#ch2-15 spoilers

[blueraysofsunshine]

spoilers!!! ch2-15

man. it was aceover for me once i figured that for arei to be rendered unconscious sans turpentine + lack of accomplices in the case ace was the way more obvious suspect over admittedly frail eden😭 but seeing it today, in canon, i just… wow. i never cared too much for ace up till this point, but he certainly made me turn on the waterworks during his monologue ‘i just want to live.’ i cry everyday

the new sprites for him were also wonderful!! his argument armament was also very hot LMAO i was just biting my lip through the tears. funnily though, i have an inkling that this is not the end for the trial?? we haven’t gotten into voting time nor the execution so something can still change

i thought that the closing argument was… kind of vague and rushed? personal nitpick: i preferred the sharper lineart during ch1’s closing argument and the actual comic panelling they had, but for ch2’s quite a few pieces of evidence were not touched upon. like at all. was arei’s missing glove just a genuine rendering mistake from the start?? did she just… not wear it to the playground, for this one instance? and what about the scuff marks on the playground floor? was it just hints of a struggle, an indication that it was ace all along (due to heels scuffing up the floor) or what? overall, the closing argument was… surprisingly short is all. maybe to reflect teruko’s claim that not everything little detail has to solved in the trial, since it hinges on majority vote? mad props to the dev as always though, really kept me on my toes for one and a half year, can’t believe the dead trio will no longer be a trio no more soon😞

what a wild ride it’s been fellas. see yall next week for the inevitably brutal execution sobbing

[chairhahaha]

drdt ch2 episode 15 spoilers

-

GODDDD THEY MAKE ME SICK

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

DRDT CH2-15 Spoilers (though you honestly shouldn't be in the tag if you haven't finished the episode

In a chapter that has been filled to the brim with secrets, deception, and manipulation... The fact that Ace's motive was simply that he wanted to fucking live is powerful. To me at least.

[drdt-headcanons]

[spoilers for DRDT Ch2 Ep's 14 and 15]

Rose believes there's still good in Nico, and was relieved that they stood up for themself a little bit. Her biggest issue lies with Hu, not Nico. She believes Hu is poisonous for Nico, and worries Nico will be led down a path of homicide and vengeance if they don't break from Hu's control.

:)

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN3 Thoughts - Ch15-17

LN 3: Prologue-ch2 - ch3-5 - ch6-8 - ch9-11 - ch12-13 - ch14

Alright folks, we're building up to the big one. You know what I'm talking about. Still a bit more to go until 🐸, so let's continue chugging along to the big climax and conclusion of this particular volume.

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

Chapter 15 - Scary Stories

Just a few silly/small moments that I highlighted. First, we love our little gremlin kitty cat. For real though, I love how Natsu-sensei stuck with this little storyline of Maomao obtaining a shed. So cute and hilarious. Maomao is truly lucky that she has managed to find such understanding superiors.

Second, Yinghua is so sweet. Even if she does end up using Maomao as emotional support to go hear some scary stories. Someone save our poor cat.

I took a moment to think about the different scary stories we actually get told in this chapter. Why these stories? What is significant about them? The first story clearly connects to an overall them The Apothecary Diaries has about how things that seem "otherworldly" or "scary" often have a grounded explanation. Maomao's own story also encapsulates this theme, much to Yinghua's exasperation.

What about Shisui's story though? It's definitely a creepy story - it reminds me of something you'd see from "Tales of the Cryptkeeper" (for those of you who understand that reference, lol). I don't think there is any foreshadowing to pick up on from this story, but I can see how the monk can kind of connect to Loulan. Keep your head down (recite the sutras/Loulan being the "perfect daughter"), stick to your values (don't stop reciting the sutras/Loulan's own personal agenda), and that can save you from harm--and when it's done, don't look back (the conclusion to the Shi clan arc). It's a bit of a stretch--maybe this is an "apple is just an apple" moment, but where's the fun in leaving things that way?

Anyway, curious about what other people might think about Shisui's monk story. I am sure I've read some interesting takes, but for some reason I can't remember any of them right now...

We do get these little observation from Maomao though regarding Shisui that are so fun to pick up on in a re-read when you know what's up.

Oh does she look familiar to you, Maomao? Huh. I wonder why. I do wonder though, how often has Maomao actually seen "Consort Loulan" (whether it's been Shisui or a double). We know Lady Gyokuyou has all but probably stopped inviting guests over for tea so I imagine the chances are probably not that much. Give it to Maomao to recognize faces even if she doesn't care about names though.

The potential "thirteenth" story of the night too - oof. Slowly suffocating to death or dying from carbon monoxide poisoning is something that really freaks me out, so what occurred in this chapter genuinely gave me proper chills. Props to Natsu-sensei for creating layers upon layers in this chapter she beautifully titled "scary stories". She really provided the full range - "scary" stories that are actually just sad stories when you know the truth, stories that are creepy due to a supernatural twist, and then truly chilling real life phenomenon. I hope the anime leans into the horror of this chapter, that'd be fun.

No for real someone save our cat! She's suffering. SUFFERING!

Chapter 16 - Beating the Heat

This chapter starts out with one of the most hilarious interactions Jinshi ends up having with someone. I really miss Lady Gyokuyou for things like this. So smart, clever, and all packaged with a wicked sense of humor.

She really got him good here. What a queen. True future empress material.

So. Interesting thing. I believe this is the first chapter we actually learn that this country is called "Li" and are provided with a general layout of the country and it's provinces.

This stands out to me because I recommended The Apothecary Diaries anime very hesitantly to my sister with the knowledge she would probably be critical of its embellished version of "historical China". She did make a comment about it, and I waffled about whether to let her know it's not actually based in "China", and is a made up country, but then couldn't remember when this info actually gets told. I guess people will find out in S2.

Even though Maomao is dreadfully bored of Basen's lecture, I found it super interesting and I do appreciate the detail that the kanji for "Li" (茘) does fit into the founding of the country.

Small detail here. Given what we learn later about Suirei's mother/Shishou's other wife actually being the former Emperor's daughter... I wonder if his visits were partly to see his kid/grandkid?

Alright, now, after this I basically spend the rest of the chapter screaming internally at Maomao. In hindsight, I truly believe JInshi was actually so patient with Maomao by the time we get to LN5.

Maomao picking up the details of how lavish this house is. How it's clearly for the finest guest. Moments ago she was just thinking about how the Emperor used to visit. There are DRAGONS ON THE FENCE. I know this isn't China, I know, but DRAGONS MAOMAO. I AM SCREAMING (I also low-key blame Basen for rushing her, damn it Basen let her observe)!

Another small detail. I love the description in English of Jinshi "flouncing". I also love how Maomao just accepts Jinshi wearing a mask with the logic that he's just so pretty of course he would have to cover his face. It's so funny seeing how illogical Maomao gets sometimes when it comes to Jinshi's attractiveness and why he may be hiding his appearance. Maomao, I don't think Jinshi is concerned about accidentally killing a random townsperson with his beauty, please. Come on, you have a medical background. You know how unlikely that could be. Can you really not think of any other reason someone of clearly super high importance might want to hide their face in public? Not any other reason? But also -- Maomao recognizing how tired Jinshi is. Something that will start happening more and more <3.

Also poor Basen. I remember when we first met Basen in LN1 I questioned why he was so grumpy at Maomao. In the beginning I assume he knew that Maomao didn't know Jinshi's true identity, but did he assume after Maomao started working in Jinshi's house that someone would've told her by now? Anyway, his shock at learning Maomao has no idea who Jinshi actually is is kind of hilarious.

I found this conversation really cute in the original Japanese. It's still amusing in English, but in Japanese Jinshi's language is much more curt, informal and almost pouty. He just sounds so put-off, but also there's a morbid fascination/curiosity you can sense as he watches Maomao happily eat the food with zero effect. And then that moment of curiosity as he asks about her memories of softshell turtles (which I'm sure he later regrets asking about, hahahaha).

Basen is truly having a rough night.

Chapter 17: The Hunt (Part One)

You could stand to think about the question even just a bit Maomao. Please. Once again, there are DRAGONS AT THE HOUSE.

Jinshi :) Although this does make me curious about what Jinshi was expecting from this outing and what role Lihaku was actually supposed to have. He ends up being useful anyway, but I doubt "find me and Maomao in a cave" was what Jinshi actually wanted from him.

Seriously, Maomao, you could stand to be a bit more curious. I'm begging you.

For real though, given what we know is coming up next chapter, I do actually kind of love how Natsu-sensei really amps up the notion that Maomao is truly working her absolute best to be as frustratingly obtuse as possible compared to other situations.

If we compare this with how she approaches Shisui it's kind of fascinating. With Shisui she actively notices some oddities, but doesn't have enough clues to put anything together, so she doesn't. But she still notices. She makes note of it. For Jinshi though? Clues are literally slapping her in the face and she has to actively tell herself "it doesn't concern me", she has to actively choose to not pursue things, and if she think of theories she comes up with the most illogical reasoning. It makes me want to scream at a wall.

<3. I just really love this moment. As Maomao says - whatever her opinions of his general behaviour, she respects the effort he puts into his public persona enough to know that if he is slipping, something must be wrong.

I'm with Maomao. I feel like in Japanese it's even more funny because what he says more literally is "Sorry, I'm going to surprise you a bit" and then LEAPS OFF A CLIFF. Yeah, that's not a "little surprise" dude. I can already imagine Maomao's VA voicing the line perfectly as she plummets down below.

And there we have it! What will happen next? Do they survive? Will some frogs show up? Whose to know? Certainly not me. Until next time!

[ch18-19]

[campbyler]

can i ask what your guys’ writing style is? like how you write or plan for big fics like this?

hi!! thank you for this question! (some minor-ish CH2 SPOILERS INCOMING BTW so if you haven’t read it yet i suggest coming back to it once you have!)

the three of us all have a tendency to Overwrite so much, and andi and thea have outlined their fics extensively in the past, but i (suni) only started doing so in the last few months and it was because of this fic! we did so so so much planning before ever starting to write, even all the way back when we first conceptualized this fic in january. we have maybe three or four different versions of the outline, a whole document to organize what songs we’re choosing for each chapter to put on the playlist, an entire google slides presentation of the timeline in order to keep track of it LOL so there has definitely been very meticulous planning that we’ve put a lot of time into! our earliest version of the outline looked something like the first pic fkwjdkwk (thea was in the trenches. andi was Stressed about the outline. i was sitting back laughing my ass off)

and the second two are from our current working outline that we are at this very moment using as we write (ft some Key Plot Moments for you). we have all 15 chapters of the fic outlined like so and already had them outlined for a while before even starting! that way there’s no confusion among the three of us over what happens when and where and to whom. since we all planned the fic together and have a good idea of the flow of events (barring individual scene choices and stuff ofc) we usually start writing the chapter once the person before us is a reasonable way through — that way, there’s enough for us to work with so we have content to reference from the previous chapter, but it’s early enough to get a head start so we (hopefully) don’t get too backed up!

basically, it’s a really long fic with a lot of lore and a lot of Events and we needed to keep track of it. so we wrote it all down. we also have a google doc for everything. biiiiig fans of shared google docs. yes, this did all take months. lol. yes we are very proud of ourselves. hehe 🤸 thank you for this question! feel free to hit us up for more writing process related inquiries anytime, we’d love to talk to you guys about it!!

[mizuronpa]

*DRDT CH2 EPISODE 15 SPOILERS*

Is it just me or Aces murder method feels wrong?? Like theres things we didnt talk abt yet... Imagine if Ace is not the culprit and they vote tge wrong person

[sterkeyra]

PLUST - Wataru Eboshi Main Story 1 - Walkthrough + CGs

Wataru's route finally came out in JP and I couldn't resist reading it, after a friend showed me a summary of it. It contained some of the drama I was expecting but I was still surprised by a few things! While PLUST overall is rather slowburn, Wataru is more taking steps a bit further. Though you know how it is when the guy shows you affection early - Drama is still about to happen.

It was interesting to see how they used his brother, though i'm not much of a fan of it. We finally also got to see his fan that was not present in the other guys routes.

.... and you might become a fan too if you check out the spoilers beneath the cut.

SPOILER!! Screenshots, Special Campaign, Walkthrough and CGs below

Wataru is the leader of PLUST and a bit like the mum-friend of the guys, as he manages everything, cooks and has an open ear for them. However behind his mature facade he is also insecure. Since he's taking on all the talking to the directors, appears as a weather man in a weather forecast program on tv etc, he doesn't have much time to practice and falls behind, he also does not have a talent he excels in like the others and it starts to show in the statistics. Wataru himself thinks PLUST doesn't need him or they might be even better without him so he thinks about quitting (which was more than obvious in his censored bubble). He approaches MC earnestly to make her his fan, but there are no feelings involved at first. He greatly regrets this for the rest of the story as MC seems to shine brighter and brighter and helps him out of his misery to boot!

Eboshi Bros!

Kakeru makes his entrance next to Wataru as well and sincerely cheers for his brother. MC gets to work with both of them and Kakeru is a sweetheart. The good looks and fame certainly run in the family too as he's a famous soccer player. Compared to Wataru he is more forward and honest about his feelings, so he's giving Wataru a hard time when he gets interested in MC.

Special Collaboration Campaign - Tsugaru (Her Love in the Force)

If you unlock the SHE within the first few weeks after release, you are able to unlock a story where Wataru and MC meet Tsugaru in the streets. For a campaign story it has a decent length with 2 chapters. Wataru and MC are on their way to the shopping mall where they meet Tsugaru. MC is of course flabbergasted by both of them and the clearly tease her on purpose with it. Also YES Tsugaru messes up PLUSTs name in absolute Tsugaru fashion. He is just that bad with (band) names. He even mixes up Wataru with Claude who he met before and joined the fanclub of haha. But the story also has a more serious background as Tsugaru distracts them from going to the mall as there was a bomb warning.

To unlock it in time feel free to use this guide. You can unlock the SHE and the campaign story without hearts, you wont get the CGs however.

WALKTHROUGH - Heartless

Ch 1: C C: What do you think

Ch2: C C: Hide it with your body

Ch3: C C: Push him back by his chest Ch4: B B: Hide behind him

Ch5: C A: Let him replace | 6 ❤️ C: Turn him down Ch6: B A: Why did you kiss | 15 ❤️+ CG, B: Freeze

Ch7: A A: Finger Hearts

Ch8: B B: Ryoga should open the door

Ch9: B A: Blocked by Wataru (His Pov) | 11 ❤️ B: Don't exchange contacts

Ch10: C A: Indulge in Wataru's kindness | 15 ❤️ C: Push Away

Ch11: B A: Touch Wataru | 18 ❤️ + CG B: Cover face with blanket

Ch12: B B: Wataru should leave first

Ch13: B A:Talk to Wataru | 16 ❤️ B: Talk to Ryoga

Ch14: A A: I don't know

Ch15: C C: Press the shutter

Ch16: C A: Take Wataru hand & go home with him | 11 ❤️ C: Don't take any hands, we should go together

Ch17: B (no rise in affection no matter what) A: Listen to him | 19 ❤️ B: Don't listen to him

Ch18: C C: I didn't meet anyone

Ch19: B A: I want to hear how you feel | 21 ❤️ B: I won't ask Ch20: C C: Rice Ball / Onigiri

Ch21: C A: I want to know Wataru opinion (his pov) | 22 ❤️

Ch22: C C: Still thinking

Ch23: B A: To Watarus mouth | 23 ❤️ B: To Claudes mouth

Ch24: C A: Stare at Wataru | 25 ❤️+ CG C: Look at the reaction of the audience

Ch25: B Accept sleeping together | 26 ❤️ + CG Try to escape

SHE Bonus Stories: 27 ❤️

Cost of just unlocking SHE right away: 65 Hearts SHE Heart Cost Total: 255

And finally the CGs. Enjoy!

I didn't expect that all this would happen in his Main Story 1 given that PLUST is more of a slowburn title and Wataru is already much closer to MC than the other guys. I'm very curious what they will deliver to us in Kotohas route in a few weeks! As basically Suzumus twin he was the guy I was most curious in next to Wataru :D

[full-on-sam]

Hullo! Congrats on falling into Linguistics. Have fun!

I'm here for the Ask Game, three questions: -15. Is there any scene you were/ are scared of writing? Why?

-16. Have you ever made any major changes to any of you OCs? Which and why?

-25. What's something that you learned in school and immediately folded into your writing?

Hii thanks for the asks!

So starting with 15: yes there is. There are. So many. I would like to keep this mostly spoiler free, but I have to say that one of the scene I am scared of writing the most are all the death scenes I plan to involve. One is down, because I did already the first chapter. But I have been putting off ch2 for way too long, because I am scared of writing the next death scene. Or the one in chapter four. Or the one In chapter 6. Or the ones in chapter 16/18.

I am making it look like there is just death scenes, but don't worry! Even if every single character dies, most of this is remediable. Most of this. Not all of it.

Going on with 16: decidedly yes. Nayely was at the start a boy. Then I decided to make her a girl. Also initially she was not deaf, she had a heart defect. Then I realised I have to deal with my own stuff regarding heart already, and I did not wanna have to deal with it for Nayeli as well. I will be delegating that to a minor character for sure, so I can have the representation I have always wanted for me, but without having to think about it constantly.

And finally 25: a lot of stuff. First of all I have studied the creations myth of various religions, so that goes in. And then all the things about languages, how to build them, how to work with them. Including sign languages.

This came out long lmao, I am sorry

[morilucidstories]

In your pinned post, I'm curious to know what's going on with the bat dragon person and who might be you holding your cat? Poking around the blog hasn't gotten me answers. Or maybe answers are there and I'm just hungry and tired.

I had this whole thing written with pics on my phone, and then the wifi flaked and the whole things became lost into tumblr's void when I hit post, so this is the 2nd version. ;-; But this version has more images so it's objectively better.

That's not me in the image. That's Lily Mills, the main character of one of my original comics I post on Tapas and Webtoons Canvas. Pine Barrens Super Natural is based on the legends I grew up hearing from my family about the New Jersey Pine Barrens/Pinelands, and shojo romance comics. Lily is a mix of me and my sibling from when we were young -that's why she looks like me (and Lyly if you know what they look like from MtW.)

The series blurb & summary of Ch 1&2: Lily Mills and her dad, Don Mills, have just moved into the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. On their first night there, Lily is attacked by monsters that should only exist in legends. Luckily, another super natural monster also rescues her. There's definitely some connection to the super natural hidden in Lily's past, and it's going to a lot harder for it to stay hidden now that she finds herself surrounded by all sorts of Super Natural things.

Here is the full version of the cover with the logo:

This comic is actually a reboot of the original comic I started when I was 15-16 in my Sophomore year of Highschool. (It was made on notebook paper.) When I started it I didn't really have a plan for where it was going until around chapters 15-20, so this reboot is taking a lot of loose ends and either cutting them out or adapting them to work with the plot. It's taking me so long to make because I'm struggling with burnout, and I'm now past most of the mental issues I was using it to process so sometimes working on it puts be make into that worst head space. With Lyly's help as my editor we have rewritten and redesigned the parts that cause me problems so once I get back into it, I should be fine.

The little kitty thing is Mascot. He normally appears at the bottom chapters with the credits, in the cover images, and sometimes pops up in chapters with author's notes and comments.

((If anyone wants to head canon any of my characters as neurotypical just know that it is head canon and not supported by anything in the plot -or me))

Below this point are more character descriptions, but just know that most involve spoilers for things that happen after Ch2. I didn't spoil the biggest things just a few things that lead up to them.

The devil catboy is Damian Leeds the son of the Jersey Devil (TJ) and a human (Nancy). I grew up hearing many different stories about the Jersey Devil with many different depictions so this version is a polymorph, and so is his son. Damian is able to change between human, Neko Mimi, and full furry forms. Lily does not know that the Kitty Devil that saved her is Damian. Damian gets a massive crush on Lily. He's very emotionally secure which makes him a great support as a friend, but he also struggle with recognizing that others won't respond to stress the same way he does.

Nancy Leeds works at the local Super Natural Animal Wildlife Reserve. She is also Don's new boss. SN stuff is kept secret from the populace.

Even though Lily and Damian are the central 2 characters, the readers have pretty unanimously voted Erik as the fan favorite. They are a mix of many of the friends I had growing up. She is nonbinary and uses all pronouns. He is a huge nerd, lover of chaos and cringe. When not in the school building, Erik wears a beanie their brother made them that reads "I ♥️ Emo Boys." She's the heart of the group without question.

Alex is Erik's older brother. He is a huge anxiety gay, and introvert. He prefers letting others take center stage while he watches. This does mean he's prone to bottle things up. Luckily he's the type to go to his friends for help after isolating to process. He hasn't had many appearances yet, but what has been revealed is that he really likes fashion and sewing. He has also been weirdly touchy with Lily and even he doesn't know why. The most recent chapter and the next few will have him as a focus.

(Alex and Erik are half Italian, half Columbian American. This hasn't had an opportunity to be brought up in the story yet. I had a bunch friends that were Columbian. Their extended family and specifically their grandparents were very like my Italian grandparents. So I made these two a mix of those just like they are mixes of many friends I had growing up. Even though I've had these characters for half of my life, I have never been able to decide on a last name for them.)

The last of the friend group is Mike Sasha Keith Apple Gate. In the OG version I made in Highschool, I had 3 characters that all played the same role at different times throughout the story so I mixed them into 1 person and introduced him in the plot much sooner. He too hot to remain single and keeps ending up in unwanted romantic relationships. MSK has anger management problems while also completely failing at defending his own boundaries. He has a grudge against Damian and the why hasn't been revealed yet. He's author's favorite and you can tell because of how much effort I put into his outfits and hair. Lastly, it has been revealed that MSK can see Super Natural Energy. It is through his eyes that it's also revealed that Alex's behavior around Lily is cause by an energy around her.

((Since I've been making it slowly over many years you can easily see the evolution of my art through this comic))

[dexalyys]

cracks knuckles . (SPOILERS BY THE WAY. YKNOW.) 1) technically, i saw a clip from the anime--chaiki's jumanji lookin ass execution specifically--but i didnt recognise it until way later when i was actually watching the anime myself. that was when i was like 11 or 12 or something idr, but i actually got into it after being introduced to it via the fucking SOUTH PARK INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY. love to see it 2) thh obviously..... duh.... lol.. 3) himiko and mahiru. crazy how theyre both redheads too 💀 idk i just absolutrly DETESTED himiko in my first playthrough for whatever reason. now shes one of my top five favs ^_^ as for mahiru .. more of a recent revelation. ive been replaying sdr2 with an irl of mine every weekend lately and when i was introducing the cast i just lit up seeing mahiru for whatever reason? idk i appreciate her alot :] strange considering i found her quite annoying initially

4) do we gotta name him. cause i dont wanna. (the guy in udg. you know)

5) Many of them . primarily ouma

6) ouuuhhh a few...... only a few of them have designs though :( my fav would be uminagi solely cause shes the most accurate to the actual dr universe. in terms of personal attachmment though id say ash and sara bc i love tragic lesbiamns 7) honestly most of my thoughts here are just in the way of like .. renaming the localised talents????? 'ultimate breeder' LIKE COULD YOU NOT JUST SAY ANIMAL TRAINER ?? akane being the shsl gymnast Makes Sense but her whole thing is parkour. please can we get in the game guys

8) saihara cause hes me

9) question mar . idkj

10) dont really have one 💀 ch 1 was basic, ch 2 was transphobic, ch 3 killed two of my favs, ch 4 was just sad, ch 5 is just a whole lot of back and forth for like a million years, and ch 6 just explains everything terribly imo. i GUESS if i had to pick id say ch 4 bc aoi trying to kill everyone out of grief hits so hard

11) ch 5 tbh ^_^ we love to see a deranged king hit the wall

12) sloooow blink . idk. theyre all pretty good in terms of actual gameplay but y feelings toward them vary ig ? most of them just make me debilitatingly sad bc theyre my fav cast overall 😭 ughh idk ch 2. pretty straightforward trial imo

13) ??? HOW AM I MEANT TO PICK JUST ONE. IM A MULTISHIPPER YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME!!!! saiou gontangie amaguuji YES THEYRE ALL V3 GO AWAY

14) scrtahces head . cant get behind kuzupeko idk theyre siblings to me

15) hiyokoooooo. and sayaka bc both of them + their deaths were so rushed for literally no reason and i cannot stand for pointless girl murder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

16) looks sideways at my old old OLD fangan from like 2022............. yea.. what if u pushed a guy thru the flimsy floorboards of a hayloft and stabbed him in the chest w/ a pitchwork while he was winded (ch1)....... what if u and ur impropmptu girlfriend pinned another girl to the gym wall w/ arrows and an axe to the head and ur gf tried to take the blame so u could get away (ch2)....... what if everyone was chained together in pairs by collars so u pushed two of them off either side of a catwalk except Your partner was one of them's sibling so u had to kill them too except it turned out the other sibling survived and ratted u out (ch3)....... what if u were locked in a room and had to trust some random guy on the other side of the door to bring u food and drink for several days so u earn his trust by sharing ur food w/ him only to get ur pet cat to poison him bc yoire claustrophobic (ch4)........

17) kirumi is they/he tmasc sorry i dont make thr rules .. also korekiyo is tfem & het ....... mondo is also nobinary ,,..... him & fujisaki kiss and taka is their mutual qpp ...... gundham & sonia r also qpps and souda just cant wrap his head aroudn it so he thinks theyr dating (not that he had a chance w either of them anyway)

18) some of them are so so so well made i just havemnt had the chance to play any for myself............ i want 2 tho

19) KOMAEDA WOULD BE A KITSUNE AND YOU CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE (& kiyo would be a naga)

20) IDONT EVEN KNOW. MAYBE OUMA IN GENERAL

21) takes a long swig from an already empty bottle . Oh Buddy

22) life size recreation of the fucking vatican city

23) BETA KOMAEDA W/ GLASSES COME BACK TO MEEEEE also ibuki & that one black sakura concept w the sick ass locs

24) prologue saihara/kagehara BUT HES NORMAL. HES JUST AUTISTIC STOP MAKING HIM A FREAK

25) gotta rummage through my aged & fragile memories 4 this one......... umm i think gundham surprised me? i mean the whole of that chapter confuses and pisses me off so ehhhh

26) ur gonna tell me ibuki didnt get a crazy girl murder moment. unbelievable

27) as long as i stay in my room and only leave for food ill be fine right

28) oouuuuuummaaaaaaa

29) idk about Benefitting from it but likeeee what if gontangie talent swap

30) mahiruuuu :3333

31) ummm naegis has no spice and i KNOW thats the point but idc. hinata rocks the 'i have nothing going on in the closet' look better than naegi and hes only got ONE shirt on

32) methinks fujisaki gundham & gonta would vibe nicely ^_^

33) i never played it but i think komahina holding hands is cute

34) this answer would be about ouma but it would literally take up 80% of the post and i aint about to do y'all in like that

35) yes kodaka thats nice and all but WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY

36) chihiro :( :( :( :( :(

37) ??? WHEN I WAS PSYCHOTIC YEAH MAYBE?? 

38) frog blinks. ummmm idk i think they all earned their fanbases but--and im summoning hell here--i dont really understand the gundham hype? hes neat but i dont rlly feel anything in particular for his character

39) ouma has enough love but he also has equal amounts of hate so i think we should just eliminate all haters ^_^ this applies to himiko too

40) i Enjoy them from a Distance . aint got the time in my schedule to do anything crazy for a date once a year ok

41) some r realistic and some r not ........... i like the rrealistic ones but dont quote me on that bc im a diehard komaeda fan talent & all

42) avoiding the fandom is the #1 surefire way to avoid poor mental health in the long run im so srs

43) GESTURES VIOLENTLY AT THAT ONE GUY ????? YOU KNOW THE FUCKIN ONE

44) the Actual dr3 anime? banger. BANGERRR. provides necessary context for sdr2 and bridges between the first and second games :] unless you mean the thh animation, in which case IT CAN FUCK OFF BACK TO ITS HOME PLANET =^_^=

45) big fan of the way komaru is bipolar

46) kagehara is NOT A FREAK!!!!! him and iruma were close and also bon & yumeno are half siblings for literally no reason

47) girl idgaf abt them

48) POINTING VIOLENTLY AT GONTANGIE. I AM SO ALONE IN THIS WORLD

49) i dontttt? caaaareeeee?

50) ndrv3 but yall already knew that

★彡 Danganronpa Asks 彡★

What was your first exposure to Danganronpa?

Which was your first Danganronpa game?

Did you have a character you hated at first, and then fell in love with? Who and why?

Which character can you absolutely not stand?

Which character would you hypothetically die for?

Do you have a fan character? Tell us about them!

You get the chance to reassign five characters new talents. Who do you choose, and which new talents do they get?

Who is your favorite protagonist?

Who is your least favorite protagonist?

Which was your favorite trial from THH?

Which was your favorite trial from SDR2?

Which was your favorite trial from V3?

What is your OTP?

What is your NOTP?

Which character do you think could benefit from a total rewrite?

Do you have any ideas for a Danganronpa murder? Share!

List five headcanons for your favorite characters!

How do you feel about fangames?

What kind of fantasy creature would you make [X] character?

What is your favorite aspect of Danganronpa?

What do you think could be improved about Danganronpa?

What’s a setting you’d love to see for a Killing Game?

Which are your top three favorite beta designs?

Which character do you most identify with?

Which character surprised you when they were revealed to be the blackened?

Which character did you expect to be the blackened, but wasn’t?

You’re placed in a Killing Game as yourself (who you are now, no perks). How far do you believe you’d get?

Who is your preferred rival?

Talent swap time! Which two characters do you think would benefit best from a talent swap?

Whose design do you enjoy the most? 

Whose design do you dislike the most?

Which two characters from different games do you believe would get along the most?

What is your favorite interaction from the Talent Development Program?

What is your opinion on [X] character?

What is your honest opinion on the end of V3?

Which character do you wish had more screen time? Why?

Have you ever wanted to run a Killing Game yourself? 

Which character do you feel is too popular amongst the fans, in your opinion?

Which character do you feel deserves more love?

Do you celebrate character birthdays?

What is your opinion on Ultimate Talents being similar to low-level super powers?

How do you feel about the Danganronpa fandom as a whole?

Which is the most offensive Danganronpa character, in your opinion?

How do you feel about the anime?

What is your opinion on Ultra Despair Girls?

What are some of your pregame headcanons?

What are some of your Remnant of Despair headcanons?

Do you have any rare pairs?

Which is your least favorite installment?

Which is your favorite installment?

[no-ones-no-zeros]

Spongebob and GLaDOS voices from 15.ai Jeb's scream from "Minecraft Live 2021: Vote for the next new mob!"

[tommytranselo]

mafia trilogy gameplay review

alright, here’s my full series review + my hopes for mafia 4 from a purely gameplay perspective (well, mostly).  fair warning, this is not entirely spoiler free and also long as hell–over five thousand words–so click read more at your own risk.

mafia tcolh

unfortunately i have not played the original (yet), so i can’t give a real review, but i have heard about the optional end-of-chapter missions from lucas bertone to unlock new cars and about the extremely detailed free ride, including enemies spawning across the city and the game saving your progress, which i think are great features that (presumably) allow you to take your time with the game and provide replay value that isn’t just doing the same missions over and over or pointlessly driving around.  it’s 21 chapters and i’ve heard it’s a pretty damn difficult game–player preference is gonna vary on that obviously, but overall i get the impression it’s meant to take some time to beat at least on your first playthrough.

mafia 2

coming in at 15 chapters (the first of which was the rather short and partly intended as a tutorial), it seems to be a significantly faster experience than its predecessor and it didn’t take me long at all to finish.  replaying has been a weird experience because i honestly don’t really even like a solid third of the chapters (1, 6, and the last three), but the game is near and dear to my heart.  while i have seen reports (and videos) of serious glitching, i never encountered any.  one note is that the lack of character tags in subtitles was annoying because sometimes it’s hard to differentiate voices (drunk eddie and joe is my biggest gripe).

open world & graphics: whether snow-covered in 1945 or sunny in 1951, empire bay is a truly beautiful city, the npc behavior is very detailed (which can make for some funny experiences if you notice it), and there’s generally a lot to do if you wander around, but the lack of a free ride mode and lack of downtime during chapters leaves little opportunity to actually do it.  i didn’t feel like i had much chance to explore or just hang out in the game world, and like i said before, the experience feels kind of rushed, especially on a replay where you know what’s coming next; i really wish we got more time in the 1945 segment because the winter atmosphere and freddy’s bar were really nice, and there was too little chance to experience them.  if you die at the end of a chapter while fucking around you generally have to replay the last mission, which seriously discourages exploration and is frankly a stupid feature.  there are diners, clothing shops, gun stores, auto shops etc around the city, which is really nice if you’re just hanging out, but i personally never found myself using them much (aside from the auto shop and clothing store once or twice apiece outside the prompts to use them in ch2 and ch7 respectively) because there just didn’t seem to be much time for it, and also because you lose all your stuff multiple times throughout the game, so it feels a little pointless (and it’s easy to accumulate guns from fallen enemies, but tbh i did that in every game).  i’d love to go see giuseppe or harry in my off time (which you’re clearly intended to do as there’s some secret dialogue), but there didn’t seem to be much off time.  overall, a lovely open world with detailed settings and interactivity that we had far too little chance to enjoy.  working mirrors, though!

combat: i appreciated the limitless gun arsenal (being able to carry both a rifle and machine gun was nice) but found switching weapons to be kind of clunky (unless i just suck ass at the controls), for some reason i felt significantly worse at shooting compared to MDE, and honestly the melee fighting sucked.  it’s extremely similar to la noire, so i guess maybe it was standard for the time, but it seems the strategy is to just hold down block at all times except when throwing a punch, and the fact you can end up just endlessly circling each other with nobody landing a hit both a) got boring real fast and b) ruined the immersion for me.  and no knives/bats/other melee weapons, really?  not to mention we only got one chance for stealth gameplay (ch3), and...tbh it just didn’t really do it for me.  it took me forever the first time because i took henry’s statement of “no killing” to mean i wasn’t allowed to do stealth takedowns either, but on a replay when i did stealth attack it was honestly a little too easy.  as for the healing system, as much as i love food in games, the “eat/drink to heal” and the way your health fills up significantly if you just wait a few seconds made healing feel like a non-issue for the most part; i joke about the floor sandwiches but i never actually found any, going to diners between missions to boost my health a little didn’t feel worth it ever (i only ever ate at the very end of chapters, basically), and mostly my strategy was just to duck and cover while i waited for vito's bar to refill.  i didn’t hate it but i think it could’ve been done better.

cars: they handled pretty well once i got the hang of driving, and the snowy roads handling different was nice attention to detail.  the customization was fantastic, and i have to say i love the garage system; it was really nice to be able to store cool cars when i snagged one off the street–and speaking of which, the lock-picking requiring effort was a bit of a pain but in a good way, so overall a nice touch.  the speed limiter was also helpful, especially for the bit with the cigarette truck.  no joke, i LOVED other characters (joe and henry mainly) whining about my driving (if anything it made me drive worse!)

police behavior: the lingering wanted status for both cars and people, while an absolute pain in the ass, added a lot more realism and tension.  having to sneak home after the jewelry store job was, though irritating as hell, exciting.  it also gives you more reason to use the clothing stores and auto shops.  was honestly kind of surprised this wasn’t in other games.  mostly i don’t remember the cops being too hard to get rid of, or having any other gripes about their programming.

hud: i hated the minimap honestly; it was hard to read, it didn’t show if enemies were on your level or above/below, and it didn’t show friendly npcs.  it also just kinda looked bad.  the health bar was confusing as hell at first too but i did eventually figure it out; it looked neat though and it didn’t take up much room.  overall the hud was kinda ugly but that’s just me.  i don’t recall if you can disable it (i never tried) but a quick google suggests no, at least not without mods, which sucks.

soundtrack/radio: fantastic.  lovely score though not my favorite (ending song was a gut punch, though).  wildly chronologically inaccurate licensed music, but most good fifties songs came out after ‘51 so i don’t care (hell, if they’d been accurate it likely wouldn’t have been distinct enough from the ‘45 songs).  the choice of scripted songs was very well done and the radio stations were very distinct–having djs with clear personalities was awesome.  introduced me to some cool songs (billy merman cover of 900 miles, my beloved) and the amount of little richard was much appreciated.  the radio ads were more tolerable than in m3, or i remember them that way.  wasn’t too fond of how, unlike the other games, the radio does NOT continue to play in big map screen and instead it plays its own, honestly very creepy map theme.  on an additional sound design note, the police sirens in this were really really eerie to me, which was neat.

dlcs: i have not played the dlcs and i don’t really intend to.  i’ve not heard good things about them and there was a huge lost opportunity for expansion upon the story, especially with the jimmy stuff (my gripe there is mostly that it’s a completely alternate universe).

final thoughts: overall, despite being evidently a fan-favorite nowadays, in my honest opinion i think it’s kind of the weakest of the (original) series as a video game (still one of my favorite pieces of media).  this has been largely forgotten and i was not at all involved in the series when 2 came out, but i’ve heard it was largely hated by diehard tcolh fans at first only to gain popularity later.  i truly loved the characters and the setting but i really wish we got more time with them, i wish so much content hadn’t been cut, and i wish it didn’t have that lingering unfinished feeling.

mafia 3

wildly different gameplay than the first two games, and while a lot of players hated that, honestly i loved it.  it was a lot easier to take my time with it, and while the missions could get a bit grindy (not something i personally minded, but compared to earlier games i see why it could be an issue), there were some cool locations and you could at least decide how you wanted to go about it, something made easier by the solo gameplay.  the more structured end-of-district missions were cool as hell, though tbh i don’t think i’d want it to be all scripted like that.  on the other hand, it did get very lonely at times with nobody to ride along you and chat during missions, something that became extremely obvious upon playing the dlcs where i had donovan & roxy with me.  i have experienced glitches with this one, a couple of which required restarting missions, but nothing truly game-breaking.  the fact it always turns off my subtitles when i first boot it up is irritating as hell though.  character tags for dialogue subs were nice.

open world & graphics: imo the best open-world hands down, it gave you so much room to explore and i love just existing in new bordeaux; feels like home somehow, at least for me.  the existence of the fuse boxes you wiretap and useful collectibles like the circuit plugs, tac vests, adrenaline shots, and random wads of cash (lol) in addition to a ton of purely aesthetic ones encouraged exploration even if you aren’t normally a collector (which tbh i’m not).  you’re getting on rooftops, on balconies, in alleyways, in stores and diners, in random people’s backyards and even houses; i’ve said it before but it appeals so strongly to my urge to get into shit that i can’t irl.  and don’t get me started on the boats, that rocked (i think more games should have boats).  the lack of stuff to do in stores (besides rob the cash register and maybe grab collectibles) was kind of disappointing, especially given i’d probably make way more use of them in this than in m2, but being able to visit the underbosses & lieutenants whenever still scratched the “go interact with people” itch, and the assistants (jb/betty/hank) you could call was a very convenient way of doing things.  i also appreciated the random npc conversations and the way npcs on the street will say things to you that sometimes lincoln will respond to (those quick exchanges like “how’re you doing?”) added a lot of atmosphere.  the districts had really distinct vibes not just in terms of architecture but also how the npcs looked and acted.  i appreciated the random enemies and allies hanging around, felt very dynamic.  a truly, truly beautiful game too, though the mirrors don’t work.  the weather system was also really nice, although i wish there was a way to sleep through nights/storms because they can be kind of a pain to fight in (or sleep till night, if you want to work under cover of dark); while we’re on the topic, the fact lincoln seems to (technically) stay awake for weeks on end does get real weird whenever i think about it; it also would’ve been nice to see food in game just for atmospheric reasons, even though i liked the health system as mentioned below.

combat: gunplay was generally satisfying and felt balanced, and while the inability to carry more than two guns (one big, one small) is a little annoying, it didn’t bother me all that much once i found ones i liked.  the stealth gameplay was hands-down my favorite; you had way more opportunity to do it, you could take on enemy territory as you pleased and find multiple ways into the target location, the survival knife tbh makes for some incredibly satisfying stealth kills, and the whistle feature is a godsend.  it’s also very fun to get a bunch of enemies all riled up and actively searching for you, if you want to give yourself a challenge.  the “q to punch, left alt to dodge” melee was far preferred to mafia 2’s mouse-clicking, as it made fights go a lot quicker and forced me to actually stay on my toes dodging (it’s harder and i’m worse at it, but it feels much more realistic and overall more satisfying).  intel view was much appreciated and is also closely tied to lincoln’s army background (and donovan’s bootleg cia setup, presumably), though i could see how it might arguably make things too easy.  personally i hate struggling to find enemies so i liked it.  the throwable weapons are fantastic (throwing knives and screaming zemis my beloved), loads of variety, though the knives are a pain to find again if you miss your target and i wasn’t sure how the hell to use some of the others (landmines, namely).  i fucking love that lincoln can swim; saved my ass a few times, and tbh i’d love more gaming protags who don’t insta-drown.  the alligators were a nice touch if annoying (i almost died to them a couple times lol).  as far as healing goes, the collectable adrenaline shots that you could administer in battle combined with the mild regen was nicely done and let you stock up before big fights; immediate healing saved my ass loads of times, and it was possibly my favorite way of doing things out of all the games.  the enemy (marcanos, dixie mafia, ensanglante) retaliation was also a very cool feature.  overall the combat was by far my favorite of the trilogy.

cars: the cars handled very nicely, the best out of the series imo, which i guess is a product of the 1968 setting.  the slow-motion driving, though i don’t use it much, has saved my ass a few times and let me pull off some neat stunts and is quite a unique feature.  there were some cool unlockable cars but the lack of customization for random ones off the street and lack of a garage system was pretty damn disappointing.  i didn’t notice if wet roads drove any differently than dry (i don’t believe so?) but it would’ve been cool if they did.  i got my tires shot out a lot which was irritating.  the rearview mirror was a nice touch but i do wish you could turn it off.  no speed limiter, i don’t think?

police behavior: the way police responded wildly differently depending on different neighborhoods was brilliant storytelling, and you could really tell the difference–you should’ve seen me trying to steal a car in frisco fields before i had the lockpicking perk, confident i could escape before the cops even showed up like i had in other neighborhoods, only to get instantly swarmed and have to tear out of there so fast i ended up wrecking the damn car (the air i caught before doing so, though–chef’s kiss).  now that’s variety baby!  hell, in frisco i kept getting random cops on my ass when civilians heard my gunshots during side missions, and they didn’t give up easy.  the fact that the blue attention arrow (you know the one i mean?) showed up regardless of whether they were after you or not was a brilliant bit of environmental storytelling that really drove home the fact lincoln was being watched even when he did nothing wrong.  the way it did search zones was well done too.  the lack of a lingering wanted feature, though it made my life a hell of a lot easier, is a bit unrealistic; might’ve been interesting if you only got it in high-cop-activity neighborhoods like frisco.  i appreciated the extent to which they search for you, as annoying as it was; it added drama.  absolute hell to ditch them in car chases though, which was noticeable considering the random mob/cult retaliation cars were usually fairly easy to leave in the dust.

hud: much preferable minimap to 2–it showed you if npcs were above/below you as well as showing allies in addition to enemies & cops, was easy to read, and also just looked nicer lol.  the health bar was extremely easy to read.  it would be real nice if you could disable the damn things without mods, though; sometimes a man wants to take a fucking screenshot!  overall, very legible if a bit bland.

soundtrack/radio: killer!  the score itself is gorgeous, and the collection of licensed songs is fantastic (i’m a huge sucker for ‘60s music though).  very careful attention to chronological accuracy, and the choice of songs during cutscenes and specific missions (del shannon’s “runaway” while escaping with álvarez!) was great.  all three radio stations had very distinct character; djs would’ve been nice but it’s not a huge gripe.  the station sweepers were cool but the commercials were annoying as all fuck.  the uncle lou ad going off air after you kill him was a nice touch (and a relief lmao).  the voice and remy had very well-written shows (like, fuck remy, but his persona was believable), but they ran way longer than my drives across the map so i ended up awkwardly waiting in the car to listen, then getting impatient and giving up–a downside of the lack of scripted driving.  “all along the watch tower” as a title song was a hell of a choice, and it worked.

dlcs: the dlcs were well-integrated into the story and gameplay, brought some really unique content without feeling too forced, introduced characters whose presence made sense.  they gave you stuff to do outside the main storyline that was really nice when i felt like dicking around without progressing the plot.  sammy’s bar renovations gave me something to spend my cash on, which honestly i haven’t used much otherwise.

final thoughts: gameplay wise, this one is definitely my favorite.  it’s been an extremely long playthrough (i haven’t actually done the absolute last mission yet) which has some downsides but overall was a lot more relaxed than the others and had much more room for screwing around, exploring, etc which was valuable to me.  i understand the gripe about no chapters (for series inconsistency reasons mostly) but personally it didn’t bother me and overall i absolutely don’t get the hate for it, mafia 3 is a great fucking game.

mafia definitive edition

twenty chapters long (combining two from the original), it was the first mafia game i played and has a special place in my heart for that reason.  i have some complaints, but i adored the game on my first playthrough; i’ve yet to replay but i’m considering.  not too quick of a playthrough, especially with that goddamn race.  in terms of mechanics it had a lot of similarities to mafia 3, since it used the same engine, so some of this is a bit briefer.  same as 3, it had character tags for dialogue subs, thank god.  i mostly didn’t deal with any glitches, except for one major one: the armored car section completely broke because of a graphics issue where the turret hitbox seemed not to register, so none of my shots landed even with aim assist; online advice said to fiddle with graphics settings, and turning off one feature (v-tuning? i forget the name) let me beat it almost instantly, but if i hadn’t known that it would’ve made that section literally unbeatable and the game unplayable, which is a pretty major flaw.  i’m not sure if it’s been patched yet but i sure as hell hope.

open world & graphics: the graphics and setting design are spectacular.  i’ll be honest, seeing the intro sequence for the first time damn near brought me to tears; it felt like coming home.  lost heaven is a beautiful city...with fuckall to do.  pretty much zero downtime during missions, combined with a free ride that had absolutely jack shit to do for kicks besides drive, antagonize pedestrians & cops, and those obnoxious herbert baskerville missions (i haven’t done much, but they really haven’t done it for me tbh) results in...a world you can explore, sort of, but it’s not even that enjoyable.  all those weapons in vinny’s workshop and nobody to use ‘em on–would it kill the devs to spawn a few enemies to fight?  or to let us explore inside mission locations? (which, btw, makes collections hell to complete because you have to replay whole chapters, and unless you’re a diehard collector probably isn’t gonna be worth it to most just for that).  or to even let me climb on stuff easier?  or to give us any kinds of shops, or food somehow, or have any characters besides ralphie (doesn’t talk to you at all), vinny (has like one or two lines), and lucas bertone (whom i visited loads because he actually talks)?  it was lonely as hell and driving around started getting depressing, as much as i enjoyed the scenery.  for a truly gorgeous, detailed, giant map (the countryside went on for miles!) they wasted it with no interactivity.  at least the random npcs will sometimes say hi to you like in mafia 3.

combat: gunplay was very easy to learn and very fun.  i’m not sure if this was specific to easy difficulty (it was my first game of the series and on an unfamiliar computer, give me a break) but there was a neat feature with the crosshairs where they’d turn red if you were on target to hit and form an x if the shot would be fatal, so i got real good at pistol headshots real quick (picked this up again in mafia 3 even without the red crosshair but struggled in mafia 2, so i suspect it’s partly a game engine thing).  melee was the same “q to punch, alt left to dodge” as mafia 3 that kept me on my toes, albeit a little clunkier given tommy isn’t a combat trained vet (nice attention to detail albeit potentially motivated by fan complaints toward previews), so i had fun with it.  knives and bats were nice but i found little chance to use them, knives especially.  the stealth missions sucked major ass (one you had to get right up behind them and one you couldn’t stealth kill–just for relaxation, my detested).  the healing system with the med boxes scattered throughout missions was pretty damn brutal and i got killed a lot (granted i was inexperienced so idk how i’d fare on a rerun), which definitely made me strategize, and honestly it helped balance out the easy shooting.  i’ve heard gripes it was too easy (aside from the fucking race!), and while i played on the lowest setting, i’m kind of inclined to agree, though i’d have to see on a replay on medium/hard.

cars: the driving, once i got the hang of it, was surprisingly smooth, though driving in free ride after i’d been playing mafia 3 was a trip.  some of those ‘30s cars handle like hell though (race car my detested), and one time in free ride i snagged a car in front of a cop just to see what he’d do...well, turns out it was a jalopy with a top speed of 41 mph, and he chased me down and shot me.  on the other hand, the hearse from the saint and the sinner survived me whipping off the top of a hill, slamming down through the trees, and crash landing in the airport parking lot to ditch the cops (wasn’t in good shape afterward, but she made it!) so make of that what you will.  i don’t recall a speed limiter either.  the motorcycles were fucking awesome.  all in all not bad.

police behavior: considering i’ve heard the cops in tcolh were absolutely brutal, comparatively this was a cakewalk.  they were a huge pain to get off my ass in certain chase sequences, but so long as i stayed out of sight especially when they were first called out, they’d give up way too easy, even on hard mode (something i tested pretty extensively in free ride).  lack of wanted feature was surprising to me even when i had yet to play mafia 2; i ended up ditching the hearse in the saint and the sinner before we got back into town, though that was as much about the fact it was slow as hell by then as getting recognized (but still).

hud: similar to mafia 3, especially the minimap, which honestly looked even nicer tbh.  very legible, and afaik you can disable it easily (photomode).  no complaints here.

soundtrack/radio: absolutely beautiful original score; the main theme will genuinely never cease to haunt me and is pretty much without question my favorite original song of the series.  i’m not huge on thirties music so nothing stood out to me as far as licensed songs, but it was a nice and very atmospheric collection.  the radio stations felt much less distinct but the berringers commercials were funny, and overall the ads weren’t annoying at all really.  the news breaks were pleasant and well-timed.  i don’t actually know if djs would’ve added much here, really.

dlcs: besides a few outfit/car packs?  there are none!  for fuck’s sake, h13.

final thoughts: a gorgeous and very fun game that could stand to let the player breathe a little.  cutting the lucas bertone end-of-chapter optional missions (and adding the cars to free ride instead) was a mistake, because that would’ve given the player a chance to fuck around in-chapter, especially given free ride is so damn empty.  overall, despite its flaws, the game is a generally well-paced experience that i really enjoyed.

mafia 4: my hopes

i expect it’ll be chapter style like 1 and 2, rather than more open like 3; i don’t really care either way but slightly more structure might be nice.  i do hope it’ll be on the longer side (longer than 2, at least) but...i don’t know if i expect that.  that would also mean more of a wait till it comes out but that’s probably worth it.  here’s hoping they put character names in dialogue subtitles!

open world & graphics: good visual design (given the quality we’ve seen, i’m not at all concerned) and interactivity.  give us shops, give us random npcs that engage with the player (the “how you doing?” went a long way), give us chances to talk to side characters, give us the ability and reason to go get into shit like in mafia 3.  give us FREE RIDE with stuff to do (enemies to fight and locations to explore, namely) that isn’t horribly lonely and limited, and give us time to screw around in the main story (specifically, let us end chapters at our own discretion like mafia 2 rather than automatically like mafia DE) that won’t result in having to restart stuff if we die.  honestly i much preferred the integrated free ride style of mafia 3 though i have no expectation of that again given i seem to be very in the minority there–but please, i want a good balance of plot progression and messing around.  oh, and let me climb on things.

combat: unlimited arsenal would be nice, so long as switching isn’t clunky, but i wouldn’t mine the 3/DE style of one big gun, one small; so long as the gunplay isn’t totally fucked i don’t really care.  i am however begging for melee in the style of mafia 3 & DE and not 2–make us block on the spot and not just hold it down, that shit got so boring so fast.  i’m also desperate to see mafia 3 style stealth, especially enemy searching, the whistle feature, and knives.  pleeeease give us melee weapons and the chance to use them.  intel view or similar would be nice but is very character specific so i have no hopes of it and i’m fine with not getting it.  i’d love for there to be some kind of food in game (at least alcohol like in 2), but i’d rather a healing system closer to mafia DE or mafia 3–or if they do food, at least make it easier to find during levels or able to be carried with you.  and let us swim, dammit!  unless it’s set in los ondas and there’s no water, but still.

cars: i’m leery of these 1920s automobiles having shit cornering and top speeds, but if they handle like mafia DE’s cars did, i’m fine with it.  rearview mirror (disableable!) and speed limiter would be nice.  and give us motorcycles!  and boats, if applicable.  mafia 2 style garage system and customization please for the love of god.  and other characters bitching about our driving!

police behavior: lingering wanted feature on cars/players (especially cars), and differing police response based on neighborhood.  more intense search for suspects.  don’t get so pissy over traffic offenses.

hud: legible, detailed, and disableable.  show us allies and give us the hollow icons if npcs aren’t on the same level as the player.  and make the health bar easily readable for the love of god.

soundtrack/radio: my hopes are not particularly high for the licensed songs given it’s almost certainly a 1920s setting (i’m still bitter about that ‘70s soundtrack we aren’t getting, and also i’ve had a very hard time finding pre-1930s music in the past), but here’s hoping we get a good original score and distinct radio stations.  djs would be nice.  i do have high hopes the newsbreaks and ads will be pleasant this time.

dlcs: hard to predict or hope for anything when we know basically nothing of the game, but i hope we actually get at least one (hopefully more) and i hope they’re well-integrated like mafia 3’s were.

final thoughts: i kind of doubt we’ll get this, but put goddamn subtitles on ALL speech, not just the main dialogue.  radio announcements?  subtitle it.  random npc chatter in the background?  subtitle it.  stack them and make the less important ones slightly smaller if there’s cross talk (hell, especially subtitle things if there’s cross talk), but for fuck’s sake it’s basic accessibility and the fact i never see this done irritates me to no end.  also, i really hope we see food in game.  doesn’t even have to be for health reasons i just want my little pixel buddy to eat.  and let me sit down, sitting down should be in more games.  and also, please for the love of god don’t have loads of timed missions; i don’t think it will given we haven’t seen a lot of them besides the joe’s adventures dlc, but just in case.

[surely-galena]

Notes on Main Story 6.1

Excluding 6-01 and 6-15 because I didn't really have anything to say there

6-03

Neil left a month after Artem joined the NXX, which he says was Oct 2029

And oh I've only just realized this, but the dub I listen to has the voice actors pronounce NXX as "N-two-X" when I've been saying each letter (like DNA). I'm... probably still going to continue saying it as NXX though

At that point, he tells MC it was only Neil, Vyn, and Giann -- so we can assume the order of member accumulation goes Vyn -> Artem -> Marius -> MC -> Luke

Whoa Neil and Giann disappeared within two weeks of each other? Ouch

Oooh MC did know Neil 'personally' in the sense that she was in one of his classes! Nice to have that confirmed

Okay okay also I knew that Artem's father was a judge because spoilers but the highest title? *immediately adds Artem to the list of practically Stellis royalty*

Huh, Artem's parents' English names are Kimberly and Bryan? Okay, cool

"if we get into anything dangerous during the investigation," artem says. ha. foreshadowing (and then MC saying his identity makes him a target ohhh)

But also it kinda makes you think, if Artem hadn't been brought up as this kind, respectful person, he might have ended up as someone who'd have no issues using their parents' names to get what they want

North Stellis is a no-go area. Got it.

6-05, 6-07

MC getting mad over Jovi trying to guilt trip Artem (even if she didn't actually say anything due to the current situation) is so sweet

Also MC wanting to laugh over the idea of Baldr's involvement is so funny to me

6-09

Oh? cutting to Marius for a quick second, cool

Nooo not MC forgetting to eat again!! I love that she's dedicated to her work, but she needs to take care of herself or we'll get SR 'In Sickness or in Health: the Sequel'

MC: we need to do this now! and this! and this!! It's very urgent!!

Artem: no.

MC: ???

Artem: we need to eat 🤨

"regarding nutrition intake, you currently have a reputation of 0" OOF

Artem telling MC to prioritize self-care? I can respect that

Also him telling MC he'll take care of her work meals is tugging at a found family fic idea for me... I'll just throw that into the ToT fic google drive folder

6-11, 6-13

Artem? With Velcro sneakers? GOOD CHARACTER AMMUNITION, I'll find a way to sneak that into a Marius insult somehow (also Sam if you're reading this, I see what you mean by your light up shoes post and I nod enthusiastically in agreement)

Note for future reference: Artem's books consist of law, philosophy, filmography, sci-fi, and foreign books (not too sure what the latter means but he speaks German I think so they're probably just books in another language)

The Artem Swimming Thing (slightly later addition because I forgot I had thoughts on this) (is this 6-15? maybe I do have thoughts on 6-15 after all)

3 minutes 42 seconds? THAT'S VERY SPECIFIC FOR *cough* PLOT PURPOSES

Artem swimming a lot actually might explain the broad shoulders! I swam a lot when I was younger -- less so now because covid -- but you can tell because my shoulders broadened as I grew up (maybe possibly due to genetics but swimming was at least a partial factor as well). So that's interesting!

Other thoughts

Chapter 6 has a very clear focus on Artem. Nothing wrong with that, but it's interesting to me because the story so far has taken the time to make sure MC has at least one case with each boy so far (partially to introduce the reader to each of their characters)

We have ch1: Luke, ch2: Vyn, ch3: Artem, ch4: Marius, and ch5: Luke again. This led me to believe that it was a cycle and character focus would go in that order, but this chapter proves that is not true at all

Which means the character cycle is broken (perhaps slightly ironic, considering the chapter title is 'A Vicious Cycle')

I have my own theories as to which of the remaining two (Marius and Vyn; the order of the cycle may be broken but for equality reasons the story can't favor one character too much -- and thus all four must be covered before the cycle restarts) ch 7 and ch 8 will be focused on, but that's spoiler territory so nothing to say there

Also here is my Zak ToT bingo card so far (link to the plain template)

Overall 6.1 was fun! Looking forward to 6.2 in two weeks :D

[tired-writer-in-progress]

Sure! Haven't done this kind of stuff in a while! Spoilers under the cut!

1: I actually discovered dra because I spoiled myself the good ending. And then I wanted to know wtf happened.

2: DRA. I like the story and characters better. And also smol Teruya.

3: In DRA, my least fave chapter is ch5 and my fave is ch4, while for sdra2, my fave is ch1 and my least fave is ch3.

4: Mikado. Come on, we got to bully him! It was fun!

5: IROHA. My baby artist, I love her so muchhhhhh

6: Yoruko and Yuki. These two need a break.

7: Favourites are (DRA&SDRA2) Teruya, Iroha and Kiyoka, and least faves are Mitch and Mikado.

8: A lot of them, to be honest. In Sdra2, most of the talents of the voids are used in murder plans. Like fricking HAJIME JUMPING OFF OF THE BELL TOWER, WTF WAS THAT???

9: Yes. A few. Iroha, since she didn't apport anything and was selfish at times. Kiyoka, since we barely got to see her talent and interact with others, Kanata because she was just downplayed as the 'innocent pure angel that must die horribly', etc.

10: Kiyoka and Kanata. I love those two, they deserve better.

11: HIBIKI DESERVES A LOT BETTER!! SHE WAS TRYING TO CHANGE AND THEN CHAPTER 3 HAPPENED!!

12: (DRA) While I do complain that we should have seen more of Kanata, it makes sense Kinji targetted her. However. Kakeru. I wanted to see him go more Ace Attorney in the trials. I wanted to see hkw he would have reacted to chalter 4 and chapter 5. (SDRA2) Hibiki. Literally. I wanted to see her last till the end of the game. At least the Voidswap AU did that.

13: Honestly, I don't remember them, but I remember seeing Utsuro's was fitting, so Utsuro's.

14: Honestly, my favourite will always be the ch5 executions of sdra2. It introduces the failing to vote the right culprit tactic that now a lot of fangans used. And I've seen popular ones like Inanimateronpa or Ronpa and Friends use it. As long as people don't overuse it, it can be perfect.

15: I dunno. I guess I would have like seeing Setsuka kill Kanade like the Voidswap AU pulled.

16: Fave trial: DRA ch4 and SDRA2 ch2. Least fave: DRA ch5 and SDRA2 ch3

17: My favourite plot twist, or the one that got to me, was that Utsuro had replaced Yuki. Like, boy, how the fuck do you even pull that shit?! Huh??? My least favourite plot twist is the same as ASOOT's mod. I hate it so much. If he wanted her as an antag, she cou,d have been interesting, honestly. But don't do her like this.

18:... Aromantic Kizuna. *Gets beaten with pebbles.*

19:...Sdra2 is overrated and its writing sucks, the only thing that's saving him is the voice acting that's being made right now. *Gets shot.*

20: Teruya's death. Call me a crybaby, but seeing his last moments made me fucking cry. This man just wanted to help. He just thought he was doing the right thing.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The silly (@carol.s_dumbass_art_acc)

@danganronpasurvivoraskblog did their own take on this and tagged me, so here's my thoughts!

I was just perusing Tumblr one day, say SDRA2 in my recommended and looked it up on TV Tropes. It was pretty interesting-sounding, so I looked into it. Not much else to say, really : P

DRA. While SDRA2 is more visually-pleasing, I think DRA has a better and more well-crafted story overall.

Faves: DRA Chapter 4 and SDRA2 Chapter 5. Least Faves: Chapter 3 for both of them.

I have a lot of great things to say about the usage of both Akane Taira and Utsuro, and their implementation in the game...but I feel like I have to give Mikado credit for actually being a villainous force throughout all of SDRA2. We got to know him as a villain and thus all that characterization wasn't crammed into a single trial.

It's a toss up between Maku and Emma, because I feel like the two of them really had a lot of personal history that you got to see in their FTEs. Maku clearly regretted his actions, and Emma tormenting him with puns was pretty funny. The Void Theater segments honestly made me want to include them in my own story, given that there was a lot of history between the Voids we didn't get to see.

Yoruko. She really deserved a break after all that.

Faves: Kanata & Akane for DRA; Hibiki, Shinji, Setsuka, Yoruko & Sora in SDRA2. Least faves: Mitch and Tsurugi for DRA; Syboi and Iroha for SDRA2

A LOT. Frankly, the entire Another series barely utilizes anyone's actual ultimate talents, and instead relies on character quirks you'll probably forget about or actual literal luck.

Iroha. She doesn't do anything to improve anybody's situation; not the main group, not the Voids, barely even her own most of the time. She's borderline useless at the best of times, and at her worst, she's selfish, bratty, petulant, brainless and just a detriment. She doesn't change, adapt, contribute or even make for a particularly interesting character, so what was the point of her inclusion, much less her survival?

Kanata. There's so much more that could've been done with her character beyond just making her the pure angel who apparently had to die horribly so we would feel bad.

Anyone who's followed me for long enough knows my answer is going to be Hibiki. Nobody got screwed over as badly as she did. Say what you will about Yuki being reduced to a brain in a jar, at least he actually survived.

Once again, Hibiki, hands down. Her survival would've been so much more meaningful and interesting, and could've contributed so much to the story and themes, as well as the conflicts both Yuki and Sora were facing.

I don't really care about the executions, but I guess Syobai's would be interesting to see. It's pretty fitting for him.

Kinji's. It was a nice mix of thematically appropriate but also completely bizarre, as we expect from DR.

Not to steal an idea from WeebyNewz, but I think DRA's first chapter would've been a lot more interesting if Kiyoka was the one who killed Mitch while trying to protect Akane.

Faves: DRA Chapter 6 and SDRA2 Chapter 1. Least Faves: DRA Chapter 1 and SDRA2 Chapter 3.

Plot twist that got me: That Mikado actually got away with murder in Chapter 5, and nobody, not even Iroha, even realized until it was too late. She genuinely thought that she was the one who poisoned Teruya, but she got played just as hard. He was this close to winning and it was actually on his own merits. Least favorite plot twist: The reveal that Kizuna was actually fake and she was just looking for a chance to kill someone. I hate the way LINUJ talks about her as the most hateable character in the game, and he clearly wanted the audience to feel that way, yet went out of his way to give her some genuinely interesting and sympathetic qualities. That whole bit doesn't feel like she's revealing her true colors, but that her personality suddenly shifted for the sake of making her an antagonist. Her death was also needlessly prolonged and cruel.

Even if they didn't act like it in the game, the Voids did have a genuine level of camaraderie and friendship that was lost when Mikado took over and convinced them they had to set up this Killing Game. When Iroha said she wanted to use the bathroom after trial 4, she was really looking for a place to cry, knowing her only friends were all gone.

SDRA2, while I don't hate it, it has some of the weakest writing I've ever seen for a fangan. The game is so focused on self-indulgence and callbacks to DRA that it doesn't communicate its theme in any clear manner. It also has this pervasively cynical, jaded view of its cast where barely any of them grow or change at all. And as I always like to bring up, you can skip Chapter 3 and miss nothing important to the overarching story, Chapter 4 was a mess that derailed the narrative and Chapter 6 is one exposition dump after another. It's a messy story that clearly needed more planning.

Point 19 having been said, I really liked the scene in Chapter 5 where Sora and Yoruko finally have a heart-to-heart about Sora's fears about her identity. It was such a cathartic and emotional moment after so many chapters of garbage and mediocrity, not to mention bitterness and anger on Yoruko's part. I wanted more moments like these, where characters genuinely talk.

//So there we go, my 20 points for the Another series. Some of these are new, others are things I'll probably never shut up about : P

@despair-to-future-arcs @thenewfuture @askthedespairkids @a-tale-never-told @tired-writer-in-progress @spyrkle4 Do you guys wanna give this a go? I'd love to hear your thoughts if you wish to share

[darielivalyen]

The game finally came out and I bought it and then didn't get a chance to read it because life. But my ask was actually just wanting to inquire about if you'll ever do some sort of walkthrough or at least give hints on how to do things like raise the sanity stat for the MC and the NPC?

I'm sort of having issues with the sanity stat and I have no idea what sort of choices are making it so it's always low.

The sanity stat may be a bit tricky, but it should be manageable. It's definitely easier for certain classes to remain sane throughout the game, and if you want to have that boost, I'd suggest going with a priest (high favor) or a singer (high purity).

Still, there are other ways of dealing with your sanity.

You lose sanity whenever you experience something unsettling or weird, and you regain it when you rest, get closer to your deity, or meditate. Also, if the game asks you about your feelings, you can lower or raise your sanity by picking an answer. Worried = sanity goes down. Confident = sanity goes up.

Here's a list of all major sanity drops (HUGE spoilers):

In Ch1, your sanity drops by 30 points if you get caught stealing and let the others cut off your arm.

In Ch2, your sanity drops either by 8 or by 16 points during the card game with Apepi. The drop only happens when you pick a specific combo of cards. Trust me. You'll know when that happens.

In Ch2, if you fail to pick the khopesh, your sanity drops by 10.

In Ch3, when Menkaure asks you for a promise, and you say you'd rather not, your sanity drops by 10 (and his by 5).

In Ch3, if you choose to spend the afternoon despairing, your will lose 10 sanity points.

In Ch3, you always lose 10 points after a nightmare.

In Ch3, when things go wrong during supper, all characters lose 10-15 points of sanity. The MC loses 10.

In Ch4, if you show the scribes the stone you find on one of the shelves, bad things happen, which makes your sanity drop by 10.

In Ch5, if you've been following a magic path and saw some dark things (including the stone), you lose 10 sanity points when you try to take down the ward in the archives.

In Ch6, if you've been following some dark clues, something will try to possess you. If it fails, your sanity drops by 8, if it succeeds, it drops by 10.

In Ch6 (at the beginning) if you're alone and your sanity is low, it will drop by another 8 points as you get more and more worried.

In Ch7, if you're possessed when you kill Apepi, your sanity drops by another 10 points.

As for the NPCs, being nice to them and spending time together is usually enough to keep them sane. Well, Menkaure also doesn't like when someone doesn't want to follow his will.