#to be fair i will also be that way except i have no protag plot armor and i will die unlike her

[trpicalala]

she's just a normal girl!!!! she can't survive an apocalypse!!!!!!!!!

[saturniandragon]

Adra's Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown In-Depth Review (contains spoilers)

(Caution: Extremely long read, please ask for snacks from Long Caster)

Let's start with a little background of me as a player. Before 7, my Ace Combat games were:

Ace Combat 2

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (EU and JP versions)

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception

Ace Combat: Joint Assault

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

With the exception of Assault Horizon and the EU version of AC3, I played all of them on emulators. Because I was too poor to afford anything. I haven't played AC6 because I haven't seen the reason to buy an X360 just to play 1 game, so I'm waiting for a fully developed X360 emulator that can run 6 flawlessly.

Yes I used to play AH. Quite a lot. Yes it was a decent enough game. Yes it's strayed ungodly far from the true Ace Combat that we know of. But the soundtracks absolutely make up for it. And frankly, without AH, there won't be Ace Combat Infinity, because it used the same game engine as AH. Also AC7 reuses several sounds from AH.

I'm not saying we should accept AH as a true Ace Combat game, because it's not. But over time, it became a necessary stepping stone towards Ace Combat Infinity and Ace Combat 7 we know today.

Just a note that I have never played Infinity. I was still in mid school when Infinity was up and running. I never even owned a PS3. Any mention of AC Infinity in my following review is based on watching YT videos because the game is dead now (thanks Namco, I guess).

I spent 5 years aggressively avoiding spoilers for Ace Combat 7 because it's more fun that way. As such I had no idea what the story is like, what Strangereal country the protag is affiliated with, or which country we're fighting. About the only thing I know is that the protag goes by the nickname Trigger.

Anyway, Ace Combat 7 now. So my first impression was. Wow. I absolutely loved the menu UI. Minimalistic, yes, but very straightforward. And the splash screen before the main menu. The overall dark blue theme of course is a nod towards the blue skies that every pilot knows, whether real or virtual. And apparently also a reference for the theme of the game plot, "Dark Blue."

(Tumblr voice: do you love the color of the sky-- *forcibly removed from stage*)

The controls again are also familiar, although I have to change the scheme in settings first, because I'm used to using the Select button instead of Square to change SP weapons. Again it's configurable, so a nice feature.

The mission briefing scene was... to put it simply, a little convoluted. Maybe that's just me, seeing Ace Combat 5 and Zero also had similar briefing screens with a buttload of flavor text that mostly doesn't matter to the actual gameplay. I let it slide because it's "the Ace Combat DNA", if you will. And I also love the animations, so good job devs.

First mission, you're a peacekeeping pilot. So I guess like the precursor of Ace Combat 3's UPEO. You get F-16C with 4AAMs. And thank God for that because I'm kinda fed up with starter planes being something ancient like F-4s or F-5s. And I quite like Vipers. Not as much as I like Flank-- sorry, moving on.

Oh shit, we're fighting Erusea now. I think we fought Erusea as well in 04, right? So I was interested if maybe there would be a mention of Yellow 13 (spoiler: there isn't).

The graphics were stunning. I played the game on max graphics. Lighting, shadows, glow/bloom effects, clouds, skies, a couple of shadow staircasing every now and then, but it's not super noticeable. And the game was very well optimized as well because I was getting 120+ fps at all times.

Although to be fair Ace Combat 7 is my first proper "next gen" game. After years and years of playing games on 720p Low, playing something on 1080p Ultra with smooth 60fps+ is mind blowing.

I think the only times I switch to first person/HUD view is during dogfights in thick clouds, just so I can see where my aircraft is pointing and avoid a premature nose-first landing.

Then the soundtracks. My god, this game delivers and goes beyond. Several times I get the chills when the music ramps up during the right moment. And the way the BGM gets muffled when you're in the clouds and becomes clear again when you're out? Such a genius idea. Replayability value increased.

The flight model/physics is... well, quite different from what I'm used to, which is AC5 and AC0's flight model. Your left thumbstick input isn't instantaneous, there's a bit of inertia and momentum in plane's roll, pitch and yaw, but I quickly got used to it. In contrast to PS2 titles, AC7 planes are so easy to accelerate and very hard to decelerate, and I learned that the hard way from overshooting enemy planes and crashing to the ground a couple of times trying to do dive bomb attacks.

And then the flight model for landing on runways or carriers is another level of different. Somehow your air speed doesn't decrease when you fully press the decel button and the air brakes are extended. Even increasing sometimes, during approach. Your plane only actually starts losing speed when you're directly above the runway. And I hear you, Ace Combat isn't known for realistic flight physics. Never was, and never will be. I have fully accepted that since Ace Combat 2. But you can actually decrease your speed during landing, as you should be able to, in all the previous titles, so why not in 7? That means most of the time I was landing my plane in AC7 with nose gear first. Doesn't damage my plane in the game or anything, but still, I loved doing realistic landings in previous games.

During takeoffs your plane also pitches up automatically after surpassing V1 and V2 speeds, like in Assault Horizon. I prefer previous titles where you have to manually pull the stick back to takeoff from the runway/carrier.

I'm slightly disappointed that there isn't any vapor cloud forming on your plane when you breach Mach 1. AC5 and Zero had that small touch of realism (I think 04 also did but I don't remember), so seeing it absent in 7 is a bit sad. But not game breaking.

Harling rescue mission. He's no longer president of Osea but he's still alive, and apparently built the space elevator near Selatapura. Flew my Super Tomcat with 8AAM through the radar network. Reminding me of the Mother Goose One escort mission from 5. Even the rescue chopper is Sea Goblin, the same one from 5. I love it.

My hype was shattered at the end of the mission where apparently one of my missiles hit Harling and killed him??? Oh well, solitary now I guess.

Oh great, first mission apparently with other pilot convicts. Take off and make Erusean bombers think they're attacking a real AFB. While Count and other Spare squadron members keep calling me Harling's murderer.

My true complain so far in my first time playing is that the characters talk SO much during actual gameplay. Way too much. Half the time I don't hear or get the chance to read subtitles because I'm too focused on dogfighting or blowing stuff up with HVAAs and GPBs. So I'm missing quite a lot of what the characters say during flight.

About the only thing I catch in the entire game is just Long Caster talking about food (affectionate). He probably has an entire buffet line for himself in his E-767. Hey I don't blame him, you're not yourself when you're hungry.

Although, Long Caster, did you really just say you were gonna order food from "Italian" bistro near LRSSG base? That's a bit of an oversight from PA.

My only source of the game's storyline is through cutscenes, which, may I add, are rendered extremely nicely. Like, I couldn't tell if the cutscenes were pre-rendered MP4 clips or real-time 3D render. We've gone from AC04's manga slideshow, AC5's 3D anime, AC0's green screen mocaps, to realistic and high fidelity CGI cutscenes in 7. With the exception of the static JPEG dog that appears beside the Princess of Erusea and Mihaly's granddaughters.

Speaking of which. Mihaly. What the hell is with that full name, old man? Even the noble Altmer families in Elder Scrolls Online are jealous of your monarchy name. I don't want to be your commanding officer who will probably have to write your full name everytime I make an official report.

The cutscenes show an interesting story from Avril's point of view. How she went from apparently spending years building an F-104 from scraps to fulfill her dream as a sky drag racer, shot down by an Osean fighter for breaching airspace regulation, held as a prisoner for god knows how long, and finally becoming the Scrap Queen for the OADF/OMDF and making tweaks for Trigger's aircrafts.

(You! Solitary, now!)

Let's move to weapons. SP weapons especially, and my god there's a lot of them now. LAAM, HVAA, HPAA, HCAA, 8AAM, GRKT, SASM, IEWS, PLSL, so many to choose from. I still remember when 4AGMs and 4AAMs were just called XAGMs and XMAAs. And now there's even a goddamn 8AGM for when you really hate tank columns. If the next Ace Combat game were to feature the new F-15EX, they should make 10AAM or 12AAM SP weapon for it.

For area of effect (AOE) weapons like UGBs, GPBs and SFFSs, they now use predicted impact point and blast radius as your aiming guide, previously also seen in AH and Infinity. It's a very good way to aim AOE weapons and decide where you should aim for maximum effect. In AC3 and PS2 titles, they just displayed a hovering on-screen reticle that tells you roughly where your bombs will go, no information about how large the lethal radius is.

You have access to countermeasures now like in ACAH! Gone are the days you have to perform pugachev kulbit 60G shit yourself maneuver to avoid incoming QAAMs. You can still do that, of course, but now at least they give you a second option, for when you're in a pinch, which is nice.

Let's talk about the aircraft tree. And my thoughts? I really like it. Intuitive and easy to understand. All SP weapons for each aircraft are also available to view before you buy. A little weird how the F-16C tree branches out to F-2A, but also the F-14D Super Tomcat. I mean I was expecting the F-16C to branch out to Falcon derivatives like F-16XL and F-16 Block 60, and the F-14D would be unlocked by purchasing F-14A first, like in Ace Combat 5. I mean I get to play with F-14D's 8AAM early in the game. Still, a little weird.

(After writing this I just remembered that F-16XL is a DLC, so disregard that)

I also love the way it incorporates aircraft parts previously seen in Ace Combat X, Infinity and AH (yes that game actually had aircraft parts, although a little different, and only seen in Free Mission and multiplayer). And once you unlock one aircraft upgrade part, you can apply it to any aircraft! 10/10.

From my earlier point of "planes too easy to accel and too hard to decel", maybe there are parts that can make decel easier, but I haven't unlocked it by the time I'm writing this review. I will, however, attempt to unlock everything in the aircraft tree because this game is fun.

My aircraft tree path in my first playthrough was F-16C, F-14D, A-10C, MiG-29, Su-33, Su-30M2, Su-34, Su-30SM, and finally for the last mission I saved up enough MRPs for Su-57 with PLSL. Which is quite effective for boss fights I must say. I haven't used pulse laser since AC3's pulse laser (that was usable on R-103 Delphinus 3 and R-311 Remora). Different in how it works because in AC3 the pulse laser occupies your machine gun slot, and in AC7 it's an SPW, but considering AC3 takes place in 2040 Strangereal, it's fine.

Did you know I clapped Mihaly's X-02S with an Su-34, first try, with standard missiles alone? I played on Normal diff, but I was dogfighting him with 90% damage, so I'm quite proud of that.

In the wise words of Lt. Bradley Bradshaw, "It's not the plane, it's the pilot."

Next the flight controls. God it feels so satisfying and immersive. The way your controller vibrates, the FOV shakes when an explosion happens near you, or when going through a turbulence or wind shear in the clouds, I love it. Although not gonna lie I've crashed my MiG-29 once into a cliffside from extreme wind shear in one of that canyon mission, and I nearly pissed myself when my Fullback was struck by lightning and my HUD was gone.

I do miss the oil splatter effect on your screen when you fly through an explosion, that was last seen in AH and Infinity.

The clouds aren't just decors of the sky now, they can alter the gameplay! From masking radar pings, forming ice layers on your plane which hampers its performance, to disrupting missile tracking ability. And in cockpit view, your glass canopy actually gets wet from the water vapors, and icy when your plane's icing up, so that's an awesome level of detail. A great way to make gameplay less boring and make players rethink their strats. Which I'm guessing will be even more important in multiplayer PvP matches.

(Actually now I want to try if SAAM's guidance is affected by clouds at all. I haven't used SAAM in my first playthrough)

The story is good. I mean I didn't get 30% of it because the characters talk so damn much during missions, but I love Trigger's progression from an IUN-PKF pilot (with a suspiciously furry emblem, but hey, I'm part of furry fandom myself), a convict with three white stripes on his tail, and finally the three stripes turn into three claws like the claws of a predator that hunts down every bird in the sky.

Does that kinda resemble the story of Razgriz? Probably. Probably not. I'm overthinking.

They make a several references from previous games. At some points there were mentions of ISAF (AC04), Razgriz squadron (AC5) although indirectly, and Belka's seven nukes (AC0). I think I saw the name Albert Genette once in one of the cutscenes, the reporter/photographer guy from 5! He's still alive by the time 7 takes place! And a mention of the original Kestrel as well as Captain Andersen. Maybe there was a reference from 6 that I didn't catch because I haven't played it. But still, good stuff.

I'm still bummed that Harling dies in this game. In AC5's ending screen it was mentioned that in 2020 Harling would declassify military records about the Osea-Yuktobania war (was it called Circum Pacific war? The war in AC5) to the public. But AC7 takes place in 2019, so I guess the truth of Razgriz squadron's identity, 8492nd and the Grey Men will likely remain in secrecy in Strangereal universe.

There was one mission that took place near Basset Space Center, the place where the mass driver (the railway space ramp launcher thing) is located, that was used to send stuff up to the Arkbird. And my god that mission gave me bad memories of that one mission in AC5 that also took place there. At least this time I don't have to defend the place from falling tanks or a swarm of cruise missiles.

One of my favorite missions was using targeting pods (TGTP) to guide ordnance from bombers above you in order to destroy missile silos. It's almost like a ground target version of SAAM, and reminds me of the bombing run mission in Top Gun: Maverick. Nice gameplay mechanic. Although the final part of the mission where you have to shoot down IRBMs launched from secret locations has to be inspired by the ICBM chase in Assault Horizon. But thankfully in 7 it's not as annoying as it is in AH. My god you do not want to know how annoying it is in AH.

I do appreciate that mission checkpoints are a thing now. In previous titles, if you die at any point before the mission ends, that's it. You start from the beginning again regardless of progress. Checkpoint system was first implemented in AH (because AH is just Call of Duty with planes). Checkpoints in 7 are not common, but that's a good thing. Don't want to resemble AH too much, while also giving casual (and new) players some cushion for failure.

Now let's talk bosses. Arsenal Bird. Or Birds, because apparently there were 2 of them. Fighting them is fucking annoying because of the massive swarm of MQ-101 drones all around it. One standard missile hit does kill the drones, but there's a lot of them. And hundreds of them flying criss cross applesauce all over my screen just gives me sensory overload. Maybe that's the intent.

The design of the Arsenal Bird is... intriguing. Not because it's a flying wing design, we've seen that with the X-49 Night Raven and XR-900 Geopelia (AC3), Arkbird (AC5) and XB-0 Hresvelgr (AC0), but the fact that's it's propeller driven (turboprop, presumably), with counter-rotating blades, and it's in pusher configuration??

By the way, pusher config just means that for a prop driven aircraft, the propeller(s) is behind the engine. Some examples include Airco DH2, a British WW1 biplane fighter, and Kyushu J7W Shinden, a Japanese WW2-era prototype interceptor (don't ask me where or how I know about those two obscure planes). Literally the propellers push the plane forward, like the massive fan on a hovercraft, instead of the more common pulling action in other prop planes like Mitsubishi A6M Zero and Messerschmitt BF 109.

I don't remember the reason why, but they're rare and ultimately didn't catch on in our real world, probably due to complexity issues and no real performance benefit. So seeing an Ace Combat boss plane/mothership that flies on pusher prop engines, in the game's modern timeline where jet/turbofan propulsion is everywhere and tactical laser weapons are a thing, is... something else. There's probably an in-universe explanation for it. Maybe Project Aces just ran out of ideas.

Although, whoever designed the Arsenal Bird (both in the dev team and canonically in the game's universe) must've taken some reference from the Arkbird, judging by the location of laser pod in the middle section, drone pods underneath, and AAM pods on top. Maybe they even salvaged Arkbird parts from the sea after Razgriz shot it down?

You guys remember that the Arkbird had drones, right? The Vogels, that Belka attached to the Arkbird in AC5? Whatever. Someone else reading this remembers.

Let's talk Mihaly. My god, old man, I want to complain about your obnoxiously long full name again, but I'm not going to. At least it's only mentioned exactly one time in the cutscene. But fighting him is actually fun and challenging, both against his Su-30SM and X-02S Strike Wyvern. Especially in Farbanti when the fight brings you near the sunken parts of the city, dodging ruined buildings left and right.

Although I can't help but notice that the layout of his Erusean black and orange livery is reminiscent of Cipher's F-15C livery just in different colors.

(Mihaly: There are pilots like you in every generation, and I felled every last one of them. | Trigger: Ok boomer.)

At the time of writing this review I don't fully remember why he was the enemy boss in 7. Something along the lines of seeing his former country crumble? But then he exhibits certain traits. His body is failing, he loves the skies like it's his one and only home, and his flight data is used to train drones.

Who else shares those traits? Rena Hirose from AC3.

(At one cutscene he was heard talking about borders being an imaginary line that separates countries, which made me think of Pixy and AWWNB, but I felt that's too minor to point out the similarity, so I will gloss over it)

In this paragraph you don't have to listen to me, because I'm not an Ace Combat lore expert. But the similarity of Mihaly and Rena Hirose makes me suspect that Ace Combat 7 is the start of a bridge, one that heads towards Ace Combat 3 timeline. A bridge where we see the next Ace Combat game showing the turnover of the world of Strangereal into the one seen in AC3. We will probably see, in Ace Combat 8, the events that transpire before the continent of Usea (and possibly the entire Strangereal Earth) is ruled by megacorporations instead of countries.

(I just love that some missions in AC7 take place in locations like Waiapolo mountains and Chopinburg, the same locations in some AC3 missons. It's a nice nostalgia)

We've also already seen what looks like an early attempt of thought-controlled combat aircraft, with the ADF fighter series. And in Ace Combat 3, reportedly all playable aircrafts are controlled by thoughts, through the use of COFFIN technology.

Actually now that I talk about it, I'm still damn surprised that old designs like Typhoon, Fulcrum, Raptor, Falcon, Eagle and Hornet all exist by the time AC3 takes place, retrofitted with COFFINs to make them look futuristic. EF-2000E Typhoon II, MiG-33 Fulcrum SS, F-22C Raptor II, F-16XF Gyrfalcon, F-15SMT Eagle+, F/A-18I Hornet ADV, I mean I get that the game was developed in the 90s and there was no way Namco could've predicted what the real world would use in the future.

(Yes I did just recite the full names of those AC3 planes from memory because I'm that much of a nerd)

Regardless, I personally can't wait to see what actually happens before 2040 Strangereal in the next Ace Combat game.

Another mission I really liked. The night mission after the comm satellites in space are gone and every target appears as unknowns. You have to fly close to ID them (with your plane's IRST cam probably) so you don't mistakenly shoot a friendly.

Finally let's talk the ending of the game. Assault on Erusean rogue forces near the space elevator. A coalition of OADF/OMDF, LRSSG and conservative Eruseans. Even the remaining Sol squadron is also here. Really reminds me of the ACES mission in 5 where Osea and Yuktobania gather their senses and fight together against their true enemy.

Mission was fairly straightforward until the second Arsenal Bird appears, its MQ-101 swarm and protective shielding rendering most attacks useless. Kinda felt this mission is a bit scripted because you have to wait until the Erusean princess destroys the Arsenal Bird modules in the ISEV control room. And even after that, this fight is like AC5 Arkbird fight on steroids. Added with the TLS pod and PLSL pods underneath. Still, I downed it.

And oh my god, the music that massively ramps up when the shield is down. Fuck, man. It's just a plane game. It has no right being absolutely majestic.

Last mission. You and your mates versus 2 ADF-11F drones. Saved up enough for Su-57 with PLSL, but I wasn't expecting to takeoff from a carrier. So the sight of a Felon being raised on the platform, taxiing to the deck and taking off to the skies (without even using the catapult or the launch pad, just sheer power of determination and Belkan witchcraft) is a fun one.

ISEV again, Hugin and Munin. The two birds of Odin that fly around the world and act as his eyes. One by one Sol squadron gets shot down. My Su-57 with PLSL makes relatively quick work of Hugin and Munin. Until the last one where its head broke off into a smaller drone and absolutely peppers my Felon with its MG. And of course it's hyper agile with no human pilot inside and apparently learning from Trigger's style. But challenges are meant to be overcome.

Nope. There's another one, it zooms towards the undersea tunnel, heading towards the ISEV. Of course Trigger is up to the task. Or not, because I underestimated the size of the tunnel and clipped my wing on entry, and I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Thankfully the game respawns me already facing the entrance.

Alright, focus this time, no messing about. But anxiety immediately creeps up my spine because of how narrow the passage is. I've flown the tunnels to the ICBM in AC2, the Geofront tunnels in AC3, the Megalith missile silo tunnel in 04, the SOLG control station in 5, and the V2 launch facility in Zero. This ISEV tunnel is narrower than all of them. But Count believes in me (no I don't have feelings for him shut up).

(What are the odds that the next AC game will have you fly through someone's fireplace chimney)

My hands grip my Xbox controller tight, eyes locked to my monitor and my fingers ready to make throttle and yaw adjustments at any moment's notice. Then the shutters start closing pretty quickly in front of me. Fuck, I can't just idle throttle my way through this. I have to push. And so I push my Felon just slightly above Mach 1.

Finally right underneath the ISEV, with no way to go but turn in circles chasing the ADF drone. I don't remember what Count or AWACS was saying but on my HUD there are target markers on the support beams of the ISEV, which I presume are the computer control units that control the ADF drone. PLSL away again, control units destroyed, the ADF drone slows down and I splashed it. This is reminiscent of the AC3 Geofront mission where you have to destroy the support pillars to trap the X-49 Night Raven inside.

But now what, there's no way out. Count said something about exiting out of the space elevator's pillar. I hesitated for a moment, he shouted me to just fucking go, so I went for it. The narrowest of slits in the base of the ISEV, I went through and pitched my nose up, and start sending it.

Are you fucking kidding me, there are actual cargos being moved through the ISEV on the cables. I mean, no shit Sherlock, it's in the name. Space elevator. I've never felt so tense in an Ace Combat game since I fought Pixy in Zero, because I've come this far and I don't want to start again. I kept going for it until I saw an opening. Cutscene plays. My black Su-57 with PLSL pods and three strikes on the tail, soars through the skies and finally out of the ISEV. I heard something about Count making a belly landing in the base of the ISEV. No damn idea how he does it but I guess I'm glad he's alive.

And then, at the end of the cutscene, a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Kei Nagase. She's become an astronaut, callsign Pilgrim One, up in the skies watching over us all.

I wonder what happened to the rest of Razgriz. Blaze, Archer and Swordsman.

"Hey Trigger, you dumbass, tell me something. What color's the sky up there?"

I've won the game. X-02S Strike Wyvern is available for purchase in the aircraft tree. Credits are rolling, tears are flowing. What a beautiful game. I settled my controller down and took a breather after an adventure full of intense action and engaging storyline. Although, PA, could you uhmm, slow down the credits? They scroll too fast lmao.

(Why do I have a feeling that Avril has a crush on Trigger?)

I wanna go learn how to do PSMs now because I heard it's something you can pull off in 7.

At the aircraft data viewer I ended up using Su-33, Su-30M2 and Su-30SM the most (3 times each). What can I say, man? I love Flonkers. I mean Flankers.

Though one thing is still a bit of mystery for me. What is Trigger's canon aircraft? Mobius 1 (AC04) and Warwolf 1 (ACAH) flew F-22A, Razgriz squadron (AC5) flew F-14As, and Cipher (AC0) flew an F-15C. I haven't played AC6 but I think the main character's canon plane is an F-15E? So what is Trigger's canon aircraft? I'm hoping it is some Russian plane because previous protags all fly American planes. A nice change would be welcome.

Although, remembering that fleet destruction mission where all of Trigger's wingmen fly F-15s, it's probable that Trigger's canon aircraft is also an F-15. And the game cover for Ace Combat 7 depicts an F-22. I guess Trigger's canon aircraft is also an American jet, which will be boring if that's true.

Guessing they have to appear appealing to the American audience.

My final verdict, a solid 9/10 game. I loved every single second of it. And Ace Combat series in general. Its thrill, its charm, its embrace of fantasy science fiction with no care of what's realistic and what's not. Because who fucking cares? It's a video game, and it's fun. That's all that matters. We know we will never be real pilots in the sky, but we can know the thrill of it like it's our childhood dreams as an action hero pilot. And elitists who whine about the unrealism of Ace Combat can suck on a Stonehenge barrel.

That concludes my review of the base game. But rest assured I will not stop here until I find all the secrets and unlockables and all unique named pilots because this game is awesome and has become my new obsession. After 5 years of aggressively avoiding spoilers, I can finally enjoy Ace Combat 7 like it's meant to be.

Now I want to tell my experience with DLC missions! Also DLC planes because I bought quite a lot of them, from CFA-44 to XFA-27 to F-15S/MTD. Not all of them, I didn't purchase the MiG-35D or the Top Gun Maverick set.

I played DLC missions after completing the main story. Which is good because before starting the DLC missions (labeled SP Campaign in the game) the game tells you that it's best to play them after completing the story. Also I did not use DLC planes at all in my first time through the main campaign, for that pure Ace Combat 7 first experience (I literally turned off all the AC7 DLCs in my Steam library until after I finished the main campaign).

But I've finished the main story, so great! I could jump in no problem!

Unexpected Visitor. Simple in the briefing, absolutely and unexpectedly challenging in its gameplay. It feels like your wingmen are absolutely useless and everyone is aiming at Trigger. Seriously it's like the later missions in the game's main story where all the AIs are better and harder to defeat, and make it 50% harder. And I'm playing the DLC missions on Normal diff. I don't remember what plane or SPW I used in my first attempt, but I got my ass absolutely handed to me. I began wondering if the DLC missions are supposed to be played co-op at some point during development. Anyway I switched to CFA-44 with ADMM.

And then those twin Berkuts appear. Scream and Rage. The crazed pilot siblings with no desire but to have Trigger's blood, for some reason. I could not get a single missile hit them. In fact I was shot down by an enemy SAM while I was trying to get them in my sights. Although that's kind of my fault because I forgot I could pop flares. Come on man, back in my day we didn't have flares!

Retried the mission with the same plane and SPW, this time deleting all the ground targets first with my flurry of ADMMs before Scream and Rage showed up. It worked. Landed a few hits on them, Scream and Rage fled the AO, mission completed. Kind of. We failed capturing the Alicorn, and Matias Torres has brought it somewhere underwater.

Next, Anchorhead Raid. Briefing showed a shit load of ground targets in a cluster. Hm, maybe ADMMs wouldn't be the right tool for this. But I have downloaded a Morgan, and it comes with a bunch of MPBMs.

First flight out. Once again did not work as well as I hoped for. Enemy CIWS kept destroying my MPBMs before they could get close, no matter which angle I launched them from. Even trying to drop them directly from above caused almost no damage.

Right, back to the hangar. What else do I have? Ah, a FALKEN and FAEBs. Let's try that. Nope. Still no considerable effect against target clusters that have CIWS in them. Back to the hangar again. Maybe FALKEN-TLS combo will work this time? Eh, sort of, but not really, its firing duration is too short to destroy a lot of targets, even when I'm flying real low and level with the ground targets.

Back to the hangar again. Starting to think I need a goddamn Erusean IRBM to efficiently complete this mission. And then I remember what I flew in AC7's final campaign mission.

Su-57 with PLSL, you're up. I dive low until I'm just a few meters above sea, leveling out with my gunsights pointed directly towards the ground targets. Getting closer and when the PLSL reticle turns red, I begin firing. To my surprise, it works remarkably well. From my experience shooting down Hugin and Munin, I start to learn that PLSL has some splash damage/AOE, and you don't have to be pinpoint accurate with it.

Scream and Rage show up again with more thirst for blood, but I also have equally strong thirst for their blood after harrassing me so much in the previous mission. I still have a few hundred "rounds" of PLSL. With no missile lock warning to make them scurry away, Scream is downed easily. Rage naturally, well, rages (ayy). His moves become faster and tighter. A Berkut and a Felon in a deadly dance in the skies above Anchorhead. After a long tail to tail and a tired left thumb, Rage is downed.

Alicorn apparently resupplied in Anchorhead under our noses, using the chaos in the skies as cover. Now intel suggest it's heading to the seas near Oured.

Ten Million Relief Plan. The final DLC mission. I anticipated that I will fight the Alicorn in this one, but did not know the kind of attacks it would have. I know it has massive railguns but no idea about its true capability. But Su-57 with PLSL has served me well, so I fly out in it again.

First phase of the mission. Wait for the allied planes to drop sonobuoys. This is just like the first time I fight the Scinfaxi in Ace Combat 5, but that mission had Arkbird in the skies above me. No orbital laser to help with this one. A few Rafales appear on the horizon, apparently launched from the Alicorn, but I downed them no problem.

The sonobuoys detected something and displayed a circle on radar that prompts me to go there. With the MAD device (magnetic something something device that I don't remember the name of) I begin searching for the Alicorn. The signal homing indicator on my HUD really just reminds me of White Noise mission in AC5 where you had to find Nagase in the snow.

Signal locked. Alicorn spotted. Nope. It's released jammers to disguise its presence. Sonobuoy planes are also harrassed by drones at the same time. Quickly I destroyed the jammers and the drones.

Trying to detect Alicorn again using sonobuoys. Having to keep speed below 800 kph so the tracker can work, all while trying to avoid missiles from more drones. Alicorn was found again, this time allied ships launch anti sub missiles.

Alicorn surfaced. No visible damage. Allied ships taking damage from Alicorn. Order to attack the Alicorn is a go. Unfortunately this time my PLSLs don't seem to make a dent. By the time the Alicorn gets within PLSL's range, my Felon gets peppered from its guns. 50% damage, 75% damage, 90% damage, I pulled out and quit the mission to choose another plane.

The last time I fought Scinfaxi and Hrimfaxi in 5, I used GPBs and LASMs. But those subs were much smaller and weaker than Alicorn, and I don't have any aircraft with high enough performance and durability that can also carry GPBs/LASMs.

I decided to give the Morgan and MPBM another go.

Alicorn surfaces again. This time I already have my MPBM ready, locked to its ballasts on the side. 2 to 3 MPBM hits later, the Alicorn loses the ability to dive, they're...

Surrendering?

No, this is way too convenient. Even the other Striders think this is too easy. AWACS insists to stand down. So we did, but I kept my MPBM ready to launch just in case, flying my Morgan in circles around the Alicorn like a vulture.

And of course it was a bluff. Torres was just simply buying enough time to prepare Alicorn's massive rail guns, aiming for the Osean capital of Oured. Madman thinks he can stop the war and save 10 million lives by sacrificing 1 million in the process. And he plans to start it by killing Trigger first. Order to attack the Alicorn is a go again.

I don't remember who said "they stopped being soldiers the moment they faked their surrender." Probably Count. But I agree with that sentiment.

Now suddenly we're under time constrain of just 1 or 2 minutes to destroy the Alicorn's nuclear core at the base of its massive railgun. But on the radar I can see the Alicorn's railgun predicted trajectory chasing my aircraft. I fly in a tight circle around it and wait for it to fire and miss. This is like the Excalibur onslaught (AC0) but 6 times harder. And when I try to get close to the railgun, the Alicorn yet has another trick up its sleeve. Defensive bubble fields around it, similar that the Arsenal Bird used but on smaller scale.

Time is ticking down. Just less than one minute now. I put max throttle and slip through the defense bubbles, my MPBM is already locked to the base of the Alicorn's railgun. One successful hit but it's not dead yet. I quickly turned around again, pulling dozens of Gs that would probably kill the pilot in real life. I flew in again, less than 30 seconds on the clock, I landed another MPBM in it.

And then the radar clears.

It's done. The Alicorn is destroyed. A massive explosion went off in the middle section, Torres laughing like a maniac on the radio as he dies and the Alicorn splits in half and sinks to the bottom of the sea. Another explosion went off underwater, the force enough to spew a mountain of sea water dozens of meters to the sky, and finally coming down like a pseudo rain that refreshes the atmosphere.

We never captured the Alicorn, but at least this way we prevented another superweapon from being misused.

I completed Ace Combat 7. Again. Such a cool set of DLC missions. Especially with the fact that they have their own storyline adjacent to the main campaign story. It's difficult, yes, but it's challenging enough that makes you want to try and try again until you succeed. Not Dark Souls-level of difficult that makes you want to murder a child with a controller. So, my thoughts on DLC missions? I loved them. Another solid 9/10.

And you know what? I wanna play them again.

And now I can watch Max0r's Incorrect Summary of Ace Combat 7 that I have postponed for so long!

[lowkeyclueless5137]

And ANOTHER P5 x Twst au :3

Oh god this is gonna be a trainwreck :v

But what else is new in here? :'3

Anyhow, I got like... Months ago an ask about another possible p5 x twst au and, of course, this derailed into shaping a whole thing.

Yet it wasn't enough for moi. It had a lot of holes in the plot and if you know me, you know that I gotta fill those up until I'm satisfied. :3c

So here we are✨

We are gonna reflect the whole time-line: top to bottom, explain every lore bit to the best of my pea brain's capacity and see what crawls out :v

How are we gonna do it? Well it's gonna be simple: we will go plot time-line wise and when things that do need explanation will pop out, they will be explained underneath the paragraph in smol text. If the marked section consists of a spoiler, it will be marked AND colored, which means it will be explained later, in a smol text, post the spoiler paragraphs.

Explanations will consist of:

plot irelevant information

games cannon points

the ooc lore that ties in the 2 games

time-line clearance :'3

I'm also gonna refer to the P5 protag as Ren Amamya, so yep. -3-

Fair warning: there will be spoilers for the whole P5 vanilla version along with Twst's latest story chapter. Since we are going cannon time-line wise, you can either go and read it until you don't want to be spoiled or you can simply read it after you saw your spoilers in the cannon games. :3

Now onto the fuckery! :D

We start off with how it all began :v

Ren's school had a letter exchange program, as a way to teach English to kids in a much more engaging and fun way. And what is a more fun way to learn a language than kids making a pen pal? He was in middle school at that time, pretty excited for this thing. They were given a few options as well.

Except that poor lil Ren didn't know how to write a school address from the options given. Instead, because of his excitement, he only wrote 'pen pal :3' in the bracket meant to have the address to send it to.

What Ren was unaware, was that, despite giving it in person to the mailman, the letter got lost among the hundreds of other letters meant to be sorted and sent.

It does get sent anyway.

And the answer is quite over everyone's heads.

You see, a few days later, Riddle was asked to pick up the mail by his mother. He would usually read the address, not expecting for anything to be addressed to anyone but his mother.

Watch his utter surprise when he sees a letter intended for 'pen pal :3'. Riddle was shook, but knowing that all the letters for his mom have her name on it and a fancy adress, the kid's brain makes the connection that HE is the one whom the letter was meant for.

So he hides it and keeps it to himself, until late at night. He uses a small light spell as he excitedly opens the letter. His mother always banned him from seeing her letters, so he believes this is also a very private moment.

And the contents were as follows:

'Hello! My name is Ren. I'm 7 years old. I live in Japan. I lika red and cads! What is your feivoriite color? Do u like cads? I'm exxcitd to be friends! -Ren'

Yes, it was short and yes, the errors were there amongst the sloppy writing, but it was authentic. The doodles did help Riddle understand that Ren liked cats actually. He even drew himself too! Even if it was a stick man with a lot of black for hair. And he even said he wanted to be friends! His very first friend!

Of course, being the very first friend, Riddle was over the moon. He didn't know how to even redact his letter. His mama always wrote hers, again, alone, without Riddle being allowed to see, thus the redhead believes that, again, it's a very personal activity.

And he got a letter. It would be rude to not respond to it!

So next morning, at individual study session, when Riddle is left alone, he pulls out Ren's letter. And uses it as an example. He puts Ren's address at the 'from' as he puts his full adress too, thus completing the destinations rubric completely. He quietly puts it in the mail needed to be picked up by the mailman and then off he was to continue his studies.

A few days later, Ren receives a letter with very nice writing. His parents think for a hot minute that their kid got a letter from a fancy school or smth. But no, it was from Ren's new pen-pal. The boy was so excited that he ran off the stairs and almost smushed on the ground. He left any breakfast he had on the table and almost spilled over a glass of water in his excitement.

Riddle's letter was far more difficult in terms of quality and English, yet Ren did make a big Boi effort to understand it. For the sake of pen-palling!

'Hello, Ren! I am Riddle Rosehearts. I am, as well, 7 years old (my birthday is in August) and I live in the Queendom of Roses. I am very happy that we will be pen-pals from now on! My favourite color is also red. And I do like cats, although I am not very sure what my favourite animal could be. I do want to ask: how is it in Japan? I never heard of such place. Is it nice? I would love to hear more from you and I'm very excited to be friends through the mail. -Riddle'

It took a lot to deschipher the letter itself, which only added more to the time for making another response.

Meanwhile, poor Riddle thought he made a bad impression for not adding doodles. He didn't really have time for such things. Yet, after a week, he gets a letter for him, from Ren and he's absolutely happy when he sees the response. Ren even made an effort to say that his pen-pal has very pretty hand-writing. As such, Riddle gets an idea of how Japan might look like, or at least Ren's little hometown. The redhead tried to research about Japan, but found nothing, thus assuming it was a local name for some country close to the land of the dragon. Meanwhile, Ren said promptly that his pen-pal is from the Queendom of roses, but everyone assumed he was referring to UK. No one questioned it, assuming that it was a thing in between the 2.

-they also believed such thing because in cannon of twst, time is reffered as our normal time

-in here, the time is the same for both worlds. Japan time is sage island time, so there's a small decalation of hour.

This letter routine continued. Ren was a fast learner, thus he had a quick evolution in his English, which gained praise at school. Meanwhile, Riddle was finding a warm and fuzzy spot whenever a new letter would come for him. Both found to grow very close to each other, like a brother you would tell all your Woes to. The letters came from simple things, to much longer ones, about one's week, personal problems or even funny side-stories.

Since Riddle was helping Ren with his studies, the latter found it fit to teach his pen-pal Japanese. This also shifted the contents of the letters, containing small notes in Japanese. Just how Ren's English looked sloppy at first, Riddle's Japanese was the same.

The letters also came more thick at one point. Ren would send small things, trinkets and candy, while Riddle sent in trinkets and pressed flowers. When the small objects were exchanged, Riddle unfortunately already was busted long ago for sneaking out to play with Trey and Che'nya. So imagine that Ren sending him such small trinkets, there was bound to be some sort of reassurance.

And while strawberry tarts were great, Riddle found Mochi to be his comfort food. It was small and was eaten easily. In his mind it was similar to a tart: comes in a big variety and it was given to him by someone he holds dear in his heart. Along with the fact that his first ever taste of one was always the strawberry flavour.

-he told Ren in a letter that he liked strawberries, so the latter made an effort to choose strawberry sweets.

Meanwhile, Ren was very happy with his own lil trinkets and things. He made a small glossary of all the pressed flowers as well, although at first he thought the 'sweet rose' was candy and ate it. Imagine his surprise when he discovered in the next letter that it wasn't supposed to be eaten. But it still tasted nice. :'3

-Riddle sent another 'sweet rose' for Ren's glossary after that, as to have the entire collection

This becomes a routine, that is followed all the way to high-school. Ren started first high-school and had to explain to Riddle how the Japanese sistem worked. Nonetheless, Riddle was expected to start his first year while Ren was around the middle-end of his. So there was that.

-Twst follows the European/American school model, thus it has some decalation with the Japanese school model.

Riddle also expressed his considering of taking on for the dormleader position once he got his acceptance letter. Ren, tho, said that it wouldn't be good to paint a target on his back so early. That maybe, first, he should gain a good reputation and trust of the others so he could be recommended rather than simply taking it by force. It would look far better in this case scenario, which would be easier to gain respect out of others once he does get the position. He makes some good points, which gives Riddle a much rounded idea of how he could raise as a much more respected Dormhead.

Trey inevitably thinks that maybe he managed to talk sum sense into the redhead, whom initially was dead set on taking that position. So for now, he got a bit of credit for this. :'3

Although, for Ren's end of the year, things get a bit messy. Like in the cannon of P5, he gets charged with assault for pushing off the man that tried to force himself on a woman. In his urgent letter, he stated that the man's name, which Riddle takes a note of for future reference.

Still, the redhead was worried sick for his friend. He did change his letters accordingly, in April this whole Tokyo probation would start, so Riddle still didn't finish his first year by then. Ren told him that for the time of the formalities of moving and getting enrolled into the new school, he won't be able to write, so Riddle could let off a worry if he didn't receive the usual letter.

-Ren had to pack things and move to Tokyo, thus, still waiting for the new address, he couldn't have Riddle write accidentally the same address and send the letter to the wrong place.

The night before Ren's first day of school, Riddle wakes up in a theater room. He was chained with ribbons by all limbs and a guy that was painfully similar to Jade, introduced himself as his brand new attendant. This Jade was strikingly different from the real one, mainly by the white hair in an undercut and the more punk appearance, which wasn't fit st all with the theatre's elegant presentation. Unfortunately, the master of this room was not availabile now, as he is tending to the other wildcard.

Despite that, Riddle feels like someone else is watching him. Like there are 3 persons in this theatre and one of them was the redhead himself.

Still... It was wierd af :'3

Imagine being in Ren's shoes. You have your brand new school day after a freaky prison dream. You are in your uniform, meet a kinda nice guy and together you head to the school, only to be found in front of a castle.

To add salt to the wound, they hear a scream from inside and rush in to see 2 guards dragging out a small, struggling guy. Ren recognised him as Riddle and the latter tried to free himself when the guards stopped to 'interrogate' Ryuji and Ren.

-the 2 exchanged photos with themselves at one point, after all they've been mailing to each other since 7.

Guess it's now getting Dormeo-ed and waking up in a dungeon cell. Riddle was freaking out since he was just heading out to PE, while Ryuji and Ren were just getting to school when they found themselves in this freaky place.

The redhead mentions how his magic didn't work out in here, to which the other to swipe it under the rug, in favor of finding a way out and trying to survive this crazy shit. :'3

Cue Kamoshida coming. Riddle is absolutely baffled that this is a PE teach. Like sure, Vargas had an obsession with muscles, but the man had sum decency, ya know?

The situation was overkill for Ren tho. Like this is the first time he meets his pen-pal, his brother in arms if you will, and he is now gonna get killed by his new PE teach who is in just a speedo with a wierd cape.

The first one on the line of execution was supposed to be Ryuji, but Riddle charged in and pushed a guard aside, which got him to be deemed as the first one on the chopping board.

Cue Ren's very epic awakening. Everyone is simply losing their shit atm. :3c

But that, clearly that had to be magic. Using that as a distraction, when the guards turned into your run-of-the-mill Jack-o-lanterns, Riddle spared 0 time in grabbing a sword and cutting one of those lil shits's heads. Ryuji stole the keys and together they closed off Kamoshida in the cell, trying to run away.

Cue realising that they are lost. :'3

So, instead of jumping on the other side of the river, they decided to look some more in here, try to find a sturdier bridge, because it was unclear if their adrenaline was yet to wear off.

They, unfortunately, stumble across a few cells with students that Ryuji recognises. The blonde explains to the 2 that these people are actual students at their school and he wanted to free them. Unfortunately, the keys didn't work and so they had to ditch them. Ren is very collected about this shit, preffering to not act rash in a situation where their very lives are on the line.

Riddle tho? Riddle sees it as unfair. And he's absolutely enraged. He insists to bargain with Kamoshida for the captive students, but, upon returning to the cell, they find no Kamoshida and that the whole door was blown away by smth. And not just anything, but something very powerful, as it left quite horrifying trails and marks. This gets Ryuji on board to finally ditch everyone else for now and try to get out before they get killed.

But, they have a run-in with a red-armoured guard, tasked with taking care of this 'intruders'. By how everything was shaped around, Ren looked drained from his transformation and Ryuji had a small halebard found on the ground to fend himself with. Everything was absolutely wrong and someone had to fix it before their heads get rolling. And Riddle deemed himself as more than fit for the job. He was well versed in the art of magic and his senses simply told him to protect his friends, to protect the people he holds so dear.

Cue epic af awakening.

With this new power, the redhead demands for Ryuji and Ren to run away while he deals with the guard. Because it didn't turn in any shadow, Riddle used that to knock off the guy from the horse and take the animal to ride and catch up with Ren and Ryuji.

Cue meeting Morgana, just as the 2 freed the cat-thing. Morgana introduces himself as a very skilled Phanthom-thief and as such, he sees some potential in the now 2 masked guys. So now they took it by steps towards the exit.

-the horse was also a shadow, so it had to dissappear, plus Morgana insisted to be discret.

Ryuji is lowkey all like: what's with the people burning alive and getting sick outfits????

The cat gives us drugs! (yes, I love that joke for sum reason) :D

Morgana also shows a demonstration of how personas work. Arsene was mainly using curse attacks and physical ones, while Judgement queen was had mainly fire and a tiny bit of bless, thus keeping the distance.

While escaping, the 3 return to Tokyo, which is bad, since Riddle was supposed to be at NRC. Everyone was, rightfully, freaking out about it. Thankfully the new badass outfits didn't come over as well. :'3

Riddle does look around and uses magic to change his uniform into something akin to a more normal school uniform. Cue Ren and Ryuji freaking out since that was actual magic and Riddle was not making shit up in his letters. Ryuji brings up that this is how the redhead dyed his hair so vibrant, to which Riddle replies that no, his hair is natural.

-In P5(not royal) universe, there are no wild hair colors. The dark blue is meant to represent a colder black. By Japan's standards, some would believe that a bright red hair could be either a delinquent or a J-pop idol. :'3

So Riddle does use magic again, to make his hair black, although still it retained a tint of red to it. It was absolutely sick for Ren and Ryuji, while Riddle was more concerned with getting himself back to NRC.

They re-meet Kamoshida and Ryuji with Riddle are immediately ready to square tf up. By sum miracle, the redhead understood perfectly Japanese, as if he was an avid speaker, which wasn't the case at all. No one brings it up, Ren and Ryuji assuming it was sum fancy magic shit.

-Cannon P5 has the group understand Morgana as a cat, so it can be expected that a more human language could be altered to be universally understood.

Riddle has to wait outside, which means the latter gets to explore around a bit. They exchanged phone numbers already and Ren with Ryuji asked the redhead to get them smth to eat post classes. Already they were through more than half of the school period, so it didn't take too long. Along with this, the 2 didn't want to catch the empty school shop, so Riddle was their errand boy for the day. :'3

On the way around, Riddle meets a nice tall guy who tells him where a cheap store is. That was a blessing for his already almost broke buget. :'D

The tall guy goes with Riddle to the store and with the extra given coins, Riddle decided to give them to the guy as a sort of thank-you, so he could complete his price for his food take.

Riddle has made a new friend: Yusuke! :D

Unfortunately both of them forgot to exchange phone numbers and only realised this when they parted ways already.

Ren and Ryuji are very happy with the food and together, the 3 discuss about what are they supposed to do. Ren offers for Riddle to sleep with him, but Sojiro might not allow it and Ryuji didn't have any space in his small place. They decide to sneak the redhead in when the latter shows them an invisibility spell he knows.

For the night, Ren and Riddle discuss a bit. The redhead admits that he was a few seconds, at best a minute or 2 before Ren and Ryuji came. Riddle also mentions about his freaky dream with the blue room, to which Ren is all like 'damn, me too'.

The 2 draw a few lines:

both are wildcards, whatever the hell is that

Igor is the master of both rooms

the theatre is not like the prison :'D

Ren got the short stick with the attendants/wardens

So they go to sleep.

And surprise, surprise, Ren is back in the Velvet room. With this opportunity, he asks Igor what is up with his friend and why is he also deemed as a wild-card. Igor says that he was chosen for another motive, but it has nothing to do with Ren's rehabilitation.

On the reverse side, Riddle asks about Ren's velvet room. Again, Igor wasn't here, but Jade says to not question his master's wishes, for they all have a purpose in 'delivering the perfect story' along with shaping Riddle in the 'worthy protagonist' he has to be.

When waking up and everything, Ren makes sure to spare half of his curry for his buddy, while Sojiro wasn't looking. As such, re-meeting with Ryuji, the 3 re-trace their steps post classes. Riddle was again sent through the city for things, meeting again with Yusuke and the 2 hanging out for a bit. This time they did exchange numbers. Yay! :D

They discover the metanav, the freaky app on all 3's phones. Riddle theories that since he came first, he has to also leave first, as to separate the 2 and thus return to their respective worlds.

-it was realised that since magic was common in Riddle's place, the latter was from a different dimension altogether.

This time, they re-meet Morgana, get more things explained and Ryuji promptly has an awakening post facing Kamoshida yet again. Really Riddle was getting impatient and wanted to behead for real the guy. Unfortunately Morgana said that if you kill Kamoshida in here, he has a mental shudown irl and actually dies.

This time, when they return to the real world, Riddle is back in twisted wonderland, while Ren and Ryuji are back in Tokyo. Their phones could still message/call one another, which only was used for them to confirm that indeed, they have to leave separately in order for everyone to go to their respective worlds.

Riddle had to call in sick for yesterday and today, which was plausible. He had a single room due to the Heartslabyul first years not being unable to divide evenly by 4. Trey was the first one to tell Riddle that he was really worried for him, while Cater managed to get him the lost lesson notes, from Jade.

-in cannon twst, the Heartslabyul dorm rooms for the 1st years are split 4 by 4. Riddle is still in his first year as of now.

Now, the redhead stood amongst first years at the one with an absolute perfect score at everything, including attendance, so it was pretty understandable that I'd he was sick he wouldn't come, as such no one really bothered to bring it up.

Still, despite all that, Riddle couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him. He tried to swat it off as being just over dramatic, but the feeling did not dissappear, whatever Riddle would try to force himself to believe.

Meanwhile, Ren makes a Gc, which is titled 'The Bois'. In here, Ryuji makes a list of people he saw in the palace and whom they should interrogate for future reference. They know that Kamoshida is abusing the students, as such they should be careful at how they could address the situation.

Riddle still was doing his best to help Ren and Ryuji with their investigations, via suggesting approach ideas or reminding them of rules and regulations that could be used as a shield for their actions.

Now there is a new routine, which also means that Ren, Ryuji and Riddle sync together when entering into the palace for investigations. Morgana came up with the code-name idea, so everyone was based off a motif from their own costumes, except Joker and Mona. So you have Skull and Rose, with their nice visual themes and then there's Joker and Mona. :'D

It's also time they discover what a wildcard could actually do. Both Riddle and Ren were spooked when their own negociations went a wierd way and gained new personas. Even weirder was the following velvet room trip, where the concept of persona fusions was presented. Ren told his buddy that he had to witness the gulittone execution, while the redhead said that he saw nothing, but heard a chainsaw for some goddamn reason.

Even so, you have Ann joining the group and expulsion hanging over Ren and Ryuji's necks. Now they did have a deadline and it was something that gained the loudest 'what' possible from Riddle.

The redhead tells the 2 that maybe they could avoid expulsion. They had to plead their case, because it wasn't legal to simply expel a kid with no backing motive and a proper investigation. And if there's a proper investigation, then Kamoshida could be shown as the absolute disgusting being that he is.

As such, their dead-line is given a bit more of a stretch, so that everyone could breath a bit in relief. Clearly they were forcing Kamoshida's hand and no doubt that he could find more 'plausible' accusations to give them. But that takes time. And they need that time for sure.

Cue these lil shits making a heist. :v

Ren was deemed as the main leader, while Riddle had to take over in certain situations. It was basically these 2 switching around. Riddle was a no-mercy fighting guy, while Ren was thinking more and stacking power.

Ann also had the brilliant shock of red to black that is Riddle's concealing charm. She brought up that, nonetheless, the guy was adorable and she definitely wanted to take him through the mall sometimes because there were so many pretty outfits he could rock. Riddle did not share the same excitement unfortunately. :'3

Ren and Ryuji realise that their buddy here has that cute charm that makes girls actually approach him.

Back in twst, not a lot of people noticed Riddle's absences. He wasn't that present post classes anyway, even so Cater did bring up that the redhead is pretty absent from the dorm post classes and/or clubs. The dormleader doesn't give it much thought, saying that perhaps he made a buddy and is hanging around. Trey seems to be pretty happy with this more outgoing change after all.

Meanwhile, our lil buddy here is getting traumatized by the horny castle. :'D

Kamoshida is horrible and Panther was more than happy to beat the shit out of him. Mona tried to be reasonable, but Ren said that if they leave the guy alive, then they could still beat him up to a pulp. >:3

Post that and the successful change of heart, the group wanted to celebrate. Ann made the great suggestion to go to this fancy buffet with the pawned money and treat themselves to their heart's content.

Riddle really didn't know how to prepare for such buffet. So he dressed up in smth nice and called it a day. Everyone had the same idea it seems, except Morgana, who is a cat.

Ann had a sweet tooth. And unfortunately she noticed that Riddle also had a sweet tooth, so the 2 indulged in the cakes and sweets, while Ren, Ryuji and Morgana went ham on the meat and other savory foods.

Then it came time to name their group. Upon a vote, it was decided to be named simple: 'The Phanthom Thieves of hearts'. Riddle brings up that it maybe they should lay down low for now, since clearly police would look into it. And Ren was on probation, so any bad light can be a fatal move.

Later on, Riddle hears from Yusuke, who tells him of this art exposition. And him having extra tickets, he was thinking of bringing his friend to see the art of his master, Madarame. The latter couldn't possibly decline the offer, so he gracefully accepted to come by in the weekend.

But before that, Morgana said 'let's go into the mementos' and we get introduced to the Monabus. :'D

The freaky part is when they encounter a stalker, whom, after defeat, accuses Madarame of exploiting them. It brings out a very wierd situation. Riddle offered to properly face the man in an interrogation, for he cannot actually be identified in this place, while the others listen in.

Indeed, the guy accuses again Madarame, saying how he wishes for nothing that he put effort in to be taken from him. Unfortunately, that got out of hand when his ex decided to break-up, thus the stalking. But now, seeing actual reason and realising how horrible his behaviour was, the guy begs of our groups to try and use their miraculous ways to save the children under Madarame's 'care', so they couldn't be exploited anymore.

Post that, Riddle mentions how he has a ticket to the art exposition, courtesy of Yusuke, his friend. There is also this wierd alcoholic reporter, who tries to get a scoop on Madarame, having all kinds of rumors on him. Coincidentally, Yusuke saw Ann and deemed her as the perfect model for his next art piece.

So there are 2 different plans of action:

The exposition one, where Riddle is gathering info about the paintings displayed, along with how Madarame himself acts around. Frankly, the old man was quite humble and kind, addressing to Riddle as Yusuke's friend and being happy about more youth attending a traditional art exposition.

Meanwhile, Ann is refusing far and beyond to pose nude for Yusuke, once the true intention of the painting is. In between us, Ren was pretty down to be a nude model. :'D

Still, our group finds the Madarame palace and BOI is that thing FANCY. All gold, abstract building and whoever decided to put pots on the roof. :'3

-In the P5 game, you can steal art pieces on the roof, who coincidentally look like pots

Riddle had a very familiar, yet foul feeling about this place, but he mostly kept it to himself, in favor of how to deal with this place. The pupil paintings were almost the last straw, but still, Yusuke was loyal to hell and back to Madarame. Simply telling him that this guy is bad won't do anything but to sour their already complicated relationship with the guy.

Still, they couldn't proceed further because of the peacock feather doors. So Ann FINALLY accepts the modeling gig, but with a catch: she took all the closet on her. :'3

Meanwhile, Riddle and Mona were meant to sneak in and open the door itself. Using an invisibility charm, the 2 had to both open the door and have Madarame see it open as well. Morgana wanted to lock pick it, but Riddle said 'nah' and straight up opened it with magic.

Unfortunately, neither was fast enough to catch that hefty thing and so it slammed on the shabby floor, which was heard through all the house. So the 2 knew that now either Madarame reaches them first or Yusuke and Ann.

-Yusuke assumed something bad happened or something got broken and thus wanted to assure for the well-being of his master

In a panic, Riddle and Morgana go and hide in the dark room itself, leaving wide open the door. Yusuke and Ann come first and out of instinct, Ann switches on the light.

Poor Yusuke is in an absolute shock. Hearing the footsteps of someone also coming, Riddle uses his magic to turn off the light along with turning Ann and Yusuke invisible. Yusuke wanted to yell, say smth, but Ann shushed him, just as Madarame entered the room. Yusuke saw first hand how the man actually acted around, quite arrogant, yet panicky that maybe someone actually stole a copy of the Sayuri.

Now that he was invisible, Yusuke also saw Riddle and Morgana, which was far more confusing since, for him, it was wierd that Madarame didn't even notice their presence altogether. Fleeing the place, the group came with the metaverse escape, once Morgana accidentally knocked off a painting and Madarame was convinced someone was truly there.

Cue Yusuke freaking out. He was in this metaverse place. In here, all the charms Riddle initially made were lifted, so cue the briliant shock of red hair again. :'D

Rose decided to got directly to the point: this is how Madarame views this whole art business and himself. As a museum of himself, where his vanity knows no limit.

The 2 had to re-meet with Joker and Skull. Yusuke has just a bad time overall and Riddle could only offer to step back and protect Yusuke, while the others fight shadows upfront.

Yet Yusuke also awakens to a persona! Yay! Now we can kick that grandpa's ass! :D

After the whole escape, Yusuke is very down. Ren tried to comfort him, but ultimately Riddle got to send the message across: just because someone raised you, doesn't necessarily mean that you are allowed to excuse every mistake of theirs. You can admit that the person in question is bad, even if they had you since you were a baby.

-Since Ren talked sense in Riddle prior, the redhead is aware already of his own mother's wrongs and thus, is the best to talk with Yusuke about this

Yusuke is now determined to change Madarame's heart and have him answer for his deeds against all those innocent pupils he exploited.

But, Madarame's wary af and thus asked police to make an investigation of the place. The investigation proves to be futile, as no one could find any evidence, besides the lock being thrown on the floor. Still, they were drawing a few suspects, one of which is Yusuke. This puts on fire the group since if Yusuke is accused of breaking in, it's over.

Yet, Riddle gets his summer holiday now. He had to make sure his mother was out in town while he 'studied' in order to sneak out via metaverse. Even so, it hardly changed the routine, since Yusuke also had very lil time to slip up.

By the middle of June they manage to find the treasure, send in the calling card and have the heist. Yusuke gets even more traumatised by Madarame's greed and the group find out about a black mask roaming around.

The confession, of course, is followed by a lot of uproar from the public. Yusuke now was living the ✨broke✨ life and Ren, Ryuji and Riddle are roped in with Mishima onto investigating the maid service, discovering that Kawakami works it as a side-job.

We also see the fireworks! :D

But, later, Riddle notices smth wierd. They were followed, quite indiscretly, by a girl. Ren explained that she was the student council president and it could only mean bad things for them.

Riddle, being done and over with that feeling of being followed, confronts Makoto upfront about stalking them. Like damn, can't a guy have sum privacy and hang around in peace?!

Makoto confronts them back with them being THE Phanthom thieves. Of course, this puts the group in a tight situation as Makoto wants them to prove their ways by changing the heart of a mafioso boss. They need a name tho, so using the journalist Ren meet previously, they deduce the name of Junya Kaneshiro. Their problem was the need to see Kaneshiro in person and deduce the nature of the palace in question.

Riddle tho, stopped her, saying that he is the guy on the terrain and that Makoto shouldn't get involved with those guys directly. Makoto tho, dismisses him, which almost gets them caught off in trouble with Kaneshiro, but thankfully magic is a godbless in here and Riddle doesn't hesitate to use it in order to confuse the people around and thus avoided an insanely close bullet.

Still, in order to fully escape, they used the metaverse escape, getting yeeted in the fricking bank. Since Kaneshiro knows them now, they gained access oh so much before the 'bank owner' demands cash for their damage done in the club. And a quite exaggerated sum, which could put poor Makoto in a life long debt.

Cue awakening! Heck yeah! We have a motorcycle now! :D

Makoto has many shocks today. Magic, metaverse, personas, the very close escape from ruining situation... Really a lot. Even so, Ren reasons that there is a possibility that the cameras could've caught their faces. It would take a bit more to get the footage and identify them, but when that happens, no doubt that Kaneshiro would want a hefty payment to keep shut.

Still, with sum effort and a very nicely set calling card, the group pull it off. Kaneshiro drops for them sum info about the black mask, but it's not really helping them in this situation.

Cue summer holiday like pros and Riddle starting his 2nd year at NRC. This was marked as special, since last year he was named Dormhead, by the previous one, whom now is in his 4th year. Ren quietly congratulated his buddy, who insisted to be kept on the low.

Still, what Riddle didn't expect was the mountain of tasks that would get dropped on his shoulders. He had to oversee a bunch of things and along that, by sum unspoken rule, he was put in charge of confirming that every Dormhead would come to the entrance ceremony. So he wrote nicely a few notes for the Dormheads, handing them personally to themselves, vices or students who can safely take it to them.

All, well except Idia. Riddle brought this problem to Ren. Like how he could even get that guy out to attend the ceremony. It's not something hard. He could still bring his tablet and speak through it. He wasn't unreasonable. But attendance will be mandatory and to top it off, Ortho, the deemed younger brother of Idia, really wished for him to attend the ceremony. It's not like he was sick or anything. Ortho confirmed that his brother can attend the ceremony with no problems. So it's more of a 'get yo ass out and stay in a corner for 30 minutes' kind of thing.

The rest of the group suggest their own things, but it all boils down to 1 idea: go in person and confront the guy.

Despite Riddle expecting to have a shy guy that maybe needs a bit of a nice word of encouragement to get the things going, Idia was snarky. This guy wanted nothing to do with the 'Resident rule perfectionist' as he put it into words. And that, in turn, railed up Riddle too, which turned into a back and forth with only the closed door preventing Idia from getting his ass whooped into attending.

-being so absent during April and the end of the year, people didn't get to see Riddle as more than just a guy that follows rules to a T

So Riddle, upon Ren's guidance, guilttrips Idia into confirming his attendance for the sake of his brother, who was really looking forward to it. It was a success! :D

Except it wasn't, because Idia didn't show up, despite Ortho saying that he saw his brother in the ceremonial robes, leaving before him even, just how the dormleaders were required to. Add salt on the wound, this wierd magicless peep stumbles in, a cat-raccoon puts on fire the whole goddamn room.

And Azul is his partner in catching that cat. This night couldn't possibly get worse, could it? At least, being used to thief shenanigans, it is far easier to outpace Grim and catch the lil monster, not before collaring him first. It would've been easier if Azul didn't almost blast him off with a missed spell. :'3

Post all this, luckily Ren and him meet up to hang out. In the metaverse to blow off some steam, ofc. Riddle does mention about Yuu, but when Ren suggests to take Yuu himself over to this world, where they belong, Riddle responds that there is a chance that this stranger was brought by the dark mirror. Something was up with this Yuu and he isn't going to risk it until he has evidence that they could be truly sent back safely without them being brought back by accident again.

-Yuu mentioned their home when the mirror asked for them to be sent back, as such it was clear it was a place from Ren's world.

This gets reinforced when Riddle wakes up in the velvet room. He was never summoned there for anything than at first 2 times. He had to ask for different procedures that Ren discovered when he was summoned. So there's that.

But the velvet room this time was more eerie. Far darker around and the bindings were tighter, even hurting when the redhead tried to move. He called for Jade, but he didn't respond, nor was to be seen.

All Riddle knew was that someone had their hands on his seat back, tilting a bit as a way to gain his attention. The person in question spoke very quiet and softly about how this game is rigged and that Riddle should, under no circumstances, mingle in with the magicless human. The redhead is allowed to ask 1 question before their time runs out. And Riddle, naturally, asks who the hell is this person behind him.

The response is: Someone he should've meet much earlier.

Of course, the redhead shared this encounter with Ren. Something definitely was up. He wanted to bring it up with Igor, but Riddle insisted that this stays in between them. Who knows what velvet room shenanigans are truly going on?

First proper day of NRC school and Ren just calls in to check on his buddy, only to be hit with the 'these dumbasses charred a statue, broke an insanely expensive chandelier and almost avoided explosion by trespassing in an abandoned and, possibly, Hazzardous mine'. When Ace allegedly stole a tart, it was the last straw and Riddle collared him. He didn't explicitly kick him out, but the guy left the dorm puffing and huffing so he didn't stop him.

-the way Riddle phrased his nagging made Ace believe that he was kicked out

Ren just suggests that tomorrow he should talk with Ace and Deuce. And just make it clear that he expects the 2 learned their lesson and won't do that absolutely dangerous shit again.

It goes actually well! :D

Ren is also invited to the tea party. The others were a bit busy, hence Ren finally got to visit Riddle's world. There was fun and nice food, so he wasn't complaining. U-Ub

Ren also gets to see firsthand how it truly is in a place where everyone uses magic. The roses were turned red by a flick of a wrist, the dishes were flying off their table on their own, even Trey's Unique magic was amazing for Ren.

Ren also meets Yuu, the magicless hooman in question, along with Grim. Since Morgana also was there, Ren jokingly said that they are kinda the same. Yuu notes how, from Trey's Intel, they didn't expect Riddle to actually have other friends, outside the school. Well Che'nya was an exception, but still! It turns out Yuu was also from Japan, them casually mentioning how in their world, at least, there were those wierd mental shutdowns and sum rumors about Phanthom Thieves. It was very freaky and Yuu was actually glad they weren't there atm.

-Ren lied and said he was a magicless student studying around, coming from the Queendom of Roses as well.

Post that, Ren was pretty glad that Riddle called off the idea of bringing Yuu back home via the metaverse. So far, their idea of the thieves wasn't all pink and sugary, so there was a fair chance they would rat them out.

Post the party, Riddle and Ren talk as the redhead is 'getting back to school' the latter. Riddle does mention about the other Dormheads and how they kinda are in terms of personality. Not the most happy bunch, but NRC was notorious for stuck-up brats after all.

Discussing those matters, Leona's name gets dropped. And what you'd guess, the metanav picks it up. It halts the 2's convo as they realise that 'oh shit, the metaverse is not Tokyo exclusive'.

So until they reach the mirror chamber, they try different things. It does pick up 'coliseum', 'envy' and 'sloth', getting the 2 to come face to face with a more antique place, where gladiator fights were the main attraction. Still, they didn't venture too much. They had to talk with the rest of PTs about this palace.

It comes to a comune accord that this palace was something that needs to be dealt with. At least before inter-dorm magishift season starts. Azul was in charge of organisation so they had to take a leap of faith and get somehow a clue about what Leona might pose a threat to. His palace was cold and straightforward. Shockingly very easy to go through.

Their problem tho, comes with Medjed, back in Tokyo, taking upon a 'duel' with the PTs. For that, Alibaba, a misterious hacker, requested to have a heart change. So Leona's palace had to wait a bit more.

Everyone honestly was thinking that the desert tomb was mocking them with the endless heat, only to have back irl the autumn coldness. Still, they manage to change Futaba's heart, or more like she helps in changing her own heart. This does cause a collapse episode in the real world, something which Riddle can freely use some simple healing magic spells. Still, Sojiro, unaware, called in Takemi to check.

With Medjed dealt with, Riddle is informed of the string of accidents on the school grounds. Yuu, Grim and Adeuce were looking into it, so the redhead assigned Cater to also look a bit in this mess. Clearly, he knew Leona had something to do with this. His palace was straight out outing this thing, but Riddle had to play it right and not raise suspicions.

So he devises a plan to stop the sabotaging, all the while the rest of the thieves group go and steal the treasure. Riddle promised that he will confront Leona face to face, as such they won't need a calling card and make their presence also known in here.

-since Yuu knew about the Phanthom thieves in their world, a calling card would immediately raise suspicions.

Cue busting Leona at the magishift grounds, just as, in the metaverse, Ren was leading the heist.

Except that what wasn't taken in account, was Leona overblotting. This shook up the whole plan and not only did Riddle have to deal with an overBlot, the rest of the thieves got out with the treasure, only for the thing to crumble apart right in their hands.

Instantly, the metanav confirmed that the palace still was standing, so it was clear that now everyone meet in front of it, seeing the now abandoned ruins of the once prestigious looking coliseum. No more shadow readings, treasures or anything that would do with distorted desires. It was like a shell of it's former corrupted glory.

Riddle says that in the real world, Lilia came in between him and Leona and berated him so bad he actually overBlotted. Something like this was absolutely unexpected. And so far Leona was still preparing to play in the exhibition match. He had to return and arrange the Heartslabyul team, so the others decided to come too and keep an eye on the matches.

Magishift was, clearly, something that hyped up the whole group. It was also Futaba's first time outside, at a grand event such as this.

Still, Leona was acting like normal. He was sent to the infirmary to rest after this thing, while Yuu was sent there post getting bonked with the Disk.

For a few days, Riddle kept a close eye on Leona. The palace was in a state of decaying and the guy himself looked like nothing changed. No change of heart was made, but some sort of inner change was done by Leona himself. Something that compromised the whole palace.

After that, there is the Halloween event, where Riddle invited his Tokyo buddies at the open gates event. Magicam monsters like magicam monsters. Still getting a kick outta them. :v

The actual noteworthy thing is post that, when the endless Halloween night starts. In the land of the afterlife, Riddle could feel his personas brimming inside. It felt awfully like some sort of metaverse, but it wasn't his metaverse, more like some sort of extension.

And since WHEN did Lilia need glasses?! They were that hot pink, bedazzled with prints on their rims along with a colorful chain full of beads. Really standing out against his Halloween attire. Still, he said that it was his idea, as to cheer up Malleus for the inevitable end of this big school party. Pepaw, dunno if u have health insurance, but I'm sure af that Riddle doesn't give a damn about it. :'3

Following that, in Tokyo, people didn't really believe that much in the power of heart change. The thieves needed some big target to hit, but that could also be compromising. It does get into a heated argument, with Morgana ditching the group in a rage fit. Everyone is just all over the place. They decide to target Okumura and run into a spaceship palace! :D

Meanwhile, Ren and Riddle decide to solo investigate the mementos of twisted wonderland. They didn't really have a clue how to get to rotten souls, but Riddle suggested to try out students names. This mementos was an extension of the usual mementos, accessed through a cracked mirror and resembling an upside-down tower.

The 2 stumble upon the shadow of none other than Azul. It was surprising, since Riddle knew how greedy and perfectionist this guy was. He expected a more grandiose thing out of him, not a simple shadow.

Still, using the fact that they could easily change his heart and that also there was no trigger for overBlot rn, they do defeat the shadow. It was more as an experiment, to see if a change of heart actually works in twst or it is something else.

Azul had absolutely 0 change in his behaviour. Still he's scheemy and still he has that honey-sweet Demandour, appearing to be friendly and rope u in a deal.

In fact, a lot more people got roped in a deal. Ren wanted to say that they did worse, but Riddle reassured that this was absolutely no surprise: exams were coming up. With Azul as a dormleader now, along with his 'reliability' in the previous year, it was no surprise that the clients would come in more numbers.

So while the whole Octavinelle plot is going on, the PTs are managing the Okumura palace. They have Mona back, along with a new addition: Noir, or by her real name: Haru.

There are 2 things that result in this whole Aftermath: Azul Overblots and Mr Okumura dies live on press. This is pivotal, as the Tokyo public believes that the Phanthom thieves are criminals, while on the twst plan, Azul still is hunting for contracts, although he seemed to lower the actual conditions, to the point is outright too generous. It was a sign of desperation.

Haru needs sum time off to think. With the sudden public death, the voting was postponed at a later date, to firstly let this scandal die down and re-make the whole voting options. It proved as a good time for other prime-minister candidates to make PR moves and capitalise on the death of Okumura for the sympathy of the masses. The ballouts would be hosted in March now, Japan waltzing in the new year with a lack of a prime-minister.

So Haru spends the small winter vacation with Riddle, at NRC. It was away from all this Tokyo Chaos. The others still checked up on her, to make sure she was, at least, able to cope well with the situation. There was a nice atmosphere in the Heartslabyul gardens, nice tea and along those, Haru seemed to enjoy the company of the local small critters and flamingoes.

Of course, due to this, it was no surprise that a certain Floyd Leech would bust the calm, mostly since 'Goldfishie stood over!' and he wants to play with someone else. Esp since Azul and Jade always were with him during the winter break so it was boring. Last year's break was enough for Floyd apparently. :'3

Although Haru found it entertaining the said chase and the chaos Floyd brought, what she didn't quite appreciate was when Yuu and Grim crashed into Octavinelle in the middle of the night and Haru joined, not expecting to be put through a training camp. Still, there was nice food and Kalim seemed very kind at first glance.

Then evening rolled up and Kalim wasn't so nice anymore. Just how Yuu and Grim said, this guy had worse moodswings than Floyd himself. So they split up to investigate: Haru and Jade separate Kalim from the others, while the rest keep Jamil occupied.

On the Kalim side, things were going smoothly once Jade used his unique magic on the latter, now the whole thing boiling down to asking the right questions. Haru was perplexed that Kalim's willpower to keep his promise was so strong, but this is also what outed the whole thing as well if you count in Kalim's connections. It was ironic, really.

Meanwhile, Jamil takes note that Riddle is very precise in the board game, which made him quite the fearsome competition. The redhead doesn't ignore the given compliment, saying that is very simple to advance if you know the rules and don't loiter around thinking of the points, rather consider the penalties. Yuu also notes that the redhead had quite the longer hair, this time being braided around pretty nicely. Riddle says that he didn't really take in account his hair situation at all.

-Haru braided it for him as a sort of relaxing activity for both.

Regrouping back in the guest room, a plan is devised and put in action the very next day. Jamil is exposed and this guy has a breakdown and overblots.

Cue getting yeeted across Scarabia. It came as an absolute surprise, which, to Riddle and Haru's further horror, they discovered that, indeed, Jamil had a palace all along. Who would've suspected such humble guy to turn out like this?!

Haru has now rights to commit extreme violence in the real world. Haru is very happy. :3

Poor lil Kalim... He's devastated, but nothing much could be done about it. Haru has her lil pep-talk with him, which turns out on a nice note, with Kalim declaring that he will do his very best to improve, for the sake of Jamil and everyone else.

Jamil also got a pep-talk, but no one really has an idea if something stuck with the guy or if he's just playing along for the sake of getting out of it faster.

Following that and an oasis hangout, Haru decides that she should come back. She stood for 4, maximum 5 days and deemed that all of this small adventure helped her rewind a bit and clear out her head.

Post her leave, Riddle still had the rest of the holiday to spend with the freshly returned Adeuce. Still, Floyd didn't leave him alone at all. He did inquire to know if he didn't get bored of him post the Scarabia incident. They were put to hang out for days together, so how come Floyd didn't get bored?

-in cannon twst, Yuu called Adeuce before breaking out with the carpet, as such the 2 rushed in here as fast as they could.

The latter responds that he knows Riddle's getting more risks taken and that the redhead is mingling with forces he should fear. It wasn't a nagging, because for the end, Floyd says that he's curious of what would come out of all this and expects Riddle to continue this type of shenanigans.

Riddle wanted to ask what in the world is the latter on, but decided to leave it at that and mind his own business. He went to the velvet room, where the other Jade was patiently waiting for him and any questions he may have. The latter has only 1 question: does this Jade have a twin? The attendant hesitates before giving no response, Riddle taking it as a confirmation.

It verified Riddle's theory that this Jade has a connection with the actual Leech twin in real life.

Despite everything, Jade says that, unfortunately, he cannot disclose information regarding the other attendants or about his own position, which further vexes Riddle. Clearly he knew of the twin wardens from Ren's velvet room. And Riddle now knew that in this theatre are supposed to be another pair of twins. But it was only 1. This had to be some sort of parallel. Things so far seemed way too separated, yet they had to be connected. Riddle has never seen Igor, while Ren always was welcomed by the said misterious man. Riddle had 1 attendant, posing as the one and only, while Ren had 2, split into an equal duty.

With those aside... It takes a bit of time, before our group is blackmailed by Aketchi into clearing Sae's palace. It put this whole thing on fire for everyone. And if for Riddle it wasn't enough, for him, this year, Crowley gave him the duty of overseeing the organisation for the culture festival. Mountains of papers and a lot of places, with little time to even rewind for himself a bit.

Aketchi gets also aquitanted with Riddle, being quite taken aback by the fact that 2 wildcards are in the group. Sure, fancy pants... Sure... -3-

But, with all of those Woes and troubles, Ren suggests that the group should also take a break, in the form of the culture festival. An open gates event where they could take 1 break, preferably to clear their heads before the big heist day and to enjoy themselves. Riddle actually looked very forward to it. He liked when his Tokyo friends would visit him. So he marked down the date and he did everything in his power to clear it. Making sure everything was to a T, so that no unexpected worries appear on the last second.

It adds far more on his plate than Riddle would like to admit. But he had to push it through. He had to make sure everything went swimmingly. It all depended on him, the 3rd party that wouldn't be affected by Sae's change of heart. The palace was investigated in record time and add to it that Ren even offered to help the redhead with sum paperwork, so he could speed up the whole process.

What was a thing Riddle overlooked, was literally the other Heartslabyul students. He overlooked that some might mess up something. And when they did, it resulted in a quick lashing out, a collar taken down seconds after realisation settled in and a profund apology for the scare. Those signs also showed in the palace. The reason they advanced so quick was because Riddle adapted an approach of 'wanna negotiate or taste my gun'.

This problem was brought forth with Trey. Him being the vice, the others decided that he is the best person to snap Riddle out of it. Cater even offered to take some of Trey's duties off his shoulders so he could take some of Riddle's in turn and at least clear up some time. Adeuce were gone, an unbirthday party was planned literally 2 days before the VDC. Time was on fast forward and it seemed Riddle had a hard time keeping in the pace.

-Ace and Deuce were at the VDC camp.

Trey tho, swats off the others, saying that it's simply just a more hectic period. A lot of things need to have Riddle's presence or signature, so it's not far fetched to say that even if they wanted to help, there's very little they could do. Cater tho, insists that even that little help they could offer is better than no help, but Trey shuts down the idea, saying that he'll take care of it, the same way he did on Riddle's first year: have a talk with him.

And that goes as well as one would expect: down in the goddamn gutter.

To start off, Trey postponed the deemed talk, until before the unbirthday party. At This point Riddle was piling even more stress, after a morning call where his mother finally got to nag him about staying at school for the winter and also forgetting to give her the weekly report yesterday. It already put on the down mood for the day and that only added up when his dorm students reported that apparently one of the flamingoes escaped, a hedgehog had a bellyache and the roses will take a few extra hours to be re-painted because some first years accidentally turned them green and got lost in between the leaves.

Add to that the poor sleep schedule and the overall tiredness. He intended at first to stay in the lounge and finish some urgent papers he'll have to send over to the light music club, regarding their performance duration, when he fell asleep.

Trey woke him up a few hours later and told him about his slip, which made Riddle to spiral in a panic, asking why in the fresh hell didn't he wake him up earlier?! He had to send those papers today, because those are meant to confirm the presence of certain club performances and allow for the schedule of the festival to be posted. Those were PIVOTAL for the organisation. And he slept on them! Now he couldn't attend the unbirthday party, so he'll just postpone it post VDC.

Cue Trey telling him that already everything was set and they couldn't possibly postpone it, when only the redhead was missing from there. He tries to tell the latter that he should take a break, but Riddle panics, saying that he took a break just now and he destroyed all of his plans. He won't have enough time, he'll have to work even on the VDC day, thus he couldn't take his friends out through the festival. It was all a mess. His only free day was forfeit because he fell asleep. Everything just came in, crashing and burning.

Cue a breakdown and an overBlot. Surprisingly, a quite weak one, since already Riddle was still tired and it was easier to knock him out.

So while the redhead actually does sleep in the real life, Riddle wakes up in the velvet room, again being dark and eerie. This time tho, the bindings were a bit more loose and his hands were smudged with ink. He knew that behind him was, again, that misterious someone. Fortunately, Riddle had a theory and a name for the one behind him.

So he calls out for Floyd to come forth. The latter does listen and presents himself as Jade's twin and Riddle's initial attendant. He was quite different, with longer hair and an attire fit for an actor on stage more than anything. Floyd explains that he waited for this moment. For things to crumble down and allow him a moment longer in here. Jade was very limited in this situation and he adds that Azul's initial plan of sneaking in was busted by that pesky shrimp.

Riddle doesn't really understand what's truly going on, but draws one conclusion: the velvet room twins and the irl Leech twins are one and the same. And Floyd here says that he's supposed to be Riddle's true attendant. Then what's Jade's role? And what does Azul have to do with this whole ordeal?!

Floyd doesn't explain, saying that time ran out and that someone is waking up Riddle in the reality, thus their time is cut short. Nonetheless, if he has any questions or truly wants to see what was truly hidden from him, then he reccomends Riddle would seek him out in any world he deems fit.

When the redhead really wakes up, Trey was holding him, while Cater and Che'nya were also in sight, both ferreting around like headless chickens. Riddle asks what happened, to which he's told that he overBlotted. Now he's lost even more time with his 'temper tantrum' and the inevitable knockout session he had. It immediately ends with Riddle crying, saying that he cannot handle it anymore, that he wants to simply stop time to do everything.

Trey doesn't know what to say, but he tells the redhead that he needs to take a break and recover, weather he wants or not. It doesn't reassure at all the redhead, so Cater steps in, saying that he will talk with the club representatives that have performances planned and have them come here and pick up the papers, as to cut some shortcuts at least.

This reassures a bit Riddle and he only demands now for a bit of privacy.

And he uses that privacy to go to Ren. Now, the latter was a bit taken aback by the sudden visit, but indulges in and welcomes the latter with an awkward hug. He doesn't ask what happened, he just waits for the latter to explain. Riddle does tell in between sobs what happened. Due to stress and using so much magic to patch up for his shortcomings, he overBlotted. He really just wanted a nice lil hangout day before they pull the big heist, but everything was compromised.

Ren, as a gud friend, does 2 things: 1. Comfort his buddy and offer to come with him and help him out. 2. Plan Crow man's funeral in advance and prepare a bat for Clover.

-Ren is aware Trey is a vice and therefore could've taken some of the duties and papers with no problem from Riddle's intel.

Riddle feels like he's asking too much from the latter, but Ren admits that the redhead did so much for him and the rest of the Phanthom thieves, by covering their traces, prolonging their deadlines and helping out with anything possible. He feels it's only fair that he will be here, with a hug and a helping hand when in need.

What Riddle does add is that something is wrong with the velvet room. At least his velvet room, for apparently he has a wrong attendant and both he and the actual attendant are real life people. There's also a 3rd person roped in this and it's none other than Azul, whom at first Ren and Riddle had under a close eye due to odd behavior.

Ren admits that it's wierd, but for now, he says that it would be better to take a deep breath and focus on the now. Not on the what they should do next. So he calls in the rest of the group, filling them up ONLY about the overBlot news. Clearly Aketchi had to catch up with the whole magic shit, but Riddle made it clear that overBlot is an external factor and cannot mean that a person necessarily has a palace.

Aketchi suggests that they still have a week or so until their deemed heist day. They said a week, because Sae is out of town, as of now, and on the first day she returns to Tokyo, she'll get the calling card. So, from his perspective, all the previous overBlot cases share a similarity: they were triggered by something. So he asks for Riddle to re-trace his steps of the day, because something doesn't add up.

So the redhead does that. He starts with the usual, but reaches the end, adding that it was just like any other day lately, until he snapped. Ann does ask if by chance he got upset over something, maybe a discussion, a mistake, something that would usually be brushed off easily. Riddle admits that he didn't think much about it, but now that he recalls, he had in the morning a call with his mother, which did make him upset for the rest of the day. It totally flew by him since just so many upsetting things happened lately that he didn't even realise that the call was actually the one who started the string.

Now Ren knows that his buddy's home situation is rather a delicate problem, so when Aketchi proposes to feed Mrs Rosehearts's name to the metanav, Ren intervenes and tells that they will all take action if Riddle deems it fit. This is something very personal and as such, the latter gets to call the shots.

Riddle decides that he has to finally address the flags he kept ignoring. He knew from a long time that something was wrong with his mother. Ren did help him see that. So he hopes to clear everything up one way or another. And if this is the fastest option, so be it.

Still, it came as a heavy hit for Riddle when the metanav confirmed that, indeed, Mrs Rosehearts had a palace. Unfortunately, his hunch was right and Riddle didn't miss a beat on the other words needed for the navigation process.

The group is meet with porcelain towers, over which are engraved different words/scripts, flailing with their colorful velvety flags. They seemed to represent things like 'honesty', 'loyalty', 'kindness', 'wisdom' and the middle one, the tallest, being 'obedience'. The treasure itself was visible from afar, sitting in the place of the top flag of the obedience tower. The towers were way too apart to grapple hook from one another and neither did they have walk-ways or anything interconnecting them at first glance, protected by gigantic spiky walls. Still, they didn't stay much and returned immediately back.

Ren asks again what shall be the call. Riddle stays a bit to think about it, before he demands that the rest of the team take no action regarding this one. Their most pressing issue is the casino heist right now. So everyone leaves it on a heavy note.

Ren tho, wants to have a heart-to-heart with the redhead, asking on why he doesn't want to change his mother's heart. Riddle explains that his mother is a well-respected doctor. It's clear that if her heart gets changed, not only his own living conditions will be revealed to the world, but no doubt suspicious medical records or less than innocent acts could also come to light. He says he fears for the consequences.

Ren tho, begs to different and says that maybe Riddle isn't afraid of the consequences of his mother, rather he fears what he'll discover inside. He offers to assist Riddle in exploring the place itself, promising that they will not change the woman's heart at all.

Riddle tho, admits that if they are going to do this mission together, he wants someone else to tag along too.

As such, one could see the next day the redhead going to Octavinelle. It was a surprise to see him asking for Floyd's presence, not that the latter wouldn't give it in a heartbeat. Floyd was very eager to find out what does goldfishie need so bad out of him. Riddle himself brings up that he wants Floyd to live up to his attendant duty and assist him in a palace.

And while the latter firstly brings up how Jade or Azul would've said a flat no, he wasn't them. And he was still absolved of his position until further action is taken. Clearly he points out what Riddle would even benefit from his presence in there. The redhead does admit that he has little to benefit, but he doesn't doubt that, as an attendant, Floyd would bring on the table something no other persona user could.

Floyd's response still stays yes, although he almost hesitated when he heard a big condition was to not tell anyone about it. Nor Azul or Jade. Still, the answer was yes and that's what truly mattered for Riddle.

Watch Ren's surprise to finally meeting another attendant that wasn't a smol child set on beating him up. We'll... Scrap that, Floyd was tall af compared to the twin wardens. So in his mind, he concluded that if u are tall, you get a shortie attendant, but if u are short, you get a tall attendant. Ah yes... The math is mathing.

Still, Floyd was the same old loose cannon. He had a glossary of personas, able to summon only the ones that Riddle discovered up until now. You could say he was a pelicular flavour of wild card.

Still, first 2 times it was more of sneaking around, seeing the place itself. It was disturbing at best how much everything was in order, nothing amiss, not even a beat or step of a shadow.

A noticeable thing was that Ren also had to drag off the twin wardens to see places they demand to see. So Riddle found it fit to tag along with Floyd as to entertain the guy for a bit and give Riddle peace with the whole 'goldfishie' teasing. One pelicular thing was that Floyd didn't recognise Justine and Caroline, but the 2 knew Floyd as 'Tragedy' and were aware that Floyd had a twin.

Then, you have VDC day. The day that, despite Riddle's initial pesimism, it went well at first. Only some early morning work before the meeting hour. The rest of PTs arrived at the established hour, and St first it was sunshine and rainbows. Going around stalls, talking with each other and having a great time together.

Although, Riddle did passively mention that NRC's VDC representatives are led by Vil Schonenheit, a famous actor and model. The name rings a bell for Makoto, who remembers that while they went in mementos without Joker or Rose, they encountered a shadow of someone named Vil Schonenheit.

-Joker and Rose were investigating the Mrs Rosehearts palace at that time, so the others were allowed to venture through the weaker levels of mementos.

This puts a question mark for Riddle, since Vil didn't overBlot, nor anyone said that he had any change in behaviour. Even the VDC started like normally. Thankfully Riddle managed to smuggle in the rest of the group in order for them to see the performances. Ofc, a vote went to NRC.

Yet RSA still won. Goddamnit Rook. :'3

Everything seemed way too fine. Still they had time until Sae turns back, so the rest of the day was spent goofing around a bit.

At night tho, the 2 wildcards and the attendant are wrapping up their exploration progress. The palace was so in order that it was shockingly easy to reach the treasure, while still seeing every nook and cranny of it. Indeed, as Riddle predicted, faulty medical records, decease notes, organs files, important documents and other medical illegalities were represented towards the bottoms of the towers, where one would find the underground tunnels meant to connect the towers one by one.

Except that in the obedience tower it was someone meant to be kept there: Mrs Rosehearts's cognitive Riddle. A puppet made out of porcelain, just like the towers, representing that just like this palace, Riddle was a product of work in his mother's eyes. The only things truly noticeable were the cracks through which roses would grow out and the strings that were attached to the ceiling, moving via a complicated mechanism over how it was dictated. Some were broken and thus the puppet was left discarded, in a corner of the room, hoped to never be noticed again.

Riddle knew well enough that Crowley had to inform his mother about the overBlot. Clearly she didn't outright tell him, but in her mind, already the redhead was a failure, a defective puppet. The puppet himself seemed to perk at the newcomers and as such he wanted to challenge them, for they aren't allowed to go further.

Rose demanded that this will be a battle in between him and... Well... Himself. So Joker and Floyd will stay on the sidelines as the 2 engaged in battle. Despite the puppet's best efforts, Rose still won and held the cognitive Riddle at rapier's point. He hesitated, which made the puppet mad and demand on why is he spared, why is Rose so weak that he cannot finish a given job.

Rose responds that, fortunately, he learned his wrongs and whatever his mother sees in him as 'obedient' and 'loyal', was truly something that died long ago. Because of this, now the cognitive Riddle is discarded and not wanted anymore. Because he disobeyed. And now is not worth to try and fix anything. The damage already was done and for once, it was a necessary evil.

So he cuts the puppet's head off, making it to shatter in a pile of shards and wilted flowers, who disappeared slowly. Joker does ask if they should go forward, but Riddle says that it's enough. That they won't return here at all. He got what he wanted and there's no more reason to go forward.

Floyd does ask why he is so prompt on not changing his mother's heart. The reply is simple: despite everything, Riddle still loves his mother. And if he makes the change of heart, he'll basically condamn her to jail, to a humiliating punishment. And he he only wants her to at least live in peace. It is no doubt that her actions will catch up with her at one point, but Riddle would rather first cut all the necessary strings in the real life before the punishment will befall her.

And even if he loves her, this was truly a more cruel punishment than simply changing her heart.

So this palace is left alone, to exist on its own and wait until it will destroy itself.

Except that shit cannot be easy at all, because the very next day, Riddle had a club meeting when they get busted by Charons. Despite putting his best fight with magic, the redhead is put down anyway, not after scorching a good chunk of the sports field. :'3

Oh, the other overBlot victims are here, which for some reason has Vil. Riddle asks what happened with Vil, to which the latter responds that he overBlotted, as a consequence of his actions. Not much detail it is given, nor Riddle pushes for more.

-At the end of chapter 5, everyone agreed to keep the overBlot a secret, as Malleus fixed the stage as well.

We are seeing Idia again! Not really the best place to meet your high-school aquitance, but anyway. :'D

Ortho was very happy for the fact that the others are here and they can play video-games together and hang out. Idia explains that they are here only for a few tests, so it won't take long until they'll be back to NRC like nothing happened.

Despite expectations, Idia allows for the others to have their phones, but they didn't have any signal, nor Internet access. Any photo/recording attempt was shut down immediately, rendering these things as absolutely useless.

What was not useless tho, was the metanav. Riddle discovered that since the thing worked with no problem. Neither his messages with the PTs were affected. He could still send them like normal. So it was no surprise that the others were shook at the news that their 2nd wildcard was in the magic FBI rn. :'D

Still, Riddle managed to look over the palaces history. Leona and Jamil still holded their decaying palaces, while Azul and Vil had no more mementos locations, nor a palace.

So with a wild thought, Riddle puts in Idia's name. The guy was pretty apathetic and despite his shy Demandour, he was snarky and mean when provoked. Add to that his high position in STIX.

It's not a hit.

So Riddle puts instead Ortho's name, not expecting much from a robot.

It's a fucking hit. And not just any simple one, but am entire palace.

Of course, Riddle has a hard time guessing what Ortho's distortions would really be. He guessed right that the latter has the entire world as part of his cognition. But what was surprising was that it was distorted as a torture room. He never expected for the kind robot boy who is so happy and cheerful every day to see the world as a horrible place meant for suffering.

Of course, Riddle had a few hours to himself as the results are rounding up post the VR tests. Those were literally the only tests done. As such, Riddle took the liberty to wonder through that palace.

He finds the ruins. A former shell of what it was supposed to be, depicted as a grueling place, where many lost their lives and lie there as decaying corpses. There wasn't any putrid smell, rather it was smelling like Sea-breeze.

This was a sign of overBlot, but something didn't add up at all.

Cue going back to the real world, just as alarms were blaring. This put Riddle on the spot as he firstly found the emergency door and opened it via magic. He did summon his magic pen insanely easy, so changing in his dorm uniform, Riddle got out on the main hall.

Which had him immediately bump into Idia. And not just any bump, the 2 barreled into each other. Of course, Riddle was ready to pin the latter to the ground and almost stab his staff into him, but then he noticed that Idia didn't wear his STIX attire, rather something more similar to his usual school uniform, with a few differences: the hoodie was fully opened and on the left leg it was a holster for a silver revolver. Idia also noticed the redhead holding his phone with the metanav still opened.

Pretty much is that spiderman pointing meme.

Idia insists that he has no time to waste, but Riddle says that he needs to come with him and find the others. Something is going on in the tartarus and currently, the 2 had vastly different priorities.

But, those get put aside when hacked Charons find them and are ready to blast these 2 off. Riddle wanted to use magic, but Idia is more faster in pulling out the gun itself. The redhead expected for Idia to shoot in the Charons, which wasn't that much of a smart move.

Watch his utter horror when Idia puts the said gun to his own temple and shoots with 0 hesitation. Instead of blood, it is heard a glass shattering sound as there is a boom of light and blue flames, before Riddle could clearly see a persona, in real life, which Idia used to put the Charons in their place.

It goes more like:

Idia: look... I know it's wierd, but you'll 100% forget it, so just roll with it for no- Riddle: YOU HAVE A PERSONA?! Idia: Yeah yeah... Detai-... wait... HOW TF DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PERSONAS?!

Screaming 101 with these 2 doofuses. :'3

Still, Riddle insists that they have to find the others, but Idia refutals that it's no doubt futile. Still, while they argue, the others find them, including the group led by the French he-man. Yay! Everyone's in here! :'3

So they bust in the main command room, dragging Idia by the scruff to also follow. Naturally, the whole situation is presented and so everyone has to split up. Idia additionally went with Azul and Riddle.

Upon entering the Tartarus, Riddle immediately was turned into his thief attire, sign that he stepped into a cognitive world. He's so fricking confused and Idia is also losing his shit about it.

Azul's all like: you 2 are done screaming or I'm gonna miss my appointment at 17 too?

The latter clears it up for the 2: they are both wildcards, but they hail from different sources of will. Riddle's persona was manifested because of his rebellion spirit awakened, while Idia hailed from the lineage of death itself, his will manifested as the embrace of inevitable end. As for Azul himself, he's simply an attendant of a 3rd wildcard.

Clearly, Idia and Riddle lose their shit at this new information, but Azul says that mayhaps they should mind their current business, prevent the gate of the underworld from being yanked open and allowing Ortho to crawl out. Riddle, naturally, is very confused, to which Idia explains that the Shroud's curse is a sign of godhood. Except that this godhood is limited by the mortality itself and the sacred duty of guarding the underworld. Ortho was lost long ago to the tartarus, thus his godhood coming in full swing and hence by the real Ortho breaking out without anymore mortality chaining him down, it brings out only calamity. As such, Idia had no other choice but to accept his status as a wildcard and give his own godhood in order to seal his younger brother away. This was the backstory behind Idia building Robo-Ortho, as a way to cope with everything.

Azul, unlike Floyd, doesn't summon any persona, nor shows how his attendant self looks like. He keeps it 'humble' and insists to not give it too much thought about it.

Cue going down and finally facing the true Ortho. The other 2 teams already did do their damage, so it was time for the last 3. Idia had to summon his best persona he had: Hades, which paired with the thunder spear, was enough to knock off Ortho back into the underworld.

Except that he also dragged the robot body and Grim down, which Idia couldn't allow. So you guessed it, the leap of faith. :3

Vil saves them tho. Idia managed to grab Grim, initially saying that he confused him for Ortho. The reason he did that was because grim coughed out Ortho's memory card, which is what Idia felt as his brother.

But old man Vil! Old man Vil! :D

Returning back to NRC, Malleus does one thing right and returns Vil's youth. Lilia was also there, mostly to supervise Malleus, yet he still gave a greeting to Azul, who responded as well before he was bodyslammed by the twins.

For Riddle tho, in a few days, he had to help with the casino heist. Immediately that one goes in the gutter as they are forced to split up and Joker is caught by the police.

But despite that, Riddle still made a slip for 2 days, staying overnight and helping Sojiro with the cafe, while he and Sae got back Ren, via a switcheroo. Get bamboozled, Aketchi. :3

-Post Futaba's palace, Sojiro was made aware of the phanthom thief business along with Riddle's presence and the magic :'3

So the group's new target? Shido! Riddle recognises the name as the name of the man Ren said he got him on probation in the first place, so clearly this makes things personal now.

Usually, the leadership decisions were taken in between Riddle and Ren, but since now it was personal, Ren had full leadership role now.

So they don't waste time. March was just around the corner and so they didn't have much time until the ballout counts will commence. So there was little one could do in this situation. They had a tight deadline and they had to cater to it.

Despite initial expectations, Idia returns after a week, with the brand new Ortho. It seems like, finally, Idia chained Ortho's godhood and real self in the robot body, thus returning his 'mortality' and allowing him to roam the world freely. With that, Idia also offered to repay Riddle for his immense help. And as a fellow wildcard, Idia accepted to join in the Shido operation.

Everyone else in the PTs are losing their shit when they see just how Idia summons his personas. No badass outfit and straight up giving people heart attacks. :'D

Idia and Futaba are now friends tho. :D

Despite expectations, when hanging out in Tokyo, Idia was pretty used to Japanese culture and used a charm to hide his flaming hair and blue lips. When asked about it, Idia admits that it's not his first time in Japan. Although he initially was on Tatsumi Port Island when he was around 8 to 9. That was the time when he sealed originally his brother. And forfeit his godhood for the greater good.

He explains that gods are chained down by the mortality or the cognitive nihilism as a way to prevent them from bringing calamity. The real world would crumble apart along the cognitive world if a god were to fully roam around the normal people, for it couldn't stand an imense power without reprecausions.

Still, the Shido palace has us facing Aketchi again and finally seeing his true look and his real persona: Loki. There's little to do against the cannon so I guess we say bye-bye to the sketchy detective. :v

For the calling card, Idia aided Futaba in hacking on with the video and everything. He wasn't a tech genius for nothing, so finally meeting his match in programming is smth that gets both Idia and Futaba really fired up. Plus they both like animes and can bond over the burden of social anxiety.

So the day of the big heist comes. Shadow Shido is not smth to play around with and everyone realises it when the shadow sees Joker as the deemed leader, so he separates him from the others and takes him on a 1 vs 1.

Joker ofc wins and they have to make a run for it. They think Skull bit the dust, but nah, he's alive! So all is well. :D

Except that once Shido does confess, nothing really changed in the public's opinion. They still wanted Shido to be prime-minister, but with the guy dipping out, clearly it was chaos in the political world.

Meanwhile, back in NRC, Lilia announces his sudden retirement. With things getting so messy back in Tokyo, Riddle didn't pay so much mind to it. Idia did do his part and filled him up on the necessary points, including the bigass farewell party.

So that's going to gutter when Malleus goes delulu and overblots, trapping everyone in their dream worlds. Unfortunately, for Riddle, he finds himself in the Velvet room. Except that Jade wasn't here, but Floyd. The latter admits that he summoned Riddle here as to avoid him falling victim to Malleus's unique magic and get wrapped in a fantasy.

Riddle does ask what is he supposed to do now. He needs to reach Ren somehow, he needs to fight the overBlot and get it over with, but he's bound to this damn chair and Floyd cannot do anything about it.

The latter admits to it, but also adds that these bindings were set for him by a fake god, who wanted ultimate control. And it all dials back to the first wildcard who defied fate: Idia.

Idia's attendant is Jade, the supposed macabre Comedy that Idia has to deal with. With Ortho falling into tartarus and thus being freed from his mortality, Idia had to forfeit his godhood. But that wasn't the entire story. Idia worked with Igor, the master of the velvet room. An entity that lives in between dream and reality. It was a loophole where gods could retreat and live peacefully, yet in solitude. Clearly, not a lot of deities liked the idea, so they either confined themselves by mortality, roaming among normal people or went into the cognitive world, seeking to have their control in there.

One such instance was a rogue entity that created the TV world. Azul was the interlude in between comedy and tragedy, as such he was the deemed attendant for that wild card: Lilia. Being such an old wildcard, Azul had time to shine as an attendant, as such, Igor deemed him to take over the twisted wonderland's velvet room. As powerful as Igor was, he knew that when it came Floyd's turn, there was going to be a tragedy. And it truly did when the fake God of control proposed a game, locking away Igor and denying Azul's soul from entering the velvet room. Jade was forcefully put to be an attendant, as such Floyd had access inside only when Riddle would start to crack from his expected evolution. As such, when tragedy truly struck Riddle, Floyd was able to freely go in and out of the velvet room, releasing his twin from his forced place as an attendant.

-Azul used the contracts to cover his soul with multiple ones as to try and by-pass the said ban condition

The magicless world was meant to have same fates as twisted wonderland. It was a reflection of fates and circumstances that was broken with Idia, maintained by Lilia and now it was Riddle's turn to either maintain the streak or do something else. And Floyd advises that he wants to see what Riddle truly thinks of this binds for now.

And Riddle, trying to break out of his seat, he manages to rip off the ribbons. They still left some nasty marks, but Riddle was free and he felt liberated. Still, he has to warn Ren about it, so he demands for Floyd to lead him up to Ren's velvet room.

The latter says that he currently cannot do this. Something is blocking him. The best he could do is reunite with his twin and Azul and get free from Malleus's dream spell before doing something more rash.

Meanwhile, with Idia and Ortho managing to find Silver and Co after promptly getting trauma dump by the war, Azul also manges to find the group, snapping Lilia out of it (via roundhouse slapping the Mcshit out of him).

-the dream version of Lilia was the general Lilia, henceforth he had to be shook awake from this.

We also finally see Azul's attendant look for the first time. He was more or so resembling some pirate mixed with mafia aesthetics if one wants to pinpoint. But maybe it's because of the frilly blouse. Unlike the twins's hetercromia, which allowed for 1 gold eye, he kept his blue eyes, them changing to gold whenever he summoned a persona or got extremely mad.

So we get to fight Malleus via different dream planes thanks to Silver's Unique magic! :D

Still, once Malleus was snapped out of it, there was one problem: back in the real world, Riddle still was in his thief attire, sign that something was wrong. Lilia admits that he never saw such thing, but Idia says it's akin to the dark hour, which wasn't supposed to happen. The dark hour was abolished, thus separating the cognitive and real planes for good.

Riddle concludes that he needs to go to Tokyo ASAP. But Grim ate Malleus's blot stone and went ravenous, into a gigantic beast.

So Idia and Lilia reassure that they could handle this. Riddle should go and hunt down that pesky god of control that made this mess of their worlds. And for their sake, to beat it up extra hard. >:3

Azul is the one that opens the velvet room prison door, telling Floyd to go as well and tell Igor that he did everything in his power to stop this. The latter doesn't want to go, but Jade and Azul insist that Floyd pulls to the end with his job as an attendant. This is what all of their siblings want.

Idia be all like 'wait you 3 are ACTUAL SIBLINGS?!' Sure... That's what's bothering u rn?

Nonetheless, thankfully Riddle comes into the prison at the time the fake Igor already left and Ren fused the twins into Lavenza. Now that's someone that Floyd recognised as 'his youngest sister'. Lavenza was also happy to be back, yet the threat of the false god hung over everyone's necks right now. Now free in Ren's world, it made the metaverse and the real world to crash into one another. Riddle confirms it by saying that in his world, already this is happening as well. Idia and Lilia are taking care of the overBlot Grim that is causing havoc.

So with finding all of PTs and roaming the new reality/palace of masses, we get to fight the false God.

Now, for the grand finale, imagine a double awakening. Both Arsene and judgement queen evolve into Satanel and Chernaborg respectively, ending with 2 bullets shot. One is through the false God's head, while the other goes through the chest, both killing it and making it to desintegrate as everything crumbles back to normal.

The Aftermath consists of Yuu coming back to their world as the false god originated from twisted wonderland thus by swapping places with Yuu, it allowed for them to defy fate and tip it in their favor of starting that ruin chain. Grim was merely created as a product of that magic exchanged as Idia explained later.

Speaking of Idia, he doesn't have many plans for his 4th year, but he said that Ortho kept insisting to visit around, so he guesses he'll comply to the wish and maybe travel in between his internship and work.

Lilia is still retiring, although he said he'll just go to his favorite town, Inaba, and live in there quietly. He promises he'll visit the Briar Valley from time to time tho. At least Malleus, Sebek and Silver get reassured that in the end it will be alright.

For our Octa trio, the 3 still have to finish their given lives in here before they will fully go back to the velvet room. Doesn't mean they won't stay over at their other siblings more often than not.

As for Riddle and Ren? Well, Ren was bailed out of juvi and will go back to his hometown. And Riddle is settling himself to move out on his own and simply cut ties with his mother for good. Now the 2 do visit each other, via the shells of the palaces that had their rulers ob irl. Those are pieces of metaverse that cannot dissappear and thus are their gateway in between the 2 worlds. Still sometimes the 2 also plan to visit Tokyo and see their friends too.

In the end, everyone was free!

And that's it! :D

It was fun to make a plot line where you don't only include a different take on the usual elements you keep using, but also add sprinkles of lore that tie in much more stories and hint at the other persona games.

Other than that, I'm pretty proud of how everything flowed out.

And a smol tag of @grandstrangerwhispers ! Thanks for permission to use your ask idea for this! Hope you enjoyed this extremely long trainwreck. :'3

Welp! Until next time! Buh bye!

[lethesomething]

Yakuza and coping mechanisms

Yakuza has been my on and off hyperfocus for years now but also in particular the past month, so let's talk about it. And particularly, how many friggin coping mechanisms are in this game.

Disclaimer: I do literary analysis, not psycho analysis, don't come for me.

For all its silliness about fighting roomba's and disco minigames, the world that the Yakuza games is set in, is fucking brutal. They are, at their very core, crime drama's. People get murdered a lot, lives are ruined in various ways, a good third of protags spend large amounts of time in jail, usually for a crime they didn't commit. Most politicians and police are corrupt, racism is blatant and if you don't have a place in the very strict hierarchy of society, it's hard to get back on your feet (hence all the crime). I tend to read a lot of indictments of Japanese society in these games, partly because they are so clearly based on old school yakuza crime drama's.

This means that the characters go through some shit. And what's fascinating, is how they deal with this.

Spoiler warning for, uhh, almost all yakuza games except Song Of Life (since i never played that)

Pretending it's not real

Kasuga Ichiban

The direct reason I'm even making this blog post because he's the most blatant about it. Kasuga is Peak Himbo in that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he manages to take being beaten down Repeatedly and overcomes that with a sense of genuine good nature and optimism that is… honestly kind of hard to believe. The way he deals with any of this, is that he's a nerd who pretends to be in a video game. It's the whole premise of Yakuza Like a Dragon.

And to be fair, Kasuga suffers from an amount of mistreatment that makes me Very Angry in his stead. He has every right to be upset! He is literally homeless in the beginning of the game. If he requires the escapism of going around pretending to be in a jrpg to survive, more power to him. Especially since it works. Dude goes around helping people and making friends. Which is a good thing, because there's no way he'd make it out of Yokohama alive if he didn't have some back-up.

Side note: something similar happens to at the very least Majima, i think, in the admittedly non-canonical events of Yakuza Dead Souls. (yes i played it solely for Majima, no i do not recommend it, the game is garbage and you get more Majima in Zero anyway). In Dead Souls, Kamurocho is overrun by zombies. As a lover of all things Horror, Majima decides he may as well have a good time mowing them down like he's in an FPS while he trudges through the wreckage of society.

Self sacrifice

Mostly Kazuma Kiryu and  Saejima Taiga

If you hate yourself, at least try to be of use to someone. Let's be honest, a lot of the plot of Yakuza games is driven by self sacrifice or at least following some code of honor to its ludicrous ends.

Kiryu is the main example here. The game kinda glosses over this a lot, but he is, at least in Zero, a criminal. He goes around extorting money from businesses. He consistently solves problems through violence. It's kinda the point of the games. But he's also borderline a saint and 80% of the shit he gets into is because of his need to throw himself to the wolves for any person he cares about. He voluntarily does hard time for Nishikiyama, for one. He picks up a stray kid that he will now protect with his life. And it just goes on from there. See, Kiryu may be the famous Dragon of Dojima and the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan and all that, but he would very much prefer not to be? Dude wants to live a quiet life and raise some kids, it's just that he's the protag of a game series about how hard it is to say goodbye to the yakuza life. So the plot keeps finding ways to bring him back, usually as a reluctant warrior to save the Tojo clan or Haruka  or whatever. If he was a little less honorable, he could still be chilling as a taxi driver with an unreasonably hot girlfriend, I'm just saying.

Saejima is very similar, but somehow even worse? Much as I love the guy, he's an idiot. He suffers from the same loyalty and selflessness as Kiryu, but he doesn't even get a cute daughter out of it. He spends Twenty Five years in prison for a crime he (we later find out) didn't commit. He escapes months before his parole to solve the convoluted plot of Y4. Then Goes Back to Jail to atone for (again) a crime he only thought he'd committed, only to escape (again) when he thinks Majima, his sworn brother, got murdered in Y5. As far as i can tell he goes back to jail one last time to finish his actual sentence, and to like, protect the name of the Tojo clan or some shit. My dude. My friend. Come on.

As a side note, acts of selflessness are kind of a big deal in the Yakuza games and one of the main ways to tell if someone is a good criminal or a villain. Kasuga and his crew are pretty big on the whole 'acts of selfless kindness' thing. It also seems to be one of the traits of Daigo Dojima, whose whole being screams 'I don't want to be here but who else is gonna fucking do it'. But in the case of Kiryu and Saejima it's very much verging on reckless self-endangerment.

Fabricated identities

Majima Goro, baby!

The Yakuza games really love this one, but I'll start with the big guy, everyone's favourite character: Majima. This dude has seen some shit. We see him throughout several flashbacks and the span of the games, but most tellingly we see him in Zero, at his rock bottom hero stage. And he's intriguingly unlike the other times he shows up. This is a Majima that's recovering from torture and backstabbing, and forced to do some dude's bidding for scraps. He's a chained dog (pun very much intended) and he's about to lose it.

What's fun about Majima is that he has So Many of the traits in this list. He has a lot of the reckless endangerment and self sacrifice that his buddies Kiryu and Saejima have. He gave himself up a few times for Haruka, he keeps trundling back to save Tojo and Dojima, but there's also a whole other layer of … Flamboyance to him.

And while Majima probably started out as comic relief, the games make clear that it's not all he is, and we get several glimpses of 'old Majima' throughout the series. He'll be in the middle of a self inflicted fight and drop some wisdom, for instance. He acts erratically, he is blunt, violent, exuberant in his dressing up. When given a task his first thought seems to be 'how can i make this Extra', but that doesn't mean the guy is unstable. You don't become a successful businessman with a building company, or a patriarch of your own family, without being smart and strategic. A lot of classic Majima behaviour, i feel, is a case of a mask he constructed to hide the severe depression, that became more of a second nature to him. Majima is one of the clearest examples of 'do what you need to do'. He's a survivor, through and through. Somewhere in there is a decent human being, but Majima will kill people to survive in a harsh world. It just seems like he constructed an extra layer to shield himself from all that.

Joon-gi Han (Like a Dragon): This is more a case of stolen (inherited??) identity, but again, if you don't want to be you, just be someone else. In this case someone he admires. Again: super tragic backstory, questionable life choices. As an aside, Joon-gi is fun because he is both a deadly assassin with someone else's name and face, but also  a Knight stereotype who would do everything for his queen and I think that's neat.

Zhao Tianyou (Like a Dragon): Somewhat more subtle, but Zhao is also a dude that was at one point confronted with a Situation, namely 'oh shit my dad died and now I'm in charge of a violent gang'. And to deal with that he decided to construct a persona that gives exactly zero fucks. He is very joking and very avoidant but we do learn that a fair amount of his laid back attitude is just veneer. Dude in fact gives several fucks. You don't decide to give up the throne and become a homeless sidekick to Himbo Supreme because you don't care. You do it to stop him from getting ultra-murdered by the parade of heavily armored gangsters he keeps storming into.

Akiyama Shun (Yakuza 4-5): I debated putting him here, because part of me believes Akiyama is just kind of a dick. A dick I love as a character, but still, ya know. At least some of the dickish persona is a front, though. Akiyama is another one that just saw his life's work destroyed at some point, and decided that emotional detachment was the way to go. Akiyama is different because he was never actually a proper criminal. He was homeless for a bit, and then came into some money (through Extremely Convoluted Plot Means) and now he's a moneylender. And like Zhao, he mostly pretends to be completely devoid of feelings, while having a fair amount of feelings. Enough to get into like… fist fights. With actual gangsters. Who have guns.

Vice

Sex, drugs and everything in between

The preferred way for noir drama's to show someone is Going Through It, is by giving them a classic addiction and Yakuza isn't any different. It's why several characters are shown mournfully smoking, in particular Kiryu and Majima. Yes I know it's because it looks cool and harks back to old crime movie atmosphere. That doesn't make it a healthy coping mechanism.

Another obvious one, considering the setting of the games in several red lights districts, is erotica. Both Adachi, the ex-cop from Like a Dragon and Shinada, the ex-baseball player from Y5 and also my least fave protag ever, are both in various stages of obsession about porn, sex work and the likes.

Tanimura, the cop from Y4 has a pretty severe gambling problem in the actual canon, though gambling games and casino's are a general mainstay of the Yakuza series. It's just that when Kiryu interrupts his busy day of solving the convoluted intrigue du jour to gamble in an illegal underground casino, it's not a character flaw.

Also: almost everyone drinks ludicrous amounts of heavy alcohol in these games. Both in canon and as part of the gameplay. 100% ing the games usually involves drinking tons of whiskey, but the whole Ichiban crew, sans I think Eri, is shown drowning their troubles at various times.

Violence: I mean, that's kind of the game, but an unhealthy amount of characters consider fist fights to be a good way to resolve conflict, bond with people and generally reinvigorate themselves. Particularly Majima is shown to get a real kick out of doing damage and being beaten up. There's just a lot of reckless behaviour, which is what makes the games good.

Karaoke: fake it till you make it, man.

Extra note:

You'll notice there's no women on this list, and that's because honestly the game is kinda sexist. So while there's already Very Few women in the game, the ones that are present don't exactly have super complex characters.

Mukoda Saeko, the hostess from Like a Dragon, drinks like a fish but that's about her main flaw.

Other notable female characters are Kiryu's kid Haruka, Kiryu's love interest Sawamura Yumi (Kiwami) and Kamataki Eri, the business lady from Like a Dragon. They're all stereotypical Good Girls who have no flaws apart from indecisiveness and an unhealthy tendency for selflessness.

Saejima Yasuko is ever so slightly more complex: her main trait is self sacrifice. The story promptly fridges her for it.

[terezis]

hiya it's me again, the anon with ~questionable~ taste in fictional men i guess (is this really how i want to be known help)

thank you so much for the recs!! i've read/am reading some of those, but i've dutifully put the rest onto my read list—cannot wait to dive into some new stories o7 (also, i used to do a similar thing w/ranking stuff, except in a notebook LOL lost the notebook after i moved and my life has been in shambles ever since. but i digress.)

if you're up for offering some book recs as well i am most certainly 👀 !! i haven't lost myself in a good book in so long & i really miss it.

anywhoo, gonna cut myself off here before my rambling gets outta hand. sending you lotsa good vibes, cheers!

LMAO i'm sorry but that's your official title now. questionable taste in fictional men anon. hello <3

i hope you end of liking them!!! i am going to make ur to-read list a bit longer now hopefully. most of these are ya but to be fair ya fucks

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir OBVIOUSLY

only a monster by vanessa len - i think the romance falls a little flat which does seem to be partially by design, but the premise/world/plot are all SO fun and fascinating and i love her draco malfoy-knock off friend

the scarlet alchemist by kylie lee baker - i have read a couple of wu zetian stories now and i think this is definitely one of the better adaptations. the pacing IS a little weird but i feel like the twists are interesting enough that i was fine with it LOL

the cruel prince by holly black - i love the cruel prince and that's all there is to say. ruthless protag done believably imo. fairies. romance with a questionable man

every heart a doorway by seanan mcguire if u haven't read it already

the beholder by anna bright - big fan of this one and its sequel bc it does not do what u expect it to do as a ya romance, in a very nice way

tiger, tiger by petra nordlund - bonus webcomic rec, volume one is published but also you can read online on her website for free. IT IS SO GOOD i read it all in like 3 days and now wait on the edge of my seat for new pages

[latealzalost]

Have you ever tried thinking about what a "canon"-esque team for Wes and Michael would be? I mean that, what feels like a team an official adaptation of these games would go for. In my opinion for instance, I think Michael would use the Zangoose snagged from Zook since its semi-plot relevant, as well as Eldes' Shadow Salamence for the one battle left after it. You could either make him pick an eeveelution (I'd suggest flareon or jolteon aesthetically) or going with the beta starters of Vaporeon and Jolteon. Wes' would entirely depend on if you think using the legendary beasts is fair game lmao

Ah nah. I know some people try to make a "canon" team for trainers. But "canon" and stories in Pokémon games don't really mix. All versions of a game are true and they happened in their own universes. Every possible way a game was played is real and has already been done before you've even thought about it.

I believe in the definite fact that Michael snagged and purified every shadow pokemon. I also believe that Michael traded his Togepi back to Hordel for his Elekid named Zaprong, but I know some may opt not to do that. So whether or not he actually gave Togepi back it really doesn't matter cause he has and hasn't at the same time.

Now, there is an exception to that rule for my personal bias. It's canon that Michael is a good kid with a big heart and loves his Pokemon and family very much. So that scenario where he releases his Eevee to see the eeveelution captain's other dialogue is completely unlike Michael. And I don't believe he would release any of his Pokemon ever. I refuse to believe that anything that would be uncharacterstic of Michael are canon and part of the multiverse in any way.

Hypothetically speaking, referring to the story of Pokemon Masters EX, if Hoopa were to drag a Pokemon Character out of the infinite universal contexts represented by how their game could be played, Hoopa would never drag Michael from the universe where he releases his Eevee, but he could take him from the universe where he kept the Togepi and not give it back to Hordel, since I remember Hordel being a somewhat okay with Michael keeping Togepi. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

I believe that every possible universe is canon, but there are limits because the constant is Michael is a good boi. The variable is how the player plays the game. The multiverse of a game can be determined by the infinite possibilities of play, but only the reasonable universes that don't betray Michael's character should be canon.

And same goes for Wes, obviously. Anyone who releases Espeon, Umbreon, or Plusle outright assassinates Wes's character.

And you know, by extension, I'd say that also goes for the main-series games too. If Pokemas Hoopa ever dragged a protag from their universe, it would have to be a universe where they kept their starter all the way to the end of their story, or at least up until the point they were warped to Pasio.

In certain media I've seen Michael officially matched with Flareon and Jolteon in two different universes. I've never played through the game with Flareon nor Vaporeon so my bias tells me it would be Jolteon (at least it matches Michal's jacket aesthetically, I agree Flareon suits him too.)

Beyond that it's a toss up between all of the Shadow Pokemon and a few Pokespot Pokemon. At the end game he might opt to have tanky Shadow Pokemon like Snorlax. He might have an Aggron from evolving an Aron from the Cave Pokespot. He could have a Walrein from one of the Hexagon Bros's Shadow Spheal. He could have kept Teddiursa and evolved it into Ursuring. It's so hard to make a canon team without that bias you know?

As for Wes, as you know, he'd probably keep one of the Johto starters from either Bluno/Verde/Rosso and his two starter eeveelutions. Depending on which Johto starter, he'd keep Entei/Suicune/Raikou respectively. Hitmontop is a favorite. And last one, a Flygon, another favorite.

Scrolling back up to read your question, I see for an "official adaptation" I agree that Zangoose could be plot relevant. Though the one time you get to snag Zangoose is the last time you see Zook. Unless some liberties were taken with the game's story I can't see Zangoose becoming a main-stay for some rivalry with Zook. Miror B. is a better rival than Zook, and Lovrina along with other Cipher admins (excluding Ardos) have a character arc of starting out as enemies and accepting him as a friend by the end of the post-game so Shadow Pokemon belonging to them might be something to toy with for a rival thing. Zook is just a meat head masculine macho mohawk dukey-nukey wannabe who's more of a joke jerk character for how nothing goes his way after bumping into Jovi at Gateon Port. They'd have to do a bit more like how they developed Team Rocket (Jesse, James, Meowth) for the anime and how they're pretty much loved by everyone despite being the bad guys.

What I wouldn't give for an official anime adaptation, but alas all we have are obscure game walkthrough manga that few have seen and have (but I believe more should see and have)

[eldritch-elrics]

control (2019) review

alright! i now have 45 hours in control and have beat the main game, both big dlc quests, and the vast majority of the other sidequests (except shüm fuck shüm). so let me share my updated thoughts!

short answer: it’s really good 👍

longer answer:

control is a weird one. while it is technically true that i've never played another game like it (i have never played a third person shooter before!), it also takes much of its inspiration from stories, art, tropes, and aesthetics with which i am extremely familiar. of course, that isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. but it did kind of add to my lukewarm feelings about it in the first couple hours. there is very little in control (at least in its beginning) that legitimately surprised me, which somewhat contrasts the ~deep, dark, mysterious, twists around every corner~ vibe it’s trying to cultivate. but i absolutely warmed up to it.

while i’m talking about the beginning and my hesitation surrounding this game, i should probably bring up my only major grievance with control: the way jesse is written. i’ve joked many times that cutting 80% of jesse’s inner monologue would make control a far better game. the thing about jesse is that she is very invested in her own role as Mysterious Protagonist With Dark Past. i cannot emphasize enough that the worst way to make a character feel Mysterious (in a non-comedic work, at least) is to have them think to themself about how mysterious they are and how they have to avoid telling people about their backstory and etc etc. the opening ten minutes of the game actively made me want to know less about jesse. i did not care about her backstory until maybe halfway through.

she also keeps a running internal commentary throughout the game that i think is written to make her feel “relatable” ( “ugh, i have to go do more tasks?” “i kind of hate that guy” sorta stuff) but instead feels tell-not-show-y as hell and also just plain obnoxious. writers have GOT to understand that in a visual medium, giving a character an inner monologue and/or running commentary is going to make them look like a dork. hades understands this. psychonauts understands this. hell, death note understands this best of all. i do not believe jesse is a dork. i think she’s supposed to be cool as hell. and she is! i just wish she were a little less Aggressively Normal. (though, to be completely fair, it is cool to have an AAA video game with a female protag who’s extremely normal.)

well, with that out of the way, let’s talk about some of the other stuff in this game.

on the topic of characters, i surprised myself with how much i liked a lot of the characters here. the animations are a little uncanny but the voice acting is just top-notch. honestly i cannot pick a favorite (human) character; they’re all really fun, and i came to really look forward to talking with them. (oh except trench. did not like watching his hotline things. he has the same problem as jesse: the narrative thinks he is too Cool.) i think emily pope, casper darling, and langston all really nail the “cool but also dorky” vibe in a way that jesse, alas, does not. speaking of dr. darling, i loved the decision to keep his involvement in the plot to the backstory, and have him only “speak” to jesse through prerecorded messages. (live-action messages too! how cool!) unraveling his entire deal was one of my favorite parts of the story.

goes without saying that ahti, the quirky janitor, is GREAT. what an excellent character. “finnish tango” is my favorite section of the main plot (along with ashtray maze directly after it, of course).

well, that is a perfect segue into talking about the main plot. i think it’s fine. idk. no strong feelings. the hiss are a fun antagonist. dylan’s interesting. there are some parts of the ending i don’t entirely understand but that’s all cool. yeah idk! i can’t say i was really playing the game to see what happened next in the main storyline. but i also don’t really have any complaints about it, other than wondering if i would have been more invested if jesse’s backstory had revealed itself more quietly & naturally.

meanwhile, the way control uses environmental storytelling is top fucking notch. oh my god. i LOVED collecting documents. hooooooly shit guys this is such a good game if you want hundreds of irrelevant documents. there is lore about EVERYTHING. some of it is important to the main story. the vast majority is not. you gotta sift through it and piece stuff together. there’s a lot of stuff that’s just there to make the world a little richer. and the overwhelming bureaucracy of the bureau really makes me believe that they would have vast amounts of documents describing all of it.

in general, the stuff about the FBC and the oldest house is where the story really shines. it’s equal parts fucked up government agency & group of people who is actually doing important work. (well, maybe with an emphasis on the former. though i kind of wish there was more direct political commentary in the game...) i loved the unethical science, and all the disagreements about scientific method (hi underhill), and just the vast amount of history everywhere.

it helps that the number one appeal of control is its environments. obviously the game is gorgeous. i love its sinister brutalism, its use of color and light, the surrealist parts, just everything. it’s one of those games that well-balances realism with having a striking artstyle. but, of course, one of the biggest delights in control is how tactile the environment is as well. the part where i started liking the game was when i got the launch ability and could interact with just about anything. and then i started REALLY liking the game when i got to the maintenance sector and saw just how serious the worldbuilding was. not only are practical concerns like “how does the FBC process energy” taken into account, those questions also form the basis for hugely complex rooms with an insane attention to detail. goddamn.

ok well with the launch ability i suppose i should talk about the gameplay too. it’s very fun! since i was playing on controller, i wasn’t a massive fan of the shooter parts, but as soon as i got an ability that locked onto targets it was like yes. this will be my primary weapon for the rest of the game. and it was. (also the gun pierce. i love you pierce.) the movement is also great. and the other abilities. seize! is really fun! and it is so awesome to fight in environments where you have to take the environment into account even more than usual, since you’re launching stuff all over the place!

(edit: i have just now remembered one more thing i really didn’t like about the game: the obnoxious quest ui that just stays on the screen! i am a seasoned player of video games; i can tell what i need to do next without having a big message on screen at all times. and if i can’t, that’s what the missions menu in the pause screen is for! i turned off that ui very early on and completely forgot about it.)

i think the sign of a great game to me is one that makes you want to do the sidequests. boy i wanted to do the sidequests. i wanted to discover shit! i wanted to do all the fetchquests! i didn’t care at all about the rewards! the whole mold thing was an especially fun & challenging part, and i really liked confronting silly altered items. it’s also an interesting choice to lock many of the major boss fights behind sidequests. i won’t say much about it for spoiler reasons, but hands down my favorite character in the ENTIRE game is former. i love former with my whole heart. oh my god. best beastie in the world. (or, uh, not in the world. idk.)

one thing i will say about the gameplay, though, is that inventory management was a bit tedious. i could not get rid of mods fast enough (and i got so much money from that LOL) and there were so many of them that getting one didn’t feel particularly special. though yes, i did try to pick up every collectible and chest i saw.

finally, about the dlc!

investigations sector felt a little bit like a hamfisted crossover, but other than the alan wake stuff i was pretty into the execution. i really, really enjoyed the stealth sections, and just the general horror throughout.

the foundation is EXCELLENT. i liked the story of the foundation far more than the story of the main game. aesthetically sublime. great lore/backstory that keeps you intrigued but never gives too much away. FORMER IS THERE. contains “found footage,” one of the best short sidequests. there is a secret astral bathroom. it’s great.

overall, control is pretty good. as a story about a fucked up house it very much fits into my realm of interests, and i generally think it’s fun, interesting, and well-polished. i don’t play many AAA games, but wow, you can absolutely see how the big budget helped this one. would recommend.

[marley-manson]

Finished it and really enjoyed it. Normally I'd roll my eyes at a show with a majority female cast very pointedly in roles/archetypes that usually go to men also being all about misogyny and patriarchy, BUT the show was a) funny and irreverent enough that it wasn't a downer for me the way it usually is, and b) I really enjoyed the gender politics overall.

Like I feel like they did a good job keeping it non-essentialist and focused on social power dynamics (give or take like one detail that mildly annoyed me but is also a minor spoiler so I'll mention it below). Plus it was nuanced enough for me - it wasn't just about misogyny, racism/colonialism and homophobia were major issues as well, and women were also antagonists on those points.

Adored the dynamic between Eddie and Dulcie, it was almost HarryKim-esque lol, and god what a good dynamic for two women. They had great chemistry, sex jokes continued throughout, I adore Eddie's like, entire presence to pieces and even Dulcie was extremely likeable to me, much more than most straitlaced foils to epic energetic weirdos (Kim also being a notable exception lol.)

Also basically every single character on the show was great, from the protags to the antags to everyone in between. Just excellent fun character writing, not a single person on this show who detracted from my enjoyment.

And now a few spoilers, not for the central mystery but for one fairly early plot reveal, a few little details and scenes, and all the lesbian relationship stuff.

Tragically, the wives didn't divorce after all 😭 I absolutely did not buy their reconciliation. Even more tragic, Eddie like, fucking reveals that she's fucked women before and is potentially down to fuck more right after they get back together???? Like wow way to dig in the knife, show.

To be fair since it seems Dulcie and Cath have essentially just swapped which one's gonna be miserable with their lifestyle in season 2, I still have hope that their marriage is gonna end. What I really want is for Dulcie to cheat again - and speaking of holy shit did I love the reveal that she cheated with her last partner and quit her last job to appease Cath. And she clearly still has a crush on that woman as well, as seen when speaking to her on the phone?

Like I cannot emphasize enough how doomed this marriage is, I just hope the show knows it. Especially since I checked ao3 and there's only 3 pages of fic, and most of it is poly which I am not about. On the plus side the majority is actually explicit, which is wild for an f/f fandom, fucking nice.

Anyway despite hating their relationship I do like Cath as a character lol, she's shitty which is a good thing for endearing her to me, and also really funny, and I think she should have a gf who like, has similar interests and also wants to live on a farm and raise animals for a living, while Dulcie plows Eddie into next week in the big city.

The one detail that jumped out to me as irritatingly gender essentialist, btw, and this is the minor early spoiler, is the recurring discussion of male vs female serial killers and how they used that to help solve the case. Like to be fair even that seemed largely grounded in social dynamics, but like the poison thing??? Can a man not drug murder victims just to make things easier for him? Does it have to be a girl thing? Come on. I will say though that they at least made a joke about those male vs female profiles being outdated, even if they're still annoyingly relevant. So yk, some self awareness is shown. (this is not a spoiler, they go back and forth several times wrt the killer's gender but the drugging is always framed as a girl killer thing regardless of their current theory)

Also since I've spoiled that it's about a serial killer, I want to add that I loooooved the narrative's attitude towards a spree of murders with cis white male victims. It felt like an ideal balance of like, rote condemnation (yeah murder is bad, the protags are dedicated to finding the murderer even if it turns out to be a man-hating lesbian, it makes things worse for everyone in the town, the whole final episode, etc) while also indulging in the visceral satisfaction of men being the victims instead of women. The irreverence towards the victims, the scene where the mayor loses her filter in a panic and is like, 'hey maybe this town is actually the safest place for everyone who isn't a white cis dude, ever think of that?' lmao, or even just the scene in the first episode where Dulcie mentions finding a naked body over the phone to her superior and he automatically assumes the victim is a woman and has to be corrected.

The reactionary, perfectly pathetic response from the conservative men of the town was also pitch perfect. The fucking reclaim the night march lmao? There's such an air of awareness that their demographic being specifically targeted by a serial killer is a major anomaly and their reaction is disproportionate and silly, and basically just an excuse to try to reclaim power in the town. Felt very of the moment.

There are definitely a few nitpicks to be made about the politics, especially wrt some of the cop show elements but like, it is a cop show, you set your expectations accordingly. Point is I had a good time with what it had to say and how entertainingly it said it.

So yeah, basically loved the show, hope season 2 is good too and if Dulcie and Cath don't break up, they at least keep teasing Dulcie/Eddie and making graphic gay sex jokes about them.

decided to watch Deadloch on a whim after seeing like 2 gifsets of Eddie looking like a fun character, knowing absolutely nothing about the show, and was instantly rewarded with surprise lesbian sex 👍

(Between the main character and her wife, not the buddy cops, buuuut they're having marriage issues and there's fun chemistry and many sex jokes between her and Eddie so the vibes are excellent and i'm having a great time so far)

[kaibacorpstocksplit]

Yeah death-t is unironically one of the worst arcs in the manga (only being topped by mem world imo) but people continue to fixate on it because there's a lot of potential for something better there... it's honestly kind of frustrating how badly kt blew it LMAO

i'll have to read on before i rank anything but i agree it was a good concept that felt like it fell apart in the end. i did hear that death-t is pretty... contentious haha, and i guess i can see it too with how fanworks mix and match canon.

i think it did put up a lot of good pieces in play. i LOVE kaiba coming back worse from his penalty game. i liked when they started interweaving his backstory (even if im not as big a fan as the exposition dump at the end, but to be fair we see before that mokuba isn't very good at keeping things on the down low aha), and you could see the way it also influenced his actions. i love when characters have messy and bad ways of dealing with things, it's why i love villains so much because theyre allowed more room to do that. it's cathartic! it's fun! burn things!

it's just, man. i keep thinking back to how the series kicks off with jou being redeemed, and the way that mercy isnt extended again after the puzzle's done (i have a hard time seeing a coma as merciful), and that we arent gonna think too hard about that. the way we dive a little deeper into kaiba's motivations at the beginning... and then wave that off in favor of the other backstory at the end, so the protagonist doesnt look bad. kaiba's constantly referring to the penalty games, he specifically modeled so much of death-t after both the shadow games and penalty games (side note: god is it tragic that the solid vision tech staple of kaibacorp also comes from his penalty game trauma) and then there's no real meaningful challenge or questions about the shadow games from him doing that.

the biggest problem with death-t i think lies with yugi/atem, and the narrative backing down on the challenge in favor of yugi embracing his dark side with the support of his friends, which is a sweet moment except your "other me" kills and tortures people? but- wait, theyre criminals, not people, so it's ok :) not really a ygo-specific problem though, like off the top of my head it reminds me of the way marvel movies utilize their "sympathetic villains" lol.

but yeah i do think there's a lot of good stuff in death-t too. i didnt hate the arc, i enjoyed most of it. i liked the horror nods, i love a good downward spiral revenge plot, kaiba stan for life i love more material to psychoanalyze this fictional character with, but the morals stay too protag-centric and that really kills the vibes.

[myshittydanganronpaheadcanons]

okay okay I’m talking about my fanganronpa lesgoooo!!!!

so my protag is a girl named itsu and she is the shsl documentary/film maker and she gets invited to hpa as a student and to also make a documentary on the students and talents at hpa

Hisamu got accepted into hpa as the shsl lucky student, but he was later dubbed the “shsl yandere”

my main theme in this killing game is about love along with very strong emotions and sacrifices

Shizuyo is a loud mouthed brash girl who is the shsl tattoo artist she got into hpa kind of along the same lines as mondo and fuyuhiko because her and her family were tattoo artists who were all underground and had tied with the yakuza

Nariko is the shsl race car driver and aaa I don’t really have much to say about her even though I really like her

Fujishige is the shsl conspiracy theorist and he is the epitome of feral and unhinged character but not in an evil way

Syousuke is a wrestler and I don’t have much to say about him either but let’s just say that the pattern of buff characters dying in chapter four fits :/

Shion is the shsl mortician and it is from a family business, she is also a serial killer and a cannibal and that is part of her motivation to kill in the killing game

Juntaro is the shsl medium so he communicates with ghosts, he is in love with Shion and even though he can talk to ghosts and he would be a huge help in the trials, unfortunately his love for her is stronger than his care for anyone else

Terumi is the shsl doll maker and he is the sweetest and cutest boy and also resident short person of the cast, he also made little dolls of each of his classmates :)

Kamikaze is the shsl pilot and I don’t know much about him yet

Miyuuji is the shsl hairdresser/colourist and he is the therapist friend and he also helps Nariko and Shizuyo keep up their dyed hair (I also like to imagine he would help with ibukis hair :))

Ikuri is the shsl florist, I had it in my head that she was one of byakuyas many half siblings but they never really cared to interact with each other, she is also very babey

Rena is the shsl violinist and she kinda fits into the dumb lesbian trope, and she loves Ikuri a lot she even serenades her with music, unfortunately she ends up killing Ikuri

Tsuyako is the older sister type of caring character who helps itsu at first, she is the shsl marine biologist and she is a chubbier character

Kirua is the shsl ninja/shinobi and she was very quiet and no one knew anything about her at first

Jenna Syde is the shsl drag queen and their name is a pun on genocide syo, everyone was very confused when they saw them out of drag for the first time

The actual plot is a little weird bc I made it before I finished the dangan series but basically the day that the tradgedy happened Hisamu was planning to kidnap Itsu because he wanted her all to himself

He gassed the classroom that knocked everyone out (except him and itsu bc he planned ahead and had gas masks) and itsu started freaking out

The school was falling apart around them because of all the fires so Hisamu told istu that they needed to get all the bodies out bc they wanted to save them

Eventually hisamu found the neo world program that sdr2 took place in and made a new world and new killing game

Basically everything worked out bc of his luck

That’s the part that might not make complete sense and was made before I finished the series but oh well

Anyway, their killing game takes place in a fair/carnival type place that is abandoned so it has a creepy vibe to it

okay uh I think that’s all I have to say now if y’all wanna ask questions about the killings or the characters or anything pls do :) !!!

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

I wouldn't mind that post on VNs!

So I was gonna write three different lists, but then after writing the first part I realized this is very long and takes a while to write and nobody cares anyway so I’ll just post my recommended list only. Well, I mean, you asked, but I doubt you wanted all this lol. Thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this stuff, though. Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

An explanation for what this list is: Sometimes I know a game isn't perfect in many aspects but I still had a genuinely good time playing it, hence why I'm recommending it. Also I should mention that I could talk for hours about some of these games so if anyone’s curious about more of my thoughts, let me know.

Alright, now that that's out of the way ...

How to Take Off Your Mask / How to Fool a Liar King / How to Sing to Open Your Heart (f/m): This is a trilogy of smaller, single-RO games where you can take one of two routes depending on how you act, and they’re all interconnected where you get to meet and interact with the previous games’ characters in the sequel games. I went into this expecting very little but what I got blew me away with how funny, charming and cute the games were. They don’t take themselves too seriously, at one point an angsty male character monologues deeply about some shit, and another one just slides into frame and starts mocking him. It was so fucking funny, holy shit. Also, a central theme is literally racism against catgirls? Which is monumentally stupid, and probably the games’ main flaw, especially in the final game where it pairs up a catgirl with a catgirl racist, but that one still ends with a literal bisexual queen literally making a man her malewife because she fell in love with his cooking, so like ... It speaks for itself. My favorite game of the three is the second one, where you get to play a punchy fake catgirl and romance a pink-haired prince. And honestly, all the female protags in these games are lovely and a breath of fresh air, and the male characters are fun and not abusive assholes either. There’s full Japanese voice acting, and two out of three female protags are literal catgirls who pepper in “nya” and “mya” into their dialogue, and it’s just treated as a quirk of their catgirl race. I AM NOT KIDDING. Yet somehow it never comes off as cringe, because it doesn’t take it self too seriously. These games are just cozy. That’s the only way I can describe them. Cozy and hilarious. Play them yesterday. Dream Daddy (m/m): Man tumblr did this game dirty. This is just a cute, wholesome daddy dating simulator with gorgeous art. Coming out on Top (m/m): So you know Dream Daddy? What if it was EXTREMELY, MAJORLY NSFW? Though I realize how bad the comparison really is, the only thing these games have in common is that they’re gay dating sims and don’t have an anime art style and oh, yeah, they’re both really well-written. Or at least, extremely funny. COOT (heh) is DDADDS’ horny older cousin, and I first encountered the game on a lesbian letsplayer’s YouTube channel. Yes I watched a lesbian play a gay porn game and it was GOOD. I was there for the cringe and fun and got surprised by how genuinely funny and sometimes actually touching the game was. I can’t give it my universal endorsement because it’s not a game for everyone, as I said, it’s extremely NSFW and the menu theme literally includes the singers screaming “SEX SEX” at the top of their lungs. There’s more to this game than the porn, but there’s just so much porn. It can be censored in the settings but it’s unavoidable. However, I still think it’s worth a look just because of how funny it is and how charming the characters are. If you don’t want to play it yourself, at least watch Anima’s playthrough of it. It hasn’t aged super well in some spots but I still go back to it every now and then. Akash: Path of the Five (f/m): This game markets itself as a more “professionally produced” western dating sim, and that’s accurate in some superficial aspects. The game is pretty poorly written, but it’s absolutely gorgeous and has really good English voice acting by actual professional voice actors. The premise is quite self-indulgent, but I genuinely respect that about it. You play as the only female elemental in a village with only men, and all five of your classmates want a piece of you. It’s clear the writers have put some thought into the lore and worldbuilding of this world, but barely any of it comes through in the actual writing and plot, which is basically just a vehicle for you to get together with your boy of choice. The ROs aren’t very well-developed either, and the plot is the same in every route with only minor variations depending on which guy you pick, up to the point where the protag has the same voice lines in some parts regardless of which guy she’s talking about. It also has one extra half-route that’s so bad and pointless I genuinely wonder why they wasted resources on making it instead of spending a bit more on the writing/adding some variations to the main plot. So why am I recommending this game? Well, it’s pretty, and it sounds nice. This game is a himbo, gorgeous but dumb as rocks. Enjoy it for what it is. I know I did. Get it when it’s on sale, I think if I hadn’t gotten it at half-price I would’ve felt a bit more cranky about it. Also Rocco is bae. Mystic Destinies: Serendipity of Aeons (f/m): Yes that’s the full title, no I don’t know what it means either. You may have noticed how most of the games so far I’ve enjoyed because they don’t take themselves too seriously? Well, this one does. It takes itself SO FUCKING SERIOUSLY. Like, way too seriously. It’s a little embarrassing at points because baby, you’re an urban fantasy dating sim. Calm down. But the game has gorgeous art and 3 out of 5 routes are very good. The last route, the one with your teacher, is both the most problematic yet somehow the one that breaks down the very concept of a dating sim within its own narrative (yes, this shit gets fucking META) and it got so wild at the end that 1) I still listen to the soundtrack for that route and 2) I still remember it to this day despite finishing it ages ago. My favorite route is Shou, he’s a sweetheart, but the mindfuck route is so buckwild that I think the game is worth playing just for that. There’s also a route that’s like a neo-noir mystery? I Do Not Know. This game is many, many things and it does them so sincerely and tries so hard, you can’t help but respect it. It doesn’t always stick the landing but man, just let this thing take your hand and wax poetic at you for a bit. Also get this one at a sale because it’s very expensive to get the full version. I got it for 9 bucks on itch.io and I felt that was a fair enough price, I’d say I wouldn’t have minded paying more for it because there’s a lot of content to enjoy and/or be baffled by. Arcade Spirits: This one’s a bit more weird from what I recall, and I honestly couldn’t tell you much about it, but I remember having a very good time with it and recommending it to a friend when she was going through some tough times and she said it made her feel better. I remember it making me feel better, as well. This is a VN about an arcade and the ROs are wonderfully diverse, with very real human conflicts that get explored in each of their routes. It can get quite existential and heavy at times, but in the end it’s a kindhearted game that I think everyone can enjoy. The main character was also, how you say, mood. It’s a game about getting possessed by a video game and then learning self-love. Ebon Light (f/m): This one’s free/name your own price on itch.io so go play it. It’s a weird plot where you play as a girl who ate an elven relic? And then the elves kidnap you because you’re the relic now. All the ROs are extremely pasty (like, literally white, as in literally the color white) dark-haired elves, except for one, who’s an extremely pasty blond elf, so ... diversity? I honestly don’t know what this game is aside from unique. I used to be a bit put off by the art style but now I think it contributes to the general atmosphere. It’s a weird game that technically doesn’t do anything groundbreaking but still left an impression of “huh. weird” in my mind and I think more people should play it. The ROs are all pretty generic dating sim archetypes but done well, with bonus points to Duliae who’s just a massive creep and I love him, and also Vadeyn who’s the only bitch in this house I respect. The worldbuilding is honestly a bit buckwild and I can’t give enough credit for how unique the elves’ culture is in this game. Definitely give it a go. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds / Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (f/m): These two are newer releases of an older Japanese visual novel. I wouldn’t call it a dating sim, it’s ... it’s more of a super depressing historical fantasy epic with some minor romance aspects awkwardly wedged in. It’s seriously some of the heaviest and most grimdark shit I’ve ever played in a VN/otome. I don’t understand why it’s a dating sim, it doesn’t read like one, it’s just historical fantasy based on real world events with characters based on real people, and they kill and they die and they grieve and they suffer. The games are literally about the downfall of the Shinsengumi, there’s no way of avoiding everything going to shit and you get to watch and be in the middle of it all as they struggle to stay alive and relevant in a world that doesn’t need them anymore. And there’s the protag in the middle of it all, being useless and submissive and bland just the way the usual otome protag is. I don’t think these games are necessarily fun, and the romance is certainly a lot more downplayed and deeply problematic just based on the age differences alone with some of the men, but the sheer amount of horror and sadness in these games make them stand out above its peers. It’s like watching a war movie. Since most of the characters are based on real people, they feel like real people instead of the usual otome archetypes, and they are so, SO flawed, it’s interesting to just watch them deal with the shit the world throws at them. It’s an Experience, and if you’re up for it, I think it’s worth the time. Cinderella Phenomenon (f/m): This game is free on Steam so go get it. You play as a really, genuinely shitty princess who gets cursed to be poor and forgotten and she has to help one of the ROs break his fairy tale curse so that she can learn about being a good person herself and return to her normal life. This game doesn’t look like much, but it has a genuinely well-written main character who’s actually at the center of each of the stories and in the overarching plot instead of just being around to make eyes at the real protagonists, aka the love interests. Aside from the main character, my favorite part of this game’s writing is how each route slowly but very smoothly expands upon the overarching intrigue. If you play them in a certain order, you get more and more info revealed to you that you didn’t see in other routes, gaps are filled in as you find out more about what actually happened and why, but every route also stands on its own as a full experience and none is more canon than the rest. There’s also some really heavy emotional parental abuse explored, which I found quite potent at times. The romances themselves were alright, I think Karma and Waltz were my faves.

[snugglesquiggle]

bold of you to ask about my OCs

so, the fight was Knight Commander Novus, the Living Crater, vs Vela of the Hadal Nebula

it's a human fighting a comet spirit — which in this setting is about as fair a matchup as a raccoon fighting a human that had time to prepare — so i think when you grade on that curve, that this was a fight and not a stomp alone already counts as a victory for mankind

though when you factor in that Vela forced Novus to use a technique he swore he'd never cast again, it's kind of an ethical lost?

actually fuck it, it's my blog, i get to talk about all the cheesy details

i'm not going to describe the whole magic system, but the basic idea is that magic comes down to how strong your will is. everything has a will, so an important trick is that you can amplify your techniques by combining your will with something greater.

the most common way of doing this is by connecting to the earth, since yknow, a whole planet has a whole lot of will. one person can only really tap into a microscopic fraction of the planet's power, but that's still a whole lot.

expanding your techniques with planet's will is known as adding gravitas. this is basically literal — gravity is just an intentional expression of the planet's will, so by adding gravitas, landing your hits becomes as inevitable as what goes up comes down.

also for dramatic effect, you chant what you want your technique to do. so if you wanted to add gravitas to swinging your sword, you might say something like 'let everything that falls to earth by sundered in twain'

in practice there's two grades of gravitas, based on whether that chant is hyperbole. Gravitas Ictus is considered the mark of a powerful enchanter. it basically makes your techniques undodgeable, with the restriction that you must remain connected to the earth (i.e. feet on the ground) or you immediately lose the benefit.

but Gravitas Loci is the mark of an exceptional enchanter. you draw a circle in dirt (usually with a foot, sometimes you have time to use a tool), and attune to that circle, becoming one with it, allowing you to move it like a muscle. so you expand the circle until it encompasses your target, and then you chant your desired effect, and so long as you stay within the circle, you can target anything in the circle, just as inevitable as the pull of gravity. (yes, at the highest level is this is some sakuna leveling shibuya shit)

for most, this is as high as it goes.

but that's enough yap, i'm saying all of this so you have a tiny bit of context for how crazy this fight gets.

not gonna set the scene entirely, but the comet Vela was terrorizing a lakeside down when Novus and his army arrives to mitigate and distract the thing. (damage control is the current established doctrine for dealing with the eldritch threat comets pose; only moonsingers are capable of banishing them, and the moonflower court was slaughtered down to the women children about fifteen years before the plot started)

also, for context, the comet is a lttle bit winded at the moment? because you see, this fight takes place in a sort of intermission/epilogue between books 2 and 3. the protagonist (aurora) and her party confronted Vela at the climax of book 2's plotline, and they went all out, using everything they'd learned and teaming up with a fireteam of powerful gemsingers they'd met along the way.

and they... fucking lost. because, again, it's a comet. all the gemsingers died, protag and her party managed to escape (the comet has a personal connection to aurora that isn't important here.)

anyway, the army arrive and novus instructs them to probe and position the comet spirit with a tactical eye. it's wings cut down legions, its ice freezes the battlefield (it wields all the water of the lake in a massive coma), but the best skeleton knights can last a few seconds, exchange a blow or two, and with enough of them, you can pull off a sort of rocket tag rotation with only a few casualties. novus had enough men.

of course, i haven't said what novus is doing during all of this. while his men do the best against the comet, he's expanding his gravitas loci, carving it deeper and deeper into the earth, strengthening his connection as a massive trench emerges encircling the battlefield.

when it's complete, he exerts his will to command everyone — the army, the village — to evacuate at once. the comet doesn't flee, of course, because it is the nature of comets to dazzle and destroy. they live to fight.

when Novus chants, it's to cast an eruption technique. glass shatters, every stone in every walls explodes, the waters of the lake instantly evaporate to so much mist. there is a roaring sound and bright fire and the entirety of the zones comes undone.

it's enough to strip the comet of her wings, ruin her hair, crack her perfect crystalline being. it's enough to merit an alien flexure you might call a smile, to mutter 'cute'. it's enough to do what even the protagonist could not: make the comet stop holding back, just a little.

and then the fight itself happens. novus's attunement to the earth lets him fling around bits of debris, but the comet controls the mist created by the lake's vapor. they throw punches that could crack mountains, they get thrown hard enough to carve trenches where they land, all that anime shit.

it's enough to surprise the comet. comets are beings of pure light, frozen in water, eternal and divine. and this is just a fleeting bit of mud. it's not impressive, but it is curious. but, after a few minutes of this back and forth, Vela's sated her curiosity.

maybe the comet starts gathering clouds to charge some energy blast, and that's when Novus reveals his trump card.

remember when i said gravitas loci is as good as it gets? that's more of popular misconception, the limit of current knowledge in the kingdom. you can go even further beyond. Novus might be the first person who's put that into practice.

he says, "Gravity Shift" — though a more proper term might be gravitas ascensionis. he chants:

Let everything which once fell rise anew, like the grasping hands of man reaching for heaven.

it's an inversion of all the other techniques. he rises up to meet the comet in the air — he's flying

like that, the third phase of the fight is a midair battle, vela fighting with thundering clouds and light-based attacks while novus is flinging around exploding skylands. the battle takes them higher and higher into the atmosphere, even into the ionosphere, where novus, a mere humans, needs the will to endure insane radiation and temperature.

battle is a true expression of will, and in this climatic phase, Novus knows Vela, and Vela knows Novus. it's a dazzling display, a spectacle, and yet, it's somehow incomplete. Vela can feels that Novus is holding something back. remarkable, for a bit of mud to keep up with a comet without even using their full potential, but while Vela fought to have fun, she still fought to win.

perhaps Vela is pushed hard enough that she has to start pulling out abilities uncharacteristic for her — tricks she learned from fighting the protagonist, Aurora.

but the key blunder is that Novus eventually flies too high. he was never going to win like this: comets come from outer space. he put in a good showing, but of course Vela would have the ultimate advantage up here.

remember how the restriction on gravitas ictus is that you have to remain touching the ground, and for gravitas loci you have to remain within the circle? for ascensionis, you can only rise.

the effect ends when you fall.

so vela lands an axe kick that sends Novus careening down to the ground. he's more like an meterorite than a comet, burning up on reentry.

it's here that a chapter would end, and the next chapter is flashback of novus's life story. he wasn't always a knight, he wasn't even a fighter, but an poor academic, a struggling inventor. he studied gunpowder. maybe he wanted to create fertilizer, but discovered something more explosive along the way.

the immortal crown was interested in his inventions, and would fund him if he focused entirely on bombs, weapons research. he got training as an enchanter. he got training as a skeleton knight.

he didn't like fighting and killing, but the crown kept him fed, and soon his reputation for deviously lethal bombs was deterring anyone from challenging the crown. he was preventing war! (he was cementing imperial hegemony).

then the moonflower court massacre happened. suddenly the realm had no defense against comets or other metaphysical threats. but of course, the moonflower court wasn't the only place where the secret arts of the moon were studied. there was a island shrouded in enchanted fog, where lived an isolationist people who had mastered expanding their will with the ocean tides rather than the earth.

advisers suggested that an attempt to conquer those islands would result in a massive loss of life; with the rising of the full moon, the islands' enchanters might eclipse anything the kingdom had to offer. but of course, they were isolationist and kept to themselves.

then one day, a girl from the island, child of one of the islands' esteemed moon mystics, finds herself lost at sea, and is rescued and generously provided for by the kingdom. the islands's mystics can scry and discern her whereabouts, and of course demand the kingdom give her back.

but she has potential as a moonsinger, a art now only known to the island. this girl might be the the only hope the kingdom has of restoring the moonflower court. perhaps they dress it up in more diplomatic language, but fundamentally, it's jealousy.

all of this is to say, war seems inevitable.

and Novus had seen enough war to hate it, to pride himself on preventing it. a war with the mystic islands might be more ruinous than any he'd witnessed — what would he do to prevent it?

in his desperate search for an answer, he found the technique that he'd go down in history for discovering and employing. a persona canto is a special technique so tuned to a the a person's individual will that, even if others can imitate it, only they are capable of using it to its full potential.

the full potential of novus's technique was sufficient to prevent the war.

for this, he was awarded many accolades, elevating him to status as Knight Commander over the entire skeleton legion.

and he swore to never use that technique again.

novus shakes the earth where he lands, obscured by fire and dust.

to onlookers, it seems the battle is over. Novus did the impossible, flew up and banished the comet, but falling to his death must have been the tragic price.

the army advances on the crater that might be his grave, hoping to ascertain his condition. as they get near, though, they feel terrible chill creep up. they are illumed in a light from beyond the stars.

Vela descends, comet tail like a river of hair behind her. dimmed, but not dead from her fight. officers back up in terror, and knights ready their enchantments

and then Novus struggles to his feet.

“You must tell me what you are, before I destroy you. What accident of creation granted a stone so much power? I can almost see you.”

“Do you ever wonder” — Novus is coughing up blood, voice weak gravel, like sand — “from what well it is you things draw your strength?”

Vela hadn’t, and Novus laughs. 

“I suppose curiosity is a human virtue.  You aren’t human, and never will be.  You exist only to dazzle and destroy.  And yet, we do have something in common, you and I.  Dazzle and destroy,” he repeats, “But to dazzle, there must be someone there to witness you, find awe in you, remember you.

“Tell me, comet.  What does it mean to have power?  To use it?  How do you recognize it?  I think I understand it, in the way only your kind can.”  A mad smile, and he regards all the men gathered around him.  “Power is about impact.  Leaving an impression.  Putting a dent in the universe.  I’ve turned cities into mass graves.  I’ve made the earth itself tremble for miles beyond.  I’ve put out mountains like candle flames.  But I’m not and will not be the strongest — just the first.  Mankind’s hands will reach ever outward.  There’s a price, but it’s worth it.  When — no if it all ends, then it won’t be with a whimper.”

And he casts that technique.

⸢Persona Canto: Meteor Heart Explosion Pulse.⸥

“I just hope something beautiful can emerge from this crater I called a life.”

and then the world is glorious, terrible light.

what does his technique do? it's a self-sustaining chain reaction. a magical flame that ignites the blood itself. one person explodes, and spreads the flame to several others. life itself is the fuel.

to prevent a war, Novus destroyed an island. (it was dazzling.) it left an impact, a crater in the earth. where does a comet's power come from? where does the power of gravitas come from? the earth itself. rather than becoming one with it as men do, comets prove their might, seize their strength by shaking the earth. Novus isn't a comet, he's just a man. but, as Vela said, she can almost see him.

Novus could survive the thermosphere; he can endure his own technique. but none of his men share his constitution. so when he uses that technique, the army is his weapon.

Vela incinerates with all of the fury of life and soul spent.

what's lift is a pile of shattered ice crystals and light fading. a whisper that might be her saying, you win, good fight.

novus staggers onward, crawling to somewhere to nurse his wounds, gasp for breath and strength. that was his last trick. if that hadn't worked, he'd have lost.

(of course, there's a caveat — it's revealed in book 3 that vela did not in fact die. she's severely weakened, and needs the help of another character which ties into an even bigger twist. it's not quite as skin off the teeth as it sounds; she could have killed Novus there, and letting him escape and think he'd killed her was a mercy.

there's two reasons for this. one: comets don't kill each other, so to her, this is just the logical conclusion of a fight. she wanted to see Novus's full potential and she did, and she's satisfied. two: aurora did ask her to stop wantonly killing people, and she's at least trying it out, just to see if it's worth it.)

who won? you decide!

today on my walk i daydreamed about two of my OCs having a big epic fight. it was so cool dude believe me, they kicked ass.

[dwellordream]

yeah, the nights watch vs the others does the palette reversal pretty well (ditto starks vs lannisters and the setup of robert vs aerys before robert goes all... robert), but there’s a fair scattering of light=good in the other plot strands and the like, overall religions of the setting i think? idk, im thinking about it too and the only palette swaps i can call to mind are /urban/ fantasy, which isn’t quite the point, and the demon protag/angel villain trope thing

I think urban fantasy as a genre is usually going to be more subversive in general (however clumsily an attempt is made) and probably more likely to have the cynical hard boiled protagonist questioning the seemingly good and pure authority of light, etc.

I actually hate demons versus angels as a trope and refuse to read 99% of books that use it.

Not because I find it offensive or anything like that but because I think most of the time it is very boringly done, even when they try to subvert it. Good Omens is probably my one exception there.

All other angels versus demons literature - nah. I find the whole ‘war between heaven and hell’ thing to be incredibly dull and rarely done in an original or meaningful way.

I also think 90% of the time the writers are not particularly well versed in the mythologies and stories they’re trying to play with and so you get this kind of half assed attempt at ‘reinterpreting’ various angels or demons as well as a weird conflation of everything into a ‘judeo christian’ jumble which is especially offensive to Jewish people and not really accurate to Christians either.

My worst nightmare is that someone tries to boot up, I dunno, a version of Lore Olympus (my abhorred, don’t even get me starteddd) as like Lore Paradise! And tries to like quirkily interpret and reimagine Dante’s Inferno to appeal to Gen Z. Like ‘oh my god, they all wear Nikes and like, the levels of the afterlife are a university setting! So relatable!’

[justicebled]

genshin verse .

basically, yuri is a traveler, just a traveler, and an infamous one at that. not much is known about yuri save his first name, and the title, the black wolf. he thinks nicknames are mostly laughable, but it’s grown on him. he is his post-game age, 22 (you can find the skit in the japanese version of the game) and his element is electro (thank you flan)  until i test out combos when i’m not obviously focusing on vesperia? unknown. but it will always be the direct opposite of his best friend’s, flynn scifo, who is a knight stationed in mondstadt.

frankly, yuri’s reputation for both causing well-intentioned trouble, going rogue in facing off against the fatui who make him cringe because they’re as he says, ‘too edgy’, or following his own pure, unrelenting code of morals and justice, walks an entirely unbeaten path. some say he’s from liyue. others from inazuma. some think he might be like the main character, he’s entirely enigmatic and not known for staying in one place for too long at all. 

details below in bullet point.

god-modding someone who has for years as very famous rpg character / fighter protag has proven to be a beast strategically / physically. basically respect my character as i will respect yours. he is entirely adaptable at any range be it in hand to hand, martial arts, random items,  using his body as a weapon or simply the sword alone, which he is a monster at. he also can use axes just as well but chooses the blade. he’s constantly experimenting weaponry in this verse, but underestimating yuri is probably not wise.

it’s certainly gotten fatui who have crossed paths with the not-quite-but-getting there wandering avatar of justice and vigilante / wanderer to an early, rather brutally quick grave. if he’s met with higher rank members and faced off, he’s also not mentioned it. to him, it’s more his personal choice to see if ‘punishing the unjust’ his personal credo, is worth involving in certain matters as a purely chaotic neutral. he can be hurt! but all fights are plotted, no exceptions. the fact he’s been involved in all this is not known to canon characters unless say diluc’s network / permission.

that said if you have a fatui character oc or canon, and they try to invade his room? please note yuri is canonly an adhd riddled insomniac and please talk to me if they know this. he’s eerily intuitive and he will not make it easy for you at all.  

can never abandon anyone in need. literally. also probably the best big brother you could ask for if you get in his graces, but don’t expect not to get moments of his kind heart leaking through his guard (more like bleeding heart) and also giving you equally tough love. you have to follow your own path, is something yuri very much believes in!

  he  is the warrior that will chase you until you or HIM are out of commission either permanently or temporarily. applies really only to the evil / adversaries of the game / fatui.

 safe to say he’s become many a nightmare fuel to those deserving. and even mentions in canon content that he has a ‘rage’ that can only be quelled until he’s satisfied in a good fight. basically screwing with yuri will land you with a broken rib or worse, unconscious for a good week or more.

yuri and flynn from time to time will as opposing elements, put on a show of a duel in the square, promising not to use any elemental abilities. with yuri’s exceeding reputation as a warrior going behind him, and also fully mastering his vision, flynn is someone who while more sheltered having lived in mondstadt longer, comes highly close to tying with yuri and vice versa, making flynn also a nightmare albeit quite a bit more predictable due to being rather straightforward in battle / ever putting chivalry first. 

for yuri, who has seen far more of the world, this is the one verse he’s a bit above the playing field instead of just tying with flynn, which pisses his best friend off to no end and makes him train harder to this time, instead of yuri catching up? it’s flynn’s turn to catch up to him.

he took up a job at the winery part-time to make ends meet while he’s lingering in mondstadt. tends to think diluc is a tightwad but genuinely is someone he respects. if he interacts with him, but generally for a man with his fair share of legends as a fighter, enjoys seeing someone equally unimpressed with the fatui / unjust. save he’s far more easy-going in nature and his low baritone drawl tends to put others at ease...or pissed off because he always tells it like it is. he’s gained a nickname of ‘one of the best temporary chefs of mondstadt’ because he can cook a wide variety of dishes, everyone ends up satisfied.

token big brother figure to many party members and a prankster, voice dripping with sarcasm. he tells it like it is but is arguably one of THE Kindest / Unselfish Characters / Party Members you will acquire and genuinely gives a damn about the protagonist and their friends. doesn’t coddle them and actually is itching to at least have a spar or exchange moves with them as  a sign of friendship. 

repede constantly follows him, usually gathering information of whatever he wills it as his partner, and has quite a reputation himself for being elusive, unable to catch, and always reporting to his partner news of things both abroad and afar. guy knows his shit thanks to his partner and his own insane street smarts. openly admits he’s an ‘orphan’.

carries a blade called second star, who he constantly makes up convincing stories of where he got it from. again, unknown. he jokes that if he were to be another ‘vigilante’ in this town ‘diluc would run out of a job save being bored behind a counter’ to those that know the information, or if yuri himself was in the loop about his uh...nightly activities and...interesting name choice. 

doesn’t care about really the whole ‘seven’ thing, respects them as people, but unless one tells him ‘hey i’m an archon’ he’s generally just like ‘well the people are happy about you. so don’t let them down ok ‘ because yuri is an individualist, he doesn’t like to be defined by systems, organizations, or even faith. not that he doesn’t think they exist, he just follows his own brand of living but he generally does believe venti exists. that said i can see him completely being friends with people like venti, and...probably bantering with zhongli. 

genuinely a really benevolent, sarcastic, tough, and disturbingly strong warrior with some stories under his belt and big brother figure who loves a challenge far more than he should.

 may bite off more than he should be chewing, but a wolf’s fangs run deep and if he bites, there will be blood. other than that? he’s just chilling and enjoying spending time with his best friend every day until the ‘itch’ of wanderlust catches him again. 

yuri’s element, thanks to flan’s reddit post link is apparently the ‘vision of outsiders / strangers ‘ electro. so yuri is an electro user, and unless a flynn or vesperia cast member joins, he would be hydro in opposition to yuri. he doesn’t use it often? but he’s lethal either way. or you know, mildly zapping flynn who accidentially zaps the whole town with the shock effect...

is actually constantly traveling due to the large fatui target on his back. back a few years ago, safe to say he killed an influential figure within the fatui / either a harbinger before there were eleven or simply someone of high influence and combat on par with one. i mostly go with the former but either are viable, and it is not something known unless you’re affiliated with them / allies. that said yuri wanders because he wants to. liyue is probably next. but as ever, he won’t ignore someone in trouble, which lands him in trouble. but he never stops.

[fonulyn]

I saw someone the other day here on good ol' tungle complain (before the show came out, mind you) that Claire wasn't going to be in the show enough and wasn't gonna play an integral role, and like. I can understand why that thought is upsetting, bc the girl is a badass and deserves more screentime for sure, but like not only did they end up being wrong (our girl kicked ass, played a huge role in the plot, and was just generally amazing) but they had like, blamed Leon a little bit for it? As tho it was his fault the writers don't give three shits about the female protagonists in the franchise (who, if I remember correctly, only one of which gets an actual entire game to herself? The rest, to my knowledge, are POV swapping games, which are fine but like. Come on Capcom)??? It was v weird and caused me to unfollow them bc they were already disappointed by the show, they blamed Leon, and they acted like, surprised? I don't know about you, but I'm never surprised by franchises like this when they put one of their main female characters on/in the promotional to garner attention and then she's actually only in it for five seconds. That's just misogyny (which I'm not excusing or saying is okay, obvs, but don't push blame onto the other main character, just bc he's the main character? Leon didn't choose to push Claire out of the spotlight, and honestly I don't even think he did. Like he got more screentime then her, yeah, but I think this is as close as we were gonna get to a fair split amount of time between the two, with capcom's history of "women? What women? Oh you mean convenient plot devices?"), so don't hate on people who love Leon, and don't hate on the character himself. Like what the what? As a Leon lover (he is my favorite, I love him sm), I am pissed that we never get to see Claire in anything, that we hardly ever saw Jill after RE3, and that all female protags are secondary to their male counterparts. It's bullshit, frankly, but taking it out on other fans and the other characters in the franchise is. Not good, and will just isolate you further from the fandom. Don't know if this is a hot take or not lol and I'm not trying to like be mean or start a fight with anyone, I just needed to rant about this bc it was bothering me and I figured you would kinda get where I was coming from? Also I love your rants, you are v knowledgeable lol

okay so... i saw some of that going around too. and it doesn't really make sense to me for multiple reasons. first of all, some people already decided that ID would suck even before it came out, they decided Claire would get no screen time and decided they'd ruin her character and... all of that before they'd seen more than the trailers? and I just don't get it, why not give it a chance before judging it?

i do understand that people want Claire to have a big role and want her to get the chance to shine. i want that, too! she absolutely deserves that! and I get being scared of what would become of it! i was nervous beforehand that they'd take the characters (both of them) into a direction that I'd find disappointing. when I pressed play on the first episode I was terrified as much as excited, because there was no way of knowing before seeing it.

but i do think it's important to press play and watch for yourself before condemning the entire thing.

and as for blaming Leon for Claire allegedly not having a large enough part in it? it... makes zero sense. it's not like they're living breathing people who have an actual say in what happens? :'D overall I find it weird how readily people jump to attack other characters to defend their own favorites. I don't understand this whole shooting down others to lift your own fave. there are ways to appreciate a character without hating on everyone else.

(that is not to say you're not allowed to hate on characters! of course you can hate characters! but like. you don't need to hate whoever you deem a "rival" just because. it's not a competition.)

and yeah, there is a long history of misleading promotion where a character is advertised as a main character and then sidelined to only appear for a bit. and it was a possibility. but it didn't happen, and I for one am happy about it. (what I am disappointed in, is that they made it seem like Leon and Claire would work together, while they did that for like two and a half minutes. but well. can't win them all)

(tangentially, they did something a bit similar to Chris in re8 too, the promotions relied super heavily on him but from what i understood (without having actually played the game, so correct me if i'm wrong!) he was a playable character for a very small portion of the game. so. they used him and his fanbase for promotion a little misleadingly. so yeah it is a real concern that could've happened)

like you said, Leon might've gotten more screentime if you only count the minutes. but Claire was an integral part of the story, she was fighting for the things she believes in, she got to be fierce (that headbutt is like the highlight of the movie :'D) and it wouldn't have been the same without her.

yeah it is bullshit how Capcom just threw Jill aside, and are tragically underusing a lot of their female characters. and I'm not trying to excuse that. but I do think they have a general problem with forgetting all of their characters except for Chris and Leon, who have gotten to be in most things (even tho to be fair they're not getting a fully consistent storyline either but. they do get screentime?). they create the most wonderful characters and then forget all about them, and it sucks.

but that's a problem with the people who make these movies and games. not the characters in said movies and games. so taking your own disappointment out on other characters and their fans is just... counter productive at best. it just leads to anger and resentment and the absolutely pointless fandom wars no one benefits from. i, for one, am too old for that bullshit.

so yeah, I get what you're coming from. it is so frustrating to see the unfounded hate. and tbh I've seen Leon get quite a bit of it. but that just comes with the territory I guess. he is popular, and some people react badly to it. which doesn't make sense to me, personally, but hey it is what it is.

I know it's easier said than done, but try to focus on the good! we got new content, Leon and Claire both got to be important parts in the story, they both kicked ass and looked amazing doing it! for the most part they both felt very in character, and I have high hopes we might get more in the form of season 2! :3

also, I'm glad you're enjoying my ramblings :'D I have a lot of thoughts but I usually get carried away rambling and I'm never sure how much sense i make, lol.

[ace-trainer-risu]

omg i would like to know the hated author...

OH thank you for asking I was. of course secretly deeply hoping someone would ask so I would have an excuse to go off. 

The author [dramatic pause] is VE Schwab!

Now I will pause (again) to say that I just spent like two hours writing a six page long essay on exactly why I dislike her as an author (I don’t know anything about her as a person so no feelings there) but then when I reread it I started to feel worried that it might hurt someone’s feelings who really likes her as an author, so this is a slightly redacted version.

But basically there are three things I hold against her.

For context, I’ve only actually read one book by her, A Darker Shade of Magic. But it’s not just that I didn’t like it. It’s that it left me angry. I read it a year ago and I still get furious when I think about it. It is, in my opinion, a profoundly toxic and hateful book. 

While at the same time also being a very boring and bland book.

So that’s point one) I just don’t get the hype. I read ADSM b/c I saw it recommended everywhere, but I really don’t get why? It’s not very well-written. Purely on a technical level her writing isn’t bad, but it’s not good either, its very...okay. The world building was really disappointing (it’s about four alternate worlds but they’re all almost. exactly the same. which was super disappointing. and also she seems to be under the illusion that london is like the most important place in the world?) The characters are bare minimum sketches, they basically feel like she came up with an initial concept and then never went any further. The characters aren’t particularly likeable or compelling, either, except for one character who...I felt like you weren’t actually supposed to like, lol. The pacing was actively bad. The plot doesn’t really start till around halfway through the book. I actually started ASDM twice and gave up on it the first time b/c it was boring. when I tried again the second time, I thought I had only read maybe the first quarter of it on the first try b/c I couldn’t remember anything happening, but it turned out I had actually read about half, its just that nothing happens in the first half. 

to be fair, I have read reviews of a different book she wrote which specifically praised the writing, so maybe she just did a shitty job on this book and she writes better in her other work?

point two) if you only pay attention to the text of the story, it’s fine! again, its not particularly compelling but its fine. but if you pay any attention to the subtext, its...really misogynistic and queerphobic. its incredibly pervasive through the whole text. 

for one thing, the female protagonist is introduced and is immediately like “Oh. I hate all other women.” (No one asked!) which is not necessarily bad in and of itself, except that...not only is her sexism never called out or contradicted, its actually actively supported by the text. there’s only one other important female character, and she’s Evil(TM), and also gets killed. the very few other female side characters are either someone’s mom or are portrayed as being extremely shallow and vapid and silly. they act exactly how the female protag despises women for acting. so...I don’t think its intentional but you’re left with this weird impression that the female protag is completely justified in her internalized misogyny b/c apparently all other women ARE bad. also, the female protag likes wearing boy’s clothes, which is great, but there’s this weird vibe that girls who don’t wear boy’s clothes are like, dumb and bad and sexist. I think the author is trying to critique repressive female clothing in the past (female character is from regency era england) but she does it really badly and instead accidentally(?) implies that girls who wear skirts are like. dumb sluts. a very weirdly sexist take. like it literally feels like this book hates women and specifically hates them for wearing “women’s” clothes.  *also not the point but it’s really funny that of all the time periods to critique for restrictive clothes, she picked regency england. ah yes, the torturous constraints of...empire waisted dresses and minimal or no corsets. dastardly! 

for another thing, the queer rep is just...so so bad. there’s one explicitly multisexual person (bi or pan isn’t specified but something along those lines) who gets tricked by a manipulative man older than himself heavily implied to be gay (bad) and gets horribly injured and almost dies (bad) basically just so the straight male protag can have angst (bad!). 

the manipulative guy implied to be gay is in turn being magically controlled by...a different! manipulative older man (bad) and is strongly implied to be sexually abused by that man (bad) and the straight main character literally never tries to help him in any way (bad) and ultimately kills(ish) him (bad) but it’s revealed that he basically chose to die (bad) because it was like, the only way he could ever escape his suffering (very bad!!) and the main character then! uses! his dying body! in a spell! to save his own fucking life! and basically disposes of his still alive! body into hell like he’s garbage (so bad I’m literally still fuming of it over a year later)

and then there’s the guy who is manipulating that guy, who is an older man heavily implied to serially abuse and assault teenage boys and young men (bad!!). he also dies too which is fine and good in and of itself...*

except for the fact that of our three queer-adjacent characters, two die and one is horribly injured and almost dies. two are abused and one is an abuser. two are used as angst-fodder for straight characters and one is literally sacrificed, coldly and selfishly and without his consent, to save a straight character’s life. they’re all closely associated with injury and death and trauma and abuse and it’s suggested that death is the only escape. 

subtextually speaking, this book hates queer men and punishes them for existing. 

*note: I want to specifically say that “enjoying abusing teen boys” does not automatically make a person gay or queer. that’s not what being gay/queer means. HOWEVER, there is a long and ugly history of gay men being portrayed as predators who deliberately prey on and abuse younger men, and this character plays directly into that stereotype, and that is why I included him. not b/c he’s positive queer rep but exactly because he isn’t

thirdly) about a year ago there was a bit of buzz about ve schwab writing a book with a canon asexual character...except I looked into it and a) it’s not actually canon at all; the book only says he’s disinterested in sex, which is by NO MEANS the same and it’s shitty to conflate the two when there’s a vast spectrum of asexual experiences (to be clear, it would be one thing if the text said he was asexual AND disinterested in sex. to say he’s disinterested in sex and that equals asexuality is a whole other thing, and is wrong), and schwab then confirmed on her twitter that he’s meant to be asexual. That’s not the same its not the same and we all know its not the same. b) this character is in fact a villain, which is frustrating when asexuality is FREQUENTLY and harmfully associated with people being heartless and unfeeling and evil and like, literal serial killers; to be fair, as I understand it the majority (all?) of the characters in these books are villains, so that’s less bad, but to be fair again, apparently this specific character is also portrayed as being, like “a sociopath” which is ableist AND goes back to all the stuff I said above. and c) what really annoys me is that in her tweets at the time she was very smug about this and fully patted herself on the back. she did half-assed, unresearched “rep” which wasn’t even actually canon and then acted like she was doing ace ppl a favor. excuse me, I didn’t actually ask to be represented by you. 

SO YEAH that’s not the...medium and short of it. the long and short is reserved for a Cursed(TM) google doc filled with my rage. but the tl;dr is that I think she’s an overhyped writer who wrote a profoundly misogynistic, homophobic book and trumps herself up over rep she didn’t actually do a good job of providing. and I would definitely never read another one of her books. The End!