#so a lot of my points here could just be boiled down to “soft reboots”

[jevilowo]

It's me the timeline guy. Here are my many lore related grievances with the comic:

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT tho most people have probably read it by now lol

FIRST OF ALL, the Administrator's plan. What happened to "plan so disturbing that several US senators pardoned her for the Poopy Joe incident?" What even was her plan actually was it just to keep the fighting going forever? Then what was the point of Australiummaxxing after Redmond and Blutarch died?

What's up with Zepheniah’s hooked up corpse. Isn't his ghost still around? He certainly is by the seventh scream fortress comic, which takes place during MvM. His will says he won't rest until he's done being mad at the world idk how that relates to anything.

OH HORSEMANN MY HORSEMANN. Why is Zepheniah claiming to be an only child? And it's not a retcon bc later on Soldier pulls up the family photo WITH SILAS IN IT. Where did he even get that. Anyways. The only explanation is either 1) some in-universe attempt by Zepheniah to write Silas out of history (implied by the two copies of the quarterly concern, one seen in a hidden page in the classless update and the other in the background of the Engineer update), or 2) ...i was going to say Silas was actually his cousin or something but that wouldn't make sense if the siblings of Zepheniah’s dad all died young. Urgh. I hoped the Horsemann would return and put to rest the implications dragged up by scream fortress two but alas twas not to be.

What's with the 3 different covers of a young Administrator? My theory is they're supposed to represent three possible backstories the writers were cooking and wouldn't commit to. Who knows.

CHARLES DARLING. The triplets' birth certificate claimed that their mother was a Darling (save me Bette Mann etc etc), and that had me convinced Charles was going to be at least RELEVANT. Why else would he, a joke antagonist introduced in the War! Comic, show up at all? Looking for Australium, no less? I tell you that flashback of him and Maxton had me CONVINCED something would happen. Especially with the two of them lowkey treating him like shit.

So so so much Admin stuff left unexplained. Seeing her child self in the Australium. The census dated back to 1850 with "HELEN" on it. Telling Engie "your family has already done so much for me". By that she could have just meanth Radigan making an immortality machine for Redmond as well as Blutarch I guess, but ??? I liked the Emily reference tho that was something one of the artists reffered to her as for the Engie Update Comic by mistake and later took back so neat callback lmao.

SPEAKING OF RADIGAN. Nothing on who the third Australium machine went to. Presumably Admin I guess? Not explained, never will be probably.

Who was the person in the torn Mann Family portrait? My main theory was always either an earlier version/design of Grey or a Darling, but in the picture Soldier shows (SERIOUSLY WHERE DID HE GET THAT) we can't even see the outline of a person around his thumb. It almost looks like they just made a version of the picture without anyone in the middle and called it a day.

TFI having other mercenary groups came out of fucking nowhere, even in comic six. The T and F presumably stand for "Team Fortress", fuck you mean "Team Citadel", "Team Vanguard", giant fucking statue of random epic looking mercs??? What is happening. They did NOT explain that shit at all. Multiple, seemingly incredibly competent teams are NOT "eighteen perfect idiots". Did Poopy Joe die for nothing.

One of the top posts I've ever made is the one where I point out the date Spy and Scout got arrested on that newspaper: September 7th, 1972. This means the rest of the comics should take place 5½ months later i.e. February/March 1973. Ergo, 1979 could not be "seven years later". The comics seem to think themselves that they're set in 1972 already, there's a few lines about it but for the life of me I can't remember. Something something however many years since Zepheniah died blah blah year the triplets were born. Whatever. It's on my timeline probably.

Smaller thing, but embarrassing lack of a full name reveal for Heavy and Medic. Spy also, but I wasn't really expecting that. They shall remain Mikhail "Mischa" Weponzgy and Fritz Ludwig (alias, he's a wanted man) in my heart.

SO IN CONCLUSION: the writers went in with no clue how to end the story, something made evident by the possibility of the 4chan leaks being an early script and also entirely fucking different.

Still, there were a lot of lore unrelated things I did enjoy: the fact that the mercs actually got a happy ending, for one thing. Sniper stealing a plane, Scout maturing and moving on from Pauling, Pyro literally just being overjoyed to see Engie again, babies!!! The fact we even got a comic! How crazy is that? At least we didn't have to wait another seven years.

I might draft a script for an alternate ending that tries to answer lore stuff more, but knowing me I wouldn't finish it. Still, I am working on making a website for my timeline and I'll upload the link here once I'm done with it. Oh and I'll update the doc version soon. Bitterly.

[fabdante]

Ok, last one. The Kat and Artemisia post. Incase you missed them, this is part of a trio of posts on Baroque art and the DmC reboot trio and a separate post on the DmC reboot and the Baroque as an art movement.

The other posts if you want to check them out: Dante and Caravaggio, Vergil and Benini, DmC and the Baroque

Today for the final installment in this little mini series, we’ll be discussing the artist who won the Baroque, Artemisia Gentileschi, and her painting Judith Slaying Holofernes, featured below. 

Analysis of this painting, why it’s such a bop, Kat, and the devil may cry reboot below the cut!

Content Warning: discussion of abuse as it relates to Kat.

I guess we start with the beginning and the beginning is who Judith is. 

Judith is a biblical character. Upon impending invasion, she is unsatisfied with the response of her people and decides to infiltrate the enemy camp with her maid, intent to stop the enemy army. After gaining the trust of the people there, she eventually seduces general Holofernes and is invited to his tent. Then she beheads him with what I am left to assume is his sword. I suppose given the painting that part’s a little spoiled. 

A lot of paintings focus on the beheading or Judith posing with the decapitated head in victory. But a lot of them don’t have the impact of Artemisias, as seen above. 

Judith, as painted by Artemisia, is full of rage. She is not serene or delicate. She is not posing or unsure. She is angry, certain, and out for blood. Everything in her expression and her movements is full of force and intent. It’s the little details like his hair between her knuckles from where she’s gripping it and the forceful twist of her wrist on his sword that she’s taken. To her rolled sleeves in her incredibly fancy dress. And it’s not afraid to be gory to. Perhaps this is tame by modern standards of blood and gore but for the time it’s very bloody and violent. Supposedly the violence was too much for the first owner who kept it hidden for some time (allegedly). I think it’s important that while the focus is Judith doing the act, her maid is not passive in the violence. She’s holding him down with just as much force as Judith. And unwavering to, despite how we can see how Holofernes was trying to throw her off before he died, his hands still limply in the air. The maids full of as much determination as Judith is. Judith’s dressed up for this to, in a fine gown with her hair done up. This is likely part of the ruse Judith set up before she got Holofernes alone, but I like the detail none the less. That she’s dressed up for this murder.

The key to why this painting fits Kat so much to me is how it is not only full of anger and femininity and violence but how in Artemisias hands, the image feels like a bloody catharsis. There’s something personal in Judith's glare, in her rage. Something kind of interesting to in how she’s forced Holofernes to look away from her, like he hasn’t earned the right to see her victory even if by this point he is surely dead (I mean, the sword is nearly through his neck). Or like she doesn’t want to look at him at all, like he’s not worth looking at.

Likewise, for Kat, hunting demons is personal. The Order is personal. Why she’s here doing this is personal.

It’s personal because Kat killed her abusive foster father. I don’t think how impressive this is truly gets conveyed. It’s almost a throw away statement. It’s just that one line, ‘I killed the bastard’, and that’s that. Like it was easy or something. In the reboot universe, though, she’s not even in the same dimension as her foster father. We don’t get a lot of information about how much a demons human form impacts their demon form. We are told Mundus is fused to his human form, but we’re also told this is because he’s been in it so long and also there’s the matter of his relationship to the hell gate. We’re not even told how long he’s been in this form. Has it been years, decades, centuries? How long is so long that it led to this fusion? So, I don’t think we can base the average demon to this. As far as we know in canon, it’s Kat against a being in another dimension. A dimension she cannot engage with physically and to which he can escape to at any time. 

And yet she kills him anyway.

She is the only human we know of in canon who’s done this, to. To be fair, she is the only human mentioned at all in the reboot canon but by how Dante positions himself as human savior and by how certain Vergil seems to be that humans cannot take care of themselves, this must be rare.

I cannot express enough how important it is that Kat is the one who kills him to. It’s not Vergil. She doesn’t say it was Vergil. It’s also not her and Vergil, she doesn’t say that either, she doesn’t say ‘we killed the bastard’. Kat says explicitly that she killed him, ‘I killed the bastard’. It’s Kats kill. No matter how much Vergil helped her, she did it. She killed her abuser despite the odds against her. 

I can’t imagine the sort of catharsis Kat must have felt in that moment. We don’t know how she killed him, she never says. The greatest crime of the comics, in my opinion, are how they take this kill away from Kat and give it to Vergil instead. Which means no further elaboration there on what went down. But I can imagine her in that moment after, unsure how to feel with the rush of adrenaline and power and newfound safety. She’s done it. She’s done something she must have thought was impossible. And she tells us in game how this made her feel emboldened to handle the rest of demon kind. She doesn’t tell us in that many words, I suppose, but she says that she wants to deal with them all because she killed her foster father.

To Kat, this is personal. To Kat, mankind is something worth saving that she is willing to do everything to save. We don’t see her violence in game, but we know she’s willing to kill for this freedom. We know she’s willing to die for it to, given the aftermath of the Orders fall. It’s personal. And Kat sees it as something far bigger then her.

Often Kat I think is written off as someone who is naïve and weak and in need of saving. I’ve complained at length how I feel about her being called naïve. In game we see a very interesting, complex person in Kat I think. I’ve said before that it’s kind of fun to just watch her in scenes. Like really watch her. She has very deliberate body language that often betrays this calm she’s fighting to display, particularly around Dante for the first half of the game or so. It’s little things like how she physically contains herself after the ‘I like it rough’ comment, shutting her eyes and taking in a deep breath, but things that are there. She’s someone who, despite everything, is fighting to be a softer, kinder person even if she’s still got a lot of anger (Vergil does compare her and Dante, after all).

And being soft and kind does not make someone weak. Existing in a world where you are at a disadvantage to the things that aim to hurt you is not weak. Entering into your enemies tent armed with nothing but an elaborate gown and your anger, waiting until you spot a sword and an opportunity is not weak either.

I think something about Kat that is so often forgotten in the drama of the twins and everything else (because lets face it, no matter the media, female characters tend to get side lined for...everything else really), is without her the twins would have failed. It’s Kat who gets Dante and safely brings him to the Order. It’s Kat’s spells that bridge the human world to Limbo. It’s Kat who saves Vergil in the server room by way of bringing Dante to him. It’s Kat who ultimately gives the twins the final plan to get to Mundus. It was her. Dante says so at the end, to. The game recognizes that without Kat, the boys have nothing. And it's still Kat at the end who saves Vergil, and saves Dante from the guilt of killing him.

With Kat taking so much into her own hands despite her disadvantage, despite just being human, despite her softness, despite this rage boiling under her skin (or perhaps because of it), she is so much of why the world is free from demons. 

I mean Artemisia herself got that treatment, largely left out of artistic canon until very recently despite her success during her time. I also debated for a very, very long time across the many, many iteration of this essay on how much I talk about Artemisia’s personal life. I suppose if you made it this far you’ve seen that I’ve chosen not to, despite how it could be relevant to this discussion. But I think her work stands on it’s own without me having to justify the anger Artemisia may have personally felt and conveyed here without bringing up her personal life in depth. Though, if you want to know, I assure you that pretty much any information you look up on Artemisia will go into detail on her personal traumas and how that might impact her work. And it could definitely be relevant angle in discussing Kat and Artemisia, I just felt it overall did not add to this essay.

I often wonder, if she was in a different game or a different medium or a different story, if Kat might get more love. So often she’s called weak for the crime of not having a big weapon and a trail of dead demons behind her. So often she’s reduced to a love interest or a damsel despite how she is really the thing that saved the day, despite the fact her relationship with both twins is much more then ‘potential love interest’. And how many times have you  guys seen a post on your dash about wishing a character picked to enact revenge on an abuser? How they fought to be soft despite their trauma and pain? But I suppose, as is often the case with women in any story, she might have gotten this treatment anyway.

So, here’s to Kat. The brain cell, the Nephilim baby sitter, the girl who wanted to throw Vergil off a cliff, the hero Limbo city got who will never get enough credit, and forever the girl who deserved more. 

Those of us who love you will love you enough for the whole fandom, it’s alright.

[nitewrighter]

Is it possible to do more destiny gency Au?

“It’s just down this way,” said Genji-3, walking Mercy through the annex of the Tower. Her movements were slow, clearly distracted and probably overwhelmed by the shift from the high lonely mountain ice caves of mars to a bustling city on earth. Large sections of the city were still being cleaned up and rebuilt after the Red War, and Mercy was so busy staring out over the buildings and the Traveler hanging over everything that she nearly bumped into a group of frames as they hurried on with cleaning and building supplies.

“I’m… not used to so many people,” said Mercy, trying to focus on Genji’s green hunter cloak to keep from losing him in the crowd.

Me neither, thought Genji. Zenyatta had been right. He had been out running patrols for far too long. His metal body felt tense, unable to cope with the idea that standing in one place for too long wouldn’t end with you getting brained by a Psion, but he also had to maintain calm. Mercy was probably overwhelmed as is without him being tense, too. He looked back at her, stumbling along in those Braytech robes, her light yet voluminous hair bouncing as she turned her head this way and that, those eerie harvest moon yellow eyes trying to take in information while she was still trying to process everything.

“Wow!” said Mercy’s ghost, bouncing around her, “We have so much in common! It’s been a while since I’ve been back here, too! I came back after the Red War liberation. Lots of corpses to scan then.”

“Red War?”

“We were routed from the city about a year and a half ago,” said Genji, “The Cabal nearly took the Traveler–well they had the Traveler, but the Speaker–” Genji caught himself and looked back at Mercy, “I’m probably getting ahead of myself, huh?”

“I’m picking things up,” said Mercy, glancing back at several frames repairing a massive city archway, “So… you won then?”

“Yeah, we got it back,” said Genji, “And to the victor, go the spoils!” he gestured dramatically up at a glowing neon sign that had the words Spicy Ramen flanked by two neon dragons. It really was more of a booth than a restaurant. the steam of bone broth being pushed out into the air by whirring fans above the stove.

Zenyatta hovered beside Genji as Mercy looked up at the neon sign. Genji heard the whirring sound of Zenyatta’s plates shifting in the ghost equivalent of an eye roll.

“Oh!” Mercy’s face lit up a little and then she looked confused for a few beats.

“You okay?” asked Genji.

“I–” Mercy put a hand over her stomach, “I feel like… I should be hungry. But I’m not? I mean, I could eat–”

“As a Guardian, the light ends up overtaking a lot of your body’s processes!” said Mercy’s ghost, “I can make you go for days without eating or sleeping! If you wanted or needed me to, I mean.”

“It doesn’t take away the enjoyment of eating,” said Genji, he nodded with his head into the restaurant, “Come on.”

They ordered two spicy Tonkotsu bowls and took their seats at the bar. Mercy looked around at the other patrons walking away with little takeaway cartons or chatting around makeshift tables of crates, all in robes and cloaks and massive pauldrons.

“They’re also Guardians?” she said, scanning across them.

“Yeah, this place has a special discount for Guardians–I mean, obviously, its in the Tower, a lot of its patrons are going to be guardians.” Genji’s eyes trailed to a photo on the wall of Cayde-6 giving a thumbs up, “But you can’t get a better bowl anywhere else in the city,” said Genji.

Mercy smiled. She swiveled in her bar stool and looked out at the Traveler and the City beyond. “It’s so strange,” she murmured, “Any memories I had before I woke up are so distant and dreamlike now. I remember the Traveler, but it wasn’t… broken like this. And yet, the more I look at it now the less real that old memory feels.” 

“You get used to it,” said Genji.

“I suppose you would know all about it, being an Exo,” said Mercy, glancing over at him.

Genji chuckled. “Oh yes, I definitely remember the two previous times I had my whole memory rebooted.” Two bowls of spicy Tonkotsu Ramen were placed on the bar and they both swiveled to face the food and break apart their chopsticks. Genji swirled his noodles in their broth, letting the yolk of the soft-boiled egg make a spiral of gold in the red of the broth. “We all woke up as lost as you were. The Ghosts are good at pointing us in the right direction, but it’s mostly in a ‘Here’s what you worry about now’ sense.”

“And there is so much to worry about now,” said Zenyatta as both the guardians dug into their noodles. 

“So we fight?” said Mercy, looking at the sword on Genji’s back.

“Well… yes,” said Genji, “I mean, not all of us fight. A lot of guardians research the past, research our enemies, or research Light itself. But often that research means going to now-overrun golden age settlements all over the solar system… and that usually means…”

“Knowing how to fight,” said Mercy. Her shoulders tensed slightly, “Whatever I was in my life before all this… I’m pretty sure I wasn’t a soldier.”

“You’re a lot better than a soldier,” said her ghost, nudging her shoulder, “And you’ll have me watching your back!”

“Me too,” said Genji.

Zenyatta’s plates whirred around him in a double-take like motion. 

“Well… after Ikora gets you squared away, maybe we can run a few softball patrols in the EDZ so you can get used to your light. Nothing too big, just helping maintain the perimeter around the farm.”

“I have missed Devrim…” Zenyatta mused.

“EDZ?” said Mercy.

“European Dead Zone!” Her ghost exclaimed.

“…That name’s encouraging,” said Mercy, “Who’s Ikora?”

Genji laughed a little. “The Warlock Vanguard. Probably the smartest person in this tower, honestly. She can be a little intimidating but—” 

“Genji? Genji-3 is that you!?” both of them perked up as a human hunter in a red cloak swooped in and swung an arm around Genji, “You haven’t been Towerside in ages! Where ya been!?” 

McCree glanced up from Genji to Mercy, who seemed a bit stunned by his sudden entry.

“Hello!” Mercy’s ghost said brightly.

“Oh-ho… I see what’s going on,” said McCree, wagging a finger at Genji.

“Nothing’s going on!” Genji stammered out. Zenyatta and Mercy’s Ghost exchanged glances. Genji gestured at Mercy. “This is Mercy. She’s new. As in… new-new.”

McCree looked at Mercy. “New-new as in…?”

“I resurrected her from a skull a couple of hours ago!” said Mercy’s ghost, proudly.

“Incredible…” Echo, McCree’s ghost slipped out from beneath his cloak and hovered around Mercy scanning a light over her briefly, “This clothing dates back to the Golden Age.”

“A living fossil,” said McCree with a grin, “Well, you’re in good company, then. And nothing’s going to help you get your guardian legs faster than a few rounds of Gambit!”

“What’s Gambit?” asked Mercy.

“Nnnot a good idea for your first day as a Guardian,” said Genji.

“You promised you’d be on my fireteam next time I caught you in the city,” said McCree, folding his arms, “Besides, from the sounds of it, she’s still gotta touch base with the Vanguard. That’s something she’s best off doing on her own.”

“I get to show the Vanguard my guardian!!” Mercy’s ghost piped up.

“Well yes but…” Genji looked back at Mercy.

“I mean, of course I’ll let you two finish your little dinner date–” started McCree.

“Not a date–” blurted out Genji.

“Then she can meet up with the Vanguard and you and I can dump some primevals on a bunch of meathead titans,” said McCree, putting his hands on his hips, “Heck, if she gets out early, maybe she can watch!”

Genji looked back at Mercy. She gave a hapless little “I’ll be okay” smile as she slurped at her noodles. 

“One round of Gambit,” said Genji, firmly, before turning back to his ramen.

“You always say that,” said McCree with a grin before swaggering off. 

“So Gambit is some kind of… game?” said Mercy, glancing back at Genji, “Like… guardians play games when they’re not fighting?”

Genji took a deep breath. “Okay so… here’s where things start getting complicated–” 

[docexe-mx]

While several of my prior wish list picks didn’t happen, I’m very satisfied with both the base roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as with the DLC characters that have been announced/released so far.

That being said, l can’t deny that the announcement of more DLC coming has prompted me to prepare another wish list. As with the prior ones, I won’t be particularly sad or angered if any of my picks don’t happen, but I definitely will be elated. (Heck, as things stand, I will probably accept anyone/anything they add to the game provided it at least has an interesting move-set).

Some base assumptions made before going into the list:

Until stated otherwise by the development team, I’m assuming that, besides the fifth character of the Fighter Pass still pending reveal, we will get at the very least a Second Season/Fighter Pass that will contain the same exact amount of content as the first Fighter Pass: Five new characters, each with their own stage, music tracks and Spirit battles.

I’m assuming that, as with prior DLC on the Fighter Pass, all the new characters will be Third Party rather than Nintendo owned. I don’t expect more Microsoft or Sony owned characters, however (yes, Banjo and Kazooie are finally in the game, but they honestly feel more like an especial exception, rather than any indication of things going forward).

I’m also assuming that characters already in the game as Spirits, Assist Trophies or Mii Costumes won’t be part of the upcoming DLC (so, sadly, no Geno, no Rayman, no Shantae and no X ;_;).

Without further ado and in no particular order:

KOS-MOS from Xenosaga. A somewhat unlikely pick, but then again, Bandai Namco is one of the few Third Party publishers already present in Smash Bros. that don’t have multiple playable characters in the game (conspicuously even, given they are helping to develop it). Given that KOS-MOS seems to be one of their characters that most often shows in crossover games, her inclusion seems plausible. Now, if I have to be honest, I particularly want her because I think the Xeno series (and by extension, Monolith Soft, the studio responsible for all its iterations and which has been a great asset for Nintendo in recent years) deserves more representation in Smash Bros. However, with Elma, Rex and Pyra/Mithra out of the competition by virtue of being Spirits, KOS-MOS is the best bet to get another Xeno character in the game (mind you, I do like her design and think her move-set could potentially be interesting).

Nightmare from Soul Calibur (with Sigfried as an alternate costume). A very unlikely pick. While Terry Bogard being announced as the next DLC character makes me think we will see at least another fighting game character as DLC, it’s way more likely that we will see a Tekken character than one from Soul Calibur, by virtue of the former being more popular than the later. However, as I have mentioned before, I don’t really play Tekken, and Soul Calibur is my favorite 3D Fighter franchise, so pardon me again for the blatant favoritism.  

Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. This one seems like a no-brainer by this point. Ninja Gaiden is one of the few iconic franchises originating from the NES era that hasn’t appeared in Smash Bros. yet, and Koei Tecmo has maintained a close relationship with Nintendo in recent years (even helping with the development of Fire Emblem: Three Houses). Furthermore, Hayabusa is probably their most iconic character, not only being the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden (both the original NES series, as well as the modern reboot series), but also a mainstay in the Dead or Alive franchise, and even having cameos and guest appearances in the Warriors franchise.

Crash Bandicoot. Somewhat unlikely but not impossible. His major disadvantage is that he comes from a Western franchise, and Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo tend to prioritize Japanese franchises when it comes to deciding on newcomers for Smash. That being said, the fact that the games on the original PlayStation were very popular in Japan and that the franchise is currently having a renaissance of sorts help his chances. If I have to be honest, while I have developed a soft spot for Crash after playing the N. Sane Trilogy recently, I mostly want him in Smash Bros. for a) The inherent appeal of having him battling Mario and Sonic as the big videogame mascot characters from the 90’s, b) the sheer irony of Nintendo getting three (3!) Third Party PSX icons (Crash, Snake and Cloud) in their exclusive fighting crossover when Sony didn’t even manage to do that for theirs.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed. Another unlikely but not necessarily impossible pick. The major issue against him is that he comes from another Western franchise, his major advantage is that it’s Ubisoft’s most popular and best-selling franchise worldwide, and Ubisoft remains as one of Nintendo’s major Third Party supporters. Now, if this franchise do comes to Smash Bros., I think they could pick any protagonist to represent it (possibly even go the Hero route and have several protagonists as alternate costumes with the same move-set), but Ezio seems to be the most iconic of them, hence why I have chosen him as my pick (and before somebody asks or protests: Yes, he has actually made an appearance on a game for a Nintendo console: Assassin’s Creed Discovery for the Nintendo DS).

A character from Capcom. This one is admittedly cheating on my part. Capcom has so many iconic characters and franchises (several of which have historical ties with Nintendo consoles or finally arrived to them thanks to the Switch) that you could fill an entire Fighter Pass solely with them. However, it seems that Nintendo is trying to spread their collaborations among several companies, rather than privileging a single one in particular, so at most I would only expect one or two characters from Capcom as part of Ultimate’s DLC. But rather than engage in the monumental task of boiling down the selection to only one or two characters, I will simply list here all the Capcom characters that I think would be neat to see in Ultimate: Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney, Rad Spencer from Bionic Commando, Morrigan Aensland from Darkstalkers, Frank West from Dead Rising, Dante from Devil May Cry, Mike Haggar from Final Fight, Firebrand from Gargoyle’s Quest/Demon’s Crest, Sir Arthur from Ghost n’ Goblins, Amaterasu from Okami, Leon S. Kennedy and/or Claire Redfield and/or Chris Redfield and/or Jill Valentine and/or Albert Wesker from Resident Evil (yeah, I couldn’t boil down this franchise to one specific pick, it just has too many iconic characters without a single one being more representative than the rest), Strider Hiryu from Strider, Joe from Viewtiful Joe.

Finally, a bonus pick: A character that I honestly believe is so incredibly unlikely to ever get into Smash Bros. that I’m not really considering him seriously, but I would laugh out loud if it actually happens:

The Doom Guy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer from (duh!) Doom: It seems like this character has gotten a lot of clamor among certain circles of the Smash Bros. community in recent times. I can only assume that he started as what you could call “an ironic meme pick”: Most of the people who originally talked about him and proposed him for Smash Bros. didn’t actually want him in the game, but it was fun to bring him up given the incongruity of such an ultra-violent character appearing in an E10+ rated game …Then characters like Bayonetta and Joker were actually added to Smash Bros., and people started to consider him as a serious candidate. In his favor: The Doom series actually has historical appearances on Nintendo consoles (the SNES got a version of the original Doom running with the Super FX chip that powered Star Fox; Doom 64 was an acclaimed game that was exclusive to the N64 until very recently), the entire series is going to be playable on the Switch after Doom Eternal releases, and if you can tone down Bayonetta enough for her to appear in an E10+ rated game, you can certainly do the same with the Doom Slayer. Against him: He comes from another Western franchise, but unlike Ubisoft or Activision Blizzard (which have been long time Third Party publishers on Nintendo consoles), Bethesda only started to support Nintendo on the Switch era; most importantly however: the First Person Shooter genre is exceptionally unpopular in Japan (and Doom as well by extension), it’s pretty much a niche genre there in the same way that RPG’s used to be in the West. So, for those reasons, I’m not really expecting to see the Doom Slayer in Ultimate’s DLC, even if, strictly speaking, is not out of the realm of possibility for that to happen.

[airquietworks]

It Was the Best of Dorms, It Was the Worst of Dorms (IzuOcha Oneshot)

Summary: There was a lot of things Izuku liked about living in the school dorms. Having fun with friends. Getting to experience new things. And most of all, spending more time with Uraraka. But there were some parts of the living situation that came to irritate him. A lack of privacy foremost among them.

Izuku’s life had become a maelstrom of eccentric teenage antics, partying and a variety explosive outbursts. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

It had certainly taken getting used to living under the same roof as all of his classmates. The situation was foreign to all of them and navigating the various pitfalls of communal living had taken all of his brain power to manage.

There were the basic aspects that came easily enough; splitting up chores, sharing space and cooking for himself (or his classmates on a couple of occasions). It was challenging but he found the mundane task delegation fairly straightforward.

But dealing with all of the clashes of personality was a different matter entirely. He was having to interact with his classmates with even more regularity, each posing their own unique social challenge. It was one thing to be with someone in a classroom all day and then be able to retreat to home. It was another to have no escape from those people, spending every waking moment with them day in, day out.

This naturally led to quite a lot of heat and hijinks throughout the dorms as everyone got adjusted to one another. Kacchan was far more irritable than usual, forced to spend more time surrounded by the many people he despised. Arguments would break out on occasion over chores, space or some stupid comment while Iida desperately flailed trying to reestablish order. Pranks wars were waged, to which he had been the unwitting victim of on more than one occasion. The boys had to stage a life-saving intervention after Mineta struck out on his own in a panty raid after being flatly rejected for a group effort.

But Izuku had grown to appreciate the chaos and the good that came out of it. Despite the many challenges, living alongside his..his friends was surprisingly enjoyable after all the nights of his childhood spent alone in his room. Which he still did a fair amount of, but not as much now that there were the opportunities for nightly movies, games, bake-offs or something insane Mina cooked up.

“Hey, what you get for question twenty-four?” the voice of his best friend, Uraraka, penetrated his thoughts with ease. He snapped to attention at her question.

“Fifteen,” Izuku replied simply as he tried to retain his focus back on his homework. The pair were studying together late in the common room, mercifully quiet at this late hour. Izuku had taken to studying in the wide-open space when most others turned in for the night. Uraraka had ended up joining him regularly as a study-buddy. Another perk of dorm life.

“Thanks,” she replied cheerily, before breaking out into a wide yawn. There was a comfortable silence between them on nights like this, other than exchanges of help on homework. It had also taken getting used to — a part of his brain still short-circuited at the fact that he was studying with a girl. Who was so close. A girl he happened to like. A lot. As a friend, of course.

Living with Uraraka posed its own particularly confusing challenges for the boy. Like the rest of his class, he got to spend a lot more time with her, which was great. She was his best friend and every minute with her was absolutely precious.

But she confounded him like none of the others. Seeing her around the dorms had sent his heart springing into backflips on more than one occasion. When he first saw her in pink pyjamas he thought he was going to melt into a puddle on the floor from how adorable she looked. Those feelings were tricky to handle with all of the other things he was struggling to balance.

However, despite how everything around him was pandemonium, he could always lean on the quiet moments with his best friend. They had become good study buddies and the added presence on his homework nights had brought him a surprising amount of peace.

Izuku yawned, stretching out on the common room couch and digging into it the cushions in pursuit of more comfort. He stuck his nose in his book and tried to focus on the questions again. But his thoughts kept wandering. It was all so exhausting...

“Am I losing you, Deku?”

“..Wha?” Izuku lifted his out of his nose out of his book so have his vision filled with Uraraka’s adorable visage. She was...close. Too close.

“You getting sleepy?”

“No...no!” Izuku stammered before retreating his head further into the cushions. His face felt too warm. “Just...just taking a break is all.”

“Well, heroics was pretty tough today,” Uraraka noted, cheeks looking just a little redder around the edges. She returned back to her books spreads out across the table. “Want to turn it in early?”

“Maybe, but let me just get through these last few questions,” Izuku said determinedly, summoning forth a little more energy. He had a schedule to keep; he didn’t want to have to go to bed before finishing.

“That’s just like you Deku,” Uraraka spoke with fondness. “Alright, we’ll get through this!” she pumped a fist in the air with the fiery enthusiasm that Izuku adored. But her posture fell as she looked back down at her homework. “Somehow….”

Izuku chuckled at her oscillating emotion. “Definitely. Let me know if you need any more help.”

“Will do,” she replied, silence wrapping around them once more.

After a few minutes, he noticed Ochako started to fidget a lot, a look of discomfort and….nervousness?...stretching across her face. Not a look he liked.

“You okay there?” he asked, causing Ochako to pause for a moment.

“Oh, I’m…” she interrupted herself with a wide yawn, followed by rumbling groan. “It’s a little uncomfortable down here at this point and number 29 is really annoying.”

“Well, why don’t you come sit up here then?” Izuku immediately shuffled his legs and got into a sitting position, moving his notes to make more room on the couch.

“It’s….” Ochako sounded unsure, but as she looked up at him she interrupted herself. He wasn’t sure why but he noticed a strange sparkle in her eyes. And her cheeks looked...really rosy. “...Alright, sure.”

She moved up tepidly, bringing her notebook with her to show the question and scratch her head.

“Oh yeah, that one is a little tricky, but if you just…” Izuku began before gently guiding her to the answer.

For Izuku, studying alongside her had become one of the best parts of dorm life. Not even a year ago, he could hardly imagine having a friend he could be so comfortable with.

The quiet air of the room filled his ears once more. Nought but the creak of the couch and the scurrying sound of pencils on papers disturbed him. These were the nights of his new life that he treasured. Peace, solace and friendship.

He felt his breathing start to slow and the world started to blur. All was well. Life was good. He should get some rest. Work could wait...for a few minutes….

There was a gentle, cosy feeling wrapped tightly around Izuku. It was bizarre and alien, but it felt so good he hardly cared. Unperturbed, he wrapped an arm around whatever was in front of him and pulled it closer. Distantly, he could hear a few titters out beyond the darkness. They were starting to get annoying but he tried his best to ignore them. He didn’t want to leave this feeling to investigate. This was nice. He wanted to sleep a little bit longer. There was the familiar sound of electric whirring and the snap of a cell phone camera. The sounds mixed with the giggles, gathering into a cacophony of irritating music. Fed up with the noise, Izuku finally opened his eyes, prepared to tell his roommates to quiet down. His initial thought when he regained his vision — and saw almost half the class huddled together in front of him with cellphones out — was that he was in some kind of crazy dream. Or perhaps, more aptly, a nightmare. But as his mind started to reboot, Izuku started to notice all the little tells that this was reality. His homework, strewn on the floor. The familiar, soft couch cushions beneath his back. Uraraka, dozing peacefully on top of him. Her body was warm and he instinctively squeezed an arm around her to bring her closer. His brain took another moment to process the information. As soon as it did, most of the blood in his body surged upward into his head “WHA-?! You! This isn’t what it looked like! I don’t...Uraraka, wake up!” Unfortunately, his words could not keep up with his mind as he tried to explain his way out of the situation. His face felt like it was burning and he was sure it must have looked like a volcano. His classmates just stood and laughed at his misfortune. “Wow Midoriya, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Kaminari commented snidely. “You two sure are moving fast,” Tsuyu said. “Aaaah my OTP is coming to fruition right before my eyes!” squealed the disembodied voice of Tooru. “I am so putting this up on Facebook,” Mina cackled with delight as she snapped photos continually with her phone. “No wait, please don’t!” Izuku protested desperately, head still spinning from the boiling water he found himself in. “Mmm...morning Deku…” Uraraka finally stirred from beside Izuku. Her ability to sleep that heavy was astonishing to him.  “What do you want to do…” Uraraka peeked over Izuku to see the laughing faces of all of her classmates. She soon found herself reacting much the same way Izuku had — although slightly more vocal. “NOOOOOOOOO!” Uraraka shouted before bringing her hands to cover her face and floating off of Izuku. The class laughed at the comedic sight while Izuku was left floundering to try and gather his belongings. In that moment, he wondered if there was anything worse in the world than dorm life. 

AN: Written for IzuOcha Week Day 4: Dorm Life. I hope you all enjoyed it. =) A little simpler than my other pieces this week perhaps. But I have big plans for the back half which are all twice to three times as long as what I’ve published for IzuOcha week so far. I may have to delay a couple though...we’ll see.

[kylydian]

Music and Cross Art Discipline in Games: Bridging the Gap

Video games take a lot of different artistic disciplines and make something cohesive.  That might have been the most redundant statement I’ve ever said... In video games, you have developers, writers, artists, composers, sound designers, modelers, marketers and oh so many people who add artistic direction to the vision. Many times, these disciplines come together to create something amazing, but so many times does it feel that music is just added on top.  I believe that the music of a game should encompass all that a game is, and that the game should also encompass all that the music is.  The same could be said about the art and music, or art and game, or story and music, or any combination of disciplines!  The game wouldn’t exist without the art, so likewise should the game not exist without music or purposeful lack of music.

Now I just sound pretentious….

Artistic disciplines have been combined for millennia, most notably through dance, drama, and music, but now have expanded to encompass all art forms within the last couple centuries. However, video games are an extremely new medium in the annuals of time.  So often do you play a game that has good music, but has music that simply exists.  While this music may be great, all too often does it fall back in our mind as we dismiss the soundtrack. ��But what about the great soundtracks?  Why do we remember soundtracks that are deemed incredible?  I’m of the belief that we remember these because they present music as being equal to everything else in the game.  It’s almost like the music is so present that it’s fighting the art, sound, story and the game itself, while also working together with them to make a better product.  

So how do we achieve these seemingly effortless mergers of the arts like you see in Super Mario Galaxy, Nier Automata and Persona 5?  There’s many ways to do this, but I think most people’s gut response would be through trial and error.  Don’t get me wrong, trial and error are part of it.  But I think there’s something more.  Something less obvious.  You can understand art without actually understanding it.  In cases like this, if we look on the surface we’re already dooming ourselves to the same monotony that so many other games fall into musically. I think the answer lies in understanding each other.  

As composers, we have an idea of where we want music to fall in the spectrum of a project, but developers also have an idea about this.  We need to understand the visions of developers, and where our music falls in a creation mindset within the world we’re creating.  However, this is pretty obvious.  We’re hired to help bring a vision to life.  The key to a breakthrough is that developers also need to understand the vision of the composer.  Composers have an idea of how a game is going to sound, and there needs to be a supportive back and forth between dev and composer, between dev and artist, and even between composer and artist.  Everyone needs to have the same vision.

There’s an incredible GDC talk from Mick Gordon, the composer of the 2016 reboot of Doom that describes this relationship much better than I ever could. 

To summarize it briefly, Gordon was presented with a very clear, but impossible vision.  The vision was so clear that he realized he needed to approach the entire project from a different angle.  When he originally thought he found the answer, he was told that his unique idea wasn’t good enough, but that he was on the right track and to keep trying.  This instantly validated the work, the person, and the vision while also allowing the developers to say that this wasn’t what they had in mind.  He went back to the drawing board and found the answer to the “Doom Instrument” that is heavily featured in the game.  In turn, the sound team said they didn’t want guitars in the soundtrack.  Slowly Gordon began to implement guitars into the soundtrack, telling them, “Guys this is Doom. You need guitars.”  He also had a vision of what the soundtrack needed to sound like. This is a perfect example of composer, developer, and the sound team working together to create something that was truly fitting.  The soundtrack to Doom 2016 was one of the most appropriate soundtracks in recent memory, and it wasn’t only because it was metal as fuck. The different teams worked together, and continuously verified each other work.  To make a cohesive game across the arts, taking the time to understand each other’s vision is absolutely imperative.  

The visual arts tend to not struggle as much in communicating.  Don’t get me wrong, it still happens all the time.  But if you think about the amount of times an average person looks at something critically versus listens to something critically you’ll notice there’s a huge difference in frequency.  If developers don’t like a model or a piece of art, they’re going to easily be able to say “Hey, I wasn’t really thinking that for the claw. I was thinking more of a tiger claw instead of a bear.” As humans, we pass visual criticism all the time, doing so somewhat accurately, even without a direct understanding of visual art.  That’s because it’s normal to us.  For music and sound though, not everyone is equipped with this skill set. Most people have preferences on music, and can tell if they like or don’t like a piece. But if a developer doesn’t like a track we write, it’s all too common to hear back “I don’t like this, I don’t know what it is, but something needs to change.” And as musicians we’re sitting here and are asking ourselves “Oh god. What did we do wrong? Was the melody bad? Maybe the harmony was repetitive? No that can’t be it, the harmony was pretty varied. Maybe the mix was unbalanced?  Did they not like the use of trombone over a more traditional string melody?”  And we have no idea what to fix or how to make our client happy.  Often when I reply back to responses like this, I’m greeted with something like “I don’t really know how to describe it. It was a little low.”

“What was a little low? Was the bass too soft? Should the melody be higher? Do I need to put it in a higher key?” Our thoughts race again, until we ask:

“What do you mean by ‘a little low’?”

“I don’t know, you’re the composer.”

This is so counterproductive.

When talking with developers, I find it very beneficial to set up some key terms about music that make communication much more effective.  These can vary from vocabulary terms, musical ideas, instruments, genres, or literally anything about music.  I’ll generally try to establish different key terms depending on the project, because each one is different.  

The situation presented above might have been prevented if we took the time to talk with the developers to find a mutual understanding about music.  If we had done this, the first time they might have been able to say “Hey, I thought that the lowest bass instrument was pitched too low. Could you maybe bring that up a bit?” This is much easier for us as musicians to understand.  By this we instantly know that that our lowest instrument was too low in pitch, and that we might need to bring it up an octave.  Obviously, this still isn’t too specific for composers, but we now know what the problem is, and we can devise a plan to fix it.  

And granted, sometimes I don’t have to do this!  One thing I really liked, was about a month ago someone I’m working with told me “I’d really like it if we could begin to implement some leitmotif ideas into this track.”

Bam.  That’s a winner right there.

But just imagine what would have happened if the developer didn’t know how to articulate this.  I don’t want to think about it…

And this same kind of tactic can be employed with all types of disciplines within the game industry. The music should compliment all other forms of art in a game.  When possible, I like to run the music by everyone in the team to get their opinions. There’s going to be one person who has the final say, but if everyone is aware of what you’re doing, I think it’s beneficial for the entire team.

I try to start writing music only after I see visual art for what it is I’m writing for, and a plot summary for the game or scene.  I can’t do this at all times, but I feel that my music is much more appropriate when I’m able to do that.  In turn, my music then can influence the art and gameplay.  

Granted this is just what I prefer to do, everyone has a different process.  

So. Takeaways

For Developers

· Communicate your vision with everyone on the team

· Listen to everyone else’s take on the vision, but remember in the end it’s your project

· Validate the work of not only composers, but every creative discipline

· Provide pointed and directed feedback

· If you don’t understand how to articulate something, ask your creatives for advice

For Composers

· Writing truly fitting music comes from sharing the same vision as the entire team

· Take the time to understand the vision of everyone, and also make your        interpretation known

· Educate those who aren’t able to provide detailed feedback on music or sound

· Be flexible on the needs and wants of the team

What it all boils down to is understanding the vision of the team.  Everyone will have opinions on what the project should look like, but to create truly immersive experiences that I would call complete packages, everyone needs to have the same or a similar vision.  Communication and education is key for creating industry defining games.

Games are shared knowledge, and shared dreams. Make them that way.

We’re creators, let’s create something great.

[akiyama-san]

I've noticed your comments about Love Live Sunshine and don't get me wrong, we all have our own opinions and I'm not telling you stop posting your negative thoughts about it, but why do you hate Love Live Sunshine so much? And if you hate it that much, why are you even watching it?

I suppose it comes off as hate doesn’t it? Well despite how it appears, it’s not entirely hate, it’s mostly disappointment, and while that might not sound much better i’ll try to explain what I mean, hopefully to a degree that it can be understood. 

Spose I should start at the top shouldn’t I? 

I think it goes without saying that this point that I didn’t like the original show at all, it had its moments, and 2 or 3 good characters, which isn’t saying much I realize but these casts are fucking bloated of course only a handful will be likeable. The concept seemed really fucking stupid from the outset, and it is, but I’ve seen worst, and as a first attempt by SunRise for an Idol show, to my knowledge, the idea to give it an actual plot to follow was in theory a noble one. It failed completely, but the thought was there. More to the point, almost everyone was completely flat, incredibly stupid, and beyond insufferable. 

I’ll be honest, I can put up with a lot, and if I had chosen to watch it of my own volition I’d probably have been more forgiving of the writers dancing on active fault lines, but at the time some years back, I had several people breathing down my neck to watch the fucking show so I went in pissed off. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t change the fact that these characters say and do things that would make me want to hurt a small child, but I would still have been more kind to it in the long run. 

Then the movie happened, and well.... Lets just say the series needed the fucking soft reboot that was Sunshine after that abysmal travesty of a movie that completely deficated on a third of the casts character development. I’m still trying to work out the quantum fucking mechanics of how Honoka could receive her microphone from her future fucking self BTW. 

I openly admitted this at the time, and this is important because this is often overlooked by the crowd. I said that after the failure of the movie, and knowing that a new series was coming, if SunRise could learn from their mistakes, then I would gladly and open-mindedly go into Sunshine with a positive attitude and be kinder to it if the series was able to escape its charred charcoal burned roots. 

Needless to say I was absolutely blown away by how incredibly Sunshine could be at times, and how baffling disgusting and incompetent it could be as well. I stress that Sunshine is wholly the better property I was able to enjoy more than whole episodes and character arcs completely this time around, as opposed to the original where I enjoyed maybe 10 minutes of its total 700 minute run from episode 1 to movie credits. 

The series had incredible characters to start, those already good characters ACTUALLY GREW INTO EVEN BETTER CHARACTERS, THESE CHARACTERS ACTUALLY GROW AND MATURE AND THAT’S INCREDIBLE. I’ll say openly that the second years are some of the best characters I’ve seen in any anime in the past several years, and I would never hope to take away from that. Better was that we actually had rivals that we could see and understand, that weren’t placed on a pedestal for no discernable reason, one that stood on relatively even ground that could be combatted in real time, force growth and change upon both groups. 

At the same time, while the series had heights and feats that rivaled Everest, it also had lows that would put the Mariana Trench to shame. No, I don’t care what anyone says, I will never get over all the bullshit that happened between Mari and Kanan, and how absolutely disgusting Kanan is, even now, refusing to grow up or stop being a cunt or do anything of value to the group you so claim to love. I’ll be generous and say I was fucking disgusted by SunRise repeating what happened with Honoka and Kotori in the first season here with Mari and Kanan, almost beat for beat. It was terrible the first time, and suicidally bad the second time. 

To regain the focus, by then end of it while my opinions were of the mixed nuts variety with plenty of roasted salt, I still gave it a hearty recommendation because I thought it was genuinely pretty good, blue cuntveats notwithstanding. 

NOW

Where my problem overall with Season 2 lies. If it disappointment and wasted potential were a physical force this series could level mountains. 

From the beginning we’re told that we’re on an incredibly strict time crunch and that we need to focus all our efforts hardcore in the second round. 

Only for almost literally all of the first 6 or 7 episodes to be nothing but filler and padding to waste time, where no growth or progression of any kind took place at all, and such wonderful gems as 

Dia: Please call me Dia-Chan.

Chka: No!

and the omnipresent 

Chika: Teach how to do a backflip

Kanan: Not on your fucking life!

Kanan: Oh shit she learned how to do the backflip... 

Where it all came to a head however was with the reveal of just how many students the school actually had, because that was something that was never brought up. The total number of students is 68 when all are accounted for. And the is beyond miserable. 100 fucking students isn’t enough, to maintain the school you need at least 200, but closer to 300. With 68 students the school should’ve closed fucking years ago. The revelation of that number killed the entire fucking show, it made moot the efforts and development of every single fucking character, because no matter what, even if they had gotten 100 students, this same predicament would still inevitably rear its head once again next year or the year fuckin after. 

I want to make clear, more than anyone else on this site, I have authority to speak on this matter, and no one can refute this, hell I’d barely even listen to them if they did because I severely fucking doubt they ever dealt with this sort of thing, if they did they would totally agree with me.

I have come face to face with a school closure myself. 15 years ago the district announced that my Elementary school would be closing, this school with 700 students that churned out some of the best results in the city might I add. It was a hard and long fought battle, it lasted 3 years, but eventually the parents won that war, and it’s still open now. How did they do that? By actually getting involved, going to meetings, talking directly to superintendents and comptrollers, explaining things like how some of them go to work really early or work late, they can’t send their kids anywhere else because they’d never be able to make it to other schools in the morning on time or pick up on time because of how far away they are, how different schools offer different programs, and not all schools offer the same accommodations for special needs children as this one did, ETC. The point is, the parents got active in the fight, the people that might have been able to affect the outcome did, and while it was no easy task, they did it, they actually fucking one that battle. 

I don’t expect even a fraction of that to occur, but to at the same time tell me that the parents don’t know or care at all, much less any of the other fucking 59 students are powerless to help in any meaningful capacity is an absolute load of horse shit. 

Where it started to bring my blood to a boil, nay to a bursting point, was what happened in the last to episodes with Saint Snow. The best song the franchise ever gave us was Self Control, followed by Shocking Party. This is a fact. From a single interaction some of the most intriguing and likeable characters we got were also Saint Snow. For them to be all but ignored in season 2 until 8 fucking episodes in is ludicrous, but for their first appearance in over 10 episodes to be them failing a concert and us not even getting to hear any of the fucking song, is insulting, it’s infuriating, it’s domestic abuse. This isn’t a slap in the face, this is Studio SunRise forcefully shoving their cock in your mouth against your will and punching you in the eyes with brass knuckles for crying about the cock in your mouth. 

Honest to God, if I wasn’t committed to seeing this through, these last two episodes would be my first set my merchandise on fire moment, and that is saying a lot. It might sound like i’m being overdramatic, but honestly there are a lot of people that agree with me on this matter. 

I did a lot of thinking in writing this post and it took me the better part of an hour to write it. I still hold fast on my thoughts about the original, 2/10 garbage. 

I still hold to my opinions of season 1 Sunshine, 7/10 very good. 

But this season? Well let me put it this way, I score every episode and tally the scores at the end, if season one got a 70 percent

Season 2 probably wouldn’t even reach a combined 20/130 

I will still recommend newcomers to Sunshine season 1 absolutely, but I will also absolutely tell them to pretend season 2 never happened, do not watch it because it will make you commit homicide in the aftermath. 

Why do I hate Sunshine Season 2? 

Because SunRise finds new and exciting ways to fail at absolutely everything on every single level every week. I infamously gave the movie a 1/10, in the long run, I think I would sooner rewatch that movie on loop than ever rewatch this season of Sunshine ever again. 

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Sakura Wars (2020)

I attended high school in the United States at the beginning of this century - what feels like an eternity ago at this point. The early 2000s felt like a great time to be an anime fan, and we were discovering new series to obsess over left and right. In the midst of this, the woman who I would eventually get married to came in one day in a huge, fluffy dress. Seeing her in cosplay was not really all that unusual, but I had no idea who it was that she was dressed as. It turns out that this fluffy dress belonged to a character named “Iris Chateaubriand”, and that this would be my first - and, to this point, one of my few - interactions with the Sakura Wars series. I fell in love immediately with the core premise - a theater troupe fighting demons with steam-powered mecha in early 20th-century Tokyo. 

Although I enjoyed the anime, I kind of forgot about Sakura Wars over time. Vaguely, I remembered that the TV show was based on a series of games, but none of those games made it to the US. To this date, the only game in the series to get localized was the fifth entry, which was released with little fanfare on the PS2 and Wii. I ended up missing out on it. 

Flash forward to early 2020, where I learned that a new Sakura Wars game was launching on the PS4 and that it would be coming to the west. The new entry, simply titled Sakura Wars, acts as a soft reboot for the series with a new cast and redesigned gameplay. Given my long-standing interest in the series, there was no way that I was going to miss out on trying it out. 

How does it fare? Read on for my impressions.

Sakura Wars takes place in an alternate steampunk version of 1940′s Tokyo. This version of our world is constantly under attack by vicious demons, and the only hope for the citizens are teams of warriors who fight the demons using powerful mech suits. Tokyo was formerly protected by the famous Imperial Combat Revue. Stationed out of Tokyo’s Imperial Theater, the Revue would pull double duty protecting Tokyo in their mech suits and entertaining the masses as a roving theater troupe. 

Unfortunately, the original Tokyo Combat Revue disappeared following a cataclysmic event. In their place, the rookie Flower Division has been tasked with bringing hope to Tokyo. They have an uphill battle ahead of them - they’re broke, barely able to hold their own in combat, and completely unable to hold their own on the stage. Your character, Seijuro Kamiyama has been put in charge of getting the Flower Division into shape, just in time for the Combat Revue World Games. 

As Seijuro, you must inspire the ladies of the Flower Division. Sakura Amamiya hopes to follow in the footsteps of her idol, the Imperial Combat Revue’s Sakura Shinguji. Hatsuho Shinonome is a brash shrine maiden who just wants to protect her home city. Azami Mochizuki is a mysterious - and mostly baffling - teenage ninja. Clarisa Snowflake (yes, really) is a bookworm from Luxembourg with a dark secret. Finally, Anastasia Palma is a star of the stage, whose confidence and talent may be the key to getting the troupe ready for the stage. Together - along with commander-in-chief Sumire Kanzaki - your troupe may be the last hope of the Tokyo public. 

Honestly, I love the core premise of the series. The idea of having to simultaneously manage a theater - putting on shows, racking up ticket sales - and fight demons in deadly mech combat is delightful. It’s cheesy, but kind of unironically marvelous. In my mind, I’ve built up this vision of Sakura Wars as some kind of merger of Fire Emblem with The Producers - the Mel Brooks musical about a couple of crooks using the stage to swindle a bunch of investors out of their cash. That game could be incredible. Unfortunately, that isn’t quite what the game actually is, but the core idea of the Sakura Wars series is rife with potential for a great game. 

The actual game is mostly a visual novel with occasional Dynasty Warriors-style combat. The game is split into a series of chapters - treated basically as TV episodes, complete with intros and “next time” segments. Each episode mostly consists of working your way through story scenes - conversations with the characters - interrupted by occasional combat scenes. 

Most of the game takes place as conversations between the characters that either advance the core story or just build the relationships between the characters. You can navigate in 3D through the theater building and a few select locations in Tokyo, and can initiate conversations with the characters that you run into.  Scenes marked with green exclamation points continue the core plot - and are required. There are also tons of optional scenes, marked with blue exclamation marks. You can, of course, plow through the main plot. However, the optional scenes really flesh out the cast, and give each character their own arc. 

During the story scenes, you mostly just read dialogue. At times, you can choose a response. In general, there’s really only one right answer, and it’s usually pretty obvious. You can basically boil the conversations down to the right answer, the stupid answer, and the creepy pervert answer. For instance, one of the girls might wail in despair, and you might be asked to choose one of the following: “We can get through it together”, “We’re all going to die”, and “We’ll only survive if I can grab your ass”. I know that this sounds ridiculous, but that example isn’t too far off from the actual game. 

Choosing the right answer is important in these conversations, as those answers can increase or decrease the level of trust that the girls have in you. If you can get the level of trust high enough, you can unlock new conversations - marked with hearts on the map. Eventually, these conversations will allow you to romance the girl of your choice. 

My feelings on the visual novel portion of the game are mixed. The positive side first - the core story is cheesy, but I found myself enjoying it. It’s fun, but charmingly endearing. There is a lot of melodrama, but the cast is kind of enjoyable. You can’t help but cheer a little for this merry band of absolute weirdos. I dig the setting and the core premise, and actually kind of enjoy seeing the cast interact. The writing is not what you’d really call good, but I can enjoy it on the level where I like things like 90′s X-Men comics. It’s over the top, colorful melodrama. 

Unfortunately, the pacing is often quite bad. The actual split between visual novel and mech combat is probably about 90% to 10%. The visual novel sequences feel like they stretch on forever, and a large part of that is how those sequences are set up. Between conversations, you walk through the theater and a couple of spots in Tokyo in a 3D space. However, the walking controls do not feel particularly great, movement is weirdly imprecise and neither the walking or running speeds feel quite right. Since there is almost nothing to do in those 3D environments - the only “gameplay” other than conversations is finding hidden portraits, called “bromides” - walking through the exact same hallways over and over again gets tedious quickly. The visual novel portions feel padded. Many of the pacing problems would be dramatically improved just by letting you click on rooms on a 2D map. 

The other part that really turned me off was the romance segments. Unless you’re dating pigeons, ala Hatoful Boyfriend, I’m just not a fan of dating sims. I know - seriously, I know - that dating elements are core to the Sakura Wars series. I knew coming in that romance was a part of the game. I’m fine with the existence of dating sims, and fans of the genre are more than welcome to enjoy those kind of games. They just aren’t my thing. 

Even knowing that there would be dating elements, I didn’t expect to feel so creepy taking part in them. I actually like the dating scenes in games like Persona 5, where they are just cute little dates. Here, the scenes are first-person sequences where you have to click on objects to answer questions or advance the conversation with the girl in question. This is fine when you’re clicking on a book to give Claris advice on what kind of script to write. It is somewhat less fine when Claris has fallen on top of you and you’re clicking on her lips to try to kiss her or when she is bent over in front of you and you are prompted to click on her ass. 

Basically, these are scenes where a bunch of impressionable teenagers get into quasi-sexual situations with you, their 20-year-old boss. You’re basically encouraged to poke and prod these women, and it is really off-putting in a way that I didn’t really expect. I should stress that these scenes are optional - though necessary to get the “full experience” - but they were really not something I enjoyed, and I wonder if they are more of a detriment for the series than a benefit. For me, they certainly decreased by enjoyment of the overall game. 

As I mentioned earlier, the story is occasionally interrupted for a fight scene. The battles play out as a simple brawler - in line with a game like Dynasty Warriors - Your mech can jump, dodge, and unleash combinations of light and heavy attacks. When your SP meter fills, you can unleash powerful special moves. You can also perform team attacks with the women in the troupe. Most of the time, there are two mechs on the battlefield. You can switch between them freely, and the other will be controlled by an AI. Each mech has their own skills. For instance, Sakura is focused on quick sword attacks, while Claris can perform ranged attacks. 

The combat is functional, but nothing special. Again, the actual controls leave a little to be desired. Movement feels imprecise - for instance, you can jump quickly upward, but you can’t cover much ground by trying to jump forward. This is fine in pure combat, but the light platforming required of you can get annoying. 

In some ways, this game has the biggest gap between potential and execution of many that I’ve played recently. I’m really bummed out by how negative this review sounds. I really like parts of this game. The characters are kind of charming, the story is fun. The game looks nice for the most part - the core art direction is mostly great. I really like a lot of the character designs, even if the characters are oversexualized (gravity-defying breasts aren’t really necessary). The character animation is also a little weird - people move in ways that don’t look all that natural. Again, though, I think the game mostly looks really nice. The art style is great, the costume design is fun, and the setting itself is awesome. The soundtrack is also fantastic, and I’ve found myself humming a few of the tracks from it at random times. 

However, the pacing isn’t great. The game feels slow, bloated, and heavily padded. The combat feels like an afterthought, and comes rarely enough that is somehow simultaneously both a welcome break and kind of annoying. In a way, I feel like the developers are afraid of fully committing to this being a visual novel - or, at least, that they had a time or budget crisis. They should have either cut out the portions where you cross the same 3D hallways endlessly, or given you more to do during those sections. They should have either improved the combat scenes (and given you more of them) or just removed them entirely. Either committing to this being a visual novel or improving the non-visual novel elements could have made this a great game. The result they ended up with is kind of infuriating. 

The end product is really hard to evaluate. I don’t hate it, but I don’t really love it either. There are a lot of individual elements that I enjoyed, but the product as a whole does not come together in a cohesive manner. In the end, I do hope that the series itself continues. I feel like something special can come from the core concept. Will you enjoy it? It may help to know what to expect coming in. If you’re interesting in the core concept, like visual novels, and are more into dating sim elements than I am, then this may be up your alley. It is a charming game with a nice colorful art direction and a catchy soundtrack. Just be prepared for shallow combat, slow pacing, and some questionable sexual elements. 

A copy of Sakura Wars was provided for this review.

Official Website

[clonerightsagenda]

These keep getting longer

I think it’s evident at this point that I consider my duty to the prompt filled if the words are mentioned in passing or even implied

tuesjade prompt: art supplies

Jade isn't in the greenhouse or napping in the common room (or even halfway up a tree, which is where you found her last time you went looking) so you check her bedroom, which maybe you should have done first. There she is, flat on her back and flicking pennies at the ceiling. Instead of dropping back down onto her pillow, they settle into orbit around her head like a glittering halo. When you walk in, they fall in a copper shower around her shoulders.

"Jake!” she says from beneath a pile of loose change. “Do you need something?"

"Not need, exactly." You hover at the doorway until she motions for you to come in. "It's more that I'm here to ask you something. You see, Calliope and I have been working on a comic together."

"Oh, is that what you two have been hiding away to work on? We were wondering what you were up to." She sits up and pats the bed. Stray pennies clink and shift. "Can I see it?"

"As a matter of fact, I did bring some samples along." You're a little shy, but if you can't show your fumbling attempts at artwork to your grandmother, who can you trust? Calliope took the reins for most of the first booklet anyway. "Behold!” You hold out the hand-stapled collection of pages with a flourish. “The brand new adventures of our enterprising heroes."

She pages through your first issue, complimenting the art and laughing aloud at your cornier jokes. “My grandpa used to make that exact pun, you know," she says, tapping one speech bubble you were proud of.

"That stroke of genius must be hereditary."

She smiles down at the panel for a moment before turning the page. "Guess so."

“It’s funny,” you say. “Speech bubbles feel so… constrictive, for some reason. I know it’s a function of the medium, but you just can’t fit that many words in. You’d think I’d be used to it, since I’ve read my fair share of the funnies. But I keep thinking, how can they say everything they need to? They have to be so terse. It makes for a lot of revising.”

“You’ll get it with practice,” she promises. “And then we’ll all notice you’re sending us monosyllabic texts!”

When she reaches the end, you clear your throat. "I wanted to ask if you'd like to be a guest artist. We're trying to get as many people as we can for different issues, so it can be a group project." Calliope took a while to sell you on that. Some of your friends are actual artists. Their work will make your scribbles look pitiful. Still, you saw her point in the end. These things are more fun done together. And she's promised to stab people with pencils if they laugh.

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't drawn in..." She shakes her head. "I don't know. A long while! I'm not great at it, but it was a nice way to pass the time."

"Oh grandma, you're being modest. You were always the best at arts and crafts.” Once you’d gotten into some old paints and left a trail of child-sized handprints on the wall. Instead of yelling, your grandmother had handed you a brush, and the two of you had covered the plain surface with a mural of swirling colors and flowers. It was one of the things you missed most when your house exploded. “The things you could do with a magazine collage were sheer magic."

"I don't know about your version of me, but this me is no Picasso." She waves her hands, and a sketchbook appears between them. You’d expect something with glitter or drawings of flowers – Jade is no stranger to the stereotypically “girly” end of accessorizing, even with the deconstructed guts of appliances and a few odds and ends of weaponry stacked up in the corner of her room - but the leather binding is plain and worn. "Here are some things I did before the game."

You open the book to the first page and blink. You know that handwriting. “Is this… mine?”

“Oh, that’s right.” She reaches over you and turns over a big chunk of pages. “This used to be one of my grandfather’s journals. He drew schematics for inventions or sketches of wildlife he’d discovered on his explorations. Sometimes he’d take me out on an “expedition”. He’d take field notes, and I’d imitate him by trying to draw what I saw. That’s how I got started doing art, actually. After he died, I kept it up. Maybe using his book was disrespectful, but…” She shrugs, reaching a page where no more of your – your other self’s – writing is visible. “I always thought he wouldn’t mind.”  

The sketchbook feels different in your hands now that you know your alternate self once held it. Heavier. You try to put it out of your mind. You have drawings from the Jade who is right here. Her lines are thick and defined, like a child's crayon drawings. Of course, she would have been a child then. Here's a doodle of a school classroom, with Jade and Bec behind a desk. The other students... They’re not pretty, but one of them has clunky square glasses. Another wears a headband. "Are those John and Rose?"

She laughs. "Yes. They hadn't sent me pictures yet, but I'd seen them in the clouds. I liked hearing about school, even when they complained. They never understood why I pestered them for so many details, but I wanted to imagine myself going too. Maybe they’re right and I wouldn’t have liked it, but I hated having to wait until they came home to tell them something."

Her human faces are clumsy and cartoonish, but she has an eye for rendering detailed objects in perspective. Students like flat paper dolls sit behind three-dimensional desks. "You could be an architect," you say.

"I had a Pictionary modus, so I had to be accurate," she explains. "I was never as good at people. I didn't have anyone to practice with."

You nod, flipping further. "Going off a picture just isn't the same." Here's something different. She's drawn a figure fast asleep. The lines are sketchier and more uncertain, with a realistic softness the other drawings are missing. This time, you’re confident assessing their identity. “You drew John?”

"I tried to get a good look at him while I was dreaming on Prospit," she says. "Then I drew him from memory afterward. I thought about asking him to pose a few times once we were on the battleship, but I couldn't think of a way to ask that wouldn't sound silly."

"So you resorted to candids, did you?" The last few pages of the sketchbook are populated with quick doodles built from lighter lines. The jointed fingers of a carapacian. John with his long windsock hood, gesturing broadly with his hands. Dave, no, it would be Davesprite, hiding a half-smile with one hand. An echidna curled in a tight ball with its tongue poking out. It would set your behind ablaze to say any of them are photorealistic, but you can tell what they're supposed to be.

After those you find renderings of the innards of the battleship, a mess of interlocking pipes and conduits. Now these you'd believe were ripped out of a user's manual. The rest of the pages are blank. "Did they catch on?"

She snatches the sketchbook back. "No, they don't know about it, so don't show them."

"Have you been sketching me at all?" You strike a pose, lifting your chin in the air. "How’s my profile?"

"Stop teasing, I haven't drawn anything in years." The book vanishes, and she puts her hands on her hips. "So you see, I'm not sure I'd be very good at it."

"I'm much worse than you, and I'm one of our lead storyboarders. Calliope insisted she wasn't doing all the visual components. Apparently I'm supposed to "learn" and "grow"." You tug at her elbow until she drops her arms. "Don't you want to learn and grow, Jade? Isn't that what you Space players are all for?"

She puffs out her cheeks. "Fiiiine. I guess I can pick up some colored pencils again."

"There's just one thing..." Oh rats, you hadn't thought of how this would come across. "Our guest artists... policy is that they do the villains. To keep the heroes consistent and all that. Is that ok?" You hurry on. "You could be a werewolf, or a mad professor who gets turned into some creature after exposure to magical radiation. You know, something fun."

She blows her cheeks back out. "Radiation sickness isn't much fun. I might prefer a well-intentioned extremist. Maybe I destroy corporations for harming the environment."

"But..." You hesitate. "Is that a heroic thing to do, when you boil it down? Greater good, and all that. It might be more of an anti-hero occupation, so to speak."

"Not when you're hurting the employees."

"We could convince you to let them go first... No." You shake your head. "It doesn't fit our profile to become anarchists. We'll have to save that for our gritty reboot in a few decades."

"I'll go with something more ethically simple."

"So it's ok with you?"

She pats your hand. "I'm not going to get offended about it. I know I was the bad guy for a while. Pretending to do it again won't hurt me."

"I know I wouldn't want to relive it."

"It was different for you.” She looks down at her hands, and you wonder if she’s remembering them ashen gray. “I didn't have a bunch of people living in my head. After the first moment, it was just me, the worst bits. It's not like you wanted to rip anybody's heart out."

You shudder. Caliborn had shoved you to the back of your mind, where you kept company with a bunch of silly green men and a spooky clown, but you'd caught flashes of the outside world. He was happy leaving you to feel your body's pain. Human hands weren't meant to take that kind of punishment, but the vision-blurring impact hadn't prevented you from seeing one of your best friends die. "Can we talk about something more cheerful?"

Her ears pull back slightly. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"And here I was worried about upsetting *you*.” You laugh. “I guess we know which of us is made of sterner stuff."

"You're pretty tough," she says, poking you in the shoulder. "You're our adventure guy."

"Mostly in comics. My alter ego is much braver than I ever was."

She shakes her head. "They're just made up. You're the real deal. And you made it through the worst a bored comic book writer could ever throw at you."

You tap the cover of your comic book thoughtfully. "We *are* the grittier reboot."

She laughs. “That’s right. We are! So now you can enjoy your… less gritty reboot, if that’s a thing comics do.”

“We could have a beach episode.”

“Name a day, and I’ll take us back over to the island. We’ll make a vacation out of it.”

How will it feel to revisit the place where you grew up? Will it feel like coming home, or more like visiting an old prison cell? Which memories win out – the fond ones or the terrible ones? At least you’d have your grandmother at your side. Maybe that way you won’t keep expecting her to pop out from behind every tree and boulder. “There’s an idea. Your character could be a Captain Nemo type. He had a mysterious island and everything.”

“I have in the past piloted something somewhat like a cool submarine,” she agrees.

“Let’s doodle you a nifty uniform,” you say, and she grins and picks up a pen.