#the OG games had no interface
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I am eternally grateful that there's a ton of settings to customize how SH2R looks (for accessibility or just personal preference reasons). I prefer my interface to be minimal, nearly non-existent, and i keep forgetting the game looks that way because i want it to look that way.
I see clips of other people's gameplay with maximum interface and it physically . hurts . me. 😂
I know we all have different needs (you do you), but man, i'm so relieved it's not mandatory for all that extra stuff to be on screen.
Thanks, Bloober Team, for allowing us to make the game look exactly how we want it to look. 😙❤
#my preferences are likely due#to me being a certified Old#the OG games had no interface#if you wanted to know anything#you had to open your item menu#silent hill 2 remake#SH2R#silent hill series#lucky plays SH2R#videogame fangirling
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My thoughts on Persona 3 Reload
I recently finished Persona 3 Reload and it has definitely been a journey. I wanted to sort out some of my personal experiences with the game and share a few details that stuck with me. Spoiler warning if you keep reading! I included some thoughts on certain parts of the game, including some clips of the ending cutscene, so keep that in mind if you haven’t finished it yet!
Persona is such a dear series to me. After finishing P4 and P5, P3 was the last one I needed to play to complete the modern Persona lineup. So, when Persona 3 Reload released on February 1st, I was really excited to play it, but I had to hold off since I was right in the middle of finishing my thesis.
March was just absolute chaos for me: I went through some personal hardships and, finally, turned in my master’s thesis. Easily one of the most stressful periods of my life. Thankfully, I had some incredible friends by my side, supporting me through every step, then and now. I honestly couldn’t have made it through without them.
In the meantime, I figured it’d be better to hold off on P3R for a bit, partly because of its heavy atmosphere and the darker themes, but also because I honestly wasn’t in the best mindset to enjoy it.
For the record, I’m just obsessed with the Persona OSTs, but I wanted to stay away from the new P3 soundtrack so I could experience it in-game. But of course, ONE song managed to sneak past my defenses and land in my playlist. On my way to work, Color Your Night came on for the first time, and honestly, my jaw just dropped.
To this day, I still think it’s a beautiful song! I listen to it almost daily, along with a bunch of other tracks from the game. I wasn’t expecting something so intimate yet so upbeat, and it totally blew me away. Thinking back, I honestly think it gave me that extra push to finish my thesis so I could finally start the game.
This is not meant to be a full game review, but as I played, I felt like P3R wanted to clearly distinguish itself from the original P3. Where the OG game had this edgy, darker vibe, P3R felt more like a celebration of life in comparison. I haven’t played the original, but I’ve listened a lot to its OST, and you can tell they tried to step away from that feeling while honoring Shoji Meguro’s masterpieces.
The interface design is just chef’s kiss. I'm obsessed with the pause menu. It feels like every time I hit pause, time just stops —a little break from all the stressful thoughts, like looking at the world through a calm water barrier. Can we take a moment to appreciate how gorgeous that menu is??
I love how the designers went all in for the water aesthetic: it’s in the menus, the color schemes, the little effects on the music tracks ( like that bubble sound at the start of Full Moon Full Life, 0:28 if you are wondering :] ). They really nailed it.
Then, there’s the endgame. It hits hard with the “take responsibility for your actions” thing, especially after December 31. Choosing to fight to the end completely changes the atmosphere—the color palette gets less saturated and the music takes a more nostalgic tone (Living with Determination, Memories of School, Memories of the City; I find that last one quite disturbing). It’s like the game is telling you that everything comes to an end. It wouldn’t be as impactful if it didn’t. I feel like these songs are the MC’s memories of all the places he’s been in the past year, knowing things will never be the same.
It’s especially heartbreaking on that last day when the MC talks to all their confidants, and they start sharing all the things they’re planning to do soon. Shoutout to Koromaru-san, the goodest boy of them all ;-;
And then, that final scene with Aigis absolutely destroyed me. I wasn’t ready. I like to think she’s using that moment to show us how she’s found her own purpose, and even though she feels sorrow for the MC, she’s learned how to keep going. It hit me so hard. The moment itself is sad, but the atmosphere feels so calm and gentle, like floating on a cloud. And then, after the cutscene, it’s over, and I’m left in tears—not just because it ended, but because of everything we, as the MC, left behind along the way.
And as the game closes, we get Memories of You. After years of listening to it out of context, I finally realized it was the ending theme all along! If you haven’t heard the English lyrics, please do—they’re beautiful, like a love letter from Aigis, saying she’ll be there to protect and remember you forever.
This ended up being a bit of a brain dump, so I hope it makes sense. Please feel free to share any thoughts you may have about the game if you feel like it! And thank you if you read all the way to the end! Truly, thank you so much.
Final shoutout to my dear friends for all the support they gave me through everything. I hope I can also protect them forever as well.
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InGirum by Beny Danette
IFDB - OG (French) - Translated (English) CW: death, grief, depression, suicide
Summary: InGirum is an unfinished game. It's a game in ruins, just like its creator.
This was an incredible game. Using the framing of a game within a game, it taps into the creepypasta vibes and lost content, by adding voiced commentary (amazing voice!~) and an interface of an old glitchy computer. In the game, you play bits of games and demos, created in binksi, from an author who had previously found success, but struggles to put out his next game.
Throughout the game (the one you play), commentaries from the narrator can be heard (in French, subtitled in English) at specific moments (especially the starts and ends of the games-in-game), explaining the state of mind of the author, his motivations for creating certain demos, or links between his games (often in symbolisms and writing on the wall). Most games-in-game are unfinished, explained by the narrator as to why.
The interactivity might not be traditional IF, as you are playing binksi (requiring more movement than choice), and is sometimes obtuse (especially the hidden mazes and paths, though they are not hard), but it reflects the commentary of the narrator on the subject. There are clear reasons as to why a level is built the way it is, why you can't reach certain element until much later down the line, why some demos look polished and some are messed up version. The mirror between what you see in the games-in-game and you hear/read with the commentaries is fascinating, as well as very creepy.
Throughout the game, tension builds up, with all the strange and creepy bits adding onto the pile, culminating to a climax that twisted my stomach. Every bit is linked, right up until the end.
And impressive game, taking you on a choke hold.
If you can understand French, I highly recommend that version.
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Since the interface for image posting is better than a decade ago and I can use the Robin Customizer website to make images better than what I can take with the camera (even if I have a phone now), I figured it's a good time to just create a new masterpost for all Avatars. Links back will be updated if ever I get the itch for a new run.
Names other than direct references come from Fantasy Name Generators and the Dragon Name Generator. You can also click on an image to see their name in the description.
More info under cut...copy 'n pasted from OG posts and edited due to context changes.
The first is Teefa, named after my Head Muse. She’s married to Lon’qu because I have a big obsession with Swordsmasters.
The girl with blue hair is Lufia, named for the heroine of the first game in the series of the same name. She’s married to Chrom and anyone who knows said series would get the joke behind both her name, looks and marriage immediately.
The green-haired shota is Miath, my first male Avatar. He’s a shota obviously because he married Nowi. Wanted to have two overpowered Manakete daughters of destruction without feeling guilty about marrying 1000 year old legal jail bait.
Lennalt is the second of the male Avatars. He eventually got married to Panne, though a bit late because I am the moron who didn’t plan an Avatar/Sumia file in the ones where Chrom marries another girl, and am too lazy to shuffle pairings. And was NOT going to be trying a shuffle on a file where Chrom is marrying Olivia…
This here is Rthyin, unfortunate recipient of a crazy name. And married to Tharja because I am evil and have Trainwreck Syndrome. But in reality, I just ran a Four Sorcerer run and left it at that!
Next up is me returning to parody world with Rutee. Yes, I married her to Donnel since she’s named after a character who does marry a farmboy and has a hyperactive son. And ran her as a Trickster since Rutee was a healer/thief.
Talath was decided completely by a Randomizer. I Randomized her gender, appearance, and even who she and everyone else married! After getting rid of duplicates I’d already done, I had the file she’s in. Due to this stuff, she’s actually a Sage and is married to Virion of all freaking people! He’s…actually pulled his weight for once, probably to impress his very particular wife (it is Virion after all!)
My camera did NOT like trying to snap a photo of Saphira, so I can finally share a good image of her. She’s married to Stahl, and is FINALLY after so long back to my standard class usage of Dark Flier. Hey! I have a full family of riders this file…
Next is Maylanth (May for short). The first Reset Run when I just marry all the opposite gender children and Spot Pass units. Her ultimate husband at the end was Gaius, although that was at the very end of the game.
Danny was also a reset run, this time with a male Avatar. He ended up marrying Emmeryn and I went really screwed up with this by having Morgan marry Yarne (considering their Supports...). Other fun fact...his full name is Daenerys because when I got a bunch of Avatar names from the Dragon Name Generator GoT wasn't yet around and I'd never heard of "A Song of Ice and Fire" and didn't realize this related to a female character...
Beroan's run came about since I didn't do Priam's Supports since I didn't want to do his battle with a sub-optimal lesser party or grind the kids on a second file. Since the servers are switching off, I have to do this beforehand and chose a new file over just grinding Danny's 2nd gen. Marries Cordelia and gives his fetching purple hair to Severa.
Nveryll was my curious test to see if the SpotPass data I'd downloaded could still be loaded once the servers went down despite my earlier desperation. She marries Henry and I can only guess, since Henry's endings all talk about him being a surprisingly good father, both of them dote on Morgan endlessly.
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kind of obsessed with the wariowAre diy lore.
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Favrorite things about this shit show:
what the FUCK did wario do this time. Like yeah he doesn't do any work but he's never done any work. he had to have pissed everyone off somehow. And BOTH mona and jimmy t jumped ship so you know it's bad, these are all of his OG's but jimmy is his childhood bff and mona is mona. If those guys jumped ship you know wario fucked up big time.
9-volt and 18-volt split over this. This is crazy because 9-volt is another kid that absolutely idolizes wario so again, major fuckup, but also 18-volt is willing to stick it out and they're both stubborn enough to split up with their best friend over it. 18-volt even alludes to his damaged friendship with 9-volt in his game. Chaos.
Dr. crygor is totally coasting on all this drama because both diamond software and the newly minted wario man software use his game engine and as the ever eloquent blobmob observes "his labcoat must be made of money lol". He is not taking a side he is just cashing in, in true wario fashion. i've said it before but all wario's friends get pissed at him all the time despite having the exact same flaws its so funny. but anyways. Penny gets caught in the crossfire and has to coach wario on grand-dad's user interface in the most tedious yet mildly amusing tutorial known to man. I dont even think she works here yet this is purely out of the goodness of her heart.
Speaking of people who don't work here yet. The reason I included the assembly dojo post is because this is the assembly dojo:
he does not work here either. He is just in the ground.
5. They all come back anyways by the next wario game. This is because none of this matters and is simply a framing device for the premise of making your own wario game. However. I thrive on framing devices in a wario game. So MY game theory is that joe, being the nice guy he is, was a better manager overall but that also meant that he made them do actual work. Lord knows he puts mona through the wringer when she works for him. Meanwhile this is what a workday at warioware inc looks like:
So because all of wario's friends value the creative freedom he gives them, and because they value the freedom to do fuck all, they eventually got tired of working for an actual game company and came back around. Its kind of a toxic workplace environment but hey it's home. Despite wario being kind of a dick sometimes they all genuinely enjoy his company when he's not actively exploiting their labor so it kind of sucks that he lets his pursuit of capital interfere with what would otherwise be a fun and chill friend group but thats wario for you.
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game collection ramble~~~
wonder which games I'm gonna need to download a rom of and play on the computer... or play on steam assuming i buy the steam versions too...
rpgs in general have some kinda small text~~~ I hope if it does come down to me having to do that to play my games it's not a crime or something; cause as a teen emulation didn't bug me but after I got really worried and scared about torrenting stuff, I've kinda lost it for emulation too...... (I've posted about this before i think)
where do I even start with megaten? I'm not exactly that big on (or good at potentially) juggling my time with social links... but it could be fun~~~
current games I have just bc i like collecting things:
persona 1-4 golden (vita) might have persona 5 but idr i have the artbook somewhere tho~~~
devil surviviors (overclocked and 2 3ds)
strange journey redux (sadly not og cause I heard that one's better (3ds))
Shin Megami Tensei iv and apocalypse (3ds)
nocturne remaster (switch; which is garbage cause minor nit pick i like the text in the older version and the lighting, lol but also raidou in switch version i think)
devil children light book and dark book (gba) how obscure were these ones?
and that's it to my knowledge.... I think I dug through my files of (extra content) on my 3ds after looking through all the games and it says I have Persona Q data there but I don't have the game installed and bought it digitally.... guess I made room for something else and now can't redownload it if I bought it cause the 3ds servers and eshop have been dead for a while....
also had Persona 1 and the earlier games started but for some reason my vita decided to spit up a screen after my battery died for idk how long and deleted everything I had for some reason.... thx vita..... had to reformat and redownload everything ~~~
(collects games... never plays the games...... I'm also the same way with books...)
hate how rpg interfaces are kinda small~~~~ but I'm the blind one so that's a me problem~~~
rip persona q forever lost in the void bc I can't redownload you~~~
I've loved this franchise for a while~~ but haven't played any of the games at all.... Just collected the games and some stuff~~ don't really even remember how I found it tbh~~~
idk if it's a text and sight issue on my part or just anxiety about playing something new~~?? which I've just made a post on actually, lol. could be all of the above~~
might need to emulate cause as I've said on this blog; I'm disabled. Legally blind and the text in RPGs is usually too small for my good eye to read, so I'd need either emulation to read the text or to play older rpgs with bigger more readable text...
the limit of 30 tags on this website is dumb cause now I can't put the (visually impaired) tags there....
tldr; don't know where to start with megami tensei, and just wanted to share my game collection~~ of this franchise specifically, lol
i hope this post isn't near as scattered as I think it is. the bad part is if it is in fact scattered and hard to follow; I'm not even tired yet and completely competent to my knowledge....
just scatterbrained i guess~~~ idk..... and super excited to share my megami tensei game collection~~ however small it may be~~~
#thoughts#thinking#i think too much#collection#game collection#wonder which i'll need to use an emulator to read#of a certain game series#Shin Megami Tensei#SMT#Megami Tensei#MegaTen#shin megami tensei persona#persona 1#persona 2 innocent sin#persona 2 eternal punishment#persona 3 fes (?)#persona 4 golden#vita#playstation vita#devil survivor#devil survivor overclocked#devil survivor 2#shin megami tensei strange journey redux#shin megami tensei iv#shin megami tensei iv apocalypse#3ds#shin megami tensei nocturne#switch#might need to emulate them tho#not enough tags to list why
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hey! this is super random but why do some of your posts have "lissie:" at the start? since not all your posts start w it i think? that's all, i was just curious since i'm a new follower!
lissie: hello anon! *waves hand* that's definitely random cause you're actually the first one to ask about it (i didn't expect someone to ask about that at all). i sometimes do it inconsistently, but i'll try to explain them
though my tumblr mobile theme changed along with the big BIG project i am currently doing (currently in the terra incognita theme), my main theme of the blog is how this blog is a space agency where we do research and find new discoveries in space (read as creating new stories) and it also expands to my other side blog, hence the reason i nickname this one "regina" and my reading account "cynthia" like how you name a large mother spaceship like a "death star" in star wars
all three groups i am writing about are space exploration crews to different planets in the solar system in their own exploration programs: ateez to mars, txt to saturn, and enhypen to neptune (hence the name of their respective space program is on the greek god name of each of planets that is based on roman god name; ares, cronus, and poseidon) and, me, lissie, i'm acting as the head of the agency and flight director. that's also why navigation, wip, and masterlist pages look like spaceship computer user interfaces.
"lissie:" is like that voice transcript of a space crew talking with each other or to mission control (here's the apollo 11 one for context), though this concept definitely shines more in my side blog where i have a sit-down talk with my story characters like this one where the time wave characters interject my speech lol (pls utilize @interactivemochi, i love the concept of yall interacting with my characters by talking to them directly cause that is just so underrated in all atzblr, txtblr, n enhablr might make an epilogue smau update of laurel hell and posting it there)
in this blog, i use "lissie:" usually when talking about things related to my writings such as review responses, writer stuff, my current status when i'm writing things, the heeseung ethan/evan thing cause that's funny knowing i've written heeseung as ethan before, my thoughts on the fandom, and all of that stuff
i don't use "lissie:" in announcement posts under #announcement from the moon, because, other than making it seem more serious, i wanna portray it more like a newsletter/announcement thing where you don't know who is writing behind it but to represent the organization as a whole. i also don't use it in tag game posts just to make it tidier.
another case of when i don't use "lissie:" is where i tag the post as #ignore the ramble. they're usually posts where i ramble about stuff that is relevant to this blog's audience but not writing related like music reviews, random rbs on idols, etc. i had used "lissie:" for this tag too but those posts are being transferred to #status updates by the moon for consistency as i write this :D
other than those, i also usually just write notes on tags cause i don't wanna cover up the main idea of the og post, especially if it is rb.
so yeah, basic conclusion: "lissie:" is when i post about my writings, being a writer, the state of the tumblr fandom, replying to people, etc. while the others that don't have "lissie:" are when i'm rambling.
and this blog's theme is the brainchild of me being a space kid who wanted to work in a space agency, but life said "you're more suited for art and social things" so i studied social science and take hobbies in different art forms instead
hope that answers your question and more lmao i really do be writing my blog concepts here to
#message to the moon#messenger: 🌻#also shout out to loona n their concept#they're my stepping stone for me to embrace space kid lissie once again#hence i use the moon cycle as the desc for my blogs and moon in my branding lol
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Headcanon/AU: What if Menoa had known Koushirou all along and the entirety of Kizuna had been about her wanting to drag him to her side?
Granted, this wouldn’t have changed much of Kizuna’a overall plot, but: Parts of the scenery - as well as some interesting translation choices - could at least imply that Menoa’s role in the OG Digimon Adventure timeline may have been a lot more meaningful than what meets the eye. (Big thanks goes to @jamesthedigidestined, who initially sparked this headcanon.)
In sum, Menoa’s and Koushirou’s roles in Kizuna are pretty much defined as “being young geniuses on opposing ends/value systems”. Menoa is completely engulfed in her saviour complex, utterly ridden by grief and guilt over having caused her partner to dissolve, so her goal is to drag each and every Chosen Child into her fake reality realm, making them turn back into children to live in that state for eternity, without asking for their consent or contemplating whether what she does is right or wrong. Koushirou, on the other hand, is framed as selfless hero, sacrificing himself for the sake of enabling Taichi and Yamato to defeat Menoa rather than taking anything from anybody against their will - so much for the things the viewers are able to tell for themselves. But until we get to this point, there are a few other things to look at.
At the start of the movie, Menoa is the one who contacts Koushirou to ask him and the other Japanese Chosen Children for help in solving the cases of people all over the world losing their consciousnesses, as she specializes in Digimon research. Yamato looks to be rather suspicious of her coming to them to ask for help, after she claims that they had been rather famous, having saved the world countless times. And indeed, the movie frames it like they are local heroes - as opposed to Tri, in which they appeared to be a threat to society -, so it shouldn’t be surprising that Menoa figured out how to get in touch with Koushirou... Right?
But what if she had actually known him - while he himself had no idea that it was her...?
There are several versions of “Our War Game’s” sub floating around the internet - in the movie, Koushirou tells Taichi about a friend, who has provided him with analyzed information regarding the suspicious Digimon that appeared on the internet, growing quickly and having merged with several bugs. Depending on what sub you look at, said friend is from Los Angeles (or Russia, which appears to be a common translation error, thanks to @shihalyfie for pointing this out!). However: It is notable that he is referring to his friend as “she” (at least in this version of the sub, which may not be fully accurate, but for the sake of this headcanon, we’ll go with it):
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And not only that... She seems to be impressively intelligent. Which rings several bells and reminds us of another redheaded genius:
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The timeline doesn’t completely line up, since she, apparently, had met Morphomon when she was 9. She is 22 in Kizuna, thus she’s the same age as Taichi - so while that means she would have met her partner two years before Taichi and the others met theirs, it at least lines up with both her and Taichi being in grade school at the same time.
(On a more self induldent note, the fact that Taichi reacted as depicted above both times he is confronted with people interacting around him and Koushirou, who are supposedly much smarter than himself, maaaaay indicate a certain level of mirroring - if Menoa was involved in both instances.)
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In addition to this little hint, Kizuna pulled another visual OWG parallel - after losing Morphomon, Menoa had attempted to gather her partner’s data to bring her back.
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And doesn’t that interface look eerily familiar...?
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The English Dub of “Our War Game”, better known as “The Digimon Movie”, merged several movies together and changed the course of the story: In this, it was Willis (or Wallace in the Japanese original) who was framed to be the genius who had accidentally caused Diaboromon/Diablomon to appear in the internet as a virus.
So... What if Menoa had done the same? What if she actually had been the one Koushirou was in touch with over the whole issue? What if their exchange had caused her to gather enough data, enough information, to use this exact interface to create her own Digimon later on, being inspired not only by Diablomon’s basis, but, probably, by everything she and Koushirou had been texting about throughout all these years - while Koushirou had been blissfully unaware of what she would end up doing?
What if... The fact that she refers to Koushirou as “genius boy” was because she had actually met him through the internet when he had still been just a boy himself?
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What if that was the reason why she had hoped for him to see eye to eye with her? Her overall demeanour towards him is very relaxed, open - maybe even a bit playful and flirtatious.
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What if she had been convinced that he would be on her side and provide the help she requested - since she had been the one who helped him to defeat Diablomon in the past? Just imagine what they may have been theorizing about, all the exhanged ideas over the years, all the knowledge that she could have gathered to make all of this work - thanks to him. She knew he’d have a list of all the Chosen Children, she knew he’d have the resources, the infrastructure, the kindness to - hopefully, in her eyes - make everyone turn to a state of bliss and happiness, without pain or loss. Together with her.
And what if the fact that she could eventually overpower him, taking his consciousness, luring him into Neverland, was because he had eventually realized who she was... And had let his guard down, just for a few seconds?
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I do believe it could have been interesting if he had become her second in command due to getting brainwashed - because we all know the others are pretty much helpless when he isn’t providing guidance from afar. And these two geniuses and their bug Digimon against the world might be a deadly combination, but... For now, this is just a headcanon. Especially because the timing might not fully add up in the end. But I would really love to see these two interact in some way in canon once again in the future.
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#menoa bellucci#koushirou izumi#koushiro izumi#my two cents#digimon adventure last evolution kizuna#digimon adventure kizuna#meta#headcanon#digimon#kounoa#they're a very intriguing duo and i just adore how this COULD have been framed
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Hello! As you are both a MLQC and Tears of Themis player, how would you compare the two games? What parts of either game stick out after experiencing both of them?
hi! oml I had a lot of errant thoughts about this floating in my head, and this really gives me the chance to organize them.
The short version is, my favourite point about MLQC is the development of the male leads, while my favourite point for the much-younger Themis is the attention to detail.
See under the cut for the long version! (*Light spoiler content for both games)
MLQC Points
If I were to calculate the net amount of affection (if that's a good word for it) that I have for either game's 4 MLs, I would have to say that I'm more endeared to the MLQC boys, since I genuinely like all of them. Meanwhile for Themis, it's quite a massive spectrum for my feelings.
But of course, MLQC has much, much more developmental content than Themis does right now, so it's understandable that the Themis boys aren't quite as fleshed out yet for me to get attached to them (excluding XY ofc). Overall though, I think that MLQC's development of the OG 4 MLs makes for one of the strongest points of the game.
One other thing I really like is the pacing development between MLQC's MC and the MLs. The clear contrast you see at the beginning of the plot vs. the recent CNY/Valentine's karma, and all the ups and downs in between - it's pretty fascinating. (One concern I have about the Themis MC's relationship with her MLs is that... I kinda feel like things are really speeding ahead in terms of this point, and every single one of the boys are already 100% in. I mean, girl, I would not be laying my hand on my work superior's ab area at this point in the game.)
One point that I've really enjoyed about MLQC's plot is the whole idea of how things aren't always as they seem. The moral ambiguity of STF and Black Swan makes for a particularly good read, and I'm curious about S2's Gray Rhinos. (... Although, one thing I have to criticize here is that I feel like what STF/BW are aiming for is eugenics, not evolution... i.e. they should get their terminology right lmao)
MLQC music is my favourite! My favourite is probably S2 Ch.6-9's PV music, but some of the other PV music are also strong contenders.
Interface stuff, like how you can scroll between cards rather than having to go back to the whole listing of cards
Materials farming is way easier (on Themis you have to run through the whole battle, but at least you can auto it)
I've got to thank PG for giving free gacha pulls bc they don't do that in Themis :(
Themis Points
Thus far, what I really like about Themis' plot is the incredible grasp on detail (understandable and necessary, given the mystery-solving and logical-deduction nature of the game). Every questionable point is either resolved or is brought forth in the story and actively mentioned as a mystery still under investigation.
I feel like the scope of MLQC's main story is so grand that they either miss explaining details or some things are scattered in different places, so it's hard to piece things together (one thing I haven't been able to get over is how MC suddenly had a pocket watch to communicate with Victor on, in Ch.16, and I just found out recently that it actually gets explained... in Victor's R&S.)
I've got to say that Themis' MC is probably one of the best I've encountered. She's very smart, not impulsive, and her convictions on justice are very strong. The court trials at the end of each chapter are a good display of her capability, and she's shown many times that she won't rush into situations in ways that'll make things worse (see: Ch.5 when she agreed to stay back when Xia Yan infiltrated the laboratory; Ch.6 when she knew that she couldn't snap at Zhao Fei for his words to Zuo Ran). (I'm looking at you, MLQC MC in Gavin's Followup Date who rushed into a shootout situation for good film.)
Voice acting for all characters! Really helps with the immersion. 20% of the reason why I like Yang Xiao is because of his voicing. Granted, though, the setup of Themis plot is much more reliant on cast outside of the main characters than it is for MLQC.
PG opted to minimize interaction between their 4 MLs, but MHY went the opposite direction and Themis' 4 MLs are constantly interacting, which I actually quite like a lot. Of course, Themis' MLs are supposed to be working together in NXX, so it just works out like that. Regardless, it's enjoyable to see it - whether they're roasting each other, or they're doing their hyperintelligent analyses.
All the clue hunting and analysis (especially in the main plot) is really fun, and it does make you pay attention
No City Stroll-like mechanism (Istg, who was it at PG who decided that a good function was one where you have to leave your phone running for 16 hours if you're F2P??)
I could stare at Themis SSRs & SRs forever with headphones in bc of the Live2D effect + the sound effects
Big respect for the amount of work that goes into game events, especially the big events that have their own big plotline
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Legacy is a Lonely Color [a post 5x11 ficlet]
If there is one person Lena would least expect to see standing on her balcony, it's Winslow Schott.
She'd seen the news about the Toyman, and admittedly felt a pang of regret that the shift in reality had so ill-served such a bright personality. But the man on her balcony doesn't have the manic glee Lena glimpsed in the news footage. Instead, the smile that greets her with a small wave is calm, his gaze steady as he regards her through the glass.
Curiosity spurs Lena to open the door, though she can imagine what has brought a Legionnaire to her doorstep.
"Good to see you're not insane," she greets as Winn steps inside her office. "Or should I be worried about any cymbal-clapping monkeys rolling around here?"
"Har har," he retorts. He turns towards her as though reaching for a friendly hug, but stops short when Lena stiffens and turns away. He diverts his intention by sucking in a deep breath. "Nope, no murderous monkeys this time. But if you're interested, I know a guy."
He clicks his tongue with a wink and a pair of finger guns, and Lena fails to keep a smile from pulling at her lips. Mutual grins linger between them for a long moment, before Winn's fades and Lena remembers herself.
"What are you doing, Lena?"
Lena folds her arms stiffly across her chest, jaw clenching as she squares her shoulders against the accusation that falls softly in the evening shadows.
"Excuse me?"
"Non Nocere? J'onn showed me what almost happened, and Lena-- this is not the way."
Leveling her very best Luthor glare at the Legionnaire. "I'm curious, Agent Schott... do I miraculously survive into the 23rd century?"
Winn blinks, his features scrunching in confusion. "Um-- no...?"
"Then I'm curious as to when we became friends enough that you can presume to know anything about me."
To her surprise, Winn only smiles, even as he ducks his head as though to hide it. "No... I know. We're not friends. In fact it's really my only true regret about going with the Legion."
Lena doesn't understand. Despite the high-octane circumstances of thor previous encounters, they never became personal. Perhaps, over time, they could have been true friends, but Winn had been long gone before Lena was admitted so deep into Kara's circle.
Sensing her confusion, Winn continues.
"Yeah, turns out when people in the future know you used to hang with the OG Supergirl, they want to know everything. Including what you know about her brilliant and beautiful best friend Lena Luthor."
Lena scowls. "Your future has its details wrong. We're not friends."
Winn's lips pull into a grimace. "Yeah. I heard that too."
"If this is some kind of ploy for me to--"
"Kara doesn't know I'm here. She's not that kind of person."
Resentment coils in its nest, deep in her chest. Lena's fingers tighten painfully on her biceps. "Well, I'm sure you have reason to believe that."
Winn's lips pinch together, but he moves on. "Anyway, my point is that those guys knew more about you than I did. And the more I learned trying to catch up, the more I wished I'd made more of an effort to know you when I had the chance. I mean, I always knew I liked you-- you're AWESOME-- but I didn't realize just how much."
Lena shakes her head. She's had enough lip service to last her a lifetime, anf she has no interest in empty words from Kara's closest friend--let alone one who doesn't look like he'll be abandoning the future to rectify the situation. "We're both intelligent people, Mr. Schott. We both know you're not here to learn my favorite color and braid my hair. And knowing your history with Supergirl and her friends, I'm going to cut to the chase: there's nothing you can say to me tonight or two hundred years from now that will convince me to trust her again." She is done giving second chances. She is done offering her heart to others and having it returned to her in pieces. But Winn regards Lena with a smile that rests on his features with a maturity she doesn't remember seeing before. "The only person you need to trust again is yourself." A jolt arcs clean through Lena's core. It takes all her control not to recoil from the soft accusation, but Winn must see the reflexive flinch, because the next thing she knows, warm hands take her by the shoulders. Somehow the soft touch lays her bare, slicing through the bubble that's surrounded her since the night she killed her brother. Tears spring unbidden to her eyes. "No one can survive as an island. Not even the great Lena Luthor." Winn's own smile turns damp, even as it broadens. "El mayarah." Just like that, Lena's defenses snap back up. She blinks away her sudden emotion, scoffing. "Another load of--" Winn interrupts her curse. "Stronger together isn't just Supergirl's motto," he tells her. "It's L-Corp's too." Lena freezes. L-Corp? That means-- she stares at Winn in question, but he doesn't elaborate. "Non Nocere is not your legacy." He says it with such certainty that Lena can't find any protest within her. "Trust yourself," Winn says, "and you will find your way. Whether or not that way lies with Supergirl is up to you. But if you abandon yourself... you'll be lost forever." She's already lost. Lena knows it, however much she tries to deny. Non Nocere was as much about DOING something as it was about fixing something. It's all the more clear now that her company is Lex's again and she has absolutely nothing to show for the last four years of her life. But maybe it's not gone for good. Maybe Lena has a future ahead of her after all. And now she has a direction in how to get there. "It was good to see you." Winn pulls away, and backs up towards the balcony. When he floats to step onto the rail of the balcony, Lena calls out. "Winn." He pauses, pivoting to face her recklessly enough to make Lena's heart lurch in alarm. She swallows it down, though, and focuses on him rather than the drop at his heels. "Are you really not going to ask why I have the interface cube from your ship?" He's got to have noticed it missing by now. But his eyebrows lift indiscernably. "Do you really think I wouldn't know a piece of 23rd century tech when I see it?" Winn affects an innocent shrug. "I don't know what you're talking about." Leaning against the doorframe, Lena folds her arms with a smirk of her own. "I think I would have liked to know you too, Mr. Schott." Her confession earns a grin, and another wink. "Catch you around, Miss Luthor." With that, Winn spreads his arms wide and simply tips himself backwards, plunging into empty space. Just as a cry catches in Lena's throat, his head pops back into view, gleeful and giggling. "I've always wanted to do that!" And there goes Earth's very own Legionnaire, zooming up towards the cloud covered sky. Lena watches him go, her thoughts racing as swiftly as he flies. In the days that follow, his words continue tumble about Lena's brain. She weighs them carefully, lets them lead down a multitude of potential paths until she settles on the one that suits her best. It's risky, with a high probabilty of failure, but alternatives leave her with more certain, but less favorable outcomes. And there is always one way she can up her odds. She bites the bullet late one evening and knocks loudly on a beige metal door on the rent-controlled side of down. The sound is almost lost in the laughter she can hear from within, but in just a few moments the knob turns and the door opens to reveal Kara Danvers gaping on the other side. "Lena!" she blurts, cheeks flushing. "You're here!" Lena shrugs. "Well, it is second-friday." Game night. Kara steps aside, and Lena deigns to step inside. As she does she, she casts a cursory glance across the stunned faces staring at her. Only Brainy seems to be missing, but his seat is filled neatly by Winn, whose eyes crinkle behind a disguise of glasses and nothing else. Her own seat has been comandeered by William Dey, who regards her with a stare that feels particularly loathsome. Reflexively, Lena does the math since his arrival in National City, and has to swallow the scoff that scrapes up her throat. Kara invites a coworker she hates in a third of the time it took Lena to earn her inclusion. It doesn't surprise Lena. Not now. "Don't worry," she delivers, half to Kara and half to the staring audience. "I'm not here to participate. Not that you're low on numbers." Kara comes even with her, eyes wide and unblinking, as though Lena might disappear in an instant. "Then... why are you here?" she asks. "Is everything okay?" "No," Lena clips shortly. She revels in the flinch she earns. Nothing is okay. Kara knows that. "H-how can we help?" Kara stammers. "You can't. I have a job for Supergirl." William Dey, of all people, is the first to react. "Supergirl doesn't answer to Luthors," he declares, rising to his feet. Before Lena rolls her own eyes, she notes a flash of irritation that travels across Kara's features. Perhaps she still has some spine after all. "The salary we issue to her direct deposit every month says otherwise," Lena drawls. "And I fail to recall where you were invited into the conversation, Mr. Dey." "I'd be happy to relay a message," Kara interjects before Dey could fire back. "What can I tell her?" Lena tilts her head towards Dey. "I'm afraid it's personal." Kara adjusts her glasses. "Oh, um-- I trust him." "That means nothing to me." Again, Lena revels in the way Kara jerks under the pointed barb, cheeks flushing. Lena almost hopes Kara will tell her to fuck off. Having Supergirl's assistance would make her work easier, but she doesn't exactly enjoy the thought of spending the time with her either. In the end, Kara turns to the rest of the room. "We're calling it an early night," she says. "Sorry, William." "You don't have to drop everything just because she--" "Welp, I'm pooped anyway," Nia announces, climbing her feet. "Next time I'm gonna have to take a nap before game night. Really takes it out of you, huh?" "Right," Winn nods. He claps Dey on the shoulder. "Come on, man. There's probably still time to catch a taxi." Nia feigns a bathroom break, giving her a reason to linger as Winn guides Dey out the door. Lena ignores the glare the reporter levels at her on his way out, focusing instead on the way Alex kisses Kelly goodbye and promises to be home as soon as she can. Soon it's only Alex and Kara left. Nia emerges as soon as Dey leaves, and a few minutes later Winn re-enters through Kara's open window. This time, when Lena turns her gaze back to Kara, she finds Supergirl gazing back at her. She's still in civilian clothing, her hair still twisted up like Kara Danvers', but it's the hero whose eyes lock on her, a large presence even as she regards Lena with a gaze that isn't anywhere near accusatory. Interesting. "What do you need?" Supergirl asks. Lena recenters herself with a silent, fortifying breath. "Lex. He's planning something, and I intend to stop him. And I will, with or without your help, but it would be faster with more bodies." She looks at the people who lied to her for years, held her at arm's length even as they made a show of embracing her. She doesn't need them, but to reclaim her legacy, Lena's willing to invite them in. If only enough to remove her brother from the field of play. "Who's interested?"
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Could you rank the Nancy Drew games from your least favorite to favorite?? I’d love to know!
ok! in the form of a tier list bc otherwise i’m sitting around arguing w myself about whether i should rank game x at 22 or 23 or 24 etc etc- and that’s just a mess tbh
untouchable tier: scarlet hand and shadow ranch - tbh i enjoy scarlet hand just a little bit more BUT. on the whole. these two - all the elements that make up these games work together to create a whole greater than the disparate parts. and also having a ‘super extra god-tier’ would be dumb. so we have two.
real güd games: ghost dogs, deception island, blue moon canyon, castle malloy (fight 🔪🔪🔪 me), shadow at the water’s edge, alibi in ashes - all build a strong atmosphere but each for whatever reason doesn’t make me see god. alibi in ashes maybe a touch lower than the rest but only just.
(you might have noticed that i have crystal skull straddling tiers 2&3 - look i know that i like it but it has been a long long time since i’ve gone back to it - for no reason really except that it’s not currently installed on my pc and installing it would involve.. you know.. waiting until it’s installed? anyway it’s there bc i don’t trust my memory on this)
tier 3 games i enjoy but know are flawed: og secrets can kill (self-explanatory really), treasure in a royal tower (because honestly i’ve played it so many times the atmosphere doesn’t really build for me anymore, it’s too automatic and too easy to race through now i know how it’s progression works), blackmoor manor (i just - this game has a lot of elements that don’t quite come together nicely for me. some of them are just a bit too much i think. it’s not even that i don’t enjoy them - but maybe silly ghost hunt AND serious gaslighting AND witchy alchemical shit AND a snarky parrot are too much for just one game?? i understand WHY there are huge tonal shifts bc don’t wanna get too dark n scary in what it ultimately a kids game - but they can be. a bit much.), kapu cave (which i tbh kind of love, but i’m not gonna argue it’s top-teir quality - aside from quigley i mean), and trail of the twister (lot of fucking annoying characters, little to no snooping - but i kind of enjoy just about all of the tasks)
‘meh’ teir: haunted carousel, secret of the old clock, danger by design, phantom of venice, captive curse. captive curse could honestly be lower, but thing is anja is by far the most memorable bit and she’s also far and away the best bit? danger by design could maybe be higher, and then i remember it went ‘nazi romance’ with it’s historical backstory? but jj and the catacombs and honestly the vendors and weird minette- but nazi romance. also every time i play it i’m forced to contend with the fact that i absolutely owned heather’s brown-with-pink-pinstripe pants in ~2006 which is not something i like to revisit. haunted carousel, secret of the old clock, and phantom of venice are the games this tier was made for. there are good elements, sure. but there are also elements that are jarring and/or annoying as fuck.
if this tier list was a pass/fail course, this would be the line separating pass from fail.
‘nah bro’ tier / the ‘i could probably split this into several tiers’ tier: stay tuned for danger, message in a haunted mansion, the final scene - all feel weird to me, they don’t really jibe with the rest of the series. they very much yell “we’re still figuring this shit out”. which is fine and neccessary - but not what i’m looking for most of the time. at the time they were made stay tuned for danger and haunted mansion would pass, but we’re not there anymore. icicle creek is, well. honestly it’s ‘meh’ in it’s truest form, even though i called the last teir meh. the characters all kind of suck, tino the douche shows up again, you have to cook at specific times and that’s a bitch and a half. and there’s no big, stand out element that might bump it up a tier. i don���t actually hate fox and geese though. waverly academy is ass honestly, and if i had added a tier below this waverly would be in it. it’s not quite the worst, but ohmygod it seems to hate teen girls - who are also the target audience for the game, which makes it even worse tbh. and all the puzzles are shit. tomb of the lost queen just kinda sucks. i like it marginally better than waverly, and I do enjoy the hierogylph-decoding puzzles even though they’re absolute NONSENSE bc that type of puzzle appeals to me, but the characters are bad hotchkiss is bad the new interface is bad and i can’t use any of the 800 million oil lamps when nancy needs a light. bad. thornton hall and sea of darkness would be in the waverly tier below this one if i had added that extra tier. thornton hall has atmosphere but absolutely fucking nothing else and the writers straight up did not do their jobs, nothing makes any sense at all. the definition of fake deep tbh. but... atmosphere is enough to save it from the ‘utter shit’ tier below. sea of darkness has nothing going for it and then it had the gall to add chrismas bullshit as though it wasn’t a game released in MAY also I oppose the holidays in general, BUT at least they got a new fucking writer. still not great though.
THROW IT IN THE TRASH tier: secrets can kill: remastered - obvious trash. ransom of the seven ships - no suspects, terrible game mechanics, shittier version of loulou who was honestly already skating on thin ice with me - trash. deadly device - deirdre is shitty, the new interface is still bad, i can BARELY interact with the environment, the characters are nonsense, nothing is appealing, everyone has weird stick-thin gumby arms - TRASH. silent spy - TRASH and also NONSENSE, get your spy/international intruigue/terrorism out of my nancy drew game. alibi in ashes is prime nancy is personally involved in a case material, and spy is the fucking anti-ash. TRASH. labyrinth of lies - TRASH and NONSENSE and peak fake-deep nic-era dialogue - hopelessly up its own ass and doesn’t realise it actually has nothing to say. TRASH. shattered medallion - awful fucking nonsense, somehow nancy cares even less about her friends than she did in ransom, nothing means anything and no one has any clue how tv shows work. also, and i feel like this isn’t stressed enough, turns fuckin nancy into the type of person who would appear on a reality tv show. and why is bess even there? why would she be literally anywhere near this tv show production? it’s bad, it’s nonsensical, and it’s TRASH! throw all of these in the garbage, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
...and i left midnight in salem and the two dossiers out of the ranking bc i haven’t played them. (haven’t actually played secrets can kill 2 either but lbr i don’t need to in order to know it has no redeeming qualities)
erm. ta-daa?
#nancy drew#clue crew#look i'm not gonna tag all of the games#this is very much a ranking of favourites not pretending to adhere to any objective standard#believe it or not this was the concise option#also love anything that lets me ramble on about a tier list#so thank you anon for that#my tastes are objectively good and correct#lmao i really said that mhm is AN ENTIRE TIER WORSE than phantom of venice huh#welp.#i'm pretty sure i misspelled 'tier' every single time i typed it#and had to go back and fix#so hopefully i caught them all because that.. that is very very basic.#anyway#et VOILA!
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anyone want to talk about nancy drew game interfaces? im fascinated by how they’ve changed over the years. im trying to analyze this based off of a designer’s standpoint and a player’s. read on after the cut! and tell me what your favorite interface is and why!!
we have the classic interface that ran from #1 secrets can kill 1998 - #9 danger on deception island 2003.
barely any actual game is taking up the screen but theres a nice big text box and you can very easily get to your inventory. no phone icon since nancy only had a cell phone in a few of the games. i love the green that we have here, the huge chunky fancy-ass scroll bars are amazing and so classic nancy. to top it all off we get silhouettes of the woman herself and the little flourishes and textures just give you such a tangible mystery solving feel. of course this is accompanied by the most iconic looking and unfortunately clunky menu screen (but menus will be another post maybe)
then they took the old one and made it smaller for #10 secret of shadow ranch 2004 - #15 the creature of kapu cave 2006.
thankfully the entire menu disappears when you have a conversation so it isn’t limited to that tiny box, but that means you cant exit or save in a middle of a convo. now the inventory box must be opened to access. we have a phone now though! AND A HANDY CHECKLIST!!!!!! thank god. i really enjoy that they kept the same texture and feel for this more streamlined interface. (and that you can choose some fun hawaiian options in kapu cave)
BIG change here for #16 white wolf of icicle creek 2007 - #25 alibi in ashes 2011.
that classic green is gone unless you choose it in settings. the text box is completely outside of the main interface, and there is no main menu to go back to. there are a lot of technical improvements with this interface, but it really lacks the charm of the original 2. it feels very modern, but also sterile and really has nothing that screams “nancy drew.” but good god i love how easily i can save my game.
another very big change here for #26 tomb of the lost queen 2012 - #32 sea of darkness 2015.
dare i say, this one is my personal fave. it’s small, not clunky at all, and has charm! it’s not completely generic like the previous interface, this screen has personality without taking up too much of the screen! the tasklist is easily accessible, along with the notes, and my favorite change by far is THE INVENTORY!!!! SHES BACK IN THE OPEN!!! i love how easily i can access items with this screen. drawbacks, this has gone back to having a separate menu, so quick saving takes a few more clicks than i’d prefer, but it’s still less clunky than the OG.
aaaand here we are, #33 midnight in salem 2019. the absolute most drastic change.
i do enjoy the attempt at making you be able to see as much as the game as possible, all of the inventory boxes are semi transparent so you’re really not missing anything on the screen. again, i really enjoy having an inventory box easily accessible, and this one definitely is. one thing all the previous games had in common was that the inventory items were rendered in full color and were mini versions of the actual object. here they went for a very simplified approach which goes with this style and looks crisp but man it’s not what im looking for in a nancy drew game. it actually takes away from the immersion. again, we have a separate menu screen but for the first time it’s with a hamburger menu icon. this interface is honestly not bad from a designer’s standpoint or a general game standpoint, but good god that textbox is atrocious. having the text try and keep up line by line instead of posting it all and letting us scroll through is so annoying. it’s just bad design. another sad thing is, by looking at this, i have no idea it’s a nancy drew game. there’s no character, just like in the 3rd iteration. also i miss the checklist.
WHEW! i had a lot to say there. my huge paragraph about MID isn’t a complete slam, i understand the choices they made from a UX standpoint, but damn i miss the charm.
overall, my favorite is still the 4th version, but what’s yours? any thoughts on what they could do better? i’m tempted to go way more in depth and analyze piece by piece (textbox, inventory, checklists, phones, menus, etc) and see how theyve changed over the years, for the better and for worse. i really miss art school huh LMAO
#clue crew#nancy drew pc games#nancy drew#this is kinda long but god im obsessed with how these games have changed over the past 2 decades#mine
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Weekend Top Ten #433
Top Ten Things I Want from Xbox Series X
June is Games Month here at David’s Top Tens! That’s right, all month long we’re exploring the majesty of what we all used to call “computer games” before we became too cool. That’s because it’s the time of year when huge multinationals tantalise us with pre-rendered cinematics showcasing gaming experiences utterly divorced from what we’ll get to play. Even in this Time of Crisis (as opposed to a Time Crisis), games companies are still Touting Their Wares, and as such, I am brimming with fanboy fervour, tantalised at the prospect of Gaming Yet to Come. This week alone has seen sexy new videos from the likes of EA, Pokémon, and Sony – whose PlayStation 5 reveal gave us the best glimpse yet at exactly what the next generation could look like. I was impressed; although there wasn’t too much in the way of radically new concepts or whatever, games looked good, with plenty of sexy, shiny new bells and whistles, and it looked like environments will be bigger, more fluid, and more reactive than ever before. Plus seeing the ray-tracing in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart gave me serious “Quake II running on a 3D accelerator card” vibes. Suddenly I was sixteen again, getting all sticky-knickered over texture filtering and coloured lightning.
It was great.
However, I’m pretty much an Xbox-first gamer; mostly, I suppose, due to inertia, having gotten used now to how an Xbox works, to the point where a PlayStation always feels a little alien (still wanna play The Last of Us Part II, though). I’m more of a fan of the Xbox game franchises – the main reason I bought an original Xbox in the first place (way back in 2001) was to play Halo: Combat Evolved, and because of the promise of Fable. This love of Xbox games has only grown with the acquisition of Rare (despite the slight misstep of Perfect Dark Zero) and the release of games like Crackdown, Gears, and Forza Horizon. So as much as I try to be open-minded – and certainly I try to avoid any kind of partisan mud-slinging – I guess I’m pretty much in the tank for Xbox. As such, I’m phenomenally excited for Xbox Series X. I got an Xbox One at launch, and despite all of the hullaballoo and criticism, I’ve always really liked it. I think it’s kind of struggled compared to its predecessors (cult favourite OG Xbox and revolutionary Xbox 360), and hasn’t quite had the era-defining games that both of those enjoyed. All that being said, though, I’ve had loads of fun with it, and so have my wife and kids. But I’ve stuck with the same machine all these years, never upgrading to the more streamlined Xbox One S or the super-duper-sexy Xbox One X. So when I do upgrade, I think the jump will be far more noticeable than someone who’s been enjoying Red Dead Redemption 2 or Gears 5 on a 4K display; it should really feel like a new generation. And that’s before we get to all of the traced rays and other lovely gubbins.
Anyway, when it’s this time of year, I tend to do a semi-comical “E3 predictions” list, followed by a “Stuff I liked at E3” list. Obviously E3 isn’t really happening, but these other online game reveals are, and given my aforementioned excitement over Series X – and Microsoft’s upcoming and much-anticipated reveal of first-party titles – I thought I’d divert my thoughts to what I want to see on the new console. However, unlike the traditional E3 predictions of yore, I’m going to look at what I’d like from the console rather than what games I’d like to see. Partly that’s because these announcement videos are getting spread so far and wide that it’s hard to keep track of what’s been revealed or when we’re likely to see something; partly it’s because we already know quite a few Xbox games that are coming out; and partly because the list would just degenerate into older franchises I want to see come back round again. Plus, with Crackdown 3 having already happened, a new Fable more-or-less an open secret, and a new Perfect Dark being very heavily rumoured, my go-to “wants” are getting thin on the ground. Perhaps Tim Schafer can bring his old LucasArts classics to the Xbox next year…? Whatever, this time around, I’m looking at that big black box and thinking about what features and design elements I’d like to see. What could be improved from how the Xbox One works? How would I like Microsoft to leverage their assets – from the faster SSD to the power of Project xCloud? Basically, what do I want Xbox Series X to be like, outside from glittering reflections on Master Chief’s shiny armour?
Streamlined, faster dashboard: now they’ve already said that the Xbox Series X dash will be effectively identical to the Xbox One dash, which is a trifle disappointing, but I hope that doesn’t mean that both systems can’t get an improved dashboard before Christmas. At the moment things are a bit fiddly, and I’d like to use the improved SSD to mean seamless transitions from page to page. Make it super-easy to get to your game library. Allow more customisation of the landing page. How about allowing us to resize icons, like on Windows 10? Don’t have quite so many obscure categories clogging up the front page. Use the shoulder buttons to hop between sections. Make it more about the games I can play rather than connectivity, shopping, or chatting. Stuff like that.
Integrated streaming: with Project xCloud on the (official) horizon, hopefully we can integrate that service into how the Xbox works. How’s about letting us stream demos straight from the store? Or stream games while they install/download? Or the option to stream any game we own rather than play it from the console? Or cast games from console to phone, or tablet, or PC, so we can enjoy the benefits of Series X hardware in the palm of our hands?
Discless play: teased then withdrawn from the Xbox One launch as it require the internet to check, I hope this can make a belated return. I like physical media, but I also like not having to get off the couch to change discs. I’d be very willing to accept an always-on connection as the price for playing a game without the disc in. If they could find some way to implement this and keep everyone happy, I’d be delighted.
Improved Guide menu: the best thing about the Xbox 360 interface was the Guide menu, which – certainly by the end of the generation – basically offered you full console functionality from one simple pause-button menu. The One Guide has been refined but could go further. Offer instant access to all our games, and all the system settings. Let us seamlessly jump from one thing to another and back again. Let us view all our captures quickly and easily. And let us go through game-by-game and see all our achievements, cycling through their related imagery. Basically, make it more like the 360, please.
Standardised settings: another amazing thing the 360 did that was totally walked back for the One is the idea of having a standardised range of settings that were applied across your entire profile. So if you want to invert your Y-axis, you tick one box, then all games are inverted. This was fantastic, and Microsoft were daft for undoing it. Make it good again! You have the power!
Refined subscription services: I think Game Pass is the future of Xbox, and I think xCloud is the future of Game Pass. This seems fairly obvious to me. I don’t know how much money Microsoft makes from Game Pass, but the way they’re leveraging their entire gaming strategy around it suggests that it’s a much stronger money-spinner for them than the traditional console market. I just hope that eventually the myriad Xbox subscriptions can be refined. Perhaps “Gold” as we understand it could be retired, replaced with a simple three-tier monthly sub, similar to Netflix; Game Pass Bronze (limited multiplayer, limited ability to download games from the library); Silver (Gold and Game Pass as we understand it, plus limited streaming), and Gold (all the games plus full streaming of everything)? This would, hopefully, mean we could get some of the benefits at a reduced cost (say, a fiver a month), and the “free” games in Game Pass would offset the loss of Games With Gold, perhaps.
Switch app: simply put, this would be cool: the ability to stream Xbox games on a Switch. Nothing more to it than that, really; the Switch form factor and controls would lend themselves to the Xbox experience effortlessly, and it’d mean I could continue my Halo campaign whilst my wife hogs the Xbox with Stardew Valley again.
Tangible differences between generations: on the one hand, I really applaud Microsoft’s blended approach to console generations. Smart Delivery, Backwards Compatibility, and Play Anywhere combine to form a very consumer-friendly approach; if you a buy a game now, you’re more-or-less guaranteed the best possible version come the Series X launch in November (or whenever). The downside to this, however, is a slight nagging feeling that we’re not going to see the best that the console can do; it’s fair enough that the Xbox One and Series X versions of Halo Infinite are, to all intents and purposes, on the same disc, and your progress and achievements carry over; but does this not mean that, aside from improvements in graphics and loading times, the Series X version is functionally identical? Is it just like upgrading a graphics card? Ratchet and Clank boasted some nifty dimension-hopping technology that presumably is a core part of the gameplay and looked like something that maybe wasn’t possible this gen; will Xbox owners miss out on features like that? If Series X could, say, give us a new Fable that presented as one continuous open world with no “hubs” or separated areas or loading, with some kind of magical traversal that allowed us to rocket across the landscape on a broomstick or whatever, would that not be handicapped by having to carry save game data over from the inevitable Xbox One version? Basically, I’m fascinated by how it’s going to work, but I hope we’re not going to end up slightly short-changed from a featureset point of view.
New hardware: not just the Series X itself, obviously; and not even the strongly-rumoured “Series S” either. I mean other bits and bobs. As they’ve already shown us the controller, I can’t realistically wish for one that had a microphone in it, but a tiny mic attachment maybe? Alongside the obvious headset. I wanna talk to the machine, basically; it was the one genuine benefit of Kinect. Also: a new, improved, media remote. A wireless mouse and keyboard, or some kind of lap-based hybrid. A new camera, not as invasive or scary as Kinect, just so we can use the Xbox to Skype people. And y’know what? VR support. Doesn’t have to be unique, bespoke headsets; just let us use PC ones, and let developers support VR in Xbox games. I don’t have the money or space to upgrade my laptop to be VR-ready, but if I had a PlayStation you can be damn sure I’d have PSVR. Half-Life: Alyx might be a pipe dream, but can I play Star Wars Squadrons at least?
Don’t bankrupt me: yeah, this. I’m cautiously optimistic that Microsoft will at least attempt to make this manageable; the recent rumour that it’d sell for $399 was much appreciated even if I think it’s supremely unlikely, especially if Lockheart/Series S is a thing. With Sony giving out noises that the PS5 will be a “good value” proposition rather than cheap, I think MS will strongly attempt to undercut them, but also not feel the need to go stupidly low. So please, Microsoft: $450, top end. Please don’t give us a $499 box. I’m already gonna be forking out for a new TV so I’d appreciate if I could keep the whole cost. For what it’s worth, I think the prices of all the new consoles will be: PS5 $499; XSX $449; PS5 DE $399; XSS $299. There you go: I managed to slip in an E3 prediction right at the very end. Prove me wrong, guys!
Phew, that was another epic one. But it was fun. I guess it’s weird to try to talk about the feel of a console without having used it. There are things I’d like improving with the look and feel of Xbox, but it’s hard to quantify it; stuff that’s clunky on a daily basis. And I’m probably an edge case anyway: someone with a huge interest in games and gaming, but who’s not very interested in multiplayer, and who – because of time and money but mostly time – rarely plays new releases, and takes ages to complete a game. But anyway. I’m dead excited about the Xbox Series X, and I can’t wait to hear more.
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Review of HD Spooky Specimens
Yes, after finally giving in and playing the remastered version, a few of them actually merit re-assessment. Not all of them, but some. I wasn’t going to do this but THEN someone reblogged my original so what the fuck
Specimens 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13 all remain the same
#3 (ARACHNIPEDE yeah that’s pretty good right came up with it myself): So, first of all they fixed the “usually in the green room” bug, and now it basically always spawns, and actually comes out of the holes in the ceiling. More pressingly, the mad bastards made it EVEN BIGGER with SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LEGS and, as we’ve established, there is nothing that can’t be made scarier with more shitty little bug legs. Oh yeah, also its speed now seems to indicate it’s just had six cans of monster and a bunch of adderall and it’s about to shit its pants. Then they gave it a really good death screen! One of the only ones where you actually see the process of it killing you! Jesus christ! This thing’s perfect! Firing on all cylinders! They did it, they reached horrible perfection. This thing legitimately scares me now. I fucking hate it. Thank you for that. Previous score: 5/10. New score: 10/10.
#4: (For legal purposes we should clarify it is NOT Samara): The original remains unchanged, but in Endless Mode, which we’ll get to, they put in this new version that has a huge maw of gaping fangs and a bunch of extra arms, plus it twitches all over the damn place like it’s struggling with an epileptic disorder, or possibly Parkinson’s. This is all rather more effective than the usual form, and it has a new power with this weird static overlay effect that ends up basically blinding you before resetting with the sound of a camera, inexplicably, because the devs realized they forgot to suck Fatal Frame’s dick. It does make the chase much more tense, but it also treads that line between hectic and scary and just fucking annoying and frustrating, and occasionally drunkenly tumbles over it. Previous score: 4/10. New score: 6/10.
#6 (Benjamin Puppetfucker): This, i think, is the only one where the changes in the new game made him significantly LESS frightening. More fair, definitely, but much less frightening. See, in the og, when he spawned, no matter where you were, he’d spawn right behind you. And if you looked at him too long he’d decide to just fucking cheat and teleport behind you. Also sometimes if you tried to hit him with the axe he’d decide to call FORCEFIELD like that obnoxious little shit on the playground we all knew and it wouldn’t take. Now he always spawns by the door and waits there like a good boy for you to calmly saunter over and split his fucking head open. Very good for working out my anger issues, but still. Previous score: 9/10. New score: 6/10.
#12 (URBAN EXPLORERS GONE WILD): Yeah, no, literally the only change they made to this guy is that they added a mechanic where when he sees you outside his mansion, a scare chord plays and he just starts fucking BOOKING it at you, like full on fucking Usain Bolt sprinting at you. Very simple tweak, but also it made me drench myself in piss. Only draw-back to scariness is he apparently has smoker’s lung and can only keep it up for like 2 seconds before he gets tired and has to take a breather. Previous score: 2/10. New score: 5/10.
BONUS: ENDLESS MODE-
KH1 (Cop Popeye...Copeye?): Yeah, this guy is so slow and ineffective that he’s not even actually in endless mode, but I felt bad leaving him out. Kinda freaky looking? Idk. ACAB 2/10
KH2 (Body bag on loan from Arkham Asylum): He’s aiight. He’s a decent boy. I mean...the fog’s aiight. He’s pretty fast. I like that he fucks with the environment in KH, but there’s nothing really...special about him. He’s just kinda there. 4/10
KH3 (Excellent argument for abortion): So these things are viscerally extremely gross, and the sounds they make are god-awful, but they just refuse to go away, and the god-awful sounds stop being god-awful in a good way and start being god-awful in a decidedly gross way. They either block your way out of a room completely or just hang out and do nothing. Nuisance. Gross nuisance. 3/10
KH4 (The Incredible Teleporting Mummy in a Gown): Yes, I know it’s a hospital gown, shut up, i’m still technically right. Anyway, this dude’s spooky, teleports basically exactly the same way that Mr. Benjamin Puppetfucker does, but his presentation’s nice. I mean what do you want? It’s functionally the exact same monster, so same score. 6/10
KH5 (Now THAT’S what I call a Mad Cow): One of the coolest and most unique designs across any iteration of the game. I love it, especially in this with the glowing eyes and shit? Ooh, mwah, chef’s kiss. BUT....exact same issue Deer Guardian, Guardian of the Deer had. Unnnnfortunately, once you’re out of its maze, you realize that they put it in a maze because there’s really no other way it’s any kind of credible threat to your safety. Just kinda floats along. Doing its thang. It’s just vibin. 6/10. It gets one less point than Deer Guardian because it can’t even go through walls. Amateur.
KH6 (FUNNY TOPICAL REFERENCE THAT WILL AGE VERY WELL): This thing is legitimately freaky as fuck with its eyeless, grinning face and bloody fingers and weird intestine/floral designs on its dress, and the way it appears in front of exit doors is a nice change of page from the usual chase. Then it kills you and between its nonsense death screen and its name in the game files, you learn it’s a fUCKING Rebecca Black Friday joke. Well, that’s getting your score cut right the fuck in half, missy. 4.5/10 Ah shit, I just remembered that this is one of the like two monsters I legitimately dreaded running into, so FINE, terrible genesis to one side and give her an 8/10. I’m still docking her one point from the 9. I can’t let that shit go unpunished.
E1 (Whiteface. It’s literally Whiteface. You know, from Imscared.exe? Yeah that): Now when I say literally, I do mean quite literally. Like they got permission, i guess. So uh...we won’t judge based on that, i guess, since it is an official cameo. Interface screws are cool, second chance mechanic is unique and gross, I didn’t want to run into it, chase is like a bit overly long to where it starts dragging, though. Also since its supposed to be a sentient computer file that breaks the fourth wall, I get very distracted and hung up on the logistics of what the fuck it’s doing in this castle and it takes me right the fuck out of it. Let’s call it a 7/10.
E2 (Otto the Otter (yes that is its real in-game name)): I, too, hate Five Nights at Freddy’s, and this thing is very obviously not supposed to be scary, it’s supposed to be hilarious and petty and kind of adorable. And he succeeds beautifully. I felt myself cheering for him. I almost wanted to let him kill me so he’d feel good about himself. I love you, Otto. You’re my boy. 10/10
E3 (OH GOD THAT’S NOT E.T.): I fucking love this monster. The soundtrack and interface fuckery are great, the chase mechanic is unlike anything else, it’s truly original, and it’s disturbing in a much more subtle and low-key way that this game is generally sorely lacking. I love this kid infected with an interdimensional parasitoid! At least that’s what I think it is. Hey, if you have a better explanation, I’d love to hear it, smarty pants. (10/10)
E4 (Wolfu, the Wolf Waifu): I’m so conflicted about this thing. I love its gimmick, I love that it sends you to a forest to be ripped apart by wolves, I love the shadow animals. But it’s a fucking anime girl. A FUCKING anime girl!!! I....??? Why is this creature of indeterminate age deliberately drawn to look somewhere between 13 and 16 floating after me? Why does it have catgirl trappings? Why am I suddenly stricken with the unshakable and truly dire knowledge that there is fetish porn of it somewhere? 5/10.
E5 (Lisa it’s just Lisa from P.T.): oKAY, SO. Blatant plagiarism aside (this isn’t like the Whiteface thing, it’s more like the Mermaid Puss being directly lifted out of Amnesia thing), this monster is incredibly effective. Terrifying. Horrible death screen, number one enemy I dreaded seeing. BUT her chase really is obnoxiously long, especially with the looping room number, and eventually you figure out that she doesn’t teleport while you’re looking at her, she just turns invisible to psych you out, so if you just walk backwards she can’t do shit. I’ll still give her a 9/10, but with the caveat that if I wanted to play P.T...I’d just fucking play-Oh. God damn it.
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A 24 Year Trial of Mana
Last month, the skies parted and pretty much every Western retro game enthusiast who dabbled in emulation in the early 2000s received a gift of mana from heaven - an OFFICIAL LOCALIZATION of Seiken Densetsu 3, the beloved sequel to Super Nintendo classic Secret of Mana that was never released outside of Japan. Finally presented to the rest of the world a whopping 24 years after its Japanese release in 1995, the game was christened with a brand new English title…Trials of Mana.
Anyone who was following me on Twitter at the time of the announcement knows that I lost my shit, especially when it was also revealed that Seiken Densetsu 3 - sorry, Trials of Mana - will be receiving a fancy AAA remake sometime next year. I’ll lose my shit all over again when I actually play that remake, and will surely cover it on this blog, but let’s talk about the original game first. Trials of Mana was, for so long, a lost gem of the Super Nintendo that was originally advertised in international magazines as a hot upcoming cartridge dubbed “Secret of Mana 2.” But it was never translated into English for nebulous reasons possibly related to a few bugs in the Japanese release, the death of the Super Nintendo and the oncoming trend of 32-bit consoles. Western RPG fans who had read those mags and dreamed of experiencing this oh-so-incredible-looking game (because ghatdang, is this game the epitome of SNES spritework or what) were left with nothing but sadness.
Until some time passed and the emulation scene began picking up steam, that is. In 2000, five years after the Japanese release of Trials of Mana, a group of talented ROM hackers banded together to release an English fan translation of the game. (The most famous of ‘em, Neill Corlett, now apparently works at Google in NYC.) The translation used the original Japanese name of Seiken Densetsu 3 and quickly became the only way to experience the game for an entire generation of kids.
I was one of those kids. I can’t remember when I first played the Trials of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 3 translation - or as we used to abbreviate it back then, “SD3″ - but I think it was in 2001. I was diving headfirst into the world of emulation, experiencing all of the rad games that I had missed out on because my old man had refused to buy me any 16-bit consoles, and I’d mightily enjoyed Secret of Mana. But SD3 blew its predecessor out of the water, at least in my eyes. There were six playable characters, multiple branching paths, a class system, a fantastic soundtrack, tons of giant bosses to defeat…and best of all, there was the feeling of being part of a secret, “underground” community experiencing a game that was only playable via a concerted fan effort.
Time passed, and the Mana series went through its ups and downs for more than two decades, eventually fading from prevalence but always maintaining fond memories in the minds of many, especially those who’d played the SD3 fan translation. One thing remained for sure, though - the original game was getting older with every passing year, and any hope for a re-release was now lost to the winds of time, withering like the Mana Tree.
Or so we thought.
And that brings us to today. No longer confined to the niche corridors of the interwebs, an officially sanctioned translation of Trials of Mana is a thing, released via a collaboration between Square Enix and Nintendo as part of the Collection of Mana anthology. I’ve played and beaten it, and it felt something like revisiting an old friend’s house, marveling at the changed interior design, but then snuggling up on the sofa with a warm cup of hot cocoa. The new translation is some good stuff - it’s presented via a slightly squished font that looks like something from an old DOS interface, but once you get used to it, the huge differences between a script translated by professionals and one pieced together by kids on the internet becomes apparent. Everything is wordier, but in a good way, and certain names have been translated to be more in line with Heroes of Mana, the not bad 2007 strategy game that served as a prequel for Trials. Some of these names are ehhhh - for instance, the giant turtle who ferries you between islands will ALWAYS be Booskaboo, as he was called in the fan translation, and NEVER Vuscav, which is his totally boring name in the official one. Others, such as calling the God-Beasts the Benevedons, work just fine.
Elevated translation aside, Trials of Mana is just as solid as it ever was back when all of us were exclusively calling it by its Japanese name. Some may argue that the game does contain a little too much grinding, which is a fair criticism, especially near its ending where you’re forced to spend extra hours farming for item drops to achieve the final classes of each character. Others may point out that predecessor Secret of Mana had the more compelling battle system, since all the characters in that one weren’t limited to a single weapon. These foibles aside, however, I still believe that Trials of Mana is one of the finest examples of the classic JRPG setup - that of a plucky group of teenagers running across the world to stop collectives of colorful villains from causing its destruction - and something about meandering through its vibrant towns and whacking away at its cuddly baddies is just comforting.
You should absolutely play Trials of Mana if you have any interest in this sort of JRPG, and while the OG fan translation will never die, I’d say that the new one is the way to go if you can get a copy of it. Sadly, it was only released for the Switch due to Square having to contact Nintendo for assistance with the game’s source code - a fine example of how big companies suck at video game preservation - but since the new translation is actually a hacked ROM, those in the know can probaaably find a version of it floating online…which can even be run on real hardware. If you go that route, though, then at the very least buy the upcoming remake of the game, which looks like an incredible example of a modern Mana title finally getting a big budget. Because efforts to dig up and re-release gaming history like this in an accessible form should be rewarded and supported…and gosh darn it, despite all odds, retro gaming fans received mana from heaven. After 24 flippin’ years.
All screenshots taken by me.
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B&C Behind the Scenes: Retro Video Capture On a Budget
People who follow Bread and Circuses know that the blog is dedicated almost entirely to pop culture analysis. But people who are my friends also know that I’m a huge geek for computer hardware. So today, you’ll get you a man who can do both. This is my first behind the scenes feature, where I talk about crazy learning experiences in being a small-time YouTuber. This piece will be very technical, so I don’t blame you for skipping it.
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The next project for Bread and Circuses is a full documentary and retrospective on Final Fantasy IX (2000, PlayStation), maybe the most important game in my life and one of the best RPGs ever made. Due to the scope of the video, I’m replaying all the original Final Fantasy games for the original PlayStation to jog my memory and give context for the less researchy parts. I am doing this on original hardware and a tube TV, without resorting to emulation or the re-releases. And I’ll be recording the entire game.
The choice for original hardware came for a few reasons. For one, the newer ports of Final Fantasy games are…mixed, at best. IX’s updated ports feature higher quality models and cutscenes, but the backgrounds are blurry, the new fonts and interface are hideous, and the overall “feel” of the original game is somewhat lost. As inspiration for writing the script, I also want the nostalgic experience of how I first experienced the game.
With that being said, I had a major hurdle to overcome: how do I record 50+ hours of gameplay from a 1995 console?
Step 1: Capture Setup
Most game capture these days is done in two ways: via the device playing the game, or via a capture card. The first method is quite easy on PC: you just fire up Open Broadcaster Suite, use a quick setup guide and you’re good to go. This is what I’ve done for all my videos thus far.
For modern consoles, you can use an HDMI capture card like the Elgato HD60. The cards aren’t exactly cheap, but they’re affordable enough for most streamers and let’s players.
But there’s one problem: both the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 do not have HDMI output. The early model PS3s can play PS1 games and have native HDMI, but they are rare, expensive, and often break.
While you can buy HDMI adapters for the OG PlayStation, they are spotty in quality and present yet another challenge: such adapters often introduce noticeable input lag. Though FFIX is not a fast-paced game, the lag is still bothersome. They also don’t work with my tube TV, which is critical for my desired creative process.
That leaves me with two capture options: composite or S-Video. Composite video is the little yellow guy you used to plug into your tube TV. It looks decent on those, but when captured digitally, the blurriness and drab colors are immediately apparent. It’s for this reason that I purchased S-video cables; without going into boring technical detail, S-Video delivers far richer colors. Because the adapter includes both, I can output to my TV and computer at the same time with no additional equipment!
Speaking of adapters, the PS2 also has the option to output component video, arguably the best analog video available. While capture solutions exist for component video, my tube TV does not accept it. So to use component, I would need a system of complicated adapters and converters to both record on my computer and play on my TV at the same time. It’s too much hassle for not enough results.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e8b58fa60199cb78c5e0c5673d579ade/tumblr_inline_pptn6hdu4u1v6jopm_540.jpg)
So instead, I did some research and bought this little guy: the Hauppauge USB Live-2. There are many adapters like it, but Hauppauge has brand recognition in this area. This adapter also uses 4:2:2 chroma subsampling, meaning that it sacrifices very little in color depth compared to some cheaper models. It plugs into any USB port.
My tube TV only supports mono sound, which means it only needs one audio cable. I hooked up the left channel (white cable) to my TV, and the right channel (red cable) to my capture card. When outputting FFIX in mono mode, both devices receive the same sounds, and the music doesn’t suffer from missing stereo effects. Perfection.
Step 2: PS1 or PS2?
So as most people know, the PlayStation 2 is backwards compatible with original PlayStation games. The method by which this is done, however, differs based on the model.
Early PS2s have an actual PS1 processor on their motherboard. For the PS2 it’s used for sound and input/output, but when playing a PS1 game this CPU is instead, providing nearly perfect PS1 support. Sony actually did the same thing with the first PS3, but soon realized it was very expensive and scrapped it.
For later models of the PS2 – the slimlines – Sony switched to software emulation to save costs and space. The software emulation works very well, but it is just that: emulation. It is very rare for emulators to be literally perfect replications of the original experience, and Sony’s for the PS2 – called POPS – is not 100% accurate. I also don’t have a slim, so there’s that.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/a09a34f35003d059638e8f668dd66dfb/tumblr_inline_pptn6xBxca1v6jopm_540.jpg)
But I’m getting ahead of myself. I first dug out my old PlayStation 1, purchased new in 1998. While the system itself still works shockingly well (despite some skipping during movies), I quickly ran into a problem: the PS1 outputs at 240p. For the uninitiated, video nomenclature like 240p refers to the number of lines in the image along with the scan type. So 240p means there are 240 lines of pixels in the image, and they are updated progressively, meaning all at once.
Older tube TVs can accept 240p input, but output it in interlaced form. This means that the TV quickly updates every other line of the image, rather than the entire image at once. It works pretty good for this type of TV, but on a modern monitor introduces some problems…which I’ll get to in a bit.
Image from dummies.com. Fitting.
However, this was a problem for me because my new capture card did not accept 240p input. I tried countless times to get it to accept PS1 video, and it just didn’t work. However, I noticed that my PS2 did. That’s because the PS2 outputs by default at 480i, an interlaced mode that my capture card accepted.
So I opted to use my “fat” PS2 instead, which is a SCPH-30001 model, purchased new in 2001. It includes the original PlayStation chip, and – to my enormous surprise – read my original Final Fantasy IX CDs perfectly. Because the PS2 accepts PS1 controllers and PS1 memory cards, it was an almost flawless version of the original PS1 experience. Awesome!
Step 3: Recording
With setup out of the way, I got to the final step of the project: actually recording digital video.
I use Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) for all my video and streaming projects. It’s free, powerful, and pretty fast. My capture device was immediately detected by OBS, but there was one immediate problem.
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7a3b16c3c8371dfb745ca3e6ebb485f7/tumblr_inline_pptn8pJrPh1v6jopm_540.jpg)
Remember the interlacing I mentioned earlier? When you display interlaced video on a progressive screen – AKA any modern flat-panel monitor – you get a horribly ugly effect where the video seems to be ripping itself apart. This is called combing, and it sucks. Thankfully, OBS supports native deinterlacing, so I was able to fix it right up.
That being said, let’s break down the different parts of recording with OBS:
Resolution: the PS2 outputs in 720x480 pixels, but my videos are at 1920x1080. However, recording at 1080p requires more hardware power, so I get more definition at the expense of less overall quality. I chose instead to record at 720p, which is closer to the PS2’s native resolution and allows me to capture better colors with less blur.
Framerate: this is where things got interesting. I master all of my videos at 60 frames per second. Very, very few PS1/2 games (FFIX included) hit 60fps, because the hardware of the time just wasn’t capable of rendering graphics that fast. However, they do output at a 60 hertz refresh rate, meaning that the image updates 60 times per second even if the console doesn’t actually produce new frames that fast. So if you record at under 60fps, you get noticeable judder in your footage. That being said, 60fps was a requirement.
Encoding: I wanted to get the highest possible quality picture. My computer has a Ryzen 5 1600 processor – a capable mid-range CPU – and is excellent at software video encoding. I used the OBS x264 encoder running at medium quality. Any higher than medium and I started experiencing skipping footage as my CPU went to 100% utilization. I gotta admit, it’s pretty cool hearing my computer fans kick into overdrive as the CPU is pushed to its limits.
Bitrate: I’m recording a lot of footage here, so while I needed high quality, I also have to keep storage limitations in mind. I did some experimenting and decided on a bitrate of 9000kbps, still above YouTube quality while also saving space. This also means that each hour of footage is about 4GB; given that FFIX is about 40 hours long, that means roughly 160GB of footage for the game. Not bad, considering.
Deinterlacing: OBS presents a slew of options for deinterlacing your footage, and the differences can be tough to spot. The only option that gave me zero trouble – no juddering or excessive blur – was Yasif 2x. I also increased the brightness and saturation to make up for some of the analog video deficiencies.
I’ve included sample footage below, along with pictures of my setup. If you’re an aspiring retro YouTuber or streamer, feel free to PM me with any questions. This stuff was kinda intimidating to figure out and I’m happy to help!
Until then, I’ll be in Gaia. Or Terra, once I hit Disc 3.
Jon
Full Setup
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/95ad421a107203eb9969f7c9001749d1/tumblr_inline_pptnapxXS11v6jopm_540.jpg)
Cable Routing Detail
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e9d035fd347267a6be086fe1070a1b64/tumblr_inline_pptnbwmtV41v6jopm_540.jpg)
The TV inputs run through this old AV hub I dug up from my teenage bedroom. This lets me run the cables behind my desk to keep things a bit neater. I say a bit because you can still see the cables back there, but that’s showbiz, baby.
Sample Footage
youtube
#ff9#ffix#final fantasy ix#retro#gaming#ps1#ps2#playstation#capture#hauppauge#video#editing#project#documentary#video essay#criticism#games#2000s
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