#welcome 2 my twisted ui

[esleep]

just a small peek into the totally normal UI of the shiny new software my job is being forced to switch to.

[therosebud]

Welcome to Sims 4 Romance Reef Challenge!

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If you struggle to stay focused on legacy challenges or any grind-heavy tasks, this challenge is perfect for you. The aim here is to create drama and have fun!

This challenge is inspired by the TV show “Love Island” but with a twist and you do not have to have seen Love Island to enjoy this challenge. However, if you're curious, I recommend watching the Australian or UK versions, as they tend to be funnier and more unfiltered than the American one.

Thank you to the EA Creator Network for giving me early access to create content for you.

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Download the Notion Template on My Patreon

I've created a Patreon for those interested in downloading the Notion template to keep track of all your islanders and progress. Notion is an online organization tool with a Pinterest-like aesthetic. My template provides a layout of the rules and space to detail each Islander. It's not necessary, but it's here if you want it.

For fans of my throwback save file, I will also be re-uploading the save there as it’s more reliable than Sims Share. Thank you for your support over the years on my YouTube channel and other socials. I hope you all enjoy the challenge!

Villa Video Update: If you aren't a builder Don't worry because I will update this post when I upload my speed build of my own villa for you to use. In that video I will also talk about the challenge rules. In the meantime, feel free to build your own or use the gallery to update a villa.

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Initial Islanders: 4 female Sims and 4 male Sims ready to be placed in the villa. They can have any traits, likes, dislikes, turn-ons, and turn-offs, but no skills to keep it fair.

Bombshells: An extra 2 to 4 female Sims and 2 to 4 male Sims in a separate household. These "bombshells" are ready to join and shake things up when needed. They can have traits, likes, dislikes, turn-ons, and turn-offs, but no skills to keep it fair.

Optional Extra:

💡If you want to be extra, you can register all of them with the labor union and use that space to write out a bio for each Sim, but it isn’t necessary.

💡 If you really want to shake things up you could make each sim have a distinct style. For example, one can be cottagecore, sporty, old money, alternative, beachy, urban, witchy, academia, Barbie, outdoorsy, etc. Here’s a list for ideas.

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Bedroom: One large bedroom with 4 double beds for couples. (And a couple extra single beds if someone gets left out.)

Bathrooms: Multiple shower and bathroom stalls upstairs and additional bathrooms near the gym and pool.

Upper Balcony: Equipped with sun loungers and couches.

Kitchen and Sitting Area: Spacious kitchen and indoor sitting area.

Sundeck: Features a large couch and firepit for eliminations and coupling ceremonies.

Outdoor Kitchen: Includes a barbecue and large bar area.

Dance Floor: Designated area for dancing.

Gym and Yoga Area: Semi-outdoor/indoor setup for exercise and yoga.

Swimming Pool: Large pool area.

Hot Tub or Onsen: Relaxation area with a hot tub or onsen.

Skill Challenge Room: Empty space like a basement to host skill challenges.

Buffet Tables and Drink Trays: Available for parties and events.

Victor Suite: Locked except when won by a gameplay challenge winner. Includes high-end objects like a computer (the only one in the house), spa massage table, fancy tub, and bed.

Secluded Date Area: Gated area to control access for private dates.

Iconic Pathway: Long pathway for eviction ceremonies.

Extras: Poohoo bush, closets, woohoo blankets, and optionally a photo booth for added fun.

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You don’t have to play with mods, these are my recommendations.

UI Cheats: Allows you to view exact relationship points by clicking the "set relationship" button under each sim's romantic relationships.

First Impressions Mod: Provides detailed explanations of sims' initial impressions.

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Weather Settings: Turn off rain, thunderstorms, snow, and blizzards in the game menu. Set seasons to the longest possible duration. Start the game in summer for a Love Island vibe.

Aging: Pause aging to preserve the contestants' ages for post-challenge play.

Free Will: Keep free will turned on to allow sims autonomy in their actions. Micro-manage only for needs; let them pretty much choose their interactions, friendships, and rivalries. The exception of the rule is if you are trying to get everyone in one area to start a gameplay challenge. But make sure you turn it back on after everyone is on their gameplay station. I recommend giving them a few hours to complete the challenge depending on what it is of course. Keep track of the order of who finishes (or stopped) the quickest.

World's: I recommend playing in Sulani or Tartosa for this challenge but the new world Ciudad Emamorada would work too (beware the villa would have to be smaller in that world though.) However, feel free to do this in any world you want but it’s best to play it in the summer season.

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Utilize the in-game calendar system to structure your Love Island challenge. Each round typically spans 4-7 days, depending on your desired pace. Here are the key daily events to plan for:

Private Date Day: Select two or three couples to enjoy a private date in a special area of the villa or off-lot.

Gameplay Challenge Day: Determine the strongest and weakest islanders through skill challenges or quality assessments. The islander with the lowest quality item or skill percentage within a time limit of around 2- 4 in game hours, will risk elimination if they lack significant relationships.

Chaos Spin Day: Introduce random events to stir up drama and unpredictability among the contestants.

Coupling and Elimination Day: Held in the evening on the last day of each round. Contestants dress in formal or party wear for the ceremony. After the first elimination, the gender with numerical advantage chooses their partner first. Those without partners face elimination. Re-coupling may occur if islanders form closer bonds during the round.

"Bombshells": Introduce 4-8 additional sims (evenly split by gender) sporadically in each round to shake up dynamics. Morning of the date day in each round is ideal for their arrival, allowing them to participate in that day’s events.

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On the first day, your goal is to have everyone meet and interact in the villa. Here’s how to get started:

Equal Numbers: Begin with an even number of males and females to form 4 couples in total.

Numbering Sims: Number each sim from 1-8 for easy reference during wheel spins.

Lovestruck Expansion: If you have the Lovestruck expansion, observe the sentiments and dynamics as the islanders interact. Pair up those with stronger connections.

Initial Dates: Start the day with a few different dates. Roll for the number of current islanders to determine who goes on dates. If a new islander or “bombshell” is entering, they will get the date. Choose their date based on sentiments, attraction, and relationship levels.

Natural Relationships: Let relationships develop naturally. Avoid interfering, but you can offer slight encouragement if you notice two sims flirting. The challenge’s fun lies in the organic unfolding of relationships.

⭐️ Keep the first day focused on introductions and initial connections to set the stage for the rest of the challenge!

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Setting Up Private Dates

Use a number roller from 1-8 (or the current number of islanders). The chosen number gets to pick their date based on:

- Attraction system

- In-game sentiments/dynamics

- First interaction

Date Execution:

Unlock the gate for the couple to access the private date area, or teleport them in.

Bombshells:

When a new bombshell arrives, they get 1-2 dates to decide who they want to couple up with.

Limit the total number of dates to 3 per day. For example, a bombshell can have up to two dates, and you can still have one date among current islanders.

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Suggested Skills for Challenges:

- Candle Making

- Cooking

- Painting

- Cross Stitching

- Gemology

- Knitting

- Woodworking

- Flower Arranging

- Media Production

- Mixology

- Nectar Making

- Fitness

- Yoga

- Rock Climbing

- Fishing

- Guitar

- Violin

- Pipe organ

- Juice fizzing

Here’s a list to spin for skill competitions

Challenge Outcomes:

- Winner: The islander with the best quality item, highest skill, timed score (depending on the skill chosen or combo of those) wins a night in the victor suite. They can invite their partner or someone else for added drama. If an unpartnered sim wins, they get a chance to invite someone and potentially steal a partner.

- Loser: The islander with the lowest quality item or skill point is at risk of leaving if they don't form significant relationships by the coupling ceremony. If it comes down to two sims, the one who lost the challenge leaves.

Tips:

☑️ Place skill-related items around the house or in a special skill room to allow sims to use them autonomously. This ensures fairness when spinning for the next challenge.

☑️ Don’t force sims to gain skills; let them choose to do so on their own. Any skill points they gain is all fair game for when it’s time for a gameplay challenge.

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This day is just to keep you on your toes. The randomness will make your experience more customized and help you determine who is good with whom. I numbered these so you can use a number randomizer to determine which one you get for today.

⭐️ You do not have to read all 45 of them right now if you don’t want to. You may skip to the elimination section.

1. Use a number randomizer to determine which girls are getting into a fight today.

2. Use a number randomizer to determine which boys are going to fight today.

3. The couple with the lowest romance is fighting today.

4. The couple with the highest romance is fighting today.

5. Someone in the couple with the lowest romance is getting cheated on today.

6. Someone in the couple with the highest romance is getting cheated on today.

7. An old villager comes back for a day to cause some drama among a couple.

8. Get some activity tables; we’re doing a group puzzle.

9. Everyone gets on the yoga mats for a yoga class.

10. Throw a party of your choice; this can include villagers who have been voted out.

11. An islander of choice must get close with another islander outside their couple.

12. A massage therapist is hired for everyone today.

13. We get a slip and slide for today.

14. We get a couple of bowling alleys for today.

15. Tanning and beach combing day (if you are in Sulani or Tartosa).

16. Use a number randomizer (1-8) to give a sim 1+ skill points for free to use in the next challenge day.

17. Use a randomizer to determine who’s being messy today and woohooing with two different sims.

18. A couple of choice gets a date alone today; a couple with the lowest romance gets a chance to work on their relationship via a date alone.

19. A couple with the highest romance gets a date alone today.

20. Everyone plays a game of basketball.

21. Everyone has to skill up one point, but they each have to do a different skill from one another (and, of course, skills used for competitions).

22. The losers and winners of the last gameplay challenge day go head-to-head in a redo of the competition.

23. A new bromance occurs today.

24. It’s just me and the girls. Two girls get to be friends today.

25. A friendship occurs between a male and female who aren’t attracted to each other.

26. Everyone makes a friendship bracelet.

27. Throw a house party.

28. Throw a dance party.

29. Throw a pool party.

30. A sudden death occurs. You must kill off a sim; roll from 1-8 to determine who dies.

31. An engagement?! Roll 1-8 to see who’s getting engaged with their current coupled-up partner.

32. Tanning! Everyone just works on their tan today. (Maybe an enemy sabotages someone’s tan.)

33. Get a photo studio; let’s take some pictures for the house.

34. Everyone plays a card game.

35. We take everyone to another lot.

36. Take all of the girls to another lot.

37. Take all of the boys to another lot.

38. A double elimination occurs. The two people with the lowest gameplay challenge score go home.

39. They’re back! A female player that was voted out comes back for the next round.

40. They’re back! A male player that was voted out comes back for the next round.

41. Drama! Three islanders go on a date together in hopes of two coupling up.

42. Use the woohoo blanket.

43. Everyone plays darts or foosball.

44. Use a number randomizer to determine who’s getting a secret lover on Cupid’s corner outside of the household.

45. Throw a costume party and have everyone wear a random outfit from the costume trunk.

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The first elimination is based purely on the islander who loses the initial challenge, because not everyone might of made a romantic connection yet.

All other eliminations will be based on who has the lowest relationship(s) and ranking in gameplay challenge.

Set up challenge stations in a large room, like a basement.

Randomize the gameplay challenges for a fun and unpredictable experience. Choose skills that produce items with a quality rating or judge by the highest skill points achieved in a set time.

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Observing Interactions:

Pay attention to Sims naturally interacting, especially if they're already coupled but start talking or flirting with others.

If two Sims start being flirty around each other alone often, you can nudge the relationship by having them flirt once or twice to see if they will keep it going.

Recoupling:

A Sim might choose to recouple if their bond with another Sim grows stronger.

In a love triangle, the Sim that has the least connections (romantic and friend wise) and ranked the lowest among in the gameplay challenges, is the one that will be eliminated.

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Let Cheating Happen: If a Sim cheats, let it play out naturally. Don't intervene in saving Sims if they die; it's part of the challenge. Butlers or maids can be hired to manage the cleaning.

No Careers at the start: None of the Sims should have a career initially. However, you can write them a bio if desired.

Adapt as Needed: If you don’t have a certain pack for a skill or activity, replace it with something you do have.

Managing Needs: Assign a bedtime to ensure needs are met. In the morning, control them to shower and eat. The first Sim up makes breakfast unless you have a hired butler or maid.

Encourage Flirting: It's okay to make Sims flirt or chat generally whenever you like, but for new romances, only initiate flirting once or twice to get things started. Do this only if you notice Sims getting flirty around each other often, as Sims usually won't start a romance autonomously without a mod. After that, don't intervene. If the romance doesn't progress, it wasn't meant to be. Follow their social cues and wants to let you know who they like.

Unlimited Funds: This challenge isn’t about money, so feel free to use the "rosebud" cheat as much as you like. 😉

Rewards: The winners could win the villa and you can renovate it in their style. Alternatively, use them in another challenge.

Questions and Feedback: If you need any clarifications, feel free to ask. If you try out this challenge, tag me! Use the #ts4romanticreef

Sul sul! 🌹

YouTube, Pateron and other socials

[manonamora-if-reviews]

GameCeption by Ruo

============= Links

Play the game (IFComp) See other reviews of the game

============= Synopsis

Welcome to the 5th annual broadcasted gaming competition known as GameCeption, where you compete in duos to win real money! This year, it seems like the producers are shaking up the format to something a little more exciting and a little more…high-stakes, we shall say.

============= Other Info

GameCeption is a Twine (Harlowe) game, submitted to the 2023 Edition of the IFComp.

Status: Completed Genre: Action, Thriller

CW: Mild flashing images and text, some coarse language - Sound (setting)

============= Playthrough

Played: 2-Oct-2023 Playtime: around 30min Rating: - [IFComp vote] Thoughts: Who's playing who?

============= Review

GameCeption is "a game within a game" action thriller, where the goal is for you and your friend to win the gaming competition, and win the much needed prize (money!). The game you must play, however, is really not what it seems...

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

I'll say it out of the gate: I liked this game. It was nicely paced*, with engaging gameplay and choice, and a pretty stylised UI (I'm a sucker for a sci-fi-esc interface). Even if I saw the twist coming from a mile away, I was still pretty entertained, and felt vindicated when proven right! I thought the game knocked it out of the park. *timed text on replay was a taaaaad annoying, esp when trying to speed run the last part

I liked the differences between the two parts of the competition, both in terms of styling of the page and the text itself. As both parts sort of mirror each other, especially in terms of action, there is just enough distinctiveness between both parts to make it feel fresh. The "parser"-like actions with the links added to the game competition aspect.

While characterised as an action thriller, I think Survival, à-la Battle Royale, might fit the game even better, especially considering the gameplay when the competition starts. Though the interface of the game and the cover art would maybe give the expectation of a more sci-fi like entry.

For a game with multiple "losing" state, I appreciated "respawning" at the last major point, avoiding replaying the whole game to get back to the action.

Maybe a less positive point, it would be in the characterisation of the protagonists' relationship. It was maybe left a bit too vague for the question at the 'interview' to hit harder.

[vincentspork]

So after bouncing back and forth between Dog of Dracula (1 and 2), Rhythm Thief 2 (The American Dream) and fucking. Playthrough videos of goddamn Pizza Game* (bc I brought up in voice chat that it spoils the ending of ZTD, of all things) these past two days, I think the Dog of Dracula duology still comes out on top hand over fist because while it is very silly, and unabashedly uses stock, crusty photos of Halloween costumes for its character portraits, and has a subplot about a man in a physical relationship with a can of soda, it is very self-assured in its execution - it can tell a joke without going all whale-eyed on the audience, and you can tell the creators really, really love the classics. (I am of course referring to Snatcher, and Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden. Certifiably, game designers after my own heart.)

Rhythm Thief 2 is a good effort and I of course could never badmouth it, if only out of gratitude that it delivered on a promise that Sega could never make good on themselves, but it does feel self-conscious in its writing, and that drags it down (one level has very, very poor level design, with signs scattered all around apologizing for the layout being so bad. I guess.) You have to go whole hog or nothing. I believe TWEWY 2: Dancing All Night was made afterwards, and it benefits from being much, much smaller in scale, so the jokes don't wear out their welcome nearly as quickly.

Pizza Game, meanwhile, is one unceasing axe-grinding session, because...the creators don't like visual novels, so they made a visual novel...criticizing visual novels? It's not even that the medium is exempt from critique - far from it! - but if all you can come up with is "These extraordinarily text-focused and text-heavy games have typos sometimes," and "Dating sims are unrealistic," and, most of all, "I thought this specific, late-game, major plot twist from another title was done poorly, so I'll spoil it for you without warning**" then what you have left is an almost nonexistent foundation on which to build your game. It's easy to complain about Stuff You Hate, but much more fulfilling to talk about Things You Like, so here's the portion of the post where I say that I actually thought the UI and character designs were nice to look at, and I wish the dialogue in the game wasn't trying so hard to be nonstop wacky because it made it so much harder to try to tunnel-vision my way into only noticing and retaining the art direction. (Shrek Voice) they didn't even reference Snatcher

*I do not endorse sitting through footage of Pizza Game because the post-irony stank was positively radiating from it and I, in the immortal words of wint "dril" dril, was giving myself brain damage from pissing myself off seeing it happening on my screen

**I thought this whole time that the consensus was that ZTD's twist wasn't foreshadowed enough, but tv tropes [draws a cross on my chest] says that the twist was too obvious? Motherfucker which is it

[lokislytherin]

MASTERPOST :>

SIDE BLOG @rinarchive52​ WITH REPOSTED FICS COZ I GOTTA KEEP TRACK OF MY STUFF YK

i gotta stop getting lost in my content / losing my content to the tumblr void so here is a neatly compiled list of everything i’ve ever written and posted, as well as everything i want to start / get done!

main fandoms: tower of god, lookism, nijisanji EN

COMPLETED

tower of god:

tog calendar: sandwiches, summonings and supernatural beings

japan boarding school horror story: toilet bound viole senpai

joseon dynasty ehwaryun: 火花

khundeath crack ft whipped reaper bam: no body no crime

khunbam soft tango dancing ft hwaryun: permission to dance

deep voice khun x writer bam: my mind turns your life into folklore

vday / white day exchange: you are in love

aguero is not scared of eldritch bam: wake me in the moonlight

bam gets yeeted out of bed: how to share a bed by khun a.a

soft sadist!maschenny: we're going crazy, 본 적 없던 naughty girl

beauty and the beast, nekokhun: dinner here is never second best

alice in wonderland, kidnapped cop!bam: we found wonderland

khun maria character study: twit

gumiho!khun x hwarang!bam with a lil plot twist: stay gold

tog x bnha au with todoroki!khun and villain deku!bam: bad guy

mafia spy!khun x cop!bam in khunfam party: bang bang bang

kiki’s delivery service khunbam au: cruel summer

nijisanji EN:

vox akuma + eldritch kindred: love me only til this spring

cop au!vox vs fulgur: cyborgs roll the dice, demons roll their eyes

debut lore fulgur gets isekai’d into a barn: how baa-thersome

sonny brisko creates chaos as goose: it’s time to HUNT

pickpocket konbini tenchou alban: welcome to the nekonbini

fulgur ovid attempts to babysit noctyx: baby, baby, baby, NO

vox akuma bday fic for akumazine: and there is happiness

uki gaslight gatekeep girlbosses legatus: the ‘leg’ in legatus

yandere student council president sonny x reader: PSYCHO.

cartographer!fulgur ft mer!uki: something fishy in the water

fulgur sheep transmigration fic, the sequel: yes i read you

merry crisis to hako tenshi: no shame, that’s where i’m at

akumazine round 2 ft hako tenshi: i do wish me a lovely night

noctyx 2nd anni zine nya: borg dreams of holly and ribbon

akumazine round 3 ft luxiem and hako: cause destiny is mine

lookism:

social anxiety awkward jay au: hong jaeyeol can’t communicate

chainsaw man!lookism au: 努力、未來、a beautiful star

idol!daniel x med student jay + plot twist: all eyes on me now

joy pov jay sick fic ft sibling feelings + daniel: made with love

5 wingmen vs 1 potential valentines janiel owo: hit and run

fluffy angsty gundaniel hurt and janiel comfort: finally clean

idol!daniel x med jay sequel + fox ears: you know i hype you boy

komi!jay finally confesses for white day: baby i love, i love you

janiel ft crystaljay arranged marriage: i found myself dreaming

janiel finally get their happy ending: and i hope i never lose you

byelingual gun x izakaya!reader + plot twist: speak no evil

idol daniel x pianist med jay: hey piano man, your dancing hands

assassinseok fails to kill jay 4 whole times: come a little closer

marine biologist x selkie jay ft ocean puns: when i sea you again

tattoo artist dan x gay panicking jay: nineteen’s kitsch

jay finds out ui dan is a closet cuddlebug: marshmallow cheeks

jaeseok meet cute + dan’s first time on a plane: city of stars

samuel and eli take care of yenna: and at last i see the light

flirty hyungseok x batman![guess who!]: hero in black armor

park jinyoung character study: hopes for tomorrow

prince!dan x protective guardian angel!jay: hikaru nara

vampire!dan x werewolf!jay rom com: mabushikute

spiderjay for nanowrimo: hong jaeyeol, superhero

jangseo hostel christmas ft yenna: snowing in my heart

lunar new year dragonjay: raging fire, roaring flood

disaster streamer daniel x hot gay jay: straight guy turns bi

jaydan post-first affiliate cuddles: and every time my heart beats

taesoodg beach shenanigans: hello, blue ocean view

firefighter dan x vet jay: cause baby you’re a firework

trigun stampede: 

aboverse plantcest fluff and theoretical cuddling: koko ni, nai

millions knives? no he’s a worm now: would you still love me

the grandmaster of demonic cultivation | 魔道祖師:

mid autumn festival wangxian ft glowsticks: 舉頭望明月

bts: 

handsome detective kim seokjin says be gay solve crime: save me

joon has heart cancer but it’s not what you think: 나 너를 사랑해

bwl era sope confession: i want to see the stars in your eyes

vampire!jeon jeongguk x human!reader: euphoria

waiter jeongguk coffeeshop au, u’ll get diabetes: hot stuff, beware

TO COMPLETE

tower of god: 

khunbam idol au, singer!bam x manager!khun: ships in the night

khunbam merfolk au (title is a spoiler / pun btw): fish out of water

snow queen!khun + angels/demons: it’s always you, crystal snow

harry potter chosen ones!khunbam (title pun): works like a charm

bts: 

detective jin says be gay solve crime part 2: i’m fine

beauty and the beast werewolf!joon x fairy!jin: the truth untold

circus au with photographer!jk + journalist!suga: burn the stage

mermaid!yoongi x human prince!jimin (same universe as ttu): run

lookism: 

star tears disease ft pining jaeyeol x oblivious daniel: starshatter

sussy ceo dg x journalist reader: devil by the window

jay adopts 5 y o kid!daniel: the single father to husband pipeline

dan accidentally moves in with ghost!jay: haunted

valentines secretary x ceo jaydan: my new boss is a himbo!!

niji:

reverse isekai with writer ike eveland:  hope in the dark

TO START

tower of god: 

little red riding hood yuri x big bad wolf mas: i’m a little monster

genshin impact:

鲸鱼之歌 (whale song): singer!childe x retired pianist!zhongli

fearless: jeanlisa dancing in the rain ft klee (no electrocharge)

niji: 

noctyx tog au ft other niji members: spiral to the abyss

[littlepurinsesu]

V Watches MagiReco - Episode 4 Review

*Spoilers for Magia Record Anime Episode 4*

Tsuruno is finally here!!!!! (♥ω♥) MagiReco just doesn’t feel like MagiReco without the mightiest magical girl, so her appearance this week was definitely a long awaited one! (๑>ᴗ<๑)

This episode felt significantly slower than the previous one, with a lot more “downtime” and much less action. I did feel a tiny bit bored during some parts, but I do think this was a much-needed breath of air after the fast-paced episode last week :) And anyway, Tsuruno’s mere presence brings plenty of energy already, so perhaps a relatively more “calm” episode would have complemented her introduction the best way!

In short: I loved Tsuruno’s debut. Changing her debut to being at Banbanzai instead of the train station was a very good decision, in my opinion: it allows her to be introduced with the restaurant that makes up such a large part of her character. She’s exactly as I imagined in the game: overflowing with energy, filled with sunshine, and just so, so, so cute!!! The way she literally twirls around all over the place and leans in so close to Iroha with her leg kicking behind her so that she’s almost falling onto the table... it’s like she legitimately cannot stay still even for just one second xD And they even had her say a few of her “battle lines” from the game, which was a really nice touch!

Also, just that gigantic bowl of ramen is already terrifying enough. That PLUS all the other stuff she served Iroha? Did Iroha really manage to finish all of that? O___O And the 50-points joke made a very early and timely debut haha it’s even more hilarious to see in action, and Tsuruno’s reaction was priceless as expected xD

I also appreciate the nice little detail that Mitama really is like a bridge between magical girls in Kamihama. She knows everyone and is happy to introduce magical girls to other magical girls that can help them out. Her signature on the Banbanzai flyer is so cute, too! And it’s nice to see Team Momoko still hanging around Iroha and being a part of the picture even if they’re no longer the focus (unlike whatever the heck happened to Kuroe LOL). Kaede first offering Rena some food and then putting food into her mouth to shut her up was also adorable. Really goes to show how much of a good grip she has on Rena despite being the more meek and timid one in personality heh heh.

By the way, Mitama, tomato sauce does NOT go on cake like that!!! A tiny detail I missed at first, but another good clue as to just how terrible of a cook Mitama is xD (I think this is a really good example of how the MagiReco anime has so many tiny details that seem unimportant but speak a lot about the characters, whether it’s interesting quirks or unusual habits and mannerisms etc.)

Tsuruno’s meeting with Yachiyo was perfect. I mean, just this face alone pretty much sealed the deal for me lmao:

They do a really good job at highlighting the contrast between these two characters, both in regards to how they treat Iroha and how they associate with each other. You can see how happy Tsuruno is at being with Yachiyo again and how hard she’s trying to reignite their old friendship, while Yachiyo reacts coldly and distantly (ouch). I can’t really remember if they included this in the game, but it’s a nice way to foreshadow the reveal that they used to be on a team before Yachiyo broke them all up, so I’m really looking forward to that revelation later on.

The cameo of Ria and Manaka seemed... random? xD I guess they really are going through with the pattern of having at least one cameo of a minor character each episode, but this particular one just didn’t make much sense to me ^^;; I don’t really know what Ria was getting all worked up about? Were she and Manaka also doing the stamp game and were therefore getting competitive? Or was it just because of her competitive spirit whenever she bumps into Yachiyo? It’s most likely the latter, but in that case, that really would make it an “inside joke” that only game players who know about this running gag will understand. Which I... personally don’t think is a very wise thing to do, honestly? >_< They’re nice little easter eggs for players, but they need to make sense to people who are going into the anime blind as well. The Ren and Mayu cameos worked perfectly well and made sense even for non-gamers. But this week’s one? Not so much. But yeah, I’m rambling for a whole paragraph about literally just a few seconds of footage, so maybe it really isn’t that big of a deal haha. Also, I don’t wanna be one of those people who nitpick and complain at every tiny difference, but I really do think Ria looks prettier with the slightly more orange-tinged blonde rather than the straw yellow shade they chose for the anime ^^;;

That legend about the princess and her lover was animated very nicely. The style is almost reminiscent of Kyoko’s backstory, and there’s so much symbolism in every frame and shot (which I won’t even attempt to dissect; I’m sure someone else will do it better than me! ;D). I also really liked that dark twist at the end of the story, too, and the way the mysterious characters surround Iroha and Yachiyo as they walked together adds a nice touch of that “what is reality” vibe that PMMM does so well.

As for the witch fight, I think this is probably the most critical I’m going to sound ever since I started writing these anime episode reviews. Too fast, too easy, too insignificant. To be honest, I didn’t even think that battle was necessary, apart from allowing them to show Tsuruno in her magical girl form. Almost all the witches so far haven’t put up much of a fight, and have been one-shotted really quickly: Zenobia by Yachiyo in Episode 1, Rebecca by Momoko in Episode 2, and now Candy by Tsuruno in Episode 4. They go on about how strong the witches in Kamihama are, but apart from the first episode, I’m not really feeling it with the last two fights. Yes, I get that the magical girls are also stronger because of Mitama’s adjusting, but even then the fights are just over way too quickly. It was like this with the Friendship Ending Staircase last week as well. While I could let it slide with these minor and unimportant witch battles, I hope this trend won’t keep extending to future battles with Rumours as well, since those are such a huge part of MagiReco and a new introduction to the PMMM world that non-players are meeting for the first time.

And this isn’t so much of a complaint as it is a personal preference thing, but I also miss seeing the characters enter the labyrinth layer by layer and really feeling the dangerous, foreboding atmosphere of doom before they finally encounter the witch. The battles so far have all just dumped the girls right into the centre of the labyrinth, with the witches appearing immediately. It does present a nice forceful and alarming feel--which is not necessarily bad, just different--but I do miss the haunting and mysterious atmosphere of the witch labyrinths before the witches themselves emerged.

But onto some positive aspects of the battle scene: I really like the way they presented Iroha. How she mindlessly just dashes forward to attack, almost like a desperate attempt to prove herself to Yachiyo. Obviously that doesn’t work, and the way she meekly asks to Connect but only to get instantly turned down... poor Iroha >_< And again, it was nice to see how they juxtaposed Tsuruno’s and Yachiyo’s responses to Iroha’s weakness: Yachiyo pushes her away and tells her to get back, while Tsuruno welcomes her attempts and brushes it off with a smile when it doesn’t go according to plan. (But last episode implied that Iroha was already adjusted? She can Connect now, so I’m guessing she did? Why is she still so much weaker, though? Is it just inexperience? I really wish they made these things much more explicitly clear...)

As for finally finding the Rumour, I’m really hoping that we’ll finally learn something about Yachiyo’s past next week! I liked how this episode told us more about Iroha’s lack of friends and her dependence on Ui to define her existence, so hopefully we’ll get something about Yachiyo soon, too. They already had some nice foreshadowing this week with some of the things that Tsuruno said and the way she acted around Yachiyo, so getting at least some answers in the next episode would be a nice follow-up. That and the obvious fact that I’m super excited to finally meet Mifuyu! Iroha’s Soul Gem is also darkening, so maybe we’ll even get to see our first animated Doppel next week!

But yeah. A much slower episode this week that, while not perfect, still had plenty of positive aspects! Tsuruno got an awesome introduction, which is basically the most important part of the episode, and they’ve done a nice job at paving the way for plenty of action and revelation in the next episode! (* >ω<)

[kenkamishiro]

zakki:re translations Part 1 (pg. 10-29, Vol. 1-2 illustrations)

Hello and welcome to the zakki:re translations post! It took a bit of time to think about how I’d have to structure these translations, but I’ve figured it out for the most part.

What this series of posts will be is a text translation of Ishida’s comments accompanied by the art he’s referring to (the actual art itself that’s been available online, not a picture taken from zakki:re. It’ll make more sense once you start going through the post, I promise). It will also include some commentary from me for some additional context, which will be marked as “T/N” for “translator notes”.

What this will NOT include are photographs of the book. If I take pictures of the book, they will be contained in a different post since I don’t want the translations posts to be more cluttered than they already are. I also won’t include any illustrations that don’t have commentary attached to them unless they’re somehow relevant to it.

They will be posted every 1-2 days depending on my schedule, and have roughly 10 pieces of commentary each which I found was a good length.

And lastly, some terminology before I begin. TG = Tokyo Ghoul (overall, like the fandom tag), OG = the first Tokyo Ghoul series, :re = Tokyo Ghoul:re.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy!

[T/N: This illustration was a magazine cover that included the blurb, "Justice has now been commenced." Presented this way since this is how it appears in zakki:re.]

zakki:re has now begun. Just like zakki, the comments on the paintings and such will be referred to as accordingly. I hope you enjoy.

This is the first cover on which :re began.

It gives off a certain vibe, hence the "Justice, commence!" blurb. At least that's probably what my editor thought.

I thought at the time that I was seriously going to fail to hand in my manuscript in time. It almost became, “Justice, commence (starting next week)!”

Weekly Young Jump 2014, Issue no. 46, Cover illustration

Volumes 1-4 of :re were prefaced with colour pages. Hinami was a member of Aogiri Tree, and Kanae was distressed over Tsukiyama.

Shirazu’s character looks kinda dangerous here for some reason, doesn’t he?

Weekly Young Jump 2014, Issue no. 46, Opening colour page

An image of a sky, as if it’s connected to the sky from the last chapter of OG. A certain three people from the final chapter are also standing here.

Weekly Young Jump 2014, Issue no. 46, Opening colour page

The cover illustration for volume 1 of :re. I used up all my energy drawing Haise. But he turned out quite well, don’t you think? He’s holding a Kitahara Hakushuu book in his hand.

I thought I should draw the story from the CCG perspective, so I introduced the character known as Sasaki Haise, an investigator who is a half-ghoul.

Before :re began I also created the Qs characters all at once for the shock factor. I took a break in between OG and :re, but it was only 3 weeks if I recall. I remember at the time I was working on the setting and drawing, so I ended up busier than usual during that writing period.

When OG ended, one of the staff asked, “Is it really over?” in confusion, and I answered, “Yeah, it’s really over.” It wasn’t really a lie since it was OG that had ended.

2014, Volume 1, Cover illustration

[T/N: The quality of this illustration isn’t good since I took it from the table of contents in Volume 1. But the neat thing is in zakki:re, the quality is so good that you can clearly read the words in the book that Haise is reading. Right now he’s reading Hakushuu’s poem “Blue Dragonfly.”]

Ui-kun has risen the ranks. Looks like he’s gone through a lot.

2014, Volume 1, Frontispiece

The exterior of the pinup, I think. From the series of mysterious outfits. Seems it’s based off a military uniform?

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Joint issue no. 6~7, Special long pinup

This is an illustration I drew using CLIP STUDIO. I’ve always used Sai for drawing, but when I was drawing the ending cards for the 2nd season of the OG anime (the ones that moved along with amazarashi’s “Seasons Die One After Another”), I decided to try drawing using CLIP STUDIO on a whim, and I kept using it for a while. Later I also drew the Trump card illustrations using CLIP STUDIO. I don’t use it anymore but looking back, the end product has a really distinct look to it, which makes me wonder if I should try using this program again...

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Issue no. 12, Cover illustration

[T/N: Couldn’t find the raw version of this illustration. This page was scanned by Imperial Scans (RIP).]

At the time it seems I pressed my editor, “What’s ‘On Christmas Eve the Qs bell is ringing’ supposed to mean?” for answers. But hey, doesn’t “Qs bell” sound kinda cool?

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Joint issue no. 4~5, Center colour illustration

[T/N: Not completely raw, but close enough. Scan for this illustration done by Twisted Hel Scans (also RIP).]

You’ve probably realized it by now, but the opening pages and the center colour illustrations from the YJ magazines were printed as they originally were back then.

Since the magazine design would be lost for those who didn’t buy the magazine back then, it would’ve been a shame since L.S.D. (the design company) worked extremely hard to make it look good. I also think the blurbs that my editor came up can be considered a work of their own (such as ‘Qs bell’).

Of course, I’m sure there are people who want to see the paintings in their original state. I felt the same way which was why I was conflicted about it, but I’ve accepted it in this form for this time.

The volume illustrations and the magazine illustrations have been arranged in chronological order as much as possible. I hope you can enjoy it together with the circumstances of my editor’s work.

If I ever get another opportunity, I’d like to have an art book with just illustrations only.

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Joint issue no. 6~7, Opening colour page

[T/N: The version of this illustration in zakki:re doesn’t include any text.]

Colour pinup from the appendix of YJ magazine. I added in Scarecrow who hadn’t appeared in the story yet (I didn’t know when I would add him in). I had fun drawing the 4 people above. I really like Nutcracker in particular.

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Joint issue no. 6~7, Special long pinup

The character popularity poll illustration contest (I think it was with Nico Nico Seiga). I drew some shikishi and gave them as gifts to those who submitted illustrations. This illustration itself feels nostalgic.

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Issue no. 12, Opening colour page

[T/N: Updated with HQ scans from TG_Hub. Thank you!]

The cover of :re volume 2 featuring Touka.

I chose something relaxing for the off-centre composition while still following the general flow of the OG volume, conveying that she has become more cunning. A reference to "zakki", so it'd be great if you could compare between the two.

Haise looks good in shades of brown.

This is the interior of the Chateau where the Qs resided, and it was designed by a good friend who I’ll call J-chan. A luxury home with the Qs’ bedrooms, common room, kitchen, Haise’s room, and the training room, fully furnished. I got the data from him so that I could preview it and look around in 3-D, so I included it in the instructions for drawing the backdrop as a reference. Thanks!

[T/N: If you want to see the comparison to OG zakki, click here. Also, the Qs chateau that Ishida’s friend designed...is ripped from The Sims 4. No, I’m not kidding.]

Weekly Young Jump 2015, Volume 2 cover

I took a bunch of my scribbles and reused them for the colour pages in the volume.

At the very beginning I drew Mucchan (Mutsuki Tooru), and moved on to other characters from there. As Saiko hadn't appeared in the story yet, her face isn't shown here. "Saiko absolutely won't show up for an entire volume," was my iron will.

2015, Volume 2, Frontispiece

next

[jmsebastian]

Middle Child Syndrome: Fatal Frame III

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented sits in a weird place among the entries in the classic horror series. After the novelty of the first game and the refinements of the second, The Tormented starts to retread some very familiar territory. There are more old, abandoned and haunted mansions, more hostile ghosts that need exorcizing, and the same Camera Obscura with which you take pictures to solve puzzles and rid said haunted mansions of the undead. The general idea of the game is identical to its predecessors. If you’ve played through the entire series, you know that there is a familiar sense of core elements and a consistent quality that invites comparisons to the NES line of Mega Man games. As such it’s easy to overlook the game as just another sequel that does more of the same. Done and done.

That would really be selling the game short, though. While not nearly as celebrated as Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, or as controversial a release as The Maiden of Black Water, The Tormented veers off the beaten path in surprising ways. Sure, you spend the majority of your time doing the exact same things you do in every Fatal Frame game, but the story has a more personal side to it. It also isn’t all haunted house all the time. There are things to do outside of playing paparazzi to the angry spirits of people who met untimely and gruesome ends. There are characters that you can interact with, and loads of quiet time.

I haven’t talked at great length about the story of the other Fatal Frame games for a couple of reasons. First, they are all set up as mysteries. Going into a lot of detail about them would diminish the rewarding sense of discovery you get when you uncover more journal entries or newspaper clippings that allow you to fit the timeline of the story’s events together. Second, the stories being told were never all that satisfying to me. Learning exactly how the ancient ritual that keeps the spirits of hell away got botched for the third or fourth time loses a bit of its luster. There’s nothing wrong with that framework, and you have to expect it to some degree with a series that is self-referential and takes place in some semblance of a timeline. Still, the possibilities to go beyond the failed ritual scenario have been surprisingly unexplored. Fatal Frame III makes a valiant attempt.

In The Tormented, you follow Rei Kurosawa in the aftermath of the loss of her fiance, Yuu Asou. Rei bears the responsibility of Yuu’s death, as she feels it was her inattentive driving that caused the accident he was killed in. Having survived the accident, Rei suffers from tremendous guilt. That is a heavy stage to set and contrasts wildly with the previous setups of “my brother is lost and I think he might be in this creepy mansion” as seen in the original game, and “we were running through the woods and now we’re in some creepy, abandoned village that appeared out of nowhere”. The themes in the series have always leaned very hard into dark and disturbing territory. Who could forget the slightly hinted at taboo relationship between twins Mio and Mayu from Crimson Butterfly, or the horrifically unethical medical experiments performed on mental patients in Mask of the Lunar Eclipse? Where the series had previously begun its games with big, open-ended mysteries, III was the first to begin its story with such a specific focus on the details that ground both the lead into the plot and the character whose the lens the player will be experiencing the plot through.

Rei’s grief and guilt are the emotional frameworks upon which The Tormented is built. That subtitle essentially gives the theme of the game (and the entire series, for that matter) away right off the bat. It’s one thing to have an interesting story framework, though. It’s another to elevate that story through the integration of its themes into something the player can take part in. To that end, Fatal Frame III is comprised of two distinct phases. There’s the dream phase, where Rei (and occasionally other characters) explores The Manor of Sleep and uncovers information about various ghosts she encounters while there. This is also where the player does all of their ghost hunting with the Camera Obscura.

There’s also the waking phase. This phase is set in Rei’s home, which she shares with Miku Hinasaki. Miku is the protagonist of the first Fatal Frame and she works for Rei as an assistant. While awake, the player can develop certain pictures taken while in the dream state in her home’s dark room. Those photos can then be given to Miku to investigate the characters or events revealed in the film. The other main component of waking up is simply to take a breather from the harrowing experiences of investigating the mansion while eluding the tattooed woman hell-bent on tracking Rei down. Having structured quiet time makes the difference between the emotional highs and lows of the game more pronounced and even. The house, taking the role of refuge, completely recontextualizes the nature of the mansion exploration as set forth in the previous entries in the series. Where before the game’s protagonists were forced deeper and deeper into exploration in an effort to find what they were looking for or free themselves, Rei gets to act more like a spelunker. She explores the same horrifying locations and situations as the characters in the other games, but she does so with a rope (somewhat) firmly tied back to reality.

The cyclical nature of sleeping and waking is then twisted over time. The safe haven of Rei’s home, which included having Rei’s health restored and her film replenished, begins to feel less safe over time, especially as night falls. Apparitions tucked away in corners can be seen flickering in and out of existence, the constant rainfall outside acts as somewhat of a psychological barrier to leaving the house. It’s as though Rei’s dreams are forcing their way into her consciousness slowly over the course of the game, which is a more oppressively sinister emotional path to walk for both Rei and the player. What was once a welcomed relief erodes into more uncertainty, cementing the effects of the trauma that Rei undergoes.

The subtlety of Rei’s descent into the trappings of guilt is propped up in some unexpected ways. There are the aforementioned hauntings in Rei’s home introduced over time, but there are more subtle touches that magnify the effects of her emotional deterioration. Elements as omnipresent as the UI seem oddly understated compared to the games it’s sandwiched between. Compare how busy the viewfinder is of a mildly upgraded camera is in Fatal Frame II and a similarly upgraded camera in III.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented

The highlighting around the reticle, which indicates the charge of your spirit power, is so subtle that upon picking this game back up again, I completely missed it for the better part of my first fight. I’m not exactly sure why the Camera Obscura has such a minimalist representation when the trend in the rest of the series was to amplify its feedback to 11. It’s not even like it fits in with the rest of the UI features, which saw more shortcut buttons and menu options than previously provided. It certainly seems that breaking immersion wasn’t particularly on the list of worries, so the only options left seem to be that the developers just wanted to give the player more screen real estate with which to frame the ghosts they would be taking pictures of, or they felt that toning down the flashing lights and alarm bells would keep the mood somber, preventing it from clashing horribly with the tone of the narrative. It could be both at the same time. Whether intentional or accidental, Tecmo completely nailed it.

Being the third installment of a series means there were plenty of opportunities to adjust and fine tune features that might have been underdeveloped in previous games. There is still some redundancy in how the player takes pictures, for example, being able to use either the R1 or X buttons, but that’s much better than the three possible buttons used in the previous title. A big improvement was getting rid of having two camera viewfinder control options active at the same time. Fatal Frame and Fatal Frame II allowed for movement of the Camera Obscura’s viewfinder with both the analog stick and directional pad, an odd choice considering the PlayStation 2 had integrated analog control built in from the beginning. The Tormented fixes that, leaving control simply with the left analog stick. By doing this, they freed up the D-pad to be used for swapping film types during combat without forcing the player into a series of menus, which would take them out of the action and ruin the pacing.

Fatal Frame III is full of these small improvements. The system menu options were moved from the Start button to Select, which allowed for the game menu options to be moved from Triangle to Start, which then allowed the Camera Obscura to be raised or lowered with Triangle instead of Circle, putting it much closer to R1, which is used as the shutter button. The map, a huge time saving and confusion busting tool, was moved to the L2 button, which went completely unused in previous entries. One of the best improvements involved implementing an older constraint from the first game that had been “corrected” for the sequel.

Film in Fatal Frame is finite. If the player does a poor job managing their film either in combat or when taking pictures of wandering ghosts or other things of interest, they can either run out completely (admittedly difficult to do as there is more than enough scattered around the mansion), or more worryingly, run low or out of the most rare and powerful film types because their damage capacities weren’t maximized. The team at Tecmo realized that there was a real possibility that players could put themselves into an unwinnable situation, and to make sure that couldn’t happen in the sequel, they introduced a type of film that was infinite. Its capture power was very weak to compensate for having an unending supply, but it was a nice safeguard against both running out of film completely and also against being forced to use more powerful film when it wasn’t really necessary.

Fatal Frame III rides the line between these two extremes. All film types have a limited supply, like in the original game. Two of those types, Type-7 and Type-14, refill to a set amount when Rei wakes up from her dream hours. This accomplishes the goal of heightening the tension of each dream by forcing players to be conscious of how much film they’re using and for what, and also provides an extra dose of relief once players reach the end of a dream segment. There’s an additional benefit to aiding players in mentally pacing the game, as they can form a pretty good idea of about how far into a segment they are based on how much film they’ve consumed, assuming they haven’t gone above and beyond in exploration and searched out every possible film drop possible. The mixing of old and new series ideas demonstrates the importance of looking at the games in a franchise holistically, as there can be great ideas tucked away in entries that can easily get overlooked in the rush to keep things fresh.

Unfortunately, refinements don’t really make for huge selling points, which may be part of the reason why the game is underrepresented when it comes to the series as a whole. It looks the best and typically plays the best of the PS2 games, but not because it made any huge design overhauls. It simply examined what it was that players most often spent their time doing in Fatal Frame and made those features more logical and accessible. It’s as if the Camera Obscura viewfinder’s visual design was a representation of the elegance that this game was going for.

For all that it gets right, Fatal Frame III does, of course, have flaws. Those flaws largely derive from the expectation that players of the game are familiar with the series. Aside from relying upon up the stories of previous games, it also borrows much of its level design from them as well. Revisiting levels familiar to seasoned veterans of a series can be a nice surprise. The Tormented takes this idea to its logical conclusion and basically creates a new game using the locations of the previous two games. The Manor of Sleep, for all intents and purposes, is a combination of Crimson Butterfly’s Lost Village, and Fatal Frame’s Himuro Mansion. There’s really nothing wrong with this in principle, but Tecmo’s reliance on familiar architecture allowed them to slip a little with regard to guiding the player along the right path. Far too often it feels as though players need to rely on past experiences with the games in order to figure out where to go because Fatal Frame III doesn’t really bother to give them adequate clues. This is an intermittent problem. The first quarter of the game is fine, and there’s even one section when controlling Miku where the player has to rely on audio cues to figure out where to go which works extremely well. There are other sections, however, such as Hour VI, where guidance is a little less straightforward. You don’t really take any pictures revealing other locations, there aren’t spirits walking about to point your way, you just have to wander around a bit until you stumble upon the place you’re supposed to be. It’s clunky and does a great disservice to the sections that are well planned out.

The difficulty of the game is another issue that normally wouldn’t be worth mentioning except that it’s tied to the lack of context clues seen in previous games. During Hour VII, Miku ventures into a crawl space beneath the house in order to reach a previously inaccessible area. This area of the map is set up beautifully by way of Rei commenting earlier in the game on her inability to pass through it if the player inspects the opening while in control of her. There’s also a later section where a ghost can be seen hanging out, her body contorted in an off-putting way. When it’s time for Miku to crawl through this space, the player is ready for something. With a set up that good, it’s a shame that the payoff is so weak. What the player finds is an incredibly difficult enemy to fight. While crawling, the game forces you into first-person mode, whether you have the camera raised or not. This limited view makes the ghost, who crawls around on all fours with the frantic pace of cockroach, very difficult to locate quickly. Her attacks are swift, as well. She approaches the player abruptly before pausing ever so slightly and ringing the neck of Miku.

Her spider-like ceiling walk is especially frightening.

It’s obvious there is something wrong with this encounter based on how little damage this ghost does to you upon each attack. If you fail to get a shutter chance on her (and you will), she hangs on to you for a long time. During that time, she drains a minuscule amount of life compared to even the weakest of enemies in other parts of the game. With such little health at risk, it suggests that players are not really meant to engage with this ghost at all, which makes one wonder why they bothered putting her in the game in the first place. After getting strangled weakly for the third or fourth time, I figured I’d just keep on crawling so I could get to my destination, which worked out perfectly. My constant movement made it so the ghost could no longer land hits on me, and she was unable to follow me out of the crawl space.

To say this whole section was a disappointment is an understatement. Because the situation is treacherous, it seems that Tecmo just couldn’t resist putting an enemy here, which would be fine if that enemy had animations that the player could deal with more comfortably. It doesn’t. To compensate for how difficult the timing is for landing shots in her, they simply made her incredibly weak, which takes away all tension from the situation. Players can fail time and time again on this fight without real risk of dying, so the overall scare factor drops to nothing. The animations no longer frighten once seen repeated fifty times. A better option would have probably been to have some clue that a ghost is nearby, but never actually reveal her. Having the player go into a confined space was already enough to ramp up the tension, so much so that actually executing on that tension made for the least scary scenario possible.

Another reason why this particular ghost encounter sticks out is that it occurs roughly halfway through the game. The halfway mark is where the game starts to falter a bit. Where it hits the pavement is in the sheer number of ghost hostile ghost encounters. There are tons. On top of the scripted fights, which must be completed to progress, ghosts can randomly pop up all over the place, even in areas once thought safe. There’s an element of surprise here that serves to undermine whatever sense of security a player might have developed when going through certain areas of the Manor of Sleep, but it becomes overkill almost immediately. Sometimes two ghosts can show up back to back, other times you might fight one, move on, then have the same ghost reappear during a backtrack to a different part of the mansion.

Having repeat ghosts already feels unsatisfying because it eliminates any sense of accomplishment the player had when taking them out the first time. The point of the Camera Obscura is to exorcize spirits, and if it isn’t actually accomplishing that, then the integrity of the narrative completely falls apart. The other major side effect of this is fatigue. The Fatal Frame games are not easy. Exploring takes time, the puzzles, though not mind melting, take a bit of thought or planning to complete. Throwing in fights every other room is daunting, reduces the impact of those encounters, and gives the player incentive to avoid them at all costs. This takes away opportunities to get points to level up the camera and additional abilities, crucial elements of the game that must be done in order to combat the spikes in difficulty. It’s a shame when games appear to actively discourage players from participating in the mechanics that make up the core of the experience, and The Tormented is quite guilty of this in several chapters.

The middle section of the game is also where the training wheels come off with regard to figuring out where to go, not something that makes a great deal of sense considering the amount of backtracking the players are required to put up with. Traveling back and forth between the same rooms dozens of times requires some guidance so that players don’t begin to wander about aimlessly. It’s inevitable that a player is going to run into some blocked doors or impassable spaces, but it doesn’t take hitting too many of these in a row before the adventure starts to fall flat and the feeling of frustration dominates the experience. As a general rule, leading the player on is something Fatal Frame III does really well. There’s a night where Miku’s destinations are signaled by the sound of singing. Locating the sound becomes the game, and it’s an interesting way to provide the player with the solution of where to go without simply jotting down the right room on the map. The uneven application of these unique guidance tricks makes the game feel longer than it is, and horror games are particularly damaged by wearing out their welcome.

Having a bit of a slump in the pacing is an issue, but can certainly be overlooked when viewing the game as a whole. What can’t be ignored is how Tecmo treats its main protagonist, Rei. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the developers responsible for the Dead or Alive series would have some issues regarding representations of women. Sadly, the Fatal Frame series is not free of this problem. With the protagonist of The Tormented being an adult woman, Tecmo was able to overtly sexualize her in a way that feels a lot more familiar to fans of Western horror movies (not to mention sexualization of the main antagonist, who goes bare-breasted throughout the game). Sure, you could read incestuous undertones into the relationship between twins Mayu and Mio from Fatal Frame II, but that served to make the characters more enigmatic and eerie, a reasonable thing to do for a horror game. The fanservice content that did exist was reserved for bonus content and was entirely optional. This is not so with Rei. Even jiggle physics make it into the game, if subtle. Rei’s breasts don’t heave or sway like Mai Shiranui when she runs or quick turns, but there is a distinct butt bounce that is noticeable when she runs. It can be hard to see as it requires the camera being placed close to Rei in an area where she would be moving away from the player’s view, but it’s definitely there, and it’s difficult to justify a reason for its existence. It ended up distracting me quite a lot once I’d noticed it. Maybe that doesn’t say something so flattering about me, but one has to wonder what the intent was with including it, as it seems animated too well to be accidental.

To further Re’s unfortunate portrayal, we get a scene of Rei taking a shower in a half-hearted attempt to convey her difficult time coping. It’s a bit difficult to empathize with her situation, though, when the scene is served with a very generous side of boob. It’s jarring because Rei is just an average woman who’s lost the person she loves most and feels immense guilt about it. She isn’t action star Aya Brea from Parasite Eve running around shooting mutated monsters with a shotgun. Trying to mix in a bit of sex appeal here just doesn’t sit well. The shower trope is repeated later on to more mixed results.

This scene is more Nightmare on Elm Street than Fatal Frame.

This mixed messaging doesn’t hurt the narrative to an irreparable degree, but it certainly does the game no favors, and when your main problem as a game is that you are easily overlooked, it’s this kind of objectification of its characters that makes passing the game by not feel like such a bad thing.

The biggest regret of the game is that its most dramatic moment, the showdown with the Tattooed Woman, has a fatal flaw. That flaw is an instant fail state. One hit deaths feel bad in pretty much every game, but for Fatal Frame, they are especially cheap. The series has these littered throughout, and normally they are easy enough to avoid. Maybe you get caught once, but after that, it’s a good lesson learned. Fatal Frame III decided it would make half of the final boss fight subject to them with a healthy dose of randomness to make the medicine go down. The fight begins normally, with the Tattooed Woman becoming hostile while also becoming vulnerable to your camera. Intermittently, however, she will transform the scene so that it takes on the black and white film grain look that’s been peppered throughout other Hours. During this time, the Woman appears in a random location and you must run from her until things go back to normal. The randomness of her appearance and her ceaseless pursuit of your character make avoiding her challenging, and sometimes, literally impossible. If you get touched, you die. Death at this stage is especially punishing because the player must quit out to the game’s main menu in order to reload their last save. If the last possible save point, the trek back to the boss room isn’t especially far, but it’s enough that the time going back for another try after a death caused without fault from the player really adds up. This is a horrible choice for any boss, let alone the final one.

For this fight alone, it’s hard to blame anyone who honestly hates this game. It’s so bad that it is hard to remember anything else about the game as you fight back the tears of frustration. Of the three games, The Tormented easily feels like the most difficult for me, and poor design decisions like this are a big reason why. It would be one thing if the difficulty had some semblance of fairness to it. Maybe the Tattooed Woman’s moveset could be especially varied or challenging. Maybe she would have a fairly simple moveset but hit very hard in order to punish impatient players with jumpy trigger fingers. Taking control away from players is great for instilling fear, but it’s equally good at instilling rage, which is really all this boss fight accomplishes. What’s amazing is that even upgrading my camera as much as possible and using Type Zero film exclusively, which is the most powerful in the game, I still died numerous times simply because I couldn’t turn around fast enough to avoid some grabby hands.

With all games, you have to weigh the good with the bad. Fatal Frame III’s lows are certainly low due to their feeling of cheapness with regard to eliciting thrills or titillation. Those lows, however, far from sink the game to the level that its reputation seems to have sunk it. Maybe the quick development of these games simply led to oversaturation. Half of the entire series was released in about a three year period, which is remarkable. With that, you’re going to see a lot of corners being cut. The Tormented lacked originality in its locations and ghosts, but it more than made up for those shortcomings through its unique use of those existing assets. From a lore perspective, it’s also crucial, as it expands on the original game’s story and incorporates elements from the second to create a cohesive fictional universe for the fans who really crave that kind of thing. Fatal Frame and Fatal Frame II are more complete games because they have the third game to connect all the dots, even if they didn’t really need to be connected in the first place.

The series would change drastically with its next iteration, moving away from the fixed camera, adopting a whole new control scheme, and abandoning the characters that had established it as one of the premier horror titles. Given that it never made it out of Japan, it’s hard to see those radical departures as being completely successful. The Tormented, then, sits in the kind of limbo that the player strives to make their way out of. It’s the point between staying true to what works and reinventing the wheel. What risks it took were overshadowed by where it played it safe, not unlike what happened to Capcom’s Resident Evil 3. There are far worse fates than good, if not spectacular. If you choose to play Fatal Frame III for yourself, you’ll come across plenty of them.

[hoshira]

` mini headcanon o1. * speech

invisible. instead of preparing for my debates / summative assignments / portfolio i took it upon me to research japanese dialects and post a headcanon. aka ‘ shou makes bad life choices ’ , example #491

kyoto-ben ( 京都弁 kyoto dialect ) / kyoto-kotoba ( 京言葉 kyoto language ) finds its roots in the history of japan prior to the meiji restoration era , wherein the capital of the country was moved from kyoto to edo ( now modern day tokyo -- those who’ve watched the history of japan video 84 billion times like me probably know what i’m talking about ) . it is known for being one of the more prominent accents , especially because it is almost a ‘ sub - dialect ’ of the kansai region dialect ( you’ve probably also seen kansai dialect in regards to osaka-ben speakers -- they are often stereotyped as either country accents or new york city accents , to put into perspective ) . kyoto-kotoba is known as such in its region of origin primarily because they don’t see it merely as a dialect or accent . since it was the standard way of speaking japanese prior to hyoujungo ( which is the standard style that you find nowadays in media , such as anime . since japan is very strict in terms of making sure that its country is essentially homogenous , they’re trying to blotch out other forms of speech in favour of hyoujungo , as well ) , they take great pride in the style with which they speak . kyoto-kotoba is often characterized with sounding feminine . even males tend to use feminine pronouns when referring to themselves ( for example , haikyuu actually has a character that speaks in kansai dialect -- miya atsume ! in the more recent chapter , he refers to himself with the feminine “ wa ” as opposed to the masculine “ yo ” ) . it is also stereotyped as being very formal and polite . while it’s mentioned in some articles that they use the suffix — はん ( -han ) in place of — さん ( -san ) , this actually isn’t true . if anything , elders will use -han , since it’s pretty outdated , even for this accent . those who speak kyoto-kotoba often enunciate / elongate vowels / syllables , as well as use onomatopoeia in their speech . in standard japanese , 暑いですね ( atsui desu ne -- it is hot / it’s hot , isn’t it ? ) becomes 暑うおすな ( atsuu osu na ) . note that they replace the ‘ ee ’ sound from ‘ sui ’ with a stretched ‘ ooh ’ , as well as replacing ‘ desu ’ with ‘ d/osu ’ and ‘ ne ’ with ‘ na ’ . another example also uses the phrase ‘ desu ne ’ . そうですね ( soudesu ne -- i agree ) becomes そうどすな ( soudosu na ) . there are also special terms that you would hear only in kyoto , such as おいでやす ( oideyasu ) , which means “ welcome ” ( think of a shopkeeper welcoming you into their store , for context ) . to be honest , there’s a lot of changes in syllables that are made when translating standard japanese to kyoto-kotoba ( ―よ [ yo ] to ―え [ e ] -- as in , 行きますよ [ ikkimasu yo / i’m going ] to 行きますえ [ ikkimasu e ] ) , as well as small details , such as words like ‘ desu ’ , which are usually pronounced as ‘ dess ’ having the ‘ u ’ at the end being pronounced very softly in kyoto , but that’s the basic gist of how kyoto-kotoba differs in terms of hyoujungo .

                                               ──────

tohoku-ben , on the opposite of the spectrum ( more or less ) is seen as a country / southern accent ( think of hillbillies and the like for comparison ) . unfortunately , because of the rather slurred way that it sounds , especially to those who speak kyoto-kotoba , it is referred to as “ zuu zuu ben ” ( by very very mean people who speak more formally ) , since it’s reputed to be very hard to understand , even within its own prefecture ( though this is used to refer to tsugaru-ben in particular , which is said to be the most difficult of all tohoku-ben ) . sendai-ben is actually the closest of the tohoku-ben to standard japanese , but it does borrow some phrases and changes -- though this could just be a general thing between the sub-dialects in tohoku , anyway . let’s take , as an example , the phrase 寒いだろう ( samuidarou -- it will be cold ) . sendai-ben converts だろう ( darou ) and でしょう ( deshou ) into simply べ ( be [ pronounced as ‘ beh ’ ] ) . in that case , if you want to state that it will be cold in sendai-ben , you would say 寒いべ ( samui be ) . there’s also stranger examples , such as そう ( sou ) becoming ん ( n ) . so instead of saying ‘ souda ’ ( that’s right ) , you would say ‘ nda ’ . There’s also small details such as the negative ‘ nai ’ and ‘ ja nai ’ becoming ‘ ne ’ and ‘ de ne ’ , respectively , as well as the expression がんばれ ! ( [ ganbare ! ] ‘ do your best ’ ) becoming けっぱれれ ( [ kepparere ] ) .

if you wanna find out more , i suggest researching yourself . it’s very fun to learn about the different variants of japanese tbh ! anyway , onto the actual ... headcanon .

                                              ──────

tooru was initially raised in kyoto , and his parents are already very conservative + traditional , so it’s no surprise that he’s adopted a kyoto-kotoba accent . he says things very formally and softly , as well as in a manner that exudes the very essence of politeness , poise , and grace . he is gentle in how he pronounces things , though there are times when he will exaggerate ( when i write him , this is usually expressed as him saying stuff like ‘ that was very , very cool ’ as opposed to him just using one ‘ very ’ ) and use sound effects / onomatopoeia ( ‘ it hit the ground with a huge ‘ wham !!’ ’ ) . though you won’t find him stretching sentences out in that way when he’s talking to strangers . this is mainly because he only really speaks this way when talking to those that he isn’t close with , those that he wants to impress , those he’s just met , his parents , etc , etc . with friends , however , tooru will use the much less formal sendai-ben ( as well as some osakan phrases that he may have adopted , as he did live in the kansai region , and thus came into contact with those who spoke that way ) when he is with his friends -- particularly with his team . though , given his rather outgoing and extraverted personality , he tends to also speak this way with people that are around his age . with kids , however , he remains formal , since he doesn’t want them to imitate his rather crude manner of speaking . 

this mannerisms in speech is utilized in threads when he speaks in an almost short form / texting style . examples include the dropping of the ‘ g ’ in ‘ ing ’ words ( going = goin’ , being = bein’ ) . this is also characterized by him combining words ( did you = didja , it’s not = ‘snot ) . with kyoto-kotoba , he’ll retain a soft and fluffy tone of voice , especially since , as stated before , this way of speaking is rather feminine . examples include him refraining from using contractions , opting to say ‘ did not ’ as opposed to ‘didn’t ’ . he’ll also speak much more formally ( ‘ nice to meet you ’ vs ‘ nice t’ meetcha ’ ) . basically , when he speaks in kyoto-kotoba , he’ll sound like a good , law-abiding citizen . when he speaks in sendai-ben , he’ll be much more informal and sound like your average teenager , albeit with a slight country twist to how he says things .

i spent like 2 hours researching / typing this headcanon why do i hate myself wHY IS IT 1500 WORDS BYE

[notajinn]

Video Games of 2017 - My Ranking: Top Game of 2017

First, let me quickly go over what my list looks like so far:

9. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp (Mobile)

8. Fire Emblem Heroes (Mobile)

7. Doki Doki Literature Club (PC)

6. Shantae: Half Genie Hero (PS4)

5. Fire Emblem Echoes (3DS)

4. Nier Automata (PS4)

3. Sonic Mania (PS4)

2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)

One trend I noticed this year (besides the incredibly high average quality) is that many of these games chose to try something unique for their franchise.

Breath of the Wild was an entry in the Zelda franchise that had easily the worst dungeons and bosses, which on paper should make it the worst Zelda. But it's ability to excel at what the series otherwise did unremarkable (exploration) made it one of my favourite Zelda games.

Shanta: Half Genie Hero removed dungeons entirely, which were easily my favourite part of the game. And yet the actual platforming segments were much more refined, and the transformations were really fun after their absence in Pirate's Curse.

Fire Emblem Echoes was based off the bizarre Gaiden on the NES with its dungeons, lack of Weapon Triangle, unusual approach to promotion and magic, and a host of other things. But in many ways it kept the classic Fire Emblem charm and has my favourite characters of the 3DS series.

All these things excelled despite going against the grain. You always hear that innovation is everything.

But I disagree. This world is obsessed with the idea of being unique, but what I believe is much more important is an excellent execution. Many of the series I've come to love (even outside video games) have been great execution more than unique ideas. There's definitely some things I love for their unique aspects (notably The World Ends With You and its dual-screen battle system), but I have a soft spot for something that chooses the less flashy approach by perfecting their execution. Build on what the fans already love.

And that's exactly what my number one game did.

1. Persona 5

Story time: I started Persona as a series really late. Not at Persona 3 like many people. Not even at Persona 4 like most people. I started at Persona 4 Arena. At a friend's party, they took out this relatively recent game for us to check out, and it immediately reminded me of Guilty Gear which I loved back when it was still at the local(?) arcade. I was drawn to Akihiko, but also found Naoto pretty cool. Mostly because Naoto looked very visually similar to a character from the Angel Beats anime I loved at the time.

Since I liked Akihiko, I was recommended to check out Persona 3 since it was on the PSN store. From there, I played through 3 and later 4, falling in love with the series. I even had a brief attempt at playing Persona 2 which I received as a birthday gift, but I didn't end up sticking with it.

From there I have bought every non-Vita spinoff title, and anxiously awaited Persona 5. It would be the first Persona where I wasn't behind everyone else, and could experience it together. And while some people around me were still unable to get it, I did get the experience of talking about my experiences in the game at a similar pace with some friends.

EXPECT FULL SPOILERS BELOW!

Where It Excels

Outside of what the game means to me, it was a clear improvement over the past Persona games in many ways. First of all, the game has real dungeons instead of the RNG Tarturus of Persona 3, or the bland corridors of Persona 4 that may as well be RNG. There's much more to do than just fight enemies and occasionally find treasure. There's a stealth mechanic that is universal to all dungeons, and many dungeon-specific things such as finding switches, entering codes, and even transforming into a mouse to get through certain areas. It feels much more active and enjoyable. It also helps a lot that the design of the Palaces are much more like proper RPG dungeons instead of slightly-themed corridors.

The battle system has minor but welcome changes. More than anything, the ability to change party member mid-battle completely changes the nature of the game. Sure it takes a turn, unlike Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but this makes covering your weaknesses and tackling enemies so much easier and more tactical.

The fact that you can get really game-changing abilities like these from Confidants makes them significantly more worthwhile than Social Link in past games. Before you could ignore Social Links you didn't like with little repercussion, but P5 encourages you to link with everything to build up your skill set. At the same time, it doesn't punish you if you choose not to do this; I love that party-switching is simply a Level 1 skill and not Level 10. The only game-breaking skill you get at a high Confidant level is Kawakimi's ability to remove fatigue after going into a dungeon. There was still a few Confidants I didn't care about both character-wise and skill-wise (like the reporter, or the "Get Smoked" kid), but they can't all be perfect.

The quality of Confidants overall is possibly the best of the series. It didn't have my favourite relationships, but I was happy with most. Meanwhile P3 and P4 seemed to have a larger number of unremarkable ones. I also really appreciate the ability to max out a girl's Confidant without having to date her, which is something I wish P3 had. I don't recall if P4 had this, but if it did I never used it. I'm glad they brought back consequences for cheating, since lacking them really hurt my investment into P4's characters.

The party members are nearly all winners. The only one I wasn't a fan of was Futaba because she seemed much more stereotypically anime than the others, and the ability to romance her somehow felt more wrong than romancing your teacher or the doctor. For the record on the "waifu wars", my choice was Tae. That said, I appreciate that they somehow managed to make Ann the fanservice character while also giving her a good deal of depth. Rather than being considered too much fanservice, it seems her main weakness is that she's just a bit boring compared to the others. Though I appreciate that her Confidant was more about her relationship with Shiho.

The additional of new types of attacks (Gun, Nuclear, Psy) seem minor, but they give a lot of different strengths and weaknesses to demons. Coming in from P3and P4, I remembered the weaknesses of many demons already, but with these new types thing were rearranged so I couldn't cruise off that old knowledge. It helped make sure players didn't get lazy because of past knowledge.

Negotiation is significantly more approachable than Shin Megami Tensei III (the only one I've played), and is a much more fun way of obtaining Persona than P3 and P4. It can still be frustrating, especially early on, but I rarely felt as heavily punished as in SMT3 for failing.

I like the vigilante angle to the story, and the fact you got to build multiple wins. Persona 4 was mostly rescuing people until the big plot, and Persona 3 also waited until the latter half to really give you a story more than "expect a boss at the full moon". You really feel the Phantom Thieves grow as a unit.

I liked that they tried to add different aspects to boss fights. With the exception of the Kamoshida boss, however, I was mostly neutral to them.

The fact that the big twist was not the nature of the villain, but the fact that the Phantom Thieves were in on it was a nice way to subvert expectations of those that played P3 and P4. It's a little hard to believe Ryuji and Ann would have gone with the plan without screwing it up, but I'll believe it for the story. Then they dropped the bomb that Igor was the villain, which was a great use of the voice actor change. The fact the previous VA meant they needed a new VA anyways, so the fact it was so inexplicably menacing was not as obvious a tell as it may have been. I love that Mona was not just a Shadow like Teddie.

The town has a lot of to do without feeling too overwhelming. There's a good balance in activities to build all your skills, and the fact that multiple Confidants require certain level Social Skills kept me on my toes to get them all up.

Mementos was also more fun than Tarturus as a random dungeon.

And of course, the soundtrack is one of my favourite video game soundtracks. Unsurprising, since the same can be said of P3 and P4.

Did I mention the UI? Everything in this game is just so stylish. How they made the menus look so good is beyond me.

Where It Fails

While I liked them thematically, having Gun as a separate command seemed kind of unnecessary. I rarely used them, and the ammo couldn't be replenished without leaving the dungeon.

As I mentioned, Futaba was a clear weak link among an otherwise great party. I just couldn't take her seriously among a party of otherwise well-portrayed characters. How was she the best hacker ever at her age? Even Makoto, the "smart one", was mostly just the one with more common sense instead of being genius-level like Naoto.

That said, kind of disappointed how much common sense the whole pre-Makoto crew lacked. They rag on Ryuji for talking about the Phantom Thieves, but they all choose a hideout as a hallway in a crowded subway station. I'm pretty sure a bunch of people accidentally found out they were the Phantom Thieves just by using the station.

Haru meanwhile does not get enough time to really get incorporated. This is made worse by her Confidant requiring maxed out Proficiency, the stat I put the least time into. So I unfortunately did not get to max her out. She also had a great set up to become a villain, and I'm mixed how I feel about her not going that route. I wish they had incorporated her better, or earlier.

I also feel Sae is far too cruel to get off as easily as she did. She threatened to take Futaba away from Sojiro! How is she considered a good guy?!

Also disappointed we have yet another Confidant locked behind fusing specific Persona. For this reason, I didn't get the Velvet Room relationships in P5 or P4.

Final failure; no route to play Female Joker! Come on man, let me date Ryuji! Or actually, make Ryuji and Ann hook up. They're cute together.

Final Thoughts

Persona 5 was well worth the wait. The developers put a lot of effort into building upon a wonderful series and making it even better. This game will go down as one of my top ten games ever, and is arguably my favourite Persona game.

[takecarehair]

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The appearance of hair plays an important function in individuals’s physical appearance and self-perception, so it can be ravaging to experience loss of hair, specifically when there does not appear to be anything you can do about it. However did you know that there are vitamins for hair development? In fact, bad nutrition, including vitamin shortages, is a significant aspect of loss of hair. Often loss of hair is due to a vitamin deficiency too. Thankfully, a deficiency can be remedied by adding vitamin-rich foods to your diet or using supplementation. Some vitamins have antioxidant homes that assist to eliminate the extrinsic elements of hair loss, and some vitamins assist the body balance hormone levels, another element that stops hair development. Getting enough vitamin D daily may assist, but there’s little evidence yet that it can bring hair back. Balding takes place when your follicles are constantly dormant. But even with awakened hair follicles, hair is not constantly produced. B-complex vitamins are necessary for controling metabolic process and preserving the central nervous system. But they’re also essential for healthy skin and hair. Some dietitians claim that the more popular B vitamins. Most of us know that vitamin C can assist boost our resistance, securing us against regular colds and other diseases. Exactly what lots of people don’t understand, however, is vitamin C can assist enhance hair and assist it grow. f you want longer, healthier hair then do not forget about Biotin. This is rapidly turning into one of the most extensively utilized supplements for faster hair development. While biotin is a B vitamin it plays such an essential function in keeping hair healthy that it needed its own area. Niacin is another vitamin that remains in the B household however deserves its own acknowledgment. This vitamin helps to nourish the scalp, promoting healthy hair growth. Without sufficient amounts of niacin, your hair stands the possibility of becoming breakable, lifeless, and might even fall out. Commercials and the media promote supplements and vitamins as the perfect service for hair growth and enhancement, but can supplements or vitamins grow ladies’s hair, and do supplements help with a thinning head of hair?

Traction Alopecia Treatment In

The term alopecia refers to hair loss. Traction alopecia is hair loss that’s caused by repeatedly pulling on your hair. You can develop this condition if you often wear your hair in a tight ponytail, bun, or braids, especially if you use chemicals or heat on your hair. For sufferers of traction alopecia, the key to curing it begins with changing hairstyling methods. Pulling hair tightly into ponytails or braided hairstyles may trigger permanent hair loss. Dermatologist Dr. Jeffrey Benabio says traction alopecia causes scarring of the hair follicle. Anyone can be affected by traction alopecia – young or old, male or female. It’s more common within certain groups of the population, because they are more likely to use some of the hairstyling techniques listed above. If not, the next thing you’ll notice is that sections of your hair are actually missing, or worryingly sparse. You can often see this more clearly around the hairline or behind the ears, but it can often happen around the crown, too. People with traction alopecia should consider changing hair care and styling practice to prevent further deterioration. Many celebrities, dancers and models suffer from this condition due to their over-use of hair extensions and tightly-fixed hair embellishments, such as hairpieces.Once the follicles affected by Traction Alopecia have ceased to produce hair, treatment will not be effective. This will be the case if the hair has been under large amounts of strain for many years and the areas of traction alopecia hair loss are completely bald (these areas will appear shiny). However, it is usually worth giving treatment for Traction Alopecia a try for a minimum of three months to see how the hair responds.

Traction Alopecia: Hair Loss Caused by Weaves city

Loss of hair like this is not uncommon. It’s called traction alopecia, or hair loss caused over time by cosmetic hair stress. This is most typically discovered in ladies who regularly wear their hairs in taut designs like weave. The finest way to evade this devastating condition is to treat your hair and scalp more carefully. Avoid weave tracks that tug strongly on your hair beneath. It’s not exactly known why individuals suffer from different types alopecia. A few of the causes range from extreme weave styling, taking specific medications or when your body immune system begins attacking your healthy hair roots for no apparent factor. No one knows why the immune system erroneously assaults the healthy hair roots, however I have my theories.

Can Hair Loss Be Reveresed

A certain amount of the loss is long-term if not treated prior to the follicle is change with scar tissue. If the follicle is still there, then I can get it to start producing hair again. Thinning edges hair loss does not have to be long-term. It can be a traumatic experience, specifically when you are uncertain of ways to treat them. Thinning edges can be brought on by hairstyles that pull the hair too tight, consistent friction on the edges, and incorrect hair care practices. It can be rather frustrating, however it does not need to be any longer. Listed below you will discover eight temple treatments that will help to restore your edges. Yucca help in thicker hair with hair growth. An anti-breakage mask is a product to invest in when growing healthy and complete edges. Deep condition hair and kindly apply the condition on the edges weekly. Remember to be gentle while using the treatment to your edges. In order for your hair to grow back, the hair follicles have to be renewed to improve blood flow hence promoting more hair growth. This can be attained through scalp stimulation which helps to enhance blood flow throughout the scalp. When you get rid of dandruff and/or bacteria from your scalp, hair follicles end up being unclogged, enabling the scalp to breathe resulting in faster hair development. The hair edges are the most delicate part of the hair, and the edges have to be dealt with carefully. If hair gets bald on the edges it could be alopecia, and a medical professional (skin specialist) might have to prescribe something. Preventing alopecia on the hair edges can be achieved by: not using chemical hair perms, tight ponytail designs with braids, and wearing hair gels which contain alcohol. best thinning edges product

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