#and to be fair the gameplay is what makes him the most annoying as opposed to the story itself

[demonfox38]

Completed - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Oh, my language is going to be vulgar on this one.

So, I'm a crusty millennial who likes old garbage. Most of the media I like is old enough to drink and be a member of the US congress, but probably couldn't be due to the country that produced it. Now, I'd like to think that I've got good reasons to like older media, particularly when it comes to video games. It's a bit hard for my NES to bug me for microtransactions/DLC and emanate the screams of children and man-children alike. But, as much as I like my retro junk, there's one thing I'm very, very happy about regarding modern video games. The variety of game types now-a-days is a blessing. It's rare that someone is stellar at all game types, and I sure have my weaknesses.

It took me a long time to realize that I could be good at video games, and I wholly blame the glut of 1980s platforming games on that.

Look, platforming is not a forgiving genre. Particularly, back in the day where you had characters dying in 1-3 hits before factoring in death pits. It existed then for the reason that fourteen million instakill indie horror games exist now. Instantly killing the player is a lot easier to code than, say, having to track a health bar or their new position as an enemy swats them into a different room. Sometimes, a coder's gotta do what they can to keep themselves sane.

But, from a player's perspective, this style sucks!

Getting good at a platforming game requires practicing the same levels over and over again, developing a sense of your character's inertia and limitations. Without a save state or a warp to narrow in on a particularly troublesome location, it's hard to get learning to stick. You could lose a lot of games and time trying to put it all together. And some poor little character is always suffering because of your ineptitude! Such failure feels like a fork in an electrical socket. Succeeding in these circumstances requires a great deal of emotional resilience and a contrary attitude. And you know what? That's just not something I had as a kid. In fact, one could say I had my aggression and competitive drive scolded out of me. I'm just now getting that back.

So, yeah. I had a little trouble with "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link."

"Zelda II" is part of a trifecta of NES games that get routinely shit on by retro reviewers. Like its peers "Super Mario Bros. 2" and "Castlevania II", this game is generally considered an inferior game due to an extreme change of gameplay and appearance from its predecessors. And you know what? That attitude sucks. I'd rather have a variety of different games with a cast I like than have them pigeon-holed into one genre. In "Zelda II"'s case, however? The game mechanic shift was so extreme that I can easily see the ire it raises. Hell, I felt it. I wouldn't go so far to say that it's the worst Zelda game ever, but man, does it have structural defects.

In "Zelda II", Link's goal is to save an ensorcelled Zelda from eternal slumber by picking up a Triforce chunk that was pitched into a fuck-off palace way at the edge of Hyrule. (No, not the Zelda from the first game. Another Zelda. Same Link, though.) To do that, he's got to slap six gemstones into various temples across the countryside. Naturally, that includes picking up his trusty sword, leaping into battle, and then maybe straight into a death pit.

That's right. This Zelda is actually a Mario.

Further complicating the matter is a sharp switch in battle style and item accruement. While the previous Zelda game was about room management and ranged combat (or at least, as much as that was allowed), this game is all about jamming Link's dinky sword into an enemy's face and running off as fast as he can. Now, Link can learn a few tricks to help with the slash and dash, like directional stab mechanics and spells. But, as far as getting new weapons to help you? Sorry, bud. No bombs or boomerangs here. Well, except for the assholes throwing boomerangs at you, anyway. You just can't steal them.

The game encourages polishing the player's skill with Link through a level system. After acquiring XP through good ol' fashioned monster murdering, Link can cash his points out, improving his life, magic, or attack power. As the player levels him up, stats become more costly to improve. If Link gets a total game over before you use your XP, it is wiped out. Alright, fine. Fair, I guess. But, I wouldn't recommend looking at Japanese footage of this game if you don't want to give yourself a migraine. It turns out that as a part of some rebalancing, the level-up system was stacked to try and keep players from dumping all of their points into a single stat early into the game. Particularly, attack. Considering how painful and annoying enemy logic gets in this game, it's such a drag to learn that Japanese players literally could cut their way right out of that struggle. Thanks for dicking with the game design again, American publishers.

I guess we got better looking sprites and sound effects out of the deal? Hooray for wiggly Barba.

Even with leveling mechanics and a handful of heart and magic containers, this Link feels much frailer than the original Zelda's Link. Like, it's hard to believe he's supposed to be the same guy. Even at max health and defense, you could get Link wiped out with 8-32 hits (as opposed to 16-64 hits from the first game.) Exacerbating that is a life system that can yoink those health bars at any pit's whim and Link's range/health restoration being tied to a limited pool of magic. It feels like you're playing with a ceramic replica of the original character. You can make it work in a fight, sure, but you'd rather have a sword than a shard of a broken teapot.

If you don't have a bushido-level acceptance of death, you're not going to make it very far in this game. I'm not being hyperbolic. You have to accept that you are going to kill Link. You're going to watch that little fairy boy fade to black as the world flashes around him, and you're going to see that a lot. You're going to toss his bitch ass into the river to get a game over and restock your lives because fuck if you're going to wipe out inside a dungeon and have to start your bitch ass back at Zelda's temple again. That little counter on the main menu isn't how many times you have wiped out. It's how many times you've clawed your way out of the abyss with a middle finger raised.

Oh. Minor epilepsy warning on boss and Link deaths, by the way.

Having gone full bleak there for a moment, there are a few pieces of knowledge that can help slow down the cycle of life and death:

There are towns with nice ladies in red dresses and orange robes that will heal your ass for free. You should talk with them a lot.

There are classes of enemies that will drop items after they have been killed six times. Most of the time, this is a magic bottle that restores MP. Sometimes, it's a bag of experience. No monster will drop anything to heal your HP.

Also, some enemies are literal rat bastards that steal your XP. Some also give you no XP on killing them. Yeah. I know. Annoying.

The Life spell is in Saria. The downward stab is in Mido. (I realize these are very strange sentences if you're more familiar with "Ocarina of Time.") Getting these can make a night and day difference in surviving the game. So, keep that in mind.

You do get a spell that will turn you into a fairy. You can use it to game pits and sneak past lock doors. Just don't abuse it too much. It's expensive.

The dungeons have this little statue in front of them that you can whack with your sword. In most locations, it'll drop either a magic bottle or an Iron Knuckle. Game entering and exiting a dungeon as much as possible to restore yourself to full vitality.

You can get into random fights on the overworld (represented either by a little black blob or a more threatening human-sized blob.) Staying on gold roads will mean these encounters produce no enemies.

Also, you can use those random battles to override forced platforming sections. Not that I would recommend cheating in such a fashion. 😉

The game will give you a level up after you plug a gemstone into a dungeon. If you're close to leveling up anyway, turn around and grind up to the top, cash in what you've got, and then go pitch that gem.

Link has a crouch, not a duck. You think pressing down on the D-pad will evade projectiles aimed at your face, but it does not. Crouching is only good for blocking floor-level garbage. It's best not to think of the down button as much as possible, really. Only use it to pick up crap off the ground and cheese the final boss. Otherwise, jump.

I know that I said earlier that "Zelda II" is mechanically like a Mario game, but you know what other perspective might help? Try and play Link as a Metroidvania Castlevania character. There's an attack style in games like "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" and "Aria of Sorrow" where you walk, jump, and attack in such a way that you never stop moving forward. That's what you've got to do. Walk, jump at an enemy, bonk on forehead. (Depending on how fast you press the attack button, you may need to delay swinging your sword just a teeny bit. At least, I had a bad habit of swinging too early.) With any luck, when you hit the ground, you will be able to keep on moving. You do not want to get stuck playing "poke-the-hole" with your enemies, particularly with how turtle-y some of them can get.

So, the game's a brutal bitch, but I don't want to spend the entire time shitting on it. Let's talk about improvements.

Honestly, I like the sprite style of the side-scrolling sections better than the previous game. Everyone/thing has more room to be rendered, so they look clearer. I can't say the monster or dungeon design here is my favorite, but hey. Easy to see. Yippie. Could have used a map though. Maybe some more tile textures in the dungeons?

NO. STOP. BE NICE.

There are more people around that want to help Link out. Like, whole towns filled with helpful healing ladies and dudes that will teach you magic and the occasional sword strike. Most of their conversation makes sense (although, there's a memetastic fault in translation regarding a character being named Error instead of what I'm assuming should have been Errol.) People good. Want to help people. People help me.

Except for towns where some of the people are monsters, and one of the times they overlapped a healing lady to get text box priority, and then they killed me. Boo.

I'M SORRY. I HAD A HARD TIME.

The music variety is pleasant. Only a few tracks have escaped the game to go into use elsewhere, but there's only one that I'm really iffy on. The NA release did a fine job transposing what they could using a different sound chip, and there are striking uses of the sample channel being used in ominous situations.

But…like…I struggle to see where fighting through this game is worth it. And maybe it comes down to the final boss. Like, the penultimate one? Absolutely cool. A bitch to fight, but I can't knock how massive and intricate its sprite is. But, the final boss? I suppose it comes down to personal tastes, but I find mirror matches/rivals to be exceedingly dull. Like, good for you. You know how I fight. I do too. Come back to me when you know the weaknesses of my style and use a fresh set of skills to throw at me.

Like, it's not the worst ending in the Zelda series. (My vote for that would go to "Link's Awakening.") You do get Zelda saved. But, given that the final boss is some kind of dark clone of yourself…it begs a lot of questions. Was there any concrete plan for the forces of darkness in Hyrule, or were various monster tribes just scuffling around, being dicks without any overarching plan? Were some monsters trying to keep you out of the Great Palace for a good reason? Would there have been any threat of Ganon reviving at all if Link just…sat on his ass behind a castle for the next century or managed his anxiety in a different way? Why does the manual bother to separate Zeldas and the game does not? Oh, wait. The Japanese intro correctly distinguishes this and the American one does not. Why am I not surprised? What's the difference if you don't see the Zelda you saved from the first game, anyway?

This game is a lot of work. I had to psych myself up to play it every time, and by the end, I was rattled enough by my nerves that I literally camped in my bathroom for a few minutes just to make sure I didn't get sick on the couch. Very stressful. And I'm not sure that stress was worth it, frankly. Life's hard enough as it is right now. I literally have a stress rash on my neck from the shit I'm going through in real life. No, you did not need to know about that. But maybe you need to know that I've been having a hard time lately, and this game did nothing to alleviate me from the stresses of reality. And what's the point in checking out from reality if a fantasy world is just going to make me miserable, too?

There are better games to play in this style. Hell, there are better games on the NES in this style. You know what you should go play? "Faxanadu." It's uglier than "Zelda II", sure. An absolute idiot when it comes to basic mathematics. But it's very chill about platforming and death. And maybe I just want to chill the fuck out for a while.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Rhapsode’s Top 10 Favorite Fire Emblem Antagonists

Hey guys, so I wanted to do something a bit special because of a few asks I’ve gotten from time to time. Namely, who are my favorite villains in FE. Thing is, I wanted to do something with this for a while outside of an ask, and hear I am.

Now before I even start, these are all MY OPINIONS. These are my favorite antagonists in FE, not some objective masterlist that means anyone who isn’t on here is a bad villain. If you agree with me on this list, great! If you think I got everything wrong, I respect that opinion.

So if I left out any of your personal favorite villains in FE, let me know in a reply or reblog.

Now a little bit of criteria on how I had made choices,

Uniqueness: What does a villain bring as a character. Because FE is nothing if not a bit archetypal.

Impact on the Narrative: Now I think a good villain should be an active participant in the narrative as well as have a level of relevance. They also should have relation to the lore of the world they’re in.

Personality: In my opinion even a poorly written character with a magnetic presence can be more tolerable than a poorly written character with no personality

Were they satisfying of a boss in game: While FE emphasizes narrative, it has some terrific gameplay. So I would hope the opposing units really give you a run for your money.

Oh and fair warning, this will have spoilers.

With all that out of the way, sit back and I’ll tell you all about my favorite FE villains!

10. Uhai (Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade)

Yeah, so, we’re starting with probably the most tertiar antagonist on this list. While Uhai might not seem that important in the grand scheme of things. Being a Black Fang member who’s scared of what Nergal is going to do and is out for Ninian. 

So why did I pick him over other Black Fangs or Saceans?

Well in terms of Saceans, I really felt Uhai brought the most personality compared to someone like Glass, who was pretty basic. Especially for Lyn’s final villain. Uhai definitely felt the most… “Sacean,” if that makes sense. Having a code of honor and integrity. As well as acting on self preservation.

And while Uhai isn’t my favorite Black Fang, he shows something different as being one of the original fangs and having this sense of honor. Which was a really nice reminder about the humble origins of the Black Fang.

I also really like how he could’ve easily killed Lyn when he kidnapped her, but let her go to kill her as a warrior. Given Lyn’s underlying theme of fighting sexism, to have an opponent that didn’t factor in her gender and would fight her on equal terms, it was a really cool scene.

Sadly, he’s just a minor antagonist and if he got more time like being a part of the Four Fangs, I think he could’ve really added more.

9. Orson (Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones)

Orson seems pretty simple all things considered. He loved his wife, Monica, and after losing her, he is willing to make a deal with the devil to bring her back. It’s not much, but I think what plays into the effectiveness is seeing him before his wife is revived and having him on your team, then watching what he has become after her revival.

Having a villain who starts off as a playable character and then later is an antagonist is always tricky. From a story perspective, you spent time with them that even you, the player, feel negatively affected by the heel turn. However, from a gameplay aspect, it's a tad annoying if you spent time grinding them. 

Orson, is pretty obvious in that he’ll be turning against you, but we really see him as a somewhat charming and endearing guy at first. But then when he returns to Renais to be with his wife, it leads to one of the most unsettling narrative shifts I think FE has done.

We see him now in charge of Renais, but now more mentally disturbed, physically malnourished, and locking himself away from the rest of the kingdom to be with his wife. Seeming like magic has possessed him. But when you find that this is due to being reunited with his wife who is now just a corpse that can only say “Darling” you really feel this messed up mood permeating the chapter.

There's so much unsaid, and I think that it works to the advantage of the story. Comparing the Orson you meet when he’s your ally to the Orson you meet as an opponent, it really doesn’t need to be said how he fell so hard. That Orson has given up so much and now that he has his wife back he’s just convincing himself that she’s alive.

While another villain on this list did the heel turn far better than Orson, I still think that the sheer shock of Orson’s story really makes you feel for him, while just wanting to end him.

8. Bloom, Hilda, Ishtar and Ishtore (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War)

So this one is definitely cheating. 

While only two members of the Friege family could really stand on their own as definable villains, I actually think when all are together they offer something more unique for FE. Families of villains are a bit of a rarity in FE, especially ones whose family dynamic is well defined in the main story, and not supports. 

But with Bloom, Ishtar, and Ishtore, you get to fight all of them in a chapter thanks to the set up of the Genealogy of the Holy War. It allows for a more unique encounter and this growing feeling of outrage if you end up killing a member of the family.

House Friege continuing on as secondary antagonists in the second generation was a great addition. Giving this sense of history repeating itself, with Bloom seemingly no better than Reptor from the first generation, but where as he is a power hungry politician, Bloom shows some shades of gray in his detestment of Child Hunts and actually being a somewhat decent father figure to Tine. Which actually leads to some interesting contrast to his wife, Hilda.

Hilda is easily the most monstrous of the family, and while I was considering her to be her own separate entry, as she is possibly the most wicked and cruel female villains in the entire franchise. Driving Tailtiu to death, and using Ishtar as a step towards more power. Her additional role a matriarch of the household who married for Bloom’s money and power, adds an extra layer to the band of villains.

Ishtar and Ishtore also offer a role as both not being Child Hunt supporters but act in different ways to them. With Ishtore not getting involved and instead spending more time on Liza and Ishtar actually working with Arvis to free the children rounded up.

As a family unit, it offers a lot of unique villain interaction that I’m sad the limited technology of the time couldn’t capture all of. I’m glad that games like Fates have tried making family units as opponents, but I’d like to see a dynamic similarly fleshed out as the Frieges.

7. Jedah (Fire Emblem Gaiden/Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

Okay, how the hell did this guy so high up on the list? No joke, Jedah started at the bottom when I first started this list. I mean, he’s just another Gharnef. What makes him all that different from Nergal or Manfroy?

Well, truth be told, what got Jedah so high up for me is presentation. A lot of Gharnefs are the big game manipulators, and sometimes that can be frustrating if you’re not really in the character. I think Manfroy is one of the most effective villains, but he’s not particularly stand out. 

Nergal is a far more justifiable villain with his motivations, but he’s basically corrupted by “Darkness.”

Jadah, especially in FE15, oozes personality and charisma. I give a lot of points to his more inhuman design that went beyond just making his a wrinkly old man. As well as his expressions. When playing Three Houses, I was shocked at how stone-faced Thales was. But with Jedah, I feel like the artists took a lot of opportunity in giving him a face that could contort in such a way to to sell how much of a schemer and villain he was. 

He has this look of a guy you love to hate.

Also, in terms of story, Jedah really does eclipse Rudolf as a villain (Yes I know, Rudolf is not really a villain) and is easily a more proactive villain than even Berkut. While Jedah serves Duma faithfully, the purple baddie still seems to have done more as an antagonist then the detriorting dragon.

He’s really the most satisfying overarching villain next to Berkut. And power, don’t get me started. While Gharnef’s Imhullu seemed relatively foreshadowed on how he wouldn’t be beaten by normal means, the first time I fought Jedah, I was surprised just how much of a gap in power there was between us. As well as the terrors he summons for the first time are more lovecraftian than the other terrors you fought before.

While Jedah is definitely a fun villain, his greatest weakness is that he is unquestionably in the morally black category. The man sacrificed his own daughters to prove his loyalty. Before then, there was a bit of an argument to be made that witches were just a sign of society and that offering up your soul for more power was just common in a power focused structure. But sacrificing your daughters is a tad on the unforgivable side.

As well as his end goal is really just war and conquest, while being Duma’s number one servant. So ultimately, he’s not very complex. But that lack of complexity still added a chaotic edge to Echoes that was really welcomed.

6. Reinhardt (Fire Emblem: Thracia 776)

Now speaking of complexity here we get, who I consider the best of the Camus archetype. First off, I really like how Reinhardt is built up as the second coming of Crusader Thurd. Especially if you’ve played FE4 and know just how much of an obstacle Ishtar, Bloom and Ishtore were. 

Second is just how tragic his story is. I never really cared for the romance between Camus and Nyna, so at times I didn’t really care for his internal conflict. But the fact that Reinhardt has eyes for Ishtar to the point that Julius is feeling jealous and stripping him of his title. You also get the heartbreak of his sister, Olwen choosing to side against and how much denial he feels until Saias needs to point out how Olwen made this choice herself.

It’s just sad to see a guy who comes off as so imposing and level-headed have so much internal strife because his convictions of loyalty keep putting him on the wrong side of things. At times it feels like you can invest more into him than Lief, I really hope to see an expanse of him in a remake.

Reinhardt is not a character I enjoyed fighting because I wanted to see him be with the Liberation Army. He’s suffered from Julius’s pettiness. He knows how bad things have gotten with Grannvale’s expansion. Yet he just won’t because of his loyalty to his home. 

(I like to think that if you release him, he goes onto serve Tine and Arthur.)

Now, as I said, he still fits that Camus archetype. But unlike Camus or someone like Xander, I wish I had more of an expansion of his loyalty to Friege. I know he loves Ishtar and he probably has some ego built up about “second coming.” But if you’re not a fan of, “he did this out of love.” You’re probably not gonna like him. As a lot of the Camus archetype have always suffered from a, “why are you so loyal.”

People like Dedue and Catherine had the benefit of being playable characters, so you could support them and peel back a lot of their reasonings. And even Camus got more of a reason when he became Zeke and was saved and given a new life in Rigel.

So while Reinhardt makes for a great adversary, I do find him leaving me wanting more that other rival characters could give me.

5. Grima (Fire Emblem: Awakening)

(Note: I’m using masculine descriptors for Grima because I’m personally more used to male Grima and male Robin)

Here’s another baddie I wasn’t too sure where I was gonna put on the list. I knew I wanted him on here, but again, I wasn’t expecting Grima to be so high. He’s built up all throughout Awakening, as well as turning out to be reincarnated in the main character, Robin. Already does push him up on the list. But if you were to dissect his personality, he’s really just your godly final villain, who condescends down on you.

But there’s actually a lot more to this monster than you’d expect.

At first, I see a lot of similarities between him and Duma: Cult worshipers, really powerful dragon, catalyst for a war etc. But Duma as a villain is due to the dragon deterioration. Sure, he’s got bad followers, but losing his sanity kinda enabled them. But Grima… This guy wants to wipe out all life because he can.

Grima is much more a force of nature as a villain. He doesn’t try to dress up his simplistic desire with fancy philosophy. No, he embraces just how above everyone he is and how he’ll enjoy wiping them out. 

Not only that, but design-wise… Holy crap.

The sheer size and power of Grima, coupled with one of the most unique designs for a dragon, makes for a truly nightmarish foe. The boney, almost mechanical way Grima turns his head when ready to attack, just sends shivers down my spine. His size and pension for only wanting to destroy all life really gives off this sense of being an inevitability. A force that can not be stopped from washing over the world.   

It really works with the overall theme of Awakening. Robin trying to forge his own identity and is not tied down to fate. But how exactly can you fight that fate when its just so intimidating? Why with friends, of course! The final moments of Robin and Chrom slaying Grima is one of the most tragic things I’ve watched. With Robin knowing he needs to die to prevent Grima, but the only way to kill Grima is with a Falchion in the hands of Chrom. So Robin must be slain by his best friend, the one he’s gone through hell with and gave him a chance at making this new life for himself. It’s a final battle that breaks my heart.

Speaking of final battles, Grima offers one of the most unique environments for a final battle. Using that monstrous size to serve as a stage for your final fight against the Grimleal on the back of their god. Not to mention the priest warping in to keep bogging you down as you try to get off that killing blow on the Fell Dragon.

The background added by Shadows of Valentia about a young Grima actually being an alchemic monstrosity made to find a way to cheat death not only elevates Grima thematic impact, but also make him more like a lovecraftian horror. Which is something rare in this series. 

That said, the biggest fault in this character is hw sidelined he is. There’s nothing wrong with a simplistic villain, but even in Robin form, Grima really doesn’t take much part in the events. I would’ve liked more interactions with him and Chrom or Robin before the revival.

I also completely understand if someone doesn't care for the “kill all people in the world,” type of villain. What is the endgame after destroying everything? Guess make some zombies. 

I do argue that Grima being a force of nature makes him unique to the whole point of “what happens next?” But again, as a finally boss, I can see if that’s not your style. And while I think the simplicity is kinda beautiful, I myself have a preference for more complex villains.

4. The Black Knight (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn)

Hoo boy, I’m not gonna make any friends with this one.

How do I even talk about this guy properly? Mainly due to some narrative… Disconnects... between Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Well I’ll just try and keep with his outing in Path of Radiance.

Black Knight has easily some of the most thematic presence in the series. His anonymous name and sleek design make almost all of his cutscenes a treat. Just stepping onto the battlefield and killing Greil, with the only hint of who he is being that he was one of Greil’s former students already sets him up as an anomaly.

But something you notice quickly, Black Knight has chivalry. He offers to give Greil the legendary blade of Ragnell so they can have an even fight. Sure, Black Knight wants to kill his mentor to prove he has become better, but he’s not gonna do it unfairly. And he lets Ike keep Ragnell, so that he can truly grow as strong as Greil and then give him a true fight.

Speaking of Ragnell, I actually love how it and Black Knight’s Alondite blade are sister swords. Setting up for a rivalry that goes beyond just Ike getting revenge for his dad. It leads to a lot of interesting encounters over the course of the game, building up to a crescendo of when Ike will finally defeat the armored menace.  It honestly makes for a more compelling final brawl than Ashnard.

Also with Ashnard, we come back to that whole chivalry thing. Because while Ashnard displays himself as a “Mad King,” Black Knight still honorably serves him. In fact, while I’ve seen many people debate the true identity of Black Knight, I actually like the idea that he was just a student of Greil. He needs no true identity except being an embodiment of knightly principles and power.

For all the good and bad that entails.

Leading to great parallels between him and Ike. Ike being a mercenary whose principles differ so much from the Black Knight make him an ideal opponent for the Black Knight.

Now all that said, we need to get to the big but. The actual identity of the Black Knight being Zelgius raises a lot of questions and messes with the consistency of the story. I genuinely feel like it would be more powerful if Zelgius was his own character. While the ambiguity of the Black Knight added to his.

The best moment in Radiant Dawn for me is honestly his end, where he’s at least proud to have helped perfected Ike’s swordplay. But after that, I can’t exactly say he’s the same character. And that unfortunately keeps him from being any higher on the list.

3. Berkut (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

Top 3, everyone! And we’re kicking it off with the Rigelean Prince, Berkut.

After coming off Fates, there was this really big cloud hanging over the FE fandom if they’d actually be able to recover from their dip in storytelling. And then Echoes came up with the game-exclusive addition of Berkut. 

Berkut really was a return to for with understandable villains. Having grown up being a noble of Rigel and as nephew of Rudolf next in line for the throne. In a society that prides itself on power, Berkut was only ever asked to be strong enough to ascend to that title of king.

And when you first see him dancing with Rinea, he really does seem invincible. Dancing in the conquered halls of Zofia Castle with his one true love as he does not need to take to the battlefield to assist in fighting the Deliverance. Only bothering to fight Alm as “sport.”

At first, he really just comes off as an arrogant Blue Blood that you wanna knock off his horse. But after he loses once and sees Alm’s brand, it just starts this downward spiral. Begging is uncle for one more chance, rejecting the help of Nuibaba’s mirror, only to use it out of fear that he might actually not be able to win against Alm.

Also, massive props to Ian Sinclair as Berkut’s english voice. As FE had started going fully dubbed, Sinclair brings such a performance as the deteriorating prince.

I like he even makes more dynamics with the Duma Faithful, believing that they’re supposed to serve his house and respect him, but Jedah counters that their real allegiance is to Duma. Tempting Berkut with his power. But Berkut himself even finds Duma’s strength disgusting.

When he finally falls after Rudolf naming Alm his true heir, so see just how low he’s fallen as he sacrifices Rinea to make his pact with Duma and use his new mystical enhancements to take out the Deliverance golden boy Alm, once and for all.

Berkut’s story is easily an ideal tragic character. Very powerful and smart, but flawed. His own fears motivating his actions as well as the constraints of his society and family pressure. Add on how he’s made that he will not marry Rinea until he becomes Emperor, as he feels that is only when he’s worthy enough, and this guy’s basically telegraphing the grave he’s about to dig himself.

No way can I undersell how much Berkut seemingly revived faith in writing for future FE antagonists as the series was still suffering from the… mixed reaction to Fates.

2. Edelgard von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

God what have I not said about Edelgard? Well if you want to read more comprehensive stuff I’ve written about her, you can find it here.

But in short, Edelgard was a phenomenal twist character. Built up slowly over the course of the game and the fact someone as high as a lord would secretly be planning to destroy the church was a shock. 

Her role as the most intellectual of the three house leaders, motivated by logic and pragmatism offered a unique opposition to the over emotional Dimitri. Her being the product of crest experimentation and the second wielder of the crest of flames makes for a pretty powerful backstory. Not to mention being one of the few lords whose political system we fully get to see realize. With the multiple ministers having robbed power from her family.

Her relationship with Dimitri is also one of the sweetest villain backstories. You see the two actually sit down and try to end this and you know it’s probably only because of their shared past. The oath of the dagger of how they both have made their own paths that veer off in different directions is the first signs of turmoil that El has felt ever since her declaration of war.

And then there’s her final fight. I don’t think I have felt a more satisfying final battle than with Hagemon Husk Edelgard. The long throne room crawl as guards and monsters poured in to try and stand in your way. All whlie Edelgard tries to snipe at you from a distance with her new fireball technique. 

Also if were giving points to acting, Tara Platt brings a great performance as both Edelgard and the Flame Emperor.

Now like Black Knight, the biggest flaw is a lot of minute nitpicks that really add up over the multiple routes. The Black Eagle route even seems to do away with a lot of Edelgards ambiguity. But if you stick to BL and GD Edelgard, you have one of the best antagonists in the series. Leaving me excited what FE17 has in store.

1. Arvis (Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War)

Yeah, you all knew this one was coming. The OG Flame Emperor himself, Arvis.

So for those who don’t know, Arvis was basically Edelgard before Edelgard. Having watched corrupt nobles run Grannvale for a time as well as grown up under the self destructive Duke Victor, Arvis had intended to make Grannvale a more fair world. Free of prejudice and pain.

Use the feuding lords to his advantage to claim land and renown, Arvis also stayed by the current King of Grannvale, Azmur. Earning him some brownie points. Arvis’s alliance with Manfroy and the Lopto Sect ultimately leads to him getting his chance at the throne. With Manfroy finding the long lost granddaughter (and wife of Sigurd) Deirdre,  wiping her memory clean and “conveniently” leaving her for Arvis to find and fall in love with. 

By marrying and impregnating the newly found prince, Arvis was named Emperor Regent by Azmur till their child came of age. However, to unilaterally have Grannvale under his control, he had to take out Sigurd in one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the history of FE, The Belhalla Massacre.

At first Arvis seems like this manipulative puppet master with delusions of conquest, but the more you learn about him and the environment he came from. Arvis truly wants to make a better and more fair world. And unlike someone like Zephiel, he doesn’t think that means wipe out all humans. You see that he doesn’t even hold contempt for Sigurd, more indifference as he regrets that Sigurd would not be able to see Arvis’s new world.

But with his ultimate tragedy being that faustian deal he cut with Manfroy ultimately led to the birth of Julius. Who, with the Major Loptous blood, would go on to not only be Loptous’ vessel, but also wrestle away power from Arvis. The tragic irony of what secured his hold on the throne being what ultimately makes him lose it. Add on some more angst as he realizes that Deirdre is actually his half sister and that Manfroy’s intention was for them to bear a child like Julius, you have easily one of the most tragic tales in FE.

We also see more of the dynamics of Arvis in the Seliph book of FE4. Actually trying to save all the children taken by Julius with Ishtar. As well as his love for his own children, Julius and Julia, going out of his way to save Julius and finally face his reckoning against Seliph.

His battle is brutal, as after what he did to Sigurd, you want to beat down Arvis with Seliph. You want nothing more but to his rule. But as you’ve gone on, you see just how much of person Arvis is. And while you want Seliph to get his vengeance, it doesn’t make the fight any easier as you are left to wonder what things would be like if Arvis was Emperor without Manfroy using Julius.

 His final words to Seliph just echo in your head, making you wish there was a better way this could’ve turned out.

If there is one negative I could say about Arvis, its the fact he basically monopolizes the story for his own. His actions basically pushing so much of the narrative he eclipses Sigurd. But honestly, if we got a remake with more time devoted to character interaction in Sigurd’s army, I think it would balance out nicely.

Welp, that’s my Top 10 FE antagonists. Let me know if you agree or disagree. And if this gets enough hits, I might do similar posts in the future. Till next time, take care!

[insecuriosity]

got tagged by @darksidekelz

Rules: choose any 3 fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag 10 people you want to get to know better

Three fandoms:

• Transformers

• Overwatch

• Team Fortress 2

The first character you loved:

• Starscream from TFP. Whenever that guy was on screen you KNEW he was going to mess everything up and create unnecessary amounts of extreme drama!

• Reaper. I really enjoyed his design and I was in love with the idea of his dual shotguns - my favourite gameplay involves walking around with a shotgun, and to have TWO??? I was hyped.

• Medic! Watching his short was what got me into the game, but I learned to love all of the mercs!

The character you never expected to love so much:

•Shockwave. I didn’t know him before getting into the fandom but once I did I just fell in love. His character offers so much that can be reworked, changed, and tweaked, and he is fun to write without exception! I also enjoyed how he pretends to be emotionless, only to have some of his decisions be 100% emotionally driven

• I like Zenyatta a lot. Just.... the idea of this peaceful monk-inspired character floating around and breaking noses with his hard metal balls. It cracks me up ! xD

• Oof this is a tough one. I think Miss Pauling. As one of THREE whole women that feature in the comics, I was expecting her to be the ole ‘scatterbrained, naive, innocent little girl’, but she is just as badass as the mercenaries - though her job is different.   

The character you relate to the most:

• Shockwave and Swerve have a tie here actually. Swerve is relatable because of the troubles he faces in making friends and actually talking to them as opposed to making jokes and trying to be funny/interesting. Shockwave is mostly someone I’d desire to be for his unflappable confidence in himself, and his ability to just go on ahead and do what he wants.

• None of them. Overwatch characters aren’t deeply interesting to me, and there’s not one of them that really grabs me as relatable.

• PYROOOOOO! I don’t enjoy showing off my body or my face, and a mask can be freeing in that regard. Pyro is happy and kickass, and since nobody knows their gender they have a wide variety of feminine and masculine taunts that are all enjoyable and theatrical!

The character you’d slap:

• Sentinel Prime from TFA. He’s just such a dick, so unnecessarily! Just practice some decency you cretin!

• DVa. I like her in concept, but in practice she just irritates me. Her characterisation in fanfic ranges from ‘whining baby gremlin child’ to ‘epic memelord millenial lol bruh’. Just not my thing.

• I’d probably slap Spy. I WOULD slap Soldier, but I think he would actually kill me, and Spy would at least do it in my sleep and be more of a gentleman about it. Actually no - I’d slap Engineer. I hate his gameplay, I hate his sentries, and he’s the least interesting character outta the bunch.

Three favorite characters, in order of preference:

• TFP Starscream, Shockwave, Swerve.

• Reaper, Zenyatta..... nobody.

• Pyro, Spy, Medic

A character you liked at first, but don’t anymore:

• Drift in RiD2015. Though to be fair, I liked him for about 5 seconds and then he opened his mouth and I was like “God please no”. I really wish that they could have done something better with him.

• Uhh... I liked Roadhog for a little while there, but it didn’t last long at all since all of the fanfics made him one of those “I never tell anyone what I think, the only people who get to be my friends read my mind.”  characters which was not my thing. 

• I used to like the heavy, but gameplay-wise he’s so out of his league in tf2. His gameplay is boring and slow, but hard to master because everyone and their dog is like 5 times faster than you are. No amount of health or damage can make him fun to play again. Also, when compared to the other characters, his voicelines are forgettable.

A character you didn’t like at first but do now:

• Miko. I kept expecting her to begin whining about boy-things or school projects, which would lead into a full human-themed episode where the bots would help them with paying baseball or some inane shit. Instead, Miko’s reckless attitude was singlehandedly responsible for some great and interesting episodes!

• Nobody.

• I didn’t like Scout. Actually I still hate playing against Scout because he’s FRICKIN ANNOYING but I really enjoy how his character and gameplay complement each other. Both in game and in voicelines, he’s a cocky little shit with a grating voice.

Three OTPs:

• I don’t have OTPs.

• Reaper and Soldier 76 I guess.

• Spy/Sniper, Medic/Heavy.

I am NEVER going to tag ten people.  @bobateebrek You up for a blog game?

[killscreencinema]

Splatterhouse 3 (Sega Genesis)

Of all the Splatterhouse games, this one sticks out as the game I most remember.  For one thing, I had the opportunity to play it a lot more on my cousin’s Sega Genesis; secondly, the photo-realistic cut scenes are hauntingly memorable.  I mean just watch how kick ass this opening is:

An intro like that leaves an indelible impression the mind of a 12-year-old.  The music excellent and perfectly captures the dark, horror tone of the game.  I also love the design for the Terror Mask, which helps to further deviate it from the Jason hockey mask that it shamelessly ripped off in the first place. 

Splatterhouse 3, released by Namco in 1993, picks up where the second game left off only five years later.  Our hero Rick has since married Jennifer, a natural next step in any relationship after one has saved their significant other from the bowels of Hell, and the two have a son named David.  Rick uses his experiences battling evil demons to succeed in a nightmare world more devoid of morality and compassion than Hell itself - Wall Street.  Rick is living happily with his family in a gigantic mansion when his home is invaded by demonic forces that have once again been summoned by a mysterious, evil force.  Rick must don the Terror Mask for what he hopes is the final time to save his family and paint his mansion walls with demon guts!

While the first two Splatterhouse games are pretty similar in gameplay, Splatterhouse 3 takes the series into a more brawler direction, allowing Rick to move across different planes as opposed to being stuck in one 2D plane, ala Bad Dudes.  Rick’s move set has changed, with him now being able to link together punching combos; headbutt the enemy into submission; toss the enemy across the room; or, if you perform the button combo correctly, Rick can do a “devastating roundhouse kick maneuver” (as Vince McMahon would call it).  There are also a variety of weapons Rick can use along the way, but good luck holding onto them, because the minute you’re even touched by a bad guy, the weapon falls to the ground and is promptly scooped away by a ghost head.  Finally, another new addition to the game is Rick’s ability to “power up” after collecting enough orbs scattered about the house.  Once activated, Rick bulks up and goes all Amagon on some demon asses, though I must confess, it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference defensively or offensively.  One of my biggest complaints about this game is the uselessness of the “power up” feature.  You get constantly knocked on your ass just as easily in roid rage form as you do in regular form!  Also, why does Rick’s suit grow back when he returns to regular form? 

Cause video games I guess.

One of features that best separates Splatterhouse 3 from its predecessors is the ability to choose your own path through the level.  Whenever you clear a room of monsters, creepy music plays and you can press start to bring up a map with which you can plot your path to the boss.  However, sometimes the most direct route isn’t a straight line, as there are secret shortcuts throughout that can lead you to helpful power-ups or get you to the boss faster.  By the way, speed is essential if you want Rick to save his family as each level has a counter ticking down to their doom.  It’s actually quite challenging to save them in time, especially as the game goes on and the bad guys get cheaper.. er, I mean harder.  In my playthrough for this review, I saved no one - not a single family member.  I’m sure with repeated playthroughs I’d eventually discover the most optimal path in each map to reach them in time, but the frustration simply isn’t worth it. 

Which brings me to the insane difficulty.  I’ve said this before in this blog and I’ll say it again - I don’t mind a challenge.  I’d just prefer a fair one.  There are only six levels, so the game designers drastically increase the difficulty curb after the first level.  Enemies can take a sizeable chunk of your life away, really quickly, before you can do anything about it.  Also, as mentioned before, Rick’s ass becomes really well acquainted with the ground throughout the game, whether he’s in roid rage mode or not.  So you’re pretty underpowered - thanks a lot Terror Mask.  The roundhouse kick can level the playing field pretty quickly, but good luck getting it to work consistently enough to be helpful, as the controls, while responsive, seem to have trouble reading the simple “right, left, attack” commands needed to do the roundhouse... or maybe I just sucked at doing it.  That’s entirely possible.  Either way, the difficulty got so frustrating I found myself getting bored and annoyed by the game really quickly.

Flaws aside, I still overall recommend the whole Splatterhouse trilogy to fans of horror games and beat ‘em ups alike.  They definitely have a distinct style that perfectly captures the gruesome schlock of 80s horror movies while being a pretty fun gaming experience.  That being said, now that I’m done covering all of the 16-bit Splatterhouse games, I suppose it’ll be time for me to check out the updated current gen (well, last gen) reboot soon... 

[travelererrant]

Let’s Talk About “Mighty Gunvolt BURST”

So as nearly everyone who knows me could probably tell you, I despised “Mighty No. 9”. I thought it was garbage because of all the wasted potential, the decent concepts that never got the attention they needed, the abysmal voice acting, and the buyer's remorse I felt because I kickstarted it. It was not one of my proudest decisions.  Needless to say, my expectations for “Mighty Gunvolt Burst”, a crossover game between Mighty No. 9 and another indie game called “Azure Striker Gunvolt”, were exceptionally low. I didn’t think it was going to be that good, but I had ten dollars to spare, and I needed an extra game for my Nintendo Switch. And you know something?

It was definitely worth every cent.

Now technically you can choose to play as one of two characters, and from what I’ve played of it, both of them actually have a different playstyle in what types of weapons they can use, and some of their abilities are different. So I’m currently only writing from the perspective of someone who beat the game as Beck, and only played about twenty minutes as Azure. Beck was the protagonist of “Mighty No. 9”, and I wanted to see if this game could give me any hope that the Mighty franchise has a chance to become something better.

The story is pretty weak, and honestly you don’t need to know or care about it to enjoy the game. It’s pretty obvious it was just tacked on as a way to justify the crossover premise and why you’re fighting enemies from the otherwise mediocre “Mighty No. 9”. It’s Mega Man styled platforming, with interesting challenges and mechanics put into each stage, some bottomless pits and spikes that can instantly kill you (but in a relatively fair way), and a boss with a specific weakness to fight at the end. You beat the boss, and you get the chance to get their power. Yes, the chance to get their power.

 One of the key gameplay elements of “Mighty Gunvolt Burst” is the ability to customize your weapon’s shots. I’m not just talking about how much damage it does, what elemental affinity it has, or what it looks like. You can actually customize how many bullets you get to have on the screen, whether or not they ricochet, if they can pierce enemies or terrain or both, if it bounces along the ground, crawls along it, homes in on enemies, if it just disappears or explodes or bursts into smaller bullets; there’s just so much you can do to your custom weapons that it’s almost overwhelming. Heck, the customization for each weapon can also give you some passive upgrades, such as being able to detect secrets, resist knockback, have more invincibility frames, do more damage overall, or even resist damage. There’s so much to actually do with it. You’ll definitely spend the majority of your time experimenting with what works for you. Though it can be a little annoying to have to go into the menu each time you want to switch weapons, as opposed to a quick switch button.

 Now to keep you from becoming an overpowered god of customized destruction, you do have a limit on how much you can have equipped at once. You start out with about 1000 CP, but can collect items to permanently increase it as you progress through the game. At the end, I had about 8500 CP, and several different kinds of weapons that could be used for any situation, which came in handy for the traditional Mega Man styled boss gauntlet, where you get to have a rematch with the bosses to show how powerful you’ve become. As opposed to how lame it was in “Mighty No. 9” (in that it didn’t even exist), you actually feel like you’ve made an enormous amount of progress. I felt like a proper badass when I breezed through the bosses at the end without relying on the healing items the game had given me.

 That does not mean the game is without its flaws. As I said, the story and characters are pretty forgettable, and neither are they really required. The true final antagonist, however, is an annoying little piece of memery. Surprisingly, the language he uses is still pretty relevant, but in that very annoying “LOOOOOL EVERYTHING I SAY IS RANDOM INTERNET REFERENCE”. In a slightly creative twist, he actually “livestreams” the final fight and uses the comments in his chat to attack you. But the comments themselves go from “LOOOOOL” to “OwO what’s this”, and just made me feel dumber for reading them. I’ll give the game credit, it made me want to kill him that much faster. As I mentioned earlier, the lack of a quick switch button can sometimes stop the otherwise fast-paced gameplay and ruin whatever groove you might have had before. The game implements something called a “burst” system, where if you kill an enemy up close, it does a little extra damage and gives you a score multiplier of some kind, and it ends when you die or kill an enemy from far away. It’s not something I ever really used, and some of the enemies feel like they’re placed a little too far apart to make it feel like a rewarding system. It felt tacked on, and it’s probably only something speedrunners will use if they want to go for that high score

 Unfortunately, the game can feel especially slow and frustrating at the beginning because your shots can hardly be customized, due to both a lack of CP and options to choose from. This can be alleviated by the fact that you can quit a stage at any time and keep whatever collectibles you found during it with no penalty whatsoever. So if a boss is giving you trouble and you don’t feel like your weapons are strong enough, you can go do another stage and find stuff to make it more powerful and give yourself a better chance. There also aren’t any lives, as any deaths that happen will just deduct from your overall score and ranking at the end of a stage. So if you really want, you can just keep throwing yourself at a boss until you feel like you’ve mastered dodging their various attacks.

 Speaking of bosses, they are actually really fun to fight this time around. Mostly. I think only one or two bosses made me genuinely angry at how frustrating they were to fight, and the first boss is deceptively easy compared to the rest, but that could honestly be because I hadn’t customized my weapons in the right way. Once again, the game encourages you to find upgrades in the levels and experiment with what works for you.

 The overall look and design of the game is actually pretty damn solid. The pixelated enemies look a lot nicer than the 3D models in “Mighty No. 9”, and the music was definitely more memorable this time around. I don’t think I’ll be humming these tunes much, but I appreciated the fact that it felt like a lot more effort was put into the score this time around.

 The game also has a ton of replay value. Each stage has about five or six secret items to find in it, and they’re actually decently hidden. I had to replay one stage about five times because I didn’t realize there was a hidden area right near the beginning that had a customized shot hidden behind it. Once you’ve beaten a stage, you get to choose one of three “Rare Items” to unlock permanently: you can increase your CP by 300, unlock the boss’ elemental affinity for your custom shots, or a sticker that you can use as your weapon icon or as your profile icon. I honestly skipped getting the sticker most of the time and just replayed each stage for the CP and boss element. I didn’t mind replaying the stage though, as I usually needed to find an extra secret or use the stage to help me get used to a new weapon that I had just customized.

 Overall, I was very impressed with how fun this game was to play, and how satisfying it was to have a custom weapon that made me feel like a complete god of destruction. I enjoyed replaying the levels, and part of me wants to go back and try to get the highest score I can for each level. You see this, Keji Inafune? This is what a proper Mega Man game should feel like! I should want to go back and try taking on the bosses in a different order, use different weapons, want to find any secrets that might be hidden in the level! Fun fact, Inti Creates were apparently the ones responsible for the gameplay in Mighty No. 9, so y’know what? I feel like they just redeemed themselves.

 If you own a Nintendo Switch, this is a game that I’m going to officially say is a must-have title. Please, do yourself a favor and pick it up today. It’s a welcome burst of fun that makes me think there’s hope for the Mighty No. 9 series.  

[survivekohsai]

QuilLynn’s Responses

Jury Answers:

BRYCE:

My favourite moment in the game was when I got the opportunity to mutiny. I was in a bad spot on my tribe with the majority of people on it wanting to target me and because of my losing streak I was in a really bad place. - I had to go to every pre-merge tribal other than the one I was exiled for and then the round after I mutinied (not to mention one of the tribals I didn’t go to wasn’t a tribal at all due to kelsey striking out) which proved to me I made the right decision. It also reconnected me with my closest allies, Jackson, Akito and Trixie. Up until the mutiny I was feeling really defeated and getting the opportunity to do that breathed new life into me in this game.

As for which tribal I felt I had the most control of, this is difficult, because Mo’s and Akito’s blindsides were the only tribals I went to where I felt I didn’t have control. A lot of tribals were orchastrated by me and Jackson so I don’t know if there was a time where we were on the same tribe and one of us would have had more control than the other on a vote. I do think however that Jackson is only here right now because of me and how loyal I ended up playing with him. There were multiple opportunities where I could have flipped on him or made moves against him. I could have forced rocks the night Richie left which, no matter what, would have left us with a very different final 3. RYAN M:

I don’t really understand what your question is, but let me explain myself to you in this game. I was actually excited at first that maybe this time we would have a chance to work together, but for some reason there was just an underlining distrust between us. Still recovering from your idols in crayola I felt that the smartest thing was to not be completely honest with you incase you did have something you could pull out your ass like tyler did in the Mo blindside. You then decided you wanted to block everybody on our tribe, so I literally couldn’t pm you anyway and to be honest I don’t know if you ever unblocked me? I also know that you wrote my name down at tribals, so there was no point in trying to reconcile with you even if I could at that point. If you want to base your vote on relationships from ebola or who we voted at the end then thats on you, you’re a juror I’m not going to sit here and tell you what basis to make your decision on and as pathetic as I personally think that would be it is entirely up to you. RYAN P:

Akito- Skitty, because skitty is one of the cutest pokemon and one of my favourites, "it is very popular due to its adorable looks and behavior."   Ryan M- Seviper, because there is just something about this pokemon that reminds me of you, can’t quite put my finger on it though, "It has been bitter enemies with Zangoose for many generations.” - i must be a zangoose huh.

Ryan P- Unown, because we like barely ever talked or got to know each other so I know virtually nothing about you other than what others have told me, "Unown is an extremely rare Pokémon that lives in its own dimension and rarely ventures outside."

Linus- Magikarp, it’s just the fucking memeiest pokemon there is. <3 “It is usually overlooked by Trainers because of its perceived weakness: even in the heat of battle it will do nothing but flop around."

Richie- Charizard, because you’re strong and loyal and I’m sure would be a fan favourite, "This Pokémon flies in search of powerful opponents to battle, and its fire will burn hotter as it gains experience."

Bryce- Pikachu, because you’re widely loved and a great companion, “Pikachu is arguably the most recognizable and adored Pokemon by fans of the series"

Eric- Houndor, because he’s small and cute but still has a lot of bite, "Houndour is an intelligent Pokémon that forms packs to hunt for prey, and shows unparalleled teamwork” RICHIE:

Yes my opening statement sucked, I was blackout drunk at a halloween party and had to find time to write it lol. The reason I let Jackson be the one that everyone saw being in charge was because I wanted to play this game completely different than I’ve played before. I usually play openly making big moves and letting my self be a target, that strategy in the past has only gotten me to the end one time where I lost 7-2 because that was the way I played the game opposed to who I was sitting next to at the time who played a more seemingly under the radar game. With that loss fresh on my mind I knew that in the end phase of this game I wanted to appear like I wasn’t making waves and to let someone be more vocal than me, the best thing I could do was to appear as a goat and let Jackson believe that he’d have an easy time beating me in the end, because I wouldn't hold my ground and express that I actually played a good game. I feel like he bought that and I think I was able to convince everyone that I was just playing for second when thats not the case at all. In the Rocks situation I did contemplate flipping and risking getting rocked out to change the game, but what really was the deciding factor for me wasn’t actually the risk of me going home, it was the fact that I knew 100% Trixie and Jackson were going to take me to the end of this game, although I was still confident in the bonds I had made with you and Bryce these were two people I knew I could trust and potentially beat at the end. If I did take you out in that vote I was taking out arguably the biggest threat in the game, because I knew you had a great shot at winning, I knew that if I was on jury I’d vote you to win so everything lined up and made sense to take you out. This game I focused a lot of gameplay around the social aspect of the game, I met a lot of great people and made great friendships, there was only one real pre-merge tribal council that I didn’t have to go to and I was able to get out of that one because I used the twist of being able to mutiny to my advantage. I survived more tribal councils than the people I’m up against tonight, I feel like I fought the hardest to be here out of us three, of course not competition wise, because I knew I was terrible at comps so I had to make up for that in another way and I do think that I was able to play a killer social game that got me to the end without ever needing to rely on an individual immunity. AKITO:

Out of the 3 of us sitting here I don’t think it would be fair for any of us to take full credit for a move that went down during a tribal council, because that’s just not how they worked this season. Due to the amount of idols in question and strategizing that had to go into these votes they all had to be a group effort. Any one of us could sit here and spout off about how, for example, the Rafael blindside was our move, but it would be BS. Each tribal we all held the same level of control of what was going to happen and we discussed and talked thru each move before it was made. There were only two tribals where I was genuinely shocked at the outcomes and those were Mo’s blindside and your blindside, in a strategical sense the 3 of us played nearly identical games, but as I said before I believe my social game is what made me stand out from the competition.

For your second question, I feel like it could definitely apply to multiple people on the jury for me. Firstly I’d say Ryan M, because in the last game we played together we were always working against each other even though he seemed like somebody that I would have actually been able to click with, unfortunately feelings from our last game carried over and we still never got to connect, especially after the whole blocking incident. RTP is someone that I heard good things about before coming into this game, and I feel like we also never got a chance to connect so he is someone I would have liked to get to know more. I feel like everyone else on jury I had built good relationships with, I would say too though, that if I had Bryce and Richie on the same tribe with me from the jump I feel like I wouldn’t have been as down in the first few rounds of the game as I was and, on a personal-nongame related level, it would have been nice to spend more time with them as well. So overall if I have to just pick one I would say Ryan M, because I really wish we could have squashed any beef we had had prior to this game. LINUS:

1. Social butterfly!! Never met anyone with such a stellar social game, you left me quaking! Competitions? King! You carried our tribes, honestly idk how you got out, it had to have been a rig. Strategy? you were the master of flipping! you full on murdered akito at tribal! Ruthless, cutthroat, iconic, unstoppable, legendary! also.. "Now listen here, thot! Why would I want your smelly vagina when my best bud’s anus (no homo) is right around the corner for fresh tasting and sampling!” that earned you the win day one.

2.

1. Akito - Mari Takahashi, because she was adorable, had good potential and deserved way better than the placement she got. 2. Ryan M - Russell Hantz, because you’re good at finding idols and feel like based on you blocking everyone your social game wasn’t that great. 3. RTP -  Michelle Dougan, because although I didn’t get to develop a close relationship with you, you were always a nice person and I know you like Australian survivor and I loved Michelle and feel like you both were sorta underdogs in a similar way. 4. Linus - Courtney Yates, because she was super funny and I feel that like her you were some well needed comic relief on the season 5. Richie - Nicole Franzel Kelley Wentworth, because she was an absolute queen. I definitely see her as a hero, and think that you would be the number one hero of Koh Sai 6. Bryce - Cirie Fields, because she is just such a great person, and an absolute fan favourite! 7. Eric - Abi Maria Gomes, annoying goat that makes it far, but still very entertaining and memorable.

Because it is almost halloween I wanted to do a horror genre theme with your fictional characters, so I decided to compare you to the cast from one of my favourite shows, Scream Queens!

1. Akito - Grace Gardner: Brave, intelligent, kind. 2. Ryan M- Chanel Oberlin: Stubborn, rude, funny. 3. RTP - Chanel #5: Often forgotten, low-key hilarious, underrated. 4. Linus - Hester Ulrich: Crazy, high-key hilarious, charismatic. 5. Richie - Zayday Williams: Iconic, caring, a great friend. 6. Bryce - Chanel #3: Good sense of humour, fan favourite, a true legend. 7. Eric - Chad Radwell: Energetic, obnoxious, lovable.