#Ito Ōgure | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gear-project · 6 months ago

Note

Annon-Guy: What makes or breaks a Guest Character for you?

I know you focus on the main cast and all, but when a Guest does show up, how do you feel about them?

Feel free to use the Guests from Soul Calibur as an example. I know Link and Ezio are the most well received while Yoda, Dark Vader and Starkiller get shafted on.

Honestly, I haven't had much reason to complain about the guest characters I've been presented.

In Soul Calibur's case, we actually got VERY GOOD representation for a lot of guest characters (Bandai Namco and Project Soul were pretty skillful in that regard).

I'd argue that Spawn's presence in Soul Calibur is actually dwarfed by how he was presented in Mortal Kombat 11, to be honest.

If they managed to sneak Spawn in Guilty Gear, I'd go crazy... hahaha...

Samurai Shodown's Guest characters (i.e. Baiken/Warden/etc) were "simplified" to better suit the game's mechanics, and while that's something some people might complain about... in Samurai Shodown's case, "simpler is better" in a lot of ways. Even for Baiken in that game... she felt very solid in the game itself (well maybe not as versatile as she was in Accent Core or Xrd, but those are the peak of GG, and are hard to compare to).

I'd argue Soul Calibur IV's DLC wasn't the problem... the gameplay elements and mechanics were the larger issue.

Yoda is... well he's a mild amusement... Soul Calibur IV got mixed responses on a GOOD day... but people still loved Starkiller and Darth Vader regardless.

Yoda is the "Kliff Undersn" of Soul Calibur, if you can believe it... tiny character, awkward hitboxes, silly hits and combos... but DESPITE ALL THIS... he is very lore-accurate to the films that depicted Yoda in Combat in the Star Wars series (which is funnily ironic.)

I'd argue that they could've chose Boba Fett or the Mandalorian and got a stronger response, but that's Star Wars for you.

Honestly, I'm a huge fan of Jedi Survivor and Jedi Fallen Order, but that's a different story.

Soul Calibur IV itself suffered under its own mechanics and features, the Tower of Trials it had was some of the hardest content ever seen in an SC game, to be honest... not nearly as fun as Libra of Souls.

I'd say the character DLC wasn't the problem with that game... the mechanics of the weapons and the unlockables needed more to be improved upon.

In terms of visuals though, Soul Calibur IV is still one of the prettiest SC games (SC6 wasn't nearly as bright, but it also had a lot more stable features and played at a faster pace like SCII and SCIII are better known for being).

SCIV also didn't have an extensive museum/library like SC6 does, so that right there should tell you something.

Also SCIV had a ton of guest characters beyond the DLC and many of which looked nothing like standard Soul Calibur cast, some were straight out of an anime (Angol Fear), which was jarring to compare to at the time, since most SC characters look semi-realistic.

My standard for guests boils down to how well they fit in with everyone else in the roster... if they stand out like a sore thumb but can still scrap well in a fight, I guess that's fine for some people, but for me I don't necessarily want to be embarrassed by my friends when I decide to pick a character.

Angol Fear definitely stands out, however a character like Ashlotte was inspired.

It was Ito Ōgure who came up with her design, but as a result we got the Clockwork Doll character creation template later on in Soul Calibur 6... and many fans have appreciated it.

(By the way, Ashlotte is still one of my favorite SC designs as well.)

You could argue that 2B is the "next big step" in that aesthetic and genre, though in her case it's a bit more complex.

2B is also a guest character in Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising now, which is also nice to hear, I'd argue that Granblue is the 2D equivalent of Soul Calibur (and given the staff that created the game were former Project Soul Staff, that should be obvious).

Even if Harada once stated that Project Soul had to be disbanded in order to make a game like Tekken 8 possible, I still believe that everyone who was behind Soul Calibur as a series would love to work on something similar in the future... it was that great a concept.

Ultimately, when it comes to fighting games, you have certain themes you want to make present... and when including guests in to that theme, you want to make sure they mesh well overall.

Of course, that doesn't just apply to fighting games, but to every game that has that level of potential.

Despite the fact many might consider Soul Calibur dead and buried... MY SOUL STILL BURNS.

#Guest Characters #DLC #Character Design #This isn't a Soul Calibur blog!#Project Soul

4 notes · View notes

littlemisssquiggles · 6 years ago

Text

Whit-ty Headcanons: Whitley’s Summon

@ezroar asks:

“Sorry, but since I have come to love Whitley for what he could be outside of a jealous Schneebling, I actually want to talk about him more with you. I feel bad though since I feel like I’m bothering you.

Basically, I remembered that post you did about Whitley’s geist, and it got me thinking about Whitley unlocking his inheritary semblance and his first act is to accidentally summon. Perhaps there was an incident during an SDC mine inspection with his father to keep up appearances and then grimm suddenly attacked since I’m sure the SDC mines must be a cess pool of negativity. Whitley managed to down the grimm by using his smart and manuvered the grimm into position and poured a vat of molten fire dust over its head. Whereas Weiss’ knight grimm symbolises her loneliness and acceptance and the lancer grimm her empowerment, I thought it’d be cool if his summon was something like this

Image comes courtesy of Air Gear and its creator, Ito “Oh Great” Ōgure I feel there’s been a lack of distinctly feminine grimm (save for Salem) and it’d be a great way to introduce grimm with a different energy to their design. This summon symbolises Whitley need for love and acceptance, as well as protection as his summon stands resolutely in front of him to protect her ‘prince’

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Squiggles Answers:

@ezroar

Hey Ez. Thanks for submitting this question to me. Reading through your description of how Whitley killed his first Grimm to gain his first summon makes me think back to my original Whitley’s Geist headcanon post. I believe I even described a somewhat similar scenario where Whit gained the Geist as his summon after unintentionally killing it after suddenly awakening his semblance. . Let me see if I can quote from the original post.

“…By the way, I actually do know that the Summons are the creatures that the Schnees with the Glyph semblance had defeated in combat. In my original draft of this musing, I’d included a point painting a scenario where perhaps Whitley was attacked by a Geist Grimm during his sisters’ absence and him defeating the beast was as a result of him unexpectedly unlocking his semblance in the heat of battle in order to protect himself.

I didn’t include this hunch in the final draft but that’s how I saw the tie in with my theory about Whitley’s summon being a Geist.

Imagine…one night, Whitley is left alone inside the Schnee Manor. His parents had gone out for the night on their own endeavours and Whitley is left to himself with only Klein around in case he needed anything. Perhaps this is a night where Whitley decides to entertain himself by practicing his pianist skills.

In V4, it was hinted that Whitley might know how to play the piano. We never actually witnessed him doing so, which was a wasted opportunity however his picture is hung up inside the music room inside the mansion.

So the implication is there. It’s sad. I wish they had taken advantage of Whitley’s own musical talents. If Whitley does know how to play then I wish we’d gotten a scene of him helping Weiss with her recital.

It would’ve been an amazing brother and sister bonding moment if Weiss is there singing her sweet swan song as Whitley’s fingers danced across the keyboard in coordination with his sister; casting their collaborated melodic spell over the audience. If only; am I right?

Anyways, just as Whitley is getting into the song, he hears a sudden strange noise from outside the music room. At first the young boy ignores the noise but when it became too prominent, he was forced to vacate in order to investigate it. Whitley’s search for the source of the disturbance brought him outside the house in the garden. He calls for Klein, thinking it may be the chubby man just tending to the bushes. No answer and it is at this point, Whitley was growing annoyed.

Long story short, Whitley finds Klein passed out in the gardens after being attacked by a Geist Grimm. In all the stories he’s heard of the Grimm, this is Whitley’s first encounter with one. With all his boosting about the benefits of the Atlesian Army, he never dreamt that he’d ever need to protect himself against a Grimm on his own, much less meet one in the flesh.

For the first time in his life, Whitley’s mind blanked. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even breath. He had no means of protecting himself and with Klein passed out before him and everyone else in the manor gone, he was alone. No one was going to come to his aid.

He thought…of his sisters. Let’s say, when the Schnee siblings were younger—back in the days when there were good moments that displayed all three siblings actually caring about each other, Weiss and Winter were both protective of Whitley. Particularly Weiss.

Whenever he fell down, got a boo-boo or even just had a bad dream, his big sister Weiss was always there for him to be his comforter. Yeah, yeah, I know this sounds very uncharacteristic for Weiss and her relationship with her brother but let me have this one, alright?

I just need a reason—a deep, significant reason for Whitley to think of both of his sisters, or maybe just Weiss while being attacked by a Grimm—the thought resonating with such force that it’s enough for Whitley to unconsciously call out for Weiss to protect him…all the while awakening something else within him he didn’t know was there.

When Klein finally came to, he awakens to discover Whitley huddled in a corner of the garden, his breathing frantic as his body did its best to contain his fear. As Klein swiftly ran to the boy’s age, he arrived just in time to witness the Geist from earlier wither away. The infernal red eye of its cryptic mask imprinting a lasting effect in Whitley’s mind as it disappeared from his sight. Klein did not know what to make of this scene. He tried asking Whitley to explain what had happened after he’d passed out—how he managed to defeat the Geist on his own.

Instead of giving him an answer, Whitley silenced his erratic breathing and turned the question on Klein, asking him if he was alright. Once Klein confirmed that he wasn’t injured in any way, Whitley withdrew an unsteady sigh of relief before getting to his feet.

Shakily, Whitley left the garden and returned to the quiet solitude of the music room without another word to Klein. Even when the man returned shortly later with some refreshments for the young heir, the young Schnee said nothing more to him even as he stared him down in concern. Finally, then and there, Whitley gave Klein an answer but, not the one he was hoping for. Whitley told Klein to not speak of this moment to his father. He made some other point about discussing increasing security in the household to his father but beyond that, it became clear to Klein that Whitley was adamant on not discussing his feelings on the ‘grimm incident’ any further or at all for the future for that matter.

So with nod of understanding, Klein bowed himself out of the room; leaving Whitley to himself once more.

Taking a long swig from the warm beverage Klein had brought to him; Whitley returned his attention to the piano. With his fingers to the keys, he gave a strong intro to his chosen musical piece only to miss a note and stop abruptly again.

Whitley clutched his head, grimacing as the face of the beast—the Geist flashed across his mind. Why? He was used to putting things far out of his mind. Jacques Schnee had properly schooled him on the importance of that. Yet…why did that creature still…haunt him? What was that strange…power he display earlier? Where did it come from? Why did he have it? And more importantly, what did that mean for Whitley then?

In spite of the pressing questions swarming his mind, Whitley couldn’t think of any logical reasons as to why this was happening to him. Nor…did he care to entertain the thought much further.

So for the third time, Whitley returned to the keyboard and started playing. And for the remainder of the night, he kept on playing, allowing the music to drown away any fear left following the encounter…even as the Beast’s watchful eye continued to scrutinize him from within the chained chambers of his mind.

That’s how I’d like to see it. Just a theory but an interesting one to think about, right…”

-Whitley’s Geist (Posted June 3rd 2018)

Back then, the concept I had was if Whitley were to unlock his powers unintentionally, he’d be in complete denial of it to the point of trying to supress his powers. You know how in Disney’s Frozen, Elsa spent most of her life keeping her powers a secret from her sister Anna while doing her best to keep them under control. Y’know ‘Conceal, don’t feel. Don’t let them know’. That’s how I pictured it being for Whitley. Let’s say, for most of his life, Whitley was raised believing that he wasn’t special ; at least not in the way his sisters were as told by Jacques.

Since the Schnee name and semblance came from Mama Schnee’s side of the family, let’s say Mama Schnee possesses the same kind of power as her daughters but never utilized her gifts since being a huntress was never in her lifelong goals she had set for herself. What if…growing up, Whitley was sort of brainwashed into believing that he had no power. That he was never ever going to amount to anything else in life unless he followed directly in his father’s footsteps since, according to Jacques, Whitley was his prodigy. The one who was born exactly like him. Powerless but cunning.

Imagine a flashback where a young Whitley is secretly observing his sisters training in their courtyard from afar. What if…once upon a time, Whitley was enamoured by the powers his sisters possessed and wished to perform the same feats as them; being inspired and growing excited to awaken his own kind of powers since he had overheard Winter inform Weiss that the power they have was one shared by all the Schnees. This gave Whitley the hope of him possibly awakening own powers someday.

Imagine Whitley being excited by the prospect of unlocking his family semblance since, in his naïve mind, his semblance was the ticket to growing close with his sisters. Picture a young Whit standing in the mirror or playing alone in the garden trying to unlock his own powers like Weiss and Winter.

Whitley is then caught by Jacques who scolds him for even entertaining the idea of the Schnee semblance. Out of curiosity, Whitley asks his father if he had powers like his sisters only for Jacques to burst his bubble by saying that Whitley wasn’t special. He has no power. Jacques told Whitley that he should never look to his sisters for acceptance and support because they would never look at him on a similar playing field.

What if…that whole ‘the Schnee abilities is beneath him’ notion was probed into Whitley from a young age by Jacques because he made Whitley believe that he had no power. Imagine if from young, Jacques groomed Whitley into thinking that his only place and purpose in the world is by Jacques side as his heir since of all his children, Jacques expected Whitley to be just like him and ensured that he thought that way about himself. This is why I’m very much invested the headcanon of Whitley unlocking his family semblance too.

Up until this point, Whitley has sort of convinced---or even prided himself on being exactly like father since the assumption being made here is that Jacques has groomed Whitley to believe that his power---his own family power---is nothing more than barbaric and beneath him. So imagine how Whit would feel if he did have power. How would he take it?

For me, I’m seeing this storyline going one of two ways for Whit:

On one side, you get the concept of Whitley unintentionally unlocking his powers but choosing to keep them suppressed and hidden from his father out of his denial of his heritage and his loyalty to Jacques. This ultimately results in Whitley losing control of his powers and unleashing the beast that lives to do his bidding. His summon. I loved this original theory because I really liked the idea of there being a mystery where a monster has been attacking adversaries to the SDC and the Schnee Family. Upon further investigations by our team of young huntsmen, it is learnt that the monster is actually a Grimm summoned by Whitley that’s been doing his bidding all along. However Whitley is unaware of this because he has no control over his semblance nor his summon. But it’s through the aid of his sisters that Whit learns to finally accept and control his newfound abilities. That’s one idea.

On the next side is my current favourite Whit-ty headcanon where Whitley is enrolled at Atlas Academy by Jacques as a means of spying Weiss and possibly sabotage any progress she was attempting to make at the academy as a ploy set up by Jacques to spite his own daughter and get her to return home to her cage under his watch. I still like the idea of Whit being the huntsman in Weiss’ Snow White story. However unbeknownst to his father, Whitley had his own ulterior motive for pursuing huntsmen training. Part of it was due to his own curiosity and an eagerness to understand why his sisters would stray from their family to pursue such a barbaric lifestyle. The main reason was Whitley genuinely wanting to use the opportunity to try and develop a relationship with his sister. I know Whitley becoming a huntsman as a means of trying to develop a genuine friendship with his sister sounds a little farfetched. However I personally like it since Whit strikes me as the type of character who commits to certain things out of a willingness to understand.

Like he strikes me as the type of person where if you told him that you liked chocolate ice-cream and thing it was the best flavour of ice-cream in the whole wide world, Whit would try and even study everything he could dig up on the flavour himself as a way of understanding why you would like it especially if he was only doing it as a means of trying to comprehend you as a means of growing closer to you. It’s a different outlook on Whit but that’s how I see him.

So Whitley starts training to become a huntsman so he could understand first and foremost why his sisters chose this lifestyle and it is through his adventures at the academy where Whit slowly achieves what he’s always wanted---to be close with his sister. To have her look at him as someone she could trust or at least like. By my head-canons, what Whitley truly wants are his sisters. To have them both trust and finally look at him as family.

As someone meant to stand by their side instead of being left behind alone in the cold.

Growing up in Schnee Manor, Weiss had Winter (as implied by her anthology). It may seem as if the Schnee sisters have always had each other’s backs while leaving poor Whit in the dark. My assumption is that Whit had wanted Weiss to support him similar to how Winter supported her or at least look at him as someone she can trust and count on. But unfortunately for Whit, this never happened due to several misunderstandings from Weiss about her own brother. Right now, Weiss’s interpretation of Whitley is something shared with the FNDM members who distrust and heavily dislike him as a character.

For whatever reason (not properly justified in the main series canon), Weiss sees Whit as someone akin to their father. Heck she probably sees him as being a complete copycat or mini me of Jacques. I think this is what has kept Weiss and Whit from developing an actual relationship. Weiss’ impression that her brother will only turn out like their father. Manipulative. Conniving. But that’s not who Whitley truly is; at least not by my assumptions and by the power invested in my headcanons, I believe that Whit desires more than anything to prove this to his sister.

I swear if Whitley’s endgame isn’t him having a healthy close family relationship with his sisters then I’d be deeply disappointed. But that’s mostly what I’d love to see going forward into V7 with the Schnee Family Affairs side of the arc.

As for what kind of summon Whitley would have, I actually really like your idea Ez. You wanna know something funny? I pretty much had a similar thought. I think it would be very fitting if Whitley’s signature summon has a more feminine look to it for the very same reasons you gave.

In this case, Whit would be the opposite of Weiss. With the exception of Klein, you can almost say that Weiss hasn’t exactly had the best support from the men in her life. As a matter of fact, one of the most oppressive figures in Weiss’ story is her own father so the fact that her summon is an armoured knight meant to serve and protect her is very symbolic. Weiss was oppressed by a male figure yet her key summon (outside of the Queen Wasp) is a rather masculine-looking suit of armour.

This is why I’m saying it’d be the opposite for Whitley. While Weiss was more or less disgraced by the main men in her life, for the most part, Whit was disgraced by the man women in his life. His mother is practically non-existent and his sisters have left him alone while standing by each other only. So Whitley having a female summon to serve as the Queen protecting her King would be excellent. I mean, in a game of chess, the Queen is the important player who protects the King.

So it would be interesting if Whitley’s summon takes inspiration from the Queen chess piece. I’m not saying make it a straight up female version to Weiss’ Armoured Gigas; y’know the ole Angemon and Angewoman treatment (although that actually wouldn’t be too bad of an idea given Whit and Weiss’ relation and similar yet opposite circumstances).

But a summon that emulates the same sense of strength as you rightfully said.

As a matter of fact, the idea I had in mind was that Whitley’s signature summon could possibly be some kind of Fairy/Elf type of Grimm. I’ve been told that Whitley’s character was inspired by Artemis Fowl. While I honestly don’t know much about this character (I’ve only read like a few chapters of the first book in the series), what I do recall is Artemis having a partner who was an elf fairy named Holly Short.

This makes me love the reference you used from Air Gear as an idea for Whitley’s summon. This character could easily pass for a fairy type of character with the Queen’s Chess piece motif which I think is the perfect kind of summon for Whitley Schnee.

But these are only my thoughts. I hope this answers your question Ez. Again, thanks for picking my brain with this. I really dig this idea a lot. This puts me even more on-board with the idea of Whitley awakening his trademark Schnee semblance.

If I’m being completely honest, I would be very disappointed if the CRWBY Writers did nothing to really flesh out Whitley’s story and character especially his ties to his sisters. Why I believe the likelihood of Whit awakening his family heritage is more prominent is due to the emphasis alluded to it by V4.

Why have Whit say that Weiss and Winter’s abilities---a power that is shared by pretty much everyone in his family---a power that he too might possibly possess---is beneath him if that small titbit wasn’t going to amount to something important. Why emphasis that Whit is supposed to be more like his father if it wasn’t going to potentially lead into Whit being exactly like his sisters---the two were broken free of the patriarchal prison. Why do that at all if it wasn’t going to slowly build up to Whit becoming the person he was meant to be. The Schnee he was meant to be.

I’m also curious to know how Jacques would feel if he discovered that Whit had powers. Would he turn away from the last heir under his control or…being the Machiavellian, greedy man that he is, what if… Whit unlocking his family power encourages an open opportunity for Jacques to use him even more like a pawn in his selfish schemes.

“…It’s foolish not to do what father asks…”

Picture…Jacques exploiting the Schnee family semblance through Whitley to carry out the nefarious crimes of the SDC. Apart from the Faunus abuse, imagine… Jacques making Whit use his Glyphs and summon to terrorize and take out competitors. That could be an interesting twist.

Imagine…Weiss investigating her family affairs only to discover someone with the same kind of powers as her and realize that it’s actuallyWhitley doing it on behalf of their father.

Imagine…the hypocrisy of Whitley implying that the Schnee family power is barbaric when used to serve humanity yet he abuses his power to commit heinous crimes that harms the people for the will of Jacques. That could be another intriguing twist and great subplot for both Schnee Siblings.

But again, like I said, these are only my ideas. We’ll have to wait and see what the CRWBY has in store for Whit in V7.

For what it’s worth, I pray it’s at least satisfactory and gives a much needed and hopefully better conclusion to Whitley’s story than what was done for certain other characters from a certain previous season. Y’know something to make us Whits feel happy as opposed to the latter.

Seriously if Whit’s story ends up being another poorly executed and mishandled subplot in the main plot then…I don’t know what I would say. I’m doing my best to remain as positive and optimistic as I can be when it comes to the current writing in RWBY.

While I still wish to stand with the side that believes that Miles and Kerry are talented, competent writers who know how to tell a good story; at the same time, I can’t deny the mistakes (both the ones pointed out by members of the FNDM and acknowledged by myself) made particularly in this last season as it’s still very fresh in my mind.

This makes me miss RWBY Chibi. Usually Chibi is the buffer to cipher off any distaste in the FNDM left behind by the last season while getting us pumped for the next one. But there seems to be no Chibi this year. At least as far as I’m aware of.

If I’m being honest with myself here, I am more nervous for the development of my favourite characters going forward in the narrative than genuinely excited. Fans thought V6 would’ve fixed the issues created in V5 but by trying to correct the damage from the previous season, V6 introduced its own fair share of problems that can either be addressed or ignored in V7.

For now, I can only hope that this new arc will provide a chance for the Writers to reflect on the treatment of this last arc trilogy in preparation for a much better constructed and exciting new arc trilogy. As the saying goes, third time’s the charm so here’s to the Atlas Trilogy being a success kicking off with V7. We shall see.

In the meantime, that’s all I have to say on that for now, fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #whitley schnee #weiss schnee #weiss and whitley #rwby theories #rwby v7 theories #rwby volume 7 #whitty headcanons #submission

21 notes · View notes