#i didn't mean for this to become a review on the game

[hurts2think]

queen of hearts x fem!reader where shes like a human cheshire cat where she isn’t afraid of the queen in the slightest and the only one who dares to tease her (and it pisses the queen off to no extent)

and the only reason it hasn’t been off with readers head is bc the queen secretly enjoys readers company. mayhaps with the “kissing them to shut them up” trope incorporated. idk sorry if this req is nonsensical 😭😭

🌹The Queen of Hearts x Reader🌹

Reader pronouns: She/her

Pairing: The Queen of Hearts x Fem! human Cheshire!reader

Plot: Wonderland is ruled by a cruel tyrant who shows no mercy to any. She has no heart and certainly no love. But one annoying cat seems to keep appearing by her side. A Cat that she has a lot of tension with.

Word count: 1.3k

Extra: This was succhhh a fun idea. QoH is big time crush of mine! She's kinda tricky to write though so I'm sorry if this is awful. I'm also starting classes again so my scheduled uploading is becoming a little more unorganized sorry

Wonderland is a curious place. It was very unpredictable, as were the people and creatures that lived there. It was never a place that was meant to be made sense of. And for a long time there was no order in the land.

But these past decades there had been. A mighty tyrant was crowned queen and made sure that everything in the kingdom of Wonderland stayed to her liking.

Curfew's, no games, no fun, and definitely no wonder. And that was something you just couldn't live by.

For a long time you only sat in trees and caused mischief and pranks to passerbys. Going around and causing as much chaos as you felt the need to. But you still always noted to stay clear from the castle. You broke every single one of the rules that the Queen enforced and she was not known for being very merciful.

Of course you would just be a smile away from your favorite tree and disappear from any restraints. But maybe it was safer to just stay away.

Well, you wouldn't be the Cheshire Cat if you played things safe, would you?

Of course you just had to meet the Queen herself! Such a respectable lady. Though she makes everything utterly boring, she herself was anything but boring.

She was quite the character, in fact. Or so you heard.

One day you decided to introduce yourself. As in, one day a lonesome grin appeared beside her while she was alone in her room. A smile with no eyes, a smile with no face. A grin that resembled the crescent moon. A grin that sung a tune of how odd she was.

The smile only giggled at her disturbed state. Then the smile spoke to her and she demanded you revealed who you were.

It took a couple weeks of only messing with her and disappearing before she could actually do anything about it before you revealed yourself fully to her.

And now, a couple years later, when you find yourself bored you appear before the Queen and see how far you can push her.

"I'm quite busy today and certainly not in the mood for your shenanigans. So get lost, cat." The Queen of Hearts said in her regal accent and her usual nasty attitude.

She didn't even have to look to know that you had appeared behind her. She had quickly picked up the skill of feeling when you were around.

"Oh my, you look radiant as always, your highness. Why the bad attitude?" You grin wide at her clearly stressed state.

She only scoffed and kept her eyes on the papers in front of her that she was reviewing. Being a queen unfortunately didn't mean pampered treatment 24/7. She felt it was ridiculous that she actually had to do this awful work, "Flattery gets you no where. Now like I said, shoo." The Queen waved her hand in one motion to signal you to leave.

Though you being you, you wouldn't go away so easily.

In a typical cat-like fashion, you hop on the table in front of her, knocking her papers to the side, "Don't be such a sour puss, Bridget." You say, your boot kicking aside the other books on her table as you stretched out.

The Queen was practically fuming now. She could not believe the absolute audacity of the lady cat in front of her. The way you thought you could talk to a queen like that and knock over her stuff? Absolutely unacceptable! "Do not call me that. It's Your Royal Highness to you. Now get off my table immediately." She yelled, standing up to be more assertive.

The grin on your face only widened further as you laughed, "So serious all the time..." You tease, turning over to lay on your side and pose as if you were trying to appear more attractive to her.

"I am your queen and you best do as I tell you or I will have the guards—"

"Do what? Imprison me? Behead me? Yes... I'm sure that will work like the other dozen times it has." You were really pushing your luck, cutting off the Queen like that.

She looked down on you, her eyes narrowing and the scowl on her face only intensifying. That look she gave you was the one that excited you most. The whole reason you do any of this just to see that gorgeous expression. An expression to die for. Literally.

"Now, for how long do you think you will continue to get away with denying a royal command?" She asked, drumming the tips of the red claws on her fingers against the table.

"For as long as I'd like." You hum to yourself, only making yourself more comfortable laying on the table.

Bridget did not seem pleased with the answer you gave. She prayed on day you'd cower at her command but you never did. Never have you ever shown any sign of worry or fright which welled overwhelmingly in her chest.

"But really it's your fault. You do give the dearest reactions." You continue on with a smirk.

"Is that so?" An eyebrow raised as her posture still held her high and her expression rock solid.

"Why, yes of course~" You giggle, "Your reactions... They're all so entertaining yet predictable. All of your adorable expressions only fuel my need to tease you more. Who could resist a person such as yourself? I'm lucky to have the opportunity to be in your presence and—"

But just before you could finish your endless yet flirtatious flattery, Bridget suddenly grabbed you by the collar of your top and jerked you close. Before you could make any kind of remark, she locked her lips to yours to silence you.

And for once, you were completely silent. No stupid grin and no stupid remark.

The kiss was far from gentle, you could've sworn the aggression of it could've bruised your lip. It also lasted longer than you could even imagine. Well, it definitely felt longer than you could imagine. Your hands threatened to wander to her waist but you weren't sure how she'd like that.

Though her hand still held the collar of your shirt, but her free hand held your leg to keep you in place, the claws on her fingers digging into you slightly.

Ame After what felt like forever, she finally pushed you away and leaving you to stumble back. You were left stunned as she turned her back to you.

"That seemed to be quite effective." She remarked, "Tell me, was that predictable as well?" She asked as if she was mocking you. As if she was the one playing with you like a toy rather than the other way around.

In truth, she was quite fond of you. You could believe you got away from her on your own all you like; but she'd never scentence you to death. As much as she'd rather die than admit it, she would feel disappointed the days you wouldn't show up. The days she was left alone on the throne with her kingdom and own daughter to hate her.

She always believed it was better to be feared than loved, that she couldn't be hurt that way. But she felt more alive when you were right beside her. She knew you didn't fear her, and as much as she tried to make you, you never did. And she loved it.

"Wow..." The grin suddenly appeared on your face once again, "You're right, your highness. I didn't see that one coming." You hopped off the table and approached her from being, dropping your arms over her shoulders and leaning against her back, "Perhaps we should do it again~" you smirk.

"Get off of me, you miserable fiend. You're ruining my dress." She commanded, shrugging you off of her.

You back off with an even bigger grin, "You're quite rough, maybe we'll be a little more gentle next time?" You suggest.

"There isn't a next time. Get away before I shut you up in a way you won't find very pleasing." She threatened, shooing you with her hand.

"I just love when you threaten me." You mock a dreamy sigh.

The Queen only scoffs in disgust and rolls her eyes. How could a kitty be so insufferable and endearing at the same time? She swore you'd be the death of her.

[nellasbookplanet]

Thinking about Prey again, and, more specifically (beware of massive spoilers from here on out) the choice to have Morgan Yu be a silent protagonist.

At first it seems like such an odd choice, because Morgan does have a voice - you're faced with it in old video and audio recordings, not to mention in the sentient memory copies that are January and December. When other characters encounter January, they comment on it speaking with Morgan's voice, despite Morgan themself never uttering a word. Other characters address Morgan as if expecting a response, and then keep on going seemingly without noticing they never got one. Part of me wondered why past-Morgan spoke but present-Morgan didn't, but, having previously played Half-Life and Portal, also featuring silent protagonists, my assumption was that hey, clearly this is a common video game mechanic. It doesn’t entirely make sense within the narrative since Morgan (unlike Freeman and Chell) is established to have a voice, but whatever, I'm capable of suspension of disbelief for the sake of the medium.

But with the ending reveal of Morgan not actually being Morgan but rather an alien typhon living through a simulation, it starts feeling much more narratively intentional. I went through the game saving as many people as possible because I'm a baby and I feel bad if I let the NPCs die. I never took into account wwmd - What Would Morgan Do - but in the little review at the end of the game when you find out you were an alien all along there’s this interesting line: "you're assuming it thinks like us." Every choice throughout the game becomes recontextualized. Did typhon-Morgan save people out of empathy, or because of some unknowable alien drive? Because you have no dialogue you can't really establish an underlying reasoning beforehand. I personally went from having projected my own reasoning onto Morgan to stopping and going wait... why would an alien do this? How does it think? What Would (Human) Morgan Do no longer matters; instead, the question is Why Did (Typhon) Morgan Do What They Did?

From a practical angle, it also makes sense. The typhon don’t speak, so of course typhon-Morgan also doesn't. The fact that it’s all a simulation means all the people they encounter can be programmed not to question this, thus never giving typhon-Morgan (or the player) a reason to question it either.

In the end, I simply find it fascinating and impressive how the game leveraged a common mechanic of the medium to become not only an integral part of the narrative, but also, through this leverage, tricks the player into not noticing it, only for it to change everything when you do.

[kaibutsushidousha]

The Hundred Line writing team interview from Famitsu issue 1895

Let's start off establishing what each of you do in the game.

Kazutaka Kodaka: The project was originally my idea, and I worked as the General Director and Story Director.

Koutarou Uchikoshi: I worked primarily as a Writer, and also as Director No. 2.

Mr. Togawa, Oyama, Ishii, and Koizumi, please tell us your career history in addition to your role.

Akihiro Togawa: I worked as Gameplay Director, Writer, Screen Composition Director, Schedule Manager, Task Distributor, Debug Manager, and various other miscellaneous roles. I previously worked at Atlus's Team Persona. My roles in the Persona series included Section Leader and Story Director.

Kyouhei Oyama: Aside from being a Writer, I'm the writer in charge of the off-game stories. I was originally a light novel author, but then switched to a freelance game writer job. After working as the main writer for the VR visual novels Tokyo Chronos and ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos, I was lucky enough to become a member of Too Kyo games.

Nonon Ishii: I'm a Writer and created the Invaders' language. I took a college internship at Too Kyo Games and made my employment official immediately after graduation. This will be my debut title and even I can't believe how massive of a game I'm starting off with.

Youichirou Koizumi: I'm a writer. I knew Kodaka and Uchikoshi since my novelist days and we have been working together since before we founded Too Kyo Games.

I'd like to ask Mr. Kodaka and Uchikoshi how do you feel now that development is finished (note: this interview was conducted on February 28th) and you are now just waiting for the release day.

Kodaka: I'm excited to see what people will say about it, considering that this game is in so many ways different from what I've done before. I'm relieved to see that the Steam demo has incredibly well-received. I believe that the demo was the right marketing strategy, both for sales and for my mental health. There was a time I was worried about this selling less than a thousand copies, but not anymore (pained laughter).

Uchikoshi: Same answer as Kodaka. We tried a lot of new things, and that got us with a script not only huge but also made through a unique process. I was never capable of imagining player reactions, so no guessing how they'll feel about until I see it happen. In that sense, what I look forward to the most are the post-release reviews.

Was it decided from the get-go that the script size would be humongous?

Kodaka: One of the initial concept keywords was "a visual novel that never ends". We want to create a VN that a player could keep playing for as long as they still wanted, so we predicted a sizable script. We made a game with 100 routes and left the story branching direction to the expert, Uchikoshi. The game was envisioned as an Uchikoshi title first and foremost: everything was built upon the idea of having many routes, and it worked. I can confidently say the game is good.

Uchikoshi: However, we also made it so you don't have to play every route to fully enjoy it. Kodaka's order was to make every route feel like it could have been the true route, so we made different stories covering various genres. We want you find your favorite route and interpret that one as the true ending.

This game is Kodaka's and Uchikoshi's first collaboration. Did you discover anything new about each other working together?

Kodaka: We didn't spend the whole time in neighboring desks, and had distinctively separate tasks, so not really…

Uchikoshi: I just confirmed what I already knew: that Kodaka is an amazing director. Now I see that the reason for that is his willingness to be mean. I keep my distance from my staff, so I struggle to tell them that A was actually supposed to be B. Kodaka doesn't. He makes difficult requests and the staff listens to him because these corrections make the game incredible. I respect and want to learn from him, because that's how a director needs to be.

Kodaka: If you don't say things would be better another way, you'll only regret it later. When I talked about my struggles to a famous anime director, he said "You may think things are acceptable as they currently are, but after you put in the work to improve them, you won't feel the same way." and that really clicked with me. Since then, I stopped holding back on what I tell the staff.

Do you all have any particularly memorable correction requests from Kodaka?

Koizumi: None that I can remember.

Kodaka: That's because you only joined the writing team later. There was barely anything left to fix at that point.

Uchikoshi: Media Vision, the developer, was who had it the roughest, no?

Togawa: No, their problems passed from person to person until they reached me (pained laughter). But none of that ever felt unreasonable. When Kodaka explained something, it was always easy to agree that it would make the game better, so I was constantly feeling positive about my work. However, as the Schedule Manager, there was some internal conflict between "this is guaranteed to improve the game" vs "this will add so many work hours".

Oyama: I loved how this was an easy environment for us writers to get all of our ideas implemented, as the only condition given is that they don't suck. Whenever I had nothing to fix, I'd just come up with something funny, and if the proposal passed the "interesting" threshold, it'd be approved. So it's hard to answer about difficulties when this has been one of the easiest jobs ever.

Ishii: They even implement ideas from a total novice like me. I remember the joy I felt I saw that an idea I came up with on the spot in the middle of a meeting made it into the game.

Kodaka: That's because I'll be taking credits for my subordinates' achievements (laughs).

(laughs) What was the writing process like?

Kodaka: Due to the immense size of this game's script, we decided to split the work between the team. I wrote the main route, then based on that, Uchikoshi came up with the branching system and general ideas for what goes in which branch story, and lastly, we distributed the routes to the writers as necessary. There's only 6 of us here, but including the guest writers, I'd say the game was written by about 10 people.

How did you decide who gets each route?

Uchikoshi: Some they chose, some we assigned to them.

Koizumi: All of mine were just assigned to me without warning (laughs).

Togawa: I didn't get to choose anything either (laughs).

Kodaka: That's because you two joined later. The writers joined the project at different dates. At first, it was just Uchikoshi and Ishii, plus people who aren't here today. Oyama and Koizumi joined in this order, and Togawa was the last. When was it that you entered the team, Togawa?

Togawa: August 2023, I think. It was around that time that I sorted out our schedule and figured out that we'd need a miracle to salvage this production.

Kodaka: Meaning that by September 2023, the writer team wasn't complete yet (pained laughs).

Togawa: I rebuilt that schedule over and over again, but even my best attempts left me unsure if we could deliver the game in time. As such, I had to make Kodaka also write some side routes, and with that, we somehow managed to put the script together.

Yeah, I can see that happening when you have 100 routes…

Kodaka: Still, there were some new discoveries that would never have happened if we weren't splitting the work like this. This is my first time making other people play with my characters, so proofreading the other routes was a kind of fun I never knew before. The feeling of "Is this really what my character would do in this scenario?" is very new and interesting. It's also fun to pick out on each writer's peculiarities. For example, Uchikoshi fans will immediately be able to notice when a route is written by Uchikoshi.

This game features a cast of very unique characters. What was the process of creating them like?

Kodaka: I came up with all the characters on my own, and the first thing I had settled on was that the Special Defense Unit would have 15 students. What changed is that I intended the students to be more down-to-earth characters, but as I kept adding quirks whenever I was finding them too generic, they came to become what they are now.

Uchikoshi: Is that why the characters who join later (Nozomi Kirifuji, Kurara Oosuzuki, Kyoshika Magadori, Yugamu Omokage, Mojiro Moko) are the most eccentric ones?

Kodaka: That was the intention… we even talked about making the designs of the initial team (Takumi Sumino, Takemaru Yakushiji, Hiruko Shizuhara, Darumi Amemiya, Eito Aotsuki, Tsubasa Kawana, Gaku Maruko, Ima Tsukumo, Kako Tsukumo, Shouma Ginzaki) more down-to-earth, but I couldn't handle it. At all. Still, because I initially tried to make the initial squad more down-to-earth, the additional squad naturally came to be the eccentric side.

How did the mascots SIREI and NIGOU originate?

Kodaka: The main thing with SIREI and NIGOU was trying to do something different from Danganronpa's Monokuma and Rain Code's Shinigami. His conduct is similar to them, but I wrote his dialogue with a militaristic flavor in hopes to make him feel more petty and cunning. Being able to have Houchuu Ootsuka voicing SIREI and Ikue Ootani voicing NIGOU was also excellent for distinguishing them from Monokuma and Shinigami.

Was there any character who was easier to write or more challenging?

Kodaka: Danganronpa had characters I didn't know how to use well, but this time, everyone was easy. But I have to say Kirifuji was the one who required the most restraint. She's the one character with nothing crazy going on, so I made sure not to make any dumb jokes with her, as she'd be the one I'd use to recenter myself after going too far in one direction.

What about you, Uchikoshi?

Uchikoshi: All characters had very distinct personalities, which made them all easy to write, but Darumi's dialogue is what came the most naturally to me.

Kodaka: Did bullying Darumi come just as naturally?

All: (laughs)

Uchikoshi: I was doing the screen composition for my routes and the sprite selection for Darumi was the most fun part because all of her expressions fit just right with any of her lines. The hardest was Omokage, I guess.

Kodaka: Omokage's dialogue is annoying to type. You need to manually fix the IME conversion every time (pained laughs).

Uchikoshi: I didn't mean the conversion (laughs). I wasn't good at gauging how much Omokage was interested in killing the other characters. He was difficult.

Togawa: Omokage was the hardest for me, too. It took me until the very end before I grasped his way of thinking.

Kodaka: Omokage's character is easy to understand if you play his solo scenes. But I only wrote that after you had already worked on him…

Togawa: His solo scenes are exactly what made me understand what Omokage was like (awkward laughs).

Did you not make character profiles and background documents for your writers to peruse while writing?

Kodaka: Ishii made his own basic profiles, but I didn't make any comprehensive documents. I know this is not a good practice to have, but the script I wrote already had everything, so I made them read the story to understand the characters.

Interesting. And what character was smooth sailing for Togawa?

Togawa: Magadori and Oosuzuki as a duo. They have so much chemistry that any idea I could have naturally converted into fun dialogue when put to paper. Also, Kawana was easy to write. I love, love, love nice girls like her (laughs).

Kodaka: Honestly, Kawana is so down-to-earth that I always found her scenes lackluster when I wrote them. For that reason, reading the routes that star her was really eye-opening. I'm glad to have someone else writing her, because I couldn't make her good.

Uchikoshi: Kawana really shines the brightest when the writer is Togawa or Koizumi.

Maybe the lack of proper character profiles was what allowed them to fill the gaps so well. Now, what about you, Oyama?

Oyama: Omokage was the easiest. I couldn't understand the way he thinks, but once I realized that I don't need to understand him to write him, he became so heavily featured on my routes that you could easily assume Omokage is the main love interest of the game (laughs). Him aside, I had an easy time with Magadori and Mojiro, characters simple in what makes them tick. The biggest challenges were Takumi and Kirifuji. Characters that are too relevant to the plot are very influenced by what is happening at the moment, so very often I didn't know how to write them.

And you, Ishii?

Ishii: Since my routes were the most comedy-heavy ones, Maruko and Magadori were the easiest. Their overblown reactions to things are hilarious, and the only thing you need to add there to complete a scene is clever commentary from Takumi. Meanwhile, the toughest ones to write were the zealous pair of Yakushiji and Mojiro. I struggled with Yakushiji because I don't know how to make the delinquent archetype appealing, and my lack of wrestling knowledge added a lot of extra work when coming up with references for Mojiro.

Togawa: But thanks to wrestling documentaries, you familiarized yourself with wrestling history and techniques.

Ishi: Yes, I was indeed studying through documentaries to put wrestling moves in my story (laughs).

And what character were you the best or worst with, Koizumi?

Koizumi: I can't think of anyone I didn't know how to handle. For the easiest to write, I wanted to choose students that haven't been mentioned yet, but no, my routes have way too much Magadori, Oosuzuki, and Kawana screentime for it to be anyone else. I'm very strongly attached to these three in particular, and that makes them easy to write.

Kodaka: Since you wanted a character no one mentioned, didn't you have a rough time with Ginzaki? I remember you running out of self-deprecation vocabulary to use at some point.

Togawa: We all researched that independently, meaning Ginzaki's self-debasing lexicon will be very different from route to route.

Kodaka: I was implementing insults I came across online. Just scrolling through social media and going "Wow, this insult is GOOD!" (laughs).

In this age of stricter regulations, I feel like this game really strikes the limits of what is allowable to depict. How did the writing team delineate what it could and couldn't do?

Kodaka: I asked everyone to consult me whenever in doubt, and drew the line at specific points like "no poking fun at real wars". That said, I thought I had kept the sex jokes to a minimum, so it came as a shock to me when I saw a demo review say "too many sex jokes". In my head, the first 7 days playable in the demo had no dirty jokes at all, so my honest first reaction was "WHERE?!".

All: (laughs)

Koizumi: A huge chunk of the dirty jokes got weeded out. The initial version of the script had some really extreme ones…

Kodaka: The woman in the writing team said my jokes were too much, so I did away with them. But then she had no opinions on Uchikoshi's.

Uchikoshi: I was trying to write mine in Kodaka's style, so I have no idea why I didn't get the same reaction (awkward laughs).

Kodaka: The ultimate consequence of that was the sex jokes in Uchikoshi's scripts being more numerous and risqué than in mine (laughs).

Tells us about any memorable situations in the production process.

Kodaka: Splitting the screen composition work with other people was unusual. In my previous works, I handled all the composition on my own, but this time I was working with too big of a script… Since doing it on my own would have taken 5 years (strained laughs), I put Togawa in the schedule management role and made each writer responsible for the screen composition in their respective routes.

Togawa: The decision to let the writers build their own scenes was stressful, considering the schedule was already tight before, and a few of them had never done that before.

By the way, who had never done this before?

Togawa: Oyama and our rookie Ishii.

Oyama: As such, I had to ask questions to Togawa on the desk next to mine every time I didn't know how to do something (laughs).

Kodaka: The writing was generally done remotely, but then everyone had to come to the office to input their scripts into the screen format. Having everyone together facilitated the process of creating the cores of the game's presentation system, and let questions be instantly cleared up.

Togawa mentioned being initially anxious about distributing the screen composition work, but looking back now that it's over, how was it like?

Togawa: Everyone worked hard to follow my schedule, and working together is more exciting than working alone. The most memorable part was how fast Oyama learns. Oyama was a computer-illiterate man who only ever used MS Word. Nonetheless, when he discovered the joy of assigning visual assets to his lines of text, he evolved at breakneck speeds. It was a nostalgic experience, reminding me that I was just like him when I first joined the gaming industry (laughs).

What a heartwarming thing to say in a story about a tight schedule (laughs). Were there any other major advantages to splitting and distributing the screen composition work?

Kodaka: I feel like having to do their own screen composition made the writers learn more about the stories they wrote.

Koizumi: True. Having to select sprites and expressions for every line made me want to edit my scripts, and I could feel the story becoming better as the screen composition process progressed.

Kodaka: It does help polishing the plot. The reason why I have always been doing my own screen composition is because I still would be editing a lot regardless of who made it. I can easily imagine myself going "Nah, this line doesn't work with this sprite". Not to sound too obvious, but a story's writer is always the most qualified person to choose what expression is best placed on each line of dialogue. Building screens also teaches you to pace your scenes. And it will give you a better feel for things when you start writing your next game's script. I believe a game writer's job should always include the screen composition part.

A humanoid Commander for the Invader squad appeared in the demo. Mr. Ishii told us that he was in charge of the Invader language. Can you tell us how you came up with it?

Ishii: Too Kyo's visual designers created the alphabet and my job was to create the pronounced language. The exact mission prompt was to create a Japanese-style syllabary (48 sounds) using phonetic moras that resembled spoken French. The problem is that I don't speak French, so the first step was to constantly listen to French in multiple video apps and engrave the French phonemes into my skull. After I had enough of a notion, I lined up 48 French-sounding syllables and fit them into a kana table. With this conversion, the Invader language was complete.

Uchikoshi: I've already seen people analyzing it. 

Ishii: That was a shock to me too. Really impressive considering the sounds were assigned to the letters at random.

Kodaka: Did anyone leak the alphabet?

All: (laughs)

We didn't get to see the Invaders language much in the demo, did we?

Kodaka: They figured it out from the letters that appear together with "New Game", "Continue", "Load" etc. on the title screen.

Ishii: As the one who came up with the language, the fact that people are willing to speculate and analyze under limited information makes me really happy.

Speaking of the Invaders, buffing the ally who finished off the Commander was a pretty original gameplay mechanic. How did you come up with that?

Kodaka: I noted down gameplay ideas while planning the base plot. Things like "I want this battle to have a higher number of enemies" or "I want this battle to use the entire team". One of the ideas I jotted down there was "I want the act of finishing the enemies off to look cruel", and when Media Vision converted that into the game format, they turned into a mechanic that buffs party members.

The coup de grâce cutscene being first-person from the enemy Commander's perspective was impactful.

Kodaka: I'll have to be honest, we only made it from the enemy's perspective to cut corners. I did make an animated cutscene where the Commander appears at the end, but that wasn't part of the initial production plans. We didn't have the time or hands to make 3D models of all Commanders just for a coup de grâce cutscene. We discussed various presentation ideas and came up with the enemy POV where we could use the pre-existing 3D models of the party. By using the enemy's perspective, we were able to further emphasize how fearsome and brutal the party members can be, so that was ultimately for the best.

I'd like to ask a few questions to the Gameplay Director, Mr. Togawa, about mechanics and balance. In my playthrough, I noticed a lot of tricks that the player is able to exploit. It's a superbly polished game, really. How was the development process for the battles?

Togawa: When I joined the battle team, the first thing I did was rethink the game's experience blueprint from the start. Although the battles back them already had a core set of rules, they failed to stand out in comparison to other tactical RPGs and felt obtuse regarding extremely important parts: "what's meant to be a cathartic moment for the player'' and "what's the intended experience for this particular battle". After mulling over the question of what's meant to be a cathartic moment in The Hundred Line's battles in my head, the answers I came up with were "the thrill of wiping hordes of enemies in one move" and "the puzzle element of letting the player assemble the route to get there with some degree of freedom".

I can see that.

Togawa: The design process involved coming up with mechanics, balancing the game around them, etc. for the purpose of setting this cathartic moment as the goal and actualize a battle system that lets the player use diverse methods to reach it. For some basic examples… Including the Special Attacks for the aforementioned thrill of wiping hordes, making character abilities more niche to increase the number of options, etc.

The Invader placement on the board is also exquisite. Knowing how to beat the enemies right increases your number of actions, so things look beatable on really short turn counts.

Togawa: I care a lot about enemy placement. Initially, we had flocks of enemies near Yakushiji, the guy with the wide attack range. But making the intention there too obvious would led to the player feeling handheld and losing excitement. So we adjusted things to let the player figured out on their own how they can take out a swarm in one go.

I also thought that the element of turning party member defeat into a positive to be really well-thought-out, despite the insanity of it.

Togawa: Thank you (laughs). The mechanic of using the lives of your party as disposable tools is a conceptual opposite of traditional tactical RPGs, where you want to avoid harming your party as much as possible. I'm proud to say no one does it like The Hundred Line does. The answer to the question of "what is the battle functionality of sacrificing your friends in THL?" is one that spent a lot of time in the oven. I believe that when you reach the ending, you'll come out of it feeling that this mechanic made the narrative far more immersive.

I look forward to learning the answer to the mystery. I was also surprised by how challenging the battles were. In a September 2024 presentation, Kodaka said that story-driven games want to keep difficulty on the lower end, so I was worried the game would feel lacking to fans of the genre.

Kodaka: Sorry about that. The battle gameplay underwent a lot of adjustments after September, including difficult changes, meaning what I told you in an interview back then is simply not true for the finished version of the game. Back then, I believed the battle gameplay had hit the low ceiling for the best form it could take, but luckily, Togawa finished his screen composition duties around that same month and moved on to balance adjustment. Togawa proposed to keep tweaking the game until the last day of the contract and Media Vision was kind enough to accept those terms, resulting in the last push that elevated the battle quality. Disregard what I said in previous sessions.

Togawa: Every single battle in the game has been altered after September. I'd spend every day on hours-long conversations with Media Vision's director and fine-tuning everything. We also revised character abilities, and there's even one character that had their Specialist Skill changed post-September. There are more things I'd have liked to try with more time, but what I couldn't do here will have to be saved for the sequel… if there ever is one.

Isn't it too early to be thinking about a sequel? I mean, are you not planning any DLC?

Kodaka: None. Everything The Hundred Line could have is already packed in the game. Future plans can always change later, but if I was forced right here right now to come up with an expansion for the franchise, I think I'd do prequel novels covering key moments in the lives of the members of the Special Defense Unit. Shizuhara's backstory is already covered in Oyama's Former Lives of the SDU: File 03 - Hiruko Shizuhara's First Battle, so I suppose it'd be nice to have novels for the rest as well.

Uchikoshi: Sounds feasible. Novels aren't limited by the game's assets, meaning they can be set in places that don't appear in-game.

Togawa: Didn't Oyama want to write the story of the Commanders? There is one stand-out character among the enemy Commanders and Oyama was excitedly imagining a story where this one wins (laughs).

Oyama: I still want to write that if given the chance (laughs).

It won't be long until The Hundred Line's release. Please explain the game's appeal to the people who haven't played the demo yet.

Kodaka: I imagine they're already expecting a good story, and my play experience tells me the game is also well-made as a tactical RPG. Trying out the story and gameplay on the demo would be ideal, but what's shown there is barely a glimpse of the full picture. The 8th day marks the start of a constant stream of incredible events, so I hope the demo players are looking forward to what's coming next.

A closing message from each of you to the fans looking forward to the game.

Togawa: The Hundred Line is my first Director work. I used everything I learned up to this point to honor this title. The staff devoted heart and soul into constructing this, and I can say with my whole heart that the game is good. Please purchase it and experience the crazy world we created. I can think of one scene that will catch a lot of people off-guard.

Oyama: As Togawa just explained, so much effort went into this game that I don't even want to imagine the timeline where it flops (awkward laughs). All I have right now is a wish for success. Please, play my game and spread the word if you like it. @'ing or DM'ing me with your reviews would make my day.

Ishii: When I was first briefed on this project, I was impressed at the amount of text it took to make a visual novel, but later, my more experienced colleagues explained to me that this project was abnormal (laughs). We're delivering a title that demonstrates Too Kyo Games is as "too crazy" as the name says. I hope you enjoy the wildness of it. I'm looking forward to the reviews.

Koizumi: The Hundred Line is Too Kyo's first original IP. It'd be accurate to say the company was made specifically to produce this game, which naturally makes me invested in wanting more people to have a good time with it. Nothing can be better than seeing people grateful that the developer Too Kyo Games exists. 

Uchikoshi: Repeating something I said before: I hope you can find one route among the many to be your favorite. And to the completionists wanting to play every route: be my guest.

Kodaka: Fresh news, never revealed before: there is a route where everyone survives. I got really emotional reading this one. You're free to stop playing whenever you're satisfied, but I believe you'll have a tough time coming across another game as wild as this, so I'd like you to savor it as much as you can.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Links:

Design team interview

Music team interview

Special guest interview

[palmolli]

I did not care for Breath of the Wild.

WAIT WAIT WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN! DON'T SHOOT!

It's not that I HATE BotW. I certainly don't. I just don't love it. Though I very much DON'T like totk... that's an opinion for later. This is in no way a good critique or a review. It's just my opinion.

Breath of the Wild was the first Zelda game that I ever played, like many of you in the fandom right now. I bought it with my own money (I'm a jobless minor) after interacting with the fandom for a bit before even picking up a game. And like most people, the feeling of starting the game and waking up in that bathtub, that feeling of wonder and mystery, was awesome.

I will give credit where credit is due, BotW got me through a time when I was at my lowest. It gave me an escape to a much better world, a safe space, one I could go to when I had no hope for reality, something to hold onto if you will. The release of TotK gave me something to look forward to during a time when I didn't want to wake up the next morning.

I have every reason to love this game, but I don't.

Honestly, I'm TIRED of BotW and all the sequels and spin-offs.

Botw came out since people were so tired of the linear Zelda formula. ... that formula lasted for longer than I've been alive, yet it's only been about 8 years, and there's been such an uproar of people complaining about the new shiny open world formula.

Why? Well, because most of the gaming industry is open world now and having a linear formula is what made Nintendo feel unique... oh, and also because Nintendo completely failed at making totk's map feel new and interesting. They just slapped a bunch of random crap on the map here, and there with almost zero thought. When I first played totk, I felt like I was playing some kinda modded version of botw. It felt a little illegal. And playing it feels like a chore. That's never happened with any other Zelda sequel.

Even though Majora's Mask's assets were all reused from Ocarina of Time, the game still felt new and inventive. The game had meaning. The game had a THEME. AND THAT GAME WAS MADE IN TWO YEARS. TOTK TOOK SIX!!!

Cough cough. Pardon me.

Another reason I'm just sick of botw.

It's everywhere. It's Nintendo's golden goose. Just about everyone who plays games has played BotW. It's so big that it overshadows the rest of the franchise. It's basically Ocarina of Time all over again. Just... worse.

A sequel, a prequel, and another on the way. Ocarina of Time was never THAT BAD. It was given one sequel. That's it! Nintendo is just turning into Disney. And let me tell you something.

I loathe disney.

Too afraid to make anything new, so they rely on things that they know will make them money. Too afraid to say anything and spark controversy, so all of their content is void of anything actually meaningful. There's no particular audience. They appeal to no one by appealing to everyone while overly reliant on a fan base they know will bow before them and just buy whatever they churn out.

And, again, it's just like the word Zelda has just become synonymous with Breath of the Wild. Any Zelda content on most platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest..

I AM SICK OF HIS FACE. WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES HE'S ALL I SEE. WHEN I OPEN THEM, HE'S ALL I SEE. HE IS EVERYWHERE AND I CAN'T ESCAPE HIS STUPID. FACE.

EVERY DAMN SKYWARD SWORD EDIT IS SOMEHOW MADE ABOUT BREATH OF THE WILD ZELINK I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!!!!

and this isn't a you problem, by the way. If Breath of the Wild's your favorite game, own that, bro. This is a Nintendo problem.

Like... echoes of wisdom... seems like everyone kinda forgot about it. Including me. It brought new things to the table. AND NOBODY CARES!!!! BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO FOCUSED ON BINKLE BONKLE'S MISADVENTURES. Though, it did keep the art style of Link’s Awakening... which I honestly do not like all that much. C'mon Nintendo, give us a new art style, you bunch of greedy cowards.

Now, to get off track for a moment.

My favorite game is Skyward Sword. Yes, this is relevant. Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword are almost complete polar opposites of each other. One leans into tradition, while the other runs from it. One is reliant on story and characters, the other on gameplay.

People absolutely HATED Skyward Sword once upon a time. Now more people are starting to like it. People LOVE Breath of the Wild, and now more people are starting to think differently.

This point I'm making here is expanded further in this very ahead of its time video that explains this far better than I ever could.

Basically. People complained. Nintendo over corrected. Now we're here.

These two games are what REALLY got me into the franchise. Breath of the Wild was the first Zelda game I ever touched... but Skyward Sword was the first game I ever finished. Like ever not even lying, I'd never finished a game in my life before Skyward Sword.

The game actually motivated me to continue. The dungeons were fun and engaging, and same with the characters. I was genuinely invested and finished the game at one in the morning, shaking and in tears. Keep in mind I'd watched a playthrough of the game before I was able to play it myself. I already knew the story.

Then I finished breath of the wild.

I did not cry.

I did not shake.

I just finished it and put the game down.

Skyward Sword gave me a reason to give a damn, Breath of the Wild did not. Sksw Link felt like a person to me. He wanted to get his Zelda back, and so did I. Breath of the Wild Link, however... he just woke up, and he has no idea who the heck Zelda even is, so he's just gonna go collect koroks and blow stuff up. No motivation... just... do whatever whenever. Which is fun, yes... but it's not all that impactful.

Skyward Sword gives me a cozy, warm feeling, while Breath of the Wild gives the opposite. Empty. Cold.

Like... I just don't care about Breath of the Wild. I really just don't. And I am just so tired of it being the only thing on the menu nowadays. The characters felt like cardboard cutouts to me. You have to actively seek out any character or personality in them (the main ones). That was not a problem in Skyward Sword. Just sit down on a dang bench, and you'll find more character in Link there than in most botw memories.

I know botw Link's whole silence thing has a reason behind it, but it just feels like an excuse. They could've expanded on it a bit more. In concept designs, he's shown to have a family. But they scrapped it. They really could've done so much more with that.

This rant was incredibly messy, I know, but I just needed to get this out somewhere. This has been boiling within me for far too long, and I had to put it into a teacup and make tea, or else I'd go insane. I'm not trying to be a contrarian or anything. This is just how I feel. And I'm not trying to say any fans of botw or people who don't have access to the other games are fake fans. I understand that games are expensive and hard to access.

This is purely my opinion, and you're allowed to think differently. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk, and have a nice day.

[leafsbabe]

Travis Kelce - private show (SMUT)

2k, there is a butt plug in this in case you don't like that

He loved his team, he truly did, but Travis was also very glad when their post-training meeting was over and he could dip. None of his teammates tried to stop him as he all but ran out of the room, something he was grateful for. In the past it had been a given that he would walk out with some of the other men, talking, joking, but nowadays that had become a rare sight. He was always in a rush to get back to his room, back to the closest thing he had ever come to an addiction.

Away games hadn't been the same ever since he had stumbled across that fateful link.

By some lucky coincidence the facilities for the visiting team in the field they’d be playing tomorrow were absolute ass so the chiefs had rented out one of the hotel meeting rooms for their review. Meaning all Travis had to do to get back to his room was hop onto an elevator. After that he was free to lock himself in his room until it was time for dinner.

The elevator crawled up to his floor at a snail's pace but he stopped himself from impatiently rocking back and forth on the soles of his feet. When it finally came to a stop he started to squeeze out of the elevator before the doors had fully opened but he didn’t even care how it looked, he was already late and he didn’t want to miss any more.

The door to his room slammed shut behind him as he stormed in, jumping onto the bed with enough energy that realistically it should have broken but by some miracle stayed intact as he opened his carefully changed laptop while attempting to toe off his shoes.

The website didn’t automatically open once he clicked on his browser but he had been visiting it religiously to the point that it autofilled after a single letter. His pants started to feel too tight before the site had even finished loading and Travis couldn’t help but groan at the realisation that he fucking pavloved himself into getting a semi at the mere thought of you.

The stream had already started but hopefully he didn’t miss much. A familiar background greeted him before his eyes focused in on you. Splayed across the bed you’re a sight for sore eyes, hair messed up just enough to let him know you’d played with it before he logged on, body clad in next to nothing. A new, expensive next to nothing. Good to know all of the money he sent you got put to good use. 

He waited for you to greet him like you usually did, surely you must have noticed him joining your stream, he was your biggest fan after all, but when you didn’t he sent you a message over private chat. Expensive, yes, but he didn’t need people knowing his dirty little secrets.

Finally you acknowledged him. 

“Hi bigyeti, nice of you to join again.” It seemed like a standard greeting but he knew by your tone that you were annoyed at him for being late again. Brat. Travis watched you slide a hand over your bare skin until it reached the lace covering your chest. But instead of teasing one of your hard nipples through the material or even taking it off to show the irresistible swell of your chest you just ran your fingers over the seam at the edge of your bra. “As much as I think this set is cute, this will probably be the last time you’ll see me in it. It’s not really comfortable and I can barely get it closed by myself.”

You were probably hoping for messages offering to help you with that but Travis had been watching long enough to read between the lines. You were going to offer up the set but beat you to it. His simple message didn't get a written reply but he noticed you look off screen before smiling. “You know the price bigyeti.”

You didn’t take it off though, just changed positions until you were kneeling on the bed. It was only then that Travis noticed the selection of toys laid out in front of you.

“What do you think,” you picked up one of them, dark purple and intriguing, but not his favorite of the spread. “Should we run a poll or let the highest bidder decide?”

He sent you a rack before you even had time to decide, after which he finally rid himself of his sweats and underwear.

“You know which one.” Your sweet voice read his message in the chat, laughing as you held up the one you knew he wanted. Pale pink with ridges that could get you off every time, filling you up perfectly before the vibrations took you out. The first time he had watched you use it you had squirted and he had been hooked ever since.

“Should I be concerned big? You seem to like this little guy more than me.” You pouted at the camera, bringing the vibe up and tapping it against your bottom lip. 

Travis groaned before typing again. Hopefully this would be a one handed operation soon.

“You know you’re my favorite. Aww that’s so sweet of you yeti. Want to know a secret?” He watched you lean forward, holding your chest into the camera with practiced ease. “You’re my favorite too.”

Travis slowly stroked himself as you bit your lip, reaching behind you and finally freeing yourself from the lace. You had been truthful about how ill fitting it was, his eyes automatically drawn to the red indents on the side of your boobs. He fantasized about getting his mouth on them, of soothing your flesh with his tongue.

You didn’t try to act sexy as you balled up the bra and threw it off-cam, something he came to enjoy. You were this temptress, bane of his bank account and object of his desire, but you were also human.

As he saw you kneeling there Travis finally gave in and reached for his lube, because he was in his thirties now and using lotion to jack off felt awfully juvenile. He watched you run your hands over your body, just palming himself to the view of you playing with your nipples.

“We’re going to try something new today.”

The tone of your voice had him shifting, sitting up straighter and paying more attention. He didn’t have to wait long to find out what something new meant. You got rid of the last remaining hint of nothing hiding your skin before turning around into the most perfect reverse cowgirl POV he knew and there it was. Nestled between your cheeks laid a small plug with a deep red gem at the end that sparkled in the lights you used during your shows. A hot shudder ran through him as the grip he had on himself tightened.

“You know what to do if you like it.” You smiled at the cam over your shoulder before turning back around.

Travis debated between finally touching himself properly and sending you another donation when you positioned the toy he picked and he relented. He’d just send you another tip later. He was slow with his movements, teasing himself as you sank down on the toy. You stopped halfway, adjusting to the stretch, but Travis just continued to stroke his dick.

You were noisy, he liked that about the streams. You weren’t holding back but it also didn’t feel like you were putting on a show. You were simply vocal in bed and he loved it.

Treavis continued to work himself as he watched you ride the toy, torn between closing his eyes and imagining it was you that had a hand wrapped around his dick or even riding it and wanting to watch you take your pleasure with the toy on stream. He watched you move, the way you stretched around the toy with every rise and fall. It was mesmerizing, the shimmer of that salacious gem catching his eye only for his focus to be drawn away by the flex of your thick thighs, or the dimples on your lower back, or those sweet filthy moans that kept on leaving your mouth. He felt drunk on you, drunk on the fire running through him.

There was no rhythm to the way Travis was stroking his cock as he watched you, all pretense of following your movements abandoned long ago. He felt his orgasm approaching, considering for a moment whether he should try and draw it out, to wait for you and come together, before giving that idea up and quickening his pace. He came to the sound of your moans, all over his fist and with his head thrown back in ecstasy.

Travis let himself float only until the next moan tore his attention back to the screen in front of him. You were barely riding the toy at this point, grinding more than anything. Even with his muddled mind it was clear that you were on the brink yourself.

When you finally tipped over it was with a shout. Your legs shook, more violently than he had ever seen from you before, while your body contracted around the sex toys filling you up. He palmed his softening cock as he watched you fall apart, too spent to try getting another orgasm out of it but still wired enough to draw out that afterglow for just a little while longer. 

He watched as your orgasm came to an end, the shaking in your thighs never quite stopping even though the vibrations of your toy did. You removed the pink vibrator but that bejeweled plug stayed in place as you slowly turned around and sat in full view of the cam, leaning back on your hands and smiling. You were still breathing heavily but it only drew attention to your tits and Travis found himself reaching for his phone before he realized that his hand was covered in his cum and used his other one instead. He wasn’t good at typing with his nondominant hand but another tip found itself being sent your way soon enough anyway.

“That was fun.” You said, breathless but still smiling. No reaction to his message if you had even seen it. “We should do this again sometime.”

Travis got another long look at your body as you leaned forward to shut off the cam and then he was alone in his hotel room again.

Shutting his laptop before he got up, Travis went to wash his hands and clean up a bit of the mess around his dick. He would shower soon but there was something he had to take care of before that. His phone was still laid on the bed, even though he had to search through the sheets to find it.

Travis pulled up that all too familiar contact and pressed video call. You answered almost immediately, makeup still on your face but with your hair pulled back and a shirt thrown over your body.

“Was that good?” You asked as soon as the call connected. He could see you bite your lip, nervously, and he hated being so far away from you even more.

“You were perfect.” He answered, truthfully. “So hot, baby. Almost makes me want to set you up a real camming account just to show you off.”

The program you two had now was little more than a private video chat but Travis had tried to set it up nicely for you. It had involved a lot of awkward questions to one of the New Height techies but the chat worked amazing for your little cam show and your audience of one.

You just laughed at his antics. “No you wouldn’t.”

“No I wouldn’t.” He relented. “I don’t like to share, even if you’re the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen. And all mine.”

You laughed again. “All yours.” You confirmed before continuing, teasing him with an account of the new things you had brought for the two of you to try. Fuck. He couldn’t wait to come home.

[sweetlittlebrie]

After working on finding the Rose origin, I got curious about the Ames origin. As well as another nickname....

I went back to fanfiction to start my search! I didn't use Ao3, as that came into existence some years later of ff. net creation, and Deviantart has a horrible search function so I wasn't gonna look through there and it came a year or two after ff. net. I'll talk about other sources in a bit.

Searching through the ff by the publish date and with all ratings I started from the last page just looking through fanfics. Something I found interesting was how little Amy is used as a character in these stories and there are a few reasons why. Amy Rose hadn't made a huge appearance in any North American media since her first introduction of Sonic CD. There were other games like sonic r and fighters, but they weren't very big and didn't have a story to them.

So many early fanfics where Sonic has a romantic interest were with Sally, who was in the Sonic SatAM, which after it's cancellation, was followed by the Archie Comics. Meaning Freedom Fighters were a more common cast in stories, especially for Sally as the romantic interest.

Amy Rose wasn't 'brought back' until Sonic Adventure which released in NA 1999 on Dreamcast, then re-released 2003 for the Gamecube; Sonic Adventure 2 followed in 2001 on Dreamcast, then released on gamecube in 2002. Amy wasn't making regular 'cast' appearances until 2001, so it was rare to see her in fanfics and even more rare to have SonAmy stories on ff .net. Now, this could be false as personal sites/forums were still very popular and this could have been where Amy was making appearances.

!!! I have not properly read through all of these, so be cautious !!!

The first SonAmy I found was Happy Birthday Amy Rose! Published July 2000. This story is pretty quick, but it doesn't have the usage of Ames. It does have the other popular pet name of Sonikku used by Amy. (the author has used this as their pen name too)

After skimming through that fic, it got me curious about the usage of Sonikku, but I would have to dig through other fics to see if other characters used it and how they used it as well. As the most I can remember from my years of reading fanfics is to kinda mock Amy i.e. "Don't you want to go running to your darling Sonikku"

The next fic I found was A Normal Day Adventure! Published February 2001. Sonikku is used and Sonic even questions its usage of that petname. This is also where I found the early usage of Japanese word being. Not the typical 'sakura hedgehog' or 'two tailed kitsune' we see now, but like kawaii. This was the beginning of a trend in some stories and boy it was something!

And another review mentioned that this author used to have an angelfire site where they were originally posting their stories. As mentioned earlier, there's a whole area of fandom culture that we won't be able to access due to so many of these of these no longer being up along with forums that probably kept getting updated and slowly losing this information :( For all I know, these are where the usage of Ames and/or Sonikku became popular.

I only say that as an idea as looking through a few fanfics' reviews, no one really seems to question the usage of Sonikku or Ames. It just seems like it was accepted amongst fans.

I Don't Wanna Lose You Again published July 2001. It's another story using Sonikku and more Japanese words. Takes place after SA2.

In the Broken Moonlight published October 2001. An early SonAmy story and KnuxRouge. SonAmy is slowly getting more traction and since Rouge's appearance in SA2, she starts becoming a regular cast in fanfics too! Can't say this is her first appearance in a fic though, that's for someone else to find.

Return to Little Planet published December 2001. Sonikku is used....but Ames is finally found!!! In the second chapter, but then the third chapter could have been updated in May 2002 and then afterwards Ames get used again in ch.10 which could have been uploaded December 2003.

You Never Realize What You've Got published March 2002. Ames is used only once throughout, but it seems to be getting into a handful of people's heads lol

Everything You Know Is Wrong published November 2002. Early sonamy fanfic, but this one includes the cheating trope! Or Sally cheats on Sonic, so then he opens his eyes to Amy. I think this was an early trope back in the day, I don't think it gets used a lot now. Not to say it's anything bad, just another method to move the story.

Just thought I'd mention that sonamy was picking up more traction as a ship in 2002.

Innocence published AND completed August 2002! Very popular early SonAmy fic, with the interesting twist of making Shadow a baby. Ames is used a bit more often!! I think a total of six times?? No early reviews seem to question the usage either, so I think it was very much accepted in the sonic/sonamy fandom.

For True Story published October 2002. This one includes Ames, but skimming through it....I think we have the first and rare use of Shadow saying Ames. (please correct me if im wrong)

We get into January 2003 and Sonic's Black Op...is published with Sonic using Ames. He is using it fairly casually and then later romantically???(i'm skimming these stories! it's just too much to go through everything sometimes)

But this author has written Three Days also published in January 2003, where Sonikku and Ames are being used by both characters from friendly to romantic petnames. Canderous Ordo, the author for both fics, has other stories in which Sonic uses Ames.

Sonic Ever After published April 2003, A story where Ames is used by Knuckles and Tails. (psst, this is also a Tails x Amy fic)

This is where I'll end it. As I think by going forward, more authors started using Ames as nickname that either all characters use sparingly, or a nickname specifically used by Sonic.

I did find some other interesting fics

His Best Friend's Wedding published October 2000 has a background KnuxAmy romance!

You Are My One and Only published January 2001 is a sonally fic, but there is tails x amy! One of the earliest I was able to find.

Robotic Regeneration published in January 2001 has the rarest ship of Gamma and Amy. (in terms of robot romance; i didn't find or seek out any metal sonic x amy fics. someone can search for that)

Going through all of this, I don't think there was really any questioning of these nicknames.....unless it took place very quickly in a personal site or forum that we no longer have access to due to maintenance or websites no longer being registered. I think the Sonic fandom just accepted these nicknames in fanworks. I'm sure there were some works that used Ames and Sonikku sparingly and others that used it anytime in any sentence. I'm not sure if there was a fluctuation in popularity when it came to using these pet names(although I think Sonikku is used less frequently in fanworks) just more-so an authors preference.

There will be works that are no longer accessible to us or they're slowly being hidden/purged by individual authors or even the websites themselves. (damn you ff .net for getting rid of mature/nc-17 fics and hiding them now too!!!)

But hey, the fandom was able to make Ames popular enough to make it in Sonic Boom(unless i'm mistaken) and even in the IDW comics.

Anyways, if yall find anything that could be included in this then please don't hesitate to do so! Thank yall for reading!

[hyenabeanz]

Rule yapping time for the Abby Roque hand goal!

An aside: I realize I really need to learn how to make gifs from live streams cuz these nerd dives would be better with the play in question visible for reference. The method I used before doesn't seem to work anymore, so if anyone can shoot me a tutorial of how TF to do so for Android, pls do. If someone gifs it I will reblog with that attached.

ANYWAY.

The relevant rule:

So, catching it out of the air and passing it down to yourself is totally legit. It becomes illegal if a player skates with puck in hand. I rewatched it a couple times and think Roque came RIGHT up on the edge of that when she leaned forward, but didn't really skate with it imo. Not more than when people catch it in the neutral zone and they drop the puck in the most advantagous spot. It was a hard call I think, very borderline, so not nearly as egregious as the crowd felt it was.

I'm not 100% sure if it was actual coaches challenge on the review. If it was, the guidelines are pretty clear that borderline evidence isn't strong enough to overturn an on ice call; it has to be very clear and conclusive. I believe that's generally the standard for all video review, though it's not spelled out as clearly anywhere I can find.

I know one of the other concerns was that they had missed a slashing call on Larocque, but goals can't be overturned for those types of penalty, as slashing would fall under penalties under the judgement or discretion of officials.

So, yeah. It was weird as hell and I mean of course home team is gonna boo it, but this nerd's opinion is right call was made. Didn't earn NY the W, but I imagine they'll at least take the point.

As a reminder: I do the rule dives because I think it's fun. I like reading policy and rules and seeing application. I like trying to understand the game better. This does not indicate I necessarily have strong feels about it, nor am I interested in angry debate about it. I'm just nerding out. Fellow good-natured nerding happily accepted tho. :) if you don't want to see it, or do want to see more, my tag is "rules yapping."

[horrorvale]

HorrorVale Development Blog: End of Year

Hello, citizens of HorrorVale!

As the year draws to a close, we (or more specifically me, Dustin) wanted to put together a little blog to talk about HorrorVale! How launch went, what our current and future plans are, and more!

(Note that this blog post does not receive audio, so if you respond I cannot hear it.)

Dream Colosseum

First, before I start talking about HorrorVale's Launch, I want to discuss an upcoming patch.

Currently, we're working on a massive patch for HorrorVale that will include the following:

Even MORE bug fixes

Brand new optional dialogue for every single party member in the game for main story cutscenes

More skill re-balancing

Other minor things and scenes I still wish to include

But most importantly... The DREAM COLOSSEUM!

I originally didn't think many people would bother with the "Secret Bosses" in HorrorVale, but since so many of you enjoyed them and also desired to get more opportunities to mess with party combinations, I decided to punish you horribly!

The Dream Colosseum is a brand new feature that will allow you to fight Bosses you fought previously, now all scaled up to End game stats, with new moves and quirks, and all very difficult.

If you've fought the "Last Secret Boss", now you get to imagine what a Dream Colosseum version might be like.

It will require you to 100% the game to access, but won't give any unique rewards outside of a cosmetic change to Alice's bedroom so people don't feel compelled to torture themselves for completionists sake. Naturally, there won't be any new trophies either.

Right now we're working steadily on this update, and hope to have it out very early next year.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about how launch actually went for HorrorVale...

HorrorVale Launch

After 8 years in development and 5 years since announced, HorrorVale finally released on October 1st, 2024.

This reception has been tremendous.

Leading up to release, I was anxious but overall feeling pretty good about launch. There were minor things I wish I had included or changed, but knew that delaying what was otherwise a feature complete game would be extremely silly.

I actually intended on releasing these things as a patch in the first week of launch, in the hopes of catching most people before they get too deep in the game.

...What I did not expect however, was the unfortunate discovery of several bugs, some of which were game breaking.

What made these bugs especially frustrating is that most of them were NEW bugs, created from me adding things right before launch, or fixing other unrelated bugs.

Due to these bugs and the massive influx of new fans, comments, reviews, and more I found myself extremely overwhelmed, and it ended up being probably one of the most stressful 2 weeks of my life after launch.

In the end, everything worked out and I was quick to patch the game...

...Multiple times.

Still, despite these issues the reception was overwhelmingly positive. Certainly some critiques here and there, but the general response was that the game was so enjoyable that even the most egregious critiques could be brushed aside. All of the wonderful things I've read by people who had fun in the world I created... It truly means the world to me. The... Underworld you might say.

I'm sure some people are also interested in how the game actually DID. Good reviews and positive reception are one thing, but this is also a product being sold, so how did it DO!? Did it SMASH RECORDS and become bigger than UNDERTALE? Did it FLOP???

Well, to be honest I'm not entirely sure!

Which is a strange thing to say, but it's difficult to gauge "Success" when so many factors can change what that means. For a AAA game, success means something very different to a small indie game with a publisher, which also means something very different to a ragtag team of people with no real budget, no publisher, no marketing, and especially no notoriety whatsoever. Not to mention as first time developers we have little to compare it to...

But that being said...

As of right now, HorrorVale has sold...

1,000 COPIES!

That's an INSANE amount of people. If all of you were in a big room crowded around me, I would be very scared.

That's 1,000 new citizens to HorrorVale that have entered its gates.

If we gauge success purely based off "did it make back what you invested in it?", then HorrorVale was absolutely a success!

However, unfortunately it did not necessarily meet the expectations we had.

Going into the launch of HorrorVale, I had 3 goals in mind.

To make back what I invested in it (out of pocket, not including Patreon earnings)

To pay Matt, the composer full royalties for the HorrorVale OST (since he created the entire 170 track monster soundtrack for FREE.)

To be able to devote myself full time to Game Development

Of these three... Only 1 has been achieved so far.

While I generally try to avoid discussing topics like these, I feel like it's important context for the next piece of discussion. The future of HorrorVale.

HorrorVale: Act M

HorrorVale: Act M is a small side story featuring none other than Mothman himself! This spinoff game was greenlit thanks to HorrorVale fans reaching our Wishlist goal for the main game. This game will tell the story of HorrorVale from Mothman's perspective, giving you new insight into his side of the story, as well as elaborate on events leading up to and following that story.

I think there's something really special waiting for you in Act M, and I want to use it as an opportunity to experiment with the HorrorVale formula based off of feedback from the main game.

No matter what, this project will begin development and it will be in your hands....

...At some point.

Which is where the previous topic comes into play, because naturally how long Act M takes to make is dependent on the time I have free to work on it. HorrorVale sales could certainly pick up, and I might one day be able to devote myself fully to game dev, but for now Act M will have to follow the same development process as "HorrorVale", which means it's difficult to give an estimate of how long it'll take to make!

What I can say for sure, is that Act: M will be much, much shorter than HorrorVale. Don't expect a 50 hour experience! I'm aiming for something more like 8.

And yet, you might be asking yourself dear reader...

"How can we help?"

Indeed, you asked yourself that exact sentence and in the voice of the King from Zelda CD-I no doubt.

Which brings us to the next topic!

Patreon Revival

My original plan after HorrorVale launched was to completely retire the HorrorVale Patreon as it seemed unnecessary at that point, but since:

We did not reach our expectations of sales so far

Several fans expressed a desire to support the game in some way because of the Steam Early Access debacle

I thought it made sense to keep it up and give it a little makeover.

Now fully dedicated to "Act: M", you can expect Monthly Progress Reports here, just like the main game!

Not only that, but we've added a brand new "Cryptid" Tier, that will allow you... Yes YOU! The ability to design a Creepy, Scary, or Starry for Mothman to fight in Act: M! We don't want Mothman to just fight all the same enemies as Alice! He'd naturally encounter foes she never even knew existed. This is your opportunity to help the game out and get to be a part of it as well.

(Please note that in order to participate in this reward, you must be 18 years or older and willing to give all rights of your design to Batworks Software.)

(Also please note that Mothman will kill your beautiful creation with a crossbow and it will hurt very badly.)

Since as of now I can't "live" off of HorrorVale sales, instead my plan is to put it and Act: M Patreon earnings towards Act: M itself and Mystery Future Project. This will help ensure a smooth development cycle as possible. If you're interested in helping out the HorrorVale universe, now's your chance!

Of course, forking over your hard earned candy isn't the only way to help though!

Just enjoying the game and telling your friends about it is a MASSIVE help. Without a marketing team, word of mouth is a tremendous help to us, and it's thanks to that that we're here at all!

Closing

In closing, I just want to say thank you to all of the HorrorVale fans that have supported us over all these years. The love that HorrorVale has been shown has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. As long as I'm able to, I'd like to read every comment and message I can, but I fear that if the game does get bigger one day I won't be able to see them all. Just know that the love you've given Alice and her friends mean the world to me.

Wait Stop Right There What Do You MEAN "Mystery Future Project"???

That's all for now goodbye!!!!!!

*The device he was speaking from explodes spontaneously*

[rei-ismyname]

X-Factor #8 X-Manhunt highlights

I'm not reviewing any issues of X-Factor ever (unless someone paid me.) It's a weak comic, and not bad good either. However, it follows on directly from X-Men issue #13 (review here) and has moments of interest relating to those characters. X-Manhunt is not meant to be a solveable mystery - it's got late Game of Thrones vibes - putting so much effort into subverting expectations that it forgets to make sense or reward close attention.

So long folks!

The two teams fight, of course, real Looney Tunes shit. The Forget-me-not joke is told again and it's still not funny. They lose Xavier after a minute or two, lol. Poor X-Men spent all this effort being competent, but they stumbled into X-Factor's orbit and become bozos.

Update on Warren! He was in hospital for so long because he was receiving 'upgrades.' Elective procedures. Issue #1 established that he lost his Archangel transformation, though he didn't elaborate on how that happened. This book is cancelled and has other threads to tie up, like 'why is Havok such a loser?' and 'what was the point of this?' so I don't expect much on Warren.

That means Archangel mysteriously disappeared then Warren willingly recreated his worst trauma and the bane of his existence. The upgrade is basically Archangel again plus metal feet and a sword. I'd guess that the next writer to use Warren will ignore this, plus his willing stint in the US military.

After Havok was fired from X-Factor he was moping in his bare apartment, angsting over Lorna. Frenzy came over and recruited him for a Mutant Underground mission. He questioned why they'd trust him after he snitched to the military but went with it anyway. Turns out it was Chuck, who needed allies and went with Frenzy and Havok. Not sure when he had time to do that, but it doesn't matter. 'Twas these two who snatched Chuck.

Havok is being unbearably naive. He's just had his heartbreak and depression manipulated into sheltering the most wanted man in the world. He's really nostalgic because that photo is from the sixties. Not sure if Frenzy is telepathically influenced but she seems really happy to help a dude that joined ORCHIS. Scott knocks her out so I guess we'll never know.

Yeah, Alex. It's Scott.

Scott wants to kill Chuck, maybe? Alex wants to protect Chuck, I guess. I probably wouldn't want to talk to Alex right now either tbh. He asks why Scott is doing this, so I assume they really haven't been talking. The brothers haven't been on page together since Dark Web or thereabouts I think. They were on okay terms then, they'd even just had a good chat.

Err, Scott doesn't answer the question verbally. Surely they're both affected by the woke mind virus here. I could believe everything up to 'why can't you just stay gone?' Alex says mouths some lonely platitudes, which is in character, it's just a drastic escalation in general.

I found it annoying in Raid on Graymalkin that all interpersonal communication has a question mark over it due to psychic influence. It's just as irksome here because I'd like to know their actual feelings. The woke mind virus means it can't be trusted and is kinda pointless. No, it's worse than that - it's ambiguous without hope of clarity.

Even the story doesn't care, as Scott abruptly stops fighting to talk to Chuck. He asks him why, but don't get excited for an answer to that.

Chuck has a fucking Krakoan egg. The last one, apparently. Why here and now? IDK. Chuck says Hope a lot which feels like a red herring.

Sadly, there's no time for any kind of resolution or answers. Chuck has an appointment derailing the next issue of X-Force and the most narratively satisfying way to get there is *checks notes* to have a rando appear out of thin air and teleport Chuck away. Oh, okay. See ya buddy!

They don't take the egg, though it's pretty useless without Cerebro. The X-Men's role in X-Manhunt is over, but at least they have an unknown mindless body to deal with. If we're using Krakoan lore for how they work then that person should be dead. Drowned long ago. Let's double check. Goldballs creates the egg, Proteus makes it viable, someone (usually Hope) injects the DNA, Elixir brings them to life, Tempus ages them to adulthood/desired age. All this is done at the same time - when it's finished they're alive but blank. Requiring Oxygen etc. Last step is using Cerebro to put their memories/personality in, but that can be done before or after they hatch.

Maybe Chuck did his bit before he got snatched and they'll hatch shortly. If not, they'll die very soon. Some mutants don't need Oxygen etc, but they're rare. Like I said, this is not meant to be solvable through clues. One would assume it's related to the Xandra mission, but who knows? My guess is a much younger Xavier who dies immediately lol. Then they have a corpse and some fresh trauma, though no answers. I wonder what Frenzy is doing. Are the two teams still fighting?

For a relaunch that's determined to distance itself from Krakoa something as iconic as an egg is a weird choice. Cool, I guess? What do you think?

[rainbow-journalist]

If Makoto disguised himself as Yuma, would it still be possible to tell them apart?

Mmmmm, I think it would be possible to tell them apart, even if the disguise was perfect.

Tw: 🎭⚠️ + spoilers! + Long text

This thing about him disguising himself as Yuma, maybe it happened in the game, but he must have been pretending to be Number One, even though he has the same face and height and can wear the same clothes and hide his hair, (or he had the same hair before he changed color), you could still tell the difference because of personality and behavior.

Makoto may still have traits of number one, but he has developed his own tastes and personality over the course of the 3 years, especially if HE wants to differentiate himself from his original.

I've already mentioned that I saw a review of a really cool body horror movie about cloning? An older woman tries to make a young clone of herself, but the clone develops a consciousness of her own and even gives herself a different name, Just showing that you can't control a clone of yourself and that it's dangerous.

If Makoto tried to pretend to be Yuma, there would probably be times when he would act like himself, he clearly didn't expect Number One to erase his memories with a Death God and become someone completely different. xD

Even though his physical appearance is perfect, his personality would not be the same, especially when Makoto was alone, he would have his own reactions, like, in my head, he would probably react specifically to things that he himself likes and not Yuma, if you gave him some melon juice, he would react enthusiastically, Yuma clearly wouldn't react with such excitement, even if he would accept the gift out of politeness. Makoto in disguise would probably be found near gardens or other scenarios that Yuma wouldn't normally be in, do you know what I mean? Something similar to Mukuro disguising herself as Junko in Danganronpa.

If Yuma was still Number One, Makoto could perfectly imitate him without any problems. I still think they still have similar things, like being workaholics and blushing at little things, I think it's cute.

In any case, the other characters, like the other detectives, would probably be able to tell the two apart if they stood side by side, whether by their facial expressions, behavior or posture. I'll leave that to your headcanons :3

Visually speaking, the different colors I use are for aesthetics and I also use the sprites as a reference, I hope you guys don't mind this in my drawings.

And you? Would you be able to tell them apart? 🎭☔

[apostaterevolutionary]

As the local mage rights expert, what are your thoughts about the tranquil being MIA in Veilguard?

Honestly it's kinda funny that you ask lmao cause this is something I was thinking about pretty recently? I didn't mention it in my initial review cause I think in the face of everything else, I didn't even realize initially that they were completely absent. But I can forgive myself for that, given just how much else was also skipped over

I suppose it's probably because, once again, the question of who became divine and thus what happened to the circles is the issue. Because if the circles still exist in some form (under Cass or Viv), the tranquil are presumably mostly contained within the circles (especially as we also know that some bad things happened to them during the revolution, so there's probably fewer of them now and not for good reasons). Though if the circles have been disbanded, where the tranquil would've ended up is a good question. Because while they are still like, functioning adults, they are more vulnerable due to lacking any real self-defence skills or exposure to life outside the circles or even just. Basic fear, so you know when you need to be on guard. So-called negative emotions like fear are really vital for survival actually but that's also a different topic lmao

Anyway, I think the reason for them being absent is cause bioware was still dancing around that choice, which means they couldn't really show what happened to them. Mind you, tranquil merchants exist outside the circles (there was one in Denerim in origins) and also we know that tranquility is done in Tevinter too (though the Tevinter politics in general are super watered down, so of course that wouldn't come up). But given the games avoidance of all political topics, I'm not super surprised there was no mention of them. I don't even recall a codex, which is kind of odd, but I guess the concept isn't relevant enough to anything that happens in veilguard

As for my own thoughts as to what happened to them post-circles, I like to think that at least some cells of mages would've felt it important to care for the tranquil. I also really like to think that the cure for tranquility become more known and that maybe, just maybe, all the surviving tranquil (at least outside of Tevinter) may have been cured in the 10 years since. That's super wishful thinking lmao but I like to consider it. It could've been something mentioned when we went to Rivain, even, as that'd be the perfect place for it to happen

(I have also, of course, thought heavily about what my Hawke and Anders might have been up to post-circle dissolution and honestly, trying to help the tranquil would be a super fitting option in my opinion, maybe starting out just trying to protect them but later learning how to cure them and then doing that. Because yeah, the circles are gone, so they can finally relax at least a little, but while both of them could use a break, I don't think either of them would be able to sit idle forever. They're the kind of people that need to be doing things lmao. And this also is righting one of the fundamental injustices of the circles, one that has still not been corrected so long as tranquil mages still exist, and one that has affected Anders personally. And given Justice, they could actually do it if they only knew how and I'm sure Justice would be 100% down. So that may end up being my personal headcanon lmao. I'm still rolling things around in my brain, but I think it's a really good option regardless)

[andrewwtca]

Something really sad, and also INCREDIBELY telling, I found in the Ultimanias is how the Destiny Trio's bonds are described. like, Sora and Riku are kind of consistently described as best friends, but when Kairi gets involved, the bond just becomes childhood friends.

Sora: "Though he lived on Destiny Island with his childhood friends, Kairi and Riku..."

Riku: "A young man who cares deeply for his friends and is Sora's best friend and good rival."

Kairi: "A lively girl who possesses a pure heart of light and grew up on the same Destiny Island as Sora and Riku."

I found a translation, as well, of a character correlation diagram and they're the only trio that isn't described as best friends.

I understand that as a whole, their trio is supposed to represent growing up and how your bonds to one another can change - whether that means growing stronger and coming even closer or weakening and becoming distant - but you'll still care about each other. But it still is incredibly heartbreaking to see the main trio's friendship summed up as "they grew up together."

The only place I've so far seen to say different is the Story Before KHIII.

Sora:

Riku (ignore these god-awful screenshots I was literally watching a youtube review to try and read it because I couldn't find it anywhere else. Just trust me, it says 'Sora and Kairi's best friend since childhood'):

Kairi:

Now, I get it that maybe they don't want to use the same language, but it makes the most sense to me to say on Sora's bio to describe them as best friends, especially considering we see HIS bond with Riku and Kairi, but on Riku's? And the fact that Sora is always the 'friendship guy'? (This is just an outlier I wanted to bring up that calls Riku and Kairi best friends, and that's only if you take these translations as 100% faithful, which we have seen time and time again, that they often aren't.)

It almost feels like their friendship is at an all-time low. And don't forget this is the guidebook that leads up to KHIII, which should hypothetically be the peak of their bond, because they're all on the same level (not in terms of Mastery as Riku is the only Master, but in terms of all being Keyblade Wielders), they're all safe, they all have opportunities to tell each other their feelings. This book is a chance to be a celebration of their friendship, of how they overcome and yet?

'Childhood friends.'

I remember, maybe a few weeks ago, there was a question going around on Twitter asking 'if you have to get rid of one trio, which one would it be?' and most people said Destiny Trio and yeah, it's for a very obvious reason! A lot of these same people say that the games just don't do a good job of showcasing their relationship and they're all really good friends with each other, and everyday, it just more and more obvious it's just wistful thinking. This is as close as we can get as a 'word from god.'

And when you look at the game, it's obvious that they're drifting. The last meaningful conversation we had in this group was Sora and Riku in KH2. KH2!!! That was literally 18 years ago (like a few months for them, but that's not the point I'm making)!!! Meanwhile, we got meaningful interactions in both the other trios in KH3 - which, I'll concede, it was because they were separated for long periods of time that they were so meaningful, but if the game wanted to show us Destiny Trio having deep interactions, it could've! Literally, Sora and Kairi sharing a paopu fruit didn't even have a conversation! it was just Kairi inadvertently voicing her (VERY WELL JUSTIFIED) fears that they'll drift away from each other!

The reason Destiny Trio doesn't feel like a trio is because they aren't one! There's Sora and Riku who are homoerotically close, there's Sora and Kairi who have are growing distant, and there's Riku and Kairi who's only meaningful interactions were founded on guilt or Sora.

TL;DR: "Destiny Trio" is slowly turning into "Sora and Riku dating with Kairi constantly left out of the picture"

They really are Destiny Trio because destiny brought them together and that's about it. Destiny can't give them the same drive to save each other as it gave Seasalt and Wayfinders. I mean yeah, they'll physically save each other, but they're so out of touch emotionally with each other. Like Kairi still refuses to process Sora growing up. Riku has never told Kairi about the things he did to try and save her. He's never even told Sora about his jealousy of Sora and Kairi. And god forbid Sora ever tell them about his insecurities!

The apathy towards destiny in Chikai's opening feels like the perfect way to describe what's going on with them. Destiny is there. Destiny brought them together. And that's it. What else is there to care for?

It's also, once again, very telling that this same song then proceeds with very romantic lyrics about making an oath with someONE. Hm. It's almost like even outside the games, on written supplements, we're constantly being told the path the Destiny Trio is on, and we're constantly being shown that every step they're taking is leading them further down it.

Just. OUGH, these kids!!! I need them to stop sacrificing themselves for each other and making these oaths that are all too big for them, and sit down and just TALK. (And please please please let Kairi interact with someone other than these two. Please, it hurts to see her fall away with nowhere to land!!!)

[aihoshiino]

chapter 162 thoughts!

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 19

Aqua Hoshigan Status: uh oh, gamers

damn they dragged his ass right to hell, huh

I was perhaps overly optimistic in expecting an immediate resolution to last chapter's setup. It's becoming increasingly clear that this handful of chapters covering the Aqua-Hikaru confrontation are intended to be read in one go but because I am pedantic I will continue to review them one by one <3 This chapter very much has all the same issues as the previous chapter without quite as many of the things I liked pulling it up, but Mengo's art is back to going absolutely crazy and I got to see 2.5 new panels of Hoshino Ai so who can say whether it was a good or bad chapter.

Like last time, we're starting with Hikaru again and… basically everything I said I didn't like about this handling of him is still the case but with this almost definitely being his final appearance with no more opportunities to explain anything about him, it really sucks that the note we seem to be ending on is just "damn, bitch be crazy". Given that Tsukuyomi mentioned his previously 'noble soul' last chapter, I was really hoping we might get some sort of flashback or Hikaru POV giving some proper context to his actions but all we got this chapter was him being like "ughh i miss ai. GOD i love killing people" which is, uh, underwhelming as a final note for an antagonist like Hikaru to go out on, to say the least

The thing is, I didn't need or expect Hikaru to be totes 100% an innocent bean or anything like that (ch109 looms large), but if he was going to be the final boss like this, I wanted his antagonism to come from somewhere, to have any kind of connecting thread with the story's themes or to at least tell us interesting things about him both in coming to understand where his behavior came from and why he went down this path. But we don't know anything about Hikaru, really - we know facts about his life but as person and a character in a story, our image of him is shockingly unclear. As far as the story seems to be concerned, he came into existence as an 11yo boy being abused by Airi, blipped out of reality when Ai broke up with him and then idk digivolved back into society into a guy from a yandere otome game when Ai died. Like, how in god's name did Hikaru go from the boy we see being broken up with as a teenager to… whatever the fuck this is? How did he start killing? Why? What is it about killing that makes him feel Ai's supposed presence? And most importantly - why does he pursue killing Ruby as his means of achieving this when the narrative is doing everything it can to convince us she's Ai 2.0 and therefore a living person in whom Hikaru should be able to feel Ai's presence the most strongly since her death? Hello? Can anyone hear me????

We don't get textual answers to any of that - hell, we don't even really have any textual confirmation that he is actually serial killer, despite it being something I guess we're supposed to assume at this point?? Like, whatever happened to Aqua seemingly crediting Yura's death to Nino's involvement? What happened to Aqua saying that Hikaru being the mastermind made no sense? Like, I guess he was right, but jesus

Even things I can take the time to try and infer (which, see last review's discussions on Inferring Things) just make me feel like I'm doing the work the story should have done in terms of trying to get his character to cohere. As it stands, Hikaru isn't in opposition to Aqua because he has harmful beliefs or behaviours born from his participation in society that stem from or are in conversation with the story's wider themes, but because he has one very specific unhinged belief totally disconnected from reality focused on one specific person and manifesting in such a way that caused him to just be Ontologically Evil And Broken.

And it's not like this would even be hard to do! Hikaru is literally, explicitly an affluent and powerful person in the entertainment industry despite being someone who was broken by abuse perpetuated by those very systems of power. Why not lean into that? Why not examine the ways in which Hikaru and Ai converged in their experiences of abuse - Ai able to truly sever the chain and begin healing while Hikaru ends up making Airi's mistakes and enacting abuse and control on people with less power than him to try and regain agency and dignity?

Ryosuke (even post retcon) and ch154 Hikaru work so well because their specific beliefs about Ai reflect real world misogyny and parasocialism that are rife in the entertainment industry (and even outside of it) so they're able to contribute to the story's wider themes pretty well. But as of this chapter, Hikaru's stated beliefs about killing and apparent overall worldview are so fucking detached from reality and so lacking any foundation or grounding in textual events or theming that it doesn't even feel like an exaggeration of real world issues to a logical conclusion like Ryosuke does. He just feels like a cartoon character.

Not only is this shallow in general and really a huge wet fart of an ending for a character who has been built up for 4 actual years and 150 chapters of manga, it's also just bizarrely inconsistent. There's no proper connecting thread in the text between the seemingly emotionally disarmed and remorseful Hikaru of 154-5 and fucking joker slenderman ass here. The story spent so long making Hikaru deeply and viscerally sympathetic through exploring his history of abuse and exploitation mirroring Ai's that I'm not sure of what the point of that was in terms of authorial intent if we were always gonna end at this point of "you are Ontologically Evil and must die". Movie Arc backstory Hikaru flows quite naturally into 153-5 Hikaru but these specific beliefs and fixations on killing almost feel like they popped up from nowhere to force this confrontation to happen.

Ultimately, despite being given ample opportunity to do so, it just kind of feels like Akasaka just kind of lost interest in trying to develop Hikaru into a fully fleshed out and coherent character. We get flashes and teases of what could have come together into a fascinating and compelling antagonist but he ultimately fails to evolve past a vague sketch of a character, full of unconnected ideas and loose threads. In the end, Hikaru is only ever a cipher for the story to enact tragedy through with no real interest in his own feelings and interiority in relation to it - not even his own.

To scooch back a bit into the chapter, I will say that him being dragged down specifically by Gorou is interesting, especially since he seems to have returned to his scary ass Tokyo Blade rage ghost form. This seems to represent Gorou and his rage being sort of 'exorcised' from Aqua now his revenge is complete (as I theorized might happen last week) - his memories and existence obviously live on in Aqua (F… FOR NOW…..) but as a character in a narrative, this feels like a fine enough place to leave him.

Anyway, speaking of Aqua! How ya doing, champ?

that bad, huh

The back half of this chapter revolves around giving Aqua some emotional resolution of his own and even though I've been kicking and biting to get some Aqua introspection for so long now, this one left me feeling pretty cold. After all this time of floating around the 'why' of his reincarnation, the answer we're finally given is….. just that Aqua was reborn to be Ruby's guard dog lol.

The idea that the twins were specifically reborn to be together has been imo pretty obvious for a good long while and I think it's a perfectly fine idea on paper, but this framing of it just kind of falls flat to me. I don't like that it positions Aqua's rebirth not as a second chance for him to love and be loved in a way he wasn't able to as Gorou, a gift from Tsukuyomi to two people who showed her a selfless, thoughtless kindness but as just yet more of the story using other characters and their stories to try and prop up Ruby or imbue her with more importance in a way that I think feels forced and does the characters who are used in this manner a huge disservice. I'm sure we could conclude that this is just Aqua's feelings on the matter and I really, really hope that Tsukuyomi fishes him out and gives him a slap while yelling YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LIVE FOR YOURSELF AND BE HAPPY IDIOT or something next chapter, but the extremely warm framing this is all given makes me think this is something the narrative both agrees with and approves of and as an Aqua enjoyer I just kind of hate that for him.

I also have to say that like… it doesn't not make sense for the story's finale and this aspect of the reincarnation plot to center Ruby specifically. She is one half of the titular Oshi no Kos and at least hypothetically the co-protagonist of the story. But suddenly making her the answer and central turning axis of basically the biggest ongoing mystery in the story like this feels kind of jarring when Akasaka spent a solid half of this entire manga not really doing her justice. This attempt to tug on our heartstrings via flashbacks to the twins' childhood also doesn't really do anything for me because as cute as it is, it's just disconnected flashbacks to brand new events in their childhood we never saw or heard about before. And it's weird because it's not like we don't have in-story examples of Aqua being over protective of Ruby, so why not flashback to those?

Idk. It's hard for me to articulate why this left me feeling kind of cold, but it feels like a symptom of this being part of an ending that Akasaka set in stone too early on and hasn't compromised for he way the character dynamics and story that made it onto paper have shifted and changed in ways that don't one hundred percent line up with the ending he wanted. If the twins' relationship was going to be this important to the ending and be so central to Aqua's existence as a character, I wish we'd spent more time on it. One of the major critiques of OnK that people had from like chapter 12 onwards that I still agree with is that Aqua and Ruby's relationship doesn't feel like a close knit connection between two people who grew up together for 1X+ years, and that continuing issue makes it kind of hard for me to feel the warm and fuzzy sibling feels right now. Which sucks because I LOVE the Hoshino family trio and I love Aqua and Ruby's family dynamic when we actually get to see it - their chapter of interlude and some of the scenes in their home in early OnK are some of my fave parts of the story for that exact reason. But this just kind of whiffed for me.

It also isn't lost on me that Ai is basically absent from these flashbacks despite them primarily taking part in the part of the twins' childhood they spent with her. I get that the idea was to focus specifically on Aqua and Ruby's dynamic there but it still feels kind of…

I've already written a short essay on this topic as it pertained to the initial reveal of Tsukuyomi's role in AQRB's reincarnation and the TL;DR of that post is that early in the series, Ai is centered as a character of as much significance to the reincarnation plot as Gorou/Aqua and Sarina/Ruby are, with the togetherness of the Hoshino family as a trio and Ai specifically as Aqua and Ruby's mother being emphasized as having a great deal of meaning and importance. But this chapter doubles down on essentially erasing her as a figure of weight and consequence in the twin's reincarnation in a way that is both inconsistent and just kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Like… I'm sorry, but given how much of Ai's character revolves around her being the victim of exploitation, of objectification, sexual and otherwise, of being forced to warp herself to response to the filthy desires thrust on her by the people around her, it's really just gross and a huge misstep for her to be reduced to a convenient walking uterus. It is yet another example of Ai being reduced to just a stepping stone in Ruby's narrative and part of a pattern in this regard I've come to really dislike. Framed like this, Ai's own act of bravery and love in giving not just herself but Sarina and Gorou the family all three of them were denied all their lives is now nothing more than a vessel for Sarina's wish fulfillment. As you can imagine, I kind of hate this too!!

Depending on if volume 16 follows 14 and 15's trend of being 11 chapters long instead of 10, vol16 will end on either 162 or 163 - based on how 162 ends, my guess is that this is our volume ender so I'm curious to see what form 163 will take - straightforward continuation of this scene or focus switch to other characters to maintain suspense? I guess we'll see in THREE FUCKING WEEKS……. Akasaka i swear to god……………………….

sidebar but tsukuyomi just out here floating is kind of wild. what happened to 'it's a normal child's body' ya little twerp?

[fatphobiabusters]

Product reviews on websites for plus size clothing brands are their own circle of hell. I feel like making a bingo card so I can create a depressing game of how many times these fat people who look like me write "Flattering!" "This hid my tummy and covered my arms perfectly!" "The best dress for hiding your imperfections!" "This didn't make me look pregnant, so that's always a plus." "Very stretchy fabric, which means you can continue to wear this even as you lose weight!" "I bought this because I've been sizing down and couldn't ignore such a great sale." "The color of this sweater is amazingly slimming!" "This super long dress with long sleeves wasn't modest enough [for fat bodies like ours], do not recommend." "This highlights the bits you want highlighted while concealing the worst parts of you. Five stars!" "A miracle! This skirt made me feel feminine for once!"

This is one of five million reasons why I wait to finally force myself to buy new clothes until all of my current clothes have become raggedy, ruined with holes, and faded to the point of only having half the original design on the t-shirt anymore. Not even buying clothes in size fat online lets me escape the immense fatphobia fat people are forced to experience whenever we dare to buy something that isn't a necklace.

-Mod Worthy

[insectoidvania]

Moth Survivors by Moth Fried Games

Just finished trying out the Moth Survivors prototype by Moth Fried Games! While the game is in an indefinite hiatus, this proof of concept was still pretty fun and interesting!

These devs are also the ones who made Moth Planet, a 2D platformer, which I also recommend checking out :]

This post is actually sort of a review for the game! (because itch.io's text editor is kind of a hassle to deal with) So the following will have spoilers for the game, so if you want to see what the game has to offer, go check it out!

But anyways, this game is actually my first time playing a Survivors-like and I'm starting to see why folks like the genre! This unfortunately also means I can't exactly tell what's unique to the game and what's common for the genre, but that doesn't really stop me from talking about what I enjoyed from this prototype!

I think the mechanic of breeding moths to get new characters/survivors to play is pretty neat! I also think putting Hazards on the moths is an interesting way for players to "clear out" moths (at least in this prototype because retiring isn't a thing yet), encourages the player to play in a different way if they want to "preserve" a character, and in general encourages breeding moths to get stronger ones to replace their old ones.

Playing through the game the first time, I managed to fail missions enough times that I got the message where they deducted my pay. I somewhat blame that on me repeatedly choosing the mode where you have to survive for a certain amount of time and not exercising self-preservation for the sake of collecting essense. But it was interesting to see even if I didn't really know what I was doing!

Switching from a basic moth (aka my poorly upgraded moth) to a moth that actually had good upgrades was a fun change. It also introduced me to the Hazard mechanic as I proceeded to get that moth euthanized. I also believe I got a new moth sent in from the Administration because I was doing so bad (lol. lmao even). It was pretty amusing, but it's also good to have that failsafe in case there are players not doing so hot in the beginning.

In my second time playing the game, I played a little smarter and managed to not fail any missions, so I didn't get any penalty/warning messages from my bosses. I even did my best to keep my moths with Hazards alive, by avoiding collecting essence in my runs with them. Though I see how the moths are upgraded to try and get essence anyways with their reach upgrades and close-range attacks.

I did end up intentionally letting one moth get euthanized though so I could actually hatch an egg. I don't believe I felt any changes playing with that new moth (fresh muscular un-upgraded baby), but it was neat being able to actually use that mechanic!

Eventually both runs ended with a mysterious stranger sending me a file and then that file getting confiscated and me being taken out (or something)! You can never trust big organizations, but unfortunate I won't see the secrets they have to tell me.

All in all, while this game may never become more than a prototype, it was cool to see what it had to offer and I really liked it!

[flame-of-tar-valon]

ok so santa's elves aside, i would love a review of in from the cold from you

Short answer: I loved "In from the Cold" (for what it was)! I only wish it were a longer section of the game.

Medium answer:

I am completely neutral about "In from the Cold". Thinking about it in the context of your ask generated a whole list of complaints in my head, but almost none of them are actually about "In from the Cold" itself, and I can't blame "In from the Cold" for the issues of the template-based expansion development structure. But it does show the cracks in the formula where Endwalker is concerned.

Endwalker in particular needed to deliver on two fronts: it had to geographically tie up the loose ends that were constantly alluded to in past expansions from ARR onward, and it had to conclude the story on a cosmological level that surpassed what Shadowbringers accomplished. The Garlemald arc succeeds at the former; the fight against Zodiark accomplishes the latter. "In from the Cold" does its job to transition between these points.

I would even argue that "In from the Cold" does an amazing job at selling a few important story beats that the game needs you to pick up on. It brings the Garlemald arc, in a story sense, back to Zenos and Fandaniel; in a gameplay sense, it breaks from the slower and trudging (I've compared it to siege-based) feeling of the Garlemald arc in order to build tempo heading into the Tower of Babil. The gameplay is clunky, and I disagree that the clunkiness is intentionally supposed to be frustrating for the player. It's just meant to force the player to interact with the gameplay in a different way than usual. It's definitely subjective how well the gameplay is executed, but I'm willing to forgive it. I thought it was engaging.

However, Garlemald (as a zone) only gets so much screentime, and most of it is devoted to the incredibly-executed "find and rescue survivors!" arc. That means that the cutscenes surrounding "In from the Cold" feel a bit rushed as a transition. That could have been mitigated if Garlemald had been a larger section of Endwalker's story, but they had to shove Sharlayan and Thavnair in as well, which means none of these regions feel adequately fleshed out. Garlemald is the best of the three (so far!), though. I don't think "In from the Cold" contributed any positive points to my assessment of the arc, but it didn't detract, either. Therefore, I am, essentially, of a neutral opinion about it.

Long Answer: The FFXIV Formula and its Failings

Overview

"In from the Cold" is ok. I liked it as a duty with cutscenes. I'm neutral on it as a part of the Garlemald arc of Endwalker. I'm... discontented with its place in the broad scope of Final Fantasy XIV. It feels like a vestige of something that was supposed to be something else. Or somewhere else. Or somewhen else. The more I dwell on it, the more negative I become. So maybe I should really go with my immediate gut reaction and say it's great! Maybe I just didn't like the santa's elves arc so it looks better by comparison. Or maybe I didn't like the santa's elves arc which is making me really negative today! Who knows? Either way, dwelling on my opinion has brought up an urge to complain, so I'm going to try to be objective about things and break it down into analytical points.

Before I can fully give my thoughts on "In from the Cold" and the ways it either contributes to or detracts from my enjoyment of the Garlemald arc, I need to establish a baseline: what is such an arc, how does it function in terms of a typical formula, and what factors contribute to my enjoyment of story arcs across various expansions? This may not be a typical response to "In from the Cold," but for me I can't help myself from noticing story in everything. The unique gameplay features during the solo duty will also be addressed below, but if you were hoping for an in-depth (or even surface-level, tbh) answer about how the gameplay felt, I apologize in advance. I think of gameplay moreso in how it contributes to the cinema of the storytelling experience.

Ahem. Anyway. Something that never escapes my notice in games with content released intermittently is the way different releases either adhere to or abandon old design philosophies. I've complained at length about this in regards to the music composition for the various expansions. (Why do Sharlayan and Radz-at-Han share the same theme?! No, it's not because they're the only two locations where the Final Days are going to be relevant; that's stupid.) Everything about the game has changed dramatically since the ARR days. Back in ARR there were a lot of comparatively smaller and irregularly-shaped zones with ill-defined level boundaries, inconsistent dungeon/trial pacing, and a whole host of other issues that itch at me to no end.

From Heavensward onward, these things have been standardized. Each expansion has six zones included in it, all of which are large and typically conform to the rough shape of a square. These zones frequently consist of a single level range, or they might have a geographical split between two different level ranges, meant to be accessed at two different points in the story. Each base expansion includes 5 or 6 mandatory dungeons and 3 mandatory trials: a dungeon at every odd number level, plus one at the level cap; a trial at the levels ending in 3 and 7-9, plus one at the level cap. In this way, an expansion can roughly be divided up into six segments, typically every two levels.

Ideally, these segments slot fairly easily into what can be thought of as three discrete "story arcs" -- but perhaps that's naive idealism on my part. I am not, by and large, someone who dislikes things being formulaic. I'm incredibly formula-minded. My entire outline for HtGHA is based off of a very formulaic template that I repeat for each of my protagonists. But before you think this means I won't complain, think again. The only person more likely to complain about formulas than a formula hater? That's right: a formula fanatic.

So what is this formula, anyway?

Level X0-X1: Beginning with a split-path choice that lets you see part of two different zones, the paths reconverge before the mandatory first dungeon. In HW, Dusk Vigil is optional, to the detriment of the early story. (I feel like one drawback of Heavensward's story is the fact that ARR and post-ARR both have substantial Coerthas arcs, but that's a topic for later.) Ideally, the split path shows two substantially different settings and tones that the expansion will take. FFXIV perfected this step with Shadowbringers.

Level X2-X3: A new zone is accessed, usually as an intermediary point in between the start and the mid-objective: Dravania lies between Ishgard and Hraesvelgr; the Ruby Sea separates Kugane from Yugiri and Hien. ShB is a chain of Lightwardens, so Il Mheg isn't that special as an intermediary point, but it still is one, so. Yeah. The trial here is usually just a relevant but not-actually-that-special combat from the journey; Endwalker is unique by comparison. In Endwalker, this trial is unambiguously the end of the first Act. I talk more about how Garlemald functions in Endwalker's story down below. Overall, I think Garlemald is the best execution of this part of the formula.

Level X4-X5: The party arrives at the zone and works on the quest that secures their initial, mid-objective. This generally feels like the midway point, the meat of the expansion: Churning Mists, Yanxia, Rak'tika -- things are serious, the task is a committed one, lore is being revealed, but the pace is slow, plodding, trundling along. Typically this is one of the bleakest sections of the story. I feel like this was best executed in Heavensward -- the Churning Mists was HW's strongest arc, and Rak'tika was on the weaker end in ShB. Note: I just finished the Mare Lamentorum arc entirely, but have not made it to the level 85 dungeon yet, so I will only be discussing up to the quest "Returning Home".

Level X6-X7: The previous progress in the midgame has been insufficient, in a variety of ways: in HW, the vaccuum post-Aery has created fertile ground for unrest leading to The Vault, and true motives are slowly revealed. In SB, the momentum post-Bardam leads up to the crowning achievement of Doma Castle. In ShB, the steadily worsening Light Corruption and the now explicit war against Eulmore lead to the conflict with Ran'jit and Ryne's transformation. Frustratingly, the level X7 trials in HW and SB are not related to this at all; after the turning points of The Vault and Doma Castle, these trials are just primals in other zones unrelated. ShB moves the second trial to level 79 instead of 77, imo to the detriment of the pacing of late-ShB -- but that's a topic for another time. There's bits and pieces I like from each expansion here, but also bits and pieces I don't like. I would probably give this one to Shadowbringers by default.

Level X8-X9: Now solidly in the final act, the party has witnessed what stands between them and the end goal, and must complete one final detour to get to this end location. This is usually a "seeing the theme of the expansion from a different perspective" detour: While I don't think the Dravanian Hinterlands were used to their full potential due to the patchwork nature of HW's storytelling, the inspiration is clearly there. I think the one I like best here is Stormblood's march through the Peaks (and the Lochs) of Ala Mhigo. In this case, it feels less like "one final detour" and more like a slow, determined march towards the city itself.

Level X9-X0: Yes, level X9 is on there twice. That's because most of the time, this final zone lingers at the penultimate level for longer than it feels like it should. But this isn't "Dravanian Hinterlands" level 59, this is Azys Lla! This isn't "Mt. Gulg" level 79, it's the Tempest! It's Amaurot! Earlier expansions were really afraid of making substantial chunks of the MSQ require level cap. These zones usually feel distinctly otherworldly. They are (usually) completely thematically divorced from more mundane areas. Mor Dhona falls into a similar category for ARR. SB doesn't get one: the Lochs may be epic, but it's too natural.

Problems with the Formula: Zones and Geography

So, each expansion adds six zones. No problem. But how are these zones divided? Each expansion takes a different view of how the geography for the new content should be laid out.

For the most part, Heavensward is the most similar to ARR in terms of geography. Both are locked to Eorzea (unless you don't count floating islands, in which case half of Heavensward is not, in fact, locked to Eorzea). ARR explores zones in La Noscea, the Black Shroud, Thanalan, Coerthas, and Mor Dhona. Heavensward explores more of Coerthas, then Dravania, and chains of floating islands across Dravania and Abalathia's Spine. The final section, Azys Lla -- like Mor Dhona, the final section of ARR -- is teeming with Allagan, Garlean, and Ascian obstructions to eliminate. It is very visually and tonally different from the rest of Heavensward, but it ties the themes of war between dragon and man back to the Allag-Meracydian war.

Heavensward's immediate successor, Stormblood, takes a different route entirely and situates half of its zones in Gyr Abania, and the other half in the Far East. Here's where that works well: Stormblood makes a big point about parallel suffering of the conquered lands under Garlean dominion. Ala Mhigo has been haunting the narrative since 1.0, and it deserves, imo, the bulk of attention here, lest Stormblood feel like it's focusing instead on an entirely new setting. However, the disconnect comes from the fact that the Far East is a lot more culturally and geographically distinctive than anything in the Gyr Abania zones we get to access. This means that at some point, the Ala Mhigo arc starts feeling repetitive and monochromatic. The East gets the nations of Hingashi, the Ruby Confederacy, Doma, and the tribes of the Steppe, while an equal amount of land in Gyr Abania is devoted to just former Ala Mhigo.

What's wrong with the proportions of focus these two regions get, you may ask? Well, nothing, really; it's just evidence of a shift in design philosophy. Everything in Heavensward covers an essentially contiguous area, while everything in Stormblood covers two such areas, separated by an enormous and logistically improbable distance. Stormblood marks the shift toward the global, extending the Scions' reach beyond Eorzea for the first time.

Looking back at Heavensward and Stormblood, I don't think all of the zones added are used to great effect in the storyline. Especially considering how other relevant nations that exist could have been incorporated. Sharlayan could have been added in Heavensward, as the Scions flee the ravages of the Bloody Banquet and seek safe harbor, or as a tie-in to the ruins left by their exodus from Dravania, or in any way to offer a sharp rebuke of war as pointless and barbaric during the expansion whose theme is the pointlessness and barbarity of war.

Stormblood could have featured Thavnair as a more interesting and more relevant pit stop than the Sirensong Sea, especially because Thavnair's neutrality toward Garlemald is a significant point in Hingashi. Stormblood could also have condensed the Fringes, Peaks, and Lochs into two zones, with the split path at the beginning being between, say, going through the Fringes (like normal) or to the coast of Werlyt. Either or both of these changes would shift the focus from pure geographical continuity on a small scale, to large scale geopolitical involvement and thematic focus on Garlemald.

Why Garlemald, though? The Garleans are the main antagonists on a tangible, geopolitical level throughout 1.0 and ARR (even while they're being manipulated around by Ascians), and, though largely absent from HW, they are central to SB. I don't think SB needs to feature actual Garlemald in order to be good -- but I think it needs to do more setup in advance of EW's Garlemald arc in order for "In from the Cold" to be good.

Zones and More Geography: How Norvrandt Changed Everything

Unlike Heavensward and Stormblood, Shadowbringers takes a macro level view of geography. Instead of saying, "Ok, here's two zones for Coerthas, two zones for Dravania, and three zones for the floating islands above the Coerthas-Dravania area," it says, "Here's an alternate universe. The equivalent for this northern region, which in Heavensward has enough land for a major city and several wilderness zones, is all shoved into one single zone with three aetherytes."

I used Coerthas/Il Mheg as the basis for comparison because that's the only Shadowbringers zone equivalent that was developed during an expansion following this formula. Of course, the Dravania analogue was consumed by the Flood of Light, so it's not completely accurate. But based on the drawn/painted maps, my point stands: the five zones of continental Norvrandt are extremely small. They are also very distant. Not as distant as Kugane and Rhalgr's Reach -- Norvrandt is still just a reflection of the continent of Eorzea -- but travel time on the First is not something that the story reflects on the nitty-gritty.

And what a difference it makes! In Heavensward, the substantial middle portion of the story focused on the Alphinaud-Estinien-Ysayle road trip to talk to Hraesvelgr and/or slay Nidhogg. The road trip only took the party across two zones, the Dravanian Forelands and the Churning Mists, and yet even that was enough to carry the weight of travel, the sense of destination, and the uncomfortable truths of lands riven by war. Meanwhile, in Shadowbringers, every zone is its own dead end: there are no road trips through a zone. This goes hand in hand with the scope of the mission. This is no longer a small group on behalf of a city-state, nor a military alliance fighting an oppressive empire: this is a hero attempting to thwart a magical apocalypse.

This works for Shadowbringers for two reasons. The first is that these areas are reflections of zones the player is already familiar with. There is no required time to spend acclimating to the geographical environment of Amh Araeng. The player still needs to get to know the cultures there, of course, but even at a glance, its role as a blighted reflection of Thanalan is apparent. The second reason is that these zones are geographically contiguous, just on a larger scale. It just makes sense to go from Lakeland to Rak'tika. And, for the zone split choice at the beginning, it makes sense to choose between Kholusia and Amh Araeng -- they aren't too far apart.

This is where the geography of Endwalker falls apart for me. It reads like fanservice. The final* expansion of the original FFXIV plot arc revolving around Hydaelyn and Zodiark culminates here, and we haven't traveled to Sharlayan or Garlemald or Thavnair yet! Aaah! And, being of course beholden to the formula, that means three out of six zones must be mundane locations on the planet of Hydaelyn. Two of these have to be visited by the split-path arc at the very beginning. Not a whole lot of options there!

But on the other side of things, the power-scaling needs to continue at a logical pace. From saving the continent of Eorzea to liberating two-ish continents from colonial occupation and single-handedly shattering Garlemald's tenuous hegemony, where can our hero go? Why, to save an alternate world from an apocalypse! But since that wasn't the end, Endwalker needs to introduce a new threat: an existential, universal threat that predates the creation of the gods and the fall from Eden. Something so amazing that it takes the Warrior of Light to (as far as I've been spoiled; I could have the details slightly wrong) the extremely distant past before the creation of said gods, and to the edge of the universe itself.

I've heard a lot of really good things about Endwalker's story, so I'm going to assume that, post-santa's naughty elves and their lack of fashion sense, the pacing gets smoother and the story more cohesive. I don't have a problem with the disparate nature of these zones, all told. What I do have a problem with, though...

Breaking Down Endwalker: The Intro

...is the pacing at the start of Endwalker.

(Honestly, my problems with the pacing start in the 5.x patches, but dissecting that would make this exercise take even longer than the *checks clock* three hours I've already spent on this response.)

Now that tempering can be cured, surprise! Here's Fandaniel with an apocalyptic death wish! Here's some Telophoroi towers all around the world. Time to head to Sharlayan to ask them for help, because that sounds so logical, right? And of course then we have to be warped across the world to Thavnair, because that's incredibly relevant, isn't it?!

I don't have a problem with the branch split... in theory, and isolated from other context. What we see of Labyrinthos and Thavnair is only the first half; based on the levels of the FATEs in the unrevealed portions of the map I'm guessing we return to these locations for Level 78 and 75 respectively. That's all fine, I don't have a problem with it.

What I do have a problem with is the way the game is so blatantly including these regions because it has to. Having just finished the santa's workshop-ark arc, the thematic consistency between it and Labyrinthos is very clear. (Maybe too clear. Maybe a bit redundant.) And I'm definitely not saying they shouldn't have included Thavnair in the game. But the geopolitical situation going into Endwalker has been, up to this point, entirely predicated on Garlemald and its former colonies, its civil war, its tempered, its discontents.

There's way too much baggage with Garlemald to be summed up by one ice ambush, one high-stakes hostage situation, "In from the Cold", and the Garlemald Express.

In order for "In from the Cold" to shine, Endwalker needs to lead with Garlemald. Garlemald needs to be in the forefront of everyone's mind during at least one of the split path branches. The tough feelings about an incoming army, the nationalistic pride, the bitter survival, everything -- that all needs breathing room. It can't be condensed any further. I contend that "In from the Cold" needs breathing room as well for it to hit.

As a single solo instanced duty, with a fairly strict timer, there's not enough of a chance to linger on the impact of "In from the Cold." In some ways, that's a good thing. It's a sobering slap-to-the-face that, as important as siege tactics and emergency response and peace treaties and reparations are, there are more immediately pressing matters. It's presented as a tough choice -- you have to be the hero, because every second you waste feeds into Fandaniel's plans.

It also allows "In from the Cold" to conclude with little to no dwelling on material repercussions.

(Btw, my suggestion for what the new zone alongside Labyrinthos should be instead of Thavnair? Corvos. It's a Garlean colony, with a direct link to one of the more directionless-as-of-now Scions, situated near to Thavnair, and is considered as (one of) the ancestral homeland(s) of the Garlean people. It would be the perfect place to get a first view of the Garlean Empire's collapse from a more neutral or diplomatic point of view before heading to Garlemald proper.)

Ludonarrative Harmony: Why "In from the Cold" Works

So, my biggest critique for "In from the Cold" itself, which I have wasted several hours of my life not talking about yet, in favor of instead going on unnecessarily detailed tangents, is the lack of consequences in its aftermath.

These consequences stem from the fact that the Warrior of Light arrives just in time to prevent their Zenos-piloted body from harming their friends, and then Fandaniel says, "Alright, playtime's over, bye-bye! Catch me if you can!" and then you head to fight Anima and that's that.

The commands that are available to the Warrior of Light within the Garlean soldier's body are extremely limited. There is an attack buff, a defense buff, and a single melee combo button. Later, the player obtains medicine packs for healing.

This is a perfect encapsulation of the struggle that you are supposed to face in this moment. It's not supposed to be harder to win than other content, it's still supposed to be well-balanced. But winning vs losing is supposed to feel different. The win conditions have changed.

FFXIV as a game chassis isn't the best equipped for stealth or stealth-adjacent missions. Also, the lack of control over character building that the player has during these controlling-other-people scenes can be very disruptive. The system is a bit clunky and can be frustrating. I don't think that form of frustration is intended, and I disagree with the assessment I've seen in various places that this frustration is supposed to mirror the WoL's emotional state after the body swap.

But the point of the gameplay is to represent the cinematic challenges that the script is pointing to. So, what challenges are the gameplay mechanics trying to replicate?

By the time "In from the Cold" starts, the Warrior of Light has defused an extraordinarily tense political situation involving hostages with shock collars, an attempted ambush, suicide of an extreme nationalist, and begrudging acceptance of provisions by a tired, hungry, injured civilian populace thoroughly used to war as the only state of reality. This incredibly hard-fought peace deal was not without its losses -- yes, there are former veterans with pride who cannot conceive of their identity should they accept aid from the peoples they fought to enslave, but there are also sick children who would rather take their chances against megafauna than risk having their wounds tended by strangers they know only as an enemy invading force. There are precious few survivors anyway, so every life saved is worth noting here.

The Warrior of Light distributes warm soup, and suddenly the tower springs to life again with its tempering shockwaves. This peace was always precarious -- you were trying to save the few downtrodden who somehow escaped with their lives, and you put so much energy into that goal, ignoring all else, that the big picture threat remains unaddressed. You've treated symptoms but not the cause.

"In from the Cold" serves, first and foremost, as a chastisement of the Warrior of Light for being kind and thoughtful and doing tasks for people. FFXIV hammers home again and again, in every expansion, that the WoL is canonically the type of person who does tasks for others out of generosity and selflessness. Fandaniel has bought himself time doing nothing other than putting people who need help in your way and trusting you to stall.

So, why bother with the kidnapping and the body swap? Amusement. For himself and for Zenos. I don't have a good enough read on Fandaniel to break this apart just yet, but Zenos craves the hunt, not the butchery. He complains that the spark would be absent were the two of you to rematch now, since you've already bested him and think him beneath you. What's important here is that he's not upset that you think him beneath you, he's upset that you wouldn't be putting your all into the fight as a result. He's not trying to turn the tables in order to cut you down while you're weak -- he's trying to turn the tables so that you struggle and sweat and bleed and feel the feral desperation that drives the climax of any good fight in his eyes.

This is summed up, very well, by the crawling scene at the end of "In from the Cold."

So, what about everything in the middle? The parts where you have to avoid fighting whenever possible, scavenging for limited heals, using dilapidated warmachina just to buy yourself some time, allying with Garlean civilians fleeing for their lives who see you as nothing more than a faceless, nameless Garlean soldier? That's the part where I think the solo instanced duty fails to achieve all of its potential. The reason, in my opinion, is due to the time limit and the lack of checkpoints. This should be a slower section of the game in multiple segments, where progress feels slower but with less risk of immediately dying if you get spotted. It should feel more like a survival section than a stealth section.

As for consequences -- it doesn't have to be a "Zenos kills one (or more) of the Scions" level consequence. I would have enjoyed seeing a situation where you have to find, identify, and take care of the Garlean whose body you were possessing. Something where you have to go back and explain things to any of the surviving civilians from the fight. Anything that makes you recontextualize your actions in someone else's body against your own.

I think this scene especially should be longer and have more of an aftermath moment as a parallel to the other instances of Ascian possession in the game, and possibly even to Fandaniel hotwiring the vessel of Zodiark for his own ends.

Santa's Workshop: Why "In from the Cold" Doesn't Work

But if "In from the Cold" is the bridge between the Jullus arc and the Babil dungeon, the perfect parallel to the possession that happens at the moon, the scathing indictment of the WoL's predictable selflessness, and the view in the mirror of all the helplessness and hope driving the untamed beast that Zenos yearns for...

...then why does the game immediately have to jump to weird little mice and their carrots and their control complexes and subterfuge? Why does everyone suddenly have all the time in the world once Zodiark kicks the bucket? Why does Urianger think he's a model in that #toxicslutch outfit???

Tone shifts appear all over the place in FFXIV, this isn't the first time and won't be the last, I know. But the issue here isn't the tone shift, it's the excruciating slow-down of the tempo of the game. "In from the Cold" takes the plodding pace of a serious-but-bleak environment and ramps it up to a fevered beat, just for it all to die down?

Returning to the formula I discussed above, expansions usually take the form of three-or-so Acts, roughly split at each of the trials. This division would place the entire Garlemald segment squarely within the first Act. I don't think this works very well.

Why? Because of pacing. We've spent the first Act trying to convince heads of state to act, and then we led a global contingent to help aid the very nation that had put the entire world under threat of the sword. This is all rising action, this is all introductory, this is all the premise. That cinematic structure is only reinforced by Fandaniel's various threats urging us onward to the Tower of Babil, and, eventually, the Moon.

What this is missing and desperately needs is fallout. That's not me repeating my earlier comment that "In from the Cold" needs consequences -- I'm talking more broadly, the Garlemald arc needs to foreground what happens in the absence of the Telophoroi. And it needs to do so immediately. Maybe the MSQ does head back to Garlemald again at some point. But I know it doesn't do so on a large scale, because I've already unlocked the ability to fly there. And it definitely doesn't do so promptly.

Please don't misunderstand -- I absolutely don't think it all needs to be tied up with a bow. I also don't think Garlemald has to be the focus of the expansion to the exclusion of everything else. But the reason "In from the Cold" doesn't work (or, perhaps more accurately, the reason Endwalker isn't shaped well enough to contain "In from the Cold") is that it is a fierce crescendo leading immediately to being shunted off-world. The action is interrupted in a very unsatisfying way for the reader.

I think, based on my tentative analysis of typical expansion story arc segments, that it would be possible to rearrange things to give "In from the Cold" the resolution it deserves. But I'm going to save that sort of thing for when I've actually finished Endwalker.

So, Is It Good? What's Your Review?

Mmm, yeah, it was enjoyable. The gameplay was a little clunky but nothing prohibitive. And it felt inventive enough to keep me engaged without being too foreign or immersion-breaking due to grappling with the controls.

My brother also says that it was fine.

It definitely didn't steal the show, though. The Garlemald arc is #1 in my book entirely because of putting Alphinaud and Alisaie through the horrors.

Now, I think I've been typing for about four and a half hours now and I have to get up early tomorrow. I'm too tired to edit this, so you'll forgive me if I ended up rambling on and on, or repeating the same two points with different wording and thought I was saying something new.

All opinions are my own. Despite superficial similarities to an essay, I actually didn't research anything for this except the geography of Dravania, Gyr Abania, Corvos, Sharlayan, Norvrandt, and many other things. All of the information I got was from one of the several publicly editable wikis about the game and could therefore potentially be inaccurate.

Ok that's all. Good night.