#because overall i Really enjoy the character writing in this game so they'd have to fuck up catastrophically for me to Dislike him
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why don't you like blade :(
oh i don't dislike him! i just don't care. totally different thing
everything i've seen of him in game so far PLUS alllllllll those leaks hasn't been enough. like. as of Right Now there's nothing for me to latch onto and pick at. the whole "dan heng's past life's ex-husband/fiance" may be enough for some people but i just do not gaf 😭 i need. to see quite a bit more of him before i can even start getting into the territory of actual like/dislike
#and i probably won't dislike him when i do get the additional context i need to understand his character properly#because overall i Really enjoy the character writing in this game so they'd have to fuck up catastrophically for me to Dislike him#mailbox#you know what i do dislike though. renheng. or whatever you people call it#like ok YES i see that they were probably married in dan heng's past life#but#i don't... dan heng has made it extremely clear that he is NOT dan feng and he really hates engaging with any part of that life#because he wants to move on and establish himself as a new person and be SEEN as Himself and not have to shoulder dan feng's shit forever#and i don't understand what blade's deal is. like if he's also a reincarnation or. idk kafka was like 'mara' but like#either i skipped something in that cutscene or it was not elaborated on Yet or it wasn't translated well OR all 3#regardless i do not get what's happening. with him.#so maybe he can still love dan feng and it really fucking sucks for him that dan heng looks so much like him but *dan feng* is dead#he's not going to find his husband/fiance in dan heng again. like blahblahblah the vidyadhara's reincarnation is weird#and undoubtedly parts of dan feng will live on through dan heng but they're not. the same person#and yknow blade isn't (checks notes) exactly yinxing anymore#like that's kind of the entire point of this story line. it's supposed to be tragic because they're not the same people anymore#and they're not going to just fall in love all over again at the drop of a hat#like i thought you guys loved doomed yaoi. why do you keep making it un-doomed#it's not a big deal or anything like do what you want forever. if un-dooming the doomed yaoi makes you happy then ok!#but it's not for me and never will be it just requires ignoring such an integral part of what makes dan heng. dan heng.#blade's fine. silver wolf is like his niece now or something he can just go take her to mcdonald's he doesn't need a husband again
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I HAVE COMPLETED ALL OF THE STARTING CLASS QUESTLINES IN FFXIV, SO HERES AN OFF THE CUFF COMPARISON OF THE STARTING CLASSES
this will all be subject to opinion of course, but idk i wanna do it.
starting with, how do each of the starting classes play before you upgrade to the proper jobs?
not well on the whole if im being honest. i dont think any one of the classes stand out in the below 30 range, a consequence of being the basic building blocks of the game but still. from best to worst
1 pugilist: its fast, it hits hard, its gimmick is easy to grasp, and it gives you a good collection of tools to easily slip in to how people generally play this insane game. the only bit i have a problem with would be steel peak and the chakra gauge, as steel peak feels pretty useless at the pugilist level [it hits slightly harder then a normal hit, but your basic combo is just better in every way then the set up it needs].
2 lancer: rather plain missionary as far as a dps class goes, though i feel thats to its benefit in many ways as its real simple to figure out and use. plus javelins are a nice poking tool as everyone charges recklessly ahead. what brings the class down somewhat is that it has no aoe before dragoon and that it feels sluggish compared to something like pugilist. hit sound effect is deliciously cronchy though.
3 archer: pretty much everything you'd realistically want from the class honestly, it feels a bit sluggish at the start but when ya unlock the aoe shooting the class quickly becomes one of the best for handling large groups of enemies. its solid all around if somewhat unexciting at times sitting in the back shooting arrows.
4 marauder/gladiator: putting them together because they play exactly the bloody same below 30. thankfully despite the worry i had going into a tanking class, i found myself rather enjoying the kit. the most difference between the two i'll note is that marauder is more aggressive well gladiator is more reactive as far as tanking goes. but again, at the below 30 level they play exactly the bloody same.
5 rogue: id like this class more if its kit was a bit bigger. like lancer its lacking aoe before upgrade but unlike lancer its kit is way too small to offer much variety in how you approach situations. plus the hide and backstab stuff is only really useful, so far anyways, in story moments or open world cheese. regardless, the class is fast and hits well so its feels exhilarating to use.
6 arcanist: its kinda intimidating when ya first get hold of it, but i find once ya get a grasp on the class its actually one of the more fun ones to play at low level. i feel it hits harder and faster then other magic classes, you can do a lot with it, and getting the rhythm for its use feels real satisfying.
7 conjurer: being a low level healer feels agonizing, your squishy, you cant hit too hard or fast, and the micromanaging feels daunting especially when your first getting used to the class. and when ya get the hang of it, it doesn't feel quite as rewarding as other classes as your generally stuck to the tanks ass, and if your arent stuck to the tanks ass then shits gone horribly wrong. atleast people seem to appreciate you more.
8 thaumaturge: unlike conjurer which was cursed by design as a basic bitch healer, thaumaturge feels awful to play on the whole in my experience. ironically you dont feel like your hitting as hard as the arcanist, your slower, the switching gauge gets annoying, and ya cant really do anything exciting with the class. i dont hate it, but i do think if a new player is starting with it, they'd get a pretty aggravating impression of the game.
and now, onto the stories of the class questlines themselves! again from best to worst
1 rogue: massively benefits from being the late comer. its more extensive, more cinematic, the character writing well not anything extraordinary is still solid overall, and well the quests can be a bit lengthy they do offer interesting things to do.
2 lancer: gets to rest at the top of the pile less because of anything specific it does and more so because of how it stands out. the only class quest line that functions as an honest to god tragedy/parable/whatever ya wanna call it which elevates it otherwise smaller nature compared to other class quests. i dont feel foulques is actually all that interesting of a character, and if another starting class questline took a similar approach as the lancer quests then i feel he'd be far less memorable [as hes just kinda a self important ass at the end of the day, despite his tragic backstory]. Still, in the lancer quests case, simplicity is elegance in that the quests are straightforward and the story direct in its impact. inelegant definitely. unique, definitely.
3 conjurer: its okay. doesn't trip over itself, says what it wants to say, and has you doing things that arent too much of a hassle. i really like its ending scene too where... conjurer girl finally properly connects with the nature magic vibes for the first time, and remarks on how much more alive everything now feels. its euphoric in a way, and makes the process of getting to the end refreshing.
4 pugilist: dumb but in a fun way, the quest stories for pugilist dont take themselves too seriously and just have fun with what they're doing and in that sense it makes the pugilist quests a lot more fun then i think they would be otherwise. its not a gutbuster, but its intentional comedy that lands which is to its favour. some of the quests themselves can be kinda annoying to do though.
5 archer: kinda bland and it trips over itself getting to the end. i like what its trying to do, taking two characters who follow diametric beliefs about archery and who get at each others throats, only to come together in the end to emphasize the benefits of cooperation, cultural exchanges and crosses, and to tie to archeries literal history within gridanias context. elezen dudes a bit too prickly though without getting enough redressing on the matter, miqo'te girl is underwritten which makes her struggles not land with as much weight as they should, and i feel the plot takes such a sharp turn into the poacher bandit thing that the ending lands with more of a whimper then a bang. plus the quests themselves can be rather annoying. still, it was trying to do something interesting and didn't completely fail in that regard.
6 gladiator: i like some of the character dynamics at play and the quests dont suck. the story is too ambitious for its actual runtime though, so everything feels rushed and underwritten, and theres nothing really at play here that connects too deeply to what it means to be a ffxiv gladiator either in terms of themes, setting or even just on a functional gameplay level like all of the above classes. those characters are the only thing holdin it at 6 really.
7 arcanist: im not a big fan on glasses characters so a story heavily featuring them and generic genius academic type characters who prattle on about statistics and probability or what not... well that wasn't gonna be a slam dunk for me. the plot for these ones also just feels meandering, and like the archer plot it takes a hard swerve into the new thing it introduces at the tail end to its own detriment, only even more so. at the end of the day im just not sure what they were trying to do here overall. plus some of the quests are kinda a pain to complete.
8 marauder: boooooooooring. not only is the story a drag, but its characters are not interesting in the slightest save for like... one joke about marauders not being good at subtly. plus its difficult to have a story where your antagonistic force is a monsterous animal that doesnt speak human, unless you really well characterize the monster or have good characters on the side. and the marauder quests dont do either of these. finally what doesn't help is that the quests themselves are kinda boring to play.
9 thaumaturge: this one legit pisses me off, and it has everything to do with the story and nothing to do with the characters. im not a big fan of the characters mind, but they're fine. whats happening though in terms of character actions and plot movement is just stupid though, especially that damn jar with the devil in it. and to top it off, the ending feels anti climatic as fuck! the one brother well possessed goes around killing at least a dozen people, yet theres no remark on the matter after the possession and the intended theme to be take away from all this is "believe in yourself :)". fuck this questline.
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OOC: I think we're actually done this time.
Hello, everyone. I am @toaarcan, the writer behind both this blog, and @ghost-of-destiny. If you were a reader of either of these blogs, then you've probably noticed that everything has been very quiet for a while now.
I know some people are still enjoying what we did, because every day I get likes on some of the threads we did. And, unfortunately, I doubt there will be any more.
There's been a general decline in interest from all parties, in fact, I was one of the last ones consistently posting, as most other people just weren't around anymore. For some, Life Stuff just became too much of an obstacle. For others, the overall story was shifting in a different direction to what they'd been interested in. For some, it was just the sheer difficulty of being caught up on a story spread across a dozen blogs on a website that's actively hostile to searches.
That last one's pretty ironic considering that we were writing fanfic for a series that died because its story got too convoluted and hard to follow.
There's also another thing.
There was a D&D game. It went badly.
Actually, that's an oversimplification, but what happened was that a bunch of the most active and plot-critical players in what we referred to as "Tumblrverse" banded together to play D&D. We mostly used D&D-ified versions of our Bionicle characters and played by post on Discord. I will not be naming any names here besides my own, because I don't want this to feel like I'm airing other people's dirty laundry... but given that I have to make this disclaimer, you can probably tell that things went sideways.
At first, it worked really well! But we made one mistake right from the off: The chat was always running. It was always online. 24/7 D&D. If the DM wasn't around to make the bad guys do things, we were still active in there, chatting, shooting the breeze, and arguing. And for most of us, it took pretty much all of our creative juices.
The game, Ruins and Rahi, ran for about two years, of constant play, and things fell apart majorly toward the end, and a lot of those cracks first formed early on.
Fitting for a D&D game played by Tumblr people, there was a very "Yes, and" approach to things, and that translated to "Any player can introduce lore and suggest plot twists for their character, and everyone else just has to roll with it." We also made the critical mistake of not having a Session 0, and not establishing safety tools, so if one of these elements was an issue for someone else in the group... well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest.
Very early on, I basically introduced voluntary PvP into the game, as one of my characters had a freak-out and turned into a villain. I wanted to redeem this character, and I wanted it to be a slow, painful thing where she had to come to turns with her own morality and maybe backslide a few times. This did not work out. It mainly didn't work out because... well, I did kill another player character.
Now, this death was something the player chose to do, and was approved by the DM, and only then was it actually pitched to me. In terms of the chain of responsibility for that one, I was a solid third place of three people. Buuuut that didn't mean that it didn't become basically My Fault for the rest of the game.
This resulted in a lot of arguments, that ran for hours on end, and that's a problem in D&D because of character bleed.
In any D&D game, the player's personality and morality will bleed into their character. You've got to be real damn good to avoid it. This is why almost none of my evil characters stay evil. I just can't do it for long periods of time. And this means that, if you start having arguments in-character about the actions those characters took, eventually... you're just yelling at your friends. Often for things that either weren't entirely their fault, or weren't their fault at all.
By the time the game staggered to a close, everyone was kinda mad at each other, and there was no way to save it. The bad choices we'd all made without really talking to each other about it in advance finally became too heavy to ignore. Three of us dipped in quick succession and it collapsed in on itself.
And when you've spent several months wallowing in bitterness and half-sniping at each other, another collaborative writing project is somewhat hard to jump back into. Especially when you then make the collective decision to partake in a dedicated Discord channel for... oversharing and it immediately devolves into more sniping, this time without any veneer of roleplaying as someone else.
This is, in part, an open apology for the things I said and did during those few months, because I don't like the version of myself I became during that time. We were having fun with it until suddenly we weren't and it went too far. And it's left a bunch of us with irreconcilable differences and a few scars that mean that some of us just can't or won't talk to each other anymore. Like there are those among our number that literally can't be in the same space as each other anymore, and I've had to talk about R&R with my therapist, because as much as I'm still attached to some of the characters and some of the narrative, the way things fell apart is something that I dread a repeat of, both on my end, and on others'.
We made a few more attempts to get things rolling again on here after that. In fact, the False Flag megathread was entirely post-R&R, if I'm remembering right. But the life had gone out of it. False Flag was basically the only thread happening, and it slowed and slowed and slowed until it wasn't updating anymore either. I suggested maybe retooling the ending to turn it into more of a conclusion, but nothing more was done.
The Discord channel we used to use to plan stuff has been dead since May. We weren't talking about new threads, but about why the whole thing fell apart and what we could do to replace it. No suggestions for the latter stuck.
I think we're done. Not just me, but everyone else too.
ToaArcan, player of Ahkmou and Matoro, signing off.
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What's ur fav DT character you made?
Tough to say overall. Compromise: I'll answer for different criteria!
One I'd most wanna hang with irl if the cast were real: Probably Oliver. I like Karen's personality too, but I fear my comic antics would bewilder and frighten her. Oliver would be much, MUCH harder to baffle in this way. Plus, he'd totally wanna watch awful CG mockbusters with me, such as Ratatoing. I'm shaking with anger imagining this but I still REALLY wanna do it. Need to rewatch Ratatoing, I hate it so much. It makes me feel so alive.
The character I find the most interesting: Probably Callum Crown! I wrote a lot more for the character on paper, unsure if I was gonna make more Dialtown stuff, and it's driving me nuts because it'd be an injustice to reveal info about his past and his actions/motivations in a post like this. The big issue with Dialtown's setting is... well, it's not Callum's story, it's the story of Gingi and all of his bizarre little friends. There's only one NPC in Dialtown who could tell us things about Callum that would likely shock the audience, and he's playing dumb, though the act falls occasionally.
Without an obvious narrator, Callum's story remains what it is in Dialtown... a biased and stitched-together account of the most important man who may have ever lived. It's frustrating to know that while every account of Callum in-game isn't intentionally untruthful, they're all very incomplete pictures of him, and all from people who didn't really understand him. There's so much about his character that I'd love to talk about, I just... can't. Because it's not relevant to any of the information that Dialtown's NPCs were willing to provide to the audience.
But, it's all in my head and always has been. If I were to reveal everything I'd decided about Callum's motivations/actions and you were to replay the final route, you'd notice some seemingly throwaway statements suddenly being very relevant to how Dialtown's world works. Granted, the statements are 100% generic without that context, ofc. It's a habit of mine, I compulsively write more material for my characters. I get too invested in them, it's a disease. On the one hand, yeah, I'm a pox upon the face of the earth. On the other: hey! At least my characters stay consistent across entries because I know what they'd do/say next before even starting a sequel story! Sorry, yeah, no spoilers ofc, but expect more of Callum in future DT content. ;)
The character I most enjoy writing for: Very tough to answer. Maybe Mayor Mingus, just baaaaarely? Her uptight and confrontational nature allows her to dominate any scene she's placed in. There aren't really any Mingus scenes where she isn't the main (if not TOTAL) center of attention. Other than Gingi, I'm not sure if any other character HAS the ability to force a dynamic in any scene you put them in, hell, probably even better than Gingi. Even Gingi's chicanery has its limits (Tango being a good example), but Mingus is the same to everyone. That relentless consistency really compliments her obsession with conformity. Plus, it fits that almost every trait she hates in the player happen to be traits she possesses, so ofc her note REALLY presses the 'lawless' side of Gingi's nature, because it's the only stable logical footing she has. Of COURSE she's a law-abiding citizen, she IS the law.
The character whose design I most enjoy: Likely Mayor Mingus, again. Her head is my cat's head. C'MON.
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You don’t have to answer by the way if it’s not something you particularly focus on in enstars story.I however like the way you write your posts what do you think of akiras handling of sexism within the story.in parallel world seven gates,blackjack and somewhat in bankara and secret service we learn that as well as underground idols female idols especially are ostracised within the idol industry and the creation of ensemble squares further widened the gap between male and female idol groups.it’s kind of hypocritical for an organisation like we that claims itself to be a utopia for idols yet only push members of one sex to success.parallel world as a story and how it ends also slightly rubbed me the wrong way too i don’t know but again what do you think.
I'm flattered that you like my meta posts but I. Have not read any of the stories that you've mentioned besides Secret Service so I don't have an opinion on how the topic is handled in those stories and it wasn't something I really...noticed in my read-through of Secret Service (though if you have specific chapters that it's mentioned in I can give it a re-read and give you my thoughts on it).
Overall though I'm not exactly expecting Ensemble Stars to really tackle the topic of sexism and women idols so I'm not really. Disappointed that it doesn't address the topic, though it would be great if they did. The two characters that we do have that are women are Anzu and Arashi and I do wish we got more out of the producer course for Anzu like there has to be other producers coming out that can help her and like I know she loves the ES idols but she spreads herself so thin she really needs that help and having like. One Anzu-lite character per agency even would help a lot with that and allow her to focus more on Trickstar (which we know is the unit that she wants to focus on given the events of ! era). I do think her writing sometimes is the result of some sexism and misogyny within the writing team and also just the result of Enstars feeling like an otome with just one "player insert" protagonist who has to interact with all the characters which is a whole other discussion.
As for Arashi, I do appreciate that she does get to be a well rounded character in general just by virtue of being a member of Knights (a very popular unit in and out of universe) and I enjoyed Fragrance for her a lot, showing her more vulnerable side that isn't entirely sure about what she wants but that her friends in Knights & Akiomi are still willing to support her no matter what and want to push her towards her goals. When they actually like. Try to tackle trans stuff it can be kind of hit or miss. I wish they'd actually allow her to at least socially transition more and give her more feminine roles and stuff that she has expressed IN THE STORIES THAT THEY WROTE as wanting to do. Like the whole reason she's so attached to Akiomi is because she was able to take on more feminine roles with him in their modeling days and she wasn't just shoehorned into handsome boy roles. Let her be the princess she wants to be oh my god. Ideally we could examine transitioning in the public eye in Japan (with like. Sensitivity readers for the stories to oversee them and give their input on it) with her and let her start both socially and medically transitioning after graduation.
This ended up way off topic oops. I do wish Enstars would maybe introduce a girl idol unit or something (a collab with another game like Bandori or D4DJ could even get the ball rolling on tackling stuff like this narratively) and get deeper in the discussion of misogyny within the idol industry especially wrt expectations placed on women that aren't placed on men, especially if it is mentioned in the stories themselves. I know bishoujo-senpai is mentioned in Parallel Maze and I'm curious what they'll do with her character in the future after the uh. Mess that was her characterization in Romantic Comedy (imo anyway...), but I can't speak as to the stuff mentioned in those stories you mentioned because like I said, I haven't read any of them yet. I read most !! era stuff (besides anything Crazy:B related) as it comes to the English server so it'll be a while until I get around to it. I would love for them to examine the misogyny inherent in their game's premise but it's not something I am expecting so it's not entirely disappointing that the discussion isn't there.
#message in a bottle#anonymous#im not gonna main tag this bc it is truly all over the place im so sorry#do i know how to stay on topic? only sometimes#blackjack is an ! era story though isnt it? i can take a quick peak hold on#NO THATS THE NAME OF THE MAYOSHINO TOUR? I DIDNT REALIZE THAT#nvm yeah i have not read most of these but i will. eventually :thumbs:
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2, 7, 15, and 33 for the couples/relationships ask game!
2.) Of the ones you've written, what's your slowest slowburn? How slow is it?
Oooh, that is a good question. I admit, I'm impatient. My slowburns are usually still relatively speedy. Though The Pied Piper's Army of Rats does take six fics until Hartley and Cisco finally kiss. And while Hartley and Cisco get together in chapter 2 of 2 in (This Isn't) The Timeline You Were Looking For, in universe it takes them, like... two years to get their act together.
7.) Have you written any romantic couples that you think would be better off as friends? Or even enemies?
So while I do have fun writing Snowbarry at times, I think Caitlin and Barry are better off as friends. They've got a great platonic chemistry on the show, but it's not like with Caitlin and Cisco where I just... can't with the romantic ship. Honestly, I started writing it because I knew someone else who enjoyed the ship and wanted to write something I knew they'd really enjoy. And I don't regret getting into the ship, because they can be very cute to write as a romantic couple, but overall I definitely prefer them with a friendship.
15.) Are there any relationship dynamics/tropes you would never write?
Alpha/beta/omega stuff. I don't mind reading that sometimes, but it's not really my cup of tea and I just can't ever see myself writing any at all. I think it just hits the wrong balance of possessiveness + sex + kink for this ace, especially since it's got that heavy element of unreality going for it.
And I tend to stick with softer kinks in general as the harder stuff are difficult for me to get into the right headspace for. So I'm unlikely to ever have characters go too much beyond spanking or otherwise mildly roughing each other up for kinks that involve some kind of violence in them. At least when it comes to kinky scenes in a fic itself, anyway. A character might have a multitude of kinks that are mentioned, but never actually depicted.
33.) Are there any canon romantic couples, in any media, that you just can't stand?
Gwen/Jack from Torchwood never actually get together, but they are canonically interested in each other and I really hate the ship. Gwen's my least favorite Torchwood character to begin with, so honestly that ship was doomed from the start with me. Likely unsurprisingly that I don't like Gwen/Owen either. Or Gwen/Rhys. Considering she told Rhys that she was cheating on him with Owen and then retconned Rhys immediately after so he wouldn't remember and thus couldn't decide to leave her (and then he winds up married to her)... there are words for that situation, none of them polite.
And while I still think the early flirtations between Oliver and Felicity on Arrow are cute, I think they kinda brought out the worst in each other as romantic partners. Felicity making a scene at Barry and Iris' wedding rehearsal when she mistakenly thought Oliver was proposing to her only to turn around and force Barry and Iris - who'd already had their wedding interrupted by Nazis from another Earth - to share their wedding with her and Oliver... probably the best example right there of Felicity's worst, most self centered impulses getting catered to and Oliver just... goes with what she wants. And while Felicity isn't solely to blame for Oliver growing more rigidly uncompromising as the series went on, she definitely contributed to his slow descent towards becoming an off brand cop in the final season.
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analogince and intrualiceit for the ship ask game?
Analogince - ship it
1. What made you ship it?
I really love the dynamics between Virgil, Roman and Logan, and I think they'd be so sweet together!!
Also, I really like LAMP in theory but I'm not a big fan of Patton ships, so I tend to prefer just these 3 together.
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
So many things..... but I think I really like the fact that they're all such nerds!! That's true for all of Sanders Sides characters lol, but I think these three are nerds in a way that means they can specifically relate to each other. Roman and Virgil both really love Disney!! Logan and Virgil i think would be the types to enjoy their interests quietly (unless debating with Roman), and Roman and Logan are both very passionate about the things they like, as well as having a shared interest in poetry. So, yeah, I rllly like the idea of these 3 talking abt their interests and debating together, or just quietly cuddling during a movie night :)
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
Not really an unpopular opinion, but I've seen the headcanon around that these three write poetry for each other and I've decided to adopt that, 10/10 very cute XD
Intrualiceit - don't ship it
1. Why don't you ship it?
This one was genuinely hard because I feel like I'm being pulled in both directions. I love dukeceit and moceit, and there are some aspects of intrualiceit that I really like, but overall I just don't really vibe with it. Ig it just doesn't interest me as a ship.
2. What would have made you like it?
I think I'd be interested in their dynamic if Janus was dating both Patton and Remus, but those two aren't dating each other. I've mentioned before that intruality doesn't really interest me, but I'd be really interested in exploring Patton and Remus' platonic dynamic in that situation, with them trying to get along for Janus' sake then eventually coming to understand each other more and mayhaps they fall in love along the way.
3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?
I really like the idea of Patton x two people whose existence goes against everything he's been taught about morality, so he ends up changing his perspective. I think spending more time with Janus and Remus would genuinely help Patton grow as a person, and I think they'd help him relax a bit, which he really needs atm.
#storm answers#sry this is so rambly#im so conflicted abt intrualiceit bc im mostly neutral on them. maybe i do ship them n i just don't think abt them much????#intrualiceit#analogince
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Alright, so, Thoughts on Lightfall.
Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it's not without issues. On the whole I feel it did more right than wrong, and I can very much admit that several of the things I find to be flaws may very well just be down to personal taste in writing choices rather than objective problems.
So, in general, it's mostly positive with some discussion of areas that I think might have been better handled.
Naturally spoilers abound below.
Also discussions of new/revamped gameplay mechanics in addition to the storyline stuff.
Going to be a bit disjointed and achronological because my brain does not vibe with the concept of time in general.
So, first of all, NIMBUS. I love them. They're a great character. I want to see more of them in the future. Canon on-screen nonbinary rep in a character who is great, who has speaking lines AND is a major character in the expansion, AND doesn't just get killed off? YES. It seems like a previous Cloud Strider, Stargazer, may also have been they/them? There's definitely another they/them as an average citizen in the lorebook AND somebody who seems genderfluid.
So Neomuna just casually embraces being nonbinary and it's NOT just a Cloud Strider thing it's just a normal part of their culture. Love that~
Alright, now for everything else.
I really enjoyed the new aesthetics of Neomuna! Very pretty~ I especially love the sparkly, glittery stone (or whatever) ground and caves, that's just such a pretty thing and it's always a top tier design choice. Also really love how they made the Cloud Striders so dang tall! Makes sense with their augments and whatnot, but still, great choice~
Still haven't poked around all the Lost Sectors but I loved the arcade (and the Goblin just... scanning a game cabinet lol. Absolute favorite Vex right there, a shame I had to kill it)
Haven't messed around too much with the new weapons and such, so I can't speak to how I enjoy the new perks or anything yet thought I like the aesthetics of them again.
The re-worked mod system is pretty solid, IMO. It streamlines a lot of stuff. Could use more tweaks, I miss some of the older mods and such, but the team will absolutely be monitoring things and adding new mods and tweaking existing ones and such as we go. It's a massive overhaul so it'll take time for things to fully settle, and I'll probably tweak things around further in the future.
I do prefer the perk system for the seasonal artifact as well, by the way, less of a pain than trying to slot mods into your gear and sacrificing stuff. Still struggling with stunning Champions but that's mostly because I'm still getting used to the new setup and fiddling with weapons and such.
Loudout system is great, no more needing to change up mods or appearances when you swap classes lol.
I do wish they'd maybe increase the slots we have for weapons, or something. It's getting hard to juggle and energy slots between what i need to complete bounties, what I need to stun champions, and what I run for everything else, especially if I've got an exotic catalyst or two I'm trying to work on...
Also, while Strand is fun, it feels... Slower for abilities to recharge, somehow? Might just be because most of my other sub-classes have ways to recharge themselves in PvE faster and all. Especially the loading time on the grapple grenade. I very much get why it's like that but also since it doubles as a movement mechanic and not just a combat mechanic it's a little... Tedious. But there's not really a good way to adjust that, I think, because it's not like destiny has a dedicated "extra movement method" button or anything.
Anyway that might feel a little less clunky as I unlock aspects and try to put together a decent Strand build. Need to find a decent high-stat Exotic to pair it with, tbh, the one I'm running now is just kinda.. Meh, it's what I've got on hand lol. So that might very well be coloring my opinions on it, I can fully admit that's a strong possibility. (But, also, I fully expect Bungie to tweak Strand going forwards as more and more players get their hands on it and they can see on a large scale how it's working and where it's struggling).
ANYWAY enough about that! ON TO OTHER STUFF.
So, overall, I liked the story they told. I do wish we'd delved more into the what the Veil is, however. It's obvious by the time you're doing some of the post-campaign stuff that not even the people of Neomuna have a solid grasp on what it is, and I would have liked to see that explored more... I know they're probably going to drip feed us some of that info over the seasons but I feel like that's extremely relevant to THIS expansion and I feel that expansions should balance being self-contained and setting up the next part of the story (unless it's a standalone expansion in which case it should be entirely self-contained).
Lightfall... Felt like it leaned a little too heavily on the "setting up for the next part" side of things. It wasn't bad, but I feel like we could have explored a bit more in the expansion itself. Maybe not part of the main campaign, but as a post-campaign quest or something to learn a little more about the Veil, and such.
I don't want to describe it as "filler", because it's not, but it did... Hrm... How to explain it... Like, obviously it's the link between Witch Queen and The Final Shape, that's just kind of what the expansions are--continuing the story and linking the entries that came before with those that came after. But Lightfall... It felt a little more like it was meant to just be a bridge and less like it was taking itself seriously as a full story in it's own right.
It's not bad, exactly, but it felt a little... Off. Like it wasn't quite able to come into it's own as an expansion outside of it's role linking WQ and TFS. An excellent effort was made, and that is a fine line to walk so I don't want to give the devs too much grief over it! But it does feel like it managed to fall a bit short on that.
Some of it was the pacing. The pacing felt a little... Inconsistent? Like some areas, such as Rohan's death, felt kind of rushed--we barely had time to get to know or care about these characters before he's sacrificing himself for us! And others felt like they dragged a little--Strand mastery, mostly. That somehow manage to feel like it both took up too much time and too little time.
I think that part is more... It felt like it took forever to get to the serious training to master it, and once we hit that it came very rapidly. I think that maybe if it had been a focus for one more or one less mission it would have felt better paced.
But also part of that might be less to do with the actual Strand and more to do with the content of the missions themselves. I did notice several of them had extended "no respawn" segments which were... Grueling, if you weren't very well-prepared and that can absolutely be coloring my perception of the pacing. It's hard to pull them apart, really.
Battles in segments did seem to drag on a bit, and some of the new stuff you do in Neomuna (the "terminal override" activity) seem to drag on, becoming more of a test of endurance than anything else.
Now, some of this is undoubtedly because we're all still adjusting to the new mod system and we all started out at low light compared to the recommended stuff with the new expansion and all. As we all start to get up there in light level, get better gear, get a handle on the new system, etc. I suspect these will start going faster.
So I don't want to be too hard on that aspect because, y'know, we just came off a "we've got YEARS of experience mastering the system and we're at the top of our game" in terms of gameplay so there's gonna be a learning curve for many of us again and I don't want to ding the devs on that too badly if it really just feels tedious due to needing to get familiar with things and better gear and such.
Plus, like. I know I'm not as big a fan of the battlegrounds style stuff because they take longer and I prefer quick, intense bursts of combat rather than extended firefights, so that's likely also my personal taste coloring how I feel there.
That said, not all the battle segments seemed to drag on--and several of those that were longer absolutely made sense and it really added to the emotional feelings of the mission with how they lasted longer.
Like, the run-up to fighting Calus?
When Caitatl shows up to fight alongside you with her troops through wave after wave of enemy? It felt like that fight took forever--but that worked great because it really fed the sense of "shit, fuck, NO, we have to hurry, we don't have time for this!" and that sense of "can we make it? No, we have to! We have to endure!" desperation that really, really fit the "the enemy is about to fucking win we HAVE to stop them!" that was being built up.
Actually, honestly, the more I think about it... The more I think that may have been the point all along with the combat segments that felt like took longer? To build that "we don't have time to be wasting here" sense of impatience to hurry and try to stop the Witness from getting the Veil.
But, also, again, they may have just taken longer and feel too long because I'm not totally used to the new system and still building myself up again--and I would imagine that the same could be true for others who also felt they were lengthy.
Calus' death, though, that was great. The battle was annoying because I was still trying to get a hang of swinging around with Strand and kept getting knocked off, but that was a skill issue not a game design issue lol.
I liked how in the end he became desperate, and his death just... Felt fitting. He met the end he was always destined for. Honestly a of the imagery around Calus was great, they did a great job of showing that while he gives service to the Witness he's still not actually satisfied and that his "gains" are just... Hollow. Empty. Just like him, really. All superficial opulence with no substantial filling.
His Chalice, a beautiful thing that was never filled, was a fantastic metaphor for Calus himself.
Speaking of interesting things, though.
The Cloud Striders vs the Guardians. One that chooses a life cut drastically short, not as a tragedy, but as a joyful sacrifice to protect and serve their people, a heavy mantle but one taken up willingly by those who are passionate about the cause. And one that has immortality thrust upon them without warning, without consent, and without any sort of purpose innate to the lifespan change.
They're a fun little twisted reflection of each other, and something I hope gets explored further even if only in the lore--that's a really, really neat concept that has a lot of fun potential for compare/contrast, you know?
AND, ON TOP OF THAT, the Guardian hesitates to cut their own existence short--the choice to shoot their Ghost, to save everything? (Or at least delay the Witness' plan)? And they hesitate, they can't quite do it in time (and once it's over there's no point). It's understandable, Ghost is your friend, somebody you care about and I think it makes perfect sense that we'd hesitate. I mean even outside of the narrative of "they can't have us kill Ghost because then we wouldn't be immortal anymore and that would really kind of screw with the whole 'players are immortal beings who come back over and over and over and just Get Better from grievous wounds on the fly'" thing. It just makes sense in general.
But there's also, there, that moment of hesitation in the face of sacrificing their immortality--when Rohan chose to cut his already truncated life short without hesitation to the same end.
It's not that I think we were wrong for our choice, or that his sacrifice was better or anything.
I just thing they're fascinating inversions of each other--parallel lines traveling in opposite direction.
And I think that was really well-done.
Also, speaking of well-done, the cutscene at the end of the new exotic quest for Deterministic Chaos, where the remains of Sagira's shell are enshrined in the Hall of Heroes right behind Rohan's monument/server. That was such a good touch, it was so perfect. It just feels right.
I just.
Yeah, the expansion had it's issues (what doesn't?) and things I would have changed up a bit but overall it was very enjoyable and did some amazing stuff with imagery, metaphor, and implied parallels for players to take note of. My biggest gripes are with gameplay, and those will very likely be lessened as the new mod system and subclass get tweaked and we all start getting more experience with them and such.
A fun time that deserves some criticism but really doesn't seem to deserve the more vitriolic hate I've seen.
So, on the whole, I'd give it a very solid 8/10.
#kage plays games#kage plays destiny#destiny 2#lightfall#lightfall spoilers#anyway i hope this is at least semi-coherent lol#i have Feelings and Thoughts but Words Are Hard so#lengthy post
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Ships of the new games
Now, first of all, this is just my personal opinion of ships for Scarlet and Violet. I'm not speaking for the fandom in any way.
Now, for me, I actually haven't had many ships in series. I enjoy seeing what pops up on my feed basically. If you ship something I don't, good on you for finding a way to make it work. Just neutral on many of them.
For Scarlet and Violet though, I have a couple of ships that I like. First is Penny and Giacomo. Of course, I can see the argument that they're just close friends. But it just feels like they spent the most time together, and so have more of a connection than Penny to any of the other Team Star bosses. They worked on making decisions for the team together. She relied on him as a personal connection as she was too shy to go and be with them herself. Giacomo may not be the strongest of the bosses, but when Penny was gone, he was the one making sure things were kept in shape. My own headcanon is that Penny saw Giacomo being kicked out of being class president, and that's when she got the idea to form a team, so he was the first to join. Overall, I think they'd be cute together.
Another ship, is Arven and Nemona. Of course, they don't get along at first. But I can see potential in the ship. Maybe Arven admired her strength from afar, but something just kept him away before. And Nemona could see how great making food for pokemon could be, and ask him to teach her after what happened in the Great Crater of Paldea. Of course, there'd be some angst, but that's something I plan to write later when I have the time.
Next ship, I would have to say is Dendra and Miriam. Sure, I'm sure most people would say Dendra should be with Tulip, the psychic gym leader. They were childhood friends after all, and I can see them at least trying it out when they were younger. But while Tulip became a gym leader, I don't see her enjoying a physical life like Dendra would and does. Miriam however, we can see she's at least had a few adventures of her own, and isn't afraid of being hurt because she knows how to take care of herself and others. She's quick to dismiss something, as we see her not wanting anything to do with Dendra's sandwich, but Dendra is determined and hard headed, and she could give Miriam stories of her adventures outside of the classroom while Miriam attends to her scrapes.
For the protagonists of the games, I don't really have a preference. Most of the time, I play and make my character my own, so it's a little hard to see the character base that I played be with anyone when it's technically me. Though I do love the idea of the protag, Nemona, Penny, and Arven getting together after the shit they went through because, who else could share that experience with them? But either way, I can see them just being really close friends after it too.
#Pokemon#Pokemon Scarlet and Violet#Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Spoilers#Spoilers#Penny#Giacomo#Arven#Nemona#Dendra#Miriam#Pokemon Protags#I don't know their names lol
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September 8th, Day 4/365
Counting down to September 5th 2024.
Two days back – on this blog, I talked about how I've been defining myself by my interests and the media I consume, but weirdly, I haven't actually shared what I'm into. That was pretty much why I started writing the Day 2 entry, but I got clearly sidetracked by other thoughts.
I want to say that I've taken up this digital niche because I lack someone in the real world to talk to about what I enjoy, but that's not true really. There are people, friends in my life who'd gladly listen to me babble about my newfound favorite song. But even though I've been reassured about this before, there's always this nagging fear that they're just listening to me out of pity. I believe enjoyment is personal, and even if someone likes the same stuff as me, even when our interests align, the way they experience it will always be different from mine.
A great example of a personal experience of mine would be the videogame 'Disco Elysium.' I introduced it to a friend, knowing they'd connect with the main character, and so they did. Yet, every time we talk about the game, it's clear that we took pleasure in completely different aspects. The way we decide to elaborate on the messaging and development of the story is vastly different, and it couldn't be any other way.
This will sound like some spiritual, new-age mumbo jumbo, but what i'm really trying to say is that the vibes and sensations we created and experienced during the game are fundamentally different and they never had a chance to be the same. The same movie viewed through someone else's eyes becomes an entirely different experience. By existing in a context our experiences are necessarily subjective and tainted. In this context empathy is limited, it is fundamentally impossible to find someone who truly enjoys something for the same reasons you do. Isn't that sad?
I think this is why I'm so reticent about the things I enjoy with those close to me. Words often fall short in conveying emotion, and the moment you try to explain or show something, the essence inevitably gets diluted.
A few days ago I've started watching 'Dekalog' (1989) by Kiéslowski. It's got quite the reputation for its depth and profound thematic exploration, but if I may voice my skepticism, I'm not entirely sold on the hype. I already spilled my guts in a few Letterboxd reviews, so I won't go into detail here. Overall, I just feel that the stories are surprisingly surface level for how universally acclaimed this is. Maybe that's the very reason it brings enjoyment to so many – there's not much deep thinking required but it's great at hinting at a deepness and nuance that is just not there. This way people can still feel the rush of philosophy without having to put any effort in; Kiéslowski serves his messages up clear and loud, leaving the viewer with the single responsibility of getting exposed to it. I truly do feel like I'm being too harsh with this series of films but my expectations were too high to justify what I saw.
On the polar opposite end of the spectrum, Matsumoto's 'Funeral Parade of Roses' (1969) completely blew me off. I went into it blind and I was so completely took by surprise right at the beginning – when *spoiler* Eddie's shower scene showed that she didn't have breasts I audibly gasped out loud; I literally had an involuntary physical reaction to an image on my laptop screen, I cannot stress enough how impressive that is. From that moment I was completely hooked, I knew this film was going to be a journey of self-exploration for me and it unequivocally delivered. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I would dare to say that it's a masterpiece. Apart from all the technical praise I could give it, what truly stuck with me is that it just made me feel seen. I guess that's simple enough, but it really means a lot to me. Maybe that's why people enjoyed 'Dekalog' too, there's a lot of family themes that I'm sure resonate with people. Once again: by existing in a context our experiences are necessarily subjective and tainted, my empathy is also limited so who am I to judge? What's probably happening is that I just don't get it, I'm certain there has to be beauty in the simplicity of it, I'm just not the person it speaks to.
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I've been having quite a reading season so I thought I'd do the MID-YEAR Freak Out Tag to document it all since that was the point of this account before I abandoned it. 😬
Anyways Let's Go!! (I will not be going into detail about the books, just how/why they fit the question)
Best Book So Far: A Strange And Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows
If ever there was a book designed for me as the target audience, it's this one. This book is everything I want when I pick up a fantasy romance. This is proof that you do not need to abandon or half ass your world building because "the focus is the romance anyway"
Honourable mention :A Taste of Gold And Iron by Alexandra Rowland. Another M/M romantasy with lovable characters in a lush, well realized world of fantasy.
Good fucking Soup!!
Best Sequel: Winter of the Witch.
Third book in the Winter night Trilogy. Historical fantasy. Epic conclusion to an amazing series. Russian folklore, utterly unforgettable MC, old gods vs Christianity battle it out in the unforgiving world of medieval Russia. Full of myth and extreme stakes. Went straight up my top 5 fave series of all time.
Honourable mention: The Long Game by Rachel Reid (book 8). A hockey romance that was just pure fun. Both light and heart-felt. Chaos and Fun. Overall good time.
New Release I haven't Gotten To Yet: Yellowface by R.F Kuang
Most Anticipated Release for the 2nd Half Of The Year: He Who Drowned The World (coming August 24) Sequel to She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker Chan.
Biggest Dissapointment : Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas. This was such an unpleasant experience. A one note character who was so removed from her reality and surroundings that I was unable to connect with her or the story. She had no reactions to any of the horrendous things happening to and around her. She didn't care, had no goals, motivations etc. She just WAS! (One would would argue that that was the point given the self medication and trauma, and perhaps they'd be right) I just couldn't help but feel like I wasted my time here. Thinking about this book still makes me angry.
Honourable mention: The Beautiful Ones by Sivia Moreno Garcia.
Several trusted sources hyped this book up as not only a really juicy historical romance but the best from Miss Garcia. And as someone who didn't get the hype behind Mexican Gothic, I was hoping this would be my chance to appreciate Silvia's work. IT WASN'T!! I'm starting to think Me n Silvia just aren't suited to each other. (I will still read Gods of Jade And Shadow since I already own the audiobook but I won't pick up anything new moving forward)
Biggest Surprise: Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe.
This is contemporary fiction featuring sad gays coming of age. I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed and was gut punched by this story. This duology did for me what SONG OF ACHILLES did for the girls.
Honourable Mention: Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco. I don't even have words for how this book swept me away. Another MC I would lay down my life for. Charming characters, dark world, monstrous creatures and sexy vampires. AGAIN a book designed with ME in mind.
Fave New Author: T Kingfisher.
Technically I discovered them last year with the Paladin Series but I've only gotten to expound on their catalog this year and boy do they keep GIVING!! Their writing style is equal parts Humour, whimsy, vivid and just hits all the beats. Her characterization is obe of my favorites for sure. An auto-read author for me moving forward.
Honourable mention :KJ Charles
An indie author who focuses on queer romantic and historical fantasy. She's yet to let me down
Newest Fictional Crush: I don't really crush on book characters but for the sake of this question Delilah Green from Delilah Green Doesn't Care(super tated Butch Lesbian with percings and mommy issues?! Come on now)
Honourable mention : Tadek from A Taste Of Gold And Iron. The complete Chaos that is this man. We would be best friends immediately!!
Newest Fave Character : Velasin Vin Aaro- Aeduria from A Strange And Stubborn Endurance. Fits the archetype of all my favorite male characters. Cute, shy, super smart and entirely a cinnamon role. Him, Cae and Markel are the PERFECT chaotic Trio. (Pls go read this book y'all I need someone to die over it with me)
Honourable mention : Ilya Rozanov from Long Game. Look, this man is a total bastard, a delinquent, an utter S.O.B but I stand by him. *Keke Palmer voice* I KNOW HIM Y'ALL!! I KNOW HIM!!
Book That made me Cry: Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters.
Listen, I may have been going through some things at the time but that last act L0ve Declaration GOT ME!! just cheesing and sobbing like "love is real y'all"
Book That Made Me Happy: Swordheart by T Kingfisher.
The utter WHOLESOMENESS that is this book!!!the FMC was so pure and guileless and genuine I wanted to hug her. The high jinks, the shenanigans and the wonder of it all. This story was utterly hilarious, sweet, emotional and fun. All the things I want in my romances. Solidified Kingfisher's Pen Game as unclockable.
(The audiobook narrator for Halla is one of the most talented in the game. Give her all the gigs!)
If you see this and are interested pls join in. I'd love to see what everyone's been reading.
#my tbr#currently reading#mid year book freak out tag#mid year book tag#mid year check in#reading#my library#tbr 2023
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Ever been slightly disappointed by a series ending? Like I wasn't impressed by BBC Merlin.
OMG this is literally my time to shine my apologies for the essay that I'm about to write-
spoilers for Jane the Virgin, Merlin, The Vampire Diaries, The 100 and Game of Thrones!!
okay so we've already talked a bit about Jane the Virgin so my disappointment in the series finale was because Jane and Rafael ended up getting married and I didn't buy that they were right for each other. I liked Rafael best in season 3 B when he wasn't an entitled jealous asshole. I'm rewatching parts of the show now, and I still enjoy it, but yeah. If Michael had stayed dead I wouldn't have minded it so much. I digress.
I watched BBC Merlin too! That's one of my favourite shows ever! I mean the ending depressed the shit out of me not gonna lie. Like I like the acting a lot, but a lot of the writing choices don't make sense. Like why didn't Merlin call the dragon sooner before Arthur died? And why did Arthur die so soon? Like he was king for five years, he didn't unite Albion at all. I think Merlin's magic should have been unveiled in the season 4 finale during the fight with Morgana and then the rest of season 5 should have been Arthur dealing with it. Oh, the angst! there's a really great video about it here I watched ages ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCepGCDjhBc
The ending makes me cry, but it doesn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the show, you know? (also, this might be controversial, but if Gaius and Kilgarrah hadn't pushed Merlin so hard into hiding the truth from Morgana, she wouldn't have turned evil)
The Vampire Diaries is the absolute opposite for me. I don't know if you've watched it, but this show was the first tv show I was genuinely obsessed with as like a preteen. I loved it. But everything from season 4 onwards infuriates me. This is an unpopular opinion I know, but I was always Team Stefan. Like I never wavered once and I didn't get why people loved Damon so much, especially Damon and Elena. When Stefan and Elena broke up in season 4 some essential part of the show just got lost for me. And I really hated Elena with Damon. I mean I dislike Damon in general because I think he's selfish and his relationship with Elena is toxic, but yeah. In the ending Stefan dies saving Damon and the town and he tells Damon he's the better man and everything and I was like?? No?? Stefan was 100% the better brother and I will always be bitter that Nina Dobrev didn't come back for the entire 8th season because then stolen would have been endgame. I could talk about this for ages.
And for Game of Thrones - well, I feel like the entire internet has gone on rants about that. It was just so rushed. Such a shame. Like seasons 1-6 were perfection. Even season 7 was relatively passable. But season 8? Besides those first 2 episodes? A complete clusterfuck. If they'd pushed the season to 10 episodes I think it would have been mildly better. Possibly. Who knows?
And then for The 100. I loved the first two seasons of this show. Like they're so good, especially for a CW tv show. But season 3 disappointed me for many reasons, so I didn't keep up with the show fully, just enough to understand what was going on. Some people in my family watched the other seasons so it was easy to watch in passing with them. But then I really liked season 6. Bellamy/Clarke (the two leads of the show and probably the most popular ship in the series) were hinted at being in love, something that I and many other fans were waiting for. I was really psyched for season 7, the last season.
And I shit you not, it was the worst season of television I've ever watched in my life. The series leads are barely in the episodes (like Bellamy, the male lead, is in 5 of 16 episodes?maybe? ) and his character is killed by Clarke (when they're best friends and she literally implied she loved him more than her mom at one point for the dumbest reason on the planet. And no one cares. I'm not kidding. Clarke kills Bellamy because he believed in something (I don't even remember what I tried to block it from my mind the show was so awful by that point) and then it turns out he was right. Ughh. It was so stupid. I can't even try and rewatch the seasons I actually enjoyed because the ending infuriates me so much.
Anyway, those are my main ones. Idk if you've watched any of the shows beside JTV and Merlin but I'd love to discuss it! apologies for the essay again.
#jane the virgin#the 100#merlin bbc#bbc merlin#the vampire diaries#tvd#stefan salvatore#bellarke#game of thrones#got
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Hands my url from when I fell on the ground yesterday tryin 2 b cool
MEME → Send me a url and I'll answer the following;; adjusts my sunglasses while I type 1 key at a time quietly swearing because I can't see shit
Opinion on;
Character in general: UGGGHHHH. He is the juggernaut of Final Fantasy, period, and whatever opinion I rattle off doesn't feel valid. I don't know how to explain it. I know him from SO MUCH MEDIA and it's conflicting and messy and when you put it all together it doesn't all make perfect sense. I immensely enjoy his character though, he isn't the perfect hero and he even shies away from that. I'm also certain that FFVII on PS1 was my introduction to characters in a videogame carrying trauma and when I first played through I know that I didn't fully understand what had happened because I was so young when I played it. Though around the time I replayed it in highschool I walked away with a better understanding and to the people who call this guy cool / dark / edgy all I can say is mosey on and play the original game.
How they play them: SAYJ has a very clear voice when roleplaying Cloud. I am certain I have commented this before, I saw their writing and immediately could hear their Cloud and it wasn't just any version of him, it was the hot mess that is from OG. Not going to lie I very quickly 👀💖 jumped at the chance for some small interactions. He's MEAN. He's ruthless, point A to point B and if he has to use his buster sword to carve a path he will. He can be the most stubborn ass known to man. HOWEVER he still has heart. His love language is through his protectiveness and acts of service, while ALL OF THE ABOVE is still going on. He doesn't just soften and become a ball of fluff to those he gets along with. He can be very rough to handle but honestly that's part of the charm???
The writer: SAYJ is [I answer but a truck drives by honking its horn the entire time]. Okay but for real. Recently, as in yesterday, we both had this revelation that we were scurrying around the other like we were imposters trying to act cool and like Real Writers™ because we both saw the other replying and 'fuck' [picks up keyboard and rattles it] 'uhh hhh how do.. reply to that.. so good ffff..' And I really feel like I have clicked with them on a spiritual level. We get each other. We're both on our respective blogs, SAYJ slamming out shitposts and me smashing out my tunnel-vision aesthetics and peppering some Actual Writing™ between that. Also I feel like I could walk into their IMs and SCREAM AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS about the most obscure thing and they'd scream back, which is a fucking treasure.
Do I:
RP with them: Ah fuck. Shit. I think so??? It's so dark with these sunglasses, I've either been replying to cloudvii or clouduii and honestly I'm too afraid to question it at this point because they keep replying so we've got a good thing going on.
Want to RP with them: If I haven't been replying to them, and I have been replying to clouduii, uh yeah... this is awkward, but uh... I'd like to give it a try.
What is my;
Overall Opinion: High Quality blog, 20/10, so stoked I got a dose of 'imposter syndrome' when I was knee deep in because I would have missed out on such an amazing opportunity to develop this writing relationship and ooc friendship that. Chef's kiss. Love how our gremlins interact. Love how we interact. The entirety of how we interact from the outside looking in is SAYJ face first on the floor and me stumbling blindly around and I wouldn't change that for a damn thing.
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*sneaks into your inbox* 👀
Hello there lovely Autumn! I hope you're finding your day is a good one! And if it's not, I hope it gets better! ヽ(〃＾▽＾〃)ﾉ
I come to you because I saw your tags on this post: (https://skateboarding-poet.tumblr.com/post/656581110673833984/bygodstillam-blackevermore-x-i-plead-the-fifth) and I am very curious as to what you (and your followers too if they'd like to chime in!) with what you think the bad writing in A3! is. 👀 I praise A3's writing for being some of the best I've personally ever seen, but even I think there's some...interesting spots in the writing. 😂
If you feel like answering, that is! It's an overwhelming question with the sheer amount of content available in A3! so no worries if you don't feel like answering it. 😄
With that said...well, you know my drill, LOL! 😂 Sending you all my greatest as usual! ☺️💖 Take care as best as you can or else SakuTaiTen will tackle hug you! 😉 (Bahahaha couldn't resist 😂)
Yours truly,
Moon 🌙
AH MOON 🥺❤️ HELLO DEAR
My day has been good so far lol I hope your day is/will be/was great!
Honestly, I really wouldn’t mind being tackle hugged by some of my fave boys in the existence soooooooo lol
Well, to start, I want to mention that the writing of the game is not bad overall. I just believe that, at times, the writers could’ve done so much better. Instead of making a whole essay talking about every single bad part of the writing like I first tried to do for this post lol I really like talking about this game too much I swear I’ll just go over some points that I think are why the writing is not always the best.
Disclaimer: I’m not hating on the writing or the characters or anything. This is just my personal opinion, and I would like to see what others think about them as well <3 Of course everyone is free to disagree with me
This post contains spoilers for events that have not come out to the en server. I won’t be too explicit with the info from those events, but I still wanted to give a heads up.
1. There are times when the writing lacks character consistency.
When it comes to character arcs, a majority of the characters get to enjoy some good character development. The problem is that it doesn’t always stick. After the character arc ends, the character gets back to almost the same place they started in.
For example, there’s Masumi. He keeps being written as the same creepy, director obsessed teenager for too long. Even after his character development in A Magician’s Pure Love, he still treats the director in the same obsessive way. Masumi is, unfortunately, one of the worst written character in the game.
2. The writing relies too much on the characters’ main trait.
Even the most well written characters in the game do not escape this tendency of the writers to rely too much on their man character trait. Citron is too much of the foreigner with broken Japanese. Kumon’s whole “I love you, nii-chan!” gets a bit exhausting after some time. Even Banri, who is arguably one of the most well written characters, gets to be too much of the Juza obsessed feisty teen.
3. The way they write their fathers is just... yikes. CW: mentions of abuse
This one really bothers me. Out of all the “bad dads” in the game, Azami’s dad had the best development. But that doesn’t erase all the high standards he put on his son, or how he was unwilling to talk with his son about his hobbies or what he would want to do outside of the Ginsenkai. Masumi’s dad did not deserve to be forgiven just like that, he barely did anything on screen.
Some of the worst written fathers are Guy’s adoptive father and Tenma’s father whom I have a personal agenda against. While the game acknowledges how Guy’s adoptive father was emotionally and verbally abusive, I still have to see any bad word addressed to Sumeragi Issei. This man punched his child for doing what he thought was best for him, and the director still invited him to Water Me!’s closing night show. On top of that, he encourages competition between him and his son, which is very unhealthy.
I tried keeping this post as short as possible, because I don’t really feel like I should make a long post about this. In the end, I still love the writing, with all of its strong and weak points, and they don’t stop me from enjoying this game to the max.
If you’ve read this whole post, thank you for your time 💖💖
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Thanks for the explanation! I've been a JRPG fan since the 90s and the changes made to the Let's Go games don't sound as though they'd be my thing either. Do you have a review of Gen 8 anywhere on here? I'd be curious to see what you think of Sword and Shield.
I don’t think I ever did a formal review of Sword / Shield because I wasn’t writing up game reviews at the time, but I’d be happy to give an impromptu one here!
Overall Score: 8.5/10
The Pros:
— Gameplay was a vast improvement from the previous gen. Dynamaxing is a much more fun battle mechanic than a one-time-per-battle use Z-Move; the Wild Area is FANTASTIC, especially with the wild pokémon roaming around; the bike came back without annoying music to accompany it; the post-game Battle Tower provided actual challenge, and so on. I actually had fun playing these games, particularly with so much space to explore and things to find. I’m not someone who says that story is never important in games—I’m far from that person, actually—but gameplay will always be the most important component of a video game because it’s how the audience engages with it. The Alola games were not fun for me to play; the Galar games were, and that was automatically such a relief after a gen that felt like a chore to get through.
— The characters are all fantastic! Aside from postgame characters Shieldbert and Swordward, I didn’t dislike a single character in the games. The rivals were great, the Gym Leaders were memorable and involved for the first time since Gen V, and Sonia has one of my favorite arcs of any Pokémon character ever given how relatable her story was. (Having one of the main characters be someone in her twenties trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her life is almost like Game Freak was trying to speak to the young adult audience who grew up with these games, tbh.) I didn’t like the characters in the Kalos games aside from one, and the Alola games were a massive disappointment, but Galar really came through and shone with all of its characters. The fact that they’ve only managed to get even more spotlight and depth in things like the League Card bios and the post-game Galarian Stars Tournament only makes things even better.
— The music was excellent. While there were a few tracks that weren’t especially memorable (such as the standard trainer battle music), there were many more that were absolute bangers (the Gym Leader battle music, the Battle Tower music composed by Toby Fox himself, Marnie’s Battle Theme, etc). I especially love the music for the northern part of the wild area, with how the bagpipes come into full crescendo. Absolutely spectacular.
— There was so much to explore! One of my primary complaints with the Alola games is that they were so small; only four tiny islands, without being able to explore the sea. Galar made up for that, though, with more towns, a huge wild area, and to cap it all off, extra locations added with DLC that allowed you to fully explore the ocean and many other areas. There were so many little hidden things around and I LOVED discovering everything, ignoring the plot while I did so. That was my jam.
— Speaking of the DLC, I cannot speak highly enough about Game Freak’s decision to release DLC with new areas / content rather than just releasing a slightly modified third version with different postgame (coughUSUMcough). Yes, the DLC still cost money, but it was half the price that a third game would have been, and honestly the DLC stories adding to the postgame (though you can do them at any time and the levels scale) added to the richness, depth, and overall playtime that the Galar games offered. I really, really can’t express how much I hope that this is the business model Game Freak takes with future releases. Please give us new stories via DLC rather than making us shell out for a slightly modified third version.
— Honestly, this is an unpopular opinion, but I really liked the way the story was handled. I LOVED the model for the Gym Challenge being a regional tournament that you have to be sponsored to enter, how the “gyms” were stadiums full of people, how it’s something that really affected the region and encompassed everything you did, story-wise. I loved, too, how the adults in the game ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING FOR ONCE instead of wanting to rely on literal children to solve their problems for them. Sure, it means we missed some instances of disaster, but honestly, I’ve been cleaning up the PokéWorld’s messes since 1998. I’m tired. I want to just have fun gallivanting off into the wilderness in-between doing a fun Gym Challenge. That’s all I want. So while some didn’t like the fact that the story wasn’t super deep, I liked it, especially since if the Kalos and Alola games taught us everything, it’s that Game Freak fails spectacularly at handling tough topics, to the point I’d really rather they not try at all.
The Cons:
— I’m still disappointed about the Dex cut. I’ve accepted it at this point, we won’t get the full Dex back unless Game Freak somehow gets more time to develop the games, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t find it disappointing. I think all pokémon should be included in the games at least once the main campaign is over, and it’s disappointing that they aren’t.
— I don’t know if it’s a fault of the game or thanks to my internet connection, but I experience severe lag when wifi is turned on in the wild area, which is again disappointing since it was promoted how you could interact freely with other players this way.
— I MISS MEGA EVOLUTION. My Charizard was bred and trained specifically to mega evolve into X. I really hope we get Mega Evolution back at some point because I’m angry that it’s gone.
— While I was glad to see following pokémon back in the DLC, it really wasn’t implemented well. They can’t keep pace properly at all. Again, I wonder if this is tied to the time constraints that went into development, and if it is, I hope they can smooth it out in the future.
— I was kind of disappointed in the way Rose ended up being depicted as the game’s Big Bad, because of the role they gave him in the game. In the game, he’s the CEO of a mega corporation that controls all energy throughout the Galar region. Given that we currently live in a world where CEOs of mega corporations who control everything are actively destroying the planet and don’t care that they’re doing it, it fell a bit flat for me for the games to be like, “no, it’s fine he controls everything that everyone’s lives depend on, the real problem is he summoned a legendary pokémon he couldn’t control.” Like, my dislike of Rose is far less about what he does versus what he is, and I feel like Game Freak chickened out of criticizing what actually needed to be criticized.
But yeah, that’s all I’ve got! I really enjoyed Sword and Shield; they gave me some hope for the direction the games might be taking in the future.
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Agree so much with your post about the teams and fan engagement ! And love the way you articulated all of that. Although now I definitely am interested in knowing what your notes about the specificity of each team/artist cause I feel like they'd be fascinating to read. Hope you'll post them some day, and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us ! 😊
Awwww, that’s very kind! It’s definitely head canon city, I litcherally have ZERO clue what goes on behind the scenes (and I can’t stress this enough, none of us do), so this’ll look hilariously dated when we find out that blah woof was true all along, lmao (me @ myself, thinking of some random Grimshaw interviews from last fall, oh, bless). Let’s dig in!!
For those of you who just stumbled upon this post, it’s related to the one I made last night about how I think the management teams of all these men (mid-20s means = you’re a man, not a boy) are not, in fact, sabotaging them. They negotiate a lot of tricky interconnected arrangements that none of us are privy, to, plus they’re at least trying to achieve the goals their clients are going for. And they’re doing it—the trick is these goals are highly individual and not 100% sensical (at least given our own view from the afternoon, Arctic Monkeys ref, holllllllah!!!).
In addition, these goals constantly shift, as does the music industry itself—I drive my own self loony when I lurk on blogs that are seemingly broadcasting from 2012, confused by why xx’s team is so “terrible” because they aren’t throwing good money after bad to get on a radio playlist, or why they haven’t announced yy “properly,” as if they’re being paid to worry about this level of shit (which fires me up on about five levels, deep breaths in, deep breaths out). I’m much nosier about the signals we’re getting when we hear them talk in their beautifully media-trained way about their musical interests, when we get some of that sweet, sweet fan service with a Gallagher or a Capaldi, when we get that heads up about who’s attending what concert, stuff like that. These signals don’t necessarily indicate future collaborations, but they DO indicate what kind of image these guys want to have, the kind of music they want the public to associate them with.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself…their personalities and goals at the moment are all so vastly different, and I truly do love seeing how their teams are workin’ it accordingly. Again, please @ god, don’t @ me…opinions, massively unpopular opinions, dead ahead!
* Zayn. My read on Zayn is that he enjoys the creative process, loves writing and singing, digs collabing with people, but he doesn’t seem to give two shits about the biz side (and why should he? that’s called living the dream at this particular point in his career). His website recently added “tour,” which EYEBALL EYEBALL, but he doesn’t seem to be all that interested in putting himself back out on stage or into radio/print/etc. anytime soon, and again, why should he? His numbers are HUGE without pushing himself through the anxiety-provoking churn he endured for four years, so there’s no real drive for him to do any promo if he doesn’t want to (see: the netflix-like binge dump of Icarus Falls, which could be “sabotage,” or it could just be, “fineeeeeeee, here’s some stuff for you, enjoy”). What other artist gifts his fans with gorgeous covers of such a wide variety of songs that indicate he’s more interested in sharing them than selling them. Accordingly, his fan interactions seem fairly pure and not all that promo-y: he has a keen interest in fanart, he’s done some fan pop-ups/listening parties that are pretty low-key and *seemingly* fan-focused, and recently (with zero anything to really promote), he’s been posing for cute pics and chatting with randos on the streets of NYC. I recently read that his mgmt team is no longer with him, but that sort of folds into my feeling that he’s not pursuing anything biz-wise, hence no need to jump through those particular hoops (I think he’s also struggled with a lot of demons, so yeah, why add one more). Could he be adrift? Maybe, but the next guy is the posterman for lack of focus….
* Liam. Honestly, I worry about Liam most of all. His post-1D career seems very much adrift, and I like to joke that he’s giving me that tell-all about the D one sentence at a time, but goddamn, are people listening? The struggles with alcohol, the lack of focus on every level, the reliance on his dad’s career advice (which more clearly reflects his dad’s financial class, background, and history than it does Liam’s), and the overall confusion about look, sound, and direction also flow back directly into his team. I get the feeling that they aren’t sure what to do because LIAM isn’t sure what to do or what he wants, so they follow in his wake. He’s agreeable to a fault, so seeing him at a meet-and-greet at an HMV in Birmingham last week felt like a step back into 2010 for no real reason, just like hearing that he was more or less coerced into full nude photoshoots for an underwear ad (the decisions to say yes to both of those—who’s steering this ship? If it’s Liam, he needs to tell the team his overall goal, so they can plot a course he and his fans can follow; if it’s the team, ditto). Like Niall, Liam’s actually pretty good at the SM game: lots of selfies, snapchat filters, outfits, gym service, twitter interactions. But generally speaking, his promo is confusing, and that’s probably because there isn’t much *to* promote at this point, other than a mix of collabs, clothing endorsements, spon con, horse farms, and an album that’s always on the horizon. This might be tied to the general post-1D jolt they all went through, like a plane coming off autopilot and into the hands of someone who’s just learning how to fly it. Zayn debuted at number one, so his bump wasn’t as harsh, but the others are slowly, steadily finding their footing after taking some time to find themselves and their sound, releasing songs/albums, performing (or in Louis’s case, going through unspeakable tragedy). Liam’s still adrift…and somewhat admittedly, which is kind of telling in its own way. Just know that my nervousness on his behalf ratchets up every time he feels the urge to assure us all that he’s happy.
* Niall. Truly the one following the original 1D template, right down to working with most of the same people but with more of the overall control in his hands instead of a faceless management squad. Of any of them, he seems the most ambitious, the most scientific about the sound he’s after and how he’s gonna get there. His promo is a mix of new and traditional—radio shows, talk shows, podcasts, special events, twitter interactions with fans, twitter interactions with entertaining celebrities—and it’s all hustle hustle hustle, build build build, as if he were a new ingenue instead of coming up hard on solo album number two. He’s explicit in his goals, which is refreshing, but it means he walks a weird line with fans: on one hand, he’s done with their bullshit, get ready to get rekt if you start commenting on his boring food seasoning or home décor. But on the other hand, he fully recognizes how much he needs them, which is why we get so many peeks into his “normal” life (yet zero percent of his actual personal life). It’s also probably why the blatant tweets of the last two days seem so jarring to me (I might be alone on this one, but I’m not a fan of directives in general, and asking me to call radio stations on behalf of a rich white man to become even richer just rubs me the wrong way, same with asking me to stream stuff to get you to number one…you’ve been there, buddy, how about you calm down and build some character at number 51). And speaking of calming down, it does fascinate me that both Niall and Louis namecheck Taylor Swift as someone who gets the whole fandom push/pull thing right, so watching them try to reverse-engineer her secrets is fun. Louis nails it (that hotspot treasure hunt: chef’s kiss), but Niall’s heavy-handed easter egg dump in NTMY, she would never!! I think Niall’s team needs to watch “Calm Down” about five more times before they try that again.
* Louis. I think Louis honestly has an AMAZING team in place, and they’re all clearly on his side, which makes for a refreshing change. Like Niall, he has publicly praised Taylor Swift for how she engages with her fans, but I think he’s missing a key point: she doesn’t let her fans dictate strategy, and I HOPE that’s the case for Louis, too. His old team *was* shit, so yeah, encouraging people to do fan projects to get the word out was a good idea, but turning that spigot off to let a good (paid) team step in and take over has been, uh, challenging. He’s dealt with more than his fair share of personal tragedy, but every time he gets some momentum going, it feels like something bts pushes him back off track, and he tends to keep it private, which only makes his hardest-core fans scream “sabotage.” Rightly so, he’s focusing on his personal life, and rightly so, his team is giving him the space to do that, even when it costs cash money and throws a lot of shit seriously for a loop. It makes my heart soar to see the potential of what his team can do/is doing, how much space he’s being allowed to process what he needs to process. Weirdly, that’s an unpopular opinion, and a lot of people want to indulge in an angst wank fest where Louis’s the victim of a terrible team that won’t DO anything (nevermind the fact that he’s probably ASKED them not to do anything), so they undertake a tremendous amount of performative unpaid labor that ends up being counterproductive on just about every front. Even worse, most of them can’t seem to process the fact that losing your mum is a blow, losing your SISTER is a blow, juggling other siblings or close friends handling some serious demons of their own in the aftermath of all of *that* is a blow, let alone handling your own personal coping mechanisms, nope, they want Louis to release release release, perform perform perform, c’mon, what’s holding him back, he *said* he wanted to release an album this year, there’s “no reason” for a delay, gotta be his shitty team, free him. It drives me ‘round the bend because it’s the same talk from late last year, you know, when we later found out that at least one family member was losing a fight with drug addiction. Louis’s fan engagement/promo is therefore hella fraught: he has to balance LouisTM on twitter (Mr. Donny, he’s hard, mate), his werk IG posts, and his constant edging because nobody can remember or trust that he’s got this, that multiple things are in play. But he also knows his fanbase, knows that it’s resistant to any kind of change, so I hope he pushes through and stays true to what he wants to do. I was really encouraged with his last promo round because he seems to have narrowed in on a something solid, he’s got a plan, and it’s not, “hey mr dj, put my record on,” it’s getting his fans to trust that he and his team know what the fuck they’re doing, and spoiler alert, it ain’t radio, but go ahead and keep pissing off djs by sending angry tweets their way. (Related: why is it so bad to avoid the radio when all of us admit that radio music is garbage? Is it because it’s more about you than him? Much to think about.)
* Harry. My very favorite head canon is that Harry is Jeff’s nightmare client: what was perfection at first because the Azoffs are old-school promo all the way (no SM, baby, gimme that sweet, sweet paper), and that dovetailed nicely with post-1D Harry, but it quickly veered into mulish teeth pulling. Low profile can quickly spin into no profile, and that really doesn’t work too well when you’re trying to sell sell sell, even if your brand is Harry StylesTM. HS1 and Dunkirk in their own separate ways worked VERY hard to push past the still-persistent way the general public views Harry as boybander Harry Styles, or more accurately, former boybander Harry Styles who dated Taylor Swift (if you venture out and ask someone who’s not a fan), but what I love about Harry is that much like Zayn, he doesn’t seem to be too bothered by all that. Sure, he’s ambitious, he wants to challenge himself and do things, but he’s no Niall Horan. He’s put in his time! If he gets a number one, then cool, but he’s not gonna chase it. And this is where Harry’s team really reflects his goals and energy: sure, they want him to do some promo (that “Do” tweet, the entire bit about the fan in Australia and Harry Lambert’s follow, goddddd, I loved it, petty Harry, resigned Jeff), but they clearly aren’t forcing him. He drops a song that makes a HUGE splash, and the follow-up is…liking some tweets and going to a John Mayer concert (not a John Mayer fan, so that wouldn’t be my first choice, but I respond to the zero fucks given about the whole thing). The music industry has changed a LOT in just two years, so it’s kind of cool to see team Harry pivoting a bit, seeing more SM interaction, the kindness generator, etc., but that said, the team takes their cues from him, and he clearly doesn’t want to do a whole promo circuit beyond persons a, b, and c, and magazine R, F, and A. Does it make sense to have Rob Sheffield write a profile about Stevie Nicks-blessed shroom-eater Harry Styles when his new song sounds like the Zarry combo of my dreams? NOPE, but that’s okay, Harry wanted to talk to Rob, so that’s what happened. The new song is more streaming friendly, and thank CHRIST, a lot less crusty white dude stuck in the ‘70s, so I can only hope that the rest of the album is thus, but we shall see! We’ll also see if Harry’s fan engagement shifts any further into the active zone…so far, it’s been “I’m gonna follow some larries, like these fun generator posts, check out a few dads” and staged photo ops with the same familiar faces, but I think he’s dealing with his own major bts issues as well (album delayed at least twice; that entire stalking situation). I still contend the album’s coming in the next few weeks, so it’ll be interesting to see if/how any additional promo rolls out in this new world order post-gryles landscape, how many interviews he’ll do, but I like that there’s a strategy that seems less stodgy…kudos to the new SM team, at least!!
Oh man, that got really long! Hope you enjoyed, and YES, opinions opinions opinions, and they’ll be stupid in about three weeks’ time, thanks for coming to my already dated buzzfeed article
#so many long-winded opinions#one direction#yeah#and shout out to kim for always checking my work!!!
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