#the cutscenes were cool and i feel like they were important but i'm just so head empty today

[natsubane]

day 276. man i feel like there's so much to unpack about the cutscenes in this day but i don't even know if i understand it. from what i gather, roxas went to the destiny islands... but it appears that he got caught up in one of riku's memories...? though i guess it probably feels more like riku manipulating things so that roxas would leave, so he can do what he needs to with xion...

at least, hopefully i'll have a better idea of what it is once i go through everything again at the end.

anyway. God This Fucking Line Made Me Cry

i don't even know what to say apart from the fact that. that's so human of them. funny to hear it come from namine, the Other anomaly case for nobodies, but i just really like the idea that roxas and xion are searching for meaning in a way that they can understand and that isn't being forced onto them ("complete kingdom hearts -> get a heart -> everything will be solved with a heart")

also this is interesting...

the form of the face is created by her gaining her own will... i see....

also let's go axel. let's get beating the corporation!!!!

[kirkwallguy]

i rly think DA's companions peaked with rivalries lol, like that can create such interesting dynamics, when rivaled these people are still following hawke and you can still romance them, Interesting!! THat's cool! why are they doing that, staying with someone who's disagreed with them the whole time or done things they find objectionable - you get different dialogue in cutscenes too, they react to how you treat them (thinking with Merrill you can just chose to not give her the thing to fix the eluvian and you get a different scene after the quest) You can be mean, you can support them or not and they respond to that, it feels like your choices are affecting the characters around you. (diff game but alistair confronts you about Isolde and if you killed her, the kid, or got help, i'd have loved more of that!! more characters going "hey this was fucked up of you, why???" or "I'm glad you handled this" and then you can talk about it more, the companions having Thoughts on your good or bad behavior and actions and voicing it!) also I think not being able to just chat with the companions was a silly choice, especially with the fact that rook can be a crow or shadow dragon etc, wdym we cant just talk about that with the gang??? ask for their thoughts on it all and they ask for rooks, rook could voice support or question what the group is and what they're doing (kinda like with Wynne and mage warden, you can talk about the circles and voice your dislike or support for them), rook could ask for more information and if they know they could share, or they won't if rook isn't a part of that group and it's all meant to be secret or something - and maybe if you ask again when they have high approval they'll tell you anyway cause they trust you, more opportunities for lore and worldbuilding as well as exploring the characters a little more??

idk im :/ rambling lol, i just really enjoyed how much you could say and do in other games, dav feels limited? And like nothing was perfect in the other games but I feel like there were so many more opportunities to learn about everything and the characters felt so much more involved? I do love that the companions talk to each other at the lighthouse like thats great we get to see those dynamics more outside of party banter!

i LOVE the rivalry dynamic and it really helps with each playthrough feeling unique, a hawke who is besties with merril is so different emotionally to a hawke who rivals merril, and it feels like there's a near-endless number of combos? also being able to push back on companions is something people have been complaining about a LOT in dai and dav, being able to spend the entire game disagreeing with a character and still see their entire story (WITH extra dialogue and sometimes entirely different cutscenes to acknowledge the fact that you don't have a good relationship?) it solves such a fundamental problem with relationships in rpgs and i don't get why it isn't more frequently used lol

and yeah i can understand if they wanted to save money not doing chats in the lighthouse (tbh. the inquisition skyhold dialogue options were just annoying and useless to me especially when you had to exhaust them to trigger certain quests), but it just feels like it creates a distance between you and the companions when they can all have conversations with each other at the lighthouse but you can't speak to them? it just feels like such an important feature for the genre and the only other game in the series that doesn't have it is the one that was made in like a year

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JANUARY DEV LOG : "LOG 1, WOOHOO!"

Hi! For all of you who follow HYPERSOMNIA, or are just stopping by, let me introduce you to this post to really set the tone.

For 2024, I am going to try to release a dev log about HYPERSOMNIA once a month, may come earlier, may come a little late, but I'm doing this to help give insight on to how the game is going, and to give me motivation to work on the game.

First things first, big news!

HYPERSOMNIA IS NOW AVAILABLE TO WISHLIST ON STEAM! (LINK)

After a while of back and forwarding with Valve, I've finally got a Steam page to call my own, and MAN is it bizarre seeing my weird little RPG in my Steam library. Like, that's my logo, and my key art, and screenshots of MY game, that's so weird. It doesn't feel real. BUT IT IS!

And, I would really really really really really appreciate it if you would consider wishlisting the game on Steam. It helps with the algorithm, and my happiness because I like seeing numbers go up, it feels good.

I even drew this as a announcement/commemoration for the page going live.

(P.S; if you couldn't tell, I really like Half-Life, it's one of my favorite game series.)

Secondly...

A new trailer is in the works! We were accepted for this year's MOTHER Direct (4th time baby, whoo!)

The trailer has been coming along well, I hope to show more battle oriented clips that I've missed the last few years, like special moves.

Can you believe I've never actually gotten to adding those in the game? I mean, they come set-up in default RPG Maker projects but I've never gotten around to revamping them until now, year 4 of engine work. Isn't that strange?

I also hope to improve on editing in the trailers. Whenever I finish a trailer I come back a few months later to notice minor points where I was kinda sloppy.

I'm not much of a video editor, (I only learned so I could edit trailers on my own) but I'd like to keep them at a good presentable quality. You gotta have standards with that kinda stuff, it's important!

OK, TIME FOR THE ACTUAL GAME STUFF. HERE WE GO.

Abilities are now implemented! And work! Wahoo!

In HYPERSOMNIA, players are able to switch abilities between party members. I find this a really interesting mechanic for how simple it seems, you get to choose who plays what role in your party. I think this is HUGE, and opens up a lot of unique scenarios for the game's encounters. I've had this planned for years, as far back as 2021 if I can recall, so it's super cool seeing it in game.

Mapping is being worked on!

I've also been working on mapping out more areas of the game! The forest part you hopefully saw in the last trailer is almost completely mapped. I've been working on the second part to it and am hoping to finish it sometime soon.

Mapping forests really suck. THOUGH, almost all the maps for the first chapter of the game are done! That's just another step closer to the demo. (Which, FYI, will be on Steam and Itch! ^^)

I've also been working on re-spriting older scenes!

This one's been really fun to do, I've been going back and redoing older stuff from the 2022 trailer, like this train! It's weird seeing it side by side, because you can definitely see where it's come from but at the same time, it looks so different.

(Also side note, these sprites are CRUSTY! EWWW!)

Lastly, Script and Music updates!

The script for HYPERSOMNIA's first act has been completed! with just 37 pages of just cutscene dialog alone! We're also currently working on wrapping up NPC dialog! Not much else to say.

And music is being worked on!

Music has been making some progress! I like to lay out demo's for areas I'm mapping out to help make both the music and scene come together. (Also, to help break up the eerie silence when playtesting...)

Speaking of music, FIREBALL, the games main battle theme, was recently delisted on our YouTube channel.

We did this because we decided we wanted to resample FIREBALL, and found that it's best to not have the song uploaded until a complete, final version is made. At least for the demo, it could possibly change before the final game but that's a bit too far in the future for me to think about fully.

Hey! Thanks for reading the whole dev log! Unless you just skipped to the end, you should probably go back up and read it. there's a steam page now. and some cool ross art at the top. you're missing out!

I hope this was like, readable to you all. I'm new to this whole dev log thing, so if you read it all the way through, let me know! It'd be cool!

I'd like to use this portion to pretty much just advertise Unique Indie RPG's.

Have you ever seen that strange purple square at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd HYPERSOMNIA trailers?

Yeah, that! That's UNIQUE INDIE RPG's, which is a Discord community for you guessed it, Unique Indie RPG videogames developed by people like me! Or you! Or whoever! Who cares!

I help run it with some of my friends, and we all share cool stuff about our videogames! There's a ton of other SUPER cool RPG Maker games there like Astral Guard [LINK], or SOMEWHEN [LINK], or even MOMOinc [LINK]!

And of course, HYPERSOMNIA. It's a really laid back community, we're all super chill. Come swing by! We'd love to have ya, and SHOW US YOUR GAME!

[LINK TO DISCORD SERVER]

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

STEAM

UNIQUE INDIE RPG'S [SHOW US YOUR GAME!]

[PREV] [ABOUT HYPERSOMNIA] [NEXT]

[drsp00n]

Enough time has passed and everyone's wrote their thought pieces about it so I'm gonna chip in with a little bit of my own.

NMH3 is kind of ass in spite of its limitations, not because of them. The priorities are all over the place.

The gameplay loop becomes incredibly repetitive very quickly. I've seen people try to play word games about the semantics of a hallway of enemies across multiple screens being the exact same as a gauntlet in one room, but at least the fucking environment changes instead of being the exact maybe 8 rooms over the course of 100 possible battles.

There's little in the realm of unlocks. You can play the game start to finish without even touching the chip crafting system or the stats tree. No new moves, death glove chips or weapons. All you really need is to raise your attack to deal with the same enemies with just a larger health pool later in the game. Your kit doesn't change from start to finish.

The open world does fucking nothing for me. You could have made one map with less to explore but more to interact with, instead of five barren and flat maps with nothing to do. I know why this is, but I'll get to that in a bit.

The narrative is significantly weaker than TSA which is a huge shame. I'm imagining that they didn't want the characters to be so wordy in fully voice acted cutscenes like they were in TSA, but I would have loved to see more of the IBM style cutscenes if it meant getting to know more about the characters. Everyone just feels so underwritten so you have to fill in the blanks with your own preconceived notions and the stereotypes they're supposed to convey, something people give NMH2 shit for doing with its characters.

Fu and Damon are NOT compelling characters, one's a brat and the other one is a boring evil CEO archetype. They have zero depth, and for the time that they do give them on screen, all they do is bitch about Travis or everyone around them. Travis doesn't seem even interested in either of them beyond killing them for being annoying. Badman was just fridged to establish Fu as a threat, as if fucking killing every single civilian wasn't enough.

The stuff with Henry could have been interesting if the story had given it any kind of significance or time to breathe. I'm with Travis on that one, I really don't fucking care anymore. There's a giant space alien ship up there dude, that seems a little more important right now than our sad crybaby backstory that will go nowhere because NMH4 is never getting made.

And lastly, I think this game is the most suffocated by all the pop culture references. The premise of the game is a reference, the intro of the game is a reference, many of the bosses, side missions and characters are references, the final boss is a reference. All of this is cool in small bits, but it makes me feel like NMH3 has no real identity of it's own. Which leads me to this conclusion:

Suda should really have doubled down and made something weird and different again. Instead we got a game that is flanderizing No More Heroes itself. People like the open world of 1, boom, open world. People hated the combat of TSA, here's 100 fights. Look, it's the mowing grass minigame. Look, it's Destroyman. Look, it's Henry. Look it's a Marvel reference. Look, it's a Miike reference.

It just feels like the weakest of all the games to me. It tries to do a lot, and what it does is not very good. I don't hate it, I've beaten it a couple of times. I just feel like it wasted a lot of it's potential appealing to the loud majority instead of just being a smaller but better experience, but that's just me.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Hamsteak!

CALLIOPE: er, technically, the machine stabilizing The Plot Point. CALLIOPE: the actUal Point is that ominoUs looking bit in the middle!

Letting everyone spend two weeks speculating on why the plot point looks like the hiveswap portal only to reveal this is a great meta joke.

CALLIOPE: the reason we broUght yoU *here*, specifically, is becaUse The Plot Point over there corresponds to the singUlarity at the exact center of oUr aforementioned plot prison! CALLIOPE: important bit of info, that!

Noted, noted. The Plot Point is the singularity at the heart of the black hole. Also noted: They want to bring the whole of Earth-C with them. A lot of people have been assuming a SBURB game was going to happen as the human players sacrificed Candyland to save themselves/their kids. That's still on the table, but it's apparently not Roxy's plan.

VRISKA: It's time to kick off the training wheels and do what I do 8est: VRISKA: Figure shit out myself.

Vriska is bored of this exposition and is going to just hit the machine. That's our Vriska!

!

A flash! Or, well, an HTML5 animation in an iframe. Technology marches on! Also marching on: Vriska, who touches the singularity and gets immediately sucked into it. The music here is also very similar to the music that plays for the Hiveswap portal cutscene, but I'm not sure if it's literally the same song. I don't think it is? I was kind of expecting the first [S] to be a huge "We're back bitches!" thing designed to make Tumblr pop off, but I guess it's better to start small.

ROXY: callie CALLIOPE: yes dear? ROXY: is vriska right CALLIOPE: right aboUt what, dear? ROXY: about the fact that u dont actually know wtf we were supposed to be gettin up to here CALLIOPE: well... CALLIOPE: Um, more or less, yes. ROXY: bb are you srs

It doesn't reflect super well on Roxy that she apparently never figured this out herself.

ROXY: you said you were being compelled by like hella visions n premonishes n mysterious psychic spatiotemporal intuitions n i kinda figured that meant you had this shit all ttly comprehended!

This is one of those lines you're meant to maybe pass over without realizing how big it is. Someone is manipulating Callie here! Perhaps its related to the mysterious GavageCunctation, who I'm still calling as being the 5th Omega kid, to match the 5-letter names they all have.

CALLIOPE: yoU remember how we got so wrapped Up in the initial excitement of finding the singUlarity and the rUined jUjU arch, and sUbseqUently stabilizing it with oUr sUper cool cherUbic-lalondian tech... ROXY: its true our tech really is so fkn cool...

So the "Juju Arch" is the portal, which was previously called a "Skaian Artifact". Presumably put there by the same person giving Calliope the dreams. I'm guessing it's GC-related, but it could also be Skaia itself. Homestuck 1 kind of forgot about Skaia as an antagonistic force.

CALLIOPE: well, i sUppose i might have implied a more complete knowledge of the a to zed of all this then i actUally... possessed. CALLIOPE: and continUe to possess. JOHN: well, but you don't possess it.

John is such a pedantic shit at the most random times, it's great.

JOHN: feels kinda nice not being the one getting chastised, for a change! ROXY: john shut ur insensitive blabhole or im gonna chastise the shit out of u JOHN: jeez! JOHN: it was fun while it lasted, i guess.

People forget John has a personality, but it's true! He's kind of an asshole!

Al intervenes to show us-

Well that's the update. I like the shorter, more frequent updates, but it's kind of killing the liveblog idea when they come out a few pages at time.

[ddarker-dreams]

Patiently waiting for your thoughts on Fontaine’s new archon quest 🫡

oh man. i do have some thoughts to share.

(warning for spoilers to those who haven't played through the latest archon quest)!

OKAY, so — overall? i enjoyed it. the fortress of meropide section felt a little tedious at times, i'm begging mihoyo to abandon those awful 'stealth' 'gameplay' sections. aside from that though, i was always interested enough to keep moving ahead. i especially like how they wrote navia. the story of her and her father got me emotionally invested in her as a character, i actually teared up at one point.

i was glad they avoided their infamous 'introduce a character and have them betray you' shtick. idk if that was a quota they had to reach before and that's why they did it so often, but in any case, it made for a refreshing change. the reveal of fontaine's history, the serial disappearances, focalors and furina; there were lots of intriguing story beats. furina's story might somehow be one of the saddest in genshin yet?? the execution of the reveal and the final conversation between focalors and neuvillette packed a strong emotional punch.

onto my gripes...

childe. why. why'd they do my man like that. the buildup was so interesting! the cutscene where he helps neuvillette subdue the space whale had me frothing at the mouth. him in his foul legacy armor ... his leitmotif playing... him growling and grunting.... oh, how happy i was, naïve thing that i am. i was a bit confused how they dedicated a total of three seconds to traveler and the floating fiend going 'oh wow there's childe ig.' like ??? at this point in the story, i thought they were sorta buddies??

the space whale's execution confused me. i expected it to be deeply tied to fontaine's past, or at the very least give some abyss bread crumbs, but it just kinda flopped around and stuff. the fight was cool, don't get me wrong. but the whole 'yeah this whale is some dude's pet lol' bit just felt odd. i get that they want to prove the Big Important Name Fella is suuuper important and suuuper strong but c'mon. at least make the space whale a creation that ran rampant or something.

i could've forgiven the space whale shenanigans if we got a nice conversation with childe at the end. how did he feel in the abyss? was he fighting the whale to keep the people of fontaine safe, out of bloodlust, or something in between? what was it like seeing skirk again? how much time felt like it passed when he was in whale abyss prison? does his vision resonate with him properly again?

instead, we just get a few throwaway lines that he's back in snezhnaya healing up. did they run out of budget to book his VA?? i get they have to be selective with lore drops, but there are so many ways around that.

my last major gripe is how they went about furina's character quest. maybe i'm just an oversensitive weenie (i definitely am), but the traveler and flying creature's interactions with furina... i was physically grimacing. how did they seriously think it was a good idea to ask the person who has been tormented by acting for 500 years to give the stage another shot? imo, it would've been fine if they tried that, furina rejected them, and everything played out about the same. but those bits where traveler + the imp kept pressuring furina felt so weeeeeeird. i genuinely didn't want to click the dialogue options. if this was framed differently, that would've also been fine, but it's kinda a 'haha :3 epic paimon says teehee te nandayo reddit gold' light.

tl;dr i liked the overall experience but someone needs to delete paimon from the game + treat their characters as more than a punchline.

[c6jpg]

natlan 5.0 brain dump

i did this in a lot of small chunks so i already forgot all of my detailed thoughts so i'm gonna try to keep it brief

general environment/exploration:

first off music and scenery is 💯💯💯

i particularly like how much wildlife there is and i really love the saurian gameplay (for me its hydro > dendro >>>> geo)

i feel so awful every time i accidentally kill a capybara they should be immune like the rhinos

it makes sense that there isn't "one huge city" like the other nations since natlan is composed of tribes, and each tribe looks like it gets a decent amount of attention, but i was still kind of disappointed by how small the stadium of the sacred flame feels in comparison for being the "main" area. i feel like they could have done a lot more with it

archon quest:

tldr; it was... not good? or at least very underwhelming? especially coming off fontaine/sumeru which had incredibly strong opening acts

act 1 was particularly like. whatever. felt more like a kachina story quest that rolled right into a mualani (but npc-focused) story quest

like for how important the pilgrimage is it just felt so. underwhelming and anticlimatic. yes yes i know kachina is precious and everyone loves her but i wish we spent less time doing kachina support group and focused more on the pilgrimage itself like can we at LEAST see some of the other playable characters participating instead of just hearing about it in passing

literally was soooooooooo fucking annoyed with the entire atea plotline. i wrote a whole rant in my first write up but basically that entire arc only existed so that they could bring back the purification plot device which WE HAVEN'T SEEN SINCE MONDSTADT

i was just incredibly annoyed with how that was all handled lol atea is also just such a non-character how am i supposed to care about her. she didn't even die in the end!!!

also mualani's tribe's whole thing being super stereotypical hawaiian tourism left a really bad taste in my mouth i wanted to get out of there as fast as possible

act 2 was weird because like. i felt like they were saying a lot of things that were like "this is a serious national crisis" but it didn't... feel that way? and a lot of the lore itself was pretty glossed over

i think a problem with the natlan story is that you need the first acts to set up the stakes but we just spent the first act gallivanting around with kachina/mualani and then when they DID get to the "main problem" in act 2 it just info dumped so hard to the point that i. didn't care?

pacing in general just felt all over the place

the only investment they gave us is through caring about kachina and i guess hating the abyss/not wanting a nation to be destroyed on principle but idk. especially with the "nah we gotta wait for the last 2 heroes first" the stakes are Not there for me

reminded me of when nahida was like "yeah i needed you to figure this out for yourself bc if i told you directly your head would explode." but at least that one was fun/could just chalk it up to nahida being cheeky and didn't like. prolong the plot for too long

SHOW US DON'T TELL US DAMN IT. i might just have recency bias but i genuinely feel like natlan might be one of the worst cases of telling and not showing as far as archon quests are concerned

also capitano's appearance felt so random LMAO he really showed up, said some cryptic shit, got his ass beat, and then left. at least the cutscene was cool?

chasca girl i'm shaking crying throwing up somebody get that girl a full pair of pants and brown contacts PLEASE

i find it interesting how detailed/fleshed out chuychu (chasca's sister) is, both in terms of design and personality/character. it kind of felt like they originally intended for her to be playable but turned her into an NPC instead

also citlali is definitely some kind of faruzan situation where she's old but young looking

night kingdom was cool i guess nothing really to say here. i am very interested in the wayob lore though especially in regards to how it ties into the rest of teyvat/why natlan has particularly weak leylines

i feel like mavuika's younger sister might also become relevant in the future... in a bad way. like the insistence to not being forgotten/seeing mavuika again, the fact that mavuika doesn't "really" know what happened to her. also she also got a pretty unique npc model. or maybe she won't be brought up ever again idk

in general that whole reminiscence sequence with mavuika was like. fine but again you just info dumped the shit out of me i have no emotional attachment to feel anything about whats going on right now???

also we all know that was fucking ororon at the end with capitano like lmao come on. but im willing to bet both he + chasca are the last two heros bc like. who tf else do we have left LMAOOO

capitano was supposed to be cool but he's just giving goofy villain right now. sorry capitano fans they flopped so hard with him in this act

[tennybird]

I have opinions about TotK. This is your spoiler warning if you haven't played/finished it yet. Also all of this is, once again, just my opinion on it and not a decisive fact! I will probably misremember things!

Anyway.

Okay so basically as someone who got it on release and beat it within a week, I'm a little underwhelmed by the game now that I'm looking back over half a year later.

It's not a terrible game! I'll say that first and foremost. But after waiting so long for it, and trying so hard to not hype myself up for it (failing horribly at that), it feels just a bit... same-y. The story is nice, and it's different. The boss fights and abilities you gain during your travels are nice. Everything else, though...

I like the map having stayed similar, with enough changes that I have to relearn some areas. The Depths are really fucking cool, and figuring out on my own that they're a negative of the overworld was incredible! But the sky islands were a little disappointing, I think. When we were told we'd be in the sky a lot, I thought there'd be more large islands like the tutorial one that you could walk around on. More references to Skyward Sword, too. It feels to me that they put more love into the Depths than the sky, in a way.

I like the main story. Figuring out Zelda was the Light Dragon (but not really believing it until the final Tears), and that she'd essentially spent thousands and thousands of years trapped inside herself, was AWESOME. Every cutscene involving her as the Light Dragon hit me hard, and I felt genuine sorrow everytime I saw her floating around the sky.

...That being said, I DO wish we could have a game where you get to actually travel with her. I WANT her to tell me about the minor lore of the world! I want to know about the various flora and fauna, and I want her to talk about Hyrule's history! Zelda is part of the royal family, and I'd imagine that part of her studies pre-BotW she'd have to learn about the history of her family (especially because of the importance of the Goddess' blood...). With how pre-BotW went between her and her powers, and her and her father, I'd imagine she'd make it a point to learn more about their history that ISN'T just the prophecy.

I, personally, did not like most of the temple boss fights. I can't really explain much of why- except for Queen Gibdo. I HATED Queen Gibdo because of all the smaller Gibdo chasing you, trying to chase down Riju for her power... It was a lot of things stacked on each other, and simply not my thing. Colgera was an absolute favorite however! The boss theme is AWESOME, the mechanics of being in the air and having to watch for projectiles, as well as crashing through the ice sheets to take it down? VERY, VERY FUN. Climbing through the sky just to get to the temple itself was one of my favorite experiences. Going up and up and up, and finally reaching the top where you break out above the storm clouds and see clear skies...

A thing that bothers me about the temples is that the cutscene at the end, where the ancient Sages gifts their powers to the new ones... I feel like they could've spent a little more time making them different, even if that meant more time in development. I would be okay with that! I think games should be in development longer in order to produce a good, finished product! Anyway.

The fight with Ganondorf was fun for me. I get SUPER immersed in it, so it was a fearful moment when I thought I'd beaten him, only to see his health bar fill again... and then go offscreen. And the DEMON DRAGON FIGHT? Holy SHIT.

I just wish there was more... substance to the game, I guess? It feels weird saying that. There are more things to do, but it's missing something I can't name. Something BotW had, but is now gone. I like TotK, like I said. It's clearly had love put into it, and I'm glad the developers spent more time on getting it as close to the perfect image they wanted as they could. Maybe it's just cause I've spent more time with BotW (over 300 hours), but I think I'm a little biased towards it. Maybe I'm just getting older and grumpier about vidya games, too. Who knows!

If you read all this, cool! I will reiterate that this is simply my view on it! If your view is different, good!! I'm happy to know there are people out there who enjoy it more than I did. Or if you hate it more than I do, maybe you have other things you want to point out about it that I missed.

[ferhog]

Getting into Metroid This Past Month:

I first learned about Metroid (as well as most Nintendo franchises that weren't Pokemon and Mario) through my friend's copy of Smash Bros Brawl at around the age of 9. Samus being a hot lady underneath the cool set of power armor left enough of an impression for me to try and draw her from memory, but I otherwise had no interest in actually playing her games for most of the following decade and a half. In that time I learned a bit of her lore from Smash Trophys, Game Theory videos, and watching the first few minutes of Other M cutscenes to hear the lady from Smash Bros talk, but it wasn't until shortly after the release of Metroid Dread when I watched some late game cutscenes from the game and GameXplain's Metroid movie pitch video that I became interested enough in the story of the games and Samus as a character that I decided to downlo- I mean obtain copies of Zero Mission and Fusion for my Visua- I mean Gameboy Advance, which I held off on starting until I worked through my gaming backlog more, and it was earlier this summer that I decided the time had come.

The Metroid Manga: Before starting Zero Mission as my first game I read the manga so I'd get a good sense of Samus' backstory before starting. Now I knew what to roughly expect thanks to the Gamexplain movie pitch adapting much of the story, but overall I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. I probably don't need to tell you that Ridley was the absolute highlight. His pure evil is matched only by Louie from Pikmin in terms of Nintendo villains and it got me very invested in his rivalry with Samus throughout the games. Aside from that, my favourite part of the manga was Samus' characterization and her relationship with her bird dads. I have a real soft spot for all adoption related tropes so I really like the idea that Samus was taken in by what was once the most important race in the galaxy and inherited their legacy of keeping the peace, which she basically turned into a job via bounty hunting. However a lot of what the manga does is better in concept than in execution, as the art is hard to follow a lot of the time and much of the story is sped through quite quickly, no thanks to how much time is spent with the extensive cast of side characters. When Samus started her zero mission I held off on finishing the story until I played the game, and while I'm glad that they went with adapting the game at the end because we got to see a climactic fight against Ridley it is super bizarre that they didn't commit to the idea and just stopped when Samus reached Mother Brain. The manga is absolutely worth reading but best thought of as a companion to Zero Mission, probably best read afterwards.

Metroid Zero Mission: My experience with Metroidvanias was basically just Hollow Knight, the first Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, and while I was excited to experience the same sense of adventure I also feared getting lost as per this franchise's reputation. However I surprisingly managed to make my way though the whole game with only one thing I had to look up, which embarrassingly was the same mistake David Jaffe infamously made in Dread, as I failed to realize I could shoot a ceiling open even with enemies there to hint that I could. I think the game has the perfect balance between freedom and guidance as someone's first Metroid game through the chozo statues that mark your next destination without telling you how exactly to get there. Combine that with it being a remake of the first game and I think it was just the perfect game for me and anyone else to start with. My biggest issue gameplay-wise was just the fights against Mother Brain and the two black Space Pirates were very frustrating, the latter because the combat just didn't feel designed for a fight that reflex based, at least not for a newcomer. After finishing the game I felt compelled to earn the Zero Suit Samus ending, which I accomplished by constantly scouting out the optimal routes and resetting so I could get through them as fast as possible.

AM2R: I wanted to play these games in story order so I knew I had to play some version of Metroid 2 next. After trying out the original Metroid that you unlock after beating Zero Mission I figured the pre-NES games weren't going to be fun for me so I wanted to play either AM2R or Samus Returns, and I went with the former as it would be easier to find and would be closer to the game I just finished. The game is a very impressive feat for a fan-made project, though I think it was the one I had the least fun with overall. A few hours into the game I listened to the Some Call Me Johnny review which mentioned it being very hard, and that made sense considering it was a fan project by big Metroid fans for big Metroid fans, but it did result in a few of the bosses being quite frustrating with how much skill they demanded, particularly with the space jump which I struggled to understand the timing of. I didn't feel like instantly replaying it as I did with Zero Mission but I really loved how they adapted the ending.

Super Metroid: "This SNES game probably won't hold up that well right?" Thought the guy whose first console was the PS2.

Super Metroid is one of the greatest games of all time.

Metroid Fusion: I was real intrigued going into this game given what I'd heard about its linearity and extra story focus compared to the prior games but it was still a shock going straight from 2 playthroughs of Super Metroid to this. It didn't even really feel like Metroid, especially with how you were essentially playing through levels via Adam sending you through specific locations with specific tasks. Eventually I got used to it and fully accepted it as a Metroid game as I was increasingly required to be more explorative, though I think of all Metroid games I've played it has the most needlessly abstract methods for mandatory progression. The example which I eventually gave up on and looked up was the yellow Space Pirate X which which could only be damaged with a shot to the back apparently? There was seemingly no visual hints for that and the doors didn't even open if you absorbed the X before they formed the Space Pirates. While I figured out the other examples on my own I just felt I had to blow up way more seemingly random walls than normal. The bosses were generally very fun except for everything about Yakuza. A super long lead up to a boss that kept killing me super easily before I figured out how to avoid its grab attack, followed by a struggle to regain health for the ensuing SA-X encounter with how little health you get from enemies that could fly in out of nowhere and do more damage to you than you were regaining. Speaking of the SA-X, it wasn't in the game as much as I was expecting, but each encounter was quite memorable, especially when I was hiding behind power bomb blocks and it dropped a power bomb. Overall I didn't like most of this game's choices, but I like it when franchises try new things so I wouldn't say anything should have been changed except for how much health you get from enemies. This was the 2nd game I didn't feel like instantly replaying.

Metroid Prime: As of writing this I am currently a few hours into the first Metroid Prime, specifically having just gotten the boost ball. The Metroid formula was very well translated into 3D and the visuals have aged amazingly. I may be playing a remaster but most remasters still don't look this modern. But curiously this has been the Metroid game I've spent the most time away from during a playthrough, going several days without picking it up again. It's not that I dislike playing it, I just don't feel as much of a strong desire to keep coming back to it. Maybe I just feel the need to catch up on other stuff after playing so much Metroid. I do think I'll get around to playing the rest soon enough.

One of my biggest impressions overall is that Metroid is actually quite underrated despite how iconic it is. Samus seems mostly remembered as a Smash Bros character and her iconic twist as one of gaming's first female protagonists, but it doesn't seem like that many people actually play the games. It's also funny that while Samus is famous as a sex symbol in the Smash Bros and general gaming fandoms, it seems that the actual Metroid fandom prefers their Samus cooler than sexy. Anyway I'm looking forward to eventually picking up Dread, the game which first hooked my interest into this franchise, and the other 2 Prime games. Maybe I'll even pick up Other M if I see it around.

[inkdemonapologist]

BatDR: Joey's Final Scene is Weird (+ Ink Demon Audrey AU I Guess)

I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this thought but I keep thinking about it, so, some thoughts!! Grain of salt as always since I've mostly osmose'd the game through friends and cutscenes, so there may well be significant things I've missed.

In BatDR, the initial vibe is that Joey Drew has turned over a new leaf, and finally found a better person in himself as a father. It's a good direction for Joey -- rather than trying to be accepted by people who do not owe him forgiveness, instead moving forward and being better for someone new.

But... there's a lot of evidence that isn't quite true. Joey's response to letting go of his hatred for Henry wasn't to admit what he'd done or to end the cycle or even apologise, it was just.... to put an invented Allison Angel in there -- because of the existence of Allison, we know the hellish experience we see in BatIM is what Joey figured it was probably fine to leave Henry looping through after his supposed change of heart. And his imperfect attempts at creating a child apparently only get to see him as an uncle -- only his perfect, special Audrey is Good enough to call him "dad." Maybe Joey genuinely is a little better (it's a pretty low bar) and loves her with a sincerity and humility he wasn't able to find before, but... a decent part of that seems to be because she came out right, because she made him happy.

Thren described it as the "authentic Joey Drew experience" and I love that framing; we all KNOW everything he did in BatIM, everything he's responsible for -- but he's charming, and he loves the player character so much, and it seems like... he must be better! When Joey Drew likes you, Buddy tells us in DCTL, it's the best feeling in the world. And.... I don't think Joey's lying, it's just that loving Audrey (just Audrey) doesn't actually make him a kinder or better person.

One of the places that stands out to me the MOST is his final scene.

This scene is DELIGHTFUL on its own but becomes EXTREMELY WEIRD ONCE YOU PONDER ANY CONTEXT AT ALL -- Joey stands before the Ink Demon, his greatest failure to be kind to a "grinning thing" that once wandered Thomas Connor's office before being locked away in the infirmary, and refers to it as an "evil face" before telling Audrey that she's special, more special than those cartoons he once brought to life, that she's his greatest creation and his family whom he loves, and that they shouldn't dwell on the past. NO WONDER THE INK DEMON MURDERS HIM??? What must it be like to hear your creator tell someone else that they got all the love you were denied, that they were better, more important, and you're still a monster? JOEY YOUR SON IS RIGHT THERE HE CAN HEAR YOU

Part of me thinks this is REALLY GOOD. I'm honestly into the idea of Joey believing himself to be a changed man when he's still falling into old habits, and the idea of a narrative that seems on the surface to be a redemption, when closer inspection reveals it to be just, seeing Joey's biased story, is such an interesting idea? But, since the story itself doesn't really acknowledge it, just glossing over every point to the contrary with a more sincere-seeming emotional beat, it ends up feeling kinda discordant with the story we DO see. As if it were an accident. No one, not even the villains, calls Joey's change of heart into question -- when the Ink Demon pushes back, it's not with justified anger at being openly dissed, but just because the demon's Evil and Audrey has to fight back against it. The idea of Joey as an unreliable narrator of every one of his scenes in BatDR is conceptually cool, but emotionally jarring; I feel like I need an entire extra fic of Audrey coming to terms with the idea that her father really did love her, but maybe he wasn't actually a better or kinder person in the end (and what if Memory Joey could actually face his mistakes in a way her IRL father never managed to....).

But I wanna focus in on one odd other odd thing Joey says to Audrey.

This doesn't quite feel like it goes with what's happening to Audrey -- she has no real reason to be genuinely tempted by the Ink Demon or to believe that her past dooms her to this (Joey Maybe You're Projecting); she's just reasonably freaked out that a big monster subsumed her into himself. It sounds like it's a line from some other scene in a different story, one where Audrey has always been the ink demon and this statement would have some emotional weight.

AND MAN LIKE........ ACTUALLY THAT SURE WOULD SHIFT THE TONE OF THIS SCENE, HUH. Maybe that would actually be really good in a different way???? lets think about this

Joey regretted his actions and, just as Allison had seen the good in him, he sought the good in the Ink Demon -- no longer trying to force his perfect Bendy, but just to give it a choice to be something else. And after many many tries, he was able to give the demon a piece of his own soul, make the demon something almost human. That's Audrey. the ink demon can be trans as a treat

aUDREY HAS EVEN BETTER REASON TO BE ANGRY ABOUT THE REVEAL THAT SHE'S THE DEMON

The demon that exists in the cycle is, like Joey, a memory. It's literally a representation of the past, it speaks to Audrey because it's her own memories, and it starts to take over Audrey as a resurgence of her grudges and anger from when she WAS that creature. She has a reason to have conflicted feelings here.

All of Joey's exhortations to not let the past define you, telling Audrey "you don't have to be this" when she becomes one with the demon -- these suddenly actually apply to her instead of just Joey projecting his own baggage onto her. When he says that she's his family and that he loves her, in this version, it wouldn't be just because she's better than his other creations; it's reaffirming that a love he'd failed to show for a long, long time still applies even when she's big and weird and angry. That family is more important than perfection. It's a resolution, finally, to one of his biggest failures in BatIM.

It would change the scene tremendously; Joey could say a lot of the same things and it would have more genuine emotional weight because it's no longer him ignoring and dissing the ink demon in favour of this shiny new person who makes him feel a lot better about himself, but him specifically refuting how he'd felt before, and saying "I love you so very much" to someone who maybe... really needed to hear that, actually.

The struggle between Audrey and the Demon also becomes emotionally relevant -- it's her grappling with whether she's willing to reset things, or to fall into the same cycle of mistreatment.

Other potential benefits to this change:

Baby Bendy showing up at the end has weird vibes when you know that it's a form the Ink Demon was forced into as a prison, actively doesn't want to be in, and escapes whenever possible... but if the Ink Demon is a representation of Audrey's past resentment, it seems a little less troubling that he could become the cute cartoon once Audrey is at peace with who she is and how she came to be.

If Audrey explicitly has a piece of THE SOUL OF JOEY DREW within her, then there is an immediately intuitive reason why Wilson would need her in order to control the Ink Realm -- and also why she realises that it's hers to influence in the end. I think you could already sorta headcanon this with what we got, but with how important souls were in BatIM and DCTL, it'd be nice to have them come up again.

Anyway I think that's.... enough for this post. Some Joey thoughts and AN AUDREY AU I GUESS!!!

[autumn-may]

Ngl I'm thinking so hard abt the comic u made with isa and how he got the scar do you have thoughts on it? I'm rotating it in my brain....

Hm.. Well I guess I could share a bit on how I interpret the pre 358/2 days Akusai relationship, (and how beserk/the scar throws a wrench into it). this ended up being considerably longer than I thought It would be so the rest is under the read more (543 words under cut) 

A big reason I find this era interesting is because it kinda plays into how nobodies function as a whole? If that makes sense. Like the idea of how nobodies replicate the experiences/emotions of their past lives, without having the proper feelings to truly emulate them, and I think that’s really interesting with a relationship such as what was presented in bbs era Lea+isa. They really were close, and I’d suspect that after getting pretty-much-killed they’d still be close, either from a legitimate want or a urge to keep some norm from when they were somebodies. This would probably result in the slow deterioration of their relationship as they attempt to replicate an experience from a memory that’s around eleven years old by 358/2, and eventually their relationship becomes distorted (like trying to paint a portrait through a funhouse mirror). This is my main hc for how they got to the point seen in 358/2. 

A major thing that I think would ‘break’ this is Xemnas/the scar. It’s seen as abnormal by the other members that Saïx was able to reach his position as second-in-command, and that makes me wonder what sacrifices he had to make. The scar itself is what I’m using in the comic, but lunatic (and how he’s somewhat possessed by it when berserking if his nobodies are anything to go off of) is also a thing I think about a lot here. The scar itself is kinda unnecessary when you consider the fact that saïx. Already has a recusant's sigil in his name idk. It kinda feels like possessive if I’m being honest which is neat in reference to how kh2 saïx acts. (NOT suggesting saïx was 100% possessed, or unwilling to do what happened in kh2 that kinda weakens him as a character to me. But bro literally was a highly prioritized member of a cult at the age of 16 there is no way he wasn’t manipulated.) so yeah the scar and what it represents (greater importance in the running of the org) probably fricked them up a lot. 

And one final thing, subject X and loyalty. Just, saix runs on loyalty, he devotes himself wholeheartedly to a cause and loses himself to it. He *literally* gave up his humanity for a girl he doesn't even know the name of, and continued the search for her until he lost even the shadow of what he once was. I don’t know if I can attribute that level of devotion to Axel, and I think that conflict could create some interesting ideas. Specifically, the point in which Axel’s already started to doubt that subX is even real, and Saïxs is at the beginning of a downward spiral. There’s conflict in that! It’s interesting! 

In conclusion Akusai/leaisa is awesome because you get like twoish hours of them interacting in the whole series but every minute of that is so packed with implication and you know the characters individually and you know how the series functions enough to piece together what has to happen in order to get to how they’re shown in [insert cutscene here]. It’s cool and lets me think a lot about the ramifications™ thank you for coming to my Ted talk

[unintentional-edgelord]

Companion post to the previous regarding Girouette and the Double Megamerge, though it goes more into differences between the one in ZX and that in Advent.

From Vent and Aile's perspective, while the double merge has given them the power to keep going, what they had to go through to get there is nothing short of horrible.

The ZX script straight-up tells us that they consider Girouettes' death their fault - Model Z does so, as well. We don't know anything about their dad so we can perhaps assume he was never in the picture, but either way, Giro's death now means that Vent and Aile have lost not one, but two very important parental figures in their lives. Sure, they've got a guiding force in Model X, but unlike Giro they've been matched with him for a week at most, and that bond hasn't been forged quite to that extent yet.

This is also at a point in their lives where they think finally, finally, they have exactly what they need to stop any more lives from being lost instead of being that helpless child they were at the theme park, so it's bitterly ironic that the moment they get the power to do this, they lose yet another parent.

The musical cues in the original ZX add an additional layer to it. On first playthrough, you wouldn't be likely to realise that Fragments, one of the "sadder" songs of the game which is present when Girouette dies, has the same melody as Snake Eyes, the theme of Slither Inc. HQ - interesting that they chose to use this theme instead of Metallic Soul, which is considered the theme of the Biometals and used during other sad moments of the game. Perhaps it's in direct reference to Serpent having a hand in Girouettes' death, the same way it's played right at the start of the game when Vent and Aile are talking about their deceased mum?

Either way, the one-two gut punch of that transition from Fragments to Trinity is powerful as hell; the fade out from Fragments leading into the bass line of Trinity lets you know there's some serious ass-kicking about to happen. Interestingly enough, the leitmotif of Trinity (that synthy bit) doesn't appear elsewhere in either ZX soundtrack; maybe in Rockin On if you squint really hard with the intro electric guitar It's honestly a damn shame because it's one of the coolest tracks in the game. Determined Eyes from Advent didn't allude to it either - but that theme is a whole other level of badass, so I'm not too fussed. Just would've been a really cool callback!

Anyhow, the title "Trinity" as well could not only be a reference to Vent/Aile and both Models X and Z, but could also be in reference to Girouette and the Biometals; those lending the protagonists their strength. The whole tone of the track and the way it's built up really gives you the feeling that something monumental and never-before-seen is about to happen.

It's also interesting to contrast the original in ZX to the Double Megamerge cutscenes in Advent.

In the first one, Vent/Aile look like they're visibly in pain from the strain of the merge, as you can see:

And then they emerge triumphant from it - the pain, the sorrow has now given them the fuel and determination to carry on and become "a hero who can protect everyone." The framing of the scene, coupled with the soundtrack, is iconic and powerful as hell, particularly the shots of the helmet crystal and the hair spreading out like angel wings behind them - both of which are homaged in Advent.

I also like that Advent brought back Metallic Soul and not Fragments for the scene leading up to it. That theme feels a lot more like Vent and Aile's this time around, and hits a lot more poignantly than Fragments would in my opinion. Now if only they'd brought back Rockin On as the boss theme... Advent as a whole could've done a better job of tying into ZX to be quite honest.

As for the scene itself, I know the original in ZX is practically identical for Vent and Aile, but as I've noted previously, they both visibly look like they're in massive pain when they perform the merge for the first time. (It's also never explained why there's an energy surge that kills the mavericks afterwards, although it's super awesome - maybe Models X and Z channelled any excess power from the merge outwards to avoid killing Vent/Aile from too much energy?)

Advent contrasts this for them both, although more so in Aile's case than Vent's. Aile's is obviously a clear homage to magical girl anime, but she looks relaxed pretty much the whole way through, laughing and smiling at X and Z's cyberelves at the start and her joyful expression doesn't really disappear right until the end when she's confronting Grey. Vent's merge hints maybe that he's still in some pain, based on that yell he lets out - but it comes across less like a yell of pain and more like a kiai, feeling incredibly powerful. His scene gives off the feeling that not only has he grown into the responsibility and power that comes with wielding both Biometals, but he also utterly owns it now. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever get over how well-done the snappiness and timing of Vent's scene is.

On a mildly related tangent, though it is nice to see how happy Aile is during the merge in Advent, I will forever be annoyed that her scene doesn't feel as impactful as Vent's. It feels long and unnecessarily drawn out; yes I understand it's a contrast to the original in ZX and yes I understand it's supposed to be a magical homage, but not once (to me, anyways) does it feel to me that "this is the hero who saved the world four years ago."

Not even when we get the iconic helmet crystal forming, or the shot with the hair spread out like great seraph wings.

I mean come on, you're going to compare this from Aile's:

With this, from Vent's?

You did Aile dirty, Capcom.

You did Aile dirty.

(Disclaimer, while Vent is my favourite of the duo, Aile has a special place in my heart as she was who I used during my very first playthrough of ZX, and I'm honestly annoyed they chose to focus more on fanservice than anything else when she showed up in Advent. She so deserved better.)

[afarcryfrommymain]

Ok actually I'm gonna continue this rant where everybody can see it. (Mostly focusing on the Heralds bc Joseph,,, could be his own post honestly but he's mentioned when its important.)

Another very VERY well-made part of the framing and body language and everything in cutscenes is how they convey who is in power in every single one.

Let's start with John. He has the least amount of cut scenes in the game but also is shown not in power in 2/3 (4 if you count the beginning of his boss as a separate one) of them. The framing of the first cutscene portrays him as in charge and the focus at first, but then the moment Joseph enters the scene hes shown to have much more control and John suddenly looks like when a child is sent to the principals office or is being scolded by their parents. And that feeling doesn't end when Joseph leaves, because despite him still by all counts having some form of power over you, you already have seen cracks in the mask, and hes suddenly much less intimidating. The second scene is of course all John and the control he can possess when left alone but again, I think a big reason he is seen as pathetic by the fan base because he was already shown early to act almost neutered by Joseph and that was most likely on purpose. See, Johns area of the game is overall the easiest, and it's the one that's hinted at to go do first because it's a low-level area. He is the weakest in-game, and they absolutely knew what they were doing making the first guy you're supposed to fight still intimidating by how off the rails he can be and how him being set off causes violent tendencies that are scary when you are vulnerable, as shown in the Bunker scene and the Falls End scene. The final one i talk about above is finally putting him in a place where he is vulnerable, and it frames it as such, and it shows his panic and desperation in the end.

(Side note, the second bunker scene, from what I remember is the only John scene you can really look all around in, and it makes sense because of course you would be looking for a way out in this situation)

Faiths scenes are a little weird and different because Faith's whole thing is making you think that you want this and that she's just a helpful guide. Nope! No control here shes just showing you all this cool stuff. And for that reason her cutscenes generally allow you to look around and the focus is on both her and the environment. The scene where she has you walk the path is obviously very whimsical in nature and its the "we aren't scary! If we were evil would bliss be so beautiful? Would i be so kind?" Of course we the player also feel almost creeped out by this, because we see the fake smile with too many teeth and know what happens if you stay in the bliss too long. Faith is definitely meant to be the 2nd area in the game, mid level fights, her cutscenes can be put off but not entirely avoided like johns, a greater sense of urgency, that sort of thing. And Faith herself is intimidating because you never know when she's going to show up and where. Half way through a quest? K now you're jumping off the statue. Just stepped out of the jail? You're being shown the end by Joseph. It keeps you on your toes. Of course you can put it off for a while which is something i did often in game. Her boss is also probably the most fucking wild just because the mind fuckery that was present in her cutscenes being used against you more aggressively than before. Faiths 3rd act breakdown is fun too because you suddenly hear her giving excuses and trying to garner pity (albeit while chucking magic at you and flying,, did I mention her boss fight is my favorite?? Its my favorite.) Her final cutscene is soft and she dies with a warning. "If you listen to him, he'll be right" its ominous and it leaves you confused. Isn't she on his side? Its a weird sensation that sticks for a while after her fight. Clearly something meant to come to mind at the final fight with Joseph.

(Side note for her: I did the "side effects" or "after effects" quest or whatever its called after I beat her boss and was finishing up the quests in that area and man was it WILD to hear her giggling after death,,, she made more of an impact than y'all give her credit for, this has been my daily "please talk about faith more" psa)

Every cutscene with Jacob, regardless of weather or not hes actually in charge somehow conveys that he is in control of the situation. Its obvious for most of them, him being free and walking around, carefully chosing his words and what the player sees constantly, even when Pratt tries to reveal his plans its too frantic to understand. His presence is always felt in the Whitetail Mountains and his section of the game is obviously the most desperate. Your focus is always on him. What he's doing, where he's going, what he's saying. And he knows. He makes every word matter. And he is always confident. Even to the end. Theres something to be said about how even in the Joseph cutscene of his area, who always fucking steals the show when he's around, we still have a portion of our attention on Jacob because both of them are an equal threat. His death cutscene is probably the best example of my point. Even when he's hacking up blood and bleeding out he still is confident. He adds to Faith's warning "you did everything he said you would" still trying to instill that helplessness he's been giving you as he dies but it feels more genuine. He dies sitting on a rock, Jacob is gone but it never really feels that way.

Ik that most of this is probably stuff everyone already knew but im a bitch for narrative framing and animation so I wanted to ramble

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS)

Sonic's first and last RPG.

When Canadian studio Bioware, famous for their computer RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, decided to branch out into handheld games, they secured the Sonic licence for their first effort (and again, last (not counting an iOS Mass Effect spinoff)). To some extent the purported passion the team had for the series shines through. On the other hand, speculation goes that the company being bought out by EA partway through development resulted in some parts of the game being rushed or underdeveloped, and this also shows.

Like Sonic Forces, the game's opening features a timeskip for some instant character development to set the stage. Eggman is gone (or is he), and Sonic has taken a sabbatical, which has caused Tails to mature a bit. But the new threat of the mysterious Marauders stealing the Chaos Emeralds gets the gang back together. Eggman of course returns, but spends much of the time reluctantly working with the heroes (even becoming a party member for a while), which makes for a very fun dynamic as he tries to resist being a proper good guy while chumming around with Tails. It turns out the baddies are a sinister clan of technologically advanced echidnas, and Sonic and pals have to venture into a very alien pocket universe to stop their plans.

Bioware specifically wanted to create a story that really dug into Sonic lore, and it ends up functioning as a last hurrah for continuity before Unleashed set a new standard of standalone games. The Nocturnus echidna clan are tied to Battle's Gizoids, there's some good character notes, plenty of references to past games, and even some nods to the old cartoons and comics. For example, Swatbots are a recurring enemy, and roboticisation is briefly featured, both being important to the 90s American cartoons. The Nocturnus clan also is very reminiscent of concepts from Archie's comics... so much so that a certain odious writer sued for copyright infringement. The case was thrown out multiple times, but Sega remains leery of referencing the game to this day, perhaps because of this individual. It's a shame because the concept is very good, and makes for a good story. Sadly, the blatant sequel hook was never followed up.

Another strength of the game is its art design. The action plays out over maps hand-drawn in a nice cartoony 2D style. Character design is solid, with stylised humans resembling Unleashed's, and the latter half of the game featuring some quite cool alien concepts... they're maybe a bit out there for a Sonic game, but that adds to their alien appeal. I do have to note the animated cutscenes too, which were seemingly animated in Flash so have a silly off-model feel similar to that of fan animations you might see on Newgrounds back in the day. Kind of nostalgic.

I'm now running out of good things to say about Sonic Chronicles. As a counterpoint to the visuals, the sound design is laughable. The music is ok, ranging from "a bit flat" to "distractingly plinky-plonky". But the sound effects in battle are just bizarre. Attacks are accompanied by stock cartoon sound effects that sound straight out of Looney Tunes, and every victory comes with a chorus of children cheering. Huh!?

My big complaint is just that the game is a slog to play. Many factors contribute to this. Battles are slow and overly difficult, while character progression is gradual and heavily gated. There's a big effort to incorporate action elements, so the game is entirely stylus-controlled; overworld exploration is DS Zelda style, and battles are full of Mario & Luigi style action commands. Moving around is tough because the backdrops can be hard to parse as traversable spaces, and you often need certain characters' abilities to progress which can require backtracking past respawning enemies to a switch spot. Battles are a total ball-ache requiring constant vigilance and quick reactions on the many tap and swipe targets in order to avoid devastating attacks and to land your own special moves. It is so agonising to miss a single touch, causing your healer (Cream is the obvious choice for this, but only has one action per round to Sonic's three) to totally fail their essential life-saving function. And it still uses up their PP!

There are so many off choices about the battles. There's frequent difficulty spikes. There's a buttload of different status ailments, good luck remembering what they all do. Your visible stats only determine your probability to hit or be hit, while actual damage and armour modifiers are hidden behind vague descriptions on equipment menus. To get any decent damage output you need to use your special moves, but each character's PP totals are miserably small. So you're expected to use a lot of consumables, but you only get one random drop from a successful battle (and no rings, and if your level is high enough EXP gain is negligible). I felt I had to save my items in order to sell them at shops, because otherwise your ring currency is only found in finite amounts on the map, and nowhere near enough to actually outfit your characters (especially when they split into two parties at certain times), and there are points of no return that cut you off from earlier maps and shops! The economy is just totally out of whack and it always feels like an uphill battle to just be scraping by.

Also found on the world maps are Chao eggs, which go into a little Chao Garden screen. These Chao are essentially another equipment slot but they do show up in battle which is cute. Unfortunately they are also finite, and the results of an egg hatching is random. Their effects are pretty minor, but can be boosted a bit by... trading with two other players? There's also special Chao in the data that would have been distributed at events, but only one was ever released legitimately. Like other gameplay aspects, the Chao mechanic feels undercooked and awkward. I was lucky enough to get one that caused automatic success on special moves without having to do touchscreen minigames. I wish all the characters had this by default! I also nabbed an EXP-boosting Chao from an existing save file on my second-hand cart, trading it via a copy of the game on flash cart on borrowed DS and 3DS units... but not everyone has this luxury.

There's a lot to like about this game... in theory. I love gathering a party of Sonic characters, including the cool edgy OC, with different skills that suit their personalities. I love the idea of exploring the overworlds, using each character's skills to traverse and find new stuff tucked away behind intricate paths. I love the story and the new dynamics it brings out of eg. Eggman or Knuckles, going from familiar settings to alien ones and building alliances in a world that richly draws from the history of the series. I just never ever want to touch this game again, to sit through the tedium of the battles, to sift through the jank to get to the nuggets of gold. The inconsistent state of the game speaks to development troubles more than any tell-all interview could, and it makes me long for a world where The Dark Brotherhood was... you know, good. But I guess that's our friggin' universe for you!

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ep.5 thoughts

[Don't Ya Wanna See UMA Clothes on Me?]

(Contents: Animation, griping)

Admittedly, I think this was the weakest episode so far, but that's to be expected since this was pretty much entirely a set-up episode and not one that really required too much allocation of budget

I still would have liked a bit more energy to it, though; while Apocalypse had that really cool moment when the Quests were being listed with the stylistic dark flames, Apocalypse himself had pretty stiff movements that, as I am always dreading, just looked like stills from the manga given animation cycles rather than being full bespoke animations

Clothes kind of had that too once his face came out, though I will say I really liked seeing how much difficulty it had forming into a cohesive outfit at first. I really got the feeling that he was trying to properly take shape but just didn't know how to do it

The Union's introduction was also somewhat lackluster, but that might just be because I've been building it up in my head for so long, a weakness that I've been anticipating for the last fouryearsandananime. I think other people won't have this issue, and newcomers especially will probably just accept it at face value as a cool moment where we're meeting the cast that we'll come to know and love later, but I think that the anime didn't quite go as far with making that scene its own as it could have. I liked that we actually got everyone's names and a brief preview of the fact that we don't know what their abilities are yet, but I think there must have been a better way to build hype for them than just...counting them one at a time

What I'm especially disappointed with, though...UMA Eat's intro was really lame!!! Burn was all shadowy, Sean had a little cutscene, Language was a bit more stylized and showed off what the language unification would look like, and we even got a little preview of Unrepair, but...Eat was just...mouths...floating...they weren't even actually chewing the food!!! I wanted the mouths to emerge from the darkness and start voraciously devouring whatever they could find, to show us a bit more than the manga since it's a UMA we'll likely never actually see, but...somehow it gave us less! It's such a minor little gripe, but it's indicative of what I don't like about a lot of anime adaptations - even if it's in isolation and other things took precedence, I still want an anime adaptation to actually bring the material to life! And that felt like the director or the animators or someone decided that that was a moment that wasn't important enough to bring to life!

Sure, it was a tiny moment, and sure, if something else needed the budget something needed to be trimmed down, but STILL! Even if it was just a little chewing motion, that would have been better than the mouths vaguely bobbing up and down! I'll likely forget about it by the time the next episode comes out, and it certainly won't color my interpretation of the rest of the series (not on its own, anyway), but in the moment it's disappointing to see

Oh, I also don't love that Shaft David Pro keeps clearing every non-Negator out of every scene. Andy and Fuuko being alone in a closed restaurant is really strange, and means that Andy can't make a point of ordering a third glass of vodka to represent Gina. Sure, it lets Fuuko cry louder since she doesn't need to be mindful of anyone, and the candlelit dinner is a bit more striking visually, but I feel that something is lost in having every scene take place in wide open, lifeless vignettes

I hate that I have so little good to say about this episode. I don't want to give the impression that I had a bad time, it's just that so few of the good parts were good in a way that was unique to the rest of the series so far, so I don't really feel any need to discuss them. They weren't novel, but the complaints are pretty specific, so I ended up focusing pretty much solely on them

To keep from giving too negative of an impression, I'll close by saying that I think it's good for an episode like this to happen; as a lower stakes, less bombastic episode, the surrounding episodes will feel so much more impactful, and with what's to come, this is a well appreciated chance to breathe

[eosofspades]

okay. first half of lightfall complete!! done for the day because my brain is frying and its almost midnight but MAN I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS. HELLO

spoilers below

GHOST IS BACK!!!!!! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE ENTIRE GAME ALWAYS. GHOST I MISSED YOU SO MUCH

the intro cutscenes FUCK oh my god?? i was NOT expecting the traveler's attack / the slicening to be literally the FIRST CUTSCENE?? INCREDIBLE. couldnt play the first mission properly bc my hands were shaking i was so hyped up ghsjdnfv

WHY DOES THE WITNESS JUST TAKE THE BEAM FULL FORCE. WHAT THE FUCK MAN

the tormentors are FUCKING TERRIFYING. I WAS SO SCARED. LIKE THAT GROWLING NOISE RIGHT BEHIND YOU IS ACTUALLY SO FUCKING SCARY MY HEART WAS POUNDING FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES AFTER I KILLED THE THING

stay frosty

STRAND IS SO COOL. LIKE STRAND IS EXPONENTIALLY FASCINATING AND SO MUCH FUN

i will elaborate on this more in depth another time but i need to say strand feels like what they were going for with stasis except this time they did it RIGHT. in terms of consequences/risk we HEARD all about the dangers of stasis but there were literally no side effects. this on the other hand??? ITS DONE SO PERFECTLY I CANT GET OVER IT

and CONSEQUENCES!!! obviously i knew rohan was going to die like that was completely expectable but i would NOT have guessed the guardian's own shortcomings would have been the reason. god damn

everything about nimbus is so good. i love love love that they're not actually angry or blaming the guardian for rohan's death, just accepting and ready to get justice

THAT FUCKING SCENE. THE FUCKING WITNESS POSSESSING GHOST SCENE?? HELLO??? THAT WAS SO AGONIZING TO WATCH I WAS SO AFRAID

also i lost my shit ghost was literally getting possessed and in visible pain and the guardian just fucking stood there like a sim

ON THAT NOTE THOUGH. "WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER." AND HOLDING OUT THEIR HAND FOR HIM???? THAT IS SOME GOOD GUARDIAN AND GHOST CONTENT THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN BEGGING FOR FOR YEARSSS

all the witness scenes are so fucking cool btw that nightmare they sent to calus is WILD. i am OBSESSED with the witness' shattered glass thing but more importantly their ANGER. i didn't think CALUS is what they'd be angry about!! holy shit!!! emperor has the survival instincts of a fucking moth and if the winnower doesn't blow up the witness i want the witness to blow up calus

i NEED to know what the witness means by "we know pain." babe who hurt you

GHOST GOING "are you handling highly volatile materials?? AGAIN???" I LOVE GHOST SO MUCH IT'S UNREAL. I LITERALLY DIED AT THIS PART BC I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD. he sounded so exasperated and annoyed and affectionate i love ghost more than anything ever

^ PLUS. Rohan going "Again? How often does this happen?" and ghost yelling "TOO OFTEN" GHOST BABY IM SO SORRY AHAHAJSGVSV

THE STRIKE!! THE STRIIIKE. HELLO. i got my ass handed to me about sixteen times in a row and almost gave up for the night but holy shit was it worth it for the ending line. nezarec i KNEW you would come back to us!!! <333

side note im literally so pissed off about the reactor core mission bc the end when you're supposed to be using strand to swing out. i just fucking jumped i was so anxious and i couldn't find the strand thing and then everyone kept talking about how i used strand to get out and how amazing it was and ive just been sitting here like . guys please i know i missed out on all the fun you don't have to rub it in PLEASE

OSIRIS TRAINING THE GUARDIAN OSIRIS TRAINING THE GUARDIAN!!! MY OC HEADCANONS ARE BECOMING ACTUAL CANON. VINDICATION IS SO GOOD

when osiris yells "THAT WAS EXCELLENT" i got SO HAPPY. HE IS SO PROUD OF THEM!!!

now that said. i have NOT gotten past the strand training mission i'm about halfway through it. so i don't know if it comes up and it might not but i WOULD like to see osiris at least acknowledge that he was being too harsh before. like i know he's incredibly stressed and everything but my guy. the guardian was literally keeled over dying and osiris is like "we don't have time for this. why aren't you better at this by now"

on that note listen i love osiris so much he's my second favorite character but when he was scolding the guardian and ghost tries to come to your defense and says "we did our best" and osiris SHOUTS "we NEED to do BETTER" i got SO MAD. DO NOT RAISE YOUR VOICE AT MY GHOST

i cannot believe bungie canonically gave the guardian a cringefail compilation cutscene. power blowing up in their face. ghost and osiris shaking their heads at each other in disappointment and affection for the guardian. im losing my shit

THE FUCKING CUTSCENE WHERE OSIRIS HOLDS HIS HAND OUT AND TRIES TO TALK TO SAGIRA BEFORE HE REALIZES........ AGONIZED WAILING HEARD FROM MY HOME

this is... about as far as i have gotten. i know i'm forgetting some things but!! i am SO hyped up rn okay i am going to play the rest tomorrow

overall conclusion: GOOD SHIT. i love it here this game is the best thing that has ever happened to me