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alexissara · 9 months ago

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How I'd Make FEH's Seasonal Banners Not Suck

Gacha is evil, it's bad, you shouldn't play it but as a girl with a big of a gambling addiction but see's no value in PNGs it's an outlet for me so I enjoy a few Gacha games for their fix, one of which being FEH. Seasonal banners are the worst banners of every month because their not sparkable without paying the monthly fee they want players to pay. Still imagining a better world where they had non premium spark I want to go over each months theme and if I'd keep it the same or if I'd replace the theme and with what.

January - New Years It's a solid banner theme of holiday banners it's one of two I'd keep. Most people use a calendar that means January is the start of a new year so a banner themed around celebrating it makes sense.

January 2 - Dessert

While the Dessert theme does have an eventual expiration date Fire Emblem does have a nice breath of Dessert cultures throughout the series that I do think is interesting to get a bit more insight into. Eventually this will have to pivot to some other type of cultural background but I do think there is smooth ways to transition into cultures although perhaps they will intersect with the Culture/Tribal banners that happen later in the year. If they really ran out of special cultures I do think they could pivot this to even go modern and explore real world cultures that inspired the characters for more modern designs which could be a fun and exciting ways to engage players.

February - Vday While I enjoy the dead dads theme of The Day Of Devotion banner being little families connecting I do think with FEHs dual heroes that we could do an actually romantic set of banners where it has ships on dates in cute outfits with an all dual hero banner. I think this theme could or could not be game locked but I think the most fun thing is to have a thematic tie between the ships and have it not be game locked so instead be like tragic love, Eternal Love, Childhood Friends To Lovers Rivals To Lovers kinda deals where it explores a different set of dynamics and how they manifested in the series. I'd start with a Childhood Friends To Lovers theme with Alm and Celica, Florina and Lyn, Dimitri and Dedude something like that to have a nice well flavored banner.

March - Replace Easter with Beast AU

This is probably my biggest want for Fire Emblem Heroes, the Easter Theme is not good. What could be amazing though and fix one of FEHs biggest problems is a banner that makes units into Beast Units. FEH has to make a good chunk of it's OCs beasts just so it can put a new stream of beast units into the game and has to use fairly niche characters to fill seasonal rosters all to stay canon complient but I say fuck canon, it's fun to do an AU and it would let popular characters be reimagined. In particular they could easily debut this to a best selling banner of Three Houses AUs. Flying Beast Black Eagle Edelgard, Cavalier Beast Golden Deer Claude, Armor Beast Blue Lion Dimitri, and Infantry Beast Ashen Wolf Yuri. Bam, perfect, that's a top selling banner. You pair Yuri with M Byleth since he is the Ashen demon or Naliah for a canon wolf unit. You make the tempest trail unit Fbyleth as either like a literal Ashen Demon or a dragon.

April - Replace Kids with Futures

It will never set well with me on every single level the kids banner theme. I hate having the kids end up being stronger then the other versions of the character. I hate having kid designs in general cuz it feels weird to use babies to fight in these wars. It's a weird theme that should go. So instead I propose a much better theme of Futures where we see the characters older from their end cards in the game. This is a massive staple of Fire Emblem having characters have some nice little future and why can't we see this. The age range can vary seeing fresh faced adults of the younger characters like a Donel or a Amelia or like proper older versions of some of the more standard ages Fire Emblem lords as they enter their MILF/DILF eras. People would love to see a proper older version of characters they love, especially it could be cute for older titles where you maybe it could be like aged by the amount of years of the game and kinda a growing up with the character kinda deal. Or it could just be a thirsty Mommy Sorry kinda vibe, either way works for me.

May - Replace Brides With cooking banner

Getting ready for the summer rather then a creepy bridal theme we could have a cook out, since Fates cooking has been a staple of Fire Emblem. I think themes like Tea Time could also move to this slot but each year could have a different kind of cooking vibe from like a summer cook out to a master chief vibe to like a cozy married life cooking banner with each capturing a new vibe while not being just the same boring white dress on woman theme.

June - Keep Summer 1

It's fine, I don't care for the fan service but people enjoy it, keep one month of summer banners, it clearly makes money, someone gets excited about it, a lot of people do but it could also be they bring out a lot of fan favorite units and strong pairings.

July - Replace Summer 2

I will give FEH one month of swim suits but one month is all I will give. Swim suits are not inspired, they aren't particularly interesting and we don't need two months of it. The theme that could replace it I think is space for something really fun like a cosplay theme with other Nintendo characters or a modern fashion theme that could be summery but not like just a swim suit. Something out there and exciting and can be a real talking point of the year. Personally I am found of the cosplay/crossover slot existing here.

August - Make Explicitly A Rare Class Theme

This slot might seem random but to me the clear pattern is it's about highlighting a rare class in the series be in rare as if you get 1 per game or rare as in was only in a few games. We have plenty of Fates Birthrights classes but even outside of that we have classes like Summoner that have only ever appeared once or Bandit that have only been playable once that could be a ton of fun to see characters dressed up as and could lead to really fun designs.

September - Keep Culture

The culture/tribal banners that show up in September are fantastic, actually using the lore of Fire Emblem. We have tons of cultures to go through that have shown up in the Fire Emblem series with countries like Sacae, Almyra, Brigid, all briming with a ton of fun potential to bring into banners and have popular characters be there to carry the flag for their country while other characters dive deep into the cultures.

October - Keep Halloween

Halloween is fun, it's fun, it never is samey because Halloween is what you make it, they could mix it up and have FE characters cosplaying Nintendo characters even if they start deciding they wanted to move off spooky stuff but honestly the spooky stuff is all cheesy fun and the banners are not creepy at all so I think they are just good fun.

November - Widen Ninja to be other Japanese inspired classes

I love Ninja Banners, who doesn't they just have good units from popular games and good designs but I do think expanding Ninja to include Samurai and other Hosido classes could widen the general appeal of the units and help them not stagnate but also I like Ninjas so like I feel like it should expand but not as strongly as the others I wanted to change.

December - Replace Xmas With Snowy Cultures

I am Christmas's greatest hater so of course I want this to change but I also think it's just so boring as a theme everyone wearing the same kind of outfit and colors every single year it just isn't fun and I would much rather see an expansion to the worlds cultures like with other cultural banners and a shift to Snowy cultures like Flora's home culture and Florinas.

#FEH #Fire Emblem #Fire emblem Heroes #FE #Seasonal Banners #Gacha

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bittertomato · 10 months ago

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A lil late but happy new year!

Characters under the cut, plus some fun facts

Tomato's faves for each month of 2023

January: Diana Cavendish (Little With Academia)

February: Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

March: True Rider — Hippolyta (Fate/Strange Fake)

April: Psyche Callista (Your Throne)

May: Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

June: Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

July: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

August: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

September: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

October: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

November: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

December: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

Brainrot of the Year 2023: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

Hall of Fame (aka brainrots of years past)

2023: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

2022: Tsuruhime Yachiyo (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2021: Tsuruhime Yachiyo and Yumeoji Shiori (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2020: Yumeoji Shiori (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2019: Tendou Maya (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2017 & 2018: Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

2016: Carmilla Karnstein (Carmilla the Webseries), Elsa (Frozen), Tohsaka Rin (Fate/stay night), and Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

2015: Carmilla Karnstein + Laura Hollis aka Hollstein (Carmilla the Webseries) aka my gay awakening

2014: Elsa (Frozen)

2012 & 2013: Higurashi Kagome (Inuyasha), Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach), Mouri Ran (Detective Conan), and Chiba Mamoru (Sailor Moon)

2011: Chiba Mamoru (Sailor Moon)

2009 & 2010: Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach)

Pre-2009: Who knows? My memory sure doesn't!

And I promised fun facts, so...

The early days...

The reason I can date my first fave to Rukia in 2009 is because that was when I made a Fanfiction.net account and posted my first fanfic. Don't read it I was young and foolish.

Bleach, Inuyasha, and Sailor Moon were my first animes. The first two I definitely watched on Adult Swim back when I still watched cable.

I used to be pretty skilled at self defense and even have a first degree black belt. One of the reasons why Ran from Detective Conan really left an impression on me.

There's a few unnamed faves that I also had from more obscure anime that were from so long ago that I can't pinpoint the exact years. A special shoutout to Asuka from Ask Dr. Rin! This show is in no way affiliated with Tohsaka Rin lol.

And yes, I do have male faves besides Mamoru! I love Hak and his constipated repressed feelings for Yona (Akatsuki no Yona) and my in-game name in FGO is inspired by Kurogane (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles). And for whatever reason, Fred is my favorite from Scooby Doo.

Honestly, I have to give Elsa some credit. I think she started the trend of my faves being "blonde/light haired "regal" rich/well off BAMF ladies who seem cold and distant on the surface but are actually dorks over-burdened and forced to grow up too fast, with a dash (or a ton) of family angst dumped on them." I mean, do you see any of my past faves being blonde? xD

The college days...

I was in denial about being queer and swore I was straight until I somehow found Carmilla the Webseries (I don't even know how) during the summer of 2015 and had a multi-step process of acceptance that went something like "Oh the actress for Laura Hollis is hot. Oh the actress for Carmilla is cute, pretty, and a huge dork. Oh everyone is pretty attractive. Wait mostly just the girls. Wait is that why I don't give a shit about men?"

Little Witch Academia is not only the first series where I published fanfic on AO3, but it's also the series that got me to write AND finish longer stories. So congrats, Diana! I really wanted to angst you :D It's also the fandom where I found my closer Discord friends. Love y'all, mwah.

I think Revue Starlight might be the series that squeezed the most faves out of me. It holds a special place in my heart for numerous reasons, but the main one might be the collab fic I worked on with Quill, who is now my partner 😊So thanks, ReLive even if your gacha game is somehow even worse than FGO.

That said, the series I seem to always go back to seem to be the To aru and Fate franchises. Maybe it's because they're still ongoing.

Those two are also the reason I started messaging Quill back in the day, so they hold an extra special place in my heart. Even with all their flaws.

And then Lostbelt 6 hit FGO and blew everything out of the water. I rave about Morgan a lot but that chapter of the game truly had a stellar cast. Nasu wanted us to remember that he can cook lol.

Where is my Lostbelt 6 anime, Aniplex?

#tomato rambles #why is the riyo april fools art #the only canon derp pic of her #this woman really does only have one expression #and it's :|#oh geez the fun facts got long #this truly was a ramble for once #not tagging all the characters since this is a personal post

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waterfall-ambience · 1 year ago

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assorted strawberry shortcake headcanons where i imagine them as chronically online, gen z ish young adults, but the information i'm drawing on is from the wiki, my mother's interpretations of the characters, and my vague recollection of the cartoons and playing with my mother's dolls

strawberry shortcake runs a baking-focused social media account and is the proud owner of several dozen pinterest boards with an ungodly amount of pins. she crochets her own clothes and liked the lirika matoshi strawberry dress before it was cool (she cannot afford it and would not have a good opportunity to wear it, but she dreams nevertheless). she plays minecraft with all the mizuno 16 packs. actually goes outside.

blueberry muffin is a book smart 'honors student' type, and is well-versed in classic literature. she also stays up way too late on ao3. she got onto the internet when she was way too young and was the type to very innocently warn her friends not to search up whatever horrors she saw (only for them to search up the horrors). she's spent way too much money on gacha games, but she tends to her garden to 'touch grass' and balance that out. she also thinks about stealing her neighbour's fruit, but don't tell anyone about that.

orange blossom got into art because she was super obsessed with minecraft animations as a kid and learned how to draw in the hopes of becoming an animator one day. she holds very strong opinions about bevelled minecraft character rigs, and is mildly tired of people irl constantly referring to her art as 'anime'. she travelled around europe in her early childhood but remembers absolutely nothing of it (this makes her so sad. she wants to go back one day to appreciate the art museums and architecture). she taught strawberry how to crochet and is a huge fan of sustainable fashion. she dabbles in pottery.

angel cake comes across as a rather straight-laced and sensible young lady- she sleeps at a reasonable time, does yoga, balances her duties and social life, stays hydrated, and performs well academically (she likes math). however she is hopelessly addicted to online drama. she doesn't necessarily participate unless she's feeling particularly spicy, and while her heart is in the right place, she is often overcome with the very human desire to Dunk. she follows the conversation intensely and knows all the who-did-whats and who-you-should-avoids.

plum puddin is genderfluid (she/they/he) and a biochem/genetics/microbio stem girlie. she's mildly snarky and 100% down to play the part of the mad scientist with wildly flexible morals. she likes to dance and watch video essays about queer sociology and feminist theory. they're online friends with tn honey but when they talk about her irl they refer to her as their 'overseas colleague'. they taught blueberry how pirate stuff off the internet when they were younger and she used that power to make anime amvs. he could probably stand to pop a multivitamin.

lemon meringue is a mildly successful fashion blogger who uses her platform for political activism- queer rights, climate justice, decolonisation, etc. most of her clothes are thrifted or handmade and she is disgusted at quite a few of her private school peers who buy things from shein. she's dating her childhood friend raspberry torte and has the privilege of being passenger princess when she misses her train.

rapid fire headcanons go: lime chiffon is plays a lot of video games and is addicted to monster energy drinks. she's an absolute beast at rhythm games like taiko no tatsujin, project sekai, and ddr, as well as claw machines. between lemon and raspberry, lemon is more outwardly sweet and raspberry is a can come across as a little unfriendly at times, but lemon is the one who holds grudges while raspberry is more forgiving. huckleberry pie is trans and did taekwondo alongside raspberry and strawberry for a couple years. apple dumplin is in elementary school and is a big fan of a series of unfortunate events (blueberry is so proud), but has only read the ones the library had available. purple pieman and sour grapes bully eight year olds in minecraft in their spare time.

#strawberry shortcake #well this is quite different from my usual stuff haha #the specific bits that came from my mom (either from headcanon or lore): blueberry being into gardening and orange travelling to europe #also blueberry is asian because she said so (we're asian)#sbsc

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petitelepus · 2 years ago

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Yahoo ! Can I have a twisted Wonderland matchup pls 🙏

Name : Riley

Age :16

Sexuality: pan

Pronouns :they/ them

Personality : I sometimes want to go outside like go shopping and sometimes want to stay home and play video games, im an affective person I like hugging and holding hands and cheek kisses even with friends I'm a kind person and help others no matter what, I have trust issues and I don't trust people Im scared being backstabed I will do anything to make my friend comfortable and happy with me my love language is physiqual affection, sometimes people take advantage of me and I know it but I keep them because I don't want to stay alone again , I daydream alot and don't care about anything and Im night owl and Love doing shit at night, I hate looking myself in the mirror cuz I think Im ugly, I have anxiety and panic/cry when people look at me, I lie sometimes and can manipulete someone easily, Im a an INTP gemini and that one friend who has no energy, laugh at any jokes, weird, quiet and adorable, Im quite smart and can't be serious , im Shy and if you are Friends with me I will be chaotic

Likes :otome games and fanfics with gn mc sweets, Spicy, anime, Cosplay , video games and plushies

Dislikes : racists ,homophobic ,F! reader in fanfics ,bullies ,homework , my bro and my ex Friends

Hobbies cooking Cosplaying Reading writing gaming playing Violon and dancing

I match you with Idia Shroud!

Alright, you and Idia are like two peas in a pod. You both love gaming, anime, cosplay, and sweets, you both play violin and so much more. The two of you most likely met when you ventured to the Board Game Club, eager to join and find some proper friends.

Idia most likely didn't even look at you or lift his attention from his tablet, deciding to let Azul handle the new member aka you... But then you glance over Idia's shoulder and see him playing this pretty new but potential Otome game with Gacha pulling technique in it.

You commented that he had a pretty good team and Idia shrieked as he was startled by you. After that, he was pretty wary of you, fearing you and thinking that you were another "Normie"... Until you brought your own console to the next Board Game Club meeting and showed him your own team.

Idia wasn't going to do much, just glance, but then he was awed by how you had gotten the Legendary Suitor, and you even had duplicates! You offered him your extra character and a beautiful friendship was formed that day.

Idia is actually very educated and knows nearly everything there is to know about LGBTQ+ and the people who recognize themselves as one of or multiple of the given choices. He understands you very well since he also is a Pan.

Idia actually always wanted to try cosplaying, but he never had the courage to actually do so. He has costumes, some that he created himself and ones he has commissioned from professional cosplayers and had delivered to his dorm.

He has dressed in the safety of his own room, but never outside. That is until he met you. Despite being so similar and you even being younger than him, you are so brave. You even come up with a way for him to join you in some Cons he always wanted to visit! Just wear a mask! How did he not realize it sooner?

The young adult isn't a fan of physical affection, but if it's you then he doesn't mind them that badly. The tips of his blue hair turn pink whenever you smile his way, but he must remind himself that you are still a little younger than him.

Taking notice of how young you are, Idia doesn't think about dating you until you turn 18. As much as he likes you, the rules are very clear.

Besides, this way you had a way out, in case you would prefer that newbie Pomefiore student or those two troublemakers from Heartslabyul, over Idia...

When this happens you notice quickly that Idia is going to his dark place and you gently hug him and just hold him, letting him slowly know that you are there and you will wait until you are old enough for him.

Both of you have a bad habit of putting yourselves down and if you do this near each other, a light argument is sure to be born. No worries, you don't insult each other, you complement each other. It's different and leaves you both blushing at the end of the argument as you slowly take in all the sweet things you yelled at each other.

You trust Idia and he trusts you so you make a real power team in games as in real life also. Idia would never break the deep bond of respect and love you hold for each other and he has trusted his Priestest's life into your Rogue's hands more than once.

Of course, if it's PvP then get ready to have your ass whooped. You two are either the best allies there are when against someone else or the most vicious rivals when against each other... But, every time you are against each other, you are taunting each other with big smiles on your faces. The two of you know when to keep things honorable.

Last but not least, the fanfiction. Yes, Idia does not only play and cosplay, but he also has written fanfiction. What do you mean Fem!MC? Fuck no, it's Gender Neutral MC so everyone can enjoy it!

You are in love, and oh boy, how he loves you back.

#matchup #twisted wonderland matchup #twisted wonderland #twst #idia shroud #anon #ENJOY!#I'm getting tired and you can tell by the way my writing changes #Ha ha

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kimarisgundam · 2 years ago

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What the crap is going on???

I've basically been a fan of a voice actor called Sakurai since I was 10 years old

Like, I'm seriously his fangirl. I love him to the point where I can drop big cash on gacha game characters he voices

I know this sounds suuuper parasocial-ish... but as a kid I looked up to him, and as an adult I would 100% marry him if given the chance cos I'm his fangirl

I just found out recently that he's been married for many years. I was stunned, but yeah ok. It's not my business that he's married. I'm just shocked he kept it a secret for so many years

BUT my friend informed me today that news just broke that not only is he married... he's actually been having an affair with a coworker for 10+ YEARS 😭

Like huh??? Apparently he hid his marriage so well that his colleagues and the girl he had an affair with didn't know that he's married 😭

And the girl was so shocked that she ended up in a hospital. I seriously don't blame her cos if I was "dating" a guy for 10 years and I find out that he's actually already married for more than 10 years... I'd be so shattered???

Like omg how??? How did he hide this from everyone???

I'm so disappointed and hurt, and I'm not even his wife/gf 😭

This is seriously so parasocial. I don't even know him at all. I'm just a random fan. But I still feel betrayed and hurt cos I like him 😭

#wtf 😭#why 😭#personal

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toshiakikijima · 2 years ago

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i’m really pissed that Maki’s s3 is being delay again. Kiriya’s s7 and Araki’s s4 are coming out late 2023, but Maki’s might not. Maybe the lack of popularity he has?

For “oops, i said yes!?” shu and kiba weren’t expected to be as popular in the international view point. But they are. Kasai, Kiba, Shu, Eiji, and Ukyo. I hope at the end they don’t push to have more Event run side stories and ignore side stories.

The best part of the old Voltage style (when they still had the singular apps and had barely released the Love365 app), they had so much better release schedule and items. Seasons had two epilogues and/or sequels. Seasons weren’t expensive and were under one title. Side stories were actually nice and less repulsive of the timid girl in a new relationship. LIke in Jun’s recently love triangle with Maki. The relationship between them is actually healthy; the MC can say things and court Jun without being a dimwit.

I believe there is 5 old voltage titles that have not been translated yet. But two more are to be released for the English app (a new one barely was released (think boybands) and a christmas title type (i only read it on the Adult page).

At the end, I don’t want IM or any other story to be abandon by Voltage anymore. Almost of the new titles released with the Love365 app were good. A world with(out) you, the one with the shrine priest, the taisho era title, and the one in which the grandmother dies and the stranger moves in (I love the Liam MS so much cause i kinda do relate with him). All amazing titles (over run by KBTBB success lmao). Also the title with the yankee was good too!

On a different abandon apps: honey magazine and Karpet. They also have very good stories. Rental boyfriend, Cinderella midnight, one about a creative director, the wedding planner, and the magazine journalist! I do believe covid and the lack of interest killed these apps, but i really miss them especially the side stories (playing the waiting games were fun too). In SSR, the last gacha play they have was about the MC having a “one night stand” and forgetting the night before. (familiar). It was funny and interacting, but the switch to a bookstore is boring and never interesting.

I believe the Cybird Ikemen series is the only one alive and well recieved... Shall we Date+ was killed too during these times.

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kyanako5972 · 3 months ago

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Hm, hm, maybe I should revive the "five character poll tag game" for this.

But for now, I'll list down the characters I would include in the "just boys" edition. Just kids here.

Wally from Pokemon

Gin from YTTD

Adair from Long Live the Queen

Ken from Persona 3

Shoma from AI:NI

Basil from Omori

(cw for cults, suicide, and death in general; spoilers ahead. Those ones will be placed at the end.)

Wally from Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. Your secondary rival. He shows up at the beginning, asking your dad for help, so your dad tells you to help him catch a Pokemon. Then you battle him twice (I think), and then he gets ahead of you (based on the easy-to-miss gym completion plaques). After your main rival gives up, Wally is the one to greet you at the end of Victory Road with a fully-formed team.

I just wish he was more involved in the story.

He also shows up in the postgame of later games and has an arc in Pokemon Masters (the gacha game) where he gets too competitive and has to re-learn how to battle for fun. I haven't played Masters in months, though.

He would probably be a great friend and rival to Amane (or I just like that they both have green hair.)

Gin Ibushi from Your Turn To Die. Canonically an autistic cat boy. He ends every sentence with "meow" or "woof". He wears a patterned hood that covers his neck and makes viewers think that he doesn't have a collar. He gives the protagonist a much-needed morale boost.

He would probably be great friends with Amane.

Adair from Long Live the Queen. I like experimenting with how all of Adair's routes go along with the other moving parts of the game. Apparently, before the Steam update, he didn't even have a character portrait. But now there are several cute moments if Elodie chooses to marry him during the game. They catch frogs in the garden after he moves in. If Elodie's dad dies, they solemnly play in the garden. (The future queen and king, two orphans playing in the dirt)

If a civil war happens, his step-mom gets executed. If Elodie brags about it, they are no longer close friends. Dancing with Adair is a great way to cause a civil war... Them pesky nobles and their approval...

Otherwise, it's pretty easy to get the warmer epilogue variant. They're described as "close friends rather than passionate lovers". But you don't get this variant if you don't go the betrothal route. (The other variant is that he's used to being told what to do by his seniors, so he just goes along with what Elodie says.)

I dunno how well he would get along with Amane, but considering that he's a kid surrounded by adults, they'd probably get along to some degree.

Ken Amada from Persona 3. The youngest member on the team. One of the team members accidentally killed his mom (by losing control of the persona, I think), so Ken is out for revenge. But then the team manages to talk him down, but then the person he was trying to kill takes a bullet for him anyway. And he's overly hated for that character's death. (He made it to the semifinals of "Y'all Hate Kids" tourney.)

He would probably be great friends with Amane. In a different timeline, if he ended up in Milgram... uh... *looks at Amane* *looks at "Y'all Hate Kids" tourney*

(cw cults ahead)

Shoma Enda from AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative. Classmate of Mizuki Okiura/Date. Has a crush on her, though he gets over it in the years to come. Very crafty with gadgets. Joins an existential cult. Has his DNA modified to age very slowly, so he looks the same six years later. Has a strained relationship with his dad but loves him deep down. The father/son route is sadly not canon ;____; so he does not make up with his dad, who instead becomes the victim of a serial killer.

He's out for revenge. Too bad someone else in the family beat him to the revenge.

He would probably be besties with Amane.

(cw suicide ahead)

Basil from Omori. (I'm out of space, and he's actually 16 in the real world, but I think he deserves a mention because I felt for him.) In Headspace, he's trying to warn Omori about a suppressed memory but goes missing and gets killed repeatedly. In the real world, he's so wracked with guilt for what he did four years ago, and he gets bullied by his former friends.

What he did four years ago was frame Mari's death as a suicide when Sunny accidentally pushed her down the stairs.

Choose to stay inside, and Omori protects Headspace Basil at the cost of real Basil's life. Face the truth, and Omori kills Headspace Basil for real. And then it's up to Sunny to talk down the real Basil from suicide.

If Sunny and Basil were in Milgram, I dunno how it would end. But I'd forgive them. And maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think Amane would have an honest conversation with them and try to make them feel better.

This is your excuse to reblog and tell me about that character you're obsessed with who is so cool and explain them to me because you get them more than anyone else!!!!

#reblogs

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flyingcookierambles · 3 years ago

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sadness over a3! eng i guess

oof just on my 700th day.....

kinda sad because of the announcement about A3! ENG server shutting down soon due to financial difficulties at LIBER/CYBIRD in the past two years (covid-19 related, etc.). according to a rather in depth reddit comment that had links to LIBER's publicly available financial reports + some financial reports from LIBER's parent company, Aeria, in english, covid-19 really hit LIBER hard since they had to cancel many money making events, from pop-up shops for the typical anime merch trinkets (keychains, plushes, pins, etc.) to the huge in-person events (voice actor meetups, the stage plays of MANKAI LIVE, etc.). due to shrinking player base on the ENG server + major loss of profits on both JPN and ENG servers, LIBER had to choose one or the other and they chose the JPN one, which i totally understand since it's way bigger there and the JPN fanbase will continue to give the franchise money more often. also, another person found a financial report/estimate from the google play store or something, and A3! ENG only made ~$20K to ~$10K in the past few months, which i guess is not enough to keep a server and localization company afloat.

i got pretty attached to the characters and it was a great game to help get by during college. and honestly, while i am very sad about this, again, i understand why LIBER did this, looking at their financial report from 2020. I would LIBER save the entire franchise rather than shut all the servers down, making us all unable to see our favorite actors ever again, even if it means that we ENG fans will have to go thru the extra steps of finding/reading fan translations, wikis, etc., to read any further stories from where A3! ENG left off. still, A3! ENG's localization was something special. i'm saying this as a TKRB JPN player who read the wiki for all the character voice lines and then had to see the official TKRB ENG localization make Yamabushi Kunihiro a rapper for some reason? lol. it was....weird.... meanwhile, all the memes and slang in A3! ENG didn't seem out of place and all fit their personalities because 3/4 of the troupes were all high school to college age and 3 of them were ~Gamers~. Out of all the gachas i've played, i feel like the only other F2P gacha game that had this incredibly smooth, all cultural jokes/puns translated in a way that still makes sense/fits the character/doesn't require a galaxy brain and some TL note to understand, is probably dragalia lost and that's only because it has frickin Nintendo localizing/publishing it globally for CyGames. Nintendo. i'll eventually read the fan translations of A3!'s Act 3 on the wiki, but it won't be the same without Kazunari's super high-energy influencer slang of "'whoa fam! that's totes 'blammable, gotta take a pic!" or Itaru's gremlin Gamer speak of "lol get rekt noobs" or Tsuzuru's tired dying breath of "that ain't it chief." the appropriate slang and relatable meme speak of the localization really helped humanize these characters as people of their respective ages, rather than just a typical formal speak or some directly translated JPN slang -> ENG that turns out super awkward that can be found in bad localizations.

going back to the reddit comment too, the death of A3! ENG servers could have bad repercussions in the future for other joseimuke games. josei, if you for some reason have been in the anime fandom but still don't know this term, is basically the genre of stories/video games/media/etc aimed at women. it's the mature adult counterpart to seinen, media aimed at adult men. basically shoujo/shonen = elementary/middle school/high school aimed while josei/seinen = high school/college/adult aimed if that helps. Joseimuke is a part of josei that is not specifically romance. while some josei/joseimuke can overlap with otome, aka female aimed dating sims/romance media, they have many things about them that make these all separate genres. one of the official A3! ENG translators and a known fan translator of another joseimuke gacha, Mahou Yaku/Wizard’s Promise, minami, goes more in depth with this in a twitter thread.

A3! was an actor raising game, and a big part of it was found family and relationships that were platonic. yet it got advertised as an otome, which has more connotations with dating sims and brings to mind other shoujo/otome games and anime where the cast is all high schoolers and the setting is most often in a high school. but, other than some characters making flirty jokes or implied to have crushes on Izumi/player character, many character relationships with Izumi are platonic and not romantic at all. Spring Troupe in the game also jokingly calls themself a family. the entire Mankai Company is basically found family. plus, since the game actually has time passing in story and the characters age with each year, half of the characters aren’t even in high school anymore. a large majority of them are in college or are graduated by now, with only a few still in high school. i’m not surprised if a reason that some people left the game was due to feeling bored with the slice of life/not romantic story, feeling that they were lied to about it being an otome, which was falsely advertised since it is a game meant for the older teens/adults demographic of josei/joseimuke.

i’m worried that other japanese companies will look at this shut down as a “josei/joseimuke doesn’t work well in the west” and never localize other josei/joseimuke gacha games like Mahou Yaku, EnStars, Twisted Wonderland, Helios, etc.

while i like otome and shoujo, i, as a 23/soon to be 24 year old college graduate and now tax paying adult, want more stories that have more mature themes and characters that are more my age so i don’t have to feel awkward when i’m playing some dating sim and i, a literal 23 year old adult, and trying to woo a 16 year old. it’s...a little awkward to say the least. i would gladly welcome more mature media that is categorized as josei/joseimuke.

sorry if this is all over the place, but overall im just sad that A3! ENG is shutting down. i don’t know if i’ll join the JPN server yet. i’m def going to read the Act 3 story via fan translators on the wiki, but A3! gameplay was...boring lmao. as much as i love A3!, im sure that the constant event grind/burnout and boring rng gameplay turned people off too and i dont blame them. i felt the burnout bad since i participated in basically every event since day 1. it. is. rough. i’m not joining the hellish thunderdome that is the JPN server and im not ranking anymore as a F2P player lmao. literally had to play almost every waking free moment to get into the 30%-20% bracket as a F2P person and i never got to top 20%-10%, much less top 1% lmao. i’m don’t whale enough lol.

i feel like i should probably just. crack open my genki 2 textbook and uhhh totally legal pdf copy of tobira. so i can just. get the JPN version of games in the first place so i don’t have to worry about getting shafted since overseas fans are often considered expendable.

i wish that, when any games that are online end, gacha or mmo or anything, anything online, companies will let fans archive things. or like. release a book that is just the story text or something. like. CYBIRD is letting us still technically play the game and have the story and all, but what if they eventually later shut everything down? why not just release a pdf/ebook that’s just the text of the eng localization for some money? i’d buy it. for nostalgia and rereads and all and also archiving purposes. i think i’ll try to help with any english localization archive projects if i can so that the hilarious and incredible localization that was a work of love from the translation team doesn’t just disappear forever.

well.

that’s it for now. as i said, guess i’ll head to the app for one of the last times to read the last unread stories and mini stories i have left, then the wiki for Act 3, and then i guess i’ll crack open genki 2 and bunpo.....

some fun random links for you to think about!

random ffxi article that came to mind (if ffxiv ever shuts down in the next 20 years or whatever i’d be cool to get a statue of my character at the end)

and death of a game playlist by NerdSlayer Studios on Youtube that has me thinking a lot about game preservation and losing MMOs and games

the lost media wiki and blameitonjorge’s lost media iceberg

other gacha games i’ve played that have shut down that i think about sometimes because the loss of A3! ENG isn’t my first rodeo:

terra battle & terra battle 2 (1)

AFTERL!FE

(related kitsu post link for archive reasons)

#rambles #games n junk #sad over a3! eng loss #a3!

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thatgamefromthatad · 4 years ago

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Seen these ads? (Obey Me! Review)

This is a visual novel/otome/gacha card RPG game with the same characters and themes as featured in the ads.

As stated in many of the ads this game centers around seven demon brother love interests (as well as some other potential love interests) although the game has a lot of plot elements other than just romance. Most of the ads that I’ve seen feature real art that appears in the game one way or another, and the ads tend to be focused more on the characters and theme in general rather than specific gameplay. Of the ads that do appear to show gameplay, most of the time it’s not really what you’ll see in the game but still follows fairly close to the actual game (for example, the “kiss, free, whip” ad on the top left doesn’t show real gameplay, but you can kiss or whip that character. But that specific art comes from a gacha card I believe and isn’t what you see when you do the kissing and whipping).

A few notes before I get into the full review:

I’m a lesbian, so I’m definitely not the target audience for this game, but I always try to be objective and open-minded when playing any game I’m not the target audience for (other examples I’ve reviewed in the past are Moments, which was also primarily targeted toward women who are attracted to men, Immortal Taoists, which involved a genre I had never heard of before and really had no interest in, Time Princess, which also wasn’t my favorite genre but was still a great game, and various Genius Inc. visual novels, which are targeted more toward high-school age boys as far as I can tell).

Speaking of lesbians, this game weirdly censors the word “lesbians” but not any other LGBTQ+ terms (that don’t include the word “sexual”) as far as I can tell; I decided it was enough of a one-off thing that it wouldn’t factor a huge amount in my overall review of the game, but I think it’s still something to take note of and not let off the hook since it definitely shows bias and can be offensive to players.

This game is rated 12+ on the Apple App Store, and I was pretty harsh on Crush Crush for being rated that way because I thought it crossed the line with some of its sexually suggestive content. I kept that in mind while playing this one, and personally I don’t think it crossed the line in the same way, at least not from what I’ve played so far; although it does have sexually suggestive content (most often when interacting with the character Asmodeus, who is literally known in the game as the “Avatar of Lust”), it’s much more occasional through tidbits of dialog as opposed to in Crush Crush where it involved a whole section of the game and was more interactive in nature. I would definitely still cringe at the thought of a 12-year-old reading some of this dialog, but I think it fits fairly within the App Store descriptors of “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity” and “Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes.”

Last note - there is a character in this game (Luke) who has the appearance and demeanor of a small child who you can interact with in a similar way to the other love interest characters, which concerned me for obvious reasons. I looked more into this, specifically reading into all of the different dialog options involving this character, and his responses never seem to be more than platonic, which is good. He still blushes when you give him gifts and stuff, which is kind of awkward, and it seems weird to throw a kid character into an otome game, but all considered I wouldn’t say the game is promoting anything inappropriate (unlike one of the Genius VNs that clearly involved relationships between an adult and minors).

Sorry I know that’s a lot of notes and disclaimers but I just wanted to that all out of the way as general concerns anyone might have trying this game or reading this review!

Without further ado, read my full review below:

***

(I’m trying a new color-coding system to help highlight some of the main points of my review if you don’t want to read my entire essay word-for-word lol. Pink is a positive aspect of the game, red is a negative aspect/criticism and purple is not necessarily positive or negative but just something I wanted to highlight.)

😈 Is the game actually fun? Yes! Just in terms of production value, this game is top notch: the art and character designs are very appealing, the transitions between characters’ poses and facial expressions during VN scenes are actually animated (which looks much smoother and more natural than switching between still images), the voice acting is great (although the VN scenes aren’t fully voice acted, some parts like phone calls are and the characters say different phrases during scenes and battles as well)(Note: all the voice acting is Japanese), and the music is FANTASTIC and perfectly sets the vibe throughout the game.

The best parts of this game in my opinion are the different personalities of the characters and the overall plot; although some of the characters’ personalities can be a bit one-note at times (for example, one character’s entire personality that I’ve seen so far is that he likes to eat and is always hungry), the characters each have their own charm and play off each other well. I found myself getting invested in each of the characters’ desires and goals throughout the story, even the characters I didn’t particularly like. The story is also chock full of humor which is always fun, and the whole world and backstory built around this game (the “Devildom” setting and the idea of an exchange student program with angels, humans and demons) are also unique and impressive.

I really enjoyed the multiple modes of storytelling i.e. how the VN chapters are supplemented with text messages and phone calls from characters and an Instagram spoof with additional side stories to unlock. I know this isn’t a new thing in mobile games (even Gardenscapes and Homescapes do it to an extent lol) but add the compelling characters and overall production value on top and it’s a really enjoyable experience. Since the home screen of the game is set up like it’s your phone, with the different parts of the game represented as “apps,” the game kind of creates a feeling like you’re really living in this world with these characters where you can freely scroll through their Instagram feeds and check the messages you get from them on your own time. The shop where you can buy items and premium currency is called Akuzon (an Amazon spoof) and the place where all your gacha cards are is called “contacts,” which further adds to the immersive effect.

The “dating” part of the game is pretty cute although I haven’t gotten super far so I’m not sure of the full scope of the romantic interactions. From what I can tell, in addition to the dialog, blushy faces and bedroom eyes you get from characters when you give them gifts and touch different parts of their body (above the belt lol), when you raise your intimacy level with them you get additional phone calls and messages from them (I haven’t played a lot of otome games but I think that’s how a lot of them go). I wasn’t that invested in this part of the game but I think there’s some strategy that goes with using the right combination of gifts and touches to maximize intimacy boosts and get certain dialog, which adds a whole other aspect of gameplay in addition to the main game. I also noticed that occasionally your choices throughout the VN chapters will give you a small intimacy boost with a certain character; I kind of wish this was even more integrated since most of the time I felt like no matter what I chose it didn’t make any difference in my relationship with characters. Also, I don’t think there’s a way to “officially” date a specific character, it’s more about raising the intimacy level to earn more interactions but it doesn’t actually affect the main plot.

As far as the main mode of progressing through the game, which is winning “dance battles” with teams from your gacha collection, this part of the game has its own positive qualities such as the cute chibi forms of the characters that appear on screen and the fact that some of the special attacks show a little anime clip of the character (of course it’s less exciting when you see the same clip every battle but I still thought it was a nice touch). I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a rhythm aspect as the “dance battle” name would imply, and your main interaction during the battle itself is basically just tapping hearts that pop up and tapping the characters when their attacks are ready, but you also have the option to skip that whole interactive sequence and just get a result based on your team’s stats, so there’s not much to complain about there (especially since the battles are sort of a side note compared to the storytelling aspect of the game despite being the main element of RPG-based gameplay that allows you to progress). If you are interested in the RPG aspects, there’s plenty of that to work with (building teams, balancing attributes, managing resources/rewards to level up cards and progress through skill trees of sorts, all that good stuff) although you’re limited to an extent by how difficult it is to get a lot of gacha draws without paying real money. It’s even harder to be able to focus on both strategy and character relationships while playing for free when the same scarce currency is used for both gacha draws and gifts.

👿 Is this a free game or a “free game”? Despite what I just said, I would still consider it a free game - you can gradually save up some of premium currency the game gives out through tasks in order to pay for more gacha draws and other items, and as far as I can tell you can access the main story and the other parts of the game without hitting a paywall. I only got to the fourth chapter so far though so don’t take this assessment as gospel. Like with a lot of other freemium games you might feel pressured to pay (especially when you run out of gifts to give your lover boys, which was the biggest downer for me, or if you’re obsessed with wanting to collect a lot of cards or get a specific card) but since you don’t actually need to pay to progress I still consider it free.

There’s also an energy system where you hit a wall and have to wait if you run out, but I never ran out because of the huge amount of energy the game dumps on you when you first start, and it seems like there are a bunch of other ways to get extra energy as well. There also aren’t pop-up or watch-to-earn ads in this game that I saw.

💀 Features

Main visual novel scenes and storyline (the visual novel scenes come between dance battle stages and there are a few short side routes that branch off but still one main route as far as I can tell, I don’t think your dialog choices really make a different except for in how the characters react to you immediately afterward. Still the main storyline in itself is fun to follow and it’s fun to get different reactions out of the characters based on what you say)

Dance battles (I’m not fully knowledgeable about the minutia of the RPG system at play here but in general the outcome of the battle will depend on the level, rank and attributes of your cards compared against the difficulty and attributes of the stage you’re playing. There also “memory cards” that can be assigned to support your team and expendable temporary boosters called “glow sticks” that boost your stats for one battle. During the battle itself you tap hearts that appear to earn extra points and you can tap your characters when their power is charged up to “attack” your opponent and use special skills. There are guides online that go deeper into stats and strategies and such if you’re interested. Different stages have different rewards for completion and you can quick complete levels you’ve already beaten to mine resources you need)

Gacha mechanic and cards (the gacha area of this game is called “Nightmare” and there are a few different pools along with event pools each with their own odds and sets of cards you can get. For the default pools you get free draws periodically and I believe you get one free draw for each event pool IIRC. You also get a bunch of vouchers for draws when you first start the game which got me handful of SSRs and a couple URs to build a couple of solid teams right off the bat. In addition to drawing directly from gacha pools you can get some cards by collecting card pieces as rewards from stages and events until you have enough to get the actual card. Each card has its own set of stats/attributes, can be leveled up and has a skill tree of sorts that can be progressed through with resources mined through beating stages, although it’s more of an attribute tree than a skill tree since most of the branches just add points onto one of your card’s attributes. Some cards, the rarer ones, have special skills that can be used in battle)

One-on-one characters interactions and intimacy i.e. the “dating” part (there are two ways this occurs: 1) you can set a specific character to your home screen that allows you to enter into an interaction with them, with a refresh period in between interactions 2) the main way, which is through “surprise guests” after dance battles. These surprise guests show up frequently but not always, and they’re always one of the three team members you used in battle, selected randomly. For each one-on-one interaction you can do three actions - either give a gift, touch the character or ignore the character. Sometimes the character will also offer you a high five which counts as an action if you oblige. Different characters have different favorite gifts and touching different parts of the body can get a different reaction depending on the character and your level of intimacy I believe. Your intimacy level with a character increases depending on the combination of actions you perform, and sometimes the character also gives you gifts back like more energy or resources. There are guides for this online as well)

Text messages and phone calls (text messages are the main mode of storytelling outside of the main VN scenes - you get messages from characters or multiple characters in group chats that you respond to with preset messages or stickers similar to how you make choices during the VN parts. Some of the text messages correspond with the main plot as you progress, ex. A character texts you to be in a certain place at a certain time and next VN scene is of you two meeting at that place. I think other text messages also come up when you reach certain intimacy levels with characters. There are certain group messages that you don’t respond to where you’re basically spying on a group chat among characters and just get to see what everyone’s saying. In addition to written messages and emoji stickers characters will also sometimes send pictures. Phone calls are fully voice-acted dialog you have with another character and they seem to pop up when you reach certain intimacy levels - I’ve only gotten ones so far with the two characters I have the highest intimacy with)

Instagram spoof/“Devilgram” (Devilgram is an in-game photo sharing social media app similar to Instagram and the photos on there correspond to gacha cards. When you acquire the gacha card that corresponds to a Devilgram post you unlock a side story, but you also need keys to unlock further scenes from that story, which can be gradually earned through completing tasks and such)

To Do tasks (completing tasks on your To Do is the main way to earn premium currency in the game along with other rewards and resources. There are daily tasks, overall tasks and tasks specific to each character. Examples of tasks are completing a certain stage or number of stages, beating a stage using a team that includes a certain character or reaching a certain intimacy level with a character. There are also beginner missions when you start the game that I think stay available until you complete all of them)

Events (there are sometimes side story events called “pop quizzes” and gacha events that are available for a limited time, or sometimes an event has both a corresponding pop quiz and gacha pool. The pop quizzes are separate chapters with their own dance battles and VN scenes, and the battles will come with reward points that you can spend on different prizes. Sometimes there are unique cards you can only get from an event. Other minor types of events include log-in bonus events and events where you can get special types of gifts for your love interests. There’s also a feature where you can “time-travel” back to old events at some cost but I haven’t explored this much)

Jobs (you can assign characters to passively complete jobs that earn you a small amount of non-premium currency over time and also increases your intimacy with the assigned characters by a small amount)

Customization (you can unlock avatars of different characters to use for your profile and set the name you want characters to refer to you by throughout the game. You can also change the outfit of your homescreen character, change the homescreen wallpaper and change the homescreen background music by making purchases in the Akuzon shop or acquiring certain gacha cards)

⚖️ Ad Honesty Rating: 4/5 (just from the ads I’ve seen, especially the ones that appear to be running currently, there don’t seem to be blatantly fake ads and the ads show real art and do well conveying the theme and characters in the game. However some of the ads are misleading about the actual mechanics of gameplay and may also lead you to believe there are actual romance routes with the characters which is not really the case)

⭐️ Overall Rating: 5/5 (I definitely didn’t want to give this game a great rating just because it’s super popular on Tumblr but I can definitely see why it’s so popular. There are lots of things to do, the characters are very lovable, it’s funny, the art is great, the music is great and the lore and overall vibe are compelling and unique. It’s a high-quality game with a good story and I’ll probably keep playing it)

▶️ Ad Example:

▶️ Gameplay Examples:

Dance Battles

youtube

Surprise Guest

youtube

If you got through this review bless your heart ❤️ Special thanks to @human-watching-ads-from-devildom which is where I was able to view some of the ads since I was having trouble finding them elsewhere online and viewing some of them on the Facebook ad library.

Follow me for more reviews of those free mobile games you’re always getting ads for! Thanks for reading! 🥳

#obey me #obey me shall we date #otome games #gacha games #visual novels #full review #anime games #rpg #dating simulation games #romance games #war and peace but it’s just a review of a mobile game #sorry if there are typos or mistakes

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yurimother · 5 years ago

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LGBTQ Visual Novel Review - OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos

If you are at all interested in Yuri or visual novels, you will have undoubtedly heard of OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos. The Yuri rom-com was one of Steam’s top 20 February releases, and it hit the trending page on the platform. These accomplishments are incredible, and it is lovely to see both a visual novel and a Yuri game get so much love and recognition. However, whenever a title succeeds and manages to make an impact outside of the Yuri community, it always brings up a few questions. Mainly, does it deserve to be one of the few Yuri titles to obtain “mainstream success” and is it a positive ambassador for the genre, one which can further Yuri’s popularity and pull new consumers into it? These concerns boil down to one question, is it good? Usually, this inquiry is pretty quickly answered, with most elements of a product either being positive or negative. However, OshiRabu delivers more of a challenge. There are some fantastic parts to this game which I applaud and gush over, yet there are also several problems, both major and minor. The dichotomy between OshiRabu’s highs and lows is possibly the strongest I have ever seen in a Yuri title.

OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos is the debut game of SukeraSomero, the new sister brand of the excellent Yuri studio, SukeraSparo. The plot follows Akuru Hayahoshi, an otaku with an obsession with her “husbandos” from gacha games and seriously bad luck. One day she bumps into a cute and bubbly student, Ren Furutachi. After Ren shows off her uncanny good luck to Akuru, a miscommunication sees Ren believing that Akuru confesses to her. For Ren, it is love at first sight, and she persistently negotiates her way into living with the older woman.

The rest of the game flits between comedic moments as Akuru and Ren live together. Examples include the girls shopping for a new bed, since Ren insists on sleeping next to Akuru, and Akuru creating boys’ love doujinshi with her friend Shino. There is, of course, a climax, which will not be spoiled in this review, and three possible endings, depending on two-player choices. An optional 18+ DLC expands on one of the endings and offers several explicit scenes.

There are some enjoyable aspects of this plot. For one, it is light and pleasant, never letting itself settle too much or grow stale. The situations are not hilarious but enjoyable and well suited to the with the characters’ personalities, and establishing several recurring themes and jokes, such as Shino teasing Ren and Ren accusing Akuru of cheating. There is an excessive amount of adorable fluff, which matches well with the overall tone of the game. These delightful moments cater to a variety of interests and fixations, so every reader is likely to find something they like. My personal favorite was a brief imagination sequence where Ren and Akuru have a child together, cute Yuri stories about women raising a kid are one of my weaknesses, and the reason Voltage’s Lovestruck has stolen hundreds of dollars from me.

The writing is also fantastic. The descriptive prose makes me laugh at the poor quality English translations we had a decade ago, and sometimes still unfortunately get. SukeraSomero deserves a great deal of praise for the simultaneous English, Japanese, and Chinese release. It is amazing that everyone got to experience this game together all over the world, without having to wait years for a possible license and translation. English translator Meru is one of the best in the business, and her work shines here. Her adaptation is amazing and fits the games’ modern setting and feel. I personally do not care for the amount of internet culture language included, such as Ren calling Akuru a “thot,” simply because such terminology tends to become dated quickly. However, I will defend the creative choices as accurate to Oguri Aya’s original story.

There is one more major compliment I have to give this game, and it is a big one. OshiRabu is extremely queer. While most Yuri titles exist as lesbian or lesbian adjacent content with little construction of LGBTQ identity, for example naming, displaying meaningful sexual and romantic relationships, or showing any aspect of queer culture, OshiRabu does all of these. I was floored when, early on in the story, Ren confesses to Akuru that she is a “lesbian.” The word lesbian is actually used directly in the visual novel, an unfortunate rarity for the Yuri genre. I even swapped the game into the original Japanese to confirm, and there again was the coming-out moment; the word “lesbian,” in all its glory, was planted right on the screen. This fantastic scene was not a one-off occurrence either.

Throughout OshiRabu, Ren continuously mentioned her homosexuality, which is usually juxtaposed by Akuru pondering her own sexuality, which she defines as an attraction to 2D men and nothing else. Although, her identity obviously changes because you know the women must end up together by the end. Some other excellent scenes feature queer representation. For example, at one point in the game, Akuru goes to a gay bookstore where another woman approaches her. When trying to explain that she is not interested, Akuru almost exclaims, “I’m normal,” a sentiment which she quickly realizes is hurtful and prejudice with some spectacular self-reflected narration. Moments like these offer nuanced and thoughtful presentations of LGBT culture and are the definite highlight of the game.

Sadly, not every aspect of the visual novel is as fantastic as these. In fact, many parts of it range from unfortunate to downright atrocious. First, the characters, while not awful or unlikeable, have some harmful qualities to them. Akuru is distant and introverted, which often leads to her being cold or even rude to Ren, which is never confronted or resolved. On her part, Ren is sadly the stereotypical aggressive lesbian, and frequently invades Akuru’s personal space, a topic which is again never reconciled. It is fine to have a character make problematic choices, but when their actions do not have consequences and conflicts have no resolution, it is a significant issue. The only character I unequivocally enjoyed was Shino, as she spends the whole game humorously teasing the two.

Speaking of conflicts, the final dramatic twist comes about as a result of Ren running away and refusing to communicate with Akuru. It turns out, minor spoilers, that she was testing her, which is a pathetic and ridiculous action which in real life can and should have serious repercussions or even end the partnership. Additionally, the topic of Akuru’s shared affection for Ren and her virtual husbandos, which is an immense source of stress for Ren, is not addressed in the base game, only the DLC. The extra content has its own set of problems too.

It is not uncommon for visual novels to include adult content in a separate patch so they can sell the base game on Steam. However, such adult patches are usually free, and OshiRabu’s is not, instead it sells for $4.99. This price is on top of the $24.99 base game, which means you are shelling out 30 dollars for the complete experience. An experience which, mind you. only clocks in at about 3 hours, hardly what I would call a value. It is an additional shame because the adult content is really well done. All the 18+ scenes, except for maybe the brief first one, showcase a tender loving relationship and skillfully written erotic content, although one or two metaphors did not land very well. However, not every player will want the 18+ content, and OshiRabu essentially forces them to play through it if they are going to see all the base game’s conflicts resolved.

There is also an unfortunate amount of service. While most of OshiRabu’s service is just sweet and cute moments between the characters, there is plenty of exploitative artwork designed to cater to specific players of a more perverted persuasion. Ren is usually the subject of such content, with shots featuring her panties and one extremely revealing cosplay outfit consisting of little more than two strips of cloth. Obviously, some players will enjoy these aspects of the game, but they did not work well for me, especially when I compared such clumsy service with the robust adult content.

However, this exploitative artwork, along with the rest of the game’s art, is phenomenally well crafted. Artist and character designer DSmile creates detailed and colorful illustrations that match the light comedic tone of the game. The adorable and vibrant artwork, drawn in a light watercolor style, makes my heart sing! There are also plenty of CG pieces, over 20, including the DLC, which adds six more. Given the games short length, this means you will see a new CG every ten minutes or so. The UI is also incredibly clean, easy to navigate, and blends well with the aesthetics of the art. My only complaint visually is that the sprites are entirely static. Except for different facial expressions and a few outfit changes, they are always the exact same, standing like flat mannequins against a backdrop. There is no animation or even alternative poses for them.

The voice acting is similarly high quality. Voice actors Nekomura Yuki, Kitaooji Yuki, and Waou Kirika all give fantastic performances in Japanese, and the quality of the recordings is consistently amazing. Even the adult scenes are voiced and showcase the range of talent present. The music is not nearly as good, but it does not intrude either. There are enough tracks to prevent the music from getting too dull, although the central theme and one of the tracks, “Let’s Go Out!” push this boundary a little far. Unfortunately, none of them are too memorable either, and I can guarantee that I will never be touching the BGM tab of the extras menu.

OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos is a highly polished and visually impressive experience. The visual novel contains incredible artwork and is well constructed, showing the promise and talent of SukeraSparo. The stellar, although unfortunately necessary, adult DLC, and inclusion of LGBT themes are superb aspects that could have made playing this game a blast. However, a poorly constructed story, weak characters, and a high price tag compared to the amount of content offered severely detract from the game’s success. If you do not mind excessive service or are interested in lots of cute Yuri moments, pick this one up when it goes on sale.

Ratings: Story – 5 (6 with DLC) Characters – 4 Art – 9 Voice – 10 Music – 5 LGBTQ – 10 Sexual Content – 5 (9 with DLC) Final – 5

The visual novel is available on Steam and MangaGamer

#yuri #reviews #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #gay #lesbian #visual novel #oshirabu #oshirabu: waifus over husbandos #girls love #gl #wlw #video games #gaming #game

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144 · 4 months ago

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ok rent lowering gunshots. i genuinely play gacha games a lot. i think "irredeemable media" is a dumb and reductive concept. i don't think AI art is always bad and the death of artists, it's way more complicated than that and a pretty interesting medium actually. i have never had the interest to kiss or date someone so i never did. i relate real life events to fictional events to better locate myself. i talk about gore sometimes but am actually kind of bad with realistic blood. i draw shittily and not in the charming way. i'm ok with hard kink i just avoid that which i dislike idc what you do in the bedroom with a consenting adult, including the stuff i'd consider disgusting outside of it. i follow people whose opinions i don't always agree with, sometimes just because we are friends on discord. i mentally shoot with a laser every post in my dashboard that's painfully usamerican. i am fucking living in france

the urge to either remake or softblock everyone in this blog apart from the ppl i talk to on discord and then lock this blog with password comes to me like daily

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storiesofsass · 5 years ago

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I keep seeing 13-16 (17+ are fine for reasons I'll explain) year olds around in this fandom so I'm going to say this.

Obey me is an adult otome.

A blatantly adult otome.

There's no "everyone says I'm mature for my age so it's fine." about it.

It is not for kids. Don't play it, delete this game.

If you really want to discover fetishes at a young age, watch Totally Spies. All the episodes are on YouTube.

. But the play store/Apple says it's for Teens

Both Google and Apple are very leniant about content. As long as it's not explicit (which Obey me isn't) it won't get a mature rating. My friend @mlqc-love has a much more detailed post on this.

But tldr: According to the games TOS, you have to be 20+ to play this game. I'll give 17+ some leeway because of the non explicit (doesn't mean that it isn't blatant) nature of the game and that the game only released a couple months ago.

Take it from someone who started writing smut fanfics at the age of 11 for Hetalia and used to ship itacest and Amecan. You aren't ready. You don't need to be playing a game about demons with BDSM elements and incest jokes.

You won't appreciate the joke behind the slightly used heartcuffs.

You are going to miss out on 90% of the joke.

And you know your parents aren't going to like that you are summoning Satan in a gacha then whipping him for affection points.

Instead of filling your head about whether you are a sub, Dom or switch and that you have this fetish or not.

Go read a book on Wattpad. Go write a bad boy story on there. Read an actual book.

By the time you become a grouchy uni student like me, you'll look back fondly and slightly cringe at the time you did this and probably get some of the jokes.

Hey if this game runs for as long as Blood in Roses has (another Shall we date game that has been around for about 5 years), you'll finally be old enough to appreciate the game.

I'm no moral guardian, I just want to help avoid 14 year olds taking about Belphegor's chocking fetish to sound cool.

#obey me #shall we date obey me #obey me shall we date #swd obey me #This fandom grandma hails from the games of itacest and germancest hetalia era #I thought I got the jokes and content #I didn't #shall we date

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sukunas-play-thing · 4 years ago

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Hey, it’s the frisk x sans anon lmao. I decided to tell the story because maybe you can get a good kick out of it.

I’m gonna call the Frisk/Sans shipper “Kool Aid” and my friend “Izu”, since that’s part of a nickname I have for them and they also kin Izuku Midoriya.

They also call me Kacchan since, like Katsuki, I am angry and ready to throw hands. Specifically with adult/minor shippers.

So, me and Izu are just minding our business. We’re just texting about random shit when, suddenly, they send me a video about this gacha person defending Frans. So! Both me and Izu are very against adult/children ships!

So we decide to comment on this person’s video and disprove all of the points in it.

One of their points was: “Frisk doesn’t have a specific age and the creator said we can choose it”

That’s factually incorrect. See, frisk is generally addressed as “Human child”, “My Child”, “Kid” throughout the game. A character even mistakes Frisk for their dead sibling who died when they were a child, so it’s very safe to assume frisk is around that person’s age. So while their specific age isn’t confirmed, they’re clearly a minor.

Another one of their points was they can make frisk an adult in AU’s. They even had an au where frisk and sans met when frisk was 15 and they started dating when she was like 20? Can I just,,,express to you how disgusting that is btw? That’s like meeting your friend’s kid at fifteen and you’re twice their age. then when they turn twenty you guys date. It’s still fucked up bc you saw that kid as a CHILD.”

And it essentially amounted to “you guys are haters!! Why can’t you guys quit whining!!”

So, my friend and I comment. They respond to my friend’s comment first and they both have a back and forth. Izu debunks every single one of their points while Kool Aid whined and bitched about Izu being a “crybaby” and a “complainer.”

Eventually, I shut that shit down. I say “Please respond to my thread. I very much think you support pedophilia and I’d like to have a calm discussion with you. They are not a crybaby in the slightest.

Please respond to me when you have the chance, thank you.”

After awhile, they respond to me lmao. I essentially say

“The fact you’re insinuating that this pedophilic ship is okay is utterly disgusting. Aging up a child to ship them with a grown adult is very literally gross. You’re doing that just so you don’t get in trouble.

You are also sexualizing this child. I hate the fact that for some reason you can’t just explore their dynamic as a parent/child dynamic or sans being an uncle towards Frisk.” There way l more stuff I said but I don’t want to give u so much to read.

So this person’s response is “Fuck u! You complain about EVERYTHING! This is my channel and I do what I want! I don’t support pedophilia!!”

After a back and forth, they ended up blocking us lmao. It took them two hours of them threatening to block us to actually do it.

So yeah that’s a fun story lmao. Hope this gives you a chuckle-

Bruh.... I'm- *Frustrated Pterodactyl gremlim screeches and uncomfy noises*

Ewwwwww I'm shocked y'all talked to them for 2 HOURS I WOULDA RIPPED MY WE LASS HAIR OUT ME SCALP!!!???????? lemme. Just- SPIKE A VOLLEYBALL IN THEIR FACES????? "The age wasn't specified and the creator said choose". What kinda hillbilly Alabama shiznet propaganda is that!!!???????? How dare y'all put words in a creators mouth like tht.

Just as disgusting as pedos tryna claim age fluidity and weazle their way into the LGBTQ+ community so they can prey on minors. I'm very grossed out. All of that for a video??? Oh no baby no baby no. Thank you for sharing this rot with me. I definitely did chuckle at their squealing tho.

This was their face:

Deadass.

#discourse #may be triggering #admin shit #answered ask #asks and answers #I fucking chuckled so hard and my bestie while I was reading this to him was making those disgruntled noises #undertale

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goldentigerfestival · 10 months ago

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If you go on for ten hours, I will read ten hours' worth of your complaints LOL. I LIVE for the Fluri Toriumi and Mamoru gave us.

That said I also may have to go for ten hours because I have Thoughts.

I never disliked the localization so much as like... when I got older and came back to the game, I also realized how bad some of the voice acting was for characters who weren't Yuri and Flynn. The cutscenes have the most jarring acting oddly for all characters though (like... really bad acting. RIP Flynn's very first fucking lines in the whole game in the opening cutscene). I guess back in the day it sounded good for what it was, but nowadays with dubs being given more seriousness and generally being cared for by whoever is working on the production of it, Vesperia's voice acting sounds very dated.

Aside from that, yeah, my biggest gripe with Yuri's voice acting isn't anything that's Troy's fault specifically, but the way he was clearly directed for Yuri. In someone like Karol's eyes, Yuri is a big, cool, strong adult, but that really just isn't him. Toriumi makes him so lively and has all these tiny nuances even in just his breath and subtle sounds. I've heard Toriumi voice other characters before, and from my experience, all of that nuance to Yuri's character is specifically for Yuri alone.

I think the dub tried to go a bit too heavy on the "rivals" aspect of their relationship, when honestly "rivalry" isn't even... really there? It's just two friends pushing each other to be better, and when they're doing things like sparring, talking about their differences, etc, it's not even out of a rivalry at all; it's just how they communicate and get things done. It's part of the whole, they're the ones who understand each other best. They know what the other is trying to say and do, and the only time that gets strained is in act 2 when they're both just terrified of what the other might become if left to their own devices. Like, that scene at the port? Massive vocal differences. Dub Yuri sounds angry. Original Yuri sounds hurt and sad when he confronts Flynn. There was sadness oozing out of that scene from Yuri.

I think the easiest way of putting it would be that in the dub, I could see them going through with "I'd kill him if I had to". In the original, I think they would struggle with that a lot more than they let on, and I think the dub kinda lost that effect. Yuri sounded like he was so frustrated he wanted to cry at that scene at the port in the original, and that's definitely not what the dub got across - at least to me.

I'm actually very grateful we have the gacha games with voice because we've got so much more content than just the game itself to really get as much as we can with Yuri especially and who he really is that the dub totally missed the point of. I especially love how much it shows in Rays, because you'd almost think he's a different person entirely from dub Yuri. Also, Rays and Asteria both straight up had Yuri's personal story revolve around Flynn (and for Asteria when Claw took over Yuri's body, it was Flynn - and only Flynn - who stepped up to handle it and knew he wasn't dealing with Yuri. Yuri also needed to get knocked around a bit to be freed of the possession, and it makes sense that Flynn could do that seeing as -holds up canon material-).

As for the general tiny changes hanging around in the localization, yeah, they tend to bug me just because some of it is like... what was the point? Some of it was like... how did you even get there with that translation? It's kind of crazy to me that a professional company did all that and ended up with nonsense in some spots, and I'm over here, a non-fluent speaker in JP (I'm completely self taught and very on and off in actual studying, etc, so my actual fluency is very random to say the least LOL) baffled by how on earth they came to some of these conclusions for "we should translate it to this". Vesperia is of course by no means Hearts R level of What The Actual Fuck Were You Even Trying To Do Here, but it's still very jarring.

On the topic of all the het nonsense, y e a h. Another case of trying to shoehorn it in because, while Tales has an Issue with pairing the main male and female with extremelyyyyy rare instances where they don't (Graces being one of them, but that's another one I have a big ol' issue with the handling of), I noticed once I started playing in JP that they kept changing things to nudge at het a lot harder.

For me personally, it's even more frustrating in this case because it's like... the one goddamn time we get a canon m/m pair, the localization still tries to mess with that because woe is them at the idea of two men being in love! Worst part is that this kind of thing goes missed to a lot of people who don't understand any Japanese and can't pick up on these differences.

In Vesperia's case it's just extremely annoying because the JP game staff and JP voice actors (from what I've seen/understood, all the JP VAs) have the understanding that Yuri and Flynn are meant to be romantically involved. Unfortunately in the case of the west, "romance" is out of the question for two men unless they've very explicitly said "I love you/am in love with you" or have kissed on screen. I'm sure someone's said this before, but I can assure you without a single shadow of doubt that if either of them was female, they would be irrefutably viewed as canon without needing any explicitly romantic gestures.

In most if not all JRPGs, m/f pairs are accepted as undeniable canon even if they don't confess to their feelings during the course of the game or are actively engaging in romantic gestures. The localization very clearly went into the game thinking Yuri and Estelle had to obviously be canon and so went into it with that mindset, probably realized that wasn't the case too far in and had to shoehorn stuff in to keep up with it.

I do think the original text managed to seep into the localization with its general intentions - that is to say, I think even with the het nudging, the concept of the two main males being an actual pair was strong enough in the original context that even the localization couldn't totally wipe it out. It's funny how people will say Japan is more reserved about non-het pairings, and yet somehow it always seem to be the localization that makes something more het than the original.

Tales has been toying with m/m pairs for a long time, sometimes not just in subtext but in cases like Zelos and Spada, actually making them potential, player decided soulmates to the main character. Both games do unfortunately try to force the main m/f pair and make them the default, but the option is still there (and Zelos has more leeway than Genis for example, because he can completely replace Colette in the Big (tm) Altessa's house scene if Lloyd is closest to Zelos over everyone else, which no other character can do). In both games, you can basically choose whatever ship you want for the main character, and in the cases of both Zelos and Spada, the implications are littered throughout the game, making their endings when chosen (n-no pun intended) feel a lot more authentic and not just "some ship the player chose". Which, for m/m pairs, is a good deal.

Unfortunately f/f pairs tends to be... fetishized (in both regions generally with JRPGs, though not Vesperia), and other than that are more accepted generally, so it's a lot harder to get a romance between men accepted by the general player base... and evidently, localization teams. Vesperia was great in that they went for m/m and f/f pairs that were intended to be canon, and they wrote it well. Then of course, here comes the localization team...

So for me it's not even "well how dare they mess around with the idea of a same sex romance", it's "we actually got a (confirmed by staff, if interviews are anything to go by) same sex pairing and yet the localization still tried to shoehorn het into it. Like... I'm perfectly fine with het pairs generally speaking. I don't have something against het. I have something against the only rep m/m pairs actually get being fucked around with by people who weren't the original script writers and the localizers trying to mitigate any romantic subtext or outright context. Even Estelle and Rita had it better in the localization department, but you can still tell Fluri and Ristelle were the localization's "side pairs", when in actual canon context they were the intended pairs.

I take a lot of issue with the ship highly based on the fact that it really comes off to me, especially in localization, as "this ship exists with the express purpose of forcing het where it didn't belong" and as if it only exists to come between the two existing same sex pairs (and though the original didn't intend that, the localization is what most people I will come across only know). It's at the point where I just have a huge aversion to it, even as siblings (which as I understand it is what they were gunning for in the original context, if Brave Vesperia and Child of the Full Moon literally being siblings has anything to say about it).

The thing is, if you wanted to write them as siblings, it does work the way it is in canon... but most people will still take that sibling love from Yuri as romantic, simply because they're a guy and a girl. If they were the same gender, it would be accepted as "siblings". Fact is, even today and not just in 2008/2019, people still think that way today. People will fight you tooth and nail to insist two men aren't in love, and they're just best friends or "siblings"/found family. I swear to you, Yuri and Flynn could literally kiss and people would still insist up and down that they're "just friends".

I'm sure you've heard these feelings before from others, but it's a big point of aggravation for me that comes from the fact that the localization couldn't just leave well enough alone. They had to insert het into it to make it "more normal" and yadda yadda. I do totally see Estelle having a crush on Yuri (frankly I feel like she has a crush on both Yuri and Flynn, which I have fun ol' headcanons with being that she very interestedly watches them interacting and absolutely knows they're a thing and is just happy to watch them interact and be their real selves around each other), but it's just... not there on Yuri's end. He treats her the same way he treats everyone in the group.

Just as examples, when Karol is fighting to save everyone, Yuri has the same reactions and concerns over him possibly dying (even the dub did fantastic in that scene imo, and I tend to lean toward the dub acting from Troy in the major Yuri and Karol scenes, which is unfortunate because I prefer Karol's JP VA LOL. She goes HARD for her acting for him). He's still terrified at the idea of losing Karol.

When Raven nearly dies, Yuri shows the most emotional side of him that he's ever shown specifically for Raven. At that point it wasn't even about the betrayal anymore. It was the idea that Raven was giving up to die and that hurt Yuri. Raven was content to die at Yuri's hand (similar to exactly what Estelle went through), enough to the point that he very literally aimed to do exactly that when he stopped fighting so Yuri could break his blastia heart.

Raven and Estelle were both in situations that they wanted to die by Yuri's hand, and Yuri was equally hurt and emotional by the idea of losing either of them, and didn't want to kill either of them, much less by his own hand. In Estelle's case he was prepared to have to because the situation may have demanded it, which is the only major difference imo to Raven, who was in full control of himself and could decide on his own actions.

So yeah, that said... Yuri treats her no different than anyone else in the group. Since Estelle is a young woman though, the localization just had to be like "guy. girl. must be romantic".

And that's not to say people can't enjoy particular ship dynamics (I recognize Fluri is canon, but that's not stopping me from enjoying Yuri/Duke as a possible romantic dynamic or enjoying Yuri/Judith as a romantic dynamic), but that my main aggravations lie in both the localization and the people who use Estelle paired with Yuri (or Flynn) as a means to avoid accepting that the two main guys are Actually A Thing. Like, I sort of ship Flynn/Estelle myself dynamic wise? I just hate that people will use het ships as a sort of barrier to say "Yuri and Flynn are just het bros who will find the right woman for them".

I have this lowkey headcanon that late game/post game, when people tease Yuri about the idea of being romantic with Estelle that he's just like "no way, I'd never do that to Flynn" and just not comment further LOL. Will not confirm or deny any further inquiries. He said what he said. Man doesn't have to be kissing Flynn in front of everyone to consider flirting with someone else cheating!

SO NOW THAT THAT GOT SUPER LONG WINDED AND TOPIC ADJACENT, as far as the confession goes in that scene, as I recall from your post with assorted interviews (which I sure do need to reblog myself to index here because I don't even need to look at it for refences so much as I my own dopamine satisfaction), it was intended to be her confession? But then Yuri just kinda lets her down lightly, which is what effectively happened there.

I think the pause between them and the stare that they emphasized helped a lot in that - in Yuri trying to politely insinuate that he does not reciprocate those feelings and taking a second to say it and trying to think quickly as to how to answer. It wasn't some romantic stare to me - it was Yuri realizing she was confessing and trying to determine how best to answer to that when he didn't feel the same way.

He too would like to continue to travel, and he'd take her along... but Rita also says the exact same thing to Judith - that Judith should take Estelle with her (so it was never going to be some romantic Yuri and Estelle only journey). Judith says she wants Rita to go along too. In other words, there's no romantic implication with Yuri and Estelle continuing to travel, because literally just before that, there's a conversation involving Estelle traveling with others (which she would like).

Considering Yuri and Judith are part of a guild, unless they just decided well the world is saved, time to disband our guild and leave Karol to be a one man guild until he finds other random people, then they'd also be traveling with Karol. Raven is kind of an unknown factor here, because they still imply he's kinda... half Brave Vesperia, half Altosk imo - and frankly I do think Dahngrest needs him to get fully back on their feet. They need someone who was close to Don, and Harry is still learning. Raven has already been through the whole song and dance of authority, and I think Harry needs him around for a while before Raven can join everyone else on their travels; but ultimately, yeah, it'd just be The Gang Is Back Together post game if they went traveling at all, not some romantic escapade. The way the localization tried to frame it as romantic just... doesn't work with the existing prior context.

Also it's like... "I feel the same". Estelle drops her head in disappointment. LMAO what.

Don't worry about getting heated though! I fully understand the frustration in this kind of thing. As someone who wishes there was more LGBT+ rep out there in general, seeing it actually exist and then a localization try to stick het right in between a male/male and female/female pair is extremely tiring and irritating. Fluri is more popular than Ristelle from what I can tell by and large in both regions, but I think that comes from the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, m/m rep is excessively rare. Female pairs are rare too, but not nearly as much, or at the very least, are teased around with more in JRPGs and anime in general. Seeing the one thing we get be fucked around with is just a huge backhand to the face, imo. Like, hey, localization teams? There are real people out there like that. We uh, exist lol.

But there's also the fact that they're not just a ship intended to toy around with gay rep. It's an actual well written relationship that has a real love in it. It's not flanderized. They don't need to be romantic with each other every five seconds to remind you how they feel about each other. It's closer to a real relationship than some JRPG romance.

I enjoy Ristelle to a point, but I also recognize that females tend to be... much more blandly written than men. Usually in JRPGs especially, men get more depth and personality and are overall much more intriguing people - at least from my perspective. It layers m/m relationships a lot and usually provides what I'm looking for in a piece of fiction. Ristelle feels like it's almost just too cutesy and doesn't really have the flavor of a real relationship. It, and this may be intended because of their age/maturity, comes across as more of the schoolgirl love phase, whereas Flynn and Yuri have a much more historied and matured relationship. They talk to each other about things they won't talk to anyone else about. Ristelle is more like, just kind of starting to get there.

That said, another reason I lean toward Fluri in m/m ships in general is that... I feel like they may have unintentionally failed me with Richard. Richard himself, as I see him, is just fully dedicated to Asbel without question. As far as I see it, he is in love with Asbel... and that felt heavily reciprocated in game and continues to feel that way in their interactions in non-canon material.

While I understand not all relationships, including m/m relationships, will be reciprocated, they wrote it as if it was, then did a bait and switch with Cheria, who I'd heavily argue Asbel did not have good romantic chemistry with even late game. Cheria was one of the better written females in Tales imo, but when it comes to Asbel, her character ceases to exist and just becomes a satellite for Asbel.

When I was younger I hated her because it felt like she was specifically written to be the het barrier between Asbel and Richard. I don't hate her that way anymore, but I do still hate the blatant messing around with the idea of Asbel and Richard and then suddenly Asbel is in love with The Girl whose entire existence was written to be his romantic partner from the get-go when she was eleven years old. Literally, Cheria just existed in the beginning to be The Girl who was in love with the main male, and they were not only just kids, but Asbel actively avoided her when possible. He seemed to put up with her only because he had to, and once they were older, he only seemed to be "in love" with her out of guilt.

I've seen some people argue that they were aiming for Richard/Sophie in Graces f's post game arc, but honestly, if a guy and girl so much as sit next to each other and talk, people will ship them and insist it's what the writers intended. There's nothing really romantic between them (the consistency for his feelings toward Asbel at least remained intact throughout the game), but I feel like they get paired as the "leftover male and female".

So yeah, that said, it makes me appreciate the one goddamn Actually Canon m/m ship we ever got in Tales and I despise the localization and really anyone doing anything they can to avoid/ignore it (especially when it's an actually well written relationship in any capacity). I know Sorey/Mikleo is usually considered fandom canon, but I'm not sure how far down the official line they actually go as a romantic couple, as I've not gone that in depth with them due to not having finished Zestiria. I've heard conflicting things because of Sorey/Rose, so I don't have enough information on that game's ships to know if they did a wah wah or they actually tried to give more m/m rep.

Also I know you're joking about the yaoi comments but LOL, man, people use the "yaoi" excuse SO HARD at people who ship two men together. Like damn son, your homophobia is showing. Imagine if two men could actually fall in love in the real wor-- oh wait.

And yeah, that "default to heteronormativity" is exactly my huge bitch ass problem. Not sure what to do? Don't do anything! Leave shit the way it already is, at that! But no, they always seem to have this worry that it's better to go in the direction of het than anything else. As if it'll just destroy the whole media and your sales to let m/m and f/f pairs be canon, like, you know, they were written to be. Or to even go for it when you're not sure. I get "just to be safe" vibes, from that kind of thing, which is... quite literally part of the problem that feeds into this loop of heteronormativity.

Normally I'd say like, not all m/m relationships have to be romantic... but considering how many we even get in fictional media, when they are canon, even if you don't like the relationship/aren't into the relationship/it's not your thing/etc, just... respect it? There are canon m/m and f/f ships out there that I don't vibe with because they're not my taste in romance, but I still respect the existence of it.

Anyway you are totally valid in wanting to talk for ten hours about Fluri+localization issues because honestly, same.

I am 100 percent with you on preferring the JP line in that cutscene if only because it does feel more powerful (and his voice is SO soft, which is something that frequently gets completely lost in the dub in general. Mamoru carries a much softer tone overall for Flynn, similar to how Yuri's playfulness and carefree vibe got lost in favor of the dub's aim for a more "cool adult guy").

That said, I was not even aware they left the whistle out!!! I haven't bothered with that sidequest because the outfit is readily available for free as DLC.

While I enjoy having Flynn present in the last battle, I wish they'd just had him look back up at the sky and say that right next to Yuri right before the very end of the cutscene (since imo that'd be the best placement for it). No reason not to stick that back in!!!

But removing the whistle is just an outright crime and I am owed a fee from the people who decided that for the devastation I've been inflicted with.

Big same 🤝

I used to be such a fan of the eng dub but tbh ever since I experienced the original japanese (back when we still called it the PS3 Version lol) I never looked back. The wording is so, so, SO much more layered and leaves little room to misinterpret subtleties and subtext. Like you, I've had many gripes about the localization because sometimes they just plain insert stuff that was never there in the first place - iirc Troy Baker admited that apparently they rushed the dub so hard, sometimes the voice actors themselves were asked to chip in for the translation...he said he loved that (I'll bet), but that might explain why so much of the OG english script was already full of weird phrasings and insertions...add to that the even more sloppy and lazy DE localization and you get only half of the richness of the original japanese.

Also yes Mamo and Tori *are* Flynn and Yuri more than anybody ever could be. Sam and Troy do a good enough job but I agree that Troy may have been directed to play Yuri closer to a traditional "cool bad boy", which is hilarious given how the original Yuri is a twist on that very trope. Unfortunately, Troy gave him this uncharacteristically cold/aggressive edge whenever he talks to Flynn that it makes it sound like he's always annoyed to see him, and it strips their relationship of so much of the softness and playfulness that Tori lends Yuri.

Anyway enough about me ranting because I could go on for about 10 more hours about this issue lmao. Honestly yeah they very well could've rearranged Flynn's cutscene to fit in there at the end, like hell if you can change the entire camera angles of whole scenes you can change that one background, no?? Knowing Tomizawa though that might have been more effort than he was willing to grant this remaster - won't be his last time.

Same for the wolf whistling!! They replaced it with a skit that is just as funny...

youtube

....but void of the insane flirting the original had. Idek why they went so far as to change it, it would've been less work to just leave it as it was 😭

#Vesperia #Fluri #Localization Woes #this got very thought adjacent so excuse my rambling as well LOL #when speaking with me NEVER worry about rambling a ton... bc... as you can see...........#also damn the tag limit. but it's okay. if you want to continue i have freed you from the tags... ...for those tags anyway

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