuroi. The Hive over Berlin is the Wing’s new target, but the journey there is fraught with obstacles. Plans are thwarted and delayed by Neuroi more powerful and far craftier than their 2008 counterparts.

And as the opening song tells us: “We all have flaws.” The Road to Berlin isn’t an entirely literal road; it’s also a metaphorical one. The push to Berlin is their hardest battle yet. Victory can only be achieved if the characters face and overcome their weaknesses. But they’re not alone.

Friendship Is Power

As the characters have long since been established, there’s greater room for growth not just in one character, but also in how that character interacts with others. Road to Berlin chose the best possible route and decided to emphasize character dynamics. Episodes don’t focus on a single character anymore; they focus on relationships, and those relationships are at their peak here.

There’s a newfound maturity to the writing in Road to Berlin, a gentle touch that allows the characters to breathe and be more than their foremost traits. You get a sense that the characters have grown from their experiences; they feel different, more well-rounded, but they still behave exactly as they should. This is difficult to get right, and while I’m sure there might be a few eyebrow-raising moments here and there, the overall result is a cast that continues to improve every week.

Chekhov’s Gun

Underpinning the character work is a highly intriguing execution. Road to Berlin delivers subtle setups and satisfying payoffs in every episode. The pacing is also seriously tight. No moment is left unused, every opportunity for additional development is taken. Even the script itself doesn’t like to waste time; it explains things here and there, but it rightly assumes you know who the characters are and what everything means, so it doesn’t bother with many unnecessary lines.

On top of all that, this season is reaching new heights in confidence and sheer audacity, and it uses that to deliver something truly special. There are interactions here that I never could’ve imagined, twists that genuinely caught me off-guard, moments where I had to sit back and digest what I’d just witnessed.

Not a single episode has been predictable thus far; I’ve had more surprises than I can count. In fact, before I started watching I made a bingo card on a whim, filling it with trends and running gags I’d spotted over the course of the series. Some of those bingo spaces have already been proven wrong, and others are in question. Road to Berlin has done such a spectacular job at simultaneously defying and exceeding my expectations that I honestly have no idea where this journey will take me.

The Fault in Our Stars

Okay, hold up, stop the hype train! I admit, I’m a massive sucker for Strike Witches. One could say this somewhat clouds my judgement. Shocking, I know. So, to make this enthusiastic recommendation fairer, let’s dig into something that I hope to see an improvement on.

There is some terrible imbalance in screen time going on here. I know I said earlier that the cast is great, and it is amazing, but some characters have definitely been favored over others. Yoshika is the main character, of course, so it’s not unreasonable for her to have a large role. Similarly, characters like Minna, Gertrud and Shirley have more experience and higher ranks than the others, which means they have an easier time fitting into scenes.

So, who’s gotten the short end of the stick?

Let’s start with Lynne. She hasn’t had as much of a presence as I’d hoped. The primary reason for this is Shizuka, who’s taken up the role of newbie to the squadron and is often paired with Yoshika because they’re working together. As each episode focuses on the relationships between a select few characters at a time, the others are often relegated to minor roles, and poor Lynne hasn’t had an episode to highlight her yet. I’m sure her moment will come eventually.

I don’t know if the same thing applies to Minna. She’s mostly stuck behind her desk again, it seems, and while she’s definitely had some scenes, her role as Wing Commander hasn’t allowed her as much wiggle room as some of the others. What I want to see from Minna is more time to be a nurturing mom to her girls. The thing is, I’m not sure how they’d accomplish a Minna-centric episode. I suppose they could pair her up with Mio, but even then, I’m uncertain where to take her. It seems redundant to have her be worried out of her mind over Mio again, and she seems to be keeping it together pretty well so far anyway.

In a trend so merciless it’s almost comical, Sanya and Eila seem forever doomed to the peanut gallery. They started out with few lines and have pretty much remained in the background since. Of course, a big factor to it all is their role as the night patrol, which naturally separates their activities from everyone else’s. It’s my current prediction that their relationship is next in line to be showcased. The quality of that episode will likely hinge on how their personalities are tuned, but there’s potential for something great.

And most shocking of all, Mio—She Who Has Practiced Plot Armor Ten Thousand Times—has had the most infinitesimal role of all. I’m of two minds on this. It appears that Road to Berlin has realized that having Mio fly into battle without a shield or Striker Unit is silly, and this is good. On the other hand, Mio is an iconic and beloved character. She deserves some screen time as long as she doesn’t overshadow the others. For now, she seems to be relegated to strategizing and logistics, although I have a hunch that a way to circumvent her newfound vulnerability has already been set up. Time will tell if this ends up being utilized.

Journey’s End

In closing, Road to Berlin highlights the best of what Strike Witches has to offer. It’s striding boldly forward, eager to dazzle us with its animation and audio, grinning as it challenges our preconceptions about where its characters can go and what they can do.

The path to this greatness can be tough. Watching Strike Witches means accepting a number of strange concepts, which can give quite a few viewers a rough start with the series. However, if you made it all the way here and haven’t given Strike Witches a try yet, I sincerely implore you to make the attempt. If you allow the characters to sweep you off your feet, then Road to Berlin could be the apex of a most satisfying viewing experience.

Especially if its second half is as impressive as the first. I, personally, have high hopes. There’s no sky this show can’t conquer.

#strike witches #road to berlin #anime #yes I made a bingo card in Excel #I'm a passionate fangirl with ample Microsoft experience #oh right #I should point out that I changed my name from NeandaFFnet to TirOrah #as I don't use that old handle anymore #sorry for any confusion caused

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 6: Dicklips has a Point

Chapter 5: Mother

After a few days in Hoshido, Corrin is finally getting used to the massive emotional baggage that is her backstory. Mikoto invites Corrin to sit on the Hoshidan throne, which is infused with the magic of the First Dragons and destroys magic that alters the body or mind. Mikoto hopes that it will allow Corrin to regain her memories. Before Corrin can sit on the throne and become king of the Westeros or whatever, Mikoto’s strategist Yukimura enters. He looks like a nerd, but I suppose that’s better than being a steampunk MCR cover band dropout like Iago.

The Hoshidan siblings enter and Mikoto tells Corrin that they’re having a ceremony to quash spy rumors and formally reintroduce Corrin into the family. We’re properly introduced to Corrin’s other brother, Takumi. He���s assigned to show Corrin around town and is grumpy about it, because his defining character trait is being a dick. As Takumi and the princesses leave, Ryoma muses that he feels uneasy and predicts that something bad will happen soon.

The gang tours a Hoshidan marketplace. It’s so vibrant, and colorful, and full of life. I haven’t been talking much about this game’s music because I’m not a music guy, but I love the upbeat theme they use for this scene. It feels like something out of Okami and matches Hoshido’s idealized feudal Japan aesthetic perfectly.

Corrin points out that Shirasagi is way better than the Nohrian fort she was held prisoner in for years. Takumi rants that he doesn’t trust Corrin, saying Just don’t get too comfortable…SISTER. I know he’s supposed to come across as a dick, but he has a point. Corrin’s an enemy soldier who invaded Hoshido and killed a dozen people less than a week ago. It doesn’t matter that they share DNA, Corrin should be treated with suspicion.

Takumi also acts suspicious to Azura and says she can’t call him by his first name, which is dumb. What’s she supposed to do, call him Dicklips? Corrin points out that Dicklips is being an idiot and Dicklips tells her to shut up. And really, he is being an idiot. Either hate Corrin for growing up in Nohr, or hate Azura for having Nohrian DNA. Either nature matters, or nurture matters. You can’t have it both ways.

Then again, Azura and Corrin will totally join Nohr and try to destroy Hoshido if we chose the conquest path, so maybe Dicklips has a point.

Corrin tells Sakura that she’s friends with a girl around Sakura’s age, presumably Elise. If the coin flip had gone the other way and I was playing as boy Corrin, Sakura would have asked if Elise is Corrin’s girlfriend. And that’s ridiculous. Can you imagine, Corrin dating their teenage sister? That’s messed up. Good thing that isn’t a thing that happens in this game.

We go to the plaza for the festival. Side note, all shots of Corrin and Mikoto in the festival are positioned so that Corrin’s face is covered by something, like a man wearing an oversized hat, for instance. This is because Corrin is customizable and that means the game can’t show their face. They can show the clearly male body model, but not their face. Awakening had Robin wear a hood to get around this problem, but who needs fashion choices when you can just censor the main character’s face like it’s Austin Powers’s mojo.

While Corrin’s standing next to Mikoto, a weird ghost man wearing a hood walks to the front of the crowd and holds out his arm. Red smoke starts coming off Ganglari and an eye opens up on its hilt, because it is very clearly a cursed sword. Ganglari flies over to the man and he stabs it into the ground, creating a massive purple explosion ball. The sword explodes and Mikoto jumps in front of Corrin to shield her from the shrapnel. As she dies, Mikoto asks Corrin if she’s okay.

Fire Emblem has a lot of dead parent scenes, and I honestly think this is the best. Marcella Lentz-Pope’s scream when Mikoto dies is phenomenal. Mikoto begging Corrin to be alright and dying with a smile on her face is beautiful.

Ryoma cuts down the hooded man but his cloak just falls to the ground, leaving no body. Corrin screams, her hair glowing and her eyes white, physically holding back the pain as waves of energy burst from her body. In a moment, Corrin is gone. In her place is a dragon.

I really like Corrin’s dragon form. It looks so inhuman, more like a machine than a traditional dragon. It really gets across that Corrin has completely lost any semblance of humanity she had as she falls into this pit of despair.

The level proper starts up as an army of dark mages and mercenaries storm into the ruined plaza. Their leader is the ghostly man from before. Interestingly, he’s a swordmaster, a Hoshidan exclusive class that he shares with Ryoma. This level adds Sakura and Azura to our team and gives Corrin an absolutely monstrous boost to her stats, fitting for her rage dragon form.

Sakura

Corrin’s shy, gentle Hoshidan younger sister. She’s a Shrine Maiden (Cleric) and wields healing staves. Her personal skill lowers the damage taken by nearby allies. Her design is fine; I don’t really have any thoughts on it. She seems to be going for this “cute shy healer” personality, which isn’t bad, but Fire Emblem has done it a dozen times before.

Azura

Azura is our Dancer...I mean, Songstress. She sucks at fighting, but allows other units to attack twice, which is really helpful in battle. Her personal skill heals nearby allies at the start of their turns. Her design, despite its bright colors, does a good job conveying how calm and mysterious she is. Azura is an enigma. She clearly knows more than she lets on, but currently seems content to just follow Corrin around.

All of the mercenaries in this chapter wield special, dragon killing swords, which would be a problem, if Corrin didn’t have as much defense as the rest of the party put together. This chapter boils down to letting dragon Corrin smash everyone while Sakura, Azura, and Kaze provide support. Ryoma attempts to take on the ghost man, but is defeated. Then Corrin fucking stomps his translucent ass and saves the day.

Corrin continues rampaging and Azura begins singing LITAA. Her necklace, the one from the title screen, starts glowing. Ryoma runs in to protect Azura, but Azura blasts him away with a pillar of water, which is a thing that she can do apparently.

Dragon Corrin freaks out at the music and slashes Azura across the chest. Azura keeps singing and Corrin attempts to strangle her to death. Azura tells Corrin, Kill me if you want, but do it as yourself, which is a fantastic line that shakes Corrin out of her madness.

Corrin turns back into a human and has a flashback of Garon’s murdering Sumeragi and kidnapping her. Garon says You are my child now and grabs baby Corrin, which is so creepy its comical.

Corrin apologizes to Azura, saying she’s disgusted with herself. Ryoma explains that both royal families have dragon blood, the Nohrians from the Dusk Dragon and the Hoshidans from the Dawn Dragon. Corrin looks out over the destroyed town, a town full of innocent people destroyed by Nohr.

Ryoma points out that, because Garon gave Corrin an evil bomb sword, everything must have been his plan. Cool plan, by the way. Let’s see if I have it straight:

1: Give Corrin a bomb sword.

2: Have her commit an act of war.

3: Have Hans try to murder Corrin.

4: Hope he fails.

5: Hope the Hoshidans bring Corrin to their Queen, instead of imprisoning her for being an enemy soldier.

6: Have ghost soldiers invade Hoshido and take the sword from Corrin.

6: Cursed sword explodes, killing Mikoto and destroying her mind control barrier.

I mean, sure, there are probably simpler ways to kill Mikoto, ways that don’t involve praying that Hans fucks up and fails to kill Corrin. Garon could have, I don’t know, had the ghost soldiers kill Mikoto. Maybe their existence is tied to Ganglari, but that’s never actually stated, and the fact that they stick around and kill people after Ganglari explodes makes that questionable.

You know how, at the end of Naruto, Kishimoto had the villains reveal that they were behind every bad thing that happened in the series, and how it didn’t make sense and was dumb and convoluted? I’m getting Naruto vibes from this chapter.

Takumi blames Corrin for Mikoto’s death. And I mean, he has a point. Corrin’s the one who brought the clearly cursed sword her war criminal father gave her with her. Azura tells Takumi that it’s fine if he doesn’t trust her, but it's wrong for him to distrust Corrin, because Corrin is his blood. And that’s fucking stupid. Fire Emblem is filled with characters with evil relatives. Soren, Guinivere, Edelgard, Robin, the list goes on. Shit, there are evil blood relatives within this game.

Corrin suggests leaving and Yukimura tells her that Mikoto wouldn’t have wanted that and that Mikoyo knew she would die soon. He also mentions that there may be darker forces than Garon at work. Yukimura also points us towards a statue destroyed in the blast, a statue containing Yato, a diving golden sword that is said to be the key to peace. Yato flies up and over to Corrin.

Kaze runs in and reports a massive Nohrian force assembles at the border and the family marches off to war, with Ryoma declaring that he will not show any mercy. Corrin decides to follow Ryoma, in hopes of stopping the war. Azura tells Corrin to calm down, because getting into a fight could cause her to lose control and turn into a dragon again. Spoiler alert, this is literally the only chapter where Corrin loses control, because screw interesting characterization.

Azura gives Corrin her necklace, which turns out to be a dragonstone. Dragonstones and manaketes, people who can turn into dragons, are not new to Fire Emblem. Manaketes are normally uncomfortably young girls. Corrin is the first and currently the only manakete main lord. What’s more, Corrin is unique in their ability to wield both swords and dragonstones. It fits with the duality motif.

The necklace allows Corrin to control her dragon form, which is a bit of a disappointment. Corrin losing control and destroying stuff in this animalistic rage was really interesting characterization that is never seen after this chapter.

Azura decides to follow Corrin, because Corrin makes her feel safe. Apparently.

This chapter was really, really, good. Mikoto’s death was heartbreaking and Corrin going apeshit was some really strong character work. I forgot how absolutely terrifying Corrin’s transformation scene is. That said, this chapter hammers the final nail in the coffin for this story being morally grey. There is absolutely no reason to side with Nohr after this chapter, except for loyalty to the Nohrian royals.

At the start of the next chapter, we’ll choose our side in this war. And, not to tip my hand, but I don’t exactly think it’ll be a hard choice.

#fe #fire emblem #fe fates #fe 14 #fe14 #fire emblem 14 #fire emblem fates #corrin fe #ganglari #takumi fe #ryoma fe #azura fe #hoshido #sakura fe