#i love love love love love the animation in the cutscenes we’ve been getting

[sonicfrontiers]

has anyone giffed the scene where sonic runs past amy and then stops and does a little jump kick before heading over to her bc i have been thinking about it nonstop since it happened. please for the love of god i need it giffed

[blazingblorbos]

I love "Miko's Ingenuity" (the track that plays during Miko’s Story Quest cutscene) and upon revisiting the recording I took of the cutscene, I decided I’m gonna be loud about it and say:

We, as a collective, don’t talk enough about this.

We’ve seen Yae appear in a grand total of like 7 different version updates and throughout all of them THIS quest and cutscene is the ONLY time we ever see Miko even a little emotionally vulnerable. And I think it’s an amazing insight into her character.

Miko is gaslight gatekeep girlboss incarnate; she’s a cunning mastermind, likes to tease people and she’s always the one who’s 10 steps ahead in any given situation. We been knew that, and this is a persona she displays that no one has ever been able to break.

but THIS CUTSCENEE

[HER LITTLE FROWN!!  :((( ]

[SHE LOOKS SO SAD]

She waited for Ei for 500 years, got her back, and now she has to send the souls of her friends and family away.

“It’s a feast and all feasts come to an end”  [and what if I literally sob]

[My heart broke watching this I love her so much]

   Her FACE ! THAT expression. I am sniveling on the ground.

We know both Ei and Miko have lost people close to them; here we see Miko go through the loss firsthand. And even in the presence of the Traveler Miko decides not to preserve her unbothered and nonchalant mask. She’s sad to seem them go. But she knows it has to be done and she takes comfort in the fact that these youkai lived their lives to the fullest.

   good GOD I could go on and on about how hot she was for doing this in the first place (both the animation and the masterful big brain plan behind getting the whole city to do the chant along with her).

 But I won’t, I wanted this post to mainly just be about how great it is that we saw this moment of vulnerability from her.  And how this moment is NEARLY A YEAR OLD!??!    I just thought it was so delicious from like, a character-crafting perspective. ‘Cause even in the recent Mikawa Flower Festival the topic of youkai losing friends throughout the passage of time is brought up again around Miko, and she played the part of, well.. ‘therapist’ for Chizuru incredibly well.

   We have never since seen (and maybe never will? for a while at least) the same level of vulnerability that she displayed in her story quest, and I want people to remember it, because it definitely humanizes her more and just contributes so much to her character as we know her in the recent versions and I love her so much.

[moni-harmonia]

Lantern Rite V3

This Lantern Rite event caught me a bit off guard, I thought we would be getting it on the second half of the update, I wasn’t expecting it so soon lol. I was busy this weekend but I finally completed the story.

I don’t have much to say about the first part. It’s nice finally meeting Yaoyao, but she didn’t have an important role. I did like seeing Shenhe again. She and many other characters like Ganyu and Xiao showed a lot of character progression in this event that I loved seeing.

It was also good getting to know more about the Adeptus and their history. It’s being a while since many of them were relevant.

The concert was nice and very fun. I missed Hu Tao, she brings a lot of joy to the scenes and it’s one of those characters that bring people together. I wasn’t expecting the animated cutscene to happen in Part 2 but it was very beautiful as always.

But the Epilogue was the best part of this event, this is the kind of stuff I really like seeing.

Awkward father and son moment! I noticed how both Zhongli and Xiao are starting to be more sociable with other characters. Zhongli seemed really happy to be with everyone. And Xiao even started smiling when he was talking to Chongyun and the others. Like with Shenhe, you can just see the progression. Remember the first Lantern Rite when we meet him and he just wanted to be alone. It just feels very nice.

And then the big surprise at the end with the appearance of Venti. He’s not missing any festival lol. We’ve all been waiting for a long time to get to see two Archons together. Of course, they had to pretend as if they just met, but it was exciting seeing their reactions nonetheless. Also poor Xiao lol, he had it difficult. But I loved that final conversation with Zhongli, we’re getting more and better dialogues.

This whole cutscene I feel like it’s been the most fun I’d had in Liyue. I like the characters but I’ve never felt more connected to them than here. Also there was a whole bunch of references to previous events and I really like that. They don’t forget anything, all those things really happened! That’s why events are still important even if they’re optional and seasonal.

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man X7 Part 1

So I know that technically speaking Zero 1 should be next since it came out the year after X6 but y’know what? There’s only 2 X games left, might as well do them sooner rather than later. Besides the Zero series has a much more connected story throughout its games so it’s more fitting to do them all in sequential order without interruptions.

It’s just too bad that we now have to deal with quite possibly one of the worst games ever made

X7′s issues are much more...explicit than X6′s. You can spot them just by looking at it.

Probably the first thing you’ll notice is just how ugly it looks. This is a 2003 PS2 game, this thing came out at the same time as Sonic Heroes and yet it looks like a Dreamcast game, if the character models were completely and utterly inexpressive, the characters animated like actual puppets (and barely at that) and the environments looked as bland and uninspired and murky as fuck. The opening stage is a recreation of X1′s (because X7 came out to celebrate the X series’ 10th anniversary, now where have I seen a similar situation before?), and it just serves to further drive home the point of how despicably low we’ve fallen

So this game wants to be 3D. Well 3D and 2D as well, with different sections in each level. Barring Legends, which was 3D but kinda cheated by having a different gameplay style altogether, this is technically the first....and only time a traditional Mega Man game has ever been translated into 3D.

You may already spot the main issues, like the camera being stuck in this pseudo bird’s eye view half the time while also being stuck to your ass, making it damn awkward to see where you’re going during 3D sections, especially when platforming is involved.

Another big issue that you wouldn’t notice unless you were playing this is the controls: the characters feel sluggish, slow, they have little sense of fluidity, 3D sections, with their extra spacious design, pretty much require you to dash jump all over the place if you intend of moving at a pace that’s greater than that of entropy and wall jumping feels awkward as hell with the characters jumping way too far away from the wall and the camera moving alongside them even in the 2D sections

The game has an auto lock on, because the devs must have figured that it would be needed in a 3D space and it is, but this also means that Mega Man’s trademark gameplay style of taking aim and firing is neutered since now you can just spam a button indisciminately and stuff will die. They won’t die immediately  because enemies like to be tanky and you can get knocked on your ass by stuff like explosions, which does WONDERS for this game’s pacing but hey.

Word of advice: go to the options and turn on rapid fire. Trust me you’ll see later why you’d wanna do this

Anothe thing you may have noticed is the voice acting

MM8 and X4 are infamous for their voice acting but y’know what? They were somewhat charming in a “so bad it’s funny” kind of way, plus I could count the voiced cutscenes on one hand

X7′s can get funny in a memey sort of way but mostly it’s fucking ear-grating

Zero sounds half decent but the direction they gave the actor makes him sound like he’s changed his mind about coming back to life and now just wants to gp back to the void

Signas is voiced by Robert Belgrade, the man who voiced Alucard in Symphony of The Night, probably the only voice actor in that game who put any kind of genuine effort (besides Dracula’s in his own way). Here though he sounds completely zoned out, like he’s here fot the check and nothing else

Alia sounds like a timid teenage girl

Axl sounds like every annoying shonen kid stereotype all rolled up into one

And X

Ooooh X....

So unlike what my previous criticisms of Zero becoming the de facto protagonist of the series for a while (and my profile picture) may have suggested I actually don’t have a lot of love for X aside from his design.

The series has just never done anything of substance with his concept of being the first robot capable of true free will, and due to his general lack of dialogue and interesting story beats when compared to Zero he just doesn’t amount to much kre than “angsty Mega Man”, like he’s exactly like Rock except you swap out his childlike optimism and drive with lots of angst and doubt. On paper this should be enough to make X different enough but in practice, like I said, the execution has simply never been there.

Theoretically a story where X decides to no longer fight the good fight because he can’t take it any longer would be great; not only is it very human but it also showcases X’s ability to make his own choices in a negative way by having him make a bad decision. It’s a far more interesting idea than simply having him go evil as was the original idea behind the Zero series....which actually ended up having X also retire from fighting out of sheer mental exhaustion before X7 was even a thing.

However what we get here is one of the worst cases of flanderizaton I have ever seen

In past games X would have usually only 1 brief (BRIEF) moment where he laments that he has to once again take up arms and fight to save the world. He’s a pacifist at heart so it makes sense.

X7 makes it X’s entire personality. And in the whiniest, most hateable way possible. And I don’t mean Shinji Ikari kind of whiny.

He just stands there at HQ doing fuck all all day (as far as we can see at least), criticizing others for using violence to deal with dangerous criminals, while not coming up with a better alternative and just being a douchebag overall. He sounds like your average Twitter user who rants about the injustices of the world and how other people are shit for not doing anything about them while they themselves are just sitting there typing at a keyboard from their mother’s basement.

That moment when he tells Red that if he wants Axl back he can have him because he has no intention of fighting for the likes of him is fucking putrid. He’s literally saying that he’s A-OK with handing over a kid, even if a troubled and irresponsible one, to a criminal organization just because “fighting bad”.

It’s pretty funny. Inafune has long left the series and you can tell because Zero is no longer the center of the universe, but now this new dev team want to impose ANOTHER main character in the form of Axl and X is treated worse than ever.

And we’re just getting started

[talesfromthebacklog]

Random: A gamer’s diary entry for October 2023!

While I finish writing, and playing, my next backlog games I’m excited to add to the wishlist ‘Little Goody Two Shoes’. Which looks like it’s going to be getting a physical release. (Which I won’t be picking this game up until the physical drops. I already know I’ll like it.)

One of my favorite YouTube channels called Nostalook worked on the trailer (and I think the in game cutscenes as well) and their work is stunning as usual. It really captures the 90s anime look. It deeply reminds me of Princess Maker.

Also it’s a shoujo yuri. Female romancable characters only! (And they’re all so ✨ PRETTY ✨) I can’t explain how HAPPY that makes me. I just hope it stays in an innocent direction.

You know, because in majority yuri isn’t made for women. 😐

I get it, but at the same time I feel locked out of the content because it’s so obviously not for me. But that’s a complaint for a different post on a different day! Makes me wonder if men feel the same way about yaoi.

I was very bad this month. There were a lot of physical sales. And then my preorders for new games rolled in. I always prioritize my physical games over my… “digital” games, so those will be in the front of my backlog!

Let’s take a look at what I picked up! (I paid full price for nothing on this list. I am wickedly good at finding deals and coupons. Which upon review I will attempt to pass onto you!):

Traumatarium

Dredge

Omori

FaeFarm

Inescapable

Sonic Superstars

Coffee Talk 2

Moon A Remix RPG

I’m already playing a few of these games, so my reviews on those should be out next week!

I decided to skip this month’s two biggest releases altogether until about next year. I want the GOTY Spider-Man 2 when it comes with all of the DLC for $20. The first one was amazing. I’m just willing to wait on it. Which is a similar story for Mario Wonder. I mostly use the fall season to get all the titles I’ve been wanting for a freaking sick deal. Why should I have to pay full price?

The older I get, the more I feel like I appreciate weird games and indie titles more anyway. I feel like those other projects have the freedom to take more aesthetic risks than the big companies. Not because of the creatives inside (They tend to always have good ideas), but the stockholders. 🙄

I adore some of these triple A titles to my core, but I crave to see more new things too. Different things.

Dave The Diver is a good example. That seems rad. I like ocean games. I like that we get more of them now. I’m gonna wait and see if that one gets a physical as well. You collect fish to go back to your restaurant to make sushi? Sign me up!

Don’t even get me started on Limited Run’s releases this month.

While ‘Persona 4’ and ‘This Way Madness Lies’ are no brainers for me; I was EXTREMELY on the fence about ‘Persona 3 Portable’. (I did pick it up reluctantly)

The remake of Persona 3 will be upon us soon and I don’t know if I’ll want to play P3P again. The problem lies in the fact that most of these games become much more expensive later. Buying it on “launch” from Limited Run usually IS the cheaper option.

That shit annoys me so bad. I don’t like picking up games for value. But because the game might be value I have to be ahead of the scalpers and pay for it at its maybe cheapest.

I collect games because I like ‘em. I want to play them and love them. I want to use my stuff. I don’t give a fuck about the “value”. I respect the folks that do care about that stuff but I plain just don’t.

But that’s also just kinda life. Not much can be done about other people. You can only truly control yourself. 🙄

Overall October has been an exceptionally excellent month for gaming! We’ve had so much good stuff come out this fall season. I’m excited for next month as well! Super Mario RPG will be making its re-debut and I can’t wait to talk about that one!

[crapmagak]

Engage Drip Marketing: Louis

Hot diggity dog, we’ve got a surprise character this time! Seems like we finally have faces for the starting Firene crew now, though I am rather surprised we got Louis next. I expected to see Sigurd, then Etie, then the ax fighter first. Oh well, it’s nice to finally see one of these characters' faces.

For the most part, I like his design. Again, slut for fantasy plate armor, and his looks rad as hell. I also like his fluffy hair, and the way it matches his kind, closed, anime eyes. The fact they look kind of menacing when he opens them adds an extra bit of spice to the mix.

From the intro tweet…

Louis is a knight from the capital of the Firene Kingdom. He is a gentle retainer, wrapped in heavy armor. He's always considerate of his comrades, and loves watching his allies be at peace.

Then the cutscene tweet…

Louis seems to enjoy silently watching his comrades. Alear is a bit confused.

Alear: "Louis, what are you doing?"

Louis: "Lady Divine. I'm not doing anything in particular. I'm just silently watching those girls chat from a distance."

Alear: "W-why?"

Louis: "Why? That's a tough question. A philosophical one, even."

So far, he comes off like a combination of Stahl and Kellam, which seems pretty likable. Seems like we may get repetitive support convos though. “Hey Louis, aren’t you being creepy?” “I am not creepy, in fact, I am a kind soul.” “Aha, I see I have misjudged you, good sir.” That kind of thing. Hopefully that isn’t the case, though.

I also think it’s even more safe to say he’s one of Celine’s retainers now. 

Another thing I noticed is that his conversation with Alear seems to be a typical first introductory support conversation. It also seems to take place in Somniel. This probably means we’ll be seeing a lot of supports there, which explains all the various lounge and living room aspects of its design.

Alright, juicy gameplay footage time

Lui's starting class is Lance Knight. Lance armored infantry wearing heavy armor. Their Defense is high, but they're weak to magic.

More specifically, his class is Lance Knight/ Heavy Armor (Rough translation). Now this, this blows the top right off a lot of things. Seems like we really are getting classes divided by weapon type. Not just some cavs start with axes, and others with swords. No, their weapon type is part of the class title. This likely means Louis is lance locked until promotion. However, this also sheds light on Vanders case. If we know sprites can change the weapon they’re shown holding, and that he’s called “Paladin” instead of “Ax Paladin”, then there's a good chance he can wield other weapons. I’m curious if Paladins can wield all of the main triangle weapons, or if it’s just lances and ax’s, and it’s bow knights/ rangers who use swords and bows?

Another thing I’m curious about are infantry units. One of the corrupted fought in the first trailer was called a lance fighter, but that’s not all. I dismissed this when I first saw it, because the sprites pose didn’t match the model, nor did the fact it was a corrupted. However, there’s also a class called Ax Fighter. This could have just been a glitch of some kind, but it does make me wonder. Could the names for Myrmidon, Soldiers, and Fighters be changed to (Weapon) fighter, or will that just be a corrupted thing, since the name does have a monster icon next to it? Seems like won’t fully know until we get the ax man's bio.

Other things that caught my interest. Unfortunately, the knight sprite kind of looks like ass. I think it’s because of how rectangular the torso is, mixed with the tiny arms. On the upside, at long, long last, armor units have the same movement as infantry units! This is legit huge. I’ve always thought the slow movement was way to hard a penalty for a class that already gets fucked hard by both magic and a variety of special weapons. Now that the class that most definitely should be on the front lines can keep up with the army, I feel like this will add a lot of usability to it.

We get two clips this time, one of Louis tanking some archer attacks, and one of him landing a crit. The tank clip isn’t anything special, outside of the neat detail of seeing arrows on the floor after each hit. As for the ruins/ fort map, it’s the same one from Celine’s tome crit. Louis, however, is only level 7. Outside of that, we don’t see too much else outside of some treasure chests having already been opened (presumably by thieves), and an enemy monk.

All in all, we’ve gotten a bunch of fun stuff today. It may also have confirmed a theory in the back of my head in regards to class, but I’ll probably post about it later.

[webdragon444]

Top five fandoms? Please?

Ooooh thats a hard one, haha xD

Lets see… my siblings and I share alot of media, so these top 5 hold a lot of really fond memories for me :)

5. Rain World

Awesome game, literally consumed my every waking moment while playing! I love it when the world building is done through exploration in games, and the difficulty felt pretty fair! My siblings and I were drawing slugcats non-stop the whole time waiting for the dlc, lol

4. Ace Attorney

I’ve just been getting back into this one :D I played the trilogy on my 3DS a while back, and my sibling and I just got the next games, so we’ve been doing silly voices and salving crimes together! Currently we’re taking a break from spirit of justice to finish the investigations spin-offs!

3. Yu-gi-oh

Another one I got into with my sibling! I’m a sucker for ‘power-of-friendship’ type shounen anime, mythology, horror, and dragons! The first manga was pretty much a combination of all of those, so it sucked me in pretty quickly! I’ve watched all of the anime spinoffs up to SEVENS, and I love the card game as well, though the only person I can play face to face with is my sibling xD

2. Rhythm Thief

Fun fact: I actually had the demo for rhythm thief before it came out! I was constantly scanning the e-shop for cool games, and was super impressed with the demo, counting down the days till’ it released! I will never not be upset at the fact that practically no one played it, it was charming and cheesy and fun and clever and I will die mad that it didn’t get the love it deserved

1. Zelda

I was pretty much raised on Zelda, one of my earliest memories was watching my brother play twilight princess, and I’m pretty sure my first video game was ocarina of time! I remember when we played Majora’s Mask(probably my personal fav) my brother made me look away every time the mask cutscene played xD Zelda has always been a big part of my life and something I could connect with people on, It will always be super special to me <3

The order might change, but basically these are the top 5 for me xD

Thank you so much for the ask! Sorry if I’m oversharing, haha

It was definitely tough to decide on just 5, but I had a ton of fun :D

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - Still hyperfixated, there’s some pretty good fics coming out for this fandom. 

- The Vampire Dies In No Time (Anime) - I don’t have anything new to say about this one, it’s stupid but in an endearing way, John is adorable. 

- Love Is War (Anime) - Now completely caught up, I definitely see why this is one of the top ranked romance anime, its very funny with super likable characters and creative setups for comedy. There actually seems to be quite a lack of fanrt for it though considering the size of the fandom, strange. 

- Tengoku Daimakyou (Anime) - I’m not sure what to expect with this one which is a good thing, it’s got some genuinely interesting worldbuilding so far. Also a trans lead, which is pretty cool. I’m really interested to see where this goes, it’s been a while since I’ve gone so blind into a mystery like this. 

- Dr, Stone (Anime) - Glad it’s back, the bread baking concept was fun, and I still love Senku as a protagonist. 

- Oshi No Ko (Anime) - Well this show is. Interesting. I saw it trending pretty high on my anime list which I thought was strange given that idol anime rarely break out of their specific idol-loving fanbase, but then I read a summary on the first episode and yeah I get it now. There are some...weird elements to the story that I really don’t appreciate but the main plot is pretty engaging, and I’m really enjoying all the behind the scenes entertainment industry info and acting drama-Makes me nostalgic for Skip Beat!.I need more time to grow attached to the characters themselves but if they keep up the acting drama this could be a favorite for the season.

- Campfire Cooking in Another World (Anime) - Finished the first season of this relaxing cooking anime. I think it succeeded in being exactly wanted it wanted to be, and I can respect that. I hope it gets a 2nd season, as I quite like this little monster family and want to see their low stakes adventures continue. Also it made me really miss Japanese food with how good they made it look. I want katsudon so bad. 

- The Locked Tomb Series (Books) - Well the end of Gideon the Ninth made me feel many emotions. I’m making my way through Harrow fairly slowly but the Ianth/Harrow interactions have been a blast. I miss Gideon though TT_TT Please let me see my lesbian himbo soon.

- Resident Evil 4 (Video Game) - Most of the way through 4 now, we’ve been watching the cutscenes with stupid outfits on Leon and Ashley which really changes the tone of them I’ll tell you. I forgot how short of a game it is but it’s been a ton of fun. Might buy it myself to replay a few times.

As usual I’m also keeping up with The Greatest Estate Developer, Land of the Lustrous, The Vampire Dies In No Time, and The S Classes that I raised.

Listening to: All Things End & Eat Your Young by Hozier, Stalkers Tango by Autoheart, Jesus He Knows Me cover by Ghost, The End of the Movie & I Hate Everything But You from Crazy Ex Girlfriend, This Is Not A Party by The Wombats, King of Anything by Sara Bareilles, Never Love an Anchor by The Crane Wives, Two Birds by Regina Spektor, They’re Only Human (DNtM OST)

[asoulofatlantis]

Sonic Frontiers Plot review

As I am slowly starting to feel better (still fighting with the pain in my forehead tho..., but I managed two days without painkillers, so we are getting somewhere) I’ve decided to take a look (on YouTube, the game is too expensive for 8 hours gameplay time...) at the story of the new Sonic game. As a kid of the 90s this is a must. 

And I must say, I was pretty impressed...

One of the most impressive parts of this games plot, was the character development for not just Sonic, but also Amy, Knuckles, Tails and even freaking Eggman. Even tho I have some qualms with how the cutscenes were made, what they showed was very good stuff.

Lets talk about the most important part first: The ship! Yes, Sonamy is still a thing, even in 2022 - heck, I think it got a lot more popular since Sonic Boom. And so it needs to be addressed, how Sega handled the ship, after lot of very welcome fanservice was delivered in the Sonic Boom Anime.

I saw a comment yesterday that Amys crush on Sonic has been completely deleted in Frontiers, but I must disagree. I think it is still palpable, but just as the characters, has matured immensely and you can see that clearly in the way how Sonic interact with Amy. She isn’t the annoying “SONIC!”, screaming girl anymore, that constantly chases after him and almost literally suffocates him with her unwelcome hugs. I was almost in shock, when Amy git freed and her first reaction wasn’t one of her famous tackle hugs that Sonic doesn’t seem to be able to escape from and it took some getting used to to understand the Amys love is more subtle, because of the way it matured - or rather, she matured. But you can clearly see that Sonic is a lot more comfortable around her because of that. Without giving too much away from the plot, I found it extremely fitting that the plot that gave Amy her push to look towards what she wants to do in the future, was a lovestory. It fits Amys character and what it portraits to a T. Amy has always been the girl who is in love with Sonic and even tho we’ve got from a weak girl that always needs and seeks Sonic protection to a much more stronger and independent woman over the years, the fact that she loves Sonic, always remained. However, she doesn’t just give her love to Sonic as shown with the little Bird in Sonic Adveture or her relationship with Cream in Sonic Heroes and the Sonic X Anime. Amy has a lot of love to give and that it is what her character stands for. But instead of using this lovestory as a reason for Amy to push Sonic more to love her back, she decided to go away from him for a while, even tho she indicates the separation from him hurts. Amy freaking Rose, leaves Sonic behind (for a while) to pursue a goal that has absolutely nothing to do with Sonic. Thats character development bitch! I could not have been prouder as someone who, despite everything, always liked Amy.

Lets move on to Knuckles and Tails. Both of them had to face their inner demons with their part of the plot and while I found it a bit weaker on Knuckles side of the story, it was still an immense character-development for him, to actually get to a point were he considered to leave his Island and his Masteremerald-Guarding-Duty behind to finally get out there and see the world and thus find a way to fight his feeling of loneliness. I mean, in the Sonic Boom Anime they made jokes about it, that the fandom wanted Knckles to guard the Masteremerald, because it is what he always did and what always mattered to him most and now, finally, after so many years, he finally sees, that there is more to life than just fulfilling a destiny that chains him to solitude. Tails story came on a lot stronger tho, with him still feeling the weakness from incidents from previous games and being frustrated about Sonic constantly saving him. I love how he ended up, instead of just saying he will be an even stronger, more useful partner for Sonic, realizing that he needed to get away from Sonic to get strong enough to be on more equal terms with him. Once again, Tails too is a character you LITERALLY see running after Sonic all the time. He, just like Amy, has been chasing him for the longest time - just that in his case, it was in hope to catch up with him, which is a hard to reach goal, if he is always there to protect you, instead of letting you get stronger by letting you fight your battles on your own - a step he actually did with Amy eventually in Sonic Adventure 2, but never really managed to take this step with Tails before. Tails finally has understood it on his own tho and is ready to leave the nest. Also, kinda makes me proud, that our little Baby Tails is all grown up and ready to face the world alone now... *sniff*

Next one to talk about is Sonic himself. Always in a rush, a tad bit too arrogant and sometimes a work in progress when it comes to his social skills. This Sonic has matured a lot from most of it (the the arrogance is still there, but I guess that is a weird part of his charm XD) When he was with Amy and she decided they needed to help those creatures there, he had shown that he thought they had more important things to do and would have loved to rush those, but instead he accepted Amys wish and went along with it. He seemed a lot more perceptive of other peoples feelings overall and seemed to be understanding why helping those creatures was important to Tails, Amy and Knuckles and probably why they could relate to them. Getting to a point were he understood, that doing what he did, brought those creatures peace and thus was worth it. Also how he managed his friends and their thoughts, feelings and insecurities was a lot more mature then expected from him. Telling Amy he is looking forward to the storys she is telling when she comes back or actually telling Knuckles that it is good that he finally wants to see more from the world without pushing or even how he understood that Tails has grown and needs to learn to do things on his own now, without Sonic babying him all the time. Also how he didn’t want to rush into battle with the Girl anymore at some point, but understood that she wanted to protect someone and actually deep down is in search and need for help was amazing. Granted, Sonic was a sly little shit when dealing with Eggman, but I guess, given their past, its hard to change colors around your worst enemy. Other then that, Sonic too made me really proud throughout the game.

Now lets talk about the last on the list. Eggman. A lot of people keep complaining, ever since season 2 of Sonic X, that Robotnik was a much better Villain and that Eggman is just such a softie and that this makes him lame and boring. I call this BULLSHIT! One of the things that makes Eggman, even as the Villain who endangers friends and worlds and did some other terrible stuff, the one thing that makes you feel some slight sympathy for Eggman, are the times were he understands that he needs to back down and to work with Sonic. He is, after all, supposed to be a genius, so it would make him really questionable, even as a the bad guy, if he would be unable to see when he is in need of help or has gone too far. And with that in mind I love Eggman in Frontiers. I love how he admits that even tho he hates Sonic, he does respect him, how eventually he ends up helping him, even tho reculantly, because he is intelligent enough to see that this is their only way out. But what I love the most is the relationship he has with that girl. How you gradually see how she has grown on him, how he isn’t happy when she goes to fullfill her final purpose and how he suffers after things didn’t go the way we wanted. It was a quiet moment, but just seeing his bilanguage, made me tear up because you could see he was in pain. It was one of Eggmans finest moments in all the games so far. And even tho when he sat there doing stuff in his dark Layer looked a bit too shady for my liking, I couldn’t have been happier, when I heard the final words.

I love the plot of the game, Sega did a great job with it. And I applaud the Sonic-Team for giving the characters the needed character development. Tho I feel they learned from the Boom Anime? They allowed themselves to mock the fandom with it, but do to that, they also saw what everyone wanted and needed and wished for. For example: A less annoying Amy, for some reason, is in the eyes of most of the fandom, fascinatingly suited to be Sonics love interest. We actually want a cool, strong willed Knucklehead that doesn’t lack 20 too much braincells, but we do enjoy it, when he does more then just guarding his MAster Emerald. And we want Tails to be more independent, to be more of a help and less of a burden. And we do like Eggman as a little softie, even tho not all of us agree with that. And all those things were explored in the Boom Anime.

I can not say much about the game, as I haven’t played it yet, but the plot is *chef kiss* perfect!

My final words are those of a shipper: Sonic is holding on to Amy! He is not pushing her away, he is not annoyed or frustrated about the hug, he actually holds her. I suddenly feel like watching the final Episodes of Sonic X all over again, to enjoy the shipping-greatness that Sonamy can be - tho nothing beats Boom Sonic saying “Go away Amy, I’m not in the mood”, when he get woken up. The meaning of those words puts a whole knew level of intimacy to their relationship XD

[pipegauge]

A recent post I saw talked about a low stakes kirby game, and how it’s been a long time since we’ve actually seen one. I mean, kirby going on grand adventures in unexplored lands is fun and all, but so is him just chilling out and helping his friends. That got me thinking about a game idea where the whole objective is to help kirbys friends!

Think kirby super star style. Each friend has their own little adventure which essentially serves as a world! When you play a world with a player two, you can either play as the character associated with that world, or as gooey (who’d essentially serve as a second kirby), and cutscenes would portray that character as part of the adventure whether a second player is using them or not. Once you beat a characters adventure, they’ll be part of the hub world. This idea is super rough, but I did think of a few  potential character adventures that involve kirby helping a friend.

King Dedede: The king of dreamland wants to throw a massive feast! In a reverse of spring breeze, kirby and dedede go looking for exotic ingredients, fighting bosses to get each one. Serving as your intro to the game it would only have about three stages, and a major boss fight at the end.

Bandana Dee: The poor guy doesn’t see himself as anything impressive, despite having all his friends respect. Determined to boost his own confidence, he and kirby make a climb up onto an unscaled mountain, all while fighting enemies along the way.

Meta Knight: Following his appearance in forgotten land, meta knight sets up a colosseum to keep himself sharp during peaceful times. In an exception to other modes, meta knight isn’t playable until the first colosseum circuit is completed.

Taranza: Dedede’s off to iceberg islands for the weekend. Hoping to surprise him when he returns, taranza experiments with some new miracle grow magic.. and completely overgrows the castle garden, consuming the castle in greenery. Looks like he and kirby will have to defeat the newly animated plant foes, cutting the green down before dedede gets back.

Magalor: Magalor is a conman, but also genuinely interested in relics. A shame daroach and the squeaks have gotten to a ruin before him! In a mixture of great cave offensive and squeak squad, help magalor get the ruins relics before the squeaks do!

Susie: The computer virus from great cave offensive makes a surprising return, taking control of the few robot remains buried beneath the ground from the haltmann invasion. Now susie wants them taken apart for scrap, and kirby doesn’t want robots on the loose.

Adeleine: Kirby and friends have to fight.. kirby and friends? After adeleine gets too passionate painting a group portrait, the art comes to life and starts causing chaos! Gotta get the obligatory dedede fight in here somewhere after all, as you take down the paint doppelgangers. 

Gooey: Every kirby game needs a climax, and gooeys story is just that. When the sky goes constantly dark from clouds, kracko is blamed! But when kirby and gooey fight the eye of the storm to a standstill, it’s revealed that dark matter swordsman was possessing them all along. Surviving the annihilation of the dark matter, it once again grew jealous as it watched kirby and his friends, lashing out by blocking out the light. Thankfully the gratitude of kirbys allies forms the love love stick, and dark matter goes down once more.

[multi-level-shipper]

So, I watched that new Chris Portal video (yes, the new one talking about the entire Bendy controversy) and deliberately skipped out on the Bioshock part with the intention of watching Bio for myself, seeing if I noticed any similarities to Bendy. (I’m about an hour in, just past the Dr. Steinman cutscene.) There uh...were a fair amount of things in common. From audio logs to an ominous violin-y soundtrack to a woman hellbent on being beautiful and trusting/simping for a sketchy man to help her achieve that goal, as well as other elements I won't list out (to save your eyeballs.)

Taking inspiration isn’t inherently bad, it’s how most things get made. There are no original ideas, just different ways of mixing them around. BUT, couple that with the devs behind Bendy and their “get it done, good enough” mantra, and things start to get more dicey. And I noticed that, as much as I love Bendy, looking at it from a strict gameplay and mechanic perspective, it seems like a very surface level Bioshock. Also, the eerily similar elements that Bendy lifted from Bioshock operate better in Bioshock’s world and themes, but when applied to Bendy... things get a little jankier.

While I know my lens is colored by nostalgia, I don’t think Bendy is a bad game overall. I could go on and on about the tug-of-war that is my stance on the whole thing, but really I bring Bioshock up to highlight the issues with the rocky start (and premature finish?) of, say it with me kids....Dark Revival.

Remember how I said Bendy seems like a surface level Bioshock? Well...that’s a problem when paired with devs who write things quickly and don’t know how to properly flesh out a story. For example, we have twelve main cast members with tapes in BATIM (not including books/BATDS), and SINCE we only have twelve in the source material, there definitely should’ve been more time spent on them for lore-building's sake. These are the people we could’ve gotten more story substance from VERY easily. There were even further opportunities to explore other backstories and historical details of the studio, but they were never used. Certain areas and assets looked pretty, but weren't really ever functional to their full potential. Oh, and we still no next to nothing about the literal studio-wide cult, except that it existed.

I know BATIM was essentially created by a few indie devs, while Bioshock had a fair bit more gumption behind it, But here’s the thing: Dark Revival had every opportunity to start afresh with a creative team backing it. It had the opportunity to dig deeper and finally flesh out the story. Hell, Showdown Bandit HAD fully animated cutscenes, a bunch of dialogue, and other animations, according to an unnamed Ex-KindlyBeast employee that Chris Portal interviewed. Those never saw the light of day.

So Meatly and Mike didn’t just “take inspiration”, they deliberately made their content surface-level even after BATIM. And when they had the means of improving their work, they pushed progress so far back that we’ve gotten to the point where the games are likely not coming out. Bioshock just helps make this an even stronger case.

[sanguine-tenshi]

I just finished Inazuma and I have words

TL;DR: Hate the story, mixed on characters, love the design and tired of being treated like a 4-year-old with a learning disability.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Let’s start with what I like.

Inazuma is absolutely beautiful. I’ll admit Inazuma hits a lot of aesthetic points for me. All the islands are different enough to feel unique but they still look like they are a part of the same land. There are a lot of secrets to discover through just exploring. Each island has a world quest to help it (make it less hostile towards you) so it very much feels like you are saving Inazuma from itself.

.

The puzzles are alright.

I like the cubes that rotate, I always put in the effort to figure them out properly.

Hate the ones that don’t rotate, they just aren’t engaging enough for me, so I just hit them at random and hope for the best.

The glowing floor tiles were fun, once you actually realized what they wanted you to do. A little bit too easy if I’m honest.

The electro compass isn’t really much of a puzzle, more of a fetch the nearest electrograna quest.

Those little pillars that require an electro connection are kinda boring to me, again not much of a puzzle, the hardest part is finding both pillars.

I love the new electro seelie, kinda hard to follow the jittery thing in certain parts but they make a nice contrast to the regular seelies.

.

I’m very much mixed on characters.

Yoimiya is adorable. She is so bright and bubbly. What little game play we had with her was fun and I love her over the top style of fighting. Kinda disappointed she’s another pyro archer but I do admit it fits her character well. It was also wonderful seeing her just settle down and be quiet, just be a part of that moment that obviously meant a lot to her. It’s always nice to see that bubbly, energetic character have that one quiet thing, ya know. Kinda funny it’s fireworks, of all things, for her.

Gorou I like, from what little we’ve seen of him. My man killed a dude with his thighs so I’m down. I do find it kinda ridiculous that a resistance general has his whole damn belly exposed. There is also something about his voice that just does not fit. I cannot for the life of me put my finger on what exactly it is. Could be the tone itself, could be just voice acting. It sort of feels like the VA is trying to sound deeper than he actually does.

Sangonomiya Kokomi, mixed. I like her design, she looks like some sort of mystical priestess. Again something about the voice is jarring. I expected her to sound sort of airy, like she isn’t 100% present, like she’s seeing something we can’t. TBH she reminds me of Luna from HP for some reason. 

Yae Miko, I was interested because of her design. She sounds very arrogant and up her own ass, which would have been fine...if she hadn’t given us that god-awful line. “...I have high hopes for you, child. Don’t disappoint me.” Dear lord I wanted to punt her off the mountain. Or fucking what! Also she’s some bigshot priestess of the Sacred Sakura and yet she can’t do her damn job properly. Why couldn’t her arrogant ass come down from her high perch and cleanse the stupid roots? Why did the traveler have to do that shit?

Baal looks dead inside. Booba sword is overrated, get a life. I want a remach! And no cutscene shenanigans this time!

Kujou Sara seems like one of those ‘honor above all else’ characters. Those are either hit or miss with me. You have my attention for now. Also what are those shoes woman?! I’d rather you wear those leg-killing, needle point stilettoes instead of those Wish gag shoes. How in the name of all that is holy can you run in those?!

Thoma, I like him. At first I thought we were gonna get another Childe incident, but Thoma is too much of a innocent puppy to pull anything that horrible. To me he fits a fox a lot better than Childe does. Childe is a dingo and I stand behind that.

Kamisato Ayaka...hate her. At first I was neutral on her. Nothing about her design really spoke to me, but I was willing to wait and see. But then miHoYo started to violently push her friendship at us. We are totally friends now, this is the first time you see my face, but we are so totally friends now. And during her story quest everyone was like “Ah, you are so good Ayaka. You are so nice Ayaka. You are so perfect Ayaka. We all love you so much Ayaka. And oh, how could a mere merchant like myself...” Ew, go away. This is the first time I’m actively not pulling on a character banner. Normally I pull even if I’m not particularly interested in a character, because you never know how good their gameplay is until you take them out in the map. But I think I’ll be skipping this one. No thanks.

.

And now, the worst part, the story.

We’ve been hearing about the situation in Inazuma for a long time. There has been also a lot of talk about how hard it is to get there. About the wall of thunderclouds that surround the islands. So to have it cut to black and then voila Inazuma, feel just so cheap.

I was expecting something. An animation. A struggle. A quest. A minigame. At least show us the horrible weather! Something! Anything!

Hell if they wanted to be assholes about it they could have made it so that if the player fails at this point the ship is damaged, you return to Liyue and have to wait until tomorrow for the ship to be repaired. No Inazuma for today. That sure as hell would have raised the stakes.

The next complaint I have is with Yurika, the 2 milion mora processing fee girl. Later on Thoma mentions that the agency people see the fees as easy money, so her attitude doesn’t make much sense. After all someone like her would want to extract as much money as she can, but you still want the people to be able to pay that.

So it would make more sense to me if she was overly friendly and asked way too many questions. She’d need to get a much information as she can and after all the previous hostility people would be very open with her. So she’d be able to quickly find out why someone is here, what they are selling and roughly how much money they’d be able to pay. A merchant selling expensive silk would have more many than a regular ore merchant. So she’d be able to extract as much money as she could.

“I know this is a lot of money, especially for something so simple, but there is nothing I can do about it. I’m so very sorry.” And people wouldn’t say anything bad to her because she’s the first friendly face they see in Inazuma.

The stealth mission was just god-awful and I hope we never have to do that nonsense again.

Getting off of Ritou was a bit janky at the end, Chisato should have had a better reason for coming along. But I’m honestly just glad we didn’t get out the usual way...getting stuffed in a crate and smuggled out.

As a side note, I’m getting really tired of characters overexplaining things to me, especially Paimon. Dear lord, not everything has to be said, you can leave me to come to my own conclusions and solutions. Just please, who cares if a few player struggle for a bit, you don’t have to hold my hand through the whole thing.

Ayaka’s three were...ugh. It was basic emotional manipulation. Oh no this guy forgot about the love of his life and he’s been waiting for decades. And oh how sad this guy was so good and he helped these people so much but now he can’t remember. And oh the tragedy this guy forgot his life goal and is now hunted by the demons of the past. Oh the humanity! 

And it did not work. Know why? Because I have no emotional investment in any of these people, in this land. What is happening to the vision bearers in Inazuma is tragic, true, but that doesn’t make me want to overthrow the government. I don’t live here. I just got here. I wanna ask a question or two and then move on. None of this concerns me.

I was so happy when the traveler just flat out refused to start a revolution. And then we had to go and meet some people and immediately I knew this was going to be some oh noes the tragedy moments and then we would agree to help them.

It’s so forced.

Wanna know what would have been better?

Just as we are leaving the Kamisato estate Thoma catches up with us. And he tells us he gets it. We are an outsider and this doesn’t concern us. He was hopeful but he expected the denial. We shouldn’t hold it against Ayaka.

He joins us as a guide because he knows of the people we have to meet.

And so as we help these three we also get to know Thoma. We find out he was an outsider too. He got in just before the worst of it started and then he was stuck in Inazuma. He lost someone to the Vision Hunt. They slowly lost their mind after loosing their vision, their ambition too closely tied to their personality to continue without it (what is happening to Domon hits a little too close to home and he has to walk away, this is where we hear the story of the one he lost). And the same would have happened to him if the Kamisatos hadn't taken him in. He owes them his vision, his sanity and his life.

So this rebellion is personal for him.

At the end of the three wishes the atmosphere is somber. We tell him we understand why Ayaka fights, why he fights. We know that this is all wrong, that it should be stopped...but not by us. We came here to get a lead on our brother. And rebellion isn’t an overnight affaire and we can’t loose so much time in Inazuma.

And yeah, he expected as much. He just asks that we let Ayaka down gently. It’d be a shame if someone as idealistic and hopeful as her lost their spark.

And so we are gentle but firm with Ayaka. She looks like she wants to argue with us but Thoma shakes his head at her. So she sighs and tells us that a promise is a promise. We should come to the Komore Teahouse in a few days and she’ll have a plan for us to meet with the Shogun.

Now we can still have a character story quest with Yoimiya and we can still somehow get involved with helping Master Masakatsu, but it’s through Yoimiya instead of Ayaka.

And instead of a character story quest with Ayaka we have one with Thoma. Hell, give him a whole damn hangout event even.

You can probably guess why I’m pushing the friendship with Thoma so much.

Because. He. Gets. Kidnapped. For. The. 100th. Vision. Ceremony. 

And that would have been the perfect emotional in to get us involved in the rebellion. After all we just saw what happens to people who have their visions taken away and we are not letting that happen to Thoma, someone we just got close to.

So Baal makes it personal for us as well.

.

I have a few more minor complaints.

Aoi is stupid for asking for compensation after she tells us everything we needed to know because, ya know, we could have just walked away. We should have.

The whole stupid misunderstanding about the value Kurosawa’s sword holds. Kinda obvious he meant emotional value instead of monetary.

The suspicious amount of visionless NPCs and by that I mean this is the first time we have NPCs with vision. This wouldn’t have been a problem if we’ve seen NPCs with visions in Mond and Liyue.

The whole rebellion camp bit feels incredibly rushed. We just sort of lollygag over there and then there is a fight (against Sara and her stupid shoes).

Don’t make us fight Baal just to force us to lose. It would have been better if we were forced to retreat, because Thoma was injured, because there are too many soldiers for us to handle on our own. Hell, you can have a funny scene where we straight up jump off a cliff with Thoma clinging onto us and screaming bloody murder until he realizes we are slowly gliding away and he’s not about to plummet to his death.

The Sakura cleansing quest should have been voice acted.

The Mirror Maiden and Pyro Agent are totally on a date, I will not be told otherwise.

[unproductive-software-blog]

You seriously need to play Lucah: Born of a Dream.

Lucah is a game so boldly, unapologetically, uncompromisingly real and beautiful, that knowing it had a successful Kickstarter campaign, passionate cult fanbase, and Nintendo e-shop release, legitimately makes me feel better about the human race.

Lucah doesn’t shy away from the difficult questions we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another. It’s characters face the big unanswerable questions about the universe and our place in it in their own ways, and aren’t afraid to come away with their own answers. It’s liberating to see a video game so overtly tackle the things that drain us of hope, and shape us in fundamental ways, when it feels like most of pop culture is increasingly trying to sweep any discussion of religion (both existential questions and criticism of religion) under the rug entirely.

I’m being intentionally vague so as to not spoil the game; it’s an incredible souls-like that I legitimately think everyone interested in video games should play at some point (ideally after turning… 15?). I don’t want to explain to you what Lucah is saying, or it’s “hidden meaning” or anything like that. Lucah’s meaning could not be more clear than the very words of its (literally) poetic cutscenes, and that’s what’s so great about it. Though you may not perfectly grasp every detail of Lucah’s dream-like (nightmarish) narrative, you will always understand, on some gut level, what it means. You will feel it, and you will find something to relate to in it, and you will learn to emphasize more thoroughly with the parts you don’t relate to.

While “mental health” is becoming an increasingly popular concept lately, and the terms “anxiety” and “depression” thrown around fairly often in personal conversation, we still rarely see art that depicts the perspective of someone suffering from a rarer and more complex condition that can be difficult for others to empathize with properly. So Lucah also gets massive points for its depiction of what I can only assume from its raw and intimate style of writing are it’s creators’ own personal struggles.

To do all this while also making a shockingly, dare I say addictively (I had meant to play a chapter and finished the entire game in one very long sitting) fun game, is a commendable achievement of game design that, like many aspects of the game, should serve as a model for future indie-devs to follow. So much is owed to the pacing, which puts the play experience first, and introduces new elements well before you begin to tire of the old. Best of all, haunting and thought provoking cutscenes are your rewards for overcoming the game’s challenges, just how I like it.

Now I would like to talk about the elephant in the room: the game’s art style. It’s something of a make-or-break for people, and that’s a shame, because more than it’s uniqueness or coolness, I love this aesthetic for its practicality. There have been games in the past using scribble art like this before, but never so effectively. Lucah shows that with an eye for color and lighting effects, just about anyone can output a game that looks beautiful without having to rely on dedicated 2D artists (the hardest creative people to work with in the industry). I hope to see a lot more indie games taking advantage of this high-style low-effort approach. I geniunely don’t mean any of this as an insult. This game’s art is everything it needs to be to convey the setting, and arouse an emotional response in players.

There are so many games out there with “more talented” and certainly more hardworking artists, that convey absolutely nothing of value with their art. I’d name examples but then I’d really start getting mean; just go on the e-shop and look at these games people are putting out. Games with illustrators, but no animators, and the grotesque undulation that ensues.

Lucah’s animation, meanwhile, is literally breathtaking. It makes you hold your breath, gasp, feel your heart skip a beat, as your shockwave attacks break the enemy, the screen flashes, time stops for a split second, the camera studders, a crunch bursts from your speakers, and you scramble to understand the mess of neon choas on your screen to discern whether that blood is yours or the enemy’s. It’s visceral as hell. The weight of a Demon’s Souls ultra-greatsword with the visual flourish of a No More Heroes game.

This is the kind of game that makes me feel less alone in the world. To know that other people can appreciate this style, and are open to these themes, legitimately gives me a sense of belonging, like maybe everyone has this side to them, they just don’t always put it out there. That’s why you need to play it. Everyone needs to play this game and talk about this game, and recognize that we humans can relate to one another over more than our ability to be “funny” or “cute”. We can relate to one another’s struggles as well. Our deepest fears and doubts. Even the parts we hate about ourselves might weigh less heavily on our minds if we only knew there were good people out there fighting the same demons. My sincerest regards to everyone who loves this game, and my thanks to melessthanthree, the team behind it. Keep on fighting you guys.

[usagi-mitsu]

Werlyt & Gaius - a bunch of thoughts.

I am a little late to the party. I know. But I just finished the Emerald weapon and before I go to try out the „not Zenos“ weapon as in „Diamond“, I need to get my thoughts on the story straight.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by 5.0s brilliant MSQ and cannot appreciate the inherent beauty of at least decent writing any longer. But this felt so wrong and out of tune with the rest of the game. I started writing this 2 hours ago! I wanted to one in bed by now! XD But I had to get it out of my system… so….

Spoilers for the MSQ and Werlyt incoming??? And no I did not re-read this so not just spoilers but also writing errors incoming. -.-

The good

These fights are epic! I have only ever cleared the normal versions, but I loved those. They are amazing. The callbacks to Eula (her being a woman here! When did they discover that???), Regula (may he rest in peace) and Gaius himself in his prime were delightful. But I could do with a little less rotating, ok? A dragoon has positional, you know? And being allowed to pilot my very own mecha was like *chefs kiss*. On that front? Well done Square Enix!

I am also glad they were able to get another use out of Porta Praetora! That place looks amazing with the wide open field and the lake – and Ala Mhigo across it. It was one of my favourite Stormblood areas and I am always glad to return there. And of course… being able to visit the allied camp again… And Werlyt itself. It’s simply a beautiful place. It reminds me very much of southern Greece. If you’ve watched the movie Mamma Mia you know what I mean.

The music too was really nice. But I don’t think I’ll… you know… listen to it on repeat as I am doing with other parts of the soundtrack.

I’ve also loved how much amazing lore we got about Garlemald and especially the garlean military. And the military abroad. The way soldiers not from the mainland get treated. I love learning about these things.

Gaius

The man. The legend. The guy yelling in Prae.

He’s so very boring here. He has so much potential as a character and maybe I’m missing something, but all throughout this story he has been nothing but passive. He’s a reactive character in this storyline. You know. The guy who made deals with Lahabread (the d is intended), tried to take over Eorzea, lead a whole army, stood idly by as the moon dropped, almost died but then decided just not to die and then though „hm… I’ve got so much freetime now. How about I go and hunt some ascians?“ That guy is NOT a reactive character. He is active. He goes out of his way to make shit he wants happen. And in here? He seems too starstruck and devastated by his adopted kids actions to actually have one clear thought.

The only explanation I have is that he might have gotten hit in the head by something on his way to the ruby weapon. I get why he would rely on Cid for help, but the WoL??? The alliance? If you wish to be an ally and help or something, fucking act like it. You were a former legatus and I expect you to live up to your name – even after retiring.

And yeah.. I guess it’s hard having to watch your kids willingly, knowingly dying. But you fucking raised them. You are a big part of the reason to why they are in that predicament. So like… Aside from that I don’t even get why you are in this story at all.

And for the record: I’m not sorry for him. I’m just flabbergasted by all the bullshit we’ve been learning about him.

To be quite honest, I think this story could have worked just as well or maybe even better, if we got another man as the „hero“ of the story. I am talking about none other than our engineering, hammer-swinging, ex-enemy - of course talking about Nero!

The MSQ has long established that his research into the Ultimate Weapon had been taken, twisted and turned – Estinien had to experience this first-hand. I’m not saying that Nero was in need of a redemption arc and I cannot remember if these weapons were of his creation or even stem from anything he did, but it would make so much more sense for me, to have him confront his past in the garlean military like this and be responsible for the death of his former colleagues. Soldiers that he served with, whom he faught with. Give me Nero and them working together to get the weapons going and him bonding with them as his pilots to a degree. Comrades. Not that strange familiar bond that Gaius appareantly has with them. … Scratch that: Let Gaius be the father figure. Him being that wouldn’t change Nero’s relationship with them, but maybe his with Gaius as his superior.

The story wouldn’t even need to try and redeem Nero: He has already gone through major character development with the MSQ and the Omega raid tier. It would simply be Nero, confronted with the things he created, hopefully instilling more morals and a sense of responsibility for his creations. Heck: Let Cid yell at the guy! Seriously! Cid sticking around to help out would make so much more sense if it was Nero instead of freaking Gaius! Cid hated the guy! He might be a professional, but he is not one to torture himself by staying around a guy he (as far as I know) detests.

Make Nero the central figure and give Cid and Gaius the roles of „angel and demon“: One desperately trying to reach out to his old friend, reminding him why they became engineers and trying to make him realise that he can’t just run around designing weapons and leaving the scematics for everyone to read; while the other has trouble letting go of his imperial past and is struggling to see the errors of his ways – if Nero was wrong, than he (Gaius) was wrong too -and of course they did all of this for their home, to further their cause, and to bring peace to the savage lands of Eorzea, who had been fighting amongst themselves for so long… You get the point.

And you could still have these gundam themed fights. But I think everything would make so much more sense in general.

But speaking of which-

The children

I do not truly care for any of them. And that is a shame: I do think there are great characters and dynamics hidden behind these very few cutscenes. When they were first introduced I was wondering why I was suddenly watching „heartwarming“ cutscenes of my foes as children – until I realised that I was supposed to care and that they were supposed to make me feel pity for Gaius. I was supposed to feel bad for him, because they died and he blames himself. But while their fates so far have been gruesome, I cannot say that I am sad they died. They chose to die as they did. There were a myriad more options. And they chose that.

Actually. Their whole story makes me feel like they were huge masochist from the very beginning. They could have just run away and gotten help from someone more competent than them, but they stayed in an abusive military arrangement just so nobody else got hurt?? Please. Use your brains next time. And for the Berserk-like torture scene? I mean. I get what was implied here. But was it necessary? As a writer myself I follow the rule that torture and sexual violence should never be used in a story, unless it must be in there for the story to work or to bring across a vital point important to the story or it’s moral (or if you are writing porn and you are into it – but we are talking official in-game content here). But the violence towards these „children“ seems unnecessary for the plot and the violence of their deaths by piloting the weapons is already gruesome enough. Sometimes it’s better to leave things like this out – the emotional torture of feeling stuck and having a martyrs complex would have been enough here, I think. If the rest of the story had been well written at least.

(I believe my utter lack of sympathy shows how little character developement they had. I love tragic characters, who choose to suffer for the good of other people – even better if those people don’t even like them. It’s just my thing. And those kids are just… well.)

Their reasons and especially why they were making Allie out as the one who would need to survive was also just… weird. Like. I feel like 75% of what happened would not have happened, if they actually talked to each other, used their brains and had done something about their problems. But no…

These characters are also so exchangeable with basic anime/j-RPG character tropes… I only remember Alfonse, Rex and Allie – because I just did the Emerald weapon. And right afterwards I thought, „huh. So… Fullmetal Alchemist?“ Which brings me to my third point …

…the story at large.

„Pacing is a virtue“ or was it patience..? Anyhow: The author of this story should have had more patience with his story and characters and taken a bloody break! And I am not talking about the obvious blunder of „How is Allie feeling?“, „she is in shock and you cannot talk to her“ turning to „oh yeah if you are careful you can talk to her now“. I mean. WTF. That was MAYBE 10-20 in-game minutes of dialogue.

But everything was moving so very fast – and not even in a good way. There are few things better than a fast paced, action rich story about a group of young people trying to safe (their) world. But if you try to cram in two expansions worth of character development and story telling into about two hours of content each patch.. Well, then you get whatever the hell this is.

Gaius is a very interesting character and while I did not understand why they needed to bring him back in 4.4 (?), I do see how he could be a good asset for endwalker. And his involvement in 5.0 with Estinien was just a dear delight. So I am not opposed to learning more about him, to watching his character grow and changed with time. But I am not ready for badly written content of which 50% get told by suddenly induced echo-sequences. I mean – weren’t there rules for the echo at some point???

I’m not sure which one of the devs said it, but the feature that let’s you play an NPC is super convenient for them to tell the story, because before they could only show what happened where the WoL was.

And that’s just it. Rule number 1 in writing anything is „Show don’t tell“. It feels like they literally turned this one around for these cutscenes. While Valens torture and diet-Fandaniel-routine were very much „show“, the rest of the story was one long cutscene of exposition: We get exposition by Cid, by Gaius, by echo, by Gaius and his crew again, then by Allie. Before having to watch scenes we are not there for.

BTW. Dear square Enix: Your writers are capable of writing amazing villains, antagonist and despicable assholes. You don’t have to write „asshole, must die“ on Valens name card. And I also think the „WoL, strike here“ sign above his head was a tad bit too much. Nuance, dear writers. Nuance. Or perhaps I just got spoiled by these last few foes in the MSQ.

When I said I wanted to just be able to punch a bad guy for once and not feel bad about it, I did not mean this! I meant that I just wanted to play training dummy with Danny-Boy.

(Oh! And as far as I’m concerned you can just… sideline Gaius … „would be killer“ and the lady? Make them targetable NPCs with Dialoge to read. Let them stand somewhere accessible and comment on the latest developement. But ffs don’t give me hour long speeches about how you are going to kill Gaius if he does something you don’t like. The guy could and would wipe the floor with you if he felt like it. -.- So. Please. Shut up.)

Conclusion

Basically. I have to finish the Diamond weapon. But I doubt it will change my perception of this story line even in the slightest.

To be perfectly honest though … bringing Gaius back, having this story with and about him, forcing a sort of redemption ark here. It feels like they are really „grooming“ him to be a morally grey ally in Endwalker, with perhaps a big part to play in the endgame. At this point I wouldn’t even be surprised if they pulled a GoT and made him „King in the North“. Or if they had him die a heroic death to save the world, but especially his country. And to do so they need us to think his sacrifice means something. Or that he is the right person to lead Garlemald into a new future (I don’t think he is). But: For one, neither we (the players) nor the characters need to find him worthy of throne or death by heroism for his sacrifice/ascension to work. To be a useful tool for the story, only the other garleans who might oppose the alliance and scions need to deem him or his sacrifice „worthy“. And only they. And Ishikawa-san has all of 6.0 to accomplish whatever the hell she needs him for. He did not need to be the center of his own botched redemption ark. If that’s what they wanted to do. Or maybe I’m looking at this all wrong and all they wanted was to give the writes in training some literal training grounds to test their abilities.

But! On a positive note: I have yet to be told that raids and other side content are canon to any degree. So when playing the next story quests I’ll blissfully ignore all that happened in Werlyt and if it get’s mentioned (because they do that sometimes when you’ve done certain content) I’ll just ignore it.

Happy ignoring! Also: GIVE ME MORE NERO CONTENT!

[notcorrect-persona5]

Ryuji for that character thing! If you haven't had him already

Ryuji!! I already know this is gonna be a long one.

Favorite thing about them

He has one of the biggest, kindest hearts in the Persona universe. Once he found out why Makoto was blackmailing them, he forgave her almost immediately. Despite not having a lot himself, he spends money feeding Yusuke (which I will talk about in my headcanons). He tries to befriend and include Mishima because he knows he doesn’t have any friends. He is always hyping up and complimenting the other phantom thieves (have you heard his dancing lines?)

Least favorite thing about them

I don’t like the number of times he is written OOC in the game, particularly when it comes to pervertedness. Before I go on, this isn’t me ignoring his flaws. Character flaws are extremely important. Without them, a character is no longer interesting or even likable. One of my favorite persona characters is Yosuke who doesn’t exactly have the cleanest mind, so I’m not saying Ryuji isn’t perverted because I don’t like it. I’m saying it because I honestly don’t think he is.

Yes, Ryuji likes girls, but he isn’t gross about it. The only times I can recall this behavior is in two anime cutscenes towards Ann for comedic relief (side note: he didn’t realize what the maid service actually was. He genuinely thought they were just ordering a cute maid to do housework). Ryuji has so much respect for Ann, and he knows what she’s been through. He would never ever do anything like that- no matter how close they are.

I think what happened is the writers didn’t write a character who could make those kinds of jokes (except maybe Ren who is a silent protagonist), so when they wanted to make one of those jokes they chose Ryuji because he’s “the best option.” Morgana is lowkey a feminist, and, you know, a cat, so it would be a little weird coming from him. And then there’s Yusuke who lectured two girls for asking to hangout. ATLUS knows how to write a “likable pervert.” We’ve seen it with Yosuke. They could have given this trait to Ryuji, and I would have been fine with it. The problem is, they didn’t, making those scenes awkward and uncomfortable.

Favorite line

“I can’t think and flex at the same time.”

brOTP

Ren Ren!! Based on his dialogue options to characters like Ann and Sumire, I think Ren finds the super cheerful and energetic personality a little overwhelming, yet Ryuji, who is the loudest and brightest sunshine child out there, doesn’t bother him, and if that’s not the sweetest thing-

OTP

RyuAnn is so cute. Normally I don’t like shipping characters who are just best friends, but I love them together.

nOTP

I don’t really have one. He’s kind of shippable with everyone. Like any ship I see with him I’m like “I don’t think it, but I can see it.”

Random headcanon

He buys Yusuke food and tries to keep Jagariko on him. A lot of the time when Yusuke talks about being hungry or not having money for food Ryuji offers to take him out to eat or pay. In a manga, he said he didn’t have any Jagariko on him implying he usually does.

This is a popular one, but I think he dyed his hair blond back in middle school when ann was considering dying her hair black. It doesn’t make sense for him to dye it as a way to embrace his new reputation as a delinquent. He hates that reputation so much. Yes, he accepted it, but I don’t think he wants to add any unnecessary fuel to the fire.

He and Yusuke are roommates in college!

Shiho, Ann, and Ryuji were a trio in middle school.

He has insomnia. There are so many times throughout the game when he mentions not sleeping for literal days.

There’s very little that Ryuji does that annoys Ren; however, I know Ryuji has taken Ren’s glasses off his face and put them on himself. It’s such a Ryuji thing to do.

The girl at the convenience store who gave the chocolate to Ryuji on Valentine’s Day? It wasn’t pity chocolate, and they date sometime during third year or after high school.

This is also a popular one, but I think the reason why he isn’t a very good dancer in Dancing is because of his leg injury. He usually does very basic dance moves with his feet, and his dances focus more on his hands.

He sees Mishima sitting alone at lunch their third year of high school, and forces him to sit with them.

Unpopular opinion

His whole “fame thing” wasn’t that bad. While I don’t think it’s a good mindset to have, he never did or said anything harmful as a result of it. He was just annoying. Ryuji has extremely low self-esteem. He has been beaten down his entire life, physically and emotionally. The only thing he thought he was good at was track, and that didn’t turn out well for him. Finally, he’s doing something incredible, but nobody knows about it. He’s proud of his work as a phantom thief, and he wants to tell people. He also wants people to recognize how awesome he is and give him some sort of validation. He doesn’t feel loved, and he thinks it’s his fault. Now he has something that he knows would make others like him. I don’t understand why he gets so much crap for it when in-game he recognized his that behavior was wrong, why it was wrong, apologized, and said he would work to be a better person.

Song I associate with them

Travel Song from Shrek The Musical lol. It’s literally the Hawaii trip. Shrek is Ann, and Ryuji is Donkey.

Favorite picture of him

Also this portrait. His smile makes me want to smile

[askiisoft]

Askiisoft development updates - September 2020

Attention fellow katana enthusiasts,

First, I'd like to thank everyone for their patience in waiting for the free Katana ZERO DLC. There’s so much that I wish I could share, but I don’t want to spoil the experience. Rest assured that there’s a lot of really good stuff in here and I can’t wait for you to see it.

Ah heck, here’s a combat gif anyway - 

As I've said before, the DLC won’t conclude the story of Katana ZERO, but it will explore some of the burning questions you may have. I’m really loving my time working on it, and I’ve been able to play around with some of the cooler narrative and gameplay ideas that I’ve toyed with since the very beginning.

We’ve made a good deal of progress so far. All of the gameplay and level mechanics have been completed, the writing is in its second draft, and a third of the levels are completed to varying degrees. Much of the gameplay, art and animation is completed, and some cutscenes have been fully animated and scripted.

I've nearly finished some ports of the base game, which will soon be announced. The 2 LP Vinyl of the KZ soundtrack produced by Fangamer is almost finished and should be ready to ship in the next 1-2 months. I think that’s about it for Katana ZERO updates. There’s still quite a bit left to do, but I’m very happy with what’s been done so far.

You may also know that I’ve been working on multiple passion projects simultaneously over the past few years. Katana ZERO is one of them, and Pocket Squirrel is another. I’ve been working on it since 2017 alongside my friend iDubbbz. What started as a simple mobile game has exploded into an open world, genre-bending meta-mobile squirrel RPG with 100+ hours of gameplay and story, and a huge cast of memorable characters. It’s also almost finished! It's fully playable from beginning to end, and my goal right now is to polish it from a solid mobile game into something truly great and unprecedented for mobile devices.

So, for the time being, I'd like to thank you for your continued patience and excitement. I’m focusing on finishing up Pocket Squirrel first so I can give it the care that it deserves and really get it to shine. I strive to put my best work into every game with the intention of making something special - and this will be no exception. Once it's complete, I’ll devote my attention entirely to the free Katana ZERO DLC and finish it to the same high standards.

Lastly, since it's been a while since I've posted development gifs, here are some scenes from Pocket Squirrel.

(A montage of conversations)

https://gfycat.com/gorgeousweightyghostshrimp

(A gameplay montage - filesize is too large for tumblr) -Justin