#i guess i gotta play re4 now

[thelyd]

i'm gonna start screaming without the s

Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023) Leon S. Kennedy [ 1 / ??? ]

[kennediffed]

Reflections

pairing: Leon Kennedy x Reader

description: you're casually playing the RE4 remake when you learn that the main character that you've been crushing on can talk directly to you (aka 4th wall breaking shenanigans)

word count: 548

contents/warnings: 4th wall break, gender neutral reader (no pronoun usage), ooc leon(?), shenanigans ensuing, barely edited/proofread

this is so fucking goofy im so sorry MASTERLIST

AO3 VERSION

REQUEST BOX

~

You couldnt help but stare at your screen while in a safe area at the character you've been controlling. The sight of him made you want to kick your feet and twirl your hair like a schoolgirl who had a crush.

You see, the remake to one of your favorite games had just come out and you intended on spending the whole weekend playing the game from start to finish. Well, that was the plan, until you started staring at the protagonist with heart eyes. The way the devs modeled him was… oh boy. The things you would do to him.

You couldnt help it though, Leon Kennedy was a looker, there was a reason why you, among many other people, simped heavily for him.

Man, why cant you be real? you thought silently to yourself, continuing to stare directly at him. Although you were alone, you couldnt help but feel like someone was watching you while you eyed him.

that was when something unexpected happened.

"y'know, im flattered, but are you gonna keep ogling me or are we gonna get a move on?" a familiar voice spoke in an annoyed tone.

that earned a jump from you. did… did leon just… address you? you looked at your screen to see Leon looking at you, a disappointed look present on his face and arms crossed.

"Yeah, you… y'know its rude to stare, right?"

You sat there in shock, he WAS talking to you. but HOW? this was supposed to be something that was one-sided. why was he talking to you?

"cat got your tongue?" he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"w…wait have you been able to see me this whole time?" you asked hesitantly. "and… hear what i say??"

He gave you a small smirk "yeah, you could say that"

"uhhh" you trailed off, scratching the back of your head gently "well this is embarrassing". Since you deducted that he could hear you, you realized that he most likely had heard your thirsty comments about him. and that was enough to fluster you. "sorry for the comments" you mumbled, almost embarrassed by your actions

you heard a soft chuckle in response "dont worry, im used to it by now…" he replied "but i bet youre confused right about now, am i right?"

you sat up in your chair, putting down your controller before making eye contact with him once more. You had so many questions but you werent even sure if you were to get any answers to them. you started out with a simple one; "so… how long have you been able to hear what ive been saying?"

"since you started playing the other day, i'd say" he responded flatly.

"gotcha, gotcha…" you responded. "guess i gotta watch what i saw now since i know you can hear me now…" you twiddled your thumbs in pure embarrassment.

"hey, like i said, its all good," he reassured "im kinda flattered that people see me like that"

you picked up your controller again, ready to move on with the game "i think im gonna keep playing now" you mumbled "do you just… emulate what im doing with my controller or… how does this work?"

"something like that… lead the way" you heard him say in response.

[moonrisecoeur]

[about hilda furacao] he seems in his verge of tears like... all the time. very cute. that's how i see leon btw ( 〃．．)

I feel like re4!leon and others may cry of pleasure sometimes, but raccon city leon is too sensitive to his own good, on the verge of tears all the time for the most unexpected things, kiss him and hold him he will be pouting and rubbing his eyes already, call him a good boy and play with his hair and he will look away to hold up his tears, tempt him and he will have eyes full of tears begging to be touched, poor him!

(well, i do guess post-raccon city leon have this verge of tears face.... but mostly because he is traumatized... like he will be just fine when you overstimulate or play w/ him, but if you care for him and say "i love you" or praise it's over for him!!! k.o!!!! his eyes are full of tears his mind dying his heart out of control!!!!) (wrote too much .... srry T_T)

re2r leon during raccoon city is very much too tense and focused on not dying for it to really sink in just how horrifying what just happened was, it takes him until a few days after to really be like. huh. i literally could have died. i probably should have died. so i don’t see him really crying!! maybe at the end because he’s so tired and he thinks ada’s dead and whateva, but not like bc of zombs or anything.

but the second he thinks a romantic partner is about to die, maybe he saves you from a zombie or whatever, he cradles your head to his chest and full on sobs. you gotta pull away to hold his face in your heads, wiping the tears off of his cheeks, reassuring him that you’re both safe and alive. he rests his head on your chest now, wanting you to hold him to calm him down. playing with his hair helps, it’s a nice distraction 🥹

however. re4r leon… is actually on the verge of tears at any given time. too traumatized by the years he’s been afraid for his life to be in fight or flight most of the time, but he’s still human and he still freaks out, just more internally. his eyes literally look watery the whole game, but maybe that’s just his character design lmao.

also the thought of him being fine and tough when you do stuff like overstim him, when he should be in discomfort, but completely lose it when you praise him im sorry that’s so cute. he takes your torture like a champ but the moment you hold his face in your hand, pressing a kiss to his jaw, telling him that you’re proud of him, that he works so hard and he deserves to rest, god it would be over him. he’s done for.

[biohazard-4ever]

I got into RE during the RE7/8/Remakes era and honestly that may be one of the reasons why I dislike aeon as a romantic ship. Their dynamic is interesting, but RE2make AND RE4make had me thinking that their relationship was so shaky, and Leon’s distrusting now (compared to OG). Well, that’s the impression I got. The kiss scene made me uncomfortable, but that’s an unpopular opinion, I think.

Maybe I could’ve tolerated them more if I got to know OG aeon first. I guess this is also the reason why there are more shipwars in recent time—since you got some aeons defending them by using the OG material, then others (like me) who don’t favor them as much because of the remake changes.

But then again, I have irl friends who despises aeon because of RE6 too…

I got into RE during the RE7/8/Remakes era and honestly that may be one of the reasons why I dislike aeon as a romantic ship.

Well, I have been in the fandom since God-knows-when, and I never shipped them. I just think the dynamic isn't well-developed, to be honest. They focused more on Ada as Leon's counterpart than on making her a genuine and independent character, so I never liked it. Many others feel the same way.

The kiss scene made me uncomfortable, but that’s an unpopular opinion, I think.

Nah. Even some A/eon shippers are not huge fans of the kiss in RE2Remake. It is not just you.

Maybe I could’ve tolerated them more if I got to know OG aeon first. I guess this is also the reason why there are more shipwars in recent time

Actually, the ship wars have become more intense because plenty of 'YouTube players' (i.e., people who don’t play the games but just watch gameplays) are now a big part of the shipping community. You know, those who follow the franchise solely because of a ship or character, giving the impression of an 'increase in fans' when they’re really just 'YouTube game watchers.' That, combined with the fact that Cleon got a bit more 'love' from Capcom—dropping pieces and bits for fans to nibble on—has created two polar opposites in the fandom.

But then again, I have irl friends who despises aeon because of RE6 too…

Leon faced a lot of hate during his RE6 era, to be honest. That’s when his haters really started to show up, with people complaining and calling him a 'simp,' and some even labeling him an 'incel,' yada yada. RE2 Remake helped people warm up to him a bit, and RE4 Remake made his popularity skyrocket. Fans especially highlight, 'He’s not a simp anymore.'

As for me, my main issues with RE6 are the quick-time events, the gameplay, and the graphics. In both RE6 and Revelations 2, the character models look odd. Their mouths give them this weird 'frog face'—I don’t know how else to explain it. I absolutely hate it.

and also to add: it’s quite interesting that they also changed Leon and Claire’s interactions to have a little more… affection towards each other?

Cleon isn’t exactly unheard of in the community. In the OG timeline, they have more of a sibling-like dynamic—though not entirely. For instance, in Degeneration, Claire kind of flirts with Leon, but not in a serious way. Also, in the novels written by S.D. Perry—while not considered canon by the fandom—she was a hired writer, paid by Capcom, and even received early character designs and unreleased information to use in her work.

In the S.D. Perry novels, you could argue that Cleon is kind of canon. They’re often described as being close to 'lovers,' and there’s even a moment where Chris mentally notes that he should ask Leon how far things have gone with his sister and what’s going on between them.

So, Cleon isn’t unheard of. I think it’s only natural that they would play with this dynamic more in the Remake Era.

I haven’t played the OG, but from what I’ve seen/heard, it seemed that Claire wasn’t interested in Leon at all, but they did develop a strong bond. (Please correct me if I’m wrong)

I’m a Cleon shipper, so take my 'opinion' with a grain of salt. That said, I do believe they share a strong bond. They’re 'friends-in-arms,' and in Leon’s character file from Death Island (unfortunately, the site was taken down, but I used the translation to read the info), Claire is described by Leon as 'his partner in this.' By 'in this,' I interpret it as Claire being Leon’s go-to choice if he absolutely had to pick someone to survive with him in an apocalyptic crisis.

Additionally, Claire is the one who introduces Leon and Chris to each other—this is mentioned in the RE6 files. It happened during a Terra Save conference or something along those lines. And we all know that Terra Save is an anti-governmental NGO. So, call it whatever you want, but it’s not entirely untrue to say Leon was, like, her plus-one.

But in the remake, when I first got to the fence scene, I was like “ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY LOWKEY AWKWARD FLIRTING HERE?!” I thought it was ridiculous at first, but now I found it pretty cute lol…

To be honest, same. But I love how that scene always brings a smile to people’s faces when they get to it. It’s a game that starts off so tense, and those two breaking the tension a bit easily becomes the 'highlight' moment for most players. My friends (two of them) absolutely refuse to skip that cutscene, no matter how many times they’ve seen it during their runs. They just love it.

They also got Sherry to say “Are you guys like boyfriend and girlfriend?” “You guys can adopt me!” when it wasn’t in the OG too. It was a line that’s not really needed right—like the writers could not include it and nothing would change—but they did. That made me curious about the direction the remakes were heading with Claire-Sherry-Leon tbh. But knowing Crapcom, it’s probably not gonna lead to nowhere now…

Yeah. Don't overthink it. In my opinion, that final interaction was a nod to the fandom as a whole, because even before the remakes, there were plenty of people actually HCing exactly that -, Sherry working as Cleon's "adopted child", and more often than not was Claire described as the "motherly figure" for Sherry while leaving it to us to interpret about her and Leon's relationship (Sherry and Leon's). Leaving it in the open.

Capcom will never compromise themselves with something that serious: "Oh, Sherry sees Leon and Claire as their parents" That... Would make people jump into conclusions that should NOT be taken.

So, in my opinion, as a CLEON lover/shipper, I think Capcom is just teasing and nodding at us—they’re not 'cooking something.' As Nick Apostolides(N.A) said in an interview about the ending of Infinite Darkness:

N.A: "I think that was a very intentional move by capcom because, of course, they left it open, it was short and I think they left a lot of fans wanting more. A lot of people who are disappointed about what happened with Leon and Claire - Im sure they wanna see some kind of resolution to that, y'know? You gotta leave'em hanging! That's why they call it a cliffhanger isn't it not?"

(AND NICK'S OPINION ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP AT THIS STATE:)

N.A: "I think it is interesting! They can do anything they want with it. I think if it was all like neat and tidy at the end... It'd be cliche. I like complex, I'm a complex person so I like complex plots"

Essentially, he’s saying that the ending was strategically designed to keep fans engaged without giving away all the answers or fully developing Leon and Claire’s relationship. It’s a way to maintain interest in the franchise and perhaps set the stage for future exploration of their bond.

Here are SOME of S.D Perry's novel words about Leon and Claire's relationship:

[c1028h]

fighting games thoughts

so im writing this waiting for my bus to go to work but I just don't really have anyone to dump my current obsessions so I'm just gonna write here instead. a few months ago I stumbled upon a tiktok video of the game guilty gear strive, but I didn't pay much attention except the fact that the game had some really interesting characters. now, fighting games were always a part of my life, it was a way of connecting with my father since he really enjoyed them too, a few that really stood out in my childhood were killer instinct, mortal kombat (a bunch of them, but mainly the ps3 one),

street fighter, the teen titans game on the cartoon network website, anyway, I loved them. but sometime in my life I stopped playing them and forgot about it, I always saw people playing mortal kombat when the 10 released, and then when the 11 released, but it never sparkled the joy in my to play again (also this thing was expensive as fuck). a few weeks ago I stumbled upon guilty gear strive again on my tiktok, but this time since I'm working I actually have the founds to afford a game on steam lol. I looked it up about some fighting games and got interested in a few of them.. guitly gear strive, tekken 7 and street fighter 5 or 6. now, even though street fighter has some characters I really loved like chunli, cammy, menat, juri, vega, it didn't really sparked anything in me.. tekken at the time was a little strange to me since the game is in 3d and the characters kinda looked like the sims ngl, so the option i had was guilty gear strive, it had some characters I thought it looked cool like bridget, testament, i-no, axl, anji, zato-1, may, anyway, you get the point, the game was also in 2d, which was a little more comfortable to me since all the experience I had was in 2d games, it had a big community of people that could teach me and play with me, so I bought that, the expanded editions to be fancy~. the game is really fun, it has some really cool machanics and its making me see fighting games in a way I never did before, all I did before was smash as much buttons as I could and hope my opponent didn't smashed the buttons before me, but now I'm starting to understand the fundamentals.. blocking, punishing, countering, frame data and all of that, I'm not good by any means, actually I started the online part at floor 6 and now im in floor 3, but thats part of the process I guess.. the problem is, I didn't stopped searching about other fighting games, and that made me regret a bit not buying tekken 7, the community was a lot bigger, it had characters that looked cool but not in a supernatural way, in a normal fighting way, like xiaoyu, lili, leo, katarina, asuka, eddy, hwoarang, lee, zafina, anyway, the list was gigantic, so after a week of debating if I should buy tekken or not I bought it, yesterday.. I didn't had any time at all to play since im in the end of my semester and working everyday on the afternoon (I'm fucking exhausted).. (I did a pause on writing, this is two nights after I started), so.. like I said I bought tekken 7 to try out since the idea of playing was really cool, and it is really cool, but like I said I don't have any fucking time ri3848u83.. but my semester is now ending and im a little free, so I'm using this time that I have to play Yakuza 0 and guilty gear strive, today I started playing with milia rage and I'm kinda obsessed.. a woman that can fight with her hair? that's peak pop diva queer icon to me.. she's like madonna of fighting games tbh.. I'm now really invested in playing more games, I bought the Yakuza collection on gog cause it was extremely cheap and mortal kombat x + 11 at 90% discount, gotta make the pennies I got as a salary count, after that I wanna play resident evil, I used to play re4 with my cousin he was kinda obsessed so we would play a whole weekend of re4 and tony hawk's lol.. I also wanna play devil may cry which is I game I used to own but never played.. anyway I just wanted to dump all these ideas somewhere and thought maybe this is the most appropriate place? I guess..

[imabasicbishh]

I gotta say I love that RE gets new fans with the remakes, but with some of these newer RE fans have also brought in the concept of “stans”, which I am now completely categorizing in a different group from fans. I am a huge Ada fan, but these Ada stans on Twitter are making it hard to enjoy Resident Evil content on there.

In Stan world if I want say I don’t like Ada’s new voice, or prefer OGRE4 Ada over the remake, or don’t love her new outfit then apparently “I have no right to call myself a fan” if I vocalized these opinions. I am Asian American myself and I did not enjoy Lily Gao’s performance as Ada. In my opinion, she had a few passable lines, flat and awkward delivery majority of the time, no chemistry with Leon, and most importantly NO charisma. Doesn’t matter how much much time Ada had in any form of RE media, she has always had presence and impact. In RE4’s main game, Ada didn’t have that many scenes either (although technically more than the remake), but even to people who didn’t bother to play Separate Ways, she always left an impression.

When the first RE4R trailer of her speaking dropped A LOT of people didn’t like her voice acting from the beginning. Then Ada stans would say “you can’t judge based on one line, wait until the game comes out” (as if that would somehow make her delivery better?), then the game comes out and a lot of people still didn’t like her performance, now it’s “she barely had any screen time, wait for Separate Ways”, moving the goal post again. Or it’s “she’s suppose to sound flat because she’s now a serious mercenary” Like was Ada not already cold and serious in RE2R?? I don’t remember her “sounding flirty” in that game at all, that was literally one of the reason people didn’t like RE2R’s Ada, for not being as nice as she was in OG2. Now there’s this belief that most people only didn’t like it because of some RE influencer and blamed her to take accountability for the harassment and bullying Lily Gao got, then the next day the Ada Stans go on to harass, bully, and passive aggressively hate on accounts that ship Cleon to the point they end up closing their account. I super ship Aeon too but jeeze. It’s just so hard to take seriously, but I guess that’s the current state of fandom culture now: “can’t take the toxic behavior of me defending my fave, then gtfo”.

Lily Gao 100% did not deserve to be harassed, I put all blame on Capcom. If they wanted to cast a new Asian VA for Ada they should have put in more effort to finding THE BEST fit person for the job, not the most convenient. I wish there was more noise on Patricia Ja Lee being Jill Valentine’s previous VA and mocap, because there’s a VA who did a great job, maybe they should have just gotten her to be Ada, but doubt Capcom considered any Union VA. Capcom in general after the VA Union strike have been cheap, and Capcom USA especially have been lazy. They have no respect for VAs, you expect me to believe they didn’t cast Lily Gao for convenience sake after not even bothering to bring back David Vaughn for RE8’s Chris Redfield and reused Jeff Schine instead?

Look, you can like Ada’s new voice, but to not understand why others genuinely don’t like it makes no sense to me.

Capcom nerfed Ada so hard in this remake but every Ada stan can make so many justifications for Capcoms shit decisions, writing for her, and having one of the weakest VA performances despite being a main character and one of the most iconic female characters in video games? The only time “Ada Nation” can band together for anything is when Ada is left out of stuff so long as she girl-bosses and serves cunt right? Who cares she has less screen time, who cares there was no Assignment Ada and she’s not in Mercenaries at Launch even though all that was included in the Game Cube release, who cares they gave Luis Ada’s moment of saving Leon from Krauser, who cares she was left out of all the promotion of RE4R, who cares that she keeps telling Leon to leave Ashley for whatever reason when she never interferes with how Leon does his job in the OG. Leon literally throwing real knife stabs that could actually kill her, he hasn’t seen her in 6 years, he has no idea if she could block them or not, but I guess all that is suppose to be visually appealing than him being able to disarm her. Oh Ada can’t black flip kick the gun out of Leon’s hand bc it’s not realistic but Leon can jump around like he’s Cloud Strife in the saddler boss battle? And Ada offered a ride to Leon at the end and not Ashley, I don’t know how Ada stans can see where it implies that Ada offered a ride to both of them? And why do we have to read in between the lines when they could have had her ask if they were both coming in the script? They had no problem putting that badly written scene of exposition with Wesker at the end to show players how much of a “good and reformed” person she is. I wouldn’t give Capcom that much credit. Why does them improving Separate Ways, which should already be expected of a remake, justify cutting/downgrading everything else?

You can say you like her new outfit more than her OG, but then to go and say it’s more practical now, when really it’s still unpractical as hell too. Say you like RE4R Ada but then to say she’s less sexualized than OG4? Lily Gao implying she characterized Ada to be less sexualized, when her Ada basically offers Leon sex if he drops his mission and leaves Ashley. Past Adas has never propositioned anything like that before EVER. Like ok RE4R Ada doesn’t wear a cocktail dress now, but instead now has hella ass shots for days, they made her boobs larger, and gave her character model boob physics, all of which wasn’t in OG4.

Had to get this off my chest, if you made it this far congrats lol. This is just all my opinion, you don’t have to agree with me, I’m sure a lot of you don’t.

[chxckandmxte]

✔ ♈

Munday Questions || Accepting for today

@darckcarnival sent:  ✔ ♈

✔: A plot you would love to play out with your character

Hmmm good question, honestly there are a lot of things I’d love to try. But my favorite thing that I haven’t got to do much of, is this scenario where Leon is at his worst, and is having some very particularly dark thoughts one night, and before he can go through with it, someone shows up to comfort him. Because this man honestly just needs someone to hold him, pet his hair, and tell him that everything is gonna be okay. 

♈: An argument/topic that you could debate all day

-Clears throat-  Okay here it is:

Everything the very overly critical fans within the RE fanbase say about RE6 being the worst Resident Evil game ever to exist. I don’t agree with that, because listen, the RE series has strayed away from core horror roots a long time ago, hell, that was pretty much what the OG RE4 was. Sure there were creepy mutations and some terrifying monsters (I’m looking at YOU Regenerators) but seriously, Resident Evil 4 was more action than horror, and yet, it’s been titled the best Resident Evil game in the franchise as a whole. In RE5 even though there was some controversy(And understandably so) it was a prime action game (The only moment in the game close to horror was the part where you gotta sneak by those Lickers) and while that game can be seen as a hit or miss, it was still a good game.

On the topic of Resident Evil 6, I never understood all the hate it got, yeah it had a lot of over the top action movie sequences, but there were still zombies, viruses and mutations, all that still made up at least the core aspect of typical Resident Evil game. I honestly see nothing wrong with it besides a few minor things, but nowhere near enough for me to hate the game. Resident Evil 6 is by all means not a perfect game, but it surely didn’t deserve all the hate it got. Then everyone had to complain and cry wah wah wah where is the horror? Homie, the horror was gone a long time ago, why you gotta complain so much. 

And then that lead to Resident Evil 7 which was a completely different game. Now RE7 isn’t a terrible game, I can definitely give it credit for the great characters and the story development since it was a huge switch for the series, but personally, I just couldn’t take to it despite playing it, and genuinely enjoying my time playing it.

I guess for me, it just felt too weird to play a RE game in first person (I was super glad to hear they made a third person mode in RE8/Village)  Not hating on RE7 and RE8 btw, while it’s not my favorite transition in the series, I can definitely respect those titles as staple Resident Evil games in the modern day and age.

[dangerouseggwolfangel]

I got all the new spirits and... I know this is old news and all but... I can't thank Sakurai enough for what he has done with this game and with the spirits. I understand the people who miss the trophies, they were really cool.

But the sheer amount of characters you can actually put into the game by using existing art and all the lovely references that the developers put into the spirit battles are so much cooler than what the trophy and the stickers were. Okay, trophies have nice descriptions which makes them more useful for people that are unfamiliar with the characters. But for people that are familiar with the characters, nothing beats KNOWING why the Aerith spirit battle is at the Fountain of Dreams and Cloud is trying to protect her. Nothing beats knowing why the Cait Sith spirit battle has 3 Mr. Game & Watch spamming Judge. Even if you got the plot of FFVII spoiled you won't get the reference. You need to play the actual game.

The part that really warms my heart is that Sakurai didn't need to try so hard to make bonus battles that are so perfect for the characters. He didn't need to constantly update the game with more spirits and he certainly didn't need to give us so many. Most people would have been 100% satisfied with just the playable characters from 7. But no, he gave us Shiva, who was sadly missing from the game despite being the most popular summon (or is Bahamut more popular?). He gave us the Turks. They have many fans, sure but not enough to get in Kingdom Hearts or Dissidia apperently, so nobody would have been surprised if they were skipped.

Elena (or Irina if you are japanese) is one of my favorite characters ever, and my first videogame crush. And she is now in the best game of all time. This really feels like a Chistmas gift from Sakurai. I am so happy. I was so happy when Shantae was a spirit at launch. I was so happy when Igor from Persona was added as a spirit, when Leon S. Kennedy from RE4 was added (and his Spirit Battle references that game perfectly too), when Sans got a costume, when music from the Metal Slug games got in with Terry.

I understand that Smash hype and discourse will always be about playable characters, but sometimes we all really need to take a minute to appreciate all that Smash Ultimate is OUTSIDE its massive roster. I am mostly a fan of minor characters who have no realistic chance of getting in the game at all, which is why I mostly give support to characters who wouldn't make me cry tears of joy, or would become my mains, but have a good chance of bringing with them spirits (or background characters if Sakurai pulls another Terry) that would make me so happy.

Ryu Hayabusa, a pretty boring ninja if you ask me, but one of the most important recurring characters in Ninja Gaiden is my beloved Ayane who would get in as a spirit, so come on Ryu supporters WE GOTTA MAKE HIM HAPPEN!

Someone from Soul Calibur? Sure, anything to get a Voldo spirit.

Someone from Tekken? I love Xiaoyu, King, Yoshimitsu, Nina, Anna and Paul so fricking much, and at least a couple of them are guaranteed if we get Jin or something.

Crash Bandicoot? YES! A Cortex spirit would be the best.

Sora? Only worth it for the Roxas spirit.

Byleth? Not my first choice, but I don't get all the people who are mad because they wanted the house leaders. I'm too busy smiling because the house leaders got wondeful spirit battles (and also Seteth for some reason).

When smash speculation and wishlists are involed, you guys seem to care about who gets in as a playable character, the bonus stuff you don't care about (unless it's missing, like FF music until now. Then you suddenly care). I care about the bonus content and who gets in as playable matters just a little bit to me. Which makes me weird. But to me the spirits are what makes Smash Ultimate the best smash game and I'm willing to die on this hill.

Imagine being a Mallow fan. Barely anyone discusses or even remembers him. Everyone goes nuts about that stupid puppet who is literally just as important as your Mallow but he gets to appear in cameos and stuff, while Mallow is left in the dust. Then Ultimate comes out and Mallow is a spirit. It's not a Geno & Mallow spirit, Geno doesn't get to intrude in anyway. It's just a simple spirit battle who references your favorite game. A little detail. But you have never felt so seen and cared for as a Mallow fan.

The devil is in the details, and the masterpiece is in the details too. If Smash Ultimate had exactly the same roster, with the same gameplay, but no care and love for details in the background, in the victory screens and its approach to single player content was more on the level of Smash 4...

It would still be an 8.5/10 game at minimum, but it would also be so much worse at what its trying to do.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's been two years and Smash Ultimate is still such a beautiful game that keeps being given attention and players keep going back to it not just because it's a really pretty games with good gameplay mechanics. But because every inch of it has been crafted with love, care and attention to details.

You can have the best gameplay, and the nicest graphics but if you don't care to put all your passion into polishing your game as much as possible nobody will care (coughcoughMarvelVsCapcomInfinitecough)

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The Red Devil’s Chronicles: Jan. 2021 Devil May Cry Updates: Brad V, Collabs, Etc.

Hey, how's it going? Hope you all had a wonderful and safe new year, and hope 2021's been nice to y'all so far. Just a heads up, all of the 2019 journals in my Deviantart group will be deleted any day this year to clean up how many journals there are there, plus feeling that there's no need for older news updates. Here are all of January 2021′s Devil May Cry news updates I’ve compiled: 1. HYDE Defeat music video, featuring Devil May Cry V. b) Speaking of music, Reddit sang Bury The Light. c) Alex Moukala's interview with Casey Edwards about Bury The Light. 2. Hideaki Itsuno teases another game in the works. 3. More updates for the Pinnacle of Combat Mobile game such as: a) Vergil concept. b) Beowulf and Kalina Ann showcase. c) Lady's costume set. 4. Griffon in Devil May Cry V's voice actor Brad Venable passes away. 5. Ali Express is making the Dante and Vergil Asmus Toys figures as their models for dolls' clothing. 6. The CapCom Café event has surfaced again with more amazing winter art. 7. Last Cloudia, featuring Devil May Cry V. 8. All 3 covers for the Visions of V manga series. b) Speaking of which, it's updated again. 9. Journalists have decided to target Dante's voice Reuben Langdon once again by completely taking a Tweet (now deleted) out of context (Full conversation and info on what happened in my Facebook post here).

My Thoughts On These Updates:

1. Lovely stuff we've got goin' on with the music stuff. 2. Wonder what Itsuno's  next project will be? My guesses are Dragon's Dogma 2, Devil May Cry 6, a Devil May Cry game remake, or a new unknown game title. Back in March 2020, there was the update about how a former Platinum Games CEO is collaborating with CapCom on a huge remake project (Could be RE4 Remake or a Devil May Cry one). And back in May 2020, CapCom plans to release major new titles by this year, including celebrating an anniversary of a Devil May Cry game (stated at end of article), it is DMC1's 20th anniversary after all. Only one way to find out. 3. It's about time Yunchang games released more development content for Pinnacle of Combat and not any other promotional work, which is what they've done for awhile. These updates are quite nice. 4. May Brad V rest in peace...It's been a bash hearing him voicing as Griffon in DMCV. It's always heart-breaking hearing the passing of young, talented individuals. 5. Foreign marketplace sites can be so hilarious at times with their advertising. Gotta admit that Dante looks pretty nice in that getup, though. 6. I love the new art work that the CapCom Café's been coming out with as of late. It shows more character with the characters. 7. Never heard of Last Cloudia, but it's nice that the Devil May Cry characters are once again featuring in other game titles. 8. I always enjoy new updates of the Visions of V manga series. Still curious how long it's gonna go on for. It's definitely going longer than the DMC3 manga series did. It sucks that the DMC3 manga didn't finish, but at the same time I feel it's for the best. The concept of that particular series was strange (both story and dialogue-wise), and I feel like the artist got pressured a little too much when it came to deadlines and details, which explains how some of the art work looked a tad unfinished in that one. 9. It makes me upset how low journalists will go to make someone look bad by taking something these celebrities say completely out of context, then twisting their words around to get their fans riled up in an attempt to cancel them. And for what purpose? Glad that article got deleted, because what were they thinking? (You can still see the article's title, even when searching on Google, but when you click on the link the page doesn't exist.) If you talk to Reuben yourself and get to know him, he is one awesome guy despite how some of his views can be questionable. This isn't the only time journalists went after Reuben and twisted his words around to make him look bad (scroll to the Reuben Langdon bit in article). It's really sad that some Devil May Cry fans even believed everything those journalists said, and went as far as saying, "Reuben needs to be canceled for this", or "I don't want him playing as Dante anymore because of this". One of the big elite players even stated on Twitter, "CapCom will cancel Reuben before Cancel Culture gets to him". I really hope nothing bad happens with his career at CapCom. He's a nice addition there, and part of CapCom wouldn't be what they are without him on the team.

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Smokey brand Comparison: We Dem Boys

I’ve been debating whether to go back through and play Andromeda again. There’s been a few patched and I’m told the experience is much better now. The thing is, the news as to WHY Andromeda was so terrible has dropped, too. It’s more or less EA f*cking up yet another promising studio with their corporate bullsh*t. Also, a lot of SJW sabotage and bullsh*t political drama. You mess around create one of the most popular franchises in gaming history, you tend to get a big head. Thing is, THAT studio didn’t create it. The created the lackluster online component for Mass Effect 3 which I never touched. I wanted to have faith that this game would be good but, That Andromeda would usher in another compelling tale in a brand new galaxy, but it was sh*t apparently everyone knew it was trash long before it was released. As such, I found myself pining for the original trilogy and since I had a PS3 at the time, the duology. But which of the two did I like the most? Spoiler; It’s the second probably, but let’s see

Plot

So, by now, everyone knows the plot to Mass Effect 2. That white knuckle suicide mission is testament to the cinematic quality of video games and it is truly glorious. Even the ramp up to that point, the overall threat of The Collectors, is f*cking intense. From the opening cinematic to the closing narrative, Mass Effect 2 delivers one of the most elusive feats a sequel can accomplish; Be better than your predecessor. And, Oh, was it SO much better! Being my first Mass Effect game, when I tried to go back and play the first, I was wildly disappointed. That’s testament to he pure superiority Mass Effect 2 had in it’s overall narrative and presentation.

Mass Effect 3 starts out with the same punch as 2, but the narrative stalls almost immediately. I don’t particularly care for the first third of the game. That Palaven Mission is the pits but it picks up when you have to help the Quarians. Ultimately though, Mass Effect 3 is a massive fetch quest. Literally go here, do these things to secure loyalty, repeat. Hell, there are no real consequences for choosing one side or the other if you have enough gusto to force your point. And that’s MY point; Where Mass Effect 2 had a sense of urgency and a weight of consequence, Mass Effect 3 has no stakes by comparison. You hand is essentially held from one plot point to the next and, as a film, that’s fine but I’m playing a video game a game that was built on choice. You don’t really have a lot of those in ME3.

Verdict

It’s gotta be 2. Mass Effect 2 was a goddamn experience for me. I had never played a game that weighty from an American publisher. The creativity and execution of ME2 was on an entirely different level than it’s peers. Mass Effect 2 is a goddamn classic. It’s one of the greatest games I have ever played. Mass Effect 3 was just good. It’s one of the better games I have ever played.

Protagonists

So you’re probably thinking, “But Ryan, you’re the same guy in all three games! What do you mean “protagonist”?” What I mean is, there is a distinctly different flavor between the Shepard in 2 and in 3. The Shepard you get in 2 is a headstrong, get-sh*t-Done kind of character. He’s out here doing what’s necessary to secure the future of the galaxy from the very real Collector threat. THAT Shepard is MY Shepard.

The Shepard we get in Mass Effect 3 is a glorified errand boy. I understand the nature of the driving conflict is completely different than that of the second, but seriously, this Shepard is mad flaccid. Gone are the weighty, on the fly decisions that have legitimate ramifications throughout the narrative. Gone is the illusion of that visceral consequence of every action you take. It’s A or B. Them or they. 1 or 2. The game does a good job pretending Shepard is Shepard, but it’s a pale comparison at best.

Verdict

Mass Effect 2. That Shepard is the most Shepard to ever Shepard.

Characters

So the squad mates in ME2 are classic. I particularly adore Jack, she’s 1B on my favorites list, but the two carry overs from the first venture, Garrus and Tali are favorites as well. Hell, Tali IS my favorite character in the series. Ol’ adorkable Sparks is definitely 1A! Her character arc alone through the three games is the most complete and endearing. Throw in the charming Kasumi Goto, the stalwart Miranda Lawson, the hilariously out of place Legion, a broken but dutiful Justicar in Samara, the surprisingly endearing Mordin Solus, and the very young but enthusiastic Grunt and you have a pretty compelling ship of personalities. Of course Joker and Edi ham it up together and even Zaeed has his moments. Hell, even Thane was interesting to talk to, albeit a little dry overall. Hard to find fault in that deep, colorful line up.

Mass Effect 3 takes that epic ass bench, and butchers it. You end up with Edi in a brand new murder-bot body, a DLC character and arguably the most pivotal one outside of Shepard in Javik, forgettable Cog clone James Vega, throwaway Kaidan/Ashley, surprisingly endearing Liara, and the two cats who’ve followed Shepard throughout is adventures all three titles. Garrus and Tali. Literally the entire cast of 2 was relegated to special guest roles where we had no control of their actions. They just showed up, did cool stuff, and bailed. I imagine that’s how cats felt with the situation of 2 but they still got garrus and Tali; Half of their crew from that first outing! I didn’t get anyone! I missed jack, man!

Verdict

Mass Effect 2, easy. I don’t like Kaidan/Ashley at all so sacrificing 1B and the rest of my dope ass Duo compatriots for that asshat is f*cking unforgivable. Javik was enough to consider a pass and actually being able to interact with Liars was dope, but the fact that the new crew members are so-so and the other two are hold overs from the previous two titles hurts 3 too much to ignore.

Romance

Boy, dem romances in 2 are pretty legit! Here are many and they all are outstanding! What I liked in particular about the ones in 2 are the fact that they are earned after a long process of character development. Like, take Jakck’s for example. You can jump right into the sack with her in your first interaction on the Normandy but it’s to the detriment of your entire relationship. However, if you take the time ot peel the layers, to actually build that relationship, the inevitable intimacy feels earned. It feels real. It feels like it was necessary for the character to grow. It was part of who they are and it made that character all the more richer. And that’s just one option. Tali’s is just as poignant and Mirandad’s shows a vulnerable side to her we, as the player, didn’t even know she had. Thane’s is tragic, to say the least but so is Samara’s for that matter. These exposes added so much to the character in both dynamic and growth and I loved every minute of it.

The Romances is Mass Effect 3 are nowhere near as integral. They feel like tack on because people wanna space hump more than a necessity in a character driven arc. I felt more emotion in that part when your partner had to be evacuated on the way to the Crucible than I did with pretty much any other part of those interactions. I take particular umbrage with that Steve Cortez romance. That sh*t feels like pandering of the highest order, and I’m not saying that because he’s gay. I’m saying that because the way he was portrayed made him seem…incomplete. They tried to give his romance the weight that, say Tali had in 2, but it felt disingenuous.

Verdict

Mass Effect 2. Easy. Hell, Tali’s arc alone would of sold this one.

Gameplay

Mass Effect 2 is the first shooter I’ve ever played and enjoyed. I hate shooters. That first person nonsense is infuriating to me. Hell, even the over the shoulder action of, say, RE4 is testing the limits of  my patience. Mass Effect 2 made me understand HOW to be good at these sh*tty games. I didn’t necessarily enjoy shooting and then running to cover only to shoot some more, I enjoyed varying my tactics by including different ammo types and specialized skills outside of frag grenade or air strike. The depth of your play style was only restricted by your imagination and not your class or weapon type. I thoroughly enjoyed that. I also really enjoyed the loyalty missions. They fleshed out all kinds of motivations and revelations for your crew, ultimately tying into a catharsis once complete. Watching Kasumi with that greybox or Thane interact with his some was some of the best gaming I have ever been a part of. That run stamina sucked ass though.

The overall gameplay in ME3 is improved upon from 2. I liked that there wasn’t a run stamina anymore and the introduction of that Prothean buster rifle was my sh*t! While I was a little sad to see the Loyalty Missions go, the Priority ones are pretty okay. I particularly liked Thessia and that Quarian home world one. You didn’t necessarily learn about your characters, but the overall world and that was dope I guess. Eyy, but f*ck dem War Assets, tho!

Verdict

ME2. Look, the Loyalty Missions more than make up for the archaic shoot-and-cover system that they implemented in that title. Just being able to learn so much about the people on my ship made it a far more enriching experience.

Decisions

I touched on this earlier but the decisions you make in Mass Effect 2 have a very real, very visceral consequence to hem. You feel even choice made on that ship because, unlike 3, it’s JUST you and your ship. There isn’t a galaxy at your back so if you lose someone, you feel.

Mass Effect 3 shirks this system for a binary good or bad, up or down system. It’s corny. So corny… And that final decisions? Bro, really??

Verdict

Mass Effect 2. This one was a short entry but, to me, there’s no comparison. Has to go to the most Shepard to ever Shepard.

DLC

So I’m torn about this one. The DLC for Mass Effect 2, while weak, added a great deal to the universe, as a whole. I mean, Firestarter and the Arrival were cogs in a system but that one with the Rouge AI? That sh*t was devastating. It was hard to play through but the ending is what really kills me. To find out all of that was because of the way it was? Man. That hits you in the feels, for sure. That being said, the Rogue AI DLC is the best of the bunch and easily far more engaging than the rest.

ME3 has much better DLC than 2 but there’s a catch to it. The From Ashes DLC, the one where you get Javik and that buster rifle, was on disc. You had to pay to unlock it. Sh*t was ridiculous. That had EA written all over it. The, that whole new Extended Cut ending they dropped? The one that was supposed to replace that sh*tty vanilla version? The fact that this needed to be a thing was f*cking asinine! I did like the Omega and Leviathan but the Citadel DLC takes the cake on that one. None of them are particularly great but they all are better than the DLC outings of the second game.

Verdict

Mass Effect 3. The Citadel DLC alone takes this one. I enjoyed that thing thoroughly!

Ending

Not even gonna enter this one. You already know.

Verdict

Mass Effect 2.

Overall

It’s Mass Effect 2, by a real long shot. In my opinion, ME2 is a goddman masterpiece, leagues above the other titles released in the series. The pacing, plot, narrative, stakes, and payoff are all, head and shoulders, the best in the series. While it’s a little plodding gameplay wise at times, the story and character driven interactions more than make up for those shortcomings. Also, Dat Suicide Mission, tho! Ultimately, Mass effect 2 is a brilliant game with enduring characters and one of the best narratives ever written. It’s a goddamn shame it’s been all downhill from there.