#kojima ass lines

[proustianrevelry]

Jean Luc Herbulot, writer & direcor of Saloum (2021): I was heavily inspired by Metal Gear Solid

Character in Saloum (2021): ghosts can't enter the building due to artificial light and magnetic waves

[jakethesequel]

Really, MGSV Quiet being sexualized more than necessary to tell her story isn't as surprising from Kojima as people think. Not entirely because of his latent misogyny, either. If you look at every other part of the Metal Gear stories, it's the same deal: Telling an interesting and meaningful story in the most exaggerated fashion, in order to include the maximum quantity of things Kojima finds cool before the story suffers. Quiet having a compelling storyline while the camera interrupts by shamelessly exploits her skimpy outfit, that comes from the same mindset as Revolver Ocelot being a keystone of the metaplot but interrupting his explanations to give a lecture about how goddamn cool the Colt Single Action Army is. Or maybe more directly, how replacing Solid Snake with Raiden in MGS2 adds a lot to the plot and Raiden is an interesting character in his own right, but it was also done because Kojima wanted to give female fans some eye candy by making an androgynous blond twink with visible panty lines who gets stripped and has to run around bare ass naked for a section of the game.

I think Kojima really commits to the practice that there is no contradiction between writing a good story and shamelessly including all your interests and fetishes, as long as you write a good enough reason to include them. Like as if it's bad writing to just insert them haphazardly, but it's dope if you explain it. He can't just be a cowboy with a SAA obsession because it's badass, he has to have developed his cowboy fetish by a homoerotically charged encounter with an American soldier in a different game. She can't just have a revealing outfit because I think it'd be hot, that's hack writing, she needs a reason to wear a skimpy outfit, like breathing through her skin because nanomachines. Maybe that's where Kojima feels Quiet is "different" from other male-gazey female characters, since he wrote her skimpyness into the story instead of just because it's hot, which he sees in other works and thinks it's lazy writing?

[femmikoto]

pokes inbox

hi do you have girlmeep ideas... i wanna try drawing girlmeep and your brain has magical things according to what i've seen from your posts :0

runs

[CRACKS KNUCKLES] ohhh do i have girlmeep thoughts. these will be a little scattered between deeper character insight and aesthetic stuff so forgive the rapid chopping and changing

• FIRSTLY i think certain elements of 09s story are made stronger by a female interpretation of the character. anyone whos lived as a woman at some point in their life knows how much society hates women and how its expected that they make themselves "smaller" and more paletable so theyre not labelled as annoying or rejected by the world at large

• i think mikotos emotional repression and meticulous social maintenance line up incredibly well with this, particularly the suppression of "ugly" emotions so others dont think less of him

• in a female interpretation john (jane?) can also be read slightly differently as a manifestation of the concept of female rage- anger and social rebellion against the pressure and everday injustices against women that people are shamed for (typically by men) if they so much as acknowledge them in any capacity

• i think she would mostly dress the same as canon (showing very little skin, preferring baggy clothing but styling it a little differently, sticking to casual street fashion etc) but instead of ONLY having trousers she also switches it up with shorts or skirts from time to time (always paired with tights or high stockings depending on the length). i dont think she would wear dresses very often outside of formal events like weddings, funerals etc

• shirts stay the same though i think shes only wearing t-shirts or button-ups. again always things that dont show much skin, if any

• i dont think girlmeep would be immune to perpetuating internalised misogyny in the way a lot of girls tend to do with each other- looking at women who are more brash and unrepentant in their self-empowerment and going "so rude, i could never be like that" or "just put up with it like the rest of us..." rather than allowing herself to consider how freeing it must be to stop caring about what men think

• im not gonna pull a hideo kojima on why i draw her with huge boobs 85% of the reason why is just that im a lesbian who loves huge boobs. HOWEVER. the remaining 15% is because anyone with boobs will attest that the larger they are the more total strangers feel like they can comment on them and objectify you for them and i think this would shape her "if i endure it, ill stop being irritated and get used to it eventually" mindset

• i prefer girlmeep with mikotos canon haircut but i think theres a case for her having both long and short hair. long hair is more traditionally feminine but i think mikotos style and trend-conscious nature makes the canon cut possible. however trying to figure out how to accurately place her blond tips without her ceasing to look like mikoto can be a pain in the ass with the longer hair so i say reject realism and just do whatever you think looks best if you end up drawing her (I REALLY REALLY HOPE YOU DO I EXIST FOR GIRLMEEP ART DROPS)

[vyragosa]

just rewatched ds2 trailer (it pops out in my recs from time to time and I just rewatch it like a lunatic) and you know how the strands have always been shown either in white or black colors, a sort of dichotomy right, so in the trailer they’re red with the “should we have connected?” at the end. do you think there is some kind of symbolism in red strings specifically since red as a color seems more… menacing? it’s like the strings are bloodied, red is generally associated with danger, power, sacrifice but also with strong feelings such as anger&love… anyway since strands are used to symbolise connection it could be an allegory to chiral network backfiring? maybe something to do with Amelie’s cult since red color is strongly associated with Amelie?

omg I kinda realized this is such a cornplate ass ask im-HSKHLDKJDHDSKJLFK im going insane if there’s no new trailer on TGS i’ll just die methinks

put off answering this a little because i remembered a bunch of analysis from before (also it's not cornplate LOLLL isn't it the only thing i do ? ???? (i had to look up what cornplate means LMAOOOO))

TLDR: red, the blood of Isis

first off i absolutely agree!!!!!

there's seriously no reason to think with "should we have connected" that it's not about. " a need to be disconnected from a forceful connection " it's terribly in line with what happened only a few years ago now...the time of the game's rewriting, how people found hobbies during isolation and in general, it's hard to believe kojima wouldn't be inspired by the events, so very guaranteed, also forced connection, having to break off damaging relationships and the likes, our protagonist suffers physically after all too, it's all very loaded meaning

now for this red............that is indeed the symbolism for the blood of Isis, i believe to not be a stab in the dark at all and to be completely correct about this, the first picture is a knot of Isis, the second is her name spelled above her head and now check the figures above the amelie effigy.....

=> Isis is a deity that kojima wrote about before in games like zone of the enders? alongside anubis, there's a lot to be drawn from there and then remember the interviews

"the egyptians had the beach figured out"

not going to go in-depth about the meaning of the blood of isis that's for another time if i manage to write it coherently 😅 but basically, that's why the mask of higgs-amelie is this deep red, the jasper used is symbolizing this blood of isis very clearly and that's how i even started researching this hard because it seemed insane enough to fit in the puzzle...

aside from this about strings precisely, there's the figure of Hekate, who is described as "saffron-cloaked" the triplicity goddess who is also assumed to be the inspiration of the statue of liberty, which, coincidence as it is, is who amelie is also alluded to (her giant form, her "lighting" the path of the chiral network, just a bunch of stuff about it all, and kojima had to notoriously cut a segment about the statue in metal gear so really)

there's of course the red thread of ariadne as well that rings true, there's just a lot of symbolism like that ties the whole thing together and i don't know where i'm going anymore.

[otasnox]

"otacon's favorite vocaloid is miku" is basic. obviously he loves miku (who doesn't?) but i think he's a gumi kinda guy u know

like i think he knows vaguely of miku from when she releases (he's an otaku online in 2007, of course he does) but he's only like semi-aware of vocaloid...? like he's heard a few vocaloid songs in passing, seen miku in a few flash animations, but then post-big shell he ends up stumbling across megu megu ☆ fire endless night by samfree & he's holy fuck they make eurobeat with this shit? and then he's hooked (otacon loves eurobeat to me. if / when i make a playlist for him it will be a lot of eurobeat)

side note but i like to think otacon loves to dance parapara but he sucks absolute balls at it. like he just cannot memorize the moves and he's all out of sync but he drags snake into it and they both end up laughing so hard they have to sit down on the couch and its ok because they had fun :)

also i think otacon still listens to vocaloid long after mgs4 (sorry kojima but i am REJECTING the "i used to be an anime otaku" line. his ass is STILL an anime otaku) like i bet sunny gets into it just by chance (she's a kid online in the 2010s of course she likes vocaloid) and she tells him about it and hal gets to go full "well back in my day" and sunny is like awestruck that her uncle hal knows so much about hatsune miku. i think sunny's favorites are hime & mikoto meika and she makes raiden cosplay them with her at least once (sunny is hime because that's her favorite of the two). raiden seemed too grumpy about it to actually cosplay them but he ends up having a lot of fun i think raiden is a really big fan of cosplaying it's like an escape from his real life if only for a little while.

if i had money i would pay someone to draw raiden & sunny as the meikas im actually thinking about this so much now. please imagine otacon getting dragged into this and cosplaying gumi because she's his favorite. if snake got roped into it he'd cosplay miku (probably to match otacon but also because the mental image of solid snake in a miku wig is really funny to me). please imagine, if you will, otasune but they are cosplaying miku & gumi as they appear in hachi's song matryoshka ok?

other characters' fav vocal synths include:

otacon likes gumi (as prev stated)

snake just picks miku to match

sunny likes hime meika

raiden picks mikoto meika to match sunny. he doesn't know any of the other ones' names

if liquid lived past shadow moses his favorite would be kasane teto because he's like tch. fuck those STUPID vocaloids. teto goes against the flow she's a rebel. she's just like me he thinks

meryl gets introduced to this post-mgs4. she doesn't have a favorite but johnny really likes luka

solidus would hate those fucking things. he hates music in general i think

naomi likes eleanor forte because she has this weird american-british accent like she does

otacon shows mei ling luo tianyi because he knows she speaks chinese and he's like well maybe she'll find this cool, but he's not well-versed in chinese vocal synths so he just picks the most popular one. she absolutely loves what she sees and gets really into it and her favorite ends up being xin hua

campbell, like meryl, does not really care for this shit, but he's heard porter robinson songs like on the fucking radio or something and he's heard sunny talk about this shit so he's like yeah i like that one. everyone always tells him her name is avanna but he never remembers it

raiden's son (who i think his name is little john) gets into it because sunny shows him it. he likes utauloids more because he can actually mess around with them for free!!! his favorite is momo momone he likes pink things

jetstream sam likes rin kagamine. i dont know that much about sam i still havent watched mgr but i know this is true

psycho mantis also likes avanna (also because of porter robinson) but unlike campbell he actually remembers her name

if olga lived shed be like fuck i gotta pick one to appease sunny. sunny shows her a list and is like "well what's your favorite color" (olga likes purple) and so she ends up with yuzuki yukari as her fave

most of the big boss-era characters do NOT care!!!! but like if they were still alive and they met suny? they WOULD care. kaz likes vflower

ocelot gets assigned tsurumaki maki once sunny finds out he was blonde when he was younger. he may or may not get roped into cosplaying her

venom likes nekomura iroha trust me

quiet likes fukase. again trust me. (i also think liquid secretly likes fukase but he has to keep up his utau-is-better façade)

gray fox sadly died (the first time at least) way too early to experience vocaloid. if he lived i think he would like ia but the only song of hers he's ever heard is a tale of six trillion years and a night by kemu

sniper wolf just picks len at random when otacon asks her if she has a favorite

emma likes meiko. trust

if the boss ever met sunny i think she would pick akita neru. she doesn't know that she's a fanloid she just got shown triple baka by sunny and was like ok sure i like the yellow one

eva just says her favorite is the same as whoever she's talking to (everyone knows she does this and tries to corner her with multiple people at once to see who she'll pick) but she likes lily

para-medic likes that one opera one i have to google her name hold on. PRIMA!!! i was gonna day operetta but that's a monster high character i think

strangelove likes macne nana. dont ask me how she found out about her but she likes the design idek if she's heard any macne nana songs

wow i got very um chatty. i just wanted to make a post that i think otacon's fave vocal synth is gumi.... but now EVERYONE has a favorite one...... damn. what a world we live in!!!

[cypheragent]

Bosselot for the ask meme :)

What made you ship it?

i find this one hard to answer and probably will consistently because, i mean, my answer is always just going to be the canon material i guess. that ocelot loyalty hits different. i also like how their relationship seems to go through phases, where initially ocelot is younger and inexperienced, the admirer, then he matures and proves himself and becomes if anything the closest to an equal to bb, the person he can rely on most in the world. the one who most successfully acts out his plans for him and saves his ass lmao. and the way they're apart more than they've ever been together but there is this comfortability between them when they are. i just think they're so soulmateism idc. don't even get me started on ocelot driving the plot just to bring bb back and achieve his goals for him. AND DESTROYING HIS MIND TO DO IT ALSO

What are your favorite things about the ship?

tbh i feel like my answer to this is probably the same as all i said above HADSGKJSHGSDJGHDSGHSDALJ i feel like these questions will result in similar answers .

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

yep, and it's one i find very that it's very much two-sided lol. i feel like this is pretty obvious if you read between the lines in their interactions in the end of mgsv. not to mention kojima's own statements, both explicit and implicit wrt bb's feelings. sadly many of my fellow bbkazheads are in denial about this still

[maguro13-2]

War of Shadow Realm ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 4 Pt. 9 ~

[Space Gadget - Jun Senoue]

Ashley : Stay with me, Partner! We got a war to win!

Kimial Diehl : I'm right behind you!

Penny Crygor (via Communicator) : Can you read me, Ashley? Things are heating up in the field of battle! Make sure you need to clear out the war zone! Head to the Mad Scientist's Whale shark flagship, the final fortress, by passing through the armada! It's better to stay clear to be in combat!

Fox (via Communicator) : Star Fox here! This is Star Fox leader, Fox McCloud! All ships reporting in!

Falco (via Communicator) : Falco! We got some space war going on here!

Peppy (via Communicator) : The enemy forces stronghold is shielding down, but we're coming in to hot!

Krystal (via radio) : We have to protect the Space Colony at Costs!

Fox (via Communicator) : Heads up, Ashley, enemy intrusion is on your tail!

Ashley : I got it! (Cast a fire ball spell to attack the swallow robots behind her) Bull's eye!

Kimial Diehl! : Nice shooting, partner! There's more where that come from! Which is why I got some tricks left under my sleeve! (Cast a lightning spell on the red fish battle ship, causing it to be destroyed) Direct hit! This is going to be awesome! Hey, Jacqueline, how are you doing?!

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : Doesn't this look like I have to be in battle?! but yelling like this is kinda awkward! We can shake these bad guys if you know what I mean!

Kimial Diehl : I felt that way to ya, sweetheart! This is our time to shine! A battle of the century!

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Can't say how third-parties are getting into serious console wars like this one! And the only time that the Sega Dreamcast lost to the PlayStation! That's how both consoles still worked in the console wars!

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : Great! Even you can say that!

Samus (via Communicator) : So we're heading into war and there's chaos all over it! This is really nuts to start a battle like this! Make sure you gotta ease up!

Mario (via Communicator) : Bowser's at it, again! Going to conquer the Galaxy, and I do not like it! Better take a use of action if we want to get through!

Samus (via Communicator) : We got a long ways to stop this conflict, the planet's fate is in our hands!

Ashley : Loud and clear, guys!

Young Cricket (via Communicator) : Ashley! I figured it out where the Death the Kid's brother is! He's located on the moon that Ohkubo designed! It's located next to the real moon!

Kimial Diehl : So that's where the so-called Kishin Is located at! You're talking about that creepy ass moon over there? It's yellow like cheese.

Moon from Majora's Mask : What? No, Not me, you nincompoop! He meant the moon from the Ohkuboverse! (Points his thumb to the Moon from Soul Eater/Fire Force)

Kimial Diehl : Oh that's the moon that Ohkubo designed!

Dingo : Hey, looks like you could really use a hand here.

Kimial Diehl : Who are you guys?

Dingo : You don't remember? We're the runners!

Ashley : Say, didn't Kojima accidentally abandoned you guys after he made that statement about third Zone of the Enders?

Dingo : Eh, that was Konami. I put the blame on them. Not Kojima. But actually, you're right about that. There was a never third Zone of the Enders. It was Kojima's statement that Konami made Kojima scrapped zone of the enders third installment and they abandoned us.

Ashley : Guess we all felt that way! Now's not the time to chat, we got baddies to blow!

Dingo Egret : Roger that!

Leo Stenbuck : You're ready to kick some robot butt in space?

Dingo Egret : Hell yeah! Ashley, you go ahead for the Flagship, I'll take care of the bad guys! Enemy movements are just up ahead in the front lines!

Ashley : Okay!

Dingo Egret : Alright, Leo! Last's blast these suckers away!

"Meanwhile..."

Moirai Albarn : It's a good thing that I escaped with mom and dad! Hope that my sister is safe and sound. Now then, off to find to my baby sister.

[GUN FIRING X2]

Moirai Albarn : Hey! Who goes there!? Show yourself!

Maka Albarn (?) : (chuckles) So, you must be Moirai Albarn, the older sister of my loathsome copy, or should I say the "real" Maka Albarn. So nice of seeing you into getting yourself into a sticky situation like this.

Moirai Albarn : Maka is that you? Why are you acting so strange? (Hears something dripping) Is that dripping black blood? Did you get infected or...(smells something) Wait, that smell. It's Ink.

[Mephiles' Whisper - Hideaki Kobayashi]

Moirai Albarn : (points her blood-shaped gun at Maka) Who are you? Friend or enemy, or monster in disguise?

Maka Albarn (?) : Oh, very clever of you, Captain Obvious, I'm not the Maka Albarn you expected it, I'm the demon queen that ruled Bendy's world for many years. And to tell you this that my name isn't Maka Albarn, my real name is Inky Albarn, the Demon queen of Inky Darkness!

"NEWCOMER : INKY ALABRN RISES FROM THE DARKNESS"

Moirai Albarn : Ah-ha! So it was you! You're the one behind all of this! You're the one that is responsible for the attacks in Japan! Pretending to be my sister! And for abusing her friends that she did know! But why on earth would you do it!?

Inky Albarn : Revenge, sister of Maka Albarn. Soul World was never the same when the people of square enix chose me as the one and only" Maka Albarn". Making me the hero of that world's title, Soul Eater. But something cringes me that Soul World was not the same without Bendy's World, the place that I was once ruled the world of all toons that was nearly covered darkness before the technicolored toons sealed me away underneath the depths of Brooklyn. However, thanks to the help of Sammy Lawrence and those heartlesses, my seal was broken and I had no choice but to escape the place that I lay dormant.

Moirai Albarn : So you once ruled a world that was nearly covered in inky darkness, but who were the technicolored toons that sealed you away? What was your purpose of protecting Soul World and the Kusakabe legacy, right? What was the reason?

Inky Albarn : The reason that I was chosen to protect the devil's legacy, because I was planning on destroying it! I worked my way out as Maka Albarn that is the perfect disguise of a hero that the people of Japan chose me. But that man-made son of the devil treated me like a slave, so I treated them back. And to think that I put the blame on her, in which the mobian death God Grim captured and imprisoned her for 8 years prior before the conflict.

Moirai Albarn : And I bet that you're the one responsible for framing my sister! I bet she never met a kid named Crona, and instead met the masked boy named Makoto.

Inky Albarn : But it's simple, I gave my trust to someone that she didn't know, a kid named Crona had the ability to turn into Bendy, a form that resembles my former loved one, and with that, I just wanted to give this world my courage of overthrowing the Kusakabe legacy. Unlike you, I'm a demon that wants nothing but a future, a utopia for all humans, witches, and demons to understand their true master! Pain and suffering are the best teachers to them! [Attempts to Attack Moirai, but she dodges by jumping over]

Moirai Albarn : Wait a sec. All of this Crona stuff that my sister was talking about, you got one of Sammy Lawrence's experiments that was involved of the terrorists attacks just for that?!

[Mephiles Phase 1 - Hideaki Kobayashi]

Inky Albarn : See it for yourself, I'm only willing on overthrowing the Kusakabe legacy and it's connection with Soul World will be always a pain in Bendy's ass. I decided to tell you that I'm gonna be making Soul Evans to forgive to his foolishness of his will, that is why he chosed me as his personal soul mate. Very well, then Let's see if you can entertain me in battle. (Behind her is an army of lost ones)

Moirai Albarn : Heh! I don't feel like that I bothered to deceive by you, aren't I? I know how to stop you and the darkness itself! Let no one pass through! I have to find to get rid of these inky people called the Lost Ones. She'll might start an uprising and might take over the world. But I can't let my guard down! Time for me to take out the trash! (Uses her blood magic to create a battle axe) So, you're ready to get crazy on defeating you and your army of lost ones? I'm all ears to give myself a showdown!

Kirby : Hi-ya!

(Super Ability Theme plays)

(SWISH! FWOOSH!)

(Lost Ones yelling)

Kirby : Hiii! (Waving hello to Moirai)

Moirai Albarn : What's this, a pink marshmallow with a giant sword?

Waddle Dee : That's our friend, Kirby, you're standing next to a star warrior that you've never seen before!

Moirai Albarn : What? (Behind her is Kirby's group) So, the pink puff has some company. Hmm? You're that masked warrior who helped the witches on that incident.

King Dedede : It's time for a stomping on these inky people that needs a little washing!

Meta Knight : So, a demon disguising herself as the hero we all know. That's what is responsible for the monster attacks on earth. It was all part of her plan of taking over the planet. Time to pay for your actions!

Waddle Dee : And will put a stop to your evil ways! Hope you're reading for some butt-kicking action, Faker Albarn!

Inky Albarn : You insolent fools! You'll never beat me! I will be an unstoppable brute and make the world my rightful domain! You shall feel the power of a new Maka Albarn! A perfect size fit for a queen!

Moirai : I won't let my guard down! This is for my sister and for my family! I won't let the Albarn family name be in ruin!

~ Fifty-Ninth Scene : Declaration of War Pt.2 ~

[vamppvania]

Do you have any favorite visual artists? Could be traditional artist, digital, character designer, concept artist, fanartist, anything really!

I'm looking for different inspiration outside of the things *I* already like

Yeah, I have many!! Here's just a few I thought of under the cut, you can also dig into my #art tag where I put stuff that doesn't go into fandom based tags.

Ayami Kojima is a character designer and concept artist that I've been following for literal years, I've studied her work for both traditional ink and digital painting, legitimately one of my biggest inspirations

@/11thsense is another artist who's work I've studied for many years now, their mastery of the painterly style has straight up bewitched me. Her work has inspired my own so thoroughly, it shows in how I shape and render faces lmao. They also introduced me to John singer Sargent, a painter who's work I really should start studying again lmao

@/swagvo1d ough their peices... cannot tell you the feelings I feel with them. The revolting, the wonders of flesh, the stories that can be told with one image. Love it! Always nice to look at when I need something to motivate me into making horror art again

@/ra3kiv yes yes the horrors we all know the horrors. But seriously what glorious composition and sense for color. The horrors can be beautiful, too

https://thesnakebitchart.com/ LUDO!!! we were mutuals on Twitter when I was on there, their inking is so detailed and meticulous, and their monster designs are just so mwuah. When i did more pen and ink traditional stuff, i always looked to them

@/ramlightly singlehandedly got me to get off my ass and start drawing erotica. I'm notngood at it. But their art and original characters and the world's they've made... I've read their webcomic Kingfisher so many times. Absolutely beautiful line work and use of positive/negative space

That's just what I got right off the dome, I'm sorry if it's not what you were looking for 😭 but I hope I helped a bit! Good luck with the art anon!

[robinabobin]

We started Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and omg 2 changes and it'd be perfect, if the ninja run mechanic wasn't completely automatic and if raiden was a wimpy caked up bitch again instead of a hyper cool robo masculine flat ass straight line back legs only 0 cheeks no curves hips non existant this isn't what kojima WANTED FOR HIM

[faint-kitten]

Starfield is potentially going to be one of my favorite games of this year, despite the fact I can't stand 70% of it, and I won't want to replay it when I'm finished. For a sort of...time stamp as to where I was when I played this: I've just finished the Nishan mission, and I've recently attended the memorial service.

This game SEEMS to be setting up themes only a game like this can, with the concept of a Multiverse. We're up to our asses in multiverse content right now it's just kind of been the big thing in the last few years.

But few games (maybe Bioshock infinite?) actually address the Player as a force,or factor in the plot. In an almost Kojima esque way, when they talk about the unity, when they talk about us changing, and the starborn and what comes next: They're talking about the Player. They're talking about the player as they exist as their character. They're talking about new game plus as a mechanic and how it will impact them and you and your behavior and your character and choices: they are talking about how we play games on a second or third or even fourth go around.

Companions are voicing concerns you won't be the same, that they won't recognize you, would you even fall in love with them again? Are you still going to be "you", or are you going to be obsessed with collecting artifacts? Will you become inhuman, and callous and greedy?

On a second playthrough, and a third, we (the player) become more familiar with the world and less connected and empathetic with it, or it's characters, even if it's just a little bit. Nothing will ever match the first time we play a game.

We tend to romance different, make different decisions just to see what happens. Our character, you could say, becomes "Different". Sometimes we're good, sometimes we decide to play as an absolute bastard. They are worried that entering the unity might "change" us and who we are and how we behave, and how we treat them.

On newgame plus we might become more concerned with collecting all the powers and artifiacts. There are lines in the dialogue that say "I have to do this."

On first playthrough this doesn't mean that much, but on a second, or third, or fourth trip around: "i have to do this" and "this is happening are you on my side or not" hits different. We'll have heard all their worries before but they don't understand: we HAVE to collect them and step into the unity.

Because that's the fucking plot of the game. If we're playing again, we're going to have to if we want to finish the game again.

Repeated playthroughs of Fallout 4, or Skyrim, or Starfield, or Mass Effect, or Dragon Age we tend to become numb as we become less invested in the world and story and the characters, we are pushing through a world we already know and make choices not on feelings but on what gets us the outcomes we want.

Becoming "Starborn" makes us inherently less human. As shown by the Emmissary and the Hunter.

Stepping into the Unity initiates Newgame+ will fundementally alter how the player percieves and plays in Starfield's universe. The fact companions are discussing this and hinting at this cannot be coincidence.

The question is: Did they take time to make characters different, do you get different options for round 2 as a Starborn, are you aware of the multiverse and able to talk about it with the Hunter or the Emissary?

If they land this plot, it will be my favorite game of this year, and if Bethesda fumbles these themes. I won't say I'll be surprised, but it will be a disappointment.

[niconiconwo]

"international"

Bro they're both Japanese outfits, if Nintendo were gonna do something it would have happened already under Japanese law. Also there is no line to care about bc there is no plagiarism and it isn't a parody.

It's a game on it's own despite people liking to call it Pokemon with guns. It's like if you rocked up to Digimon and called it pokemon but computers. Besides, inspiration isn't plagiarising nor parodying. If it was then no one is original and everyone is a thief. Plus it's genuinely fun which even if it was all the bad things people accused it of, makes it okay.

Also I don't think it's meant to be some big provocation. Read the interviews, they literally added guns to appeal to Americans who "like to shoot things". U S A/10 I love their Kojima-ass mindset tbh. Just make a game thats enjoyable and people can fuck with.

Palworld by its very nature is meant to be provocative. Of course the idea of “what if ARK had Pokémon in it” was going to be draw attention to it even tho the idea of taming monsters is a survival game staple at this point.

but they weren’t anime monsters so this gives Palworld a novel leg to stand on plus the idea of some kind of pending legal action from Nintendo would set the stage on what exactly is allowed in terms of international copyright law and the line between parody and plagiarism.

[mewtonian-physics]

I’m not a fan of all of Kojima’s story telling techniques but I think he’s a real pioneer in the field of using a butt to tell a story.

We know to root for Snake because of his objectigely sculpted ass, only helped by the state of the art military harness lifting it, representing the legendary soldier’s skill that is only furthered by his use, not dependence, on the guns he finds.

We never see Liquid’s deriere until his motivations are revealed. Coincidence? I think NOT! Even in 32 polygons, the audience can clearly see that his butt is an even match for Snake’s! Only, he has no harness. Is he perhaps…the superior? The audience is meant to wonder, and I think that’s neat.

Solidus is constantly wearing that assistive armor, hiding his butt and his true intentions. To get 30 million dollars? To kill the President? To bomb Manhattan? To liberate Manhattan? To destroy the Pariots? The player, and Raiden, can never be certain until the very end. However, Solidus turns his back to the camera before he falls, and I wonder why that might be…rather convient, isn’t it?

That’s not even getting into Raiden’s ass development! As he separates his fate from the Snakes, so too does his butt develop. In MGS2, Kojima intentionally made it different to Solid Snake’s. It’s a subtle difference you don’t see as much, given the camera is often above you, but it’s certainly there. Then in MGS4, he often wears a trench coat that hides his form. Different from Liquid, he hides his his butt from the world out of shame and disregard for his own humanity. The world has no need to see the butt of a monster.

Contrast this to Old Snake! Whether he is a beast or a weapon of death, he fights for what he believes and his butt is accordingly shown. Not out of pride, but for an ideal. He wants to leave the world as it is for the sake of those that come after him.

When Raiden finally accepts himself and fights for his ideals, we arrive at MGR:R where he has no hesitation to take off his suit in defense of his clients. Even further than that, the body made by Doktor was made to his specifications! Raiden understands he needs the best equipment to carry him through the coming battles, even if it costs him what remains of his original body. The ability to stand and fight for the weak is important to him! His butt follows this logic too! It’s top of the line!!!!!!

However, Venom Snake averts this. Unfortunately, Kojima wanted to move away from his campy butt based story telling techniques to use more facial expressions for communication. Kiefer does a good job at that, I suppose. What we see of his butt is rather obscured by fatigues, EXCEPT in the sneaking suit. We see his butt is in fact only okay, however it is distinctly NOT Big Boss!! As we all know, Big Boss was the greatest soldier in the world and his butt is where it all starts (in universe chronologically). His butt was meticulously crafted in MGS3!

Also, a common death pose in Metal Gear is on the back! Why? Because the character no longer needs to use their butt to communicate to the player! Big Boss, Sniper Wolf, Fatman, The Boss, Solidus, Big Boss again, those are all the examples I can think of.

If all this is not evidence enough to convince you, I ask you one thing. How many times have we seen Ocelot’s butt?

I rest my case. A true pioneer of ass based story telling, Hideo Kojima.

[soulcluster-moved]

Favorite Characters Meme List your favorite characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people. 

Gamora / Adam Warlock ( Marvel ) — I’M CHEATING AND I DON’T CARE YOU CAN’T STOP ME ! it’s just that they’re so closely tied to my marvel experience, they are the very core of it. I fell in love with Gamora through the MCU and when I wanted more I, obviously, turned to comics and who should I see but golden jesus??? and so I started reading his and I fell in love and I fell in love with both of them and now it’s a never ending cry fest that I subject all of you to every day. I wish I could say I’m sorry but I am not. For Adam, I feel like it’s a blend of how his story handles gender and how he interacts with people, and def I just vibe a lot with his aesthetic lol and for Gamora, I get so many feelings for how she handles her own feelings and relationships, the way she makes decisions, why she acts the way she does, it’s just very interesting to me. I relate to them both a lot

Lara Croft ( Tomb Raider ) — While I kinda played around in the TR games as a kid (yes, I locked Winston in the freezer), I didn’t get into them deeply until the survivor reboot came out. Then I promptly went back and played every game (yes, even Angel of Darkness) and Lara is now one of my favorite characters. I just love how she’s such a nerd and still so kick ass and the way her trauma manifests and affects her, idk I love her

Frederick ( Fire Emblem ) — MY MAN I love him so much. I just, I want a knight who’s gonna knit me sweaters, you know?

Gray Fox ( Metal Gear Solid ) — *curls into a ball* Quiet was a close one on this but Fox just...oof, you know? I did not expect to like him going into the series tbh just because it seemed most of his fanbase just hyped him up being a cyborg and I want something more than that. AND OH BOY DID I GET IT! I guess a lot of it is me reading between the lines of the MG2 dialogue but still....he has such a rich and tragic story, and I did a lot of historical research into him too and learned a lot of things about war, which I feel is what Kojima wanted haha but I love him so very much

Hawke ( Dragon Age ) — DA2 is my favorite DA for one. Second, Hawke’s story just speaks to me, and it makes me so sad what she has to go through, losing her family, what happens to Kirkwall, the ending... THE ENDING GOD! I cried the first time (and I cry a lot during that game, still, actually). It’s such a compelling story to me and I feel so much for Hawke. The found family stuff with the Kirkwall crew just gets me right in the feelers 

Cell ( Dragonball Z ) — I was about to say he was my OG childhood obsession but there was someone before him...and before the others...so we won’t go down that dark road. But idk I can’t really explain this. I just love him. The style, the drama, his past, his motivations, it’s some Good Shit

Aerith Gainsborough ( Final Fantasy ) — Ok she’s another childhood obsession. I think my first fanfic actually involved her (it was her and Cloud reuniting fix-it fic, because of course it was). A secret: as a kid I thought her ribbons were her ears. idk I was like, well I guess that’s normal, it’s a game, idc. But yes, I love her for her sassiness and just in general how great she is

Elisa Maza ( Gargoyles ) — a true icon for little me. Don’t tell my mom, I would pretend to go to bed and then sneak the TV on to watch Gargoyles cause it only came on on the late night block. She’s been a favorite since I was a kid

Fujin ( Mortal Kombat ) — would you judge me if I said it was the braid that got me first? ...I’m a sucker... but then I saw more of him and he’s so gentle and such a nerd aND HE HAS PUNS and he loves humanity and learning about them and ??? HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE HIM ??? 

Soseki ( Harvest Moon ) — I love one sad tragic man with my whole heart. These games have such surface level information but he’s just so sweet and full of puns and flirting and I just love him...I don’t know what else to say but I have a lot of strong memories and connections tied to his character and I feel very close to him.

Tagged by: @dcvinepurpcse (ty!!) Tagging: @mxrvelledwebs, @charllatan, @cornerstonc, @espektros, @tempesttragedy, @madamhatter, @cosmicacy, @trivialitiiies, @merveiilles, @luciferian-drama, @spakona and please steal it!

[la-li-lu-le-lol]

okay would you be willing to rank the sneaking suits?

Yes, I would, a lot. This is gonna be image-heavy and will go under a cut because I want to at least try to appear dignified and normal on the surface.

In order of most to least favorite.

1. MGS2

This suit, yall. this fuckin suit. Jesus christ. I feel like it's meant to look good more than it's meant to be functional, and BOY HOWDY DOES IT DO A GOOD JOB OF LOOKING GOOD. I think we all know Kojima thinks tactical gear is hot, and that's all kind of here. But like, it doesn't look *trashy*. I'm into ladies too and tbh I don't really mind the whole bikini armor thing, but I will admit that bikini armor is annoying because it’s usually trashy-looking. It is much, much more attractive when someone's gear is sexy while still being tastefully subtle about it and thats what THIS is, on a man instead of a woman too, which gets it rarity bonus points.

Like. For real. and it just looks so GOOD on him too, you know? Combined with the long hair and bandana... /chin-hands/ perfect character design. hottest thing ever. eternal fangirl until I die.

(using a pic of this figma because it’s detailed in a way mgs2 isn’t) You know. It just kinda leads your eye around. There's a way in which his vest slopes down his back with the location of the drawstrings that makes it look like a corset. There's a way in which the straps on his legs extend downward from his vest that makes it look like garters. Like it's all there, and I'm 95.8276 percent sure it was deliberate.

If I can pull my head out of the gutter for a second. I also really like how this suit is kinda ambiguous blue-teal-grey colored. Mgs2 does an interesting thing with the lighting where the color of this suit kinda changes depending on the temperature of the lighting that is hitting it, whether it contains more cool or warm colors, the suit kinda shifts with it. I really like that detail because it feels tactically sound, like a precursor to the octocamo.

Anyway.

2. PO/PW/GZ

Woof woof bark bark. Sometimes I wish that the mgs2 suit was a lot darker in color because I think dark colors are sexy, and this suit takes care of all that for me while still having a bunch of tasty eye-leading design that differentiates it from everything else. The splash of color on the gold bands and green harness is a great touch and almost gives this a sort of "wetsuit" vibe? I also really like the drawstrings on the sides of the arms and legs. This design is super good. Big Boss more like Big Sigh while my eyes turn into hearts.

3. MGS1

The suit that started it all. This one definitely leans a lot more towards the "functional" rather than "sexy" side of the scale in part because of the elbow-knee pads and the thermal vest. TBH for a bit I didn't like this suit a whole lot because I always thought it fit him weird, mostly because the model in Twin Snakes was my only non-polygon reference for it and it just wasn't that good, imo. But then I saw this render...

and this figurine:

my opinion changed and now I love it, it's so COOL LOOKING. All it needs is a bit of a more modern render in order for you to fully appreciate it, imo!!

I think this suit is the most badass out of the bunch, kind of the most "I mean serious business" out of the bunch, and naturally, that = sexy. I think also that Snake having short hair with a bulkier suit is a great character design contrast, similiar to how in mgs2 he grew out his hair longer which contrasted with the sleeker mgs2 suit. Shinkawa knows what’s good.

4. MGS4

Old Snake's suit, oh, Old Snake's suit. MGS4 was the game where people really started noticing and talking about how much emphasis was placed on his ass, which looks fucking fantastic for his age might I add. Besides that, this suit design was always super interesting to me because of how it feels like an All-In-One sort of thing, and how its lines and such kind of mimic muscles and sinew.

(courtesy of our favorite mgs4 documentarian @youlltrytobreakmetoo) It seems like a very carefully-constructed suit with a ton of thought and effort put into its design. It is not as much to my personal taste like more traditional-looking gear is, but it's still very cool looking! The load-bearing vest up top isn't my favorite thing either but I appreciate it design-wise as a contrast in the silhouette. I also love the octo-camo. It's such a neat idea, and all the patterns look great. I particularly like the black Metals one and the really dark navy blue one.

5. MGSV

Venom Snake is a straight up hunky beefcake who will look great in anything you put on him. Absolute legend. I do personally prefer him in his usual outfit but he also looks real good in the sneaking suits. While the GZ suit is an option here, This entry is more about the black and grey sneaking suit that is an option in TPP, which I thiiiink is meant to be a rehash of the mgs1 suit?

(Oh god, that image is smaller than I thought, sorry for the blurriness.) I think it looks good on him but it, in my opinion, needs more color and distinguishing design features. It needs to be a little more design-y and a little less functional. But it doesn’t have anything that I hard dislike on it so it’s still not last.

6. MGS3 black sneaking suit

Unpopular opinion? maybe.

Not saying this doesn't look cool on Naked Snake. It does. It does!!!! But I really don't like the puffiness on the sleeves and legs. I know they were going for an astronaut vibe, but that just doesn’t tick any boxes for me. I think that the design also just feels a little out of place in mgs3 in general, I'm so used to Snake wearing his fatigues that him wearing anything else is just weird. The orange is a cool pop of color though, so it gets some style points. But lose the weird puffs pls, and lose the grey. Put this boy back in his fatigue suspenders, please, or stick him in the PW suit.

HONORABLE "WTF" MENTION: PW suit with the dick suspenders and these... grenade pattern... thigh high boots?! holy shit.

OKAY WHEW THAT TOOK ME FOREVER AND i HOPE SOMEONE BESIDES ME LIKES MY DUMB THOUGHT DUMPS. LOVE YALL, I NEED TO GO TO SLEEP NOW LMAO.

[withteeths]

Maybe Steamrolling Games is Bad Actually

Videogames are unique in that they are inextricably tied to corporatism and have been since birth (this is an oversimplification but roll with it). This means that to an extent most companies even since the ’80s have never really cared about proper preservation or easy access to their titles. Nintendo carts were originally manufactured to have their battery die in 3 years so you would have to buy a new one (this failed, but it’s why you still see a lot of dead carts floating around). I think there's a nostalgia issue within the gaming fandom regarding "oh x was great back then" but a lot of the time, games manufacturers have been historically shitty and anti-consumer and it’s just that they now have the tools to execute it much more effectively. Regarding obtrusive DRM, that’s an issue PC games have had since their zenith, where if you lost your original copy of a manual or a small plastic key you could never play a game again because the codes were individualized for each copy and support would refuse to give you a new one. Even back in the arcades, there were particularly batshit examples like the CPS board, which I shit you not was built to explode a battery pack filled with corrosive acid if it detected you were attempting to repair or modify it. There’s a lot to say about the current state of games but what I would likely illustrate is that 2/3 major consoles are racing to decide who will be obsolete first. Games consoles are reaching a point where they are trying to emulate PCs with more restrictions and DRM. We're already seeing interest in steam spike again and it’s likely that eventually, we will see almost a crash for consoles where no one can justify the price for games they can play on a PC rig. The only solution I see there would be a merger between the two consoles which feels inevitable.��

That being said as interest in the PC space increases again so does attempts at entering the bubble. We have Epic, Origin, Microsoft, Indiegala, Itchio, and Steam all vying for attention, requiring accounts, and offering exclusives to justify the use of their storefront over others. Some people think this is a good thing because it's breaking up Steam's monopoly but it literally is not, if you ever really wanna hear me rant ask me about Leftist obsession with itch being some sort of ethical steam, which it is provably not. In the end, the real sort of saviour figures that work to preserve games are random ass people on the internet. I know people who automatically assume that at the end of the day, companies care about games preservation too, and they usually have a three-pronged argument that cites a) Steam’s ability to allow the redownloading of delisted games, b) retro companies periodically rereleasing titles for modern consoles in compilations, and c) companies doing limited reruns of a game that fans request. All three of these examples are basically an incredibly effective use of diversionary tactics, but most of the time when someone cites these I just assume it’s a misunderstanding and not outright malicious intent because a lot of the time companies will attempt to actively implant these ideas to build brand loyalty.

My main dissertation is usually that Steam is incredibly selective with what titles you can redownload, and most importantly, corporate benevolence is more-so a band-aid on a gaping wound! There’s no contingency for when Steam might migrate to a new service, go belly up, or become obsolete when a new OS is created. That means thousands, tens of thousands of dollars worth of games are just gone, permanently, along with fan mods, DLC, and content. It’s a terrifying thought that not many people bring up when discussing the problems with game storefronts that focus so much on providing a cloud and have DRM attached to every purchase. In a way, Steam preceded the trend of not allowing consumers to actually own the things they purchased, and they’ve avoided criticism by strategic use of silence and creating the illusion of a company being made by the consumers they’re attempting to serve. At the end of the day, Steam is a business, and if you ever lose access to your Steam account, or they decide to up and leave one day, you will not be able to play almost all of those games, even if you have them installed on a hard drive, because if you’re online, they connect with a server to ensure your steam account has the ability to play them. When it comes to other arguments like the limited rereleases or use of compilations to preserve arcade titles, I usually just beg people to look at community-driven options that have existed for years. The Scott Pilgrim game is a big source of contention, but I would point out that for years now, it was playable, for free, with all the DLC, on PCs. Preservationists didn’t wait for the gods of Universal and O’Malley to rerelease it for 30 bucks or save up to snatch the fucking ridiculous 200$ limited edition with shitty paper cut-outs, they straight up just did the work to make the game free and available. RCPS3 has (with a contemporary build) been able to run the game pretty flawlessly for years now, in fact, it was how I played through a majority of the game in high school on my shitty brick of a laptop. If you look further out than this one example then it gets even better, MAME and other emulation backends have been able to play obscure, unfinished, and homebrew titles with 100% accuracy, on almost any setup, for free, for decades! I found out about many of these options back in 2015 or so, certainly late to the curve, but I never really questioned as to why emulation, games preservation, and some key titles being available on PC remained some sort of arcane, unknown knowledge to most people interested in games. In the end, the answer was a highly effective propaganda campaign that combined with strategic use of DMCA takedowns has resulted in the concept of communal games-preservation and emulation becoming some sort of debate, where people will wholeheartedly side with corporations in some sort of quest for preserving things the “ethical and correct way,” which is code for preservation on the condition that it remains profitable for the IP owners.

 I think the best way to illustrate this would be with the community built around the preservation of an infamous PS4 title, PT. The story of its inevitable delisting from the storefront and the messy breakup between Kojima and Konami is well known, so I won’t regurgitate it, look it up at your own leisure. What is significant here is corporate reactions to attempts at preserving the game, which can basically be boiled down to Konami acting with borderline rabid fervour to prevent redownload, redistribution, or recreation of a seven-year-old demo, released for free download. Mentions of solutions to redownload the game have been taken down, fan-made recreations for PC, and archival servers that store a copy of the game for future preservation or emulation. Usually when this is brought up a debate occurs citing that technically speaking, Konami has a right to do this whenever they want, for whatever piece of media they believe infringes on their copyright. On one hand, yes this argument is factually correct considering the current state of copyright and ownership of media, but on the other hand, what compels someone to step into the ring for a multi-million dollar company with the primary argument being “well actually, people SHOULDN’T be able to play this specific video game until it benefits the shareholders”? In my opinion, it’s some sort of corporatized symbiosis where players believe that, if you cull the bad actors and play by the rules of the company, you may be able to eventually play the game a couple of years down the line. Sure, this has happened in the past with a few isolated cases, but it can’t be stressed enough that this is a genuinely dangerous and reductive position for people to take regarding games preservation.

 I have two colleagues, Mariken and Fotocopiadora, who released a short interactive title called Videopulp (playable here: https://fotocopiadora.itch.io/videopulp). It’s a dramatic reimagining of a real historical event, wherein a promotional event was held in 1994 at Lelystad to destroy bootleg carts by a figure in a Mario costume. This perhaps best encapsulates something I am pleading with younger generations to understand, as an archivist, art historian, and creator: corporations are not your friends, and they never will be. With the rise of online circles of leftism, this concept is starting to gain traction but is starting to be polluted with concepts of fandom and tribalism. This has lead to arguments that while *most* corporations are bad how could you say that about Nintendo? Or Valve? Mario is so innocent and characters like Wheatley are beloved by all! I feel some people don’t realize that they can enjoy a select title or character without enlisting in a corporate faction in the battle for “best company” or “best videogame”. It leads to a parasocial kinship with a nonexistent figure that was hand-crafted to ensure consumer loyalty to a certain brand. It’s depressing, terrifying, and should stand as a disquieting example of how the grip of capitalism on works of art has permanently distorted how we think and engage with media today. So, what’s the solution? As always I can never really provide something concrete that’ll act as a cure-all, only things that people in games need to work towards. Bring up conversations about games preservation, create archives for your own work, support archivists and boost their work whenever a new discovery is created, and try to promote optimism and solidarity in your hobbyist communities. I’ve noticed a lot of futility being intertwined with the future of AAA gaming, use of online storefronts, and the inability to own pieces of media anymore, and I feel this should be pushed back against, even in a minute way. Open-source programmes still exist that allow you to hold on to what you have purchased, offline and ad-free options exist for games launchers, e-readers, and media players. The future isn’t bright, but it is not a place without hope, and as long as people continue to enter communities with passion and ingenuity, I think we have a chance at stopping the events at Lelystad, 1994 from happening again. 

[alexis-dot-com]

Template nicked from someone else who didn’t give credit to OP

Quick reasons for each pick: Persona 3 is the perfect mix of JRPG, visual novel, hope and despair. It's my favourite game in a fantastic series. The story, characters, music and gameplay are all top-notch. You gotta play this game. Yakuza 0 is probably my favourite game in the series from a story stand-point. There's drama, intrigue highs and lows. One of the best stories in gaming. Muramasa The Demon Blade's art is just gorgeous. All hand painted with some vibrant colours that bring the Edo period of Japan to life. Atlus has a killer music team. Everything they touch is gold. Their soundtracks for the SMT series, Persona, Catherine, are all incredible. From jazz, to rock, rap to pop, it's all amazing. Castlevania is a difficult series at the best of times, but the third game on the NES is rough. The platforming, enemy placement, and stiff controls make for a frustrating mix. Definitely worth a play, though. The Jackbox games are all fantastic ways to spend an evening with friends. Whiplash, Drawful, Tee KO are personal highlights. Resident Evil 6 wasn't too well received by many, but I loved every second of it. Main issues people had with it were the focus on action over horror, and the over-use of Quick-TIme-Events, but it's a big, dumb action game that's a ton of fun to play. I don't have the energy to rant about Fortnite. It's just so mediocre. The World Ends With You is easily one of the best DS games. The story, music, gameplay are all fantastic. Absolutely underrated, and I can't wait for the sequel. Mortal Kombat is just okay. The amount of praised lumped on it is just not justified. Warner Bros. spent so much money on the latest entry and it does not show. The animations are stiff, which leads to limp feeling attacks. I highly recommend a series by SugarPunchDesignWorks on Youtube that go in depth on all the issues surrounding the bad animation in that series. The Last of Us is my pick for Best Voice acting for this one scene alone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Csw8G6yruE And while Resident Evil 1 has some absolute stinkers looking back, It's amazing to see (or hear) just how far acting in gaming has come. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjbNvS1LYD8 Zagreus from Hades is such a great protagonist. The way he speaks to people is so chummy, calling everyone "mate". His voice lines also act as tutorials for the game, and with thousands of unique lines of dialogue, you really get to know his personality over the hours. Juri Han is a bastard but she's my bastard. She's one of the villains from Super Street Fighter IV, and she just chews the scenery. Her gameplay reflects her toying personality, with counters and a keepaway play style. Link is a silent protagonist so you might be wondering how he's my favourite one? His animations are top-notch. He's a complete dumb-ass, from happily eating rocks, to punching treasure chests open, he's an absolute idiot, but he's also the saviour of Hyrule. Sephiroth is similar to Juri in that he likes to toy with the heroes. He crops up everywhere through Final Fantasy VII just to mess with Cloud. He's menacing when he needs to be though, and terrifying as the story goes on. Ellie (from the Last of Us Part 2 specifically) suuucks. She went from my favourite character in the first game to the one character I couldn't stand in the sequel. She's so hell-bent on revenge that she's blind to everything else. She just makes the most idiotic decisions throughout the entire run-time. I remember playing Super Mario World at a cousin's house when I was around 4? It was a ton of fun and it really opened my eyes to a whole new medium of entertainment. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the developer of the Yakuza franchise deserve more recognition, and I'm happy to see them get it in recent years. The Yakuza series is (mostly) focused on one character, Kiryu, who was a member of the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia), but just wants a quiet life. Needless to say things don't go his way as he's roped back in with every new game. Rockstar games make highly produced games, sure, but I feel their attention to detail takes away from other aspects (like if the game's even fun to play). Red Dead Redemption's horses have balls that shrink in cold areas! But the game's an absolute chore to get through, with slow animations for everything from picking up ammunition to looting enemy bodies. I'd love to see them focus their attention to actual fun gameplay than horse nuts. The Walking Dead is depressing. The visual novels, the TV series, and the game. The latter is probably the most depressing however, as you control characters who are forced to make decisions nobody should ever have to. I've not even finished all of the series because I need to take a year-or-two break between them. There are a million horror games that could have taken the place of "creepy" but Bioshock has such a unique environment that it has to be here. The world of Rapture, being at the bottom of the ocean is terrifying because you can't exactly escape. It's oddly beautiful at times, however, with whales swimming by among the skyline, and schools of fish visible through apartment windows. Katamari Damacy is always there to liven things up though! In Katamari, you play as the Prince of All Cosmos who needs to roll up objects to make an even bigger ball to create stars for the universe. It's an odd, funny, and addictive game that never ceases to cheer me up. I don't spoil the ending to Metal Gear Solid 3, but I will say it was pretty cool to see one of the final frames of the game be used as its box-art. Kojima's Metal Gear series is too long to summarise here so I won't even try. The salute Big Boss gives at the end of the game, though was the perfect send off to a hugely enjoyable game. This is how you make a game packed with details and fun gameplay, Rockstar. If you read all of this, jesus, get a life.