#i should rly finish my replay

[snowflakeb0ttles]

trying 2 decide what to do with my time right now is agonizing

[moodr1ng]

now i stopped playing pentiment in the middle of act 2 and just checked wiki articles to see what takes place in the rest of the game so maybe im missing some crucial gameplay that wouldve fixed all my issues but. at the risk of being excommunicated (lol) i was rly disappointed w the games structure and thats why i didnt keep going. dgmw i really enjoyed the setting and most of the gameplay and throughout act 1 i was really invested in the story and mystery and investigation, and the game was really cool in a lot of ways. but. in the end. a mystery/investigation story that doesnt have an answer and whoever you accuse will be found guilty and there is no right or wrong just does not work for me and i can only see it as a poor decision.

yes ik that in the end you can uncover the "big bad" mastermind who provoked the murders, but to me putting a twist villain who isnt the actual culprit but who motivated the culprits in the end of the game doesnt make up for, like, the rest of the game? an investigation story where your investigating is meaningless does not make sense to me. was that the point of the game, maybe? to make me feel like nothing i did in the game mattered and i had no power over the setting? i certainly felt that way at times - in act 2, i felt like i had kind of spent the entire first act playing a role (in the rpg sense - as in it definitely felt as if i got to make a lot of choices about who andreas is, what he values, what his morals are) only for that to not matter at all as in the next act i had to play as someone who had made choices that seemed meaninglessly selfish and was in the uncomfortable situation of apologizing in-character for stuff that the character i had previously been playing as, who i thought i was making meaningful choices as, who i had been trying to make as considerate and kind as possible, would not have done.

i think if the point is that i dont actually have control in this game, not over the main character, not over the events, not even over figuring out the truth, then yeah, i had that impression. but thats not really the game i thought i was playing? i thought i was playing a game where my choices mattered and where i was solving a mystery and that was not the case.

idk. maybe i had specific expectations i shouldnt have had, or maybe i just failed to get something about the game, but despite being very beautiful in its graphics and having a lot of fun stuff and interesting characters.. when i finished act 1 i still thought "fuck, i didnt play well enough, i didnt uncover all the clues i shouldve and i didnt get to the correct conclusion, im gonna need to replay this to figure out who the actual culprit was!"... only to find that actually what felt like i had failed this part of the game was the intended way it would go down, and i even had accused the person who imo was the best choice of culprit.. i feel like getting to the end of an investigation arc with what should have been the most satisfying ending for me and instead thinking i had fucked it up and played wrong is a very unsatisfying way to write a mystery and it put me off enough that im not really interested in doing it all over again just so i can finish the game.

[beauzos]

i always heard bad things about Spirit of Justice. i think the critiques of it are wholly warranted (Apollo's random-ass rewritten backstory, Nahyuta being boring, i think a lot of people also dislike Garan as a prosecutor and she really sucks, she is the worst prosecutor in the entire series honestly though she's a ... passable villain, among other critiques i'm not very familiar with) but i just finished SOJ, and like, it is WAY fucking better than it feels like a lot of people would lead you to believe.

i actually think it's a better game than Dual Destinies. idk which of the two i'd pick as my favorite. i enjoyed the vibes/feel of DD, but the plot was much more interesting and well thought out in SOJ. but out of the 3 new trilogy games, SOJ was the ONLY game where i finished it and went "that was great". DD's ending made me really upset (although i loved the Blackquill and Athena stuff), and Apollo Justice underwhelmed throughout the entirety of the game.

Nahyuta is pretty boring, and i kept forgetting he was even there most of the time, but i find i actually really like him. i can't explain it. i thought Klavier was also super boring but i really disliked him, but i see Nahyuta and i'm like idk man. i like him. he's cool, got a nice design, and he's got very interesting things going on with his character, although the execution could be better. the emotional impacts with him in the last case could be a lot stronger. he still just Kinda Exists most of the time in the final case even though he should have such a strong impact on it. but it doesn't bother me, i just Like Him.

but the plot was cool and feels much more solid than the dumb shit they did with the DD plot, the characters felt better utilized (aside from Trucy who continues to rot on the side, but at least she starred in a case in this one), and it was just like. satisfying. Rayfa, Apollo, and Nahyuta all have wonderful character arcs even if i think Nahyuta's execution is underbaked. i think the ending was cool with Apollo staying in Khurain to try and help rebuild. i love that idea. Apollo honestly is an awesome character. i never DISliked him but he was kind of a plank earlier on in the trilogy, but he kinda finally came into his own in this one.

the Apollo Justice trilogy has some high highs, but such, deep low lows when it gets bad. but i liked it. i was afraid i wouldn't because i had such a hard time getting into Apollo Justice, and i still consider that to be my least favorite Ace Attorney game by far, it's not even a competition. but DD and SOJ brought it home, although i had some major issues with DD.

anyways, i was wrong about SOJ. i was so afraid it was going to be super bad going in because of all i'd heard and i just. i liked it, simple as. is it perfect? nooo. that filler case was lame asf (aside from more Blackquill and Athena, my absolutely FAVORITE dynamic in the Ace Attorney series PERIOD) and the vibes in the first case are kinda weird and uncomfortable and i wasn't too sure about it, but the rest of the game is pretty solid. i was genuinely invested in the characters, which i couldn't say i rly was in DD (at least in terms of the main crew, i loved Blackquill and Fulbright ofc and yall know it KRKJF) even though i loved DD.

the final case, Turnabout Revolution, was great, which i can't say about Turnabout Succession OR Turnabout for Tomorrow (though i intend eventually to replay DD knowing the full context of the Phantom twist so i won't get blindsided by feeling deeply upset by it lol it might change how i feel)

anyways top 5 new trilogy characters in no real order aside from Blackquill really is my number 1 let's go

Blackquill

Athena

Trucy

Bobby Fulbright

Rayfa and Nahyuta (tied. i can't possibly rank one over the other)

in terms of quality i'd rank the games SOJ > DD > AJ but personally SOJ and DD are equal

[coldvampire]

uhh i guess update on fun stuff from me rn:

- have decided to really throw myself into finishing as much of my fic as possible before internship season is up; currently replaying bloodlines and loving it again

- speaking of vtm, I have successfully convinced my regular dnd group to let me run a a game (wow). if all goes well, it should become a regular thing. now, normally ive only ever wanted to be a player but the v5 system feels approachable to me in a way plenty of other systems do Not + i get to hoard characters and inflict them on other people + i forgot how much i like it when people yell at me for writing decisions i make lmao

- ffxiv still fun, getting into the story (technically did so around the halfway expansion point but took a little longer to rly catch on). my fc is a group of very nice people & i was concerned about that. also, estinien/varha dumbass4dumbass supremacy.

[domokunrainbowkinz]

tag nine (9) people you’d like to know better

Tagged by @adjit thank you!! wrow it's been 80000 years since i've done one of these uwu

Last song: "Love is the Loneliest Place" by Say Lou Lou

Currently watching: JJK S2 i actually got so many shows/anime on my backlog but my brain has 0 capacity, i also watched the first episode of Zom 100 which was super fun and creative! i'm thinking of starting Link Click, i watched the first ep like ages ago but with s2 out i rly should get on board lol...i've heard too many good things about it

Currently reading: i was actually doing so well wrt reaching my reading goal of the year but i hit a slump and i just stopped...i decided to reread the capri trilogy to hopefully perk me up, but i'm about 60% thru Prince's Gambit and i just have not picked it back up to finish it. i was also almost done The Watchmaker of Filigree Street but either i did not absorb the book properly or it's just not for me bc i was not invested in any of the characters or the story at all. i decided to like restart it just to see, but i have not picked it back up. anyways what i'm trying to say is reading has been hard dude lol

Current obsession: UH well. i've been replaying bloodborne bc i actually want to finish the game, which has a funny side effect called "bloodborne on the brain". it's an incurable disease

Tagging… @transkojiro @cntarella @twentyninebirds and whoever else wants to do it lol

[wooahaes]

daisy u got me thinking of fire emblem again ! so here i am sitting and thinking about dino as hinata, jeonghan as subaki, & cheol as mix of chrom , ryoma and dash of xander (something about him being the leader besides the mc!unit). omg maybe cheol as ike🫣

jeonghan as subaki as me in a big chokehold, esp cause i romanced him in a play of revelations… wait joshua as inigo/laslow .. 😵‍💫😵‍💫 im getting dizzy maybe i should do fire emblem au…. or something… or just pretend and leave it in my google docs…

hi nico im realizing that i never got this far in fe:a the first time i played it sdfkhsdf but im so close to being done... >:3

ngl... i was thinkin abt subaki jeonghan when u mentioned him being a pegasus knight sdfkshdf he has the vibes!! but big mood tbh i romanced him during my first birthright playthrough <3 hes soo pretty... can u blame me <3

god... flirty inigo/laslow shua... he's too powerful...

also cheol rly is just "leader vibes" w a smidge of chrom's awkwardness from his f!robin supports tbh. literally got tht 'head of his army and widely respected' vibe but everyones also like yeah hes a big loser sometimes who pouts when ppl tease him too much, but we love him for it <3

literally if u do the fire emblem au, tag me!! if u dont then pls know im 100% willing to hear ur thoughts at any point >:3 revisiting awakening has made me def want to replay fates (n finish all the paths this time instead of just birthright dskfhsd) next!! i love hearing ur fire emblem thoughts hehe <3

[dewprisms]

I'll feel better if I just play some video games but I can't decide which one I should play

Rly wanna replay TotK, but its been a while since I replayed BotW and I should've done that before doing TotK last year, really wanna replay NV, but also Fallout 3 without an overhaul mod I downloaded but didn't like, and I pre-ordered the MMBN Collection last year or so but haven't even taken off the plastic yet. Still need to finish my HG file so I can replay BW/B2W2/XY/etc, but also I need to get the SV DLC before I ever decide to just replay it. And maybe replay Spyro 2 as well. and ALBW cause I enjoyed my first play of that. I also got the Perfect Dark mod so I can replay that too.

so instead I'm likely to just sit here and browse the internet like I have been for the past several months. I need someone to push me to play SOMETHING.

[toruro]

id love to talk shit w u. except lowkey it wont stay talking shit bc i’m crazy and if i see one more person being dickish 2 u here i *will* be acting. anyways yeah i slept for almost the entire day💀💀 the jet lag is hitting me *hard* i’m so not excited for my semester to start back up ..

also very proud of u for having written . u should be proud of urself too btw .

anyways, am currently replaying a game i rly love that should take me *at least* until i’m recovered to get a good part of the way thru (my first play through is maybe 250 hours and i didn’t finish the last fight bc i was in denial abt finishing the game) . hopefully i don’t pass out while sitting at my desk i can barely function LMFAO

AND IM GLAD UR FREE OF COVID NOW !!! GLAD 2 HEAR IT

- ts eliot anon <3

I ACTUALLY LVOE YOU also omg i know exactly how ur feeling!?!?! bc when i first got back home covid had me knocked out in the mornings and i'd try to sleep at night but i kept waking up at like 1-3am and would not be able to go back to sleep until like 8-9hrs later ... praying that u will fare better than me

good for u for at least sitting up and doing something. if it makes u feel any better when i was at the height of it i tried to sit up straight to eat like twice a day and it would make me so dizzy i'd just fall back asleep and it sucked bc i was laying down for like four days straight and MY BACK. IT FUCKING KILLED MY BACK. MY BACK WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN. i'm so glad i'm freed from thsoe shackles i got coffee this morning

[rigels-nigels]

We can turn Garrett's voice off in thief?? That's honestly super cool and sexy, wish they'd implemented that in dishonored 2, or just. Any other game where ur character talks a lot. Esp outta dialogue options

(which, can we bring back silent protagonists and being able to see exactly what you'd say for dialogue options in (big) games? Esp if you're only given like. 1 or maybe 2 voice options. Both of which are Very white sounding and/or just do not fit your character at all (cough dragon age Inquisition cough))

[faarkas]

4, 12, 27, 35 + verde/takemura!!!

leah i love u sooo much im so sorry that u’ve opened pandoras fucking box i CANNOT shut up about their wedding if u can even call it that bc it’s actually the most ridiculous shit ever. anyway. madness and rambling under the cut :)

4 - First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?

it was absolutely not love at first sight ASUEKFKSN He was pretty disgusted with her because he thought that she killed his boss and sort of complicated toxic father figure-esque situation, she had been shot in the head and thought he was going to finish her off, the girlies were not happy with each other. She did think he was very handsome tho. Go queen give us everything. she is nothing if not thirsty always .

Though I do wonder if he actually thought that or knew off the bat that yorino/bu did it 🤔 HA GUESS WHO NEEDS TO REPLAY MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE GAME BC I HAVE SUCH A SHITTY MEMORY and i just haven’t played it in a long time

Anyway she still stole from them and he was grieving so I just don’t think he was too happy with her period but obviously things change as they get to know each other :)

12 - Is there a wedding? What was the proposal like? Any kind of honeymoon?

OK SO HEHE. There was barely a proposal honestly it was more of them sitting on the couch relaxing and enjoying each other’s company when he was like (bashfully) “I’m fighting an impulse” and verde’s like 👁👁⁉️ AND THEN HES LIKE “I think we should get married.” (all of this rough dialogue not actually the real dialogue. u get the gist.) and verdes like 👁👁‼️ yeah let’s go get fucking married go go go

and then that same night they leave, verde gets a dress bc she wants a nice dress tyvm, and they end up going to some 24hr neon everything elvis (or maybe illegal kerry) impersonator style chapels and elope. :) And after they end up in some greasy diner for their first meal as a married couple bc it’s the wee hours of the morning at that point and it’s the only place open eating greasy ass diner food. it’s then that the adrenaline starts to wear off a little and he starts to feel a little regretful that he didn’t give her the full experience that he should have but she’s just sitting across from him in their booth eating fries, uncaring that the hem of her awfully expensive dress is getting filthy, looking at him like he’s the only man in the world that I think it quells that pretty quick. I don’t think verde would really want a huge traditional wedding anyway she’s too private for all that. She does get into a lil bit of trouble with Val and the gang for it later tho. (val later when she gets roped into a huge italian wedding like can u bottle whatever made ur man just want to elope and give it to me please for the love of god)

Honestly I don’t think they really have a honeymoon. Maybe a little later on but i think it’s mostly business as usual. them being married doesn’t really change things a lot but I think they do feel even closer than they did before. commitment rly does look good on them tbh. Tho I can see them renewing their vows at some point

27 - Do they have kids? Grow old together? Split up?

slap my ass and call me a romantic that never wants to deal with it myself AHAJFKFJ BUT I JUST DONT DO TRAGEDY MOST OF THE TIME. Tho I do struggle to just see them growing old in more of the sense that they’re both mercenary types and even if they get out of it to move into more. civilian/normal work they just have so many enemies that could pop up in whenever but FROM WHAT I’VE SORTED SO FAR YES they stay together for as long as they’re alive. Hopefully they grow old together.

And they do have kids :) I think the funniest thing for them is the way they catch baby fever after hanging out with val and lorenzo’s newborns twins. But it isn’t super easy for verde after all the shit her poor body has been through and continues to go through that after some failed attempts and trauma they end up adopting two and then they end up having one or maybe two ~miracle~ biological kids on accident so. they end up with a well rounded family. :) Parenthood also looks good on them. They have the range.

35 - Do they bring out the best in each other, or the worst? Do they have a fatal flaw?

They’re good for each other. They make each other feel safe, she gets to eat proper meals, he has a space with her where he can just be without the constant vigilance and games that living within arasa/ka’s like…structure brings,,, I also just can’t imagine them with anybody else AHSKFJS Their eccentricities just meld together nicely but I think if they have a flaw it’s how much they actually love each other, or their loyalty to each other. I think it could be pretty easily exploited.

[elvesofnoldor]

.

[icharchivist]

hello icha!! i finally got around to finishing the stranger haha,, by which i mean i just watched it today. was veryyyy excited for it as i really like the poster design for this one. anyways. this event starting w/ the sort of portrait format or whatever / that narration is like. god. threw me right back to autumn troupe. I kind of love that the storytelling format itself is so distinct for autumn! the moment I realized it was omi I started getting teary… like oh man oh man… omi…. And the connection with him taking photos! ahh!! now that I think about it… omi kind of seems a bit like early version tsumugi, huh? also I keep forgetting this man is a college student lol. suspension of disbelief I suppose. onto the play i think like. mankai should invest in a fainting courch for tsuzuru. i also went to watch the play and 1) im betting yuki had a hell of a time costume design wise like the vines on the body? such fun costuming wise and 2) the ethical implications of whatever this play has,,, fun fun. tsuzuru was clearly having some kind of thoughts. i love zeros design and am always up for a3 characters crossdressing bc 1) i think its fun and 2) the costume design. i also dearly wish this whole thing was animated bc I feel like it’d be o fun to see taichi act as zero. or at least I hope this event gets full voiced one day... moving on to the scene where omi adds soy sauce to the paella I know it’s just like haha homare funny so lets five him a lil bit but like everyone in autumn troupe making their comments on the paella and like homare just jumping in. homare autumn troupe besties. just thinking. also the way they just r like. no no no omi it’s fine if u made a mistake!! it’s ok! we like it (you) anyways <3 it’s got it’s own special taste. something something omi’s perfectly pleasant as he is now but even if he weren’t on his a-game and was dealing with all of the biker gang stuff they would love him just as hard. another thing that got me was omi telling banri that he’ll give him something sweet so juza will stop grinding his teeth in his sleep… guys… guys you’ll give him cavities…. mb omi is a college student after all lol.

anyways when i saw the actual costumes. appreciative of them, i like the lil circuit-esque detailing on banri’s outfit, and that sakyo and taichi (nine and zero) both share that like collar detail? its very symbolic and probably also literal but its a nice way to sort of signify their relation to each other visually! also sakyo just looks nice. seeing him without glasses is so great. whoever thought up the like two mole detail for him was doing gods work.

something that confused me was ryo mistaking juza for nachi for a split second? like. does juza… look similar to nachi? or was it just that ryo only heard juzas voice and made that mistake. if it’s appearance wise too. kumon nachi confirmed. I’m joking lol bc I feel like I would’ve heard at least something abt it in one of the like small conversation comments, plus that doesnt seem like itd fit summer troupes style and kumon is for sure the wrong age… but still.

i really like how for this event, the roles for taichi and omi were kinda reversed. and taichis just so like. idk. smiley. rly lifts ur spirits. its kind of nice how this event contrasts to that cg where taichi is crying on omi. I also think like. idk. considering the story of the stranger. wolf gives zero a sense of purpose and life and I think that zero helps wolf lose his apathy. it’s about “the stranger” and the ending makes him like… not a stranger, right? because he’s got a companion. in the same way, taichi brings omi out of his emotional isolation. the picture taking! also the stickers coming back… thats such a good setup! the found family of it all!!

when he was trying to work out zeros character as soon as taichi mentioned a sharp speaking style I KNEW it was Yuki… yuki would never be as honest as zero is though lol… to me i imagine she’s got a sort of juza internal monologue feel? anyways. the taichi yuki dynamic intrigues me. havent yet decided how I feel abt it but when I do… yes. sorry that I make literally no sense. I think it’s very obvious that yuki is my fav chara kind of? I’m just. hmmm it makes me think! I’ve been monologuing to myself abt the yuki and juza dynamic lately which, to my a3 knowledge so far, doesn’t exist, but its ok bc I’ll make it exist! uhhh anyways this event was very good i liked the pacing. i think it didnt drag too hard and it really properly honed in on just omi and taichi, which was quite nice. they really did a lot for just an event!

time to listen to the event song,,, ok so. ah. i rly enjoyed just for myself it was very much to my taste so. out of curiousity i was like ok lemme look up the composer / producer AND IT WAS YUYOYUPPE....... that guy is like!!!! one of my FAV producers ever!!!!!! i know him from like. his vocaloid days and god leia is still one of my fav songs to this day...! this knowledge gives me so much joy omg!!! like wow!! wowwww!!! like i knew yuyoyuppe was out there doing other stuff (i know he worked on a lot of babymetal music which is cool) but like idk. to suddenly encounter it like this. heheh.... its so nice! made me soooo happy. going to relisten to leia now haha

WAIT ONE MORE THING. i was like "haha let me look at other songs i remember liking a lot" which. for me was rakuen oasis and don't cry. anyways. rakuen oasis is ALSO by yuyoyuppe???? oh my god!!! oh my god... sigh. feel like im in heaven.

OH HI FRIEND!! so good to see you with an a3 update!! :D

godd yeah The Stranger started so strongly and the idea to still incorporate portraits in his story was really something to make us cry!

And linking Omi and Tsumugi like this is pretty interesting :O <hat is your reasoning exactly? :O

For the fainting couch for Tsuzuru LMAO and i'm letting you know there's a webcomics that addresses it in Act 2 (hough there's no spoilers aside from the fact Chikage is here)

Im glad you liked the costume and the play!!! yeah i love the designs and it is always a blast to see them this into it, and yeaaah Tsuzuru has thoughts huh. It'll get voiced sooner than later hopefully and there we'll see more in details :3c but also that's what made the seiyuu live so fun bc they perform the songs in play cosplay and replay a bit of the play everytime and it's *chief kiss*

HOMARE AUTUMN TROUPE SOLIDARITY YES. LOVING IT.

And yeah the scene itself was so cute TwT they all want to reassure Omi and be there for him it's so sweet :( but yeah i love how you say it all, Omiimi TwT

and dLKFJDFLKJFDFD Giving Juza cavities is the price to pay for sleep i guess??

yeah agreed on the costume they all look so cool! and nice catch on how those three seem linked like that with their costumes, Yuki (and the designers) does such a good job! and god yeah for Sakyo.. yeah. He has sucha good design dLKJFDF

aND DLKFJD yeah no Juza is supposed to look like Nachi physically, but mostly his face? like i think Nachi was had green hair? we see a sprite of him in a future story, and yeah, everything is in the eyebrows. so Kumon should be safe? Omi mentions he sees a lot of Nachi in Juza, and while it is mostly due to their passions i think, the fact they're also rough looking guy with a heart of gold must play a part as well. but yeah, he does look like Nachi a bit.

and i love your deeper analysis of the event yeah!!

I feel like Taichi is really an emotional core of the troupe in the sense that is, he tends to catch on what others are feelings easily. And he uses it in the early chapters to ease off the tensions and stuff, but he was being held back by knowing he was deceiving them. So now that he's more free, he can be more of himself. but yeah i also love the contrast with how Omi was the one to help Taichi through his breakdown and guilt, and now it's the other way around, it's Taichi helping him through it. and the parallelism between the play and their dynamic is spot on imo! well said!!

and god yeah the sticker things made me cry sO HARD, and the pictures! and everything!! sobs it's such a sweet found family i'm going to cry :(

And! i love what you say about Yuki, Taichi and Juza on this one. I love that Taichi keeps bringing it back to "that childhood friend" and it's always like. so obvious who it is for us rip. But it can make you wonder if Yuki was more honest as a kiddo when Taichi knew him, though now he's clearly not. I love the mention of how Zero is more like Juza's internal speech (which, if anything is another argument about why you should let Juza wear a dress, cOWARD)

but also your mention of the Yuki and Juza thing, while i can't think of them having a dynamic per se yet, but i actually wrote a post during my reread about how i was baffled at the fact they treated Muku the same way?? like both of them tried to push Muku away because they were scared of how people would react if they say pure, sweet Muku was associated to them. And i find it fascinating because i guess those two are pretty aware of how the world see them, and it used to stop them from fully allowing them to be themselves.

I also find it relevant with the fact Yuki says in his personal song that while all of this way people judge him weight on him, he rather be himself, and "I want to love myself". Meanwhile we have Juza who's also aware of the way people judge him and it weight on him, and he wants to change himself from this person he hates, this self loathing - and in a way, he can grow in a way to be "someone" he may not hate, even on stage. I feel like those two have quite a bit in common in this way of being rejected by their peers in some sort of way.

I really want them to share some stuff at some point because there's really a groundwork on it all :(

But i'm really glad you liked that event!! agreed on the pacing and i do love what it brings to the characters! it really fleshes them out and have them move forward a little and it's pretty sweet.

AND OMG THAT'S SO COOL FOR THE SONG!! i'm so glad you liked it, but that's incredible it turned out to be from one of your fav producer!!! ahah sometimes life is like that where you end up finding the stuff you loved back into new stuff! and the fact Rakuen Oasis was from him as well... that's so cool!!! just, so so cool!

im pretty sure he has more songs going forward so i hope you'll enjoy the ride even more!!

thank you once again for sharing your thoughts about a3 :3c it always makes me so happy to see them!!!

Thank youu <3 have a good day :3c

[costellos]

omg no worries! i, nanamindate anon, am a simp for a man who hasn’t showed up in several episodes, waiting doesn’t bother me lol

yeah!! i think there’s just smth about watching someone else talk about/do smth they’re super passionate about, or just rly like? i have an older brother w different tastes in games as well and i enjoyed watching him play the spiderman game that came out a bit ago & a bunch of others. watching kenma game would honestly be like watching my fav lper w/o having to wait for them to edit and post their vids haha, i’d consider myself v lucky

AAAAAAAA

i was thinking it’d be right up your ally, so i’m glad linked that clip lmfao. and the meta-ness of kuroo’s va voicing nozaki???? 🤌 playing a dating sim for the first time, i can easily see kenma being a stat grinder & min-maxer, trying to make his character super OP and likable to all the ros LOL, while i try to help him out with the dialogue options n the more social aspects of the game, but i think he’d pick things up rly quick since he’s so observant and can figure out what each character likes w/o needing help from the tomoda of the game askfjfks

but ofc, like nozaki and mikorin, we’d finish the game and bemoan the more interesting side characters and why we couldn’t date them instead 😔 (kenma literally out here acting like he didn’t restart a whole week bc his stats weren’t up to par: everyone wants me to be their ideal type, but tomoda just wants me to be happy....... he’s the obvious choice)

oh nanamindate anon.... u n me both.......

ah, I see!! and omg. god. I can tell you don’t mind being a little sibling bc that’s a constant feeling we go thru :’) watching older siblings play video games, always being player 2... the life. (also you should totally pick up the Spider-Man game yourself whenever you get the chance, it’s another relaxing game!) 

but anyway!! I think Kenma would love having you watch him play. he might get a lil concerned, asking if you’re sure you don’t mind watching, but it’s something he gets used to with time. he tries not to deviate from the main story too much so that you don’t get bored watching him run thru sidequests.

ALSO. WHAT THE HELL. I didn’t know that Kuroo and Nozaki share a va!! hm. good 2 know. n Kenma would appreciate that so much!! I could also see him going back and replaying routes to unlock all the cgs. let him get emotional over the unromanceable best friend character w u.

oh! another thought: those choose-your-own-adventure games where it shows you the stats at the end of each episode? the ones where it says “you made the same choice as x percentage of players??” he’d get irritated anytime you went w the majority. hope u like going back and replaying the episode to see what you both missed out on </3

[spirit-shroud]

i replayed kz again tonight and managed to beat it in 4 hrs instead of 11 !!! which is rly cool imo, i think i got a max of like 50 deaths or less for the full run ??? i was just playing regularly but usin the prism blade for the cool blood effects, not in speedrun mode for the counter, and i managed 2 drag my friend into hyperfixation hell with me :} but also i have some thoughts and opinions im not rly sure how to compile in a meaningful way, so here’s the like. pure brain-down-on-blog post version under the cut. if this gets auto-tagged into the real actual tag for this game im very sorry for my hubris im just. thinking emoji

so id like to start this with the final boss makes me SO sad :( like yeah she doesnt have much dialogue but idk she just makes me so sad. she’s so desperate and she Knows shes going to lose and im just like. no!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you’re so cool!!!!!!! Please Be My Friend We Can Work Together. I Know A Guy :c like usually final bosses are like weirdly emotional for me but she was just SO COOL and realizing like WAIT THIS BOSS OPERATES UNDER THE SAME RULES I DO was just like WOW even if as i kept dying (and i think i spent like... 3 hrs on the final boss alone lmao the first time, i killed her on my third attempt this run which was very cool of me) i finally realized that she IS pretty repetitive and got all her patterns n variables down super easy, but like, fighting another null who Should for all intents and purposes be just as absurd and powerful as i am, and eventually being able to down her effortlessly, and then the withdrawal affects of the chronos kicking in as well, and its just like. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

dont even get me STARTED on that ‘to be continued’ like yeah there’s a dlc comin but the game mentions repeatedly that its just the first act which has me like OKAY. SPECULATION TIME (what am i speculating on? literally no idea im not even rly at the speculation phase im still in the WOW COOL VIDEO GAME phase) 

and i rly like the dragon/fifteen but the first time i saw him i was just like. who’s this f*llmetal alchemist looking bitch ??? what’s he doin here?? go HOME and controlling him is AWFUL i hate the dragon tape so MUCH >:C but also he’s like. cool. i want to know more about him n his plot 2 take down Juncture n the government n whatever. 

but also i was listen 2 Full Confession bc it’s just. what the heart wants rn. i need to be sad and caffeinated in order to get into the Writing Zone rn and then i was THINKIN like my friend mentioned while we were playing the dragon tape that the song that plays is very similar to Full Confession (which i had sent him earlier while i was losing my mind over the final boss) and then i was like. Hm. these are very similar but have such wildly different moods -- Breath of the Serpent is much more like. ‘you’re going to be afraid of me’ while Full Confession is like ‘i’m afraid of you’ and i think that the different Vibes from these two soundtrack bits about important Null characters is just like. WOW and i wonder how a version of it that was purely Zero’s might be. would it be more triumphant? more flat? what desperation or emptiness is in there that could be drawn out by this melody??? i dont KNOW and i can’t write music unfortunately but im just like AAAAAAAAAA

i also rly wanna know what snow has going on ??? like. shes clearly important. she is a vital npc. but Why. she didnt even rly do anything except Show Up???

fuck V. all my homies hate V. the motorcycle fight was a lot of fun tho i rly liked that section even if my therapist was mad at me afterwards

also i think elizabeth/the little girl is rly cute and the fact zero was just like. ‘hm. well guess i have a daughter now’ so fast w/ her (at least, with the dialogue trees me n my pal kept going down) and im just. So Hoping we can rescue her in the dlc :( i miss her so much and im so like. worried abt that like pls give me back my daughter you dumbasses i cant even read ur dialogue without my brain being like ‘yeah these r just squiggly lines, boss. gl’ 

i also want to believe that the masked men arent real (bc idk, it’s just easier for me to process that they’re the result of chronos withdrawal) but the problem w/ that is like. they definitely kidnapped elizabeth, and i want so desperately to believe that elizabeth IS real n that zero genuinely wants to protect her (and by extension, the part of himself that is still human) 

ALSO THE PSYCHIATRIST i was just like. Okay. I Must Get A Good Grade In Therapy. n kept being nice n cooperative and helpful to this clown ass and then THAT ENDING ??? like i didnt even get the Bad Therapist Ending i was just like. fucka you! attacka you with a rock! (i do however want to try the therapist boss it sounds like a lot of fun) but i just. i hate him! he sucks! find a better therapist zero u rly need one im sorry for ur problems disorder :( like hes clearly a guy who just works for the government n wants 2 keep a leash on our man 

n the contradictions, hes like. yeah ur killing everyone related to chronos so it can no longer be produced ♥ but dw ur special we totally wont just withhold chronos from you as soon as u finish ur tasks dw about it ♥ and its like. Hm. I Dont Think Thats Right !!!! 

also i wanna learn more about what Juncture has going on??? what are they like. Doing besides poisoning water n making lighters ?????? it’s clearly a lot 

also the art for this game is just so GOOD,,, like. i didnt rly notice a lot of the backgrounds my first playthrough bc i was just losing my mind the whole time trying to solve each puzzle but the second playthrough im just like. AAAAA. and the soundtrack? effervescent. groundbreaking. perfect. So Good 

and the GAMEPLAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my GOD i was SO vibing with it, the difficulty curve was kinda extreme imo but as soon as i started like. Getting It? and started looking at each room less like combat/fighting and more like a puzzle that needed to be solved it made it so much easier 2 get into the headphase of ‘okay how do i clear this’ and it was just like. YOOOOOOOO

and zero is just a lot of fun 2 play as. legitimately everything about him is just so ridiculous. his dialogue options? ridiculous. his design? absurd. the implications that hes like. 22 and just having the worst 10 days of his life? mood, buddy. this guy likes samurai movies and card games and mushroom pizza and has worn the same outfit every single day for who knows how long and hes also a war veteran, an emotionless serial killer and a drug addict. and hes 22 and 5′10. literally NOTHING about those traits make sense together but here he is, just Vibing. 

i love him so much. im going to make a self insert oc that’s just giving him a friend who knows how to cook n is just like ‘oh wow, that’s rough buddy’ when hes like ‘i only feel alive when i kill people’ and conveniently knows how 2 get bloodstains out of things bc i think he needs that kind of person in his life since his like. therapist is conspiring against him n he keeps having 2 kill his friends 

also, unfortunately, i want to get every achievement, which i feel like is going to become hld....2!! where i get all but 1 of them and am stuck at 96% for 2+ years >:T

[pestopascal]

which class companions are your favorites in swtor? i find it funny you always exclude skadge in fics

skadge? idk him............ skjhdkfh but srsly i rly dont care for him so he doesnt exist for me (save for being the person to muck with doc’s plans basically  i think that was him ).

but uhh to answer ur Q..... my faves are definitely the inquisitor crew like i LOVE that funky bunch but i played si first, the story is so funny to me, like in the grand scheme of things wyd to actually have any impact on literally anything jedi/sith wise....... like i love them. they set such a fun standard for everyone else. idk. it was just a RLY good time i love the story so much i love the crew i just. i did the entire inquisitor storyline again in like 2 days i missed it SO MUCH i feel a lot of inner peace now

also i should say that i have only ever completely done class story thru to like. onslaught now on my inquisitor so like i played a solid 2 weeks in 2017 doing everything and ofc when u get to kotfe/kotet and start recruiting rando companions im like WHO ARE THESE PPL and still dont rly know them so my impressions are absolutely minimal and the inquisitor crew set a standard for me entirely

after inq, i would honestly probably put in the bounty hunter crew bc i love all of them except skadge ❤️ he’s a nasty lil afterthought bc its like they remembered that bh is empire side and they were like OH FUCK GOTTA BE EVIL here have this mass murderer on ur team enjoy. like it was getting too campy clearly. i rly just love the interactions and how funny they were up until belsavis like bioware realising they were running outta planets to give me a new companion its okay i just need the four thanks u can keep skadge.......

and THEN idk like. i still havent finished smuggler, trooper or agent (havent even started the former). so i would probably say my only two faves for the warrior are quinn and vette bc i literally dont think about pierce or feel anything for broonmark. OMG OR JAESA I FORGOT ABOUT HER LOL!!!!!!! i made her LS just bc DS jaesa is TOO edgy for me but i think alfrinn would mess up and turn her DS also just bc it was so funny having the LS dialogue about fixing the empire or whatever and its like girl Shut Up youre not ashara u wish u were.....

i rly didnt mind the consular companions i just didnt rly click so much but im gonna replay the consular anyway soon? bc i wanna try some new things/dont honestly remember The Plot™. i did like zenith and qyzen a lot honestly but yeah like. im gonna replay, figure some shit out, make more in character choices bc i just rolled a togruta and went with it

i dont mind the knight companions obviously but yeah same kind of deal? i think the knight story rly had smth going but kind of lost it and went back to the typical hero storyline so idk i was just like completely amazed they were like YEAH YOU WERE A SITH and ignored that but okey! scourge promising to train my bloodline in the ways of the sith was heartwarming. i didnt rly talk/pay attention to rusk like at all, but yeah i think there was a lot of plot threads kind of spread out that were. ignored. so like kira’s whole thing i just ??????? through, i lov teeseven obviously, and doc. yknow. the proposal was rly cute bye.

i got like halfway thru imperial and i meeeetttt vector? i think? is as far as i rly got/paid attention. i just dont rly like the whole joiner dealio going on at all with him so i DONT know what i think. idk how to feel about kaliyo either? she reads like a straight man’s wet dream about an “empowered bisexual woman who can kick my ass”. like just admit ur into femdom and go............. but like again. havent rly played much, spent more time complaining about being a sniper, ive rerolled and i think just arrived on dromund kaas again so restart! yeah!

[bears-n-bottoms]

Hello, friends~

As many of you know, I put Kim Jongin on blast a week or two ago, because this is the second (2nd) time he's uploaded a picture of himself in dreads to his IG, and I was Sick And Tired™. I've been riding for Jongin since he was masquerading as a dom top (if you don't know, you don't know), so that shit rly hurt my feelings.

Anyway, there's no real reason for me to be bringing this up, I just wanted to assert that Jongin wearing dreads is Wrong.

Moving on…

What I *actually* wanna talk about is what has been a v hot topic in EXO's fandom for years - how badly managed/promoted EXO is.

Now, before I begin, I will not entertain the idea that SM is somehow mistreating EXO because they aren't getting as much of a promotion push than their juniors. While it does suck that SM seems to just throw EXO albums at us and expects us to be content, you will not call that mistreatment.

NCT and Red Velvet getting a bigger promotional push than EXO is not mistreatment, it's just business.

Business that I'd like to explain to y'all, because I've been thinking about recently this, and it rly does go deeper than ~EXO doesn't rly need it anymore~.

So!! The year is 2012. Unbeknownst to my Black ass, SM is gearing up for the debut of their newest boy band, codename EXO, with a ridiculous ass teaser campaign.

No seriously, 18 teasers and you haven't even unveiled a debut song yet?!?!?! Flagrant.

I wasn't with EXO since The Beginning™, but close enough; I happened upon EXO-M's version of What Is Love while looking for sumn to watch on tv, and my wig was immediately blasted to space dust. What is Love wasn't the first K-Pop MV I saw that night (it was either B.A.P's Warrior or miss A's Touch), but it was the one that stuck with me.

See, I had no idea who or what a K-Pop was outside of vaguely knowing a few idol groups friends tried to put me on previously. It was *Jasmine voice* A Whole New World~ for me, and EXO was on the fast track to becoming my very first bias group. MAMA was an overdramatic mess that I absolutely fucking loved, and you couldn't tell me their debut EP wasn't The Shit™.

A heaux still Rolls Like A Buffalo™ to Two Moons, bitch!!

Fast forward one (1) year, and EXO are back (as twelve) with their first album (and K-Pop's first million seller in over a decade) XOXO. Girl, when I tell you replayed that album like it was the one thing holding me together… I was a whole MESS!! I'd become more of a full fledged K-Pop fan in EXO's absence (more on that later), but I was overjoyed to have my boys back.

Now, why am I going over this?!!? This is all fairly common knowledge among EXO L, but many of the current generation EXO L rolled up on EXO during their EXODUS/Love Me Right era. Which was 2015. So you have a bunch of EXO L who, first of all, are part of a whole new generation of K-Pop fans who consume K-Pop very differently than those of us who were fans back in 2012.

K-Pop standom these days is very social media focused, with many of our favorite idols having SNS accounts of their own where they interact with us. K-Pop fans these days are practically spoiled with content when idols aren't promoting/on tour. It rly feels like idols never truly ~go away~, because if they did, it'd leave an opening for someone else to take their place.

Something we saw when group B.A.P filed a joint lawsuit against their management agency and disappeared for a whole year.

This is where, I think, a lot of the "EXO Isn't Promoted" foolery comes from; EXO are not heavily on social media like many of their current generation contemporaries are. They don't do v lives like them, and have very few reality shows focused on them. Coupled with the fact that much of the content we do get from EXO is behind a pay wall, I definitely understand where the frustration comes from.

But let me add another layer to this, kids. It's my belief that SM doesn't feature EXO like that, because EXO were supposed to redeem SM in the public's eye for the JYJ/Hangeng lawsuits. But they, instead, embarrassed the absolute shit out of them.

Ooh, I bet y'all are all sat at attention now.

Level with me here, folks - EXO was SM's first debut since the Hangeng/JYJ cases blew up and rained doo doo flakes upon SM's reputation. SM had just renegotiated contracts with all their debuted acts to show that they aren't the monsters that JYJ and Hangeng were making them out to be. EXO was supposed to be SM's redemption arc, but there was one little problem - a 6ft stunner by the name of Kris Wu.

Fun fact - Suho, Jongin, and Kris were my original biases in EXO. Bet no one saw that coming.

Kris was always an oddball in EXO. Sure, he definitely fit the look of a K-Pop idol, but man's had far bigger aspirations. Ones that routinely got him in trouble with management. Remember that year long hiatus EXO took after their debut?!?! Rumor has it that it was caused by SM exiling Kris back to Canada, because of tensions between him and one of EXO's managers.

EXO returning as twelve was also, allegedly, because SM wanted to keep tabs on Kris, while also trying to bolster EXO K's popularity in Korea. Allegedly, tho.

Kris saw being in EXO as a way to jumpstart a career as a Chinese entertainer, but he ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it in the end. In May of 2014, he filed suit against SM to have his contract with the agency terminated.

Once again - why am I bringing this up?!! This is all common knowledge in EXO L circles. Well, it was extraordinarily shocking at the time.

As I've stated previously, EXO was SM's first boy band since the JYJ/Hangeng lawsuits. They had just finished renegotiating contracts with all of their active idols to comply with new rules and standards set in place by the government. For all intents and purposes, SM should have had no problems, like the Tinashe song.

But they did.

Kris, in many of the infamous press releases he released in reply to what SM was saying to the media, painted a very familiar story to many of us. He alleged that SM greatly limited his creative freedom, and treated him like a manufactured product. I remember him saying he felt like a box, at one point, and that hit me hard. He also alleged that SM worked him so hard that he developed myocarditis (a heart condition), and that there was rampant favoritism (claims that would also be backed up by a lawsuit launched by Luhan).

It was not a good look for SM, fam.

As a result of Kris' suit, the fandom was split. You had one camp that supported Kris, and another that supported SM/EXO. It didn't help that many of the EXO members spoke out against Kris, with Suho (the leader) saying he was being irresponsible and he needs to come back so they can work this out.

Messy™

Later that year, Luhan went onto launch his own suit against SM (which was more supported by the fandom *is totally not bitter anymore*), citing almost exactly the same complaints as Kris while also going so far as to allege that the Chinese members had different contracts than the Korean ones.

And if you thought that was bad enough, seemingly RoD member Tao decides he's done with the bullshit too, and files his own lawsuit against SM. DURING EXO'S CALL ME BABY COMEBACK PROMOTIONS!!

TALK ABOUT MESSINESS, SIS!!

Say what you want about Tao, but he rly does know how to cause a scene, and I admire that.

So yeah… Talk about a public relations nightmare.

Korean netizens were firmly on SM's side during this entire trial, but Kris, Luhan, and Tao managed to deal an even greater blow to SM's rep than JYJ/Hangeng did. Not that I think it's right, but it's plenty clear why SM doesn't rly feature EXO much anymore.

Not only are they getting older (Xiumin just enlisted a month ago), but SM is clearly trying to move past EXO, as a group. Which idk how they're gonna do that when they routinely refuse members who are not Baekhyun or Jongdae solo opportunities, but whatever. With NCT taking off (pun intended) everywhere except Korea, it's going to be quite a while before the EXO name gets retired.