#but i dunno maybe that kind of thinking in itself betrays my personality type

[insomnikat-mused]

My dear! 🌺🐶🤠 for the ask game :3

🌺 - What’s your MBTI type?

It fluctuates depending on whether I've answered for work or for fun but generally: INTP in a work setting and INFJ in a more casual setting. But the "P" in INTP was something I matured to save my sanity-- I still need to have clearly outlined and documented expectations, but how I achieve it is now flexible.

🐶 - Do you have any pets?

I used to joke that there could only ever be one 'kat' tolerated under any roof I live under so... no.

🤠 - Are you more of a city person or a country person?

On the one hand, I zealously guard my personal space and am absolutely miserable if I cannot occasionally have complete silence. On the other hand, the countryside has much larger and meaner bugs and less diverse (though arguably fresher) food offerings. So in the end I'm going to say I'm more of a small city person.

[akechicrimes]

summary:  akira and goro are in coronavirus quarantine and akira has some relationship questions for reddit.

cw: bad jokes about murder

"My [22M] roommate [23M] has been weirdly nice to me during the coronavirus quarantine. Is he attempting to kill me again?": A relationship subreddit post by u/arsene_throwaway.

read on ao3 here

EDIT 1: No, we didn't go to the police about the first time he killed me. The police weren't going to do anything useful, anyway. It's fine, I promise.

EDIT 2: Why's everyone so hung up about the fact that he killed me? I knew he was going to do it beforehand, we didn't exactly have a relationship conversation about it but I basically let him do it because I wanted to see what he was capable of, and it was really fun to figure out how to escape his murder attempt. It was pretty close to consensual imho. And I had a good time and we discussed it a few years later after he came back from the dead.

EDIT 3: Please stop DMing me to define consensual murder or explain how being murdered was fun. I understand that not everyone has the same tastes as I do but I would appreciate if people were a little more understanding of my hobbies.

EDIT 4: Please stop DMing me to explain how both of us died and came back to life. I just want to know if our feelings are mutual, not go to jail for revealing the government's human rights violations.

EDIT 5: Stop DMing me about the government's human rights violations and how that relates to my rival.

EDIT 6: Thank you to everyone who responded with advice. It turns out that he was so happy all the time because we're stuck together in quarantine and he's in love with me (?!?!), and wasn't actually planning my murder.

EDIT 7: We did have the conversation about the murder and he said he's not really into murdering me, unfortunately, partly because he's in love with me and really wants me to be alive. It was just a thing that he had to do for family reasons. Either way, I think we're dating now, and I'm just really happy to be with him. :)

***

ORIGINAL POST

Hi, making a throwaway account for this post. So like a lot of people lately, I've been holed up with someone I've known for a long time for the coronavirus self-isolation, and some weird stuff has been happening in our relationship.

For context, I've actually liked this guy since... forever? Since I was 17 I think? We kind of met by accident and hit it off right away. The more I talked to him the more he seemed really lonely, he kept making time to meet with me even though he was really busy, so even though my friends were a little wary of him, I kept thinking, Hey, he's actually really nice underneath. I kind of just wished that more people would know that about him, or that he'd let other people see that side of himself. But he had a lot of crazy stuff going on with his family and his job at the time, so he didn't really have a lot of room in his life for a relationship besides a few dates here and there, so I just sort of kept it to myself.

I sort of figured that my crush would go away on its own, except that then he killed me. I can't stop thinking about it. It was kind of a rough time for other reasons, but the actual murder itself was one of the best nights of my life.

I think I was pretty much sold on him ever since. I tried dating a few other people to get over him, but it never really worked out. I dunno, I think it's just really a once-in-a-lifetime that you find a guy who can outsmart you, betray you, and get his hands dirty and murder you all in one. He's just really special, you know? Can you really blame me for not being able to get over him?

For a long time I thought that it wasn't ever going to work out because he died a couple times of his own (he got better), but then it turned out that I was staying at his apartment for a few weeks to avoid my parents when the coronavirus quarantine hit, and now we're stuck together all the time. He's working from home, but I work at a cafe, so all I have to do all day long is play ACNH and wait for him to do stuff with me.

For reference, he's a really aloof sort of person, with a really mean sense of humor, who pretends he's not interested in things when he is. But nowadays he basically gave up pretending that he doesn't want to do things with me, so now we do everything together, like playing board games or watching movies or cooking food. It's really weird because my favorite thing to do right now is go for grocery runs with him every two weeks, because we'll do things like get the types of rice that we both like, or get eggs for his breakfast and sweet pastries for mine, and he always looks so weirdly pleased about going grocery shopping for two people that it makes me really happy? Sometimes we'll go out on the little balcony outside his apartment and we'll just talk for hours in really quiet voices, and he looks almost... peaceful...?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've never seen him smile this much in his life—except for the time when he killed me. Am I getting my hopes up? Am I reading too much into things? The last time he seemed to be this happy, he was faking a lot of it so that he could plot my downfall. Most of the time, when he's being honest about how he feels, he's either mean, tired, or sad. So I keep thinking maybe, now that he looks so happy all the time, he's planning some other scheme to surprise me, and he's being friendly and smiley to make me let my guard down so he can murder me.

But on the other hand, I think he didn't really want to kill me the first time around (I'm not actually sure, he doesn't like to talk about it, but he doesn't like to talk about things that bother him). But I don't really know why else he'd look this happy?

Honestly, I think getting murdered and escaping death would be a really fun thing to do during quarantine because I'm really bored whenever he's working. Maybe I just want him to pay more attention to me? It's really nice to think that maybe when he's working on his computer, he's still thinking about me and ways to kill me :)

[purplesurveys]

725

Your name? Robyn. Age? Just turned 22. Ugh, I’ve finally reached the point where future ages – other than 30/40/50 etc – won’t be much of a milestone anymore. I can hear Monica Geller tell me, “welcome to the real world, it sucks.” Gender? Identify as female. Ethnic background? I usually just say Filipino to make it easier but technically I’m mostly Tagalog with a bit of Mangyan and Ilokano and I think Bulakeño? in me. What do you like the most about your ethnic background? It’s hard to find anything to be proud of from being Filipino sksksk I like our cuisine I guess? Especially the seafood?

The least? It’s not something I dislike directly about our own background, because what I like the least is the hundreds of years of colonization by four different nations that led to the near-complete wipeout of our native culture and the severe colonial effects that followed. The reason I find it so hard to rack my brain for stuff about our ‘ethnic background’ is because everything about it has already been penetrated by Spanish, English, Japanese, or American influence, even down to how well I can speak English right now. It’s almost impossible to look for something that’s ours. Who is your favorite golf player? I’ve never liked watching golf. Whats your favorite kind of gold? (White, Yellow, Rose, Traditional) Rose gold looks pretty. Would you rather wear turquoise pants or purple? Highkey would not wear either of these but if it came down to it, purple. Would you ever go on a jungle safari? I kind of already did. It was a lot of fun and I would rather keep going to safaris if I wanted to see wild animals as it’s a much lesser evil than zoos. If you saw a UFO what would you do? Hope my fingers are quick enough and immediately take a video. What color is your mailbox? We don’t have one. Mailmen just place it by the handle of our screen door. Are you taller than your Mom? No, I’m the smallest one in the family. Who is your meanest friend? I never really counted Patrice as a friend but she’s been the least nice acquaintance I remember having. Her attitude is actually the reason I hadn’t seen her as a friend, so that said I wouldn’t really be befriending anyone who I thought isn’t very nice. Have you ever thought about suicide? Yeah, well I’m not exactly the most mentally well person durrrr. I don’t think of it as often as I used to, but it’ll cross my mind more or less once a month. Have you ever broken a pinata? I’ve never had that experience before actually. I’ve only seen it in cartoons. Who loves Orange Soda? I don’t like soda, period. Where did you go the last time you used public transportation? I dunno if it counts because the jeep just goes around the campus hahaha but I took a jeep coming from CAL going to CMC, my home college. My dad accidentally drove the car I was gonna use that day so I had to book a Grab (our local Uber; also I can’t do public transpo for long distances hence the private car, heh) going to school, and then the campus jeeps to go from one class to another. If you were to start a band what would you name it? Never hire me to name stuff. Would you rather spend a year in the abyss or outer space? Outer space. It’s where I’ve always wanted to go anyway. I fear for my sanity if I wind up in the abyss. Do you know someone who has shot off a part of their own body? No but I know someone who had been shot (or stabbed? I can’t remember but he was attacked); it was my Kuya’s close friend. What TV shows stick out from your childhood? Mr. Bean, Pokemon, SpongeBob, Jimmy Neutron, Drake and Josh, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, That’s so Raven, to name a few. What is/was for dinner tonight? No idea yet. My dad usually whips something up at the last minute but it always turns out so so good. What’s really the best cure for a hangover? FRIED CHICKEN and I will die on this hill. Do you eat the stems of broccoli? Oooh I don’t think that’s been served to me before actually. I’m not opposed to trying them though cause broccoli’s my favorite vegetable. How many cavities do you have? I had a couple before but they’ve since been fixed at the dentist. Have you ever given money to a bum? Yes I always give them money ranging from ₱10 to ₱20, and biscuits if I have some in my bag, if they knock on my window. If you found 100 dollars on the floor of a church what would ya do with it? If I found it in a church I’d absolutely run the fuck away with the money lmao. Is your head a fun place to be in? I’m a bit of a workaholic and am always thinking about the next thing to accomplish, so tbh I imagine it looking like Spongebob’s brain HAHAHAHA as in exactly this shot

What is your favorite word? Poignant to me sounds and looks the way it means, which is so satisfying. Why is going to poop such a social taboo? We covered a bit of this in my anthropology class last semester and our prof shared a theory that says our body is in and of itself clean but once substances exit the body they’re seen as impure and already dirty - which is why we’ll have no problem talking about the circulatory system but many tend to faint if they cut their finger too much and see blood leaking out of them. Same explanation goes with poop, saliva, sweat, etc. I’m too lazy to check my notes if every bit of this is accurate, but the impure/dirty is the one I remember to be correct. Who is your worst enemy? Don’t really like the idea of enemies per se but after Marielle betrayed my trust twice I vowed to never speak with her again, and I never have. When was the last time you passed gas? I don’t like farting. If I feel one coming I suppress it on purpose. Do you eat raw hot dogs? No, that sounds so nasty. Do you ever speak out loud what you should be typing? Eh, sometimes and only if I’m by myself. It’s not a habit though. Do you own a squirt gun? We call them a water gun here but it used to be one of my favorite toys from childhood. I don’t own one anymore as I largely don’t need them. Do you like the Subway $5 footlong? I don’t really eat Subway. What is the last thing you ate with Marshmallow in it? Hate marshmallows. I always remove it if it had been added to the food I’m eating. Would you rather live in a shack on the beach or a mansion in Ohio? I love you beach, but I’m taking the damn mansion lol. Do you believe that zombies could really invade the Earth? I don’t think zombies could ever surface naturally but at some point in the distant future, when technology and human knowledge advance enough and if someone was ambitious enough to use such knowledge for the worse, I feel like some chemical or substance causing someone to become a zombie could be made. Idk, people have come up with crazy shit from science that were initially thought to be impossible so for me I’m not ruling out zombies or at least a milder version of them haha. If you were to buy a boat what would you name it? Margo, as an homage to Margo Martindale’s role from BoJack Horseman. Who is your internet provider? PLDT. What has the tv show two and a half men taught you? Nothing, because I’ve never watched an episode. What’s something you’re not supposed to be doing right now? Not thinking about my unfinished thesis. I should definitely be thinking about it right now lol. What’s hotter topless or pantless? A bit TMI considering the time ksksks but topless for me. What would you do if you found a four leaf clover? I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean (but I wanna say it means good luck?) so maybe I’ll just take a photo of it heh. Miami Dolphins or NY Jets? I don’t even know what sport these teams belong to. What is your favorite kind of instant popcorn? I don’t like popcorn, so it’s a pass for me. Do you pay attention to the expiration dates on food? Yeah I check on them quite often since I once had a terrible experience drinking spoiled milk; but I’ve also been told by my dad that the expiration dates don’t necessarily mean spoilage and molds and all that nasty crap, and that the date just means by when the product’s quality will slowly start to decrease, like if chips start to get tougher to chew or if a chocolate bar becomes less sweet. It’s a source of relief, but I’m still paranoid about expiration dates overall. What ringtone is on your phone? Just the ones Apple provides. What odd thing do you wish you were doing right now? Driving in circles around the village just to enjoy the outside world :( Are you a smoker? Socially. How do you feel about not being able to smoke in a lot of bars? I don’t mind it. I’m not desperate to smoke ever.

[nadziejastar]

The Icing on the Cake

The wayfinder trio’s story arc was handled pretty well in KH3. The main concept of their relationship was their unbreakable connection, which was connected to the stars. They would look up at the stars, thinking of each other. No matter where they went, they would always find their way back to each other. 

The stars meant a lot to the wayfinder trio because no matter where they were, they were always underneath the same stars.

And Terra told Aqua that she was always lighting his way back. Their reunion had a lot of thematic resonance. It felt like it was planned many years in advance. That’s what made their story well-written.

Axel’s main priority in KH3 was bringing Roxas back, but it didn’t really have much thematic resonance, if you ask me. The entire concept of Axel’s character was “memory”. Got it memorized? Like with the stars, Axel is very nostalgic about the sunset, due to his memories of the past. 

And Axel’s relationship with Roxas in KH3 didn’t really tie into this theme that well. His relationship with Ventus actually had a lot more thematic resonance.

But the story dropped the ball hard on that one. Lea recognized Ventus as Roxas, and was hoping that Ventus recognized him as Axel. But...he didn’t. Lea was visibly disappointed. This would have been the perfect time for them to have a heartfelt reunion. But the scene had almost no impact at all because Lea and Ventus were practically strangers, despite their relationship having so much thematic significance. In the end, their meeting was pretty pointless.

Lea’s reunion with Roxas was saved for the final battle. But the scene didn’t feel like it belonged there. It didn’t resonate with the themes of Lea’s character arc. It had nothing to do with “memory”. Unlike Ventus and Aqua’s reunion with Terra, the Keyblade Graveyard didn’t feel like it was planned to be the place for Lea to reunite with Roxas. Compared to the wayfinder trio, the sea-salt trio’s reunion was awkward, out of place, and poorly written.

On the other hand, Lea’s fight with Isa did tie into this concept of “memory”. Isa was possessed, and it seemed like he forgot about his friendship with Lea a long time ago. Their final battle was all about how they never forgot each other. The Keyblade Graveyard felt like it was supposed to be about Lea’s reunion with Isa, not Roxas and Xion.

Everything about Lea and Isa’s relationship revolved around the theme of “memory”. In Birth by Sleep, there is an extremely happy and innocent song called Eternal Moments. It only plays during the scene where Ventus meets Lea and Isa. It’s pretty much Lea’s theme. It also plays a few times during KH3. 

The song that plays during most of the sea-salt ice cream moments in 358/2 Days is called At Dusk, I Will Think of You… It’s basically a more melancholy version of “Eternal Moments”. It’s pretty much Axel’s theme in the game. Axel was always, ALWAYS wishing to go back to the past. Sea-salt ice cream and the sunset always reminded him of that. To Axel, the sunset was his star, and ice cream was his wayfinder.

The first chapter of the Days manga was called “The Ice Cream That Started It All”. 

At the end of the chapter, Roxas started remembering things after Axel took him out for ice cream. 

The sun sank lower and lower as Axel watched, his mind wandering. If he stared for too long, the image would burn itself into his eyes, visible even after his eyes were closed. A phantom sun. Someone had once told him why sunsets were red… Who was that?

Roxas was eating ice cream with Axel when he brought up his first week. Ice cream = memories. Axel remembered the reason why the sunset was red on this day.

In KH2, one of the early chapters is called “Sea-Salt Ice Cream”.

It starts off with the kids eating ice cream. Pence calls it a simple pleasure before he wonders if they will always be together, which Hayner says is impossible. 

Simple pleasures are experiences that are brief, positive, emerge in everyday settings, and are accessible to most people at little or no cost. 

It’s like the saying “the best things in life are free”. Kinda cheesy, like something off a fortune cookie. But it’s still a nice message.

Roxas: I could have done that blindfolded.

Axel: Ha ha! I dunno if I want a blindfolded zombie on the loose. All right, smart aleck, you did good. And no successful mission is complete without a little icing on the cake. C'mon.

On their mission together, when Roxas acts self-aware for the first time, Axel gave sea-salt ice cream to him as a reward for working hard.

In KH2, the kids were broke. But they worked really hard to save up enough money to go to the beach. Of course, the money was stolen so they never got to go. 

They had to settle for the simple pleasure of eating ice cream together. And they were fine with that.

The trip to the beach was all about creating memories, since they couldn’t be together forever.

The message is, it’s not the cost of the trip that was valuable, it’s the memories they created together. 

Eating ice cream is cheap. It isn’t exactly as exciting as going to the beach, but it doesn’t have to be. The memories of the people you’re eating it with are more important. That’s why Axel stole a lot of Hayner’s dialogue in Days. It was all about the theme of “memories”.

"C'mon, C'mon, stop by and try some! It's a sweet and salty mysterious ice cream!"

“What’s that?” Lea ran up to check it out.

“Hullo, there, laddie. Would you like one?” 

“I’m…guessing they aren’t free?” Lea asked, jamming a hand into his pocket. 

Scrooge hopped up and yelled, “Of course not! Are ye daft?!” 

When Lea was a kid, he didn’t have a lot of money, either. He was even hoping the ice cream Scrooge was offering was free.

For a little bit, Lea was deep in thought. Scrooge held the ice cream in his hands. "Then I'll have one....no, two!" “Thank ye kindly!” 

Lea paid the munny, took the two ice popsicles from Scrooge, and handed one to Isa.

He was broke, but he still bought Isa an ice cream, too. There’s a reason I think the localization used the term “icing on the cake” for Axel’s sea-salt ice cream ritual.

"It's cold....." Isa mumbled, nibbling at the ice cream. "Whaddya mean, it's ice cream so of course it is, got it memorized?" ".....moreover, it's salty." "But sweet!" As Lea went on, Isa smiled just a bit. It's rare to see Isa smile. But, well, friendship means eating ice cream together, talking about stupid things, and laughing like this.

Icing on the cake is defined as an attractive but inessential addition or enhancement. It’s the not the main attraction. It’s just something extra that makes a good thing even better.

“Why, look at that, you’re a winner! Congratulations!” 

“‘Congratulations’…?” It was a new word to Roxas. Was that what he’d won? 

“You get another ice cream, on the house,” she told him. 

“Um, how much?” He didn’t know what “on the house” meant, either. But he had heard that one could get things in exchange for munny or for hearts. 

“No, no, it’s free. You won! Have you got a friend you’d like to treat?”

A WINNER stick gives you a free ice cream. It literally costs nothing. It’s the epitome of a simple pleasure.

Day 357: To My Best Friend

Author: Axel

Roxas left. It’s so like him to just leave that WINNER ice cream stick behind. Come tomorrow, I’ll probably get the order to hunt him down, but leaving that here makes it feel so permanent. I wish the three of us—three? No. That the two of us could share some ice cream again someday. That’s what it is to be friends.

My impression was that Isa was the type of person who didn’t care what activity he was doing. The ice cream was just extra—the icing on the cake. It was nice, but it wasn’t even necessary.

“Precisely, Roxas. That is no ordinary rose. To him, at least, it seems to hold more value than all the castle’s riches.”

As long he spent time with Lea, that was all that mattered. It didn’t matter if they were broke or not. Day 193 is even called “Memories”. And Axel brings up eating ice cream. To him, that’s what it meant to be best friends.

“So, okay, say you don’t need a heart for things to be important to you… Maybe the closest thing we Nobodies have is our pasts. It’s the memories that give things value.”

“Memories…,” Roxas mumbled at his lap. “Well, I don’t remember my past, so I guess that explains it.” 

Axel pondered that for a few seconds before suggesting, “What about your present, though?” 

Roxas looked up. Somehow, he hadn’t expected to hear that from Axel. “Huh?” 

“You’ve got your memories since you joined up with the Organization, right? There must be something special to you there.” 

“I dunno…” Memories…? Roxas didn’t have any from when he was human. But he did remember his time with the Organization so far.

My theory is that Isa was Subject X. He had amnesia after Lea reunited with him in Twilight Town. They were going to start over and create a new life and new memories together. Since Isa had no memories of his past, Lea wanted them to do something memorable together, so he thought of going to the beach. 

Other than being told today’s mission, I didn’t really do anything yesterday. Maybe in reality it’d even be okay to have called it a day off. A holiday…

“Didn’t get to go in the end,” muttered Axel, and he got up.

Today I have to destroy Roxas. I cannot betray the organization.

From the little shelf at his bedside, Axel took a white envelope, and looked at it vaguely for a while. Putting it in his pocket, Axel got up off the bed and left the room.

They probably didn’t get to stay in Twilight Town that long, though. Probably just 7 days, if I had to guess. They never got to go to the beach. Probably didn’t have the munny.

Axel thrust his hand into his pocket, and took out the white envelope.

The memories of me and Roxas haven’t faded away. For now, that’s just fine.

“…Really feel like some ice cream,” Axel muttered, watching the sunset absently.

We were always together with the sunset. We talked about all kinds of things in that place. I think it’d be good if we could talk and eat ice cream there again someday. Now, there’s nothing but that. I only hope for that.

The setting sun was shining on Axel.

They spent quality time in Twilight Town, but then they realized they weren’t even safe there. They had nowhere to run from Xehanort. 

He didn’t really understand the “icing” part, except that it was ice cream. Like Winner, though, it meant something special. So when Axel came back, Roxas would use the freebie and get him some “icing.”

They were out of time, so they decided to commit suicide together. Isa was grateful for the memories Lea was able to give him, even if the were just simple pleasures like ice cream. 

That meant a lot to Lea. He said that inside people’s memories, he could live forever. 

So, as long as they remembered each other, they’d never be apart. They promised to see each other again in the next life.

Everything about Lea and Isa had thematic resonance, even if KH3 dropped the ball on them badly. It felt like Lea’s entire character arc for the whole Xehanort Saga revolved around his past with Isa. Everything he did with Roxas and Xion involved his past with Isa.

I can’t really think of anything about Roxas and Axel’s relationship in KH3 that had thematic resonance. He just showed up out of nowhere and barely even interacted with Axel afterwards. It really felt like their reunion during the final battle wasn’t planned very far in advance and had very little thought put into it; like it was just shoehorned in at the last minute. Lea’s reunion with Ventus felt like it had more planning and thought put into it.

Roxas and Axel barely even acknowledge each other after Roxas comes back. The moment where Isa treats Lea to an ice cream on the clock tower had waaaay more thematic significance than any moment between Lea and Roxas. It felt like that moment was being built up for a long, long time. Practically the entire Xehanort Saga. It was the equivalent of Terra telling Aqua she was always there lighting his way back. Lea and Roxas don’t get a special moment like this.

[marshmalleaux-queen]

I had a very strange and elaborate dream last night

It started with me, my brother (Cody), and my Nana going out to some place (it was like an outlet mall or a fair or something, I dunno) and off to the side we saw a trailer with a big poster on the side (I can't remember what it said), and out of it came a little calf with two different colored eyes. And I was like "woah, Nana, look, he has two different eyes," and then another animal - some kind of bird - came out of the trailer too, and also had different colored eyes. A guy came out and said that his whole thing was taking care of animals with weird or different colors, especially with the eyes, and he offered us to come inside and see the rest of them and maybe sit down and have a drink too. Nana and Cody were fine with it, but I was a little skeeved out at this dude - he was a slightly older man, maybe like 40-ish, and he didn't look dirty or anything, but he had on some nice dress clothes that didn't really seem to suit him, like he was trying too hard to look nice.

So he took us inside, and we actually didn't see any other animals, but he led (or more like ushered) us down the stairs to the bottom room of the house (now the trailer was WAY larger on the inside), where there were a group of people sitting in rows of chairs in front of a long table. I opened a door leading outside (like a porch or the front stairs of the house), and I looked out and said "I just wanted to look outside and see what it looked like," but I was really making sure that there wasn't anything in my way if I had to make a run for it for some reason.

So nana and Cody sat down, and I did too, but I saw that the man had a large kitchen knife in his hand, and he was very casually offering people drinks and such. I leaned over to Nana and whispered "I really don't have a good feeling about this guy, I think he's trying to trick us. He shouldn't have that knife if we're just down here to talk and have a drink." and Nana nodded to me and whispered back "if things get out of hand, we'll leave, I promise." So for some reason, it registered in my brain that we were tricked into becoming part of a cult of some sort, and this man was attempting to brainwash these people into becoming his slaves (like... for hard labor or some shit, I dunno. But when they became his slaves, they were void of emotion and were insistent that everything was okay, it was very strange.)

I can't remember everything that happened in between, but at some point, we were sure of what he was trying to do, but we played along with it for a while while secretly resisting (like fake drinking what he gave us, hiding food he offered us under the beds and stuff like that). But eventually he was onto us and started to realize that we weren't being 100% compliant, so he tried to get the people who were already his slaves to force us to become one, and if that didn't work he was going to kill us himself.

Somehow, I learned that there was a way to reverse the brainwashing he had done to them, and it required going to a picture of the person, holding a handful of these special stones up to it, and saying a short prayer - and if it worked, the picture would shed a single physical tear and glow softly. I had never done it before, and Nana was actually the one who was very good at it, but we had to hurry and so she told me to do one - I was afraid it wouldn't work, but I went to the picture of this one girl and said something along the lines of "In the Lord's name, Nicole, be blessed and healed" and I saw the picture shed a tear and glow, and I told Nana that I was shocked it worked because I didn't actually know the girl's name was Nicole. After that, I was looking for a bag to put the stones in, because I was constantly accidentally dropping them and really needed to have them close to me and safe. I had a bag that was pretty much perfect, a small satchel type thing with a string around it I could wear like a necklace, but it was already filled with other stones and those were also too precious to me to just dump out to make room for these.

The man was really catching on to what we were doing, and now he was straight up attempting to kill us himself and take the stones so we couldn't help the others anymore. At some point, he was in front of me in this very large, empty black space and threatening me, telling me something like "Everyone who betrays me has lost, and will be killed," and I randomly began floating away on a cloud and said "I was never controlled by you, so I CAN'T lose!" As I was floating, he tried to chase after me (floating on his own somehow) but before he could, I came across a pair of gloves that had two long wolverine-esque claws on them. Actually, they weren't even really gloves, it was more like a loop that I stuck my hands through and could grip to use the claws that were on top, and they were made of this thick, yellowish brown material that was almost like corkboard, but much harder and more durable. Anyway, the dream-rule was that apparently if I took these claws, and ONLY these claws, and slashed them into the air in an X shape, it would rip a hole in the world itself, and going through it would free everyone from this man's control. So I did that, and he was screaming for me to stop (I mean he's the villain, of course he's gonna scream that) but then everything went white.

The people were indeed freed from his control, but now all of a sudden I was outside in the middle of a massive road, and being hit by car after car, flinging me across the road and rolling over on top of me and sending tons of debris and people inside flying at me - but it was all in very slow motion... apparently, I was supposed to be reenacting a scene for a film, but for some reason things went horribly wrong and this ended up being a real thing that was happening. I don't remember what happened immediately after that...

Some other parts I remember from my dream were looking around a school building for my brother, and it was at 9 PM so most people were understandably not there. I expected to find him in certain rooms, but I kept accidentally going to the wrong rooms instead, and even when I went to the correct ones, he wasn't there.

Another part I remember was going to my own school in the daytime, and for some reason there were bombchus set up on every spot where the sidewalk changed direction? and they were all active so I had to jump over them to not get blown up. They were even set up around an area where a little girl and her family were trying to have a birthday party, but the bombchus forced them to relocate and they were really pissed at whoever had set them all up.

ANOTHER part that I remember was that I was in this room with three exits - one of which just led directly outside, but with a long drop below. Someone who was like twice the size of the building was outside and saying they had to fix some things before they could let us out, and so two of the exits were closed with a metal gate (like the ones you see when mall stores are closed). And I was like "us??" and so I looked around and Lana (HW) was there?? For some reason her magic didn't work properly, and I tried to lead us through the third open exit but it was closed before we could get out. After that I noticed a black ladder leading up to a hole in the ceiling, and I tried to use that too, but the person outside said something like "oops, I can't believe I forgot to take that!" and the ladder disappeared. We were waiting and thinking about what to do and then the ladder suddenly reappeared a little bit later, but the person outside wasn't paying attention, so I climbed up really fast and urged Lana to come up too. She did, and before the person outside could see us, I pulled the whole ladder up through the hole and laid it down, so they couldn't tell that we had used it. We started walking through a crowded attic-like space to get out of the building, and after that I don't remember anything.

[beatcroc]

ok so for once i’m gonna ramble about skullgirls in the tag where people might actually care so here we go

one of the first things that’s rightfully praised about skullgirls is how much personality there is in its character animations, but even the old concept sheets are worth a hell of a lot of commentary and carry a pretty impressive amount of insight to those that went unused [and largely overlooked], so i’m gonna have some fun and see how much extrapolation i can do for a few of them.  [all images taken from the official skullgirls and/or alex ahad’s tumblr]

first up: feng! feng had a relatively high amount of concepts done so she was fun to look at

feng’s movments are, in a word, fluid, and focus on carrying  several distinct strikes through one burst of momentum. 

  once she begins a motion, she’s always ready to follow up with another or two without needing to to give herself a new start point, but in the same token she can also land and balance at any moment during these movements. any successive points she launches herself from continues from/adds to the momentum of the previous, but it seems she never lets the inertia hit a point she can't instantly recover from or change the angle of the momentum with ease.  

a side thing that's pretty neat about feng is she almost always has those darn birds balanced somewhere on her, which means more often than not she has two horizontal and relatively stationary points throughout her movements and idles. there's not anything particularly telling about this, but it does lend itself to a lot of neat poses :b i guess it would imply she’s been preforming with them for quite awhile though...

as an acrobat, feng’s focus is on grace much moreso than power.  she's not a fighter by profession, but she certainly knows how to put her skills to use in combat [and will readily do so!] i wouldn't guess she's used to fighting a specific kind of opponent to have adapted to, or really even had much deliberate fight training, but some of her concepts seem to have a bit of traditional martial arts moments thrown in, so her fighting prowess may be self-taught, perhaps to accentuate movements in her performance. i'm not knowledgeable enough to know which style, exactly, but it's very reminiscent of air [rotational movements, ease of directional momentum shift] and firebending[dynamic kicks and stance changes] movements in atla.

now i don’t actually know anything about fighter meta or how to build a solid character, but were she in the game, she’d definitely be one of those characters that does shit for damage, but can combo to hell and back. she’s maneuverable and you’re toast if she gets to you, but she might also be easier to punish and have few options when it comes to ranged attacks.

next up, black dhalia

dhalia is really interesting because her sketches seem to to focus on snapping from one extreme to another

a mysteriously concealed stance to a swift sudden burst, dhalia’s posture is solid but poised; she’s always ready to spring to action and strike in any direction at a moment’s notice, and when she does she has TON of flair in it. black dhalia knows she’s good at what she does, and she knows she looks damn good doing it.

she also seems to have a knack for following up an initial action/hit with something bizarre out of nowhere that requires no further exertion from her than to hold whatever pose she just struck. she doesn’t usually put too much into any one hit; to get the job done she leans more into her ability to produce something damaging from pretty much any angle or stance. not one to be easily cornered or duped.

as an seasoned assassin, i imagine she's used to taking down targets with a great deal of variety in their strengths and weaknesses.[the medici certainly have many enemies and grudges, so those on their hitlist likely fall all over the place in terms of uh... competence]. she’s ready for anything. if given advantage, she waits to assess an opponent;concealed so as to not betray her plans to the target, and then delivers a precise, decisive blow. if ambushed or outnumbered, she looks to keep opponents at bay with her variety of gun...weaponry. dhalia seems most lethal at close range, but she has the tools and stamina to win a ranged game too.

In practice it looks like she'd thrive on unpredictability, plenty of moves that come out from the same pose super quickly, with slightly above-average power. not the fastest in movement or cooldown, but plenty of versatility to compensate.

on the third hand, we have annie, who is is…amusingly straightforward in all her attacks. 

annie’s pretty much the polar opposite of feng. she uses huge sweeps, fully exerting herself into singular concentrated strikes that are all about getting as much power as possible behind one motion. there is no stopping this girl’s momentum.

like dhalia, annie has a solid stance--but hers is for sturdiness, not surprise; for bracing and anchoring moves that have a lot of kick to them.

it’s hard to say exactly how much involvement sagan would have in her full spectrum moves, but in these examples whenever she uses him, it’s always a... fairly detached thing? like, when annie attacks, it’s either with the cleaver, or with sagan, and there’s not much overlap or synergy between the types of moves.  not that there’s any reason there should be; she utilizes both perfectly well on their own. the cleaver is also interesting because while she can, and often does wield it one-handed, it’s still got enough weight behind it to merit two-handed swings, though she seems to do dual-handed more if there’s some kind of effect along  the swing, like in Crescent Cut and North Sword.                                     

as a self-made skullgirl killer, annie’s targets have probably mostly been very durable and very powerful, but not incredibly mobile. to counter them, she looks to end battles as quickly as possible with defense-shattering strikes or blasts, while using her own mobility to stay out of harm’s way. float like a butterfly, hit like a truck i guess. 

despite also being an actor, annie has practically no deliberate visual flair to her movements [luckily for her, her sparkliness is part of the attack’s functionality so it doesn’t matter much if she’s actually trying to look cool and flashy, it happens regardless :b]. she has a lot of fights under her belt and takes this whole thing pretty seriously.

In practice I can see her being an agile hard-hitter, but slower to start and end moves than average, with relatively low combo potential. pretty balanced with options in terms of ranged/close combat

lastly, umbrella. she lacks a distinct fighting style so i have less to say about that, but honestly the sheer wildness of her concepts merits bringing her up.

her “stance” and lack of cohesion in attacks are at least indicative of one thing though: it’s clear she’s pretty much just a normal carefree little kid who hasn’t yet gotten any real fighting experience or training.

but even if she doesn't know much about combat, she does know about hungern, and how to utilize its, uh... odd capabilities [even if it’s... not always a very dignified use of them.]

like, i feel like these aren’t things a kid would immediately think a weird umbrella would be capable of doing, let alone pick up on how to do them. she’s had to have done some experimentation with it over the years to find out this kind of stuff. had someone taught her, i’m sure she would know a more skillful way to make hungern do its thing than literally just flopping down on top of it [but hey maybe it’s just fun :b] we know krieg is a renoir heirloom, so it might not be a stretch to say hungern was too, and if so it’s safe to say umbrella’s probably had it as long as she can remember, and she seems to have it with her basically at all times. she does seem to enjoy having and using it, though i’d guess she doesn’t  get much opportunity to really ‘unleash’ hungern like this, being sheltered and all.

anyway all that said, i think really the only thing preventing umbrella from being a true force to be reckoned with in-universe is some disciplne. not in the sense that sh’s a bad kid [though she certainly isn’t...exemplar either]; she’s got the willingness to learn and a good bit of know-how, she just need some structure behind it and practice applying what she knows to real situations.

in terms of gameplay...man. i dunno. lotta weird moves, looks like a lot of huge hitboxes that would make her a pain to get to without risk to yourself, though aside from that she’d be average in all ways i guess.

i’m still trying to wrap my head around venus and illeum’s sheets, among others... but there may be a few other posts like this coming ‘cause i love doing this shit; if you wanna see me do a particular [both used or unused!] hmu, i’d be down ;y

[spiteweaver]

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“Isn’t it about time for you to close shop?”

Atsushi did not look up when Seaglass entered. After all he’d done, he should have. It was simply the polite thing to do, and criminals like him had to earn points when and how they could. However, Seaglass’ sudden and unexpected arrival set his teeth on edge, so he continued examining the register in his hands, even when Seaglass pulled right up to the counter and leaned against it.

“I do my best business after dark,” he informed, “when Dreamweaver’s all-seeing eye is busy seeing more convenient things.”

“Should they be worried?”

Atsushi pretended to think for a moment, his finger pausing over the serpenta bones he’d ordered the week prior. “No,” he said at length, “not particularly. I’m merely a deeply private individual, as I’m certain you are aware.”

“Sure,” Seaglass replied, “and that privacy caused them an awful lot of trouble.”

Atsushi winced, but said nothing in his own defense. The wounds were still fresh, and Seaglass knew that full well. Either he’d come looking for a fight, which Atsushi thought would have been very out of character, or he was skirting around what he’d actually come to say.

Either way, Atsushi would have rather been anywhere else right then—even back on Spellwall Isle, under that tyrant Sadalbari’s thumb.

“How are you?” Seaglass asked.

The question came as such a shock to him that, for a moment, Atsushi lifted his gaze to meet Seaglass’. It was swiftly returned to the register. “Why are you asking me that?” he muttered. “It shouldn’t matter to you how I am.”

“Maybe,” Seaglass said with a shrug, “but it does.”

“I’m busy,” Atsushi replied. “That’s how I am.”

“Heard you talked to Carnelian,” said Seaglass. Atsushi clenched his jaw. “Heard it went well.”

“It went about as well as could be expected,” Atsushi scoffed, and, finally, set the register aside. He still did not look up, instead staring hard at his hands. His nails were in shambles. “I said my piece and ran like the awful coward I am,” he clarified. “Nothing was satisfactorily resolved, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“Well,” Seaglass began, “a little birdie told me he was pretty chuffed with the whole thing.”

Atsushi’s chest tightened painfully, so much so that he grasped at it. It felt like all the air had been knocked from his lungs. “Why are you telling me this?” he rasped. “Why—why are you being kind to me?”

“You’re my clanmate, aren’t’cha?”

His hand came down hard on the counter, making Seaglass jump. “I—killed—your—mentor,” he hissed. “What part of that don’t you understand? I planned the whole thing; the only part of it I didn’t have a hand in was the murder itself. Then, when you failed to wipe this entire village off the map, I dragged his soul from the afterlife to torment you with. You should not be here comforting me. It’s—it’s ludicrous. You’re a soft-hearted fool.”

“…So are you gonna talk to Carnelian again or not?”

Atsushi opened his mouth to reply, but found that he hadn’t the words to do so. Seaglass was looking at him like he looked at everyone he cared for: with concern so genuine, it made Atsushi want to retch.

He didn’t understand it. He didn’t understand how the person he’d hurt the most, the person he’d most heinously betrayed, could stand across from him now and look upon him kindly. He was beginning to understand a great many things, like love so pure it stopped his heart, but this—this was something he would never be able to wrap his head around. He would try for as long as he lived, but he would go to meet his maker still not understanding how Seaglass had possibly forgiven him.

Atsushi nodded stiffly. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Great!” Seaglass clapped him on the shoulder. “Workin’ up the nerve’s the hard part, but you’ve already done it once, so how hard’s it to do it again, yeah?”

“Seaglass,” Atsushi said, and clasped his hands timidly in front of him, “how—how are you?”

He expected a somber silence, or perhaps even a hard right hook. It wasn’t his place to ask his victim how he was faring in the aftermath of one of his own nefarious schemes. If Seaglass had lashed out at him then, he wouldn’t have been surprised—nor would he have protested.

Instead, Seaglass burst into one of his signature bright, toothy grins. “I’m excellent,” he said. “Cor, didn’t figure you’d be asking me that. You’re not exactly the lovey-dovey type, that’s more of a me thing.”

“Yes, well…” Atsushi hunched his shoulders. The tips of his ears had grown hot with embarrassment. “I’m still learning how to navigate genuine social interactions,” he confessed, “and how to deal with experiencing a wider range of emotions, but—but you asked me how I was, so I thought it only right to ask you in return. Besides that, I—I wanted to know.”

“I s’ppose I’ve been busy, too,” Seaglass said. “Emir’s a real handful. Loads of potential, but a little too quick on the draw, if you catch my meanin’.”

Atsushi did not catch Seaglass’ meaning, but he nodded all the same.

“Anyhow,” Seaglass went on, “he keeps me run ragged, but I can’t fault him. I was the same way with Jìng.”

The name hung in the air between them for several long moments. The last time Seaglass had seen his mentor, his lover, had been right here, in Atsushi’s shop. He had said goodbye to a mangled shell of what had once been the most important person in his life not a yard from where they were standing now.

“I haven’t stopped missing him,” Seaglass said. For the first time, Atsushi noticed that there were no dark circles hanging under his eyes--and that he was starting to let his hair grow out again. He looked better than he had in eons. “I’m not being friendly with you ‘cause I’m over it,” he assured. “I’m never gonna be over it.”

“I know,” Atsushi said. “I know, and I’m so—”

“There’s no sense in us bein’ on bad terms, though, is there?” Seaglass rested a hand, tentatively, atop Atsushi’s. “When you told me to let you send him back,” he said, “that was you doing the right thing, wasn’t it? That—that wasn’t part of your plan.”

“No,” Atsushi conceded, “it wasn’t.”

“I think, even then, you cared,” Seaglass said. “You did the right thing then, and you did the right thing getting Mergo and Penumbra home safe. You’re a better person than you give yourself credit for.”

“You really are a soft-hearted fool,” Atsushi said hoarsely.

“Yeah,” Seaglass agreed, “but Jìng always told me that if you have to be a fool, it’s best to be a nice one.”

“Thank you,” Atsushi said. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, or anyone else’s, but I—I’m happy to have it. You were the last person I expected to…”

“Well, I did almost take your head off that time,” said Seaglass. “I’ve had a long seven eons to get my head screwed back on, though. I thought about holding a grudge, really, I did—but it just wouldn’t do either of us any good. ‘Sides that, I ‘dunno what I would’ve done if I was in a situation like yours. It couldn’t’ve been easy on ya.”

“Easier than you’d think,” Atsushi replied. “Easier than I’d like to admit.”

“Still,” Seaglass said, “try not to dwell too much on it, all right? You live the rest of your life thinking about what you could’ve done differently, all the chances you missed to change your fate, and you’ll be miserable. I’ve learned that the hard way, and I’d wager you will too—but I’m hoping maybe I can save you at least a little bit of the heartache.”

“You—”

“Yeah, yeah, soft-hearted fool, I know.” Seaglass leaned down, forcing Atsushi to meet his gaze again. He was smiling--softly, sincerely. “Friends?”

A hard lump formed in Atsushi’s throat. He knew by now what it was, but it still frightened him, just a bit. The first time it had happened, the first time he’d cried, he’d thought there was something wrong with him, that something somewhere inside of him had stopped working like it should. Other people felt like this, remorseful, hopeful, tender, not him. Never him.

Things were different now.

“Yes,” Atsushi said, “friends.”

[breadtastesgood]

After 200+ hours of playing  Breath of the Wild, I have finished my adventure. Here are my thoughts. (Spoilers)

So, almost two months after its release, I have officially completed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and oh boy, do I have a lot to say about this game. I’m a little hesitant to call this a review, I guess, because it’s not organized too well or intent on giving a score or anything silly like that. But considering my love for this series and acknowledging this game as a huge departure from what many have grown used to, its got my head spinning with a whole bunch of thoughts that I just feel like dumping somewhere. This is mostly an art blog, it feels a little weird sticking this here but I honestly don’t know where else I’d put it. I’ll try to organize my brain and keep things as short as possible, but for the most part I’m just gonna jump in.

Ok, let’s get the big stuff out of the way: I like this game. Even if you haven’t played it, if you’ve so much as searched Zelda within the past month, this near universal opinion shouldn’t be unfamiliar to you. You could go anywhere on the internet around its release and see overwhelming praise, 10/10, a “masterpiece” or even “the best game of all time”. I’m kind of opposed to scores and big statements like that because they have the power to label a game as perfect or flawless, even if they don’t mean to; but the acclaim isn’t necessarily undeserved, this is a great Zelda game, and a really good video game in general. One of the biggest reasons for this praise is attributed to how big of a departure it is, it really sets itself apart from past Zelda games; However, that’s also what inclines me to dissect this title far more than any of its predecessors.

Since this isn’t really a proper review, and I’m assuming most of the people reading this have already played the game in some capacity, I’m just gonna quickly summarize what I like about it. If you want more in depth conversations about the positives you should go ahead and find something on IGN...or Youtube or something I dunno, honestly anywhere, this game has gotten nothing but glowing reviews, it’s not too hard to find something better constructed than my stuff.

-It’s gorgeous, the cel shading and overall homage to japanese animated films *cough* Ghibli *cough* is wholeheartedly welcome and beautiful to look at. This is the first Zelda game where I didn’t want to cut the grass because it was just so damn pretty. I’d constantly find myself placing link in compositionally pleasing settings to just watch the world teem with life and wonder.

-The runes and their implementation with shrines and the divine beasts make for some clever puzzles, even if they are a lot of the times maybe a little too easy and kind of short. When the puzzles are at their best, you can’t help but smile.

-I like the basic concept of the story, it’s nice to see Zelda explored as a character. (Though I will say that Link not being as expressive in this title was a bit of a let down, he’s expressive in the world and not in the cutscenes which is odd. I know there’s a canon reason for this but still, I miss the personality from previous titles. I hope they weren’t trying to reel back on his facial expressions for fear of breaking “immersion” or something silly like that, no one I know sees link as themselves, I’d like to think most people really do see him as his own character.)

-The outfits are great.

-Different weapon types are super cool.

-I actually ended up not hating the voice acting, in fact, I feel like there should have been more of it.

-I love how the world is constantly being traversed by characters that always have something funny or useful to say. I remember one guy telling me that his name was Spinch and his horse was named Spinch too; so completely random. You engage with him further and he’s just like: “We’re both Spinch and I don’t even care.” It killed me, and it’s stuff like that that was part of what made exploring fun.

-It acknowledges the series’ timeline and lore in the most direct way yet. I particularly love how they sprinkled Fi’s theme into scenes with the Master Sword, it gave me chills. Makes you feel like all your past adventures really mattered.

-Music is beautiful, the main theme and Hateno village are some of my new favorites and I can’t wait to hear them Live. Gotta love that Dragon Roost callback too.

-Character design is great. Even the most insignificant npcs have great character designs. This particular reincarnation of Zelda is definitely my favorite appearance wise, the developers did a great job with making her look adorable, dignified, and adventurous all at the same time.

-I like the return of character schedules from Majora’s Mask, makes the world feel alive.

-The champions are all great personalities, but it sucks we couldn’t spend more time with them. (more on this later)

- Prince Sidon is hilarious and really charming.

-Paya is disgustingly cute.

- Bolson is the best god damn npc in the game, that gay ass motherfucker.

-Climbing is fun, unless it rains.

- Fighting is fun (until you’re about 50 hours in and it starts being a little less creative. Once you have a ton of money and really good weapons, the incentive to fight and raid camps isn’t really there anymore unless it's fighting for just fighting’s sake. This made be a bit sad.)

-Based on its basic game mechanics alone, Breath of the Wild is, in general, pretty fun. There’s a lot more I could say, but I feel like it’s fairly obvious what the really good things are in this game.

The list goes on and on and on...but these are my main take aways without getting TOO entrenched into a stream of consciousness. I don’t really feel the need to go too in depth about the games positives, because they’re widely discussed and loudly appreciated across the board; I wanted to be brief with my addition to the echo chamber. With that said, I actually have a few fairly substantial grievances with this game that prevent it from being a masterpiece for me.

Saying this feels like betraying a best friend, especially after waiting 6 years for this game. But I think it’s necessary to put these thoughts out there when a game gets universally good reviews, I want Zelda to grow and improve beyond this point. It’s obvious Nintendo won’t see this shit, but it’s good to get a conversation going, especially when every single Zelda game gets widespread acclaim upon release and only a year or so later do people tend to tone it down a little. This is fairly ironic in my case, as Skyward Sword is one of my favorite games and it seems to have the starkest contrast between its initial opinions and those that popped up a year after. I just have some things that really irk me about this game, which sucks because I actually love it a great deal, I’m super torn.

My biggest takeaway from 200 hours of traveling across Breath of the Wild’s world was that its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Nintendo set out to spread its wings and build this immense world that inspires wonder and awe, and it certainly does that, but I feel like that’s mostly all the game is at times.  It’s funny, because as soon as I start to say stuff like this, I can’t help but think, “Wow that’s actually really great, I’m glad the game went this direction.” But I also feel heavily conflicted about that direction’s consequences. This may sound strange and it’s not really bad, but I felt like the world is almost so open ended with itself that its identity is spread a little thin.  

I’m kind of going against my own logic here, because I’ve always wanted a Zelda game with an immense amount of side quests to beef up the experience outside of the main quest. I’ve prayed for a huge world to explore, to really feel the enormity of this land that needed to be saved. And there really is a lot to do, there's a ton, but only a handful of the sidequests outside the shrines have much heft. The game doesn’t really have a set pace as a result, which can be seen as a good thing I guess. I can agree with the sentiment that this choice was necessary as a stepping stone going forward, I think Zelda definitely benefits from the nonlinearity approach, and Nintendo going as far as they did with it this time will help them see its advantages and disadvantages. If Skyward Sword was an extreme in linearity, Breath of the Wild is an extreme in the exact opposite direction. In my opinion, they both still work well in their own regards, albeit in incredibly different ways.

When I say that the game doesn’t have as much of an identity compared to past Zelda’s, I mean that in a way where the identity of the game is largely shaped by the player’s own experience and not by the narrative itself. This can be seen as a huge triumph in player agency, where the power (or in this case courage) really is in the hands of the player. But you can’t curate nonlinearity, at least not entirely. As a result, we tend to lose some of the pacing that made past titles feel “epic”. I guess what I’m getting at is that my main gripe has to do with how the game’s narrative structure comes together.

The developers were definitely aware of a narrative problem, as they needed a way to glue the game together story wise, and the memories were a pretty clever way to do it; honestly, I don’t know how else they could have made it work with their open air concept. But as much as I find the story compelling and interesting, there’s simply not enough of it, which is a real shame because you feel a need to get closer to these characters, especially the champions. Much of this game feels like you are showing up late to the party. There's a weird dichotomy between the past and present as a result. You end up feeling like you need to care more about the champions in the past, but characters in the present end up getting more development, just less emotional weight attributed to them. It’s a weird flip flop, because I loved Prince Sidon as a character, and thought he was the most developed out of all the main quest based npcs, but Mipha kind of steals the climax of the Zora’s Domain story. What sucks about this is that Mipha has, what appears to be on the surface, a tragic and emotionally affecting story, but we don’t get enough time to dwell on it really, so we’re in this weird flux. This past and present problem actually has made me feel the most disconnected from Link than I ever have, and if I was gonna be disconnected I would have at least liked to have seen him show a little more personality, but he only does this in small instances in the present.

This formula disappointed me more and more with each main questline, especially when all the others tended to be less concerned with getting you familiar with or attached to their respective characters. The worst offender is the Rito area, which I swear can be completed in an hour. It really cheats Rivali out of getting any meaningful development, which is a huge missed opportunity because he was funny, quippy, and a nice rival character for Link. Imagine meeting Groose at the beginning of Skyward Sword, except at the end of the tutorial someone pushes him off Skyloft and he straight up dies, the end. Think about how big of a missed opportunity that would be. That’s kind of how this felt.

Now I know that you can argue that Zelda has never been about the story, but honestly I still thinks that’s up to the player, no matter how simple these stories tend to be. It’s mostly less about story and more about how much time is spent on the fun characters Zelda is known for, and the game loses a bit of its heart as a result. A lot of people, like me, are super into the lore and the characters this franchise has to offer; things don’t need to be convoluted like Kingdom Hearts or emotionally complex like the Last of Us. Many players enjoy the adventure of befriending characters, helping them with their problems, and feeling fulfilled by that alone.

Quests that had this fulfillment element were my favorite, such as cooking a rock for a malnourished Goron to help him regain his strength, or building a town from the ground up with a bizarre cast of carpenters that you can’t help but adore. These are rewarding for me, not because of the loot, but because it’s simply just entertaining and makes me feel like I really accomplished something. Once I reached about 90 hours, I didn’t need rupees, or another royal claymore, what I was really looking for was a reflection of how I impacted the world around me. I wanted to suspend my disbelief and truly get absorbed in this world not only for its beauty and sheer size, I wanted to feel like I mattered to its inhabitants too. And the game does this enough to be fairly satisfactory. Though, there are plenty of quests that get halfway there but end up feeling more like fetch quests, which aren’t so bad if they have a nice reward, but they’re still kind of bland and sometimes a chore.

To kind of wrap all this up, I want to say that Breath of the Wild’s biggest and most glaring problem is that its main quest is severely lacking. There is a lot to do in this game, just not a lot of “big” and memorable things. There’s an almost endless list of small challenges, but few end up feeling all that compelling. I know a lot of people have been talking about the dungeons being a huge weakness, and I think that's definitely part of the problem. There really needed to be more substantial dungeons in this game, I’d say there’s about a dungeon and a half in this title. Maybe we can have a discussion about how the shrines make up for that, but I feel like at least for me, most of them were very simple and too many of them were rewards for easy feats or tests of strength. All things considered, the breadth of this game is impressive, but imagine if you fit a main quest from The Wind Waker or Twilight Princess on top of this huge world; imagine big dungeons with a well paced main quest, along with all these sidequests and a beautiful landscape, that would be amazing! I know this comparison has been made a bit too much, but Skyrim found a way to have a good linear main quest packed into a non linear world, you could in fact avoid it altogether and just do “side quests”. Many of its sidequests had significant weight to them that made them feel like they could've been part of the main mission, you weren’t left with a sense of emptiness if you avoided the main route. I think Zelda could learn a lot from this kind of approach to open world games.

Now I will say that there’s a lot to Breath of the Wild’s main quest that I really love (i’ll be doing a lot of fan art because of it!), I just think it needs to be expounded upon a bit more. There’s all the makings of a true masterpiece here, but the center of it feels a bit fragmented. Bigger dungeons, bigger story, more enemy types, more villages etc. I think the game needs more of these large central elements. There's so much I could say about this game, but that would take forever, these are more or less my biggest criticisms. I once again want to reiterate that I like Breath of the Wild and I really love Zelda as a series, I can’t stress that enough. Feel free to disagree with me and maybe start up a dialogue through messages or something, I’m always willing to discuss! I’m not super focused on checking this for structural issues, it’s not really an organized essay, sorry if it was a bit rambly.

Thanks for reading!!!

Sidenote: I’m aware of the story DLC and new dungeon in the future. I’m extremely excited about this and the DLC will hopefully address my grievances with the game.

[frozen-knights]

Thoughts about White Diamond  Well this became less about White Diamond and more about how she made gem society the way it is today and how colour could hint at the personality traits of each diamond and white I do and don’t think White Diamond shattered pink Diamond.  I was meant to write a short post... it got long... very long. Also spoilers for recent Steven Universe leaks/episodes. 

My thoughts on Pink Diamond here Again I must stress that I DO NOT agree with how the Diamonds rule over the gems. 

I do not think White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond. 

It’s a common theory running around Tumblr at the moment and no I don’t agree with it, I also do not think that it was Pearl that shattered Pink Diamond. I believe that it was Rose that shattered Pink Diamond because this is the reason other Gems such as Bismuth followed her. Her infamous reputation was one of the many reasons other Gems followed her, they believed in her and that if Rose can shatter / defeat a Diamond so can they.

This is the mural that people often cite when saying that it was white Diamond who shattered pink Diamond. I don’t think that is white Diamond but some powerful Gem that commands the armies of White Diamond. However I also agree that it could be a version of the Diamonds before the design was finalized however this might not be the case. However I do feel this is an important mural to keep in mind. 

Some thoughts I have on the mural (but not set in stone) include: 

That figure in white is the cluster or a experimental cluster. The reason I think this is because: 1. The gem is bursting from the earths core, so maybe this was the first cluster (successful) cluster of its kind. 2. It is small the same height as rose so maybe not as many shattered gems were used to make it. The small gems surrounding it could be the gems that were used to make it, also the leg bothers me. It could just be time eroding away the colour and art but it could also mean that this gem was not perfect. I dunno that’s just grasping at straws.  3. The sunny figure could be yellow diamond (early design) or it could be the cluster bursting/emerging from the ground like an explosion.  4. And the hands reaching up could be gems not humans (though I think it is humans reaching up to Pink Diamond from their zoo) towards the cluster gem. My reasoning for this is that the cluster is a geo-weapon and we know some sort of weapon was used in the final moments of the war to corrupt the remaining gems on Earth. Which could be the scene below. 

The white figure is Pink Diamond. Again this is a guess but the hands and the fact this is a strong single figure fighting Rose is a strong hint. However if the Rose Vs Gem panel is Pink Diamond i think that could be the moment that Pink was shattered. And the black things could be corrupted Gems that Rose wants to save. Again its all guess work. But what is interesting is the place and mural itself.  This was built after Rose started her rebellion, the star on her dress the fact she is standing up to an authority figure all indicates this. The crystal Gems we know today are familiar with this place they could have become familar with it after thousands of years living on earth but it could have also been a place where Rose trained her army in secret. This afterall is located in what was once a battle field. It could have been built by a Bismuth (our Bismuth) to celebrate where the rebellion began.  And served as a reminder of why they are fighting the gems. On the other hand it could be built in dedication to Pink and shows what happens when people betray the diamonds and that the smaller rectangular murals depict the punishments that these rebellious gems had to endure. It could be a place where gems were punished and a gem such as an Agate could have overseen this place. 

I do believe that White Diamond is the most distant of Diamonds. 

Again I stand by the idea that in her own way Pink Diamond was  the most loving and kind of the Diamonds Link here if you want to read those thoughts and I think White Diamond is the most emotionally distant of the Diamonds. This is mostly guesswork but bare with me. 

The Diamonds by colour psychology

I do think colour choice is important in this show, as is the choice of gems and other things. 

Pink: is youthful nurturing colour that is warm, compassionate, sweet and inspires an positive outcome. It is non threatening, naive, immature has little will power or lack and self worth.  I stand by that pink loves but in her own way, the humans she imprisoned she loved in her own way. She was young, naive and i’m going to guess immature thanks to her youth just like a very young amethyst, just because she is a Diamond does not mean she is born wise and all powerful.  Yellow: is a optimistic colour, fun, confident, logic, analytical, wise and creative. But it is also critical, judgmental, impatient, impulsive, spiteful, lacking compassionate and egotistical.  I’m going to assume that yellow wasn’t always angry, at one point she must have been more balanced. I do think she is very logical woman and after pinks death became more impatient and spiteful as seen by the way she views all Rose Quartz's and how she wants Blue to get over her grief and doesn’t quite understand why Blue is taking longer to process her grief then herself.    Blue: is a loyal colour, trustworthy, tactful, caring, idealistic, orderly and authoritative. It is also a colour of perseverance, concern and devotion.  It is also a sad depressing colour that can be rigid, old fashioned, spiteful and unstable. It is frigid, unforgiving and can be weak.  Blue Diamond is an authority figure, who judging by the way she reacted to Garnet is very old fashioned and rigid in her thinking. In her current state she is very sad, depressed and devoted to her shattered sister and she could be considered unstable in how she is dealing with her depression.  White: Is the beginning of everything and its death, it is purity, complete, simple, neat and self sufficient and equality. But is is also cautious, distant, empty, isolated and critical.  Again we do not know anything about white but I do think that White is the first Diamond and I’m going to guess that she is the most powerful Diamond who does not need the other diamonds or anyone’s help. 

White Diamond created the Diamond authority 

The fact that White Diamond has yet to be seen in this show means that her reveal is going to be something big. She is the head of the Diamond authority, always seen on top of the pyramid/diamond while yellow and blue stand by side and the youngest pink was later added  to the bottom. 

I feel that White Diamond is the oldest and first of the diamonds, she created the Diamond authority and established the ground work for the gem society that we see today. 

Yellow and Blue are either the same or similar age, their position on the pyramid/triangle could indicate this. They are close, the fact that yellow was the one to find and comfort blue shows this. Also Yellow and Blue feel pink’s death on a deeply personal level. Though since we have yet to see white this could be wrong, but i feel if it were my sibling who needed my help I would be there for them. 

Pink is the youngest she was created on Earth and why there is a massive hole in Russia its in a similar place to the Jubilee mine. She was given the Earth and made her own type of quartz soldiers (Rose quartz) 

I also feel she’s (possibly) going to be the shows villain

I feel White Diamond created gem society as it is now, maybe before her rule it was chaotic and in need of a strong leader to create a sense of order. I think her intentions started out good but it became the horror that it is now. It is rigid and unchanging and any signs of imperfection (corrupted gems) are wiped out. Shattered gems are turned into geo-weapons of various sizes for reasons we don’t fully understand and whatever was once good isn’t now if it ever was.  I feel the age gap (if there is one) between White Diamond, Blue and Yellow is huge. I think Yellow and Blue were not made on Homeworld, (I have a small theory that the planets the Diamonds are looking at on their murals are the planet they are made on.) I think White is respected by Yellow and Blue but she is emotionally distant from her younger siblings. Fast forward to Pink Diamonds creation and I feel that White may have never even known Pink or at least only met her a couple of times. However I feel that Yellow and Blue took Pink under their wings and helped her understand her role and duties (including turning the earth into a colony planet) and that is why they grieve their sisters loss so much. Some would argue that thousands of years is enough time to grieve but I think the Diamonds never considered that they could be shattered and didn’t know how to process an emotion they might never have felt before now. I think that White Diamond is emotionally distant. She is old and doesn’t mix feelings into her work, she is the Diamond that taught Blue and Yellow how to do their work and what being a Diamond means. White is the one that created the hierarchy and the rules surrounding a gems purpose and role in this hierarchy. She is the reason things are so horrible, the reason the Diamonds rule using fear. I think if Steven and the Crystal Gems meet White Diamond it will be a massive arch. I think there will come a time when things change with Gem society and the other gems will or have had a hand in this: 

Blue might accept that things need to change from an emotional stand point as she finally sees (or comprehends) the horrible reality of how things are. 

Yellow might accept that things need to change from a logical stand point, resources are becoming scarce and there needs to be a change. Mass producing gems is not the answer. 

Pink in her youth may have been the Diamond to instigate change as the young are more malleable and you can shape them into the person you want them  to be. 

Nature vs Nurture

IF White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond, I think it was for the third reason. I Personally believe that someone isn’t born evil, they are not born a dictator or a cruel person they are exposed to things or manipulated throughout their lives to become the person they are today. This show is all about change and becoming the person you want to be, it about love an acceptance. I think IF a Diamond were to rebel against White and say “No more tyranny” it would have been Pink.  Sure the way pink viewed humans as nothing more than curious animals to be locked away was wrong, but all gems look down aliens who are not Gems. They are taught that this is how things must be that they are the apex race that must be respected and they can do what they want. This is something their society has accepted and I believe it is White who first started this chain of events.  I think Pink is the most loving and caring of the Diamonds. I feel IF Pink was shattered by White (IF) then for a short amount of time Pink might have stood with Rose wishing to protect the Earth she was born on. Maybe she was planning to return the humans to their world, maybe this is how our Rose learned to love all the Earth and all the creatures that lived on the Earth. But White did not like this. This was not how Diamonds ruled.  So White put her foot down and Pink finally sided with her older sister and against Rose or stood against her sister and protected the Earth with rose. So Rose shattered Pink to save the things she loved or Pink stood against White to protect the things she loves and in the process was shattered. But this was a sister, White could not tell Yellow or Blue this fact and used Rose as a scapegoat.  Of course the White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond theory fall’s apart when you consider that Ruby claims to have seen Pink Diamond be shattered and while we don’t know how true that is other gems have backed up this claim. There is the possibility that Ruby didn’t see what she thought she saw and that Rose told what story she needed to tell (who would believe a rebellious leader who says that a Diamond shattered another Diamond) but as for now we don’t have any information on why White would want to shatter Pink?  White Diamond wants things to stay the way they are, this is what works for her and what has worked for thousands of years and maybe she’s not ready to see how her society is falling apart. The lack of resources and need to re-purpose Gems like Jasper (Who went from one army to another) hints that maybe the Diamonds are fighting other wars possibly other much larger rebellions, inspired by Rose herself.  White Diamond has tasked Yellow (and possibly Blue who is incapable of much due to her state of depression and so most of the work falls upon Yellow these days) to manage colony's and resources. With Yellow under constant pressure to work and Blue so emotionally devastated that she is incapable of doing much thanks to physical and mental exhaustion White Diamond seems to be the highest authority and has her sisters firmly under her control. 

Redemption for the Diamonds So far every “Villain” introduced (aside from Jasper) has had a Redemption arc. Corrupted Gems are proved not to be evil but feral, unable or incapable of higher thinking and so far we haven’t really got any human Villains unless you count Kevin. (I count Kevin as a Villain)  The question is could the Diamonds change?  They rule a broken society, everything is wrong. Gems live in fear of their higher ups, from Pearls to Peridots and from Peridots to Agates and from Agates to Sapphires and from Sapphires to Diamonds everyone fears those above them. Fear is the ideal weapon of a dictator. Those who do not fit into society (be it corruption or rebellious) are shattered and it is this fear of being shattered that keep everyone in their place. We agree that something needs to change and if it is the Diamonds that change, that see the errors of their way then the entire society can change.  You can’t just remove a ruler and think that things will be okay, it would be utter chaos if the Diamonds were gone (be shattered or bubbled) and it wouldn’t be long before Gems like Agates and Sapphires assumed control in the Diamonds place. You have instigate change slowly, educate the people and make them see that yes freedom is better but freedom with some laws and rules to make sure it does not become lawless and chaotic.  I could see a new society being born free of the Diamonds, I could see Blue and Yellow possibly stepping back or instead leading something more democratic. However I also don’t think this could be possible with someone as old and as unchanging as a figure like a Diamond. But if Peridot can go from hating the earth to fighting for it I’m sure the Diamonds could come to some form of understanding that perhaps there needs to be change.  Nobody here agrees with how the Diamonds rule. It is wrong and it needs to be stopped, but as we have seen in the latest episodes Yellow and Blue are not without feelings. But they are also figures that represent discriminatory leaders in power. The prime examples are:  Blue who sees Garnet is unjustly horrified by this new fusion, this new way to show love, this new person. She orders Ruby shattered because Ruby is “just a common Ruby” and Blue diamond is “protecting” her precious Sapphire. But Garnet is not someone to hate or be repulsed by she is strong because of the love that makes her who she is. But she is something brand new and the Diamonds don’t like change.  Rose was new (possibly never leaving earth) and we don’t know which Diamond Pearl belonged to. (Though I assume she was White Diamonds, as she remembers Homeworld fondly and she is mostly white and was given to Pink Diamond as a gif.)  So we don’t know how many times this had happened but I’m going to assume Garnet was brand new. 

Garnet at the time was a fusion unlike any other, Blue was replused not because it was fusion but because it was a new fusion. Garnet was something to be be feared. Imagine IF the temple that Steven lives in was an accurate representation of a combined fusion between Rose, Pearl and Garnet, imagine the power that fusion would have. Fusion is said to be “A weak tactic to make weak gems stronger” by those in power. The reason is to squash out any thoughts that you would want to fuse with someone that wasn’t the same type of gem as you.  It keeps gems in their place. It keeps those who are in power in power and this is what the Diamonds want. They don’t want a fusion leading the people, though I suspect a fusion like Garnet would actually be the best type of person to lead gems.  The cluster / forced fusion gems created are both geo-weapons and abnormalities. Other gems would look upon these creatures in disgust and perhaps this is the reason that Gems (along with the “weak tactic” bullshit Jasper repeats because that is what she was told) didn’t fuse with other gems. They didn’t want to turn into “monsters” or risk being shattered and made into these monsters.  However the question then becomes Do the Diamonds deserve a Redemption Arc?   Honestly I’m on the fence. On one hand I think a lot of characters need redemption arcs but on the other hand you look at the atrocities the Diamonds have committed and it becomes less clear.  But this is a show about change, about owning up to your mistakes and doing you best to fix the mistakes you made and move on with your life. Its about growth, its about love, its about forgiveness and family.  And Steven is the type of person who will eventually mature enough to know that yes the Diamonds did bad shit and maybe that should not be forgiven (certainly not forgotten) but his very nature also dictates that he might teach the Diamonds the error of their ways though you could argue how do you teach someone so unaccustomed of change to change?  I do think this shows end game is to enact a change in Gem society so they can have a happier, brighter future. Where Pearls are no longer slaves and where fusions like Garnet can exist and where Bismuth can build what she wants in peace.