#every time i notice any foreshadowing in this game specifically i just. man. ok.

[whoredmode]

enough

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Just me rambling about Breath of the Wild’s opening cut scene because it is masterfully crafted and just a really good display of fantastic game design and story telling...Welcome to my TED Talk. 

[And spoilers for the end game, of course]

The first five minutes of game is a master class in foreshadowing and developing the tone that is set for the rest of the game. 

The very fist screen that you see, besides the simplistic title screen, which is genius by the way. Having a super unassuming and small logo really puts into perspective how Nintendo doesn’t need to amazing with it’s title right away, the gameplay speaks for itself. Anyhow, the first screen is that of light and darkness. Obviously, it can be interpreted as Zelda’s awakening power, and in a broader sense, the small silver of hope everyone has that the Calamity could be defeated. Most of all, it’s framed in a way similar to how one would open their eyes for the first time, squinting in the light. (Yeah I know all that is kinda obvious...but still, I just think it’s neat) 

[more below the cut]

It also perfectly parallels the end of the game in its framing and lighting. Even the opening hum, is the same sound as the Bow of Light being drawn and Zelda appearing out of Dark Beast Ganon.

Ok back to the opening scene. Now the act of Link actively opening his eyes, we’re greeted with this frame, Zelda now clearly telling Link to open his eyes, and we get this blue shape (which is the glow of the shrine) but it’s in the shape of an eye, mimicking Link’s own blue eyes.

Now I get that most of us are used to it by now, but just imagine, or remember the feeling of waking up in here. Most loz games start you off in a cozy home, a forest, or at the very least somewhere medieval. But waking up in this futuristic bath tub immediately places you completely out of your comfort zone. Whether you played every Zelda game, or this was your first, this setting is completely foreign and you have no idea what’s going on. And that feeling of not understanding or grasping where or when you are, immediately puts you in the same shoes as your playable protagonist, Link. Nintendo has already made you sympathize or at the very least find comfort or familiarity in Link.

Now does this look familiar?

It will...

(Also the parallel with the Great Plateau,overrun with the beauty of nature, vs the complexity of a man made castle. Plus the Calamity being portrayed more as a disease that festers upon Hyrule rather than just some tyrannical guy? *chefs kiss* I love my narrative parallels.)

Anyhow, next we have the Sheikah technology. There are a lot of references to blue in the game. From Link’s blue eyes to the Sheikah slates blue eyes, to the Champions tunics and the royal blue shared by the royal family. Blue is the least common color in nature (other than the sky/water. You don’t see a lot of blue trees, grass, animals, or rocks, do you?) so the rarity of it in the vast natural land of Hyrule, emphasizes it’s importance right away. Blue = power/importance. Through out the game, you’re drawn to the blue glow of shrines and towers (although initially orange, but after they are blue, more explanation later...), along with the blue of the water, in which Nintendo intentionally places civilization/treasure across. Plus, the opposite of blue, is the purplish/red glow of ganon. Mmmmm color coordination. 

The layout of the Shrine of Reserrction is a straight line, leaving no room for player error/distraction. It’s forcing you to go down it’s desired path. (At least initially...*cough cough* speed running and wall clipping *cough cough*) So the straight forwardness emphasizes the artificial nature of the place. 

Now, when exiting the Shrine, the artificial glow of the Sheikah lamps is now replaced with the warm orange sunlight. (See what I did there? Get it? It’s another parallel with the Sheikah technology colors, with the unused technology glowing orange, but when actively used by Link is glows blue? Therefore kinda giving blue an association with technology and power again, and orange with nature and exploration?)

Also more parallels with light/hope

Exiting the Shrine smoothly teaches you how to interact with objects, walk, and climb very naturally. It also teaches you the importance of the Shrine pedestals, an attraction towards chests, and ingraining you with the desire to explore, as the setting give you no information whatsoever. Even Zelda’s dialogue is vague, just saying “long slumber” and not how long, or “that [Sheikah Slate] will show you the way” giving no specifics. And that’s why its all the more satisfying when the vastness and detail of the outside world hits you. You are starved of information, making you more susceptible to the game’s theme of exploration.

The cold, artificial, dark enclosed space of the Shrine, gives way to this shot.

Do I even have to say anything? The way the music swells as Link runs out into the field, and the camera pulls out to really show the vast scope of things. The center piece of a dark castle in the distance, the symmetrical framing of Death Mountain and the Hebra peaks? The lush green shade in the foreground shifting into darker shadows and silhouettes when nearing the horizon hear the Calamity? The way the ridge to the side obstructs the view of Medoh and Naboris, with the natural angles of the mountain ranges hiding Rudania and Ruta? The fact that the sun is just rising, symbolizing a new morning. AND the stark contrast with the artificial, straight line Shrine you just went through, now your new path is more open. Even the path you take to the Old Man is curved, and at a much steeper decline. Also, notice how you’re declining, moving down and out of the Shrine, might not be a stretch to say it’s like you were descending from heaven as the savior of Hyrule. You’ve come back down to the ruins of a fallen kingdom. Although you don’t know that yet. 

The opening shot gives no big signs of civilization, the castle being too far out into the distance, and the trees obstructing any destroyed ruins. So when panning to the much closer and reachable Temple of Time, it really grabs the player’s attention. The framing of the Temple of Time is in such a way where it still looks intact. The gaping hole in it’s side faces in the other direction. All it seems to imply is that it’s old. No ruined guardians, or clear, distinct destruction can be seen yet. Also, the point of the Temple’s tower is in line with the Duel Peaks, almost perfectly. Both have stood the test of time, but it was the construction of man that did not last, where as nature has stood strong. 

Then, pan into the Old Man, a mysterious figure, you don’t know if they are friend or foe. But given your circumstance your eager to explore and investigate. Especially with how he is placed in front of an warm orange fire, because yeah more color coordination. Orange, serves a similar purpose as the color blue for attracting the players attention, but it’s symbolism is different. One, for it’s association with nature as previously state, but now here in the context of familiarity. Throughout the game, when you see a campfire, that either means enemies or people. All the same, it means company and you’re drawn to it. 

The camera zoom and focus of the scene barely shifts at all. When you first exit, Link is at the low center of the screen, even with the pan to the Temple of Time, and the Old Man is also in the low center of the screen. This anchor point allows for a smooth transition with the players attention, and adds to the natural environment and tone of the scene. 

So here you are, heading east, towards the sun, an old man, a camp fire, and the Temple of Time. No coincidence they are all in the same direction. 

Just look how much story and tone you are able to grasp in the first five minutes????? It embeds the feeling of curiosity and the desire to explore by starving you of information and freedom, before punching you in the face with the openness of Hyrule. It foreshadows a conflict with Ganon, a disease that ravage the world of man, and will next take on nature. The themes of technology and civilization, of time moving on. COLOR COORDINATION. And just the overall wonder of opening your eyes to an beautiful world waiting to be discovered. All this is conveyed to you whether subconsciously or unconsciously. 

That’s five or less minutes in to a game you can very well pack hundred of hours into.

Ugh, I love this game.

[zdbztumble]

Final Thoughts: KH III (Spoilers)

OK, the nice stuff’s over with.

And, in the spirit of Kingdom Hearts, here’s a menu to unceremoniously dump all the necessary information on you to follow this post:

Rave Zero

A Minor Rant

More Ranting

Botching Backwards and Forwards

But What About Kairi

Build a Better Prequel

Penultima Raving

The Positives

Now then...

Writing critiques like this is usually fun for me. I like thinking about and analyzing narratives, as mental exercise and relaxation, and because I find it helpful as a writer struggling to make fiction my profession. Finding the good and bad in a piece, understanding why something works or doesn’t, and putting myself in the shoes of a writer - particularly one in the middle of an ongoing series - improves my own craft and gives me more empathy and sympathy for creatives who come under fire.

In this case, though, I can’t say that I have much in the way of sympathy or empathy. I cannot understand how any head of story could come up with something like this and decide that it was ready for prime time. I can’t understand how writers brought in to do the actual scripting wouldn’t speak up about its issues. I can’t understand how editors, producers, and executives would sign off on this. And by “this,” I mean the finale of KH III. I haven’t loved the story turns this series has taken since the end of II, and I’ve struggled to make sense of all the convoluted turns the plot has taken, but this - or, to be specific, one moment in particular - is completely beyond my ability to understand, relate to, or tolerate.

Before getting to that one moment, though, there are other issues with this finale. One of those is the problem of paying off too large a cast: it’s almost impossible to do while giving every character a satisfying conclusion. By the time the game comes to its conclusion, most of the characters have either hit dead ends in their arcs, petered out, or been demonstrated to be entirely superfluous to this game’s plot. To wit:

- Maleficent and Pete could have been cut entirely and nothing would have been lost. Cutting them would even improve the pacing of the Olympus world slightly. Their whole goal amounts to nothing but a tease for an item that might become important in a potential future game. Luxord’s quest for a “chest,” presumably the same Black Box, has the same problem, but at least Luxord is a part of the Organization and so has some reason for being in the story.

- Ansem the Wise is ultimately on-hand just to tease more potential future events and characters, in the form of allusions to a mysterious girl who I thought might be Kairi, then thought was Xion, but is apparently some other character never before mentioned (thank you @themattress.) I bought KH III to play and know the story of KH III; if I wanted an extended trailer for a future game that may not even get made, I’d pay for one.

- Those members of the Organization who don’t defect, and who commanded quite a bit of screen time in this game (more than the damn tritagonist did) are virtually unchanged from their previous appearances, still serve as glorified henchmen, and meet largely identical ends. The attempts at pathos with them, particularly with Larxene, ring hollow, and the idea that the recompletion gimmick might let them appear again some day in a new form is...unpleasant.

- Did you really need Ienzo and Vexen both? Take either one of them out, and the other could have cooked up the necessary replicas. 

- Axel’s never-seen training with a Keyblade amounts to almost as little as Kairi’s, as he ultimately doesn’t do much but serve as an impetus for the return of Roxas and the defection of Xion. And once those two are back on the scene, they don’t have all that much to do but point their keys at whatever the group needs them to. Their presence takes us over the required number of seven, so they are quite literally unnecessary.

- Vanitas and his quest to assimilate Ven ultimately amounts to nothing, for how important it was in BbS and his continued seeking it here. He becomes just another boss battle, destined to fade away.

- Aside from filling out the full seven, Aqua and Ven don’t get all that much to do in the battle. Terra and Sora do the heavy lifting in getting Terra liberated, and by the end, Eraqus tells Terra to be the one to look out for the group. Not Aqua, the master who spent most of BbS trying to set things to right - Terra, the impulsive quasi-Anakin Skywalker who ended up possessed by the villain.

- Riku and Mickey are the exception to this, as I think carrying them through as Sora’s battle partners in the showdown with the three young Xehanorts, and giving them the bulk of the dialogue in the final cutscenes, gives them a meaningful role to play in the finale.

But since Eraqus has been mentioned...that leads us to the next problem. Because I still don’t understand how Eraqus managed to hide his heart inside of Terra’s (and yes, I have seen the BbS cutscene.) But setting aside the mechanics; the idea that Eraqus has been alive this whole time, that he can stop Xehanort with a gentle talking-to, and extending the metaphor of their chess game in their youth this far, makes everything that happens feel so much smaller. And giving Xehanort - a villain who was made, in looks and personality, more evil from BbS on - is a baffling choice. He isn’t the first villain to have a less-than-convincing redemption in this series, of course. And, were it done better, I might be more tolerant of it. But it isn’t.

And having that about-face brought about by Eraqus lessens Sora’s part in the finale. His brave venture after Xehanort, Donald and Goofy by his side, makes for a nice boss battle. It’s less impressive than the one in KH I IMO, but I do like that Donald and Goofy are with him for nearly the entire thing. The Trinity revival at the end of it is a great touch, though I would’ve preferred some sort of beam struggle to cap it off. But one of Sora’s qualities - one that this game, and DDD, loved to spell out as blatantly as possible - is his ability to reach and connect with people. Outsourcing that to another character, leaving Sora as the brute force in the conflict with Xehanort, leaves him and one of his most defining and positive character traits sidelined at the crucial moment. I grant you that Sora probably isn’t all that well disposed to the man who killed Kairi, but you would think he’d have some function beyond swinging his blade and holding a key.

But in the end, the apocalypse is averted, and Sora leaves his friends behind to try and save Kairi. Cue the closing cutscene, with happy endings aplenty. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Yen Sid, Chip, and Dale get a warm welcome home in Disney Castle. Terra, Aqua, and Ven get their home back, and Ven gets his little cat thing that he apparently had once. Axel, Roxas, and Xion get their sea salt ice cream again, reunite with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and it turns out that even Saix is on-hand (because, y’know, that bond he had with Axel was so organic and essential to pay off.) Namine is brought back (according to a recent interview, this is possible because her heart was released from Kairi’s when Kairi was killed), and Riku turns up to take her to a big party on Destiny Islands. With literally everyone on-hand, Donald is the first to notice Sora and Kairi sitting on the paopu tree together, holding hands. Kairi looks up at Sora, smiles, and starts to cry. Sora then fades away, leaving Kairi alone.

Now we’re at that moment.

I was so confused the first time I saw this scene, and watching it in the theater menu a few times didn’t help. Talking with @echidnapower about it helped me puzzle together that Sora must have paid the price for abusing the Power of Waking. It was hard to track those warnings amidst all the other pretentious monologuing and schoolyard taunting that the Organization did, and amidst all the other plot threads in this game - but, fair enough. That was some clear foreshadowing. And, just like with Kairi’s death, I can’t object to the idea out of hand. KH I ended on a shocking bittersweet note, after all. Ending the Xehanort saga, and possibly the series, with the main character failing to heed all warnings and losing his own life while managing to save the person he cares most about, is a bold idea. Pulled off properly, I’d be in tears while writing my review, but I’d be applauding the guts and skill of the creative team.

But is Sora’s quest to find Kairi made into a final stage, or even a cutscene? No. Is his final misuse of the Power of Waking shown? No. Is it even clear whether Kairi reappeared at the same time as Sora, or if she’d been there on the beach with everyone else before he turned up? No. And is any of this, in any way, made a central element of the final scene? No. The possibly permanent death of our protagonist, caused by his final solo quest to save Kairi, is such an afterthought at the end that not a single aspect of the journey to that moment merits any screen time.

And don’t tell me that this might be something covered in the DLC, or that it could be setting up for another game. If they wanted to leave Sora and Kairi’s fate more open-ended, and a potential hook into a future game, they should have been left out of the final scene altogether. The Power of Waking, Sora’s shaky control of it, and its dangers were meant to be relevant to this story. Sora and Kairi’s bond being stretched to the point that one or both of them could permanently die was meant to be a major factor in this story. I’m all for leaving certain things off-screen, open-ended, or open to interpretation, but if anything should merit some degree of resolution within this game itself, to say nothing of a goddamn cutscene, it’s the potentially final fate of our fucking hero.

It feels like such an afterthought that I’m forced to wonder why Sora was ever retained as the protagonist past KH II.  One solution to the current crop of issues with Kingdom Hearts, as I’ve already gone into, would have been to simplify; fewer titles between console releases and a much less convoluted story that stayed focused on the actual leads. But it’s almost impossible not to come away from the post-II games feeling that most of the staff’s passion has drifted to other characters and elements. Axel, Roxas, and Xion; Terra, Aqua, and Ven; all the convoluted plotting and betraying and cryptic messages of Organization XIII; and now all this X business; it seems clear that that’s where the focus is now. Square Enix is no stranger to cyclic and anthology series; there was more than enough precedent to retire Sora and friends and continue Kingdom Hearts with new protagonists. Those who enjoy all these elements could have them unadulterated, and those of us who prefer Sora’s story could be content with three great games. Hell, Kingdom Hearts as a whole could’ve been retired at II, with the characters and elements most favored forming the foundation for an original series; the staff still seems jazzed to cross over with Disney, but they’ve become increasingly unable to meaningfully connect those worlds to the larger story, excepting a handful of characters from Disney Castle. An original series wouldn’t have to worry about that.

Instead, an ultimately untenable path was trod, trying to keep all of these things to play, the ultimate price being a final game to the saga that leaves every single storyline feeling less than it could be. Kairi may get the worst of it blow by blow, but I would say that Sora - the protagonist - is the second-worst hit, and that I cannot comprehend as a writer.

When I first got the feeling that something bad might happen to either Sora or Kairi, or both, I was prepared to be sad at the end of this game, but I expected to be sad the same way I was at the end of KH I - in an ultimately positive way, having been sincerely and surprisingly moved by a story I came to love. At the end of KH III, I’m sad in another way entirely; I’m sad because I feel nearly all my enthusiasm for this series evaporated along with Sora. I was planning to buy copies of I, CoM, and II to replace the ones I had to sell years ago; if I end up doing that when I have the money, it’ll be as an effort to get back to what first charmed me about the series.

Hopefully, I can still find that charm there, but I don’t know what would make me excited for future releases. What reason do I have to hope that the flaws of the recent games, culminating in III, will be corrected or even recognized as flaws? The Epilogue and Secret Movie certainly don’t give any hope. For all the talk about III being the finale to the Dark Seeker saga, the convoluted Keyblade War lore it spawned and at least one of its more annoying characters seem set to continue on. The Nameless Star and that girl alluded to by Ansem (who I hope for simplicity's sake are the same person) represent yet another new character shoved into the mix. And the Secret Movie may give some people hope for Sora, but it just left me numb.

I’ll go ahead and predict what the next game of the series, if there is one, will be, based on those two scenes: either the game is ostensibly about what Sora went through to save Kairi, with a retcon pulled to suck Riku into the mix; or, it’s set after the final scene of KH III, with Riku - not Kairi, but Riku - going in search of Sora. Either way, in practice the game’s plot will be taken up by a mess of a plot concerning the Black Box and/or the Book of Prophecies and all that crap from Kingdom Hearts X: Back Cover (a movie I could not bring myself to finish, I was so bored), all the while taking any chance it can get to salvage as much of the aborted Final Fantasy Versus XIII as possible. Kairi will be lucky to get a cameo, the Disney worlds will barely have any relevance, Maleficent will get elbowed off to the sides, and if Sora comes back to life and remains the hero, he’ll still be relegated to a spectator and an afterthought to make room for all the things that the team really cares about.

Cynical, you say? Bitter, perhaps? You’re not wrong. And I’d love for another Kingdom Hearts game to come out and make me eat crow. But for whatever joy Kingdom Hearts III brought me as a game, it’s been a truly painful experience as a story. With no pleasure, I can honestly say that in terms of a failed narrative; in terms of completely missing the mark on where the focus should lie; and in terms of feeling like an almost deliberate insult or dismissal of what made these characters and this series wonderful to begin with; no narrative with the Disney name on it, or perhaps at all, has left me so upset since Maleficent. And for me to be saying that, is saying something.

[pinksweatergettingbetter]

alright so we’re back with chapter three - the Great Witch

-

i wonder how much of their memories Nick and Maya have actually recuperated 

the whole thing seems a little dodgy...

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“This bench looks like a torture tool– shall we try it out on you, Nick?”

why is Maya so bloodthirsty in the game?? i mean she’s mischievous, but...

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ahhh their widdle walking sprites are so cuuuute!

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hang on– is that a picture-picture of Barnham with his dog?? if so, that should raise a lot of questions...

also why is the only person who *doesnt* comment on the painting Phoenix? he’s the art major.

-

you know, ive seen plenty of Phoenix X Barnham, and Darklaw X Barnham, but I’ve never seen any Phoenix X Darklaw 

i wonder why...

maybe Ive just never come across it

-

“Mr Wright, are you alright?”

(no response)

he's dead guys the fucking dog killed phoenix wright 

-

luke: I can talk to animals maya: haha omg cool! phoenix, laying in a pool of his own blood: hurgle

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wait did maya just call Barnham adorable by proxy 

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things layton likes: puzzles, stone lanterns 

-

oh fuck i forgot about the puzzles

also what the FUCK muffet

-

Patty: I believe in your Phoenix

Phoenix, trying not to cry: cool cool cool

-

aww. its nice to have a moment to just talk about feelings, especially between the sidekicks. 

...

...dont go into the forest you little fuckers

-

maya likes helms..??

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“I used to come here with Nick. He’d carry the water pots, and I’d cheer him on!”

that reminds me, theres no plumbing. in fact, since its the middle ages, theres not even any outhouses. maya and phoenix have canonically shit in the streets

-

DOGS AND CATS, LIVING TOGETHER–

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its 12:30 on a school night and I've spent over an hour trying to help a dog deliver mail 

oh maya solved that one! thats the first AA solve of the game. ...er, to me.

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i dont understand how piccarats work

like, the previous puzzle was 30 piccarats and it was ridiculously easy. this one’ twenty and ive already lost ten points

maybe its to do with how my brain works– the 30 one was a pattern/colour puzzle, and I'm an artist. this one’s about directions, and I'm ASS at directions.

-

darklaw what are you WEARING

you look like a skimpy medieval furry

seriously what is with the metal skirt on bare thighs 

is that supposed to be comfy 

-

man these backgrounds are so beautiful 

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why did she specifically tell Maya to be wary of witches

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“You certainly both love your food. Personally, I’d just like a little more sleep...”

amen bro

-

oh fuck

Drosselmeyer wants to see Layton. dont let him brainwash ya!

-

“So this is the deathknell dungeon? Looks more like solitary confinement to me.”

considering the fact that she can see out the door, i doubt its solitary nick. solitary is a sealed box from hell.

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Maya: you were just scared that nick would fuck up like always!! because he's an enormous fuck up haha!! Espella: i... no, i think he's really great

Phoenix: ...hey can i change assistants please

-

OH HO

CLIFF HANGER 

-

one does not simply

visit the storyteller

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“come to think of it, during that parade, the storyteller did seem to be held in high esteem by all the townsfolk...”

guys have you not realized that youre literally meeting god yet???

ah see Layton’s got it

c’mon luke keep up

-

pfft they think Layton’s a hatter 

just wearing a tophat does not a hatter make 

-

ah the knights garrison

this is where Chucky stopped playing on his second third-space save 

I wonder why...

-

“And so the travellers finally arrived...”

yeah well first of all??? if you wanted me to get in there faster maybe dont make your door a fucking puzzle maybe 

fuck you old man you aint shit 

(btw i managed to solve it accidentally in the recommended 4 turns by pressing 3 random buttons and then realizing id somehow succeeded)

-

Storyteller: [farts suspiciously]

-

Storyteller: you guys are bad because you stopped me killing children

Layton: 

-

“OOPS”

DUFLUS SHFLS 

LUKE ITS OK 

I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO BE MAD

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Espella: it’s true... that the towns folk look at me in a different way

well for one thing youre a different art style than most of them without being anything usually associated with said art style 

-

oh ok that i was not expecting 

she’s,,, jesus???

-

Maya spitting truths here 

-

wait hang on a second 

first of all– “the great witch is just a character of myth” yeah well EVERYONE is a character, Espella

also, she says she came to live with Patty 5 years ago... which is also what Phoenix and Maya said

when their memories all got altered to include phoenix and maya, does that mean they like, had a whole growing-up-together for five years roster of memories?

13 y/o Espella and Maya meeting, bonding over stuff, wondering why only Maya had to make bread and Espella didnt 

Phoenix–– hell, in the time frame, he’d be ‘Pheenie’ being their older brother. Acting like his 25 y/o self, or harkening back to those days and acting accordingly??

and how shitty it must’ve been when they realized none of it ever happened.

-

“Were these things... My memories?”

well probably not considering im pretty sure that tiny kid being flown over was you

-

i feel bad for nick’s... wherever is getting bitten, but this does lend credence to my headcanon that animals hate phoenix so 

also the inquisitor office theme needs to chill the fuck out

-

“Exactly what are you doing over there on all fours”

dont do that 

“He just sits back and lets his dog bite people, err... I mean, me”

he’s lucky nobody flips the fuck out and bites back. i suppose nobody would dare if they knew it was his dog, but still. not very responsible.

-

“Dr. Delduke” eh

well now

-

“He was no witch.” “Why?”

“HE was a man.”

( Welp, can’t argue with that. )

hey!!! equality to witches!! boys can be witches too!!

-

“Maya... can you get this mutt away from me? I can’t feel my leg.”

“Aww... So soon? I was hoping he’d use you as a blue chew toy just one more time.”

ok, seriously, what is UP with Maya? I can’t remember her ever being this violent in the original series. Like, she hit Nick over the head with the shichishito that one time, but she wasn’t constantly wishing harm on him??

-

as much as i appreciate seeing a tiny maya model i fucking hate the cloud puzzle fuck you for doubling up on it

-

oh i lucked into the answer awesome

this seems to be a running theme...

-

every time someone looks at the bell tower, they always comment on the bell never being heard. it must be foreshadowing.

-

wow Jean is very short

...also I'm calling it now, HE DID IT

-

hmm Greyerl’s voice actress is a little more noticeable than Luke’s...

also OH OK. the fucking bell tower just MANIFESTED OUT OF PURE FLAMES

THATS COOL

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“He reacted in a moster peculiar way. Unlike others who saw it, he seemed unsettled, as if he was truly afraid of something” 

oh i dunno, maybe the DEMON BELL TOWER???

-

Maya: only YOU can fuck up that badly, nick!

ok... genuinely, utterly, seriously, why is Maya so malicious in this game? She does tease Nick a lot throughout the series, but its usually in a more playful or goofy manner. A lot of the things she says in this game seem sort of unnecessary or weirdly hurtful... especially since phoenix hasn’t done much to warrant any of them.

-

hmm

well, I know what happens to Maya

but what the hell is he doing to Nick?

also I do hope there’s a reeeeeaaaaally good reason for all this...

-

layton flings out his arm to shut luke up skdgkafajkf

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wait why did the owl bring them that

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“Luke, my boy... We have the need... to rent a steed.”

LAYTON

oh and they fucking did

-

“You think that’s bad? You should see Nick try and do the laundry– Now that’s a major blunder!”

see that seems a little more in character somehow

especially since its something that seems like he would fail at.

still, weirdly insult heavy...

-

hey hey 

100 coins

-

“in an alchemy sense”

shouldn’t that be an ‘alchemical’ sense?

-

“I guess you’re more suited to small, dark, damp places.”

is that a reference to the mushroom thing??

-

phoenix, in someone else’s abandoned basement: oh no their house plants are dying :( ill water them 

this man??? is pure??

-

“Well well well. If it isn't a well.”

NICK

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“Come to think of it... I haven’t noticed any plumbing here in Laborynthia.”

HA 

I WAS RIGHT

THEY SHIT IN THE STREETS

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“As things stand, Mr. Wright is in serious danger!”

uh the story said Maya would die, not Phoenix. It said he’d be cursed, but Maya would be tried and burnt. You should probably be more worried about her...

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great witch: sup guys I'm gonna fuck shit up

game: the following is too horrifying to look directly at; here, have some shenanigans with Luke and that other bard Bardly was complaining about.

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“Birdly”

fuck you perhaps

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NO

WHY IS EMEER THERE

NOO

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also hi Layton you’re looking a bit uh 

a bit 

...well this hardly makes any sense

doesn’t Layton appear not long after this? also, it’s easy enough to prove Maya’s not a witch; just hand her the staff and ask her to politely turn Layton back. 

that or just cry on him real quick; worked for Ash

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bweuuuhhh dont cry luke pls

luuuuke

its ok luke magic isn’t real luke

...though from what I’ve heard of your universe, someone could have used Science to turn him into gold and that could be totally real so

just 

c’mon in for a hug lil guy

also see yuh all next time for part... four? i think?