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sir-yeehaw-paws · 5 months

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can we have some more of ur tpp ocelhira hcs? 👀 (its my bday today although thats completely unrelated ehe)

AYEEEE HAPPY BIRTHAY OCELHIRA ANON.

Let me see what I have brewing and cooking here.

So TPP can definitely get a little wonky-donky for the Ocelhira times because Ocelot has hypnotized himself. This puts a minor wrench in things, depending on what Kaz knows. And I'd say there's a good chance Kaz doesn't know he's hypnotized BUT I think Kaz might know something is up. He's known the guy nine years at this point (give or take) and he knows Ocelot is the master of mind games, but after that long working together, I think even Ocelot is going to have some consistencies with his personality-at least, the very basis of his personality himself.

But I don't want to complicate it too much, so anyway. I think that Kaz asks a lot of questions in this time period, and the answers he comes up with boil down often to things like: Boss is back so Ocelot's mindset and priorities have (of course) swapped over to his favourite person of all time again. The stuff they've been building for 9 years is now in fruition, their needs and mindset have changed and Ocelot has other things on his mind besides Kaz, etc. Intense, unforgiving self-loathing. Kaz assuming he's not desirable or interesting anymore. Etc.

I do think Ocelot helps Kaz out (whether he wants that help or not) because it has to be done. If neglect or otherwise starts affecting Kaz's work, he is going to step in. I have shaving headcanons here too-Boss is off base half the time (and often by Kaz's request, especially early on when Kaz is giving Venom mission after mission after mission) and Ocelot's good with a blade (IMO anyway). Kaz doesn't shave much in this time (as we can see), but if he does. Ocelot is there and waiting with the straight razor.

Their banter got WAY worse in this time period. Like, way worse. Banter is a normal thing for them, it got dialed up to 11 in this time. This one gets explored in fanfics periodically and it's one I agree with, or at the very least it is one I like to explore and ponder myself. It's where Kaz actually does catch onto the hypnosis, and confronts Ocelot about it. I have a headcanon about them orchestrating Kaz's capture together.

Far as Parasite! Verse is concerned, I headcanon Ocelot being one of the first to really clock into the parasites, and start coaxing them out to play because his morbid curiosity gets the better of him, and he knows it's around and happening of course he's going to pry.

The worst fights they have are about Quiet (though Ocelot just makes Kaz admit he's jealous and maybe gets slightly petty and teases him about it)

Ocelot loves to fuck with the office. They probably share an office, but Ocelot will do shit like move Kaz's pens slightly to the left, or hide his favourite notebook somewhere stupid. Rearrange things JUST enough that Kaz knows something moved, but can't quite pinpoint how, or where too.

NSFW/Darker

Ocelot has probably offered Kaz Venom's wormwood more than once. With or without complete total consent. Just dip a little bit into the food, the coffee. Anything that will get him to chill out for ten seconds. It's for Kaz's own good (is how Ocelot justifies it to himself)

I imagine they have probably the least amount of sex here than ever before. Ocelot is distracted, and I feel that Kaz's own sex drive is about the lowest it's been since he can even personally remember. There are a few lackluster quickies, maybe. Sometimes there's the sudden re-surge where it's as good and as intense as before, but it's not a frequent thing.

That being said, I think Ocelot is one of the few people who doesn't 'kid glove' Kaz. He will still get physical with him, he will still call him out. They will still fight/fuck. Kaz takes a little bit of perverse pleasure in it because it makes him feel something like his old self again, to some degree.

#ocelhira #nates headcanons #thoughts posts #asks #answered asks #mgs #we share a birthday month anon how exciting #ANYWAY i'm sure I have more but here's some tidbits and tastes for now

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yung-goos · 1 year

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//possible pikmin 4 spoilers

ughHHH ok no I must talk about Pikmin 4. I needa gush. It's safe to say I will be playing every other pikmin game in the near future because I. am. in. love. With the concept, the aesthetic, the gameplay, my lovely little men called pikmin, OATCHIIIIII, just.... Pikmin gained a new fan quickly. Took me a lil while to find my groove, but once I found it I couldn't put it down. Something about having a gameplay cycle thats unique, interesting, and revolves around being as efficient as possible just *chefs kiss* can't be beat. And Pikmin 4 does it in a way where it isn't stress inducing or daunting. Its like a nice slow trickle feed, and the difficulty curve doesn't like, suddenly get hard out of no where. Theres a clear point where you're like okay the shits getting real. Like okayyy now I have to actually sit here and think??? But like, half way through doing the first dandori battle I realized you could restart, and a couple tries later realized I could just use Oatchi to manage a lot of the carrying for the heavy shit by himself while I multi-task with my captain. And just.... yea it was a wrap after that lmao. Utterly destroying the dandori battles when I came across them (yea fuck you LOUIE). The dandori challenges though were tricky and required a lot of planning and restarting in order to plat them, but I loved every second of it. And just.... The ENVIRONMENTSSSS. I think just looking up and getting a look at where I was at was one of my favourite things to do. Realizing you're walking around through a lil garden, or a campfire grill, or a toy castle, or some kind of animal exhibit, or a sandbox, or a sand castle. And the HOMEEE. Or should I say "large giant structure". Like goddd the amount of charm is insane. Reading the descriptions for all the treasure too was a big fave of mine. Mock Bottom, Foolish Fruit, Unbreakable Promise, Connection Detector, Buddy Display, Personal Injury Plank, Wave Racer for the Nintendo Gamecube. Just UGHHH the CHARM™. I think the only thing I'd say I'd dislike is the dialouge from the characters. As someone who likes to be thorough, a lot of it felt uneccesary after awhile. Cute and funny at times, esp the little Pikmin people talk (the little "Oh n-no" Collin likes to do and the lil "Ki-morrray" Shepherd does has been STUCK and I mean STUCK in my head) but yea. It'll be nice going back and playing Pikmin games that arent so dialogue heavy, so I hear. Speaking of which, thats the one downside to starting with Pikmin 4, all the quality of life changes I'm sure they added to 4 isn't going to be present. Cuz you mean I have to fight shit...... without Oatchi..... I'm still not used to losing pikmin..... its going to be a slaughter if I don't have my boy with me. But yea, that'll be stress I tackle another day. Anywho, amazing game, definitely up there with Bomb Rush and TOTK as my GOTYs, and I'm sooo looking forward to playing more Pikmin in general. To think, I may have not been convinced to purchase this so soon if it weren’t for dunkeys glowing review. I always knew I wanted to play Pikmin, which is why I always avoided reading anything about it (which was easy theres like 20 maybe 35 pikmin fans at most).

also yea Groovy Long Legs remains my top fave out of all the bosses. Hands down. So good.

also also yea I understand why its fuck Louie now. Really wish we got to hear Nelle chew his ass out with their little "talk" Hmph.

#pikmin #pikmin 4 #ok nOW I can go to sleep #really had to get that out

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kygerbearr · 10 months

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What's the worst game you've ever played?

it is hard to really gauge what the worst game I've ever played was, but there are definitely some games I consider to genuinely be bad. none of them are really all that interesting takes so don't expect much

persona 5 - I really, really dislike this game and genuinely think its game design is bad. visually it's amazing, but they lock game changing mechanics like party switching behind social links that I just had no interest in doing, and no one should be punished that hard for not doing optional content. horrible game design. also the story bored me to tears. the villain is so half-assed and character assassinated in the later half of the game that I felt insulted that they took so much time from me. the only redeeming quality of that game is its aesthetics, soundtrack and some of the characters, otherwise it's mediocre garbage and there are so many better RPGs to play. also persona 3 clears it

genshin impact - I don't hate it because it's anime or because it's gacha and I played it from launch all the way until the second half of inazuma when they released itto, but the way they handle content in that game is horrible. the units they released had horrendous kits overshadowed by whoever was running the meta. the hype for new units was completely gone, and building your team was fucking miserable because you need to gather bugs for 3 hours which also take 48+ real life hours to respawn. also everyone in that game is fucking white and its so annoying and I fucking hate it

the peak of my enjoyment out of genshin impact was liyue as a whole since it was actually a beautiful area with some slight amount of authenticity to traditional chinese culture, language, and topography. but the story of the game is so unbelievably fucking boring, the gameplay is not interesting, the new characters end up sucking and it's just a ridiculously unfun timesink. fuck genshin impact

maplestory - i have nothing to say about it. just trust me

yakuza 3 - holy shit I have never been more unsatisfied with the gameplay and story of a yakuza game. this actually made me want to drop the series entirely because I didn't find it fun or interesting whatsoever, the game is incredibly unbalanced, combat is so clunky and gross, the only saving grace is that okinawa is cool to look at. i didn't do any of the side stories because I just did not enjoy the gameplay, I finished this game and felt exhausted when I was done with it. the yakuza series is deeply deeply worth it, but please play this on the lowest difficulty and just bumrush the story.

tloz: wind waker - one of my hotter takes is that wind waker really isn't that good, admittedly I did play the gamecube version but what the wii u version changed doesn't completely turn it into a good game. my biggest issue with this game is that the overworld is genuinely empty and exploration feels pointless since the only side content you can do has unsatisfying rewards that don't make the game much better. the hint system they use for that game is fucking stupid, dungeon design takes a nosedive after the first 2 dungeons, items you get in dungeons have next to no use outside of those dungeons, and the final sequence being a boss gauntlet is one of the laziest cop-outs for the zelda series. I desperately wanted to like the game, so I played it 1 and a half times and that was enough to tell me that it wasn't that good.

ty the tasmanian tiger - i really wanted to love this game! but the level design got lazy and became a slog trying to collect everything, the boss design was very much not interesting and it just really couldn't hold my attention. I've gone back to this game 3 different times trying to see if I'd change my opinion but I play through half of the game and just end up realizing I don't like it and don't want to play it. it's just kind of sad

paper mario 64 - I won't call it one of the worst games I've played, but it's on this list because I beat the game and realized I didn't have any fun. the combat is really basic and boring, some of the areas are just kind of boring, it just felt really boring. the final battle? boring. there is nothing interesting about this game and I had more fun playing the randomizer than the actual game

tsukihime - this is not a game. this is a visual novel, but it's on the list because I genuinely fucking hate this game. it has the worst most annoying protagonist inner monologue ever, I liked the characters in it because of Melty Blood and ended up hating most of them by the time I finished tsukihime. I WILL be replaying it once the official english version of the remake drops in which case I will type a much longer winded review of it but I don't think anyone who likes tsukihime read it, or if they did and still like it, are not a good person. "just because they like the media doesn't mean they approve of it" cool don't care shiki tohno is a dogshit protagonist and wants to bang his sister bye

thats just scratching the surface and its just off the top of my head, other honorable mentions include final fantasy 15, final fantasy 10, glover, dragon ball z legacy of goku, super metroid (will not elaborate)

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missizzy · 4 months

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A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate 3 Log, 14 1/2 Hours In: And things ended up turning violent after all

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

Although I must now disclaim the number of hours listed above are the amount listed on the save, not counting anything undone by my reloading, which I have now done once, as described below. Because of my lag issues I don't have anything up to keep track of my actual hours in game.

When I left my party waypointed back near the Emerald Grove entrance, I was still inclined to try to avoid a fight, but still knew it might happen. So when I came back in, I prepared. I short rested. I had Gale recovered his expended second level slot. I went back to camp and swapped Lae'zel back for Astarion, and decided on whim while leveling him up to make him an assassin instead of an arcane trickster, since I'd just given my fighter spells. Then, after going to the wrong way again initially, I marched the party back into the grove and into the inner sanctum.

I'd seen the confrontation scene with Kagha already, but I didn't remember all of the exact dialog. So I went through it, waiting patiently as the lag make the sequence of the shadow druids manifesting take too long, handing the incriminating note to Rath, and watching them argue. And then Olodan ordered Kagha to kill Sara, and she expressed her intent to obey. I found myself staring at various options, knowing the virtuous one was the persuasion roll to urge Kagha to change her ways, but also looking at the last one which would obvious provoke the fight I'd worked so hard to avoid up until that point.

Since creating Sara Tully as my barbarian Tav, I have had a lot of thoughts of her character, and how she views and handles the multiverse. What I have decided is that generally, she's pretty soft for a barbarian. She often walks into a place with an intent to help people, and she's got a lot of compassion in her. But another thing I knew, by the time I went into the scene with Nettie where I knew why it might decide things, was that if someone seemed ready to kill her, she wouldn't try to talk them into being a better person. That's when she pulls out her ax. I chose the last option.

About half an hour or so later, when Astarion was down, which two wildshaped druids ready to make his death certain, the rest of the party was in nearly as bad shape, we were out of healing potions, and I hadn't even really damaged the druids wild-shaped forms enough to hope to kill them before they killed us, I had to face up to another fact. Namely, I hadn't saved since starting play that day. I would have no choice but to reload, and do everything over.

I did things a little differently this time. Gale had run out of spells too fast, so I had him recover two level ones instead. When I leveled Astarion up this time, I kept him an arcane trickster. I once again marched them to the sanctum, though I somehow managed to go a completely different wrong way first, then I saved and exited, having had enough for the day. I wasn't even sure, then, if I wouldn't sigh and try that persuasion check after all.

But when I resumed several days later, I'd given myself time to think strategy. This time, before initiating the conversation, I looked around the room and scouted out hiding spots for Astarion. I also looked at everybody's inventories, and found myself contemplating when one should try giving your barbarian a potion of speed when it only lasts three turns. I reminded myself to have Wyll summon his pact weapon immediately and see if Sara's primal stampede could maybe be used to hit more than two opponents this time, then went through the dialogue again.

Most of my planning for poor Sara proved for naught, as she spent much of the battle ensnared and was forced to drop her ax by a heat metal spell. When she was on her last rage of the day(it was a good thing I failed both the first two times I tried to activate it!), she had to spend all her turns shooting arrows and downing healing potions just to stay up and raging. But more strategic use of Astarion pretty much proved the difference maker. We pretty much got Kagha down because of the sneak attack damage he was able to deal her. Wyll having that sword the entire time helped too.

Then Kagha and her allies were all dead, we weren't, and I was left uncertain what to do next. Rath and a couple of others might have helped us in the fight, but all one of them would say now was to tell us to leave. I still fear the choice we made is one we're going to feel the consequences of, though I can't regret it; it was just too true to the character I've created. But meanwhile, we were now truly and utterly depleted, so I headed back to camp for our first long rest. After a bit of chitchat with everyone, I lay my Tav down to sleep for the first time, thinking maybe the guardian would be showing up for the first time.

Instead, Sara was woken up by Astarion trying to bite her. This was one scene I'd partially seen, but had genuinely thought happened a long rest or so later. Now came a time I did have to tone down her aggressive reactions, because I really do want to keep him around. I even let him feed on her in the end, if only because he's already been disapproving of the majority of her actions, and that should help counterbalance that, at least. I chose the harsher dialogue options that wouldn't drive him off, though. She's also told him never to do it again. I may well just have him try to bite opponents from here on in.

Having given him the resulting boost, that meant he was going to be in the party today. Having also decided I wanted Wyll and Shadowheart while heading out to find Karlach, that did mean leaving Gale behind. I've missed him a little since. I was little worried about what I'd run into returning to the Grove, but not much seems to be going on there now. Killing Kagha did at least stop the Rite of Thorns, Zevlor has now asked us to go kill the leader of the goblins, too, and Arron even let us trade for three more healing potions and some special arrows for Astarion. Who knows whether or not he even knows or cares who killed whom beyond his trading place.

Since then, I have been trying to get to Karlach. It has proven a lot more difficult than I anticipated. First I went the wrong way again and found the goblin camp instead, when I am certainly not ready to deal with them yet. (I may do the Mayrina quest first, if only for the XP.) Then I kept running into rocky dead ends. Then we got kidnapped by Raphael, in another scene I'd seen, but thought took place a little later. If he'd actually led off with the offer to remove the tadpoles, instead of assholish speeches, Sara might have been more inclined to listen to him, but then again, maybe not; I don't think she likes nobles much more than she likes devils. Then we ran into a group of gnolls, and I have now left off with that fight just done, and Wyll in condition bad enough I might have to send him back to camp and find Karlach without him.

It's been an annoying that the search for her has taken two hours so far, though it's not like nothing's happened during them. Besides Raphael, Sara's had conversations with both Withers and Edowin and his siblings to make her take the Absolute more seriously-and made her aware she and her party are being hunted by the cult. I've also been quite amused by Shadowheart's conversations with the others while we've been moving about.

Oh, and we found the barn of the amorous ogre and bugbear, but we left them to it. I've seen that scene too, and it really didn't feel worth it.

#baldur's gate 3 #barbarian tav

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mysmashplaythroughs · 7 months

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Waiting with high spirits.

I figured I'd do an off-topic post once I finished all the entries for Gen1 (well I figured I might after doing Gens1-7 but now I realise how long that probably will be.) I've managed to get every single Pokemon on my list now with a lot of help from various people. I plan on crediting each person who's helped me in the entries for the Pokemon they helped me with so for now I'll just say if you happen to see this thank you once again. As for me, since I last posted off-topic, well firstly I spent a long time focusing on getting all the Pokemon I needed, to the point the only games I was playing for about three or four months were Pokemon. I enjoyed it quite a bit gathering every Pokemon I needed although I got very lucky finding help for the final three or so I needed. 2023 was probably the year I completed the least games and my backlog has grown a fair bit with games such as Pikmin 4 and Warioware Get it Together. This whole Pokemon thing however did finally make me focus more on my list again after mostly playing new releases. I will say now I have all the Pokemon I need and after also playing through all the DLC of Pokemon Violet I am already making a lot more progress with my list having played through more than half the amount of games I completed in 2023 already this year.

Speaking of games like Pokemon Violet, I definitely wasn't expecting to be adding new games to my list but in a surprise move four new spirit events have been announced. The first event was what I was hoping for with various recent Nintendo games represented which I want to play/have played anyway so I'm glad I can implement them directly into my list now, however the second was a big surprise with Hades, 13 Sentinels and WBSC eBaseball being added to my list. I'll admit the third was a bit disappointing, I was fine with Pokemon SV getting represented (especially as I've just played through it so was eager to add a couple of new things relevant to my list) but I wish it had been alongside other games such as Fire Emblem Engage and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I'm curious at this point what the fourth and final one will be, especially as they seem to be putting it off a lot longer than the previous 3 were (which seemed to be biweekly).

I've also made a few changes recently, one thing is I'm currently between jobs which, is something I really need to sort out, I don't want to go on too much about it but I've left a field I've been in for 10 years so I have a lot to think about with regards to what to do next. In more positive news I've finally gotten a new PC, my old one which I'd had for maybe 11 years or so at this point was getting unusable with various issues it kept having so I decided to finally get a new one, it seems this new PC runs a lot better and allows me to possibly play some games I wouldn't dream of playing on my previous one, so it's definitely been a good investment so far. I've managed to transfer everything important over I believe to this new PC although until I'm certain on that I'm still keeping the previous one around, still eventually I'm hoping to give that one to my Mother as she's needed a new one for a while and hopefully the issues I had won't be as much of an issue for her.

That's mostly it, as you may have seen I've just finished every post for Gen 1 of the Pokemon on my list, I'm debating currently whether I want to go straight into Gen 2 or try doing another Fighter post next, if anyone actually reads this blog and has a preference feel free to say so in the comments. As for games, I'm planning on finally after all this time getting back to Tales of Symphonia, I have a bit more of a drive now to play through it following all my time playing Pokemon so I'm hoping this will be like Dragon Quest 6 was for me where my second attempt I get really into it. For games coming up, there's not a lot on the horizon I'm particularly excited for, Peach's Showtime is something I'm looking forward to and I'm sure will be interesting, Fantasy Life i is a pleasant surprise I'm hopeful for but admittedly have a couple of concerns about. I am however very very excited for Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door getting a remake, not only is it joint my second favourite game of all time alongside the original Paper Mario, but after how the series has gone I am so glad to see it getting another release, especially as this means I'll be able to far more easily get screenshots for this blog as I had a fair few things from that game for my list (including things such as the Putrid Pirahna and Mario's Wario and Waluigi colour options.) I'm also looking forward to seeing if there's going to be any additions given a Toad in the trailer who looks unique from any characters in the original game.

Really though, beyond that I'm mostly just hoping for various games, despite what people keep saying about 'too many remasters/ports', honestly some of my most wanted things are ports and remasters, I'm hoping for a remake of Fire Emblem Geneology of the Holy War (along with Thracia possibly as DLC), a port/remaster of Punch-out Wii with Doc Louis's Punch-out included (another of my favourite games of all time and something if it was on Switch I'd be throwing on whenever I want something to just mindlessly play) and finally I want to see Kid Icarus Uprising get a full on remaster with improved controls. I realise I'm asking a lot here, but I'd be ecstatic to just get one of these happen.

Finally, I suppose this will be the last month of the Wii U and 3DS online before it shuts down. Pokemon was the only thing I felt I really needed to get done before the shutdown, however I think I should have a look into anything else, I can play Federation Force and Triforce Heroes in single player, however if I can play online with others before the shutdown I would like to so I'll have to see if I can organise something.

#my smash playthroughs #my smash playthrough #off-topic

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jeanhm · 2 years

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Caribbean First half

The first half of our Caribbean adventure is now done and we are embarking on the second phase of the trip. So far we have journeyed to Tenerife and across the Atlantic on a very calm voyage, to reach Barbados where we had our first stop and an amazing excursion snorkelling with turtles and over shipwrecks having a wonderful day out on a catamaran, even better by being accompanied by copious amounts of Rum punch!

Our next stop should have been Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles, but there was some form of ship docking conflict so we detoured to Greneda instead and had a fun morning in clear bottom kayaks also across reefs and seeing corals and fish, though not as clearly as snorkelling. This was one of the nicer islands though we did get caught in a rainstorm when we walked around Carenage in the afternoon.

Two days on we arrived in Curacao, and another underwater adventure , this time in a mini sub (ie under a boat) which was also good and we did see a lot though it wasn't easy to take pictures. We also went to the Curacao factory and tasted a few different flavours before the inevitable purchase! We got back reasonably early so walked over the pontoon bridge into the town (Wilemsburg) and then found some really lovely seafood for lunch before return to the ship and onwards again to our next stop in Colombia.

Colombia was a tricky one given Andy's past in living here so I headed into the city on a trip without him firstly on a speedboat across the harbour and then on the city walls and Fort Phillippe and the old town. The boat and fort were great and we did manage to gt some wifi at the merald centre in town but the street hawkers were constantly in your face which i found very annoying. Back at the cruise terminal there was a colleaction of animals and birds which proved very attractive to the cruisers. Andy met me there and we had some traditonal Colombian food, which he suggested (it was good) and then we wandered around seeing the animals and birds -I've now seen my first live toucan - yay.

Then it was back on ship and off to our most recent stop yesterday in Jamaica. We hadn't originally planned a trip here but were warned that we wouldn't be very close to town and being a sunday in a very church based country, a trip proved a sensible option. We chose to go to Dunns River Falls and climb the waterfall - literally. I did wonder how my knees and hip would take it but it was actually better than I thought and we had a great time, something I'd definitely do again. We did get rather wet though and I'd forgotten a change of clothes so lunch was a little damp, though with excellent food yet again.

In between the stops life on ship has fallen into a pattern of breakfast, quiz, sunbathe, get too hot so lunch, quiz, music quiz, sun, doze, watch Game of Thrones, quiz, dinner, evening entertainment. quiz. I've taken part in a couple of gameshows and tried archery when its not too windy. all in all a very chilled out existence.

We've made some good friends who we hang about with particularly for quizes in Graham and Sonia (and sometimes Kim and Martin) and its a generally friendly bunch onboard, if not a somewhat older age group than our previous trip. Food is good and plentiful and entertainment generally ok though we have missed a few like the flautist and tap dancing!

Will post a selection of photos of the trip so far - might be a few duplicates to previous posts - sorry in advance!

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grailfinders · 3 years

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Fate and Phantasms #199

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're making the Jotaro Kujo of FGO, Semiramis! (Seriously, how does that cape/hair... thing work? It's wild.) The queen of poisons is a Graviturgy Wizard to make building a floating castle slightly less difficult to make and cooler to live in, plus a Witherbloom Druid for some dove friends and extra poisons. If you've seen our builds for Waver and Edison, you might know already that building things with magic is costly and time-consuming, and for once that is 100% accurate to the character. Get ready, this is gonna be a weird one.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: I'm 40% appendicitis!

Race and Background

Semiramis is technically an aasimar, but she doesn't fly around or heal people, so we can just focus on her human side. .... Oooor we can focus on those ears, because we need to nick some stuff from being an Elf. Specifically, we're going with the Vahadar Elf from Plane Shift Kaladesh, since they've got the ears, the proficiencies we'll need later, and their backstory's still about living in general society, unlike wood elves and other Kaladeshian elves. Thanks to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, this gives her +2 Intelligence and +1 Wisdom, as well as Darkvision, Fey Ancestry against being charmed, a Trance instead of sleep so she can't be put to sleep, Keen Senses for proficiency in Perception, the Mending cantrip to piece together the castle later, and most importantly Elf Weapon Training. Normally this would give her proficiency with four weapons, but thanks to Tasha's we can swap this out with four tools instead. Carpenter's, Glassblower's, Mason's, and Smith's Tools proficiency should give us everything we need to build a castle later- we'll go into the why when we get there.

Semiramis is also a Noble- grab History, but swap out Persuasion for Deception. Yeah, not even her background can escape how weird this build is.

Ability Scores

Poisoning skills come from Intelligence (I think. WotC are really nonspecific about how to actually fucking make poison), and it's also your main casting modifier: put that first. Second should be your Charisma, nobody drinks poison on purpose, so you'd better get good at lying. After that is Wisdom. If your poisons aren't made with Intelligence it'll definitely be wisdom. That means your Dexterity isn't great- yeah, you fight in a dress, but if you're fighting and not your lackeys, something's gone wrong. We're not dumping Constitution because we're not stupid, so dump Strength instead. You've got minions to carry rocks around for you.

Class Levels

Wizard 1: Starting as a wizard nets you the weakest hit die in the game, but it also gets you proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, plus the Arcana and Medicine skills. You're half caster, and if you want to ruin someone's bodily functions you have to know what those are first. Starting as a wizard also gets you Spells that you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. You get six at first level and two each level after. That's a lot, so we're just going to over spells that are important for the build here, though there's a full list of what we'd get in the character sheet. For cantrips, grab Infestation and Poison Spray for poison damage. For once infestation is completely kosher as is, since Semiramis can summon any creature as long as its poisonous. Also, grab Message. Castle halls are big and echo-y, and it's probably not a good idea to shout at people to find out which glass they put the poison in. Aside from that, grab Mage Armor so you die less, Magic Missile for Assassin balls, and Tenser's Floating Disk to carry all the raw materials you'll be using later. Finally, you get an Arcane Recovery once per long rest, letting you recover a couple spell slots on a short rest. The total level you recover is equal to half your wizard level, rounded up.

Wizard 2: Going into second level of wizard gives you a school of magic, and it's hard to lift several tons of stone into the air if you're not into Graviturgy. When you take the subclass, you can Adjust Density as an action, doubling or halving a large or smaller creature/object's weight for up to a minute with concentration. If you reduce a creature's weight it'll increase their speed by 10', double their jump distance, and have disadvantage on strength saves and checks, and vice versa if you increase it. I checked, and stone is roughly 1,000 times denser than air, not 2, so we'll have to do some brewing later to make this work out. Make your strong minions stronger, your fast minions faster, or do the opposite for your enemies.

Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells. You won't get any dragons in this build, sad to say, but you can use Dragon's Breath to turn just about anything into a dragon. They can even spit poison breath, which is really good with the poisoner's feat. Speaking of..

Wizard 4: First Ability Score Improvement of the build, so grab the Poisoner's Feat for more poisony goodness. All poison-based damage rolls you make ignore resistance, you can coat weapons as a bonus action, and you get proficiency in the poisoner's kit. You also learn a special poison that'll force a dc 14 constitution save on the creature you use it on, dealing 2d8 poison damage and poisoning them for a round.

Wizard 5: Fifth level wizards get third level spells. Animate Dead will help you make dragontooth warriors, a.k.a. skeletons. You can make one per casting right now, but you can recast the spell to retain control over up to three skeletons at once. Otherwise they'll be uncontrollable monsters, which is probably less of a goal.

Druid 1: Semiramis might be known for her poisons, but she's really a multifaceted person. Well, not really, but if you want poisons, you're going to get them from animals. If you want animals, you're going to get them from druids. First level druids learn Druidic- it's a language! They also get another set of Spellcasting using their Wisdom to cast and prepare spells. Check the multiclassing table to figure out your spell slots. Grab Guidance and Resistance to be a bit better than everyone else. For first level spells, look for Entangle and Snare to summon chains to slow down enemies, and Speak with Animals to make sure your dovey-woveys know their work is appreciated. We haven't gotten dovey-woveys yet? Don't worry, they're coming.

Druid 2: Second level druids join their circle, and you're so goddamn smart you just joined another school. At the college of Witherbloom, you'll learn how to turn the vitality of nature into deadly poisons. Right off the bat you get circle spells, which are always prepared for you and don't count against how many spells you can prepare. Right now you get the Spare the Dying cantrip as well as Cure and Inflict Wounds. Now you don't literally have to summon a whip every time you want to hit someone. You can also tap in creatures' essences with your Essence Tap. As a bonus action, you empower yourself for 1 minute, gaining one of two options. Overgrowth lets you heal yourself with a hit die each turn as a bonus action, adding your wisdom modifier to the amount healed. Withering Strike lets you change your damage to necrotic when you hit someone with any sort of damage, ignoring resistances to make your poisons even deadlier. You can use this proficiency times per long rest. Most importantly, you gain a Wild Shape / Wild Companion. Both features use the same two charges per short rest. You're limited to what you can turn into based on its CR and movement options, but those limits and how long you can transform/summon a creature for grows as you level up. Currently I'd stick with Wild Companion for dove familiars, but some versions of Semiramis' story include her turning into a dove herself at the end, so Wild Shape isn't out of the question. As long as we sink eight levels into druid, at least.

Druid 3: Third level druids get second level spells, like your freebies Lesser Restoration and Ray of Enfeeblement. Look, if you're going to make poisons it only makes sense that you'd have antidotes on hand. You can also grab spells like Animal Messenger to send your doves out for ingredients, and Locate Animals or Plants to find them yourself.

Wizard 6: Sixth level graviturgists can make a Gravity Well when you cast a spell, moving the target 5 feet in any direction if it is willing or you successfully hit it with the spell. Speaking of spells that push people, Pulse Wave does just that, stepping in for the big stompy dragon animation. Creatures in a 30' cone make a constitution save, and if they fail they'll take force damage and get pushed back 15', or 20' with Gravity Well. You can also pull them, but that's not really stompy at that point. You can also Summon Undead to create a stronger skeleton to lead the others.

Druid 4: At fourth level, druids can transform into swimming creatures, and you also get another ASI. Bump up your Intelligence for stronger spells. Also, grab the Control Fire cantrip, it'll be cold in your castle without it.

Druid 5: Fifth level druids get third level spells, like Revivify and Vampiric Touch. Neither of those are in character, but you can also Conjure Animals (as long as they're poisonous) and Dispel Magic to keep your throne room free of nonsense.

Wizard 7: Seventh level wizard get fourth level spells, including the one we've been working our way up to, Fabricate! As long as you have the raw materials, you can turn them into products of the same material. Since you're working with stone, you're limited to creating Medium objects this way. Just line the outside of the medium objects you make with halves of smaller objects, then mend them together, and eventually you'll have a castle. This will take a while. For a decent-sized castle of 300'x400', you'll be looking at roughly 480 medium-sized blocks per floor. At level 20 you'll have 12 spell slots of fourth level or higher, so you can knock out a floor in roughly 40 days, not including things like doors or other furniture. Also worth noting, you can't make fancy things like glass without proficiency in the tools required to make them normally, hence all the tool proficiencies from your racial bonuses.

Wizard 8: Use your next ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better healing and stronger druid spells. You also learn Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, so you can prevent creatures from spying into your hanging gardens. Especially useful is the ability to block creatures from teleporting or plane shifting onto your grounds, as that's probably the only way to approach your gardens safely. Or at least it is after you learn Ice Storm, a long range spell that pelts enemies with ice and turns the area into difficult terrain. Of note, it doesn't say the ground, so the entire cylinder will be difficult to fly through. If you want to build giant arcane cannons instead for authenticity, I salute you. Just remember that'll have to come out of your budget.

Wizard 9: Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, and Wall of Stone will help you speed up construction by making ten 10'x10' panels or ten 10'x20' panels. You can also use this spell to create bridges or the like, and if you hold concentration for 10 minutes the stone remains permanently. If you want to skimp on materials so you can just get this fucking thing in the air already, this'll help with that. You're also learning Geas. If you can't summon a dragon, forcibly controlling a dragon is the next best thing.

Druid 6: Did you think we were done with druid? I said we were stuck here for 8 levels, didn't I? Sixth level witherbloom druids can make a Witherbloom Brew thanks to their new proficiency with Herbalism kits. At the end of a long rest, you can use that kit to make Proficiency brews, which last for 24 hours. A Fortifying brew gives a creature resistance to a damage type chosen at brewing (cold, fire, necrotic, poison, or radiant) for an hour. A Quickening brew heals its drinker, and ends one disease or an effect of charming, frightening, paralyzation, poisoning, or stunning. Again, antidotes might be useful to have on hand, but the real reason we're here is for the Toxifying brew. You can apply the brew to a weapon, and the next time within an hour that weapon hits a creature, they take 2d6 poison damage and have to make a constituiton saving throw (DC 8 + your wisdom modifier + proficiency) or be poisoned for a minute. This is literally so much better than the poisoner feat what the hell.

Druid 7: Seventh level druids get fourth level spells, like Blight and Greater Restoration for stronger poisons and antidotes respectively. You can also Dominate Beast to hold any poisonous critters still while you milk them, or summon Giant Insects instead. They obey you and stay giant until they drop to 0 HP, dismiss the effect, the spell ends.

Druid 8: Our last level of druid finally lets you turn into a dove with a second Wild Shape Improvement. You also get another ASI, so bump up that Wisdom for stronger spells and poisons.

Wizard 10: Tenth level graviturgists can create a Violent Attraction between a creature's face and a weapon, causing a nearby weapon attack to deal an extra 1d10 damage. Alternatively, you can increase the attraction between a creature and the ground, adding 2d10. I doubt your hanging gardens need help making the fall more deadly, but now you can help out of need be. You can do this Intelligence modifier per long rest.

Wizard 11: Eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells, like Guards and Wards. This will make it so much harder for enemies to breach your castle it isn't even funny, if the "hanging out in the stratosphere" thing didn't tip them off already.

Wizard 12: By twentieth level you should have a castle set up, so grab the Lucky feat. Basically, everything that can go right for you does while you're in your castle, so now you get 3 luck points per long rest to make sure that happens, letting you re-roll your attacks, saves, and checks, as well as attacks aimed at you.

So how the fuck do I get a flying castle?

So, admittedly this is up to DM fiat, but let's be real, a flying castle sounds sick as hell and gathering resources is a great reason to go adventuring. If I was your DM, it'd go something like this; After x months of research, you find a way to prepare materials so Adjust Density is permanent on them if you concentrate for the duration. Then you make and fuse together castle chunks as described in level twelve, and eventually you lighten the load on the special rocks so much they're lighter than air. Boom, liftoff, you're fucking awesome now. If you want to go down, just make the float rocks heavier again.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Even if you don't build a giant floating castle in your adventure, that doesn't mean all this prepwork went to waste. You are a master at protecting areas from invasion, so no matter where you lay your head you know it's going to be safe. Not as safe as a floating castle, but still, safe.

By mixing together all your tool proficiencies with Fabricate, you can make pretty much whatever you need from raw materials. No more paying a smithy for fancier armor!

If you do get your castle in the air or you're near a cliff, you are incredibly deadly, with plenty of ways to shove opponents around or otherwise control movement. Slow them down, trip them up, or shove them off a cliff it's so good. Pulse people off the edge of your garden and laugh at them as they fall.

Cons:

There's literally no rules about building your own castles & poisons, so most of this build is entirely dependent on your DM. If you get a cool one, cool! If you don't, this build is pretty much a writeoff.

You need to hide away in your castle and send out minions because you're kind of pathetic in person. With only 14 AC and less than 100 HP, you'll go down faster than Medb if you don't use your Wild Shapes well.

A lot of that can be chalked up to mixing caster classes, meaning we have to spend more ASIs to make both spell modifiers good, and we miss out on higher level spells. Also, spending 8 levels in druid just to turn into a dove isn't that great unless you really want the flavor. I highly recommend skipping out after 6, the last graviturgy effect is great both to knock people out of the sky and make them bow if they get to your throne room.

But, getting to your throne room is 90% of the fight. This build is one that emphasizes patience, and that's what puts you above the common folk. Hang out in the stratosphere, attend social events in style, and let your poisons and skeleton warriors do the fighting for you. Just be glad there aren't any wacky knights riding hippogryphs around.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Semiramis #Wizard #Druid

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parttime-creative · 3 years

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Ahhh I can't choose!! Ok I'm definitely gonna cheat here and name a couple and you can talk about any (or all) you want to bc I honestly can't decide.

Tea. Just Tea.

I wish I'd be...

How a herb changed everything

The knight and the dragon

WIP Tag game

Oh dear, you have a talent to pick the one Necroracle story among them all xD CONGRATULATIONS!

Imma just say "Tea. Just tea." is the Coffee Shop AU you're waiting for. So therefore the snippet is short!

She didn’t often have the opportunity to come here, but everytime she could, she did. There might have been more reasons, then just the excellent tea one could get here. The little bell and its melody might also have been one of these reasons. But the main one; the main one, was currently hiding behind the counter.

____

"I wish I'd be" is one of the the very very rare cases, where I actually know the amount of chapters, their titles and what roughly happens in them. The whole idea was theat the title of the chapter would finish the second half of the sentence in the stories title. It's another ONCE UPON ATIME (SwanQueen) story about unrequire love. How Regina has to watch Emma marry another, how to come to terms with her own feelings, her heartbreak and how to love again. I can't share a snippet of it, as it is in german and I am a bit lazy to translate it, but I will share the chapter titles with you, as they are in englisch.

I wish I'd be... ... brave enough to love you ... good enough for you ... able to live without you ... next to you ... forever by your side ... exactly where I am

------- "How a herb changed everything" is a fun one! That one was actually a partner fanfic! And I think... YEAH! It's one of the ones who acutally has the first few chapters online somewhere... but don't lemme search for it. It is (once again) ONCE UPON A TIME, specifically SwanQueen. Emma and Regina get transportet into the Enchanted Forest and find shelter in Reginas old Castles. Desperately looking for something to eat, Emma brews a more or less eatable soup with some herbs she find in the kitchen. However one probably shouldn't just carelessly use herbs in a kitchen of a evil witch queen. Should she? Long story short, She gets pregnant. And it's Reginas. So the story is about, them deciding to raise another child together and in the process of it falling in love. This is actually a fun story, even tho it has one of my biggest pet peeve tropes (pregnancy) in it. Unfortunately it once again is a completely german fic so I don't have a snipped to share. But this too... is like... over 100k?

____ @dhwty-writes already asked about "The Kight and the Dragon" so Imma just link you there

Thanks for asking tho! And feel free to ask about more. If you want to xD

#tag games #swanQueen #Necroracle #These are fun onces!#WIP tag

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gear-project · 3 years

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4Gamer Interview GUILTY GEAR STRIVE DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEW. "The Secret Story of the Development of the Trailer Movies, Opening Movie, and Story Mode."

Source: 4Gamer Translation: Yours Truly (Gear-Project)

Guilty Gear -Strive- (the fighting game) was released by ARC System Works on June 11th for PC/PS4/PS5/ARCADE. This is the latest work in the popular "Guilty Gear Series" of fighting games, which began with the original Guilty Gear in 1998.

Speaking of the Guilty Gear Series, it is a title that has been highly supported by Arcade Gamers for a long time as a fighting game where you can enjoy complex negotiation, but that is not the only degree of perfection by which a fighting game is evaluated. Video works with expressiveness that move in 3D graphics drawn in the style of 2D animation along with complex stories have been attracting a great deal of attention.

This time, 4Gamer asked the Production Staff including Mr. Daisuke Ishiwatari to tell the secret story of the development in the video portions such as the opening movie and story mode, aside from the "fighting game" parts of Guilty Gear -Strive-.

The Interview was divided in to two parts, the first concerning the opening movie with interviews from Art Directors Hidehiko Sakamura and Hiroshi Nagano, followed by the Story Mode itself with interview from Daisuke Ishiwatari and Hidehiko Sakamura.

In the Second Half, the Story Mode discussion tries to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but some discussion was included, so please be careful if you want to AVOID SPOILERS TO THE STORY MODE.

The Opening Featured in the Story as a Compilation of Works:

4Gamer [4G]: Thank you for your time today. In the first part, we will ask about the opening movie. It was released two days before the release date, but how was the response?

Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: It was better than we imagined. Since the opening of the past series was only made according to the format of a fighting game, I think that the full animation like this time was fresh and more pleasing.

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[4G]: The format of a fighting game is like introducing a full-body picture of a character and battle action. Why did you make it full animation this time?

[HS]: Nagano was particular about "I want to do full animation without including images of fighting games." I wanted to do the same thing myself, so I decided to adopt the full animation opening this time. All the videos are produced by Nagano alone.

Hiroshi "Ryo" Nagano [RN]: The story of the Guilty Gear Series is a popular title, and this time the story of Sol has come to an end, so the opening of the full animation featured the story as a culmination. I wanted to make it anyway.

[HS]: It's a big thing to break the story. I think I had a strong desire to take on the challenges that I had wanted to do but couldn't do, and to make a satisfactory break. Originally, all the staff like animation. It's true that there was something I longed for to make a video like this one, and I thought that the format of a fighting game (by itself) wouldn't look as good.

[4G]: It's an attempt you've never done before, but are there any parts that you were particular about in the overall composition of the opening?

[RN]: What I had in mind was the completeness of the story. I want to convey something like the connection between Sol and "That Man" from the Opening. I also think that Sol and Ky are the main characters in the series, so I was aware that the end of the video would emphasize Sol and Ky.

[HS]: As an Order from Ishiwatari, it doesn't have to be a fighting game, but there was an attractive cut for each character. After that, spoilers of the story were strictly prohibited, so I asked Nagano a lot of variations at the time of composition.

[RN]: There was also a point where I wanted you to make it closer to the image rather than making it a short movie that gathers the highlights of the story. Mr. Katano (Akira Katano), the Development Director, told me that there are a lot of non-playable characters involved (laughs).

[HS]: That was a difficult part (laughs). The fighting game part is the main part, but there are many characters that only appear in story mode.

[RN]: I really wanted to put out more, such as President Vernon (laughs). Also, in one particular part, the impression changes before and after watching Story Mode, I would like you to review the Opening after playing Story Mode!

[4G]: How long was the production schedule?

[RN]: It was about three months. Since I was left to myself, I couldn't do it, so I was very conscious of the parts I had to make in 3 months.

[4G]: Please tell us if you had any difficulties during production.

[RN]: I was always worried about whether I could make it within the period. I was so worried that I couldn't help until I could make about half of it.

[HS]: In a situation where I don't have time, I think it was quite reckless to leave it to one person to produce, but as for the animation part, quite a good number of things have come up from the beginning of production, so I myself was looking at it with a lot of peace of mind. I think Nagano had it hard.

[4G]: "Guilty Gear -Strive-" has been postponed once and changed from April 9th to June 11th. Which was the best time to make the opening movie?

[HS]: It was released in April. Composite* after video production. It also takes time, so we completed the video storyboard* at the beginning of the year and had it produced from January to March.

*Composite: Finishing multiple materials and clips in to one video.

*Video Storyboard: A moving storyboard. Script to check the flow of the entire video.

[4G]: Finally, please give a message to readers and players.

[Mr. Sakamura] Nagano has prepared the material in quite a few small parts, so I'd be happy if you could watch it while considering each cut.

[Mr. Nagano] As I mentioned earlier, the video has a different impression before and after watching the story mode, so I definitely want you to watch it again after playing. Actually, Ishiwatari's part also contains spoiler elements that are secret and difficult to understand, so please look for small spoilers after playing.

[The Reason for the Production of "GUILTY GEAR" was an encounter with "SFII".]

*Please note the following includes some spoilers in Story Mode.*

[4G]: Next is the part about Story Mode. From here, I would thank Mr. Ishiwatari and Mr. Sakamura. When I played all the way, I felt that there was a lot of volume. When did the development start?

Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI]: The first plot was published more than two years ago, so production started long ago. At that time, the content focused on more playable characters, but if it was left as it was, the content would be too bloated and the production would not be on time, so we decided to focus on the production.

[4G]: Were the playable characters decided when the first plot was released?

[DI]: It was almost solid, but some characters were fluid. The characters that were unofficially decided at that time may have been changed.

[4G]: Which production took longer, Story Mode or Fighting Game part?

[DI]: It takes time for each, but the fighting game part takes much more time. The story mode may be created by diverting the resources created for the fighting game.

Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: I'm working on the back of the fighting game part little by little, but it's the end of the whole production that comes out. It feels like I'm working on a schedule at the very end.

[4G]: Is Mr. Ishiwatari in charge of the story part and the overall composition?

[DI]: Yes. First of all, I will put out a plot and check the volume and what material is needed by the staff. Not surprisingly, the plot stage is much larger than the retail version.

[HS]: As it is not the amount that can be produced as it is, it is the first job of the staff to ask Mr. Ishiwatari to cut it.

[4G]: Please tell us the story of the story part. What is the theme of the entire GUILTY GEAR Series?

[DI]: The Theme of "What is a Human being?" has remained unchanged since the time of the first GUILTY GEAR. From the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series, we are developing a story centered on Sol, but I was allowed to tell the outlook on life through the human eyes of Sol.

[4G]: The story of Sol is developed from GUILTY GEAR XRD, but in the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for Home use, a Story Mode was prepared for each character.

[DI]: Is it okay to say this? Actually, I haven't touched the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for home use at all. The company told me that they wanted to create a story mode when porting it to home use, but it was physically impossible to put the same story as what I had in mind, so I told them to stop.

[4G]: I didn't know that.

[DI]: However, the company asked me if I would like to have a port for home use... Then I told them that the story mode is good, but I'm not involved, so don't give a name.

[4G]: Then, was the story mode at that time lending only the (world) settings and letting them do the rest freely?

[DI]: No, I wasn't exposed to it at all. However, I dug it up (as reference) when developing the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD". It's something that users play, and I thought it was dishonest to ignore the image and world view that got me here to continue as a continuation.

[4G]: The GUILTY GEAR XX Series was also a long-lived work, but wasn't there any talk about developing the story from Mr. Ishiwatari's thoughts at that time?

[DI] At that time, the main flow was to first develop an arcade version and then port it to home use, but behind the scenes of making home use, the development of the next arcade game is progressing. Was always the case. I didn't have enough time to develop the story.

[4G]: In this interview, I watch the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD SIGN" to "GUILTY GEAR STRIVE" but I felt that the settings were well-crafted. When did the overall configuration and settings settle?

[DI]: The overall big flow hasn't changed since I first thought about it. However, the details are fluid, for example, it was decided that a character in the position of Ramlethal would appear, but it is different from saying that it was the current Ramlethal from the beginning.

[4G]: The whole "flow" was decided, and the rest was fleshed out.

[DI]: It was a little "too" fleshed out. Since the first generation, I had decided to make a trilogy, and at that time, Aliens were scheduled to appear at the End (laughs). As expected, it was outrageous, and the position of the "alien" changed to a character in the Backyard.

[4G]: That's an interesting change. In that case, wasn't there a Backyard Setting at that time?

[DI]: No, there was a Backyard setting itself. For the theorizing of Magic (as a concept). I needed to put out a character with a non-human perspective, and that was an "alien" at first.

[4G]: Are there any other major changes?

[DI]: Of course there are many things, but I can't talk about them. At least at the time of this work, the role and casting of each character has changed considerably. I have another (separate) character "do" what I tried to do with one character.

[4G]: For example, I think Axl is a very important character in the story, but was the role of Axl decided since the first generation?

[DI]: Axl Low hasn't changed since the very beginning. Also, in the early days, it was not decided that I-No would appear, but I was thinking of releasing a character with the same framework as Axl Low.

[4G]: Then when I-No first appeared in GUILTY GEAR XX, the settings had already been set.

[DI]: That's right.

[4G]: When I followed the story, I often found unexpected facts, and I wondered how far Mr. Ishiwatari was thinking from the beginning.

[DI]: There are quite a lot of retroactive settings, though. Especially the settings of the small parts have changed considerably. Jack-O' for example, wasn't initially supposed to be a "character."

[4G]: Jack-O'Valentine appeared in "GUILTY GEAR XRD REVELATOR" but when was the setting completed?

[DI]: I don't remember the detailed timing, but I think that the Backyard setting was fixed around when GUILTY GEAR 2 OVERTURE was produced.

[HS]: When I first saw Jack-O's design, I never thought it would be a heroine position character (laughs).

[4G]: In the first place, when did Mr. Ishiwatari think about setting up a game called GUILTY GEAR?

[DI] It was when I was still a professional student that I came up with the specific settings. I decided to make a fighting game because of my encounter with "Street Fighter II", but I think that about half the settings I thought about at that time were incorporated in to the original GUILTY GEAR.

[4G]: The opportunity was your encounter with "SFII".

[DI]: "Street Fighter II" was a revolutionary game for me. Speaking of which, "Ishiwatari Version Strike II" ("Ishiwatari-ban Suto II" the provisional name) is "GUILTY GEAR". At the time, I liked fantasy manga comics such as "BASTARD!!", and under the influence of them, I incorporated a story-like world view into the fighting game.

[Being able to Draw a Story becomes One Property]

4Gamer [4G]: In this work, the production side has been changed considerably compared to the story mode of the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series. What are the points you would like us to pay particular attention to?

Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI] First of all, in the case of GUILTY GEAR XRD, the big concept was to create a 3D image that looks like a 2D animation. This time it changed to make a movie-like image.

Mr. Sakamura [HS]: This is very difficult, so what makes a movie? What is the movie-likeness that Ishiwatari is looking for? At the beginning of the production, everything was groping.

[DI]: I didn't show the staff what it was like to be a movie. Therefore, at first I thought that I was quite stray, but one day I suddenly found the answer, and Sakamura awakened. From there, it was finished in a movie-like image all at once.

[4G]: Were any of the staff involved in filmmaking in the past?

[HS]: It wasn't there at all. In the first place, even with GUILTY GEAR XRD, I made something that looks like a 2D animation with 3D images, but no one was from the animation industry. We always imitate the appearance and continue to produce with a spirt of familiarity rather than learning.

[4G]: Just listening to the story tells you how difficult it is. By the way, why did you decide to pursue a movie-like character this time?

[DI]: I thought that if we evolved from GUILTY GEAR XRD, it would be similar to "DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ" and "GRANBLUE FANTASY VERSUS". That may not give you a new surprise. Then it would be a movie.

[4G]: A Trailer that introduced a part of the story was released before the release, but at that time I heard a voice that it was like a movie.

youtube

[DI]: If you have been involved in production for a long time, you may not be able to judge for yourself whether you have something you want delivered to users, but I was relieved to hear such a voice. Also, I don't usually think so much, but this time when I completed and reviewed everything, I thought "I did my best", so I felt a response.

[4G]: Please tells us if you had any difficulties during production or small stories.

[DI]: I don't have a hard time talking (laughs).

[HS]: I think the hardest part was having to create a fighting game part and a story mode at the same time. Normally, I was able to focus on the fighting game part for arcade version first. Also, this time it was a culmination, so the latter half o the story was difficult with only action scenes.

[DI]: Certainly in GUILTY GEAR XRD (Sign), the focus was on conversational plays (talking heads dialogue), and at the end there was little action.

[4G]: This time it's set in the United States. Is there any reason for this?

[DI]: There is no deep reason, but first of all, Sol's birthplace is the United States. And sometimes I didn't want the stage to be the same every time. Also, it was decided at the time of the After Story of GUILTY GEAR XRD REV2 that the stage would be in the United States.

[4G]: It used to be a Western-style or Fantasy-Style world view, but I was surprised to see that it was suddenly become a modern American painting.

[DI]: At the beginning, there was an impressive scene in which the streets of the United States were drawn, but in reality, that scene was planned to draw a wider range. However, it was reduced because it was too heavy.

[4G]: Please tell us if you have any favorite scenes or productions.

[DI]: At the end, there is a scene where everyone fights with I-No. It's not a scene where I can cry, but when I first saw it, tears came out on their own. That's the one that left the most impression on me. I never felt like this when I'd been making games, but I've been trying my best to support everyone.

[HS]: I also have a great feeling for the last battle. In other scenes, there is a scene where Sol and Jack-O' run on a motorcycle at the beginning, but I think that Jack-O's cuteness at that time is considerable (laugh). It's also cute to sit in the sidecar.

[DI]: The only thing that left an impression on me was the action scene. I didn't know what kind of image it will be until it actually comes up, but I was surprised that the images that came up were beyond my imagination.

[HS]: We don't prepare storyboards* for production. I make it only with a script.

*Storyboards: A script for shooting movies and TV, instructions such as dialogue and actions are written for each cut.

[4G]: Conte has not been prepared since GUILTY GEAR XRD.

[HS]: In GUILTY GEAR XRD, we prepared only some cutscenes. I didn't prepare it at all after it became this work.

[DI]: We only get together and have meetings about important scenes.

[4G]: Do you have any favorite parts in terms of production?

[DI]: The goal was to make the conversation drama look like a movie as a whole. It feels like the conversation continues with a series of short words, rather than an explanation tone. I think I was able to create that kind of atmosphere overall in this work.

[4G]: This is the end of Sol's story. What kind of character is Sol for the production team?

[DI]: First of all, he's simply the main character. From the time I started making GUILTY GEAR, I decided to draw a humanity and outlook on life that can only be talked about by a free-spirited person named Sol. I feel that I am thankful for the time being because his thoughts have come to fruition in this work. Being able to face myself through the story was a very valuable experience.

[HS]: Sols' first image was a character that didn't reveal his emotions, but in the stories after GUILTY GEAR XRD, I think that humanity has come out very much, and I'm attached to it. He's a cute guy (laughs).

[4G]: Certainly, I feel that Sol's personality has changed considerably from the past.

[DI] It's not like a human being that the personality remains the same as the story and the times progress. As he interacts with various people, Sol also regains his humanity. I needed a background to answer the question, "What is a human being?"

[4G]: The story of GUILTY GEAR that started in 1998 has been completed. Finally, please tell us your current feelings.

[DI]: Anyway, I feel relieved for 20 years because I was able to draw the story to the end. Being able to finish what I started was very valuable to me and became a great asset. However, this time I focused too much on Sol. The challenge remained that we couldn't express what more users would have wanted to see.

[4G]: What are your thoughts on Future developments?

[DI]: Of course, I'm thinking about various things, but since I'm a good age, I may not be able to do it at the top of a project of the same scale in the future. Please look forward to the new style fo GUILTY GEAR and new IP.

4Gamer: Thank you for your time today.

#GG Interviews #ARC System Works #Daisuke Ishiwatari #Hiroshi Nagano #Hidehiko Sakamura #4Gamer

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marvels-writings · 5 years

Note

Hey! Maria Hill anon here. No need to be sorry. I love your writing so a series would be great (if you want to). I'd love for them to end up together and for there to be a good amount of angst, not too much and not too little. Thank you! ☺

A/N: I’m so so sorry this is late. And thank you chloesingulier.tumblr.com for helping me come up with the title and for helping me write the request. Anyway here is the starting of the series:

"Come on! Get to work!" Maria shouted out to the rest of the people in the compound. Ever since Ultron, Shield had technically moved in with the Avengers and trained recruits for them instead of Shield.

You look over your shoulder to spot her overlooking everyone but Shaun. His computer screen faced away from Maria, so she couldn't catch him playing Galaga again. Honestly, no one knew why he still liked the game, but his job wasn’t important enough to be worrisome so everyone let it slide.

Your job had its moments, but they didn't last long. Your job was mainly to make sure everything was running smoothly and most importantly, you were the main person directed everyone around. Except Maria, Fury and the Avengers of course. You were kind of the manager who took orders from the director.

Fury told you what to do, you told others how to do it, Maria made sure everything was alright and sometimes told you what to do and gave you advice.

"Y/N, could come here?." You heard Maria's voice call out to you.

You stiffen in your seat, but reluctantly get up to reach Maria. Your feet feel like rubber as you realize your legs are almost completely asleep from sitting for so long.

Maria stands at the top of the balcony overlooking the open-space office with computers, and you head to the stairs. You shakily climbed them, holding tight to the railing as to not trip.

You breathe a sigh of relief as your numb legs make it up the steps, but it was short-lived. Your left foot twisted on the last step, and you begin to fall, closing your eyes shut. But you fell right into the arms of Maria.

Slightly confused for a second about what happened, you opened your eyes and saw you were a foot away from the floor. Maria had caught you by the elbows and was looking at you worriedly.

"Are you okay?” She asked, lifting you up. You nodded and got up. Once both of you stood up completely, you dusted off your uniform slightly.

“Thanks, uh what did you need me for?”

"I was wondering if you would be able to come to a meeting tonight with Fury and I. Do you have any plans tonight?” She inquired.

“Um no, nothing important at least.” You respond hastily, knowing that you would need to cancel a date with your boyfriend tonight. You scratched your neck slightly and avoided eye contact.

“Are you sure? We could schedule it for another time…” Maria started, seeing your reluctance

“No, no, I’m free tonight. What time and location?” You cut her off. You hadn’t been in touch with your boyfriend recently, and you had suspicions he was cheating on you. It was time that you called him and broke up. Since you were almost always at your job, he always seemed to get really angry. But you hadn’t talked in a while.

“I will send you the location, but we were thinking around six? We were planning on dinner.” Maria said.

“I think it should work out,” You said, then asked “Who are we meeting though?”. Maria smirked slightly at the question, you knew it meant something dangerous.

“Nuclear arms dealer who thinks we aren’t working with the Avengers,” You rolled your eyes slightly, dangerous dinner, usual Maria. She laughed slightly. “If you’re worrying about what to wear, I think a formal dress should be fine.” She said, you weren’t sure exactly what to wear at this point. You didn’t really have an ‘undercover’ dress which you could beat someone up in.

“I’m not sure I have the right dress for this,” You said, smirking slightly. You really didn’t if you were honest.

“I’ll send someone with a dress to your place at about 5:15,” She replied.

“Let me guess,” You joked, putting your index finger and thumb on your chin to pretend you were thinking. “It’s gonna be a surprise?” You asked jokingly.

“As if I’d let you pick what to wear,” Maria joked, you put your hand down and laughed. You and Maria had done this a few times before, you never knew what you were going to wear but what she sent you was always fantastic, and unsurprisingly, complimented what she was wearing perfectly. “See you then.” she said as she walked out the door.

“Can’t wait,” You called out behind her before heading back to your seat.

You glanced at the clock on your way back, it was 3:36, it took you half an hour to get home. So about an hour until she needed to leave work for, well, more work. Fun.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

It got to 4:20 faster than you had expected. You sighed and got up from your seat and got your things to go to the locker rooms to change into civilian clothing before you drove back. You got to the locker rooms and opened yours and saw everything in its place, just a sticky note which reminded you of the dinner and had Maria’s name written on it. You took it off, smiling softly at it and changed.

You changed into your quarter-sleeved black and gold t-shirt, black jeggings, and slung your black and smoke jacket over your shoulder. You headed out towards your car to drive home instead of taking the bus. You got in your car, switched on your playlist and drove home.

As you were driving home, your boyfriend called you. Probably to verify your date tonight. You groaned and slid the answer button, letting the call play on the cars speaker.

“Hey y/n, which restaurant are we going to by the way?” Bf/n said excitedly. But it sounded fake, and you thought you heard him in a different place, not at his house.

“About that,” you began, you instantly heard him groan.

“Let me guess, you have work?” He asked, you thought you heard someone giggle.

“I couldn’t really help it, you kno-“ you tried to explain.

“Cut the excuses, your work is more important than I am to you.” He sneered into the phone. You sighed.

“Bf/n, I really didn’t want to, honestly I don’t, it’s just work, I have to.” You said, you heard him sigh. You honked to get the car in front of you to move.

“We can talk tomorrow,” he said, about to hang up.

“WAIT, uh, we can meet up at the Starbucks in front of my place tomorrow morning.” You said hurriedly.

“Fine, drive safely.” He replied, then hung up.

You weren’t sure if you were going to breakup with him yet. Maybe you’d try to get a day off and spend it together to see. Hoping he wasn’t going to cheat on you, you pulled into the driveway to your house and got out of the car. With all of your things in your arms.

You sighed and went in your house to go shower.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

You came out of your hot shower in a towel and changed into sweatpants and a hoodie as you waited for the dress Maria sent to arrive. You started to watch a movie as you waited, too lazy to talk to anyone. Until the doorbell rang, you groaned and got up. You got to the door after practically dragging your feet, today had taken its toll on you.

“Delivery from Maria Hill?” The delivery man asked hesitantly as you opened the door. You nodded and signed the pad he held out for you to sign. He handed you the large bag with the hanger poking out of the top. You thanked him and close the door, heading inside.

You headed towards your room, then laid the bag on your bed before opening it. You let out a soft gasp when you saw the entire dress. It was an absolutely gorgeous velvet violet color dress. It was an off-shoulder dress with asymmetrical, ruffled bottom. There were small bands on the side for your arms. You turned the dress over in awe. The back went down slightly lower than the dresses Maria normally gives you.

In fact, this entire dress was a bit, well a lot more revealing than most of the dresses Maria had sent you before. You looked incase there was anything else (HEY CHLO) in the bag. You found there was a gold necklace with a midnight blue and violet gemstone pendant. You also found a couple of simple gold bracelets as well as earrings which looked like they were raining gold and violet droplets.

This was definitely a bit much, even by Maria’s standards.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

You’d changed into the dress and put on makeup. You used urban decay violet shimmer eyeshadow and black shimmery eyeliner combined with simple gold makeup. You put on the jewelry and looked at yourself in the mirror. You wore some violet heels with it (also courtesy of Maria)

You looked good, better than usual if you were to say so yourself. Twirling to get a good look at yourself, you found the dress was slightly more bodycon than you had expected. But it seemed to be perfectly tailored. You took a small black clutch with you as you headed out, seeing the time was well past 5:30. You checked your phone for any messages you found the address Maria had sent you and hurried out the door for the dinner.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

You pulled up in front of the restaurant and got out of the car. You walked into the restaurant and up to the clerk desk.

"I'm looking for someone under the name of Maria and Nick." You asked, looking around for them.

"Ah yes, follow me." The clerk said.

You followed the clerk to a secluded and apparently reserved room with windows looking out to the rest of the restaurant. Maria was sitting in the room with a menu in her hands.

She looked stunning. She had a midnight blue sleeveless silk dress which faded into violet at the bottom. She wore violet heels which matched yours with it as well as thin gold necklace and earrings. Her dress complimented yours perfectly.

"Oh, Y/N, glad you could come. I'm just about to order." She smiled as she put her menu down. You were just glad she didn’t notice you staring.

You sat down beside her and began to look through the menu, finding your eyes always drifting to Maria not of your own accord.

You both ordered your food, and decided that the meeting would occur after you had eaten.

You’d ordered fav/fancy/dish as Maria had ordered some grilled salmon.

You began to eat your fav/dish , and heard laughing off to the side. You look out the window that the sound was coming from to find Bf/N laughing like you had never seen.

You pause in confusion, and look closer to find he's holding a girl close to him. You drop your utensils as he gives her a kiss.

#Marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x female reader #Maria hill #Maria hill x reader #Maria hill x female reader #my writing #with help #my fic #marvel one shot #marvel imagine

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mintchocolateleaves · 5 years

Note

Hiya! If you're still interested in taking requests, I'd love to see more Ran-centric pieces in the world. She seems to get pushed to the sidelines in a lot of cases, so it'd be lovely to read something from her perspective.

I actually have the first chapter to a ShinRan fic. It’s a university-au, and it’s from Ran’s POV, so I hope this counts? If it doesn’t, lemme know. xD

Summary: Despite herself, Ran finds herself curious about the criminology student she always notices running across campus. ShinRan. University AU.

“Youhaving fun, Ran?”

Abovethe noise, old music from the 2000s blasting through far too big speakers,Sonoko’s voice reaches Ran’s ears. She offers a smile, lifts her cup of dietcoke and offers a small nod.

It’s nother most enjoyable task, going to parties and clubbing, but she doesn’t hateit. Maybe she’d enjoy it more if everyone else were sober, not making a messout of themselves, but then it would lose all university charm.

Orrather, that’s what Sonoko says.

“Yeah,”Ran says in response, “It’s not half bad.”

Sonoko’sforehead wrinkles into a frown as she asks, “You mean it’s only half good?”

“Ohhush,” Ran says, sipping from her plastic cup. It would make her feel more likeshe’s stepped out of an American movie if the cup were red, if there were morethan dancing and drinking games immersed into the room. But there isn’t, andRan’s only a little disappointed. “You know what I mean.”

“Sure,sure,” Sonoko says, and she continues to dance. Sonoko isn’t a bad dancer, per say, but she’s had alittle drink and her usual grace is squandered by alcohol. “Dance with me Ran.”

Ranisn’t much of a dancer, but Sonoko grabs her hands and suddenly her cup issomething to be balanced as they sway together, swinging their hands left andright in time with the music.

It’s notdancing as much as it’s the jerking of their limbs, but it makes Ran smile andyeah, this party isn’t half bad.

Theyhead back to their dorm at around one a.m., not too late by Ran’s standards,but not too early for Sonoko’s. Sonoko mutters something under her breath butRan barely hears her.

The walkisn’t far. They only need to walk from one end of campus to the other end, butsomehow, with the cold biting at their heels, the walk takes longer than itusually does.

It’sprobably not helping that Ran is helping Sonoko stay up – not that her best friendis that drunk. But a tipsy Sonoko, isa clingy Sonoko, a hug-loving Sonoko.

“Let’swalk faster,” Sonoko says, and she shivers, realises just how cold it is. Thegrip on Ran’s arm tightens, as if this will help. “I’m freezing, Ran.”

“So amI,” Ran says.

And somust everyone else outside of the dorms, because seconds pass and then Ran canhear heavy footsteps beside her, running. Out of the corner of her eye, shespots a man, coat fluttering around him, one glove on, the other off, racingacross the universities’ crossroads in front of her.

“Ithought we were over this,” he hisses to himself, as he races, “but now I’m bothcold, and an idiot.”

Ranalmost wants to talk to him, but there’s something in his expression that sayshe’ll only be more stressed by the conversation. Plus, he looks pale enough tobe freezing.

“Someonelooks unhappy,” Sonoko croons. She readjusts her headband and offers Ran asmile. “Whenever I see bits of peoples lives like this, I always want to knowwhat’s happened.”

Ofcourse, she does. Sonoko is an amazing best friend, but even Ran needs to admitthat she’s extremely nosey. To the point where sometimes, Ran thinks it’s morea hindrance than a good thing.

“Iknow,” Ran says. After a small pause, “I hope he’s alright.”

Sonokoshrugs as if to say, ‘we’ll never know’.

“Let’sget back,” Ran says, “before we freeze.”

Shedoesn’t expect to see him again, the man who’d been running so late at night,frustrated, but it’s almost as if now that she’s seen him, he’s popping upeverywhere. Ran concludes that he’d always been there, running around campusbut that she’d never been looking, has simply never noticed.

Sheisn’t sure.

All sheknows for certain is that this guy worries her. Running around as much as hedoes, stressing under his breath makes her concerned that he’s simply toostressed. After the first few times, Ran makes it a task during her day to seeif she can spot him.

And mostdays, she does. In the corner of her eye, he’ll pop up and she’ll turn,spotting him, feeling both worried for all the stress he carries on hisshoulders, and nervous that someone is going to point out that she’s searchingfor him like he’s the main character of the ‘where’s wally’ books.

Shecarries her concern with her, and it lingers, growing every time she sees himrush past with pursed lips or with brows knitted together in a frown. Ran justwants to grab him by the shoulders, tell him to slow down and simply ask ifhe’s okay.

Everytime she feels like she can simply… conjure up some confidence to ask if he’sokay however, he’s always in the middle of some sort of disappearing act. Hernervousness to ask if he’s alright is nothing against his haste.

So, Randoesn’t ask.

(Even ifshe does start daydreaming about what it would be like to just tell him to slow down.)

Sometimes,Ran thinks maybe she cares a little too much.

This isa stranger, after all. Someone who’s life she has no permission to ask after.It doesn’t change the fact that she cares though, whether she should or not.Ran’s always been weird in that respect – has always left herself open, wallsdown, more vulnerable and capable of feeling an overwhelming amount at onetime.

Still,it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have any feelings about the situation, aboutwanting to leave a random stranger less stressed.

Maybeit’s because she has high empathy, or maybe she’s just a weirdo like so many of her classmates back in high school hadclaimed but it doesn’t matter. Because there’s nothing she can change about thesituation.

It is,what it is.

“Excuseme,” She says, finally, when she spots him in the student union shop. She takesadvantage of the fact that they’re both in the same queue, hiding temporarilyfrom the rain. It’s the first time she’s seen him stand in one place for ashort time.

He turnsever so slightly at the sound of her voice, and she doesn’t want to invade hispersonal space, so she says, “I’m sorry, excuse me?” to get his attention, allthe while feeling like her own awkwardness is a pit in her stomach, ready to makeher squirm and question every word she says.

It’s thefirst time she’s really seen his face, and wow – he makes eye contact with her,and his eyes are a vibrant blue, brighter than any he’s seen before. It’senough to temporarily make her lose focus, but then, Ran steels herself,continues before he decides to turn back around.

“I’msorry,” she says, “It’s just – well, I’ve seen you rushing around campus abunch of times now and you always seem… taxed, like the stress is getting toyou – I mean– uh–”

Shereceives a raised eyebrow. It’s all Ran needs to realise that she’s rambling,that she needs to get to the point before she runs out of words to say.

“Iguess, I’ve just been wanting to ask if – well – you’re okay?”

Hisexpression shifts. For a moment, he’d been staring almost absently at her, asshe’d spoken, but as Ran comes to a finish, his lips tug upwards, quirking intoa small smile. Soft, gentle and almost, dare Ran say, appreciative.

“Hah,”he starts, and his voice is deeper that she’d expected, as if he’s recoveringfrom a cough. It’s almost… rough. “I didn’t realise that people noticed all myrunning around.”

A pause,and then he continues:

“Butyeah,” his lips quirk more, a wider smile, lighting up his face, “I’m okay.Probably a little overworked, but who here studying isn’t?”

Ran letsherself grin. It’s relief that moulds her muscles into place. The worry that’sbeen building in her chest with every spotting of him quickly eases, thepressure alleviating to a point where she feels like she can breathe properlyagain.

It’sdefinitely weird that she cares this much, Ran just knows it is.

“Ah,”she says, nodding her head. “That’s good, I’m glad that you’re good.”

And sheis – she shouldn’t be because, once again, she reminds herself that this is astranger, but she is.

There’sa light in his eyes, a sort of glimmer that reflects against his pupils, andRan is temporarily blinded by it. She’s certain there’s mischievousness hidingbehind that light, hidden and only ever brought out on those who he’s closestto.

Ranwonders what mischief he gets up to. Whether he even has the time to, if he’s overworked.

“What’syour name?” He asks, and Ran offers her name up, not thinking twice about it.She lives on a university campus, after all, she’s used to meeting new peopleconstantly, sharing names and conversation simply because they can.

Randomconversations on a university campus aren’t so scary, not to Ran. She’s not themost social person, but she’s not overly shy, she doesn’t think.

“I’mShinichi,” he says. He doesn’t offer a surname, which means that until Ran canfind out his surname, she’s going to be stuck calling him by a less formalhonorific. Perhaps that’s a plan he constantly has in action.

Eitherway, she doesn’t have the time to ask after his family name, because he turns,glances at the cashier and offers a small grin.

“That’sme, it seems,” Shinichi says, “I guess I’ll see you around on campus.Hopefully.”

“Yeah,”Ran says, and offers a small snort. It’s unladylike, not dignified in theslightest, but Ran doesn’t care. “With the amount you run around the campus,there’s no doubt that I’ll see you somewhere.”

Hesmirks, and then, once again, seems to disappear as if he’s in some sort ofrush.

“Oh, Mouri-san, hey!”

Ranblinks as she registers the words, tears her gaze away from the street, whereshe’s been stood for minutes, waiting, watching out for the shuttle bus thatwill take her from the university’s smaller campus back to the main campus.

For amoment, she barely registers the voice – she has, after all, only heard it onone occasion – but then her mind fills in the blank, and she realises that itis Shinichi, jogging up from the university buildings to the bus stop.

He liftshis hand up in a small wave.

Ranwaves back, glad to see that his shoulders seem less tense this time. It’s thefirst time she’s seeing him moderately stress-free. “Shinichi-san, hey! Youstudy on this campus?”

He dipshis head into a half-nod, stopping beside her. “Both actually. I’m a doublemajor, one subject brings me here. It’s uh – pretty inconvenient some days,actually.”

Thatmakes sense, Ran supposes. University time tables aren’t always the best atsetting classes up. She’s heard complaints of the physics students in the past,saying that they’d had one lecture at the campus’ planetarium, twenty minutesaway, booked in immediate succession to their astrophysics lecture.

It makessense that this could be a reason for stress, Ran can’t imagine that it’s veryeasy to rush between two various campus’. She’s almost glad that she remainsjust on the one.

“Howabout you?” Shinichi asks, pushing his hands into his pockets. “You study onthis campus too?”

Ranlifts up the novel she’s holding – Mishima Yukio’s ‘The Temple of the Golden Pavilon’ – and offers a small shrug.“Yeah, I’m a Japanese literature major. Minor in English. We can’t all jumpbetween two campus’.”

She’sexcluding, of course, the fact that all of the student dormitories are centredon the main campus, just a ten-minute walk from the main lecture halls. Shinichinods his head, and is silent for a second, as if taking the information,memorising it.

Then, inperfect English, “Now I’ve got someone I can have secret conversations with.”

Ranflushes. Sonoko had said that in the past, when they’d decided to take Englishtogether – except, Sonoko is more experienced, has grown up multilingual, dueto her parent’s business, and had found herself in the advanced classes.

“I’m notthat good,” Ran responds back, although it does feel nice to practice withsomeone outside of her classes. She falls back into regular Japanese, asks,“you take the class too?”

Shinichishakes his head. There’s a faint grin on his face, lips lifting up in a show ofamusement, as if he’s waiting for her to come up with some sort of theory. Ranraises an eyebrow, decides she’ll do no such thing and simply asks, “then how?”

If he’sdisappointed by the lack of deducing prowess, he doesn’t let it show. He simpleshrugs a shoulder and says, “my parents moved us abroad to the U.S. at thestart of middle school. It was necessary to get by, I guess.”

Rancan’t even imagine moving houses. She can’t imagine leaving behind her the homethat doubles as her father’s detective agency, can’t imagine what it would belike to leave Beika. Sure, she’s moved into the university dorms, halfwayacross Tokyo, but that’s different, she can always go home.

Movingto another town sounds like it’d bring too much anxiety. Moving to anothercountry? Another continent?

“Wow,”Ran mutters, “that’s terrifying.”

Hecontinues, mentioning about how he’d moved back to Japan in his final year ofhigh school, finishing his classes and trying to reintegrate himself with theJapanese culture. Maybe another time, she’ll ask him about the differences,culturally, but now doesn’t seem appropriate.

Hefinishes off his short explanation with a small huff. Ran isn’t sure whetherhe’s finally acknowledging her commentary, or whether he’s irritated himself bybringing it up, but either way, he’s smile tightens as if he doesn’t want tokeep talking about it.

SinceRan prides herself on being a good person, she decides that it’s for the bestthat she moves the conversation along, choosing a new subject. And speaking of subjects–

“So,”she starts, “if you don’t study English, then what do you study?”

He sendsher a grateful smile. “Criminology and forensic science. It’s all veryinteresting when the lecturers aren’t sending you on a wild chase from one campusto another.”

Rantakes a moment to empathise with having to chase around lectures, and then,lets out a very dignified huff of frustration. Criminology. It’s not something she’s ever enjoyed, and sincemaking her way to university, the dislike has only grown.

Orrather, maybe she has a bigger issue with criminologists.

Thedislike had bloomed last year, during her first semester in the university whenshe’d found herself thrown rather inexplicitly into a fling with a third-yearcriminologist. She’d been thrown more statistics on murder than she hadcompliments of the romantic kind, and she’d hardly been wooed, only likened to the various statistics he’d memorised.

Andthen, when he’d learned that her father ran his own detective… well, that hadopened a whole different can of worms that Ran doesn’t want to start on.

Shinichi’slips twist up at the sound of her disappointment. Ran blinks away confusion –past experiences have always bred some sort of irritation when she’d showncontempt at the subject.

“Not afan?”

Ran canquite honestly admit that no, she is not a fan.

Part ofher is relieved when Shinichi simply nods, doesn’t take her refusal to offense.

“That’llbe my task then,” he says finally, making her take the entire thought back. Shefeels a sigh rise in her throat but doesn’t breathe it out. Out of the cornerof her eyes, she can see the shuttle bus turning the corner, approaching thestop. There’s a shuffling around them, disgruntled students ready to board thebus. “I’ll make you reconsider.”

“I’m notparticularly interested in crime rates and statistics,” she says, the wordsbland. Then, because she doesn’t want to throw him off too much, make him thinkshe’s entirely horrible, she adds, “What would I even get out of this?”

Shinichipauses. He lifts his fingers up to his chin, holds them in a position thatseems almost like a pose but isn’t, somehow,as he thinks. His eyes are bright when he focuses on her. “I’ll get back to youon that.”

Ohgreat.

Studentsbustle around them – some heading off the bus, bumping into Ran and forcing herto not get caught up in the crowd, others heading onto it – and Ran doesn’teven have time to offer him a suave response, because he’s gone, hiddensomewhere on the bus.

Ranboards too, but even as she cranes her neck around, searching for his face, shecan’t see him. They’ve been effectively split apart by the other students, andRan’s too squished against others to see much at all.

Which isa shame, because she almost wishes she had taunted Shinichi a little bit, withhis task.

‘Have fun trying,’ she thinks.

[Part Two]

#DCMK #ShinRan #Mouri Ran #Kudo Shinichi #Detective Conan #I hope that this qualifies!#mywriting #Fic: Off Track

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kaleidographia · 6 years

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[Review] Tales of Vesperia: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky Doesn't Shine as Strongly as I'd Hoped

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Warning: Contains allusive/thematic spoilers.

The day is finally here! Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, containing content previously unseen outside of Japan, has finally been released, so that us English speakers and/or non-PS3 owners can experience the new storylines, characters and features for the first time! Alas, this isn’t a post about that, firstly because this post is going up day-of-release and I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, and secondly because I am writing this from outside of the country and won’t be united with my pre-ordered copy until I return next week, RIP.

Therefore, this post is written from the point of view of someone who has only played the Xbox 360 version. I will try to keep it brief for the sake of not spoiling newcomers to the game, and also hopefully not to complain about things that are fixed (or broken??) in the Definitive Edition.

Tales of Vesperia is a game in the long-running “Tales of” franchise from Bandai Namco, the first one in HD, originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, later receiving an updated PS3 version in 2009, exclusive to Japan. Like many older fans, my introduction to the Tales of series was with Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube, and I fell in love hard; I was therefore extremely excited to play the next games, but unfortunately, I never owned the platforms for them until very recently. Along with Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia and Symphonia form the “holy trinity” of games in the series almost everyone loves; find a Tales fan and ask them their favourite game, and the answer will likely be one of those three (note: I’ve heard very good things about Graces and the two Xillia games, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to judge them firsthand myself). The three games, while not directly related in terms of plot or setting, share a lot of things in common, as they had mostly the same creative team, often referred to as “Team Symphonia” (as opposed to “Team Destiny” which made most other games since then). One notable difference is the scenario writer, Takashi Hasegawa, while Symphonia and Abyss were written by Takumi Miyajima.

The Tales series is known for its reliance on anime and JRPG tropes, often used in a way that plays off cliché expectations only to then layer plot twists and character development and produce a much deeper experience than what would be expected from the get-go. When used effectively, these methods produce a story that is both fun and emotionally challenging. Tales of Vesperia is no different, offering a cast of archetypes that should be highly recognizable to those familiar with the genre, and yet this may be best set of characters in a Tales game. The party has impressively good banter, chemistry and dynamics and several scenes had me laughing out loud or yelling, and I never had a bad time watching their relationships unfold.

Unfortunately, the game spares little time fleshing out backstories or learning more about each individual character outside of the main plot. By the end, I was left wanting, as the cast was so endearing and vibrant, yet I knew next to nothing about them aside from what had been relevant to show onscreen. I longed for more information about where they had come from and how they had gotten where they were, but it is a testament to the strength of the character writing that their storylines reached a satisfying conclusion despite this relative sparse amount of information about them. “Backstory is not story”, Craig McCracken and Frank Angones were fond of saying to fans of Wander Over Yonder, but for a game with the size and scope of a 60-hour JRPG, not providing that window of information feels like a hole in the worldbuilding.

Mechanically, Vesperia builds on the model established by Symphonia and refined in Abyss, where combat takes place in a 3D arena and the player can run around, hit enemies and rack up combos fighting game style (the franchise calls this “Linear Motion Battle System”). While Symphonia was in 3D, it restricted the player to a single side-to-side corridor of action. Abyss added the ability to run around in 3D space by holding down a button, a feature Vesperia also has. This makes combat easier and more fun, as nothing is quite as satisfying as avoiding an attack and then running around and hitting the enemy from behind. And, as the game allows up to four players controlling different party members, and I have a player 2 (shoutout to my roommate Opal), Vesperia’s system is the most well-suited to multiplayer. If nothing else, I never felt lost while on the battlefield yelling for backup. The one major flaw is that boss fights come with massive difficulty spikes and I often had to grind and formulate careful battle plans with Opal just to not get continuously massacred by bosses.

Storywise, Vesperia starts off very strongly, sort of peters out near the middle, and then the third act falls apart. At first the theme is anti-authority, with a protagonist who grew up in the slums, neglected by nobles, who became a knight and then quit out of disillusionment when it turned out all they did was squabble about politics, and the inciting incident and early driver of the plot is his quest to “fix the plumbing” as a popular Tumblr text post put it. It’s clear Yuri has all the reason in the world to not trust authority and he even goes full vigilante against unjust abuse of power, but while this thread seems like the most important theme in the story, after a while so many other elements come into play it ends up lost and doesn’t really make much of an appearance except to highlight the differences between Yuri and Flynn’s approaches to life and how they prefer to help people. On its own it’s a compelling idea, but it never gets the follow-through it deserves, and my expectations were certainly subverted—but in a bad way.

It’s hard to talk about the third act without spoilers so I will probably come back to it for a proper analysis at a later date, but its ultimate message was already kind of limp in 2008 and is even more laughable now. For a game whose initial premise was so strongly against authority, the ultimate resolution of the main conflict reads as incredibly daft in light of just about everything that is happening in politics at the moment. There’s a very strong environmental allegory and the comparisons to climate change are not subtle, but the writers probably bit off more than they could chew because realistically trying to solve this problem in the time the story allotted would have been next to impossible; I still would have hoped the implications of the given solution had been actually explored instead of settling for an “oh well, guess everything’s been fixed now”.

I’m being harsh about the plot because to me Vesperia has a lot of wasted potential. Don’t get me wrong: I do love this game. It is in fact up there with the holy trinity as far as my opinions of the series go, but it lands in third place out of the three because it just fails to live up to what its first half promises about the world it created. To put it bluntly, if the story had just ended at the conclusion of the second act, it would have been much stronger. That the game continues for another 20 hours on a completely different track with an unsatisfying, unrealistic conclusion is a huge shame because it brings down what could have been a real masterpiece of tropey anime JRPG narratives. I live for that stuff, there’s a reason I want to play every Tales game, but that’s what makes this letdown the most disappointing. At least the characters themselves get good conclusions; it is unfortunate I can’t say the same for the main plot.

Despite all this I think Vesperia is a worthwhile experience, and one of my favourite things about is its aesthetic sense. Every location is immersive, polished, and the pinnacle of what I want to see in a videogame, to the point I dream of Symphonia and Abyss remakes made in the same style (and every other game in the series, to be honest, but that seems unlikely with the direction it’s taken since then). I genuinely cared about the party and I wanted to see them succeed and I was ultimately happy that they did even if I did roll my eyes a lot. The combat was so satisfying and so fun to play with a player 2 it makes me twice as mad that Zestiria’s camera goes completely wild during multiplayer and prevents me from joining in. I should note that for someone who plays as many games as I do I am notoriously terrible at them so I heavily favour story over mechanics, but Vesperia is a game that reminds me that engaging gameplay can make a huge difference. Yeah, I suck, but at least I’m having fun while sucking. That’s more than I can say for a lot of games.

If you like JRPGs, games that let you run around and hit things, or fun and intriguing character dynamics, you’ll probably like Tales of Vesperia. If you’re looking for a coherent story from start to finish, you’ll probably disappointed, but there’s just enough there to keep you engrossed until the end. Overall, Vesperia is solid, and the parts it fumbles aren’t bad enough to ruin the whole thing, but hopefully the extra content in Definitive Edition helps to smooth it out; I’ll have to find that out for myself.

Aside from how it messes up the voice acting this time around. Oh, Bamco.

#Review #Tales of #Tales of Vesperia #videogames

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