#i was SO CURIOUS bc i was certain more of his quest would play out in act 2 and 3 w the goblin vengeance stuff | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

honshew · 6 months

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thoughts on bg3

overall, i had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone interested! very ambitious game, and i'm amazed it exists tbh. there are so many really, really great aspects of it. however, i'm also glad to be done with it, bc i started to have less and less fun with it at the last part. which is an unfortunate place to have the worst part of the game. i really wish it wrapped up in a more satisfying way, because i became really attached to the characters and the incredibly detailed world. a shame it had to be rushed toward the end of development. it's incredible, though could have been more still.

i'm spending some time trying to figure out what i liked about the game, so this may or may not be updated as thoughts come to me. there will be spoilers all the way thru the end of the game so here's your spoiler warning

i think while people unfamiliar with dnd can play and still have a good time, it probably will feel overwhelming and there will likely be things you won't understand unless someone explains it to you. i can't even really call the tutorial a bad one as much as it's barely there. but i do know plenty of people with zero dnd experience still having fun and simply enjoying learning on the go!

on the other hand, being someone who plays dnd, once you figure out the interface it's a pretty smooth experience. there are some things that are a little different to accommodate how the game works (e.g. second-story work reduces your fall dmg rather than increasing your climbing speed, since the game doesn't really count climbing as distance), but those are pretty quick to learn. seems to me that the devs thought people who didn't play dnd wouldn't be all that intersted in bg3, but a ci'd be curious to see how many bg3 players will look for a dnd group to join from here.

act 1 was solid and was paced well. i really liked how many characters ended up showing up later in the game, as opposed to characters you save once and never see again. i think what was most fun was getting to know what i could get away with LOL not just an exploration of the world, but an exploration of the game itself. i have video of me talking to auntie ethel while my friends set up and set off a circle of flame barrels, so i got a front row seat of her being blown to smithereens.

act 2, also solid. i really enjoy quests that involve impacting a place in a really tangible way, like in okami, so the shadow-cursed lands were pretty cool. unfortunately, the game doesn't really show you this happening except a liiiiittle bit at the end, so it doesn't feel as good as it could. still, i liked exploring the area a lot. all of the mini-bosses of the area were unsettling, but we got past literally all of them via high charisma rolls. actually aside from the exploring, a lot of the fun was seeing how we could cheese boss fights, which carried into act 3

act 3 felt way more all over the place and buggy, which significantly lowered my enjoyment. ofc a game this massive will have issues, but i'm still sad that the last part of the game where everything crescendos is where i enjoyed the game the least. small things not working the way they're supposed to (e.g. certain npcs not running or climbing up a ladder when they are fleeing I'M TALKING TO YOU ZUMBO PUMBO AND FEATHERWEIGHT FALSON, astarion falling sleep to a spell even tho he's an elf during his end-of-quest fight). what sucks about things being so frustrating too was that the main quests had really great setups or concepts, but the execution was messy. still, we had a lot of fun messing with bosses. cazador couldn't do anything bc he was forced to dance while we killed him, orin was disintegrated, gortash turned to stone. kinda wild having a bard with 100% spell hit rate....!

i do wish we got to explore baldur's gate more. i totally get that would be a huge undertaking tho. i had a thought that maybe act 3 should've been its own game, but then i guess you couldn't call it baldur's gate 3 if you never get to baldur's gate. i didn't play the previous bg games, but i liked how they wove in the story from the previous installments and ttrpg modules without leaving newcomers to the series out of the loop too much.

i liked shadowheart's, astarion's, and wyll's quests a lot. the ansur part of wyll's was really cool. i adore trials to test character as a setup, especially ones administrated by some major figure. but also? fuck balduran for what he did to ansur and later to me. he's the city's hero, but he only really looks out for himself. which is cool for me as a viewer, not cool for the character i play as LOL

i have more thoughts but i will type them up here later maybe this has gotten long enoguh

#honshew text #not tagging with bg3 so as to avoid strangers coming into my house to yell at me as if they are defending their honor

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wizardelf · 2 years

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Would it be alright to ask about Mäz? Funnily enough we had a DND character when we were younger whose name was Verrückt so like, shout-out to characters with two dots over a letter in their names djfkfkf

-🌩️☕

im always always ALWAAAYS up to talking about Mäz he is my most special favourite boy ever

here's his current dnd token

Mäz is a wizard who left the safety of his home village to follow in the footsteps of his adoptive father, Hatharal, in order to gain knowledge about the outside world as much as he can bc elves are pretty isolated in our dnd world. his facial tattoos are bc he left the settlement, theyre the same markings as his birthsake's lodestone which is an extra special rock gifted to the elves by their gods which allows their souls to be reborn and carry on knowledge. however there was a big war between dwarves, humans, and elves where several lodestones were taken for their magical properties so those elves who died couldn't have their souls transferred. if an elf dies away from their lodestone their soul can't be resurrected within a certain amount of time, so the tattoos are a guiding reference for elves to find the correct lodestone of a dead elf. bc of this danger elves seen outside an elven settlement are extremely rare.

overall, Mäz is a deeply passionate person about knowledge, magic, and artifacts. he comes off as a bit cold to those around him and his loyalty can change quickly if he doesn't know the person well LOL. but when he does care he cares deeply! he is curious about everything and while a very cautious person sometimes that caution goes out the window if he finds something interesting. he's sarcastic, weird, standoffish, but won't hesitate to admit when he's wrong or ask for help. he can also make really good soup bc "it's the same principle as alchemy".

for more backstory, his mother left basically right after he was born which is EXTREMELY out of character for an elf, it's practically unheard of to abandon a child (Mäz has no memories of her but is very very much like her). he was raised as best as he could by his emotionally stunted father til he passed from illness when Mäz was (human equivalent) age 8ish. afterwards, since Mäz had talent for magic, the settlement decided the best person to take primary care of him was Hatharal, resident shut in but also super talented, prolific, and important wizard figure. Hatharal reluctantly agreed, recognizing Mäz's intelligence and keen eye for learning but had no experience in raising a child. they did their best together and while their relationship isn't exactly father/son they respect and care for each other deeply. Hatharal was pissed when Mäz decided to leave bc Hatharal didn't want anything to happen to Mäz but eventually accepted.

currently we're on our last quest with him b4 he retires so i can play a cleric. all i know so far is that we're traveling back to Mäz's settlement help Hatharal with a breakthrough magical discovery! if Mäz survives he'll stay behind to help an aging Hatharal in his lab bc a) he hasn't been home in 60yrs b) Hatharal is disabled and uses a cane from an excavation injury and can't fight and move like he used to. but if/when he retires his primary job will be ancient art and magical artifact restoration using his alchemy skills.

#ask #Mäz #oc stuff #dnd

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alkhale · 4 years

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Omg omg can one of the causes of fights between mini shanks n mini mihawks be bcs Hoku doesn't call him "Brat" ????

(First scene Mihawk is fifteen, next scene is 16 along with Shanks, best reference is the young Mihawk Oda drew but I found a slightly older version someone made, it’s colored by a deviantart user but I don’t know who the original artist is so credits to them!)

When fifteen-year-old Mihawk finally woke up, wild, ink black hair pushed back over his headit was to something soft and warm beneath his head and the flash, secondary instinct to grab his sword at his side, as though the hilt and his palm were connected entirely.

And then a soft laugh hit his ears.

A simple click and the memories returned, easy and a bit bitter to swallow, but he was not a fool and he was not an idiot.

Dracule Mihawk, on a quest to become the strongest swordsman alive, had challenged the current reigning king of said title, and lost. Quickly, decisively and fairly. There was nothing more to dwell on the matter aside from his own lack of discipline, of training, and of certain skill.

Though such an action very much might have warranted losing his life, he was not dead.

Mihawk half turned to the woman who was waiting behind him, kneeling with a warm grin playing on her lips that allowed a thin glint of white from a canine of hers to peek out.

“You’re a funny one, aren’t you?” Hoku said, “I’m never sure how to handle types like yours.”

Mihawk remained silent for a moment, dropping his eyes down to his hands. He considered their scabbed, rough feel hidden behind now clean white bandages. He touched his chest where he was no longer bleeding, tight white bandages wrapping neatly around him along with nothing but a bruise along the side of his face where the legendary Wado Ichimonji had decked him sideways and knocked him into the ocean without mercy.

“I did not ask to be treated,” Mihawk said calmly.

Hoku looked even more amused now, eyes a little half-lidded when she looked at him. Her heavy, sturdy coat hung over her shoulders but was pushed back to reveal the warm tan of steady arms–hands that knew work. He could clearly see the outline of her own blade��a notable, ungraded and legendary short sword by the name of Mau who earned its reputation far and wide.

This woman, Mihawk knew. He did not concern himself with the particulars of the legendary Straw Hat crew aside from their captain, Zoro, whom he longed to beat, and this woman, Hoku, since she was the only other crew member to carry a sword.

“I know,” Hoku said. Mihawk realized she had moved his head to her lap while he was unconscious. “I only did your hands, by the way. Chopper did the rest.”

Mihawk continued to stare at her.

“He thinks you have potential,” Hoku said simply. “You trim buds, but you don’t kill them off before they can bloom, do you?”

He understood now why he made it out with his life.

“You fight with that blade,” Mihawk said, though he posed it as a question. Hoku seemed to be considering whether or not he was worthy of an answer and he took no offense to this. He did not know of this woman’s skill, but he knew it existed. She had earned her rank and place. Her sword spoke to that.

“Not as much anymore,” Hoku said instead. “The two of us are a bit retired now and I definitely don’t take challenges like that monster. I’m more of an artist at heart.”

Mihawk had heard about that too. “But you craft.”

There was something pleased in her expression by his knowledge of this, though a touch wary. It made Mihawk a bit more interested himself. He turned, on his knees as he faced her with his hands on his lap.

“Yes,” Hoku said, a little warm. “I do.”

She tilted her head to the side for a moment, as though listening. “That’s a good sword. It kept you safe for now. It’ll do what it can to bring you as far as it can go.”

Mihawk touched his hilt and then looked at Hoku.He stared at her for a moment longer than he would have liked and then stood. Hoku blinked, curious as he remained standing before he promptly bowed to her.

“Thank you.”

And then Mihawk turned, a young man and his sword, and left.

Hoku watched him until he disappeared, a small, fond little huff escaping her lips.

“Told you there’s no point in talking to him,” a lazy voice called above her. Hoku didn’t even look, shrugging helplessly as heavy feet came to rest behind her. “Not much of a chatterbox.”

“Neither are you,” Hoku said. She rubbed the back of her neck, “Dunno. I just feel like you won’t see people like him often. He’s a bit cute. Like a stray, maybe?”

“You called that golden axe the other day cute too,” Zoro snorted. Hoku leaned back against his legs, rolling her shoulders and stretching her arms high as she relaxed. “Might have to give him a scar to remember next time.”

“Ah, you’re soft on him,” Hoku said. “You like him.”

“Brat’s gonna come for my head next time.”

“I dunno, can’t you guys trade titles in the future without chopping each other’s heads off?”

Zoro set a hand down on her head. His fingers splayed out and Hoku turned to look up at him.

“That eager for me to kick the bucket?”

“Oh, please,” Hoku mused, tipping her head into Zoro’s hand. Her humored her, leaving it there for now and curving his fingers below her chin. “I don’t plan on letting anyone take your head anytime soon.”

Hoku made a face. “I’m speaking for Luffy, not for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, get off your lazy ass. I need a coating.”

“I’ll charge you one day for all you owe me. Nami’s keeping track.”

- - - -

Shanks really was lucky.

He had felt good about this beach the moment his crew set anchor on the other side of the harbor. He and Buggy were racing to see who could find the biggest and best catch and bring it back to the ship by dawn–

And truly, this was without a doubt, the best catch.

He knew it was her in an instant. It’d been a little while and he’d only caught glimpses of her in the newspapers, her captain making headline after headline as the marines raced after him. But that moon-white hair, the slope of her shoulders hidden by a cloak and–

She was just sitting there, where the grass of the forest met the sand, her back to everything else as she seemed to watch the ocean a safe distance away. Shanks thought he must be dreaming at first or perhaps this island had a secret mirage.

But he caught sight of their ship, her ship. A legendary ship anchored several leagues away and knew–

It was fate.

Something curled in the pit of his stomach. His heart pumped blood fast and hot through his body, fueling liquid courage all the way down to his fingertips. He was a year older now. He was less lank more muscle. He was taller too, maybe even taller than her now, he’d like to think, though he never minded a tall woman, he fancied the idea of cupping his hand under that curved chin and raising it to his–

Shanks’ eyes landed on a heavy bough of flowers beside him. Pretty, bright red things. A smaller branch of silver flowers grew below it. He considered them both, teetered dangerously and cursed under his breath, snapping the branch of soft silver flowers clean.

He had to ease into this sort of thing after all. Coax her sweet so she wouldn’t slip off, make her a bit interested enough to stay.

Shanks ran a hand through his bright red hair and walked forward, lightly swinging the branch.

When he was only a little ways away, she seemed to finally register his approaching presence, as though he were a deer who’d broken away from a herd of things. She still faced away from him, tilting her head to the side as though listening curiously before she started to turn.

Shanks stopped as close as he dared for now, a few steps from her–and he kept in mind to treat kindly the fact that she let him get this close and that gave him hope–he dipped the branch low.

Those ocean eyes blinked, slow and curious, round at the bundle of flowers presented before her before looking up.

“I didn’t think there was treasure on this island,” Shanks said with a bright, sunny grin. “But it looks like I found some.”

“Brat,” Hoku said, pleasantly surprised. He withheld a wince at the name. “Huh, I guess Robin was right. This island is getting a little more popular now…”

“I think it was fate,” Shanks said. He shook the branch. Petals fell, dappling her hair and she looked up, amused at his antics. “Did you miss me?”

“I hardly thought about you at all,” Hoku said, a small smile on her lips. Shanks inched a step closer. “I thought we wouldn’t meet for ten more years.”

“I don’t think my heart could take such a thing,” Shanks crouched on the sand beside her. Hoku looked amused, watching him with vague curiosity. Her hair was a little longer and he’d fight to run his hands through it once.

“Too long for–” Shanks’ eyes dropped down and he stopped. He blinked, once, twice, and then a third time for good measure.

There, stretched out in the sand before her, was a youthful face. A face not much older than his own. A hardened face who Shanks recognized from the waves he was making. A face that was currently attached to a head that was very much resting on the soft and supple skin of Hoku’s thighs, fast asleep and–

Dracule Mihawk was sleeping on Hoku’s lap.

Shanks stared.

“Oh,” Hoku said, following his eyes. “He’s another rookie like you. Maybe you two have heard of each other–”

Shanks stared at Hoku as though she’d driven a knife right through his heart. His eyes went soft, staring at her in his best, most charming sense of a puppy-dog face. Hoku stared at him with round eyes, blinking. “What’s that look for? All I said was–”

As though summoned, Mihawks’ eyes finally slid open. Shanks gaped at him. Hoku looked down. The young swordsman seemed to consider several things for a moment before promptly he sat up–to Shanks’ relief–and turned to Hoku.

“He developed an even stronger technique,” Mihawk said.

“Oh, you noticed,” Hoku grinned. “He never stops advancing, you know. You’ll have to run to even get close to catching up.”

Mihawk’s golden eyes flickered before he nodded. He moved, standing up and Hoku let her hands fall into her lap. Shanks continued to gape.

“What’s the matter with you?” Soft fingers tapped the side of his face and Shanks’ head jerked to the side. His cheek connected with Hoku’s warm palm, ocean eyes curious as she watched him. “You seemed confident as a lion just a moment ago–”

“I wasn’t aware you two were acquainted,” Shanks said, a wide, quick grin curling on his lips. He flashed Mihawk a sharp look who simply stared blankly back at him in return. Hoku moved to pull her hand away and Shanks quickly reached up, cupping his hand over hers.

Hoku arched a brow.

“Lovely dove,” Shanks said, voice a little low, eyes a little pleading, expression soft. His fingers moved lightly over the back of her hand in a way he hoped was distracting. “What do I have to do to be spoiled like that?”

Hoku blinked. She seemed confused by his question for a moment before something must have clicked and then she laughed. Shanks’ eyes went half lidded at the sound and Mihawk raised a brow at the redhead’s expression.

“Challenge the greatest swordsman alive,” Hoku said, eyes a little wild. “And we’ll see what happens.”

Maybe I should play a little sick next time. Shanks wondered. I wouldn’t mind being spoiled like that–

“And you should really just let me coat your sword for you,” Hoku said, ignoring Shanks and pulling her hand away. He pouted at the loss and Hoku faced a calm Mihawk. “I promise it’ll help–”

“I’m not good enough to have you coat for me,” Mihawk said simply. “Not yet.”

Shanks huffed, “Dove, I’d gladly let you do anything to or for me–”

Shanks stopped.

He was fairly certain his heart might’ve too.

Red, soft, flush red colored her cheeks. Hoku’s eyes were a little wide, almost soft at Mihawk’s words. She looked hopelessly embarrassed, flushing in pride at the praise as she reached up and placed a hand over her face as though to hide the entire view, crumpling a bit.

“You can’t just going saying things like that,” Hoku said, sheepish and soft. “Really now–”

Shanks wanted that face engraved to memory. He wanted that face to be made because of him. He wanted it under his fingertips. He wanted it, begged for it beside him. He wanted to see it color darker, a little more flushed, eyes soft on him and his hands running low and pushing, playing, trying to see how much more he could–

Shanks paused. Maybe this time Buggy was right and a little bit of that passion was bleeding a bit toward somewhere else.

“HOOOKKKKKUUUUUU!” Shanks and Mihawk froze, the loud, resounding voice boomed across mountains, echoing blaringly clear. “WHEEEEEERREEE ARRREEEE YOOOUUUU?”

They both looked to each other, realization coloring their faces as to who the voice belonged to and–

Without another word, Hoku stood. Her head turned toward the sound of her name, at her call, eyes warm, the expression on her face–

Something Shanks wasn’t sure he knew how he ought to feel about. It reminded him of her moment with Zoro. A simple call of her name and yet–

Something too far for him to ever grasp. Something that shouldn’t be touched. Something he couldn’t touch.

“Well, it was nice seeing you again, brat,” Hoku grinned at Shanks, holding a silver flower up. Shanks blinked in realization. “Thanks for the flowers.”

Turning to Mihawk she added over her shoulder, “Rest up. See you again, Mihawk.”

She beamed at the two of them and promptly set off, never once looking back as she followed the continued calls of her name, hurrying maybe just a bit.

…

“Alright, spill it you sly dog. What did you do and what did you say to get her to treat you like that?” Shanks nearly pulled tufts of red out. “You were in her lap! Her lap, you dog! And that face–do you understand how cute she is?”

Mihawk stared at him as one would a bug.

“Who are you?”

- they’ll all meet again

#memos #Hoku #Shanks #memos au #young!shanks #older!hoku #young!mihawk #Mihawk #Shanks x Oc #ShaKu #MiKu #Zoro #monkey d luffy #pirate king luffy

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wild-catra · 3 years

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disco elysium review - or more of a vent I guess? will most likely containt spoiler

so I binged this game over christmas and finished my firt playthrough and I kinda don’t get the hype

like, it is a solid game, it was entertaining and it kept my curiosity I was just frequently dissappointed

like, most of the characters were quite shallow and stereotypical imo and the writers tried to cover that up with a shit ton of really pretentious dialogue that was oftentimes meaningless. sure the story was kinda satirical and I generally don’t have a problem with exeggerated characters in such settings, I think what ruined it for me was as said their pretentious dialogue and that the writers were trying to do both: have comedically exeggerated characters that spew a lot of nonsense but also have really sad and serious things happen to them which are suposed to make the player sad... and I’m like... no I don’t care what happens to these clown characters, they’re not real people and they don’t act like real people? (except that one side quest where you tell a woman you found her dead husband, that made me emotional but I’m sure it was only bc I never talked to her before she prolly would’ve said ridiculous bullshit had I engaged with ehr infront of the book store before, which would have ruined the scene later on) I also don’t have a problem with “everyone is awful” type of storys, but in such cases you gotta make me care about the characters and the world still. there’s still gotta be something catchy about the awful world and awful people inhabiting it. and here I didn’t really get that for some reason.

I didn’t like how they censored certain slurs but not the misogynist ones. like either censor all of them or don’t? but the entire story was pretty misogynist, lacking female characters, let alone interesting ones (but tbf I didn’t find the male characters interesting either bc they were all so shallow and stereotypical)

I did’t like the main character, I’ve had too many interactions with such men irl and I’m tired of them being the main character in every “gritty” story. It’s boring, I don’t care about middle aged loser men being sad and gross -yet *charming* - drug addicts who somehow still miraculously excell in their field and are beloved or at least tolerated by everyone. (irl such men aren’t charming just creepy, annoying and impossible to work with due to their self centered behaviour and most people don’t actually tolerate this, storys like this are just fairy tales dreamt up by loser men who want to act like a pig yet still be adored and face no consequences. irl they get fired pretty fast and no one wants to be friend with them)

I felt like my choices didn’t matter, oftentimes i didn’t matter if I failed a skillcheck or not and sometimes it mattered *so much* I got locked and had to savescum until I passed the check because there was nothing else I could do at that point (bc I had done everything there was to do that day, so no means to level up and improve that skill) and the MAIN story wouldn’t progress when I failed. very frustrating. I would’ve liked it if the skill checks mattered always AND if failing/passing just took me on noticeably different routes instead of locking me out and forcing me to reload. but maybe that’s too ambitious for a video game.

the ending was pretty disappointing. like... .why did they pull that random communist survivor out of their ass?? sorry if I missed hints before but for me that came completely out of nowhere and his motive was shit also WHY did they ahve to make him a creep too?? every male character was a fucking degenerate misogynist creep saying awful shit about women for no fucking reason. like wtf is wrong with their writers are they incels or smth the story they’re telling and the male characters they painted sure made me feel like they are. also wtf was the bullshit with the stickbug, was that meme already around when the game was made bc I definitely felt *stick bugged* but not in an amused way but in a “ok this scene was just super serious this sad man is having an aneurism or smth wtf it this random shit with the fantasy bug” - kinda way. what was that about???? WHY? (I did do te side quest with the cryptozoologists I just think it’s was extremely dumb that the bug appeared at the end)

ok I think I’ve complained enough at least I don’t know what else to complain abt rn. dunno if I will replay it differently, I am kinda curious if the playthrough would be different with a different build and if different choices would really change things... but I doubt it and also don’t really want to do all that again because it does drag on with all that reading and I can’t skip the dialogie obviously bc I wouldn’t see changes, the game is absically only dialogue after all.(besides... i did chose one of the speczialized builds but at some point I *had* to level skills I actually didn’t want to bc they didn’t fit the character I wanted to play but I felt it was impossible to progress otherwise, I assume it would come to the same with the other specialized builds)

#disco elysium #rant #review #not really just wanted to vent my negative thoughts on the game

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brella · 7 years

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i feel like we always ask you about books so today i wanna ask you some anime recs :)

HOW INTERESTING THAT YOU SHOULD COME TO ME NOW, JUST AFTER I FINISHED ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE A TWITTER MUTUAL WITH A PHYSICAL CAKE SO THAT SHE WOULD WATCH AN ANIME I LOVE. i am always happy to share anime recs.

ping pong: the animation (dir. masaaki yuasa): effusive yutaka “peco” hoshino and reserved makoto “smile” tsukimoto have been best friends since day one, and both of them love to play ping pong. peco, a child prodigy at the sport, loves it with all of his soul, and is so confident in his own talent that he’s become arrogant; while smile, in spite of his natural talent, does not take ping pong seriously, seeing it as nothing more than a way to pass the time. things are shaken up for the boys by the arrival of wenge “china” kong, a chinese player sent to redeem himself in japan after being kicked off the national team, who skunks peco in their first match, sending him spiraling into crisis; meanwhile, smile catches the interest of the school’s coach, a former star player, who is determined to make sure smile does not waste his talent. also joining the cast are manabu “akuma” sakuma, peco’s belligerent rival since childhood, and ryuichi “dragon” kazama, vanguard of the elite ping pong team at kaio academy. when all is said and done, will smile and peco’s friendship—and the love of ping pong that bonds them—remain? i urge everyone to watch this anime; it is perhaps the best i’ve ever seen. a work of art, of joy, of sadness and failure and triumph—a tribute to being alive, and to what it means to love something so much you feel like there’s no point in being alive if you can’t do it. and the animation, voice acting, and score are outstanding! 11 episodes.

the tatami galaxy (dir. masaaki yuasa): an unnamed college student is perpetually dissatisfied with his life, bemoaning the fact that he can never seem to grasp that “rose-colored campus life” he was certain he would have upon attending college in kyoto. just about the only thing he has in his corner is his mischievous frenemy, ozu, who drags him into scheme after scheme that only seem to make his situation worse; and a fellow student, akashi, who the protagonist has feelings for, but can never quite seem to spit it out. after a bad break-up sends him over the edge into total cynicism, he starts to wonder if his college years would have been spent differently (i.e., better) if he had chosen to join a different club on his first day. unbeknownst to him, the desire to go back and do it over again does send him back in time—each episode is an alternate timeline based on which club he joined. no matter how things change, though, he always seems to keep running into ozu, to just miss akashi, and to get involved with a man calling himself higuchi, who claims to be a god of matrimony; a bone-headed popular senior named jougasaki; and a beautiful but intense dental hygienist named hanuki. in the protagonist’s quest for the perfect college life, however, will he miss what’s right in front of him? i really love yuasa as you can probably tell and this, just like ping pong, is beautifully animated, great fun, and unexpectedly moving. a testament to the little things, to seeing the beauty and wonder in what we have. and the opening and ending are GOD TIER. 11 episodes.

gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun (dir. mitsue yamazaki): if you somehow haven’t watched this yet, please love yourself and do it. a romantic comedy series that follows 16-year-old chiyo sakura’s attempts to woo her crush, umetarou nozaki, gsnk, contrary to the shoujo form, actually begins with her confessing to him—but he misunderstands and gives her... his autograph?! yes, it turns out nozaki moonlights as a hugely successful shoujo romance mangaka, and he’s been needing an assistant, and sakura is in the art club... convenient! this show has it all—uproarious humor, masterful comedic timing, incredibly charming characters, and just the right dose of heartfelt romance to warm any heart. other cast members include mikoto mikoshiba, nozaki’s best friend, whose flirtatious antics constantly cause him to nearly die of embarrassment; yuzuki seo, chiyo’s best friend, a brash and oblivious jock with a beautiful singing voice; hirotaka wakamatsu, a mild-mannered basketball player constantly aggrieved by seo’s bullying; yuu kashima, star of the drama club and dashing prince of the school; and masayuki hori, drama club president and kashima’s ever-frustrated director. love is in the air not just for sakura, but for a few others, as well—it’s going to be an interesting year! 12 episodes.

kids on the slope (dir. shinchiro watanabe): kaoru nishimi is a shy and depressed honor student, classically trained to play the piano, who has spent his entire life moving from town to town due to the nature of his father’s job. at the beginning of the summer of 1966, he is sent to a small coastal town in kyushu to live with relatives, and is prepared for another year of loneliness until his world is turned on its axis when he meets delinquent sentaro kawabuchi. the two develop a strange and unlikely friendship, and kaoru soon discovers that sentaro, or sen, is an avid fan of jazz, then an emergent form of music in japan, and plays the drums in the basement of a record store owned by the family of his childhood friend, ritsuko mukae, with whom kaoru immediately falls in love. when ritsuko says that she would love to hear kaoru and sen play together, kaoru begins to acquaint himself with jazz, too, and finds that it holds more magic than he expected. part classic coming-of-age drama, part love letter to the jazz genre, this series was, fun fact, directed by the man behind cowboy bebop and samurai champloo—so, like, if that isn’t a testament to its quality, i don’t know what is. it will make you cry, though. just warning you.

silver spoon (dir. tomohiko ito): desperate to escape the pressures of his home life, beleaguered honor student yuugo hachiken foresakes his chances of attending an elite tokyo high school and applies to ezonoo agricultural school in hokkaido. at first holding himself a rung above his peers, due to his perception of them as bumpkins who have never had to work hard academically due to their security as farmers, hachiken quickly learns that there’s a lot he doesn’t know, and he’ll have to work hard if he wants to keep up with his peers. though initially withdrawn, hachiken comes to make many new friends, and soon begins to take his studies seriously, earnestly trying to learn all he can about the world of agriculture and how it affects the lives of his friends. this series is easily something i’d call “the feel-good story of the decade,” but it also has many profound and emotional moments, and a hugely relatable protagonist in hachiken. it’s definitely a comedy, but at its heart, it’s one of those special series that kind of takes your hand and smiles at you and says, “yeah. i get it. i know how you feel. but it’s all right. life’s pretty fun, even if you don’t notice.”

hyouka (dir. yasehiro takemoto): to this day i’m still a bit stunned that kyoto animation managed to come out with something as good as hyouka, since it’s so different from their other works, but the truth is there. it’s simple, with a cast of only four characters and few recurring side ones; a subdued score using mostly public domain classical pieces, a quiet high school as the backdrop, a close and intimate portrait of the four kids it brings together. the PV actually does a fine job of introducing the characters—apathetic houtarou, inquisitive eru, cheerful satoshi, and caustic mayaka—so i won’t go into that too much. essentially, houtarou is urged by his sister to sign up for the classics club after no one else does, since it will be disbanded if it does not have at least one member. much to his surprise, someone else already has signed up by the time he does—a curious girl named eru with an insatiable appetite for mysteries. though houtarou lives by a philosophy of what he calls “energy conservation,” eru has a power over him (read: he has a big, beautiful crush on her) that compels him to go along with her antics, and his penetrating intellect doesn’t help much. satoshi, houtarou’s best friend, and mayaka, a childhood... acquaintance of houtarou’s, also join the club, and hyouka chronicles all of the things that happen to them over the course of their school year. when asked about the meaning behind the title (”hyouka” means “frozen dessert”), the author of the novels said, “the colour of youth is like ice cream. its many flavours are like the spectrum of a rainbow, but no matter how it tastes, what doesn’t change is its richness and flavour. another distinguishing feature of ice cream is the short time one has to eat it, and how we must take care to avoid polluting it. it’s just like how youth is full of numerous possibilities, but its fragile and limited energy is easily challenged by the outside world.” i think that probably speaks for itself in alluding to the bittersweet tone of the series. it really is one of my favorites.

and, because my fingers are getting tired: yu yu hakusho is my favorite shounen series by a mile and one of the few for which i highly recommend the dub—it’s long though, 100+ episodes, but worth every minute. i’ll be glad to go into why yyh specifically is the best in a separate post if anyone is interested bc hoo boy. uchouten kazoku season 1 is great and one of my favorites but season 2 was kind of eh to me. if you like action and tragic romance, kyoukai no kanata is my second-fave kyoani series after hyouka, though it does have some fanservicey bits and fetishy humor that kind of date it a little bit. and if you haven’t started boku no hero academia yet—PLEASE GET ON THAT; IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

and, of course, the anime of my heart and soul: lovely complex, a romcom about a tall girl and a short boy, and their arduous, hilarious, heart-melting journey from vitriolic best buds to lovers. hits all the right notes. no other shoujo compares. it’s a series that anyone and everyone can AND WILL enjoy.

i hope that’s enough to get you started! :’D pls let me know what you think if you watch any

#long post /#anonymous #ask #Anonymous

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sormikhell · 7 years

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Why do I dislike Tales of Zestiria the X?

Recently I’ve been asked one question numerous times: “Why do you think the anime is shit? You only hate it because it doesn’t focus on SorMik, right?”

Now guys, I think it’s vital for me to answer this. Because let’s face it, we will never see face to face if we don’t discuss the matter. And look, here I am, typing this out because I feel this is important. So if you’re curious and want to understand why a lot of us dislike the anime then please bear with me because this will be long (6 pages in Word, 6!)

To make this a little bit easier for me, I’ll assume that you haven’t played the game or watched its walkthrough yet and that you like the anime. But of course if you did either of them it’s good, bc at least you’ll know what I am talking about.

And so, I shall do a character analysis in this post, comparing the game and anime selves to each other while I name some other issues as well. I won’t list all the inconsistency and plot holes the anime has for I’d be here even after my death.

I’m going to try to make you guys understand that while the SorMik fandom is not happy, there are more pressing issues with the anime than that.

For the sake of completeness, I’m going to refer to sever other people here and if you want to get the whole picture, I advise you to check them out yourself too.

What I’ll try to do here is answer this from my point of view, bringing up my emotions about certain facts and details while trying to justify my opinions about this matter. This post isn’t about trying to change your viewpoint and admitting something you might not agree with, it’s about trying to make everyone understand why most of the fandom is quite cross with the anime.

But for you to really understand my point I think I’ll start with how I even get into this fandom. If you don’t want to read that, skip to the first horizontal line.

Around in mid-September last year I saw on my multifandom dashboard a meta about Epilogue 2. I can’t really recall what it was about, all I remember is that there was a picture of Epileo the very minute he realises he’s been reunited with Sorey (you know, when he looks up, expression all soft, eyes twinkling with delight and smiling like he has never seen the sun?). I kind of stared at the picture for a solid 5 minutes (I’m a sucker for light haired characters, sorry) before I decided that it’s crucial for me to know this beauty and love him (yepp, I’m that typical “Came for Mikleo and stayed for SorMik” person). So, I searched for the source and found the video of Epilogue 2. I didn’t understand a single thing but the look of utter love in Mikleo’s eyes made me really care for him and for his whole story too (looks like the first thing I did in this fandom was to spoiler myself. Not that I regret it or anything XD).

So I dived head first into the fandom and eventually I came across the anime. Mind you, at that time I only know of the existence of the game, I didn’t even watch the walkthrough or anything.

After seeing the 0th episode I was a little bit surprised and lost. Because I didn’t understand a anything about that episode XD I was basically like “I thought this was about two boys? Who the fuck is that girl? What the hell was that little funny mascot thing? Why couldn’t she see that? What the hell have just happened? …. At least the animation was awesome.”

As someone who didn’t know a single thing about the Zestiria universe it was quite confusing. So I decided to drop this but it kept bothering me that I didn’t even see Mikleo and after a week or so I was like “well, let’s watch the next episode. If that isn’t better, then I’ll really drop this”.

And lo and behold, I saw the first episode and with the explanations and all the 0th episode clicked into place. I caught up with the anime when the 7th episode came out. I quickly became too interested in this and searched for the community on Tumblr, making my new page there.

Around the 11th or 12th episode the fandom community on Tumblr convinced me to watch a walkthrough even play the game sometime, though I didn’t consider myself as a gamer girl but I was quite curious you know?

When the final episode of the first season came out I was somewhere around Tintagel Ruins in my YouTube walkthrough and we all know that that was the episode things started to go sour in the fandom.

On Christmas I got the game and by the time my new semester started in February I’ve finished the game, only the post-game dungeon, Hexen Isle was left.

Of course, after you’ve invested more than 80 hours (that was my first playthrough, I was slow I know) in a game you became quite familiar with the universe, its laws and the characters.

So after all this work to beat the game the anime’s second season got me really angry. And if I still have your attention, then please bear with me for a little while, because now I’m really answering the question.

The anime up until the first season’s final was quite decent and good. We got little alternations like when Sorey purifies human malevolence he has to live through it and all, and that made his job even more dangerous and exciting. I loved the concept personally as it’s not a thing in the game (although, game!Sorey’s job is at least 10000x harder than Anime!Sorey’s but oh well…).

The problems started with the final and here’s why (I can’t stress this enough, this is my opinion and my experience) while comparing the game and the anime:

In the game, the war in Glaveind Basin in a really important event. This is the first time you meet with Heldalf and he magnificently kicks your ass. He kicks your ass so bad Sorey temporarily loses his ability to perceive seraphim. He realises after this that he cannot win against Heldalf and that he needs to get stronger. (Mikleo is so shaken by the whole thing that in a skit Edna even teases him because he apparently cried when Sorey couldn’t see him.)

But in the anime Sorey wins. Which is kind of the breakpoint in the game. The sole reason of the second part of the game was because of Sorey’s first lost in battle. Those who love the game obviously weren’t fine with it.

Not to mention that there was a scene when Sorey nearly killed and succumbed to malevolence just because of Alisha. Which is kind of ridiculous. Let me explain why:

There is a quest in the game where you still have Alisha in the party as your squire and you have to fight with a …plant. After the fight, it becomes obvious to everyone that Alisha being Sorey’s squire is quite dangerous as Sorey is going blind on his right eye. Why, you ask? Because Alisha doesn’t have the necessary amount of resonance to perceive seraphim and Sorey’s power had to compensate that somehow. Hence why he went blind.

So when Sorey didn’t realise in time that the plant is still alive and was rapidly coming so Mikleo and Alisha jumped in front of him to save him (I’ll talk more about this later on…). Someone even said that both Alisha and Mikleo could have easily died. Sorey’s reaction was more of concern than absolute rage. Hell he didn’t become tainted even when he and Mikleo had to kill Gramps. And we all know Gramps is far more important to the two boys than Alisha. Alisha may be a good friend, but she’s not their family.

So all in all, Sorey becoming tainted under Mikleo’s watchful eyes is unexplainable. This skit here explains everything I think, starts at 24:00.

Oh and about Sorey’s dream becoming true in the anime… the seraphim was sitting in one corner, the humans in the other. No one talked to the other. That’s what you call your dream becoming a reality, Sorey? They were literally there because they had to. That’s not coexistence!

Now that we have mentioned Mikleo… he’s deuteragonist. In other words, the secondary main character. Why? Because Mikleo is always there. Mikleo is Sorey’s moral support, his pillar, his everything. Mikleo protects him as much as Sorey protects Mikleo. They know each other inside-out so knowing this, Mikleo being the deuteragonist won’t come as a surprise.

Mikleo is a special case, we all agree on that. He’s a little cold and sarcastic in the game but always happy and ready to argue about ruins with Sorey. Rose even mentions that Mikleo can only be really worried by Sorey, meaning he may act like he is angry about Edna’s teasing or Lailah’s terrible puns, but in the end, he only gets really worked up if Sorey is in danger. He never leaves his side in the game excluding their break-up scene when Sorey shouts at him and Mikleo feels like a liability to Sorey (he doesn’t even leave his side when Sorey is asleep for 3 days after he became the Shepherd. He stays in his room quietly reading, not even talking to Lailah about crucial things).

You can easily say that to Mikleo, Sorey is the top priority. He’d gladly die for him, sacrifice for him everything. Hell, even wait who knows how many centuries just to be with Sorey again. And as those who played the game or watched the walkthrough know, Mikleo takes upon himself to continue their shared dream while Sorey sleeps away the centuries purifying Maotelous. (Sorey’s One and Only, huh..)

So, when in the anime Mikleo is basically shoved back into the closet and treated like an object by Sorey to only be relied on is quite frustrating (why is that they had to intentionally or unintentionally include this Berseria element in the anime? Sorey would never ever treat anyone, especially not Mikleo, like an object).

Soymilkheaven had a really good answer for Mikleo’s character problem, so go check it out if you want!

Now onto Rose… Rose the Pure Assassin. The person who teaches Sorey that there’s nothing wrong with killing if it saves the person. Game!Rose is confident, a true and very loyal friend who won’t hesitate to take Sorey’s burdens of the Shepherd and kill someone even if Sorey won’t agree with her. She protects Sorey in her own way while makes sure that Sorey won’t just see killing in a bad light. After all, not everybody can be saved.

And yeah, Rose may be a little bit childish in the game, but she lightens up the conversations and she’s funny.

Anime!Rose on the other hand… she is like a shell. She’s not confident, she doubts herself and her job (even though both Roses have similar backgrounds so I can’t wrap my head around why this Rose had to turn out the way she turned out…).

Plus as women-books-coffee said perfectly her lack of confidence results in Sorey not having that kind of character development.

Game!Rose helped Sorey understand the upside of killing so if Anime!Rose doubts her game counterpart’s very creed then how the hell is Anime!Sorey supposed to learn this life hack lesson? How will this Sorey understand that there’s no way that no one will die?

Answer: Quite simply, he won’t. Because why the hell should the protagonist struggle through hardships when he can just be ignorant and skip through the most of it?

That would be baaaaaaaad… now wouldn’t it? But that’s exactly what ufotable did.

Dezel, you’re the next! Our beloved blind wind seraph. Yupp you read it right.

Blind.

Quite a surprise, isn’t it? Ufotable may or may not have left out this … quite crucial detail about him. Which is fucking ridiculous if you think about it. How can you forget that somebody is fucking blind, Ufotable?! (You guys remember in the anime when Dezel is on the top of a wagon in the fog and he says: “I can’t see shit”. Well, of course you can’t see shit Dezel. You’re fucking blind)

Oh, and the reason he’s blind? Symonne.

Yeah, that purple girl who somehow become a dragon in the anime (don’t let me get started on her too… but in short, for Symonne Heldalf was everything in the game. That’s why I’ll never accept that she became a dragon because she didn’t agree with Heldalf).

Whom he by the way died to bring back. And you could all say “But Sormikhell, Dezel isn’t blind in the anime! Then of course he’d want to help her!”

Well yeah, I see your point. But let’s not forget that Dezel is there because of Rose.

You see, Dezel and Rose are supposed to be a parallel example of Sorey and Mikleo as Dezel watched over Rose for quite some years. He died for her in the game, so he can save her. So it didn’t make any sense to me that he would just randomly die. For nothing, basically. Dezel in the anime doesn’t know Symonne, then why should he die for her? (And let’s not forget the fact that Anime!Sorey knew very well what Anime!Dezel was about to do. Which means we can say that Anime!Sorey let one of his comrades die. Game!Sorey tried frantically to find another solution but Game!Dezel was already dying by that time, so he asked Sorey to grant his final wish. Sorey would have never allowed this any other way. Another blow for Sorey’s character.)

Next one is… Edna! A delicate flower and a surprisingly thorny one. In the game, Edna is like a snarky older sister, looking out for everyone in her own sadistic way. She likes making fun of Meebo and is hellbent about learning how to cook decently. She wants to save Eizen, sure, but she doesn’t let it plague her mind 24/7. She is a lovely character with funny attachment to Normins. She lives her own life, she is really intelligent and has an excessive knowledge about any kind of plant or mineral.

And if you’re still reading this, then you already know what I’ll say next.

Anime!Edna can only sigh and be depressed. I can count in my two hands how many times I’ve seen her smile or laugh in the anime. She’s always like “Oh, Eizen… “even if she doesn’t voice these thoughts. You can practically feel her sadness through the screen. Which I understand as I have a brother too but every damn time she appears on screen (which isn’t that much) she either doesn’t care about what is happening or just moping around. A great loss in my opinion as I was really looking forward to her snarky comments being thrown left and right.

Our next character is… Lailah! The mother hen, the fire mum with terrible puns, you name it. She’s like a mother and an older sister at the same time. She’s diligent, a great friend and cares about everyone a lot. She has a very vivid personality, likes to randomly talk about something else and annoy everyone to hell with her horrible puns. Even though she can’t tell everything about what she knows to the party, she guides them carefully to the right answer. She wouldn’t “spoil” things to us in the game which made us more and more curious about her past.

Also she is there to make sure that everyone is safe, healthy and knows the consequences of certain… things.

In the anime, I started to mourn even Lailah when it turned out that she didn’t tell Sorey and effectively us, the audience that if the Shepherd dies so does his squires (which is a thing that does not exist in the game, FYI).

I think that was a pretty vital information, Lailah.

Her guidance failed spectacularly in the anime.

Oh, and about ruining Pendrago. What happened to not meddling with humans’ petty affairs and ruining entire cities without a care. No can tell me her giant fire ball didn’t make half of the wall disappear into nothing. But oh well, not that the people will complain or anything…

And the last seraph for today is… Zaveid! A real womanizer, the one friend who can turn any conservation into something dirty. Our absolute class clown who likes walking around half naked, sneaking around hot springs so he can get a peek of the women. A really great guy who has a tragic past and despite all of that smiles and makes pervert jokes all the time, but can give you some seriously good and mature advices when you need it the most. After all he’s not the type of guy to view everything as a win or lose situation.

At least they didn’t change him that much in the anime… although maybe they could have made him a little bit more carefree but given the circumstances he was introduced in the anime… but then again, Zaveid still cracked some jokes when you were about to face with Heldalf at the end of the game.

And finally, as for Alisha, I’m just going to say this: She didn’t need that armatization. At all. She proved in the game again and again and again that she is more than capable of handling things on her own while standing proud and tall next to Sorey, if theyhave to. Alisha is the last in the line and that’s exactly why she chose to be a knight. She is a strong, independent woman who can fight her own battles. Her dream was to make Hyland and Rolance live peacefully next to each other. Which of course had little to do with Sorey and his dream and duty. That’s why she was never meant to be the heroine.

Anime!Alisha on the other hand… when I heard that her father is the king in the anime, I kid you not went back to my game and double checked whether that’s true or not because I was pretty sure that she was not the next in line. She was important enough in the game even though she was just the last… then why do this? Clearly this wasn’t necessary.

Ufotable must have really wanted to give Alisha more significance in Sorey’s story so bad somewhere along the line they forgot that this was supposed to be about Sorey and not about Alisha.

TL;DR: Every character was robbed of their personality, Sorey’s dream holds no significance, who cares about seraphim?, let’s change anything and everything until we cannot say that this is about Zestiria, but let’s give Alisha more screen time because apparently she is our main protagonist.

And if you read the whole thing, then you’re a fucking champion! And if I maybe, maybe made you at least understand our point then I consider my job done.

And cookies for you if you got my references :*

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