Land 1 done!
Without crossing the bridge to get rekt'd by the final boss and trigger a bad ending, of course :p
I know the game puts more emphasis on gameplay than on characters, unlike, say, FE 8x2, but damn if every little situation you recruit random characters makes me think of past FE events in different titles and it just... fits? Somehow?
Like, evil empire has trouble conquering a party of Cornia, but behold! A mysterious plague pops up, that is totally not tied to the shady as fuck necromancer who works with the evil empire and says it'd be annoying if people find a cure.
So we have some guy and his army of cleric wearing plague doctor masks trying to find a cure by, uh, experimenting/working on people who already caught the plague, even accepting to work with the evil empire because curing the plague is more important, right?
Ends justify means yadda yadda... save for the part I earlier mentionned, that it is heavily implied the evil empire is the one who created that plague to begin with!
Now, imagine in a FE game if, in the background, we had to rescue people or hear about people being afflicted by a strange and unknown disease... and if that disease was engineered by people for a further motive...
8x2? Nah.
We also have quests where people are fighting for the evil empire who is occupying their land because they believe as long as they obey their people won't be put to the sword...
(I watched my bro play the final chapter, we know how it ends lol)
Not!Cyril fighting against bandits, finding and helping a witch fend off people who are trying to "catch her" - we even get a flimsy excuse for a bikini attire in the process and an answer to the "why do i use spells to rejuvenate myself in a sexy body? It's because I won't be able to move as fast as I can now if I was a crone" other flimsy excuse, etc etc.
Now it's time to enter the land of fucked up siblings relationship (sure Virginia is Alain's cousin - who looks like his mom - and can end up with him, but this is not the kind of Jugdralian stuff I had in mind) and let me tell you, all those plot bunnies I had in Jugdral about Lester believing he was going to become Lord of Jungby all of his life, only to have his role/throne snatched before his eyes by a bum who's apparently his cousin and can use the legendary shiny bow of legend is... basically Drakengard (Drakenhold in english?), but up to eleven.
Ah, and it wouldn't be a post from me if I don't find a way to rant about the localisation lol
Josef, upon meeting Virginia, basically goes in the audio "it's been a long time since I last saw you". In the english version?
Like what are you implying Josef, she wasn't a princess when you saw her last time or didn't have the "standing" fit for a princess?
Besides, I hope the release of the october book won't blow a hole in the Josef's "you were a teenager when we last met" by releasing character ages, but that's not really that important.
This however
Alain greets his long lost cousin, nothing wrong here right?
Well, in the JP audio, he calls her with the "hime" suffix, showing as much deference as Josef, who is a retainer of the royal family. Virginia doesn't use any suffix because that's her, but in Alain's various support convos, we learn that he had to learn and to behave like a proper noble after escaping from his castle 7 years ago, and all this noble/formal stuff is something he doesn't use with his commoner friends.
Ergo, this minor thing here is important, especially in the Drakengard themes : siblings/relatives used to be close, but reuniting after a long period of time or several life changing events, they are changed and even if they want and try to, cannot be as close as they once were.
12 notes
·
View notes
[Trimming for length...!]
...Mechalor Anon, how dare you take my attempts to give them a vaguely implied happy ending and convince me (challenge level: super easy) to turn this into something Truly Horrific... ANYWAY!
Snowflake!Noir and Adeleine, aka...**** ****...
Adeleine, as always, takes up art. She's more unsure of herself, so she's been experimenting with different crafts, trying to find the one that fits...whoever she is now. Noir waits tables at Kawasaki's while learning how to cook from him. He's stuck with his collar but the encroachment seemingly stopped with 02's defeat so...that's good.
[This timeline MUST have a Happy Ending. See? They're even smiling!]
They have a home at Castle Dedede when they're not out...enjo... sorry ENJOYING!! Dream Land; the soft cuddle bear penguin king unable to NOT care about these two in every reality, apparently ^^
Overall, they're not fine. All that shock and trauma in rapid succession, followed by being in communion with a dark power, letting it gently infuse their souls for decades to help escape their awful waking life, only to be very psychically available as it was destroyed and then waking up in a perfectly ALIEN situation that only pushes the two of them closer together is totally not fine though!
Today was another good day...
[Warning: horror, body horror, original attempt at biblically accurate Kirby last boss, semi-realistic eyes, no salvation, character death]
-
:Adeleine smiles wide, hopping onto the large bed where Noir sits:
Adeleine: "Ready?"
Noir: "Only if you're ready to lose two bucks."
Adeleine: "No way! Today was a good day! It's going to work!"
:Adeleine gears up to pry at Noir's collar, trying to break or otherwise remove it from him. It still refuses to budge:
Adeleine: "...Nghhhhhhh!"
:Noir wryly shakes his head:
Noir: "Ready to call it quits?"
Adeleine: "...Noir, are you sure you didn't accidentally glue this thing to you and you've been too embarrassed to tell me the truth?"
Noir: "Says the girl who sewed the shirt she was wearing TO my apron when I asked you to fix the ties on it for me. I didn't know you hated being apart from me that much, Adeleine!"
Adeleine: "No~ir!!"
Noir: "Anyway, no, I didn't and that's two bucks you owe me."
Adeleine: "...I don't have any money. They don't even use it here. Why do you keep betting me? What would you buy, anyway?"
:Noir replies with mock seriousness:
Noir: "...Chiropractic work for all the neck damage you've given me trying this thing every single day."
:She pouts before finally letting a little laugh slip through:
"...Adeleine, listen, it's okay. You don't need to worry about me..."
Adeleine: "It's not okay though! Dark Matter's supposed to be all gone now. Everyone said so. So...why aren't you better, Noir...?"
:A faltering smile to match her growing sadness:
:Keep lying to your sister, boy. You're an expert by now:
Noir: "...I am better. We're both better. Right...?"
"I mean, isn't this place a lot better than home? You're out there painting and sculpting and sewing and building and who knows what else and I'm...making less guests sick at Kawasaki's every day!"
:He laughs a hollow laugh. She doesn't laugh with this time:
"...Just cause this stupid thing is still stuck to me doesn't actually MEAN anything. It's just a boring hunk of metal. Nothing more."
:It doesn't still whisper to him. A thousand lost souls crying out to be one again:
:She crawls into his lap:
Adeleine: "Still...I'm...scared, Noir. I'm scared for us. Nothing feels right anymore... What if, the next time I go to sleep...I wake up someplace new again? What if...it's someplace without you...?"
:He hugs her tight, their shivering bodies fitting together perfectly:
:Why do you shiver, children? It is not cold here. It is too warm:
Noir: "C'mon, snowflake girl. That's not gonna happen anymore. We've stuck together so far and we're going to keep sticking. Right?"
"...And anyway, today was a good day. You said it yourself."
Adeleine: "Yeah..."
Noir: "We just have to keep having good days. Don't let the little things get to us. We've still got each other. ...We can do this..."
:Back to sleep. In sleep, we are safe. Only in sleep. Though...
...They ask us to wake up here They worry when we do not wake up:
--
:Outside the door to their room:
Meta: "...Your majesty."
Dedede: "Whaa?! It's not what it looks like!!"
Meta: "I have no idea what you're implying."
Dedede: "So, uh, what brings ya here, Meta Knight?"
Meta: "The same reason as you, I would suspect. To check on the status of our guests from Shiver Star. How are they?"
:Dedede points inside, where the two siblings sleep cradled in each other's arms, akin to how they were found. Though, it's a little uncanny to see them continue to sleep that way:
Dedede: "See for yourself. Sleepin' peacefully. At least, I hope so..."
:A bit of worry makes its way onto his face:
"...Adeleine's right, Meta. We beat Dark Matter. Twice. Hell, maybe more! Sure, we've had a host of problems since then but Noir's..."
Meta: "Do you believe that, my liege? That we have defeated it?"
Dedede: "What do you mean by that?"
Meta: "...When you look at those siblings, what do you see?"
:Dedede looks back inside the room:
Dedede: "I see two kids. Quiet. Respectful. Scared of trouble but they don't cause any. They mostly stick to each other but I seem 'em out there slowly trying to make friends with the others..."
Meta: "...You are a good man, my liege."
:Dedede balks and puffs up his chest:
Dedede: "That's 'Great' and get it right!"
Meta: "......Then I take it back."
Dedede: "Hey!"
:Meta fixes him with a fierce, burning gaze:
Meta: "Look at them again, sire. Not with your eyes."
Dedede: "......"
:Dedede can see it, their matter is locked in a twisted spiral, Soul and Dark feeding each other, tightly intertwined, and growing still:
Meta: "Do you see it?"
Dedede: "...No. I don't see nuthin'."
:Dedede turns away:
"And before you ask me to look again, I don't WANT to see it. They're just two kids, Meta! Just two small kids! They haven't hurt nobody!"
Meta: "...In the beginning, it was just the boy. He was sick with Dark Matter. I didn't know how he was still alive. He could have easily been a threat to the kingdom and not just because of that sword."
:Meta shuts his eyes, regretting his lapse:
"I...had hoped the presence of his sister could alleviate that some. But Dark Matter is not so easily tamed. It has grown fast, feeding off the two of them. It is already more than twice what a normal member of their species should be able to handle without being consumed."
Dedede: "...Right. That doesn't sound good. How do we stop it?"
:He sees Meta Knight's expression and rephrases:
"...How do we save 'em, Meta?"
Meta: "I believe, my liege..."
:His lowered eyes go to Galaxia's handle:
"...the answer will depend on your definition of 'save'..."
...
Meta Knight's words hung heavy on him.
King Dedede shut his eyes and decided to continue along as if it was nothing. Just...keep making the place as comfortable for the two as he could. Maybe the knight was wrong? Maybe it wasn't too late?
It wasn't long after that. The trigger was something forgettably small, as simple as a thoughtless suggestion or an accident; one of them gets hurt, bleeds a little, maybe. It only needs to be one of them, so inextricably are they linked that the resonance of the other's echoed pain races across Popstar like a sonic boom. Dark clouds swirl in, covering the whole planet, blocking out the star's brilliant light.
King Dedede rushes out. He doesn't want to know-without-question what is the cause this time. He wants it to be something unknown. A new invader; not his familiar tormentor, the foe he knows so well.
But he knows exactly what it is because he is already mouthing the words to a waiting Meta Knight. "The kids! Where are they...?!"
"Look up..."
It is a cruel joke to him. Always, Dark Matter had a way of getting inside him. But every time, it had been his body. Never had it succeeded at invading his heart.
He wishes this one would take his body.
...Take me instead...
But the two violet eyes are not looking at him. They arc laterally with rapid movements, back and forth, back and forth, stretching to the edge of their vision, looking for their other half they know to be there, felt through the comforting grip of tightly twined fingers and hinted at in the reflection of wings like the points of a snowflake...
...
......
-ZERO THREE-
" " yI at kH Ou er Bt ls lN 'o ti Ir " " | " " Dt ol nu ta LF ey aM vl el MA es Ai ls oi nh eT " " | " "It Ji um sm ta WD ad no tG Tp oU Ds rU ee ak ma FW ou ro FY od ri eD vy eh rW" " | " "Hr ee lH pe Hv ia mS" "
"...Give them back..."
"GIVE THEM BACK!!"
" " ...eK di en dg eD De gd ne id Ke... " "
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
...He will not get them back...
-
ZERO THREE's dialogue reads:
"It Hurts Noir / It'll Be Okay" | "Don't Leave Me Alone / This Is All My Fault" | "I Just Want To Dream For Forever / Why Did You Wake Us Up Godammit" | "Help Him / Save Her"
...The last one you can probably guess...
-
Mechalor Anon's full post below. Sorry I took the worst possible ending choice you offered and SOMEHOW MADE IT WORSE!
Noirs Saved: 2 (Gijinka, AU AU)
Noirs Failed: 1 (Snowflakes)
43 notes
·
View notes