#I think it has something to do with the flashback cutscenes but I'm not sure

[animatedjen]

One thing I find jarring when playing Fallen Order and Survivor back-to-back, is how Cal goes from having very dark, coal grey eyes to bright green eyes in the span of five years. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on why Respawn made this change, and if you prefer one eye color over the other.

Love this question! There's a few things that impact the design changes between FO Cal and Survivor Cal.

The biggest change is how the two games handle their overall color. Cal's eyes have always been somewhat green, but Fallen Order's visual design is a muted color palette with darker shadows. That "look" fit the story Respawn was telling, and Cal spends much of FO exploring darker spaces like scrapyards, tombs, ice caves, and Imperial facilities. Very few of the game's cutscenes take place in well-lit spaces.

Cal's character design also includes a strong brow, and because of how Fallen Order renders light, his eyes are often in shadow. Add in stylized environmental lighting (the red tint of Dathomir, the blue-green of Zeffo tombs) and the iris quickly loses its green-gray tint.

Survivor has a more vibrant color palette and more complicated lighting, including how Cal's eyes catch and reflect light. More of the story takes place outdoors, and indoor spaces generally have more lighting. Also did I say vibrant?? Just look at how bright the SU poncho is compared to its (almost navy blue) FO counterpart.

Visual design is also influenced by time and technology: AAA games have changed a lot between 2019 and 2023, and the methods of rendering light/color/texture in real-time are growing exponentially.

Comparing a similar environment (the couch on on the Mantis) makes the color/lighting changes really obvious. It's easy to say new = better, and from a strictly technical standpoint that may be true, but I appreciate the thoughtfulness of Fallen Order's color and how the color stylization served the story. But that's probably a whole separate post.

TLDR; the design difference is likely a mix of technical advances and intentional color choices by Respawn's art teams. But I do like the bright green eyes! They look more green-blue in shadow and gold-green in direct sunlight, which is a neat effect.

[meatball-headache]

I have finally completed the quest I've been waiting since the beginning to play.

It was fine :p

Compared to the Second Dream or the War Within, there's no comparison. This was a main quest, but it had all the structure of a sidequest, just the Lotus and others talking while you did a normal mission. Although, the tone was shifted dramatically. Is this the Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard) of Warframe?

It's a main quest, but the structure—and rewards—are more in line with the "Warframe quests" they're calling them now—sidequests that just give you a new Warframe. I'm thinking about Limbo, Octavia, Gara, Atlas... stuff everyone else has probably long forgotten and done years ago, but me with my snail's pace :p

And yet it is a main quest, required to advance the story, and, the story touches on some points about Margulis and the Void. Which means that unlike some Warframes like Nidus or Mesa or Yareli, my boy Harrow is tied closely to the core lore! That's a point in favor of maining him :D

Warframe's story is few and far between—especially the way I play. This isn't Final Fantasy, that's for sure. This isn't even Destiny. But it's like I've said before, it's like getting to level 100 in Pac-Man and suddenly there's a cutscene and Pac-Man is going, "The ghosts... I can hear them in my sleep... they give me no peace... when will it end?" It's something that comes late, and suddenly recontextualizes the entire experience. When 200 hours in, you find out that Lotus saying "Wake up, Tenno" at the very very beginning wasn't talking to the Warframe statues. It's a different kind of weight and impact that FF, certainly, but it's weighty and impactful all the same.

So. In the Second Dream, you have flashback dialogue where Margulis is arguing with—I think Ballas?—about what to do with the Tenno. Margulis wants to protect them, and for that she's conviceted of treason and executed. At least, that's how it's framed. I didn't pick up on it, but when I watched some Second Dream reaction videos, those players and their chats pointed out that Margulis and the Lotus have the same voice. And, I believe there's a line about Margulis being blinded... So, if Margulis and Lotus are the same, then Lotus wears that mask because she's blind?

In the Chains of Harrow, Palladina mentions the "Blind Queen," and then addresses the Lotus as such. She's practically worshipping the Lotus at points. And, it hit me: that's entirely appropriate. I mean, who is the Lotus? She seems to be operating independently. There's hints of factions throughout the system, Cetus, Fortuna, Red Veil, Steel Meridian—we don't have a Russian novel's worth of a cast of characters, but, Lotus is unaffiliated with anything. But, think about it. She's in our ear constantly—in all our ears. Lotus is communicating with every Tenno, all at once. And, in the Second Dream, we saw some of her powers in action: she can move the entire Moon into the Void just like that—and bring it back. Warframes already have this incredible magical power—they're magic, no way around it, they are using magic—but the Lotus is just on another level.

Here's a spoiler, though. I've seen some streamers and such playing, just grinding Nightwave or something, but something was different for them... When the Lotus pops up with her generic dialogue, "You've found a fissure. Use reactant to crack open your relic," and what not... it doesn't say "Lotus." For them, it identifies her as "Margulis." So... Lotus must be Margulis. But... how? Wasn't Margulis executed? Why would Margulis have these godly powers? And... isn't Lotus actually Natah? How does any of this fit together?

Rhetorical questions, obviously, do not answer.

In the Chains of Harrow quest, we deal with a Tenno named Rell, who was, I guess, outside of the Lotus network. Rejected and cast away for being autistic or something, and left on their own, they, what, made direct, intimate contact with the Void? Rell constantly mentioned the man in the wall, which was dismissed as a hallucination—but, I'm guessing from that Lotus Eaters login screen that there's something to it. I mean, of course there's something to it, it's a video game story, weird dreams and hallucinations and stuff like that are always more real than Occam's Razor stuff. But, there was also a suggestion that the Void wasn't a place or something like a natural phenomenon; it was a being. The Void is someone.

Man in the wall... Lotus Eater... Margulis... Natah... Warframe's story is dripfeeding some deep lore, some secret narrative. It's, honestly, more in line with a Dark Souls than a Final Fantasy; it's not a story about what happens, it's a history about what happened. Piece by piece we're figuring out what happened in the Old War, what happened to the Tenno, who we are and where we came from. Needless to say, I really like stories like that. Soulsbornes where you're traveling through a broken land, piecing together what happened long ago, or something like No Man's Sky or Nightingale, where you just putter around building your base while these strange hints of some obscure history float around you.

Also? I miscalculated. For some reason, I thought The New War was right after Chains of Harrow. Actually, I have no idea when it happens, because for some reason, this quest doesn't pre-appear in the Codex. I have a dozen quests that say "Prerequisite: The New War" or "Prerequisite: Angels of Zariman" or something, teasing me with what's to come... but, The New War isn't among them. I'm given to think it's a very big deal, bigger than the Second Dream... I don't want to know anything about it at all, so don't say a word :D ...but my point is, I won't be getting to it today, after all. I need to let the Chains of Harrow soak for a bit. Then I have, what... Sacrifice? Apostle something? And then Prelude to War. I'm not doing more than one per... weekend, really. Gotta give it time to hit, y'know? So, it'll be a while. Maybe we'll do the New War for Christmas :p

Potential mains:

Hydroid. My classic, absolute boi. The tentacles are very convenient to get all the monsters to chill out—and the floaty damage helps me find them. He's got a really strong melee weapon and a Kuva Hek, so he's decent.

Hildryn. Her 3 and spamming 2 is super cool and just keeps her alive forever. Energy independent, which is nice. She's got the Amprex, too, so she can just chain-lightning a crown.

Harrow. Lore-appropriate, aesthetically awesome. He has Scourge Prime, Knell Prime, and War—my loremaster, I guess :p But his abilities aren't quite as potent at wiping out a room... But I like the Void Priest motif.

Baruuk. Again, I like the neutral-feeling, Patient Monk motif. The Doan skin is absolutely incredible. Once his 4 gets charged up he does more damage than anything, but outside of that he's got a strong but slow gun, Kuva Chakkhur, I think it's called, and the Broken Scepter for his melee, which is a little janky, but, again, stylistically appropriate. His name doesn't begin with H, though :\

I also love Lavos and Yareli, and I'm intersted in Oberon and Sevagoth. None of them are nearly as powerful, though.

...I just felt like typing. Thanks for reading :p

Remember, no spoilers!

[darlingseraa]

GUYS I CAN'T BE THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE NOTICED, RIGHT ???

Ok so, I had this epiphany the other day and wanted to share it, but like, I forgor because if I don't do something I think of immediately in the moment, then I forget to do it. BUT, here we are.

I'm just gonna mark this down as a huge spoiler for The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom, so if y'all don't want to be spoiled on some (albeit small) details from the game's canon, please do move on lol.

Okay so, as I was rewatching the cutscenes in Tears of the Kingdom the other day, I noticed that both Rauru and Mineru have this tear-shaped white mark on the bridge of their nose. Quite innocent, right? Maybe just a Zonai trait?

But then– then I realized they also have a third eye. On their foreheads.

Now, what really baffles me is, if you look closely at these screenshots (I believe Rauru's is taken from the official Collector's Edition Artbook, and Mineru's is straight from the game itself), then you'll also realize that both Rauru and Mineru's third eye have exactly three lashes.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, hear me out.

You know what other "race" in Hyrule displays these traits or make use of that sort of symbolism?

Yeah.

The Sheikah.

They're also the only "race" in Hyrule that doesn't appear in the flashbacks where we see all the Sages.

Now, it can and will certainly be argued that the Sheikah are not a seperate race from the Hylians and yeah, I completely agree with that (it's even stated in game in the profiles of the Sheikah characters, like Paya or Impa, that they are "Hylian (Sheikah)"). In a sense, even if they are the same race, they still belong to a different people or culture than the rest of the Hylian characters, and can therefore be considered "seperate". It was the case in Ocarina of Time where the Six Sages included both a Hylian (Zelda herself) and a Sheikah (Impa, as the Sage of Shadows, I believe).

So why not include a Sage who was part of the Sheikah tribe, like Nintendo did in Ocarina of Time?

Sure, I'm going off a super subtle detail here, but I have a theory and I will die on this hill if I must : I think the Zonai were actually the ancestors of the Sheikah tribe (and of the Royal Family of Hyrule, as Sonia mentions a "blood connection" between her and Zelda, as well as the fact that she sensed both her power over Time and Rauru's power over Light within Zelda).

Now, as I said, this theory of mine is based off a few small details, as well as off of the absence of the Sheikah in the distant past of Tears of the Kingdom. However, even if Nintendo haven't done this on purpose and the marks on Rauru and Mineru's noses are only meant to be decorative, I still think there's something there that we're just not seeing.

Either the Zonai are meant to be part of the Sheikah tribe's ancestry (which would, in turn, explain why the tribe has always been close to the Royal Family as they share common ancestors in both Hylians and Zonai), or the Sheikah were just like "Oh hey, that's a really cool idea for a logo. Wanna make that our tribe's symbol??" and their leader at the time was like "Yeah, let's go boooiiiiis" and that's that.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Sorry for the long post! I just absolutely had to share. I can't be the only one to have seen this detail, right???

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 1 thoughts

here we goooooo!

(i started to imagine the sound of a really long and celebratory air horn to commemorate starting s2... but then that mental sound was awful so we ended that pretty quick)

it opens with mulder providing some gentle asmr about aliens and space with a thinly disguised undercurrent of rage in his voice, nice...

he starts talking about a guy named "richard bryan" cutting an alien survey program and that is such a generic name i figured they made it up for the show. and wrote "haha wouldn't it be funny if that was a real guy. and they made this whole episode just to mess with him."

chat. you're never gonna believe this. richard bryan was real and he did in fact cut the alien program. how do you think he felt being name dropped here? neeeeed to get his side of the story

(they also talk about the voyager a bit here which is really cool i won't lie)

now, what has our duo been up to in the time away from the x files? mulder is listening to men talk about lap dances and spitting sunflower seeds... i am not surprised here... all in the name of Research...

but scully is teaching at the academy!!! oh this delighted me to no end!

she starts getting emotional over the concept of a life being contained within tissue and her student is like "you sound spooky" ha. ha. i see what they did there. mulder you're a terrible influence.

they run into each other and she is so happy to see him but he totally blows her off! i was so sad!!!!

AUGH HE HAS HIS SISTER'S PHOTO ON HIS NEW DESK. aughhh man hold on. hold on.

scully is waiting outside watergate (wild they hadn't rebranded at that point tbh) for a shadowy figure and it is mulder! a very cranky and tired looking mulder! he's like we shouldn't be meeting, what do you need me for.... omg rude??

"so what did you want?" "to see if you're alright" (sound of me being sucked into emotional quicksand rapidly)

to answer her question of "are you okay" he begins to ramble about telescopes which is very in character

he says he saw deep throat's funeral but i remain suspicious....

the x files project being shut down has destroyed the man we used to know as mulder! he says that he isn't even sure if what happened to his sister is real anymore! they killed his spirit! "seeing isn't enough... i need solid evidence. i learned that from you" HEY OUCH?????

he's on the ground filled with a deep sadness and she runs her fingers through his hair, at which point i made this note: "y'all i'm only on season 2 i can't do this. i'm gasping so aggressively my mouth is hurting" so safe to say that i will be in for a hell of a ride moving forward... keep me in ur thoughts

baby fox flashback! we see his sister's abduction, which is obviously supposed to be very heavy and traumatic but i was laughing at the skinny little alien throwing her through the window lmaooo i love you 90's cgi <3

PAUSE. we see mulder waking up in a cold sweat from reliving his worst memory. but i see something new in the background: a fish tank in his room. this is a striking development that shall not slip by unnoticed.

and then some guy bursts into his room? and takes him to "the hill" to meet with a politician, who keeps calling him fox? who says they're being listened to? and tells him he needs to go to puerto rico where they're hiding evidence?

(tbh that sequence raised a lot more questions than it answered but i did love that mulder can name the bach piece that is being played because of his college music class lol)

SKINNER MENTIONED!!!! okay i figured out who he is: he's the one with the glasses and the fancy desk and the sidekick who is ALWAYS smoking. glad to have a name to the face. like yeah he was there last season but i had other things to focus on i guess.

cutscene to mulder lounging in a truck bed in puerto rico. niiiice. climbing compilation- niiiiiiice. and busting things open? hell yeah niiiiice

gasp... scully broke into his place (which i think is an entirely new set? or at least from a different angle. but um. okay i'll try and ignore that. but can anyone confirm or deny...?)

anyway she puts her glasses on and slips into password guessing mode and succeeds... i would have thought the FBI would keep tighter passwords on their personal devices than "trustno1" but hey maybe he did that so she could strategically break in!

and some dudes bust in and ask why she's here so she's like ummm i feed the fish lol.....

(and then she refuses to endanger the fish by overfeeding them because that's the type of person she is... and if it provides cover for sneaking out something printed from his computer well that's just a bonus!)

back to puerto rico!! guy in the bathroom reveal!!! mulder cannot speak spanish (smh mulder you were supposed to be the humanities one) but the dude draws a picture of an alien so i guess that proves that art is a universal language <3

scully is taking his paper she printed to some guy to analyze idk her freckles were distracting me again. sorry. NOT! i refuse to apologize. not during june.

(but she goes through some flight records and sees his alias and realizes where he's going and follows)

again, back to puerto rico! our new friend jorge is running for his life into a storm so our patient pal mulder naturally runs after him. into the jungle. and ohhhh jorge is dead now? that was quick.

he does a DIY autopsy on jorge while speaking into the voice recorder- which he addresses as "scully", while sounding like he is going to get sick, kicking things, sweating profusely, and doubting himself. hell yeah baby this is tv! i wanna see that man in situations!

"before i could only trust myself, now i can only trust you, and they've taken you away from me... my life up until this point has been about seeing her again, but what would i do if they really came?"

(now the first part of that is WILD. they've taken you away from me. that phrasing... also, they have successfully gotten the man to doubt his entire existence. sneaky little fbi trick there, making "trust no one" include himself)

BUT the skinny legend aliens return and he is brought back to his sense quickly. he gave it a good go (shot at it a bunch of times) but weirdly the gun didn't fire... probably a good thing. imagine the complications to alien diplomacy that would create!

he wakes up on the floor to scully explaining who she is and asking if he remembers her. he bolts awake, grabs her shoulders, and says that it was the same alien that took his sister. she is already deeply concerned when he then kicks aside a dead body and says we have to analyze it and her face in this moment was delightful. it was very much giving "mulder you're scaring me" just with the eyes

she has to make him realize they can't smuggle a body back to the states OR any of the paperwork really so he just grabs an audio thing that was clearly a better choice. but i want to know how he thought they were gonna get jorge out of there. because the alien hunters were coming to kill him and speed is hard enough for alive people.

"evidence doesn't matter if you're dead!" -dr. dana scully

they crash their way through the jungle, getting shot at and generally destroying what i'm sure is a very important ecosystem but still. they made it out! sorry to the environment </3

mulder gets called into skinner's office (i know that guy's name now!!! i'm so proud) and yelled at for blowing off his case work... and cigarette sidekick is also yelling at him but skinner kicks ciggy man out... is he... an ally? he tells him to go back to work on the job mulder finished like 2 weeks ago...... okay so what i'm seeing here is a boss who is willing to let a man pursue his passions

at the very end we see our duo reunited and it appears the audio he smuggled out of puerto rico had nothing recorded on it!

she tries to encourage him and he seems to be doing better: "i may not have the x files, scully, but i still have my work... (looong pause) and i still have you... (looong pause) and i still have myself" <- okay so looks like we're getting our boy back!!! who cheered?! meee!

he returns to the recording of men discussing strippers and she grasps his hand and then leaves him to his task...

BUT! the minute she leaves, he puts the first audio file back on and it seems to be working now... so why didn't he want her to know???

what is going on!!! i thought "trust no one" would logically mean mulder not trusting himself, but to not trust scully? well, this is madness! what have they done to the man?!

i suppose i will have no choice but to stay tuned and see if his mental state improves a bit with the return of the aliens...

i was really excited to start s2 and i took a lot of notes even for me LMAO some of which i cut out because it would take me forevvvver to capture all of my thoughts in even more detail than i have here but-

as the kids say: we are sooooooo back baby!!!!

[vees-genshin-blog]

Day 15 and 16!!

Warning: 5.1 spoilers here as I reach the end of the story update!!

So yay!! Midterms are done (for now 😭), so I was finally able to continue the Archon quest!!

In day 15, other than dailies, I did a few runs of the VV domain but got nothing better for Kazuha 😔. I'd add a bit more, but day 16 is going to be way longer so I figured it's best to keep it short.

Day 16: After essentially 2 days of not playing any hoyo game, I Iog in so I can finish the quest!!

Like my previous post, bold is actual reaction and parentheses is after thoughts. We are continuing after Capitano and Mavuika's talk.

Ok I'm guessing now that Mavuika is the last hero because there are no other prominent characters, plus all the tribes are accounted for, I think. I'm really curious who it is though. (I realize that i am dumb later and clearly misremembered Mavuika's explanation in 5.0)

ORORON IS SO CUTE WITH HIS SINCERE APOLOGIZING 😭😭😭😭

No Ororon!! Just accept the compliment!!

Xilonen and Citlali are finally gonna make the name!! Xilonen's gonna die?? I mean, there's probably gonna be a workaround or something cause there's no way hoyo is going to kill her off but STILL. (It seems like there are a lot of slots empty in the tool, so do we need to fill it up before the name can be made? Actually, i'll check it later to see if it changed after the war. Assuming it needs to fill up, how are we going to do that before Mavuika has to go?)

MAVUIKA is gonna die too now??? I'm really curious how hoyo is going to pull this off now. Lord of the Night is basically garantuing this death.

OH no. I have to make a decision (cue PTSD from TOT where i accidentally chose the decision that killed off an entire tribe in Dragonsbreath because i was tapping too fast😭😭). I can tell there are probably consequences to choosing one place to help over another 😭😭😭 (Yup, seeing how one place was no longer salvageable hurt and triggered PTSD)

KINICH!!!

You gotta respect and admire how much everyone cares about Mavuika.

CUTSCENE! MAVUIKA?!?!?! What're u planning?!?!? Also Capitano coming to the save 🥹🥹🥹

My gosh everyone is dead here 😔😔😔. Its definitely a real war now.

Was I supposed to jump off there?!?! 😭😭😭 Lumine speaks!!! (No seriously, the map seemed to circle that area as a place I could go to, but the balloon didn't stop so i was very confused and sad that I might've been able to save someone there)

CHASCA!?!? She's crying, and I'm crying and we're all crying 😭😭😭 CHUYCU DIED!!!!!😭😭😭😭😭 (Hoyo killing these characters in front of us 😭😭)

What!! I thought she was already a hero!?!?!? I guess I really misremembered who they mentioned was a hero 😭😭😭

THEY'RE ALL HERE!!! Mavuika looks so cool 🥹🥹🥹 But is it really just gonna be us plus the heroes fighting?? (Nope, everyone's fighting and I misunderstood again 😔)

The extra convos are so cute!!

WE WON!! But also, what the heck was behind the false sky!?!?!? (I really don't know enough of the hidden lore to know what that could be)

Feast time!! Capitano joined us!!! Also hmmm, Mavuika (and maybe us) alone to fight the abyss? Are we sure about this????

OOOOH!! Mavuika flashback!! RONOVA says the iconic line from the trailer!! The one that gave a sneak peek to all the acts for each region!

CAPITANO?!?!?!

So yeah, this update was amazing and I really liked how they made your decision on where to go have an actual effect on the results because it made the war so much more devastating 😭😭😭. Knowing that the other place would get run over by the Abyss depending on where you go....

Anyway, that's it for today!! Hope everyone has a nice day!!

[imagoddamnonionmason]

Goose! Please tell me, is there a headcanon about Frank x Jodie's relationship that's been rotating in your mind but you haven't revealed yet?

Hi E!

YES! There is! I'll preface this with I'm pretty certain I've not mentioned it, but if I have, it will have been in passing; at least now I can go into a little more detail about it! I will also be adding a read more cause I think it's gonna get long-

One head canon I have for their relationship is how they ground each other in situations where their emotions either might be heightened or going through something mentally. For example, in some of my writings already, I've shown Jodie's moments of having little flashbacks, or reactions to certain stimuli that trigger a traumatic response due to her brainwashing (and general trauma). This is something that we could also attribute to Frank, too, given his long service in the military.

So, to get to the specifics, it's a small, subtle action. Simply, when either of them notices the other might need a little grounding, a reminder that they're not alone, or that they need to calm down, they will use their fingertips/knuckles of their fingers to either brush or tap lightly on the other person's hand/wrist.

The reason I've been thinking about it is because I knew that Jodie would be the kind of character that, when in turmoil, wouldn't want to be touched. If she's angry, upset, crying, she will not want to be touched (unless you asked and she invited it).

But I was also thinking that, especially given that Jodie has been brainwashed and Frank now has two people in his life that have gone through similar things, Frank would probably have a better idea of how to manage the moments where Jodie is 'not present'.

I've also seen it knocking around that Frank will also do something similar with Alex, those friendly pushes in cutscenes are a tactic Frank uses to make sure Alex is still grounded. Although I saw that after I'd already been thinking about this with Jodie and Frank, but it was nice to see that my understanding of Frank's character seemed to line up! Like, of course Frank would do something like that.

BUT Jodie does this for Frank, too.

I just thought having something so subtly intimate as a way for these two to interact in time of needing comfort (but maybe not wanting to be overwhelmed) is what will give me life right now.

BONUS: I had been speaking with @alypink regarding a face claim post I reblogged where Jodie's face claim, Kate Beckinsale, was wearing glasses. I do have a little headcanon that Jodie wears reading glasses to ensure she doesn't get eye strain.

POINT BEING, when they're in the workplace, maybe Jodie is reading some intel, combing through Birdseye view pictures of terrain - whatever it is. She's intently focused, enough that she wouldn't see Frank walking by. Just a little torment, maybe to break her attention for a split second (because this man knows Jodie will work herself into a hole and not take a break) he gently knocks the side of her glasses and sends them slightly skewed on the bridge of her nose.

Frank gives me an air of being able to be mischievously charming XD she'd look up at him, pouting with the glasses not corrected and he probably gets a little laugh out of it, whilst also achieving making sure that Jodie gets a small break (even if she doesn't realise that's his goal).

Sure he could straight up say, "take a break" but Jodie would also just be like "one more thing and then I will" but... respond that every damn time. Frank gets creative in making her break eye contact with the pages.

This headcanon is something a little softer, less serious, but thanks to Aly I couldn't stop thinking about that scene in my head.

[giuilily]

the death scene/ending is indeed confusing and i'm still annoyed by it tbh lol but i'm fairly certain the Aerith that Cloud is seeing at the end is lifestream Aerith (which is why Red can sense her too). But, I do also think that she is alive in some other world/timeline now and it is likely that they will reunite because otherwise I do not see the point of all of this ~ defy destiny ~ stuff the games have been pushing (plus the lyrics to nptk). Why change a pivotal emotional scene into something vague and confusing if it's not going to be resolved later beyond "she dead and cloud is losing it". And yes, his grief is playing a part in him being somewhat delusional but I don't think it is only that. (also can I say i am upset we didn't get to see the water burial! I'm sure it's intentional for the cloud is delusional vibe but still) As for the terrier-verse, I was confused by which world/timeline their date was in before the end... I thought it was that one because Cloud wakes up in the wheelchair (i think?) and everyone knew that world was ending and accepted it which is in line withe the npc dialogue/lack of ability to make a real choice/sephiroth showing up at the end. But I also thought that was weird because where is Elmyra and is Zack off at reactor 6/shinra while they're on their date or has he died again already (probably lol). So I feel like that universe is.. gone? But that seems like a weird way to end that worlds story (and where did zack end up at the end) so maybe I am wrong. (wow sorry this got really long! did not know you could send an ask this long tbh lmaoo)

No worries for the long ask, anon! I enjoy reading people's thoughts on Rebirth's ending. I'm all too happy discussing it hahaha!

AND LITERALLY SAME.

I love Aerith, and the altar scene in Rebirth was very emotional, but I would have much rather things didn't end ambiguously. I would have accepted her death had they made a 1:1 remake.

But I'm not gonna complain if it gives us the possibility of getting her back in Part 3 lol. (Princess Guard and Great Gospel are waving 👀)

I also wanted to see a cinematic cutscene of the water burial, anon. It would have made such an emotional ending for Rebirth too! I feel like we won't see that scene until it shows up as a flashback to Cloud which will absolutely be heartbreaking.

And I agree. I've only played Remake this year and I initially thought that they can't stray too much from OG. But after beating both games, they've put in so much groundwork on the 'defying fate' theme and foreshadowed them reuniting in the end since Remake that they have to deliver on that somehow, otherwise it'd feel like a cop out. Like Cloud said in Red's date: "There's no point in wasting our time worrying about fate if we can't change it." and I'm gonna hold the devs to that since no one asked them to add in new themes to an almost 30 yo game lol.

And the dream date happened in Chihuahua/Spitz-verse! So Terrier-verse Aerith and Cloud should still be asleep with Marlene and Elmyra watching over them. Idk what happened to Zack in this verse but chances are, if he survived, I doubt he'll find a cure from Hojo.

I'm really curious where the Zack who we fought alongside with was sent to. Devs purposely didn't show a stamp to indicate where he was. I've read speculations that he got sent to Beagle-verse but who knows?

[sennamybeloved]

marlene's tape recorders and journal added so much depth to her character. without them, she is so easy to misunderstand, so easy to paint as some awful villain who acted carelessly (or even cruelly). the show is flawed in a lot of ways but the fact that it made no effort to give marlene back any of the depth she was robbed, while largely insignificant side characters like bill and frank got an entire full length movie dedicated to them, is fucking criminal. i love bill and frank this is not me saying that episode is bad it is lovely BUT. marlene is the main antagonist, she deserves something like that way more than they did. for a show that allegedly wants to humanize all of it's characters they sure as hell put no effort into humanizing one of the most humanizable characters in the entire fucking franchise.

marlene is not a terrible person by any stretch of the imagination. i wouldn't even call her a villain. joel is objectively worse than her. however, that objective standpoint is NOT what the last of us is about! it's about humanity, and joel's drive to protect ellie is so much more relatable and so much more human than anything that was going on with the fireflies. that is what made the game so impactful. we, the players, are parents, friends, children, lovers, who would do anything to protect those we hold dear, even if that means sacrificing the world. boiling marlene down to a "villain" not only does her character a huge disservice, but completely undercuts the impact of the entire story, primarily joel's arc.

additionally, just because the fireflies as a whole were not super sympathetic or relatable, marlene herself absolutely was. an overworked leader and figurehead with the entire weight of the world on her shoulders being attacked from every angle at a war with her own mortality over protecting her dead best friend's child and saving the society she's been fighting for all these years. do you fuckers actually think she wanted to kill ellie? absolutely not. listen to her first tape recorder, watch the flashback cutscene from tlou2, fucking look at the way jerry fucking pressured her. fucking listen to how distressed she sounded when she was talking about it. if you read her journals she was literally out of her mind convincing herself she had done nothing but fail her people over and over and over again. this was her last shot to do something right. she knew for a fact that joel wouldn't be happy with her, but she hoped that he could sympathize with her, that he could understand how hard this was for both of them, two people who cared so much about ellie and what she represented for them. direct quote from her second tape recorder: "they asked me to kill the smuggler. i'm not about to kill the one man in this facility that might understand the weight of this choice. maybe he can forgive me."

does that not make anyone else feel sad? she spent her last hours hoping and praying and wishing for someone to see her as a person, to meet her eye-to-eye and tell her that they understand all she has done, and that she made the right choice. she's not perfect by my god people, she is not evil. everything she did was with pure intentions. i can fucking guarantee that if any of you were in her position, they would've made a similarly fucked-up choice, if not an even worse one.

it wasn't her fault, at least not entirely; i'd argue the scientists shoulder more blame than her. in that same damn tape recorder, she states that asking her for the go ahead to proceed with the surgery was more of a formality on their part, and that she really didn't have much of a choice. i don't think marlene had power in that hospital to begin with. she had not been there in over 10 years, the scientists had taken up leadership. she was the firefly's figurehead, someone that people could assign blame to. whatever actual control she had was left back in boston. the scientists were not her fucking soldiers or whatever. why would they listen to her? what was she gonna do, yell at them? tell the people she'd dragged across the country that actually she had a change of heart and this had all been for nothing so everyone can just leave now. no!! she would've been eaten alive!!! what else was she supposed to do? literally what else. someone tell me.

there is zero empathy for her in this fandom. it's not just the show fans, it's the game fans, too. i beg of you guys to read her journal and listen to her tape recorders and try to put yourself in her shoes and realize that she was in just as much pain as joel was when things came to a head. i know she's not your ultra hot rugged white man but come on you guys can be a little media literate. as a treat.

[caitlyn-has-a-conspiracy-board]

Veilguard thoughts

Okay so now that I managed to actually make some progress, I figured I'd share my thoughts about the game. Some mild spoilers under the cut and all that

The character creator... like OH BOY that was a lot of sliders. I mean, I knew the CC was really insane based on what some content creators had shared but nothing had me prepared for the amount of sliders like... So. Many. Sliders. Took me about a whole hour, give or take, to make my Rook and then struggle - and I really mean STRUGGLE - to bring my Inquisitor to life. She looks okay I guess, haven't ran into her yet so we'll see.

Bad quality phone pic cuz yes it took me ages to remember photo mode IS A THING so. Yeah. This is my Rook. Meet Mara Mercar, local Shadow Dragon and certified lesbian disaster. Ngl after struggling with all those sliders of doom, the second I saw her in-game for the first time doing the bar scene brought me an insane amount of happy feels.

Solas, Solas, Solas... I still don't trust that man. Granted he murdered poor Bianca (rip Bianca you'll be missed) which was already a big HOW DARE YOU moment, but then he goes and stabs Varric??????? Hell nah. Tbh something tells me he's 'helping' for his own agenda and the second he gets his chance, he'll stab Rook in the back. I'm going forward 100% with the feeling he's the mage that betrays you. Again.

Neve Gallus.... Listen I was already going in full intending on romancing her but nothing had me prepared for the actually depths of her character. Every interaction with her, being it a cutscene or just party banter has me on the edge of my seat because you get all these little tiny things that make the whole and I'm honestly enjoy that a lot. My favorite stuff so far is when you get to go with her to Dock Town, both during one of her side quests and during one of the main ones and you just see her like, interact with the people around her and make little comments about this and that. The romance part is going slow as I'm working to do all the little quests and taking my time exploring but I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

I saw some people before saying they find Bellara annoying and I'm like... HOW??? She is so adorable!!! I love how excited she is about everything, and especially the way she interacts with Neve. Their scenes have been some of my favorite things so far, because Bellara will act like an excited ball of energy and Neve is just in the background letting out a good natured exasperated sigh but still taking the time to be sweet to her and answer her questions/humor her. (side note: the calibrations line gave me war flashbacks so thank you for that Bioware)

I don't think I have much to say about Harding so far, aside from being happy she's a companion now and being curious about her sudden magic abilities. I sorta feel like they might be connected to the ending of the Descent DLC from DA:I so I'm glad I got to play that before Veilguard came out.

I have to admit I wasn't very sure about Lucanis because of the entire demon thing + the way he sounds a bit too much like Puss in Boots but he's somehow growing on me.... like a weed. I still think his cousin is sus and to blame for him getting taken by the Venatori, so we'll see how that plays out further on

(by my comments you can probably tell who I've been running around with the most but yeah, it is what it is)

I haven't gone further enough to recruit the rest of the companions but I'm excited to meet them and see what they bring to the table story wise (secretly hoping for some chaotic stuff laugh worthy to go down in the lighthouse when everyone is accounted for). So. Anyway.

Story wise I'm loving everything so far and I really like the 'know your companions better' direction with this game compared to the older ones. Graphic wise everything is absolutely gorgeous and I have had to stop a few times to just really take in the scenery because woah.

And yeah so I guess we'll see what happens next!

(In the end I figured out photo mode yay)

[mdhwrites]

HSR Wardance Review (Non-Spoiler)

This is the best writing Star Rail has had. This is also a fulfilment of everything the first run in with the Loufu tried to be. A genuine thriller with twists and turns and hidden complexities behind each corner depicting a world of interlocking and conflicting factions who's gears do not gnash evenly with one another. What this has over the first Loufu is a genuinely compelling plot by the villains, good cultural showings that feel dense but not impenetrable and proper emotional cores that pay off in INCREDIBLE ways. I have always kind of liked Yanqing but I am EXCITED for where our little lieutenant is going now.

And I say this despite the fact that I'm with my brother that the first half of the patch does not wholly make you expect anything incredible. Mind you, it's not that the first half is bad. It is extremely charming and I think does better the use of silly elements alongside serious ones than any other Star Rail... Thing? It knows when to cut back to them, it knows when to leave them to the side, it knows right when we might need an incredible sight gag that only this universe could allow for while not breaking the actual tone of a bad situation needing to get solved. It also avoids Penacony's problem where the fluffy stuff feels almost divorced from the main plot. As mean as this is to say about Firefly's death, it really is just her getting to go on a date with us until she's shuffled off by Sleepy only to go "Tadah! It was all plot relevant, I swear. See you mostly in 2.3 after a brief bit of time in 2.2." The tighter pace of the story makes it so no one feels like they vanish for an entire patch, not that this story would even allow them to. Not when everyone has a role eventually to play. Even things that seem entirely silly or ludicrous can manage to come back around.

Now is this patch perfect? No. For as much as I praise the tightness of the writing, I would argue that the weakest link is Yunli. There's not even a lot I would argue I could spoil about her because you know what she is from her first scene with dialogue: She's a tsundere. An okay charming tsundere but still just a tsundere to go with Yanqing. It does give him someone to bounce off of which is important for what's going on with him but it hardly had to be Yunli. It just had to be someone who would push against Yanqing and she really doesn't have great reasons to, even implied by her own admission. That admittedly makes interesting contrasts you can infer into, see how two young Xianshou prodigies view their craft, but very rarely in a good way for Yunli. Not only that but uh... Her sword has a name. It has not been mentioned once in game that it even has a name. And that's emblematic of the fact that it feels like we're not getting all we could for Yunli because other elements are simply taking priority over her.

However, once we get to 2.5, I'd argue there's almost nothing out of place. It uses the perspective swapping for the first time to genuinely great effect where not only is it showing us more of what's important but the story itself is enhanced. It helps keep the feeling of this being a plot that is cascading through the Loufu by making sure we're never in one place for too long, nor handling one problem at any given time for too long. Instead, we dart around like the characters themselves are having to do. I also want to praise the use of flashbacks here. In Penacony they were... Awkward. Not bad but awkward because we got a lot of cutscenes of just flashback stuff that allowed for good character building and could feel like they were building to something but very rarely to the scene they were a part of. It was always building up to a payoff, which causes really disjointed storytelling. Like they had these scenes but they didn't know where to put them. Meanwhile, pretty much every flashback we get here is either actually allowing for exposition that is being done in the present to be done more emotionally or for philosophies and understanding to be gained right when we need a bit of that to highten the emotion of what is to come or what just happened. The emotions and themes flow in and out of each other rather than to seemingly hit a dam and I have to divert for a bit.

If I am left with anything truly bad about this patch, it is not about this patch. It is about Star Rail's storytelling as a whole but to go into it, even vaguely, would be spoilers. Just that here the thing that worries me worked but if it stays around, it could easily become a frustration rather than a boon. That is genuinely about as specific as I can be about it though.

I could not have asked for much better out of this though. For me, it brought the quality of the Loufu's sidequest writing up to its main quest and made this a place I am MUCH more interested in seeing again than the original Loufu did, not until stuff like Fyxestroll helped make these characters shine. Now both plot and character shine, making this place stand toe to toe with Jarilo 6 for where I'd like to keep coming back to.

Which feels pretty fitting. The Wardance was meant to show the Arbor Crises didn't weaken the Loufu and the story made sure to meet that challenge. It deserves to take its spot as at least a champion of Star Rail patches for it. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[comebackwhen]

While I don't have a lot of time to enjoy the fandom the way that I used to, I did finally manage to borrow a PS5 and a copy of Rebirth. Almost 94 hours later I have thoughts and no one to share them with because I'm the only idiot I know IRL who is this deeply invested in this franchise. I kept notes while I was playing and have a lot of thoughts.

I don't expect anyone to actually read any of this, but it'll be fun for me to come back to whenever the next part comes out. If you want to read the ramblings of a fan from the earliest days (For context, I borrowed my brother's copy right after he finished playing it when the game first came out in 97) feel free.

Since I managed to stay spoiler free until I played the game over the last two weeks, I'm still going to pop my thoughts under a break in case there are others out there waiting on a PC port. Beyond here nothing is safe, plot and character-wise.

Holy shit.

I feel like the last two weeks have been kind of a fever dream. It was simultaneously everything I wanted out of the game and also weirdly disappointing in a lot of places.

So, to kick it off, I wasn't mad about the way they were playing around with the whispers and the multiverse-esque concepts. A perfect shot for shot remake would be fine, but as someone who wrote a lot of fanfiction about the game, I can hardly fault the game's creators for wanting to get in on it. lol I would imagine that some of the new content falls into the - would have been in the OG if not for the limitations of the day - category anyway.

I also found it supremely funny that they included a vaguely malevolent entity that was obsessed with keeping the story "on track" and forcing the players to disagree with those entitles via the characters when a significant chunk of those players would be making that their chief complaint when they hit the end of the game. Call em on their bullshit FF7 devs!

As someone who has always been fascinated by Zack, even when he was practically nothing more than a few lines of dialogue and a missable cutscene in the Nibelheim basement, I can't tell you the joy I felt when I saw him live through the final fight. I was down for whatever they wanted to change at that point. I was even excited for it, I think. I find the idea of a time loop or multiverses crossing over kind of fascinating, so I was ready for whatever they wanted to do with it.

So now that you have context for where I stand on that particular side of the argument...

There was so much that rebirth did right. On the whole, I'm so, so impressed with what they did. The world feels so much bigger and some of the details are exquisite. Little things, like the way the news reports things in the background while they're happening and seeing the way Shinra would spin it. Hearing people talking about world events while you walk by - not to mention the sheer amount of people in the world. It really gives weight to some of the events in a way I had never been able to picture.

Though, whoever thought it was a good idea to put so much destroyable/movable clutter in the world was an idiot. JFC. I had to kick coral out of the way on the way to the altar in the Forgotten City and it genuinely annoyed the everloving hell out of me to be distracted by something so dumb in that moment.

I was worried about playing through the Nibelheim flashback for the Nth time but there were so many subtle things that made it interesting. Like, I didn't appreciate the way that Cloud's VA would be able to do that subtle impression of Zack in the way he delivered the lines. If you don't know what's happening there, you'd totally miss it but iykyk. I loved that. There were also subtle, heartbreaking things, like the kids playing Sephiroth when you walk through town. And I cackled when Tifa and Aeris outright call you an asshole for going through her drawers.

Honestly, the amount of casual swearing in this game gave me life. Which is hilarious, because I'm pretty sure Cid didn't curse once. I was really looking forward to hearing him tell us to sit down, shut up, and drink our $#%Y^ tea in full VA glory, so I'm a little sad that we didn't get that.

The choices between what was changed/how it was changed and what wasn't changed at all sometimes seemed a little weird to me. Like falling off the bridge into a river that being what swept the other trooper away, makes way more sense than falling into a ravine as far as why someone could survive it with scraped knees and someone else would end up in a coma. Removing the hidden bookshelf entrance into the Nibelheim labs? Lame. Chocobos at the ranch don't dance? Laaaaame.

I am glad that they finally called out how weird it was that Tifa never said anything about Cloud being there. It's like half the reason I always disliked her character so much. I even liked the conflict between them and the way that Sephiroth kind of turned it into an uno reverse situation. Cloud's eventual descent into madness near the end feels more earned because Sephiroth has been putting the pressure on the whole time.

Some thoughts about the world travels:

Fuck the Midgar Zolem. Nopenopenope.

I loved so many things in Junon. People in lower Junon protesting at the idea of the parade, awesome bit of world building. The weird ass bald bar with Rude? Chef's kiss. Cloud becoming the parade captain and having to go gather the squad. Loved it. He got so into it and you could see the hints of trooper Cloud under the fake Soldier persona he built. Lovely. The parade mini game was perfect. Even little things like the 1/35 soldier collectibles being used to plan the parade formations in the building where you usually grabbed them in the OG. It's the little details like that. I was super bummed that we weren't getting Red XIII in the trooper uniform until we did.

The Gold Saucer. THE GOLD SAUCER. I spent actual hours there. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a section in the Wonder Square where you could have played the OG versions of the mini games. Cait Sith's voice was giving Crowley high on laudanum and I wasn't mad about it.

I had a really funny moment when I got to Gongaga where I went, "Huh, she looks an awful lot like Cissnei..." and then she said she was Cissnei and I wasn't sure how to feel about it. Most of the Turks went into hiding, so yeah, okay sure. I just feel like there was a missed opportunity for her to call herself something else and it to be a subtle nod to the fact that Cissnei's probably not her name either. I just can't believe she didn't say anything to Cloud or Aeris (you'll pry that spelling out of my cold dead hands) about Zack.

Cid's early entrance into the game was also a little confusing. Like, he was still working for Shinra at that point in the OG. The only reason I was mad about it was that it meant we probably weren't getting Rocket Town. To be fair, I had to start speed running the plot by that point because I only had the the PS5 for two weeks, so I pretty much skipped exploring the Nibel region entirely. Could Rocket Town be there, sure. I won't know until the PC port comes out. lol I'm intrigued by the idea that Cid knew Ifalna. Was he the one who let them out? Again, not an idea I ever considered, but I wouldn't be mad about it.

Going to Cosmo Canyon was the moment I realized this game was not made for anyone remotely neurospicy. I started calling Rebirth "ooh, a squirrel!" the game at that point. I was so excited to go to Cosmo Canyon. Like it was one of the parts I was most excited to see in modern graphics. I immediately got sidetracked by the chocobos, the reagent collection stuff, the screaming owls, the towers, the Chadley bullshit in general.

That was probably one of my biggest complaints, honestly. Trust me to want to go over every inch of the map on my own. I don't need this weird AI kid to give me quests to make me do that. If anything, I actively started avoiding areas because I could see a cluster of his nonsense which meant traveling through that patch of map would be a pain in my ass. I didn't mind him or the concept as a whole, I just needed like 60% less of it, at least.

That being said, I loved the look of Cosmo Canyon, but I was confused by the vibe there. I feel like if that many people believed in Planetology, Shinra could never have gotten away with the bullshit it did. Even in all the towns, there's a dude in robes preaching Planetology. People are talking about the Lifestream and the Planet as a sentient being CONSTANTLY. There needed to be more, "don't believe that hippie, religious nonsense" people to balance that out. Or people saying, mako's absolutely a renewable resource, even if you believe that Planetology stuff. People on the whole would be destructive for the sake of comfort, but there was this weird disconnect there.

Since they were going with this, Planetology is more popular route, I do appreciate the fact that the people who believe in it at the Canyon are kind of pretentious about it. Tifa literally got eaten by a weapon, the group - including Nanaki who is one of them - have seen a number of wild, inexplicable things in the last couple weeks. Probably mako poisioning and group hallucinations. You should get checked out and how dare you question me! Oh you're a Cetra? Here, light the pretty lights at the festival then.

Since we're talking about Cosmo Canyon, the bit about Red's voice cracked me up. I was not prepared for the tiny babby puppy voice he started using in the back half of the game. I definitely missed his grownup voice the rest of the game though.

The GI cave part was well done. I'm sort of intrigued by the idea of the GI creating the black materia. I just wish they would have explained where the GI came from then, since they weren't born of the Planet. Materia is supposed to be the condensed knowledge of the Planet, so how did they make their own? I love the idea that the black materia was supposed to just be a way for them to take themselves out of the world and it ended up being so powerful it could destroy the entire world instead.

Also, the Cetra were just out there fighting everyone, the GI, the humans, Jenova. I really liked the way that GI Nattak called out that she's only Cetra by bloodline because the actual Cetra were kind of assholes. It's an angle I never considered and I'm kind of here for it.

I don't know how to feel about them turning Nibelheim into a mako poisoning treatment center. I think I preferred the Shinra coverup. It makes them much more sinister. It also made more sense when the replacement townspeople were rude to Cloud and Tifa. They have to stay in character because that's their job. Hell no you two didn't live here. Get lost. Now, everyone's just uncomfortable because two people who used to live there are in their midst. It was weird.

Also Cloud remembered Zack way the fuck early for no good reason. He doesn't talk to Aeris about it. Tifa tries to get him to cover it up. Why though? It makes way more sense for him to get flashes but nothing concrete if you want to foreshadow but you're not going to do anything interesting with it.

I have mixed emotions about what they did to Vincent. It's weird that he stayed at the mansion of his own volition as "security" considering what Hojo and Lucrecia did to him. Why tf was he sleeping in a coffin then? It made way more sense for him to be locked away and willing to join up with the party so he could take a piece out of Hojo. Now, he's claiming to have unfinished business with Sephiroth instead but also refuses to go anywhere near him? Also, I can't not hear Matt Mercer's voice when he talks so that was super distracting. lol Galian Beast was incredible. I'm just pissed I didn't get to use him as a limit break.

This was the point that I realized I had to start skipping exploration/side quests if I wanted to get to the ending before I lost access to the game and system. If I don't mention something and it's not required to beat the game, assume I didn't get to see it and will have to wait until the PC port comes out and I can take the whole game completely apart.

I got the Aeris Gold Saucer date. 10/10. I just wish they had got a vocalist that sounded more like Aeris's regular VA, but the play was a fun little minigame. I was confused by why they were all wearing VR headsets while sitting in a theater and if everyone saw themselves as the hero and people in their party as Rosa, the enemies, etc, but I mostly just turned my brain off and enjoyed the ride. The ferris wheel date was the perfect update to the dialogue while still keeping the vibe. Loved it.

The Temple of the Ancients was both better than I could have hoped for and possibly the worst section to play through at the same time. I was really looking forward to a quirky puzzle solving section with a weird, reality warping backdrop. The temple itself was perfect. The way it built itself up when the keystone got inserted. The look of the labyrinth. All of it. Then, it turned into an action RPG enemy grind. It needed to be half the size it was if they were just going to cut all the cool parts out anyway.

The flashbacks to everyone's sad moments were cool, but I feel like they didn't actually do what they were supposed to for anyone but Aeris. Red ends his tied to the table by Hojo, Barret - Myrna's dead and his arm is gone. (Though it was cool to see what Myrna looks like!) Tifa's dad's dead. Yuffie's confronted by Nero and mocked for leaving Sonon behind. If the Temple was trying to tell them that anger and grief can only take you so far as a warrior, they should probably all ended with some sliver of hope, like Elmyra helping to take care of her. Barret finding Marlene for example, would have been great.

I like the way they handled Cait Sith here much better than the OG. Him physically holding up the temple so it wouldn't collapse was a nice touch. He seemed genuinely remorseful about what he did and the surprise, here's Cait #2 moment seemed far less out of the blue and wrong toned because everyone was still conflicted about how to feel about him.

Cloud creeped me the hell out by the end and that was perfect. The way he chased Aeris for the black materia while saying creepy half-mind controlled stuff. I'm also not mad that they skipped him beating her up and replaced it with them both falling into the pit. It still gives a viable reason for why he's unconscious and gives her the space to run off to the sleeping forest.

I am a little sad that we lost out on his indecision about whether he's safe to go onward. The group dynamic when it comes to Cloud being weird is confusing. It seems like they all understand that degradation is a thing and there's a good chance it's happening to Cloud, but they also let him get away with shit that he really shouldn't be doing/saying if that is the case. He yeeted Tifa into a mako pit and she got eaten by a WEAPON. Did we address that, not really..? He's desperate to get to the black materia in a way that's making Yuffie looked restrained? That's fine. We don't need to tell him to go back and sit with Cid and Vincent. Just let him come along!

The ending leaves me feeling conflicted and brings me to my complaint about the remake itself. I feel like we were speedrunning the plot to ultimately get nowhere fast. Everyone knows the plot, so who cares if we bring Cid in early to cut some of the journey out. We're going to skip over Wutai for now by hinting at the side story we'll get to later. Vincent's backstory, who needs it? Any world exploration in relation to the keystone, nah, Cait just knows that. Let's put Rufus and Hojo at the temple with the Turks and steal some of the northern crater stuff and do that instead of the Temple of the Ancients puzzles. Bone City, Sleeping Forest, Forgotten City? Yeet.

For real though, the Forgotten City feels smaller than the OG version and that's a fucking crime.

I assumed that the climax would explain more about the alternate universes, why Zack survived, how the whispers work, etc. and that was the REAL story here, so sure, let's get to that.

Any time now.

I'll wait.

Wait, not like that! I didn't mean- and the game's over. Well fuck.

Seriously, that's how I felt about the ending. I was kind of holding off on the Zack side story so I could come at it all at once. I loved that Zack got into Midgar just to see that, without Cloud, the Avalanche stuff falls apart. There's a teeny plot hole in how Aeris would have ended up involved without Cloud buuuuut fate's gonna do its thing and I can suspension of disbelief that.

What I can't ignore is that we never find out who the missing Soldier with the Buster Sword was that was involved. The reports talk about a missing Soldier who Shinra's still searching for. Maybe they're just tacking that on because Zack survived his execution and they're trying to kill two birds with one stone, but then why aren't they looking for two Soldiers? Zack still clearly has Cloud. I have questions.

On that note, literally no one bats an eye at Zack and Cloud looking like they could 100% have been running from that fight. Kyrie would have absolutely have handed Cloud over to a Soldier/Trooper the second Zack was gone.

So great. Now we have Zack and Cloud at Elmyra's with Marlene and Aeris in a coma. Her materia's all clear. The world is ending. Spooky af. I'm fascinated. Biggs is the only one who survived the capture of Avalanche. he's super guilty. Love it. Wait, why's he talking about Cloud like he knows him and he was there at the bombings? Marlene too? Of course Aeris has a crush on Cloud, you're dead silly! It's probably best she never wakes up because then Sephiroth murders her.

Elmyra implying that it's okay if no one saves Barret and Tifa because the world is ended and they're all going to end up in the same place soon was fucking DARK. I was not prepared for that.

Then, Zack has a decision. Shinra HQ for a cure to Cloud's coma or rescuing Biggs from his own stupidity. He chooses a friendly chat with Hojo, rocks up to the building on a motorcycle and guns it into the building despite the troopers. Love it. Wait. Why's he talking to Biggs in the reactor? And Biggs is dead and Zack's facing down the army again. Did we just branch into a second alternate timeline where Zack both went to HQ and tried to save Biggs? Awesome. We're really leaning into the weirdness. Let's fucking go.

Aeris and Cloud wake up in their coma bodies. Okay, awesome. We're finally going to get an explanation. Is this some weird sort of afterlife where all the souls from the multiverse end up and drop their knowledge off before rebirth? Is Aeris going to take Rebirth!Cloud and bring him somewhere else because she's a Cetra and can do crazy shit like that?

Nope, we're going on another weird ass date.

This is when I realized that we've definitely got at least two "Zack lives" timelines. The Cloud and Aeris one seems like a spinoff of one of those too, since Cloud woke up in the wheelchair in Aeris's house. Then there's one where Zack is sitting on the church steps right before Sephiroth shows up. I can't tell if the dog Johnny's holding is the same one as the bag from the remake ending or not. You can keep track of which timeline you're in because of the Stamp used in that universe. What the fuck even is my life?

So assuming that "Johnny dog" Zack is the one who fights with Cloud, is he gone when he says goodbye at the end? Is he the one that wakes up in the church? But the flowers in the church are okay when all the other Zack timelines aren't. Is this a fifth timeline?

I don't necessarily mind that they didn't tie it all up in a bow because this isn't the end, but I have so many frustrating questions.

Lastly, let's get to Schrodinger's flower girl. If she's really dead, I feel robbed. If they were actually going to kill her off, I wanted to be fucked up emotionally in 4k. I wanted everyone saying goodbye on the altar. I wanted the water burial. All of it in high def so I could sob my heart out like a teenage girl.

I'm intrigued by the overlay of Aeris bleeding and not. Her holding Cloud's face and it looking like he's holding her hand up because she's already dead. Cloud giving the OG speech with no words and just crying and ignoring Sephiroth entirely. Are we seeing multiple worlds converging and only Cloud can tell because he was dragged into that alternate world with her? Is Cloud's mind cracked beyond all telling and this is just Jenova/Sephiroth coming to him wearing the face of someone he loves and trusts?

I'm still annoyed that they seemed to scoot on by the most pivotal part of the OG, but I will forgive them if it turns out that Cloud's crazy and we get to see it all properly in Part Three. Or if they come up with an equally suitable twist involving multiversal travel where she really is both alive and dead in any given universe.

I'll be excited when the PC port comes out so I can really take the game apart and find out what makes it tick. I'm sure I only barely scratched the surface, considering how much side content I had to skip. I think a lot of this could benefit from a second playthrough, even if I had 100% it.

If you're still here, I'm confused but hope you enjoyed my ramblings. Night all.

[bearpillowmonster]

I was originally going to play Darkside since Code Veronica is a tank control but the copy I have was scratched upon arrival and doesn't work past a certain mark. I had no interest in this one since I had already seen gameplay of all three of its titles but I realized during one of my replays of RE3 Remake that I keep coming back even though I know every nook and cranny as if I'm looking for something that wasn't there before like new content. There will never be an expansion to that game until I started thinking, what about the Umbrella Chronicles version?

So, I bought this game just for that section. Unfortunately you can't just pick one game or the other, with Darkside, it was one continuous story modern day with flashbacks to each game but with this one, it's continuous but doesn't have a main story to tie it all together or add to it so you play these three congruently like they were the actual titles. So I'll just split it up that way.

I was never a fan of RE0, I more or less exclude it from my canon, but I really wish that the train idea would've worked at least as well as Revelations' ship idea. It's the same here but it feels a bit better because you're actually seeing ahead of you.

It's on rails but you can choose this way or that way sometimes and it will have a different outcome with what you encounter. I remember being able to see the opposite player or NPC in Darkside but in this one, it just seems like whoever you choose just talks to themself and the other very rarely responds back or you see them outside of a cutscene which makes it feel a bit lonely. It really doesn't affect gameplay at all other than piece of mind, no different weapons, no swapped out dialogue so it still thinks you're playing as one instead of the other "Go down there" and your character jumps but you're the one that said it. Herbs aren't treated as stock, you pick them up, you use them, first aid sprays are kept until you 'die' and it basically acts as a second chance.

The environments are shootable and through that some give different badges and "points" for a report card at the end of each level, some give items such as ammo or healing too. As far as length of each section, for reference, Resi0 had 3 levels, it was a pretty mummarized (get it?) version of the events of the game though it didn't exactly have a whole lot going on in the first place. The length of those levels can be varied, this is more arcade like so there's constant action. I'm not sure how to gauge that but it took a little over an hour to get the Resi0 portion done and oh, what's this? Once you complete a section, you can either move onto the next or you get "bonus levels" depending on what ranks you got which are based around how fast you mow down since it's on rails, actual number of hits, critical hits, objects destroyed, and files. Which for Resi0 you unlock "Beginnings" or where Wesker was when it was all happening. They don't add a whole lot but if you know the brand then it's like "Oh my, Wesker vs a prototype tyrant" but that's about it.

The game can be off at times, I guess because of motion controls but I'll give a few examples. The final Queen Leech boss has you aim for the mouth but for one thing, this thing is made of mouth so you'd assume it's the one facing you which also happens to be the narrowest. The "head" if you will, but I found myself unloading on this thing, reticle directly in the eye but it wouldn't register as that hit box. Hit a little more to the left of the head and that did the trick but it was finnicky and the monster is always moving so it's kind of like testing to see where the hit box is next and it's not purposely designed that way, watch any PS3 walkthrough or like I said, the characters tell you what to do in that moment, it's just a flaw in its coding. I hit a spider the fell into another spider but the body didn't decompose yet so it was invincible because I was hitting the corpse's hit box instead (why you can do that, I don't know, it should be finished at that point) but that happened a few times.

They take a lot of wrong turns to dead ends and turn around to fight more enemies, it's actually almost comical how lost and in circles you go. Dodge commands won't always appear if you're shooting and really I have no explanation or strategy for that, the point is to shoot. Waving the Wii Remote to dodge (also a reaction command) was hit or miss because you normally have to be completely stopped in order to make it work and be able to catch the entire thing, not just willy nilly or dare even hold the B button while you wiggle. What wording, am I right?

At this point, I wasn't really a fan of the game, I liked seeing some of my favorite scenes in better graphics but it's all nulled by its gameplay and cliffnotes story, making it an FPS takes away from its characters because you never get to see any interaction and that's half of what makes RE work.

As far as the actual RE3 content, like I said, the story takes a dip. But your goal is to get to the helicopter from the very start, first cutscene, but with Carlos and that's your overall goal, there's no "but Nemesis stopped the first helicopter", no "He killed Brad" I don't think, no Nicholai either (except in the collectible notes for some reason??). So while he's big on screen in first person, he's not menacing enough but it's hard not to love his Darth Vader voice in this edition. And it's contradicting that Carlos is there under Umbrella to help, Jill is there under Stars to help but they're both just after the helicopter at the same time.

It slowly but surely made me happy a little bit though because I was getting to see these environments that I was familiar with and how they drew in comparison to the remakes like the police station and the train station as well as what differences there were and the added flashlight for some segments. For the last level of that section, you finally get introduced to and fight Nemy which he follows you for the whole level like he should, really cool. I even played that level twice. The actual battle portion is very reminiscent, you can see where they got some inspiration as far as him running in a circle and stuff.

The bonus isn't "more RE3" which is disappointing for me seeing as I bought it for that, but it's actually an Ada story that I really liked, so there. Weird that it's in this game seeing as it takes place after RE2 but…ok. That's my Ada. I had issues with the way she was in RE4 Remake and to a degree RE4 but this showed me that there's still something out there for her character that I might enjoy.

If you finish all of that including bonus levels and stuff you get one last section of the game that's original. Chris and Jill infiltrate an Umbrella facility that's working on a new B.O.W., and uh…wait is that the scene from the movie? But there's a lot of beeping for the one level that doesn't even stop for cutscenes, I know it's an alarm but it's just stupid to have constantly blaring while you're playing even as loud as your guns are. Wesker pulls the "it was me all along" and you see his perspective for the bonus levels. Yeah, it's all contained so it's nothing all that great other than what was teased a few of the other bonus levels. So you had a continuity side story but you didn't know it because it took place at the end.

Hunk also gets his notorious mercenaries type thing with more dialogue than any other level, can you believe it?

Should you never had played the actual games, you're not going to get the series speedrun that you're hoping for out of this game, which makes me glad I didn't shell out for Darkside to be underwhelmed by Code Veronica's stuff before I knew it at all. I don't regret the buy just because of that but other than a few levels, I didn't really care about it enough, I was glad when it was done.

[p5x-theories]

Re: third palace ruler. i personally think it might arise because the ruler is being blackmailed/forced to be a Phantom (maybe?) to prevent tragedy (maybe from reaching ppl she cares about) but also something i feel like might happen - the perception of the self is not affected, but rather, it's the perception of the world around them that has corrupted into the dam. (also - theories re: ruler's second set of portraits?)

Yeah, that's a fair point! That's sort of along the lines of what I was thinking in this post when I suggested "dams can also hold back a sort of impending disaster [...] It could be that the Palace ruler sees themselves as the only thing preventing some “flood”/disaster like that?", although you bringing up that Palaces don't inherently have a warped perception of self involved in them definitely adds to that, and the Phantom aspect seems to fit right into all this. Assuming it is a dam, that might be my top guess for her Palace theme right now.

I'm not totally sure if I'm thinking of the right thing you're referring to with "ruler's second set of portraits", but I'll put what I think you might be asking about under a cut, since it'd reveal who the Palace ruler is, and I'm not tagging this post as spoilers, heh.

I think you're asking about either the Cyler Eats portrait, or the character who looks a lot like Katayama but has a different name? Probably the second one, but I kind of wanted to talk about Cyler Eats in relation to this theory too, heh.

For the former, I think Cyler Eats would directly connect to your theory that she might be being forced to be a Phantom, given Cyler Eats hasn't attacked anyone since the start of the game despite appearing in two other cutscenes now (one as Wonder and Cattle leave Ashouken, and then the one with Polter). It'd actually explain her behavior more than basically any reasonable alternative I can think of! Granted, Palace rulers do usually have a nice facade that the public knows them for, so it's possible Katayama's just hiding some nastiness (and I'm sure we'll see at least a bit of that in her Palace regardless), but her having a distortion related to being blackmailed into acting as a Phantom would explain why she hasn't taken any other opportunity to be violent since then.

For the latter, those portraits might be a relative of hers, or maybe (depending on how weird "time and space" gets) like a younger version of her, or something? Yui's real world self does at least prove that sometimes even the same character's files won't be named the same, though I'm not sure how far that extends, given Yui seems to be an exception due to being a video game avatar. But I could potentially imagine the case of time/universe travel being on-par with that, haha, or even just a flashback, since it it seems like Shun's known her in the past. I suppose, alternatively, maybe her appearance changes after her change of heart, especially if she stays relevant in the story? The one thing I'm pretty sure of is that it's not her Shadow, given the files aren't labeled as her Shadow self, she doesn't have golden eyes, and, also, they should still have the same name if they were her Shadow.

Feel free to reply/send another ask if neither of these were what you were talking about with the portraits, though!

[thessaliah]

If Chaldean Romani = Solomon from Chaldeas. Then Priestess = Olga from Chaldeas?

Huh. Well.

...

Let's have a disclaimer this is all speculative, but assuming Chaldean Person isn't Lev or Goetia, then absolutely there's a certain parallel of those two figures (Olga and Romani) in roles, or perhaps that's my impression. The whole cutscene of Romani with Lev to Olga crying with Chaldean Person showed before another Crying Olga. I think the Olga from CHALDEAS was the Director Olga all along.

Spoilers and speculation.

If this hunch is accurate, I assume that the switch happened during the first years CHALDEAS was operational. In that case. Olga only met the staff of Chaldea after her father died, so nobody ever met her, or knew her. She's also weirdly unpopular with everyone, unlike her Case Files self. Perhaps this was because unconsciously, she was never from 'there.' The sense of alienation Daybit has but lesser. Regardless of Goetia's plan to manipulate Olga and isolate her, the mats calling out her negative popularity seems important. That's why you have that younger-looking Olga appearing as important and she was the one all-powerful in the Melty Blood Back Alley manga crossover. She's the one crying in the Opening, making her design like this would be a giveaway of the twist. It's possible that she was the test subject and the core to turn CHALDEAS into Panhistory as the God. Think about it. All the flashbacks of the "Director" are to an age after CHALDEAS was activated. Kirschtaria's thoughts about her being withheld (happened the same with Daybit, due to spoilers), him treating the Priestess as the actual Olga, perhaps because she's the one he knew from childhood and realized of the switch. He also said the priestess' body was going to manifest from the tree, so Olga was from the beginning intended to be the Servant God, but not the one from Fuyuki. When U Olga Manifested, she acted like a psycho, so Kirschtaria assumed he failed to prevent her metamorphosis.

The Director's Olga's lack of rayshifting capability or the ability to be a Master in Panhistory may be because she was never part of Panhistory. This was before her Servant self. She could be in simulations or places within CHALDEAS frame. Her body (Subject E) can be a Master in CHALDEAS painting the Earth without a problem. Lev sending her back to CHALDEAS made it so both Olgas were there, so the entire organized scheme Marisbury pulled became a mess, for the CHALDEAS Olga became Subject E (she has the body of someone from CHALDEAS) and the Panhistory Olga got burned instead, becoming the Priestess ("nothing" where used to be a person), but this was probably the original plan until Lev weighted in:

I've speculated in the past it was an Angra Mainyu meets Nurse Sakura/BB deal, but I wasn't sure how, now it's becoming clearer, but Nasu can be a mess. I'm not very enthusiastic or interested to see this plot resolution, but I wanted to answer you anon. It's also probably why the Olga who resembles the one from FGO Prologue in the manga is the one from a simulation, while the ghost one is different. Reines dropping Director Olgamarie was different from the Olga she met but has the same appearance in her interlude wasn't just a zany dimensional statement but that she was effectively not Panhistory Olga.

Gyakkou song is about Olga, but about the original Olgamarie. This is why is a spoiler so far. She's the one who has received a lot of "you need to do something" scolding from Kirschtaria and Morgan, and has observed without taking a stance. U Olga has had her arc, she already took a choice of where she stands and the song didn't play.

If this is correct, Chaldean Man then indeed could be CHALDEAS Solomon. They are foils. The Romani you met was the Panhistory one but sacrificed himself, and this one is CHALDEAS. The Olga you met was the CHALDEAS one, and the one left after her sacrifice is the Panhistory one.

Note this is just one possibility. Chaldean could be Goetia or Lev. Olga could have splintered in Heart/Body/Soul as Extella Hakuno, or be like Captain Nemo, so she had her bond with Marine. I'm inclined to believe the Olga options are less likely after Daybit confirmation she's the old Director, and we had the ghost young Olga showing up before this to be a coincidence, but it's just me.

[todayisafridaynight]

NOOOO RIGHT 'CAUSE LIKE... the way the Arakawa Family specialize in faking deaths already, I'm sure Jo was so on top of everything. And who better to walk Masato through it right... flight's the perfect time to get started if it's gonna take like fourteen hours...

BUT YES. YEAH. Like The Day Of he's just paralyzed with worry and caught between wanting to do something and not wanting to go against Aoki... maybe at most he chances calling Arakawa telling him to be careful, because that's not too conspicuous given his role in the dissolution, but Arakawa just gives him the old I'll Be Fine Worry About Yourself... and, you know, why shouldn't he; they've always had their enemies and he's Arakawa the Assassin, he can handle himself... he can let himself have that fleeting hope, but deep down... and THEN he finds out and has to act like he didn't mean anything to him and has to go back to his duties like nothing happened... OUGH

Can I just say. Literally such an insane fucking series of scenes in Coin Locker Baby. Because you get Jo's despondence when he's saying he might have killed Arakawa--he's being a bitch to provoke Ichiban into a fight, but it's also an admission his inaction played a part, isn't it... and then you get him expressing that he's familiar with Ichiban's need to protect Arakawa... and then you get the sheer desperation and insistence in his voice when he says he could never kill him... and then you get--I'm not totally sure how clear it is in English--but you get him actively saying his feelings go deeper than Ichiban's without really explaining how... and then you get the tinge of fondness when he's thinking back on the old days when Arakawa lived up to his name... Like. Why Did They Do That. Any Of That.

ALSO. GOD. I've gotten so much shit the past couple days because I said I want to lock Jo, Kume, and Tendo in a room for five minutes For My Entertainment. Reading those tags felt like coming home honestly 😭 Like, even Ichi was ready to kill someone over Arakawa, and Jo was out here threatening to disembowel people [in the dub]. And I Think They Should Be Allowed To. As A Treat. So FOR REAL the biggest "I'm so glad we get to talk" 😭😭😭

On that note genuinely so funny that I took an extra ten minutes re-rendering the video because I forgot to put the "flashback" part in Arakawa's subtitles at first but then nobody read it 😭

But it's also something I've been mulling over because I'm delusional. Getting actors as high-profile as Nakai and Takei back for just A Flashback is kinda crazy to me because Arakawa and Jo's screen-time took up a full four percent of the entire game [over ten percent of the cutscenes] originally. But then if it's multiple flashbacks equivalent to that... what exactly is going on here that the past is so intertwined...

And Because My Brain Is Evil there is the fact that technically speaking, Yokoyama only said that line was from a flashback, and specified Arakawa wouldn't be appearing in the main story. Now of course a normal person would interpret that as him reassuring the audience he won't appear in any present-day scenes, but part of me was like. Oh So A Side Story Is On The Table [<- it's not it's fucking not it will not be in a million years]

JUST. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS COOKING WHY IS THE KITCHEN DOOR CLOSED WHY ARE THE WINDOWS BLACKED OUT

ANYWAYS that's enough from me for today I am [as always] glad you enjoyed One Missed Call and Kyouen, ABSOLUTE bangers

YAYA THATS WHAT IM SAYIN YOU GET IT. UNSURPRISINGLY BUT YOU GET IT ಥ▽ಥ

no but thats what i MEAN like i already was jokin with myself like 'jo and arakawa probably had A Thing right lmao' BUT THEN THE WAY JO TALKED BOUT ARAKAWA AND OBVI THE GENERAL FACT HE COULDNT KILL HIM REALLY JUST MADE ME (。・∀・??) AND REAALLLY LOOK AT EM CLOSER THE SECOND TIME AROUND like genuinely for what. it will fuck me up until i'm dead and gone SOOO unnecessary and yet they did it..

wack that people wouldnt want to see kume and tendo stuck in a room with jo like. from what i know everyone is a part of the We Hate Kume gang so. cmon. kume will be shredded into candy floss within five minutes. it'll be fun (๑❛ᴗ❛๑)

OK BUT NAKAI AND TSUTSUMI'S STATUS WAS A BIG REASON WHY I DIDNT THINK ARAKAWA NOR JO WOULD BE BACK FOR LAD8 THAT'S SO VALID TO CONSIDER THAT its that idea that just has me especially wondering what the plan is. im not expecting them to have MAJOR parts (or in arakawa's case too many flashback segments) but they MUST have a SUBSTANTIAL amount to warrant bringing them back right..

[unearthlytwilight]

starting this again, I think.

last time: lotta shit happened. Lisa got retconned into an idol, fulfilled part of the Evil Prophecy by singing, and then some jackass tried to blow up the venue and her friends got drained of their dreams and all that. weirdly poignant moments about her feelings as an outsider, too. then the same guy tried to blow shit up again but we stopped him. also he kept calling Tatsuya "Cursed Star" but it's probably fine

I really do like how they handle Lisa. like, considering how they handle the Lovers girls in 3/4/5 I was not expecting much. but wow. sucks that you lose her for the entire dungeon though

also Eikichi clears again. my man. it's that whole "two bickering characters care about each other deep down" trope but it's done well. you never get the sense that they actively dislike each other, it's just that they're teenagers and Like That sometimes

yeah get his creep ass

also we stopped bombing guy again. twice. well we only beat him up the second time but we evacuated people from the place he was going to bomb the first time so. small victories.

but wait! before bombing guy died he said some important stuff about Mr. Kashihara, who was important to the Evil Prophecy plot before he died. so that's a lead we follow up on

excuse me the WHAT. man you can't drop stuff like that and not explain (I'm sure it was explained earlier but. I forgor)

and but so anyway Lisa wants to go to Mt. Iwato because she wants us all to remember some stuff that happened. we get there and find out, through a series of flashbacks, that the gang knew each other as kids but forgot about it. they also called themselves the Masked Circle because they all wore masks, which if you're keeping track is also the name of the villain conspiracy behind the bombs and stuff. at the end of summer Lisa, Eikichi, and this strange Jun kid lock "big sis" in the shrine (so she can't leave at the end of the summer, this is explicitly referred to as dumb kid logic) and by freak coincidence, the bombing guy went to burn down the shrine because pyromania that same night. Cue Tatsuya's Personas awakening and giving bombing guy his big ol' burn scar, which he was really salty about still. fine, except Maya has been acting weird and keeps saying shit like this:

weird, huh? Yukino is off in the background saying "Jesus fucking Christ" to all of this and I don't blame her.

anyway! it's revealed that 1) Maya is "big sis" and remembers being locked in the shrine and dying, and resents the gang for it enough to try and kill them and 2) psych, it's actually an evil copy of her created by the rumors that the party was actually the terrorists, because the real one shows up and is like "nah, go home, man". Joker shows up and freaks out for a little bit, insisting that Maya is dead. hmm I wonder who he could be.

after the fight, fake ghost kid Maya rolls up, explains the deal (she exists because of the rumor that "a kid died in the shrine fire ten years ago", rumors becoming reality, etc etc) and I am left with a new existential contemplation, because fake ghost kid Maya is self-aware that she's fake and talking to the real one. idk man something about that sits weird with me.

anyway! a golden butterfly shows up and we're whisked off to Philemon's place, where he's like "yeah, get that kid some help, man" (and gives you the Prime Personas if you made the right decisions).

we are shunted back to reality only to find, I shit you not, a Nazi air raid happening. I'm not lying, the cutscene is on YouTube and everything. feel free to check. they're going to a place mentioned in the Evil Prophecy to uncover alien artifacts and ascend beyond humanity by killing almost everyone else.

next time: hopefully we don't, y'know, let them do that. that would be really bad.

bonus:

pov: when cosplaying goes too far