#raw danger

[spaceacerat]

I keep realizing there is no real fandom for Raw Danger for the ps2 and it makes me so sad.... It is a travesty..............

[dumbtool]

thinking about raw danger 2

[easternmind]

Lessons in Japanese game design

In the second act of Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 2, the player takes on the role of Yuko Saeki, a young woman wrongly accused of murdering her brother. Her story begins in a prison cell which she is forced to flee from due to the massive floods taking place in Geo City. As she tries to find an exit and survive the disaster, detective Shigeru Akimoto, who is obsessed about her being trialed and execution, restrains her using a pair of handcuffs. These cuffs will present a challenge to this character for most of her campaign.

In a very conventional manner, ZZT2 allows the player to equip accessories and clothing items. This can be done dozens of times in any of the character’s stories as they encounter clothes and gear which increases protection and decreases vulnerability to the elements. The above example shows how, for instance, equipping any other character with a coat will result in a slight change to the base polygonal model.

What is less conventional, however, is that in the case of Yuko, the game designers contemplated the fact that her hands are cuffed and that she cannot fit her arms into the jacket’s sleeves. Taking into account the fact that this is a game produced during the year 2005, to say nothing of its minute budget, this singular detail, itself, represents the kind of thought process and attention to detail that characterize Japanese game design at its best.

[toyota-supra]

penny for your thoughts?

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk came out today, did you know? Well, I didn't know until it happened.

I really need to play Raw Danger! (also known as Disaster Report 2) that game is incredibly interesting and everyone who talks about the series or that game in specific talks with such fascination in their voices that I just can't bear to wait sometimes. but I hear emulation of the game is very unstable and difficult because it uses a lot of techniques that don't show well in PCSX2's Hardware mode but Software mode is too difficult to run because of how intensive the game already is? or something like that?

the PS2 has a LOT of games that I feel like I NEED to play to understand Something. I don't know what but I must understand it.

[shygirl4991]

Raw Danger Part 5 Amber's Story starts

[dantayy]

Raw Dangerous Academia

[hellman55]

Longplay of Raw Danger!

[vanityangel]

sami's boyfriend senses were tingling

[penofwildfire]

I think Wyldfyre likes her food just a lil bit burnt. Arin makes a batch of cookies and fucks them up and Wyldfyre's the only one who'll eat them. You understand.

[ravensvalley]

#HazardousHiking

Whitout these maps, one can easily loose himself into these Kms of hiking trails and without reading glasses …

Mountainous Parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

November 12, 2023.

[easternmind]

Interview with the creators of Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 2

The following interview was translated from the EnterBrain! guidebook for Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 2 (2002), known in the west as Raw Danger. While the original episode benefited from some cult following in the west due to how experimental and rudimentary it was, it is my sentiment that the sequel was far more polished and ambitious, taking the concept of interwoven character arcs much farther than any of the other episodes that followed. I would not hesitate to consider Zettai Zetsumei Toshi one of the most original and daring independent PS2 games coming from Japan. Kazuma Kujou, the lead designer of the original, acted as producer at Granzella for the release of the third installment, Damaged Town and Her Song; as well as the fourth part which, as I reported many years ago in this page, was halted due to the Fukushima incident in 2011 - a principled decision that speaks volumes of the creator's moral fiber. The game would later be recovered and published for the PS4 under the name "Summer Memories". Playstation Plus Premium users can currently download it for gratis.

Up to the birth of “2”

On the left, Maki D. (designer). On the right, Kujou Kazuma (producer).

-- Firstly, what were your thoughts at the end of the game’s development?

Kujou, Kazuma (herein referred to as Kujou): In a word, I think it was a long development cycle. From speaking with Maki D. (herein referred to as Maki), it seems that we began before the end of development on his previous project, and so it took until about February or March of 2001.

-- He already started on something new before it was finished?

Kujou: That’s right. I suppose, because it was Maki who was directly creating the game, my feeling that it was taking a long time was quite different to his.

-- How about you, Maki?

Maki: Thinking about it now, I was under quite a lot of pressure from my uncompleted project, and I felt like I was being stretched in different directions. Especially when I was considering the initial planning, and when I was searching for the best way to proceed, I was spread a little thin.

-- Before your course of action was finalised, what kind of ideas did you have?

Kujou: The fact that the main character is not a hero in the city’s disaster never changed. There was the element of cold though.

-- The idea of the cold was there from the beginning, right?

Maki: In the beginning we envisaged a snow storm game, at that time we planned on having snow falling down.

Kujou: From initial development, I mentioned the winter-like setting amongst the staff and they told me that it would be difficult to create. Afterwards we came up with the idea of stopping an earthquake. However, if we made “Zettai Zetsumei Toshi” about an earthquake, it would have become just an ‘earthquake game’, so if we wanted to create a true ‘disaster game’, we had to come up with something else.

Maki: Although at the beginning we had all kinds of ideas and images of snow and volcanic eruptions, the cold aspect was leading us to an impasse. So, we planned what would happen if we made it about a flood. This was also the time we started to build a rough map.

-- And that’s when you moved on to set up the characters and scenario?

Maki: That’s right. The story doesn’t just begin with the disaster. From the beginning we had thought of having it start from a peaceful place.

Kujou: Yes, since, in our previous project, we had the main character thrown into a place that had been left a ghost town right at the beginning.

Maki: Although it’s a peaceful party scene, if you notice, there’s one person who is without a date. With this project I also wanted to show the contrast between that elegant scene and its turning to total confusion. Maybe that’s the reason the map took so long to create.

-- As for the party, a lot of preparation was put into the choices available in the subevents, is that right?

Kujou: That’s right, the choices… well, we emphasised it so much, by the end I felt like I was writing a thesis on it! (laughs). It’s because the method of inserting these choices made it so difficult. It was weird, and the order was all jumbled up and things like that. I thought that because the player is only watching the images that have been directed, they don’t feel that they’re playing a game. That’s why we wanted to add choices to the important scenes.

Maki: Yes, and on top of that, as the choices were added, the forking conversations just kept piling up (laughs).

-- Did the branching aspect cause you trouble, what with so many characters?

Maki: Oh yes. Staff members didn’t have an accurate overall image of the project’s stages because there was a lack of communication and they weren’t giving their opinions when they were unsure of the characters’ time schedules.

Kujou: Right until the end, discussions got a little bit warped and because it was easy for it to become incoherent, they were having to constantly reconfirm why they were working together and what the scenario writers were working on.

-- There was also a mutual interference?

Maki: As far as that goes, I was thinking about how simple it was for the main character to get out of scrapes, maybe just brushing past, and that the player might find this a little boring; I wanted to stick my nose in and add some gaming strategy, that’s why the game turned out more like this.

About the main characters

-- You created Shinohara (Joshua Harwell) first and added the other characters afterwards, is that right?

Maki: Looking back on it, Shinohara was there from the beginning, but when we got down to the other 5 characters, I felt they were not as rounded, and we needed to add something.

-- Of all the characters in the game, which one caused you most trouble?

Maki: Tsuge (Isaac Schiller) was the most problematic. Of course, he’s driving around in his taxi, and he covers quite a distance. Because we’d said for a long time we were going to use the same map, in order that you can’t see it being reused, we made it at the end.

-- Don’t you think there are a lot of characters with a negative image? People getting arrested, losing their memory, and all kinds of skeletons coming out of the closet (laughs).

Maki: Although we originally planned for Nishizaki (Paige Meyer) to win friendship, it ended up developing quite unhappily. But by the end of Saeki’s (Amber Brazil’s) character arc, I felt very happy inside.

-- Were there any characters you discarded?

Kujou: During the organisation of the game scenario, there were changes to the characters, but we wanted to add meaning to the number of people, so we came to use them all.

-- Comparisons to your previous work were being drawn?

Kujou: That was for characters that were decided much later. About a year ago I suggested that we include them, but it wasn’t taken seriously.

Maki: The characters from my last work came from inside me, and there’s a part that was eaten up, and I didn’t like that. On top of that, since the character set from my previous work had almost no bearing on the new, we could do whatever we wanted with them, which added a little element of fear.

-- Did you want to include the Woman Looter from the beginning?

Kujou: At first, before I even knew we were going to include her, I just had this feeling, of doing things my own way (laughs).

Maki: For some reason she was a very easy character to use, from a positional standpoint.

-- Sudou (Keith Helm), who was a character in your previous work, also makes an appearance, and his image changed quite a lot from the last game.

Kujou: Well, I guess we added that character because we wanted to contrast him with the cuteness of the impudent Honda (Sophia Briggs). We also wanted to give the player a feeling of recognition when his name appears onscreen. At that time, he was a non-controllable character, but autumn last year, around October, we changed him to a playable character.

-- That was fanatastic timing.

Kujou: We were also wondering about the end of Tsuge’s (Isaac Schiller’s) segment, so we brought them together and included them in the modified Editorial Department’s map.

-- Did you make any other modification?

Maki: We also changed the scene in which Shinohara and the head chef fall off the expressway, at short notice.

Kujou: The designer got angry with that scene too. The falling scene was decided around November, but of course, because there was no terrain underneath… we started to develop the idea of Shinohara and the head chef dropping off here.

-- And you had sudden talks about that too?

Kujou: About the ambiguity of whether the head chef lives or dies in the end, and whether he could be thought of as a main character, is what we discussed, and in the end we added him. I think it turned into a good scene filled with ideas.

-- Were there any elements that you wanted to add, but had to leave out?

Kujou: We were wondering if it would be possible to tie all the endings together.

Maki: It was just, the amount of endings… there were twice as many as there are now, so we had to cut some of them.

The little details

A page borrowed from Tomonobu Itagaki's fashion book.

-- So why is there no health gauge this time?

Maki: In order to make the coldness stand out, we got rid of the health gauge. Of course, unable to rely on a health meter, the player has to concentrate on the movement to determine where to go.

-As the body temperature drops, the character’s movement gradually slows down and the player starts to panic, especially when visibility worsens.

Kujou: It turns that way right at the start. When it’s so tough at the beginning you really feel like you’re about to collapse.

Maki: Thing about the cold is, although the player understands the cold, it’s hard for them to know the effects of the temperature, and the items, and so they wonder if they’re going to run out, so in the end we added the TP gauge which shows the character’s body temperature and if they are wet.

-- Were there any other last-minute alterations?

Kujou: We also changed the characters’ names, didn’t we?

-- Like Avolon?

Kujou: Calling it Avolon happened much later. We also had talks about the name ‘Echidna’ (laughs).

Maki: His role was always like this, even though some things had already been decided, he would rearrange things, like scenes which would suggest characters’ motives or true colours.

-- I was surprised when I saw the number of choices.

Kujou: The number of choices was greatly cut down, but in the final scenes, they have real consequences; I wanted to hit the player with some tough choices. We could only add up to 7 choices at that point, but I asked them if we could have 8 choices, so they added it in for me (laughs).

Maki: Because the number of choices increased, at first, we had to place a cursor to the left, but this made them difficult to read, so we gave the choices colours.

-- There are some choices that people probably won’t make, right?

Kujou: There are. Even though some choices might only be selected by one in a hundred people, the voice actors still recorded them for us.

-- Were there any issues with the sound?

Maki: As much as possible, I wanted to refrain from having the music define the atmosphere, and instead let the sound effects create the atmosphere of actually being there. As you’d expect the sound of rain falling was essential, and when you can hear that, it makes you feel melancholy, and that was an atmosphere that was important to the game.

-- Lastly, could you tell me your greatest highlights of the game?

Maki: Probably the scene in the second half of chapter one, when Shinohara (Joshua Harwell) causes the train to derail. Also, when the characters die (laughs). -- How about you, Kujou?

Kujou: Let me see, there are so many great scenes. What I want the players to see is obviously, the presence of the disaster, but I hope they enjoy the freedom of the choices. Whether it’s a disaster, or something heart-warming, it’s all the same when it comes to creating a fun game. I think the choices are one of the most Irem-like features of the game.

[syncrovoid-presents]

Alastor's Deal (Thoughts, Theories, and some Predictions)

This won't answer the who, but aims to dig into the why, and plausibly narrow down the terms of the deal. Long post ahead!

Evidence

First off, the finale was incredible! But what Alastor's song showed was that his ""death"" against Adam wasn't entirely a surprise, but rather planned. Alastor's song revealed that he was looking for a loop in the contract, a way to slip past the deal without having to directly break it. He already made a deal with Charlie for a favour, but that might have been a safety net of sorts, something to guarantee himself a fighting chance if his "dying for the hotel" plan failed.

His surprise was at how fast it happened, not that he nearly died. Alastor craves control, he wears his smile for control, he makes deals for control, his magic highly influenced by controlling others too. His Modus Operandi is control, and he faced the battle it started with him being in control. He was outwitting Adam, he was faster, sneakier, even kept his hands behind his back while dodging just to show how little effort it took. But Adam's weapon sending an angelic beam of power? That wasn't in his plan, that wasn't in his control.

Control is something Alastor seeks over everything, which is why the deal is so brutal for him. The deal takes control from him, and his constant smiling and jokes and contained urges for violence is him trying to have some sort of freedom. It's highly implied that, unless it's for the hotel, he hasn't used his magic for his own reasons. He hasn't eaten or killed anyone unless it is for the hotel, and even that was implied to happen only during the Mimzy incident. He hasn't gotten to make any deals either, at least no real deals, no deals for souls.

I'm far from the first one to say that his deal is forcing him to help the hotel, but it's only now that we see the true extent. Alastor's entire personality, goals, and being has been changed against his will. He is now a tool for the hotel, the sword and shield, the magical provider, bringing them whatever they need to succeed despite the odds. Without him, it would just be Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel Dust. Sir Pentious wouldn't have joined, repairs would've taken far longer, the staff would've been just Charlie and Vaggie, et cetera. Even his deals are just him trying to gain something out of helping the hotel.

Alastor is bound to the hotel and his powers are also bound to the hotel. He cannot be selfish, he cannot do anything unless it's for the hotel no matter how desperately he wants to do otherwise. And yet it seems like his powers are limited too.

Alastor has immense levels of powers, so much that he was taking down a large portion of the angel army single handedly. Had Adam not been there, it's not outlandish to claim that Alastor could have taken down the angel army by himself. This is why he was feared. This is why "no one crosses the radio demon". If these are his powers when their limited, imagine just how powerful he truly is?

The last evidence I'll state before moving on is that Alastor didn't return back to the hotel until it was rebuilt, yet still didn't use his magic to cause chaos.

To simplify, on his end the deal forces him to use his immense power for the benefit of the hotel. He cannot actively do anything to bring harm to it, and he cannot use his magic unless it's for the good of the hotel. And he cannot escape from the deal if the hotel is destroyed, so the deal isn't about the physical hotel, but rather the concept of it. As long as the hazbin hotel exists in the heart of those involved, Alastor is bound to help.

Why?

Now the why? I believe that, whoever he made the deal with him was, they want the hotel to succeed. Not only that, I believe that by forcing Alastor to stay there and help while limiting his capability for violence, they are also trying to rehabilitate Alastor.

Wherever Alastor was before the hotel opened, it was somewhere where he couldn't interact with anyone. He was forced to be gone, only until the hotel opened. If the theories of Alastor making a deal with Lilith is true, then Lilith's character is important to consider. From what we know she is powerful and worked to bring dekonkind together. And that she too disappeared 7 years ago.

It's confirmed that Alastor destroyed many of the worse evils that existed in hell, the only ancient overlords that remain are civil and take part of overlord meetings. They are controlled, contained. There's more structure, and the only truly out of control, dangerous demon to remain would have been Alastor. It's possible that Lilith realized that she could use him to "clean up hell", waiting her time until Alastor was the last remaining biggest threat. That was when she pounced, seven years ago to capture him in a deal. We don't know why he would accept such a limiting deal, but I'd wager that it could have been for his life (either she was threatening him, or he nearly died and made a deal for his life).

Now that the deal is made, Alastor can't bring mindless chaos. If anything he is doing the most to help demons be saved from the extermination either through redemption or protection (we also didn't see him prior to the last, so perhaps he's also bound to protect during the extermination too?).

All while Alastor is handling and ensuring the success of the largest and most helpful demon-centered support system, Lilith is on vacation. Almost like Alastor is acting in her role, a mimicry of a spiritual successor of sorts. He's helping rally the demons together, helping shape Charlie into a better leader, helping prove demons can be redeemed. All while Alastor is either witness, participant, or manager of the strategies used to redeem sinners. Alastor is only a few steps away from taking part of the redemption program himself.

If Alastor's deal was with Lilith, then she's getting everything she could want. All the uncontrollable evils/overlords destroyed, a muzzle on (one of the most) powerful sadistic demons, someone to help guide her daughter, help demons redeem themselves, protection for her citizens from being killed or further tortured, and she finally gets a vacation. She'd be getting everything she could want, with the bonus of possibly rehabilitating Alastor in the process.

It's no wonder Alastor is so desperate to break out of the deal, to find a backdoor in the contract. This goes against everything he stands for. The stories of him broadcasting screams? Of killing overloards and owning soul after soul after soul? That is the real him, and it isn't exaggerated. If Alastor wasn't chained, he'd have the power and strength to destroy large swaths of hell himself. If he decided to do his own extermination with angelic weapons? He could kill as many demons as the angels do and more, because he wouldn't be limited by a single day period.

If his deal is with someone else? We simply don't have enough information yet to name them then. Whoever it is, they would have to believe in demonkind's potential for improvement, and possibly fear what Alastor is able to do.

Predictions

The last thing I want to touch upon is how Alastor might be able to escape the deal. First is what he tried, which is "dying" for the hotel. Or, more precisely, for everyone involved in the hotel, it was as if he died, so why would they still depend on him?

Next would be for the hotel to be destroyed, and considering that we don't know if Alastor was briefly free while he recovered or if he was just hiding out somewhere new because he couldn't stay in the hotel because it didn't exist, this one is still iffy. If part of his deal is staying at the hotel to actively protect it, the he was temporarily freed from that condition. Yet once it was rebuilt Alastor returned, proving that the destruction of the hotel building wouldn't free him.

The next possible way could be the death of the hazbin hotel spirit. If Alastor (or outside forces) were able to destroy Charlie's hope for the hotel just like Lucifer's dreams were crushed, perhaps Alastor would be freed. Considering how the finale went, it would take a lot for this to happen.

My final idea, and the one I predict will happen, is that Alastor outfits the person he made the deal with. He doesn't find a true "out", but rather will manipulate them into giving his power back. And this? I believe that Alastor's deal with Charlie was made for this reason.

If indeed the deal was with Lilith, and part of the deal seems to be ensuring Charlie's dreams come true, then Charlie is a delightful way for Alastor to manipulate the situation. How? Who knows, but I think that this will be a large part of the conflict of season 2.

[shygirl4991]

Raw Danger Part 1 Josh's story starts

[dantayy]

maybe the city won't flood this time?

[shakingparadigm]

In a modern au I think the wagyein would be like one of those gaint ass crocodiles that Ivan gets away with keeping because its technically a service animal. As long as its on a leash its all good and not a threat to the public!!

Ivan being rewarded with a more expensive and unique kind pet like a whole fucking crocodile honestly seems pretty in line for him 😭 especially since it adds a new "chic" flair to his photoshoots and his general aesthetic. Imagine Ivan's new photoshoot drops and he's in a suit posing with a fucking crocodile. Insane.

I really like the imagery of this large, scaly and dangerous looking reptile being tamed as Ivan's pet, something that could help boost his image and push that luxurious, enigmatic vibe. You know, like how stereotypical evil lairs have sharks or other rare and dangerous animals guarding the entrance or simply acting as accessory. That kind of vibe. I also like the imagery of this sharp creature being forced into submission and captivity. Forced to become a good, obedient pet, holding in its urges and keeping its teeth hidden. A being taken from the ruthless, grimy darkness, cleaned and maintained to perfection, forced to perform for the cameras. Ivan can empathize, he knows what it's like.

"Technically a service animal" is fucking hysterical. Ivan going Hello, sir! Please excuse my emotional support 12ft crocodile. Don't worry, he's very well-behaved.

I actually think Ivan would get along very well with his hypothetical crocodile. Just like the wagyein, he'd feel connected to it in a very personal way. Also just like the wagyein I think Ivan would be the only person it would never harm. In my head I have the mental image of Ivan petting and cuddling it as if it were a puppy.

[hongjoongdaily]

happy monday ♡