#Devs a theory behind you

[animelovegirl16]

Dibble Dabble, it's time for a drabble!

@proj-edens-garden

SPOILERS FOR P:EG!!!

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Ulysses being mastermind is something I want to see. Please let our sleepy history baby survive for the entire game. And not just because "History repeats itself." Is the first thing you see in the game. Just from Chapter 1 alone, it looks like it could be a recurring trend. Wolfgang tried to lead the whole "We will stop the Killing Game completely!" and look what happened to him. As soon as the chapter was over (albeit it may have been a bit corny to some), Diana immediately pulls the same narrative (pun very much intended, given the circumstances), but from the looks of that, history is already repeating itself. It would explain why Diana being so optimistic is what pisses Damon off in the end, like "did you not learn your lesson yet?" If that keeps up in future chapters, seeing Ulysses, the only one of the group who's a complete history nerd, being slowly be affected by this would be a good way to set him up to be a mastermind who's on an insane extremist quest to "stop history from repeating itself."

[elequinoa-world]

tbh lack of choices in datv is a bit disapointing but it was to be expected. i'm just happy that 1. our inquisitor shows up and is customizable and 2. their love interest is one of those choices cause boy if they forced me to have a solavellan default state world i'd go fucking feral

my inky is happy living a domestic life with dadwall okay you solavellans can keep the angsty stuff okay okay (im so worried something's going to happen to them let her be happy ffs) i don't care about solas one bit, i've made my peace with him being such a central character in datv, but i really don't want to have to fake such a special relationship with him because i really have no attachment to him at all

i'm also hoping onto the tinyest bit of hope that hawke still shows up as a surprise motherfuckers we lied AGAIN and the cc screen pops up when we're about to meet them but it's really copium yeah

[deerspherestudios]

Hello hello! I'm Cheea, also known as DeersphereStudios; if you're here for content related to my games on itch.io, you're in the right place! You can expect lore snippets and doodles, behind-the-scenes and other stuff that players might be interested in!

My current ongoing project is Mushroom Oasis, initially submitted for a Yandere Game Jam in 2023. While that's the main focus of this blog, I also occasionally talk about my other one-shot games: Astronought and Lift Your Spirits!

Enjoy your stay! ☕🐰

🔗 LINKS 🔗:

🎮 itch.io ▏ 🎨 Patreon ▏ 🦋 Fan-MO Discord

📖 FAQs 📖: [PLEASE READ BEFORE SENDING AN ASK!]

🔍 MUSHROOM OASIS QnA MASTERLIST 🔎:

❥ [PART 1] Mychael's abilities, romantic/yandere traits and his opinion on kids. ❥ [PART 2] Mychael’s anatomy. ❥ [PART 3] Mychael’s reactions to different MCs. ❥ [PART 4] Mychael's general lore and an AU featuring MindReader!Mychael.

// EXTRAS BELOW:

// TAGS:

✿ mushroom oasis vn/lift your spirits vn/astronought vn = official game tag.

✿ mychael ask/alma ask/atom ask = questions about each character!

✿ fanart, fanfic = (submitted or reblogged) fanworks.

✿ doodles = silly scenarios in sketch form.

✿ light spoilers = posts that imply future updates.

✿ bts = behind the scenes for any current or past projects.

✿ cheea chatter = dev posts, bit random.

✿ jar of fireflies = lovely messages from players that make my day!

✿ happy birthday mychael/alma/atom = special fanart for their special day(s)!

✿ mushroom musings = theories for the Mushroom Oasis game!

✿ poll time = silly and sometimes plot-relevant polls!

✿ patreon post-its = posts shared from my patreon!

// MY GAMES:

beware of toxic fungi. a slow burn yandere vn : itch.io

🍄 Questions about Mychael (ask tag) 🍄 Mychael's character sheet 🍄 Firefly's character sheet 🍄 of mushrooms and men ║ a mychael playlist (Spotify)

trapped in space with a stranger too keen on getting to know you. a short sci-fi horror/romance(??) vn : itch.io

👽 Questions about Atom (ask tag) 👽 Astronought QnA masterlist 👽 Atom's character sheet (coming soon) 👽 Luna's character sheet (coming soon)

are the campus rumors true? short horror/light romance vn : itch.io

👻 Questions about Alma/Vida (ask tag) 👻 Lift Your Spirits QnA masterlist 👻 Alma/Vida's character sheet (coming soon) 👻 MC's character sheet (coming soon)

✩ Thank you to @/thecutestgrotto and @/plum98 for their lovely dividers!

✩ For my own personal use: the old pinned post.

[parisoonic]

How the hell do you manage to superimpose the hilariously exagerated proportions of the tf2 mercs into a cohesive 2d style? I always struggle SO much with like, the way the mercs' models have huge hands, the way they have relatively low-poly definition on things like arms, shoulders, and legs... and Especially the way like, the models are kinda janky when you pose them for art purposes- when using movement tools, things like armpits and seams between body parts get all deformed... Which makes the study of form and silhouette rather difficult.

I assume that a lot of your ability to translate the concept of the mercs from their original mediums into your own works of art comes to you quite naturally- through experience you have with drawing and art style stuff, as well as through intuition. I was simply wondering if I could poke at your mind and get some insight into your process, any thoughts you have about the proportions and silhouettes of the mercs, any quirks you've found while drawing the mercs, or simply what you enjoy drawing about them. Like, don't be afraid to infodump about something just because you think people wouldn't find it interesting- I am here, I am sitting, and I am listening- if you so choose to speak.

I am utterly fascinated and enraptured by the more behind-the-scenes aspect of art. The mundane things that come second nature to great artists yet seem so revolutionary to less experienced artists.

I love your work, I look forward to seeing more of it, and I hope you have a nice day :]

Sorry for the late reply! I've been a little…stuck on how to answer this but that's mainly because to me, drawing is composed of SO many different little skills - you have form, anatomy, shape language, silhouette, appeal, rhythm, acting and posing…not to mention everything AFTER your raw draughtmanship like line style, rendering and colour theory. Trying to distill a multiude of small skills into some pithy advice is overwhelming to my brain. So I'll take the invitation to ramble instead :))

I don't think I have any new or revolutionary insight into the tf2 guys specifically - more I'm using them as work horses to excercise general silhouette/posing/shape-language and further my skills when it comes to drawing characters!

I do agree though the proportions are rather silly when you stop and think about them realistically…they can be kinda tricky if you follow their 'actual' proportions. what looks great individually was maybe never meant to be directly compared (ie: Heavy's hand size against Spy's lol). It would've been funny if the TV show exsisted and we had more content to review…would the animators have had rules like Spy and Heavy can never shake hands? Would they cheated the proportions for shots? Or would they have said WHATVER it's gonna look weird and embraced it? (Like Kingpin in Spiderverse lol)

Paul Lasaine for 'Into the Spiderverse' This is AWESOME. But it's also one of the silliest designs I've ever seen comitted to screen. The varied scales of the characters work because of the unifying treatment (lighting, rendering, consistant hand anatomy, consistant clothing fold treatment etc) and because they are sort of proportional within themselves. A common mantra is that hands should be about as large as a characters face....which they all are here!

Human brains are very flexible and forgiving though. It's totally fine for you to put a character with huge hands and head next to a teeny tiny character! Vanellope and Ralph from Wreck-It Ralph look grand next to each other! And in that film you even have varying levels of stylisation sitting against each other (unified by the look dev treatment of the shaders and lighting). I think as long as the chracter is proportional within themselves it sort of works out. IE: a general rule is that a hand should be as large as the face so…you can have some large arse hands as long as their placed on a body with a big arse head. Unifying characters with the same treatment (ie: lineart brush, colouring style will also help them look cohesive next to each other :) )

I don't actually reference the 3D models/animations very much at all and instead draw their proportions based on my tastes for stylisation following their general vibes/silhouette profiles. I don't stick THAT close to their in-game looks and there are artists who do that are so so so much better than me (Creedei and Flapjack come to mind). I'm not amazing at body-type differentation and TBH they're all wearing chunky clothes all the time so I usually draw the guys as one-of-three body shapes: Heavy is the uniquely wide guy; Sniper/Scout/Spy are all tall and slim and Demo/Soldier/Medic/Engie have a little more of the generic 'hero' bodytype with varying tallness and broadness of the shoulders

Something like this! You can vary all these individual elements in terms of size, thickness, taper amount etc to create different characters. If you ARE going to reference the 3d works though you'll need to apply some anatomy knowledge to overcome the weird shoulders, armpits and knees which desperately need blendshapes to correct the 3D volumes and approach it a little more like an animation supervisor. There's a reason why you see in making-ofs and art-ofs character designers, character leads or animation supes doing drawovers of the models. These are character models that have had great effort put into their 'base' silhouette but it still needs to be reinforced in every frame for maximum appeal.

Shiyoon Kim for 'Raya' This sort of thing will occur at multiple stages during the animation process. Shiyoon Kim's notes are post final model but pre-animation. Most likely for internal rig tests, exploring what blend shapes and alt shapes are needed for the rigs etc. If your production has time, this will continue all the way to final anim. IF! But it's interesting to see how he emphasises the shapes and enhances the character acting of the 3d model.

As for 'mundane things' - I wouldn't say they're second nature! (If that makes you feel better!) I have to actively really persue certain advice and try to figure out how to best apply it. This can sometimes involve redrawing and redrawing an element of the drawing until I've grasped the nettle of whatever I'm after or…..until I get frustrated and either delete the drawing or just call it done lol

Here, I'm looking for a really specific flow of the head that sells both the acting and a subtle head tilt. I'm also trying to apply the general mantra regarding faces that converging lines (set by the eyebrows and mouth) are more appealing than parallel. It's tough! I also tend to use a drawing I've already done as a template/reference on the page too. Oh! This page is an amazing example of why I'm not an animator or storyboarder…consistancy? Who is she? 💅

Converging lines (that form tapered shapes) are always more appealing than parallel. Using this logic you can loft the facial features across converging lines to create dynamic appealing espressions. Combining this with anatomy, perspective and rotation is the tough part though. I'm still learning o7

The things I probably think about MOST are always flats vs curves, simple vs complex and general line of action/flow...and then eliminting tangents. Each of these can be a dedicated visual-essay on their own - hence my stumbling as to answer your question. Anyhow, not sure if it's ever come up on this blog but I looove dinosaurs :)) so i'm using a wee piece to demostrate these ideas! (but also to demostrate these concepts apply to everything from humans characters to animals, props and background design)

Okay, I'm getting self-aware that this is getting really long :') I have a wee tutorial tag for my blog if anyone wants to comb through my garbled art-thoughts. Learning, studying, repetition and practice will always be the greatest teachers! I'm glad you like my art- thank you so much for the lovely comments - I feel like such a noob still and not qualified to give people advice but we're in it together learning! High-five! 🙌

[hieronymus-nosk]

💥Spoilers ahead💥

Honestly the one thing I adore about Hakita and ULTRAKILL itself, is that most interpretations a person could have of the game is completely valid. He himself said so and there are many canonical backings to most headcanons/theories.

I will use Gabriel being revealed to be canonically genderless and the common trans fanon as an example.

In the game, the council is shown to have referred to Gabriel as an "it" and according to the dev stream, pronouns in Angel culture are tied to their rank, how important they are. My interpretation is that not only is this an official way to demote him, but to strip him of pronouns that he earned. That he likely had to fight for.

More Info revealed about the council is that they weren't actually malevolent, they were only doing what they thought was right (not defending them lol) and that Gabriel only killed them because there was not enough time to change the way they think. My new idea is that if you believe the fanon that he's trans, the council was the type of "I am literally afraid of this and don't understand it" transphobic. So calling him an "it" had two meanings. Both rooted in power/ the loss of it. They could have changed, but there was literally no time for change to happen.

Gabriel knew that Heaven and hell were in absolute shambles, and there was nothing left for him to do.

His secondary arc, canonically speaking, was and is an allegory for coming to terms with being queer.

Having Gianni and parts of the dev Team lean into it is pretty fucking rad, too lmao

The game is about a sentient hell wreaking havoc and there are in game explanations as to why the graphics are low poly. Crazy shit happens in this game and Hakita loves our creativity.

I've dedicated thousands of words to this game in the form of writing and it's extremely validating that the people behind it are so supportive of us as a community.

[blueskittlesart]

Okay, I'm curious cause I've only played Wind Waker, and BotW/TotK: Why is Link sometimes left-handed, sometimes right-handed? I assume it's because of possible motion controls, and not a Lore Reason.

He was definitively left-handed up until they started putting out games on the wii, barring a few anomalies like flipped sprites (there's like one sprite in NES loz where he's got the sword in his right hand) and oot 3d master quest (the entire game is mirrored.) I've heard a few reasons for this, including miyamoto being left-handed and a left-handed sword swing looking better from most angles for the original 2d sprites, but to my knowledge we don't have an official reason as to why this was the general rule. up until botw the answer for the right-hand switch was definitively motion controls--both skyward sword and the wii version of tp would flip depending on the hand the player uses. (I know that in the gamecube version of tp he was always left-handed but I don't have sksw HD so I'm not sure which hand he uses by default with button controls. he's drawn right-handed in pretty much all promo art for that game tho.) However, botw didn't have motion control options but still went with a right-handed link. there are a few potential explanations for that--I wouldn't be surprised if they were toying with the idea of a motion-controlled sword swing early on since the switch does have that capability but ended up scrapping it in the dev process, but it's also entirely possible that since they'd been working with a (predominantly) right-handed link for their 2 most recent home console releases they just. didnt bother switching back. lmfao.

from a lore standpoint though my personal headcanon/theory/whatever you want to call it is that botw link is right handed because that's what's expected of him. Botw link is a character who is very very very conscious of peoples' perceptions of him and the expectations on his shoulders; it's arguably one of his most defining traits pre-memory-loss. When you picture a soldier, you picture the sword in their right hand. I don't think that it's a deliberate CHOICE in-universe to use his right hand, but i do think that being left-handed has the potential to give someone pause when talking about him, which is something that botw link can't have. Nothing can be even slightly out of the ordinary with him, because if it is it's something for the gossip-hungry public to latch onto. (I don't necessarily think that a left-handed link would have been more or less scrutinized in this context than a right-handed one, but being left-handed would have definitely been something of note, especially in the context of a swordsman, and link's whole thing in this game is that he really doesn't want people scrutinizing him any more than they already are.) In this sense, his being right-handed sort of affirms this picture-perfect image he's attempting to project, which is important in the context of the rest of the game. Again, there's no proof that this is actually the reasoning behind the decision, but I personally think the decision to make him right-handed for botw was a good one. I also like that eow went back to left-handed link tho! It's cool that we're getting variety and I think it'd be interesting if they started playing with that difference more in the future beyond just the necessity of hand-switching for motion controls.

[journeytothewestresearch]

I'm a Theravada Buddhist. I saw many people interpreting the story and meaning behind Black Myth Wukong, differently. But I hope the devs team didn't intend to insult Buddha Dhamma by recreating this new story and distort the meaning of Buddhahood or Enlightenment itself..

I don't know if they intended to insult Buddhism, but I can say that their presentation of Buddhism in the game is disrespectful.

@ryin-silverfish recently posted a wonderful essay on what's known as the "JTTW Conspiracy Theory," which is a method of interpreting the story by twisting details, making the heavenly hierarchy look evil. The game follows this method. I recommend that you read the essay:

I unknowingly ran into the JTTW Conspiracy Theory a couple of years ago. A Chinese article claimed that the Buddha lies in the novel. This is my rebuttal.

[gobvo]

A Little Brain-rotting Theory on The King of Puppet's design...

A couple of nights ago I had a realization, something about the KOP's second phase body always looked off to me and I couldn't identify what. It's not his entire body but his pelvic area in particular. For a while i didn't give it too much thought, kept on drawing him mostly as human anyways so I wasn't observing his model as well as i should have.

Then one evening as I was scouring the web for refs for a piece unrelated to Lop it finally clicked. Now bear with me! This is going to get weird but trust me it'll perhaps make sense to you too. To be clear I am not saying that my mad theory is canon subtext nor is intentional or has any legitimacy. This could very much be a case of the devs taking aesthetic inspiration and nothing more. What I'm trying to get at is that there's probably no meaning/symbolism behind it at all.

Okay so, why does the KOP's crotch area interests me so much? That part of his body always remind me of something I'd seen but couldn't remember what. Now I do...

Romeo’s whole pelvis area bears quite the resemblance with Chastity belts.

I know, I know, I know! Absolute brain rot but hear me out! I already brought this up on Discord and had a wonderful back and forth with two lovely people who get the logic behind this theory. They both brought up some very interesting ideas and facts that had slipped my mind and made this headcannon even juicier. So let’s just entertain the idea that this design choice is intentional for a few seconds. Just a few seconds….

For starters we need to focus on who designed this, that bitter bastard Geppetto. We all know Geppetto planned most if not the entire chaos that happened in Krat. The confrontation between P and Romeo as well, note that out of all the bosses outside of the Nameless Puppet and arguably Murphy(but he’s there before we go into the boss battle so..). Geppepe only shows up personally to greet P after baby boi kills Romeo. It’s the only time he does so. Almost like he was both scared that something would go wrong and also in trepidation of what was to come. There’s a palpable glee in his voice post KoP fight.

In the dialogue Geppetto even acknowledges he shouldn’t be there, it’s risky.

First of all, what was his lard ass going to do to help P win this fight?! Bind P with his shiny puppet strings and force him to finish what he'd started? A question for another day...

The point being that this fight could potentially make or break all the hard work Gep put into his scheme. So he HAD to be there, to keep an eye on everything. On his “precious” son lest he step out of line and join the KOP or worse…

I'm also bringing this dialogue up because Gep said a line one of the people i was discussing with reminded me of and that i always found absolutely bizarre.

WTF is that supposed to mean?!! What do you mean Geppetto?! Why are we talking about Romeo's inability to reproduce?!!

The answer is simple. It's cause Geppepe is taking pleasure in all of this. In my mind this implies Gep probably hated Romeo. For a couple of reasons that are in the realm of hc but make sense if you think about it.

Romeo was up until Carlo's death, the closest male figure he constantly had around him. Living together in a boarding school would only help to strengthen their bond. Carlo would certainly seek him out first for comfort or advice before ever considering going talk to his old man.

Gep is a controlling father and possibly very possessive. With his neglect only widening the distance between him and Carlo. I could totally imagine a preteen/teenage Carlo ditching his dad to go hang out, write letters or talk on the phone for hours with his friend instead of spending "quality" time staring at the whites of Geppepe's eyes (or his back) during holidays. This defiant nonchalance could only anger Geppepe further.

Geppetto doesn't strike me as the type of person who's capable of introspection. He'd notice "terrifying" changes in his son's attitude and instead of questioning his life choices, he'd probably blame that street kid Carlo can't keep out of his mouth nor out of earshot.

We all know the reputation boarding schools had back in the 1800s, specially same sex boarding schools. So I'm going to point you to this banger of a post https://www.tumblr.com/ideas-on-paper/754559262628462592/on-carlo-and-romeos-relationship-homosexuality?source=share by @ideas-on-paper. They go a lot more in dept than i ever could. The summary is young boys and girls in same sex boarding schools got their freak on.

We see Gep's neglect truly peak in Carlo's early childhood, we don't know what went on in his late teens nor his early adulthood. This of course requires you to share a common hc that both Carlo and Romeo died around the ages of 16-19 at most. Perhaps during those later years Gep began to pay close attention to Carlo and his entourage. Worse yet. maybe he even began to intrude in his son's intimacy.

Putting those ideas together paints a very vivid picture of this trio's potential dynamics. Gep ignores Carlo, Carlo begins to resent Gep, Romeo and Carlo grow closer as they live and age together then Carlo ignores in turn his dad in favor of enjoying the company of the only male figure in his life that truly loved him and showcased it. Thus, hatred for Romeo takes root deep within that old bastard.

What does that have anything to do with Romeo's crotch being built to resemble a chastity belt you might ask. Well imma have to give you some historical context through screenshots of the most relevant bits of the articles on this obscure subject. I'll post their links at the end of the post(It's surprisingly hard to find more info on this subject and I'm not an essayist okay!!), in case anyone wants to read them.

For starters most articles corroborate the same story. The chastity belt legend meant to keep women from cheating on their husbands is a myth. An urban legend that gained fame during the 18th and 19th centuries. Before this period, they were mostly referred in satirical texts and works such as…

Most historians agree that the chastity belt myth became widespread due to 18th/19th centuries forgeries and the general modern populace (This includes Victorians, Belle Epoque era folks and us) unwillingness to believe our ancestors had a sense of humor. Apparently Victorians were fascinated with this type of nonsense and believing them to be true, gave them a weird sense of “superiority”.

So we now know that those belts were probably machinations from Victorian con men or tricksters. This brings us back to Krat and its Victorian/Belle Epoque ways.

Bet your ass, Krat had fuckery just like these irl examples. Crowds of rich folks ready to pay hefty prices to ogle at shocking spectacles and the likes. But we're going off the rails here...

Coming back to our main triangle here, I think the design of Romeo's pelvic region is no coincidence. Me thinks Geppetto is taking the piss out of Romeo. On top of turning his childhood best friend reincarnation/successor/physical clone or whatever you wanna call P, against Romeo. Gep had to add insult to injury, he felt a need to rub salt on an open wound.

Why? My first hypothesis is that Gep believed Romeo and Carlo were an item. And whether his disapproval for this relationship was motivated by homophobia or sick possessiveness is something i'm gonna let you mull over. Is there any evidence to support his suspicions? Once again I'll let you decide. Both versions of the story are equally as juicy to me. Gep growing jealous because he starts to notice healing hickeys on his son's throat despite a lack of girlfriend, is chef's kiss.

DISCLAIMER: THIS ISN'T A GEPPETTO/CARLO POST. My idea for his emotional turmoil resembles more that of a parent seeing their child not as a person and more as a possession. Think boymoms or girldaddies who hover over their child helicopter fashion but in a very toxic way. This isn't about incest but you can view it that way if that floats your boat.

In contrast, Geppepe's suspicions could be pure paranoia. Doubt he wouldn't have heard of the rumors about boarding schools, if he hasn't been to one himself as a young boy. Couple that with the strong bond Carlo and Romeo share and you get a lunatic psycho like Geppetto foaming at the mouth. There probably wasn't anything going on but just the thought that there might be, could push that man to do unspeakable things like trying to end a whole man’s ability to ejaculate/reproduce and emasculating him in the process.

Let’s assume for a minute that hypothesis number 1 is true. Carlo and Romeo are an item behind closed doors but being horny teens, they conceal it very badly. One could argue that Gep figured out or discovered through whatever means that Carlo and Romeo took each others’ virginity and boom! We have one possible motive for this suspicious design.

It’d be his way of saying “oh yeah?! You think you can sully my son like that you filthy gutter rat?!! Well think again! I’m ending your ability to nut and I’ll make it obvious to the whole world! No descendants for you asshole!” Hence the weird little line about no heir. Not that Carlo could get pregnant anyway but Yknow it’s said like a sadistic little reminder “oh I cut your dick off.”

Unless Carlo was trans…but that’s another story for another day.

Hypothesis number 2

Doesn’t change much from the first besides the fact that there is no romantic relationship. Romeo and Carlo are simply two lads who share a very close bond and love each other platonically. They’re there for each other when need be since both lack stable parental figures for differing reasons but manage to find common ground and comfort in this friendship.

Their closeness still bothers Gep, who blames Carlo’s “mischievous” attitude entirely on Romeo instead of reflecting on his own faults. This spurs Geppetto when presented with the opportunity to turn Meo into a puppet to “rectify”, take revenge or whatever awful sentiment might motivate him. In my opinion, even if they brushed the subject and Romeo denied it, Geppepe would refuse to believe him.

Either way Romeo’s gonna suffer.

Hypothesis number 3

Romeo was a compulsive masturbator and Geppetto thought it wise to put a stop to it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Frankly idk where I’m going with this…

I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say. Big thanks to the two folks on discord who helped me flesh this whole hc out.

That was long as hell and it’s almost 5am for me, so I’m gonna call it a night and thank u for reading this nonsense. I’ll probably edit this at a later date and add a few things i probably forgot.

[rosedere]

Behind the Scenes

(Yan! Neige Leblanche x Fem! Reader)

CW: implied Stalking, non con touching, implied manipulation

-

“Aaaaand… Action”

The lights that were previously dimmed were now fully lit above you, flashing a rainbow of cheerful colors over you in a halo.

A pop-type beat began to play around you as you patiently waited for your cue to stand up. Scanning the crowds of the audience in front of you felt like a weight had dropped onto your stomach.

You knew already there was going to be lots of people because of neige’s name being mentioned, but you didn't expect the whole studio to be completely filled with hundreds of adoring fans.

“Now welcome your morning hosts—Dev and Cookie!”

On your cue, you began to smooth your amethyst dress over before you began to stand and improvise something original for the episode.

Twirling in beat to the music, letting the rhinestones on your dress catch under the light, the audience surrounding you began hyping you up as you expertly move in your random dance routine.

The two hosts walking in together hand in hand: one wore a posh office-like outfit with a silky blue and amethyst scarf around her neck, while the man had a beige and brown suit on with a matching red tie.

Finally, the two hosts reached their seats, taking a seat as scripted.

"Today we are joined by a special guest: The Prefect! Aka (Name)”

A wave of applause was heard as you smiled and waved to the crowd.

"Alright, so let’s just rip the bandaid off (name)”

"Actually, am I able to call you (name)? Or…”

“Oh no, it's alright! As you know, it’s not a secret who I am anymore,” you laughed.

"Ah, will do (name)”

Cookie crossed her legs before setting her drink on the table.

“So spill the tea (name) is it true you and Neige will be in the upcoming musical as the main cast?” She waved her pen in the air towards you.

“It’s true! Um, I'm going to be playing the love interest and Neige’s sidekick!” You enthusiastically made a punch in the air, making the fans in the audience once again roar to life.

“Neige’s sidekick?” Dev hummed in acknowledgement,

“So essential like real life, then?” 

You laughed a hardy melodic laugh.

“I will say I am ashamed to admit this in front of a huge crowd—but...”

You hung your head in exaggeration, “I wouldn't say im able to keep Sage’s island safe using a magical rose petal beam.”

A few of the crowd laughed, while others only made disappointed noises, earning a laugh from the hosts before you.

“Does that mean Neige only has an unmagical partner?” Dev leaned forward towards the marble table across from the both of you.

You froze for a second with a smile on your face.

"O-oh, no, we aren't into each other like that,” you faux laughed, “I couldn't anyway, as I'm under a certain contract that stippulates it,” your tone wavered.

Cookie and Dev paused, looking at each other awkwardly, before Cookie cleared her throat, smoothing her royal blue pencil skirt down.

Gazing into the silent crowd, you could see the different neige fans looking confused, and even a few offended fans staring back at you.

Sensing the tension, Cookie once again let her smile cross her face again.

“But in theory, would you date Neige? Rumor has it you've both have known each other since he attended RSA.” 

You gulped at the question, side-eyeing the now silent studio audience, waiting for a response you weren't sure you wanted to give.

Flickering your eyes back to the hosts, they both looked at you subtly, gesturing with their hands.

Say your line.

“I think it’d depend on what Neige wants— he does have many fans that would love a chance with the “someday my prince will come” mascot,” you smiled brightly.

The hosts both looked over at each other in confusion.

“Oh! First commercial break,” Dev clapped his hands.

“When we return, our guest star will have one more surprise guest added to the list, so don't miss out!” He waved towards the camera.

An upbeat jingle played, cueing the three of you to idly chat during the countdown.

10

“Did you forget your line, honey?” cookie whispered

9

“I-uh”

8

7

6

5

4

“Whatever that was– don't do it again." She harshly whispered

“I don't care if your shoes are on fire; We. Do . Not. Deviate. From. the. Script” she pointed to your feet.

3

“On our show, we make the rules; you are a guest on the most prestigious show in the Shaftlands,” she said, crossing her arms.

2

“You know what our viewers are expecting,” dev interjected from his crossed-leg statue.

1

“5 minutes” 

“Set the stage for Neige.”

You could feel yourself grow clammy as you watched your two interviewers leave the set for their dressing rooms, holding hands and talking as if they didn't just scold you like a child in front of the set.

“The prefect?”

You turned your head in the direction of the mousy stage crew employee who helped you on stage.

“Do you want to go to your dressing room during the break? We have to move the set before our guest arrives.”

Panic was all you felt, your tongue numb in your mouth.

Leaving meant running into him in the hallway, but if you stayed here, you’d be stuck sitting with him for five unprompted minutes with only his loyal fanbase in the audience watching.

“No need—I'll be taking my seat alongside my partner,” his fair voice echoed on the busy set.

Not attempting to turn around, you felt his hands wrap around you.

“It’s been so long (name)!” He happily chirped.

Astonished, you tried to push him off your shoulder.

"Hey, isn't that neige?” 

“Oh my gosh, their both matching! They look like their characters too.”

The eyes on you at the moment were like rocks thrown in your direction, causing you to flinch.

You only smiled at him, hoping he’d pull away from the hug.

“I didn't know they invited you neige” you dryly mused.

Neige stood next to you, eventually sitting on the arm rest of the plush chair you were seated on.

“Ah, yes, I decided to accept the invitation when I heard you were going to be interviewed this morning.” His ruby lips curled in a smile.

You couldn't possibly know who told him; specifically, remembering you begging to your agent not to utter a word to Neige about your first appearance since the beginning of filming should have been enough to get them to stay silent.

"Oh, so you were originally invited?”

“Yes” 

Neige then leaned down to where you were leaning closer to your ear.

“The only reason you were invited was because of my graceosity,” he chuckled, his breath fanning your drop-down amethyst earrings.

He then perked up, ignoring the panic stricken expression you had on your face.

“So hopefully you do well in the next interview phase! This could make or break your career.” 

“Neige– take your seat. 2 minutes until the show continues,” the tech said from the wings of the stage.

Neige hesitated before getting up and sitting in the tan chair that was now beside the royal blue chair you had been assigned to sit in.

Looking at the wings, you could make out Cookie and Dev idly walking with their dressing staff touching up their makeup.

“You see those two (name)” neige mindlessly said.

“Theyve been together since they were our age—Cookie was a weather woman while Dev was a news reporter.”

"Yeah, I know—I heard their red carpet speech.” You rolled your eyes.

Neige only smiled his usual closed-eye smile towards you.

“I hope we can be like that.”

"Maybe have a few kids like them.”

His hand began to wrap around your clutched ones on the armrest.

“Everyone ready?”

“Countdown to the next segment is about to begin.”

Cookie and Dev sat back in their respective chairs across from the two of you.

Cookies eyes instantly looked down at your hands together.

10

“Long time no see Cookie." Neige nodded

9

“Ah yes, we haven't spoken since the TV nominations," she smiled.

“It seems you got The prefect to calm down.”

8

"Yeah, they get like that when I'm not around to guide them," neige perfectly replied.

7

“You know how it is when the fame just hits and all.”

6

“Hopefully our pep talk also helped them as well." Dev nodded in response.

5

4

3

2

1

"Hi, welcome back from our break! And as promiseeeed” Cookie gestured with her pen towards neige besides you.

“Yahoo everyone!” neige waved,

The audience erupted in the loudest sound you'd ever heard; not even the award shows would get this loud for you. Some of the few faces in front were waving violently at neige hoping for his attention.

“So now, as we promised on the TV guide, it is time,”

Dev grabbed the prop tea pot on the table, pouring fake food coloring into the glass cup before him.

“To spill the tea!” the audience screamed loudly.

“We all want to know today…”

The screen behind the two of you suddenly lit to life as a magicam feed was displayed behind your chairs.

“Apparently, this morning on Neige’s own public account, a photo was posted on said account,” cookie dramatically paused, causing the audience to “ooh” and “aah” in response.

“Dev and I need to hear the details of this intimate photo you both posted,” she squealed, causing the audience to get rowdy as well.

Neige laughed before leaning forward in his seat, letting his hands rest on his knees.

“It was just a photo– It just slipped my mind that I hadn't officially announced the statues of our relationship beyond filming.”

Your fake smile was threatening to fall.

"We are, in fact, in a relationship,” he cheerfully added.

The audience began to cheer, breaking the sound barrier this time.

Finally taking the liberty, you turned around in your seat.

Your stomach clenched, but you weren't expecting to see the photo fully blown up, with 1 million views and shares under it.

You remember that night: Neige promised to take you back home after a short stop together.

Drunk, you swore you saw a flash of light as you felt Neige smear his lipstick onto your face as you tried to push him off with your heel.

But, of course, that's not what the pictures showed. 

It depicted you wrapping your legs around his white tuxedo as you placed your hands over his chest.

Trying to leave. 

“Neige…” you interrupted, causing the hosts and neige to look towards you.

“I-wasnt aware you posted such a private photo to Magicam,” you struggled to string your sentence along.

"Well, your always so camera shy, I decided to take initiative (Name)” neige then grabbed your arm, pulling you closely to him.

A few awws were heard from the audience once more.

“You were the one that wanted to be together (name)” he said, playing with your arm he was holding.

“Because I'm the prince that will save you from the evil queen,” he chuckled.

Grabbing your face to look at him, he gave you a kiss, firmly locking your lips to his.

The audience went wild.

If only they knew what role they had forced you to play.

-

Note: *in vil voice* NEIGGEEEEEEEE

Also requested by: Sallade on AO3 <3

Buckle up bc they gave me too many ideas for my skurnkly brain to run off with Hehe.

[evilgoosegoose]

My thoughts on Zoochosis the game

All in all it’s a good game, it’s story rushed, and the gameplay is a bit clunky, but what did you expect, it’s a game made by a small company with big dreams, the concept is cool, and clearly had more to it, despite that not really being shown, the visuals are overall stunning, minus the penguin’s base model, idk what happened there. It’s a shame the game didn’t really get fully actualized, but it’s a great step forward for those game devs, especially for it to get this popular in not even a day. It is a bit funny that in a game called Zoochosis, zoochosis is not one of the medical conditions the animals can get.

On top of that, the air of mystery behind what happens to a mutated human is rather interesting to explore, as you only really get a few pictures and notes that don’t go far in depth, and the only part you ever see in person of a mutated human is Paul’s own hands, I’ve even taken to drawing a mutated Paul to take some guesses on what it’d look like.

Overall I think I’d rate it a 6/10, it would’ve been more effective as a multi day process, with gradual indicators something is wrong and maybe a few extra clues to what Mother is, without fully telling you and a few suggestions towards other theories, as well as providing a better gameplay loop for people to just play and practice with the different diseases and such, as with the way it stands now you don’t really see all the stuff listed unless you’re speeding through each animal enclosure

Honestly I’m no professional or anything, I mainly play games for the story rather than the actual game, so take this with a grain a salt

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know why Jade is so secretive about himself? I think it's no one's surprise when I say that Jade is more often than not secretive/guarded about himself. Jade is a master in hiding his emotions/thoughts. And even when he's revealing any information about himself; I feel suspicious about it.

So i always wondered why he's so guarded/secretive about himself? It's either the trope "intriguing mysterious character" going or he genuinely has a reason why he likes to be in control EVEN with his own feelings. Maybe it's a Merfolk thing? Maybe he's scared of being vulnerable?

At the end of the day, it's only speculation why he's the way he is. I think the only genuine thing we know he likes is mushrooms.

What do you think?

Know? No. I don't think anyone really "knows" why Jade is secretive about himself. Maybe not even the devs themselves know!

Let's speak in terms beyond the trope he fits into; I feel it can be reductive to say, "the character is this way because that's what he's supposed to be by design!" To begin with, I don't think it's a merfolk trait because we do not see the same characteristics in his twin (who openly blurts out secrets, including his own UM) nor in Azul (who technically is also secretive, but has a backstory which explains the insecurities behind his behavior). I also would not frame Jade's mysteriousness as a matter of being "scared" of vulnerability. Yes, he does not like to be in situations where he is vulnerable or others can take advantage of him. However, I don't believe this disdain comes from a fear of intimacy or of showing others his "true" self. Jade has made clear that he finds it easier to manipulate others and to gain their trust if they perceive him to be a non-threat. (Look no further than his Ceremonial Robes vignettes, where he tricks a fellow vice dorm leader, Trey.) It’s also true that he enjoys teasing others and purposefully dropping vaguely worded phrases to alarm them—this is how he has fun, and he maintains this with people he is close with (Azul and Floyd). Is it considered “not being himself” when he is still calm and mysterious with them? Personally, I don’t think so. He’s being open with them in his own way.

I think a lot of the ways Jade acts can easily be attributed to his upbringing. We've received several hints that the Leech brothers' father is quite wealthy and influential, and may be involved in shady dealings. Furthermore, he and his twin grew up in the Coral Sea, which is described to be frigid and boasts dangerous creatures such as sharks. Jade was therefore raised in an environment where self-preservation is a priority and he was taught many skills to adapt to his surroundings and any scuffles he may get into (from martial arts to lock picking and undoing knots). If we run with the popular “Leech mob family” theory, their father would have enemies and even business associates trying to get a one-up on Papa Leech—possibly via his sons. Jade would have to be pretty alert and capable to deal with such encounters. It’s also these situations which may have led to him forming a distrust towards most others or feeling a need to conceal or misdirect his real thoughts/emotions. (Anyone could be an enemy or trying to use him for their own means.) This thinking could have developed into a kind of coping mechanism in which he is the one to first outdo and betray the other to prevent being the victim himself. He likes having the leg up on others; that control is a “security blanket”. It can be interpreted like a survival tactic that translated over to land after so many years of living in a treacherous sea.

I also believe that this background has had an impact on how Jade’s hobbies and other behaviors. He has explained before in his Birthday Boy vignettes that he likes terrariums because the management aspect gives him a sense of control, which is relaxing. He also tends to be an enabler and not intervene if he thinks the situation is funny or engages in it himself (such as when Azul is being teased), which are more subtle ways he entertains himself. Thus, Jade more often than not doesn’t act overtly and maintains that “support” role both in an effort to divert from his own shadiness and as the result of his upbringing in which he has to be alert for survival.

Now, the big question you’re probably having right now is “But what about Floyd?! Why doesn’t Floyd turn out like Jade if they basically grew up in the same environment?” Well, that’s simply because they’re their own people (something Floyd himself states) even if they are twins or related otherwise. Growing up in the same household and neighborhood does not guarantee you will have all the same interests or the same personality as a sibling. Floyd learned, adapted, and reacted differently than Jade did. He’s the upstart, the loudmouth, the one to jump to violence as a solution. Jade is not.

I really love the mysterious aspect to Jade. Sure, it feels like we cannot entirely trust anything he says, but I feel that’s part of his intrigue! I like trying to parse out what’s true and what’d false in his dialogue 🫶

[hanafubukki]

The third anniversary trailer of twst is interesting to me because of its foreshadowing/ominous feelings with the way it cuts the scenes. Well, in terms of Lilia and Malleus when you think about it.

This is, of course, going off of certain assumptions.

For one, the shadow below being Malleus and not another student 🤔 (we already saw Leona enter Ramshackle by this point and Vil and Rook is already there at the party idia and his brother are in their room and Cater and Trey are baking, so it’s highly likely that is it Malleus)

Assuming this shadow is Malleus, we see he’s alone with no one around.

Going forward to the rest of the trailer:

Someone walking up the stairs, alone. No one is next to them and the sign we saw before? Is behind them.

You’re probably wondering why do I get that ominous/foreshadowing feeling and it’s because of the next few scenes.

Vil and Rook looking towards the newcomers to the party and lo and behold.

Our faes of Diasomnia, with Lilia right there next to Malleus.

Lilia was not there before. There was no shadow of him being there at all in the beginning with the anniversary sign, and even with the stair scene, no floating lower half of said fae (no matter how high he’s floating, you should see at least a part of his body or shadow)

And we see Grim being patted by the invite.

Invites of any kind have significant meaning for Malleus. We know how much he wants to be invited and we know how they will have already been/will be used in Book 7.

So I can’t help but wonder. What could this mean?

Does this have some connection to Lilia? A foreshadowing of the future? Why isn’t Lilia there?

But then, if you recall, Malleus offered Lilia his happiest dream in book 7, one without Malleus in it.

And then the thought hit, what if? This is Malleus’ dream? One where he is invited? To a celebration where everyone can have fun and be merry?

A party that’s not celebrating his father’s departure and no one is sad at the end of it?

What if Lilia’s shadow missing is the hint to all this?

Wouldn’t that be the best way to show this? Lilia who Malleus loves so much and doesn’t want to lose and the reason why Malleus OB.

It would make sense if this was Malleus’ dream, wouldn’t it?

We all wondered why did this anniversary trailer focus only on the third years? And not the rest like previous years right?

The third years are important in the aspect that those are who Mal is “closest” with and they are his classmates who he spent all these years with (people who are not Lilia, Silver, and Sebek specifically and people who he can essentially talk to without them running away in fear as we have seen).

Another point that I believe adds onto this theory is the release date for this trailer, and in correlation, main story release.

The third anniversary trailer was released in March 2023, while Book 7 chapter 2 was released the month before, specifically 2/27/23. (Thank you Mumble for helping me find this info @irafuwas 💞💚)

Chapter 2, the chapter where Malleus puts everyone to sleep, giving them their happiest dreams. The chapter where, you know, Lilia gives Malleus an invite to his….going away party hahaha 🙃🥲

Everyone except Malleus is asleep. Now wouldn’t this be a devious way of foreshadowing on the twst devs side? A hint of not only Malleus’ dreams and the possibility of him falling asleep but also the way the invites will be used in the future (as we now see with Idia’s plan)?

This trailer being Malleus’ dream would also explain the discrepancies between the Grims in the trailer.

Despite the size change inconsistency with Grim (he has such a big head lmao), you see the outfits as well. Grim isn’t wearing his ceremonial robes (something he is so proud of and I doubt he would just take off) and he’s back to his ribbon (his everyday uniform)

Also take in the fact of the backgrounds, the one with Vil and Rook has bright colors and saturation while the other is darker with the sun setting. (Don’t get me started on the symbolism of the sun or sunset)

This can also show how it’s dream vs reality. Especially if you consider what Malleus considers a happy dream.

Malleus, who didn’t understand or, rather, can’t accept/is in denial (I’m going to run him over with Crewel’s car) that his hatching was Lilia’s happiest dream. That all that pain and suffering led to something so joyous.

He, the one who continued to offer a happy dream that didn’t include him but his parents and Silver to Lilia.

Would the bright colors not show this? How he thinks “happy” dreams should be? As oppose to reality with the darker hues in the other scene?

And then we see currently, how the twst boys are fighting/rejecting the “happy” dreams as well. Which adds onto these points as well. Them fighting against this path chosen for them.

[also, the emphasis of invites, getting along with others, being empathetic, caring (/guarding Silver), and understanding others’ views (as well as wanting to be understood) as we saw with Malleus’ tsum card adds on to this does it not? 👀🤔 Tsum tsum events, after all, does give hints to main story as well]

If this was the twst devs way of foreshadowing future events and giving us hints of Malleus’ dream, then I can’t wait to see what we have in store.

In short, no one hold me back! I have a mallet with Malleus and Lilia’s names on it and I’m not afraid to use it!!!! 😖😤

(Absjsjshs I can’t stop laughing omg, Mumble said he was ‘strangely’ invited for once and I’m dying of laughter 😂😆 *covering eyes 😅😅* he’s going to be strangely invited to Idia’s party alright absjsjffnfnf 😆🤣😅)

[sephirthoughts]

Unpopular opinion ask game: 💛

(from this ask game)

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

Oh there are ever so many. i usually keep my mouth shut because i don't want to yuck anyone's yums or draw aggro from crusaders, but this is an unpopular opinion game sooooo

WARNING: UNFILTERED OPINIONS UNDER THE CUT

The one that i think burns my ass the worst is Cloud/Tifa, mostly because the game and fandom tries so hard to shove it down our throats. In the FF7 games, there is this blatant assumption all through the narrative that "of course the player is into this girl" which instantly makes me rebel against anything in any game, especially when it's heteronormative bullshit.

cyberpunk was the worst, when they tried to force me to like that leatherfaced blow-up-doll panam, who was so egregiously written by misogynist cismales, that i nearly quit the game. the grossly overt assumption the game made that i the (obviously cishet male) player would automatically be into her led to me abandoning her dirt nomad questline and never going back. i checked later, they just stand around in the desert waiting forever if you don't go back.

the problem with tifa is very similar. hetshippers always like to try and carve out a moral highground for their "canon" ship, by acting like it's misogynist not to like the female love interest in a game. i have news for you, babes, i don't have to eat garbage just because it's labeled organic.

a female character designed and written in a lazy, misogynist way is the same. consuming that fictional relationship uncritically is not something i am required to do, nor will i. the women in final fantasy games, for the most part, are badly written, terribly designed artifacts of a time when women were just objects and that was ok to say out loud. they're hardly even trying to hide it, now, but at least they are a little.

my theory on tifa's design is that the otaku devs had never seen a girl irl and when they tried to make one, what they came up with was a pair of massive tits and the personality of a wad of dryer lint. then they gave her some tossed together martial arts to justify why she's following cloud around taking up a party slot, instead of staying at home minding the children and elderly like a good girl.

also the business with her and aerith seeming to get catty and jealous over cloud several times (which they mercifully cut from remake) is such revoltingly juvenile and misogynist writing, it's almost funny. almost.

honestly the whole romance they are pushing between cloud and tifa is revoltingly juvenile and misogynist, since she's a personality-free prize for the male hero, not to mention homophobic, since it primarily seems to function as a beard, so sephiroth and cloud don't seem too gay (MISSION FAILED).

Cloud Strife is a character with whom i deeply connected and fully inhabited, and he is not a heterosexual neurotypical male in any way whatsoever. and yet i'm supposed to like seeing him shoved into the blandest wish-fulfillment, 'winning the titted-up tomboy hometown girl as a prize for being awesome' fantasy that some chuuni would've written in the back of their school notebook when they were 11. please.

examined fully, there's literally no reason for the pair to be romantically interested in one another, outside the pervasive and poisonous heterosumption of boy+girl=love. and i know what people are going to say about them being friends, but she doesn't like him. she never does. she likes the idea of the person she thinks he should be, and persistently tries to force him to become, throughout the series. she thinks the way he is needs to be fixed, because he's wrong somehow. we can still see it happening in advent children.

that's fine though, because he doesn't like her, either. he kind of remembers her from the past. that's all. he does not have the capacity to form that kind of attachment, when they first reconnect, and by the time he could form a meaningful connection with someone (circa advent children), he's already been fully railroaded into the domesticated role everyone has decided he's supposed to be in, and she is reduced to a nagging wife, by the writers. he is very clearly unhappy, and it's not because of sephiroth.

last but not least, is the lack of any kind of romantic tension between them. there is more chemistry between cloud and biggs, than cloud and tifa. hell there's more chemistry between cloud and those alley cats. it's very clearly a manufactured relationship for the sake of gratifying the decreasingly cishetmale player base of yesteryear.

in conclusion, cloud x tifa is the cold oatmeal of ships and i just want to spit it out yack

[blimgus]

Regarding WHB

(sorry for mistakes im writing this on PC without autocorrect)

I've noticed that the game is loosing many of its tumblr community due to the recent drama (idk if we can call it that? i mean that PB did some really crappy stuff)

''What in Hell is Bad?" used to be one of my fav games due to great storytelling, interesting worldbuilding and awesome and unique character designs. It was also one of the few porn games (lol) targetting the female audience which wasn't relying on heavy and steamy yaoi.I've grown so used to the absolutely cursed humor of this game that it will take me some time to find a good replacement...

While many people were annoyed at the lack of content, I used to enjoy the slow pace and lack of grind requierments.The addition of battle pass seemed fine until the only added content started to appear behind a goddamn overpriced paywall.Honestly I fully understand that adding Bath Beel to a battle pass made all hell break loose for the internet community.The card that was expected to arrive on the seals banner or idk as a login bonus was taken away from us which was soooo unfair to Beel fans. Also taking our daily 10 pull was critical to the relations between the players and devs. Imagine being a new player now, having trouble getting even a single 10 pull.

I still want to enjoy the created fantasy world from whb, but when the devs make it hard I just sometimes want to give up on that game. Like Andrealphus and Sitri are still one of my faves and i might doodle them in my notebooks, however idk about how the future of game's story will look.

The community created around this game was honestly kinda like my little safespace? We were pretty laid back and used to weird and horny stuff so I got really into doing my little silly doodles and writing a few headcanons.Big fandoms usually scare me due to the big spectrum of "types of fans". Even if we had some drama in the community among users we wre able to get back together and solve our problems together.

I just wanted to thank all of the content creators of WHB tumblr/twitter fandoms since I know that some of you decided to leave the game for good.( I mean i know that most of us are boycotting the game but just wanted to mention those who decide to leave us) My time in the fandom was really special! I loved entertaining you with my little silly versions of the characters, writing some theories and other stuff. While im currently boycotting the game just like most of us, I'm a bit tired of the lack of communication from PB. I'd love to get some new lore to make new headcanons and stuff to make the sillies even funnier, but... drawing them currently feels like I'm trying to revive the fandom by myself. blimgus was mostly created from my love for the game and I really hope that the game one day will be still fun to play

[eyes1nthewoods]

true romance spoilers

i will say one thing i don't like about lann's romance is how passive the kc's dialogue options are if you're trying to be nice to him. let me call him hot PLEASE

[impatient-traveler]

I realize a lot of the current fandom came to the game after several patches or several *years* since release. So a lot of you might not know the history and how things used to be different.

Now, I personally have very strong feelings about the direction in which FFXV was taken post-launch, but this isn't the point of this post.

The point is to maybe make some newer people in the fandom realize that things used to be very different and hopefully make some of you guys learn something cool about a game you love.

FFXV had several core philosophies that were new, and brave, and really cool, and some of them ended up backfiring really badly. It endeavored to be a multimedia project (the multitude of associated media wasn't just "they weren't able to fit it in the game"!). It was intended to be a live service game (which feels very disconnected from the meaning of that term now, but it was already pretty weird at the time. Tabata, the game's director, seemed to have a very different idea of what it meant from the rest of the world, and to him it meant free monthly updates for multiple years alongside paid DLC). It also was intended to take the players' feedback into account in order to become the best game it could be. That's why we got a huge poll asking for what to add to the game, and that's why a ton of changes were made to the game's main story and content after release. That's also why the original experience is nearly lost to time now.

The initial few patches were mostly a continuation of the game's development. Stuff the devs hadn't managed to do in time or that they thought needed to be better. As time went on, though, more and more updates were made that changed the game's identity in significant ways.

One of the major ideas behind FFXV's storytelling was that it was always intended to be subjective. The main game was Noct's story. You had main characters leaving, you had a lot of things not being explained, a lot of stuff you had to piece together from scraps of info. You were intended to experience the story the way Noctis did. The DLC and other media were supposed to fill those gaps for you. What happened in Insomnia while we were gone? What did the other party members get up to while they weren't with us? You were supposed to get this information from different narrators, different viewpoints.

Think about it. Noctis is only twenty, he was never explicitly told what his destiny would involve, he was never taught how to do this. He's confused, he's terrified, he's just trying to keep going one step at a time through most of the game. It was immersive and impactful when you shared some of those feelings as a player.

The information was there. In other media (Kingsglaive, Brotherhood, A Kings's Tale, Parting Ways, Platinum Demo, eventually all the DLC), but also in little scraps around the game's world. Radio transmissions, Cosmogony books, scraps of newspapers and documents, the environmental storytelling of the nights creeping into your days, the ruined walls of Zegnautus Keep. It was in the context. The subtext. The cross-referencing and theory crafting we, the fandom, did.

You would be surprised just how much of the lore added in DLC and updates elicited no reaction from us back then. It was "duh". It was things we already knew. Things we'd pieced together, discussed, and written fics for months in advance.

Then the Internet did its thing and the loudest voices the devs could hear were the people who didn't love the game, who didn't want to put in the effort, who didn't want to think about it too hard. And instead of only affecting the subsequent content, it also changed the game we used to know.

The random interactable lore dumps they added to many locations with no explanation or reason to be there. The bestiary and character infos (which is a great feature but contributes to making players wait for lore to be fed to them rather than think for themselves). The horrible, disgusting powerpoint presentation they inserted into the middle of the Shiva conversation on the train that just pauses mid-dialogue to offer you an extensive infodump and then continues as if that never happened. There's a lot of things like this.

Did you know the original Ch13 was a horror game? The Ring's spells were tuned in such a way that they incentivised sneaking. It wasn't even mandatory then, you could still bruteforce your way through just by learning the simple counter timing for the Ring. But until you did, you got a precious few minutes of feeling terrified of the MTs patrolling the corridors. People complained that it "took you out of the action" and "interrupted the pace". Oh, do you mean how Noctis was INTERRUPTED by suddenly being all alone, in an unknown, hostile place, trying to rush to save his friend but not get himself killed? It was impactful. It was memorable. Now ch13 feels like a bad joke, Ardyn's attempts at taunts triggering a minute late when you've already moved on from the corpses of the MTs he's warning you about.

Do you know how it felt when Insomnia was a quarter of its current game size and had barely any content? It was rushed, yes. But that was the tragedy of it. The reason why it was so successful at conveying how this felt to Noctis, to the others who'd been waiting for him for a decade. To be reunited only to die. To be robbed of all your freedom in favor of playing the role you were meant for.

Did you realize the entire boss rush at the end is a Royal Edition addition? It's too long. It feels disjointed and at odds with the mood of the story. You're supposed to feel helpless. You're supposed to despair. Instead you get each party member delivering an over-the-top finisher move while yelling extremely cheesy and out of character lines about how much they love their friend. We always knew how much they loved him. It was in their presence. In their willingness to die for him. In the way they didn't look away when they knew they were about to lose him. In the stilted dialogue and awkward attempts at humor, trying to recapture their lost innocence.

This game used to punch you in the gut as it ended. It used to make you feel like you were watching a dear friend walk to his death and had to live with that, with the knowledge that for all its injustice and cruelty, this was "for the best".

Go out. Get the 1.0 mod (which I was consulted for as the person who actually played the old versions and resident modding community grandma but did not touch any of the actual mod making). Get an old disk copy for your console. See this game at its strongest. Experience the version of the story that forces you to grapple with the tragedy and doesn't sugarcoat or distract you from the ugly parts.