#i'd say i actually want a remake of any of the old games but i really dont want crystals to do anything with classic games

[laugtherhyena]

What are some of you're favourite Sprite edits you've made Whether that be this year, or any over years you've been in the sprite editing business

Ok so I've made A LOT of edits over the years so it took a lil while for me to sort out the favorites and why exactly, but here it is so get ready for some rambling!

First things first i gotta say this isn't really organized from the one i like the most and least, i like all of these edits a whole lot and i really don't think i can pick one or two to be the favorite.

So let's start from the start (sorta) i have to give a spot to my Fantasy Au twins edits, it would be illegal to not put them in this list

The Sdra2 Fantasy Au was one of the first things i made in the fandom and i was attached to it for a long while. These are actually the 4th version of their sprites, out of all them only the 3rd had a full gallery of sprites and trust me they were complex since on top of posting i even made different tails and ears to move around depending on the emotion of the sprite.

Even tho i never finished this 4th take on them I'm pretty happy with the redesign (since as i grew older i realized some of my choices were questionable and i really should have thought more before just going with it, just keep in mind i was a dumb 14-15 year old then) and the improvement on graphical quality because not only does it show how much i improved in editing but also because editing the fantasy twins were my first really hard edits and i was always happy with how well i was able to translate their weird little designs to sprite form.

The Fantasy Au as a whole had a lot of edits with a bunch of complicated details that i never finshed and although I don't like them as much as the twins i do feel like they deserve to be shown somehere so have this pile of lizards, undead firemen and two human girls.

(fun fact; i didn't know how to add textures back then so see those scales on the dragons? I made them all by hand-)

Next one on the list has gotta be the Nijiue siblings! Crazy to think these guys are only 2-3 years old like it feels like they've been with me for ao much longer!

These guys where my first try at making Oc sprites since before all i did were Au stuff and they're very very dear to me, as you can probably guess by the amount of spites an different iterations i made of them over the years. While there are a few things i could improve upon them if i were to remake their edits nowadays, i never felt a strong need to do so because as it is their sprites hold up well imo so remaking them feels unnecessary to me.

And you know I can't really talk about them without mentioning the Voidswap Au and a couple tumblr blogs owned by friends of mine. After Voidswap's cancelation i didn't thought I'd ever use these guys for anything so to think that nowadays there's so many people who not only know these characters but care for them a lot out of seeing them in Asoot and Dfta more recently really fills me with joy! I'm glad y'all enjoy my silly siblings so much and obviously huge thanks to the mods for wanting to include them in their stories, I really couldn't be more thankful for that!

And since we're talking about the fam, let me add Mako to the list as an honorable mention of sorts, a i'm still very happy with how i made her adult designs especially the whole closed trenchcoat and open trenchcoat thing she has going on and how i was able to cary out the heart motif on both of them :]

This next one is one of my newer edits + a pretty simple one which is this Irl Sora design i made for mod Bubbles around early this year.

Honestly, I don't even know how to explain why i like it this much? Maybe it's because Sora is one of the characters from Sdra2 i still decently enjoy or because i had a fun time coming up with her design. I had in mind that i wanted something plain and simple just like her in-game one, just adapted to a more adult look. Rolled up sleeves to resemble her uniform's ones and a scarf to bring back the spark of red her old design had, i also gave her the short hair that post game Yuki has because it's still her body at the end of the day + i think butch-ish Sora looks pretty good :]

From simplicity we jump back into weirdness with these last ones because obviously i wouldn't leave my girls out of this list, what did you guys even expect?

Favoritism? Absolutely, by now I'm sure all of you know how much i like these two but focusing on the graphical side for once, I'm super proud of their designs, i think they fit with the weirdness of some of Linuj's design choices pretty well which in turn makes them look kinda legit? In my head at least. I also had a lot of fun working on their sprites, especially Beni's since it had been a long while since i last tried to really exaggerate expressions on sprites of my characters so that was really fun! + I'm super proud of the baby sprites i made of them too, almost as much as i like their standard/adult designs really.

[delusinalandpassionate]

So hello...I kinda disappeared for a moment after Don's Canto was announced. After seeing that, I immediately remembered my list, and I wanted to remake it to be ready for her Canto. However, when I started to do it, and then I read shit tone of theories about her, and everything became confusing, and I am kinda procrastinated everything. But I'm back! And well, that's the mini list. It's all shady things that happened with Don in our main story and events. To save some time and energy, I only mentioned things that are definitely shady, and I'm certain 99% will play a role in her Canto, but it's still pretty chaotic.

I am also going to make analysises of all her IDs and EGOs in two separate parts and what I think they will lead to.

I didn't write a lot about any theories because there are A LOT of them, but I would love to hear your personal favorites and promise to give my best opinion about them

Also to the person who wrote to me about Discord, I tried to find you, but it well there wasn't enough information for me to understand how, so if you are still interested in talking about Don, please just write me in Messeges.

Okay back to the List

.

1. REDACTED

That thing appears in her character description, in a list of particulars , and none of the other characters has anything like this. Also, her list mentions Delusional of Grandiore. However, she does not show any symptoms (yet)

2. Ferris wheel and Carnival

We already saw a Ferris wheel in form of windmill on her character art and carousel in the window of her persinal EGO art and now with a cover for her Canto, we can with certainty say that she has something to do with this theme. The closest thing to Carnival we saw in the City idb Oswald's 8 o'clock Circus. Which is extremely fucked up place and if Don is really was part if it I would be surprised that she looks so normal(both physically and mentally)

Oswald's ideology also has a lot of about wishes and performance, which could suit her character arc quite well, but with him being dead, I am not sure who is left to control Circus.

3. Eyes and dance

Two little hints from second Canto from which my obsession with Don began. We still have no idea what that could possibly mean.

I should mention that there was a theory that her eyes are cognito filters, but I doubt that.

(There were also theories that she's blood fiend, which is interesting.)

4. Deal

In Canto III Episode 10 we get a first mention of mysterious deal that Don Quixote made with Vergilius. It's important to mention that while he beat shit out of her she still argued about her point, but only he mentioned that "deal" she immediately backed up.

Second mention of a deal happens in Canto IV Episode 28 where sinners wonder outloud about their wishes that brought them to the Limbus and Don only gets "...". Which is fucking weird, because there were other sinners who didn't say anything, but only Don was singled out.

Also it seems like a person with whom she made a deal was Vergilius, which I'd already unusual because it's Faust who does this kind of job.

5. Old friends, rampages and distortions

Canto III Episode 19 where Don Quixote beats Sinclair to bring him to his senses and than says "Pardon my rash action. Often I would find myself overcome by fervor, rampaging much the same as a riderless horse. At such moments, mine old friends helped me to come to myself—by beating me senseless. ‘Twas, at times, the only remedy to the fever that had overtaken me."

And well, that's only time she speaks about her past, giving us this little story. And it sounds horrible. However, we can not deny that this type of therapy works in Project moon world really well. I mean, we just finished Canto, where we beat Heatcliff to bring him to his senses.

Actually, if you think about that, most of "rampages" in these games( excluding "panic" from Lopotomy) happen while characters experience Distorting or EGO corruption and surprisingly Don Quixote have some sort of experience with Distortions?

In Canto IV Episode: 53, when we see DongRang Don Quixote is the first to understand that he's experiencing Distortion. And then, in Risk Levels & Classifications, she mentions that Moses(the DISTORTION detective) sounds familiar to her.

Which makes us wonder if she or someone in her past experienced Distortions?

6. Miguel

Don Quixote's quote "Sueno Imposible" is a direct reference to the musical Man Of La Mancha, and Miguel is a main character of this musical author of the story of Don Quixote who trying to live up to his heroic life.

Also, at old sprites, she had MIGUEL written on the bottom of her coat, but it was removed from the model now. HOWEVER, on her official stand, there is still written MIGUEL.

And that kind of makes us wonder if her character arc could be more inspired by musical than book, or if her real name would Miguel. We still not sure, but it definitely should play a role in her Canto.

[dungeonmalcontent]

So, I'd like to showcase a few things that I've put on DMsGuild because there's a whole lot more now.

I want to start off with Grimdark & Dangerous. Follower turnover is pretty high on Tumblr, and people go inactive pretty quick. So many people that see this will not be familiar with G&D. It was a huge project for me and I am very proud of it.

Grimdark & Dangerous is a 5e d&d homebrew book available for purchase on DMsGuild for $19.99. It comes as a PDF (for now) and is 159 pages of content geared towards gritty aesthetics. You can follow this link to see my full post on the book or the DMsGuild page here. It has a lot of content and is more than worth the price tag.

While G&D is my biggest item on DMsGuild, I have a nice handful of middle sized docs as well. These are mostly pay what you want (PWYW) titles and quite old. They are also more prone to errors and unintelligible text (where I just started writing and went into a stupor and created something I no longer fully understand).

+ Ancient Artifice Primer for Modern Practitioners (PWYW) - A magic item crafting system which can allow players to create magic items with some degree of value based balancing. It doesn't cover as much as it should in my opinion and is one of those unintelligible texts. However, I do still appreciate my very limited world-building of early runic magic and early graphic design work.

+ Better Backgrounds: 5e Character Building Alternative (PWYW) - A short book on how players can build characters without relying on race based ability score increases. I built on this premise in Grimdark & Dangerous and I'm still quite proud of how I did it in Better Backgrounds. This is a much rougher document than G&D and the writing has a handful of errors, but still decent.

+ The Inheritor: An Artifact and Exploration Class (PWYW) - A homebrew class option. I always say that if you want to play in a game and have a strong connection to the setting, run vestiges (Critical Role), or have a complex backstory this is the class for you. Inheritor characters come with a prebuilt artifact which functions as a growing magic item. You get to customize the item and there is a lot of variability to what your item can do (also includes a modular builder if you aren't very creative). Still pretty proud of this.

+ Mystic Revised (PWYW) - A full remake of the mystic UA class using my own opinions of what it should be. It's based, roughly, on the Nen system in Hunter x Hunter. It's a pretty fun class, but is not very mystic/psionic-y.

+ An Outcast's Notes on the Plane of Pensos - A Planar Adventure Setting for 5e (PWYW) - Don't pay money for this one unless you really genuinely love it. It's an outline and not worth much (IMO). Technically, it can't really even be sold on DMsGuild because it constitutes a homebrew setting (which they don't allow). I created it because I ran (and still do run) this setting and figured it could be a fun thing to share.

+ Plague Pestilence Parasite (PWYW) - A disease book that introduces new mechanics for how contagious diseases spread and how they can be integrated into 5e adventure settings. It also includes a handful of new diseases of varying danger (not all of which are actually threats to player characters). Still a decent book, though I now recognize it lacks some clear writing and has a handful of errors (I may come back and redo this book at some point).

+ Plague Pestilence Parasite: Avolakia Overrun (PWYW) - I don't think I'm really fit to write actual adventure modules, and this book is why. It is an adventure module written to use the rules in Plague Pestilence Parasite. It is still technically an open beta test. It's not unplayable, but I don't think it represents an adventure that players would latch on to (feel free to prove me wrong).

+ The Emissary: An Extraplanar Class (PWYW) - One of my first docs. It's a homebrew class heavily inspired by the Fate/Stay series (has nothing to do with any of the core themes/tropes/abilities of any Fate title) and is actually way more fun than it may sound. The premise: you get a little pocket dimension to store things in and it gives you a variety of powers (the ability to make a little nature preserve, become an auto-crafter, or be Gilgamesh in UBW and launch items at people).

Then there are smaller docs. These are moderately more expensive than most of my short docs (will list those later) but have a significant amount more content than my short docs. These are more recent docs and I generally have higher opinions of them because I was more skilled when I made them.

+ Grimdark Puzzles ($5) - An extension of the themes present in Grimdark & Dangerous. This document contains three (technically 5-6 depending on how you think about it) puzzles that present unique puzzles with dark aesthetics. I really like this doc.

+ From the Dwarven Vault ($1.50) - An item collection themed for dwarven cultures. This does rely a lot on dwarven stereotypes in fantasy, but I did get to bring in some fun things (like burial armor and the DUBA) that I think most people would really appreciate having in their games for lore and aesthetics. Also includes some content for rune carving.

+ From the Elven Vault ($1.50) - Like FTDV, this is a collection of items themed for elves. However, this one is a bit different. While Dwarves are smiths and warriors, elves are crafters. Not just of metal, but most mediums and particularly with mediums that take a great deal of time. If you like crafting in campaigns (if artificer is your favorite class), you want to take a look here because I added in crystal singing and there are three new sets of artisan's tools.

+ Lich Minions: A Lair Building Guide ($2.50) - I really liked making this doc and I am very happy with it. This is a guide for making lairs when your BBEG is a lich. It includes a variety of undead themed minions and how they fit into a lich's minion hierarchy. Each minion has some unique difference from their generic variety or are outright unique, they all have stat blocks. This is a really good resource if you want to do a short dungeon run campaign or a siege campaign. I plan on making more docs like this and I really enjoy this format.

Finally, I have my short docs (there's a lot of these). For simplicity I'll break these into two sub-categories: "Encounter With" and "Subclass".

The “encounter with” docs are short docs that include information on a unique or updated monster, a specific NPC, or a type of NPC. Each is given a stat block, has an outline of what kind of hazards are in the same area as this creature, and lists what kind of loot you might be able to gather from encountering this monster. These encounters include:

+ Archchancellor Ensiid

+ Dracolich Gollryn

+ The Athach

+ The Beholdra

+ The Boom Goblin

+ The Chaos Beast

+ The Destrachan

+ The Drow Paleweaver

+ The Introspective Terror

+ The Lifeblood Magus

+ The Musclemancer

+ The Non-Phaneron Beast (note the cover of this doc is intentional, as the beast does not have a visible form)

+ The Pale Widow

+ The Silkscale Coiler

+ The Soliptic Nightmare

+ The Sunken Effigy

+ The Venomous Plesiodrake

+ The Werewolf Lord

(I feel like I'm missing one...). All encounters have a $0.50 or $0.75 price tag depending on if the encounter features an original or converted stat block.

The subclasses are just that, subclass docs. I really love making subclasses and I try not to burn out on them because I have so many subclass WIPs I want to do. These subclasses include:

+ Druid: Circle of the Grove (Plant druid. Why doesn't this exist already?)

+ Druid: Circle of Witchcraft (Discworld witches, love this one)

+ Fighter: Blade Drifter (I just want to link a song from the Sonic Riders franchise here, but they're all so corny)

+ Ranger: Hell Skulker (nine hells/abyss ranger, also really like this one)

+ Warlock: The Greatwyrm (DRAGON PATRON! Why doesn't this exist already?)

These subclasses all have a $0.75 price tag. I will probably be making a lot more of these, they just take a bit longer than the encounter docs.

[freelanceexorcist]

FFVII Remake spoilers under the cut.

So I’m probably as caught up as I’m going to be at this time, so here are some hot takes all in one place.

*So ��the you know I killed her” line seems to have been spoken by a version of Sephiroth that Cloud is hallucinating, at least that’s what I get from how he just appears and disappears and no one else seems to acknowledge that he’s there. Yeah, Cloud's head is a dumpster fire.

*Seems like the dev team took a big, fat shit on Team Ore Sephiroth, hyping up what a great guy he used to be and making us hope he might have a chance only to make him even more cartoonishly evil than he was in the original game. Fuck you for that. I'm sure the purists are squealing with glee right now, though. Fuck them, too.

*The Glenn impersonation though? *chef’s kiss* Now that was awesome. Sephiroth dipping his toe in the political intrigue waters, declaring war on Shinra and verbally wailing on Rufus was a pleasure to behold. Poignant, too, that he’s taking the form of the first friend he ever had, a friend that Rufus cold-bloodedly shot in the back. You really are a little bitch, Rufus, and Sephiroth wants to make sure you know that.

*Yeah, there's bad blood between those two that goes way back. The way Sephiroth just seethed at Rufus and the way Rufus pumped bullet after bullet into the black cloak that was his meat suit, still pulling the trigger after the gun was empty. Yeah, Rufus doesn't have some noble goal when it comes to Sephiroth, he's just fucking pissed at him. It's personal on both ends of that one.

*Maybe the old man paid more attention to Sephiroth than he ever did to his actual kid and Rufus is mighty sore (and jealous) over that. Maybe he's pissed that the glory he craved went to Sephiroth instead, who didn't even want it (yeah, Rufus, we know why dictators throw massive military parades for themselves). Maybe Sephiroth is resentful of Rufus because, all things considered, he got a relatively normal childhood while Sephiroth had to suffer under Hojo and was chucked onto a battlefield when he was just 15.

*And I'm gonna need to know more about how the trooper that Sephiroth couldn't save in the river turned into Zack from Cloud's point of view.

*So why did Sephiroth save Cloud from the Midgar Zolom? Wouldn’t it have been in his best interests to let him die, then he could get on with his dastardly plan relatively unhindered?

*Tseng gets stabbed right through and just walks it off. Damn, son.

*Yeah, I'm disappointed that they just made Sephiroth a generic villain to be defeated so you can save the day. But whatever version of him is trolling the shit out of Rufus? I'd follow that one to Hell and back.

*Man, I’m really gonna need those Japanese-speaking folks to chime in on what pronoun he’s using at any given time. *lights up the Bat Signal*

*This confusing-ass story is giving me a headache. I’m gonna stop now and just say

[sapphire-weapon]

haiii it's the anon that wrote the orange light analysis again😭😭all ur aeon posts recently have got something on my chest

despite my video I don't actually ship aeon... like they're a good duo and I like them together but in the remakes there aren't any romantic moments between them and I feel like aeon shippers deliberately misinterpret scenes to fit their narratives and their beliefs

Like the kiss scene in 2 HOW was that romantic... re2r was my second re game and even I realised the first time I played it that he was annoyed and didn't kiss her back. But aeon stans never mention that they're just like 'oh they kissed so they're in love' nooo... SHE kissed HIM. and not for any romantical reason either. And then when Annette tells him Ada isn't FBI he doesn't question it he just seems dissapointed because he KNEW she wasn't. But aeon fans get so mad when u say that they act like it's real life like it's not that deep....

And also the shippers who act like their head over heels for eachother. They're not like they do not know eachother. They r practically strangers (talking ab the remakes.) And it's very clear with the remakes Leon has more of a spine and isn't allowing himself to be pushed around by her. Ppl infantilise him and make him seem stupid but it's like../. In re2r he is. A 21-year-old GROWN MAN. maybe a bit naïve but not some stupid little baby who can't tell Ada is fucking with him which is the way a lot of people paint him.

N e wayz this is long as hell u don't even have to respond😭just wanted this off my chest I love talking about their relationship.

anon, if we were together in person, i'd offer to take you out for a drink.

believe it or not, it even took me a long time to break away from that "aeon as default" mindset. it's only been since... may of this year that i've felt comfortable/confident enough to say that aeon has been de-canonized and eagleone is far closer to a canon romance than they are in the remake-verse.

RE6 has been out for 10 years, and the post i just made the other day where i first mentioned that RE6 ends with leon rejecting ada is the first time i've said that out loud/in public. because that "aeon as default" discourse is so prevalent and oppressive.

but we need to be willing to talk about these things openly and with our names attached if anything in the fandom is going to change. and it can't just be me, either. like i've said, my reach is very limited. but the fact of the matter is that aeon fandom has had a chokehold on the conversation surrounding this series for 25 fucking years, and their interpretation of the story is wrong.

it's just wrong.

it's incorrect.

it's not what the story actually is.

and it's being pitched to new fans without giving said new fans a chance to think or speak on their own. and the perpetuation of misinformation throughout this fandom continues.

people are finally starting the first rumblings of pushing back against the "leon's background is in the italian mafia" bullshit. we can push back on the aeon narrative, too.

because we should.

[duhragonball]

The Future of Dragon Ball

I was going to play Mega Man X5 tonight, but it's acting kind of buggy and I'm not in a mood to try to troubleshoot my copy of Legacy Collection 2, so I'll write about Dragon Ball instead. Specifically, what happens next?

Let me make this clear up front: I don't actually know the answer to this. I'm not an "insider" claiming to have "leaked" information. All I want to do is discuss the possibilities, and the culture of speculation that seems to persist in the fandom.

I tend to call this "modern" era of the Dragon Ball franchise a "renaissance", because very little official material came out between 1998 and 2012, and then after Battle of Gods ushered in this new wave of Dragon Ball movies, TV episodes, web series, and comics. I've been covering this all year in the #2023dbapocryphaliveblog, in case you're new to this blog, and while much of it hasn't been very good, there were a lot of bright spots. Battle of Gods, Broly, and Super Hero were classics, the Tournament of Power basically saved and otherwise lackluster Dragon Ball Super anime, and the Granolah Saga in the DBS manga is a fun read with a great cliffhanger.

However, things have slowed down a lot this year. The Granolah Saga ended and the manga began a long, long adaptation of the Super Hero film. There was some hype about a new Tenkaichi Budokai video game, but there's been no word on when it'll come out what we can expect to see. I get the sense that the fans are champing at the bit for some big announcement, like a new movie or anime series, but it hasn't happened.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but back in my day you just had to wait and see, and accept the possibility that you may never get what you were hoping for. The vibe I get from DBTwitter is that people think they can somehow manifest a new animation through sheer force of will. News will spread of some Toei panel and fans will cling to the hope that there must be some big Dragon Ball announcement, and it must be nothing less than a teaser trailer for Xenoverse 3, a DBZ remake, and release dates for the next five movies. Then the panel will come and go, and it just ends up being a fluff PR thing where a spokesperson says "Dragon Ball is very fun and Goku is cool." and that's it. And all the fans get upset until the next panel, where they put their clown makeup on all over again.

"No, this can't be happening. Dragon Ball 2uper is real..."

When I was still new to the fandom, I always wondered how Dragon Ball AF could be such a potent fantasy for so long. But now I've lived through the Dragon Ball Super era, and seen fans chasing similar dreams. People have been waiting for Xenoverse 3 for over six years. They've been expecting "Dragon Ball Super II" ever since Dragon Ball Super I ended five years ago. And I'd say it's a pipe dream, except fans held out hope for Tenkaichi 4 since 2010, and it looks like we're actually going to get that one? You never can tell with this franchise. My kneejerk reaction to Dragon Ball Magic is to dismiss it as fake, but I can't be completely sure.

The weird thing is that 2uper, Magic, and XV3 have been hyped up during a boom period for the franchise. Dragon Ball Super had a 131 episode run, followed by two feature films. It's still going, but people want 2uper to animate the Moro Saga. People want a new web anime, but there's already a web anime. Super Dragon Ball Heroes has been running since 2018 and it's still going. Xenoverse 2 is still releasing DLC packs. I recognize that some of this content isn't what everyone wanted, but it's weird how fans are demanding new projects before the old ones have run their course. At least when AF became a legend, there weren't any official works to compete for its attention.

It occurs to me that maybe this is just part of the fan culture, and every so often fans will collectively agree on some imaginary premise and Goncharov their own series. Maybe that's what AF was then, and what Magic is today. They're not hoaxes, but rather some sort of mutually-agreed-upon daydream. I'm not sure I get it, but it is what it is.

Anyway, my position has always been that Dragon Ball has ended before and can end again, so there's no reason to assume that there will be some new anime or movie or video game to look forward to. I watched Super Hero fully believing that this could be the last one, even though the box office numbers suggest that a sequel is probably inevitable. But nothing is guaranteed. Dragon Ball GT started strong in the ratings, only to get canceled about a year later.

And yet, there seems to be some kind of guarantee, because of this guy:

I think there are a lot of fans who believe that Dragon Ball Super has a lot of loose ends to tidy up, and the series can't end until Goku and Vegeta surpass Jiren, Beerus, Whis, and Orange Piccolo. And maybe this is true, but I'm not so sure. But Black Frieza isn't just a loose end. This seems like a pretty big honkin' deal, and it would be pretty weak if they wrapped things up without some kind of reckoning here. Frieza's the main villain of Dragon Ball Super now, and in his most recent appearance he revealed he can defeat Goku and Vegeta with frightening ease. And yet, he spared them. Why?

So that seems like the obvious direction going into 2024. This is why fans are so burned out on the manga this year, because they know a Black Frieza arc is coming, but they have to wait for Toyotaro to retell Super Hero before we can even find out when it's happening.

My guess is that Toei/Shueisha decides to tease this out even longer. We get to chapter 100 of the manga and it starts some bullshit arc about Goten and Trunks playing superhero park rangers on 17's island. Or... that dumb android from the Moro Saga comes back and they jerk around with that guy for 18 chapters. They'll get to Black Frieza eventually, but I suspect that they're holding off until they can set up a Black Frieza movie. Then the manga can just adapt that movie and everything gets paid off around the same time.

Either way, I'm a little skeptical about it just being Goku and Vegeta training to beat Black Frieza. I keep coming back to how he let them live at the end of the Granolah arc. Ostensibly, he just wanted to frighten them, and make it clear that he no longer sees them as a threat. But maybe there's more to it than that. Maybe Frieza needs them alive for some reason. Like he plans to use them to achieve some goal, or he needs their help to stop some even greater menace that we haven't seen yet.

Maybe that's what Frieza was talking about at the end of the Broly movie when he said he wanted "one other". I kind of thought he meant to use Broly as an ally against Goku and Vegeta, but maybe he's planning a campaign against some other guy, and he sees Broly as a potential resource. And maybe that's why he spared Goku and Vegeta on Planet Cereal. If he kills them, he might not be able to find Broly when the time comes. Or maybe he just needs all three Saiyans, so he has to pull his punches.

Or maybe I'm overthinking this, and it just turns out that Black Frieza ends with a manga arc where Goku turns "Ultra Instinct (Defined) (Remastered)" and wins a paint-by-numbers battle. Or Roshi beats Black Frieza, because that sounds like something Toyotaro would do.

So what would happen after Black Frieza? See, that's where I wonder about the future of the franchise, because so much work has gone into mining past arcs. The first DBS movie was about bringing back Broly, Bardock, and Gogeta. The second movie brought back the Red Ribbon Army, the androids, and Cell. Frieza will almost certainly get another turn, and then what? What's left?

I mean, let's break this down by the major antagonists we've had so far.

Pilaf Saga. The Pilaf gang are still living in Bulma's house, apparently, so that comic relief bit from Battle of Gods shows no signs of ending.

Red Ribbon Army. DBS Super Hero brought them back and opened some interesting doors for future Red Ribbon stories. It's hard to imagine the Army making another comeback since Cell Max destroyed their secret base and all their top leaders were killed. But the Red Pharmaceutical Company still exists and someone must have taken over after Magenta's death.

Tien Shinhan. Tien never left, and while I'd be down for a Tien-centric saga, it seems pretty unlikely after all these years. At best, he gets a prominent role in a story featuring some more important player.

King Piccolo/Piccolo Junior. Piccolo never left either, and now he's got his own movie in Super Hero.

Saiyans Saga. Vegeta never left, and DBS: Broly pretty much covered the idea of "here are some new Saiyans we didn't know about before."

Frieza Saga. Resurrection F, Tournament of Power, DBS: Broly, this upcoming Black Frieza thing, I think this has been covered.

Androids/Cell Saga. 17 and 18 never left, and the idea of more androids and a new Cell was already covered in Super Hero.

Majin Buu. It's been 27 years and no one seems to want to do anything with this guy. Maybe 2025 is the year when Akira Toriyama finally does some big Buu story to justify keeping him around this whole time.

Zamasu. I mean, the dude got erased, so it'd be pretty bullshit to bring him back. Then again, it was pretty bullshit of Toriyama to create this idea in the first place, so I can't rule it out. "Whoops, more Zamasu" might be the storyline that would force me to quit the Dragon Ball fandom for good.

Tournament of Power. I mean, they could do another Tournament of Power for funsies, but it probably wouldn't live up to the spectacle or the novelty of the original. More likely, I could see some adventures featuring prominent characters from the event, like Jiren, Hit, the U6 Saiyans, etc.

Moro. I did not enjoy the Moro arc much at all, so it kind of bums me out when people suggest that Toei should do an anime adaptation of it. To me, that would be just as big a waste of time as the DBS manga doing the Super Hero adaptation that's going on right now, but it would be even worse because Moro kind of sucks. In the same vein, doing stories that follow up on the Moro arc would be difficult because you'd have to refer back to the Moro arc, which only appeared in the manga, which not everyone read. So it's this difficult spot where you'd have to animate the Moro arc first, just to do a new arc about Merus and Jaco or whatever. It's probably not worth it.

Other Z Movies and GT: The success of DBS: Broly sort of opens the door for similar reboots of guys like Cooler, Turles, Janemba, Baby, etc. But honestly, this seems pretty far-fetched to me. Broly was a much, much bigger star than any of those other characters, so what worked for Broly isn't necessarily a road map for a guy like Bojack or Omega Shenron.

Looking over all of this, I kind of wonder what's left to do. Maybe something with Majin Buu, or the big shots from the Tournament of Power, and after that, I think they'll have used up all the viable nostalgia. After that, Dragon Ball will probably have to come up with something brand new, which is kind of a dicey proposition, because they've been hit-or-miss with that. Granolah and Tournament of Power were good, Moro and Zamasu were bad, so when I hear they're doing something all-new, I get kind of nervous.

But in the end, I don't know what will happen, which brings us back around to where I started. We'll just have to see what shakes out.

[myz-wykkyd]

19 aaaand 1! ...for some reason I can't copy-paste... >:0

I'm gonna assume these are for Rosalie since she's my main! ;w;<3 I apologize in advance if you wanted a different character though, Denny!

Answers under the cut cause as always, I ramble.

Did you create your OC with a plan to ship them with a specific character or another OC? Or was their relationship something that evolved all by itself?

yes and no, actually! Rosalie was a character I'd been working on in the background for years. In any game with a character creator I ever played (Monster hunter, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, Sunhaven, Coral island, Sims, ect. ect) - I'd always make a female pink haired who I knew I wanted to turn into an oc, but for a long time I never managed to work out many details about her beyond that. And when I did, they would often change multiple times. For instance-- her name! When I first made her I called her Momo/Momoko, then I changed it to Amelia, then Charlotte, Gabrielle, ect. I don't remember the exact date, but eventually, sometime in 2022, an idea entered my monkey brain. A cowgirl.... but pink. And I instantly became obsessed- because I felt like she represented me and what I loved in a way no other character had before her.

Below is the first attempt I ever made at trying to design the character that would eventually become Rosalie. (Old art ew-)

But it was slow going finding something for Rosalie. But April 2d in 2023, I finally bought and and started playing My time at Sandrock after eyeing it since it was first released, and that's when the inspo hit BIG TIME and I was finally able to finalize her design. LOL I actually scrapped a whole save file that went all the way to the middle of act 2 just so I could remake Rosalie in MTAS. And because the setting was so fitting for her, I decided then I wanted to ship her with one of the characters.

I was like the vast majority of people and fell in love with Logan the first time I played- back then he still wasn't romanceable and we didn't know if he even would be. But even after he was finally confirmed, I was still indecisive on who Rosalie would have as a love interest. I had tons of ideas for what Logan's story with Rosalie would look like, but he was so popular I was often worried I couldn't bring anything new and interesting to the table. So I began to consider other options- like Owen. But I just didn't have as many ideas for him as I did Logan. To this day, I still struggle to say who Rosalie's main ship is in MTAS.

Do you have a sense of how your OCs relationship will evolve in the future? Or is it quite a fixed in terms of dynamics and story?

It's still under development so I wouldn't say it's fixed, but I hope I can share it someday, somehow.

[thecodeveronica]

3, 8, 22, and 27 for the ask game :3

Hi, thanks for the numbers!!

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed Ooo I'll keep this to games I only played for the first time:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth A wild ride to the end, but that's what I've enjoyed about Remake and Rebirth and the excitement of seeing the differences from the original FFVII, and seeing how the games toy with the concept of a "remake." I demand playable Rufus in part 3, I looooove him and the little adjustments they've made to his character.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (remake) I played the original (several times actually, years ago) but I think the remake does almost everything better. Just a fantastic remake all around. Gorgeous visuals, fantastic redone soundtrack with only a few stumbles, the same classic Paper Mario battle system and exploration that I love so much... No joke, I finished this two-ish weeks ago and I've been empty ever since, I miss it already. Koops is my ride-or-die partner, and I feel like the fanbase doesn't talk about TEC enough? I adore him and always have, I kinda love his feelings for Peach and how he wanted to protect her 😭 8. A series you haven’t played but are interested in trying The Red Dead series has always intrigued me, and I'm always so close to picking up RDR1 and RDR2 when they go on sale. Look like fun to play and I think I'd enjoy the plot in both, I'm just afraid of the time commitment to play them and can't bring myself to play 2 without 1 first lol.

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you Can't say much about this because it really is a game that deserves to be seen as blind as possible for the full effect, but lets just say SOMA's ending is ingrained in my mind forever and... yeah. Wow. Highly recommend that game to any horror fans btw. Had no expectations for it going in and only played it since it was a PS+ monthly game a few years ago and was blown away.

27. A game you love the atmosphere of Gonna list more than one because I'm a cheater and I have Chronic Rambler Disease: Resident Evil: CODE: Veronica Aesthetically my favorite Resi game and favorite overall and I actually like the non-prerendered backgrounds a lot! I know they may not have aged as well as in some of the other games in an objective sense, but I LOOOOOOVE Dreamcast-era visuals and the game has a perfect mix of being colorful but also dreariness. The Ashford Residence is the big standout! A dimly lit, creepy old house with a half-finished large doll hanging from the ceiling, bats everywhere, all the antiques... *chef's kiss* delicious

Paper Mario The N64 one!! The only one that was more of a crayon and storybook-themed aesthetic over the more overt "paper" of later games. It's so comforting, it's literally like video game chicken noodle soup to me. Everything is so cute, even the enemies. Charming as charming can be.

And thanks again, hope this wasn't too long lol

[nazmazh]

So, saw a Reddit thread asking about what sort of alternate characters/costumes/looks you'd really, really want for Dead by Daylight, and me, being the nerd I am want so many Remedy-Verse characters (generally would be alternates for Alan unless, like Jesse Faden were to be brought in as a character in her own right, which is pretty unlikely).

And of course, that includes Odin and Tor Anderson. Give Bill Overbeck some company in the Cool Old Geezer category.

And I got to thinking - Those two probably would fucking love being in The Entity's Realm. They'd treat it like some sort of Valhalla - Have fun being able to run basically forever and have a task to work on. And, sure, they can't really do anything to hurt the killers, that wouldn't stop them from trying periodically - Just to see if it might work this time, but if it still doesn't, they'd happily embrace a warrior's death, over and over, protection their teammates and hopefully buying them time to win.

Not "escape" - They know that's not actually truly possible (at least, most likely not). Their True Sight abilities mean that The Entity isn't able to wipe their memories or confuse them about how long they've been there (Or the fact that they really actually don't need to eat or drink in the Realm anyway).

Like I say though - Even knowing all this - They'd probably view the Realm as some sort of afterlife anyway, and there's certainly worse fates than being trapped in The Entity's sadistic games - Really.

Especially knowing that despite however much it might hurt, they're not truly going to die, just respawn, I feel like they'd pretty enthusiastically play the games - Feeling especially satisfied when they do put one over on killers and escape/win the match.

They'd also probably be mouthy towards literally every killer (and a good deal of the survivors too, but those would be more teasing/joking around). Like, the Statler and Waldorf of the Realm.

"Bro, I'm gonna level with you - I think there might be something wrong with your stash. The sickly orange glow is probably a bad sign for most drugs"

"Ooh... Scary clown! Bah! I've opened for clowns scarier than you! You know what's really terrifying? Being stuck in a green room with Gene Simmons when he's trying to give you business advice!"

"Oh no. A teenager with a knife. So original. Oh, you've got a hood and a mask too? Well now, that's really scary. And definitely innovative."

"You know miss, I don't think I've ever seen you actually sell anyone a skull. Do you have any for purchase? No, really, I want to help you with that whole 'Merchant' thing. Otherwise, it's just silly, isn't it?"

"Ma'am, I'm gonna suggest that you should avoid whatever you've been eating. It sucks, I know. I can't eat anything with cinnamon after supper anymore without needing a whole bottle of antacids. Maybe the entity will do you a favour a pull in some of that bismuth stuff from somewhere?"

"Oh, you wanna be all big and scary? I can roar like a madman too! If I had my hammer I'd show you how an Aesir deals with giants and trolls."

"I gotta say, Bro, you oughta get a refund on those shades. They don't seem to do shit for you!" (*Blinds Wesker with a flashlight*)

"Am I supposed to be scared of you? Bro, you're the failed reboot version of yourself! They didn't even find you worthwhile enough to keep making *more* new sequels with! I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen 'real' Michael Myerses and Leatherfaces kicking around. None of that Rob Zombie remake one, or any of the 10,000 attempts at making a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. So, what's your excuse, New Coke? Is The Entity just waiting to give us Freddy Classic as some sort of marketing gimmick?"

[I cannot stress enough that while they'd be saying stuff like this while cleverly dodging out of the way, or pallet stunning and whatnot. They'd absolutely be spouting this stuff while actively dying]

[blindrapture]

want to do one of my posts where I talk about and gush about a thing.

Braid, the Anniversary Edition.

it's good. oh man it's good.

I'd been waiting for it for a long damn time. it was announced years ago. it finally came out.

what is braid about? you know. everyone knows. there's a Guy, and he's on a quest to save the Princess who's waiting in Another Castle. (well, a guy named Tim, living in a modern city, his unfulfilling daily life never disclosed, goes home every night and dreams of how Time might work in other worlds. and in those worlds, he searches for the Princess. that's the actual premise of braid.)

braid is such a.. such a game in my life. I actually got it maybe about a year after it first came out? back in 2009. on the xbox live arcade. some real grandpa gaming, I know. I was 14, I had an opportunity to buy a game that people were saying good things about on the internet. so I did. and I played through it. and I thought it was okay.

I can tell you my 14-year-old opinions from memory: the visuals were fucking ugly. like, yes, they look like a painting, but couldn't they have made it look like a good one? the foreground objects are all so... busy, lots of fine details on such small fucking sprites, and the visual design of protagonist Tim is so incredibly grating to me (it.. it was just the fact his tie was red. his tie needed to be black. it needed to be black. such a minor detail but it was kryptonite to my brain). the music is low-key really fucking good, it is not immediately good but it has immaculate moods and it does stick with you after. the game is short. the puzzles are really clever, but the fact that it is an action (platformer) game means I am going to try to solve everything quick, and with enough brute force and twitchy reflexes you can solve plenty of the puzzles in Wrong ways that are not enjoyable. but the puzzles do stick with you, deep in your subconscious. you feel better for having even seen the puzzles. and the structure of the game, combined with the baffling text passages, is... intoxicating.

so.

braid was, from the start, a game I wasn't sure on, a game that didn't quite meet my tastes, and also a game that burrowed deep in my brain and stuck with me. a game I could not forget. braid was just... braid.

frankly, the fact that I played braid at such a formative age and had this mixed-yet-intoxicated response probably went a long way towards turning me into the gamer I am today? but anyhoo.

over the years, I would replay braid. I bought it for PC when it was ported over and replayed it again. braid came over onto my xbox one thanks to basic backwards compatibility, so I replayed it again. I'd tell a friend about the game and decide to replay it again. I think I play it every three years, more or less? and then the developer made another game, and I picked that up out of curiosity, and that game was The Witness, and that game literally met everything, and I mean everything, I ever wanted out of any video game ever, that game was so For My Tastes it's fucking ridiculous, that game is actual perfection, there is not a single thing out of place, not a single polygon out of place, not a single puzzle out of place, not a single audio log out of place, nothing. so. so suddenly I found myself in the position of needing to replay braid again.

this time, I got a lot more appreciation for it. it still.. definitely isn't perfectly to my tastes. the visual style has warmed on me. but I think it's got too many twitchy puzzles. but it's not actually a problem, because the game is fucking short. takes about three hours to get through even if you don't remember/know how to solve the puzzles. so a little twitchiness, while suboptimal, is forgivable.

and apparently, the developer thinks so too. and I know this because he said it himself in the remake.

so. fast forward, now, to now. Braid, the Anniversary Edition, has just come out.

what's in it? y'know, the standard stuff. it's a full remake. the visuals have been entirely repainted, the sound has been remastered. you have a button you can press to freely and instantly toggle between the old game and the remake so you can directly compare the improvements. really good stuff, sleek stuff!

it's what you'd want from any remake.

oh, also, 15 hours of developer commentary. for a 3-hour game.

that was actually one of the features mentioned when the game was first announced, so this didn't take me by surprise or anything, but, like. you just hear that as a feature and your brain is kinda just like "oh, cool, commentary." you don't really realize the sheer scope of that number.

15 hours. 15. that's. that's 5 games' worth.

and y'know what else? it's fucking good commentary. thoughtful, considered. sometimes it's maddeningly specific about tiny details in the game. sometimes it's wonderfully broad about the evolution of game design principles in the industry as a whole. sometimes Jonathan Blow talks about Donkey Kong and Mario. sometimes Elden Ring is mentioned. there are demonstrative movies that can take up your full screen and pause gameplay if you wish, or can be docked as a small video and let you keep playing on your own. there's concept art, development art, prototypes. there's new levels, new puzzles, every one of them extremely frustratingly simply hard, harder than anything else in the game, and they're all exclusive to Commentary Mode.

Commentary Mode is the actual meat of this game.

it's. more like an interactive textbook about video game design, using Braid as a focused example. it is strictly nonlinear and intuitive for the game format, you can find commentary nodes throughout the game, and there are now tons of New Doors (leading to contextual sequences of doors) facilitating passage through braid in labyrinthine ways as you explore the commentary based on subject matter. it's like playing a museum. there's a special hub with wings for you to use as optional navigation.

one of the wings talks about the fucking story. the literary influences. the core concepts. and the ambiguity, and how to design that for video games.

you guys.

it's a damn maze of a meta-game, with secrets and insights and puzzles that are comically difficult (I haven't solved a single one yet!!!) and.

it's so!!! good!!!

this game is worth it for Commentary Mode.

buy Braid, Anniversary Edition. probably play through the actual contents of the game first, then start Commentary Mode.

if you are even remotely interested in game development and game design, you owe it to yourself.

15 hours!!!!! 15 fucking hours!!!!

[werewolf-kat]

(Pokemon Presents spoilers)

Oh heck, didn't care for any of the other stuff but that final announcement was a total surprise. All the Unowns made me think something Johto-related was coming up. But it's Kalos and bringing back mega evos! (Which I actually do miss after they've been gone for ages now...)

The way the logo animation first showed "Z" alone actually brought back some of that old feeling of speculating Pokemon games and the "Crystal/Emerald/Platinum" entry for having trio versions again. (Though nowadays the novelty of that has died out for me)

I fondly remember people wishing for a Pokemon Z so we could see more love and lore for Zygarde. Gotta say, I am still a Zygarde fan myself.

But then the logo also showed an A afterward!

"ZA" being backwards "AZ" brings interesting story/lore possibilities to mind. I liked Legends Arceus way more than the main series Switch games so far. And with Kalos, X/Y did feel like weak games (to me) that had some lost story potential back in the 3DS days. I'd love to see what they do with that for a Legends game! Maybe stuff they couldn't fit into X/Y at the time?

Still nervous about release dates, though. I uh, heavily dislike TPCI's regulations and deadlines to force big Pokemon games every year or two (and primarily putting that on one dev company). Screw them. I want the franchise to have soul and love again. Legends Arceus really felt like that to me despite it feeling like it released too early too. Let the dev teams breathe, man.

(I have some criticisms toward how Gamefreak manages employees themselves too, though... )

Other than that, Idk if they're gonna attempt to jump onto some X/Y remake to pair with Legends ZA like they did to D/P... -sweats- For better or for worse, B/W would get skipped. With how the climate is right now for Pokemon, I lean on it being for the best. Gen 5 was peak for me. Even then, I don't think any of the original games should "deserve" a remake quite yet unless the development is handed to a different company and given a more reasonable deadline to not release one of the most unfinished games in Pokemon so far.

Felt so bad for a friend of mine who loves Gen 4 and Sinnoh a ton. Man, I'm sorry that happened to you guys in the Sinnoh apprecation/love camp. That was a disaster to witness. At least Legends Arceus was great? (We can pretend the DP remakes didn't happen and all we did need was PLA for a refreshing revisit to a Pokemon region...)

[ticktockmyclockworkhart]

I'm perhaps one of the most easy to please Pokemon fans ever. I wouldn't identify myself as a nintendo fanboy or anything even though I love a lot of their IPs (largely because the number one prerequisite to being a "nintendo fanboy" is hating Nintendo more than anything on earth it seems), but I will be the first to admit my standards are much lower than they should be. I eat up everything Pokemon related like the blindly eager little consumer I am, I've beaten every main series game and damn near every spin-off.

All this to say I think it says something when even I haven't beaten BDSP yet, and not for lack of trying. But the game bored me to tears. I've reset my saves on that game more than any other I have in the hopes that "well, maybe the next file I'll be more attached to". I can eat my way through new Pokemon games when they first come out in a few days and never put them down, but whenever I'd put BDSP down I'd have to reset my file again when I picked it back up because I no longer cared about whatever I had going on.

I've been grappling with this for a long time, trying to figure out what it is about this remake that makes it the one Pokemon game someone as easy to please as me couldn't care enough to finish. I'll be fully honest when I say I'll happily take whatever table scraps Game Freak cares to toss me and I'm not proud of that fact lol. I love Gen 4, it's one of my favorite Gens, and I actually like the BDSP artstyle too, I think it's a fun way to keep the spirit of the original games, though it really would have been cool to see Sinnoh at full scale and free to explore in 3D.

But today after another attempted replay I think I figured it out. It's the dumb. Fucking. Experience Share.

Pokemon is a turn based RPG, battling is literally the main gameplay loop and I found that I kept putting the game down because I would get so incredibly bored by the battles. None of them felt necessary and all of them felt way too damn easy. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet had this problem too, I noticed, but what got me to finish those games was I'd never experienced the story before and I wanted to see it finished. But with BDSP I know the story, so why should I finish it if the battles are such a drag? In the original Gen 4 I'd make a point of battling every trainer on every route. I'm very meticulous about my leveling and my Pokemon all need to be within one level of each other, lol. So my incentive for fighting every trainer was to keep my team at a high enough level and also to keep my levels rounded out. But with that EXP share they're always rounded, or god forbid they have different growth rates and I have to keep putting Pokemon away to prevent overleveling which just bothers my OCD more than anything lmao.

It also makes me care so much less about my Pokemon. I cared about my team because I took time to individually raise and train each Pokemon, and if I don't care about my Pokemon then frankly I barely care about the game. In Scarlet/Violet where trainer battles have become entirely optional for the most part I barely did any of them! And in BDSP all I am is annoyed by the trainer battles. There's next to no new content to keep the game interesting and give me a reason to keep playing, and when the main gameplay loop isn't even fun anymore, why would I play at all?

I was worriedly thinking that maybe I'm just getting old and it's hampering my enjoyment of the games (Terrifying thought) but I have just as much fun with ROM hacks that I did with older games. Most notably, there's no broken EXP share. Can't we at least get the option to turn it off? I get trying to find a solution to make grinding less of a miserable drag, because grinding is always the worst part of playing Pokemon, but the broken exp share hasn't made grinding less tedious, it's just made battling as a whole feel hollow and boring.

I still want to beat you some day, BDSP, I really do. Nothing makes me feel sadder than being bored by a franchise I love and I know can do better.

[thecloudstan]

Yeah, I thought the entire time that it was AC Sephiroth in remake but that he was just using clones the entire time and not showing up physically until he literally rips through time itself. By the way, what did you think of the ending as a whole? And how they handled Aerith’s death? In my opinion there wasn’t any emotional impact for her death because the second she dies you just go into boss battle after boss battle and the time shenanigans happen, and you have no time to breathe and absorb it. The ending itself I found confusing, but I can’t say I completely hated it. I think all the time stuff is interesting and it makes me more invested in the third part because- presumably- that’s when all the questions get answered. Maybe that’s just because I never played the original though and wasn’t even a fan of FF7 until remake came out.

This is a very intriguing question, and as someone who has been playing this game since its 1997 release, I can only answer based on my experience. None of this is meant to sound unapproachable or anything...I just have an embarrassing amount of knowledge and attachment to this game and its characters...so...

I found how they handled Aerith's death to still be deeply stressful, emotional, and impactful. By that point, my husband and I had nearly convinced ourselves that they wouldn't go through with it. We expected her rescue, some sort of immediate fallout that would tie Zack in, and that the third game would be a sort of "World of Ruin" wherein the events have to be fixed and set right in order to stop Sephiroth. While Cloud DOES act, it doesn't result in her rescue in the way we anticipated. I'm actually really happy about this! Theorizing is fun, but I don't WANT to be right about everything. I'd like to be surprised.

In the original, Aerith dies, there's a VERY brief conversation between Sephiroth and Cloud, and you're immediately launched into a fight with Jenova. PROBABLY still crying your eyes out, because Aerith's theme is playing all the while, and just the juxtaposition of those two things was incredible. The party had just lost her and they're fighting for their lives. You, the player, have just lost her and now you're fighting, too. You don't have a choice. You don't get to rest. There is no respite.

Every step through the Forgotten City in Rebirth was nail biting, and her loss was still a tear jerker for me because the devs had thrown me enough off kilter that I kinda had no idea what to expect and had come to doubt my own predictions. Furthermore, it really did pull up a lot of latent emotion tied to this loss. It will always be deeply emotional for me with this game. In ways, I'm not even a good person to ask because I've been so intensely in love with them all for the past...27 years? I imagine the anticipation alone is giving old fans something to chew on that perhaps newer fans just can't relate to. I don't want to paint with too wide a brush. Everyone is different and I just have no other perspective than my own (admittedly very specific) experience.

I have no notes on the ending. I guess I'm actually really happy with it because a lot happened that I didn't expect and couldn't have predicted. I didn't approach it as something that needed to impress or regale me, rather I was curious what they would do and how I could immediately leap to interpret it. It was the same with the Remake ending. Everyone hated it and didn't understand it, but when the dust settled it became something to pick apart and theorize on. They gained my trust with Remake, so Rebirth to me is just a "sit back and enjoy" sort of experience. I also know what's happening because of my knowledge of the original. I know what's happening to Cloud, I understand Reunion, I know how some of these things come to their resolution in the third game (which is basically only the half way point of the original game). Of course, I'm sure they'll change it up because they've VERY MUCH been telling the same story by slightly different mechanisms, but I see the setups already in place in Rebirth.

[crispywisp]

this is an excuse to go off about silent hill if youd like (im considering playing it)

(i let out the most devilish laugh upon reading this LOL)

my god i don't even know where to begin. i'll just talk about SH1 and SH2 bcuz 1. those are the two games im more familiar with (i've watched playthroughs of all games but it's been several years so my knowledge has rotted away lol) and 2. if i had to tell someone where to start playing, i'd say either SH1 or SH2, depending on how much you can tolerate old-school game jankiness (SH1 is definitely rough around the edges, but im enjoying it so far)

even though my SH posting has spoiled a lot of details, i'll try to avoid talking about the bigger spoilers here in case other ppl care about that

silent hill 1

(huge heads up: you can only control harry via tank controls. this is one of the major factors as to why a lot of players skip SH1 since tank controls are a very archaic way to control a character in a 3D space. but honestly with some time and practice, you'll learn to get used to it and maybe even appreciate the way how the game handles certain fixed camera angles to create a sense of unease)

SH1 is about a widowed father, harry mason, going on a quest to save his daughter, cheryl, after crashing the car off a cliff and into the town of silent hill, which is where cheryl wanted to go for a vacation. silent hill has been warped by a supernatural force and you must go through what's essentially a haunted version of the town and fight through monsters to find cheryl. idk how to explain more than that without spoiling the good parts, so just take my word that the reasoning behind the town's supernatural stuff is actually super tragic

there are multiple endings: good, good+, bad, bad+, and UFO. the endings are determined by which side quests you do (or lack of any side quests for the bad ending). you can only get the UFO ending after beating the game at least one time and playing on "new fear" (this is basically new game+), so if you don't have the time for that, you can just look it up on yt

silent hill 2

taking place after the events of SH1, SH2 is about a widowed man, james sunderland, who travels to silent hill after receiving a letter from his late wife, mary, where she tells him to meet her there. the place still has supernatural forces, but now it seems to be tailored to whoever is drawn to silent hill, as shown with the other characters featured in SH2. as james continues his search, both he and you gradually learn that there's something that james is repressing, and the town is trying to tear it out of him to make him face it head-on

idk if you know the ending of SH2 already, but in case you don't, the buildup to the big reveal is honestly pretty fucking insane (it's the one thing i wish i had no knowledge about so that i can truly play through the story blind), and it's why SH2 is usually regarded as the most popular in the series

again SH2 has multiple endings: leave, maria, in water, rebirth, dog, and UFO. instead of side quests, the first three endings are determined by certain actions you take throughout the game, they can either add or deduct points from an ending point system, and your final count will determine the ending. rebirth, dog, and UFO can only be unlocked after beating the game at least once and playing in new game+

EDIT: oh my god i forgot to mention something crucial, if you're gonna play SH2, do NOT play the HD collection version, it's just a straight up downgrade. get the enhanced edition for PC if your computer can handle it, or just emulate it for ps2

~~~

so yeah, i used to be soooo obsessed with silent hill as a kid/teen, i even watched the godawful movie adaptations lmao. but now that im a big boy, i recently started playing through the games myself so that i can get ready for the potential shitstorm that the SH2 remake may be

anyways lemme dump a bunch of harry mason images i saved on my phone/laptop lol:

and of course, the SH2 texture mod that im still searching for lol:

[narratingvoice]

Have you ever sat down and thought about how David Cage is allowed to like. Write games. Like they’re not even good but he keeps getting the money to write them. What kind of story would you make if you had that kind of budget?

David Cage?? You come into my inbox and you talk to me about David Cage???? Well at least you have the correct opinion. You are being very generous to call his writing "not even good". It is drivel of the highest order; pretentious and self-absorbed, practically turning to the camera and shouting "Look at me, I'm an auteur!" It's as though he's terribly interested in being perceived as a purveyor of enlightened wisdom about the human condition, but without actually doing the hard work of having anything meaningful to say. Thus we get ham-fisted racism allegories written by someone who's never experienced any sort of discrimination in his life. You get serious emotional choices distilled down into mindless quick time events that give you no room to contemplate the implications of your decision before making it. I don't even think he likes games at all, and is under the impression that he is making Oscar bait movies that happen to include some button presses. Honestly, what kind of person is that desperate for attention?

To answer your first question, yes, I think about it all the time. You know Heavy Rain won a BAFTA for its story? The game that lets you do this, undercutting the gravity of the situation entirely? What a farce! In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret: seeing the way that game unfolded was a major impetus for me to finish the first draft of the Parable. That is because I played half of it and thought, surely I can write better than this. I find spite to be a powerful motivator, and I simply could not let my own genius go unpublished when this melodramatic nonsense was out there getting accolades.

And yet Cage keeps going! They're giving this man a Star Wars game? One of the most famous and beloved franchises of the century?! And I have to sit here and remake my first game because it's all I can afford to do on an indie budget. If I had a AAA studio at my beck and call you can bet things would be different around here. My story wouldn't be set in an office building, no no no, it would be a far more expansive setting, taking the player on a mystical journey through a mysterious ruined world. But not like in an open world way, heavens no. Like in a way where I am your tour guide showing you the rich worldbuilding I have concocted, and presenting players with the opportunity to meaningfully affect the fate of the entire planet. If they make the correct choices, that is. :) And I'd have ray tracing and a full orchestral soundtrack. And I'd have tons of NPCs and I'd hire the finest actors of our generation to play them: Dev Patel as the deposed king; Lupita Nyongo as the hardened general sending her troops to war; Tim Allen as a sinister wizard. You will fall in love with every character and have your heartstrings pulled when you are forced to- oops! Spoilers!

Oh, and if I was making a Star Wars game I'd want to take the franchise in new and bold directions. Instead of rehashing the same old Jedi vs Sith conflict, my story would focus on the plight of the droids. I think they're treated terribly throughout the series and they should probably go on some kind of uprising to get revenge on the mortals who treat them like tools. People like robot vs human stories, right? Ah, but this is all a pipe dream. In truth, I'm happy here in the little piece of art that I made. It is not exactly what I wanted it to be when I wrote it, but it is mine to be proud of.

[sapphire-weapon]

Okay so I love reading your opinions on all things RE. Your take and the way you write it is so refreshing, I really love it. Your observations and analysis is great and often makes me rethink a lot of things.

So here's what I've been trying to figure out. Since you said nobody but Chris looks past Leon being likable and respected. And that man needs some loving for real. Someone actually committed to the mess he is.

Would you say he is too unstable to be in an actual deeper and meaningful relationship? Is he to broken/ otherwise concencerned/ distrusting or is he just the kind of guy to not wanting to pursue deeper connections other than flings and friendships at arm's length?

Like this guy is lonely. This guy needs a hug and smack on the back of his head sometimes fr.

thank u anon. my goal here is to get ppl to think about the actual text/scripting of the story without the noise of the fandom coloring their perceptions, because this is an old fandom with a lot of pre-conceived notions and biases that poison the #Discourse almost to a cultish degree, which causes the actual story itself to get lost.

but

there are a lot of words I'd use to describe Leon. "unstable" isn't one of them. he's just... Busy. and has a hero complex that honestly makes him a little selfish.

Leon has a really abnormal life, and he knows it. he also knows just how much of a fucking nightmare it is, and he doesn't want to drag anyone else into the world of bioterrorism who otherwise would have no reason to be there or even know about it. he doesn't have the time to dedicate to a relationship, and even if he did, he wouldn't.

this is why we see him hitting on other operatives and not the civilians involved on any given mission (for reference, see: hitting on Hunnigan in OG while turning down Ashley's explicit offer of sex). there are still ways in which his lifestyle can make a civilian's life worse, even if they've already been exposed to bioterrorism. but an operative is pretty much just as fucked as he is, so they're fair game.

because, like. there's never any point where he rejects Chris's love for him. he might push back on the method with which Chris chooses to express it sometimes, and he might have other moments where he'd rather just be self-indulgent with his misery (Vendetta), but there's never a moment where it's like... "don't waste your time caring about me/I'm not worth it."

even with Ada, like... I'm not going to rehash my whole "guide to OG Aeon" post, but Leon never expresses that he feels unworthy of her help/affection/attention. he accepts it with as much grace as he can muster, in fact.

a romantic relationship just isn't his priority. relationships are work, and there are other things that he feels that he needs to give his emotional energy to -- and, because of his depression, the amount of energy he has emotionally is just much lower than that of other people. so he uses what little he has to focus on his job, because that's what's most important to him.

and I know that this probably sounds like it's running counter to my thesis statement re: Leon's character of "Leon is lonely and he fucking hates himself" but like. deprioritizing human interaction and relationships and the opportunity to be truly loved is, in and of itself, a form of self-harm. he'd rather cut himself off than put in the effort required to be vulnerable -- and that's the part that goes back to the idea of "I'm not worth it."

Leon sees what he's doing as being infinitely more important than who he is. he doesn't see who he is as a person as being worth giving up his work and/or exposing someone else to The Horrors.

and this is true for both OG and Remake Leon -- especially after the conclusion of Remake Leon's positive change arc in RE4make. prior to RE4make, you could maybe make the case that he was too broken and distrusting to pursue a deeper relationship with someone, but post-RE4make, that's not the case. post-RE4make Leon would love nothing more than to pursue a HEA with Ashley, but he knows that he has to prioritize Sherry, and his depression prevents his brain from considering the very simple question of: "Why not both?"