#like as opposed to just a nameless obstacle that was actually about me being more correct and. Ok I'm realizing what I just said.

[some-teeth-in-a-trench-coat]

Thank you so much!

Questioning npd culture is thinking you knew what empathy was and that you had a lot of it then meeting someone with npd and not being able to figure out how their lack of empathy is actually different from your experience then finding this blog and following it to educate yourself and to shake that silly idea that you might have no empathy (if you didn't have empathy that'd mean you were totally wrong for years and it's common for your brain to convince itself it has every symptom of every disorder so it shouldn't mean anything) but instead you find yourself going "haha I do that.jpg" reading most of the posts and getting increasingly confused by the situation but still not able to confirm or deny the empathy thing and these are probably human experiences that these people just experience more than you and then someone goes and describes your exact situation and then adds that they apparently have no empathy but don't explain how they reached that conclusion and you just kinda give up on being normal about it and trying not to intrude. Anyway if someone could explain what it means to have empathy or not that would be very helpful and appreciated. Also I'm sorry if this is inappropriate.

i actually elaborate on what empathy is a bit here.

[utilitycaster]

In regards to episode 92, I feel like they could've kept the shock factor and had that reveal of aabria right at the end of the episode, allowed bh to reach the encampment and continue their discussions even if the episode was shorter than usual and still end with orym sending to dorian (I wonder if liam knew that him sending to dorian was going to kick-start the swap) and sending everyone off screen to allow aabria to come in and send everyone off like she did. Plus, then we could've gotten a post credits description like we would get in the EXU episodes, and I feel like it would've tied in better + the people who were anticipating this episode would've felt more satisfied

Hey anon!

So I agree with you on this. I do think at this point I'm going to make a moratorium on "here's how they could have done it differently" anons just because I feel like I've covered it pretty thoroughly. Let the below indicate my general feelings in one neat summarized place; anons are still welcome to chat about other things but at this point what's done is done, we'll see the end of that combat in a couple weeks before returning to Bells Hells. While I would never stop someone from complaining as I love complaining and think refusal to do so or shaming thereof is unhealthy, I also think there's a point where you need to say "ok, this isn't really productive anymore" and to be clear, I'm not saying you've reached that point, but I think I probably have.

I was incredibly excited for a Bells Hells episode in the wake of FCG's heroic sacrifice and an exploration of their grief and anger and complicated feelings and loved the first half so I do feel rather like Lucy yanked away that particular football while I was mid-kick.

I'm not opposed to experimentation with the format, and some of it has been great, but I think a lot of what has made this campaign harder to connect to at times has been that it feels like it keeps accelerating and then supddenly pumping the breaks at odd times and this is yet another case

I liked EXU Prime and Kymal well enough (and that well enough is doing, to be honest, heavy lifting) and I really like the Crown Keepers as characters but I have always, from the start, been like "so are we going to discuss the uh, week-long memory loss or the Blightstar as a ship that carried a vestige and showed up in the port of Emon with everyone dead? are the Nameless Ones going to ever have like. motives other than 'be a cast of thousands that serves as an obstacle'?" and so, while the biggest complaint is, again, "Not Now" it's also like...you're giving me something that I've always had a potent combination of fondness and exasperation for and you're driving the needle further into the exasperation zone. To be clear: some of this might be addressed next episode! I really hope it is! But if it's not it's like well I saw these characters I like but the plot still is focusing on everything I care least about.

I actually do not like the post-credits descriptions in EXU Prime. I feel they're symptomatic of the above reservations about the Crown Keepers, namely, it feels like we were informed about what was supposed to be the focus without it being earned within the story (eg, in the case of EXU Prime, Myr'atta). I know a lot of people like this, but it doesn't work for me.

[passionate-reply]

Kraftwerk are best known for being innovative pioneers in the field of electronic music, but by 1981, the rest of the world was finally catching up to them. Faced with living in the future they’d helped create, they released their last truly great album, Computer World, as a sort of reaction to the times. Find out more in my video, or by reading the transcript below the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums. Today, we’re talking about Kraftwerk, and what is perhaps their last truly “great” release: 1981’s Computer World.

Kraftwerk were, of course, one of the first groups to popularize the creation of music through chiefly electronic means. From their icy and robotic onstage demeanour to their stiff-shirted sense of style, just one look at them makes it clear the outsized influence that Kraftwerk have had on the genre we now think of as “electronic music.” While, at times, their significance can be over-emphasized, and I’ve always been critical of the way that the discourse on this all-male quartet has often squeezed out even earlier electronic pioneers like Wendy Carlos and Delia Derbyshire, it isn’t all for no reason. While Kraftwerk’s actual music often comes across as more accessible than experimental, the fact that they were doing it in the 1970s, long before synthesisers became a commonplace sight in popular music, should fill anyone with the sense that they were architects of the future.

Music: “The Model”

While “The Model” first debuted on Kraftwerk’s 1978 LP The Man-Machine, it was re-released as a single in 1981, where it saw substantial success in the charts. In those few short years, the musical landscape had changed, with younger artists like Gary Numan and OMD making headway in the charts with similarly synthesiser-centered songwriting. For almost the entirety of the 1970s, Kraftwerk had been contentedly putting along, secure in the knowledge that they represented the future of music. But now, as the 80s began, they were finally living in the world that they had made possible. The future had arrived for them--so what were they possibly going to do now? I think the best way to frame Computer World, and perhaps what makes it such an interesting album for me, is that it represents a reaction to the ways that the landscape of electronic music had shifted around the artists in these intervening years. On Computer World, Kraftwerk would both reflect as well as critique what younger artists inspired by them had started doing. It’s the first Kraftwerk album that seems to represent a true challenge being posed to these by now august and illustrious pioneers, forcing them to respond in new ways.

Music: “Pocket Calculator”

In many ways, “The Model” is a pop song--compared to most previous Kraftwerk compositions, it’s heavy on lyrics, and focused, surprisingly, on a human being, and a love story involving her. But I think the Computer World single “Pocket Calculator” is almost as good of a pop song as “The Model” is. Highly melodic, and almost candy-coated in its simpering exuberance, it has perhaps the hookiest hook anywhere in the Kraftwerk discography. I’m tempted to compare it to similarly bright and upbeat tracks from Yellow Magic Orchestra, such as “Ongaku”--particularly since it was also released in a Japanese-language version, as “Dentaku,” for that market. Still, there’s no avoiding that the subject matter of “Pocket Calculator” has taken a sharp turn back towards an iconically Kraftwerk subject matter: the inner life of the titular machine. While the narrator of the lyrics announces themself as “the operator” with the titular calculator, it’s also possible to interpret the lyrics as the voice of the machine itself. “I am adding and subtracting, I’m controlling and composing”--but who, indeed, is really performing these tasks: the operator, or the calculator itself? Perhaps a stronger example of Kraftwerk gone pop is “Computer Love.”

Music: “Computer Love”

Melodic, but also balladlike, “Computer Love” is an unambiguous return to the traditional pop theme of romantic love, absent from the asexual and perhaps childlike glee of “Pocket Calculator.” Its more plaintive hook is also an easy one to appreciate, and its theme is perhaps more universal: while listeners at the time may not have necessarily owned rapidly miniaturizing digital technology, surely, all of us have, at some point, felt lonely. “Computer Love” doesn’t just connect to that feeling, but it also offers us hope, in the form of an almost magical, futuristic solution for finding love. I think it’s the internal balance of “Computer Love” that makes me find it so captivating: it’s a song about despair at being alone, perhaps even intensified by the alienation of modern society in particular, but it’s also suffused with the romantic dream of computerized matchmaking services, which might, like so many other technological developments, tremendously improve one’s day-to-day life. In “Computer Love,” the machine is only a tool, a small piece of the overall human picture, and not the chief focus of the work--much as the camera for which “The Model” was posing was little more than a prop in that love story. But despite this optimism about online matchmaking, other tracks on the album seem more skeptical about our computerized future, including the opener and title track.

Music: “Computer World”

While Kraftwerk are best remembered as utopian thinkers, many of their compositions hint at the potential downsides to technological advancements, albeit subtly. Much like *The Man-Machine* alluded to works like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Karel Čapek’s R.U.R., the title track of *Computer World* prominently notes organizations like Interpol and Scotland Yard among those who may benefit from computers, hinting at fears of oppressive techno-surveillance expressed by works like Philip K. Dick’s “The Minority Report.” With its slinking rhythm and overall ominous feel, this track implies that we should be apprehensive, without necessarily stating what to fear, and I think that’s part of why it’s remained resonant. In today’s world of deepfakes and location tracking, we’re constantly vigilant over the nameless potential dangers presented by the machines in our pockets and handbags, even when we couldn’t explicitly state what they are. Our increasing distance from the album, in both time and technological progress, may present an obstacle to appreciating it as art. While it’s easy for me to get into the mindset of computers as something newfangled and exciting, having grown up earlier in the personal computer age and able to recall the way they were advertised and talked about in the 90s and 00s, I do wonder how this album sounds to my younger peers. At any rate, “Numbers” is the track that I think sounds the most like it could have been on any Kraftwerk album, and not just this one.

Music: “Numbers”

A classic example of how a simple conceit can fill a whole composition to its brim, “Numbers” remains one of Kraftwerk’s most iconic tracks. Nowadays, it might be best known for how heavily it’s been sampled by later artists, and the influence it’s had on hip-hop, that nephew of electronic music that is nowadays, somewhat arbitrarily, considered a separate genre unto itself. But ultimately, “Numbers” and its famous beat stand up perfectly well on their own. As a cosmopolitan panoply of languages recites the names of the numbers, we are reminded of the ways in which mathematics is a universal language. Not only does it unite mankind, but many have also wondered if it might someday be the key to communicating with people from beyond the stars--an honour also bestowed upon music itself. Structurally, “Numbers” is the second-to-last song on the album’s first side, and like many earlier Kraftwerk albums, it transitions directly into another part of a larger “suite,” connected both musically and thematically. “Numbers” becomes “Computer World 2,” which is not simply a reprise of the title track, but a sort of medley which also incorporates the whispering vocoders of “Numbers.” While in many ways, Computer World feels like an attempt by Kraftwerk to keep up with the times, the overall structure of the album maintains a sense of continuous, symphonic composition, not unlike the seamless “transfer” between “Trans-Europe Express” and “Metal on Metal” some years before.

The cover design of Computer World is another in the long list of the aesthetic triumphs of Kraftwerk, which, I maintain, are perhaps as important and influential as their music itself. Its bright yellows and greens remain eye-catching, as does its portrayal of the band members’ portraits, rendered on a computer terminal. Despite seemingly now only existing in cyberspace, their faces remain in the position we saw them in on The Man-Machine, projecting their beatific gazes towards the leftward horizon of the future. The struggle between the reality of a human being, and that which is affected by their simulacrum, is a strong theme throughout Kraftwerk’s discography, stretching back, at least, to “Showroom Dummies,” and the cover of Computer World seems to take it another step further. Now, we don’t even contend with the idea of physical replicas of humanity, in the form of trudging robots or glib mannequins, but rather with the idea of an ethereal, holographic doppelgaenger. With its title, the album asks us not only to consider computers as technologies in and of themselves, but about an entire new era, and a new way of being, which is brought about by their arrival and proliferation. In many ways, this way of thinking about the future was more correct than perhaps anyone knew at the time, and I think it’s this sense of vision that makes Computer World remain a vital artwork as opposed to a curiosity.

As I said in the beginning, Computer World is often considered to be the last great album Kraftwerk made, putting an end to their streak of classics that began with 1974’s Autobahn. Their follow-up to it was the troubled and controversial Electric Cafe, released in 1986, which attempted, unsuccessfully, to add more dance influences and samples with the textures of more traditional instruments into their sound. While I think Electric Cafe is an album not without its merits, it is certainly a substantial departure from the Kraftwerk sound we’ve gotten familiar with so far. I might characterize it as an album that perhaps went too far into the territory of attempting to keep up with the times, extending Computer World’s lunge for more accessible, lyrical pop further than it could reach. Whatever the motivations, it’s hard to hear Electric Cafe tracks such as “Sex Object” without being at least a bit startled at the group’s willingness to tackle the topic of sex so frankly. It might be the only Kraftwerk song in which being like an object or a machine is portrayed in an unambiguously negative light.

Music: “Sex Object”

I think my favourite track on Computer World is its closing track, “It’s More Fun To Compute.” With a straightforward repetition of the title as its sole lyrical content, and a brazen, strident synth blast propelling it forward, it’s another one of those simple, but utterly compelling tracks that Kraftwerk seem to have been full of. Despite the way it flips into something much more melodic later on, it’s the tumult of the opening bars that really sells me on “It’s More Fun To Compute.” I think the textural qualities are almost a bit reminiscent of the grating oscillations of their often overlooked earlier album, Radio-Activity. That’s everything for today, thanks for listening!

Music: “It’s More Fun To Compute”

[svynakee]

castlevania s3 thoughts

Well more like complaints. Although I do find it worth watching; maybe after S4 comes out, though. Because S3 is really just a fancy teaser for S4.

I really don’t like how Castlevania S3 felt like a waste of time (except for 30% which was very good). I mean yeah I watch shows to waste time in general but hear me out.

By the end of S3, it feels like nothing happened. The status quo is kept. There’s a lot of setup with a tenuous promise of S4 payoff. There might be growth, but really, everything feels more like the catalyst for growth to happen later. It’s like following your GPS and it says “You’ve arrived at your destination :)” but you find yourself at some dusty crossroads and there isn’t even a petrol station in sight.

That’s basically all I can say without spoilers. I have a lot more to say with spoilers. So-

If Castlevania S3 was divided into 4 basically unrelated stories (Styria, Lindenfeld, Isaac’s travels, Alucard’s castle), at least half of them ended up saying/contributing nothing to the overarching plot, setting and characterisation. It felt like an extended trailer. Action, twists, your favs making an appearance…then goodbye, screen fades to black, see you next season.

TLDR version: get rid of Isaac’s entire arc, develop Sumi and Taka or get rid of them, Lindenfeld sorely needed more focus, no need to change Styria but more Styria would be nice.

Compare to S1, which was also mostly setup for the plot resolution in S2. It didn’t feel like a waste of time. Why? Because of the threat of Dracula? I don’t think so. It’s because when we first meet Trevor, we’re presented with a very solid image of who he is. He’s alone, he’s purposeless, he doesn’t want to take up his family legacy. 3 episodes later and he’s got two “friends” and a clear goal to pursue. And he’s no longer a nameless drifter – he’s the last living Belmont, vampire hunter, returning to his ancestral home so he may arm himself to face Dracula.

Alucard

Alucard’s story was the worst offender in my opinion. We start with Alucard being alone and sad in his empty castle. We end with Alucard being alone and sad in his empty castle. While this could be an interesting start of darkness for the dhampir, the fact that we don’t really see the results make it an overall unsatisfying season. Suki and Taka contributed nothing. We learned almost nothing about them. Their motivations were frankly generic – they want to fight vampires? Well we already know people who do that. Their obsession with the castle’s engine? Goes nowhere. Their friendship with Alucard? Shallow, not really built on mutual points of interest. Then they die.

The truth is, Sumi and Taka were dealt a bad card to begin with – Alucard, to be exact. Because a ranged and close quarters fighter duo of vampire hunters has direct competition with the previous season’s S&T, Sypha and Trevor. Instead of giving them the time and development needed to grow apart, they seemed more like plot devices to get Alucard to where he needs to be in S4. Or just to prove he’s lonely and gullible. And a bottom.

I feel like there’s a lot of potential in this storyline. Perhaps Taka and Suki’s interest in the castle is more nefarious; maybe they were part of a bigger group. Their betrayal of Alucard could cause him to reconsider his father’s stance on humanity. As a stepping stone, I have no complaints about this storyline. But that’s because there’s nothing to say. Its impact all depends on S4 and S4 isn’t out yet. So, the entire thing just feels frustrating, a pointless distraction from the other storylines.

Isaac

Isaac should not have gotten as much screen time as he did, unless they actually did something useful with him. As much as I love his character (Casually putting Godbrand down? Instant fav.) his presence in S3 feels like pointless pandering. Because he spent all that time doing nothing.

We know who Isaac is, because of S2. We know what his motivations are: return to/avenge Dracula. We know his general worldview, the thing that makes him what he is – he has a low opinion of humanity, is highly disciplined and loyal to Dracula. And the thing is, NONE of these things change in S3. Instead we’re treated to Isaac repeatedly almost thinking humans are okay, then getting proven wrong when he tries to give them a chance, then killing everyone.

This is would serve a purpose if: Isaac was seen as ambivalent towards humanity or conflicted about condemning them in S1 (more like Hector, perhaps). Isaac was more like original Isaac, an unhinged sadist and being saved by Dracula starts him on a path to redemption which is repeatedly denied.

But no. Isaac is always shown to be calm, disciplined and set in his views. Having him go through this completely unchanged makes his character ‘arc’ a waste of time.

The problem is Isaac’s storyline also feels unnecessary plot-wise. Isaac finds humans disgusting and his power is to be a monster spawn point. The fact is, if Isaac shows up one day with a monster army and wants to kill humans, we don’t need an explanation for it. Isaac himself is the explanation. The only thing that needs resolving is ‘how did he get from the desert to bother the heroes’ and that can be solved by “I took a boat” or “I found a transportation mirror” or even “I used a night creature to carry me”. He can just tell us. It can be a shot of him travelling. Or a cheesy montage set to rock music I don’t care.

So the fact that character-wise Isaac is just going through a series of resets is made even more tedious when you realise that plot-wise he’s also been completely useless.

His big fight was fun, but it lacked emotional impact. The wizard wasn’t opposed to Isaac, either in terms of good/evil or ideologically. There was no catharsis to the wizard dying because we never knew those townspeople. Who got turned into night creatures anyway. By Isaac.

Belnades and Belmont (the dancing bear)

The Lindenfeld plot I would say has all the elements of an excellent story but needed more time. More focus. I hated S3’s style of constantly jumping between the four storylines, especially when one of them involved Isaac going through a banal cycle on another continent and the other had the Discount Belmont and Belnades.

In my opinion, Lindenfeld only suffered because there wasn’t enough focus to really build up the almost Lovecraft-esque mystery for Trevor and Sypha to investigate. Germain barely interacted with them, we only got his story via infodumping and a bad dream. Their relationship with the Judge didn’t feel deep enough that his ‘betrayal’ had impact (besides, it was bundled up with Alucard and Hector’s betrayals so there’s a bit of overexposure apathy). And it’s hard to be sympathetic towards townspeople when, for most of the series, townspeople are shit. Townspeople blamed Belmont for Dracula’s horde. Townspeople tattled on Lisa. Townspeople antagonise Isaac. Showing us 1 family eating dinner isn’t going to change that.

There was something of a start to an emotional arc where Trevor questions Sypha’s naiveté, his future with her, etc. which would have been stronger if it wasn’t just the start of an arc. Leaving them horrified at the truth of the Judge, the destruction of the town and their inability to prevent disaster is absolutely fine. But when it’s also paired with Isaac’s Are Humans Bad Merry-go-Round and Forever Alone Alucard, yet another “to be continued” ending instead of closure was frustrating.

Hector but not really

Hector, similar to Isaac and Alucard, starts and ends in the same place. I have no complaints about the Styria storyline though because Hector isn’t the character carrying this subplot. Lenore is.

Lenore starts out with a clear goal and obstacle to that goal. The other vampire sisters seem unconvinced that she can solve it, or that any of them can. Lenore succeeds despite these odds, proving her own strength, cunning and patience. She also shows how her way, the diplomat’s way, has the same value as Carmilla’s schemes, Striga’s military knowledge and Morana’s talent for governance. She has an arc. Sure, it’s a villain arc, but villains need them. S2 had Carmilla working against Dracula, putting her forces into place, manipulating the war council, stealing Hector to her side. S3 has Lenore.

Meanwhile, the Styria subplot also sets up the new villains for the heroes to face – cunning Carmilla, strong Striga, strategic Morana and manipulative Lenore. Along with Hector the army spawn point. We have the new location, Styria. We see the dynamic and power hierarchies of the new villains. We learn about their overarching goal and how they mean to achieve it. Lots of setup, even more than the other storylines, but it has a satisfying arc within it that means it gives closure.

If S3 was freed from Static Isaac and Sumi/Taka (who have expiry dates and arrived half stale), the Styria storyline could benefit from the extra time. Better establish the dynamic between the four sisters (as opposed to Striga-Morana, Lenore-Hector and then a little bit of Carmilla). Give Hector more time to show his emotions; his despair, his loneliness, his genuine desire to have a friend despite his better judgement.

Final thoughts and Season Finales

Overall, the strongest parts of S3 are bogged down by subplots that really didn’t deserve so much screen time. I question the editing style of constantly jumping between the storylines; it comes at the cost of emotional investment into each one. The finale is especially strange to me. Two fights and two sex scenes that clashed, broke tension and made it tough to respond emotionally. Isaac’s fight should’ve happened earlier, a mid-season spectacle that really doesn’t have emotional impact. Lenore’s manipulation and betrayal could have been a second-to-last episode thing. The heroes naturally deserve the prime spot of season finale; the disastrous end of that fight also sets up the gloomy tone of the ending.

Sumi and Taka can die whenever, however. I literally could not care less whether they tried to kill Alucard after sex or over dinner. I barely care about their reason for attempted murder. I don’t know what part they play in the grand scheme of things and I am not invested in them as individuals.

If the entire point of the arc was to prove that Alucard was a bottom, just have him absent the entire season and add a post-credits scene of him using a dildo. Then he accidentally smashes it with his vampire strength and cries on the floor.

[judgeanon]

So I finished For Honor’s SP campaign...

... and I’m trying to figure out why I enjoyed it so much, so if you’d like to read me rambling about a five hour campaign attached to a big fat MP game that I haven’t even touched, click on that jump.

My first time with For Honor was a few months ago, during the first free weekend thing. I was lured in by the promise of Jennifer Hale as an armored lady knight slicing through fools, and brother, I was not disappointed. But because I thought the free weekend only included saturday and sunday, I only got to play 2/3rds of the SP, with the game cutting me off literally after the first Samurai mission.

Luckily for me, my savegame was not erased, and when I tried it again now, on its second free weekend, I got to start right where I left off. And got my ass kicked hard because I’d totally forgotten how to play it. But a few replays after I got back in the groove and breezed through to the end. And when I was done, I realized something: I was having a shitton of fun.

I’m going to get the gameplay bit of this game done with relatively quickly because it’s not what I want to talk about, but it definitely deserves to be mentioned. This game is the most believable depiction of “Getting Stuck In” I’ve played yet. And I’ve tried Dynasty Warriors. There’s something incredibly thrilling about the meaty thuds and animations that come with every landed blow, especially when you’re plowing through regular soldiers. The duels are also tons of fun, with a great balance of snap reflexes and strategic thinking. And when you’re not overcrowded with distractions, it’s pretty cool how organic the game flows from mass of jobbers to slightly tougher guys to It’s Go Time dudes. There’s a very cinematic flow to it, like a scene in an epic movie where two name actors are walking towards each other, slaughtering random folks on the way to their own personal duel. Feels good man.

Stripped to its bones, the SP campaign definitely feels like an intro to the three factions and a half-hearted tutorial/practice mode for MP. The story is simple and straightforward. The characterization is broad like a battleaxe. But there’s something about the whole campaign in general that I still managed to find profoundly appealing, and it boils down to two elements: character recognition and a really good fucking villain.

You start the campaign as the aforementioned lady knight voiced by Jennifer Hale, who is introduced as a member of a weakened order turned mercenary. The first mission concludes with you duelling an opposing faction’s champion during a siege, and the leader of that faction is so impressed, he offers you a job. By the start of the second mission you are being sent all alone to turn the tide of an entire siege (which is where my favorite bit of comedy takes place). And through the rest of the campaign, your knight remains an important figure, even in levels where you don’t play as them, culminating in a big fat boss fight full of small, very personal moments of character agency that keep it from feeling like a chore given to you by your master.

This is where character recognition starts showing up. There’s a tangible jump from “random mercenary” to “one-knight army”, and it makes all the sense in the world when you consider that’s what the game’s gameplay is all about. You’re literally winning entire battles on your lonesome, so why wouldn’t the game’s characters recognize it? In a lot of action and RPG games, your character’s bodycount and feats rarely seem to be noted in-universe. They’re either already expected of you or go completely unnoticed, and your character remains a tool that removes obstacles to the plot as other cast members have all the agency and relevance.

The other Ubisoft game I just finished recently, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, was a massive example of this. Literally every other character in that game feels more important and gets more development than your PC. And to be fair, your character in that game is an editable cypher, but that doesn’t stop other games like Fallout from giving you some measure of importance.

Anyway, back to For Honor. This pattern of character recognition/agency continues in the Viking part of the campaign, where you play as a Raider who comes down from the mountains to punish a bunch of greedy warlords and help unite the beleaguered tribes. That is already a massive improvement over most campaigns, where your character’s motivation is just whatever their boss orders them to do, but it’s enhanced further by the way nearly every other viking immediately recognizes your Raider. It’s never explained why, but there’s a strong feeling of this giant nameless fuck being someone in this world, someone that people recognize in sight, to the point where the second mission boss literally screams “I KNOW IT’S YOU!” as you release some captives. Even when you actually rescue a Jarl, your Raider remains the unquestionable leader of the warband all the way through as they raid the Samurai territories.

The last character you play as, the Orochi, has a similar pattern of in-universe fame: they are the Emperor’s Champion, the greatest swordfighter in the Samurai army, but they were imprisioned after “speaking out of turn”. The game’s backstory even suggests that, had the Orochi not been imprisoned, the raid at the end of the Viking missions would’ve failed.  And throughout the campaign, that fame proves very well-founded, especially since it’s the Orochi who gets to fight the final boss.

There’s an interesting pattern of evolving fame that runs through the three main playable characters in this game: the Warden carries a certain amount of fame due to their position as member of an order, but personally is an unknown who is “discovered” by another. The Raider has no position, but is extremely personally known (and hated) by nearly everyone they know. And the Orochi has both, having a position but also being personally known, yet remains an outsider due to their imprisonment. So all three characters are outsiders to a certain degree who turn the course of their factions, yet each one’s individual situations are different enough to make them interesting. Though they are simple, their sense of in-universe recognition and few moments of strong personal agency (with aid of some pretty good VA performances) help keep them compelling and endearing.

Of course, all this wouldn’t count for much if you were only fighting faceless mooks, and while each campaign has its own boss, with their own unique designs and techniques, they’re all just one-fight wonders. Except for the big one: Apollyon.

Look, I’m not gonna front: I fucking love Apollyon. She dominates pretty much every scene she’s in, either by slaughtering dozens of dudes with some really impressive coreography, or through a seriously inspired performance by VA Catherine Kidd. Sure, her lines are pretty generic and her motivations are like baby’s first Metal Gear Solid, but she sells it like an absolute champ. It’s a shame that her backstory is hidden away in collectables and a special edition booklet, but her constant presence and direct or indirect involvement with everything happening in the game’s campaign makes up for it by giving you a clear villain to fight.

And the kicker? You actually do get to fight her.

Full disclaimer and spoilers: my excitement over being able to actually fight her stems from the massive sense of frustration I got from finishing Wildlands and realizing that the massive, heavily-tatooed drug emperor with the silenced auto shotgun that you see in nearly every single cutscene in that game and who has a gigantic mausoleum built for his grave that you drive towards in the final mission is not, in fact, fight-able. You never even aim at him.

But Apollyon is different. After spending the whole game either helping with, reacting to or fighting against her actions, you actually do get your duel with her. It’s no Platinum Games’ final boss (altough you do get to fight her through three stages that end top of a castle tower in the middle of a siege with rocks being chucked by catapults at your battle arena, so it’s like 20% of a Platinum boss fight) but it’s still a huge pleasure to actually get to cross swords with her. So even though the game ends in a very open way, it doesn’t rob you of your sense of completion by denying you a climactic encounter with the awesome bad guy that has ruled the entire game’s narrative.

Overall, I have to say I’m mildly impressed. I’m not sure how much of all this is by design and how much is the restriction of an SP campaign in a mostly MP game, and I’m not sure I’d buy the game just to replay it over and over again, but I have to give props to the team for taking something that a lot of MP games consider optional and turning in something surprisingly endearing and enjoyable.

And if nothing else, we’ll always have my screenshot folder...