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sour-n-salty-citrus · 3 years ago

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I'm screaming,,please talk more about aftoncest!! When you mentioned fnaf and shipping, I thought you were talking about Gregory and glamrock freddy

AHAH, i have seen gregory and glamrock freddy around (which looks very 👀👀👀 might i add), but I haven't gotten onto security breach quite yet.

Yes, it's true, the ship i was vagueposting about was aftoncest! I figured it was time i got back into fnaf (the last time i was "into" the series was... oof, 2016 probably?) so i looked up a lore guide. I knew afton was the child killer at this point due to osmosis and occasionally hearing something, but I wasn't aware he had kids! (I remembered the crying child from fnaf 4- and very very vaguely knew about the girl from sister location). I saw Michael's sprite and was like "oh hey, he seems like the oldest- Michael, huh, wonder how he fits i-" and then it went "the Mike Schmidt who's the protagonist of fnaf1" and I was like he's THAT MIKE????

I was curious to see if he had any voice lines so i looked it up, found a video on the SL cutscene(?), played it, and immediately heard,

"father."

...

And yup, that did it for me, I was 100% sold. I already figured Michael and William probably had a twisted relationship (i mean it's the fucking purple guy and his son akdhajdhaj *wheeze* how could they not) but then I read more of the lore and wow. WOOOW. These two uh- they have... well they have a relationship-

It's really interesting to me! I mean, from what I remember of michael in fnaf 4, the kid was kind of a bully (RIP crying child lmao)- even if I'm sure he didn't actually mean to ever hurt Evan. It makes me wonder, what kind of a parent Afton was to his children- was he so absent that this behaviour went unchecked for so long? Did Michael just think that it was okay- that teasing and bullying was a natural part of showing affection (just think about those implications for a second oh no-). Maybe Michael took the brunt of all his father's bs, and that's why he lashed out at Evan, in the form of pranks and teasing (even if it crossed the line)- maybe on some level he hated how free Evan got to be, he still got to be a crying child, blissfully ignorant, whereas Michael was more grown up, was less illusioned to the reality of what went on inside their house- not to project or anything, but as the eldest lemme tell ya, we absolutely get the brunt of any issues with our parents. Maybe Michael wants his father's love and attention, but also sees the truth behind who is father is (even without the child murdering ajdgsjdhsjdhsj)- which makes their relationship delightfully complicated.

Michael becoming an adult makes it even more interesting. Michael still clearly respected William enough to do what he said without question seeing as, well, not just anyone will do you a favour and go put your dead daughter/their sister "back together", endangering and dying themself in the process. It makes me wonder about how close they must have grown. How the absense of Michael's mother, Elizabeth and Evan must have affected their relationship, how it might have twisted from already unhealthy to codependent. Michael suddenly overlooking all his father's flaws and mistreatment out of guilt and desperation to keep him around. William growing obsessively attached to the only person he has left. I feel like William is attached to Michael, too- he's the only person he trusts, and, well, when someone is willing to do almost anything for you, you're going to feel fondness for them (as twisted as it may be). I like to think of it as a really fucked up lowkey servent and master dynamic- Michael is William's favourite little tool, whom he can use and abuse but is strong enough not to break under it (until he does- but its fine, because he can always pick up the pieces.)

(He's good at that. Breaking things and putting them back together.)

Just hnghfnfhfnfhdhd these two! Ah! They're basically the protagonist and antagonist of the series, and you know i love me some hero/villain ships sometimes. Its so delicious, you get to add a whole extra topping of manipulation and inseparability and obsession and all kinds of spice to the mix with this ship! The familial ties making it so that they'll always be connected to one another, the attachment, the history! *mwah*, brilliant, 10/10.

#please send me more asks about this because #hhhh this SHIP #also i know i probably rambled a bit ajdjsdhsjdj #i have a lot of feelings #esp about mike individually because hes my favourite help-#did i talk enough about the ship itself? i feel like i might have focused a bit on them individually oops #but YES i love it sm #i know theres probably like 2 others shippers out there dw u guys I'll feed you with my shameless self indulgence #aftoncest #citrus speaks #ty for the ask nonny i get insecure about my ship rambles sometimes so its reassuring to know someone doesnt mind it akdhajdhsjdj

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storm-driver · 6 years ago

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Oh boy, you wanna know? It’s gonna be a lengthy one, but I’ll do my best to make it entertaining, heh

Under the cut because L O N G P O S T

So first things first, it’s best if you know how old I am. As of March 2019, I am 17-years old, and I’ll be 18 by the end of Summer. Kingdom Hearts 1 came out just 7 months after I was born, so I wasn’t into it from the very beginning.

Right around 2009, I found myself getting a PS2 from one of our neighbors because they were buying a PS3. And among the games they gave us with the PS2, Kingdom Hearts 1 was in that batch. My sister played through and completed the whole game, but little 8-year old me couldn’t get past the Chameleon boss in Deep Jungle. So I put the game down for a year or so, never thinking about it since. I went back to finish the game, got stuck on the legendary ‘THERE’S NO WAY YOU’RE TAKING KAIRI’S HEART’ boss fight, and I eventually beat the game! Go me!

I got a Nintendo DS and my sister bought me Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the DS because she realized I actually liked Kingdom Hearts. However, I hadn’t played KH2, nor did I retain too much of the information from KH1. My sister got KH2 for the PS2 a few months prior and assumed that the other save file was mine. Turns out she just accidentally saved twice >.<

So I played through 358 until I got stuck on one of the ridiculous bosses, I think it was Leechgrave? And I didn’t retain any of the plot, so I kinda just forgot it. Then... I actually played KH2.

And I had SO much fun! I played on Beginner because I was 9-10-years old and I needed to if I ever wanted the hope of beating it. And around that time, Re:coded came out. So once I beat KH2, my sister bought me Re:coded and I played that... before getting stuck on a boss again. I can’t remember which one though, heh.

I eventually went back to beat 358, did so, cried a lot because Roxas was immediately established as my favourite, and by then I was maybe 11-years old. Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS came out and I had become invested in the games at that point. So I was about to start watching the cutscenes for 3D... when I realized I was missing something...

I never played Birth by Sleep.

I had seen a few of the cut scenes out of BBS by that point, but I didn’t actually know who the characters were. Surprisingly enough, when I saw Ventus for the first time, I didn’t associate him with Roxas at all. I don’t think I even processed that they looked the same. To me, it was just Ventus. Maybe that’s why I can see their nuances so well, I don’t know. Anyways, I went and watched all the cutscenes for Birth by Sleep, lost my fucking mind because OH THAT’S WHY ROXAS- OHHHHH and then I went to watch 3D.

And lemme just say, by that point, it was all over. This game was now apart of my life. You could tell ‘cause suddenly all the references to Ventus in all of the games clicked for me and I WAS LOSING IT so much. I love that kinda stuff, I dunno why, but I doooo.

And then the year after... 2013.... y’all know what happened. KH3 was FINALLY announced to be in REAL development, even if it was development Hell. I remember watching the livestream for the first ever KH3 trailer as it was happening and I was crying. Lil’ 12-year old Storm Driver sitting at their father’s cracked and broken laptop, crying over one minute of pre-rendered game footage. It was real. I was going to play KH3.

So then the next few years were me establishing my love for the series. Right around when I turned 12 was when I’d actually been introduced to social media. I’d played games like Toontown and stuff on the computer, but I’d never used Instagram or anything before... I actually pride myself over still having my first ever IG account. I think I made it after the first KH3 trailer came out. Interesting.

I managed to get one of my at-the-time close friends into the game, and they let me borrow their 3DS so I could play Dream Drop myself! But we had a falling out the next year and we didn’t talk or communicate that whole time. Fun little anecdote, the name “Storm Driver.” I chose that name after I’d played 3D because it was the name of the track for one of my favourite songs. Except... the name was mistranslated. It’s supposed to be “Storm Diver.” But in pure spite, I kept it as it is today.

And that was how that friend of mine contacted me again, years later! They found my Tumblr and realized I was the same Storm Driver from the years prior and we reconciled and made up over what had happened. We still don’t talk much, just having each other added on Snapchat. But I’m happy that they reached out to me.

Years passed and my love for KH didn’t die, but it did settle a bit. It spiked again in 2015, when the gameplay trailers were finally being released. But nothing really dragged me back towards it. Until 2017. The orchestra tour...

OH FUCK MAN, I WENT WILD. I fucking lost it. I did not calm down, for three or four whole months, this exact Tumblr blog was busting out frickin’ KH posts and all the like. And it has not stopped at all. ‘Cause soon after that, 0.2 was confirmed and released and I was losing my god damn mind over it all. I was so hyped for KH3, words cannot properly describe. During those months, I came to meet some mutuals on Tumblr that I now consider very close friends. Even if we’ve never met, I still feel a lot of joy just seeing their names and icons pop up in my notifications feed.

I started playing KHUX after the orchestra tour trailer came out. I used to pride myself over having (at the time) ridiculously strong medals that pushed me forward through a lot of the Proud Mode content without spending a single dime on the game. But of course, those medals are outdated now. My KHUX character is probably just average at this point. But that’s okay. I don’t really play it anymore, heh.

And in the months leading up to KH3, I just did my best to stay relatively calm. I joined a few Discord servers for KH, but I found myself feeling out of place. I started getting interested in other things, and with no one to talk to over those things, i started to talk in the KH servers. I was asked not to and it eventually led to me go and create my own server. It was initially a Voltron server, but as VLD has ended, I changed it to be a community server, where people who just wanna talk can talk. It’s a “private” server at the moment, because I don’t want to overwhelm myself and my two friends who moderate it. I’ve opened it a few times, to help get some more people in who just wanna hang out.

My experience with Kingdom Hearts took a weird turn when KH3 was around the corner though. Someone kept making one-day accounts on Tumblr and DMing me the leaks of the game, including the ending. Lucky me, I hadn’t seen a whole lot of the plot-related stuff. But my impulse control is weak and I’d click the links just from the sight of them. So I knew what would happen to Sora at the end of the game before I’d even seen the final boss. I didn’t know how Roxas ended up there in the ending and I was REALLY happy to see him and Ventus and Xion standing together in frame. So I guess it kinda hyped me up to see how the game handled him and his return.

At the end of it, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed KH and I will continue to, I’m sure. I’ve also played TWEWY for the DS, so I’m sure that the tie-ins it’ll have with the future of Kingdom Hearts are going to be amazing. This game latched onto me when I was an infant, and it’s been nine long and incredibly fun years so far. I’m happy that we’re not done yet ^^

#kingdom hearts #kh3 spoilers #stormy weather #my post #this is about everything i can think of without going into heavy detail #anyways #hope this is what you meant anon ^^

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 6 years ago

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You mentioned that you hated P5 mc cause he's an ass and never get's called out on it. The only real act I thought was 'assy' was leaving Ryuji behind when he got beat up but could you elaborate on Joker's assyness?

Ok sooooooo under the cut (will get to the other one too, but it’ll be a hot minute since I haven’t started it):

He leaves Ryu behind when he gets dragged away by the gay men. He let’s Ryu get beat up, not once but TWICE. He sexually harasses Anne (along with Ryu, and sometimes Yusuke), despite knowing what she’s gone through.

Those are in-game/can’t skip kinda stuff. As for optional dialogue choices......tbh I think it might be the translations’ fault. Because I can’t tell when he’s being sarcastic/dry or legit mean half the time. P3/4? Pretty obvious, esp with how characters react. P5? Is this a mean choice? I can’t tell (I mean some are really obvious, and man does the game want you to drag Anne and Ryu in the beginning of the game, but not Makoto even after she drove away our lead! And it makes me wonder if he was being sarcastic to her with one of his dialogue choices but it just flew over her head and...yeah you see where there’s some issues. It just makes it REALLY hard to get...even a general personality on the guy. I mean outside of animated cutscenes which.....I guess show a nice guy and cocky leader at times, but then it also has the perv scenes which contradict his one defining trait in the very first arc and that’s just ‘against woman being harassed” so...it’s really conflicting). I guess P5MC’s dialogue options just lack a “tone of voice” for me, esp compared to previous MC’s (even Minato, who has pretty much the most generic dialogue/voice, still has a tone).

Another reason I don’t like him (and while not assholery, it’s.....I dunno it’s not a person I’d want to hang around). In his civie form he’s just so...... “checked out.” Like he doesn’t even want to be there. Like there’s a difference between laying low and just not looking like he cares to be around his friends. And I think it’s partially cause of his character model, yeah I know P5 has more expressive/nicer models but....it really hurts the P5MC. Lemme explain, P3/4 had decent/serviceable models. Sometimes they’d show facial expressions (tho hard to see, and even then I think only P4MC showed facial expressions between him and P3MC), but a lot of the times you have your focus on the character’s more expressive body animations or their portrait. P5? You can see the faces clearly, you can see when someone’s happy they don’t just do a motion they also have the character’s face really show it clearly. But P5MC? His face is covered by his hair and glasses (and if you can get a look at his face, he’s more or less either :/ or >:/ all the time). It really makes him stand out more than P3/4 did to their MCs (where everyone’s face is pretty much all neutral-ish :I) since he’s the only one doing it. It really makes a lot of the sweeter scenes look.....like he’s just going through the motions/not caring... Ryuji/Yusuke give you a heartfelt speech? :/ Anne’s crying and you confess to her and hug/kiss her? :/ Any girl tells you she’s in love with you? :/ Just....it feels so checked out. And like people made fun of the weird ass hugs the P3MC gave, I’m not saying past Persona games have been more perfect than this. But P3MC was more “depressed guy learning how emotions work again” while P5MC is not that at all. Couple his ass moments, with his lack of tone of voice, and now lack of facial expressions.....it adds up to giving the feel the P5MC doesn’t.....really care. (and that hurts P5 when it’s trying to act like it’s almost P4 levels of friendship, when I can’t buy the P5MC actually caring about his friends 80% of the time, 20% is from cutscenes and they do a better job by....giving him....expressions. XP)

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ivelostmyspectacles · 8 years ago

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a DAMN GOOD IGNIS MOMENT.

But really, the more I watch it the more I realise it’s not only a fantastic Ignis moment, it’s a fantastic Chocobros moment in general? REALLY LONG POST AHEAD + UNFINISHED GAMEPLAY WRITING BUT THIS SCENE

Lemme start with Ignis because duh (if you’ve seen anything out of me the past two weeks, it’s probably been Ignis related). He’s been pretty passive about losing his eyesight up until this point. He calls it a minor sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. When Noctis and Gladio fight on the train, Ignis says nothing, even though part of the argument is his own injury. He only tries to stop Gladio by saying his name; Prompto is the one who tries to break it up (more in a moment. anyway not that Ignis really could break it up rn but you know) He’s been optimistic enough about it, though. “I’ll manage somehow” when you invite him into the mines. “This is considerably harder than I expected” he says about fighting. But sometimes you hear the boys say something and Iggy just sort of sighs. They’re dancing around him, and his injury, and the argument, and this scene is where it culminates.

The first time he actually says that it isn’t okay is because of their friendship hitting a low point, rather than his actual injury. But he is so, so aware of that injury and how it has the potential to drag them down. He still says “I would remain with you all. Til the very end” because these are his brothers and he damn well plans to, but that said.

This is the first time we hear Ignis raise his voice, I think. Not including battle cries and the like. Which is saying a lot because this boy is very, very calculated on his emotions. (ie later on when Prompto falls off the train, you hear the very audible difference in Noctis’s voice vs Iggy’s) He’s Crownsguard, Noctis is his king, he will do anything for him, and believes he has no reason to complain even if he has gone blind. But that’s a Big Thing. His yelling in this scene exactly “I know full well!” is finally, finally his frustration coming out and it’s triggered because of their bickering (or anti-bickering, since they aren’t really... speaking much).

He says he is willing to bow out if he starts to slow them down, which imo is like asking him to suffer a physical injury all over again (he is Crownsguard, Noctis is his king, he will do anything for him) but he still will DO IT because he won’t be a burden.

He goes on to give Noctis what, I think, is a much needed confidence boost. “A king pushes onward always, accepting the consequences and never looking back” and in the opening sentences for the next chapter, it literally uses those same words to describe Noct’s reaction to Ardyn’s trick: never looking back. (Also never looking back is exactly what Ignis is doing right now, which is why the choice to focus the camera so much on his scars in that moment is AMAZING.)

He continues with that to tell Gladio that Noct will be king and he will rule, but “only once he’s ready”. And this is SO important. Gladio’s interaction with Noct is painful at least and rage inducing at worst (more below) but not only does Noct need to hear this, Gladio does, too. They can push Noctis into that throne but he will never be able to lead until he is ready, and that involves coming to terms with some very, very heavy stuff that’s been happening. Everybody doesn’t handle grief the same way and they’re all having a hard go at it in very different ways thanks to the events of late.

So all of this makes this the DAMN GOOD IGNIS MOMENT. But it’s also really good for the rest of them, both in mentioned ways and others, but since I’m apparently waxing poetic

Prompto, Gladio, and Noctis under the cut ↓ (note: 150% zoom for easier reading)

Okay, Prompto, my dear, sweet Prompto. Literal ray of sunshine. Prompto isn’t one for confrontation. This boy is our peacekeeper. We see him trying to get Gladio and Noctis to stop fighting on the train. He still takes photos while they’re in the mine “I took some more pictures today... do you want to see them?” “No. Not really” “Yeah, okay” (paraphrasing, I was busy crying over the fact that all of our recipes are gone), he is endlessly cheerful, and when they finally get to the tomb, he says “We did it! Together!”. He spends most of the time in the mine helping Iggy, too; every time Iggy fell, Prompto was there to help him back up.

Which leads into him being defensive over Ignis when Gladio says he doesn’t agree that he should continue with them. (“We’ll be there” which at this point it’s basically only Prompto taking 90% of Iggy’s care into his hands, Noct’s too numb and Gladio does help out in cutscenes rather than gameplay) When he tells Gladio that Ignis should be free to choose, look at his face. This is the closest thing we’ve seen to our ray of sunshine being angry at one of his friends (iirc, it’s been a long couple weeks). It’s not even a down and out screaming match, it’s not pushing and shoving, it’s just that look on his face. I’m not even sure how to describe it. The point is he isn’t standing there being peacekeeper; he’s standing up for Ignis now. (Which I wish we saw more of this because you know this boy loves his friends more than he loves his own life.)

When Ignis says the bit about Noct being ready, Prompto spins on Gladio and nods. (it looks like a nod, even if it wasn’t intentional I’m sticking to that) It’s that kind of yeah moment. You know, when someone’s being ignorant and they get told and you’re like WHAT NOW. Ignis is telling Gladio something he doesn’t want to hear and Prompto is actively agreeing without needing to trip over words that ring with confrontation himself.

I would normally say he’s getting an attitude, or growing a spine, but neither of those are particularly accurate especially because Prom does have a spine (that Niff weapon thing they use to fight Leviathan! jumping out of the train to help Noct fight! going after Ardyn! this is all just in the same chapter or two!) but he’s not sitting there and being silent around his friends when this serious situation has come up. And he really hasn’t had a chance to speak up about anything as serious because this is the first time the Chocobros have been fighting, anyway, so this is also a good growth scene for him.

Onto Gladio. He is not my favourite person right now. Will he redeem himself? I’m sure. Will that make up for my opinion of him now? Who knows. (this is my first playthrough) But regardless of if you love Gladio or hate Gladio at this point in time, he does have his reasons for acting the way he is - even if it is, imo, misguided anger. That’s a whole different post, though.

When Ignis says “when Noctis is ready” (this is integral, people, lol) yes, he is subtly telling Gladio that he needs to back down a bit and yes, that isn’t what Gladio wants to hear because Noctis is their king and he should be handling it better. But this is also a lesson Gladio desperately, desperately needs to learn just then.

Above I said everyone handles grief differently and Gladio’s handling it in his way and Noct’s way of handling it is pretty much not handling it at all, so it makes it seems like he isn’t making any progress. But here Ignis calmly, ideally tells Gladio “He’s going at his own pace. He needs to do this himself. You need to let him do this himself. He will.” I feel like this is Gladio getting reminded that Noctis is only a twenty year old who’s just lost his father, his fiancee, and let one of his best friends receive a life-altering injury. He’s king, and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he is human. I feel like Ignis is the one who can get through to Gladio the most and even though Gladio blatantly looks at Noctis when he says that they had better all be ready, it isn’t nearly as aggressive as his previous “get your head out of your ass”.

And when they leave the mine, Gladio says that they can stop at Tenebrae if it’s going to help Noctis move on. Granted he doesn’t say “if it’ll help you”, just “if it’ll help him”, but still: growth.

And Noctis, who has surprisingly the least amount of meta inducing action in this scene, gets to hear what he needs to hear. When you talk to Gladio before entering the tomb you get the message that Gladio’s words have lit a fire in Noctis’s heart even if you show frustration (idk what happens if you pick show resolve) but personally I feel like he gets so much more out of what Ignis says.

“Only once he’s ready.” Only once you’re ready, Noct. (I N T E G R A L)

(And here’s the thing: he’s saying almost exactly the same thing Gladiolus is, but in a different way. He’s still saying you need to move on and face what’s happened to be our king. But he is also saying when you’re ready. Because it won’t work otherwise.)

There’s just so much about this scene that I love? And a lot of probably comes out as disjointed but that’s my take on this moment. It’s literally painful because the whole game has been one giant road trip full of fun and food and photos and fish and now this happens all at once but this is. so. real. It’s subtle enough but there’s so much crammed into this minute and a half that reminds me, despite the flaws, just how freaking amazing this game is.

#FFXV #Final Fantasy XV #Ignis Scientia #Prompto Argentum #Gladiolus Amicitia #Noctis Lucis Caelum #Chocobros #long post #REALLY long post #I'm sorry mobile users #I don't know what else to say #except this is longer than the fic I just wrote #I can't believe I wrote that much on a minute and a half scene #this is like some completeoveranalysis shit here lol #Summer's thoughts #Summer plays games

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years ago

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The lineup isn’t set until Muhyo and Roji’s comes along later on...

Angolmois 2

Ah, I got that explanation of what “Angolmois” is from ANN earlier but now I see how they learnt it.

Someone on ANN showed me the way to a Wikipedia page…which says Sou Sukekuni will die and the Mongols will invade.

Kemari.

There’s something silly about how straightfaced everyone is about chucking Kuchii out…haha.

This mut be the period Kimetsu no Yaiba is set in…because that shiitake boy seems to be similar to Tanjiro (of that series).

“Ah, even the great Jinzaburou-dono is weak at the knees for a pretty princess”…at least, that’s a fairly cliched line if it’s coming from the mouths of one of the characters.

Dang, this man is too much of a shonen hero for a show involving chopping heads off enemies.

There’s a small spotted cat (?) on the roof of one of the houses (?).

“The older you are when you have children, the more you love them.” – Uh, and the more likely it is that they’ll have genetic abnormalities. Just sayin’…

Okay, so Gontarou is the one with the small black moustache. Got it.

The lines on the filter move with the camera! Yikes! That’s going to be a bit distracting…

Oh, Sou Sukekuni’s middle name means “on top of a horse” if I’m guessing the right kanji. That’s exacty where he is now.

I see…so that strategy (shooting arrows straight into the air) would require minimal training and not that much time to pass around verbally.

Uh, was it just me, or did some soldiers look like they were in CGI?

Oh, so Yajirou is the one in the purplish armour. Okay. Update: Nope, Umajirou is his name.

Welp, historical records said Sou Sukekuni would die (like I said at the start of the episode). I just didn’t know it was going to be so soon.

BnHA 52

After a 1 week break, let’s get back into the fray!

I love this OP already! It’s much better than “I keep my ideals! Sorezore no jinsei (etc. etc.)…” at the very minimum already! (Peace Sign is my favourite BnHA OP, by the way, after listening to it a bunch on Spotify.) Interesting how you see Deku through Tooru though…

Iida’s waving in his usual way, I see…(LOL)

Interesting that they call their gyms “alpha”, “beta”, “gamma” etc. At least, that’s the assumption from seeing “gym gamma” in the subs.

The D in TDL stands for daidokoro (kitchen) in Japanese. Alternatively, it could refer to Tokyo Disneyland, which is why Deku refers to a certain mouse.

Ashido was so doing a Kamehameha…or a hadouken…one of them, anyway. I’m not that well-versed in Dragon Ball, y’know.

There’s something kind of sad about how All Might goes “I am here…because I didn’t have anything else to do today!” now that he no longer can retain that muscle form for too long.

“…ask an expert.” – Y’mean…Hatsume, right?

I…can’t believe I’m laughing at this stupid boob joke…(LOL…?)

“Likes: Steampunk” – I was reading a non-fiction book on steampunk and apparently the main appeal for some people is the ability to make everything yourself, as a form of “raging against materialism” and whatnot. Never thought I’d have to mention that in the commentary, but here we are.

Power Loader seems a tad small in comparison to Iida (and probably All Might as well), huh?

Wait…this powered suit…reminds me of a Gundam first and then Wallace’s pants next. *starts humming Wallace and Gromit theme tune*

I kind of read ahead because of my duties on the BnHA wiki, but Deku’s going to end up using a kicking move, right? Right?! The only thing better than a punching move is a kicking move!

I really like Long Hope Philia already…but what is a “philia”, though? Update: It’s the opposite of phobia. It means “brotherly love”.

Lord of Vermilion 1

Also known as “Dude of Red: The Red Dude”. According to the opinions I’ve seen around, this show is probably going to the drop pile, but on the offhand chance it does survive, I’ll have to probably put it on hold anyway…

There’s something funky about those designs…like someone tried too hard to be edgy with the red lines.

Where’d the bubbles come from? Oh wait, he trapped her in the big bubble and that’s how there are smaller bubbles…ohh. Okay.

“Cut the bullshit!” – Welp, you read my mind. How the heck did we get here???

…and Tokyo Tower. Just because we can go there too.

Why is Chiyu monologuing when she has a weapon pierced through her body???

Okay, why are these guys implying there’s a nationalist slant to all this?

Wait, explosion butterflies? C’mon, Buso Renkin did that better!

“A secret arrow. I see.” – For some…reason…I can’t stop myself from laughing! Hahaha, he’s been impaled in the eye and yet he says, “I see,” wahaha!...okay. I’m calm now.

Something tells me someone wasted Dude of Red: The Red Dude’s budget on the OP. Also, all of their storytelling ability went there too…

The ep title clearly ends in a ka, so it’s a question. It should be “Are Our Lives the Debt We Pay to Our Enemies?”, then.

Kote and men appear to be two different strikes in kendo, but also their strike areas...? I’m not sure…

C’mon, if the show started with the high frequency noise, then we wouldn’t have to have suffered through the in medias res segment going too long!

No wonder they call this Dude of Red: The Red Dude…this fog is very red!

“Don’t tell me you have amnesia.” – Oh, great. That’s at least the third amnesiac this season…Island, Planet With and now this! Update: Nope, it was jumping to conclusions…

Jokei…is there a Keijo Uni? (Not to be confused with the T & A sport.)…Nope, the closest thing I got was in Korea…

How do Chihiro and Kotetsu even know Kakihara, anyway?

LOL, somehow that was so chuuni. I feel like I want more but there’s too much of a talent gap between this and the other shows, so it’s going on hold.

Angels of Death 2

Hanebado went on hold since Dude of Red ranked above it.

Isaac Foster, huh? Is that Bandage Man’s name?

I swear the rainbow puke is the most colorful thing in this anime…

Lemme guess…this passage is from the Bible. The show’s holding my interest, it’s just that it’s kind of waning because Satsuriku no Tenshi has been getting some real bad talk all around and yet it’s pretty popular. At least, that’s according to Prattle…

The comedic beats seem out of line with the rest of the show. Like someone was trying too hard to make the show “mainstream”. I’m finally able to put my finger on what I think Satsuriku reminds me of now – it reminds me of The Dog Island, a much more relaxing game. Then again, this is because of all the talk about finding triggers – that game is all “find to complete quests”, so it’s easy to see how the comparison came about.

Gloves? Was someone here earlier?

From far away, the dots on the grave blueprint seem to be Chinese or Japanese, but up close…they’re just dots.

Alright, I get it already…*eyeroll* this is based on a game, Rachel’s said she’s going to die about 4 times already, this scene with the red background is a cutscene yada yada yada…

Oh. Y’know what? This reminds me of ol’ Nancy Drew CD-ROM games! I love those! Plus the banshee scare scene in one of them is poised like a huge jumpscare, that probably would make a better anime than this…

I headcanon Zack is ADHD or something of the sort.

Wellllllll…if there’s one thing I agree with this show on, it’s that suicide is bad.

“You can cry…or something, can’t you?” – Come to think of it, Rachel does come off as a bit of a Rei Ayanami sometimes.

How the heck is he dry enough to be tromping around like that in front of the graves when he just stood in water for so long??? Isn’t he drenched?

There’s something vaguely nostalgic about this show and yet I don’t think it’s good enough to keep on the commentary, so on hold it goes…

Cells at Work 2

Is it just me, or are the background characters CGI…? (Oh man, last time I complained about this was Tsukigakirei…that didn’t go down well, let’s just say that…)

This is a joke from Plyasm, but…don’t lewd the platelets!

It’s the Abyss from Made in Abyss!

There was a segment on the news about how deadly sepsis was recently, so…I’m kind of scared of that bacteria now…

I guess you never wanted to ask for WBC fighting a shark…well, it’s just as weird as Sharknado, only…it’s happening.

*sees “brachial artery”* - This particular RBC likes working near the lungs, huh?

I don’t think we’ve seen the eyecatch for this show before, so…that’s an interesting way of handling things.

Don’t tell me…it’s those adorable lil’ platelets, right??? This is an abrasion, they’ll surely come!

Von Willebrand factor.

The serious WBC made a joke! Amazing!

Planet With 2

I’m calling it now – secretary woman with green-blue hair is the real bad guy! (You can tell by the enthusiasm in my voice that it’s Epileptic Trees time!)

*cue cat faces and masks* - Imagine if they used that censorship in 18+ material…it would be a riot just to look at…

But blue-green haired lady, aren’t there 7 Nebula Soldiers???

…Oh, so that’s what happened to the money Takezo spent…haha.

Geesh, enough with the panties, Sensei…also, couldn’t Souya just go and nick some money, then use it to purchase some meat? Or just beg for food money or ask for an allowance or something in order to get real meat?

Hmm, come to think of it, most of the people have colours in their names – even Souya – but Sensei doesn’t and same with Hideo. But Hideo has the character for “wisdom” in his name and the character for “tiger”, which is the theme of his mecha.

Those meat buns are huge! The size of an adult’s palm! Then again, I’ve been having a bunch of meat buns for breakfast lately and they are that size…sorry, false alarm.

Oh my gosh, this pig Weapon’s even weirder than the bear one!

(muffled laughter in the background) – They wasted perfectly good art on a one-off gag about bean jam…not that I minded, of course, but…hahaha…

Phantom in the Twilight 2

The sign’s Tahoma font is…kind of awkward, actually. I thought that last episode, but haven’t said it in these notes until now.

“You’re such a lazy count.” – Hmm…now if someone removed one of the Os in that sentence…that would be a sketchy sentence indeed.

Notably, Luke’s surname is Bowen.

Toryu was a jiangshi. Called it!

There’s something on Ton’s phone that says “picture”, I’d presume it’s the Chinese and/or Japanese equivalent to the “Pictures” app or folder.

This guy with the glasses – Haysin, I think the guy with the partially-shaved head called him – looks like Chopin from Classicaloid…

To be honest, I’d never actually heard of vampires needing to be invited into places until Shiki came along, so this is only the second time I’ve witnessed it, so to speak.

Who knew a ghost was good enough to be a hacker in the modern age? (smirks with how inventive this is)

All that blue text is definitely not any coding language I know. In fact, it’s mostly gibberish…

Mhmm…a mingling of the supernatural with the technological. Me likey.

…What the heck did Ton just tackle?

Oh my gosh! I’m laughing so hard! A vampire doing karate! I love it!

Is this the beginning of a Haysin x Shinyao ship? Update: His name is Chris, not Haysin. Haysin is the other dude.

Garfunkel though…what a stupid name. Sounds like a cartoonist (Arbuckle), a cartoon cat (Garfield) or a singer (Simon and Garfunkle) though…

I didn’t realise this at first, but Vlad has two spots on the side of his face. Probably beauty spots.

I love how they only put the grainy filter on Vlad while he was reminiscing.

Angolmois 3

I find it interesting that Kuchii uses the armour as the thing the Tsushima people should follow, rather than following him. They probably revere the armour more than the man…

Where’d Kano go, anyway?

The reliance on panning over stills is kind of annoying…

Welp, there’s Kano, right when the plot needs her…or is that one of the exiles…? Kano looked pretty boyish to me.

Koorogi means “cricket”, methinks.

Holmes of Kyoto 2

This is the lowest ranking show right now, so its spot is currently being threatened by the late debuts…not to mention I’m currently one spot over capacity, so something has to go.

The Saio-dai is like a May Queen, apparently. Not that I really know what that means…Update: Oh, there’s an explanation, just when I thought they wouldn’t give it…

“There’s lots of things named Aoi here!” – That’s what I said…last episode.

Saori and Kaori…I’m going to get so confused between these two…

Hmm…well, obviously, if the person were physically close to Saori, that might mean they know each other.

“Sissy” is an insult to me, so I’m surprised to hear it being used as a substitute for “sister” here. (It’s probably “nee-san” in Japanese, or “ane”.)

Hanamura, LOL. (Hanamura = “flower garden”.)

I find it funny that Holmes has LINE stickers of his own. Plus that Aoi’s got his number in as “Holmes-san”.

There is quite clearly some sort of romantic subplot here. Also, why is it that Aoi only ever seems to be motivated by either personal matters or romantic ones???

Noticeably, Kaori’s the only one of the trio which is wearing pants…

The backgrounds in this show are so pretty! Too bad there’s credits over the top…

Mt Kurama is known for its tengu legend…but the “you may meet a handsome man filled with overwhelming arrogance” made me LOL hard.

The thing about this show is that it’s giving me flashbacks to Detective Conan, both good and bad, which makes it hard to comment on. On hold it goes.

BnHA 53

Why is the title “THE Shiken”, though? (Emphasis on “the”, since having the title half in English doesn’t seem to make sense…)

The different characters that appear on the screen are variants of koi, which is one of 3 ways to say “love”. However, the three are different types of love.

Inasa is to enthusiasm like Bakugo is to anger…uh…

Oh dear…is this another Christmas cake lady???

This black spikyhead is You Shindo, right? He and Midoriya looks kind of similar…

1540 divided by 2 is 770…yowch, 770??? That’s kind of small when it’s one of 3 locations for Japanese students, plus whoever else in the state is training to be a hero.

Cells at Work 3

Naïve…? Oh, it’s a naïve T cell! I forgot about those guys!

I love how the naïve T cell is actually naïve, plus the zombies have hats that aren’t brains, but bits of cells.

100 degrees…C or F???

Why does this T cell give me RBC flashbacks???

Cyotoxic T cells…man, those words bring back memories. I had to memorise stuff about T cells and B cells for biology way back when. In fact, I think I learnt this entire process. If only I had Cells at Work then…

Would the normal person even know what a dendrite is, though??? They wouldn’t know it has protrusions if they don’t know what a dendrite is!!!

Aw, the Naïve T Cell’s gotta be protected. Not as much as the platelets, but still…

Helper T Commander is eating dango! That’s too cute!

Ohmigosh, it’s like Gon from HxH, you know, the meme version of him with the long hair? It’s so silly and yet so perfect for this purpose!

The Effector T Cell’s face looks familiar…Then again, this is David Production so that would explain part of it…(For those who don’t get it: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.)

Apparently the eccrine sweat glands are the major sweat glands…

2/10. Platelets only appeared for 2 seconds at the end (LOL).

Tsukumogami Kashimasu 1

You probably didn’t know this, but I became a fan of Lily Hoshino through Kigurumi Guardians…

Ooh, I like the titlecards already! By the way, obiage is something used to hide the obi.

Netsuke.

What’s with this song…? It sounds like someone put traditional music into a pop music blender and put female vocals over the top…oh, Miyavi. That might explain something.

Well, there you go…I didn’t need to Google netsukes after all.

That flower there is a morning glory…the one with the white centre.

Why does there seem to be a vibe that the sister likes the brother in ~that~ way???

This is kind of like Toy Story…isn’t it?

The transitions are kind of disorienting…I almost felt dizzy right there…

Koku.

“So the letters Sanae-sama was receiving are from someone else that she loved before getting betrothed…?” – No duh. That’s how it always goes in Detective Conan.

“So he believes that ultimately humans never cherish us curios.” – There were your Deep Themes of the day, folks.

Hmm…that’s a tough one. On the one hand, I’m kind of squicked out by potential romance between Seiji and his “nee-san”. On the other hand, there was a lot of talking (which I don’t mind), but the logic behind these mysteries didn’t quite make sense because the emphasis for this show is the supernatural (also not a dealbreaker). The narrator’s helpful, but a tad intrusive to the story’s flow, plus it’s kind of hard to see where conclusions were made due to even more problems explaning logic (in parts that are meant to explain the logic) than Holmes of Kyoto. It’s meant to be charming, but if I keep going through the show with not that much emotion, it’s probably destined fo the drop pile…

Planet With 3

Kumashiro…panda in Japanese is “panda”, but kuma = bear and shiro = white…if not castle, that is. Update: This “shiro” is neither of those...

Kigurumian, huh? Kigurumi = mascot suit, so…uh…

Who was the girl with the blue dress…? Another Mizukami heroine, I presume?

These bathroom jokes are bad…but I’m laughing at them…

So Nezuya…is just a chuuni??? Wuh???

It’s a parody of Mu again…? Is that magazine really that popular in Japan?

The other girl (not Nozomi) has a senbei rice cracker in her mouth.

Moleke-mbembe.

Phantom 2

I love how Wayne detaches his hand to scratch his head. It reminds me of zaShunina frim Kado and what he’d do with his hands…*gets flashbacks to zaShunina strangling Shindou* Uh, yeah, maybe that’s not the best comparison though…

Fought Dracula? Wasn’t he from Romania though?

Wayne King everywhere…it’s more like self-wan-oh, I’ll spare you the dirty joke, okay?

Wait, are the Twilights meant to stand in for something in the real world if they have government and international support? Refugees, maybe?

Hmm? Luke’s pasta…? What’s this (owo)?

Luke reminds me of Impey from Code:Realise…I think this is the second time he’s done that.

I love how Ton takes Shinyao’s rescue into her own hands. It shows how strong their friendship is.

*Luke howls* - What is that idiot doing now???

*sees burnt cookies* - Welp, at least we don’t have ourselves an invincible heroine who can do everything, either.

Is it just me, or when Ton runs out to protect Luke, are her booty shorts longer??? Update: When I looked at them later, they seemed to be the same length…

When did Chris get rid of his glasses???

Toryu’s raison d etre is “more dakka”, as they say.

Okayyyyyyyy…”jumping across water” is just a bit over the limit of what I think a werewolf can do…

Toryu’s plait seems to move with his emotions…and was that an eye I saw glowing in that fringe of his? Ooh…interesting.

Angolmois 4

Why do all Mongolians in media sport the Fu Manchu moustache, anyway…? Either that or the Chinese (the official in Mulan had a similar kind of moustache)…

Matouqin. It looked like a Chinese word, but it was actually Mongolian…

There seems to be unrest among the Mongols, huh. Jurchen…seems to be racial discrimination of some variety.

Dantsuke mochi. The link is to an academic PDF which discusses the Mongol invasion.

Huh? Apparently Holmes of Kyoto references sashimo grass…but apparently in English the grass is called “moxa” or “mugwort”.

Oh, post-credits segment. Keep watching…

Oh, wow…you can really see the parallels between Teruhi and Sasamaru now…when everything burns to the ground.

BnHA 54

Ite means “archer”, IIRC.

Shindou = oscillation, tremor, vibration (different kanji though). Once he released that earthquake, that made me realise why You Shindou’s powers make a lot of sense. Plus the “You” matches the yu in yurasu (Vibrate).

Oh! The “arashi” in Yoarashi means “storm”…ah! I understand now!

This Camie lady is bascally Catwoman with sludge…

Cells at Work 4

I bet the segment at the start of this episode is the same as every other episode’s…

You can see a female platelet checking out how food is dissolved…she’s so adorable!

Capriccio…then again, why does the basophil speak in riddles???

Those two platelets staring at the basophil with his umbrella…LOL!

Emesis = vomiting.

Seriously though. This basophil’s so chuuni, it’s pretentious…

This was probably the least funny of the episodes so far due to the threat level…and of course, platelets were only in the background this time.

Planet With 4

Who was it that wanted a harem of high school girls again? Actually, that’s Imamura from Grand Blue, isn’t it…?

Mont St Michel. Heard of it before (I think it’s in Lupin III even), but it didn’t ring a bell for a second…

Seriously, how self-centred is Nezuya, anyway?

Hmm…this team-up reminds me of when Team Rocket would team up with Ash (Pokémon) somehow…but that’s because the “good” and “bad” guys (as much as we can call either side that) are joining forces.

“What’s a hangover?” – LOL, Souya really is such a kid…

*dragon eats Ginko and Miu* - Wow…’tis the season for vore…

Even Souya got a hangover, LOL!

0 notes

gwynbleiddyn · 8 years ago

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Mass Effect Andromeda: Early Access Review

So, I finished my 10 hours and.... wow. This is going to be one hell of a game.

I’m super hyped about it, even more so after Early Access, and I’ve gotten a few anon requests for a review so, here we go. Big scary SPOILER WARNING going here because, boy, the secrets are spilling out by the dozen in Andromeda. Seriously, don’t read if you don’t want to know what goes down. BIG spoilers.

Very rambly and long-winded wordy thing (with bonus screencaps, yay) below the cut.

Alright, Andromeda. I’ll grant you one thing; Alec Ryder? A fucking incredible character. We haven’t seen the last of him.

That very important point aside, I’ll get on w/ the actual review.

First things first, loading the game up was an immediate hit of nostalgia, despite the vastly different menu and the music, both of those things held a specific kind of feeling to them that pretty much just screamed ‘this is mass effect!!’ in my face, and was a totally welcome introduction to a new game. First points on the board.

Waking up as Scott, I realise now that the trailers and shortened gifs honestly don’t do the animations any justice at all. They’re nuanced, subtle and so unbelievably human when you watch Ryder speak. It was a struggle to even grasp what the characters were saying, once I finished staring @ their faces and actually reading the dialogue. Such subtle intricacies to Scott’s smirks, head tilts, the way he glances, hell, even the damn idle anims had me gawping. There weren’t any animations that stood out to me as boring/dead/overanimated/stupid-looking, though I can see why some people are finding issue with the ‘dead-eye’ kind of look going on. I’m seeing it in a couple of places, but honestly? Not nearly to the extent that nay-sayers are throwing out there. It’s the kind of thing I can see getting sorted with an early patch, and it’s only noticeable if you’re really trying to find a problem.

The light-hearted tone across the Hyperion had me smiling the entire way through the intro, Scott’s silliness and quips had me snorting in the really ugly “i’m laughing so hard and i’ve metamorphosed into a seal” kind of way given the juxtaposition of Ryder Sr. gunning for planetfall from the word ‘go’. I immediately got the sense that this was not a regular setup, there were things left unsaid between this father and his children and it’d been that way for years. There’s a particularly hard-hitting moment in the wake of Habitat 7′s events, where Scott asks SAM (the AI developed by Dad Ryder. consequently, the AI Dad Ryder probably spent more time on than he spent with either of his children. let that sink in.) if his Dad actually cared about him. This wasn’t some cliche ‘daddy issues’ trope being played on, this was a real insight into Ryder’s character and background, both of which are uncertain and untested from the moment you meet them.

Pretty soon after the intro, where you meet Liam and Cora, Captain Donn and the elusive Alec, you’re thrown into the deep end of a shitstorm gone south in Habitat 7. New Earth, if you were lucky. At this point, though, you are shit outta luck. Crash landing, split up teams and scrambled comms pretty much sets up the framework for the classic “not all of us are leaving this place alive” feeling that comes with any good old fashioned pioneer spacefaring mission. There’s major problems surfacing, and that quickly becomes apparent amongst the dwindling hopes of humanity’s new home.

This high-intensity intro segues nicely into the ‘tutorial’ section, where you start to get to grips with the new vertical movement available to Ryder through their jump-jets, and the basics of commanding your squad and general gun mechanics. Nothing new there aside from jump-jets which are easy, but it takes some getting used to in regards to your new power format. You’re limited to 3, with variations on each power depending on whether you hold the power trigger or not. The game explains it better, I’m just shit at combat. Anyway, it’s a fresh take on an old, reliable system we got used to in the OT, giving Ryder a much more dynamic and fluid response to combat. Which is a good thing, because combat in ME:A has been ramped up to hell. Enemies are aggressive, flank you and use cover to their own advantage, forcing you to make use of your own cover and agility from the start. You’ll probably die a lot on Habitat 7. Don’t worry.

The story runs smoothly, and you’re immediately faced with side-missions to complete. The best part? They’re side missions you actually want to do. No stupid fetch quest, no ‘talk to angry woman about dead husband’ when you’ve only been there 5 minutes, no typical Bioware out-of-place-and-tedious sidelines that make no sense to the main story. No, these sidemissions involve actually figuring out where the hell your crew are, what the hell kind of planet you landed on, and how the hell you’re going to get out. All very essential to survival, I hear. Oh, and honestly? EXPLORE. That is literally your job; explore every inch of the map before you start chasing down a ‘main’ questline if you want to tackle this game effectively. Trust me. Dad Ryder actually expresses some surprise and.... is that.... affection? If you choose to take the scenic route and do some scans with your omni-tool and SAM. Worth it.

Andromeda rewards you for curiosity. Embrace it. It enhances the narrative and dialogue, and you get companion banter along the way. There’s nothing that should put you off taking the path less traveled.

Back on track: Habitat 7′s rookie-run mission concludes with what really should have been a predictable ‘twist’, but, for some reason, I completely forgot to see it coming over the horizon at light speed. I was so wrapped up in the wonder of exploring and figuring out the Kett that I just... well. Never has a game managed to make me cry in the first 90 minutes of playing. Congrats, Bioware. You did it. You broke my stone cold heart.

Alec dies to save you. Passes on his mantle to you. Very typical stuff, pretty much textbook, but this shit fucking hit me like a freight train because I totally forgot to expect the predictable. Well played. A good writer uses cliches and breaks them into itty bitty pieces, and Andromeda plays on this trope well.

And if that wasn’t enough, Scott dies too. For 22 seconds. Thanks, SAM. When he wakes, he’s immediately greeted by Liam (still in his armour... has that boy sat with you this entire time? Probably.) and Cora, your original squadmates. Cora delivers the blow, and the scene that encapsulates it all is driven by fantastically animated expressions on the three of them. Legit, I felt awful for Scott in that moment, to wake up and then discover he’s now in charge of finding a home for every human onboard Hyperion.

Anyone wants to fight me on ‘bad animation’, I’m pointing them to that scene, right there.

It’s at this point that the mystery of Andromeda really beings to unfold, and it strings you along wonderfully. It doesn’t throw a cause in your lap and hope that you kind of believe in it, it’s a careful, clever string of introductions and ambient conversation that draws you in. The Nexus feels like one of those places just outside of reality, y’know, 24hour stores, airports, empty car parks? That Vibe™ is there, and when you find out why, the questions start to ask themselves. What the hell is happening? It’s not just Ryder who wants to find out, but you as well. That is absolutely critical. This is good storytelling, how it should be done.

The Nexus is a main hub in the story, and there’s a lot going on -- too much to really condense into this review, but well worth the detour around the divisions to speak with whoever’s available. Every person offers you a little more perspective on the mystery surrounding the place. Take advantage of it, be nosey.

The most important thing the Nexus delivers to you, as Pathfinder, is the Tempest. And, God, if you thought Normandy’s reveal was breathtaking... lemme tell you, the Tempest’s unveiling was a thing of absolute beauty. Like, open-mouthed, wide-eyed, “holy shit is that my ship” kind of beauty. Scott’s face kind of says it all. (excuse his minor plasticky appearance here; i’ve been playing on medium/low settings to jump straight in the game, but i can confirm the game runs beautifully even on high res, and with a rig like mine, that’s a pleasant surprise)

The Tempest, like the Normandy, is an engineering marvel, and essentially your new home as Pathfinder while you find a home for everyone else. Not a shabby deal at all. I’ll leave the Tempest details for you to find out, but I could just sit there and stare out the observation decks all day tbh. Absolutely fucking beautiful.

And then there’s the crew. Now, if you’re anything like me, you probably had some trepidation about meeting them, fearing that nothing would ever come close to your Normandy family, but trust me, that is not a problem. Every crew member introduces themselves and their role in a seamless cutscene through the Tempest with Vetra, your bona-fide requisitions officer, armory stocker, and team mom. She looks after you from the start, and it’s fantastic. Love your Vetra, guys. She’s a gem.

After your minor respite in the Tempest, you’re reminded that, once again, you are now the Pathfinder and it’s time to turn eyes to Eos, a desert planet rampant with failed colonization efforts and the Kett. It’s now your official job to wade through the shitstorm of freaky alien tech, scavengers, and strange acquaintances while getting to grips with your new ATV, the Nomad. (a disclaimer: i, shep, cannot drive any in-game vehicle to save my ass. the mako was a disaster covered in lava whenever i had to take the wheel. the nomad is facing the same fate. i may be over-exaggerating the exact practicality of it.)

Eos sees you run into Peebee and Drack, both future companions, but currently complete unknowns to Ryder. Your main job is to stabilize the climate by using fancy alien tech, and that involves all the manual labour of turning on generators, finding power sources and running past a haberdash tutorial on forward outposts and planet viability. It feels real, like you’re actually getting your hands dirty (or, well, sandy) and digging a home out of nothing for your 20,000 stranded souls on Hyperion. Andromeda nails the desperation in your far-flung plans, Ryder’s grasping at straws and you can feel it. Eos is the first glimmer of hope you get as Pathfinder, and unfortunately it also carries the current plot-gate for Early Access. I could ramble on about Eos here, but this thing is long enough as it is.

In a very brief summary:

Andromeda feels like Mass Effect, inside and out. Story, characters, design; every aspect is a callback to the OT (in more ways than one...) but with a new outlook, going forward. Andromeda is truly a tale of pioneer exploration, all the way from Bioware’s own narrative to sending you as the player to a new galaxy with an untested Ryder, an unfamiliar crew, and the mission of a lifetime on your hands.

#mass effect andromeda #andromeda spoilers #review #*mine

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spoofenshmirtz · 6 years ago

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so because I like rambling about various things, lemme talk about Kingdom Hearts 3. spoilers and whatnot under the cut! it also got extremely long and rambly so I apologize for that in advance for anyone who wants to give following my thoughts a shot

so, like most other fans of Kingdom Hearts, I’ve been waiting for KH3 a long time. not the 13 years lots of people like to spout, like dumbasses, but definitely for a long while.

and, honestly? I have some mixed feelings about this. one of my friends already talked about how KH3 doesn’t feel like the “finale” he was looking forward to, and how it raised more questions than he had answered - which, valid, but seeing as I’ve gone deep into KHUX I don’t think I’m as confused as some people might be - and I understand and empathize with that notion. KH3 isn’t a grand finale, it’s a new fork in the road on our path throughout this crazy world.

would it have been better as a grand finale? I don’t know. I do feel like Nomura’s been biting off more than he can chew, especially regarding the specific ways he’s been tying some stuff together - through time travel?? - but on one hand, many characters’ stories did seem to reach an at least somewhat satisfying end. Axel, Roxas and Xion were finally reunited and can live on together; Isa joined them, showing Lea and Isa’s reconciliation; Terra, Aqua and Ventus are finally back together after a decade apart; and Eraqus and Xehanort were finally reunited. Sea Salt and Wayfinder Trios’ endings were the most satisfying, in my opinion, and it was kind of obvious that Nomura wanted to wrap these up for sure.

the rest? kind of set aside, to be honest. even our original trio, the Destiny Trio, kinda took a backseat at times - although Sora’s breakdown over being worthless without his friends was pretty great. like many others, I’m also displeased with the game’s handling of Kairi, which is too bad, because I’ve honestly grown fond of her over my years of growing out of my dumb “I hate fictional girls for breaking up my OTPs” phase. especially her interactions with Lea were particularly fun, and I kind of wish there had been... you know, more.

that’s my main complaint, really. that there wasn’t more. the story we’re told almost feels like a summary, like we’re supposed to assume things about the relationships between characters that we’re not... you know, shown. that’s been a problem when it comes to Sora and Kairi for ages; that their relationship isn’t really shown, ever, and Sora and Riku’s is explored much more. I feel more for Xion now than I did before, because with her you’re actually shown a lot of her internal conflicts and her hurt; while with Sora and Kairi, you’re just kind of supposed to assume that they care for each other a lot. probably based on the knowledge that he’s a boy and she’s a girl alone. “he was a boy, she was a girl... can I make it anymore obvious?”

the same can actually be said about the main antagonist, too. Xehanort. I get what was going on, but... I kind of wish there’d been more with him and Eraqus from their early days, before they had all their conflicts? you don’t really get to feel their conflicts so hard when the times before aren’t shown, like, at all. it would’ve been incredibly cool with a... you know, a prologue in a similar vein as KH2, where you get to play as Eraqus and explore your relationship with Xehanort before everything goes to shit. or adding an episode in the middle where you start following them for a while. it could’ve been done as a really cool parallel story thing, even more than their game of chess - which, don’t get me wrong, was really neat! I’ve always been a fan of chess symbolism, for whatever reason, and that was really cool! but there’s not a whole lot of substance to it, other than their fun, competitive spirit.

let’s just agree that KH3 has a lot of “tell, don’t show” problems. or, even worse, “assume, don’t show”. there’s not a whole lot of substance to the stories told in the game, because there’s still a lot of it missing, it feels like. I mean, the fact that Nomura rewrote the ending so many times (as he admits to in the preface to the artbook that was released with the Deluxe Edition) should probably hint to problems with coherent storytelling...

it is unfortunate, I must say. because I LOVE this game. gameplay alone was incredibly satisfying in ways I’ll get into later, but the way the story feels so.... you know, not finished, really does put down my joy a bit.

let’s not even talk about the epilogue. not yet. I’m so goddamned confused by Xigbar’s role in... well, everything. although I guess it makes a bit more sense for Xigbar to having been number II in the Organization now... knowing that he’s been around for centuries and is just here to wreak havoc, pretty much...

I’m all for the secret movie, though!!!! Sora’s finally going to Shibuya!!!!!! HELL YEA

anyway, got a bit off track. KH3 has a lot of storytelling issues, even with the disney worlds, which is real unfortunate because they’ve usually been pretty narratively solid. the developers’ obsession with exactly recreating some scenes really did pull down the quality of the storytelling, because the way they chose scenes to recreate didn’t consider the effects of the storytelling in the original movies... although recreating Let It Go with Sora, Donald and Goofy in it was an absolute power move and I’m still knocked on my ass from it.

anyway, the worlds with new stories - Big Hero 6, post-movie; Toy Story, in between 1 and 2; and Monsters Inc, post-movie - really were more narratively coherent, while the worlds following the original storylines - Tangled, Frozen and Pirates of the Caribbean - suffered from losing a lot of crucial scenes and (would you look at that!) relationship-building.

okay, but ENOUGH ON STORY CRITICISM! I think we can all agree that Nomura built himself too much to work with and may have gone a bit overboard with it, but honestly, overall? it was still pretty damn good! not entirely solid, but satisfying enough and emotionally engaging that I definitely enjoyed it as an experience! and the reunions of the Sea Salt and Wayfinder Trios brought me to tears for solid minutes at a time!! I’ve been very emotionally engaged in these kids’ specific storylines and their conclusions were more than I could have hoped for!

and like I already said, playing the game itself was THE most satisfying experience I’ve had in AGES! the game itself is so smooth, and just the fact that transitions from cutscene to gameplay were done SEAMLESSLY is enough to make me cry out of joy!

fight systems? great!! I love the way situation commands and such were handled, I love the drive forms connected to the keyblades themselves, I loved the boss fight patterns!

graphics? AMAZING!!! I had to stop and stare at stuff all the time, cry at the beauty of the different worlds, marvel over textures and lighting in different places, and WATER PHYSICS!!!! the game is so goddamned beautiful I can’t stop thinking about how amazing it all was, how many different kinds of scenery they handled and how well they did that! snow physics in Arendelle had me crying, lighting in Kingdom of Corona made me shout with glee, textures in the Caribbean made my jaw drop! underwater levels didn’t even suck!

minigames? honestly? I loved them. cooking is amazing fun (although I kinda suck majorly at cracking eggs), the 100 Acre Woods minigames may have been the same minigame rehashed twice but they were different enough to be fun - plus they’re only really necessary for farming for ingredients, which is pretty cool, sailing in the Caribbean was honestly fun, and the goddamned Verum Rex in Toy Box... *chef kiss* I LOVE it. I know lots of people dislike the multitude of minigames in KH games, and I do get it when it comes to sledding - the one I consistently had the most trouble with - but honestly? I don’t hate a single one of them!

lucky emblems? well. I haven’t really tried to discover all of them yet, but I have had the problem of a character going “look! a lucky emblem!” and me just not being able to find it anywhere a couple times. the concept of taking photographs is itself great, though!

and music? Yoko Shimomura is goddamned DELIVERING, again. the music is so beautiful in KH3, and the opening (with Skrillex) and ending themes by Utada Hikaru were great, as usual. I’ve cried to these songs more than I can count.

so, SUMMARY? the story has kinda gone out of Nomura’s hands, and storywise I still find KH2 to be the best at both telling a story and engaging you in it; but gameplaywise, the series has grown so much since the first game that I barely can’t believe I’ve lived to see the growth of the series as a whole? it’s kind of an amazing feeling knowing you’ve grown with a series like this, and I’m thankful for having been born the time I did so that I got to experience it! KH will always have a special place in my heart, and I will surely keep following this series to see where Nomura is taking it!

#kh3 spoilers #this post wasnt posting so im retrying #spoovy's thoughts #squareblogging

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steroidusr · 8 years ago

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digimon anode tamer part 1: super old man

^ index ^ | part 2 ->

[the game’s full title is digimon digital monsters - anode & cathode tamer - veedramon version. holy shit, i am not calling it that.]

ALright here's a most likely inaccurate history lesson off the top of my head about... video games

way back in the day, bandai decided they were way too fuckin cool to release games on systems people actually owned, like the game boy. so they made their own handheld system... the wonderswan. i dont know why it's a swan, but i dont really know why the game boy is a boy either. they released a series of games on it which tied in to the tv series and were a canon part of that story, except for when they weren't. the wonderswan games were never released in america though. this wasnt actually a problem, until digimon 02 introduced a character from "tag tamers", and parts of that game (i.e. like half his backstory) were referenced. even in the english anime. this led to a whole lot of "wtf is going on" from viewers, which it would have even if we did get the games, because 02 is incomprehensible. of course, while AMERICA never got any english wonderswan games... hong-kong, inexplicably, did. but only of the first digimon wonderswan game. apparently the translation is really bad.

and THAT... is the kind of content im here for

..............and after that dramatic introduction, norton ate my emulator

yeah uh hang on lemme fix this turns out this is a super outdated version anyway (thanks emuparadise) so yeah

what the fuck is wrong with norton. "this program doesnt have any viruses in it but ONLY a few hundred people in 'the norton community' have used it so it MUST be dangerous so we're gonna just delete it first and ask questions later"

once i was trying to find a trainer editor for pokemon gsc and i found a perfect one that was like, exactly what i needed but it wouldnt open. it just would not fucking open. no error messages or anything, i'd double click it and nothing would happen.

fortunately that is not the case tonight

no wait--

ok that's better. ...sort of

so this game was originally released in two versions, "anode tamer" and "cathode tamer". i dont know what the differences were or what those words mean. anyway what we're playing is the "veedramon version", which... i thought was an upgraded third version, like pokemon yellow

but... apparently it's literally just... the two games on one... cartridge?? o...kay

it is officially too late for livetweeting (THANKS NORTON) but here's our first Audience Participation Time: pick one of those "but what are the differences" man i dont fuckin know just pick one

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION TIME, AGAIN, ALREADY: we need a name

please hurry this music loop is really short and repetitive

(fyi the default name is ryo)

In a perfectly normal housing area... The long, long adventure starts here.

the adventure is long (and long), unlike these sentence fragments

He’s on winter vacation and, today, he was going to get a new computer as a Christmas present from his Dad.

well, he was, before his dad realized that christmas was over like almost a week ago (also i snorted at "His name is Nyo." same nyo)

>TAKE: Hello! Chatting on New Year’s Eve is cool, isn’t it? Oh yeah, do you remember about the little incident in the summer?

you mean the "little incident" where giant monsters destroyed fucking everything

uh-oh looks like we've got a weeb on our hands

The town got really wrecked, didn’t it...

YEAH UH THAT'S STILL NOT A "LITTLE INCIDENT"

>UK: Yeah, I know! But was that really an earthquake? My dad said it was a terrorist attack!

what's that wacky prankster duke crabtree up to this time

>TAKE: Yeah, I know. Some people even said that it was because of the Digimons!

go to bed, TAKE

this is taking too long so i'm gonna give you all a helpful summary of the rest: "digimon arent fucking real shitlord"

i cant believe tai liveblogged digimon adventure

....so are we using dub names or not, bc on one hand we have the english logo and "tai", but we also have... "maa-kun"??

anyway then the power suddenly goes out. this somehow affects nyo's battery-operated laptop computer

>Tai, Matt, everyone has been captured...

ok so i guess the plot of this is that all the main characters have been kidnapped so agumon enlists the help of... this random kid to save everyone. remember when i said the games are canon to the storyline, except when they arent? this is one of the "arent" parts. ...the game's plot is canon to the anime's storyline... except for... the game's whole plot?? sasuga digimon

[the only way this could possibly be canon is if all the other digidestined completely forgot about their new pal ryo nyo somehow. but frankly, i find it a little hard to swallow that they’d do something like forget about a fellow digidestined and never bring him up in conversation or even think about him. it just seems so out-of-character for those kids to go about their daily lives, utterly failing to acknowledge the existence or possible disappearance of such a good friend. im certain if ryo nyo had been replaced with, say, a mysterious evil cat-stealing doppelganger, his fellow digidestined would surely respond with shock, alarm, and most of all, deep concern for their friend’s well-being. im positive they--]

so agumon... uh... emails? nyo tai's digivice, and-- --i just remembered "nyotai" is japanese for "woman's body". we fucked up

man that really couldve been spaced out better

what part of "the digivice" do you not understand, nyo

I need your help, Nyo!

i was gonna make a joke here but i cant fault agumon for repeating himself, since apparently nyo's a bit slow

WHAT PART OF "TOUCH THE DIGIVICE" DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND, NYO

IT'S A DIGIVICE, NYO, WE HAVE LONG SINCE ESTABLISHED THIS

so i guess then nyo's... parent? walks in and finds out their 10-year-old child is fucking gone. amazing i always say digimon is about traumatized children but it's really the parents who are the most traumatized of all

on a bad rpgmaker map, from the looks of it

You’re Nyo, right? I was waiting for you.

You were waiting for me?... Agumon?

WHY DOES THIS DIALOGUE HAVE SO MUCH PADDING

"a... digital world? a world that is digital? im in a digital... world?"

"a digital network? inside a machine? like a computer? or a game? a computer inside of a machine? a DIGITAL machine?"

"OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT" WHY DOES THIS CHILD HAVE THE MEMORY SPAN OF A GOLDFISH

That doesn’t matter!

I was only borrowing it.

you...your dad bought you a computer... but you "borrowed" his instead

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS NYO

"--to be sent to someone competent, but youll have to do"

so basically it's your average incomprehensible digimon plot. gotcha

Explain everything slowly!

"so, what youre saying is, we're in a... digital world"

look nyo i dont think even the writers ever figured this out

I have no idea what you’re...

......the end?

THIS IS JUST THE EXACT SAME BACKGROUND AS BEFORE BUT WITH A SHADOW AROUND IT FOR FUCK'S SAKE

I’M SCREAMING

ok so suddenly this eyeless fuck appears out of nowhere and murders nyo

[this is agumon. this is agumon’s role in the game.]

then...

...we get this...

...long-ass cutsce--

--baby "frame"?? really????

...in which agumon basically plays the game for us...

...and wins a battle without any user input.

o...kay...? so nyo's completely useless then

"IF YOU WANT TO LIVE"

how is his mouth stitched if he's made of fire? wouldn’t the stitches burn?

so this uses dub names, but also jp terms like "baby flame" “baby frame” and "chosen child"??

a mix between dub and jp terms.... i finally understand... this was translated by crunchyroll

No, I’m human and not human at the same time.

oh my god it’s tricky

that's more than enough of that for now. we've still only seen cutscenes! wow!

[August 14th, 2016 - 5:23 PM]

i havent updated in like two weeks because i, mysteriously, feel reluctant to keep playing... whatever that was

"we're in the digital world" "DIGITAL... WORLD? A WORLD THAT IS... DIGITAL? WE ARE... IN IT? RIGHT NOW? IN A... DIGITAL WORLD?"

this is all nyo's fault

Let me explain.

explain to him as you would to a child. a small child. a baby.

yeah, that sort of thing seems to happen a lot around here!

please dont list them all especially with text this badly spaced out

he actually didnt list any more after that. "just those three, everyone else just kinda stood around and watched"

There were still two left.

"there were still 41 episodes left"

TWO? TWO LEFT? AS IN THERE WAS ONE LEFT, AND ONE MORE AFTER THAT? STILL REMAINING?

(also, i didnt leave out any caps, that’s really his entire line. nice lowercase, nyo. nyowercase)

SINCE WHEN THE FUCK DOES KABUTERIMON HAVE EYES oh wait that's chimeramon kimeramon. original digimon do not steal

(offscreen, apparently)

they survived with the power of gay feelings i guess

...so, wait, chimeramon was already around before 02?? are you telling me that ken's Original Digimon was somehow LESS original than we thought (he actually does call it「僕のオリジナルデジモン」and every time i remember that i cry. im crying now)

first the digital world was terrorized by milleniummon... and then it was terrorized by an 11-year-old chunibyo with a deviantart oc (...can you even have "eighth grader syndrome" in fifth grade)

yeah, pretty much, i guess, sorta

yeah ok blah blah it's evil and it fucked things up and THERE'S SO MUCH EMPTY SPACE IN THAT BOX YOU COULDVE USED

LOOK AT THIS SHIT!!!! IM CRYING THIS SPACING IS SO BAD

NYO

he proves his understanding by recounting all that shit back to us, near-verbatim, because that's how people talk

his... folks?? did milenniummon kidnap tai’s parents too????

so basically the plan is to... uh, beat up a bunch of OTHER evil digimon until we've captured friended enough good digimon also level grinding i guess and THEN we can go kick milleniummon's ass. ok

allles

does nyo do anything but repeat what others say back to them because it sure doesnt look like it so far

^ index ^ | part 2 ->

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