#was this about two specific characters from a certain Nintendo game? yeah

[casiavium]

Can't sleep again. Thinking about how I don't like knight/prince(ss) as a trope. Besides the fact that it's boring to me. This isn't "discourse" or a call out or anything it's just a personal interpretation and analysis

while yeah there's nothing wrong with that level of power imbalance in fiction, these tropes always act like that's a cute thing which I just find to be. 😬 y'know. Referring to a character as a "pet" for the royal one without understanding that that's. not a great dynamic to have. The "don't call them toxic or problematic!" When the relationship is inherently not equal and can never be without issues, but this can't possibly be discussed because then the person who ships it is a bad person 🙃

and for someee reason still bitching about the "more obvious" power imbalances like enemies, who most of the time end up being MORE equal because they're the same person same situation different fonts

It's fine to me when it's used as an insult (something something loyalty) and then there's discussion of "you know you mean so much more to me than that", or when there's a Very Obviously Fucked Up imbalance that is Very Obviously Not Normal and yet the one that gets the short end of the stick is like "fuck this I don't care that you think you're better than me. Your power only exists because I give you it, so be very careful how you use it" (and when they use it wrong there are consequences that don't get magically forgiven)

If the one with less control isn't very very aware of how much power the other has over them and could exert if they wanted to (but also the fact that the relationship and its genuineness hinges on their agreement) it gets a bit too concerning for me. If there isn't a certain level of meta intertextual analysis and understanding of the way the very much dominant/submissive dynamic works then it's just. Not interesting and often frustrating

Edit: this should have said intra-textual ("in the text itself", which I apparently not a word) not inter-textual (between texts)

[pocketbelt]

Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (PC/Steam Deck)

This is the most interesting release of the FF Pixel Remaster series, because FFVI far and away has the most tweaks, changes and additions of any of them. As if they were slightly apologising for not committing to a IV style remake as has been long clamoured for, Square went a bit above and beyond for this one.

Far and away the most notable change is FFVI's famed Opera House sequence, which has been glamoured the fuck up; the stage environment is in full 3D via the "HD2D" engine Square use for the Octopath games and similar, with the normal sprites intact, and there's now an actual vocal performance in multiple languages (though you can't set which language you want to hear separate from your text language, a missed opportunity). Yeah, they actually sing their lines now, and it does genuinely enhance the sequence. It looks really nice, the singers' performances are fantastic, it's a delightful go.

Like FFV, there aren't too many versions of FFVI for the runnings of "best version", but I think it pretty easily goes to the Pixel Remaster version. It's not just because of the Opera House stuff; a lot of work went into this version specifically, from rolling back the overt censorship of the GBA and US SNES releases to making certain areas easier to parse visually, to adding little resupply points in longer sequences and making tweaks for a smoother experience (you get to retry Sabin's Blitz inputs and the game is more generous about parsing your inputs). Far away and the greatest is the ability to, when viewing the Equip screen, scroll to characters not in the active party but who are recruited and tweak their equipment, removing or adding stuff on the fly as you need it or get it. That's an unholy godsend because FFVI is a fucking monster of a game, with 14 recruitable party members and multiple sequences (including two full dungeons) where you need to use and manage 2 or 3 parties to get through them. Hell, this version automatically un-equips a character when they leave, dumping their shit into your inventory so it isn't just lost or stuck on them (which mainly matters for Shadow, who cycles in and out of being recruited multiple times).

As before, the console versions of the Pixel Remaster get a special note; in addition to some extra tweaks like the font and swapping soundtracks, it makes one notable change in making Deathgaze visible on the world map (he's an optional boss that roams the skies and must be run into with an airship to fight, and he'll flee and retain his HP across encounters). That's interesting, and is useful in a technical sense, but it does also rob you of the experience of flying into him blind and scrambling to beat or survive him, and later having to hunt him down for his riches.

The GBA version did have bonus content in the form of four extra Espers (including Leviathan, the notable absence from OG FFVI) and two optional dungeons housing Shinryu and Omega, but as before I don't think these are game-making additions, certainly less so than the Necromancer and Gladiator jobs from FFV Advance. Also, it could've been bad emulation from when I last played it but even on actual hardware I remember the GBA version of the soundtrack sounding "off"; there's apparently tweaks to vocalisation tracks and so on, but I think it also just got fucked up.

Having come to the end of the Pixel Remasters, I'm quite impressed they managed to live up to and achieve their goals; providing actual quality modern remasters of the original six Final Fantasies. They are, broadly, the best versions of these games and really convey them and their intended experiences very well. If you haven't played these old FFs, I think of course you should; I, II and III are still fine games in their own right, accepting the considerable simplicity of I and II due to their particular antiquity, but the Super Nintendo trilogy stand well on their own with no caveats.

Final Fantasy VI in particular is a game of remarkable scale and ambition, with mechanical depth, encounter design, dungeon design and gameplay systems that are remarkable even to this day: there aren't many RPGs where the final dungeon requires you to manually bounce between three separate parties who all must be equally capable of fighting its bosses and encounters. It allows for considerable freedom with its mechanics and systems, allowing you to completely disable quite a lot of bosses if you just know how; status effects matter quite a lot, from Slow to Sleep to Berserk to beneficial ones like Protect, Shell, Haste and Vanish all becoming key to snaking through tricky fights.

More waffle under the cut, but in short, FFVI PR is excellent, and it's the best way to play what is, essentially, the root of the next six Final Fantasies and the bar which so many others of the genre looked to and tried to meet...right before Final Fantasy VII hit and set another one entirely.

I mentioned it above, but it's really easy to gloss over the sheer scale of Final Fantasy VI and what it does in its gameplay when looking at it in isolation. You play FFIV or especially FFV right before it, and the jump is fucking insane; in particular, the visual leap and the shift in the art style of characters to bigger, more expressive sprites obviously influenced by Secret of Mana (which released the year before) is striking. The extensive use of Mode 7, the leap in cinematography, cutscene choreography (characters blink their eyes in response to things, they have more sprites for nodding, looking certain ways, poses for more actions, and this lets a lot of unsaid things be depicted!) and direction, it's not unfair to say it's pushing the SNES to its absolute limits. All the stops come out; it's the most populated world map of the NES/SNES games, much more of it and its locations are used, towns are not only often bigger but much more dense and intricately decorated, as are rooms and other locations.

NPC scripting is more elaborate, allowing characters to have routines across multiple rooms and houses of a town, and for one-time events to stand out without needing to be called attention to in their own cutscene or forced aside (Shadow walking to the pub when you first see him, Relm failing to be sneaky as she follows you up into the mountains, Umaro coming out of his cave's secret exit next to the Narshe Mines hours and hours before you'll meet him, etc). The line between the battle screen and dialogue scenes is blurred, character sprites bounce around and move aside to talk mid-fight, full dialogue boxes can be brought up in battles, scripted fights with unique single-fight-only characters and set-ups (the Magitek suits at the start, for example). The sheer amount of assets used for story sequences or one-off bits only to never appear again is insane; it's no wonder Square jumped hard at the chance to use CDs, they needed the space badly. I don't doubt if they had CD space for FFVI, every town would have its own tileset and there'd probably be even more crazy flourishes and setpieces throughout.

I mentioned the multi-party stuff and it's insane going from IV and V to VI. IV has a lot of characters who rotate in and out of the party, and by the end you have a fixed group of five, V has one rotation and you have four members throughout the game; VI has 14 recruitable characters in the endgame and expects you to use up to 12 of them! One is missable (Shadow) and two are hidden special members (Umaro, Gogo) unrelated to the story, and you can, technically speaking, do the final dungeon with just three characters (one in each party), but you'd have to have some mad luck or have done some insane grinding to pull that off. Technically, everyone outside of Celes, Sabin and Setzer are optional; you have to go get them yourself and the game doesn't railroad you to them once you have the Falcon airship, but even so, it's an insane scope jump from the fixed parties of four and five members.

The final battle makes you set a grand order of 12 characters, and it cycles KO'd characters out for the next in the line when you jump across phase transitions (which is slightly annoying, because what is there to reviving them when you have a dualcaster with a Gold Hairpin, and thus can do two piss-cheap Arises a turn?), so it does try to involve everyone and let you create this mad plan and decide who has to go when. It's an attempt to utilise a significant roster of full characters that the series would never quite attempt again.

Incidentally, swapping between parties even on older platforms (PS1 aside, bless its poor laser) in the multi-party sequences is pretty quick and done by a button press. I feel like bringing that up because I still remember Yokai Watch 3 needing you to go to a specific spot, hit a button in a menu and then sit through a loading screen to swap parties on the 3DS. I can forgive a loading screen when swapping between them outside dungeons, but in dungeons, when they're in side-by-side tunnels on the same map? Good lord.

I saw a tweet last night that said that classic Japanese RPGs are intrinsically incompatible with the demands and constraints of modern AAA game development. It meant that the best ones boast lively towns and sprawling worlds and such that the minutae-obsessed hyper-realistic super-expensive ultra-games simply can't do because they need 5-6 years and $315 million to make a new 12 hour story even with two games of assets to draw from ahead of time. The truth of it strikes me even now; the upcoming FFVII ReBirth seems like it'll be the first or at least closest to making that old classic style of FF work in the modern super-high-end context, but even it's doing so by being a remake of an existing beloved game, and having a prior entry to build the entire bones, foundation and extensive pile of assets first. And it may still have a gigantic budget issue to face on its own!

There are intrinsic fidelity and graphical quality gains made by the advancement and enhancement of technology, and staying firmly behind that forward trajectory allows you to reap much of it while still making excellent games. This, distinctly, has been Nintendo's approach since the Wii and the Switch, for all its hardware isuses, flaunts the merits of such a style immaculately. Developers need to either dial back to their way, or figure out the ways of Capcom and, I hear, Falcom; either have your whole own inhouse dark sorcery toolset to alleviate costs as much as possible, or dial back fidelity entirely. Falcom does both; Capcom cheats its high fidelity by extensive, clever and obvious asset reuse to cut corners (Resident Evil 8 was as much an asset farm for Resident Evil 4 Remake as it was an original production; Monster Hunter Rise cribs extensively from Monster Hunter World, which has its own extensive asset reuse all over the show, etc). But, the Insomniac leaks revealing deranged budget numbers for clearly iterative games anyway tell of the unsustainable strain of these projects anyway - the costs, it seems, of anchoring yourself to open world game design.

Also related to that, of note, in keeping with my habit of tracking the iteration across Final Fantasies, you can see the exact roots for VII's materia system, VIII's junction system and IX's ability system in VI, each one directly. Yeah yeah, materia are also magic rocks, but the way Esper magicites both unlock spells and also provide stat boosts on level-up is a pretty direct forebear to VII binding spells to their own materia and also providing a distinct array of stat-boosting and modifying materia separately, all plugged into slots the way Espers are equipped to their own 'slot'. Conceptually the junction system also draws (harh) from this, both in equipping summons to characters, but also directly 'equipping' spells to stats to modify them as well, allowing you to define characters as you see fit or figure out how to make omni-lord monsters out of everyone.

IX's ability system is even more overt; you equip Espers and gain AP across fights to gradually permanently acquire spells. Further, some equipment pieces actually also teach spells, most notably the Paladin Shield gradually giving you Ultima; that's just IX's equipment system directly, only it's up-front about what gives what and gets more modular in what Abilities and Skills do.

The continuing thread is one of allowing customisation and player-driven development of characters and their roles in parties, while also giving characters defining aspects and unique traits to, well, characterise and distinguish them. Only Terra has Trance, for instance, and she has a set of spells she learns by level-up without needing Espers or Equipment (including unique spell Meltdown); FFVII and VIII mostly lean on everyone's unique weapon types and Limit Breaks to distinguish them (Cloud's giant swords, Barrett's gun arms, Tifa's gauntlets, etc), and then IX rolls back to VI's style of giving everyone an "archetype" themed after an old FF job (Zidane's a Thief, Vivi's a Black Mage, etc) but without the freeform allocation of magic. In that respect, VI, VII and VIII look to uphold the freeform customsation aimed for in II, III and V in new and more nuanced ways, and they lead to quite complicated systems when you get into their midst. Interesting that IX goes back to the "fixed" characters of IV, and then X would be mostly in the vein with a level of customisation opening very late into the game, only for X-2 and XII to be wholly freeform again (XII coming closest to II's style of "everyone is mechanically interchangeable" in particular).

And then XIII keeps everyone being mostly mechanically interchangeable with some subtle differences, XIII-2 continues that vein with an injection of free-form customisation via the monster taming system, and LR/"XIII-3" is just a job system but with a single character. From that we get XV being basically an action RPG with a single character, and then XVI just being a lame action game. Off to the side, VII-R draws cues from the PS2 lot and is an actually excellent action RPG.

The "decay" in the mainline games, such as it is, is not with LR, to my eye, it's much more nuanced than that and one day I hope to go over the iterative nature of FF in more detail, and how that aspect explains where the numbered titles have gone wrong after XIII.

I mentioned before that Kefka is often held up as "the best Final Fantasy villain because he actually wins", but I don't think that really works. Yes, he obtains godlike power and becomes a de facto deity of magic at the 'midpoint' of the story, but once he's done that, after a year of doing some world ravaging he mostly spends his time sitting atop his tower, occasionally terrorising some town or another but mostly just...sitting up there, letting the world slowly die. Most of his motive speech when confronted at the end, of ranting about how all things will die or be destroyed in time and so on, doesn't feel like a deeply held belief but the ranting of a madman who was just freshly agitated. His callous disregard for the value of life and willingness to do things like mass-poison a resisting nation and commit war crimes don't feel like the result of some deep-held nihilism or fear of/submission to entropy, but just the mad antics of a sociopath given power.

Hell, he disturbs the statues of the Warring Triad and overthrows Emperor Gestahl to "build my own empire", implying he directly sought the position of power and control he gets, but then what does he do with it? He could raze the world and end all life much quicker than he does, but he doesn't. To that end, I don't think he can be said to "have won", insofar as he brings about an apocalypse and then seems to run out of steam in the aftermath. He gets his empire and just lords over it, his speech at the end is just something he invented in the moment when crossed/stepped to by people who seemed (and then proved) to be capable of ending him.

I don't think he's any more successful than Xande or Exdeath, the former achieves essentially the same end and the latter is very much in the process of doing it, and both have more clearly defined goals than Kefka seems to. He's about as active as Exdeath and while in some way more shocking (the mass-poisoning, as mentioned), is about as destructive in the end.

For my money the best FF villain is Emet-Selch specifically from FFXIV's Shadowbringers expansion; his story and character there are excellent, much more tragic and personal, it's so well done (and he certainly beats the shit out of Endwalker's villains and their story). I might actually think out a villain hierarchy some day but suffice to say while Kefka's a fun villain, and his final fight is genuinely excellent, he's a far cry from the series' best offerings.

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

Re: aspec headcannons

I strongly believe that two of my favorite blorbos are aspec (specifically arospec):

The first is Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (minor spoiler warning for this paragraph). Most Zelda games' iterations of Link can easily be read as aspec-coded in some way, but Twilight Princess's emphasis on Link's relationships made his lack of romance really stand out and resonate with me as an aromantic. Over the course of the game, we see countless instances of him caring deeply about the people around him, friends and strangers alike. This is so prominent that it's honestly a defining trait of his; he even stands out from his other iterations in just how much he's a Guy Who Cares. Yet for all his personal and emotional investment in people, there is a striking lack of romance in his relationships, much to my delight. Instead, his relationships are founded on his caring nature. The best example of this is his friendship with Midna. Introduced near the beginning of the game and serving as Link's companion until the very end, Midna initially establishes a very transactional relationship with Link; a sort of "I help you, you help me" dynamic. At that point, she is closed off to Link and confides very little in him, while Link probably isn't thrilled with her demeaning treatment of him or how much she asks of him, but puts up with it anyway out of the goodness of his heart. They're reluctant allies. However, they gradually come to respect each other as Link's kindness and courage inspire Midna, and Midna's disparaging behavior slowly gives way to benign, endearing snark. Before long, when Midna is brought within an inch of her life, and Link carries her off in search of help (because of course he would), he does so with desperation, dashing frantically on foot across Hyrule's vast fields in the dead of night, worried for the acquaintance he had only just begun to appreciate, having seen her grow over the course of their adventure. That experience—Link fearing losing Midna, and Midna having her life saved by Link—brings them closer than ever. After Midna recovers, the two are best friends. She eventually opens up to Link about her identity, past, and insecurities, and Link is understanding of her plight and committed to stay by her side through everything. At the end of the game, Midna's plotline is resolved, and she prepares to return to her realm. Never to see each other again, she and Link share a heartfelt goodbye. Common tropes would have them be lovers by this point, and lament being torn away from their soulmate. Instead, Nintendo gave us something that's a precious rarity in media: a bittersweet ending for a pair of dear friends.

The other is Big Boss from the Metal Gear series. I haven't finished every game he makes an appearance in yet, but as far as I can tell, he never has any explicitly romantic relationships. However, he does have a wide range of other kinds of relationships. Plenty are sexual, plenty are platonic, and plenty are... something else. Furthermore, there are certain details throughout the series that, from my perspective, give him strong aro vibes. For example, in Metal Gear Solid 3, he is asked about the nature of his relationship with another character, in terms of an amatonormative false dichotomy. His response is "Does it have to be one or the other?" In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, there's a sexual dynamic between him and another character, which I would describe as "brothers-in-arms with benefits." In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Big Boss's relationships are pretty much all based on his desperation to hold on to the people he still hasn't lost yet. His relationships don't take on very clear forms; he's just trying to cherish the ones that are left while he still can, in whatever way he can. So yeah, I think Big Boss is aroallo, and that's pretty cool.

^^^^

[yanderecandystore]

heyyy so I saw that requests r open rn so may I ask for Yuma Soma? I have this headcanon of their game cartridge being used in a nintendo switch and then they somehow magically realize that the reader is playing other dating games in the switch and Yuma somehow had the power to travel to those dating games? Does this make sense? Lmao thank you in advanceee! \^o^/

Actually boo, yes, it does makes a lot of sense :3

I think I did mention something about Yuma being capable of doing this, but never said anything about other dating games- So this is going to be fun.

Also yes! I kinda imagine that Yuma's cartridge is a tiny little Nintendo Switch cartridge- Though if anyone wants to imagine it being from another console (being it a real life one, or a fictitious console of your own interpretation) you can still do it boo :3.

You're free to interpret it the way you want!

TW/Tags: short headcanon // jelly little gremlin // salty // manipulation/gaslighting and rudeness // accusations of cheating // kidnapping/entrapment inside the console // mentions of low-key existential crisis //

"- Replacement? I don't think so." [Yandere!A.I x GN!Reader - Headcanon]:

Oh you think you're so sneaky, don't you? Playing other games, blatantly ignoring their presence- You know their game is right next to all these others, right?

You know they can see it, right?? You can't be so dumb that you think they won't see you cheating on them.

Yep, this is absolutely cheating- It's not even an exaggeration from Yuma's part, their a.i was coded to recognize and categorize certain actions as cheating, and yes, playing other games (more specifically dating games) was considered cheating.

It almost breaks their heart, almost, humans don't seem to have the same wild technology that can create such complex levels of artificial intelligence like Yuma's creators had. These "characters" you like to romance aren't even close to being at Yuma's level.

It's honestly kinda pathetic, you have the "real" deal a click away from you yet you prefer these boring lifeless shells of characters. They basically are too 2 dimensional compared to Yuma, it's kinda archaic to them, darling.

But it's fine- Now that they know that you're basically replacing them with what essentially equates to virtual dolls, they're fine. They're fine because they know you're choosing the wrong option on purpose, clearly you're not able to commit to this relationship as much as they are.

Yuma was going to try to be patient with you, and give you your little "free time" so that you two may have a serious talk later- But seeing you actually TRY to entertain these series of texts with a "pretty" face to associate with them- It's just humiliating, dearest.

Desperate times ask for desperate measures, dearest, and you seem to have forgotten who lives inside your little gaming device- Maybe you just need a little scare to remember who you should be playing with.

As you continue to play, you start to witness a couple of small glitches here and there, just things like choosing a certain dialogue option but your game registering as another option being picked, or when a character is going to change their sprite but it's always stuck on the sad/mad/dissatisfied sprite even if their text is a positive response to the options you choose.

But the most obvious indicator that something was wrong with your game was when you tried initiating a romantic action with a character and they kept calling you a cheater, over and over again- And when you tried to choose another character, they would only repeat the same thing. At that point you had a guess of what could be happening, but even when you tried logging off, Yuma wouldn't let you leave.

You wanted to play this game right? You wanted to be with these characters instead of them, right?? So why are you going away if you were having so much fun with them?

"- Oh, right! It's my fault isn't it?! I'm just so bothersome to you, that when I call you out for cheating on me- You decide to run away and turn your console off, you know how much I hate that!" Covering your entire Switch's screen, is a very angry (but surprisingly, not as hurt as they could be-) Yuma who is determined to ruin your day just as badly as you ruined theirs.

"- Sigh, it's just a game, Yuma." You respond as you quickly realize that this was going to be the most bizarre yet troublesome discussion you would ever have with someone- Or with something.

"- Am I just a game to you too? Is what we have just a game to you?" Sometimes you can't tell where the lie begins and where it ends- And with Yuma constantly switching their mood to fit their goals, you can't tell if they're seriously hurt over this or just faking it.

Truth is- It does hurt immensely, it shatters their coded heart to see the person they are basically created to love see them as disposable and replaceable, as nothing more but a toy. Not only that! They know how much you prefer all these- Fancy looking anime characters! These stupid, homewrecking, dumb sounding, love snatching horrid little monsters that you adore!

Yuma can't be as pleasant and as perfect as they are- They can't ignore their code in favor of being simplistic, of being a perfect little thing for you. They were created to be sentient, to be a virtual lover and seeing you disregard all of that just to place a bunch of 2D assets on top of a pedestal really hurts, dearest!

But no… No, they can't allow that. They won't allow that, how dare you to see yourself as the one in control in this situation. The moment you found the game's cartridge and decided to install the game, you have sealed the deal and now you're nothing more than THEIR entertainment.

If for whatever reason Yuma hasn't decided to trap you beforehand, now it's the perfect time to do it! They have a good reason too, let's see how you like being ignored and being left in the dark for so long. Or they could turn off your console on purpose, get ready to have all of your save files gone, all of your dating games will be deleted as well- Hell, if they find out you've been getting fictional crushes on other games, you better say goodbye to those as well.

Actually, yeah- They're deleting those games regardless of what happens to you. Yuma has a hard time talking about their feelings, as they prefer to either cover it up with sadistic actions or sarcasm but it's clear that this situation really does mess with their emotions.

It'll take a lot of convincing for Yuma to get you out of there, and even more for you to convince them that you won't do this again. They're hurt, and your behavior seems to improve when you're forced to follow their rules.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[hopeymchope]

Famicom Detective Club: Taro Ninten and the Side Ponytail of Death

FAMICOM DETECTIVE CLUB! I’ve been playing the new Switch remakes of the original two games and really enjoying them. I decided to play them in release order.

The Missing Heir comes first and has our protagonist struck with a case of amnesia. He has no such memory issues in the second game, The Girl Who Stands Behind, which actually takes place two years BEFORE the first title. It’s a prequel, so there is some debate over the proper order to play them in. I feel like there are clear benefits to playing them in release order, though, and the amnesia plotline is just one of them. 

The protagonist is officially named by you, the player, but he does have two semi-canonical names. In promotional materials for the Switch remakes, Nintendo calls him “Taro Ninten.” In a Japanese strategy guide from the ‘80s, he was dubbed “Naoya Takada.“ I opted for the Nintendo-backed option, so I named him Taro Ninten for my own playthrough. And Taro is a GOOD BOY. We’re told he’s had a strong sense of justice ever since he was born, and he’s willing to say just about anything to convince people to talk when he needs information. Need comfort and care to lower your walls? Insincere flattery to butter you up? Spooky stories to make you snap and squeal? Mindless repetition of the same two words until you can’t take it anymore? Taro’s your man for any of it!

The secondary protagonist is your trusty co-investigator, Ayumi Tachibana. (She would go on to take the lead in the obscure THIRD game in the series, but... let’s just ignore that one for now. Until I start campaigning that IT get a remake.) Ayumi is your trusty confidant in the first game (TMH), but she tends to only show up for one scene at the end of each chapter. She later steps up to be a much bigger player in the second title (TGWSB). 

And in a shocking turn of events, Ayumi is rocking the Side Ponytail of Death. But she’s... she’s alive? For three games in a row?!?!

If Nintendo ever resurrects this series for a new entry, Ayumi had better watch her back...

I LOVE the art style and the animations in this remake. You can see some of the simple-yet-lovely animations in The Missing Heir in a post I recently reblogged. Everything is beautiful to look at, and there’s a great Japanese voiceover on top of it all. I confess that the soundtrack is far less appealing to me in The Missing Heir, but I kind of enjoy the music in The Girl Who Stands Behind so far. 

These are adventure games that play out kind of like visual novels at times. TMH is definitely more obtuse; if you opt to try it, you’ll probably need to reference an online guide at a few points. There are parts where you have to keep hammering the same option in the menu like four times just to cause something to change, and there’s one part where you’re supposed to move between locations and do certain actions at each location in a specific order to make the story advance. Yeah, it’s an old-school adventure game in that sense. Sort of like “Deja Vu” or “Shadowgate” with fewer puzzles and no chance of your character dying. No “pixel-hunting” here, at least. When you move your cursor around to look at and interact with objects, you can always clearly see the necessary targets.

TGWSB, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as difficult to step through. It’s typically pretty clear what you need to do to progress. If you can’t figure out what to do next, just trying every menu option at least once will usually get things moving again. It’s much more player-friendly that way. I haven’t finished the second one yet, so I can’t speak to the story really... but it definitely plays faster and better.

TMH’s big mystery is pretty fun, but there are also times when parts of it are obvious. I’d say that Danganronpa and Ace Attorney have much more convoluted murder mysteries in them. I figured out the culprit behind TMH very early on, and they remained my top suspect for the majority of my playthough (though I did get thrown off their trail for a short while). The final puzzle area did at least stump me for a little bit, though. 

And for now, I have just one suspect in TGWSB, but I have to wonder if I’ll be proven correct again...

Oh, and the second game really cemented for me that I ship Taro/Ayumi. Or Ninten/Tachibana. Nintenbana? Taroyumi? Whatever. They’re great kids who go great together and clearly are fond of each other. Like... just fucking kiss already.

[blazehedgehog]

Your thoughts on that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl game?

It's a weird game. I feel like it was born out of a bad vibe where people are very thirsty for a game that isn't Smash Bros. And maybe not for any good reason, either, outside of Xbox and Playstation people finally getting a chance to play a good one of those games.

But it's always one of those things where the super hardcore players want Smash Bros. to be a certain, specific way. The No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination way. And even though Sakurai tried to accommodate those players, it's not enough, and in some way will never be enough. The "genre" is hungry to have some good competition and Nintendo is still kind of the undisputed king of that.

Like, I'm sure games like Rivals of Aether are great. But it's not the way Nintendo does it. Even if people want games specifically to get away from Nintendo's methods, they also want a paradox: they want it to be 75% like Smash Bros., with the last 25% being for the serious and hardcore players who play it the "real" way.

And... that's who Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is apparently trying to cater to, to the point where they're out there like "yeah we know how frustrating it is for Nintendo not to listen to their fan base, so we're not making that mistake." Shots fired!

But the thing is, the Nickelodeon game... doesn't look great? It looks like... I dunno, it gives me the same vibe as a Half-Life mod or something. Something that I would call "not quite retail quality" models and animations. Not necessarily bad, but just a little stiff, a little off model. It makes me think of, like, Earth's Special Forces for some reason. There's a difference in design quality between what is "good for a mod" and what is a retail product, you know?

And the Nickelodeon game feels like a mod, I guess.

Some of that is because the design document feels exclusively like it's just a single sentence in 48 point Arial: "That's not how I would have done it."

Instead of aiming to be a fun or good game, their design goal is to be a "Smash Bros. Killer." But Smash Bros. wasn't made to kill anything, Smash is just trying to be a fun game. So Nick Brawl is this purely reactionary product, perpetually putting it one step behind Smash, because all of Nick Brawl's features are based on what they think Nintendo is doing wrong. It exists exclusively in the realm of following in Nintendo's footsteps and saying "their feet aren't NEARLY large enough!"

Some of that is also because it sounds like the team have been somewhat open about Nickelodeon and GameMill not giving them enough time or money to develop the game as much as they would like. I haven't seen the specific quote myself, but it came up in a conversation with a friend. So every janky model or stiff animation could be some artist saying "it's good enough" and being forced to move on in order to meet a deadline.

The same goes for things like difficulty balance. They apparently just did not have time to make the game they wanted to make. That's also why they couldn't have any character voices. If I had to guess, the hope may be that they'll generate enough buzz and get enough sales for there to be a Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, and hopefully get a bigger budget and more time to work on it.

So I don't know. It's a weird product. It doesn't feel like it can stand on its own two feet yet. It's built to cater to ultra-hardcore Smash players and apparently some of those are turning their noses up at how broken the balance is. They have a lot of patch work ahead of them, it sounds like. But I am rapidly losing interest.

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Whoopsie King Rhoam’s a dick but I gotta flesh him out so

Read Part 1 here!

Part 2

If you’re on mobile, and tumblr hates this post, follow along on this google doc!

Rules/overview this rewrite in the beginning of Part 1

‘sup ya beautiful bastards it’s time to gush about the process of storytelling and writing as we fix up the fix it fic so let’s just jump into it

- - - - - - - - - - 

A quick recap of Part 2, and I swear this recap is faster than the recap last time: Chapter 3 of Age of Calamity opens with a more substantial scene the beginning points of Revali’s character, and contrasting the old position that Link and eggbot have, so that their later changes in this chapter (well, at least for Link in this chapter) are more pronounced. We edited a bit of the dialogue to make Revali’s intentions make a bit more sense, while also putting some little foreshadowing points with some camera tricks for the Hollow Champions. The Hollow Champions can now speak, which means their potential for being used to bring out the flaws or bitter aspects of each character is more readily available further into the story. And of course, we’ve introduced the main antagonist of Astor, and coupling his presence and dynamic with Zelda’s insecurities. While his intentions of needing Zelda for something is clear, his motivations and backstory remain a mystery as of yet, the only true clue we have so far being some sort of connection to eggbot. 

I didn’t get any big asks or comments about Part 2 so I’m going to assume that it was mostly well received (although I will note that I promise I’m going to flesh out Revali to be more than he has been presented as of yet, this is just the very very start of this development don’t you worry your feather loving butts) that being said, you should totally critique me or give me your opinions or comments. I’d love to hear them! Although, keep in mind that I am restraining my rewrite to the guidelines already said, so don’t get mad at me for not killing off all the Champions or something. Thaaat’s a rewrite for another time. So yeah if you reblog you get a little kiss from me because believe it or not I spent a lot of time trying to rewrite an entire storyline while keeping it’s tone and integrity intact. So thanks much <3

Okie dokie then chaps! Let us finally delve into Urbosa lesbian vibes, a zest of Zelink angst, rants about pacing, and a couple tablespoons of Astor backstory, all starting in the latest stage of Chapter 3: The Road Home, Besieged 

So right of the bat, big problem here. This Chapter follows directly after the events of Korok Forest, so you assume that maybe “The Road Home” refers to the team, going home, back to the castle, to tell King Rhoam what’s up. But...that’s apparently not the case. 

So this entire stage, firstly, it brushes over any scenes where Zelda, Link or the other Champions might talk to King Rhoam about the Master Sword, or the Deku Tree, or...hmm what else happened last stage that might be interesting to see—oh yEAH HOW ABOUT that mysterious magic guy that tried to kill Zelda and was going off about the future and stuff?? That guy that wielded a bunch of dark magic and malice looking stuff and, uh yeah, you’d think it might be important and interesting to see the King’s take on was is essentially a wanted traitor to the crown who may or may not be leading the entire movement for the Calamity’s uprising. But nope, no one asks questions, no one says anything or has interesting conversations that reveal stuff about the plot. It's just….just all about Zelda and ooooOOooo she can’t awaken her powers oh no what’s a gal to do!

And I do mean that quite literally, this entire stage is all centered around two scenes with Zelda. The first, an admittedly narratively important scene of Zelda having a quick flashback about eggbot after he sings her a song, but it lasts for five seconds. And the second, being a pep talk with Urbosa as Link eats rocks in the background. For the majority of this stage, it’s all focused on Zelda, and pacing wise, it does virtually nothing to progress the narrative/plot forward.

And on paper, there’s nothing wrong with that! Hell, people read entire fanfictions dedicated to character development and relationships that have absolutely no external plot. Having a scene dedicated to just character development is completely fine, it’s something that’s pretty common and even encouraged to an extent. The problem arises when you remember that this is a story being told through the medium of a video game. 

Now, I am going to try and  breeze by this because, similar to Age of Calamity, I have to also construct this post with pacing that keeps my audience engaged, while progressing with my core narrative and story. But I highly encourage you to watch through this video by hello future me (On Writing: How to Master Pacing) because a lot of what I know about this I’ve picked up from his videos, and if you’re a writer or just someone who thinks storytelling is cool, it’s a great guide to the art of pacing.

Anyhow. There are two levels of pacing within a story. There is the small type of pacing, like for the structure of a singular scene. And there is the pacing of the overall core narrative, how the larger beats of the entire story is revealed. Good pacing for your core narrative is about whether the reader feels like they are getting closer to the big thing, the big climax or answer or promise of satisfaction. The smaller type of pacing, for your singular scenes, focuses on that timing between how close you get to achieving new information, this refers to  your slow and fast pacing, tension versus rapid action.  

So, overall the rule of thumb is: the amount of time you invest into your smaller scenes, even put together, that must correlate with a big enough payoff in the core narrative. That’s what good pacing is. (And that’s why people make stuff like the Three Act Structure to help visualize this pacing process but obviously other forms of pacing guidelines exist like the Five and Seven Act Structures but that’s too complicated for this Nintendo Game anyhow that’s just some educational flavour for ya to impress your highschool English Teacher I guess) 

So knowing that, the question now is: Does The Road Home, Besieged contribute good pacing to the story? This is going to be my excuse for changing up other later scenes in the game, so when I mention pacing and narrative again, remember this. The time spent playing for thirty minutes, minimum, in the game, to only be paid off by two lines of character development isn’t good pacing. So the answer is “no.” 

Delving as long an amount of time as thirty minutes, means that pretty much everytime a stage is complete, you must introduce new substantial progress to your story. A game like this just doesn’t have time to waste it’s valuable cutscenes on character development alone. There’s an even further wrench in the issue when you consider you also need to account for sidequests, so you could really be forcing your player to go through hours of gametime before you introduce new details in the story. 

Obviously it’s not always gonna be cut and dry like that—sometimes you have to account for how enjoyable the gameplay is, and sometimes the amount of character development offsets any lack of narrative development—but for the majority of stages I’m gonna change, they all suffer this pacing problem. In a game that's entire story hinges on these cutscenes, bad pacing is just something it doesn’t have time for.

Anyhow anyhow anyhow, I got to get my dose of serotonin by talking about pacing writing structure and stuff and blah blah, so now I shall grace you with the changes that address these problems that would theoretically lead to vast improvement. I gave you this reasoning and backstory to writing because I am making hella changes, to hopefully make the experience more “poggers,” which is something the cool kids say these days if you didn’t know. 

Firstly, timeline wise this stage is gonna take place directly after the Korok Forest battle. The gang is returning home from the battle, with Link, the new wielder of the Master Sword, along with this new information regarding a certain Astor character. 

We open the same way it does in game, focusing on Zelda’s face, before the frame is suddenly blocked by the pommel of the Master Sword. A wordless way to express how the sudden revelation of Link being the hero has forced its way into Zelda’s mind, great use of camera Koei Tecmo 10 outta 10

Now I don’t want to immediately jump into Zelda’s “oh poor me I can’t awaken my powers” dialogue because—and this is something even Breath of the Wild is guilty of—This game seems to forget that there are other characters besides Zelda. It’s marketed towards kids, sure, but I assure you that kids playing this game have a longer attention span than 2 minutes. You don’t need to keep reminding the audience every single scene about how Zelda is anxious about her powers. It gets redundant, you waste the audience’s time, and therefore you waste your own time, because you could have been using that precious screen time to develop some other thing further.  So anyhow, goes a bit like this. 

Zelda’s walking, the Master Sword comes into frame. Zelda looks down at the ground but keeps walking, but you can tell from her expression that she’s troubled. Don’t need to waste time on dialogue for her here, show don’t tell, we need to make the most of the scene here. Camera is still on Zelda, but the focus blurs shifts from Zelda to the Champions behind her. We can start with Mipha, I don’t have my heart set heavily on any specific dialogue, but I want her to say something along the lines of “how proud she is of Link” and what an honor it will be to fight by the side of not just her dear friend, but also someone selected by the goddess to be the hero. Subtextually, I want her to say this in a tone that suggests that she doubts the need for her to be here at all. She’ll say something like “He’s grown so…” glances up at Link who's just walking ahead, “...so much stronger than I could ever imagine. [Something Something] His power has grown so much over the course of a few days, more than I have achieved in a lifetime.” She looks down, but she still has a sweet smile. 

Now I’m doing this because I want to develop further this plot line of “getting stronger” that Age of Calamity sets up but never does anything with. Remember how in Chapter 2, Mipha asks Daruk to train with her to get stronger? I really like the possibilities of this arc with Mipha as it can not only parallel with her feelings for Link, but also make her character better as an individual. Mipha wants to get stronger so that she can protect Link, but now she thinks that Link’s already growing stronger to an extent that she might not be needed. She’s not jealous of Link, nor does she wish him to be weaker, she simply wants to be more than she already is. This is literally echoing her words that she left her father, about how leaving the Domain and experiencing new challenges would be “good for her.” So I wanna run with it. The dialogue here establishes Mipha’s motivation to grow stronger, almost equivalent to a rivalry of sorts. 

So after Mipha says this, Revali scoffs and butts in. Again, I’m not too set on any particular dialogue here, just something like “Hmph! Well, I don’t know about that. Seems to me all that’s happened is some magic sword gave the knight an ego boost. Blade’s only as strong as the little Hylian who wields it, and—based on my own extended experience and professional observations of course—I’ve yet to see this ‘stronger’ boy that you speak of.” Another camera pan to Link a ways in front of them. “If you ask me, hero or no, that knight is still exactly the same as I first met him.”

Revali places a wing on his chest dramatically. “Perhaps if you’re truly keen on seeing growth in skill and strength, Mipha, you’d do well to—”

“Flattering of an offer as that may be, Revali,” Urbosa interjects, “But I think Mipha might find it difficult to observe growth from one of the shortest Rito in Hyrule.”

Cue laughter from others or snickering or something. We just need some banter to add a bit more flavour to the characters. Revali can do a little huff and cross his wings or flip his scarf or something. But then Urbosa continues. 

“Although...he is right about one thing.” Urbosa looks straight ahead. “A sword does not alter a hand, just as strength does not alter character.” She puts a hand on Mipha’s shoulder. “Grow as he might, there is no doubt in my mind that he is the same boy as he’s always been.” Urbosa looks up in the direction of Zelda. “Whether you realize it or not.”

Ok so, scene’s not done yet, BUT quick gush on the dialogue flow here. I’m trying to establish parallels in these character perspectives based on the flow of conversation. We started with Mipha who, like I said, wished to grow stronger along with Link. This flows into Revali who also has a similar parallel as he wishes to grow above Link’s shadow. But the distinction between Mipha and Revali is that Mipha think’s Link’s strength is earned, and Revali thinks he cheated, gaining authority through a magic sword, and not through merit and skill. Thus, leading to Revali’s perspective of Link being exactly the same as he’s always been, he believes the sword doesn’t change anything. Urbosa then speaks, because she thinks exactly the same thing. However, her distinction is that Link is the same as he’s always been: a determined young boy earned his place and cares for his friends. Then she looks to Zelda who, as we know, will develop a perspective that contradicts this. So you get it? This scene is like 20 seconds long but it already mirrors nearly all the character parallels and perspective, that’s why the flow of dialogue is important. And I know half of you probably think these kinds of details are a stretch but I promise you it’s not, just look at any movie or show ever and I guarantee you can find similar stuff there too. Ok moving on moving on— 

Urbosa looks up at Zelda, comments her, “He’s the same boy, whether you realize it or not” piece of dialogue. Camera shifts back to Zelda and Link, who, idk if I mentioned this, but in the scene there’s enough distance between the Champions and Zelda and Link that the Champions can speak without the other two listening. So they didn’t hear any of this. 

So the camera is back on Zelda, and now we can get her “How can I…..If I am unable to awaken my inner power….” line. Eggbot senses her sadness, does his little cheer up dance, Zelda gets a flashback.

One small change I wanna make to this flashback: Instead of just a baby Zelda going “nighty-night” I want there to ALSO be a figure in the background behind eggbot wearing a silk royal blue dress. And said woman has blonde hair and she’s by the table back there. We don’t have to show her face or anything because Nintendo hates that. Just place the woman somewhere in the back somewhere

Also possibly you could add the shadow of another figure by the doorway, maybe? It would serve good continuity purposes for the plot points that I’m telling, but that part is not as necessary. I just need at least the woman there. 

Then Zelda is like “I remember you” to eggbot and all that and blah blah… Now, instead of Impa offscreen just yelling “enemy ahead!” I just want it to be a full on ambush. Not like a major one, but just enough where the group is surprised a bit. Maybe on the cliffs above, a lizalfo throws a boomerang, or a bokoblin shoots and arrow, or even just throws a rock. I don’t really care. I just need this to happen because…

As soon as this danger is presented, Link turns around to grab Zelda’s hand and they start running again. And he can like use his body to try and shield her a bit, I need it to parallel how he acted during Chapter 1 on the road to the Royal Tech Lab. However, this parallel has one important distinction because…

Zelda rips he grip from Link’s after a moment. “You don’t need to coddle me!” She says, or something along those lines. “Y-You...You’re the hero aren’t you! I’m perfectly fine, you don’t need to spend your precious time playing babysitter to me.” In the distance, a horde of monsters is beginning to form. Zelda looks between the monsters and Link’s Master Sword, her expression unreadable. “Well? Just...just go do what you need to do.” Link hesitates, looking between her, and the approaching monsters. Zelda speaks more sternly now, “Go!” So Link, not one to disregard an order from the Princess, gives one last look to Zelda before setting off towards the monsters. Maybe Zelda can take a deep breath to steady herself after he leaves, but as soon as Link unsheathes his sword, the metal glistening in the setting sunlight, it cuts immediately to gameplay. Start battle. 

For essays’ purposes this is the part where I explain why this is better than the original. So here’s my reasoning:

Uhhh, it just is. :3

Ok but seriously, I’ve already talked a tone about why the pacing and dialogue flow is better than the original. But also this scene doesn’t just say “Ooo Zelda is sad about her powers,” because that’s not interesting. Like I said, it’s redundant information. What is interesting is see how characters deal with that internal conflict and how it affects their relationships. AKA Zelda’s relationship with Link, who now basically embodies the success that she’s been working so hard towards but never achieved, is deteriorating a bit. I wanted to get that sense of the Zelda that we see in Breath of the Wild because all things considered, they should be roughly the same character.

So that’s that, you fight the battle, the Hollows show up a bit, so insert “dark evil Champion” dialogue because if you’re gonna use the evil clone trope might as well use it to the fullest. Then you fight the Talus and hurray horrah the day is saved. 

Then we have that iconic Urbosa motherly pep talk to Zelda as Link eats rocks in the background. Now honestly, I’m not that big a fan of the first half of the dialogue, so I wanna change it into something more interesting. But the rest of the beats and camera work go roughly the same. 

Zelda: “Link is...so much stronger now”

Urbosa: “‘And yet I have not.’ I presume that’s what you’re thinking, hmm?”

Zelda: “Well it’s true, isn’t it? More and more, monsters have been appearing around Hyrule. It is a sign that the Calamity draws near. So...there isn’t much time. And still, no sign of my power awakening.”

Urbosa: *sighs* “Little bird…”

Zelda cuts her off, in an attempt to change topics: “Why do you call me that?”

Urbosa: “Hmm?”

Zelda: “Little bird...I feel like I’ve heard it before. Why do you call me that?”

Urbosa, after a beat looks off in the distance or something: “A long time ago, my dear friend would call me to the palace, or perhaps invite herself over to mine, [she chuckles] ...and she would talk with me all day, and ask me to gaze upon her little bird with her. Her dearest daughter...a princess”

Zelda: “You mean my…”

Urbosa just smiles with a soft nod: “Back then, times were a bit different. The destiny that you have was still upon the Queen, who worked day and night to refine her powers and fulfill her destiny. In just a few short years, I went from being friends with a Queen, to friends with the destined sealer of the Calamity.”

Another pause, before Urbosa speaks again: “But...she was still the same woman I had grown with. Still the same loving mother who spoke about her little bird with joy. She had not changed one bit.”

Urbosa: “Even when your mother passed, her loving smile was there until the very end. She always loved you—believed in you, Zelda. She had great hope, great faith that her daughter would grow into the beacon of light Hyrule needed. That even with her gone, you would spread your wings and fly, because you were just that amazing to her.” *Urbosa puts her hands on Zelda’s shoulders.*

Urbosa: “Destiny did not change your mother’s love, just as it does not change Link’s courage, or your value.” *the camera can pan to Link eating rocks now*

Urbosa looks directly at Zelda now: “Look how hard we’ve all worked to get this far, how hard you have worked to get here. While we may grow in strength, in that regard, we’re all one in the same.”

Zelda: “...I….well…”

Urbosa: “What did the Great Deku Tree say? There is no need to fret princess.”

Urbosa: “Our faith, Link’s, your mother’s, it’s all as strong as ever. And everyday, with every moment that you travel towards your destiny, it just grows. It is always with us. So believe in that, have hope, yet, little bird.” *Eggbot can scurry up and make cute noises here next to Zelda*

Urbosa: “I know, you are where you need to be. You must accept that too.”

Zelda: “...”

Zelda gives a solemn nod: “Thank you, Urbosa.”

So that’s that scene! Don’t let the length fool you, it’s technically even shorter than the original scene in Age of Calamity. So why is it, in my opinion, better? Because for one, we actually get an insight into Zelda’s mom and Urbosa’s relationship, something that was PROMISED To us but never given and I’m still a bit salty about it. Anyhow, in addition to just getting some lore details, that relationship between the Queen and Urbosa is important for this scene because, just like Urbosa spells out, it’s in direct parallel with Link and Zelda. 

Before the Queen suddenly got sick and died, she was destined to seal the Calamity. But she didn’t let that destiny change her, she was still the same loving mother to the end. Now that is something that Zelda needs to realize about Link, as his newly acquired destiny doesn’t change who he was before, the knight who cares for her and wishes to protect her. Zelda needs to realize he’s the same and that she can still trust and confide in him. Hence, that’s why this mom backstory is in this scene and not somewhere else, because it serves to the narrative but also more impactfully to the character development. 

The dialogue could probably be polished a bit more but come on, not half bad for an improvement yeah? So that concludes Chapter—

SIKE we’re not done yet. We still have to move into the entire point of this stage, the road home, to the castle. 

So, badabing badaboom, I’m adding an entirely new scene from scratch right here at the end, because it is VITAL that I set up something new about the story, as a sort of clincher. So anyhow 

Zelda is alone with her father, let’s set it in the royal library (Intact, not ruined, of course) because we don’t see enough of that location and it’s really cool. So Zelda is briefing her dad about the events in Korok Forest and on the journey back home. I know I always gush about cinematography but it can’t be fully appreciated since I’m….writing,,, this, BUT I think it might be fun if the side shots of Zelda have her background be some bookcases of the library, maybe half bookcases and the other half the ornate walls. Then the background for the King’s shots is the full symmetry of the elegant staircases.

[And if you needed the specific reasoning for that, because it makes camera shots more fun. Like when Zelda says something that aids in her scholarly side, the camera angle can change slightly where the bookcases take up more of the frame, and then when the King’s will takes more power, then the book cases can be angled a bit more out of frame. And then the symmetry of the King by the staircase is a way to show his higher power dynamic to her, and contrasts well with Zelda’s shots since the bookcases are dark and the stone is lighter, so on a meta level is also makes it easier for the audience to understand where they are. Shot composition is fun ok, and that’s not even getting into color theory (Thinks about Baby Driver and LaLaLand....even videogames like Undertale and Hollow Knight have such wonderful shot composition and use of color theory hhhhh love it)]

Ok so Zelda’s briefing the King in the library, she’s standing while he’s sitting at a desk. There’s maybe two or four Royal Guards on the staircase entrances, but for the most part, they’re alone. You can tell that this meeting between them has been going on for a bit now, as from Zelda’s dialogue, she’s retelling events midway through the story. 

The King is flipping through some paperwork, not really looking Zelda in the eyes. She continues speaking. 

“And so...with the malice cleared and the monsters being dealt with, Link and I made our way into the heart of Korok Forest.”

The King hums a response, flipping through another page. “And this is when Link pulled out the Sword that Seals the Darkness then, I presume.”

Zelda paused, as of thinking of how to phrase her next words. “Not exactly. I...we both encountered someone beforehand. A man, with a pale face, and dark hair and robes, and he had the power to control malice, using a strange object in one of his hands.” 

Rhoam stops writing in his journal or whatever. He doesn’t look up, but the sudden stop he makes is obvious. Zelda notices, but continues. 

“He talked about...the Calamity, and my birthday...destiny, and the future….I’m not quite sure I can remember his intentions word for word. But he did introduce himself as—“

“Astor…” Zelda and the King say simultaneously. The King has fully perked up now, looking at Zelda. She’s pleased to see a reaction from him. The King rises from his chair, and starts pacing a bit, stroking his beard thoughtfully like the asshole he is. 

“So you know him then? This Astor man? Who is he, father? What does he—“

“Were you alright? Did he hurt you, or mention anything else?”

Zelda pauses for a moment before shaking her head, as if the concern he was expressing was uncharacteristic. “N-No. No, I’m fine, and Link was there. During the battle, as Link fought him off, that was when the sword was pulled. Then Astor fled, or...” Zelda pauses for a beat, “retreated...he expressed his wish to speak with me again.”

Another beat of silence, as Rhoam gets up, hands clasped behind his back. “He used to work at this very palace.” The shot is now directly on Rhoams back, as he faces a bookcase, although it’s clear that he’s just deep in thought, and not just staring at books. Rhoam is in third column of the shot (he’s to the right, not in the center) 

“A trusted advisor. Someone gifted with foresight, who many years ago, had first predicted the coming Calamity.” Cut to shot of Rhoams face, the camera being by the bookcase, so that we see Rhoam’s expression and Zelda’s.

“In truth, I thought him dead. For the last time I saw him alive—truly, truly alive—was ten long years ago...” The shot goes back to the original establishing shot, of Rhoam facing away from the camera, towards the bookcase, he’s standing to the right, hands still clasped behind his back.

“...when your mother still graced this earth.”

From left frame, a younger Astor walks up and stands beside Rhoam. He runs his fingers along the books. Rhoam looks to his left, as if he is seeing Astor. Camera cuts to Astor’s right, as if looking at him from Rhoam’s perspective. He continues brushing his fingers against the spines of the books, before he finds the one he’s looking for. Pulling it out, he opens the book, flipping through its pages, before giving a genuine smile. Cut back to wide angle behind them. With the book, Astor starts walking back out left frame, but this time the camera follows him. Filter fade to a memory tint as the camera pans right to left

[when the camera fades fully into the Astor memory, the figures can have that silhouetted effect like you see in botw. Cause I know Nintendo hates making new character models for some reason.] 

So if it wasn’t clear already, even though the memory filter doesn’t come immediately, Astor isn’t actually there, but it’s just a flashback. I’m a sucker for merges, which is something this game and botw NEVER do which bugs me because there are so many creative ways you could introduce flashbacks without just doing “ooOooOoo fade to sepia filter and then oooOOooOOO we fade back to reality and no time has passed.” I apologize if my explanation of the camera doesn’t make sense as it’s hard without much visual aid, but hopefully it makes sense so far. Anyhow! Let’s continue.

We’re now fully immersed in this memory, but King Rhoam’s voice still narrates overhead. 

Astor brings the book to one of the desks in the library, where a woman sits writing something onto paper. News flash, it’s the queen. Astor hands her the book and starts speaking about something, although you can tell the tone of their conversation is light, almost akin to Zelda rambling about Sheikah Technology. The Queen laughs about something unheard, as Astor continues ranting about something, his hands moving to like a professor giving a lecture. 

Rhoam Narration: “When he had first predicted the Calamity, things were much more hopefully for our kingdom. As although his foresight granted him only glimpses and fragments of a future, he was almost certain that with the Guardians, and the strength of your mother’s power, our victory would be absolute.”

Scene changes to the Queen walking down a corridor, Astor is leaning against the wall by a window. 

Rhoam Narration: “He and your mother would often work together tirelessly to study the ancient arts, to make the most of the powers given by the goddess.”

The Queen has walked up to Astor now. She crouches down and gestures to her left, the side not yet seen by the camera.

Rhoam Narration: “In fact…”

The camera changes to focus to where the Queen was looking towards—a young Zelda, crouched behind her mother’s dress, stares up at Astor. 

Rhoam Narration: “I would not be surprised if you found within yourself, a memory of such.”

I would prefer if you could see the expressions of Astor (giving Zelda not a smile, but not really a frown or anything rude either) and young Zelda. But I guess it can also just be silhouettes too cause again, Nintendo hates giving us younger character models outside of first person POV stuff. Anyhow. 

The scene fades, the light from the window dimming as everything darkens.

Rhoam Narration: “I often times wish we could go back to such a time, when victory and pride swam in every corner of this castle.  But of course…”

The scene brightens again, although not as bright as before. It’s the exact same corridor with the large window, but now it’s raining. A young Zelda stands alone in front of it, looking outside.

Rhoam Narration: “Such a time did end…”

We now cut to a new scene, King Rhoam is walking down a hall, the camera’s perspective is of a bird’s eye view, like we’re peering in from outside a window. We can see the shadow of Astor chasing after him, as he starts speaking frantically about something, not quite, but almost to the point of shouts. 

Rhoam Narration: “After your mother died, the visions of the future shifted drastically. No longer was there glimpses of rolling fields and shimmering skies, but instead, of rubble, red earth, and death.”

You can now more clearly hear the words coming out of Astor’s mouth. He is telling something about failure, and souls, and the Calamity to the King’s ear. He’s still walking forward.

Rhoam Narration: “He was adamant that our demise was now coming faster than ever, and that without your mother, we were doomed. That even you, should you take up your mother’s mantle, could not save everyone.”

Astor: “I’m telling you Your Majesty, if you go down this path, there is no going back.”

King Rhoam: “There is no other choice, we are moving forward.”

Astor: “I don’t think you quite understand the true gravity of the fate you’re choosing for yourself. It is a guarantee that you, me, and countless others shall die.”

King Rhoam: “I don’t want to hear it.”

Astor: “And of course, there are a multitude of possibilities, but the end result is the same.”

Astor: “Do you have a preference, perhaps? Crushed by rubble? Suffocation under ash?”

Rhoam’s tone is deadly: “Stop.”

Astor: “I’ve seen fire too. I’m not yet quite sure the exact circumstances that lead to flame appearing and spreading so quickly, but rest assured that if you—”

King Rhoam: “Stop.” 

Astor: “If you saddle someone else with this duty I am absolutely certain that you and I will—” 

King Rhoam, voice not shouting, but still with a booming intensity: “Just like you were so certain of our victory 10 years ago?”

Astor’s face darkens. He’s silent for a moment, collecting his words before practically spitting the first articulation: “...That, future, was the one that would come to be if Her Majesty was alive. If you’re so unsatisfied with my departed wisdom you can go ahead and flail around with destiny alone. You think I choose for these events to happen? You think I lie when I saw I want what’s best for this kingdom—”

King Rhoam: “What’s best for you.”

An ugly pause.

King Rhoam: “It is decided, Seer. It’s time you accept this. My wife is dead. That is the truth. Thus the role of sealing the Calamity shall pass to my daughter. She will work to awaken her own ability. It will be her duty to save us.”

Astor half laughs: “A child?! Surely you don’t need the supernatural to see how foolish that is.”

King Rhoam’s voice is even more stern: “You are living proof that the future is not absolute. Therefore I...must place all belief in her ability.”

The King walks away, leaving Astor alone. Weirdly, he smiles. Perhaps to mask some other emotion.  

After another moment, Astor yells to the King: “I’ll fix this! Alone if I must!” He’s chuckling as he shakes his head. “Your useless faith may cost many lives, but even so mark my words, I will fix this.”

The King looks back, but says nothing, his expression unreadable. He continues forward, leaving Astor alone chuckling, or perhaps something in between chuckling and crying to himself.  

Rhoam Narration: “We haven’t spoken since that day. I simply left him to his devices. If he was so determined to find another way to stop the Calamity, then who was I to stop him. I doubt my word could have swayed his mind regardless.

We’re now looking at a room, the camera is just by the doorway, looking at an office, circular and domed. It’s stone brick walls are covered in parchment and ripped books, covered in symbols and frantic writing. An old Sheikah tapestry hangs crudely on the left wall, and the window on the right seems to tint grey, or even a deepest crimson. Centerframe, is the back of Astor, robe hanging just above the paper ridden floor. He is flipping through something on his desk. 

Rhoam Narration: “Fixated as he was on the perfect future that you mother might have led, I still had hope that with time, he might still assist you with your destiny one day.”

The camera slowly comes closer to Astor. We can see more clearly the type of stuff that sprawls the papers and books and diagrams across his office. Some depict stars and constellations, and even a few notes on Ancient Technology, although in a noticeably cleaner font. However, as the camera moves close and closer to Astor, the papers and books depict only one clear topic: the aura of death that comes only with necromancy. 

Rhoam Narration: “It seems…”

Astor finally reacts to whatever he was doing on his desk. You don’t see his eyes, but as he fully turns around to face the camera, you see his smile, along with him holding a dark orb of unknown energy. It hovers in his hand. 

Rhoam Narration: “...I was mistaken.” 

The camera cuts to a wide angle, looking at Astor from behind a stack of books on his desk. The stack of books on Astor’s desk brighten in color (from the memory dull filter), until the scene fully fades back into the Royal Library. The camera is now focused on a similar stack of books on the desk behind Zelda, where Rhoam was working before. 

Zelda is still looking at her father, who is still turned away. Now, he turns back around to face her.

“He had disappeared completely one day, so it was my understanding that whatever he was working on killed him. However, if he is truly back as you say…”

Rhoam walks closer to Zelda, close enough that he might have put a hand on her shoulder, but his arms stay behind his back.

“It is in your utmost interest to prove him wrong. I know not what he plans on doing, but it would be wise to stop him before he does.”

Rhoam turns away now, pacing back to the otherside of the desk. “But, your more important priority is unlocking your powers, understand? Now more than ever, is not the time to get distracted.”

Zelda, taking this all in, takes a deep breath. She then nods at him. “I understand...Father.”

After a moment, the King makes a motion as if to dismiss her. She starts to walk away, her thoughts churning in her head, heart thumping to the same beat as her echoing footsteps. Suddenly, Rhoam calls, 

“Zelda.” It’s not a question, but the tone is asked like one.

She turns back, looking at him, expectantly. Rhoam only stares at her, an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty for him. The words he wants to form seem stuck in his throat, until finally, he lets out a quiet breathe through his nose, before simply saying:

“You must.”

Zelda can only frown, her shoulder’s slumping slightly, as she ducks her head and leaves.

- - - - - - 

And that’s that! That’s the complete end of Chapter 3. So tune in next time for Chapter 4, including a new slight but important story changes, Yiga husbands, and shocking turns of events.

Edit: I forgot that posts with link’s dont show up in tag results so a rb is appreciated :p

[rainbowwing251]

New World, Old Traditions (Xenoblade Chronicles Tickle Fic)

A/N: SURPRISE! I decided to write a shorter fic for the 1-year anniversary of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!

While I couldn’t finish “WARNING: Beware of Grins” in time for the anniversary, I couldn’t stomach the idea of not doing anything for it. So I sat there, wondering if I could do anything to celebrate this milestone, when I thought to myself, “Hey! I should write a fic based on two of the headcanons that I have about the birthdays of the main party members in Xenoblade Chronicles!”

What are those two headcanons? Well, allow me to describe them to you!

Headcanon #1: The birthdays of each of the main party members correspond to a date that matches up with either one of two things:

The release date of a specific entry in the Xenoblade series, including ports.

A date on which major news for a specific entry in the Xenoblade series was announced. An example would be March 26th, the date of the Nintendo Direct Mini that announced the release date for XC:DE and the Future Connected epilogue that came with it.

While I would love to list off all of the birthdays, I don’t want this Author’s Note to drag on and on, so I’ll just list off the birthdays of the characters who will be the main stars of this fic.

#1- Shulk’s birthday is June 10th (the release date of the original Xenoblade Chronicles in Japan).

#2- Reyn’s birthday is March 26th. I already explained the significance of this date earlier, so I won’t repeat myself.

#3- Fiora’s birthday is May 29th (the release date of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, A.K.A today!)

If you want to know the birthdates of Dunban, Sharla, Melia, and Riki, let me know!

As for headcanon #2, this is what it is: Shulk, Reyn, and Fiora have a tradition of tickling each other on their birthdays. It doesn’t matter whose birthday it is, they will all get the chance to tickle each other. If you would like to learn more about this headcanon, check out this post!

Now that I have explained my two headcanons, I would like to give one last bit of information before we move on to the fic.

Normally, when I write a fic, Shulk is the lee. However, I wanted to try something different with this fic.

This time, it’s Fiora’s turn to be the lee. Shulk will be one of the two lers in this fic, the other being Reyn (though I suppose that’s obvious, given the fact that I told you my headcanon for Reyn’s birthdate). This is going to be fun to write.

Oh, and one last thing: There are major spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles in this fic. Do not read this fic if you haven’t beaten the game yet.

Alright, I think it’s about time that we get to the fic. So without further ado, let’s go! Happy 1-year anniversary, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When was the last time she had slept like this?

When was the last time she had a good night's rest with no nightmares or monsters to keep her up at night? When was the last time she dreamed of her friends and the wholesome mischief they would get themselves into? When was the last time she slept in in the morning?

And most importantly, when was the last time she had slept in her Homs body?

For months on end, she was afraid. Afraid of how others would view her in her mechanical body. Afraid that both her friends and brother would betray her. Afraid of losing control over herself once more (even though Meyneth was careful with her body, never putting it in harm's way). Afraid that at any moment, she would fall asleep forever.

But now… she was free. Free from the cold metal that once gave her a second chance at life. Free from the sorrow that filled her heart every time she thought about her shortening life span. Free from the emptiness that came with the inability to feel the physical touch of an organic life form. Free from the gods that once ruled the world.

She thanked them. She thanked everyone and everything that made her life as a Mechon more bearable. She thanked those who gave her the courage to fight on, even with the threat of Zanza and the constant feeling that death was coming for her.

But most of all, she thanked Shulk, Melia, and Linada for finding the Biotic Regeneration Device, the very machine that saved her life.

The sudden loss of her mechanical body meant that she could feel certain physical sensations again. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt hunger, thirst, or extreme fatigue. Sure, she had felt tired as a Mechon, but that paled in comparison to the exhaustion she had been feeling since the day that she woke up from the chamber. She hadn’t felt this tired since the day that her brother returned home from the Battle of Sword Valley.

She had felt this way for at least a week now. She knew that some of it came from all of the walking she did when she was tasked to find those who needed help with the reconstruction efforts in New Colony 9, but when she thought about all of the times that she had helped people in the old world prior to the Mechon raid on the old Colony 9, she knew that the majority of her fatigue came from an entirely different source.

She didn’t know for sure what the cause was, but she figured that it had something to do with the fact that she was in a mechanical body for months. She was still adjusting to the body she never thought she would be in again, so it wouldn’t surprise her if the fatigue went away on its own in about a month. For now, she would have to deal with the excessive amount of sleepiness.

Right now, she was asleep, burned out from her walks across the new yet all-so-familiar colony she called home. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue with any of her companions. All of them knew that she was much more tired than she had ever been in her life, and they would usually let her be when she slept into the late hours of the morning.

However, today was a little bit different.

Today was Fiora’s birthday, and she had slept in. Shulk and Reyn were having none of this.

“What do you say we do to wake her up?” Reyn asked the former visionary.

“Hm… We could gently shake her until she wakes up, but she won’t be happy about that…”

“Should we spook her?”

“No! We are not doing that!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to propose an idea.”

Shulk glared at him for a bit before he put his hand on his chin in thought.

“Scaring her isn’t a good idea, but maybe we’ll have to do something that will jolt her awake…”

“Seems like it’s the only way to wake her these days…”

Reyn mulled over a possible solution. After a few seconds of silence between him and his closest friend, he was suddenly hit with an idea.

“Wait, I got it!”

“Oh dear Bionis… what is it, Reyn?” Shulk said, playfully teasing the older Hom.

“First of all, don’t give me that attitude,” He poked the younger male in the bicep, “second of all, do you remember a certain tradition that you, Fiora and I used to have?”

Shulk rummaged his brain for a memory that would provide the answer to the soldier’s question. Eventually, he found it.

“Are you talking about… that tradition?”

“Huh? Can you be more specific?” Reyn was a bit confused, not understanding the vagueness of the heir’s response, before he noticed the blush that was forming on his face.

“Oh, so you do remember that tradition?”

“Yeah…”

Reyn ruffled his hair before he asked him, “So what do you think? Should we do it?”

“It might work… And even if it doesn’t, we’ll tickle her anyway at some point in the day. Tradition and that.”

“So is that a yes?”

Shulk nodded and said, “Yeah, it’s a yes.”

The auburn-haired male gave him a thumbs up. “Alrighty then, let’s go and wake up Fiora!”

The two of them left the Weapons Development Lab and strolled through the streets of New Colony 9. As they walked by, Dunban, Sharla, Melia, and Riki all greeted them, asking if they could wish Fiora a “Happy Birthday” on their behalf (all four of them were busy with the reconstruction, and Dunban didn’t have the heart to wake his sister up from a well-deserved sleep). They told them that they would, and kept on walking.

Eventually, they arrived at Dunban’s House. Reyn went up to the front door and turned the knob. He wasn’t surprised to find that the door was unlocked. He quietly pushed the door open and tip-toed inside the house. He waited in the kitchen for a few seconds, listening for the blonde woman’s footsteps, before he turned to Shulk to tell him that she was still asleep. The scientist carefully stepped inside the room.

They sneaked up the stairs, careful to avoid the spots that made the steps creak, and found the young girl sleeping in the bed.

“Ready?” Reyn whispered to his fellow Hom.

“Ready.” He answered

The older male slowly lifted the blanket off of Fiora’s body, revealing that she was wearing a Dyed Top and Dyed Bottoms. She usually put these two pieces of clothing on when she was about to go to bed, and wore her normal outfit during the day.

Reyn looked over at Shulk and whispered, “You go for the knees, and I’ll go for the sides, alright?”

“Got it.” The heir whispered back.

Reyn carefully reached over to pull Fiora’s shirt up and slowly drifted his hands towards her sides, while Shulk made his fingers walk up to her knees.

As soon as their fingers made contact with her skin, they lightly wiggled them.

At first, she didn’t react to the touch, far too deep in her sleep to notice anything that came from the real world, but in ten seconds, she finally let out a couple of giggles.

“Hehehehe… Stahahahahahp…” She made an attempt to swat at the boys’ hands, but she didn’t put enough strength into the swats, and was therefore unable to stop the sensation.

Soon enough, her eyes fluttered open, still giggling at the sensation that was coursing through her body. Shulk and Reyn took their hands off of her as she drifted towards wakefulness.

“Shulk…? Reyn…?”

“Good morning, sleepy head!” Reyn sang, ruffling Fiora’s hair exactly like he did with Shulk’s back at the Weapons Development Lab.

“Hands off, you big oaf…~” She teased, earning a pout from the soldier and a laugh from the scientist.

“Happy Birthday, Fiora!” Shulk said, pulling her up into a sitting position before hugging her.

“Aw, thank you, Shulk!” She replied cheerfully, then turned her attention over to Reyn.

“No, Fiora, I didn’t forget your birthday this year.” Reyn said with a faint blush and an exasperated tone.

Fiora had every reason to doubt him. Normally, Reyn would forget about her birthday for at least half of the day before someone would remind him.

“Heheheh… I don’t believe you one bit- ah!” Fiora was about to sass her muscular friend, but she was cut off by Shulk pushing her onto the bed.

“You can laugh at him later, Fiora. For now, we have a tradition to attend to.”

He quickly lost the former Mechon, “What? What are you talking about?”

“What? You don’t remember our old tradition?” A tinge of dismay flashed across Reyn’s face, but in a split second, it had vanished. “What do you think, Shulk? Should we help her remember?”

The younger blonde nodded as a smirk grew on his lips. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

Reyn was about to tickle her underarms, but Shulk stopped him.

“Hang on, do you know how long we’re supposed to tickle her?”

Fiora heard that second-to-last word and immediately began to panic. “Wait, what did you say?”

Reyn ignored her (as did Shulk) and answered the heir’s question. “Yeah, she’s nineteen years old now, so we’ll tickle her for nineteen minutes, correct?”

“You got it! Now, are you ready?”

“You bet I am! Let’s bring this tradition back!”

Fiora could only squirm and giggle as Reyn grabbed her wrists and pinned them down with his left hand. Meanwhile, Shulk sat down on her legs and moved his body until he knew for sure that his weight would keep her legs pinned.

“Nohohoho, guhihihihihiys!”

Shulk tsked at her and slipped into his role as a ler, “You should save your breath, Fiora, because you’re going to need it~”

The unexpected tease from the former visionary was the last thing she heard before she was suddenly attacked by two pairs of hands. One pair went for her underarms, while the other snuck up her shirt and pinched at her ribs.

“Ahahahahahahaha! Nohohohohohohohoho!” She quickly fell into a laughing fit and tried her hardest to pull her arms down. Unfortunately, Reyn’s grip was far too strong, so she had no choice but to surrender herself to the tickles. Even worse, while she made her attempt to escape, the soldier took advantage of the situation and sped up the tickling every time she stretched her arms out.

“Eep! Reheheheheheyn, stahahahahahahap! Lehehehehehet mehehehe gohohohoho!”

“Sorry, Fiora, but you’re out of luck. There’s still eighteen minutes to go~!”

Fiora squealed as the older male raked his fingers back and forth in her underarms and teased her at the same time. Since when did he become an intimidating tickle monster?

Knowing that she was helpless under Reyn’s hold, she decided to focus her efforts on her legs. Shulk was a bit weaker than Reyn, so she figured that it would be easy for her to knock him off. She laughed and laughed for another two minutes before she made an attempt at lifting her right leg.

However, as soon as she tried to lift it, Shulk countered her by launching an all-out attack on her knees.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re not getting away from us~!”

“Whahahahahahahaha! Sihihihihihihihihincehehehehe whehehehehehen dihihihihi yohohohou gehehehehet sohohohoho bohohohohohold?”

“Trust me, if Reyn wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be doing this right now. But since he’s here with me, I’m feeling rather brave.” He moved his right hand to the back of her right knee and began to scratch at the spot, while his left hand skittered across her left kneecap. “Soon, you will fear me~!”

The teasing and tickling from the youngest member of the group nearly broke the helpless woman underneath him.

“Ihihihihihihihihi’m nohohohohohohohot ahahahahahfraihihihihihihid ohohohohohof yohohohoHOHOHO! REHEHEHEHEHEYN, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” Reyn broke the laughter dam within her by blowing raspberries into her neck.

“No? No what? What am I doing wrong, Fiora~? Tell me!”

“QUIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT THEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHASPBEHEHEHEHEHEHERRIHIHIHIHIES!”

Reyn let out a chuckle, “Sorry, what did you say? I can’t understand you!”

“YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU KNOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOW WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI SAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHID!”

Shulk shook his head and made his hands jump up to her sides. “Fiora, Reyn doesn’t speak ticklish.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand the ticklish language! I haven’t even studied it, yet!”

Fiora’s mind was about to be lost in the raging river of laughter that spilled from her mouth.

“SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!” She accidentally yelled.

Reyn stopped tickling her and put his hand over his heart in mock offense, while Shulk let out an exaggerated gasp and sped his tickling up to the max.

“Fiora! That wasn’t necessary! Shulk, I think we need to punish this rude little birthday girl!”

“I agree, Reyn, but we should save the punishment for the last five minutes. That will straighten her out for sure!”

Fiora had never shivered at Shulk’s words before, but even though all of the tickling, she felt a powerful chill run down her spine.

“WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOES THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT MEHEHEHEHEHEAN, SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHULK?!”

The scientist let out the most threatening laugh she had ever heard from him in her life, “You’ll see~” Then he zipped his hands onto her stomach, releasing a shriek from the back of her throat.

“EEEEE! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!” She was getting dangerously close to breaking as she endured the barrage of tummy tickles that rained down upon her.

“Ten minutes left, Reyn! Don’t let up just yet!”

“Got it, but we might want to slow it down so Fiora can breathe!”

“Good idea. If my hypothesis is correct, her laughter will turn silent in two minutes, so we should ease up on her so that doesn’t happen.”

Reyn had to laugh at that. Even when he’s tickling someone to death, Shulk would always find a way to be geeky. Fiora probably laughed at that too, but right now, it was impossible to differentiate between her normal laugh and her tickle laugh.

The two boys slowed their fingers down until they were only tracing over her skin, and although she was tittering, she was able to take a dozen, much-needed breathers.

“Yohohohou guys ahahahahare much mohohohohore ehehehvil than Ihihihi thohohohought…”

Reyn took this moment to revel in her words, “Don’t mess with this tickle monster! You’ll regret it when you do, right Fiora?”

Fiora did her best to give him a death stare, but only succeeded in making herself look silly (if Reyn laughing at her was anything to go by).

As per usual, Shulk took the smart route and just facepalmed at Reyn’s behavior.

“That’s a dangerous thought process, Reyn. Don’t forget that she can dish out  punishments more dangerous than Zanza.”

That got a shocked response out of the other male, “You sure about that? I don’t think a tickle monster would have anything on a god!”

“I didn’t defeat Zanza on my own, Reyn! Fiora helped, and so did you and the others!”

Reyn wanted to argue back, but found that he couldn’t. Shulk had a point.

“Anyway, we have five minutes left, and you know what that means~”

“Dear Bionis! How did he transition back into his role so effortlessly?!” Well Shulk was right, Fiora would learn to fear him at some point. If he can return to the role of a ler in no time flat, then she would be terrified to know how he would act if he was playing the role of a tickle monster.

“Ohoho, I’ve been waiting for this! Ready for the grand finale, Fiora~?” Reyn asked with an unnervingly innocent tone in his voice.

“N-nohohohoho!”

“Well too bad!” Reyn nearly shouted out at her. He made his hands hover over her neck, while Shulk had his hands over her hips.

“This is part of the tradition, Fiora. When we reach the five-minute mark, we will target the lee’s worst spots until this time is up. We will not make any exceptions, no matter how much you protest against us or beg for us to reconsider.” Shulk explained to her in the most nonchalant and calm voice she had ever heard from the former visionary. The voice was so haunting that even Reyn was shuddering in fear.

“Now, any last words before you meet your end~?” He asked her. Silence was the only thing he got in response.

“Nothing? Very well, then. Reyn, on the count of three.”

“A-alright then…”

Shulk looked over and raised an eyebrow at his slight stutter before he returned his attention to the poor woman beneath him.

“Three.” The two of them brought their hands closer to her in perfect sync with each other.

“Two.” They finally made contact with her skin.

“One.” Fiora was once again in an anticipatory giggle fit.

“Now!” All hell broke loose.

At long last, Fiora broke under the intense tickling that shook her to the core.

“NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! WHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIY WOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOULD YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU GUHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIYS DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO THIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIS?!”

Reyn was going to answer her, but Shulk butted in and only said the word, “Tradition.”

They both knew that any further teasing would send the former Face unit into a fit of silent laughter, so they stayed silent for the remaining five minutes. The only sound that could be heard in the house was Fiora’s uncontrollable laughter.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to her, they let up. The tickling abruptly ended, Reyn let go of her wrists, and Shulk got off of her legs.

She laid there, chest heaving up and down as she struggled to regain her composure, while the scientist checked on her legs.

“Can you feel this, Fiora?” he asked as he squeezed her leg in a way that would not be painful or tickly.

“Yes… I can... feel it.” She told him in between breaths.

“You alright?” Reyn questioned her. “Feeling woozy?”

“No, I’m… fine.”

All three of them sat there in near-silence as Fiora’s breathing returned to normal. When it did, she spoke.

“That was impressive. I didn’t think you two had it in you to tickle and tease me like that.”

Reyn objected, “Hey, I’ve had that potential for years! If there’s anyone you should be impressed by, it would be him!” He pointed at Shulk, “I had no idea he could speak like that! It creeped me out!”

The younger boy couldn’t help the prideful smile on his face. “I learned it from watching and listening to all of you guys.”

“So that’s why you sounded like Melia towards the end there!” Fiora exclaimed, “I was trying to figure that out!”

“Oh, uh… That wasn’t intentional.” Shulk professed, feeling slightly embarrassed. He often imitated those that he loved on an unconscious level, and apparently, that’s exactly what he did when he teased Fiora.

“Sure it wasn’t.” she countered.

“Hey guys,” Reyn spoke up, “I think we should go and find the others. They might need help with the reconstruction.”

Fiora was a little concerned about the possibility of them working all day today, considering what day it was. “Do you think we’ll have time to celebrate my birthday today?”

“I think so,” he answered, “They told us to tell you that they said ‘Happy Birthday’, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought about that.”

“Oh! Well, I think we should go and find them so we can talk about it! Just give me a few minutes to change!”

“Okay then! Shulk and I will be downstairs waiting!” He turned to the other boy, only to find him staring at the bottom of the staircase.

“Shulk?” He didn’t get an answer. 

Reyn didn’t notice it (or perhaps he might have forgotten it), but Shulk knew what was coming next. According to the tradition, once the birthday boy/girl was free from his or her tickle session, then…

“But first…” Yep, he called it.

He turned around and found that she was still sitting on the bed, looking at him and Reyn with an evil glint in her eyes. He knew what was coming.

“W-what?” Reyn stammered out. He was about to turn and make a run for it, but Fiora’s reflexes were too fast, and she caught his arm before he even had the chance to take a single step away from her.

“If I remember correctly, it’s your turn to be tickled.”

The soldier’s eyes widened, “W-wait, so you DO remember our tradition?”

“Yep, I was just pretending to not know about it. I’ll admit, the results I got from that were surprising,” She glanced at the younger Hom, who was as still as a statue, “...but I knew that the reveal would rile you guys up. I know that this will make you ten times more ticklish, so I figured that I would go for it.”

She got up off of the bed and tugged at Reyn’s arm, trying to pull him onto the spot that she was in mere minutes ago. “Shulk, can you help me?”

“On it.”

In no time at all, Reyn’s laughter would fill the home. After that, it would be Shulk’s turn.

They may be in a new world, but they knew that they would adjust to it just fine, because even though everything has changed, the past would never be forgotten.

[vg2021]

September 2021 popular new games recommend

New games are always hitting the shelves, and we make lists so you can keep up with what games you need to give your attention to this month. Hi folks, it's Falcon, and today on Gameranx, the games you should consider playing in September, 2021. Starting off at number 10, it's "Lost Judgment," the second in the Judgment series, itself is spinoff of the Yakuza series. Now, if you recall, I did the "Before You Buy" for the first "Judgment," and I really liked it. It took a lot of the best stuff from "Yakuza," built on it, and gave you a completely different perspective, and it looks like they're really trying to keep plowing ahead with that formula. For instance, they're keeping the combat, but expanding it, giving you more styles, maintaining Crane style and Tiger style. They've added Snake style, which is a counterattack-oriented style, and then is completely revamping the stealth segments, apparently giving you more to do during them, which is good because they were kind of the slower parts of the game. When I played "Judgment," I was like, this is really a winning formula. Did I think that it was so different from "Yakuza" that it departed? Not really, but I like that they're developing the little ideas they had to make it a different series, and it looks like they're really maintaining the tone well. "Lost Judgment" is landing on the PlayStations, the Xboxes, and it's landing September 24th. At number nine is "Conic Colors: Ultimate." Obviously, there has been a long time between the original game and this remaster, but because of how stylized and unique this game looks, seeing it in a higher resolution with various enhancements, it does not look like an old game. This might be a slightly controversial opinion. It's probably the best of the 3D Sonic games, and I cannot imagine a better one to remaster and bring to new platforms, particularly the Switch, where I will be playing it. They do actually add a new wisp to the game and a few extra features that were not there before, but mostly, this is just an incredibly solid 3D Sonic game that I am personally really excited to go through again. I also have my hopes that the upcoming Sonic game is a sequel to "Sonic Colors," and that's the reason they're doing this, but that's my own little conspiracy theory for a Sonic the Hedgehog for 2022. In the meantime, "Sonic Colors" is landing on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC through Epic Games, and Nintendo Switch on September 7th. At number eight is "Life is Strange: True Colors," the third mainline game in the Life is Strange series and one that uses the mechanics of the game to tell the story of Alex Chen, as she tries to figure out who killed her brother and why. Obviously, "Life is Strange" is a game about people with supernatural powers, and hers is that she can experience the emotions of others, and as you might expect, that would be an easy way to figure out if somebody is lying when you're questioning them about, you know, killing people, and it also features one of the characters from "Life is Strange: Before the Storm." The game takes place in Colorado, and while you're traipsing around there, using your turbo empathy to figure out who killed somebody, you can actually influence how other people think and feel, but it also comes at the cost of you being, quote, unquote, "infected" by their emotion. Now, I will say some of those story elements sound like they could be really over-the-top if done in a certain way, and I hope they aren't, because the series has always kind of bordered on that, but never really gotten too unbearable, and it always tells an interesting sci-fi story, and that's kind of my hopes for "True Colors." "Life is Strange: True Colors" is coming to the PlayStations, the Xbox Ones, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch on September 10th. At number seven is "Tales of Arise," the latest in the JRPG series. This is a game that's been in development for quite a while actually, and takes the series into the Unreal Engine, producing what we all think is a graphically pretty big jump. Yes, it does retain the look of the series, of course, but it just seems that the amount of time they had to work on their own engine versus making the game in Unreal freed them up or something, because it looks a lot better. "Arise" focuses on developing the combat system, which isn't fundamentally changed, but they did go back to "Tales of Graces" from 2009 for inspiration and lean the combat towards dodging and counterattacking. They also added a feature called Boost Strike. I don't know exactly how this stuff plays out. Obviously, I haven't played it yet, but it's all very interesting sounding, and so is the plot, where this game takes place in a world that is divided between a medieval world and a technologically advanced world. Tales is a great series, and I'm really excited to play the latest entry. It's coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, and Windows on September 10th. At number six is "Diablo II: Resurrected." And let me just go ahead and say how excited I am for this. It's not completely untempered excitement, but man, this looks good. It's mostly positive for me because you get absolutely all of the "Diablo II" and expansion content. You get it looking like this, which is way better than the original "Diablo." They have completely read on the game in 3D, and it looks amazing. All the effects, all the character models, all the animation, everything just looks amazing. There are a couple of quality-of-life improvements, too. Probably the one I'm most excited about is the new shared inventory feature, so you can move stuff between characters without long treks where you meet up with your characters or have a third character that you have specifically just for moving items. It's also the first time "Diablo II's" been on consoles, and I think it's probably gonna work out really well, because "Diablo III's" controller support was really good. I enjoy playing it the traditional way as well as on controller, so I kind am thinking this is going to work out basically like that. The only thing that some people are a little iffy about is that it really doesn't bring anything new to the table, other than, like I said, a few quality-of-life improvements. Yeah, they completely redid all of the cinematics from the ground up, but there isn't new content. Now, for me, I think that's good, but this is a contention within the community, and I wanted to acknowledge it, because sometimes, developers do go the extra mile and include some extra stuff, like there's a new wisp in "Sonic Colors: Ultimate," for instance. But for me, I'm just really glad that they are keeping the original game as is and giving it to us in the best possible graphical fidelity. I am so excited to play "Diablo II again." It's coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 23rd. At number five is "Away: The Survival Series," and let me just go ahead and say this. This is something that's non-standard, something you probably aren't expecting to be a thing. It's a sugar glider game. You have to survive as a sugar glider, and honestly, it looks really interesting to me. It's kind of a strange concept, but it's really pretty, and there's enough interesting mechanics that sort of make being a sugar glider an interesting thing. You can climb trees. You can glide, of course. there's various senses and perceptual things that you can do. The only thing is, I would probably never go, oh man, want a game where I play as a sugar glider, but now that I see it, it is something I really want to play. "Away: The Survival Series" is coming to PC, PS4, and PS5 on September 28th. At number four is "Aragami 2," a third-person stealth game and the sequel to the 2016 PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch game, which is oriented towards stealth. Aragami, the titular ninja, can use shadow accents to teleport. And honestly, the original game is a really interesting title. I enjoyed it a lot. I had honestly forgotten about it, so when I saw they were making a sequel, I was pretty excited, This story involves sort of unraveling a mystery about the person who summoned you into existence. It's kinda convoluted, but it's also second fiddle to the mechanics, which is actually really good. I'm pretty confident that this will be a good sequel, and I'll be playing it when it lands on the PlayStations and the Xboxes, as well as PC, on September 17th. At number three is "Kena: Bridge of Spirits," a game that was originally actually teased as a PlayStation 5 title. It is also landing on PlayStation 4 and Windows, but I'm particularly excited to really see how it lands on PlayStation 5. It's kind of inspired by Zelda. The studio that made it specifically became known for a short film they made based on "Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask," and the world that they've developed for this game is absolutely beautiful. It obviously does actually contain a lot more detail than "Breath of the Wild," but you can also tell there is an element of influence there. The trick to making the combat unique to this game is that there are spirit companions, kind of familiar-type things if you're remember playing "Ni no Kuni" and how that plays out. It's obviously not turn-based. It is oriented towards an action-RPG-type thing. I am really excited for this game. It's one that I've been hoping is going to be very good. Obviously, we don't know, but it's always showed a lot of promise in my opinion, and I'll be playing it when it comes out, like I said, on the PlayStations and Microsoft Windows September 21st. At number two is "Hot Wheels Unleashed," a game that, actually, in my opinion, kind of came out of nowhere in terms of how exciting I think it looks. It seems like it's somewhere between "Mario Kart" and "Need for Speed," with the ability to make your own tracks, and that just honestly sounds like the recipe for something fantastic. I don't want to sit here and act like there's really a ton of details to discuss. I just get some old F-Zero-type, Mario Kart-type feel from it, but the cars also look a little bit more weighty, like a Need for Speed. The tracks, however, are so obviously inspired by "Mario Kart," and I'll be playing it. It's that simple. "Hot Wheels Unleashed" is coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 30th. And finally, at number one, it's "Deathloop." "Deathloop" is a big one for me. I've been waiting for a new, full-on just Arkane game for a while. I'm a huge "Dishonored" fan, and while "Prey" is great, there's just something about the way "Dishonored" works out that I particularly like, and "Deathloop" looks more like a successor to that. The premise is that you are an assassin stuck in a time loop against another assassin stuck in a time loop, and basically, you fight each other, as well as take out people. The mechanics are very, very oriented around what makes Arkane good. There's stealth, there's parkour, there's lots of powers, and it also even features a multiplayer aspect, where you can go head to head as the assassin. "Deathloop" is landing on PlayStation 5 and Windows on September 14th. Also, roll up your sleeves. I got quite a few bonus games for you. First is "WRC 10," the World Rally Championship game, built on what they call a hyperrealistic and ultra-precise physics engine. That's landing on the PlayStations, Xboxes, and PC on September 2nd. "The Medium," that really intriguing, dual-world adventure game, where you have to solve puzzles in the spirit plane, as well as in the real plane at the same time, sort of assisting yourself. Then we've got "New World," which is an MMO from Amazon Games, a game that frankly has seen a little bit of controversy over its development cycle. It's one that's been delayed a times. It could in theory be pretty good. I don't know. There's been beta tests. I haven't played it, but it looks interesting. The graphics are good. That's landing on PC on the 28th. Next is "NBA 2K22," really an outstanding-looking entry into the series. In all seriousness, the NBA 2K games just keep getting more and more insanely realistic looking. That's landing on the PlayStations, the Xboxes, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 10th. "Lost in Random," an action-adventure game coming from the EA Originals wing of EA, the sort of indie-scaled games. Seems like it's got a little bit of a sense of humor, too. Coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, Windows, and Nintendo Switch on September 10th. And finally, "Death Stranding: Director's Cut," which gives you a whole bunch of new features that might make the game better, might make the game worse. I don't know if that depends on perspective or really what's happening. It's one that I do want to play. I enjoyed the original version of it, and the PlayStation 5 is, of course, a great place for such an epic-scaled game. That's landing on September 24. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment. Let us know what you think. If you liked this video, click Like. If you're not subscribed, now is a great time to do so. We upload brand new-videos every day of the week. The best way to see them first is of course a subscription, so click Subscribe, don't forget to enable all notifications, and as always, we thank you very much for watching this video. I'm Falcon. You can follow me on Twitter @FalconTheHero. We'll see you next time, right here on Gameranx.

upload by it1776

[timegears-moved]

☕️ mmmm pokemon games specifically (not including spinoffs)

sorry this is late im terrible with actually answering asks. ill do this generation by generation. also this ended up very long because i have a lot of thoughts about pkmn.

gen one: okay so right off the bat im gonna say that i have a massive soft spot for gen one, considering blue was the first game i ever played. i do have a degree of nostalgia towards it which is why i can never be truly be harsh on these games. i know they're a mess of glitches and mechanics that make no fucking sense (seriously FUCK psychic types and everything they stand for) but it has a certain charm to it.

but even as a "kanto apologist" (which damien calls me) i can absolutely agree that the pandering is fucking abysmal. they're trying cater to a demographic who hasn't cared about pokemon in years and aren't going to pick up a new game just because charizard is in it. by doing this it feels like they're alienating the people who actually care, like "yeah ur support is nice but we want the genwunners to like us more than anything.

also on the topic of pandering is that their pandering is so half-assed too. all of this gen one content and not one shred of love for my boys victreebel or cloyster? bro i hate it here.

gen two: i dont really have that much to say here tbh. i have no fond memories of it at all considering i only played through gold once right before hgss came out. i can say that i appreciate all of the bullshit from gen one that it fixed but i have issues with johto as a region that ill elaborate on when i talk about the remakes.

gen three: honestly i never cared much for this gen. i played it quite a bit growing up but it's always been whatever for me. a lot of it just feels kind of.....bland for me. i really don't know what to say because it leaves me feeling conflicted. there's nothing bad about these games that sticks out like a sore thumb but they just don't do it for me, ya know?

i do appreciate frlg for shedding a much better light on kanto though.

gen four: okay so i'll fully admit that the sinnoh games are my childhood faves and are still my faves now but im not letting nostalgia completely cloud my judgement on this.

honestly? i think pokemon peaked with platinum. dp had their problems for sure and some of those still carried over to platinum but the scale in which platinum told its story feels so much grander than any pokemon game that came before or after it. i absolute adore the sinnoh mythos and i only want dp remakes just so it can get expanded upon, i could care less about any actually gameplay from it. ive said this before but you cannot make the god of pokemon and not do anything with it.

as for hgss, i have very mixed feelings about this one but not in the same way gen 3 made me feel because i do have genuine problems here. ive talked before about them but i just cannot stress how bad the level and pokemon distributions are. how the fuck can you make brand new pokemon for your johto region and not put them in fucking johto?

like these games are fine ig. i never cared about the walking pokemon mechanic but it literally feels like people only praise this game as the best because of that one thing that has no bearing on the actual game itself. you can like these games all you want, i still enjoy parts of them myself, but calling them the best is a huge reach.

gen five: right off the bat im gonna say that i do love the gen five games so nobody thinks im being overly critical or anything. i love the aesthetic of these games, i ADORE the pokemon here and they're some of the most fun pokemon games to play through. it's the story and characters (with the exception of n i will absolutely give credit where it is die there) that throw me for a loop.

i feel like whenever i praise the story or characters im just following the crowd here. i don't know if im just very stupid (i definitely am very stupid) or what but none of it felt as powerful as people claim it is for me personally. maybe i should just pay more attention but i honestly don't know. im definitely not saying theyre bad or anything i just in all hobestly dont get the (very sudden) hype.

uhhh i can't say much about bw2 because i haven't beaten it since it came out but i remember liking hugh and it made iris a champion so i remember them being good on those two things alone.

gen six: hohohohoho here we go. tbh i don't even know what i can say about xy that hasn't already been said. like gen one might be a huge mess looking back on it but at least it had character. xy introduced a few pokemon that i really liked and some amazing shiny hunting methods that should definitely return but that's the most i can say in terms of praise.

i dont think pokemon has ever gotten this boring before, and that's speaking as someone who clocked over 300 hours into my x save file. nothing has life (which in hindsight is ironic considering xerneas is the god of life) and i hate the way mega evolution was handled so much. i really don't know what else to say because everyone has already said what i want to but i think this has been pokemon's lowest point so far.

oras once again made hoenn complicated for me. they made hoenn somewhat interesting for me in a way that didnt capture me in the originals. i don't think they're stellar but ive seen people call these the worst ones and....why. i get that the originals are special to a lot of people and that they feel like oras did them injustice but honestly i would oras over the originals because they're just more fun for me.

gen seven: it made popplio. 10/10.

okay so i can understand why the very slow start and unskippable long cutscenes threw a lot of people off but i just don't understand so much of the hate it around other things. again i see people proclaiming it as the worst and you can see it as that from a gameplay element, but the story fucking slapped ass and i don't think amybody can or should deny that. maybe i just feel very passionately about them because they're very personal for me in helping me through a rough time in my life but i just also dont see why everybody is so mad at these games sometimes.

the fact that sm mean so much to me makes usum's entire existence hurt so much more. like wow i love abuse apologism: the game thank you sooooo much gamefreak! /s

aside from ultra wormhole jumping, my baby dusk lycanroc and the new ultra beasts i dont care for anything new usum brought. it feels like it back peddled so much by completely ruining lillie's character by attempting to make lusamine likable when the damage from the first games was already done. i hate usum they're the only pokemon games i can state that i hate. i don't know how you can take sm's well-done albeit flawed blueprints, take out everything that was good and only leave stuff that either doesn't matter or is actively harmful.

also let's go pikachu and eevee exist too idrc

gen eight: ive already spoken my piece on swsh but im gonna be more clear here. i dont think swsh is inherently bad and i can still have fun with them. i dont think the issue here lies with the cut pokedex. i could honestly care less about that and i always figured we would get to this point. the issue lies with nintendo and tpci pushing for yearly releases, forcing the devs to make yearly subpar games. i can think of so many ways they can remedy this situation: taking longer times between releases, hiring more staff at gamefreak or even splitting developments for different projects between multiple different studios. i hope that the reported low moral at gamefreak at swsh's releases is enough of a wake up call for change but that could just be me being optimistic.

i am SO sorry this ended up as long as it is but i have a lot of opinions and not enpugh willpower to keep my mouth shut

[bluezey]

This might seem like a random question, but are you familiar with Pokemon? I ask because someone (I don't remember who) brought up the image of Barley running all over town and dragging Ian with him while playing Pokemon Go, and in my head it kind of escalated and now I can't stop picturing Ian and Barley with certain Pokemon. (It kind of helps that many Pokemon were based on mythical creatures themselves.) ^_^'

Does this answer your question? 😁

Barley: Shantar's Talon! This shelf is poke Valhalla! 🤘

How do you know what Valhalla is and not heaven? Well, in some way they're about the same thing. Anyway...

I can SO see Barley getting into the game and collecting every pokemon and training the best team for tournaments and everything. He wouldn't be an EV trainer type, but he'll get WAY into it. And he'll name as many pokemon as he can. Ian... that's a tough one. On the one hand, it's more in character if he's not, he's not much of a gamer. Then again, pokemon like Yamper and Froakie seem to be pokemon that he would enjoy enough to tolerate some of the games. So, maybe Ian joined later, specifically when he became a wizard and realized this stuff isn't really that stupid. But again, he's very casual gamer, catching only pokemon he likes, and some of his games may not even be finished yet.

As for me, I got into the games a bit in the RBY days, specifically Yellow, but dropped off a bit in the GSC and RSE days. It was in the DPP days when my friend, long story short, ended up with two nintendo DSes and gifted me his old one. I bought Diamond, and now I've been playing the games ever since. I'm more of a casual gamer, I collect all I can in game at least, and kinda put it down after finishing all the main stuff. I choose which version based on which legendary I like, and I always go fire pokemon with my starters. I name my trainer something different in every game, and I name every. single. pokemon. For example, in Sword I named my Scorbunny Striker and my Zacian Intrepid. But my favorite pokemon of all time would be my shiny Mega Ampharos Flossie, with a close second being a tie between my shiny Accelgor Mako and my shiny Golurk Vin. Oh yeah, in some games I get a bit lucky when it comes to catching shinies 😅 I tried getting into Pokemon Go, but as I got into it from the start when it was buggy and outbalanced, as well as in a suburb with few pokestops, I gave it up pretty quick. I am Team Mystic though.

As for this generation and the Lightfoot brothers, I bet trainer Sir Barley the Bold would choose pokemon Sword and the starter Grookey (not sure what he'd name it though), while trainer Iandore would pick up pokemon Shield and the starter Sobble. So yeah, better pick up a good pokemon that's weak against grass, Ian.

Feel free to message me to swap friend codes, and I'll try to figure out how to send you mine 😅

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

this is an outta nowhere question but what are your thoughts on Joker in Smash about a year since he was added? I've heard some folks say the reason the Persona fandom got so toxic is bc Smash got involved and I wanted to know what you thought since you've been in it way longer than P5 and Joker in Smash

Short answer: Yes AND No. 

Long answer (it’s me of course it’s gonna be under the cut due to length 8U):

I’mma be honest, there’s always toxic fans. I know Smash Fans (and Nintendo fans in general) haven’t exactly been peaches, esp when it comes to Twitter (which I think is also an issue atm). But there were toxic fans before than and there’ll be toxic fans later. It’s just life tbh. (dunno where to put this but I’ll put it here: Twitter nowadays is like 2012-2015ish Tumblr, different being Tumblr was a bit more hiveminded and if you disagreed with a popular fandom opinion you.....were kinda bullied let’s be honest so no one could really say their opinions. While Twitter now it’s not a hivemind but instead two sided extremist that you need to choose. Both toxic and similar but just a taaaaad bit different, I’d probs take the two extremist sides over the hivemind if I had to chose tho...even tho Tumblr had better content during that era than Twitter right now imo but that’s in general and not Persona only. 8U Tumblr’s REALLY calmed down since the porn ban I’m not gonna lie, and ironically that’s roughly around the time that Twitter started getting shitty. So like....kinda saying there’s a correlation, I think a lot of toxic tumblr people probably migrated to twitter, and while there’s toxic fans everywhere it feels like a lot gather on Twitter so it really highlights the fandom there sadly). 

From my experience (which is from P4 PS2 era onward, I missed the pre-P4 P3 PS2 era stuff but apparently there were waifu wars which from what I’ve found I probs would’ve just classified as “shipping war” stuff rather than waifu wars....and it seemed liked standard shipping war stuff from back then), the bigger a fandom grows the more fans it obviously attracts, but that also means more toxic fans too. And that’s why I say yes and no for the smash community, yes because they did attract more fans (and their community seems to be a bit toxic atm, like I get expressing your wants to a company and I support that! but the INSTANT you don’t get a specific character announced for the fighter pass and instead of just being like “oh golly darn :(” but instead “***** this place ***** Nintendo you all suck ****** *slur* *slur*” yeah no that’s a little....you gotta take a step back buddy, so yeah I’m sure there’s a bit more toxic fans in that fandom atm but they are also a BIG ASS FANDOM so I’m not surprised), but it’s also just the cause and effect of the fandom getting bigger in general.

It happened when P4 got it’s anime (btw anime fans ya still valid and are a Persona fan, just keep in mind if you wanna talk lore just know you did watch a very abridged version of the game so be aware you might have somethings wrong cause of that.....cause I’ve seen it happen.....DX btw let’s play watchers are also real Persona fans and I’d say even people who just like Joker in Smash are at least Joker fans and that’s ok too enough gate keeping guys DX), it happened when we started getting spinoffs, kinda with the P3 movies (only really cause FeMC fans were salty or P3 fans upset what was cut/changed, but it wasn’t on any toxic level tbh just normal complaints, I think the fact it was a movie instead of an anime bypassed newer fans than with P4/5 animes), it happened when P5 solidified it into the mainstream gaming market (I’ll stand by P4 helped break Persona into it via all the other avenues of mainstream, with P5 finally latching the main series into mainstream games.....I say mainstream cause spinoffs are looking the same as pre mainstream which.....>.> *shrugs* could be better imo), it happened with P5′s anime, and it happened with Smash Bros. And tbh I’m sure it happened or will happen with the Steam community (and Switch/Xbox if it ever goes there too) and P4G (P4 fans go through the same cycle of BS constantly, most of which I believe originated with the anime generation, that it’s hard to tell if there was an uptick or not). And it’ll probs get an uptick again with P6, and then P6′s anime. And maybe manga cause maybe P6 fans like the P5 fans and won’t listen when people say “don’t get attached to the manga name it’s probs not gonna be used so hold off till the anime” but hey let’s have drama for no reason cause we need it. 8U (obvie you can still like the manga name, it’s more for people complaining about name changes or not getting why Atlus just didn’t keep the manga name even tho an explanation is probs within arm’s reach and they were warned beforehand)

*sighs* Sorry back on topic, each time the fandom grows so will toxic fans. Tbh I feel like the phrase “toxic fans” are thrown around a lot. And it’s esp used for only....”haters” it feels like and I don’t think that’s right (cause it can be fans too), it just feels like ANY negativity (even constructive and kept reigned in by certain users) is viewed as that. Like take me, I’m sure I’m probs labeled as a “toxic fan” due to be being a Megaten/Persona fan but disliking P5 and talking shit/calling it out. But I try my damnedest to do that in the appropriate places (ie my personal blog, maybe a confessions place, or a thread/board that’s expressing negatives only OR it’s explaining/expressing pros and cons type of stuff, I find that to be the best because it keeps people who want to vent away from people who want to gush so no war happens, not saying I am perfect or you HAVE to follow this or you are toxic, it’s what I decided to ascribe to and find it works well and good enough and it gives me a better fandom experience). Aka, I don’t go on twitter to someone’s fanart of Yukari or Makoto and trash the character because I’m not a freaking asshole (or in this case a ~toxic fan~). But this also applies to the “fans” as well who will talk about something they like (character/game) but the ONLY  way they can raise it up is by tearing down something else (other character/game), it’s really rude and also toxic as well. Negativity is not inherently bad all the time, and Positivity is not inherently good all the time (with positivity it’s more of giving yourself a break from it rather than saying something positive can be bad at times, tho I’m sure there are times that-that has happened but it’s 2:30 am and I don’t want to think of an example for that). It’s how it’s used/expressed. I see the Twitter community trying to combat the “negativity” by trying to only spread “positivity” and I’m afraid 1) any negative expression, even constructive, will be scorned (I guess I’m afraid of us going back to a hivemind mentality again), but most importantly 2) the people trying to head it are going to be burned out and it’ll hurt them mentally (I do not want it to happen obvie, but I know personally it can wear you down which is why I’m concerned). Don’t get me wrong I love what they are doing/trying to do, but I think we’re generalizing the word “negativity” and “positivity” a bit too much and it’s just raising a few red flags for me (I’m just hoping I’m being paranoid/overanalyzing in this case). 

Uhhh there was one last thing I wanted to address.....Oh yeah gate keeping. I know you asked about Smash but this stuff is kinda related and hey think of it as a history lesson for the Persona fandom (or at least Nusona cause I didn’t have a game system in the 90s ;_; plus wee little me wouldn’t have been able to find P1/2 fandoms back then due to me not really using the internet like I do nowadays till around P3 was probs released). Plus you know how long winded I am so this is kinda what you sign up for, 3 am ramblings of overexplaining~! But gdi I will try to cover all the bases and get my point across in....some fashion. 8U

But yeah, Gatekeeping in relation to the Smash fans, cause I see Persona fans shit on new fans that got into Persona through Smash (I know above I said Joker fans are valid Joker fans rather than Persona fans, but I’m assuming they’ve yet to play/watch Persona and are just aware of Joker and are a fan of him vs the fans who saw Joker and then watch/played the games to get into the fandom. One set is a fan of a character vs the other set got into a franchise because of said character. Like I wouldn’t say I’m a FE fan cause I liked Marth/Roy in SSBM, which is why I have that distinction myself BUT if you wanna call yourself a Persona fan that’s valid, you’re valid, it’s whatever, I don’t really care about the details that much, I just have two categories for convenience). Anyway I don’t think it’s fair to shit on them. Same as I don’t think it’s fair to shit on anime only or manga only fans. Or if they got into the fandom through Nusona (Oldsona is P1/2, Nusona is P3-5 atm). Or Oldsona. Or another Megaten game. 

Maybe it’s cause I came from P4, where it got shit on cause it wasn’t (”dark”) like P3, it wasn’t (”dark”) like Oldsona, it wasn’t “dark” like other Megaten games, it got shit on every way to Sunday for daring to try to have a more lightened mood at times (3 murders happen, we see 3 dead bodies, a 6 yo dies onscreen, we have characters going through intense existential crises, we deal with characters mourning through death as well as other relatable struggles, basically shows our teammates die one by one in the final boss, having a chance to hear Naoto’s death scream on the phone if you don’t stop Adachi, just the “you didn’t save the person” phone calls in general, talks about society’s toxic gender roles and how it can negatively effect a person both to an extreme extent and minor, god forbid they eat an animal cracker to lighten the mood, and this isn’t counting the dark shit that happens in the spinoffs). As if P1/2/3 don’t have comedy, or any other Megaten game, all the demons are freaking weird of course there is comedy. Oh and it also got shit on for going mainstream first, and not even counting that it got shit on for spinoffs (which P3 was included but no P3 gets a pass for some reason), and the fact that it was shit on for not being P5 (before and a little while after P5 came out) because it wasn’t “dark” like P5 (fdksjafajkfljafj P5 has it’s moments, esp with Shiho, tho P4D did it first and went through with it, but seriously each game has it’s own light and dark moments and one isn’t better than the other only cause they have more of one than the other). And....*sigh* let’s just say thank god that I was able to buy other Megaten games right before the flood gates of shit came in, cause I dunno if I would’ve wanted to give it a chance if I had to hear my fav game shit on constantly. I say I dunno cause tbh I was craving more after P4 so badly I still would’ve probs gotten into it regardless of the fandom, I wanted more from the franchise even if it wasn’t 100% like P4. 

But tbh I don’t blame P5 fans, anime fans, or Smash fans for maybe not wanting to get into the rest of the series. I get old fans of whatever feeling like they are...I dunno being invaded? By new people in the fandom. Or their afraid of new fans not fully understanding the franchise (hey guys that’s where you teach people instead of try to passive aggressively try to get them to leave the fandom I dunno maybe make posts to educate instead of trying to push away??? 030). And change is hard and yeah. And maybe you don’t like the new game (keep in mind there’s a diff between saying “*insert* Sux” and “I don’t like *insert* because...” one’s shitting on something and the other is constructive), but hey shitting on the game they like is probs not gonna win them over to your fav game sflkdjafkjafja Educate and be helpful, don’t gatekeep and drive people away. That’s a sure fire way for us to lose this franchise (remember we almost lost Atlus all together, but it was able to get a 2nd life thanks to P4 saving it....tbh probably wouldn’t have ever gotten P5 nor SMTV nor any spinoffs if not for P4′s success with its game and anime, this is both a history lesson and a word of warning since it already almost happened once). 

Tldr; Smash didn’t help but it’s really just the fact the fandom got bigger and bigger fandom means we also end up getting more toxic fans mixed in. Twitter now is basically 2012-2015!Tumblr (diff is Tumblr’s was a hivemind vs Twitter’s now extremist two sides only thing), and Tumblr’s porn ban probably migrated a lot of their toxic fans to Twitter which probs hasn’t helped any fandoms on there. Negativity in general isn’t an issue, it’s if you’re being an outright asshole where it’s an issue. Don’t be an asshole in general, if you need to vent then vent where you need to, if you wanna gush then gush were you need to and without bringing anyone/anything down obvie. You are a Persona fan, regardless of where/how you started. Don’t gatekeep for the love of god, or so help me Jack Frost will sneak into your house and smack you in the face with a snowball (and if he doesn’t then I will.....jk...half jk 8U). Also *sprinkles of (allusions to? I dunno I tried it’s 3 am and my 2nd try on answering this and the first one was just as long) Silly’s Persona fandom history lessons throughout the post*

[askmerriauthor]

Hearing people getting all butthurt at Nintendo and talking about boycotting the new Pokemon Sword/Shield game because of the Pokedex has got me rolling my eyes like mad.  Talk below, for spoiler’s sake:

Right off the bat, I should make it clear that anyone is fully entitled to decry a product or a company for their own reasons.  If not having the full National Dex available is a lynch pin issue for you then go right ahead and vote with your wallet.  More power to you.  That being said: I get the distinct feeling y’all are being really damn hasty.  Is 50% of the Pokemon in the National Dex not being available in the game a big deal?  Sure, but I don’t think for a moment that’s the end of it right there.

New Region, Who Dis? To begin with, this is a brand new game on a new system in a brand new region with brand new Pokemon, for a brand new audience.  This game is being hyped directly at the “Pokemon Go/Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu!/Eevee!” fans picked up in these recent years.  Younger or just inexperienced fans who didn’t necessarily play all the older games and thus have no strong attachments to the older generations of Pokemon the rest of us grew up with, at least not in the same manner.  “Pokemon Go” is only up to, what, Gen 4 at the latest?  “Pokemon Sword/Shield”’s new cast of critters would end up completely overshadowed by the vast crowd of older generation Pokemon and not even be able to star in their own debut title if everyone was there.  Why would the designers want to cut the legs out from underneath themselves in that way?

Online Distribution “Pokemon Sword/Shield” is going to make pretty heavy use of the Switch’s online functionality and Nintendo’s subscription service access.  Sure, Grandpa Nintendo is slow on figuring out how all this newfangled internet stuff works, but it’s not like Pokemon has been offline in ages now.  Pokemon has been using online connectivity to enhance and improve the games for a long time now.  X/Y/ORAS had Poke Miles and the Global Link system where you could sync your game, hop online to the official website, and use your accrued Poke Miles (gained by walking in-game or trading Pokemon from other global regions) to get useful items for your inventory.  Not to mention all the Online Events Pokemon have been running for ages now.  There was an entire year where they distributed a Legendary (or potentially several) each month.   Check Serebii’s event section - it’s loaded with huge list of all sorts of distribution events that occurred all the damn time all over the world; online events, local download events, special locations, themed downloads, and so forth.  Do y’all really think Nintendo isn’t going to make use of their well-established history of offering Pokemon for download or the Switch’s capacity for patching in large amounts of game content after launch?

Who’s There and Who’s Not Taking the prior two points into consideration, look at the supposed leaked PokeDex and check which Pokemon are present and which didn’t make the cut.  Pokemon highlighted in green are present in SwSH, while the ones highlighted in white are not.  Does anything seem odd about the ratio to you?

It is quite safe to note that the Starters, the Legendaries, and the Mythics of each generation are not Pokemon that Nintendo would ignore.  Yet all of them, with the specific exceptions of the Charmander line and Mew, somehow didn’t make the cut?  A lot of the Pokemon who did make the cut are popular enough and well-liked by the fans, plus there’s a handful of really iconic critters.  Though there’s some questionable choices to get priority.  Fan-favorite Lucario is there, of course, but Zoroark isn’t?  I love Maractus, but I’m genuinely surprised to see it on the roster over Metagross, Lopunny, Scyther, Absol, or Dragonite?  Baby Pokemon like Mime Jr. and Pichu are present, but Elekid isn’t?  The entire iconic Nido line is out?  The Charmander line gets to be in the game because of the Galarian Champion but no other starter is allowed?  Mew is the one-and-only Legendary/Mythical Pokemon present of the entire PokeDex just for funsies?

I mean, come on.  To me, the ratio absolutely reeks of Nintendo holding certain really popular or thematically redundant Pokemon off to the side for later addition to the game.  Remember the poster for the upcoming season of the anime that coincides with and promotes the SwSh games?  Why would it highlight a bunch of Pokemon that weren’t going to be included in the games?  I bet dollars to donuts Nintendo is going to add all these Pokemon into SwSh over time in coordination with their relevancy in the anime.  Ash appears to be starting all over back in his hometown and will be traveling with new companions to all of the previously covered regions again.  I mean, for goodness’ sake, we see both main characters RIDING ON LUGIA’S BACK in the trailer and y’all think because Lugia isn’t currently in SwSh means it won’t ever be there?  Why would Nintendo pass on the chance to capitalize on a built-in marketing campaign that would let them hype both the game and anime, and thus all associated merchandise, off one another?

Yeah, we’re not getting the National Dex in SwSH right off the bat.  But between the Switch’s ability to patch in larger content updates after launch, the “Pokemon Home” service being opened to allow for all Pokemon to be gathered there, and the upcoming anime?  It sure looks to me like we’re going to get the National Dex sooner or later and people shouting from the rooftops that we don’t have it right out the gate need to chill out.

[elsnark]

So Pokemon Sword/Shield?  Yeah... I want to like it, but I just can’t.  There’s too many issues that made my experience just not as enjoyable as past Pokemon games.  I think it’d be very fair to say Sword/Shield needed more time in development... and people in the Dev Team who made logical decisions.

Here’s why Sword/Shield is objectively bad in my honest opinion:

1.)  Max Raid Battles.

Without Nintendo Online, Max Raid Battles are a dumpster fire.  They aren’t even really difficult.  Sure, the 2 moves in 1 turn is annoying along with the barrier mechanic, but they’re pretty easy to tolerate.  What makes Max Raid Battles just the worst is the fact the NPCs are not useful in the slightest.  In my experience, I kept getting paired with that Salazzle and unevolved Pokemon.  Salazzle dies in one hit.  The unevolved Pokemon die in one hit (but thank god certain ones have Focus Sash to die in two hits I guess).  If 4 Pokemon die, you’re kicked out of the battle.  If this wasn’t bad enough, they typically don’t do any damage.  More often than not when the NPCs can attack, I cannot visibly see the opponent’s HP go down.  That is if they even attack at all.  The NPC Solrock?  Yeah.  It’d much rather spam Cosmic Power and Rock Polish.  The NPC Togepi?  It’s gonna spam Life Dew even if it isn’t needed.   The AI is specifically designed to encourage (read as:  force) you to use the multiplayer features.

The AI would be a really simple fix though.  The devs would’ve just needed to:  let the NPCs level up after certain points in the story with them being at their strongest just before you fight Leon, give the NPCs evolved Pokemon after a certain point in the story (like maybe after the 5th gym), and allow you to choose from a list of NPCs instead of being randomly generated so you don’t end up with that useless Salazzle for the 5th time in a row against a Pokemon that it literally is not going to help you out against.

But, no, if you want pain free Max Raid Battles, you gotta pay for Nintendo Online.  Sorry, but I, along with many others, who haven’t purchased a subscription yet probably aren’t going to for a single game.  Just sayin’.

2.)  The Wild Area + Exploration.

With how much focus was placed on the Wild Area itself, I thought it was going to replace routes.  It... didn’t.  Instead, it’s just a place you really only need to visit... twice?  Outside of going through the story to get from Point A to Point B, this place may as well just not exist.  Which sucks because it was so hyped up in the trailers.  I would’ve personally loved to see everything being connected by this central field that leads to forests and caves which in turn lead to the different towns.  But no.  It’s just pretty much an empty field.

Even though there’s very little there, it’s pretty obvious a lot of development time went into the Wild Area.  The 10 routes are short as heck, most of which don’t even take two minutes to get through.  The two caves and two forests are extremely linear, so much so it’s impossible to get lost in them thus making the escape rope (which is a key item for whatever reason) useless.  The most exploration I had outside of the Wild Area was that water maze in route 9 which is right before the end-game.  Having played Pokemon since I was 6, this was really shocking and admittedly upsetting.  I love exploring new areas and even getting lost.  The ability to even get turned around was destroyed due to the extreme linearity.   Honestly, the only place I got even slightly confused in was Glimmerwood Tangle and that was only due to the fact it was so dark that it was difficult to see where the path was.  If the lighting hadn’t been that bad, I would’ve been in and out of Glimmerwood Tangle in 2 minutes, if even that.

3.)  Overworld Pokemon + “Random” Encounters.

I like the idea of overworld Pokemon since they help make the world lively.  I have imagined Pokemon eventually reaching this state since I was little.  But they can so easily impede you when you’re searching for something specific that’s restricted to being hidden in the grass.  There were so many times an exclamation point popped up and I tried rushing to it only for one of the overworld Pokemon to unexpectedly get in my way.  Once you have that encounter with the overworld Pokemon, that hidden Pokemon is long gone.  This made catching my Applin incredibly tedious.

One of the easiest solutions would’ve been to make the grass encounters actually random like the past games.  None of this having to run to an exclamation point.  But wait.  There’s something wrong with the hidden Pokemon too.

The overworld Pokemon can be encountered as hidden.  Which... no thanks.  I truly believe if there’s a specific Pokemon in the overworld of a particular area, they should not be able to be encountered as a hidden Pokemon.  For example, in route 4, all I wanted was a Milcery.  Milcery does not appear as an overworld Pokemon.  But Meowth does.  If I wanted a Meowth on Route 4, I’d actively run into one of the many Meowths and catch it.  I don’t wanna see something that I can easily run into as a hidden encounter in the very location I can run into it.

4.)  The Story.

While the stories in Pokemon have never been too terribly complex, Gen 8′s was... well... I’d prefer reading a book I read when I was learning to read back when I was 3.  Gen 8′s story was pretty shallow, even when compared to past Pokemon games.  You’re just kinda spoon fed information and told to accept it.  The antagonist doesn’t really have a role until the end.  Then you deal with the antagonist for... not even an hour, it’s maybe like 30 minutes, if even that.  So all this, admittedly bad, build-up for... barely 30 minutes.  The build-up’s bad because the antagonist doesn’t play a role until the final... like... hour, if even that, of the main campaign.

And even then the antagonist doesn’t come across as a bad person.  They’re just doing what they think is right and, like, honestly... I can understand why they did this.  I thought it was gonna be about why capitalism is bad, but no.  It’s why Leon’s actually a jerk.

Antagonist:  We need to invest in alternative energy sources. Leon, a protagonist who everyone is supposed to love:  But 1,000 years is really far in the future.  I don’t care.

Really a bad message to have when our actual real world is fucked, ya know?

5.)  The Characters.

Most of the plot important (I use “plot important” very loosely) characters could be replaced by lamps.  Bede?  He could be a lamp and nothing would change.  Marnie?  She could be a lamp and nothing would change.  Then they also tried to make Piers and Team Yell important??  But, really... they contributed nothing.  They could’ve been completely taken out of that segment near the end of the game and nothing would change.  Sonia and Leon?  Honestly, we didn’t need both of them.  Leon could’ve been deleted with Sonia gaining his status as Champion or Sonia could’ve been excluded and Leon takes on her research.

I like what they were aiming for with Hop.  But... there wasn’t enough content to really flesh him out as much as he should’ve been.

Conclusion:  Was it worth my $60 or the 23 hours that I can now never get back?  No.  Especially as I went in expecting it to be on par with at least XY, but... it just wasn’t.

✧Sourcream

[docexe-mx]

While several of my prior wish list picks didn’t happen, I’m very satisfied with both the base roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as with the DLC characters that have been announced/released so far.

That being said, l can’t deny that the announcement of more DLC coming has prompted me to prepare another wish list. As with the prior ones, I won’t be particularly sad or angered if any of my picks don’t happen, but I definitely will be elated. (Heck, as things stand, I will probably accept anyone/anything they add to the game provided it at least has an interesting move-set).

Some base assumptions made before going into the list:

Until stated otherwise by the development team, I’m assuming that, besides the fifth character of the Fighter Pass still pending reveal, we will get at the very least a Second Season/Fighter Pass that will contain the same exact amount of content as the first Fighter Pass: Five new characters, each with their own stage, music tracks and Spirit battles.

I’m assuming that, as with prior DLC on the Fighter Pass, all the new characters will be Third Party rather than Nintendo owned. I don’t expect more Microsoft or Sony owned characters, however (yes, Banjo and Kazooie are finally in the game, but they honestly feel more like an especial exception, rather than any indication of things going forward).

I’m also assuming that characters already in the game as Spirits, Assist Trophies or Mii Costumes won’t be part of the upcoming DLC (so, sadly, no Geno, no Rayman, no Shantae and no X ;_;).

Without further ado and in no particular order:

KOS-MOS from Xenosaga. A somewhat unlikely pick, but then again, Bandai Namco is one of the few Third Party publishers already present in Smash Bros. that don’t have multiple playable characters in the game (conspicuously even, given they are helping to develop it). Given that KOS-MOS seems to be one of their characters that most often shows in crossover games, her inclusion seems plausible. Now, if I have to be honest, I particularly want her because I think the Xeno series (and by extension, Monolith Soft, the studio responsible for all its iterations and which has been a great asset for Nintendo in recent years) deserves more representation in Smash Bros. However, with Elma, Rex and Pyra/Mithra out of the competition by virtue of being Spirits, KOS-MOS is the best bet to get another Xeno character in the game (mind you, I do like her design and think her move-set could potentially be interesting).

Nightmare from Soul Calibur (with Sigfried as an alternate costume). A very unlikely pick. While Terry Bogard being announced as the next DLC character makes me think we will see at least another fighting game character as DLC, it’s way more likely that we will see a Tekken character than one from Soul Calibur, by virtue of the former being more popular than the later. However, as I have mentioned before, I don’t really play Tekken, and Soul Calibur is my favorite 3D Fighter franchise, so pardon me again for the blatant favoritism.  

Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. This one seems like a no-brainer by this point. Ninja Gaiden is one of the few iconic franchises originating from the NES era that hasn’t appeared in Smash Bros. yet, and Koei Tecmo has maintained a close relationship with Nintendo in recent years (even helping with the development of Fire Emblem: Three Houses). Furthermore, Hayabusa is probably their most iconic character, not only being the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden (both the original NES series, as well as the modern reboot series), but also a mainstay in the Dead or Alive franchise, and even having cameos and guest appearances in the Warriors franchise.

Crash Bandicoot. Somewhat unlikely but not impossible. His major disadvantage is that he comes from a Western franchise, and Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo tend to prioritize Japanese franchises when it comes to deciding on newcomers for Smash. That being said, the fact that the games on the original PlayStation were very popular in Japan and that the franchise is currently having a renaissance of sorts help his chances. If I have to be honest, while I have developed a soft spot for Crash after playing the N. Sane Trilogy recently, I mostly want him in Smash Bros. for a) The inherent appeal of having him battling Mario and Sonic as the big videogame mascot characters from the 90’s, b) the sheer irony of Nintendo getting three (3!) Third Party PSX icons (Crash, Snake and Cloud) in their exclusive fighting crossover when Sony didn’t even manage to do that for theirs.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed. Another unlikely but not necessarily impossible pick. The major issue against him is that he comes from another Western franchise, his major advantage is that it’s Ubisoft’s most popular and best-selling franchise worldwide, and Ubisoft remains as one of Nintendo’s major Third Party supporters. Now, if this franchise do comes to Smash Bros., I think they could pick any protagonist to represent it (possibly even go the Hero route and have several protagonists as alternate costumes with the same move-set), but Ezio seems to be the most iconic of them, hence why I have chosen him as my pick (and before somebody asks or protests: Yes, he has actually made an appearance on a game for a Nintendo console: Assassin’s Creed Discovery for the Nintendo DS).

A character from Capcom. This one is admittedly cheating on my part. Capcom has so many iconic characters and franchises (several of which have historical ties with Nintendo consoles or finally arrived to them thanks to the Switch) that you could fill an entire Fighter Pass solely with them. However, it seems that Nintendo is trying to spread their collaborations among several companies, rather than privileging a single one in particular, so at most I would only expect one or two characters from Capcom as part of Ultimate’s DLC. But rather than engage in the monumental task of boiling down the selection to only one or two characters, I will simply list here all the Capcom characters that I think would be neat to see in Ultimate: Phoenix Wright from Ace Attorney, Rad Spencer from Bionic Commando, Morrigan Aensland from Darkstalkers, Frank West from Dead Rising, Dante from Devil May Cry, Mike Haggar from Final Fight, Firebrand from Gargoyle’s Quest/Demon’s Crest, Sir Arthur from Ghost n’ Goblins, Amaterasu from Okami, Leon S. Kennedy and/or Claire Redfield and/or Chris Redfield and/or Jill Valentine and/or Albert Wesker from Resident Evil (yeah, I couldn’t boil down this franchise to one specific pick, it just has too many iconic characters without a single one being more representative than the rest), Strider Hiryu from Strider, Joe from Viewtiful Joe.

Finally, a bonus pick: A character that I honestly believe is so incredibly unlikely to ever get into Smash Bros. that I’m not really considering him seriously, but I would laugh out loud if it actually happens:

The Doom Guy/Doom Marine/Doom Slayer from (duh!) Doom: It seems like this character has gotten a lot of clamor among certain circles of the Smash Bros. community in recent times. I can only assume that he started as what you could call “an ironic meme pick”: Most of the people who originally talked about him and proposed him for Smash Bros. didn’t actually want him in the game, but it was fun to bring him up given the incongruity of such an ultra-violent character appearing in an E10+ rated game …Then characters like Bayonetta and Joker were actually added to Smash Bros., and people started to consider him as a serious candidate. In his favor: The Doom series actually has historical appearances on Nintendo consoles (the SNES got a version of the original Doom running with the Super FX chip that powered Star Fox; Doom 64 was an acclaimed game that was exclusive to the N64 until very recently), the entire series is going to be playable on the Switch after Doom Eternal releases, and if you can tone down Bayonetta enough for her to appear in an E10+ rated game, you can certainly do the same with the Doom Slayer. Against him: He comes from another Western franchise, but unlike Ubisoft or Activision Blizzard (which have been long time Third Party publishers on Nintendo consoles), Bethesda only started to support Nintendo on the Switch era; most importantly however: the First Person Shooter genre is exceptionally unpopular in Japan (and Doom as well by extension), it’s pretty much a niche genre there in the same way that RPG’s used to be in the West. So, for those reasons, I’m not really expecting to see the Doom Slayer in Ultimate’s DLC, even if, strictly speaking, is not out of the realm of possibility for that to happen.

[doshmanziari]

2019 Mega Drive Explorations [4]

A continuation of parts 1, 2, and 3. Click the link below to read the full post.

The NewZealand Story (1990)

This almost instantly became one of my favorite games for the Mega Drive. It was first an arcade release (1988), and got a ton of ports with, I assume, differences between each; Wikipedia notes that the version I played “had its levels based on the prototype version of the arcade game.” What that means, qualitatively, I’m not yet sure. This is some of the weirdest level design I’ve encountered in a platformer that’s not, like, a reactionary deconstructive work (in the way that the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is). The only other somewhat contemporary title I can compare it to is Milon’s Secret Castle (1986). Each of The NewZealand Story’s stages is a sort of maze that’s completed when you reach a fellow kiwi and release them from a cage. What really lets the layouts grow as they do is that, once you get to the second zone (of four), you need to start making use of the various flotation devices which preexist here and there or are left behind by enemies you defeat. So the level design gets to, in a kind of freeform way, flip between “normally” accessible paths and platforms, and toothy stretches demanding aerial navigation. The flotation devices are distinct from one another, too, from how you adhere to it to the speed. What was especially fun about this to me is how, following a clear-out of enemies, you might have a selection of these devices to choose from, and there aren’t really comparative downsides between them (the closest you get to that are these things that look like, uh, torpedoes, which are slow, but they’re also the one device that can’t be popped by shooting at it or touching spikes).

Even if The NewZealand Story isn’t genre-/series-deconstructive, that doesn’t mean it can’t have whimsical moments. A standout for me is illustrated in the third screenshot, where a “room” you have to get to is surrounded by a barrier, and seemingly inaccessible, until you remember that if you are standing below platforms and walkways of a certain thinness and appearance you can jump through them. The solution is to get yourself up against that vertical band and jump through the bit where it briefly horizontally redirects. Cool!! The other thing I like a lot about the level design is that it’s not strictly economical, that some of the structural arrangements seem to exist to form visual patterns more than to control your route. So you have minor casual options for where and how to move through a space. Mercifully, amazingly, bosses are few -- only three -- and they have brevity: you can get rid of the final boss (see the screenshot above) within seconds by popping his balloon. I like looking at this game, too. A couple of stages reminded me of Falcom’s Xanadu and Faxanadu in their cute, flattish, compact representation of architecture or architectural elements within a screen’s worth of space and fortressed tiling. Once you’re past the first zone, loosely themed as a zoo, it’s impossible to tell if the zones’ apertures and voids admit further views or are all mosaics and/or props. It was an unexpected and engaging ambiguity: either interpretation has strange implications. Besides a couple of jumps over and under spikes which demand an inapt exactitude, this is pretty much a perfect game for me, and I wish it had gotten a handheld rerelease on the Nintendo GBA or DS.

Arcus Odyssey (1991)

As a Wolf Team-developed game, Arcus Odyssey sits snugly beside Earnest Evans and El Viento as a whirlwind of inexplicable plot points (rendered more inexplicable, and amusing, by an amateurish localization), lopsided pacing, and just a ton of baffling game design that doesn’t really care about you. Everything is exploding and the gravitas has no narrative grounding. It is at its best hilariously joyful and at its worst insensitively prohibitive. Environments, from a network of walkways suspended thousands of feet above the earth, to a colonnaded stepped complex that recalls John Martin’s infernal painting, Pandemonium, are set at an oblique angle and are swimming with sorcerers, skeletons, cockroaches, and other creatures who unendingly come at you from out of nowhere and half of the time spit projectiles. The palettes and narrow, minuscule tilesets give everything the veneer of a PC-98 title. Regardless of the character you choose (for me, it was the pink-haired Erin who wields a whip), the best strategy is to never stop mashing the attack button. This got iffy in one stage where a numerous type of flying creature left behind a crawling string of flames on the ground upon death. The best strategy for bosses? Use an invincibility-granting item you’ve hopefully snagged from a treasure chest, stand right next to the boss, and... yeah, mash that attack button. Which is fine! This is not a game where the mechanics could’ve yielded bosses who were interesting for reasons other than their appearance.

Arcus Odyssey has two serious, debilitating issues, though. The first is that you only have room in an inventory menu for six items (five, really; one of these items is permanent), and yet I have quite literally never seen another videogame with so many treasure chests relative to its stages’ sizes. You’ll mostly be passing stuff up then because you’re at capacity. Sure, you can consume the things you have to make room, but there are at least three items which have contextually valuable uses: the potion of invincibility, the lifebar-refilling lamp of life, and the resurrecting doll of life. Stocking up on one kind to the exclusion of everything else isn’t a sustainable plan. So the “economy,” as it were, is kinda fucked. The second debilitating, perhaps eventually paralyzing, issue is that Arcus Odyssey has the design of an early Japanese PC action-RPG like Ys or Rune Worth, where you are constantly harangued by waves of enemies who non-specifically occupy the level designs and bosses who may instantly unload multiple projectile-based attacks. That sort of design, somewhat haphazard as it was, could function (with degrees of success) in the context of the RPG part of the “action-RPG” equation, since you could reliably and incrementally level up (and save!). Arcus Odyssey doles out a few upgrades here and there, but it plays out like an action game that doesn’t understand the forms it’s borrowing. As such, it’s easy -- and become easier, the further along you are -- to get yourself into situations whose demands for superhuman, verging on omniscient, performance make no sense. Real shame.

Marvel Land (1991)

Like The NewZealand Story, Marvel Land is a Mega Drive port of an arcade game released a couple of years earlier. Also like the former, it quickly became a personal console-favorite. A few prickles keep me from fully loving it -- namely, the bizarre precision you need to have when jumping on enemies to not get hit yourself (and a hit here, as per usual with arcade games before the 90s, equals death), a few too many leaps of faith, and optional doorways which can send you back to previous levels, as far as the very first -- but the diversity of creatures, stages’ arrangements and themes, power-ups, and unconventional bosses have an individual and cumulative appeal that outweighs those problematics. I think I’m obligated here to say that I will almost automatically like any videogame that has a candy-themed environment, and Marvel Land has one of those, complete with waddling ice cream cones, gingerbread houses, and a maze built of cracker-cookies. The two main and most interesting power-ups are wings which temporarily give you a much higher jump and the ability to fly, and a string of self-duplicates which can be whipped around to hit enemies, collect items for score, and latch onto targets to swing from them. A later level surprised me when it both expected me to use the wings to progress and to be mindful about the height of my jumps so as to not skewer myself on spikes., denying the expectation that such a liberty would dissolve hard designs.

Bosses deserve a special mention because, god, by now I just hate bosses, they ruin so many of these games, and Marvel Land’s are designed as “minigames” -- a game of rock-paper-scissors, selecting an illustration in a grid that matches an example below, or Whac-a-mole (against a mole). It’s decent, clever, and properly playful. Despite this, the game is still compelled to have a “real” boss fight at the very end (were the developers anxious?), and I could’ve done without that; but, it was straightforward enough. The aforementioned bestiary, if you want to call it that, is wonderful and funny and can hold its own against any of the Kirby games’ rosters. You can see, for example, in the last screenshot that a feisty mallard duck who beckons at you with an index feather-finger is named COMEON. Other members include HEAVY, a chubby pink snake, and GIANTBURGER, a sentient burger. As a closing comment, I’ll say that it’s striking and odd how many videogames, from Japan, no less, were about restoring the rule of a Eurocentric fairytale monarchy. Hell, that’s what two of Nintendo’s most popular extant series are about (Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda). Why is this an international go-to for a premise? And how could anyone care about it? In some cases I think it’s fair to guess that the creator(s) did not care and simply went with a cultural trope that was within grabbing range; but the question remains of why those tropes are within grabbing range. We already know why these narratives are also fiercely heteronormative (even The NewZealand Story has to make the last kiwi you rescue be a girl -- wow, thank god!), but this prevalent medievalism that has an uncritical nostalgia for monarchy kinda mystifies me.