#so these opinions will probably change once im through with this playthrough

[cassynite]

thoughts on rogue trader companions so far (got to the end of act 1 last night in yet another ill advised late night gaming session):

--

Abelard: I, the player, have such a soft spot for old men who take on mentor-like positions to my pc (blame it on being raised my grandfather ig).

But Wren actually finds Abelard pretty stifling at first and is furious when she finds out he'd been keeping an uprising from her and trying to take care of it on his own, because she's an awful micromanaging boss who's got to do shit herself and thinks everyone who does things without her direct knowledge are going to either fuck up or betray her about it. They're getting along a little better since then and she does ask for his opinion on things, even if she rarely follows it lol.

--

Idira: Wren warmed up to Idira pretty quickly, considering she introduced herself by revealing she knows about Wren's past and her deepest hurts (I know that the actual dialogue is referencing the torture hook in her background but I'm interpreting it as Idira knowing about what happened between Wren and her sister).

But after Wren made a very open "you tell anyone about that and I make sure you get spaced" threat, she starts to rely on Idira's divination skills to help her navigate tough situations. She's not threatened by psykers or Idira's powers otherwise, and senses that she's relatively open and isn't trying to pull the wool over her eyes because of how tenuous a grasp on her own powers she has--ironically, by being on the verge of madness, Wren trusts her to tell her what she's actually hearing.

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Argenta: Wren tends to view people who are overly dedicated to the Imperium with distrust and disdain; she grew up kind of on the fringes of society to begin with and spent the majority of her adulthood as a crime lord with a dim view of the Imperium, since she spent a lot of her time either in direct opposition to those people or manipulating their systems to get what she wanted. Because of this she's written off Argenta as a space-Bible-thumper and ignores her views. She's the first person who gets kicked off the team once they get a full roster.

--

Pasqual: She has slightly more respect for the knowledge-pursuing Adeptus Mechanicus than Argenta's Adepta Sororitus, but any limited respect for Pasqual turns to pretty severe distrust when she finds out he sold out his mentor to the Imperium. Wren's super clannish in her thought processes, and doesn't believe in a greater good; Her People are all that matter to her, and people who backstab, no matter the reason, are to be viewed with distrust at best and as the enemy at worst.

The only thing keeping Pasqual marginally in her good graces at this point is his relationship with Abel, which Wren has already projected her childhood relationship with her sister onto. She's not telling him shit about what she does with her business unless absolutely necessary though and has probably created contingency plans to space him if he tries to pull the same shit on her.

--

Heinrix: Lol. Lmao. Hi Inquisitor guy, yes of course I'm a loyal servant of the emperor, nothing to see here<-former crime lord who would have scattered at the word inquisitor a month ago

Wren was absolutely hoping never to actually come across this guy she was supposed to play courier for, like "Oh gee I guess we never found him, shame," so running into him while trying to clear up the mess on Rykard minoris was a bit of a disappointment, but she's decided that she can play good Rogue Trader while he's around. At this point he's brand new, she's sussed he's kind of into her, so she's playing into that and making herself seem friendly ("you seem lonely, if you want someone to talk to I'm not the greatest conversationalist but I am a great listener"). She's sure she'll be totally fine dumping him when needed and will not get attached, even though she's said this about the last like three people she's integrated into her crew and it's never played out well for her yet.

--

Cassia: Sweet child. Wren absolutely thinks that Cassia would not survive a day on her own, extremely powerful navigator or no, and is kind of condescending to her because of that. She was the quickest and easiest person for Wren to trust and consider one of "her" people on the new ship and she plans on doing what she can to secure a permanent position for Cassia as her navigator. Wren's got a real soft spot for her and takes her everywhere. (Also I, the player, stan Cassia like no one business and wouldn't dream of keeping her out of my party. Lidless stare is too OP.)

[ratasum]

Hello. :] im here for the dating sim ask game to ask for, hmmm. qirri, rosie, andddd miyya. (im ready to die)

important question: if all of my OCs were in a dating sim who’s route would u pick

[cracks knuckles] AIGHT LET'S SEE.

QIRRI

Qirri's is a somewhat easier path. You'd have to pick being a techy of some sort to start, just because that's the type of people she's more commonly drawn to. Early on it would just be showing that you can keep up with her when it comes to technical know-how, able to properly use a wrench as well as your words.

Once you got past that uneasy stage, then you'd actually get to a point where she'd be willing to talk to you more casually. The trigger would be her making you a home cooked meal. Hope you like bugs!

After that, she'd be a lot more comfortable. More willing to talk about things outside of work and engineering. She's the most open to relationships outside of other asura, so there'd be no issue there. Opening up to her about wanting to discuss cultural differences is a big bonus.

Reaching the successful end of her path, and meeting her family, would get you a fun picture of her sitting on a ledge in Rata Sum with her hair down out of its braid, grinning.

ROSIE

Rosie would be a deceptively tricky path, and actually probably a secret one you can only stumble upon by going to a certain area in Lion's Arch at a certain time of day.

The biggest thing about her path would be trust. Trying to dig into what she seems to be hiding would lead to her distrusting you, and if you were to call her Rosamund or reveal you know she's a Marriner, she would end the path on the spot.

Letting her come around to you in her own time would be the easiest way. Go down to the docks, learn to climb the rigging of ships. Make friends with pirates in a seedy pub (they'll never let her drink, no matter how hard she tries). And over time, getting to a point where shed take you to the memorial and tell you Cobiah Marriner is her great grandfather.

That'd be the do or die moment. Say it changes everything, ends the path immediately. Say it changes nothing? You get a great image of her climbing the rigging and laughing down like you're looking up towards her.

MIYYA

Miyya's absolutely a New Game + option. You can't romance her until a second or third playthrough when you can get a secret option to go to her office in the Ethics Committe headquarters in Mount Maelstrom.

Not a route for the faint of heart, wooing Miyya would involve performing investigations on the behalf of the Ethics Committee, and her opinion towards you would be improved or worsened by how thoroughly you complete your investigations into each facility she sends you to.

There are also a few do or die moments where you have to choose to liquidate someone, even if they seem to have done nothing wrong, or let them live. Obviously letting them live is not Miyya's preference.

The ultimate test would be her giving you the option to liquidate a particular overseer. All your choice, she won't judge. But she will.

It's impossible to tell until after you choose how she feels.

Probably the only route you could die during thanks to that, honestly! But your reward for your harrowing journey would be a cool, smoky image of her behind her desk, fingers laced, smiling serenely at you as she leans back with her head tipped forward, gazing at you through her hair.

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: January 28th, 2021 (Part 1)

And we’re back with many more ask answers! Thank you for waiting.

Is lizzie/the main character tripping over a rock a random event in barbecue? or does it require certain choices? i picked the same choices in multiple different playthroughs but ended up with three different outcomes (1. nothing happens 2. liz trips 3. i trip)

Yep! It’s completely random. Just a little moment of life you don’t have control over, haha.

wait just double checking you stated that derek would be another romantic interest you can pursue in step 4 right??? im just asking cuz hes my fav character 

oh wait and btw i was the one that asked the question about derek being in the step 4 just now, and will you have to pay extra for like a dlc or something bc i play the free version rn and i just wanted to check!! 

Yeah, you will eventually be able to romance him, but unfortunately it is a paid DLC. Cove is the only love interest who’s entirely free-to-play. You can  follow our social media for when we giveaways for a chance to win a key for it, though.

i know that y’all said the step 3 dlc and step 4 will be released early 2021, is there any update to that? for example, a rough amount of days/weeks until release? no pressure at all, i’m super excited!! <3 

The Step 3 DLC will be about in maybe two-two and half months or so. Step 4, we’re not entirely sure. Maybe a few months after the Step 3. We don’t want to give set dates until we’re really close to the release since otherwise we wouldn’t be able to 100% guarantee them.

First off love the game. Second I'm a little confused on how the nsfw dlc is gonna work. Because based on some stuff you've said it sounds like a patreon only thing and others make me think it could be an itch/steam thing after the fact? Would you mind clarifying for me 😅. Also if it's a patreon only thing do you need to become one before it's released? 

It’s not going to be on Steam/Itch. The actual game of Our Life is safe for teens with no adult content. Any 18+ stuff we’re releasing is separate bonus content. Right now the only for sure plan is having it available through Patreon. If there’s another hosting site that’s not Steam or Itch that’d be easier for people than Patreon we might consider uploading it there too, but nothing else is set.

If you want the bonus Moment you’d have to join once it’s already out or sometime after the release. Joining now would get you our current rewards, but wouldn’t get you future content that’s coming later.

this is probably an awkward question and i apologize, feel free not to answer, but i just wanted to address the elephant in the room....will step 4 acknowledge covid/2020 world events?? i kind of hope not bc i'd like to just exist in a fictional version of the world where things are happy in this quaint seaside town and the world isn't falling apart, but i'd understand if there are some references to it. just thought i'd ask so i can Prepare if that makes sense

Step 4 isn’t going to include Covid or even reference it. When we set Step 4 in that year we definitely didn’t know there’d be a global pandemic during it. It’s too late to move the timeframe earlier or later, but we’re not going to make Step 4 stressful for anyone because the real world became so much more stressful. The universe of Our Life will just be an even more idealized place than it was before.

hiiiii! i'm really sorry if this is a bother. i was just curious if cove has a canon setting for each step, like is it canon that he stays candid the whole game and is super sporty for instance and the rest are variations? thank you for your time!

None of those settings are canon. They’re all equally valid.

I love the game and Cove so much that I ended up spending most of the holidays playing it. Definitely worth it! Idk if you're taking suggestions/criticisms, but I chose the peach skin tone and seeing it written as "my peach skin" in the game broke immersion for me because I kept thinking it was referring to the fruit instead of my skin color. I think that skin color is most commonly referred to as "fair" but "peachy" or "rosy" would work too if you're looking for a different word 

Thank you for sharing your experience. We’ll change it to “peachy” in the next update!

So I accidentally overwrote a save file with a different one, is there any way I can recover that save? 

Sadly, there isn’t. Not unless you had a backup of the actual save file files in a separate location you can get. I’m really sorry. You can try using the skip feature to quickly speed through the game and get back to where you were though.

Do you try to maintain the color scheme for the clothing throughout the years in Our Life? 

Yes, though in hindsight not as much as I wished I did, haha. It could’ve been a little more cohesive. It was a bit too broad in my opinion.

I noticed that Cliff mentions he wasn’t much older than Cove before finding out he was going to be a father when he finds MC in bed with Cove during Part 3 so doesn’t that Cliff and Kyra were teenage/young parents? 

Yeah, Cliff was nineteen and Kyra was eighteen when Cove was born. They were just a couple of kids.

Does Cove have a favourite holiday? 

It changes depending on the year. Around Step 1 he’s not a huge fan of a lot of holidays because he’s not together with his whole family for them. But once he’s older and Kyra comes around more, he starts appreciating major family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas more than other holidays because he knows how it feels not to have that. Though summer vacation is of course his most favorite all the time, if that counts as a “holiday”.

I tried to join your patreon but I can’t seem to? The website keeps saying something went wrong and to try again. 

I’m sorry you’re having trouble! I think contacting Patreon support would probably be the best option if the joining process itself is having issues.

How much is it to become a part of your Patreon? I don’t have a lot of money currently but would love to help you out more than just buying the games and dlcs. 

Aw, I appreciate you wanting to support but the Patreon is really optional. You don’t need to push yourself to join if you don’t have extra funds for it. To still answer the question, the tiers are $1, $5, $10, $15, and $20 in USD. Each come with different perks.

I had this idea for a future daughter for the MC and Cove being named "Poppy", after the flowers on their hill~

That’s a really sweet idea! I’m sure Cove would be a fan.

So if you don't mind me asking, how do you get Cove to propose to you in Step 4 and not the other way around? 

I’m afraid that’d be too big of a spoiler to give away before the epilogue’s release, at least in terms of specifics. Generally you’ll just have to be patient and try not to propose first, haha.

will we get to move in with cove in step 4 😮?? or is that a secret 

You can be living together with Cove in Step 4! Though you wouldn’t get to see the place itself. That’s up to your imagination.

Is it bad that I'm completely in love with Cove's dad... What I gotta pay to romance Cliff 😭 (I don't mean as Jamie because that would be wack) 

That’ll cost one million 20 twenty dollar bills, haha. I’m really glad you like him, though sadly we aren’t able to make a separate game where you can romance Cliff. I wish we had enough time to make tons of new scenes/extra stories in the Our Life world, but it just takes too long. Maybe people will make fanworks about it.

—–

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog  

[twinvictim]

your opinions on each of the post team silent games and a rating out of 10. hand 'em over

YEAHHHHHH FINALLY CATERING TO ME!!!

Uh really long post oops. for reference, my rating for the first 4 sh's are as follows

Sh1: 9/10 Sh2: 7/10 Sh3: 9/10 Sh4: 9.5/10

Silent Hill 0/Origins

overall score: 7/10

Alot of the games issues can of course be attributed to it being a psp game, and while i won't excuse everything bc of that, j have to be honest and say I think it had so much potential as a (very) late ps2 game. Not to mention, the game ON THE PSP functions as it should. (The ps2 port does fucking not tho..oops) ans you'll see that this is...a rarity post team silent.

The story has alot of potential, Travis as a character is interesting and sympathetic and j think his dynamic with alessa js super fascinating to dig into, both of them being abused children and there was alot of intrigue regarding his powers, the game feels like a smaller more watered down she, and for that I can't fault it too much. The weapons system isn't my favorite but the combat itself is reminiscent of 1 and 2 and I really like a good chunk of the monster design, there was clearly thought and care put into it, nurses and strughtjackets/lying figures be dammed. The unlockables are pretty cool though and alot of the environments look pretty cool for a psp game, hell i LOVE the theater level its super unique, I would love to see it in (actually functional) better graphics. I also think the puzzles are pretty solid, not hair pulling like sh1 even if they're not quite as clever as say sh3.

My biggest criticisms come from the reuse of sh1 characters (just alessa and Travis would've been fine, maybe dahlia and some more org characters would've been better) the bad ending being straight up bad writing. Not to mention they did the sh3 thing of "kill too many monsters and get the bad ending" which is...stupid. The foreshadowing of the butcher being? He's just kinda there, I like the lead up but it would be more interesting if the butcher represented something from those years between Travis' father dying and him being an adult. And while there's more replayability imo than sh2, it doesn't have difficulty sliders and that makes it kinda hard to come back to quite as often. Not to mention unlike sh1, 3or sh4 there's not as much horror focus and random events.

Overall, solid game its fun to play, very silent Hill and if you're willing to look past a few continuity errors and accept its a little different and slightly derrivitive at the same time, I like to say I had alot of fun with it and still do. (Maybe I just like Travis alot...idk)

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Overall score: 6/10

Once again most of the issues here are gonna be corporate fuck ups, but I'm also not gonna beat around the bush, this game isn't like...good. its bad actually. "But you gave it a 6/10?" Yeah bc its not NEARLY as bad as some other games I've.. experienced.

The negatives here are, many and vast, so let's run them down. Firstly the games performance is janky on console (ps3 at least) and abysmal/unplayable on PC, what with framerate issues that are detrimental to game play on pc and make the third boss impossible. That said on console it is completable and not even too terrible...usually. Scarletts boss fight however is terribly unbalanced and broken on all skews so :/. The combat is...functional but not anyone's favorite, it's difficult to use any actually strong weapon and you can pretty much strong arm ur ways through shit with just the knife (except scarletts first form..don't try it, it won't work) for some people this will be borening (not my opinion but w/e). Most of The puzzles...leave alot to be desired. I hate sliding block puzzles. Also no run button? At all?? No easy mode? Ok... also what is this.. wheel design for the inventory...im accidentally using my serum..what is serum also? And why is the item pickup noise like...bass boosted.

The character models look awful most of the time, and comically unfinished other times, some human models are just grotesque, (judge halloway, Adam shepherd, mayor Bartlett. .you get it) and yes...there are sexy nurses. Bc of course there are. (Whole ass out???) They did straight up have some terrible endings for this game (ph ending for one, the way you get the ufo? Hell the ufo ending is kinda boring. I like the in water ending here too but. Yeah.) the story has some, problems. To say the least.

However, while the performance is bad its not the worst I've played (on the ps3 once again..unplayable on pc) and I hardly noticed the framerate when I was just running around, I personally found the combat kinda fun, between trying to dodge accurately and still attack and not use all my health items (bc those and ammo are actually rare! Unlike some games...) it is kind of a challenge and reminds me of a much worse sh4. And hey, the health items both heal an understandable amount of health that i can easily read with a bar (unlike 1-3) and they're not a complete joke (unlike sh4...) i find the exploration really fun and sure the characters look shit but the environments are Fucking great. The church is one of my fav sections, short as jt might be and yes it stole the confessional scene but its pretty well written and acted I think. The monster design is pretty fucking rad too honestly, I like the schism, siam, I like the DESIGN of the needlers even if they make me so mad to fight, and hey the nurses and ph don't show up that much to be too aggregious. The boss monsters are also fantastic design wise, very unsettling and the boss rooms are interesting as well.

The story has problems but it also has alot of potential, the concept of people sacrificing ther children for silent Hill and being overcome by their own pain and guilt is pretty fucking cool, and alex is a good character they did a good job of giving him personality, ppl bitch about him being a soldier but a) he's not and b) soldiers are people too, and a sh game that could tackle toxic masculinity, be critical of the military, and also tackle abusive religeious parents is pretty intriguing, not to mentions themes of brotherly love that's complicated bc of how they clearly favored Josh . Sure, it misses the mark, but I like taking the potential and thinking about it bc its compelling to me. And like I said, i like alex alot.

Overall, bad game yes, but not the worst as it has enough good for me to honestly really enjoy it, besides it is pretty funny when it is bad. Don't play the pc port tho

Silent Hill Shattered Memories

Overall Score: 8/10

Unpopular opinion im sure but honestly? I find this game ALMOST on par with the team silent games. Its really that good, yes its a wii game, so this is my score taking into account the motion controls BTW.

For the good, man where do i start. Its BEAUTIFUL for a wii game and esp for a post team silent game, the graphics are nice and Constsitent, the environments are pretty and it has a pretty nice cold color pallet to contrast the warmer tones the series tends to skew towards. The acting and intrgrige are all on point and the WRITING is fantastic, its one of those games you play the first time not knowing the twist and play the second time picking up more and more clues and things that strengthen that twist so much more. Like sh2 its a simple story told in such a clever and interesting way that you'll probably be too invested to put it down, I beat it in one sitting in 6 hours bc i was so engrossed in the narrative. And the Puzzles man! The puzzles are phenomenal and fun to accomplish and there's even a little bit of variety in a few places on repeat playthroughs. The level of detail in this game is insane really, the things that change with the different psychology answers are pretty cool too and tho it all plays out relatively the same its still fun to see the different things you can get to happen. The gimmicks like the phone as an object, taking pictures, sneaking and zooming in, they're not too intrusive as to take away from the exploration or other game play but not completely useless and have some pretty fun Easter eggs too. The game plays sort of like a worse outlast with good puzzles and for that I do have to commend it. Oh and the fucking MUSIC is INCREDIBLE idk something ab this soundtrack has alot of heart put into it clearly.

Now, it's not perfect. The thing is, it is a WORSE outlast type game, in the running and hiding sense but well, the hiding is completely useless, its a run away game, which is ok, but I understand that people aren't gonna be a big fan of that when silent Hill has always balanced combat ad puzzles and exploration. The running segments are..aggravating, mostly bc its hard to figure out where to go, not to mention using motion controls that don't like to work half the time to fight the monsters off of you. Also, the monsters are not scarey in the slightest and the raw shock scream is actually enragaging if you've died one to many times, there's also...not really any penalty for dying. And once you're out for these running segments,there's no danger, no monsters, nothing to hide from despite having a hiding mechanic. Its not really a horror game more of a psycological thriller and I understand that the fact that its not horror can be disappointing. The psychology things might be a bit overhyped And yeah fine, the wii foreplay scene...well yeah its weird but it IS also funny as fuck.

That said, there's still alot thats good and alot thas unfair criticism lobbed at this game. Harry didn't have much of a personality in sh1 bc he's a ps1 character and sm really fleshed him out well, not to mention giving cybil some nice characterization, and they did some interesting things with dahlia and kaufmann. And Lisa.. well I'm gonna be honest I never found Lisa all that interesting in sh1..so it doesn't bother me that she's the way she is in this game. I know people hate the "horny" aspect of it but to be completely fair, YOU choose to make the game that way, don't answer in a sexual manner or look at boobs or anything else and you won't have an overly sexual game, its...literally that easy. Its given as an option for the play id they want to go for what is arguably another joke ending. (You cannot tell me sleeze and sirens is meant to be a real serious ending to the game. Cmon) and you can complain about the innacuuracies if you want but its a spin off, a retelling of the original game. Its not canon, and it didn't change the original game. It just took the ideas presented there and made them more human and lest fantastical, there's some supernatural elements but it takes a backseat to the human moments. And its honestly really cool.

Overall, great game, i reccomend it if you don't mind some slight jank with the motion controls and honestly? Look up directions on where to go for the running segments and you'll have a pretty good time overall.

Silent Hill Downpour

Overall score (so far): 7.5/10 *to be noted i haven't finished actually playing it yet but I know the basic plot and some of the details so I doubt it'll change

And so for the final silent Hill Game, I have to say, i don't think it deserves NEARLY the hatred it gets, there's alot about it that i find really cool and even fun and I think its a solid entry, a little better than origins in some parts and its downsides are both unfortunate and once again, mostly Konami's fault . That said, I'm also not gonna kid and say its a good game, just that I like it alot and we should be nicer to the last silent Hill game were probably ever gonna get.

Downpour has a pretty good, original story overall, there's alot to it, alot of intricacies and intrigue to it that honestly make it a pretty sold silent Hill game. Its different enough from the others to stand out but not super far removed from its themes and messages. I like that it doesn't try and lean into the cult aspect and tries to do something else with it, it doesn't try to explain silent Hill, but just use it to torment the characters, as it should be. There's tragedy ad human feelings here and some of them aren't the most...sensitive but they are pretty reasonable reactions id say. Playing as someone who's odds are stacked against him from the beginning as he's a prisoner is a cool way to open the game, someone convicted and you must discover if he is a good person or not. Themes of revenge explored more than in sh3 which is pretty cool. The environments look pretty nice, and i like the look of the otherworld, once again being unique with its cooler color pallet, but without the ice so it really feels like its own thing. The EXPLORATION is awesome with an actual open world which I think works well, there's alot to do in town (unlike sh1 and 0 on limiting hardware and 2 which just pretends you can explore to town but you cant) there's alot for cool little stories and sidequests to do, my favorite so far being the cinema (which has a section of ACTUAL fixed cameras like old Resident evils which is smth SH has never done and its super fucking cool!) And all the sidequess help strengthen murphy as a cheacter and argue for his innocence or complexites. The weapons system is pretty cool, picking up items and attacking with whatever you might find, finding cool Easter eggs with exploration and having fun noticing things. And it does honestly have the strongest side characters outside of SM. The puzzles are pretty solid and fun to figure out with some cool mechanics and the seperate difficulties is a great thing to bring back (actually done well like sh3) I also kind of like the method of triggering the night world/rain/monsters, and silent Hill really feels likes its constantly punishing Murphy, as it should. The music might not be Akira but its still pretty damn good, and fuck yall I like the Korn song, and you CAN press start and skip it yknow. (Thx tomm hewlit)

The negtitives tho, well they are there. For one it has the worst performance of any sh game outside of pc homecoming and like...the hd collection, the framerate like to shit itself alot lmao, its not usually detrimental bc I've played re2r with similar framerates but, yeah its not great. Not to mention while the models look better than hc they don't animate well or often at all, and the game has trouble loading in the models as fast as they should. The sound mixing could use...some work too, poor murph sounds like he's eating the mic. While I find the games exploration really fun, murphy also has the issue of not running very fast so it can be a little annoying to get back to a place you want to be when you can't run that fast, not to mention the loading times. The monster design is def the worst in the series, maybe on par w SM. Which is disappointing bc there's some pretty good moments here and there, but not nearly enough to make it scary and there's so much you can do with monsters with this premise. Also, the running sections in the otherworld are better than SM ad even more engaging than the brief ones in 2 and 3, but still, I'd prefer to do puzzles or fight a boss or smth. I will also say, the endings are, iffy while the main 2 endings are really good and Anne's bad ending as well as the joke ending are great, murphys bad endings are weird and ooc for the muphy you come to know in the game (even more so than Origins) plus, idk that the writers knew all that much about prison andbprison culture, nobody in a real prison would be mad ab Murphy killing a pedo (there's some racist implications here and there too which is. Unfortunate and disappointing. I like Howard and Robbie but they are a bit tropey, esp Howard) that said Anne is a compelling albeit unlikable character and thas pretty cool to see pulled off.

Overall, while it has downsides, I don't think Downpour is worthy of all the scorn it gets, this can have problems and you can point them out without disregarding the good parts and while it is unfortunate it doesn't run better and have some extras and didn't handle some things great, I still think its worth a playthrough, esp if you go out of your way to do the sidequests.

Bonus round

Book of memories is not a game I intend to play bc I don't wanna get a vita and can't imagine I'm missing much. It doesn't look bad pwr say but I'm not interested tbh

Fuck PT. :)

[commanderhighwind-blog1]

kain;

A long, meandering post about He and why he’s great.

  It’s easy to place Cecil up against Golbez if we’re looking for a Light vs Dark theme, the same way we’d put Fusoya up against Zemus. That’s neat, it’s a pretty classic theme, but personally, I’m way more interested in Cecil vs Kain. At first, they seem pretty similar, There’s a point in both their development where they diverge completely after Cecil goes up the mountain.

  Once he becomes a Paladin, Cecil has this celestial, alien, ethereal perfection about him. As if his clear, confident change in attitude isn’t enough, his palette swap hits you over the head with a large plank marked "I’M A DAMN ANGEL”*. Then you get a nice chaser in the form of the Moon Vibes he starts serving. This is great. I can’t think of any other moral alignment jumping FF character who does it with so much conviction, or so convincingly, if I’m honest. 

  Kain, of course, didn’t do that. His palette stays a similar dark purple and black, typical “dark knight”, aka “questionable, probably a bad guy, might poison your salad”. The split apart in their aesthetics is what really brings your attention to comparing them, imo. If Cecil is this miraculous, beautiful alien knight here to save the world, Kain is his opposite in the sense that he’s nothing remarkable. He’s so fallible, so human, and everything that happens to him highlights flaws, sometimes massive ones, in him; while Cecil has his positive traits brought out and and spotlit. This isn’t the same as Light vs Dark/Good vs Evil (even though there’s definitely still a thread of it running through), this is straight up Perfect vs Imperfect**, or, better: Higher Purpose vs Aimless Wandering. 

  As an individual, events aside, Kain isn’t a bad person; he’s just a person. He’s jealous, insecure, defensive and overly distant at times. But everyone is. We only start to think of him as an antagonist after Golbez gets hold of him, and even then the things that make him “bad” are just these same human traits magnified by x1000.

  Example: He kidnaps and holds Rosa captive; but he said himself that while his actions were dictated, his thoughts weren’t. He didn’t argue. I wonder if that’s because, with the addition of Golbez’ control and influence, his love for Rosa was boosted to a totally irrational level where he really thought that she’d be better off safe and confined with him than out and about with Cecil, despite her own wishes. I’m not romanticising that, by the way; it’s heinous. But it happened. When he breaks free, he expresses genuine remorse and shock at his own behaviour. There’s nothing impressively evil going on here, is what I’m getting at. He doesn’t want the world, he doesn’t want power or control for himself, he just lacks a “calling”, the same way a massive percentage of the human population do. He was easy to pilot.  I feel like I should clarify here that I’m talking in-game only... I’m not saying I sympathise with actual kidnappers in real life. We’re talking about mystical mind control pushing someone over that limit into a blurred space between madness and logic, not natural thought process. Following what I’m saying here, if you’re not sure what to do with your life, copy your dad’s career path. Become a dragoon. Get a lance. Deal with your existential ennui by getting good at jumping. Don’t kidnap the princess.   I absolutely love his Lunar Trial. That was some 👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit.    That’s what I want for his endgame. I understand why they took the path of “fixing” him by making him a Holy Dragoon to stand beside Cecil instead of opposite him; but in mirroring Cecil’s choices, a piece of Kain is removed. If he rejects all the things that make him who he is, all the things that brought him up to the present, what’s left? If he joins the Red Wings, what’s left? He became a dragoon to follow Ricard. He loves dragons. His description says his “heart is with” them. Making him a Holy palette swap isn’t just a victorious outfit change, it’s like saying “this guy doesn’t work as a person; junk him and start over”. ** To me, anyway.   His Lunar Trial saw him face his own “darkness” and accept it, work with it instead of rejecting it’s existence and allow himself to be at peace with it. That is fire. That is what I’m  👌 👌👌 👌 about. He gets some serious new equipment as a reward.    “This should be the end of everything... Right? Kain?”   That’s him talking to himself instead of treating his mirror-self like a monster. But even then,   “This is the way it should be... Right, Cecil? Right, Rosa?”   He still has to ask his friends for help understanding what’s up.   Disclosure: I’ve struggled with depression, anxiety (That’s a New One!) and some other smaller stuff since I was a kid, so maybe that’s why this option means a lot more to me than just scrubbing him clean and giving him shinier armour (as it seemed to happen in canon; I know RPers give more detail and add more nuance than that). I don’t like to paint everything I write with a thin layer of Charlie, so I won’t project that onto him, but I do write him with a sort of disassociative disorder. Personally, I think all MH issues are on a spectrum, and Kain is on the “milder” side; so he won’t be doing any outrageous, bad-movie “split personality” stuff. 

  Apart from everything else, referring to what I said earlier about Holy Kain being beside rather than opposite Cecil; this is pure opinion here, but I think Cecil needs someone to stand opposite. It would be so easy for him to become complacent with everyone around him in awe of him and praising his genuinely inspiring achievements. With someone who could criticise him close by, I think he’d probably be reassured that he really was on the right track. If he was getting anything wrong, being too soft or hard on a problem, letting anything slide, Kain would tell him even if no one else would.

  Anyway. Kain Highwind is a damn goldmine and a treasure. I love him. If you made it to the end of this very very words post, Namingway bless, may RNG not completely shit on your playthrough, and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

*Until Kuja came in and ruined it **Cecil still has flaws, I’m sure, but from a lowly mortal perspective...