#this was probably the weakest of his hard mode cards

[celestialrealms]

[beanieman]

My Headcanon’s About Each Character’s Percentage

Sara Chidouin 15.5 - I think Midori pretty much spells it out why Sara’s percentage is so high. She’s good at manipulating others, and has psychical strength if that doesn’t work out. Going off the logic route, I’m also fairly certain she used Ranmaru often to do her bidding, and then betrayed him last minute. 

Keiji Shinogi 9.5 - Keiji voting for Kanna is a pretty big indicator why he won so often. He’s willing to do whatever it takes for his survival, including killing kids if it means increasing his chances. He’s able to betray Megumi at the start of the game, so him turning on others that he knew a much shorter time than Megumi, doesn’t seem like a crazy idea. If he had the sacrifice card, I think he’d be smart enough to know how to direct votes towards himself. But he also cares about Sara in a Fatherly way. And the times he did die, I wouldn’t be shocked if it was because he was allying with Sara and she stabbed him in the back. 

Q-Taro Burgerberg 8.8 - Why Q-Taro wins so much isn’t hard to figure out. The vending machine gives the answer. He can be selfish and it looks like it quite a few test data’s it got the better of him. But he can also be selfless under the right circumstances as shown by his death. Which is why he doesn’t have a higher rank then Keiji. 

Reko Yabusame 7.7 - My biggest theory for her high number is Alice sacrifices himself to save Reko over and over. It’s not that I don’t think Reko is capable of winning on her own, because she is, but as shown by her death scene, Reko would hurt herself before she was able to hurt her friends. So it’s hard for me to see her maliciously winning the game. I also see her being the most likely to win with the sacrifice card. Because if she had it, it’s almost certain Alice would vote for her, and possibly Kanna and Gin. Even when her personality is her more selfish, she still can’t bring herself to hurt Nao or Sara as shown by when she chooses to stab herself over hurting either of them.

Alice Yabusame 6.6 - The times Alice won, I would say are the times Reko was chosen by Majority Vote. Reko dying by a floormasters hand like in the game is one thing, but the group actively choosing to kill his sister? That would not go over well. It would also give him yet another parallel to Shin, by killing everyone and winning the game to avenge his little sister. 

Megumi Sasahara 4.9 - I don’t have a lot to say about her percentage, since we never get to know her well. Her deals with ASU NARO to keep the shooting out of the news might have something to do with her wins. But shadiness was probably her downfall. 

Kazumi Mishima 3.0 - I think Mishima’s low percentage rating is due to his more passive nature and willingness to sacrifice himself. The others also see him as as suspicious due to his appearance, which gets him killed in the test trial. But as seen in Island Mode, he can have a willingness to attack others, like if he fights Touko for the boat. His intelligence and calmness probably kept him alive in the route’s he did win.  

Kanna Kizuchi 2.7 - I could see Kanna sacrificing herself for others, especially Sara, which is why her win rate is so low. I do like the idea of the greenblings having parallels the the Yabusame by Shin saving Kanna. It’s possible Shin made it to the end a few times and let himself become a doll to save her. Or Shin was able to manipulate the others into voting for her when she had the sacrifice card. Because Kanna is such a kind person, I don’t see her intentionally killing others. 

Gin Ibushi 1.3 - Gin gets stuck in a trap every chapter, so that’s almost certainly what kept killing him. But if he made it to the final vote, I think the others would be very apprehensive to kill him, which is likely how he won the few times. 

Shin Tsukimi 0.0 - While a few people have pointed out Shin might be so self sacrificial he would give himself up to protect the others, I disagree personally. His AI’s reaction when he dies, pretty much confirms even the kinder Shin wouldn’t want to die. And kind or not he still has an intense fear of death. I do like to think however, he’s responsible for Kanna’s 2.7 rate, because as seen in the second main game she’s the one person he’s willing to die for. I think the reason he dies so much is because he’s an easy target. He’s a very emotional person with no psychical strength. Even when he tries to lie he’s terrible at it, and stress makes him lash out and crumble. So I just don’t think his personality was built for a death game. He’s just the weakest link. 

Dolls

Naomichi Kurumada 9.9 - Early on in the game, Naomichi shows willingness to keep his allies at arms length and a willingness to win. Which is how he kept living. But after seeing the more selfless side of him in 3B, I can easily see how he’d keep loosing to Sara or the others. Much like Q-Taro there are plenty of scenarios, where he’s selfless, which leads to his death. 

Shunsuke Hayasaka 8.2 - Very simply, I think his knowledge of ASU-NARO and how it functioned is what kept him alive so often. The times he died I would bet money on it being because the others found out about his connection and pulled a Kai, or he died protecting Gin from a trap. 

Anzu Kinashi 8.0 - Since she has such a high survival rate, I think no one saw her as a threat because...well she’s really not one. No one would be targeting her for their own survival like they would Keiji, Q-Taro, or Sara. Which means she slips under the radar and isn’t the groups first or even 19th priority to kill. Ironically this probably lead to her accidentally winning the game a good chunk of the time. 

Mai Tsurugi 7.5 - Mai stabbing Q-Taro is a perfect explanation for why her win rates so far. She’s willing to go very far to survive. But as also shown, Mai can be a very caring person. Which is probably why she lost so often. Kind of a personal headcanon that she had her own vending machine ending in the test AI to parallel with Q-Taro. 

Ranmaru Kageyama 5.3 - Ranmaru died so often likely because of his loyalty to Sara. That probably screwed him over more than a few times. But he does manage to win a decent amount of times. He’s willing to kill people if pushed, and would want for the others to vote for him with the sacrifice card if it meant escaping for Sara. I do think they had a close bond in most routes, because Ranmaru became very infatuated with her very quickly. 

Hiniko Mishuku 1.1 - The real Hinako wanted to die, as she told Rio Ranger. So she probably wasn’t trying to hard to survive. The few times she did win, I’m guessing the others voted for her when she had the sacrifice card, because they assumed she was lying about having the card in a ploy to die.  

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy IX Review

Year: 2000

Original Platform: PlayStation One

Also available on: PC, Android, iOS, Steam

Version I Played: PlayStation One

Synopsis:

Zidane Tribal is a thief whose troupe is hired to kidnap princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII. The world is in the midst of a war, and Garnet is pleading with her mother, Queen Brahne, to stop it.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy IX returns to more traditional gameplay. Active Time Battle. Each character has a unique ability. Summons come in the form of “eidolons.” Limit Breaks are now called Trance Modes.

There’s also a mini card game called Tetra Master – which is super fun. Final Fantasy VIII also had a card game named Triple Triad, which I think gamers like more, but I never touched it.

 I have very fond memories of Final Fantasy IX, both in gameplay and story. I devoured this game throughout my entire junior year of college. As such, I associate this game with many fond memories. I finished this game on literally the final day of junior year as people were packing up to leave.

This game as often been referred to as the prime example of Final Fantasy – again, both in gameplay and story. It has the highest metacritic score of all the Final Fantasy games. Yet at the same time, it’s sorely underrated. Not many people talk about it. 

The difficulty wasn’t hard to grasp – at least for me. I didn’t die until the penultimate battle. I would suggest it as an option for a beginner.

Graphics:

Imagine Final Fantasy VII but way more defined. Square returned to the cartoonish world and left the realistic world from Final Fantasy VIII alone. The graphics and style are awesome. Each town is so pretty and cozy.

Final Fantasy IX wraps up the series for the PlayStation One – and it’s a blast. It went all out with the system’s capabilities.

Story:

Final Fantasy IX goes back to the basics after Final Fantasy VIII. It’s also quite refreshing. Final Fantasy VIII was written so bland and without depth, whereas Final Fantasy IX is alive with colors, characters and stories. It has the most diverse cast in the series – just look at these dudes:

All of them have something to offer. The fan favorite is typically the black mage Vivi – whose backstory is memorable for the philosophical questions it poses.

The story is a perfect example of how tropes can still feel refreshing because of how the story is told. I like how the story’s biggest themes deal with the nature of a soul. Out of all the Final Fantasy games, the existential crisis here hits the hardest, like a thesis for a philosophy class.

Zidane hearkens back to the friendlier protagonists rather than the standoffish, brooding types seen in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII. However, while Bartz from Final Fantasy V was a goofy drifter and Locke from Final Fantasy VI was a charming rogue, Zidane introduces the cheeky and H O R N Y protagonist. This can make you roll your eyes as he constantly tries to hit on the main female lead, Garnet. This one scene in particular didn’t age well. 

The romance between him and Garnet is the exact opposite of the romances in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII. Instead of the female lead flirting with the male lead, being the one to change his life, the male lead flirts with the female lead. Zidane's role as a romantic is to “show her the world” á la Aladdin and Jasmine. Zidane is a devil-may-care thief with his band of rogues, wishing to show Garnet an exciting life by his side.

It was unclear to me at the time why Final Fantasy IX fell into the more underrated side of Final Fantasy. In retrospect, Final Fantasy VII still took the world by storm, and Final Fantasy VIII still came off as a lot “cooler”. Some critics complain how the main villain, Kuja, is the least threatening villain of the entire series. Kuja’s bishonen level is over 9,000. Look at this guy. He belongs on the cover of Vogue or something.

Gamers at the time probably felt that Final Fantasy IX wasn’t as amazing or intriguing since it returned to the tropey elements of the series, after we had seen two big games set in a modern technological world.

But like I said, Final Fantasy IX manages to use these tropes and make them entertaining. Vivi’s character arc? Oh man. I really don’t want to ruin it. It’s that good. They say Final Fantasy IX is the closest to how the developers originally envisioned the world of Final Fantasy. The definitive version of Final Fantasy.

Music:

Surprisingly, the music is the weakest part of the game. When I thought about what to write about for the music section for this game, I stared into space as crickets chirped in my head. I can only think of the title theme (”The Place I’ll Return to Someday”) and “Melodies of Life”, another pop song.

I like “You’re Not Alone” but I didn’t pay attention to it until I listened to the orchestrated version on the Distant Worlds album.

The answer then hit me as to why the soundtrack flew under my radar – the score takes an almost purely instrumental route, drawing inspiration from classical music. Most of the inspiration is specifically from medieval music, given the setting of the game. It’s not a bad thing, but Nobuo Uematsu’s signature progressive rock style is notably absent in everything except the battle theme. As such, nothing struck out at me. Nothing told me, “WOW. You just HAVE to listen to THIS!” I hate to say it, especially because Uematsu himself has stated that this soundtrack is his favorite work and the one he is proudest of.

The next time I play this game, I will pay more attention to the soundtrack.

Notable Theme:

As I said before, I associate Final Fantasy IX with fond memories of my junior year in college. “Melodies of Life” gives me all the feels. It has that late ‘90’s slow-dance feel.

Verdict:

Great game. Underrated. I can sum it up by saying - it doesn’t do anything new per se – it just shines as a Final Fantasy game using all of the series’ classic elements. It doesn’t do anything crazy, but it creates a lush vibrant world of pure medieval fantasy, and its characters go through a lot of depth.

Direct Sequel?

Nope.

[jimclassicstoycollection]

Mastermind Creations

Ocular Max PS-01P

Sphinx (TFcon 2019 exclusive)

Sphinx was one of the exclusives for TFcon 2019, October 25th-27th in Reston Virginia (yes, I’m that far behind).

I’m not going to lie, it was a difficult choice to make, but I decided on this guy.

There were three other exclusives up for sale that weekend; a blue G2 Fall of Cybertron style Grimlock made by Planet X, and a Cybertronian version of Senator Ratbat.

Pharaoh is a gold and black Masterprice styled version of the Autobot Mirage, and as of current July 2020 there is no MP Mirage in existence.

The Box:

I don’t normally talk about the box, but this is a convention exclusive, so what the hell.

The box is meant to looks an Egyptian sarcophagus with a clear half domed plastic window showing the face.

As boxes go it’s made out of a high quality cardboard, has a nice gold sheen and matte black finish, and alludes to the high quality figure laying dormant underneath.

Collector’s Card:

Keeping in theme with the Masterprice figures Sphinx comes with a collector’s card.

For the front of the card we see a very Sunbow style version of the 3rd party toy, and gold grid for the background. It’s overall nice, but very basic too. But at least it’s clear, and not foggy...so there’s that.

On the back of the card Sphinx has a bio and stats.

 Accessories:

Aside from the main figure, collector’s card and instructions, Sphinx comes with some pretty basic accessories.

Rifle, shoulder rocket launcher, two additional extra faces, and a clear plastic driver.

We’ll get into all that stuff later on.

Vehicle Mode:

Starting off in vehicle mode as I like to do, Sphinx is a black formula race car with a lot of gold colored trim.

It’s pretty much a blocky, black racer with minimal curves, and some detail.

The bumper and spoiler are made out of the dull gold plastic, the rear engine block is dicast metal, and the vents, steering wheel, and wheels are also dull gold plastic.

The gold paint is minimal, pretty much just keeping to the line work, and the car rolls on some pretty thick rubber tires.

Though it is no without its flaws. I did have a bit of a challenge keeping all of the panels in place, and I don’t think I aligned everything perfectly, so it always felt just a bit off to me; I mean it held up alright, and it felt durable, yet it also seemed off a tad as well.

The race car has an optional clear plastic driver meant to be a hologram, I suppose.

The driver fits in pretty well, and it looks alright.

The spoiler had two grooves in the side to allow the rifle and rocket launcher, so you got your obligatory weapon storage.

Looking at the car from the bottom, maybe you can see what I meant by not doing something right.

Transformation:

Transformation to both vehicle and robot mode will probably get easier over time. One of my issues was that the toy was packaged in robot mode, however the instructions started off in vehicle mode, so I had to do everything in reverse, and I believes that’s partly due to me not converting the toy correctly, hence the panel issues I had with the race car.

Robot Mode:

Sphinxes robot mode is basically a Masterpiece styled Autobot Mirage, and I’m not complaining. 

The toy does have di cast metal all throughout, however it is mostly in the joints; that is definitely not a complaint since joints sometimes tend to be the weakest parts of any transformer, and hopefully a di cast joint will ultimately last longer.

As far as his weapons go in robot mode, the shoulder rocket attaches onto his shoulder by a plastic clip directly to the right of Sphinx’es head. That does limit his head turn marginally, but it’s not too bad.

The rocket and launcher are two pieces, HOWEVER they are not meant to separated. That rocket is firmly in the launcher, and I think it’s molded in a way to stay put.

Sphinx’s other weapon is his laser rifle. He holds it by tabbing the handle into the palm of his hand, and then close the fingers around, and that can be a little problematic at times. The fingers close in just fine, however the thumb on the other hand (no pun intended) is on a swivel so it can’t flew outward away from the gun, and the way the gun is molded doesn’t allow clearance so the thumb can swivel around the handle.

Which means you have to awkwardly angle the gun into the palm without snapping off thumb, and I’ll be honest that made pretty nervous each time I did.

Once that gun is in his hand Sphinx holds it pretty tight. 

The toy has several points of articulation:

Ball joint at the head, back and forth neck, universal shoulders, bicep swivel, bend at the elbow, wrist swivel, swivel at the thumb, hinge at the index finger, single hinge at the other three finger, waist swivel, universal hips, thigh swivel, bend at the knee, ankle pivot, and tow bend.

The toy does have a good range of motion, and he stands well.

Imperfections:

Well it looks as of Sphinx was mis-assembled a bit, for his left hand has an articulated pinky finger instead of the index finger having the separate articulation.

I was really curious to see how the extra faces would look on Sphinx, however I ran into a complication...

According to the instruction I need to remove the back of his head, then unscrew the face from the mounting point. However I couldn’t remove the back of the head, and i wasn’t about the break it by applying too much force, so I guess I’ll never know what it looks like.

It’s a shame because I really like the hard angled, stoic face.

Final Thoughts:

Sphinx is a fun figure, but it’s obviously not perfect. Vehicle mode doesn’t scale too well with my other Masterpiece figures, and it’s mis-assembled, 

The robot mode looks great, but the truth is, I’m just not that into it. I was hoping that I might be; I thought having an MP style toy of a character which Takara hasn’t made yet, and in a completely different color I thought it would be cool.

I’m not knocking the toy, or the craftsman ship put into it (I mean mine does have some production errors), but i can’t explain it right now; I just feel neutral towards it. But it’s a thing, and I like it, and I’m going to keep it.

It is a reminder of my fun time at my first TFcon.

[crilath-blog]

SWGOH 5v5 Grand arena - Preparation Guide

Hello,

I have prepared a small guide for the 5v5 Grand Arena. This is one of the most fun part of the game, and a really good challenge to optimize our roster as much as possible for other areas.

This guide will contain 3 sections:

How to prepare

Defense strategy

Offensive tactics

The reason I am doing this guide now is because I changed my arena team to Revan a couple of weeks ago, and I reworked all of my mod sets from scratch to optimize my teams for GA. I have now 74 mod sets on characters that mostly all fit in a 3v3 and a 5v5 team I can use in PvP.

I though it would be interesting to share with the guild my approach, so we can exchange strategies and optimize how we play. Also, Grand Arena is the best way to practice for Territory Wars, so we help the guild overall by learning how to improve in offense and defense for PvP.

1 - HOW TO PREPARE FOR GA

This is probably the most important part.

The goal is to avoid inflating our GP, while optimizing as much as possible what we have. This means not upgrading characters that we won't be able to use because we can't zeta them, or don't have other chars from the faction.

Last time GA 5v5 was around, the number of teams needed in defense was 8 or 10 teams depending our your GP (2'750'000 being the cut-off). Here I only took into account the 2 brackets impacting us, since we don't have people below or above those GP in the guild.

This will mean, depending if we are below or above 2.7M, we will ideally need either 16 or 20 teams, being 80 or 100 chars fully modded. That's a lot.... of course that's if we can one-shot every enemy team, and if we assume we always use teams of five, but it gives us an average. As stated above, I only have 74 mod sets at the moment, so some compromises will be needed.

Once we know this, we need to build those teams in the most efficient way. The best is to create a squad management tab in game, and start to do some team building, from best to worst. (I will share my teams in the section below). Once we have those teams ordered by quality, we need to mod them in that priority order, depending on preferred stats of each character.

It's very difficult to know how to mod every character in the game, so referring to this tool is very useful: Crouching Rancor Mod Advisor

Once we have our teams modded, I highly suggest to save ALL mod sets in a loadouts tab dedicated for GA. This way, you can feel free to re-mod for raids, TB, events, or just for fun, without the hassle to have to re-do your whole GA mods the next time around…

Based on those newly defined teams, we will try to split them in offensive and defensive teams, depending on their strength, and what kind of opponent we face. That said, I’m convinced we don’t need to adapt that much to each opponent, and a strong strategy will prevail most of the time, no matter who we face.

Lastly, while building our teams, we need to think of the characters we are picking with 3v3 in mind as well, so we can easily shine in both game modes without having to work on extra characters or mods sets.

2 - DEFENSE STRATEGY

For defense, I think there are 2 types of strategies:

Hiding our weak teams behind strong teams, and hope our opponent will hit a wall in the front territories.

Setting medium/strong teams in front, with at least 1 very strong team (Revan, Traya, CLS) behind each.

The second strategy is very good because it forces the opponent to kill both fronts to identify where is the strongest team before committing to clearing a back territory.

However, this requires a lot of GP to be possible without putting all our good teams on defense, leaving us with few offensive possibilities left. According to the brackets shown above, I am thinking this applied for 3.5M+.

In the case of our guild, the first strategy is most likely the best; the opponent will probably struggle against our second front territory (unless he has a very weak defense, in which case we will max out points in offense) and might stay stuck, saving a whole "weak" back territory. The reason this strategy is weaker at high GP is because it is very transparent, and we show all of our best cards on the first visible territories. At that level, people will be able to clear everything, so hiding as much information as possible is great to push them to do mistakes, such as under or over-commit to a front team because they don’t know what’s left behind.

Now, to team building; since we need 10 teams in defense let’s assume territories 1 and 2 require three teams each, and territories 3 and 4, two teams each.

Territory 1

I prefer to have Revan in defense; In a game where defense is controled by AI, the most reliable strategy is to remove as much RNG as possible in offense, and maximize RNG for our opponent in defense.

Revan is very hard to counter, so chances are high that if our opponent kept his own Revan for offense, he will use it against ours. Knowing this is a somewhat random match up, I much prefer to have this mirror match-up play out with my opponent in attack rather than myself.

If they use another team to try to beat Revan, it can get very difficult for them and will require very strong mods.

Of course, this team has my best mods since I use it in arena.

This Scoundrels team mostly relies on Enfys Nest, who has her full G12 and is modded as a tank with high tenacity (~110%). She can be very annoying to kill, and even require the use of the likes of Darth Nihilus on an overall under-developed team. The leadership from Qi’ra only makes her more dangerous.

First Order can never be underestimated because of Kylo Ren unmasked, a real pain to take down even without his zeta.

Territory 2

Having my strongest defense team on territory 1, I will put my next two strongest on territory 2

Rey Jedi training is usually seen in offense, but having developed a zeta Holdo for arena, it makes for a great defensive team, and we can spare R2D2 for another team.

Next, come Bounty Hunters, with a Bossk lead. Probably not the most optimal team (Aurra Sing is not great in PvP), but they are the only 5 BH I have developed so far. Bossk, Boba and Dengar will be very difficult to take out, no matter who else is teamed up with them.

I am still debating whether I want to use Imperial Troopers in offense or defense. They are still far from being optimal, with Stormtrooper and Magmatrooper being leftovers from the very early game to get R2D2, and Tie fighter pilot to fill in the last slot. I still have to put them on front line because I am running out of decent teams and the 2 others squads guarding this territory are rather solid.

Territory 3

Hidden behind my Revan, I will put my weakest teams, with my slowest mod sets. They still have some good synergy and are fully modded so if my opponent make it this far, they still need to use decent characters to get through

I was not able to make my Baze level 85 on time for this GA. I plan to do it for the next one and throw some gear on him to level 7-8, just enough to make him annoying for average teams. This time around, I will replace him by any leftover character I have.

Territory 4

Same as territory 3, I put some of my weakest teams, but slightly stronger because it is more easily accessible (not having a Revan guarding it has something to do with it...).

(Note here that Paploo is still G1, so I will use my G8 scout instead, I just forgot to update before taking the screenshot) 

3 - OFFENSIVE TACTICS

Now that we have our overarching strategy by setting up half our roster in defense, we need to get down to the offensive tactics, in order to optimize as much as possible the remaining characters at our disposal.

Keep in mind that we probably won’t have enough teams to beat everything, so as soon as we see a way to win without the need for a team of 5, we can try to use smaller groups and save characters.

Still, I prefer to prepare 5-6 strong teams of five in advance, to “reserve” those characters in case I need to fight strong opposing teams. It easier to remove a character we don’t need before fighting than to find some to make up a strong team when needed.

I use my second best mods set on my OT Rebels team, since I plan to use it to beat my opponent’s Revan team if they use it in defense.

Nightsisters are incredibly good against many teams. They can be good in defense, but I really dislike the AI of some of them, especially Asajj Ventress so I trust them more in offense. RJT and Bastilla teams are always good candidates to take down with this team.

There are so many Rebels in this game, that it makes team building very interesting in this faction. I just finished upgrading Leia to gear 12 for a team I believe will be very strong in 3v3. Here I can use her with Wedge and Biggs in a high damage team to take down annoying timeout teams such as Bariss/GK, Chirrut/Baze and probably even a well geared First Order team.

I never got around to zeta Bastilla’s leadership, so my second Jedi team suffers a lot from it and I use Old Ben’s instead. This team will require a ton of work, and ideally Mace should be replaced. In the meantime, Ezra under Ben’s and Hermit Yoda’s protection can do quite a bit of damage.

Empire is always a good team under Palpatine’s leadership, especially with Thrawn if modded fast. I am convinced that Thrawn should never be used in defense, he is just too strong in offense against so many teams. Here I complete the last slot with my level 1 Traya for her GA quest.

For the remaining 5 offensive teams, I am slowly running out of characters so the goal is to try to make something happen with what’s left and any characters I could spare from the teams above, against weaker defenses.

Ideally, if the front territories are not too strong so we can use smaller teams and save up as many characters as possible.

Good luck to everyone in the next Grand Arena!

I hope this guide can be of use to some one, and please let me know on discord about your own strategy and if you think I can improve on some of the teams above for next rounds.

[lucky-ladybugs-lovelies]

Whumptober Fic, 25

The Big 5 have repented and Yami Marik is torturing them. I know there are many different views on what the Orichalcos actually does to people. My feeling is that it corrupts them as soon as they accept it and warps them so they’re really not in their right minds and not fully doing things of their own will, even if they think they are, and whether they’re actually playing the Seal or not, it’s poisoning them. To me, that’s what it looks like happened to both Atem and Mai, and Dartz too.

He knelt on the ground, shaking, gripping at the concrete with both hands. It was over, all over, and he had been abandoned again.

It was all that he should have expected, really. No one had ever cared for him, so he had closed himself off to everyone. Humans were inferior to machines anyway. That was what he had believed and told himself for years. He had always been proven right.

It was understandable for him to be rejected now, though, wasn't it? He had tried to leave in Noa's world. Really, he had wanted to be with the others, for them to all get out, but when an opportunity to leave had opened up, he had been weak and had tried to take it. When they had all returned to their bodies in the real world, he had not been forgiven for his weakness.

Whenever he had bitterly rejected humanity in favor of machines, he had included himself among the pathetic people. He was, perhaps, the weakest of all.

Especially since he was devastated by this rejection and couldn't move on from it.

Footsteps came to a stop in front of him and he looked up with a start. A man with long turquoise hair and a purple business suit was standing over him. "Robert Nesbitt?"

He jumped to his feet. "What do you want?" He recognized the man, a mysterious businessman who turned up at some of the business dinners he had been forced to attend as a member of KaibaCorp's board of directors. He certainly didn't want to show such weakness of spirit to a near-stranger like that.

"I want to offer you a chance to do what you have always wanted—surrender your weak side for good." The man held out a hand to him. "I can give you the power to do that."

"Yeah?" Nesbitt gave him a wary look. "And how do you think you can? It's not like people will ever change, including me. There's no way to rout out the weak part of them." He clenched a fist. "We'll always just go on doing the worst possible things in any given situation."

A faint smile. "Yes, I know. Only the select few chosen by the sacred Orichalcos can overcome this fallacy."

"The what?" Nesbitt stared at him.

"The Orichalcos. It's a holy stone that descended from the skies long ago and began to test humanity. It discovered that most of them were evil."

"Yeah, well, it sure wouldn't find anything different about me," Nesbitt grunted. "I'd fail its test."

"Perhaps not." The man studied him. "I've been observing you and your friends. Out of all of them, it is you, I believe, who has the most promise."

"They're not my friends." Nesbitt narrowed his eyes. "And why are you so anxious to recruit me anyway? If I accepted this . . . Orichalcos, what would you get out of it? I know you wouldn't be offering it to me with no strings attached."

"You would help me remake the world as it once was," he was told. "I am seeking to bring back Paradise."

"Every person has a different idea of Paradise," Nesbitt pointed out. He folded his arms. "Mine is probably nothing like yours."

"On at least one matter, we are the same," the man said. "We don't want weaklings around." He looked deeply into Nesbitt's eyes, his gaze all at once piercing straight through to the tortured soul. "If you surrender your weak side, you could be one of my strongest warriors."

Nesbitt wavered. ". . . I think you're insane."

"And yet you want with all your heart for me to be telling the truth."

Finally Nesbitt nodded. "Yes. I . . . I betrayed the only people who ever may have cared about me. They hate me now. I can't blame them. There is no excuse for what I have done."

"Then try my power and see if I am telling the truth. If I am insane, you have lost nothing. No one will know. But if I am correct, you will be able to give yourself over to the Orichalcos and be remade into the strong man you have always wanted to be."

Nesbitt hesitated again. ". . . You say you have power. Is this some kind of magic?"

"It's divinity."

Not that that sounded much less bizarre to the agnostic man. In his normal frame of mind, he likely would have scoffed and refused. But he had been caught at the end of his rope, in the pit of devastation. He was actually, unbelievably, ready to listen.

"Give me your power," he said at last. "I don't want to be what I am. I want to be strong."

A calm, knowing smile. "And so you shall." The man reached out, touching Nesbitt's forehead.

The electricity that shot into him all at once was like nothing he had ever felt. It swept over him, through him, coursing through his veins. And as the symbol of the Orichalcos appeared on his forehead, his eyes hardened. He had given up his weak side. Now he would indeed be strong.

Lector started back to full consciousness as Nesbitt began to move in his grasp. The younger man pushed Lector aside and got to his feet without a word. As Lector stared up at him in shock, he looked back with a visage so cold and heartless that Lector was thoroughly chilled.

"Nesbitt?!" Lector stumbled up, still wobbly from the effects of the cold. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Nesbitt wordlessly activated his Duel Disk and placed his deck in the card holder. "I've given up my weak side," he announced. "Now I will have the strength I always wanted and deserved." His eyes glowed red, and what looked like the Orichalcos symbol appeared on his forehead. His citrine ring now looked instead to be a turquoise shade.

Lector could only stare in disbelief. "What is this?!" he cried. "Is this another illusion of Yami Marik's?! The Orichalcos is gone! And even if it wasn't, you would never accept it, Nesbitt! I know you wouldn't!"

"You know nothing." Nesbitt's voice was as cold and hard as his eyes had become. "I was never part of your group. You never wanted me there and I never wanted to be there. At least not at first. Maybe after a while the weak part of me wanted to be a part of your world, but he was so weak he wavered once the chance to betray all of you came up. That part of me is dead now. I'll never make those mistakes again."

"Nesbitt . . ." Lector's heart was pierced with every word his friend was saying. He couldn't say whether he was trapped in an illusion or if Nesbitt was, but either way, this was horrible. And not knowing what was real and what wasn't, Lector could only assume that the only thing to do was to behave as though this was really happening.

"We're going to duel now," Nesbitt continued. "I'm going to lock your hypocritical, self-righteous soul away, where it belongs."

Lector's eyes narrowed. "Very well." He activated his own Duel Disk and deck. "But I am going to save you and bring you back to yourself, Nesbitt. You would never act like this in your right mind!"

"My right mind is what I'm in now," Nesbitt said. "My wrong mind was any time I gave into human emotions or feelings. Humans are evil. Only machines are pure and good and deserve to populate the world." He drew his first hand and placed three cards on the field.

"Oh really? The problem with that idea is that someone has to create the machines," Lector said. "If an ‘evil' human created them and every command they follow, how can they really be pure and good?"

"Don't try to confuse me with your double-talk!" Nesbitt snapped. "That won't work now that I've accepted my true self and calling."

Something in Lector snapped too. "Nesbitt, why are you acting like this?!" he burst out. "You were fine before you fell asleep! Your true self is the warm, loving person you were then! I don't know who you are now!"

"The Nesbitt you knew is gone," Nesbitt retorted. "I have no soul. Draw your cards!"

His hand shaking, Lector took his cards and laid a monster in Defense mode. "You do have a soul, Nesbitt," he insisted. "Maybe once I wouldn't have believed that, but I discovered that your soul is one of the purest and kindest I've ever seen! You used to be afraid of it and try to hide it and deny it, but there is no denying it anymore! I will fight for my friend's soul and not give up until you've got it back!"

"I'm not going to be taken in by you again!" Nesbitt cried. The Orichalcos burned brighter and he grimaced, reaching up to place a shaking hand over the symbol.

"Nesbitt, what's wrong with you?!" Lector screamed. "What made you do this?"

"I betrayed you! All of you!" Nesbitt clenched a shaking fist. "I was weak. That part of me was like a cancer festering inside me, so I tore it out! I'll never be that weak person again."

A cold chill spread through Lector's veins. What had Yami Marik done to Nesbitt while he had slept? Had he cast some kind of illusion preying on whatever lingering guilt and self-hatred Nesbitt still bore because of the past? Had he made Nesbitt believe he had the Orichalcos? Or worse . . . since the symbol really was there . . . did Nesbitt actually have it?

It was tempting to scream at Nesbitt some more. Lector's emotions were running high and practically tipping off the scales. When he was pushed to his breaking point, it was very difficult for him to reign himself in. Still, somehow he knew he had to. Nesbitt would not respond well to the screaming.

He drew a shaking breath. "Nesbitt . . . emotions are good as well as bad. It would be wonderful to be able to tear out the worst parts of us, but it's impossible to just do that. You'll get the best parts as well. You are my cherished friend, but right now you're a stranger. I have to find the way to bring back your true and good self."

"Then duel me," Nesbitt said coldly.

"If that's what it takes," Lector said. It wouldn't really be an Orichalcos duel . . . would it? Could it? On this horrible night, anything seemed possible.

The duel didn't manage to go on for very long. Lector could barely hold himself together after everything else that had happened tonight and he was not playing at his best. Nesbitt thankfully hadn't drawn the Seal of Orichalcos, but he was definitely poised to win. Nothing Lector said or did got through to him in the least. Finally it was Lector who had to concede defeat, and he sank to his knees as the despair weighed down on him like the Earth on Atlas's shoulders. "Oh Nesbitt . . ." he whispered.

All of the arguments and speeches Lector had tried had failed. But those two plaintive words suddenly pierced through the darkness covering Nesbitt's mind and he gasped in utter horror. "L-Lector?!" In his horrible delusion, they were indeed trapped inside the Seal, and with Lector's loss of will and the inability to go on, it was closing in on him. "NO!" Nesbitt lunged, wrapping his arms around Lector's waist and pushing with all his might on the make-believe Seal as they fell against it. Somehow they tore through it and tumbled to the grass, free of its treacherous pull. But there was a price; the cold stone of a nearby marker connected with Nesbitt's head. He fell limply back to the ground.

Lector lay stunned but not physically hurt. "Nesbitt?!" He looked over at his friend.

Nesbitt was staring upward, the tears running from his eyes. He didn't even try to hide them—not that he could have.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I . . . don't know what happened. I . . . there's no forgiveness for what I just did. . . ."

Lector sat up, gathering Nesbitt's upper body into his arms. "It's not your fault, Nesbitt," he said shakily. "It's that demon. He's doing all of this to us!"

Nesbitt sobbed, clutching Lector to him as his consciousness failed him. His grip loosened.

Lector stiffened. "Nesbitt?! Nesbitt?!" The feel of the motionless body sagging against his chest chilled him to his soul. Immediately a hand went up, searching Nesbitt's head for injuries. When he felt the cruel bump under the other man's hair, his heart dropped. "Oh Nesbitt, no . . . !" Nesbitt had been lost in a delusion, but he had broke free and saved Lector from some imagined or real danger. And now . . . now . . . would he even recover?

Lector couldn't take any more. Now he was the one weeping as he cradled his treasured friend.

[darcycrawford]

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME:  Darcy Emmeline Crawford

PRONUNCIATION:  DAHR-see  EM-ə-lien  KRAW-fərd (  ˈdɑrsi ˈɛməˌlaɪn ˈkrɔfərd )

MEANING: Darcy means dark or dark one while Emmeline means hardworking

REASONING:  Darcy’s mother was a romantic and always liked Pride and Prejudice. She decided to name her daughter Darcy because she loved the character and who really cares about gender norms now a days?

ALIAS: Darc, Emmeline, People tend to prefer ‘bitch’ instead of her name

BIRTH DATE:  August 2nd, 1989

AGE: 28

ZODIAC: Leo

GENDER: Female

PRONOUNS: She/Her

SPECIES: Human/Hunter

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: No label

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: No label

NATIONALITY: American

CURRENT LOCATION: Ashbourne, Nova Scotia

LIVING CONDITIONS: A second floor duplex in Ashbourne’s ‘bad’ neighborhood

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE:  Fort Worth, Texas

HOMETOWN: Fort Worth, Texas until the age of 6; traveled often and never stayed in the same town for long

SOCIAL CLASS: Low class

EDUCATION LEVEL: B.S. in Chemistry from an unaccredited online university

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English; broken Spanish

FATHER:  Henry Crawford

MOTHER:  Molly Goulding

RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS: Darcy hasn’t cared for her father since the day she found out about his betrayal. And she understands that he hasn’t cared about her since the day he left. He’s never tried to contact her or her mother. Although, her relationship with Molly was rough when she was younger, as soon as she was told the truth about the world she started worshiping her mother. Darcy’s mother on the other hand has been trying to get Darcy out of the life. She’s a little more understanding of supernaturals living normal ‘human’ lives and secretly she’s horrified by Darcy’s no-nonsense stance on the subject. They two clash sometimes but Darcy has a difficult time surviving without her guidance. 

SIBLING(S): N/A

CHILDREN:  N/A

PET(S): None, travelling can be difficult with animals

OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: The Gouldings are a hunting family. Darcy has never met them.

PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: Owen Gillespie [teenage summer fling]; a couple of one night stands here and there; nothing significantly labelled as a relationship

FRIENDS: Landon Hastings , Cristian Vasquez, Sloane Lottes, Lottie Mcfay, 

FOES: let’s be honest, most supernaturals that have met her

ARRESTS?: Simple Theft, Aggravated Assault, Disturbing the Peace

PRISON TIME?: Four months with parole 

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: Melanie Scrofano 

EYE COLOR: Blue

HAIR COLOR: Auburn

HAIR TYPE/STYLE: Long, straight or wavy

GLASSES/CONTACTS: Reading glasses

DOMINANT HAND: Right

HEIGHT: 5′ 8″

BUILD: Ectomorphic but muscular 

EXERCISE HABITS: Rigorous morning and night routines that include cardio, strength training, and sparing

SKIN TONE: Fair

TATTOOS: None

SCARS/BIRTHMARKS:  Here

PIERCINGS: Not anymore. She mistakenly wore an earring once and it was torn from her ear.

NOTABLE FEATURES:  Her personality

USUAL EXPRESSION:  A permanent scowl unless she’s with a friend

CLOTHING STYLE: She tends to wear darker clothes because they stainless. She prefers longer sleeves and jeans to add an extra layer of protection. Often she’ll wear a leather jacket for that reason alone. She also has a utility belt  packed with essentials when she’s on the hunt but in Ashbourne it’s become a more permanent accessory

JEWELRY: None

ALLERGIES: Shellfish 

BODY TEMPERATURE: Within the normal range, sometimes she runs ‘hot’

DIET:  Anything that fills her stomach for the time being. She’s not picking and has gotten use to buying meals from restaurants instead of cooking herself.

PHYSICAL AILMENTS: Here

OCCUPATION & INCOME:

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: Bouncer at The Monastery 

SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME: Odd jobs on the road, mowing lawns, bartending, pet sitting, waitress painting houses, etc.

CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: Yes, she’s a hunter foremost and the Monastery let’s her collect information and release her anger. 

PAST JOB (S):  Too many to count; some were legitimate, some were covers

SPENDING HABITS: Vodka, beer, and food

MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: The journals in which she’s kept all of her notes, her weapons, and other hunting tools. 

PSYCHOLOGY & PERSONALITY

ELEMENT: Fire

APPROXIMATE IQ: 131

CHARACTER ARCHETYPE: The Hero

STRONGEST CHARACTER TRAITS: Independent, Determined, Adventurous, Brave, Focused

WEAKEST CHARACTER TRAITS: Head-Strong, Vulgar, Rude, Careless, Egotistical

MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: None

EMOTIONAL STABILITY: Balancing between stable and unstable depending on the situation

PHOBIA(S): Open water, merfolk

ADDICTION(S)/BAD HABITS:  Drinking herself to sleep

OBSESSIONS: Taste testing different brands of vodka, protecting the human race, poking bruises

BIGGEST SECRET: Blames herself for Owen’s death/turning

DRUG USE: Occasionally but never while working

ALCOHOL USE: At least one glass every night, but again never while working

SWEARING?: Her vocabulary is limited to swear words

PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: Very much so

RELIGION: None

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Slytherin

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: Fast and hoarse

ACCENT:  Slight southern American accent

HABITS:  Falling asleep fully clothed

NERVOUS TICKS:  An eyebrow twitch when she’s aggravated; drumming her fingers on the table

DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS/: To protect humans from the supernaturals that hunt them and take away their chances at normal lives

GENERAL FEARS: Watches as a creature kills a group of people and not being able to do a thing about it, being turned into something

SENSE OF HUMOR:  Dark and sarcastic

CATCHPHRASE(S): "Fuck off, Asshole”

FAVORITES

ANIMAL: Great Pyrenees

BEVERAGE: Vodka

BOOK:  The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum

COLOR: Teal

FOOD:  Bacon Cheese Burger

FLOWER: Venus Fly Trap

GEM: Ruby

HOLIDAY: Christmas

MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: Walking; Car

MOVIE: Pulp Fiction, Blade Runner, Training Day

MUSICAL ARTIST: Eminem

QUOTE/SAYING: “ I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me. ”

SCENERY:  Foggy forest

SCENT: Musky colognes

SPORT: N/A

SPORTS TEAM: N/A

TELEVISION SHOW:  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

WEATHER: Autumn

VACATION DESTINATION: Toronto

PAST/FUTURE

WHAT WERE THEY LIKE AS A CHILD?: Darcy was a relatively happy and giddy child until her father left when she was 4. From that age, she became a little colder and sadder. She often threw tantrums and lashed out at her mother believing it was some how her fault. At age 8 when she learned the truth via bed time story, her outlook changed. She regarded her father as a coward and her mother a hero. She became obsessing over supernatural and the evils they create. 

GROW UP RICH OR POOR?:  When she was younger both parents had jobs and they were building their way up to middle class. They had enough to scrape by but when Darcy’s father left her mother had a hard time keeping up with payments. Eventually, they moved into a RV which lessened the burden. Her mother began hunting and held various jobs. There was always something for Darcy to eat but not much else.

NURTURED OR NEGLECTED?: Both nurtured and neglected. She worships her mother but anyone looking in from the outside would see the woman made some poor choices in regards to Darcy’s safety and well being.

ASPIRATIONS AS A CHILD?: Since the age of 8, she wanted to be a hunter. She can’t remember much before that in terms of occupations. 

SMELL THAT REMINDS THEM OF CHILDHOOD: Gasoline. They often found themselves parked at gas stations or refueling as they traveled. 

BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY?: Killing her first vampire at age 10. She wasn’t suppose to follow her mother but did anyways. The only reason she succeeded was because her mother had severely weakened the creature. She struggled to stab the stake into it’s heart and even sprained a wrist. Her mother yelled at her for hours about her carelessness but it was worth it. 

WORST CHILDHOOD MEMORY?:  Watching the life leave Owen’s eyes. She had dragged him out of the water and attempted to resuscitate him but even though she pounded his chest the water never left his lungs. She was pulled away by her mother from what she thought was his dead body.

OPINIONS ON MARRIAGE?: Not for her unless she finds the perfect hunter husband

WANT KIDS?: She would never want to bring a child into this world

WANT TO GROW OLD?: Sure, it’d be nice but it’s probably not in the cards

WANT TO SETTLE DOWN?:  The road is home, she’ll go where the job takes her.

[lunarproductions]

Tomboys Need Love Too! is a romantic visual novel about a teenager named Kai who is in his last semester of highschool and wants to make meaningful memories before graduating, getting a girlfriend being first priority. He has two love interests; his crush Sophie and his best friend Chris. If the title isn’t enough of a dead giveaway, the game is mainly focused on Kai pursuing Chris who is a tomboy so if you really like that type of girl and are a fan of the childhood best friend trope then this game is perfect for you. It does have sexual content, the game is very up front about this and there is a nudity patch. Patch or no, the dialogue and certain scenarios are very sexual so this is an adults-only game. I did feel that the story was a good one and also well written despite its adult nature which was refreshing.

The story starts off with Chris needing to stay at Kai’s house for a week while her parents are out of town, this convenient plot device also helps her in her attempts to prove to Kai that’s she now a woman and win his heart because, big surprise, she’s in love with him. An interesting part of this story is that Kai does start to notice how Chris has blossomed and spends a good deal of time contemplating if his feelings for her are friendship, love or lust. However, he’s also interested in Sophie who is having a hard time due to vicious rumors being spread about her. I also liked this aspect of the story and felt it could have been expanded upon a bit more to make an impactful message on how spreading rumors can really hurt people, this is touched upon but doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. Most of the store centers around Chris and Kai’s relationship and it is very sweet but as a result, Sophie is thrown under the bus and her story route is very positive.

Kai - The main character of the game, a hormonal teenage boy looking for love. He’s naive to a fault, always wanting to see the best in people but this also makes him a very loyal friend. He comes off rather submissive, especially when dealing with Chris. His inner monologues are some of my favorite parts of the game as he tries to figure out his emotions as well other people’s motives.

Chris - The childhood best friend trope and tomboy archetype all rolled into one. She has a brash personality that I found a bit off putting, especially the way she pushed Kai around. Underneath, however, she is a very sweet and insecure girl who just wants to be loved. Some of her actions are a bit out there, however, as she tries to seduce Kai with her body often in the game instead of just being blunt and honest about her emotions.

Sophie - Sophie seems like miss perfect and is Kai’s crush, however she’s hiding some dark stuff. Though a romantic rival to Chris, the game doesn’t even give her much of a fair shot because of how she is written. She only has two endings with Kai, one is purely sex based and the other is rather positive but still nowhere near as satisfying as the best ending Chris has.

Being a visual novel, everything is point and clicked based. At certain points during the story you make choices to help direct the story to the ending you desire. The game has a very good interface and all of the options I expect from this genre. You can skip text you’ve already read, look back on text you’ve read, have the text fly by with an auto mode and of course tweak the text speed to your liking. If you do download the adult content you can still toggle this on and off in the options menu which is good and of course there is a gallery to look back at the hi-res artwork. One thing I found missing was a way to relive the endings again.

One fault that I found in this game was the artwork. It wasn’t bad by any means, actually it was quite good compared to some of its competition on the market, especially non-Japanese ones. However, I found some of the character models to be odd, the way Kai stood or the way Sophie’s breasts were drawn. Most of the hi-res scenes were pretty good though there were certain moments where body positions and proportions were awkward to me, but there wasn’t much of this. The music is forgettable, I can honestly only think of two maybe three tunes in the game and at some points everything was flat out silent. This is probably the weakest area of the game in my opinion. There is no voice acting in this game at all to speak of but I’m ok with that.

While Tomboys Need Love Too! is certainly an adult-natured game and that may turn off people, there is also a good story being told here. Sure, some moments seemed over the top like Chris being so willing to strip for Kai and most of Sophie’s route but these are also hormonal teenagers so I guess it makes sense, though it would make more sense if they were sixteen since I believe that’s when we usually start wondering about those types of things but I know why that couldn’t be the case here. This game is a bit on the short side since there are only two love interests and five endings, depending on your reading speed and if you’re using a good guide you could probably finish it somewhere between two and four hours so grab it on sale if this is a concern for you. Tomboys Need Love Too! has Steam trading cards and achievements as well, but not much bonus content or much else to offer after completing the game. Length aside, this is a well written story about teenage love and a game that I recommend.

http://www.honestgamers.com/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/628920/Tomboys_Need_Love_Too/

https://zetsubou.games/mygame/tomboys-need-love-too/