#i think the weakest part of the game is that you dont really get to know class 0

[florshedworf]

II S4 SPOILERS BEWARE

i am referencing a post but i dont feel like arguing and instead analyizing so yess i feel like bot, balloon (& floory and toilet but ill get to them) would 100% talk negatively* about mephone. this is about the little theater recap at the beginning-middle of the episode

unfortunately half of this is just an analysis on mephone and bot’s relationship because the rest of weren’t nearly as passionately hateful* as bot (and walkie)

*i’m using strong words here but i more mean that i feel many contestants feel a sort of resentment towards mephone, not necessarily full on hatred.

EDIT: went into more detail with their relationships and changed wording as to keep on topic w my point

okok bot— now while mephone absolutely cherished bot and considered them his favorite contestant, i don’t think it was entirely reciprocated. HOLD!!! PEACE!!!!! what i mean is that i don’t feel like bot had the felt the same way towards mephone than he did bot. bot saw him as a friend, but maybe not necessarily as family/as close as fan, test tube, or even cabby or paintbrush.

so i feel like although bot doesn’t hold nearly as much resentment towards mephone as other contestants i feel like once fan/test tube explained to them the reveal and the scenario they were in they were 100% on their side. like it is clear they feel a sense of justice for those who are wronged

“what kind of a MONSTER creates a whole person just to do his bidding?”

like OBVIOUSLY they’re acting but this feels real. imjust saying

the rest didn’t actually verbally critique mephone just were. in the play with him but i’m still gonna analyze their relationships anyways

balloon has every fucking reason to not like mephone im Sorry. like not that mephone directly threw balloon under the bus every chance he could but this game was a channel for every source of torture for balloon possible. season one i will ignore for this Sole instance but season 2 constantly being seen as the weakest link of the team, and in season 3 being teamed up with nickel, then after the merge being pushed around and ignored by his team, the season 3 finale like i get it.

in the play he played suitcase which of course still sells the point that mephone SUCKS!! buuut i don’t think balloon actually has a burning hatred for mephone but feels. uncomfortable. as with many and most contestants.

toilet….. is grieving and replicating his old shitty boss. like i’ll be real NOBODY here has it together. toilet’s in grieving, floory is fully asleep (even says “line?”), some lines feel stale and a little Too on the nose (like they read it directly from the script with no direction).

i don’t think toilet holds much resentment, nor does floory really. this play doesn’t even feel like it has everyone’s full commitment— just that they’re trying so hard to recap these newbies and bring them up to speed.

i feel like walkie being the announcer makes the most sense out of anyone— i mean hello she basically founded the unvitationals. even when mephone gave her a second chance, before that they sort of did not end on good terms? like before she was turned off she raved about how she was MADE for him, she was his voice on the other side. no shit she still has lingering resentment for him after finding out how true that was.

in all essence i feel like the play was played by people who do hold some resentment for mephone— but none of them are Invested in that play (you could argue balloon and paper but i feel that’s less mephone related and more theater) none of them had good feelings over that play. obviously in part due to the newbies not liking it, but nobody was put together for this play. i am shocked that it wasn’t an obvious fact that this play was meant to be shit.

[dreamsy990]

i think its so fucked up that theres no fandom for plvspw. like its this beautifully written story about grief and how we cope with loss and try to move on despite how hopeless it may seem. it's about love and how much you would do to help the people you love. it's a story where it feels like it's leading up to a sad ending, because there is no way for this to end happily, but in the end it's okay, because as long as you keep moving forward things will be okay. its this beautiful story and theres no fanbase for it and that is so fucked up

[candy8448]

Thoughts on age of Imprisonment

Really long rant ahead:

These are me talking to my friend who very cassually plays zelda and knows generally the zelda lore and the older games

More thoughts:

Nooooooo i dont like thiss!!! I thought ppl were just speculation with a fourth wild era game but i thought it wouldnt happen, i REALLY DIIDNT WANT it to happen, im so tired of it. Nintendo is just milking it so painfully

This game has no character to it!

In botw, the great calamity was mentioned EVERYWHERE in the game, tied in at every moment, the world was affected and newly recovering from the great calamity, it was the biggest part of the game! The champions were super well fleshed out characters, their relationships with the new champions, as well as their relationships and impact on bith link and zelda were important, the game made you fall in love with the champion's characters, the champions ballad dlc made me cry. Each champion had a completely different and compelling personality and character development making you really care about them... the ancient sages in totk have no character to them at all. They are wise calm reagle people who apear in a single curscene each for like two mins. They have no personality, they all look the exact same with the same outfits which look boring, they have no connections to the characters apart for being the same races and the new sages, they all have basically the exact same script!! and we dont even know their names!!!

Totk's weakest point i think are the memories they were executed in the worst way possible that they felt completely detached to the actual game. The imprisoning war had no effect on the world, we learn nothing of it (the deapths and sky islands doesnt even connect to the story well, they are kinda just there "as a result of ganon" but it sucks! We know nothing of the imprisoning war! It happened IN ONE SINGLE MEMORY CUTSCENE AND THAT ALL WE GET OF IT

Botw had the great calamity so fleshed out, we knew so much of what happened down to akala citadel and the routes the champions took back to their divine beasts!

The themes of all the characters in botw are so good! The champio s had their entirely different styles and characteristics, totk has the same monotonous boring zonai rocks and patterns on everything its so boring

This is totk criticism but i never liked or cared abiut the zonai even in botw, it was cool seeing the ancient mystery civilisation, but thatw as all that the theorists were hyperfixationg like MAD on, like every channel and i couldnt care less. But totk came and cashed in on that and just made the zonai the most boring and least creative thing ever. All that mystery traded for meaningless who cares about them, no fleshed out, nothing. All we know is that they were the civilisation that founded hyrule but we dint actually know anything abiut them or their culture, the yiga who were new to botw had lore that tied in well with existing lore and tribes and had such fun personality, the bananas and ego, which the zonai completely lack anything. Also the style is completely different. The zonai ruins in botw have completely and utterly different architecture to the totk zonai that they may as well be different tribes, i dont like them, so playing them in aoi will be so boring cuz i dont care about them at all

We also dont know anything about the ganon's allies, they are all namelss gerudo warriors which is so boring. At least with astor, he was probably the person who provided the prophecy that we know so much about, at least the yiga were interesting characters, at leadt there were the corrupt divine beasts and blight ganons, there were so many interesting villians on that side. Totk/aoi will have what? Ganon... he doesnt even have any character or personality or goals other than main villian like that is so insanely boring, i dont have any motive to want to fight in the imprisoning war

And thats where i think the outlier between age of calamity being great and age of imprisonment going to be bad. AoC fed off of the knowledge, the adoration for the characters and things and lore we were given in botw, crafting it into a love letter of a game to botw, we were hyped to see the champions and to play as them, there was a reason to want to play it to see all these things we know of the lore play out before out eyes

Whearas AoI we know nothing about the imprisoning war. It had no effect on the world, we have barely 3 mins worth of lore on it, we have zero conection to it at all. The ancient sages dont have anything to them and we dont care about them, so why would we want to play as them? I bet they will all have the exact same fighting style as the champions in botw, and we've already seen the new sages and their fighting style in aoc. Sure it will be slightly different due to their sage powers but it wont be anything that special. There is no lore we will be excited to see unfolding in front of us, we have no emotions or connection to these events other than diconnected cutscenes that dont have any impact. Even raru and sonya are so painfully boring, just the kind and fair and powerful founders on hyrule who talk the same calm way as their sages, its so incredibly boring. The zonai have no culture, lore or personality thay is in any way interesting, and they will be so boring to play cuz every character will end up being a zonai character probably most likely. Also link wont be there, so they will have to find some arbitrary way for him to be here, maybe aoc link, which just does not work at all with the lore of totk that we know it just wont work!!

The roster im guessig will be: raru, sonia, zelda, ancient sages, new sages, link, terrako, ganon

If botw was meant to be courage, aoc meant to be power and totk meant to be wisdom, then what is aoi? The lil middle bit? The nothing?

Idk im sad about this game existing, it only exist so that nintendo can milk the crazy amounts of money botw and totk made. I miss when each zelda game was a passion project from the developer, even botw was that but then totk and aoi...

I was actively not wanting a new wild era game, the art style has now gotten so boring im so tired of it even if it is good, im tired of the grand scale game in the same hyrule for THE FOURTH TIME! Let me remind you, A ZELDA GAME HAS NEVER REVISITED THE SAME HYRULE BEFORE TIL THE WILD ERA

Even eow im tired of the style because its the same iversaturated artstyle and plastic toy look of every other nintendo game and series and it doesnt have that much if its own personality like every single zelda game does, it just reuses the links awakening style (which is really cute and fits la but not eow) and doesnt have its own identity like every zelda game does its so sad

Also we've been here for so long, botw released in 2017, was announced years before that, we've been mingling in this era for 8+ years meanwhile no hero has done that before! Oot and mm released one year apart then that hero was retired, the hero of legend had four games but didnt run anywhere this long even with oot and mm releasing in the middle of his games, im so tired of the wild era and i so so so want to move on

[bed-buge]

after doing nothing but play rain world: the watcher for 4 days (bar monday i had to go to college sadge) and i have now completed the whole dlc as it currently stands. i have many thoughts

EVERYTHING BELOW HERE WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!! FOR EVERYTHING!!!!! THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING

alright. starting with the generic spoilers

first up, the beginning. HOLY FUCK I ADORED THE BEGINNING OF THE CAMPAIGN. i wish my clipping software wasnt broken so that i couldve clipped my reaction to That One Chimney Canopy Room. literally as i was climbing i was speculating on when in the timeline Watcher was (my thought was around hunter/gourm) and then Boom. rot jumpscare. i am The Rot Enjoyer so i was genuinely ecstatic. also the jumpscare of Hydroponics being in Industrial was rather funny

(also idk where else to mention it but all the drawn art for watcher is so gorgeous. the colour theory used is geneuinely breathtaking. the last frame of the intro cutscene is beautiful)

secondly, the world (or, what of one there is). being able to get lost in the world is something i havent been able to truly experience up until now (i didnt play any of base game or downpour blind) so it was delightful getting lost in these gorgeous and unique regions.

and aether ridge i suppose

i really dont think aether ridge was a good choice for a modded inclusion. i mean just off the top of my head i can think of several Better regions with better maps that they couldve used. but like. thats also a handful of regions amongst TWENTY THREE. THAT IS MORE THAN THE REST OF THE FUCKING GAME. INSANE. so many regions that i straight up didnt see two of them in my first playthrough

i do wish the world has at least some interconnectivity like in base and downpour. i miss the cohesive and grounded world but also that is just Not what watcher is about so its alright. its still cool regardless. also the implications of some regions being timeline variants of others??? hell yeah

thirdly, the new creatures. fuck barnacles all my homies hate barnacles

in all seriousness though, most of the creatures are cool additions (sea slugs my beloveds <3) i just wish there was some more interspecies interactions besides the moths throwing lizards around. itd make the world feel more alive. the barnacles also need a massive tweak they are just actually bullshit sometimes.

i ADORE the rotzards though. ough the pained noises they make,,,, i love them sm theyre so cool. i wish more creatures got rotted. i wouldve KILLED to see a rotted whale or loach. that one rotted void worm took me OUT

fourthly, the gameplay loop. the weakest part of the game. the total lack of any direction or assistance is upsetting. in base rain world you have the overseers to guide you, and in downpour you have your anchor points in FP and LttM. but here?? nothing. i didnt even know i needed to be finding the echoes until 8ish hours into my first run. i needed my friend to read me a guide for my second. the game needs to at least give the player hints or clues. i found a workshop mod that implements saint's echo ping and both me and my friend had such a better time playing after that. that should be a default setting

its even worse for the second ending. as i mentioned, my friend had a guide pulled up and walked me through it as spoiler-free as she could. and i would have NEVER gotten it blind. this combined with the sheer number of regions (as mentioned previously, twenty three!!!) honestly ruins the game. my friend almost gave up on the whole DLC because of it. i know they plan to start patching things in, and their first action should be implementing better guidance

also i didnt even know you could go through ripples at top karma?? or that you could warp without a karma flower (with consequences)??? the game just. didnt tell me. which i feel like it should because those are both Pretty Big Things

i do think that the gameplay loop could be genuinely fun with actual assistance. because i actually had fun finding the echoes after i got that mod.

and now, onto the ending specific spoilers, starting with the echo ending

WE GET TO ACTUALLY FUCKING SEE ANCIENTS????? LIKE WALKNG AROUND AND SHIT????? IM SO INSANE ABOUT THAT

the storyline of helping an echo detach themself from their wordly desires and move on is so sweet. but i did NOT know that was the story until the last region. it almost made the ending feel unearned. it felt a little shoehorned in tbh. but also like. i dont care WE SAW ANCIENTS WAHHHHH

also hey we watch an echo ascend. neat. i do have a theory that an echo can ascend (or at least move on) if their attachment to whatever desire binds them is destroyed (Four Needles disappearing after their body no longer exists at all) and can move around space and time in accordance to their desires (Rhinestones choosing to come to Undergrowth to appreciate the life thriving there) so. hell yeah more echo lore i LOVE echo lore

but you know what i love more than echoes. the rot

the second ending. is peak i fear. not only is the campaign progression significantly better and more impactful than the echo story, but the ENDING. OH LORD THE ENDING. again, i am The Rot Enjoyer so i was going INSANE at the whole world getting fucky. and dont even get me STARTED on the rotted base game regions. i could go on for hours about how genuinely fucking cool the rotted regions are.

and everything surrounding The Throne and the roterator (The Prince??) (me and my friends nicknamed them "Yapper") is insane. the rot gaining sentience???? and having a pure and genuine trust in their beliefs???????? holy moly. fun fact if you hit them with a spear they get happy that youre playing with them <3

i cant even put my thoughts of this ending into words because its just So Insane (also i experienced it like. an hour before writing this so my brain is still reeling) but my theory currently is that every single strand of the cycle will eventually fall to rot (as the echo says that "it all ends up like this" if you wrongwarp to a rotted region) and that we simply witnessed and assisted in the end of one of these strands. theres. more to that theory but i just Cannot words it yet. ill probably make a seperate post about it soon

overall, The Watcher is an inherintly flawed product that i hope gets fixed up and improved soon, because i did genuinely enjoy it and want more people to. outside of the region bloat and lack of any direction, the game is genuinely peak, but those two things really do just kill it unfortunately. it is deserving of its mixed reviews on steam, but i do hope to see that shift more positively as the rest of the planned content is added and QOL changes are made.

also fix those damn barnacles PLEASE

[radioroxx]

Hiiii I love your mal du pays thought. Yea I know I’m supposed to be sleeping but the sickness woke me,,, ANYWAYS do you think maybe it were first created in the headspace as a way for Siffrin to cope with being alone? Do you think that maybe Siffrin was able to be with it in their dreams and maybe doesn’t even really remember because Siffrin blocks so many things out and it only comes to Siffrin in their weakest moments when they NEED it. Siffrin as a child was lost and alone and scared and needed a friend and the only person he knew was himself so, because yeah. I never saw mal du pays as an exact extension of his sadness but more like. A reflection of all their lost memories and a reflection of his weakest moments. I think Mal is there as a protector. To keep them safe from themselves and THATS why it appears during the kings fight. “You’ve been doing this long enough, let me talk some sense into you” type thing but. The sense maybe wasn’t exactly what needed to be heard. Yknow? Does this make sense? I’m still eepy but <3 wanted to quickly say this 2 u before I forgor. (Ps yea I knew there was a limit 🥰 dummy)

ITS FUNNY U SAY THIS BC. AFTER I POSTED THAT I STARTEF THINKING. i like as well the idea that mal came first? i dont know at what exact point sif wouldve split, possiblyyyyy late teens? makes sense to me… would be neat

in that way i think i could see it working opposite to the way u put it. siffrin offering company to mdp instead! aaand years go by mdp fronts a lot less etc etc. stealing things from the very quick notes app i created el oh el

i personally am interpreting the mdp scene in game as more of a… freakout on mals part. big ol panic attack you get the idea, which came about through these. twisted thoughts about their family. for funsies ofc. since i already established my belief of mal as much Younger more prone to getting afraid like this. sorry im also tired so words arent working with me very well atm. but yes i do think ur idea is p interesting too :0

[locuas642]

Having played a bunch of CRPGs lately, something I have really come to appreciate about Dragon Age: Origins is the different playable origins. Something the later games in the series never carried over.

And I get it. That is a lot of time and effort that probably can be put somewhere else. And also something that can limit you if you want to have your own personal origin for your character (Like I dont think Pathfinder: Kingmaker need that, for one). But as someone who always finds the prologue of a CRPG as the weakest part (the slog you have to get through for the part you actually care about), Dragon Age Origins stands out as the one game where that doesn't happen to me.

Which I believe is because the different origins helped make all my characters and the game feel more distinct, even if the vast majority of the prologue is the same area.

[maxinethevampirequeen]

LIS DE left me feeling weird? SPOILERS!!!

so i just finished the new life is strange game and wooo its defo the weakest in the series there will be spoilers in this so idk read if you wanna i just need to get this off my chest somewhere (also sorry in advance if stuff does not make sense this is just for me lol)

so the game opened really well i think the first 2 chapters that i got to play like 2 weeks ago because of the early access did get me hooked and i was really interested in who killed safi but that almost instantly lost its spark around the end of chapter 3 i think

safi being revealed to have powers is cool i think but i dont like how it kinda completely drops the murder plot for this weird revenge story for a character i hardly know thats been dead way before the game starts???

like cool i guess i care about safi so i want to help thats fine but how we never really get and answer for why max shot safi the first time idk if i missed it or whatever and how the detective guy was just kinda use as a fake threat to set up max to be scared of touching the other version of herself which instantly dosent matter because they fall and grab each other??? like why did he even have to die then also the fact that your choice to save him or let go does nothing he dies either way

and dont even get me started on how chloe is just teased through out the ENTIRE FUCKING GAME and then just fucking used as sequel bait!!!!! i really really like some parts of the game but i also really really dislike a lot of the parts

its not that i dont think the game is worth playing i think its okay but like ughhh it feels like the game was writen by a person who didnt play any other life is strange games and does not know anything about any of the characters

if this game was just a shitty sequel to life is strange 1 where we do gay shit with chloe i will admit i would have gobbled that shit up no matter how shitty the writing as long as the characters feel like the characters they were in the first game

i know max is older but god she does not seem like max at all its like we are playing a shell of max and the only thing that ties her to the old max is the very rare reminders of chloe and then they have the AUDACITY to have chloe text you at the end of the game!!!

like they know how much these characters mean to people and it just feels so fucking weird to not have the interact at all! they even have this thing half way through the game where max almost calls chloe! its like they were writing the game and were like

"this shit sucks lets dangle hope of a chloe interaction so they keep playing" because i think it really falls apart around the end i was really just waiting for it to end around half way through chapter 5

i really think the game is pretty and like a step up from the older games (obv its like 10 years newer lol) i really dont wanna sound like just a hater because i did enjoy most of my time with the game and as much as i wish it had been someone else and not max

i'm glad she's back because she is my favorite lis character! sorry for all the ramble i just needed to get this all off my chest i did like most of the game and i'm still interested in seeing where the story goes since "max will return" or whatever it said at the end

i wouldnt say i'm excited for the next game but i'm still interested but i think thats just coming from the fact that i will gobble up anything called life is strange also don't nod's newest game looks cool i'm excited for that too anyways peace out and sorry for the ramble!

also i wanna add i did not care for safi at all in the game i dont know why but she was the only character the game couldn't make me care about

This is all a thread i did on twitter where i just wrote what i felt without really thinking so if it doesn't make sense that's why lol

[aerithistired]

Why Aeon is resident evils weakest ship (It's NOT cuz they're toxic for eachother DUN DUN DUN)

HII this was copy pasted from a reply to another discussion, but I'm posting it cuz I want to post my opinions <3I never understood why the fandom is so crazy over aeon when they have the most weakest writing in a ship I've ever seen but to each their own I guess.I'd love to hear your thoughts and expand on my argument more!

I dont ship anyone with Leon in general which is INCLUDING Ada. For me it doesn't have anything to do with the facts of the story, because its all perfectly sensible on paper ( also because it is clear they're the endgame couple and are each other's love interests), but mostly with the way the couple was written- and *especially* Ada.

I'm not too familiar with the old RE games but from what ive heard and seen- Ada was supposed to be a black cat/cat woman/ femme fatale character and have a Batman- catwoman relationship with Leon. Personally, im not a huge fan of the dynamic, but other wise i can still see it as a solid dynamic for a ship.

On the other hand, i feel like the remakes and especially the RE2R doesnt know what they want their relationship to exactly be because from what i have noticed, they've significantly reduced the Catwoman- batman dynamic from the og games (Lily Gao, the RE4R VA herself said she wanted to tone down the seducctive femme fatale persona In ada in response to backlash).

I feel like re2r tried to make their relationship feel like an angsty and serious slow burn but considering their limited screen time and development together, didn't execute well.

In the beginning of the game (RE2R) Ada is quite serious about her work and partnership with Leon and is very strict about not getting close with him- on her part that is(i believe leon leaned more towards trying to get to know her).

Chemistry wise, i dont see much happening between them up until the part Leon takes a bullet for her and she treats him and when he does the same for her afterwards. I really liked the "dont push it rookie" line she gives him after he offers to carry her(?), It was more warm in comparison to their relationship before, and i wish they delved Into that with more scenes like that before the kiss (basically build up their relationship with emphasis on ada).

Also i feel its important to note that the scenewhen Leon takes a bullet for Ada had SUCH GOOD POTENTIAL to open into her character and how she felt about Leon at that moment because its a clear turning point in their relationship but AGAIN we get nothing and Leon is literally asleep.

!!And please don't start the 'hidden subtle details of the scene' argument with me cuz those scenes cuz despite the small details, is still not enough to establish a good relationship development growth- and especially since we barely get any monologue from Ada's side on how she feels about leon.!!

If there were clear cut scenes of them developing in trust and proper teamwork AND OPENING UP OF CHARACTER DEPTHS (and getting past the one sided attempt at friendliness from Leon) EARLIER ON IN THE GAME this wouldve made the betrayal much more heartbreaking too.

I think those segments would've been an excellent START for DEVELOPING their relationship and getting closer as a team.

☆Most well written and beloved ships have enough screen time with them showing development of their relationship- esp in slow burns. This applies to video games as well.☆

However, the pair mmediately kiss (AFTER LIKE ONE SCENE OF THEM SLIGHTLY DEVELOPING), And that was when the ship lost me. It WAS too sudden from a writing point of view and had so very little build up about their trust and caring for each other.

I'm not saying you can't fall for someone in a short time, but the issue rather was how there was LITTLE chemistry portrayed with them UP TO that moment. YOU SHOULD GIVE ME SOMETHING WORTHY TO SHIP THEM, CAPCOM.

More scenes like the one i mentioned before (with more emphasis on Ada opening up, The hints of her teasing him, etc) would've been great.

i understand that the game is not a romance but if you are trying to pull a slow burn-esque type ship off, you should commit to it, either that, or make it a fast one with chemistry right off the bat (like flirting and banter) cuz THIS was just very messy.

And that was ALL we got of their relationship for the first game. CAPCOM could've made great use of them in the other RE games (re4r and re6) but the couple ended up on more of the yearning and longing for side than actually developing together on screen, which sucks. (which is also like kind of annoying cuz we didnt see much of how they felt for the other throughout the game UNTIL THE NEAR END OF THEIR FIRST GAME- Which also had very little on screen moments of development. SO THEY HAVE A LIFE LASTING IMPACT ON EACH OTHER?? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!)

LIKE I GET THE POTENTIAL ON PAPER BUT IT WAS NOT IT IM SORRY.

And for the argument that Ada is *supposed* to be the mysterious character- i get that its a part of her appeal- but i find myself craving for her story to be shown in game than searching for crumbles of it from other RE material.

A well written character needs depth. And Ada HAS depth, its just shown subtle to an UNNECESSARY extent in the case that capcom tried to 'show and not tell' but it just doesn't execute well in terms of writing a romance where both characters need to grow and develop for a potential relationship or a ship.

(LOVED SEPERATE WAYS BY THE WAY). I ALSO DONT LIKE SHES IN EVERY GAME LEON IS- which just mostly reinforces she is his lover than a very vital part of the RE universe in GENERAL (which is why im so sad she wasnt in village) I really wish they put more focus on HER story.

And as for Cleon and other leon x ships- I don't know about them, since they barely interact throughout the RE universe. but i feel like if they did work together, potential for great chemistry could've been built for the pairing too. Shrugs

Again, i think Aeon had great potential but it went down the drain because of inconsistent characterization of her within the fandom, the game itself and the way it was written.

Everything Is there on paper. 'But she bandaged his arm. She helped him so many times when she didn't need to. She loves him and he loves her.'

OKAY, I'm READING what I'm supposed to feel about the ship, but it's not hitting. Why? Cuz it's badly written.

Im a bit annoyed when people try to argue that this ship is good in terms of writing cuz its NOT!!!! I dont really care if people ship them cuz they're attractive and the appeal is there *sort of*.

But if you're trying to argue on a story and writing basis, it's one of the worst ships I've seen in ANY media forms lol, you can't make a case for this ship and win im sorryヽ( `皿´ )ﾉ

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I'm terrified of writing my opinions on ships on here so I'd like to emphasize this is just a silly fictional game and I've been meaning to write my opinions on it for a while. all in good fun! sorry for potential bad grammar english isnt my first language :DD

[thought-knot]

Commander brackets and game changers thoughts

Wanted to get get out my thoughts on the announcement with of the brackets and the game changer list

Overall I don't really think the brackets are going to change much about peoples deckbuilding. Personally I have already been moving away from running a lot of the game changers in most of my decks so I can have some lower power decks that don't just take take over the game by drawing something like rhystic study and out valuing the table. One thing that I really like is the differentiation of high power and CEDH as those two have very different vibes.

Thoughts on game changers under the cut I will mainly be looking at them from a non CEDH perspective as I don't play CEDH but I wont disregard how important some of the cards are to the format

White Magistrate's fine to be here, no need to ban it and I feel enlightened's in the same boat

Serra's sanctum I could see getting banned, of the three lands that have this effect its the weakest but it is still rather strong

Smothering tithe can burn in hell and I hope it gets banned

I could see Trouble in pairs getting banned as well, its on a similar level to Rhystic study but I think its more annoying to play around

Blue

As much as Rift feels like an iconic part of the format like sol ring I would not be surprised if this is a prelude to banning it

I think expropriate is reasonable to stay unbanned but remain on the list

Force of will and Fierce guardianship both feel right to have here, could see guardianship getting banned in the future and force of negation getting on here to replace it

I go back and forth on if Rhystic study should be banned, it is certainly powerful but it can be played around more than something like smothering tithe and like rift it feels iconic to the format at this point, If it does get banned I don't think I will shed any tears for it though

Thoracle is mostly in the realm of CEDH, I've seen people talk about banning it before to shake up the format but I can't comment too much on that, right to have it on the list debatable if it should be banned

Urza is quite strong and an infinite mana outlet but I think he only get ridiculous when your breaking parity on stuff like winter orb which is mainly something you see in CEDH

Mystical tutor is similar to enlightened tutor, probably the strongest of the narrow tutors but mostly fine the stay on the list

Jin-gitaxis stands out a bit on this list, I dont think he ever needs to be banned but I think putting him on here is a good way to give people an idea how back breaking he is when cheated out

Black

I think citadel is fine to be on the list, its really powerful but sooner or later you will run out of gas

Long term I think banning vamp tutor and leaving the other two tutors on the list is the right call, being an instant makes it so much stronger than the others since it can be used more reactively

Opposition agent can be really frustrating to play against, people who I've talked to that play it in CEDH said that its healthy in the format, it seems like a card that's super frustrating if you just trying to play for fun and it stops you from ramping but necessary and interesting when people are trying to tutor out wincons.

Tergrid super power and frustrating, but mainly as a commander and if you see it in the command zone you know what your getting into

Ad naus lives in CEDH where it basically wins you the game if you resolve it, perhaps its too overcentralizing but I think its fine to live there

Red

I don't think Jeska's needs to get the axe, but I would not be too upset if it did

Breach is mainly a CEDH and I think its fine to exist there as a wincon, and if your not comboing off with it I think it can be an interesting card to play with

Green

Survival of the fittest is kinda crazy, letting you find any creature in you deck while setting up you graveyard for the low cost of one mana on a two mana enchantment, don't think it will ever get banned but this is the type of card that can drag games out with continuous tutoring always allowing for the right answer

Vorinclex is in the same boat as Jin gitaxis, not quite as backbreaking, but also more feasible to ramp into

Gaea's cradle is almost as good as tolarian academy, would not be surprised to see it get banned

Multicolor

all these are here for CEDH as far as I can tell (less sure about grand arbiter) I dont think any of them need to be banned as seeing them as a commander is usually enough to have a conversation. Commander ninjutsu was a big design mistake that I would not mind them requiring commander tax but I think yuriko is a cool commander if you are not super abusing her

Colorless

Glacial chasm seems a bit strange on here compared to the rest, I can kinda see where they are coming from but not sure I agree that it should be here

I would personally be sad if LED got banned since I lucked into one that perfectly fit into my Kozilek deck but it is mainly used for combos so it should at least be on the list

I literally just picked up the one ring but it deserves to be on here and I would not be too upset if it got banned

Tabernacle is not a card I have any experience with but just reading it makes me want it banned

I'm going to cover all the fast mana at once, I could see ancient tomb and mana vault getting banned, neither are quite as good as mana crypt but they still offer really fast acceleration. The rest of them deserve to be on the list for the purposes of setting a standard but there is more of a cost to playing them that I feel keeps them from being banned

Notable missing cards

Worldly tutor seems like a notable exclude considering that the other one mana instant speed tutors are on the list

I could see an argument for heroic intervention either being on or off the list but I am surprised that teferi's protection was not on here

Mana drain seems like it would have been a shoe in on this list too

This one is personal bias because I have faced them a lot with decks that get hard countered by them, but I could see the first two elesh norns being here too

In general cards that outright stop people from playing the game like torpor orb seem like they would be good to put here

By that logic Narset and Notion thief might be good includes too

I could see an argument for all but the green Ikoria free spells to be on here

Overall it feels like there is a bit of a split going on in the list, most of the cards are big in CEDH but some of the cards are only really frustrating at lower power levels and I wonder how the list is going to evolve from these two separate categories.

[kirnet]

🔥 :D

DING DING you are the winner of my blue submarine no 6 rant!!

For context: blue sub no 6 is a 4 part OVA from the nineties about a post apocalyptic world that was intentionally flooded by an evil scientist, leaving the vast majority of humanity dead and the rest living the best they can on the water. It kind of sucks? I am now obsessed with it. No one will know what the fuck I’m talking about.

Because there is only this OVA and an untranslated manga from 1967 that I can’t track down, another 5 part manga from the 90s that i dont think was translated either, and two untranslated video games, I am forced to scrounge the bottom of the barrel from fucking reddit for any sort of discussion. The following is my response to those overwhelmingly negative reactions.

All of the characters get criticized as shallow, which to some degree I can agree with because it is a short series (about 2 hours) with a lot of characters, but I think a lot of it is just a blatant refusal to engage with them in any meaningful way. Hayami isn’t a jaded asshole just bc his friend died, he’s a jaded asshole bc his trigger happy impulses directly led to his friend’s death! Because he’s actually a super sensitive and compassionate man as shown in the series even when he doesn’t want to be!! He’s an addict who has to self medicate to ease the pain because he cares SO MUCH. And a lot of blue sub’s characterization and world building is subtle, not a lot is really told to you. It has these beautiful moments of silence that just show you character and worldbuilding, which people hate bc I guess it confuses them? Did they pay attention?? And yes a lot of the other characters dont really get a lot of depth, but they still feel like real people in the little moments you get with them. It feels like a fleshed out world with real dynamics and real people that you were just dropped in the middle of, which many won’t like, but I think its better than spoonfeeding you every bit of information.

People also shit on the ending, which I get it is actually not an ending. It’s a very open ended end with really no conclusion. I think that fits with the uncertainty of humanity going forward in this world. There’s also a lot of criticism of the villain, who unfortunately is the the weakest part of the show when he should be the strongest, but I think a lot of this is bc of the above reasons. He’s an ecofascist who thinks that there were too many people on earth so he sped up global warming and flooded the majority of the world. Idk, maybe that hits closer to home now than it did in the 90s, but real communities are threatened by the sea and there are very real perpetrators of climate violence. His motivation is weak and kind of non existent- which is a fault of the story, but also like. what actual reason is there to justify something like this other than he was a rich powerful guy who could? Again, maybe it’s just because I’m looking at it in a very modern lens and reading too much into it (I surely am), but there’s a reason it doesn’t really bother me.

I’m gonna stop here before I explode. I dont think i can in good conscience really recommend it to anyone? but if someone does watch please tell me please

[narukouzumakinamikaze]

I finished playing hogwarts legacy(my brother got it for his birthday last year) , and while I enjoyed the game immensely, the main story really was the weakest part of the entire game. And it really hit me when I was playing the final mission and we get to the part where you have to contain the stuff with professor Fig. The only thing going through my mind, was that this would have been much better if Sebastian, Natty, Ominis, and poppy was here instead of Fig. And it got me thinking about the story altogether.

So the goblin rebellion. There was no point of the goblin rebellion. The game didn’t expand on it, nor did it affect the world in any type of way. The whole basis was to get you to isadora, but you could have got to her without the goblin rebellion. Because it didn’t matter at all to anything. You can still have a story without the goblins, because they didn’t add to anything

The game instead should have just been about Isadora and that power she had leaking and disturbing the world as a whole. If you want a main villain, you can have Victor Rookwood be the main villain and have him be the one who wants that power since that’s what he wanted in the main story as he believed it belongs to him. Or better yet, give Isadora a descendent and have them want to either continue her work, or want revenge for what the founders did to their family. These will be much better than Ranrock.

(now that I think about it, Rookwood didn’t need to exist at all in the current story because he also doesn’t add to anything going on with the goblin rebellion. He was such a pointless character)

What was the point of Sebastian seeing Isadora’s memory with us, if it wasn’t going to lead to anything. What was the point of the relic if we weren’t going to learn anything new. We dont even ask the founders about Ann’s condition. This is why my thoughts went to Sebastian first during that scene where we were containing the stuff. Because his side quest was the one that intertwined best with the main story. He should have been with us in the end, because it just made sense.

Which then goes to Natsai and Poppy. Each of them should have lead to a founder and a trial.

You can still find the map chamber with Fig, but the map chamber is empty. The portraits are blank because you have to complete a trial to unseal them to get more information. And each trial you complete, you bring them into the map chamber and they know what’s going on and want to help if they can.

One of the things I just thought about, would be that there are these magical hotspots(much like ancient hotspots) where you have to fight powerful foes who have been corrupted by this dark power and the MC has to use her ancient magic and find a way to separate that power from the host and then contain it. Sebastian gets corrupted by this in his desperate attempt to save Anne and he’s someone the MC has to fight to save. It can be a teamup with Ominis.

The story can pretty much stay the same with Rookwood or whoever finding the last repository and wanting to get to it, but there’s no goblins and your friends are part of it as well and helps you.

Of course I have other critiques of the game, but the story was my biggest one because I couldn’t care less about the ending. It felt really anti climactic. And while the story is generic, it could have done more with the side characters.

[sneakyscarab]

touhou 19 time! this game was literally not even released when i started this, so this is really fresh! this post is probably the closest i will ever be to a real games journalist lol.

nina's thoughts on Touhou 19 - Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost

the most recent touhou, coming out just a few weeks ago, so this review is hot off the presses! UDoALG (wild abbreviation by the way, this name is so long) is a pretty neat game, being a direct sequel to Wily Beast and Weakest Creature story-wise, and a sequel to Phantasmagoria of Flower View gameplay-wise.

UDoALG is another in the competitive-danmaku type gameplay, similar to PoFV but with a number of evolutions to make the gameplay more balanced and easier to control. i won't go over every little change, since theres quite a lot, but ill point out some interesting changes, mostly in relation to story mode. for starters, Ability Cards are back again from UM, although with a much smaller role. each character has 2 cards themed to them, and whenever you beat an opponent in story mode you're randomly given one of their two cards. the three animal spirits are added, but they work completely differently to WBaWC, now being stronger variants of the generic spirit enemies from PoFV. a change that i think is only in story mode is that a new win condition is added, where if you defeat your opponent's boss summon an amount of times then your opponent loses. this is also pretty much the only wincon in story mode, since the AI has insane dodging skills. i literally only saw them lose a life one (1) time across 19 characters' stories (if you're curious, it was in Chiyari's stage 1).

one really interesting aspect of this game is the storytelling. i usually don't bring up the story in these posts outside of how certain characters relate to it, the story usually is a fairly simple affair that just gives the characters a reason to fight, but UDoALG has a much more complex story, which im kinda mixed on. i'll start with the cool part: the story actually progresses as you play through and unlock various characters in story mode, every set of character unlocks represents a later time period of the story, so you don't get the full story and resolution until you play through it all. this is a super cool idea, and gives good incentive to keep playing different routes and see how it all plays out. its a cool idea that uniquely plays off of the large character roster and unlocking method of these competitive vs games.

unfortunately, in order to make this happen and make every character be relevant, the plot is needlessly convuluted, especially in the first couple campaigns. there are so many factions at play, all with their own motives and double-agents and subterfuge. by the end of the 19 story scenarios you will be absolutely sick of the phrase "this is exactly as i had planned", and yet i still dont fully understand What the "main villain"s plan was. i commend ZUN for trying something new with the narrative, both in doing a direct sequel with most of the same characters as a former game, as well as this way of unfolding the story over time through different character routes, but i can't say it was Good. maybe im just biased since it mostly revolves around the WBaWC cast, and that game already had pretty rough plot and characterization, but i dunno. i will say i liked the story more at the end than i did after doing the first couple routes, but some of that early confusion never really goes away, and characters like Ran and Tsukasa dont really get their stories resolved.

time to talk about the characters! UDoALG is furry city, pretty much every character besides the human incident resolvers is some kind of animal-person, plus a few Onis. for returning characters we have Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, Ran (from PCB), Aunn (HSiFS), Nazrin (UFO), Seiran (LoLK), Rin (SA), Tsukasa (UM), Mamizou (TD), Yachie (WBaWC), Saki (WBaWC), Yuuma (the 3rd Animal Realm leader, coming from a fighting game i think?), and Suika (also a fighting game, and SA). for the new characters, we have 3 new youkai who have each joined one of the animal realm families respectively, plus the 'main villain' Zanmu and her assistant Hisami. since theres only 5 new guys, ill just give them each a quick review.

Son Biten is a monkey youkai, based on Son Wukong, recruited to Yachie's Kiketsu family. she's pretty goofy, and has a really neat musical theme. i dont have much to say about her, besides that she has a cool inspiration, and some of her interactions are pretty funny.

Enoko is a dog-type youkai, loosely based on the idea of Cerberus, who was recruited to Saki's Keiga family. instead of literally having 3 heads, she has bear traps on her wrists that act as analogues to the jaws of two additional heads, which is a really neat interpretation of a cerberus concept, as well as having tons of comedic potential. i love all the jokes people make about her offering up a Totally Normal Handshake, dont worry about it. she apparently lived in the Forest of Magic as a dog before awakening as a youkai, so she joins the crew of Marisa's funny forest friends.

the third new Youkai is Chiyari, who is NOT a chupacabra, despite what everyone says. she's based on a Tenkajin, which is apparently an obscure youkai that sucks blood, obscure enough that i could only find a single source for it online, being a Japanese blog post written by who i assume is a youkai enthusiast. Anyways, nobody in Gensokyo knows what a tenkajin is either, so everyone calls her a chupacabra instead since its another bloodsucking creature who is 'pretty popular right now'. most of her interactions are her being annoyed by being called a chupacabra, and eventually coming to terms with it. poor tenkajin gets no respect. shes very funny, and also apparently completely broken in pvp. great character.

Hisami is a 'guide of Hell', who is also inexplicably based on grapes for some reason (or eggplants, depending on who you ask, but im in grapes camp.) she pretty much just finds people in hell and helps them find their destination, although 'their destination' is up to Hisami's interpretation, and multiple times in the story she leads characters somewhere else. apparently she does her job wrong because she wants Zanmu to notice her, and it doesn't work cause apparently that was part of Zanmu's plan all along, so she doesn't care. Zanmu is too busy playing 4d chess to give her suboordinate some attention, so sad.

speaking of, Zanmu is an Oni, and the 'main villain' of the game. i say that with quotes because, despite being the final boss in most routes, and being the chessmaster supposedly laying out the big plans and manipulating everyone, she also is simultaneously resolving the incident, kinda?? its a bit hard to understand her motivations. well i guess her motivations make sense, but its hard to understand how exactly she plans to get what she wants from this plan. like her plan involves getting beat up by Reimu multiple times? hello?? not a fan, and she doesn't even have a cool design inspiration to make up for it, shes just another oni.

alright, lets wrap this one up. i was surprised to see another VS type game come out, and it seems to deliver a lot more balanced and interesting combat than the first one (granted, story mode plays pretty differently from what i can tell). the story is weird though, and the roster doesn't really have many characters i'm excited to play as compared to PoFV, and the characters i do like are pretty bad. (Sanae in particular is really weak in this format, her homing snakes are a huge disadvantage against bosses since they turn as soon as they see an enemy, meaning they wont hit the boss unless every random spirit or fairy is dead first). complaints aside though, at the base level its still pretty fun, and im glad that this type of gameplay is being given another chance.

i said it in my PoFV review, and ill say it again here: if any of you reading this have UDoALG, and are interested in playing the PvP with me, hit me up! itd be fun to try playing this with another person (although i heard the online is rough so i dunno…)

thank you so much for reading, especially those of you that have stuck with me through each post! this is the end of the mainline series, but there's still a lot out there i havent done. im not sure where this will go from here, especially since my college semester just started so i'll have a lot less free time, but ive had a lot of fun working on this project, and i hope that youve had fun reading it! if i do keep going, i might do the PC-98 quintilogy next, or maybe talk about cool fangames like Luna Nights or Mystia's Izakaya, i dunno. whatever comes next though, i hope to see you again! consider this the end of 'volume 1' of my grimoire. farewell!

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

It’s probably not a hot take to say that the past sages are the worst part of Tears of the Kingdom. Not only are they faceless personality voids with the same cutscene 4 times over, but their actual dialogue… hearing it again, I can kind of see why it squeaked some people out.

For starters, all of them say they “served Rauru”, and while that most likely means they served as his generals, some people saw it as them serving him absolutely, and including their races.

All of them also refer to them passing down their stones as the destiny of their races. I think you can kind of see how some people read that as “what, so these other races exist solely to serve Hyrule? R A C I S T ! ! !” Yes?

I don’t think any of this was intentional, mind you; I think it’s just how woefully underwritten they are that made some people think up this weird alternate story.

I definitely think the old sages are the WEAKEST part of the story. They have repetitive cutscenes, with the new sages and with Zelda, and are literally faceless. I do think there was an intentional choice to have their faces covered with masks— something I hope the DLC will cover.

There is a LOT about the Zonai and it’s culture that we still don’t know about, but we do see that the Zonai are considered ‘closer to the Gods’ than even the Hylians. That’s a LOT of unpacked lore. I can’t blame people for wanting to fill in those blanks themselves, but there is simply no evidence to prove anything. We don’t know squat about the Zonai, beyond what Rauru and Mineru show us. The last of their kind, access to secret stones… there is something that happened that wiped out the rest of the Zonai that we do not know anything about.

Passing down the stone is the destiny of the new sages, a responsibility passed on and one accepted by each of the new sages. We know they would have helped Link regardless, but this is a request from Zelda being fulfilled thousands of years later in order to support Link. I definitely think calling that ‘racist’ is simply misinterpreting the story and the intention.

The dialogue itself is pretty reminiscent of the Champions being appointed in the final flashback from The Champion’s ballad, honestly. Serve Hyrule. I think the change to have it be Rauru is because unlike King Rhoam, Rauru was the one facing off against Ganondorf. They would serve him in battle just as soldiers do for their commanders. And he was the commander 🤷‍♀️ I’m not all that bothered by the dialogue choice, but people can do what they want with it

Overall, I truly believe that we will get more answers in the DLC! I hope we will because I understand the focus was on the new sages, but the old ones were important pieces of the story too!

I also truly think a lot of criticism of Rauru and the Zonai is that we DONT have a ton of information about them… but this game was not meant to answer everything. It’s an introduction to a new era of Zelda lore. So while we can create theories and critique the game, there’s a plethora of lore we just don’t have access to yet.

That’s honestly why I haven’t really attempted to delve into Rauru and the Zonai, because canonically speaking we just don’t know much about the culture or their history. And until we do, I’ll remain pretty neutral about it.

[cosmicrescendo]

ok it's been 17 eps and i feel like i've rarely talked about them so i'm gonna Briefly discuss what I consider the Weakest Part of this show so far: The Mint Phantom Thieves:

ok so like for context. Diana is the one actually hexing the victims of the week but for Some Reason she has a pack of #BrokeAss human adults serving as a goon squad who want to get the jewel (unawakened forms of the jewelpets) of the week. So that they pawn it off for Cash since they are #BROKE. Their interests are entirely separate from Diana as it doesn't seem like she personally cares what happens to the jewels after they are summoned so it's just a reason to add A Little Stress to the jewelpet hunting for the first arc until Diana is revealed to be the mastermind behind all the town's hexings.

They are conceptually kind of interesting as a parallel to Rinko and her friends: they're both unsatisfied with their current selves/circumstances and desire to change that. But unlike them, who are resolved to change through their own efforts and thus are aided by jewelpets who resonate with that kind of determination....they try to cheat their way to higher places. But that's where my interest pretty much ends with them.

Because these guys. suck so much.

Firstly, jewels are summoned in response to distressed (but resolved) hearts, so like. It's pretty much Playing the Waiting Game after Diana hexes a person. And you'd think "Oh, so after Diana puts them in a distressing situation, the thieves push the victim's buttons even further in order for them to enact the summon" but like THEY DONT? AT ALL??????? there's only been one episode where they'd tried to do that. So half of their screentime is just stalking the gang + victim while quipping and waiting for Something to Happen. Banal stuff..... This leads me to Points #2 and #3......

Like. you guys know im a kodomomuke/tokusatsu fan. I've seen my fair share of silly goon characters and i love it. but like. These Guys Aren't Funny. Each one pretty much One Joke at their disposal they re-run constantly (Mint is a Doronjo-archetype. Aoijisho is Fat, Sage is a Creepy Old Man) plus the running gag that they are of course, #BrokeAsShit. Unlike common goon squads, they don't really have like, a team dynamic? (Everyone's seen like, Pokemon. Team Rocket has a well-known and loved team dynamic + their willingness to do Anything to get Pikachu constantly puts them in fun situations) So these moments where theyre together quipping at each other dont really hit? at all?

3 is related to #1 in that.They're Grown Adults with no powers up aganist Actual Kids with jewelpets (who cant really be used for like. magicial offenses/defenses) so when the jewel arrives, We Can't Do Anything. Because like, shoving aside a little girl to get their jewels is obviously NG. They literally show up when the jewel appears, go "hand me that fucking jewel before it turns into a puppy" and the girls go "no lol", and then they leave (via a gag or acceptance) when the jewel is turned into a jewelpet. I think this bit would honestly improve if say they had a way to turn Jewelpets back into jewels somehow so there's still Value in capturing a awakened jewelpet so they don't give up so easily. because what's the Point Then.

Overall it just feels weird placing these guys in a non-combat MG because their sections outside of 1-2 episodes always feel out of place with how anticlimactic the encounter tends to be?

I thought the moonstone episode was nice and wondered Why and realized because we didn't Bloat the episode with these losers. With Episode 17 supposedly kicking them out of Diana's graces, I really hope Diana gets a new human partner around the same age as Rinko and friends because that's always a really fun trope and bound to be more interesting than these guys. Ugh.

[justalazytrashpanda]

if you don’t mind me asking, do you perhaps have a list of fangans that you like/are into and seen? And are we possibly allowed to make fangan recommendations? Just curious :0

Ahh sorry for the late reply!!! You are allowed to make recommendations but that doesnt guarantee that I’ll get into them. I dont have as much freetime as i used to im afraid… alas

Anywhere heres all the fangans ive gotten into ranked on a scale of 1-10, 1 being terrible, 5 being perfectly average, and 10 being the best thing ever written. If you want a more indepth opinion on any in specific just shoot me an ask X]. 

Complete fangans

Danganronpa another - 8/10, pretty good! Follows Trigger Happy Havoc a little closely in spots, but whenever it does that it’s trying to subvert whatever its mirroring in the first game. The cast is fun and bounces off eachother really well

Super danganronpa another 2 - 7/10, while it does improve in a lot of aspects when compared to the first game on both a technical and story level, I honestly preferred the first game to the second one. I was spoiled for most of the events in this game and the whole luck transfer thing was really convoluted. It’s still good tho! 

Danganronpa Lapse - 7/10, I really liked the unique artstyle, and the reduced cast allowed for everyone to shine a little bit more! The story was good as well, tho echos whole thing could’ve been explained more clearly. honestly this didn’t even need to be a Danganronpa game, it felt the weakest whenever it was trying to do that. Although I did enjoy the trials

In-progress fangans: have at least 2 chapters out

Danganronpa blowback: 6/10. Not the biggest fan tbh. It does have some cool ideas and characters but when it misses it misses hard. Granted this is one of the oldest fangans ive played, so some aspects can be forgiven based on that. I do wonder if it wouldve gotten better or worse had it gone on for longer

Danganronpa antebellum: 9/10. I had so much fun when playing this game its unreal. Its not perfect by a long shot, it definitely feels like a fangame, but thats whats so great about it. It doesnt take itself too seriously, which is an issue that can easily affect a fan project. The designs for the cast are super fun and i cant say that there's any characters i actively dislike. 

Danganronpa despair time: 9/10. Another really good one! It takes advantage of the medium its presented rather well. The story so far is really good and the parts “inspired” by the mainline games are changed up enough where it makes the tropes feel refreshing. I dont like all the characters but hey its rare to have an entire cast of faves

Just started fangans: only the prologue / first chapter is out

Project edens garden - 7/10. It’s got me hooked! I found the prologue very interesting. It set up the characters well and let them have a chance to shine while also setting up the main story. I found the animal theming interesting and am excited to see where it goes. I just also really like the art style. Each characters color palette is really distinct and i really like that :]

Danganronpa (he)artless deceit - 6/10. It’s alright. On a technical level it's very impressive, and it's clear the people making this really care about it! It just… didn't really click with me. A couple characters did interest me, but i wasn't very invested in the main two focused on in the proluge. I'll be interested to see where it goes but atm I'm more of an observer than a fan.

Danganronpa mauve - 5/10. I dont know what to think about this one. Its only got one chapter out so its hard to judge it, but it just didnt really captivate me all that much. Its clear a lot of work and time has been put into this, and i can totally see how someone could like this! Its just not my cup of tea X]. Out of every fangan ive seen this definitely feels the most like a danganronpa game, but thats a double edged sword. The characters were alright, but it felt… odd to me how many of them resembled characters from other fangans or the mainline series (looking at you satsuki). 

[investigationcore2007]

and you know even putting aside a lot of the writing issues in s o j of which there are many the soundtrack is i think the weakest of the entire series. the versions they did of the investigation themes, court themes, were really not very good in that game. people rag on dd and i get why but dd had good fucking music. the court themes were pretty good, the investigations were decent, and the new themes they introduces were all pretty great. i think athena's were the best of the new character themes but they were all fine.

like you'll look in s o j's ost and the good stuff there is 90 percent from earlier games, and even then, the rearrangements of the court themes and investigation themes... pretty weak as far as im concerned. for me, that is the one game i cant get over. i know dd is the white whale for many fans, but i can reconcile myself to the parts of dd i dont like or agree with, because theres a lot more i did enjoy and was compelled by. s o j though.. i liked seeing pollys backstory and i liked a fair amount of the characters, but the insensitive writing re: the culture of his home was really egregious. the plot wasnt executed very well either though in theory the drama and the premise of the drama was fine.

oh well.