#⟪Cutscene Commentary series⟫

[call-me-rucy]

Professor Layton spoilers are illegal

Great! Now I have your attention. It wasn't a lie though.

TL;DR: Level-5 legal document says they will take down videos that show just the cutscenes of the games and videos edited with the purpose of listening to the games' music, among other legal measures.

The official Professor Layton twitter account published this tweet: https://x.com/L5_layton/status/1872196972142366916

It links to something called "guideline". I thought "Hey, finally, a rundown of all the games so new people know when to watch ED and..." It wasn't that. At all.

It is a legal document detailing what images and videos of the Layton series can be posted online without risking Level-5 breathing on our necks. Anyone else feeling like L-5 got a lawyer recently?

To be fair, it is extremely unlikely that they will come check Tumblr of all places for copyright infringement content but Im assuming that you all have lives outside of Tumblr, like in YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok, and those places they will check.

So, here is what I understood from the rules:

Rule 0: These all apply to CV, DB/PB, UF/LF, LS/SC, MM, AL, LBMR, LMJ and PLvsPW:AA; all versions, including the trilogy on mobile and LMJ for switch and MM+. It does not apply to NWOS, which will have different rules explained later.

Rule 1: You can totally upload gameplay and still images from gameplay to social media, but if it's not directly captured from the console using console software they ask* that it has running commentary over, or opinions (basically something that makes it clear you're a fan and it's not an official video).

*This "ask" sounds like "we're not going to legally persecute you but please do us a solid".

Rule 2: Please put spoilers warnings before videos.

Rule 2.5: Don't post videos of the credits songs nor the first voice acting of LMJ. (The anime voice acting is fine).

Rule 3: It is prohibited to post videos that are just the animation scenes or videos and images that are just puzzles and solutions. If it's in gameplay it's fine, but the editing scenes together is not allowed.

Rule 4: Don't post videos or images to pages that you have to pay to enter. However youtube monetizing and similars are allowed.

Rule 5: If you post to a video sharing site you have to include a copyright notice like ©2007 LEVEL-5 Inc. The format depends on the game, look up the chart.

Rule 6: Third party rights are your problem.

Rule 7: Don't post anything that may make people think you are part of Level-5.

Forbidden things:

Anything that is ilegal

Anything that violates third party rights

Anything discriminatory

Anything that harms the image of L-5

Anything with cheats/glitches

Using the videos or still images to sell stuff (commercial purposes)

Editing movie scenes, audio, puzzles, or music from this series for the primary purpose of listening to them!!!

Using the images/videos for religious/political stuff.

And the kicker:

We may take measures such as deleting or suspending the distribution of videos, still images, etc. from this series that we determine to be in violation of these guidelines.

So yeah. Take care my friends! Enjoy the cutscenes and music compilations while they last and maybe don't look into Youtube downloaders.

[thydungeongal]

I'm really starting to think that actual play podcasts/series would be better served if they were just like, improv radio dramas instead of being centered on roleplaying games. Thoughts/opinions/am I stupid?

I do think actual play podcasts do still occupy an important place in tabletop RPG culture and we shouldn't dismiss the entire format just because some of the most well-known examples of it are cases of playing D&D while not actually playing D&D. There are many actual play podcasts that actually go out of their way to demonstrate what TTRPGs are capable of, along with actual gameplay and mechanical commentary.

And like even though I keep saying "these people should not be playing D&D" about lots of these podcasts that play D&D just because that brings in the money, even they do get something out of bolting D&D on top of their podcasts even though they only end up demonstrating the capabilities of the medium very narrowly (mostly owing to the fact that they are often run by people with a very authorial approach to running RPGs: people who want to tell a specific story and see their friends' characters walk through it). I do think these podcasts should be treated as highly dramatized instances of the medium (like what wrestling is to combat sports) but even though they only utilize the language of the medium very shallowly they are still in the same ballpark. Even though what you end up getting is like. Short bursts of D&D between basically improvised cutscenes, they still get something out of those dice rolls. To a very limited degree.

But having said all of that, if you like the idea of listening to strangers actually play an RPG and engage with the mechanics deeply while actually doing commentary on the gameplay, go check out @tinytablepodcast and @partyofonepod and many others.

[pochiperpe90]

[ENG] Death Stranding 2 between future, Marinelli and the pandemic: interview with Hideo Kojima (parts about Luca and Alissa)

You have always chosen new actors for each of your works. What is the process or criteria by which you select them?

Take Luca [Marinelli], who plays Neil: he doesn’t just appear in cutscenes. When the character appears as an NPC, you also have to record sounds, groans, breathing, grunts… and this part seems to never end. It’s tough. And of course, the actors are also working on other projects.

Then it’s all about connection, just like in Death Stranding. My casting process always starts with actors I like. I watch movies and series and think: “I want to work with this person”. Then I contact them directly to present my concept.

Is there a scene or performance by an actor in Death Stranding 2 that you are particularly proud of?

Yes. There is a scene between Neil and Lucy. You may have only seen one so far, but there will be many more interesting ones later.

I have already told on several occasions that I saw an Italian film, Martin Eden, with Luca Marinelli. It really struck me. Maybe I saw it before the pandemic, but I wrote a commentary for the promotion of the film in Japan. After this, Luca sent me an email: he told me that he had been a fan of mine since his childhood and that he had read my commentary on the film. He asked the distributor for my contact details, and that's how we met.

When I thought about involving him, I knew that his character had to surpass the one played by Mads Mikkelsen. I asked myself: "Is it even possible?".

The character of Mads could not return in Death Stranding 2, so I knew that some fans would be disappointed. I had to find someone who could go beyond. I remembered Luca, I wrote to him directly and offered him the role. He accepted immediately.

I was also looking for an actress to play Lucy, but in the midst of the pandemic it wasn’t easy. One day, Luca asked me if I had found his “counterpart”. I told him no. He told me that his wife (Alissa Jung, ed.) is an actress and also a director, so we met and I found her really brilliant, intelligent, perfect for the role of Lucy.

We scanned them both in the midst of the pandemic. Neil also has some scenes with Norman, while Alissa, who plays Lucy, mostly has scenes with Luca. I can’t say more, so as not to give away spoilers.

Luca, in the meantime, was filming a series, M: Son of the Century, directed by Joe Wright. When I offered him the role he was beautiful, he looked like a young Alain Delon. But at the time of the scan he had changed: I asked him what had happened. He replied: “I’m gaining weight to play Mussolini.” We couldn’t do much, so we scanned him as he was.

A year later, at the time of the motion capture, he had changed again. I was like, “Oh my God, that’s not the Luca I was expecting,” but we solved it digitally. It was a big problem, but the series he shot is really good!

Most of the scenes between Alissa and Luca are just between the two of them, and the interesting thing is that, being husband and wife in real life, they have incredible chemistry. Luca comes from the theater, Alissa is an actress and director – sometimes she would try to take over on set too! We shot at SIE studio in Los Angeles, which is a huge studio, almost like a Hollywood set. A couple of my crew and I would go and manage the shots, but there were a lot of other people there including technicians, makeup people and others. But when Luca started acting, everyone came over to watch. I’ve never had anything like that happen to me.

SpazioGames

[dead-wives-tourney]

Round 3 Side D

who is more dead wife?

Propaganda:

Madoka Kaname:

Madoka was the first person to show Homura absolute kindness when she felt shunned from society. Madoka was the reason that Homura became a magical girl, in order to save her! She would do this over and over again, going through almost 100 timelines over the span of months to prevent her death, coming to the realisation that she needed to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl in the first place. Despite Madoka's deaths only being revealed near the end of the series, she really does haunt the narrative and this is only pressed further with the Wraith Arc where Homura feels an innate emptiness without Madoka. This all leads to Rebellion where Homura attempts to save Madoka by splitting her from her god-like power she gained through her selflessness. Homura would rather become the devil to Madoka's god if it meant that Madoka would live her own life, to be human like she was always meant to be—to be truly alive.

Goro Akechi:

!Big spoilers for Persona 5 & Persona 5 Royal!

In Persona 5 base game, after Akechi dies the protagonist consistently thinks about him. In Persona 5 Royal (an updated version of the game with added story), on top of what's already been stated above, there is a "secret post game" of sorts where you go against a new enemy who's making everyone's wishes come true to achieve a "perfect" reality, and what is the protagonist's wish you may ask?? For Goro Akechi to come back to life. And at the end of this secret post game? Guess who dies again???? Goro Akechi. If you get up to max friendship with him before beating this post-game you can see him walk by in a window before disappearing in a cutscene at the end of the game if you go with the true ending and in the "ideal" ending as it's called you get to live your life happily with him and it's revealed that HIS WISH WAS TO BE WITH YOU. He is LITERALLY the protagonist's dead wife.

[mod naoto commentary: biting my nails at this match-up.... that i orchestrated]

[theeeveetamer]

A timeline of the evolution of my relationship with Vergil von Devil May Cry (for fun):

1) Played DMC 1 back in like 2015. Felt bad for the guy, but did not have a lot of context

2) Played DMC 2 back in like 2015. This has nothing to do with Vergil I just want everyone to understand that I have suffered

3) Played DMC 3 back in 2015. Thought “wow that guy kinda sucks” and moved on with my life

4) Browsed the internet for Dante fan art circa 2015. Accidentally saved a bunch of Nero fan art because he looks exactly like Dante and I hadn’t played DMC4 yet so I had no idea who he was. Researched Nero after I realized. At this point there was technically no official confirmation that Nero was Vergil’s son, but that was what the fandom seemed to have settled on. Thought “wow how did that dweeb loser manage to get laid?” and moved on with my life

5) DMC4SE came out in 2015. Played ten minutes but my terrible laptop couldn’t handle it. Vowed to get back to it when I got a better computer

6) The date is now October 2024. I finally got back to it. Laughed at the irony of Vergil having a son that acts just like Dante, but otherwise opinion didn’t change

7) Still October 2024. Played DMC5. Thought “wow this guy still kinda sucks”, but slightly more fondly. I am happy to see him and Dante getting along in the end. Still questioning how his -10,000 rizz self got a lady to like him for long enough to make a child

8) November 2024. Discover the Vergil Meme Economy. Find myself entertained by him immensely despite still thinking he’s a loser dweeb virgin

9) All of this happens basically in November from here on out. Resign myself to the DMC hyperfixation. Choose to replay DMC3. As I am replaying, notice that Vergil is much more like Dante than he lets on. Curiosity piqued

10) Finally listen to Bury the Light. Oh my god it’s an exploration of Vergil’s mindset and trauma. Also, total banger. Listen to it so many times YouTube gave me a badge for it (this is not a joke here’s the proof)

11) Rewatch the Arkham fight cutscenes a couple of times on YouTube. Someone in the comments notes that Vergil does a little grin just before he and Dante say “Jackpot”. Rewatch, confirm. Oh no. I have just realized that Vergil is a tsundere. Likability stonks rising rapidly

12) The evidence is piling up. I’m noticing more and more little things that endear him to me. I am now in my “I hate Vergil” *covers the walls with pictures of Vergil* era

13) Read Visions of V. The five stages of grief are not a straight line, but we have finally arrived at acceptance. I admit that I just like Vergil now

All in all I still don’t think he’s a likable character. He has the demeanor and temperament of a wet cat. If you offered to let me give him a swirly I probably would. However, he is a compelling character, and in this instance that’s arguably better than being straight up likable. It feels like I went on a little adventure picking apart all of his history and quirks and idiosyncrasies

Honestly I love that the community is so passionate about this series in general and Vergil specifically. I was like five years late to the party, but it was still fun exploring both new and old commentary on the games/Vergil’s character, and just seeing all the love and the excitement and the joy about it

[aceeestarr]

Missing Banban Review, Thoughts, and Ramblings [No Spoilers Until the Cut]

Overall? This is genuinely a good time. Really charming, and very true to the chaotic nature of the core series games. I’ll list some of my favorite random one-off things here. Go see it for yourself if you can. I need more people to yap about this with.

The guy fishing in the pond where the banstar is. Oh my god I love him.

Bob and Seb. Yes, their dialogue is really long, but I thought it was more than worth it for the fact that

BloodyNeedle enjoyers will be eating GOOD. FULL BUFFET.

I’m not sure how much that applies to BitterToad enjoyers, but you’ll most definitely get some material to work with, especially past the final fight in the epilogue cutscene[s].

Oddly enough a commentary on economic manipulation and worker exploitation. Thank you, Brothers Euphoric.

BANBALEENA PLOT RELEVANCE. IT’S ONLY MINOR UNTIL THE END BUT IT’S THERE. THEY HEARD MEEEE

The Stinger Flynn design in this game is actually pretty cool. I might use it as another reference for my own. Same with Nabnab.

Also NABNAB GETS A VOICE AND PERSONALITY! Again, not canon, but WE’RE BEING FED NONETHELESS!!!

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING AND WHAT WERE THE IMPLICATIONS!!!!!!

Live Zolphius reaction.

[Spoilers and Spoiler-Adjacent Information Under The Cut. You’ve Been Warned.]

Flumbo’s split-second easter egg was a nice touch. He’s also partially-visible on the far right edge of the promotional artwork for the game.

Brushista still hasn’t made an appearance here, which confused me somewhat seeing how Flumbo made a full appearance in other promotional artwork. Now I’m even more curious about them than Flumbo.

There is another LSD-induced Stinger Flynn beach journey cutscene in this game. I won’t be spoiling what it is. Please go seek it out for yourself.

The final fight was. Something. I was right to be speculative of that sun comment at the end of my previous post. Do I understand what happened? No. Do I get why Bittergiggle did that? No. Was it fun? Yes.

Adding on to my previous bullet point, Bittergiggle alludes to something while he’s “possessed” by the Sun before the final fight. It’s as if he’s briefly speaking from Flumbo’s perspective. Seeing as he can be vaguely associated with sun imagery, [i.e. his facial markings,] it may be that he’s somehow meant to be the Sun or vice versa? Or I’m overthinking it all and the Euphoric Bros just made Bittergiggle reference closets and the weakness of human flesh to make us point at the camera and start soyjakking. I’d say it’s the latter. But who knows?

I just need some time to think about all of this, honestly. It’ll probably make more sense when VIII comes out, or the brothers may just clear things up in their discord server. Time will tell and all that.

There’s also a lack of Nabnaleena here, even though she’s somewhat-implied to be a part of this whole picture in a conversation between Bob and Seb, claiming that Nabnab’s in a suit because he may be going to a wedding. That was cute. No Tarta Bird appearances or mentions, though. All the Tartaheads will surely be outraged.

Zolphius had a lot of screentime here, which I was pleasantly surprised with. It’s honestly endeared me towards him. His spritework is pretty good as well, which is probably part of why I’m feeling that way.

Banban just being somewhere else the entire time was very Banban of him to do, plus it references the fact that he went off alone to go get Flumbo while VII was taking place when he remarks that he was “visiting and old friend”. That means he’s probably gonna be fine in VIII. At least in the beginning.

Final thoughts? I enjoyed it. Gameplay was fun, customization was silly, Mr. Kabob Man in the Stingermobile whip was lovely, and I want to sleep.

[canmom]

Indika (title puns? sorry i got nun)

I played that game that got a bunch of hype a few months back! Created by exiled Russian devs Odd Meter and published by the absolutely on top of their game right now 11Bit Studios, it's a uniquely AESTHETIC orthodoxcore meditation on religion and nihilism that has more than a little Tarkovsky flavour. If you've seen any review of this game you probably know the score: splendid writing and blending of aesthetic registers, spaced out by rather more orthodox (ha ha) game puzzle design.

It's very much a setpiece driven game, leading you through a series of absolutely gorgeously rendered snowy, industrial environments of increasingly surreal size, all carrying a three-way dialogue between Indika (a nun who hears the voice of the devil in her ear and seems to be experiencing some kind of psychosis), Ilya (an escaped convict who's convinced God is leading him to some great purpose, if only he can heal his rotting sepisy arm) and the devil (who only Indika can hear, cutting in with sardonic commentary every so often).

So it's a story about becoming disillusioned with religion and shaking off moralism, about desperation, about ostracisation - and a very confident one at that, full of great presentation and acting choices and provocative events.

I think the interesting question with this is like, what does it gain from being a game, rather than e.g. a movie or even a play - or for that matter a 'walking simulator' game with no challenges at all? The puzzles don't really factor into it, they mostly function as a speedbump... except, of course, that running into blatant videogame puzzles adds to the sense of unreality that is given by the strangely towering architecture and giant fish and so on, acting consonant with the chiptune/EDM in the soundtrack, the 2D pixel-art flashbacks and especially the mechanical representation of Indika's faith as a pixellated point tracker which incrementally ticks up for every religious act, a device which pays off in the final scene.

So - much like NieR, it likes to play around with the imagery of previous eras of game as symbols. The benefits of being a game are then in a sense mostly aesthetic invocations - but it does make interesting use of them, e.g. a monster-chase sequence unexpectedly seguing into an argument with the devil about the different motives of humans and animals as the camera rolls to follow the defeated boss around a water wheel.

Honestly, the camerawork in this game is really something special - making all sorts of clever uses of curved lenses and striking compositions that really allow you to feel the weight of the environments. Besides the well-shot cutscenes, you can sit on benches in various places and switch through a series of striking camera angles. But equally, you get a far stronger sense of the moody setpieces when you are walking through them to figure out a path, compared to if you simply saw them in the background of an establishing shot.

There is also the matter of taking the characters and environment, which you might take for granted in a film, and drawing them into the realm of something constructed. To film a real convent covered in snow is one thing; to meticulously build snow shaders which respond to footfalls and perfectly convey the sparkling mushy texture of melting snow is perhaps a different statement, much as animated a movement and filming it conveys different emphases. Perhaps this is just the tech artist talking, but a significant part of the expression comes in walking around as Indika and observing the wind catching her wimple and the carefully designed ways she stumbles and fidgets. So yeah yeah, the medium is still the goddamn message.

Environment design and rendering seem to be real strong points for Odd Meter - sure, anyone can take the off the shelf engine features of Unreal, but it takes a lot of skill to really make it sing cohesively. Their previous game is a VR archery game called Sacralith, and while it doesn't seem to have the same artistic ambitions as Indika, I'm terribly curious to try it out now.

Definitely recommend giving this one a look. It's a pretty digestible four hours to play, so basically two movies. Which feels appropriate for this type of strongly narrative-focused game - very much for short focused games these days...

[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

[nintendoduo]

Playing the Super Nintendo's Forgotten Home-Made RPGs of the '90s (Part 1)

(This article is also available at Neocities.)

Did you know that the Super Nintendo housing a family of tiny spiders in your closet is also technically a device for creating RPGs? (As in role-playing games; sorry, everyone who imagined their SNES shooting out rocket-propelled grenades.) This is thanks to RPG Maker: Super Dante and RPG Maker 2, the two SNES-compatible installments in the long-running series of games about making games. Although neither made it outside Japan, in 1998 a group called KanjiHack released their own English translation for RM2 and encouraged players to send in their creations, to be showcased in an extremely 1998-looking website called The Fantasy Maker's Vault.

How did that go? Well, four months later, KanjiHack announced they were fed up with receiving hundreds of half-baked, poorly-formatted games and were deleting all but the ones that were actually finished, which left them with exactly... one game. Shortly after that, the makers of RPG Maker submitted something of their own: a cease-and-desist letter. KanjiHack promptly shut down, and all those user-made SNES RPGs were forgotten forever. Or, well, until now.

Thanks to some digging on archive.org and a visit to an all-German Discord (shout out to Spatzenfärber at the RMArchiv & Makerpendium server!), we were able to find eleven English-language home-made SNES RPGs from the '90s. While playing through all of those historical artifacts across two livestreams, we were witness to things you wouldn't normally encounter in games with the Nintendo Seal of Quality, like crude jokes, ham-fisted attempts at social commentary, misspellings, underage substance abuse, and, of course, some weirdly horny stuff. Here's part one of our attempt to summarize each game, for posterity.

Note: These games can be downloaded at archive.org or rmarchiv.de (or archive.org’s archived version of rmarchiv.de, if it goes offline again).

"Atonement" by RPG Advocate (05-08-1998)

Original description: A young girl sets out to establish friendly relations with an old enemy.

Right off the bat, the earliest game uploaded to the Vault (and, apparently, the oldest surviving RPG Maker user game ever) starts with a girl being told to strut her stuff in front of "important dignitaries" in order to improve her kingdom's trade relations. Emphasis on relations. The protagonist is Maia, an image-obsessed young princess who spends so long doing her make up in the opening cutscene that we seriously thought game had crashed.

It really dosen't, Maia.

Maia is told to go see her father, the king, who needs someone to travel to the neighboring nation of Yatari and prevent a war. Since all the dignitaries present decline to do it for various reasons (one guy says he's "allergic to Yatari food"), Maia volunteers to go there and "smooth things over." The way this is presented almost makes it sound like the start of a 16-bit porno. Fueling that impression is the fact that, if you snoop around the king's library, you'll find a flyer directing you to a website hosting what sure looks like erotic Final Fantasy VI fan fiction (we didn't read enough of it to find out for sure).

But, for better or worse, you never get to that part. After fighting some generic monsters in a field, you reach the city of Meese, which can be thought of as a sort of social commentary on recent changes in industry and commerce. We know this because as soon as you step in, someone comes up to you and says:

In Meese, Maia finds overpriced item shops on one side of town and people begging for money and complaining about the busted sewage system on the other (wonder what that's supposed to be commentary for?). There's also a guy who gives you a random series of directions with no context, which suggests this town might have a mental health problem, too. While on the poor side, Maia has to fight off a pack of "gangstas," who are represented as four-armed swordsmen wearing robes because this game has no "guy with baggy pants and du rag holding a machine gun" sprite.

Maia finds out that there's been a rockslide just outside of town, which means that in order to progress you have to retrieve some dynamite from a warehouse. Unfortunately, that warehouse also happens to be the place where this town stores all of its monsters and RPG enemies. Before going in, a dick named Kyle (such a far-out fantasy name) joins your party without asking because "a pretty lady like you" has no business going there alone. This game would be 1998's GOTY if you could just kick Kyle in the nads and leave him there, but sadly you're given no choice but to put up with his ass.

(Thank goodness this game's graphics aren't detailed enough to make it obvious if one of the characters has a boner.)

The "warehouse" turns out to be big dungeon that has to be navigated in a specific order, otherwise you activate the "security system" and get kicked back to the beginning. Once you figure out that you need to follow the directions that random guy in the town gave you (sorry for doubting your mental state, random guy) the main problem becomes that this poorly-kept building is infested with an enemy type called "TURD." You can't take two steps without stepping on a turd. As if dealing with Kyle wasn't bad enough.

Early on in the dungeon, you get a glimpse of a treasure chest at the other side of a wall. After a while fighting turds and other enemies, you can reach that chest, open it, and find your reward for all that effort: poison gas. Now, on top of all the turds and Kyle, you're also poisoned, which means you'll be taking damage with every other step and the dungeon will be unwinnable unless you're playing in dev mode and have infinite health. Even so, the screen-flashing "poison" effect is so annoying that you'll wish you could die. Hope you made a save state before spending the past half hour punching turds!

Three floors into this deadly, no doubt foul-smelling dungeon, you run into a human character who's just chilling there. It turns out he's the brother of a beggar who asked you for money in the town. If you gave the beggar money, his bro, who apparently has magic powers, will completely restore your HP and MP, remove any "bad status," and even let you save your game. We didn't feel like making a new save and replaying the entire dungeon to find out what happens if you cheap out, but RPG genre conventions lead us to assume that he turns into some sort of muscular demon who deals 9999 damage.

After that, you finally reach the dungeon's boss: a blue guy named "Medulla" who spouts gibberish words at you (presumably meaning "What did you do to my precious turd collection?!"). If you best him, he drops the dynamite you came here to collect and, at last, you get to clear the way out of the town! And then...

...nothing happens. There's no exit behind the "rocks" (which actually looked remarkably like barrels). In fact, if you use dev mode to get to the other side of this town in the overworld map, it's all empty. This is as far as RPG Advocate made the game. You got your hands dirty, in the worst possible sense, for nothing.

According to his Makerpendium wiki page (WARNING: German), RPG Advocate was a polarizing figure in the community who on the one hand helped translate various RPG Maker titles, but on the other was kind of a dick (was Kyle a self-insert character?). It seems that this SNES demo evolved into a PC game called Phylomortis: Atonement Gaiden, which later got two sequels called Psychopoltical Drama Phylomortis II: Triumvirate of Dystopia and Phylomortis: Avant Garde. Based on the gameplay available on YouTube, they are about as intelligible as their titles suggest. But Maia is in them, so we're glad to know she eventually made it out of that shitty town.

"Daxara" by Adol (05-16-198)

Original description: Geren travels from Castle Harmony to learn of the origin of appearing monsters who are robbing the world's Shards in order to end it.

Like 40% of RPG Maker games from this era, this one starts with a knight being told he has to go talk to the king, who is a kind man. We know this because not one but two people tell you "The king is a kind man," though they're both within the king's earshot so there's a chance they're only saying that to avoid being shackled in a dungeon.

King Kind tells you that someone has attacked a shrine for unknown reasons, so you need to go there and find out what the hell. As you leave the castle, some lady named Sarah says she heard about your mission and asks to come along with you, because she's just very passionate about shrine-related crimes, we guess. If you say "Yes," she joins your party. If you say "No," she also joins your party, but first she says "You're such a funny guy!" Way to be a Kyle, Sarah.

Once you reach the shrine, you run into enemies like "Thing," which look exactly like red turds (please consult a physician if this happens to you), and "Batling," which suck. That's their power: they suck.

There are a few chests around the shrine, some of which contain an item called "fluid" that you probably shouldn't be touching with your bare hands. Soon, you reach the end of shrine and find the mysterious attacker: it's some sort of dog-person called "?" who says you're too late, because his minions have already stolen the Shard that was in this shrine and will use it to "destroy this pitiful world!" Oh no! If only you hadn't been delayed by Sarah... is she an agent of "?"?

Anyway, once you fight dog-person "?" he suddenly becomes a fish-person called "Sinister." We are already witnessing the fabric of reality disintegrating due to his meddling with the kind king's shrine Shard.

If you manage to defeat Sinister ? the Dog-Fish-Person, he drops some more fluid (ewww) and some flesh that you're supposed to show the king as proof that you killed him. Does the king distrust you so much that he forces you to carry around the decomposing flesh of his enemies as proof? That's very unkind of him. The worst part is that once you get back to the king, he doesn't even acknowledge all the bloody flesh you brought him. Instead, he sends you to another town to deliver a note to some sort of mythical being named "Colin."

That sounds like a pretty urgent mission. So, naturally, as soon as you reach the other town, you get distracted by side missions. For instance, one guy tells you that "strange things" have taken over his basement, which is bad because that's where he keeps all of his coffins. If you agree to go into the coffin collector's basement, he says "You won't regret this!" Then you go down and instantly get ambushed by sworded skeletons that can kill you with one blow.

So that was a lie.

Once you decide to move on with the game, you can talk to Colin, who tells you that the rest of your epic adventure awaits on the other side of a door and gives you an item called "Colinkey." You might think you can use the Colinkey to open the Colindoor, but nope. You can't do shit. This is where the game unceremoniously ends: with a closed door and the disquieting certainty that you will never know what's on the other side. (Unless you check with dev move, in which case you learn that it's "some unfinished maps.")

"Forever..." by Kypdev (05-17-1998)

Original description: A boy heads off on a series of quests.

In this one, they don't even have to tell you to go talk to the king. Your character, Kyp, wakes up in his bed saying "Damnit! I am late!" and you instinctively know that the thing he's late for is going to talk to the king. Note that Kyp is so manly that he sleeps in his armor.

Before leaving the house, you can talk to your family: your mom, who tells you to dress warmly for your mission (I'm wearing clothes over an armor, mom), your dad, who wishes he could join you but says his adventuring days are over, your cat and dog, who bark and meow at you respectively, and your baby sibling, who magically vanishes as soon as your mom exits the room.

There's a church next to your house, and if you go in (maybe to seek solace for the sudden disappearance of your little brother or sister) the minister will confess to you that he isn't really religious. He's just in it for those sweet minister bucks and the tax-exempt status.

There's also a bar, and if you enter it you'll find that your dad has gone there to drown his sorrows and is already shitfaced. Now you have to live with the shame of being related to such a freaking lightweight.

The most sordid part of all this is that if you talk to the bartender, he'll tell you to "have a drink," even though everyone knows that alcoholism has a genetic component. Also, uh, doesn't the game's description refer to Kyp as a "boy"? He's just very bulky on account of carrying an armor around all day.

Anyway, after fighting generic monsters in a field, you reach the castle and... hmm, what was it you were supposed to do here? Let's see if anyone around can remind you:

Something tells us we're supposed to talk to the queen. Once you do, she says "Please talk to the king," so you do that too, since she asked nicely. The king, in turn, asks: "Wilst thou aid my kingdom and bring peace?" If you say "No" (maybe you'd rather investigate the case of the magical disappearing baby), he tells you to "Leave mine eyes, coward!" but he must be suffering from dementia because if you talk to him again, he'll greet you like the first time and ask the same thing. If you say "Yes," he tells you to... talk to the queen.

Kinda feel like we're getting jerked around here.

The queen informs you that thy task, should thy choose to accept it, is to rescue their daughter from a rogue knight. To begin the quest, she asks you to go search in a specific tombstone in the castle's cemetery, which would suggest that perhaps we're a bit too late to save the princess. But, before doing that, let's see what the diverse cast of characters has to say now:

After maximizing your luck stat, you go check out that tombstone the queen mentioned, which is actually the entrance to an underground passage leading to the island where the princessnapper lives in a tower. Upon climbing the tower you get to confront the evil Misaka, who laughs at you and calls you a child. Yeah, a booze-drinking, armor-wearing child who's about to kick your ass.

Misaka doesn't take being defeated by a muscular little boy very well. In fact, he's so embarrassed that he makes like a baby and vanishes.

The princess, Dana, is so thankful for being rescued that she magnanimously announces she's joining you on your quest. Wait, wasn't your quest to rescue her? That's not so magnanimous then. By the way, if you get tired walking up and down the tower, for merely 1G you and Dana can curl up inside a talking pot that somehow serves as an inn. A tempting offer, but we passed on the chance to spend the night together Chavo del Ocho style.

So, what's the game gonna be about now that you retrieved the princess? Nothing, because once you go back through the underground passage, you get a message saying "end of beta," followed by RPG Maker 2's default end credits sequence. We can find no evidence of Kypdev developing any further versions of this game, or any game. He's just Kyp now, presumably.

Did you know you can only insert 30 images in a Tumblr post? We didn't until now, so... to be continued in another post, which will hopefully take less than 26 years this time.

[rattlingcudgel]

Agere Watch Recommendations! : Rattlingcudgel Edition!

Poyo, everyone! It’s me! Your local mountain-dwelling ogerpon! Here are some things I’d personally recommend watching when regressed, mainly to provide for those uninterested in the typical lists!

Again, these are things I personally enjoy :) see below!:

Shows

Riders/Defenders of Berk + Race to the Edge (series in that order) :: (Comedy, Action, Adventure)

Rise of the TMNT :: (Action, Sci-fi, Comedy)

Lego Monkie Kid :: (Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy)

Gravity Falls :: (Adventure, Mystery, Surreal, Comedy)

Lucky Star :: (Slice of life, Comedy, Anime) (Aimed towards 13+ audiences)

Any of the Pokémon animes :: (Fantasy, Adventure)

My Life as a Teenage Robot :: (Sci-Fi, Superhero, Comedy)

Making Fiends :: (Cartoon Horror)

More below

Movies

Wall-E (Romantic Sci-Fi)

Rise of the Guardians (Science, Fantasy, Action, Adventure)

Bolt (Adventure, Comedy)

Any of the pokémon movies (Adventure, Fantasy)

How to Train your Dragon 1, 2, & 3 (Action, Adventure, Fantasy)

Rio (Musical, Adventure, Romantic Comedy)

YouTube Channels

Shiny Catherine (Pokémon Content, primarily shiny hunting)

CottonVelvet (no commentary Minecraft longplays)

Kami (no commentary Minecraft longplays)

Cooking_Haru (no commentary cooking videos)

BORED (cooking videos with a subtle video game gimmick)

Therm (Gameplays, some commentary and bits not suitable for children)

Tomei (various such as cooking, playlists, and vlogs)

Pokémon Master EX Library (is what it sounds like. Posts storylines, voicelines, official animations, and cutscenes from the Pokémon Masters EX mobile game)

Seri! Pixel Biologist! (Family friendly gameplays, primarily video games focused around animals and nature)

WUZU Clay (Clay figure Timelapses)

[kairithemang0]

Sorry for the weird/possibly annoying question but

A few years ago, I tried to get into kingdom hearts and I watched this video called a good enough summary of kingdom hearts. I don't know if you've ever seen or heard of it but I was just wondering if your take is someone could understand the series from a "watched an hour long video about it that appears to be at least somewhat accurate" point or if they have to play the games to get it.

Again, sorry if this is weird or bothersome or some other thing that leaves you upset

as a fan i adore that video. i've also watched the 7 hour video of the explaining the lore to the guy who made that video. turning into a boat is one of my favorite jokes from that video it's iconic

i don't think you need to play the games persay, but there's a lot that video misses out on. there are so many little character interactions and you'll never truly get the full scope of

kingdom hearts, for me, is about the characters. which is the main reason i suggest people to play the games. the story is fine, the gameplay is enjoyable depending on the game but i could understand not liking it, but the characters are absolutely amazing

you don't need to play the games to get into it, but those little hour long lore videos definitely dont go through the full scope of it. and you do miss out on a lot of little things that are important

personally, if you're gonna watch a playthrough and don't have the money to buy the games or just don't want to, i'd recommend the playframe playthroughs. they focus mainly on the cutscenes and it's how i first got into the series

some of the games (recom) don't have the best gameplay, so just watching someone else go through it is great. the person doing it also gives little disney facts throughout and i love his commentary. also all the games are in there! which is good, you're up to date on it after watching them

although. it's long. like 269 episodes. some are over an hour

the thing about kingdom hearts is that you can basically skip all the disney worlds. in kh1 for instance the other real important lore/story you get from disney worlds are monstro and neverland. you get bits of character in the other worlds but those are the ones that really help with the plot

so if you're looking to cut down on time, 2x speed the disney worlds or skip them all together in playthrough videos.

[eldritch-elrics]

silent hill 2 remake continues to delight me. even more so, now that maria is here :D

i enjoyed blue creek apartments quite a lot. it seems like the remake has taken the opportunity to completely rethink what once were fairly simple puzzles in the original - things like the clock puzzle feel very intentionally designed. the souls-like nature of the level design shines through in this dungeon especially - finding each clock hand requires you to go out in one direction and then circle back to the save point by opening shortcuts, which i liked. i did not like dying a handful of times and losing quite a bit of progress... but i think that is mostly a problem with me no longer playing on emulator, lol.

speaking of the puzzles... i noticed that it's now pretty explicit about what objects you should be looking for:

i don't think i like this decision. the remake's new interact button already makes explicit what objects are important, and i think that one of the fun things about silent hill as a series is picking up random shit and going "now how is this going to be useful..." without knowing beforehand what you're looking for.

let's see, more blue creek notes. the expanded moth room was great! i liked the big moths! also, they added a few new shots to the angela mirror cutscene that i thought were quite cool. i don't thiiink they changed that cutscene much? angela's voice actor is good, though.

also.... toilet!!!!! plus the original "stick hand in strange hole" bit! wow, they upped the amount of weird places for james to put his hand in the remake. i love that the toilet is no longer optional.

look at him. he's having a great time.

and finally: pyramid head!! i was glad to have more space to do the fight this time hehe. honestly, even more than the fight, i loved the huge knife-gashes that appear in the floor at a certain point... even though i knew what was coming, that was such a great way to create a sense of dread. (also, the mannequins near the clock room that move closer and closer to you...)

i liked seeing this staircase in hd also. that was just a neat touch. (in general, all the glitchy memory-moments are very fun... a great sort of easter egg!)

speaking of pyramid head, i noticed that if you try and reload the autosave before his bossfight, it's listed as "red pyramid thing"! even though james doesn't say that line in this version :|

anyway... most importantly.... MARIA 💖💖💖

i haven't even seen much of her but i already have so many things to say! james seems more scared(?) than fascinated by maria in the remake; he has a definite Repressed Energy here. (the way he delivers the line "can't you just tell me where it is?" kills me, oh man, he's so breathless...) maria also seems more like a normal person...? she still has a playful and slightly weird energy, but it's way toned down & laid back compared to the "suspicious seductress" vibes of the original. i'm a lil sad about that tbh; i love how in the original she's coming onto james really hard. she's also more teasing/presumptuous in the og - i miss her line where she's like "oh so the hotel was your special place? i'm sure it was ;)" like that's so obnoxious... though i am glad maria keeps her flirtiness, even if it's a bit more subtle.

funny how maria rather than james is the one to think of the hotel as the second "special place"? maria's just kind of like "oh yeah i'll take you there, it's not far." i do like how this sets maria up as a sort of authority rather than a passive "following james around" figure, AND i really like how it foreshadows james's memory issues (to put it mildly), BUT in terms of the overall plot of the game i think it loses something significant by not immediately naming the hotel as the other potential destination. now, i'm only as far as jack's inn so it's possible that maria could say something at any time that will invalidate this entire thread of commentary, but i think something that makes the original sh2 feel so tight plot-wise is that for the entire game, you're always heading towards one of two destinations: the park, or the hotel. not having james immediately knowing that he needs to go to the hotel makes him feel less driven - makes it feel like the plot has gotten away from him a bit. unless... this is intentional? giving that power to maria is definitely interesting... it's a whole new way of making her a little suspicious! like maybe she's untrustworthy, but james has to trust her now!

also extremely fun to see the small changes surrounding maria's line where she's convincing james to let her come along. in the og, "i look like mary... you loved her, right?" seems deliberately provocative: she's giving him a reason to accept her. whereas in the remake, the one extra line ("is it because i remind you of her?") recontextualizes everything. here, maria seems more empathetic: she recognizes that her similarity to mary is a reason for james to hesitate, but she still spins it into a reason for james to care about her ("you loved her, didn't you. ...didn't you?") as another note, i like that second "didn't you?" a lot more as a sudden moment of doubt than the original line ("or maybe you hated her!"). the og one speaks more to maria's obnoxious/provocative streak that i enjoy, but i think the remake line, because it's less ridiculous/out of nowhere, works a lot better to subtly cast doubt on james's relationship with mary.

also this made me rewatch the original "meeting maria" scene and i have to note that i love the way james delivers the "oh yeah, three years ago... but i got a letter from her! :D" bit. it's like.. bro forgot she was dead..... (not like this doesn't also happen in the remake, just.. the original's voice acting is something special man)

okay ummmm i didn't mean to spend so many words close reading the minutiae of that scene. anyway. more maria things! GOD i love that she banters with james now while they're walking. just an inarguably positive addition to the game. it's always the best when two characters chat during gameplay - like 2B and 9S from nier automata! i fucking love how maria startles when james breaks windows (but also sounds kind of excited about it). also her checking out her og outfit in the one hotel room?? really good moment. also this:

finally:

silent hill 3 reference babey!!!!!!! very very subtle. i like this a lot.

my final thought of the night (unrelated to maria sorry) is that i think the game is reaaally missing a lock-on/target enemies button. maybe that would make it too easy, but idk... the original had that... and it seems like a good thing to put in if you're making combat a bigger part of the game...... not to be like "dark souls!" but even dark souls has a lock-on button......

[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!

[randomclam24]

I'll bet it hit in Metroid Fusion. We're essentially on board for the overlap of MGS1 In fact that probably is why anything sufficiently requiring a commitment in Siren the series also invokes this thing There was some dev commentary about Siren searching for meaning, but MGS2 some cutscene is what actually delivers the mindset of people who do this for its sake

'date It's really hitting hard that we really aren't past the waypoint at the Sewers in Silent Hill 1 - that's some real progress

[uppy-lun4]

just went thru the yakuza 0 director's cut new cutscenes, the only upload I could find is of the eng dub but it's pretty good imo so uh spoilers ahead

ok so, retcon n.1

toko credit guy is alive... really unnecessary like at all, he says some deep things but anyone in this series can give deep commentary about the yakuza

if here when he's talking about his protégé he's referring about hirata, from peace finance, then that's crazy bc that guy appears only in the intro fight of yakuza 1/kiwami 1 (unless there's other stuff in dead souls, ishin, kenzan or 7 onwards, idk I still gotta play those)

oh god it rly is that, what the hell, I like the callback, but was the point of this just to do a callback? I liked seeing Kiryu's rougher way of handing things and questioning but like... what was the point

retcon n.2 this hurts the most

Lee is alive... yeeeey, fuck thaaaat man come on this ruins so so so much!!! It's just awful, lee will prolly come back bc he's "watching closer than you think" and ugh come on

third new cutscene, not a retcon!

they made the post last kuze fight into a full cutscene, it feels more personal and they talk way more about Kazama, it's way longer of bc in the original Kuze just says something about Kazama and leaks where Shibusawa is and his intentions with the nonlethal shot at Makoto and that's it, Nishiki come out, give some info to help guide us to the next step of the story and that's it I didn't buy the game bc fuck rebuying a game for 4 times the price I did and the switch 2 (I could not come up with a more insulting name if I tried ong), but at the start of the cutscene we see Nishiki running away so it's safe to assume this is just after the automated animation speech... idk how to call it, just talks that you have on things like substories retcon n.4...

even billiken had to be revived but no way... we can do better

revive nishitani too!

oh ok, so he's totally coming back, gotcha

this added nothing but opportunities for fan favorites to come back with the price of ruining one of the best stories of the series

cutscene n.4

Kiryu has his classic look so it's safe to assume this is after the ending cutscene or postcredit or something close to that

I thought this would be the good one, the one good new cutscene that saves this, but no, it's just Nishiki praising Kiryu, I don't think it's out of character, but I think it's def wayyy too overblown, like in the way Gordon is suddely the saivor of mankind in half life 2 and the game just does not stop saying just how cool you are

tbf is does die down once they start talking about the end of chapter 6 cutscene, reminiscing and all. Finally I couldn't not notice that Nishiki just loops around teknaichi and nakamichi street twice, they are in a car to find a good expensive steak place and like, come on Kanrai is up there, it would have been perfect if the cutscene continued midway there bc it would draw some connection to the place since in yakuza 5 there's another couple of sworn brothers bonding -.-

I kinda like the eng dub and I hope people mod it in the pc release of yakuza 0, I would like it for be avaiable for other platforms too but I fear that if an official update comes out they might add the new retcons too, which, ugh I just hope they forget about them completely