#the game has flaws and could definitely be improved

[dmbakura]

Bg3 hitting the "actually this game is bad" part of the hype cycle more than like half a year after it released is so fucking funny to me. Usually it only takes like a month or 2 for people to start overanalyzing the fuck out of a good game and convince themselves it's actually shit but the fact the game is so big and dynamic that it took this long is impressive

[oakdll]

things i desperately want for persona 6

- Femc

I know this is not an unpopular opinion, but I don’t even need a full femc route. It would be nice, but I think it would probably take up too much budget. All I want is a girl model of the protagonist that you can choose and some pronoun changes. It would be so easy to do, I’m begging for this

- Let people be gay

If they are doing a femc route like that, there will probably be romance options for male social links, so just keep that for the boy protagonist route. You literally don’t have to change anything except maybe a few voice lines, but you could also have the VA’s only use gender neutral pronouns. Just let you date every social link (as long as they aren’t like your dad or teacher or something) regardless of their gender.

- Keep the rewind feature from Reload

This is self explanatory, it’s maybe the single best quality of life feature in any Persona game, I NEED it for P6.

- Keep the palace system for the dungeons

The order of Persona games was me playing P5R, then P4G, then P3R. Going from P5’s palaces to the mediocre dungeons in P4 was super jarring. Tartarus in P3R is definitely an improvement, and I might even like it more than Mementos, but palaces are by far the best addition to the Persona series ever. Having unique levels for each arc was a stroke of genius, and if they don’t carry it over to P6 it will almost certainly be underwhelming compared to P5. I do like the randomly generated dungeons, but I think they work best as accompaniment to palaces. Something like Mementos would be great for P6 in accompaniment to Palaces.

- Have a better spawning method for The Reaper

I like to farm The Reaper a lot, and especially in P4, it was TORTURE. Having to open 21 chests and then requiring the 22nd to randomly spawn an enemy just to fight The Reaper was awful. Even the time based ones in P5 and P3 are not perfect. Literally just anything but the tedium of P4. Requiring RNG was awful, you could spend 20 minutes opening chests just to not get an enemy chest on the 22nd and have to restart.

- Have a post game

Sometimes I want to play Persona but I don’t want to have to start a 100 hour new playthrough. Persona genuinely has a great combat system, and I would love to be able to explore Mementos or rematch bosses after beating the game. Maybe bring back the Thieves Den (or something similar) but allow you to re-enter palaces and Mementos after getting the true ending. Something like being able to rematch bosses in the Mushroom Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey. Maybe also bring the album thing on the couch in Persona 4 back. If you don’t remember, if you went to sit on your reading couch, you could view all of your maxed social links and replay each rank. You could even go to the social links you didn’t romance and see what their romance path was like, or vice versa. It was super cool!

- Keep confidant perks

Having the ranks of non-party member social links grant perks is one of my favorite additions to P5. It can really help incentivize you to prioritize them and go for all max social links. I think the main flaw with Persona 5 was that Atlus underestimates how powerful the perks would be. That’s why the game was so easy, not because of the gameplay, but because Atlus couldn’t balance some players having unlocked broken confidant perks and others having not. It would be difficult, but they need to be able to balance the perks more. Definitely keep them, but don’t let people just blitz through palaces if they have Ryuji’s confidant at rank 7.

- Bring over a rebalanced version of Ryuji’s instakill

Speaking of Ryuji’s rank 7 confidant ability, I want it to come back. It is by far the most broken ability in P5, but it also made grinding SO much more bearable. That said, it needs a rebalance. Make it so it doesn’t work in palaces, only P6’s version of mementos. Make it much harder to get than rank 7, maybe a late game social link’s rank 10 ability. It would still be a broken ability, but it is an ingenious solution to fixing tedious late game grinding. More games should have versions of this ability.

- Keep the completionist difficulty of P5R

I think Persona 5 Royal has the best balance in terms of how difficult it should be to max out all of your social links on a first playthrough. I got all achievements on my first playthrough, but not 100% on social links. I was rank 5 in Strength and rank 9 in Lovers. It was very close, but it had just the right amount of generosity. I think if someone tries hard, they should be able to 100% it on a first playthrough.

- Make it so hanging out with Velvet Room attendants doesn’t take up time

Unless it’s a social link like Marie, I think having it take up time just prevents people from actually doing it. With how valuable time is in Persona, wasting time slots on hanging out with a non-social link character isn’t super viable. In P5R, I almost never hung out with The Twins because it took up a time slot when it didn’t need to. In P3R, I always hang out with Elizabeth because you don’t need to take up a precious time slot to do it. Please keep this!!

- Keep the story based character progression

In P5, most of the character progression happens through confidants. Obviously confidants should have character progression, but it also means that without doing those confidants, the characters are super stagnant. In P3R, almost all of the characters develop over the course of the game without requiring you to do their social link. Junpei develops a bond with Chidori, Yukari has personal drama with Mitsuru, etc. In P5, the only time this happened was Morgana leaving the Phantom Thieves, which is by far the worst part of the game. If they can write the story to be more similar to P3, I think it would be an improvement.

- Battle mechanics

I think Theurgy (or something similar) should be brought over to Persona 6. Theurgy in Reload was very unbalanced, being able to charge Theurgy's before big battles and end it in 1 turn was way too broken. I think Theurgy's should only be able to be charged and used in the span of one battle. You wouldn't be able to pre-charge your Theurgy and Armageddon all the bosses away, as all of your charge would go away after finishing a battle. This way it can only really be used if the battle goes on for a while, making it feel more like an ultimate attack and less like a win condition.

I also want Baton Passes and Technicals to be brought over as well. It can have different names and slightly different functions, but I think they are great mechanics, they just need some balance. Baton Passes and Technicals are also super broken in P5R, especially with merciless difficulty making them do 1.5x damage. Baton Passes were absolutely overpowered. I think this might be a pretty severe nerf, but I think the best solution might be limiting Baton Passes to only work once in a row. Having Baton Pass chains where you hit a weakness, Baton Pass to an ally to hit another weakness, and keep chaining it to shred every battle was unreasonable.

- Have a good challenge difficulty

Persona games (Mostly P5R and P3R) are far too easy. I actually like having the option to make them easy, safe difficulty is a genuinely good addition to the game, however merciless leaves a lot to be desired. I think P4G's option to freely change difficulty settings was pretty perfect, but even then I think having an even more challenging difficulty would be nice for veterans. Give the option to have a TRUELY merciless difficulty, something like Terraria's for the worthy seed, or CHIMPS difficulty in Bloons TD6. I always view those modes as some of the best challenge difficulties in gaming history. They have a perfect amount of challenge for veterans, and having something of similar difficulty in P6 would be amazing. I’m thinking like super boss level difficulty for every boss fight, obviously scaled to the player level though. I want to have to prepare in advance instead of just grinding slightly and shredding every boss.

- STOP ADDING FUCKING PEDOPHILES TO THESE GAMES

KAMOSHIDA WAS GOOD BECAUSE HE WAS ACTUALLY A VILLAIN, YOU DIDN'T NEED TO MAKE KAWAKAMI, UEHARA, AND MS. TORIUMI PEDOPHILES TOO PLEASE STOP LETTING THE MC DATE THEIR TEACHER

[sundogsandrainbows]

Hi, I'm sorry to write to you out of the blue, but Of Elves and Humans was the first DA longfic that got me hooked back in 2011 when I, as a dumb teen, happened to pick up DAO. Ever since then, the DA universe has been a constant fixation of mine and my admiration for you as a writer as well as someone who isn’t afraid to call out the franchise's flaws has never wavered. Now that Bioware decided to take a massive shit on everything pre-DAV and their oldest fans specifically, I'm really devastated and feel like a fool for having been so invested in DA and its lore for those past 13 years. It’s incredibly encouraging, however, to see you keep on keeping on. "So since they spat in my face like this I ignore this atrocity of a game even exists" is where I hope to be at soon, too. Thank you.

(First of all apologies for the late reply, I put it in my drafts when i was too tired to complete it, and then my adhd brain forgot it existed due to being distracted by new shinies 😂☠)

But aww omg i cannot believe i was the gateway drug into dragon age, or rather the old version of my story on FFN was. I am so very honored <3 And nonnie, I feel you. I am invested in DA as a series since DA:O's release in 2009, like I bought it on a whim for XBox because I liked Mass Effect 1 sm. So that is 15 yrs of my life i spent loving and discussing a thing while still being critical of the thing, but now i feel so very protective of the world, lore and its characters that "New Bioware" has decided to take a massive dump of shit on, and not only the games but the old fans I feel are treated with disdain too and do not matter to them any longer.

Long, subjective rant about current bioware aka the shambling corpse of its former self and talent incoming. Spoilers for Veilguard bc i don't give a fuck to avoid them :D You (general you, not you in particular dearest nonny <3) should use your time better than to play this shit anyhow 😂

It feels like calculated malice of new Bioware to apply the scorched earth tactics to offscreen destroy everything that old fans and fans of the other games in general held dear, and was supposed to suck out the enjoyment of DAO, DA2 and DAI. Like it is obvious they plan to create a sequel on DA's scorched bones, but jfc, you can do so story-wise without spitting everyone loving what old bioware has built in the face after dropkicking them. But to me that is part of the problem, since if i remember correctly and i wish i could find the bit... they praised Veilguard as "The best Dragon Age game ever", with the most interesting companions and best most improved combat system, comparing it to the other three games in a near smug fashion. There is marketing and there is putting the other games down to prop up your most favorite and only child mattering and they were definitely doing the latter. And don't get me started on the whole "Who is Zevran" debacle or we are gonna here all day.

Bottom line is new/current devs and writer do not give a shit about and very possibly have never played any other game than Inquisition, and you cannot tell me otherwise. And since a lot of devs/writer have left since the start of this project that would become this abysmal game, I also have the impression that there is a lot of underlying resentment toward what these former colleagues have created and so they piss on it in order to make it fully theirs now. Like dogs marking their territory, and well that did not work out, imo. At all.

Ever since they announced respecting our past choices by ignoring them (????) it was clear to me that I would not play Veilguard but just watch a playthrough and all spoilers and then move on. And everything i saw before release was shocking... like i was flabbergasted at how baaaad the dialogue was, which as a writer myself is super important to me in my story. There was no subtext, characters just blurt out everything they think and feel, like a lifeless doll you squeeze and words tumbling out and just as natural. It is stilted, awkward and 80% of it exists for info dump or info dumb rather as they keep repeating the same shit they just told you a few seconds ago as if you as the player are braindead. Here is a good example of what i mean.

Jfc, who edited this crap? There is so much superfluous dialogue that adds nothing to a scene but annoyance for the player and says nothing at all. Just pure senseless yapping in the most cringy way. Why was no one there to trim this nonsense as you should as a writer/editor? Hell, they really disregarded every simple and basic writing rule (everything is told never SHOWN for example especially in dialogue) which really made me question their competence in what they were doing and thus the quality of the upcoming game but i still held out hope for it to not be that bad.

Well shit, it was even worse. In all regards. Especially the writing that cringed this writer into a new dimension with its incoherent incompetence. Jfc. they got paid for that? I'm convinced the majority of fandom writer can do much better, even unpaid. Hell my cat just by walking over the keyboard can manage a better draft and script...💀

But I digress. That is a rant for another time. Point is, nonny, despite my defiant words, I struggled too for days after i got to know the full extent of Bioware's spiteful fuckery to even look at anything da related, in my case my Alistair/Mahariel longfic. I was really down for a few days, ngl. Then again, there is nothing better than spite fueling my creativity to prove "i can write better" soooo in the end and with the help of the much better first version of DA4 in the artbook, I was able to exorcise the demons and feverdream-mindfuck of mediocrity sold to me as a turd with gold-glitter that is this game.

I have successfully now rejected its existence, filled the void with the version that should have been from the artbook and vowed to give no fucks what bioware is doing or saying and infinitely more fucks when writing my own version of thedas and the version of DA4 that should be. REWRITES BBY hell yeah. So OEAH:R is just the beginning of a verse-wise rewrite. But if you need a pick me up, nonny, you are very much welcome to take a trip down memory lane to Dragon 9:30 and see how much this iteration of the story differs from my first one back in the days. Because in this house of mine, we grow and learn as writers, unlike bioware where writer ego reigns surpreme (oh boy and does it ever show in VG) aka eating their own turds and tell themselves it is the finest chocolate 💀

There is still a lot of good about DA out there, but we have to accept it does not come from Bioware any longer. Instead it came, comes and will come from the fans and creators of art and texts and words defying their bullshit with their love and respect for the world, its lore and characters. Also very unlike Bioware.

As we should <3

[hughesybear]

That was an absolutely wild game. Defensive breakdowns, three rush goals for, and multiple star players out for varying reasons? Experience Canucks hockey!

Canucks thoughts 11/19/2024:

With three of the Canucks’ best players out, the focus was always going to be on their compete level, work rate, and process for generating offence 5v5, and they did a great job on all those fronts. It’s tough to compensate for what J.T. brings on and off the ice, and I think the Canucks did well despite the loss of the team’s heart.

Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson definitely stepped up this game. Quinn opened the scoring 34 seconds into the game with a beautiful backhand from the slot, and he had the time and space to execute that because Pettersson drove to the side of the crease and drew two defenders with him. Sherwood continues to be electrifying on Pettersson’s line, which was the Canucks’ best line again. The chemistry between DeBrusk-Pettersson-Sherwood continues to build with every game, highlighted by a shift where they got three scoring chances in the slot in quick succession. Petey when the speedy winger elevated to his line actually has the hands to make a play: 🤯

The Pettersson line was also hard matched against the Zibanejad line and used against the Trochek line, and Pettersson won those minutes through the first two periods. He’s expressed his desire to play against the best competition, and I think his expected role with Miller out will bring the best out of him.

Šilovs continues to rebound from his rough start to the season - he actually had a higher SV% than Shesterkin this game (and also a wild blockerless save???) There’s not much he could do about the shot differential, and he’s improved at a lot of things that were plaguing him, such as tracking long shots through traffic. There’s definitely still flaws in his game, such as some overaggressiveness in lateral positioning, but he’s proven to be such a quick learner that I think he’ll only keep improving with every game. Apparently Demko’s coming back soon, which will help Šilovs get much more development time in Abby!

Loved seeing Garland step up in J.T.’s absence, especially when he’s going to be a new dad soon. Dak to Garland game-tying goal, I know that’s right!! I’d love to see the 4th line get the puck on net more - Höglander in particular feels like he’s trying to do too much with the puck every time he’s in the offensive zone, and while he has the hands to make plays, a lot of the time it’s just better to simplify and play a more direct game in order to push the pace. Hopefully he figures it out soon (if he gets traded I will be devastated).

Defence pairs are an issue again, what else is new. There was still lots to be proud of this game. Hopefully they’ll continue improving their road record on the upcoming 6-game road trip!

[shahrwrites]

I headcanon that in an alternate universe where aDitF didn’t happen, Jason joins his college’s football team.

He’d been wanting to play football with his high-school’s team for the longest time, but he was never the right fit (physically) so he puts in the extra effort to build up his body.

Some days feel like his work is finally paying off, and others are just spent scrutinizing himself and every little flaw detail about himself in the mirror.

Bruce is very encouraging about it, reminding him on the worse days that Jason will achieve whatever he sets his mind to, and optimistic that all that work will definitely amount to something. He’s still a growing boy after all, and he’s got a lot of time till college to turn things around. Bruce makes sure to praise Jason’s hard work and give extra tips here and there on what workout or diet regimen could use an improvement.

This also means he has to sacrifice a few things, like avoiding certain foods at all costs, which proves to be a challenging feat for him for obvious reasons. Once upon a time he had to teach himself not to be picky about food because any kind of food at all was a luxury, which most of the time meant he had to make do with least beneficial kind, hence the predicament he was in right now. This, in turn, had caused sever changes to his digestive system and his taste buds. (His body had rejected the healthy food on the first few weeks he'd come to live with Bruce.)

Of course things had changed over the years, what with him having to adapt to becoming Robin. But it was different now, because he had to actively avoid certain foods and it went against a fundamental instinct.

Nothing is too great a feat for him, though.

So then he’s in college, and he's finally gotten into the team he'd always dreamt of one day playing in. Jason's in the field, and the benches are overcrowded with spectators and fans, other students or the family of the other players, an then his eyes lands on his family. Because they never lose a game, always there to cheer him on and raise his spirits specially during difficult matches. Bruce and Alfred can always be seen among the crowd, and Dick, whenever he's in town.

And that's why he can never help turning to find their faces in the crowd when his team wins, specially when he's the one scoring the win, the biggest of grins on his face, looking to share all his euphoria and happiness with the most important people in his life.

[gatitties]

Have you’ve ever watched Kuroko No Basketball? If not it’s basically a group of middle schoolers turn high schoolers who are prodigies at basketball. They were called the Generation of Miracles. And once they enter highschool they split up to see who’s on top.

I have an request what if reader was their coach from when they were in middle school. And she coaches them again when they enter college. But when they were in high school she was working for bonten. But bonten being nosy decides to see the reason she quited and come to find out reader trained the elite team in Japan. The Generation of Miracle’s

—Bonten (slight Kuroko no basket) x reader

—Summary: homesickness makes you want to go back to your old job and your new coworkers are curious

—Warnings: none

yeeeeah, I know knb, a good series even though I didn't finish it 😔🤌🏻

You were someone young when you first met the Generation of Miracles, completely fascinated by the basketball games of that team, you could not resist asking for your internship as a coach there. When they were in middle school you had just finished your studies in sports science, so you applied to go to Teiko as your final grade internship. Many people took you as another miracle added to the team, but you did nothing more than polish those six guys flaws, and your work wouldn't have been as noticeable if it wasn't thanks to their manager Momoi.

Although you decided not to finish your studies there, also noticing how the atmosphere of what at first was a united and hard-working team gradually broke down, you did not meet any of them again after they separated to go to different high schools. So during those years you started studying a management degree while looking for a job, you ended up working for, without knowing it, the most sought after gang in all of Tokyo. It's not that you didn't know about Bonten, but when you accepted the job they obviously didn't put anything related to that mafia, since at least you were working in one of their legal premises.

How you got to know all the executives and the leader himself was through your performance, rising through the ranks quickly, since not many people wanted to work there, the truth is that you didn't either, but it was already too late and you had a confidentiality contract. The thing is... it wasn't as bad as you thought, not as bad if you take away all the illegal shit they do behind the scenes, but since you weren't involved in those problems, you took it in a better way.

Probably the one closest to you is Kokonoi or Mochizuki due to the fact that they were the ones with the least legal problems, you had a love-hate relationship with the Haitani because they liked to mess with you from time to time. Kakucho was definitely the one who calmed all your nerves for being the sanest one there, just like Takeomi, you couldn't say the same about Sanzu, he always made you nervous because he walked around with a gun like it was his dog. You didn't see Mikey much, but your relationship was mere cordiality, for the moment you hadn't bothered him and you had done your job well so he had no problems.

So from one day to the next you found yourself being friends with one of the most powerful mafias in Tokyo, putting aside that sporty side of yours for a few years until one day, while cleaning your apartment, you found a photo with Teiko's basketball team. The nostalgia hit you so hard that you spent the whole day thinking about those years, your love for basketball having only crumbled a little because of the breakup of a good team.

You spent the next few days looking for information about them, they had already finished their studies and it seems they all met again at the university, you were surprised to see all those matches in which Kuroko won and you felt completely proud to see that everyone had improved their techniques, even though Aomine didn't appear much until the end.

The thing is that its gameplay reminded you of the old team, maybe it was a hasty or impulsive choice, but your contract with Bonten ended in a week, despite having a good salary and position, you wanted to feel again what was to be a coach. The decision took everyone by surprise of course, normally employees don't usually decide to end the contract and renew for another year, or they are simply the ones who have to get rid of people who don't serve them, but they had a good relationship with you.

Mikey didn't take it too seriously, but he was curious as to why you did it, since he had some regard for your hard work even though you knew they were criminals.

"Well? Have you found any information?"

Takeomi nodded, passing a folder to his leader, although of course, he wasn't the only curious one, everyone was looking for information about you.

"Oh, basketball coach, seems to do well right?"

"Aren't those guys the generation of…? erm... yeah, whatever, they're famous."

Sanzu simply didn't care about that team, he just looked at the photos where you were smiling holding the tournament cup.

"Look, this is the most recent news, it was on yesterday's news."

Rin turned on the projector, playing an informative sports video announcing your reunion with the generation of miracles for the Japanese team.

"Looks like I'm going to have more work now..."

Kokonoi leaned back massaging his scalp, you took a lot of work off of him and now he was on his own to take care of it all.

"I hope they win."

Mikey left all the photos of old championships won, intertwining his fingers, you were a good worker, he respected your decision to return to the sport but I also hoped that you would return with them, for now he would limit himself to seeing your progress in this tournament with your old team.

[milkpumpkin96]

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Review

Part I: The Teal Mask

I have a lot to say about Pokémon Scarlet & Violet as a whole . . . but damn, this game is ginormous. I have recently completed "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC in its entirety, but since it is absolutely stuffed with new content, I am going to divide up my review.

It is quite clear that Gen IX has . . . its flaws. But nonetheless, I adored this DLC like you cannot imagine (graphical concerns aside).

Pokémon has always been a huge part of my life and I am eager to talk about it. I think that the DLC could have been cheaper to purchase, but it is definitely worth it for Pokémon fans.

I know I am late to the party because "The Teal Mask" came out like half a year ago, but oh well!

[ MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING ]

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

For the most part, I went into the DLC blind. I did not view posts or trailers or anything about it beforehand. As such, I was in for a nice surprise!

Overall, "The Teal Mask" featured definite improvements from the base game. I consider myself lucky in that I never experienced the hoards of bizarre or game-breaking glitches that other players dealt with in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. The DLC had some slight upgrades in this regard. Slight.

That being said, the fact that performance issues remain present only highlights the indolence of Game Freak. Since, on the other hand, Nintendo has Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4 pushing the Nintendo Switch's capabilities to the max and can run fine and look stunning in its own right.

Otherwise, the soundtrack, the storyline, the characters, and the aesthetic of the DLC are phenomenal and feature some of my favorite elements compared to the main game. Also, "The Teal Mask" certainly offered quite a fresh challenge (at least for casual players).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GAMEPLAY: 6/10

As stated, the biggest disappointment with the DLC is its failure to properly fine-tune the performance issues. Cutscenes still lag; and holy hell, the cutscene of the MC and Carmine gazing at the Crystal Pool is egregiously choppy. The game tried sooo hard to feature the sparkling beauty of the pool but to no avail. It seems that this severe lag happened to everyone, which made the already underwhelming Milotic jump scare even more underwhelming.

The game does not look awful, but still pretty bad. Game Freak totally is not a billion-dollar franchise capable of more, right?

Players still have instances of sudden FPS drops, especially when Koraidon/Miraidon tries to run and jump (this is most apparent during the Ogre Oustin' minigame).

The smallness of the map will be this DLC's savior, which I will discuss under my "setting" review category. But, in regards to the graphics, I think if the map were any larger, "The Teal Mask" and its areas would be sooo sluggish and lackluster compared to many places in the base game. This is due to the lack of NPC density and really anything going on outside of the three major locations of Kitakami.

----------

I still believe that Pokémon has its own charm though. At the very least, the land of Kitakami is enticing and pretty.

I did not experience any glitches in "The Teal Mask." The performance ran smoother on my own copy compared to other players, because I have heard the other people had more prominent performance errors in their DLC.

----------

Moving on, I will say that the difficult scaling of the DLC surprised me in a good way. This is especially true for casual players like myself!

The game is not hard, but it is not easy either. If you choose to begin part one of the DLC after beating the base game and post-game, the Pokémon in "The Teal Mask" are between levels 60s-70s. This shocked me as being a fairly difficult starting point (especially since this is only part one of the DLC, and it is kind of its own game).

I am a fully casual player. Say what you will, but by the time I completed the post-game of Pokémon Scarlet, my highest level Pokémon (my Skeledirge) was about level 71. Most of my main party were between levels 50-70, so the DLC being at this level was amazing for me. A perfect blend of enjoyment and challenge.

Even for competitive players and heedless grinders, there is still some difficulty to be had. This is particularly the case with the optional ogre clan members you can battle--which their Pokémon are level 75--and also even some battles against Kieran can come as a surprise. If your team is all maxed at level 100 . . . then of course you can blast your way through.

Personally, I lost to several ogre clan members, and nearly to Kieran as well.

Some other people might want to start from scratch and foster a brand new team in the land of Kitakami. I actually recommend doing so if you want to experiment with the new entries in the Pokedex and have a nice and fun challenge.

If you start the DLC before you finish the main game (which is possible), "The Teal Mask" will try to scale down to your own level.

----------

Aside from battling, there are other extra features players can engage with. At the "Festival of Masks," you can try a minigame called "Ogre Oustin,'" in which your MC rides on Koraidon/Miraidon and attempts to pop ogre-themed balloons and retrieve berries of certain colors (red, grey, green, and blue). These colorations match the masks held by Ogerpon, hence the name. Since the inhabitants of Kitakami initially view Ogerpon as unfavorable, the point of the minigame is to mimic hunting down the ogre to avenge The Loyal Three.

This minigame starts off fairly easy at first: run around and pop like four blue balloons and three green ones. Players must play "Ogre-Oustin'" at least one time due to story reasons, and stick it to Carmine who's ego is more inflated than the balloons themselves.

As you progress through the levels, it becomes alarmingly difficult. You go from popping 10 balloons in total to around 60 or 70! There are also Skwovets and Munchlaxes actively trying to steal your berries. Players can try this minigame alone or play online or local multiplayer. Trust me . . . playing the game with others is superior. I cannot get through the harder levels solo, like at all.

This minigame is weird but kind of fun. I feel a blend of anger and joy when I play . . . "Ogre Oustin'" will incite peoples' competitive streaks.

----------

Another side option players can do is engage with the character named Perrin, who . . . you know . . . is 100% a descendant from Hisui's famous Adaman.

She will not regard you until you have completed 150 Kitakami Pokedex entries in full. Once you begin Perrin's side mission, she asks you to assist her with capturing a photo of the "blood moon beast," who is rumored to be lurking in the woods of Kitakami. Throughout this quest, players camp with Perrin and take various photos of Pokémon at night. Perrin's strange camera device has to filter out all non-"blood moon beast" species in order to autonomously detect the location of the beast.

So, I mean, if you like Pokémon Snap or just enjoy using Scarlet & Violet's camera function, then wahoo! However, I wish all the new camera functions were available at this point in the game, as they are not accessible until part two of the DLC.

You ultimately get to battle and capture the "blood moon beast" (which is a special coloration of Ursaluna), and Perrin takes a horrifically blurry photo of it. This side quest is silly and fun, but ultimately just kind of meh. Perrin herself and Ursaluna are cool, though!

----------

A third side quest you can engage in is with the characters Billy and O'Nare, who are adorning sparkly outfits and can be found standing on the edges of Kitakami's apple orchard. The two are members of "The Glitterati" and are very flamboyantly wealthy.

Their side quest is kind of tedious and annoying in my opinion. After each conversation with these guys, they travel vehemently to random landmarks either in Kitakami itself or back in Paldea. It is a fetch quest where you find the same duo over and over rather than an object. The hints to their whereabouts are kind of vague, which is made worse because Paldea's map can be redundant. Billy and O'Nare are looking for a famous waterfall? There are so many damn waterfalls in Paldea!

After each find, they give you daffy advice and some items. Occasionally players must battle O'Nare, but all she has is a rather weak Persian and eventually an Arbolivia.

Once the side quest is completed, players will have enough valuable items to bulk sell for a hefty amount of money. Players should sell these items and get the 10-ish grand. If you return back to Kitakami and talk to the caretaker, he will be asking for donations to repair the disassembled statues of The Loyal Three in Loyalty Plaza. Sure, the caretaker only wants to repair them for tourism purposes, and sure, the caretaker is kind of a greedy asshole, but if you donate 100,000 to the cause, you will receive a flashy jinbei to wear!

There is a fandom debate on the identities of Billy and O'Nare, in which some fans suspect that these two may be Nemona's parents. After all, O'Nare specifically resembles Nemona in the face, and players know that Nemona grew up quite lavishly. Her parents are never home and Nemona had been primarily taken care of by housekeepers . . . and Billy and O'Nare are always recklessly on the go . . . hmmm.

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MUSIC: 8/10

Pokémon has never blown my mind with its soundtrack, but damn, these games have some bangers!

The music in "The Teal Mask" is very fitting, giving off a warm, seasonal vibe and incorporates the sounds present in traditional Japanese folk music. Overall, the DLC's soundtrack contains some of my favorite works in all of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, and I am very happy that Game Freak decided to change up the wild battle and trainer battle themes to distinguish it from the base game.

Also, wow, I am still very happy that Toby Fox contributed to the soundtracks of "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC!

----------

The music is funky, upbeat, and irresistibly hard not to dance to. It pairs splendidly well with the visual setting, and I feel as if I am roaming rural Japan.

I am always a fan of battle themes. So, some of my favorite tracks include:

Battle! Vs Carmine

Final Battle! Vs Kieran

Battle! Vs Okidogi, Munkidori, & Fezandipiti

Battle! Vs Ogrepon

Carmine's battle theme is bouncy and light-hearted, reflecting her humorously volatile nature yet her slow-growing friendliness towards the MC. The battle theme against The Loyal Three starts off sounding intimidating but then becomes super funky and whimsical. This gives it a de-escalating feel, as in that these Pokémon are actually not that much of a threat after all.

Ogerpon's theme is awesome! It is super folky and happy-sounding, and it made the final battle feel and sound emotionally significant in a positive way. And damn, I love Kieran's battle music, particularly the final version. His theme begins as light-hearted as Carmine's but becomes more intense the worse Kieran's mental state becomes. The final battle music sounds desperate. It sounds sad. It sounds vengeful. It sounds passionate. All of these strange, edgy, teenage hormones unleashed into an awesome tune.

Evidently I love battle music, but there are several other tracks I adore as well:

Mossui Town

Kitakami Hall

Get Stronger

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STORY: 7/10

I do genuinely believe that Generation IX is pretty top-tier when it comes to writing, next to Gen V and VI. At least when it comes to mainline Pokémon game standards.

I had a great time playing through the story and was invested in each line of dialogue. The story itself is about 8 hours, and it offers a pleasing mix of silliness and emotional investment. The star of the show was the friendship/rivalry between the player and Kieran, which the latter stumbled down a childish version of the joker pipeline.

As many people say, Scarlet & Violet's companion characters are some of the best. Nemona, Arven, and Penny are packed with personality, and especially when it comes to their post-game interactions, their similarities and differences bounce off of each other well. Including the MC, they all are outcasted children (and have parental issues) to varying degrees, united by a love for Pokémon and a desire for friendship.

Then, we have the new sibling duo from Kitakami: Kieran and Carmine, who also harbor [potentially] parental issues, and host of other problems.

Carmine and Kieran are natives of Kitakami, and strangely it seems there are not too many other NPCs of their age around. They live with their grandparents Hideko and Yukito in a pale yellow home, and like other locals, are majorly disconnected from a technological standpoint. Carmine has a phone, but Kieran does not, and the only other devices (a television and a game system) are located in the community center for tourists to stay at. Kieran and Carmine are battle maniacs; apparently, according to the "caretaker" of Kitakami, the two tend to cause some disturbances around the place. I am not quite sure if he is referring to their youthful boisterousness, craving for battle, or simply their short tempers (especially Carmine).

But, I was not bothered by them in the least. I was quite entertained.

—————

The story begins when the MC--Julianna or Florian--alongside some other random Uva/Naranja students are "randomly" selected by Professor Jacq to take a school trip to the little local town of Kitakami. The reasoning for this seemingly obscure location is that the trip is hosted by an affiliate sister school, Blueberry Academy. Blueberry is a new Unovan school that aims to strengthen its bonds with Uva/Naranja.

Kitakami is a small village located near the Kanto and Johto regions. Of course, the MC has no choice but to agree to go on the trip!

The group boards an airplane and takes a long bus ride, eventually making it to Kitakami. The class is led by Ms. Briar, a faculty member of Blueberry: Ms. Briar states that she is a descendant of Heath, the author of the Scarlet/Violet Book. In the uncensored book she possesses, Heath vaguely describes a legendary creature named Terapagos that has some sort of connection to the terastal phenomenon. She is on the hunt for this mysterious creature and wants to ultimately gain access to Area Zero in Paldea (which apparently she has been denied many times). The primary reason why Ms. Briar is hosting this trip is because the Crystal Pool located in Kitakami possesses terastal crystals akin to Area Zero. This could help with her research.

Anyways, the kids leave the bus and one of the students becomes car sick, so Briar sends the MC to Mossui Town, the one and only little village in the area, to get some help. The player then encounters Carmine and Kieran, two locals awaiting the arrival of the Paldean students, and Carmine immediately becomes hostile and xenophobic towards you. She challenges you to your first battle while Kieran quietly watches. They are eventually shooed off by the "caretaker," who properly greets you.

You all are cared for and fed and housed in the community center, and when players wake up the next day, the "school" part of the trip begins. You all gather outside of the community center and Briar, Carmine, and Kieran officially introduce themselves. Carmine and Kieran, while born in Kitakami, actually attend Blueberry Academy (which is in the Unova region), I suppose because they are notable for their battling skills. Blueberry is known to specialize teaching the art of Pokémon battling.

As a part of a school task, the "caretaker" instructs each student to pair up and visit three signboards across Kitakami that detail its history . . . or rather historically-based folktales. Briar encourages intermingling between the Uva/Naranja kids and the Blueberry kids. The MC talks to the Kitakami siblings and Carmine asserts that her little brother has been ogling at you, much to Kieran's embarrassment. She then encourages a battle between you two, which is conducted. Depending on your play style, this fight can be kind of easy or surprisingly a struggle. The outcome of the battle regardless makes Kieran even more fascinated with Julianna/Florian.

As such, the MC ends up pairing with Kieran. Kieran is very timid so he kind of avoids actually walking with you to the signboards. First, players traverse through the apple orchards and make it to Loyalty Plaza, where the first signboard talks about the tale of The Loyal Three sacrificing their lives to protect Kitakami from the monstrous ogre. There are statues of these honored Pokémon in the plaza; and Kieran opens up a bit and claims that he finds the ogre actually pretty cool and powerful. After all, the ogre, who is a grass type, murdered three Pokémon with a type advantage. Kieran mentions that he used to go to the ogre's hiding spot as a kid at night and would be yelled at by the adult villagers.

The MC and Kieran then head towards the Festival Hall where the second signboard is. This board continues to talk about the tale, and references the ogre's four masks: the cornerstone mask, the hearthflame mask, the wellspring mask, and the teal mask. Kieran opens up to the MC even more and talks about his fascination with the ogre, and how it doesn't care about what anyone else thinks, and it can hold its ground and is strong and willful. He then invites you to come check out the "Dreaded Den" on Oni Mountain, where the ogre is said to be. The MC agrees and travels there.

Here, Kieran and the MC battle again, because Kieran hopes a display of strength will draw out the ogre. It does not . . . to their knowledge. The two go inside the den and look around the cramped area. Sunset arrives, and then Kieran invites Florian/Julianna to attend the Festival of Masks with him that begins that night.

Later, you are given a green jinbei and attend the festival alongside Kieran and Carmine. You hang with Kieran for a bit until Carmine has a little blowup episode, and while you are off on your own, you see Ogerpon walking around alone. Thinking it to be a masked child at first, the MC approaches it. Then, Carmine finds you and calls out to you. The ogre runs away, accidentally dropping and chipping its teal mask. When Kieran catches up to you guys, you lie to him and say you saw nothing. Kieran thinks you and Carmine were talking about him behind his back.

The next day, Yukito reveals to Carmine and the MC about the true story of the tale of Ogerpon and The Loyal Three. It turns out, the roles were reversed. Ogerpon has been defending itself from the three Pokémon and went on a rampage after finding all of its masks stolen and its original companion human presumably dead. The "Loyal" Three were greedy, murderous thieves all along.

Kieran overhears this conversation, after having been vehemently shooed away by Carmine. He becomes upset, especially since he is a superfan of the ogre, and his entire life he had believed Ogerpon to be the "good guy" where nobody else in Kitakami believed this to be true.

You go to the last signboard with Kieran, and the latter noticeably seems more tense and withdrawn than before. The MC battles Kieran, and Kieran loses, lamenting privately that he is too weak. The last signboard gets a little wild and says that if you encounter the ogre without a mask, it will steal your soul. Kieran asserts that there is no way that is true, and then begins talking about how his great great great great great grandfather was a mask maker (in which the mask maker is responsible for making Ogerpon's mask). The MC just says that's cool, and via body language, one can tell that Kieran is pissed by this because he subtly tried to incite the player to tell him the truth. Kieran then leaves.

Yukito tells the player that he cannot fix up the mask without a terastal crystal, so the MC and Carmine head up to the Crystal Pool to retrieve one. They are met by Ms. Briar, and Carmine angrily questions why she is there because the Crystal Pool is considered a sacred space. Briar claims that she got permission from the "caretaker" and needs to look at the pool for research purposes.

The duo then tries to give Yukito the crystal, but the grandpa says that Kieran ran off with the teal mask. Carmine wonders how in the hell Kieran figured out the truth, so you two chase after him to Loyalty Plaza. Kieran is violently upset, challenges the MC to a battle, loses, and then edgily punches the statue of The Loyal Three while holding the teal mask. He begrudgingly returns the teal mask to you and runs away. Carmine wonders if he is becoming hormonal or something.

Then, suddenly, the statue of The Loyal Three explodes into a purple fume . . . and The Loyal Three are found standing on top of the wreckage, alive. It is theorized that Kieran may have accidentally revived those fools because he touched the monument holding the teal mask, which according to the signboards, is said to have revival/restorative properties. The three thieves run off and you follow them to the Festival Hall. There, the "caretaker" and other townspeople admit that they were fascinated with their return, and thus fed the Pokémon nutritional mochi (perhaps with herba mystical or something) and had returned their stolen masks to them. Carmine becomes outraged and dubs them The "Lousy" Three. She tells the MC to go rescue Ogerpon from their clutches while she quickly goes to retrieve the fixed teal mask from Yukito.

The player finds Ogerpon surrounded and defenseless without its masks and fights Munkidori. Carmine and Kieran show up eventually, scaring the Pokémon away. Kieran apologizes to the player. He expresses that he wants to return the teal mask to Ogerpon himself. However, the ogre gets flustered around unfamiliar people and does not accept it. The MC then tries and Ogerpon happily receives the mask . . . much to Kieran's annoyance.

The three "friends" then develop a little mask retrieval squad, which they will seek out each of The Loyal Three, defeat them, and return each mask to Ogerpon. The ogre begins to follow the MC around, and eventually Kieran backs out of the task force, mysteriously saying that he has something else to do.

After Carmine and Florian/Julianna defeat the titan-ized Loyal Three, Kieran request them to return to Mossui with Ogerpon. Everyone feels reluctant, since the townspeople believe Ogerpon to be a violent gremlin, but Kieran assures them that it is going to be okay. The quartet returns to Mossui, and much to Carmine and the MC's surprise, the townsfolk welcome Ogerpon with sorrow and joy. They apologize to the ogre, expressing that they had misunderstood history, not even realizing that any of the tales were actually true in the first place. I guess it helps that the inaccurate story of Ogerpon is so many generations old, that the people of Kitakami lacked extreme emotional connections to it. The townsfolk just like to celebrate and wear masks.

Yukito says that Kieran shouted at everyone about the true story of The "Lousy Three," breaking out of his socially anxious character temporarily. Kieran had good intentions to help Ogerpon, but ultimately he avoided any chance to actually bond with her as she roamed around with Florian/Julianna.

Carmine, Kieran, and the MC set off back to the "Dreaded Den" to return the ogre to her home. However, as Ogerpon approaches the den, she turns around and runs up to the player, expressing the desire to tag along with him/her. Ogerpon had been seeking a companion like she did so long ago, and I suppose the MC fit the bill. Kieran, at this point, undergoes a tantrum and tells that player that they should battle to see who gets Ogerpon. Carmine tells him that it is not his choice, and the ogre can make her own choices. Kieran does not give a shit (well, he kind of does, but he is having a mental breakdown), and the two of you battle. Kieran fights for his life but is no match against the MC's determination (and ability to terastalize). He falls to the ground, punches the soil, and dies on the inside.

Then, the MC fights Ogerpon, because he/she has to prove their strength to the ogre. Ultimately you succeed and proceed to catch Ogerpon in a pokeball. Carmine cheers, and Kieran brokenly tries to congratulate you, before he runs away crying.

The next day, another class meeting is held in front of the community center. Everyone is there except Kieran, who "does not feel well." Each pair had finished seeing all the signboards, and then Ms. Briar expressed that a sudden development occurred in Area Zero, and she must leave--which means taking Carmine and Kieran back with her. The kids wave them all goodbye, and Carmine tells everyone that she is super sorry about her initial xenophobia, and that she had so much fun with the MC and wishes to see him/her again in the future.

The Blueberry goers then leave. Before "The Teal Mask" concludes, there is a brief scene of Kieran losing his shit in his bedroom. He is shaking his head, grabbing his hair, talking about a deep desire to grow stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. He creepily smiles, and then a "to be continued" screen appears.

—————

The story is full of positives for the most part. Though, I find it disappointing and strange that the other Paldean students are full-on nobodies. These kids do not even have proper names or anything remarkably unique about them. It just felt unusually random. I have heard complaints/questions wondering why the other students could have not just been characters we already know and love, like Arven and Nemona? Why could they not have tagged along? In fact, our Paldea friends are entirely absent from "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" DLC (which is especially weird because Arven is so connected with the terastal case).

While this is kind of sad, it is actually very much understandable. "The Teal Mask" is Kieran's story if anything. The plot was high-key focused on the relationship between Kieran and you; a wicked plot progression as Kieran goes from a sweet, shy, timid child who is absolutely fascinated with the MC, to a jealous, egotistical, confused, edgy asshole who wants to destroy you.

This plot highlighted something that most Pokémon games fail to emphasize: you have it all. Kieran can try so hard and give everything he has, but will never be the main character. Florian/Julianna is the MC. Kieran is programmed, story-wise, into having to lose to you. Every time. Kieran's reactions to his failures are quite realistic--he's bitter, jealous, and upset with himself. It is not "oh ha ha you win AGAIN wow you are so cool!" Well, it began that way, up until the MC repeatedly batted him down.

So, I think that having our character's old happy-go-lucky friends would very much get in the way of the development of this dynamic. Kieran and Carmine needed their time to shine. Plus, who knows how it works chronologically? You can activate the DLC almost at any point. So . . . what if the MC met Kieran before he met Penny or became friends with Arven?

—————

I appreciate the length of "The Teal Mask." It is about eight hours story-wise, but I invested significantly more than that doing everything. I thought the plot would end earlier . . . I did not expect Kieran's mental breakdown.

The game is not too deep nor dramatic, but highly enjoyable. As mentioned, there are great fleshed-out characters like Carmine and Kieran, and then the story of Ogerpon herself is fascinating.

The folklore is based off of Momotarō, or "Peach Boy," a popular Japanese folktale. This allusion becomes more apparent with the mythical prologue story available after beating the entire DLC.

Ogerpon's tale has some dark elements to it. She killed The Loyal Three (and tried to kill Pecharunt) to avenge her deceased companion and get her masks back. I adore the way in which the story was animated too: in the game, Yukito talks about the true historical events and there are little wood-block-like clips that demonstrate these events. On YouTube, Pokémon uploaded an epic video about Pecharunt's story, and I find the animation to be super enticing with a storybook aesthetic.

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Having such intriguing folklore for the legendary Pokémon is such a huge plus. I also liked the toned-down plotline of "The Teal Mask":

No, the end of the world was not happening (yet). It was simply a story of some teenagers having drama and miscommunication . . . . but with flare. All the characters are actually interesting, and it is cool to see how a foreign, "city" boy/girl interacts with two emotionally volatile rural kids, one of which is obsessed with the "bad guy" of a folktale.

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SETTING: 7/10

If you can look beyond the janky graphics, I find that the land of Kitakami to be quite pretty. To my knowledge, it may be based on a place of the same name in the Iwate prefecture of Japan. This is further evidenced by the way the townspeople speak, particularly Kieran. He harbors a bit of a Tōhoku dialect which is considered the "typical" rural Japanese accent.

And poor Kieran. In "The Indigo Disk" following the epilogue, Kieran can be found in the BB clubroom stating that he used to be embarrassed by the way he spoke. You can kind of tell that he attempted to ditch his dialect in part 2 of the DLC, but it would surface during his shy or geeky moments. I am not sure as to why Carmine's Tōhoku dialect is not very prominent.

---------- Some players might have wanted a larger DLC map, but I believe that Kitakami is a perfect size. It is actually kind of big, hosting only one town of Mossui and several other staple areas like Oni Mountain, Loyalty Plaza, and the Festival Hall. There are several other locations that players can travel to and catch or battle Pokémon and trainers there. This includes the Mossfell Confluence, Paradise Barren, and Wistful Fields, among others. Some of these places do have signboards that are a part of the main plot, and other areas--like the Timeless Woods--are where Perrin and the "blood moon beast" side quest occurs.

There are very few shops here: Peachy's, located in Mossui Town, sells pretty much anything you need as well as brand new glove and sock options. The stands at the Festival Hall allow players to purchase a variety of masks (e.g., Pikachu, Eevee, Ogerpon, and each of The Loyal Three) as well as food options, like candied apples.

I say the size of the map is good because, for one, I think that an overly massive Pokémon DLC would be very time-consuming and overwhelming. Paldea is big enough as is. Secondly, as can be seen with the performance issues, I am not sure if the Nintendo Switch could handle that much more. The Crystal Pool, as small as it is, lags horrifically. Thirdly, which is probably one of the biggest critiques I have with then main game as well, is that too many areas are otherwise kind of . . . lifeless.

In the Paldea map, there is a surplus of areas of just nothing. The open world is novel at first, but there are a host of spots that lack NPC density and any remarkable geological or architectural standout points. Paldea is too open for its own good. Game Freak has yet to master this.

Lucky for Kitakami, it is just small enough so that the pockets of barrenness are not too noticeable. Sure, there is an unnecessary amount of mini cave entrances and completely pointless islets, but most of the significant locations are memorable enough. The lack of NPCs is not too bad either because Kitakami is supposed to be an incredibly small village. It helps that there are ogre clan members scattered throughout the map so you can find and challenge these lunatics.

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The Festival Hall would be my favorite location. Sure, it was kind of sparse with the vendors, but this is rural Kanto/Johto. The hall has its charm: the music, the colors, the twinkling night sky, and the masks adorned by all the villagers . . . it really appealed to me.

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My only other complaint is that players still cannot enter people's houses. I know it is culturally rude, but you were able to do so in older Pokémon games!

This was a major disappointment for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet as a whole; and another indicator that the open-world system was to big for Game Freak to handle. In the base game, you could enter the MC's own house as well as Nemona's (and kind of Arven's), but in the DLC you cannot go into Kieran and Carmine's home, even though Kieran invites you there!

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COMBAT: 8/10

As mentioned, the difficulty of the game was a wonderful surprise in my humble opinion. The battle system is not any different from the main game of course. Players still conduct single battles, but alas in Kitakami, nobody is going to terastalize. That gimmick is absent in battling despite the presence of terastal crystals--in that case you as the player can still terastalize your Pokémon.

Though . . . how? Terastalization is majorly a Paldean thing, and despite the presence terastal crystals, only Ogerpon terastalizes. Why does some "land in the east" have the same phenomenon happening in theory?

The details are vague and unexplained. You would think these story elements could be solved in "The Indigo Disk." Here is a link that suggests some theories:

You know, with Pokémon, each generation is going to have a gimmick that is abandoned. At least there is some degree of lore behind terastalization in Scarlet & Violet.

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The hardest battles of the DLC are the seven ogre clan members. The ogre clan leader, who is standing in front of the Festival Hall, will give you riddles and clues on their whereabouts. These trainers fight at level 75, and I found them to be quite challenging and satisfying to win.

Carmine's battles are easy, especially the first fight in which she sends out Poochyena. Seriously! Her Sinistcha (which is a new Pokémon introduced in "The Teal Mask") however can be a tough one with that "matcha gotcha" move. Though, I would say Carmine's Sinistcha works better as a support Pokémon during double battles.

Kieran on the other hand . . . players may struggle with him, especially if you beginning the DLC with a fresh and new team or are at the same level as these trainers. The more you battle Kieran, the tougher he gets, especially in the final fight where Kieran goes psycho mode. Although, poor buddy cannot terastalize like you can.

I appreciate how the Kitakami siblings are not stagnant with their lineup, and despite the hefty amount of battles you have to do with them, the party and dynamics change every time. Kieran's Yanma, Nuzleaf, and Sentret all evolve, and he catches a Gliscor and Probopass eventually. His ace is his Dipplin (another new Pokémon), which looks cool and cute but fights mediocre. Kieran also attempts to use items in battle, like focus sashes and berries, in desperate attempts to beat the MC. So yes, Kieran is pulling out the strats, and has a degree of intelligent/predictive AI. Some might find this challenging in a positive way, or rather annoying.

----------

The battles with the DLC's new legendary Pokémon were pretty great. Not necessarily hard, but still fun.

Battling against The Loyal Three for the first time demonstrates the consequences of the naive townsfolk nourishing them back to health with all of their best mochi. Munkidori, Okidogi, and Fezandipiti all become titan Pokémon that you and Carmine must face against (minus Kieran who abandoned the squad). Holy hell, these guys are huge! When I saw the titanic Munkidori for the first time, I wanted to cringe and laugh and cry. His big head made him appear rather funny-looking.

The purpose of the double battles against the titan Pokémon are perhaps there to give you a taste on what is to come in part two of the DLC (which takes place in Unova, where everyone engages in double battles only).

----------

The final battle against Ogerpon herself was a wonderful experience. However, she is shiny-locked (bummer) and has a 100% catch rate, so it eliminates some tediousness.

Ogerpon will go through four stages of battle, and is the only Pokémon to terastalize in "The Teal Mask." Players fight all four masks, which changes Ogerpon's type from pure grass to grass and rock, fire, or water type. Ogerpon terastalizes all four times which showcases the immense power of Ogerpon, and how each mask themselves are the ones that terastalize (the ogre is just chilling behind it). This fight feels incredibly rewarding. The fight is also tough to get through with the changing types, combined with the overpowered cudgel move.

I am certain the most players sent out that friend ball to catch the ogre, right?

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I do not have many complaints when it comes to the combat, but I would have not minded an even greater challenge. I am sure that players with all level 100 Pokémon would agree!

The lag also made some of the battles (and the buildup to them) a bit more cringe. The Milotic fight . . . I don't even understand it.

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ENJOYMENT: 8/10

In all, I had a wonderful time playing through "The Teal Mask." Scarlet & Violet has its ups and downs, but there is no denying that Kieran and Carmine are wonderfully complex and amusing characters, and that the writing and music are exemplary.

Part one of the DLC offers a nice challenge to even more competitive players, and I can appreciate the bonus introductions of new minigames, side quests, and even new Pokémon in the Kitakami dex. Is it worth over $30 (which includes "The Indigo Disk")? I am unsure about that . . . but you know, Pokémon fans do torture themselves.

The lack of an attempt to fix the FPS and other graphical issues is not excusable, however. I am not always too concerned about these topics, and I do not think that these issues fully detracted from the actual enjoyment of the game, but it is certainly embarrassing for Game Freak.

But yeah. So I guess what I'm trying to say is . . . I had fun!

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 20 hours (an estimate. I am slow af)

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

PLATFORM USED: Nintendo Switch

DATE OF COMPLETION: April 2024

[beevean]

Imagine watching the show as it came out

Imagine ending S3 hating the fuck out of Lenore but spending time talking and theorizing about her implied nuances in spite of the writing flaws and how she could be improved as a villain

....and then S4 comes out

I have a feeling you should consider yourself and your sanity lucky

ngl, I would have so fallen for the copium that S4 was going to have Hector breaking himself free and taking revenge on all the people who hurt him 😔 perhaps even that Isaac would slowly become his beautiful cunty game self 😔

I keep thinking of this post:

This is a wonderfully written post. They make many good points, like how Lenore always finds a way to relieve herself of responsibility when she abuses Hector ("you hurt me and that's why I beat you", "Striga wants you to wear the leash, not me", "the others are planning to use mercenaries"), which is scarily realistic. Or the part where she asks Hector if she can visit him again, as if he had any choice in the matter. I commend this person for picking up so many details, some of which I had missed or forgotten myself. I don't agree with everything, as I believe they overestimated Hector's characterization and ignored how blatant Lenore's lie of "I want to run away with you" is, but I can feel how passionate they are and invested in this potentially novel narrative about how subtle abuse can be.

And I keep thinking about all of this got squandered in S4. How this disturbing depiction of abuse got flattened into dick jokes and "you're the only one who listens to me 🥺" and Lenore blithely dismissing the one time Hector dared to be annoyed at her "solving his problem" which got treated with the same levity as Greta making a cheating joke out of Alucard's own rape.

"Also, she's a female predator, which are rarely presented without sympathy in fiction. Which, I think, is part of why it's hard for the fanbase to realize how evil she is. If the genders were reversed, some people would probably still find the whole rape by deception and magical enslavement romantic because, well, people, but they'd probably sympathize more with the victim than the predator because they'd be easier to identify through our cultural shorthand."

I wonder how they reacted when S4 comes out and the show does exactly what they have criticized, sanitizing Lenore because she is a cute woman and suddenly showing her fake, superficial kindness as genuine and a valid reason Hector would love her, not with the love of an abused dog but real genuine affection.

And he definitely had real feelings for Lenore, however falsely they were invoked. It's possible they still exist after his enslavement. I'm hoping not, but it would be an interesting conflict to see play out. Loving and hating someone who's been alternately kind and cruel to you is a tough spot to be in.

This is what really depresses me about the Lenector story. It is not impossible that Hector would still have feelings for Lenore, because he has such low standards that things like "actually keeping her promise of giving him free roam of the castle" and "going to him to vent about her issues" would be taken as signs of love, and confuse his abused brain. Hector crawling back to Lenore as his only reason to live? It makes sense! It's awful, but it makes sense for someone like him! He has nothing left, he thought he'd be killed but he was given another chance at life, and his first instinct is to cling to his only certainty in his miniscule world.

It should not have been the emotional climax of his arc! Not in a season that is so deadset of giving everyone happiness that they fucking brought Dracula back and allowed him to go on a honeymoon with his bae!

The resolution of this story about abuse is that Hector needed to grow up and let his abuser find freedom in death! A freedom that is specifically framed as Lenore freeing herself of... herself, basically, of everything she has done and might do, not out of guilt but out of despair that she lost all the power she had and might go insane eventually. Not him finding another place to live now that he is free, not him realizing he is worth more as a human being, bro barely even cares about his new life as Isaac's consort or whatever the fuck he is for him now. No, it is never about Hector. He wanted Lenore, Lenore didn't want to stick with him because she's depressed, and we are meant to find oh so tragic that the two star crossed lovers will not have a meaningful touching relationship after

SHE RAPED HIM INTO SLAVERY BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIS FEELINGS AND MOCKED HIM IN FRONT OF HER SISTERS AND THEN REJECTED HIS PROTESTS ON THE GROUNDS THAT HE ENJOYED THE SEX SO HE HAS NO REASON TO COMPLAIN

THE LATTER HAPPENS IN SEASON 4 WHEN WE ARE MEANT TO ROOT FOR THEM. WHEN THE STORY REALLY WANTS TO CONVINCE US THAT LENORE REALLY IS A GOOD PERSON DEEP DOWN AND NEVER WANTED TO HARM HECTOR AND ONLY CARED ABOUT HIM

DOES THIS LOOK LIKE FUCKING CARING TO YOU YOU STUPID HACKS

All that carefully woven abuse for what? For fucking what? For the puppy fetish?? To tell the audience that you should forgive people who hurt you if they give you the bare minimum of human decency because it is the MATURE thing to do, you stupid manchild who only wants to be loved and will never have that because you are too stupid to be loved?!

god I am mad! I'm sorry this makes me mad! I don't even imagine how furious I would be if I had to wait one year to see this shit!

[linkspooky]

I’m a bit curious, since I saw the post about how you think the 1st year Tokyo kids aren’t that close as a trio. It made me wonder if you think the same think with the 2nd year’s bond. Do you also don’t really see them as a close group?

If there are a group of Tokyo Kids that could qualify as Nakama, it would definitely be the second years. However, I'd like to clarify I don't think they're all one big friend group. For example. I don't think Maki would hang out with Inumaki, or Panda alone the same way she might for Nobara or Yuta.

The 2nd years are a group of friends with Yuta at the center, because Yuta's entire character revolves around his desire to connect with other people.

His arc in Jujutsu Kaisen zero where he is the main character, is basically him spending time with Inumaki and Maki characters who both seem inapproachable for different reasons and then learning about and connecting with them.

His connection with Maki is the most obvious. I ship it of course, but even if you don't view them in a romantic life Maki is the character who challenges Yuta all throughout Jujutsu Kaisen Zero and changes him. It begins with Maki calling out Yuta's self-centeredness in a deserved way. That's how he starts the manga, he's alone because of Rika, but he's used Rika as a convenient excuse too to not try to improve his situation or go out and make friends. He doesn't want to fix the problem, he starts out by saying he wants to commit suicide but decides not to because he's so lonely.

The way for Yuta to overcome his self-centeredness is obviously to make an attempt to connect to the people around him. Which is where his relatioship with Maki is so important, because Maki is two things number one downright hostile to Yuta at first making it difficult to connect and number two she's also a victim of her family.

The fact that Yuta comes to learn about Maki's family circumstances and sympathize with her is important for his character, because he's no longer playing the victim TM. He's done the mature thing and realized there are other people besides him suffering and he can reach out a hand to help them. Which takes strength to do rather than just dwelling in your own problems.

He starts out basically afraid of Maki, and existing as the kind of kid who would get easily bullied by her if they were just normal high school students, but when Maki screams her criticism at him in his face and challenges him to be better, he actually listens.

At that point for the rest of the manga he's actually trying to meet Maki halfway. He trains with her in kendo even if he ends up losing almost every single time. He starts working towards a goal, even if that goal is basically just being someone who is as strong as Maki and can fight alongside her.

Which like I said, Yuta's central motivation is his desire to connect with others which is why he makes an effort to actually be friends with his classmates rather than workplace associates. He's actually seeking that kind of validation from Maki because he admires her and wants to be like her.

However, Maki and Yuta's relationship is far less one-sided and parasitic like it is for Rika and Yuta. As a result of his hard work over the course of the manga, Yuta makes progress in his relationship with Maki and actually gives something back to her. He is the first one really to point out her good points, after Maki has been belittled by her clan her entire life.

Maki's greatest character flaw is her insistence on doing everything alone, it's even why she snaps at Yuta after this. It's such a serious flaw she neglects to repair her relationship with Mai until it's already too late. However, Yuta is someone who wants to make the effort to connect with Maki in the world of sorcery where eople don't really go out of their way to connect.

While Yuta and Maki's relatioship has much less focus in the manga proper, when he returns post culling games they're basically always drawn as a set together. They always stand right next to each other, they talk like equal partners, Yuta is the only person to check if Maki is okay after receiving third degree burns all over her body and Maki recognizes Yuta is as strong as Hakari.

Then there's Yuta's relationship with Inumaki which gets far less screentime than Maki, but goes through a similiar arc to the one that Yuta does. Inumaki is also presented to the audience as someone unfriendly that Yuta has a hard time understanding.

In Inumaki's case he can't really talk and explain himself to Yuta, because his curse technique makes it so if he's not careful with his speech he could horribly hurt someone. Inumaki's difficulty in controlling his cusred technique which renders him sort of mute couples with Yuta's misunderstanding of him as someone intimidating and scary.

During their fight, Yuta is continually supported by Inumaki who shows his concern for people in actions rather than words. THis is once again a case where Yuta has to step outside his own head and try to understand someone else.

It's also an example just like Maki where Yuta realizes that other people in life have it hard besides him. Inumaki is struggling with a difficult to control curse technique that might curse someone by accident if he's not careful. Yuta's moment of change is realizing how hard Inumaki's life is, and how kind and considerate towards other people he is because he doesn't want them to get hurt.

You could even say he compares to Yuta, they both have cursed techiques that could accidentally hurt people (if I remember correctly it's implied Inumaki has hurt someone in the past) but Inumaki goes to great lengtsh to control his technique whereas at the start of the manga Yuta tends to just let Rika rampage and act like he's not in control. When they meet Yuta is in the process learning how to control Rika, and his desire to help Inumaki and repay his kindness motivates him to work harder.

Yuta is a character that revolves around relatioships, he does everything for the sake of his friends, all of his character development comes from those friends. He doesn't even know anything about Yuji, but he goes out of his way to protect him because Yuji is someone important to Inumaki.

His goal is to defeat Kenjaku single handedly because he doesn't want Gojo to have to kill the body of his best friend again. Panda himself when talking with Mechamaru even says that the reason he's interested in people and wants to learn more about them is because he met Yuta who he finds to be strange but admires in a way.

Yuta is someone who goes out of his way to make the connections that sorcerers don't usually make and this is also pointed out as being something that makes Yuta soft and unable to reach his true potential of be a calamity like Sukuna.

Which is why I'm confident in saying unlike the first years who are all strong individualists who are basically trying to be as strong as Gojo, the 2nd years are more of a friend group because Yuta is there and treats them all like friends.

[dhaaruni]

Self-help has always been a woman’s game. Not that men don’t also seek to improve themselves, but the books targeted to them tend to assume an existing state of self-confidence: You’re great as you are, you could just be a little better. Men learn optimization, life hacks, the power of thinking without thinking: four-hour work weeks and other highly effective habits that are meant to help them build upon their innate perfection, like a software upgrade. Women, on the other hand, have faulty wiring that needs ripping out. Our most beloved self-help books are all about fixing something that came broken, delving into the psyche and excavating everything that’s wrong with you: Women are exhorted to work on themselves the way a weekend warrior might work on a vintage TransAm, tinkering endlessly, replacing parts, fixing one flaw only to find that the engine still won’t turn over, the real problem still buried somewhere under the hood. That you might actually get behind the wheel and drive out of the garage someday is a possibility so distant that it’s hardly worth thinking about. What matters is that whatever is wrong—with the engine, your life, the world—it’s definitely all your fault. (“YOU have to DO the work.”) Is it socialization? Evolution? A bit of both, nature and nurture at once? Whatever the reason, women’s feelings of inadequacy have always been a gold mine for savvy salespeople, with entire industries springing up around the insecurity du jour. 

— "Master Cleanse" by Kat Rosenfield

[lanatusnebula]

Thinking about Reploids...

Caver Kanger Mouse's presence around a human at their time of death ends up becoming the main thing that sets off his descent. Pulled into the court where they label the more politically charged reploids as potential mavericks, he had to plead to those above him not to blame him for the accident. (It was a cave-in tbh)

While right in that he was innocent from harming a human, the manner of which he still broke a law of robotics was clear - "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." He has a problem with processing risk, which is part of his abilities as a cave spelunking assistant. The risk was too great, and rather than stopping the human from advancing into the cave, froze out of "fear". (emotions in reploids was still new at this time - something that is never really explained in the series is how each reploid responds to feeling emotions for the first time, as none of them are ever given the chance to experiment with these things as infants, since they never *are* infants).

I'd imagine that the earlier models made based on X's schematics are not as tweaked as the ones we see later in the actual game entries. This is all functioning under the assumption that robots in Megaman's time were simply emulating emotions in order to properly communicate with humans. But they were limited in what they could emulate. This presents the definitive line between X and Megaman - not just free speech, but true emotion. X functions under his own rules, and likely the Laws of Robotics, while Megaman functions in a semi-free manner under the orders of Dr. Light. I can't really explain it well because I'm extremely stupid, but the gist is - whatever Megaman felt was fake, whatever X felt is real.

Expecting a reploid, specifically an earlier model, to be able to handle raw emotions logically upon first being felt is a sort of story writing overstep. There's a lot of details in the games that suggest that replicated X's effectiveness in being as human as possible, is difficult or impossible. If they couldn't even create a reploid that could balance when wartime was necessary and when peace was the better option at this point in time, then there had to be some sort of evolution in how reploids handled emotions.

Zero's case specifically was unique. I don't think upon initial creation that he had the ability to feel and process emotions on the level of X. He might have! There are people who suggest that Zero's schematics are based on those stolen from Dr. Light (though I think I've seen his internals and they look pretty different...). Because we see Zero in Power Fighters 2, but not X, I'm unsure how true this is. There could very well be a situation where Zero and X were made separately with no real borrowing from each other, since we also know that Dr. Wily was equally as intelligent as Dr. Light.

I don't know. I don't like Classic Megaman LOL. It's all over the place so I'm just going based on the few games that actually did have plot (that I've played... somewhat.) I'm an old fogy (not as old as most Classic fans though) so my memory escapes me. Not trusting the wikis because I have seen some... things... that compromise its validity. (COUGH the mangas being suggested as canon ever COUGH)

ANYWAYS. Back to the reploid theories. They're advanced beings, but are flawed as they're creations of mankind. Like the robot masters before them, they likely had to undergo a series of improvements before they were considered viable as equals (in, what, MMZ?). As mentioned before, Zero's case is unique. There is a bit of a trope where a virus can rattle things in a machine's brain to give it emotions on par with humans (seen in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Dramatical Muder, Cafe Enchante...). I think it's bizarre. However! If a stroke can cause a human to gain a talent they never had before, perhaps there's some validity in it. Let's say Zero was nothing smarter than a mechanaloid in terms of emotional intelligence. Let's say that Zero's programming was made in a way that fixed whatever problems Bass may have had (such as disobeying orders). The virus that was intentionally (???) included in Zero might have locked him to this sort of mental state.

So, really quickly, Bass was an interesting case. He was an asshole. A creation (I believe) entirely made by Dr. Wily, probably ripping off Megaman's designs, seemed to have more flexibility in his mental processes than Megaman did. He could get mad, he had an attitude, etc. He had only one command given to him by Dr. Wily - to destroy Megaman. But he did a lot of other things, didn't he? He showed a degree of jealousy and scorn at the idea that Dr. Wily had another project that he was working on (Power Fighters 2) and I think that says volumes. He's not created to mimic the experience of having a child. He's not made to be someone's friend. He's a killing machine who is for some reason giving his opinions. Opinions. Megaman's dialogue typically had a one-note feel about them from what I recall. "Fighting is not necessary" (really following Laws of Robotics 1 and 3), and "Wily you have gone too far!" (following Dr Light's direction to stop Wily). What would Dr. Wily have to order Bass to do in order to get him to act in the way that he typically did? One might suggest Protoman had a sense of emotion as well, but I think that logic is... moreso tied to the mangas which I am pretending do not exist for Classic or MMZ. He seemed confused and aimless, if anything.

So back to Zero. A creation of Wily's, released who knows when, in reference to when X was awakened from whatever sleep Dr. Light put him in. The timeline seems scrambled in the PSP remake of X1. We can assume Zero was found after X? Maybe? ???? Was he put into a slumber like X or was he going around the entire time, only stopping occasionally to recharge? We just don't know!

At least, I don't know.

Zero and X being the bases (in a way) for the reploids (replicated androids) that came after them left humanity in a state where they had a bunch of knockoff Gucci merchandise running around. Zero's brain, organically being rewritten by the virus... leaving... his mind? I don't know how that works - And X having been polished until a man died and somewhat after that allowed them to escape the complications that the modern day ripoff had. Neither of them were afflicted by close proximity to other infected reploids. The virus didn't seem like it ever really affected them. X5 suggested otherwise very slightly, but that situation had to be set up in a VERY specific manner in order to happen.

And then X dies and Zero outlives him and still never really gets the virus after that. Zero was old as actual shit and yet had more emotional stability than a reploid made a mere 10 years prior. (Then again Copy X was made by a mere child so of course it had issues) But MMZ reploid mentalities are a whole other can of worms.

For the sake of storytelling, I will assume that initial reploids had emotional stability problems. They either didn't feel enough or felt too much. The ones that felt too much and acted on the newly acquired "impulse" emotion are then set up to be great hosts for maverick viruses or political maverick statuses (I guess like Boomer Kawanger).

I lost track of what I was talking about.

[lemonsilly]

WAAAAGHH!!! YAYAYYYYYY!!!! I have spent the last like six years thinking about this man. I play with him like a doll. Apocalypse stuff,,,,, waaaughh. and john crocker?? working with corporate interests/rebellion and trying to feel out a relationship. writing something really good right now with d/john crocker. and alpha davekat?? where they're both dilfs? i mean come on. i'm not a hs2 guy and i avoid it as much as possible but captain karkat is an exception and i want him to be a rebellion leader combining troll forces with alpha strilonde's mobilized human resources in a wartime setting. like. there's so much to do.

-KD

anon i accidentally wrote too much heres a read more :sob:

tw for drugs anon i hope you dont get the ick from me /j

YIPPEEEEE YES!!!!!!!!! OHHH YESSSS APOCALYPSE STUFFF YESS OMGGGG OHH GODDD i love alpha davejohn so much i litearlly play with them like barbie dolls!!!! i love kinda putting them in a hollywood setting too bc idk im a huge bojack horseman fan and i kind of love playing with celebrity aus esp if you combine the fact that dave is going against a literal Alien Regime (granted most of it is subliminal but its like . enough to kinda piss off the condesce so he always has to have a target on his back kind of .

when i write a!dave i kinda take the approach of how no-game versions of yourself come out very flawed, as the game is supposed to improve yourself as a person and if you dont play the game, fate is kinda just not good to ur personhood. (ie dirk becoming bro is the biggest contender for this but i feel as if this also counts for jake, roxy, and maybe a little jane but i really need to reread the comic a third time to be confident in that statement .. i think this is a bit different for the trolls, however, as the ancestors are much more glorious who knows maybe its bc we dont rly know them? but then again w/ the dancestors (and ig the guardians) theres just this overall theme of "not knowing ur parents (whether that be troll or human)")

ANYWAY TANGENT ASIDE i really think that alpha dave would be a very flawed person, i can see him kind of getting caught up in that hollywood glory especially since i'd kind of view him as a bit attention-seeking, really wanting to be seen as like hollywood's darling and he puts on a cool, nonchalant, funny, charismatic front (knight moment!!) to achieve that (pretty much most previously tumblr favorite male celebrities that fell off, i think). god i could really go into detail but it would make this post WAY longer than it already is

so like my interpretation is like. this dilfy egotistical needy guy who PROBABLY does coke on the regular because of course . ugh i wish i had a good interpretation of my ver of alpha dave, i TECHNICALLY have this comic that has been kinda abandoned since i lost the login in for it (it was a twitter account "interactive comic" series, however be warned bc its my old writing style AND THE ART IS SO BAD and tbh its soooo cringy ughhh i cant believe i thought that was a good idea im crying ... it does have a tumblr though so maybe i can continue it there and just try to save it lol heres the tumblr link )

BUT ON THE GOOD SIDE OF HIM THOUGH i definitely think he does have good virtues, and wants to like. fight off the regime, hes very adamant on that and his efforts to save earth from HIC's colonization are very noble (again, hes a knight, knights are there to protect !! its in his blood!). so its kind of a mixed bag of him like trying to sustain his career while also fighting - at least subtly - against HIC. i can imagine like the weeks or so leading up to his death he began to get a bit more vocal about it, whether that was bc he was gearing up to fucking kill her and her government or maybe impulsivity? who knows.

i do think from the start though, HIC tries to sabotage both his and rose's careers because she knows what theyre up to and she Does Not Like It. and i feel like thats kinda where John comes into play, bc while i KNOWWW canon john crocker broke away from his mother and did his own thing, i think itd be rly interesting if John sort of enters Dave's life as a way to get him off course BUT IT BACKFIRES SO FAST bc johns overall a nice guy and also lowkey wants to kiss this FREAK so he kinda has to balance his mothers approval, the crocker company, and so on. its especially hard bc jades gone atp so basically ever since he was a kid he kinda only had himself so hes like UMm. Ummm. Hm. and thats why i kinda portray him to be a lil evil too in my A!JD interpretations not bc he is evil but more bc hes kinda following both corporate interests and his mothers orders

AS FOR DAVEKAT im not rly a davekat girlie myself but i do adore your vision KD, GOD i love it so much and i can imagine karkat and dave's views of how to go aghainst this regime both differing and it causes lots of bickering and fightings. and sloppy makeouts

SORRY FOR THIS TANGENT i just rly love talking abt alpha dave hes my little guy

[bishie-haven]

After-party, Day 2!

Day 3’s contents are here! This one is gonna be a bit different compared to showing off merch or ranking cards…it’s gonna get a little personal.

I’ve been wrapped up in this Obey Me! rabbit hole since January 2020. 2 months after the game released and now over 4 years of my life have been taken over. I’ve went back and forth from trying to tier in events, dumping Surprise Guest items at characters to care about intimacy levels, and have even been in the VIP sphere on both games. However, there’s one thing that’s stayed the same in those 4 years, and I bet you can guess what.

My #1 since the game began has been, and continues to be, a certain pink-hued fifth-born.

And I know, everyone has favorite characters in whatever media they consume, who cares? Well, this one’s a bit different. I may sound absolutely insane when I say this, but being practically obsessed with this lust demon has actually improved my life for the better. 

I think I can sum the process up in three words: adoration, consolation, and motivation. 

Adoration

Each of these stages started at different times, but in a way they eventually all melded in the end to create the love I have today. When I first started playing, the word of the day definitely WAS adoration. I remember laying on the couch in January, starting up the first chapter, and Asmo’s energy practically radiated through the screen of my tablet. I think my first statement about it was “Ooooh, you…I like you~ Keep talking!” the second he showed up on screen. 

Through the first few months turned to a year, I loved everything I found out about him and wanted to know more. I liked that he wasn’t afraid to like what he liked, even making trends through RAD in the process. I found it interesting how he was the only brother at the time with a legitimate power at his disposal that wasn’t just a big blast, and that it actually served a purpose. I loved how in the early chapters of the game he truly had flaws out in the open, ripe for development later on (I mean, not giving a damn about LITERALLY starting a war? DUUUUUUDE-). I adored that, outside of certain lines we don’t talk about, he showed bits of his drive and his loyalty that are key parts of his underlying personality today. I honestly couldn’t get enough! While some loved their sadistic ice kings like Lucifer and others liked their bad boy tsunderes like Mammon, I had my self-centered fashionista.

And somehow…self-centeredness ended up being a comfort for me.

Consolation 

We all know what happened in 2020 and bled into the following couple of years. Well, I found out something through all of that time, whether I was in my house or up at college: my mental health was a wreck. Being cooped up and isolated only exacerbated those feelings.

In other words, me in 2020-22:

My self-confidence was at an all-time low. I was anxious about everything, and even trying a new place to have lunch or go study sent me sweating lots of the time. It was hard to talk to people, and there was a point where I was holing myself up in my dorm room and only leaving if I had nothing to eat or if I had a mandatory lecture or lab.

And while it didn’t solve my problems entirely (that’s what counseling helped do), this stupid little mobile game and that strawberry blonde was definitely a help when it came to calming my brain down. It actually comforted me to see, even if it was a fictional supernatural creature at the end of the day, someone who could put themselves out there without any worry and be happy out in the open with others. Especially when we were ripe in the time of social distancing, even if I didn’t necessarily want to be in a crowded club, seeing someone have the ability to just put a smile on my face. 

And soon, as the regulations loosened and daily life seemed to go back to a relative normal, something else came from this passion and comfort.

Motivation

Now while I would absolutely kiss this demon on the lips if I ever got the chance to in real life, I know that isn’t going to be the case. I must go through the struggles of life alone…in the corporeal sense, at least. 

By that, I mean that in many facets of my life, I see Asmo as a role model of sorts. Not in the sense of being egotistical and putting myself first at the unneeded expense of others, no, but rather putting myself first in a healthy way. I’ve developed a skincare routine because of this guy. I’ve started eating better and have gone to the gym regularly for over a year now in order to care for my body more. I’ve used multiple quotes and scenarios from him in order to pull myself out of self-loathing states and be able to walk into situations with more confidence than I ever had before. I think I even started caring more about my personal fashion style!

I know that this was a bit more low-key, and even a bit deep, in terms of what I have been posting here for these little celebration things. But, I wanted to use this post to show a bit of reasoning as to why I love this character so much, why I care about and do these things in the first place, and…honestly…to let anyone who is worried about “liking a fictional character too much” know this: there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. As long as you are able to distinguish the lines between fiction and reality at the end of the day and you aren’t hurting yourself or others in the process, love them as much as you want, show that love as much as you want! At the end of it all, your loves and adorations make you who you are. And if there’s anything I’ve learned from a certain fifth-born, it’s this: almost anything you do can make you unique, adorable, and absolutely amazing.

Thank you for listening to me ramble about my experience with how my troubled mind processes this horny boy. Day 4's content is coming, and features a special guest you might recognize~

[giftofclasspects]

oh! could i get a session analysis for:

heir of space, seer of life, maid of hope, thief of rage (prospit dreamers)

sylph of light, rogue of heart, page of breath, mage of time (derse dreamers)

none of these people know eachother before the start of the game. it’s a wacky session

OKAY! This is exiting. I'll take these one by one and then go through how their personalities interact. Prospit Dreamers: Heir of Space: Space is patience and setting. It's the process before the end result. Heirs are passive witches, so they manipulate their aspect indirectly. An Heir of Space would have the kind of personality that would inspire people to be more patient. They'd encourage others to take their time and sniff the roses and stuff. Seer of Life: Life the aspect that tells me you're going somewhere. It's growing big and strong, be it physically, mentally, economically, you name it. A seer of life would research general improvement and wellness and share these findings with others. I picture those "sigma males" who are constantly telling people how to manage their lives and their money, but probably in a way that's sillier and less mean. Maid of Hope: This is a cool one! A maid would rely on other people for their aspect. So picture somebody who is naturally very pessimistic who's surrounded by inspiring individuals. It's their job to learn how to find this positive potential within themselves in order to be self sufficient. Thief of Rage: Someone who is generally antagonistic, but not good at it. Over time, they improve in their hurtful ways. These players will usually have good reasons for poking and prodding at their coplayers and just making them feel worse, but other times its just for selfish gain. Derse Dreamers: Sylph of Light: We have an example of this class inside the comic, Aranea! As a Sylph, she had many ideas that she wanted to share with as many people as possible, but she struggled with her own relevance and how to put that into action. Aranea may have been a meanie in the comic, but that doesn't have to be the case for all sylphs of light! Rogue of Heart: Nepeta Leijon! A rogue is one who struggles to even relate to their aspect, passing it on as other people's responsibility at first. With time, they can grow to take back their aspect and enjoy it for themselves. Think of Nepeta, making ships of all of her friends, but never fully confronting the idea of her own love interests. She couldn't accept herself and her own emotions. Page of Breath: Tavros Nitram! A page will cover up a flaw in their aspect by making up a load of nonsense to seem more confident in their aspect than they actually are. Tavros believed the key to a healthy self esteem was repeating empty affirmations untill you feel better. His relation to the breath aspect was one of somebody chasing an ideal. Mage of Time: This is somebody who has suffered from impatience and action, who will use that experience to attain their goals. The challenge with a mage of time is to accept other people's input. Now for the fun part. The synergy with these classpects. The Heir and the Mage are both very crucial to this session, because this is a larger session that needs those strong opposing aspects to keep everyone grounded. The Seer, Rogue, and Mage will be good to come to within a crisis and high stakes situation. The Thief, Maid, and Page will probably cause a lot of problems for this session, either on purpose or accident. The Page will definitely need the Heir and Maid to develop into a crucial component to this session that might be able to pull everyone together, regardless of their differences! This was very fun to analyze. - Mod Jade

[cursedvibes]

When it comes to the Shinjuku fight it kinda reminds me of how I felt reading Madara during the 4th Shinobi War Arc. Where it’s like “Well I’m not mad that Madara is strong, that he keeps getting stronger, I just wish the battle was better paced and that Madara was better set up.” same with Kaguya.

Also I’ve noticed that the reading comprehension in this community is straight ass. People seem to not really care about the narrative outside of the main main characters. People are willing to overlook flaws in the main characters writing but will be very loud and it flaws outside of them. Vice versa, people are fine with the rest of the narrative being sacrificed if it means an exciting moment featuring their favorite character (cough Gojo cough).

It’s behavior similar to what I see in idol or band communities, which boggles my mind because JJK is a story. And should be read and analyzed like a story, not an idol group or gacha game.

It does feel quite similar to the 4th Shinobi war although thankfully not quite as bad. I think we have way too many people running around to the point that they have to come up with dumb reasons for why Angel, Hana and Inumaki can't participate for example, but that's still way better than the thousands of fodder ninja Kishimoto expected us to care about, while making it clear that only a handful of people could handle Madara, Kabuto and Kaguya anyway. Not to mention killing who was very clearly supposed to be the main villain only to introduce a completely new villain, who hasn't even been so much as mentioned up to that point and needed a total reboot of the world building to make sense. Everyone knows the thing that this series about ninjas desperately needed was aliens...

JJK also has the advantage that while Sukuna is insanely strong and the protagonists only slowly chip away at him, overpowering him isn't the goal here. So it isn't like with Naruto, where the main characters have to unlock some new type of cursed energy to beat him or whatever, it is much more an ideologically driven battle, where what really counts is undermining Sukuna's philosophy, which you can do best by not buying into the obsession with strength. The problem is just that Gege is getting a little too caught up in throwing around techniques than tackling what really matters. Kind of similar to the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, although not as bad yet. Having Yuuji involved has definitely improved things. Still, I think you can again feel that Gege is struggling with writing an overpowered character and finding the balance between showing his strength and focusing on the thematic aspects of the story like they manage to do in pretty much every other fight. Again, the foundation is there, but the formulaic structure of the Shinjuku fight is not really helping. Plus you have some unnecessary intermissions like Yorozu dying to give Sukuna a weapon that does nothing and only serves as a get-out-of-jail-free card (seriously what was the point of all that, it had literally 0 zero consequences and only robbed us of a chance at seeing Sukuna in a scenario where he can't rely on his strength).

Agree that there has been unfortunately very little good analysis on these chapters. I don't know how it looks on reddit, but it's getting quite hard to find some good meta on tumblr and twitter on this fight. A lot of commentary I see boils down to either "why can't Sukuna just die already??" and "Gojo has to come back to fix everything, here's a 38 page essay on all the foreshadowing of his return that will happen any day now". I can understand the first point, these people mostly just seem fatigued by the structure of this fight (new character pops up, gets killed/gravely injured by Sukuna, someone else takes their place) and they just want it to be over. The problem is just that killing Sukuna here would for one not make sense for his power level because while it is true that the protagonists have thrown a lot of force at him and tried different strategies, he's clearly not been trying very hard ever since Gojo died (which frustrates me a lot). That has to change first. And also if he died now that would make for a very unsatisfying, premature end of this story. Nothing would be gained with that, no character arc properly resolved. It would hurt especially Sukuna's character because it would mean he really was just a strong big bad with not much motivation besides wanting death and destruction for its own sake, who had to be killed to avoid further danger and go back to status quo. Far too easy and all the setup for Sukuna being a more nuanced character gets cut off. Like I set before, it would be worse than Kenjaku's death, since that at least had meaning and found some kind of end for Kenjaku's character arc. Kenjaku changed, while Sukuna has very firmly been the same this whole time with only a very brief moment of reflection on what he is even doing here. So yeah, more needs to happen before Sukuna can die and first of all he needs to take Yuuji seriously already and be pushed to his limits, challenged. That would vastly improve the tension of the fight as well.

And Gojo coming back is just...I understand wanting your favourite character back, but even if for some reason he was revived, he shouldn't help in the fight. Him overpowering Sukuna would mean exactly nothing, contradict the whole message of the story and also means the characters regress to letting Gojo solve everything again and direct their decisions after what he wants. That's why it was so important for Gojo to die or get depowered, so the other characters could progress and make real change in the world. He was a necessary stepping stone they had to overcome. He can't defeat Sukuna because he is essentially Sukuna, but in a different, slightly more humane font.

And as for your last point, I don't think it's bad to have a character you really like, are even obsessed with, that's why we have another popularity poll coming up after all. Engaging characters are very important, it's just a problem if people warp the story in their head to revolve around this character and then get seriously upset when the story doesn't follow their headcanon and blame the author for that. I like headcanons, I like writing fanfiction, but you have to differentiate that from what is actually happening in canon and accept that canon plays by different rules. Liking your fanfics more than the actual story is fine too, you just can't mesh these two together and lose sight of what is actually happening in the manga. As long as the story follows its own premises and rules/events it has set up, it is perfectly fine. There is legitimate criticism to make about jjk, I do it plenty, but things like wanting Sukuna dead and Gojo alive and getting mad at Gege for it not happening the way they want are just not it.

[deanthe]

//vent I really need to get this off my chest. After Splatoon 3's final splatfest comes to a close, I'm probably going to stop interacting with the Splatoon community as much as I can. It's been four years since I've gotten truly into Splatoon, (that's a complicated, yet much nicer story for some other time) and while I don't regret it by any means, it's definitely been an exhausting ride, and I kinda want to get off of it before I barf.

Getting the most obvious thing out of the way, the way Nintendo has been handling Splatoon 3 has been really disappointing. It has far more improvements than flaws, but this game has had some really bizarre decisions made with it compared to the first two games. Maps, kits, ETC... I'm not gonna delve into the specifics, you probably already know what I'm going on about. Secondly, while what I just said still holds true, I feel like the community reactions to these changes have been... a bit too much? Like, yeah, splatfests are imbalanced. Maps have been bad. (up until Drizzle Season 2023, at least) But these problems have been absolutely blown out of the water. Fucking, death threats have been sent to people who join the Shiver's teams. Despite the whole appeal of the Splatoon community being a place of self expression and lack of judgement, a lot of Splatoon subcultures really... aren't that great. Being deadass, competitive Splatoon is boring, and its players are super rude and annoying. I don't like to generalize, but I've yet to interact with a single comp player I enjoy talking to. Every single one I've met has tried forcing me to play a certain way, no matter if I'm even fucking playing with them. I was harassed for using sticks. In a B- lobby. Back when I was new to Splatoon 2. The hacking scene is a dumpster fire. The main person who's created the most well known and fun Splatoon hacking system is a piece of shit, for one. For two, have you even touched the first game anytime after 2017? Yeah, it's full of hackers. Can't play turf war for 15 minutes without having to sit there and not play the game because someone is hacking and getting away with it because Nintendo doesn't moderate the servers anymore. The Coroika fandom is if you took Splatoon fandom and infected it with My Hero Academia fans. Yeah. Are any of you familiar with Splatoon Florida? It was an old parody account on Twitter that I used to own that got popular SUPER fast. Could not handle it. It spawned nearly 50 clone accounts based on the other 49 united states, and I had even gotten impersonation accounts pretending to be me and saying really, really awful things. This paired with the queerphobia I faced and hatemail in general stacked on top of my mother having multiple strokes and almost dying at the time, pushed me over the edge, and I deleted SplatoonFL after someone told me that they hoped my mother had another stroke and died. Now, I feel like shit for name dropping people in my vent, as it's been awhile since most of this garbage has happened and I don't want to seem petty, plus this isn't intended to be a callout post. But I really do feel the need to let this shit out of my system, and frankly I'm tired of watching these people be appreciated while remembering what they've done to me, small and insignificant or not.

Theecorner, AKA Danniee, banned me from their Discord server after I loudly expressed distaste for jokes being made about Dream, as I was one of Dream's victims and felt very uncomfortable bringing him up. Keep in mind that insinuated that I did not enjoy the conversation multiple times.

Pufuu had made a Twitter post with a screenshot of our DMs. I was irritated that he had kept making fake Splatoon leaks with zero indication of them being concepts, and he thought that was wrong. A couple Tweets before this, ironically, he boasted about getting another annoying fake leaker to block him.

Caitlin Koi had acted aggressive towards me after I expressed concern for her after a seizure which, her seizures are very much real and very dangerous, though I should mention she also uses them as an excuse to be an asshole and guilt trip people.

Vaqeii. Fuck you. (He has very few actual fans, I just wanted to express my hatred towards that fucking slime since he's also one of the Splatubers who had traumatized me.)

I'd like to restate that I don't regret my time in the community one bit. I love it here for the most part. It's just gotten far too much, and I'm. Frankly a little bit done and ready to move on. I'll try to keep strong and stay for a bit so I can enjoy the rest of Splatoon 3's update cycle with my friends and the people I enjoy being around. After that though, unless something happens to change my mind, I'll be gone after that.

Knowing the current state of the Splatoon community, I wouldn't be surprised if I started getting harassed again for this post. Hell, wouldn't it be hilarious if THIS vent post got screenshotted and edited to be about Roller Coaster Tycoon, to? Yeah, that was a thing that happened. No, I haven't forgotten about that. You know who you are. Real fucking proud of you, I am.