#formative video game

[baronaliswritingcorner]

TOS Replay Stray Thoughts #1:

Ahh, playing Tales of Symphonia is like coming home. ❤️

It's been some time since I wrapped up my years-long 100% completion run, so just for fun, I'll provide some wisened/wisecracking commentary along the way. Starting...NOW!!!

-As I'm playing the GC version, it's funny how I went from "the NA opening instrumental is totally rad and Starry Heavens is generic anime schlock" to, uh, kinda the opposite.

To this TOS veteran, said instrumental still "represents" the game for me, but in retrospect removing the Japanese songs is a really cynical practice. (And I'm saying this as someone who doesn't care for Modern Tales at all.)

-HNNNNGGHHH THAT ISELIA THEME JUST INSTANTLY DROWNS YOU WITH NOSTALGIA JUST LISTEN TO THAT RUSTIC AIR

(Seriously, what's up with the different instrument in the PS2/OST versions??? Dunno what that sound is, but it's no good.)

-Who is Vidarr? What's his deal? No one knows, but I'm thinking he's in desperate need of a character study -- one diving into the complex themes of Do Not Get In Our Way and Ugh I Lost To A Bunch Of Kids.

-"I gave the Chosen a lifetime's supply of gels for her journey!"

Then where are they, guy? 'Cause I didn't get a single one when they joined my party.

(There's a story here...were they lost in a tragic accident? Or is Kratos a gel addict?)

-"What are you saying? Do you realize how many died here because of him?"

Scott Menville condemning Scott Menville.

-Kratos in Triet: Lloyd, you are growing stronger -- you've realized you can't just swing your swords mindlessly.

Also Kratos in Triet: Your swordsmanship is bad and you should feel bad.

(Both in-character! But they're bundled too closely.)

-Colette: ohnoitsbroken

That needed another take.

-Lloyd shoots a Renegade with the Sorcerer's Ring and that frees him because??? (As you can tell, nitpicking's a habit of mine.)

-One storytelling flaw of TOS -- particularly in the first act -- is that it's a little *too* frontloaded with foreshadowing. It practically spells out Colette's fate no less than three times before you leave Iselia! That resigned "yeah" of hers on Lloyd's balcony was enough.

-I love Clumsy Colette, but I've always felt Ditzy Colette comes off as a little too dumb/mean-spirited. (Never liked the "you need to act more Chosen-like!" scene early on) I guess you could say it's a coping mechanism of sorts to distract herself from her inevitable death, but I don't know if that works.

-"You got re-ject-ed!"

See, even Genis knows Lloyd and Colette are meant to be. Oh, sure, he's laughing at Lloyd's expense now, but he's crying on the inside. I promise.

Annnnd that's it for now! I'll be posting more thoughts on the regular, so stay tuned for further Tales of Symphonia geekiness!

[blueskittlesart]

i hope everyone in nintendo’s management department dies and goes to hell no matter what and i’m not kidding

[evilwvergil]

"C H A O S" : Hades I & Hades II

[console-pokeballs-rupees]

Pokemon regional forms by valoo_art on Instagram

[prokopetz]

"Sephiroth doing paperwork" gets treated like a funny meme about the peculiar fixations of fanfic writers, but if you think about it, the guy's job – at least pre-losing-his-shit – is to somehow be a corporate middle manager and a cop at the exact same time, both professions which are notable for the unbelievable quantities of bullshit paperwork they generate. He would absolutely be filling out Form 27-B.

[felassan]

A spear would be an odd choice for a mage, and if this weapon he's holding is a staff it's awfully arrow-like. I'm interpreting it as an arrow, as The Slow Arrow.

"The god Fen'Harel was asked by a village to kill a great beast. He came to the beast at dawn, and saw its strength, and knew it would slay him if he fought it. So instead, he shot an arrow up into the sky. The villagers asked Fen'Harel how he would save them, and he said to them, 'When did I say that I would save you?' And he left, and the great beast came into the village that night and killed the warriors, and the women, and the elders. It came to the children and opened its great maw, but then the arrow that Fen'Harel had loosed fell from the sky into the great beast's mouth, and killed it. The children of the village wept for their parents and elders, but still they made an offering to Fen'Harel of thanks, for he had done what the villagers had asked. He had killed the beast, with his cunning, and a slow arrow that the beast never noticed." -- Felassan

[source]

[clophie]

super mario sunshine (2002) - watercolor

[failsquirrel]

magical cat design

[ahappyphjl]

not only ranch but also a french sauce metaphor

[little-pondhead]

I have a simple fascination and joy in the thought that, for the Ghost King AU, most of the time Danny is literally so normal compared to other ghosts.

Like, he’s a kid. He looks like a kid. Going by canon appearances, he is the most human looking ghost we see (aside from Ellie). Even Plasmius is more inhuman, which is where all the vampire jokes come from. Every single one of this enemies is off even in a human disguise. They’re not human, and people don’t expect them to be.

So aside from the implications of Danny looking like a child ghost, I wonder what other characters would think if they summon the Ghost King, expecting this huge monstrosity worse than anything they’ve ever seen, and getting a totally normal human-looking kid.

I’d be terrified. Because if horror movies have taught us anything, it’s that the most innocent and normal looking people are the worst monsters you’ve ever seen.

Like, what is he hiding??

[juney-blues]

can we stop putting motion blur in video games forever please

it never looks good, and all it ever really accomplishes is needlessly obfuscating the game state.

like who the fuck says "oh gee this game is great, but i wish every time i moved the camera it would become 10 times fucking harder to tell what the hell is even going on"

[arthursfuckinghat]

There needs to be a scientific study done on how Rockstar Games' Arthur Morgan is able to provoke the most earth shattering emotions I didn't even know I had in me

[sorrelpaws]

no offense but i genuinely fear that their potential dynamic will go severely underutilized

[jvzebel-x]

here's an update for all the "tOuRiSm iS fOr ThE pEoPlE" fucks. always remember that the second anyone steps foot on that land in the name of "tourism" or any other haole institution, that is colonizing&that person is a fucking explicit modern colonizer who made the conscious decision to be one and has spent a lot of fucking money on that trip to get their title. only that kine want more of their kin there-- don't pretend that shit is for anyone else.

drop dead of spontaneous combustion specifically, not even the sharks would want that pīlau fucking meat.

[colfy-wolfy]

god rain world is awesome. shout out to rain world.

[prokopetz]

If I'm being completely honest, my taste in music isn't based on genres or artists, it's based on whether a given song could plausibly be on the soundtrack for a story-driven tactical RPG about a wizard with a gun.