#I actually really love the controls of the ds games and I like the ship mechanics and stuff

[pumpkinsouppe]

Listen,,,, I love the phantom hourglass and Linebeck and ciela,,, but everyday I sob and wail thinking about how we could’ve had a 3d sequel to the wind Waker if people didn’t hate good art styles

Also the phantom hourglass did tetra insanely dirty which makes me even more upset we didn’t get a 3d sequel where that didnt happen to her

[unproductive-software-blog]

Contact (DS) Review

Hi, I'm Suoly, and I review "Hardcore" video games for people with limited time and money.

TLDRFAQS:

Should I play this game?

No. It's a 3/10 game that manages to feel extremely time-wasting despite actually being pretty short.

Now stick around if you want to learn what I love about it. I have played Contact so that you don't have to.

Contact is a semi-turn-based fully-touch-controlled action-RPG from Grasshopper Manufacture, developers of Killer7, No More Heroes, and my personal favorite game series, The Silver Case. While most of Grasshopper's other games are known for being extreme and violent, Contact is a reletively quiet game very clearly intended for children. That said, it still feels like a Grasshopper game in a few important ways. Most-notably is the fact that you start nearly every session in the main character's bedroom, having just woken up. I love how their games go the extra distance to put you in the main character's shoes. This is also enforced by the games very colloquial and real-sounding dialogue.

Contact is also the most Earthbound-like game I have ever played outside of the Mother series itself. While nearly every modern 2D RPG not set in a generic high-fantasy world seems to get the "Earthbound-Inspired" label applied to it, Contact actually carries forward a lot of the more specific elements of Earthbound that it's contemporaries tend to abandon in favor of delivering on their own unique aesthetics. Contact is a humorous RPG, yes, but it's humor comes not from sheer absurdity, but from the distinctly Earthboundian combination of realism and game logic.

Take the game's fourth level (oh yeah, it's a level-based RPG like SMTV) for example. It's a desert area. It takes two in-game days of travel by boat to get there, during which time you... don't really do anything but sleep and wait. Before stepping off the ship, you're told that it's extremely hot out and that this island is a big tourist destination. You then make your way through the white-hot dunes, listening to this music that conveys a sense of the natural danger and beauty of the area. Eventually you reach town and find out that while this island may seem like a paradise to the tourists, the people who actually work here are struggling to survive, and live in near-constant fear of the corporate overlords who practically own the place. It's all the more powerful for being missable, as RPG sociology tends to be.

Then you go into a pyramid and find hieroglyphics that look inexplicably like the game's UI, and fight aliens in an alternate dimension inside the pyramid's tip.

Your reward is a power cell that might just help you get back to your home planet. You're not here to save this messed up world, you're just a kidnapped child trying to get home.

I just love it. That's what I mean by Earthboundian: you're a kid on a wacky cartoon adventure in a world full of adult problems outside your control.

Also, you can fix a girl's car and she'll take off her clothes. If you put them on, you unlock fire magic. Somehow this is required to solve the mystery of the UI hieroglyphs.

So yeah, it's obtuse, but in the charming (if utterly outdated) way classic adventure games were. Unfortunately, Contact is not an adventure game. It's the RPG with the worst RPG combat I've ever experienced post-NES.

The combat system is similar to .hack's, yet with even fewer options and only one party member. There's nothing to do but blow your skills right away, or save them up since they take forever to charge (like 1 every 3 normal battles). Other than that you're watching your character auto-attack the enemy and using a healing item outside turn order when his hp is low. Sometimes you can dodge an atack by running away quickly, but only when it's made really obvious that you're expected to. There's no skill to it.

Much like in a From Soft game, most battles can be completely avoided by simply running past them, and you don't really need to grind them to beat the bosses anyway, but playing that way makes time spent in dungeons feel even more time-wasting, like you're just fast-forwarding through the ads to get to the cutscene at the end.

In a world full of 10/10 games, there's just no reason to put up with poor gameplay for somewhat interesting writing anymore. There are so many games that nail it in both areas.

On the flipside, FF7 Rebirth takes it's time to a much greater extent, but manages to fill its world with so many unique encounters and thematic setpieces that what would feel like open-world-box-checking in other games, but end up feeling like THE REAL GAME. I much prefer this approach, a game which uses all its systems to the fullest and creates a great flow of storytelling through play, rather than a game with good dialogue and aesthetics that lets you mostly circumvent its boring gameplay. RPGs can be fun!

[smilesrobotlover]

@majorproblems77

Ok, so Phantom hourglass is the first DS Zelda game, that you can play on the DS lite and the 3DS, there might be others idk bdkdbdkd. It’s a sequel to the wind waker and really utilizes the DS console in the game, it’s actually quite impressive. You control Link by using the stylus, you fight with the stylus, and while it can be difficult to control link at times because of this, it really takes advantage of the touch screen. It uses the crap out of the two screens, let’s you draw on the map, has you blow or yell into the mic (blowing works the best honestly), and even has a moment where you close the DS to transfer something from the top screen to the bottom screen. It utilizes the console its on in such creative ways it really makes it charming.

The overall story is that Tetra and her pirate crew are looking for the ghost ship, they find it and Tetra jumps on, but she screams. Link jumps after her but falls into the sea. He finds himself on Mercay island where he meets Ciela and Oshus, and he travels the sea with my fav Zelda character Linebeck, finds Neri and Leaf who are two fairies, and you uncover secrets about Ciela and Oshus. The main antagonist is a very unique and underrated villain named Bellum that takes the life force from living things, though he doesn’t have a personality, I find him very cool.

This game is very unique in the fact that it is so good but so bad at the same time. The music is nothing special, but it has a few bangers like Linebeck’s theme, Oshus’s theme, island life, the boss themes, sand of hours, magic in the air, and the Bellum songs. It has wonderful characters and character dynamics, but ultimately does Tetra dirty (I feel like every game Tetra is in does her dirty. The only time in Zelda media when she’s not done dirty is the phantom hourglass manga). The dungeons themselves are pretty cool and have awesome puzzles, specifically the dungeons in the second half, but it also has the worst temple in existence, the ocean king temple. It’s basically a big time limit and you have to redo the same puzzles over and over again (you can have shortcuts when you get certain items, but it sucks the life out of you in more ways than one). All the boss fights are fun imo, and it overall it a very flawed but very fun game. I won’t spoil too much about the story, but I really love the ending! Specifically the final boss! It’s soooo good.

Spirit tracks is its successor and it basically fixes all the issues phantom hourglass has. But ultimately, I love PH more. Idk why, it’s super special to me <3

That’s it, I’m tired of trying to have the “correct” Zelda opinion.

My top three favorite games are Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Phantom Hourglass.

[gaast]

How many right-handed people have ever even thought of the world in ways like this?

Look, I know handedness is such a small thing, but if you're right-handed you've never thought about how designed for right-handed people the world is. It's actually really insidious, because when you're left-handed, you just get used to it. You just become modestly ambidextrous. You just use right-handed computer mice, right-handed scissors (imagine having left-handed ones!). You don't even get how right-handed it is to write from left to right! If you live with right-handed people you just have to deal with the toothbrush holder being on the right side of the sink.

It's all such small potatoes too! It's so ridiculous to complain about it all! Because it barely matters, all these little things, they just barely matter at all, they don't really affect you all that much, hell, you barely notice it, you barely care what hand you use for your mouse or how awkward it is to grab your fucking toothbrush sometimes. You don't give a shit.

The bullshit brainless parallels between sexism and racism write themselves but I'm not stupid enough to think that THESE experiences even approximate those of afab people or people whose skin isn't white, god forbid. People don't shout down the inclusion of left-handed characters in movies and Blizzard doesn't track handedness in their fucking garbage diversity triangulation metrics for Overwatch. What I experience as a lefty is NOTHING compared to that. But if nothing else it gives me a GLIMPSE of what it's like to be in a world that is so clearly not-for-you, an almost meaningless window into at least understanding just HOW the world excludes them in more ways than maybe they even know. And hell, I'm queer, so it's not like I don't have other avenues for being shit upon daily.

No, the closer experience is the disabled experience, and even then it is so not the same. Again, I am in no way making meaningful COMPARISONS between the lived experiences of left-handed and disabled people. But you know the fuck what? Left-handed people barely get mentioned when it comes to accessible design considerations. Both groups are valid accessibility concerns, but laterality rarely seems to factor into discussions of accessibility (at least from what I've seen, and I admit to being fairly ignorant here). Considering how inaccessible the world is for lefties, though, I feel confident asserting that. If I were wrong, wouldn't the world be more accessible?

And why isn't it? Why isn't handedness a more salient accessibility concern? Do we live in a fantasy world where people only ever lose the use of their left hands? Can you say for certain that you will always, ALWAYS, be right-handed?

Am I saying lefties have it worse than disabled people? Fuck no. It's just baffling to me that handedness is such a NOTHING. It's so fucked up that 90% of the population doesn't realize that the world was designed FOR THEM. To them it's just normal. What's 10% of the global population? 900 million people?

So for the fucking Nintendo Wii to call itself a family machine when they knew full and goddam well that its flagship game was going to be inaccessible, even if JUST SLIGHTLY, to 10% of its audience, and to simply NOT CARE... And frankly, the DS and 3DS? Do you REALLY think most games on those systems gave lefties equivalent experiences? I actually bought a game on the DSi store that was played vertically and had no setting to flip to a left-handed orientation. Off the top of my head, TWEWY and Rhythm Heaven were accessible (imagine if you couldn't control your top-screen partner with the face buttons though!), but, much as I love it, WarioWare Touched couldn't have been. All it woulda had to do was mirror its games, fix any meaningful textures that would fuck, and ship it with an option. But they didn't.

So why would I fucking wanna engage with Nintendo products? Why would I wanna be gung-ho for VR headsets? Sure, I CAN adapt, but why MUST I? And if these systems are making ME feel left out then fucking imagine how people with motor control issues must fucking feel.

There isn't a point to this. Accessibility is a necessity. You can never understand how you interact with the world unless you break.

And if you try to say that I am claiming that what lefties experience equates to or is worse than what women, Black people, or disabled people go through, either go fuck yourself or read what I actually fucking wrote.

[queen-zigzag]

a few years ago i bought the etokki omni

i had done my research, of course. i like to believe i always do enough research before committing to a price like this

i was assured premium quality. i saw tons of reviews assuring me that this is the best that fighting sticks get. the buttons are twitch-sensitive, the stick feels satisfying, and the weight feels great. i couldnt really find anything negative. so i ordered it.

at least, i ordered it after realizing that the website listed the price in american dollars, not canadian. and also that the shipping would be expensive because its shipping straight from korea. and that i would have to pay another shipping fee to the company after i ordered it.

with tax, it cost over 500 dollars.

it wasnt worth it. its barely worth 50.

the casing is made of hard, cold iron. i actually love the feeling of weight on my lap, but the sheer heft of the thing kinda traps me in a specific seating arrangement. legs forward, feet on the floor. it also makes storing it a bitch, you cant put anything on top of it because of the stick poking out up top, and you cant put anything below it cuz im worried any boxes will collapse, so good luck putting it in a closet.

( ^ a picture of it on my lap, plastic spoon for scale. i was gonna put a normal controller on it for scale originally, but it slid off and slammed right on my toe)

so the controls. the stick on the left works fine, but it’s not as sensitive as I expected. youve gotta slam that fucker against the gate to get movement. and the buttons, man, theyre just bad. theyre wayyy too sensitive, so much so that i cant rest my fingers on the buttons without accidentally triggering them. and thats just an uncomfortable way to play games, man. next time youre using a controller stop and think about how much itd suck if you had to take your thumbs all the way off the buttons whenever you werent using em.

but they dont even work. before you ask, its through every game, ive tried dbfz, spelunky, musynx, even stardew valley. sometimes, a button just stays held, even with my finger all the way off. i think the buttons are so sensitive that the weight of the button on the sensor is triggering it. also, you cant press more than one button at once, especially the triggers and bumpers, because theres like a 25% chance that one of them wont register. that’s pretty inexcusable for a top-of-the-line fightstick. if it’s wear and tear that almost makes it worse, it’s barely used and only a couple years old. my ds works better and i bowled that motherfucker down my driveway 15 years ago

im 500 bucks poorer because of the worst controller in my collection. also my toe still hurts. thats the post

[azems-familiar]

Completely unrelated to an ask prompt I'm just bored so rate all the swtor companion crews from your most to least favorite.

*rubs hands together* excellent i needed something to procrastinate on anyway

OKAY. so. my least favorite crew probably has to end up being the consular crew, i’m sorry guys! i would actually die for Felix, and Nadia is precious and needs to be protected, but i could take or leave the other three (although Zenith makes an interesting companion for a ds consular). overall, i’d give it a 5/10, with a fem consular automatically bumping it up to a 6/10 because Felix is wonderful.

next up, at a solid 6.5/10, maybe 7/10 if i’m feeling generous, is the Trooper crew. Elara is my Wife and i actually love the extremely overenthusiastic war droid you get but other than that, most of them don’t stand out too much? but they’re a solid squad for the trooper, i respect that.

next we have the smuggler crew, who cannot rise above a 7/10 because of Corso. i’m sorry, i really am, Risha and Akaavi are fabulous, but Corso. just. Corso. i had to play a male smuggler because i could not handle the farmboy. 

after this, bounty hunter crew, 7.5/10, physically incapable of going higher because i want to throw Skadge out an airlock. but they also have Gault and Blizz, who are amazing, and Torian, who i also love dearly, and just. the aesthetic of the four real companions and the most prestigious bounty hunter in the galaxy causing chaos and running around in a stolen, remodeled school bus is so fucking funny.

8/10 would be the agent’s crew. i actually really enjoy all five companions (yes, even SCORPIO, she doesn’t turn into a bitch until kotfe, at which point i will gladly murder her), Vector is one of my favorite base game romance options, Lokin is such a unique character, i don’t like Kaliyo so much as a person but as a character she’s a fascinating part of the agent’s crew and has the dubious honor of being the only older woman who isn’t dependent on the player character for at least part of the story, so there’s that, and then Raina is a delight and has such a cool story.

sitting at a solid 9/10 for literally two people is the knight’s crew. Scourge and Kira are possibly my favorite companions in the game. i adore them SO MUCH. Scourge is such a horrible dramatic bastard man and his and Kira’s dynamic in the expansions is possibly my favorite part. the entire time spent wandering through Satele Shan’s ship? Scourge’s “I NEED MY SPACE” line? please just kill me now. for the rest of the companions, T7 is a precious droid, i really could care less about Rusk, and i’d like to throw Doc out an airlock please. multiple times, preferably.

10/10 is the warrior’s crew. like, i don’t much care for Broonmark or Pierce (mostly i get tired of the “black ops black ops black ops” every time Pierce opens his mouth), but they’re both interesting characters that have a lot to add to the story in terms of the warrior’s arc. Jaesa and Vette are both WONDERFUL, i cannot overstate that, and gods, Quinn my beloved, i have so many Thoughts about him and my warrior and how that goes and i love the fact that we get to have a companion who isn’t completely loyal to us the whole time and i wish the game explored the fallout of that more! the quinncident is so interesting! please bioware i’m begging you explore the consequences of the things you put the player character through (where is my knight’s fucking Vitiate trauma you fuckers-)

finally. 12/10, literal perfection, could not have asked for a better crew - the inquisitor. the ancient Dashade assassin that eats Force users and shows his affection with death threats! the overenthusiastic archeologist with very little concept of “oh Sith temples are probably dangerous and i shouldn’t go there without a Sith”! an actual apprentice from Korriban Nox gets to train! the half-fallen Jedi who is also the Single Impulse Control on this ship! the disaster pirate husband who brings his girlfriend LITERAL SWORDS to show his affection oh my god has there ever been a more perfect ship in existence i think not. i think not.

[akurathereaper]

An insignificant rant on HoT&PoF

As everyone knows, yady yady ya, everyone prefers HoT, whatever

I’m one of those people and I’m about to rant about this too.

THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE RANT

I will be talking about story elements and stuff that happens in both DLCs.

I like Path of Fire, I really do, it gave me Elona, it gave me agent Kito whom I wholeheartedly pity cuz he has to deal with the Commander, it gave me more of Aurene (and it gave me Joko on whom I can shit on when I feel bad)

But, it didn’t give me maps I like (and I will tell you why) (please note I am no game designer, or designer in general. In fact, maps designed by me would be probably shit, but I still believe my opinion is valid, because I am a person with eyes that can see)

This is going to be a small rant when it comes to maps, now mark, english isn’t my first language so there may be nonsensical sentences, and I am no professional critic so all of this is coming from my heart, not my brain.

Ready? Let’s go

So I’m going to do a little comparison (nothing too much in depth) of the four maps from each DLC (plus Domain of Vabbi but I don’t have much to say on it if I’m honest).

 We have Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, Tangled Depths and Dragon’s stand from Heart of Thorns, and Crystal Oasis, Desert Highlands, The Desolation, Elon Riverlands and Domain of Vabbi. 

Let me start with HoT, because it makes logical sense.

When you first start the Heart of Thorns campaign, you’re told to go from Silverwastes to... Verdant Brink. You get a small taste of it right before you enter it, in that cave where the injured pact members are talking about it. And then you load in (hopefully, if your pc doesn’t reenact an atomic blast), and first thing you see, when you walk in on that VERY SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED LEDGE

is absolute carnage.

Ships are strewn about, hanging in pieces torn apart by Mordremoth’s vines, smoke and fire is everywhere, that part of the jungle is ravaged not only by Mordremoth, but also by you. Your Pact. And in that moment you exactly realize what happened (if it wasn’t obvious from the cutscene that played before it *cough cough*)

But now you see it. The map tells you a very obvious story, and you don’t need to be a genius to figure it out. It tells you and SHOWS you exactly how strong and dangerous the Dragon you’re hunting is. It shows you what you have to overcome.  (And if you’re me, you’re crying cuz Trahearne got kidnapped)

I’m going to skip the storyparts of this map, but will instead focus on the meta of it (since i’ve done it like trillion times). There’s five main crashpoints. Each has to bring their all to successfuly make this map “safe”. The nobles, the Pale Reavers, the quaggan and her soldiers. Everyone. I’m guessing that after you kill all the five champions, the area becomes safe enough for you to move on, after all, you’re the Commander, and you cannot leave everyone to die in the middle of the Jungle. Once again, the map tells you a story through the gameplay)

And then you move onto Auric Basin (I’m guessing it’s a lot of people’s fav map)

Oh, Auric Basin... The map instantly breathes “something”, something different. You KNOW you’re somewhere else, the whole atmosphere tells you that you’re somewhere forgotten, somewhere where the touches of humans, sylvari, charr, whatever main race, have not reached. 

Your first instance of it is most likely the story instance, so you get introduced to the place pretty quickly. I don’t have to say how gorgeous the city actually is, right?

The whole place is an archaeologist’s wet dream. And again, the map tells you, it shows you, it’s story, it’s history (the Priory people are wetting themselves over the whole thing), and sometimes it’s the Exalted themselves who tell you the story. But you can gauge a lot of it just from observing. It’s not the most effective of cities, I’ll be honest, but it’s a damn impressive one. After all, Tarir was build for Glint’s scion.

And the meta? It’s about PROTECTING the city. Protecting it from Mordremoth, from destroying it, from destroying the safe place for a dragon’s egg. You stop Mordremoth from leaching the place with Octovines (or an exalted does it for you. Kudos to you, immortal and endless exalted), and you don’t rly realize the importance of this place until the whole Aurene thing happens.

And oof, Tangled Depths. 

Tangled Depths, one of the most hated maps in the entire expansion, a thing (imho) that can be very much blamed on the map limitation (I’m talking about your map, where you see where you are and where the waypoints are, etc.) Like, honestly, wouldn’t it be a WHOLE lot easier to traverse if your map made actual damn sense? But I digress.

Tangled Depths is probably one of the lesser impressive maps? Overall, I very like it, although it’s story has to be unearthed and explored actively. It’s more of a bland looking pie with delicious filling.

Tangled Depths is quite...a good map. In a way. Don’t throw trash at me, please. I also hated it when I had to walk through it, but I learnt the shortcuts and then traversed with relative ease, so I stopped seeing the whole map as a nuisance and started seeing it for what it was. 

Such an untouched piece of history... The Rata Novus? Rata Novus? Hello? Asura lived here?

The Ogres, making their village there? The Nuhoch, fighting for their survival with the Zintl hyleks and the Chak? The Chak? Such new and interesting creatures who literally eat magic! In the middle of the jungle, you see such life, such vivacity, even in the midst of Mordremoth’s reign of terror.

And the story of the meta is tying in so nicely to the overall thing! You’re literally tunneling into Dragon’s stand, to reach old Papa Mordremoth, and you’re doing it with the help of everyone on the map! The Ogres, the asuras (well they dead, so their robots lol), the Chak (yeah, Chak bois be helping, not rly it’s just the lane lol), and the useless easy line! You’re charging a thingimajig that blasts a hole through the ley-line empowered wall and bam, you’re in DS. (Excuse me it has been a while since I was in TD) And Chak bois are on your ass trying to eat it cuz magic but that’s so the meta is interesting.

And then... My favourite map. Dragon’s stand.

I played this map... probably more than I should’ve, but... the way it is structured is simply so interesting! Three lines, for three leaders, each battling their way through the jungle to get to the Generals, to get to the Mouth of Mordremoth. And along the way, you gain more and more allies, more and more people to help you fight this noodle!  You get the ogres, the itzel, the nuhoch, the skritt(!), the exalted, the... THE NIGHTMARE COURT? *cough cough* cut content *cough cough*. Yeah, some don’t get an explanation, but you see everything that you have done, everyone you have helped in the previous map, go help you out in this one? You see them and protect them at the last island (and the whole map is just one giant meta and I LOVE IT (it can be a point of criticism as well, since it’s quite hard to explore if the meta ain’t done and the last few pois are impossible to get if MoM isn’t dead)) and it’s just so epic

Everything you did was leading up to this moment, this last battle, this last stand, the DRAGON’S STAND. And the battle was just... epic. Epic, is all I can say about this map and it’s story. (Shame the Commanders/Generals were cut out, as we have no clue who they were, and knowing something about them would make it a bit more meaningful in fighting them)

To conclude.

HoT is focused as hell. You got a goal: Pop a cap in Mordremoth. And you’re going to do it. You got twice the motivation if you’re a sylvari. Each map is designed to give you the build up of the fight, first you see what Mordremoth can do, then you see what’s at stake, and then you gotta fight for it. The fact the maps are gorgeous (If a little (bit a lot) laggy) only helps the overall feel.  Anything and Everything can and will murder your ass, and you gotta be ready for it.

Now onto PoF maps. This segment is going to be shorter, because in all honesty? PoF, I like you, but you’re just... well, you’ll see. Hopefully. This is after all just my opinion lol.

Oh and if you got this far? Kudos lol I ramble a lot. <3

Anyway, PoF maps.

So the opening to PoF is... quite good? It’s a bit out of your control but it does it’s job imo.

You come in on an airship, and you see the land spread before you. You see a pyramind, and you think “Oh hell yeah, pyramids.” I would LOVE to just be able to explore the area, you know, have a chill opening, but PoF is about FIRE and FIGHT so, you fight and try to save the people and it’s very chaotic and everything is on FIRE OH GODS.

So you chase this mysterious person, you get introduced to the raptor village, all goes well or bad, and then you are directed to the city of Amnoon (since we’re still in a story instance), so you go. Amnoon is very pretty, and following the tradition of MMO cities very impractical, but hey, rule of cool. The whole time you’re not rly allowed to explore anywhere or look at anything, you’re focused, sure, but you’re also very distracted, you get me?

You want to look around, you want to explore, but you’ve just been attacked by this Herald woman and you’re tired of politics. The opening of PoF isn’t bad, but it is very different from HoT, as in HoT you first SAW the carnage Mordy did and THEN you went on down to help the remaining survivals, whereas here, in Oasis, you kinda.. live through it? You see it first hand what Balthy is doing, while in HoT you only chased the aftermaths of the massacres. This works differently for everyone, and I personally prefer the HoT approach. 

PoF is very open when it comes to the story, as in you are not AS limited to instances as it was with HoT, sometimes it works to its advantage, sometimes.. it doesn’t. 

The way PoF maps jerk you around is very confusing to me. You explore Crystal Oasis, then you go to Desert Highlands, then to Elon riverlands, and you gotta go back down through the Oasis to get there, so you are already trudging through the land you already know (and since you have mounts they took full advantage of making the maps bigger, but it makes them feel... emptier? Like I get it, it’s the Desert, but still...) so you get to Elon riverlands, you do your thing there, then you go to Desolation, then to Vabbi. Nice. Okay.

In none of these maps, there is a story meta. None. No impressive whole-map meta where you gotta all cooperate to keep the map stable. Nothing. There is no use in me trying to analyze these maps, for they are just... backdrop to what’s happening.  Balthazar this, Balthazar that. Oh no Kralky is awake, and oh look we met Vlast for like 2 seconds and then he immediately ded. 

I’ll be honest... I don’t remember much of PoF before chapter 9 The Departing (because that chapter was fire. Lol. get it), which saddens me immensely. I remember most of HoT. Where what happened when it happened how it happened, I know, and if I don’t know immediately, in few minutes my brain serves me the entire instance. I could probably play HoT blindfolded. 

This is a very shallow look into why I probably don’t like PoF as much as I like HoT. 

To try and conclude my very messy terrible rant essay:

Heart of Thorns used its maps in a way that showed you with gameplay what’s in store for you. It used maps in a way to help you build that anticipation of the fight, of everything you sacrificed along the way. The maps are smartly connected in a way where with each map you delve deeper into the jungle, deeper into the mouth of the beast. Sure, they lag as fuck, but the PoF maps do so too, don’t lie to yourselves. With each map you meet new allies that help you along the way.

In Path of Fire I just... don’t get that feeling. I run from map to map, mindlessly following the green star, hoping I will stumble upon something interesting on the way. In Heart of Thorns it was the opposite. I was walking around the map, breathing in the atmosphere of the place, and stumbling upon the green story star. I feel like the Elona desert did not get such justice as it deserved. I trudge around the maps, I complete the maps to get the reward, then I move onto the story. My interest in the whole thing only started to pick up once I freaking DIED for gods’ sake. 

My hopes for the End of Dragons, which is happening in Cantha, is that I get more of that focused map design. That story in gameplay, that map-wide meta that will have me grind my teeth at 10pm on a work/school night. I don’t need Drizzlewood metas (an inferior Dragon’s stand, mind you) that are like 2-3 hours long. A 30 min prelude and 30 min metas are fine. An hour long meta if you have the idea for it, but... give me map stories, Anet.

Feel free to share your own feels about the different feels between the DLCs. I will GLADLY take in PoF preferrers. What did you prefer in PoF? What did you like in it? Give me your opinions, give me your take on everything. 

And thank you for reading my overly long rant essay, hah.

[mobius-prime]

260. Sonic the Hedgehog #191

Metal and Mettle (Part 1)

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Josh Ray

A few days after Scourge and the Suppression Squad have taken control of Freedom HQ, Miles alerts Scourge to an interesting and unexpected visitor - namely, Metal Sonic, through whom Eggman is speaking and watching.

Yeah, don't underestimate a fellow evildoer, Scourge. Meanwhile in New Mobotropolis, Sonic and Knuckles stand before the Council of Acorn to try to get permission to take the base back. Unfortunately for them, the council votes four to two to leave it for the time being, as they don't see Scourge as that big of a threat, and want to focus on taking New Megaopolis from Eggman before going after smaller holdings. Sonic, of course, does not take this well, and tries to talk to Knuckles about it once they exit the building.

Oh, Knuckles. You have to stop angsting about this, my dude. Sonic leaves the city on his own, musing as he races back to Freedom HQ about how despite their recent successes in battle, and many gains against Eggman and his forces, he can't help a strange feeling that overall they're losing ground. He hopes that kicking Scourge out of the base will cheer him up, but is brought up short by the sight of Scourge and Metal Sonic battling it out on the grass outside. Miles stands nearby watching, and not-so-subtly tests Scourge's leadership by asking if he wants help against Metal, as surely the others helping him would only be an insult since he conquered his planet on his own. Sonic, uninterested in any of the politics, merely barrels in to help, offering Scourge a truce to take Metal out, but Scourge angrily refuses, and both he and Metal turn on Sonic to attack. Meanwhile, Julie-Su finds Knuckles brooding on a bench in the park, and when she presses to know what's bothering him he snaps, yelling that he can't trust himself or anyone else, as no matter what he does, someone always ends up hurt, and he can't bear to face the few remaining members of his family. Julie-Su reaches for him, looking at first like she's going to comfort him, but then…

I mean, all things considered, Julie-Su, you make a fantastic point. Your family's loss has been largely glossed over until now - I don't think she was even given a single panel before now to mourn the deaths of her foster parents, despite how delighted she was to rediscover them before - and as you point out, it's not like Knuckles is suffering alone. Back at Freedom HQ, the fight continues, with Eggman telling Metal to hang in there as he's putting the "finishing touches" on some backup. Sonic and Scourge briefly wind up fighting each other without Metal's interference, during which Sonic criticizes Scourge for taking his advice to better himself to a brutal, negative extreme. Scourge merely mocks Sonic's restraint, pointing out how much more powerful he is as a king than as a hero.

Ooh, dramatic parallels to their prior talk! I love it! Metal interrupts before Sonic can respond, and as the fight continues once more we move this time to Angel Island, where Knuckles is having a talk with Archimedes while Charmy sits nearby.

So something that needs to be pointed out is that inexplicably, this is Archimedes' last appearance in the comic, ever. Unlike all the other characters who have disappeared from the comic, there's no reason given - no genocide, no dimensional portal to swallow him up, no deaths or sudden decisions to leave and find himself on another continent, nothing. He just… never shows up again. It's disappointing, as y'all know how much I like Archimedes, but again I really do think this stems from Ian's weird, irritating habit of erasing a lot of Kenders' contributions to this world. I know that he's trying to make the comic's world more like the games, and that in the games, Knuckles is the last echidna and isn't embroiled in all these politics, but dammit, there's nothing wrong with comic Knuckles being so different from game Knuckles! Personality-wise, he's still similar, still recognizable, it's just his circumstances that are different. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be blaming Ian for all of this - for all I know, Sega themselves ordered him to get rid of all of this stuff. I dunno, man, I'm just some random fan with a blog. Speaking of controversial decisions by Ian, though, it's nice to see him doing his best to treat Charmy's brain damage with respect here. He certainly acts more childlike than he once did, but he's doing his best, and isn't a punchline, still actively participating in missions and helping Knuckles sort his own problems out.

Anyway, Knuckles, encouraged by his mentor's words, uses his warp ring to head back to the city, where he and Julie-Su give a curt apology to each other with an agreement to sort things out more fully later, when he's had more time to work through his emotional distress. They consider heading to Freedom HQ to help Sonic, but Knuckles believes that Sonic can most likely handle the situation on his own. Of course, we know better - Sonic might be able to take on Scourge or Metal individually, but both at once is a real challenge. He kicks Metal aside, only to be startled by the sight of another robot coming to join the fray - a robot that looks exactly like Scourge. Wow, Eggman, you really didn't waste any time on that one, huh? How many Metal Sonics do you think he has lying around in his base just ready for a paint job and a new assignment?

Though there's another story in this issue, we won't be covering it. Why? Well, it's the first real installment of "In Another Time, In Another Place"! I've mentioned it before, but it's basically what Ian decided to do when it was clear he couldn't keep putting in half-adaptions of random games anymore, but still needed to do tie-ins for newly-released games. With the pattern we've been taking with these tie-ins lately, you'd think this one would be for Sonic '06, but nope! For whatever reason, Sonic '06 goes completely unacknowledged within the comic verse (at least for now), with the sole exception of Shadow joining up with GUN. However, as I've mentioned before, Ian did state somewhere along the way that Sonic '06 did in fact happen somewhere during the course of the comic's plotline - it's just that due to the very nature of the game's story, the events of the plot are entirely reset and erased from the timeline at the end, meaning an adaption doesn't even have to take place, as technically, even though those events did happen, they also… didn't.

But all that aside, the tie-in in today's issue is actually for the little-remembered DS title, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, which was an RPG developed by Bioware of all companies (and yes, they did include one of their trademark Bioware romance sidequests, though it's probably of little interest to anyone who doesn't ship Sonamy). While again, we're not covering it due to it being non-canon, it's an important thing to note regardless. For one, these In Another Time, In Another Place installments became pretty commonplace throughout the comic as new games were released, but perhaps more importantly, this was the game that apparently really got under Kenders' skin. The problem is that after all he'd done to develop the world of the echidnas and all the political and military factions thereof, this game's plot ended up heavily centering around a band of echidnas in dark armor emerging from a parallel dimension where time moves more slowly, with an intent to take the Master Emerald and use it to cement their place of power in the real world once more, though one female echidna realizes the error of her people's ways and abandons her army to side with Knuckles against her megalomaniacal and powerful male leader. Gee, sound familiar? While I don't believe that Bioware or Sega actually copied Kenders' ideas outright - the way I've described it makes it sound similar, but there's a ton of differences in the plot and presentation that definitely indicate they're two different ideas by different people - Kenders certainly seems to think it's a rip-off, and this was from what I understand at the core of all his problems with Sega that led to his eventual lawsuit that forced the reboot of the comic. It sucks, too, because even aside from losing all the years of history in the preboot, the plot of Sonic Chronicles was actually quite fascinating and it ended on a cliffhanger, which will never, ever be resolved because Sega doesn't even want to touch that can of worms after everything that happened. I think the game has actually been quietly stricken from canon, too, because the cliffhanger literally involved Eggman having taken over the world while everyone was away, and there's just no way to solve something like that offscreen. Just a bad time all around, folks. As they say in the fandom - thanks, Ken Penders. Still, though, we have quite a ways to go before we hit the preboot's end, so let's forget about the negative stuff and keep trucking on.

[something-about-sunflowers]

*sora voice* I made it!

ohhh man this took so long but i managed to get it done in three days and i cant believe i managed it

this is the most characters ive EVER drawn in the same scene theres 24 of them! From very left to very right: Repliku, Vanitas, Aqua, Leon, Terra, Demyx, Ven, Pence, Ienzo, Hayner, Aerith, Roxas, Mickey, Goofy, Isa, Donald, Lea, Kairi, Sora, Riku, Xion, Olette, Namine, and Yuffie

i wanted to include everyone who’s had some type of impact on me throughout these games and i wanted them to be having fun, they deserve to have some fun. i put the paopu in the foreground because we’re all connected

(i also have a bit of my shipping biases in this lmao)

ok ok now on to the actual thing lmao (warning: text brick incoming): Kingdom Hearts has been a pretty constant thing in my life since i was like, six. I remember playing around on destiny islands and running rampant in traverse town cause i didnt really know how to play all that well when i was a kid. I used to watch my brother play well into the night cause he was older and much better at video games (funnily enough i handed him the controller a bit during my critical playthrough of KH3 and he was absolutely hopeless) and i wanted to see the ending (i actually only ever beat KH1 just last year and im still super proud lmao KH1 is HARD)

And then when KH2 came out we didnt actually have our own copy for a good while, my brother borrowed it from a friend of his. i sat in his room playing pretty much every day for a whole summer playing while my brother gamed on his pc KH2 was actually the first KH game i had ever finished on my own and i loved it so much

then i played Com and Re Com. i didnt finish either of them lmao i love them tho i just could never figure out the card system and id get pretty consistently lost

i got bbs a good bit after it had been out because i didnt have a psp. after much asking my parents got me one for christmas and i spent that whole day playing it (i think i went with aqua first cause she’s pretty and i was excited to be able to play as a girl)

i never actually played 358/2 Days cause i dont have a 3/DS (this also made playing DDD dificult) but i knew a good bit of the story from a friend in school who would bring his and play at lunch, that and the fandom

i played DDD tho (and 0.2) when i got a ps4 (in anticipation for KH3 lmao) and it was so colorful and fun i loved it

i still remember my giddy excitement with the first announcement of KH3 being in development. i was literally shaking and i had so much energy i just couldnt believe and then as we got closer and closer and it got more real, with trailers and gameplay footage and the whole fandom was so happy and speculative ‘what if . . .’ ‘ooh maybe we’ll get to see . . .’ i honestly think that was the best time to be in the fandom

and now that the game is out and i’ve played and beaten it (still gotta finish my 100% critical playthrough tho) and im still so in love with the series and all of the characters i had grown up with and who’d grown with me (just maybe not quite as much as i’ve grown lmao its been years for me and they’re all still the same age) im so excited to think of whats to come!!

~Chel

[snailcomicz]

Protag’s Path

     A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Star Wars.TM

The Hundred Years War

Protag’s Path

A little over ninety years ago, the Jedi High Council cast out one Jedi for claiming using the Dark Side of the Force was justified. Outraged, the fallen Jedi retaliated and fought with all of the dark powers and tools they had been acquiring, teaching those they subjugated and those they chose the powers of the Dark Side.

A generation has passed since that first fallen Jedi, but many of those the fallen taught remained firmly convinced in the powers of the Dark Side. They curse the Jedi Order and the Republic alike for denying them that which they feel they are owed.

Recently the Dark Side forces have been slowly losing ground, but the Republic has been confounded at how, around twenty years ago, their opponents sieges suddenly became more effective than ever. They remain entirely unaware of how a single dark Jedi has been unraveling their every attempt to break through contested points along hyperspace routes...

We scroll down to a massive star ship fight above a planet. None of the ships on either side share the distinctive looks of the ships we’ve come to know, although the designs make them look like older prototypes rather than entirely new ships. A small squadron of undamaged ships pops out of hyperspace behind what appears to be a massive blockade, but behind them a small satellite blinks red twice. We follow the route of the signal it sent, leading us past the largest ship in the blockade and several smaller skirmishes to a moderately sized gunner ship. In a room full of monitors, we see the back of a robe position themself in front of the new alert, cast entirely in silhouette by the sharp light. Another alert interrupts the signal from before, announcing “Critical files have been lost due to enemy bombardment. Please reconnect with the core database, or manually input your specifications for a temporary ID.”

You are the Protag, and this is your path.

Born out of a love for the old KotOR style games, an almost insatiable need to worldbuild, and one night I thank the stars my sleeplessly addled brain wrote down what it was thinking about, this writing exercise follows the story of Protag, the person who’s become a -pro- at -tagging- hyperspace routes and has been working for the dark side of the Force for over thirty years. During this first encounter you command a battalion of ships within a greater fleet engaging in a planet wide siege, and get to decide what kind of dark side user you are. You meet your apprentice and your pilot, learn how the game mechanics work, and maybe play around with what talking style you use. At no point during this mission do you get the chance to do something nice or lessen the damage of the battle-

Yet.

You can play through the game without changing anything about this destructive attitude, continuing your dark reign of terror to the Republic and rising to greater and more terrible power. After the first mission, however, you are separated from the rest of your fleet and forced down to a distant planet for repairs. From then on, you can unlock kinder dialogue options, less damaging solutions to problems, and even work to turn away from the dark side entirely.

     Timeline

As mentioned in the title crawl, this game is set at the tail end of the Hundred-Year Darkness, a time relatively unexplored by the SW universe. Thus, every time I’ve said ‘Sith’ in previous posts have been jossed because the Sith didn’t exist yet and I’m going to have to do so much more freaking research about SW for this, because God has cursed me for my hubris and my work is never finished.

I kid, I kid. In setting Portag’s storyline so far back, I don’t have to worry about bumping into either the KotOR or the prequels era of history, and I said I wanted to worldbuild right?

(And if you’re wondering why future characters know nothing about Protag’s story, I’ve got a simple answer for you. Not only was it not a widely talked about point of history by the Mandelorian Wars, but the official record was part of the history lost when Malak destroyed the Dantooine Academy. By the time the prequels rolls around, the story’s lost for good, even if the effects your Protag made are not.)

     Plot routes

DS routes:

Darkest Jedi (embraces DS structure)

Your Protag’s reign of terror holds the galaxy by the throat. You have it all by force, Force or manipulation, only to be cut down by the one that will rule after you. In remaining evil and taking control from others, you forfeited your choice of control over yourself and echo the future Sith-Apprentice tradition. Your Protag may be overly confident or paranoid as hell, but no matter what way you play, you cannot prevent your death by apprentice.

Trapped by the System (makes LS outcomes, but stays in the DS structure)

Your Protag remains within the dark side warmongering culture, but their actions show a reluctance to use the full range of their powers. This is a weakness in your brethren’s eyes, but a saving grace in the eyes of those you help. Your dark side allies turn on you, and you are cut down by their blades, but the end credits show you the positive effects your kinder decisions made on the planets/npcs/situations/companions you nurtured where you could within the structure of evil.

LS routes:

The One who Defected (leaves the DS structure, but still makes DS outcomes)

Your Protag becomes ruthless force user who prescribes to neither the light nor the dark side point of view, and is really only contacted by those who either have the amount of money or the genuine need [depending on how you play] to gain your services. Your companions learn self reliance from you, not trust, and most leave eventually. A few may choose to stay at your protag’s side, if you focused on their needs in game.

Changed for the Better (leaves DS structure and works to make LS outcomes)

Your Protag’s influence has helped re-stabilize several critical situations happening around the galaxy. Organizations as a whole don’t outright trust you, but individuals keep seeking you out, wanting to know how you were strong enough to change. Eventually you realize the ones who seek you out have, by circumstance or decision, been led down dark paths themselves but no one had ever so visibly proven that they could change before. Your companions learn healthy boundaries and trust from you, and even when some of them split off they stay in close contact because they’ve grown fond of you. The war has ended, and it’s time to rebuild.

     Game mechanics

Route exclusive Force rules

The Darkest doesn’t have to worry about the petty concerns of the other routes and are always able to use their Force powers, cunning or strength to the limit. You get to continue growing and evolving their powers without any restrictions and way waste to your enemies, and combat is always fun but a relative breeze. Of course, nobody on the light or dark side trusts you, but that’s not new.

If you are playing the Trapped, as you continue accumulating LS points not only do your dark side allies become more suspicious of you, but your Force powers become less powerful. You’re going to have to find other strategies than just blasting people with your powers, or start acting more evil. If you stay in the land of posturing and evil, it’s not just easier to be a jerk, you lose power you used to have if you don’t.

For the Defector, retaining the dark side points keeps your Force power fully charged, but LS organizations don’t trust you as far as they can throw you. You’ll have to be very convincing everytime you need to face something you can’t handle on your own.

In the Changed route, as you progress in the storyline, you start actively giving up Dark Side Force powers to prove how much you are dedicated to changing. In exchange, you gain other avenues of leveling up and the world around you starts to believe you when you tell them you’ve changed. You also start looking healthier the more you do so, although you never lose the dark side eye scarring.

Midbosses and midcompanions

The basic idea here is to do something interesting and actually logical with the ‘you can only get this character if you do X’ rather than basing it on your gender or such nonsense. When you upgrade your ship’s traveling range you encounter a miniboss that lasts more than one encounter, and a new companion. These are the same two characters in different positions depending on your big choice to stay with the Dark Side or leave and Change, and you will have heard of/interacted with them before you encounter them. With both minibosses, at some point in the fight they get some distance on you and you have to decide if you’re going to pursue them now or wait for a different opportunity. Both choices will have positive and negative consequences further down the line.

Force and forcing

In every route you are able to use the Force and have easy access to a companion who is already trained in the Force [through either Nix or Generek,] but almost everyone else doesn’t use the Force when you meet them. Some of them you can’t train in the Force at all, but following and furthering some of the Force dynamics found in KotOR 2, some of you companions can be manipulated to developing Force abilities but shouldn’t for their own health and wellbeing. They give you plenty of signs that this forcing them to use the Force is not a good idea and you can back off before any damage is done, but continuing to push gives you more fighting power at your companion’s expense.

     Protag

Fourties or older, to reinforce that they’re supposed to be set in their ways. They’ve figured out how to survive and live their life, and they can either go along with what they’ve always done which is easy [dark side routes] or they literally have to reframe every way they act which is hard [light side routes]. They are human to convey age and make them instantly relatable. Diverse character possibilities not tied to the pronouns you choose, although if you chose female pronouns the female coded designs queue up in front of the male coded designs and vice versa. Inventor of the hyperspace tagging system, but you get to decide what that means (you stole idea from another, others had different parts but you put all the parts together, you literally invented the satellites used, etc.)

     Companions

Mariah, Twi’lek Pilot. (She/Her, lesbian romance): Purple skin with darker stripes, wears a variation of a male smuggler’s outfit that exposes as little skin as possible. Outright willingly works for you as a dark side commander from the start, thanks to the money you generate for her and your willingness to let her get away with stealing historical artifacts from any places you raid.

If you ignore her needs, she slowly sinks further into the dark side mindset, losing any care for anyone’s wishes aside from her own and yours. If you tend to her needs, she slowly becomes more open with you and defends your actions.

D0-C9, Utility Droid. (He/him): Looks like someone took a small moving box size metal container, put way too many interfaces and wires on it, gave it wheels and called it a day. Mariah’s copilot, unusually advanced utility droid, and ship cook. His comments show some scraps of concern for Mariah’s emotional condition during the adventure, but outwardly he never seems to show much concern for you or others in your party.

The Droid cannot go against Protag’s orders and he sees no reason to, so his influence is based entirely on how well you treat him and Mariah in particular, and all companions in general.

Runscor, Klatooinian Mechanic.(He/Him, gay romance): Light reddish/brown skin, imposingly large and muscled but tries to slump in compensation for it. Quiet, passive, and often overlooked for how quality a mechanic he is. 

If you tear down his opinion when he tries to suggest kinder actions, he folds at the drop of a hat and digs further into his passive nature. If you encourage his kinder suggestions, he can become your greatest reality-tester.

FK-42, Protocol Droid? (They/Them): Humanoid, sets of eyes on both sides of their head, seems to have anti-sand protection all over. They only say “Valanka”, relying on context cues for all other communication. They are extremely manipulative and unpredictable but if you’re smart, you can harness whatever they’re Cain they’re raising to your advantage.

Their ulterior motives are utterly indecipherable, but they seem to want something? Or someone??? They’re influenced when you try to help them locate whatever it/they are, and you lose influence anytime you try to outright stop what they’re doing.

     Mid boss/companion

Nix, Trandoshan Sith. (She/her): Grey scales with fading brown patterns, no scars aside from the Sith eye scarring (unusual for Sith), tall and stocky. She is always docile and agreeable in her interactions with you, which contradicts her background actions of testing your limits and jockeying for a higher position behind your back.

Dark routes companion: You interacted with her on planet 0 as she’s your apprentice, but lost contact during what happened afterwards until you upgraded your ship. As soon as you land on a farther planet she regains contact with you, and after a mission or so she rejoins your party to resume her apprenticeship under you.

Her constant background pushing back against your decisions do come from some underlying needs, if you ignore these needs she becomes even more subtle in her actions and clearly begins plotting your demise. If you address her underlying concerns she backs off, but it only makes what happens in the end harder.

Light routes midboss: On planet 0 you interact with her as your apprentice, and she does not take lightly to you shifting sides. Your turning has made other Sith question her allegiance, and if she can take you out she can salvage some of her reputation. She uses the Force to the limit, and during the fight she makes a massive cave-in which endangers your allies. You can pursue her immediately and leave them to their fate, or wait for a different opportunity to take a shot at her and let her wreak havoc until you find that chance.

Jonni, Human Bounty Hunter. (She/Her): Dark brown skin, visibly prosthetic eye right arm and both legs, clothes leaning on cowboy-esque while still fitting the time period. One of the better known individuals fighting against the dark side forces, she is oddly accepting of slave and working class defectors. She is known for focusing a good portion of her time in a fight minimizing innocent casualties, and slaughtering those who shows no mercy.

Dark routes midboss: Mariah shows you some recorded transmissions involving her to update you on the opposition before you encounter her firsthand. In the first encounter Jonni tries to lead you away from bystanders, and whether you let her lead you away or you manipulate/wound/kill bystanders determines how hard her following fights will be. She’s a highly mobile opponent, leading it to be believable when you’ve both exchanged some hits for her to get away. You can pursue her immediately during a critical moment in whatever mission you came to this planet for, or wait for a different opportunity to take her out which will let her rally her forces with new intel specifically on you.

Light routes companion: She is first among the big Republic figures to acknowledge your efforts to change, even though she doesn’t excuse your past atrocities. Initially she’s of the talking heads on the Comm Link who updates on ‘official’ missions, but she joins your party when your ship capacity expands to check in on more distant planets. (But you also suspect to keep an eye on you after the first Nix encounter).

If you don’t mind civilian casualties she becomes more commanding and distant, and will not be available as a companion on some missions as she tries to minimize the damage both the enemy and you might cause. If you do account for protecting innocents, she becomes vocally supportive of you and easily handles whatever attitude you choose to have.

Zeth, Human Mercenary. (He/Him, pan romance): Asian heritage, with several battle scars and one massive claw mark tearing through part of his left ear. He looks like a mixed martial artist, with bulk and muscles made for strength not looks, and wears battle armor at all times. He is initially aggressive towards you, but surprisingly kind and non combative towards your allies. In the DS routes you hire him directly for his mercenary services, and he will show up with more chances for recruitment for a couple planets if you don’t recruit him immediately. In LS routes he seeks you out, angry and desperate to know why you changed. It becomes clear he wants to change too, but isn’t sure it’s possible so he’s seeing if you’ll break when pushed. If you don’t find a way to recruit him during this encounter, he goes on his merry way and you never hear from him again. 

If you teach him that kindness and mercy are weaknesses to be crushed, he slowly loses his kindness for your companions, focusing solely on keeping you happy, himself alive, and otherwise it’s every being for themself. If you teach him how to handle what he’s done in the past while continuing to value kindness and mercy, he slowly mellows out towards you and through struggling through some of his issues becomes even better friends with your companions.

Gerevek, Dresellian Jedi. (They/them): Mid range yellow skin, red eyes with pupils, very short. Well kept clothes that can change from highly informal to passing for a formal meeting, and hide how much armor they are wearing. They primarily “fight” by making temporary political allegiances among planets during battles, but your tactics have been outmaneuvering them and they are nowhere near as good in a one on one fight. In DS routes, you can break their spirit by making the allies they counted on turn away in fear of you. They will only give you one chance to recruit them when this happens, as they have no belief left in their old outlook but don’t know how to submit to the Dark Side ideology. In LS routes, they insist on joining Jonni in checking on other planets, but it’s pretty blatantly obvious they’re actually keeping an eye on you. They will literally follow you for a few planets if you try to refuse, pulling in minor favors and trying to get your companions to put in a good word for them with varying success depending on the person.

They are an interesting case for gaining influence, as you have to be willing to take the opposite tac of communication than you usually do to show you’re willing to bend to what other people need. If you’re blunt and to the point you have to be more indirect, if you’re sarcastic and deflect emotions you have to show some sincerity, if you’re manipulative and obscure your motives you have to be blunt and to the point, etc. 

Saiga, Bothan Shopkeeper. (She/Her, bi romance): Black fur with brown streaks, grey eyes and tall. Well worn pastel clothes, carries massive rucksack with them everywhere, yes even in combat. Endlessly, stubbornly cheerful and has no problem with your sordid past. Sees you as a fulcrum to get her more power, but also does look after your interests. Perk of using this final companion is, as a shopkeeper herself, she can haggle down prices of any shop you come by.

If you view your mutual relationship as an even transaction she’ll easily oblige, returning every favor you do for her and staying relatively static throughout the game no matter what good or bad things you do. If you invest more in the relationship than can be divided by favors she slowly starts giving more as well, for good or ill.

This post is the foundation I will be using as I continue working on this project, and I’m super excited to keep building up this idea!

[derekscorner]

Between KH2 and KH3, which game did you like more, both story and gameplay-wise?

Ah is this that KH2 vs 3 debate I hear is ongoing? Well if you’re in for a sit I can answer that.

Gameplay:

From this angle I quite bluntly find KH2 Final Mix more fun. I’m not going to argue what was arguably better or worse, gameplay preference is a matter of…well preference no matter how many wish to deny this fact.

Not that you do but I”m sure some lover or hater of one will see this and try to retort. o3ob

Anyway; I felt Kh2 final mix was more technical and “harder” if I had to describe the feeling. Like 3 KH2 is normally overly easy but when put on critical mode it’s technicalities shine.I had to learn tactics, I couldn’t spam X or △, and I learned uses for summons. Which I found ironic since the 2 summons are far more useful when you dont initiate their moves.

Like if I let Stitch wander the screen he’ll deflect projectiles and keep my MP full. Chicken Little is a great early Magnet substitute and Peter Pan+Tinker Bell gives you a Phoenix Down.This was an improvement to KH1 in which only Tinker Bell was a spell with decent combat use. 1′s other summons had more supplemental uses imo.

KH3′s summons were nearly win buttons I felt. Simba in particular, while damn spectacle, felt broken. I never bothered to learn them as I didn’t need them. Which I’m sure they have their own uses but I’m not really fond of many control schemes for them so I opt out of it.

In terms of the magic system I felt 2 and 3 were opposites. In KH3 magic is far too powerful, something many have noted. And while you dont ‘have’ to use it that’s not an excuse for a problem. You should choose not to use it not force yourself to ignore it for challenge.

KH2 on the opposite spectrum made magic nearly useless I felt. Many enemies didn’t stun nor have elemental damage. Fire’s AOE animation was good for early Critical game and Blizzard helps that first Hollow Bastion visit but many enemies shrug the base spells off later.In contrast, KH2′s Magnet and Thunder spells can be OP. Reflect in of itself is practically the only spell you’d ever need to use due to it’s nature.

So while many have long rants on either’s magic system I dont really think one trumps the other. each one is equally flawed with issues I dont see ever being addressed.

In terms of keyblade combat I preferred KH2′s because I felt like Sora was automated in 3. I spam X cause I’m a scrub at timing presses (DMC5 is helping me overcome that) and due to this I noticed real quick that Sora’s combos just felt really automated.

Like I’d press X for one hit and get three. In contrast, KH2′s combat is harder. Sora animates combos as fast as my lazy ass can spam X and I’m not floating around like a final fantasy god.

I’m not really sure how to put this feeling into words but I do feel Kh2 keyblades are funner or snappier to combo whereas in KH3 I’m playing a watered down FFXV with it’s hold/press X for combo string.

Both games are so similar outside this issue that I dont see no reason to list likes or dislikes. If anything, from here, KH3 had great quality of life changes. The menu system was easier on the eyes and I’d be a damned soul if I didn’t admit I like switching keyblades mid-combat.

I also really appreciate KH3 finally using Re:Coded’s keyblade ideas. It’s been there since that DS game yet no one every expanded on making keyblades unique since. It was a very foolish step backward to me.

I love that keyblades level up, I love that each one has a preference and the only way that could’ve been better is if they adapted Coded’s system entirely and gave each keyblade (or most) it’s own unique combo.

KH2 quite frankly just falls short in a hindsight perspective since keyblades were “stat sticks” and you only ever chose weaker ones for an ability. Which, back then, was a huge step up from KH1.

So KH3 wins in this area I also dont really hate on Kh2 for it since KH2 is a product of the era. This idea of keyblades growing with you didn’t happen till Re:Coded.

As for Shotlocks…I dont like them. I hated them in BBS and I hate them here. It’s not even a comparison to KH2 type of opinion. I hate Shotlocks, I never use shotlocks so I’m going to skip those.

I mean sure, KH2 had limits but the only limits I use are Knocksmash so I can’t exactly praise KH2′s half of that either.

And when it comes to Forms vs Transformations I think both have pros and cons the other lacks. For example, some Transformations are really cool, I love the hammer weapons or the dual pistols.

I also believe the staff transformation is what KH2′s wisdom form should’ve been in terms of how it does magic or basic attacks.

That said, I also really dislike many second forms keyblades have. I never evolve the pistols into the bazooka, I never turn the hammer into the drill, I have those second forms. It’s to the extent I prefer keyblades that have one form such as the staff.

I’m also not fond of the Kingdom Key’s 2nd form change. It’s a neat throwback and I love the outfit recolor but I dont find it fun to use.

Between the two games my favorite forms are Valor Form, Anti-Form, and the Staff Transformation. Odds are I wont use anything else unless I feel particularly bored.

I might use others more often if KH3 forced me to rely on them for tactics but as of right now it does not. This may change with 3 gets it’s Critical Mode DLC. Similar to how KH2FM forced me to rely on forms I hate like Wisdom or Final.

As a concept I will admit that I dislike transformations. I dont like the idea of keyblades becoming magical swiss army knives. KH3 pulled the idea off better than I expected but I dont like it all the same.

The only, and I mean only, thing I felt KH2 did better was tie forms to a meter. In KH3 the commands appear randomly (and often) and I dont gain consequences for using them.

In KH2 this was tied to your Drive Gauge. You had to plan what you used and this is an issue I felt KH3 had as a whole. Rather than shotlocks, I’d have preferred that Focus Gauge to be reserved for my summons and forms so that I could have better control of what I picked and to reduce how broken they are in-game.

The rest is miscellaneous opinions so I’ll rapid fire:

Gummi Ships: always hated them, BBS did Gummi Ships best. Point goes to KH3 here since I can at least skip most of it.

Minigames: I’ve never found a KH minigame fun. No one wins here

Worlds: KH3 wins this aspect too. World towns have actual people in them and when it uses original plots the worlds are quite good. I also appreciate the power to explore and soft platform again. It gives me a more immersive feeling than later titles ever have. (although I feel KH1 was still better than both here)(entirely because of how many small details/cameos/secrets a KH1 world had compared to sequels)

I dont really have a more technical opinion than that. I do however think Arendelle was a horrendous world and I hate to even be there. For a myriad of reasons….reasons that would be a rant post of it’s own.

Lil Chef: I never use the food. I dont care if it’s a good spot for ingredients. If I want to cook stuff I’ll do some irl or play FFXV.

Enemies: KH3 used nobodies more than KH2 did and I find that a damn crying shame. I also felt Unversed were underutilized. KH2 still takes the point here due to the combat points I mentioned above.

KH3 fodder is prettier and can be more elaborate but KH2 is funner to play and destroy them in so KH2.

The Disney Rides: I don’t use them, they break the game. I do like the choo choo though since it’s situational to specific battles. KH2 has nothing akin to these so there’s no comparison, I just wish the rides could be disabled or that they worked more like the train. (set to key fights)

KH2 vs KH3 Commands: Eh both aren’t that good. KH3 spams you commands to shift through and KH2 has so many for spectacles sake that the games get easy. There is no winner here, if anything KH2 should’ve restricted these like KH3 restricts the Train ride summon.

Final Fantasy: I dont like FF games but I consider the ones of Kh1 part of the main cast. Their alternate KH selves are important to me. The lack and fading of FF over the years is quite honestly something I dislike and 3′s total lack of them is inexcusable to me. KH2 takes this point since I got to at least meet Leon and crew again.

Then there’s the story.

Anyone that’s followed the blog or met me knows I strongly dislike the direction of KH’s story. It’s not a matter of things others debate, I do not like it. I hate it and I’m still teetering on quitting.

I wont even go into the points cause I’ve made a whole series of posts about my story gripes. I wont link them since this isn’t a shameless plug, I just want to iterate that my issues with the story has driven me to make 20+ tangents plus the older more angry rants.

Others liking it is fine I think, I get easily annoyed if someone tries to excuse something out of nostalgia or adoration, but generally anyone that likes it while admitting faults or agreeing to disagree is fine. (you do you folks)

If I had to rank them I feel KH2 is where a lot of issues started and I feel a lot of issues got worse after since the sequels tried to “fix” that mess. If left alone KH2 would’ve been a poorly written entry and a good stopping point for any disillusioned fan.

KH3 as a contrast tied up everything after 2 up til 3 itself. I do not consider the story good, the pacing is very jarring because it lacks a mid point, it’s weighed down by all the BS prior to it.

I do not feel attachment for the “trios” of the series, I find the repetition of them annoying. I find it a shame most have more dev time than the originals they’re cloned based on.

And I frankly dislike Xehanort as a villain. He’s not interesting, his motives seem to switch with several report entries and I dont eve get the satisfaction of ending him like I did Xemnas or Ansem.

I was entirely indifferent to the entirety of this game’s narrative as I played it. Something that worried my friend @blackosprey because I was so tired I could not even care enough to hate it.

I did fine the trios reunions well done. I dislike them for a list of reasons but they were coming back anyway, their fates sucked prior, so those were well done. I finally felt hype when the LW appeared (only to vanish, fuck you nomura) and in the final battle.

The ending was confusing to me. So many got a happy ending so I fail to see the logic of Sora vanishing. The Luxu reveal, which I found fucking hilarious, was the only sequel bait needed.To have Sora just up and die felt like a stupid decision and I’m sure many more found it insulting.

And when mentioning Luxu I dont mean it in a sarcastic fashion. I genuinely find him funnier in retrospect due to this retroactive change. Nearly every line or scene he’s said is now funny as hell because he’s this ancient troll. I consider it the first legitimately earned twist Nomura has made in ages.

Still, KH2′s writing and story isn’t great either. I could rant why, I have ranted why, but despite it’s flaws it was an “ending” to me.So if asked 2 or 3 I will pick 2. The writing in Kh2 is bad for lots of reasons but if I ignore the Ansem reports it’s no a story about Xehanort.

Ignoring one KH2 report let’s me live this simpler story of Sora and a scientist gone mad and the journey to stop him. It had a lot of stupid things or one of the worst “twists for twists sake” moments ever in the ‘two ansems’ reveal.

But still, I can play Kh2 and be in a KHverse where Xehanorts, Keyblade Wars, Ceremonies, timelines, sleeping worlds, data world abuse, and clones upon clones dont exist.

It’s not nostalgia so much as everything I came to dislike was post KH2. KH3 was all about these things I dont like. My favorite for key and nostalgic reasons is KH1, my pick of the question is Kh2.

KH3′s best assets that can’t be contested was it’s graphical evolution. I played KH3 three times back to back due to this, I came away from KH3 wishing KH1 or 2 looked like this. No game prior contests the look.

So all in all, as I reread this, it’s largely a mixed bag. Neither game is grand but I prefer KH2 because combat is more fun to me and it’s not tied down by a narrative and mythology I’ve come to hate.

I can play KH1, CoM, and KH2 and never be annoyed about something I loved going in a direction I hated.

[dalekofchaos]

Why I ship Joker x Harley/Jarley and why I love Joker and Harley as characters

I like their relationship because I see them as this twisted clownish super villain version of Bonnie And Clyde. Their dynamic, their chemistry and their story is compelling and I just love them together. While the abuse does make me uncomfortable. It’s more than one sided abuse as so many people diminish it as.

A lot of people like to diminish the relationship as one sided abuse and take Harley’s agency and autonomy away by treating her like a defenseless child and a “cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs” and dismiss Joker as nothing but a fuckboy. Their relationship is more complex than that. Harley became a villain of her own free will and The Joker is one of the greatest villains of all time. They are much more than tumblr dismisses them as.

Harleen Quinzel chose to become Harley Quinn.  Harleen Quinzel was not tortured or thrown in chemicals to become Harley Quinn. Harleen Quinzel fell in love with The Joker in therapy. There is a large portion of manipulation on The Joker’s part, but it was Harleen’s choice to become Harley Quinn. She’s not a victim of The Joker’s madness, she chose to become who she is.

Their relationship isn’t one sided abuse it’s an on and off again relationship. The Joker and Harley are both insane and dysfunctional, there is no way this can be a normal and healthy relationship because that is the complete opposite of these two characters. No one is saying the relationship is healthy nor do I suggest it to be healthy or a relationship to strive towards. It’s meant to be a violent, unstable relationship. It’s also fictional. It’s a fictional relationship between two horrible, demented murdering clowns. To pretend the relationship is a run of the mill one that’s portrayed as healthy is just preposterous. Same with pretending the relationship isn’t also filled with a sick, twisted romance. Romanticizing Joker/Harley isn’t the problem. The problem is encouraging the behaviors, which no one is. And I love them together, they are like the psychotic clownish super villain Bonnie And Clyde. The Joker DOES love Harley, he is incapable of showing it normally because he has never felt love for anyone and because he’s trash. If he didn’t love Harley he would have killed her ages ago, if all he needed was a way out of Arkham, Harley would have been killed.  He tries to kill her to push her away because he thinks that romance is a distraction and alien. Really, Joker sees Harley as the perfect partner. and this is according to Harley’s creator Paul Dini, The Joker himself Mark Hamil and Harley herself Arleen Sorkin “He loves her as much as he can. He loves her in his way.” -Paul Dini “…That, to me, is kinda their private life. Joker opens up and in those moments he is whatever he is at his core and all his demons come in. And the only one he trusts with that is Harley, or Harley’s the only one who knows how to deal with him in those moments.” -Paul Dini “Expressing emotion in any way that’s real and meaningful is alien to The Joker, but he’s learning those parts of himself, however unconsciously, through Harley.” -Mark Hamil “Everyone else sees The Joker laugh; only Harley has ever seen him cry.” -Arleen Sorkin She’s completely and utterly obsessed and in love with The Joker. She loves Ivy too, but her heart is primarily with Joker. Hell there was a comic where Joker was all nice and sweet to Harley and eventually Harley became bored and tried to get the old Joker back. Harley is in love with the mad clown, Harley wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Joker is one of the great villains of all time. He is the complete opposite of Batman. He is unpredictable and there is no method to why he does what he does. He is a force of nature, while Batman is the unmovable object. He views life as a joke and death as the punchline. He is the only one who can truly push Batman and Gotham to it’s limits. His goal isn’t money, revenge or even world domination. The Joker simply wants to watch the world burn and prove that all it takes is one bad day to turn insane just like him. Batman's primary weapon in his war against crime is intimidation. This is useless to The Joker. The Joker can use Batman’s code of not killing against him. The Joker also forces Batman to make choices to reveal his true character but also outsmarts him. Joker is not out to kill Batman, if he kills him, the fun is over. This is more of a game to Joker. “You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to to this forever.” that is what makes their dynamic so good. The Joker knows where to hurt Batman and Batman won’t kill him. Speaking of. I often hear tumblr go off about “Batman should just fucking kill Batman and get it over with” no...no you moron! The reason why is this. The Joker and Batman are each trying to prove a point to society - and really to us, the readers. The Joker wants Batman to kill him because he perfectly embodies chaos and anarchy and wants to prove a point to everyone that people are basically more chaotic than orderly. This is why he is so scary: we are worried he may be right. If the Joker is right, then civilization is a ruse and we are all truly monsters inside. If the Joker can prove that Batman - the most orderly and logical and self-controlled of all of us - is a monster inside, then we are all monsters inside, and that is terrifying. The Joker is terrifying because we fear that we are like him deep down - that he is us. Batman is what we (any average person) could be at our absolute best, and the Joker is what we could be at our absolute worst. The Joker’s claim is that we are all terrible deep down, and it is only the law and our misplaced sense of justice that keeps us in line. Since Batman isn’t confined by the law, he is a perfect test case to try to get him to "break.” The Joker wants Batman to kill a person, any person, but knows that the only person Batman might ever even remotely consider killing would have to be a terrible monster, so is willing to do this himself and sacrifice himself to prove this macabre point. Batman needs to prove that it is not just laws that keep us in line, but basic human decency and our natural instinct NOT to kill. If Batman can prove this, then others will be inspired by his example (the citizens of Gotham, but again, also the readers), just as we are all inspired every day to keep civilization running smoothly and not descend into violence, anarchy, and chaos. This ability to be decent in the face of the horrors and temptations present all around us is humanity’s superpower, the superpower of each of us. The struggle of Batman and the Joker is the internal struggle of each of us. But we are inspired by Batman’s example, not the Joker’s, because Batman always wins the argument, because he has not killed the Joker. and that is why their dynamic works and why not killing The Joker is important. And that is simply why I love The Joker and why I cannot stand it when tumblr dismisses him as a abusive fuckboy or whines about him doing villainous acts and not understanding why Batman won’t kill him.

Harley Quinn isn’t a pushover or defenseless cinnamon roll “that must be protected at all costs”. Harley can defend herself and kick Joker’s ass, she can hold her own against Batman(Harley came the closest to killing Batman) or any of the rouge’s gallery and she can fought Mercy Graves and she won that fight!

Harleen Quinzel is not super smart as the New 52/Assault On Arkham/Injustice likes to say, but Harley is clever in her own way.  Harley’s father was a con artist and abusive. Harley became a psychiatrist to understand her father and to make a book on the rouges of Arkham Asylum, yes she slept her way to get a PHD. But that in away was smart. Harley is smart, but she likes partying more than studying, and gymnastics more than flipping through boring text books. She got into the university on a gymnastics scholarship, after all. So naturally, her grades were lackluster, meaning Ds and Fs. So she decided to boost the grades the old fashioned way, through sex with professors. She still gets to party and train, but she also gets top marks that would get her into Arkham Asylum, where she could train at becoming a pop psychologist. In a way, it was strategic thinking on Harley’s part. Harley is smart, but she isn’t super smart.

Harley works best as a second in command/follower. Why?  Because she became a villain in the first place to follow someone. And she as a villain only follows two people, Joker and Ivy. She has no motivation if she’s not following someone else, and her character is not meant to be heroic or quirky. She’s obsessive, lovesick and is solely devoted to her two loves. She kills for Joker and Ivy, she steals for them, she collaborated with them. If she’s not with one of them, her heart isn’t in it. And having her own solo series had rendered her into just another generic female anti hero. And since she was created to be a sidekick, she really works best in small doses. Trying to overwrite her character weakens the complexities of her.

Harley’s dad was and is a con artist. He’s been in and out of jail, constantly cheating on Harley’s mom, duping rich women for everything they have. Growing up in Bensonhurst around her constantly cheating and lying father, being left in squalor with her bitter mom and slacker brother, Harley vowed she’d be different, make a difference and actually be somebody. But it’s the classic tale of growing up to be what you hate. Harley loved cutting corners like her dad, though I imagine she always justified that to herself by saying she was actually going to make a difference, unlike her con artist father. And then she also became her mother, by falling in with The Joker, who is scarily a lot like her father.

Harleen Quinzel  was already traumatized and unstable from her fiance committing suicide right front of her but went into Arkham right after that anyways because she wanted to study the inmates from Arkham Asylum and wanted to study The Joker so she could be famous for  learning his secrets, which we all know what happened. I would say the madness was already in Harley just buried underneath, The Joker just helped it surface.

Harleen Quinzel did not come to Arkham Asylum to help people. Harleen was power hungry and saw the inmates as a get rich quick scheme for a book and wanted to be the one to understand The Joker’s secrets and what made him what he is. In her own words. “I’ve always had an attraction for extreme personalities, they’re more exciting more challenging. You can’t deny there’s an element of glamour to these super criminals.”

Harley Quinn is not a hero nor is she a anti-hero as DC has been trying to reshape her as. Harley Quinn IS A VILLAIN! Harley is not this role-model, she is a psychopath and a villain. Harley is not as psychotic as The Joker, Harley Quinn can be just as dangerous. Harley isn’t this precious baby, she isn’t a precious teddy bear and she isn’t someone to coddle regardless of how much you love her.  She doesn’t need to be protected from The Joker when she’s a super villain who has murdered her fair share of people and can hold her own against The Joker. She’s also crazy exuberant and peppy. She’s lighthearted evil.

Harley Quinn does not have Stockholm Syndrome. She is a willing accomplice to the Joker and knows exactly what she’s doing. She was never taken hostage or held against her will. She chose this lifestyle from the beginning. She as the Joker’s doctor crossed the line when getting getting romantically involved with him. You may not like the Joker or how he can treat her at times, but the truth is Harley Quinn took advantage of her mentally ill patient who was already declared legally insane before she ever met him. She has always been in the wrong. She begged and pleaded with the Arkham staff just to get to treat him so she could write a tell all book about the Joker. She’s not innocent. She’s a villain, not a victim.

Like it or not The Joker and Harley are made for each other. Harley’s entire character is built around The Joker. The only way Harley would ever be free from Joker’s influence is if she stripped away the clown aesthetic, stopped calling herself Harley Quinn and became Harleen Quinzel again. Harley is supposed to be obsessed with the Joker and no one else, she was created for The Joker.  In my opinion, taking away the obsession a character is literally built around will not improve it.  Everything would have been different if Harley hadn’t been built around the Joker, but she was created for him, therefore taking her away from him not only is out of character, but is also bad for the character itself. Joker, like it or not, was and still is what made Harley a special, complex character. Harley Quinn does not work without The Joker and does not work by trying to make her a hero or an anti-hero. She was created to be a villain and taking that away does not work at all

[nerdomlover]

Alright I have now finished Kingdom Hearts III, gods bless. As such after a long journey I have played all the Kingdom Hearts game and it’s time to rank them. I have played every game expect for one so lets get to it shall we? I am biased like all so your free to disagree. No Spoilers. Below are opinions and ratings out of 10

10. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

So, codded is the only game I truly hate and Yes I’ve never played it. I watched the cut scenes and Jesus it was so boring. Look, we visit the same worlds 3 to 4 times and that’s just too much. The story really has little to no purpose expect the last bit at the end and from what I’ve seen the game play is not great either. Just skip if you can. 3/10-Not even a good try.

9. Kingdom Hearts: Union X

I’m lumping Backcover into this as well, so I’ve downloaded the game and played it and it’s okay for what it is. It’s a cellphone game, I usually cant get more than 3 missions in till I’m bored though. You’re just tapping and sliding and cant really explore a lot. I find the lore bits the most interesting stuff and I love that but honestly it upsets me that there releasing such important lore onto a cellphone game of all things. It brings great mysterious to the series don’t get me wrong especially with the ending to Kingdom Hearts III and Backcover looks amazing but again important lore on a cellphone game? Really? 5/10-Ill play it when I’m bored.

8. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

This is a solid game in my opinion and yes I’ve actually played this one. I remember finding this in a sam’s club as a kid and getting so excited about it and begging my dad to buy it. And it’s good. The graphics haven’t aged well, but it is a fun game. The game play is meh to me at this point, and lets be honest the introduction and implication of Xion is kinda bad. They clearly created her after 2 and were really trying to come up with good reasons she wasn’t ever mentioned. I honestly think it’s a good story like I said it really fleshes out Axel, Roxas, and other organization members, and you get to play as them in the multiply player mode, nice touch, but the gameplay and graphics are far from desired so, it’s lower than some of the rest. 5/10-AverageTime. played it once that was enough.

7. Kingdom Heart: Chain of Memories              

Omg, so I’ve played this on the Gameboy and the playstation2. Dear god, I use to hate this game. HATE IT. I understand why it was made this way but fuck no, I have permeant trauma now of me and my friend screaming at the screen while fighting Vexen. I hate the game play and the combat system. The saving grace of this game is the story. It was amazing, I really appreciate now. Even more after playing 2. Just Namine and the mystery of the organization. Man, I man still have nightmares but the story is at least solid. 6/10-Might actually play it agin.

6. Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage

This really shouldn’t count but screw it. This has lovely, this may as well be a demo but is was appreciated. Aqua is a favorite of the fandom and having a whole game that was just her? Yes please. It was nice having this tie into Kingdom Heart’s finale and I really did like it and the game play even it was just a preview of 3’s gameplay. Overall a good time and I love my baby Aqua *fangirl scream* 7/10 – Love has a face and it’s Aqua’s.

5. Kingdom Hearts

This was the very first game I ever played on my playstation 2. This was my game growing up. I love Disney and as I’ve grow older I’ve grown like final fantasy. This is a great game and I love it. Yeah, the controls are wonking and yes I hate some of the side missions. I was so angry while getting Aeroga but that doesn’t matter. Its fun and it’s a best selling for a reason. Where on the 10th game so it must be great? The fandom thinks so. 8/10- My first love.

4. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

This entire game is a freakin tease. Why would you name this 3D….I’ver never played this on the DS so forgive me. But this angered me when it came out, Everything seemed to be pointing at 3 but this came instead and don’t get me started on the Riku hate that I still have. But honestly after playing the game? I’m happy with it. The flowmotion is hella great and they have so many new worlds, I’m so happy and the combat and story are great (ignoring the obvious complaint everyone has cause yeah. 13 Xehanorts is stupid) but the only complaints I have are I didn’t like the dream eaters (I’m not here to nitendog), why is it on the freaking 3DS, and the drop system….why….Otherwise a soild game. 8/10- A really really nice dive into my heart.

3. Kingdom Hearts III

13 Years…..And was it worth. Yes? Like I had major fun playing it. The combat was great. Was there problems? Yes. But I loved playing it. It’s a good game and I will play it over some of the others easily, it looks amazing, sounds amazing, and the story. My most problems have to do with the pacing and the ending. Which leaves it at number 3. 9/10- 13 Years of waiting, complete.

2. Kingdom Heart II

Talk to any fan and usual this is their number one game. It is the golden standard of Kingdom Hearts and their right. It was the best console game for a long time and had the best combat with the drive forms,  action commands, and the combos. It fixed the gummi ships and had so many Disney worlds. I for also enjoyed Roxas stuff and generally like the story throughout, plus it’s the first kingdom hearts game I beat. Actually it’s the first game I ever beat. But, its not number one. 10/10- Love you so much

1. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

I love this game so much. I remember being so happy when my brother got a PSP. This was literally the only game I wanted, which to this day I have. I have such fond memories of this game and I love the characters so much. I love playing as Terra, Ven, and Aqua way more than Sora and Riku. The combats more fun and the story is just something I love. Making it my favorite, despite it’s flaws.

[athina39]

Dead Apple Movie Report/Summary

as promised, here’s my reaction thread/summary/speculations/theories about the Dead Apple Movie!!! sorry it’s a day late orz

everything under the cut because IT’S LONG. the CR subs comparison is c/o Fayto-san!!!! i watched the movie in SE Asia, so it’s a different company who handled the subtitles/distribution (it’s ODEX).

here goes! (also a warning/enticement: i’m shamelessly biased towards chuuya and soukoku)

Extra Notes:

- we probably got ourselves perma-banned so many places yesterday (the restaurant where we had lunch, the coffeeshop we went to pre-movie, the foodcourt where we had our post-movie drink, the entire mall itself....) because we were..... quite wild haha

- we took up a whole row in the cinema and there was another group that had their own row behind us! they're chuuya fans too, which is always awesome. the girl behind me is educating her new-to-the-fandom friend to ship soukoku "even if dazai is an asshole", which is Big Mood.

- certain someones (lol) cough "walking dead show" whenever soda is onscreen;;;;; if only They Knew that was the actual theme of the show (more on that below)

- our group was the loudest in the squealing/shrieking ahahaha. and aside from the obvious chuuya and soukoku scenes, we were the loudest at: (1) ALL THE GIRLS (each time yosano/agatha/tsujimura/kyouka's mom appeared, there's guaranteed squealing; Kyouka is Best Girl); (2) akutagawa's Dynamic Entry & akutagawa's curl-up lol; (3) that scene in the OP with the pm dazai & ada dazai; (4) the backstab scene; (5) dazai's handcuff escape & pill swallow. we were also fairly loud at some of atsushi's scenes, but it was more out of laughter??? like.... tiger son, you're kinda unintentionally funny/narmy this movie;;;;

- the people behind us each time there's an atsukyou scene: "BUT. SHE'S. 14." / "she's cuuuute" / "but. she's. 14."

- drinking game: drink for (1) each time atsushi yells kyouka's name - you won't make it out alive within the first 30 mins. slightly easier version: drink for (2) each time there's an orphanage flashback. fast-paced version: drink for (3) each time the "CLAWSSSS" was repeated

Movie Itself:

- chuuya's dynamic entry is so cool, pink motorbike included. like 30% of movie budget probably went to the animation of that scene. it's also asdfghk;da that chuuya tooling/destroying buildings is like, part of his theme in this movie. also, it makes me excited to see a pm days!soukoku driving a car to a mission - they both drive like hell lol

- dazai's "hi, chuuya~" haunts me until now, like. stop sounding so sassy and flirty, gdI but then again, dazai's teasing voice when he talks to chuuya the entire time is sassy and flirty so. asdfhgla

- dazai's “It would have been interesting if Chuuya got struck with lightning instead.” made us shriek because pre-movie, we were discussing that the French term for lightning strike, "le coup de foudre" is associated with love at first sight

- dazai complaining that because chuuya arrived 5 mins late, dazai had to get hit 3 times & chuuya just rolling with that = old married couple vibe much;;;;

- on a more serious note - it's very interesting to see this side of chuuya - in his previous appearances, he was the type to immediately blow his fuse whenever dazai says something to infuriate him, but this time, while he still bickers with dazai, there's a serious edge to it? chuuya's about to deal with the cause of death of his sheep fa(r)m, after all.

- (also - wtf was that dude holding a gun to dazai's head doing??? he just allowed dazai, his hostage, to fucking talk in the communicator the entire time???? bro, you ok??? are you sure you're a villain??? it would be funny tho if the 3 smacks that dazai was talking was 1 smack per sentence that he said on the communicator - because he did say 3 hahaha)

- chuuya activating For The Tainted Sorrow wordlessly (come to think of it, he has never said anything to activate For The Tainted Sorrow? like, everyone else says their ability name....) and on a whole building range = fucking lit. i wonder how's the range/control for his ability... because he managed to knock every single one of the mooks (incl the Lightning User) on that building rooftop in like, 3 seconds. and he managed to do it *without* crushing his bike, which is also on the roof, so he's able to do fine-tune who can be affected.

- chuuya so very tsun-tsun and dishonest when he wants to "help"!!! like aside from destroying buildings, being married w/dazai and being beautiful - one of chuuya's themes in the movie is that.... he does things that others tell him to, in two ways. one is if it's an order/job - which he'll only take from his superior/boss. another is if it's a debt he has to repay.

- soukoku then meets shibusawa; dazai says that all the gems that shibu's throwing away are wasted and it would have made for a good gift to women. chuuya asks for shibu to return the sheep fa(r)m, but shibu says that the sheep won't return because they committed the (apple) suicide. (so the sheep are Ability users? at least these six?)

- in the crunchyroll ver, shibu calls chuuya (&dazai?) "boring guests", while in odex ver, he calls them "bored guests"

- upon hearing confirmation that sheep fa(r)m is deader than dead, chuuya activates corruption wordlessly and tells dazai to not stop him. dazai actually acquiesces to that order w/o mouthing off, so it's good to see that he actually acknowledges how important it is for chuuya to avenge the sheep fa(r)m, despite the events in 15...

- building with soukoku&shibu explodes....... and camera pans to dramatically billowing in the wind coat of fyodor as he watches the proceedings, and calls it great entertainment. (so fyodor has already seen corruption at work? hmmmmm)

- re: the ADA briefing re: shibusawa....... like. ranpo-san. if you already knew how everything will happen/end......can you like.......inform the rest of ADA too......

- the fog events where a fog appears then disappears after a *few minutes* leaving behind a corpse of an Ability user started 3 years ago. the info that they have on shibu is that he's 29, he's an ability user, he goes by "collector", and he's the person responsible for the fog events

- also laughing at how... the meeting kunikida & tanizaki went to, to meet with the Special Ops agent... so shady hahaha. though apparently, this is the first time that the "calling card" of a stabbed, juicy apple is left behind.

- tanizaki: "why an apple?" / kunikida: "how should i know?" asd;sfha;ds why is that your main concern tanizaki, there's a dead person there in front of you hahahaha

- (flashback to bar lupin - dazai asking soda if he knows about apple suicides & soda replying that it's cinderella..... and dazai saying that soda is really interesting because of that.....dazai, your definition of interesting.... is if people don't know cultural/literary references? and soda's an aspiring author at this point??? do you sure??? and dazai giving such motives to snow white ahahaha, the definition of overthinking....;;;)

- dazai gets ambushed by ango in front of bar lupin after dazai took the pill (that would supposedly eventually act as an antidote) (like.....how the fuck did dazai end up hiding that pill in his mouth for that long and he kept on talking a lot and it didn't slip or melt wHAT) & ango says that dazai's the one who brought shibu back to yokohama;;; dazai doesn't get captured by ango's team, bec that's when the fog appears

- (atsushi sleeps inside kyouka's closet???? like............why. i thought he had his own dorm room before??? and kyouka's apparently living (in the dorm???) that's quite far away from the agency itself, bec they had to walk a long way to reach the agency?? i was initially thinking it was like, just behind the office or just the next street over hahaha

- ADA budget apparently is spent on high-tech communicators (just use special satellite phones asdj;asd) and fancy gun storage. i'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't a flamethrower. also, the gun that kuni gave atsushi??? had so many fucking bullets.

- ango and his team is able to monitor the fog in yokohama so they're.... not in yokohama? do they have like an airship or something? the fog is apparently able to remove any non-ability users in the vicinity & separate the ability user from his gift. ango reveals that the HQ of the enemies is an abandoned tower called Mukurotoride in the middle of yokohama and i'm just.... did nobody ever think that an abandoned tower in the middle of a busy city isn't damn suspicious???? it's apparently been there for a long time ffs

- (atsushi has this one-track mind that because dazai saved him, then dazai must be good at all costs, which is. i'd love to say it's because he trusts dazai, but it's more like those fanatic belief, really. it would be great if the manga can explore this deeper - because atsushi's hypocrisy is a really interesting facet of his character. atsushi who doesn't even want to point his gun towards the enemy abilities in the beginning and who say that 'even if he's a villain, we don't know the type of person he is...' 'no matter how bad they are, there's no need to kill them', but when akutagawa says that bec dazai is an enemy now, he'll kill him, atsushi reflexively points a gun at aku...)

- ango's subordinates track chuuya (A5158) down and sends him a message to "pay his debt to professor glasses"

- bitch trio scene! shibusawa's theme of boredom bec he's apparently that much of a genius whose intellect can't be surpassed. dazai says that he's just like shibu before, bored beyond belief. when shibu asks dazai how he's surpassed it, dazai claims that he's going to show shibu and that shibu doesn't know what's dazai's true intentions. shibu shoots it down by saying that it's only dazai who thinks he's fushigi mystery. dazai says that shibu needs salvation.... by either an angel or a demon.

- and because call a demon and he'll appear, fyodor appears. who tells the two that they're the only ones who think they're being mysterious because they're pretty easy to read. (shibu then calls fyodor "Majin Fyodor-kun" ahhh). dazai claims that fyodor's the one most likely to betray shibu, which fyodor agrees with. shibu just says that there hasn't been anyone who surpassed his expectations, so he's looking forward to it.

- during the entire bitch trio scene, there's a focus on apples and a certain skull.

- aku telling kyouka that she now has the opportunity to kill him in an ability-less world asdfgh;lasd

- the PM apparently has made an emergency passage specially made to counteract ability user-attacks and can't be penetrated by the fog?? i wonder how they made it?? a nullifying ability from dazai??? hmm

- aku says that the fog is a "dragon's breath" & aku schooling atsushi on information gathering is asdfjg;asd (i wonder who gave the info to aku though....? probs mori haha)

- at this point, i'm gonna jump the explanations and go with - during this entire movie, shibusawa is already dead. he's a walking dead. except for That One Flashback, shibu is dead.

- shibu then welcomes the bitch trio to his collection room, Draconia. which is filled with crystallized abilities. the room has abilities that are bright red and dull red - apparently, all the ability users that is engulfed with the mist will have crystals in the room - once the ability user has been defeated by their ability, the ability will be crystallized and will become a bright red gem inside the collection room. the collected ability can then be taken and used by anyone who's holding the red gem.

- fyodor says that the collection is enough to make a devil jealous, while shibu says that fyodor sold him information about most of the ability users in his collection, which is how he was able to collect them. (remember in the Fyodor v A chapter - fyodor got himself captured so he can steal the notes/docs about Port Mafia members. *more on this below)

- Shibusawa: But how did you gather all that information? Fyodor: Every city is filled with rats. Dazai: Meow.

- that meow also haunts me hahahaha

- shibu then basically says that he's actually just looking for That One Special Ability to make the collection worthy

- akuatsukyou arrive at the end of the passage? but it's foggy, so either the fog is stronger, they're outside of the passage, or aku's lying about the passage being impenetrable by the fog asd;fasd

- Shibusawa: To me, people are nothing but machines of flesh, behaving in identifiable ways. But there is just one person I fail to comprehend. Myself. Dazai: Don't you have any friends? Shibusawa: I don't need friends. I understand everyone's mind, after all. I will surely go to the world beyond, between my lines, past the blank spaces. Dazai: You wouldn't be saying that if you actually had friends.

- this exchange is just so asdfgj'asds like pls you two

- akutagawa summarizes rashomon's ability as.... "to change a cloth to a blade and send it flying towards the enemy". i'm so proud of how aku's able to utilize that ability and create so many things (so demon armor is literally like a suit of blades??? damn son);;; (also, this brings to mind the saying "silk hiding steel" hahaha)

- aku defeating rashomon by slapping it towards the vat of lava..... damn son again;;;; aku going "just as planned", then rashomon apparently survives and aku changes it to "just as i expect from my own ability" ahahahaha.... and aku telling rashomon that he should quiet down and that he belongs in there (in his coat).... ahh bless him

- atsushi shattering the crystal on Byakko by shoving the blade inside its mouth.... is apparently Foreshadowing for something later

- chuuya complaining that he's being expected to go to ango's facility by one phone call.... but chuuya.... you still went..... ;;;;;

Chuuya: You've got some nerve, expecting me to answer your phone call like I'm on your beck and call. Ango: May we have some time alone? This is a government facility. You don't expect to get away doing something like this, do you? (referring to chuuya probs destroying a dozen doors in the process of him reaching ango's office) Chuuya: I'll be the one to decide if I do or not. Not you. Ango: You have a debt to me. Chuuya: No, you have a debt with me. Ango: What are you talking about? Chuuya: Don't act dumb. Do you think I'm stupid? It's about what happened six years ago. Ango: What do you mean? Chuuya: It was the government who sent Shibusawa into the Dragon Head Conflict. It was supposed to end the conflict that had engulfed all of Yokohama. But he never had any intention of maintaining peace. All you did was create more corpses. You sheltered him anyway, because he's a gifted that can help in protecting the nation. That's why, not only did you turn a blind eye to all the corpses he'd produced overseas, you covered it all up. Ango: All for the peace in this nation. Chuuya (grabbing Ango): Watch your mouth, professor glasses. If you hadn't sent him out, all six of my friends would be alive right now. Ango: Will you kill me? I wouldn't mind. I've been prepared ever since I'd decided to ask for your assistance. Chuuya (throwing Ango aside): It's a deal, then. I'll accept your job. And you'll pay with your life.

- back at the creepy beautiful castle:

- fyodor and dazai utter the "keikaku doori" line, which means shit is about to go down - apparently fyozai had made a team-up to sneak into the collection room w/o shibu knowing - dazai reveals that he worked to "guide" shibu in yokohama because shibu is someone that can't be touched because he has the protection of the government... which means that he'll just continue filling up his collection room with ability users and japanese gov't will just turn a blind eye to it, and therefore shibu must be stopped by other means - fyodor says that even w/o dazai meddling with shibu, shibu would create a fog in yokohama. - fyodor takes out 2 abilities. 1st ability can summon all ability users in the area and teleport them to a single place. 2nd can turn the abilities of the gifted who touch it into crystals. (was A a foreshadowing for this all along? A's ability is to change the lifespan of his subordinates to jewels....what is with fyodor and ability users re: gems hahah) - fyodor holds up the 2 gems so that dazai can touch it and nullify it

- (a side note: at this point, here are the characters who've been shown to still retain their abilities: Dazai, Chuuya, Fyodor*more on this later; Dazai because his nullification still works; Chuuya, because he still had that glowy red when he dealt with ango and cracked an entire office wall in the process)

- the logic is that, if dazai touches the 2 gem abilities... the crystals will be broken and the abilities will return to their "former state"*** (v important) and the ability to summon all ability users in one place (aka The Fog) will be cancelled and therefore fog will disappear

- fyodor offers the 2nd gem first... dazai touches it.... but instead of the abilities returning to their owners, the abilities escaped from the crystal shells inside the collection room and fused into one

- before dazai can work on dispelling the fog by touching the 1st gem, shibusawa stabs dazai in the back with a fruit knife. shibu says that he expected this, bec nothing surpasses his expectations. dazai just blandly says "i see... so this is where the betrayal happens", bec fyodor had supposedly locked the door to the collection room when they entered it, but woopsie, apparently not, because fyodor values entertainment

- dazai asks shibu what's his next step, but shibu says that his target is dazai anyway, so there's "no next"

- dazai says that he didn't expect a fruit knife to hurt this bad, so there must be poison in it

- shibu tells dazai that he can now taste the death he's longed for dearly

- in CR subs: dazai says: "How could you? This feels great" while in ODEX subs, dazai says: "What have you done? This doesn't feel great at all", which i think makes more sense

- fyodor says that "with the owner dead, the ability leaves him", and dazai "dies" and "no longer human" crystallizes

- (a side note: so it's confirmed that if ability user dies, ability leaves him.... but what happens to it next? is it transferred to a next person? how about its effects? the people that yosano healed... will their effects be gone and therefore the people will regain their wounds??)

- shibu holds NLH in his palms. shibu's very excited to see NLH crystallized because it very blue (as opposed to the red-gem abilities), the blue changes to red, gemblocking him.

- (presumably, NLH activates?? but.... fyodor held the two gems before and they didn't really activate.... but maybe they didn't because they were already active??)

- Fyodor: The merging ability (the 1st gem, aka: The Fog, aka Shibusawa's Ability) and the disabling ability (NLH). With the two contrary abilities becoming one, a singularity is born. Even with Dazai's special ability, what you really desire-- your lost memories-- will never come back.

- fyodor then says that he'll help shibu recover his memories, and slits his throat

- (joint orphanage flashback time!! c/o atsu and shibu as shibu regains his memories! shibu experiments on young atsushi by electrocuting him. shibu says that the president was mistaken about atsushi's ability, implying that atsushi's real ability isn't Beast Underneath the Moonlight. it's apparently a Very Special Ability, but atsushi's not able to use it properly because of his youth/inexperience. shibu says that even he isn't able to pull the ability out and collect it with his fog.

- in CR subs, shibu says that: "It's the only special ability that won the envy of all other gifted." // in ODEX subs, shibu says that: "It's a special ability that can grant the wishes of other ability users"

(a side note - if his real ability is an ability that can grant his wish, it's possible that atsushi probably read a picture book somewhere or got influenced into thinking that Tigers are Bad. his ability goes haywire, bec it was too strong and he was too young to control it, so atsushi's ability has formed into a tiger because atsushi needed something to blame. something beastly. something monstrous. he can't accept that he himself is the one who's hurting others, so he has formed his ability to turn to a tiger. the regeneration, the shounen power ups... they're not very "tiger-like" or it'd make for a very OP tiger, so his ability could be to make his wishes to reality, like "i want to heal!", "i want to be strong!" and the tiger is just the form that atsushi can deal with/can understand. you can even say..... that byakko is his fursona;;;; *gets kicked*)

(more side note: irl!atsushi wrote a story Tiger Poet, which features a man changing to a tiger....that is a poet... so he might have read that story and got an idea re: the tiger. there's a quote there, "We are all the trainers of wild beasts and the beasts in question are our own inner-selves.", which could be atsushi getting the idea of personifying his ability as a tiger so he can "tame it", aka control his ability)

- anyway, young atsushi didn't enjoy the electrocutions, the tiger takes over and claws shibusawa's face off, killing him

- shibu then says that the reason why he targeted atsushi to begin with is because he heard from a Russian named Fyodor that atsushi's ability is special (see the same contrast betw the CR and ODEX subs noted above)

- present time, fyodor then confirms that shibu died at that point. But. upon death, shibusawa apparently inherited a new ability - the ability to split himself (his soul? spirit?) away from his corpse. his body (aka, the skull that's been there the entire time) is the one who remembers death while his mind doesn't remember it and has retreated into a room (the Collection Room) to deal with his Feelings. (so it means that the shibu soukoku faced off in the beginning is walking dead shibu as well, because apparently shibu has gone for the gem collection quest after his death)

- a side note: so Shibusawa's Real/Original Ability is The Fog (1st ability can summon all ability users in the area and teleport them to a single place....and presumably "pull" the ability away from them). after dying, he got the ability to separate his mind from his corpse (redefining mind over matter), presumably given to him by fyodor?. he then gets the ability to turn abilities into crystals, presumably given to him by fyodor too?, then because he's basically a ghost wandering around earth, he tries to find a reason for "existing" to fulfill the void, which leads him to gathering abilities (*more on this later)

- the abilities continue fusing to each other, creating a huge mass. dazai's "dead" body is sucked into that mass.

- fyodor comments that dazia is quite greedy, because even in death, he intends to watch the city fall into destruction. fyodor then says that as congratulation for their anniversary of being friends (LOL; also - they've known each other for a year already? or is fyodor gigglesnorting here and considering that very same day as the start of their friendship?), he'll tell the dead dazai the reason why he managed to keep his ability in the fog.

- a "2nd" fyodor appears, the personification of his ability. he looks exactly like him. they say the "I am crime. I am punishment. Did you know? Crime and punishment are close friends." line ahahaha

- fyodor merges with his ability

- the mass of abilities that sucked dazai in changes for to a dragon

- fyodor reveals that the dragon is the form of the chaos of special abilities. (remember that "original state of abilities" that fyodor said above? apparently, it's a dragon)

- the singularity anomaly readings are over 9000, more than the events 6 years ago (aka, the opening scene). ango checks on chuuya's location to see if he's on his way

Ango: Chuuya-kun... Dazai-kun is almost certainly eliminated by now.Do you understand what that means? (implying that if chuuya ends up using corruption, there's no dazai who'll nullify it, therefore he'll also die) Chuuya: I don't care. Ango: Are you sure? You haven't taken your reward... My life. Chuuya: Don't get cocky, asshole. You were a just lowly infiltrator six years ago. It's not like anyone would have listened to you if you had opposed their plan to use Shibusawa.  (Chuuya lowkey implying that he actually doesn't blame Ango all that much, despite all his talk earlier) Chuuya: This is nothing but that idiot's plans. That Dazai is still inside there. No doubt about it. I need to give him a smack, or I'll never get over it. I'm hanging up.

(can i just say.... chuuya.... even though he has no proof of it whatsoever, he believes that dazai's still alive and waiting for him. ango, who can see the readings of the ability users, knows that dazai's dead. but chuuya----he doesn't need that kind of logic. unconditional trust is here, folks. also, the theories about chuuya actually being able to read dazai's plans/motives??? hell yes)

- chuuya's in a plane approaching the castle (so confirmed that ango's office really is floating over yokohama??? or at least not near it?)

Tsujimura: We're approaching the target. Chuuya: You're that chick from way back. Tsujimura: I'm Tsujimura. Are you really going? Chuuya: Yeah. Tsujimura: It's no use. No human can defeat it. That thing is a monster beyond human comprehension. Get overconfident and fight it, and you'll die. (lowkey spoilers about chuuya being beyond human, thanks bones) Chuuya: That's not a reason to chicken out and go home. Do you know when it's all right to chicken out and go home? Tsujimura: I do not. Chuuya (jumping off the plane): There is no such time.

(chuuya's badass way of removing his gloves and jumping off and his hat and coat flying off???? the whole cinema SCREAMED)

- chuuya chants the "grantors of dark disgrace" line and corruption activates

- chuuya lands on a building, breaks it down to chunks and launches them at the dragon (with dazai inside hahaha)

- extended battle scene with chuuya just battling a dragon, which is the force of a fuckton of ability users' abilities combined, and nailing it. like. just. think about it. the dragon is formed by the force of all the abilities. and there's like, more than 128 of them (as per the initial briefing with ADA). chuuya actually defeated the force of that many ability users. fuck.

- chuuya jumps down to a huge-ass building, floats it and uses it to beat up a dragon. a building is being used as a baseball bat to hit a dragon. the sheer scale and ridiculousness of how powerful he is??? amazing.

- chuuya ends up ramming the building to the dragon's mouth. that's how the fight ends. he makes the dragon choke on AN ENTIRE BUILDING.

- chuuya then yells "DAZAIIIIIIIIIIII" as the dragon explodes (while he's still in corruption mode)

- chuuya reaches dazai, who's inside the dragon, and chuuya (still in corruption mode) punches dazai in the face

- the punch is apparently the key needed for dazai to bite down on the pill, releasing the antidote to the poison (if only romeo and juliet knew about this method...)

- dazai lives. chuuya coughs out blood from using corruption for too long.

- they float in the air and dazai. just. softly touches chuuya's cheek, disabling corruption.

Dazai: You believed in me and used Corruption? I'm so touched I could cry. Chuuya: Yeah, I did. I believed in your disgusting craftiness and refusal to die.* Dazai: That was a somewhat violent way of waking Snow White. Chuuya: You're the one who planned it by hiding an antidote in your mouth, knowing I'd punch you.

...JUST.

dazai's voice.

chuuya. admitting that he believes in dazai. in ODEX subs, it was "i believed in the fact that you wouldn't die", which is extra doki in that ----- even though they've said "i'll kill you" to each other so many times (even in the beginning of the movie) and even though chuuya knows about dazai's double suicide longings.... he still believes that dazai wouldn't die.

and just. dazai implying that he's snow white. and chuuya just rolling with it????? dazai implying that chuuya's the prince who woke up snow white. and chuuya just rolling with it????????

this is high-level flirting i CANNOT

and chuuya KNOWING that him being here is part of dazai's plans and him being here anyways knowing that (even though he had mentioned about dazai's plans always toying with him---)--------------- i CANNOT

Chuuya: Let go, asshole. Dazai: (*dazai presses down on chuuya's head to prevent him from moving*) Don't move. The fog hasn't cleared. I don't want to have to protect you from your special ability in this situation. Chuuya: It's still not over? Dazai: No, it's just beginning. Chuuya: Shit. I can't even move a single finger. (Chuuya collapses into Dazai's thigh, his face/chin landing on Dazai's upper right thigh/hip) Dazai: I predicted things this far. But the rest is on them.

and of course. the lap scene. the scene that killed everyone in the cinema. just. there's no words that can bring it justice. the fuwafuwa atmosphere. the shoujo music background during the floating then the lap scene. the sound of dazai's hand patting chuuya's head. the body placements. the camera angles. that pic in the magazine???? oh boy the actual scene, the extended scene is 10000000000x gayer.

just think.

dazai. who shoved atsushi off when he fell on him.

dazai. who had chuuya fall on his crotch and legs and just. let him stay there. like yes, the point is that dazai has to keep on touching chuuya so he can nullify chuuya's ability and therefore not have his powerful ability have a separate form that can fight them. but they didn't have to stay in that position, did they? i mean, chuuya can't move but dazai could have shoved him off, right? he could have touched him using anything else but keeping him between his legs and patting his head/hair right.

.............BUT WAIT.

dazai.

before he "died".

he.

already nullified the ability to form abilities to crystals. the only ability left is shibusawa's fog, which can trap ability users in one place and extract the ability from them (and just that. the abilities shouldn't be trying to hunt down their "owners" anymore, because no more moon crystal power. right???)

so.

dazai........didn't really have to keep touching chuuya then?

.......is that so. huh.

.....i see.

sasuga dazai.

(i mean even that conjecture is incorrect - as in the Fog can also make abilities fight their owners, aside from just extracting them..... did dazai really have to touch chuuya like that????? .....he really did, huh. i see. sasuga dazai)

.........also. the ability, even if given form, only attacks the owner. (except for that lol-worthy case of rashomon and the tiger having different ideas and attacking each other). so if dazai, as he says, really hates chuuya and wants him to die...... he can..... just let the ability kill chuuya, right??? he doesn't *have* to protect chuuya from it, right? his keikaku that will allow him to use the antidote pill is done, right....? ....ah, but he has to protect chuuya... i see.... sasuga dazai) (unless dazai thinks that chuuya's ability would also hunt him down, in which case.......... dazai, you think yourself that important to chuuya that his ability will hunt you too, huh...... i see.... sasuga dazai)

....also.

dazai.

saying that this is within his predictions, while he's holding the collapsed chuuya to his thigh. still with his hands on chuuya's head. dazai....... why are you predicting that chuuya will end up in your lap. more importantly, why does your predictions END once you have chuuya in your lap. you're leaving the akuatsukyou children to fend for themselves and didn't predict the next parts because you got chuuya in your lap already. .....i see. sasuga dazai;;;;

(a sidenote. from above. fyodor sold the port mafia's information re: ability users to shibusawa. the ability users that shibu knows about will be in the collection room, their abilities getting taken from them. chuuya has his ability The Entire Movie. he didn't lose for the tainted sorrow, at all. so.

- chuuya's ability too strong and can't be extracted, just like atsushi - OR chuuya's ability not in port mafia records - OR chuuya's info is there, but incorrect/incomplete - OR chuuya's info is there, fyodor kept chuuya's ability's information and didn't sell it (a good theory for fyoya fans???) - OR collection room can only get abilities from humans?

(signs point to the first one....... but the other options are also hmmmmm)

- fyodor planting a broken crystal of shibusawa's original ability crystal on the skull's head (it looks like a goddamn horn) so that shibu becomes the "point of singularity" in lieu of the dragon bec dragon is dead. fog continues.

- shibusawa realizing that all his plot?? at collecting abilities? is just his way of trying to cope with the fact that his real thirst lies with atsushi. no really. he just really, really, really wants to see atsushi again.

- another sidenote: AGATHA IS A QUEEN. also, we're laughing about how Agatha is in command of EU. (no brexit in BSD world, apparently) (but also crying a bit because..... Verlaine and Rimbaud and the Trancendentals could be part of the clock tower order??? because there's 12 Transcendetals, there's 12 #s in a clock and they're from france, therefore europe, therefore part of EU therefore----)

- THAT FUKUMORI BACK TO BACK SCENE. MOTHER OF FUCK. mori having faith in dazai's keikaku..... but he's wrong.... because dazai's keikaku had already ended a few minutes ago, with chuuya in his lap. (but really. so mori can't 100% predict dazai, apparently. because mori thinks that it's still within dazai's plan, but dazai says it's not anymore, so.) also. mori being able to kill the ability-elise but not doing so because of the power of cute??? wow, just wow.

Mori: Fukuzawa-dono. Fukuzawa: What a coincidence, Mori-sensei. Mori: Are you having a problem? Fukuzawa: I've just had a glimpse of a solution. Mori: Excellent. Is it not at times like these that your daily actions speak? (They attack each other's abilities) Fukuzawa: I thought you only used your scalpel. I'll be careful from now on. Mori: No mercy, even for an endearing girl. The lone swordsman, Silver Wolf. You are indeed full of sin.* (CR: you are indeed guilty; ODEX: you are indeed, full of sin) Fukuzawa: That was nothing but a demon. Elise: Hey, Rintarou! What the heck are you doing, leaving me behind?! Mori: It's the real Elise-chan~ Fukuzawa: I think she's a demon either way.

- the akukyouatsu v shibu fight continues, with shibusawa basically saying, "ATSUSHI THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE" in repeat. the reference re: tiger v dragon is brought up. shibu says that he's not bored anymore bec atsushi's there.

- the tiger and the dragon are enemies. (more on that here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TigerVersusDragon) apparently, because the dragon represents all the abilities fused together, the tiger is the opposite (......so..... tiger = no abilities? hmmmmm. no wonder fyodor wants him. it's the fulfillment of his goal of a world without abilities, then?). shibu says that atsushi's ability is the opposite of all the abilities, the most special ability of all. atsushi's ability crystallizes, but before shibu can take it, atsushi grabs and says "that's not an ability, that's me!"

- (side note:

- i wasn't expecting that atsushi (whether it's the beast underneath the moonlight or the possibility that his is an ability that takes the form of his desires/wishes) would be the opposite of all the abilities. i would think it's more of dazai's or someone who can erase an ability, but. MC powers? - then again. all of shibusawa's info came from fyodor. so it's also highkey possible that this is all Fake News from fyodor)

Shibusawa: I understand everything, now. Why I'm here, why you appeared before me, and what his words mean... You... You must be the angel who saves me.

- shibu proving dazai right that "an angel" saved him, though technically a "demon" saved him "from death" before too....

- atsushi kills shibu for the second time by crushing his skull

- AGATHA. BEING DISAPPOINTED. THAT YOKOHAMA IS SAVED. because. "The scent of a burning nation goes well with tea." AGATHAAA

- at the end of fighting, chuuya's propped up against the wall of rubble (YOU KNOW THE ONE). his hat apparently landed a few feet away from him. (did dazai drag him there so he can be near his hat? did dazai look for the hat?? did the hat get magically pulled to where chuuya is??).

akutagawa appears.

chuuya asks what the hell is he doing here, then says that the idiot dazai is safe.

akutagawa..... bows to chuuya.

like damn.

akutagawa "DON'T YOU ORDER ME, YOU FOOL" ryuunosuke, bowing down to chuuya. a+++++++++

but then akutagawa starts to leave chuuya behind ahahahaha

and chuuya goes..... what, you're just gonna leave me here when you see i can't walk what. but seriously, his line is: "Oi. Lend me a shoulder."

(so.... dazai and chuuya were together till daybreak, in time for chuuya to wake up, for the spoonDI cover to be shot, for them to have matching bruises on their lips in that photo, huge smiles in their faces, for dazai to change clothes, for chuuya to be unable to walk.......... i don't to say they banged in the rubble, but they totally banged in the rubble.)

- dazai basically saying that, welp i did this keikaku and harmed so many things! - atsushi: but dazai is helping yokohama!!! - Dazai: Do I look like such a good person?

- atsushi.... i want to say it's your trust or that it's your naivete, but...... are you sure you have eyes lol

- dazai reveals that he hopes that shibu managed to fill his boredom and loneliness..... dazai, stop projecting your issues on others. stop helping others with your same issues achieve happiness.... do it to yourself first please.....

- as the ending song plays... we have this scene from ango:

Ango: Given the complexity of the three masterminds' motivations, we still don't have a full picture. Dazai-kun's the same as usual, and demon Fyodor's intentions are impossible to comprehend. But, beyond all the scheming and lying, the incident may fundamentally be very simple. How is a man like Shibusawa, so intelligent that others look like alien creatures to him, to act, to be destroyed, or to be saved? To be one of three aliens in the world, in isolation and loneliness... I can't even imagine it.

.....like, given the movie. it really is a good summary. all these genius aliens.... they actually have such simple thoughts.

- shibu did all of that, but he just really wanted to see atsushi again. - fyodor did all of that, but he just really wanted to be a bitch and have fun. (and maybe kill all ability users eventually) - dazai did all of that, but he just really wanted to try an apple suicide and be saved just like snow white.

.....one of it is not like the others, ahahaha;;;;;;

- chuuya looking beautiful in the ending scene, as he talks with mori

Chuuya: Were you aware of the trick, Boss? (*referring to dazai not really dying? and using that antidote pill?) Mori: Dazai-kun was acting on his own, and I expected he would need your help. As a forerunner. Chuuya: So I was an opening act? Mori: Dazai-kun decides the star. (in ODEX: Dazai-kun was the one who decided on the star.) Chuuya: And what do I get in return? Mori: The return of order in this city. Chuuya: The peace of this city, huh? Mori: Good work. Chuuya: You don't need to thank me. It was your order, so I'm just doing my job.

- asdfgj;asd - mori #1 soukoku shipper confirmed. like. even if he has that much faith in dazai's plans (see above), he also has a lot of belief that dazai's plans will work if chuuya's there to help.

and that "dazai decides the star"/"dazai decided (on you) being the star.... and chuuya....... just rolling with it. he's not ok with simply being an "opening act" ahhaahh. and mori knowing that dazai made the plan with chuuya having the starring role. and chuuya Knowing that too.

and here comes chuuya's concept of "reward" again.... does this boy get paid.......

chuuya's reward being yokohama's peace???? is he really part of the mafia??????????? a pure boy. someone give him the yokohama peace prize.

- second to the last scene is fyodor still creeping on them:

Fyodor: Everything is but entertainment. But in order to end this world, rife with crime and punishment, I really do need that book. The blank novel sleeping in this town.

(so Book's location is confirmed to be in Yokohama at this point)

- final scene with ADA doing business as usual and atsukyou going out for a mission? to buy crepes? to buy chazuke? idk

[tickletastic]

Complementary Treatment

Title: Complementary Treatment

Rating: G/SFW

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 2876

Fandom:  Haikyuu!

Ship: Bokuroo

Summary: Kuroo gets embarrassed whenever he receives a genuine compliment, and his boyfriend loves to tease him.

Notes: I’m alive! This is kinda based on some IRL events

To say the very least, Kuroo was a flirt. He could banter back and forth with sexual innuendos and winks until kingdom come. As long as things were kept flirty and playful, he figured it meant nothing; he could receive a cheesy pickup line any time. This is the exact reason why Bokuto's teasing and flirty nature had never phased him.

Bokuto loved knowing a way to rile everybody up, so when they started dating he would make his comments dirtier, sometimes mentioning bedroom mishaps, in an attempt to fluster Kuroo before and during games. It didn’t take him long to realize that the comments didn’t get to Kuroo at all, he was completely and utterly unbothered. It wasn’t until two months into their relationship that Bokuto realized what really got to the other boy’s head.

Bokuto was glad to learn that his counterpart was embarrassingly unable to handle sincere, heartfelt compliments.

At first, the Nekoma player attempted to hide this from Bokuto. Whenever the owlish boy tried to praise him he would turn the tables or make a sexual comment, but eventually his boyfriend caught on.

The first time Bokuto picked up on it was on a sunny day at the park. They had decided to go to the local park for a small picnic consisting of store-bought sushi and salad. Kuroo had laid down on the blanket, removing his sunglasses and closing his eyes. He eventually felt a shadow looming over him, prompting him to peek out at his lover’s face.

“You’re really beautiful, you know that, right?” The owl-haired boy spoke, a look of complete admiration plastered on his face. Kuroo instantly grew red, bringing his hands up to cover his face. “Tetsurou? Are you alright?”

Kuroo rolled onto his side to avoid possible eye contact, “Y-yup, just thought about something embarrassing that happened a few weeks ago.” Bokuto hadn’t pressed any further, but he certainly caught on to what had happened.

That moment is what got them here, at another training camp.

Although the Fukurodani captain obviously felt very strongly towards his boyfriend, he hadn’t previously found himself complimenting him too often. Their relationship had always been a lovingly playful one that didn’t normally consist of verbal sappiness. Now, the shorter boy would pepper his boyfriend with as many compliments as he could think of. Honestly, Bokuto could go on and on and on about everything that made the Nekoma player amazing.

This made training camps a lot more entertaining, for him and the other teams spectating.

Karasuno had certainly improved since their last training camp. Kuroo was having an astonishingly hard time keeping up with Hinata and Kageyama’s quick attacks paired with the newfound strengths of the rest of the team. Kuroo needed his head to be completely in the game, but of course, Bokuto could never allow that.

“Hey Kuroo! When you talk about things that you’re passionate about, your entire face lights up. It’s really adorable, and I love seeing you passionate.” Bokuto yelled in the direction of the Nekoma captain.

Kuroo instantly flushed, and his eyes darkened, and in his moment of distracted embarrassment he ended up missing a spike sent from Asahi, receiving a boo from Yaku.

“I’m sorry guys, my bad,” Kuroo spoke in an attempt to sound unbothered, sending a glare Bokuto’s way.

As the game went on, Bokuto stayed relatively quiet. Karasuno had won the first set, Nekoma the second, and Kuroo was really getting back into his groove. The two teams were pushing their hardest, never getting more than a 2-point gap between their scores. When both teams reached 19 points the tension was certainly in the air. In the back of his mind, Kuroo remembered that it was simply training camp, if they lost, the worst that would happen would be a set of flying laps, yet he still found himself wanting to win with everything in him. When Nekoma scored their 21st point, Bokuto loudly cleared his throat, chuckling to himself when he noticed the colour from his boyfriend’s face had faded.

The Fukurodani ace pulled his phone from his pocket, sitting straighter on the bench.

“What do I have here? Wow, it’s a list of 101 reasons why Kuroo Tetsurou is amazing,” Bokuto projected, grabbing the rooster-haired boy’s attention. “Reason number one: he’s an incredibly talented middle blocker with a vast knowledge of volleyball technique.”

Kuroo was attempting to hold strong, blocking when he was prompted in an attempt to zone back into the game. He prided himself on his tremendous self-control and he was trying his best, he honestly was. Sometimes it was just too easy to imagine that giant, dopey grin, and those beautiful golden eyes filled with respect and admiration.

Kuroo almost broke when his boyfriend had reached number 15, a particularly kind and honest compliment that buried the captain’s insecurities. For a few more minutes, he was strong, not wanting to let down his teammates.

“Number 16: Despite the act you put up, you’re actually an extremely kind person, and you always check up on those around you in subtle and knowing ways. Number 17-”

“JUST STOP! PLEASE!” Kuroo screeched, putting his hands to his face at just the wrong time. Kenma had set to him and he wasn’t paying enough attention for the receive. The ball came down while Kuroo attempted to get it back up, but he was seconds too late.

“I’m sorry,” He began, turning to face Kenma. He was shocked to see that instead of Kenma’s version of disappointment, he was met with the Kenma expression of a smile. It was ever so slight, that he would never have even been able to catch it had he not grown up with the shorter boy. He had no doubt in his mind that his own face had developed an expression of confusion, but he just grabbed the ball and threw it to the server in order to avoid bringing attention to the timid Nekoma setter.

Within half an hour the game was complete, Karasuno had won 27-25. Kuroo made his rounds of the gym in the form of flying laps before he made his way over to the bench to grab some water.  

“Number 18,” Bokuto began while Kuroo was walking towards the bench “Kuroo Tetsurou is not a sore loser.” He finished with a toothy grin.

“Number 19, Kuroo is totally a sore loser and he is going to break up with his boyfriend for making him lose,” Kuroo pouted.

Kenma passed the bench, hesitating for a moment in front of them. “I’m really sorry about the game Kozume, you can blame Mr. Annoying over here.,” Kuroo stated, side-eyeing the aforementioned boy.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” Kenma replied, a slight sense of expression within his tone of voice. Once the Nekoma setter had walked away Kuroo gaped at Bokuto, receiving a confused stare.

“That was like the Kenma equivalent of him giving us his blessing,” Kuroo told his boyfriend, shock heard in his voice. The thought of Kenma being satisfied with Kuroo’s decision stayed in his mind for a long time after that. The setter would never say it, but he knew that Bokuto was good for his best friend in more ways than one.

After he was able to collect himself, Kuroo returned to his pouting session, turning his back to his boyfriend as he sipped his water. The taller boy placed his water on the floor next to his feet while he stretched his body out.

First, he touched his fingers to his toes, then he opted for a more full body stretch as he stretched his arms far out above his head.

“Mr. Pouty, what will we do about you?” Bokuto teased, reaching his fingers out and tasering the Nekoma player’s vulnerable ribs.

“Ah! Don’t do that Airhead!” Kuroo exclaimed, moving away from the clever hands of his boyfriend.

“Ah, how ironic. Number 19, Kuroo’s laugh is the most glorious sound known to man,” Bokuto read with a smirk. Kuroo’s face had returned to its previous state of bright red as his features battled it out to see which expression would dominate his face. He ended up attempting a look of anger, but the small smile on his lips betrayed him.

“Leave me alone, loser,” He remarked, walking away to go practice with his team.

The games went on and on throughout the rest of the day, and Bokuto’s teasings were a constant. He managed to make it to number 50 by the end of the day. Kuroo remembered feeling immense relief during games when Fukurodani was playing on the other court at the same time.

When the day had come to an end, the boys made their way to the showers to get cleaned up. The closest thing to teasing that occurred was when Bokuto whipped Kuroo’s butt with his towel, and the latter boy was relieved.

Of course, peace only lasted for so long around these boys. Once they got to the mattresses in the boarding room all hell broke loose. Bokuto would not leave Kuroo alone, much to his dismay. His usual embarrassment received a cherry on top due to all of the people around them during their little compliment session. Kuroo’s face was beyond red and every single one of his features showcased embarrassment as he attempted to shush the Fukurodani player from speaking.

All of Kuroo’s attempts to sush the boy were in vain, so he just whined and curled in on himself, sheltering his face in his hands.

“Bokuto, I think you’re going to kill Pain-in-the-ass Kuroo-san if you don’t stop soon,” Akaashi lectured from somewhere behind them in the room.

“He’ll be alright,” A small voice sounded from the door. Bokuto turned to look and was surprised to see Kenma with his head in his DS.

“See Akaashi? I think he’ll be okay,” Bokuto punctuated his statement with a wiggle of his fingers on Kuroo’s side. The rooster-haired boy giggled and kicked out, scooting further away from his shorter boyfriend.

The action prompted a final statement from Nekoma’s setter, who had sat down next to Akaashi on his mattress. “You should try his ribs and his thighs, his shoulder blades are pretty bad too.”

“You’re a traitor!” Screamed out Kuroo as he shot up and attempted to get far away from the mischievous boy in front of him. “Bokuto don’t you dare, I will kill you.”

The chase was on as Kuroo ran around the room, attempting to get as far away as he possibly could. In a moment of strength he thought about running to Karasuno’s boarding room and hiding there, but as he ran to the door he was tripped by a certain black and blonde haired boy who let out a tiny huff of laughter as he was called a traitor again.

“No no no no, please don’t, don’t don’t don’t dohohohohont, hehe nahahahahahaha stahahahahap!” Kuroo giggled out as hands found their way to his waist.

“Why don’t we return to number 19 now?” Bokuto teased as he pinned his boyfriend’s arms under his knees.

The Fukurodani player started slow, with small pokes and the dragging of his dull nails over the sensitive strip of skin that had been exposed in their struggle. This elicited tiny giggles and huffs from the taller boy, who was still struggling to stop the torturous hands.

“Kuroo, where should I start? Let me know and I’ll begin for real,” Bokuto grinned, knowing exactly what he was doing to the black haired boy beneath him.

“Nohohowhere, juhust stop,” Kuroo spoke, laughing softly from the slight touches.

“Well, you know I can’t tickle you nowhere, so should I start at your ribs?”

“No! Fihihine, start ahat my neheck,” Kuroo’s face was beyond red from embarrassment.

The teasing fingers spidered up all the way to the younger boy’s neck as giggles freely poured out from his mouth. The fingers were slowly dragged against the visible collarbones, receiving different reactions from different techniques.

The ace was unsatisfied with the reaction he was receiving so he opted to step it up a notch, leaning down so his lips met the soft skin of Kuroo’s neck. A loud ‘Phssssss’ could be heard, followed by cute snorts and louder giggles.

“Hehehehehe nohohohohoho thahahahahat tihihihihihickles! Bohoho stahahahahap!” Kuroo’s struggles increased as he attempted to scrunch up his shoulder to avoid the tickling.

“Aww,” The owlish boy began, looking at his boyfriend’s face, “reason 20, when Kuroo is freely laughing, and his laugh is his genuine, non-mischievous laugh, his face brightens and his nose scrunches up and it’s astonishingly adorable.”

“Dohont do that!” Tomatoes were in awe at how red the younger boy’s face was.

“Don’t do what?”

“Cohohomplimehehent mehehe!”

“Aww, well if you insist,” The ace responded, and Kuroo knew that he had just dug his own grave.

Quick fingers lingered in his armpit, and his laughter rose an octave as his struggles increased. “JUHUHUST STAHAHAHAP!”

“Wow Tetsurou, your armpits are a solid 10 and this isn’t even your most ticklish spot. You must be in complete agony with all the anticipation.” Bokuto was the absolute king of teasing, and this stuff was really getting to Kuroo, he was in a mental and physical battle with the older boy.

“Yohohohou cahahahan stahahahap mihihi agohohohny by stohohohohoping!” Kuroo pleaded, his eyes begging the torture to stop.

“Actually, I think I’ll do just the opposite. Akaashi, Kenma, could you help me for a sec? I think it’s time to kick it up a notch.”

The two wordlessly approached the pair on the floor, Akaashi rolled his eyes slightly at Bokuto’s antics while Kenma was amused. Akaashi held Kuroo’s hands above his head while Kenma sat on the boys feet. Akaashi’s hold changed as he made Kuroo sit up, holding his hand behind his back in order to get full access to the 3rd year’s shoulder blades.

“Y-you guys don’t have to do this. Please don’t do this,” Kuroo pleaded as he looked for mercy in the eyes of the two boys he could see, they showed none.

“I think everyone should be able to hear God’s gift to mankind, your laughter.”

With that, Bokuto latched onto Kuroo’s ribs, Kenma’s fingers found their way to his thighs, and Akaashi spidered his short nails between the middle blocker’s shoulder blades.

“NAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAP! IHIHIIHI CAHAHAHANT TAHAHAHAKE IHIHIT AHAHAHALL AHAHAT OHOHOHOHONCE!” Kuroo screamed with hysterical laughter as he threw his head back and tried his best to struggle.

“Hmm…. I think we’ll stop once you admit that you’re an amazing person,” Bokuto teased, reveling in the new tone his boyfriend’s face developed.

Kenma had started pinching the skin on Kuroo’s thighs, a technique that he knew drove him crazy, and Bokuto had taken to counting every individual rib in his ribcage.

“HEHEHE IHIHIHIHI CAHAHAHANT DOHOHOHO THAHAHT! NOHOHOHOW STAHAHAHAHAP!” Kuroo screeched so loudly that a small crowd had gathered at the door, but the group had gone unnoticed as the three continued their torture on Kuroo.

The teen was in absolute agony as all of his most sensitive areas were tortured and prodded all at once. He was kicking and struggling, and screaming and laughing but he was slowly losing steam. His most ticklish areas were on fire and there was nothing he could do to stop the sensation. Tears slowly escaped his eyes as he quit his struggling. His laughter was a mix of loud, uncontrollable cackles and soft hiccups. He shook his head back and forth continuously, the only way he could struggle without losing energy, and he considered his options for a moment.

His thoughts were interrupted as a slender finger slipped into his navel, sending him struggling against his holds again. “FIHIHIHINE FINE FINE! IHIHIHIHIM AHAHAHA GOHOHOHOHOD PEHEHEHEHEHERSON! PLEHEHEHEHEASE AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Akaashi’s fingers stopped instantly, and Kenma gave a few final pinches before stopping as well. Bokuto kept on torturing his toned tummy for a little longer, before finally slowing to a stop.  

Kuroo took his new freedom as an opportunity to curl in on himself. “Hehehehe I hehe hate yohou,” He sounded as residual giggles escaped from the wide grin on his face.

When Kuroo finally calmed down, someone cleared their throat from the entrance of the room. Kuroo blushed deeply as he looked up to see who it was. Daichi had cleared his throat, and standing with him was Sugawara, Lev, Tsukishima, and Hinata.

“Oh my God, how long have you been standing there?” The Nekoma blocker whined as he blushed even harder, moving to cover his face with his hands.

“Long enough,” Sugawara began, “And as entertaining as that was, and as entertaining as that will make the next week, we need you guys to quiet down for tonight.”

Kuroo put his head down into the pillow next to him and let out a loud groan, as Bokuto apologized on his behalf. The group left, and Kuroo removed his head from the pillow.

“I’m going to kill you tomorrow,” A glare was sent Bokuto’s way, then towards Akaashi and Kenma, “I’m going to kill all three of you.”

They went to sleep after that, but Kuroo was definitely woken up with tickles, and Kuroo was definitely Mr. Mopey for a second time.

[laurelindebear]

Game questions

I was tagged by @curiousartemis. (Apologies for the delay, I was travelling across the Atlantic when I got this!)

Tagging everyone! That includes you!

favorite game from the last 5 years?: Ooh, I haven’t actually gotten many new games the last few years, but I think I would say Stardew Valley.

most nostalgic game?: Probably Ms Pacman, although I haven’t played it in years. But it was the first game I got really into, on the machine at the roller rink

game that deserves a sequel?: I think most of the games I’ve played have had or been parts of a series, but LOTRO could do with a complete overhaul at this point, which I would almost certainly give a try. I’d play a third Torchlight as well.

game that deserves a remaster?: Assuming remaster doesn’t mean overhaul as per above, Baldur’s Gate 1&2 would be nice. I tried the Enhanced editions a couple years ago but the graphics look so muddy now to my eyes that it was really hard to play and figure out what I was looking at and meant to be doing.

favorite game series?: My gut answer is Elder Scrolls, but I’ve played a lot more Pokemon main series games, so either works!  

favorite genre?: Toss-up between MMOs and RPGs, I think. 

least favorite genre?: Probably FPS (although I do enjoy a bit of Overwatch against the bots) or platformers (I suck at them).

favorite song from a game?: Morrowind main title theme

favorite character from a game?: I’m going to exclude my OCs because that feels a bit silly (and narcissistic!), so, Alistair Theirin (Dragon Age), Aveline Vallen (Dragon Age 2), Rox (GW2), Magister Sieran (GW2) Blathers (Animal Crossing), Sir Finley Mrrgglton (monocles are funny, ok??), Mayor Erkens (SWTOR)

favorite ship from a game?: MC/Alistair in Dragon Age Origins. I’m trying to think of two scripted characters I ship most (as in, neither is a player-created character) and the only one I can think of in any game is Cassandra and Varric in Inquisition. There must be others. Horn and Nona were cute in LOTRO. There must be someone I like in WoW or GW2 but I’m drawing a blank. I blame the jetlag.

favorite voice actor from a game?: Steve Valentine (Alistair), Kath Soucie (Female Smuggler), Gideon Emery (lots), Darin de Paul (Reinhardt), Aysha Selim (Ana)

favorite cutscene?: Tough one! I will say, discovering Skyhold in Dragon Age Inquisition (or Wicked Grace!), experiencing the Eternal Alchemy in Guild Wars 2

favorite boss?:  Does airship battle in Icecrown Citadel count? Because ROCKETBEAR! :D

first console?: Game Boy Color

current console or consoles?: 3DS XL, Switch, a bunch of old ones (earlier DS models, Wii, Mr. Bear has an Xbox of some kind and I think we have or had some old Playstations at one point) - we’re mainly PC gamers though

console you want?: Not really any atm I guess? Between PC and DS I get most of the games I want, I think. I mean, if someone wanted to give me the newest Xbox or PS or whatever I wouldn’t say no, but I’m generally more adept with keyboard and mouse for some reason (although some games, like the Lego ones, are much easier with a controller).

place from a game that you’d like to visit?:  Lothlorien, the Shire, the Emerald Dream, Sunsong Ranch, Numbani, The Grove, The Astralarium

place from a game that you’d like to live in?:  The Animal Crossing town, or Coruscant. (I love a lot of the ‘places to visit’ more, but...mod cons, you guys, mod cons.)

ridiculous crossover that would never happen but would be super fun?: R2/WALL-E BUDDY MOVIE DAMMIT Uhhh...hmm. Animal Crossing: Azeroth?

book that would make a good game?: I...can’t really think of one, honestly. I read so little nowadays, and Discworld’s already had a couple. I have no clue how you’d make a Jeeves and Wooster or other PG Wodehouse game. You could probably set an RPG in the world of the Babylon Steel books, I suppose.

show/movie that would make a good game?: I think a lot of pop culture properties would make really fun MOBAs, like My Little Pony, Lilo and Stitch, Disney heroes, and so on. It feels a bit wrong to make ponies or whoever belligerent but they do fight villains in the show! The Great Wall probably could work well, too, with all the different types of units.

games you want to play?:  Pathfinder: Kingmaker, kind of interested in Cyberpunk 2077 and the new Assassin’s Creed, depending how brutal they are. And of course TESVI when it comes out (even if it’s not Black Marsh, bah.)

have you gotten 100% completion in a game?: Not sure. I’m only missing one achievement on Plants vs Zombies, I know.

have you cried over a game?: HAHAHAHA yes, it’s me. Dragon Age Origins freakin’ destroyed me, the horrible Hobson’s choice(s) at the end. I moped for days. I’ve still never managed the ultimate sacrifice ending because you get to the goodbyes and THE DOG KNOWS, and I just nope out and hit escape. Pretty sure I’ve got teary in others too: Ysera, NOOOOO!, maybe the Bridenbrad quest in World of Warcraft, or some in LOTRO, or trying to do jumping puzzles in Guild Wars 2 (I HATE YOU TOO, SPACEBAR). Oh, during the GW2 vanilla personal story, at the Battle of Claw Island, maybe. Good thing I never got into Mass Effect, I’d have ended up in hospital from dehydration, by the sounds of it.

what power-up or ability would you want in real life?: I usually always go with flying in these cases but I wouldn’t object to turning into my big tough World of Warcraft bear either. Let’s say shapeshifting, then!