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zenosanalytic · 3 months

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Just finished The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon, and in general I liked it.

I think it's a Gr8 setting(more scifi/fantasy stories pulling on non-western inspirations, plz) and a Gr8 PERSPECTIVE on a Gr8 setting(bscl everyone in it is a refugee, and it takes place almost entirely within refugee communities), and a wonderful take on Mecha, a genre you don't usually see in novels, in the metaphysically Weird Evangelion vein(which you don't often see, or see done well, in Mecha, Period). I love how unabashedly queer it and its world is, that it's a M/M/M story that isn't disinterested in, oblivious of, or actively hostile to female characters, and that all of it's characters are so MESSY and Real in their own unique ways. I love it's Compassion. It engages deeply with "faith" in all its variegated meanings in a really interesting and sustained way(tho unfortunately not one that grabbed me as powerfully as The Locked Tomb's approach to these topics does). I thought it did a Really Good Job of expressing thought, confusion, and overwhelming, shifting experiences through text. It has ALLOT of wonderful, subtle worldbuilding in it which I really adore; like the bit ~halfway through the book were a cheeky fondly-mocking comment from one character to another implies that "hermit" can also mean "homosexual" in this setting.

I DID have a hard time getting into it though. It picks up in the second half, but getting through the first half was a bit of a slog for me and I fell asleep allot(tbf: I've also been SUPER BUSY and dealing with numerous Events, so I didn't have allot of time to read and it took me FOREVER to finish this one, so maybe that was a consequence of how disjointed my reading experience was). I'm also willing to accept that getting me to care about such a male-focused story these days is a bit of an uphill battle, tho I don't have that problem with Temeraire so maybe I just didn't vibe well with the protagonist, or I'm being too hard on myself.

Part of it, though, I felt is just how resistant to being understood this book is. Not, like, in a thematic sense, that's all pretty clear, but in a Plot-events sense. Allot of stuff happens very quickly with not much explanation until the very end of the book(by which time you may have ceased to care about an explanation for it), and it relies heavily on Implication; on people Understanding things and acting on them without that being explained to the reader. If that's something you enjoy I think you'll dig this, but if it's something that annoys you, or if you don't like reading books that seem to actively "resist" you, then this is probably not for you. I also feel like(I don't want to be explicit about this as it might be spoilery) particular Shocking Discoveries in the last quarter or so of the book make its world much smaller, kind of undoing the worldbuilding done in the first three-quarters of it? I also-also feel like there are just TOO MANY TWISTS at the end, like: it got exhausting for me how many Reversals of Fortune didn't stop keep happening, though I suppose that's pretty true to its very obvious Anime/Manga roots/inspirations.

Overall though I enjoyed the read! It's being presented as the first in a series so I hope it does well enough to see the future stories Candon wants to tell in this setting get a genuine release ^v^

#Emma Mieko Candon #The Archive Undying #SciFi #Mecha #zA Reads #zA Reviews #Book Reviews #zA Writes #Our Staff #The Dreaded Animes

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estherax · 1 year

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Disco Elysium creative team VS Studio ZA/UM: the complete(?) timeline (updated on March 24th)

Recent news confused a lot of people, including me, so I made a timeline of events to understand the situation better! If you have any corrections, more info and sources feel free to reach out to me or add to this post!

Important parts are highlighted in orange, names and organizations to keep in mind are in italics, the newest corrections and updates are highlighted in green, other information elaborating on the situation is in (brackets).

October 1st, 2022. Martin Luiga puts out a Medium post announcing the dissolution of ZA/UM cultural association and confirming that Kurvitz, Hindpere, Rostov no longer work at ZA/UM studio "since the end of last year and their leaving the company was involuntary."

October 3rd 2022. Kotaku published an article, claiming "the studio hasn’t been transparent about what exactly happened with staff either." According to "two sources familiar with the situation, the studio’s internal announcement of Kurvitz’s departure late last year [2021] also contained a threat of possible legal action against him. Any split would have been made messier by Kurvitz and Rostov being shareholders in the studio, the sources said. It’s also clear ZA/UM has gone out of its way to try and keep the situation quiet. Kotaku reached out for an interview with Kurvitz in February [2022]. The studio declined on his behalf, but provided no indication the developer had already left the company." Kotaku also mentions a tweet from Martin Luiga announcing the dissolution of ZA/UM cultural association. One of Martin's tweets (further elaborating on the dissolution) was quote tweeted by user nob69691 with caption "the suits have killed disco", to which he responded with pictures of the game’s executive producers, Tõnis Haavel and Kaur Kender.

October 25th, 2022. Kotaku Australia reports Kurvitz’s company, Telomer, has filed an application against Studio ZA/UM to "obtain information and review documents." Court date is listed as November 28th, 2022.

Kotaku also reached out to Martin Luiga for a comment; when asked if the case’s purpose was to regain control of the Elysium IP, he responded, “What else could it possibly be?”

November 9th, 2022. Studio ZA/UM puts out a statement detailing the dismissed employees (unnamed) "had limited to no engagement in their responsibilities and work, created a toxic work environment, demonstrated misconduct towards other employees including verbal abuse and gender discrimination, and attempted to illegally sell ZA/UM's intellectual property".

In an Estonian newspaper, Estonian Ekspress, ZA/UM CEO Ilmar Kompus has further accused Kurvitz and shareholder Saandar Taal (Rostov's alias) of "humiliating colleagues and intending to steal IP" as well as "belittling women and co-workers."

Kompus added that their dismissal was demanded and carried out by Kaur Kender, executive producer on Disco Elysium and their direct manager at the time. Kender was placed on a leave of absence on medical grounds in late August according to Kompus.

Speaking to the Estonian Ekspress, Martin Luiga said he was "driven to drink by the unnatural work arrangement" at the studio. "The work was organised in such a way that the goal did not seem to be to make games, but rather to make people quarrel with each other."

(I am also adding anonymous claims, take them with a grain of salt)

One source that spoke to GamesIndustry.biz, who asked to remain anonymous, described the situation as "not black and white," and said that long-term staff were reluctant to speak out about Kurvitz’ behaviour because they respected him, and felt like they owed him for their positions. Sources that spoke to the Estonian Ekspress described a clash of two visions between the business team of ZA/UM led by Kompus, and the creative team formerly headed by Robert Kurvitz, which considered profit "secondary." This was corroborated by our sources, one of which described the situation as "CEO corporate scheming on one side, a toxic auteur on the other."

On the same day, Kurvitz and Rostov shared a Medium post explaining their side. Kurvitz and Rostov are minority shareholders in Studio ZA/UM, while "the majority of this company’s shares were initially held by Margus Linnamäe, who provided the initial capital. In 2021, Linnamäe was bought out by another minority shareholder," a company called Tütreke. They say this company "is a vehicle for two Estonian businessmen — Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel." Kurvitz and Rostov described Linnamäe as a trusted majority shareholder, but didn't share the same sentiment regarding Kompus and Haavel. "As soon as they became majority shareholders, we were quickly excluded from daily operations, our employment was terminated and our access to the company’s information was shut off. Our firing came weeks after we started asking for documents and financial data, which is still being kept from us. We have now learned that Tütreke OÜ must have obtained control over Zaum Studio OÜ by fraud. We believe the money used by Tütreke OÜ to buy the majority stake was taken illegally from Zaum Studio OÜ itself".

Studio ZA/UM denied any claims of fraud and insisted that dismissal of wokers "was a decision that had to be taken for the wellbeing of the collective."

Correction: Ilmar Kompus's statement came out first on Estonian Ekspress on November 8th 2022 21:06. His statement and Studio ZA/UM's statement given to GameIndustry.biz were reproduced and published in a GameIndustry.biz report on November 9th. Rostov and Kurvitz's Medium statement came out later on November 9th. GameIndustry.biz report added an excerpt from Medium on November 10th. (i used Wayback Machine to check this, the report was updated between 11:08 and 11:53)

November 9th 2022. Kotaku puts out an article, summarizing the above statments from Studio ZA/UM, Kompus, Kurvitz and Rostov. "When asked by Kotaku, a spokesperson for ZA/UM declined to elaborate beyond its original statement [about dismissal of employees over misconduct], including whether the allegations also applied to Rostov as well as Helen Hindpere."

23rd of November, 2022. PC Gamer reports a hearing was held in Harju County Court in October, where Kurvitz and Rostov argued that Kompus had allegedly sold four concept sketches (for Disco Elysium sequel), to Tütreke for just over €1 and then immediately bought them back for €4.8 million using Studio ZA/UM's money. This amount is what was apparently used to buy Linnamäe's large stake, and put it in the hands of Kompus. "Kompus allegedly hoped that ZA/UM and Disco Elysium could be resold quickly. [...] But there remained a problem: Robert Kurvitz is the creator of Disco Elysium, still owns a piece of it, and has the right to block any acquisition."

The latest legal battle was lodged by Kaur Kender, executive producer and marketing manager of the game, "who claimed in court that Kompus cheated him out of just under €1,000,000." At Kender's request, the court seized Kompus' stake in Studio ZA/UM to prevent a sale or transfer of holdings during the proceedings.

Haavel is also accused in the lawsuit of following Kompus' actions. The filing pointed out that the holder of the IP rights to Disco Elysium is a subsidiary called YESSIRNOSIR LTD, which is owned by ZA/UM UK. The director of ZA/UM UK is Anu Reiman, who is also reportedly a partner of Haavel's. Kender claims that Haavel's involvement is being "kept secret" because he's €11.2 million in debt as a result of his 2015 conviction.

Speaking to the Estonian Ekspress, Kompus denied the existence of a lawsuit against him, and Haavel called the allegations "completely absurd." Both were shown legal documents by the outlet and did not respond.

December 8th, 2022. According to GamesIndustry.biz article, Kaur Kender has withdrawn a lawsuit against Tütreke.

Studio ZA/UM provided a statement from Kompus, but could not provide a reason for Kender's withdrawal. Kompus says: "We are pleased that Kender and his attorneys have chosen to withdraw their lawsuit – one that should never have been filed in the first place. Their decision affirms there was no basis for their accusations and that I have acted appropriately and responsibly, as underscored by the corporate records I provided."

The article also mentions Studio ZA/UM was unable to provide an update on the suit's progression against Kurvitz's company, Telomer.

PC Gamer reached for comment, Kender stated that his lawsuit against the owner of Studio ZA/UM proved to be successful and provided a timeline of the lawsuit:

Kaur Kender's lawsuit against the owner of ZA/UM was successful.

Kaur Kender's (his company, Chromed Investing OÜ) lawsuit against the owner of Zaum Studio OÜ proved to be successful.

On October 25, 2022, Kaur Kender's company filed a lawsuit against OÜ Tütreke (Ilmar Kompus company), in which was demanded the seizure of Zaum Studio OÜ's share belonging to OÜ Tütreke.

On October 29, 2022, the Estonian court secured the action and shares belonging to OÜ Tütreke were seized.

On October 31, 2022, the order securing the action was forwarded to Nasdaq and the Estonian Business Register.

On November 1, 2022, Kaur Kender sent a letter in English to contacts, including Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel, stating that the minority shareholders demand the convening of a general meeting.

On November 4, 2022, Ilmar Kompus' company OÜ Tütreke paid a total of 4 million euros to Zaum Studios OÜ in two payments.

On November 11, 2022, Ilmar Kompus' company OÜ Tütreke paid 800,000 euros to ZA/UM Studios OÜ.

Ilmar Kompus referred in the corresponding payment orders: "Return of the amounts received on the basis of the contract on 12.2021-01.2022 due to the nullity of the contract".

To the extent that Ilmar Kompus returned the illegally taken 4,800,000 euros, Kaur Kender achieved the goal of the lawsuit filed, and the court proceedings in this case will be terminated.

PC Gamer also provided commentary and an excerpt from Estonian Ekspress: "Eesti Ekspress reports that Kompus "paid back" €4.8 million to Studio ZA/UM in November. The outlet says that the reason provided for the transaction was that the €4.8 million "was received on the basis of a void transaction." Eesti Ekspress points out that Kompus "controls both sides" of that void transaction. [...] By now transferring €4.8 million to the company to repay it for a "void transaction," the intended message seems to be that he didn't use company money to buy his shares. But why did he have the €4.8 million in the first place?"

Robert Kurvitz told PC Gamer that his party is aware of "Kompus’s view that the money taken from ZA/UM Studio was 'repaid'." Kurvitz says he's seen a "partial bank statement allegedly confirming such repayment," but remains unclear on the "source and legal nature of this repayment, and the further use of the allegedly repaid funds."

"Further, any 'repayment' of the company’s money which was used to illegally acquire a majority stake does not erase the main consequence of the initial injustice⁠—which is that Kompus remains the majority owner, a position that he was only able to attain by using the company’s money as his own," said Kurvitz. "In light of this, there has been no material change in our situation, and we continue to consider our legal options. We cannot comment on the decisions taken by Kaur Kender with regard to his claim, to which we were never a party."

March 14, 2023. GamesIndustry.biz reports legal dispute between Studio ZA/UM and the game's producer Kaur Kender has been resolved.

"ZA/UM has announced that ex-staffer Kender has repaid all debts owed to it. Also, per a court order, Kender has repaid CEO Ilmar Kompus for legal fees from a lawsuit that was eventually withdrawn back in December. Additionally, he's divested all his shares in the games company.

Studio ZA/UM says both Kurvitz and Rostov have dropped their "unfair dismissal" claims due to lack of evidence. However, the company says it continues to face a "series of baseless allegations from former employees" and expects more claims to "fall apart under legal and factual scrutiny."

March 16, 2023. In a statement sent to GamesIndustry.biz, Kurvitz and Taal (alias for Aleksander Rostov) said the press release is false in multiple areas. The pair maintain they are the remaining minority shareholders of the studio. The developers explained, "The press release implies that our employment claims against the studio were withdrawn for lack of evidence. They were not. We see our dismissal as part of a larger campaign against us and will pursue legal options accordingly." The statement adds that they disagreed with Kender admitting the lawsuit he withdrew in December 2022 was misguided.

"Kender's lawsuit was based on the misuse of ZA/UM's funds (€4.8 million) by the majority shareholders [Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel] to increase their own stake in the company. In the press release, Kompus and Haavel admit to this misuse, arguing only that the money has been 'paid back to ZA/UM,' " the duo explained.

"Paying back stolen money, however, does not undo the crime; here, it does not undo the majority that Kompus and Haavel have illegally gained in ZA/UM."

Additionally, they described that, unlike Kender, they will not be silenced in this ongoing legal dispute. "Unlike Kender, we have not participated in the looting of ZA/UM, and Kompus and Haavel have no power over us."

March 23rd 2023. GamesIndustry.biz updates initial post with a reply statment from ZA/UM. The studio reiterated that Kender admitted that the lawsuit was misguided on his part. It said, "In addition, as part of a court order, he also paid the legal fees for CEO Ilmar Kompus, who had to respond to that now-withdrawn claim." ZA/UM adds, "Using details like 'looting,' 'stolen money,' and 'crime' make for riveting reading but are far from reality. The actual harm to the studio is not from some fictional 'looting,' but rather from Mr. Kurvitz and Mr. Taal, while employed by the studio, refusing to do their jobs, creating a toxic workplace, demeaning colleagues, and attempting to misappropriate Studio IP."

Additionally, the studio explained that Kurvitz and Taal are welcome to challenge these facts in court.

(The next court hearing is scheduled for September 11th.)

#disco elysium #de #studio zaum #za/um #i read like 15 articles for this i hope it helps #if i got something wrong please let me know

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hms-harmony-discord · 28 days

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50+ Art prompts and endless fic inspiration… Introducing "Harmony for Humanity (Writer’s Version)!"

AO3 Collection Link

In response to the Harmony Charity Art Raffle for G-a-za organized by @arishatistic, the writers of the Harry/Hermione community have taken initiative to create their own way to contribute to the effort. This art based prompt event takes harmony art from each of the 18 artists volunteering in the raffle and asks writers to choose any of those prompts as inspiration to write a Harmony piece.

The rules are simple, click "keep reading" to find them below:

It must be based on one of the h/hr art prompts in the following collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HarmonyForHumanity_WritersVersion/requests

The fic(s) must be at least 1k words.

It must be exclusively about the pairing Harry and Hermione.

The two major purposes of this writer’s initiative is to show some appreciation for the volunteering artists and to raise awareness of the raffle’s existence so that more people in the community can come together for a good cause. As such, you are asked to:

Cite the artist in your Author’s Note

Mention information about the charity raffle in your A/N by linking to the Harmony for Humanity’s official instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/harmonyforhumanity_/) or the announcement by Arishatistic on reddit (https://redd.it/1bkb3pr)

For more info on how to do that / or get A/N examples to copy paste, see the guide in our Rules

More than one person is allowed to claim the same art prompt. However, we do encourage people to try and spread out to give love to artists who may not have any art prompts chosen yet, so that everyone gets some appreciation.

The raffle was set to end April 6th, but the deadline will be extended to to try and get some prompt fulfillments and more people a chance to contribute to the community effort. You can and are encouraged to continue fulfilling prompts even after the raffle deadline passes; although at that point, it won’t raise awareness about the raffle, it will still show appreciation to the artist volunteers.

For a comprehensive review of the art raffle which this event is in response to, check out the raffle's official instagram page or this tumblr post.

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vestaignis · 6 months

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Танцующий лес в Калининграде. Dancing forest in Kaliningrad.

На Куршской косе можно увидеть хвойный лес, стволы которого петляют причудливыми зигзагами. Этот лес здесь прозвали «танцующим». Он расположен на 37-й км косы, в 4-х км севернее поселка Рыбачий и имеет общую протяженность - 1,2 км.

Загадочным танцующий лес был всегда. Со времён основания в 1961 году о причудливой достопримечательности было сложено множество легенд. Кто-то считает, что изогнутые деревья – это силуэты молодых ведьм, внезапно застывших на века во время магического танца. Другая версия гласит что давным-давно князь Бартий влюбился в прекрасную девушку Прединию. Он предложил ей выйти за него замуж, но преградой для влюбленных стала их вера. Князь был язычником, а Прединия христианкой. Бартий согласился принять новую веру, если красавица сможет доказать величие её Бога. Девушка начала играть на арфе. Деревья затанцевали, в один миг остановившись. В таком положении они замерли на века. Спустя годы изогнутые деревья появились на поляне.

Учёные, беспристрастны и в магию не верят, но также пытаются найти объяснение таинственному явлению. По их мнению, причиной искривления могла стать подвижность песков, резкие смены направлений ветра, перепады температур или нашествие гусениц бабочек побеговьюна зимующего, которые повреждают молодые побеги сосен.

On the Curonian Spit you can see a coniferous forest, the trunks of which wind in bizarre zigzags. This forest is called “dancing” here. It is located on the 37th km of the spit, 4 km north of the village of Rybachy and has a total length of 1.2 km. The dancing forest has always been mysterious. Since its foundation in 1961, many legends have been created about the bizarre attraction. Some believe that the curved trees are the silhouettes of young witches, suddenly frozen for centuries during a magical dance. Another version says that a long time ago, Prince Barty fell in love with the beautiful girl Predinia. He asked her to marry him, but their faith became an obstacle for the lovers. The prince was a pagan, and Predinia was a Christian. Bartius agreed to accept the new faith if the beauty could prove the greatness of her God. The girl began to play the harp. The trees danced, stopping in an instant. They froze in this position for centuries. Years later, curved trees appeared in the clearing.

Scientists are impartial and do not believe in magic, but they are also trying to find an explanation for the mysterious phenomenon. In their opinion, the cause of the curvature could be the mobility of sands, sharp changes in wind directions, temperature changes, or the invasion of wintering shoot moth caterpillars, which damage young shoots of pine trees.

Источник: https://travelask.ru/blog/posts/18007-tantsuyuschiy-les-v-kaliningrade-nachal-gibnut-iz-za-bezotve,

https://www.sputnik8.com/ru/kaliningrad/sights/tancuuschij-les/info

/park-kosa.ru/reportazh-vesti-kaliningrad.-tanczuyushhij-les,

//www.tripadvisor.ru/Attraction_Review-g2619578-d6784696-Reviews-Dancing_Forest-Rybachy_Zelenogradsky_District_Kaliningrad_Oblast_Northwestern_Di.html,

//travelask.ru/blog/posts/18007-tantsuyuschiy-les-v-kaliningrade-nachal-gibnut-iz-za-bezotve,

/oberteich.ru/news/tanczuyushhij-les-na-kurshskoj-kose-i-ego-zagadki/,

/wikiway.com/russia/tantsuyushchiy-les/photo/

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mspandorasart · 4 months

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Thoughts about Undertale Yellow

Greetings, I just returned from binging through Undertale Yellow, True Pacifist Route specifically, and am seeking a place to let out some thoughts (and steam). It's the first time I'm doing this type of "review" on my blog, but since my thoughts on it are quite strong, I thought, "hey, why the heck not"? Spoilers for the game and its ending ahead, fellas. Buckle up.

First off, let me begin by stating that, for the most part, I had a blast playing through it. The music is amazing, the boss themes real bangers, the environmental ones great as well. My favorite track was the OST that played in the Dunes: a really catchy western vibe with Flowey's theme in it as well, an earworm that filled me with Determination while running through the sandy fields. Then we have a beautiful pixel art style, gorgeous sceneries, great gameplay with challenging and fun boss fights (side note: although I couldn't fully appreciate Ceroba's fight since it had a couple pretty much unavoidable attacks. Or is it just skill issue on my part? Anyway, that part annoyed me more than it should have. Moving on, lmao.)

Furthermore, the game also has charming characters! They are the ones that kept me going and really ignited my interest. Not gonna lie, it took me until the town in the Dunes to become really invested in the game. Martlet is charming and cute, sure, but North Star and his gang, no, that guy specifically sold it for me. Charismatic, funny, very expressive sprites (well, all facial sprites are quite colorful, but it took me until North Star to appreciate/notice just how many there are for each character) and an interesting internal conflict with wanting to entertain others so they forget about the pain of being stuck underground, but at the same time being so absorbed in his persona that he temporarily acts like a douche towards his pals and forgets who he truly is. He also features my favorite joke in the game when he proudly proposes to the salesman that "he wants to buy a gun for the child". Freaking hilarious, love him, huehehue.

Story-wise, I was pleasantly surprised and taken aback by the dark twists of Ceroba and her husband Chujin. And I appreciated how the flashbacks got intigrated within her final boss fight. I don't know about you, but my biggest motivation to play RPGs are not just the gameplay, it's mainly the characters and the story. If the gameplay is amazing but the characters/plot boring, then I lose interest quickly. To me, the real rewards of a tough battle are story progression and seeing just what the characters will do next. Therefore, I greatly enjoyed the breaks between Ceroba's phases in which we saw parts of her backstory. They even made me cry!

...Although, to be honest, I don't exactly understand why we had that insight into her mind in the first place. Why did we survive so many hits to the point of 0.00001 HP? Where's that coming from all of a sudden? Why did time stop at some point like Za Warudo? Maybe that random plot armor (that happened the first time and never again) is explained in another route, but anyway, moving on-

This review-style blog entry only exists because of the True Pacifist ending. I'll be blunt, I hate it. Why?

So it ends with Clover sacrificing their soul for the monsters so they can eventually break free. Which is fine on its own. Clover is for the most part a blank slate of a character, only driven by their desire to seek the lost humans, that's basically it. Maybe it would have made a bit more sense for Clover to see an actual physical proof of their demise before they give up on them completely, but eh. I'm also wondering whether they are really okay with potentially another, possibly innocent human falling down sometime in the future only to get killed by the monsters. But oh well.

(You know, now that I think about it, I actually am a bit salty about Clover's decision to sacrifice themselves, lmao. Would've been kinda cool if it was up to the player, have another ending split.)

Anyways, the issue I'm having is how our cast of supporting characters, Martlet, North Star aka Starlo and Ceroba react to Clover's decision. They are shocked first, but... agree surprisingly quickly?? What?? Excuse me, the entire hassle we went through to get to this point was to stop Ceroba from taking Clover's soul. Now with Clover volunteering to sacrifice themselves, the gang is cool with it??

Of course they don't agree immediately, but are easily swayed within a few arguments back and forth. Man, what friends you are, guys. The reason I'm having this pet peeve in the first place is because we as the human, who has known these guys for just a day, did a lot for them, alright? They all tried to kill us at one point, but we took the beating, the hard battles, forgave them and were there for them during their internal conflicts. We were a pretty decent friend, if I may say so.

Especially with Ceroba! We did a lot to change her mind and path of self-destruction! Yet our so-called friends don't put in the same amount of effort when it comes to convincing us otherwise- or heck, use force if you must- get Clover away from there, lmao. Wouldn't it have been an interesting act of redemption on Ceroba's part, by the way, if she tried to stop us? Being touched by our mercy and refusal to give up on her, she does the same for us?

I suppose the reason I am so baffled by all this is because of Clover being a blank slate, the player character really felt like me, like I was going through the journey and not like I was controlling another character. It felt like my decision to spare them all, to talk to them and wanting to get to know them better. So the group of characters I have really grown to like giving up on me within about a minute of back-and-forth just felt... wow. Thanks, guys.

If I compare it to Undertale's True Pacifist in which every important supporting character gathers up after the confrontation with Asgore, all agreeing with the decision of me, the player, staying in the Underground with them, then oh boy, it really stings. Just would've been a cool, wholesome sign of friendship if Martlet, Starlo and Ceroba decided that "nah, even for the surface, we won't give up on Clover". By the way, in this game, we don't even really get to see why the monsters want to return to the surface so badly. They keep saying they want to, but what are the reasons exactly? More freedom, I suppose. Yet by expanding the Underground with the Dunes, the Mines, the Factory, and some of Snowdin, the Ruins and New Home, their habitat seemed so much larger than in the OG game- What I wanna say is, their desperation should've been shown way more instead of told, so the player can understand the monsters' aspiration better.

The thing is, it's a shockingly easy issue to fix if you really want "the canon ending" with Clover ending up dead and their soul taken: have Clover still have their moment of doubt and realization, remembering what the monsters told them throughout their journey. Then they go to Asgore with their gang, hoping to convince him. It doesn't work out, so Asgore starts a fight. During the battle, Clover realizes it's useless to fight back, it's better to have their soul taken for the monsters, so they allow Asgore to kill them. Their friends are not powerful enough to stop him. There ya have it.

Siiiiigh. Is it just me, being annoyed by that ending? As a whole, the finale felt a little... rushed? Was New Home always meant to be so empty? Is it to build up atmosphere? Yet there were two silly NPCs in the first screen of New Home, making me assume that maybe, there was another plan originally? (If it has been stated in a devlog or any other comment by the creators, then I apologize, I haven't read those fully.)

Anyways, if I didn't care about the game, this rant wouldn't even exist in the first place. I was really invested in the game until the ending just left me... kinda sad, not gonna lie. It will take me a while to process it all.

If you got this far, then thanks for reading. Am I the only one feeling this miffed about the ending? I might go back and edit this post if I find out there are things to be corrected. Buuuut as of now, happy holidays!

#undertale #undertale yellow #undertale yellow spoilers #undertale fangame

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gizantara · 2 months

Text

Compassionate Servant

Habis sholat melamun di depan aquarium, langsung mikirin berbagai aktivitas yang mau dilakuin. Tiba-tiba "tasks in my head" ke-close lagi dengan satu kalimat:

"Allah punya hak surat-Nya dibaca oleh kita. Gak usah buru-buru menunaikan tanggung jawab ke makhluk lain dulu, kalau belum jadi penerima surat yang bertanggung jawab."

Di tengah dunia yang serba cepat, baca Qur'an ngasih dampak untuk menormalkan kembali kecepatan default dalam hidupku dan menahan diriku dari ketergesaan. Istilah Sundanya mah, "rek kamana atuh, sakirana rurusuhan mah mangkat we ti kamari" hahaha.

Tapi sebenarnya mah emang dodol juga, numpuk banyak tasks buat dikerjain tapi eksekusinya cuma satset saat mendekati deadline (sanes ti kamari).

Ya udah lah, itu mah hal lain. Tapi mau review perkara baca Qur'an dulu deh, yang kayanya selama kuliah tuh aku ngerasa rurusuhan mulu, pasti karena baca Qur'annya masih nggak konsisten. Minggu kemarin pisan, ditanya sama temen:

"Za, testimoni tentang baca Qur'an dong!"

"Pokoknya jangan lepas interaksi seharipun. Even cuma dengerin murroral. Tapi jangan merasa cukup. Coba baca dikit aja asal konsisten. Aku juga lagi terus biasain ngaji biarpun cuma satu ain sehari."

"Kenapa ain? Nggak halaman?"

"Kaya ngajinya nenek-nenek ya? Hahaha. Tapi sebagai orang yang gak suka teratur, ngaji pakai sistem ain tuh seru. Kadang sekali ngaji bisa cuma setengah halaman, kadang bisa sehalaman lebih, hampir dua halaman. Terus jadi ga kepikiran ngitung-ngitung halaman untuk nyari tau kapan ganti juz."

"Terus rasanya gimana?"

"Hmm.. mungkin kaya, pulang. Dari semua hiruk pikuk dunia, ketika hati dan pikiran udah kesana kemari ngurusin banyak hal, rasanya kaya balik ke home base buat nutup semua tasks dan recharge dulu. Stabil dan menenangkan. Aku mulai percaya Qur'an itu obat. Tadinya kukira cuma istilah klise doang."

Sampai di sana, aku juga merasa sayang banget euy udah bertahun-tahun kenal Allah tapi keliatan gak banyak effort untuk memahami Allah dan nyari tau lebih dalam tentang maunya Allah gimana. Gak ada empatinya pisan sebagai hamba (kenapa empati, pokoknya nanti mau bahas tentang empati di tulisan lain kalo mood). Celakanya lagi, oke nih seringkali tau mau-Nya apa tapi ngga melakukannya. Nggak compassionate gitu.

Padahal compassionate-nya seorang hamba, bisa jadi standar untuk menilai seberapa cinta dia ke Allah. Sama kaya apa yang Allah jelasin juga:

"Katakanlah (Muhammad), "Jika kamu mencintai Allah, ikutilah aku, niscaya Allah mencintaimu dan mengampuni dosa-dosamu." Allah Maha Pengampun, Maha Penyayang."

QS Ali Imran (3) : 31

So, be compassionate! Kata Pak Anies juga, cinta itu kata kerja, bukan kata benda. But before becoming compassionate person, we must improve our understanding skills.

How do we understand God? Baca suratnya. Gini deh simpelnya. Aku sebagai penulis, akan merasakan effort seseorang memahamiku kalau orang tersebut mau baca tulisanku. Mungkin awalnya orang itu gak paham. Tapi dengan usaha dia atas ketidakpahamannya saja, aku bisa tersentuh loh.

Nah, mungkin berlaku juga ke Allah sebagai penulis Al-Qur'an. Allah senang sama hamba yang baca pesannya. Udah gitu, gak cuma baca, tapi di-review. Allah akan sangat menghargai usaha kita, sesedikit apapun, sesusah apapun kita belajar Al-Qur'an. Oh iya, btw, perlu diingat kalo Al-Qur'an susah masuk kalo kondisi hati lagi ada yang dicintai selain Allah. Berdasarkan pengalaman pribadi sih sebenarnya mah, hahaha.

Jadi, untuk menyambut Ramadhan kali ini, aku mau kasih ruang untuk Al-Qur'an masuk ke hatiku dengan leluasa. Mengizinkannya membersihkan setiap sudut yang bernoda, memulihkan setiap fitur yang terluka, menutup celah bocor yang terbuka, dan menghilangkan karat yang ada sebab air mata dari menangisi manusia.

Di dalam hati, aku juga udah taruh memori-memori nostalgia aku sama Al-Qur'an yang indah dan seru. Contohnya kaya, momen excited waktu dengerin kajian guru di sekolah, momen ramadhan tahun-tahun sebelumnya, maupun momen murojaah. Pokoknya semacam mempersonifikasi Al-Qur'an supaya kerasa interaksinya.

Btw, ini sebuah temuan baru juga (full-nya nanti deh pas bahas empati). Di bahasan tentang empati, compassionate itu nunjukin kebijaksanaan seseorang karena ngebahas tentang how human act, apakah dia ngikutin pengetahuan dia tentang itu, atau sengaja nggak ngikutin (mengingkari) pengetahuannya. Dan dari sana aku sadar, banyak orang berbuat hal yang nggak ngenakin hati itu bukan karena kurangnya empati, tapi kurangnya compassion. Menolak peka.

Makanya Allah pakai istilah "fasik" di dalam Al-Qur'an buat ngedeskripsiin tindakan uncompassionate.

"Dan sungguh, Kami telah menurunkan ayat-ayat yang jelas kepadamu (Muhammad) dan tidaklah ada yang mengingkarinya selain orang-orang fasik." (Al-Baqarah : 99)

Idenya, orang fasik itu bukan orang bodoh yang gak tau apa-apa. Banyak ayat tentang orang fasik yang melanggar perjanjian dengan Allah. Artinya apa? Mereka udah dikasih petunjuk, mereka berangkat dari orang yang berpengetahuan mengenai benar dan salah, mereka memahami dan telah melakukan perjanjian tertentu.

Mereka berempati secara kognitif untuk mengetahui "how" dan "why" Allah berbuat sesuatu. Tapi, mereka nggak compassionate. Sebel kan? (Ya maksudnya mah sebel ke diri sendiri juga kadang, yang secara sadar ga sadar menanam bibit kefasikan)

Tapi serius deh, kita sering kan sebel ke manusia yang "ngahajakeun"? Udah tau kita pengen A, eh malah ngelakuin B. Udah tau kita gak suka C, eh malah dikasih C. Mau dibilang bodoh, kayanya mereka tau kok. Tapi berarti lebih dari bodoh dong? Apa dong? Nggak becus? Atau apa ya? Gak ada umpatan yang tepat untuk orang fasik sih kayanya. (Eh eh kenapa jadi ngumpat ya? Wkwk) Oh ada, mungkin ini, kata Bung Rocky Gerung mah, "dungu" wkwkwk.

Soalnya, kita sebagai manusia, akan lebih mudah mewajarkan dan memaafkan kesalahan yang diperbuat karena ketidaktahuan kan, daripada kesalahan yang disengaja karena pengingkaran. Makanya di Qur'an, orang fasik tuh levelnya lebih parah daripada orang bodoh. Dan kalau mereka meneruskan kefasikannya akan berganti level jadi orang dzalim.

Bahkan ya, kaum-kaum rebel yang bikin Nabi Musa banyak ngebatin ke Allah tuh bukan orang bodoh, melainkan kumpulan orang-orang fasik. Aku kalo jadi Nabi Musa mah mungkin udah greget banget, bakal aku teriakin tuh di depan muka mereka, "dasar dungu!" gitu, hahaha, enggak lah bercanda. Aku gak punya nyali besar untuk itu.

Dan emang, kata Allah juga kebanyakan manusia adalah orang-orang fasik. Ya emang sih, keliatan kok. Manusia sekarang mah nggak bodoh, justru pinter, tapi sayang, uncompassionate.

Bagian paling ngena tentang pembahasan fasik, adalah di surat Al-Hadid ayat 16:

Belum tibakah waktunya bagi orang-orang yang beriman, untuk secara khusyuk mengingat Allah dan mematuhi kebenaran yang telah diwahyukan (kepada mereka) dan janganlah mereka (berlaku) seperti orang-orang yang telah menerima Kitab sebelum itu, kemudian mereka melalui masa yang panjang sehingga hati mereka menjadi keras. Dan banyak di antara mereka menjadi orang-orang fasik.

Kebayang gak, ditanya "belum tibakah waktunya?" di posisi sebenarnya kita justru sudah melewatkan waktunya (terlambat) tapi masih dikasih kesempatan. Kerasa banget dungunya. Semacam ditanya, "mau sampai kapan menyesatkan diri terus?"

Relate-nya lagi, surat Al-Hadid itu turun di masa-masa kaum muslimin sudah melewati perang Badar, Uhud, Khandaq, dan sebelum fase Fathu Makkah. Asbabun nuzulnya adalah karena posisi kaum muslimin saat itu persis banget kaya sekarang, lagi loyo-loyonya cuy! Males berdakwah dan ngerasa gak akan ada perang dalam waktu dekat. Sebagian besar surat Al-Hadid sebenarnya ngejelasin "bagaimana bisa seorang muslim menjadi munafik?"

Ringkasnya:

Muslim → malas → tidak disiplin → fasik → zalim → munafik.

Nah aku kan jadi penasaran mau nyari tau apa penyebab-penyebab orang jadi uncompassionate? Nanti deh coba dicari. Kemungkinan relevan dengan alur di atas. Makanya setelah tau ini, harusnya sih aku makin hati-hati. Katakan "hayu" pada keinginan Allah. Dan katakan "sorry ye!" pada murka Allah.

Seru! Jadi punya kesadaran baru dan program baru untuk terus menerus memperbarui pemahaman aku terhadap Allah serta menindaklanjutinya sebagai bentuk compassionate sebagai hamba. Feel deeply (hayati kasih sayang-Nya), think accurately (jangan salah paham ke Allah), dan act wisely (lakuin yang seharusnya).

Hi, Allah. I'm ready to welcome Your great guest; Ramadhan 🫡

— Giza, lagi suka-sukanya belajar konsep empati

(anw, tulisan ini temuan spontan yang diperoleh tiba-tiba bahkan saat lagi ngetik, gokil ternyata nemu persamaan fasik = uncompassionate, hahaha maaf katrok sama ilmu baru jadi langsung nyerocos dan connecting dot by dot langsung di sini tanpa ngotret mentahan dulu di notes. Akan disunting kalau ada yang keliru)

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