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avaritia-apotheosis · 3 years

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Phantom Children Ch.4

In Which: exposition for exposition's sake exists, and Vlad looks way more suspcious than he ought

| AO3 | Prologue | 3 | [4] | 5

VLADIMIR MASTERS. Human male in his mid-forties, and most notably the founder and CEO of VladCo, a billion-dollar industry that mostly specializes in manufacturing weapons and technology. Graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin despite having to drop out due to a lab accident in his second year, landing him in the hospital. Despite being based primarily in Wisconsin, he made an unexpected move to Amity Park Illinois shortly after reuniting with his college friends Drs. Madeline and Jack Fenton.

Not even a year later, Masters ran for mayor of Amity Park and won the election by a landslide. Suspicious, considering Masters being an unknown and the former mayor Montez being quite popular. It’s during Masters’ tenure in office that reports of ghost attacks to the Justice League steadily died down.

“Why?” Damian asked.

Barbara shrugged, pulling up a few files on the screen. “I originally had a theory that related to VladCo’s buyout of Axion Labs—a technological research and manufacturing company that’s mostly local to Amity—being a factor. Within the last couple of years, they had been experimenting with highly volatile chemicals with hallucinogenic properties. Amity had always been known for being extremely superstitious with its ghosts, and if Axion Labs had somehow accidentally released that chemical into the city, well…” She leaned back into her chair, hand twisting in the air. “You could bet how that ended up. The hysteria around ghosts only grew worse in the last two years, with suspected sightings from once every few weeks to multiple in a single day. Early attempts to capture sightings were unsuccessful, and soon enough Amity Park was just written off.”

Much like the mass hysteria surrounding the urban legend of the kuchisake-onna in Japan in the late 1970s, Bruce thought. He pulled up some news footage from Amity Park dated a few years back of citizens being interviewed about their ghostly encounters. Beside these videos were a few photos taken by a shaky camera, showing bright blurs of light streaking across the sky or vaguely humanoid shapes rising from the ground.

“So VladCo., bought out Axion Labs, improved its security, and slowly helped detoxify the town?” Damian shifted his weight onto his other leg and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought, but—”

“But the ghosts ended up being real.” Bruce pulled up a video of a field reporter-slash-weatherman taking cover as a figure dropped from the sky, breaking through the walls of a building. The figure—features distorted by an eerie glow—shot out of the rubble just in time before a green blast hit it.

Oracle enlarged other news footage with a few taps on her keyboard. Beings zooming through the air. Massive plants erupting from the ground. Technology coming to life. Each video more worrying than the last, and most showing some footage of a figure bathed in a white glow. “I’d be hard pressed to call any of these faked.”

It begged the question as to how Amity Park survived this long unscathed. Since, if he remembered correctly, even the Dark Leaguers tended to avoid Amity Park like the plague. “They have their own heroes, then?”

“Think along the lines of vigilantes with unofficial support.” A few more files popped up on screen. One showcased a female in a full-length black and red body suit on top of a hover board. The other was a male; young, perhaps a teenager, with white hair and a black and white suit. Hazmat? “The Red Huntress and the Phantom of Amity Park.”

“Partners?”

“More like enemies working on the same turf. Sources place Phantom as appearing first, though it seems Red Huntress has more government support in the end despite there being no official statement. They seem to be the most effective ghost hunters in town, though far from the only ones. The Fentons of Fenton Works are also acting as ghost hunters, though their track record of success leans more towards their anti-ghost tech than any hunting. The town’s even attracted visitors from the Ghost Investigation Ward; a side branch of Cadmus though a now defunct organization.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Damian said. “If anything, this should be more than enough reason for a League intervention. Why the Justice League didn’t come sooner is the real question here.”

Bruce’s lips thinned. “That’s because we were warned off it.”

“What?”

While there was no rule against heroes entering another hero’s city, there were certain unspoken rules that demanded that JL members avoid claimed cities or stay just outside of city lines until given permission to enter. Some were especially strict about it such as Batman’s ‘no metas or outsiders’ rule. Others were more lenient, simply requesting a warning before entering.

Amity Park, despite having no listed heroes in the database, was marked with heavy ‘Do Not Interact’ warnings for humans and metas alike.

“Justice League Dark said that under no circumstances should the League interfere in Amity. The situation was never explicitly laid out for us except to say that everything was being handled.”

“Oh yeah,” Oracle chimed. “Constantine even had it bolded, underlined, italicized, and in all caps. The occult community was very clear about everyone staying away—and apparently this decision had support from Amity Park too.” She pulled up another document. “That’s probably what led to the decline in their ghost reports, actually. Amity’s claims were considered bogus and brushed aside. No one outside their town—not even their sister town of Elmerton—believed them, so they simply stopped asking for help.”

Strangely, it reminded Bruce of Gotham. Both cities existed in its own isolated sphere, unwilling to let any outsiders interfere in its business.

“It’s safe to assume, then, that whatever Ra’s al Ghul wants with Amity, it has to do with these ghosts. Do we have anyway to contact the town’s vigilantes?”

Oracle shook her head. “Ghost attacks within the past few months have slowly died down along with sightings of Phantom and Red Huntress. Your best bet is asking Masters directly.”

Damian glowered. “Masters blatantly sent out an invitation for Batman to my father. How do we know that Masters hasn’t somehow found our secret identities?”

“Unlikely,” Bruce said. “Vlad Masters, despite his wealth, has done well to keep a low profile. He’s met Bruce Wayne a total of three times within the last decade and Batman not at all.” That, and with the kind of spyware Batman has, he’d be able to tell when, where, and who was trying to dig deep into Batman’s past. Masters hadn’t even registered as a ping.

“Besides, there’s always a few rumors of Wayne Enterprise’s involvement with Batman. All this tech has to come from somewhere, no?”

“How long is Masters staying in Gotham?”

“Umm…” Oracle leaned forward in her chain and flipped through a half-dozen windows. “Going by his reservations at the Gotham Royal Hotel, he’s leaving tomorrow.”

Bruce pivoted on his heel, heading deeper into the Cave. “We better make this count, then.”

------

According to Oracle’s intel, Vlad Masters was staying at one of the executive suites in the Gotham Royal Hotel. A titanic structure with forty-eight floors, two towers, and the gothic aesthetic that never seemed to leave Gotham’s architecture.

Scaling the building as well as entering the suite proved no challenge for Batman and Robin. But upon entrance, it was abundantly clear that the room was vacant.

“Are you sure you guys are in the right room?” Bruce could hear the clicking of Oracle’s keys through their comms. “Masters had reserved the suite on the west tower.”

“Yes we’re in the correct room, Gordon,” Robin hissed.

“Codenames only, Robin.”

Robin clicked his tongue, sweeping the common room for any hidden bugs or cameras as Batman scouted out the rest of the room. The bed was made to hotel standard and the bathroom towels all completely replaced. There were no clothes in the hotel closet or dresser.

The only thing left that indicated occupancy of the room was an unmarked manila envelope unsubtly tucked within a pillowcase.

Robin tensed at the sight of it. “A detonator of some sort?”

Batman rotated the package, holding it up to his scanner. “Doesn’t seem to be. Regardless, it might be better to take it back to the Batcave and locate Masters ag—” The envelope started ringing. A standard ringtone found in most phones. Quickly, but carefully, Batman opened the manila envelope and dumped its contents onto the bed. A ringing burner phone and a flash drive came tumbling out.

Batman threw the flash drive at Robin before answering the phone, holding it up against his ear but saying nothing.

Silence. Then, Masters’ voice filtered in through the phone with a strange echo-like quality. “Good evening, Batman! I’m so glad my invitation managed to get passed along.”

Batman growled into the speaker, “What do you want, Masters?” He signaled Robin to do another sweep of the room for any signs of Masters they might have missed.

“I sincerely apologize for not being there to meet you myself; incredibly rude of me, I know. But it cannot be helped, the shadows are growing ever bolder.”

“So, you are aware then, of the League of Assassins’ presence in Amity Park?”

“A league of assassins? What a terrifying notion that is.” Batman frowned. It was unlikely that they had misread his words at the gala, so why was he acting unaware now? Could he be watched? “Why such a group would appear in my little town, I wouldn’t even dare to guess.”

Robin came back into the room and signaled back ‘negative.’

“Why did you call for us, Mayor Masters?”

“Do you know what is so very tragic, Batman?”

“This is strange,” Oracle said. “I can’t pick up his signal. He’s not appearing on any of my cameras, either.”

“When someone so young dies much to soon.” A pause. “Could you even imagine such a thing? A parent burying their own child.”

Batman could. He had no need to even imagine it because he lived it.

“Some very close friends of mine have been weighed down by the shadows of death and I require help in providing them the closure they need.”

“Are the Fentons the targets, then?”

Masters paused. Then let out a breathy laugh over the phone. “Oh, if only it were that simple.”

“So a different target.”

“Everything you need to know is in the flash drive I’ve enclosed in that envelope Whether you take up the case is entirely up to you—though I do hope you take it. Regardless, if he is not returned soon then I assure you that a disaster unlike any you have seen before will arrive.”

Batman narrowed his eyes. “Is that a threat, Masters?”

“No,” He laughed. “That was no threat. That was promise.”

The phone line disconnected just as Oracle exclaimed that she finally found Masters boarding his flight back to Amity Pak.

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #dp fic #phantom children.txt

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blackjack-15 · 3 years

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Adoration to Ashes, Dust to Just — Thoughts on: Alibi in Ashes (ASH)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC, TOT, SAW, CAP

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraphs above, along with my list of previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: ASH; mention of a whole host of previous games with the Hardy Boys in them; mention of SCK; mention of STFD; mention of FIN; mention of DED; small spoilers for SPY; unflattering mention of the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series; brief mention of erotic-shifter-romance book Bearllionaire.

The Intro:

Welcome to the Nancy Games, lads!

Before we begin, since we’re at the beginning of a new “section” of games, let’s go over exact what the “Nancy Games” entail. Unlike the other games, this section (which runs from ASH through SPY) of games is most concerned with Nancy’s personality, growth, and showing her through a different character foil each game.

These games not only give us a better picture of who Nancy is, but also how she fits (or doesn’t fit) into the world around her and with the people that she meets. Rather than solving the case, these games are made to make Nancy react to things; rather than ‘where is Nancy Drew’ or ‘what case is Nancy Drew tackling’, the preeminent question for ASH and the four games after it is simple: ‘Who Is Nancy Drew?’.

Though only possible because of the nature of the miscellaneous games (WAC, TOT) and the Faerietale Games (SAW, CAP), the Nancy Games have been sorely needed since the series graduated past the first few cases. For a lot of the series, the games weren’t really concerned with the main character of the series, preferring her to be a blank slate that players could superimpose themselves onto…which, as recent media (such as Twilight, and Twilight But With Bondage This Time), isn’t a good basis for a character outside of a dime-store bodice ripper.

But these games aren’t Bearllionaire, they’re detective stories, and detective stories need a strong main detective to carry the story — not to mention the stakes.

That’s where these games come in. Building obviously to the story in SPY, each game explores another facet of Nancy’s personality, and shows what she could become — or could have become, in a few instances — should she let the more negative sides of her personality take over, or if she trusts the wrong kind of people and makes the wrong friends.

How better to illustrate than by showing exactly the kinds of people that Nancy’s friends are? That’s what ASH is primarily concerned about — showing who Nancy is by showing the reactions of people who have known her all her life to a crisis. The only difference between Nancy and her Foil in this game is the fact that Nancy has good people — good friends — fighting for her. It’s how she gets herself out of jail, and how she manages to solve the crime.

And it’s a fun (if a bit clunky) game mechanic as well.

This is why this story can only happen in Nancy’s hometown. Not only is it delightful for fans to see (modern-day, as we saw the old version in CLK) River Heights for the first time and get to explore a bit around the town, but hometowns in media are quite significant when looking at who a character is.

Almost always, a hometown is used as sort of a microcosm for the character, giving us a bit of a cheat sheet into who they are as a person just by showing their environment. Think about it — how many times in cop shows (which are the most blatant offenders by far) are we told that a character is from a small town, and thus they’re intent on proving themselves, probably a ridiculously hard worker (to get out of “that place”), and a bit more innocent than their inner-city colleagues? Or that a character grew up overseas to justify their interest in international crime, establish them as a bit of a wildcard, and handwave them knowing about 16 languages? Or that they grew up “on the streets”, justifying a hidden juvenile record, skills in hand-to-hand combat, and a soft spot for Youths Just Like Them?

(But enough about Criminal Minds. I’d rather focus on something that actually has thought put into it.)

The same thing is happening here in ASH; from River Heights, we can extrapolate that Nancy is well-off, straight-forward, comfortable largely around adults (think about it — ignoring the usual phone characters, we only meet one person around Nancy’s age in RH, and she hates her), and has a drive to be Somewhere Other than her small town.

Another interesting point is that River Heights is chosen as the backdrop for something that has only happened twice in the series, and only once been done well: a personal revenge story against Nancy herself. Sure, RAN attempted it, but RAN’s story is — if you haven’t read that meta, spoilers — hot, flaming garbage, and the personal revenge plotline is bungled to the extreme, resulting in it not putting across that theme very effectively.

ASH is different; from the very beginning, it’s obvious that whoever is doing this is working off of a person grudge against Nancy specifically — and burned down the town hall in order to implicate her, so they’re not playing around. It’s the reason that the culprit search is so focused, which really benefits the games as well. The question isn’t really “who would want to get rid of Town Hall”, it’s “who hates Nancy enough to burn down a building to get her in trouble”. It makes questioning so much more interesting — and very full of mines, which is Great — when it’s the person, rather than the specific crime, that matters.

The last thing I’ll touch on in this introduction is a question that the fandom has posed both seriously and jokingly many times over the last….almost exactly 10 years (10 years!!! I need to lie down my land!!!) since the game first came out: where are the Hardy Boys? Surely, if there was ever a game where they made sense to appear, it would be this one; their friend is in prison and needs the help of practiced investigators — you’d think that even if Carson wouldn’t think of hiring them (which, as desperate as he was, he totally would have), that Nancy would have given them a call, if only to see if ATAC had anything on the suspects.

There are two reasons why the Hardy Boys don’t appear, from a storytelling perspective (ignoring the issue of how much money it would cost to include them or any other technical considerations), no matter how much I would have liked them here, or how much sense it would have been to at least name drop them, if not make them phone friends.

The first is to keep the game centered on River Heights. Everyone in the game — both suspects and allies — is from River Heights and is a part of the town’s makeup. Our suspects reporter, a politician-slash-ice-cream-store-owner, an ex-detective-turned-antiques-dealer, and a college student born and raised in RH. They represent different facets of the town — the media, the political, the business, and the rising generation — and so each represent a part of the town. Nancy’s allies all fall under the “rising generation” — the “Future of the Town”, if you will — or under the justice system category, with Carson. Even the Chief represents another facet — the law — that can both hurt and help Nancy in turn. By keeping all suspects and allies tied to the town, the mystery and the story can focus on exactly what’s going down in River Heights, without any distractions.

The second reason that the Hardy Boys don’t appear is a little less obvious and a little less cut-and-dried plain fact, but I find it compelling enough to mention here: Ned is present. Other than as a foil in CAP (and an oddity in CRE/VEN), the Hardy Boys don’t appear in the games where Ned is present — it tends to be an either/or thing as far as phone characters are concerned. The why of this is, admittedly, conjecture, but I do find it fascinating that the two (three, technically) don’t intersect — and when they do, it’s to compare them.

Also there are not enough fics of the time Nancy sent Ned to hang out with the Hardy Boys like their house was a vacation kennel and Joe broke Ned’s car. Just saying.

Ned represents River Heights, safety, security, constancy, and comfort — the same things that the other River Heights phone friends (Carson, George, Bess, Hannah) do, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. The Hardy Boys, on the other hand, represent excitement, danger, the unknown, new discoveries, and growth — as do, in different extents, the non-River Heights returning phone friends (Hotchkiss, Savannah, Prudence).

Nancy sits squarely in the middle of these two extremes; she’s from River Heights, but she’s not exactly of River Heights, if you get my meaning. As the games have progressed, they’ve shown Nancy moving further and further away from safe, small, friend-related cases to professional jobs with more than a few people actively trying to kill her. For me, that’s the reason we don’t see the Hardy Boys and Ned mostly in the same games; they represent different spheres of Nancy’s life.

And, had competent writer(s) stayed and the games not, well, imploded due to Penny being one of the worst business people I’ve ever encountered, it would have been interesting to see that push-and-pull dynamic being expressed in Nancy’s relationships. As it is…thank Heaven for AO3, am I right?

Now, let’s refocus on ASH in specific, and talk about its composite parts, shall we?

The Title:

Other than being catchy and evocative (and telling us exactly what crime was committed here — that of arson), Alibi in Ashes is also a notable title for its flexibility in meaning. Like CAP, there are so many different connotations for “fire”, and all of them apply neatly to this game.

First, we’re dealing with the literal fire that sends Town Hall up in smoke, and the inciting incident for our mystery (and Nancy’s jail time). Next, we have the word “fire” standing in for “emergency” — as in “where’s the fire” — and there seems to be a new emergency every five minutes in this game — the fire, Nancy’s arrest, Bess breaking the vase, Carson’s absence, etc.

After that, we venture even further down the abstract hole, and dive into the political — whistleblowing, which is often referred to as “setting a/the fire”. This is partially what Nancy does, and is also what Brenda likes to do, no matter the accuracy of the report. Finally, we stay with Brenda for the term “media wildfire” – which is exactly what Nancy’s arrest (due to Brenda’s machinations) causes.

The title in total — “Alibi in Ashes” — also works in a few different senses. Literally speaking, Nancy’s alibi — and the evidence to prove it — is in the ashes of Town Hall, waiting to be discovered. More metaphorically, due to the work of the culprit, Nancy’s alibi (aka her innocence) is in pieces, in ashes — it’s been destroyed. Finally, in a literary sense, Nancy’s situation can be shown in the “ashes” of a past life — in the “wildfire” that destroyed Alexei’s life and career as a detective.

Its acronym being “ASH” is also pretty awesome, not gonna lie.

It’s the multifaceted nature of the title that really gives it its staying power, catchiness aside. Many titles are just as good as ASH’s, but almost none work harder at having so many possible meanings that are all represented in the text of the game itself.

The Mystery:

Sufficiently chastened into spending more time at home (at least for a few days), Nancy comes home in order to spearhead her team (consisting of Ned, Bess, and George) to victory in the River Heights Clues Challenge. This friendly little competition that included No Cheating Whatsoever on the part of Other Teams heats up, however, when a clue leads Nancy to the historic Town Hall — only to have it erupt in flames minutes later. Coughing but still moving, Nancy escapes the inferno…only to be greeted by the suspicious press, declaring her guilty of setting a beloved building on fire.

Things only get worse when Chief McGinnis shows up the next day, taking Nancy into custody due to political pressure in the town. An arsonist is afoot in River Heights, and unless her friends can dig up some dirt on someone — or everyone — else, it looks like Nancy Drew won’t just be convicted by the press, but by the town that raised her…

As a mystery, ASH has some great personal stakes — for Nancy and for our suspects — and pretty layered motivations. The cast comes alive through their relations to Nancy, especially as she’s unprotected with Carson being in Australia. The shift in the mystery that occurs when Nancy can finally get out and speak to the suspects — and seeing how differently they treat her than how they treated the other members of the cast — really helps to add something new to a mystery that’s tying itself up a bit, and give it the last push of gas it needs to get us to the conclusion.

While it’s not the most involved, complex, or thematic Nancy Drew mystery ever, it does what it needs to do, and does it well – and that’s honestly all I want in a game more devoted (as it should be) to character than it is to a twisty plot.

The Suspects:

ASH has a rather full cast (not because of the size of the suspect pool, but because there are so many people involved that should be mentioned), so let’s get started with our suspects, then move on to our other cast members.

Brenda Carlton, resident Reporter of River Heights News and perpetual thorn in Nancy’s side, is both our first suspect and our culprit, proving once again that the media cannot be trusted. We haven’t had a reporter be our culprit in 21 games (TRT’s Lisa being the previous example), so I guess we were due, but Brenda is a delightfully hateful example of just how bad the media can be, so kudos for that.

And this game didn’t even come out in an election year. How refreshing.

As a suspect, Brenda is awesome. Catty, arrogant, and with a penchant for dressing up as Nancy – titian wig and all! – to perform her dastardly, dastardly acts, the game doesn’t try to be subtle for one second that she’s up to no good. While Nancy and Brenda are equally as interested — and equally as talented, by all appearances – in ferreting out a good story, Brenda takes it a step further and makes one if she can’t find one – and nurses a grudge against Nancy for exposing her for it.

Up next is ice cream shop owner and scaly politician Antonia “Toni” Scallari, a woman with a bright-eyed, smiling public face — and if you don’t like that face, don’t worry…she has others. Toni is your typical politician — pretends to be nice and pleasant, is actually a scheming villain, hates people who do honest work, and thinks that fairness in government is a luxury – but the game does stop shy of making her The Villain, preferring instead to show the crimes she’s committed in her search for money and power and letting her quietly bow out of the election.

So definitely better than she deserved, but at least the game shows her corrupt nature rather than sweeping it under the rug.

As a suspect, Toni would have made a decent villain, but it would have turned the game into a tale of cold political expediency and machinations, rather than hot-blooded revenge, and that would have been a shame. I’m a fan of how the games from about TOT on always have multiple characters who Do Crimes and Bad Things, and Toni is a prime example of a bad guy who just happens not to be The Bad Guy.

Third on the docket of suspects is our resident grumpy old man (and Nancy’s foil in this game) Alexei Markovic, who provides not only some of the best voice work in the game, but whose age is also proof that Nancy’s dad really is the silver-haired DILF we’ve been waiting for.

C’mon, he prosecuted Alexei when Alexei was 20. The youngest Carson could have been was 25 if he booked it through college, took no breaks to study for the LSAT, and blazed through law school — and immediately got a job the day after graduation. And seeing as Alexei has the “old coot” personality and grey hair…well, Carson is probably straddling the line between DILF and GILF.

(I’m so sorry for that aside, guys, it got away from me. I’m equally sorry for the first recorded use of the term “GILF” in the Nancy Drew fandom. It’s not the legacy I wanted, but perhaps the legacy I deserve.)

Back to Alexei!

Alexei is a great character, full-stop, and his VA just improves the experience more. Bitter and jaded, but by no means uncaring or evil or myopic about his troubles, Alexei is, where Nancy is concerned, a bleeding heart whose blood happens to run cold. While he could be bitter about Carson playing a part in taking away everything he had, and thus treat Nancy poorly, he instead empathizes deeply, wants to help, and, in effect, treats her the way that somebody — anybody — should have treated him.

As a suspect, Alexei, as Nancy’s foil in the game, would have been a poor choice; he’s not really there to be suspicious, he’s there to show the stakes of the mystery. No matter if Carson could find a world-class defender to get Nancy off the charges, no matter if they couldn’t even indict her, the stakes aren’t “Nancy will go to jail for Realsies” — the stakes are the town turning its back, she loses those she loves, and is unable to do the job that is the essence of who she is. In other words, if things go poorly, Nancy becomes Alexei.

One of the reasons that Alexei is such a good character is that he recognizes this immediately, and is determined to do all he can to prevent that. Sure, he knows the odds are stacked against him, and the whole town is his enemy, and he won’t get anything for helping out — but at his heart, he’s still the Magnificent Markovic; “no case too big, no fee too small,” remember?

Last of the actual suspects is noted red-light runner and girl in envious, envious green, Deirdre Shannon. Deirdre’s a rather divisive character in the fandom — especially of late — but is a character I stand firmly on the side of great, for a few reasons.

The first is that the games took a 1-dimensional, wouldn’t-cast-a-shadow-if-you-turned-her-sideways character from the Girl Detective books, there purely to make Nancy look good, and instead gave her a fully realized character, sympathetic motivations, and a whip-sharp tongue.

The second is her hilarious banter with the River Heights crew and wry sense of humor, which would be enough to make her a favorite character of mine alone.

Annoyed by constant, unflattering comparisons to Nancy from her parents (her father also being a lawyer in River Heights), she’s amused when Nancy’s arrested — though, if you read in between the lines, never suspects Nancy actually set the fire nor thinks Nancy will ultimately get the blame — though not as amused at Bess’ spying on her. She harbors a not-secret crush on Ned and enjoys spending time with him, girlfriend or no girlfriend — though it should be noted that even Ned isn’t spared her sharp tongue.

As a culprit, Deirdre would have been the obvious choice for writers who were the caliber of…well, of the Girl Detective series writers, but thankfully we’re on a higher playing field with Nik, Cathy, and the rest of the crew behind ASH. Deirdre is a snarky observer, but that’s as far as her ‘evil’ goes — and looking at her methodology for solving the Clues Challenge clues (and her commentary on her compatriots) is a joy — real detective work, indeed!

After our suspects, let’s talk about our players on the side of Right — or at least, on the side of Nancy — starting with the girl detective herself (as we will for all of the Nancy Games). ASH provides a better look at Nancy than we’ve had before (as befitting the first of the Nancy Games)

Nancy Drew is our main character, sometimes-protagonist, and at times villain protagonist — especially in the eyes of our culprits — when it comes to unearthing long-buried hurts and wrongs. Stuck in jail for a crime she didn’t commit due to political and community pressure, for the first time, the girl detective can’t really do anything by herself, and is relegated to “phone friend” while her boyfriend and childhood friends are running around frantically trying to introduce reasonable doubt in a frame-up par excellence.

Our source in SPY refers to Nancy as an autodidact — one who teaches themselves — and that’s a perfect summation of Nancy’s character. She’s no museum expert, nor cowgirl, nor entomologist, nor any other hat she’s put on — but she can fake it if someone hums a few bars. Her other big pluses as a detective are (once again according to the source in SPY) in interrogation and code/puzzle breaking — and the differences in the questions that Ned et al pose and the questions Nancy poses to our suspects does bear out the first point, at the very least. Her code and puzzle skills are the usual fallback for the games’ mysteries, more so in the modern games than in older ones (which is both a good and bad thing, depending on what types of puzzles you like).

In ASH, we learn about a key trait of Nancy’s — self-sufficiency, and, more importantly, the limits of that self-sufficiency. Able to fake most things until she makes it, Nancy is finally put in a situation where she can’t do anything by herself, and it’s a source of frustration and impatience to her that overrides other feelings (“Also, I’m in jail, and I would really like to get out,” anyone?). It’s rather stunning that Nancy goes from a triumphant Girl in the Dress to stuck in a police station, relying on the phone and her own intuition, and it does some good for her character exposure and development.

Next up is Edward “Ned” Nickerson, erstwhile boyfriend and long-suffering Emerson College student, Ned is part of an honors fraternity and is in River Heights for the Clues Challenge — and to see his girlfriend, of course. While his attempts to be Detective Ned have really only resulting in finding the keys that were in his pocket, Ned is nevertheless quite useful in getting information out of Deirdre (and is responsible for one of the funniest bits of dialogue in the game that’s not spoken directly by Deirdre).

According to the files from SPY, Ned’s defining characteristics are his honestly and his loyalty, both of which mean that he’s the ideal ‘phone friend’ when Nancy’s in a pickle — and means of course he’d be front and center, ready to do anything he needs to in order to help clear Nancy’s name. His main role in the game, however (and very interesting, as one of 6 or so Neirdre shippers in the fandom!) is to be the object of Deirdre’s window-shopping affections and to be made fun of (good-naturedly, of course) by his friends.

Because of his relationship (such as it is) with an overtly antagonistic character, Ned’s a lot of fun in ASH. I feel like he gets a lot of characterization that he often lacks in most other games (excepting CAP and SPY, of course), and it just makes me like him more.

George Fayne is also here to help — though, irritatingly, not required the same way Bess and Ned are — with her knowledge of technology and impeccable Togo-watching skills. George is a great character in the OG Nancy Drew books – the ultra-modern, straightforward, clumsy flapper, to contrast Bess’ more genteel sensibilities and Nancy’s down to earth, practical, yet fashionable nature — and one of the greatest disservices that the 60s rewrites, post-60s ND books, and, yes, the game series has done to the ND universe is to turn her into a “hurr-durr tomboy because name George like boy name” sort of mockery of her original character.

And no, I’m not crediting her as “Georgia”, because that was not her name in the books. Her name was George, full stop — once again, quite fashionable of her to have a “boy’s” name in the 20s/30s — named after her grandfather. You may fight me on this, but you will not win.

George is noted to have above-average skills in mechanical engineering, and indeed creates a jammer to stop Brenda’s broadcast in the game, but is otherwise…well, kind of pushed to the side in favor of Bess and Ned, her enmity with Deirdre notwithstanding. I’ll address this issue more in The Un-Favorite and The Fix, but a few tweaks while developing the game would have gone a long way towards defining George as a character — we’re ignoring MED wholesale, don’t worry — and helping the gameplay be a bit more varied.

George’s maternal cousin, Elizabeth “Bess” Marvin, on the other hand, is basically required to get what you need to know from Toni, but is very much not the favorite person of Alexei, due to her breaking an antique vase upon coming into his shop.

When a vase can survive the Nazis but not Bess Marvin, it seems a shame that Bess didn’t go to France with Nancy during DAN. They would have found that secret room with the artwork in like a minute and a half.

Bess is mentioned to lack judgment (her reveal of George’s crush on the snack shop boy illustrates that pretty well) but to have above-average intuition and, while manipulated easily enough, is too honest for that manipulation to really cause any lasting harm. Because of her sweet, open nature — and her open pocketbook when it comes to ice cream — she’s a favorite of Toni’s, and uses that in order to try to clear Nancy’s name and discover just what illegal, corrupt pies Toni has her grubby little politician hands in.

Going a little less friendly and a little less college-aged for our next helper, we turn to Chief McGinnis, a grumpy pushover of a cop who’s really only important for letting Nancy walk around a Police Station and solve a crime while under arrest because he didn’t wanna do his job, and for a hilarious diatribe about Pancake City.

Seriously, I go and watch that scene every so often when I need a good laugh. ASH has some fabulous comic writing, and McGinnis’ rant is a prime example.

McGinnis is pretty ineffectual as a helper, but he does allow for the first 2/3 of the game to happen by locking Nancy up (“You cannot leave jail! This is a very basic concept!), and for that, we salute him.

Rounding out our cast of Nancy-supporters is Carson Drew, who is (frustratingly, to him) stuck in Australia when all this goes down, and thus cannot use his legal prowess to free her.

Of course, as a prosecutor, I’m not sure how much help he’d be anyway, but hey, a lawyer is a lawyer is a lawyer, at least in the ever-wise eyes of HER Interactive.

Carson’s really just there (or not there, as the case may be) to explain how Nancy can be locked up with such a powerful lawyer father, honestly, but he gets some good lines in, so we’ll forgive it. He’s also there to round out the “River Heights Cast”, but I can’t help feeling that, if we were gonna have another Drew in this game, I would have taken the puppy over the golf ball. #Togo4Ever

The Favorite:

There’s a lot to love in ASH, so I’m going to focus on the biggest things. Suffice to say if a part of the game isn’t in this section but isn’t in the Un-Favorite, I love it.

I’m going to start off just by saying that the dialogue in ASH is wonderful. We’ve got distinct individual voices, sarcasm galore, enough cattiness to fuel the Halle Berry movie, and great interpersonal work, especially with Alexei.

One of the places Nik truly shines is dialogue, and a small-town environment like River Heights really shows off his skill. I sometimes hear the charge that “no one talks like this!!” leveled against the Nik games but, honestly, I talk to people every day who speak similarly to Nik’s characters, allowing for the differences in written and spoken speech, and so do most people I know. Allusions, analogies, metaphors, and aphorisms aren’t just for English class — they’re part of speaking well.

If you really wanna see dialogue where “no one talks like this,” look at the early ND games. FIN is a particularly bad offender, but SCK and STFD aren’t much better.

My favorite puzzle in the game is the letter swap puzzle inside of Scoop, by far. Sure, I enjoy other puzzles — Alexei’s number box, fingerprinting, the suspect board — immensely, and have a blast doing them, but I can spend hours figuring out old quotes on that aqua background and not notice the time passing one jot. It’s fun, references old games, and is exactly the kind of puzzle that gets me excited anyway, and I love it to pieces.

My favorite moment in the game is probably the moment Nancy takes control and goes and talks to Toni, oddly enough. The stark difference in what Toni says about Nancy while she’s in the station to what she says to her face is like a brick wall to the chest, and is, every time, the moment when you see exactly how River Heights turned on Alexei so completely as to push him out of his job and into the antique business. It’s a moment of almost stomach-sinking disgust, and I absolutely adore the game for not pulling its punches and instead keeping true to one of its major themes — that you need to see who people are in the dark, not when they’re facing you.

In the light of day, Alexei is just a cantankerous old man; Toni is a smiling, motherly ice cream store owner, Brenda is a hard-hitting reporter, and Deirdre is a vapid Queen Bee type. Under the cover of darkness, however, we see Alexei’s charity and heart, Toni’s corruption and two-faced nature, Brenda’s unethical and illegal means to her ends, and Deirdre’s soft center. And I love the game for pointing out the world of difference it makes to see what someone truly is.

For my last point, there are two characters are of note in this game that I love for very different reasons.

The first is Alexei, who is the inspiration behind the title of the meta. There’s something incredibly compelling about Alexei’s down-to-earth nature and the way he deals with being dealt the poorest hand in the world without ever dipping into “woe is me” or any other self-indulgent crap. Insatiably curious, bright, and caustic, Alexei feels like the perfect person to sit down, drink a cup of something warm, and talk about puzzles, antiques, and harsh truths with.

He’s a character who watched his entire life fall apart with one bad person’s actions — “one time, just once, I tried to speak truth to power, and man if I didn’t pay the price” — but still had it in him to keep going, even if it wasn’t what he was doing before. He went from being the town’s golden boy to a pariah, and yet still looks after River Heights and its history, even becoming the curator of the River Heights Museum (when it opens). The difference between his reaction to being falsely accused to, say, Noisette Tornade’s (DAN) reaction to being “falsely” accused is huge and, I think, rather inspiring.

The second is Deirdre Shannon, if you couldn’t tell by my gushing about her above, and, can I just say, I love everything about her. There’s a temptation to assume at first blush that she’s your average boy-stealing popular rich girl a la WAC, but actually looking at her tells a different story.

Sure, the rich part is true — but so is Nancy, and from the looks of their houses and all the trips/vacations they do, the Marvins and Faynes seem pretty well off as well. She shares the tendency for a sharp tongue with Nancy as well (as befitting her status as Nancy’s foil in DED, stay tuned!). Deirdre also doesn’t qualify as popular — her two “friends” that she hangs out with in ASH for the Clues Challenge are still in their “free trial”, and aren’t really her friends.

And her feelings for Ned? While she openly flirts with him (even if Ned doesn’t get it until the girls tell him), Deirdre isn’t looking to actually cause damage (if only because she sees Ned as completely unobtainable), and is up-front about everything she does to Nancy’s face. Putting yourself in her shoes, she’s a bright girl, in love with a boy who is the definition of out-of-reach, is constantly (and negatively) compared to the boy’s girlfriend, and feels stuck in her small town, desperate to move beyond the boredom. In other words, in any other story, she’s the protagonist. It just so happens — as she’s acutely aware — not to be her story. And that’s the kind of character that it’s impossible for me not to love.

And speaking of things impossible to love…

The Un-Favorite:

My biggest problem with ASH, as was mentioned above, is the fact that George is relegated mechanically and interpersonally to the “unimportant” bin. Nancy, Bess, and Ned all have suspects that like and don’t like them, while all George gets is a note that her and Deirdre particularly don’t get along — no extrapolation, no explanation. It makes the decision to include her as a playable character feel a bit like a last-minute decision, like Bess and Ned were planned and George was supposed to be watching Togo until the very end when she makes the jammer or something.

My least favorite puzzle in the game has got to be the stacking of the boxes and crawling towards the exit at the start to escape the fire; it’s a time-sensitive puzzle, which are usually my least favorite, and takes the mechanics of Renate’s bag puzzle and small visual distinctions, which we’ve already noted in the last meta are not particularly my jam either. I wouldn’t replace or get rid of it, it’s just my least favorite. I tend to start my game from a save I have after the puzzle — while I have to refresh on the opening occasionally, it’s better than the frustration from the combined puzzle.

I don’t have a least favorite moment from the game, to be quite honest, so let’s move on to the last section of this meta.

The Fix:

So how would I fix Alibi in Ashes?

The big thing I would change would to be to ensure that each member of Team Danger should have one culprit that likes them and one culprit that hates especially them. Nancy already has Alexei for her plus and Brenda for her minus, and Bess should keep Toni and Alexei, respectively, but both Ned and George need one more. Luckily, with four friends and four suspects, they’ll divide up evenly very easily.

My fix would be to have Ned keep Deirdre as his plus and give him Toni as his minus (local business owners usually don’t like football players for being rowdy and taking up a lot of seats, plus he’s Nancy’s boyfriend and staunchest defender).

George, meanwhile, keeps Deirdre as her minus (though flesh it out a bit more — what exactly went wrong there?) and gains Brenda as her plus. Not only would this make the endgame where she creates the jammer a little more interesting, I’d note that George and Brenda have a bit in common, due to Brenda’s technical and mechanical prowess that we see throughout the game. Throw in something with George having done a technical internship with the River Heights broadcasting network or something during high school, and we’d get a slightly different side of Brenda, even though George still dislikes her privately.

Just fixing this issue would be enough to where nothing in ASH would stand out as a real negative, but for my second, smaller fix, I’d make the friends able to call each other to change off, instead of having to call Nancy, then have her call the other person. That slows the game down and is needlessly clunky, and I’m still not quite sure why they did it.

Once those two things are fixed, there’s nothing in the way of ASH being a truly excellent game. Sure, it’s not as thematic as the few games preceding it, but it’s not supposed to be — it’s supposed to have an entertaining mystery while showing us a little more of who Nancy really is and why she does what she does, and on those (and most other) fronts, ASH is an incredibly solid, enjoyable game that I replay whenever I get the chance.

#nancy drew #clue crew #nancy drew games #alibi in ashes #nancy drew meta #long post #my meta #ASH #video games

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onebadwinter · 3 years

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Baron Helmut Zemo Tropes

Taken from Here and Here

Anti-Villain: Sometimes verges on this, though it's a case of Depending on the Writer.

Arch-Enemy: After his father's death, he takes this role to Captain America and leads the Masters of Evil after inheriting the title.

Aristocrats Are Evil: He's a baron after all, and believes his aristocratic heritage entitles him to rule.

Avenging the Villain: Helmut's original motive was to kill Captain America because he killed his father. Eventually, Helmut came to the realization that actually, Heinrich was an awful father and an even worse person.

Badass Normal: Has no powers, but regularly fights the likes of Captain America and the Avengers. He usually has a contingency that will allow him to deal with his opponent's plans anyway; it's only when these contingencies fail (as happened during his battle with Moonstone at the end of the initial run on Thunderbolts) that he's in trouble.

The Big Bad: Of his fare share of arcs, particularly those involving the Masters of Evil.

Brain Uploading: He only survived being decapitated because Techno uploaded his consciousness to a computer.

Butter Face: A Rare Male Example. He has the body you'd expect of somebody who can keep up with Captain America in terms of physique... but that handsome form is contrasted by a hideously malformed visage. For a while, he had a young, dashing look again after hijacking the body of the Helmut from another Earth, but only two years later his face got disfigured again. When he got Carla Sofen's Moonstone, he used it to fix that, but when Melissa broke it again...

Calling the Old Man Out: During his trip back in time, he ran into his father while the latter was gleefully doing mad science for the Nazis. Helmut had long since discarded any Nazi prejudices he had once had, and was fuming watching his father put down other races, the handicapped, etc. Finally he had enough and started beating the hell out of him while giving a "Reason You Suck" Speech. Quite the sign of Character Development for the guy who started out worshiping and avenging his father's memory.

Captain Patriotic: At the beginning of the Thunderbolts, he disguised himself as Citizen V, supposedly the son of a previous hero who'd gone by that name, whom Zemo had killed. Zemo went the whole hog, even decking himself in a cape designed after the American flag.

The Chessmaster: Zemo has a plan for everything, and lays them out months in advance.

Cool Mask: Wears a tighter fitting version of his father's mask.

The Cynic: Has a generally negative view of humanity.

Daddy Issues: He loved his father, and his father loved him... until the Adhesive X incident, where he became outright abusive in every way. Originally, Helmut blamed Captain America. Now, he acknowledges that his father was just a horrible human being.

Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He once shot the Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe and a being way outside his normal weight class, through the head. Admittedly, there were mitigating circustances that allowed him to do this, and the Grandmaster did get better (because, hey, comics).

Disney Villain Death: Many, many times (see Never Found the Body below).

Even Evil Has Standards: Arranged the death of one of his ancestors during a time-travel jaunt, after he found out the man was a rapist and a mass-murderer who did it all For the Evulz. He later clashed with another ancestor when he thought he was harassing a girl (the two were actually in love, and he quickly apologised).

Evil Genius

Evil Is Petty:

The Faceless: He rarely ever removes his mask, due to his face being horribly scarred in a accident.

Facial Horror: His head has been slashed up so badly that it's practically a skull, with ribbons of flesh draping over his eyes and sliced-off cheeks and lips. The sight of his face visibly disgusts everyone in the original Thunderbolts.

Freudian Excuse: Raised by his father to believe in his inherent superiority. There wasn't a lot of dad hugs down in that South American jungle, mostly just rants and lectures.

Good Scars, Evil Scars: Hideously disfigured beneath his mask.

Grand Theft Me: After becoming a "ghost", his mind was transferred to the actual son of Citizen V (Techno noted it was basically him playing a joke). That is, until an energy conflict - the V-Batallion tried to teleport Citizen V as the body was being sucked into a portal - made his mind be expelled into Techno's machinery. But given he arrived at Counter-Earth, this meant Zemo could do a literal case of the trope, and took the body of his self from this world.

Heel–Face Revolving Door: Cannot make up his mind which side he is supposed to be on. He even once took a bullet for Cap despite being his sworn enemy.

In the Blood: The arrogance and the drive for control certainly are.

Joker Immunity: Unlike his father, he can never seem to be put down for long.

The Leader: Of the Masters of Evil and the Thunderbolts.

Legacy Character: To his father, Baron Heinrich Zemo XII.

Manipulative Bastard: Zemo's very good at getting other people to do what he wants, playing on their emotions and desires.

Master Swordsman: One of the best in the Marvel Universe. Zemo's dueled the likes of Captain America and survived several decades worth of warfare on a time travel jaunt.

Nazi Nobleman: Started out as one, though he's moved away from fascism in recent years. Nowadays his goals align more with Dirty Communists.

Never Found the Body: During the run of Thunderbolts alone he was declared dead on four separate occasions, all of which turned out to be false. In each instance, his body was never found. By the fourth time, most of the team just assume he'll turn up eventually (not that they want him to).

Noble Demon: He's much more noble than his father,for sure.

Purple Is Powerful: Signifies his aristocratic leanings.

Secondary Color Nemesis: Purple, to oppose Cap's blue and red.

Take Over the World: He insists it's to save it. Some people (like Songbird) aren't convinced.

Taking the Bullet: Once leapt in the way of an energy blast an insane Moonstone aimed at Captain America. Messed his face up bad.

There Are No Therapists: This guy is seriously messed up and would probably have turned out differently if he got professional help.

Token Evil Teammate: Alongside Techno, he serves as this for the first iteration of Thunderbolts. While most members of the team fall somewhere between The Hero and the Anti-Hero, Zemo shows no signs of having softened whilst playing-hero, and alongside Techno manages to almost conquer the world and turn it into a Darwinist nightmare. He also constantly mocks his teammates for wanting to be heroes, calling them "weak" and "traitors to the cause" when they show the smallest signs of heroism outside of their pubic duties.

Unlucky Thirteen: He's the thirteenth Baron Zemo.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: In his mind, at any rate, after some Character Development, he becomes determined to take over the world for its own good. That doesn't mean that he's not an Axe-Crazy terrorist who's willing to perform some truly heinous actions for the sake of the "greater good." Zemo: I would never have hurt a world I worked so hard to save.

Western Terrorists: More like this than a Nazi.

Wicked Cultured: When being held at swordpoint by his worst ancestor, an evil aristocrat who believed only in the absolute of power, said ancestor's son (who'd struck up a friendship with Zemo) asked what was more absolute than power. Zemo's answer? "To be, or not to be."

Worthy Opponent: Sometimes sees Captain America this way, and definitely sees Sharon Carter this way.

Xanatos Speed Chess: He's good at incorporating the gambits of others into his plans, as evidenced by his deft manipulation of Moonstone when they were both members of the Thunderbolts.

One of his nastiest acts of spite was destroying a box of Cap's treasured belongings, including some of his last links to the past, right in front of his eyes.

What was his initial plan in founding the Thunderbolts? Pretend to be heroes, earn America and the world's trust, become famous and respected, and then gather knowledge on the other heroes to... sell to the criminal underworld? Eventually, Moonstone points out this is a freaking stupid plan.

Taken to the highest extreme possible. When he actually did have the power to implement whatever change he might have wanted, Songbird shut him down with the intention of killing him out of not trusting him. What were what he believed could have been his last words?

MCU Zemo Tropes

Adaptational Attractiveness: He's quite handsome here, while his comic counterpart usually has to wear a mask to hide his hideously charred, disfigured face. This is true to his first appearance in the comics as a one-shot villain, before he was scarred upon becoming a recurring character.

Adaptational Heroism: In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he does don his iconic comic book alter ego, unlike in the comics where he was a straight-up one-note supervillain, Zemo here is depicted so far as an Ambiguously Evil Anti-Hero ally of Avengers Sam and Bucky without mostly ever betraying them until his escape from the hotel in the fourth episode with most of his redeeming and justifiable qualities shown upfront more than his villainous qualities that Civil War mostly showcased, but still likely an on-and-off antagonist simultaneously during his Enemy Mine with the two superheroes.

Adaptational Nationality: In the comics Helmut Zemo is German, but here he is a Sokovian. Ironically, his actor actually is German, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sees a bit of his German accent creep in. He also has a vast array of vehicles and a private plane in Germany, and seems very familiar with both Berlin and the German language. Whether this is a Retcon into making him part German or just a Mythology Gag is yet to be seen, though he does identify Sokovia as "his country".

Adaptational Nice Guy: His comic counterpart and that of his father were literal Nazis who wanted mass genocide and world domination, and while the Helmut of the comics did grow out of the former, he still tends to try the latter. This version of Zemo, despite being on a black ops killing team, has a much simpler and more sympathetic motivation, while his father was merely a civilian. Neither have any ties to HYDRA (aside from Helmut's exploitation of HYDRA's Winter Soldier project), while the versions from the comics are both prominent members of that organisation.

Adaptational Wimp: In the comics Zemo is a major adversary of Captain America and the Avengers, with a particular emphasis on his skills at fencing and manipulation. While this version retains his cunning, he is also presented as much less of a direct threat to anyone despite being a former black operative; when Black Panther decides to bring him in alive, he goes down with barely a struggle. Most of his success ties into this, with him exploiting his lack of obvious supervillainous affect to stay under the heroes' radar until his plan requires him to show his hand, then relying on Steve and Tony's flaws and personal issues to do most of the work for him. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier shows that he hasn't forgotten how to do his own dirty work, however, putting his soldier skills to use alongside his usual guile and strategizing once he gets back into the fray.

Adaptation Personality Change: In the comics, Zemo is generally depicted as an unapologetic villain who is primarily driven by a selfish desire to rule over others. His film version, on the other hand, has a much more sympathetic motive for his villainous actions, as he's just a victim of the Avengers' collateral damage in Sokovia seeking revenge for the death of his entire family.

Affably Evil:

Alas, Poor Villain: His defeat in Civil War is treated as an utterly somber affair, with him having nothing left after completing his plan and hoping to commit Suicide by Cop at T'Challa's hands before trying to kill himself when T'Challa refuses to be consumed by vengeance as Zemo has. Even though he got what he wanted (up to a point), it doesn't change the fact that his family is gone forever.

The Alcoholic: Following his escape from prison in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo reveals himself to be a little bit of a tippler, partaking in shots, champagne, helping himself to Sharon's expensive liquor collection, then taking more shots at a club. He apparently approves of the way they party in Madripoor.

All for Nothing: He wanted to destroy the Avengers and was content with them dividing. Thanos's arrival and the events of Endgame undo all of that. In fact, the Avengers are no doubt more beloved than ever as a result.

Anti-Villain: Despite the grim and often hypocritical in hindsight actions he resorts to, he does have some good traits and was hoping for a cleaner way to get what he wanted first. Also, his motive — revenge for the collateral damage-induced loss of his family — is at least a little sympathetic.

Apple of Discord: His Evil Plan is to find evidence that Bucky Barnes murdered Tony Stark's parents while under HYDRA control and show it to Stark, so Bucky's friend Steve Rogers and Tony will turn on each other over whether to spare or kill Bucky, and the Avengers will be ripped apart as they side with one leader or the other.

Arch-Enemy: Since the death of Ulysses Klaue, it seems Zemo has taken his seat as Wakanda's most wanted for the death of King T'Chaka. Not a day after he breaks out of prison, Ayo is already hot on his trail to capture him.

Aristocrats Are Evil: It's revealed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that he is a nobleman like his comic counterpart. Though unlike said counterpart, his upbringing had nothing to do with him becoming a villain since his father was by all accounts a decent man in this universe.

Badass Longcoat: The events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have Zemo wearing a stylish winter coat, complete with Conspicuous Gloves.

Badass Normal: Unlike most of the Avengers, he's just a plain old human. But, through sheer patience and ingenuity, he still managed to tear them apart. During the trip to Madripoor he proves to be no slouch in combat either, reminding everyone he was former special forces. He also comes much closer to permanently stopping Morgenthau than Falcon or Bucky have ever managed so far, largely because he's fully willing to kill.

The Bad Guy Wins: Downplayed. Zemo has achieved his goals but with never with the fully desired outcome.

Batman Gambit: He's good at finding ways to make other people do things for him by exploiting their predictable behavior.

Beard of Evil: He has grown a beard during his eight years in prison as seen in Episode 2 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Beware the Superman: His return in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals his own take on the idea. While he is against the idea of a Super Soldier on principle, he is not specifically against them as people, but more how they are precisely put on a pedestal, their flaws washed away/ignored and subsequently inspire Blind Obedience. He specifically notes how the personal loyalty inspired by Steve Rogers to Sam and Bucky (then, even now) precisely drives them to such extremes—even breaking the law much like they did to free him. Sam and Bucky do not protest the point. He admits that Steve was not corrupted by the power he was given but points out there was only one of him compared to the many who would abuse it. He is proven right on this point by John Walker taking the super soldier serum and going off the deep end.

Big Bad: Of Captain America: Civil War. He exploits and exacerbates the ideological differences between Captain America and Iron Man, resulting in the eponymous Good vs Good conflict that threatens to destroy the Avengers.

Big Damn Villains: As Sam, Bucky, and Sharon are pinned down by bounty hunters in the Madripoor shipyard, Zemo suddenly makes a grandiose entrance in full villain garb on a ledge, killing several assassins by shooting a nearby gas tank with his pistol before going to ground and taking down the rest in close combat, opening up the heroes' window of escape.

Blue Blood: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier reveals that he was always a baron. While the fall of Sokovia took away most of the power of the title he still has a lot of money and connections as a result of his position.

Breaking the Fellowship: Thanks to his efforts, the Avengers are severely compromised, with several of the foundational friendships that held them together torn apart and anyone who sided with Cap imprisoned or branded a fugitive. Even Tony and his supporters still bear physical and mental scars caused by fighting their friends.

The Bus Came Back: After being imprisoned at the end of Civil War, Zemo returns in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with the title characters seeking his assistance in tracking down the source of the Flag Smashers's Super Soldier powers.

Cape Busters: Has a personal grudge against the Avengers and plots to destroy them by pitting them against one another. By the time of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he has apparently narrowed his vendetta to all super soldiers, stating that they "cannot be allowed to exist." At the same time, as stated above in Beware the Superman, his is more nuanced compared to other versions of this trope.

Character Tic: He has a habit of tilting his head whenever he's attempting to manipulate someone. It seems to be a subconscious thing he does, as he immediately stops doing it when Sam notices and lampshades it in Episode 4 of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

The Chessmaster: He plays all the Avengers like pawns. He frames Bucky for a crime, to have the world hunt him and lure him out of hiding. This partially causes the Avengers to turn on each other, divided over Bucky's innocence. He takes the UN interrogator's place, extorting information out of Bucky and using the trigger words to activate Bucky's soldier conditioning. Before finally showing Tony the tape of what really happened to his parents, sending him into a murderous rage to kill Bucky.

Colonel Badass: He used to be a Colonel in the Sokovian Special Forces, and he is one of the most effective foes the Avengers have faced — though not because of his combat abilities, but because of how effective he is about executing his plans.

Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: In Civil War, he's never called "Baron Zemo", the title he goes by in the comics, and is instead referred to by his military rank Colonel. This is subverted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which reveals that he was Sokovian royalty and has several characters address him as "Baron".

The Comically Serious: His stoic demeanour tends to stick out when he's in the same room as Sam and Bucky, like when he awkwardly jumps to the defense of Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" soundtrack, or his crappy dancing in Sharon's nightclub.

Composite Character: He takes Klaue's role as the man who murders King T'Chaka.

Cool Car: He actually has a lot of these. His family owned an impressive collection of classics, with plenty of Rolls' and Bentleys in his garage. It's a taste he himself had acquired, as he, Sam, Bucky and Sharon make their getaway out of Madripoor in a super-charged muscle car he had stashed in the docks.

Crusading Widower: His wife was among the civilian casualties in Sokovia. He keeps a recording of her last voice message on his phone.

Cunning Linguist: Zemo's multilingualism allows him to assume different identities. Aside from his native Sokovian, he speaks English, German, Russian, and presumably French, given that he was able to convincingly impersonate a French-speaking psychologist.

Death Seeker: Once he has put Iron Man against Bucky and Cap, he first attempts to persuade Black Panther into killing him, then decides to shoot himself. Black Panther catches the bullet before snagging him a headlock so he can face justice.

Determinator: He manages to find new resolve after Civil War, and Iron Man's sacrifice has done little to change his views. With Iron Man dead and Captain America retired, he decides he will stop the creation of any and all super soldiers in the world no matter what happens.

Divide and Conquer: His plan against the Avengers, seeing that there's absolutely no chance he can fight them on his own. He even compares the Avengers to some sort of a mighty empire, which can only be felled by using this tactic.

Driven to Suicide: Tries to goad T'Challa into killing him, and then to shoot himself when he refuses. Neither works out for him; making enemies of a guy with Super Strength and a bulletproof suit was a bad idea, evidently.

Elites Are More Glamorous: His family is Sokovian nobility and he was colonel in EKO Scorpion, Sokovia's black ops kill squad. Even if Sokovia was a developing Balkans country, that still makes him pretty dangerous.

Enemy Mine: Downplayed Trope. Despite not personally hating Sam and Bucky, the latter two consider their alliance with Zemo this due to Civil War and the damage he caused; the only reason they tolerate him is that he can accomodate them with the resources they need to take down the Flag-Smashers. To his credit, Zemo doesn't hesitate in helping their cause because of his Beware the Superman beliefs, even expressing interest in facing Karli Morgenthau herself.

Even Evil Has Standards:

Evil Genius: While he has combat training, his greatest strength is his intellect. Aside from his abilities as The Chessmaster, Zemo was able to crack the encrypted HYDRA files on the Winter Soldier program that Black Widow released to the Internet and build a very effective EMP bomb in his hotel room.

Face Death with Dignity: When T'Challa finally catches up with him at the end of Civil War, he's completely calm and fully prepared for T'Challa to kill him to avenge his father, even seeming to acknowledge that in his mind T'Challa's revenge against him is just as justified as his own revenge against the Avengers. Later, in episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he's completely calm and accepting when it looks like Bucky is going to execute him, and later he calmly walks away with the Dora Milaje when they show up to take him into custody, knowing there's a decent chance he's going to be executed in a spectacular fashion in Wakanda for killing the king (for some reason the Dora Milaje went to all that trouble just to turn him over to the U.N. where he'll be held in the same prison that used to hold Captain America's half of the Avengers, but he's got no way of knowing that).

Facial Scruff: His brief appearance in the second episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has Zemo with this due to his time spent in prison. Downplayed in that it looks relatively thin despite having been locked up for eight years at this point, and he shaves it off shortly after.

Fantastic Racism: He has a distaste for enhanced individuals in general, and super soldiers in specific. Specially if such super soldiers are put on pedestals he deems completely unearned.

Flaw Exploitation: He turns the Avengers, particularly Steve and Tony, against each other through a series of Batman Gambits with the ultimate goal of making them fight each other to the death — or if not that, at least to the point of no longer being a cohesive unit. In particular, he reveals to Tony the truth of what happened to his parents knowing that he'll go into an Unstoppable Rage against Bucky and that Cap will prioritise keeping Bucky alive even at Tony's expense.

Friend to All Children: Invoked in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In the fourth episode, Zemo earns the trust of a few children in Latvia by offering them sweets in exchange for information. But he also uses to opportunity to manipulate them into thinking Bucky and Sam aren't to be trusted.

Four Eyes, Zero Soul: When he infiltrates the UN compound to activate the Winter Soldier, he wears a pair of glasses as part of his disguise.

From Nobody to Nightmare:

Gambit Roulette: The final part his master plan relies on little other than his assumptions on the personalities and capabilities of various characters after studying thousands of pieces of intel from HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. that Black Widow dumped online back in Winter Soldier. The whole thing would have fallen apart if...

Godzilla Threshold: Sam and Bucky see recruiting him to stop the Flag-Smashers at this...and ultimately cross it when they run out of options.

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Even if any of the above had happened, Zemo still would’ve won because his entire goal was for the Avengers to disband - whether through an amicable parting-of-ways or a bloodbath - it was always a matter of how big his win would be. The only real flaw in his plan was the interference of Black Panther, and the creation of the Sokovia Accords, both of which he’d have no way to account for.

He Who Fights Monsters: He wants to take revenge for the death of his family, which he blames on the Avengers for causing collateral damage in the Battle of Sokovia. In doing so, he is responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent people himself. He even earns someone coming after him for revenge in T'Challa.

Hidden Agenda Villain: His motives remain unclear for much of Civil War and are only revealed as the final battle is taking place.

Hidden Depths: Like Sam, he's a fan of Marvin Gaye and considers "Trouble Man" a masterpiece.

High Collar of Doom: He does the Marquee Alter Ego and Not Wearing Tights through the whole of Civil War, but his winter gear in the third act features a large collar turned up, giving off this vibe. His supervillain gear in Falcon and the Winter Soldier also features one of these, albeit with his comic self's fur trim included.

Human Shield: Thanks to his EKO Scorpion training, is fully capable of taking hostages to hide and shoot behind, as a group of assassins in Madripoor discovered.

Hypocrite:

Interrupted Suicide: After explaining his motivations to T'Challa and apologizing for the death of his father, Zemo tries to shoot himself in the head. T'Challa, however, has none of that, and stops him to make sure he pays for his crimes and turns him over to the authorities.T'Challa: The living are not done with you yet.

It's Personal: Zemo has a personal vendetta against the Avengers. His family was killed during the Battle of Sokovia and he simply wants revenge on those he holds responsible. As pointed out in Beware the Superman, he extends this to any Super Soldier held in such high regard, which is why he has no problem teaming up with Sam (who's more or less Badass Normal like himself) and Bucky (who is a Super Soldier, but isn't exactly held in high regard). When he, Sam, Bucky, and Sharon come across the HYDRA scientist responsible for creating more Super Soldiers after the failed Siberian Winter Soldiers, Zemo quietly and stoically shoots the man before the team is attacked.

Jerkass Has a Point: In episode 4 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo explains why he doesn’t believe that super soldiers should be allowed to exist. By his own previous statements, Sam would probably agree with much of what he says, and John Walker spends the rest of the episode illustrating his arguments.

Kick the Son of a Bitch:

Kill and Replace: Murders the psychologist who was supposed to be evaluating Bucky and takes his place, taking the opportunity to activate Bucky's brainwashing during the evaluation.

Knight of Cerebus: He's a Villainous Underdog, but he manages to tear the Avengers apart through tactics. Unlike previous villains, his methods includes manipulating Tony into trying to execute Bucky to avenge the deaths of his parents and turning on Steve in the process. Averted in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier when his Laughably Evil side lightens the mood.

Know When to Fold 'Em:

Laser-Guided Karma:

Laughably Evil: Downplayed the next time he makes an appearance as he becomes The Comically Serious in an Endearingly Dorky kind of way when he joins in Sam's conversation with Bucky to praise Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" soundtrack, or his lame dancing in Sharon's nightclub.

Manipulative Bastard: He is very skilled at manipulation, having studied the Avengers' psychological profiles in order to exploit their individual weaknesses and play them against each other.

Man of Wealth and Taste: Zemo is a baron and more than loaded, owning a private jet, a fleet of classic cars, a personal retainer, and plenty of money and stashed resources.

Marquee Alter Ego: In Civil War, Zemo does not wear a mask — or any kind of costume at all, unlike his comic book counterpart. This changes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Master of Disguise: Zemo uses prosthetics and heavy makeup in order to convincingly make himself look like Bucky Barnes in the security cameras, fooling just about everyone into thinking the latter was responsible for the UN explosion. He later pulls a Kill and Replace on the psychiatrist who was intended to interview a contained Bucky with no one none the wiser until things start going wrong. Although the latter example is downplayed as when Tony finally discovers the real psychiatrist's body, he looks decidedly nothing like Zemo's impersonation of him.

Misplaced Retribution: Zemo holds the Avengers responsible for all the damage Ultron caused; while Tony and Bruce did create Ultron (after the former was influenced by Wanda), the "end all human life" thing was still his idea. The rest of the Avengers, however didn't know about Tony's plan, and did their best to stop Ultron once he went rogue.

Moral Myopia: He seeks to avenge his family, but he ends up killing multiple innocents who surely had family of their own. He acknowledges this, seeing as how he apologizes to Black Panther for killing his father but by that time he’s hoping to be killed so he can join his family, either by T’Challa or his own hand, so it’s more about easing his conscience rather than remorse for what his actions indirectly caused.

Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Instead of the purple and gold costume he had in the comics, he sticks to dark civilian clothes. Near the end of Civil War, he has a pitch-black coat with a large collar. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier trailers and promo images however reveal he’ll be getting a new costume featuring his signature purple mask and even incorporating the classic ermine trim on his collar.

Nazi Hunter: As part of his Adaptational Nice Guy he's no longer a member of the Nazi-affiliated and fascistic HYDRA group, but is shown to despite and openly oppose them, telling Karpov that "HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap". The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has him openly despise Nazis and reveals that he'd been hunting down and killing HYDRA members for years as part of his quest to destroy the Super Serum, long before the destruction of Sokovia.

Necessary Evil: How Bucky, and especially Sam, view him in their fight against the Flag-Smashers. No one knows more about the super-soldier serum and Hydra than Zemo, and fortunately for them, they have a common enemy in the Flag-Smashers.

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: While his plan does succeed in its goal, it does allow Steve to find Bucky, after fruitlessly spending two years scouring the Earth for him, and gives them an ally who can get the brainwashing out of Bucky's head.

Nice to the Waiter: He is quite friendly and courteous to both a staff member of the hotel he stayed at for Civil War, and his old family butler.

No-Nonsense Nemesis: Zemo is an extremely pragmatic man who knows full well that he's just an ordinary person in an extraordinary world, and realizes that it will give him no quarter if he were to dally about with regards to his vengeance. He has no choice but to be utterly cutthroat if he wants to complete his goal. This is especially shown in his first full-blown action sequence in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, taking down assassins after himself and the heroes in a surprise attack that wouldn't be out of place in a first-person shooter game.

Non-Action Big Bad: Although he has military training, he never directly fights any of the Avengers in Civil War, acknowledging that he could never physically stand up to the likes of them. Instead, he relies more on subterfuge and deception. Becomes a Subverted Trope by the time of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, showing he's fully capable of taking down several assassins after the heroes, though all of them are still normal humans.

Not So Above It All: After being freed from prison in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo shows that he isn't a stoic and unpleasant individual 24/7. Notably, he jumps in on Sam and Bucky's conversation about Marvin Gaye's Troubleman soundtrack to give his own thoughts on the record, and he can be seen thoroughly enjoying himself Madripoor, drinking quite a bit of hard liquor and awkwardly dancing at the Little Princess nightclub.

Nothing Left to Do but Die: After getting Tony to fight Steve and Bucky, Zemo decides to listen to his wife's voicemail one last time, before deleting it and attempting to commit suicide.

Nothing Personal: He tells T'Challa that he is sorry for killing his father and that he seemed like a good man in Civil War. While conversing with Bucky for the first time since the events of that film in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he says this verbatim about using him to tear apart the Avengers.

Not Wearing Tights: He doesn't wear anything remotely resembling a costume in Civil War. However, he dons the purple mask in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Outliving One's Offspring: His son was a casualty from the Avengers' fight with Ultron.

Old Money: He is generationally wealthy due to his family being Sokovian royalty.

Only Sane Man: In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it says a lot about Sam's present circle of associates that (other than Sharon Carter) Zemo is by far the most mentally well-balanced individual Sam has around him at his job.

Papa Wolf: The reason he's out to destroy the Avengers? His family was killed in their fight with Ultron.

Patriotic Fervor: Averted. As Zemo himself remarks ruefully, while he served in Sokovia's armed forces, his drive for vengeance isn't out of any love for the country, as he never actually had much patriotic feeling. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier shows that he does have some serious grievances over how it ended up, though, even chastising Sam and Bucky for not visiting the memorial.

Politically Correct Villain: As part of his Adaptational Nice Guy he's no longer a member of the Nazi-affiliated and fascistic HYDRA group, but is a fan of Marvin Gaye and understands Trouble Man (Sam's favorite album) to be a condensation of the African-American experience. Also berates Sam for stereotyping himself as a "pimp" just because he's flamboyantly dressed.

Purple Is Powerful: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sees Zemo don a purple mask, coat, and gloves as he resurfaces to the criminal world.

Put on a Prison Bus: Zemo is taken to prison by Black Panther before he can commit suicide, ultimately sitting out the next few years until his return in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. And it happens again in Episode 5 of the aforementioned series, where he's taken by the Dora Milaje to the Raft.

Pyrrhic Victory: Zemo succeeds in fracturing the Avengers and getting the majority of them branded as fugitives, but he is also captured by Black Panther and still has to face prosecution for the murders he committed. It also works vice versa on his capture being a Pyrrhic Victory for the heroes. Best summarized by the following exchange:Everett K. Ross: So how does it feel? To spend all that time, all that effort, and to see it fail so spectacularly? Helmut Zemo: ...Did it?

Revenge Myopia: Getting his revenge was worth anything — including inflicting upon others the same pain he complained about suffering. Lampshaded at the end of the movie, when T'Challa observes that the revenge he seeks has consumed him. Worse still, because he tore the Avengers apart, they had no gameplan and were unable to present a united front against Thanos, leading to even more families the universe over being devastated by the Snap.

Rogues Gallery Transplant: Downplayed. While Zemo is still an enemy of Captain America and The Falcon as he was in the comics, he also ends up becoming an enemy of Black Panther's, due to his involvement in King T'Chaka's death. It extends to the entire nation of Wakanda as well, as they immediately dispatch Ayo to apprehend him when he escapes from prison in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: His noble lineage while serving in the Sokovian special forces makes him this.

Secretly Wealthy: He may have been living the gritty villain life in Civil War (probably to fly under the radar), but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals that he is a wealthy Baron like his comics counterpart. Sam even reacts with "So all this time, you've been rich?"

A Sinister Clue: Zemo is left-handed and is the Big Bad of Civil War. Shooting a gun with his left hand starts off his Big Damn Villains moment in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Sucks at Dancing: While the gang rests and spends the night at Sharon's club in Madripoor, Zemo's dancing moves leave him wanting. Let's just say he was channeling his inner Commander Shepard.

Suicide by Cop: After apologizing to T'Challa for killing his father, he says that he seemed like a good man "with a dutiful son", saying this last part with a meaningful glance, obviously hinting that he's fine with T'Challa taking vengeance upon him now. When T'Challa refuses to do so, Zemo attempts to just shoot himself, but T'Challa thwarts this effort as well.

Superhero Movie Villains Die: Subverted. After completing his plan to turn Iron Man and Captain America against each other, he first attempts Suicide by Black Panther. Attempts being the operative word, as T'Challa refuses when he realises how close he came to turning out like Zemo. As a result, Zemo attempts to shoot himself in the head, but Black Panther stops him and turns him into the authorities, leaving him incarcerated but very much alive.

Supporting Protagonist: Of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as most of Bucky's and Sam's story and dynamic are sometimes told from his viewpoint during his team-up with them.

They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: There's nothing from his looks that would suggest that he's more than just an everyday guy.

Took a Level in Cheerfulness: He's much more upbeat in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier than he was in Captain America: Civil War. Which makes sense: in the latter he had just lost his family and was on a revenge quest whereas in the former the stakes aren't as personal and he's had time to grieve for his family in prison, meaning he has the time and temperament to joke around, make fun of "allies" and dance badly.

Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed, but in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he's much friendlier with Sam and Bucky than he was with Tony and Steve in Civil War. Justified, as this time around he's working together with them to take down the Flag-Smashers and even then he still takes the time to engage them in relatively civil conversations.

Tragic Villain: He pursues his vengeance purely because he feels he has nothing else to live for without his family. This is highlighted by his decision to goad Black Panther into killing him and, when that doesn't work, shoot himself.

Tritagonist: Of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he teams up with Sam and Bucky in their crusade to defeat the Flag Smashers, while being more developed as a character in contrast to his debut in Civil War along the way of the narrative.

Tranquil Fury: Despite spending the whole movie on a murderous crusade, Zemo avoids all the theatrics of Loki or Ultron and seldom even raises his voice. This includes when he finally spells out his motives to the heroes.

Troll: Even when he's not manipulating or killing everyone around him, he's kind of a dick, as seen in his reappearance in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, reciting Bucky's trigger phrase, knowing it doesn't work, just to upset him, needling Sam about his experience in the Raft, and later telling his retainer to serve Sam and Bucky them any food that's gone off.

Truer to the Text: Zemo in Civil War was a borderline In Name Only depiction of him. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier retroactively adds a lot more aspects of the original comic character, such as his noble status, his costume, and his physical prowess.

Unknown Rival: To the Flag-Smashers, particularly Karli Morgenthau. Do to being enhanced with the super-soldier serum, Zemo considers the Flag-Smashers to be dangerous individuals, and is more than willing to form an Enemy Mine with Sam and Bucky to take them down. Karli on the other hand, isn't even aware that Zemo exists until he shoots her and destroys the serum right in front of her. Even then, she seems more content to get up and run than to try to confront him for his actions.

Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He successfully managed to break up the Avengers, hoping to bring down the most powerful team of beings in the universe to avenge the deaths of his family. Unfortunately for him, it worked a little too well, as they don't stand on a united front when Thanos arrives and, despite putting up a good fight, get flattened by the Mad Titan. Said Mad Titan then uses the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life in the universe, turning the world into a total mess that it spends five years trying to recover from until the Avengers find a way to set things right. Even when they do undo the Snap, the world falls into utter chaos once again trying to handle those that were restored to life, leading to the Flag-Smashers taking rise and causing just enough trouble to force Bucky and Sam to bust Zemo out of jail to help them.

Villain Protagonist: So far of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, when he teams up with Sam and Bucky to take down the Flag Smashers, getting more screen time and more of his development unlike in Civil War.

Villain Respect: As of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo develops this towards Sam Wilson due to his refusal to be ehnanced into being super soldier while maintaining his idealistic outlook. He also concedes that Steve Rogers was not corrupted by the power he held but holds him as an exception.

Villainous Underdog: He's not a Physical God, not an alien, nor a Super Soldier. He's just a former military colonel with patience, a simple yet effective plan, and The Power of Hate. This is exactly why Sam and Bucky decide to bring him into their crusade against the Flag-Smashers.

Weak, but Skilled: Invoked. Zemo is a professionally trained special ops colonel who has the combat skills to take down regular men with ease. However, he knows that no amount of skill can destroy a group of enhanced individuals like the Avengers, and so relies on his manipulation and espionage skills to turn them against each other instead.

Weapon of Choice: A Smith and Wesson 6906 pistol, which he uses to execute the other Winter Soldiers and attempt suicide.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zemo's objective in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is to stop the creation of any and all super soldiers, believing that they create symbols of facism like the Red Skull once did. He accomplishes this in the fourth episode by shooting Karli Morgenthau multiple times and then smashing the remaining vials as Nico is helping her escape him.

What You Are in the Dark: When Zemo corners Karli and discovers the last of the Super Soldier Serum in her possession, rather than take it for himself, which would have made his mission a lot easier, he smashes the vials and would have successfully destroyed them all had Walker not intervened.

Wicked Cultured: He's a connoiseur of music and art, as revealed in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He has quite a sympathetic motive for his mission of revenge against the Avengers, namely that he blames them for the death of his family.

Xanatos Speed Chess: He's not in control of everything that happens in Civil War (for one thing, he has nothing to do with the Sokovia Accords), but he's good at taking advantage of unexpected situations to further his plans. Even more so in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. In Civil War, at least he still instigates most of the events, but in the show, he's broken out of prison without having expected to and is more or less thrust into an ongoing conflict he has nothing to do with. He still manages to play the heroes and the villains—that he utterly disagrees with—and so far has gotten away completely unscathed, once again having succeeded at what he set out to do.

He's the Big Bad of Civil War and is more than willing to commit mass murder to achieve his ends, but the times he acts polite or remorseful are genuine. He states he'd rather avoid unnecessary deaths if he can, has a few standards, apologizes to T'Challa for killing his father, has regular courteous interactions with a staff member of the hotel he's staying at, and even eventually apologizes to Bucky for using him. Considering he's just a grieving man who's dedicated to avenging the deaths of his family, it makes sense he wouldn't act like a cackling maniac.

By The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, he is shown to be fairly courteous to those around him (who, apart from his family butler were his enemies before) and he is capable of holding civil conversations with Bucky, even offering him a genuine apology for his actions in Civil War. He also agrees to join Sam and Bucky's crusade against the Flag-Smashers, without the driving of a hard bargain one might expect from him. He is also fully willing to lend his resources from the criminal underground to Sam and Bucky to take the Flag-Smashers down, no questions asked.

While none of the Avengers die as a consequence of his plan in Captain America: Civil War, he accomplishes his main goal in dividing them and is content with this. While the looming threat of Thanos forces them back together in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the reunion turns out to be temporary — by the time of Spider-Man: Far From Home, WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Avengers are still very much defunct.

In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he successfully killed the man who recreated the super soldier formula and destroyed all but one of the remaining samples while inadvertently leading to John Walker gaining the Super Serum for himself. This turns in Zemo's favor after Walker brutally executes a defenseless Flag Smasher in broad daylight in front of civilians, corrupting the image of super soldiers in the public eye. He willing gives up a chance at pulling a Villain: Exit, Stage Left to visit a memorial and allows him self to be captured, his work done.

He framed Bucky Barnes for bombing the United Nations, then relied on everyone else including Captain America hunting him down for it, and further that no one but the Avengers would even be capable of killing Bucky, to get access to Barnes and his knowledge of HYDRA bases.

He arranges for his ruse to be discovered by the media, relying on Tony to find out and make amends with Captain America, so they'll both find the Siberian compound where Zemo reveals to them that Bucky killed Tony's parents.

His entire plan is based on assumptions from the S.H.I.E.L.D. intel on the Avengers he's studied that Captain America's over-protectiveness of his friends and Iron Man's complex over the death of his parents would mean not only that the two would turn on each other if Bucky's involvement in the Starks' death was revealed, but that Steve wouldn't have talked to Tony about Bucky's potential involvement beforehand.

His setup gambled on the fact that it is a conflict that only works if there are no voices of reason to hold either of them back. The fact that the airport fight left only two active members of the Avengers, Bucky and a third party present in the Hydra compound in a place where no one would interfere was a happy accident for him since most of the Avengers present could have prevented things from reaching the breaking point. Of course, this is covered under Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.

Notably, this is also why he finds Bucky a bit tolerable, since he is being bewared of.

In a stark contrast to his comics depiction, he lacks any affiliation with HYDRA and outright states that they deserved to be brought down. A conversation in Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals he despises the Red Skull and those who idolize him, and he kills Doctor Nagel while the man is gloating about being a god.

Despite his profound hatred of the Avengers, he declined to unleash the other five Winter Soldiers and shot them dead rather than risk someone else doing so, as they were worse than Bucky and would do untold damage to the world given the order. He also seems uncomfortable with the concept of experimenting on humans in general.Zemo: If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep. Did you really think I wanted more of you?

Zemo was "just" a special forces operative, but when his family was killed, he used his intel on HYDRA to take on the Avengers and came closer to destroying the team than any previous villain.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier reveals that at some point, he became involved with the criminal underground, under the simple but accurate alias of "Baron".

A) Captain America and Bucky had captured Zemo before Iron Man arrived (then again, he was in a fortified bunker that would take serious fire-power to break through).

B) Iron Man had not figured out where Cap and Bucky were headed in the first place.

C) Iron Man had not come alone, meaning there might have been someone to restrain him or talk him down after he learned the truth.

D) Black Panther had succeeded in killing Bucky during one of their three fights during the course of the film (of course it’s highly unlikely that he even knew the Black Panther existed).

E) Captain America told Iron Man that the deaths of his parents were orchestrated by HYDRA.

Zemo hates the Avengers after the collateral damage they caused killed his family. So he decides to split the team up and in the process causes collateral damage that kills other people's family members.

Zemo believes that "gods" like the Avengers should not be allowed to exist. Sam points out that be decreeing who deserves to exist, he's speaking like a god.

Tortures and kills Vasily Karpov for information. Karpov is not only a still loyal HYDRA operative but one of the main leaders of the Winter Soldier project and ordered the death of the Starks and his slow death is just desserts. He does the same to the HYDRA scientist responsible for making more Super Soldiers in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, finishing his work from Siberia.

He also happily participates in the interrogation of Doctor Nagel, the Mad Scientist who recreated the Super Soldier Serum via human experimentation, and personally guns the man down.

Zig-zagged; he knows very well that he can never kill the Avengers himself, since more powerful men than him have tried and all have failed, which is why he makes a plan to get them to kill each other for him.

In the secret HYDRA lab in Madripoor, he and his comrades come under attack. Not knowing where the assailants are, Zemo makes a quick getaway, causing Sam and the others to think he bailed... only to show up moments later when the assassins are in plain view, making it much easier for him to take them down.

When the Dora Milaje apprehend him a second time in episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he surrenders himself without a fight, presumably both because he knew he had no chance of victory and because he had already achieved his goal of destroying the current iteration of the super-soldier serum.

He uses Bucky's Trigger Phrase while the latter's locked in an apparatus, making him go on a rampage. By the end of Civil War, he himself is locked in the same apparatus.

He kills T'Challa's father in the course of his Evil Plan. After T'Challa learns the truth about this, he foils Zemo's attempted suicide to ensure he faces justice for his crimes.

#HelmutInformation

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Alabama Basketball: How the Tide's Innovation Continues to Roll

no longer not like its neighbors on the nook lot of Coliseum Boulevard in the Mal M. Moore Athletic complex, Alabama basketball has an identical decrees to defy as its season soon begins after sweeping SEC titles, revising list books, and dropping assertive veterans who led the crew in 2020-21 to as short an ascension as the recreation's seen. The obvious disconnect to Alabama football is that third-12 months educate Nate Oats doesn’t yet have the fairness to warrant enthusiasts’ response of ‘but, but it surely’s Alabama’ when many in and around college basketball naturally will question the place and when Crimson Tide hoops nears its proverbial plateau. but everything in basketball may also be quantified, to the good and dangerous of Alabama skeptics, as once-empirical evidence presented by way of the ‘eye verify’ has conceded to facts and analytically-pushed scouting because of hoops’ hand-me-down strategy to transforming into the video game through counsel gathering first by the NBA. It’s distinctive now, and Alabama illustrates the game's evolution in its play with a high variety of attempted three-aspect photographs, the only real choice to photographs on the rim per analytics, a quick speed of play, and its have-cake-and-consume-it-too outlook on quantity and best being all however collectively exclusive in games gained. The volume of shots dictates scoring alternatives just because the satisfactory of shot determines the likelihood of ball stripping nylon. below Oats, the Tide is the cat to reproduction, and nothing illuminates that claim greater than a now-becoming title in college basketball this is every little thing however for the Alabama coach, the role of a bunch-cruncher and a covert staffer who values the values. Meet Adam Bauman, the Director of Scouting and Analytics for Alabama basketball. he's the assistant unseen, even to excellent-notch cameramen, and his enter to the Tide's innovation, no matter if in recruiting, scouting of opponents, or vogue-recognizing outliers within the team's efficiency via statistics, is all a part of a job description recently becoming in recognition. it's just that his boss spotted the sport's course before most else. he's another pair of eyes as receptive to the role numbers play in the video game as Oats, the high school math teacher-became-SEC train of the 12 months. And he is been with him for the reason that he became at Buffalo, after he served as a manager to the Southern Illinois basketball application and hung out as a graduate assistant at multiple stops following graduation from SIU. Bauman enters 12 months three at Alabama, and he is paid his dues of rebuilding the software internally as others have. And he's witnessed its quick growth from year one to 12 months two under its aggressive chief. Yet, as accomplished as the Tide became final season, its notion of being offensively-driven is a half-truth. "for those who appear on the analytics and you look on the numbers, the difference was we went from being out of the accurate 100 defensively to being within the excellent 5 for essentially the most part of the season," Bauman noted. "after which the second a part of the year we were true-three, so that turned into surely the biggest change." or not it's a multi-numerous insight to why Alabama mostly better defensively from 2019-20 to 2020-21, and listed below are the numbers: Two years in the past, its protective efficiency score was ninety nine.5, which ranked 114th nationally. closing season its rating complete at 87.eight, rating third-best in school basketball, per KenPom. it's personnel, personnel, and, sure, personnel. Oats and Co. ably equalized offenses by trotting out longer, more athletic gamers who were stronger at smothering ball monitors, shut outs, and different moves that defensively hamstrung the crew the yr prior because of less size and coverage. due to this fact, the Crimson Tide won both the commonplace season and tournament championship of its conference, lower back to the sweet 16 circular of the NCAA tournament for the first time when you consider that 2003-04, had an NBA Lottery pick for the second consecutive season in shelter Joshua Primo, and nevertheless its two-12 months transition from a first round NIT exit to a modern last 4 decide upon among tournament experts is questioned in that its sustainability invites everyday reluctance. these days, and main as much as early autumn, the educate-speak cliché of now not living on previous performances, bad and otherwise, would not follow to those inside the partitions of Coleman Coliseum, the domestic arena of Alabama basketball. Bauman, Oats, and others all binged basketball all offseason to identify competencies advancements, past mistakes, and the explanation why the Tide exited within the third round of the NCAA tournament in its loss to UCLA, a countrywide semifinalist thereafter. even though the Bruins weren't a unique focus so plenty as an universal representation of a barrier to splinter. "We did some deep dives into what went wrong offensively. neatly, now not always what went wrong, but why we dipped," Bauman said. "on the surface stage, simply searching at the stats and where we ranked in certain areas, we obtained our shot blocked lots and then our turnover fee ended up being fairly unhealthy on the 12 months." 'Bama ranked 157th within the NCAA with a turnover expense of 18.6 % of its possessions, and in its seven losses it shot 44 % on two-point box intention attempts in comparison to the season typical of over 50 percent. element within the Crimson Tide's high variety of tried three-point pictures—totaling over forty six % of its shots taken, ranking 18th nationally—and you'd determine lots of those two-element box desires have been at or near the rim in its losses final season. Bauman attributes its struggles at the rim to either negative reads or indecisiveness, asserting Alabama gamers obligatory more two-footed vegetation down low to read the protection, find an open man, or install a more robust scoring possibility. in the meantime ... What changes have been made, you ask yourself, smartly, the Crimson Tide indirectly consulted with one of the vital few consistent contenders of faculty basketball, Gonzaga, to enrich its personal software from a distance. See, under teach Mark Few, the Zags are most corresponding to Alabama upon surface-degree digging, and the one-loss countrywide runner-up become the only crew alongside Oats' crew to both finish with its possessions per forty minutes mark north of seventy three and to conclude within the desirable 25 of the final AP poll. Gonzaga ranked seventh nationally and Alabama comprehensive 11th. "There became a time after we definitely went through every possession of Gonzaga’s this yr," Bauman referred to. "The biggest change between Gonzaga and us is they have approach greater player stream. They’re at all times slashing guys, and swing-swing and moving, and that’s how they get extra assisted photographs at the rim." “however we’ve additionally taken some stuff they do and we’ve noted it, about instituting more participant move." there is a stability, although, given how Alabama likes to function. In its device, if you'd even outline it as such with the quantity of participant freedom it emphasizes, there are less chess pieces moving without delay, however the ones who're moved across the metaphorical board are extra consequential to the success of the on-court docket collective. And the Crimson Tide offense can not stray too removed from that. It ties lower back to turnovers, certainly for those who agree with that Alabama's offense is built on participant reads in preference to sets, plays, or anything to skew the right mix of liberal ball flow and drive-then-kick out chances. contrary an initiator, the "MIG," probably the most important guy far from the ball, as Bauman defined, is who Oats' offense is predicated on, and his job is to direct protective site visitors to quite a few areas of the floor so Alabama creates its options and isolates scorers as optimum it can devoid of compromising rhythmic timing. however all this makes for a jump from prep basketball to excessive-level SEC play, and potentialities who pique the activity of Crimson Tide coaches usually share equivalent characteristics. For Oats and his workforce, their recruiting philosophy hasn't modified tons, either. "Positional dimension is massive, size is huge, athleticism is massive, and that they have to be able to shoot the ball," Bauman talked about. "in the event that they can shoot it, and that they're long and athletic then we are able to type of take care of the leisure." The general top of gamers on the Alabama roster last season was a colour beneath 6-foot-5 at seventy seven.7 inches, and whereas the colloquialism of "big man beats little man" is essentially authentic in basketball, the video game now champions variables like wingspan and lateral athleticism because it's moved to a greater shield and wing-heavy playstyle with avid gamers who're, ideally, in a position to filling just about each function on the flooring. To phrase it differently, the activity of school basketball may also were in the back of the times of Oats and his personnel considering he changed into at Buffalo, and everybody is catching on when it comes to roster development, participant development, and enhancements internally. And as imaginative as the Crimson Tide has been in view that Oats' arrival, as well as Bauman and a number of other assistants, the as soon as-clear abilities of zigging to the zag at a mid-major software like Buffalo has diminished. What's left is a staff constructed with the aid of the work of Bauman and others who's inclined to well known what should change, and because of this, may not possible sit down nevertheless even with what number of greater trophies accumulate in Coleman Coliseum. "somebody's outworking you, somebody's doing something to set themselves apart, and lots of us are aligned in that considering, nevertheless it all begins with Nate." As for that plateau ... 먹튀검증

#먹튀검증

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scoutception · 3 years

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Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim review

After the release of Ys II, and the conclusion of the original story of the Ys games, the series went through a bit of a rough period, as the next three entries were, less than ideal. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys changed the gameplay from the topdown, bump combat gameplay to a sidescroller reminiscent of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and rather fittingly ended up as the black sheep of the series. Ys IV went back to the bump system, but rather confusingly released as two separate games by two separate developers, neither of them Falcom; The Dawn of Ys by Hudson Soft for the PC Engine CD, and the far inferior Mask of the Sun by Tonkin House for the SNES. Finally, Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand was released for the SNES, by Falcom themselves, and in its attempts to evolve from the bump combat, had become something that barely resembled Ys in gameplay, graphics, or music. While none of these games were outright bad, and The Dawn of Ys in particular is held up as the best of the classic Ys games, the series just couldn’t properly commit to a direction to take the series next, and Falcom put the series to rest after V’s release for a while, barring the Ys I and II Eternal remakes. Finally, though, in 2003, 8 years after Ys V’s release, the series was finally given a new game, one that would finally carve out the evolution of the series’ gameplay, and allow it to confidently continue even to the present day. This is Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, easily the most important game in the series other than the original two. As for how it pulled it off, and how it holds up, that’s what we’re checking out today. The version I played is the PC version, available through Steam and GOG.

Story: 6 years since the events of Ys I and II, Adol Christin, accompanied by his now long time companion Dogi, has since become a legend throughout the continent of Eresia for his exploits. One day, Adol is reunited with Terra, an ally of his from Ys V, who has since become a member of a pirate crew led by her father, Ladock. Adol and Dogi accompany the pirate crew to investigate the Canaan Islands, a mysterious set of islands surrounded by the Great Vortex, a perpetual vortex that destroys any ship that draws near (basically just the Bermuda Triangle). Unfortunately, the ship is attacked by the fleet of the Romun Empire (no guesses as to who they’re based off of), and Adol is swept into the Great Vortex while saving Terra during the chaos, once again proving Adol should never be trusted to get on a boat. Adol washes up on Quatera Island, which is inhabited by the Rehda, a race of long eared and tailed people who worship the goddess Alma, who is of the same race as the goddesses of Ys. Adol is saved by Olha, the priestess of the Rehda, and Isha, Olha’s little sister, but soon discover that outsiders such as him, several of whom have built a town on a neighboring island, are distrusted by the Rehda, and that leaving the Canaan Islands is impossible due to the Great Vortex. After saving Isha from a strange monster known as a “Wandering Calamity”, however, Adol gains the respect of the Rehda and is gifted a sword made of emelas, a magical ore used extensively by the Rehda. Setting out to the Eresian made town of Port Rimorge and meeting with Raba, a returning ally from Ys I, Adol sets out to discover the secrets of the Canaan Islands and find a way to dispel the Great Vortex, soon encountering three malicious fairies with control over monsters, and a mysterious mercenary named Geis, who seems to know far more about the islands than he lets on.

While it’s actually a pretty unusual plot setup compared to most RPG stories, it’s pretty lacking in execution, simply because the plot just isn’t present for most of the game. By the time the main antagonist, Ernst, makes an appearance, and things besides just running around collecting plot items are happening, it’s just too little, too late, which leaves the ending of the game more than a bit unmemorable. Still, the writing has the typical Falcom charm, and the various NPCs actually have a lot to say over the course of the game, if you care about that sort of thing, like me. There’s not much more for me to say, so let’s just move right on.

Gameplay: Ys VI, as the first 3D game in the series, plays quite a bit different from the games that came before, yet unlike previous games, finally makes it feel like a proper evolution from the original duology, though it’s actually based heavily on Ys V. The bump combat is gone for good, with Adol now having a dedicated attack button, along with a jump button for some rather meager platforming. Adol’s moveset isn’t very impressive at first, only consisting of a 3 slash combo, a jump slash, a down thrust, and a lunge attack, but over the course of the game, he acquires 3 different elemental swords, each with an additional move and magical spell after being charged up. While shields and armor can be bought or found as usual, the swords instead need to be upgraded at Port Rimorge with emel, a resource dropped by enemies. Upgrading the swords not only increase their attack power, but gradually unlock new abilities as well. There are also accessories, with effects ranging from a simple boost to attack and defense, to increasing the amount of gold or emel dropped by enemies, to providing immunity to status effects, and so forth. While Adol only has one accessory slot to start, certain treasure chests throughout the game will bestow additional slots, up to a max of 5.

Unlike the original duology, Adol can no longer regenerate health by standing still, barring the use of an endgame accessory, nor can you save anywhere. Instead, saving is done at monuments scattered out all across the different areas of the game, which also restore Adol’s health to max and cures him of any status effects. Beyond that, however, Adol can carry several different healing items of varying strengths, which can either be purchased from merchants or dropped by enemies, and you’ll be needing them. Even on nightmare difficulty, Ys VI is on the easier side compared to a lot of other Ys games, but it’s still a struggle in its own right, just for the exact wrong reasons, mostly due to the lack of the refinements found in the other Ys games that use Ys VI’s engine. There are many enemies that utterly obnoxious, whether from flying in the air and being difficult to hit, using projectiles, or dealing very difficult to avoid collision damage, and Adol’s moveset isn’t versatile enough to deal with this, meaning, in classic Ys fashion, you’re going to be doing a lot of grinding to get anywhere, whether it be grinding levels or emel. The grinding isn’t nearly as long or boring as in a lot of RPGs, but it can still be irritating, especially in nightmare mode, where you need to do an absolutely unreasonable amount of it to get anywhere due to how much health even the lowliest enemies have. Status effects can also be an annoyance. They consist of poison, which saps health over time, heavy, which severely reduces Adol’s running speed and jumping height, confusion, which reverses your controls, and curse, which reduces Adol’s attack power. All of these except curse fade over time, can be prevented or cured with accessories, and can be cured with certain items, but the problem is that enemies that can inflict these effects do so way too often, and most often appear at a point where you have a good deal of more useful accessories, and too few slots to really manage them on top of this. Hardly a game breaking issue, but still one you’ll likely feel, especially since heavy can outright stunlock you, depending on the enemy.

The areas and dungeons you go through aren’t anything special, for the most part, being pretty linear and basic in design, but there are a few that stick out negatively, namely the Ruins of Lost Time, with some very aggressive and dangerous enemies, along with items that can only be reached with the very finicky dash jump technique, something’s nearly impossible to perform using the mouse, with keyboard or controller being the only reasonable options, along with the overly long and mazelike Limewater Cave, containing many of the game’s most annoying enemies. Bosses, on the other hand, tend to be a much more enjoyable time, thanks to having actual, understandable patterns that make them much more reasonable to take on, and there’s some pretty interesting and fun concepts among them, from a giant hopping, spinning robot that gradually destroys the safe ground as the fight goes on, to an ancient statue that hangs out in the background and can only be significantly damaged by magic, to the difficult multi phase fight with Galba-Roa, and especially the duel with the empowered Ernst. They’re legitimately intense fights, yet rarely feel unfair, and are by far the biggest highlight of the game. There’s even some optional bosses that reward you with accessories, or simply give you a large boost in EXP, though they’re among the less well designed fights.

Finally, some of the changes made by Xseed for the English PC version are worth taking note of. Firstly, and most importantly, the item Alma’s Wing, which was formerly merely an item used for escaping dungeons, has instead been given the functionality of warping between monuments, something that saves a tremendous amount of backtracking, especially during the actually quite rewarding sidequests. Secondly, a new gameplay mode is available, separate from difficulty options, called Catastrophe mode. In Catastrophe mode, healing items cannot be kept in the inventory, and any normally found in treasure chests have been replaced. Instead, any that are dropped by enemies are used automatically on pickup, making the gameplay a bit more like The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin. As compensation for this loss, stat boosting seeds are available to purchase from merchants in unlimited quantities, allowing you to boost your stats far past what you’d be able to achieve normally, if you have the patience to grind the money for them. While it’s an interesting mode in concept, the game really isn’t balanced around not having inventory healing items, which can make for a pretty frustrating time. Overall, though, while there’s certainly a good deal of flaws that were ironed out in later games, the gameplay of Ys VI is still quite a bit of fun. It successfully translates the simple fun of blazing through a bunch of enemies, and despite the annoyances, it’s surprisingly addicting.

Graphics: Ys VI uses a mix of prerendered sprites for characters and enemies and polygonal environments, a style also used in the Trails in the Sky games. While it’s hardly aged the best, it has a charm to it that keeps it appealing. Bosses, on the other hand, are rendered in surprisingly decent polygonal graphics. The artstyle used for character portraits isn’t anything special, but they’re well drawn nonetheless, and every NPC gets one of their own, which definitely adds some more life to them all.

Music: Ys VI’s soundtrack, composed by members of the Music Sound Team jdk, namely Wataru Ishibashi and Hayato Sonoda, at least according to the credits, is, in Falcom tradition, a blast. While on an overall, it’s not quite as memorable as, say, the soundtracks to the original games, or The Oath in Felghana, the tracks that stand out are fantastic. Some of my favorites are Quatera Woods, the titular theme for the first area in the game, Mighty Obstacle, the standard boss theme, Mountain Zone, the theme of the first dungeon, Defend! And Escape!, the theme for the game’s obligatory escort mission, and Ernst’s titular boss theme.

Conclusion: Overall, Ys VI makes for a rather odd game in the series, even to write about. In a way, it’s an odd jack of all trades, at least among the games using its engine. It’s not as difficult as most in the series, and is still much more accessible than the games made before it, but its lack of polish and plain frustrating design compared to later games can make it difficult to recommend in comparison, especially to newcomers. Overall, however, I’d still give it a recommended. It still manages to be a fun ride on its own that doesn’t overstay its welcome, and if nothing else absolutely deserves appreciation for putting the series on the right path forward. Till next time. -Scout

#game review #ys #falcom #jrpg #long post #xseed games

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reddogf13 · 3 years

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Crossing fates web ch 4

Pennywise x Beverly

summery: Beverly's life had drastically changed since childhood. claws, sharp teeth, the urge to devour human meat. a aggressive clan of vampires trying to claim her forcing her to flee from LA back to Derry for a save haven. where something else has awakened to the sensation that a female deadlight had arrived. a web of coincidences from their pasts have the two questioning fate.

status: In progress

rated: M - fowl language and gore

previous chap: Crossing fates web ch 3

next chap: Crossing fates web ch 5

_____________________________________

~ch:4 Pacing~

“i can get you someone else if you didn't like the one I brought.”

“what?!” she snapped. “what do you mean?!”

gesturing to the partially eaten body. “you were starving and I made it easy for you by bringing a meal.”

her aggression spiked at the plot he made. “you brought him here to mess with me so that I would eat him?!”

In submission to her, he avoided staring and laxed his tall stature. “yes, but its not like he'll be missed. He has quite a record against girls. Not a huge loss to Derry.”

“ugh, I don't care! You set this up! This wouldn't have happened!”

“you're not human any more!” he snapped. “you have to eat them to survive now! You're much bigger then them, we are far greater then them! We are gods here and They're all pathetic meat walking around ripe for harvesting!” the two bearing teeth against one another. “why are you holding back? Take what you want and eat them all-” unable to finish when Beverly furiously lashed out.

Dust flying as they roared and slashed at one another. Beverly having the upper hand despite his strength being greater. He still did not want to harm her and took the harsh end of the fight. Torn up and bleeding from her claws repeatedly slashing into him. Forcing him to flee as she would surely kill him if he dared to stick it out for any longer. Leaving Beverly to stand alone as the victor with only a couple slashes and mostly scuffs from thrashing around each other. Catching her breath before looking down at her self. Looking a horrible mess of blood mixed with dirt and other ground gunk.

Turning to the river she cleaned herself enough to not grab attention on her way home. Quickly getting clean and into fresh clothes, steaming mad over what he did. What a way for her day to be ruined. Rushing back to school for her next set of classes before returning by nightfall. Exhausted she worked through what little homework she had before trying to head for bed. Laying in bed stirring up negative thoughts of what IT had said. “you have to eat them to survive now!”

sure she may have already known this, but some part of her was desperate to cling onto the idea this would pass. Maybe sticking around regular foods could still work somehow. If she held off on eating someone long enough maybe her body would accept something else. Then there was that stupid burning ache annoying her. A tension that demanded to be released somehow, but she couldn't just do that.

“fuck, whats wrong with me?” sitting up to rub her face. Her bed feeling so uncomfortable with even a dreadful feeling of being unsafe. That old myth of vampires being unable to enter without permission showing to be untrue. However her last place was a public dorm and this place an apartment. Neither were exactly a one person living space. She wanted a space that was more surrounded then the open bedroom. Cursing that she abandoned a hammock she had in her last place. That somehow worked in making her feel better, but now she had to make due with something else. Ordering another hammock would take weeks to arrive.

The one small enough space she had was the bathroom, but that didn't feel sanitary or safe enough if IT was prowling in her sink again. Thinking it over there was the fabric closet. “that could be too small.” thinking it over. “may as well check.” rising up to look into the space packed with huge fabric rolls. Taking a while to haul them away to free the small closet. Grabbing her mattress to drag and fold up somehow into the closet in a tight U shape. The space, despite being horribly cramped for most, was turning out quite nicely for Beverly. “i need more blankets to pad out the mattress corners. A bunch of pillows to pad the wall and the door.”

questioning what was open or not she rushed out to a home furniture store on a mission to return with a mountain of bedding. Going unnoticed was Pennywise watching from afar as he saw her go out into the night. Wanting to check in on her to make sure he didn't cause too much harm in their fight earlier.

“what is she doing? Hunting?” he wondered, then saw her entering a store. Coming out a while later with all sorts of bedding. “making a nest? Her heat must be picking up. Its going far faster then other females cycles. Her humancy must be affecting it. Should I move in quicker? How short is her cycle and when could the next one be? Would she even have a next one, is this my only small window to create young with her?” anxiety eating at him to pick up the pace in courting, even though rushing would be the worst thing to do.

“she didn't like the last meal I brought. I didn't present it well enough. She got injured because of my stupid selection. Should have known it wouldn't be good to present such hostile food in her condition.” he reasoned with himself. “i need to get her another meal, something not as threatening.” following Beverly back home to admire her from afar as she unpacked her massive amounts of bedding from the car.

She took hours to carefully set up her new bed space. Layering blankets and pillows back and forth. Burying herself underneath it all to finally feel settled enough for bed. Checking over her alarm clock moved not too far for the time. Disappointed she had only a few hours before it was time to rise. “guess its better then nothing.” sighing as she curled up to sleep. Managing some rest for the first time since fleeing LA. The alarm clock awaking her to feel the start of the dreaded day.

“ugh!” she groaned as the ache had turned 5 times worse. Heading straight for a cold shower that hardly did anything. Debating whether she should stay home today or not. Deciding to go anyway and slog through it. Easier said then done when she was getting huge amounts of male attention. Men left and right asking her for dates or some of her time. Complimenting her lovely “perfume” that had increased along with the ache. Saying no all the time annoyed her to be even more stressed. Something her new friends in class noticed.

A few girls she talked to during the masquerade she enjoyed the company of. None of them were snooty toward Beverly when joining their already established friend group. Fun, happy and understanding of how hard each other worked in class. A group Beverly was happy to be a part of that wouldn't turn to drinking late every night as there only way for fun.

During a pause in class a few of the girls sitting nearby began to talk with Beverly. “you look stressed, you doing okay?”

tapping her foot and clicking her pen heavily. “fine.”

“been working late?” “yeah and sleeps been hard.”

“we were planning to go to a restaurants anniversary party hosted at the place. We can get you a ticket too if you want to come. We know you like to keep up on work, but seems like you really need it honestly.”

“oh, thanks, but I don't think I can. So much to do, you know?”

“come on Beverly, you need a break.” another girl spoke up. “sit, relax, have some nice food and maybe dance to some nice fancy music. You have guys falling at your feet, could ask them for a date. There will also be a ton of guys there if you don't like anyone on campus.”

“mmm.” she hummed in consideration. Finding a guy there seemed really nice to her. All these other ones surrounding her were increasingly annoying. Speaking more excitedly. “yeah, that actually sounds nice. I'll come.” smiling at all the girls happy at the news, giving her the time for when the short night event would start.

Beverly made it home to prepare for her night out with the girls. Dressing nicely in an outfit she made of a lovely silver color with hints of black and mixed greys. Driving over to the club to meet at the entrance where they all grabbed there entry tickets to head inside. Sitting at a table to have a lovely meal and slow music before the bar and dance floor fully opened for the party to really begin. While her friends went to dance Beverly stuck it out at the corner of the bar with a hardly sipped drink. Swarmed by many guys trying to get a dance with her. Only to be turned down and shooed off.

There was always something that she didn't like about them. Too desperate, too drunk, stumbling over themselves too much, or reeking of chemicals that she recognized from her hunting of drug dealers. She was aching to take one, but none of them seemed worth it enough. She stuffed a napkin into her still full glass for it to be poured out when the bartender passed by again. standing to go get some fresh air outside on the restaurants fenced off out door area.

Taking in deep breaths of the cold night air in an attempt to settle the annoying ache. Ready to rip her hair out over it she didn't notice another guy approaching. “hey, why you out here and not inside by the dance floor? Not liking the party?”

“not that, I've been stressed is all.” collecting herself to not seem too bothered by being talked to. Looking at him her interest perked at the sight of the tall man. Dark slicked back hair, tall with wide shoulders and dressed in a neatly pressed tux.

“ah, you from the nearby college? Been thinking of enrolling, recently moved here.”

“yeah, recently got there too. Pretty good school for being in such a small town.”

“oh, interesting, why'd you move here? Names Tom Rogan by the way.” holding his hand out for a handshake.

Beverly glared at the offered hand. For no reason in particular she snubbed her nose at it. Crossing her arms in a show of refusal to accept it. “reasons, my names Beverly marsh.”

her reaction catching the man off guard, his smile breaking momentarily to a frown. Strangely appearing somewhat confused as well, as if her reaction was unexpected. “nice to meet you. … want to come back inside where we can talk someplace warm? You'll catch a cold out here.”

“no, I came out here for fresh air.” what little interest she had for him being lost to annoyance. The air about him giving off aggression since she ignored his hand. Another layer she couldn't quite decipher being a superiority complex, or a false face to hide whats really him. Either way she smelled the falseness on him and wanted him to go away.

“why, are you sick? Want me to get you-” putting a hand on her shoulder almost having him lose it.

“FUCK OFF!” Beverly snapped. Calming down immediately when she realized she was about to maul this man who hardly did anything. Her extended claws put away before anyone could see them. She didn't say anything else to him, running off from the party. “goddammit!” scolding herself for blowing up like that and almost killing someone in a crowd. Driving back home to be alone with herself.

Pennywise had been watching the failed courting in great interest. Snickering at the vampires failed attempts to charm her. She saw through his smugness right away. All vampires carried themselves like lords and kings, but had the spine of a jellyfish when confronted by anything.

“no competition around, what a shame.” Pennywise snickered to himself. Confident he was the only choice he planned how to renovate his nest and how to approach Beverly tomorrow. He had to see her for another conversation along with a presentable meal far better then the last. And he knew exactly what to get.

Hours had passed and Beverly was trying her best to sleep. Especially now that the wave of urging heat had died for its final hour today. It would return, but not for a few days. Laying there in her pile of blankets and pillows she worried about what had happened. She almost killed someone innocent out in the open. The idea going over and over in her mind. She could cover one small death in the night. But one where everybody could see the killing. What if she did go through with it and went on a devouring binge. What if she attacked anybody near by and went on some massacre? She couldn't let that happen, she had to find some way to control this losing battle.

Thinking back to earlier in the day when Pennywise spoke with her. He certainly knew something she didn't, what had happened to her. Why the drastic changes since she left Derry in her younger years. “did he do this as a punishment?” she questioned. “doesn't make sense.”

going over his words. “we are far greater then them!”

“we? I cant be like him. I am not like him! I don't eat children and never will!” her thoughts dipping down to “but what if.” will she forever have the choice? She had to find out and only he could give those answers.

“ugh!” she spoke to herself in disgust. “i wish I could strangle him! Maybe I will tomorrow morning after getting some answers.” rising up from her laying position to fetch some medicine for her building headache. Returning to bed for a difficult sleep into the early morning.

Rising up to drink a hot cup of coffee to the blue morning before anyone else would wake. Not sure exactly how there interaction would go or even where. Dreading the idea of seeing him down in his lair at that hoard pile. Taking her time before finally stepping out into the world to go find him. Instead of heading straight for his lair she followed the warmth in the core of her chest. Surely that would bring her to him faster then assuming where he is or waiting around for him to arrive.

“where is that clown bastard?” she thought after a bit of walking to arrive at a large park. The warmth settling enough that he must be somewhere nearby. Scanning across the park it didn't take too long to spot that strange silver suit lurking in the bushes lining the park. “what is he-” realizing that he was far too close to a children's play ground for comfort and that was child was chasing a particularly rolling away ball. Stopping and going to egg the kid slowly over to where that child eater was hiding in a brush.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she bolted over before the kid could reach the shrub. Tackling and clawing into the clown who hadn't seen her coming. His lure broken and the child unknowingly escaping with his ball in hand. Clawing and shredding into the clown until he fled the scene. She huffed at his fleeing form disappearing into a near by drain pipe. A surge of energy filling her body at successfully winning in a fight over the current space. This was her park now and he would know it too.

“ugh, I was suppose to talk with him. Guess its not like I cant find him another time.” shaking her head.

Pennywise had fled after having been so surprised by Beverly pouncing him. “shes being so incredibly territorial, yet it seems her heat has ended. That powerful scent has left her. How much of her will be deadlights and how much of her has stayed human?” grumbling as he looked over his fresh wounds slowly healing. “i cant keep letting her do this. I'll keep losing territory in Derry until she try's to eat me or fully chase me off. I cant let that happen despite not wanting her harmed, I'll have to hold my ground the next time.” continuing on his path through the drainage system to his wagon to do a bit of wound care. “the only thing that could placate her is gifts. She still deeply needs a good meal in her starving condition.” planning how best to give his next gift.

Time passed with Beverly relaxing at her apartment for most the day. Hopping in the shower to feel more refreshed before leaving. Standing in the hot shower the scent of fresh pine wood and black brewed coffee over powered the freshly poured shampoo in her hand. He was here inside her apartment and that greatly pissed her off. Rushing to wash off and get redressed to confront him. Storming out of the bathroom to race around her place in search of the annoying clown. Finding him to be missing, but his scent leading to the fridge. She stood in the middle of the kitchen staring at the fridge in imagining what he had put inside. Should she open it? Well she had to eventually.

Yanking the door open to find a webbed basket decorated with smaller sun flowers. filled with various pastries she could tell, immediately from their smell, that were filled with meat. The mini crescent meat pies had her mouth filling with drool. “no! I cant eat them! I don't even know who or what they're made from!” thinking about them being possible pies made from children. Yet her stomach painfully growled until she gave in. devouring the whole pie basket before she realized. She groaned in annoyance to herself, and the clown. “I'll find that clown, he'll probably be hunting tonight somewhere.” tossing the threaded basket into the trash. Heading out the door to night classes where she met back up with her friends.

“hey Beverly, what happened at the party? You seemed to have just left.” one asked.

Beverly trying to seem cheerful. “yeah, I got sick and had to go home.” hiding her guilt at almost eating someone there. “Was a really fun party up until then, I really needed the break.”

another of her friends mentioning. “you do look a lot less stressed. Get a good nights sleep to?”

“a little more then usual. I can only hope it improves from here on.”

all going quiet as the teacher started up the nights class. Beverly having trouble focusing as she planned to confront Pennywise again. Pondering what she would ask him first if she managed to keep him quiet enough. Last thing she wanted was to hear him going on and on about “being better” like their last talk. Calming her nerves at the thought by doodling dresses in her note book. Helping the time fly by a bit faster.

With the sun disappearing from the large window view of the classroom. The class came to a close, freeing Beverly to go out on her mission. Walking through the halls to pass through the empty gym that was just before the parking lot. Stopping just past the door into the night air when the tugging directed her to something near. Rushing to find where the clown was she accidentally ran into someone else after turning a corner.

“oh, sorry!” the two apologized simultaneously. Beverly taking in the view of the man, recognizing him as the one from the party who she almost killed.

“oh, hey.” she greeted awkwardly.

“hey.” he greeted back. “haven't seen you around much. You only taking night classes? I just joined and that's my schedule.”

“ah, not fully. Just every now and again for one class.” wanting to keep her conversation short to find the clown somewhere nearby.

While the clown was already looking for her. He wanted to check in and see how she was doing after eating his gift. Hoping she'd be doing a lot better. Shocked to find that idiot vampire courting her again. Didn't he get it the last time that she wanted nothing to do with him. “I'll make sure he gets that hes not welcome here.” the clown snarled to himself. Wasting no time in pouncing on the intruder. Mauling and clawing into him thrashing around into a brawl. Beverly wasn't expecting the sudden fight before her. Rushing away to be clear of the incident to not get involved, expecting this to be something the clown set up like last time.

When the weak vampire male fled, Pennywise stood smugly victorious. Thrilled having just done a wonderful fighting display in front of a female. One who ran off shortly after it begun and he had to go find her again. Following her lingering scent back into the large gym where she was hiding under the large bleachers. Beverly caught onto his approach soon after he approached the large benches. He took his approach slowly, not wanting to scare her or start another fight with how aggressive she was already acting.

“we haven't had much a chance to talk.” he started. Receiving only a glare from Beverly he continued. “I apologize for the lacking meal I delivered earlier. Did you like the other gift?” he stepped closer.

“stop with the shitty gifts or whatever they really are!” she snapped. “what did you do to me?! Is this all some mocking curse after what I did to you all those years ago?!” her words stabbing into the clowns chest.

“they are gifts and no, this is no punishment. I don't wish to harm you, quite the opposite.” getting only further angry glares of suspicion from her. “... i can bring you to something much better-” reaching to take her hand. Having her aggression spike at the personal intrusion. Slashing into him to shove him to the ground. Hooking her claws into him so he couldn't run from her again. He took the brunt of it to stay submissive in the tackle down to the floor. Waiting just long enough for her to calm down before starting up the fight again, back onto their feet.

Shoving him back with a snarl. “what's wrong with me?!” she roared. “what did you do to me, what did you say earlier about the dead lights?!”

“you have deadlights, like me.”

“how, when did I get them?!”

“when I showed you my lights years ago. Its never happened before, but you took some from me. Your body was maturing and the lights latched on. They grew with you for all these years, now your just like one of my kind.” his explanation freezing up her heart in her chest. “you are a rare female in our dying species. I would be stupid to not take you for a mate.”

her frozen heart reigniting at what he mentioned. “what?! Take you as a mate?! How dare you!” readying herself for another fight. “get out of here and don't you dare come near me again!”

“why not-” he couldn't finish before she moved to harm him if he stayed any longer.

“i will never be your mate! Ever!” she roared, slashing into him just as he moved to run. Letting him get away after leaving a few marks.

The clown returned down to his dark dreary water tunnels. Void of all feeling after such a huge rejection. Did he have to accept now that his chances with her were dead? Was it all because of there past or for a more recent mistake? Was his first failed dance the cause? It couldn't be all over, he had to keep trying. She wasn't disappearing anytime soon and neither was he. Even if it would take another billion years he'd keep courting.

Elsewhere the injured vampire had been happily watching the rejection. “hmm, looks like he’s out of this fight. She'll be much easier to grab without him. I just have to sneak in between while she's in heat and she'll be all mine. A little distraction, and something to weaken him. If I get rid of him before then, then this whole territory would be mine. She'd have no where to hide when he’s gone.”

_____________________________________

i swear i am still writing. DX my original story's have just been soaking up most my time. while my fanfics have gotten a more - a sentence at a time - pacing.

#it 2017 #pennywise #beverly marsh #pennywise x beverly marsh

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midwesternlikeope · 3 years

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I just had the worst week of recent. My husband was getting burned out at work, so he got a new job, less pay, but they promised full-time with opportunities for overtime. 4 weeks in and they've slashed hours in half due to covid (they bumped pay $1.25 more but it still doesn't make up for time lost). After doing rough math work, I realized we'd barely make rent, let alone food or utilities. I begged him to take his old job back, just for now, and actually they had a better position for him (full time, same pay as before, less stress - he didnt have any legit breaks, he'd have to wolf down food waiting for the next delivery to come in at any moment). He is currently doing at-home training to get the new position.

Meanwhile I've been searching for a job, and wasnt having any luck. I began to apply for really anything, though I didnt want to do just anything. I was vying for the store a few blocks away from me, and heard nothing for 3 months. Another location of that chain contacted me, but sadly the bus routes in my city are still a work in progress, so that store is a 5 minute drive, but the bus route is a mile walk then a ride, and walking a bit more. I bit the bullet and called to set up an interview. Within minutes of scheduling it, I felt a panic attack coming. I couldn't do it. I knew it would be too much of a headache to commute. I ended up just not showing up for the interview.

I was panicking over finances and worrying about losing our apt, where would we go, I'm terrified of being homeless. I informed my concerns to my husband, who insists we will be ok. I do have bookmarked resources, reminding myself that we're not the only ones struggling right now.

But for the past week, I've tackled the worst anxiety episode I've ever had. Usually they last about 4 days, but I'm on day 6 or 7, and while I feel mostly normal again, I still cannot eat whole foods. Im drinking Ensure, V8 (for the fruits and veggies), I get peckish in the evening so I snack on some stuff. My sleep is finally restful. I do struggle more in the morning, despite being a morning person :P I also had a roadblock of having both my therapist and my psychiatrist busy, and I already have spoken to a crisis coordinator, she was very kind but I know what she would say if I called back (nothing negative, just that I already know she would say I'm brave and I can do this, I don't need to call to hear that lol)

I finally got a call last Friday from the store I've been waiting months to hear from. I had to wait out my anxiety to call back, but I managed it, the manager was super nice and while I wanted the interview today (anticipation is my enemy), I agreed to tomorrow evening. I'm super proud for my ability to call back, but have to stay calm for tomorrow.

PLEASE DO NOT REBLOG! This is just me getting my thoughts out, encouragement or support is welcome.

#personal rant #personal #do not reblog #Anxiety #job interview

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dlamp-dictator · 3 years

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Allen X Wants to Like Guilty Gear Part 1: Allen X Does Not Like Guilty Gear

Folks, I tried. I really tried. For the last few years I’ve tried to like Guilty Gear. I’ve honestly been playing bits of this series since around the time Accent Core was on the PS3 store. I’ve really tried. I’ve played Accent Core Plus R, Xrd, Revelator and Rev 2, and I’ve been trying my damn hardest to like this series because I can see all the cool and fun stuff in it. I can see the cool grungy-rock meets 90s anime aesthetic. I can see how insane and cool Roman Cancel combos are. I can hear all the awesome music in the soundtracks. And I see all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into this series to make it the coolest hard-rock fighting game it wants to be and I really want to like it.

But I don’t... God, it’s Samurai Shodown all over again.

I just can’t get into this series, man. Something, some things about it keep me from fully enjoying it. Mostly some petty things that just add up and tumble the pile over, but things nonetheless.

And... I wanted to talk about that a little.

I wanted to just let out all my love and misgivings for the Guilty Gear in hopes of finally purging all the negative from my being, or at least write it out in a constructive manner so I can lay all my transgressions bare and maybe... possibly... actually want to purchase and play Strive on launch day.

But first, as usual, a synopsis.

The Guilty Gear series is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works, helmed and created by Daisuke Ishiwatari, who I know as the composer of the Blazblue soundtrack, but has quite the large track record that I won’t go into here. Guilty Gear as a story focuses on the lone bounty hunter Sol Badguy, a human experiment known as a Gear, half-human, half monstrous being of science and magic. The storyline of each game tends to focus on Sol finding the humanity in his would-be marks as well as confronting the still-lingering humanity in himself as he copes with both his self-loathing and loathing the for one who made him this way, a scientist simply call That Man, or Asuka as the most recent games have shown us. The storyline itself is long and complicated but as of Strive it seems the final battle between Sol and That Man is finally at hand and the battlefield will be the United States.

Gameplay-wise, Guilty Gear is a fast-paced, combo-centric series that uses chaining attacks that can cancel into special and super moves, along with the unique Roman Cancels, which slow down time and leave your opponent open for more punishment mid-combo. Think the Chain Shift in Under Night with a bit more hangtime if you want a comparison, or the Rapid Cancel of the Blazblue series with a slowdown effect and more flash.

And with the basics out of the way let’s talk about the specifics.

The Good Things

Of course, that isn’t to say I hate this game series. There’s a lot I like and enjoy about the Guilty Gear series that I’ll go into greater detail in a later essay, but for now I’ll give a brief mention of all the things I enjoy about it.

The Music

I was introduced to Daisuke Ishiwatari’s music through Blazblue, and while I love Blazblue music to this day I’ll also admit that it sounds very... video game-y. It doesn’t sound like something that could be listened to from anything other than a game. But Guilty Gear music sounds like actual music. I don’t mean that in an insulting way toward Blazblue, but... man does Pride and Glory sound like something you’d listen to while driving your pickup truck on the highway. Damn, does Get Down to Business sound like something an actual rock concert would play. And the Xrd soundtracks sound so good man. One Dawn, Enough is Enough, Starry Sky, Lily of Steel, they all sound so damn good. And as cheesy and over-the-top as they sound I love the LA and NY Vocals of this series. Personal favorites are Keep Yourself Alive II, Fuuga, and Suck a Sage.

The Aesthetic

If there was one thing I didn’t really like about Blazblue it was a lot of characters, even the ones I mained, had an aesthetic I just couldn’t latch onto. A weird mix of fantasy, eastern, and early-2000s action anime that just didn’t click with me save for Hibiki Kohaku. Guilty Gear is a lot more my speed with a more rugged look to their characters. Something about a lot these characters just have that good mix of grunge and 90s fashion I love. Some of my favorites being Answer, Ramlethal, and Jam.

Tension

While there’s a lot about Guilty Gear’s mechanics I find unappealing and convoluted I love how building and using meter works in this series, specific in Accent Core Plus R. Dust being a sort of EX button works really well in this game since I personally feel like Dust is kind of under-used a lot of the time save for the universal sweep. This point probably won’t get an entire essay covering it, but I did at least want to give it a shoutout.

Setting

This point will be getting its own essay, but to keep things short and simple I like the setting of Guilty Gear, medieval-esque magitech with a dash a modern-world flavor just hits with real well with me. Like a nice mix of Under Night and Tales of Symphonia.

And that’s it for the good stuff, at least the good stuff I can make into later essays. Now let’s talk about...

The Conflicting Things

Really, my issues with Guilty Gear are similar to Samurai Shodown and Granblue Fantasy Versus, where I love those game aesthetically, but actually playing them is another matter. However, unlike those two games my issues are almost the opposite. Where Samsho and GBVS had a slower and more fundamentals approach that didn’t appeal to my cocaine-esque addiction to combo chains, special cancels and air-dashing, Guilty Gear is almost too fast for my taste, or at least a different kind of fast. This is something very hard to explain. If you've read my initial thoughts on Crystar then you have a good idea about what I mean. This is something very hard to explain to people that haven’t played the game and is likely more a technical part of Guilty Gear’s mechanics that I can explain with an real sophistication aside from saying ‘this game feels weird,’ but... I’m gonna’ try.

The Button Layout

Alright, this is something I can actually explain. I’m... not a fan of 5-button fighters. Really, anything more than 4 buttons is hard for me to grasp. This is mostly due to the fact that I use a standard dualshock controller when playing fighting games. I frankly don’t have money for an arcade stick nor the patience to figure our how to work with one, so I’m stuck with the PS4 controller. For games like Blazblue, Granblue, and even stuff like Tekken and Dead or Alive this works out fine, as even when those games have a fifth or six button they usually aren’t heavily involved in combos or can be supplemented by other means. But games like Street Fighter, Skullgirls, and Guilty Gear the fifth and sixth button are used very liberally. Granted, Dust isn’t used as often as heavy punch, but it’s still a key button used for sweeps and air combos, turning my hands into pretzels as a results.

I don’t you dare tell me to just get use to it or get good. I’m a Carl main. I’m used multi-tasking with my hands.

...

Dammit, that came out wrong, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, a smaller issue I have is just the way Punch, Kick, Slash, and Heavy Slash are mapped both on the controller and on the display screen. It just doesn’t mesh well with me where they’re mapped, and switching the button layout honestly makes it worse because the display proper doesn’t adjust for where I map the buttons.

Roman Cancels

Roman Cancels are just a tool I don’t think I’ll ever find a good use for, or at least something that would take me a long time to use optimally. Like I said before, they’re basically Chain Shift with more hangtime, but it feels like the Rapid Cancel in the sense that I have to move very quickly after activating or I outright lose the combo, and unlike Chain Shift and Rapid Cancel where I can just ignore the mechanic, keep the meter, and focus on small, easy combos with good defense, Roman Cancels feel somewhat needed to do decent damage in this game. Or at least the trial mode really thinks so.

From what I’ve seen of Strive’s mechanics I think Roman Cancels will be a little easier for me to conceptualize and use, but... I dunno’, I’m not feeling too confident on that.

I do recognize that this issue is a me problem, but it’s a probably I have nonetheless.

The Look

Specifically on Xrd, something about the 2.5D makes certain movements a little hard to read and judge. This isn’t something I can really describe that well, but something about that game specifically feels weird. Like the cell-shaded, 3D contrasts a little with the feel of motion in that game. I have a similar issue with the recent Street Fighter games as well. Again, it’s nothing concrete and it’s honestly indescribable for someone of my knowledge on the subject, but... something feels awkward when I’m playing this game in a serious light.

The Fandom

This has nothing to do with the game, but tends to create cracks in me when I play this game. As a guy that got into Arc System Works games via Blazblue Calamity Trigger, seeing a lot of the Guilty Gear be demeaning and insulting toward the Blazblue Community has always rubbed me the wrong way and I have a difficult time getting into this series in a more serious way because of it. I know this is likely a vocal minority, I know this isn’t every Guilty Gear fan, but it feels like a vocal side of Guilty Gear community keeps thinking that Guilty Gear is some sort of antithesis to anime air-dashers like Blazblue, as if the grungy rock aesthetic cancels out the anime aesthetic of Blazblue. This has always annoyed me, but it tends to crop up everytime someone brings up Guilty Gear designs versus Blazblue designs and while I find the idea of discussing and comparing the two interesting it always seems to devolve into insulting Blazblue.

Though to give a short version of my opinion this: I don’t want to hear shit about Blazblue waifus when Baiken mains don’t even play Baiken. And I especially don’t want to hear shit about Blazblue’s pandering fanservice when Dizzy, Ram, and Elphelt exist.

About Strive

I think that covers the main things keeping me from liking Guilty Gear, or at least playing Guilty Gear. So I want to talk about Strive, the next game coming up. This will also be something that will be expanded on in a later essay, but for now I’ll say I’m cautiously excited about Strive coming out and I look forward to at least giving it a shot. Though to give some rapid-fire bullet points on the matter...

Overall, I think Strive looks great, the presentations is fantastic and I love a lot of the new designs for the characters, though I hear that opinion is actually contentious in the fandom.

I heard that Strive is gonna’ have a dub again. I’m... curious, but I’ll save my opinions for a different essay. Long story short, if they get a new director or the old director puts more care into the performances I’ll be happy. I did overall like Xrd’s original dub barring a few performances.

So far everything about Strive looks cool, but it’s still Guilty Gear, so... debating on if I wanna’ get that day 1. Especially since I still only have a base PS4. I’ve no interest in getting the new hotness for at least another year and gamers are self-centered demons that mock those using lesser hardware. That isn’t a Guilty Gear thing, it’s just a gamer thing.

For those wondering, if I pick of this game I’ll probably main Chipp, Ram, and maybe Giovanna.

I have mixed feelings about the soundtrack. Save for Smell of the Game the lyrics in the themes I’ve hard are a mix of okay to... not okay. Hope they have versions without the lyrics similar to Raven in Rev 2.

And I think that’s everything. Next... probably another essay about Arknights.

#your dictator is speaking #guilty gear

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you-cantbesirius · 5 years

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iiiiii made a kny oc??? i actually have an idea for one more but ill just dump this one here first and make a separate post for the second. huffs. NOTE: i’ve updated naho’s profile under the cut!! oc character sheet credits to @/sleepynezuko

花桐夏帆 (Hanakiri Naho) | 21 | 165 cm

General Information—

Name: Hanakiri Naho (花桐 - 'Paulownia flower’, 夏帆 - ‘summer’ ‘sailboat’)

Birthday: September 3

Age: 21

Height & Weight: 165cm, 63kg

Gender & Pronouns: Female, she/her

Appearance: Naho has bright magenta eyes and plum coloured hair with dusty pink tips that plunges down to her waist. She wears three flower-shaped ribbons on either side of her head due to her namesake, and has the left side always tucked behind her ear. She wears the regular Corps uniform with a white-blue gradient haori, embroidered with a pink and navy mist motif. The hem of its sleeves are sealed with a pink ribbon.

Affiliation & Rank: Demon Slayer Corps, Hashira.

Personality—

Positive Traits: analytical, hardworking, loyal

Negative Traits: overly critical, shy (past), remorseless

Habits: teasing the younger hunters, brushing at her hair with her fingers

Quirks: likes cleaning out her bedroom a lot, sometimes up to twice in one week. It’s not so much for sanitation purposes, rather, it’s cathartic for her. She does it especially often when she misses her family or someone.

Relationships—

Family: Hanakiri Etsuji (father, alive), Asagao Sayo (mother, deceased), Nishimura Fukume (step-mother, deceased), Nishimura Akihiko (younger step-brother, alive), Nishimura Ise (younger step-sister, alive)

Allies, people in particular she works well or gets along with: Tanjiro, Kanae, Mitsuri, Kyojuro, Gyomei, Ubuyashiki family, most of the younger hunters.

Enemies, people in particular she works poorly or doesn’t get along with: Sanemi, Obanai, Shinobu, Zenitsu, Yushiro.

*fun fact: both her father’s last name (Hanakiri) and her mother’s last name (Asagao; 朝顔) have flowery implications

Abilities & Powers—

Breathing Style: Breath of Fog, derived from Breath of Mist. It’s not her nor her family’s own creation of breathing style. Its roots go back multiple decades. Her father, the former Fog Pillar, had taught Naho the breath style as she is his eldest child. The Breath of Fog consists of some similar elements to its pre-derivatives — Breath of Mist and Breath of Wind. It revolves mostly around obscuring the enemy’s field of vision and confusing them.

Main Weapon: A katana with a smoke patterned guard and a crisp white scabbard with a navy ribbon tied near the top. The hilt of her katana has a pink base and is wrapped with a plum-coloured cord. Her Nichirin blade is light blue, with the word ‘Destroy’ engraved in Kanji.

Demon Slayer Mark: ? (to be revealed!!)

Swordsmanship—

First Form: Distant Gloom - a purely evasive technique. Spinning the sword in circular motions creates a smokescreen, allowing the user to escape or disorient the enemy and their attacks.

Second Form: Swirling Haze of Dawn - a flurry of ranged arc slashes that erupt into a hazy cyclone. The user charges forward through the haze to finish the attack.

Third Form: Cloud Crane’s Protection - a crane-like creature of dense fog is conjured by the user. Once its wings stretch open, the wingspan nullifies any incoming projectile attacks. Certain strong or powerful attacks can still break through the density of the fog.

Fourth Form: Fog Demon Dance - the user increases their movement speed to be able to disorient enemies, at the same time launching multiple long ranged strikes in helical patterns that hone in on a target.

Fifth Form: Rising Mist of Annihilation - a vertically upward slash attack

Sixth Form: Fog Piercing Rain - the user strikes from above at high speed. The thrust is enough to pierce most enemies, and the ground.

Final Form: Nirvana Veil - a heavy cloak of fog that appears as an illusion to anyone else. The user can manipulate the illusion as and however they want, however, the range, complexity and duration of this illusion depends on the user’s own mental capacity. This form is different in that it requires the user to meditate tediously, thus rendering them vulnerable while using the final form.

*note: it took me hours to come up with these. how does gotouge sensei dO IT..,,, that being said please don’t steal these without permission or anything ;w;

Opinions—

Favorite Food: Cold udon, Namagashi (fruit jellies designed in floral or leaf motifs)

Likes: Cleanliness, her hair, embroidery

Dislikes: Rudeness, having to ask for help

Thoughts on Demons: Zero remorse for them. Their story and past selves don’t matter to her.

Thoughts on Nezuko & Tanjiro: Absolutely skeptical about Nezuko, even after the Pillar Meeting. It takes three missions and the constant persuasion on Uzui and Mitsuri’s part to sell her. Now she’s indifferent to Nezuko being in the Demon Slayer Corps. As for Tanjiro, he’s always been a bright kid, so Naho finds it difficult for herself to fault him in any manner.

Thoughts on Tamayo & Yushiro: Adamant on not working with Tamayo or Yushiro. Especially Yushiro, whose sharp-tongued personality tends to rub her the wrong way. As far as possible, Naho would rather have no contact with them, even if Ubuyashiki wills it. However, she’s seen the work Tamayo has done for the decades of miserable humanity that have spawned from Muzan’s hands, and a small part of her tends to see past the fact that Tamayo is a demon, admiring her compassion above all.

#kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu no yaiba oc #demon slayer #oc #original character #kny oc #oc: hanakiri naho #mine #m:art

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slashingdisneypasta · 4 years

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Freddy Krueger x Reader || Oneshot

Title: Mr Krueger.

Note: EverythingsFine!AU. Freddy isn’t a pedophile or a killer or a demon. But he is divorced and you’re legal(24, to be safe).

Plot: Basically, you had a crush on your best friends father when you were 17, and 7 years later you’re over it… but will it come back with a passion when he develops certain feelings for the new, adult you?

A mix of humour, creepiness and scandal.

Warnings: Some course and suggestive language. But nothing too bad, haha.

~~~

“Honey, I’m home!~” I call, unlocking the front door to Kathy’s apartment, have trouble opening the old, slightly jammed door, and take off my scarf and jacket for the hallways coat stand to hold onto once I’ve infiltrated the best friends campus residence. “And guess what?”

“Sweetheart, you’re home! What? Quickly, I’m in the middle of a caffeinated psychotherapy paper rush.”

“Oh, well then I’ll just tell you later no worries.” I giggle, walking down the short hallway and following her voice to the kitchen. She’s been procrastinating this paper since she was issued it as homework so who am I to ruin her burst? We can talk about the wonderful thing later. I have a couple hours, anyway.

When I reach the kitchen a second later, I’m both shocked and a teensy bit feeling the obligatory murderous glare I send to Kathy. Sitting beside her is her father eating a bowl of my fruit loops, and I had no idea he was here! You’re a wonderful friend, Kath, really. Jeez.

Mr Krueger- Freddy? Fred? Rick? What’s the protocol for when you have to address your childhood friends’ father once you’re an adult? I’m going to stick to Mr Krueger. Anyway, he grins and waives. “Welcome home ‘sweetheart’~”

After sending Kathy the short glare and getting a quick, embarrassed and surprised apologetic look back like she completely forgot he was there in the first place, before she faces her laptop again, I flash him a grin back, settling into a more formal, ‘Talking to the friend’s parent’ mode. Which he weirdly doesn’t seem to have tapped into him himself. “Hi, Mr Krueger. What’s up?”

“I just came to visit my precious heir, but she’s not paying any attention to me.”

“Busy!” Kathy waives a dismissive hand at her father for half a second, really focused on her work. Mr Krueger holds a hand to his chest, making a mockery of pain and sending me a ‘secret’ conspirator look at the end, before I open the fridge and turn away from them both, silently laughing. I have always liked her Dad, as he was the cool parent, out of all of the Springwood high parental community, but its still awkward having him here. Seeing as the wierdo, 17-year-old me had a creepy crush on the bloke.

Luckily now, I guess, I’m a grown woman and have grown out of such things and can act less like a retard around him. I guess. He is still a parent, which means I have to try and be a stand-up role model for her daughter.

Pfft.

“So, what’s the news??” I nearly lose my grip on the bottle of orange juice I’m pulling out of the fridge door when he pipes up about what I said to Kathy when I first got in. Ohhh, he heard that? Right… When I turn around and get to the bench with the orange juice and a cup, I have the humility to look a little guilty in response. Obviously, Mr Krueger catches on to my hesitation and tilts his head, looking awfully mischievous. “Was I not supposed to hear that?”

Oh, gee, let me think…

“No, it’s okay… “I laugh nervously and, in my mind, send another evil glare at Kathy. Outwardly though I just poor juice. Just pour juice. “I just, um… “Thinking, frantically, I try to come up with something roll model-ish to say… but come up with nil. I sigh. “I was excited, because… Mr Krueger, I… Uh… have a date tonight… “I’m bright red! I wants even bright red when I asked the boy out today! What’s wrong with me, I’m a grown ass adult and I can tell Mr Krueger something this simple! I can say whatever I like to him, actually! I could tell him to fuck himself if I wanted! Not that I do, but I have a point!

Among all this confused inner dialogue, I nearly miss the confused slash surprisedly unhappy look on Mr Krueger’s features. He opens his mouth to say something negative, then closes it back up. Thinks for a moment, then opens it again. This time sounds come out. “… you can call me Freddy now.”

Oh… not what I expected.

I guess he’s confused about the new dynamic, too. “Oh… alright then.” Awkwardly, we’re all in silence for a moment. I have the excuse of drinking juice, ‘Freddy’ looks deep in thought, and Kathy is of course silent because she’s furiously typing on her laptop. Honestly, getting lost watching her, there should be smoke coming from her fingers. Then I come back to the present and hold up the orange juice bottle just as he picks up the fruit loops box.

“Orange juice?

“Want some?”

Another silence, as we both turn and instead look wide eyed at our own stupidity to the floor. Kathy sighs, shoulders dropping out of exasperation. She talks, but she’s still looking at her laptop. Is she… editing while talking?? Her intelligence scares me. “You’re both awkward as hell. What’s wrong with you?”

Honestly, I have no idea. “There’s no awkwardness! None at all, right Freddy?” God, that sounded weird. Even worse than ‘Mr Krueger’.

“Exactly, Y/N and I are old friends. I’ve just had a long day, need to take a nap.” He bullshits, smiling brightly at his daughter. She seems to by it… and turns her accusatory gaze from her computer to me. Oh, dear.

“Okay, well. Y/N, if this is about your old crush then get over it. You don’t have it anymore so stop freaking out. Now, I’ve gotta fact check this so I’m headed to the library. See you later, have fun at your date. Bye Dad.”

My jaw drops, gaping wide and I’m sure humorously, watching as she shuts off her laptop and gets off the bar stool at the bench and Freddy grins even brighter and opens his arms wide for a hug from her. She just gives him a quick peck on the cheek and leaves for her room.

“I will have fun but you’re a terrible friend!!” I call after her. “I hope you know that!”

“Acknowledged!” She calls back, infuriatingly.

“Well that’s it, she’s not getting any juice.” I mutter, twisting the cap onto the bottle and simultaneously avoiding looking at Mr Krueger. Which, I’ve decided, he’ll stay as. He shall always be ‘Mr Krueger’, to me.

Not even a moment passes before he moves from his stool to the one Kathy was just in, right in front of me and in my view. Quickly I look up at his face- less embarrassing then his chest I guess.

“Don’t be embarrassed sweetheart, I’m a spectacular specimen. I don’t blame you.” He grins wide, 2 parts cheeky and 3 parts narcissistic. A set him with an unsettled, borderline amused look for a moment…

Then roll my eyes and turn to put the orange juice away. “Uhuh.” Once I’m done with that, I decide that I’ve been embarrassed enough for this particular conversation and bid him goodbye, going for my room to get ready for my date later.

Minutes later, the sound of the door opening, shutting and locking signals both their exits and I’m left to calm down and relax in my room for an hour. I shan’t go on my date all stressed out.

Then I shower and get dressed. It’s still another hour before Toby will come and pick me up here, so I decide to leave the confines of my room and watch some TV.

This is the point in which I nearly have a stroke. When you’re an attractive, unarmed young woman and see an unnamed man on the couch, that is what may happen! Who the hell is in my apartment?!?! Toby shouldn’t be here until 7 and he wouldn’t just let himself in!! He couldn’t!!! The door is locked!! What the fuck!!!

Just as I’m turning in my place, wondering if I can get to the kitchen island and get a knife without alerting the strange man of my presence, I do a double take and then realise who it is. And verbalise my shock. “What the fuck Mr Krueger?! I thought you left!”

Mr Krueger, who’s sprawled on the couch like he lives here, a cup on tea on the coffee table-no coaster,- and a book from the shelf under the TV over his face, as I guess he was dozing, picks up the book a peaks over the top of it. “Evidently, you were wrong.”

“NO.” I draw it out, sarcastically. No, I was wrong?? Really?? Here I was thinking you were an illusion.

“Unless this happens often, you seeing me here on the couch when your all alone… “I Still can’t see most of his face due to the paperback copy of Dorian Gray over his face but is that a twinkle if mischief in his eyes???

I set him with a deadpanned look and walk around him on the couch to the armchair. “Very funny, sir, but I’m not ashamed of myself. I was 17, and it was better then falling for Bundy like everyone else. Now get your shoes off my couch, that’s a good couch.” I pick up the remote off the coffee table and curl up on the couch as he chuckles and does as he’s told, sitting up. “So, are you waiting around for Kathy?? She’ll be a while, you know her. She’s your kid.”

“Yeah, I do know that.” Some more chuckles escape him, something clearly amusing to him but when I look at him he isn’t looking at me anymore, rather the TV that has flickered to life, showing Tom and Jerry. “But, she isn’t a kid anymore for the record. Neither are you.”

I don’t really respond to that, just settle in to enjoy Tom and Jerry’s adventures. Thinking, did he answer my question??

An episode ends, and we’ve started a steady conversation. Its nice. He’s always been funny, kind of a wordsmith. The way he strings words together is pretty creative, and makes me want to talk more interestingly, too. He does have a tendency that of course I never noticed before due to being a kid though, of overusing the word ‘bitch’. His humour also tends to extend mostly to overused dad jokes and R-rated things… not that I’m minorly freaking out at all. No. Not at all, I’m just surprised!

And slightly in awe.

And a little crushing.

But its okay to revisit old crushes a little, right? Not like anything will come of it, I’m still quite anxiously awaiting my hot date with Toby White. He’s so pretty, with his messy died blue hair, and equally as sexy blue eyes.

Mr Krueger has blue eyes too, doesn’t he?

No! Nooo, revisiting is one thing. But just remove this from your real life -the one where you enjoy your date and hopefully have Toby become your college boyfriend, - and just minorly enjoy this before moving on forever.

Before you know it, many more episodes have passed, and you were just enjoying yourself way too much to notice. Mr Krueger’s grin is in equal parts mischievous infectious. “Ah! Toby will be here in 10 minutes!” I exclaim, glancing at the clock on the wall and casually pulling your hair up into a messy ponytail with your hands, before letting it all back down onto your shoulders and down your back. Honestly, I’m less excited then I thought I’d be. Its nice talking to Freddy!

“Ten minutes? Come on, you’re not giving him any room to be fashionably late?” Woah, what was that?? That rumbly thing he’s done with his voice? That was… uh… surprisingly pleasant. I look wide eyed at him for a moment, lips glued shut, and surprised at my traitorous reaction to it more then anything. That’s new. I’ve never heard that before! His smirk grows- because that’s what it is, now. Not a grin, not a smile. A dirty, meaningful, devilish smirk. And it hits home. All the feelings from 7 years ago come back in a hot flush.

Cautiously, I start. Start what? I don’t know. Tell him to stop it? I’m self-aware enough to know I don’t want him to do that, absolutely not, but are you willing to risk everything you would be risking, to act on acknowledging that?? “Sir… “

“Ah, good, good! You’re on the right path. Now can you say ‘Daddy’?”

At that, I gape. How bold can he be?!! There’s no interpreting that as anything other then a come on. As he gets up, and the seconds tick away to when Toby would arrive I inwardly panic. What is he doing??! Why is he coming here?? What do I do?? Tell him to stop!

I’m, and all my senses are swallowed up by his dark eyes when he reaches his destination-my armchair, - and puts his hands on either arm, leaning down to be comfortably close to my face. “Now, see here, you have a choice. Do you want to go and eat dinner with your husband material coming up the stairs now, or you can stay and be a whore with me.”

That ‘me’ carries some serious wait, here. Some serious, scale tipping weight.

My hands move on their own and fit themselves to the spans of his shoulders. This dark, dirty, taboo crush has never been so tangible.

He tilts his head. “Tick tock.”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Without hesitation, I sit up closer to him and hold a finger in front of my mouth.

“Don’t let him hear.”

#Oneshot #Freddy Krueger x Reader #Freddy Krueger #Kathrine Krueger

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