#its like a point and click detective game you have to let me investigate the evironment before you start providing hints

[gibbearish]

my weirdest most hyperspecific pet peeve is ill be searching for a thing of mine and ask someone like "hey did you move my (thing) here earlier" and theyll be like no and then start helping me search. no i do not want help searching i want to know if you moved it earlier, if the answer is no just tell me and go back to what youre doing if i want overall help ill ask

[itsbenedict]

I play video games a bunch, and you can go ahead and report that incredible never-before-seen scoop to the news. Here's some ones I played this year!

Roguebook

This here is a Slay the Spire clone, no two ways about it. It's a good one, though, with gorgeous visuals. It's also got a fancy schmancy overworld system, where instead of picking paths down a graph, you have to use inks and paintbrushes to reveal the path to the boss by painting in a big hex grid with terrain. Lot of interesting choices to make, mechanically, and a replayability mechanic (Epilogues) that you can be done with pretty quick without sucking up your time for months.

(Story-wise, there's basically nothing going on. You get to the end the first time, it goes "oh, hm, it looks like beating the final boss didn't solve our problem of being stuck in this magic book! better go back to the start and do it over a bunch of times on harder difficulties!" and then you do all those harder difficulties... then it does not have an ending. At all. There literally isn't anything but the setup. Wow.)

Elden Ring

The big one! Ate up 120 hours of my life over the course of like a month and a half. I'd never played a Souls game before, wanted to see what the hype was, and... oh! The hype was about them being very fun! Really comes down to the very tightly-designed combat, I think- but I also wasn't expecting the level of creativity in the world and monster design. There's some... really wild shit in this game! I was just expecting generic swords and sorcery, not, like... volcano snake cult, upside-down crystal library, jar guys, flesh-fungus hellscape, Big Robot Cat... it builds a surprisingly unique world, with a lot of attention to detail.

also i managed to beat malenia (blade of miquella, as she reminded me very very many times) so i'm going to have to be awarded a large number of Gamer Points

AI: The Somnium Files

Jesus entire christ, this game. It's, uh. Uchikoshi unleashed, is what it is. The premise is- you're a detective investigating a murder using a special machine that lets you dive into suspects' dreams to try and find clues to the truth, and... it, uh, does a lot with its premise! It's thoroughly bonkers, and manages some pretty tasty twists. Very fun character designs and dialogue writing, and a well-structured mystery that manages to tie everything together in a really satisfying way.

However. There is gameplay.

The gameplay (when you're not doing the classic detective game stuff of searching crime scenes and interrogating people) is, in a word, bad. It's... well, there's the action sequences, which are... very entertaining, and exquisitely silly, but they're pretty much just quick-time events and they'll game over you given half a chance, which everyone already knows isn't fun. But the real fly in the ointment is the main mechanic of the game, Psyncing- the thing where you go into dreams to find clues.

Psyncing is two different mechanics- both of which are individually fun, but which trade off against each other and neutralize any fun to be had with either of them.

Psyncing is an oddball point-and-click adventure game segment where you investigate surreal dreamscapes, interact with bizarre setpieces, and fuck around with dream logic to attempt to solve environmental puzzles.

Psyncing is a time-management puzzle where you need to correctly sequence the time multipliers on your moves in order to reach an optimal solution before time runs out.

Because you're on the clock, you can't take your time and have fun doing wacky stuff to the environment and enjoying the flavor dialogue. Because the puzzles are all nonsense dream logic that boil down to random guessing 80% of the time, you can't sequence optimal moves unless you know the puzzle solutions in advance. The two halves of this equation have complete anti-synergy with each other, and made me dread every time another Psync came up. (Plus, a lot of the dreams are just really uncreative and tedious, like the crate-pushing puzzle at the docks or the aimless wandering through the dark woods.)

That said, the madcap fun and competent mystery writing are well worth slogging through the psyncs for, so I still recommend it. (At time of writing, it's 80% off on Steam!)

The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass

I'll confess, I've barely started this one- sure, I've sunk eleven hours into it, but I'm still on chapter one, and... this is absolutely the densest Zero Escape-ass mindfuck mystery game I've ever played. Some people are trapped in a mysterious facility, Weird Time Shit is happening (maybe??), impossible events are occurring one after another- and you've got to solve it, and they give you tools to do that in detail. The game gives you not just a log feature, but a log feature with a search function and a notes section complete with text editor, among other organizational tools to keep track of what the fuck is happening. And you'll need it, too- everything happens so much. I have no idea if it all comes together properly, but it's clearly putting in the effort.

(Character writing seems a little weak so far, with the exception of Sai who is trying so hard, bless his heart. Fans of Cordyceps will probably recognize Arc here.)

The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe

Remember The Stanley Parable? Comedy walking sim about the nature of interactive narrative, where you the player play merry hell with the intentions of the narrator as he desperately tries to get you back on track? Very fun game.

This is the modern updated HD rerelease! A genre of game I normally don't go in for, except that this is actually a trick, and it's actually a full sequel wearing the skin of its predecessor as a disguise. (And- well, the original game is in there, in its entirety, so it does pull double duty.) Its status as a sequel/rerelease is mined for every ounce of comedy it can muster, which is a lot. One of the funniest games I've ever played, next to maybe Portal.

Fate Stay/Night

It took some serious effort for me to even get a hold of this thing- they don't make it easy to purchase legitimately. It was a whole adventure of looking up patches and visiting shady torrent sites and translating japanese websites- @yumantimatter was a huge help.

Fate is this huge influential thing that I'd been on the outside of for a while, and I didn't know what to expect- hearing out-of-context stuff about Grand Order, the gacha game, led me to expect just, standard waifu stuff with a magic system that existed to justify Doing Whatever, but... I was really pleasantly surprised with how deep and well-written the original actually is! Like, the magic system is a little loosey-goosey in places, but they do a great job circumscribing what's possible, defining the limits, and foreshadowing the elements that are relevant to the story. And it really does manage to be the kind of story that's really about figuring things out and dealing with a social puzzle, not just big magic shonen battles. It gets shockingly complex and compelling, for...

...uh, for- it's, um, an eroge, it turns out. Like, there's sex scenes. They're not good. The version I played had a "censor H content" option, which- here's the thing about that: it doesn't just like, blur things out, it replaces them entirely, with new content that is way better and more relevant to the story and even more visually interesting, which, uh, speaks to the quality of the pornography. I recommend turning that option on.

Not that there isn't sexual content without that enabled- like, it still has dating sim elements, and Shirou's romantic relationships with the various girls are plot-important, and- it's surprisingly mature and compelling, actually. Normally I groan at that kind of thing, but was invested in the drama here! There's some emotionally fraught dynamics going on! I was really rooting for these kids 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚜, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝟷𝟾, 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚞𝚜, 𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚝 𝚞𝚙.

anyway taiga bestgirl. (unless taiga doesn't count in which case rin bestgirl.)

Grounded

Iiiiiit's a survival crafting game! You probably know how those go. Big open world, you gotta collect resources and build a base to survive, stay topped off on food and water and healing and stuff. Doesn't do anything too special mechanically, but...

...but it's also Honey I Shrunk The Kids, the game. It all takes place in this one backyard, which is richly detailed and full of cool setpieces and dangerous new threats. The world's not procedurally generated or anything- it's designed, and it's packed with stuff- most of which will kill you. The survival crafting aspects are kind of eh, but just being in this world is incredibly fun and unique. Would love to get a group together to play the multiplayer sometime.

Pokemon Violet

Such mixed feelings on this. Like... it was so obviously rushed to release, the crunch must've been awful, it could've been a way better game if they'd had time to fix the bugs and add texture to the world... but the new things it's doing are good ideas and a lot of it really works!

Like- just for starters, the plot. Pokemon has never had a good plot! It's had, at best, an unobtrusive plot, and at worst just the most tedious Bad Guy Team Want Destroy World With Legendary Pokemon cookie-cutter nothing plot. But this time, it's good! They did a good job! They hired writers! The Team Star subplot is both funny and a well-executed tearjerker, the main League journey is supported by a really fun rival character, and the big box art legendary plot plot is- holy shit! They tried some things! Most of them even worked! I cried a couple times! The final mission thing, when you learn what the deal is with Miraidon and Professor Turo- they took some serious risks there! It's good enough I can't even say more because I don't want to spoil it!

But also, there's a bunch of good quality-of-life stuff. The use of Miraidon and movement upgrades makes getting around the world feel good, and the titan fights feel rewarding. Having PC boxes available at all times saves a ton of hassle, as does putting pokemon centers outside so you don't have to sit through a loading zone. Allowing you to freely recall old moves at no cost lets you try out riskier, more gimmicky strategies than you'd ordinarily go for. On-field pokemon and opt-in trainer battles let you set your own pace. They put some real thought into what they were doing!

Buuuuuuut it's clear it needed more time in the oven. Multiple times I ran into a "random encounter" which was just me running into a pokemon in the overworld before its texture had loaded in, is how bad the pop-in is. The world is so empty and ugly, with N64-tier airbrushed-on textures, and with only consumable items as rewards for exploration. It's a total waste of an open-world movement paradigm. Dexit is back, and this time they couldn't even keep all the stuff they already modeled and animated in SwSh somehow. It's really embarrassing, and I really wish I had the version of this game that'd had an extra year in development.

Forget the Golden Witch and Empire of the Golden Witch

Two Umineko fangames by DWaM. Forget is a purple-truth logic gameboard with a very tasty answer-submission mechanic and a spooky metaplot, and Empire is a Her Story-style look-up-terms-in-a-database-'em-up that turns you into a total crazy person screaming about lizard people and the JFK assassination.

Both assume you've played through Umineko no Naku Koro ni, which I've recced before, and- if you've played Umineko, then I'm pretty sure you want more Umineko, and this is some really good more Umineko.

Peglin

It's another roguelike deckbuilder Slay the Spire clone, but this time instead of a new map mechanic, you've got pachinko instead of cards. It's hard to explain exactly how it works (you deal damage to enemies by racking up points on the pinboard, but there's a ton of mechanics that make it more complicated), but despite being in early access and graphically pretty ugly, it's pretty fun!

...And also insanely frustrating, because it turns out that pachinko is an insanely frustrating game. Random chaos will save you and it will kill you, and you'll be screaming at your computer to HIT THAT ONE, THE ONLY ONE YOU NEED TO HIT, THE THING YOU'VE DODGED FIVE TIMES IN A ROW WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU I'M LITERALLY DYING RIGHT NOW. You gotta have the temperament for it.

[doorplays]

Door Reviews: The Case of the Golden Idol (2022)

PREAMBLE

Hello! Doors here. I’ve recently finished this game, which I’ve heard of when I wanted to try investigative games. This seems to be a game from a new game studio named Color Gray Games.  I finished it a little while ago, and now I want to give my thoughts! Let’s get to it :)

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

The game has 11 cases for you to solve. Each case has two modes you can flip back and forth from: the Exploring mode and the Thinking mode. When you are Exploring, you explore the surroundings and the scene of the crime. Clues are denoted by a shining yellow/red symbol on them (though you have the option to play without these at the start of the game to really give you that detective feel). When you click on these symbols, further clues may appear such as parchment containing text, potential murder weapons, or other items which may or may not be relevant to the case.

As you click on these clues, there will be some that are relevant enough that they will be added to the window below as keywords. These keywords will be relevant for the Thinking mode. Once you find all the clues (which you can check if you have by checking on the lower left), you are now free to go to the Thinking mode and try to piece together what happened.

The Thinking mode is a sort of “fill in the blanks” kind of game, where your choices will be the keywords you have discovered during the Exploring mode. There is a predetermined sentence you have to fill in to find out what happened, and the rest of the items to solve you pick up during the Exploring mode. It is here you try and find out who the involved parties are. You also find out here any relevant discussions: discussions about will and testament, trying to find out who slept in which bedroom, etc.

When there are many incorrect keywords in your answer, the game will say so at the top of the relevant section. If you have two or less mistakes, it will also say that to you. Once you have managed to solve a section, the game will say that you have solved that part of the case.

If you are stuck on some cases, you could also use their hint system! There’s this advisory that really asks if you do need the hint, and when you do try and get one, you have to do a little minigame where you match pictures to their relevant keywords. Once you do this, you can get one out of four possible hints for each case. You can do this up to four times to get all the hints if you so wish! I like this hint system because it really makes you commit to wanting the hint and gives you ample time to back out if you want to untangle the mystery on your own.

The gameplay reminded me a lot about Return of the Obra Dinn! It felt solid enough. The cases felt complex enough that they had me wracking my brain, but in retrospect the solutions make sense. I also love how they do use the solving mechanism itself as a form of worldbuilding, discussing locations and motivations of characters.

The art is interesting. It’s pixellated 2d, but uses 3d at some points: for the idol and for some environments. I’d say I like it, though I do find it a bit janky at times. The UI is also good, though the choices in layouts for some scenes I’m kind of meh on. The music has this foreboding menace at times which fits the overarching theme of the cases.

Overall, I loved solving the cases, but I think there’s some more polish to be had here in terms of the art. Though I guess I could see that the design might be intentional at points, it somewhat reminds me of old point-and-click games now that I think about it... In terms of gameplay though, I think it’s a very good approach for a detective game!

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

The game is, unsurprisingly, about the Golden Idol. Its discovery, how it changed hands, and how it has affected the people who have held it and who were around its influence. It feels like a fun detective book that you read on a nice afternoon, except you are experiencing it by being at the crime scenes and piecing everything together.

I found the characters interesting enough. They had their motivations, but I feel like there’s no deepness to them. Which isn’t really a problem, since here, the mystery takes center stage. You suss out all the angles and in doing so, craft this jigsaw puzzle of a story from the keywords you find. I found its twists and turns to be riveting at times too! 

I think the story feels like a nice little thriller to pick out at your own pace.

CONCLUSION

This is a solid first game from Color Gray Games. Even though I found some similarity to Return of the Obra Dinn, the gameplay still felt fresh, and I liked how the worldbuilding was interweaved with the solving mechanic. I am looking forward for more game from their company in the future!

Door Rates The Case of the Golden Idol: 3.5/5!

[the-blathermouth]

Read the OG remake of Sonic.exe. At first I thought it was somewhat decent because I only read the parts with X but then I saw the rest and was ashamed for thinking that, I didn't think this story could get any worse but it did and I'm so upset. It was so bad I made a bunch of notes for my own take on a remake/rewrite. Read it if you want, add to it if you want, even write it if you want because lord knows I ain't (just credit me if you do)

Characters

Tom: Have Tom be actually smart, majoring in criminal justice, maybe he and his friends run a paranormal investigation club so him realizing the killer is paranormal makes more sense, he sees his club as like the mystery gang but only Vicky is interested in the paranormal and is always trying to out-knolege him, Kyle joined to support Tom, Alana joined for a quiet place to work on her game/because Vicky joined and Mike (if he's here) only joined to skip class. Tom wants to be detective and solve this big case is over confident in his detective work and thinks hes more than capable of finding the killer and saving the day even though he's not a real cop or detective. He keeps sneaking into crime scenes, stealing evidence, exc

Mike: Bruh I swear I might just cut Mike out, I got nothing for him :/

Alana: Alana is a computer nerd, has great coding skills and is working on her own game, she also has a big crush on Vicky. She possibly dies after trying to look into the code of X's game and releasing him quicker

Vicky: Vicky could be a witchy girl, the only other one of the group whos interested in paranormal but knows much more than Tom and often corrects him during club meeting, later when Tom realizes the killer is paranormal he has to swallow his pride and go to Vicky for help identifying the type of demon their dealing with

Kyle: Let Kyle actually be alive and part of the story, he's reckless and risky as Tom said he was in the rewrite. I have some bigger plans for Kyle but you'll see them later down the line

Story beats

Let the guardians do literally anything at all! They don't even have to be physically present in the story just have them manipulate Tom's emotions in a natural looking way so he'll play the game (EG: "As Tom sat in his room he felt a sudden rage bubble inside him 'GOD DAMNIT!' he yelled 'WHY IS EVERYONE ACTING SO USELESS?! ITS LIKE THEY DONT EVEN CARE THERE'S A PARANORMAL ENTITY ON THE LOOSE AND A KILLER ONE AT THAT!' Taking a few breaths he sits down at his laptop and stares at the ever growing X icon at the center 'well...gotta blow off steam somehow' he mutters as he clicks it")

Derick can be there but maybe have him as part of the cult. He was on the case and was annoyed that Tom was trying to help but would let him to some extent unitl he starts closing in on it being a demon, during the big climax they call Green over for help but instead he locks everyone in the college and offers himself and the whole building up to X. (It would also explain why he's such a shitty detective, once he realizes it was X he was never trying to solve the case)

Have X be able to mimic or possess humans and have him mimic or possess Kyle until the big reveal. He starts off normal and gives Tom the game but as the game gets played and the bodies pile up he starts acting more quiet/strange and evidence starts pointing to him being the killer. When Derek offers up the college X reveals himself, breaks out of his human fasade/vessel, Killing Derik first and beginning his rampage. (If he's a mimic then have him unphased by the killings, if he's possessed have him more interested in Tom's paranormal stuff trying to get the demon out before it's too late)

You can have a childish monster but the way he's written here just ain't doing it for me because it leans too much on his silly side even when he's supposed to be intimidating. Have him be that goofy teen sonic persona during Toms first playthrough, being cheesy and cheery even when tails is terrified of him (maybe have him haunt Tom as this silly persona) but he gets more and more monstrous as time goes on until the only "silly" thing about him his how he toys with his victims.

Alternatively you can have his sense of humor tie into his sadistic side. Write about how he positioned one of the bodies into the SA1 pose, or have him say a bunch of bad sonic jokes and cheesy one liners when he's on his climatic rampage

[designerblade]

AI: The Somnium Files

I picked up AI: The Somnium Files on a whim recently, when I was desperate for something to play and didn’t have the budget to buy something new. I purchased it from the PlayStation store a few months back on super sale and completely forgot about it. I had no expectations, and ended up really enjoying it!

Let me clear the air by saying I’m a huge Danganronpa fan. Despite their problems, I’ve always really enjoyed the series’ style and mystery solving mechanics. I figured AI: The Somnium Files, also developed and published by Spike Chunsoft, would be up my alley.

Differing from the high school setting of the Danganronpa games, the protagonist of AI is an adult man (probably in his early 30s) who’s a detective for the Tokyo police. His name is Kaname Date. He lost all of his memories and one of his eyes six years ago, and the overarching plot of the game is figuring out how and what happened.

One of the big gags of the game is that Date is obsessed with porn, and that’s often used during the combat sequences. It’s often brought up by the game’s female characters (Mizuki, his child roommate and Aiba, his AI in particular). I always found the use of this humor uncomfortable, especially when being mentioned by a minor. I expected it though, as the Danganronpa series is riddled with uncomfortable, out-of-place sexual humor as well. If that’s to your taste though, you’ll probably enjoy this game.

Another problematic stance this game takes is in its characterization of Mama. Mama is a fat trans woman who’s old friends with Date and runs a local bar. She’s an informant, so you visit her a handful of times throughout the game. She’s motherly and kind, and a bit flirty. Unfortunately, the other characters in the game are regularly transphobic and fatphobic towards her. They refer to her as things like a “monster,” or a “giant grape.” Mama is happy and doesn’t mind, but it’s uncomfortable seeing how she’s treated, even by her old friend. I look forward to the day when Japanese games aren’t like this anymore. My patience towards their use of fat queer people as a joke is gone.

I found a some of the other characters to be compelling, and was always excited to see more of them. Mizuki was very well acted, and I liked her standoffish nature. Iris, a young internet idol, was also always a joy to see. Date’s boss, Iris’s mother Hitomi, and Ota Matsushita (a fan of Iris’s) + his family were also all fun to learn more about.

An important gameplay mechanic is psyncing. Most of the game is clicking through several different locations to look for clues and interview characters. Standard point-and-click mechanics. Psyncing is where they switch things up. Date works for a special unit of the police force called ABIS. Their purpose is to get information, no matter what, and they have a special psync machine that allows them to do so. It puts the suspect to sleep, and lets the officer enter their dreams for 6 minutes to look for clues pertaining to the investigation. During these sections, you run around as Aiba in the body of a young woman.

I never found the psyncing to be much fun. They’re kind of like puzzle rooms, but nonsensical. The option you need to pick to progress is never clear or linear, and you’re timed in the rooms, so making too many mistakes can be punishing. I often had to replay the psync sections a few times to get them correct. Sometimes I had even figured out the solution, but the inputs kept taking too long and forcing me to restart. At best I found the psyncs neutral or tolerable, at worst a frustrating nuisance.

The best part of the AI: The Somnium Files is its use of branching paths. I ran into my first “ending” around 5-6 hours in, and was shocked that I had learned so little. The game encouraged me to play through again, starting from a branching segment from earlier on in my playthrough. I did so, and the differences were WILD. AI is kind of like Nier: Automata, in the way that you really have to see every ending through to solve the case and get the true ending. It was super worth it! There were so many fun twists and turns. I liked seeing how much Date’s relationships changed with each playthrough. In one path he and Mizuki were extremely close, in another they couldn’t even look at each other.

Ultimately, I had great time with this game. I flew through the 25ish hours in about two weeks, which is fast for me. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end. I also enjoyed the soundtrack! I definitely want to check out the sequel from last year, Nirvana Initiative next time it’s on sale. I’d recommend AI: The Somnium Files to any anime mystery fans! There is fun to be had here!

[dropintomanga]

Video Games for Mental Health - AI: The Somnium Files

~Resist, allow your heart to take you! Never let this merciless world erase you! Passing down the light of the torch to guide you, And you shall be bathed in light!~

When it comes to reading visual material, one would usually think picture books. In the case of pop culture fans, there’s Western comic books and manga. But there’s a whole other medium that has gotten a lot of exposure since the start of the 2010s’ - visual novels. While there’s many notable VNs to discuss, I want to take a look at Team Zero Escape’s/Spike Chunsoft’s AI: The Somnium Files (AI is pronounced as “eye”) franchise due to its focus on finding connections and how messy the process can be.

This will largely be spoiler-free because discussing everything that happens in both games will take forever.

AI: The Somnium Files, created by Kotaro Uchikoshi (who’s most famous for creating the Zero Escape and Danganronpa series), is a murder mystery starring special detective Kaname Date and his AI partner, Aiba, who takes the form of Date’s left eye. The two have to find a serial killer, the New Cyclops Serial Killer, who’s plucking eyeballs off of people they murder. Date finds out one of the victims was a woman he knows and discovers that a young girl has the supposed murder weapon in her hands. Along the way, Date and Aiba meet a variety of people who help and/or hurt their investigation. To get to the truth, Date goes into people’s minds and dreams with the help of Aiba. There are a lot of twists as there are multiple routes and endings that all come together in one wild package.

There’s also a sequel that just came out in 2022 - AI: The Somnium Files -nirvanA Initiative-. The story takes place 6 years later after the 1st game. The premise goes as this - months after the events of the 1st game, the right half of a corpse was found. 6 years later, the left half of the same corpse was found with no decay at all. It’s up to 2 new protagonists, Mizuki (who is a major supporting character in the 1st game) and Ryuki Kuruto, alongside their own AI eyeball partners, to find the truth about the half body killings. While this is happening, something called the Nirvana Initiative is looking to cause trouble for the public.

I discovered the first game from a “top games of the 2010s’” podcast. It made number 11 on their list. So I decided to see what the podcast hosts experienced. AI1 was a emotional experience for me. There’s so much dialogue that will make you cry, laugh, cringe, angry, etc. Much like a point-and-click adventure game, you can interact with objects. Sometimes, you get some really great interactions with the cast of characters when you click on them. Those conversations feel like conversations one would have with friends in real life. Sure, some of them are dumb, but those kinds of moments make life bearable. The 2nd game continues that tradition too.

Speaking of the characters, it’s not just Date and Aiba who shine. There’s Mizuki, who’s technically the surrogate daughter of Date. They trade barbs with one another in comedic fashion. It’s cute to see because their relationship reminds me of Gintoki Sakata and Kagura in Gintama. In the first game, other notable characters include a teen idol, a NEET, a yakuza who worships idols, a crossdressing bar mama, and a female boss who throws out sexual innuendos. The second game introduces newer characters like a big chef wearing a mask to hide his disfigured face, a lovestruck former thief, and a mysterious masked female vigilante.

With many characters, the Somnium Files series does a great job at looking into the psychology and mental well-being of them. Whether it’s the dream sequences or regular interactions, one thing is for certain. What drives them, good or bad, is the people in their lives. That’s what I felt from these games. It’s about finding family in the strangest of places when all hope feels lost. These characters are driven to great lengths to gain attention from the ones they love.  And more importantly, don’t be afraid to open your eyes when it comes to conflict. There’s absolutely heavy portrayals of what happens when mental health goes awry due to inner/interpersonal conflict in both games. Dementia, brain tumors, family trauma, survivor’s guilt, and self-hatred are some of the mental health subjects discussed in this series.

Date is a really great hero. There’s a caveat about him though. He’s addicted to pornography/cabaret clubs and this is played to comedic effect. I found Date to be endearing otherwise due to things the player learns in the last few hours of the 1st game. Also, Mizuki is great. She’s the total opposite of Date as she’s a physical powerhouse. It’s nice to see Mizuki carry on the torch in the 2nd game as she’s arguably the most popular character in the series.

With great characters comes great voice acting. There’s amazing talent on the English side for both games. Greg Chun, Erika Harlacher, Corina Boettger, Jackie Lastra, Allegra Clark, Dorah Fine, Zach Aguilar, Kaiji Tang, Patrick Seitz, Stephen Fu, Anairis Quinones, SungWon Cho, Amanda Lee, Y. Chang, Laura Post just to name a bunch. All the VAs seemed to have a really fun time working on both games because they all brought their A-games into making all the conversations worth hearing over and over again.

I’ll end this post with one of my favorite dialogues in the series from Mizuki.

Uchikoshi has gotten some attention for having progressive views as there’s a good amount of Japanese game developers who still think backwards about certain groups of people. There’s many people who think the Japanese are offended by most Western localization (ESPECIALLY with dialogue like this) and think Japanese people are all “non-political”, but I will say this - there’s Japanese people who do think about the feelings of minorities. It may not be many, but they’re there and outside of whatever internet bubbles fans are in. 

And yes, humanity is rooted in weakness. I never told anyone that I was strong and I will gladly admit that I’m only still alive because I’ve had people who helped and supported me despite whatever differences we have.

So yeah, check out the AI: The Somnium Files franchise. It’s still very under the radar as the 1st game didn’t seem to sell a whole lot due to a lack of major marketing. Both games do have flaws, but this is a franchise made with a lot of love and deserves many eyeballs to reach the dream of being one of the most fascinating stories in a time where AI is gaining prominence in the real world and so much mental trauma is left unprocessed.

AI: The Somnium Files and its sequel, -nirvanA Initiative-, are out for the following systems (PC/Switch/PS4/Xbox One). 

[bagadew]

The Great Ace Attorney Playthrough: The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band (Part 1)

Last Time: With a little help from Susato, the lady in pink, we discovered that Miss Brett poisoned Dr Wilson with Curare, a fast acting poison that’s only effective when introduced into the blood stream. In a last ditch attempt to avoid justice, Miss Brett destroyed the evidence right in front of the court, but fortunately my man Hosonaga was on hand with new evidence he’d taken from the crime scene, meaning that all we had to do was catch the thief of a rare golden coin, and tie Miss Brett up with her own words! At last I (Ryunosuke) was acquitted!

...only to find out in the lobby that Miss Brett has managed to privilege her way out of any consequences and was gone like smoke in the wind. (Also Kazuma used his sword in a way I found very hot, and I think I’ve accidentally doomed him to death or moral corruption.)

I’m 90% sure The Speckled Band is a Sherlock Holmes case, and I’m 49% sure it’s one of the ones I’ve read. I’m guessing this is where we’ll meet The Great Himbo Detective Herlock Sholmes then!

Well I guess that answers that then.

(And yes, I have read this one)

HERLOCK!

And he’s voiced by Professor Layton maybe???

Ooh, this seems like a Study in Scarlet, are we doing a Study in Scarlet guys?

Herlock has a magic gun!?!

Also I’m not digging this Japanese scripture and talk of it being penned by ‘the victim himself’. Kazuma what did I tell you about leaving my sight?

Wait... I could have sworn I just saw Hosonaga dressed as a sailor...

Oh balls, am I about to be accused of murder again?

Honestly I can’t take you anywhere Ryunosuke

Well Ryunosuke, you remember how you went to a lovely restaurant and got arrested for a murder you didn’t commit?

Well, it’s just like that but substitute restaurant for ship.

Also I’m not liking how little I’ve seen of Kazuma...

Ryunosuke we really need to have a talk about you just saying what people want to hear.

ITS FUCKING KAZUMA ISN’T IT?!

:(

Nononononononono

I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming, Ace Attorney law dictated it was coming as soon as it set Kazuma up as both my mentor and best friend.

But even so, I thought they were just empty threats! I didn’t think they’d actually follow through! Or that we might at least enjoy Herlock Sholmes ad his magic gun together first.

I realise I’m stalling here, but maybe if I just don’t click I’ll not have to see his body.

Sailor Man, I understand that you’re very upset, we all are, but I need you to understand that I’m grieving here.

The man I love took one look at the morally compromised shits I’m normally into and decided he’d rather die than join them! And yes I know I’m still stalling and not taking this as seriously as I should because I still don’t believe it!

See, me and Ryunosuke are on the same page!

I didn’t Susato, but the problem is that you and I have only just met and I’m not very convincing!

:(

Kazuma you legend! I refuse to believe you are dead until I see your corpse.

Now Ryunosuke’s all: I can’t believe they tossed your case around that much. I thought I was going to die.

And Kazuma’s telling me he’s just amazed I fitted inside his trunk in the first place.

Kazuma you can’t be gone! Who else will condescendingly tell me to go to France and ask rather than translate a French label for me?

Now Kazuma’s telling me (Ryunosuke) that I’m going to have to live in his cabin for the next 50 days.

Also we’ve got to keep this from Susato because we’re breaking the law and Kazuma doesn’t want us to take her down with us.

Lol, every day I get shoved into the wardrobe by an uncaring Kazuma!

Oh, that’s what the message said!

God knows what the steward thought Kazuma was keeping in his wardrobe though

:(

See Ryunosuke, this is why we think before we speak.

I don’t envy the real killer when Susato gets hold of them.

From what I can find out it’s a locked room mystery, and the cause of death is still undetermined, so I’m guessing something like poison then rather than an obvious thing, like being stabbed with his big sword.

On one hand, I really hope it wasn’t something like Curare, because I don’t want Kazuma to have gone out like that, but on the other hand poison would explain why the killer didn’t need to be in the room when he died and why Kazuma didn’t strike them down with said big sword.

Ok, so Kazuma, legend that he was, got up every day at the crack of dawn to do sword training. And Susato, who I’m begging to suspect is incredibly hardcore, go up before him so she could go and wait for him outside.

Now that’s interesting.

The two of them seem like they were pretty close, so there’s a good chance it’s just that she’s so familiar with Kazuma’s habits that she can tell the second something’s off, or it could be that there’s some other reason we need to work out.

If that’s correct that means Kazuma was killed in the small hours of the morning.

You know up ‘til now I’ve been assuming Ryunosuke was knocked out or something, and that’s why he was unconscious in the wardrobe, but now I’m starting to think he might have just been sleeping in there.

:((

Wait why’d Kazuma write in Russian?

Like I’d buy that he might know it, but I don’t buy that’s it’s what he’d write in in his finger moments.

Well that proves my innocence then, all we need to do is get some witnesses to verify the ‘go to France and ask’ moment from the last case

Oh ok, I didn’t manage to screenshot it, but it seems that I (Ryunosuke) didn’t put myself in the wardrobe. That’s very odd.

I can see a vent up there, so maybe someone gassed us and then got in while we were asleep and set up the crime scene.

Kazuma said I should come, next question

Ryunosuke, with some of the words that come out of your mouth I don’t think you should be throwing stones.

Love?

Apparently not.

This is going to be something ominous isn’t it...

I’m starting to feel like Kazuma knew he’d never see England.

Kazuma how many toes did you tread on?

Oh fucking hell!

You can’t die and be heading down a dark moral path, that’s not fair!

Yeah, I want to know that too.

Ah

So my poison/drugging theory seems to be holding up. Apparently Kazuma bought me something to eat, I climbed into the hiding wardrobe, and then it’s lights out from there.

Given that I didn’t wake up when Kazuma was killed I’m going to say that also back that theory up. Even if it was silent I feel like Ryunosuke would have woken up if someone was going round the cabin knocking ink bottles over and killing Kazuma.

No, don’t blame yourself Ryunosuke!

It’s my fault really, if I was going to  find Kazuma hot I should have made sure I could manifest inside my switch and protect him!

Ah, of course! Isn’t her dad a professor of pathology? And she seems like the sort of person who picks things up pretty quickly!

In other words, if this is a poisoning, she could be the perfect person to be partnered up with.

:(((

Susato is fully prepared to kick our ass if we try and leave, and as the woman who got up before Kazuma, I think we should listen to her.

:(((((

I say we team up as an investigative duo and catch this bastard!

Yeah!

SHE FUCKED US UP!!!

Susato didn’t come here to play! Especially when we might have killed Kazuma!

(Editors note: this isn’t a bad screenshot, Susato genuinely made Ryunosuke’s vision go blurry)

I know we need to investigate, but my god this woman’s got a fist to match her convictions.

You know when I first met Susato I was a bit afraid she was going to be the inverse of Maya to the point of being meek and shy.

Now I see what a fool I was.

Susato might be prepared to politely follow the rules, but woe betide you if you break them.

She’s even named it!

Again I know this is bad for us but GO SUSATO!

(God damn it you can’t all be my favourite characters)

Her own special martial arts form Ryunosuke!

And just like that she regathers her composure and carries on as if nothing had happened!

I like how she’s still just standing over me.

Ok Ryunosuke let’s go!

(Seriously though we don’t want her as an enemy)

Ah of course, Kazuma stuck the seal on the wardrobe, and the fact Herlock Sholmes (the himbo detective) had to pull it off means I didn’t leave!

No one respects poor Ryunosuke...

So it seems that Susato doesn’t believe we’re innocent just yet, but as we’ve presented the possibility of doubt before her she will let us investigate this room.

Given the buck wild nature of the last trial she was involved in, I honestly can’t blame her for not ruling this possibility out. After all if this was something a witness in a trial had said I’d be thinking the same thing.

Susato’s going to be watching us to make sure we don’t disturb the crime scene, which again is fair.

I’ve got to say, I’m really digging Susato’s cautiously suspicious and sensible nature. It feels like a good counterbalance to Ryunosuke’s beautiful but naïve outlook on life.

I bet if Susato had stowed away onboard a ship you wouldn’t catch her immediately confessing as soon as a sailor started to press her.

Who am I kidding, Susato would never have got into this situation in the first place.

*sob*

Ok so far we’ve got:

A) Half a pink kimono fastener on the floor next to a brick red mark

B) One disturbed table, with the remains of our roast chicken dinner on the floor

C) The terrible knowledge that Kazuma spent his last night on earth hungry because he didn’t like chicken

D) Kazuma’s precious katana, that he loved dearly and that he’d apparently managed to persuade the government to let him bring to the UK.

Oh yeah, drive the knife in why don’t you game!

Why do I feel like Ryunosuke’s about to get roasted?

There we go.

(It’s what Kazuma would have wanted)

DON’T JUST GO WITH IT RYUNOSUKE!

Back to investigating, we’ve got a ransacked shelf, and Kazuma’s London diary.

Just, you know, to rip my heart out...

It looks like the final entry’s incomplete, which means Kazuma was probably writing it when the incident happened. Unfortunately Susato is violently insistent that we respect the Kazuma’s private thoughts after his death, so we can’t read it.

We’ve got the inky Russian(?) on the floor which none of us can either recognize, nor read (including me)

(Sorry to any Russians reading this by the way, I can only assume you’re screaming that this isn’t Russian, but I’m just going by what the Great Himbo Detective said in the cut scene.)

Ok, so the sailor who’s been guarding us got very flustered when we asked if everything was normal last night, meaning that either he’s been skiving off, or everything was in fact not normal last night.

Oh sweet, it seems that Ryunosuke and Susato both read detective novels, and while we’ve shot down the possibility of using the needle and thread trick to unbolt the door from the outside (side note: I must remember to try that later), I feel like both they, and the player who immediately started trying to rattle off facts about Curare, have had a bonding moment.

Ok, I think that’s this half of the room done, let’s go and check out that vent I saw earlier.

So the vent connects to the room next door. That means if the grate could be moved we have a way in and out of our crime scene!

HERLOCK SHOLMES!!!

I mean, he’s quite hard to miss Ryunosuke

(I think Ryunosuke might have an Apollo complex short)

Understatement of the century

Her and me both Ryunosuke, it’s The Great Himbo Detective!!!

WE’RE TALKING TO HIM!

AND HE’S BLANKING US!!!

Herlock Sholmes I understand that you’re in a critical point of your investigation, but you need to understand that Ryunosuke, Susato and I are sad and need to see your magic gun.

YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!

IT’S LIKE HE HEARD ME!!!

OH GREAT HIMBO DETECTIVE CHEER ME WITH YOUR WITH YOUR ECCENTRIC ACTS THAT ARE RELATABLE TO MY AUTISTIC ASS!!!

OMFG HE’S SO INCREDIBLY WRONG!!!

I hope this is the way all of his deductions go from now on.

Also I’m sorry Russia and the Russian language, I should not have believed what the man, who on reflection was sold to me as the great himbo detective, said.

Susato’s buying it!

Susato look into my eyes and tell me Ryunosuke could ever make it as a soldier.

No, please do!

And the bullet flies a mile wide!

I’m still upset about Kazuma, but I’m somehow also having the time of my life

SUSATO YOU KNOW I’M FROM JAPAN!!!

SHE TOOK ME OUT!!!

AND MY GOD AM I HERE FOR IT!!!

Ryunosuke’s finally snapped!

What I find amazing is that the Sherlock Holmes Herlock Sholmes stories clearly exist, basically unchanged in this world. So either Dr Watson Wilson was either lying through his teeth to spare his friend’s feelings, or he is the stopped clock is right twice a day person who Herlock actually hit the nail on the head for, and therefore he believed everything that was said.

‘On rout to foreign climates’ that’s how ships work Herlock!

Exactly!

I’ll say one thing for Herlock though, you can’t beat him down!

How am I both Ryunosuke and Susato in this scene?

Yeah Naruhodo-san! I thought you read detective stories!

Quick Susato! Get him to sign a copy!

Um... has no one told him yet...

I’m also curious about the fact that he still believes Dr Wilson’s in London. Either there are two Dr Wilson’s, or something weird is going on here.

Look at his hat Ryunosuke, it contains all the information you need

He got his own name wrong!

Hosonaga, I don’t know if you can hear from wherever you are on this ship dressed as a sailor, but there is a fight and you are rapidly losing!

(Also to be fair to Herlock, as someone who’s been playing a lot of Hitman recently, looking inside the wardrobe already means he’s doing a lot better than literally every character in that game.)

Ok so it was Russian then and I no longer have to apologies!

Do you think Herlock has ever been to Russia?

Ok Mr ‘is this cow a cat?’

:(((((((

HERLOCK THAT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE ME!!!

Ok everyone, we’re also on the lookout for a missing Russian Ballerina along with Kazuma’s killer. I don’t know how, but I wouldn’t have been told about her if she wasn’t relevant

I can’t believe we’ve finally found the vindictive part of Ryunosuke’s beautiful personality!

We’re finally reading Kazuma’s diary!

Oh fuck, Kazuma was bitten by an adder

Wait, if that was the case why didn’t he dispatch it with his big sword? We’ve seen him do precision work before, so that can’t be it.

Either way, I think we really need to talk to the person in the room next to mine.

Also: Herlock Sholmes gets seasick!

Did she just break my cuffs?

My mistake she’s just showing some tough love to get me to buck up!

Let’s go team!

HOSONAGA!!!

“What are you doing here?” “I think that should be my line” This feels like that meme of the two Spidermen pointing at each other

I wouldn’t be so sure Susato. Hosonaga seems a lot like me, a bunch of disabilities held together by sheer force of will.

He still has a job!

(Or his superiors are just trying to send him as far away from Japan as they can)

HELL YEAH HOSONAGA, LETS PUNCH THE RULES UNTIL THEY SQUEAK!

(Also your superiors are definitely trying to ship you out)

Oh...

That would explain Kazuma’s whole vibe.

Although something about this feels wrong. No disrespect to Hosonaga, but as determined as he is he doesn’t exactly have the physical prowess you’d associate with stopping an assassination. I know I haven’t exactly seen him at work yet, but something about this feels like he was set up to fail.

Now the thing is, that while he can cut it as a waiter, Hosonaga isn’t exactly built to fit in among sailors. It’s not going to take a genius therefore, to work out who Kazuma’s guard is, especially if he’s been around Kazuma from dawn till dusk. That’s probably why his killer had to kill him in his cabin, and it’s also why they probably drugged his food (which means they didn’t know him enough to know he didn’t like chicken)

:(((((((((((((

On the plus side though, it looks as though Hosonaga believes in my innocence.

Come on Hosonaga, remember when you bought Miss Brett to us!

Hell yeah Hosonaga!

Hosonaga heard my call! He heard that he was losing his place as my second favourite character and came back swinging!!!

Determination Ryunosuke!

Also probably hacking up a lot of blood, that does wonders to unnerve people in my experience

Now, I should present Kazuma’s diary here... but...

Yes, everything is as it should be...

He’s digging it!

Oh no he took it as an insult!

Sorry Ryunosuke, that’s the crime scene thief’s now

Ok let’s do this properly then

Yeah boy!

LETS DO THIS TEAM!!!

Ryunosuke, do you remember nothing about this man?

Hosonaga didn’t come here to play!

Ok, we’re moving on out (except not right now because I’ve still got a couple of things to look at before we go)

I think Ryunosuke might be a bad influence on Susato...

Also I feel like I’ve pegged Susato wrong regarding the rules. Susato’s just very good at keeping up the appearance of following them.

Come to think of it, the fact she’s a judicial assistant, despite women apparently not being allowed in the Japanese court other than to testify should have clued me in.

Susato Mikotoba: Breaking the rules in front of you, but in a way you don’t notice

(Also the bell pull’s not working, but I think we all expected that)

Susato I’ve been living in a cupboard!

Don’t pity me!

Ok, so I’m not quite sure when Ryunosuke and I started thinking as one, but we’ve all agreed it’s happening now

Ryunosuke do not get caught in the mousetrap!

Susato can see right through me (Ryunosuke)

Umm...

This is the Phoenix Maya dynamic inverted, and I am living for it.

Susato: Now this is an emergency button, it’s very important you do NOT press it!

Ryunosuke: *lunges for the trigger*

It feels amazing being the wayward partner!

Our rout into cabin 2’s blocked by approximately 1 ton of sailor, so for now Susato and I will have to dick around avenge Kazuma out here in the corridor.

It seems that last night’s log is mostly blank, so I’m guessing I was right about the sailor on duty skiving off.

Hmm, so the person in the next cabin’s probably quite important then. Given what just happened with Miss Brett that’s not a good sign.

And it seems like I’m not allowed to visit whoever it is without an invitation... which might prove tricky given as how there in there and I’m out here

Ah good, a Western Gentleman, that’s just what we need!

Hmmmmm

These guys left their post for a while didn’t they?

Either that or there’s something (or someone) they’re keeping off the records.

This might be a bit of a wide shot, but that mousetrap makes me wonder if the crew has some sort of secret pet squirrelled away somewhere. It doesn’t entirely add up what with them putting traps down, but with everyone in Ace Attorney having something to hide it’s all I can think of now.

Bif Strogenov’s left to report to the captain, nows our window to violate some privacy!

HERLOCK SHOLMES!!!

Shot down!

Herlock that thing’s tiny, I don’t think anyone’s in there!

It moved!

Guess I’m eating my words!

Herlock???

Ok, we’re not allowed to look inside the case, or indeed anything, but fortunately we have HERLOCK SHOLMES THE GREAT HIMBO DETECTIVE!!!

Deduce away Herlock!

Herlock... are you about to tell this man that he’s also the Russian Assasin? Are you going to do this round the whole ship until you get it right?

Wait this is working!?!

Herlock Sholmes is Susato’s one blind spot and Ryunosuke’s one point of clarity

CHOOCHOO!!!

THIS IS AMAZING!

He’s not entirely right though...

(Editors note: I completely managed to miss capturing 90% of the ? icons)

I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!

HERLOCK LOOK AT THIS MAN’S NOSE, LOOK AT MY FACE! NOW LOOK AT THE MAN IN THE PORTRAIT!

However, the newspaper in his pocket and the little ! icon seems to suggest there’s some connection there.

(Editors note: I also managed to miss every ! icon)

And there is a crime being committed, but it’s not to do with the case.

Yeah, it probably just contains one of those pets we’re not supposed to have.

So... a baby?

So do a lot of people Susato

Ok, so The Great Himbo Detective is actually really good at making observations, it’s just how he applies them that’s shit.

I wonder if this is what Dr Wilson did for their partnership, but he just cut out the bits where he said things like: Herlock these people have completely different faces, maybe there’s a different reason they’ve got the paper?

Ryunosuke normally: The fact Hosonaga’s working in this restaurant clearly means he’s struggling financially!

Ryunosuke around Herlock: You can’t just say the first guess that pops into your head!

HERLOCK BUSTED US OUT!!!

(Ok he’s also the reason we were in handcuffs, but still)

Olay!

What! Noooooo!

‘Course Correction: Hold it Mr Sholmes!’ What a title!

Important news just in: Ryunosuke can’t grow a beard

A part of me says that he was about to use the sheers to cut up that paper, but there are obviously other copies around the ship, so unless he’s planning a sheers rampage that can’t be right.

Hello!

Wait a second... with that reaction to the paper... is there a Russian Ballerina in there?

WE DID THE HERLOCK SHOLMES COOL SPIN AND CLICK!!!

Also look at Ryunosuke’s little cocky smirk!

He’s really getting into this!

And I couldn’t be more proud!

We’re tag teaming it!

Herlock I swear to god if you tell me she’s that assassin

WHAT DID I JUST SAY!

(Editors note: Got that one!)

I sure am Susato!

Keep telling yourself that Ryunosuke, we can all see the truth

Ah, so the nose was fake too

That makes a lot more sense now!

Well she did disappear with a priceless tiara

He said, rubbing his hand in glee

This is definitely the start of a beautiful friendship!

Damn straight I do!

Bingo

For some reason I pictured it as being pink though, I don’t know why

Anyway so, while Nikolina does need money it seems that she didn’t steal the tiara. Apparently it was given to her as a present.

Also Nikolina is only 15, and has run away by herself for reasons currently unknown. I’m starting to get the feeling that the crew (or at least the two we’ve met) might have been looking out for her.

Oh yeah, the moving travel case!

Given the rules regarding pets, I wonder if that’s what’s in there? It would explain the attitude of the sailors we met.

Is it the Russian Revolutionary Herlock? You have to tell us if it is...

He’s learning!

Yep, she’s looking at the pet rule sign, now show me the pet!

Whoooooooo!

Yeah, I’m pretty sure the guys on the door were covering for her (and probably her pet too)

Hmm, so Nikolina’s running from someone, so she decided to disguise herself to be safe and has been a jumble of nerve ever since.

Can I see...

Bless you Nikolina, but you’re not the best at keeping secrets. I’m pretty sure the crew have collectively decided to just look the other way and let the traumatised 15 year old have her pet.

HE CUFFED ME AGIAN!!!

I wonder if Nikolina’s beloved pet’s a snake?

Can I just...

:(

Fine...

No, everyone must see my badge!

HA!

:(

:D

Ok now let’s go back to actually playing the game!

So, because she’s a jumble of nerves, Nikolina hasn’t been noticing much about what’s been happening around her. However I think she’d have probably noticed signs of danger, like loud noises, so I’m a little curious as to why she didn’t pick up on the sound of the tableware being sent to the floor.

From what I can gather about her ‘never dancing again’ whatever happened probably has something to do with the ballet.

Either that or she’s worried about being linked with her old life if she goes back on the scene under another name.

That’s a good point actually, while people are funny and I can get her wanting a memento of her life, that’s an incredibly distinctive memento to have.

It must have some sort of emotional significance, I think she said it was given to her by an Earl, so maybe her father?

Hmm, that’s a pretty distinctive thing to try and pawn Nikolina.

Yikes! So the Novavich Ballet’s got really unethical working conditions. (Which probably shouldn’t be too much of a shock given the time period.) Now I understand why Nikolina’s so keen to never put herself in that situation again.

Yeah, I thought that was the case.

Huh?

Oh yeah... that is odd

Ah, so that’s why everyone was so on edge!

Right...

(I feel like this would carry more weight if we hadn’t just been flashing our badge at anyone who looks our way)

Now onto the most important question:

HERLOCK NO!

Susato is me (but personally I’m hoping for a kitten)

Ok Genius, what sort of animal is it?

I’ll eat your funky hat if that’s true Herlock

Important information 2: Never trust Herlock with a pet

Please let it be that we were Kazuma’s pet

Wait no, I’m an idiot. I’m obviously supposed to ask about the speckled band

Wow she changed quick!

She’s leaving to talk to the captain, is this our chance to meet her friend!?!

Booooo, we’ve been chucked out!!!

[mulderist]

Wicked Game

Previous chapters // read on A03

Washington, D.C - 1948. Fox Mulder is a detective on the top vice unit; scandal, corruption, and lies come with the territory. He is forced to investigate a fellow officer and finds the lies go much deeper than the truth.

tagging @today-in-fic

CHAPTER 6

Navy Yard Washington, D.C. 10:13 p.m.

The Navy Yard sits on an unappealing southeast corner of the city pressed up against a polluted strip of the Potomac. It was used for ship maintenance and ammunition manufacturing during the war and continued for a little while after. The surrounding warehouses and docks became defunct once the war effort projects dried up. The shipyard devolved into a revolving door for small-time criminals which begat large-time mobsters. Security was usually an older night watchman who was past his prime and easy to track. Smaller boats would pull up and drop off cargo whenever they could. Deals were quick and dirty. Soon, respectable businesses in the southeast east district wanted a piece and formed a “two ships passing” style agreement. I suppose it saved them from having their goods sent to Anacostia or down towards Virginia. 

A flash of lightning brightened up a cluster of clouds. A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance. Fortunately, I had arrived and got into position just prior to the downpour. I sat on a dirt driveway off the access road, which was quickly becoming a muddy river. There was a canal to my left at the nine o’clock position, the Potomac dead ahead at my twelve, and the edge of a warehouse was at my three o’clock. The rain sounded like I had parked my Pontiac under Niagara Falls. Water pounded against the roof, rushed down the windshield in sheets of grey making the wiper blades useless. The water-logged Buddy Rich solo played on against the car and I had a feeling my view was not going to clear up anytime soon.

I fidgeted with a sunflower seed I pulled from the half-empty bag on my dashboard. Ideally I would toss the shells out the window but given the weather and trying to keep a low profile, there was an unsalted graveyard on the floor of the sedan. I cracked the shell with my teeth and added it to the discarded brethren. The seed danced around my tongue and I turned my wrist trying to make out the time on my watch. The minute hand eased a tick past the quarter hour. I then picked up the radio and connected with the precinct dispatch.

“This is Detective Mulder, over.”

Static. Click. Click.

I pressed the button again on the comm as I leaned over and grabbed my hat.

“This is Detective Mulder, do you copy? Over.” 

“Evening detective, this is Officer Stanz. Always nice hearing your voice in the dead of the night.”

“You too, sweetheart.”

“So Mulder, what’s your status?” 

“Waiting for this storm to strip the paint off my car,” I replied as I ran a hand over my face. “Visibility is shit sitting here in the driver’s seat. Regrettably, I think I’ll have to go on foot. Over.”

“Copy that,” she said, “Hopefully you won’t need to build an ark.”

“Honey, I’d rather swim for it. Over and out.” 

I placed my hat on my head, pocketed the small binoculars that were resting on the seat next to me, and opened the car door into the deluge. The rain sounded different as it slapped against the water in the canal, rang against the scrap metal, and beat against the dock. I dashed towards a scrap pile and crouched down amongst rusted metal and what I hoped were empty oil drums. If there was a gunfight I didn’t want to go up like a Roman candle. I peered over an oil drum and got eyes on the warehouse through the binoculars.

The info Krycek had provided Skinner said three was the magic number; Vincenti favored odds over evens. Guess I know how he’d play the roulette wheel at the casino. I saw a worn metal sign tacked to the side of the building letting me know I was in the right place. There was a dim light piercing through a shadow on the dock so somebody was home. Suddenly, headlights came down the other end of the access road and I got out of sight. The car went dark and I counted to ten then shifted my position. Rain poured off the brim of my hat, dripped down my neck so I flipped up the collar; glad I chose the dark grey trench coat. The new vehicle slowly crept closer to the front of the warehouse and idled. Once the hood touched the dim light source I knew it looked familiar; the distinct yellow paint job of a D.C. cab. I squinted and tried to memorize the plate number through spikes of rain. The passenger door opened flashing the checkered pattern on the side panel. A figure stepped out and rounded the front of the car then paused at the driver’s side before heading into the warehouse. Just then, a headlight shone on the river. I listened to the putter of the engine as it pulled up to the edge of the dock. Once the engine was cut I watched through the binoculars and saw one of the goons wave as the boat approached the dock. It was the same goon who was with Lodi at the restaurant. He approached the boat as they cut off the light. My grip switched and my eyes strained.

The D.C.cab was still idling along with the boat at the dock. I kept to the shadows. I could feel moisture collect at my mid back from an adrenaline surge. That all too familiar feeling. Suddenly as a thunder clap sounded, I had a flashback to a sunrise mission on Wake Island: Rain made my hands very slick on the Carbine as I tried to ready my aim. Bullets whizzed around me. The mud was so thick. An explosion went off nearby, my ear was ringing. My sergeant was yelling commands. I held my breath for three counts and pulled the trigger, a bright spray of red marked where I hit a Japanese soldier square in the throat. First time I successfully made that shot. Confirmed kill.

  I closed my eyes and dug my nails into the palm of my hand, one pain replaced another and the memory faded. My breath was short but steady. I needed to focus. If the goon was there, Lodi was surely lurking somewhere inside. I just needed to get eyes on him. The backside of the building seemed like a safer option and I pressed against the rotting wood as I moved around to a shabby staircase. A quick glance up and I climbed towards the single door. The steps were slippery and I was waiting for my foot to punch through a soft spot in the warped planks. At the landing I readied my gun and turned the knob, slowly opening the unlocked door. The upper level looked clear. It was a nice respite from the storm. I held my position and holstered my weapon. My trenchcoat felt like it took on about twenty pounds of rainwater and I would have enjoyed shaking off like a wet shaggy dog. Drips from the edge of my coat marked my hiding spot like an X on a treasure map. Luckily I didn’t need my binoculars from my perch because, as if on cue, Carlo Lodi’s hulking frame lumbered across the floor. 

He blew a puff of smoke from a dying cigarette. His goon handed over a white package which Lodi bounced in his hand with approval. He gave a wave and a couple of men filed out of the warehouse and approached the boat. I could just barely make out the edge of it bobbing at the side of the dock. The lackeys quickly transferred packages from the boat to the trunk of the idling taxi. I adjusted my stance and craned my neck. The cab had a picture of the Capitol dome and what looked like the word ‘Speedy.’ They were using the taxi company to move the heroin. I heard the boat engine rev and pull away from the dock. One of the men approached the driver’s side door of the cab and pulled the driver out. He pushed the confused cabbie away from his vehicle. Then the man swiftly plunged a knife in the cabbie’s side, repeating the motion until the poor driver went limp. He was then dropped in the Potomac like yesterday’s garbage. The goon took his place behind the wheel and I knew I needed to get back outside to tail him.

I saw the headlights from the commandeered taxi so I was careful not to be spotted. I couldn’t tell which direction he was going to pull off so I waited behind a different wood and scrap pile. The chug of the engine caught my attention. The lights appeared to be moving backwards and when they were far enough, I made a break for my car. Inside via the passenger door I fished out my key and started the engine then grabbed the radio comm.

“This is Mulder, does anyone read?”

I backed up on the access road and spun the wheel in the right direction. That sweet voice came through my radio once again.

“This is Stanz. Over.”

“I got eyes on Lodi. Shipment confirmed at Dock 3 at the Navy Yard, get anyone from the Southeast Division who isn’t asleep down here now. Beat cops, vice, narco, I’ll take whatever I can get. Take caution, he isn’t alone.”

I pressed the gas a little harder keeping textbook distance as I locked onto the cab. I clicked the comm again. 

“I’m in pursuit of an accomplice heading west on Waterfront Dr. It’s a taxi, plate number: TK-0421. Speedy Capitol Cab Company. Over” 

“Roger that. I’ll relay to Captain Skinner. Over and out.”

I tapped the break as I pulled around a corner and turned up Patterson Ave. then on to M Street. The cab slowed to stop at a red light a block ahead of me. Mighty nice of him to use a turn signal. He switched lanes and merged onto New Jersey Ave. angling towards Capitol Hill. The street cut a sharp diagonal and the famed white dome came into view. I heard my radio crackle but ignored it. My eyes felt like I had rubbed them with sandpaper, I hated to blink for fear of losing my target. I was dangerously tired, a second wind was long overdue. 

Street lights and neon bounced against puddles in the street. The rain had slacked off to the point where it was an annoying stubborn mist that couldn’t make up its mind if it wanted to stop or go full tilt. I had cracked my window and listened to the rush of tires on slick pavement, splashing in potholes and against manhole covers. 

The cab turned right onto Independence Ave. I tailed a little closer than protocol distance, keeping only one car between us. I missed the signal change and watched my target turn left on First St. Impatiently I waited for the signal, hoping I hadn’t lost them. After I made the turn I slowed down and searched for the taxi. I spotted it parked in front of the Library of Congress, parked like he was picking up a fare. There was a man standing on the curb holding an umbrella. I performed a u-turn maneuver and pulled into an empty parallel space, threw the gear shift into park and advanced on the suspect.

“DCPD!” I yelled as I approached the driver’s side door with my badge and gun drawn. The driver calmly rolled down the window and lifted a meaty hand from the wheel. A thick signet ring on his pinky finger looked like butcher’s twine around a sausage link. 

“No, keep ‘em on the wheel! Don’t move.”

He smirked and obliged. I held my gun on him and glanced in the backseat; a red ember glowed from the tip of a freshly lit cigarette.  

“Is there something we can do for you, detective?”

That voice. That distinctive snake hiss I couldn’t forget; it slowly coiled around like a wisp of smoke. The smoking man. Spender’s father. 

“Fancy meeting you here. Looks like you chose the wrong taxi tonight.”

“On the contrary detective, it’s you who chose poorly.”

“Yeah I have a knack for doing that,” I retorted, fingers gripping the handle of my gun, “Alright, you — out of the car. Hands where I can see them.” I pulled the door open and took a step back, letting the goon out. I made him turn to face the car, hands atop the roof. The smoking man leaned forward from the backseat, cigarette tucked between his lips.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“Hey! You are next on my list.” I shouted then continued frisking the goon, finding a small handgun and a switchblade. I stuffed them into my trench coat pocket.

“Careful, you’re gonna make me stiff,” he said with a laugh as I patted his legs down to the ankle, finding another blade in a clever holster. I pulled out my handcuffs and clasped his wrists behind his back. I pushed my gun in between his shoulder blades, directing him toward the rear of the taxi and told him to open the trunk. I felt the heat from the exhaust pipe blowing against my pant leg, creating a small dry patch on an otherwise drenched pair of trousers. The goon shook his head and flipped the latch. The trunk appeared empty.

“Alright where is it?” I asked,

“Where’s what?”

“The package. The white package.”

“Ain’t no package here.”

I leaned in and felt around, searching for a latch or tab or something that would indicate a hidden compartment. As my free hand finally found what it was looking for, my occupied hand dug the tip of the standard issue deeper into a lesser known pressure point in the goon’s back. The pulled a section of fabric loose, revealing a hidden compartment that was packed full of white packages. 

Sirens wailed in the distance. I tossed the goon in the back of my car, adjusting his handcuffs so there was no funny business, then radioed in my location. The smoking man approached under the cover of his umbrella.

“I could have your badge for this, detective.”

“You can try.”

“This small incident won’t change anything.”

“Just keep telling yourself that. I have officers from every direction to bust up the little party at the Navy Yard. This is the tip of the iceberg and I’m willing to go all the way to the core.”

We stood silent, listening to the approaching sirens. The rain had finally stopped but the percussive sound of drips could still be heard in the surrounding trees. A plume of smoke wafted in the air. He was about to say something to me but a squad car had arrived coming to a stop in the middle of the street. Two unis got out with guns drawn. 

“I’m taking my suspect back to the 3rd,” I called out, “You boys can take this one for a ride.”

[fallout-lou-begas]

Howdy! I remember reading in some of your posts that you use some mods to make the game harsher and more difficult, would you be willing to post a list? (or link me to one if you've already made the post- I couldn't seem to find it) I'm just starting to get into using mods for new vegas and the mods you seem to like look to be right up my alley

Hi! I’m so glad you asked, I’m very happy to make some recommendations.

Lou’s Mod Recommendations for Masochists (or: Creating a Disempowerment Fantasy)

Interior Lighting Overhaul / Darker Nights / Directional Flashlights: A combination of mods that make navigating around in the dark a lot more interesting and dangerous. ILO removes all artificial light sources from interiors so that caves and ruins don’t seem unnaturally bright, DN does exactly what it says on the tin, and DF replaces the Pip-boy Light with a handheld, unidirectional flashlight that must be equipped (or worn, if you craft a harness or have a compatible helmet) in order to be used. You can see them in action in this video.

Med-Tek Trauma Kit / More Conditions to Fast Travel / Better Crippled Legs: As I explain in the linked post, these three mods in conjunction revolutionize the significance of getting your limbs damaged, which can turn a sudden injury in combat into a severe game-changer.

No Magic Compass / Remove Compass POI Markers: I forget which of these actually work but I use them in conjunction. These remove the little ticks for locations and NPCs from your compass so that it’s just that: a compass, plain and simple. If you still want Perception to be useful as a stat now that you’ve removed its effect on your compass radius, try Precise VATS, which ties your accuracy and range with VATS to that stat.

Manual Reload: a small mod, but a great one! All this does is prevent the game from automatically reloading your weapon for you, either when you run out of ammo or switch from one weapon to another. This forces you to pay more attention while firefighting, lest you be caught firing dry with an enemy charging you down. Also, manual reloading just...feels good? You get to push a button, and I love having more reasons to push buttons. This mod pairs exceptionally well with Empty Clicks for an immersive indication of being spent.

No Skill Tags: This mod very simply removes the [Bracketed] labels from dialogue options that indicate that it’s a skill check. In addition to being more immersive, it prevents you from seeing that you’re too low to pass a check, and if you’re proactive you’ll live with the consequences of trying it and failing it anyway.

Cover-Based Stealth: In addition to overhauling the extremely simple detection AI of vanilla New Vegas into a system based on line of sight across larger distances (if a distant NPC catches a glimpse of you, they’ll actually come over to investigate!!), its most important feature is the most easy to use global damage variable slider I’ve seen yet from any other mod. Basically, you can multiply the damage dealt by you and to you by however much you want. Setting a high multiplier turns combat into a swift, bloody, and extremely dangerous affair. Compare this to the in-game harder difficulties where the only thing that happens is that enemies get more hit points and combat becomes only more tedious, not actually more difficult. Cover-Based Stealth is also a completely modular add-on, so you can only use the parts of it you like and ignore the rest!

Project Nevada: PN is an overhaul mod that I find difficult to recommend on the whole, but it’s so modular in its design and approach that you, like me, can use maybe 10% of its features while ignoring the other 90% and it’ll work just fine. Most pertinent to me is its Rebalance Module, which lets you easily customize so many features like the toughness of the economy, the rate at which you must fulfill survival needs in Hardcore mode, your movement speed with one or two broken legs (which would make Better Crippled Legs redundant), formulas for carry weight and other statistics, and leveling rates such as experience gain and perk rate. My personal configuration is a tougher economy, slightly harsher hardcore rates, 45% and 20% movement speed from broken leg(s), the least encumbrance possible (which makes backpack items, included in PN but also available in many other mods, a necessity), and a far slower leveling rate: a perk every three levels instead of two, only 5 skill points per level, and tagged skills only receive a +10 bonus but have a x2 multiplier to all skill points invested into them. I can’t recommend slowing down skill point gain enough because there’s seriously not much in vanilla settings stopping you from becoming a God of Everything laughably early.

Immersive HUD: A fully configurable, positionable, hide-able HUD that lets you create a far less obtrusive user-interface. It’s handy for a litany of reasons, but for a more difficult experience specifically, try hiding your ammo count so that you actually have to keep track of your own bullets in your head. Pull your best Dirty Harry and ask yourself whether you fired five shots or six, and whether you’re feeling lucky.

Finally, in addition to these mods, you can take in-game steps to make your gameplay experience more difficult as well. Do not take perks such as Comprehension, which is counter-intuitive to reducing skill point gain, or Living Anatomy, which while a very neat mechanic completely removes the challenge of learning which ammo types are most effective against specific enemies on your own and the suspense of a protracted firefight. Sell skill books instead of reading every single one. That kind of thing. I also don’t have a specific mod to recommend that achieves it cleanly, but when I start a new game, I plan for my character to have 5 less SPECIAL points to invest than the game actually allows, and after creating my character I just use console commands to adjust them to a lower rate. I also use console commands to remove far more caps from my inventory whenever I see a doctor, because (especially with mods that affect buying and selling prices), being restored to peak-perfect health should cost a lot more to maintain balance. Don’t ever be afraid to use console commands to just make things work the way you want them to!

All of these mods and tips are not hard and fast rules or things that make one experience objectively “better,” this is just my best advice for turning the game into something that suits my own personal playstyle, which is beign the weakest, shittiest, poorest, underdoggiest courier in the wasteland.

[baphomet-media]

Not the Disney One - A Tangle Tower Review

Genre: Adventure

Subgenre: Mystery

Developer: SFB Games

Publisher: SFB Games

Platform(s): Switch, PC, iOS

Release Date: October 22nd, 2019

Tangled Tower was a game that caught my attention by pure chance a while back while browsing the Switch eShop. I'm always a sucker for a good mystery game, and the art style made a distinct impression. Recently, I saw it on sale and decided to give it a try. So how is it? Read on and let the mystery unfold.

Story

In Tangled Tower, you play as Detective Grimoire, a private detective who doesn't take himself nearly as seriously as his name would suggest, as well as his sassy and quick-witted partner Sally. The two have been hired to investigate the murder of a young woman in the titular estate. The duo quickly find that this case is a tricky one. The murder took place inside a locked room, with no murder weapon found, and with a single witness who isn't talking. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Grimoire and Sally scour the manor, interviewing the eccentric families that live within and uncovering clues.

Each of the characters in the game are a delight. Their designs are extremely varied and stylistic, pushing the boundaries of human anatomy in the best way. While some might find them bizarre, I found them to be extremely expressive and evocative, aided by their extremely fluid and skillful animations. Their dialogue is always well written, and there were plenty of laughs in there. My favorite character was Sally herself. I loved her look, with her poofy green hair and sultry purple eyeshadow perfectly complementing her sarcasm while belying her understated playful side.

The only complaints I had with the story were that the ending didn't really tie up all the loose ends for me. I didn't fully understand the culprit's motivations, and certain things felt like they were left unexplained. Additionally, I only felt like maybe 30% of the story was directly related to solving the murder, while 70% was devoted to figuring out each of the characters' personal problems as well as what the heck is actually going on in this wacky mansion. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the game quite a bit, I just felt like there was just slightly too little focus on the actual murder.

Gameplay

Tangled Tower is a fairly light point-and-click adventure game, where the main progression involves examining environments for clues, talking to characters and presenting them evidence Ace Attorney style. Occasionally there are a few puzzles to solve to gain more clues. I really enjoyed these puzzles, as they all felt really unique and fresh. None were mind-bending, but they all made me think, which felt great.

Occasionally, when the game wants you to deduce something, it will present you with a minigame where you have eight pieces of evidence to choose from to put together with two statements picked each from lists to make a sentence that answers a relevant question. I really enjoyed this, as it was a good way to test the player on what they were able to deduce without accidentally giving away the answer (a la multiple choice lists), though I found most of these deductions were things I already figured out, leaving them easily solved.

Throughout all the puzzles in the game, there's really no consequence for failure, which in this game I found to be a good thing. If you get a deduction or puzzle wrong, the game will just tell you to try again or come back later, giving you a slight hint as to how to approach the problem without trivializing the puzzle.

Where I think the game is at its weakest is in its controls. The game is clearly designed with touch screens (particularly tablets) in mind. That would be great if I actually played in handheld mode. Instead, I played in docked mode with a pro controller. In this configuration, you're forced to control a pointer with the analog stick and use any button to tap. This ends up making for a slow and tedious UX, especially when most UI elements are at the fringes of the screen, often on opposite sides. Especially after having played the Ace Attorney trilogy collection, some button mappings would have made navigation much easier. Additionally, there aren’t any tutorials in this game, which I would normally praise, however I got about halfway through the game before I realized I could present evidence and profiles to characters, since the UI doesn’t really change when talking to someone. Perhaps just a few small reminders would have made things clearer.

Lastly, as a story-heavy game focused on mystery, there's no optional content and little replay value. As much as I enjoyed the game, once you reach the ending, that's it. Still, this is to be expected, given the genre.

Presentation

Presentation is where this game truly shines. As mentioned before, the character art is fantastically stylized and expertly animated. The game uses what I assume is a shader to give sort of a sketchy wobble to the characters (as if the artist re-drew the entire sprite each frame). I felt like this somewhat detracted from the design of the characters, and I would have liked to see them without this shader effect.

The background art is also wonderful. The hand-drawn aesthetic lends itself well to the game's visuals, giving everything an effortlessly elegant look.

One of the highlights for me, however, was the voice acting. Without exception every single line of dialog in the game is fully voice acted at an impressive level. While the level of text isn't on the level of, say, Persona 5, it's still quite admirable for a game of this small of a scale. On top of that, the voice acting is all phenomenal! I loved Sally's gravelly sardonics, to Fifi's nasally inflection, to Felix's braggadocious whiffling. Seriously, big shout out to the voice talent on this game.

Lastly, the game's music isn't much to write home about, but its soft and mysterious vibes help to set the tone for each scene, and I liked that each character had their own theme.

Conclusion

Tangle Tower is a great game, if a bit short. It’s a great game to play in one or two sittings, and the voice acting and animation will engage you with the quirky cast of characters through this mysterious romp. Unfortunately, at least on Switch, the game is held back by its tablet-focused UX that makes the minute-to-minute gameplay tedious. Definitely pick it up when it’s on sale.

Score: 8 / 10

[technopold]

Backbone Review

Backbone (2021) is a dim point and click detective game for PC. This review will contain little to no spoilers as I hope that these few paragraphs will make you go try this game for yourself. Moreover, I will try to look at the ways in which the game offers the keys to open the many doors of its complex world through the environment, the characters and the main storyline.

To begin with, the story makes the player steps into the shoes of none other than Howard, a raccoon with a red tie and a trench coat that kinda hates his life and has complex relationships (his mom included). This apartment is messy, with the classic noir detective who has a cork board with a map, photographs and threads tying up these elements together.

On another note, it is important to add that the game design allows the player to quickly be immersed into the game world: everything is grim, sad. We are directly fitting the various tropes of the genre. The lonely detective, the complicated social context of a rotten society, the rainy and dark streets of a corrupted city are all part of this game. However, I have to add that the tone of the game shift as the story progresses. This is a valuable part of the story that I will not go over as it is part of the character's journey to the truth.

The first case we help Howard with let us understand the game mechanics when dialogue is concerned. You can shape Howard's character and work ethic from this first dialogue onward. His charisma can be toyed with as the story progress and the numerous opportunities for him to be kind, brutal or detached are paving his cases.

Also, this first step outside allows you to discover the grand scenery and powerful environmental storytelling in this game. This case makes you discover Howie's town, filled with details yet depressed characters who try to make ends meet.

The wife of a corporate otter suspects him to have an affair as his behaviour changed in the last months. You can choose to investigate how you see fit, which enabled the player to be invested into the story. We are encouraged to look at the lit windows and apartments that surround Howard, we can pet geese and hope for the best when it comes to unravelling the darker secrets of an elite Jazz club (called "The Bite") that hangs tight between these small and overcrowded streets. It does not take long before we step outside to understand that this dystopian version of Vancouver is a critique of the core questions of this society hierarchy and power dynamics. As it will be mentioned, the beginning of the game launches the player in the noir atmosphere of the city. The streets are busy with people smoking, chatting and drinking. It's a lively setting and Howard's there to work, get intel and find clues.

The secrets you can encounters can help or confuse you, but at the end of the day, you're the one making decisions. Dialogue wise, it's quite interesting to see the various options one is confronted to. Very much like games where dialogue trees are used, the player can feel empowered and important in the story progression.

Now, a quick word on the puzzles of Backbone. There are not a lot, which was quite upsetting for me because I expected to solve these kind of mysteries. But the ones present did not disappointed, they kinda made sense to me game world wise.

[pollyannisms]

DISCORD HEADCANON DUMP

Ángela falls strictly into the Iceberg category, where promotion is off the table entirely because she is too valuable for the foundation where she is. Unless another version of her comes along, they would never find another person to do what she does with the same efficiency and fearlessness. It's like, how many forensic pathologists would be happy and willing to climb into the giant decomposing chest cavity of a potentially dangerous anomaly to get an insight on what it was that put them down? Not many besides Ángela, that's for sure! 

Okay, this is more of a general headcanon than one which applies to a Ángela alone. Still, I'm of the firm opinion that any researcher/doctor/security officer/etc. Who fits the profile of a 'team-leader (i.e. has assistant workers, trains future workers as a part of an apprenticeship program, etc.) has the additional duty of monitoring the workers under them, in addition to whatever job they are expected to perform, and reporting any concerning/dissenting/anti-social/overly-cruel or generally problem behaviour to the Ethical Enforcers before it becomes a more significant issue for the foundation at large. And it's from these reports that things like mandatory psych evaluations, increased surveillance, etc., are often borne. 

So, for example, let's say one of the forensic assistants under Ángela began vocally experiencing a higher degree of humanization of the individuals and anomalies they autopsy and expressing a great amount of guilt over it. Ángela would be obligated by her duty to report this to the ethics team, and they from there would schedule a psych evaluation for the individual in question, and advise Ángela to keep herself open if they need support in the mean time. From there though the ethics team and psych team would evaluate whether the employee was fit to continue their work or posed a danger to themselves, others or the foundation as a whole and consider taking steps from there.

A lot of the time when people in the foundation talk about O5 having ‘eyes’ everywhere, it’s in reference to these sorts of mandatory reporters. 

Ángela is in charge of choosing her team members (aka. forensic assistants to help her move bodies around, take measurements, etc.), and I think she is VERY VERY picky about who she takes and doesn’t. 

Though this is because she does a lot of the grosser, more gruesome and dangerous aspects of the job that no one else wants to do (and therefore gets pushed off onto her), and she doesn’t want to have anyone go with her, who she can’t rely on in a pinch and who can’t bear the emotional burden of her job. iii

Prompt: For researchers; What was their favorite SCP assigned to them and why? Do any stick out in their memory? Why? What did they do and what were they?

Ángela’s favourite SCP and also most heartbreaking assignment was SCP-8699 or The Living Dead. They were a humanoid anomaly that was inanimate most of the time but became animate during instances of a full moon. Which weird as it is, wasn’t their anomalous trait. It was the fact that they could not be killed by brute force, but could not regenerate themselves, actively decayed like a corpse but remained alive during full-moon periods, felt no pain and seemed to know nothing about itself other than that it existed, but seemed incapable of understanding that it should’ve been dead. 

They were given to Ángela during an entirely separate SCP investigation and were undergoing an examination to create a link between said aforementioned SCP and themselves - but regained animation and sentience on the exam table. Causing Ángela’s crew to evacuate the lab and Ángela to retreat into the observation room to trigger the breach in progress alarm. Though, to Ángela’s surprise, rather than attempting to break into the observation room to try and kill her, they ripped off their EKG and hid under the exam table and seemed terrified, crying and shaking and trying to cover themselves. 

Ángela, being Ángela and seeing this, turned on the speakers in the lab from the observation room and did her best to comfort the SCP, and directed them to some extra lab coats she kept in case of emergencies and talked with them, and between the jigs and the reels, managed to calm them down, explained they weren’t in trouble and that there had been a mistake, and played four games of tic-tac-toe before the security team finally got to the lab and secured 8699 and rescued Ángela. 

Though on their way to move 8699, dawn broke, and they reverted to an inanimate corpse once again. Ángela, with backing from her superiors, decided warranted further observation, and thus the pattern was detected, and they were classified!

Sadly though, Ángela and her team had to classify them as Khonsu, and due to their natural decay, 8699 was fully neutralized within two years of their discovery. Much to the heartbreak of the time assigned to them, as they were lovable in their way. Like, they were this 2.3 metre tall emaciated, rotting corpse that wouldn’t look out of place in a horror movie, with the mental maturity of a child and this sunshiny disposition and an apparent inability to understand the situation they were in entirely. I mean, how can you not love a shy, gentle giant that tries to hide behind its researcher that’s half its size.

What Ángela remembers about them the most though was when she was ordered to carry out a complete autopsy of them during one of their periods on apparent inactivity, as they were functionally dead and therefore able to be conducted without the possibility of excessive pain or cruelty. Before the dissection, though, Ángela, with backing from the Ethics committee, chose to have a meeting with 8699 and told them everything she was going to have to do and stressed that they were allowed to say no to anything ‘too invasive’ and the ethics committee would make sure she wouldn’t have to do it. But they didn’t care, they just shook their head and shrugged it off, saying ‘No, it’s fine, I won’t feel it anyways and I trust you, you’ll put me back together again,’ to which Ángela was like

Something unintentionally uncovered by the 8699, though, was that Ángela seems to have anosmia because, even when 8699 was falling into goo and bones and ‘reeked to the high heavens,’ so much so that they had to give it an airtight containment chamber. Ángela was able to remain in close contact with them and even eat in their presence.

Prompt: What was the scariest or most traumatic moment that your character has had to live through and how did they respond to the trauma in that moment?

For Ángela, there are four options for this question. There was the moment she found her older brother’s dead body bloated and disfigured and unrecognizable as him if it wasn’t for the crucifix necklace he always wore, which left her, well, non-functioning. She disconnected from her peers and family, developed depression, mentally regressed in terms of maturity, and developed muteness for the better part of 3 years following. In her defense, what she saw was horrifying for a child, and she wasn’t given trauma or therapy in the aftermath to help her cope.

- there was the incident that triggered her abduction hiring by the Foundation, which left her incredibly rattled and nervous about resuming her work for months following (though, with help from available counselling and therapy, she moved past that trauma and was able to return to work)- there was the first-ever containment breach she was a part of

 - where one of the patients she and her team were working on suddenly returned to life and sunk its teeth into her coworker’s throat—causing him to bleed out. She and her team members to have to leave him to it, which was the reason for her first promotion and was the incident that made it sink in that she wasn’t working for the government anymore and that the SCP Foundation was much more dangerous than she could have ever prepared for. Sometimes she still has nightmares about that assistant grasping at his neck desperately and trying to claw his way to the door to escape with them, only to be dragged back into the lab by the anomaly-infected corpse and the sound he made, oh god, the sound. Something between a wet rattle and a wheeze as he tried to cry for help despite his open wound.

And there was the lead up to 8699’s neutralization. See, before it’s death, it had requested Ángela visited them in the Foundation’s equivalent of a hospice center in Site 17, and she went. She used her vacation days and headed over, and things were going great! 8699 remembered Ángela and has perked up the moment it recognized her, and they chatted, about her team, the non-classified information about the site, how the flowers looked. The birds were coming home for spring, and things seemed, well, great, despite the ever-present vibe of forthcoming death. 

Then something happened- she couldn’t tell you what, but something clicked in 8699, like the gravity of the situation finally dawned on them, and they asked her to get closer. Given their history of non-violence and friendliness, was obliged by Ángela, and they spilled everything they knew about themselves and how they came to be what they were, which took Ángela by surprise and left her shocked. Never before had they lied. They were forthright, almost childishly so, so it seemed so strange. Then they said they had to give her something and began hacking and coughing violently. They seized and sputtered and Ángela, being a smart cookie, tried backing up. 

At this point, she was terrified. 8699 wasn’t acting like themselves. They didn’t seem like themselves, they were more erratic, agitated, and she didn’t know if they were going to try and attack her or not. But 8699, despite retching like it was trying to heave it’s organs through its mouth, grabbed her wrist and held her with a strength she couldn’t get out of. At that moment, her entire life flashed before her eyes. It was like every mistake she had ever made fit into one jigsaw puzzle, and she understood that she was going to die here with this SCP she underestimated. But, instead of attacking her, 8699 just produced this group of 6 polished gems and shoved them into her hand before letting go, and Ángie just fell to the ground.

She was in such a state of shock that it wasn’t until the security team put her into a quarantine that she understood what the fuck had even happened. Shortly after that, this apparent attack 8699 entered inactivity for the final time and never returned to an animated state.

Prompt: What is your character’s opinion on the armed guards buzzing around the facility? Are they intimidated by them? Do they enjoy them? Know them by name? Or do they pity them?

Regarding the guards, Ángela has divided emotions. On the one hand, she fears their guns but pities them as people. They’re often so young and unequipped to deal with these situations, promised this exciting, lucrative career, only to be treated as d-class with guns.

She, in equal measures, wants to hug them and tell them to run for the hills and mutter under their breath about their foolishness. But this is more so directed at what she sees in them that reminds her of her. In practice, she’s kind and a bit maternal to many of them - popping her head into the guard breakroom at the beginning of her shifts to say hi, before scampering off to do her thing and always remembering their names and birthdays.

EXCEPT in the case of the guards assigned to her. Those guys, good lord, she hates those guys. They always respond to her breach in progress alarms like five minutes late, they make scathing comments and insults, they think she can’t hear when she works late, take smoke breaks every ten minutes, even though she knows neither smoke. She loathes them, but she would never give them the satisfaction of knowing that, no, she chooses to kill them with kindness as ineffective as that is! 

Prompt: What’re your character’s opinions on anomalies? Most notably sentient, however can apply to all. Broad, but here’s something’s to detail: - Are they evil? Are they “out to get us”? - Should they be contained, or let free, or neutralised? Where’s the line between “possible staff”, “must be contained”, and “must be neutralised”? - Should they have the same rights as standard humans? - What’re their opinions on free-roaming passive SCPs, or anomalous personnel? - Where did they come from? Was it a “someone” or “something” that created them all? Do they simply just exist? - Do they believe any SCP-001 proposals? If they do, which? If they don’t, why not?

-Ángela subscribes to the Gears school of thought regarding anomalies, their nature and their inherent maliciousness. In that, she doesn’t believe they’re a part of some ‘conspiracy’ against humanity, some pawn in an unfathomable being’s game of chess, etc. Ángela is of the opinion that they simply are. In the same way, animals simply are. They exist because they exist, and their nature is what it is. 

She doesn’t believe that anomalies can choose to be the way they are and feels that expecting them to be different and conform to a human morality, behaviour, or culture is a waste of time applying human morality, behaviour, and culture to them. 

- Ángela feels they (the anomalies) should be contained for both the safety of humanity AND the anomaly themselves in equal measure. See, the world is harsh, and humanity can be cruel, and while many anomalies can defend themselves against this fact of life, or at least blend in well enough with civilization to go unnoticed. Many can’t and need the protection, stability, steady supply of sustenance, etc. The facilities provide them. 

Regarding the lines of neutralization, containment and staff treatment- it’s hard to say generally, as Ángie feels it should be handled on a case by case basis, which factors in all perspectives about the situation. From risk vs reward, the financial aspect, the human cost, the opinions and desires of the anomaly in question and whether or not it would cause undue suffering in the anomaly.

By and large, though, she thinks a lot more sentient, low-security risk anomalies (i.e. 073) should be given the option to seek a profession within the foundation and be allowed to strive for a semi-normal life with privileges such as forming relationships, having friendships, hanging out, taking sick/lazy days, etc. Because, while they are objects, they’re also people - and their anomaly shouldn’t invalidate their personhood. At least, not as far as she’s concerned.

- This is another case-by-case type of question. For humanoid and or sentient SCPs that have proven themselves to be the most baseline, minimal threat in Foundation Security and Staff safety - then yes. She feels they should be given civil liberties and human rights like any other person in the foundation. For anything beyond that, though? Hard pass. Though they should still be acknowledged as people, they should not be handed rights and liberties - ESPECIALLY In the case of entities that have proven themselves to be manipulative, repeat breachers, violent, etc. It’s playing with fire and, while certainly morally questionable, is a necessary evil. 

- Ángela honestly doesn’t care that much. In some cases, it can take her back a bit (like coming into contact with a humanoid pigeon that is at least a head taller than her), but she’ll get used to it. This all being said, though, there are some free-range SCP’s Ángela can’t help but feel nervous in the presence of. She tries to bite back the feeling and deny its existence, but it does exist. Have faith that it does. 

- In short, yes. To elaborate, though, Ángela believes every anomaly is made by something. Though whether that thing is another entity, nature itself, the universe, a paradox, rip in space-time, etc. Is all a matter of debate and a case by case basis. 

- Ángela has an SCP-001 proposal of her own, and I’ll leave it at that! Haha

[mercurryblack]

Chapter 6: Rudyard

Day six: the investigation fruitlessly continues.

❃❃❃

“Any luck today?” Yuen asked.

After six fruitless days of combing over Berilo’s house and garden, LLAC had once again returned to the usual meeting place. By that time, Yuen, Rudyard and Sardion were already waiting for them, and the sun was inching down past the horizon.

Lillian shook her head in disappointment. “Nothing. We searched the house from roof to basement as usual, but we didn’t find anything that wasn’t already marked or mentioned in the initial report.” She informed them.

“Yeah, same here.” Cait added. Under their breath, they grumbled; “This is so not cool at all.”

The search of the garden on the first day had been under pleasant weather, but that was the only upside that they recalled— most of that day had just consisted of crawling around underneath the plants and staring at every inch of grass and dirt for footprints. Consistently, the highlight of each passing day seemed to be their short lunch break.

Sardion sighed. “We’re in the same boat, then. Nothing turned up for us, either— I guess we’ve hit a dead end.” Yaara’s house, in comparison had been spick and span, just like how she organized it. Like Berilo’s, a blood spatter marked the area where she had died, but the house was in better shape than his— the door was still on its hinges, with no sign of lockpicking.

“So, what are we going to do next, Detective?” inquired Rudyard. Despite his annoyance at the lack of any new leads, he managed to keep his tone calm.

Yuen raised a hand to her temple, exhaling heavily. “For now, we should head back to my office. I’m sure the lot of you are hungry, I have some food stashed there. We can talk over a nice meal.” she answered.

Sardion raised an eyebrow. “You keep food in your office, too?”

“Ah, just some Dr. Piper and a few packs of Simple Wok instant noodles,” Yuen replied. “…Er, lots of Simple Wok instant noodles, to be honest.”

***

Yuen prepared some water for the instant noodles on a hot plate, as the group sat huddled in the small space.

“Sorry that this is all I have. Whenever us detectives need to stay for the night, cup ramen and soda become our nectar and ambrosia.” She said, sounding a bit embarrassed.

Rudyard laughed, giving Sardion a gentle nudge in the arm. “It’s alright, detective. Truth be told, it makes me remember when I was back in the academy. Sardion, Berilo and I used to sneak boxes of these from the cafeteria to our rooms every once in a while, so that we could have late-night snacks every time we needed to stay up to finish our written assignments.”

“Oh gods, yeah, I remember that.” Sardion said. “And you remember that time Yaara yelled at all of us because we pulled an all-nighter and made the entire room smell like broth? She said if we had just eaten enough at dinnertime like ‘normal people’, we wouldn’t be hungry and therefore wouldn’t stink up the dorm. She was right, of course, but that never stopped us from doing it again and again.” He started laughing along with Rudyard.

“Man, we should try that out, Hattie.” Cait suggested. “Knowing ol’ Branwen, there’s no way that he’ll let me off of that paper just for this assignment, so we might as well have something to eat.”

“Yeah!” Hattie agreed. “We can eat whenever we want!”

Sardion adopted a comically authoritative demeanor. “Hey, hey, bad idea. Don’t do it. And if you ignore me and get caught, don’t tell Lionheart we did it too at our time there. But, if you pull it off and don’t get caught, then you gotta tell us how you did it.”

Rudyard shook his head, grinning. “Man, we must’ve done it ‘til the day we graduated. That grouchy old lady who worked there would always wonder why some of their food was lost, but we never got the blame for it.” He clicked his fingers “Say, you remember the time Hidalgo and Gin found her stash of chocolate pudding and took as much as they could carry?”

“The Great Pudding Robbery of ‘56. How could I ever forget—?”

This time, it was Lillian’s turn to interject. “Wait, Hidalgo? As in Hidalgo Ferrante?”

Sardion turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, he was one of our pals in the academy. You know him?”

“Sort of.” Lillian replied. “I mean, I’m dating his daughter right now.” She explained, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“Wait, no kidding?” Sardion’s eyes widened. Turning to Rudyard, he mouthed ’did you know?’

“Yeah, her name’s Rosario.” Rudyard continued. “Talks about her all the time. Showed me a picture of her once, too— she’s definitely her old man’s daughter, has his eyes.”

As he spoke, Yuen sat down with them, placing the pot of now-boiling water in the middle and gesturing to the box of cup ramen. “Okay, grab whatever flavor of noodles you want. And before we continue with the nostalgia and all that, we should first discuss what we want to do next.”

“But… we still haven’t really found anything. How are we supposed to know our next move?” Amaryllis asked.

“Well, it’s not like we can just sit here until something else happens.” answered Yuen.

“Actually, they could stand to do so.” Sardion suggested, indicating LLAC with a nod of his head. “Not for long, but just half a day should suffice. We need to have clear heads, and that goes double for you, Detective— you’ve been pulling all-nighters trying to connect the dots on that corkboard. We all deserve a moment’s rest before we try facing the problem head-on.” he suggested.

Rudyard pensively nodded. “Sardion and I can carry our own independent investigations during then. We’ll try and reconvene with you in the evening, Detective, and LLAC can join us the next morning. The last couple of days have been a whirlwind, and while I’ve no intention of stopping my search for the killer, I don’t want us to burn out— or you guys, for that matter.”

After a moment’s pause, Yuen nodded in agreement. “Alright, team, you kids get tomorrow off starting at noon, and you two get the morning to make your own inroads. But when we all get back, we immediately pick up from where we left off, agreed?” She remarked.

“Agreed!” LLAC responded in unison.

***

“You know, despite all the preservatives, this stuff isn’t half bad.” Lillian said, shoveling a hunk of chicken-flavored noodles into her mouth. “I can see why people would get addicted to it.”

Yuen laughed. “What, don’t tell me you never ate this growing up? Not even once?”

Amaryllis shook her head as she followed her sister’s example, holding up a cup of beef-flavored noodles. “Aunt Izzy was always pretty strict about what we ate. Sure, we had breakfast cereal and juice and the occasional sweets, but that was pretty much it. Said that we had to follow a good diet, and that taste was one of the first things Huntresses sacrificed in the field.” She slurped some of the broth. “Hope I never have to find out what she meant by that.”

“Mmmllpphh... uhh knww whuhh duhs’ lhhk,” Cait said through a mouthful of noodles. “Than’th fuhh th’ muhhll.”

Yuen nodded. “No problem, kid. Eat up, you need it.”

“RRURRRRRP!” Their conversation was interrupted by a loud burp from Hattie. “Ah, ‘scuse me.” She said sheepishly

“Hah! I’ll have whatever she’s having!” Sardion laughed, countering her with a slightly louder belch of his own.

He barely even finished before the petite girl grinningly returned the favor with an even louder eructation.

“Are you… perhaps challenging me, Miss Lazuli?” Sardion inquired, his face turning comically stony as he repressed the urge to snicker.

Hattie smirked, holding up an unopened soda can. “Mayb—b—buUUUURRRRUUUPPPP!”

“Oh, for the love of…” Lillian groaned at the childish antics of the two. “Okay, saying it right now; I’m not being the judge this time.”

***

“Okay, you two, you know the rules. Whoever burps the longest wins, brownie points for whoever starts the loudest,” Amaryllis recited, holding up the timer on her Scroll, her finger raised just above the screen. “Ready.”

Sardion and Hattie each snapped open a can of soda, looking each other dead in the eye as they did so.

“I must let you know, Miss Lazuli, that I was the burp-off champion of Haven Academy in my time.” boasted Sardion.

“That was a long time ago, old dude. Now, it’s my time to shine.” Hattie shot back.

“Set.”

Both of them raised the metal edges of the cans to their lips, still maintaining their locked gaze.

“Last chance to back out, kiddo.” Sardion said, in a taunting voice.

Hattie didn’t reply, but narrowed her eyes and gave Sardion a thumbs-down.

“Go, Sardion.” Rudyard cheered halfheartedly yet amusedly, who sat on the couch watching the game.

“Get him, Hattie!” Cait crowed.

“Begin!”

Glup, glup, glup, glup. Both Hattie and Sardion began swigging down their cans in one long draught, their eyes beginning to water against the drink’s stinging carbonation. Within the span of a few seconds, they had poured every last drop down their throats, only for their cheeks to pouch as the carbon dioxide came rushing back up their gullets.

“Aaaaaaand… go!”

(For the reader’s own sake, this ridiculous match has been abridged by the author, who apologizes for this shameless, childish, and blatantly filler chapter. If you wish for a much funnier burping match, please follow this link.)

“And… time!” Amaryllis turned off her Scroll’s timer as Hattie and Sardion’s burps died down at the same time. “Geez! Thirteen seconds, not bad.” She remarked, swiping on her CCCT browser. “Says here that the world record’s over forty, apparently.”

“Which one had that time?” Hattie asked, wiping her chin with the crook of her elbow.

“Both of you, actually. Tie.” Amaryllis said, lifting her gaze.

Without missing a beat, Hattie grabbed another can of Dr. Piper and thrust it at Sardion. “AGAIN!”

***

While they continued with their childish contest, Cait, Lillian, and Rudyard were busy talking about some of their older missions. Cait found the pair’s recollection of the Kumoyuri assignment far more interesting than the day’s work, and found the part where Lillian had gotten dunked in mud wildly funny.

Personally, they didn’t find their extracurricular Grimm-hunting work to be as interesting, but Rudyard still politely listened nonetheless. Lillian, having been there along with Cait, only half-listened to them as she poured water into another cup of noodles.

“Oh, man. So there we were, looking right in the eye the largest Boarbatusk I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It huffed, and it puffed, it almost blew us away, but we still weren’t scared!” Cait exclaimed, gesturing with their hands to the best of their ability. “Thing is, it was pretty simple once we got down its attack pattern. Charge, turn around, charge, turn around, snort, repeat. Fourth pass around, Hattie managed to chop off its tusks with Whirligig… uh, her saw-gun thingamabob.” They continued, snapping their fingers as they tried to recall the exact name.

“Whirling Dervish.” Lillian said.

“Yeah, that, thanks Lilly.” Cait said, nodding. “Well, as I was saying, she cut off its tusks and got its face pretty good, and I shouted, ‘Guess you’re just a “Boarba” now!’” They sniggered for a moment at their own joke. “You wanna know why I called it that?”

Rudyard chuckled, bracing for the terrible pun he knew was incoming. “No, I have no earthly idea. Why?”

“Because it lost its tusks. Gettit? Boarba? No ‘tusk’? Cut its tusks off?” Cait grinned, acting as if the wordplay had been anything resembling clever.

“Oooof.” Rudyard groaned, shaking his head despite the grin on his own face. “Bad one.”

“I know, right? I should get an award for my combat banter. S’not as easy as everyone thinks it is.”

“Ignore them.” Lillian said, rolling her eyes.

Rudyard leaned back, taking a helping of his own noodles. Despite his inner tension, the pain he still had in his heart, he felt relaxed and eased by LLAC’s company. It felt nice for all of them to gather like one big family, even facing the stark reality of the next day to come. It would take far more than one good night to heal, but watching his protégé and her team… it filled him with determination.

It gave him strength and determination, seeing the new generation take the reins the old had once held. More importantly, it gave him hope.

[lucitrius]

•°☆°• Oumami week day 2: soulmates / talentswap •°☆°•

▪ word count: 1,721 ▪ content: spoilers for chapters 1 - 4, hints at chapter 5 ▪ monochromatic soulmate au ▪

————————————————— ☆ —————————————————

There was something missing, still. He had remembered so much since the game had begun, and yet he was still stumped as to why he felt like a chunk of his own heart was missing. They had used countless flashback lights by now, had so many discussions about their memories, and yet nothing was coming back to him. Ouma began to wonder if that was just how he was. If he had always felt this empty; this lonely. Perhaps he was just hyping himself up for a memory that would never come, so he had began crushing down his hopes not long after the first trial.

Trials. Iruma's trial was just minutes away, he was sure. They had been investigating for what seemed like days now, so it had to be, at least. As he followed Saihara around aimlessly, pointing out obvious clues but asking ridiculous questions about them, Ouma felt a pit in his stomach. He didn't want another execution, another corpse, another body needlessly tossed away like some scrapped wrapper. This whole game was disgusting, and he felt even worse to have basically dealt into the hand of the mastermind by asking Gokuhara to help him. Gokuhara is nearly an adult, so this was his choice. He chose to go through with this, he chose to kill. Or, at least, that's how he justified it in his head, but no matter the excuses he made for himself, he still felt completely and utterly guilty.

With the sickening chime of the announcement bell, Ouma stopped walking, watching as Saihara jolted uncomfortably. Of course he would be uncomfortable, each and every trial was basically laid out for him to carry on his own, aside from Ouma's occasional hidden aide. He suddenly wondered if Saihara ever felt guilty. 

The walk to the court room was filled with the usual hopeless chatter. "We'll make it out this time!" or "I'm sure this was justified…" and anything of the sort rung in his ears as his peers spoke around him. He narrowed his eyes at the elevator door as it slid shut, watching it buckle and shake as the carriage began its descent. He didn't want to do this.

It was only a matter of time until they came to the conclusion that Gokuhara was the culprit. Of course they did, no one would ever get away with murder as long as they had a detective in their ranks. He was practically fuming at how Gokuhara didn't seem to remember anything until his avatar self was provided. He was less so angry at the boy himself, but rather that even in his final moments he had to be so innocent. He committed murder- Ouma should detest him- and yet he was innocent. No, it wasn't even murder. It was protection. No one who defended the weak deserved to be punished, and yet Gokuhara was, right in front of everyone's regretful eyes. 

The somber grimace he wore during the execution just wasn't fitting for the character he played, thus it was quickly thrown aside for a calm grin. The others glared with disbelief at his continued "enjoyment" of this twisted excuse for a game.

He was hardly retaining any of the argument that they were having with him. It was his fault, he already knew that, he didn't need to be reminded of it. He was a disgusting freak of a person. He was guilty. And yet here he stood, alive and well with a chasm for a heart. None of the words thrown his way were really sticking, at least, not until Saihara near growled at him.

"You're alone, Ouma. And you always will be."

Alone.

And so he remembered.

A soft breeze tussled Ouma's short, loose hair effortlessly. It knocked some of the sand from his head, but not much. He didn't mind, though. The sand beneath his feet was warm and welcoming after all, so he was much too distracted by the little pit he had dug to sit in to notice the bits on his scalp. His young eyes peered out at the ocean with endless curiosity, his fingers poking holes into the sand as he admired the horizon.

Ouma hit the ground with a thud, the skin on his palms scratching up as he braced himself. He sat up and ran his fingertips over the gravel left on his skin, wiping it away as he glanced above himself to the monkey bars he had fallen from. His grip was never strong enough to stay on past the second bar, but that was fine. His eyes fell back to his palms, watching as small bubbles of blood formed in a few deeper scratches. He stared momentarily before closing his hands and standing back up, running off to go clean them off. 

Waking up in a locker, Ouma reeled, hitting his head. He was tired and confused, and as the door clicked open without him doing so that was only boosted. He stumbled out, just barely catching himself on a desk before he tripped over his own feet. The boy opposite to him, who had made it to the ground with a sharp clanging noise, was peculiar enough to catch his attention, but after their interaction with some other students he left to go meet the others on his own. Ouma watched him leave the classroom without a word, his hands clasped behind his neck. He was about to go out and leave as well before a taller student caught the door and peered inside. He smiled upon seeing Ouma, walking in and letting the door slide closed.

Rantarou Amami. He was an interesting character, for sure. They certainly weren't good friends at first, but as time passed and they took more time to investigate as a pair, they at least were talking casually. 

They were sitting in Amami's room as per usual, since Ouma more than often picked his lock instead of inviting him to talk normally. Their conversation had been focused on the mastermind, but after a while they found themselves focused on each other. It wasn't uncommon, and somehow Ouma didn't hate it. It was comfortable to have someone there for once.

"...or am I wrong, Ouma?" 

He looked up at the mention of his name, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly. "Hm?"

Amami laughed warmly, shaking his head. "I guess you weren't listening to me. Ah well, wasn't anything important."

Ouma smiled cheekily, sitting up on his knees to slap his shoulder. "Nothing ever is with you!" he whined. "Amami is so secretive…"

"And you're not?" he teased, reaching up to knock Ouma's hand out of the way. As the back of his hand touched to the other boy's fingers, they were both blasted with a whirlpool of… something. The room around them was suddenly a cooler tone than before, the highlights against some of the wood now a bright, warm hue. Ouma's eyes were wide as he stared around the room, only to land on the other before him. He looked… so vibrant. Amami was staring at him with the same bewildered look on his face, but neither of them spoke. This was new territory for both of them, and neither of them knew what was going on in the slightest.

He realized then that all of the memories he could recall of his childhood, albeit not many at all, were unmistakably bland. They were grey scale scenes. The only way he could decipher the ocean from the sand and the blood from his skin being the contrast in tones, and he had been foolish enough to think it beautiful. But this- Amami's desaturated dyed hair, his eyes which were now much brighter than before, his warm skin- it was so much better.

Ouma remembered yet another scene. He kicked his legs impatiently on his chair as his teacher finally got up from her desk to talk to him. They had been reading a book in class, and the plot was just horribly confusing to him. Why were the characters talking about colours? What in the world were colours? She kept him after class when he had brought it up, which he thought to be simultaneously really annoying and pretty weird. 

He didn't believe it, at first. Soulmates were a ridiculous concept, and how had he only just been hearing about it in his first year of high school? But with a bit of consideration, he could recall it being a constant discussion throughout his life that he just always assumed was something he didn't know- a show, a book, or something. Having a soulmate sounded… nice. He smiled at the thought, leaving the classroom without another word. 

The aching hole in his heart and the never ending feeling of loneliness only worsened as they suddenly made sense.

Ouma stood before the remaining students of the killing game with wide eyes, tears threatening to build at his waterline before he blinked them back. He made quick work of getting himself out of the trial room before absolutely breaking down on the elevator ride up. How could he have forgotten that he had a soulmate? How, and why, just when he managed to meet him did he forget that? 

As soon as he made it back to his dorm, he locked the door as tightly as possible, and sat at the desk by his wall. He held his head in his hands and clutched his hair tightly, eyes fixed to the greyscale wood under his elbows. It was gone as fast as it had appeared. Just a moment of beauty in all of his life, snuffed out carelessly like an old candle who's wick finally burned out. Hearing the few footsteps in the hall finally die out as the last of the others made it to their respective rooms, Ouma sat up. 

His hands were a light shade of grey as well, just as everything else was, even the binded pages that he grabbed which he remembered to be red- not that he knew the name of the colour. He only allowed himself a few hours of sleep during the mornings of the next few days. He didn't want to waste too much of the time that he could spend working. This script had to be perfect, after all.

[amintyworld]

WELCOME TO MURDER AT MINTY MANOR!

> Play

Continue Game

Credits

Controls

(A dazzling landscape stands before you of a mansion on a hill as a chilling laugh echoes in your ears. The game looks old by the graphics. Play Game?)

---------------------

(You are greeted with a black screen. As someone begins to speak, white text fills the screen)

Hello? Hello? Is it working…? Yes!

Okay, okay - Welcome, new player! Okay, that sounded weird… 

Uh, Hello Friend? No, no, that’s way too friendly… 

Hi! Uh, Hello! First, I wanted to thank you for joining me on this… experience? Yes, let’s call it an experience. Anyway, I’m sure you’re probably really excited to begin, but I promise you this is important. This game is… it’s not just a normal game. Things are going to happen that is going to be confusing or scary, and you’re going to want answers to them, and… *sigh* I’m sorry if this is so confusing. 

The point is, you need to be careful. Even the tiniest act can make the biggest difference. You’re the determining factor, you decide your own fate and the fate of others around you. Me… I’m here to help when I can, but I’m stuck for now. I’ll try to connect to you when she’s not looking.

. . . (The audio starts to glitch, and you hear a twitching sound with a light tapping)

I have to go, for now. Be careful, and don’t forget to watch out for-

(The audio abruptly stops after that)

---------------------------------

You are FC (Follower Character), a police detective with a thirst for justice.

Rain beats down the windows as you drive down the gravel road, the radio the only thing breaking the silence. Finally, after being overworked with cases back in the city, you get to enjoy a nice night off with your friends from high school. It’ll be nice to see them all again - you can’t remember the last time you were all together in one place. You have to admit, it was quite a surprise to get the fancy golden invitation in the mail after- what… has it really been six years?

You tap the steering wheel along with the radio as you check yourself in the mirror one final time before pulling up in front of the gigantic mansion. It looks massive, and you admit you feel slightly intimidated by its grandeur. As you step closer inside someone opens the door for you, and you slowly step inside. 

Wow… and you thought the outside looked impressive. A large chandelier drops down from the massive ceiling, the marble floors sounding a ‘click-clack’ as they meet with it, a crowd of people you slightly recognize standing around looking fancy and holding glasses. A large refreshment stand stood to one side with the smells of coffee and tea as idle chatter fills the air. Someone comes over to grab your coat and you awkwardly snap out of your awe to give it to them. You notice as you head closer a few of your friends - mostly the only two to stuck out were a girl in a tight red dress with a large necklace and a pink feather boa and a girl with a simple grey dress and a daisy woven in their hair - both slightly overdressed or underdressed for the event. 

You awkwardly try to make your way to the refreshment table, grabbing a cup of water and taking a breather as you took a sip. Suddenly,  the sound of applause pulls your attention toward the grand staircase as the host herself, Minty Fuentes slowly made her way downstairs in a simple blue-black and white flower-patterned dress with black lace on the ends with hoop earrings and a simple one pendant necklace. She smiled at the applause. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you all!” She said. “If I could, I’d like to say a few words before we kick off our evening.” Silence once more regained the crowd as everyone looked to the host. “Firstly, welcome, welcome one and all to Minty Manor!” She extended her arms for emphasis, and the crowd cheered. “I’m so glad you all could make it this evening for a celebration of us, and of our friendship.” Her face turned serious. “Now, I know some of you might be a bit concerned due to recent events, but I promise that tonight we have top-notch security. Several security cameras have been set up outside, as well as a security system that’s voice-activated. I assure you all that we’re safe here, so let’s not damper the party with silly rumors, shall we?” Her joyful smile quickly returned as she raised her glass. “Now, let’s party like it’s gonna be our last!”

You smile and raise your water cup in a toast with her, and as you turn you notice two girls from your high school who you wouldn’t recognize if it weren’t for the fact that they were together. The two chaos creators of Homeroom 415 - Lily and Acantha. Lily wore a simple black cocktail dress with coming back lipstick and some silver bracelets. Acantha, on the other hand,  had a short dark blue maxi dress with a large white purse and small hoop earrings. They embraced and began talking, laughing and smiling like they did when they were planning a prank back in the day. 

Should I go talk to them or just stay by the refreshment table?

Please send in an ask letting me know your answer with capitals when you want to do something, such as TALK TO, INVESTIGATE, INTERACT, COMBINE, or VOTE. Only asks with capitols will be counted, since you can only do so many actions per round. Don’t worry about now, however, since this is a tutorial!

What would you like to do?

[seasaltmemories]

Persona 5 Royal Review/Analysis

So I didn’t have a ps4 when the original persona 5 came out, so royal was my first experience with the game, as a result, I will be talking about spoilers for both the original content and Royal bc a lot of the additions seem mixed in aside from just the third semester stuff

let’s get the summary

Prepare for an all-new RPG experience in Persona 5 Royal based in the universe of the award-winning series, Persona! Don the mask of Joker and join the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Break free from the chains of modern society and stage grand heists to infiltrate the minds of the corrupt and make them change their ways! Persona 5 Royal is packed with new characters, confidants, story depth, new locations to explore, and a new grappling hook mechanic for stealthy access to new areas. 

So one of the things that I picked up really early on into my playthrough was that Persona 5 feels like a very adolescent piece of media, like yeah it is about highschoolers, but more than just its cast and setting, it seemed really fixated on capturing and adolescent mindset, there is this fresh awareness to the injustices of the world and a burning desire to fix it without much understanding of how to even began to tackle those problems, and the fact it stuck so hard to to that worldview made me a lot more forgiving of its flaws then I might have otherwise been, not that there isn’t stuff to critique about the way it tackles controversial issues, but at the same time i just had this mindset of, “well of course they aren’t going to get everything right, what can you expect from teens?”

Anyone who knows me knows I am a pretentious blow-hard, but I think P5 is a perfect example of just how important style is to anything.  So much of the pure glee and joy I got when I booted up the game came from the fun presentation and commitment to the phantom thief aesthetic, I have a lot of thoughts on gameplay that seem to be contradictory to the general consensus but to keep things brief, all the “sneaking’ around a palace, grappling from places, ambushing enemies, and performing all out attacks just all gave this sense of being cool and stylish that was great, even if the writing stronger, without those fun flourishes I don’t think I would have enjoyed my experience as much

I also think the more than any other game, persona 5 does a great job of making me thinking “just one more thing” you got a lot of confidants to fill and stats to raise to fill them so there is always something to do, at most during the story sections things sometimes dragged, but i was eager to finish them to get back to finishing my goals, for as long as the game was, this made it feel so much more manageable

Unpacking an entire 110 hour playthrough is kinda an overwhelming task, so instead I’m going to talk about my four favorite characters and hopefully that will cover some good amount of material

1) Goro Akechi- one of the first things I knew about this game was what a controversial character this bastard was and it turns out I fell on the side that loves him bc I think I have a thing for traitor characters, I have to say though for most of the game I wasn’t sure how I felt about him, I knew his true role going in, so it was hard to get attached to Detective Prince Akechi as most of his interactions with Joker felt like an act, however his Rank 8 confidant link, when he not only pulls out a gun on you and challenges you to an one on one fight but also freaking throws a glove to challenge you in a duel I was like “oh so you’re a little bitch boy then!” and never turned back

To me part of what makes him so compelling is just how stubbornly he is set on his path straight to Hell, a lot of ppl were moved by his tragic backstory but honestly it does little for me, I think it is important to consider, but you have to remember he approached Shido about his powers first and basically volunteered to be his personal assassin, still it is hard to ignore that sense of lost potential, in a way I can see how getting to pretend to be a part of a safe and welcoming team environment almost made things worst because he just kept feeling like, “why wasn’t I allowed to have this earlier” and just too tied to his current path of self-destruction to waver from it, like even the fact the Phantom Thieves and he had the same goals regarding Shido in the end, he couldn’t side with bc that would mean acknowledging all the murder he did was for nothing, so they just continued to be another target on his list, made all the more dangerous bc of the affection he held for them

That said I don’t think I would have liked him so much without Royal’s updates, I mentioned Rank 8 being a key moment for me but aside from that, the fight with him in Shido palace had so much going on, it kinda dulled the weight of any one of the numerous revelations, 3rd semester kinda brought in the perfect amount and balance of the different sides of Akechi, the minute he appeared I swear me and my brother cheered in joy, obvious spoilers for the rest of it

I had seen 3rd semester Akechi called “feral” and while he is still as horny for murder as ever, i don’t really think that fits, there is still a sense of restraint to his actions, yet he doesn’t mask his true intentions and feelings so much, what I like is that his rudeness and outbursts come off as very deliberate and planned, as if he enjoys exposing the contrast between his “pleasant” reputation and his true bitterness, and with the reveal that oops he is supposed to be dead, you still have that determined “don’t be a fucking pussy, just pull the trigger,” attitude, I really like the dynamic that forms between a Joker that just wants the best for him and an Akechi that just emphatically refuses to be saved in anyway, he is an easy character to woobify but I love how canon just at every turn doesn’t let you ever see his true vulnerability even if we all know it exists down there, also just something about hearing him curse is always so much fun and delightful

TLDR: I have a lot of feelings about this edgy bastard and may or may not already have a playlist for him

2) Makoto Niijima- another character I had an interesting relationship with, while from the start she seemed like my type, the overwhelming love for her kinda made my hipster side apprehensive, however predictably I was won over and I did romance her in the end (what can I saw my Joker is into brunettes)

Part of what makes her stick out so much to me, is how the game felt much less afraid to show her unlikable in comparison to other characters, i usually don’t complain or really notice this but more than any other game series I’ve played, there is definitely a lot of self-insert fantasy elements involved, ppl rip the newer FE games apart for that, but I never really saw it as the terrible as the cast had dozens of life changing interactions with other characters, the fact most of the interaction we see are through Joker’s eyes, and the fact that he is the catalyst to changing several adults’ lives made this element a lot more noticeable

But not only does Makoto take an antagonistic role at first, but they let her be so smug and annoying that I probably hated her with the same passion as the characters themselves, yet even when she comes over to or sides, her flaws are still pretty open, like when trying to help out Futuba, she definitely had that air of, “neurotypical trying too hard to make you normal” that was understandable but still annoying, and I appreciate it bc it made the contrast between her good points all the sharper

I kinda wanted to roll my eyes at first at her archetype as an honors student, bc yeah i was a nerdy student who didn’t know how to connect with my peers and just kinda subconsciously sucked up to adults bc I didn’t know what else to do, but in comparison to the teeming tragic backstories involved, you can see a stark difference in scale, yet Makoto is just carrying all this familiar teenage girl anger that reminds me a lot of Serena from Arc V, and getting to see her embrace it is very cathartic, I also really enjoyed her confidant which was surprising after seeing everyone tear into it so much, I feel like a lot of ppl’s confidant’s centered around other ppl and it didn’t just start off with the Eiko stuff, you see her Makoto want to change from the sheltered snobbish life she has kinda trapped herself in and rediscover her dream of being a police commissioner, I also found it fitting for her to also kinda figure that out through her own little investigation and to see that exploration of justice explored through her acting with a third party

The fact she is related to Sae also gives her interesting relationships we get to see from a different POV, and a greater investment in arcs outside her own, it just naturally gives her the feeling of being more well-rounded to have it spread out, and while her romance stuff did have the same sort of fantasy elements (that I greatly self-indulged in) overall I never felt like Joker was “saving” her in some way but growing and exploring along sides her

Overall, a great character and while i think best girl debates are dumb, I will not stand for hearing her described as worst girl

3) Ann Takamaki- honestly before I got this game I expected her to be the “main girl” with a lot of popularity and focus so seeing how little love she gets was heartbreaking for me, bc she is part of what made the early phantom thieves so enjoyable

I’ve heard the discussions about the issues around her sexualization and I think things on that access come out to be a wash, the developers kinda brush near some interesting ideas about the struggles women face with sex and attraction but don’t really know what to do with that, and so I think trying to trace and overall arch one way or another about her and her body issues is kinda a lesson in futility

in the end though what made her click for me is just how much fun her personality is, like I feel like in other stories her cheerfulness might come off as generic, but the fact that she is introduced so depressed and sullen makes her attitude shift come off as refreshing, like we know she can be serious, but the fact she isn’t being repeatedly sexually harassed by her teacher gives her like plenty of reason to goof off and enjoy herself

Again despite all the criticism I really enjoyed her confidants, the Mika stuff was honestly barely a blip in the thing and most of it alternated between her shooting the breeze and just having fun and still dealing with that lingering guilt and issues surrounding Shiho and just not having been able to save a close friend when she really needed her, I think the contrast is very much needed, especially to keep things from feeling like wallowing, which i felt was a problem with some other confidants

In the end though the main reason i didn’t romance her was bc as much as I liked her as a character, I didn’t want her to be with Joker specifically, i wanted to support her and see her finally confess her feelings to Shiho and the two of them go ride off into the sunset lol, still there’s a reason I reached rank 10 with her first

4) Takuto Maruki- lol so in this section I’m going to basically go into all my 3rd semester thoughts, again the first leg of his confidant was kinda dull, but I was prioritizing him bc of the deadline, once we got into his personal past that is where I got interested

On one hand part of the charm was just getting to see a more adult story, while there are other adult confidants I found the grad school and like academic stuff relatable, plus like the little moment with the steamed glasses was very funny, he’s just a down to earth guy and his kindness is genuine

However when he stepped up as the antagonist in the third semester, that’s when he got interesting, I found the conflict itself of a dream world to be kinda simple, aside from the fact obviously we need to oppose this for a plot to happen, Persona 5 is all about this humanist approach to personal growth and change, most of what I found fascinating about Maruki was the kinda self-martyring narcissism to his approach, like aside from treat the phantom thieves with kid gloves at time and just doing his best to avoid being a bad guy, there is this simmering resentment he masks and tries to replace with his desire to basically save the world, rather than deal with his own drama and baggage he tries to invest his energy into solving other problems

And you can see some of the parallels between him and the phantom thieves that points out some of hypocrisy of themselves, calculating the exact risks and harms of altering ppl through the Metaverse is hard to do due to a variety of factors, personally I don’t even have other Persona games to look to, but in general while it is for the greater good, the phantom thieves basically impose their will onto ppl who didn’t consent to that change, and in the end they decide to oppose Maruki purely based on their desires to not live in it, the game doesn’t do much with it, but I found the contrast more interesting than the Holy Grail one, plus his boss battle was more fun bc you actually got to use the main mechanic of the game, exploiting weaknesses and baton passing

But yeah all this comes to a head at the latter half of the boss fight where he just is so desperate and refuses to lose, it is like abundantly clear that this dream world is much more for himself than it is for anyone else, it is a desire to turn all his trauma into something more meaningful than just pain, and nothing shows that more clearly than the fact he fistfights a high schooler even after he has basically lost and tries to let himself die rather than face the consequences of his lost.  All in all I think he was the my favorite antagonist and palace holder

Some last thoughts I couldn’t fit elsewhere: Casino was my favorite palace, while weak story-wise, Okumura was far from my least favorite palace gameplay-wise and his boss fight as frustrating as it was might be my favorite for engaging with the player, if anything my least favorite palace was Futaba’s, my favorite showtimes are probably Morgana/Ann, Makoto/Ryuji, and Joker/Kasumi, Caroline and Justine are a delight and I really miss them, Tycoon is addicting and distracted me from being able to beat the game for a while

I got more hot takes I might elaborate on in length in the future, but in conclusion this is another rec where I can see and understand ppl being disappointed in some of the writing and its quality but at the same time i think there is still value ppl are too quick to dismiss and definitely multiple reasons to still enjoy it, I think this is going to stick with me for longer than I first thought it wound