#this is his fourth playthrough btw

[salty-an-disco]

Cold plays Undertale

#this is his fourth playthrough btw #first he got two neutral endings. then did pacifist. and now a no mercy run #his next order of business: repeatedly get a neutral ending to see all Flowey dialogue he can get #voice of the contrarian #slay the princess #voice of the cold #stp dark comedy #flowey the flower #undertale #stp voices #sal draws #sketches #also: the child’s name was Contra’s suggestion

[tankbredgrunt]

End of year wrap-ups, 2023

It's presently June while I start to write this, and I thought if I wanted to put together a list of media consumed over 2023 I could at least get an early start, for as much my sake of mindfulness and talking about the things I loved/hated. If you're interested too, you can read more; first is video games, then music, then movies and tv, then books. If you feel like talking about anything in here don't hesitate! This is going to be a nightmare to tag though so, I probably won't lmao.

Nothing is necessarily ranked in order either btw, and just because I didn't write any thoughts with something doesn't mean I disliked it. Just no thoughts you know? I could have thoughts though. For the right price.

Viddy Games

For the games I haven't yet beaten but did spent some time playing, I made 12 hours of progress into Hollow Knight and am very keen to get back into it; I played Cyberpunk 2077 for about 47 hours, and am very keen to get back into it; Baldur's Gate 3 has ~9 hours at this moment, and I'm keen, etc; and Starfield has 32 hours in it and I am NOT keen to get back into it. I can get into that later though. 🏆 means I got the Platinum achievement trophy too :3

Last of Us Part 1 (x2)/Last of Us PS4 Remaster (x3)/Last of Us PS3 (x1) 🏆 - 5 stars On top of regular playthroughs, this year also marked the dip into Grounded mode. I completed one Grounded round on the Part 1 PS5 remake, and 2 more on the PS4 remaster (for the achievements). It would be impossible to discuss the reasons why I love this game so much so I will spare yall, a mercy dedicated to anyone who's already had to/gotten to hear me go on about it. I also got two TLoU tattoos this year. Ask me about my theories still though. One of my favorite moments from my 2nd Grounded run (Including one of the nearly-100 fuck ups leading up to that point):

Death Stranding - 5 stars I'm coming in to write about this one retroactively, because I've spent all this time since beating the game thinking about it. Did I understand half of what was going on? Vaguely, but it was beautiful, and heartfelt, and the world was interesting, and it satisfied the need I had to go outside and run my errands. Loved Cliff's character, and his plight as a father, how he carried it with him to the afterlife, and his speech to Sam is on loop constantly as a goosebumps generator. All the webs this story weaved came together and fray in such intriguing ways.

Detroit: Become Human (x2) - 5 stars These were my third and fourth playthroughs of this game and I find myself fonder for this little game each time I play. The perfect example of how a setting is so much deeper for the things it DOESN'T say than the things it does, once you think consider it. Under the cover of fun little robots, this world is so bleak, and I love the thought experiments. A very good example, imo, of what kind of tool cyberpunk really is as a setting. Quantic Dream also slips in one unanswered aspect into each of their stories, and while it's true that the ambiguity can be frustrating, Quantic Dream accidentally does it in a way that I find so alluring. Ra9, in this case, examining the clues on my own, coming to my own conclusions. It lets the world live on after the games have ended. I don't care about having answers--the game focused on what it needed to. It was not a portal into the greater world, it was one into Kara, Connor, and Marcus. We can look at the world on our own.

Disco Elysium - 4 stars Admittedly while this one took me a few months to finish, with a break spanning between November 2022 to March, and often found it VERY dense with information, I still really enjoyed myself. It's also the sort of narrative that is very self-aware, and as such pokes fun at itself, and as another such is sometimes lost under a few too many layers of irony and sarcasm. It's a bit hard sometimes to know what information to take seriously and what to disregard. As wonts these sorts of games the content is made entirely of dialog, very reading heavy, and puts me to sleep--I couldn't imagine playing this game without the stellar voice acting. Haunting and comedic sometimes even in the same line of dialog, I'm glad I found it after the Final Cut was released. Highly recommend, looking forward to another play-through.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 4 stars I loved BotW from the moment I got my Switch on launch day. Interestingly with TotK, I found my high opinion slipping the more I played, and too afterward. It seems more and more to me that Nintendo isn't exactly as keyed into what people are looking for with Zelda as they thought. TotK comes complete with shallow villains and anime tropes and a bastardization of a fair bit of the work done in BotW. It is not a story that is aware of it's own narrative, characters, or concepts. I don't say this as a person who demands to know which timeline and where exactly it takes place, only as someone invested in the universe and hopes to have somethings meaningfully extrapolated on. I'm hungry for subversion. Won't get much of that with this game sadly. That said, where gameplay was concerned I still really enjoyed myself. Before release I was worried how they would fill a world I've already spent 300+ hours exploring, and it turned out the answers were 2 entirely new maps and a largely transformed overworld. Discovering the newness in a world I already knew so well was fantastical. The building mechanics were enchanting, the shrines legitimately challenging, and the world still fun to explore. Don't see myself replaying for quite a while though, if ever, which was also the case with BotW. EDIT: having read and heard of all the nightmares about this games development since I've played it, just have to say 😬 yikes dude. Really recontextualizes the story for me. Idk though the gameplay was still super fun, so where an overall rating is concerned, I'm a bit conflicted. I'll leave it where it is I guess but let the record show it's still a Yikes from me about certain things.

Heavy Rain - 3.5 stars So, in the driver's seat of this, I found myself not doing much else besides complaining. The controls on the PC port are horrible; the 'twist' was less that and more... dishonest; voice acting was rough; David Cage exists; etc. But idk dude!! Something about it was still as charming as the first time!! It's been just about 10 years since I first played it at release, and the nostalgia was strong. It was a perfect distraction from real life at the time, and I've always looked back on the game fondly, though I've never replayed it. There ARE functional things I do dislike about the plot and writing and the awful ending, which discounts its score to the 3.5 star rating, but idk yall. I find Norman dorky and lovable, flawed yet well-intentioned; Ethan is a desperate dad trying to correct mistakes he still can't reconcile with; even Scott's motivations are understandable. I, like one key character, cannot deny that seeing a dad do whatever it takes to save his son? I'll have what he's having.

Oxenfree - 3 stars One thing about me is I have a great hatred for time travel stories. They always inevitably fall short. Oxenfree however used what I believe are the true assets of the trope. The struggle of fate, predetermination, and how-could-anything-be-different. (I also believe a key function of time travel stories is the character's understanding that they aren't the first version of themselves caught in the loops but that's a different convo). Anyway the ambiguous ending was also a big win to me. All in all a fun little game. Give it a try if you want some low-stakes entertainment with a good story.

The Uncharted series - a mixed bag So this doesn't include Uncharted 1, which I played damn near a decade ago when I first got my PS4 and the Nathan Drake collection. My thoughts on that are hazy but one I remember vividly--fuck the ship level. Anyway I mark this as mixed bag because my feelings towards it are complicated. I still felt the essence of NaughtyDog throughout, their care for their characters and sympathetic storytelling. While not as morally gray as their TLoU stuff, and rated Teen, it was still compelling, and despite my intense grievances with the combat systems in 1-2-3, I never questioned whether I would continue with the next game. However. Those grievances. Holy shit. Snap-to-cover is NEVER the answer, game devs. I know and forgive that games 1-3 are over a decade old, developers have better tools and understanding now. See an example of my jimmies being rustled here:

Take a shot each time a headshot doesn't hit. For gameplay reasons only I can't give the first 3 games any higher than 3 stars. And even though 3 has the best story of the 3, gameplay might even knock that one down to a 2. Anywho, the whiplash in quality between 3 and 4 was insane. I played the PS5 port, and loved everything about 4. Loved Sam, loved baby Nate, loved the story. It was as if ND had kept a .txt file of every single issue up till that point and corrected each of them. Seeing the bones of TLoU2 was also nice. Phenomenal game, and I look forward to playing it again sometime soon. Ratings for each game go: Uncharted 2 and 3 - 3 stars Uncharted 4 - 5 stars Uncharted: Lost Legacy - 4 stars Sadly I don't have the tools or plans to play the PSP game. PS Vita? Either way.

Last of Us Part 2 (x3) - 4 stars This was probably my 3rd time playing TLoU2, and while I don't have many strong comments to make concerning the story, I feel like this was finally the first time I truly understood Ellie's character in this game. The truth of her grief and what it was really over. And Abby as well, how she wasn't just a foil for Ellie, but for Joel as well. That said, I do still feel I would love this game so much more if it was just told linearly. The pacing is DOGshit dude, wow. Love it though. I've also completed a Grounded playthrough and got the Plat trophy this year as well, which I only mention for bragging rights 💅

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 🏆 - 5 stars I don't think I have much to say about this game besides general comments about how phenomenal the experience was. Never played anything like it. Fun exploration, environmental puzzles, great visuals. Combat was good, sound design was excellent. Story was good, acting was amazing. All around VERY thrilled I played.

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage 🏆 - 5 stars I GOTTA SAY, This game surprised the hell out of me. I’m on a journey to play all the Assassin’s Creed games; so far I’ve finished 8 out of ~18. For how badly Valhalla sucked ass I was hesitant to play this one, since it acts as a sort of prequel to a particular character, but DAMN if this didn’t completely surprise me. The world was incredibly fun to explore, and even included environmental puzzles. You will legitimately feel like an assassin with the amount of player freedom this game gives you, and the story was just as good. Best Assassin’s Creed game? 👀 Hard to say till I’ve finished them all but so far it’s absolutely a contender. Basim I love youuuuuu

Unmentioned, in alphabetical order: [Assassin's Creed 1 - 2.5 stars; Assassin's Creed 2 - 3.5 stars; Assassin's Creed: Chronicles: China - 3 stars; Assassin's Creed: Chronicles: India - 3.5; Assassin's Creed: Chronicles: Russia - 3.5 stars; Beyond: Two Souls - 3 stars; Ghost of Tsushima - 4 stars; Gone Home - 3 stars; Indigo Prophecy - 2 stars; It Takes Two - 3 stars; A Plague Tale: Innocence - 3.5 stars; The Quarry - 2.5 stars; SEASON - 3 stars; Spider-Man 2 (2023) 🏆 - 3 stars; Stray - 3.5 stars; Super Mario Wonder - 4 stars; Twin Mirror - 3 stars; Viewfinder - 3.5 stars; A Way Out - 3.5 stars; Where the Goats Are - 3 stars]

Starfield: Putting this one down here at the bottom so I don't start this list out with complaining lol. Anyway the fact this game was nominated for Best RPG at the game awards tells me they don't play some of the games they nominate lol. I don't think I've ever had an experience like this game gave me. I somehow played 30 hours, and had a great time, before realizing it was bad. Nothing happened in the story to stop me, there wasn't suddenly a new gameplay mechanic that I didn't agree with. There was just something in the glamour of those 30 hours that got me. Maybe it was the father figure referring to me with neutral pronouns. But anyway I guess I just came to my senses. I took a break to play something different, came back, and it was an entirely different game. The overworld is barren. They expect you to explore hundreds of plants that have nothing on them besides some minerals and animals you scan. These are laaaaarge swaths of time spent running back and forth in near silence, because not only is there next to nothing meaningful to interact with on these worlds, your companion repeats the same 5 quips the entire time. There are no tools to traversing the overworld more quickly, so you are running for thousands of kilometers so you can scan a useless monument and get 20XP. There is no incentive to exploring, there is no incentive to doing anything other than fast-traveling to your next destination--until the game stops you for not having the appropriate ship parts installed, and you realize it's going to be a 5 hour grind to upgrade that part. Looking back at those 30 hours I enjoyed, this was all still there, but idk man, idk. For this amount of content this should have only been a $30 game, MAX, and they sell it for $70. But I bought it for $70, so who is the real chump here. I think the only thing I truly enjoyed (besides Sam Coe) was the mission 'Entangled', where you are unwillingly forced between two alternate universes, due to an experiment in a research facility. It sits right on the cusp of horror, between one universe where the research facility exploded and nature took it back, and another where the explosion never happened. There is drama, intrigue, decisions, exploration, everything. Nothing else in the game came close at all to touching that and I'm mad I spent so long before realizing it. Who wrote this mission, so I can thank you?

Music (and the lyrics that make it)

My complete 2023 favorites Spotify playlist

Favorite albums: Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain Slut Pop by Kim Petras Guard Dog by Searows I Let It in and It Took Everything by Loathe Heavy Glow by Soulkeeper

Individual tracks and my favorite lyric: Master & A Hound by Gregory Alan Isakov 'Where were you when I was still kind?' Sun Bleached Flies by Ethel Cain 'If it's meant to be then it will be.' Don't Keep Driving by The Paper Kites 'There's nothing wrong with a little space. But not right now; don't leave.' Honey Dripping Sky by Georgia 'No matter how hard we try, I won't deny--it's for you.' Coming Clean by Searows 'If I kill you would I have to forgive you still?' Francesca by Hozier 'I’d tell them put me back in it. [Darling,] I would do it again.'

TV and Movies

I am severely illiterate when it comes to movies so the goal this year was to have watched at least one movie a week. Did I succeed,Future Me? [Yeah!]

Kingsman: Secret Service and :Golden Circle - 5 and 4 stars The cinematography?? The choreography? Hello? Across both movies, they were all so incredible. While Secret Service was my favorite of the two, Golden Circle had my favorite fight (though the church scene is a clooooose second)(Pedro Pascal I love you):

Gentlemen Bronco - 2 stars This movie was dull as shit BUT, it had one of my favorite scenes of the year.

Knock at the Cabin - 3.5 stars Just wanna put this one here real quick to get the Worms out--what was the point? Narratively, what was the point? I have been rolling this movie around my head since I watched last night and I'm hoping to read the book soon for better context, but man. While I enjoyed this movie a lot I just do not follow the themes, more so considering the ending. Was it a fight against providence and predetermination, only to prove its own point? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (Mr. Spock)? I can't tell exactly what this movie was asking me. As a rule I generally don't enjoy stories where the psychos are proved right with no closer examination of the themes and circumstances. Like yeah the MCs being a gay couple framed the story differently but that is also just a side effect of having distinctive characters lmao. It also insulated some sacrificial-minority stuff? Weird. And asks no questions about fate or anything, which is a wild loop considering Andrew's previous history with Redmond (a red herring? However I feel if the intro of a red herring completely recontextualizes the larger possibilities of the world, then it's not a good red herring, it's lazy). Ultimately I understand a theme is save your family or save humanity--it's on the DVD cover lol. But yeah man idk. All the other stuff, it made for a weird soup that I just cannot decipher. Anyway. EDIT: I have since read the source novel and it was incredible. I will not be watching any more Shyamalan movies lmao

Pacific Rim - 5 stars I also don't have anything much deeper to say about this than gotTDAMN dude, what a good fucking movie. I decided to watch because of all the Pacific Rim AUs that take place in fandom, and I decided I finally needed to know why and I DO know why now because good lord. What a good movie. That said the sequel was a hot pile.

The Arrival - 3 stars The way this movie had my heart racing the entire time--and shat it all away at the immediate end. Pure whiplash. "You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you." What kind of straight nonsense. What kind of anticlimactic. What kind of bullshit. I was immediately snapped to my senses, I'm not over exaggerating. Insanity.

Unmentioned, in alphabetical order: [After Yang - 4 stars; Assassin's Creed (2016) - 2 stars; Asteroid City - 4 stars; Barbie - 4 stars; Begotten (1990) - 2 stars; Bullet Train - 4 stars; Come and See (1985) - 3 stars; Dead Poets Society - 3 stars; El Dorado - 3 stars; Grave Encounters - 3 stars; The Green Knight - 4 stars; The Hateful Eight - 5 Stars; IT and IT: Chapter 2 - 4 stars; Jennifer's Body - 3 stars; King of the Hill (all 13 seasons) - episode determinate; Knives Out - 5 stars; Knives Out: Glass Onion - 2 stars; Labyrinth - 2 stars; Lady Bird - 3 stars; Lake Mungo - 3 stars; The Lighthouse - 3 stars; Mad Max: Fury Road - 3 stars; The Magnificent Seven (1960) - 4 stars; The Magnificent Seven (2016) - 3.5 stars; Martyr (2008) - 3 stars; Matrix - 3 stars; Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions - 1 star; The Menu - 4 stars; Midnight Mass - 4 stars; My Own Private Idaho - 3 stars; NOPE - 4 stars; Once Upon a Time in the West - DNF; Possum - 3 stars; The Power of the Dog - 3 stars; RE: Damnation, Death Island, Degeneration, Infinite Darkness, and Vendetta - 3 stars; Saltburn - 3.5 stars; Seven Samurai (1954) - 3 stars; The Shape of Water - 4.5 stars; Skinamarink - 3 stars; Star Trek: The Motion Picture - 2.5 stars; ST: Search for Spock and ST: Voyage Home - 4 stars; ST: The Wrath of Khan - 4.5 stars; The Thing (1982) - 3 stars; The Thing From Another World (1951) - 3 stars; Tideland (2005) - 2 stars; Unforgiven - 4 stars; The VVitch - 3 stars]

Favorite Books

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez - 5 stars I have never EVER in my life read a book like this one, and I urge everyone to give it a try. Two men must escort a dying god across the country in order to stop the control of her tyrannical children. If you aren't digging the book, at least try and make it 100 pages in. The beginning, like every chunky fantasy, is a bit of a tough learning experience, and the uniqueness of the prose didn't exactly make it an easier task. However, it makes it extremely lyrical and poetic, and intriguing. The entire package is mind-blowingly unique. AND it ends happily, if that makes you feel better.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers - 5 stars My thoughts on this little story aren't overly complex or anything, I just found the setting very nice, the B plot concerning Earth interesting, and the ambiguous ending intriguing. While the events might be a little harrowing it was the hopeful attitude of the prose and characters that made it very comforting nonetheless. I loved the experience while I was reading it, and think about the ending now, even all these months after reading.

The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr - 4 stars A black sleep car porter tries to keep his job and his sanity after their train is stopped by a mudslide. Before this I can say I'd never read anything in this setting before, and it was what drew me in initially, but it was the writing that really captivated me. The narrative has a very intimate feeling, nostalgic almost, as if you're hearing the story secondhand even as you read. It's also refreshing when a book just says 'cock', and no extra-curricular euphemisms. Where's that video of Taron Egerton saying cock over and over btw cause I can't find it

The Magpie Coffin by Wile E Young - 4 stars The first in a collection of splatterpunk westerns?? It was so fun to read, and the cover is so badass. It knew what it was and it did so well.

In the Distance by Hernan Diaz - 4 stars A young Swedish boy, separated from his brother, fends for himself in the early USA west. I was on hold for this through my library for nearly a month and a half, so by the time I got it in my grubby hands my exciting was pretty high. Though I found much of it slow, I was still somehow on the edge of my seat. It's a crime that this was the Pulitzer runner-up, and that Less by Andrew Greer won instead. It's been a very very long time since I've felt so strongly about the well-being and outcome of a character but Hakan if you're out there--I love you.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 5 stars

Nothing to add to this decade long conversation other than this holds up :’) I was gasping like I was in high school again, reading it for the first time.

Honorable mentions, in alphabetical order by author last name: [A Psalm for the Wild Built and A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers - 4 stars; How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix - 4 stars; Texas Outlaw by Richard Jessup - 4 stars; Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie - 4 stars; Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - 4 stars; Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum - 4 stars; The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage - 4 stars; East of Eden by John Steinbeck - 5 stars; The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay - 4.5 stars]

LEAST Favorite Books

I'm nothing if not a hater so I wanted to give some space to the books I most disliked.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer - DNF SAUR upset that this won the Pulitzer prize of its year instead of In The Distance by Hernan Diaz. 100 pages into it and I could not find anything redeeming about the main character. Pretentious, bitter. Like maybe that was his arc? He would outgrow that maybe. But it was just not the book nor the characters for me, unfortunately, so I did not stick around long enough for that to happen.

Bath Haus by PJ Vernon - DNF WHEW boy was the writing in this one bad. Like yall ever read a queer book and just know it was written for straight people? Let me find a picture I took of one paragraph.

Yikes and a half, dude. Anyway

Meat by Joseph D'Lacey - 1 star This was just plain bad. Like 'Oh isn't it so crazy they're eating people?? They're treating people like cattle, that's so demented right??' No. Not really. There's cannibalism in the cannibalism genre? Get a grip. I live near Donner Pass, we got cannibalism in the water here. Although maybe I'm also partially to blame for expecting some deeper storytelling from splatterpunk.

The Troop by Nick Cutter - 2 stars I don't know that I have anything really critical to say about this book other than I just didn't enjoy it. Writing was fine, prose was fine. It's told a bit out of order, think Carrie by Stephen King--snippets of interviews and articles detailing the aftermath of the events of the book. I do remember thinking that the facts were contradicting themselves a few times but was really not invested enough to care too deeply. The isolated, abandoned feeling we get from the island was nice, and the atmosphere good, I just don't believe Nick Cutter is a good writer. A bit too many slurs in here as well, methinks.

Books I DNF'd: With 15 in total this was the year of DNFing for me; it's amazing was Prozac can do for a person. (Disclaimer: I've only listed 13 of them here. The other two had to go back to the library before I could finish them so I marked them as technical DNFs :( and it doesn't feel right to include them in this list for haters)

Bath Haus by PJ Vernon (explained above) The Singularities by John Banville (nothing offensive, just didn't vibe. Books will often try way too hard on the opening paragraph and I'm not here for a philosophy lesson as I crack open a book you know what I mean) Heartless by Marissa Meyer (I just don't think YA does it for me anymore) There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins (" ") If We Were Villains by ML Rio (I just don't like being lectured and this book was clearly written for someone who wasn't me lol) Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter (I find that a lot of times thrillers written by women employ stereotypes against men and their 'perverse' sexual tastes. The lines between pornography/fantasy and reality don't seem as nuanced in this genre, unfortunately. A man is not immediately a villain because he enjoys CNC or roleplay, and the pearl clutching is a little tired) Campfire Cooking in Another World by Ren Eguchi (why is every light novel like this:

The Lies of Locke Lamore by Scott Lynch (this was too quippy for my tastes. It was a little too busy being clever and not busy enough being interesting.) Less by Andrew Greer (Mean Gays, the next Tina Fay movie) Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey (just wasn't my cuppa) Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (I read a review that counted how many times Zane Grey used 'sage' in this book. I don't remember the number but there was a lot of them. Too much mormanism going on, just wasn't my cuppa) The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson (only alright, not bad but wasn't going anywhere fast. More of a character focused, soft bit of mystery, which was fine, I just didn't find myself enjoying the characters either) Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett (I just wasn’t vibing you know how it is)

2023 Reading Statistics

I also keep a track of the pages read and ratings, as well as genre, where I read the book and in what format, so I'll put that here too for posterity's sake. And If you'd like, I use GoodReads, and we can be friends!

62 books read 18,217 pages in total 3.25 average star rating 19 (30.6%) of the books read were owned; 43 (69.4%)(nice) were from the library 14 (75.8%) were physical books; 12 (19.4%) were ebooks; 3 (4.8%) were audiobooks

That's it! I don't make reading goals anymore, in terms of how many to read, but I do know I want to TRY and read the copy of Battle Royal I've had since my junior year of high school. And I'd like to try and finish the Tsubasa manga series, since I never made it past volume 15 I think. I can't think of anything other than that! It was a good year!

[wm-paintbrush]

Apologies in advance, anyway character bingo. (It'll be easy cause I flooded the dash, again sorry.)

-The Beast (Over The Garden Wall)

-Alice Liddell /obviously

-Adam (Saw)

-Habit (EMH)

-Dib (Invader Zim)

-Free choice <3 ramble, I wanna listen, my friend

-The Beast (Over The Garden Wall)

Wendigo beast wendigo beast wendigo beast wendigo beast but absolute bastard that i didn't have time to get obsessed about -Alice Liddell

From a quick wiki-read she is aesthetic so hard go crazy fsdhsdhsdfhfsfdhasdgaahha

-Adam (Saw)

Haven't watched enough Saw movies to gain an opinon. But just like before, a quick wiki-read got me a tint of ideas. Would definitely kill in canon.. albeit he had a bit of empathy so there's possiblities.

-Habit (EMH)

Bitch actually kinda fucks. Mysterious man. Looks gorgeous. Besides younger me liked creepypastas and slenderman so he is aesthetic HARD hard. -Dib (Invader Zim)

I didn't even read the wiki as i knew some shit from memory. SCRUNKLY SCRIMBLO CHAOTIC BEAN I WANNA GENTLY NO- I MEAN- BITE HIM! *Inhales* I do not entirely know what to ramble about, so i'll make it a reply to what you thought about my choices.

First of all, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS WE BOTH HAVE MANGLE AS BLORBOSSSS GAAAHHH My mom even made me two plushies once adgfdhshshfdsh Sseconddddd, fair. Sans is a blorbo to me tho.. you could say he is a puntastic guy. I do headcanon Handplates as similar to his story tho so maybe that's just me liking that comic too. BTW I THINK IT'S STILL GOING ON AS WE SPEAK Third, WATCH A PLAYTHROUGH IF YOU DARE CAUSE YOU WILL CRY AT THE ENDING. Anyway it's basically mythical feral beast that acts like a dog and cat and bird combined and yes they're so adorable ahhhh

Fourth, happy noises Fifth, fair man.. but what about thinking of sonic.exe outssideeeeee the creepypasta fandom.. like okay the FNF crew sucked but the reason i actually asked your opinon in the first place was because i knew a fan.. remake? version? Where "Sonic.exe" is actually named Exetior. Vigilante Anti-Hero Demon boy is the vibes from that guy.. Sixth and not last, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS PINKAMENA WAS MY FIRST BELOVED THAT MAKES ME HAPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ..That's all ahaha

#ask game answers #i tried my best

[sealofreconciliation]

Posting these here first just in case Reddit doesn't let me post it there. I've only gotten up to his analysis of Conquest 21, but i'll post the rest here when i'm done with them. I don't know how to quote someone via Tumblr, so i apologize for these looking like greentexts, but if anyone can help me with that, i'd appreciate it.

Shoutout to @emblemxeno btw; they're the ones who provided sources for the jp script of Fates, and i probably wouldn't have even made these in the first place if it wasn't for them. They're an excellent blog, and i highly reccomend that anyone reading this check them out.

Fates: was the story as bad as people say?: a response (Part 1: opening statements, introduction and prologue).

Link to the original post here.

Hello everyone.

You might be wondering why i'm making this it's own post instead of just leaving a comment on the posts themselves.

It's relatively simple: these posts wouldn't get any attention if i just went to the months old analysis threads and posted them there, and i don't feel like spending so much time writing all these posts just to get ignored and/or have no one but u/Odovakar (herein reffered to as Odo) to call me out if i make bad arguments.

For the record, i will be using the original japanese script when talking about the plot, due to the localization taking massive liberties with certain aspects of Fates's story and characters, creating problems that weren't there originally, including problems claimed by these very posts. My sources whenever i claim differences between versions can be found at fateswartable here (fan-translated versions of the scripts made before the game was localized; was unfortunately mostly abandoned after Fates made it to the west, making it so the last 2 chapters of BR and over half of Rev remain unfinished) and at Linkmstr's channel here (playthroughs with a patch retranslating the game to be more faithful to the original script). I double-checked to see if there were any differences between the two, and aside from the english patch making extremely minor and irrelevant changes to the dialogue in order to make it read less stiffly than the fan-translated scripts, they seem to be practically identical to each other (most of the time), leading me to trust them as sources.

With that out of the way, let's get on to the post itself, starting with the introduction.

I'm mostly fine with Odo's introduction, except for this weird paragraph:

>Fates often gets defended by sweeping generalizations. "It's not that bad, people exaggerate", "people miss the point/the themes", "people can't read", "it's a story for teenagers so it's okay for it to be bad", "Fire Emblem isn't known for its stories anyway", etc. I think these kinds of excuses are improper in any serious discussion, and by making an analysis like this I want to detail why Fates is so often singled out as the worst written game in the franchise and show that it's not some kind of conspiracy or people being upset over unmet expectations.

I'm.... gonna need some more context for some of those arguments, chief.

Like, yeah, the last two are pretty terrible arguments, the fourth because it implies having a target demographic excuses bad writing and the fifth because, even if the entire series had terrible stories, it wouldn't and doesn't matter when discussing Fates's story on it's own merits.

But the first two just sound like normal arguments. I don't see the issue with them as long as the defendant provides evidence for those claims, even if it's gonna be harder than accusing a specific person of doing so due to the increased burden of proof that comes with claiming a lot of people do something than just one.

The third one sounds bad, but i've gotten into pointless arguments with internet randos before. Most times, when someone pulls that line, it's just shorthand for “a lot of people often misinterpret what happened in x piece of media in order to make it look worse/better than it really is”.

Which is a hell of a claim to try and prove, granted, but not much more so than the first two, so i still don't see what's so bad about it that makes it “improper in any serious discussion”.

Moving on from that, we head to the analysis itself.

For the record, a lot of this is just restating what happens in the plot, so i'm only going to go over parts where i actually have something to say.

Starting this off weak by nitpicking a nitpick:

>It's never explained how Corrin could mistake a fish-dragon for a bird, even as a child,

Idk man, young children are pretty stupid.

Assuming Corrin was like, 4 or 5 years old, I can buy them just assuming Lilith was some sort of weird bird they'd never heard of or seen before.

Onto some actually interesting points:

>Once back in the real world, the protagonist gets bonked on the head and kidnapped to Hoshido. The one doing the bonking is Rinkah, one of the prisoners whom Corrin saved last chapter - it's never explained how she found them or why she lingered in that exact spot Corrin would teleport back to after all the Nohrians had left following the earlier attack on the fort, but it's lucky that the protagonist gets attacked by someone who owes them one - Rinkah even let's Corrin keep their evil sword!

Rinkah's dialogue heavily implies she found Corrin by accident:

>Kamui: It seems like i'm back.

>Marx and everyone else are no longer around...

>??? (Rinkah obviously): ...A Nohr soldier?

>Kamui: !?

The fact that she's surprised at finding what she thinks is a Nohrian soldier there implies she just went there to check out the place, not expecting to find anyone (no idea why tho, you got me there).

Which is incredibly convenient, no doubt about that, but hey, i've never claimed nor ever will claim that Fates is above doing some contrived shit in order to move the plot forward.

>It's now becoming clear that the prologue is struggling to contain itself. So much happens in a single chapter now that neither Corrin nor the player has any time to react to what is going on. Corrin doesn't question their transformation nor their sword almost murdering them. Gunter, who has been one of the few people in their sheltered life, was murdered in front of them and yet is not mentioned again in the prologue once Hans runs away. Maybe Corrin cried in their tree cabin in their fish-dragon-maid's pocket dimension, but if they did, the game didn't show us that.

This is the first of many times throughout this post where Odo criticizes the prologue's break-neck pacing, mostly in regards to it not lingering long enough on scenes or plot points, and i actually agree with him here. Even if there's nothing to imply those scenes couldn't have just happened off-screen, that doesn't do much to alleviate how little time the audience has to process any of what just happened in the story, or that it would have been nice to see said scenes.

>Corrin tries to protest and says the Nohrian siblings are their real family, and Ryoma says something which I think is indicative of the worldbuilding of Fates as a whole: he does not recognize the Nohrian royals' names outside of Garon. Perhaps this is meant to imply that the Hoshidans don't know or care about the world outside of their borders, as they seem to live in a paradise, but even then that is extreme, especially since a war has been going on and Ryoma is an active fighter; he would want to know the name of the highest ranking members of the enemy. We know he was on his way to the fort Corrin attacked where all four Nohrian royals were present, too. At the very least he should know who Xander is, being the crown prince, the queen's son and a leader of Nohr's military.

Doesn't happen in jp:

>Mikoto: you see, Kamui, you are a Princess of Hoshido...

>When you were young... you were kidnapped, and taken to the Kingdom of Nohr.

>I am your mother, Mikoto.

>We are your family.

>Kamui: That can't be...

>You are my real mother?

>You're lying...

>I cannot believe such a thing.

>Ryouma: Yes, you would think so.

>But this... it's the truth.

>I am Ryouma. Your older brother.

>Kamui: ...My older brother...?

This is the entire conversation between Corrin, Ryoma and Mikoto before Ryoma tells them about Sumeragi, Corrin tries and fails to remember what happened, and then they leave to rescue Hinoka and Sakura from the Faceless.

Moving ahead a bit, i know, but another piece of evidence to support that this detail was made up by the localization is that, at the start of the route split, Ryoma recognizes Xander as a Nohrian prince immediately:

>Marx: You're alright, Kamui...!

>To think you were alive, and came back for us...!

>Kamui: Big Brother Marx!

>What's with this war!?

>Marx: Come on...Let's go. You can also participate in the battle, Kamui.

>With you here for us, the war will be over soon. We'll be able to conquer Hoshido without any needless sacrifices.

>Kamui: Big Brother Marx... I...

>Ryouma: Watch out, Kamui. That man is a Prince of Nohr.

Ryoma knowing that Xander is a Nohrian prince at that point means he either knows enough about Xander to recognize him just from appearance or knows his name and overheard Corrin calling to Xander at the start of their convo, and recognized him through that.

Either way, it means Ryoma, at the very least, knows the name of the top general of the country he's at war with, and i presume that line was added in by the localization to try and set up Hoshido's isolationism problems earlier on, regardless of whether it made sense or not.

And a small nitpick: we don't know how long the Nohrian siblings stayed at the Bottomless Canyon for; for all we know, they retreated long before Ryoma got there.

Next nitpick:

>Monsters known as the Faceless are attacking villages, and Sakura and Hinoka, two Hoshidan princesses and Corrin's real sisters, are there. It's never explained why Hinoka doesn't fly away with Sakura to safety,

They do explain it.

>Hoshido Soldier: Yes.

>Princess Hinoka and Princess Sakura stayed in the village to help evacuate the villagers!

There's more evidence for that in Hinoka's inroduction, but i'm saving that for a point Odo makes later on in this post.

>One could assume Corrin inherited the gift of foreseeing the future from Mikoto, since they've both now predicted the future to an extent, but neither the dream nor Mikoto predicting her own death are ever acknowledged, get forgotten, and the future sight ability never comes into play again (outside of three very specific S supports. We'll get there).

Mikoto is dead, so yeah, the fact that she had one prophetic dream when she was alive, which she only confided to Yukimura, and no other dreams that we know of, isn't going to be a particularly interesting talking point to anyone.

It's safe to assume it's been a really long time since Corrin's birth, and it's heavily implied by their dialogue that this was their first time having a dream like that; i would take MORE issue with the future sight if it showed up again despite taking so long to manifest for Corrin the first time around, unless they changed the game so someone like Orochi had plot armor like the siblings and couldn't die in battle, conveniently knew about the future sight and how it worked, and helped train Corrin to hone that ability better throughout BR and Rev, but that would take way too much effort just to further explore a throwaway ability that already has a built-in reason for not appearing again.

It's fine to want more out of the future sight, but on an objective sense, there's nothing wrong with it disappearing from the story like it does given how rarely it seems to trigger.

>I suppose we're not meant to question how Mikoto could predict her death, but why would she only tell Yukimura? And why weren't any steps taken to prevent this and prepare Hoshido and her children?

Let's look at what Yukimura has to say about Mikoto foreseeing her own death:

>Yukimura: Lady Mikoto had a premonition of her own death. Her fate was inevitable...

>Therefore, this was not your fault, Lady Kamui.

>It was all King Garon's...

>No, more like that terrible demon's work. That is what Lady Mikoto said.

It's pretty weird to assume that Yukimura saying Mikoto “predicted her own death” and “she told me it'd be Garon, no, a demon's fault” translates to “she foresaw her death down to the time, method and location, and didn't do anything to stop it or prepare the kingdom for when it happened for unexplained reasons”.

Not only can i just as easily make the argument that Mikoto only foresaw that she'd die in general, and had no idea when, why, how or where it'd happen, only having the vauge suspicion Anankos would have something to do with it, i actually have evidence to back up said claim aside from just it making more sense for the story: Corrin's dream was very innacurate.

Corrin's dream correctly guessed the location in which the route split battle would take place in and that the Hoshidan sibs would try to use their supposed blood relation to turn them to their side. It also incorrectly guessed who would be fighting there (all the retainers are there instead of just the royal siblings), what exactly they were going to say to each other, how the fight would go down, and possibly even which side, if any, Corrin would choose depending on the route (the dream always portrays Corrin as having picked BR IIRC), so that's 3 (maybe 4) for 2 on the innacurarcy-to-accuracy ratio for the prophetic dreams.

Assuming Corrin and Mikoto's dreams are the same ability, it only follows that her prophecies would be flawed too, even if in vagueness instead of inaccuracy.

It also explains why she didn't tell anyone else; telling everyone in Hoshido “btw i'm going to die someday, don't know how or when but i think it'll be because of Garon or something” is likely to just cause mass panic and worry in the kingdom over something she doesn't even know the date of, including wasting resources on defenses for an invasion that could be years, if not decades away.

>As it stands, this line seems to only be here to excuse any involvement Corrin may have had in Mikoto's death. Absolving any moral responsibility will be a recurring element in Fates. This is just the first taste of it.

I find it strange to claim Corrin had any moral responsibility for Mikoto's death in the first place.

The only thing they did wrong was bringing Ganglari with them to Hoshido, and even then, as far as they knew, the Ganglari was just some edgy-looking sword who tried throwing them off a cliff once and accidentaly led to Corrin getting their own pocket dimension; it would be ludicrous for them to assume it was also an undercover bomb and throw away a perfectly fine weapon, especially since it never misbehaved before or since the canyon.

>The speed at which Nohr can mobilize its forces is astounding. Considering mere minutes have passed, the Nohrians must've known exactly what would happen and when. But how? That is never addressed,

Firstly, Garon's little more than Anankos's meat puppet at this point, and Anankos is almost certainly the one who sent the invisible soldiers to kill Mikoto in the first place; it'd be stupid of him not to have Garon mobilize the Nohrian army in preparation for the barrier going down when he's the one who decided exactly when it was going to happen.

Secondly, where did you get that math from?

There's no way of gauging how long it's been since the barrier went down; no one says anything to give a point of reference as to how long it's been since the explosion, and fights in Fire Emblem have always been scaled down from what it's probably like in-universe for the sake of gameplay, including time.

>and it's also not addressed how the Hoshidans didn't see them coming before they were right at the border. If there's one thing we know of the Hoshidan military it's that they've got spies and ninja.

Who's to say they didn't?

We don't know where they deployed from, how far away said deployment was from the Hoshidan border, what Hoshidan strongholds or patrols they had in the way of the army, or how long it took for the message to reach the capital. There's nothing to imply they were only seen when they were near the border already.

>Come to think of it, how on earth did Kaze know the Nohrians were right outside the Hoshidan border? In Corrin's own words, only an hour has passed since the plaza was full of life, and Kaze fought with us against the mysterious assailaints, so how come Kaze is the one making this report?

This post should have really used the jp script:

>Kamui: .......!

>That's right, everyone in town...?

>...No...The town...!!

I assume that's the line Odo's talking about, but even if it's not, i searched both the fateswartable script and the patched playthrough for the line where Corrin states it's been an hour and it was nowhere to be found in either version, leading me to assume this was another example of poor localization.

Also, like.... how is Kaze making it to the border and back in the time it took for Corrin and the Hoshidan siblings to have that conversation an issue, at all?

That's genuinely just a speed feat for Kaze that puts him as being able to move to and from the Hoshidan capital and border quickly.

Lastly, carrier pigeons exist in Nohrshido, and Takumi even uses those in BR while he's possessed to tattle on his party to Iago; it's not a stretch to assume Kaze got the report through one of those if there aren't any soldiers nearby and if we assume he wasn't fast enough to go to the border and back.

>Here is an interesting question I've not seen brought up before: if the invisible people attacking Hoshido could use Corrin's evil sword and cause an explosion well within the Mikoto's barrier...why did they need Corrin to bring it to Hoshido? Garon summoned it effortlessly at the start of the game, and the specters demonstrate clearly that they're able to kill a lot of people despite being within the barrier, so why? Did they need Corrin to get close to Mikoto? The game shows they're capable of teleporting and/or turn invisible, so that seems unlikely. Mikoto could've been assassinated and Hoshido invaded long before this.

The only specter in that cutscene who might have teleported is the head honcho, who's implied to somehow be of a higher caliber than the rank-and-file Vallite soldiers thanks to him being the boss of this chapter, though even then it's somewhat ambiguous whether that was teleportation or just him dodging Ryoma's attack then hiding himself with his invisibility.

And the soldiers's invisibility is flawed btw. During battles, you can see it's not true invisibility; it's them turning themselves opaque, so it's difficult to see them, but anyone can still see them if they squint hard enough, and that's not even mentioning how much of a dead giveaway the purple flames that surround them whenever they turn invisible are.

Given all that, assuming the boss specter didn't teleport, i do indeed find it hard to believe they'd have made it that close to Mikoto, especially since we don't even know how often she leaves the castle. And if Corrin, Ryoma, Kaze and Azura were enough to push them back, i don't fancy their chances against the entire royal guard if they tried fighting their way to the throne room.

And even assuming they could have done it themselves... why would Hoshido blame Nohr for that, at all?

The barrier would still have been up, so it couldn't have been a Nohrian that did it, and no one there knows about the invisible soldiers; wouldn't they assume it was either some disgruntled Hoshidan kamikazing himself or an accident, and just stayed defending themselves from Nohr's advances?

Like, the only way Hoshido could possibly blame Nohr is if they assumed Nohr had made some miraculous advancement in Faceless technology very quickly, and had gone from creating dumb muscle that didn't have a will of it's own and had to be set free on camps to attack anything it saw, including their own soldiers if they stayed there, to making perfect copies of humans, that still didn't have wills of their own, could turn opaque, summon swords, and were smart enough to blend in with crowds and use subterfuge.

That'd be an insane assumption to make about Nohr's R&D division, instead of just chalking it up to an accident or betrayal.

The next two paragraphs are criticizing the pacing again, which i agree with, except for Ganglari but i already gave my counter to that earlier, and then we get to this:

>Why did Azura have a Dragonstone at the ready?

She likely got it from Valla and, as such, would have made up some bs excuse even if Corrin had asked her more about it, so it would have been an irrelevant scene for the worldbuilding; plus, that's disregarding how out-of-character it would have been for Corrin to choose to stay and demand that Azura explain to them where she got that dragonstone instead of heading out to help in the fighting, given how she only gives them the dragonstone after getting the report that Nohr was invading.

>Why did Garon have Gunter assassinated (and was Corrin the real target)?

Corrin has no reason to trust Hans, the bloodthirsty psychopath who kills for fun, at his word, and has no one to ask it to who could give them a satisfactory answer, given that none of them have any personal experience with Garon or know whether he'd order such a thing or why.

>To make one thing very clear: the problem isn't that we don't get answers immediately. The problem is that next to no questions are asked or mulled over.

I get that, i really do, but you picked a terrible point in the story to criticize Corrin for not asking more questions; they've just been informed that Nohr is about to invade, are still feeling guilty over Mikoto's death, and are very likely conflicted as to which side to join, if any. They're not just going to stop and ask Yukimura for a history lesson as to why the Yato was inside a statue instead of heading out to the frontlines.

The only way Corrin asking these questions at this point in the story could possibly make sense would be to make up some version of Fates where Nohr takes longer to start invading after Mikoto's death.

Which is fine to want, but i'm not interested in discussing what the game could have been; i'm interested in discussing what it is, and in the version of the game that we got, Corrin refusing to join the fighting in order to ask irrelevant questions would have been hardcore character assassination.

>There is also something to be said about the cast being very Corrin-centric. As the protagonist, it makes sense Corrin would be the most important character, obviously, but characters are frequently very clear over their devotion to Corrin. Lilith says her life can't be empty with Corrin in it,

The closest Lilith ever comes to saying something of that intensity in the og script are these dialogues:

>Lilith: You gently cared for me....

>Because of that time, i dedicated my life to you.

>By making use of that undeserved power, never again can i return to being human.

>But it's okay... even though very soon forgiveness, too, will not be possible.

>Even so...If Lady Kamui is alive...Then...

And even then, it's thoroughly justified in-universe as to why Lilith likes Corrin so much; they saved her life and treated her well, and she's extremely grateful to them for doing that.

It's no different than any other character in any of the games, or even in fiction, being deeply grateful to another character for saving their life and feeling like they owe them a debt they can never repay, so i don't see the issue with Lilith liking Corrin.

>Camilla and Elise frequently fuss over Corrin,

They barely get to visit Corrin in the Nothern Fortress and know they only have five other people to keep them company when they're not there; i don't think it's unreasonable to infer that they're trying to make up for lost time when they do get to visit.

Still, i would have preferred it if Camilla's reasoning for caring so much about Corrin was given in the story rather than supports, i'll give you that.

>and on the Hoshidan side only Takumi shows mistrust towards the person raised in enemy territory waltzing into the castle, carrying the blade that eventually killed Mikoto.

After they wept over her death, turned into a mindless dragon that attacked anyone it saw out of sheer grief, killed a bunch of the enemy soldiers instead of helping said soldiers take down the rest of the royal family, or at the very least running away to safety, nearly killed, and had to be pacified by, Azura while in that state of blind rage, offered to go into self-imposed exile out of guilt, and was chosen by the Yato as someone who would save the world, all against the one piece of incriminating evidence that they didn't throw away a sword.

Accusing Corrin of detonating Ganglari intentionally doesn't make any sense given all those events, unless the Hoshidan family is just supposed to distrust Corrin so heavily that they think they're trying to do some 4d chess maneuvers; they'd have to assume Corrin's sadness at Mikoto's death was just some really convincing acting chops; that they were in complete control of their transformation all along and were just feigning the blind rage; that staying and helping them kill the enemy soldiers was just to gain the family's trust; that attacking Azura was an unexpected curveball they did just to really sell the “gone mad with grief” angle, and somehow knew she had a dragon stone that they could use as an excuse for why they'd calmed down and why they could control themselves fine every time they transformed afterwards; that they knew for a fact that the family would just refuse to accept their offer to go into self-imposed exile and it was just done to make the act even more convincing; and lastly, that they either managed to find a work-around to the whole “the Yato decides who's worthy to be it's wielder” thing and somehow got it to only show up when they felt like it should, in order to give themselves some more credibility, or that intentionally causing all this destruction to a peaceful nation was a step towards saving the world.

I don't blame Takumi for being angry at Corrin, for the record; he was always the most emotional of the four siblings, and seeing his mother die in front of him cannot have been good for his mental state.

Him accusing Corrin of having done so intentionally IS juts him lashing out at whoever he can get away with blaming for this, though; not only due to all the reasons listed above, but because he also tries to blame Azura for it with no evidence:

>Takumi: Shut up, Aqua! You're her accomplice!

So, yeah. Corrin unironically did nothing to deserve suspicion from the Hoshidan sibs.

>Hell, all of the Nohrian siblings defied Garon's orders almost immediately so that they could bail Corrin out despite not knowing whether or not they'd actually be in any danger.

They were paired up with a convicted criminal who used his promotion to soldier-dom as an excuse to commit murder and theft legally, and were ordered to take a fort with only him and Gunter for backup; i think it's fair to be concerned about their safety in that situation.

>To make a short list of the characters "tied" to Corrin, we've got: three maids, one butler, one combat instructor, four Nohrian siblings, four Hoshidan siblings, Azura whose life mirrors the protagonist's, one adoptive father, and one biological mother, and the list will just grow longer from here.

Sounds like an incredibly generous definition of what makes a character “tied” to the protagonist. They have 5 people who work for them/their adoptive father, 4 adoptive siblings, 4 “real siblings”, some rando who parallels them, an adoptive dad, and a mom.

I'm pretty sure if we're going by that definition, most protagonists in the series have only slightly less characters tied to them at the start of the game than Corrin. Most of them start with people they're friends with, and if we're including something as vague as “works for them” as a valid reason to be “tied” to the protagonist, nearly all of the FE protags skyrocket past the 16 people listed here by the start of their mid-games/end of their early-games.

>Yes, these are characters in their own right, but throughout the prologue and beyond a key aspect of their character is their relationship to Corrin. Thus far into the game they have also been introduced and defined primarily through their connection to the protagonist. To give an example, Hinoka is introduced crying over finally having Corrin back, and then Ryoma explains she became a warrior for their sake, after which Hinoka has almost no lines for the remainder of the prologue.

Literally false.

Here's Hinoka's ACTUAL introduction:

>Hinoka: It's alright.

>Your hard work to protect those people was very noble.

>The villagers are still in the middle of evacuating...

>We must fight until none remain.

>Even if our situation is unfavorable, we'll show them how princesses of Hoshido fight until the bitter end.

When Corrin talks to them for the first time:

>Kamui: Are you alright?

>Hinoka: I'm fine. This is nothing for me.

>You are one of Big Brother's reinforcements...?

>Sorry, but your help isn't neccessary.

>On my pride as a Princess of Hoshido, i will fight to the end even if i am alone.

>Kamui: I understand, but please don't overdo it. We will do something about the enemy.

>Hinoka: Hey, wait.

>Kamui: Yeah?

>Hinoka: For the time being...I am grateful for your assistance. Thanks.

>You can take this medicine. Your wounds should heal if you use it.

>Don't worry about me. I’m still going good.

This introduces and defines Hinoka as someone who cares about the safety of the innocent people of the village, is willing to die fighting in order to protect them, is so prideful as to refuse help at first and tries to downplay how bad her situation really was, before softening up after Corrin shows genuine concern for her, gives them some medicine, and reassures them that she's fine, showing she does care after all.

She never mentions Corrin once in any of those dialogues, unless you count being surprised at being told Corrin's name at the end of that last dialogue and repeating it in shock.

THEN she breaks down crying after finding out her sibling she thought was either gone forever or dead was alive and had returned to them, Ryoma mentions that she trained hard to get them back from Nohr, and then she calls all of Nohr evil for sending the Faceless to Hoshido and kidnapping a child, promising to make them pay for what they did to Corrin, all of which pales in comparison to what her previous dialogues estabilish about her personality.

And lastly, i don't see why the first point is a bad thing as long as it's justified in-universe. All the people listed have very good reasons to care so much about Corrin, so i don't see the issue with them being introduced and defined, mostly just at first btw, by their relationship to them.

Odo repeats the exact same complaint about the future sight being underutilized, this time with an unnecessary Awakening comparison, and gets to a section i have a lot to say about:

> Corrin's established character up until this point makes returning to Nohr a very unlikely option.

This is not solely a subjective opinion, but rather an idea the game has gone out of its way to reinforce. Let's take a look at what the player knows of Corrin and the conflict thus far:

>1) Corrin hates violence and killing and is ready to go against Garon in order to defend people. The Nohrians are unambiguously the aggressors in this conflict.

I don't think it matters too much who started this war; picking either side means Corrin spends months engaging in violence and killing innocent people, and they know that.

They know that the rank-and-file soldiers are likely just following orders, that Felicia, Flora, and Jakob are still in Nohr, as far as they know, and that they'll probably have to fight and kill them if they side with Hoshido, and most importantly, that the Nohrian siblings won't take this blatant betrayal standing and will try to fight them. They're not going to be eager to side with Hoshido and more likely than not be forced to fight and kill their own siblings, who they know are good people, along with their own friends on the Nothern Fortress AND a shitload of likely-conscripted soldiers just for a shot at killing the people actually responsible for this, even if it's the better choice morally.

>2) Corrin knows Garon murdered Sumeragi, their real father, and kidnapped them as a child.

>3) Garon has been sending monsters into Hoshido to cause as much destruction and suffering as possible.

Both of those just sound like good tactics to me. Kill the leader of the country you're currently at war with in an ambush, take the young child with him as your own to both deprive the rest of the Hoshidan royal family of manpower and increase your own, and destabilize the opposing country by hassling them.

It isn't nice to do any of those things, granted, but this is a war. Not only can Garon easily justify all of those with pragmatism rather than him being evil, the Hoshidans also attempt to do the first and third ones multiple times throughout the different routes, and Corrin even siding with Hoshido in the first place means they're dedicated to killing Garon by any means neccessary, including ambushing him while he's enjoying a show, so i don't see why they'd take that much issue with that.

>4) Garon gave Corrin a magical sword which exploded, killing Mikoto, and before that almost killed Corrin themselves. It also came close to killing Corrin at the Bottomless Canyon.

They have no proof Garon intended for any of that to happen, other than the fact that it's incredibly convenient for Nohr that the barrier around Hoshido went down as a result of Ganglari exploding, which is not evidence.

>5) Garon was behind the assassination of Gunter, orchestrated by Iago and carried out by Hans. Gunter meant a lot to Corrin and was one of the few constants in their life.

Corrin literally has no evidence for that claim whatsoever other than a beaten, retreating Hans telling them as much, which could just as easily be an excuse he made up on the spot to try and stop Corrin from killing him.

>Now, obviously, the argument is that Corrin cannot abandon the family they grew up with, but Corrin themselves even said that they wouldn't regret dying if they died kind. Assisting in the invasion of an innocent nation with the knowledge of everything mentioned above is shaky at best and most certainly not kind.

Fighting and killing their way through a nation they know is filled with innocent people just to take down the three guys responsible for fucking everything up isn't kind either, if still moreso than choosing Nohr.

The only choice Corrin can make at this point that doesn't involve throwing away at least part of the kindness they displayed at the start of the game for the sake of joining a war is picking neither side, but we'll get there later.

And besides, this is assuming humans are always perfectly consistent with their stated morality, which is evidently untrue. People can and do betray previously stated beliefs for multiple reasons, including emotion, and i don't see why Corrin would, or even should, be exempt from that, especially since picking Hoshido doesn't mean just themselves dying for the sake of saving the lives of defenseless P.O.Ws; it means betraying and very likely killing the only family they know, along with their friends and a bunch of random soldiers, for the sake of killing three evil people. Those are two very different consequences for a moral choice.

>Corrin has been consistently portrayed as too kind for their own good and ready to stand up for their beliefs, even against their family members; Xander won't win them over by saying "if we kill them all here, they'll be demoralized and we can conquer Hoshido more easily!"

From a pragmatic sense, it could appeal to Corrin. Nohr is so much stronger than Hoshido that any chances Hoshido has of winning this war are slim to none, and prolonging a war they know they can't win will do nothing but cause further casualties. Assuming Corrin already agrees that Nohr winning is a foregone conclusion (which is weird of Xander to do, admittedly, but maybe that's just some good old-fashioned patriotism seeping through), then yeah, that IS a pretty good argument for Corrin joining them.

>Furthermore, and this is important: returning to Nohr is effectively suicide. As listed above, as far as Corrin knows Garon wants them dead. Garon ordered Xander to kill Corrin if they stood in his way after the fight with the prisoners of war, the sword given to Corrin by Garon flung them down the Bottomless Canyon, and when it exploded in chapter five it's possible Corrin would've died if not for Mikoto.

I've already given my counterarguments for the last two points before, but even assuming, for the sake of the argument, that Corrin does believe Garon intended for the last two things to happen, i find it odd to list Garon threatening to have Xander kill Corrin for openly disobeying a direct order as one of the reasons for their distrust. It isn't nice to try and have them killed because they wouldn't commit a war crime, but that isn't in any way evidence that he'll try to kill them at the first available opportunity.

>We know that Garon commands absolute obedience and is a tyrannical psychopath who even indulges in the occasional maniacal laughter. Going back to Nohr isn't, or shouldn't, be as easy as just waltzing over to the Nohrian side of the conflict.

And given the only things Corrin knows for certain, Garon has literally only threatened to do something bad to them when they disobeyed an order, and by all accounts, they went above and beyond in their mission: instead of just taking over some random fort, they helped kill the leader of the opposing country and gave Nohr a chance to invade Hoshido, even if by accident. Corrin has zero reason to believe that anything bad would happen to them if they went back to Nohr.

>Having to pay for multiple paths

>Of course, if you only bought Conquest, you've got no choice but to go down that route anyway! That is another major flaw with the way Fates is structured: you're stuck with the version you bought, so if the prologue convinced you to want to experience one side rather than the other, you need to fork up more money. Needless to say, while not directly related to the quality of the writing, it is not conducive to the players' immersion.

>More than that, you barely know these characters you're meant to fight for after only a few chapters. If you bought only one version physically you're locked into your choice and likely selected that path either for the marketed gameplay difficulty or because you liked the design of the Pokémon anime characters on one side more than the other - a very common joke in the days leading up to Fates' release. The choice, as it's presented, was likely already determined before you reached this point.

This is honestly the weirdest part of this entire post. What does the completely out-of-universe criticism of “it was greedy of IS to make you pay for the different routes”, which i agree with for the record, have anything to do with the writing in Fates? Doesn't this contradict your earlier statement of “I will only be discussing the writing, plot, characters, etc., unless there is a rare instance where I need to comment on gameplay elements which directly tie into the plot.”?

And that was the branch of fate section of this analysis.

Overall, i'd say there's a few good points here, like the pacing and unasked questions, that are, unfortunately, overwhelmed by a sea of easily-debunked nitpicks, bad faith interpretations of developer intention, characterizations and plot points, and multiple arguments criticizing dialogues or plot points that only happen in the localization, not the plot as it was actually written.

Unfortunately for everyone, this is far from the last time these flaws will pop up in this analysis series.

See y'all next part.

#fire emblem #fire emblem fates #corrin fire emblem #ryoma fire emblem #xander fire emblem #reddit #story analysis

[wahbegan]

One of my favorite things in the world to do in the Dishonored DLC is just...Arnold Timsh, you remember him? The barrister who, among other crimes: makes a racket out of falsifying reports of plague outbreak so that he can evict random-ass people and seize their assets (effectively sentencing them to death btw), deliberately withholds medial care from his dementia-addled mother and lies to and manipulates her so he can get her money when she dies, and coerces his maid into letting him fuck her under extreme duress? Yeah he’s a real piece of shit

So there’s a few things you can do to him. Break into his house and slit his throat, snipe him off his balcony if the RNG God is in a good mood (which is very satisfying), or falsify a plague outbreak on his property, effectively ruining him and sentencing him to death.

But there is ALSO a FOURTH option! Well, kinda. An off-shoot of the third one. See, if you get him arrested in Knife of Dunwall, he’ll be in one of the cells during the prison level of The Brigmore Witches, right? You prob know that. And if you talk to him (on Low Chaos), he’ll try to convince you to let him out.

But did you know you actually can? And I did.

And he was immediately chased down and beaten and stabbed and shot to death by the guards and it was the funniest shit i’ve ever seen in my life. And it doesn’t affect your chaos at all! Doesn’t ruin a clean hands playthrough, does not count as killing the man.

Disgraced him, ruined his life, had him imprisoned, and deliberately set him up to be violently murdered but you did not pull the trigger yourself so it’s heroic

See also finding Campbell dying of the Rat Plague after you brand him and have him cast out of the city all crazy and bleeding from the eyes and shit and then burning him alive and feeding his Kentucky Fried corpse to hagfish because FUCK that courtesan-murdering piece of shit. Fuck that fucking guy

See ALSOOOOO sealing Bundry Rothwild into the shipping box with the mutilated corpse of one of his butchers because i turn from a nice cuddly civilian saving teddy bear into an incredibly vicious, creative, and petty sadist when someone pisses me off enough

#Dishonored #nerd shit #that second one has like a lil tiny effect on your chaos #but nowhere near the same level as assassinating him when he's in power

[radioromantic-moved]

favorite bits of the‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎moss‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎mann‏‏‎ ‎route...this is structured like my fandom spam posts but it's more like a really long gush. i wore my favorite coat while playing this

my stats didn't stay like this the whole time but i think the ratio here is pretty much what my irl stats would be like in life

my Favorite dialogue option that exists in the game. for some reason i can't add this screenshot but at one point they go "i find cryptids fascinating! many of us have potlucks together :)" and like...oh my god. that's so cute. that's So cute.

i had to take a break and drink some water here actually. i think my hands were also sweaty by this point and i had to take some deep breaths. this is the dumbest crush i've had in a while it's so appropriate they're from a game about stupid high school style summer romance because i FEEL like a stupid high schooler in love. (the characters in this game are all in their 20s despite just having graduated high school because monster logic i guess)

btw this is that dialogue option that makes me go BWAUGH. appropriate that i got it here thanks for working that out for me game

you ask if you can kiss for three more dialogue boxes and he eventually goes "jesus christ nyx i know this is a dating sim but slow your roll i'm trying to do something important here." moss is a very fourth wall breaky character and i appreciate it

hey. hey. hey. hey. hey. hey. hey. hey. not to say i was like absolutely right but i was absolutely right and also oh my goddd...oh my god. realizing now that moss and valerie are both side characters that are more or less aware that they're not Important Figures in the overall lore but come to realize that to you they are the most important....oh i think about that so much. also look at that cute little face there it's my favorite sprite of his

literally the thoughts are OUT of my head i am IN. LOVE. they compare you to a mesmerizing fire!!! i am so soft right now i'm literally mush at the moment. for some reason i didn't get the achievement you're supposed to get for completing this route...oh noooooo this suckssss guess i'll have to play it againn and get the achievement...this is so sad......

bonus completely unrelated screenshot i got during this playthrough because i love this event so much. literally everyone in this game says‏‏‎ ‎acab. i'm pretty sure damien says he loves punching cops in a different event

#at this point i don't care if the infatuation only lasts a couple weeks i NEED to put him on the list because this is such a bad crush #literally i have not had this phase with a character in a LONG time it's usually so much more slowburn #ship: moth to a flame #nyx on comms #terminal loveposting capacity #(because this IS technically a lot of gushing)

[lizzybeth1986]

Hey, it's the Kiara Deserves Better™ anon! I haven't had the chance to finish it until recently. Your essay was great as always and highlighted why I'm so frustrated with how they've written Kiara. I'm tempted to ask you for another essay, but I'm not sure what to ask for xD. But I figured since you've written so much for me already, I thought I'd share about me: I want to replay and do Hana's route because she deserves better as always, so are there any diamond choices you would *not* pick?

Ahhh yes! I remember you xD I'm always happy to churn out essays as long as I know what I'm talking about 😅😅 I'm glad we agree about how frustrating (and downright disgushing) the treatment for Kiara was. I can't promise to do entire essays on her BUT I sure am planning some fanfic prominently featuring her and Hana 😃 I'm just in two minds because either I'll need to wait until TRH QTs are over or I'll need to abandon my QTs altogether. But I have loads of ideas and I'm impatient to start!!

Okay soooo...which Hana scenes wouldn't I pick? I think that depends on what kind of diamond content you wouldn't like, but rn I'll go with the ones I feel have least value in terms of actually getting to know her.

A lot of the times my problem is that you can tell when they wrote a scene clearly so you could gain advantages, rather than anything related to Hana herself. In such scenes she is not important - how the MC can use her (and at least on one occasion steal credit for Hana's creativity) is. Which bleeds into my overall problem with the canon Hana and MC dynamic (friendship or romantic) itself. Like, when you have to aggressively rewrite whole parts of canon in your fanfic to make your MC seem like a better friend at least...you know there is something wrong.

Book 1: Most of the scenes are top level! Cordonian Waltz...Piano Scene...Yacht scene...Her Confession Scene...Her Finale Scene...all very beautiful and very unique and they all explored different facets of her character. Like even the ones that are about skill or give perks have space for HER personally!

Perhaps some of the scenes in Applewood you can skip, but that would mean you won't get much time to interact with her on closer level there. The pie baking contest is really more about the special touches Hana adds to the pie (like the decoration and additional instructions), but I think you can win the contest for free as well! Buying the Derby champion horse also unlocks an extra scene where she teaches you dressage moves but a lot of the personal stuff she tells you is mostly free content. So on a more personal level (and if you don't mind Hana winning the horse race at Fox Hunt 😁) it doesn't exactly count for much and you can maybe give it a miss.

Book 2: Oof. Terrible mostly. I won't deny you'll find a few gems (Patisserie scene...Library scene...Proposal scene 😍😍😍 Even the McDermots scene is pretty good, besides that one dialogue option where they make Hana call Shanghai "ancient" 🙄). One of the worst ever Hana scenes comes from this book.

Hot Chocolate Scene: Okay so on it's own it's actually a nice scene! It involves genuine personal time with Hana where you ask her questions and show concern...and that gets harder to come by later on in the series. BUT the part that makes this so awful is that this scene should have been where we saw the flashback, not Drake's. In fact the scenes should have been reversed. Drake had no authority talking about something that involved Hana esp when Hana herself never gets the opportunity to use this fact (that Liam brought her back, not Madeleine) to her advantage. So yeah. This scene is good coz you know a little more about her family but awful coz she was robbed of the chance to talk about how she REALLY returned.

PARIS RUNWAY: I put this in caps and italics and red letters because it is the worst scene in the history of this series!!!! Like ever. Where do I even begin with the PROBLEMS in this one.

First, this is not a Hana scene. It's a Penelope scene with a Hana kiss tacked on at the end, for convenience. I bought the scene in my fail playthrough and didn't include Penelope and you could really feel the difference.

Second, like...you know how wearing the Snow Bunny outfit in Book 1 unlocks the Drake Meteor Shower scene, right? They could have easily used that kind of coding here. Buy the outfit and you unlock the chance to model. You know what happens if you don't buy it and buy the Hana scene? The audience applauds you for going on stage in a tank top and jeans. In Paris. It doesn't make any fucking sense!

Third, this particular chapter has diamond scenes for all three LIs. Liam gets to take the MC to the Eiffel Tower and talk about his father as a King and his vision for Cordonia, Drake gets an emotional reunion with his sister. Hana gets...this. A scene that doesn't even give HER importance coz no, kissing Penelope's ass is more important. Hana got bullied the previous night and Madeleine lied through her teeth about her motives the next day (by option) but no, the girl who secretly dragged our reputation through the mud is more important.

Fourth, the scene preceding this one was a group scene masquerading as a "Comfort Hana!" scene. That scene basically focused on anyone who wasn't Hana (including Olivia btw)

The other scenes are fine (following this is patisserie scene and library scene, my favourites in this book), and the Champagne scene is okay, but ultimately it's a decent scene that views the upcoming trip to NY as more important, and there is very little on Hana herself. When you think of that in the context of Hana having very little attention to herself in her own home, and the fact that in the next chapter she is NOT THERE...it's not great. But you can still purchase it because nothing can ever be as bad as the Paris Runway scene.

Book 3: Okay so in this book your scenes are split between "character" and "LI" scenes. The first you will get no matter who you are marrying, coz it's supposed to be about their issues or things only they can specifically impart to you. The second will be exclusively romantic scenes with your LIs.

Character Development Scenes: Hana has three and none of them are good at all. The team took laziness to a whole other level in this book. The Polo scene gives you extra perks at the game in Portavira, but there are very few variations between the "friend" version of this scene and the "LI" versions. Like when Hana has questions about her future the MC - whether she is marrying Hana or not - can claim (optionally) that Hana could be a "professional best friend" (to this day I don't understand why they couldn't replace that option with "Duchess" in Hana's playthrough). The scene where they get Hana's traditional handmade outfit was supposed to be the culmination of Hana's arc but it was awfully executed but the big downside to NOT buying it is that Hana never gets to wear that lovely outfit again (except for a brief time during the wedding). I would have called this the worst scene if Paris Runway didn't take that title and run with it. The Snow Angel scene is Lythikos is...okay, I guess? At least it's about her and not how the MC can best use her.

Again, in the case of both Polo scene and Snow Angel - the scenes are decent, but in both those chapters they're pitted against Drake scenes where you can see the difference in effort!! You can tell Hana's scenes were a real quickie, and devoid of any care or love from the writer for that character.

LI scenes: Thankfully you get better LI scenes for her in plenty. I'd avoid the one in the bathtub in Chapter 2. It's not very well written and the LIs all sounded like each other. This was originally a problem in the Applewood spa scene too but I think they changed it here and there. The rest of the LI scenes were pretty fantastic Hana wise. Some of them even delved a little into the aftereffects of her upbringing...which they never ever brought up again.

Honorary Mention: Hana's Gift. Coz every other LI gets beautiful gifts that are unique to them but for Hana the MC grabs a...telescope and slaps a Hallmark card message to it.

But the thing is that perhaps your criteria for what scenes would be good or not would be vastly different from mine, so do keep that in mind when you're choosing. A good way to gauge would be to maybe take a look at a particular scene on YouTube just to confirm.

Hope this helped!!

#ask me #ask lizzy #hana lee #the royal romance #long post #anonymous #courtly ladies anon

[mistresstrevelyan]

7, 8,9!

who is your inquisitor’s best friend?

Of the DAI crowd that’d probably be a tie between Blackwall and Vivienne, opposites though they might appear to be at first. Both believed in Drusilla when three quarters of Thedas still saw her as a dangerous heretic and the fourth quarter was lukewarm about her. No one’s compliments mean more to Drusilla than Vivienne’s and no one’s devotion and faith in her is more unwavering than Blackwall’s. They both LOVE her deeply and while both of them are eventually called away from her (Vivienne to the Surnburst throne and Blackwall to the Grey Wardens), they are always with her in heart and spirit. It’s a special bond they share and one I’m very proud to have developed over time and several playthroughs.

who is their rival?

Oh my, every conservative Andrastian in all of Thedas until she defeats Cory and they begin feting her like Andraste reborn? At first there’s Roderick of course but more than anyone it’s her aunt and former abbess Mother Juliana (Born Tiziana Trevelyan, the youngest sister of Bann Antonio Trevelyan, Drusilla’s father):

This is Tiziana making her Eternal Vows after serving as a lay sister for several years. (I have loads of headcanons for the symbolism on that picture by the way) Juliana was the abbess who sentenced and defrocked Drusilla (Mother Agnese as she was known then), stripping her of name, rank and protection for heresy, treachery, sacrilege and the illegal possession of magical artefacts. She was declared anathema and disowned by her father. If her sister Aurelia had not taken her in, she would not have survived to become Inquisitor. 

If I were to narrow it down to the DAI crowd I can’t think of anyone, truly. Drusilla is a bit of a Pollyanna, she sees the good in everyone and will do anything in her power to bring it out. Cullen’s past a Templar gave her pause though, I’ll say that. (She suffered horrors in Templar custody after her - extremely weak - magic had been discovered)

who is their love interest, if they chose one? do you ship them with anyone else/non-romanceable options?

Ho boy, this is where it gets very interesting. While Drusilla doesn’t ID as poly the way Desideria (Hawke) does, she does have multiple partners. Her main love interest through the campaign was Blackwall (Though I was and am using a Poly Mod) and he remains her beloved until way beyond Trespasser. She is also the lover of Divine Victoria aka Vivienne de Fer. They are extremely close, often work together and adore each other even if they only see each other a few times a year. She falls in love with Cullen during a stay at his Templar retreat to get off the lyrium (She chose the Templar tree) before beginning Seeker training under Cassandra Pentaghast. They marry, as is in Canon, during the Exalted Council. (With Blackwall and Vivienne’s blessing, btw) I just love deep, complicated dynamics like that, especially since we aren’t talking about an OT4 or OT3, Drusilla is at the the centre of things and all of her partners have separate lives, careers and callings that aren’t defined by the relationship. 

#Drusilla Trevelyan #Tiziana Trevelyan #OTP: Sacred and Profane #OTP: A Prayer Answered #OTP: Ti conosco e ti amo #DA Meta #OC Meme #Askbox Memes #I missed talking about her #lelibela

[aspiringhorrorauthor]

Oh yeah, I’m playing through Shadow The Hedgehog and I don’t think many people understand the sheer bizarreness of some of the game, so here’s a list of some things I’ve seen so far that are just… Wtf, and I think people may like to know.

-Selecting things on the menu has a gunshot sound effect. Edgy -the game yo yos between “trust us we won’t make you fall to your death” and “lol fuck it your on you own” a lot. Even in the same goddamn level. -The Doom, one of the levels you’ll likely complete for a semi-dark playthrough, is infuriating as fuck and not good for people easily overwhelmed. -Many levels have an enemy counter that you must kill X amount of enemies to complete the level. Usually, X amount is the exact number of enemies in the entire level. Good luck finding them all. -Kunckles’ line of “Dead end. Better jump into the tornado” is not any better in context. -Skipping some cutscenes may still cause the audio to play during the loading screen -Neutral dark and neutral hero endings have the exact same final boss battle, despite in one pathway you side with the boss battle, it’s really weird. -The lack of varied settings means you can easily mistake one cutscenes for another. For example, the “Am I an android too?” Scene takes place in the exact same setting as “We’re going to the ark so I guess that means we’re going too” scene. -the Damn Fourth Chaos Emerald scene leads into casino park, which has an extremely difficult Hero mission (collect 400 rings, if you die you start again from zero) -Awkward shadamy ship tease in an Easter egg; if you play dark missions until you meet Amy then do only Hero missions, the pathway is called something like ‘True love conquers all’. Kinda creepy. -No-one mentions how difficult it is to find the computer room. Holy crap that level is hard. -Also, the neutral mission on Espio’s level (I forgot the name but he’s the hero character) gives you no indication of where you have to go. It’s the red tower, btw, but there’s 3 separate towers and no clue as to where to go. -Some levels seriously require the guns to be used -That being said, while the vehicles do fuck all for me, the guns are surprisingly good additions to the game, is only because they’re ranged weapons and it reduces the risk of you jumping off every walkway in the game via homing attacks. -The guns are also buggy af. To 'aim’ you need to point shadow in the general direction, jump and fire rapidly. Any other way and your likely to miss. -Swords have ammo. You could say wear and tear, but Shadow can only carry one weapon at a time and picking up extra copies of the same weapon increases your ammo. Unless this is Fallout and Shadow duct tapes new swords on to old ones. -The chicken gun is a godsend. Best weapon in the game imo. Gives you extra lives. -Boss battles are often very difficult to figure out wtf you’re supposed to do. Just wing it 90% of the time I guess -Again during the level The Doom, Doom’s eye will repeatedly refer to the Ark as 'our precious home’ with no explanation -One of the hero missions is literally 'Do the neutral mission but FAST’. Unsurprisingly, it’s a sonic mission (actually, I think it happens at least twice, I haven’t completed the game yet) -Doing the game 10 times sounds a breeze until you pick it up. I’m only half way through and already I’m sick of Westopolis. -Starting with Hero or Dark missions is unnecessarily difficult. Just do neutral missions to start and then veer into hero/dark pathways. Once you’re on the hero/dark path you have to continue the difficult missions to stay on it.

EDIT: -Major pre-rendered cutscene featuring Shadow reliving the Ark disaster has him do nearly a full 180 with his head like an owl. Part hedgehog, part alien, part owl, apparently.

#shadow the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog video game