#still just trying to get screenshots from story cutscenes

[calamitaswrath]

I wonder what they meant by this camera angle in Lao's introductory cutscene

[revserrayyu]

2.4 Xianzhou continuance thoughts [part 3]

**SPOILERS** for the end of this patch’s mission, covering all the drama happening down in the Shackling Prison, so advert thine eyes if thou have not finished the story as of yet.

Once we found out we were actually able to visit the Shackling Prison during this update, I was eagerly waiting to see how Dan Heng would handle returning to this place. It certainly makes him uneasy, even before entering this cold place, and Nicholas does such a great job conveying all those anxieties into every one of Dan Heng’s lines whenever his past is brought up while here. The level of concern we hear from the Trailblazer is sweet too, like I audibly “aww’d” at this brief exchange.

I admire your confidence, Moze, but please don’t do anything reckless! But hearing how he’s a jail-breaker doesn’t really surprise me. There’s a bunch of shadowy figures of him bound by chains in his splash art and recent leaks showing off his skills can back up how he’s so swift in his escapes. He managed to avoid capture towards the end of this quest too.

Huzzah, another Jingliu mention that only surprises me because I haven’t bothered to read any of the relic’s descriptions of the Prisoner of Deep Confinement set. And how does one possibly manage to avoid eating for several centuries?

Not only did this beast apparently not starve, but he also endured unrelenting pain every day? Frightening. Hoolay is really out here surviving purely on hatred and a need for revenge.

Once glance at these notes and I just knew someone was gonna yap about Jingliu in front of him. Definitely wasn’t disappointed when it happened either.

Hey Moze’s defiance is valid! Never take random medicine from people! But in this case, yeah, it’s for your safety sir, “just swallow it already.”

Okay so there was like one or two instances before this where Jiaoqiu also noticed shape-shifted Borisin by their scent and makes me wonder how he could tell the difference. I assume Foxians have stronger noses than we do so perhaps it’s easier for someone like him to notice, or perhaps it’s a similar feeling to him being around Feixiao so often since she also suffers from Moon Rage? He did refer to it as familiar later on. Either way, he really should’ve spoken up about his suspicions earlier.

Y’all..these two are absolutely delivering each line perfectly and the emotion is squeezing my heart so tightly. I love the bond the Express crew has with each other so darn much! The hand pat is cute but let me hug this man please! He needs several!

The feels keep on coming as I was kicking my feet and squealing all giddy when Dan Heng jumped in to save us from being crushed. I know he’s literally doing his job as the guard of the Express but.. aww. I’d probably have a better screenshot if I wasn’t too stunned by what I was seeing with my own eyes, but alas. I fangirled too hard to care.

We always resort back to our trusty baseball bat, huh? I get how pulling out the Watchmaker’s hat probably wouldn’t be as epic or helpful, but I’d like to see us wield the flaming lance a bit more during cutscenes like this. Having us use it during the cutscenes with boss battle Aventurine were nice. Makes me wonder if Dan Heng will call upon his Imbibitor Lunae form if the situation ever gets too dire.

Ohh, and with all that chatter about poison to March and the kids before, I believe he’d be successful in creating such a medicine too.

His dedication to cure Feixiao’s condition is extraordinary and I’m wishing so hard for him to achieve it somehow.

On a side note, I am glad this whole mission continued with that split character perspectives feature that Penacony had so we could try out Jiaoqiu in battle a few times. I’m still quite fond of him, but after mixing him in with my team, I couldn’t really find a decent place for him. I may wait for his rerun before I pull but we’ll see if my mind gets swayed before his banner starts.

Getting a little sneak peak at what Moze can do was cool but sadly didn’t last long enough. Still hard to believe this man is a four-star but at least he’ll be easier to level up.

It’s funny to me seeing Moze go nuts with his abilities and sharp weapons, then you got Jiaoqiu fighting with a fan. And spices. And cooking enemies in a giant hot pot. The strange fighting methods fit right into Star Rail and that’s one of the many things I love about this game; how literally anything can end up as a weapon.

But yeah, as expected, Hoolay managed to escape with the helped of the many Borisin who transformed themselves to look like the prison guards.

Xueyi gets absolutely wrecked after a failed attempt to stop Hoolay and I probably would’ve been more shocked if they hadn’t shown her lifeless on the ground in the 2.4 trailer.

Yeah, thank Aeons she’s a puppet or else this really would’ve been her end.. and with how casually Hanya mentions such damage has become somewhat of a reoccurring thing, I guess we’re all worried for nothing. Even less so as Xueyi later pilots a conveniently placed cycrane up and out of the prison to inform Jing Yuan of the disaster that happened.

Dan Heng literally saying that he rather die than having anything bad happen to us.. aahh. He’s such a good boy. I feel bad for never using this regular form of his, until I remember Imbibitor Lunae is most likely my strongest unit, so all is well. But how about neither one of us dies, okay? That’s more ideal.

Jiaoqiu thinking about Feixiao first before the entire wellness of their home.. god, he’s so committed to that promise of his. Love that for him.

Hearing him quite literally triggering Hoolay was to be expected, but also sly of him to conveniently leave out that our former sword champion is no longer on the Luofu. I think one of the nearby Borisin noticed and corrected this information to Hoolay anyways, but whatever. It manages to keep our medic alive as a hostage.

After seeing Dan Heng throw Cloud Piercer in an attempt to stop the prison’s doors from closing, I wanna assume we managed to escape, but it’s still kinda vague. I’d hope we did because I certainly don’t want our faithful Express partner to trapped in this nightmarish place any longer than he already has! He deserves to be free from his past!

Heeyyy there, queen. Missed you but definitely can’t end this rambling without you. My expectations after this first part have been raised significantly so if anything, I better see her go all out and fight like crazy in 2.5.

Tell me how exactly. How does one manage to lose sight of a huge, menacing Borisin like Hoolay? Unless he’s also capable of shape-shifting, which would make perfect sense if he can and used that little party trick to escape, but damn.

And with that, I’m finished. Until the next update, of course.

[call-me-rucy]

Hey Rucy, I know that you said gameplay stuff is fine in all forms. However, I'm also concerned about edits/memes and even musical remixes that use audio / voice lines. Because of point 8 in this list, it makes it seem like all of these are in danger of being taken down. And do you think "still images" means screenshots? And I guess guides of the answers to the puzzles are technically bad now too. [Regarding to their third main point in the guideline page.]

Going back to the remixes thing. Would making a remix of like, their songs/melodies, be bad because it's technically music of their games? [Point 8 of the prohibited items list that I'm most concerned about]

So sorry if I've asked anything inappropriate or is out of your comfort zone of answering. I've just been thinking about this ever since I heard about it and I'm trying to understand everything as well as I can.

Hi there, Ashe!

Don't worry, ask all you want! Just know, I'm the same, trying to understand it all through, so I only can answer with what I know at any given moment.

I do think that still images means screenshots, yes! And yes, indeed it seems like puzzle guides in form of videos and screenshots seem to be affected by point 3. Which is... all of guides, because how do you do a layton guide without screenshots. We have to take care and archive guides as well. If you know good guides, I reccomend using webarchive on them.

It makes me wonder, because the go-to guides for the spanish layton guides are hosted by Nintendo, officially. Surely they won't take that one down?

And about point 8...

About point 8.

I must thank you enormously for this ask, Ashe, because I'm only now realizing that the verb used in point 8 can have two meanings. I took it to mean listening, as in, don't edit the movies to extract the music to listen to it. But I just looked it up in the dictionary and it can indeed mean "watch" as well TT_TT

視聴 Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb 1. looking and listening; (television) viewing; watching​

So I was assuming edits were only covered by point 3, but it seems point 8 of "Forbidden" refers to them specifically too... Sigh...

So about "Would making a remix of like, their songs/melodies, be bad because it's technically music of their games?", I'm not entirely sure.

We've established that cutscenes and the music edited together to be watched or listened to exactly as it is in gamemight be a no go. But then there is such things as transformative use.

You see, I got an ask right after yours that goes a bit deeper into the law stuff, saying that L-5 is trying to follow international copyright law, which is similar to US copyright law (I will publish it when I answer it in a bit).

And Wikipedia says: "In United States copyright law, transformative use or transformation is a type of fair use that builds on a copyrighted work in a different manner or for a different purpose from the original, and thus does not infringe its holder's copyright".

Fanfic is transformative work, that's why AO3 is legal. From my non-law eyes, I'd say maybe a remix and an edit could be a transformative work as well? LAW ANON, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLEASE HELP!

I think the problem would arise if you're trying to mimic the official experience of the game outside of the game. Like in cutscene compilations that tell you the whole story of the game.

With that in mind, my proposed approach is:

Do not panic

No need to remove old stuff unless you are specifically asked by the platform/level-5, or maybe it will automatically removed, idk how that's gonna work

If you get your stuff removed please share that info so we can know more exactly what it's being affected

For new stuff, follow the guidelines when you can (e.g. comment your gameplays, add banners or borders to your streams, warn for spoilers, crediting L-5 in videos)

Archive the old stuff you like. This is a bit of "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst". (It is a good practice as a general rule: you never know when some fav playlist maker will choose to delete old videos on a whim, and this is as good of a time to start saving as any other).

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

I have a question. After finishing chapter 42 act2, Vita is clearly a very flirtatious and teasing person but it's hard to tell who she really cares about, or whom she can take advantage of. Do you have any way to know?

Thanks to the monologue in the chapter 40 secret cutscenes I think it's pretty easy but I'll go over things in order. Let's go back in time for a bit shall we?

Vita riles people up often, she's been doing it ever since Salt Snow Holy City (though she was acting innocent so it was less overt). As early as chapter 37, she hints in the narration that she compliments Seele to see her cute reactions.

using old screenshots sorry

So teasing people seems to be something Vita deliberately likes to do... or has recourse to in order to lower people's guards, as the narration notes that Vita's joking around defused the tension of the battle.

Seele senses in that same chapter that Vita is hiding deep sadness; this is one of the first clues we get of Vita's true feelings. It is established that her happy personality is at least partly a mask to hide her negative emotions, though she doesn't refrain from showing grief for Grandpa Kaye. It is also noted that sad Vita was quiet. So a subdued Vita is likely to be a more sincere Vita.

This is supported by chapter 40. In the secret cutscenes, Vita elaborates on which parts of her personality is deliberate:

Due to the nature of my work, the second I open my eyes, I have to be an outgoing, friendly girl who’s equally shrewd and oblivious. As for why I need to act like that, who knows? Everyone just can’t resist that type of woman… Or, perhaps that kind of woman is disarming? Being amiable means that we can get along well without any pressure, and the hint of shrewdness gives me a nice veil of mystery. As for being oblivious… Being oblivious makes a flawless person more adorable. Do you understand?

Because of her job, she has learned to repress her negative emotions in order to get closer to and manipulate others and plays up her happy mask. So by opposition, when she's subdued or moody, she's probably not acting.

Important to note that this is Vita's monologue; she isn't necessarily saying the whole truth, either. She never admits to being lonely despite Hua picking up on it right after this scene. She does, however, tells Seele that she genuinely enjoyed her time in Salt Snow with everyone in chapter 38:

Is she lying, or saying the truth? I think she's saying the truth. When fighting Senti, she becomes subdued when she says this:

She even draws a line between her previous actions and her work persona, implying that she was largely genuine in her feelings, if not her backstory.

Additionally, when gauging why Vita says something, you have to keep track of what she isn't saying, what she is trying to hide. During the early Salt Snow parts of the story, she is hiding that she is their enemy, so you can put a lot of doubt on her sincerity... but she has no reason to hide her emotions by the time she's fighting Senti, since she's already been found out.

Further proof is that when she's confronted by the two Seeles they have this conversation, and Vita is subdued there too:

Her feelings towards the Salt Snow gang were genuine. Only in her business mode does she get seriously mean with everyone, taunting everybody... except Seele for some reason. She KEEPS complimenting Seele even past the point where Seele is no longer flustered by it. Favoritism? This is just before the boss fight:

VELIONA had to call Vita out on the compliments. VELIONA. Seele's number 1 simp!

The one time Vita does say something approaching mean to Seele is in chapter 38, during the brief lull time before they execute their plan. Though she hasn't yet realized Vita is an enemy, this is also when Seele realizes that Vita is playing up her naive and optimist behavior.

So what's the "mean" teasing that Vita says?

Yeah. She's... still paying her compliments, they're just slightly backhanded.

Also I just checked and Vita taunts Seele in an exclusively playful way during the boss fight. She really is never actually mean to her even though she didn't hesitate before calling Senti stupid........

After the boss fight, when "Fate" has finally been broken, when she no longer has a reason to hide, when no Sa is watching over her shoulder, she says this:

Seele has already picked up on WHY Vita acts like that! She calls her out!

But Vita placates her and explains the truth and we know at that point that she's being genuine since she is free and over the moon about it, plus her previous subdued words.

So Seele believes her, though she is STILL wary (Griseo would be proud), and asks Vita whether she'll interfere with her reviving everyone and going home...

We know Vita's serious self is real, BECAUSE Seele expects the mask, and doesn't find it. Vita genuinely cares here.

Now compare and contrast with any interaction Vita has taunting Griseo, well... it's a lot more mean-spirited, haha. She's trying to get Griseo angry, and she knows Griseo dislikes her. Hua understands and gets along with Vita a little better (she does get a number of compliments, and Vita notes both Hua and Seele are altruistic people, she even asks Hua for advice on handling immortality), but they're not exactly close. Hua compared her to Senti fhdjsgfs

Finally and most importantly, Vita in Phosphorus is playing around with everyone because she's hiding her real goal: take over Sa's power once and for all... becoming a god. Get rid of the threat looming over her, gain true freedom.

At the end of act 2 she's bullying Moriarty, and they don't like each other, but she does ultimately respect him. She also does something similar with Sa, looking down on her and mocking her but taking her warning seriously, and speaking a sad eulogy once she's finally dead.

So TLDR: Vita generally acts friendly, but she is deliberately mean-spirited when she's trying to misdirect or hiding her emotions, especially negative ones: with the little Vitas it's especially noticeable (for example she outright makes fun of Green for being attached to Orange, which prompts Green to tell her to stop).

When she is teasing someone she has a genuine soft spot for, she seems to skip being outright mean in favor of compliments or teasing cute reactions out of them.

When she is trying to distract someone or get their guard down, she'll deliberately say outrageous things, lie, tease and flirt to make them angry and flustered (Griseo). Note that she's even lying about not feeling guilt

When she's in a bad mood, she'll be passive aggressive (this will be very obvious with Misteln in ch42 act 3).

Hope that helped! I'm hungry now that took me like two hours.

[fictionfixations]

corporate needs you to find the difference between these two pictures /hj

(from this post translating the departure ova, or basically the prequel to world heroes mission bc idk where to find it normally)

screenshot from this video cuz i cant replay cutscenes lmfao

like. okay so i started thinking about hawks and aventurine in the same thought train and i just. couldnt let it go. and then i remembered that departure ova where he had those sunglasses(?) (IDK The name of stuff. im just gonna call them glasses.)

didnt realize that they're kind of doing similar poses. thats because hawks had the glasses on his eyes but he pushed them up, and here aventurine is about to remove his glasses during the cutscene

MAJOR MHA & HSR spoilers

(if it gets confusing im begging you to read parts of it with the other character's part because im trying to connect them but it might get confusing reading it first)

no but listen me thinks of two boys with not great childhood in greedy corporation who h as. probably wronged them-

well in all honesty i dont remember shit about if the hpsc has done horrible things. scratch that they have because literally nagant. sorry ive forgotten so much mha story its been awhile (i was gonna go on a rant about how its just another thing the fandom considers canon because yes. like. i dont think tsukauchi has ever been confirmed to have a lie detector quirk, its just that his sister who appears in the vigilantes(?) manga does)

hawks cozying up to the league to get secrets (i almost said league of assassins im crying. batman go brr.) backfires

forced to reveal shit (remember dabi revealing in like his video in Dabi's Dance Hawks' backstory?? also portrays him in a negative light, viewing him as a murderer)

he also tries to make himself seem righteous like 'i couldnt let these injustices stand!'

(from wiki. also his wings get damaged, they can regrow but not to what it was before) ALSO fakes death (temporarily. LMFAO tokoyami)

also this is kinda weak but gets hit while hes down

(technically) hawks is still alive but his quirk is still kinda gone forever i think

anyway i think he appeared in the latest chapter. he seems to be doing well. tbh i have such a shit memory. uhm spoilers for that chapter but i just got so distracted by the todoroki family and dabi like holy shit

FHSOIfh i think hes the HPSC president now.???? DAMN good for him ?

bACK ON TRACK. aventurine cozying up to the family to find out the 'truth'

sunday does his weird shit to force aventurine to say the truth or get punished (asks him about his past and personal shit like 'do you love your family more than yourself' or something, asks about him being an avgin, if hes the only survivor, if he wants to destroy the world) (also sunday thinks of aventurine as like a liar?? like. like. i forgot what it was but he viewed him as like an ill-intentioned person he needed to get rid of. thinking of him in a negative light and probably partially because he was associated with the IPC.)

he calls him a villain. i. DAMN (from the wiki) so like. you see what i mean? also acts righteous acting like aventurines the bad guy while hes the one in the right

bruh gets told he has seventeen system hours to live

cheeses through it (nihility able to cut through it if you were confused during the story on how he lived) but fakes his death (temporarily. he can come back out around 2.3 lOl but it still took a strain on him)

gets threatened while hes still recovering from the aftereffects of the nihility and everything

genuinely dont remember hawks getting hurt during afo fight (and toga) but i also got so confused on what was going on reading the manga cause it was a lot. i dont think he got saved tho

aventurine survived but the cornerstones gone forever

also while im here since yall probably dont know

also he bet that he'd get a promotion but we dont know whats going on about that (and it doesnt seem like we will. or. theres implications that that the xianzhou(?) war dance is connected to the IPC cause of the special program where owlbert said he was gonna quit and that he got a better offer for the wardance. and it was revealed that actually it was them who gave him that better offer?? so maybe we'll see in next update(?))

like. like. hah ha hawks getting promoted? eh?? eh?? you see????

tbh i didnt think i could connect them at all but here i am now finding more and more

also off topic

i thought this was a mistake or jab at mineta im CRYING his names GRAPE JUICE???

your brain when you want to go to sleep because you have something you're looking forward to to do tomorrow (or today because its THREE AM) but you need to not be tired for it but then it pulls this thing out of nowhere to fixate over knowing you cant ignore it because they're characters you love and that the idea wont go away until you express your thoughts so you get the keyboard out to make a short post but then you keep thinking about it and it gets longer and longer cause you keep remembering more shit to add:

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Here are my favourite pieces of official Rosalina artwork, and why!

This will include stuff like renders, GIFs, concept art, etc.

This won't include screenshots of in-game/cinematic cutscenes or gameplay.

And lastly, this is in no particular order other than the last one, which is firmly in first place. Let's go!

First we have:

As of right now I believe this is her newest render. It's one of the only ones where she can be seen floating, so that's cool. What I really like is the presence of her storybook, they rarely acknowledge that thing nowadays. Which is fine, it shouldn't be her crutch, but it is nice to see it given its story is a big reason as to why she's one of the franchise's best characters.

Best Mario Kart 8 Deluxe title screen, hands down.

Why yes, I am biased!

I mean it's in space, which not only is automatically cool but also fits Rosalina's character. She leaning against a pretty sick looking bike (or at least it looks sick from this angle), and her pose is pretty badass to match! She's in her biker outfit, which only adds to the vibe, and the Earth makes for beautiful yet badass background prop. Between all that the title screen taking place on the Luna Colony, it looks like she's about to partake is in a futuristic action-packed cosmic race, like something you'd see in a sci-fi action film. She just looks so cool here, I don't know what else to say.

Man I wished they used this in Odyssey. Oh well, maybe next game.

Not much to say here. The emo look fits her, she is the Sad Girl (that's a neat little soundtrack reference right there) after all. I mean have you seen her hair?

I like the casualness, specifically when compared to the other character's matching emotes, which are a lot more panicked. Really emphasises her calm nature. I like any artwork of her that makes her look either sad or nonchalant. It's what makes her special (and if you think that's a messed up thing to say...no it's not, shut up! 😖) You can also see a bit of her right eye, which is neat. There's just something inherently funny about the protector of the cosmos, a woman who usually speaks so formerly, a mysterious and powerful figure who some consider a goddess, doing such a casual shrug. I even made a post about this one years ago.

These are just cute, probably her cutest artwork without being too cutesy. That's about it really.

I love the way Rosalina's hair flows in this picture. I love how the Star Bits glow, how they shine colourful light rays through the net, and how their colour contrasts against the dark void of space. It makes for such a memorable, striking, beautiful image. I also love the fantastical concept of catching sweet rainbow space water crystals with a butterfly net, seems right out of a fairy tale.

Even without the text from the storybook you can just feel the emotion pour from the screen, you can feel the warmth of their hug. The warm yellow glow of (most of) the lumas, like the Star Bits of the precious artwork, contrast against the cold, dark isolation of space. However, they also contrast against Rosalina's cold white colouring (although not as much, indicating that they still belong together) and expressionless face, indicating she hasn't felt this warm/loved in a long time. The fact that you can't see her eyes in this picture suggests she's concealing her face, trying to take it all in without letting it all out. It's just...so good.

Just love how cool, calm, and collected she looks. She even looks a bit sassy and snobby here, but I like it. I imagine this is how she appears to people before they get to know her.

Love the smirk she gives only after dodging the green shell. It's a great show of her skill and character. Alert enough to sense the shell coming (makes sense for a magical protector), skilled enough to expertly dodge the shell, humble enough not to brag, but just proud enough to do a silent "Nice try". Love the personality shown here.

My all-time favourite (for now).

The use of watercolours really adds to the feel of remembering the past and hazy memories. Love the melancholic smile on adult Rosalina's face. Through her facial expression and body language you can tell she sympathises with her younger self, wants to comfort her, wants to let he know that everything will be OK, even after all she's lost. That she'll find family and be happy in the future, and as she holds her hand she'll guide her to it.

What a simple, beautiful image.

[strawberrystar7]

I usually wouldn’t post about Genshin Impact here but I just felt like I have to let this out.

(Screenshot taken from the Animation Cutscene of Furina’s Story Quest “The Little Oceanid”. The cutscene is linked below. Keep in mind, that this is a cutscene that’s shown within Furina’s Story Quest, so it contains some spoilers for the Story Quest. If you don’t want to get spoiled, don’t watch the video.)

The 4.2 Archon Quest and Furina’s Story Quest made me fall in love with Furina as a character (not literally falling in love I hope you get what I mean.). I just love everything about her. Her personality, her backstory and even her character design. There’s so much depth to her. Don’t get me wrong I liked her before 4.2 too. I actually liked her ever since she first appeared in 4.0, but each update made me like her a bit more and now with the Archon Quest concluded and with Furina’s story quest out I can’t help but be enamored by her. Ayaka used to be my favorite Genshin Impact character ever since I first saw her because there was something about her personality that reminded me of myself. But that spot has now been taken by Furina. She has become my number 1 favorite Genshin Impact character. She is very relatable to me and personality wise she also reminds me of myself. I can’t go into detail on why she reminds me of myself and why she is relatable to me without spoiling the quest tho. I was trying to pull for Furina but I sadly lost my 50/50 to Dehya. Hope I’ll still somehow get her tho during her Banner’s duration.

[corvidaerook]

My Rook + Rookanis photo dump because I'm going through my gallery

This is one of my favorite photos I have from the entire game ngl. Like 1) it's just pretty, but 2) my Rook, Cassian, carries a lot of guilt for what happened at Weisshaupt, so getting Lavendal to bloom again was a big, really surprising thing for him. And in the cutscene with Antoine and Evka, there's this moment where Rook turns to leave and (for me,) Lucanis stands up and just kind of looks after him, like he's concerned. So this fits with that Imo because my Rook doesn't openly express his upset feelings very much, so this is his moment of just looking at what they all managed to do and letting himself feel it before putting that away again, and Lucanis just waiting for him. They don't talk about it or admit that's what it was, but it's Lucanis' way of being there without crowding him.

This one is the first real mission Cassian had been on with Lucanis solo (other than the Treviso market) and I think he's trying to piece together what he's seeing of Lucanis with the stories he's heard of like the Demon of Vyrantium through the other Crows. This guy is the feared magekiller, but he's also grocery shopping for the team, gets excited about wyvern daggers, loves coffee, is poetic and sweet, like none of it is what he expected so I think Cassian at this point is still trying to figure it out. I also love this lighting for Lucanis even if it washes Cassian out😭

A bunch of random screenshots and live Harding reaction

[rainspicestudios]

[DEVLOG] Phantasia Jam 2024 - Week 1

Hey everyone! A lot has happened since Phantasia Jam 2024 started a week (and four days) ago. I will try to update you guys every week!

I'm sure that the first question on your mind is:

What is Project Maselosia?

Project: Maselosia is a fantasy puzzle game where two shapeshifters try to escape a cult and go back to their normal lives.

The "Maselosia" part of this placeholder title is the name of the world/continent in which the story takes place. I'm not sure what the official title will be, just expect some variant of the word "gemstone" or "crystal" to be in it.

When can I play it?

According to the Jam rules, chapter one will be posted before October 31st. Like a lot of indie puzzle games, this story will be told in chapters that will be released one after the other as I finish them.

How much of it is done?

Let's break it down into categories:

Character Sprites- I'm done with the two main characters! I still need to draw their primary antagonist for chapter one, and an important NPC. These two will be drawn when I get to their scenes.

UI & Menus- I found fonts that fit well, but I haven't changed the textbox, quick menu, game menu, or main menu. I'm still trying to figure out a design for those, as I have a few concepts, but nothing matches my vision for the game.

Audio- I'm thrilled to report that I've found great music that can absolutely fit my vision! As well as good SFX. (I feel like I should also make a public playlist of all the music I'm listening to while writing the game. Would anyone be interested if I shared it?)

Puzzles and their assets- I've finished up to puzzle two, which is what at I am currently working on. (Chapter one will have three or four puzzles depending on the needs of the story.) I've found a shading style that isn't too complicated to draw, and looks okay for the game, so I will stick to it for this project.

Cutscenes- I'm still wondering if I should have animated cutscenes or not. That will be decided after I'm done with puzzle two.

Do you have any screenshots to show us?

Yes I do! How about one per devlog?

Yes I do! How about one per devlog?

Final Thoughts

I will end with a few bullet points:

My asks are always open, whether you want to ask me a question, or ask a question to any game character from any of my projects.

Next week will be slow as I'll be traveling to see friends and family on the other side of the country. (I'll be moving around a lot in August/early September.)

I'm done with my internship, which means that while I have more time to work on games, I also have an internship report to write. This will not impact any game's release date, but something to keep in mind if I do not add much in next weeks' devlogs.

I feel like I have said everything. I hope you will enjoy reading these devlogs and will enjoy Project: Maselosia when it comes out!

Thank you so, so much for reading up to here and have a lovely day or night ✨

[kkildeer]

heeheehee

i do NOT have it in me to say how much fun i had today rn but WAOW

i think the poetic timing of finishing exactly a month after i started is very nice.

like i said on my main, i LOVED the feeling of actually living up to the hype surrounding your character. and ive been calling him my WOL this whole time, sure, but it was SOOOO GOOD to finally get called that officially.

the final gauntlet was really fun, even when i accidentally did praetoreum twice no it was really fun and didnt make me want to pull my hair out for being stupid it was fine it was fine it was f

love love looooooved the music. hell yeah.

I will be slowing my pace down after this- I've made the mistake of trying to speedrun a long story before and it ended up with me going through the worst drought of burnout i've ever had. that's still ongoing! but just looking at the amount of screenshots I took from all the cutscenes has me thinking it might be coming to an end.

more character stuff in an upcoming rb!

[thot-farm]

I finally finished birthright. I hated it, but I am a biased Xander dick rider 🤷‍♀️

I spent Elise's birthday getting her killed in birthright instead of making a shit post edit.

I just don't get how Ryoma stood still so many times. Like I get it, honorable samurai and all, fair fight between Xander and Corrin, but the strongest Nohrian soldier is beating his sister/brother with an ancient magic sword that is as tall as F!Corrin, and Ryoma is standing there staring while he let it happen. (Image creds u/MSGold)

Like, what?! If he, the fast samurai with a lightning katana, just jumped in and blocked the "final" blow from Xander that probably would have killed or at least greatly injured Corrin, 1) Elise would have lived and been able to do Elise things, 2) HE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A JACKASS STANDING THERE WHILE HIS SIBLING WAS ABOUT TO DIE! I don't hate Ryoma in every other route, but holy fuck I hate Birthright Ryoma. In the cutscene for the fight against Garon, bro tried to negotiate with Garon, of all people, to let Azura go, then he gets hit by a fucking fireball. Like for fuck sake dude get it together!

Maybe this is all steaming from them making Xander seem unstoppably strong and then the Reddit propaganda that Ryoma is on the same level or stronger. I don't believe that anymore after playing Birthright. Ryoma sucked and sassy birthright Corrin sucks too. Azura slayed, literally, she was the last unit left alive on the final battle for me, she fucked up that overgrown salamander.

And why in the route about justice prevailing and peace did Corrin not just make the Nohrian siblings come with her? Puppy eyes for Camilla on her first appearance and she would probably come with. Elise did come with. Corrin could have just dragged Leo with her or dangled Camilla in front of him and he would have come, or Camilla would have forcibly dragged him. If Xander was pitted against all his loved ones trying to bring peace to the lands or picking King Garon, he would probably pick his siblings, even if it would take a battle of him "knocking" sense into his siblings, looking at his siblings beaten down yet not giving up the fight for peace, and not giving up on hope for him even against his blade would probably let the "real" Xander's feelings out instead of them being stifled by the loyal crown prince of Nohr.

But that didn't happen, instead, Corrin lives with the guilt of Elise dying in her place the blood of Xander's glorified suicide on her hands, and a worse elder brother imo. But at least Ryoma is hotter, right? (Screenshots taken from Hawlo's video.)

Also, I get that Xander would have dismissed Azura's crystal ball probably like he dismissed soothsaying. (Screenshots from Xander/Nyx supports justonegamer)

But in his death quote he admitted King Garon had changed, he knew, and everyone else knew and was telling him so. So maybe that crystal could have given him the final push he needed to break free of his shackles to King Garon. (Screenshots from pheonixmaster1 chapter 26.)

Why oh why of all people did they show it to Leo and not Xander? Leo quite literally just disappeared, killed Lago, then disappeared again then came back and now he was king of Nohr. All could have been avoided if Leo told Xander to stop huffing copium.

Xander's death hit me harder than any other death in the game, I knew it was coming so I was tearing up the chapters leading up to it and through his death speech. Ryoma's I teared up a bit. Takumi I didn't realize died so it never set it. Elise I didn't cry, I was frustrated. Azura's death in Birthright was sad, but I was still recovering from Xander's death, and all of Ryoma's yapping afterward just made me angry. Who else dies? A bunch of side characters and enemies? Characters I couldn't give less of a shit about since I don't remember?

I don't know why, but I feel like the salamander form and the goo form should have been swapped for the route but I don't know how they would do that story-wise. I found birthrights last battle much harder than I did Conquest, but I did totally over level all the royals on Conquest, but I still had a level 30 defense boon Corrin with a strength/defense backpack get fucking obliterated on Birthright along with all my other units, which included my over-leveled Xander and Siegbert. The only survivors at my 2nd to last turn were my over-leveled dark flier Leo from my conquest run and my dark flier Azura with 8 hp left, but they beat down that ugly salamander anyway! But I was playing very aggressively in endgame (I sent all my units in different directions and expected it to be an easy sweep like conquest endgame was for me.) (Edit: I played endgame right and it was an easy sweep, I don't know what I did the first time to make it so hard, it may have been the grief of Xander's death clouding my brain's capabilities.)

If they ever remake fates for the switch, they should make it so we as the player get more impactful choices, similar to 3 houses, but I feel like there are so many instances where the player could make a choice that gives you a different avenue to the end or multiple endings instead of the only decision beings what side you pick, and if you pick conquest kill shura for boots or let Azura's kidnapper join you, hooray.

And if they remake the game for the switch they should show Xander with his cheeks out in the hot springs 🤭

(ETA: I was playing Conquest and Azura says to access the power of the crystal at will they need a 'powerful mage like Leo' or a person with 'potent dragon blood like Corrin', so they did give an actual reason as to why the crystal was given to Leo in birthright but you only get that explanation in conquest (I don't believe Azura explains jackshit in birthright but I could be wrong). But this does not explain if Corrin or Leo were to use the crystal, would have Xander been able to see it in some way? All of this just makes me wish there was like a Telltale version of Fates, it would fit the whole 'what if' theme so well and I would eat it up, even more than I ate up warriors 1.)

[princessmacedon]

{ OOC: TOA Anniversary Munday

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

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

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

tagging: anyone who needs a nudge ~

---

Name: Red or Reddo

Pronouns: they/she/he, with a preference toward they/them

Birthday (no year): December 28

Where are you from? What is your time zone? Kentucky; EST (toa o'clock)

Roleplay experience: mmm, tumblr wise, about 11 years? i think?

Got any pets? a very smiley dog named Tobin (named after he of Valentia fame) who hasn't got a thought in his head

Favorite time of year: whatever time of year it isn't right now (no strong feelings, but i miss the heat when it's winter and the cold when it's summer, and the lack of storms when it's tornado season DSHFHSDFHS)

Some interests and things you like: drawing, music................. uh.. g..gaming?? hum.. i really enjoy reading people's thoughts on characterization both in terms of (the muse's) self and relationship with others, though i tend to just read and enjoy unless i feel like. qualified to talk about the character hahaha

Some fun facts & trivia about you: uhh... hrmm... ?? i'm a chronic level grinder in fire emblem, usually to my own detriment, and i lurk in the server far more than i speak in it ^^;; i have way too many stuffed animals on my bed (including a minccino as tall as i am who cannot fits and so must sits on the floor)

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? FFXIV, Honkai: Star Rail, Pokemon, Genshin Impact, Dragon Age, Story of Seasons.. the more games release though the less i keep up with them HAHA

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: dark & dragon; lucario, appletun, zorua/zoroark, yamper, eevee+ (fun and incredibly unforeseen fact: i struggle with decisions)

How did you get into Fire Emblem? when i was still in high school some friends of mine kept gushing about some weird guy who had gloves, puffy pants, a singular full length sleeve, and his shoulder out. i didn't get the hype about him at all SDFHDSFHSDF but i liked the art and they liked the game, so i bought it to try it out

What Fire Emblem games have you played? awakening, fe7, fe11/12, fe4, fates (birthright & conquest), engage; i've started and need to restart shadows of valentia, fe6, fe8, and fe9, but i aim to play all of them one day!

First Fire Emblem game: Awakening

Favorite Fire Emblem game: in the end it's probably still Awakening! i have over a thousand hours in that game :softsmile:

Any Fire Emblem crushes? ough,, cordelia, chrom, lady rhea, uhhh. surely there's more but i've blanked HAHA

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: Chrom (on purpose because he got my ass with the ground cutscene immediately, fool that i am) - Fates: Takumi - Three Houses: Dimitri - Engage: haven't finished yet but it's probably going to be Diamant

Favorite Fire Emblem class: mages, dark fliers, horsemen.. i enjoy a good hero as well :]

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? i would be the merlinus of my class probably SDFSDSDGSDG definitely a magic user, probably a dark flier or maligknight, maybe a valkyrie? magic and staves, lower end of attack but higher speed + skill, glass bones and paper skin

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Blue Lions, i think!

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? hmm... i don't know anything about the dlc emblems, so i'd probably pick byleth for the dance/support, or maybe leif or lyn :thinking:

How did you find TOA? i heard about it from key for a good while, but i avoided joining at first since i was pretty burnt out in general. eventually zyra brought up the two of us writing macedonks again (we wrote together in an old group!) and i succumbed, hahaha. i was so terrified to join the server back then and she kept sending me screenshots trying to lure me in SDFFFSD

Current TOA muses: Maria & Katarina

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Maria! she's the mainstay muse for me, even if she isn't so deeply thrilling hahaha

Have you had any other TOA muses? Cordelia! I still love her greatly ^^

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? for muses, i tend to gravitate towards the soft-hearted type and the generally good-aligned, but i've been thinking about branching out more/again sometimes

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? in terms of tenses, i used to favor past tense but i usually flip-flop now depending on what makes my starter post sound nicest HAHA i tend to write event posts in present tense however, and sometimes change to match my partner. for threads in general, i'm drawn to emotional scenes and discussions and character bonding, though in general i like all kinds of threads ^^ and just as a general extra, i really love writing maria specifically. the way she puts in her full effort to love other people and the world itself is honestly really soothing to write sometimes!

Favorite TOA-related memory: i love watching everyone lose their minds when something Wild and Zany happens in an event, to be honest DSFDSFSD i haven't got a great memory myself, so nothing specific from me, but it's lots of fun to see :]

How do you pronounce TOA?: noah with a t (toah)

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? 😉 i am genuinely so close at all times to picking up wolf, though a preference for capping at 2 muses and general nervousness keep me from it :pensive: other than that, i've come really close to apping sothis before, and i have partially formed blogs for ced, citrinne, boucheron, among others

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

...hmm. that was... incredibly contrived. simple tweaks to scene blocking would have sold that better, and made it seem less like arr levels of "this only happened because the wol has been designated a cardboard cutout instead of a protagonist for this scene".

i'll get more detail and screenshots down later, but i want it to beclear: i was mostly enjoying the story of this stretch before this happened, and my plummeting of enjoyment is purely based on how obviously it was authorial fiat to set up a later thing.

spoilers under cut

okay so like. we all agree ahewann didn't need to die there if the wol hadn't stood around gawping like they had been glued there, right?

it would have been real easy to have the wol doing anything (even just running from further away!) and still failing just because of the time involved, and they just didn't do it? i'm trying to remember when a cutscene was last that obvious about something happening because the script said so and failing.

anyway, ahewann added to the list of characters that deserved better.

[fell-court]

Yesterday and possibly the day before’s gameplay progress because I forgot to make a post yesterday and I’m not sure if I made one the day before:

I made it to level 90 as a summoner!!! And also scholar, technically, but it’s not as if I’ve ever actually played as that. Due to having gotten so many pieces of level 90 gear from my retainers going on quick explorations, I’m already at an average item level of 560 as both classes, which is second only to the 565 I have as a dancer (and the 620 as a weaver, technically, but that one isn’t a combat class)! Not bad considering I don’t have access to any level 90 content yet, haha =P

I now only have black mage and reaper left to level out of the main classes I’ve been focusing on (I think they’re both level 88, perhaps even approaching 89), and I can still use the main story to level both of them quite effectively, which is both exciting and somewhat unfortunate in terms of feeling like I’m wasting that story quest experience once I do get to the level cap.

Now that I’ve reached level 90 as a caster class, though, I can finally wear my ornate rinascita jacket of casting that I’ve had for literal months thanks to Wondrous Tails certificates! This inspired me to make a fancier summoner glamour - but I’m still very attached to the demon skirt + caller’s sandals combination that I’ve been wearing as a summoner for so long now, so I ended up spending a long time in glamour hell trying things out to reach a happy medium.

This is what i eventually ended up going with - I like to think it still works as a top half that can be worn with the bottom half! I think I’ll save the rinascita coat for when I reach level 90 as a black mage, since it fits Lorenza’s princess/royalty theme very well, but I am at least still wearing it right now as far as others see in the game, which is neat.

Anyway, where were we?

Regarding the story, I’m currently at the first level 86 quest, and part of me is tempted to try and make a lot of progress over this weekend, so I can get through it in bigger chunks. I think I might be able to do it all in one weekend if my Shadowbringers progression was anything to go by, but it would be very dependent on cutscene length - I’m just quite aware of how the story will start to pick up the pace, and so I don’t want to have to stop playing due to time constraints at a point where it doesn’t feel right to pause the plot, if that makes sense.

I really need to start bringing red mage up through the levels as well, I’ve realised. And maybe machinist, but I don’t really remember how to play as that at this point, even if it is level 70. In theory it might make sense to try and push to level 86 as a red mage and then let the story bring it the rest of the way, but that would mean both a lot of level grinding and also having to delay story progression. If nothing else, at least I can use it for levelling up the Trust avatars, since I haven’t really touched that system yet!

In terms of weekly things.. I’m still working on my Wondrous Tails for this week, and I went to the Doman enclave to hand in donations only to get completely distracted by glamour stuff (as you can see by where I’m standing in that screenshot from before), so.. I need to actually sort that next time I log on, haha.

[fictionfixations]

finally going through penacony story (ive already seen it all but now im actually playing through it in-game)

am going to spoil in my thoughts up to the most recent penacony story. 2.2 i think?

also JP spoilers for book 7 of twisted wonderland

look she said im funny

HUH

AHHH

sorry i ship them so bad oh my god DEAR.

YEAHHH ITS ACHERON

i dont think i can see anyone else

i still dont understand what the red text means. i always thought it just meant that the text can be different for everyone but sometimes its just single words that are red and it makes me wonder why would it change? what would it even change to?

it didnt fully make sense to me so im still not sure

also i really doubt 'raiden bosenmori mei' could be changed so its likely more that its something important?

idk

actually this hits different after ive been going through book 7 of twisted wonderland (its a game btw, book 7. there is a novel and manga but not the point)

im going to keep it vague in case people havent gone through twisted wonderland

but basically. the wrong thing in those dreams weren't that it was just a dream (although thats why we're trying to stop it) its that in the process something they deeply care about is missing from that dream. they dont exist.

like. okay now MAJOR book 7 spoilers (im talking JP server spoilers. scroll past if you dont want to see)

Idia's dream had Ortho alive. but in the process meant that robot Ortho never existed (also that 'ortho' is in RSA), robot Ortho who ended up having an existence outside of who he was based upon, being seen as a member of the family, as another one of the Shroud's sons... just ceased to exist.

Lilia's happiest memory was Malleus finally awakening from his egg, but that means they were placed in war times, facing all this tragedy, not liking humans, not wanting children, and in a world where it also means he hadn't taken in Silver yet.

Rook's dream was where Vil and Neige actually got along and were friends in RSA. But that meant Rook never got that bond with Vil, never transferred to Pomefiore, never got to really be himself since he's been hiding the fan part of him in Savanaclaw. (his room is a nightmare tho wtf)

So. it's like a loss you face when reaching towards what would be your 'happiest' dream. It doesn't necessarily mean that say, Lilia doesn't care about Silver, because he does. but you can see what i mean right?

SPOILER END

dont remember this but i probably just forgot

'what you must do is ponder its significance. and then return to the waking world'

okay deja vu to the cutscenes in 2.2. huh. no wonder. its referencing this

also ayo

i love misha so much

mhm like your appearance right?

AVENTURINE I LOVE YOU (i switched to english voice over for you LMFAO)

im gonna end it here and make another post if i get more screenshots

[kyogre-blue]

Djdjjd oh yeah I remember that, I squinted at Diluc like "are you trying to throw me off the trail? Even if it weren't p obvious it's Venti, I'd literally just need to pick up a book and see the discrepancy?" Then I remembered that this is Mr "between eating a cryo slime alive or joining the fatui I'd prefer to be crushed to death by a meteorite" So subtle is, hm, shall we say, Not his middle name. But! If Diluc could indeed be subtle, that could have been the set-up to a diversion so you'd start looking into to what Diluc may be hiding instead of any possibly-the-wind-god-in-disguise candidates! (yes I know it's a typo but I like yarn-spinning :3)

Oh glad to know there was buildup to Azhdaha bc when I played Zhongli's second quest I did feel like the dragon came all but completely out of left field haha... like was I supposed to feel sad when I didn't get the backstory until the very end and Zhongli was so unemotional abt it? Like yeah I know Zhongli's Just Like That but idk, Venti's desesperate "no, listen to me!" still lives rent free in my brain (like yeah he literally says "you don't have to listen to me" in the end cutscene and it's a direct contradiction so they changed the text in the subtitles, but the delivery was amazing. Venti sounded so pained, I'm not even mad about them leaving the soundbit in) and compared to that Azhdaha just felt like an inferior copycat of Dvalin :/ ik I have the bad habit of comparing every region to Mond, but...

Also I had seen a lot of fans talking abt Guizhong so I came out of the quick-start lantern rite expecting her to at least get mentioned on his story quests lmfao, silly me. Though I may have just been inatentive bc there was like. 0 incentive in archon quest to explore liyue and I had been actively holding back on exploring bc I felt salty about being used like a cheap rag by EVERYONE throughout the ENTIRETY of the archon quest (except for Xiao and the adepti I guess, thank u funny pompous supernatural animals u kept it real) so I was like "you're asking me how do I find this region without an absentee archon? well I wouldn't be able to tell you bc I'M NOT GONNA FIND OUT. Bitch." I feel a bit dumb though because I DID do The Secret of Nantianmen before the Zhongli quests but I have absolutely no recolection of the infodump. Like, straight up, reading through the screenshots with the weird blue haired girl and not getting even deja vu. I remebered the tree bc it's blue-veined and huge and there was a hecking seelie I lost like twice on the branches, but not anything abt the dragon rip.

Djdjdj fair, I have heard THINGS about inazuma and raiden ei (especially from my sister, who's behind me in story despite starting several months earlier bc she's vehemently avoiding inazuma lmfao) but idk, I guess I just like picking up the shiny bits and holding them to the light. Sure, there's stuff I dislike about every region! But there's stuff I like about every region too! I try to focus on that :) reading your posts is super interesting for a more critical perspective though! (And yknow it's actually refreshing for someone to actually give the sideye to Zhongli, instead of the 1000th "haha venti cares more about getting drunk than Mondstadt" abyssmal take)

Wow though, the archon quest ending without removing the sakoku decree is REALLY awful though—I was already feeling like they were pushing it too much by forcing you to do both raiden story quests to unlock literally ANY inazuma characters, but they're pushing it even MORE? And is it me or does Inazuma have, aside from NPC-itis, a subset of the same problem in liyue that it's hard to get attached to the characters? You're basically forced at gunpoint to get close to Ayaka, and Thoma left a. rather bad first impression, shall we say, by leaving you stranded in Ritou with no way to get out. and by act 3 we've barely even met the major players in the war, like Gorou (I like him bc he's fluffy and obviously cares abt his men, and I've had him for a couple of months so I was excited abt finally meeting him, but still) Sara and Kokomi. I was more interested in Kazuha bc I thought the prologue did a fairly good job setting up who he is, what he wants, what he believes in (plus I outright cackled at his intro by beidou djdjdj) but he's literally not even relevant in his own region's archon quest? Straight up vanished until the very end of act 2? Why?? And now you tell me that literally none of what he tells us in the prologue ends up ever being relevant? like what the heck was hoyo thinking :/ that many red herrings with no payoff should be illegal

I have been told (cannot confirm) that Zhongli actually emotes in other languages, but the EN dub is... hahaha.

Anyway, there's a few things here that I've thought about a lot.

One, Genshin has a really bad habit of only giving you context AFTER the climax, which renders the entire quest preceding it just floating meaninglessly in the wind and leaves the actual climax with no impact cause you haven't gotten the context for it yet. Venti's quest is like that (as much as I enjoy it), Zhongli's quests are largely like that, Inazuma archon quest is like that, etc. This is a really obvious tell for the writers being too amateur to pace/structure their story correctly, the writers having no time to do a second draft to fix the pacing issues, or both.

Two, Azhdaha is a massive writing disaster not just in terms of the quest's pacing (let's spend the entire time on tracking down some miners... what is buildup or foreshadowing), but especially in terms of its message and implications. A developer interview video explicitly says that Azhdaha is meant to be a nature vs human progress aesop. And it ends with... "nature" (Azhdaha) being sealed away while suffering endlessly ("A thousand years of pain!") and going "no, you're right, I totally deserve to be sealed away, do it," while the humans learn nothing and face no repercussions for the damage they have done for now generations. (Seriously, there are multiple instances where Liyue's mining caused supernatural problems. It just keeps happening.)

Is this how you do a nature aesop. Is it really.

There is also a throughline in Genshin about the gods doing third party racism on behalf of humans. You get to Azhdaha and he is basically tortured by reckless human expansion and yet it's all his fault and he's the only one who faces consequences. You get the oni in Itto's quest, who have to make bizarre concessions to live with humans. You get the vishaps being a sentient race and the original native population of Teyvat, but due to the gods, they've been forced into the underground and mutated due to contact with the Abyss. Even Dvalin, while it's still okay with him because that's not the focus of his story, we never get the people of the city acknowledging him as more than a monster, which would have been nice, since the whole thing was kicked off by them rejecting him.

I really don't like it because people don't need to be coddled like this. They should be made aware of their mistakes and learn to be better.

Three, Inazuma is a hilarious mess.

See, every nation's story is about the archon. The archon is the most important character and the one we're supposed to care about the most. They're the heavy weight banner that's both meta as fuck AND emotionally appealing. Venti is obvious, but even Zhongli is like... the one actual character in Liyue, who is around the most and has the most complexity and impact.

But then we get to Inazuma. Ei is the final boss, so we can't buddy up with her. We don't even see her except in two boss battles, and then she dumps out her backstory in a poorly integrated animation and the story ends.

And then, the very next thing, is we go on a date with her around town. She likes sweets! She doesn't know what fiction is! She needs you, the player, you stud, to teach her about life! Isn't she so waifu?

And a good chunk of the player base went, "excuse me, what the hell."

The writers really wanted you to go "so maybe she caused a civil war and untold suffering with her negligence and selfishness, but have you considered... I love her??" And that's fine and normal. Fans do that, I do that. Insert Legend of Galactic Heroes meme.

The problem was that the writers did not bother writing Ei into the archon quest enough for people to feel anything for her. They did the opposite, they wrote a whole lot about how much all these NPCs are suffering. So naturally, what people care about is those NPCs and their suffering.

Which Ei's story quests entirely skip over. It's just never addressed.

This gets pretty funny if you look at Sumeru because the writers were obviously aware of the issue, and they tried to patch over it.

You see Nahida a lot in the Sumeru archon quest. She's around for a bunch of the stuff going on. The thing is, Nahida is SO able to move around and do her own thing that it begins to cause dissonance with the narrative they give her (CAGED BIRD METAPHOR). We're concerned later that she got "caught" by Dottore, but this doesn't correlate with freeing her from the Sanctuary of Surasthana. I believe we don't even discuss it until after Dotorre? Because before that, she's just too able to do stuff, so it doesn't really feel like she's locked up.

But the Sages sealing her is then treated like their worst crime (even though they just inherited the situation lol). It's not that they're encouraging people go insane from forbidden knowledge or causing so many scholars to have emotional breakdowns from the pressure or mistreating the desert people. Oh no, we're against them because they were mean to Nahida. But Nahida... was cool with it basically? She could travel around, she could talk to people, she was too fine for this to be impactful even if logically it wasn't nice.

Don't even ask why we're so set on making her the archon ruler. I don't think we even ask her if she wants to do that.

The writers made Nahida present in the story a whole bunch, but they didn't really make her a good character. If anything, her presences raises a whole lot of questions while not contributing much.

(It worked tho, people are totally up in arms about their "radish daughter.")

It's similar for everyone else in Sumeru. They're around a whole lot. But the emotional core of the story is still pretty much entirely NPCs. It's Dunyarzad, it's Setaria, it's the kid whose keeper grandpa was taken, it's Rahman. They're the ones who actually care about what's going on and emote about it.

People say Sumeru is better writing, but imo it's just longer. The core issues are pretty much all the same, just dragged out and more tedious.