#Asano thinks it’s insufferable | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

adelle-ein · 1 year ago

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lace's oc2path review

Disclaimer: I am deeply critical of this game and of Octopath 1, and I very much loathe COTC's overly edgy grimdark plot, so there will be a lot of negativity in this post. Don't like don't read!!!111 Also explicit spoilers for everything duh, and game typical content warnings.

Octopath and I have a…complicated relationship. It was my first Switch game. I had fond memories of it, even if it was never my favorite, I found it very hard, I really only cared about Primrose and Cyrus as characters, and I never even got all the secret jobs, let alone beat Galdera. Then the mobile game COTC came along, bringing with it a clusterfuck of horrific misogyny, racism, and frankly terrible grimdark story writing, severely souring my relationship with the franchise. I tried to replay it in 2022 and couldn’t even get to a chapter 2 — the grind was awful, the world was bland, the stories were just insufferably boring at best and misogynistic at worst. The lack of relationships or even acknowledgement between the characters made the whole thing feel stilted. Therion works alone, don’t mind the seven other people walking behind him! Now let’s explain the ways all the stories connect in a diary info dump locked behind a boss rush!

Octopath 1 has staggering design flaws and, as more and more JRPGS come to the Switch, those flaws become strikingly pronounced. Party dynamics are important to me, and without them, most of 1’s cast remained stubbornly boring. The game was hard, but not fun enough for me to want to grind OR learn advanced strats. Every chapter of every story follows the same basic plot beats and the layout of the world is boring and predictable, with even the scenery getting old eventually.

So I had mixed feelings when Octopath 2 was announced, especially when I saw they hadn't changed a single one of the main 8 classes and that the Crossed Paths would only be between four duos of characters. Still, the game went on sale for $40 in mid-April. Split the price with a sibling and here we are.

For starters: The graphics in this game are fantastic. I’m still not in love with HD-2D, mostly because of the lack of expressiveness in the tiny character pixels. Watching them flop over dead in a pile of blood in Triangle Strategy was only ever hilarious, and most emotional scenes fall flat. Strangely, Asano continues insisting on using this style for really drama-heavy, emotional games. Luckily, they’ve made some strides forward with OT2. The bigger human sprites are drastically more dynamic and expressive, move more fluidly than ever before, and have ample opportunity to demonstrate both emotion and personality. Everyone’s unique walk cycles and Bewildering Grace dances really bring character to the game. We can get a clearer look at job outfits and have animations for all kinds of things like dancing and character interactions. And HD-2D, as always, continues to shine in the backgrounds, special effects, and enemy sprites. The game is very pretty, and while I still don’t think HD-2D is the best choice for any character-driven game, the sprites don’t feel nearly as rough and awkward as they do in their predecessors. I hope Team Asano retains this style in future HD-2D installments, especially interpersonal ones.

The world is huge, sprawling, and genuinely FUN to explore this time, with various nooks and crannies to dig into. The day/night cycle and added path actions really add a lot of fun and variety to gameplay. The world not being a perfect circle moving outwards really makes things more exciting and less tedious, and the towns, cities, and dungeons had so much variety. I genuinely had fun on the journey this time, while in 1 i was just dragging myself from town to town. The bonus bosses, latent powers, hidden classes, sidequests, and various new game mechanics all felt like upgrades from the first game to me.

The music is banging, no criticisms here. I’ve gotten the impression before that Revo and Nishiki have been influenced by and learning from each other and I think this really shows it. Super fun, loved that we have more theme variants now. VA work was solid, with some very fun moments but nothing I was super amazed by. That's not a problem, though, it's really all I ask for in a game. Loved the added voice lines, the unique voice lines for certain bosses (I don't wanna fight no doggy-dog…), and how the characters interact with each other in battle as the game proceeds.

I’ll continue with my thoughts on the eight characters/stories one by one and then give some overall opinions on the “main plot” and game itself.

Ochette:

The constant food talk gets old fast. Seriously, every conversation this girl has ends up being about food or similar. I also think her voice acting may have been mixed oddly, sometimes it's quiet and sometimes at too high a volume, she ends up sounding REALLY loud and grating a lot of the time. Overall, she really doesn't feel as fleshed out as every other character, and it's a shame. That being said, she does have some very fun travel banters and brings a fun "kid of the group" energy, it's just…she's twenty goddamn years old.

Story-wise, had a lot of potential but constant food talk and the weird fantasy racism (why do they all speak broken English) were huge drags. I thought the stuff with the unchosen starter was a really good idea, but there just wasn't enough time lent to it, and overall the first and last chapters felt completely disconnected from the middle ones. Oh well.

Castti:

No mercy, only pain. She's just a great character who ended up with so much depth and felt like a twist on the kindly, maternal healer. "Do harm when necessary to save lives" is a great archetype for doctor characters and Castti plays the role fantastically. She has been through so much and still chooses to be gentle when she can, but if she has to she'll bring the axe down. She has a talent for making do. She has so many fantastic scenes and lines and flips the "mom friend" character around on its head. I really love her, she's great, she's up there with Primrose for me forever.

Her story was also my favorite, and her boss the toughest to beat by a comfortable margin (what worked in the end was no strategy just hikari, throne, and their knives). Sure, some beats are always predictable in Octopathland, but chapter 3 was beautifully done, and the use of game mechanics and the interface to play with the effects of Castti's amnesia were really enjoyable. Nothing groundbreaking, but a strong and solid story that felt emotional and meaningful as well as unique and independent from the stuff all three games have done and rehashed. Castti herself is of course a huge part of that, but this is one of the rare Octopath stories that didn't feel like it was being fully carried by the strength of the MC.

Throne:

Throne herself, I adore. She's fun, she's determined, she's witty, she's like Primrose in some ways but firmly different in others. She doesn't want to kill, but it's all she knows. She has some fantastic travel banters. I laughed out loud at her first "Bravo, Temenos." And the little "tada…" when she uses Disguise. She's great, she has endless potential, and boy does she have fun path actions.

Warning for discussion of incest, abuse, and rape in the following paragraph :(

Unfortunately, her story is the classic edgy Octopath misogyny fest. What was with that random sex slave and what the hell happened to her??? We don't care, she only exists to show that Bad Guys Evil and that Throne Can't Be A Hero Because She Is Tainted. Everyone wants to rape Throne and that is made way too clear. Some of those people are her fucking brothers, because why the fuck not. And the ending with the "but was it worth it?" tone was phenomenally stupid. Octopath asking the quintessential question: is it okay to escape slavery even if you have to kill your slavers? What if your slavers love you (even though they keep you in a collar and whip you and offer you up as a rape victim and force you to kill people?) What if your slavers are your parents or siblings? Also not loving any of the Marietta story, anything that involves "she killed our baby" is going to set my hair on end in this day and age and I just did not like the way any of that was portrayed and handled. Even if Claude didn't rape Marietta, it's clear he raped several of the other mothers including a few of the ones we meet, and they're all forcibly separated from their babies and left to die — it's just too much. It's too disgusting. The huge conspiracy itself fell flat due to the general creep factor and tried way too hard to be edgy. Throne cannot be happy within her story for even a second and it's way overdone. I'm sick, absolutely sick, of this type of story and COTC trying to play with "but she loves her abuser" stuff and doing a frankly disgusting and often fetishizing job. Overall, it felt like a COTC plotline, and that is very much a bad thing for me! I'm glad that the postgame sidequest cleared up the Mira plotline and actually had some "breaking the cycle" themes, but the fact that we've just apparently left the residents of Lostseed to suffer and die instead of even attempting to bring them to the Garden or somewhere they can get help is pretty gross.

But again, I adore Throne herself. Get her out of this game. Put her in Animal Crossing or something.

Osvald:

And now we flip around! Talk about pleasant surprises! I was not expecting to like him or his story at all, it felt so Octopath edgy and woman-in-fridges-y. And to an extent, it is, but the game is actually self-aware of this and gently pokes fun at it to a degree that makes it more bearable. Osvald is an Edgy Man and the other travelers can and will be confused by it. That's really fun. Being able to save Elena flips everything about the story on its head in a good way, and The Answer being The Power Of Love is both so funny and so sweet and fitting. Just a genuinely heartfelt and optimistic story in the end despite where it begins, I really liked it despite another dead wife on the pile. The antithesis to Throne's story.

My main complaint is that the story pacing ends up really off due to two out of five chapters being at the very start and about the prison escape. I really think he could have benefited from another chapter between his 3 and 4. I wish the ending was more emotionally satisfying, but it does feel in character and leave on a hopeful note. Would have enjoyed, if not a reunion scene between him and Elena, something more significant about them and their relationship than the tiny nod we got at the end. All that being said, liked both him and his story a lot!

Partitio:

He really is very funny. Those voice lines are a hoot, every Scent of Commerce is just ridiculous, and his determination to stop That Devil Called Poverty by having a polite meeting with the CEO of capitalism and giving him some $$$ is just absurd. As a character, I can’t say I find him as interesting as Castti, Throne, or Osvald, but he’s entertaining if nothing else, and his first chapter pacing is creative. He was my MC and spent tons of time running Arcanist Sidestepper or Latent Power Catapult Inventor, so of course I got pretty attached. Yeehaw let's do it catapult go-go-go

But let’s be real here. Any story about a merchant “helping the poor” by doing more capitalism is going to be kind of a mess. It wasn’t a harmful mess, but it felt like the story was deliberately skirting around making any meaningful commentary. None of this is surprising, but I spent a lot of chapter 4 rolling my eyes. Roque illegally modifying a contract after signature on multiple occasions is just completely brushed aside, and Partitio happily SIGNS a contract with him KNOWING Roque has a habit of violating and editing them. It’s all just very…dumb. Seize the means of production Partitio! Don’t just give The Man eighty billion leaves! Also, Roque apparently KEEPS all that money in the postgame even though he’s allegedly reformed, soooooo (I know he's using it on the railroads but like….Yeah)

But yeah, while it was a silly story, it wasn’t much else. He's a fun guy though. I wonder if octopath 3 will bring us our first edgy merchant MC.

Agnea:

She’s sweet and fun. I don’t really feel like I have a lot to say about her, which isn’t a negative? I enjoy her theme, I love all her dance animations, I think her constantly-slipping accent is pretty funny (I’m genuinely not sure if the premise is that Agnea hides her accent and occasionally slips into it by mistake, or if the VA keeps forgetting that Agnea is supposed to sound Southern and only remembers when Agnea says “oh my stars” or something lol. It’s funny though.) But like I said, I enjoy her, she’s not as grating as some of the other “goodhearted, happy go lucky” characters from 1.

Similarly, while I don’t have much to say about her story, that’s not to say I disliked it. I thought it was sweet. Dolcinea and her gf are some of my favorite NPCs in the game, the final battle kicked my ass in a fun way, and most of all I love how ¾ of Agnea’s bosses are just her going “I want to speak to the manager!!” and it actually working. I liked it a LOT better than tressa’s, which it’s constantly compared to, since it felt like an actual coherent story. She’s a star!

Temenos:

Fandom made me dislike Temenos before I set foot in the Crestlands. In those early days especially, every woman in this game was ignored in favor of an AVALANCHE of fanart of him and crick. People say weird shit about Temenos being a twink, some of which is frankly homophobic and/or creepy. I pretty strongly disliked his predecessor Fandom Favorite Man, Therion. Man had a lot riding against him. All that being said, once I got to know him I liked Temenos just fine! He's a priest who can't remember the Lord's Prayer and calls the scripture boring at every given opportunity. Also enjoys beating the shit out of people for information and can barely be contained by those around him. It's a fun character type.

His story, though, is honestly just blah. I guessed the big murderer about as soon as they appeared on screen, and by the time I finished the story I was pretty confident I knew who was manipulating them too…and I was right. As funny as it is that Temenos can use his "special powers" to just, like, see something lying on the floor, the investigation/mystery is really lacking and dull, which is disappointing. Particularly since his story is the "main" one that reveals the ultimate final boss, and the only one that gets a full follow-up cutscene in the extra chapters — it ended up just being a big pile of text dumping, which is not a fun way to do a mystery/whodunit!

Also Crick is boring.

Hikari:

Hikari is Just Fine. He's sometimes fun, largely unremarkable, just another member of the crowd. The same is pretty much true of his story as well — it's just Fine. Has a pretty hilarious mom-fridging as horses whinny loudly in the background, which I think was iconic. Dunban levels of "bad at making friends" (and while it's not "Therion works alone" levels of stupid by any means, does feel a little awkward that he keeps talking about needing his Allies and True Friends while seven people he camps with are standing right there…) I really just don't have a lot to say about him or his story, which isn't a bad thing! It was fine, he's fine. My only real complaint is that I don't love that his overcoming his Evil Blood was tied to him also having Good Blood on his mother's side — that detail seems irrelevant to everything, and I would have preferred his overcoming the Shadow and taking back his Hidden Power just be framed as him having willpower and a good, kind heart. But I am nitpicking here, since I think that was the intention — just wish blood hadn't been brought into it, y'know? Anyway yeah Hikari's fine.

Together Now:

The Crossed Paths are SO short (other than waiting for that insanely long lute performance to be over) and that's a shame. I wish there were more of them, between more characters, that they were longer…I hope any future Octopath games play with these concepts. Overall, I mean, it's a huge meaty game and it's not that I wanted to be playing it longer, I was satisfied by the length. I just really would have appreciated more character interaction. I'm glad that you can view the travel banters freely and easily from the menus now, and that there are more of them. But I do wish that the characters emoted during them instead of just standing there staring blankly at each other. Huge improvement over one, just not quite there yet!

I will say the Extra Chapters/final boss were also huge improvement over 1's, with actual cutscenes, some character interaction, more consistent foreshadowing, and finally, a boss with no boss rush leadup whose level of challenge is more "difficult but doable" than "haha fuck you." My hopes for this game had been that they would lower the final boss difficulty and make a bigger, harder bonus boss for hardcore players to enjoy, and I'm really happy that they did so! I beat Vide :)

That being said, most of the Extra Chapter reveals were entirely contained in heaps of diary entries again. You guys expect me to remember who Tanzy was or care?? Other than the Arcanette cutscene/battle, things never got that emotional or exciting. A few travel banters tried to fill in the blanks, but there just wasn't enough emotion or stakes put into the scenes. That being said, I enjoyed the Vide battle and it was the perfect difficulty level for me, and I enjoyed the ending and epilogue a lot! It just didn't quite do everything I want from a JRPG ending (which…has been my tune with almost every newly released JRPG I've played in the last couple years :( we need better endings in these things.)

Will also say that the Osterra nods don't really make sense, but I'm personally subscribing to Osterra and Solistia straight up being parallel worlds (I suspect COTC will be confirming this one way or another in the JP version shortly, but like, eh).

Overall, it was a good game, I liked it, it's hands down my favorite Octopath and probably my second favorite Asano game after BD2. Despite my complaints, wishes things had diverged further from the original game, and generally feeling like this series is a bit overrated in JRPG circles, Oct2path is solid, fun, and a big upgrade from its predecessors. Stan Castti

#lace reviews #txt #octopath traveler spoilers #octopath traveler 2 spoilers #octopath 2 spoilers #octopath traveler ii spoilers

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irraydiance · 7 years ago

Note

1. No specific fandom, do whatever you feel like 2. I just really like salt, you don't have to do all of them if you don't want to

It’s cool anon, I’m just pulling your leg. All in good fun!

I’ll stick to Assassination Classroom because it’d probably be too much salt if it was a fandom free-for-all.

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

I see why people ship Karma with Asano – it’s the same reason people ship rival pairs, which is something I don’t get – but to me, they’re always going to be the rivals who find one another insufferable and don’t get along. It’s a personality clash as I think they’re fundamentally different people.

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?*

Karma/Nagisa and even then, their friendship is just kind of…”meh” to me now. In the past, I would’ve called it a BroTP of mine but I’m just indifferent now. Yeah, they’re close and there was that schism/survival game arc and all – I recognize that, but I’m just tired of seeing it everywhere even when it’s actually presented as strictly friendship.

I’d rather read about the Nagisa/Sugino BroTP to be honest. Or better yet, the Karma/Sugino BroTP. Hell, give me some Sugino/Kayano friendship.

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

No, but that might also be because I generally only follow fandom-specific blogs. I also only follow one AC blog, so…

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Yes, I have a NoTP – it’s Karma/Nagisa, and yes, it’s the goddamn most popular pairing in the fandom no matter which side of the world you’re on. Just my fucking luck, right?

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

A pairing that I actually liked? No. A pairing I was indifferent to at first? Yes.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

Hahaha. No.

If I hated it to begin with, then I probably had a solid reason as to why, and my opinion wouldn’t change so easily.

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

Not a one.

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?*

Never. That might change after this. But I did get an annoyed anon one time when I said Karma and Nakamura aren’t actually close. They were actually pretty civil though so no offense taken. I never heard back from anon but I hope they read my response!

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Takaoka, probably… Yanagisawa was a scumbag but as a villain, Takaoka was more annoying as far as motives go. Like a goddamn cockroach, he just won’t go away (see: Karasuma’s 2-page manga in Grad Album Time). He also felt like a cartoon villain…but I can’t complain too much as the target demographic for AssClass definitely skewed younger.

There aren’t really any characters in the series whose guts I absolutely hated though.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Oh hell. The space arc right after the schism/survival game arc. Yeah, it’s AssClass we’re talking about, but I can only suspend my disbelief so much. Also, the lull in-between that arc and the final arc where nothing really happened was kind of a chore to read. It was the calm before the storm, but not much happened.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

The fandom doesn’t hate him as far as I know, but Sugino doesn’t get nearly as much love as anyone that isn’t a member of Utatan, Nakamura, or Asano. Is it because he’s just a regular nice guy and people think that’s boring? Because he’s super ordinary and apparently heterosexual? I guess that’s Tumblr’s least favourite combination.

I’m kidding. Don’t kill me.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I don’t know if it’s unpopular but I enjoyed the baseball arc with Sugino. He’s just very likable to me. The themes of friendship and teamwork were recycled constantly, like in the sports festival (Isogai’s) arc and the culmination of Karma’s character development in the second semester finals, but it really began with Sugino’s baseball arc, and to me, that one really exemplified the themes best out of them all. They felt like a real rag-tag group of guys working toward a goal together.

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

Karma is not a flirt and he’s not a slave to his hormones.

Stop writing him this way.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Outside of the Ace Attorney fandom, I’ve never been in a fandom that hates on het pairings so much. I’ve seen all the common ones insulted and just trashed in general for the most inane reasons, and the Nagisa/Kayano ship has it the absolute worst, but I digress. The only het pairing people don’t seem to shit on is Chiba/Hayami – probably because they mostly only ever interact with one another. Go figure.

Also, this is a thing in every fandom, but seriously, you’ll have two characters interact, and even if it’s a completely regular conversation, people suddenly just start shipping it. It’s like people will ship any character with another character as long as they have even some kind of small connection. “These characters hate each other? Yeah, let’s ship ‘em.” “This character complimented this other character in an offhanded way but they have no other interactions? Yeah, I ship it.”

I’m not saying “stop having fun, guys,” but it’s a mentality I don’t follow.

15. Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

Some of the villains felt a little too cartoon-y/flat for my tastes, like Takaoka, but as I said earlier, I think AssClass skewed younger despite such a focus on assassination and the entire nature of “killing” – most of the time, not literally, of course. They had basically zero redeeming qualities as opposed to antagonists like the Asanos, who were ultimately sympathetic, or even Korosensei’s apprentice.

16. If you could change anything in the manga/show, what would you change?

I’m terrible with these questions. My biggest complaint is that in a series with loads and loads of characters, most of them didn’t even get fleshed out so I really would’ve preferred there to be more alternate points of view – make it really feel like an ensemble cast because outside of maybe 2-3 characters, the rest of them only ever got one-and-done chapters. There are so many characters that I wish got more time in the spotlight, but alas.No offense to Nagisa and his fans – I like Nagisa, but especially in the second half of the story, it just felt like the scope narrowed way too much on him and/or Karma when Class E is actually supposed to be treated as a single entity where everyone feels equally important. Kind of like in the problem Karma solved for the final exam.

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

I wouldn’t have had Kayano die only to be brought back to life right after. I get that it was a parallel with Korosensei not being able to save Aguri, and now being able to save her sister Kayano. Still, the whole she’s dead lol psyche! angle went beyond cheating death; Kayano straight up died and got revived.

At the same time, in the entire series where they had a death fakeout like what we got with Lovro, if Kayano ended up being the only one killed off for real, I would’ve been upset.

So I would’ve not had that happen at all. I would’ve settled for Kayano getting hurt, or being about to get hurt when she tried to help only to have Korosensei cover for her, but not have her literally dying.

18. Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

Whether you ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ a pairing is down to preference.

There are plenty of pairings in other series that have strong evidence behind them and even then, there will be a handful of people from the more popular ship that twist facts to suit their narratives because they don’t like opposing pairings. They’ll even bend fiction into fact to deny actual facts. That’s being biased, but I can’t even say these people are “in denial” because a lot of those people honestly do believe they’re 100% right. Even if you throw a fact in their face, they have some kind of warped excuse ready.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Obnoxious, toxic shippers.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

You’d think that on a salty ask list, the question would be what the most vile ship is, not the purest one.

Come on, guys. Karma/Okuda is obviously the purest. Sarcasm aside, I really do think Karma/Okuda is the purest. It’s very sweet and genuine. The very guarded Karma can completely drop his walls and open his heart to Okuda and in turn, she watches out for Karma and really wants what’s best for him.

Putting aside the deadly pranks they can unleash on others, Karma and Okuda’s relationship is definitely pure.

21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?

I don’t mind crack ships at all but I would prefer that there’s something logical that connects the characters involved, even if it’s a crack ship.

22. Popular character you hate?

I don’t hate any of the popular characters, but I find that I’m much more mild about Nakamura than a lot of people in this fandom. I like her, but clearly not as much as everyone else.

23. Unpopular character you love?

Sugino is one of my favourites. No love from the fandom, sadly.

He’s referred to as Nagisa’s “best friend” by official material but it seems the fandom completely buries this. He’s always written off as a goddamn third wheel to Karma and Nagisa no matter if it’s shippy or just platonic and that’s such a pet peeve of mine. Official material indicates that Nagisa/Sugino/Karma get along well as a trio, but noooo, fandom seems to have this perception that Karma and Sugino only see one other as a friend-of-a-friend (Nagisa).

I feel that they might not have been friends if not for Nagisa, but after they got to know each other, Karma and Sugino would still be good friends even if Nagisa’s not around.

24. Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?

I’ll say yes. For a weekly Jump series, AssClass is a lot more off the wall compared to the usual stuff, but it has your standard life lessons/morals for not just kids, but anyone. Plus it’s short and sweet at ~180 chapters.

25. How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

I wouldn’t change the ending. Korosensei had to die or else it would cheapen the meaning of the story.

26. Most shippable character?

The fandom would say it’s Karma, but I will say it’s someone with a welcoming and adaptable personality like Sugino. Isogai works too.

27. Least shippable character?

Outside of actual villains, probably Asano. This isn’t meant as an insult, but it’s hard to find a match for him because of his personality.

I didn’t have great answers, but I tried, lol.

#inbox #ask meme fill #anonymous

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