#the game sprites really convinced me on the look lol

[0ctosquid-cd]

finally had the time to doodle these guys. absolutely LOVED this game

[pixelatedraindrops]

Why Yuma Kokohead is my main whump candidate🌡️ An Analysis:

(contains raincode spoilers)

So, some of you people are probably asking yourself; Why do I keep making these sickly edits of Yuma?

Okay. Allow me to present my evidence and reasoning behind this weird little obsession of mine in 3 parts. (prepare for a small essay with some spoilers)

First off; I've noticed that Yuma always holds his head like this whenever he's distressed.

I know its probably just a nod to his memory loss, but he does it

EVERY

SINGLE

TIME

Through the whole game.

Like his model is just programed to do it whenever he makes these two expressions in the sprite art.

He always looks so pale and tired... sick even.

Which is why I edited these sprites first

The model of him that’s used in an Ace Attorney fan made crossover project does this exact same gesture too.

Only he actually looks like he's in even MORE pain here.

source

And Reminder; he canonically felt sick in the first chapter of the game. Idc what the reason was, the point is it happened.

All of this might confirm that he has potential to be frail of health or may suffer from specified ailments easily.

Also... DO YOU HEAR THIS LABORED BREATHING???

Like hello? BE FR RIGHT NOW??

In the JP dub, he speaks under somewhat heavy sounding breaths when he's going through this ordeal of trying to open the door to the Infirmary (as he should) It shows how exhausted he feels or how dizzy he is just wanting, BEGGING to lay down and make the world stop spinning.

(sorry for the poor quality video lol)

This was all that was going through my mind when I first played this part of the chapter. And I nearly lost it. He was officially on my list

This part of Chapter 0 was more than enough to convince me he had the potential.

SPOILER TERRITORY⚠️

Second: Yuma usually doesn't mind admitting when he is weak or vulnerable.

Such as when he tells Fubuki that he feels like he's in pain and going to pass out after Shinigami punched him in the Ch3 ML, or telling Vivia how scared he was when he was threatening to kill him during the Ch4 Investigation, or admitting his fear and hesitation to Shinigami in Chapter 5's deserted factory. Anytime that he admits his feelings if someone asks him rather than trying to act tough. Instead of playing dumb, he admits when he feels a negative way. He's completely honest about it.

THAT IS SOME GOOD SHIT 👀

This is really good fodder for a scenario where he just confesses that he's not feeling well. Or that he's about to be sick. Or if he's in pain or injured. Or if he's having a mental breakdown. He won't shy away from it. He'll say it.

(though I did kinda make him play dumb in my own fic lol I cannot deny that there are times he also wants to be strong and/or not be a burden to others)

Third: Yuma's size. HIS TINY SIZE??? COME ON?? He may as well be a CHILD.

I know vivia is a freaking giant but STILL LOOK HOW SMALL HE IS

He is so baby despite his age being completely unknown. He could be a teenager or he could be an adult over 20. Nobody knows.

Point is regardless of that, you can see him is any kind of vulnerable situation with no doubt or worry of it being OOC. You can see him crying if he's hurting. You can see him whining about making the pain go away. You can see him wanting comfort if he has a nightmare. You can see him having a panic attack reaching out to a caretaker for support.

He can be carried or lifted up by anyone taller than him and probably be light as a feather. Seeing him cling to them like a sick or hurt kid would.

He could sit or lay on their lap. He could lean on them as they help him walk if he's hurt, or as they help him eat or drink if he's too weak to do so himself.

And he probably couldn't stop someone from forcing him down to rest if he tried due to his physical stature being unfit for combat. (or anything)

Regardless, it would ALL FIT.

Like taking care of a child.

~

Now with those 3 points out of the way, I ask you all:

How can this character NOT be easy whump bait? Don’t underestimate my imagination as a sickfic enthusiast.

HE IS LITERALLY SO WHUMPEE SHAPED AND CODED WITH THIS INFORMATION

He's a perfect victim for specifically any sort of head issue:

Be it a headache, a head injury, migraine, or what I usually continue to give to him in my edits.

A High Fever.

plus, coupled with the RAIN 24/7 SETTING?

In THIS type of scenario??

AS I KEEP SAYING; IT'S WAY TOO DAMN EASY

THIS GAME PRACTICALLY SPOON FEEDS ME ALL THIS BAIT

he's got the major potential to be the biggest sickly wet cat ever

and I love him so much for that

he's so dizzyboy coded that I want to make him SICK AS A PUPPY

Which is why I do it so much.

40 degrees? Call a freaking doctor aaaa

I'll mostly go with a high fever because they're my favorite thing in the sick whump category and easy to edit, but at the same time, he could be suffering with any sort of issue and it would seem accurate, likely or canon, so long as it involves his head.

Such as a splitting headache, immense dizziness, flash blurred vision, or even a nausea induced migraine. (heck, even all of the above, go crazy)

You may ask yourself, why?

Easy: For caretaking fluff purposes.

That's mostly why sickfics exist.

The potential fluff of him getting taken care of by the NDA (found family) Shinigami (chaotic mascot partner/sibling) Kurumi (platonic or romantic) or heck maybe even Makoto (sibling dynamic or possible ‘self-care’)

Just the thought and image of him getting taken care of in general puts a smile on my face. Its a HUGE comfort for me 💜

The potential for the found family, shipping, or sibling moments he can produce from being in this state is astronomical. And you don't see that in characters very often. He is a very rare specimen. He is Number 1 after all.

Checks literally all of my boxes on why I love illness whump and sickfics so much. He is perfect.

Sometimes sacrifices must be made to forge deeper connections. And these kinds of scenarios almost NEVER fail to be 1 of three things: tooth-rottingly wholesome, heartbreakingly angsty, or chaotically comedic. It depends on your preference. (They're mostly wholesome and sweet though.)

~

fr though.

once you find your prime whumpee you never go back

and now I know how it feels ;w; the bliss makes me feel as though I am now complete in a place where something was missing.

~

Thank you Kodaka for this adorable smol anxious purple trainee who’s actually the top dog 💜

I love him dearly🥰

Some of you may just want to see Yuma as a cool smart, competent, and badass protagonist and that's great! I completely agree! That he is.

But to me personally? He's also a soft, delicate, anxiety filled, adorable lil' wet cat who needs constant TLC, love and/or support 💊 Physically and/or mentally.

Get a character that can do both lol

That is all.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

I love this little guy so much! He means everything to me.💜 He’s just a little guy. My babygirl, my little scrunkly, my lil' blorbo, my little meow meow…

No matter how you see it;

Yuma Kokohead is a blessing✨

[anderscim]

If you're taking er.....'requests' for theories about characters, I want to discuss something peculiar about David <- being a simp

I'm going to sound like the biggest David apologist ever, but....I have reason to believe that he wasn't lying about his family depression secret. Not in the sense that he actually has it, but him legitimately believing that was his motive secret. When he walked into the dining hall in episode 4, he was getting frustrated and stressed from all the fighting and you can even see the stars going out in his eyes. His distress and annoyance felt more to himself since his body language also helps to see that he was doing his best to block out the fight. The first CG looks like he was trying to think of something to stop it, and the second one looks like he was just growing more and more stressed until he finally stepped. What I'm trying to say is, his family depression secret feels more blurted out than actually thought out. Yet, it was highlighted in yellow, so it's worth considering. Not to mention, he has shown signs of being depressed since day one

You can also see when Arei was going to confront him, she started off by flat out saying "Why did you lie about your secret?" after she found David. David was still shocked at her question. If you knew you were caught red handed lying about your secret, yeah you would still try to deny it. But the first thing that comes to mind, in this situation, is that "Oh shit, Arei must've gotten my secret,". It was also hinted that David thought this way when Arei told him she wanted to talk about his 'secret' until Teruko and Eden walked in. So why would David still try to 'play dumb' when he knew he was done for with the person he presumed had his secret?

My guess is that he genuinely thought his family depression was legit his secret. You can even see his sprite when Arei reveals what it actually is. He's......shocked. He stutters a bit until he asked Arei if she was the one that got his secret, and then just....completely shuts off. He even goes to see the secrets being revealed the next day (keep in mind, he KNOWS what his real secret is) and when Teruko asked him which one is really his, he uses a similar sprite to the ones he used when Arei was grilling him. They all look like he's on the brink of a panic attack, almost triggering him. It's a whole another can of worms than what I'm going on about, but opening the lid a little bit.....David looks....triggered by being called manipulative. It makes me think that this whole act is a breakdown of his and he's just playing along with a last minute act he made up cause no one is going to believe anything he says cause they're convinced he's just this horrible person with no context behind it. You can even see Arturo was triggered when his secret was brought up. If I was planning a killing game and this was the secret I was working with, I would care more about getting underneath the skin of the participants than making these secrets accurate. Not saying one secret is wrong and the others are right, but you can't deny they're worded in a really unfavorable manner

Also, ngl, even if you are aware you are manipulative, how can anyone guess their secret is "You were born only to manipulate others"?

Sorry I went off on a tangent, but yeah :)

don’t worry about going on a tangent, you’re not the only one lol. if someone mentions david in front of me, i will start talking about him and never shut up ( ´ ▽ ` )

(take what i’m about to say with a grain of salt)

and actually, i think i touched on this a little bit once! i highly doubt david was aware that his secret was about manipulation, at least not until arei revealed it to him in private.

i’ve mentioned this before but david’s motive secret is the most “up to interpretation” out of the rest of the cast, and there’s no specific factual details in there like the other secrets:

“the thing is, everyone else’s secret, though written in a way that took out crucial context and painted them in a bad light, was at least somewhat based on an actual occurrence, portion of their identity, and real information. david’s secret is the most vague and was written in a way to attack his purpose and what he personally (secretly) believes his actions to entail. but, unlike everyone else, there’s no concrete occurrence, action that he’s done, or any specific detail in that secret that connects him to manipulation. additionally, his is the most open-ended.”

overall, his secret is really ambiguous, which makes it difficult to guess in the first place. 

given that it’s heavily implied that he at least struggles with his mental health, it makes significantly more sense (for david) to think his secret was about depression. 

but the thing is—david’s pretty smart, so i’m sure he’s aware that these secrets were tailored to “get underneath the skin of the participants” like what you said. but not only that, they’re also written in a way that diminishes the reputation of that person from an outside perspective.  i mean, even the secret he received (which is probably teruko’s) is worded in that way—it’s incredibly difficult to take something like “this killing game is your fault” at face value without proper background information. these secrets are almost written in a way to be accusatory, and it’s difficult to derive any outside context about them without directly asking the person themselves.

but in that case, which would be more tarnishing towards the reputation of the “Ultimate Inspirational Speaker” — the fact that your family has a history of depression, or the fact that you’re still struggling with depression yourself?

my personal theory is that david actually thought that his secret was about his own depression (despite his optimistic persona), and his wording of a “family history of depression” was a half-hearted attempt to dance around that fact. but like you said, it was blurted out, so i feel like it was more a rushed attempt than anything else. though it’s heavily likely that the family history of depression is still true, it’s still intriguing that he decides to use this exact wording—and personally, i see it as him refusing to directly admit he has depression himself. (but i do think david genuinely believed his secret was related to depression)

about the part with him possibly being triggered by the word “manipulation,” i think that’s a really good theory. like you said, his sprites (and that shaky breath the VA put in) during his conversation with arei look like he’s genuinely shutting down. not just that, the same exact sprites are used right before his breakdown in the ch2 trial, when his motive secret is officially confirmed (and when everyone else is reacting to it). it makes total sense if he was spiraling during that time, and i personally believe that to be the case. if you couldn’t already tell from my previous posts lol /lh

thank you for the ask lexi ^^ sorry this is kind of short though, i wrote this while on a car trip so it was kinda rushed

and like i said before, my inbox is currently open so feel free to send in other things you guys are curious about as well!

[souldivide]

danganronpa licker fappy havoc, fapper danganronpa 2 and. ndrv3

THH was definitely a great game all on it's own and i really enjoyed it as a kid. i'd probably replay it again to see if nostalgia wiped the quality clean for me. however, i never stuck around for the characters and i could only joke about how pretty byakuya was for so long lol, i think i just enjoyed the game, rather than being attached to the characters. fukawa and syo were funny asf. byakuya was a bitch. ishimaru and owada were also amusing, and naegi was. ok lol just a boy... i liked celeste a lot, but overall i really kind of appreciated the cast for the most part. i was fine with anything.

my playthrough of sdr2 will probably remain unfinished for a while. i liked the cast a little more, although i was less neutral and some parts of the cast were a little more irrelevant to me than the others. i didn't care about souda or ibuki orr mahiru much even if they were cute to the eye. and i really didn't care much for peko and fuyuhiko either, but to be fair they've been soured by some weird fuck a few years back. i don't think they're my thing anyways, so i can't expect i'll ever be convinced.

but i did like mikan (her horny gimmicks tickled me. i'm predictable and i liked her outcome) and i did like saionji and the two's miserable banter. i love a miserable girl and a cruel girl, etc, etc, whatever. twogami was also fun, albeit shortlived. and i very much liked sonia for being a white girl. i dont feel anything for komaeda, not positive or negative. i thought his crazed girl sprites were funny. umm, but i did stop playing around mechamaru's chapter and never found the culprit. i'll probably... ah, get back to the sdr2 playthrough. it's iconic to me through scene danganronpa. Scene hajime. thanks.yeah, may that artist rest in pieces.

ultra despair girls, i looked into it, tried a few playthroughs even to see if i could buy it but unfortunately i don't think it really interests me right now lol, mmaaaybeee my favorite would be monaca or fukawa... not sure, but it's probably not even on the backburner. i think the way i'll only ever play it is an impulse at 3 am if i ever somehow manage to get my hands on it for free. otherwise i don't really think it's too worth it

unfortunately nothing from the other games will probably get to me as some of the characters in v3 did, as i feel like while danganronpa 1, in my original 2013 playthrough, was iconic, fresh, and overall an adventure - it feels like V3 is essentially it's own little game. well, it Issss. i think it's kodaka's biggest troll but i kind of enjoyed the whole thing and never stopped. um, well, i kind of hoped momota would die a slow painful death from the start but other than that i genuinely enjoyed the majority of the cast and got attached to almost everyone's story. i latched hard onto akamatsu, yumeno, shinguuji, and shirogane especially. the localization is the worst thing about the game IN MY OPINION OOPS ddddon't really give a fuck for people who think it was the worst i liked it so much. prologue, chapter 1 chapter 3 and chapter 4 and the ending were my faaaavorite parts. himiko's meltdown was like one of my favorite scenes. i maxed out all of shinguuji's hangout sessions and fell in wuv, etc. himiko, tsumugi and kokichi were all wonderful funny too. i liked all the gimmicks, the extras, literally everything. the ending wasn't so much of an issue but that may be because i wasn't too attached for the original 'danganronpa' with the special character exceptions being junko and mukuro, lol.

I kind of am considering playing kodaka's new project even if i expect it might be a little ridiculous.. i had fun with his prankgame

[wraenata]

Here's a question. How much of pokemon have you played? (Mainline series, side series, etc) :3

Pokemon long rambling activated :3

Seriously long post

So before my mom banned pokemon from our house (probably when I was around 7?) we loved Pokémon. We never had a video game console but my cousins did. So technically pokemon stadium is my first pokemon game! Only ever the rentals haha. But we loved playing the mini games.

When my mom banned pokemon and sold all our plushies (rip butterfree plush, I'll get you back some day) it was a pokemon drought. Until my cousin went to college and gave me her pokemon card collection. (Supposedly the halo mew is worth $100?! But I treasure them) and the brainrot infected me once again.

I started learning everything I could about game mechanics. This was when Gen 5 came out in Japan so you didn't even have the English translations yet! I made lists of what my teams would be in each game, how to divy up the HMs, how to get certain egg moves. All without playing a single game lol.

And then I found playr.org. It had all the retro game boy games. Including Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Unfortunately the saving system wasn't so great and got corrupted a few times (rip shiny ekans) but I did mostly play Silver or Crystal. (This is where the name Wren for my character was born!)

I craved more but I didn't know how to download emulators safely :( I watched playthroughs to get by. To this day let's plays are a comfort source for me <3

By the way I did all of this without my parents ever knowing. I was very good at hiding it from them XD

I think it was finally like freshman year of college when I figured out the pokemon fan games. I'm talking Uranium, Phoenix Rising demo, Ethereal Gates demo, Solar Light Lunar Dark, Sage, aka non emulator ones. Basically any I could get my hands on. I also started drawing fakemon in my sketchbook. I kind of want to revisit those some day. I still have the sketchbook somewhere.

Then I figured out emulators FINALLY. At least enough and got an emulator and mystery dungeon explorers of sky, MY BELOVED! I have played through the rom many times. I have a randomizer. Also a few years ago I found Sky Temple for editing the rom aka different starter pokemon. The discord server is always working on making new sprites so you can be any pokemon you want its very wonderful.

Junior year of college, I said I'd had enough. I spent an entire year hyping over Sun and Moon and my bestie/roomie convinced me to treat myself, something I literally never did. I bought a 3DS and Pokemon Sun and never looked back. I loved it. My first real pokemon game. (My parents were not happy when they found out lol). I spent so many hours. I got big into breeding perfect IV pokemon (idk why cause I never did online battles) or shiny breeding. I used to work til 11 pm some nights and before bed I'd just do some breeding. I would have the pokemon in the perfect ball and have all the egg moves and perfect IVs and nature and have the perfect nick name cause I was obsessive like that oof. I got ultra moon when it came out as well and loved it. I also bought pokemon X and Omega Ruby which I enjoyed. But Sun and Ultra Moon I played many times and bred so many perfect pokemon.

I did pick up roms around this time for Heart Gold, Soul Silver, Black and White and the sequels, and maybe Platinum? But they ran really slow on my computer so I never made it far. I preferred playing on my 3ds. But I still played quite a bit of Sky rom.

I was, less excited about Sword and Shield. I saved up a whole year to buy my switch and bought Lets go Eevee, Botw, and Sword when Gen 8 came out. I did inhale the entire game of Sword in one week, but I don't think I ever finished a second playthrough. The story was really disappointing and I did not like the gen 8 pokemon as much. It's hard when you're not a big fan of any of the starter evolutions, cause pressing B for every level up is tedious :(

I did enjoy Lets Go Eevee but after I loaned it to my bestie I had troubled getting back in. The ball throwing was a little off putting.

Oh I also bought Mystery dungeon Rescue Dx and I enjoyed that quite a bit!

Last summer I was struggling a lot with my emotions and frustration with my mom and as a form of therapy started spending money oof. I wanted a second DS so I could trade back and forth and make my life easier. It took a lot of bidding on Goodwill online but I snagged a second 2ds, legit copy of pmd sky! and pmd gates to infinity. And Pokemon Soul Silver! Also I bought the digital versions of gen 1 and 2 before the eshop closed.

I also bought Shining Pearl cause it went super on sale, but after I lent it to my bestie I haven't played since. I actually dont like too many gen 4 pokemon besides Glaceon, Leafeon, and Chatot.

Playing pokemon mystery dungeon on a 3ds instead of a computer keyboard was so much more satisfying. I played through Sky and loved it of course. Then I picked up Gates to Infinity which I never knew the story. I enjoyed it! I was and Oshawott with partner Snivy.

This brings me to last late summer, and the turtle brainrot set in and grew. Less pokemon, more turtles! I debated back and forth whether to get Scarlet or Violet up til the day it released. And then I just didn't. I watched playthroughs though. Seems pretty good and I like a lot of the pokemon, especially after gen 8 when I struggled to find enough to fill out a team of 6. I only like to use pokemon I like. I'm sure I'll get it someday but for now, turtles have my brain.

And that's my pokemon origin story! Still mad about my mom selling all our pokemon plushies. I do still have my cousins pokemon cards and I treasure them <3

I am very adamant about my pokemon having the perfect nick names.

Umbreon is my favorite pokemon <3

Not surprisingly this got very very long. If you made it this far, have a Leppa Berry <3

[kingdomoftyto]

Welp, I beat AA5, and it only took me--*checks watch*--almost 3 months

I've already kind of said most of what I wanted to say about it, but overall...... yeah, gotta agree with the general consensus I've seen in the fandom: it's the worst game so far.

That's not to say it doesn't have a lot going for it, because I can already hardly imagine a version of the series without Athena in it (or Blackquill for that matter), and as convoluted as their shared backstory was it was also REALLY good. Everything going on with Metis, Aura, the robots, and even Aura's crazy actions in the present day of the game? All excellent. No notes.

And Athena's gimmick, as I've already said, is great despite how silly and contrived it is. The evidence it provides is no more convincing in a courtroom setting than Apollo's callouts of witness' nervous ticks, but at least that shortcoming is acknowledged by several characters out loud, and it furthers the narrative started in AA4 that "decisive evidence" can't always be relied upon to find the real truth. So in that sense I think going the route of analytical psychology was a brilliant play on the writers' parts.

...... that is, it WOULD have been brilliant if they hadn't simultaneously turned around and thrown out basically the entire ending of AA4 itself...? Did they even mention the Jurist System ONCE in this game??? I don't know how they would have implemented it without compromising the gameplay loop, but they could have at least ACKNOWLEDGED it as being implemented offscreen or something.

And I don't think Phoenix's characterization is quite as dire as I've seen a couple of people suggest, but I do wish we saw him a little more calculating and poker-faced after his disbarment. It's not that he's OUT of character in this game, imo, but it could have added a lot to the story if he'd been a little more obviously changed by the prior seven years.

................ and then yeah, there's the parts that are just objectively bad writing lol. Klavier's shoehorned and out-of-character cameo, Apollo's out-of-the-blue, piled-on backstory of the week, Phoenix's (and Miles') relatively mild reaction to Trucy being held fucking hostage....

And. Y'know. The 3D models are just ugly. 😔 I like Athena's and Blackquill's and some of the witnesses but everyone from the 2D era looks awful now. (Except Trucy I guess but her sprites are all like.. exactly 1:1 with her old ones and are only seen from one angle, unlike the lawyers.) It's a shame because I LOVE the artwork for the game--Phoenix's new design freaking RULES, but it wasn't translated well from the concept art into the character model. :( Same for Miles. And the less said about Apollo the better

BUT ANYWAY

TL;DR - The game isn't very good imo, but it's also got so many excellent pieces within it that it's not one you should just skip or anything, either. The other games in this series set such a high bar that even the worst of the bunch is still not actually a bad game. It's worth a few frustrating out-of-character moments and especially-contrived plot threads for all the delicious new stuff underneath.

...*sigh* Guess this means I have to start SoJ next. And I've heard mixed things about that one, too, haha.......

[esper-union-lounge]

Character Design: Favourites

Back with another "Review"! (I am still very bad at it but I am learning, lol) this time I am going to talk about characters and their designs.

We all know character design is one of Dislyte's strongest selling points, and I was also fully enticed by how unique and diverse the designs look. As I played the game, subsequently, I have my favourites among the entire casts, and some not so favourites. (I will also make a review on that.)

This review is going to be base purely on the design aspect of the character and their sprites. Please, do remember these are MY opinions and MY taste.

So please do not, either, take my words as offense, or my word's as gospel.

((Note: None of these characters are in particular order))

Norah (Muse)

To be very honest, I didn't get to do her featured event during her patch. When I first saw Norah, I was convinced I wasn't interested in her design.

Yet, the more I look at her the more I come to realised her design is actually quite well done. I like to think that this is the turning point of Dislyte moving away from the Bi-shouen/Bi-Shoujo type of design; the design that has a Bi-Shoujo/nen and just slapping some ornaments with cool looking clothes.

But, for Norah (and also, Anna), I think her design is really well rounded, and really conveys the vibe and type of Esper Norah is.

Her outfit is gorgeous. The dress has a tasteful amount of bling and frills, I can see it's somewhat inspired by those really fancy looking fishes, yet, I can also see the dress could be somewhat reference to orchestra musicians, how they dress during concerts. Given, the Muses are born as Water Nymphs, and were once deities that was worshipped in the relam of music.

There is a mermaid-quese quality to her design. Her splash art silhouette uses a lot of flowing lines, might be to reinforce the aquatic element of the character.

The colour scheme of Norah, herself, is quite muted and desaturated. I like how the splash help us draw attention to the character with the use of a bright pastel elements of the flower and harp to make a dark and desaturated character to be the focal point.

Overall, a really wonderful splash art, and really in character design for the Muses. I really like Norah, and I might go back to read through her story event.

Ethan (Pan)

Okay, I was one of those people who voted for him.

The reason I voted for him is because: 1. The use of a saturated purple. I can tell you, purple is one of the hardest colour to work with.

2. They went hard on this design. Not even Queen Mother and Chiron went that hard.

Pan, originally a deity with heavy association with fertility in the myths, has became an iconography for what the church would call, Satan, and may other things associated with such.

In Ethan's design, there is a dark vibe to the way he is dressed, kinda like emo, goth, with a bit of witchcraft elements as well. (The symbols, his eyes, and his familiar.) Along with the accordian, it makes him look to be a dark entertainer of some sort.

Honestly, I was really surprise they added Pan. And the design they went with is legit, a Pan. In my opinion. That was kind of a design risk. I have never seen such a good design for a Pan. Usually, the ones in the media are more close to past designs in mosaics and paintings.

I am glad that the dev team didn't went with an ordinary transformation with this character. I love how Ethan looks so whimsical and fun in this form.

Yun Chuan (Yang Jian)

Such a bold splash art, I really like Yun Chuan’s character design. When he was first revealed, he gives me an impression of a villain. Maybe, it’s because of how much dark colours he has in his design, and how rough he looks. With the texture leather sleeves and trousers, the sharpness of his hair, his sharp gaze, and the posing, it exhibits a rough and bold presence of his character. A contrast to the typical imagery of his patron deity, Yang Jian.

I love the use of purples, and the vibrant red of his wolf dog. It makes the splash art intriguing with the contrast of dark colours and bring neon colours. The brilliant use of the bold diagonal line from his spear, rounding the whole composition with Screamer's energy manifestation. It gives a really unique silhouette of "ø", and a great way of using negative space.

Li Ling (Nezha)

Of course, I can't leave out my babygirl one of my favourite character, Li Ling. He is my starter legendary. Li Ling is easily one of the most impressive designs I have ever seen in-game.

His design is just demanding for your attention; just the design concept alone would make an impressive character: bare chested, four floating arms, the weapon and wheels. It radiates so much power.

I am actually was surprised to see the Devs went with the "glow up" version of Nezha, because Nezha's iconography has always been a small child with two buns on his head, and sometimes sharp nails.

Love the pink, how it reflects the lotus flower. The golden accents of his wheels, arm accessories, and spear is a nice touch to the colour scheme.

I think it offers a contrast to the upbeat, neon, hip pop scene of Distlye. I think giving the gold a bit greenish tint is a nice detail to contrast with the pink.

The splash art is great, love how they balance Li Ling's silhouette with the spear to create more negative space. Because if there wasn't a spear to extend the composition, the silhouette would look too bulky, and concentrated.

Intisar (Kauket)

I didn't vote for her. I voted for the Fartum Sisters instead, because during that time, having a three people Esper was something very new, and the lore around it was interesting.

But, Intisar's design really did really got my attention. Her silhouette is just brilliant. For me, I have never seen such a top heavy silhouette. I love how the tail creates a line of flow to lead out eyes to look at Intisar. Love the concept of the Snake Helmet thingy (IDK if there is an actual name for the concept), I think they really showcased it well in her Esper profile video. Again, a very good use of the colour purple in her design; the vibrant saturated purple and the dull gold really balances the contrast with the neon green.

Nicole (Nephyths)

I love her.

I love her design mainly due to the effective use of a green colour scheme. Green is also a mother difficult colour to work with in character design, and with Nicole, it gives me a good example to follow, if I want to implement the use of green into my character designs.

Her silhouette looks great. Her hair is very will renders and done in this spite. It's messily not messy. Get it? It creates a series of lines that brings the line of sight to Nicole's body, kinda like Nora. Her hair also creates a triangluar silhouette at the top half, which gives a lot of attention to her midsection. To counter this, the bright green energy around her legs was use to ease the line of sight from her head to her legs. It also gives a "S" shape of line compotion to the spite.

I like to think that this is one of the strongest sprite designs.

Berenice (Bastet)

Seeing Berenice for the first time in the story quest, I was a little shocked. Despite the fact that she's a cat girl, there is a very unique quality to Berenice, that I think, makes her not your standard cat girl.

Her skin colour is the most obvious feature, and I was surprised to see such a bold artistic decision to give her a purplish grey colour. I like to think there is an element of shock factor in it.

It really helps to set the fact that Berenice is an Esper, and to make her stand out from the group of NPC Espers. Because, let's be honest, if Berenice didn't have purple skin, we might have a hard time thinking she's not a NPC. Compare to other Espers, her outfit isn't as unique nor does it stand out like the other. But the colour choices and artist direction really enhanced her look.

Fu Shi

Okay... He isn't my favourite character. But, I can not deny his design is really good. All I can say, he design is: Unique, unique, and unique.

I think his appearence really gives off mythical beast. The contrast of his face and the rest of his body, sets him off from the typical furry look, I think it gives him a interesting back story of how can his transformation be "incomplete" compare to the likes of Sander and Freddie.

The whimsical element of his design, like the swirls reinforces he took after a mythical beast rather than an animal. It could also serves as intergrading cultural aesthetics as well.

The balance of the turquoise matches well with the sharp, yet slightly destaturate orange. Normally, the opposition colour schemes can be too over used and cliche , but here, I think it looks great.

Over all, these are a few of the character designs that I like in Dislyte. I do think there will be more characters making their way into this list, but for now, this will suffice.

-Esper Union Lounge

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: June 6th, 2021

I’m back with more ask responses! You can also check our Frequently Asked Question sheet if there’s something you’re wondering that’s not answered here.

FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

Thank you for the patience with these questions  ♡

Hey in very beginning of step 3 in the scene where Mr.Holden had a thought dancing on the tip of his tongue but he kept it to himself after MC and Cove were being cute (idk if it makes a difference but this is when they're dating)... Can we know what he was thinking/ wanted to say? It's been bugging me lol 

He would’ve gone into a “look how much you’ve grown”, “your dad is so proud of you”, “I’m so glad things worked out with the MC”, and etc spiel, haha. But he resisted the urge to fawn on his baby boy, at least for that scene.

If we planned to move away for college/future plans in step 3, is it implied that MC and Cove would have a long distance relationship for sure? Could MC have convinced Cove to come with them? How is the dynamic of their relationship going to be addressed in Step 4, if that makes sense? 

Cove is willing to follow the MC where they went after everything is settled for them there, and if they’re sure they want him to come! You’ll get to decide how things shook out during those transitional years just by making choices about it during the opening prologue of Step 4.

Hi! First off, how does it feel to have created one of the best games when it comes to inclusion for lbtq+ peeps? I've never felt as validated with my identity and sexuality when playing a game and I'm seemingly not alone ♥ Second, and this might be a little too specific, but what kinds of drinks does Cove like as well as dislike? Thank you, you're the best ♥

Thank you for very much! It’s really nice to hear the game felt inclusive. Cove likes regular water and fruit juices/smoothies most! He dislikes coffee and cola, and he’s not super into most teas either.

Hi, may i ask what gb patch stands for? Specifically the gb part lol

It stands for my old, silly username I used in places like Neopets as a kid, aha. The company name wasn’t super thought out since it was originally just me making VNs as a hobby. Luckily, “GB Patch” kind of seems like it could mean something reasonable, so I didn’t have to rebrand when it did become a more serious, commercial group.

If we chose to not propose to cove in the step 3 dlc would he propose or would the mc propose in step 4 or the wedding dlc? 

Yeah, you or Cove can propose in Step 4 if you’re not already engaged! The Wedding DLC takes place after the engagement so the proposal scenes aren’t there.

will you guys announce if the early access for the new game is out on patreon ? 

When beta builds of Step 4 or whatever start coming out on the Patreon we will mention it here on social media too.

Heyy I just had a quick question about Baxter if that’s okay :)?

I saw in an ask+answer that it’s possible to casually date Baxter In step 3, but what leads up to that? I have the step 3 dlc and I’ve tried playing them In a different orders and ways but it doesn’t seem to get anywhere ^^;

The Step 3 DLC is Cove-based because he’s the default guy. There’s a separate Baxter romance DLC that’s not out yet. That’s where you can get him to date you. I’m sorry for the confusion!

Will we ever get any LI's or side characters with physical disabilities or deformities? I think your games would be a great place to have them in since they're always so accepting and safe! 

Yeah, we do hope to have representation for that in future projects ^^. Thank you for the confidence in us.

Is it possible to get Cove to take the bed and MC to sleep on the floor? 

Not in Step 3, I’m afraid.

So, I have played the prologue of Our Life countless times and I haven't gotten the [Your Life] achievement, why is that? 

Steam sometimes isn’t connected properly when an achievement unlocks and so it remains locked on your account. If that happens, unfortunately getting the scene again won’t unlock it. The achievement becomes inaccessible because the game thinks you already have it. Playing with the same Steam account on a different device or fully deleting your game data (more than the only the save files) are the only work arounds we’ve found.

Since when you talk with Jeremy in step 3 it's mentioned he goes on dates with someone (which assume is JB because who else would take this boy on dates) that makes him happy, does that sort of make JB and Jeremy the canon relationship in the first game?

The default for XOXO Droplets is that JB casually goes on dates with each of the jerks! Shiloh would’ve been harsher if Jeremy was the only guy getting her attention, haha. But the player can change that default by dating just one person the whole game for their own story and who she ends up with for real has no default.

Hi, hello! Huge OL fan, thank you so much for the wholesome content, it was very much needed during these times. Managed to get several people to join team Cove, so that's very exciting, I always have people to fawn over him with. I have a little question and I'm sorry if it was asked before, but does it ever come up in the game what Cove has told his mom about us? (who knows, with so many options, one can miss it) Or, alternatively, will it come up in the Step 4 DLC? 

Thank you very much for sharing the game with people <3. It’s really great to hear people are liking it. Right now that doesn’t come up in game. Kyra is willing to keep her mouth shut and Cove isn’t gonna have that conversation either. At least not when he’s younger, but yes, perhaps when he’s a fully grown big boy in Step 4 you can ask him about it.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since it has been confirmed that there would be two love interests for OL2, would there be the possibility of forming a polyamorous relationship with both love interests? I’m sorry if you answered this previously, I’m just curious. 

We are considering it, but it’s not a guarantee yet. It’d be really great to have but it’d add so many extra alterations that’d need to made, aha.

Hello! You mentioned how Cove would be uncomfortable with kids at 23, but how old would he be when he’s comfortable with having/adopting kids? (Same goes for the other LI’s.) btw, love your game!! 

He’d want to be at least 25, but even older would be good. Derek would want to have kids when he and his partner could reasonably support them, the age itself wouldn’t matter. If they were doing good at 22 and wanted kids, he’d be up for it. Or they could wait until their 30s or whatever. Baxter is also more of a “when it feels right” guy rather than having a specific age requirement. Cove is just especially wary of being a young parent because of his own parents. I’m happy you like the game!

does step 4 immediately play after you press "end summer" in step 3? or is there another button/transition (like the story text thingy) before the epilogue begins? what happens after the epilogue? roll credits? 😂 

Step 4 will have transition section always and there will be an extra button, if you own the Derek or Baxter DLC. By default the Cove-based version of Step 4 just plays once Step 3 is over. However, having the other guys’ storylines will mean you get to pick which version of Step 4 plays; Cove Step 4 (the basic one), Derek Step 4, or Baxter Step 4.

Happy pride, thank you for all you do for us🥰

I have a quick question though, I recently got a MacBook after my old windows computer broke, and now steam says I cannot download it, but it has no issues with other games, what can I do to download it?? I’m sorry if my English is bad

Happy pride month! Unfortunately, Our Life isn’t available for Mac on Steam right now. To be an approval application Apple requires having special notarization and we as a small group haven’t gotten that. Itch doesn’t care and lets us release the game for Mac there anyway, Steam does care so we’re locked out of putting the Mac build up on their storefront. Feel free to email us and we can try to help the situation out further!

support@gbpatchgames.com

Hello! I was jus wondering if the Baxter and Derek DLCs are still happening? I haven’t heard anything about them on here or patreon in a while so I just wanted to make sure ^^

They’re still coming and we just released a new sprite sketch on the Patreon for the Derek DLC c:. But right now Step 4 is still much more of a priority. Once that’s closer to being done we’ll focus way more on sharing previews for the other guys.

is it possible to tell cove you love him (platonically) at step 3 fondness/selecting him as basically family? i just love the mc and liz sibling interactions and it got me wondering about it (especially if you've selected that option)

You and Cove can be as close as family, but there’s not a specific scene in Step 3 where you say “I love you” in a family context. But there’s always Step 4~

do you intend on ever adding a collectors mode to Our Life? Like a way to collect achievements and CGs for the gallery without it effecting any save files? 

We weren’t considering it before. But if a lot of players would find that helpful, we could start thinking on that!

Sorry if it's a silly question haha, but (in crush/love) is Cove really aware of how cute and cuddly he seems to MC? If so, what does he think or do about it? Or does he just ignore it? 

He isn’t particular aware. Cove never truly stops being surprised that the MC is interested in/attracted to him, haha.

Would you say that the alone ending of xoxo droplets is worth playing again to get? 

Nope, haha. The goal is to make friends/get a boyfriend and so the alone ending is kind of the bad ending for the game. Though there is a consolation prize if you get it by accident.

Is there any possible situation which would ever prompt Pran to bake for his girlfriend? Like I know it's unlikely I mean even if JB broke her leg somehow I'm pretty sure he'd still be like "I considered baking you a cake and doing the frosting the way I think looks interesting but you don't deserve a cake, no one does." right but also ahhh it would be super nice if some day he just surprised her with baked goods one day out of nowhere. JB would be so shocked it would be cute. So is there any possible situation where that could/would be a thing that he would do? 

He might bake out of spite, like if he felt he had to prove her wrong on something. Or if JB used some good reverse psychology on him. Or he might do it in a relatively nice way if he could make his GF so shocked by the kind gesture that his amusement with that overrode his insistence on not being sweet. Pran is very difficult in high school, aha.

Is the "one route (where) it can be seen that Everett will drop his seemingly eternal waging with Jeremy pretty easily and can start getting along without thinking much on it" the Lucas route? I'm curious! 

Yep! Everett will side with Jeremy if it’s between him and Lucas.

Hi I hope you guys are having a great day :) I just had to ask how Cliff would feel about Cove's partner/fiancé Mc calling them dad whether it be accidental or otherwise and secondly I also wanted to ask how he would feel about being asked to be the one to give the mc away at their wedding. 

He would be very touched and excited! I hope you have a good day too :D

Hello! I saw an ask relating to whether Cliff "moves on" after Cove's grown up and stuff (and he stays single), but what about Kyra? Will she be with anyone else or will she stay single? 

She does start dating again, but she takes it slow.

Hi! I absolutely love the art for characters in OL and I wonder is this fine to draw my MC in same drawing style and upload online later? Is this something artists would be okay with? Thank you! 

Yeah, you can certainly do that C:

Hey there!

I wonder if I'm just being stupid here.. Is Step 4 a DLC? And if so, where can I find it? I can't seem to find it on Steam :< Thank you!

Step 4 is a free epilogue! It’s not done yet, but once it is finished you’ll just update your game file and Step 4 will be there after Step 3 ends.

hi! are step 4 and the wedding dlc two different things?

They are. Step 4 is a free epilogue that’ll be a default part of the game once it’s done, the wedding DLC is an optional paid expansion that takes place after Step 4.

Why did Baxter not receive a step 2 sprite seeing how he shows up later

Sprites are time consuming to draw and take money out of the budget that could’ve gone to other things. His tiny appearance in Step 2 wasn’t worth all the effort to make a sprite, aha.

I just realized, what happens if if you get the patreon exclusive moment but at a later date, when you don't have the membership anymore, it's updated (like a bugs fix update for example)? Would you have to get the membership again? 

You would have to get the membership again to redownload the build. But there’s very little chance there’s going to be an update once it’s been out for over a month. If a build gets released with errors, players catch/report them within the first few days. So by the time the first subscription period ends, any problems that were noticeable would already have been fixed. And we’re certainly not gonna be adding new content to it once it’s been released for a long time. There’s no need to worry about missing out on something worthwhile in the future if you cancel your membership. It’s being made with the idea in mind that many players are gonna be getting it and then going.

Hello! Wanted to ask about gaming choice in step 3? Once upon a playthorugh I got the option to buy Cove a bracelet for his graduation present. I played the same basic character again and that option wasn't there anymore. I'm not sure where I went wrong. My Cove wears a bracelet on each hand and my MC is into fashion and jewelry. Do I need to put an earring on him or? Sorry, love your game so much. 

He also needs to have liked bracelets in Step 2 for that to be considered a good gift option for him. Sorry for the confusion! I’m happy you love the game :)

Is Step 4 being released at the same time as the Wedding DLC or will the first come before the latter? Thank you! 

I’m not sure. Ideally they’ll come out at the same time, but the wedding DLC has a lot of art to get done and we may have to release it after Step 4.

Can mc still get confession from Cove at the end of step 3 even if mc casually dates Baxter in step 3? Such as in crush mode? 

I don’t think so. Maybe that’ll change, but generally there’s differences to the Step 3 ending if you were dating Baxter and those differences likely will conflict with getting the Cove confession.

For the patreon moments/dlcs, will it be available for all tiers? 

It’ll be available for tier 2 (Fans) and up!

[areiml]

Proof that the mysterious guy in NEO:TWEWY is Beat

Design-wise, look at the chains and red as the secondary color, very Beat's things. Especially that shoes.

And guess what, when I checked his color palette in the official artwork, eyes-hair-skin color is very similar to Beat. FYI, Neku's skin is very light, as much as Shiki and Josh's skin even a little darker than that, while Beat's darkest in the team.

Design-wise again, we never got to see Beat's upper part of the face (people tend to assume he's bald because of that lol, maybe he has really long band and no one knows). While with this guy, we never see the below part of his faces (especially the shape of his nose), interesting huh?

Also, people are debate that this guy is too skinny -  absolutely more Neku than Beat, obviously. But if you consider the fact that Beat could get extremely sad after failed to save Neku in Final Remix and losing weight because of the act.

After all that was the second time, he's unable to save someone dear to him, pretty sure he was traumatized a lot from the last time with Rhyme's case. (Third time if you count the one he lost his life as well)

Final piece of info, the one who assumes he is Neku in the trailer is the others, the mysterious guy never shows anything that truly represents Neku or said a word (in Neku's voice), which is Square's normal way of twist in the trailer. That's how it feels like he is not Neku. UPDATE: Some people mentioned that his wrist and hand are clearly thinner/smaller and this is more about the bone thing and shouldn’t change much because of weight lost. I agree about this too, that’s why this theory is only convincing up to 80%. Still, Nomura's style is not absolutely consistent so there are times you can find he draws Beat's wrist not as thick as the in-game sprites.

Anyway, if I had to guess who is this mysterious man, here are the choices:

Beat

Rhyme (well, if her lost dream was to be a boy and decided to become a trans guy, just jk)

Tehno (we never saw his face, lol)

Neku's best friend (the one who died before him)

That's all, thank you for coming to my TED Talk lol P/S: I also post this thread on Twitter so if you want to share this there, feel free to check my Twitter account and retweet the original one. P/S 2: If the mysterious guy really is Beat, every of you should give me 5 cents.

[muggycuphead]

weird flex but ok i guess pt.23

22

War… Hold up, do we really need a warning for this one? Dunno, but however, watch out for slightly disturbing and kinda…disgusting imagery, trypophobic patterns, as well as ‘necrotic’ (and dark themed) designs I made while having funky fever bc o h m y g o d do I get a little crazier every new quarantine day (and at this point it’s coming to be an usual thing for me, big sad). However, most are made no other than for the sole sake of satire, so y’know, no need to get your underwear in a twist

Friday Night Funkin’ BoyFriend’s Hood – AU fanconcept sketches [XX]

EDIT 16/11/2023: Updated the drawing with a rescanned, more clean version

1.- Miss Luzbell

Daddy Dearest’s ex-wife in BF’sH, as well as Stephano and Bruce’s biological mother

If y’all couldn’t tell my burning passion for making strange, very detailed character designs, this shall b enough to convince you about it

She’s supposed to be a goth gospel singer by the way…and she’s a gargoyle

Her design, however, was real fun to make, especially her moon scythe (just noticed afterwards that I snuck a low-key Zardy reference, woo)

2.- Bruce

Stephano’s brother, and GF’s half-brother

And when I say ‘obscure’, I’m not saying he’s the edgiest of all characters (after his mom of course), but that he’s the least lore-wise appearing character; technically I just did his design out of spite lol

However, unlike his mild brother, he has no ill feelings against GF; heck, he himself knows their mother was the one that peaced out with no care and just left them at their luck with their dad…he still messes around with GF every so and then though.

3.- Shape!BoyFriend/Major B (BlueFriend) and Shape!Lil B/Minor B (Light BlueFriend)

Funny rhythm game mashup go bzzz

Beyond this point all I did was filler stuff…just for fun c:

Used the symbol on BF’s jacket for this one, both for the big and the small boi

Light BluF do be looking cute tho

4.- Shape!Stephano (Octephano)

Close to me but the Godfather walked in

Way to say Stephano’s design was indirectly/slightly inspired in my AU fandesign of Cube, don’tcha think-

5.- Shape!GirlFriend/High G (PinkFriend) and Shape!Miss G/Low G (Light PinkFriend)

Demon hoe and demon child

Before you ask, I went with my fancanon for this one (pink shapes can be with paradise shapes as long as they’re ‘purified’ with any light-source magic –aka triangles), hence why she’s wearing a triangle –BluF also has one by the way, basically it’s his mic

6.- Shape!Pico (HexaPico)

go pico ye ye

Idk what colour he’d be exactly, maybe a mix between orange and green (orange being the predominant color since y’know)

Also his hands can shapeshift into guns as long as he has the weapons’ config stored in his database (in this case, his right arm being the assault rifle, and the left one being his uzi)

7.- Nostalgic BoyFriend

Sad boi

Basically happening after the GF-got-stolen event

8.- Simplified Style! Stephano

This is a FNF ‘artstyle’ concept I though of not too long that’s basically like combining but bad with Minus and taking away all color paletes, having the lineart to be the only colorful part of the sprite (mostly being the color of the icon the character has)

Also, finally got to draw his revolver thing, even if it was low-key

9.- Heart thing…?

Was meant to be Stephano’s signature symbol or something, but I don’t know at this point

10.- Simplified Style! BoyFriend

Back at it again with the simplifications

And yeah in my interpretation, simplify!BF has a transparent cap, don’t ask

11.- Blood Moon

Random sketch

Looks like a fusion between Whore of Babylon and Spirit of the Night (TBOI) but that might be just me

12.- Shape!Arzeus (TriArzeus)

Inverted triangle bad

I can’t help but think that, in order to possess Broddy, he would have had to do it blixer style (headstab)

24

[despairing-disaster]

ask game for veronika? :] and/or arturo HEH

YES!!! Gonna do em both so dw

Veronika

Favorite thing about them

Veronika does the same thing I have a habit of doing and that's just completely infodumping everything she knows about her interests, regardless of how socially inappropriate it may be, the second she is given an opportunity to. Honestly, she's just really relatable in that regard and considering this is something I'm extremely self-conscious about, it's really comforting to see characters who are kinda like me in that regard.

Least favorite thing about them

Honestly, I got nothing so far. She's one of my faves, what else can I say.

Favorite line

"Watching someone lose their sanity as they desperately claw towards an ever-dwindling hope for survival... It's so much better than any story I could've ever read."

I think it is a quote that's pretty telling, but also made so much better by the voice acting in that moment

brOTP

This might be a weird thing to say, but I actually think her and Ace could make a good duo. He's obviously scared shitless of... most things, but I could see Veronika trying to ease him out of his comfort zone and him getting a little less jumpy over time because of that

OTP

I get the impression you already know the answer to this, lol.

Man, idk what it was, but I feel like I and every other verturo shipper collectively saw her interaction with Arturo in episode 4 and was like "omg... what if they went on movie dates together" and ran with it. I do really feel like they have a nice dynamic though, what with her being so unrelenting in her high energy and Arturo having big tsundere potential.

nOTP

I feel like I've been saying this a lot, but I don't really have any.

Random headcanon

People joke about celebrating holidays too soon, but Veronika literally never puts away her Halloween decorations. You can go to her house in January and there will be giant fuzzy spider animatronics in her front yard wearing scarves and mittens (on all 8 legs, might I add). HOA doesn't find this nearly as entertaining as she does.

Unpopular opinion

I'm pretty sure I got an ask about this previously and I explained it before, but you can't convince me that she's going to kill someone. Or that she's the mastermind. Maybe if she lives past chapter 3, then we can start talking mastermind theories, but outside of that, I seriously don't think she's gonna kill anybody.

Song I associate with them

Living Dead Girl- Rob Zombie

It's literally just a fun Halloween song that kinda gives off Veronika vibes (although I probably could've chosen almost any Rob Zombie song for that)

Favorite picture of them

I honestly just think her expression in this sprite is really cute

Arturo

Favorite thing about them

Arturo is incredibly entertaining just because his ideals are so out-there to me. He was kind of hard to like at first, but honestly, he’s the kind of person I look at and think “I want to study you.”

Least favorite thing about them

His world view honestly makes him difficult to like and impossible to write. Have you tried writing fanfic from his POV? I did and I got about two paragraphs in before I realized what I was working with.

Favorite line

(in response to MonoTV) “On the contrary, I believe that there is a lot wrong with you”

Idk. Arturo really didn’t have a lot of lines that particularly stood out to me other than one particular rant about beautiful people that I’m too lazy to write out.

brOTP

Maybe this is a weird one, but after thinking about it a bit, I could kinda see him being friends with Whit. It’d certainly be amusing to see Whit pestering him, at the very least.

OTP

See response for Veronika.

nOTP

To contrast with Veronika, outside of her, I can’t really see myself shipping him with anyone, so I suppose most Arturo ships would fall into this category for me.

Random headcanon

Outside of work, the way he normally dresses is very extra. He’s not necessarily an expert in haute couture, but his wardrobe is probably worth more than my liver on the black market.

Unpopular opinion

I’d let him do my top surgery. There’s no way he’d do it, but I’d let him.

Song I associate with them

Around the Fur- Deftones

A bit of an odd choice in a way, but I guess the best thing to say is that this song is sort of the inverse of Arturo, being a critique of beauty standards and celebrity culture. I’m still counting it as an association, though.

Favorite picture of them

This is literally my discord pfp right now.

[taehyungsgrowl]

Duncan x Sugar Babies Angst Pt 2

Can we just appreciate this gif for a moment? I forgot how much I love Duncan Shepherd. 

Thank you all for hanging in there for a year for part 2 lmfao! I hope you enjoy it!

Italics to signify time jump! I hope it makes sense lol

love you!

also...... the fact that this..... is finally out a YEAR after part 1.... what am i?? a hollywood script writer? ugh i hate myself. 

also.. this is really just one version of how the met! i know we’ve talked about different scenarios of how they came together but i liked this one for the storyline :’)

tw: duncan kink shames piss kink (as he should) jjnkdvjskv, a smutty mention, but genrerally pg-13, a lot of fluff. 

word count: somewhere over 4,000 words i think

Duncan huffed as he walked down the narrow aisle of the plane. How the airline mixed his first-class seat for an economy one was beyond him. But after a stressful conference and being away from his home for so long, he didn’t have the energy to fight them. All he wanted was for this flight to be over. 

He glanced at his boarding pass and back up to the numbers above the seats. 18 B. A middle seat. As if this could get any worse, he thought to himself. 

Duncan’s sharp blue eyes found where he would be seating; he held in a sigh as he noticed his seat mates were already in their designated seats. 

Y/N peeked up at the man who stuffed his carry on in the overhead compartment. She tried not to stare as his shirt rode up his tummy exposing a bit of skin. She looked over at her best friend, Jim who was watching out the window with his headphones in. 

“Excuse me,” the older man offered her an almost shy smile as he asked her to stand so he could take his damned middle seat. 

“Oh! Sorry!” Y/N stood from her seat allowing Duncan to squeeze in between her and Jim. 

After Duncan was seated, Y/N reached over his lap to tap Jim on the shoulder, “Sorry, sir,” she told Duncan - he lifted his hands and nodded, “You’re good.” he flashed her a quick smile. 

“What time do we land again?” she asked when Jim removed his headphones. Duncan glanced between the two; curiosity took over him as he wondered whether they were a couple. They were both very attractive, roughly around the same age, and had arrived together.

“10:00 p.m” Jim shook his head at his best friend. He loved her to death - truly. No one else could convince him to fly across the country with so much uncertainty. 

“I’m sorry,” Duncan interrupted, “If you two are.. Together, I can switch seats with one of you.”

“Oh no! We don’t mind, sir! Thank you.” she glanced at him once again. 

Duncan tried to get comfortable before the plane took off - he had a long day and an even longer flight ahead of him. 

The flight attendant started to make her way down the aisle 

“What would you like to drink,” she set down napkins on each of their trays. 

“I’ll take a Sprite,” Jim answered, giving her a sweet smile. “Me too,” Y/N echoed. 

While she worked on getting their sodas, she turned her attention to Duncan, who was taking out his AirPods, “Anything for you, sir?” 

“Scotch; neat.” he nodded, putting his earpiece back in. 

Thinking back to that flight, it’s hard for Duncan to recall how one thing lead to the next. 

Y/N, always the extrovert in Jim and Her’s duo, asked Duncan what brought him to Washington D.C. 

He told her he worked for a company there, being careful not to divulge too much personal information (like the fact that he was the heir of the company in question). 

“And you two?” Duncan glanced at Jim. Duncan wasn’t used to small talk on planes - but he had a few drinks on an empty stomach making him looser than he’d normally be. 

“Uh..” Jim hesitated, giving Y/N a panicked look. 

“Work!” she answered, 

Duncan gave her a puzzling look, but decided to not press it. 

What Duncan had expected to be a long flight, literally, flew by, with conversation with Jim and Y/N. 

They were careful not to give each other any information that felt too personal, but it was easy to just listen to his interests. 

Before they knew it, the flight was over and they parted ways. 

Duncan lingered with them as they gathered their bags. It’d been so long since he had real conversations with people who weren’t just interested in his power or company. 

Duncan watched out the window of the car that his chauffeur picked him up in as Jim and Y/N stood by the curb, fumbling with their phones for an Uber. 

‘I should have offered them a ride’, he thinks as the shrink off into the distance. 

--

Not a week had gone by since Duncan arrived back home when he already had another event lined up for the weekend. Perks of being the face of the Shepherd Foundation often times felt more like chores. 

At least the Gala was just out of a D.C and he didn’t need to worry about an airline messing up his seat again. 

He smiled and waved at the flashing cameras. 

As the night started Duncan made his way through familiar faces and strangers. A glass of champagne secured in his hand as he made rounds.

As elegant as these events were, they were often a bore - especially when he came alone. He found himself seated alone at the bar waiting for his eyes to land on someone he found vaguely interesting enough to chat up. 

His eyes scanned the room until they fell on a pair that seemed to be new comers. The woman wore a silk red gown with a low back, tracing over her figure. When Duncan turned his attention over to the man that stood by her, he realized he recognized them. 

Jim fumbled with the cuffs of his shirt, trying to keep himself together before his “date” got back to him. 

Duncan recognized them from his flight back a few days ago. Truly, D.C was smaller than he realized. He picked up his drink from the bar and strolled over to them, easy grin on his face. 

“Hey, 18 A and 18 C, right?” he glanced them up and down a bit. He almost could have gone the whole night without realizing who they were - they cleaned up so well from the old t-shirts and sweats they were wearing on the flight to the designer clothes they wore now. 

Jim felt his face go hot. Both he and Y/N had gushed over the handsome man they sat next to after that flight. 

“Hope our first clients are as hot as that guy...”

“HA!” Y/N let out a humorless laugh, “If only...”

Y/N kept her cool demeanor, offering Duncan a sly smirk.  “Hi stranger,” 

“Duncan.” his lips. tugged up into a smile, “Duncan Shepherd.” 

Y/N and Jim had assumed right to think Duncan was just the kind of guy they sought after as a client. The way he carried himself screamed wealth and power. 

“And you two are...” he raised a brow, waiting for their names. He hadn’t seen them at any other gala or even so he knew they were new comers. Maybe heirs to some fortune 500 company. His eyes wandered around the room wondering who their parents were. Duncan had the reputation of getting “inside information” on some of his competitors by pulling his charms on their trust fund babies. 

“Working,” 

Duncan chuckled, raising his champagne flute, “Work hard, play hard, right?” his gaze flickered between her eyes and her lips. 

“Duncan,” his attention was called by a big name politician that had appeared at Y/N’s side. “It’s been too long,” he extended his hand out for a shake. “Tell me, how is the development of your app coming? We really could use someone like you before reelection,” he laughed. 

Duncan didn’t fail to notice his hand on Y/N’s waist (or the tight lipped smile she had as soon as the man appeared). 

“You’ll be the first to know when it’s ready,” Duncan answered, tearing his eyes away from his hand. 

“James,” another man approached them. Duncan had seen him before at other events. The man looped his arm in Jim’s before handing him a drink. He leaned in and whispered something in Jim’s ear, making him blush. 

Duncan lingered between them, easily making conversation until both men made their rounds for more drinks, leaving him with Y/N and Jim again. 

If he knew anything, he knew the game the powerful in D.C played. And he knew well enough to know what kind of work Jim and Y/N were doing. 

“Working,” he gave them a knowing smile. He raised his flute to them before taking a long sip, drowning back his champagne. 

He watched the color flood to Jim’s cheeks again and it only made him chuckle. It wasn’t past Duncan to hire an escort. Dating as an up and coming business mogul doesn’t always allow him the time for dating or anything other than business. Sometimes, he just needed to secure his own private deals. Much less of a hassle than having to deal with the entanglements of relationships.

Duncan wasn’t a callous man. He planned on settling down at some point. He was an older bachelor. Well seasoned - he didn’t mean to sound cocky but it wasn’t that he didn't have the opportunity. He didn’t want that - not yet at least. 

“Walk with me,” he nodded his head towards the hallway. 

Y/N looked over at Jim, both exchanging in a silent conversation before following alongside Duncan. They turned the corner into a quiet hallway away from the gala. 

“You both clean up nice,” he smirked, “Although, I personally loved your airport wardrobe,” he winked. 

Y/N mirrored his smirk, reaching forward to adjust his pristine tie, “Are you wanting to talk business Mr. Shepherd? If not... our clients are waiting.”

Duncan chuckled. “I’d like to propose something more... exclusive.” He searched their eyes, smile tugging on his lips. He remembered enough about his flight with them to know he liked them. And now, seeing them look so... sexy. “Let me take care of you.” 

Jim shifted back and forth on his feet. He was sure the offered only stood for Y/N. He looked down at the floor, chewing on his bottom lip. 

“Both of you,” Duncan met Jim’s eyes. 

“You two made for great... companions on the plane. If you’re willing to,” he coughed awkwardly into his fist for a pause, “extend your uh... companionship -- I can be very generous.”

“Like a sugar daddy!?” Jim finally spoke up, his voice dripping in a mixture of surprise and interest. 

Duncan shrugged easily, his thumb running over his bottom lip. “That’s one way to put it,” he bit his lip. He reached into his card holder and handed them a beautifully embossed business card. 

“Give me a call if you need to think about it. Unless you’d rather go up to my room to... discuss it further,” he chuckled. 

Y/N and Jim remember ditching their dates to follow Duncan to his suite. Hushed whispers between them as they got the courage to take up Duncan’s offer. 

None of them knew the love that was about to blossom for them that night. They sat out on the balcony of his suite, letting the cool breeze hit their skin. Always the gentleman, Duncan didn’t initiate any advances that night. He bought them room services and gave them a safe space away from the former clients. 

They curled up in the California king bed just talking like they had on their flight. 

“Uh so... what exactly do you like,” Y/N asked. She fidgeted with the gems on her dress. It was beautiful - beyond what she could ever afford, but it was starting to become uncomfortable.

“Cashmere and fine wine,” Duncan laughed, making Y/N roll her eyes. He caught her struggle with getting comfortable. He got off the bed and found his small suitcase they’d brought up for him, digging for his pajamas. He placed a few comfy items on the bed, “If you two.. wanna get more comfortable,” he smiled sheepishly. 

Y/N sat up on her knees sorting through the clothes and tossing a tshirt at Jim. “Seriously like... we have to know what you... enjoy, daddy..” she pouted, playfully testing the waters. 

It was his turn to roll his eyes, but there was no hiding the fact that he did like the sound of that. “I don’t have a piss kink or anything like that,” he scrunched his nose, “But,” he got closer, tilting her chin up, “I’d like to hear you that again for me some time.” 

--

Y/N and Jim floated back down from cloud 9 a few days later when they were back in their not to luxurious apartment. 

After that first night, they spent the next two days at Duncan’s penthouse slowly going over what the arrangement would entail (although, if they were being honest most of the time was spent between Duncan’s bed and sharing sharing pastries with Duncan on his balcony). 

Duncan pulled up up to their run down complex. He’d been having so much fun during the past few days, he didn’t want it to come to an end yet. 

Duncan didn’t say what he wanted to say, but he felt a strong distaste for where they were living. 

They’d just moved to the city and started working when they met Duncan - they were still hoping to make enough money to find a nice place. This was just a temporary stay. 

It wasn’t long before Duncan gave them an extra key to his place...

“I figured if where you’re staying is just temporary... you’d rather stay here..”

Duncan knew he could easily get them their own loft or apartment, but he was enjoying them being there more than he realized he would. 

He knew starting this arrangement would be fun. He knew he liked them. He just hadn’t realized how lonely he’d been before. 

He looked up at the ceiling as Y/N and Jim slept on either side of him... reminding himself that for them... it was just a job. A way to get their things paid for. But then again... it was he wanted, right?

Another realization that came far later for Duncan Shepherd was that to Jim and Y/N... it had also become much more than a job. 

--

For Jim, he remembers the moment he knew he was falling for not only Duncan, but his friend of many years, was on one of the first trips Duncan ever took them too. Jim had always wanted to be near the ocean. He had such bittersweet memories connected to it. But for him now, the sweetest one comes from laughing in the sand after convincing Duncan to try and surf. Y/N was rubbing sunscreen on their backs soon turning into a pile of kisses on to one another with the sunsetting softly over the horizon. 

From the beginning, it never felt “mechanical” or “strictly business” with Duncan. Not like their first few clients. It’d always been easy with Duncan. Maybe it was the initial crush Jim had developed on the plane that made the difference. Either way he knew he loved Duncan. 

--

Y/N would be lying if she said she didn’t have feelings for Jim before the whole affair started. She often brushed it off as just a friend crush -- but after being with him and Duncan things began to develop quickly. She loved them both so much in their own way. They each filled different parts of her heart to make her feel whole. 

The moment she knew -- the moment she took them to uncharted territory by being the first to say “I love you,” was after she’d spent the day in bed crying. Feeling so vulnerable after a hard day. She felt herself isolating herself from Jim... from Duncan. 

She remembers them silently coming into the room to hold her. Duncan let her cry on his chest while Jim played with her hair. In that moment of safety, she whispered, “I love you,” and there was no question as to who it was directed to -- because they knew she loved them both. 

--

“You want to what?” Duncan spoke, his composure faltering. “I don’t - I’m sorry.” he felt loss for words. He hadn’t noticed that his hands started to shake until Jim reached forward to take his hand in his own. 

“Shh,” Jim cooed. Duncan wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t used to being the one who needed to be babied. He wasn’t the one who needed his hand held, for Christ’s sake. 

“Hear us out.” Jim led Duncan down on the chair. 

“Duncan.” Y/N’s voice was clear and steady. “We don’t want to be your sugar babies anymore. We don’t want this to be…” she searched for her words, “an exchange.” 

Jim rubbed her back reassuringly. “You mean so much more to us than the nice things you buy us. We want you, Duncan. We want to end the arrangement because we want to be with you. Like, as a real relationship.” she peeked up at him from her lashes, “If you’ll have us,” she nodded her up towards Jim, who was all but vibrating next to her. 

Duncan blinked back tears. The knot in his throat made it hard for him to say anything. All he could do was nod - nod and let the tears fall freely from his eyes. 

Y/N reached up to his face, wiping it clean. “Is that a yes?” her lips tugged into a smile.

Duncan cleared his throat and took both of their hands in his, “Of course. Yes. A million times yes.” 

The way they made him feel so loved - after years of feeling like he wasn’t capable of it, and here he was -- madly in love with two beautiful souls. They wanted - they loved him for him!! He knew it in his heart before that morning but hearing it sent his heart into overdrive. 

--

He called into the office that morning to be able to spend the day with the people he loved the most. The idiots back at the Shepherd Foundation could figure it out on their own. 

After that restless night, they all needed all the R & R they could get. 

After a few mimosas and waffles, Y/N and Jim dragged Duncan out to their hot tub on their back patio. Duncan had that hot tub long before he met Jim and Y/N, but didn’t start to truly enjoy it until they moved in with him. 

Duncan sighed as he slipped into the hot water, the jet pressure working against his calves. “Well,” he smiled up at them, “Are you not going to join me?” 

Y/N smirked at him right before grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it over her head. She exposed herself completely stripping down to nothing before she slowly made it down the steps into the water, “Mhmm,” she sighed as she took a seat next to Duncan. 

Duncan chuckled softly, shaking his head, “Baby?” he called over to Jim, his hand, already wandering up Y/N’s thigh. 

Jim followed Y/N example and stripped off his clothing before climbing into the tub, on the other side of Duncan. “You’re overdressed,” Jim mumbled into Duncan’s neck, snaking his hand into the waistband of the little black trunks...

--

Duncan told himself he wouldn’t cry. After everything they’ve been through - it had led to this...

His toes dug into the white sand as he looked out into the sea. He couldn’t have chosen a better place - his their beach house was their haven. Their little slice of paradise. It was only natural for them do it there. 

Every thing was picture perfect. The sky was a beautiful array of purples and pinks, reflecting on the clear water. To his left, a gorgeous set up of candles, blankets, twinkle lights, and a picnic of his babies’ favorite treats. 

Jim and Y/N knew that Duncan had been planning something for weeks now. When he booked a getaway to their beach house, he didn’t allow them to lift a finger packing. Told them he’d take care of it all. And he did. 

He had their outfits laid out on their bed for them. For Jim, he had a thin pair of linen pants in a light sandy colored with a baby blue shirt of the same material. Y/N’s wasn’t too different. He had a white dress of the same fabric. It was soft and flowy - perfect for the beach. 

They made their way down to the beach where Duncan waited for them. He turned to face them, his hands behind his back, biting down on his lip to try and keep it together, 

He knew they were his life and he was spending forever with them.

“Duncan,” Y/N breathed out, her eyes going over the set up. She reached for his hand, “This is beautiful,” 

Duncan squeezed her hand, and took Jim’s in the other one. 

“I have something for you,” he dropped their hands and dug a little velvet bag out of his pocket. “I know there isn’t anything... traditional,” he laughed, “about our relationship, but” he pulled the string of the baggie and dumped the contents of it into his palm. He played with the cool metal, shifting them around his hand. 

“I wouldn’t want it any other way and,” he paused to look into their eyes, “I’d want to spend the rest of my days with you,”

He took his time, placing a finger on Jim’s finger and then YN’s. “Since we can’t really do a courthouse wedding,” he laughed, taking both of their hand again - this time adorned with the precious jewels he gifted them, “I figured, we could do something more our style,” he gestured towards the romantic scenery he’d set. 

“Will you take me to be yours forever?”

Without an ounce of hesitation, Jim and Y/N replied their “I do”’s over each other. When Jim noticed the tears pooling in Y/N’s eyes, he reached over to wipe her cheek. 

Duncan couldn’t smile any more if he tried. Jim loved the way the corner of his eyes crinkled when he smiled that big. Duncan’s hair blew softly in the gentle breeze. His peppered hair matched his graying beard, but like the fine wines he adored, he aged well. 

He pulled them closer, caressing their cheeks before kissing them. 

He loved them. Duncan Shepherd had found love.

Y/N and Jim embraced him with everything they had. They never wanted to let each other go - but when they finally did, Duncan popped the champagne, loving the way Y/N giggled when the bubbles poured out of the bottle. 

By the time they downed the champagne and cake on the beach, the buttons of Duncan’s shirt where messily unbuttoned. He had sand in his hair and lipstick marks on his neck. 

The sun was close to being gone, but the candles and fairy lights were enough for them. The were covered in the soft glow of the moon. 

Duncan’s heart felt so warm as he watched Y/N feed Jim another bite of cake. Jim’s laughter like music to his ears. Jim caught his eye and crawled over to Duncan. He swung his legs over Duncan’s thighs and sat on him. Jim took his face in his hands and kissed him tenderly. 

Jim found his place. 

He found a home with Duncan and Y/N - a home with nothing but love to offer and he was ready for it. 

They each had their space in each others hearts and it melted perfectly into who they were. 

Who would think that a day would come when Duncan Shepherd would be thanking his lucky stars for an economy flight seat?

--

Tags: @desertsunflower00 @xavierplympton @quillanpie @spoo-per @langdons-pinkyring @little-grunge-flowerz @sexwon131 @leatherduncan @royalblueviper @shenevertricks1831 @sadhoecentral @chloelucia13 @shyvirgoanon @langdonswhoreprobably @littledemondani @bitchchatter @rpwithjayn @chloelucia13 @agonydearest @midnightontheearth @7-wonders @prophecy-is-inevitable @wroteclassicaly @ritualmichael @wickedlangdon @fckinsupreme @michael-langdon-appreciation @jimmason @brattylovee @dark-mei-rose @lovelylangdonx @blakewaterxx @dyns33 

sorry if i missed someone!

and please LMK what you think 🥺

[zirkkun]

📂 Tell me more than one. I like hearing your ideas.

Hoo boy. Giving me no limit to my thoughts is too much power lol I'll limit myself to 5 for now???

1) UT Sans is the type of person to not particularly enjoy physical contact and usually avoids most any other than like, basic things (handshake, tapping a shoulder, etc). But when he's super close to someone, he's the exact opposite and will cling to them as if he needs it to survive. I kind of project this onto Error too, where like his fear for touch comes from the fact that he'd witnessed everyone he cared about die as Geno, so he doesn't believe he can get close to anyone again, leaving him in fear of all physical contact.

2) Gaster didn't do anything wrong. Everyone seems to write Gaster like he's done something wrong in Undertale or was a terrible person that experimented on Sans and Papyrus or something, but there's really nothing to say that he was. I'm convinced he was well-respected in the Underground as a scientist and merely died from a scientific failure of sorts. Due to his odd sprite, I'd assume it was Determination-based, but the idea that he "fell into the CORE" has genuinely always confused me. Did they throw his dust into the CORE? Did he sacrifice himself to power the CORE? Was their misinformation spread after his death (hence why all the Gaster Followers say something different)? I dunno lol

3) this one is. Pretty out-there. But I have this theory that Sans and Jevil were purposefully designed to be foils (aka characters who are exact opposites) and may possibly represent some kind of god and demon, respectively. Both of them have specific requirements that lead to their battle that requires extra work from the player, first of all, so they're technically both under the "optional fight" category. Both of these fights are even completely opposite: Sans's battle is repetitive, easy to predict, and can be beaten through sheer repetition and memorization because there is an order and pattern to each of his attacks. Jevil's, while I think is mostly the same order of attacks, is entirely randomized where things are going to land, so the most you can predict for is what attack is coming next, but not where to start, where to go, etc. It's chaotic. To get to Sans, you have to climb up through the Underground, because the Judgement Hall is nearly the peak of the mountain, and that's where he'll judge you. Not to mention, it's pretty church-like in the Hall. Those who get past him, go to the Surface, where the Delta Rune legend's Fallen Angel is from. Not to mention everyone praises the Surface like it's the most beautiful place in the world. Jevil, on the other hand, is in the lowest part of the Dark World you can possibly go to, and was put down there to be locked away for the chaos he'd caused. He's convinced that he's free while in that cage, because no one will bother him. There's no social norms or laws to break because he's the only one in there. Those OUTSIDE of it are the ones that have to abide by rules. That and... Jevil? Devil? Yeah, pretty obvious.

I could go on for hours about this theory ... But something tells me I'm looking too deep into it and if Toby saw it he'd just be like "neat. Didn't even think about that." LMAO

4) While it can definitely be assumed that Sans knows about resets, alternate timelines, etc. from his mention of them in the Genocide battle as well as the fact he has a (many?) quantum physics book, which the concept of alternate universes comes from quantum physics, I don't think in every timeline he recognizes the resets. At the VERY least, he has something to keep tabs on Undertale's "code," for lack of a better term, because he straight up tells you in the Genocide fight that he noticed that you were suddenly there by recognizing you were an anomaly. I'm convinced this is because you, the player, have been the only thing that has an outside influence on their world, one of the only things that has been able to mess with the "code" in the way of resets, saving, literally glitching things (I'm pretty sure there's like an easter egg where you can walk through the wall in the MTT Resort or I totally dreamt that). At the same time, I don't think Sans recognizes that there's someone controlling Frisk, and just sees this "anomaly" as Frisk. Additionally to this, I'm pretty much convinced Sans hates Frisk/the player/possibly even so far as humans as a whole by default. Because of the way he speaks to you about everything in the Genocide run, saying something along the lines of he only tried being nice to guide you on the correct path for everyone else's desire to go to the Surface (cause we know he couldn't give two shits about going to the Surface or not. Even on a neutral/pacifist route on the MTT Resort date he'll try and convince you to stay before deciding to take it back.)

5) Frisk is a vessel like mentioned in the beginning of Deltarune. While you can't choose how Frisk looks, you can choose everything else about Frisk. Unlike Kris, there are no pre-determined relationships or actions to shape Frisk's character, and Frisk does very, VERY little on their own, unless you play Genocide. Notably, I think a lot about how Kris is a lot more independent of a character, because he fights back against your actions, and when he does it's the one time we see an expression from him and his eyes. The main point of Deltarune is "your choices don't matter." The other character that said our choices don't matter? Chara. At the end of Genocide, if you choose to not erase the world, Chara will say, "When were you the one in control?" I feel like most people take this as they were speaking to the player directly, but I've always taken it as they were talking to Frisk directly. Chara can't see us, but they can see Frisk. They know Frisk is being controlled -- and, to compare again to Kris, possibly because we cannot see Frisk's eyes. They walk around blindly, so they have to be guided by SOMETHING, right? In this case, that something is the player. Frisk is nothing but a vessel for us to communicate with the game.

..

Okay that got LONG I'm sorry avdhsbs it's a v good thing i preemptively told myself only 5 because I could go on for. Forever.

[aqvarius]

[WALKTHROUGH + REVIEW + CG] Romance MD: Tetsuya Hosho

This review is coming in a whole month late because life got in the way of my happiness and general enjoyment lol. When I started writing this, there was still a heart sale on and there was no time limit for reading Hosho’s route PLUS the Collector’s Edition was available! So the value of this review is significantly less than it should have been but sadly life has just been so busy. Hopefully this is still helpful.

Expectations:

I was both more excited for, and afraid of, Hosho’s route. I was certainly more excited than I was for Takado’s route. But I was also afraid that Hosho was going to be So Dark like proper haraguro and this Dr. MC would just get sucked into his darkness and fall in love because of Stockholm Syndrome. I don’t really know if I have anyone that I would compare him to just based on first impression - Maybe Ryoichi from Seduced in the Sleepless City? In general I’m a bit wary of the super flirty and/or princely guys cause they’re always the type that don’t take love seriously and just mess around because they’re ToO aFrAiD tO tRuSt PeOpLe and they’ll treat you like garbage and you just have to deal with all their shit with unconditional tolerance because you’re in love. (Shinobu Narita… my nemesis… will I ever get to a point where I stop mentioning this…? Probably not.)

So basically I was eager to try Hosho but I also went into his route with a heap of trepidation.  If you’ve read my Takado review, you may also know that I’m not a huge fan of RMD’s Dr. MC. Was she any better in this route? Let’s see…

Click below to read the full review, plus walkthrough and CGs

Reality:

This route both exceeded my expectations in terms of plot but also let me down a little bit in terms of the relationship. Let’s start with Dr. MC. Hosho’s MC is fine… maybe I’m just being extra biased because I don’t like her sprite lmao #shallow. I do find her substantially more likeable than Takado’s MC who I personally don’t really like. I like that she actually acknowledges her feelings and actually… has… feelings lol, although something I don’t like about Dr. MC is that she’s not very introspective. I feel like other Voltage MCs tend to have a better grip on their emotions and what it is they’re feeling but Dr. MC is a bit like… omg WHAT??? I’m in LOVE???? They do refer to her as a robot at times which I kind of agree with lol, and I tend to prefer my MCs to be human. Also, I’m so confused by the reports that she writes. Aren’t they factual reports? When I write notes at conferences, I just write about people’s papers… I’ve never in my life written a report on my supervisors’ personal lives, nor would I show them to anyone if I did, and certainly not to the department head!!

Dr. MC is better about acknowledging her feelings and accepting her love for him in Hosho’s route though, I will admit, but it’s just my personal preference to like sweet MCs. If you like MCs which are a bit more snarky, you will probably like Dr. MC. However, because we read these routes from the perspective of the MC, I overall find it easier to actually fall in love with the love interest and the relationship when the MC falls in love. Which Hosho’s Dr. MC does… but just in a way that I don’t find very convincing? I wonder if it’s maybe that I can’t figure out why she falls in love – it feels more like general pity/comfort than love, although it does provoke an interesting thought exercise into what we might define as being in love. The strange thing is that plot-wise, I think them falling in love is smooth enough, but I honestly think it’s just the writing style that I find a bit too clinical (lol) maybe? So while the pacing is fine, it still somehow feels a bit abrupt. I haven’t quite figured out what exactly it is about RMD that I just find slightly off… (and I’m also too lazy to do a proper analysis and compare to some other titles).

I think it also depends on how you play otome games: do you treat the MC as a separate person? Do you tend to self-insert as the MC? Or is it sort of a mix of both?

Personally, I find for myself that it’s a mix of both. I like MCs that I can relate to, so in that sense there’s an element of self-insert, but I also do see her as a separate person (since they make a lot of choices that I wouldn’t and tend to have a form of strength and conviction that I absolutely do not have lol). Something I realised about myself is that when I read shoujo manga, I’m pretty indiscriminate about what types of guys I like… it’s more about the chemistry between the two characters. Speaking of playing otome games, I don’t really know how I feel about the Sekai inserts… I mean it’s fairly relatable to mentally interact with your favourite otoge characters but from a reader perspective, we know absolutely nothing about Sekai so I don’t feel any particular way about seeing him. Maybe it’s just a different way of communicating Dr. MC’s thoughts but yeah I don’t really know that the Sekai inserts are necessary…? Let me know what you think about him.

Also so maybe this is maybe a cultural thing but like what is the DEAL with the pheromones? I can tell you for sure that I’ve been attracted to people in my life but I’ve never felt them like leaking pheromones. (I think my boyfriend smells amazing and it makes me wanna be close to him but like… are those pheromones? I don’t know.) I find it funny that out of all of them, Hosho probably has the most ‘regular’/realistic(?) character design but we have to take their word for it that he’s the Sexiest Person Ever. I feel like it was a bit over the top but then again I really did become convinced that Hosho is just super sexy so… I guess it worked? But equally, I feel like it could have been toned down a little and I still would have believed that Hosho is sex on legs. He’s actually really likeable… but somehow I feel that the chemistry is lacking? There’s something about Dr. MC that I find just kind of bland.

My own doctor friends are totally normal people (by which I mean they have their own quirks and weirdness and hobbies/interests lol that’s what makes us friends) and even each individual love interest has their own personality and quirks so I’m not quite sure why Dr. MC just seems kind of dull to me. I mean I really like some of the newer Voltage MCs like the ones from Masquerade Kiss and Irresistible Mistakes, who are also career women and have a more concrete personality and yet can still fall in love, even when they may not want to. If we’re talking chemistry and sexual tension, look at Kazuomi and MK MC! Even though Hosho is supposed to be a walking sex machine, I didn’t really get much of a sense of actual chemistry between him and Dr. MC. So I think I like Hosho as a person (as in I, both from an observer’s perspective and my own personal tastes, like Hosho) but I don’t love his route. I feel like he would be better off with a different MC, like maybe My Sweet Bodyguard MC – someone who comes off a little sweeter – or even someone like IM or EITM MC who’s a mix of sexy and sweet.

I actually quite like Hosho, but I’m not sure if it’s just because he reminds me so much of Soma. He’s got that same kind of charisma and mystery (and popularity/smoothness with women) to him. I actually wrote in my notes while playing that Hosho is a sluttier version of Soma. While not as cold as Soma, Hosho can definitely be cool when he wants to be, doing the classic “pulling away because he’s scared to love” thing.  I do think there is an element of the “omg he’ll treat you poorly because he’s too afraid to trust people” but I actually like the way it’s done in Hosho’s route. So rather than treating you poorly because he’s too afraid to trust, it’s more like he pushes you away because he’s afraid of being loved because everyone who’s loved him has left him or forgotten him. I actually don’t find him to be too cold – some LIs can act up in really twisted ways (Shinobu…. Narita…..) because they have bad personalities lol but Hosho’s strategy is just to distance himself rather than be malicious about it. In a way, he’s once again similar to Soma who is kind and professional but distant/cold rather than intentionally cruel because of his own dead sister trauma.

All things considered, I think Hosho’s personality is actually quite regular – he’s just a flirty, pretty nice guy who uses physical intimacy to distract from his trauma. He comes across as both mature and composed but also stuck in his childhood and still quite vulnerable in some ways. He’s someone who has definitely found his own ways to deal with his issues, whether or not they’re actually healthy for him. We may have to wait a good while to see this (if RMD is still being continued beyond season 1) but I’m curious to see what he’ll be like as a love interest/boyfriend once his trauma has been dealt with.

(Cute rare blushing Hosho. As rare as cute rare blushing Soma)

I’m also kind of sad that Hosho doesn’t speak in Kansai dialect because I personally think Kansai ben is REALLY sexy and it would make his casual sexiness even better but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I was wondering if they just forgot about it but then you see him speaking in ‘translated Kansai ben’ (a.k.a. the bogan accent that Voltage likes to use as a replacement) as a kid and it’s soooo cute.

(SO!!!! ADORABLE!!!!! I LOVE BABY HOSHO)

(A bonus crying baby Tetsuya… pulls at the heartstrings…)

Something that I do like about all the Romance MD guys is that they all have their own different personality traits but they’re actually all so well-read and clever and demonstrably good at their jobs and individual specialties and they take their job seriously and work hard at it. This is certainly the case with Hosho too, who is a staggeringly talented neurosurgeon both in terms of practical skill and research. Perhaps even more than Takado, I developed a feeling of respect for Hosho as a doctor, although this may be because of the Dr. MC perspective in the storytelling – maybe this is another reason why I feel the chemistry is generally lacking in RMD because it sort of feels like there’s more of a professional relationship being built than a romantic one, and it doesn’t have the same sort of balance that we can see in other workplace romance titles such as Her Love in the Force, Our Two Bedroom Story and IM. I do feel like Hosho gets away with super unprofessional behaviour that Kasumi just kind of allows. I did want more explanation for the Kasumi-Hosho relationship a little bit more, although I am wondering if Kasumi just has a special relationship with every individual member of the ICU crew. 100koi+ has Takado’s MS from Kasumi’s perspective for some reason, so I’m assuming he has some significant relationship there too.

In general, there’s less banter amongst the doctors compared to Takado’s route which was kind of a shame, because their dynamic is part of what makes this game fun. I honestly think Takado is more fun outside of his own route. His grouchiness is kind of amusing. Hosho’s route also reveals a tiny little hint of what I think is Sen’s own true personality, as well as his obsession of Kasumi.

Reading Hosho’s route also piqued my interest in all of the other Lis too. All of these doctors have such trauma-filled lives!! I get that being an ICU doctor comes with a lot of mental pressure and having to deal with losing patients is terrible but they have so much shit going on in their personal lives too. It’s sort of like KOR levels of drama except they’re the affected ones rather than Dr. MC. Watch Ekuni actually have some sort of trauma-induced narcolepsy or insomnia and the theme of his ‘sky’ will be either sunrise or a dark vortex of a night sky. I bet Sen has some complex about being a child genius and his parents will be super demanding, which is maybe one of the reasons why he’s so obsessed with super young Chief of Medicine Kasumi. I’m also willing to put money on my guess that Matsunaga will have the most serious drama of them all.

By the way I forgot to mention this in my Takado review and I have no knowledge or whether or not it’s actually accurate so I wouldn’t trust my opinion on this but I appreciate the medical research the writers had to do. I like that they explain some things just enough for noobs like myself to understand what’s going on, but it doesn’t read like they’re dumbing it down. 

There are a few plot points which I feel are a bit cliched and maybe not as cleanly relevant as in Takado’s route, such as the nurses bullying you cause they miss being on Hosho’s sex rotation. (Also I was really prejudiced against Shirayuki I’M SO SORRY MISUMI FOR JUDGING YOU BASED ON YOUR SPRITE) and the whole thing about Hosho’s reputation as a demon because of his fanatical obsession with memory-based research. I think it’s quite normal in professional research communities to have a particular field of expertise and to focus most of your papers on that one subject and/or adjacent subjects. I’m not really sure why he might have a bad reputation or have people gossip about him because he focusses on one particular niche so I’m wondering if maybe it was a plot point that the writers thought would make Dr. MC begin to feel defensive of him. I had a similar view of that scene in the Pen when the nurses are slating him – I don’t feel like that was a particularly strong narrative point aside from drumming up a little more of that “he loves you but can’t be with you because he’s damaged” conflict. Overall, I would say that Hosho’s route plot is not as dramatic and is rather a little more subdued than Takado’s route, but I felt like Takado needed a route that dramatic to bring him and Dr. MC together while Hosho doesn’t. His route is surprisingly heartbreaking, the more you find out about him the more you just feel so terrible for him. When I went back and flashed through to do the walkthrough, I realised how awful some of the things that people, including Dr. MC, say to him are in light of his past and it definitely made me feel a lot more for him. I found Hosho’s backstory really unique and creative, and it explores some fairly mature themes and definitely adds dimension to the dead relative trope. Because his situation has not been fully resolved, the narrative definitely sets up well for a second season, and I imagine at some point he will have to come to terms with reintroducing himself to his mother.

Regarding pacing, I felt the same reading Takado’s route but I find the routes always start off quite slow. If I were reading them outside of the no wait period, I probably wouldn’t make it past episode 7. There’s also something kind of tiring about being at the early episodes (probably until about halfway?) and just wondering when the actual plot will start haha. But once the backstory starts coming in, then the pace really picks up. I don’t know that this route needed 30 episodes because I don’t think they were utilised as well as Takado’s 30 but 30 episodes = likely more money for Voltage if you spend hearts to avoid wait times lol.

Something I noticed about the game is that when I went back to replay to make the walkthrough, I could actually choose select chapters (rather than having to revert back to episode 1 and play through all the way). I didn’t test this before getting to SHE so maybe the ‘Collector’s Edition’ perks are unlocked once you get SHE! Speaking of getting SHE, you and Hosho don’t end up together in the Normal Ending so… there’s that… and the scene is literally like less than 10 screens long. I feel like it’s slightly unfair since Takado’s Normal Ending at least still has a confession from him.

Finally, I did also note some coding errors in the text boxes, something that I haven’t seen much in newer Voltage titles (we kind of got used to seeing typos and errors pop up here and there in some of the older titles haha).

To me, Hosho and Takado are both guys that I think I like that have compelling histories. My main issue is just feeling like there’s some chemistry lacking with regards to Dr. MC and the expense of the Love Choice system. That said, I’m even more curious to see what happens in Sen’s route, which I believe should be coming out next.

Hosho’s route costs 197 hearts in total. Less than Takado but still a HUGE amount. If you really wanted to buy all the heart scenes, I would suggest making the most of the heart sale that’s on right now and getting the 200+10 hearts deal for 19.99 although this is still atrociously expensive. (lol this is how long ago I started writing this review). As always with Love Choice, you miss out on key plot points if you don’t pick the heart scenes, or there will be contradictions between your choice and what happens next. I really wish there was a better way to still get the plot points and key elements and just miss out on some sweet scenes. Like with Takado’s route, a huge amount of hearts are concentrated in the last 10 chapters. Between chapter 20 and 29 of Takado’s route, the heart scenes cost 110 hearts; with Hosho’s the heart scenes in chapters 20 and 29 cost a whopping 133 hearts!!! This means that 67.5% of the required hearts are concentrated in the last third of the route with 16 points value, so I would save hearts for some of the later scenes rather than the earlier ones if you wanted the heart scenes and/or to get to SHE. If you ignore the ones that I said aren’t worth it, that should give you 26 points which brings you to SHE with all the CGs. Alternatively, scroll past the walkthrough to see the CGs.

Walkthrough below:

Ep 1: (by the way, these options didn’t have “A” or “B” which I think is an inconsistency)

“Let’s start in Pathology.”

“Nurses Station first.”

Ep 2: A: “Are you sure?”

B: “I don’t believe you.”

Ep 3:

A: “I’ll keep that in mind.”

B: “I can’t quit now.”

Ep 4:

A: “Wow. Ouch.”

B: “It’s so true.”

Ep 5:

A: “I don’t get it either.”

B: “It IS beautiful.”

Ep 6:

A: Keep watching. (Love Meter +1/CG) 5 hearts

B: Leave him alone.

Ep 7:

A: “Yes, please!”

B: “Don’t you want to visit your folks?”

Ep 8: (Plot point here)

A: Visit the temple. (Love Meter +2) 8 hearts

B: Turn back.

Ep 9:

A: “Like what sort of people?”

B: “Speaking from experience?”

Ep 10:

A: “Yeah.”

B: “Do you think I’m joking?”

Ep 11: (Absolutely useless. Don’t waste your hearts on this)

A: Start a consult. (Love Meter +2) 10 hearts

B: Admit to being stumped.

Ep 12:

A: “Snap out of it!”

B: “Heeelp!”

Ep 13?: (Not really sure this one is worth it)

A: Try to convince him (Love Meter +2) 10 hearts

B: Leave it alone.

Ep 14:

A: “He’s not like that!”

B: “Wanna bet?”

Ep 15: (A fairly nice scene and a decent heart to love meter value)

A: Go home with Tetsuya. (Love Meter +3) 13 hearts

B: Go to your place.

Ep 16:

A: “Just get some rest.”

B: “Do you want anything?”

Ep 17:

A: Talk to him. (Love Meter +2) 10 hearts

B: Watch him go.

Ep 18:

A: Suck it up.

B: “Should I go in looking like this?”

Ep 19:

A: “I want to be a neurosurgeon.” (Love Meter +2) 8 hearts

B: “I want to go to Ortho.”

Ep 20:

A: Stick up for him. (Love Meter +1/CG) 13 hearts

B: Feign ignorance.

Ep 21:

A: “I’m just his coworker.”

B: “I don’t have that power.”

Ep 22: (Don’t waste hearts on this. Basically nothing happens)

A: See him off. (Love Meter +1) 10 hearts

B: Go with him.

Ep 23: (Some plot here that will be missed without the heart scene but I don’t think it’s that necessary)

A: Talk about it. (Love Meter +3) 20 hearts

B: Do nothing.

Ep 24: (Important plot points and cute baby Hosho scenes)

A: “Tell me.” (Love Meter +1) 15 hearts

B: “I’d rather not.” (you get a second chance to select A if you select this option)

Ep 25: (gives you some love meter points but story-wise I don’t really think it’s worth it)

A: Offer comfort. (Love Meter +3) 19 hearts

B: What’s done is done.

Ep 26:

A: “I refuse.” (Love Meter +1/CG) 15 hearts

B: “All right.”

Ep 27: (Expensive but LOTS of story)

A: “Yes, please.” (Love Meter +3) 22(?!) hearts

B: “I’d rather not.” (you get a second chance to select A)

Ep 28:

A: “Sure.”

B: “I’ll go home with you too?”

Ep 29:

A: Squeeze his hand (Love Meter +3) 19 hearts

B: You can’t respond.

CGs:

[oomox]

tagged by @sporkandpringles to answer some questions! thanks for the tag!! :D

1. What is the color of your hairbrush? black with copper bristles

2. A food you never eat? I dont like applesauce or cooked bell peppers bc of the texture, so I try not to eat them

3. Are you typically too warm or too cold? I'm usually too cold, lmao. my roommates think I have anemia bc im always turning up the heat in our place

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? messaging a friend

5. What is your favorite candy bar? snickers

6. Have you ever been to a professional sporting event? I used to go to baseball games w my cousins all the time

7. What was the last thing you said out loud? I think I was talking to my cat, I was telling him not to chew stuff lmaooo

8. What is your favorite ice cream? rocky road babey

9. What was the last thing you had to drink? grape juice

10. Do you like your wallet? yeah its pretty nice! its like real leather and all, I got it 3 years ago.

11. What was the last thing you ate? jalapeño chips

12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? no im tryna save money (not super successfully, tho..)

13. The last sporting event you watched? probably the olympics? or maybe a rogue hockey game my dad had on before all sports got cancelled? I don't really remember

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? super buttery

15. Who was the last person you sent a text message to? my boss lol

16. Ever go camping? a few times as a kid, but I dont really like it

17. Do you take vitamins? no but I probably should

18. Do you go to church every Sunday? no, im not religious

19. Do you have a tan? I got a bad sunburn last week, does that count?

20. Do you prefer Chinese food or pizza? mmm pizza...

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw? nah

22. What color socks do you usually wear? I mostly have patterned socks from birthdays and Christmas lmao but if im wearing a solid colour its usually black

23. Ever drive above the speed limit? I dont drive

24. What terrifies you? not being in control of myself, making irreparable mistakes, dying without significantly contributing to the world or leaving behind something for people to remember me

25. Look to your left what do you see? my bedroom

26. What chore do you hate? all of em equally

27. What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? uhhh idk? I used to watch that Australian mermaid show h2o: just add water when I was younger so maybe it'd remind me of that LOL

28. What is your favorite soda? orange Fanta or sprite

29. Do you go into a fast food place or just hit the drive through? I go in unless im in a car with someone else, then I try to convince them to go in the drive thru

30. Who was the last person you talked to? my sister

31. Favorite cut of beef? mmm idk I like steak?

32. Last song you listened to? stinky money by tiny meat gang

33. Last book you read? the goldfinch by donna tartt

34. Favorite day of the week? idk it changes all the time depending on my schedule. rn its Tuesday

35. Can you say the alphabet backwards? nah

36. How do you like your coffee? lots of cream and sugar, preferably iced

37. Favorite pair of shoes? my vans or my shiny silver oxfords

38. At what time do you usually go to bed? usually around midnight

39. At what time do you normally get up? 7 if I have to work, like 9 or 10 if not

40. What do you prefer - sunrises or sunsets? sunrise, only bc being up early is more peaceful

41. How many blankets are on your bed? 2, but im only using 1 rn

42. Describe your kitchen plates? plain white

43. Do you have a favorite alcoholic beverage? my go-to is vodka and orange soda

44. Do you play cards? yeah! 

45. What color is your car? I dont have a car

46. Can you change a tire? nope!

47. What is your favorite province/state? I mean I live in Ontario, but PEI is gorgeous also. so either of them I guess

48. Favorite job you ever had? my last job was pretty good! I worked in a kitchen for a banquet hall and I got free food all the time. my boss yelled a lot, tho.

49. How did you get your biggest scar? I burned my arm on a pan last summer and scorched like 3 layers of skin off

50. What did you do today that made someone happy? I cuddled my cat and I messaged a friend :D

ill tag @cosmicmangoes @queenofthescreamteam @sarcrisis and @thisdamnfoolofalesbian but if anyone else sees this and wants to do it u can say I tagged u

[noddytheornithopod]

Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls Playthrough

So yeah, I finally got UDG and now I’m playing it. Will give thoughts after each session.

Okay, some of these shots of Komaru are pretty uncomfortable. The moment we get a female protagonist, the camera has to perv on her. It’s... uncomfortable.

This game definitely has a more brutal tone. We’re seeing dead bodies and violence everywhere. It’s... a lot.

I’m not exactly into the constant format changing for cutscenes and dialogue? Like, we get some as 2D anime, some in the game’s 3D style and then we have in-game stuff with the 3D models but with the character sprites next to the dialogue. Oh, and then we get stylised 2D in the vein of Danganronpa executions, and flashbacks that play out like in-game stuff from the other entries. Granted we end up getting less of the anime, which sucks because that’s the best looking format. I’m not really a fan of the 3D animation style, it just doesn’t look fully realised? Like, it reminds me of a parody or something people would make on YouTube, especially the way they move as they talk. And I mean, them moving as they talk while they have a sprite on screen conveying their emotions more effectively makes at least one of them redundant, right? But yeah, there’s a lot of style switching and I’m not a fan.

Yay, Byakuya! Our favourite prick is back to save Komaru... but apparently he gets kidnapped on the way after she escapes her prison. Kinda surprised they didn’t have it be Makoto given he’s Komaru’s brother, and it would raise the stakes, but then I guess they needed to get Toko involved too so I’ll see how it plays out first (or they kidnap both lol).

Towa City sounds interesting, the idea of a place that escaped the worst of the tragedy from their advanced tech and being wealthy bastards, except now the Warriors of Hope (which TOTALLY aren’t with the Remnants of Despair... I mean, they have an army of fucking Monokumas) are causing trouble there.

I think I’m getting used to the controls and kind of game this is? I’m managing fine at least. Fire rate is slow though lol

Komaru, even for someone isolated for 1.5 years (so I guess this is six months after Trigger Happy Havoc) can still have some pretty dense moments. Runs in the family? :v

Fucking Nagito Komaeda is here and is a servant to the Warriors of Hope. Even as we know he’s a Remnant of Despair, you can tell there’s more to him than just being a slave salivating over Junko. Wonder if he has his own thing going on, or he’s just gonna be a slave to kids. Also... that is such an edgy look for him. Seriously. :v The freaking chain especially. And gosh, even here we have to hear him call Komaru boring and uninteresting.

The Warriors of Hope I’m not sure on yet. Monaca despite not openly the leader is clearly the one in control with how theye look to her, thought also god I HATE the “disabled villain” trope. Unless she’s faking, which also sucks. Jataro and Kotoko have potential I think even if they’re currently a bit one note, Nagisa already seems more complex which is cool especially with the more serious attitude and obvious affection for Monaca, but Masaru is annoying. Not really into the loud boastful extrovert type. Also IDK what this Hope’s Peak Elementary thing is all about.

So the Warriors of Hope have taken over and are killing adults to make some paradise for kids, and Komaru is released back into the city to be hunted. Also when they were saying how great it will be with no adults, I believe Kotoko saying that it will be great because there’s gonna be no paedophiles got a legit laugh out of me.

Genocide Jack/Toko coming back in was pretty cool, and given we’re more focused on her I’m getting into her character more than before. That being said... WHY? To whoever decided to add the Byakuya fantasies... WHY? WHY???? What if someone in my house heard me and I had to convince them it’s just a weird perverted video game and I’m not actually watching porn on my TV? WHY????????????? Also... the white splatter as the fantasies fade out just makes it even worse.

IDK if it’s just me but some of Komaru’s design reminds me of Kaede’s? The face at least.

Toko is still gonna be Toko I guess, lol. Also makes sense she can’t properly be in the Future Foundation because of Genocide Jack. Also lol, she even referenced Hina and Hiro even being in... albeit not in the most flattering way.

Look, as... whatever the fuck the Byakuya fantasies are, the pig thing kinda got a laugh out me be because of how ??? it was?

Finding books is a cool mechanic actually, especially how it ties to the characters. Also gives the chance for fun interactions. Also... Toko calling out that book for making light of DID? Is this Danganronpa poking fun at itself? Just because you make fun of it doesn’t absolve you. :P The thing with Komaru being an anime fantasy certainly was.

Speaking of poking fun at itself, they’re definitely self aware here lol. Even here it’s still constructed like it’s a game. Also WTF are the Monokuma headed kids.

Why is the save mechanism... that? I guess it’s for the kids, but... still? Why???

Hotel was actually a pretty cool setpiece.