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emikorin · 3 years

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Who Is Higuchi Ichiyou? (Spoilers if you haven’t fully watched/read Bungou Stray Dogs)

Higuchi Ichiyou, a port mafia member and the one who commands the Black Lizards. She isn’t respected by the mafia, she isn’t useful to the mafia ability wise but why is she here?

Let us begin from the beginning.

Who is the real life Higuchi Ichiyou?

She was born on May 2, 1872 in a nagaya (row house) on the premises of the Tokyo prefectural office (present Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo Prefecture) in Uchisaiwaicho, Ichi shoku, Daini daiku, Tokyo-fu (Tokyo Prefecture). Her real name was Natsu HIGUCHI. Her father was Tamenosuke (Noriyoshi) HIGUCHI and her mother was Ayame, the fifth daughter of the Furuya family; Ichiyo was their second daughter. She had an older sister (Fuji) and two older brothers (Sentaro and Toranosuke), and was followed by a younger sister (Kuni). Making Higuchi Ichiyou the fourth child.

Her father, Noriyoshi, was a peasant in Nakahagiwara Village, Yamanashi County, Kai Province (present Koshu City, formerly Enzan City). Her grandfather seems to have been familiar with creative writings such as haikai (seventeen-syllable verse) and keisho (the most important documents in Confucianism); it is said that Noriyoshi preferred academics to farming and, as his marriage with Ayame was not permitted, they practically eloped to Edo. Noriyoshi began as a servant in the Bansho shirabesho (a government-run Western studies education and research institute) and, by good fortune, became a jikisan (immediate retainer) of the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) by buying a kabu (a right to become doshin) of doshin (a low-ranked official) in 1867. After the Meiji Restoration, he became a low-level official and acquired the status of shizoku (a family or person of samurai ancestry), but was dismissed in 1876. After that, he made a living by working as a real estate broker and similar things.

As a young child, Ichiyo was raised in a family of moderate means, and she enjoyed reading from the time she was small; she read kusazoshi (illustrated story books) and it is said that she read through "Nanso Hakkenden" (a story of eight samurai and a princess of the Satomi family in the Nanso region) by Bakin KYOKUTEI when she was seven years old. In 1877, she entered Hongo Shogakko (Hongo Elementary School), but could not continue because she was too young, so she enrolled in Yoshikawa Gakko (Yoshikawa School), which had been established privately by Tomikichi YOSHIKAWA. In 1881, Toranosuke, her second older brother, set up a branch family and apprenticed himself to an earthenware painter. The family moved to Okachimachi, Shitaya Ward in the same year, so in November, she transferred to Seikai Gakko, a private school, in Ueno Motokuromoncho. She graduated from the fourth grade of the advanced course at the top of her class, but left the school without advancing to the upper grades. It is said that this was because her mother, Ayame, believed that studies were unnecessary for women.

On the other hand, it is said that her father, Noriyoshi, recognized his daughter's literary talent and let her learn waka from his acquaintance, Shigeo WADA. In 1886, she entered the waka school 'Haginoya,' run by Utako NAKAJIMA, through an introduction by Choan TODA, an acquaintance of her father from the days of the Tokugawa shogunate. In this school, besides waka, she studied classic literature and Japanese calligraphy of the Chikage school; dynastic style literature, such as The Tale of Genji, was the motif of Ichiyo's early works. During her time at Haginoya, Ichiyo met her close friends Natsuko ITO and Tatsuko TANABE and gave lectures as an assistant teacher. At that time, Haginoya was a waka school attended by the wives and daughters of the former regime's privileged classes - such as court nobles, former roju (senior councilor of the Tokugawa shogunate), and former domain lords - and of the Meiji government statesmen and military personnel. Although Ichiyo was shizoku, since her family had been farmers, she was treated as a commoner; she became introverted, and senior pupils from the upper social class called her 'monotsutsumi no kimi' (literally, close-natured person). When the first annual New Year's opening ceremony since Ichiyo had entered the school drew near, the topic of conversation among the well-bred young ladies turned to clothing and festive dress, well beyond the range in which the daughter of a low-class government official could compete. However, she quashed her feelings of inferiority and attended the ceremony wearing old clothes that her parents had borrowed.

Ichiyo's family moved frequently; Ichiyo moved twelve times in her life. In 1888, Sentaro, the first son and head of the family, died; Ichiyo inherited the family and became its head, with her father as guardian. In 1889, Noriyoshi's attempt to establish an association of draying contractors failed, and he died in July of the same year.

Ichiyo's engagement to her fiance, Saburo SHIBUYA, was cancelled. It is said this was due to the fact that, although the Higuchi family was left with a large amount of debt after Noriyoshi's death, Saburo HIGUCHI required a large amount of yuinokin (betrothal [gift] money). At the age of 17, Ichiyo was forced to support her family as its head and, in 1890, she lived in the house of the Nakajima family as a Haginoya apprentice. In September of the same year, she moved to Kikuzaka, Hongo (Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo Prefecture) and, along with her mother and younger sister, was obliged to live a hard life doing needlework and araihari (washing, stretching and drying various parts of kimono). It is said, however, that Ichiyo herself tended to disdain labor, and that the needlework and araihari were conducted by her mother and younger sister.

As Ichiyo's nearsightedness made her bad at detail work, she searched for other ways to earn income. When she learned that Kaho TANABE, a pupil in the grades ahead of her, had obtained a large manuscript fee for her novel "Yabu no Uguisu" (literally, Bush Warbler in a Thicket), Ichiyo made up her mind to write novels. At the age of 20, she wrote 'Kareobana Hitomoto' (Withered Grass). She used her pen name 'Ichiyo' for the first time in an essay written that same year. In order to make a living as a novelist, she also studied under Tosui NAKARAI, who reported on novels for the Asahi Shimbun, frequented a library, and published her first novel 'Yamizakura' (literally, Cherry Blossom in the Dark) in the first issue of the magazine 'Musashino,' presided over by Tosui. Afterwards, Tosui continued to take care of Ichiyo, who lived in dire poverty. Gradually, Ichiyo began to have amorous feelings for Tosui. However, a scandal about their relationship spread (although both were single, the customs of the time did not approve of such associations between a man and a woman without the intent to marry), and so she severed relations with Tosui. As if to emphasize the end of her relationship with Tosui, she published "Umoregi" (literally, Buried Wood), an idealistic novel in the style of Rohan KODA; it was completely different from her previous works, and it became the one that made her career.

Ichiyo became acquainted with Toson SHIMAZAKI and Tokuboku HIRATA, both of whom were well-versed in European literature; having come into contact with naturalistic literature, Ichiyo published multiple works including 'Yuki no Hi' (literally, Snowy Day) in 'Bungakukai.'

Her former fiance, Saburo SAKAMOTO (the Saburo SHIBUYA mentioned above) had become a prosecutor; around this time, he proposed to her, but she refused him. In order to relieve her straightened circumstances, she opened a variety shop which sold cleaning implements and penny candy in Shitaya Ryusenji-cho (present Ryusen 1-chome, Taito Ward), but closed the shop in May 1894 and moved to Maruyama Fukuyama-cho, Hongo Ward (present Nishikata 1-chome). Her experience on this occasion later became the subject of 'Takekurabe,' her representative work. She continued writing. In December, she published 'Otsugomori' (literally, New Year's Eve) in 'Bungakukai' and the next year, in 1895, 'Takekurabe' was published in seven installments, beginning in January.

Between the two works, she published 'Yuku Kumo' (literally, Going Cloud), 'Nigorie,' 'Jusanya' and others; the period from 'Otsugomori' to 'Uramurasaki' (literally, Purple on the Verso) is called her 'miraculous 14 months.'

In 1896, when 'Takekurabe' was published in its entirety in 'Bungei Kurabu,' it won great acclaim from Ogai MORI, Rohan KODA and others; Ogai MORI praised Ichiyo very highly in 'Mezamashigusa,' and many members of 'Bungakukai' began to visit her. In May, she published 'Warekara' (literally, From Myself), and 'Tsuzoku Shokanbun' (literally, Popular Epistle) in "Nichiyo Hyakka Zensho" (literally, The Daily Encyclopedia). Ichiyo had advanced tuberculosis and, when she was diagnosed in August, it was judged hopeless. On November 23, she died at the age of 24 years and 8 months. Ichiyo's life as a novelist lasted only a little over 14 months and in 1897, the year following her death, "Ichiyo Zenshu" (literally, The Complete Collection of Ichiyo's Works), and "Kotei Ichiyo Zenshu" (literally, The Revised Complete Collection of Ichiyo's Works) were published.

Her grave was in the annex temple of Tsukiji Hongan-ji Temple, the Higuchi family's ancestral temple, and was later moved to the Wadabori byosho (mausoleum) of Nishihongan-ji Temple in Izumi, Suginami Ward. Her homyo (posthumous Buddhist name) in Jodo Shinshu sect (the True Pure Land Sect of Buddhism) is Choshoin Shaku Myoyo. Literary materials including handwritten manuscripts and other related materials are kept by the Museum of Modern Japanese Literature and Yamanashi Kenritsu Bungakukan (literally, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Literature). Since November 2004, her portrait has been used on the Bank of Japan's five thousand yen note.

Now that we know her real life counterpart lets review her anime/manga self.

As a mafioso, Higuchi proves ruthless and fearsome, not shying away from killing her targets. When confronted by the enemy, she has a distant atmosphere to herself, often strictly no-nonsense and showing little sympathy for them. Quick to act, she seldom tolerates disrespect and detests those who underestimate Port Mafia.

However, Higuchi's personality, as her boss and she herself notes, is rather unfit in the Port Mafia. Beneath her tough exterior, she is easy to upset, hesitant, and quick to question herself. She even contemplated leaving several times, despite the inevitable hardships defection foretold. As a result, her subordinates seldom show her respect, many following her orders out of fear of Akutagawa's wrath. An impulsive spirit also leads her to tend toward drastic measures, consequently going against orders.

Her biggest weakness is her intense, bordering obsessive loyalty to Ryunosuke Akutagawa, whom she obeys almost unconditionally. She often insists on filling in for Akutagawa, worried about his poor health. Unfortunately, her loyalty is met with a frustrated Akutagawa's abusive and harsh treatment, often being called "unnecessary" to him. Nonetheless, Higuchi remains loyal to him. Her instinct to tell Akutagawa everything she knows ends up a key component to luring Akutagawa to the Guild's Moby Dick. However, Higuchi makes up her weaknesses for having a strong resolve, and she refuses to turn away when allies, especially Akutagawa, are in danger.

Thankfully, her determined and honest nature earns her Black Lizard's respect. She proves reliable and incredibly brave, even if her judgment is easily clouded under pressure. Even if questioning her position in the mafia, Higuchi shoulders its burdens and responsibilities to this day, understanding its vital role in Yokohama's safety. She also makes it a point to not be unnecessarily cruel to her opponents, acting strictly professional in Akutagawa and Port Mafia's names.

Her composure can often waver. Sometimes she is cool-headed and intimidating, other times easily unsettled and stressed out. Ultimately, she seems to excel more in covert operations than the frontlines, as a tendency to panic leaves her wide open in battle.

Higuchi however has some...strange relationship with the boss however. And this is mostly with what was already established above that the real life Mori Ougai had praised her work which made her very popular. So far in the anime there are three people who Mori Ougai seems close with;

Fukuzawa Yukichi, Yosano Akiko and Natsume Soseki.

Ogai MORI (February 17, 1862 - July 9, 1922) was a novelist, critic, translator, playwright, surgeon of the Imperial Army and Bureaucrat (Senior Official First Class). He was also Army Surgeon General (equivalent to Lieutenant General), Shoshii (Senior Fourth Rank), Order of Merit Second Class, Ko Third Grade, Doctor of Medical Science and had a doctorate in Literature. He is considered one of the great writers of the post-First World War Period ranked alongside Soseki NATSUME. His real name was Rintaro. He was born in Tsuwano Domain, Iwami Province (present Tsuwano-cho, Shimane Prefecture). He graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine.

Shiyo Ho was born as the third daughter of Soshichi HO (father) and Tsune (mother) who ran a long-established Japanese confectionery shop 'Surugaya' in Kaino-cho, Sakai City (present-day Kaino-cho, Sakai Ward), Osaka Prefecture. One of her real brothers was Hidetaro HO who later became an electrical engineer. Shiyo entered a school of Sinology (the study of the Chinese classics) at the age of nine and also learned koto (a long Japanese zither with thirteen strings) and shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese banjo). After entering Sakai Girl's School (present-day Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School), she devoured the Japanese classics such as "The Tale of Genji." In addition, she said, under her elder brother's influence, 'by the time I was twelve or thirteen, my greatest pleasure was reading literary magazines "Shigaramisoshi" (and later its successor "Mezamashigusa") and "Bungakukai" as well as novels by Koyo OZAKI, Rohan KODA, and Ichiyo HIGUCHI' ("Myojo" May 1906).

Around the age of twenty she started contributing her poems to magazines while she helped her family business. After participated in the Kansai Young Men's Literary Society, in 1900, she became acquainted with a waka poet Tekkan YOSANO at a poetry reading held at a Japanese-style hotel in Hamaderakoen and contributed her poem to "Myojo," an in-house magazine of Shinshisha (New Poetry Society) founded by Tekkan. In the following year she left her home and moved to Tokyo, and published her first poetry anthology "Midaregami" (Tangled hair) that expressed female sensuality in open fashion with which she established her style as a romantic poet. Later she married Tekkan.

In September 1904, she published a poem "Kimi Shinitamou koto nakare" (Thou Shalt Not Die) in "Myojo." In 1911, she contributed a poem that started with 'Yama no ugoku hi kitaru' (The day comes when a mountain moves) to the first issue of "Seito," the first female literary magazine in Japan. In 1912, Akiko followed Tekkan and moved to Paris, France. Ogai MORI helped her to raise money for going abroad with his wide range of literary works and large circle of contacts, and he also proofread "Shinyaku Genji Monogatari (New Translation of The Tale of Genji)" on behalf of Akiko to which he wrote the preface. On May 5, 1912, the Yomiuri Shimbun started a series of articles entitled 'Atarashii Onna' (New Women) with an article on Akiko's voyage to Paris, and on the following day the newspaper reported her departure (some 500 people including Raicho HIRATSUKA saw her off). The following June issue of the "Chuo koron" magazine ran a feature story on Akiko. On May 19, Akiko arrived in Paris via the Trans-Siberian Railway; during four months up to her leaving to Japan from Marseille, France on September 21, she visited England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands and so on.

The same like Higuchi Ichiyou, Fukuzawa was praised for his work and put on the Japanese bill. Fukuzawa is respected and is still friends with Mori as evident in season 3 episode 9 where he said after leaving Lucy “I’m going to visit an old friend”.

Despite the many things Fukuzawa witnessed Mori do (which includes mentally abusing Yosano to have her ability of usage for the mafia) Fukuzawa still sees Mori as a friend and that is seen back with how Mori and Fukuzawa fought.

They both went for the more vital points of their body. Making their death quick and painless so that one cannot suffer compared to the other. Even when Pushkin was caught, the two had one brain cell in that moment and both punched the virus ability user.

Why are Fukuzawa, Yosano and Natsume relevant you might ask? Well, let’s address the elephant in the room.

Let’s dissect season 1 episode 11 first (chapter 14 in the manga.)

We begin with how Mori Ougai is introduced, which is through Higuchi. After the failure that is capturing Atsushi and selling them for 4 billion yen/dollars Higuchi reports to Mori about their failure. This scene made me, a fan of the irl Mori Ougai’s work, open my eyes and ears to see how the two interact:

Higuchi: “I’m truly sorry for this.”

Mori: “Maybe he’ll never regain consciousness.”

Higuchi: “No way!”

Mori: “Don’t worry. You two have done you’re best. It’s true that you failed in the assault of the armed detective agency, erred during the capture of the man-tiger and sank the freighter along with our cargo. But you’ve done your best, and that’s all that mattered. Making effort is the most important. Results only come second, isn’t that right?”

Higuchi: “....”

Mori: “Oh, yeah. The trafficking company Akutagawa destroyed during the mission...the Remnants of Karma Transit seems to be recruiting. They’re probably planning to take revenge on Akutagawa.”

Higuchi: “what?”

Mori: “Listen, Higuchi-kun. The mafia is essentially an economic body that uses violence as its currency. It doesn’t matter at what got sunk or who got killed but if that violence is returned to us, all our expenses will become liabilities.”

Higuchi: “How could you call those liabilities? They were the fruits of of Akutagawa-senpai’s efforts up until now!”

Mori: “Indeed. Akutagawa-kun is highly capable. His violence is outstanding even in the mafia. **But what about you?** “

Higuchi: “....”

Mori: “Higuchi-kun. Have you ever wondered whether this job is really suited for you?”

From what we have seen so far, Mori doesn’t seem angry at her actions. In fact, he seems more disappointed but with a hint of worry. Knowing real life mafia bosses, Higuchi would either get fired or tortured for her failures, yet she is here standing without any injuries. This is the most seen in the anime where Higuchi clearly is talking back to Mori, talking back to the king of the underworld.

The next scene is with the Black Lizards.

Tachihara: “This bastard Gin is always put onto sneaky jobs like infiltration and assassinations. Slitting the throats of families and friends on the higher ups order is quite a usual task. If he had meant it, you wouldn’t even have the time to gape.”

Higuchi: “Did the boss say he wanted me dead?”

Hirotsu: “Not yet, but who knows what will happen in the future.”

Higuchi: *cold face* “So you have come here to mock me?”

Hirotsu: “We’re only here to warn you to stay alert. If I were you I would come up with an insurance plan before the hitman starts closing in. The higher ups aren’t the only ones who are after your head. You and Akutagawa are the Guerrilla Squad directly under the boss’ command, giving you the authority to mobilize us in the combat squad, so your technically our superiors. However we don’t obey you out of your authority, but out of fear and respect for Akutagawa’s ability. Higuchi-kun, now that Akutagawa is out of action what power do you posses to make us obey you?”

Throughout the whole entire scene they say that Higuchi, despite her position as their superior, has not much authority over them. The only reason why they follow her is because she is under Mori’s direct order, so she and Akutagawa are second closes to Mori next to the executives.

Yet why is she here if she isn’t that important to the mafia according to the Black Lizards?

In the next page we see that she is against Mori’s order. Higuchi is going against Mori’s orders. This is a giant red flag because she is directly not following Mori’s order; this is enough to get executed under mafia rules yet she isn’t. How? How is she allowed to go through with this?

Let’s look further:

“But the only reason I never actually did it...”

“It’s not easy to break away from the mafia, but it’s not impossible.”

Let’s take the first sentence. She never finished it. She never said the reason why she never left. All we see is her remembering Akutagawa. This could mean one of two things; 1, she is in love with Akutagawa and wants to protect him or 2. She admires him for him using his ability more efficiently compared to her.

You might be asking, how did we go from Akutagawa to Higuchi’s ability? That’s simple.

Let’s remember Tachihara for example. At first we thought he wasn’t an ability user like Gin but it was later on revealed that his ability, Midwinter Memento, allows him to manipulate metal. While it has nothing in common, the name and the ability itself, this can be the same for Hirotsu.

Which means that authors have abilities, and Higuchi Ichiyou isn’t just some author. She is the first ever female author that got so high as being on a yen bill. So her not having an ability is rather suspicious.

Not only that but let’s look at how the novel 55 minutes describes her:

The novel described Akutagawa as an ability user, how would Higuchi not be described as a non-ability user? Because she is an ability user.

⁠Which brings us back to the first take. Many mafioso’s would get in trouble for going against Mori’s word. With Higuchi it is differently; in season 1 episode 11 you see that Higuchi was talking to Mori on a rather even note, her eyes shined a few times which means that she appreciates the praises but she still went against his word by saying “Akutagawa has done so much to be considered a liability.” She talked back against the boss, that would be considered a punishment in the underground yet Mori kept her. This is also shown in the manga where in the mall, Higuchi talked once again back against him but Mori warned her as if she was a child that wants to know more about her birthday present.

Compare this to how he talks to Hirotsu; a mafioso who is longer in the mafia compared to Mori.

He talked back to him and he got a glare and was questioned “what do you want to say?” In a threatening type of way. Knowing Mori, it isn’t because of the former boss because Mori doesn’t care about him anymore nor is it about Dazai taking his place, that is his main goal.

My theory is that Higuchi’s ability is that big of a liability that she is Mori’s secret weapon.

In season 1 episode 11 she keeps saying “it is difficult to leave the mafia but the reason I stayed is because...”

She never finished her sentence. She never told the full reason why she stayed. In the manga we are shown that she isn’t respected, that subordinates walk over her. Yet even with these facts, Higuchi isn’t fired.

She also says “it is difficult to leave the mafia but it isn’t impossible”

That is a lie because as we have seen with Kyōuka it is impossible. How does Higuchi have such privilege? Because Mori knows she will come back. The reason why in her monologue it showed Akutagawa is because she admires him for being able to control Rashoumon, the same way how Atsushi finds Akutagawa amazing for being able to control Rashoumon.

Mori favors her, and this is shown in a panel in Wan where Higuchi does an impression of Mori when he is with Elise yet instead of being angry at Higuchi, Mori directs his glare to Chuuya and Tachihara. There is also a chapter where Tachihara, Higuchi, Akutagawa and Gin destroyed the Black Lizard hideout but instead of punishing Higuchi (who was the source of the accident) he punished them all.

Let’s look at another thing; how close is Higuchi with Mori?

Season 2 episode 8 where Mori was stabbed by Fyodor. It was brief but we see Higuchi together with the boss. Out of everyone in the mafia; Kouyou, Chuuya, Kajii hell even Akutagawa could (but he was busy looking for Nathanial) it was the least respected mafioso. Not only that but Higuchi back in season 2 gave information that the boss gave personally to Higuchi to send to Dazai.

This could have also been done by Hirotsu or Gin who know Dazai the longest. But something caught my attention. Higuchi said “I researched your history.” This wouldn’t seem bad was it not that Mori keeps Dazai’s executive position open for him to return, so Dazai is still technically an executive. ONLY EXECUTIVES are allowed to learn the history of the other executives. Gin, Hirotsu, Akutagawa, Kajii, Chuuya and Kouyou know about Dazai because they have an actual history with him but Higuchi is an outsider of this. She is like the other mafioso who aren’t related to Dazai yet she did research on him, which isn’t allowed.

Now this might sound as if Higuchi is special but let’s look at something or more someone who also didn’t look special but actually is special; Tachihara Michizo.

On the surface, Tachihara is an arrogant, impulsive, rash individual, more than willing to solve problems through sheer brute force and his dual guns. A violent temper leads to frequent conflict between him and other mafiosi, namely Gin, whom Tachihara views as creepy and frequently insults, leading to arguments, and Hirotsu, who often shuts Tachihara's temper down by threatening him. Tachihara's self-preservation prompts him to obey Hirotsu in the end, albeit reluctantly. An apparent thirst for battle and arrogance fuels Tachihara's temper. He's often seen with a rather feral smile on his face whenever fighting. He seldom considers the weight of a mission over the rush of eliminating his targets. He shows no hesitation nor remorse in murder, in fact sometimes urging to just eliminate a troublesome person if he finds their baggage more than they're worth.

A prideful man, Tachihara despises being underestimated and belittled. This is a surefire way to get oneself shot.

His rebellious side doesn't negate how he values orders, seeing them as an utmost system. Due to this, he attempts to dissuade Higuchi from saving Akutagawa against Mori's orders, even suggesting an alternate plan that wouldn't disobey these orders. Furthermore, he maintains his composure when dragged into shopping with Elise, and tolerates her putting bows in his hair. Despite guards laughing at him, Tachihara doesn't snap. Despite his rough exterior, Tachihara is capable of thinking rationally, just not in the heat of the moment in the Port Mafia. He can recognize danger quickly and finds himself on edge over how nonchalant Mori, Kōyō, and Chūya's meeting went. Tachihara has a proficient understanding of how to deal with the enemy, alluding to a much more cunning side of his true nature.

Much of Tachihara's details of joining the Port Mafia are unknown, however, it is a ruse. His identity as the fifth Hunting Dog reveals a much more clever, driven man. Unlike Ango Sakaguchi, Tachihara always intended to infiltrate the Port Mafia, using his position in the Hunting Dogs to operate as a spy. His confrontation with Yosano is devoid of any rage, depicting a cold, blunt side as he explains his grudge against her for "killing" his brother. Regardless of who he is working for, Tachihara cares deeply for his comrades. He was first to try to stop Higuchi when she tried to save Akutagawa on her own and has been seen visibly harboring guilt for when he cut down Hirotsu and Gin for the sake of his mission as a spy. He has also been seen caring for Teruko when she showed she was heavily injured from going against a plane head-on. He's also notably patient with those who are spoiled, including letting Teruko sit on her shoulders with little protests of being her "slave" and letting Elise put a bow on his head.

Beneath a lot of Tachihara's rough and punk-like exterior is a strong sense of incompetency and inferiority compared to his elder brother who was praised as being "perfect" while he was deemed by his family as being inferior, even being questioned as to why he didn't die instead of him. These things have driven Tachihara to act out and live a life of delinquency and ruthlessness by affiliating with gang activity, but despite these things, he still couldn't shake off these negative feelings. His insecurity and desperation to escape his brother's shadow was so strong, that Tachihara took on the first "order" that allowed him to become someone "not like his brother or his opposite" and joined the Hunting Dogs and infiltrate the Mafia to get revenge on Yosano for "killing" his brother, even when he knew and acknowledged that all of it was an excuse to appease his own negative feelings.

Many didn’t think much of Tachihara next that he was a commander of the Black Lizards and just someone who is close with Chuuya in Wan, however in the current arc we learn that he is a member of the Hunting Dogs with his ability Midwinter Memento being perfect for to lure Yosano to him, and in his fight with Fukuchi we learn that Mori giving him the order to kill Fukuchi was perfect for him.

Tachihara’s ability is named after his famous poem;

*Neither pursuing nor being pursued,

I stand under a barren tree. I'm watching

my silhouette, now marooned on a spotless snow....

(My pale shadow somberly takes shape.)

I'm listening. Yes! I certainly

am listening to what my shadow sings....

In a plaintively nasal voice it sings tunes of long-gone

summer flowers never to return.

Without responding, "That's a bunting, that's a siskin,

that's a white fir

—that's me...I a siskin, I a fir...," my shadow and I

eye each other as though these statements once were true.

My shadow listens to my heart at song.

Like the hubbub of that old arrowing brook,

it listens to tears at song...on the snow.*

This poem is seen mostly how Tachihara lives in the shadow of his brother, how much he listens to what others have to say because he himself can’t find a reason to do something.

As we already had established, Higuchi Ichiyou is a famous female writer. And the characters based on the authors and their books have an ability.

However there are two (three) categories: Name based abilities and non-name based abilities.

(Three being a non-abilities)

Non-abilities: The Great Old Ones and Ultra-Deduction.

Name based: Beast Beneath The Moonlight, Doppo Poet, All Men Are Equal, Lemon Bomb, The Great Fitzgerald, Thou Shalt Not Die, Gone With The Wind, I Am A Cat, A Feast in Time of Plague, Anne of Abyssal Red, Moby Dick, Time Machine, Yesterday’s Shadow Tag, The Grapes of Wrath etc.

Non-name based abilities: Vita Sexualis, Midwinter Memento, Another, An Inherent Drop, Black Cat in the Rue Morgue, Little Woman, Demon Snow/Golden Demon, Flawless, Futon, Plum Blossom in Snow, Priceless Tears, Undefeated By the Rain, No Longer Human, For The Tainted Sorrow etc.

Higuchi Ichiyou’s famous short story Takekurabe (Growing Pains) could be her ability based on that Mori Ougai had praised her for it, which eventually became they key to her success;

“ * [Higuchi Ichiyō’s] ‘Growing Pains’ was acclaimed as a masterpiece, especially when the entire work was republished in a single issue of the popular magazine Bungei Kurabu in April 1896, Mori Ōgai… lavishly praised its every feature: … (Ōgai): It is not especially remarkable that this author, a member of a literary circle in which the Naturalist school is said to be enjoying a vogue should have chosen to set her story in this place [the Yoshiwara district]. What is remarkable is that the characters who haunt this area are not the brute beasts in human form - the copies of Zola, Ibsen, and the rest - presented by the assiduous imitators of the so-called Naturalist school, but human beings with whom we can laugh and cry together… . At the risk of being mocked as an Ichiyō-idolater, I do not hesitate to accord to her the name of ‘poet.’ It is more difficult to depict a person with individual characteristics than a stereotype, and far more difficult to depict and individual in a milieu than a special person all by himself. This author, who has painted the ‘local coloring’ of Daionji-mae so effectively that one might say it has ceased to exist apart from ‘Growing Pains,’ without leaving any trace of the efforts such portraiture must have cost her, must truly be called a woman of rare ability.* “

(Credit to Donald Keene, Dawn to the West.)

But what could Growing Pains do if it was actually an ability? For most we need to understand what an actual ability needs to have in common.

For this we will take For The Tainted Sorrow and see how this ability is related to gravity?

With literal names based abilities we look at Atsushu. Atsushi has the ability to transform into a white tiger. At first, he doesn't seem to have much control over the transformation, likely due to the fact, or caused by, his unawareness of his state as an Ability user. After becoming an official member of the Agency and under the influence of All Men Are Equal, he gains more control over his transformations - as shown during his second fight with Akutagawa, when he breaks the transformation on his arms to escape.

My theory is that Higuchi’s ability allows her to paralyze her enemies.

Let’s look as too why I think this and use the summary of Takekurabe as an example; The main characters are children living on the edge of Yoshiwara, the only district of Edo that was licensed for prostitution. As they grow up, they find themselves assuming their family professions and losing the freedom they enjoyed as children. Next we have Nigorie translated into English as Troubled Waters and Muddy Water, is a Japanese short story written by Higuchi Ichiyō in 1895. It depicts the fate of a courtesan in the red light district of a nameless town during the Meiji era. Nigorie centers around Oriki, the most popular courtesan at the Kikunoi, a brothel in the red light district of an unspecified town, and a group of people connected to her, during the summer Obon festival. Through her conversations with other prostitutes, and Oriki's accounts in the presence of new customer Yūki Tomonosuke, the reader learns that a previous customer, Genshichi, a futon salesman of moderate affluence, was addicted to Oriki and spent all his money at the brothel. Now that Genshichi has been reduced to the hard labor of a construction worker, forced to move with his wife Ohatsu and his young son Takichi into a smaller flat in a run-down section of town, Oriki rejects seeing him despite his pleas. Tomonosuke repeatedly questions Oriki during his visits. She reminisces about her poor upbringing, which she cites, together with her profession, as the reason for not wanting to marry, although she had contemplated the possibility. She recounts a childhood incident when she was seven years old, sent by her mother to buy rice for supper. On her way back, she slipped on the frozen ground, spilling the rice into the gutter, leaving the family starving for this day. Meanwhile, Ohatsu scolds Genshichi for his ongoing obsession with Oriki and the family's poverty, which she tries to mitigate by doing piecework. When Takichi comes home with a piece of cake, which he received as a gift from Oriki (whom he refers to as "the demon-lady"), Ohatsu angrily throws it away. Genshichi, furious about her ongoing accusations and behaviour, demands that she leaves him. Ohatsu begs him to let her stay, as she has no relatives she can return to, but finally leaves, taking their son with her. At the end of the festivities, the dead bodies of Oriki and Genshichi are found. While it seems obvious that Genshichi committed suicide by seppuku, the cause of Oriki's death stays unclear. The passerbys speculate about her fate; while one assumes a shinjū (double love suicide), another one reasons that the wounds on Oriki's body make a murder after her attempted escape more plausible. It is left to the reader to determine the true circumstance of her death.

From these famous stories we can already determine that Higuchi’s stories are centered around the concept of one-sided attraction. This is something she and Akutagawa have, a one-sided attraction. This is the most in season 3 episode 5 where Higuchi doesn’t seem to find her way of trying to confess that she loves Akutagawa or that she thinks she admires him. And what is there not to admire about Akutagawa? He has an amazing ability, he is reliable in many ways but is just stubborn. So with this in mind, Higuchi’s (if this theory is correct) ability comes in this form; Higuchi’s ability is a mix of a non-name based ability and a name-based ability. The ability of paralyzation has the meaning of that she is paralyzed by fear with job as a mafioso but also her fear of being rejected by Akutagawa and that it is the greatest liability Mori has in order to protect Yokohama-This idea comes more in mind in the manga, Chapter 41, where we briefly see Higuchi’s little sister. This may not mean much to you but Higuchi is the only confirmed character with a little sister who isn’t based on a book (Gin=Ogin and Naomi=Naomi). Which leads me to the reason why she doesn’t use her ability anymore or is restricting herself- and the second is the meaning of Growing Pains ; Growing pains are often described as an ache or throb in the legs — often in the front of the thighs, the calves or behind the knees. Growing pains tend to affect both legs and occur at night, and may even wake a child from sleep. Although these pains are called growing pains, there's no evidence that growth hurts.

There could have been an incident in which Higuchi accidentally used her ability on her little sister which resulted in her little sister being paralyzed. She could have met Mori and knowing Mori he manipulated in keeping her ability a secret and for repayment let her join the mafia. This idea is further proven with how he was with Yosano; after the death of Tachihara’s brother Mori manipulated Yosano into thinking that this is her fault, almost making her join the mafia out of guilt was it not for Ranpo.

6. Maybe Higuchi wasn’t as lucky and thought that what Morti said was true and joined the mafia out of guilt, which leads me as to why she fell in love with him. The nightingale effect; The Florence Nightingale effect is a trope where a caregiver falls in love with their patient, even if very little communication or contact takes place outside of basic care. Feelings may fade once the patient is no longer in need of care. Higuchi fell in love with Akutagawa not out of admiration but out of care for him. That guilt of not being able to take care of him could be because of her little sister and the fear that Higuchi one day paralyzes Akutagawa, as to why she isn’t using her ability. After all, this isn’t the first time there was a character who hid their ability to do things without it; Fyodor and Tachihara.

And the last thing that might confirm Higuchi’s importance is the way she acted in Wan and the Onsen drama CD. While Wan is merely a comedy it does call out the characters for their flaws and unique personalities, meanwhile the Onsen drama CD is like a filler but adds information about certain characters and their relationship; Higuchi included.

1. ⁠She stalks Akutagawa at first out of fear that other organizations might attack him, but at this point she stalks him with a mix of worry and not being capable of walking up to him.

2. ⁠She is rather open to nudity as shown that she said to Chuuya “it is my job to help Akutagawa even it means being naked” (or something along those lines).

In a certain chapter however where the Port Mafia had to disguise themselves as Mori, Higuchi was up and while she failed to look like Mori because she is very feminine she then used another tactic which is acting like Mori when he is with Elise. For most, Mori would have either glared at them and give them punishment, he glared at Chuuya and Tachihara (who were the closest next to him) instead at Higuchi. Higuchi broke many Port Mafia rules, many times she failed and has unintentionally mocked him yet she is still here.

so what do you guys think? Is this theory plausible?

#higuchi ichiyo #higuchi bsd #theories #speculation #bungou stray dogs #mori ougai #yosano akiko #tachihara michizou #ability

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strawberry-butter · 3 years

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matters of the head and heart│visualizer (pt. 2/2)

i wrote a skz fic titled matters of the head and heart (featuring stray kids’s felix, han, and seungmin [very minor appearance]; itzy’s ryujin, lia [very minor appearance], and yuna [very minor appearance]) about a year ago, and since i’m writing another historical au set in the same time period (early 1850s london) and since i'm not currently in the mood to write, here are most, if not all, of the clothes and accessories i used as references for matters alongside the lines of description in the fic and some reasoning, in order of appearance.

part 1 since there’s an image limit

there’s no need to read the fic to understand what i'm talking about since it’s mostly fashion, but there are some plot lines integrated into the quotes, so spoilers ahead.

also, all links below lead to museum collections or historical fashion blogs if you’re interested in the piece.

Felix describes it to him, detailing the waving tentacles he has envisioned and the way they could be coiled into Miss Shin’s hair if she wished.

...

With more cheer than before, Felix shows Miss Shin the progress he has made on her headdress so far: tentacles that trail down the back, moving pieces that make it appear the arms are waving, and glowing phosphorus eyes.

this headdress is from mid-19th century america. the loops are made of chenille, and they really convey how i wanted the octopus tentacles of ryujin’s headdress to look. they would be made of metal however and be able to move. as for the octopus head, i imagined it perched on top of her head like the one in the second image, minus the veil.

Then his eyes travel downward to the ribbon choker around your throat and to your shoulders. He quickly averts his eyes to the evening gown you wear — sage green with an understated floral pattern, which perfectly matches your headdress. The fan in your hand is closed shut, the golden handle appearing bronze under the lights.

...

Your dress is reminiscent of what you wore at Miss Shin’s debut: a green evening gown dotted with tiny pink blossoms, and gold trim around the shoulders that complements the gilded butterflies that swarm around your head.

i really love this dress, so much so that i based both of y/n’s evening dresses on it in the story. it’s pretty much what i envisioned. it’s french, but most female fashions were from paris anyway, and it’s just so pretty. however, the fan is american and from 1886, but it matches the dress and conveys the idea well enough.

you draw a cluster of butterflies on the side of the headdress and small flowers to fill in the gaps.

the first image contains two items: item a is the actual headdress, and item b is a matching bouquet. the bouquet isn’t important to the outfit, but it’s pretty nonetheless. the color scheme of the headdress is perfect. both items are from mid-19th century france. the butterflies would be the focal point of the headdress. it’s obviously not from the 1850s, but that’s the amount of detail i want the butterflies to have.

Felix is frantically soldering the minute hand onto one of the many tiny clocks on this hat.

because the “hat” is for lia, it would probably be more fitting if it were a bonnet instead. however, i couldn’t resist paying homage to the typical hats associated with steampunk. lia ordering a hat could be explained by ryujin’s influence, but i think a bunch of tiny clocks instead of flowers on the bonnet would like cool too. how this would be done in practice, i have no clue, but to be honest, all of my proposed reimagines seem impractical.

anyway, back to trying to write.

#stray kids #skz #i guess i'll tag itzy since ryujin and lia's fashions make up half the post lol #itzy #steampunk au #victorian au #historical au

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maverick-werewolf · 4 years

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Hey there Sorry to ask you at time like this but what's your thoughts for Resident Evil: Village? When I watched that trailer, I was thinking about you for being Chris Redfield fan, & yes, some of the enemies are indeed werewolves (wolfman hybrid basically) from what I heard. Of course Werewolves aren't the only enemies, as there are also witches ( & vampires?) involved in this plot. It would be really fun to heard it from a werewolf expert. & of course take your time slowly. No need to hurry🥰

(sorry it took me sooooo long to reply to this!)

I have my reservations about it, but it could be interesting! Most of my reservations are related to being a long-time Resident Evil (and especially Chris Redfield) fan. And, ah, I don’t like the redesign for Chris, hah. I think he... looks awful... and I hope they fix that... I sorely miss the RE5 and RE6 Chris design. RE5 is absolutely iconic.

But! I do think it could be cool and interesting. I’m curious to see how they handle it. I really, really, really hope they don’t just make the “werewolves” into hairy zombies, though, like so many things do (hi, Order 1886). It’ll hurt my soul if they do that. I’ll be so very disappointed, especially because I have come up with about a thousand headcanons for how werewolves could work and exist in the RE setting and they totally could’ve just asked me.

I don’t know enough about it right now to really speak to what I think of how they’re handling it, though. Either way, the spoilers that got leaked actually gave me more hope for the game than I had before, honestly! So I’m cautiously excited to hear - and see - more. But, you must understand, I am unfortunately rather jaded these days (I don’t want to be, hah), but I do enjoy being proven wrong.

Here’s hoping! I’m curious to hear more about the game.

(P.S. Thank you so much for a Chris-related ask, my dear anon! I do miss him so. <3)

#asks #anonymous #Resident Evil #Resident Evil Village #RE8 #re8 village #werewolves #Chris Redfield

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notsuch · 8 years

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look hard, knight, see the evil we both fight against.

#the order 1886 #lakshmi bai #* s: i hear your empire down #* ch: a flavor of honey and gunpowder on the air #* ch: you’re a walking war with casualties seeping through #spoilers??

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barzombi-shitpost · 6 years

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So I just finished playing Vampyr...

This game is fucking good.

I was expecting a good game, and I walk away from what is probably my favorite game of all times, or at least a strong contender (Senua’s Sacrifice is probably there too).

The problems with the game do exist, however. Drops of framerate, some dialogue choices not that clear on consequences, not-that-good motion capture, some awkward moments (you can accuse someone of poisoning another person, and they’ll continue to talk to you like nothing happened !), and a sometimes clunky battle system.

But aside from that, I loved EVERYTHING. The question of which NPC to eat or spare, and the consequences of your choices, are the best mecanic of the game ! Because to get more XP out of an NPC, you need to know them, their little secrets, who cares for them, etc... so most of the time, you look at an NPC, worth sometimes thousands of XP, and think “Nah... I can’t eat them, who will take care of their grandma ?”, and you think about that PRECISELY because you have to know them before eating them for the sacrifice to be worth it !

It’s fucking genius.

Aside from that, good quality of dialog if you like melancolic gothic horror (and lucky me, I do !), and every single NPC is unique and has their little story and features. There isn’t a single one of them who has nothing to say, even though some of them are not as well-written and important as others.

Good diversity, also, even though, again, it could have been even better.

There’s something like 40-ish male characters, and 20-ish female characters, with something like ten of them being PoC.

I know for a lot of people it’s not enough, but for a game about gothic themes and vampires, I was (sadly) expecting an almost all-white cast (*cough* The Order 1886 *cough*), and some women, but not much.

The LGBT community is... well almost not there, alas (at least officialy), but there IS an openly gay couple, and for a game set in 1918, that’s something, at least.

The main story is good, but I honestly prefered the interactions with the NPC and the sidequests. Some of them are extremely sad, others are hilarious.

The big boss battles are... untertaining, but clearly the game shines more in its quiet, intimate moments and in the narration. Don’t go in there thinking it’s gonna be Bloodborne all over again.

Oof. There, finished. I might add some other things later, but I’d like to talk a bit about big fat SPOILERS, now. Just one thing, about a debate on the main character love interest.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Honestly, I don’t get WHY people are so mad about lady Ashbury and Jonathan Reid. Really.

I mean, yes, it IS a heterosexual relationship. Yes, it IS an indivisible part of the story. But, seriously, it’s not enough to ruin a game, as I have seen some proclaim.

The same thing more or less happens in Life is Strange AND Life is Strange : Before the Storm (althought they aren’t cishet relationships, I’ll give you that), and it doesn’t ruin the game : it tells a story.

But in these three games, the love story in here to reinforce the theme : highschool life and discovery of life in the titles of Life is Strange, and gothic, “noble” and almost Arthurian themes and relationships in Vampyre.

Would I had prefered to have the choice ? Yes. But considering the very end of the game, or at least the one I had, it fits the theme so perfectly that to change it would be stupid, in my opinion.

I also see people saying Jonathan has more alchemy with McCullum, that we encounter exactly FOUR TIMES in the game (and twice less than 10 seconds), than with Lady Ashbury, who is here from almost the very beginning.

I disagree.

Jonathan and McCullum DO have alchemy, it’s true. As adversaries, not really as love interests. The battle against McCullum (the Boss battle, I mean) is very interesting, because YOU are the usual antagonist, and the fact that you can spare the lad, after telling him that you want the same thing, and aren’t really that different... Well it was fucking good, and an excellent use of the trope in reverse.

But I’d rather have a hundred stories of Victorian slow burn with Lady Ashbury than to basically rape a man who wants to kill me to make him a vampire.

Because that’s option number two, after the Boss battle, and I’ve seen people ship these two together because of that. And it honestly makes me uneasy.

I precise that this man is, for what I know, the ONLY NPC you can turn that would undertake the transformation unwillingly, where you have to force-feed him your blood.

So think what you will of Lady Ashbury, but please don’t give me this excuse as a “better couple”.

At least Doctor Swansea would have taken the blood with pleasure ^^

#vampyr #vampyr spoilers #vampyr game #lady ashbury #don't give me this kind of excuse...#good game though #l'opinion d'un petit croissant

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gamerzcourt · 6 years

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Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

New Post has been published on https://www.gamerzcourt.com/xbox-one-and-the-quest-for-relevance-at-e3-2018xbox-one-and-the-quest-for-relevance-at-e3-2018xbox-360/

Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018Xbox One and The Quest for Relevance At E3 2018xbox 360

It’s not often that I rant at Microsoft and even less so around E3 time. After all, tis the season for every company to hawk their wares, put everything up for show and convince us to actually partake in their games/services for the next year. Well, except for maybe EA which devoted significant effort to showcase a Command and Conquer title that no one enjoyed. But I digress.

Isn’t it better to judge a company after their press conference is over? In Microsoft’s case, the struggle that its Xbox brand is having to remain relevant isn’t new nor did it begin a few years ago. The resulting struggle has been going on for a while now, taking roots in the Xbox 360 era up till the introduction of Kinect.

“Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends.”

In this day and age, the Xbox One is still a fairly popular console. Granted, it won’t ever reach the PlayStation 4’s sales and may even be struggling to hit half that amount. That was becoming incredibly apparent only a year after both consoles launched. It was painfully obvious that Microsoft was lagging behind. It was incredibly sad to see the company’s botched “always online” functions ultimately drag the Xbox One down, even if they were completely reversed before launch.

However, in 2014, the Xbox One was cooking in some pretty cool ways. Titles like Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall (which would also release for Xbox 360), Project Spark and Forza Horizon 2 were cementing it as this place with great games. Well, except for Halo: The Master Chief Collection that is. 2015 would seem to be even better with franchises like Forza Motorsport, Rare Replay, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Halo and Tomb Raider (albeit in timed exclusive form) sharing space with new franchises like Ori and the Blind Forest and Rivals of Aether.

Of course, it didn’t take long before Microsoft’s old habits began to creep up. Halo 5: Guardians was a huge disappointment at launch, especially with its campaign, and only cemented 343 Industries as a developer that thought it knew what made the Halo games great, and not the fans. Gears of War 4 would release in 2016 and barely carried the franchise forward in any meaningful way. Forza Horizon 3 was pretty incredible but titles like Quantum Break just didn’t rise above our already average expectations. Dead Rising 4 was just awful and ReCore wasn’t the best new IP by a long shot despite the incredible talent involved.

Cut to 2017 and what is Microsoft best known for? Why, cancelling Scalebound and shutting down Lionhead Studios along with Fable Legends. Were both projects going to be amazing? Well, we don’t really know but this was a console that desperately needed exclusives. With Sony firing on all cylinders with its first and third party exclusives in that quarter, Nintendo at the pinnacle of hype with the Switch release and no major exclusives but Halo Wars 2, Microsoft seemed trapped.

“It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.”

This practice of cancelling projects and relegating studios by the wayside wasn’t exactly new either – Microsoft had done the same to Obsidian Entertainment, with the company on the verge of bankruptcy before Pillars of Eternity was fully funded. Similarly, the numerous hoops that it made developer Darkside jump through before taking them off of the Phantom Dust sequel were similarly damning.

It’s not like the latter part of the year helped either. Cuphead was the one shining light in a land of original IPs but Forza Motorsport 7, despite being excellent, felt like more of the same (but with progression seemingly gated behind loot boxes). Tacoma was all well and good (even though, again, it was a timed exclusive) but Microsoft was laser-focused on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, particularly on its exclusivity to the Xbox One. It was marketed as this huge prize that would see console players flock to the Xbox One. In December 2017, not only was PUBG one of the worst optimized games for either Xbox One X or Xbox One but the base PC version is buckling under the lack of improvements, new content and proper optimization. Granted, things have improved but PUBG’s popularity also took a significant hit with Fornite: Battle Royale’s release.

What is Microsoft’s plan come E3 2018, which will pretty much define its strategies going forward? Will there be much change with Matt Booty as head of Microsoft Studios as of January 2018? Rumours indicate that Halo, Gears of War and Forza will form a major part of Microsoft’s plans (with some Fable thrown in for good measure). Looking back on Microsoft in the Xbox 360 days, it’s incredible how the company seemingly doubles down on these franchises when all else seems lost. The spoiler is that these franchises aren’t advancing the Xbox business as much as Microsoft would think.

You could argue that back when the Xbox 360 was winding down, Kinect was popular and for sure, it did some very good business for Microsoft. However, the crux of the issue is that – unlike Nintendo – Microsoft has struggled to really muster up a compelling first party catalog when motion controls started trending downwards. The one constant isn’t that Microsoft keeps going back to its known franchises to cater to their respective fans. It’s that Microsoft has failed to really foster new ideas within those franchises (or indeed within new franchises) to really excite anyone in recent memory.

“The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns.”

Look at Sony, which pushes new franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn and new ideas in established franchises like God of War. Not every new idea is a slam-dunk hit (see The Order: 1886) and not every idea is incredible out of the gate (Evolution Studios’ DriveClub). However, it’s clear that the studio isn’t looking to just compete with the best that first party competitors have to offer. It’s competing with third party developers, pushing higher production values in offbeat concepts and providing a platform with benefits for third party developers on the PS4. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to minimize its third party dealings.

I’m not saying that deals with timed exclusive DLC for FIFA or Call of Duty set my world on fire but they were a few of the aces that Microsoft had. This is, again, to say nothing of Microsoft’s dealings with developers like Platinum Games who it completely shafted. We could talk forever about Microsoft’s failure to really employ the creativity seen in the Japanese game development market. But those chickens came home to roost in 2017 itself when all the big names like Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Nioh and so on stuck with the PlayStation 4 at their respective launches (with Nier: Automata only now being confirmed for Xbox One).

The point isn’t that Sony is pro-consumer. It’s the building of successive franchises with a longer goal in mind rather than going back to the well again and again and again for diminishing returns. Yes, God of War and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End remain some of the most successful PS4 titles. Re-imaginings/remakes of old classics like Ratchet and Clank and Shadow of the Colossus have also proven successful. However, it’s the franchises like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human, Bloodborne, Nioh, Nier: Automata, Persona 5, Gravity Rush 2, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and so on which it either developed or helped foster (even as some released on other platforms later) that are ultimately building up the console’s brand.

“If Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.”

On the flip-side, look at the Nintendo Switch. Even if Nintendo does go back to the well with franchises like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, it’s still pushing relatively newer properties like Splatoon 2, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Snipperclips, Fast RMX, and ARMs. It’s providing a platform for games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, numerous indie titles which couldn’t break out on other platforms, and so on to achieve success. Even when it does recycle old IPs, it does so in unique ways as the open world of Zelda: Breath of the Wild attests. Furthermore, it’s proving a strong platform for indie developers to really taste success.

Of course, foresight is 20/20. Even if franchises on Nintendo’s less successful Wii U platform didn’t exactly set the charts on fire, like Bayonetta 2, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it still brings them over to the Switch on short notice at the behest of fans. Furthermore, it uses properties like Bayonetta 2 to help promote upcoming exclusives like Bayonetta 3. It’s almost like Nintendo seems in tune with what the consumer may want and attempts to deliver it to them. What a funny concept, right? That doesn’t dismiss whatever issues people may have with the upcoming online service but again, there are still more incredible games on the Nintendo Switch in its first year then there’s been on the Xbox One in the past two.

At the end of the day, whether it’s Sony, Nintendo or even the various PC-exclusive developers, players around the world are given umpteen reasons to invest their time into these platforms. Those looking to get into a platform won’t just have the future to look forward to – they’ll have a compelling backlog supported by strong names, whether new, old or rising. The Xbox One currently lacks this and if Microsoft goes back to the well again with Halo, Gears of War and Forza, it’s shooting itself in the foot a decade later.

“With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.”

The Xbox One doesn’t just need new IPs. It needs IPs that people would fall over themselves to invest time into. State of Decay 2 garnered over one million players in the first two days of release while Sea of Thieves reached over two million its first week. Game Pass user breakdowns aside, both titles have motivated Xbox One users to invest in them. Microsoft is on some kind of right track (even if the above titles were rather average in their critical response) but needs more quality and in larger quantities. It needs its own Bloodborne or Uncharted 4 or Horizon: Zero Dawn. Not in the sense that it needs the exact ideas those games contain but to inspire the same kind of frenzy that those games do.

Microsoft’s E3 2018 presser is on June 10th. Will we see history repeat itself as the company struggles to relate to a user base that expects more? There are 15 “World Premieres” planned for the show. Will that equate to 140 minutes of just premiering games that will also be coming to other consoles like Battlefield 5? Will it simply cut the prices for the Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox One S even further? Announce some free subscriptions? Or will it ignite our excitement like it did in 2014, showcasing a company that doesn’t just want to talk down to its players but offer them exciting things and back up those offers with exciting products?

Time will tell and for better or worse, time seems to be running out for the house that Xbox built. A long time ago, we would push certain companies to be better simply because more competition was good for everyone. With Nintendo and Sony doing incredibly well for themselves, Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in danger of not just “third place” but total irrelevance.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Video Game News, Reviews, Walkthroughs And Guides – GamingBolt

#2018Xbox #Quest #Relevance #Xbox

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sadkittyworld · 5 years

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N.S _Wk 1

Today, we had our briefing for the new project. This project seems to be very exciting as I really like the story of Jekyll and Hyde. Having to write my own version of the story is going to be very interesting.

We will be writing a short film screenplay along with a critical essay, both together will be 2000 words. We can go over or under the word limit by 10%. Knowing my writing style I always end up going over the normal word limit I’m so glad that we have a +/- 10%. For the essay we should ideally divide the writings into 1000 words for the screenplay and 1000 words for the essay.

Adapted stories has been popular in the history of animation.

'When I was a boy, animation was... a magical power that could bring fossilised art forms to life'.

Sylvain Chomet (as quoted in Cavalier, 2011, p6)

Calder, S. (2011) The World History of Animation. London: Aurum Press.

In our short film screenplay we may have dialogue or voice-overs, but it may be entirely visual.

Of course we have to read the story in order to understand it. I've read it before but that was a very long time ago. At the time I suppose I didn't fully understand the text. I have to re-read the novella in order to have a better understanding of the text and so that I can create a story inspired by the original story.

I have decided to listen to an Audible version of the novella. This way I can listen anywhere without looking at a book or an e-reader.

Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

A novella by Robert Louis Stevenson published in 1886, the late Victorian era. It was also significantly 2 years before the Whitechapel murders or when Jack the Ripper appeared and disappeared.

This novella is considered the first example of 'Urban Gothic' which is a genre originated from the genre 'Urban Horror'.

We looked the 1st chapter of the novella. There was a few spoilers for people who didn't know the story of the novella.

There has been many film adaptation of this story, the main reason is that it has a strong thematic question as well as a gripping narrative.

Story of Jekyll and Hyde is an Allegory: meaning it has a deeper hidden meaning.

There are many themes that address human condition in this novella, in fact many are still relevant.

This is the main reason it is perfect for an adaptation. The concealed themes/meanings can be shown in various different forms.

In my adaptation I would like to have Hyde as the main character rather than Jekyll.

Though in the original version Hyde is a very vague figure at least according to the other characters. They can't describe him and because Stevenson left the description for Hyde vague it allows the readers' imagination to run wild and is open to interpretation. However in my version he will be described as beautiful young man which takes away certain mysterious air of the character. When the reader imagines the Mr Hyde, they project their own fears and fantasies into the gaps in the description of the character, an example of this happening is when Utterson, a character from the story, imagines how Hyde looks like from Enfield's description. We see that Utterson is haunted by his fantasies of how Hyde looks like, that is until he sees him and the image from his dreams were destroyed.

The first draft of the novella was written quickly, based on a (supposedly drug-fueled) dream. Stevenson called it a 'fine bogey tale'. It is said that his wife Fanny told him to rewrite the story as it could be more than a mere horror story.

Drug-fueled because Stevenson was very ill and weak meaning he had to take a lot of drugs.

I want to keep my story set in Victorian England. I feel that this is one of the key things that will keep my adaptation related to the original story.

Victorian facts:

Prostitution was illegal yet it was rife(common occurrence, widespread). It was estimated that there was around 80,000 prostitutes in London at the time.

Heroin was given to children to keep them quiet. Children were given opiate-based medicines such as Godfrey's Cordial, and the ominously-named 'Infant Quietness'...

'Drug abuse was widespread among Victorian babies' (Goodman, 2013).

Victorians in general were drug takers. Many people often visited opium dens (or gin palaces). It was possible for people to buy cocaine, laudanum, and even arsenic without prescription. Drug addiction is a theme in 'Jekyll and Hyde'. I have decided to keep this theme alive in my story.

Average life expectancy was 38 yrs. Infant mortality was very high, 20% of children died before their fifth birthday in the poorer areas of Britain's larger cities.

They took post-mortem photos. Super creepy! Most families may not have had a chance or the financial resources to take a picture of them when they were alive.

In 1861 there were 640 charities in London alone, mostly run by well-meaning middle class women.

Wallpaper, baby's bottle, drinking water, central heating and painted toys could get you killed.

Painted toys were painted with lead paint - lead poisoning + child = death

Gas heating and lighting were used before the invention of the light bulb. they were very hazardous, switch on light = BOOM! Stoves exploded and people suffocated in their sleep.

Due to the birth of gas lighting, bright coloured walls became a trend, the were dying to have their homes look fashionable, literally. Scheele’s Green’ a brilliant and long-lasting, but deadly wallpaper that was popular at the time. It was made from copper arsenite. This and the Victorian belief that windows should be kept shut resulted in the creation of noxious fumes that killed many in their sleep.

Corsets were worn by women of the Victorian Era. It made it difficult for them to breath and they were easily bruised. Just climbing the stairs made them dizzy.

The high society of the Victorian Era saw ‘tight lacing’ as fashion. The ladies competed to achieve the smallest waist.

The Victorians were hypocrites. They didn’t like to have their hypocrisy pointed out.

They had Anatomical museums opened in order to warn people of the different diseases that they could possibly get if they weren’t careful.

Homosexual activity was made illegal.

Onanism was not permitted and there were devices to help people from refrain from these activities. Famous playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for Homosexual activity in 1895.

The women had it rough for their wrong doing. They had visible evidence of the wrongdoing, this caused many to suicide by drowning themselves in the Thames.

In summary:

Victorian England was a place of strict religious morals.

Violation of the moral code lead to social ruin(loss of job, home, family, children, status...) and possible imprisonment.

Social repression of the unacceptable desires didn’t eliminate those desires, instead it forced them to hide them, thus forming a dual lifestyle, one of a respectable gentleman and one of a secretive man who feed on his secret desires, in a man’s case anyways. Women in general were considered as accessories or the property of a man after they are married. So glad I’m not living in the Victorian England.

#p7 #wk11 #jekyll and hyde #hyde #jekyll

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midnight-in-town · 7 years

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John Brown as the mastermind behind the Blue Sect and the recent sad events?

Disclaimer: Spoilers and long post. As such, this theory will initially be a little chronological to try and make the explanation simpler. If any point is unclear, feel free to ask @thedarkestcrow or me about it as it is something we discussed together. :)

First of all, here’s what we know about the current arc (ch127 happens mid-November 1889):

Bravat (who’s most likely human) knew from the beginning that Ciel is the Watchdog (”Earl Phantomhive”), that Seb is a demon, that Lizzie is Ciel’s fiancée and that the Starlight Four committed crimes at Weston.

Bravat’s sect is at least one and a half year/two years old (ch125). However, seeing as there was no hint of massive blood collects and death before August/September 1889, we’ll assume for this theory that the 4 star lords were put in Bravat’s care at some point during Summer 1889, which is when Bravat started using the S4 to promote the Sphere music hall in order to collect as much blood as possible.

Othello said that, considering the anormal progress of the sect’s technology, a supernatural being is most likely behind it (ch119/ch125). This supernatural mastermind is very probably the reason Bravat knew about Sebastian being a demon (and about Lizzie and Ciel).

While the reason tying Lizzie to the sect is still unclear, we’re going to assume for this theory that Bravat’s mention of her to Ciel (ch123) might mean that she’s seen as a possible hostage to use against him.

Lastly, about the 2CT: it seems like it’s almost confirmed.

Lord Sirius being Ciel’s twin (aka Real!Ciel, a “bizarre doll”) is a popular theory

Agni’s reaction when he found the burnt picture of Ciel’s family (ch126) was quite telling that something was unexpected about this picture.

I hope all of this makes sense for you guys! Onto the theory about John Brown...

1) Going back in time...

...To December 1885, Vincent is killed and his sons are bought by a satanic cult that intends on using them as sacrifices in order to summon a demon. In January 1886, Real!Ciel is sacrificed on the altar and our!Ciel manages to summon Sebastian, selling his soul to him in order to survive and get revenge. He then becomes the new Queen’s Watchdog in March 1886.

Fastforwarding a bit, ch125 told us that the old Lords whom Bravat used to transfuse regularly should have died more than one and a half year ago, meaning that Bravat’s sect has been at least existing ever since Winter 1887/Spring 1888.

A possible link to Ryan’s Aurora Society or the mysterious Osiris company mentioned during the Campania arc is possible but we don’t have any hint vouching for it yet.

Fastforwarding again, it’s February 1889 and the Circus arc happens, resulting in a messy ending, with Ciel lying to the Queen about his report for this case, not knowing that the Double Charles and John Brown (as well as the Undertaker) witnessed what he truly did.

As a result, Queen Victoria organizes a grand punishment in March 1889, starring Charles Grey killing an important German lord and trying to have Ciel take the fall for the murder in front of witnesses. This ends rather well though, as Ciel manages to trick Grey and blame someone else for the murder.

In April 1889, it’s the Campania arc, where the Undertaker introduces for the first time his Bizarre Doll project, indirectly mass-murdering many people seemingly without a care in the world. He manages to run away, leaving his chain of lockets to Ciel and with Sebastian concluding the arc on...

They obviously did run into him again though, in June 1889, when they end up facing ameliorated BDs, because of several murders committed by 4 students (the Starlight 4). At the end of this arc, Ciel makes his report to Queen Victoria, telling her about the S4′s crimes but also about the Undertaker’s Bizarre Dolls. Strangely enough though, she doesn’t find Ciel’s explanation to be senseless and once he left, this discussion about BDs happens between her and John Brown:

So, Queen Victoria seems to find the idea of having BDs as “allies” to be very fancy. And, as the following arc happening in Germany in August 1889 will show, it seems that Queen Victoria finds that idea to be oh! so very interesting because she’s actually preparing for a war against Germany, which is also why she asks Ciel to bring Sieglinde and her latest deadly invention (the SULIN gas) back to England, so that Sieglinde can invent new war weapons that the Queen will then use against Germany.

At least that was how the clever plan getting Victoria new deadly war weapons was supposed to go.

Because two slight problems arose:

the Undertaker unfortunately doesn’t happen to be Victoria’s greatest fan (most likely because she’s the reason Vincent, and maybe Claudia Phantomhive, ended up dead thanks to the Watchdog duty), so trying to make friends with UT to get the BDs probably wouldn’t work at all.

Ciel unfortunately saw through Victoria’s plan for Sieglinde and the SULIN and he tasked Sebastian with getting rid of the very deadly gas in ch108, double crossing “his master” by doing so.

Unfortunately though, Ciel’s plan kind of backfired at him, since Queen Victoria and John Brown made it rather obvious in ch108 (late August 1889) that they saw through his little game, which means that it’s the second mistake (or act of defiance) that Ciel made as the Watchdog in less than a year, causing Brown/King Albert to...

...compare him to his very murdered father.

@thedarkestcrow and I (and other readers of course) took this as a rather serious threat against Ciel (something he probably realized as well), perfectly fitting with the theory that the Queen and John Brown might have something to do with the murders of Vincent and Rachel, for a reason that’s still unknown. [x] [x]

In any case, while Victoria saw through Ciel’s little game with the SULIN quite obviously, she doesn’t appear to have punished him (yet?) and anyway, ch114 told us that she was actually visiting Sieglinde often, probably because she hasn’t given up on Sieglinde creating something useful for her war.

As for her desire to get allies in the form of Bizarre Dolls, if the one who initially had the idea (the Undertaker) can’t be found and convinced to help her, maybe she could ask another supernatural being to make them for her?

One she already knows; one she trusts because he comforts her when she’s sad and missing her husband; one who knows about her war plans and who promised to protect her; one who traveled in record time from England to Germany without riding his horse and without triggering the traps in the forest; one whose eyes are always hidden, hinting that maybe they would give away his true nature should they be seen...

...Or maybe John Brown is making it all a surprise in this arc because he’s very dedicated to her...?

2) John Brown (and Queen Victoria?) as the mastermind behind this arc

Starting from here, this is all hypothetical, but maybe I should say now that @thedarkestcrow and I started considering that the supernatural mastermind Othello hinted at had to be someone who was not the Undertaker ever since Ciel became targeted in the recent events. For now, it’s unclear whether Soma really was the target of the attack of ch126/127 or if Ciel was, but, even if the target was Soma, it most likely inherently had to do with Ciel.

So, considering the Undertaker’s attachment to the P family, we tend to agree with Sebastian when he once said that the Undertaker “doesn’t seem to want to cause [Ciel] harm”. Besides, so far, the Undertaker’s BD project mostly was based on alterations of cinematic records, so the fact that the 4 Lords (if they’re indeed supposed to be BDs) seemed to be dependent of blood always made us wonder why he’d change his methods now (especially after BD!Algares who was almost perfect).

However, John Brown if he’s the mastermind trying to “make things go according to her majesty’s wishes” (no matter what kind of supernatural being he is), wouldn’t know how UT managed to create his BDs, so maybe that’s why the 4 Lords seem to be different, needing blood when UT’s dolls didn’t.

John Brown could also be behind Bravat’s technology ever since the old Lords started to be transfused at least two years ago, simply because Victoria is preparing for war and as Wolfram put it in ch114...

So after researching about blood transfusion, Brown used these important old Lords to experiment his blood transfusion technique by the intermediary of Bravat’s sect, thanks to the technology he developed as a supernatural being (that device that Othello was impressed with in ch125).

Brown as Victoria’s footman and as the supernatural mastermind behind Bravat would also be aware of:

Ciel being the watchdog

Seb being a demon

Lizzie being Ciel’s fiancée

the S4 having committed crimes and making for useful pawns.

Finally, if we’re saying that the blue sect is a cover for Brown researching how to make bizarre doll-like beings that will be used as war weapons, I know it does sound strange (if she is aware of what he is doing) that Queen Victoria deliberately put Ciel on Bravat’s trail.

So, this part is really a wild idea but what if it all was a part of her plan, because no one can know what she and John Brown tried to create using the Sphere music hall as a cover? After all, imagine the scandal if people were to learn that the Queen is indirectly responsible for bleeding to death a part of London, because she’s involved with senseless experiments!

Which is why she asked Ciel to go investigate the Sphere music hall...

...even giving him the list of these old Lords that were being transfused by Bravat over the last two years...

...maybe hoping that Bravat purposedly endangering Lizzie by making her join the sect at the same time would be a good way for him to focus on settling this case with as much efficiency as possible?

Settling the case might not be what she’s expecting of him at all... Rather she wants him to get rid of Bravat and his sect, Lizzie used “as a hostage” being what should motivate Ciel to do anything to eliminate the ones who endangered her (and obviously Bravat wouldn’t know that he’s expandable). And it’s not such a crazy bet when we see how Ciel solved most of the other cases given to him.

Of course, if John Brown has his own agenda (or if the Queen doesn’t know that he might be supernatural), it’s possible that the Queen might not have known that Brown was trying to create the “bizarre dolls” that they talked about back in ch84, hence why she put Ciel on the case. That being said, considering how she didn’t seem surprised that things as strange as Bizarre Dolls could exist back in ch84, if Brown is supernatural then she might be aware of it.

3) About the events of ch126/127

A really hypothetical part yet again, just to point out that...

...Whoever Agni’s killer is, he’s stronger than a normal human because Agni himself was a very good fighter and he almost couldn’t fight back. So, while we’re not 100% sure of who this man is yet (Lord Polaris? maybe John Brown himself?) and same for the gunman, it would make sense to think that they’re linked to the Sphere music hall.

If the two men who attacked Soma and Agni are Lord Polaris and Lord Sirius then, if they’re really supposed to be equivalents of UT’s BDs, maybe the fact they need a lot blood could also have to do with a possible enhancement of their physical capacities. That would explain the strength of Agni’s killer.

Take Finny for example. Do you remember where Finny is from? A German research institute that the Queen had Ciel raid, for the same reason she sent him to Sieglinde’s village. So if Germany had found a way to enhance physical capacities, it’s not impossible for England to have found it as well, especially since it would be very useful for war.

In any case, the fact that Ciel’s house was targeted might have been for a simple reason: maybe it was a way to experiment if the “dolls” (Lord Polaris and Lord Sirius in that case) were following orders correctly as well as how they would manage against a strong fighter like Agni (or maybe even Sebastian). As for why choosing Ciel’s house as the target of the experimental attack... well, maybe this (hurting Soma and killing Agni) is Ciel’s punishment for taking the SULIN away from the Queen... Unless it’s an initiative by Bravat of course, because he’s tired of Ciel trying to stop him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for reading and sorry that it was so long!

As always, this post could be totally off (the theory about Ciel’s twin wanting revenge still holds, even if I just can’t see UT as the mastermind behind the sect anymore after the events of ch126/127) especially since this theory doesn’t completely explain everything, so please take everything with a grain of salt and feel free to share your thoughts about this theory if you feel like it.

We’ll see if this will go anywhere next month. :)

#kuroshitsuji #john brown #ciel phantomhive #elizabeth midford #agni #bravat #queen victoria #othello #blue sect arc #kuro127 #thedarkestcrow #kuroshitsuji theory #gotta step up my game for my kuro followers #so even tho it's TG day have this theory #+ thedarkestcrow only answers asks on weekends

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shores-in-flames-blog · 7 years

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Shadows of the Past, Pt. I: The Chapel of Althof

When you roam around Rostock, you find countless villages, churches, conservation areas (for example the Rostock Heath, one of Germany's largest coastal forests), etc. full of history. One of them is Althof, that I've visited in July 2017. Althof is a village, that became a sub-urbanized part of Bad Doberan, which is a small city (ca. 11,300 inhabitants) nearby Rostock.

The Wendish Crusade....

The Slavic tribes populating this area in the middle ages, haven't been evangelized up until the 12th century. They worshipped their pagan deities, with Radegast (who should later became known as Svantevit) playing a main role in this pantheon. These tribes were a thorn in the flesh of the german Holy Roman Empire – thus, the Saxon Henry the Lion, Conrad I (Duke of Zähringen), Bishop Adalbero II of Bremen, supported by the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux decided in 1147 to start a crusade against the Wendish tribes. By the way, of course it was said to be in order of spreading the gospel, but even their contemporary observers wrote, that they wanted to advance their secular sphere of influence. (Spoiler alert: At the end, they succeeded in doing so.) On the other side stood various local chiefs and Slavic dukes: such as Niklot, leader of the Obotrites in Mecklenburg, that belonged to the group of Polabian Slavs.

To cut a long story short, the crusaders of the Holy Roman Empire defeated the Slavic tribes in the same year. The local chiefs had to become Christs, their lands were plundered and much blood was shed among the population, especially by the troops of Henry the Lion.

(Henry the Lion marries Matilda of England. Taken from the Gospels of Henry the Lion, around 1188. Source: www.burg-badenweiler.de)

...and it’s Heathen Resistance

Niklot became a vassal of the Saxons and had to pay tribute. But only a few years later,he turned into a rebel, reclaiming his tribe's land that got occupied. He was backed by his sons Pribislav and Wertislav, each commanding own troops. Together they fought against the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. They achieved some important victories, but couldn't stand the Saxon power. At the end, Niklot died during the siege of his castle Werle, Wertislav was hanged by the command of Henry and Pribislav converted to the Christian belief. He was baptized in 1164. Thus, he is now known as the progenitor of Mecklenburg's Christians – moreover, he had the obligation to found and build monasteries from now on. At the same time, he established the dynasty that ruled in Mecklenburg until 1918.

(Monument of Niklot from 1855, situated at the facade of the Schwerin Palace. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklot.)

Retreat and Downfall of Slavdom

The bishop Berno of Schwerin gave order to Cistercian monks from Amelungsborn (in modern Lower Saxony), to build the first monastery in the newely evangelized lands: namely Althof. The building got erected over a former sacred site of Radegast – an additional humilation of the 'old' Slavic belief. In 1171, the first twelve monks together with their abbot and twenty-five laymen moved into the first monastery in Mecklenburg. One year later, Pribislav's wife Woizlava's was buried in this chapel at her request, because she was said to be a very devout christian woman. On the 30th December of 1178, Pribislav himself died due to a wound he suffered in a torunament in Lüneburg. He spent his last 'christian' years as a rich, loyal vassal of Henry the Lion, but was (according to historian Walther Lammers) 'the embodiment of the retreat and downfall of Slavdom'...

Pribislav got buried in the chapel of Althof, too – and as a result of his death, a war of successions broke out. In this chaotic times, the last great rebellion of the Slavs rose up – and on the 10th November of 1179, heathen warrior killed each and every monk in the Althof monastery. Not enough, they burnt it to the ground. The destruction was so completely, that a new, follow-up monastery was found in 1186 in the nearby city of Doberan. Nevertheless, at the place of Althof's chapel, there was temporarily a follow-up building, too – but it was destructed once more. The core of today's chapel dates back to some year around 1300. The grave of Woizlawa was the initial point for the 'new' chapel.

(The chapel’s appearance up until 1822. Taken from: Schlie, Friedrich: Kunst- und Geschichtsdenkmäler des Grossherzogthums Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Vol. 3. 1899. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapelle_Althof)

The Chapel’s Decay and Rise

For more than a hundred years, nothing of notice happens – hence, the chapel's condition gets worse until it is described as 'decayed' by contemporaries of the 15th century. The Lutherian reformation with the following iconoclastic riots of the 16th century spare the chapel of Althof as well as the monastery and minster of Doberan. Around 1602, it was used as a bakery, probably until 1820. The decline came to an end, when a lightning struck the building and Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Frederick Francic I (a descendant of Pribislav) decided to start the chapel's reconstruction. Another refurbishment was done from 1886 – 1888 by the court's architect Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel, who designed the neo-gothic look, that you can see today. From this day on, it was used for church service again.

Due to the politics and ideology during the socialist dictatorship of the GDR, no money was invested to keep the chapel in condition. So it was inevitable, that it became decrepit in time. It should take up until the year 2009 to renovate the building once again until 2010.

(My own picture, taken on 07/15/17)

(The chapel’s front entrance. My own picture, taken on 07/15/17)

Heathen Bloodcults?

Last, but not least, let's have a look at this this strange stone, that was found during excavations in 1851 nearby the chapel. You see the bowl-shaped deepening? This led to their label as 'cup-marked stones'. Their function isn't fully resolved yet, but in earlier 'folklore' they were connected with ominous heathen blood cults. This is hardly probable, but they may served cultish or religious purposes (or simply pragmatic ones, such as a mortar or vessel) – but most likely no 'blood cults' of any kind whatsoever. You find them all throughout Europe, even on the island of Malta. So have a look on the ground on your next hike or walk in the outskirts – maybe you find one in your vicinity.

(My own picture, taken on 07/15/17)

This example of a cup-marked stone is presumably dedicated in memory of the Slavic revolt that struck the chapel in 1179.

If you have constructive criticism or questions, feel free to comment!

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ai-ds-low-blog · 7 years

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Update #30 26.04.2017

30 - Was für eine schöne, runde Zahl - SO lange läuft das Ganze jetzt schon :o nicht mehr lange und das erste Jahr ist voll.

In der letzten Woche war es wieder etwas geschäftig und nun haben wir „spontan“ ein Auto gekauft. Also ein Neues, das Alte ist eben leider alt.

Zudem habe ich nach meinen Geburtstagsparties noch weitere Game-Zugänge zu verzeichnen *__*

Goat S(t)imulator (ohne DLC)

The Last Guardian

Don’t Starve Together

Persona 4 Dancing all night

haben ihren Weg in mein Regal gefunden *_* Jetzt bin ich endgültig überfordert. Meine Freunde hatten sich scheinbar verschworen mich dieses Jahr mit Spielen zu überfluten…

Don’t Starve und Goat Simulator eignen sich als tolle Couch-Koop und allgemeine Party Games wenn man Besuch hat und so mussten diese auch direkt eingelegt werden und brachten bereits einige Trophies mit sich, doch genauer werde ich darauf eingehen wenn ich darüber berichte :)

Person 4 Dancing all night ist ein Rhytmus-Musik-Spiel und habe ich schon platiniert als PK, doch hier handelt es sich um die japanische Version, welche ich erneut platinieren kann^^ Da ich die Musik aus dem Spiel sehr mochte freu ich mich schon drauf. The last Guardian ist noch unangetastet, ich weiss noch nicht wann ich mich dazu bereit fühle XD aber nun habe ich ja Horizon, Nier und Automata und naja… könnte also noch etwas dauern.

UND zu allem Überfluss hatten wir eine Spielwahl! Trotz vieler Credits werde ich nicht sofort die nächste Spielwahl ausrufen, ihr könnt euch denken warum :D Ich werde stattdessen ein paar Credits investieren um mir DLCs zu kaufen. Denn wenn DLCs nun 1 Credit pro Abschluss bescheren muss ich dafür auch etwas ausgeben. DLCs die ich NICHT kostenlos einfach so bekomme (Wie bei No Man’s Sky) kosten mich 2 Credits und allein bei dem Goat Simulator macht das schon 8, jedoch warte ich noch ab bis ich hier die ersten Fortschritte habe oder ein Sale stattfindet. Die neue Spielwahl brachte folgendes Ergebnis:

Tales of Symphonia: 2 Stimmen + 1 Stimme aus früherer Wahl = 3

Catherine: 2 Stimme + 3 Stimmen aus früherer Wahl = 5

The Order 1886: 1 Stimme + 1 Stimme aus früherer Wahl = 2

(Goat Simulator ist ja nun schon vorhanden)

Das ist sehr eindeutig - ich kann mich nicht mehr um Catherine drücken :P

Meine letzte PK Lego Jurassic World ist zu den Akten gelegt und beschert mir Fortschritt in meiner PK Sidequest, die aktuelle ist Lego Avengers 2016 für die Vita und sie treibt mich in den Wahnsinn! Natürlich nutze ich gern und ausgiebig die Ruhemodusfunktion über den „Aus“ Knopf, diese löscht ja nur lediglich den Spielstand, wenn man sich ingame grade nicht in einem Level sondern im Hub befindet!

Einmal durfte ich nun schon bei 0 starten weil ich unterwegs war und vercheckt hatte einen Speicherstand in die Cloud zu laden. Mal sehen wie schlimm das noch wird ^^“ Warum müssen Lego Spiele immer so krass buggy sein??

Allgemein ist meine Trophyliste nun ein totales Schlachtfeld, weil ich mit Besuch und in meiner Euphorie einfach angespielt habe was so neu dazu kam ^^“. Sonst habe ich zwischen 2 und 4 Spielen angefangen oben in der Liste und aktuell sind es so 10? Ich werd jetzt versuchen das durch ein paar 100% Abschlüsse wieder zu minimieren :3

Aktuell habe ich auch noch eine kleine Challenge mit mir laufen: Jeden Tag eine Trophy. Mindestens. Das lässt sich schön im Tophy-Log von PSN Profiles kontrollieren. Ich versuche dort mit jedem aufeinander folgenden Tag eine Kette zu bilden, was aktuell seit dem 31.3. klappt und damit habe ich schon eine Kette von 26 Tagen. Mir ist aufgefallen, dass dies eigentlich schon sehr lange von allein passiert, Ausnahmen sind mal 2 Tage, wenn ich grad ein Spiel beendet habe und das neue mit Trophies auf sich warten lässt. Mal schauen ob ich es schaffe solche Löcher demnächst mal zu stopfen :D Hier ist der Goat Simulator zB. ein super Löcher-Stopfer. Vieles ist leicht und wenn ich merke, bis Mitternacht wird sich in keinem Spiel mehr etwas tun, kann ich ihn schnell anwerfen. Challenge accepted xD

Und jetzt schauen wir mal was wir berichten können:

Grundsätzliche habe ich ein bisschen FF14 gezockt, aber keine Fortschritte schwarz auf weiß, sondern nur Vorbereitendes, daher heute mal kein FF14 ;)

Das Selbe gilt für Don’t Starve auf PS3 hier berichte ich definitiv im nächsten Update.

Mit meinem Freund spiele ich nun Lovers in a dangerous Spacetime, was ziemlich Nerven kostet und

Don’t Starve Together.

Berichte werden noch folgen.

Heute widmen wir uns aber diesen hier:

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood hier gibt es bestimmt ein paar Spoiler wenn ihr es noch nicht kennt.

Der Nachfolger von AC2 setzte direkt bei dem WTF-Moment an, bei dem ich alles über diese Götter-Wesen erfahren habe, die vor den Menschen da waren. Das Interface und das Menü sind mit dem aus AC2 identisch, was mir sehr entgegen kommt, nachdem ich mich so sehr daran gewöhnt habe. Auch die Ausstattung (3 Rauch bomben, 20 Messer usw) - alles da.

Dafür wird an anderer Stelle der Spaß geschmälert: Das Spiel freezt etwa alle 10 Sekunden komplett, dann geht es weiter, es ist wie eine Diashow! Da ich keine 2. PS3 habe, kann ich grade nichtmal testen ob es sich um ein Konsolenproblem handelt oder das Spiel wirklich so mies ist, bei AC2 gab es das Problem jedoch nicht und das ist auf der selben CD.

Wie auch immer wir - retten uns aus Rom, wo Ezio grade noch den Paps gekillt hat - das ist wirklich nett, man kann das eine Spiel rausnehmen, das nächste reinlegen -> weiter gehts. Hier gibt es nun ein paar Änderungen: Ich kann den Animus verlassen wann immer ich will. Das ist realistischer, schön und gut, bringt mir aber ansonsten nix. Ich erfahre halt kurz, dass Desmond und Co sich aus dem Lagerhaus retten mussten und nun Zuflucht suchen in - der Villa Monteriggioni. In der Gegenwart. Diese ist nun runtergekommen aber wir finden tatsächlich den Kellerraum, in dem Altairs Rüstung in AC2 aufbewahrt wurde und Campen dort erstmal. In den Erinnerungen gehts dann weiter.

Eine Erinnerung von Ezio hat nun einen optimalen Weg: Man erfährt was Ezio "wirklich" getan hat, und wenn man volle synchronisation erreichen will, muss man es genauso machen wie er. Wenn einem das egal ist bleibt es freiwillig, für eine Trophy muss man aber in einer kompletten Sequenz (meistens sind es so 5 Erinnerungen (Quests) pro Sequenz) volle Synchro erhalten. Wenn es auch nur gedanklich ist: damit geht etwas die Freiheit flöten, dass man eigentlich immer selbst seinen Weg suchen konnte, was ich in AC2 so mochte! Nichtsdestotrotz stürzen wir uns ins das ziemlich runtergekommene Rom (endlich :D ) in dem wir die Borgia in ihrem Einfluss weiter schwächen wollen. Wir fackeln ihre Türme ab und bauen die Stadt mit unserem hart gestohlenen verdienten Geld wieder auf, mit den Nutten fangen wir natürlich an. ;) Denn Ezios Schwester hat nun ihr eigenes Bordell :D wie praktisch, denk ich mir!

Keine Spoiler mehr. Wirklich, lies ruhig weiter :)

In die Story komme ich erst nicht richtig rein dafür konnte ich schnell mehr als eine Gruppe finden, die beim Boosten des Multiplayer helfen konnte. Hier habe ich in 2 Sessions Level 13 erreicht, obwohl es natürlich wie immer ziemlich schief gelaufen ist. Ich habe it sowas eben kein Glück. Irgendeinen selbstsüchtigen Egomanan hat man immer in der Gruppe und davon ab machten die Server von AC es einem nicht leichter, denn es gab oft Verbindungsprobleme. Damit ich dieses Drama schnell hinter mir habe, suche ich bereits Hilfe für Revelations und AC3, denn dort sieht es nicht viel besser aus, dafür sind die Aufgaben dort wohl leichter zu erfüllen. In Brotherhood geht unter 6 Personen nicht viel, was das Ganze deutlich erschwert und für eine Aufgabe, welche mir noch sorgen macht, muss man 6 Aufgaben in einer einzigen Sitzung (2 mal 4 Minuten) erfüllen, und alle Teilnehmer müssen einem dabei Helfen - Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass das irgendjemand in einem echten, öffentlichen Spiel geschafft hab en soll O_O Naja das steht leider noch aus T_T

Mein Plan für alle ACs ab jetzt, weil Tigress und andere schon danach fragten: Ich möchte in allen AC Teilen alles schaffen, was nichts mit MP zu tun hat. Alle Trophies die einen MP betreffen sind dann Zusatz und damit ist Platin kein Ziel aber ich versuche es trotzdem - ganz ohne Stress.

Irgendwie bin ich hier nicht wirklich zufrieden mit dem Ergebnis. Jedenfalls so sieht es aus:

Fortschritt: 17%

Severed

Man erinnert sich vielleicht: Dieses Spiel kam vor kurzem in PS+ und ich hatte mich entschieden es nicht offiziell in meinen Backlog zu packen. Ich mag die seltsame First-Person Ansicht nicht so gern und vor allem nicht die Art sich hier fortzubewegen.

Doch was soll ich sagen, es war ja trotzdem interessant, weshalb ich allein für solche Spiele meine Zweite Wahl Liste entworfen habe. Spiele die ich nur spielen würde wenn ich wirklich absolut nix mehr zu tun habe, die ich nicht grundsätzlich ablehne. Da ich für die Vita noch nicht viel zu tun habe ging das hier im Vergleich schneller, auf der Ps4 wird die Zweite Wahl Liste wohl nie zum Einsatz kommen ^^“ Ich habe das Spiel von vorn gestartet und mich erstmal an die Optik gewöhnt, denn wenn man hier einen Schritt macht dann ist das ein ganzer „Raum“, auf der Karte mit einem eigenen Segment dargestellt. Also „läuft“ man nicht wirklich. Auf einem Punkt stehend kann man sich um die eigene Achse drehen, im Raum alles antatschen und dann in den nächsten Raum/ das nächste Segment wechseln. Wie gesagt gewöhnungsbedürftig. Wenn man erstmal verstanden hat auf was man dabei alles zu achten hat, läuft dies aber zum Glück flüssiger, wie ich dann nach einiger Zeit feststellen durfte. Im Tutorial lerne ich wie ich mit meinem Finger Gegner angreife und im Idealfall „zertrenne“ also beim Besiegen auch noch Körperteile abtrenne die ich behalten darf um mich selber damit auszurüsten. Das Wischen allein ist ganz witzig und klingt einfacher als es ist - Timing und Wischlänge (rofl) müssen stimmen und zum Gegner passen. Es erinnert mich trotzdem stark an so erste Smartphone Games wie Fruit Ninja ^^“ Es sieht dem vom Effekt her recht ähnlich xD Im Zug lenkt das zuckende Gefuchtel auf meiner Vita gern mal die Aufmerksamkeit auf mich

aber davon ab macht das Kampfsystem dann wirklich Spaß. Sasha ist das Mädchen, das ich spiele und ich erwähnte es schon im PS+: ihr Arm ist verschwunden, der Oberarm hängt da so blutend rum und ihre Familie müssen wir auch noch finden. Ihre Umgebung sieht jedoch sehr surreal aus, dies ist nicht wirklich die Welt aus der sie stammt.

Ich bediene mich btw ausnahmsweise an Screenshots anderer Spieler, da es auf der Vita ja leider nicht möglich ist selber was Vernünftiges festzuhalten.

Ab hier auch richtige Storyspoiler :P Naja nur ein paar!

Wir untersuchen also die Areale von Segment zu Segment und schnitzeln uns dabei den Weg durch die Monster dieser Welt. Es sind nicht viele und ich lerne ihre Bewegungsmuster schnell. (Meine Sitznachbarn meine wohl auch…) Als wir im ersten Bereich, dem Krähentempel, dann die ziemlich entstellte Leiche ihres Bruders finden, wird das Spiel auf einmal doch etwas krass. Die comichafte, bunte Optik überdeckt natürlich das Extreme das hier eigentlich dargestellt wird, die Stimmung nimmt dadurch aber nicht ab.

Wir killen noch die böse Oberkrähe doch Sasha kann ihren Bruder nicht retten und bringt ihn sehr traurig nach „Hause“. Das ist eine recht unerwartete Wendung, es lässt einen auch weiter darüber grübeln wo wir hier grade eigentlich sind. Dafür gibt es eine coole Maske und diese öffnet neue Wege im Spiel. Im Prinzip handelt es sich, so seltsam es klingt um eine open World und wenn ich die mir noch fehlenden Fertigkeiten noch bekomme kann ich jederzeit überall hin. Nach und nach stelle ich fest wie verzwickt die ganzen Wege sind und wie ich immer wieder rumrätseln und umdenken muss um von A nach B oder C zu kommen! Ganz davon ab, dass ich wohl ganz am Ende des Spiels den ganzen Weg werde zurücklaufen dürfen, wenn ich die restlichen Fertigkeiten zusammen habe T_T

Nicht sehr zuversichtlich suche ich nun auch Sashas Mama und Papa in 2 weiteren Tempeln, und tatsächlich komme ich stets zu spät, wir tragen die Leichen heim, heimsen aber von den Bossen noch weitere Fertigkeiten ein. Und zum zweiten und dritten mal stelle ich fest, dass mir die Bosse viel leichter fallen als die anderen Gegner, von denen oftmals 4 Gleichstarke im Kampf sein können, während es beim Boss ein leichter zu erkennendes Muster und meist weniger Gegner nebenbei gibt.

Im Dritten Tempel bekomme ich dann auch tatsächlich Probleme mit den Monstern, ich muss meine Strategie ändern, denn ein bisschen Streicheln bringt es nicht mehr. Endgültig hart wird es dann mit der letzten Fähigkeit: Sasha kann über Wolken laufen O_O Hier ist scheinbar alles möglich…. es erklärt aber die letzten seltsamen Räume aus früheren Tempeln in denen ich immer abgestürzt bin…

Auf Wolkenwegen wird das Kämpfen noch um ein Zeitlimit ergänzt, welches mich so manches mal komplett crashen lässt - hysterisches Gewische ist nicht gesund für meine Sitznachbarn - aber nötig um selbst mit der perfekten Strategie auch noch schnell genug zu sein diese umzusetzen X_X Spannend was am Ende aus diesem „einfachen“ System geworden ist.

Und kaum die ersten Wolken hinter mich gebracht finden wir Sashas entrissenen Arm. Wie das Eiskalte Händchen wuselt es im Letzten Tempel herum und ärgert uns und ich frage mich…. WIR können über Wolken laufen. WIE hat das Händchen das bitte gemacht?? Aber darauf gibt es wohl keine einfache Antwort :D

Jetzt bin ich nach langem, anstrengenden Gesuch und Gefummel endlich soweit, dass ich alle Geheimnisse und die 3 Erinnerungsstücke an Sashas Familie zusammen sammeln konnte, dazu musste ich auch wirklich ganz selbsständig Wege zurück in die alten Tempel finden und mir die noch nicht erkundeten Räume vornehmen. Es gibt eine Trophy dafür diese Erinnerungsstücke zu besitzen BEVOR man den Endboss erledigt… Letzteres muss ich aber noch machen, immerhin stimmt die Voraussetzung nun. Und dann gibt es noch eine für das Aufdecken der Karte zu 100%, was nach dem Boss denke ich passieren wird. Leider muss ich an dieser Stelle für meine PK unterbrechen, aber immerhin konnte ich so viel Story abschliessen und meine Rüstung bereits zu 100% aufwerten, dass mein Fortschritt herzeigbar ist.

Fortschritt: 72% - 1 Credit (Weil PS+)

Horizon Zero Dawn Demnächst gelten meine Spoilerwarnungen einfach für meine kompletten Updates...

Nachdem ich jetzt 2 mal mit Freunden die Startsequenz und das Jagttutorial absolviert hatte (zusehenderweise) startete ich das Spiel endlich für mich. Dachte ich. 4 oder 5 mal startete ich, wählte "Neues Spiel" und den Schwierigkeitsgrad "normal", und nach dem Laden landete ich in einer Filmsequenz in der Aloy bereits 6 Jahre alt ist, kurz vor dem Jagtauftrag. Die ersten Filmsequenzen mit Baby Aloy durfte ich nicht sehen. Leider waren die ersten Sequenzen vor "Spielstart" angesiedelt und entsprechend dadurch nach dem Neustart nämlich nicht zu sehen. Auch meine Speicherdaten zu löschen half nicht, darüber war ich ziemlich sauer. Spiel neu installieren war leider die Lösung, wenn man die Sequenz zur Einstimmung nochmal sehen wollte, denn in einem der Menüs habe ich auf die schnelle keine Option gefunden in der man sie hätte anwählen können.

Aloy wächst einem von vornherein ans Herz, die sechsjährige ist so schön trotzig, ganz realistisch^^

Schon in der ersten Höhle durchsuche ich jeden Winkel 3 mal weil ich unbedingt wissen will was hier los ist. Ich sauge jeden Fetzen Information auf wie ein Schwamm, auch wenn mit klar ist, dass es vermutlich dämlich ist - eine Aufklärung wird sicher noch kommen.

Was mich beschäftigt sind fragen wie "Warum und wie leben die Maschienen so wie sie jetzt hier leben" "Welches Jahr haben wir", da ich alte Aufzeichnungen finde die von 2066 sind, und "was bedeutet motherless?" Ist Aloy ein Retortenaby? O_O Oder ein Klon? xD Bevor die Ideen zu wild werden lieber weiter im Text.

Wir lernen das Maschienenjagen von unserem Beschützer Rost, der mir unfassbar sympatich ist und retten einen Jungen, was nur wieder daran erinnert, dass Aloy und Rost Outcasts sind, mit denen niemand reden darf.

Eine Reihe von miesen kleinen Scheissern hänseln Aloy und bewerfen sie sogar mit Steinen, und hier darf ich auswählen, wie ich nun reagieren will:

Zurückwerfen und auch auf den Kopf zielen,

zurückwerfen und dem Jungen dabei "nur" den neuen Stein aus der Hand schlagen, oder

gar nicht wehren.

Nachdem ich jetzt 2 mal die sicherlich goldene Mitte "Stein aus der Hand schlagen" gesehen habe, hab ich diesmal eiskalt auf den Kopf gezielt - hat er schliesslich verdient! :P Aber Rost unterbindet diese Entscheidung. Auch später bemerke ich Dialogoptionen die mit "Herz", "Verstand" oder einer Faust... Ich weiß nicht wie ich es nennen soll ^^" gekennzeichnet sind. Ich bin sehr gespannt ob sich das später auf das Spiel auswirkt ^^"

Jedes Beenden des Spiels liess ein furchtbares Gefühl zurück, weil ich immer noch nicht weiß was nun passiert ist und ingame trieb es mich dazu alle Sidequests liegen zu lassen. Diese waren immerhin umfangreich genug einen pro Quest ne gute halbe Stunde von wichtigeren Dingen abzuhalten! Nach meinen ersten 2 Sitzungen musste ich mich verdammt diszipliniert davon abhalten mich zu spoilern Q_Q

Dummerweise passiert wirklich viel spannendes in der kurzen Zeit, da findet man kaum einen Punkt um mal Pause zu machen! Aloy möchte natürlich nicht mehr als Outcast leben zumal sie nichtmal was dafür konnte, also trainiert sie, bis sie an einer Prüfung teilnehmen kann, die ihr ermöglicht Teil des Stammes zu werden. Doch das Ganze endet im Massaker, nachdem ein anderer Stamm, der technisches Equippment aus den Ruinen verwendet alle niedermäht. Immerhin erfährt Aloy so endlich mal was "motherless" bedeutet: Im Heiligtum der Göttin, die praktischerweise alle Mutter nennen, ist eine große Stahltür und eines Tages soll sie da als Baby einfach gelegen haben. Also meine Theorie? Dahinter leben noch eingebunkerte Menschen! Denke mal das will man damit auch sicher verkaufen. Naja da niemand die Tür öffnen kann wird Aloy schon einen Weg finden... Ich musste aber sehr lachen als die automatische Gesichtserkennung Aloy nicht durchlassen will, das auch laut ausspricht und alle vom Stamm daraufhin begeistert sind, dass die Göttin gesprochen hat :rofl: Alles klar, die Göttin ist nichts weiter als eine Aufnahme...

Danach darf Aloy dann aber in die große, weite Welt, alles komplett selbstständig erforschen, denn sie wird zum Seeker ernannt - jemand der zur Erfüllung einer wichtigen Aufgabe jede Grenze überschreiten und sogar verbotene Gebiete untersuchen darf. Na das ist praktisch :) Allerdings dachte ich nicht das damit die Entwicklerumgebung der Level, in die ich tatsächlich einmal reingeglitcht bin oder diese verdammten winzigen Ecken in denen ich zwischen unsichtbaren Wänden gefangen war!

JA ich habe ein Talent dafür Bugs und Glitches zu finden oder mich irgendwo selbst einzumauern…, leider profitiere ich selten davon T_T

Wie auch immer. Schön ist - in diesem Spiel passt echt alles zusammen. Als Seeker hat Aloy keine Eile, keiner der ihr ständig sagt "Beeil dich die Welt ist in Gefahr" während ich leider abends müde ins Bett muss :D Wenn wir also mal vom Weg abkommen um eine Sidequest zu erfüllen, dann ist das wenigstens nicht unlogisch.

Entsprechend nehme ich mir auch Zeit mit netten Spielereien wie der Foto Funktion herum zu basteln, die in diesem Game bei der Optik auch mega Sinn macht :D Man kann alles ausblenden, diverse Filter und Effekte verwenden und die Kamera frei steuern, da kam dann sowas bei raus:

Und dann hatte ich wieder die Quahl der Wahl welcher Quest ich mich nun verschreiben wollte: Die Mainquest führte weit weg vom Rest und die Sidequests würden mir Erfahrungspunkte bringen, mich aber nicht meinen Antworten näher. Davon ab erzählte der eine Chara etwas von einer gefährlichen, verbotenen Maschienen-Höhle, genannt Cauldron (ne Fabrik??), was mir als zertifizierter Saug-Schwamm für Informationsfetzen am meisten zusagte…. und dann musste ich mich noch davon abhalten ständig Touri-Fotos zu machen :D

Jedenfalls bin ich nun in diesem Cauldron, in dem doch allen ernstes am Fließband die bösen Maschienen produziert werden gegen die ich die ganze Zeit kämpfe :o Das Ding wirkt, als würde man durch das Innere einer riesigen, unterirdischen Maschiene laufen, oder wie die Ufos bei Akte X :D

Wieder nur neue Fragen statt Antworten, aber sobald ich Zeit habe geht es hier hoffentlich weiter!

Fortschritt bisher: Viel zu wenig xD - 21%

Credits gesammt: -7 + 1 = 16

Nächste Woche gibt es an dieser Stelle wieder Playstation PLUS. Noch weiß ich nicht welche Spiele es werden und warte schon gespannt auf die Bekanntgabe. Ich denke danach werde ich von so einigen Fortschritten berichten können ;) Bis dahin!

#update #gaming reviews #PS3 #ps4 #ps vita #assassin's creed #ac brotherhood #severed #horizon zero dawn #aloy

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