#truly the most phenomenal character of this game

[dokutah-exe]

Thoughts on the gockroach terrorist now that you’ve played Darknights Memoir?

serious take: W is the most tragic of tragic soldier stories because she is the embodiment of both what the system creates and the system itself creating; she believes she can play the game to escape the game without realizing that she will be perpetually playing that game even if she made it to the top. even in her ideal success states, all her achievements are equivalent to the ashes she perpetually spends hanging out with. and it hurts: it deeply hurts to know that someone could experience so much suffering, and so much hardship, and yet gleefully be able to dole it back out without hesitation; because up until that point its genuinely all she knows, and it is all she could reciprocate

this is why its so heartwarming to see her, despite this herculean level of struggle from her own stunted emotional intelligence from the sheer circumstances that still continue to dictate her mind, that she still finds something close to what she can call a family. that despite everything in that brief moment, she can still mourn Ines her own way, and despite everything still managing to befriend Paprika between the two of them. that despite all that there is still some hope in the capacity to heal even in the belief that you might be too far gone; that perhaps there really is no turning back, and that you are becoming that which damned you to this life to begin with. that you're becoming me; or rather, what i used to be. she has every right to hate me, fucking id hate me too if i knew that shit

the comical scenarios and advertising and events and funny spinning roach for some people can dilute the core of her tragedy by means of making her more funnier in personality, but to me i like it in the sense that it feels as though its the first steps towards having an existence outside of spinning a cog and being a cog. she gets to have fun for once. she gets to not be regarded as an insane, awful terrorist only capable of spinning misery and hate and sadness and woe. she can take back an actual semblance of a life outside of the definition of her pain, even if its being a goofy phantom thief knockoff running around stealing shit. she's happy. she gets to be happy, for once.

please let her be happy.

[ganondoodle]

totk is like a highly polished alpha build of a game to me

graphic- fantastic, i just love botws style of graphics, its the perfect blend of something more realistic but very stylized and timeless

visual design- great, i cant stand anything sonau (zonai), and ganondorfs concept art is better than final (and still involves lots of annyoing stereotypes) but overall still pretty solid

sound design- phenomenal, it really is, the underground, the rain on the parasail? unmatched, already loved botw but they really outdid themselves here

music- possibly best in the series to me, like ... theres so many fantastic tracks, in isolation i love so many of them so much ... which sucks bc being connected to such a lackluster rest sours them badly

mechanics- working but undercooked/unfit for the world, its impressive they got ultrahand working at all, but its still clunky/quickly frustrating and badly balanced also contributes to utterly destroying botws world design- this ability was simply not made for this world and is in the end both detrimental to it and itself, bc that mechanic could have truly shined in a game REALLY build around it (... if they could manage to balance it well and stop handing you the solution, it would be funyn if it werent so sad how many times the game literally doesnt even make you engage with its main gimmick bc it just hands you the prebuild thing) time reversal breaks every puzzle/challenge, also unbalanced, ceiling jump is the most harmless but i still think it lets you skip too much

writing- worst in the series, where would i even start with that, not a single character is written well/interestingly, most detrimentally the main characters, .. like all of them, zelda, ganondorf, rauru... and the "story", its barely even bare bones, its plain cardboard with an old divine right propaganda slogan written on, continuity in a direct sequel is non existant, there is no follow up on anything, why did they call it that when they dont seem to have any love for anything botw did given how much they trample over everything it established, i struggle to believe they actually thought this was good, theres has to have been trouble during development

world design/changes- a joke, ... i dont know how people dont feel scammed by how little was actually changed, no, a few rocks sprinkled througout are not meaningful changes, i was one of the people not worried about them reusing the world bc i loved this world and was sure theyd meaningfully change it- god how wrong i was; the sky and underground are both like the bare bones with textures and placeholder rewards/points of interest, they both do not matter at all and their potential is yet again utterly, painfully, wasted and only add more points of destruction to the map in case of the sky, and both add confusion about everything, not the good kind of intriguing confusion, the bad nothing makes sense confusion it really does seem like they put some quick changes into every main point of interest where most players would go to make them think they changed things when .. they only changed these parts, barely, either bc they knew everyone would skip around the world anyway so it wouldnt be worth it, or bc its ... unfinished

game design/structure- baffling (bad), connected to the point above, but it truly is beyond me why they repeated the exact same structure as botw while removing what made that work, why would you repeat every point of interest of the previous game, i know zelda games always have their regions and thats where stuff happens, but they REUSED THE SAME WORLD, you CANNOT repeat the exact same points in the same world, you just cant, its the same places, the same characters, the same structure (aka dungeons being less interesting/easier titans (divine beasts) with a paint job in structure), you basically erase the well integrated ancient tech civilization to replace it with another, not well integrated, more boring and overly pushed into your face, ancient tech civilization and make them the answer to everything that ever was (BORING), the same story structure (but worse, like the memory system but remove what made it work in botw)- AND THEN repeat the same points in the underground too? thats bonkers, literally baby bananas

dungeons/puzzles - worse than botw by FAR, as mentioned above, dungeons are less interesting titans with a paintjob (plus an extraordinarily awful cutscene, which is repeated like FIVE TIMES almost word for word), they serve no purpose but to act like they are totally real traditional dungeons when they are not, they are laughing at you, shrines are back with a paintjob with less interesting puzzles (if they even have one given how many just give you a spirit orb knock off) that can all be skipped, though the puzzles can often not even be called that (put log over gap WOOOAH puzzle) among many awful and unecessary tutorial ones (its not bad to have easy ones, but aside from the few ones that take all your stuff away -omg restrictions in MY freedom tm game??- which are the best ones, to have none be even a little challenging or not utterly skippable without even using glitches, its like they didnt even try to stop you from cheating, which is like being given a skip button with no strigns attached, doesnt even let you feel smart bc you dont have to try to cheat)

UI/controls- awful, you cant tell me this was tested by real people playing for longer than 10 minutes at once, how did the ghosty sage control scheme and arrow/weapon fusing get through this, HOW, its unbelievably tedious and detrimental to any fun (as im doing with my rewrite, a crafting system would have been so good here ..... like a proper simple crafting system, have the materials, craft your new arrow types in stacks etc) the ghost sages are not only utterly useless in combat, but clog your screen, play distracting animations as soon as you look at a slope, you constantly accidentally activate them or the wrong one bc its mapped to the main interact button!!! if you use them say goodbye to your framerate, fights are now spent chasing after some ghost guy whos actively running away from you, they do not invoke a feeling of 'connection' to my 'friends', they are invoking feelings of hatred and frustration

performance- ... passable (if you dont have the sages out .... well, it runs better than pokemon scarlet so i guess its fine, the lag when closing and opening the menu is rly annoying, especially combined with the finger and patience breaking menues and how often you need to open a game pasuing menue, but fights with a monster horde AND the sages out? yeah no its as bad as pokemon scarlet at its worst, not to mention the chaos of having five useless ghost scramble around you getting knocked around by enemies)

price- a scam, this game is not worth 70 bucks, its just not, if you get a used copy and dont spend more time in it than it takes for you to just go straight to the main points, or if you dont care about anything else but dicking around with a clunky building system ... then you can have some fun with it yeah ..... still not worth 70 money, theres probably better building games out there for less too

it jsut feels not done, not finished, its presentation and some parts are highly polished and their marketing for it is unlike anything i have ever seen, but its so .... unfinished, no amount of epic visuals is gonna let me not think of this game being half done at best, after what, 6 years of development no less? with most assets already being there and being reused unaltered??

(i am holding tightly onto the theory of it either having an extremely troubled development that is being hidden bc of their reputation, or some sort of neglect in order to focus on other more lucrative projects, this is just all too weird to me)

[the-kingshound]

Warning inane ramble incoming, it’ll probably be annoying I apologize. (*_ _)人 I spent the last several days reading every post here. I managed to convince myself to start liking some (sorry about that I’m sure it was annoying to get all those notifications) I have this weird thing where I get nervous about liking older posts cuz I mean it’s been a long time and it’s unprompted so that’s weird right? It feels weird like I’m doing something wrong or I’m being annoying, I considered reblogging too but somehow that felt worse? Sorry I am not good with social rules they confuse me both on and offline Idk my brain is wrong and I’m just a nervous socially anxious snail. (＞﹏＜)

Anyways just wanted to gush about how much I love it here and I’m never leaving (´꒳`) ♡ First and foremost Yniol has a special place in my heart they will forever be my favorite bestie (*＾ω＾)人(＾ω＾*), yes I am biased as my partner is grey and though they don’t play IFs they were thrilled to learn about your character! Also your writing is just phenomenal, your fans are fun and creative, your characters give such warm and positive energy I love them so much they’re perfect, the inclusivity is such chefs kiss ( ´ з `) 🤌🏻✨, the angst is delicious, the fluff is so sweet and comforting, the spice is ... very blush-worthy (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄). This has been a journey I laughed, I cried, I giggled, and I blushed and I have enjoyed every bit of it from pasta discourse to Moldien cult wars to Arthur bunnies, I’ve had the most wonderful time. Now my mind is gonna be filled with Arthurian stuff for months my maladaptive daydreaming is having the time of its life I have a road trip next week and I’m so looking forward to just staring out a window for 6+hours while my Hound's just alternating daydream adventures with the cast o(≧▽≦)o. Also speaking of your amazingly wonderful, sweet, and supportive cast I have decided my (though I love them all) favorite poly pairings are Arthur/Morien and whole crew polycule I’d sell my soul for those but I 100% understand why you can’t really do that. I don’t think I have the endurance in me to code a single poly no matter how much I wish it so the fact you’re doing any let alone several is just god tier you are awe inspiring.

Alas I have rambled far far to much I wish I could be more eloquent in expressing just how much I enjoyed experiencing all of this but for now this is the best I can do (╥ω╥). Thank you for sharing your wonderful work it’s truly a gift to experience. ଘ(੭ˊ꒳​ˋ)੭✧ I wish you wealth, health, and all the best in all your creative endeavors. -🐌

No, please please do not apologize. You made my entire week <3 This ask is straight up going into the folder where i keep my motivation to write and to be just a little proud of my work, thank you so so much for sending it.

For anyone having the same thoughts about liking or reblogging old posts: please do it. When I see the notifications, get very giddy and pleased, and I hope you are enjoying the food. Liking, and especially reblogging things, even more so if you add tags and reactons, not only fills me with glee but it also reminds me of old asks that I want to reblog again for new followers. So yeah, I love it, please feel free to go on a liking/reblogging spree!

You are so relatable for the maladaptive daydreaming (this game was absolutely born out of my own mental movies), I wish I could speed up the writing and editing for the next update so you can read it while you travel but I'm afraid it's a lost cause (I have been working on things, even now, but I am currently rewriting like half of it and while it is way better it takes sooo much time and energy). Knowing my characters and story are in someone's thoughts it the best kind of reward I need. I will never likely monetise this game, so this is the thing I wish to leave people with, and I hope the characters can be comforting and keep you company <3

You have no idea how much I would love to write the full polycule... maybe one day :,) But don't lose hope for the Arthur/Morien poly yet, as I decided to cancel the Gwyar/Morien poly and now I have a potentially free slot. In any case, awww, please know that this ask made me so happy today and will be in my thoughts as tkh is in yours.

Please have a lovely day and a lovely week and also a very lovely trip! Thank you again so so much!!

[japhan2024]

Review of Smosh's Funeral Roast

I am harsh at times, but know it all comes from a place of love!

Spoilers under the cut

I live in Europe. This is relevant because of timezones: the funeral roast of Anthony Padilla was live at 6pm for them, meaning 3am for me. I am not the youthful insomniac I once was so I had to train my sleep schedule the entire week - otherwise I would miss it because I fell asleep. But I wanted to witness this live. I love smosh.

The trailer for this roast deserves an award: Ian and the cast have a movie night as suddenly the light turns blue and everyone but Ian freezes. He seems to know what's going on and discovers a zombie or ghost like Anthony levitating. The cast of the roast are all introduced and all play a gothic, churchy kind of character. See the full trailer here (it's currently at 666k views, how fun):

Around 1am I got impatient and decided not to wait for my alarm clock but to install myself on the couch, with a blanket and a scarf, and a hot cup of tea, god knows I would need it. I watched episodes of the Scott Pilgrim Netflix series to kill the time. The character Todd Ingram reminded me a lot of Anthony and I wonder whether Anthony has 'vegan superpowers' as well. Probably so.

Finally, the pre-show begins. This is pretty uneventful as they play a game and succesfully convince thousands of viewers to buy their tickets to the main show. I look at them. Everyone is gorgeous. But I can't look away from Ian and Anthony. And here is where I stray from actually reviewing the show to let my inner fangirl out: holy fuck they are hot. Me and my friends on tumblr have been making 'forgive me Father, for I have SINNED' jokes because his character, 'the pastor', just brings that out in people. We're not used to Ian in black, or in a robe, and he looks phenomenal. And then there is Anthony, clothed in a ridiculous Harry Styles-esque lace top with lace gloves, resting his head on Ian's shoulder. It's such a cute moment, Ian pushes him upright. He can be alive for a second before his funeral. My heart melts. Honerable mention: Courtney's bikini girl cleavage right behind Ian. The girls were ready to rock. Okay, okay, back to the review.

The room feels kind of small and a bit claustrophobic. The Smosh art dept. always steps up, so the stained glass "friendship never dies" high-five looks incredible, and the megachad-Anthony portrait hilarious. The casket is huge. But the props make the set look even smaller. I think the problem is the cameras. I realize how difficult camerawork is when you have multiple focus points to switch between, but next time they should do a lot of practice with this to streamline, to get everyone in the shot and better capture people's reactions to the roasts.

Ian walks in. He starts off with a bit about who Anthony is: a hot, hardworking guy with a big dick. Those are the main takeaways of his roasts.

Amanda is next. She looks beautiful but very wacky. Her deliverance and accent are stellar, though. She truly is top talent at Smosh. Her roasts are also some of the most scorching of the night. She doesn't shy away from calling out Anthony's past problematic behavior and less than stellar performance in the bedroom ("look it up!") She gets a round of applause and deservedly so.

Tommy follows with a kind of angry roast, and proceeds to read the will, from which nobody comes away unscathed. I feels like his words about Anthony supposedly hating the cast are a necessary evil. Just the same day Anthony posted his interview with Shayne on his personal channel. There we learned that Shayne didn't know before if Ian and Anthony actually had wanted to hire them. Anthony said they were very much involved, something I don't know whether to believe. As apparently, Ian never talked about it with Shayne either, for all those years. Shayne had also been very apprehensive when Anthony came back, not knowing what would happen and the first change was to boot the entire cast off the main channel. I feel like Tommy's roast puts the topic on the table and hopefully they will talk about it more until nobody has any doubt left.

Now I have to insert that one of my main critiques of the night is that lots of people both did a lot of obvious jokes (tattoos, leaving smosh, general appearance) and did not go hard enough. Anthony kind of has an awkward CEO vibe (he's not the ceo but still) about him that seems to make even the cast a bit wary of him. I had hoped for jokes about that.

Brandon Rogers is next and rightfully points out the lack of celebrities in the line-up. Doesn't Anthony have more friends who want to roast him? Either he doesn't or the rest of Smosh don't have access to them. Which is both fine, because it is a Smosh party after all.

Arasha comes in swinging with all kinds of Zoomer slang that I frankly don't understand but her deadpan delivery is like a breath of fresh air. She ends with a very nice message. That kind of undercuts her roasts though, I wish she would have been meaner.

Now it is time for the musical half-time show, which actually deserves its own review. Performed by Angela and Chanse, this is incredible. By far, the most professional part of the evening. These are no theater kids, as they still call themselves. These are Broadway acTORS! I was really taken away by their talent. Not only do they act, but they also sing amazingly? Did you hear Angela do screamo?! And Chanse's riffs? They pointedly mention the sexual tension between Ian and Anthony, both on- and off screen. This has been occupying my mind ever since. Wow, sorry I went fangirl-mode again. But the halftime show simply is that good. Keith makes an appearance at the end and brings the show back down to earth with his humor.

The biggest surprise guests are next in what I can only describe as Dan telling the horny tale of his years long obsession with Anthony, and the many, many times he unloaded on the 'sexy Anthony' calender (which is a real calender, I was there when it came out but was broke at the time, darnit). Dan and Phil have been shedding their PG personas on their own channels for a while now, but for those who don't watch them daily this December - they're doing gamingmas and it's chaos - it is shocking what X-rated stuff comes out of their mouths. Anthony is visibly taken aback. Good!

As the show progresses, Ian keeps moderating as the pastor. It is great to see him so in control and enjoying the roast of his best friend. The joke of Ian not being able to show his emotions comes up a lot, but today I see him mainly just having fun.

Of course, then there is Bikini Girl, whom I had high hopes for, maybe too high. She is hilarious, but nothing really stings. Courtney does also direct the whole show, so super kudos to her. I just don't think she has the best roasts. She is followed by Rhett and Link, who just do their regular thing. It is funny but not very original. You can only hear so many tattoo jokes before it gets old. We do see Link's bare torso, so a win for fangirls (gender neutral).

Then Shayne, or should I say the Chosen has his turn. He is absolutely in character and does great. I just don't know if the Chosen is the best person to deliver roasts. It feels more like a Shayne party than a roast of Anthony. Which enough people love all the same, I'm sure.

Angela is 'the vessel', a possessed girl, reading the roasts from the audience. These roasts are very mid (they should have included mine! /j), but her delivery is again stellar. Smosh is really lucky to have her.

And last but not least, Ian goes on a second roasting spree. Only, it isn't a roast? He just makes fun of Anthony’s baby picture and then proceeds to tell Anthony how grateful he is for him, how he's so glad they are friends again and that he loves him? Anthony is crying by this time, which makes the moment even more tender.

Of course, Anthony has to do a counter-roast. It is apparent that he is still affected by all the roasting or 'love-bombing' as Amanda calls it. And he's not as good at live comedy yet. Still, his jokes are funny and really in Anthony's own style. He concludes with Ian's quote of being happy to burn Smosh to the ground with him. I knew that quote would be ingrained in Anthony's mind. It was one of the sweetest things Ian had ever said to him, after all. Until Ian has now told him he loves him, of course.

And then it was 5 am. I got a healthy two hours of sleep in! I came away from this roast with a content smile and a full heart. This was well worth the ticket, the staying up late. I am happy to be a member and support them monthly, I've loved their humor even before they started their youtube channel. I love Smosh. I'm so happy that Anthony is back. Smosh is whole again. And it brings out that light in Ian's eyes. He is funny in an unhinged way again. I truly love Anthony and Ian and their dumb videos. I want them to continue to make them forever. These kinds of live shows are fun. But Ian and Anthony truly shine in their off the walls absurdist sketches.

Special shout-out to my bestie @only-frann who I could scream at this whole day.

[lmaonade]

yakuza 5 was such an insanely well made and well written game but you truly have to love and care about the characters a lot. it's the kinda game you need to play the first 1-4 of or it won't mean much to you.

but also i think it had the best combat of any of the brawler yakuza games. it felt like the pinnacle of the clunky ps3-era engine i know and love from the series.

the dragon engine is smooth and pretty and all and i hear judgment does all kinds of wonderful things with it but yakuza 5 just has a special place in my heart. it feels So Very Yakuza in All the Right Ways. it is a staple of the franchise to me. my yakuza ranking is probably

0 > 7 > 5 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 4 > 6 > Gaiden

8 will be high up on this list i'm sure, but i haven't finished it. also while i liked Gaiden for filling the blanks storywise, and seeing a new side to kiryu, the combat/gameplay loop didn't stick out to me much. the ending of Gaiden felt like a callback to the ps3 era games too. the last like 2 hours of that game was phenomenal. just didn't care for most of the systems or the Agent style that much

also i love yakuza 6. i just love the other games more

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

Hello my fellow HADES enjoyer !!

*stole your asks now you have to answer 🔫*

1. Favorite God

2. Favorite character in general

3. Favorite Boon

4. Favorite weapon

5. Favorite song!!!

I will gladly answer all these questions because I cannot shut up about this game lmao

1. My favorite God is probably Hermes. I know he's a little different from the other Gods with his Boons and in the story line but I enjoy seeing him!

He's very fun and I love his design. Artemis is a very close second, though. I really love her teen vibes lol

2. It's so hard to just choose one ARGH

But it's Nyx. I love everything about her so much. She's also one of my favorite goddesses in Greek mythology and I think they did an excellent job with her.

Purple is my favorite color, and I love the night! She's my absolute favorite <3

Dusa is tied with her, though. Dusa is just the best. She works too hard and doesn't get enough recognition for it!!

I also really love her relationship with Meg :)

3. I absolutely LOVE Dionysus' boons. (Again, they're purple lmao)

But the fact that you get your enemies drunk is so hilarious to me 💀

Trippy shot is probably my favorite but I also love the drunken flourish. Especially when using Aegis!! (The shield)

4. This is a hard one....

The shield got me through game okay lol

It's just a perfect weapon in my opinion. You have a ranged attack, a melee attack AND you can block attacks!!

My favorite aspect to use is Chaos but Beowulf can be really fun if you get a good boon for your shot!!

If you're having trouble with the game, USE THE SHIELD!! mainly for it's ability to block. If you get divine dash on top of that, you're basically invincible lmao

But what I use the most are the twin fists. You can get in so much damage in such little time, it's an absolute blast!!

My favorite aspect is Demeter, the magnet upper cut is just SO GOOD!!! but I do use the aspect of Gilgamesh from time to time!!

5. Definitely "In the blood" I legitimately cried the first time I heard it.

It's absolutely phenomenal.

But, as every other Hades player, I do stop and listen to Eurydice sing "Good Riddance"

If I'm feeling a little softer, I love to put on "On the Coast"!!

It was truly a magical moment hearing that for the first time.

I'm waiting for your answers!!

[meeblo]

favorite..AND least fav arknights operators?

Favorites gameplay-wise are probably Muelsyse and Jessica the Liberated. Their kits are both very dynamic and fun to use, with a focus on smart positioning I find to be quite engaging, with optimizing the adjacent tiles for Muelsyse's ranged clone to split to or adjacent tiles to use Jessica's shield to allow her to change direction with.

Story-wise, there's too many to really narrow it down, so I'll pick some favorites by storyline. Amiya deserves a mention from the main story, she's a very interesting take on a paragon protagonist with distinct moments of fallibility and an allowance in the narrative for her to be wrong and then change as a result. Kal'tsit and Doctor are both fascinating as well, which is why it's such a shame that Kal'tsit is so maligned for talking too much in the story (she really doesn't) and Doctor is often just boiled down to a self insert (they really aren't). Ch'en wins "most improved" in the main story, I disliked her on her first introduction but really came around as the main story progressed with learning her backstory and scenes such as the end of episode 6/beginning of episode 7 (Dossoles Holiday Ch'en is still lame though). Mudrock is a very interesting figure, especially with how she fits with Big Bob as having chosen to leave Reunion behind and the differing lives they chose to lead afterwards; I'd love if we could get a flashback eventually of Mudrock speaking with Patriot before she left reunion, it would be a fascinating conversation for sure. From the Rhine Lab storyline, Muelsyse and Saria are my two favorites, with Silence earning an honorable mention as well; Muelsyse I wrote an analysis post up about a while ago (pre lone trail but it still mostly holds up). It's hard to boil down why I like Mumu and Saria most of the Rhine Lab storyline in a few sentences, can't think of how to make it succinct. Kroos and Saga are the standouts of the Sui storyline, with Who is Real in particular being the most interesting Sui event in my opinion with the subject matter it covers about morality as related to perception and the nature of value within art. Kroos is possibly my favorite alter in the game with how her files and story in events gives you enough to read between the lines about what changed her to bring her to who she became and what elements of the younger Kroos remain. Goldenglow is a standout lead for one of the best vignette events, it's very interesting structurally with how it nonlinearly shifts PoVs and timeframes by vignette. Texas, Penance, and Lappland all are phenomenal in Il Siracusano, which is in contention for being my favorite event story; it's hard to sum up exactly why other than that Il Siracusano is simply just that good. Jessica in Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures is phenomenal; it's the best event they've released recently (though I was too busy to ready Zwillingsturme so I can't judge there). Exusiai deserves a mention as well; she was my first six star, but she also has a lot of interesting story connections buried beneath the surface despite never truly headlining an event story.

As for least favorites, I don't really have much I outright dislike. I suppose Ch'en alter, if only because it means Ch'en will likely never get a (narratively) good alter now and thus will never be the focus of a story again because that slot was already taken up with a waste of a summer alter. I wish we could have had a main story Ch'en alter instead. In general I hate whenever a limited operator is meta on principle, because the limited operator system is inherently predatory and hostile to people especially those who haven't been playing since year 1, though if I must pick one I'd say Skadi the Corrupting Heart annoys me most because the roles she fills are highly effective and simply cannot be approximated by any other operators. Thank god for the 5th anniversary free character finally alleviating that.

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

spoilers for great ace attorney i want to talk about sholmes

I really think there is something so beautiful about how incredibly hard Mikotoba matches Sholmes's freak.

I know people say in retrospect that Sholmes and Yujin's performance at the SS Grouse establishes beyond a shadow of doubt that Sholmes was simply testing Ryunosuke and Susato in every previous Dance of Deduction, but I think that ignores an important part of Sherlock in canon *and* Herlock in TGAA-- the character is extraordinarily awkward around people.

While Herlock is a lot more charismatic and boisterous than Sherlock ever was, it's still the case that no one else is in his speed-- not because it's fast, not because it's slow, but because he works different. He talks at people as much as people talk at him and there is a genuine disconnect between other characters and him that is usually played for laughs, but that makes characters startled when they actually see exactly what he means every once in a while, because they realize how far out he usually is from where they're standing.

Even Iris, his daughter, can't always tell what's on his mind or explain his behavior perfectly. His mood swings, ideas, plans and ultimately social life is entirely his, and no one else's. And he does it like a pro, but it is still a profoundly lonely experience.

So when Mikotoba comes back to Britain and they get to do the Holmes & Watson bit like they used to, it's staggering how in sync they both are. Yes, Sholmes doesn't always make himself understood by Mikotoba, but Mikotoba treats him like no one else treats him-- they're finishing each other sentences, they trust each other completely, they are dancing around these cases and it's the most fun they've never had with anyone else.

It's the kind of nuance that I think fandom sometimes doesn't grasp super well when the subject is relationships: let's not get it twisted, it is TGAA canon that Iris read Mikotoba's old notes and went on to dramatize them as the most homosexual relationship in British magazines at the turn of the century, there is a lot there, they're obviously more intimate than friends usually are. But it's literally more profound than simply them being gay for each other, they have no one else in their lives who they can be these people with.

Even if Sholmes was 100% committed to treating the legal duo as equals, Ryunosuke is still a stick in the mud, Susato is still a fangirl, even Kazuma is too focused on himself and his mission to really give him what he wants. To Dance with them he had to use training wheels and change the dynamic; what will they do if I'm wrong? How will this go if I push this way? And, yeah, he was alright with it, it was just another moment in his life where people around him don't quite get him, and he took advantage of it, but...

Like, shit, I think it says something enormous that tap dancing is Mikotoba's instrument, and only really comes in when he's around, and it compliments Herlock so well. He can't have this anywhere else. No more games, yeah, because they're on the clock and there's a lot at stake, but no more games because finally he can just be himself, with someone who's not gonna think he's weird or too much or not enough.

I'm sure they'd make a great couple, that goes without saying, but they make such perfect soulmates that it really got me emotional to see them solving a mystery together. Sherlock's aloofness is not an act and Mikotoba sometimes has just as much difficulty dealing with his whims as everyone else, but they match each other's freak perfectly, and that kind of connection is iron clad on a Gilgamesh-and-Enkidu-first-story-ever-told level for us. That shit is so rare and I think the writers did a phenomenal job in illustrating it.

As a guy who keeps writing about people feeling complete after suffering a lot to get there, it really got to me that to truly feel complete, all Herlock needs is for his best friend to visit him and indulge him in his interests.

[izunias-meme-hole]

Top 15 Final Fantasy Villains

(In My Opinion)

Number 1. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII) - Sephiroth is one of the hardest bosses in gaming and a genuine horror villain. He is a tragic monster born from science, and a loyal “son” fo his alien mother, Jenova, but he’s still scary as hell thanks to his god complex, unlimited strength, ethereal vibes, years of experience, his ability to live off of pure spite just so he can make the lives of his enemies (and Cloud) complete hell. His appearance in of itself is creepy due to how beautiful, yet unsettling it is, thanks to his silver hair, green snake-like eyes, and perfect physique which is complimented by a black coat. However the most dangerous things about him are that he’s completely delusional, his strength is unmatched, and just how far he’s willing to go to distort other peoples sense reality, specifically Cloud’s sense of reality. Sephiroth a tragic character and a phenomenal villain.

Number 2. Kefka (Final Fantasy VI) - Were it not for Sephiroth’s existence, and the fact that this clown’s debut game being at the end of an era, Kefka would definitely be number 1 on here, and get more respect. Aside from that, Kefka is basically what Majora is to the Zelda series. A completely insane, and legitimately funny villain with a desire to destroy everything, however the difference is that Kefka is a mere jester with magic powers that became god! Plus he actually did send the world into ruin, but because of a little group of heros with hope, he was utterly defeated. So while Sephiroth is indeed ethereal, delusional as hell, and a horrifying nemesis, Kefka is the better manifestation of the pure unadulterated evil a person can bring, with the right tools.

Number 3. Ardyn (Final Fantasy XV) - Ardyn Lucis “Izunia” Caelum is the near perfect mixture between Sephiroth and Kefka in a way. He’s got the same “funny man wants to watch the world burn” vibes like Kefka, but he’s also a creepy, vengeful, tragic, and very personal villain, much like Sephiroth. Ardyn was once a messiah, a healer who was going to become a king, before he was betrayed by his brother, Somnus, and the gods, and cursed to be made immortal via daemons. So after centuries of imprisonment, he decides to take revenge upon his own kin, AND the gods. A simple motive, but in all honesty the amount of trolling he does in order to achieve  it, is truly gut wrenching sometimes, and it gives you the motivation to plunge your blade into his chest, but at the same time… you kinda feel slightly bad while doing it too for some reason. He's a villain that you love, hate, and pity in the end.

Number 4. Kuja (Final Fantasy IX) - Kuja is one of the more unique Final Fantasy villains because of his personality. He’s a narcissist that wants to destory, which isn’t new for most JRPG villains, but he’s also flamboyant as hell, and talks as if he’s in some kind of play where the world is his stage. He isn’t funny like Kefka, nor is he as intimidating as Sephiroth, but you can feel that wasn’t the route the writers were taking with his character. If anything he’s a pitiable, destructive, and flamboyant narcissist, but the Dissida series expands upon his character a lot in a way that kinda gets you hooked. So yeah, Kuja is unique alright.

Number 5. Ultimecia (Final Fantasy VIII) - This time manipulating witch is all style over substance, but god damn her style is really terrifying. She also has quite the presence, much like Sephiroth before her, so its not like she's sitting on her ass all day.

Number 6. Professor Hojo (Final Fantasy VII) - Wow, another FFVII villain, and it's Sephiroth's piece of shit mad scientist dad, Professor Hojo. This walking mass of complexes is a perfect example of the "Greater-Scope Villain." Never taking away from the Big Bad's spotlight, yet is responsible for almost half of the shit in the narrative. Though responsible for many things, his most noticeable crimes against nature were his experiments with Jenova, and the creation of Sephiroth, whom he also experimented on throughout his whole life. Pretty easy to see why Sephiroth was doomed from the start.

Number 7. Vayne Solidor (Final Fantasy XII) - A politician who wants to give the freedom of choice back to man, and preserve his family’s status and power. Those were Vayne’s end goals, and his personality is that of the ideal of a politician. He’s charismatic, ruthless, and levelheaded, so he’s surprisingly one of the more sane Final Fantasy villains too, but that doesn’t mean he’s the least evil.

Number 8. Garland/Chaos (Final Fantasy) - The first man to go by the title of Chaos. Jack Garland was seemingly a generic princess kidnapping video game villain, and he was the first boss in the first game. Granted he did have a small bit of backstory that explains that he was a former knight of Corneria who went mad, and wanted world dominations, but it wasn't enough at the moment. A couple of hours of gameplay later, along with some buildup of the entity known as "Chaos," we find out that Garland IS Chaos, and has practically made himself immortal thanks to a time loop he created with the Four Fiends, whom he sent into the future. Granted he's still a very simple antagonist if we're talking about goals, but in terms of how he went about it, he set up a standard for other villains in the series to surpass.

Number 9. Exdeath (Final Fantasy V) - Raw menace, ham and cheese, presence, permanently killing one of the main characters, and THE VOID. Exdeath was just a delightfully evil bastard, and it's all explained by him literally just being all of the evil in the universe that was sealed inside of a tree of all things. Bro really was "born evil."

Number 10. Rufus Shinra (Final Fantasy VII) - This man is the literal definition of a "Magnificent Bastard." Calm in almost every given situation, legitimately intelligent and level headed, smug as shit, and has the occasional "pet the dog" moments. Rufus Shinra pretty much has it all.

Number 11. Emet-Selch (Final Fantasy XIV) - He has gone by several names, led two empires, and lived thousands of lives, one of the most prominent antagonists in the entire game, but this man will forever be known as Emet-Selch, a.k.a Hades and Solus Soz Galvus. While he never appeared onscreen at first, we did know him as the founder of the Garlean Empire, and the emperor in the first 2 parts of the game, until we saw him in the flesh in Stormblood and Shadowbringers, and good lord he's surprisingly good. He does share some of Ardyn’s vibes, but compared to that glorious troll, Emet acts like a worn out and bitter old man, which is very fitting when you remember that he constantly reflects upon his great his old life was, and lived in a replica of his former home with the souls of his fallen comrades. Jesus Christ, no wonder his real name is Hades, the man is constantly surrounded by the dead in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Compared to the top picks he isn’t that great, but considering how well done he actually is, in-spite of how much people kinda oversell him, this is a decent placement.

Number 12. Sin (Final Fantasy X) - Ever wanted to see Jaws in a Final Fantasy game? Well that's what Sin was. Granted, it’s goddamn terrifying, unforgettable, and moves the plot, but it doesn’t really have much to it outside of being this eldirch whale monster that was created to destroy. Still it makes the goddamn most out of what it is.

Number 13. Ultima (Final Fantasy XVI) - Oh god where do I begin? There's a great amount of stuff that the writers of this great game got right when deciding to make their main villain a literal eldritch god, and he's honestly fascinating in some areas. His buildup is similar to Sephiroth's, his terror level is 100% its own thing that's worthy of him, and good god the way he operates is honestly something to behold. Yet he falls off the mark in a lot of ways. He isn't a bad villain, and honestly is overhated sometimes, but good god a fair amount of potential was missed.

Number 14. Golbez (Final Fantasy IV) - The first Darth Vader expy of the series, and goddamn he’s surprisingly good. Keyword good, not great.

Number 15. Caius Ballad (Final Fantasy XIII-2) - Another tragic immortal, however this one is a former time traveling protector. My thoughts on this guy are mixed. On one hand, as the main antagonist of FF XIII-2, he's great on a lot of angles. On the other hand he, much like half of the FF XIII trilogy's cast, suffer heavily from its writing. Still, his stripes aren't unearned.

[pontifexscourt12]

So i just watched Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!

and what better time to make my first big boy tumblr post then now. Cause i got big boy feelings over it and the general reception to scott pilgrim ive seen online.

Scott isnt that bad of a guy, the internet seems to think he is truly horrible and the new show seems to only cement that as a poor look on his character

I think everyone in the comic hurts people and act like an asshole to others needlessly, Scott being no different.

but what i think is different is that scott is a fucking oblivious idiot, and truly thats said with love, but he is the most obtuse man written.

All the horrible stuff he is accused of comes from people looking at his treatment of Ramona and Knives, and ill get to the ramona stuff in a second but lets get into knives.

So them "dating" is gross and weird, even if its really just knives obsessing with him and scott enjoying the attention. still not great man but scott obsesses over ramona instantly and thats not great either.

With the knives stuff it seems like people think that he never breaks it off, which he does, knives just reacts poorly since to her, its him being stolen rather then him being a dick.

Now i love ramona, truly the comic and movie version are great but they pale in comparison to her in the show since she becomes the protagonist.

And its awesome and fulfilling to watch he be the obsessive one to scott, a guy she new for one date and made out with a bit, then suddenly devotes all of her time looking for him

truly scotts game must be mythical in nature to do that to a woman like her, but on a bigger point the show also focuses more on her toxic traits and explicitly points out scotts more positive traits, her tendency to run from love and his unwillingness to give up on it.

I completely get why old scott went insane, going through all the comic stuff we see him go through just to have her run from him too, thats crushing. Maybe not crushing to the " invent time travel and then became a akuma-esque villain" extent ,but crushing nonetheless. When ramona ask if maybe he was right i was feeling really down , i thought they werent gonna end up together and it might end sweet but not the way i had hoped. but then

the savior

even older ramona

The best scene of any show ive seen recently, Both ramonas realizing that

1.They love both scotts, even if ones naive idiot and the other is batshit fucking insane(love works mysteriously )

and

2. You gotta stop running from what you love

AND THEY KISS,THEY BREAK THE ANTI KISS BARRIER AND SHE SAYS HES HER TRUE LOVE.

lordy lou hallelujah my heart grew 3 sizes that moment, im a sucker for true love

they both confront the inherent shittiness of each other and come out the other side, with better world and relationship.

God what good show

fucking sparks baby

Im sorry for anyone who had the horrible idea to read this long incoherent post about my love for these two assholes and this phenomenal franchise and show.

but its done now get outta here

[burningexeter]

Since just like with a certain voice actress on a 2000s Cartoon Network show, there's not a lot of information on in this case writer/director Shane Acker, the man behind the dark, twisted, action-horror post-apocalyptic animated film 9 from you guessed it 2009.

So here's all the trivia that I could find on the guy if anyone's interested in reading for yourself:

• In an interview, Acker cut to the chase on why he hasn't directed a movie since aforementioned 2009 and here's what he said — "Have a lot of the movies I've been attached to as director fallen into development hell, yes. But the bigger reason is mainly personal, I've just been living my own life. I would absolutely love to direct another feature or anything really but at the same time, I'm enjoying what I already have in life. I'm kind of a schlub that way right down to the fact that I'd nowadays rather sit back on a nice Sunday, watch football and eat bacon and pepperoni pizza than deal with modern studio executives who probably get higher pay every time they yell and scream in your ear".

• He's already listed The Brothers Quay, Don Hertzfeldt, Jan Svankmajer and brothers Christoph Lauenstein as influences previously however recently he's named Terrence Malick, Edgar Wright, Gore Verbinski, Jordan Peele and Richard Kelly as some of his favorite filmmakers.

• Speaking of favorites, he's given some of his favorite movies — Donnie Darko, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Dredd, The Watcher In The Woods (1980) and The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian (surprisingly).... then he gave some his favorite TV shows — Tales From The Crypt, Bob's Burgers, Squid Game, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Sons Of Anarchy.

• When asked what was it like working with Tim Burton since he was producer, Acker spoke high praise saying "I would work with him again if the time comes. Tim was a phenomenal producer who allowed for so much creative freedom while at the same time contributing his unique voice and view to the project".

• On the flip side, here's what he thought of the other producer Timur Bekmambetov — "He was very, very, very, very, VERY fucking russian as all hell. I'm surprised he was a Hollywood producer..... he was quite the interesting person".

• He does indeed have an idea for a new project that he not only wants to do but intends on having it be his second film as director, describing it as "The Incredibles crossed with Raiders Of The Lost Ark, it's an animated action-adventure with edge we haven't seen since honestly the early 2010s. I'm still deciding on whether it should be another PG-13 or an actual R".

• On modern media, here's his blatant thoughts on it so tough shit to any dope who reads this and gets offended because of stupid reasons — "I think it's been awful. There's barely any genuine storytelling now and instead it's all politics. It's all about representation, obnoxious wokeness, pandering, subverting expectations and shoving as much modern bullshit themes into them than actually telling stories with characters who you care about".

• He's most certainly not a fan of a certain film called Star Wars: The Last Jedi — "I know this is saying quite a lot since I've only been able so far to direct one feature but honestly I wish Last Jedi was never made at this point. Not only is it a truly terrible movie but it's created so much hostility, so much shilling, so much toxicity that it becomes unbearable. If this is that film's legacy than it's a failure".

• There is however one positive about all of this and it's that the one movie that he's excited for and interested in — what is it....

[weirdtinkerbellversion]

Just got out of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and I loved it so much but as always, I have thoughts and feelings. So here's the initial observation. FULL SPOILERS for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes BELOW you have been warned.

First of all, I loved the way they organized it and the fact that they kept the 3 acts clearly defined the same way the books did, and the opening scene is brilliant. Putting it at the forefront like that gives you all you need to know to understand Corio later. The acting is phenomenal, the songs (I could die). All in all, kudos. Absolutely brilliant. Now to the things I wish they had done differently.

First, changing the sequence of events in the arena. I understand we're on a time limit but there are details that to me, reading the book, I felt were too important not to put in. Examples below.

One: the fact that Lucy's poisoned water does not kill Wovey, only Dill. Don't get me wrong, they both get the point across and the fact that Lucy is in fact responsible for someone younger and weaker than her dying, but I feel like in the films, they established this stronger connection between Lucy and Wovey in a couple of scenes, including them holding hands as they walk into the games, and Wovey being killed by that bottle would have really pushed things in a way I would have liked to see.

Two: the way they changed Reaper and his behavior and his ending. What I loved about Reaper in the books was his defiance in silence. Everything he did for the tributes he did without ever saying a word, which in my opinion was more powerful than when he yells in the films, but that's a minor detail. What I didn't like was that he was killed by the snakes and we don't get to see Lucy use his graveyard and the flag against him, doing that little cat and mouse dance until he dies. His death in the movie was shot beautifully, with his arms wide, sitting among the dead bodies he compiled, poetic as fuck, but give me the book death because it says so much about both his and Lucy's characters.

Three: this is a more minor detail but I wish they hadn't changed the way Lysistrata handles Jessup's death and his rabies. Instead of her offering to save Lucy by sending all this water, it's Coryo who suggests it out of the blue and Lys doesn't like it.

My second issue with the film is that I felt act 3 was a little rushed in its storytelling. We get all the events for the most part but I felt like they were running out of time and trying to cram everything that happens in these last 45 minutes. For example, we see them hunting the Mockingjays but we never get an explanation, we never understand what they're doing (for viewers who have not read the book). And because of that, we see so much less of this hatred that Coryo has for the mockingjays that is so well set up in the book. We also get the results of Snow's aptitude test out of the blue as well. I wish we had gotten a little more insight into the life that he and Sejanus led for a bit to contextualize everything and to help us connect even more. Even Sejanus' exclusion from the trip to the lake and the relationship with the Covey made me a little sad because those moments in the books helped make the separation and realization of "betrayal" if you want to call it that even more poignant. It helped us see how truly selfish Coryo is and his lack of connection with anyone in that part of his life.

Third, I wish we had seen him throw away his mother's compact and his photos of his family and only keeping his father's compass as he leaves District 12. That moment in the book was so important for me. We see him becoming more like his father and throwing away the things that remind him of his mother and Tigris who were the kinder people in his life.

Anyway, this was a long rant about things that popped into my head while I was watching. The film is absolutely brilliant and I didn't want it to end and I want more songs and soundtracks and I'll definitely be rewatching it when I can.

[only-by-the-stars]

Hi, I don’t really know how to start this. But after I saw you mention you were quitting MiphLink fanfics I wanted to write something to you. I don’t really use tumblr, but I stumbled open yours from your AO3 works. I wanted to let you know how much your writing means to me. For some context, Breath of the Wild was my first Zelda game I ever tried and once I started the game Mipha quickly became one of my favorite characters. I was mesmerized by the cutscene she has in that one memory, Mipha’s touch. And when it came to Mipha or MiphLink or even the champions, it was such a creative outlet for me, and I loved to think up endless scenarios that I could pour into my own personal hobbies, drawing, writing, etc. And for me having something like that and just the game itself that I was really into has over the years provided me with such a sense of comfort, if I ever need to disassociate from life and its complexities I can always daydream, and that sort of thing became my muse. One thing however; was I couldn’t find people to relate to. With many of my interests, whether that be the Zelda games, or my interest in older music, or whatever it is I was or am fixated on, I always felt like I couldn’t find people who had the same common interests, or even if I could find people, a lot of times they held opposing viewpoints (in the case of Zelda, usually didn’t really like Mipha), which there isn’t anything wrong with that, but just makes it harder to connect you know? So that started to slowly feel more and more isolating. And as I had more and more ideas for characters such as Mipha, I became more and more frustrated (and inevitably let down when tears of the kingdom came out) that none of it would ever happen. There was so much more potential and so many ways to explore the champions stories, and dynamics, but none of that would ever see fruition. That is, until I stumbled open fan fiction. Namely, AO3. And one of the first works I read were some of yours. I never really knew what to expect when it came to fanfics, but I was absolutely blown away by your phenomenal writing! Everything about your stories, (to list a few, MidWinter Masquerade, A Most Promising Arrangement, Tome of the Wild, plus so many more!!) everything about them was so wonderful. So wonderful I don’t think any word would do justice to your talent. The way your descriptions painted vivid imagery I could see clearly in my mind, to the way the dialogue was so perfectly written for each character, the creative, compelling story plots. All of it was so incredible, and such immersive writing pieces, each and every one was such a delight to read and brought me such immense joy. Truly, I felt like I could relate to the fact that you loved Mipha so much, and the way you envisioned and wrote the dynamics between Link and Mipha. I still go back all the time and re-read your works. I literally was rereading my favorite parts of A Most Promising Arrangement just yesterday. So, with all that said, I wanted to ask (and of course you do NOT have to answer this question if you don’t want to/don’t feel comfortable), why you want to stop? Whatever the reason may be, obviously I completely respect your choice (also you don’t need anyone’s opinion on your decision, the only one that matters is yours). But I suppose I wanted to leave this in case someone or something had discouraged you from writing fanfics, because if it’s something that makes you happy, you should pursue it. And if it truly doesn’t anymore, than that’s okay too. It’s important to stay true to yourself. Anyway, regardless of all that, if you really aren’t interested or going to write anymore fan fictions (Mipha and Link or in general), I wanted to sing my praises and just say thank you. Thank you so much Stars. Because your writing gave life to my favorite characters and my hopes for them. And your writing has and still does make me so immensely happy. Also, even without fan fiction, you are such a talented writer and that is totally something you should pursue in itself if you’re really interested in just writing in general. I will always admire your absolutely beautiful works in AO3, and will definitely be re-reading time and time again. I hope one day maybe you’ll reconsider, and if not, I just hope that whatever it is you do you find success and something that brings you joy

[wfagamerants]

You know the drill by now. New Direct, New Mario games shown. I will talk about them here. There was plenty else I enjoyed, but with the Mario focus of the blog, I wanna give the three new Mario games my attention.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

I understand this one feels underwhelming for some, given DK has still not gotten a non-port or remake game on Switch, but to be honest, I like this. DKCR is a phenomenal platformer and with the 3DS content included, we now finally got a definitive version to point people to and I do think this gives this re-release a lot of value.

Not much else to say, because I doubt there will be much, if anything, new. Seems like a very Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD situation and I am okay with that.

Mario & Luigi Brothership

This was easily the biggest bombshell and yeah, what a way to start the Direct. The recent RPG and TTYD remakes made me hope that Nintendo may be working on a serious relaunch for the RPG branch of Mario, but to see them do it this soon is not something I could have ever seen coming.

Much is still unknown, but there is quite a bit we can look at, like the visuals! The occasional use of 3D models in the 3DS games made me wonder what a fully 3D M&L could look like and Brothership gives a very pleasing answer. Translating a series known for stellar sprite work into 3D is an uphill battle and Brotherhood manages to pull it off with both a really faithful translation of the series’ artstyle we always saw in official art and animation that’s as snappy and toony as it should be for a series like this.

Especially happy about the cutscenes. RPG already made me really want to see more like those and Brothership is very similar. Seeing the characters be this animated and not limited to their standard animation sets is a joy to watch and M&L is the perfect series to do a lot with that.

We got plenty of new character designs already too and those largely go for a tool theme. Very interested to see where this will take things, but just in terms of designs, I like em’. Connie seems to be the big hit among fans and I am firmly in that camp too. She’s adorable.

What we hear of the music is good stuff too. It’s to be seen if Yoko Shimomura is still working her magic, but I’d be surprised if she wasn’t brought back.

In terms of gameplay there is not much known yet, but I am very curious how they’ll do things. After the Baby Bros, Bowser, Dreamy Luigi and Paper Mario, we are back to just Mario and Luigi and that promises some expansions to the gameplay around just the two of them.

We already see hints of that with the jump and hammer attacks shown in the trailer, which involved Luigi helping out Mario for a bit of a team attack. They don’t seem to be Bros Attacks, since we see the Shell one we had since PiT at the end of the trailer, so maybe that’s just what jump and hammer moves are like now? We’ll see, I find the idea intriguing. 

One thing up in the air is how the game will handle previous M&L specific characters. The series has been remarkably good about keeping those in the picture and making these games feel truly connected. Not a big deal if they treat this like a soft relaunch though, even if I would be perfectly content with even just a picture of a Shroob on a wall or something.

The titular ship and island theme makes me curious about the overall structure of the game. The most likely answer being that different areas are separated into islands you visit one by one. Perhaps there could be an exploration mechanic ala’ Wind Waker, or the very blatantly based on that section in Origami King, where you can sail yourself, find treasure and optional islands?

Only time will tell, but I am really excited and happy to see a series back that has been in a very unsure place for years.

Mario Party Jamboree

As far as realistic wishes go, Mario Party was my big one, so I am very pleased and it easily stands shoulder to shoulder with Brothership and away from Mario, Echoes of Wisdom and the Marvel vs Capcom Collection, for me.

Mario Party is one of my favorite series period and I even got quite a bit out of the pre-Switch NDCube games. 10 and Star Rush in particular I openly defend a lot. That said, my relationship with the Switch entries has been a rocky one.

I never really liked Super, it always felt like a pale imitation of the classic formula, that lacked a lot of what I like about the series and made many decisions I didn’t vibe with.

Superstars is much better, but still ended up being a tug-of-war of really good stuff and things I found still lacking, particularly in terms of content and how off a lot of minigames felt to control, compared to their original counterparts.

Jamboree is looking to be the Mario Party I have been waiting for all gen and it’s looking to fix all the problems I had with the previous games.

7 boards, 5 new and 2 returning. Never thought of a mix of old and new as an option, but it’s a move I can get behind. It’s a good way to get more boards in. I’d like it if they remade some of the GameCube boards for once, but I am not complaining. Hard to when Western Land is back baybeeeh!

The new boards all look good. It really seems like we are back to the 6-8 era approach of giving every board their own gimmick and that’s something I have been waiting to see again. The theming looks great too, especially the mall and race track ones, some creative stuff in there.

The roster surprised me too. Superstars had a laughably poor one and while Super had a large one, it made decisions I didn’t like, particularly relegating several established characters to NPC roles.

Jamboree does away with that, Birdo’s here, the Toads are back, which I really wanted and all around while I prefer less mook heavy rosters, I like the selection on offer here, especially Ninji and I’ll never say no to Boo or Shy Guy.

I also like what they did with Bowser. I love the guy, but his playable role in Super I feel robbed the series of something. His usual role is a big, irreplaceable part of the series, in both gameplay and vibe. This force who commands the power to massively shake up the game. Kamek in both function and presentation just didn’t offer a good replacement, so the new approach to have a Kamek created Bowser clone fill in is a significantly better compromise.

Ninji not being in the intro and bringing the roster up to an odd numbered 21 does indicate possible unlockables. I’d be happy if what we saw is what we get, but I’d never say no to say, Pauline, who is otherwise still strangely absent from the series.

What we saw of the minigames meanwhile looks good. A much better mix of zany antics and more grounded competition than Super had, which dialed back the slapstick adventure feeling a ton. The large number of minigames, seemingly all original this time, is also genuinely impressive.

We also got the promise of more modes, but so far the only one we got concretely introduced to is Koopathlon, which is blatantly Coinathlon from Star Rush brought online and escalated to 20 players. As someone who loved Coinathlon, I fully support this.

On top of that, I could already hear new voice clips, which is just that extra mile I appreciate. Mario spin-offs are no stranger to reusing those a ton and Party is one of the more notable examples of it, but something about the ones used post-10 I found especially grating, especially how much Superstars spams them in some minigames, so I am VERY pleased to get away from that.

On the whole, Jamboree feels like a lot of lessons were learned and they really want to make this one something special and I am very excited for that. This really makes the previous two games feel like test runs and I did hope they were just that. Especially Superstars which showed some real understanding of how to make a great Mario Party, but just wasn’t there yet in too many areas for my liking.

In general, a strong trio of titles, that really shows a surprising amount of gas in the tank for a system that is now in its twilight years. Along with the 2023 output for the series, I am extremely excited where things will go from here.

[aerithium]

FFXIV Endwalker Review!

*Spoilers Ahead*

★ Score: 10/10 ★ Date Finished: May 30th, 2024 ★ Final Thoughts: I'm not entirely sure words can describe how I feel about this expansion. I feel as though my haste to get through the expansion speaks volumes, completing one of the longer expansion in just over a week. This expansion is the (nearly) perfect finale to every single one that lies before it, there was no better way for this story to end, and begin again. The overall story flows perfectly, with very few moments of "low" energy. Each of its own quest lines serve greatly to the overarching story of the expansion, my favorite being the time the WOL spends with the ancients. To be there with characters that are once your enemies and allies, yet before they even know, creates strong emotions and the entirely seperate world is easy to fall in love with. The area designs overall are fucking phenomenal, each on is so different from the others and have their own beauties with in. The characters, both new and old, are so incredibly written a factor of media that means the most to me. I've felt this in the previous expansions but it seems to shine well here, each close ally of the player's is their individual person and they are all so different from one another. Such as the ways they talk to their allies, the player, and the choices they make during the expansion. The new characters recieve this treatment as well, and have great development across the expansion's story. My only problems with characters rely with the twin's father, who has a distinct moment that I felt didn't align with his overall writing as a character. The music in this expansion also utterly smashes the music from all the expansions before it. And I mean SMASH. Every song is so perfect for the moment in game that it plays, and the music is used in a way that truly amplifies the events that unfold in the story. The ending of the expansion leaves so much to look forward to without making anything feel incomplete, which solidifies the end of the current story arc but still leaves much to look forward to in the next expansion. I was seriously just blown away with this one. That's the only way I can put it. Following up to talk about the post Endwalker content, the story overall didn't have me as roped in but its rather hard to follow up the expansion that Endwalker is. The existing characters were still as great as ever (I'm lookin at you Estinien) and the newly introduced characters were very enjoyable. Zero's character development across the post-EW quests was really well done and you could slowly see her begin to make more sense of human feelings such as trust. The dungeons and trials were also fantastic, some being among my favorite in the game. The Dawntrail build up quests are small but they do a great job of ramping up the players hype for the coming expansion and feeds into the spontaneous nature of everything. This side content alongside post-EW (normal and alliance raids) were also really awesome, getting to spend more time in Elpis and meet more of our former enemies was just what I wanted and then to get to learn more of the Twelve. It was the perfect time to expand upon their existence after both Hydaelyn and Zodiark's defeat. Finally, the music is actually insane for these set of patches. I constantly found myself jamming out to the music in the new content I was doing. The post content has only further solidified my desire to give Endwalker the 10/10 it deserves.

[kiroonsmoon]

I know there's a lot of people refusing to play the renegade route in rejuvenation. Sorry if you answered this already but I'd love to know where you stand on this. Have you played renegade? If so what are you most looking forward to about it?

Oughhhhhahhhh Renegade (BEGINS FOAMING AT THE MOUTH) /neg. My thoughts on it are very mixed so to say. But yes I’ve played it, I like doing oc runs so I did my mono dragon run for Lucifer on it.

Renegade has most of my favorite scenes ever in Rejvu but simultaneously is my least favorite part of the game and is like, the worst mix of my criticisms of the game. Which is why I generally prefer Paragon to Renegade despite paragon having a less gripping story/events to me as of 13.5.

Basically if I could summarize it: I love the story and it has WONDERFUL, heartbreaking scenes but it also shares that with the most whiplash inducing humor and scenes possible as well. Which results in severe tonal issues that heavily damages my enjoyment of the route.

I’m going to be putting my more detailed thoughts under cut. All my positives and negatives towards it. I’m putting it undercut because of 1) spoilers and 2) speaking from personal experience I know it’s unpleasant to see some bashing and criticizing something you love dearly. And I don’t want to subject people to that if they do not want to see that. My criticisms point largely to a specific character I know people are major fans of and love dearly. I don’t want to subject people to unpleasant things like that.

Again all of this is subjective and my opinion. You aren’t bad for liking something I don’t like.

Still here? Good great! First things first let’s start with some positives. Because despite everything I do like this route.

The fights were fun! I had a great time with the battles (expect with Spacea/Timepa but this isn’t an issue on the devs it’s just Mono Dragon is NOT good for that fight).

The scenes when the game takes itself seriously are fucking phenomenal. Adrest’s death and then the failed world with the host and M2 are a phenomenal beginning to renegade in my eyes. And Zumi’s art like always fucking rocks. The failed world really sets up the tone well for renegade. Which M2 finally snapping and attempting to murder the only person she’s been stuck for years. Fantastic beginning to a route about destroying the world.

And Karma Beast Talon….oh karma beast Talon. It’s my favoritest fucking boss battle and segment of the entire game. Everything down to the story, music, setting and Talon’s character mixes into one of the best written arcs in rejvuenation ever. Talon’s arc was way better than I could’ve ever expect and the best of his character is shown in his karma beast route. Just seeing his desperation and pain at learning his best friend died, his mother is on death’s door, he was never anything but a puppet that leads him to becoming a monster of his own despair and that on top of the art in music. Chef’s kiss, I love it so much.

I also loved the Ren chase (hell I made fanart of this moment), M2 getting called the fuck out and Venam + Amber battle and Amber’s death…oughhh all good fucking scenes.

However, all these things are torn down by one thing, the humor. Even more specifically M2.

M2..M2, gosh, she’s a fucking lot. I honestly still don’t know how to feel about her. The only thing I’m 100% certain on and don’t have any mixed thoughts on his her design. Her design fucking rocks, probably my most favorite design of all the Melia’s.

M2 is easily the worst part of renegade and the game for me. She’s very poorly written to me. Which is unfortunate. I like her concept I really do. However the problem is I couldn’t really truly understand and appreciate her concept until I sat down and truly thought on renegades story while removing all the silly stuff from my brain.

Basically: M2 is completely shot down by the humor she brings and it negatively affects her and the story as a whole.

Now I’m not saying renegade has to be 100% serious and grimdark. That’s just not realistic and I would just have issues with it the other way instead. However the humor it shows is not for renegade. The humor of renegade (and M2…) is very lol xd and sudden and random. It’s very very very jarring. Especially for such a dark and grim route. Renegade’s humor would be better placed in paragon. Rejvu’s humor is already hit or miss and renegade’s humor is nearly all miss.

Now humor in renegade can work, hell it’s even required. Stories can’t be all dark, you need a breather in there. However, balance of the humor is very important and Rejvu’s renegade route does a really piss poor job of it. Some jokes can work though! The fucking bait and switch with the item during the Ren chase seen is probably my favorite joke it all of Rejvu honestly. It uses the expected actions of the player and turns it on their head. It even works in a character sense! M2 is smart, she’s been taking notes on you and uses what she knows on you against you. It makes for a great joke and prank, I couldn’t even be angry that all my pokemon had 1 hp! It was a fantastic humorous moment that made me go “you son of a bitch” and crack a smile. I also think M2 calling Kanon an incel is a joke that works as well. However I do have problems with that as well, but that doesn’t relate to the humor, I’ll get into that later.

Renegade would’ve benefited from more humor like that. Not the clones, which made me more and more annoyed as time went on. The clones should’ve been left in Ren’s Chase as NPCs that act as obstacles and that’s it. Not the random beef M2 had gotten with random unimportant NPCs offscreen, which just made me more annoyed with her (and not the fun kind of annoyed). The kinda annoyed where I wanted to bash her head into the wall.

However the biggest offender of them all is Guilty or Nah. I’m going to be blunt. Guilty or Nah is not needed and brings absolutely no substance to the story and actively damages it. I hate it. You are actively chasing down someone WHO YOU PLAN ON ERASING FROM THE ENITRE UNIVERSE. And when you finally catch up to them, guess what happens! The most completely unnecessary and tonal whipping lashing gameshow thing I have ever seen in a piece of media. ITS NOT GOOD. IT SUCKS IN LITERALLY EVERY WAY POSSIBLE FROM A NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE. It needs to be cut from the story completely. The most important part of the chases are the emotions and perspectives of the victims. Karrina’s, Ren’s and The Hag’s deaths/near death would’ve been so much better and impactful if Guilty or Nah was completely axed. Look at me in the eyes and tell me if Talon (+ Florin in one route) suddenly got a Guilty or Nah before being erased it would do anything for the scene and their arcs. If like anyone has any reasons I would genuinely love to hear it because I cannot see any reason for Guilty or Nah’s existence.

Anyways now that’s out of the way, less negative thoughts more kinda musing I had. M2 to me is a very….nostalgic character. She comes from an older version of Rejvu, which again cool in concept. However it also alienates newer Rejvu fans like me who weren’t around for the older versions. This is definitely compounded by me play renegade first but even if you played paragon first and know every version is canon…a newer rejvuenation player will not have the context of what M2 is talking about in regards to her version. I was completely unaware Ren and Kanon used to be major fucking assholes until my Rejvu veteran friends told me. Basically, a veteran will have a different reaction and feel for m2 than a newer player, with newer players not having all the context unless they ask friends or go looking around. Which they may not have or do.

Anyways yeah! My renegade thoughts. This got way more longer than I meant it too but I have a lot of thoughts on renegade as a whole. It could be so great but it’s extremely brought down by its humor and alienates a lot of people who don’t like the humor it has (cough like me cough).