#shadow can be their SFX person

[zeldathusiast]

Some classmates are playing Just Dance and it just occurred to me that the dancers are color coded. The colors? Red, green, blue and violet.

I sense an idol AU forming in my brain

[ritornello]

since i can't answer myself so well, what would you say are asada nemui's distinctive storytelling traits and on a personal matter if you'd like what makes you like her stories? not so much tropes but running themes, art and such. i hope it's not too heavy of a question and thanks ^_^

Hi, this is a great question. For anyone with the patience to read all this I think it might help explain what makes Asada Nemui such an intriguing manga artist. (especially without the "it's because X reminded me of Y! - type analysis that occurs very frequently in english fandom communities)

There's a lot of images in this post, but it's not too spoiler-ish.

Comments about art

The first aspect of Asada's art I would want to praise endlessly are the page layouts. Dear, My God was one of the first stories I read by her and the flow of the panels is what really stuck out to me. I like using this sequence of pages as an example - can you guess what's going on?

I removed all of the dialogue and SFX, and it's so well laid out that the sight-to-panel direction, background design and expressions of the characters are enough to understand what's happening. It almost feels like you're looking at a scene from a movie or storyboard.

Text version:

While reading The Sound of the Waves, a page describing the plot of a writer's story more or less summarizes Asada's layout style. It generally begins with an establishing shot before laying out the rest of the scene, which with a longer story may take a few more pages to conclude.

The divisions of pages seems to average around four to seven panels, and pages with three or fewer panels show up very sparingly - likely saved for more impactful scenes.

(I'll just take a second here to add how much I love that she generally sticks to one shade of screentone. Limiting the palette to just three values is a great way to create shadows and dramatic lighting effects!)

Asada's direction is very focused on telling a story - there is always some type of visual cue that the scene is actively present and happening in front of us, the readers. I like this continuity compared to a series that might have excessive headshots or pages of flashbacks during a scene with a lot of action.

One of my favorite scenes in Sleeping Dead is in the second volume, when Mamiya is out in his van and attempting to construct a conversation. It fills an entire page, but his entire monologue could have been condensed into one "thinking" panel.

It doesn't necessarily look bad like if it were like this, but Asada intentionally uses the entire page to emphasize Mamiya's expressions, his awkwardness as he slowly loses confidence in himself. (Plus he's actively driving and looking at the road.) I like that this is a very private scene that reveals the inner character he tries to hide during the majority of the first volume.

I also like that she understands the importance of a readable layout enough to redraw areas that might be confusing to look at, like this one from the magazine version of Sleeping Dead (left side) :

In the last panel it's difficult to tell who's talking, because there are four detached bubbles and you can't see Sada or Mamiya. I wasn't sure if Sada was talking in the first bubble since it's directly below him, but the second seemed like Mamiya since it's drawn so awkwardly. For the paperback release she added a line to connect the two bubbles - obviously it's Mamiya saying both and becoming nervous as he brings up the possibility of having more sexual activities with Sada.

If you noticed the changes in the other panels of that page it also goes into her tendency to do redraws. Some of them look quite different after they've been changed - from the series I've read I noticed major redrawing for Dear, My God, the older short stories republished in Ai, Sei, and even Takatora and the Omegas (though Asada credited changes in that one to the fact that she's now working 100% digitally).

My opinion for these is kind of mixed, sometimes they do look better and sometimes I prefer her original style. This one from Dean My Love that appears in Ai, Sei is a crime lol.

There was a two-volume manga called Mangaka Gohan Nishi (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Comic Artists) published in 2015, and it has one page comics by mangaka discussing food they eat. Asada appears in the second volume and her page mentions watching movies.

(basically it's about being bad at / injured by stovetop cooking so she prefers the safety of the microwave. But in the unidentified movie the characters make an explosive device with a microwave…)

I would undoubtedly say films are a large influence to her, and I've caught some parallels/references in her work, but it's kind of a disservice to only point out similarities in characters or genre tropes rather than her skill as an artist and storyteller.

During the last couple years Asada's also been fairly active on Twitter where she shares concept art and extra comics that add more to what she was limited to write in the published works.

For Takatora she's even been live-streamed the planning and inking of its (as of now) upcoming chapter on Pixiv Sketch. The series already has over two dozen pages of extra content judging by a numbered page she shared on Twitter.

Overall I appreciate that on top of having a high output she seems to care a lot about the quality of content her readers are getting. Not every artist makes redraws for their series on top of doing multiple serializations and lots of fanart/doujin content.

(And she has made a lot of fanart and doujinshi. For 10+ years.)

Comments about storytelling

I'm probably going to sound more rambly here, because I'm not a writer or a critic. Regardless of which series I enjoyed or disliked, I think most of them have an element of pushing boundaries in BL manga.

As one Japanese reviewer said when commenting about Sleeping Dead - Asada's manga are the type you want to recommend anyone to read...except you can't.

I think it goes without saying that the focus of sex in her manga can be a barrier, but there is enough range in her work that a reader (with some help) would be able to find a story with an amount of sexual content they'd be comfortable with. I could definitely see Asada working on more non-BL titles like The Swerve, Yoi and A Friend's Funeral, but to be blunt...she seems to really enjoy drawing men having sex.

Boundary-pushing can be apparent in most of her manga, especially when it starts as early as the first chapter. In the least extreme variation, her titles like Sleeping Dead and Call feature somewhat jarring love interests - middle-aged, sexually awkward men that are unconventionally designed compared to other BL love interests.

When the second volume of Sleeping Dead was nominated a Chil-Chil award for its story, Asada shared this illustration of Mamiya in a boxing ring. I love to imagine it as him squaring off with the much more handsome and less follicly-challenged ukes of the other nominated series.

If you check out her earlier series there are a few subjects considered taboo to look at. Sexual violence occurs pretty frequently. Surprisingly (or not, if you've been around long enough), it's not even rape that's considered risky subject matter in BL magazines.

According to a recent interview with Chil-Chil, Asada originally planned to publish Takatora and the Omegas with a different publisher (my guess is Shodensha, since they serialized My Little Inferno in OnBlue), but its inclusion of sexual health topics was considered too extreme:

[Interview translation credit goes to Ikari of Bottom of the Sea Scans, which currently scanlates Takatora and the Omegas.]

Thanks to Canna being willing to publish her more explicit story ideas, we might be able to see how far she planned to go with Takatora. The published chapters have already broached subjects including hysterectomies, abortion and sexual autonomy. I think this situation with Takatora has parallels to the struggles female shoujo mangaka faced in the early decades of manga publishing for girls.

The magazine Canna tends to serialize BL stories that include elements of science fiction and fantasy, which I think has made it a place where artists like Asada can have less restriction in their storytelling.

But...I don't want to praise Asada just for tackling difficult topics. Going back to the comments about page design, there's a huge focus on dialogue. Characters are frequently conversing and making eye contact with each other. She's amazing at writing characters with unlikable traits that are still enjoyable to read about, or are paired with a partner that helps balance out, or even tolerates their faults.

I think it can be easy to drop a series if it has unlikable characters, but she tends to put them in situations that question their ideologies, and we get to see how they change over the course of the story. Even Asada commented that she's not a huge fan of how the protagonist of Takatora and the Omegas acts:

Takatora could wind up being one of the most extreme examples of an unlikable protagonist, but we'll get to see if his bigoted views are changed as he's challenged by his peers, and as he offers his own support to solve their troubles.

At this point I totally got lost in the Takatora sauce, but other little aspects I love about her manga are the humorous moments, the sometimes getting too over-her-head writing, and endings that can be unexpectedly gut-punching yet written in a way that's the most grounded in reality. And in Sleeping Dead's case, immediately followed by a whiplash of silly extras.

I hope that with Takatora and Yoi - which seemed to have planned out for a while - Asada can continue to do her own thing, because I think it's a much better creative output to make whatever the hell you want instead of conforming to the preferences of the publishers.

In conclusion:

[pipileo]

LIST OF PIPS OCS

Here is a list of every OC that I have posted on Tumblr so far. Feel free to ask about any of them or draw whoever.

Yes, there's a lot... and I love them all, but don't tell them that I play favorites... *cough* *cough* raño...

=================

Sonas - My different personas, each one depicting a different portion of my personality, i guess.

#pipsOC medou - my (main) bunny fursona. depicts my true self-image. sorta. bunnified self-image, i guess. leave me alone idk this either

#pipsOC pipileo - my old slime sona. depicts a silly mascot, i suppose

#pipsOC boopr pip - my april fools fursona... depicts my violently affectionate/obsessive self

#pipsOC peipo - Pipileo's predecessor. depicts my olden days.

Roaches Rave - Where the Roaches canonically go wild.

#pipsOC roaches - generic roach, whether it be Curichis, Cucarachas, or Rachomachos. They love their mayhem.

#pipsOC edwin - mister dad of every evil bug. very possesive over his creations, even if theyre killing everyone.

#pipsOC chirro - not a roach... dont call them one. a regular human middle school student. speaks in sign language.

#pipsOC tomoi - a middle school student who absolutely adores all things bugs. When she met Chirro, she felt a bit curious about him...

#pipsOC hemo - mosquito vampire. hates roaches and idolizes Dracula.

Winter Aconite - The story of Sorbette and the Crimson Collars. The world is turning into ice, and someone has to fix things before it gets out of hand.

#pipsOC rano - Soul of Bliss. First Crimson Collar. Too kind to kill, too oblivious for his own good. Grew up orphaned, so he was never taught right versus wrong in terms of survival.

#pipsOC skerret - Soul of Fury. Second Crimson Collar. He WILL hurt a fly, but never a spider. He is cold and seemingly uncaring, inexperienced with emotions, but he protects Raño since he doesn't care for anything else.

#pipsOC sorbette - Soul of Grief. Third Crimson Collar. Has to save the world from turning into a snowball. She's overwhelmed by her world-saving responsibilities and doubts herself at every turn.

#pipsOC catriana - Nun of Skerret's old church.

#pipsOC twigby - The Stickman. Cursed by a wizard. A true coward. He deserved what came to him.

#pipsOC strand - The Dummy. Accidentally cursed. Due to the nature of the curse, it could not be reversed, but he has other abilities that make up for his appearance.

Cunubis - Where the cloud creatures live and cauliflower grows in the sky. Turns out clouds have good taste in music.

#pipsOC wendy - pianist of the Dewwits and the leader of the band.

#pipsOC raindrop - lead singer of the Dewwits. Queer.

#pipsOC hugo - brass player of the Dewwits

#pipsOC cecil - synth and sfx player of the Dewwits

#pipsOC nube - the cloud variant of a goat. Always sleeping. Take caution around them.

#pipsOC luggo - luggage bag who fell from a plane into the clouds.

Don't Tread on Me - Old temples sure do have a lot of expensive goodies nowadays, huh? Sucks that they're infested with snakes.

#pipsOC duncan - Head Honcho. Hospitalized thrice a week. Most daring rabbit of all.

#pipsOC teddy - Duncan's assistant.

Another Light v. Dark Story - The god and their angels try to capture the dark to stop the universe from going rotten.

#pipsOC almus - An angel tasked with capturing the entity. His boss is... the God of our Universe.

#pipsOC ??? - He causes corruption in the universe, and is the one at fault for all suffering and grief in the world.

#pipsOC cupie - In love with Loomer. He has the ability to pacify ANYTHING, and was supposed to be used to stop the Entity, but... he can't control his abilities.

#pipsOC loomer - In love with Cupie. He is a child of the dark, but he ditched his orders just to be gay with Cupie. He can travel using shadows and silently cause trouble wherever he goes.

Delighted Delicacies - Sugary sweets, they are.

#pipsOC split - mr ice cream

#pipsOC tart - cupcake creature

Acuations - Kellis lives here! This place doubles as both an aquarium and a waterpark.

#pipsOC kellis - Canonically the only anthro in her world. She works as both a mascot and a tour guide for Acuations. She's a hungry creature. Hide yer fish.

Gorrorborne - Mallory's nation turned on him, so he fights back.

#pipsOC sgt mallory - kickass alien who wants to rip his nation to shreds

Fur Dinner - Prey volunteers to be eaten by predators to keep society in balance. A carnivorous corporation runs a program that offers to give financial aid to struggling prey as long as they allow themselves to be killed and sold to meat plants at the end of their term. Kobou Sezak gets a bit too nosy in places he shouldn't be.

#pipsOC kobou - Gray hare that joined the program due to financial troubles regarding his skin condition. He has eight months before he is scheduled to be euthanized.

#pipsOC tufft - A sheep that makes his decisions too hastily. After betting his money down the drain, he signed up for the program and prefers to pretend he's going to live forever. Prone to jealousy.

unsorted ocs...

#pipsOC tinsie - miss albino christmas tree

========CHANGELOG=========

9/8/24 Update = Added colors to indicate who is canonically in the same "universe" or story. Every time the text switches color is when the ocs universe / story changes.

12/3/24 Update = Added names and descriptions for each universe/narrative instead of just color coding them. Names may be changed.

[number9robotic]

Random personal character/worldbuilding

I wanted to design at some point an original roster of fighting game characters and my life spiralled out of control thinking of new ideas so I gotta share what I got:

Pitch: It's about a group of superpowered teens who get sent to a school training them how to be good superVILLAINS.

Slightly more specifics: The world is like ours but there are supers around. There exists a school for "superpowered opportunists" that is ostensibly to raise up-and-coming supers but is very transparently corrupt and just a legally-permissible way to raise future allies to whatever mustache-twirling nonsense they have cooking up. The students are sourced from all over the world and are mostly good kids, but they have wild powers to deal with that are very easy to look at and go "yep, they're born to join the dark side."

Character list at the moment:

"Anti" (Canadian), timid but ambitious, well-behaved, reasonably "normal" kid from the suburbs who discovered that their shadow is alive, and can rise up and kill people. Was involuntarily sent to the school by their parents who believed it would be a good fit, for better and for worse. Now basically trying to survive. Fights with a quarterstaff, shadow deals its own attacks, turns staff into a scythe and other scary sharp things, wants its host to join in the fun.

"Hellgirl" ("Eastern European"), a princess to an impoverished noble family who -- in a desperate bid for power -- sacrificed her as part of a draconic ritual, with her coming back as this cursed half-dragon that has to be bound in magic tampering chains to stop her from ripping peoples' heads off. Genuinely a proper lady and actually kind of a sweetheart when lucid. Requires a buncha physical accomodations but can still fight even when in chains. Also, breathes hellfire. Cool beans.

"Smoggy/The Vigilante Smog Monster" (Australian), a living swamp monster summoned by an Aboriginal tribe who believed him to be a guardian spirit, and though he had no idea what they were talking about, he remained their guardian until he was separated and stumbled into scouting agents for the school. Shifts between a gross, sludgy humanoid form and horror smoke with the power of ancient wooden masks he keeps around him. Huge and imposing, but surprisingly a pretty swell dude.

"IDKYS/I Don't Know You, Sorry" (Filipino), aspiring would-be idol whose voice has overpowering hypnotic properties -- got enrolled in the school in order for her to develop her skillset without it. Ostensibly like a "cute mute" sorta scholarly student, actually very, very salty. Wears a cool mask that converts her voice to text and then back to into monotone text-to-speech (for safety reasons), is also rigged to an amplifier mic on a stand that she wields like a mace, has the power to blast people apart with SFX.

"Twintails" (Japanese), a transforming kitsune wizard/ninja who is two separate people from different secretive clans in one: a male wizard and a female ninja, who got "fused" together by a trickster yokai that caused them to share the same body, swapping between identities whenever they sneeze. They're both aware of each other and hate each other, habitually accusing the other for being the imposter yokai cohabiting their body, but are forced to work together to make it work.

"Metal Alice" (French), what was once the innocent young daughter to a supervillain, who perished following his last evil plan gone wrong. After attempting to resurrect her, Little Alice's spirit was "restored" into an old doll-like animatronic, which is itself now a walking portal to the ghost dimension. Is able to draw various weapons of phantasmic metals out of her body, from speared parasols to chainsaws. The "cute" kind of scary!

"Magnum" (American), the newest cyborg prototype from a company for mad scientist tech, designed of indestructible metals. Has the power to explode virtually any joint in his body like a bomb before automatically reassembling. Does it to fire his fingers/arms like projectiles, and is also a grappler. Was sent to the school to fix his raging ego problem. Speaks and dresses like a cowboy and has a nice hat. Deal with it.

"Hotshot" (Chinese), a guy who thinks and acts like he's the "shotoclone" protagonist of a normal fighting game (arrogant young martial artist with fire powers and always rearing for a fight), but is too arrogant to realize that this isn't the kind of story he's in (and also that he's a jackass). Despite this, he's very popular by way of the popular jock/bully who's a total dickhead but also so cooooool, and definitely the best student at a straight-on fight.

"Vioelectrolysis" (Motswana), a mad scientist in training who just LOVES making her crazy super-chemicals technicolor and do weird and unexpected things. Carries a bunch of it around in this modified fire extinguisher/gas tank that she can use to spray various super-fluids or swing around like a flail. Has a gas mask for her own protection; may or may not have mutated herself with something cool at some point.

"Marmaron" (Greek), an incomplete statue of a marble-like material that accidentally came to life while being made by a mysterious artist that Marmaron proceeded to kill, supposedly in self-defense. Doesn't have a face or a finished hand, splashed paint where his face should be to look even scarier presentable. Has the power to turn people into stone, but only temporarily. Spends his time minding his own business with painting and poetry, doesn't mind that everyone thinks he's creepy as hell.

[todayisafridaynight]

the gun sfx from the y3 scene where daigo gets shot can be something so personal <- its the same sfx they use for shadow the hedgehog's menuing

[dhampiravidi]

oh, netflix & its fiction shows

so today I learned that Blood of Zeus, my favorite show to come from Netflix, is getting a S2. Shadow and Bone, the adaptation of 1 of my favorite fandoms, has been cancelled. um?

ok, I love BoZ, but its S1 aired in October 2020 (I had to look this up; I thought it came out 5 years ago). It's about Greek/Hellenic mythology, which is obviously prevalent in Western culture compared to other mythologies, BUT typically adaptations relying on the Greek pantheon are kinda forgotten (or just not done at all, since the work focuses on the heroes).

SaB is the adaptation of a YA book series that has two attractive leads & tbh an attractive cast. It has romance, fantasy, suspense, etc. Without giving too much away, Ben Barnes was in the 1st 2 seasons, but we weren't sure if he'd be in S3 for narrative reasons. I think half the fandom agreed that S2 wasn't as good as S1, nor was it really an adaptation as opposed to an interesting story. Still, overall it was a good show. Fans even scrambled to watch it after some Netflix person implied that the show would be cancelled if enough people didn't watch it w/in its 1st month.

I'm just really surprised, considering. All I can think of is that they decided that SaB, as a live-action show that required lots of SFX and traveling, cost too much to make.

I hope the fandom keeps creating for SaB and RPing. I will.

[higaneion]

toa anniversary munday.

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: mirae

Pronouns: she/her but idm anything

Birthday (no year): oct. 11

Where are you from? What is your time zone? est

Roleplay experience: however long i've known annie (since i was 14ish)

Got any pets? two cats two dogs :)

Favorite time of year: autumn, the outfit layering is peak and the weather is so good (when it is true autumn)

Some interests and things you like: fashion, reading, video games when i have the extra time

Some funfacts & trivia about you:

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? aa/dgs/dr has me in its clutches, professor layton/ghost trick may be next (really cheesed by the logical puzzle/crime solving games), jrpgs

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: recently i've been a big fan of poison and ghost & piplup but cyndaquil and growlithe have been giving it a run for its money recently

How did you get into Fire Emblem? i saw nat's celica pfp and thought it was georgia from hm:tot then went from there

What Fire Emblem games have you played? none!! for a large majority of my experience - though i have actually played sov, 3houses, and started engage

First Fire Emblem game: fire emblem echoes: shadows of valentia (soft smile)

Favorite Fire Emblem game: fe7: blazing blade

Any Fire Emblem crushes? raven and berkut are the main ones i'm thinking of rn...

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? n/a

Favorite Fire Emblem class: have always been a big fan of wyvern riders and archers, but mages have a soft spot in my heart

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? i'm pretty squishy so probably a mage, but given my personality probably a cleric?

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? i think by personality and maybe status... GD

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? i don't know what all emblems are there but... i'd like lyn

How did you find TOA? through jae and nat's [sfx of a large truck passing by] if u know, u know.

Current TOA muses: lilina

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? gray from sov, and no. LAKGJLA;FJ once i drop characters, they're kind of dead

Have you had any other TOA muses? in order: gray, elincia, mae, tana, l'arachel, rinea, silque, raven, sain, petra, rutger

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? yes... soft girls, cheery girls, moody bois (though this one has taken a bit of a backseat); plus the occasional outliers like the more stoic ones or cheekier ones

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? after writing lilina for quite a few months, i've been really having fun with the short, snappy interactions that can be a little silly... reliving teen years in a sense...

Favorite TOA-related memory: out of character - any events like watching on rocky horror picture show halloween and karaoke; in character - i really enjoyed more recently the member run event harmonia (blows a kiss to tsu and n)

How do you pronounce TOA? tee-oh-ay

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? [redacted], [redacted], i always think about bringing mareeta or homer because each of them have very fun things to explore especially with the explosion of jugdral muses. i have also toyed with the idea of minerva with a michalis and maria here as well. i've thought about berkut so many times, but.. maybe one day. and many others who just haven't surfaced on the internet.

[ashes-in-a-jar]

Bestie. Fellow podcast fan. I saw in your recent post that podcast hiatus's are driving you insane, have you listened to wooden overcoats before? because if you haven't I just listened to it because tmagp break is driving me crazy and its very good 100% would recommend.

Omg yes I have!!

Antigone Funn my belovedddddd 😭😭😭

I was so excited to see Beth Eyre credited as [REDACTED] in episode 10 of tmagp, coming out of that locked door in the ruins of the institute

I (and the world) need more Beth Eyre creechurs lurking in the shadows and scaring poor unsuspecting bystanders

Thank you for the suggestion! There are a few shows I'm binging right now, you're also welcome to join me if you wish!

Liberty podcast, scifi from the makers of the white vault, I think it's one of their first creations and it's been on my list for a while. I'm on episode 6 and so far the world building is intriguing and I'm already getting attached to the team on the research expedition going out from their safe high tech city to the dangerous post apocalyptic parts of their world

The orphans, another scifi horror of survivors of a crashed ship who lost their memory and are being chased around on a strange planet by multiple threats. I'm on episode 3 and each and every person in this is the poorest little meow meow you've ever met, including the deteriorating AI who can only ever be rude to everyone around it. Actually establishes some good tension in the action scenes, something that is hard to do in podcasts and I rarely find any who succeed in doing it without compromising clear sound queues and well balanced sfx.

The liminal lands is the last podcast I'm binging. I randomly chanced upon the name and decided to pick it up. It's about a man who one day went hunting, tripped and fell and no-clipped into an alternate reality where no one else exists and time and electricity are on the fritz. I'm on episode 3, it's a beginner's passion project so the acting and sound is challenging to anyone used to high quality but the story is fascinating and keeps me hooked and the crisp southern accents definitely help. It's like a podcast version of the backrooms and it definitely manages to convey the same kind of eeriness.

Oops I went off lol, hope this is somehow helpful even if you didn't ask for it 😅

And yes I fully agree about wooden overcoats everyone should listen to it asap it's so good!!

[vqlisms]

(deep sigh) time to analyse the side order trailer

anyways i have something i want to bring up beforehand that will very much affect the story we are presented. 1: side order was the original concept for the hero campaign we’d have been given if team order won finalfest. 2: there were sides planned depending on if team chaos or order won from the beginning, and we would’ve gotten different stories for each. i’d bring up splat1 finalfest, but it had a very different layout all things considering (it was /only/ to decide the hero campaign story, which was decently cookie cutter to make which squid sister goes missing easy to change with just minor rewrites depending on who won finalfest). splatoon 2–>3 took that much more serious because it actually gave us game concepts to debate between whereas splat1’s was likely just the devs wanting a dramatic finalfest before realising it’d be cool to tie-into the story of splatoon 2. either way, i’ll be exploring both options and their potential implications on the story separately

a key part of splatoon is audio. that’s music, sfx, background chatter, the works. right off the bat, the reddish orange webbing across the screen when it blacks out and the rhythm makes me think heartbeat. that and the piano and white scenery screams hospital to me. i don’t think we’re playing in a hospital, the signs looked more like buried shopping centers, so maybe a repurposed mall? that would make sense with the shot of an elevator, but the high windows and panelled walls are throwing me off a bit, because those look part of the original building. Also, toward the end, i swear to god i started hearing a new song fade in. i don’t think it was the squid sisters and it was super quiet compared to the piano and stuff but i swear i heard voices

okay artwork artwork artwork. first painted shot is an elevator/gate/metal doorway next to a high-set window with something dripping from the corner. the walls are plated with grout between, but they look metal? plants can be seen through the window, it looks a bit like seaweed or ferns. / incredibly stained photo of pearl (left) and marina (right). marina is borderline indistinguishable. pearl is holding something round and pinkish by her face. photo is incredibly desaturated and warped. / octoling with orange ink. they are brown, in a white uniform with something blue green red hanging from their left hip. white weapon in their right hand looks like a gal, with red wire wrapping around orange tank. left hand holding something orange and red, too small to be ink tank or a weapon addition, and looks like it has a handle on it to be held. background is plastered with ink but too blurry to make out anything specific. top right shows a white robotic creature with an orange glow and dark accents. / downward shot of legs and a shadow. noticeably similar silhouette to armoured agents with the earphones. pants are tights with no discernible shoes or patterning. tentacle/arm is visible, if long tentacle would fit with previous art of captain 3. / octoling from trailer squatting by a cliff. dark matter spikes into a white background with similar webbing to one of the previous skits crawling along the floor/walls. octoling is now wearing black shoes, but otherwise looks like the one in the trailer. / glitchy profile view of marina, holding her hands pleadingly in front of her. she wears a black top and her usual headphones. her ink colour is blue. / shot of a teal ink octoling staring out of a caged in space. there are brown and wearing a white uniform. their face isn’t visible. further left, a leg is barely within frame. the leg is bare with only a black boot visible. floor is panelled, and the windows are mesh and glass. reflection shows the octoling has a shocked/awed face, no noticeable distinguishing features otherwise. / pearl (?) almost indistinguishable walking away from the camera. person/creature leading (?) her. only non-blurry thing is a porous rock (coral?) blocking the bottom right fourth of the screen. / inkfish standing in front of fancy old-timey gated elevator. room is noticably overgrown, with reflective/transparent tiled flooring. plants grow from the ceiling and base of pillars framing the elevator. from under the gate is a large puddle of darker liquid staining the ground. inkfish has pointed ears and long tentacles reminiscent of octolings, but no visible suckers. / octoling standing atop distant buildings with coral growing from their roofs. buildings and background are indistinct, with closer ones being blacked out, and background radiating white light. / pearl in the same setting as the unknown octoling, staring and smiling down at the camera from behind orange shades. she is wearing her crown and wraparound shades, and a grey jacket, olive shirt, and black gloves. / cream background, getting incrementally darker around black squiggles (creature? map?). a red spiral scribble marks a dark blob on the canvas. the black marks eerily resemble a skeleton, showing a long beak/muzzle, detached lower jaw, spinal cord, and ribcage. no visible suggestion of the artist/creature depicted. / painted shot of the octoling in a large room. pillars brave the ceiling, and coral grows from cracks in the floor. dark liquid pools on the floor. bottom right shows blurred indistinct text (i’m decently sure this is a font we’ve seen and/or decoded before, so i might look closer into that later). white particles float along the scenery. / octoling in the elevator. no buttons have visible markers. patterns on the bottom right corner of the wall. elevator has different layout to the other we’ve seen, with this one having blank metallic walls. / incredibly dark shot of a mass. bottom of the screen shows a solid black mass, while the top has what appear to be wires hanging (presumably) from the ceiling or a creature. /

/ (cont.) shot of the octoling laying on the ground, shielding their eyes. background is blotted, but appears to be inside of a building with low and wide windows. a cross marks the floor behind them, though it’s purpose cannot be made out. / shot of marina in a line with other octolings with similar hairstyles. all are wearing white uniforms. the octoling behind marina is pale with pinkish tentacles. there appears to be something around their necks. the environment is abstract. / octoling looking into the camera, sitting on another abstract environment. shot lasts noticably longer than others.

shots of web-like reddish-orange pulsing matter in a dark space, pulsing to the beat of the music. / shots of a translucent thin membrane with outward to inward dark->light->dark rings patterned along the sides. background is maybe a store ceiling? rectangles of dark and light that are def supposed to be an area though they’re purposely blurry and vague. / more strange translucent reflective membrane, this time without the rings patterned within and significantly less coagulated. once again purposefully blurry shot of the background, but it seems somewhat panelled? / red staining a white background, no distinguishable pattern. / closeup shot of brain coral patterning that progressively blurs and warps slightly. / incredibly blurred mucous(?) warping and flexing inward on itself, white spirals patterning the outside.

the scenery itself is noticably washed out and pale. coral grows from sandy floors, swallowing almost up to the storefront logos. upon closer examination, the area is a white version of inkopolis square, containing all of the stores, depowered screens, grizzco, battle lobby, buildings, everything.

storywise, i’ll once again break this into two sections. here is side order being the concept we’d have been given if team order won finalfest

likely not agent 8. perhaps could be an inkling like n3o?

this is definitely post-splatoon 2. the inkfish moving to splatsville thing has already been explained in-universe and them moving because the city of chaos was more fresh. so whatever the fuck happened to inkopolis square must’ve only happened relatively recently. also, if the expansion is coming to us with only inkopolis plaza, then why was inkopolis square targeted?? is the plaza just a recreation????

now, thoughts on if side order was planned to only exist if team chaos won.

side order is likely going to give us more off the hook background/content. perhaps we’re playing as agent 8 again since the octoling is using the original hairstyles?

the character appearing in the paintings with agent 8. i don’t think pearl has any official clothes right now with dark boots and shorts. maybe new pearl outfit? black boots are only clearly shown in one other shot which is the one of the octoling in front of the webs and spikes. that’s not counting the one with the character that’s blocked out to where we can’t exactly see their clothes.

is this why inkopolis square wasn’t shown in the expansion? we’re only getting inkopolis plaza because inkopolis square got fucking coralised?

black goop is way too dark to be tar-tar’s sanitisation stuff, and that skeleton has me thinking. i looked up the skeletons of some of the more popular creatures i’ve heard tossed around for splatoon designs, and it looks a bit like a stylised orca skeleton but with a disconnected jaw bone? hmm

ok my brain is starting to turn a bunch so imma come back to this if i think of anything else in a bit buh bye

[lananiscorner]

I don't usually get personally invested in the Game Awards (though I follow them in a professional capacity because I work in the industry), but you should have heard the squee I squeed when Astro won.

There were no bad games on this year's GOTY nominee list. Not a single one. There were two titles that are exactly the kind of game that normally wins these awards--Black Myth: Wukong and Final Fantasy--and yet the one that won was Astro Bot.

Astro Bot.

A 3D platformer restricted to one console (PS5).

I have seen so much hate for this game's win, but for anyone who hasn't played it, I need y'all to understand just how well-made this game is and just how much it deserved that win:

This is a game with zero microtransactions/live service stuff (rare these days).

I did not encounter a SINGLE bug or glitch while 100% completing this game. Not one. Not a single crash, FPS drop, missing audio/SFX, graphical artifact, broken texture, animation weirdness. NOTHING. Do you know how rare this is? How much care and testing and polishing needs to go into a product to make this happen?

Almost every level in this game is full of ridiculously tricky graphics (e.g. rendering hundreds of falling leaves AND their individual shadows with authentic movement at the same time) and yet not a single frame drop.

The game is choke full of loving little (and not so little) nods to previous PlayStation IP, including things so obscure you probably haven't heard of them, but if you did, the cameos will probably make you cry. It is 110% nostalgia bait, but it is *respectful, lovingly crafted* nostalgia bait.

The game features so many different level gimmicks and mechanics.

It makes full use of the PS5 controller's haptic feedback. Walking on grass will make your controller rumble differently than walking on wood or metal. At some points you have to legit blow into your controllers microphone to solve puzzles. (That said, if you, like me, hate controller rumble, you can play the entire game without it with no issues except one kind of puzzle taking longer to solve.)

The main story levels are so easy even little kids can finish them, but the optional challenge levels are hard enough to make you want to throw your controller (which is a good thing in 3D platformers).

The art direction is on point throughout, down to little details like sand gaining a shiny surface when wet and then losing the shine as it dries.

The music is amazing.

The ending made me cry. Twice.

But more than anything else, playing this game will remind you what playing games as a child was like. It will make you feel the joy, the wonder, the carefree excitement that got so many of us hooked on this medium of entertainment. You can FEEL that this game was made by people who love video games and who want to share that love around.

Astro Bot deserved every single award it got, and I can only hope that Sony and Xbox will continue to bring its libraries to PC so maybe, hopefully, PC players will eventually be able to enjoy this masterpiece as well.

Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at THE GAME AWARDS 2024

[maguro13-2]

The Dark Picture ~ Origins of the Ink Demon : Operation Drawcia Pt.3 ~

"Somewhere in a forested area..."

"LEAF STORM ZONE..."

[Right there! Ride on! - Hideki Naganuma]

Sonic : Whoohoo!

*Sonic SFX : Boost*

Sonic : Aw yeah! This new boost system that Sega gave me is a head start! Instead of spin dashing all over the place, I can boost to anywhere where I wanted to go! So first thing's first, I gotta find Eggman to know where is he hiding at! At first, I didn't come into sudden realization that a Tear in the Space-Time Continuum would happen in 2005, Since F-Zero was lost at the time it sold the last game in Japan. Who's gonna cleanup all of Nintendo's messes? (grinds on rail and does various tricks that animals pops up from nowhere) Where did the animals come from? Oh well, it's not my concern since Eggman broke the world into seven pieces, not just the world, but the planet itself. I bet two of those Yuri mikos that discovered that Eggman broke the planet in pieces meaning that pilots of those giant machines we're easily destroyed by this particular creature that came out of the core. Yeah, it that was creature that destroyed these machines and the Ame no Murakami robot that tried to destroy this creature. When the villains of that Yuri mecha show were scolded for trying to the put in genocide, the creature killed them. It's D.Gaia with a capital D.

Tails (via radio) : Hey, Sonic. Now that you're not into that yuri stuff anymore, it's official that we're finally laying off the yuri stuff in Japan or something like that. We're not talking about, we're talking about you getting the Chaos Emeralds from those special stages.

Sonic : I know! Which is why they are hidden inside the special stage zones! They've always been hidden in each of the special stages. Feels like Cyberspace from old ancient technology could be responsible for the creation of those special stages.

Tails (via radio) : That's good! What's important is...we don't know where Eggman is and why is he suddenly hiding, but it's going to be a moment since the Dreamcast Era has entered it's final stage. Now we finally understand that Sonic Adventured 2's plot was being retconned.

Sonic : That's a mistake that I'll never forget, even though Shadow is still alive thou. I don't know why did the time that he lives for no reason.

Tails (via radio) : I wouldn't recommend you that much. But I haven't see Shadow since we first saw him back when we're at the Jungle, it was our last encounter since Emerl was with us. We don't know what happened to him, they say that he was reincarnated into some kind of machine, Gemerl was it?

Sonic : Yeah, that Gizoid. Loud and clear. Good thing that I'm into new music instead of Senoue's whatsocallit. I'm beginning that the Dreamcast era is going to become something what I understand, the Dark Age. Well, at least it's not gonna be that bad.

"One special stage later..."

Sonic : Ha! This was a good start get me one of the first of the red emeralds. Alright, where's eggman! I gotta find him somewhere. *BOOST!* This is a new start for me!

*later...*

Sonic : Gosh darn it! Where the heck could Eggman be?

Eggman : I'm right here, you blue rodent!

[Metal Scratchin' - Hideki Naganuma]

Sonic : Huh? What's this that you're controlling?

Eggman : It's called the Egg Hammer Mega!

"LEAF STORM ZONE BOSS : EGG HAMMER MEGA"

Sonic : Again with the hammers? You're lucky that you're willingly to have something creative, what's the deal with the hammers! I've using a hammer. I'm gonna fall for one of your silly tricks again!

Eggman : Whatever! This is going to take a day of defeating you in person. So hurry up so that I may defeat with this...Hammer! So take this!

Sonic : Woah! (evades) Nice try, Eggman! But it'll take more hammering than to squash me like a bug! You ought to...

Eggman : GET READY TO BE SCHOOLED!

Sonic : Huh? (shrieks like Homer and evades)

*DBZ SFX : Wall Hit/Crash*

Sonic : When did you learn to make a phrase like that?

Eggman : It's a new line, i mean it's a new phrase I invented it! It means that I'm literally going to do something for you inside these machines!

Sonic : Yeah, right! You just wanna make feel like that you're schooling me or something.

Eggman : So long as I controlling this machine, what else there is stop me?

Sonic : Yeah, that's what I thought.

*Sonic SFX : Jump*

Eggman : AAAAHHH!!!

*DBZ/One Piece SFX : Surprise*

*DBZ/One Piece SFX : Loud Explosions*

Eggman : You'll regret this!

Sonic : Eggman! Wait! I'm not done with you yet! Hmm? Is that...?

*DBZ/One Piece : Exclamation Mark*

*FLAMES WHOOSH*

Sonic : AAAH! What was that sudden fiery flash!

[Enemy or Friend/Leaf Storm - Teruhiko Nakagawa]

Sonic : It's a purple cat?

Blaze : Thanks for stopping Eggman on acquiring the Sol Emeralds, I needed those to get the other ones, that were stolen from the other Eggman.

Sonic : Other Eggman? What are you talking about?

Blaze : To save my world at least.

Sonic : Who are you and where did you come from?

Blaze : the name is Blaze, I am princess from the Sol Dimension.

"NEWCOMER : BLAZE THE CAT BLAZES FROM THE NEXT DIMENSION!"

Sonic : Blaze, you say. What a coincidence! I must thank you for stopping--(Blaze dashes) Eggman...Where is she running off to anyway? But when did she said about the Sol Emeralds stolen from the other Eggman? Just what did she meant by now? Anywho, I wonder where is Shadow?

"Meanwhile..."

Shadow : So all of that for nothing, these incidents of machines trying to destroy the planet have been driven into insanity and all of this was just a personal cover up. So after Heroes and Battle, the Dreamcast Era is never the same again after upon hearing the defeat of that other Gizoid. Now all what's left from the Professor Gerald, I can't get a single concetration on whether I can't remember anything since I am suffering amnesia in that base and how did I not know that I didn't die. I had no choice but to live. It was worth of two years of suffering and I only discovered that another that died was just a basic android. Why did Mobius suffer from this dark lore of ours. Believe it or not, I think clearly of that gruesome image of me and Maria finally happened before. Grim told me that Maria it's because of the manhunt caused by Black Doom's shenanigans.

*flashback*

[Suspense music]

Shadow : *panting*

Heavy Pilot : Stop! Get that hedgehog! Find him! Find him where's he at! We mustn't let them escape!

Shadow : !?...(the gun soldiers stops and arrive) What the-!?

Maria : ...!!

Grim : No! What do you think you're doing!? STOOOOOP!

*Shadow/Robot Chicken SFX : Gunshot*

Shadow : MARIAAAAAAA!!!

*flashback ends*

[Prologue - Yutaka Minobe]

Shadow : (shakes head to respond) So, there's someone else that is involved of the manhunt, I can't remember anything from before, and who is this Maria shot dead.

(Thunder booming)

Shadow : ...Red Clouds? Sky's changing...

Central City Citizen : Hmmm?...Oh no...(in horror) They're back!

(Thunder crashing)

(a horde of Black Arms aliens appears dropping from the mouth of the clouds)

*DBZ SFX : Loud Explosion*

Central City Citizen A : Oh no! Not those guys again!

Central City Citizen B : They're back I tell ya!

Central City Citizen C : Get these guys away from!

Driver : Oh my God! (gets knocked over by a Black Arm Giant)

Shadow : So much for a welcoming party. Guess these humans will have to die for consequences. (before leaving)

Black Doom : Greetings Shadow, I have returned.

Shadow : !? You!

(Black Doom appears as a hologram from his eye)

Black Doom : But as you can see, I've managed to make a nuisance out of Grim as the day of reckoning will soon be here. Find the seven chaos emeralds and bring to me as promise, simple as that.

Shadow : Wait, me? How did you know that I am Shadow and what are you talking about. More importantly, what's the day of...(Black Doom leaves)

*DBZ SFX : Loud explosions*

Shadow : So...that's my beginning of this years, huh? If I believe that he will know the truth about my past, I will give them seven emeralds as he promised...To this day, 2005 will be the year of me and I will uncover the secrets of my past! Whether Grim will like it or not! (Sets off towars the city, beginning his quest to discover his true purpose. Title)

Announcer : [reading title card] THE YEAR OF SHADOW BEGINS!

~ Mission 02 : Shadow 05. ~

[comfort-creatures]

Just another request blog for all the nonhumans out there

Requests:

Requests are 6-9 items on a theme of your choosing. Please provide in your request:

a. Optional: subtle or overt. Default is overt; items are picked with the idea that you want to feel like yourself. This may mean fangs, wings, SFX, and other things you may prefer not to wear in public. If you just want something to remind you of yourself, please specify "subtle"

1. Type of item

Could I get [bath items, comforting items, clothing, room decor, snacks, etc.]

1b. For clothing: masculine, feminine, both (includes both masculine and feminine options), or neutral (only options that would not look out of place on a traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine person)

2. Identity (with source if applicable!)

for [a raven, Peter Parker (Spider-Man franchise), the Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), a domestic housecat, a shadow monster with wings, etc.]

c. Optional: price range

[under $30, any price, $30-$60, less than €70, etc.]

d. Optional: include/exclude - this is the place to specify allergies, shipping location, sizing, source, etc. If excluding food, please specify if it's a preference or allergy so I can make sure food doesn't come into contact if necessary

with [light colors, a focus on teeth, no coconut (preference, not allergy), no bath items, shipping to the UK, items from Amazon, size 16 (US) items, etc.]

All together (letters/numbers are for example, you do not have to put them in your request):

Could I get [1] some snacks for [2] an eagle?

Could I get [a] subtle [1b] feminine or neutral [1] fashion for [2] a wind deity [c] under $30 with [d] light colors and no skirts?

Could I get [1] stim toys and candy for [2] Adam West era Batman? Preferably [c] less than €20 with [d] shipping to Ireland and items from Etsy

Requests are decided on a case-by-case basis. There is no set "do not interact" for sources, but I reserve the right to reject requests that make me uncomfortable

[gertlushgaming]

Call Of The Wild The Angler Review (Steam)

For our Call Of The Wild The Angler Review, we play a game from the creators of the Hunter: Call of the Wild comes to an open-world fishing experience! Relax and unwind at your favorite spot or explore the beautiful great outdoors with friends as you embark on the journey to become a master angler.

Call Of The Wild The Angler Review Pros:

- Beautiful graphics. - Download size. - Steam achievements. - Full controller support. - Apex Connect integration. (optional) - Graphics settings - monitor, resolution, window mode, v-sync, graphics preset, resolution scale, motion blur, anti-aliasing, anisotropic texture filtering, SSAO, texture detail, shadow quality, geometric detail, vegetation detail, global illumination, volumetric fog, depth of field, screen-space reflections, and water detail. - Multiplayer settings - on/off, cross-platform, player names, activity reports, player join/leave messages, and fish caught messages. - Accessibility options - brightness, accessible cast (one button casting), reeling input type, rod tracking strength, strike sfx, strike indicator, vibration, trigger effects, boat assist, camera shake, field of view slider, crouch toggle, unit system, and subtitles. - Controller and keyboard settings - Invert the axis and sensitivity sliders, and you can rebind the controls for both. - Fishing gameplay. - Plays in first person. - You get to drive a jeep and boat each with three views. - The reserve is called Golden Ridge Reserve. - Many many Collectibles from lore to flowers, trees, and Big Foot sightings. It's weird but it makes sense.. Ish. - 21 fish species and they all have rarity assigned by size and type. - Earn EXP for catching fish and getting the Collectibles, discovering new areas, surveying the land, etc. - Watch towers have a survey spot that triggers a flyover and fills in the map with question marks for key locations. - Fast travel points throughout the map. - Day and night cycle. - Multiplayer is when you join a server and then you can see and interact with other players, Get notifications on what they are doing, etc. - Clayton Johnson is the reserve warden and will give stories, lore, and such. He moves around the reserve. - Sophia Taylor owns the shop and here you can buy equipment and clothing accessories. - Daily and weekly missions. - Beautiful looking reserve. - You can place your own waypoints and markers. - All fish are returned to the water. - Over time you can have waters fill in with fish details on the map. - Ride creator where you can choose the rod, the type (spinner/float), reel, reel wire, and any bait. - When catching a fish you earn exp for every piece of the rod you are using. - Catching a fish will bring up a pic of your smug-looking avatar holding his fish and on the side, it says all the details like fish caught, rarity, size, weight, and what equipment you used. - Full stats menu. - Your handbook fills in with fish caught, and all Collectibles are split up into categories. - The journal houses all collected missions and events, you can track/u track them at will. - The jobs board shows all available missions and events. - You can freely walk and run around the reserve or use the vehicles. - Easy to read Hud. - Reeling in a fish requires balancing out line tension, adjusting the drag, etc. - Float fishing has a focus button so you can zoom in and even see the fish. - You can adjust and set so much of your casting from how high the hook sits or the size of the hook. - If you so wish you can just go out and fish and still get leveled up and buy new gear. - Play how you want. - You can photo-bomb player's pictures. - Three types of fishing - float, lure spinning, and jighead spinning. - So relaxing and fun to play. - You can collect items when in a vehicle. - No fall damage. - Your fish are your fish, other players cannot scare or take your fish. Call Of The Wild The Angler Review Cons: - You cannot change the time of day. - The friend's integration is nothing but being in the same instance, no events or warping to each other. - Cannot skip the survey flyovers. - Doesn't offer stands for your rod or rods as multiple rods deployed would be awesome. - You cannot move once you have cast. - Fish information is only available on some of the water spots. - Doesn't offer weather types. - Not sure what the point of the Ranger is and why I need to know has moved to another point on the map. - The driving is horrendous and with no 3rd person view it is very much a vomit comet. Related Post: Mystic Gate Review (PlayStation 5) Call Of The Wild The Angler: Official website. Developer: Expansive Worlds Publisher: Expansive Worlds Store Links -  Steam Read the full article

[noparg]

Desperados III - Review

The Desperados game series has been around for almost twenty years, with its first game releasing in 2001 and a sequel in 2006. After fourteen years, a new entry has just been released. Developed by Mimimi Games, the studio behind the phenomenal Shadow Tactics, Desperados III serves as a prequel for the series, making it suitable for old fans and newcomers.

Story

Desperados III’s story starts with young John Cooper and his father sneaking into the compound of an infamous bandit known as Frank. Saying it’s too dangerous for him to follow, John’s father goes face Frank alone, leaving John practicing his aim. While it’s never directly said, it is more than let on that this doesn’t end well for John’s father.

What follows is a story of revenge years after the prologue, with Cooper chasing after Frank. Along the way he meets the other characters of the game and gets involved in a plot surrounding the DeVitt railroad company.

Overall, even if the story takes a bit to pick up the pace, it is really well written. A special point in its favor is the chemistry between the characters. In every single mission the controlled characters have conversations, showing more of their personalities and revealing snippets of their story.

Graphics

The graphics in Desperados III are really good with a lot of detail included. Maps also feel lived in thanks to the amount of objects, characters and little things to be found in them. This is especially commendable taking into account the size of the maps, which are anything but small.

Something lacking is the enemy variety, which is comprised of the same few types all over the game. This isn’t to say their designs are bad though, but it doesn’t feel like there is enough different ones.

Sound

Desperados III’s sound department is really well covered with a great soundtrack and SFX. There are a lot of different songs in the OST, which vary per level. The game is also completely voice acted, giving the characters even more personality than they already had.

A complaint that can be had is that the soundtrack ends up being too quiet many times. Even with the volume maxed out; most of the music ends up being almost inaudible in comparison with the rest of sounds.

Gameplay

As a stealth RTS, gameplay is definitely the best and most important part of Desperados III. Despite not being a really popular genre in recent times, the previous experience of the developer does show in this game. Everything is really polished, and while there still are things to nitpick, it’s has great gameplay.

At the start of the game the player only has control of Cooper, but as it progresses they unlock the other characters. Each of them has a particular set of skills, Cooper is a classical cowboy with guns and throwing knifes, McCoy is a sniper with utility tools, etc. There are not two of them that play or feel the same, each have their own weaknesses and strengths.

As previously mentioned, Desperados III is a stealth RTS, what this implies is the player controls all characters at the same time while trying to stay unseen. Every enemy has a cone of vision with two zones; in one of them characters remain unseen while crouching, while in the other they’re always seen. Keeping in mind the fields of vision of enemies, players must fulfill the objectives of the mission, though remaining unseen is just an advantage, not a necessity.

Upon being discovered, enemies will all be alerted and look for the player’s unit, those within FoV will directly start attacking. Despite this, the player can disable the alert by hiding again or killing the enemies after them. Desperados III offers a lot of ways of solving problems, even if it’s not the usually intended way a player could just choose to go in all guns blazing.

The game also features the so called Showdown Mode, where time will pause for players to queue actions from several characters at once. This allows for more planning and to not rely as much on precise timing.

Every level also has several optional challenges known as badges which require the player to fulfill certain conditions which make the level harder. These badges are revealed upon completing the level, though complete ones pop up upon completion.

As a fun mention, some enemies have special names straight out of a western movie. When these are defeated nothing particular happens, but it counts as progression towards a special achievement.

For those that look for a challenge, the game includes several difficulty settings, with the hardest being called Desperado difficulty and adding huge handicaps, such as Showdown Mode not pausing the game.

Conclusion

Desperados III is a great game which offers a lot of content, besides welcoming new and old players of the genre. The game has everything it promises, with loads of content and more to come later on.

Personal Opinion

“I’ve really enjoyed playing Desperados III, though I admit I don’t play it in an even remotely optional way, choosing to wipe every enemy in the map instead of focusing on the objective. Doing so has meant spending an hour or more per level, tiring me more than it should, but despite this I still had fun all along.

An issue I had with the game is how the optional challenges are not shown before starting. With the maps being enormous and my playstyle, replaying a level was a nuisance.

It is worth mentioning the developers happened to host an AmA on Reddit where I could ask about this; the answer of Moritz Wagner, Head of Design for Mimimi Games was:

“We don’t want players to feel judged by the badges or adjust their playthrough too much by trying to get badges. For us one of the most important pillars is "play it your way". Which means we want to allow players to figure out things for themselves and just play how they want.

Afterwards, if they want to return to the missions for badges with new challenges, they can do so. That’s why we show it afterwards.

I know some players want to see them from the start, but I think that this isn’t worth the trade-off. It would result in many players getting wrong feelings on a mission and I think that those that want to know badges before can just google them anyway before starting a level. It’s not perfect, but the better solution imo!”

Which is a more than fair enough point, though as an individual I think there could be other ways of working around it.

It is also worth mentioning there apparently are some issues with regional pricing, so for those outside of EU and NA it might be in their best interest to wait a bit in case this may change.”

[5amfever]

CENTIPEDE HORROR / CALAMITY OF SNAKES (1982)

If you're going to do a double bill, you might as well go hogshit wild, and that's exactly what I did do the detriment of my own sanity with back-to-back viewings of CENTIPEDE HORROR and CALAMITY OF SNAKES, both from 1982 and both stupid in their own unique ways.

CENTIPEDE HORROR finds the grandchildren of a man who burnt down a village 50 years ago being punished by a powerful sorcerer, and the recipe for this particular punishment is centipedes. Lots and lots of really big centipedes. The film opens with shocker shots of centipedes crawling across wooden platforms, emerging from the shadows and poking their little pincers out from drooping foliage. If I were the type of person to get skeeved out by these shots and the chitter-chitter-chitter SFX that accompany them, buddy, this flick woulda been turned off quick. 

What follows is roughly 90 minutes of centipede curses, a few solid gross-up close-ups and a climax that finds two wizards dueling from afar in the ultimate battle of the mind that includes not one, not two, but at least three ghost chickens. Describing this in vague terms is about four times as fun as actually watching CENTIPEDE HORROR, which comes from director Keith Lee Pak-Ling and has enough lulls between its standout moments to put a human centipede to sleep. 

It is, however, a positively delightful experience when placed next to the following feature, which aims to top even the most abundant acts of animal cruelty on film with one central, slithering focus.

In a bold move that would leave Indiana Jones positively beaming, Chi Chang and his team of dipshits decided to make a film about karmic retribution for cruelly killing snakes by… cruelly killing a bunch of snakes. This isn't like a single lingering scene of a turtle being torn apart that you can skip in CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, this is CALAMITY OF SNAKES, and it lives and dies by its title while its creators dance like lunatics in a special circle of Snake Hell. 

The story revolves around a greedy company buying up land for a massive condo and cutting corners during the construction process. One of those corners happens to be the nest of snakes living on the land, so they dispose of them all in the meanest and laziest way possible. Ignoring a couple scattered pleas warning against this, the workers pick up their shovels and start chopping up snakes while the boss man hops in an excavator and mashes hundreds of snakes to a bloody pulp in a few gleeful scoops. 

It's not like the filmmakers were ignorant during all of this. It's in the script that there will be some form of divine retribution for the acts of the characters, so does that apply to the crew, as well? Either way it clearly doesn't matter, because construction continues and we're eventually treated to a condo full of residents screaming and writhing as snakes are tossed their way and then summarily executed for the crime of starring in a rather shitty film. 

To give you an idea of what CALAMITY OF SNAKES is working with, the Blu-ray from Unearthed Films has a "cruelty-free" version of the feature on-disc, and it's 10 MINUTES SHORTER. A few of those minutes are spent filming various animal fights as they send in some mongooses to take out the snakes, a sequence that goes on for so long I had to fast forward out of sheer boredom. It's a shame, because there are some entertaining moments throughout—including a martial arts master who has to fight a colossal python—and it has a sense of humor about its dumb-as-rocks premise, but they went about the production in the stupidest and most shameful of ways. 

So, in the Great Centipedes Vs. Snakes Battle of 1982, I gotta give it up for CENTIPEDE HORROR. Some centipedes may have been harmed during the filming of this motion picture, but it certainly wasn't a multipedal massacre. 

[hridaymehta]

Editing Day 3

Coursework Development - Post 6

The last day of editing. I was excited to see the final product taking shape, and was unable to wait and see how the final product would look. All of the work I had accomplished in the previous 2 days lead to this moment.

Entering the editing room, we began with going through the footage that we had edited up until now, then moving on to sound mixing. In sound mixing, the main objective was to add any necessary SFX along with panning the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, so that the final product was more polished.

I first detached the audio from the video of each clip, then assigned audio roles to the clip audio, background music and the folly sounds, in order to work in an organized manner. I even sorted my media bin by the type of file, so the MP4 files were in one section, and MP3 in the other, so I knew all the media and where it was, in case I needed to use that during sound mixing.

I then moved on to changing the amplitude of each footstep by changing its decibel value, so when Amaira is walking towards or away from the camera, the sound of the footsteps accordingly become more audible or faint, respectively.

Sound mixing is an integral part of editing, and I learnt this by listening to the entire opening sequence before and after sound mixing, and sound mixing makes the final product appear to be more realistic, as the sound is configured in a way that it would be heard like in real life, with respect to the person's position, and what direction is the sound being heard from, with what intensity along with any SFX.

For the mobile phone conversation, we used a telephone static tone to shift the audience's attention towards the telephone conversation. This was the only SFX we used for the opening sequence.

We finished sound mixing by playing back the entire opening sequence, making sure that the dialogues were heard over the background music, making sure that the footsteps along with the background music was correctly matched and that the footsteps' decibel values were varying according to the distance of the walking/running with respect to the camera, and that there was an L cut with the changing from Scene 2 to Scene 3, where the door closing folly sound can be heard in Scene 3.

Our team moved onto colour grading, where we explored the different parts of a frame, where it is concerned with the highlights, mid tone and shadows of a particular image. We even saw the exposure interface, to change the exposure of the image.

For some unknown reason, my team's cinematographer completely forgot that they were supposed to bring a colour palette in the form of images or any media form, so we could use that as a reference whilst colour grading. This was the biggest issue we faced in the editing phase, throughout the 3 days. The cinematographer was even supposed to give reasons for choosing a particular colour palette, and why that palette was chosen to appeal to the audiences in terms of creating a mood, or with respect to the content of the opening sequence, in order to convey a deeper meaning implicitly, and clearly they forgot to do that as well.

The director was furious, and could not grasp why such a mishap took place when our sir had reminded her about this twice earlier. The production designer and I were upset as well, moreover I was frustrated, as I was receiving input from all 3 teammates at the same time, and they had varying opinions, since there was no reason given for choosing a particular colour palette, I was mentally drained out. This was a learning experience that I had taken into consideration, as I want to pursue media in the future.

Moving on, we finally decided to incorporate a warmer tone for the library scenes (Scene 1 and 3), with a slight hint of green. The colour palette for the staircase corridor was purely orange with hints of yellow, indicating evening time, and even showing that the location was warm. The colour grading of the shots with the physical assault were towards a darker shade of red, with a bit of orange.

Another interesting task which I learned during colour grading was not just adjusting the exposure of the shot, but even changing colour grades during the swish pan movement between Amaira and Arjun, since the clips were not separate, however they showed both sides of the staircase, with different colour grades. We had to adjust and manage the colour grading for this frame by frame, to match the scenes effectively whilst maintaining their individual colour grades, and this task was rather fun for me, as it was interesting to experiment with the changes in colour grade during the swish pan taking place.

After all of this, our product was finally complete, where my team and I reviewed the entire final product 3 times, making sure everything was done correctly, making any necessary minute changes.

Throughout this entire editing phase, I learnt so, so many things about editing, all the way from the configuration of audio clips, to the transition of colour grades within a single shot, and this process may have been stressful towards the end, but I had a great time working on this project, learning along the way. Below is the final timeline of the opening sequence to my film - If Only She Knew.