#i had a reaction to the film orphan on in the other window for background noise while drawing...

[zivazivc]

first night alone

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Timeless River

Okay so, I just learned that there’s a “Dodge Roll” reaction command for dodging the Minute Bombs’ explosions when they Self Destruct.

Back to the recap.

With great effort, Sora is able to open the door Merlin summoned, and our Junior Heroes are able to pass through it.

On the other side, the door shakes and jumps with cartoony noises, before spitting out Sora and Goofy into a black and white world. The sound of a film-reel rolling can be heard in the background.

Goofy’s in his original “Dippy Dawg” design, while Sora is sporting a rubberhose version of his KH1 look.

“Look, there’s the Cornerstone of Light!” Goofy points out, his voice muffled like in those older cartoons.

Sora just wonders why everything’s in black and white.

Donald finally turns up, and is sporting his original look from his debut cartoon.

Donald and Goofy comment on the feeling of DeJa’Vu they have.

Sora asks if they’ve been here before as Pete runs by in the background, sporting… Not his ORIGINAL look (Disney legally can’t use his original design due to that version of the character being the property of Universal Studios), but the look he originally sported in the Walt Disney Company’s first cartoons.

“Hey you!” he says when he spots the Junior Heroes “Seen any bad guys around here?”

They all point at him.

“Why I oughta…” Pete grumbles as he clenches his fists and SDG brandish their weapons, “Bah! I don’t have time to waste on punks like you. So I guess I’ll go easy on ya.”

He runs off to the pier.

“Well, there’s our villain,” Sora declares.

Cornerstone Hill serves as the central hub for this world, and both the Pier, Waterway, and Warf are all accessible from here. Uphill from the Cornerstone, you can find a Large Chest that holds the map of this world. You can also speak with Horace Horsecaller (The Plow Boy), Clarabelle Cow (Plane Crazy), and Clara Cluck (Orphan’s Benefit).

Clarabelle will talk about how Pete should be in the Pier up ahead, while Clara Cluck will talk about how there’ve been talks about building a “Disney Castle” right here on this very hill.

There’s also a Save Point, and Mogtaro runs the local Moogle Shop. Mogtaro sells the Engineer’s Ring and Gold Ring Accessories.

Captain Pete stands at the end of the Pier, past the ticket booth.

When you talk to him, he asks SDG what their beef with him is.

“You’ve got a bone to pick with me?” he asks.

“More than one,” Sora snarks.

“Them’s fighting words!” Pete declares.

However, the whistle of a Steamboat grabs his attention, only for SDG to summon their weapons and press the issue.

This is perhaps the easiest boss in the series, as Pete? (yes, that’s what he’s called in game) can’t do anything to damage you at first. He can try to punch, but will only succeed in hurting his own fist. He will, however, run around when hit with enough finishers, and colliding with him will deal damage. He’ll only stop running around when he trips, which produces an unblockable shockwave. While he’s running around, you can use the “About Face” Reaction Command to turn him away from you.

He doesn’t even have that much HP.

After breaking every bone in Pete’s body, SDG finally realize this isn’t the Pete they’re looking for (mostly because he hasn’t summoned any Heartless), and they sheepishly apologize, agreeing to try and find his stolen Steamboat for him.

He mentions a “little runt” as the thief.

Regardless, we finally begin Timeless River in earnest.

Back at Cornerstone Hill, Sora and Donald are disappointed that Pete WASN’T the villain they had to stop (because they’d be done by now if he was), before Goofy reminds them about the steamboat they have to find.

Sora remarks that they DID say they’d find it, while Donald reminds them that they have a door to find.

There aren’t any doors, but Sora is able to spot a window, with a rope sticking out of the side.

Donald yanks the rope, which lifts the curtains, revealing a flashback.

We see four windows surrounding the Cornerstone, and (with the exception of one) each has two Heartless in front of it. The windows all open.

Two hammer-themed Heartless jump into the window with the construction-site symbol atop it, two Heartless piloting little airplanes fly into the window with the airplane symbol, two animate flames jump into the window with a burning house symbol on it, and two rapid thrusters go into a window who’s symbol is a house with a Hidden Mickey symbol.

Then, the windows all vanish.

In the background, the door shakes and jumps with cartoony noises, before spitting out Sora and Goofy into a black and white world. The sound of a film-reel rolling can be heard in the background.

Goofy’s in his original “Dippy Dawg” design, while Sora is sporting a rubberhose version of his KH1 look.

“Look, there’s the Cornerstone of Light!” Goofy points out, his voice muffled like in those older cartoons.

Sora just wonders why everything’s in black and white.

Donald finally turns up, and is sporting his original look from his debut cartoon.

Donald and Goofy comment on the feeling of DeJa’Vu they have.

Sora asks if they’ve been here before, and the flashback ends.

Sora has no idea what that was about.

“Heartless goin’ out,” Goofy observes.

“And us coming in,” Donald finishes.

“What does it mean?” Sora questions.

Donald pulls the rope to try and replay the scene, but nothing happens.

While they try to figure out what to do with this useless information, the windows reappear.

Each window takes you to a different scenario, and completing each scenario gives you more context as to Timeless River’s plot. You’ll get those pieces in the same order, no matter what order you clear the scenarios in.

The construction window takes you to the Building Site (from the 1933 short “Building a Building”), in the middle of a big city. Sora wants to know what they’re building, but a “Hammer Frame” Heartless crashes the party.

Mickey Mouse, sporting his original design, swings in on a rope and kicks the Heartless away.

Donald recognizes him as the King, while Goofy notes that he looks “different” somehow.

Sora thanks “the King” for saving the day, and more Heartless jump down.

The gimmick for this battle is simple, you’re on a wooden platform thousands of feet above the ground, and you need to defeat all the Heartless before the scaffolding gives out.

As the battle rages on, the Mayhem meter will fill up. Whenever it passes certain thresholds, ropes will snap. If all five ropes snap, the scaffolding will collapse, and you’ll get a game over.

Whenever the platform bounces you into the air, you can use the “Air Slash” reaction command to spin the Keyblade like a propeller and damage nearby Heartless.

When the battle is done, Mickey runs up, shakes Sora’s hand, waves goodbye, and runs off without a word.

And a window just like the one at Cornerstone Hill appears.

Donald pulls the rope, and we witness a flashback.

We jump to Villain’s Veil in Hollow Bastion (Maleficent’s HQ for this game) where we get a first-person perspective of Maleficent’s lackey being called an idiot for failing even the most basic of tasks (still in black and white with muffled audio, because this is being viewed in Timeless River, even if it happened in Hollow Bastion).

She tells the lacky off for trying to take charge while she was gone.

“Well, it’s finished!” she declares, “Mark my words, there’ll be no place for you when our time comes!”

She stomps off, before turning back to her lackey.

“Useless imbecile.”

The underling tries to protest, but the flashback ends, and our heroes are back on Cornerstone Hill, with no idea what any of that meant.

There are still three more spots to check, after all.

The airplane window drops our heroes off in a town where they are giants and the buildings are tiny. This is Lilliput (from the 1934 short “Gulliver Mickey”), and there’s a big tower with canons in the middle of town.

Mickey tries to get their attention, and some Heartless (Aeroplanes) show up to fight.

The goal here is to destroy all the Heartless before they destroy the town.

Whenever a building is damaged, the Mayhem gauge will go up a bit. If a building takes too much damage, it’ll be destroyed. When all the buildings are destroyed, the Mayhem gauge will be full and you’ll get  a game over.

When standing near the tower with the canons, you can use the “Stomp Bomb” Reaction Command to make Sora jump on the tower, which causes the cannons to fire a volley of blasts that stuns all the Heartless for a short time. When the canons stop firing, the Heartless can move again.

Once the last Heartless has fallen, Mickey will run up, shake Sora’s hand, wave goodbye, and run off without a single word.

Another window appears.

The flashback this time has the underling get teared up because of Maleficent’s beratement of him.

He insists that he’s more than useless.

“Why, when I was startin’ out…” he reflects, “Oh… I miss the good ol’ days… What I wouldn’t give to go back in time…” He sniffles. “What I wouldn’t give…”

A strange noise sounds out, and the underling turns around to see a door with a shimmering threshold, emblazoned with a strange shield that’s divided into three parts.

The upper left has a capital “P”, the upper right has a cigar, and the bottom half has a clenched fist.

The underling approaches the door, grabs the handles with his massive and easily identifiable hands, and pulls the door open.

“Hey, I think that’s my–”

The flashback ends.

If you know who’s behind this, then CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are smarter than Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who have no idea who’s flashback they just saw, even if they can identify the door as being like the one Merlin used, meaning that whoever had that flashback is responsible for this mess.

The fire window, of course, leads to the Scene of the Fire (from the 1935 short, “Mickey’s Fire Brigade”).

The burning building is swaying from side to side, and Mickey is trying to stop some of those living flames from earlier from jumping into the building. (Note: The animate fireballs do not have an article on KHWiki, as far as I can tell, and aren’t even mentioned on Timeless River’s page. So I have no idea what to tell you about them.)

Regardless, they are not the main concern of this battle.

No, that would be the Hot Rods. These Heartless are the most infamous enemies from the regular game, and are considered nigh-impossible to defeat. When their headlights turn on, they are completely invincible. Many a player will tell you about how these guys are more challenging than many of the bosses.

In my own Playthrough, I’ve found that Chicken Little can shut them down pretty easily with his whistle, but if you can’t summon him and even one of these guys is staring you down, pray for mercy.

Regardless, the gimmick for this battle is that Heartless and animate flames will spawn. The animate flames will send fireballs to the burning building, causing the Mayhem gauge to fill up faster if the fire can reach it.

You need to defeat all of the Heartless and fires before the Mayhem Gauge fills up, all the while trying not to become a victim of vehicular assault.

When the last Heartless falls, the fire burns out.

Mickey runs up to Sora, shakes his hand, waves goodbye, and runs off without a word.

Plus, another flashback window, and you know the deal.

In this flashback, we see Maleficent looking through the open door.

“Fascinating…” she notes, “This appears to be a portal to the past.”

“Yeah, it was the strangest thing!” the underling says with a nod.

“Stop gawking!” Maleficent snaps, “And start thinking of a way we can use it to our advantage!”

“Okay,” the underling replies.

“Now, perhaps I could give you one more chance to redeem yourself,” Maleficent notes.

“Oh, thank you, thank you! You can count on me…!” the underling says as he clasps his easily identifiable hands in front of himself, “So what do I do?”

“Patience my dear…” Maleficent replies as she turns back to the open door to the past, “What have we here? Well, if it isn’t the Cornerstone of Light…

“Mmm… Now we can take the castle from those fools – but we’ll have to proceed with the upmost of care!”

The underling looks up to the symbol above the door.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy, somehow STILL haven’t figured out the culprit’s identity, only NOW realizing that Maleficent is behind this (even though she’s in the first flashback) and piecing together only NOW that they’ve gone back in time to the past.

“If we’re in the past…” Sora remarks.

“Then we can change the future!” Donald realizes.

In the Manga, Donald wanted to change the past so HE was Disney’s mascot instead of Mickey, leading to a future filled with Donald Duck Merchandise.

In both the Manga and the Game, Goofy points out that MAYBE they shouldn’t trifle with the space-time continuum for petty gain, pointing out that they promised Merlin they’d resist the temptation.

There’s still one more window to investigate.

The house window takes you to Mickey’s house (from the 1931 short “Mickey’s Orphans”), decorated for Christmas.

For some reason, there’s a black hole in the middle of the room sucking up furniture, which Mickey is helpless to stop.

Especially when the Heartless show up.

Whenever the black hole sucks up furniture, the Mayhem gauge will go up. If it fills up, you get a game over. You can pause the black hole’s suction by attacking it, and knock the furniture away by attacking it.

When the last Heartless falls, the black hole vanishes.

Mickey shakes Sora’s hand, waves goodbye, and runs off without a word.

One final window, one final flashback.

Or, well, flash forward, I suppose, since we’re viewing the future. Although, it’s the past of the time where SDG came back from…

Ahem, either way, this one depicts Maleficent instructing her underling.

“Listen well,” she begins, “On the other side of this portal, they’re about to begin construction on that wretched castle.

“But until then, their treasured Cornerstone of Light lies unguarded, with all of tis power still contained!”

“The Cornerstone of Light?”

“Yes! That cursed sphere is the very thing that prevents us from entering the castle,” Maleficent explains.

“Oh.”

“You know what must be done?” Maleficent questions, “Go then. Time to prove your worth! And don’t dare to fail me again!”

She walks off, leaving her underling alone with the door, the camera panning away to reveal that the underling is none other than Pete!

“Don’t fail her again… let’s see…” Pete ponders, “That’s it! I just gotta smash that Cornerstone to smithereens!”

He bellows out an evil laugh.

“But first… I gotta go get my old boat back!”

Pete opens the door and goes back in time.

In the Manga, he took some special seeds and planted them around the Cornerstone, with those seeds eventually growing into the thorns that filled the Hall of the Cornerstone back in the present day. Destroying the Cornerstone was plan b.

Sora realizes it was Pete after all, with Donald thinking the Pete they ran into earlier tricked them, but Goofy points out that something still doesn’t seem right.

Sora then notes that, attitude aside, the Pete they ran into here didn’t seem like a bad guy.

Then Donald sees Pete, this time sporting his KH2 design.

Pete, meanwhile, cackles about how the Castle now belongs to the villains, before stomping off to the Waterway.

What’s worse is that he’s already stolen the Cornerstone.

If they don’t stop him soon, Maleficent is going to fill the castle with Darkness.

At that point, the local Pete runs by, clearly winded, and SDG somehow mistake him for modern Pete.

He’s giving chase to the “pip-squeak” who stole his steamboat.

“Yeah! It was you!” Donald shouts.

“Right, me!” Pete replies proudly, before doing a double take “No, not me! Someone who looks like me!”

Poor Sora can’t keep all this spacetime nonsense straight.

You then receive the Window of Time map, which provides a minimap for all those locations you have no reason to ever revisit.

I highly recommend you save here.

Going down to the Waterway starts off a cutscene where Pete tries to stop Pete from stealing Pete’s steamboat, only for Pete to uppercut Pete over the horizon and steal Pete’s boat as Pete’s getaway vehicle for Pete’s theft of the Cornerstone of Light.

Pete hops on the cage the Cornerstone is in and sets a course for the end of the river.

Being an idiot, Pete will summon random objects (including the kitchen sink) and yeet them at you for damage.

You can use the “Juggle Parry” Reaction Command when they get close to stop these objects, and then the “Overhead” Reaction Command to send it right back at him. This is your only method of damaging Pete.

When Pete’s HP runs out, the steamboat will spin out of control and stop by the bank of the river, now heading back to the start, while its crane hangs over the ground. When you’re under the crane, you can use the “Grab On” Reaction Command to make Sora grab the crane, at which point it will take him within range to attack the cage the Cornerstone is in. Occasionally, the crane will try and shake Sora off, and you’ll have to use the “Hang On” Reaction Command to avoid getting thrown off.

If you get thrown off, the boat will continue its journey back to the start of the river, once it reaches the start, Pete will revive, and will get the boat back on course for his escape.

If he escapes, you get a game over.

If you smash the cage, however, you win the battle.

Sora gets Dodge Slash (Sora spins around and deals damage to nearby enemies while also parrying incoming attacks), Donald gets Fantasia (a Limit) and Auto Limit (produces a Reaction Command for his Limit), and Goofy gets 4 more Max HP.

Like all Limits, Fantasia consumes all of Sora’s MP. It grants the “Comet” Reaction Command, which causes Donald to conjure fireworks to attack enemies. After six uses, it’s replaced by the finishing move “Comet Rain” where Donald slams his staff into the ground and calls a ring of fireworks around Sora to damage all enemies. Said finisher can be used via the “Limit” option in the Command Menu at any time, but will (of course) end the limit.

Pete falls into the water as a result of the cage shattering, and announces that the heroes will pay for this, before the corner of the cage’s base smashes into the back of his head and knocks him unconscious into the river depths, the steamboat finally coming to a stop.

Pete pulls himself out of the water and runs off to the wharf.

SDG give chase, as Pete will lead them right to the doorway they have to seal.

And the quickest way to save the Cornerstone is to lock that door behind Pete the second he returns to the future.

Over at the Wharf, Pete and Pete are fighting again, and approaching their fight kicks off the boss battle.

Pete has the upper hand at first due to his superior experience, so Pete’s going to need some help to defeat Pete.

Luckily, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are here to save the day.

Captain Pete kicks off the battle by attacking Pete.

When Captain Pete runs around, you can use “About Face” to steer him towards Pete.

When Pete takes enough damage, he’ll change the scenery to add the burning building to the set, which causes fires to spawn and help him fight.

After taking enough damage, Pete will trigger another scene transition, this time to a recreation of Mickey’s house (now devoid of furniture), with the same blackhole from before. The blackhole will send Captain Pete flying around the room (allowing for “About Face”), and deal minor damage if you get too close to it. You cannot close it like you could in the real deal.

After Pete takes enough damage, he changes the scene AGAIN, this time to Lilliput, devoid of buildings except for three cannon towers. Going near them will cause them to fire and damage Pete.

When he takes enough damage, he changes the scene to the building site.

You can use the “Air Slash” Reaction Command when launched into the air, just like in the actual Building Site.

Defeating Pete earns Sora 5 more Max HP, Donald 3 more Max HP, and Goofy the Goofy Tornado ability (Goofy spins around and creates a vortex that draws in enemies and damages them).

Defeated, Pete summons the door he used to travel through time and retreats through it, allowing Sora to lock it with his Keyblade.

The door disappears into the light, ensuring that Pete will never return to this time.

Meanwhile, Pete wants to know what’s going on, and who that “creep” was.

“Hello?” Sora replies, “That creep was–” Goofy covers Sora’s mouth before he can say “you from the future”.

“Sora, that’s a secret!” Goofy reminds him.

“Secret? What kinda secret?” Captain Pete asks, “Oh, never mind.”

Pete apologizes for putting the Junior Heroes through all that trouble, and Donald just asks that he not make a habit out of it as Sora and Goofy chuckle.

As a token of gratitude, Pete lets them pilot his steamboat.

His deckhand, Mickey, is running late anyways.

Sora gets to pilot the steamboat down the river, Donald and Goofy right behind him, while Mickey reclines on the raft the Cornerstone was resting on.

Sora obtains the “Monochrome” Keychain, which increases the effect of restoration items used on the field by 50%.

SDG return the Cornerstone to its place on Cornerstone Hill.

Sora and Goofy decide to head back to see if the Castle’s safe, while Donald wants to mess with the past a bit.

Realizing that Donald may break the space-time continuum if they don’t act now, Sora and Goofy drag him back to the door and throw him back to the present.

Sora and Goofy casually follow through after him.

Back in the present, the Hall of the Cornerstone is already far brighter, and the thorns disappear, and Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Merlin celebrate.

The door spits out Donald, and Sora and Goofy follow behind him.

Minnie, Chip, and Dale thank them for saving the Castle, and Merlin asks if they did anything reckless.

Donald insists that they didn’t, much to Sora and Goofy’s amusement.

Daisy arrives and reunites with Donald, with Goofy revealing that she and Donald are dating, before demanding to know why he missed their date.

She… Does not come out of this scene looking good, if I’m being honest, given that she should know EXACTLY why he missed that date (the fate of the universe, followed by getting trapped in another world).

To her credit, all she asks is that he checks in every once and a while, but that’s the ONLY credit I’ll give her.

Donald tries to use the door to change the past and avoid this mess, but Daisy grabs his tailfeathers to keep him from running off.

Donald attempts to flee (not to the door this time), Daisy gives chase, and the Cornerstone of Light is revealed to hold the Gate for this world, allowing Sora to open it.

Thus, it’s time to leave before this cutscene can make Daisy look any more entitled.

Regardless, Donald promises to be back soon, and Sora asks the Queen to let King Mickey know they’re still looking for him.

Thus concludes the Disney Castle storyline for this game.

In the Manga, King Mickey arrives shortly after SDG leave, having heard his wife’s call for help, but being so far away that he wasn’t able to get back until AFTER the problem was already resolved.

Sora obtains Wisdom Form, a magic-based Drive Form that absorbs Donald.

It gains experience every time a Heartless is defeated, its Growth Ability is Quick Run (no invincibility frames, it just makes Sora dash with a press of the guard button). This is one of the few Drive Forms where Sora does not Dual Wield, as he instead fires magic bullets out of his Keyblade’s tip while attacking. He also regains MP more quickly when in MP Recharge. As his magic combos are also enhanced, he’s allowed to cast magic quickly, AND he can use magic and his ranged shots while moving, this form basically turns Sora into an affective Run & Gun protagonist.

He also learns a new Magic Spell: Reflect. Reflect generates a barrier around Sora that blocks enemy attacks. It absorbs those attacks, and when it drops, releases all that damage in an AOE attack around Sora. Chaining multiple Reflects together allows it to absorb more damage before retaliating.

Clearing Disney Castle unlocks two more worlds, two more Gummi Routes, and a new episode at Olympus Coliseum.

But first, how about we turn in those Torn Pages we picked up in the library?

-

Time Travel is fun and I am tempted to play Bendy and the Ink Machine!

[kdramachitchat]

Hometown Cha Cha Cha Ep 9 Recap - Focus on the fear of not being loved enough or being left by their family and how it effects their children’s decisions later on in life.

Hometown Cha Cha Cha episode 9 starts with Hyejin tightly hugging Dusik after being scared out of her mind. Both have been awkward with this sudden affection and had a difficulty handling the effects of it. Both are unable to sleep. Even the next morning. The embrace has spread fast around the neighborhood too. Namsook knows he situation and tells her not to worry. Then Hyejin was surprised by her parent's visit.

The next day Dusik is on his way somewhere and helps out an elderly person to refuel the latter’s car who is unable to operate the automatic pumps. It goes rather smoothly, but neither is unfamiliar with the other’s identity.

Dusik came by the fix something at her house when the parents were shocked to see him. He's adamant not to leave until he gets his pay then Hyejin's father introudces himself. Dusik also introduces himself but at a not so formal setting which shocked both Hyejin's father and herself. Hyejin is shocked that they met before and it seems that her father got the hint that they known each other longer. Her father started gripping his hand everytime they both each made statements and questions. Dusik is bold enough to introduce himself as Hyejin's boyfriend. Damn. This is not going to end well.

Hyejin’s father is quite shocked as well and finally lets go of his hand. As by any other parent, Hyejin asks Dusik questions, more like interrogating him. This is perfectly normal and Hyejin shuts it down. Her parents decides to tour around town and tells Dusik to be their tour guide.

 Things spread fast in the town and they all agreed to take part. Whoever contributes gets a 30% discount at Hyejin's clinic.  The parents also met the townspeople too. I told you this isn't going to end well. Im sorry but this part was so hilariously awkward. It was difficult to watch but entertaining. Then they all meet Seonghyeon who's on a break filming and he offers them coffee at Gamri's house. Seonghyeon shares the story to her parents how he and Hyejin met at students. Hyejin's father was more impressed by Seonghyeon compared to Dusik. Seonghyeon is happy while Dusik sulks. Seonghyeon's crew seem to notice and they were all up on him.

They ended up visiting her clinic, then her father asks if Seonghyeon has a girlfriend. Dusik tells them at he did the renovations and her father calls him a showoff. They talk about orchid flowers and Dusik is becoming a know it all, but looks like Hyejin's father is impressed by his knowledge. Hyejin's father started approaching him on the topic. I'm not sure if that moment things turn more lightly. They also visited the restaurant to eat and even played a board game. Both are going to be competitive and the ladies were both shocked. Things were awkward during the meal. Dusik tries to lighten up the mood and forces Hyejin's father to try the seafood he doesn't want and eventually enjoys it, though denying it. Hyejin is amused and is happy by the interrogation.

After the meal, Hyejin's father asks about Dusik's family background and his hometown. Dusik doesn't mind telling his story and Hyejin's mother feels bad for him but Dusik tells them that he doesn't mind because of the town taking care of him. Hyejjin's father is shocked when Dusik tells them he's an orphan. Hyejin defends him but her father tells her that he has nothing against him but disagrees on her seeing him. He demands her to stop seeing him because he's considered a flaw in their family. Ouch. Hyejin tells them that she has flaws too and talks about her birth mother dying infront of her stepmom. No wonder she's acting a little indifferent. Her father heads downstairs and sees Dusik on the steps, Hyejin's father knows Dusik caught them.

Her father went out for a smoke and both of them started talking. Hyejin's father apologizes to Dusik for his mistakes and Dusik said that they're alike. Her father tells Dusik that Hyejin was lonely when her mother died. Hyejin's father tells him that he's a neglective father who keeps on drinking. Hyejin grew up too fast and took care of herself with her father. Hyejin's father feels the guilt and all he wants is for her to get married into a big family to not feel lonely. Dusik tells her father that he's wrong, if not she wont  be able to love others the way she does now. That was a really nice scene. Hyejin's father realizes what Dusik has said. Dusik also denies his own feelings to Hyejin's father. He tells him that he only considers Hyejin as a friend. Hyejin's father is shocked to hear this statement that he's not her boyfriend. Which is true. Dusik tells him that she's a warmhearted person and wants her to find someone she deserves. Hyejin's father said that it could be him. Aww. What a turning point. Eventually Hyejin's parents have to go back to Seoul and looks like they had a good time. Dusik takes care of parents till the end. Hyejin's father requested him to go to the other side of the window car. Hyejin's father asks Dusik why he continues to speak casually to him. Dusik tells him its a philosophy of his to speak more friendly but not to him. Hahaha. Which made Dusik stunned. Hyejin's stepmom notices that her father may ended up liking Dusik but not admitting it.

At the end, both Hyejin and Dusik discusses about their life and if they're content with it. Dusik tells her that he is and Hyejin looks sad. She probably wonders if Dusik has a place in his life for her. Both Seonghyeon and Dusik also realizes that they have to share their feelings to Hyejin before it's too late. Seonghyeon is about to head back to Seoul and decides to call Hyejin. He tells her that he has something to discuss to her soon. While talking to Seonghyeon, Hyejin realizes that the street lamps are fixed and Dusik is the reason for it.

He starts talking about thinking that he should be the first to tell her that he likes her. Promises to himself that he can't be late on sharing his feelings. I wonder if that will be the case again. On the other hand, Dusik starts thinking about what Hyejin's father tells him. Now he's adamant and looks like he has his mind set too. Who will be the first on the race? 

During the epilogue, we see Dusik visiting his doctor. His doctor tells him that they could lower the dosage of his pills. They also talked about reaching the root cause of his fear.  Dusik's fear is revealed and that he is constantly surrounded by death. Everyone he loves eventually leaves him and he's afraid it'll happen to Hyejin too. Dusik blames himself for everything terrible that happens to him. It's a perfectly reasonable reaction thus ending this episode.

Will his fear of abandonment eventually lead him to tell Hyejin about his feelings?

[abundantchewtoys]

RE: Hiveswap '17-09-14

IT. HAS. ARRIVED.

FINALLY!

Wow, it feels so unreal, but we're gonna do it! Tonight we'll install the game and hopefully play a little bit already. We've decided to install the DRM-free version, I just hope we won't regret missing out on any achievements or shit.

Dang though, I can't wait to see what neat little tidbits of the Homestuck universe we'll get to learn about. What vague conspiracies Jude believes in (or not) that we can snicker about. What references to old memes we'll encounter. (Is... Is that John Cusack?) ... The ones that What Pumpkin could make without infringing on copyright, that is.

Will there be references to Bro? To ancestors of the original A2 troll group? It just dawned on me 'A2 trolls' is no longer a valid descriptor to distinguish the twelve orginals from other character trolls. It's probably still going to be used, but I suppose 'Homestuck trolls' and 'Hiveswap trolls' is a valid distinction too.

I'm certainly excited to learn more about Grandpa Harley! Anything that demystifies those elusive Guardians is a gift indeed!

Over the past few days, we've seen the hype building. We Love Fine sending out mails, I think to promote new prints, haven't watched actually. And just now that we check our mail, it turns out there's a new release on Bandcamp, even on the Homestuck one, not a new one! It's... probably the Grubbles album? Probably? :)

So, without much further ado, let's go and see!

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Ooh, the download also includes the music!

I wonder what the deal is with Humblebundle's "sign in to claim this page" link.

Oooh, the game is 1.9 GB (archived)! I don't know what I was expecting, but it's definitely largeish!

Heehee, I like the logo icon, HS against a spiral sucker background. (Could be used for a future pin.) The spiral will be an integral part of the key to the portal, but I wonder if it'll show up elsewhere.

The archive contains 277 files... accounting for a whopping 5 Gigabyte! Wowee!

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Wow, that menu looked gorgeous. I love that the castle is taunted, even though it doesn't have the focus in this game. Talk about a bait and switch!

I've come to wonder, after reading the first few introductory lines for Joey, whether it's not Hauntswitch though, that would be quite something! That make for good material for the other game! A mysterious place, not just a mansion, to explore with Jude and Dammek. Maybe the town was originally called "Haunt's Witch" or something.

Anyway, the intro was every bit as delightful as I could hope.

And Joey's introduction every bit as Homestuck.

"SEMI-ORPHAN", though. :( Guess Grandpa really neglects his parental duties. "ASPIRING VETERINARIAN" :D Being good with animals is probably part of why Tesseract looks so well fed. And it'll help her on Alternia, no doubt. And even now, to know the monsters' weaknesses and how to perhaps passify them? Also, I wonder if "multiple" dance schools means she knows more than tap dance and ballet!

I love how the backgrounds come to live, it's just so good to look at them in the intended resolution! The music is so good, too. Really top notch job all around!

Eesh, I notice that using Alt+Tab to switch between Windows has the downside that Alt is also a key that forwards the dialogue...

I guess the laser backdrop from those teaser pictures, is just the default background for the playable character's icon!

Heheheh, the hint function is disabled for now. My bet is it's enabled as soon as you have the magnifying glass. "it won't any good" <- typo

OOOOOOOH!!! GOD YES!! Hiveswap supports multiple save files!! That. Is. A. Life saver. Saving just before a battle? Before combining Glowy Thing 1 with Sinister Crevass 2? Hell yes.

Hmm, something buggy about clicking on Joey's icon at this stage. The cursor turned into an iris, and I had to click the hint button to get it away.

Ooooh! Hell yes, the header can be minimized!!!

LOOKing at the calendar, it turns out the date is ACTUALLY NOVEMBER 11TH, 1994!! God dag nabbit! So, what, the monsters have something to do with Betty Crocker? Did Condy try something on 2x2 prong day in B1, it failed, and then she just thought to herself "needs more prongs" and did it again later in B2?

We can try to MARK the calendar, yet it's already got a cross for the date. Oh, heh, that just gives the same response. It's probably to keep us on our toes, since we can't be sure every command has a different outcome!

LOOKing at the ballet shoes, we learn about Joey's aspirations to create "Ballap", pfffff.

And, welp, guess Print Screen is also an action key.

EQUIPing the ballet shoes... We learn about ABILITECHS and TECHNICHES. Perfection. Goodbye SYLLADICES and SPECIBII! Say hello to the good old school technology of our youth. :P "In my day, we didn't have those newfangled SYLLADILLIES you youngsters swing about, oh no!"

LOOKing at the posters, Joey talks about how her posters talk to her in her dreams, talking about a better world past the stars. I doubt they mean Alternia. :P Also, dreams, eh? Even if she's not a Sburb players, her dreams could still be prophetic in a way.

Clicking on the light switch... Actually works, hahah! I thought for sure the power would be out right now!

Oh, so the eyeball was meant to go on the ceiling only, heh. And, the plush on the bed. N'awww, so Joey and Ms. Clair both worked on the ceiling. And she calls it a "mural", which of course reminds me of the ones in Problem Sleuth!

Oh, the oven near the closet was her birthday present "last year". I wonder what her birthday is. Seems like it's more of a children's oven, in that it probably doesn't produce edible cake, I think? (Welp @ her comment regarding not having a mom.)

And speaking of Moms!! The wizard globe is present from Mom! Or, well, Roxy, I guess she should be called. The B1 version. So she really IS Joey and Jude's babysitter. Or at the very least, she was until last year. Wait, no, it doesn't specify a year. Anyway, I guess this little corner of her room is full of presents she's received. Also, Roxy be Roxying.

Oooh, those books start Joey of on a BOOK REPORT she has to hand in! She goes to school! Or at least, has tutors. Pfff, Old Yeller reference for the win. "You kind of hate your teachers sometimes." Yeah, let's keep Tess nice and safe, shall we?

I like Blaperile's idea that Jude would take Dammek to school. Since they're probably going to be swapped for sometime, it just might happen. Imagining Dammek sitting in class, refusing to take off a high hat. Hmm, okay, but November 11th is a Friday apparently (dang American week day numbering system!) so it's probably not going to happen. I think 48 hours is more than enough time to swap them back.

Blaperile saw that November 11th was a holiday for America just like it is where we live, so that means Joey & Jude probably spent the whole day goofing around with Tess like we saw in the intro scene. Veterans Day, more like Aspiring Veterinarians Day, amirite?

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So, first few steps in the game, taken. Save file location, found. (Can't hide from me, I'm a programmer!) Hype feelings, assuaged. :D

I'm captivated by what few things I've already seen, looking forward to the next!

For people eager to see me and Blaperile's gameplay reaction, strap on, it's going to be a long ride! (If you're wondering why we don't just film ourselves playing - English isn't our first language.)