#adam plays dmc v

[sanctaignorantia]

Playing with the fancast thing again!

I woke up with the idea in mind that Tom Ellis should be on IWTV somehow, because I'm an idiot and I like to fancast, but unfortunately as I don't watch many movies and series, my list of actors is limited to a very small circle!

But let's play a little...

Erin Kellyman and Amelia Kellyman as Maharet and Mekare and I don't think I need to tell you why... (The one in the middle is Milly Kellyman and she's an athlete.)

(left) Erin - October 17, 1998 - 1,68m (British)

(right) Amelia - June 6, 1993 - not sure (British)

Tom Ellis - November 17, 1978 - 1,91m (British)... I have no idea who he could play, but like Ben Daniels (Santiago), he's the kind of actor who has the charisma to make you feel sympathy for the devil (if you know what I mean), so he could be something like Santino haha.

May El Calamawy - October 28, 1986 - 1,69m (Egyptian/Palestinian)... I've loved her since I saw her in 'Moon Knight' and thank you Marvel for that, she's a great actress and I'm just in love with her, it's that thing, I just want her in every possible production. I can't say she'd be a good Akasha because I don't think she'd fit that role, so she could be some gender-swapped character or maybe Chrysanthe.

Jameela Jamil - February 25, 1986 - 1,79m (Indian/Pakistani born in UK)... Make her Lydia (Pandora) and make her kick some ass, make Arjun her little dog and in the end she can be with Bianca (I don't think she should be with Marius because he deserves to end up alone).

Eva Green - July 6, 1980 - 1,70m (French/Jewish descent on his mother's side)... How can you live without wanting this woman on your screen? I have no idea who she could be, but make her one of the old ones, a powerful one who puts fear into you, make her kick a lot of ass too.

Charles Dance as Magnus - October 10, 1946 - 1,91m (British)... It's so sad because I can only see Magnus as him, but if Christos Lawton is Magnus in S2 I'll be satisfied too.

Paul Bullion as Thornevald - June 4, 1988 - 1,91m (British)... Come on, he looks so much like Thorne, it's like he's going to start crying at any moment! And I wish the series would not only put Thorne and Cyril together, but make them a couple, because I would love that so much, them being the best clumsy duo at protecting and following Lestat around while being a complete mess, they need to stick together, I love them.

Gillian Anderson or Kristin Bauer van Straten as Gabrielle. To be honest, from the first time I saw Kristin I saw Gabrielle in her.

Gillian Anderson - August 9, 1968 - 1,60m (American/British)

Kristin Bauer van Straten - November 26, 1966 - 1,75 m (American)

Oded Fehr as Nebamun (Gregory) - November 23, 1970 - 1,87m (Israeli)... That crush from 'The Mummy' that you never forget. Gregory being the biggest dad!

I had some funny fancasts for Marius from the moment I read him in 'The Vampire Lestat', but the only two that never left my head were Fawad and Pedro, sorry! Two completely impossible actors, but something in me screamed that Marius should be Latino (crazy) and I unfortunately won't change my mind about that.

Fawad Khan - November 29, 1981- 1,78 m (Pakistani)

Pedro Pascal - April 2, 1975 - 1,80m (Chilean/American)... Every time I read Marius and the image of Pedro pops into my mind, I start to giggle (I love you Pedro!).

Sometimes I see Marius in Adam Cowie too, but unfortunately he's not an actor… June 3, 1988 - 1,88m (British/Model and Dante's face in DMC V).

That's all for now, there are a few other characters that I wish I could fancast, but unfortunately I don't have any references and they are:

Seth. I keep wondering who would be the ideal actor to be the best couple ever with Fareed! (Sorry, I love them too).

Sevraine. Another great woman I wanted kicking ass!

Avicus and Mael. Along with Fareed and Seth, the two of them are the couple I look at and shout "old married couple energy!"

Cyril. Because I want him kissing Thorne on the mouth!!!

Rhoshamandes. Poor dear Rhosh, poorly used in the books, I wish he had the same energy as Ben Daniels as Santiago, an actor who would make you love the great villain and that in the series he is that great villain and not just someone who gradually becomes mediocre.

edit 1)

Mahesh Jadu as Cyril, Khayman or Seth - October 26, 1982 - 1,83m (Australian)... My goodness he's beautiful, isn't he???? >///<

Please reblog with more fancasts!

[sir-adamus]

really feels like Dante’s third-wheeling on Trish and Lady’s demon-hunting date here

[gorillageek27]

Here's a DMC AU i'm creating based on DMC5

Dante-Qrow

Vergil-Adam

Nero-Jaune

Lady-Summer

Trish-Raven

V-Ren

The reason i see Adam as Vergil rather than Raven is that their fighting styles are similar among other things.

I'm mainly doing it based on how things would actually play like in DMC plus how they would interact with each other.

So what do you think?

The cast seems accurate enough

[nuxcia]

your DMC oc Morrigan is so interesting, I'd say she's one of the best ocs I've seen, really! I want to know more about her~ can u feed us with more Morrigan headcanons and facts? xxx ♥️

THANK YOU, ANON !! ♥

What a pleasure to read this lovely message when waking up ! 🥰

I was wondering if I should open a Curious Cat especially for her, and your ask here is leading me in that way... XD

So... more headcanons and random facts about Morrigan !

• Her apartment is overflowing with plants. Flowers, medicinal plants, aromatic plants, normal plants... she has A LOT of them. Her favorite ones are a huge ficus she has called Adam, and an aloe vera called Minerva.

• She doesn’t have a black cat... but wants one. She knows it may be the classic “cliché” for a witch but she loves black cats and cats in general. When V comes over her place or after a mission, she usually cuddles and plays with Shadow or even asks V if he can let Shadow out.

• She’s a wine girl... and a beer girl. Red wine has her preference, but a cold beer in the middle of summer is always welcome. Speaking of summer...

• Her favorite season is Winter, followed right after by Autumn. Hot chocolate, warm blankets, comfy clothes... Winter is perfection for her while the Summer heat isn’t the best at all, even with cold drinks to try to refresh yourself.

• She loves Halloween. Not only because it’s Samhain, but also because she can pull great pranks with her necromancy (like having half of her face rotten) and no one will ask any question because, you know... it’s Halloween.

If you have more questions about her or wants to know more headcanons on any particular subjects, don’t hesitate ! It’ll be a pleasure to give more informations ♥

[thirstzone]

On The Interpretation Of Dante

Reflecting on how I write these characters and why helps me organize my thoughts. Plus, should I run into some trouble trying to write them, writing this can give me a point of reference.

Of course, everyone is free to write these characters as they wish! This is simply how I personally choose to interpret and write the characters!

So let’s ramble on about the legendary devil hunter Dante for entirely too long.

I think it’s important to trace where Dante’s been in his life. I’ve played every main Devil May Cry game (including the reboot), I’ve consumed as much of the other media as I could (the abandoned DMC3 manga, the first and second DMC novel, the anime, and Before The Nightmare), and it’s as though I’ve seen Dante grow and change with his maturity.

Let’s go back to the beginning. At age 8, demons invaded his home and killed his mother and (to his knowledge) his brother. This is the event that started him on his path to becoming a devil hunter, of course. An unspecified number of years later (people speculate 10, and I’ve no reason to debate this), he encounters Vergil again, although in a less than fortunate way. One of the demonic seals begs Dante to return its name that Sparda stripped away from it years ago. And that’s when Vergil re-enters Dante’s life, giving the seal the power to name itself “in Sparda’s stead.”

This was when Dante realized what his brother had become.

Besides that, another bit of information the manga gives us about Dante’s feelings towards demons is it seems to imply that he’s full of self-loathing due to the demonic blood running through his veins. In fact, it even goes far as to mention he might be downright suicidal. For those last 10 years, he despised the demons so much that he hated himself for having anything in common with them, even if it was nothing more than having demon blood in his veins.

A year after the manga is when the actual game DMC3 takes place. Dante is flippant, short-tempered, impulsive, and incredibly reckless. He’s young, perhaps about 19. A teenager. The way he acts is typical of his age, if not even a bit younger. Evidence of his hatred for his demon blood is evident when he responds to Vergil’s question about why he doesn’t seek to gain the power of their father. “Father? I don’t have a father.” He outright denies his heritage. 

Dante's struggled with the nature of who (or in this case, what) he is for so long. Lady helps him come to terms with this as he helps her come to terms with it as well. Most of the game she’s telling herself (and him, at some point) that he’s a demon, but by the end of the game, after Dante witnesses Vergil’s (presumably fatal) fall into the underworld, Lady sees that he’s not just a demon as he cries over Vergil. Dante responds that he’s not crying and that “Devils never cry.” But Lady responds that “even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one.” This helped Dante understand that he, too, isn’t just a demon. He learns to accept that while he’s half-demon, that doesn’t make him any less human.

Now that I’ve discussed Dante’s self-loathing and eventual acceptance of his demonic heritage, let’s discuss his personality. Dante’s personality is different depending on which point in the series he’s at, which makes writing for him a little difficult unless I can maintain those distinctions.

So I’ve already talked about DMC3 Dante, when he’s an impulsive, reckless, short-tempered teenager. He’s not incredibly smart, either, preferring to swing Rebellion first, think later. He’s incredibly stubborn (a trait that does sort of stick with him) and foolhardy. He’s also pretty self-aware about his arrogance and penchant for getting on others’ nerves, as he tells Jester, “I can’t stand anyone with a bigger mouth than mine.” His temper seems to be the trait at the forefront of his personality in this installment, however.

Let’s skip ahead to the first Devil May Cry game, the only one where Dante has a confirmed age. He’s 28 years old in this installment, and his growth since DMC3 shows. He seems much less angry and a lot more... I guess confident would be the word I would use to describe him. DMC1 Dante will still mouth off to any demon he faces, but it’s done less to irritate his opponent and more like he has a very high sense of self-efficacy; that is, he’s certain that he can win. He’s strong and he knows it, while also not going out of his way to display his strength. He seems to be honorable, as well. After the third fight with Griffon, Griffon is gravely wounded, but insists that he will not stop trying to defeat Dante. Dante tells him that he can’t fight with that wound, almost as though he wouldn’t fight Griffon unless Griffon could reasonably fight back.

That brings us to how he responds to Mundus and Trish. Dante is verbally enraged by Mundus’s treatment of Griffon, unable to accept that Mundus could kill Griffon, one of his own kind. That solidified his determination to defeat Mundus while at the same time revealing that Dante has a strong sense of justice. Later on, when Trish betrays Dante, he’s angry, and he’s hurt, but he lets her go. Yes, he cites the reason as being that she looks like his mother, and he claims that she has no soul, but he lets her go. He’s been hurt by Trish, but this doesn’t stop him mourning her death when she sacrifices herself to save him. He even works at Devil May Cry with her after realizing that she does indeed have a soul, making her, like him, more than just a demon.

I think overall, DMC1 Dante’s personality is focused more on his confidence, compassion, and justice.

I could discuss DMC2 Dante, but the reality of that is that I’ve played that game maybe twice, and that was so long ago that I don’t remember much about it at all. I remember Dante was much more stoic, but he maintained his sense of selflessness while appearing a bit aloof about it. I can’t talk about DMC2 Dante at length outside of “it was fun to make him cartwheel everywhere, also he had a cool coat.”

Ah, and this brings us to Dante as he appears in DMC4. My absolute favorite iteration of Dante. His personality in this one is sort of closer to his personality in 5, if not a little more carefree and over-the-top. This is the man who had a Shakespearean back-and-forth with an enemy in an opera house, the man who purposely irritated Nero probably because he found it amusing, the man who dropped in from the glass ceiling of a cathedral while flaring his coat out before assassinating the leader of a demonic cult in the middle of a church service.

He keeps the confidence of his personality in 1, but it mixes with the taunting nature that was closer to how he was in 3. He taunts his opponents intending to get under their skin. He knows how to hit their buttons, and he’ll absolutely do it. Of course, he knows that he can back up this attitude with results.

In Devil May Cry 4, he’s sassy, flamboyant, and absolutely at his most stylish.

Which brings us to Devil May Cry 5. I regret to say that while I can usually point out what’s at the forefront of his personality in each game, I can’t do so with Dante as he appears in 5. The way he interacts with the other characters is usually how I draw conclusions on his personality and a few defining features of it, but I can’t quite do that with this game. He’s similar to how he acts in Devil May Cry 4 if you mellowed him out, I suppose. It’s strange to me that he seems more inclined to act alone, a little irritated when Morrison implies that he should enlist the help of Trish and Lady. He’s adamant that V should hang back instead of help, regardless of the fact that V is the one who gave him the job in the first place and would reasonably know more about what’s going on, even if Dante didn’t know that V was part of Vergil (and I do legitimately believe that Dante had no idea until moments before V merged with Urizen; Trish never told him, and V never told him, and those two were the only ones who knew.) He insists that Nero stay out of it. He operates mostly alone the entire game, really. I think it’s because this job was more personal to him and because of his pride, he wanted to be the one to handle it.

When all’s said and done, Dante has a definite confidence about him, to the point that he’s rather smug, although it’s because he knows he can back up his words with action. I can conclude this mostly serious post by saying that I’ve never seen a character that embodied the phrase “Big Dick Energy” as much as Dante does.

[greatrunner]

😔 I feel you were right about that "waste of assets" comment you made about V once. I was willing to give the character a chance but his level of edge is excessive for my tastes. My excitement has been dwindling with each new trailer, which is unfortunate because I grew up with DMC and have been looking forward to this game for a long time. I like Itsuno and the actors involved but I'm underwhelmed by what I've seen of V and Urizen thus far. What are you thoughts on the latest from DMC5?

Honestly, I’ve only been keeping loose tabs on the game (like not reading beyond the headlines.), but, after taking a gander at the recently released stuff: They decided to keep the “Subhuman” song as Dante’s theme. If that ain’t a red flag I dunno what is.

Devil May Cry 5 is beginning to feel like the consequence of a Monkey’s Paw wish. It’s the exact same feeling I’m now experiencing about the development of Beyond Good & Evil 2. That feeling is even getting stronger with more of what they reveal about Resident Evil 2: The Reboot (congrats Capcom, your design template has actually managed to look even more dated than the original game from the 90s).

I don’t think I’ve been all that excited for DMC5 since before the stuff that dropped prior to the Tokyo Game Show event (I.E., E3) and even then I was ambivalent because of the photorealism path. 

Everything I saw in the V character trailer and the Game Awards trailer honestly just make me want to play Bayonetta. 1): because there’s a lot about his moveset that seems to ape a lot from the character herself, 2): the dull, washed out environments are making me appreciate the far more colorful design template of Bayo and the older DMC games before it.

I’m also just not interested in the villain that one-hit-kills all the heroes, because it seems like a cheap move at trying to create actual stakes, something I don’t think the DMC series really ever preoccupied itself with on the level it is now.

I’m not invested in finding out who this V character is, he just makes me wish Itsuno had actually pulled the trigger completely on pushing past DMC2 and brought Lucia back into the storyline (she was lit. waiting for Dante to return. What happened? Where is she?), because Adam Driver Jr.’s poetry 101 is, quite honestly, painful. 

I also wish they were being more transparent about Vergil instead of trying to J.J. Abrams the audience. It’s annoying.

The only good thing to come out of this is the return of the original cast (mostly) and some gameplay elements that aren’t immediately triggering “that looks like DmC” alerts in my head.

Like, really, I don’t have the highest hopes for this game, and I feel like below-the-grave expectations is the mindset one should adopt if you ever start wishing some publisher would bring back an old video game series. 

The current climate of the gaming industry (or just the entertainment industry in general) is just outright poison for creativity if you ask me.

[rugeon]

Learning to butterfly the videogame chicken breast

New year new potential projects. For final year project 2018-2019. Might as well start with the new ‘ideation document.

Ideation Document

Contexts:

Systemic gameplay - systemic narrative, and otherwise

Gamefeel/ Player Satisfaction/ Juicing

Strong unusual sense of place and people

Unique methods of interactive media storytelling (NITW Text boxes)

Coziness in games

Non traditional methods of mechanical interaction ie. traditional control methods, with more unique player expression

Having an Interesting failure spectrum (Tom Francis thoughts on why MGSV is a fun stealth game, due to its wide array of failure states)

Analogue/varied means of  expression within one mechanic or activity (jumping in mario, building a snowman in NITW prologue game, Lost Constellation)

Ethos of messy fast prototyping iterartion and production (inspired by Jenny Jiao Hsia talk about prototyping)

Affecting audio  

Techniques 

Interaction Design

Branching Narratives + Dialogue

Games AI

Procedural Generation

Advanced Audio and Visual Processing

Inspiring Works 

Heat Signature - Suspicious Developments, Tom Francis

Roguelike, top down action/ stealth/ heist game where you play as different intergalactic heist/bounty hunter people that breaks into spaceships. Extremely systemic game that encourages players to find interesting solutions to problems by providing a wide variety of interesting sci-fi tools to the player. Systemic gameplay+ systemic player narratives as told through gameplay plans  being made and then changing/going awry as well as conditions constraining players to be creative.

Hotline Miami - Dennaton Games, Jonatan Söderström. Dennis Wedin

Surreal, hyperviolent top down action game about the trancelike sprees that a masked killer enacts, that strongly highlights the violent obsession of videogames and culture. Has several factors that contribute to a sense of good gamefeel, and making what should be a frustrating experience instead induce a flow state.

Sid Meier's Covert Action - MPS Labs, MicroProse

Interesting systemic narrative that the player experiencing by foiling and interacting with various agents and stages of a spy plot. Systemic narrative that is expressed by the gameplay systems. Feeling of the ai acting irrespective to the player. Narrative experience of player feels quite systemic.

Night in the Woods (NITW) - Infinite Fall, Scott Benson, Alec Holowka, Bethany Hockenberry + Finji Adam Saltsman, Rebekah Saltsman, Em Halberstadt

Anthropomorphic animal narrative, platforming, adventrue game that tells the story of a 20 year old that comes back to her home town and and friends after leaving college. Tells an emotive story unconventional by games standards in a very playful way that has some traditional gameplay elements (platforming) but also makes interactive more unusual verbs (a pizza eating section, and pretzel stealing microgame). Creates an extremely strong, cozy sense of place. Expressive within the limits of its digital medium+storytelling (wide variety of personality conveyed through text box animation).

Minit - Vlambeer, Jan Willem Nijman, Kitty Calis, Jukio Kallio, Dominik Johann

Small, short adventure game where you die and every minute and respawn at the same space, learning about the world, optimising your route and changing the world slightly with each successive run. Very polished game with superb gamefeel (all vlambeer games have great gamefeel+juice)

Kentucky Route Zero - Cardboard Computer- Jake Elliott, Tamas Kemenczy, Ben Babbitt

The great american novel in game form. A magical realist story about debt to the past. Extremely important and affective narrative game. ‘The Entertainment’ - Interlude, elucidates relationship and interplay between player and developers that creates the game experience. Creates a powerful atmosphere + utilises branching narrative

I also wrote down a bunch of other stuff I’ve been thinking about in a big jumbled list for help during ideation process. This is just junk floating around, mood board of my head.

Yakuza, Moby Dick, Dark Souls/Absolver, Atom Zombie Smasher+Brendon Chung, Papers Please+Return of Obra Dinn, FTL+Into The Breach, Hylics, High Hell, devolver, Hyper Light Drifter, Flinthook, Jalopy, Jet-Set Radio, Mark of the Ninja, MGS V, Luftrausers, Shadow of Mordor, The Norwood Suite, Small radios, big televisions, The Endless Express, Alan Wake+remedy games, Assassins Creed 1, Banner Saga, F.E.A.R. ,  Helldivers, invisible inc. , Monaco, Westerado,  spectacle fighters dmc, thomas was alone, reigns, evil dead, sorcerer, valhalla rising, a field in england, hard to be a god, stalker, man with a movie camera, bomb city, taking of pelham 123, assault on precinct 13,  escape from new york, fruitvale station, playtime, drive, thief, collateral, taxi driver, lost in translation, tekkonkinkreet, ki-ki delivery service+ghibli, REDLINE, cagliostro, 2049, che, motorcycle diaries, man with movie camera, koyaanisqatsi,VVitch,Sacco e Vanzeti, nocturnal animal, die hard, ghost in the shell, atlanta, twin peaks, fear and loathing,only god forgives,donnie darko, mad max, satoshi kon films, eyes wide shut, dog day afternoon, seventh seal, whiplash, brazil, t2 trainspotting, hellboy comic, fargo, rocky horror, gozu, juno, clerks, slacker, daria, almost famous, lady bird, frances ha, fury, wes anderson colour+ framing, NOIR + lighting, there will be blood, no country for old men, unforgiven, dollars trilogy, run lola run, phone booth, die hard, dr strangelove, apocalypse now/heart of darkness, the wire, adult swim+space ghost stuff, home movies+squigglevision, hannibal, bojack, flcl, true detective, desert punk, QOTSA, them crooked vultures, grunge, idles, talking heads, wu, green kingdom, lizard gizzard, acoustic wizard, tobacco, diiv, mbv, spooky+ over the garden wall, bowie, clash

Initial Ideas

A game where you play as a witch exploring a modern magical realist city at night. Should have an interesting traversal mechanic. All about traversal, dancing and screaming in a city at night, strong sense of place + atmosphere: inspired by films such as playtime, thief, drive, collateral, fruitvale station, lost in translation as well as games like NITW. Thought about more in this doc: one pager section on 2nd page: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O3NC8HqwmERq57Dcqqc2d2Ih34ZVO4-vEQPnVTKRyOk/edit?usp=sharing

Some kind of game themed around the desert/stoner rock music genre which includes acts like Red Fang, Kyuss and Sleep. Make use of AAVP to have a dynamic soundtrack responding to gameplay that impacts the visuals. The game’s mechanics should be directly inspired by the theming, and common features of the genre, could be action oriented, with rhythm game influences. One game that would probably be worth looking at in relation to this is the recently released Tetris Effect, while I would not be as interested in a game as abstracted as tetris, how they achieve a flow state, and have music and visuals informed by gameplay would be worth looking in to. I feel this game is more likely to involve rapid prototyping.

Create a languid game about chilling out on a ship with crew and passengers. Setting could be sci-fi or more historic - chatting on computer to far flung galactic friends and doing menial space jobs/ tasks aboard ship. The setting and experience of the place can draw from ideas about coziness in games + make use of Branching Narrative/Dialogue. Potentially also think about how procedural narrative could be a factor. Inspired by Moby Dick, NITW and Purgatory

Hotline Miami/Goap/Diehard - ‘Create a systemic top-down stealth action game where the player is asked to foil a developing plot/heist by a group of AI agents whose plan and activities respond to the players attempts to derail it. The focus should be on the player feeling like they are responding to the AI’s adaptations to the player interrupting their plot. Each level would be one plot/ situation the player is thrust into. The project is inspired by the evolving plots of covert action, the setting/circumstances of Die-Hard and the gameplay/perspective of hotline miami. This project will involve development of a complex AI system that could be implemented via a GOAP method.

Walkie talky/radio gameplay mechanic to solicit/disseminate information

Research into the effectiveness of procedural vs authored content in games, as large games increasingly find themselves trying to use procedural generation to meet the demands of growing content demand they are finding it difficult to reconcile this with a desire to create quality, curated content, narrative or otherwise. I propose research into the various ways procedural vs authored content has been divvied up in games, the amount of people working in each area, how much curated work is required for procedural work to be effective and the reception/perception of these two methods to create content for games. The means by which this could be investigated is perhaps by creating some data sets of very simple different possible mechanical games in Unity or more narrative ones in twine, that are sorted into different groups of procedural / authored games. We would then measure the level of player engagement over the course of their time with the games and within the context of how long it took to make the given games. Context + techniques: procedural generation + branching narratives

[ruthgabyguerrero]

A Graffiti Artist Is Not A Street Artist

Wes opens the 10-gallon plastic storage box to expose it full of MTN 94 spray cans. He grabs the color orange, and sprays lines. Just orange lines. They cross each other, abruptly making a right or a left turn, creating multiple “V” and “L” shapes on the “buffed out” baby blue background in the space he paid for in advance this time around, because, “it’s for a good cause. It’s to keep the event alive.” No one knows except him what he’s doing. Like a kid with a crayon in hand. Except a child’s scribbles are often with vacuous intent. Wes’ lines, however, have a specific motive. You can just tell. 

So the only thing graffiti enthusiasts at Calwa Recreation Park can do, is watch and wait.

Father and husband, Wes Abarca, 40, is quick to correct that he is not a street artist. Nor is he just a “tagger.” He’s a graffiti artist, assuring that “letters” is what differentiates Graffiti from, say, today’s trend of street art comprised of murals or in some cases just patterns on walls.

An act unknown to the graffiti world, Wes today isn’t spraying his writing-name--which also happens to be his first name--and crew. It’s the word “Zeal,” with the shape of the letters hinting at some serious cubism and abstract art. There’s a cartoon-like Captain America replacing the letter “A,” an addition that would only make sense to a trained (graffiti) eye making his piece otherwise completely unreadable. And sealing the piece is a “Wes 77” signature on the bottom right-hand corner, and his wife’s writing-name of “Opia” below his.

“Zeal” isn’t written just because it’s a nice looking word, with it’s sharp edges lending themselves aesthetically. It’s the message defining a contrasting passion that Wes, a tall, medium-built man whose edgy comb-over is dark and beard is white, now lives by. Originally with graffiti or tagging, the goal for enthusiasts has always been to acquire some form or fame, first locally then globally.

“Graffiti is literally the most self-fulfilling, self-centered, egotistical thing a person can do...you put your name on a wall, you want everyone to see it, you want it to look dope, you want everyone to give you props. It’s self-glorification.”

But in 2005 Wes quit exalting himself the way graffiti and tagging is truly all about, and began exalting God and a positive message. Three years later he helped create ISI Crew--standing for Iron Sharpens Iron Crew--a group of Southern California graffiti artists with a passion for spreading the gospel though graffiti.

*

On this breezy Saturday morning Abarca arrives at Calwa Recreation Park in the city of Fresno, California with fellow graffiti artist Adam Hageman, 26. The huge park with its long brick wall on its west side, is the location for the annual Bizare Art Festival honoring the well-known graffiti artist known as “Bizare.” Initially it was an event put together by “Rain,” Bizare’s sister, as a way to honor her brother’s artistic legacy. Artists from all over California would attend, and do their usual unbelievable pieces on the perfect brick wall. Today in its 5th year, though, it’s become somewhat of a networking event as well, where graffiti artists fangirl over other artists they admire but have never met. Piecebooks are getting passed around, plans of visiting each others cities are made, and lots of pictures are being taken on cell phones. It’s become a festival complete with Bboys, MC’s, a few after-parties in the area, and a dinner the day after the event put together by Rain for the artists who participated and their families. Abarca is excited to finally be able to attend this legal form of graffiti where he can not only mingle, but spread a message of hope through graffiti the way he desires to.

*

Wes credits his older brother, ten years his senior, for introducing him to graffiti. He’d spend his summer vacations away from Wes and his immediate family in West Covina, and go to his grandmother's house in the city of Bell where the L.A. River became his backyard and the perfect location to practice graffiti. The 80’s were the breeding ground for Hip-Hop and everything it entailed-- rap, break dancing, DJing and graffiti--things his brother embraced and taught little Wes to do likewise. One afternoon in the garage of his parents house Wes recalls a distinct event that bred his fondness with graffiti. His brother and his friends were breakdancing on a plexiglass sheet big enough to headspin and “kick up.” While tagging and graffing the sheet, one of his brother’s friends handed him a marker.

“Color that in, just like you do your coloring books.”

Wes admits he didn't know what he was doing at the time, but pursued the art and the street fame ever since.

In Middle School with films such as Beat Street, Wild Style, and the graffiti documentary Style Wars serving as heavy inspirations, Wes became more serious with graffiti. He remembers imploring his friends “to come up with names so [they] can go tag,” and assigning names such as “Bane” and “Soot” to one another. This fascination was temporary to his buddies, however, but Wes’ artistic improvement only drew him in all the more.

High School proved to be a more tangible pivotal moment. Not only was he refining his skills, but he did not get to attend the same high school as his junior high friends, which meant he found himself alone, angry, but with more heart.

“I was just upset about it, so much, that I didn't want to make friends. And that’s when I started tagging more.”

This lack of friends, however, also led 14-year-old Wes to friends from the White Fence gang, a violent gang that originated in East Los Angeles in the 1930’s that is still active today. Luckily, these gang members’ did not share with him the same passion for art.

“The dudes I was with were always scrapping...so I was constantly like ‘dude I can’t be hanging around you guys.’ This is dumb, I don’t wanna be a gangster.”

Wes tried to find connection through another love he had, sports. He’d play in his high school Baseball team, but somehow still could not make friends to relate to. And so the loneliness continued.

Sophomore year in 1993 Wes and his family moved to the city of Walnut and he found himself, yet again, attending a school where he knew no one. One day during math class as Wes was writing inside a “Black Book” (or often called a “Piece Book,” which is a hardcover sketch book with blank pages for writers from all types of crews to unite and share “pieces” with each other.), a classmate approached him and asked, “what do you write?” Wes remembers fondly that this was the first time he was ever asked what he wrote, what his writing-name was, and that he hadn't quite chosen one at the time. The boy told him he had a younger brother, a freshmen, that did graffiti too and that they should meet. He was indifferent to his classmates motion, but the boy grew eager day by day to introduce them and eventually invited Wes to his house. Chris, whose writing-name was “Krome,” was the freshmen younger brother. The two brothers lived in a mobile home park where a big brick wall divided the homes and the train tracks. They jumped over the fence to the wall that featured all of Krome’s work, ten giant pieces that astounded Wes. The pieces featured characters, letters of all styles, and a full range of color that encouraged 15-year-old Wes to catch up to the artistic skills of his new friend. Krome and Wes from then on practiced almost everyday after school, in broad daylight, free from anyone’s interruptions.

Wes had finally found a friend. They shared a new inner confidence in their capabilities that caused the three boys--with the addition of an Ontario newbie who went by “4ser”--to worry very little about a large clique and affirmation from the rest of Walnut High. They shared a secret love for this rebellious art form which they continued to master on Krome’s wall, public street walls, and his favorite freeway, the 60. After some time they joined well-developed crews, such as OCP from the city of Ontario, and YNK, a branch from OCP, and attended meetings where hundreds of members met in parks to encourage each other. The number of members, their devotion, and their protection of each other when any form of “beef” arose, continued inspiring Wes who by this time had finally decided on his own writing-name.

“I would go in the dictionary. You see, some writers pick letters that flow well, that they can put together nicely, and they create a name. I was opposite. I wanted a meaning. So I saw the word “Dower” which meant “a natural talent,” and I was like ‘there it is.’ ”

Junior year of high school Wes’ parents decided to send him away with his uncle, an ex-military man who’d spent two tours in Vietnam, to Salt Lake City, Utah in the hopes of straightening out, what they thought, a graffiti-obsessed teen. His grades and a toxic girlfriend he’d acquired at the time didn't help his case either. But interestingly, 17-year-old Wes did not resist. He felt he wanted something new and was stressed with adolescent issues that crews, secrecy, and “beef” only accelerated. Salt Lake City, however, did not decelerate anything. A city where Whites primarily inhabit, Wes being a Mexican-Native American from Los Angeles became a popular dude alongside his cousin of the same age.

He’d discovered the graffiti scene was different than Los Angeles’. There wasn't the same type of violence that accompanied graffiti back in L.A. High-schoolers here dealt with beef through graffitti where the best piece won the rights to the writing-name, as well as a duffle bag full of spray paints. The sense of style, Abarca noticed, seemed to be stuck in the 80’s too, with Run DMC Adidas seen everywhere. And the “Straight Edge” trend, which was a large group of punk rock teens who purposefully abstained from alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs, surprised Wes.

Generally, he liked Salt Lake City and his love of graffiti did not by any means slow down. In order to fund their writing without asking adults for money, Wes and his cousin began “racking,” meaning, they stole from large, expensive stores in bulk. Racking became a routine practice where they’d wear black hoodies, bring with them all the backpacks they owned, fill them, and walk out. The bedroom closet they shared was overflowing with cans, consuming their clothes, and making their names easily spreadable throughout Salt Lake City since supplies never became a factor.

Wes remembers introducing his cousin and the Straight Edge boys the methods of writing on freeway bridges; a custom they weren't used to doing or seeing. He remembers climbing on moving trains, doing his pieces, then jumping off. And remembers sneaking out of his uncle and aunt's house while they slept at two, three a.m., regularly.

“And then we got in trouble.”

One night when Wes and his cousin were climbing back into their bedroom through their window at 2am, per usual, his aunt was sitting in bed waiting for them. She had seen all the spray cans in their closet, and told Wes’ uncle, who mostly scolded his cousin. That same week the boys went into a local Kmart for a routing racking session, but got caught for the first time via undercover employees. Police officers were called, and Wes was on the next flight, literally, back to Los Angeles.

*

Wes didn't get to graduate high school. Instead, he acquired a GED through an adult-school oozing with troublemakers he didn't feel he belonged with. After high school, however, he didn't stop graffing, which eventually led to an arrest for violation of penal code 594 (prohibits maliciously defacing, damaging, or destroying someone else's property), followed by a DUI, and a fine for carrying spray paint tips, defining the ultimate low of his life.

He went to court and was certain he’d go to prison the way many of his friends, and truly many graffiti writers had gone at a time when the government was its harshest towards graffiti and tagging in the late 90’s. To his surprise the charges were dropped. Instead, he was given house arrest complete with an embarrassing ankle monitor, a few fines, was required to attend DUI and drug & alcohol classes, and was on probation for three years.   

Wes was grateful, relieved, and determined to no longer walk the path that led him to the disappointment he was currently feeling. He describes seeking some form of spirituality afterwards, visiting buddhist temples trying to find some form of inner peace and hope. Finally he was invited to church by a girl he began dating. At church he described feeling a sense of pride, abstaining from openly participating, but feeling at home with everything the pastor said. After a few visits, he gave his life to God privately, not wanting to go to the altar like others were doing, but instead closing his eyes and talking to God on his own, vowing to never practice Graffiti ever again. He began bad-mouthing the art, promoting its corruption, but still somehow craving the markers he would use on Black Books as well as the gratification he felt seeing his dope ass piece complete. One day, laying on his side on top of his bed, he began drawing on a piece of paper with a pen.

“Why did I ever stop doing this?”

*

In 2005 Wes decided to stop running away from what he felt was his calling--to use graffiti as a tool to reach guys (and girls) just like him.

“[There’s] Guys who dont wanna be made fun of, and are putting up a persona, like ‘yeah I’m down, I wanna do something illegal,’ but in reality they’re struggling because they know it’s not right.”

He hadn’t quite figured out the orchestration of this ministry since graffiti was/is relatively viewed as vandalism. Trying to use something tabooed as wrong to uplift a people was something not many in his milieu believed in. But Wes still participated in the creation of ISI Crew in 2008. Popularity regarding their ministry spread, and suddenly the members--made up of guys from Hawthorne, Crestline, Chino, and Guatemala City, among others--found themselves being sought after to display their art live at art walks and art events, at local churches and well-known Christian Universities, for no compensation at first but now almost always for a compensation. Early years proved fairly successful both internally in the self-confidence of the members, and externally with the many gigs emerging. Contrary to Wes and ISI’s initial fears, it seemed conservative believers were accepting graffiti.

Even among the secular graffiti community Wes states that he and ISI began to gain respect.  

“The whole motive behind graffiti is self-glorification and if we’re not doing that, then what are we doing?”

Glorifying something higher is what they began doing.

This acceptance, though, quickly seemed to give birth to accustomation for Wes and ISI  and even amid these events and the Christian community. A new perspective of graffiti widely accepted as “cool” and no longer a rebellious form of art discouraged Wes for a long time, making faith-based events mundane, boring, but most importantly contradictory to the belief of winning the lost.

The way Jesus ate with tax collectors and so-called sinners, Wes wanted in. His method had evolved as he was no longer interested in a cookie-cutter ministry.

“If we’re going to a lot of Christian events...they may or may not need encouragement as much. There’s so many ministries and outlets for people that are believers to be edified and be lifted up...but our work is really, really effective towards other graffiti artists. ”

*

The Bizare Art Festival Wes and Sythe were on their way to, in Wes’s family car, a Subaru Outback, is a representation of this new path. The path he and Sythe are yearning to tap into once again where men in love with graffiti can guide other men in love with graffiti to a relationship with God.

“Our crew was birthed off of street painting. And i'm not talking about illegally. Im talking about when we started doing things legally and for a positive reason. And I wanna go back to the street.”

[sir-adamus]

There's more Trish/Lady Lesyay/shiptease in DMCV? Glorious. Dante always has been the exhausting third wheel who nobody knows how to get rid of

like when mission 10 actually starts the first thing you see Lady do is duck behind Trish, tap her on the shoulder and then run past her, with Trish giving chase - like, they’re in a literal hellhole and they’re being cute and playing around meanwhile Dante’s bringing up the rear being moody because he’s the only one who actually knows who they’re going to fight

[sir-adamus]

why is the mission menu for mission 15 so... awkward and tense?

Trish is moodily leaning against the van outside while Nico is sitting in the drivers seat looking real uncomfortable and Lady is leaning out of the shower nervously

what happened, what’s going on

[sir-adamus]

so V was only kidding about the ‘i have no name’ part, not the rest of the quote i see

[sir-adamus]

so i’m starting mission 4, where we control V for the first time, and i wanted to see what his taunt was - and i hit the button right as a scripted idle moment happened where he starts coughing

so for a second i thought his taunt was to remind the audience that he’s fragile and dying

[sir-adamus]

Nico and Nero have one brain cell between them

[sir-adamus]

well the prodigal asshole returns

[sir-adamus]

okay having to watch the night Dante lost his mother, trying to find Vergil, from his perspective is actually painful

[sir-adamus]

V is very fun to play as, more fun than i was expecting - i was expecting the combat pacing to slow down a lot given how he has to fight at range, but i’m actually having an easier time racking up combos and SSS ranks in fights than i do with Nero