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kidcapes · 1 year ago

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Shin Megami Tensei's Canon Ending

Happy 31st birthday to Shin Megami Tensei (10/30)!

To celebrate, I made a video called "Shin Megami Tensei's Canon Ending" investigating the events between SMT1 and 2 and discussing the evidence for the popular fan-theory that the Neutral route is the canon ending to the original Shin Megami Tensei.

youtube

For the video, I had a short Q&A interview with ATLUS contractor Nobuyuki Shioda, who's worked on several MegaTen books since 1992 to see his opinion on the topic. If you're interested, I'll be posting that discussion below.

I'd recommend watching the video before coming to any conclusion based on the following information. The interview was premised around me just going over all of the evidence that points to Neutral being the canon route before asking his opinion on the topic, so there's no mention of any counter-evidence in this discussion. This will also feature minor spoilers for SMT1, 2, and Raidou 1. ——————————————————————————————————

Context

I’m not familiar with the Japanese fanbase, but the Western fanbase generally considers the Neutral route to be the only SMT1 ending that could lead directly to SMT2.

This idea is largely based on story events introduced by SMT2. Its manual talks about how between the events of SMT1 and before the Messians gained power, Tokyo was a free society where both Messians and Gaeans were welcome.

In SMT2 Game Boy Advance's Visionary Items, the character Madam's butler talks about having a master who was opposed to the Center and helped build Valhalla. This is assumed to be referring to the Hero, SMT1’s protagonist. In the original game, he has a statue dedicated to him in the Valhalla Colosseum and Madam is shown to work with Cerberus, the Hero's pet demon.

Later, in "Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army" in the Akarana Corridor, there is a spirit in the year 203X who says, “Thank goodness for the unification. My wife was a Messiah [Messian], y’know. We owe a lot to that schoolboy with the gadget on his arm, who defeated all the gods and demons.” This mention of God and the devil may be referring to Law and Chaos.

Finally, there is an English guide for Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne titled “Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Official Strategy Guide” that contains a detailed history of the series which says: “It [SMT2] presumes a world where the original game’s protagonist took a Neutral alignment and founded a utopian society whose citizens were free to follow whatever beliefs they chose.” However, when I went to check the Japanese version of this guide, this entire section of the book was missing.

This is all of the evidence I can think of that points towards a possible “true” Neutral ending for SMT1 into SMT2.

Questions

——What’s your initial opinion of the idea that Neutral has to be the route that the SMT1 Hero chose which led to SMT2?

“Since Neutral is presented in a way that can be easily perceived as a so-called ‘true ending,’ it is probably only ‘theoretically possible’ that the sequel is an extension of it.”

——Do you think this evidence points towards the Neutral route making the most sense?

“As mentioned above, it is likely that regardless of whether or not the story of SMT1 ends 'in the extreme', it would have stabilized in a way that would lead to SMT2, even if the outcome appeared to be different at the end of SMT1. Likely, whether or not it ‘makes sense’ is a low priority.”

——If you agree with the previous question, why do you personally think the staff would've chosen this?

“I believe that each staff member has different views. However, I suppose they might consider it ‘undesirable’ to announce it in an official statement.”

——In MegaTen Maniacs, what did the writer mean by “royal road” [王道] in this passage:

“If the existence that created the world is lost, the survival of that world would undoubtedly be called into question, but it can be said that daring to do so and opening up the future with one's own hands is the “royal road” to take in the story. However, the route structure of ‘MegaTen,’ which branches off into ‘Law,’ ‘Neutral,’ and ‘Chaos,’ is a severe constraint that prevents the story from being summed up in terms of the “royal road” alone. For example, although the ideal model of the Neutral route may end up on the “royal road,” an ending that is biased toward Law or Chaos would be unacceptable from the player's perspective unless a ‘different ideal’ can be presented.”

How is Neutral similar to this “royal road”?

“The term ‘royal road’ is used as a general pattern of storytelling in ‘other (non-MegaTen)’ RPGs. I think that the form of story that the creators wanted to write is close to ‘royal road’ as the ‘ideal model’ of what should be presented.”

——If Neutral can be viewed as the ideal route, can we assume that the SMT1 Hero chose it?

“Although it is an imaginative story, and not everyone will agree with it, being unbiased is a kind of virtue, and even Buddhism respects it by calling it the ‘Middle Way,’* which I understand is appropriate for a protagonist.”

——In MegaTen Maniacs, you mentioned that you could not comment on what ending the Hero chose in SMT1. Did you have a specific reason for saying this?

“‘MegaTen Maniacs’ is an official book, but it can be said that in Japan it is difficult to appreciate this kind of content in a text. This is especially true for such a young culture as video games. I also think that ATLUS did not have enough time to examine this writing (mainly due to the lateness of my manuscript), given the limited time available for publication. In that sense, these texts are my texts that I wrote. They may be officially approved considerations, but they are not identical to what the production staff had in mind.

To answer your question, I could say that 'it was better without it,' but since the book was a publication of material that allows players to understand that such points were considered in the production process, I believe they would have deeper gaming experience if they were to play the game again with that understanding.”

——In Ayakashi Monthly Special Final Issue, a comment on the Nocturne draft mentions that SMT2 is a parallel world to SMT1. It is sometimes said that if... or Devil Summoner and Persona are parallel worlds to SMT1. Is this a similar scenario to those games?

However, I can also see this statement metaphorically referencing ATLUS staff explaining about how SMT2's setting was purposefully meant to be vaguely set after SMT1.

What is your opinion on the idea that SMT2 is in a parallel world of SMT1?

“This one had a generous editing period, and Atlus also took the time to check the text on top of the content checks by ‘Famitsu,’ which was also editing the book.

From the viewpoint of game development, describing it as 'parallel' means that it can be influenced by the actions of the player. This is what the use of 'parallel' means in this text, and is separate from a parallel in the narrative itself. The expression 'SMT2 is a parallel world to SMT1' has been used in promotional materials since the release of SMT2 on the SNES, and I also use it in my articles, but I think it means that SMT2 can accommodate any state of personal swing** [or outcome chosen] by a SMT1 player.”

——If we assume that it's specifically the Neutral ending of SMT1 that actually led to SMT2 based on the previous statements, do you think that this retroactively makes Neutral the "true" ending for SMT1?

“Close to it, I would say. Not completely, perhaps. I think it is something that has never existed in the history of Japanese game software.”

——What opinion concerning SMT1's "true" ending do you see the most among the Japanese fanbase?

“I think the majority of Japanese players see a 'True End' as a 'longer (in a sense) and more compelling ('favorable') ending' than the other endings. In that sense, I think SMT1's Neutral route meets the criteria. It is also, even if not consciously, the 'Middle Way'. I think that many players who enjoy MegatTen like to think about the significance of such works, but I don't think that there are many who exchange and examine their opinions (each Megaten fan may have their own unique interpretation).”

——Just to clarify, do you have any opinion on how a canon route for SMT1 may relate to those specific quotes from SMT2 or Raidou 1?

“Raidou 1 is cleverly made, but I don't think it's anything more than one part of the multiverse, as it was retroactively added to the initial conception of the narrative framework.

SMT2 is also a story that was considered from the beginning to some extent, but changes occurred during its production, so fundamentally, there is no perfect continuity.

It can be said that there is no such thing.”

* The Middle Way is a Buddhist concept that preaches moderation in everything as the key to enlightenment. This is referenced in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse by Stephen. ** The word used here is 振れ幅, which means imprecision or variance, so when he says “personal variables” he’s essentially referring to someone's headcanon or fan-theory.

Original Text

——What’s your initial opinion of the idea that Neutral has to be the route that the SMT1 Hero chose which led to SMT2?

「 Neutralはいわゆる「真のエンディング」と捉えやすい形で提示されているため、続編がその延��線上にあるというのは、「理論的に可能」ということに過ぎないのではないでしょうか。」

——Do you think this evidence points towards the Neutral route making the most sense?

「前述したように、SMT1の物語は「極論すれば」どう終わったとしても、SMT1の終わりの時点では異なるエンディングに見えても、SMT2に繋がる形に落ち着いていた、とも考えられます。恐らく、「理にかなっている」かどうかは価値観の順列としては低いのではないのでしょうか。」

——If you agree with the previous question, why do you personally think the staff would've chosen this?

「スタッフは人それぞれで異なる見解を持っていると思います。ただし、公式なステートメントではそれを発表することは「望ましくない」」と考えているかもしれませんね。」

——In MegaTen Maniacs, what did the writer mean by “royal road” [王道] in this passage:

How is Neutral similar to this “royal road”?

「王道という言葉は、一般的な「他の（メガテン以外の）」RPGにおける物語のパターンという意味で使っています。制作者たちの書きたかった物語の形が、提示すべき「理想形」として「王道」に近いのだと思っています。」

——If Neutral can be viewed as the ideal route, can we assume that the SMT1 Hero chose it?

「イメージ的な話で誰にでもそれが好ましいというわけではあせんが、偏りがないことは一種の美徳ではあり、仏教でも中道と呼んで尊重するところがあり、主人公としてふさわしいと理解できます。」

——In MegaTen Maniacs, you mentioned that you could not comment on what ending the Hero chose in SMT1. Did you have a specific reason for saying this?

「公式の書籍である『メガテンマニアクス』ですが、日本ではこうした内容の文章を評価することが難しいと言うことができます。特にゲームという年若い文化では余計にそうだと思います。また発行まで時間のない中ではアトラスさんには、この文章を吟味する時間が足りなかったと思います（主に、私の原稿が遅かったことに原因があります）。そういう意味では、こうしたテキストは書いた私の文章だと思います。公式に認められた考察ではあるかもしれませんが、制作スタッフの考えていたことと同一ではありません。

質問の回答としては、「それはなくても良かった」、とも言えますが、制作していく上でそういった点も考えられているということが理解できる資料を公開した書籍ですから、理解してまた遊んでいただけるなら、より深いゲーム体験になるのではないかと思います。」

However, I can also see this statement metaphorically referencing ATLUS staff explaining about how SMT2's setting was purposefully meant to be vaguely set after SMT1.

What is your opinion on the idea that SMT2 is in a parallel world of SMT1?

「こちらの方が編集期間には余裕があって、テキストについても編集をしている「ファミ通」の内容チェックの上で、アトラスさんも時間をかけてチェックをされています。

ゲームを制作する上では、「パラレル」と表現することは、プレイヤーの行動によって左右されることも含みます。物語じょうにあるパラレルとは別のものといえます。このテキストでのパラレルという表現は、そうした意図で書いています。「『真II』が『真I』のパラレルワールドであると」いう言葉はSFCの真IIの発売当時からプロモーションの中でも表現としてあったもので、私も記事中で使っていますが、真Iのプレイヤーによるパーソナルな振れ幅のどの状態にも真IIは対応している、ということだと考えています。」

「それに近い、とは言えるでしょう。完全に、ではないかもしれません。たぶん、日本のゲームソフトの歴史の上にはなかったものだと思います。」

——What opinion concerning SMT1's "true" ending do you see the most among the Japanese fanbase?

「日本人のプレイヤーの大半は、『トゥルーエンド』は他のエンドよりも「（ある意味）長く、説得力のある（好ましい）エンディング」といった考え方と理解していると思います。そういう意味で真IのNEUTRALは条件に合致していると思います。意識してはいなかったとしても、「中道」であることもです。メガテンを好むフレイヤ―はそういった作品の意味性について考えることが好きな方も多いと思いますが、意見を交換したり考察したりする人は少ないと思います（メガテンのファンは、それぞれ独自の解釈をしているかもしれませんね）。」

——Just to clarify, do you have any opinion on how a canon route for SMT1 may relate to those specific quotes from SMT2 or Raidou 1?

「超力兵団は非常に巧く作っていますが、当初から考えられていた物語構造に後付けで作っていることでマルチバースのひとつ以上にはなり得ないとは思います。

真IIもある程度当初から考えられてきた物語ですが、制作している間に変化は生じていますから、基本的には完全な連続性

はないと言えます。」

#atlus #megaten #smt #shin megami tensei #smt1 #smt2 #Youtube

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embracetranquilityson · 2 years ago

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Playing Hogwarts Legacy as an adult, a different POV. (Possible SPOILERS ahead, please beware)

Okay, hear me out:

When the game was announced I was super excited about the Dark Arts path, so of course as soon as I was able to play I immediately headed for that route.

But then that scene where you have to duel Sebastian happened and I thought "damn, OC is an insane duelist!" soooo... I guess my mind kind of spiraled from there because I somehow got this headcanon that OC was actually undercover at Hogwarts.

Oddly got their letter at a later age, mad skillz™️, really polite and mature... Makes sense, right?

But I don't want to be an Auror. I want to be EVIL!

So, how about an Ashwinder? Victor Rookwood is a pretty cool villain: charismatic af, kinda good looking; I can see us chilling while watching dragons fight- no wait, I hate poachers with a passion. I love magical beasts. No way my OC would ever harm one or stand by and watch as one gets hurt.

And theeeeennnnn... I met professor Aesop Sharp. 10/10 "your daughter/son/adultchild calls me daddy too". I'd like to say it was love at first sight but it was the whole "acknowledging responsibility" speech that got me.

And before you call me weird... I'm in my twenties and as much as I love the "companions" that the game lets you have, I can't physically bring myself to ship my OC with a teenager. Big no no. Weirds me the f out.

So behold, the ultimate headcanon that has been living rent free in my head since the release:

OC is a rogue ashwinder who betrayed the - organisation? Cult? Club? Ah whatever you get it - and somehow found a way to disguise themselves as a student to avoid repercussions. After all, hogwarts is a pretty safe place. They could easily stay under the radar until things had calmed down a bit.

Unless... Unless some students decided they were tired of poachers and ashwinders and decided to take the matter into their own hands. So what was oc supposed to do? Just look the other way and hide while kids got slaughtered?

Nope. Their conscience was screaming enough as it was, they couldn't let it get any louder. So they help Poppy and Nat and try their best to keep Sebastian safe while he dabbles in the dark arts (after all, they know first hand how futile it is to try and smother that fire. You need to get burnt to learn.).

Until they go too far, they become a problem. Rookwood is pissed. Avada Kedavra pissed. Life or death. Their young and foolish friends or them.

It's an easy choice, really.

They drop the spell/potion/ancient magic/whatever that made them seem younger, so the focus is on them. Rookwood's rage is on them.

The shock, the drama.

Your trusted hogwarts companion was an Ashwinder all along. Former ashwinder, but does it really matter to a teenager who only sees the world as black and white?

Would it matter to the professor OC fell for? To the other professor, the one who guided them through the keepers' trials? Or to sweet professors Weasley and Garlick, who went above and beyond to teach them everything they knew?

Would it matter to the aurors who would eventually capture them?

Ladies, gentlemen and fine people, this is my headcanon. This would be my OC (if I was a skilled modder).

Thank you for coming to my -delirious- TED talk.

(and if you have similar or opposite headcanon, please drop them below. I would love to read them!)

Edit: I actually wrote a fic inspired by this! It's gender neutral (You POV) and I had a lot of fun with it!

Here's the link:

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy headcanon #ashwinder #victor rookwood #hogwarts legacy oc #professor sharp #professor fig #professor garlick #professor weasley #natsai onai #poppy sweeting #sebastian sallow #the drama #aesop sharp

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loregoddess · 8 months ago

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Would you be willing to share your builds/levels for the final boss(es) of Octopath II? I'm trying to figure out how much more grinding I realistically need to do to actually finish this game.

Oh yeah, sure! I uh, had a lot more thoughts on this than I realized I would, so I'm sticking most of this under a read more, and I've tried to be vague about spoilers bc I wasn't sure how much you knew already from osmosis or looking at other online tips/guides. Also I ended up breaking things up into sections for easier navigation, because there is...a lot.

Table of Contents

General Thoughts

General Overarching Strategies

Character Preferences

Notes on Bosses

General Thoughts

Full disclosure, I've basically just been rotating my party and using whoever's the lowest level to try and catch them up on levels. Because I started with Ochette, she's locked into the party and is ungodly powerful as a result, but this will occur with literally anyone you start with (my first run I was using Osvald and he was so damned powerful by the end of the game). So I don't have a real "strategy" per boss (except for the optional superboss) so much as I switch around passive skills and subjobs based on who's lowest in levels and who I have to have in the party (Ochette + whoever's story I'm completing).

I will say, I don't feel like most of the bosses require a lot of level grinding, at least not for the character story final bosses. I kinda assume that the recommended level of 45 is like, the average of the entire team. As a general rule, I rarely use the fast-travel feature until I'm in the postgame section, and will literally walk my team everywhere, which helps to maintain levels so that I don't have to grind (and even if I do it's like, running laps in the dungeon right before the boss area until my lowest level person gains two or three levels, which only takes about about half an hour for me usually). Like, when I finished Hikari's route first, I had to run laps before the miniboss to get my two lowest team members to lv. 40, but Ochette was already lv. 52 at this point, and Hikari was about 42 or 43, I think. But I haven't needed to run any laps for any of the other bosses so far.

Also, I feel like Octo2 is a lot more balanced when it comes to stats/subjobs, and you can get away with doing a lot of weird things that work out in the long run so long as you're familiar with the battle mechanics and passive skills and how to make them work for you (which was true for Octo1 too, but I found myself almost always having at least Tressa and Therion in my team so I could get free money and open the purple chests w/out needing to backtrack, which limited my team compositions a lot more than Octo2, where no one character has a field-specific skill that makes them more or less useful than another).

General Overarching Strategies

I do have some general preferences. I like to have a at least one cleric and one apothecary in the party, and they can't be the same character (unless there's multiple clerics or apothecaries) just in case I need one of them to revive the other. This is mostly bc I like having the option to heal all, heal single, cure status ailments, or revive on hand at all times (as a result, if I'm using these as subjobs, they usually end up on a character who isn't my main damage-dealer, but even then it depends on the damage-dealing character).

I also like to have a merchant so I can use Collect bc I like having money, and giving the merchant subjob to certain characters is really helpful bc of the Rest skill being able to restore SP and cure status ailments. Generally I also like to have a hunter for Leghold Trap, or Agnea with Windy Refrain (gained by visiting Sealticge's shrine in the Leaflands) so I can manipulate when the boss attacks. Aside from those classes, I end up being really flexible depending on what I think I need. (As a side note, Leghold Trap + A Step Ahead from the inventor job can be really useful if you go in knowing a boss's weaknesses ahead of time, since you can break the boss and deal a lot of damage before they even get a chance to act).

Oh, but as a general rule, whenever I notice a character start to hit the 9999 damage limit output, I go and get DMD from the warrior class for them, because I love seeing big numbers go boom by optimizing my damage output. I also switch around subjobs a lot depending on what I think I'll need, and if I die during a boss fight I will go and rearrange my jobs or skills before I try level-grinding.

I also don't use any stat-enhancing nuts until the optional superboss, but I really don't think they're needed for any of the character story final bosses anyhow. If you've used them already that's fine though, I've totally mismanaged my nuts in both Octo1 and Octo2, and it's nothing a bit of level-grinding won't solve when it comes to the post-game bosses.

Character Preferences

Here's an outline of how I like to use all the characters. Keep in mind, everyone has their general preferences for how they like to use each character, and there's no right or wrong way to use a character, this is just what works for my playstyle.

Ochette

General: I use Ochette mostly to break enemies quickly with her Provoke monsters ability, and to output a lot of phys. damage. She's one of my main damage-dealers, and I rarely use her for support.

Latent power notes: She has one of the best latent powers for dealing damage, since the damage of her attacks scales with her level. I use her latent power as soon as the boss is broken, and I'll save Ochette's BP to use it at a full boost. Generally I use Beastly Fangs, but if the boss has multiple enemies that need to be taken care of (i.e. Partitio's final boss fight), then Beastly Claws is excellent as well. I don't really use Beastly Howl because there are better options to achieve the same effects that don't require Ochette to drain her latent power. I always use Ochette's latent power before I use divine skills or legendary beasts, since the latent power will refill throughout the battle and it doesn't cost SP.

Favorite subjobs: My primary subjob for Ochette is warrior, since it gives her access to Brand's Blade which is a good alternative to Beastly Fangs, and the warrior stats buff her already high physical stats. Alternately I will use her in merchant, but specifically for the optional superboss so she has access to Hired Help's Beastlings in case she has to use them (notes on that in the boss section below).

Notes on monsters: In general you can have whatever monsters you enjoy using for Ochette's Provoke ability, but I highly recommend having at least one monster that can deal axe damage twice to all enemies (any level, even the highest level "2x axe (all) monster" will only deal 1 damage to the postgame bosses, so choose whichever monster you like best), and a monster that can deal either dagger, axe, staff, lightning, or light damage to all (recommend getting a 9/10 strength monster for this, as they tend to have additional effects to their attacks such as debuffing the enemies or buffing the party; the Peek-a-boo from the area around Timberain tends to be a favorite because it debuffs enemy phys. and elemental defenses). Those two monsters will be the most useful for clearing the optional superboss, and a lot of bosses in general have a weakness to axes.

Castti

General: Castti works well as either a damage-dealer or support, so I tend to change her subjob depending on the rest of the team.

Latent power notes: I refuse to use concoct unless I have her latent active so that I can save on the ingredients. The only time I use concoct without the latent is during the two postgame bosses. I managed to get through the final boss fight my first run with only one pomegranate leaf thanks to her latent power (I uh, forgot to stock up at the secret market, but if you need more rare ingredients for concoct, the merchants that show up at night in the area to the west of Healeaks will sometimes sell stuff like pomegranate leaves).

Favorite subjobs: If I'm using her as a damage-dealer, than warrior and armsmaster are my go-to. For support, I tend to stick with inventor or merchant.

Notes on concoct: I use it almost exclusively for healing and buffing the team, and the ability to give everyone BP is super useful for setting up other damage-dealers and support characters.

Throne

General: One of my main damage-dealers, one of the best damage-dealers in the game. I was able to hit the 99,9999 damage limit with Throne thanks to the fact that Aeber's Reckoning scales with speed and seems to take the phys. attack stat into consideration as well. Optimize her speed and give her a high-damage dagger and she's golden for dealing wild amounts of damage.

Latent power notes: I don't have a particular pattern for how I use Throne's latent power, since how I use it depends on the battle situation. Sometimes I use it so Throne can act as temporary support, and sometimes I use it to set up Armor Corrosive and then use Aeber's Reckoning. Really, whatever I need a double-turn for, this power comes in handy for.

Favorite subjobs: Hunter for sure, it gives Throne an excellent boost to speed and evasion while also buffing the phys. attack stat nicely. Dancer is a decent subjob as well bc it gives her even higher speed/evasion stats than hunter, and access to Dagger Dance which is a nice aoe attack when level-grinding, but overall Dancer!Throne is kind of glassy for my tastes, and I like having Leghold Trap as an option for Throne's debuff repertoire in boss fights. I don't mind using merchant for Throne either, since Rest and Collect are useful skills for her to have.

Osvald

General: One of my main damage-dealers, magical edition. He's very squishy though, a true glass canon, so I have to either patch up his defenses with equipment and passive skills, or have someone dedicated to healing on the team.

Latent power notes: Love his latent power, it's especially good if you stack it with the buffs from either Advanced Magic (or the Stone of Truth, which just provides the 2x spell buff from Advanced Magic permanently), or Alephan's Wisdom. I would recommend using this at a full boost for optimal damage output. Like Ochette, I use this as early as I can so it an refill as the battle goes on.

Favorite subjobs: Cleric. Osvald's base stats make him an excellent healer, and the extra magical stats do him nothing but favors; plus having access to Holy Light is useful when his latent is empty since it'll typically deal more elemental damage for less SP than one of his aoe spells, and Mystic Staff can restore his SP. Alternatively though arcanist will grant him the best magic stats possible. I also didn't mind using him as an apothecary high elemental defense means good healing, and he can be a decent support when he's not blasting enemies off the screen.

Partitio

General: I tend to use him mostly as support, but he can deal decent damage when he's not supporting. Mostly he's a main support character for me though.

Latent power notes: Very useful for getting extra BP whenever you need it, and it tends to refill pretty fast so I use it liberally whenever I need BP.

Favorite subjobs: I tend to have Partitio mainly as an apothecary because it gives him a nice buff to his physical stats and more support skills to use (he doesn't make a bad healer either, especially with access to lots of BP from his latent). It also gives him access to a decent aoe attack (Sweeping Cleave) and Poison Axe, which are both handy to have. Alternatively, Paritio does okay as a warrior, thief, or hunter if I want to boost his damage-output, and inventor or dancer are good jobs to give him for extra support options (although I really only use dancer for the optional superboss). I'm thinking of trying him in the conjurer job for a while in my current run to see if the extra magic stats make Bifelgan's Bounty more useful for Partitio, since he seems to lean more physically for me than magically. (I hardly used conjurer except to get SP Saver my first run bc I couldn't figure out how to use it effectively, but I know it's gotta be useful somehow).

Other notes: If it wasn't obvious, the merchant job is one of my favorites as a subjob, and it gives Partitio a really nice set of skills. I don't actually use Sidestep that often and instead focus on things like Donate BP to boost my main damage-dealers in a pinch. Collect is a great skill bc I like having money.

Agnea

General: Main support, and a secondary magical damage-dealer. I tend to focus her on supporting, but her high elemental attack (especially paired with the Mooneater dagger) puts her almost on par with Osvald. She also has access to Windy Refrain which moves ALL enemies' actions to the end of the next turn, which is super useful for turn manipulation (and like Leghold Trap, very powerful when paired with A Step Ahead).

Latent power notes: Honestly I rarely use her latent power. Mostly I use it in general battles when I have her subjob set to scholar so she can use a boosted Analyze on all enemies. It is useful for using Collect or Steal on all enemies as well, but again, there's very few bosses with multiple enemies that you can Collect/Steal from. I think I might be able to use the latent with the apothecary's Rehabilitate which would be very useful on occasion, but I've never tried it bc Agnea is so optimized for magic that the phys. aspects of the apothecary subjob don't seem to fit her. Might have to try that out at some point though.

Favorite subjobs: I tend to have her as a merchant (Bifelgan's Bounty is a very nice powerful single-enemy elemental attack for her), but she does well as a scholar (excellent stat boosts to her magical stats) or thief (nice boosts to speed/evasion). She should technically make a good cleric as well, but I've never tried it out since I usually have another cleric present when Agnea's in the team.

Dance session notes: Dance session comes into play any time you use a dance skill, including Dagger Dance, so if you have the right follower, you can really benefit from Agnea's dance session. For most of the game I've been dragging along an NPC from Cropdale who offers Calming Rhythm (restores 500 HP and 40 SP to the target), but there's a dance session called Celestial Chorus which grants 1 BP to the target, which is super useful in boss fights since extra BP means more boosted attacks. The Allure page on the Wiki (here) has a full list of the dance sessions, and potential NPCs who offer them. Dance session boosts the power of the support dances by granting extra support bonuses beyond buffing stats, and Agnea's probably one of the strongest support characters as a result.

Temenos

General: Like Castti, I use Temenos half as support, half for dealing damage, but unlike Castti who I tend to rely on more for support, I rely on Temenos more for damage.

Latent power notes: His latent power is wickedly good for his Coerce path action, especially when paired with Sixfold Strike from the armsmaster job, and technically you could use it the same way in boss fights to break shields quickly, it's just...armsmaster is better on other characters in boss fights for the physical stat buffs it offers as a job (although Temenos did hit the 9999 damage cap when I had him as an armsmaster in one of the side dungeon boss fights, so Armsmaster!Temenos isn't entirely useless as a phys. damage-dealer). But Temenos's latent power + armsmaster + Full Power from the merchant class makes Coercion much easier.

Favorite subjobs: I tend to move Temenos around a lot in subjobs depending on what I need. He makes for a decent scholar due to the magical stats buffs, and dancer offers him decent stats as well and more support options, but my favorite subjob for Temenos is arcanist because it gives him access to light and dark elemental attacks, making the most of the Sunshade staff, and most importantly Reflective Barrier. See, my favorite thing to do with Temenos is have a dancer use Sealticge's Seduction on him, have him use Prayer for Plenty at full boost (hopefully on a team that's at full HP) to boost everyone's HP (up to possibly 9999), and then use Reflective Barrier and/or Sacred Shield at various levels of boost so I can yeet spells back at their caster(s) or otherwise cut down damage for a little while. Also arcanist offers really nice magical stats, and gives Temenos a good boost to his total SP pool, which is handy for when I do try to use his personal EX skill (bc of his personal EX skill, you will want to have something equipped that lets him regen SP, bc he can drain his SP really fast otherwise).

Hikari

General: Main damage-dealer. Makes for a sturdy backup support when you need one though, but I focus on his high phys. damage stats.

Latent power notes: Very useful and somewhat similar to Ochette's latent skills. Depending on Hikari's SP and available skills, I either use Hienka at a partial boost, and then follow up with Brand's Blade, or Tenretsuzan at full boost. Alternatively, if I need Hikari to do some backup support or use another skill, I'll use Hienka at full boost, and then use his bonus action for whatever. Sougetsusen isn't bad as an aoe attack when you need it though. Like Ochette and Osvald, I use Hikari's latent early in the battle so it can refill and be used later.

Favorite subjobs: Hikari does great as a merchant because of the access to Rest, which makes his Challenge path action easier to use without using all your healing items. Also Rest restores SP, which is super useful for Hikari since he can burn through SP really quickly between his warrior skills and Learned Skills. When I don't have him as a merchant, I like to use him as my armsmaster bc it gives him the best phys. stat buffs, and giving Hikari a Blessing in Disguise with the armsmaster subjob means you can use a lot of high-power equipment with negative effects without suffering the negatives (you can do that for any of your armsmasters by the way). When I don't have him in those two jobs, he makes for a decent apothecary (not as good at the healing though) or hunter.

Notes on Learned Skills: Like Ochette's monsters, you can more or less have whichever Learned Skills you enjoy using, but I like holding onto Divine Dual-Edge from the Ch3 fight with General Rou since it's a useful aoe attack, and picking up Limb from Limb from the Sanctum Knight in Stormhail (enter the Sanctum Knight HQ, go down the left hall and knock out the guy standing in front of a room, then go into the room and the guy in there is the one you can learn Limb from Limb from). Limb from Limb offers a powerful 4x sword attack on a single enemy, and was the main skill used in the guide I found when I needed help with the optional superboss. You can find a list of Learned Skills on the Wiki as well (here).

Notes on Bosses

Most of the character story final bosses are pretty easy, or if they're tough it's bc of their stats and not battle gimmicks, so it's just a matter of chipping away their health. Here's a few battle gimmicks I'd keep an eye out for though:

Castti's final boss has an ongoing battle condition where the entire team's max HP is reduced every turn. You can bypass this with the Sealticge's Seduction + Prayer for Plenty tactic, but it's still risky (Angea ended the battle with a total of 5 HP on my current run). It's best to just try and finish this battle quickly. (Your team's HP will return to normal after the battle).

Throne's boss has the ability to lock the party's main job's skills (so Throne won't be able to use thief skills) until broken so subjobs are very important, and this boss can summon all of her previous bosses (not all at once, but over the course of the battle), so this can be a tough fight. There's a few other gimmicks this boss can access (I think subjobs can be blocked until the boss is broken at one point as well), so paying attention to what's happening in the battle and having a flexible battle plan will help. Either bring a lot of healers, or find a way to output a lot of damage so you can skip the prev. boss summons and gimmicks.

Partitio's final boss has three enemy units you have to defeat before the armor on the main boss's shield fall off. Dealings lots of aoe damage is useful for the first part of the battle. A Step Ahead + Agnea's Windy Refrain is probably useful as well (for my current run I did not have A Step Ahead equipped, and had to do quite a bit of healing in the first half of the battle).

Hikari has the most stages to his final boss. You have to fight a miniboss (which you can save after), the final boss part 1, then there's a cutscene and Hikari has to fight a battle via the Challenge path action, and then the final boss part 2. So just be prepared for like, a lot of battle segments.

(I also seem to remember something being kinda tricky about Ochette's final boss, but hers was the first story I completed on my first run, and it's the story I'm saving till last on my current, so I dunno if my troubles with her boss were "this was the first final boss I fought" or if there's actually something weird about the battle).

As for character levels, for my current run I started with Hikari's final chapter, then worked my way to Castti, Osvald, Throne, Agnea, Partitio, and I plan to do Temenos and Ochette next. As I noted earlier, Ochette, my starter, was at lv. 52-ish during Hikari's chapter, with my lowest level team members being at about 38-ish and I had to do some laps to get them to lv. 40. Right now, going into Temenos's final chapter, Ochette's level is in her mid-high 60s (which probably will be closer to or over 70 bc I want to explore some dungeon areas on the Sundering Sea before I head to Toto'haha), and my lowest level characters are like, 51 or 52, which is well above the rec'd lv. 45. So again, I don't think you have to level-grind for the character story final bosses, because just by fighting them and travelling to their locations, your characters are going to get stronger.

As for the two postgame bosses...

If you do want to level-grind, I would suggest the Infernal Castle, as it's the highest level area of the game at lv. 55. There's also ways to optimize the amount of exp and jp you get via passive skills and equipment, so make sure to move that around before you level-grind. Also I found bumping the game speed to x2, and using powerful aoe attacks made the grinding go so much faster (I only spent maybe 4-8 hours grinding total my first run? on a file where I put somewhere between 180-200 hours into, so basically no time at all for grinding). I would not rely on Bewildering Grace, Agnea party-wiped the team more often even than the optional superboss killed me, so it's just not a safe skill. Also if you fight the Infernal Castle's miniboss, it can show up as a random encounter, and I personally found that the exp gained from fighting it again wasn't worth the time spent. I gained more exp per minute just entering minor battles, smacking the enemies with a double-boosted aoe attack (from Step Ahead and Boost Start from merchant), and then moving onto my next battle (courtesy of Vigorous Victor from apothecary). It's tedious, but it does work.

I would suggest completing all the side quests before beginning the final chapter, as there's a lot of nice accessories and equipment you can get. Keep in mind that fighting the optional superboss is actually one of the side quests, so while you can track your completion of side quests by area in the Journal, one of the areas will be incomplete until you kill the optional superboss (you do not have to fight the superboss to complete the final chapter, and the ability to complete side quests opens back up after you defeat the final boss). The optional superboss is absolutely meant to be more difficult to defeat than the actual final boss.

Also there's technically four bosses in the postgame. Two minor bosses during the final chapter segments, the actual final boss, and the optional superboss. The two minor bosses are easy though, they're no stronger than the character story final bosses (although for my first run I had fought the optional superboss first, so I was waaay overleveled for the final chapter segments; still the two bosses couldn't do anything fancy as far as I could tell).

For the Actual Final Boss, I accidentally steamrolled this dude my first run bc I fought the optional superboss first and had misused my nuts and therefore had to level-grind to make up for stats. Half my characters were at lv. 80 and other other were at 74 or 75. I didn't even have my passive skills optimized bc I was expecting the "dungeon" the final boss is in to be an actual dungeon, not a flight of stairs with no enemy encounters. All the characters were in my preferred classes for them (Warrior!Ochette, Inventor!Castti, Hunter!Throne, Cleric!Osvald, Apothecary!Partitio, Merchant!Agnea, Arcanist!Temenos, and Armsmaster!Hikari, but not in that order bc I didn't optimize my party order either).

A few guides online list the recommended level for the final boss as being 72-75, but I wouldn't know bc again, lots of level-grinding (I plan to fight the final boss before the optional superboss for my current run, just to see the difficulty differences). You will get to use all 8 characters though, not in the same way as how the Galdera fight works in Octo1, but you will need all 8 characters for the battle, so keep that in mind. Overall I haven't heard/read about too many people having trouble with the final boss, so you should be fine using whatever your preferred battle strategies are with a full team that's at least in their low 70s level-wise.

The optional superboss is a terrible jerk, I hate this boss so much, and despite being Pretty Good at the game I had to eventually look up a guide. The guide I used is here (major spoilers obviously), although I will say I modified this person's strategy (for example, I optimized Osvald's critical stat, had Castti as a merchant, small changes like that). I will note this person manages to output enough damage to skip one of the mid-battle phases of the first half of the boss fight, and that the Hired Help Beastlings skill from the merchant class is needed for this mid-battle phase if you can't bypass it (if I'm being too vague and you don't care about spoilers, I can actually go through this entire boss fight stage-by-stage and explain the logic behind the guide and my adaptations to the guide). I'm thinking of modifying the strategy here further on my current playthrough, but overall this is the superboss for a reason. Extremely gimmicky, very high stats, very annoying, but also possible to beat in like, 10 minutes with the right setup.

#I don't have a link to a list of monsters for Ochette #bc I haven't FOUND any good lists that include 9/10 and 10/10 strength monsters and their skills #but otherwise I really do stand by the ''mechanics are flexible do what works best for you'' mindset #I've seen some insane builds from other people that I never thought would work that do so this really is just my preferences for things #anyhow here's some thoughts #I didn't realize I had so many thoughts about Octo2 mechanics #youcantencryptyourface #I still don't have an ask tag #octopath ii #also sorry if there's weird typos I've read through this like 10 times but I'm bound to miss something here or there

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couldbebetterforsure · 1 year ago

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Still slowly (VERY slowly 😭) making progress on replaying Fire Emblem Engage so I can get back to the point I was at before my save got deleted and continue my liveblog. As I’m doing that I decided it had been too long since I enjoyed an otome game so I have also been playing Jack Jeanne!

It’s funny when I first heard the news of Jack Jeanne being localized it actually didn’t catch my attention. But like a week ago I saw a random post about it praising it and then I looked it up and saw it was getting a TON of praise. I also looked up some non-spoilery art and info and thought the style looked gorgeous and liked the bits of story and gameplay I found. So I said fuck it and bought it like four days ago.

And WOW I am happy I did!!!!!

First off, the art in this game is BEAUTIFUL! Sui Ishida, the writer and artist for Tokyo Ghoul, is responsible not only for the gorgeous art and character designs but also did a bunch of other stuff for this game (even writing the lyrics for the songs which is incredible). Seriously the amount of time I spend just staring at CGs is nuts, they’re all so incredible whether they’re comedic or dramatic. The character designs are all so wonderful too and so expressive!

The music is so incredible too! The background tracks are great and fitting for the situations. So far I only just finished the Newcomers’ Performance so the only vocal songs I’ve heard so far are the main theme Jack & Jeanne of Quartz, and the two songs for The Sleepless King: Fortune Color is Crystal and Beyond the Plane Tree. Bruh….I never skip the main theme that’s how good it is. And it’s sung in character by the heroine and the six LIs. I went and bought the mp3 for it I’ve been obsessing over it that much. Fortune Color is Crystal was not what I expected considering the nature of the play it’s in but it’s so catchy! And holy fucking shit Beyond the Plane Tree is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, the harmonies in it are so 😭😭😭😭 I’m playing this game blind (with a spoiler free guide) so I haven’t listened ahead to the other songs but I was so impressed by these three that not only did I buy the mp3 for the main theme I ordered the vocal collection since the other songs aren’t available for mp3 download.

The story is definitely interesting me so far. Like I said I’ve only just finished the Newcomers Performance so I’m not that far in the story but it managed to hook me in entirely despite the seemingly simple sounding premise of “heroine disguised herself as a boy to attend all boys academy��. I’m actually surprised by how many times so far I actually forgot our heroine is supposed to be in disguise 😂😂😂 Not because the game doesn’t use the premise properly but more because there’s so much shit going on!!! And it slowly introduces new characters and plot points so that I’m always eager to see what happens next. Especially in terms of the plays (oh yeah this takes place in a theater school sorry I forgot to bring that up)! With this first play I was excited to see who was cast in what roles, the plot of it, watching the rehearsals, and seeing it all come together in the end in spectacular fashion! I like the stat raising element, nothing complex or luck based about it so it’s not aggravating. I’m totally in love with the rhythm game aspect, though it means whenever we get to the actual plays I’m more focused on getting a top score than watching the video of the performance. But that’s what the gallery is for right? The interesting thing about this game from what I hear is that, unlike typical otome games, Jack Jeanne is like 80% common route. Like while you make choices that earn affection and can pick who you hang out with, the LI specific routes don’t come in until WAAAAAY later. I thought I would mind since I generally prefer more romance in my otome (sounds silly but people who play otome games probably understand what I mean) but so far I don’t care because the story is just that enjoyable (and it’s not like there’s no moments at all).

And then there’s the characters. I like when MCs are voiced and I’m especially glad Kisa is voiced since this is a story about theater. I really like her so far she’s sweet and a hard worker, I can’t wait to see how she grows as both an actor and a person! I love her standing up to Otori and doubling down on seeking assistance and working together during practice. And I love how sweet and bell-like her voice is! Suzu (to the surprise of no one because I’m Miss Predictable) is my fave. Sweetheart, earnest, energetic, puppy in human form? Yeah that’s a LI tailor made for Willow! I love how much he has already grown as an actor from how robotic he sounded when he first practiced his lines to his PHENOMENAL performance for his first time on stage in The Sleepless King (which by the way how did my boy Suzu not win any award for that performance?!?!?! This game is rigged😡). And bruh I nearly fucked up both rhythm game segments for the Newcomers Performance because of how blindsided I was by how beautiful his singing voice is (don’t know why I was so shocked I know his VA is incredible). Sou is so soft and sweet so far and I can already see some hints for where his story might go (possibly about him not standing out as much?). I like that he’s in the know about Kisa and I do love me some childhood friend romances! Mitsuki makes me laugh with his tsundereness but I love how compared to typical tsundere characters he’s more softspoken and doesn’t go heavy handed on it. Negi is so funny so far I really enjoy whenever he’s onscreen talking a mile a minute or causing his own little brand of chaos. Kai seems super kind and I love that he seems like an animal expert, I wanna know more about him. And Fumi is just super cool to me, his design to his voice to his personality. I really love this Quartz squad, they’re so lovable and have such enjoyable dynamics with each other! Regarding side characters I’m only just beginning to know some, and I know there are a ton I have yet to meet, but I really like the ones I’ve met so far. They’re either kind, funny, a mix of both, or have yet to really display any trait that makes me feel one way or another. The only side character I have strong feelings towards as of where I am now in the game is Otori. And even then I find him enjoyably annoying. He’s talented and knows it, but he’s also an annoying dick and I enjoy proving him wrong. Also he’s hilarious without ever meaning to be, which keeps me from being too annoyed at him.

Anyways yeah that’s my ramble about Jack Jeanne so far! There’s probably a ton I missed or forgot but I just wanted to gush for a moment about this great game! I’m having so much fun so far and can’t wait to see what the rest of the game is gonna bring. I’m at the very start of June so it’s the Summer Performance next!

#story time with me #jack jeanne #jack jeanne spoilers #willow takes center stage at univeil #I usually don’t post about my experience playing otome games #but this game is such a masterpiece so far despite how little I’ve played so far #and I just wanna gush about my experience #anyways yeah suzu orimaki my beloved~!!!!#I am so fucking predictable I even said to myself when I first saw the cast of love interests #“huh look at that redhead boy watch him become my main beau”#earnest sweethearts man…them and red haired genki guys…among my biggest kryptonites among favorite male characters ESPECIALLY when combined #and that’s regardless of whether I wanna romance them or not that’s just my general type of male character I tend to love #but yeah I really enjoy the cast as whole so much kisa and the main boys are so damn lovable!#the side characters I’ve met so far are also enjoyable in their own ways too #and I adore the theater stuff and the rhythm games and the art and music and AAAAAAAAA!!!! what a great game!!!!!#I can’t wait to continue it I wanna see what the summer performance is gonna be!!!!!

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missizzy · 13 days ago

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A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 134 1/2 Hours In: She's trying to secure her future with Gale here, will people please stop hitting on her?

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

Once again I must start my entry with a shout-out, as this week I managed to reach the point where what you say to Gale can determine whether or not he goes for godhood at the end. His doing so would devastate Sara so much I wanted to take no chances, and so relied on airydandelion's Gale endings guide on reddit to dictate my dialog choices. I went on what the guide calls the mild "Forgiveness" route, although Sara would be more likely to call it the "Making sure he doesn't become like her and noone can think he owes her a damn thing" route.

I had, after last week, become convinced the vault was hidden in Lorroakan's tower, and thus I felt the need to get rid of him before we went in for the Annals of Karsus. I decided right before that I wanted Astarion and his sussar dagger for that battle. I have also now reached the point that I want all the buffs I can get, so I had Sara invite him into the party and then invited him to feed on her that night. (I now think the time it didn't work happened because he wasn't in it). I also decided to rotate Halsin in overnight, so he could remove the debuff in the morning.

Which seems to be what triggered, only one night after the Emperor's pass at Sara, the moment I'd started to seriously hope I wouldn't get, post-Patch 7. The patch does seem to have tweaked his words a bit; now, instead of assuming you return his feelings just because you were nice, he speaks more generally of feeling a connection. But while I'd seen his confession of love already, I was struck afresh by the tenderness in his voice, the vulnerability in his expression. It hurt so much to see and hear him bare his heart, knowing I had to break it.

Especially since I am dead certain that if it wasn't for Gale, Sara would've gone for it. She even pretty much told him so. But not only did I know that Gale would have a bad reaction to the suggestion that they share, but Sara was still worried about him blowing himself up, and was absolutely not going to do anything that might make him feel expendable. So she still had to refuse Halsin's offer there.

Since then, I've seen his gentle words as he restored her the next morning, and now I've also had the conversation where he talks about the city and making things better. There was one moment during it where I actually found myself thinking, "This would be the moment she would've fallen in love had her heart been free."

Hells, I don't think it's impossible that the two of them might find their way to each other in a century or so. If all goes well, she'll stay with Gale for the rest of his life, and mourn him for years after, but she'll have way too long left to live to not fall in love again. And while I certainly wouldn't want him to sit around and pine that long, even if he did have someone when she came to him, I think she actually would be open to sharing.

And then, after all that fuss and bother, I told Dame Aylin about Larroakan and brought her to him for the fight. Which resulted in more disapproval from Astarion than I really want right now, and the fight going badly enough, that when I reloaded back to camp before exiting, and resumed a couple days later, I decided to bring Shadowheart instead of him.

That went a little better, but it still took me two more hours of struggle. Rolan on my first attempt had presented a good idea to me when he thunderwaved one of the wizards' constructs off the mezzanine, but my attempts to do the same didn't go as well. In fact, my next two reloads happened when someone accidentally hit their allies with one instead. Even on my fourth successful attempt, Jaheira ended up nearly killing Shadowheart with one wave, because I'd forgotten where I'd put her, but on that one we were far enough along I decided to see if we could survive that blunder. Which we did, if barely.

Dame Aylin herself went down very near the end of it. After the first attempt I confirmed she'd come back, got a little worried when she didn't on her next turn, but then she did after we won, to break Lorroakan's spine and then not be sure how she felt about it afterwards. Sara wasn't much help to her initially, just thinking they should merely get to kill him again, especially since Rolan had just revealed he'd been abusing him. Though by the time she ended up talking with Astarion a little bit about it, she was wondering if maybe that could be a problem with revenge. He insisted to her killing Cazador is going to be the best moment of his life, and so long as he doesn't ascend Sara very much wants that for him, but, well...

The battle had in fact, left my casters so drained the only reason I didn't long rest immediately was because I stubbornly wanted to make use of that buff on Astarion. So I got Gale to recover two of his entirely expended slots above level one, swapped both the others out and Wyll in along with the vampire. Having tried in vain to get to the tower's lower floors and then confirmed the vault was actually under Tolna's office, and killing the shop owner didn't help get me to it. I'd been left right back where I started.

I also decided to deal with the exclamation point over Mizora's head while I was doing the swaps. So far she hasn't really allowed Sara to follow her plan of not speaking to her. But when she too, made a pass at her, complete with offers of the kind of beyond-mortal ecstasy she didn't even really want from Gale, I was very sorry her options did not include demanding of some romance-related god why in the Hells everyone's suddenly making them at her when she's in a relationship. Or that the options for refusing the devil didn't include some more insulting ones or threats of violence. Or that Mizora's scornful "ta ta" at the end of the dialog was not followed by her actually leaving. Sara is now really sick of her.

It turned out that contrary to what I've read, casting a fog cloud turns the whole store hostile, too. I'd seen greater invisibility also suggested, but had no immediate way to cast it. But I'd also seen a suggestion of just trying to stealth it, so I decided what the hell and had Astarion stealth up to the door to lockpick it. He did actually manage to do so undisturbed. Then he got accosted by the animated armor when he tried to walk into the office, but he managed to make the high deception check to make them leave us alone.

I'm not sure if the buff actually made any difference, in the end, but we certainly needed him for the vault. We wandered around it, found our first ever Supreme Healing potion (we're gonna need those!), nearly got killed when the gargoyle heads started shooting fireballs before Astarion could disarm them all, I ended up losing my patience and looking up which doors to choose, and then, at long last, we got to the Karsus room, and in it, the book.

The first set of responses the guide gave to me, when I gave Gale the book and we started talking, were the ones I probably would've chosen anyway. The moment Gale talked about the possibility to ascend, I could practically feel Sara freaking the fuck out, all her old insecurities about being too mundane for him rising to the surface. Her general thoughts about any entity which gets too much power also made her want something like the crown of Karsus to just not exist, so of course she was going to speak against Gale making any use of it.

After meeting with Elminster outside the store, I'm not sure I would've necessarily have told Gale to take the meeting with Mystra. I think all things being equal, Sara would have rather he didn't. But she had to recognize they ought to at least try for her aid, or, if nothing else, avoid her ire. So I had her say they'd go meet with her soon, then headed back to camp to finally enjoy the boat scene I'd heard so much about.

The scene was, indeed, very romantic. And you can't deny Gale's point about the gods, and how they use their power. Seems a lot of D&D-adjacent media is addressing that matter these days. (At least Gale isn't wrecking havoc on the lands in his quest to destroy them, at least not in his good ending.) But Sara has no use for the debates about doing something about it. Her response to recognizing wrongs done by gods such as Mystra is to want all the more for people she cares about to not become like them. It outright dismayed her to hear Gale still talking like he should being something more impressive for her. She'll tell him as many times as she needs to that she wants what he is already.

Though she was very far from sorry to finally go with him into Astral Plane, to be able to show and tell him the next morning she did have some appreciation for that. But even better were his words of love to her in that boat. (Having finally heard him say "With you, I forget my goddess," I could listen to him saying that on loop.) When at the end, he assured her she was everything to him, she no doubt thought about spending the rest of his life doing everything she could to convince him that he, too, is everything to her.

All this, of course, had the added effect of leaving her, at long last, feeling completely secure of his preference of her to his powerful ex. So I felt much better about her taking him to the temple the next day and telling him to ask her forgiveness, if only as a thing that had to be done to get rid of his orb problem. I was more sorry the instructions were against her asking to go to meet her with him, but at least she feared nothing from not doing so.

I did have her kiss him in front of the statue before we left the temple, though. She's still not above marking her territory in the simpler ways. I actually assumed when she did Jaheira, who was with us, was rolling her eyes offscreen, but she was actually shown smiling behind Sara as they parted. Karlach, who'd I'd brought largely because she'd offered the previous night to come to protect Gale, probably didn't mind too much either.

With all that done, I resumed the quest for Minsc, and I've since taken the quartet in question through much of the sewers, taking them in through the manhole by the temple and wandering away. It was good decompression after the rest of this week's gameplay. At least until I wandered into an ancient lair and discovered the problem with fighting a huge amount of undead in a chamber filled with the spell rot effect. Gale probably came the closest to dying that he has yet; I had to go into turn-based mode the instant the battle ended to make sure I could throw one of our remaining healing potions on him in time. On the other hand, while Karlach might not have been needed for protecting Gale against Mystra, it was a really good thing I had her for that battle!

That bout, combing with an earlier shorter encounter against some Bhaal cultists, actually got Sara and Gale both to level 11, and left Jaheira and Karlach 19 XP away from it. And everyone probably needing to long rest before actually dealing with Minsc, but I decided to have them wander a little further, in the hope of hitting some new-location based XP. Instead, we hit an extremely dangerous encounter with a guy who could cast a delayed Power Word Kill! I exited without saving on that one, and when next I resume at the autosave right before it, I shall almost certainly have the party turn and go the other way.

#baldur's gate 3 #barbarian tav #gale x tav

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dropintomanga · 2 years ago

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Video Games for Mental Health - AI: The Somnium Files

~Resist, allow your heart to take you! Never let this merciless world erase you! Passing down the light of the torch to guide you, And you shall be bathed in light!~

When it comes to reading visual material, one would usually think picture books. In the case of pop culture fans, there’s Western comic books and manga. But there’s a whole other medium that has gotten a lot of exposure since the start of the 2010s’ - visual novels. While there’s many notable VNs to discuss, I want to take a look at Team Zero Escape’s/Spike Chunsoft’s AI: The Somnium Files (AI is pronounced as “eye”) franchise due to its focus on finding connections and how messy the process can be.

This will largely be spoiler-free because discussing everything that happens in both games will take forever.

AI: The Somnium Files, created by Kotaro Uchikoshi (who’s most famous for creating the Zero Escape and Danganronpa series), is a murder mystery starring special detective Kaname Date and his AI partner, Aiba, who takes the form of Date’s left eye. The two have to find a serial killer, the New Cyclops Serial Killer, who’s plucking eyeballs off of people they murder. Date finds out one of the victims was a woman he knows and discovers that a young girl has the supposed murder weapon in her hands. Along the way, Date and Aiba meet a variety of people who help and/or hurt their investigation. To get to the truth, Date goes into people’s minds and dreams with the help of Aiba. There are a lot of twists as there are multiple routes and endings that all come together in one wild package.

There’s also a sequel that just came out in 2022 - AI: The Somnium Files -nirvanA Initiative-. The story takes place 6 years later after the 1st game. The premise goes as this - months after the events of the 1st game, the right half of a corpse was found. 6 years later, the left half of the same corpse was found with no decay at all. It’s up to 2 new protagonists, Mizuki (who is a major supporting character in the 1st game) and Ryuki Kuruto, alongside their own AI eyeball partners, to find the truth about the half body killings. While this is happening, something called the Nirvana Initiative is looking to cause trouble for the public.

I discovered the first game from a “top games of the 2010s’” podcast. It made number 11 on their list. So I decided to see what the podcast hosts experienced. AI1 was a emotional experience for me. There’s so much dialogue that will make you cry, laugh, cringe, angry, etc. Much like a point-and-click adventure game, you can interact with objects. Sometimes, you get some really great interactions with the cast of characters when you click on them. Those conversations feel like conversations one would have with friends in real life. Sure, some of them are dumb, but those kinds of moments make life bearable. The 2nd game continues that tradition too.

Speaking of the characters, it’s not just Date and Aiba who shine. There’s Mizuki, who’s technically the surrogate daughter of Date. They trade barbs with one another in comedic fashion. It’s cute to see because their relationship reminds me of Gintoki Sakata and Kagura in Gintama. In the first game, other notable characters include a teen idol, a NEET, a yakuza who worships idols, a crossdressing bar mama, and a female boss who throws out sexual innuendos. The second game introduces newer characters like a big chef wearing a mask to hide his disfigured face, a lovestruck former thief, and a mysterious masked female vigilante.

With many characters, the Somnium Files series does a great job at looking into the psychology and mental well-being of them. Whether it’s the dream sequences or regular interactions, one thing is for certain. What drives them, good or bad, is the people in their lives. That’s what I felt from these games. It’s about finding family in the strangest of places when all hope feels lost. These characters are driven to great lengths to gain attention from the ones they love. And more importantly, don’t be afraid to open your eyes when it comes to conflict. There’s absolutely heavy portrayals of what happens when mental health goes awry due to inner/interpersonal conflict in both games. Dementia, brain tumors, family trauma, survivor’s guilt, and self-hatred are some of the mental health subjects discussed in this series.

Date is a really great hero. There’s a caveat about him though. He’s addicted to pornography/cabaret clubs and this is played to comedic effect. I found Date to be endearing otherwise due to things the player learns in the last few hours of the 1st game. Also, Mizuki is great. She’s the total opposite of Date as she’s a physical powerhouse. It’s nice to see Mizuki carry on the torch in the 2nd game as she’s arguably the most popular character in the series.

With great characters comes great voice acting. There’s amazing talent on the English side for both games. Greg Chun, Erika Harlacher, Corina Boettger, Jackie Lastra, Allegra Clark, Dorah Fine, Zach Aguilar, Kaiji Tang, Patrick Seitz, Stephen Fu, Anairis Quinones, SungWon Cho, Amanda Lee, Y. Chang, Laura Post just to name a bunch. All the VAs seemed to have a really fun time working on both games because they all brought their A-games into making all the conversations worth hearing over and over again.

I’ll end this post with one of my favorite dialogues in the series from Mizuki.

Uchikoshi has gotten some attention for having progressive views as there’s a good amount of Japanese game developers who still think backwards about certain groups of people. There’s many people who think the Japanese are offended by most Western localization (ESPECIALLY with dialogue like this) and think Japanese people are all “non-political”, but I will say this - there’s Japanese people who do think about the feelings of minorities. It may not be many, but they’re there and outside of whatever internet bubbles fans are in.

And yes, humanity is rooted in weakness. I never told anyone that I was strong and I will gladly admit that I’m only still alive because I’ve had people who helped and supported me despite whatever differences we have.

So yeah, check out the AI: The Somnium Files franchise. It’s still very under the radar as the 1st game didn’t seem to sell a whole lot due to a lack of major marketing. Both games do have flaws, but this is a franchise made with a lot of love and deserves many eyeballs to reach the dream of being one of the most fascinating stories in a time where AI is gaining prominence in the real world and so much mental trauma is left unprocessed.

AI: The Somnium Files and its sequel, -nirvanA Initiative-, are out for the following systems (PC/Switch/PS4/Xbox One).

#AI: The Somnium Files #Kaname Date #Ryuki Kuruto #video games #visual novels #Kotaro Uchikoshi #mental health #psychology #Mizuki #Aiba

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derekgoffard · 2 years ago

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Can I ask for some help with Celia's route? I feel like the biggest dummy in the world but I found an ending guide on Steam and it keeps mentioning different items. The only item I got is the hairpin. I keep trying to point and click but this just skips dialogue. For example, the guide says "You'll find the code in the elevator if you have the hairpin" and when I click on inventory, nothing happens... do you have any tips for using/finding items in her route? I feel so dumb 😭

Hello!!! Thank you for this ask!!! :D !!!

OHH ANON!!! UR NOT A DUMMY!! NOOO!!!! 😭😭😭😭 These kinds of games can be really tricky to get used to!!!! especially if this is your first time playing smth like this!! 😭🙏 It took me a little to get used to the mechanics too haha!! So don't feel bad about asking any questions!!! 💪💪

Very very very light tpof spoilers under cut!!

Side note: Sometimes it's a little tricky to tell if to use an item you need to click on it in your inventory OR search the area with it; In Celia's path there's only like 2 items that you need to atcually click on in the inventory to use so I wouldn't worry about it too much !!

The most important items that you'll need to start off with in Celia's path are the hairpin and office key! You can get the office key by being in the office you start in, then clicking [ search area ] then [ search drawers ] !

To use the office key go to the open area, go to your inventory, click on the office key, then click [ unlock door! ]. After you leave the office you need to make sure to lock the door behind you! ( Or Celia will kill you :'[ ) To lock the door just go back to your inventory and click on the office key again, and there should be an option to [ lock door ]!!

For the question about the code in the elevator: When in the elevator click [search area] with the hairpin in your inventory to get the code!

Every item in Celia's path can be picked up by searching the area! There are some sections of rooms that have nothing in them though so be sure to check all ur options!!

It may take a few deaths to remember where every item is but tis' the fun of the game!! 💃💃 (At least for me baujbavuav)

Haha I hope this helps as a good starting guide for getting/using items!!! :'] I'm really bad at explaining this kind of thing haha, also I wanted to try to make this as spoiler free as I could, but if you want a specific guide on where every item on her path is located just let me know!!

Thank you again for ur ask!!! (人*´∀｀)｡*ﾟ+

#thank you again for this ask!!!! ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧#i hope this is comprehensive jbhajaj!!! i am not the best at writing things out like this HAHA :']#tpof #the price of flesh #tpof spoilers #tpof guide

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thewhitefluffyhat · 4 years ago

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A Higurashi Fan’s Guide to Witches

Introduction

If you’re thinking...

“I want to understand the Higurashi Gou theorizing about Bernkastel/Lambdadelta/Featherine, but I don’t want to read all of Umineko.”

“I’ve read Umineko but it was years ago and I need a refresher.”

“I know every Ryukishi07 work like the back of my hand and I want to cackle at just how wrong this poor fool is”

...then I have a guide for you!

If you haven’t read Umineko, I highly recommend you do read it at some point - it’s a masterpiece that may very well change how you think about mysteries and fantasies, or even about the nature of fiction itself.

But rushing through all of Umineko just for Gou theorizing will probably leave you confused, burned out, and disappointed. Umineko is about it’s own characters and mystery, not so much about the three crossover witches in particular.

As such, to preserve the Umineko experience at least a little, this guide contains no spoilers for the core mystery of Umineko.

However, this guide does contain full spoilers for everything about Bernkastel, Lambdadelta, and Featherine, as well as some information about the premise, mechanics, and worldbuilding of Umineko.

If you hate spoilers and want to go into Umineko completely blind, TURN BACK NOW.

This guide is also a reading guide. In each section, I’ll be linking a couple of Umineko scenes and/or short stories that can be read quickly and more or less standalone to get a decent understanding of the character.

Links to Umineko will have two forms. Video goes to the visual novel playthroughs up on LAMBDADELTO’s Youtube channel, which have PS3 graphics and full voices. Text usually goes to the Umineko Let’s Play on the Something Awful Let’s Play Archive. Both are complete and without extra commentary. Hopefully two sources means less chance of future link breakage.

(If you want commentary, the whole SA LP thread is also quite a good read in and of itself. But if you go that route, please still buy the game. It’s easy to get on Steam!)

Finally, note that much of this information will indeed be the same as the wiki, though it’s intended to be more comprehensive and with less spoilers. If you have any quibbles or questions, or if you want citations on where I found any bit of information, feel free to @ or message me. If the issue is glaring enough, I’ll update the guide!

Tag for the whole guide in order

Table of Contents

Witches and Fragments in Original Higurashi

Witches and Fragments in Umineko

Bernkastel

Bernkastel’s Umineko Origins

Lambdadelta

Featherine

Coming Eventually?: This guide does not yet cover Ciconia, because I procrastinated on reading that... by writing this. (Have I mentioned I’ve been drowning in WTC lately?) I’ve heard there are implied connections in Phase 1, but nothing more than that yet anyway.

#when they cry #higurashi #higurashi gou #umineko #bernkastel #lambdadelta #featherine #my ramblings #higurashi guide to witches #secret alternative reason to read:#watch me attempt to perform backflips in between the lines #trying to avoid the spoiler minefield lol

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fromthedeskofelizabeththird · 4 years ago

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Habanero

You're a good girl, well behaved.

Absolutely not the type to rail random guys in nightclubs.

Until you are.

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Aizawa x Reader, Present Mic x Reader, a sprinkling of Erasermic and eventual polyamorous Erasermic x Reader

Rating: Mature, not smutty but it is a bit gory

Trigger Warnings: Blood and Gore, descriptions of physical violence, nothing worse than on the show, but it’s there all the same. Also some Shirakumo related spoilers.

AO3: Here | Want to support me? I have a Kofi

Chapter: 13/16 (all chapters)

16-ISH YEARS AGO

“This is a terrible idea, just so you know.”

Shouta hugged his arms around his body, turning to look at the path behind him. His eyes were still growing accustomed to the dark and he had been almost entirely reliant on Shirakumo and Hizashi to guide him through the undergrowth, along a path tucked away by several layers of branches.

He had no idea where they were going, only that it was long after curfew.

“You worry too much,” said Hizashi. ��Trust me, it’ll be worth it!”

Shouta pursed his lips together, more than a little conscious of how new he was to class 1-A. More specifically, how any wrong move could realistically end in him being returned to general studies.

He hadn’t wanted to go to the summer training camp, but ultimately the pros far outweighed the cons. Sure, he’d have to eat bad curry and share a room with students he barely knew, but missing out on the opportunity to master his quirk wasn’t something to be taken lightly. His presence there alone was a test, unofficially or not.

He had been exhausted when he finally rested his head, only to spend hours staring at the ceiling. In a matter of hours, he would have to push himself harder than ever and that knowledge alone made him nervous. He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before either, instead stealing glances at the packed bag by his bedroom door. The more he tried to sleep, the more nervous he got, a vicious cycle he knew all too well.

He was still awake at light’s out; still awake when the majority of the other guys tucked themselves into bed and began to snore. He was still awake when Shirakumo and Yamada got up to leave.

He knew them from class, of course. If he had to label them anything, and was loath to do so, they were the closest thing he had to friends on the hero course. Yamada had offered up one of his earphones on the bus ride over to show him the song he’d been obsessed with, while Shirakumo frowned into the other. Shirakumo had nudged Shouta with a wink before dropping so many chilli flakes into the curry that it shone an angry shade of red. Shouta had no idea what his ultimate goal had been, only that the two members of class 1-A who finished their dinner did it on a dare.

Shouta knew they were up to no good the second he saw them tiptoeing across the room, dodging the arms and legs of their sleeping classmates. Whatever they were up to would almost certainly get him into trouble if caught. Even so, he followed them when they motioned for him to.

“We found it earlier,” said Shirakumo, crouching down beside a fallen tree and linking his hands to give Yamada a boost over the top.

Yamada whined as he climbed up and slid down onto the other side, far from pleased at having to touch the tree bark in so little light. Shirakumo turned to him and held out his hands, leaving Shouta grateful for the darkness. In this light, no one could see him blush.

He set his foot down into Shirakumo’s hands and put a hand on his shoulder for balance. He took a deep breath as Shirakumo boosted him, planting both hands down on the damp bark and pulling himself up. He was still much slower than they were, regardless of how long he spent running laps or doing pull ups. He landed on the other side without any sort of grace, stumbling on his ankle and grazing his hands across the floor. In any other setting it would have hurt, but the grass was soft and incredibly forgiving.

“Man,” said Yamada, who was still checking himself for bugs, “I’m going to itch for a week.”

“You’ll be fine,” said Shirakumo, landing softly. “C’mon, it’s this way!”

He raced on ahead, no longer concerned about waking up any of the professors. Shouta turned to Yamada, who grinned back and reached for his hand.

“C’mon!”

He squeezed tightly and followed suit, Shouta trailing behind and staring at their linked hands. It was so intimate and yet so casual and he didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to think about it for long, as they reached a gap in the trees and Yamada let him go. Shouta stumbled to a stop, jaw dropping as he took in their new surroundings.

They had arrived at the base of a waterfall, its waters twinkling in a near perfect imitation of the stars overhead. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it definitely wasn’t this.

Yamada and Shirakumo weren’t nearly as overwhelmed as he was, already in the process of settling down on the grass. Shouta followed suit, wishing he had a dozen or more heads just to take in every detail.

“It’s good, right?!” Shirakumo said as he and Yamada flopped back into the grass.

Shouta laid back far more slowly, taking care to listen to the whisper of the water and cool night breeze. He made sure to smell the flowers that crowned their heads.

“I…” he said, closing his eyes.

He wanted to say it was beautiful, that he was happy they had shared this secret with him.

He wanted to say how grateful he was to have such welcoming classmates who hadn’t hesitated to welcome him into their class.

In the end, though, he merely shrugged.

“It’s okay.”

~~~~

PRESENT

“What do you mean you can’t come? I need you to chaperone the girls.”

“Eraser, be more sympathetic,” wailed Nemuri. “I’ve never had such bad cramps before! I feel like I’ve swallowed a chainsaw.”

Shouta leaned against the bus, rubbing his temples and toeing the gravel.

He had hated summer training camps as a teenager and he definitely hated them now.

Shouta was sick of planning the summer camp. He was tired of so much as hearing about it. It was necessary, he knew that, but this one seemed to have been doomed from the beginning.

The last thing he needed was to have to replace a chaperone at the last minute, especially so early on into summer vacation.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “Just take an aspirin.”

“I don't have any!”

“I do. Now hurry up, we’re leaving soon.”

He hung up before she could protest, only for his phone to start ringing again almost immediately.

“I already organised a replacement,” said Nemuri the moment he picked up. “A little last minute, but she’s definitely qualified!”

“What are you tal-“

He never got the chance to reply, for you strolled around the corner, rucksack strapped to your back and sunglasses perched on top of your head. You waved the moment you saw him and came rushing over, completely oblivious to the conflict playing out in front of you.

“I’ll call you back,” he said, hanging up on Nemuri for a second time.

She had a point and he knew it. You were the only member of the faculty who didn’t have lessons to plan and papers to grade. Even so, it made him nervous and he told himself it had nothing at all to do with the cutoffs you had on.

“(Name),” he said, “you…”

“Did you speak to Nemuri? Is she okay?”

Shouta slipped his phone back into his pocket, wondering exactly how much she had told you.

“She’ll be fine,” he said. “I’m sorry to put you out like this.”

“No, no,” you said, waving away his concerns, “I was already packed for Yamanashi. It’s not putting me out at all!”

It was just like you and he sighed, cursing Nemuri. He wanted to tell you to go home, but he didn’t know who else he could call in on such short notice and, given the current climate, it was important to keep as few people in the know about where you were going as humanly possible. Even if he called Recovery Girl or Thirteen, it was unlikely either of them would be packed and ready on time and he didn’t like the idea of having them arrive at the camp later, putting more vehicles on the road for the League of Villains to follow.

“We’re taking separate routes,” he said, against his better judgement. “You should travel with 1-B. They’re taking the shorter path.”

He pointed out the second bus, where Vlad was checking over his student rosters.

“Okay,” you said with a wide smile, “I’ll go and tell him about the change of plans.”

He watched as you left, all but bouncing on your heels. He knew you hadn’t experienced much close contact with heroes until recently and your excitement was only natural. Even so, he had a bad feeling about bringing you along, one that he wouldn’t put his finger on until it was too late.

~~~~

Your friends had laughed at you for packing your bags so early. The trip to Yamanashi was weeks away and you had more free time than usual thanks to summer break. Nemuri’s early morning phone call was satisfying in more ways than one. You didn’t need to worry about buying bug spray or picking out walking shoes. All you had to do was throw on some clothes and grab your bag on the way out.

You spent the bus ride turning the pages of a suspense novel, so absorbed in the action that you barely noticed where you were going or how much time had passed. You were almost a quarter of the way through when the bus finally came to a stop and the students pushed their faces to the windows.

“Everyone, calm down,” said Vlad, “back in your seats. You’ll have plenty of time to explore later.”

They groaned, but obeyed, prompting you to giggle and slip a bookmark between the pages of your novel. You were used to dealing with the chaos of 1-A. It was almost a relief to spend time with 1-B.

You and Vlad were the first ones off the bus and you gazed in awe at your forest surroundings. There were trees and mountains as far as the eye could see, wild and unapologetically untamed. You turned on the spot, wishing you could see everything all at once, only to find yourself on the receiving end of a bone breaking handshake.

“Good morning, good morning,” said the stranger. “Welcome to The Beast’s Forest.”

You took in the stranger’s enormous form; his broad shoulders and kitten paw gloves.

“I...um...thank you…”

“The Wild Wild Pussycats are helping us out with the training camp this year,” said Vlad, taking a moment to look away as the students filed off the bus. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“It’s our pleasure,” said the stranger. “I’m Tiger and this is Ragdoll!”

He gestured to the woman beside him, who had on a matching set of kitten paw gloves.

“Pleased to meet you,” she cried out, hopping on the spot. “We’re so happy you chose to come here and train with us!”

“We’ll show you to your rooms,” followed up Tiger.

“1-B,” said Vlad, turning to the students, who by then had started to huddle round you. “Grab your things and get ready to unpack. We have a lot to do today, so no goofing off!”

~~~~

After everyone had unpacked, Vlad and Ragdoll left to take the students on a short hike. You stayed behind to help Tiger prepare dinner, as well as to help the girls from 1-A unpack and settle in once they finally arrived.

By all accounts it didn’t make sense. 1-A had set off before you, yet still hadn’t arrived. You thought about it as you washed and peeled vegetables, wondering if Shouta had done so deliberately as part of a training exercise.

They trailed out of the forest and through the doors at sundown, filthy, exhausted and starving.

“What on earth happened?” you asked, guiding them to the dorms while Pixie Bob and Mandalay finished up the food.

You didn’t get much of an answer, just whimpers of despair.

You watched as they trailed into their room, dragging their legs and clutching their hands over their stomachs, wondering what kinds of tortures they had endured in the forest.

As expected of UA , you considered. This isn’t even day one.

~~~~~~~

After dinner, the students took a dip in the hot springs and retired to bed, exhausted from the day’s events and anticipating an early start. You checked in on them before leaving the dorms, meaning to explore the grounds a little. You weren’t sure how much time you would have to yourself once the training actually started and wanted to make the most of it.

You couldn’t remember the last time you had taken a break outside of the city. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been away from the city at all. Akira had always promised that one day you would take a week away in a cabin somewhere, though he had always been too busy for one reason or another to follow through. You had told yourself you thrived in the city, but the peaceful night air was proof enough of how wrong you had been.

The air was clean here; the silence broken only by the cry of cicadas in the distance. You had never seen the stars so clearly before and, now that they glimmered above you, you never wanted to stop looking at them.

At that moment, all you could think about was Hizashi. You remembered how it had felt to explore Musutafu with his hand in yours, so caught up in the beauty of your surroundings that you forgot how it felt to be sad.

What movie are we in?

You pulled your phone from your pocket and scrolled through your own songs as you walked, following the dirt path to an exposed area of grass framed by trees. You gave each tree an appraising look, trying to figure out which one would give you the best view, only to flop down in the middle and gaze up at the sky. You had never seen such a clear view of the summer triangle before: Orihime and Hikoboshi reunited in the stars.

Their story had always been one of your favourites, which proved fortunate, as it was your mother’s favourite too. She liked to sit you and your brother down and recite the story of the beautiful princess and her humble lover as a cautionary tale, meant to remind you of the importance of contributing to society, as opposed to childish fleets of fancy. Your brother, ever the dutiful son, had nodded along to her words and condemned the lovers for their passion, but you had always been something of a romantic. You often slipped up and said how happy you were that the lovers were reunited, to which your mother would pinch your cheeks. She liked to remind you that they would not have been separated in the first place if they hadn’t been selfish, nor would they have been reunited without the generosity of Orihime’s father.

Your mother was the only person you had ever met who spent Tanabata wishing for a rainstorm.

You hadn’t talked to either of your parents for well over a year. You hadn’t told them about the break up, nor mentioned your change in career. You weren’t naive enough to think they didn’t know. Your brother was still the obedient one and had texted you on the night of the USJ incident.

You wondered what your mother would say if she saw you now; if she knew Akira proposed to you and you had turned him down. She would probably faint if she knew you had slept with two of your coworkers, one of which had been a complete stranger at the time.

You gazed up at the sky and the summer triangle, finally understanding that you had always wished for Orihime’s happiness because you saw yourself in her. Perhaps your mother did too and that was why she pinched your cheeks so much.

You reached up to touch your own cheek and smiled, thinking of Hizashi and Shouta.

Hizashi was just as much of a romantic as you were and Shouta’s passions ran deeper than you’d ever presume to understand.

You couldn’t choose between them and never wanted to.

You were ready to be selfish and chase the stars.

~~~~

You weren’t the only one watching the stars that night.

Shouta perched in the branches of a tall tree several feet away, hiding in the summer foliage and watching the dorms for any signs of students breaking curfew. The irony wasn’t lost on him.

He had reached for his capture weapon the moment he heard the front door, only to loosen his grip when he saw who was coming.

He had watched you lay down in the grass to watch the stars; had watched you reach out to touch your cheek. He was reminded of a different summer camp at a different time; a time when he too laid his head in the grass to look up at the sky.

He lifted his hand and examined it in the moonlight. This was the hand that Hizashi had taken all of that time ago and, even though the skin had hardened and formed calluses, still tingled at the memory. He could jump fallen trees faster than Hizashi now; could navigate the dark without even trying. Even so, he still thought of hands in his and didn’t know what to do.

He wanted to go back to the waterfall from all those summers ago; wanted to link his hand in Hizashi’s again and lay back to watch the stars with your lap for a pillow.

He wanted to tell you that you were beautiful; that if anyone was to make him feel so illogical, he was glad it was you.

The more things changed, though, the more they stayed the same. He touched his fingers to his lips, tracing the spaces you had kissed even as you got back up to your feet and headed to the dorms, an expression of determination on your face.

He wanted to go after you, but his legs wouldn’t move.

He wanted to whisper the truth of his complicated feelings in your ear, but couldn’t say a word.

He was taller and stronger, yet still no different to the boy from all of those years ago. Now, just like then, he told himself that you were better off not knowing; that one day he would be brave enough to say his feelings out loud, but it wasn’t this one.

He had no idea how far the parallels ran. Now, just like then, he was running out of time.

~~~~~~

On a day to day basis, Vlad didn’t spend too much time with Aizawa or the students of 1-A. He definitely didn’t spend much time with you . 1-B hadn’t experienced as many traumas as 1-A. The only motivation he might have had to stop by your office unexpectedly was to make conversation, though you always seemed to be busy whenever he passed. When you weren’t chatting with students or rearranging the notice board outside of your office, you were chatting with Kayama and Yamada and sometimes even Aizawa.

He had been surprised when you came over to him the previous morning, sheepishly admitting that you had come to join them in Midnight’s stead, but he hadn’t questioned it.

The night before, though, he had definitely started to question some things.

He had drifted out of sleep to the sound of a soft tapping outside of his bedroom door. It was too faint to be his own door, though the idea that it might be a student bothered him. He got up and opened his own door by a sliver and peered out into the darkness.

Aizawa’s room was a little further down the corridor and you were standing in front of it, softly tapping at the wood and shifting on the spot.

“Everything okay?” he had asked, prompting you to jump in surprise.

“I...I um,” you had said, glancing from him to Aizawa’s door. “Everything’s fine, I just needed to…”

You had waved almost frantically, a blush peppering your cheeks.

“It’s nothing...I’m sorry I disturbed you!”

He had watched you scurry out of the men’s dorms, chancing glances over your shoulder at him and shooting awkward smiles.

It was strange to say the least, and he wondered about it long into the night. It still played on his mind as he took a seat at the breakfast table. The students were still in the process of getting up and only you, Aizawa and Vlad himself were around, helping yourselves to bowls of rice and cups of coffee. Vlad picked at his own food, still curious about the night before. He watched as you shot second and third glances at Aizawa, visibly gathering your nerves. He saw you get to your feet the second Aizawa did and follow him to the buffet table. He listened in as you began to speak in nervous whispers.

“Shouta,” you whispered, glancing over your shoulder, “I need to talk to you.”

“You’re talking to me now.”

“I mean...I need to talk to you... alone .”

Vlad dropped his gaze as you looked in his direction and shovelled food into his mouth to disguise the fact that he had been eavesdropping.

“Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Are the students okay?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” said Aizawa, lowering his cup. “We can talk about it later.”

“But…”

“Later.”

Aizawa left you at the breakfast buffet with no further room for argument, slipping back down into his seat on Vlad’s left as if nothing had happened. You followed, flopping down into your own seat on Vlad’s right, all three of you eating in silence. Vlad’s eyes darted from his left to his right, as intrigued by this new development as he was annoyed.

~~~~~

“It’s okay, deep breaths, deep breaths!”

You patted Uraraka on the back, holding her hair back from her face as she wretched. She clasped her hands over her mouth, self conscious about throwing up in front of her classmates, but too wobbly on her feet to reach the portable toilet nearby.

“Come on,” you said, easing her arm over your shoulders and guiding her to her feet. “Slow steps.”

You guided her to the toilet, only letting go as she shut the door behind her and taking the chance to look around at your surroundings. The sun was up and training well underway. 1-A and 1-B had been assigned individual training exercises to improve their quirks and the result was organised chaos.

You didn’t have any sort of combat training, so settled for weaving your way through the crowds, offering up sips of water, pats to the back and encouraging words. It was something, at least, and gave you ample opportunities to try and get Shouta alone.

You had decided to tell him everything, from your night with Hizashi to your realisations about yourself and your own feelings. You had to be honest with him, even if it meant being rejected. You knew he had some kind of feelings for you. You knew that he wanted you on some level. You needed him to see your side of things, though so far had been unsuccessful. Every time you got closer, he found somewhere else to be.

It was disheartening, to say the least. You wondered if telling him the truth was a mistake, though shrugged off the idea almost immediately. If you never told him the truth, you’d never know his reaction.

You knew that the moment you returned home, back to your house and regular job, you would lose all of your confidence. You’d not only go back to your regular bed, but your regular demons as well.

You thought you knew better than anyone that you were running out of time and the clock was ticking, but had no idea that the end was much sooner than you thought.

You thought you had until the end of the week.

In reality, you had about 36 hours.

35:48:32

~~~~

23:59:47

“So what’s the story with you and Eraserhead?”

Your eyes bulged.

“W-what do you mean?”

You switched off the showerhead and turned back towards the onsen, realising too late that you were on the receiving end of not one but three sets of eyes.

You had tried to get Shouta’s attention again at dinner, but he had announced plans for extra lessons with the underperformers in his class. Whatever it was you had to say to him could wait until later.

You had been more than a little depressed at this development, though nowhere near as upset as Kaminari and Ashido, both of whom had begged for you to rescue them.

You must have looked unhappy as you stepped outside, for you were almost immediately jumped by Pixie Bob, Ragdoll and Mandalay, who invited you to take a soak in the hot springs with them. Maybe it was the prospect of girl talk or the fact that they reminded you so much of your own trio of girlfriends, but you took them up on it.

You hadn't expected them to ask your love life so directly.

“I...I...uh…haha, Eraserhead? Eraserhead and me?”

They grinned at that and you didn’t blame them. In their position you wouldn’t have been convinced either.

You sighed, setting aside the showerhead and getting to your feet.

“We had sex,” you said, sinking into the water. “Twice.”

“I knew it,” said Pixie Bob, nudging Mandalay. “See? I told you. I always know when people are sleeping together.”

“Oh, we’re not sleeping together anym-“

“But you’d like to?!” Ragdoll asked, tilting her head to one side.

“I…I…”

“It’s like a sixth sense,” Pixie Bob continued, seeming not to notice. “A second quirk, if you will.”

“ Sure going to come in handy during a rescue mission,” sighed Mandalay.

“Don’t be so dismissive! We could...I could,” Pixie Bob scratched her chin until inspiration struck. “If someone had heavy blood loss, I could ask their lover for their blood type!”

“What kind of guys have you been hooking up with? Vampires?”

Pixie Bob looked offended at the very idea, though Ragdoll only smiled.

“Does Eraserhead know your blood type, (Name)?” she asked, returning you to the center of attention.

“Honestly? Probably.”

It wouldn’t surprise you, all things considered. You were still convinced he’d read your staff dossier during your first few weeks at UA.

“See,” said Pixie Bob. “Sixth sense. Incredibly useful.”

Mandalay sighed and rubbed her temples.

“You must think we’re crazy.”

“I work for UA,” you laughed, “I can handle crazy.”

“I’m sure you can,” said Pixie Bob, with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows that made Mandalay groan. “Seriously, though, what’s the story with you two? How’d you end up... knowing each other’s blood types?”

You weighed up the pros and cons of telling them, before ultimately throwing caution to the wind. You hadn’t even gotten around to telling your friends the full story, much less about your intentions to confess to Shouta. Hizashi and Nemuri didn’t know about the night at Ego ; it had always seemed inappropriate to tell them.

It was a relief to finally have the whole story off your chest and, for the first time since your arrival, all three of the Pussycats were silent, all pondering the same thing.

It was Mandalay who spoke first.

“We’ll help.”

“H-huh?!”

“Yes,” said Ragdoll, giggling with glee. “We’ll take care of everything. ”

To their credit, they really did have everything worked out.

The following evening, once training was complete, they planned to host a ghost walk, pitting class A against class B. While the walk took place, the teachers would host remedial classes with their underperforming students, just as they were doing now.

Unbeknownst to any of the students, however, they also planned to have a barbecue once the ghost walk was finished. Both Vlad and Shouta had agreed to take a break from the remedial classes around that time in the hopes of restoring the morale of the underperformers, giving them at least one good memory of summer camp.

While the students gathered around the campfire, the Pussycats would send you and Shouta back into the woods to double check all of them had returned. It was the perfect opportunity to have a private conversation and you could hardly wait.

You returned to your room on a high, both so anxious and excited that you could barely concentrate on your book.

Your fingers trembled. You wondered what you would say. You had originally planned to make it up as you went along, but having a deadline gave you more of an incentive to think it through.

You rested your head against your pillows and laid your book down on your chest.

You had a feeling the next day was going to be eventful, though had no idea how right you really were.

~~~~

17:30:24

Remedial classes went about as well as was to be expected. By the time he escorted them back to the dorms, they were in varying states of despair.

“Don’t look so sad,” he said, “it takes dedication to be heroes. If you fall apart at every hurdle, your career won’t last very long.”

He dropped Mina off at the girls’ dorms last of all, waiting for her to close the door behind her before continuing up the corridor and back out towards the entrance. He paused midway, noticing that your bedroom door was open by a sliver and the light still on.

He remembered what you had said to him at breakfast; how nervous you had been. He felt a little guilty for keeping his distance, but had a feeling whatever it was you had to say to him was something that would require one hundred percent of his attention and time, which at that moment he was unable to give.

He knocked at your door before stepping inside, a soft smile creeping across his face at what greeted him. You had fallen asleep reading, a book resting over your face and cell phone in your hand. He could hear you snoring underneath it and took a couple of silent steps forward, just until he was close enough to pick up the front and back covers between his thumb and forefingers and peel it off your face. He slipped your bookmark between the pages and rested the book down on your bedside table, finally reaching across to try and slip the phone out from your hand.

You had starfished your body across the bed and it wasn’t difficult to loosen your grip on the phone. For one nerve wracking second, Shouta thought he’d woken you, for you crumpled up your face and rolled over onto your side to face him, murmuring in your sleep.

“...fair,” you said. “Sh...fair.”

He looked down at the hand closest to him, palm upwards across the bed. His own fingers twitched at the sight. He remembered how it had felt to hold your hand at Ego ; how you had trembled as you followed him through the club. At the time he had dismissed it as excitement, but now that he knew you better he understood it was nerves.

“Shouta,” you murmured, eyes closed and words slurred from sleep.

“I’m here,” he said, putting your phone down on top of your book.

“Sh…” you said again. “...un.”

He pulled the blanket across your body and you snuggled into it, a peaceful smile breaking out across your face. He wanted so badly to wake you up, but couldn't bring himself to. He knew he’d regret it later, though had no idea how much.

“Sleep tight,” he said, stepping back out of your room and switching off the light.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked back towards the entrance, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched.

Mina Ashido had gone into the washroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair and noticed your open door on the way back. Initially she had wandered over to wish you goodnight, but froze on the spot when she saw Aizawa tucking you in.

She clasped her hands over her mouth as he walked out of the door, pressing herself against the corner of the wall to remain out of sight. She was curious, yes, but not so curious that she was willing to risk even more remedial classes.

She rushed into the girls’ dorm room the moment he was gone and slammed the door shut behind her.

“Everyone,” she hissed, as the others groaned and rubbed their eyes, far from impressed at the early morning interruption. “Wake up! You’re not going to believe this!”

~~~~~~

14:42:45

“I don’t believe you.”

“I know what I saw!”

News of your late night interlude with Aizawa was the talk of the 1-A breakfast table, even if everyone was divided. While Aizawa’s presence in your room definitely raised questions, there was no evidence it had been anything other than innocent. Mina had seen him tucking you into bed and nothing more, leaving the events of that night up to personal interpretation, of which there were many.

“I’m telling you,” said Mina, “he was smiling . It was weird.”

“She could have told him a really good joke,” shrugged Kaminari.

“In her sleep ?”

“Remember that time I told Professor Aizawa a knock knock joke?” Sero said, grimly. “He made me do laps.”

“It was a pretty bad joke,” chuckled Tsuyu.

“You’re all wrong,” said Hagakure. “She’s dating Present Mic!”

“Present Mic?” said Uraraka, sounding more than a little confused.

“They do seem to get along well on his radio show,” said Deku. “That doesn’t mean they’re a couple, though.”

“Maybe she’s dating both of them,” shrugged Kirishima, to which everyone began to chatter in uproar.

“In any case,” said Iida, bellowing over everyone as he lowered his orange juice, “it’s inappropriate to speculate on the private lives of our teachers.”

“But that’s what makes it fun ,” said Mina, who was more than a little put out that people still didn’t believe her.

She glanced over at the teacher’s table, where you and the Pussycats were deep in discussion and Aizawa and Vlad compared notes on their lesson planning.

She knew what she had seen, but had no idea how to prove it.

~~~~~

1:24:21

The third day of training passed just as quickly as the first. You rushed around the grounds, handing over bottles of water and offering words of reassurance. It felt like a workout even though you weren’t the one training and you breathed a sigh of relief when it finally came to a close.

You mopped your brow and peered out over the horizon, taking in the golden sunset.

It was almost time.

~~~~~

00:24:12

Shouta...I’ve been thinking…

We need to be honest with ourselves. You aren’t Hizashi and Hizashi’s not you. You aren’t each other’s substitute and it’s unfair to everyone to pretend you are.

You frowned as you took a sip of soda.

You’d been lost in thought ever since you’d arrived at the midpoint with Ragdoll, going over and over everything you wanted to say to Shouta. In many respects you felt guilty, for you knew you weren’t paying as much attention to the ghost walk as you should.

You didn’t notice the thump of heavy footsteps nearby until Ragdoll herself hopped to her feet to listen.

“What...is that…”

“Is it a student?”

Ragdoll squinted and moved closer to the trees. The footsteps had slowed, but were still audible in the distance. You got up yourself, but she motioned for you to stay where you were.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said with a smile. “Maybe Pixie Bob made one of her earth creatures for extra scares.”

She walked towards the trees, disappearing into the shadows and out of sight. It made you nervous, though you didn’t know why. You tapped your foot against the ground and chewed your bottom lip, listening as both Ragdoll’s footsteps and the heavy ones fell silent.

It lasted only for a second, though it felt like years. You reached for the satchel of extra gear the two of you had packed and rummaged inside of it for a torch. You knew you shouldn’t leave your post, but you wanted to feel just a little safer.

“R-Ragdoll?” you called out, fiddling with the switch. “Are you-“

The footsteps started again and you froze in place, watching as something emerged from the trees. You dropped the torch and it flashed on when it hit the ground, illuminating the enormous creature stumbling towards you.

Your heart froze in your chest and you took a step backwards, insides turning to water.

You recognised this sort of creature from Tsukauchi’s investigation of the events of USJ, though had only ever seen them in photos. You shivered as you took in its exposed brain and dead, fishlike eyes, watching helplessly as Ragdoll thrashed in its grip.

“Get out of here, (Name),” she called out, the creature squeezing her body until the radio fell from her head. “Tell the others!”

You knew that you should obey her, but you were frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but watch as two other figures emerged from the trees. One was a young man with a patchworked face; the other wore a black and white costume that hid any identifying features from view.

The man with the patchworked face glanced from the creature to you, examining you from head to toe as if coming to a decision.

“Hmmm,” he said. “You aren’t on the list.”

You had no idea what list he was talking about, nor why you weren’t on it. You wondered if he was talking about the list of attendees to the summer camp, though prayed you were wrong. The camp’s location was a secret, or rather, was supposed to be one.

“Run!” Ragdoll screamed again and this time you obeyed, sprinting away along the dirt track and back towards camp.

The patchwork-faced man turned languidly to face his companion and shrugged.

“Twice,” he said, “make a copy. We can’t have her alert the others.”

“Right away! Just leave it to me!”

“Honestly, we only just got here and already you’re telling me what to do.”

You glanced over your shoulder just in time to see two identical men with patchwork faces, one of which was beginning to follow you.

Shit, shit, shit.

You ran away, reaching into your pocket for your phone. You needed to warn the others, you needed to-

Shit

You stumbled over an uneven spot in the floor, phone soaring out of your hand and into the trees as your mouth filled with blood.

You rolled over onto your back and crawled over to reach for it, though the tumble had slowed you down significantly. The second patchwork man strolled towards you at a leisurely pace as if you hadn’t bothered to run from him at all. You pushed yourself up onto your feet, but your ankle throbbed and caved in, leaving you crashing back to the ground.

“Ow,” you muttered, shuffling back towards the trees and out of danger, though not remotely fast enough to get away.

“They said I’m not s’posed to hurt you,” he said, taking a step closer, “just scare you a little.”

He smirked, taking in your burst lip and grazed knees; your frantic rummaging through the bag of supplies.

“Looks like my job’s already been done for m-“

He inched backwards as you dragged out the thing you’d been looking for: a flare gun, packed in case of emergencies. It was harmless, of course, but in the darkness looked just like the real thing.

“Tell me,” you said, “are you a clone?”

He raised his hands in mock surrender, conflict visibly playing out across his face at the activation of your quirk.

“I am,” he said.

“Tell me,” you said again, far more forcefully, “do you share memories? Will you both remember this conversation?”

“I share his memories. He doesn't share mine.”

You didn’t know if the clone shared the original’s quirk as well as his memories and were more than a little aware that you only had a short window before he figured out you weren’t holding a real gun.

“ Tell me ,” you said. “Where is the league of villains? Where do they gather?”

He squeezed his hands together, blue flames rippling across his skin as he recited an address. You committed it to memory and then pulled the trigger, limping off into the trees as he dodged the red sparks.

You limped as fast as your legs would carry you, finally collapsing behind a tree to catch your breath. You reached for your phone with shaking hands, writing out the address in a message to Shouta and cursing under your breath when it failed to send.

“Come on, come on, come on,” you said, tapping ‘resend’ over and over to no avail. You had to warn them, had to tell them.

You gave up on sending the message and used the tree as a guide to get back up onto your feet, wincing as almost every inch of your body ached in protest.

Come on , you willed yourself. Come on, (Name), you can do this.

You weren’t a hero, but none of the kids were yet. You had joined UA to guide and protect them and cuts and bruises didn’t change that obligation.

You froze in place at the sound of footsteps, clapping a hand over your nose and mouth, eyes darting around at your surroundings. The trees swayed in the evening breeze, the stars shone brightly overhead, seemingly oblivious to what was happening within the forest. You squeezed your eyes shut, heart pounding and skin clammy.

Why had the villains come here?

What was their goal?

You wished you had asked the patchwork faced man while you still had a chance.

The footsteps faded, their owner retreating in the opposite direction. You breathed a steady sigh of relief and peeped out behind you at the path you would need to take to get back to the main path. It would probably be faster to go through the woodland and you turned back to get your bearings, heart stopping as you found yourself looking into the mouth of another stranger, one who was currently dangling from the branch above you and grinning widely, revealing a set of shining teeth.

“M...meat,” he said, dropping to the floor and leaning back, one of his canines stretching from his mouth and slicing open your arm. “Fresh meat.”

You knew this villain. You remembered his court case; your father led the prosecution and landed him on death row.

Moonfish

You remembered going for coffee with your brother, who at the time was interning at your father’s law firm. It was his first real case and it affected him deeply. He refused to talk about it, even now that years had passed.

After seeing the villain in the flesh, you thought you understood why. He moved with inhuman dexterity, landing in front of you before you could so much as move.

You saw the blade coming. You heard it pierce the tree.

You didn’t, however, feel it go through your body, not until he jerked his head back in an attempt to free his tooth from the tree bark. You screamed in pain, the wound burning every time he moved.

“Show me,” he said, yanking his head, “show me how you look on the inside.”

His tooth snapped and he stumbled backwards, leaving you to flop forward, blood soaking through your shirt.

“Show me,” said Moonfish, stumbling forwards. “Let me taste your flesh.”

You opened your mouth to protest, ears ringing.

You didn’t know what you meant to say to him, only that you never got the chance. He stepped forwards to land the finishing blow, only to hear a noise in the distance. You heard it, too, eyes bulging in realisation.

The students still didn’t know about the attack and were continuing on the ghost walk. A pair of them were nearby, discussing the possible tactics of 1-B.

You searched your brain for the order, though struggling to settle on a single thought, skin prickling as Moonfish retracted his teeth and disappeared into the night, far more interested in a different sort of prey.

You tried to move, only to cry out in pain. The broken tooth seemed to have gone right through not only you, but the tree. If you tried to pull it out, you would almost certainly bleed to death far faster, but if you stayed there it wouldn’t just be you who bled.

You snatched up your phone and frantically dialled everyone in your phone book, blood soaking through your shirt and shorts.

You dialled Shouta to no avail.

You dialled Hizashi, who was in the middle of recording his radio show.

You dialled Nemuri, who was filming an interview on a late night television show.

“Someone,” you murmured, vision going dark and limbs going floppy. “Someone…”

You looked up towards the sky, taking in the bright stars with a bitter smile.

You knew it was impossible, and she was far away, but you could feel your mother pinching your cheeks.

~~~~~

00:05:20

Of all of the heroes in all of the world, Eraserhead was perhaps the most mysterious. What few people knew of his existence knew even less about the man. He was a shadow, venturing out of the darkness only to ambush would be criminals and vanish just as quickly as he came.

He worked best after dark where he could travel unseen. Ironic, therefore, that on this night in particular he stumbled over his feet. He sprinted through the undergrowth, phone pressed to his ear.

Hello, this is (Name). I’m not around at the moment, please leave a message!

“Come on,” he hissed, coming to an abrupt halt and dialling again.

Shouta glanced around at his surroundings, entirely in his element, yet powerless to act.

After returning Kota to the lodge, his phone had exploded with missed calls and messages.

“What is it?” Vlad had asked, noticing the blood drain from his face.

“I’m forwarding an address,” he said, copying one of your messages. “Pass it onto the police when they get here.”

“An address? What-”

“Just pass it onto them! It’s important!”

He had no idea why it was important, of course, only that you wouldn’t have sent it to him so many times if it wasn’t.

Your phone went through to voicemail again and he swore under his breath,

“Idiot,” he hissed. “What did I tell you about facing unknown villains?”

He remembered the night you got him with pepper spray.

Why would you try and confront a villain without help? You could have gotten yourself killed.

“You better not have done anything stupid,” he said, dialling your number again to distract himself from the fact that if you had gotten that information by using your quirk, you must have gotten close to a villain.

“Over here!” Tiger yelled nearby. Shouta followed the sound of his voice, arriving at what had previously been the midpoint.

His ears began to ring when he saw what remained of it: an abandoned table, soaked with blood, an abandoned torch flickering on the ground.

“This...this is Ragdoll’s radio,” said Tiger, lifting it up from the floor. “Oh my god…this...this is blood!”

“This blood’s cold,” said Shouta, dipping his pinky finger into it and glancing across at the radio in Tiger’s hands, “most likely hers.”

“There’s so much,” said Tiger, voice breaking, “that idiot...her quirk isn’t suitable for combat. She knows that.”

Shouta crouched down to pick up the abandoned torch.

“There’s no blood on this,” he said, turning it over in his hands. “Whoever dropped it wasn’t injured.” He fiddled with the on switch and turned to face the table, where Tiger had picked up Ragdoll’s abandoned radio. “They were frightened, though.”

“(Name),” said Tiger, picking up his train of thought. “Ragdoll...she must have told her to run.”

Shouta cursed and followed the dirt track, dialling your number as he went. He froze on the spot when he spotted an abandoned flare in the mud.

“This way,” he called out, rushing over and crouching down to examine it.

By then, it had largely burned out, but that wasn’t what caught his attention.

Generally speaking, people fired flare guns into the sky. This one had pretty clearly ricocheted off a tree. Whoever fired it had done so in self defense, as a distraction.

“Did you find anything?”

Shouta glanced over his shoulder to see Vlad arriving from the opposite direction.

“Did you see anyone on your route here?” he asked, stomach churning at the head shake he got in response.

“They’ve sent out a helicopter to track down any stragglers,” said Vlad, pointing to the sky. “We’ll soon have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“There’s not enough time,” said Shouta, dialling your number.

He had a pretty good idea of the sequence of events so far and didn’t like it one bit. You and Ragdoll had likely been ambushed by multiple villains. Ragdoll had almost certainly told you to run, not only because you were a civilian, but to raise the alarm. Someone had followed you to this spot, but what had happened next?

He got his answer a few seconds later, for somewhere to his left a phone started to ring.

“That way,” he said, sprinting in that direction, Vlad not far behind.

He couldn’t seem to move fast enough; his legs felt heavy, as if he was wading through water.

He followed the sound to its source and froze on the spot at what greeted him.

It was you, impaled by a long, jagged piece of metal that ran all of the way through the tree behind you. Your hands, lips and clothes were covered in blood, cell phone still ringing in your lifeless hand.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t say a thing, not even as Vlad arrived behind him.

“(Name),” said Vlad, dropping to the ground and examining your wounds. “(Name)...”

He turned to Shouta, ready to tell him that you were still warm, only to fall silent at the sight of him standing there. His mouth opened and closed helplessly, an expression of unspeakable horror and dread across his face.

He clasped a hand over his mouth and turned away from the scene, the scent of blood and smoke making him retch. He remembered every time you had asked to talk to him; every time he had chickened out of saying how he really felt.

Vlad was calling out to him, but he couldn’t make out a word, too lost in memories to be at all coherent.

He remembered you tapping a wet cloth to his face so many months ago. He had been furious then, though it all felt meaningless now.

You need to be more rational in these things. Running head on into danger gets people killed.

Good job I had a big, strong Eraserhead around to protect me.

“Aizawa,” said Vlad, “Aizawa...she’s…”

He didn’t get an answer, though, just a yell as Aizawa dropped onto his hands and knees.

They were in the forest, but all he could hear was rubble crashing to the floor, silently taking Shirakumo with it.

To this day, he still wasn’t fast enough.

Vlad turned back to you and tucked your hair behind your ear, face dropping at the muffled mumbling coming from your lips, intertwined with the muffled sobs coming from Aizawa that he would later pretend he didn’t hear.

“Shouta...it’s unfair...unfair...un...fair.”

00:00:00

#aizawa x reader #aizawa shouta x reader #eraserhead x reader #there is some like #references to #yamada hizashi x reader #but this chapter is mainly aizawa x reader #habanero

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elleplaysotome · 3 years ago

Text

Route Review- 707 [Mystic Messenger]

Some parts of the paragraph about the romance rating could be considered vague spoilers, but other than that this review is spoiler free!

This was my first otome game and my first route! It felt very appropriate that he be my first review on my blog! He will always be one of my favorites.

Ratings:

(warning I am very easy to please with these please don’t bully me for going to lightly on it this is just my opinion)

Plot: 10/10

Romance: 6/10

Drama: High

Writing: 10/10

Review:

Seven was my first otome love. At first I fell for him because of how fun it was to play along with his pranks and jokes, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find out how dynamic his character is. He’s a popular character for a reason, and his route is a perfect balance of fun and serious.

This route is considered by most to be the true route of mystic messenger, it reveals a lot about the overarching plot of the story and I scored it 10/10 on plot and writing for a reason. The drama levels are high, we all know with mystic messenger that is to be expected, and the twists and turns in this route are done really well. The flow throughout the route from lighter to darker is done really well. The after ending and secret endings unlockable after Seven’s good ending are so worth the hourglasses, they are a direct continuation that have even more drama and craziness, my jaw was on the floor nearly the entire time!

This route is very much plot based as opposed to romance based, and while that usually isn’t my cup of tea, I’d still highly recommend the route. I liked it more than I normally would in that circumstance because of how well the romance is intertwined with the plot-heaviness. It doesn’t necessarily feel like the romance is taking a back seat to the plot, even though in my opinion the plot is more emphasized. I scored the romance a 6/10 because while you can tell how much Seven cares for the MC, he pushes MC away so much that it doesn’t leave a ton of time for relationship development, and as a result it feels really quick, although with a timeline of 11 days that’s hard to avoid. Even so, I like the way MC handles everything thrown at her (if you choose the right choices lmao). MC really puts effort into her relationship with Seven and cares about him and his happiness (again, given that you’re choosing the right choices), and his emotionally constipated ass loves her so much he doesn’t know how to handle it. Overall they compliment each other so well and they really are the perfect pair, Seven’s route makes my heart melt every time.

I love him so much that I’ve never been able to play a different route to completion because I flirt with him too much :( I’ve played his route a total of 7 times, 5 times with his good ending and 2 with his normal ending. I found them pretty easy to achieve using email guides, and didn’t use a walkthrough for story choices as I found the right ones easy to pick out. This was my first otome game and my first otome route (I fell in love and bought hourglasses for deep story don’t judge lmao) and it will always have a special place in my heart. I will always recommend this game and this route to anyone with an interest in otome who hasn’t already played it.

#elleplays reviews #707 #mystic messenger

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dianaburnwood · 4 years ago

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HITMAN 3: First Impressions

This post is full of SPOILERS. Also, it is LONG, so.... yeah. Be prepared lol

HITMAN 3. Also known as: Diana’s Game.

Dear GOD I am in love.

I’m going to do my best to make this coherent. But. I am still freaking out. And I have SO much more to explore!!!! This won’t be very in-depth because I played each map exactly once so far. There’s so much left to see, conversations to overhear, opportunities to exploit - but, I DO have some first impressions, oh hell yes.

Menu:

That menu music!!! I was not expecting that at all. It was a mix of choral and classical with previous themes intertwined, and it reminded me of Blood Money. Speaking of Blood Money, this game is Blood Money.

Dubai:

Very, very beautiful. Kinda thought Grey made it all about himself lol of course he wanted to say “in your face” to the partners, but it was like 47 was just there to pull the trigger, like he’d not been hurt by them too. But, I really liked it. Trapping them in a room and watching them freak while Grey watched me kill them?? Helloo??? Popping off HARD from the start and I love it.

So - here’s the thing. I don’t get the timing. Diana tells them then that Edwards escaped. Did he escape just before the boys got to Dubai? Or were they unavailable to reach until then? It seems that the message Grey got at the end of HAVEN was after Olivia hacked the HAVEN servers, and then the boys were out of reach so after Diana discovered Edwards was gone, she couldn’t tell them until Dubai? And it was shown to us in a different order to leave us hanging? I dunno. Maybe? It seems weird.

THE CUTSCENE here omg - once again establishing that 47 and Diana are ride or die. “Diana will make it right, she always does” - BABE. BABE. SWEET BOY. His little face when Grey doesn’t trust Diana. OMGGG.

Dartmoor:

I went the murder mystery route, of course. I figured it was Emma from her conversation with her husband, but I got all the clues after just to be sure. Can’t believe Carlisle just handed 47 the file on Edwards and then went out alone on the balcony like I wasn’t gonna kill her??? Bitch????? do you forget who i am?????? Anyway, the murder mystery was SO much fun, but I can’t wait to infiltrate this manor in other ways. Lots of Beldingford vibes here.

THE CUTSCENE bdsfgafhlsjfah WAHT????? Ok so HOW did Edwards know where they were? And - ok, so it made for an amazing scene, but Grey is a badass. He is a mercenary genius that duped the ICA and brought Providence to its knees. How did he get himself surrounded in the woods by CICADA? But he did, and it was beautiful, and he literally only shot himself to save 47, and the LOOK in 47′s eyes on his balaclava face - I just bfjKSFasad. I can’t believe he died so early tho. I was very sure he’d die somehow, but SO early. WOW.

Berlin:

fucking hell. Berlin. fuck. fucckkkk.

I wanna shout out to Mini (not gonna tag you in case you’re avoiding spoilers) but hot damn girl if you’re reading you were BANG ON about 47 wearing Grey’s coat. I really didn’t think it was his. It was. It is such a beautiful way for 47 to express his emotions about this death without actually saying anything. Omg. It was perfection. I’m crying thinking about it.

BERLIN was where this game really upped its... game. Like WOW. 5 targets, and it’s the ICA. Clearly Edwards went to the ICA board at this stage and was like uhhhh so you need to take these ppl out. HOWEVER I am amazed that the ICA is like “oh, ok”. DO you not remember what happened in SOUTH DAKOTA.

But going after the ICA is a fucking trip and I love it. I love how 47 says each agent’s name to himself. I love how he listens in and the team handler realises it. I love how she pulls the rest of her team out once you get 5. I love that the ICA agents use disguises too!!! This is truly APEX PREDATOR and I love that they named it that. Y’all think you have the balls to go up against 47??? bitch?????

But the fact that you have to find the targets and none of them are marked is so fantastic. I found 6, but I have no idea how many are actually available - but I’m gonna find out!!! The club is HUGE as well, and lots of throwbacks to Contracts, especially with the biker gang. Amazing. Amazing level. I’m so excited to replay it.

Also they really addressed the elephant in the room with the ICA agents describing 47 as a caucasian male, bald, average height and ppl being like uh that’s every man here, and then he said yeah but he’s got this big tattoo lmao

Chongqing

ok this is where I started to think this game was my fanfiction. Inside the ICA? Showing off how truly international it is, and high tech. Hidden in plain sight. Ready to dismantle in 12 hours if needed. SO perfect. This lore builds on Absolution and Blood Money ICA lore in wonderful ways.

Also, I don’t know why the IOI and DK of the logo looked different in the trailer, they must have been just hard to make out. Cos in the game, the ICA logo is the same as all previous games.

Also, analysts do client vetting? Intrigue. Always assumed that was part of the handlers’ job. I take it all back Diana, you have never done anything wrong in your life, ever

I killed Royce by firing the ppl she recommended so she’d get trapped in the data core cleaning. I killed Hush (what a name I love it) as his patient.

Working with Olivia is really fun. I missed Diana, but Olivia brought a whole fresh perspective. I also really like how neither Grey nor Olivia are as good as Diana - they both fucked up while guiding 47 at least once.

47 saying “...I will leave you to prepare” to Olivia, I yelled fdagsfa

Also I love how 47 decided to expose the ICA exactly like Diana did in Absolution. Those two. One of a kind. My heart. And his desire to protect her. I love that the files showed their start together. Olivia saying “I can see why you...” and then she stopped herself. We all KNOW what she was gonna say.

AND AND AND AND

the cutscene - I screamed

“47 has one weakness. Me.”

I swear to fucking GOD, IO has seen into my soul. I’ve said all along that Diana is 47′s weakness, and he is hers. But to hear it said, aloud, by my girl? WHAT???!!!!!

Mendoza

Ok. OK. OKKKKKK. OK. I can’t even write about this one. This was where I was pretty sure I was hallucinating the entire level. This is my Diana and 47 dreams come true. This is insane. This is EVERYTHING.

So we have OUR MOMENT IN THE SUN. She puts her HAND on HIS HAND and he looks in fucking wonderment at it. ahugarhiewEG;FEJGHEFlejlhsgfes;gjrsgt. I can’t. I can barely get through writing about this.

Diana - the dress, the Jolie thigh slit, the jewellery, the hair (they finally fixed her fucking hair), SASS. “I have tango fever” omg.

How do these ppl not have a pic of 47 by now lol

I followed Diana and Vidal around cos I was entranced by my girl. Diana was fucking amazing each time. So much sass. Little did I know I interrupted them enough times for Vidal to say “ok son let’s talk”. I saw the tango and I was like omg imagine if I could dance with Diana.

well.

WELL.

Anyway, got to kill Vidal via her own setup for me, and that was amazing. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I snuck into the house to kill Yates, and overheard him calling Edwards’ voicemail. Also, it is April 2021?? So, yeah. My previous dates were way wrong lol.

And then, ALL MY DREAMS CAME TRUE. Diana and 47 fucking dancing the tango? I was pissed that I was in a security guard outfit, next time I play he will be in his tuxedo baby.

Diana’s comments to 47 when he’s in disguise tho, I was freaking. As security “you look like a true professional. I feel so much safer with you gentlemen around” aaahhhh

UH HE FELL TO THE GROUND COS OF POISON fngjfagfljgnsdfa

I am so glad I was right about my baby girl tho. She even told him “you didn’t have a choice” about her parents. Good. I’m so glad I was right about that. But omg it broke my heart to have 47 so, SO, SOOO sure of Diana all along, defending her to Grey and Olivia, knowing, KNOWING that she was on his side, and then, he eventually started to doubt it.

I was screaming at my screen - this is BLOOD MONEY! SHe is doing what she did in BLOOD MONEY!!!!

But, for a second, 47 wasn’t sure anymore. And Diana played her part well.

Carpathian Mountains

Ok, what I love most about Contracts was how it gave us an insight into 47′s psyche, and this game upped that tenfold. Him seeing all his targets surround him? Him imagining Diana and the Constant dancing together? Him imagining her say terrible things about him, things he’s thought about himself deep down, always, omg, but he finally snapped out of it. Ironic that thinking about Grey snapped him out of it, when in life Grey had not trusted Diana. But 47 came to the realisation on his own. Diana would never betray him.

opening that door and finding out you’re on a fucking train?????? I screamed.

I am a bit disappointed that it turned out Romania wasn’t significant, they just happened to be passing through. But omg the fact that you are “subject 47″ again. I freaked. This is 47′s worst nightmare.

I love that you have a free pass to kill everyone in this level. I did it in stealth anyway, cos it felt wonderfully tense to sneak through that train. But wow. This is another BIG risk that IO took. The train was straight out of Uncharted, and crafting a silencer for your pistol??? Hello The Last of Us????? But I don’t care. They used those elements super well.

I think some people will be angry at this game because parts of it (especially the last level) were a departure from how HITMAN and HITMAN 2 worked. But I love it. I love that they took risks to tell the story they wanted to tell, and those risks paid off.

47′s undying loyalty to Diana, omg. Telling Edwards bye bitch, I’ll never forget who I am again, and Diana thinks you suck. <3<3<3<3<3

ENDING

OH MY GOD. ONE YEAR LATER????? 47 obviously took some time off cos he fucking needed a break. But he’s back, baby. Ending on “it’s good to be back” was wonderful. The game ended where the 2015 trailer for HITMAN started, and I’m crying. He’s ready to continue with Diana, and not because it’s what he was made to do, not because he doesn’t know what else to do, but finally, because he CHOOSES to do that.

But one year later? What does that mean? Has Diana rebuilt the ICA like in Blood Money, or will she and 47 work together without anyone else? They’ll need the infrastructure that an organisation like the ICA has though. Diana said she would dismantle Providence from the top down once Edwards was gone, but how? Does that mean dismantling what’s left of the ICA? They were one and the same by the end of the game. All that didn’t just disappear. I’m left with so many questions.

I was disappointed Diana wasn’t in the cabin when 47 got there. And I wonder why she wasn’t. She knew he was coming, but they are clearly still on good terms. Maybe she wasn’t sure what to expect. But does that mean they hadn’t spoken in a year since??? But she didn’t sound surprised to hear him, and he had coordinates that he was following, so I think they arranged to meet. But her phone was in there when he arrived, and she wasn’t. Maybe he was tracking her phone? Did she come back there to him after?????

BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT

the game

ended

with 47

smiling

And for that I will be forever grateful.

Ok bye, I need to play it again. RIP work tomorrow lol

#hitman 3 first impressions #hitman3spoilers

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mindblindbard · 4 years ago

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Mind Blind FAQ

I’ve noticed a few trending questions in my tumblr inbox, which I always fully intend to answer, but those asks then get buried under messages accusing me of being the embodiment of evil (playful “hate mail” legitimately brightens my day, btw, because you guys make me feel so understood 😜).

Anyhow, here are the answers to my most commonly asked questions:

Q: How many chapters will be released in the open WIP demo? A: Probably 10, with the final chapters part of a closed demo. This is so that spoilers about the endings don’t get leaked before Mind Blind is released.

Q: Endings? Plural? A: Four, so far. These endings aren’t “bad” or “good”—just different, depending on your decisions.

Q: Will there be an option to play as transgender? A: I’m saying no for right now, although it’s something I’ll consider more after the first draft is written.

Q: Is Mind Blind the first in a series? A: My goal is for it to be a stand-alone book. There is a slim possibility, however, that the story will be too long to fit a single volume, in which case it will be published in two parts.

Q: Is there a Mind Blind Discord? A: Yes! In addition to the Patron-only Sanctum of Spoilers, there’s an amazing fan-run discord for Mind Blind at https://discord.gg/bSAn2ud9!

Q: Do you have a Patreon or Ko-fi? A: My Patreon is https://www.patreon.com/bardictype (where you can find extra stories and other writings). My Ko-fi link is https://ko-fi.com/mindblind (I give tips for tips).

Q: Where can I find descriptions on all the ROs? A: Info on the cast can be found on Mind Blind’s COG Forum Page: https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/mind-blind-9-09-demo-update-boom/79890

Q: How does Button’s mind blindness work? How is telepathy different from empathy? Why are there so many poorly-explained acronyms? A: The final release will include an “Aeon Student Guide” in the stat screen. Until then, feel free to message me with questions! Knowing what people find confusing helps me figure out where I should rework the narrative, as well as what information should be included in the guide.

Q: Is there a way to win Rosy’s first assignment? A: There are three (and a half) routes to victory. The easiest method is to convince Glitch to throw the match.

Q: Will there be any, uh, scenes with the ROs where we can, you know . . .

A: Mind Blind is PG13. Any woo-hooing on customizable bedsheets will be implied rather than described.

#Mind Blind #FAQ #Frequently asked questions #Mind Blind Guide #Mind Blind FAQ

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yeonchi · 3 years ago

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Doctor Who Series 13 (Flux) Review Chapter Five: Survivors of the Flux

Air date: 28 November 2021

Well everyone, it’s finally happened. Chibnall has officially doubled down on the Timeless Child. Forget my spoiler-free thought for this episode, we all knew this was coming despite our efforts at coping in the hope that things would turn out differently. Frankly, if that were the case, fans (including myself) would still be blaming Chibnall for making us believe the Timeless Child stuff and keeping us hanging for nearly two years, so the only way he could really go is down, like celebrities who pander to China while trying to appease the mainstream population. At least Chibnall didn’t go with the fanwank route of having the Master be the Timeless Child because that’d probably be just as bad.

The only other thing we need is that final link with Ruth and her place in the Doctor’s timeline. I’m planning a rant about the Timeless Child and why I don’t like that story arc for the review of the final chapter or the Series 13 epilogue post, but for now, let’s just focus on this episode as I type on a new computer and keyboard (which I’ll talk about another day).

You know the drill - spoilers continue after the break. May God have mercy on us all.

The Timeless Child double-down

Continuing from where we left off, the Doctor examines the Weeping Angels around her before she finds herself on a ship. After having a conversion plate placed on her by an Ood, the Doctor is led inside, where she encounters Awsok, who we last saw in Once, Upon Time. Following some to-ing and fro-ing, Awsok tells the Doctor that she is essentially the current leader of the Division and proceeds to give her a brief history of it; the Division began on Gallifrey as a small group to ensure the safety of the galaxy, but as Gallifrey grew, the Division began recruiting from other dimensions and species, guiding and shaping events on many civilisations. Despite it growing so big, the Doctor was unable to find the Division because they are not in the universe; she and Awsok are on what is probably the Division’s control outpost, situated between two universes.

The outpost is moving into the next universe, with Awsok having kept a seed vault of genetic traces from the previous universe to import into the next. The Doctor insists that her universe isn’t going anywhere, but Awsok explains that it has been over since they let a virus into their experiment - the Doctor left the Division and did her own interfering all over the universe. In order to protect the secrecy of their existence, the Division engineered the Flux to destroy the universe and the Doctor with it.��The Doctor asks Awsok who she is; she reveals herself to be the one who found her, brought her to Gallifrey, raised her and did all sorts of experiments on her. By this point you’re probably wondering why Awsok hasn’t addressed herself by name yet, and that’s because Awsok is, in fact, Tecteun. Tecteun had the Weeping Angels bring the Doctor to Division so that she wouldn’t be in the universe to save it.

The Doctor asks Tecteun if what the Master told her in The Timeless Children was true (because she somehow knew that the Master would get a hold of the information in the Matrix, though the Doctor could have said to Tecteun, “So, that stuff the Master told me, that you left in the Matrix, was that true?”) and she confirms this. The Doctor tells Tecteun that she denied her her life; Tecteun says that everything the Doctor is is because of her, though she understands that she thinks that she could have been someone else, to which the Doctor says that she may never know. Tecteun points out the Doctor’s judgement of her for giving her the journey of a lifetime when her travels involving her companions were just as experimental to the Doctor as she was to herself. Tecteun also reveals that she was the one who ordered her memories erased before she leaves.

The Doctor convinces the Ood to show her the universe and she notices that the projection isn’t centred correctly, as if the Flux is centring in towards Earth. The Doctor hears voices in her head and sees the Lungbarrow-esque house again; it is then that the Doctor notices a fob watch, containing the memories of her time as the Timeless Child which was transferred from the Weeping Angel in Claire’s mind. Tecteun gives the Doctor a choice; she can return to her universe and attempt to defend it from the Flux, or she can rejoin her and the Division in the other universe and regain her memories, adding that that universe is where the other end of the wormhole was.

The Doctor proclaims to Tecteun that she will save her friends and the universe while destroying the Division in the process. It is then that Swarm and Azure board the outpost using a psycho-temporal bridge powered by the energy they harvested from the lifeforms of the universe. Swarm, crediting Tecteun for releasing him, proceeds to “release” her by turning her into ash before advancing on the Doctor...

So, the double-down has happened and the Master’s words are confirmed straight from the horse’s mouth - the Doctor is the Timeless Child. At this point, you’d think that Ruth’s place in the timeline wouldn’t matter, but honestly, it still does because we still need to know where Ruth fits in the timeline and if she is the incarnation where she gets her memories erased. Don’t expect the doubling-down to let up next week.

Killing off Tecteun was the second worst move of this episode next to the double-down. Her potential in the series finale was wasted when we could have seen a final showdown or even a last-minute redemption.

Forging a way back

Oh yes, other things are still things in this episode.

In 1904, Dan, Yaz and Professor Jericho are in Mexico, having already been in the era for three years. After Dan dodges a trap, the group take an offering pot which apparently has the exact day that the world is going to end. They take it to someone in Constantinople to decipher, but when Jericho smells burning in the tent (or something) they are in, the group quickly evacuate before some dynamite, placed by a mysterious figure, blows it up. They only get a partial date - 5 December - but no year. Given that the Flux is happening in 2021 and Dan was kidnapped by Karvanista on Halloween night, they should have been able to deduce that that is the date and try to get back there; even if it’s only some time away, at least they can prepare. For some reason, Dan, Yaz and Jericho are dumb in this episode and that’s not the only example of it.

On a ship, the group are attacked by a waiter with a serpent tattoo on his forearm. They fend him off and try to interrogate him, but he bites a poison capsule lodged in his tooth and kills himself. Later, as Dan and Jericho dump the waiter’s body overboard, Yaz listens to an adaptive hologram message the Doctor left her that activated two weeks after she disappeared; the Flux has caused creatures to be displaced and their first target is probably going to be Earth as it seems to be safe for the time being, but it would cause a battle for the ownership of the Earth, so their task is to figure out the date and help the Earth; the Flux created ripples through time so there are people who will have foreseen it. Like I said, the group should have deduced the year by this point, making any further efforts redundant.

The group eventually get to Nepal, where they meet a seer on a mountain. The seer only says “Fetch your dog”, which confounds Jericho, but leads Dan and Yaz to realise something. They head to the Great Wall of China and paint a message on the ground there for Karvanista to find (yeah, like the CCP will just leave it alone for 120 years lol, not to mention the weather or vegetation).

Back on the ship, the group get no response from Karvanista or the Doctor (what did you expect?), but they are visited by Joseph Williamson, who just comes into their cabin talking about shifting doorways before disappearing back through the door. Dan realises that if Williamson keeps turning up before him and Yaz, then they need to find him, so they head back to Liverpool and go down into the Williamson Tunnels, which have stopped construction since Williamson’s death (in 1840).

After six and a half hours of walking through the tunnels, the group encounter Williamson. At this point, Yaz has the fucking gall to ask Dan if he is from Liverpool. Surely she should have worked it out already in the short time they were together with the Doctor. Yaz explains their situation to Williamson; having finally found someone able to sympathise with his problem, Williamson takes the group to the heart of his tunnels, namely a chamber intended as a defence for humanity against the Flux. Around it, there are doorways leading to different worlds, but in the past few days, they now lead to unknown places, particularly Doorway 9 which is apparently deadly. Suddenly, they hear knocks on the doorways...

A king mingles among the people (of another world)

In 1958 England, the Grand Serpent, going by the name of Prentis, connects with someone known as Farquhar about threats originating from beyond the Earth. When Farquhar states that he is tasked with setting up the British division of a new taskforce funded by the United Nations, Prentis offers his help. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the origin of UNIT.

Nearly a decade later, in 1967, Farquhar brought in Corporal Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, after having missed the events of The War Machines and despite the fact that he was yet to meet the Doctor in an encounter with the Yeti in The Web of Fear. Yeah, there’s a whole saga of inaccuracies in UNIT’s timeline that I’m not going to bother going through. Frankly, we can just say that things like the Time War or the Flux caused all these inconsistencies to happen in time. It’s become a good excuse to explain away inconsistencies in my personal project.

So anyway, Farquhar brings the Grand Serpent, who seemingly hasn’t aged a day, into his office, where the TARDIS has been brought in from Medderton (so I guess the Weeping Angels just put the two timezones back in their original place in space and time, lol ok), which they are converting into a training facility (probably would have been better if it wasn’t UNIT, but whatever, it’s not like it matters a lot). Farquhar shows a machine designed to detect non-terrestrial lifeforms and discovers that the Grand Serpent is not human. The Grand Serpent chokes Farquhar from the inside and a serpent comes out of his mouth and back to its master.

In 1987, the Grand Serpent wishes Millington a happy retirement and offers to be his successor as chair of the UNIT Oversight Committee, but he refuses due to his prolonged absences. As Millington goes back to his unusually hot car, he is assassinated by the Grand Serpent in the same way as he did Farquhar.

In 2017, the Grand Serpent tells Kate Stewart that he is winding down all UNIT operations. Kate tells him that she knows of his true identity before revealing that he can’t suffocate her the same way he did Farquhar and Millington as she is wearing a psychic manifest shield and leaving. That night, when Kate returns home, she discovers a bomb behind her door and manages to escape as it detonates. She then calls Osgood to tell her that she is going dark before breaking her phone and leaving. Well, at least that explains what happened in Resolution.

Other threads again

Two other threads have a minor focus in this episode. Since the first episode, we’ve gone from 8-9 threads to 3 threads to 5 threads to 3 threads and back to 5 threads again. If this series was a big Spanish Inquisition then I totally didn’t expect that.

In 2021, one of the Lupari ships falls out of formation, leading Karvanista to search for the one ship that didn’t respond to the species recall. The ship was stolen by Bel and is about to arrive on a monolith when it is remotely taken over and brought to Earth.

Meanwhile, Vinder arrives on the monolith. He sees Swarm and Azure using people taken by the Passengers to power their psycho-temporal bridge to the Doctor and tries to evade them, but is soon confronted by Swarm and two Passengers, one of which transports Vinder inside himself and it is in there that he encounters Diane.

Karvanista boards the ship Bel is on and they engage in combat when they learn that the Lupari ships are being attacked. As the Grand Serpent orders a woman with a serpent tattoo on her forearm to lower Earth’s defences and aim all their missiles inwards at the target cities, the Sontarans, led by Commander Stenck, appear above Earth (as revenge for their previous defeat) and begin attacking the Lupari ships, even going back to attack Yaz and the others in the Williamson Tunnels...

Other general thoughts

I’ve noticed that the Doctor has spent most of this series separated from Yaz and Dan and that the Doctor is the only person who hears about the Timeless Child stuff; even when Ryan asked her about it in Revolution of the Daleks, she only alluded a bit of it to him, meaning that Yaz still doesn’t know what the Doctor discovered on Gallifrey.

Chibnall carried Professor Jericho over to this episode just so we could have three companions, didn’t he? At this point I’m honestly wondering how this series would have turned out if Graham and Ryan hadn’t left. Frankly, it would have been better that way given what Dan’s gone through on his first adventure.

With Captain Jack’s appearance last year and Kate Stewart’s appearance in this episode and the next episode, this means that Chibnall has brought back a prominent character from both the first RTD and Moffat eras. Say what you will about this era, Chibnall bringing back the memberberries has been a positive of his era. In the RTD era, Sarah Jane Smith was brought back followed by the Brigadier and Jo Grant/Jones in The Sarah Jane Adventures. In the Moffat era, Charles Dickens was brought back in The Wedding of River Song, but he was just a minor character and historical figure; the major memberberry would come in the form of the Tenth Doctor in The Day of the Doctor.

If the Grand Serpent was only seen in scenes from 1958 onwards, then what was all that stuff happening in 1904, particularly the waiter with the serpent tattoo? Is it possible that he was on Earth before 1958?

I’m presuming that the Doctor only left a message for Yaz, so did Dan get anything? Talk about Yaz favouritism lol. Also, how did it take Yaz, Dan and Jericho three years to work out that the offering pot was what they were supposed to look for when the Doctor’s message only activated two weeks after her disappearance?

Again, no tokusatsu references in this episode. Frankly, trying to find references is hard when you’ve got a lot of stuff going on. As for SJW red flags, there are a couple. On one hand, now that we know that the Doctor is the Timeless Child, this means that Chibnall diversified the Doctor and whitewashed the Timeless Child and we should never forget that. On another hand, my prediction for this whole thing being a metaphor for colonialism (that I mentioned in the prelude) did come true.

Summary and verdict

Initially, I thought that this episode was just okay, but after some rewatches, it honestly wasn’t that good as I thought. Aside from the Timeless Child double-down, Yaz, Dan and Jericho are fucking stupid (Yaz in particular) and Tecteun was killed off even though there is some potential for her in the next episode. Normally, I would give this episode a 4 or 5 out of 10, but since I said that I would be holding this series to a higher standard and taking off points for destroying canon, I am going to uphold my promise and give this episode the verdict it deserves.

Rating: -10/10

Stay tuned next week as I review the sixth and final chapter of Flux, The Vanquishers. If this episode is any indication then it’ll probably end up being another -10/10 for me. The epilogue post will follow that and, as always, I will be reviewing the New Year’s Special as well.

#doctor who #doctor who series 13 #doctor who flux #thirteenth doctor #doctor who series 13 review #doctor who flux review #thirteenth doctor review

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