#⟪Cutscene Commentary series⟫

[memingursa]

Todd. Todd the first game opens with an armed soldier killing a protestor for an Americana propaganda film. There is clearly deeper shit going on than “naivety” u can’t be this stupid. If you wanted to say “Fallout is a specific genre showing how Americana destroys itself and it doesn’t feel right to make that commentary on another country.” thats one thing. Todd. But naivete?? THE FIRST OPENING CUTSCENE OF THE SERIES YOU OWN HAS A WAR CRIME OVER AN AMERICANIZED PROPAGANDA FILM. THIS ISN’T EVEN GETTING INTO THE FIRST TWO GAMES. EVEN YOUR TV SHOW COMMENTS ON CAPITALISM AND- TODD.

THE AUTHOR IS LITERALLY TRYING TO COVER FOR HIM AND ADD WORDS IN HIS MOUTH AND STILL ISNT EVEN DOING A GOOD JOB. TODD.

[velvet-gloom]

Persona martial artists in a Mortal Kombat game night tournament

(In a hypothetical Persona Q3 type scenario)

Akihiko: Has never played before but picks it up surprisingly quick, becomes a Jax main at first sight and goes on a whole tangent about how cool it would be to box with metal arms and that he needs to ask Aigis if she wants to learn. Gives commentary on the accuracy of the fighting moves as he plays, but the stuff he says is so interesting that no one finds it annoying.

Chie: Has put enough time in that she’s pretty decent, picks any ninja character and gets so into matches that she starts shouting. Will 100% break a controller if she gets angry, but she does it by dramatically tossing the controller in the air and roundhouse kicking it. Also loves playing/reacting to the story modes because of the insane martial arts in the cutscenes. Her favorite game is Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe because she gets to play as Batman and yell “I am the night” when she beats someone.

Lisa: Makes a point to play as every character and not pick a favorite, so there’s about a 50/50 chance she’ll either lose spectacularly or win both rounds in under forty seconds. She’s the biggest fan of the classic arcade-era MK but has a special love for MK11 specifically because of the Cassie Cage fatality where she kicks your spine out of your body. Gets so excited when she wins a tough match that she gets up and starts dancing.

Makoto: Has poured upwards of a hundred hours into the series specifically because Futaba kept kicking her ass on Phantom Thieves game nights, is proficient with pretty much every character in every game from the modern MK era. Rolls her eyes at the idea of playing a fighting game when they could all just fight for real, but gets VERY into it if anyone starts talking shit or a match gets intense. She’s also the one that brings snacks because she’s a good mom friend.

Ulala: Usually the one who’s shit-talking Makoto, also frequently thirsts over the characters. Will challenge anyone who beats her to a fistfight in real life. Despite this, she’s actually a great person to have in game nights because she gets so excited about playing that her energy becomes infectious, even more than Chie. She’s the one that can be at the tiniest bit of health and suddenly turn a match around, which always gets everyone else screaming like Americans watching the Super Bowl.

[penrose78]

Sup gamer

Saw ur bio, tell me about ur interests NOW

Oh god fuck I wasn't prepared for this

Pathologic 2 takes place in a small town on the steppe only referred to as the Town on the Gorkhon River, or simply "the town." The culture of the town is a fusion of 20th century technology and architecture with ancient steppe culture and traditions, which bring about customs that greatly affect the course of events in the town. Though the exact location and date are never mentioned, it is very heavily implied by character dialogue and environment clues that the game is set during the Russian Civil War.[6][7]

The world of Pathologic 2 leans heavily into the surreal, meta-commentary and symbolism, frequently making discerning what is fiction and what is "reality" difficult. The events in the town are framed as a play in the style of Bertolt Brecht's "epic theatre," where the player is an "actor" "playing the part" of the player character. The player's "reality" often comes into contact with this framing, with theater-like elements such as spotlights, "scene changes" between day and night and a disembodied stagehand-like voice appearing intermittently throughout the game. At certain points, such as during plays performed in the town's theater or after the player's death, the player encounters the mysterious and supernatural theater director Mark Immortell, who is often critical of the player's "acting" and frequently breaks the fourth wall, referring to the game's development, referencing the mechanics and inner workings of the game's systems and referencing events or aspects from the original Pathologic, both contextually and literally.[8]

The protagonist of the game is a surgeon named Artemy Burakh, also known as the Haruspex. The game begins at the end of a previous, seemingly failed run, on 'day 12' of the first Pathologic. The town is nearly empty, filled with bodies and the sounds of screaming. Artemy speaks to various characters and makes his way to the Cathedral, where he is able to speak to the mysterious theatre manager, Mark Immortell, and requests a 'second attempt'. This is granted, and time resets to the prologue of Artemy on a train, travelling to the Town. The player controls Artemy through a series of strange dreams and visions. Through dialogue with a character known as the 'Fellow Traveller', it is revealed that Artemy was born and raised in the town but has not been back in many years. His father, Isidor Burakh, is the local physician and a leading member of the Kin, the native inhabitants of the steppe. He sent Artemy to the capital as a teenager to gain an education in medicine, but has now requested that he return, stating that 'great difficulties' are coming.

Upon arriving in the town, Artemy is greeted by three locals who try to kill him. In a cutscene, he kills the attackers. Nearby strangers in plague doctor suits tell him that the locals suspect him of killing an important resident of the town and that the attack on him was an act of revenge. It is soon revealed that, in fact, two people have seemingly been murdered. The first is Simon Kain, a prominent leader of the town who had previously been assumed to be immortal; the second is Isidor.

Artemy is suspected of patricide and attacked by many of the townspeople, who have been driven to unusual violence. Young women are targeted in particular due to old steppe legends of a 'Shabnak-adyr', a creature with clay legs who brings death. A local gang of children known as the 'Soul-And-A-Halves' request Artemy's assistance with finding a boy who poisoned their dogs, while an old friend of his known as Bad Grief requests assistance with an injured local man. The leader of the town's economy and industry, a powerful man known as 'Fat Vlad', vouches for Artemy, and his innocence is restored.

At his father's funeral, Artemy discovers that his father died of a strange stab wound. He is urged to accept his father's legacy as a menkhu, a special caste of Kin folk with the right to cut open bodies. In doing so, he is given a list containing the names of seven local children, plus a strange steppe sigil that he is told means 'udurgh'. He learns that these are the children his father felt would be most important in 'rebuilding the town', and must be kept safe at all costs. Signs of an outbreak appear in the village, including a strange rot on the sides of buildings and a black cloud in his father's old bedroom. A plague known as 'Sand Pest' strikes the town, killing people within a day of infection and leaving the districts abandoned and rife with looters.

Artemy is required to perform daily tasks at the hospital in exchange for food and money, as food prices rise rapidly once the outbreak hits. It is revealed that the Sand Pest has hit the town once before, and Isidor managed to curb the outbreak by boarding up the infected district and leaving all those within to die. He encounters a young Herb Bride - a caste of Kin women who dance barefoot to encourage the growth of sacred herbs such as twyre - who seems to know him, and eventually tells him he is destined to kill her. Artemy is able to use his father's old equipment to create tinctures that increase immunity, and later use organs or blood to produce antibiotics and painkillers. He collects sacred blood from a crack in the ground in an ancient steppe village, and finds that this produces a panacea that cures Sand Pest; however, there is only enough blood for two doses.

An Inquisitor, Aglaya Lilich, arrives in the city. She has been sent to save the town at any cost, and Artemy is warned by others that Inquisitors are inherently manipulative and dangerous. He continues to search for larger amounts of sacred blood, eventually learning that the only way to get enough to stop the plague is to destroy a tower known as the Polyhedron. The mysterious 'udurgh' refers to the Earth itself, which is leaking out the sacred blood due to being repeatedly harmed and nearly killed by the Town's presence. Destroying the Polyhedron will produce enough of this blood to cure everyone, but kill the Earth in the process, causing many of the 'miracles' of the world - including many aspects of the Kin - to fade and die. It is up to the player which option they choose: either the tower is destroyed and the town is saved, or the tower remains in place and the Kin retake the Town.

I also like Bojack Horseman

Check out my pathologic blog @artemyburakhstormentousnightmare

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

Thank you for this blog. I find old posts of Zero being cool and suave and having Sexual thoughts and actions when he likely literally does not know sex exists other than knowing organic life reproduces physically somehow. With how the x games ended up you could argue he has never met a human irl before other than Dr Cain. If the ambiguous consent argument is too much he might get scared and kill you (x9: WTF NEW MAVERICK VIRUS INFECTS HUMANS?)

if zero even knows what an intimate relationship is, i'll sit and fuck myself.

DID YOU KNOW, as far as i was able to dig, there is nothing anywhere ever that stated iris and zero were a couple? a lot of fandom perception is that iris is zero's girlfriend and they were in wuv, and that half the tragedy of X4 is that he was going against someone he loved. he killed someone he loved. so tragic. :(

thing is, that's kind of complete bupkis.

obviously Iris admired him a lot, and it's not like Zero hated her, but that's about as far as it went! it's one of those popular fanon things that cycles around, like samus being super-motherly to the baby the baby the baby metroid and wubbing her widdle babuu, or flandre scarlet being sealed in the basement to contain her massive power because she's crazy and could kill everyone with the drop of a frilly hat. but then you start digging for where it's from in the games and ????????????? where did it come from? where did it go?

the manuals?

that would be a nope.

the game script? you can look at both the japanese and english script for x4 at your leisure, and even go for the x5 japanese cutscenes, japanese bosses, and english script to look for mentions of Iris as well. iris' dialogue in Xtreme 2 is 95% the same between x and zero, too, but just for posterity's sake here's also the english and japanese script. either way, that would also be a nope.

what about encyclopedic material, like the X Official Complete Works or the Compendium of Rockman X?

兄のカーネルを失ったアイリスが、自らの姿を変身させてゼロと戦う。クリスタル状の本体とサイボーグ体に分離しているレプリロイド。/ Iris has lost her brother Colonel, and so transforms herself to fight Zero. She is a Reploid split into both a crystal body and a cyborg(?) body. (Most of the Japanese is difficult to make out, so apologies if this is inaccurate! I could swear that says "サイボーグ" / "cyborg", but that doesn't make sense...)

that would also be a nope.

the closest we get to this is that Zero Went On A Date, which is tucked away in the side of a Capcom Music Generation booklet for X1-X6

(Pieced together with commentary from the X Complete Works)

which is all fine and dandy, i guess, but a date can be anything. is it a hang-out date? a shopping date? a romantic date? a social date? a business date? a casual date? a competitive tournament-level date? it's difficult to argue the intent is supposed to be anything other than lovey-dovey romantic but i had to dig into page 5 of mini-booklet in a goddamn compilation album to find it and this is the only evidence they did anything other than vaguely acknowledge each other in the field.

it seems people just kind of hooked them together. and i can get that. i've got weirder ships. there's a couple reasons you could say why. you could be a sarcastic shit and say it's because they're a male and a female in a 90s anime and so get hooked by a red string of fate as soon as they look at each other because people had no idea how interacting with people work. or you could write better than capcom and say iris being emotionally tied to both zero and colonel, instead of just being related to colonel and hoping zero-senpai notices her new breastplate, is what forces her to get involved as an in-between rather than just jumping ship to be with repliforce from the getgo. or you could just say they're cute, in which case, yeah, that's cool

but the point that i am laboriously reaching around to make is that this is a consistent pattern with zero throughout the series. zero/iris is the most prominent of a companion bob capcom has pushed for him and he barely acknowledges she exists. you have to really dig for any indication that they're together. zero/layer comes next, but if you look over their interactions, she's just making anime girl blushing noises and zero has no clue what the fuck she's doing. is she overheating? zero/ferham? he wants to stab her. zero/leviathan? he also wants to stab her. zero/ciel? maybe if his preferred way of responding to a 12-year-old girl wasn't with "............" and i see you xzero shippers in the background, rubbing your hands and cackling and thinking you're getting off scot-free. zero's second favorite way of socializing with x is bailing on him. first favorite is attempting to stab him as well.

the dude is spaghettiman virgin prime, a buzzsaw with only two modes: "KILL" and "maybe don't kill". an intimate relationship? he's got a computer brain and he still doesn't even know what that means. a relationship is what you have when you fight someone, right? he's as smooth as a cactus rolling through a sandpaper factory. he's as suave as a can of worms used in spear-fishing. if you showed him a picture of sex, he'd think it was two humans attempting to strangle each other. the man installed titties on himself and he's still never touched a single one. and then he lost them in the future, so he's operating at a net titty-touching loss, which is honestly quite an impressive feat.

[strawberrycola]

hello. i made a very long, very indulgent addition to the sam and max subreddit post earlier, and decided to make it its own post because i had way too many thoughts for a reblog. and the idea of clogging notes was eating away at my brain like mice eat a cheese. this is mostly just train of thought, so i apologise if it's complete nonsense. i've just thought a lot about sam and max's relationship, and the connection lgbt (and neurodivergent, for that matter) fans have had to the series, from my perspective since i was like 8. obviously that's gonna be tinted thru a tumblr lens, because ftmp that's where i see The Good Stuff. and i'm gay as hell, so there's bias. ok read more time kiss kiss.

anyhoozles, coincidentally i've been back on my sam and max bullshit recently, as i finally got a chance to play "this time it's virtual". and discovered vr is not my thing.

so to start, listen...i don't think sam and max's relationship is quite as cut and dry as i believe myself and perhaps many others would imagine/hope. i'm eyeing the "susan" gag from the aformentioned ttiv, in particular. but as your resident specialist in "complex and obscure knowledge of three series total or so", the question of sam and max's relationship has been here since the very beginning of the official comics. like. this has been a thing. pretending it's new is foolhardy. and wrong. obviously there's "like butch and sundance", the wedding toppers, hell, the devs of the telltale game trilogy lampshade their relationship a very decent amount, both in the game itself and in the commentary. at the end of 209, "chariot of the dogs", they directly bring it up during the final cutscene tie straightening maneuver max does. one of the devs literally gets excited about it, iirc. and one of my personal favourite examples is "do you find my warmth...alarming, sam?" from 305, "the city that dares not sleep."

that, in particular, is one of several lines directly from MR. PURCELL HIMSELF, that he gave to the devs each game as lines that must be in the game.

and speaking of season 3, i'd like to mention 305, "they stole max's brain".

(i am now holding "noir sam" so close to my chest, jsyk. that trope means the world to me. it has influenced SO much of my work, and i still use napalm's playthrough on youtube as a sleep aid. REMASTER WHEN.)

of course i and many others latched onto that shit, are you kidding me???? that whole episode was RIPE for hurt/comfort. minor spoiler warning for those that would mind, it's a roaring rampage of revenge plot. at least for the first 30 minutes or so. it's part of a long history between the two of freaking the hell out the second they're separated from each other in a way that doesn't end in like, five minutes. (305. if you know, you know. fkin brutal, man.) sam, in the second act of the game, has been affected by an alternate reality plot, and fully believes he has carried max's brain in a jar his whole LIFE and seemingly has no plans to stop doing so!! it's part of a season where the WHOLE PLOT revolves around the nature of their relationship and how it could change. you don't have to be a shipper yourself to understand how that could be incredibly compelling to the people that fancy them as a couple.

and it's a fandom that i give a lot of credit to lgbt people for revitalising in the mid 2010s~ (i was already a fan by then, and i'm still really curious as to why it blew up so much, but hey, who's complaining?), as well as in 2021~ in response to skunkape's remaster of telltale's season one "save the world" installment, and the release of ttiv. (obviously the actual demographic spread across platform to platform is a varied thing, etc. etc. i'd like to stay firmly in my lane, and i don't wanna overstate any particular demos in my discussion here, or hyperbolise too much.)

Obviously, you don't have. to be a shipper. completely fine. pretty common. Who Give A Care. and we're not even gonna get into the "not suitable" content. i can't fault anyone for not being cool with the actual sexualisation of childhood stuff they like. that's something i'm pretty "ambivalent with a leaning towards discomfort" about for quite a few things myself. and it turns out there wasn't even any "unmentionable graphic imagery" to begin with. shocking. HOWEVER. i'm fascinated but not completely surprised by the blatant homophobia and disgust towards the fanart of the ship.

like, to be nuanced about things, and it's not like the admin is extending the same courtesy here, this is clearly an older fan. like i think from around the same timeframe i was first introduced to it, give or take. maybe they missed a lot of the tumblr mid-2010s activity, or maybe that's going in to their Burning Disgust towards Yaoi Sam and Max Kissing Not Clickbait. i know the fanart had some level of cross-posting, at least on youtube as dubs iirc. OR maybe i'm a fool who is actively tricking you with my words and none of the above is true at all. however...pal. again, in my opinion, we owe those lgbt and neurodivergent kids and adults our whole rights as a fan community. you don't have to like it, but you do have to be respectful, jerkbag.

i can't be the only one who was devastated by the drought of content post "the devil's playhouse". we had a [1] singular whole webcomic to tide us over, with the occasional sketch on purcell's social medias. of course, there was a small community of fans, and some incredible stuff they made, looking at you Sam Dies At The End. i weeped. but it was slow and steady. and then, out of seemingly nowhere, people en masse suddenly REALLY CARED ABOUT THE THING THAT BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY AS A LITTLE GUY. like, fuck man...i first found out what autism was when i was real young because max's character description on wikipedia contained speculation as to whether or not he has it. (jury's still out, ...but we all have our little comforts. okay? also speaking of, "is max gay?" is like. one of the longest ongoing bits. like cmon dude.) now granted, by 2021 i was a little old for the new wave of shipping that sprouted up. tiktok edits are Not Always My Thing. but that's okay!!!! it doesn't need to be my thing. i'm really glad they're having fun. :] and i don't want to come across as like. infantilising in my discussion of the younger fanbase, so i apologise if my tone has come across that way. it really is simply the comforting thought that kids like me can experience what i had.

i remember how much fun my friends and i used to have when we were 16! (hi xavier, if ur reading this. miss you, buddy. :]) we got silly with it! we got angsty about season 3!! we wrote fanfiction, hell, an amazing fic my friend wrote that i beta'd is still the most kudos'd shipping fic on ao3!! the fanartists i liked had such an INCREDIBLE grasp on how to write sam and max's banter. it was a good time! and knowing these characters are giving joy to a new generation makes me giddy, dude. hell yeah! get "feral" or whatever the hell it is these days. find comfort in characters that don't really care about anyone's opinion except each other's, who get to be as weird and annoying and gross as they want all the time. that tend to punch up. that show love differently than what's seen as conventional. that end up saving the day, not even because they have to, so much as they genuinely enjoy each adventure together. max was my personal opportunity to feel comfort in all my weird freaky mannerisms i kept safe behind the polished exterior i had to wear as a kid. i found solace in the thought that those two were practically made for each other, as i stumbled through my own gender and sexuality crises. i loved how dry and dark sam was allowed to be. the banjo bits, the phone jokes, the repartee. so much of this series has influenced me, and helped me become who i am, as a creator and as a functional guy who Does Things.

so that's a small bit of why i think sam and max had, and still has, a lot of appeal to people that grew up like me. there's a lot of rough stuff i went through that made the idea of a couple of anarchist detectives completely devoted to one another that go around the seedy underbelly of america saving the day ("almost on purpose!") really, really interesting. steve purcell is unapologetic about how gross america can be, especially in the comics. at the heart of it, sam and max do what they do both because they enjoy it, and they enjoy each other. and i think, to overlook that, is to miss some of the whole point of the franchise. oh, i'm sorry, giant cockroaches literally everywhere is fine, streets crusted in various goos, totally chill, but gay kissing is the thing that Absolutely Nauseates you? plugging your ears and screaming gross seems like...kind of a weak move here, ngl. a work that doesn't shy away from how confusing and wild life can be has a decent chance to be compelling to marginalised groups, who often have to put up with the more disgusting aspects of reality anyways. at least these two odd guys are having fun with it. sam and max understand each other, each of their strengths and flaws, and choose to be with each other every day because of and in spite of them. they choose to love where they are, because of and in spite of its many, many, many flaws. they choose to be who they are because they love what they do. there's something touching there, if you like to think about such things. there are some occasions i find myself wishing sam and max's relationship was more...concrete. i wish we had an answer to Does Sam And Max Is Gay? but at the same time, being vague and obtuse is like. their whole shtick. so maybe it's just right how it is. and uh. obviously this is a fictional series. in the end, it's all how we enjoy it that matters, and it's not the end of the world. and as a final cherry on top, nothing beats turning to my husband and asking, "is sam and max queerbait", before delighting in the 3 hr conversation that follows.

and to get to the point. as the old adage unfortunately goes, it's...okay. to not like...ships. and i can even somewhat understand being frustrated by a subreddit you created being "flooded" by a thing you're not into. only somewhat, because a: we've always been here, and b: because you can. just not look at it? idk if reddit has a filtering system, but. the scroll wheel is free. to throw a tantrum and ban topics because you're personally offended people think they're gay? you might be missing out on some of the most fun you can have outside the series, and you're spitting in the face of the people who held this fandom up on their shoulders like atlas.

and you're being a dick about it.

TO CONCLUDE:

wah wah they're gay gay homosexual gay and they don't pay taxes. deal or die, fake fan.

[again-please]

Ooh I'll bite on the 500 word DVD commentary! My all time fav scene in the Mercurial world series:

 

Neve lets her mind’s eye fill with a particular image: Astarion in the daylight, bowing cheekily and brushing himself off from their tussle moments after they’d first met, slick and debonair even fresh from the wreckage of the Mindflayer ship. Then, hardly knowing how she even knows she can do this, she pushes it at him.

 

"What are you—" he murmurs, and then abruptly cuts himself off with a gasp.

 

It must be working, as his eyes have gone wide as saucers, fixed not on her face but somewhere just beyond. Focusing, she conjures another memory: Astarion’s pale features cast in jewel-blue, looking down at her in the moonlight, the merry glow of the tiefling party in the distance behind him as he takes her chin in his hand. I’ll take good care of you, he promises, with one of those dangerous, glinting smiles that tilts up on one side, looking for all the world like he’s going to kiss her again.

 

"I—You—" Astarion chokes, sounding almost pained. All at once the effort to keep it going is too much, and Neve relinquishes the connection between their tadpoles, pressing one hand to her forehead and gripping the side of the tub with the other, suddenly a little weak.

 

"Did it work?" she asks, blinking rapidly, trying to regain herself. "Did you see?"

 

"Yes," Astarion gasps, surging forward and seizing her upper arms desperately—which is quite welcome, as she suddenly feels that she could use the support. His eyes are wild as they search her face, his mouth looking as though it’s trying to form words until he finally manages some.

 

"Insane, brilliant little witch," Astarion snarls, almost like he’s angry about it—furious, even. But then he kisses her. Hard.

 

Neve almost yelps, finding herself being abruptly pulled into his naked lap, water splashing over the sides of the tub at his erratic movement. He releases her upper arms to help arrange her legs around his hips, still ravaging her mouth, and she tries to steady herself on his chest, her head now swimming for two reasons. She smooths her hands over his wet skin, and to her surprise, he hums into her mouth and slows the pace of his kiss, as if the touch soothed something in him. His hand trails up her back and threads into her hair as it cups the back of her head, his usually cool skin warmed by the water. Goosebumps erupt in the wake of his touch, so intense that she shivers.

 

Astarion finally pulls away at that, but he doesn’t go far. He rests his forehead against hers, eyes still shut tightly, as though he’s afraid to look at her in the aftermath of that reaction.

 

"Liked yourself that much?" she jokes nervously.

 

"Do you have the slightest idea?" he murmurs, voice ragged, not playing along. "The slightest notion of what you’ve given me? Two hundred years—two hundred—and I finally have my face back. It’s not just…just some dark shape in my past

Ty for biting! (...a common sentiment on this blog I fear)

This is a moment I can actually trace my exact inspiration for because I can remember the friggin DAY I got the "tell me I'm beautiful" mirror scene in early access and I was simply screaming at the computer screen because WE HAVE A PSYCHIC CONNECTION GOD DAMN IT LET ME SHOW HIM HIS FACE. Especially because many of the tadpole-connection meet-cute narrations explicitly say you're seeing out of the other character's eyes! And if memory serves this was the first? one of the first? Astarion cutscenes to drop in EA where he seemed legitimately vulnerable for a moment, which was a very important nugget for us Astarionmancers because around this time I think there was talk about how he was just an asshole no matter what and that there was obviously ONLY a Bad Evil Ending in store for him.

I think this is Neve at some of her best "you guys are making this way too complicated" problem-solving. She is definitely a Scholar and a Wizard, but I think the real beauty of her character and her situation is that she doesn't come from any kind of remotely respectable academic background, as we'll start to explore more, and so she comes at problems a lot more humbly and practically than might be thought to be common for wizards. She is the Good-Will-Hunting-working-class-local-library wizard to Gale's Harvard-Educated wizard (except in this scenario she's the one still on the hook for an exorbitant amount of money...RIP her credit score).

A fundamental Astarion/Neve dynamic is definitely his "mask" of suaveness that he never wants to drop (unstoppable force) vs Neve being almost legitimately incapable of not being herself (immovable object). In this scene, immovable object DEFINITELY wins.

The "jewel-blue moonlight" image of Astarion she recalls scene is from chapter 2 of A Little Further, and I come back to this moment a lot because, in spite of where Astarion is at that point in time (aka, still foolishly thinking he's just having a bit of fun for his own benefit), that's a moment Neve feels swept off her feet for the first time in a way she was really afraid that she would die without experiencing. And a part of her knows he's being Way Too Smooth there, but she also thinks that's something he'd like to see—the time it was all working for him, the time he was so perfect that even a self-conscious skeptic like her couldn't say no to him

This scene also becomes extremely important when we examine what she shares with him later from Astarion's POV—she didn't just send images through the tadpole connection, but the feelings she was feeling in those moments. And while he doesn't literally hear the words "I love you," in her mind or anything, I think it kind of ruins him forever to feel that sheer BLAST of genuine attraction and care and affection direct from the source. Sometimes I'm like, did he fall in love too fast? But honestly, it's kind of no surprise he's done for after this point. Psychic connections are cheat codes.

I just checked—this is also the first time I have Astarion call her "witch/little witch." I think this would kind of irk Neve if he ever said it in front of anyone else (because she is a WIZARD god damn it) but he gets away with it because this is...a name that absolutely does NOT get said aloud outside the bedroom.

DVD commentary ask game if you want to bite as well!

[greatwyrmgold]

Ten years of Noah Caldwell-Gervais

It's remarkable how little the video essays of Noah Caldwell-Gervais have changed over the last decade.

Obviously, there have been some changes.

When I went on a(nother) NCG binge last month, the only difference that stood out to me immediately was the audio—both that NCG has upgraded his recording equipment and that early NCG videos included audio from the background game clips, sometimes loud enough to drown out his commentary. It's a weird choice that I assume he made because he didn't want to speak over dead air and couldn't find any royalty-free music that fit the tone well enough; I'm glad he changed his mind.

When I started looking, I saw other little things. The pace of his dictation has slowed (I want to say by about a quarter?), making his feature-length diatribes easier to parse. Counter to this, his older videos would often play whole cutscenes to display his point. (Not just once in a blue moon, like with that RE5 scene; sometimes twice in a row, like in the AVP vs. AVP vs. ACM video.) While Caldwell-Gervais didn't delve into "traditional gamer complaints" about DLC and "lazy devs" and such very often, their density has decreased over time, as has his willingness to give questionable design decisions a pass for good intentions. Early NCG was less likely to research games he couldn't personally play (his CoD video from 2015 only mentions that he couldn't play CoD 3, for instance). The early videos also had an in-person introduction, while newer videos integrate the important parts of that introduction into the script.

And of course, Noah himself has changed over the past decade—it's been a busy ten years, his opinions about games, their place in the world, and that world have shifted in ways that influence his commentary.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Caldwell-Gervais still writes long video essays about entire franchises, albeit now with confidence that his audience will watch a single video for 3-8 hours if he finds enough to say about a series.

He still weaves all those facts about the game in with what development details he can dig up and context from outside the video game subculture to frame his insights as narratives about the franchises and their creators.

He still talks about highbrow literature-class stuff like tone and theme, contrasted with an obvious love for the lowbrow thrills of shooty bang bang. He still accepts "dumb" games, criticizing them for being dumb only when it clashes with other elements/ambitions of the game. (Or when they really punch the boulder.)

With the exception of a few in-video callbacks, he still avoids in-jokes, irrelevant memes, and other elements which might make his work seem inaccessible to newcomers or dated to latecomers. He'll reference current events and recent releases from time to time, so the videos aren't really timeless, but they're not time-locked, either.

He still focuses on shooters and RPGs, with a strong interest in horror and occasional dips into story-dominated titles and the odd pure strategy game. (Also Western games, notable less for their prevalence in NCG's body of work and more for the fact that he's covered both Red Dead Redemption and Call of Juarez, darn near the only notable video game series set in the Old West.)

He still plays the action games with a level of skill that seems reasonable to me, but which comment section critics say is so abysmal that his opinions about action games shouldn't count (except where they agree with the critic's).

Caldwell-Gervais still references film and other media as comparisons to most games he covers. He still shows affinity for Americana, particularly the arid landscapes of the Southwest, and also Western movies.

He still has a largely positive outlook, focusing on games and series worth praising when he can and looking for the best aspects of even the worst games he covers. To this end, he still tries to find the game's level and meet it there. And yet, when a game fails on every level or aims well below its potential, he will still criticize it for those disappointments.

He still focuses on how the different elements of a game interact, prioritizing that over the sum of his parts. He still likes to point out when mechanics, aesthetics, themes, or plot points that work in one title undermine a very similar work—or contrarily, when things that sank one rescued another. It's all about context.

He's still relentlessly critical of corporate bullshit, whether that's publishers forcing Marketable™ elements into a context that doesn't artistically support them or executives maintaining and concealing an abusive work environment.

And of course, he still starts each video with a shot of some hand-written title card, set to thematically-appropriate music that almost certainly gets every video copyright claimed.

Some things are hard to quantify.

In an absolute sense, the filmography (youtography?) of the infamously hidebound Doug Walker has changed more over the years. But that's the kind of fact that conceals more than it reveals.

Walker adds new tools to his toolbelt and throws new ideas into his productions, but the fundamentals stay the same. He makes the same kinds of complaints, tells the same kinds of jokes, films the same kinds of shots. He doesn't try to improve his media literacy, or his writing, or his cinematography. Or his white-balancing.

Part of why Caldwell-Gervais's old videos hold up so much better than 2013 Walker videos (or 2022 ones) is that Caldwell-Gervais started at a much higher level of quality—fewer moving parts than even pre-Demo-Reel Nostalgia Critic, with every piece mastered. (Except audio.)

But part is that Caldwell-Gervais has improved, and not just with audio. I can't put my finger on it, but something about his writing has changed. His older videos feel more superficial, more focused on the games for their own sake and what works or doesn't work for a given genre or franchise. His newer ones feel like they're trying to be deeper, to go beyond individual video games and use them to say something about gaming as a whole, or even the world beyond.

And unlike Walker, NCG's efforts to Do More are backed by the skill, effort, and attention to detail needed to pull them off. I rewatch NCG's older videos out of a self-destructive sense of completionism, or a desire for familiar background noise. I rewatch his newer videos because they're interesting, even on subsequent rewatches.

[hollowwhisperings]

KH4 Spec: Disney Worlds & Emotional Vulnerability (for boys)

A key part of any Kingdom Hearts game is the use of Disney (& Pixar!) films as Microcosms to the greater Macrocosm of said game (& often the Series as a whole). The Disney Worlds act as easily recognisable Settings, toyboxes if you will, to convey concepts otherwise difficult to "fit" within the limitations of the JRPG genre.

(even then, KH does tend to rely on Monologue Heavy Cutscenes & Collectible Texts to direct players toward All Those Emotions & Reactions That Are Happening)

Societal Preconceptions of what stories can be told with a Young Male Protagonist actively sabotage the KH series in its efforts to show the emotional experiences of its young male characters: Sora needs the Framework of a Disney Princess in order to express and recognise concepts traditionally Denied to his gender. Players need Very Explicit Parallels and Dialogue, often repeated & rephrased across several Worlds, just to prevent their Dismissing Emotional Text (let alone Subtext) out of hand because "JRPGs/Action Heroes/Boys don't feel Scared/Sad/Insecure".

Emotional Depth is not "masculine", especially for Male Protagonists and Male Antagonists because "Feelings" are "feminine".

KH actively subverts this false perception of [How Brains Work] by very pointedly removing its "Token Girl" from the most Emotional & Introspective moments in the series.

Kairi's whole PURPOSE, in the greater scope of the KH series narrative, is to "Not Be There" when she "should" be: when Sora feels overwhelmed by the enormity of his quests or feels scared of Failure, it is never Kairi who magically pops by to do the Emotional Heavylifting in Sora's Stead. Sometimes Sora is able to articulate his feelings by recognising them in the Stories of the Disney characters (most of them Female) but as "Story" characters, the emotions and memories that are being Expressed are, by default, those of our Male Protagonists (Sora & Riku). The Disney Worlds act as framing devices for a Young person struggling to articulate whst they Feel & for a Male Protagonist to Recognise his own emotions even as his "own" World (the society he grew up in, the societies of We Players) has preconditioned Sora to "grow out" of Feeling emotions, let alone Expressing them.

Kairi the UnCharacter

Kairi's function within the greater narrative of KH ("the Coming of Age of a young boy named Sora") is to Be Female and to Not Be Where She Is "Supposed" To Be.

In most works with Male Protagonists, especially those of the Shōnen or action genres and ESPECIALLY in the videogame medium, a "Token Girl" functions as an Emotional Outlet for the Male Characters.

Has the (male) Protagonist just experienced something Frightening, suffered Loss or become Lost after the Peacefup Setting of the game's Tutorial?

The Token Girl will be there to Recognise and Express feelings of "something sad and scary" having happened to the Protagonist, of how "shaken and out of sorts" the Protagonist must be. The Token Girl will then act as an Outlet for these emotions, a Comfortable Vehicle to Focus on (to "redirect" the negative emotions to masculine "action") via becoming Someone To Protect or Someone To Impress. Or, if the Token Female is Dead By Tutorial, grief for "Her" is an Acceptable Emotion... to then be directed to the "more acceptable" method for dealing with Males Having Emotions via Monologues To The Setting ("talking at the scenery") or Promises To The Dead.

These emotions are, subsequently, Never Brought Up Again except as Character Motives or within the "acceptable" outlet of a Romantic Sideplot or an Epilogue Montage/Cutscenes. Sometimes games will use character commentaries in item descriptions or story logs to Remember The Plot Device but since these Expressions of Emotion are hidden within optional reading, players & the game's cast can Dodge any further acknowledgement of Having Feelings or anything resembling [Emotional Labour].

Kairi, the "Token Girl" of KH1, exists to "not exist": as the Designated Female in the lives of Sora and Riku, Kairi's absence is Glaring and, for some, Uncomfortable.

When Sora is at his lowest, when he feels scared and overwhelmed... Kairi is Not There to do his [Emotional Labour] for him. When Sora feels insecure or has a sudden understanding about himself or his relatio ships with others... Kairi is Not There to be Sora's ("Acceptably Female") Emotional Outlet. When Sora feels inspired or moved by his experiences... Kairi is Not There to say Sora's emotions for him, she is Not There for him to confide in, Not There to serve as a "purpose" for Sora "Having An Emotion".

Sora is a Very Emotional character: he is in a Coming of Age Journey, he is constantly put into the emotional stories of Disney films, and emotional introspection is a fundamental component of his setting's [combat mechanics]. Sora spends most of his games with Disney characters as his companions, his mentors, his confidants: when each KH game has its Emotional Climax, removed from the Disney settings & characters who had subconsciously prepared Sora (& players)... Kairi is Not There.

The emotions in Sora's Story are HIS emotions: his to experience, his to recognise in Others, his to express and articulate.

And, when removed from the comforting framework of Disney, who does Sora share his emotions be they positive or negative?

Riku, the OTHER Male Protagonist.

Kairi is Not There for Riku's emotional experiences either. Kairi, whose "purpose" in most works is to be Designated & Acceptably Female Emotional Outlet, is Not There. When Kairi is conveniently nearby either boy when they have an Emotional Revelation... Kairi is left in the background. The KH games COULD include Kairi, the Designated Female most "convenient" for its Male Protagonists to Emote At... yet, at every opportunity, Kairi is Not There. Kairi Not Being There is Deliberate, it is Pointed: it is the KH series saying "here is where you expect Emotions to come from & go to" and "we will not be doing that".

Kairi is Conveniently Female so that the KH series can Actively NOT USE THAT CONVENIENCE: Sora's Coming of Age Journey is emotional, as all such stories are, and it is SORA'S. Sora's to feel, Sora's to act upon, Sora's to recognise through Disney Parallels, Sora's to come to terms with, Sora's to express to whomever Sora most wants to express them to.

Now that the KH series has "retired" Kairi from her Role as "Convenient Female We Actively Never Use For Convenience", she might be allowed to have an opinion and perhaps even Have A Personality! I fear, however, that Players will need even more very pointed instances of Kairi Being There & Female and how Pointedly Unused she is when Sora needs to do something "feminine"!

Because KH is about deconstructing the "gender" of emotions: it is about exploring how feelings affect and influence our memories, our behaviour. How our identities, our relationships, require us to engage with our emotions. How refusing or ignoring what we feel leads to pain, isolation and sometimes tragedy. How each generation's relationships with emotional expression affects the generations that follow them, shaped by beliefs of predetermined suffering: how younger generations, if given the tools and context for such trauma-shaped beliefs, can show us all that these cycles of suffering are not inevitable or destined. That it takes all of us engaging with our emotions honestly, respecting each other's emotions as being as important to them as yours are to yourself... and, together, we can share our emotions (our Hearts) and find grounds for reconciliation (Connection). How we can only become stronger by embracing our ability to "feel" and by respecting how important and natural emotions are to us all. Emotions ("hearts") and the tools we use to understand them (stories, friendship, introspection) are not solely "allowed" to "children", to females or within the bounds of romance. Emotions are human and limiting who is "allowed" to express them or how they "should" be expressed? That harms us all. So open your hearts, connect with the hearts of others, and heal the hurts we have done unto ourselves & each other.

[bluepoodle7]

#Illbleed #Level3Woodpuppets #purpleverse#RandallPurpura#purplegameclassic #purplegame #MyThoughts

That part of purple classic were Randall is close to a window in the hospital be like.

I'm not sure if this was in the new upgraded version of Purple but when I saw the classic Purple gameplay this scene reminded me of this trap.

That's when I knew this series was for me and I like beta designed Randall since he is cute in a chibi kind of way adult swim cartoon way.

Kind of want to make a Au where Randall Purpura is in Illbleed to get rich to get out his bad apartment and living place.

You as Randall have to save Mya and Tate like Eriko saves her friends.

But you get to play as the other versions of Randall and choose not to save them.

Images, game, and videos not mine but links are there.

Mortisfox made Purple and the art.

17:15-17:18

Snek plays Illbleed (No Commentary) (Sega Dreamcast 2001) Part 3 (Woodpuppets) - YouTube

Got the multiple hands slamming on the glass shock event as a gif.

https://gifmaker.me/video-to-gif/viewimage/20240901-18-vJTl2ryiR267sc0z-Svcxh3-hnet

1:38-1:44

--PURPLE--[rpg horror game]#3 - YouTube

Beta Randall at the ending scene of original Purple be like.

(Hope the creator keeps the joke cutscene in with the cool music in the remake.)

If you want me to delete this I can.

Music and video not mine but link is there.

F-F-Fire! (PAL Version) - MOTHER 3 - YouTube

[bathroomtrapped]

WHAT DID LEIGH HAVE A CRUSH ON SHAWNEE?? and do you have such information on saw 3D too? like the original script or whatever

i think james did, leigh mightve also thought she was hot and i think they were both fans of her band. that being said, i think james had the big fat crush and thats why he contacted her, but i havent watched the commentary (leigh/cary/james in specific) in a while, so im not entirely sure lol

i dont have muchhhh info about the screenplay for 3D, as much as it kills me to admit that. i would do anything to have the saw 3D script released, especially the ones from the early drafts where it was going to be two films. i think it was going to have lawrence uniting the jigsaw survivor group to take down mark or continue the legacy or something? batshit concept but interesting none the less. i hope we get to see it one day.

the public trap/the love triangle one was originally supposed to be a trap lawrence and john worked on together while he was still alive. im assuming they replaced this with the venus flytrap and mausoleum cutscenes.

i think its more of a mark trap in the final version. im not sure why lawrence, who was purposefully inactive after johns death, would announce himself to mark via a huge public stunt. it makes sense as a mark trap where hes publicly announcing his identity as the new jigsaw and what that means for the traps coming up. i think if they intended for it to be lawrences in the final product, they wouldve shown mark acknowledging it wasnt his. he was COMPLETELY shocked to see lawrence at the end, so i think the public trap was marks.

i think the idea that lawrence not only believes in jigsaw philosophy but also wants to 'spread' its message and preserve its 'legacy' is kind of silly. just look at lawrence! does this man look like a guy whos ever followed a solid set of principles? (he cant even uphold the hypocratic oath smh my head) so him basically becoming a saw born-again jigsaw christian is funny to me. i guess it makes sense given that he was held by john for 2 years, im assuming thatd do that to anyone, but its just... an insane thing to ask the audience to believe. how are all these unstable survivors not gonna get caught IMMEDIATELY? idk. i wouldve loved whatever content we got of this though bc it would add sm to the established lore. thats all i ask for a saw series (totally recommend this mindset btw, it makes being a saw fan much more enjoyable)

thats all i rly have about it but here is someone who has read it somehow and can tell you about literally everything different much better than i can!

[petorahs]

☀️ anon

"I like girls that are mean to me" - not me but dude I get it

And i live persona 3 Portable. i think they really give you a completely new perspective with Minako and the social link with Ryoji is fantastic, best one, they are so cute. I know a lot of people dislike Minako bc they say she completely negates the theme of Memento Mori, but I think she is just the flipside of the coin. Like that meme about "nothing in life matters" where one is a depressed emo (Minato) and thr other is a sunglasses-wearing party man (Minako). She does fit the theme but /differently/ and that's rhe whole point of it. That's why I long for Atlus to do that again, give us femc with a different perspective on the same theme!!!! And yes, I know it was easier in p3p bc the cutscenes were basically a narated slideshow, so it just needed a modelswap and some new social links but honestly it was so damn good QwQ

I guess thats also why I took kind of an issue with Kasumi. When she was shown there was the hope she might be a Femc, but no Atlus proceeds to be a male protag waifu game-

Tangent: the fact you can date Kawakami but not your bros Ryuji-protects-women-daily-Sakamoto or Yusuke who is just a sweet nice guy living his best artist life, is a crime and I am personally pissed about it. I really hope that future games do shake things up and dont go down this path further. You can't just give Ryuji a line that's basically "my place is by your side/right next to you" and NOT expect me to see a budding romance.

i like how that's your takeaway LMAO what can i say...... me when im just a bisexual mess. girls can be mean to me. guys too im never picky but... girls. <3 obv my appreciation for yukari and her character goes deeper than that like i think shes the realest ever but thats another analysis for another day. for now hehe heart choker go brrr

?!!!!!!! PEOPLE SAY THAT ABOUT MY GIRL FEMC?!?! who what when where Why!! let me at em!! throwing hands!! i havent experienced minako/kotone in her entirety because well. p3fes the answer depression slump. but a large part of why i chose to p3 as my backwards dive into persona series and not p4g is because its arguably the only game to have a FeMC (maya p2 counts but also doesnt? cause she has the benefit of speaking in innocent sin that future silent protags don't). the sheer novelty of an unabashedly cute, girly girl in a social sim rife with the theme of death... her presentation alone could've told you how she's on the 'toxic positivity' side of the spectrum when dealing with grief? your description fits so well LMAO p3 MCs are so nihilistic love them both fr....

the glorified slideshow thing, their choice to port p3p instead of giving us a revamped, definitive persona 3 with fes' benefits (The Answer, control over team members, animated cutscenes) is just proof that they need to remake persona 3 with p5-level graphics now. god what are they doing over ther...

oh man now that you've got me started on it. kasumi, kasumi... she had So Much to Her that they just kinda. fumbled. do you want me to get into it? i kinda want to get into it. but it'll turn into a whole rant and these asks get long enough as is (not that I'm complaining! bro i love these back-and-forths theyre a highlight of my day fr) so i'll save it for another time I think LMAO. just know that im sharing grievances right there with you in the "kasumi-should-have-been-a-FeMC-of-sorts" camp.

lastly. OH for sure for real i get you like i feel the guy party members in 5 (aside from akch since. hes a special case) are kinda so agreeable to the point of simpery but like in a good way. in a dateable way. i feel like yusuke is so obvious about it too... shakes him affectionately. for a series not afraid of social commentary they really are afraid of blatant yaoi arent they. it couldve been baby steps like how fire emblem series did it... the time was right anyhow. scratches head... little known fact about me is that pegoryu and shukita kinda have my whole heart, almost as much as shuake does!! something about boys... just let them love, ATLUS!!

[infizero-draws]

Hey! I followed you because I think your art is super funky and awesome and cool and I've been mildly interested in Sonic for awhile now. Most of my content is very secondhand, like commentary videos and the Snapcube dubs.

To make a long story short, I want to get into Sonic. Like for realsies. There's so much content out there and I don't know anyone personally who enjoys it, so how do you suggest I approach this?

Aw thank you so much I'm glad you like my art!!

It really depends on what you're most interested in! Sonic is a franchise that spans different mediums and has been on-going for a long time, so there's a lot of content with very different vibes and varying levels of quality (though that's subjective of course).

I'd say that probably the best way overall to get familiar with the characters and world as a newcomer is to read the IDW comics! They're very well-written, have gorgeous art, and are easily accessible to new fans while still having lots of references to previous installments. They take place directly after Sonic Forces, but they summarize the events of that game so don't worry about needing that context. There's also a couple of mini-series to check out!

There's the games of course, which are the main canon that the IDW comics build off of/are technically a part of. I would personally recommend Sonic Adventure 2, it's my favorite game and though basically everyone calls it their favorite, like, it's for a reason. SA2 for me is the best game overall, as its story is great, the gameplay is fun and works perfectly alongside the story, and it's just full of charm. It's the most cohesive Sonic game imo, everything feels so interconnected and masterfully woven together, I love playing it. Don't be scared off by the "2" in the title btw, though there are some elements from Sonic Adventure that are referenced, you can still totally enjoy it without knowing anything about the first game as it's mainly standalone.

^ (also sidenote but sa2's story got a littleee muddled by the english localization, its not the worst but i'd recommend this video that goes over the story in detail with an emphasis on the original japanese script. there used to be an upload of the jp cutscenes with faithful eng subtitles but unfortunately last year the channel got nuked and there weren't any backups T_T im still not over it)

When it comes to recommending games it sort of depends on whether you plan on actually playing them yourself or just watching someone else play them, because there's a lot of Sonic games that have really good stories but subpar gameplay, or games that don't really have a story but good gameplay. Also everyone has their own preferences when it comes to types of games so there's that too.

Sonic is a franchise that both sort of has an overarching story (or at least they did back in the early 2000s when the games had a story that was built upon with each game, something that we might be finally returning to with Sonic Frontiers!) and also has many games and cartoons where they're kind of separate from all of that and function as standalone stories or just take place in their own universes entirely. There's many different canons across the different mediums, but the main one is the mainline games + IDW + now Sonic Prime on Netflix, which is apparently also canon to the main game canon!

Sorry if this is overwhelming >< it's a big franchise with a lot of different stuff and different canons and a wonky timeline so it's sort of hard to pinpoint the exact things a new fan """"should"""" check out. I'd say check out the IDW comics and then see if any of the games (or just their cutscenes in a compilation on YouTube lol) spark your interest!

And I say this every time I get these kinds of asks about a fandom I'm in, but PLEASE feel free to send me another ask or even shoot me a dm if you're comfortable if you want more specific advice or are confused about something, I literally love nothing more than talking about sonic the hedgehog at length. (Although I'd prefer if you sent them to my main @infizero as I use this account mainly just for art ^_^)

Anyways I hope this helped in some way ToT

[dei2dei]

Mortal Kombat Onslaught: New Timeline, Who Dis?

Timeline Notes: I am only using gameplay chapter mode information, not any of the potential hypotheticals from the arena fight opening cinematic. I'm choosing not to because cinematics are rough to fit chronologically and often just used for marketing and splash, and may have nothing to do with actual storyline.

Spoilers for the storymode deets of the game ABOUND in this, I mean 100% ABOUND, so dropping my thoughts below a cut.

We know this is after the first tournament. How: a) they say as much, b) Bi-Han has been turned into Noob Saibot, c) Jax has metal arms.

We know this precedes the second Outworld tournament: a) Kitana has not yet sided with Earthrealm (she's wavering), b) People who died in that tournament are still alive. (Yes, Sindel is in that opening cinematic cutscene, but as of part 40-something of C2, she hasn't shown up anywhere yet. Her lack of storymode involvement up to this point means anything can happen with her.)

This is NOT either of the MK11/Aftermath Liu Kang Wins! timelines: a) Raiden still possesses his thunder god powers. b) Kitana is not with him as his lover.

Subsequently, this makes me think - for all those reasons and a few more, that we have (yet again) a new timeline.

a) Frost is of an age (roughly) with the younger protagonists (Jax, Liu, Lao, Johnny, Sonya) - this fits with older iterations, not the MK9-X-11 run. b) Scorpion and Sub-Zero reconcile (roughly, at least); this only happens in MKX in the new iteration. c) There's some weird dynamic going on with Sheeva and Goro where Goro's not dead but Sheeva's in charge and she usually only ends up in charge after his death. Krypt has never been canon so ignore MK11 Krypt, but there was the whole Goro-loses-arms comic and the second series that never kicked off where he got them back, so... who knows. There have been lots of fun little tidbits dropped in the storymode so far; handful of Johnny Cage movies, some more info about Skarlet and Erron, Netherrealm stuff, that I might compile later. I don't have the game myself, but I want to hattip this YT account ("JUST PLAY") for no-commentary storymode playthroughs run fairly smoothly and updated quickly, run at a pace where you can read the dialogue and the text screens instead of being rushed through for fight footage.

[maximuswolf]

What are some videogames you liked that came with bonus features/ videos like behind-the-scenes footage trailers and even TV episodes?

What are some videogames you liked that came with bonus features/ videos like behind-the-scenes footage, trailers, and even TV episodes? I dont know about you guys, but I personally like watching some of the bonus features they put on DVDs for movies, so I kind of also like seeing them in video games. Do you guys feel the same way? What are some video games that have fun little videos to watch that you liked?For example, the PS3 versions of the Uncharted trilogy had unlockable behind-the-scenes videos that showed you how some of the levels were made, or how some of the cutscenes were directed. Unfortunately, these weren't included on the Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection presumably due to disc space, and that's kind of a shame because I always thought they were kinda neat. Ghostbusters: The Video Game also had a few featurettes, like a behind-the-scenes commentary with some of the developers of the game (Terminal Reality), as well as some of the actors like Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Harold Ramis (rest in peace). They also had a video of people refurbishing the Ecto-1 to promote the game, with Dan Aykroyd even visiting to give them his approval. They also included a trailer advertising the Blu-ray release of the original movie, and even included a small snippet of the scene where Peter Venkman gets slimed. They kept these in the Remastered versions of the game too, unlike Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection... except for the Nintendo Switch version, which presumably had to be removed to fit on the game cart.The Dark Pictures Anthology games had short featurette videos talking with the main actor of their respective games (so Shaun Ashmore in Man of Medan, Will Poulter in Little Hope, and Ashley Tisdale in House of Ashes), and sometimes showed a little footage of what the mo-cap sessions were like. I thought it was cool seeing the blank set they had to work with, and everyone in mo-cap suits trying to pretend they're on a moving ship and such.Some video games even had full TV episodes in them. The Mega Man Anniversary Collection on PS2 had the first episode of the Animated Series cartoon, while the Xbox version had the first episode of NT Warrior. The GameCube version, on the other hand, had the G4 Retrospective of Mega Man.Meanwhile, the Kirby Dream Collection on the Wii had not one, not two, but three episodes of the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! anime. While the first episode is the first episode overall, the other two episodes were ones that happened in the latter half of the series, which is a little weird but at least you got three episodes.Even better, one video game I imported from Japan is Snack World on the Nintendo Switch. While the game did get localized for a western release, the Japanese version of the game, Snack World: Trejares Gold, came with the first four episodes of the CG anime. Of course, it's in Japanese and there's no English subs, but it's still nice to have, and is well animated enough to get the gist of what's going on.Even better than that is ASOBU TIGHTS, which is a simple match-3 puzzle game on the Nintendo Switch based on the Miru Tights anime... which is a very short but fan servicey anime. While you do have to grind for a bit, pun intended, you can unlock all like 12 episodes of the anime. Now, each episode is only a few minutes long, and don't "really" have a "plot" per se (they kind of just show girls in tights or zoom in on their feet or breasts... which is a different kind of plot), but I still thought it was still nice to have. It's definitely well animated at least.Anyway, I wanted to know what kind of other games have these bonus features, and whether or not I'm the only one who cares for this stuff. Submitted May 14, 2024 at 03:52AM by Dreamweaver_duh https://ift.tt/CY7ilcM via /r/gaming

[jcmarchi]

WWE 2K24 Review - Another Strong Push - Game Informer

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WWE 2K24 Review - Another Strong Push - Game Informer

WWE 2K24 leverages WrestleMania’s impending 40-year milestone to celebrate the event, and it proves to be a party worth attending. Enjoyable additions and smart improvements bolster its steadily improving formula, making it the strongest in-ring outing since the series’ return. 

2K24’s control scheme remains largely unchanged from 2K23 but boasts neat new mechanics, such as the trading blows mini-game. This gamification of the back-and-forth “boo/yay” punch trope adds a fun wrinkle to combat. Other well-worn in-ring moments to receive attention include setting up big dives onto a mob of opponents; I rarely use it, but it’s nice to have. That sentiment applies to the game’s new match types: Casket, Ambulance, and Special Guest Referee. I’m generally lukewarm on these stipulations in real life and I won’t be rushing to play them often here, but they’re replicated well. I especially like how Special Referee sports a meter that limits ref shenanigans to keep it from being totally one-sided should you face a crooked official. It also fosters strategic cheating for the player in stripes. 

A staggering roster of over 200 Superstars out of the box varies from pretty good to spot-on in the looker department. I also appreciate smaller presentational touches, such as having real-life referees like Charles Robinson and Jessika Carr appear for the first time. Regardless of whose boots you wear, playing 2K24 remains a largely good hands-on experience, even if some moves could stand to be less mechanically dense. Forgetting all of the offensive options at your disposal is easy, but a robust tutorial helps simplify this learning curve. Existing match stipulations remain entertaining whether playing alone or online, though the latter destination is, at publishing, a tricky proposition thanks to spotty connections. 

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Showcase mode allows players to relive iconic bouts throughout the first 39 WrestleManias. Taking into account wrestlers who can’t appear due to current employment in rival organizations or for being generally problematic, it’s a strong curation of matches. Corey Graves’ commentary during transitions to real footage adds a nice touch compared to last year’s silent cutscenes. I also love that button prompts for objectives now appear on-screen, reducing trips to the menu screen to figure out how to execute a specific maneuver. Showcases’ wacky finale isn’t quite as memorable as last year’s big twist, but the mode is an overall improvement over 2K23’s rendition and a great celebration of WrestleMania that inspires me to rewatch my favorite matches from the event.

The dual story-driven journeys of MyRise present more narrative forks stemming from pivotal decision-making moments. Whether you play an indie legend navigating the mainstream waters of WWE or build the credibility of a low-card act chaotically thrust into the World Title picture, I like how choices pack more meaningful engagement to their overall enjoyable tales. It’s delightfully silly at points, and I also like seeing characters and plot points from last year’s MyRise reappear here, adding a welcomed continuity to 2K’s alternate WWE universe. Thankfully, created characters and unlockables finally carry over into more modes, adding deeper returns to my investment in MyRise. 

MyGM, a personal favorite destination, remains a good time bolstered by expanded match types, GMs, talent interactions, and other options. It also feels more strategic now that you can level up individual talent by placing them in certain matches and negotiate Superstar trades between brands each season. Although Universe mode is less my jam, I’m happy to see the giant sandbox sim get options such as Money in the Bank cash-ins and run-ins, plus more cutscenes that add to its TV-like presentation. The card-collecting-themed MyFaction has never been my cup of tea, and 2K24 doesn’t change this, but it’s nice to see it receive more depth in match types and competitive multiplayer options. The already stellar creation suite sports additional items to build the coolest – or silliest – Superstars, arenas, entrances, or championships you can concoct, but don’t expect any major changes to its reliable template. That last point applies to nearly all of 2K24’s offerings: good iterations of an established formula. 

2K24 sees Visual Concepts layer on quality new bricks to WWE 2K’s strong foundation while sanding away some rough edges. The series has settled into an exceptional, if very familiar, blueprint, and I would love to see a bigger shake-up in the future, but the result offers the best package since the franchise returned in 2022. If you’re a curious fan who’s held off on jumping back into the digital ring, 2K24 is as good an argument as any to shake off the ring rust. For diehard enthusiasts, this year’s entry won’t bowl you over in the broad sense, but its incremental updates and continued polish make it a worthy contender for another year.

[godivgamer]

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