#the devs are always shocking the fans

[xayspancakeee]

no thoughts, just screams and anticipation for this event.

hiding from the rain with xavier - a sensory test while touching each other all over? BITCH IM FERAL

tending to zayne and his weary body, SHAVING HIS FACE???

stumbling into the bathtub with rafayel on a stormy night. DROWN IN THE SEA TOGETHER- WHAT

in the shower (yes, in the fucking shower) with sylus all lathered in soap??? don’t get me started on this.

BATHROBES FOR THE BOYS

infold, it’s not even the anniversary yet and already we’re surpassing all levels of steamy.

LOVE IT. pls, take all my money.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Silver, Azul: Equal Parts Noble and Naive

... Why's he making a Malleus "r u lost bby ghorl" face while also copying Lilia's chin-in-hand pose/Malleus’s Dorm Uniform pose 🤡 There's another Malleus parallel in the vignettes; Silver comments on the same Philip-Aurora dancing painting (that is shown in Malleus's Groovy) and says that he took up dancing too since he admired the prince. Boy was ready for GloMasq/j Malleus glaring at the happy couple and Silver determined to stand firm against a fearsome foe... ;v;

I don’t know if I should be concerned or not given the Groovy and potential foreshadowing for book 7 😂 since there’s fan theories about how Silver could be the “sword” that slays the dragon… *rubs hands together* but it would be fun if it happened…

Fun fact about this Groovy: it had to be corrected because during the initial drop the devs forgot Silver's eyeshadow www The first time this mistake happened, I believe it was on Platinum Suit Vil's chibi.

A Tale as Old as Time.

There was a magic to two sets of parallel lines, bound together to form a quadrilateral. A great number of things could be contained within it. Upon a storybook's page or a painter's canvas, endless possibilities and mystical beings.

Silver gazed at one now.

A spindly dragon, horned and with massive spines protruding from its back, was poised in a platinum frame. Its belly was a violent shock of violet, its scales black as the night. Leathery wings splayed, gaping maw glowing green, trails of smoke exuding from its nostrils, the fearsome beast was prepared to strike down any warrior foolish enough to approach it.

"This is the Thorn Fairy in her dragon form," Silver murmured, his expression set in seriousness. "I'd always dreamed of seeing it for myself someday."

"How wonderful that your dream has now become a reality," a slick voice crooned. It belonged to Azul, who had sidled up to him like an all-too-eager used car salesman. "Ah, but you seem to be troubled. What ails you?"

“It's just... for the Thorn Fairy to have assumed this form, it means she felt as though she was in danger. Someone may have threatened her or put her in this situation."

“That’s true.” Azul nodded. “As I recall from our Magic History lectures, fae tend to be reclusive creatures with rather tumultuous relations with other races.

“In the days when magic was branded as heresy, fae were particularly ostracized due to their natural affinity for it. Humans far and away wide feared them. It's possible that this painting depicts a struggle of a similar nature."

“A struggle…” The corners of Silver’s mouth turned down. “Yes, humans and fae have historically been at odds with one another. We are fortunate to live during an era of relative peace."

“Quite! My own people—the merfolk—have also had a strained relationship with humans. It was through the union of a mermaid princess and a human prince that we were able to begin efforts to mend that bond. I am most gracious to them! It is because of the mermaid princess that I’m afforded the opportunity to study on land.”

“That’s great, Azul. I’m happy for you.” Silver gave a smile that was as softy and airy as dandelion fluff. “It’s nice that we’re able to meet and share ideas with people from different walks of life. It makes the world a richer place.”

He looked to the painting again, his eyes tracing the curved horns of the dragon and stopping at the sharp tips. His liege, too, had a pair like those.

“… As much as I hate to admit it, it will be a while before fae and humans can reach that level of understanding." Silver folded his arms. "Sebek says the differences are too numerous, but I… I want to believe that we are capable of bringing about that kind of a future.”

His vision, so clear, so pure. It sparkled like the face of a polished mirror.

Azul pushed his glasses up, his hand concealing a smirk.

"Fufufu. Perhaps it is possible to achieve with your endless optimism and empathy, Silver-san. After all, I don't believe I've witnessed you losing your cool even once with Malleus-san, Lilia-san, or Sebek-san. That kindness and patience is your strength, stronger than any sword you could wield."

He pretended to hesitate. "Though... I do wonder what should happen if--no, never mind. Please forget that I said anything."

"What is it? You can tell me," Silver reassured him. Dread surged up from his stomach--but the spike soon settled.

"Well--" Azul made a little show of choosing his words carefully, as though he were thoroughly coming through ingredients lined up on a shelf. "Consider: what happens if the day comes when you are forced to point your sword at your master?"

"At Malleus-sama?! I can't imagine..."

"If, if. This is entirely hypothetical," his peer tutted. "Let us say that Malleus-san were to make a decision--a decision which has dire consequences for you, for all of humankind. Silver-san, would you be able to salvage that precarious peace?"

Surprise lasted for a second before it vanished from the knight. Back was a quiet stoicism, steel sharpening the delicate colors to his gaze. A hand clenching his chest, as if to keep his heart still.

Finally, he spoke.

"I will do what has to be done. I will not back down. If there comes a time when my lord strays from his path and into the darkness, then it is my duty as his retainer to return him to the light."

“And you are not concerned for what awaits you in the aftermath?”

“No,” Silver replied matter-of-factly. The answer was simple. “I will offer my hand.”

“I beg your pardon?! Am I hearing this correctly? You plan to help the person you just opposed back up after you defeat them?”

“That’s the right thing to do. Everyone deserves a chance for their feelings to be heard. If we listen, then we can find a solution together and keep the same misunderstanding from happening again. That’s my hope.”

His wish was like the buoyant notes of a bell. Clear, crisp, resonant. It flitted up, rising above the boys’ heads, at last bursting like a bubble and letting the words rain down on them in thoughtful flecks.

"… I see,” Azul mused. “So that is the type of person you are."

How noble. How naive. It seems that Silver-san is a very bit like the prince from the story he so deeply cherishes. Neither will recoil from foes, no matter how formidable.

The valuable piece of information, he tucked away for a rainy day. With his probing settled, Azul brought his hands together and flashed a winsome grin.

Here was a hero in the making, and he, the sponsor to the champion.

“Your character is commendable!! I look forward to witnessing your many friendship-fueled triumphs.”

[deerspherestudios]

Hello! I'm so glad to see that more and more people are falling in love with this game and that you get so many good comments from fans 🥺And I'm here with two small questions (if anything, you can ignore them, they're not that important hehe)

1. Cheea, I can't imagine how you combine your personal affairs and the development of the game, it introduces me to admiration. And I wanted to ask how do you manage to do this?Like.... Judging by your answers, do you already have a further plot on your hands? It feels like yes and I'm shocked

2.And the second question... Will we see those chickens again (T^T) ? These girls have won my heart, they are so cute! And Mychael holding Rosie in his arms won me over even more

Waaa tysm Natasha!! ;;v;; Your long time support means so much to me <3<3<3!

Dev rambles below the cut:

1 - Honestly I'm not even all that good at managing my time for this project haha. I usually set aside time every Friday to work on the script, and working on the game itself (coding, sfx, artwork) is even more sporadic. But I still love doing it when I can, and I hope I can keep developing it to completion!

As for a plot, I sort of have one? I have some events in mind that I'd like to happen but I still need to connect them that doesn't feel jarring/rushed/sudden. I'm just figuring it out as I go haha.

2 - Plotwise I don't think we'll be seeing them again (for now). Day 2 is just getting to know Mychael and him showing you the ladies are a big part of that <3 But just know they're always around!

[jisuto]

On the topic of game reception, what are your thoughts on the current state of pokemon?

OK THIS ASK WAS SENT BEFORE THE HUGE LEAK LOL but I have a lot to say:

I watched VHS tapes, played the games, and owned merch since a young age so the series is very special to me. But I don't like the current direction at all and it's not because of the designs or nostalgia. The quality and game performance plummeted so how can I enjoy playing when there's mad lag or low frame rate that hinders my progress and worsen the experience??

It took too many years for them to realize they need to put quality over quantity after the SWSH mess, seeing that they can get away with pretty much ANYTHING and still make huge profit. You see people say that Pokemon should've never went 3D and stay 2D but tbh, it's a series that improves it's graphics as technology advances so it's not a surprise for them to finally go 3D and personally I think that's fine but just keep it looking good and fun (though I would love a 2D/3D hybrid). XY introduced a lot of new features but still lacked in some aspects that still haven't really been solved or added.

Reusing assets is common in the industry but only to a certain extent. They claimed that SWSH was taking a while to make because they were making brand new models which turned out to be a lie and they look like bootleg figures with the new lighting. The 3DS models were ripped from Pokepark, including some animations, but a lot of them still barely have any character. They have their own in-house team (Creatures Inc) so they made the decision NOT to have pokemon properly animated or look alive.... Also they made spin-offs like Ranger, Colosseum, Pokepark, and Pokken which look AMAZING

FRLG took only one year while HGSS was being developed at the same time as Platinum and took 3 years to finish that turned into one of the best games and remakes ever made. As the franchise expands, the team also needs to add more manpower but Game Freak can definitely afford to get more resources to help them?? They can't continue having a ragtag team of like 20 people to make a game back then and do the same now then expect good results... Hire more people who know how create with current gen consoles IT'S COMMON SENSE PLS also I can't believe they had a different company create BDSP knowing how beloved and groundbreaking DPPT was?? No redesigns like the previous remakes and thought it was a good idea to keep it looking a carbon copy to the DS style...

Also it's shocking to see how fan reception can change how the devs direct the next gen ESPECIALLY when it's not even real constructive criticism?? When Unova came out, I remember seeing all the online outcry about "OH THEY HAVE AN ICE CREAM CONE POKEMON AND A TRASH BAG, THEY'RE RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS EW" then actually hear it being repeated at school.... I WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE SINCE DAY 1 IN THE TRENCHES DEFENDING THIS GAME IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD AND DIDN'T NEED 10 YEARS TO AGE WELL. It's crazy how these are the same people who want another Kanto when Trubbish is Grimer (garbage waste) and Vanillite is Voltorb (based on literal items) then you could not catch any other pokemon from different regions in the main game. And the leak confirmed that the disgruntled hate from the west made the devs not release new pokemon in B2W2 and move them over to XY instead AND NOT GIVE A SINGLE GEN 5 MEGA EVOLUTION. So we were robbed because of genwunners who were fixated on the wrong things and ignored all the great content Unova brought us. It's strange how players keep complaining they want a different and fresh game, but want it to continue being super formulaic and binary like wtf do you want make up your mind

None of the switch titles really got me invested and I always end up replaying the older games but hopefully PLZA will break the curse and finally give us a nice game. Also why don't we have more spin-offs on the switch if there's so many of them floating around like the DS had a bunch??? STOP BEING COWARDS I WANT A POKEMON NINTENDOGS GAME OR THAT FIRE EMBLEM CROSSOVER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET. I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AGAIN ;w;

[fountainpenguin]

Liveblog remarks from my FOP: A New Wish re-binge (Up to "Lost and Founder's Day" since that's the last one on Netflix right now).

Liveblog opinions under the cut. If you don't want to see personal opinions or spoiler-filled references to later episodes, this post may not be for you.

- Not a liveblog technically, but I was shocked and delighted to glimpse ChalkZone as I was navigating to watch this show. Also, apparently all the FOP seasons (including Season 0) are on Paramount, which surprises me because I thought they only had up to Season 3.

- Forgot one of Hazel's early lines is describing herself as "New car smell." That's so funny...

- I really like Hazel doubling down (to Cosmo and Wanda) about how hard she worked to not complain when her parents uprooted her life and moved her to Dimmadelphia. I'd love to explore more of her pre-Dimmadelphia life.

- ?? Why did it take me this long to realize when Hazel told Tony the ant that they were the second "ant tony" she knew, she was referring to Antony? <- Because of how she pauses, I've always thought she had an Aunt Tony.

- The wish punch cards puzzle me so much. Why is it a big deal that one wish is "on Cosmo and Wanda" instead of Hazel? It's not like they charge her money for wishes, so what's the implication?

- Why are there so many kids playing VR games in the cafeteria?

- "You can't make us test prep during lunch! Isn't that illegal or something?" - Crying...

- Principal Krentz is so funny. Just in general.

- Extremely concerned about Angela and Marcus knowing (I presume) that Hazel was hosting a sleepover, but never coming down to check on her.

Do... do they NOT know Hazel is having a sleepover? HAZEL??

- I think I said this on my first watch, but Hazel acting confident during her Broadway show and then turning shy when everyone claps for her is adorable.

- Stuart / Hannibal replying "Yes" to Hazel's question of whether their mom often throws away trash inside a giant rug... ???

- I love Jasmine's backpack design (It has a cute flower on it).

- Dev licking the fan blades of his au pair drone brings me so much concern. Why did he do that.

- Marcus putting hours of research into how to do his daughter's hair is my everything...

- Wanda and Cosmo sitting in the corner when Diana is talking to Hazel... Wanda's just reading a book... Girl, your godchild is getting harassed by talking hair.

I think Wanda's reading the same book Cosmo later pulls out during "Weird Science."

- Why did Marcus pin bows to his eyes.

- I think I said this in my first liveblog, but it cracks me up that Hazel's response to losing her hair was to admire her bald head and how low-maintenance it was.

- Ah, maybe "Trial & Hair-or" is supposed to be the 'Episode 13 when Cosmo is a horse,' which he references in "Battle of the Dimmsonian." I did go looking a while back, but I must have missed this one.

- Trev and Bev are so funny... The puppy squeaks they make when Diana is yelling at Hazel... Nerds.

- Shout-out to Cosmo in this series and the many books he has on him at any one time. Specifically, I'm referring to his physics book in "Weird Science" because I am a "Cosmo loves physics books" truther ("77 Secrets of the Fairly OddParents Revealed").

- How did I miss Kennueth blushing and acting evasive every time he mentions the fairy that visited him when he was inside the whale? Okay...

- At one point, I drafted a post about Prime Meridian and the parallels to Dev and Hazel... I might go dig that up. I have opinions about it...

- Does Dale know Dev owns a sword?

Alternatively, if it's not Dev's, do I dare ask what childcare service the au pairs are supposed to provide with that sword?

^ Face of a man who has some questions.

- I would love to know what's inside Hazel's closet considering she owns a wardrobe where she actually keeps her clothes. Be honest... Did your dad put a machine in there to protect you?

- I remembered Hazel owned copies of her same sweater and jeans, but somehow I missed that she has like 3 dozen of the same pair of shoes. Girl knows what she likes.

- I still think maybe Cosmo shouldn't be putting on a 10-year-old girl's clothes, but I respect the presumed innocence that led him to explore new fashion options.

- I don't think Dale can drive and that's why he lets the helicopters crash to the ground.

- Dale's "buy one-time use items from me to save the planet' presentation is horrific. How on earth did he sway people into buying from him? Fascianting.

- Do Tina Churner and Mayor Teddy Bear share a voice actor?

They do not :(

- ???? The Pe-Az voices are changed in the Netflix version from the one I first watched. Major whiplash.

There were minor details in the early episodes I didn't remember on my original watch, and I wonder if anything else changed. Probably not because that would be a lot of work, but who knows.

- I still think it's clever that most kids show off the Dimmadome logo on their phones, but Hazel has a ladybug phone case that hides hers. She doesn't care to flaunt the branding.

- I say this knowing full-well that taking over Fairy World and removing pizza from the universe are different levels of life endangerment, but something something, Guzman announcing that Dev "doing the right thing in the end" counted as kindness in "Peace of Pizza" vs. Wanda in the finale making a point to emphasize how little "goodness" Dev has in him despite him doing the right thing in the end.

Something something, Wanda turning on Dev for endangering her bio son, but she was happy to let Timmy spend seasons romantically pursuing a girl who blatantly tried to murder him and cut him into pieces... Hey, Wanda, can I ask about that?

I'm glad the danger senses are tingling, and I support that, but these really are two different-tone shows, huh? Certain aspects are so wild to compare...

It's interesting to rewatch some episodes and remember all the foreshadowing I thought I saw (Ex: Hazel telling Kennueth he should "rewrite his story" and "make things right" with Duckworth [Dev]) and how "hard left" the finale shifts tones from what I thought we were being set up for. Fingers crossed for a Season 2... I really want to know where they wanted to go with that Kennueth & Duckworth forgiveness moment, because apparently it wasn't the finale.

- I'd love to learn more about Duckworth as a character, because it's very clear Dev relates to him on a deep level (even tearing up when Kennueth tells him that he forgives him for what he's done, and Dev whispering "Duckworth would have loved to hear that").

Including a scene like that in the finale would've been a cool callback to this moment, and I was totally expecting it given the other parallels between Dev, Hazel, and Prime Meridian, so I hope we get that in Season 2.

- So funny Dev's the only one in the know to truly recognize Kennueth, but he also, like... doesn't question why a manga character is in the real world. So curious. Did he think he was a cosplayer? Did his mind get hit with magic so he can recognize Kennueth, but not make the connection that says "Hey, this makes no sense" ?

Why didn't they cut the Project H plot from the final script if it drops off immediately after its reveal... It makes me so sad. It totally sets you up for expecting Dale to do villain stuff, but he doesn't :c I need that man to get told off for stalking a 10-year-old girl. Please Dale, I want you to screw around in Season 2... I need to see you face consequences. Dev is a minor, but you know better than that!!

My mind is brimming 24/7 with a montage of Dale trying to sneak close to Hazel and inviting her parents over for dinner or following her to restaurants and bake sales. I cannot express how much I want to do an animatic full of Dale hiding under tables like a weasel.

- I really hope I get to see the Pixies in Season 2, especially with how much set-up they did regarding Hazel's love for dull paperwork, plus Irep's model having a square head. I'd love to know how Hazel and H.P. interact. Yet another man I do not want around children! - It drives me wild how much set-up there was in one plot direction, including the original takeover plot intended to involve the Pixies - whose thing IS taking over Fairy World when the Anti-Fairies have never really been into that - and !! I didn't !! get !! to see it !! The finale's hard turn plot-wise drives me bananas, and I really want to see if a Season 2 makes me fall in love with it. - I wonder if the OG finale plan got to the script-writing phrase or if the Pixies' appearance was scrapped before it was written? I would LOVE to know how Dev behaves in that Pixie-themed finale (where Dale was supposed to be the big bad) and if that finale still would have felt out of place to me... H.P., my beloved... Save me, H.P. I want to love the finale, but if feels weird on so many levels... I think I'll like it someday in retrospect, but please let Season 2 offer me that chance. I don't wanna write the post-episode life myself- I want to know what THEIR plans were.

- Shout-out to Guzman assigning homework partners in a way that breaks up couples who went to the Under the Sea dance.

- Why does Cookie keep feeding Furry stuff he shouldn't eat, like cameras? Girl...

Alternatively, why does Furry keep eating her stuff? Boy...

- Cosmo showing up in the conference room with no shoes...

- Very sweet that Hazel refers to Puppet Hazel as "old friend" and greets it warmly.

- Honorable mention to Puppet Hazel's consistent it/its pronoun usage in all its episodes.

- Watching Hazel overly enthuse about Dev in "Lost and Founder's Day" hits harder after "Stuck In My Head" where she was overly paranoid about losing her friends... Tell us how you really feel.

- Dale and his magical invisible earpiece... I see why I didn't pick up on the fact that his "Eat a lizard" comment was directed to his phone on my first watch.

- The way Dev talks big about his dad vs. the way he deliberately un-machos his dad when we see his thoughts, my beloved... I had a whole post drafted about this, but I must have deleted it because I can't find it now.

- I like how when Dale walks offscreen, you can still hear the jingle of his spurs. I looked it up at one point and I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be wearing those in public if he's not riding a horse.

- Does Dale re-sell Vicky's bear toys?? I'm pretty sure the designs match, in which case it is INCREDIBLY funny that the au pairs - presumably programmed by Dale - make a special effort to call them out on as poorly constructed toys. I'm not sure they've done that for any other object.

Is Dale keeping tabs on Vicky even though we know Vicky wasn't keeping tabs on him? Horrifying! :)

- When the scene cuts to Dev inside Dale's command tent, he has popcorn, implying he wandered the festival before looping back to see his dad.

- I like how a Founder's Day booth is selling wolfish hats that look like the one worn by a Dimmadome ancestor.

- Dale being incredibly high in the air and still managing to set off a smoke bomb by hurling it down as hard as he could - near a crowd of people - fills me with terror.

- Lol, the shadow of Hazel's hat glows gold because it's covered in lights.

- Oh geez, the Dimmadome house isn't just shaped like Doug's hat, but it's also shaped like his face...... Dale, c'mon, man.

- So curious about the decorative pillows on Dev's bed. I assume the au pairs make it for him, but it's an interesting detail.

- This is already something I took into account for my Dev character study, but I can't stop thinking about how the only time we see Dev's room in a state less than perfect cleanliness and perfection, it's when there's books and of toys at the end of his bed he was trying to distract himself with before giving in to misery at the end of "Lost and Founder's Day..." It haunts me...

That is all.

[kaybeearts]

Is playing ObeyMe! or NB even worth it anymore?

I randomly started playing OM during COVID (2021 or 2022, can't remember). Important thing to note that I was always a F2P player, so that's the perspective I'm writing in.

I actually enjoyed the humor, characters, art, gameplay, and overall aesthetic. (Minus the icky parts about Lilith/MC's backstory, but let's pretend it doesn't exist.) It was this fun little game, but I eventually grew busy over the years and slowly stopped playing it.

I gained some renewed interest and came back to it late last year, and I even downloaded NB for the heck of it to see what it's all about.

I then saw an announcement from Solmare saying that they weren't going to create new updates and events for either game starting January 2025. That did shock me a bit, especially regarding NB since it was a much newer game. However, I didn't think it would affect my gaming experience that much. I was wrong.

What I enjoyed about all the story events was that it gave me the opportunity to earn items (glowsticks, energy drinks, presents, etc) as prizes instead of buying them with Devil points. Over the years, I really stocked up on all these items just from playing the events, and I was also able to save up a ton of DP and energy points. (Since I could also win those as prizes)

With the announcement, I just assumed that Solmare would recycle and re-release old events maybe twice a month. I didn't realize that when they said they'd "re-release events" they were referring to Nightmare events and not the actual story events.

If you want to access old story events, you need a LD ticket or pay with DP. Well, what happens if you used up all your LD tickets and DP? You can slowly build up DP if you're a F2P player, but as far as I've seen, there's no way to gain LD tickets without purchasing them. Absolute bogus.

I've also been having more and more issues with the ridiculous level spikes. Even before the announcement, it was impossible to level the cards up naturally, so I ended up using Grimm (which eats up quickly the higher the level) to level them up. That's pretty much the same issue I've had with leveling in NB.

Speaking of NB; I don't know about you, but I personally wasn't keen on the whole Rhythm game aspect of NB. I understand the devs wanted to make NB a totally different game (otherwise it'd just be a direct copy and paste of OM) but I'm just not a fan of rhythm games. The levels (aside from the Extreme ones) are not that difficult, but I just find them annoying. But that's more of a personal complaint because I just don't like rhythm games to begin with.

I liked OM because its gameplay seem very casual and a bit mindless. I'm not using that as an insult; I just prefer games that unwind me or calm me down. Not games that give me anxiety.

You're telling me I have to work on my reflex and hand-eye coordination skills just for a damn phone game? Come on.

OM was definitely not the best or even the most interesting game I've ever played, but it was fun. I could actually enjoy it as a F2P player, but that was before the announcement. These days, I am struggling to find enjoyment from the games.

As a side note, I'm really curious what happened with Solmare, internally, that caused them to come to this decision. I've read other posts online talking about how they're just money hungry these days, which seems to match up. They claim they're working on something new with the OM characters/story, which is fine, but then why stop creating updates for the og games? At least create more updates for NB; that game was only out for like a year before they decided to make that announcement, lmao.

[powdermelonkeg]

I’ve noticed that a lot of people have some problems with the Totk narrative and was wondering what you thought about it! I’m personally pretty neutral but I can see why people don’t like it. Have a wonderful day!

Okay so controversial opinion here from me:

TotK > BotW

WITH A CAVEAT

I enjoy games IMMENSELY more when I'm not spoiled on them. Skyrim mesmerized me because I flat out was not expecting an actual execution in the first five minutes. I love exploring things for myself.

I went into TotK with ZERO proper spoilers, on purpose. All I had was my own speculation from my trailer breakdowns, and the barest glimpse of Sonia from a leak. The world fascinated me. The physics engine was insanely fun to play with. I got super excited with the return of caves and dozens of collectables. I loved discovering new recipes. I LIVED in the Depths. And the slow horror of figuring out what exactly Zelda did to herself—I saw Tear 3, felt a sinking feeling of dread, rushed into the Depths of the castle to break down that last mural, then panicked as I raced around Hyrule trying to get the rest of the memories. I got the final memory, and I stood on top of Zelda's head for half an hour in shock.

BotW, on the other hand, I spoiled myself on, and was let down by in terms of what I expected out of it. I think the story would have captivated me had I stayed off of Youtube and actually bought the game (was broke at the time, didn't get it until 2019) and experienced it as intended. But I KNEW all the cutscenes, so I didn't have a drive to chase them. Which left the mechanics of the game on their own for me to get used to; I liked cooking, I loved getting a house. I hated how few enemy types there were, I missed my pieces of heart and secret caves and collectables. It's a secret to everybody? Wrong. 85000 shrines.

I started Zelda with Twilight Princess. That's been the bar for me since the beginning. If lighting two unlit torches doesn't give me a secret chest, or beating a challenging minigame doesn't give me a better quiver, it doesn't feel like Zelda to me.

Everything in BotW felt samey because I'd taken the narrative out of its natural habitat and experienced it as a movie rather than as a game, and the most variation enemies really had was a color or elemental difference. No Redeads in the desert, no Toadpoli in the lake, no Freezards in the ice. Also the bosses had no individuality.

Now, I 100% understand why people who love BotW don't love TotK. A lot of what was set up in BotW was undercut in favor of telling the story of Ocarina of Time again. There's no moving past the cycle like BotW implied there would be, and the refusal of the devs to so much as show the ruins of the last game's pivotal pieces feels like they didn't want to commit to anything. It's like if Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures were said to be direct sequels; they've got the same flavor, the same mechanics, but why does NOTHING have continuity?

(I've kind of microdosed on this frustration myself in regards to the timeline; all that effort to say BotW was at the end of all three timelines and do away with the mess they released in Hyrule Historia, and they add Zonai tech in on top of the Sheikah tech with no continuity??? Rauru and Sonia vs Skyward Zel??? Rito existed at the dawn of time. What)

As a continuation of BotW's narrative, it fails. Not egregiously enough for fans to be able to disconnect them and call them their own stories, but badly enough that the overall story feels like it was meant to be two, not one. That's a frustrating point to be in; too much is intertwined between them to break them off and create for them separately, but it's also not intertwined enough that you can't see that it's fraying at the edges.

Anyways...

I liked it. A lot. I think the whole dragon plotline and worldbuilding is fascinating. I have my gripes with dialogue, as one always does with Nintendo games, but you know.

[kob131]

So I just took a look at the quote tweets from Pocket Pair's Japanese announcement.

... Holy shit.

So for some background, the general reaction to the lawsuit announcement is pretty spilit but the most vocal people are decrying Nintendo for suing an indie dev like Pocket Pair. Pretty simple reason why, people don't like it when a big corporation starts wielding the law against smaller devs.

...Well, that's a misnomer. Western people don't like that. Or rather, that's their perception of what's going on and thus they have a negative reaction towards Nintendo.

On the Japanese side? The story's completely reversed. People are shitting on Pocket Pair and saying that Nintendo is in the right to do so. Now a lot of people are probably thinking that this is corporate shilling and yes, it is on some level. (Much like how the defense of Palworld is in part shilling for Pocket Pair). And yeah, just like people thinking Nintendo is suing over designs, people are saying Palworld is getting their comeuppence from stealing from Nintendo.

But the majority opinion to their statement (which is translated as follows)-

Today, Nintendo Co., Ltd. and The Pokémon Company announced that they had filed a lawsuit against us for patent infringement. At this time, we have not received the complaint and have not been able to confirm the other party's claims or the details of the patent rights that have been allegedly infringed. As a result, there are no plans to suspend or change the operation and provision of Palworld. Once we receive the complaint, we will take the necessary action. We are a small indie game development company based in Tokyo. Our goal has always been to create fun games. This goal will not change in the future, and we will continue to develop games to bring joy to many gamers. It is unfortunate that this lawsuit may force us to devote more of our time to issues other than game development, but we will do our best to work for our fans and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from expressing their free ideas. We apologize for any concern and inconvenience caused to our players and related parties, but we hope that you will continue to enjoy Palworld and support us in the future.

-ranges from:

"Don't drag the indie industry into your shit"

to

"You caused this, you were arrogant: now own it"

to memes mocking them for bringing up the indie bit with a handful defending Pocket pair/attacking Nintendo

If you haven't noticed it- this is almost the exact OPPOSITE reaction in the english speaking world.

It's really shocking to see such a stark contrast on a situation where everyone seemingly has the same info. A friend of mine thinks this is due to a difference in focus between the two groups. The English side sees Palworld as competition for Pokemon to force innovation while the Japanese side sees Palworld as creatively bankrupt.

I think it goes deeper than that, down to the core of the two cultures.

Let's be real, most of the people defending Palworld in the English side are likely Americans. And Americans are, by our nature, disdainful of authority and see more moral legitimacy in the underdog. It fits with our own founding story with teh Revolutionary War and the Founders against the corrupt and powerful Britan, leading us to be a highly individualist culture with such a disdain for big entities.

On the other hand, Japan is a culture defined heavily by respect for authority and the morality being with the leaders. They, to the best of my knowledge, value social cohesion and unity above the individual. The reason why so many main characters coming from Japan feel like bland self-insert MCs is actually because they're made to appeal to people who want to mesh well with others and interact without conflict (a sharp contrast to Americans who value heroes CLASHING with others).

By our very cultures, we view the same situation in opposing ways because our cultures, due to growing from such massively different circumstances, are effectively polar opposites. To us, it's the big bad corporation bulling the noble underdog. To them (as much as I can assume), it's the slimy thief getting caught by the big noble man and getting his just desserts. Yet we still react the same way- with chaotic scrambling to justify our viewpoints while widely refusing nuance and paitence.

This is just simply fascinating to me. It's always so intriguing to see how America's and Japan's opposing values clash with each other, showing human beings react the same way but saying different words.

[toffeebrat]

the devs lean so heavily into fan service, and yet I’m always shocked

[donnie-woomy]

I had an idea for a genshin inspired fan game :3

So basically you have two protagonists you either choose the brother or the sister like the usual, BUT I wanted to add a twist where you think you’re playing as the run of the mill MC but at some point in the story they transform back into a kid because the whole time their body was cursed when they entered the world the game takes place in so once they become kids again every other character is shocked and sad because they made them do dangerous quests and scolded them for being scared so now for the rest of the game they’re overprotective of the MC. The game while being inspired by genshin and honkai and even other gacha would also have some gimmicks from little nightmares since the mc is a scared and nervous little kid and there’s even a main enemy that is the MC’s worst nightmare and always runs away from them instead of fighting back

But yeah that’s something I thought about that won’t ever happen cuz I’m no game dev lmao

[arcplaysgames]

slurps tea loudly

okay as I recap this I am gonna try to navigate my emotions

Oh its the Fortune Arcana boss from Persona 3 but not as good! But the whole point is Sae's cheating anyway so it's not supposed to be fair or fun, that's fine. After proving she's cheating, she turns into her monster form.

She looks like if the SAW movies were a person, jesus christ.

Anyway, lets get to the meat of the situation; the big escape.

Even though Sae's treasure was stolen and the Palace Ruler has been defeated, the casino is not coming apart like normal. (Which is because the treasure they're taking is a decoy, but more on that later.)

And finally we return to the cold open, which admittedly: I fucking loved this. I love that nothing is changed at all, it's just the same sequence again, but now you have context for what the fuck is happening. Now the face the player can use their persona makes sense, now the presence of shadows in a 'real' location makes sense, everything comes together.

No matter how I fall on my opinion on this game, I have been convinced that Joker is the best protagonist of any of these games. With the unfortunate exception to the lack of Gay Options he gets, he is an enormous improvement from P4MC in every metric. I know who this character is, even absent my own input, and he's weird and funny and kind of a huge bitch and salty as the Dead Sea.

Huge fan.

This sequence becomes such a victory lap. Like, I'm still figuring out how I feel about the Whole Thing, but this moment of handing the player control and going "Hey, remember this?" and letting them fucking RACE to the end in the hopes of finally figuring out what the fuck is going on, it's a pretty clever trick. /slow claps for the devs

It's still fucking weird that Kasumi is here tho.

Also: Kasumi has the worst mask of everyone in this game by far. Every time i see it I wanna give her literally anything else.

I do wonder if its a Bebop reference. Oh well.

In the present, Sae offers Reverie a plea deal if he gives her the other Thieves. No go.

His beat-up face is so soft and sad, I just wanna hug him close. He needs a bag of peas against his cheek and a hug from dad so bad.

holy shit the fucking pancakes. Morgana was the one demanding pancakes when the team was talking in the hallway before the studio recording and Akechi walked in saying he heard something about pancakes. He couldn't have heard that unless he'd been to the Metaverse before. He's always known what Morgana's saying from the moment everyone met.

HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT

That's really fucking smart honestly. Like, I sussed out Akechi because I'm the audience and I know tropes and story structure so it absolutely had to be Akechi. (Also there were a lot of other hints.) But I'm happy there was a hard piece of evidence for the characters that was more concrete than "have you MET him, he's a murderer."

As everyone and their dog guessed, when Futaba grabbed Akechi's phone, she slapped one of her wiretaps on there. That part's easy.

After that is where things get tricky.

The last thing Reverie does as Sae leaves the room is convince her to take his phone with her and to show it to Akechi.

I am completely convinced that no one in this game has met the real Goro Akechi. Not Sae, not Shido, not anyone. That facade is made of four layers of reinforced cement and the windows are all mirrored glass. He's kind of the inversion of Adachi, who looked like there wasn't a since thought bouncing around in his vacant gaze. Akechi is nothing but loud thoughts, but the container is soundproofed.

Also, it occurs to me right here that someone is directing Akechi, someone has a hand on that leash, and I wanna know what the hell keeps Akechi from spinning around and killing that guy.

Anyway, Sae shows Akechi the phone, he's like ?????? whatever? and they part ways.

Akechi waltzes in, deep-sixes the guard with his own gun, and shoots Reverie in the head.

Your hair has never looked worst, Beige Boy.

"A TRULY SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS," MEMBER OF LEOPARDS EATING PEOPLE'S FACES PARTY SAYS AFTER LEOPARD SHOCKINGLY EATS HIS FACE.

Out of images.

[jb-nonsense]

wait but I wanna know why Theron's your least favorite :D explanation? (positive connotation i prommy)

Well it all started as a journey. It's a long journey, for sure, of a varying opinion change over the years of playing the game, from forces inside the game and outside the game. But I am not one to post things negatively about other people's favs out in the open so readmore it is

So we begin this journey as a wide eyed newbie player just figuring out what I wanted my legacy to be with my first knight, Leeloa. A friend was playing along with me, and I really enjoyed the Doc romance because I am definitely a fan of the 'player gets played by his own game and catches feelings' trope. Well, I get to SOR and mention to friend that I think Theron's fun and she tells me to ditch Doc because she didn't like him and thought Leeloa could do better.

I ended up remaking Leeloa because I listened then did not like that course, because it just didn't fit Leeloa. So honestly, I did like him when I first started.

But then writing happens, and it felt like he...Never developed past the whole "reckless, I do things when I do them" kind of persona, especially with the betrayal. And the more I delved into information on SWTOR, it just...Bothered me. He's descended from the hero of the original games, but oh no not force sensitive, but he's a great spy so amazing.

Why?? Because he had some Jedi training because it was expected for him to be force sensitive but oh no he WASN'T what a shock...

Except that...Doesn't really track with the Jedi and, everyone hates me, but the test for the midichlorians. They would know, they wouldn't just assume because his mom was Satele.

And somehow, despite acting in the most unspy like ways, he's a great spy. I don't know why anyone would have the Grand Master of the Jedi Council's son as a spy because that is just a huge liability.

I'll admit I haven't read the extra material because I just think it's...Kind of silly to have content outside of a video game beyond, say, a short story or a short comic.

There's just a lot of his story that if you look at it closer and in the grand scheme of Star Wars, is just absolutely ridiculous and maybe, a bit more Gary Stu than Luke.

Now then, to the writing and how he was treated in expacs. (This area is a place where Lana is also on thin fuckin ice.) The absolute favoritism shown to him by the devs drove me crazy. It started to weed away at my liking him and move me more into the exasperated/tired/neutral about him. You have this whole giant alliance, but the focus being on him and Lana so much was just annoying, especially considering it was Koth who helped the Outlander escape in the beginning chapters and how he got pushed aside. It didn't narratively feel...Cohesive and just a 'Look at the Sh*n kid go!'

The nail in the coffin is how the fandom acts about how he's a golden boy, how he gets fawned over, and honestly?? I just hate liking those characters for personal reasons. It always seems like people ignore what we're given about the character and expanding on it and, instead, ignore it and write an entirely different personality with the face they think is cute. I am huge on consistency, it's my style of writing, my preferred style of reading (thanks literary analysis class in college you ruined me), so fandom just fucked me over from liking him and while he's still friends with my knight, I try my hardest to ignore fandom with him, do my best to try to enjoy him, because I do intend to run all the game romances for gif making purposes.

Also he's really written as playersexual if you play a light side character and some conversations felt awkward like the devs were expecting you to have romanced him.

[sapphire-weapon]

i’ve been following you for a couple weeks now and i just wanted to say THANK YOU for actually providing a nuanced discussion about leon as a character!! i’m relatively new to the resident evil fandom so i’ve unfortunately fallen victim to the mass misinformation being spread, you’ve thankfully guided me in the right direction though!

i especially appreciate your take on ashley on leon because the things people have been saying about them on tiktok is… questionable to say the least. the babying of leon and the infantilisation of ashley is incredibly irritating, i was shocked when i saw someone say he would never date someone in their early 20s due to “the young age reminding him of sherry and therefore making him uncomfortable” 🙄 acting as if leon is a fossilised dinosaur in comparison to ashley lol

The last time Leon saw Sherry, she was 10. She did not have Ashley's giant tits nor her child-bearing hips what the fuck is wrong with people

I always question the um... intentions and character of people who always seem to see pedophilia in everything. Just saying.

I'm glad I could help, anonbro. 🙏❤️

I said this to @ivyial last night that I find it very interesting that the self-appointed Authority in fandom very, very often has people coming into his inbox and referencing me in a "...Do you think maybe she might have a point, though?" way, and I have NEVER gotten the same about him. The most I've gotten is "I saw this and it sounds like bullshit. Is it bullshit or is the canon really that stupid?"

I think there are a lot of people in this fandom who know intellectually that the narrative being pushed about Leon makes absolutely no sense, but they don't want to rock the boat or make waves against the current of common beliefs held around the fandom -- because they're also still new, so they don't feel like they're in a position to say they know better, so it is what it is.

And then they go and ask him for clarification, and his answer legit deadass is "yeah some things in RE just don't make sense and we have to accept that"

And my ass is over here screaming "THEY ONLY DON'T MAKE SENSE BECAUSE YOU KEEP ADDING IN SUPPLEMENTARY BULLSHIT THAT MAKES THEM NOT MAKE SENSE."

But I don't have the reach or the platform he does, so new fans are stuck with their uncomfortable cognitive dissonance of "I know this doesn't make sense or feel right, but authority says it is, so..."

And that sucks.

The line last night was people don't know how RE canon works. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only one who does.

To take every piece of supplementary information and announce it as being canon is so far removed from the reality of how game development in general works. There's no loremaster on dev teams. Things in game stories have to change or get cut all the time because of gameplay contrivances/limitations. Game developers do their best to keep the story and characters in line with the releases that came before the title they're working on now, and that's it.

The sole exception to this is certain Final Fantasy teams, because they release a master lorebook called an Ultimania alongside every release. Square Enix devs refer to the Ultimanias if they continue a storyline into a new game.

Resident Evil doesn't have that, and I would bet every cent I had that there is not a single person currently working in Division 1 that has ever heard of Leon having a backstory involving organized crime or his parents getting murdered. Because it's not in the games, and it's never referenced anywhere outside of a promotional interview released before RE2's release and likely before RE2's story was even finalized.

Dev teams change all the time. People come and go in the industry. This is especially true for somewhere like Capcom. When they sit down to make a new title in a series, all they have to go off of is the game releases that came before. No one is keeping this supplementary shit straight outside of basement-dwelling nerds who think that knowing every little thing a developer or PR agent has ever said is an adequate replacement for having a personality.

Games are also influenced by how well previous titles did in the marketplace and public opinion. Look at what's happening with Aeon. IT IS LITERALLY GETTING WRITTEN OUT OF THE STORY because it pissed so many people off in RE6, so who the fuck cares what Developer #8332 said about the ship back in 1999? It doesn't matter.

Resident Evil is a product to be bought, sold, and consumed. Things change during development. To take every little remark and interview and third party ad for an airsoft gun (I'm still not over how stupid that was) as canon is asinine and is completely incongruent with the actual fuck real reality of the product itself.

I'm reminded of the very famous Shinji Mikami quote about how, if Resident Evil 4 ever ends up on the PS2, he'd cut his own head off with a chainsaw.

And what ultimately happened?

Words are meaningless. The only thing that happens is what's in the actual product itself. Again: Resident Evil does not have an Ultimania. The story only exists within the games and the CGI movies.

It also makes the entire story make less sense and become even more incoherent than it already is. This supplementary material adds nothing to the story. It only takes things away.

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a huge big rant here, but. It really pisses me off that the new people who are coming into the fandom are smart enough to see that the narrative is bullshit but too afraid to speak up about it because of the sheer arrogance of the other voices in the room.

I'm glad you're here, anon. I'm hoping you can help spread the word. Make other newcomers feel more welcome and less crazy.

Side note because I'm not done ranting yet I guess: my favorite new thing is "Leon is blonde but people don't think so because they don't understand tech limitations in 2005" as though the GameCube couldn't render blonde hair -- or even light brown hair. And also as though RE4 was the origination of Leon's character and he didn't have brown fucking hair in every version of RE2 that's ever existed.

For the record, I was setting up and participating in LAN parties before this guy could even hold a controller in his hands, so fuck all the way off with mansplaining hardware limitations to me.

OK IM DONE FOR REAL NOW IM SORRY

[papairaart]

twofold thoughts from guy who worked on it (me)

warning for spoilers and pretty extensive discussion about parental death

on february 14th of 2023 i suddenly and abruptly lost my dev twitter account.

everyone who was following my socials back then knows this. i repeatedly tried to appeal its suspension to no avail; papaira_x is just gone forever. what not a lot of people know though is that i probably would have never worked on twofold had that not happened. when i went to its associated e-mail to see why i got bonked, i found another e-mail about a pending message request from theo about how they wanted to hire me to do scripting for twofold. twitter never notified me about it; it was from a few weeks ago.

i panicked hard for multiple reasons. for one, i had no idea how to get back to them and i needed that money. for two, i had never been hired for a scripting job in my life. i could see why i had been scouted—three lilies and their ghost stories, which had been released the month prior, had some of the most active cinematography i had ever done then—but to be doing something other than artwork under someone else's supervision made me panic, just a little. what if i failed to meet their expectations?

eventually, arimia managed to get me in contact with theo (god bless her) and it was finally settled: i was going to work on twofold. i learned only post-release that had that all not happened caps and theo were just going to be resigned to caps doing the rest of the scripting because i hadn't responded, which was painful to hear for a reason you are about to see.

i was hired to script ~75k words of twofold's ~151k. the rate of completion was to be at least 1 scene a week to meet the deadline of a fall release. as you can see, i met this deadline, and even finished the large christmas script (which i had been alotted more time to complete) earlier than expected (within 1.5 weeks). i was doing this all on top of soundless stuff, other work, family issues, and at one point even the literal flu. it was ultimately not as difficult as i had feared it would be...

...on a technical level.

the majority of my assigned scenes were millie scripts. i had only read the prologue and caprice act 1 scene 1 (the internal name for the pizza party at the start of her route) prior to my start date for studying purposes, so i had no idea what caprice and millie's conflict was ultimately about. the order in which i worked on millie's scripts (it had been done on the basis of whether or not a scene's sprite assets were all available) gave me a sneaking suspicion that morphed into shock when it finally came out that everything had to do with her late mother.

i have read many visual novels in my life. since i became a fan of the genre in middle school, i've always gravitated towards heavier and more hardcore titles. i have nonchalantly picked up some horrific and nauseating and violent stories that would scare away a lot of people; there aren't many topics that kick my ass thoroughly. but the one thing that will always get me no matter what is grieving for a dead parent.

my father suddenly died when i was 17. not as young as when millie lost her mom, nor as expected. he was simply ripped away from me on an ordinary sunny day because of a heart attack. i said goodbye to him as he went on his way to the store to grab some things, then took a nap, and then when i woke up he was gone.

everything millie went through and felt was exactly how i felt and still feel. you forget their voice and exactly how they looked and the things they used to say, and you lose things that remind you of them and it's like they're dying a second time. i had an episode at the funeral because i couldn't recognize a lot of the people who came and after the service they were talking and smiling and eating like my father didn't just die. it was like i was the only one who cared he was gone. i would lash out at the world for years after and struggle to regulate my emotions. i am very lucky that i was in a position where i could not find a way to abuse substances underage.

there were times where i had to stop and step away, then there were times where i breezed through a scene because i understood. i'm very proud of the scene where millie shows olive her "train set" in particular, so much so that said train became the focus of my guest art. perhaps it's because the location i associate with my father, his backyard, is no longer accessible to me. (speaking of the guest art, i actually started and finished it a day after i was asked if i wanted to contribute a piece, but handed it over months later because i was embarrassed...)

this is all not to say it was wrong for salty salty studios to hire me without warning me. i'm not at all mad about it; i'm glad i got to channel my grief into millie. it's not like i'm often upfront about this anyways. people know me for making my very first public release a violent cult abuse story, so it's probably assumed that a much more down-to-earth story like twofold isn't gonna really make a dent in the guy who loves subarashiki hibi and full metal daemon muramasa. besides, i'm the type of person who appreciates a good cry because tears tend to just get stuck inside of me.

i love twofold a lot and i loved working on it. it is the only visual novel i broke my "no rating for things i touched" rule. millie is my little blorbo and she deserves everything ever.

i'll be honest i've been so eloquent and serious up until now but i don't actually know how to finish this post. maybe i will end it on a lighthearted note: if there's one thing i can't forgive it was getting blindsided by perfect circle, i had NO IDEA about this portion of the game, NONE of those assets were in the files during the literal months i was doing the scripting in. imagine my shock when i binged the game in one sitting and it smacked me in the face. i literally got fucking trolled.

i had a cookie cake for my birthday cake last year.

[maximuswolf]

When did you give up on BioWare?

When did you give up on BioWare? They're seemingly returning to """traditional""" format with Veilguard, that is, the "Golden Years"-traditional, which ironically is to many people when they originally lost their way, by shifting to action-oriented gameplay over dice-roll RPG stuff.Do you still like BioWare? What was the "cutoff" game for you? For me it was Mass Effect 3. I had 100% goodwill towards BioWare going into the game. I thought ME1 was great and I thought ME2 was even better. I could see people, even back in 2010 say that ME2 shat on ME1's established narrative. I could see it in a few places but in my own subjective experience I didn't ever "feel" it that way. I felt like it updated and modernized Mass Effect into a new cool sequel while retaining the best aspects of the first game, like Conversation Wheel and the squad-based combat, but perfected the visual language of storytelling, WAY better voice-acting, and audiovisual "oomph" that ME1 just doesn't have. It became captivating, and satisfying to play. All without losing the sense that a highly detailed story with choices was happening.I did not expect it, but ME3 just shocked me in how not amazing it was. Everywhere I went I saw regressions in anything that wasn't just "combat" and even though combat was better, it lacked little immersion-elements like being able to holster the gun out of combat. This meant that once you selected "Land" for a mission, you knew Shepard would have his gun pointed anywhere you went, and since the entire levels are just in "combat mode" it meant that everything had to be completely combat-oriented. The illusion that you may sometimes be able to cancel out a combat-encoutner with a diplomatic choice was lost, and I felt like everything was just reduced to its basic shape. Same with Dialogue options where you always get just 2 binary decisions and only rarely get to choose. I thought BioWare games were all about conversation-gameplay, like Baldur's Gate 3 is about making choices and testing if the devs really accounted for each scenario. But now Mass Effect was completely converted into a sort of Uncharted, linear movie-game thing, and choices were just occasionally there to make it appear like they were still committed to the choice-driven narrative.And then the ending and all that, but I thought the game had so many surprising issues that I had no reason to believe before, so I just felt really demoralized playing through Mass Effect 3 and even just 3 hours in the game I had a thought that "Oh shit, I don't like this game, huh." and made me realize maybe I'm not just going to be a BioWare fan forever.So it was sad to see that they lost so much goodwfill with the ending, and shifting to an alienating "Gameplay > Story" development foucs and gradually losing interest with their fanbase while getting new fans by simplifying and kind of reducing their IP to more emotionally digestible storytelling, and "switch your brain off and watch people talk" cutsceneyness. DAI felt like hope, but even that felt like a Single Player MMO on top of a bit of a hodgepodge BioWare game, but it had lots of choices and nice companions. But then Andromeda failed its chance to prove Inquisition-skeptics wrong, and then it had shit animation and a lazy story premise. Anthem was just a "Why is BIOWARE making this kind of game???" moment for me.So it's weird to see how "old-school" Veilguard is looking. But something is still missing. Oldschool at this point could just mean another Mass Effect 3. BioWare has been through the ringer. Submitted August 01, 2024 at 03:01AM by linkenski https://ift.tt/DlZ7aAc via /r/gaming

[sakuraswordly]

Continue from this; Warning Sonic Frontiers spoilers ahead.

Even Punch and Gilgamesh pretend to not care about Sonic but in the end, they can't help but worry about the other self, Sonic.

Sonic: And "Punch"......you are the one who saves my life......so many multi times....(This topic on this blog, I'm going to explain with Sonic Frontiers why this sentence that Sonic talk was important.)

In Tsubasa of Phantasia, make sense that no matter how much Sonic accepts the future, the truth is some of the future Sonic can't accept. Gilgamesh knew that's why he still watch Sonic but did not avoid his life. Gilgamesh didn't want Sonic to get involved so he tried his best to take the burden from Sonic by himself which mean that oneday this burden will hurt Sonic so he need to avoid him.

"They both love themself". That's why, when Sonic learns the truth about Punch and Gilgamesh, Sonic never hate them or hates himself, but Sonic chooses to save them and wants to thank them for always protecting him and being there by his side of all time. (The reason why Sonic continue to trust both Punch and Gilgamesh)

Sonic: And "Punch"......you are the one who saves my life......so many multi times...

In Sonic Frontiers Before Sonic leaves Ares Island he stops and talks to Knuckles. If you read @playertwotails and see in the English version, when Sonic says how worried about Tails he is, they don’t show his eyes at all and that is clearly a very deliberate decision on the dev's side. And then we saw Knuckles' reaction.

But in the Japanese version, when I came back again I found something different.

As Super Sonic approaches his destination of Ares Island, he's hit by a laser beam that knocks him back to his base form; to his further annoyance, the emeralds promptly scatter across the new island. As he sets out in search of the gems, Sonic ask himself like "Why do sudden Chaos Emeralds scatter across? If I change to Super form, my super form never ever leave me behind without telling me. I need to check and find Chaos Emeralds"

Can anyone use the Chaos Emeralds?

It all depends on the person with the gem in hand, and though it's been noted that people who are able to understand and attune themselves to the flow of power in the emeralds are usually more capable of using them, there always exists such a thing as having talent for it.

"Attune themselves" and even the Chaos Emeralds' powers are shown to come from the positive emotions of their wielders in this game, Sonic knows about himself very well, and that's why Sonic question himself. This sentence Sonic seem worry about the other him who lives inside him, Super Sonic, and hope he's okay.

When Sonic or Super Sonic finish Destroying Wyvern. Super Sonic tells him that he has one more Titan to defeat so they can all return back to normal but in the Japanese version he doesn't mention he worries about the missing Tails but in fact he mention that he must hurry to save and clear this once for all, save Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Sonic. That's right, in the Japanese version, Super Sonic includes "Sonic" as well which makes Knuckles look kinda shocked at what expression he sees on Super Sonic’s face here. If you picture or imagine that Super Sonic is Punch Whalen, you know that Punch was more very serious like King Gilgamesh, right? "Gilgamesh didn't want Sonic to get involved so he tried his best to take the burden from Sonic by himself " Punch still thinking about how to save Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Sonic, even thinking what Punch would do.....if Sonic continued like this, Sonic will die.

Sage - “Unless you stop in your tracks, your fate will not be determined... why is it that what I want to say is being conveyed even though it is impossible to calculate.... Are you trying to transcend causality....with a body like that?”

In the Japanese version, Sonic not only do for saves many friends' future but for to saves Super Sonic as well. "Are you trying to transcend causality….with a body like that?" That's right, Sonic didn't care what would happen to his soul but he also do for the best for the other self as well. Sonic accept for fully corrupting himself with cyber energy for everyone and for the other-self as well, for Super Sonic to be safe that's why Sonic's body didn't vanish but still stayed still in the real world.

In the Japanese version, Sonic said, "Of course...that's what it's all about...thanks, guy." That "Of course...that's what it's all about." Sonic communicates with Super Sonic or the other self that lives inside him and Super Sonic was the one that makes Sonic know what happened and why he can get back to normal.(Don't forget Sonic's soul was trapped between realities and Cyber Space so he didn't know what happened but Super Sonic or the other self was safe so he knew Sonic's friends decided to sacrifice their physical forms to restore Sonic, sending them back into Cyber Space as he returns to normal, Super Sonic even told Sonic about Eggman as well hehe.)

Punch: I believe in you...we really are the same even our existence. That's why my dream. Me and my other self's dream is also yours too.

Sonic: Dream.....you mean that our dream.....Tsubasa's dream...

Punch: If I can't kill you or make you disappear, I have to kill myself. For you to be able to exist in this world.

Sonic's kindness, Punch accepts defeat and loses to Sonic. Sonic's heart can't grow. He will remain as a child, an innocent child forever no matter how traumatic he had been through. The whole reason why Punch chooses to protect him. Sonic in Sonic Frontiers knows too well what will happen if he continues to walk this path but Sonic believes in himself that everything is alright, that's why, when Sonic learns the truth about Punch and Gilgamesh, Sonic never hate them or hates himself, but Sonic chooses to save them and wants to thank them for always protecting him and being there by his side of all time. (The reason why Sonic continue to trust both Punch and Gilgamesh is because in Sonic Frontiers, Sonic believe in himself that everything will be alright, he trusts himself and Super Sonic or the other self)

Source Bonus:

If you take notice of Sonic's body language and Tsubasa of Phantasia, Sonic, Punch and Gilgamesh always communicate themself every time. No matter when or where. They love him. They know him. And they respect him. They know he'll get up. They respect his boundaries, even when those boundaries are vastly different from the average person's boundaries. And that knowledge that he'll be okay works out, just like they knew it would. Watch the change in their expressions and body language as he stand back up and smiles at them.

Note: Even this Sonic Crowe is not tied to Sonic canon in the franchise by straight. Even both Sonic Crowe and Sonic Original owners can connect to each other and can be used to analyze personality traits.