korenlesthe
Koren Lesthe
94 posts
Gay writer. Also furry. #BlackLivesMatter #TransRightsAreHumanRights
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
korenlesthe · 1 month ago
Text
Tumblr media
*in torbek’s voice* hiii guuuuuuyyyss,,!! s1lly_stra3berry made another loa animaaaatiioooonnnn!!
550 notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 4 months ago
Text
x
7K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 6 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Relaxing in the swamp c:
3K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
does anyone know if i can like block sites from appearing in my google images searches??? i keep getting those awful ai generated things with a hand coming out of a man's neck and just straight up not what i was looking for, because this was in a search for "curly hair in medieval paintings". it happens every time i search for anything vaguely art-reference-like and it's so fucking annoying and it clutters my search results so much. i don't wanna add specific commands to the query every time too, what i need is like a browser extension or something
107K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Star Ocean IV: The Last Hope
The Beauty of The Worst, Episode 1
Developped by : tri-Ace Published by : SquareEnix Release date : February 2009 Genre : CRPG (Cringe Rare Putrid Garbage)
Tumblr media
Xbox 360 USA & EU boxart of the game
As a kid, my very first contact with RPGs was with Secret of Mana on the Super NES. The only computer we had at the time was an Amstrad CPC 6128 (a 8-bit PC) and borrowed an Amiga from a relative which allowed us to play games like Dungeon Master and Ishar but I was too young back then, so I watched more than played.
Like I mentionned in my FF VII Remake post, my brother bought Secret of Mana and with my sister, we watched him start the game in silence. I still remember being in awe just by hearing the Mana Beast roar right when Squaresoft's logo appear at the boot sequence.
Since then, I've been hooked to RPGs. Final Fantasy VII was my first of the FF (because it was Europe's first real Final Fantasy game). Soon after FF 7, a friend of mine bought another RPG called "Star Ocean : The Second Story" for the PS1. He played it a lot and wanted me to try it for a while. If I knew back then that this would become one of my favorite RPG... (you can easily imagine my reaction when the full remake was announced in June 2023 during a Nintendo Direct).
Since I could never afford a PS2 back then, I had to skip Star Ocean 3: Till The End of Time. Meanwhile, the emulation scene was getting amazing and the hacker group "DeJap" released a fan made english translation of the first Star Ocean game released only for the Super Famicom, putting me back into the Star Ocean. I also discovered many of the games Motoi Sakuraba composed for Enix and Namco like the Tales of series.
Many years later, SquareEnix announced Star Ocean : The Last Hope for the Xbox 360. I remember wanting desperatly to buy the game but also seeing that the game didn't got very positive reviews, especially coming from Japan where apparently, people critized the clichés and terrible dialogue. It didn't bothered me much because in my head, none of the tri-Ace games had a very good writing, even Star Ocean 2. Infinite Undiscovery (which I'll talk about in another episode) was already very flawed in this department so I though "Meh, as long as the battle system is cool, and knowing tri-Ace, it WILL be cool, I'll be ok with the game !". And yeah, the reviews did specified that the battle system was pretty good so... what could go wrong, eh ? Eh ? EH ?!
Everyone is wrong
The game starts with a CGI scene showing basically Judgement Day from Terminator 2. Nations from all over the world send their nukes, destroying most of the Earth. Then, after years of surviving in terrible conditions and on the brink of extinction, mankind managed to stop the conflict and get back on the conquest of space. Soon, the first warp drive reactor is conceived and after a few fails, the first warp jump is a success. If this reminds you of the Star Trek universe, it's normal : the team are massive Star Trek fans since the first agame, they even had their own version of the Prime Directive (its origins are explained during this game) AND a correct and cohesive Star Date system in all the games, unlike TOS and the other Star Trek series that can't decide how it works.
The game takes place a few years after and makes us meet Edge and his best friend, Reimi. They are the youngest crew of the float and Edge is even already a captain. Together, they'll explore a new solar system in order to find a new home for mankind.
Tumblr media
Screenshot from the UI. In the Xbox 360 version, the characters in the UI are all represented with realistic 3D renders that looks ugly and out of place.
So far, aside for the age of the characters and their terrible "lifeless dolls" look that didn't improve a lot from Star Ocean 3 on PS2, the game is interresting and is set at the origins of the series, with lots of name dropping (there's a member of the Kenny family, like in every game) so the fans will appreciate the numerous references. The voice english acting is... ok, but the UI is atrocious, something SquareEnix justified as "Made to please the US audience". Well I'm gonna tell you that it didn't please anyone in the US AND Europe, but thanks for trying, Squeenix.
As soon as you land on the first planet, problems start to emerge. FIrst, the framerate is all over the place during exploration, but manage to maintain a constant 60 FPS during battles (and it's a good thing since they are in real time). Another thing that quickly shows its ugly head : the animation of the characters. I don't know if tri-Ace couldn't afford a Motion Capture equipement & studio but most of the time, Edge cannot for the life of him use his sword correctly in cutscenes. His animation never feels natural, he looks like a robot imitating life and it doesn't help that most of the main cast 3D models are terrible and lifeless.
Tumblr media
The Power of Friendship knows no limits in SO 4. Enjoy the lifeless expression of 80% of the casting.
I'm writiring (Ralph Wiggum, main writer)
You decide to go further and quickly arrive on your second planet, where you meet Lylme. The thing from another world (it is the little child on top of the robot on the picture above). Lylme is the one thing anyone remember in Star Ocean : The Last Hope. You will NEVER forget her. Meet annoying character #1 : 95% of her sentences finished with "m'Kay ?". Her voice actress apparently was told to sound like a 5 years old, so she speaks very slowly, with an awful robotic voice, making her feel even less alive than the others.
And her dialogue is total crap. It's not only the "m'Kay ?" thing, it's just that everytime a cutscene features her, you know it's gonna drag and put the game to a total stop. The writer tried so hard to make you feel anything for her and gave her a sad backstory but it never works because she is extremely annoying whenever she talk ! And guess what ? She's not alone in this nightmare ! There's more !
Tumblr media
Meet Lymle, the lifeless being, m'Kay ?
Meet Meracle Chamlotte, a cat-girl who, you guessed it, finish every single sentences with a "NYAAA". Also she is horny all the time. You think this isn't enough, NYAAA ?
Introducing Sarah Jerand, aka "How to fire your writer". Sarah is a checkpoint for your sanity. If when she joins your team you haven't gave up already because of Lylme and Meracle, she will do everything in her power to make you lose your mind.
Serah is stupid. That's her thing, her only character trait : STUPID. She is competletly dumb and most of her personnal scenes in the "Private Actions" never works. Again, the writer decided to force players to feel sympathy for her but it cannot work because of her atrocious dialogue. Her dialogue is always wrong. Even in the most dramatic situations, she manage to make speaks non sense. It's something like that :
Edge : Because of me, the black hole swallowed and destroyed Earth... billions of people are dead because of me...
Sarah : A black hole ? Oh, it is dark inside ?
Edge : What am I gonna do ?! How can I still command this ship ?
Sarah : This is a ship ?
Reimi : Edge, we already spoke about this, you need to move on, now.
Sarah : Hm, moving ? To go where ?!
That's how most of her conversation works. Not only the main cast ignore her when she speaks, but at one point, they even look to each other like "Why on Earth did we agree to get her on board ?!".
And that's one of the most important thing about a RPG : if the main characters makes you wish to see them permanently dead so they stop talking or appearing until the end, then there's clearly something wrong with it. One of the character do permanently die, but it is off course one of the only interresting one. You obviously keep the worst.
Because yeah, there's nothing to save in the cast. Edge is bland, Reimi is the overly positive character who always believe in friendship and in her friend, Bacchus is Data from TNG except stupid... there's nothing to save. Nothing !
Tumblr media
None of the character looks natural when they use their weapon in cutscenes. Not a single one !
Conclusion :
I know a lot of people don't play RPGs for their stories or their characters but for the battle system, to explore dungeons, fight powerful bosses and put the system to its limit, I have friends who really never give any shit about the story and can farm a game for hundreds of hours (like farming in the first zone in FF XII just to be able to defeat the T-Rex), and to each their own.
But I can't. I just can't. If the game wants to show me lots and lots of cutscenes and characters interactions, then I suppose it wants to tell me a story and I want to listen to it. Sadly, when most of the casting is having a contest of who will be the most annoying thing in the Galaxy.
So, what did I like in this game ? The battle system was pretty good but as soon as you get the last character in your team, you basically win the game. One of his battle skill sends a massive wave that makes massive damage and hits a lot of time in a row. If you spam it, you win. And like in Tales of and other Star Ocean games, the more you use your battle skills, the stronger it gets.
I liked the expanded lore, the origins of the franchise and some of the nods to the other games. Some of the music was good but it is clearly one of the weakest Motoï Sakuraba soundtrack.
Score : A Star Ocean of stupidity / 10
0 notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
From artist Saif (@saif0_0ali) on Instagram + Tumblr
“Love is stronger than your hate.”
Written in arabic calligraphy over colors of 🏳️‍🌈 the pride flag and two men kissing.
“It’s not a sin to be yourself.”
Written above an image of a dark skin bearded person wearing hijab, make-up and a nostril piercing. Colors of the 🏳️‍⚧️  trans pride flag in the background. A slur for ‘Trans Woman’ written on their cheek. It can also be read to mean ‘Intersex’ or ‘Third Gender’. (In this context it could be a way of reclaiming this slur)
“Trans pride.”
Written in arabic calligraphy with an image of a smiling trans masculine person with mastectomy scars that bleed the colors of 🏳️‍⚧️  trans pride flag.
“God does not make mistakes.”
Written in arabic calligraphy with the image of two women in hijab holding each other closely with colors of 🏳️‍🌈 the pride flag in the background.
This artist’s Tumblr @saif0ali + Intagram @saif0_0ali
The artist’s shop here ( https://www.redbubble.com/people/LLuz/shop )
7K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Final Fantasy VII Remake is garbage Part 2
And here's why
(7:57:47) Totally not inspired by Hbomberguy Note : this is a continuation of a repost of my twitter post with a few fixes here and there.
Chapter 4 : I'm a writer (Alan Wake, a writer)
Again, I really like what they did with the "timeline mixing". What I'm not a fan of are the TURKS. Already in Advent Children (the og one, not the Complete), I had TONS of problems seeing Reno & Rude hanging with Cloud and co. Like, "Hey, let's totally forget that you murdered thousands of civilians with the pillar including our friends Jessie, Biggs and Wedge ! ❤️". Advent Children Complete did acknowledge Reno & Rude still feeling that they can't be forgiven for what they have done and hope that someday they'll find a way for a redemption. It doesn't fix everything but it is still a massive improvement.
But in FF 7R ? Reno & Rude feel a bit guilt and then its ok, because Tseng says something "deep" (lol no). It's supposed to show that what Reno & Rude did actually hurt them and it is really troubling them. But nah, Tseng says "Well if you haven't done this, somebody else would've done it, so you helped someone, actually !". Yeah, fuck off Tseng. Reverse psychology my ass. Oh and speaking of the pillar.
Chapter 5 : La mu-si-que ! Oui, la musique !
When my brother played Secret of Mana for the first time with me, we let the game at the title screen for a moment because we saw many nice animations or story elements by just doing this in games like A Link To The Past or Link's Awakening. I was in awe with the Secret of Mana's title theme and the beautiful (yet very pixelated and compressed) artwork revealed (and the music goes even harder at that moment). So I did this too with FF 7 the first time I played it and got to hear the Prelude. And off course, when the music goes for the second part, I loved every bit of it.
When I was told that The Prelude was a very recurring theme in the series, I wanted to hear all versions of it. It's that important to me. I LOVE this theme. And while it's rendition in the remake is good, it's nowhere near the impact it had in the OG game.
And then there's the covers in FF 7 Remake. All around the maps, you can hear and purchase covers from the original game. And wether you purchase it or not, you are forced to hear it whenever you get close to where you can obtain the song. And they SUCK. They suck so badly. The Prelude cover is horrendous. It makes the FF X Prelude look like it's good ! None of the cover works aside for "Oh you hear ? It's that theme butchered from OG FF 7 !". But you know, it's just my opinion, people love it, I don't. But there's something I'm sure people agree.
The fall of the Sector 7 plate is a big emotional moment in the original game. Seeing the plate fall is showing that despite all your efforts, you failed. Your friends died and all of the citizens under the plate and on the plate died too. The CG animation in OG FF7 goes with no music, just a cold, silent, horrible depiction of thousands dying. And at the end, you see the Shinra President from behind, looking at the devastation from his window while listening to an opera music, the ONLY music you hear.
It shows how massively separated from the horror he is. He is listening to music. Outside his office, the sound of people dying is covered by explosions and then a terrible silence. This is incredible, especially for a 1997 videogame.
So off course the remake completely fucks this. In the remake, you get to hear, from start to finish, a rocky techno shit while thousands of people are dying and Wedge is supposedly crushed to death with his cats. WOW, DUDE ! And this time you actually see the President's face and he is smiling. But you don't hear the opera song.
Conclusion
The Nomurism are so full of their asses they can't even be bothered to respect "Show, don't tell". You don't have to see that he is smiling, you know it just by seeing him watching this with the opera music in the background ! It was more than enough to understand that he enjoyed what happened. What he ordered. What he did. Fuck this remake.
The same exact thing happened with Crisis Core's depiction of Zack's death versus Zack's death in OG FF 7. The exact same thing. A totally Overdrive-Nomurism Cosmo Nevismitical moment, if you will. The man can't help but make overtly complicated stories, UI, menus with pompous terms, pretentious writing (oh look, people are playing chess in KH, wow, so original) and it's not helped when his buddy from FF XIII is giving 80% of the lore and plot in the Codex you have to read instead of, you know, SHOWING IT.
Advent Children was the moment I gave up on Nomura and also made me stop watching shonens because I felt like they were all doing the exact same thing (oh, a tsundere, oh a geek, oh a woman with massive breasts, oh a pervert, oh a weird man with opaque glasses reajusting it all the time and saying "Fufufu" like a creep).
So for all of this, I didn't liked FF 7 Remake, a game I did twice (Steam & PS5).
Final note : Look at the pretty keys ! / 10
2 notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Final Fantasy VII Remake is garbage
And here's why (7:57:47) Totally not inspired by Hbomberguy Note : this is a repost of my twitter post with a few fixes here and there.
Chapter 1: The Overdrive-Nomurism Cosmo Nevismitical.
Like every European who didn't bought games from Japan or the US, FF 7 was my very first step in the FF franchise. It is a very important game for me, a game that my best friend allowed me to play because he lent me his PS1 with most of his games.
First things first : I have 0 problems with the "timeline cross" thing, despite it being a very Nomura thing. I actually like it. I also like the visuals and the much improved writing of the characters (in most situations, sadly this too isn't great for reasons I'll tackle later).
FF 7 R is sadly a victim of what I call the Overdrive-Nomurism Cosmo Nevismitical. Or in human language, a "Tetsuya Nomura thing". Why is that, you ask ? Because he always, ALWAYS have to add overly complex terms, UI elements or game designs that goes off the rails. Oh you want to upgrade your weapon ? Open the menu, open the upgrade menu, open the character menu, open the weapon menu, then watch an unskippable cutscene -EVERY SINGLE TIME- to get to a useless 3D scene just to choose upgrades. And that's not all.
if you choose the wrong weapon by mistake, when you get out of the menu, there's another (short) unskippable animation. Then when you choose the right weapon, the animation shows up again because maybe you didn't saw it correctly the first time ! Then you want to upgrade your teammates weapons too ? You have to exit this menu (animation), exit your character weapon menu, go to your teammate weapon menu, open one of their weapon (animation), then you want to do it for their other weapon ? Guess what ? You watch this, every, single, time, for, every, single, weapon.
This is a "Nomurism" to me. Remember the Crystarium from FF XIII ? All this beautiful animations and crystals just for... an incredibly linear upgrade system you have 0 control in and 0 choices other than the one imposed to you. You can't upgrade how you want, follow the stupid line and look at the pretty colors !
It's the equivalent of the moving keys in front of childrens. The Bubsy 3D of UI design. I hear you tell me that UI design isn't Nomura, but he is the game director. He said yes to this (off course he did). Then the other Nomurism is the characters. While I'm ok with most of the main cast, we have to talk about Suchar. I mean Rochey Suchar. I mean Roch. Oh boi.
Side Quest In the french version, Roch is named "Rochey" (and yes, you pronounce it in Rochay), because Roch sounds like "Roche", a roc in french. Just like Torgal in FF 16 is renamed Talghor in the french version, but off course the subtitles keep his name "Torgal" because while they renamed him because of the french comic book "Thorgal", they couldn't be bothered to not butcher the subtitles. I guess it's forbidden to use "Thorgal" in french but it's ok in Japanese and English ? Side quest done, 100 Gils (it's a FF 16 side quest, so off course the rewards sucks)
Rochey (yes, I'll keep the french name, deal with it) is when FF 7 Remake jumped the shark, killed it, vomitted in every orifice of the poor beast, and then took a dump on his poor corpse. This is the moment Cloud shows that he can jump from a bike going full speed, then attack in midair while not losing his speed or air control, go back to his bike with 0 efforts. It's also the moment where Rochey do a 1080° with his bike for no reason aside for Tetsuya Nomura to make another Nomurism. I bet gravity murdered Nomura's family in the past.
I've stated at the start that this post was inspired by the Hbomberguy video essays "This X is Y and here's why" because I love his work and it helps me a lot with my writing (still needs to improve). I know that FF 7 Remake isn't an Immersive Sim game but in Hbomb's Deus Ex Human Revolution video, Warren Spector says "NPCs don't do the cool stuff, players do. You make the player do the cool stuff, NPCs watch the players doing it". It resonate with me everytime I see a character doing impossible things in a cutscene then being stuck in front of a wooden door when the player is given control back.
Chapter 2 : A game design 20 years late
Because of all the horrendous slow movement the player is forced to make in the entirety of the game while in every cutscenes possible, Cloud can jump 10 meters (I'm french), destroy a tank with his hair and fart missiles, but OFF COURSE, a fucking fence thinier than Nomura's braincells is what stops him everytime ! "Oh no, we must find another way, I surely can't slash this fence with the sword from Berserk. I have to find another way. Oh no, a 1 meter gap ! Surely I have to walk slowly over it, I can't jump at all ! What ?! The ground is made of wodden planks ?! QUICK, let's WALK VERY SLOWLY for no reason !
Oh no ! A pile of debris ! I can't jump over it despite the clearly visible space I could just jump over, I have to get on my knees and walk as SLOWLY as possible. To the "It's for loading purposes" crowd, yeah most of the time it is, but sometimes it's just one slow walk after the other ! Like, com'on, I know the visuals are pretty good but until the Shinra Tower, every place is pretty much a hallway with one straight line with a variation you will be forced to take at one point so it's not really "exploration", but just an alternative path you'll be forced to take later. The pacing is all over the place. Speaking of...
Chapter 3 : Pacing : you're doing. It wrong.
Remember how OG FF 7 MIdgar's segment was between 5 to 8 hours depending on how players tackled it ? Since the remake takes entirely place in Midgar, they had to stretch it. And oh boi, the streching is all over the place. The game even makes a FF XIII-ism by telling you that "Yeah, you should totally do the ALL the side quests because that will reward you and you'll gain XP and stuff ! Do it please !". Like, it's not even hiding how badly paced it is.
Doing all the sidequests in Wall Market is horrendous and forced ! It's not "SIDE QUESTS" when you are forced to do it ! A forced multi-part arena, interminable dialogue between the multiple useless "leads" of Wall Market, and having to move from A to B to A all the flippin' time while mostly walking very slow to listen to Aerith or just move in one of the most badly designed town ever saw in a modern Action RPG.
The way back to Sector 7 after Don Corneo is even worse. Every single segments of the game just goes to a stop everytime. OH DAMN MAYBE THE PILLAR IS IN DANGER but oh look ! Ghosts ! Let's have fun with them, the pillar isn't a big deal after all !
Part 2 coming soon after for readability sake.
EDIT : Here's part 2 !
1 note · View note
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
84K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
16K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
a handy way to start a speedrun
12K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Breath of Fire & me
I discovered the Breath of Fire games with one of my best friend. It was the third on PS1 (1998 in France). It was also one of the rare game to be translated in french but my god, this french translation was hilariously bad.
A few examples of the translation : EN : Have you seen the ship ? FR : As-tu vu le mouton ? (sheep instead of ship)
EN : Let's go ! FR : Laissez-nous partir ! (Let us leave !)
Back then I was around 15yo and already admiring dragons. Knowing that you could transform into a dragon was more than enough to make me want to play the game. My very generous friend shared his Playstation to me and my brother so we could play and discover tons of games like Final Fantasy VII (first FF in Europe).
So I played BoF III a lot and I believe this game is one of the first one to slightly open the furry world to me. I really loved the dragons in BoF III and also Rei's design, an anthro-tiger, the twins anthro-horses Balio & Sunder... There was also Garr's massive body. I also loved how some of the monsters were animated (especially monsters with a fat belly, this opened another door that Heart of Darkness completly destroyed a few months later).
I liked having a party of mostly non human characters fighting against what is basically the cult of a bigotted goddess. Also liked having two endings, one very bad and a good one, which I didn't knew at the time but was a common thing in the Breath of Fire games.
Then came Breath of Fire IV. I remember hoping that it would be a direct sequel to the third one but nah, it's a new story despite one recurring character (Momo). I also loved this game and I still remember how shocked I was when I choose the bad ending, and slightly annoyed that the good ending did not end the story of one of the main antagonist.
I decided to then play Breath of Fire 2 and also loved this one despite how slow it is and how many random battle there is. The game is very generous for a 16-bit game, there's a lot to do and even three endings this time, one happening if you refuse to go check a cave near the end of the game. The game asks you multiple times if you refuse and if you insist, you not only get a bad ending, but a game over and have to reload a save.
The other two endings are pretty good and strangely I prefer the "bad" ending ; it kinda looks canon to BoF III opening (but boi did I head tears hearing the "You must live !" theme song during the ending).
I miss this series a lot. It meant a lot to me and while I didn't liked BoF V Dragon Quarter at all, I would love Capcom to at least acknowledge their franchise.
2 notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
This is gorgeous
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
inprnt is having a sale at the moment so these 4 pieces are available as prints for 35% off and $5 worldwide shipping!
300 notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media
168K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Source
Video of Tama
Follow Ultrafacts for more facts
1M notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Text
I would say that most people will never be able to say they may or may not have been the intended target of a murder plot by a former anime voice actor, and I hope I at least live long enough to write an autobiography about how stupid the entire thing is.
9K notes · View notes
korenlesthe · 1 year ago
Photo
Tumblr media
2K notes · View notes