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faeiri-tft · 1 year ago

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PLEASE do the toontown online rant i want it so badly

this post kinda got away from me, and by "got away from me" i mean this 3000 word toontown rant is Part One. there will be a Part Two to this later in which i actually talk about the fanservers i wanted to talk about. anyway let's go

toontown online (tto) was a children's mostly-turn-based subscription MMO released in 2003. after a few years of obviously being on life support, disney gave a one-month notice that tto (and several other games) would be closing on september 19th, 2013. on the same day the game closed, the fan-run server toontown rewritten (ttr) was announced (with multiple other fanservers/fangames/reimaginings being established since), and is a few months away from outliving the original game

see, one thing about tto that allowed fanservers to crop up so quickly and easily was that it had, um, interesting choices. very interesting choices. like, "kids could use a code injector to turn their backyards into giant mashed-together nightmarescapes"-level choices

youtube

(loose video description: a rabbit toon running around a chaotic mismash of rooms, obstacles, and npcs that Should Not Be There. audio caption: Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life".)

but ok let's talk about the actual game first.

toontown online (tto)

the game starts with you creating your player character - you can pick from eventually-9 species, a couple body types, and 2 dozen preset colors. the gender code is a spaghetti nightmare but you won't learn this until the fanservers come about so don't worry about it. you're then taken to the Toontorial, which explains maybe 20% of the game's mechanics before setting you loose into the main game

the toontorial also gives you the basic "plot", such as it is: Toontown is suddenly* under attack by a bunch of boring businessrobots called the Cogs. their goal is to turn toontown into a dreary gray featureless corporate hell; their business activities are so boring that they're physically painful to be around. luckily, they can't take a joke, so the toons have figured out how to defeat them: by playing pranks on them until they laugh so hard they Explode

*originally, the game installer had a little animation giving a backstory for the Cogs' creation. this was never referenced in game, removed pretty quickly, and i think even the devs kinda forgot it existed

that's...pretty much the whole story! in that context, your toon progresses through all of toontown, helping some mostly-pretty-interchangeable shopkeepers, reclaiming buildings from the cogs, eating ice cream, etc. occasionally, the cogs would Come Up With New Tricks (read: major content update) and the toons would Find A Way To Fight Back (read: same major content update). that was the closest thing to Plot, unless you count "the devs scheduled a bunch of invasions of high-tier cogs right before the game's closure". but...i doubt most the kids really expected a Plot. mickey mouse was there

the gameplay:

the Free Account

there were two...pretty different approaches to playing toontown online. when the game launched, there was a 3-day free trial to the entire game, after which you got kicked entirely until you subscribed. at some point, this was changed so that the first area, Toontown Central (TTC), was Always Free - you could do all of that area's quests/"taskline" and limited activities, indefinitely, and in theory this would make you beg your parents for the rest of the game

i have no idea if this actually got more subscriptions or not. from what i can tell it just spawned more warrior cats

(source)

there were. a Lot of warrior cats. there were some other social activities, too, such as Fashion Shows (with your limited range of clothes) and Begging Subscribed Players To Summon Cog Buildings To TTC and Getting Chat Banned. ...however, as one of the subscription kids i didn't really interact with this side of the game, so i'm not the best person to talk about it

2. the Paid Account

mmm look at those crisp clear graphics. hell yes

a subscription account gave you access to this whole map, along with all these areas' tasklines. to progress through the game, you must complete a variety of "ToonTasks" for the Toon Resistance (it's called that. their catchphrase is "Toons of the World, Unite!". you were giving disney money for this). these reward you by increasing your max health (your "Laff Points"), slowly unlocking more combat options, and sending you to different, higher-difficulty areas of toontown

some of these tasks were...longer than others. generally, though, they all boiled down to: "just go fight some cogs"

combat:

(source)

toontown battles are turn-based: the players use their attacks ("gags") first, and then any surviving cogs attack you with, usually, office equipment and puns thereof (unless the cog is e.g. a Loan Shark, in which case they can just fucking bite you). if you defeat a cog, it explodes; if the cog defeats you, you "go sad" and are sent back to the safety of the playground, lose your gag inventory, and can't leave until you heal.

early on, most your battles are 1v1, but later on almost everything is a multiplayer 4-ish-v-4.

an...interesting feature here in the game's early days was that you could only Type Your Own Words to someone who shared their "friend code" with you IRL. otherwise, you had to use this thing:

(source)

you had a set list of phrases you could string together, which generally covered most the things you wanted to say. but it could get frustrating when you wanted to have a real conversation with your toontown friends! so...as the source above mentions, people obviously found ways around the system. turns out that if you let players move objects around their houses, they will use that to Draw Letters and pass their friend code along regardless

eventually - before the warrior cats, of course - disney presumably realized this system was pretty goofy (🥁) , so the game got a real chat, albeit one that functioned on a very strict whitelist. my favorite is that it didn't let you type numbers, however you could just say won too tree for hive etc. like. disney i really don't know what to tell you. anyway

(isn't he charming)

cogs come in levels 1-12, with levels displayed above their heads, and as you'd expect their damage output and HP increase with their level. however, the game doesn't...actually show you cog HP? instead they have a little colored light on their chest that fades from green to red until they explode. you see numbers on all the damage you do, and you see your own HP/laff, but never the cogs'. also lategame cogs are Too Tall For You To See Their Level once they line up for battle (which isn't actually that bad but it's funny). there's a formula for HP per level, but it's never mentioned in-game. i guess someone can teach it to you but then you have to watch them type "a level tin cog has won tree too health" and is that really worth it

(as you can tell i just…don't get this. "my kid is practicing arithmetic with toontown!" - marketing angle expressly denied by god. the stealth edutainment was right there)

anyway! in theory, you have seven base combat options ("gag tracks"), which combine in a variety of ways:

toon-up, which restores your teammates' health;

trap, which does guaranteed high damage but only if someone uses lure;

lure, which stuns the cogs for a few turns and is the only way to make trap work

sound, which does low damage to every cog;

throw, which does medium-high-ish damage to one cog; multiple throws combined give percentage combo damage, and hitting a lured cog will also add percentage "knockback damage";

squirt, which is exactly like throw but less damage;

and drop, which does high damage but cannot hit lured cogs, and has low accuracy unless you hit the cog with something else first

each gag track has 6 levels, which you unlock by using that gag track a bunch. you can't carry as many of the high levels with you - i mean, putting one piano in your backpack makes perfect sense, but two is just silly, right

a few years into the game's lifespan, level 7s were added - these were huge AOE that you could regain with every 500 track EXP. there was also something called "organic gags" to promote the please-log-in-every-day gardening system

every player starts with throw and squirt, and throughout the game you slowly unlock four more gag tracks. your choices are permanent: once you have your six tracks, you're locked out of the seventh forever.

in theory, all of this opens up a huge variety of combat options!

in practice, the battle strategy looks something like this:

use sound

as mentioned, almost all of lategame will be 4v4 battles, which means sound will almost always outdamage everything on earth. you don't even need four foghorns (the highest normal sound gag) to break 200 AOE damage, and the highest health a cog EVER has is 200*. and two of the boss battles can reward you with gag restocks and heals that you can use mid-battle with no consequences (other than having to grind for those rewards a bunch). and failing THAT, you can just...ration your foghorns and take 2 turns to clear a set of cogs, interspersed with healing.

(*okay there was something called "v2.0 cogs" but they were...strange, and we just used sound anyway)

sure, once level 7s were added you could use those occasionally. and you could fall back on lure+throw if you didn't want to use your sound restocks. but even then, for most of tto's existence there was something called the "knockback bug" which. well. just look at it

(link for transcript. it's tvtropes sorry)

if you are a target-audience eight-year-old this translates to "lure + throw will only do enough damage if the cogs Feel like it." like it's really just insult to injury at this point. this was the result of One misplaced variable and was not fixed until the game closed

in the tto era, if you didn't have sound, you were kinda doomed to be kicked out of every fight forever

(bonus fun fact: there were Four entire battle themes and they were 40-second midi loops. let me out)

the bosses:

each of the four cog departments has a Boss Cog. to face off against them, you have to assemble a cog disguise and collect enough merits/stock options/whatever to be allowed into the boss's office.

(pictured: your convincing disguise)

when you enter, your disguise pops off due to Reasons, and you have to fight through...a bunch of waves of normal cogs. it's basically a really long normal battle. once the minions are dealt with, you have to, inexplicably, do a live-action battle against the boss themself:

youtube

(loose video description: four toons defeating the CFO by using magnet cranes to hit him in the face with safes for 32 seconds.)

the live-action rounds aren't supposed to go this quickly, but it's still...kinda strange? certain reoccurring game areas require Parkour, but there are no battles like this outside of the Four bosses. the CFO's room is the only place you see these cranes and they have A Lot Going On. the other 3 bosses have their own unique weird mechanics. before the first boss was added we neither had nor needed the ability to Jump. it's just weird

once you've defeated the boss, you're given a reward of varying usefulness (the best/most unbalanced reward type is Unites, which are a free heal or gag restock you can do inside or outside of battle. essentially lategame toons can simply choose not to die. riv2u etc.)

and, um. then you get some more merits/stock options/whatever and do it again. and again. and again. and again. and agai

the grind:

so the thing is that tto was a subscription mmo. every addition to the game had to be measured, above all, in terms of "how can we best get kids to beg their parents to give us money." this especially shows in the suit grind:

(source/source)

you have to defeat each boss 78 times in order to get all their laff points - and as you proceed, you have to defeat an increasing amount of cogs to even be allowed into the boss (although once you max you get in for free).

by far the easiest way is to run through the designated HQ facilities - basically, cog fights interspersed with some platforming or minigames. you only collect your merits/whatever at the Very End of the facility. the only way to increase what a facility gives you is if your last battle ends during an "invasion" - a timed period where One Specific Cog replaces all street cogs, usually summoned with boss rewards.

the sellbot HQ grind isn't so bad. bossbot HQ - the endest-game HQ - frequently requires you to do an hour-long facility and on six separate occasions you have to do seven of them. if the invasion ends before your final battle, you have to sit around until someone summons another. if you lose your internet connection because it's 2008, or if your parents make you come to dinner, or if hacking or the game's general bugginess cause a server reset because you're probably in the busiest district for the invasion bonus, you have spent that Entire Hour On Nothing. the CEO (bossbot cog boss) probably also takes an hour because you and your fellow players are 10

this shit, combined with laff points locked behind gardening (time-gated), racing and golfing (multiplayer minigames with absurd requirements), and fishing (RNG-based with some fish being absurdly rare. i watched my mom fish for one every day for a month), meant that maxing a toon took Years, if you managed it ever.

it wasn't, um. it wasn't good

ok so what else is wrong with this game:

i had "aged out of the game" (lol) by the early '10s, so i'm not the best person to do a writeup of the hacking/scripting situation of those days. that said, what i'm going to do is give you a few examples, and i want you to just...look at them

(source)

(source). early '10s youtube was funny i'm trying to decide if i miss it

(source). fun thing to note here is that other players had collision, so a swarm of t-posing toons could just barricade the gag shop if they wanted to

youtube

(video description: toon who has Replaced His Head Model With An Anime Logo throwing thousands of jellybeans at everyone) (cw mild flashing just in case? and also the feather headband accessory)

i should note that the Bring Me To Life vid i started with was client-side, meaning only the player could see their technicolor hellscape. this guy's face was server-side. i do Not Think you should be able to do that

youtube

(video description: a player demonstrating use of a bot to get into the nutty river district, followed by other players using it to go to different game areas)

the above video was posted on august 17th, 2013. if you don't want to watch an Unregistered Hypercam 3 recording at about 5 frames per second, what's going on here is:

the player goes to a specific location and says a specific speedchat phrase.

a bot toon teleports to their location and provides some prompts on how to use it

the player tells the bot, via speedchat, to teleport to the (currently closed from the outside) busiest district so the player can follow

these "taxi toons" were server-sided, persisted across server resets, were made by a future fanserver dev, had younger kids referring to them as a "glitch" as if this were something that could Accidentally Happen, and stayed functional until the game closed

like...a lot of the "hacking" was just baby's first script download. this one - afaict also created by the laughing man head guy - is like...the fact that after years of no substantial game updates, someone effectively programmed their own "QOL feature" (note: not actually good for the poor mid-00s server being turned into a clown car) into a silly disney MMO and it just fucking sat there for a year is just. it's just.

i don't know what this is. this is not Playing The Game Toontown Online. this is nothing. this is everything. there are comments from 2013 on some of these videos saying stuff like "hackers killed toontown", but your game cannot have this happen if it is not already dying

and, like...it was. i'm not sure how many moderators there were by this point, but at the very end of tto, the number of active devs was One. the original devteam recently brought this up at the 20th anniversary celebration: devs just...slowly started getting pulled from the game, one at a time. there were a few updates after bossbot HQ - Field Offices, which i've basically never heard anything good about in their tto form ever; the Silly Meter, a yearly event...thing whose main function was to add unskippable dancing-inanimate-object cutscenes to your street battles; Parties, which...yknow parties were okay actually. i accept parties. but they weren't exactly a Major Game Update like the ones that had come before. in 2011 we gained the ability to Wear Hats. in 2012 the test server got some actual QOL updates that never made it to the main game; the final test server update was some maintenance in february, and then nothing for 18 months. disney was not providing enough resources to address the scripting because disney was not providing enough resources to address toontown. imagine being the last dev standing on an MMO that was older than some of its players, was losing its business model to mobile gaming, and spent most of its life falling apart at the seams. just imagine it, for a second

it couldn't have kept going, not like this.

on august 20, 2013, the closing announcement came: we had a month left of toontown online. the test server shut immediately; subscription refunds went out, and the game became actually F2P for the month; the part of the announcement that went like "we're shifting our focus to other games!" made a bunch of twelve-year-olds hate club penguin as if club penguin wouldn't also close in a few years; all the holiday events went off at once; and...

there wasn't a "thanks for playing!" popup. everyone online just got kicked, all at once. it was finally over

hey wait.

#toontown #toontown online #tto #tft talks #tft stuff #<- this goes in that tag i think #this was like. enrichment. thank you

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askagamedev · 3 months ago

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Shouldn't Overwatch also have the same problem then in regards to visual clarity? I'm sure if you were to give people Juno and Brigitte people would struggle telling what their role is probably confusing Brigitte as a Tank given she has a shield just like Reinhardt. Only Baptiste has said cross on his outfit which if he didn't people might confuse him from DPS since he carries a healing grenade launcher. Yet the only character design problem ive seen people talk about is Venture.

While this is true, it's a very different situation. Overwatch is an old game, it's been running for eight years now. When Overwatch launched, there wasn't anywhere near the kind of well-established competition that there is today. When Overwatch launched, there was no Apex Legends, Paladins, Deadlock, Quake Champions, or Valorant. Further, Overwatch's launch cast was designed with incredible visual clarity - nearly every character had a silhouette and visual design that both made them distinct and conveyed their style of gameplay. There's a pair of business terms for this kind of thing - Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean.

A Blue Ocean is mostly unexplored and pristine - you're entering a market that's mostly untouched and there isn't much competition. This favors the first-mover advantage - the first ones there have more time to experiment, set things up, and learn from their mistakes. The customers/players in that market don't have anywhere else to go if they want their gameplay, so you can afford to make mistakes, iterate, and improve. Since there aren't many other games to switch to, the players will likely stick with what they are already familiar with.

A Red Ocean is a saturated market, where the waters have been dyed red with the blood of all of the dead or dying competition. There's already a lot of competition, meaning that any new product must stand out significantly from its peers or it will soon die from lack of audience. In a Red Ocean, the initial launch is much more important because you never get a second chance at that first impression. Further, audience retention is also super important because of how much competition there is - a new product might be able to draw some attention just from the novelty, but novelty wears off quick and most of the players already know the genre and the other games available. If the new game doesn't serve their needs immediately, the players won't give it the time to improve - they'll just go to one of the competitors that already does serve their needs.

We can't really compare the two games in a vacuum, we must compare the full environment that the games launched in. Overwatch had the added benefit of significantly less competition in its Blue Ocean, meaning that the playerbase really didn't have anywhere else to go while they waited for Overwatch to improve things. Concord was unable to grab attention immediately in a Red Ocean, meaning any potential audience quickly dispersed themselves among the large number of competitors already out there.

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#blue ocean #red ocean #target audience #saturated market #player mentality #the business of video games

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yan-randomfandom · 4 months ago

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Hello! We loved what you did with our dev ask. Wanted to know if you would do Yan! Irep headcanons? I'm a little surprised that Dale got a request before irep.

💘ficto anon

Yandere!Irep x GN!Human!Reader

warnings: hickey or biting mentions!!

just realized how right you are about Dale having a yandere request before Irep,,, woah— half bullet & half drabble!! lil square man

I feel like he'd easily get attached to you on the first day. If you somehow check all the boxes that catch his attention, at least.

For example, buying him ice cream. Surprisingly, it's simple enough to get him to stay with you.

When he heard you say it was your treat, the first thing he thought of was karma. He had done something good for you, and now you were returning the favor. This type of positive thing never happens to him.

Even if he didn't like sweets, he wanted to know what would happen if you bought him ice cream. A simple action, but to him, it felt like you were making up for years of his social interactions.

He's an anti-fairy. His species is feared and avoided. Irep doesn't have many friends, really—he's the second fairy born in a thousand years.

His family, while they love each other dearly, often don't have as much quality time as the originals. They're probably too caught up in their evil schemes.

Having said that, he'd nonchalantly reveal that he's a fairy to you the second you take his heart.

You're so kind to him. It's new. It's nice. Even his parents don't offer this much kindness.

So, if you think Peri is deprived, imagine how much more deprived this guy is.

Irep loves praise. Call him handsome. Call him stylish. Call him better than Peri—he's folded.

He would do anything for you. Literally. Da Rules can't stop him. A stranger is talking to you without acknowledging him? Woah. Where'd they go?

Clingy to a fault. Irep would show you off to the world; he has no shame.

His parents are confused about why he's mingling with a human, but they're supportive nonetheless.

Loves to tease you. It's the most evil thing he can do to you (in plain sight).

Much like Peri, he'd love cuddles. It's a funny thought, but he'd often rest his flat head on your chest or lap. At least he's comfortable.

With fangs like his, he might playfully bite you. He'd love nothing more than to give you hickeys, but he would never leave marks on your skin—unless you ask nicely.

While he's certainly confident, filled with his ego, sometimes there's an inkling of doubt in the pit of his stomach. He's still an anti-fairy, and he would hate to see you go.

This is where his manipulative side can come into play. He’ll make sure you see him at his most vulnerable, making you feel guilty enough to avoid even considering leaving him.

He may be a bit rough around the edges, but Irep can genuinely be good support. After all, that's all he ever wanted: to be useful and to have something for himself.

Irep was disguised as a human. This was the closest he could get to Dev and Peri without getting caught.

The duo were currently inside an ice cream parlor, with Hazel as their company. Irep squinted his eyes. Oh, wait, his reverse parents were there too. Of course they were, being Hazel's godparents and all.

A sneaky smile crept across his face. He had an evil plan brewing in his mind, but first, a loophole must be discovered. Maybe they'll fight right there and then, allowing Irep to reach Dev again.

So, all he has to do is... wait.

Wait.

...Until Dev or Peri decide to separate.

It didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon. They were happily chatting, smiles on their faces. Hazel offered a spoonful of ice cream to Dev, who grumpily accepted anyway.

...

Finger after finger, impatient tapping fell on the table. Has it always taken this long? Man, it feels like he's wasting his eternal life just... stalking them.

In fact... He's been having this weird emotion for some time. Irep unknowingly goes deeper into a space of his mind. Has defeating Peri always been his goal in life? Well, obviously. He won't ever deny that. But is that all there is?

Anti-fairies are despised as villains, bringing bad luck and destruction, yet still, there is a delicate balance. Something, something... Ugh... It's such a hassle to think about. Maybe all the time he spent stalking and brooding alone finally got to him.

Still, isn't there anything else he can do?

Hazel and Dev eventually stood up and began to leave the parlor. It was time for Irep to follow them again, as usual.

The anti-fairy stood up and trailed behind them, his hands shoved into his pockets. Huffing, he couldn't push back the restless thoughts.

"Shoot—!"

Someone suddenly bumped into Irep, but with his quick reflexes, he caught the person before they fell to the ground.

He stared at you with widened eyes.

"I'm so," you fretted, hastily adjusting your position. With a crooked smile, you sheepishly patted his clothes to straighten them. "Sorry! Thanks for catching me."

Irep didn't know how to talk to a human. He had only ever dealt with them when necessary, and in those times they usually catch him in the worst mood possible.

Perhaps this was one of those times.

"No matter. It's fine, fellow human," he remarked, adjusting his sleeves. By now, his future godkid and Peri were already at the terminal.

"Um, okay... I can buy you ice cream if you'd like," you smiled. "As an apology. Oh, wait, unless you've already bought one!"

"Ah. I don't like sweets. I have to go— Wait, did you say it's your treat?"

#yanyan hcs #yandere fop a new wish #yandere fairly oddparents x reader #💘ficto anon #fop irep #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere fop irep #fop peri #fop irep x reader #yandere irep x reader

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randomnameless · 2 months ago

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Sorry I need to send this about the "children of the goddess should not be allowed to rule" thing. Cause like, why shouldn't they. We, as humans generally appreciate the guidance of someone older and wiser. Wouldn't a nabatean's lifespan and experience make them the most "fit" to rule? Like, yeah, I trust someone with a millenia life experience to lead more than I trust someone with under 3 decades. And maybe it can be argued that Rhea didn't do a good enough job, but that doesn't actually disqualify the rest of them? Like, either they're truly godlike and should lead due to their inherent experience and wisdom, or they're just like any other person, in which case why shouldn't they get the CHANCE to lead. Like, is the situation that they live in fodlan, but have no rights to play a role in the future that they'll have to live in? They're not allowed to be in a position of leadership due to their race? Cause that's like. Pretty bad. But this is a question the game cannot answer because it might make homegirl look slightly morally questionable.

Go ahead anon, rant!

I think this issue could have also been raised in FE10 - but that game and "racism" is like... you believe you're eating a chocolate flavored peanut, and only realise you're actually eating a peanut flavored chocolate.

For all of the focus, in both games of the duology, Daien got as the laguz hating country, there's no line/zilch about them being happy - or not - with having a heron branded queen? Miccy will age slower than regular beorcs, will Daein peeps be okay with that? We don't know, but we sure know that legends will remember Ikey-poo fondly, just, don't give a fuck about the world or the other characters from the verse please.

As for Nabateans not being allow to do either X or Y based on their race... well, it was basically raised early in the fandom days by some people, myself included, but I guess being able to drink tea with Freezer overwrote that issue.

We could argue using headcanons all day long, for 5 years lol about what Rhea did or didn't - since the game loves to tell and show different things, but the fact that Nopes had to add Yuri and Dimitri discussing about common sense, like feeding people first before giving them education, I'm pretty sure the devs never believed people would seriously wonder what would Clout/Supreme Leader/Dimi's policies about "making a better world" would entail : both Yuri and Ferdie's supports are just here to, in a typical Fodlan fashion, sprinkle peanuts on your ice cream to make you believe you're really eating a snickers.

"We're a very serious game about having three political powers discussing about the future of the world and what should be done to reach this ideal !"

"And no one thought about food? People needing food to survive? Before doing anything else like getting a proper education or wishing to have a say in the politics of their respective states?"

"... Well, we also tackle very serious themes like isolationism and its effect of society and prejudices!"

"By depicting the foreign neighbours as MENA inspired people being bloodthirsty and deadset on pillaging or rampaging in cities? They attack for fun and let their orphans die as canon fodder? And the main lead who wants to talk about opening the borders and isolationsim never mentions this? At all? Especially since he's a prince of this MENA inspired country?"

"... but we hammer in 3 routes how this lady is evil incarnate, and in the 4 others, we say she sus!"

"Your point being? One person hearsaid to be wrong doesn't suddenly make the rest of your cast likeable, especially if their writing has glaring holes like the ones I pointed!"

"... we can sell super rad umbrellas?"

And you know what, it's a damn shame the devs didn't believe in their "homegirl" as you said it, because Freezer is somehow super popular, and that was even before the DBS retcons!

#anon #replies #fodlan nonsense #fandom woes #seiyuus are seiyuus but like #did you know Freezer's og seiyuu is also the one who voiced Kurotsuchi Mayuri in Bleach?#Sure they're both evil and hammy and have no regard for life in general but damn #they're super popular for a reason #their writers never pulled their punches about them sans dbs of course #yep even for mayuri #imagine if Zihark told Miccy that as Branded she shouldn't be allowed to rule over humans #even if he sang a jpop song I believe he'd receive some backlash

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devsgames · 1 month ago

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Hi, I have some weird etiquette questions, if you would have tips.

When talking to devs who worked on games but got laid off sometime during development, would it be polite if I complimented the aspect they worked on or should I avoid the topic?

And a second one, is it a faux-pas to wear merch of a cancelled game to events? I did and happened to run into one of the devs who worked on it (what are the odds). They just said it was surreal, but I'm a bit worried it was super inconsiderate of me.

I'm just starting out so I don't want to be the guy who keeps putting his foot in it D:

Hi, thanks for the ask!

I think it's probably what you would assume: everyone has different feelings about layoffs and trashed projects.

Generally I don't think anyone would fault you for complimenting their work; even if they had a bad experience with production, they still spent a lot of time and effort creating it and hearing that someone enjoyed it can be validating despite the circumstances. Sometimes it even makes the work worth it.

Regarding layoffs, emotions can be different from one developer to another: some might be happy have had the experience while others might hate their former employer's guts. Just try and be familiar with the history of local studios and if you know they got laid off try to avoid the topic out of courtesy, but sometimes it'll come up incidentally and that's fine - it happens. A sympathetic "Ugh, that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that :\" to acknowledge it and move on past the subject is usually all it takes.

Devs might harbour feelings for a long time (as they should, getting laid off is incredibly traumatic), but ultimately it's not really on you to know how someone feels about being laid off or their history and be able to accomodate it in the moment.

In fact, often the case is that devs will have trauma from projects that are successfully shipped in the first place, and it's pretty normal for some devs to make backhanded remarks about a project or studio once they know each other better. One of my former jobs was ex-Ubi people who often bonded over our resentment of Ubisoft corporation, even despite the fact none of us had been laid off from there 😛

For your second question, I think "merch of a cancelled game" is just super weird conceptually. Cancelled games rarely see the light of day and let alone see merch get made of them, so I'd bet that's why they said it was "surreal". It doesn't sound like a judgement call against you, nor does it sound like that dev was particularly upset about your interaction. Again, you didn't know you were going to see them there, so you didn't really do anything wrong. There's arguments against supporting studios who lay off their employees, but that's a separate conversation.

Anyway, the games industry is generally pretty casual and there's not many weird faux-pas you might encounter. A lot of it is just common sense - I think you're fine. 😉

#asks #ask #gamedev #game dev #game development #gamedevelopment #game design #thoughts

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coqvttes · 1 year ago

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i hit 1k followers today and i just want to say thank you so so much, everyone. all the moots i’ve met on here are absolutely amazing and so so kind! i love every single one of them to bits and all the anons in my inbox are sweethearts too. thank you for making this a positive space for me so far. i really appreciate everyone and i’m so happy that people enjoy what i write and what i post, i can truly be myself on here. i truly love you all and i appreciate every single one of you. xx

i want to say special thank yous to some of my lovely mooties. (≧◡≦)づ ♡

@bearieio, spencerr, you were my first ever moot. you've just been so sweet and so so warm to chat with. you’re sooo pretty?? and really sincere! thank you for being my first friend on tumblr. (:

@dizzyntrr : maxine! my british bestie! i do LOVE seeing what you post on your blog and hearing about how your day went! your poetry is so lovely and so are you; i love your choice of vocabulary haha.

@yonphilia : you're truly amazing, mio! you’re always checking up on me and sending me lovely asks! you’re so so so energetic and kind and supportive.

@cigsnfilms : my supporterrrr. one of the first to interact with me and please we need to talk moreee. i LOVEE all the stuff you reblog i live for it!

@poisonedprose : you are such a talented writer, i remember reading a fic of yours before i even started this blog and i just remember it all. vira, you truly have a wonderful way with words and you’re just super nice!

@arthursgf1 : i love the aesthetic of your whole blog and everything you post and reblog (live laugh love arthur morgan). and dev, you're so so sweet! i'd love to talk to you more!

@konigceo : lala my love, your blog is SOO cute and pretty and pink and lovely and aheioshzh. your writing makes me blush and kick my feet up in the air literally!!

@solutopia : solana, i’ve always loved your name soooo much! and your blog themes are always gorgeous i love seeing your new ones. thank u sm for sending me asks often you’re really kind, darling.

@spiderst4rgirl : belle, you are just spontaneous and a big bundle of energy, literally, you make me burst out laughing so often. i love how pretty your moodboards are AND YOU ARE SO PRETTY TOO.

@starzu : you're blog is so so so lovely and so are you, you post nearly everyday and you work yourself so hard! i love all of your ideas in your fics and you deserve a big hug and i'll give it to you!

@norafaye : i just love how you've done up your blog so much! nora, you're so so creative and i love that so much! you're super supportive and real it's so nice to have a moot who loves f1 too!

@angedetoile : you're my bae, i love how you message me all the time and send me stuff all day. you are literally an angel and a total sweetheart. your goofy tiktoks make me laugh too omg.

@kasumitenbaz : kassandra! we've literally just met and all but i have to mention you. you are really sweet and your blog theme is so adorable and so are you. can't wait to talk 2 you more!

#ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 — chats #₊˚ෆ — mooties patooties #tumblr milestone

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fantasyinvader · 7 months ago

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I was thinking about it some more, and the idea that Edelgard isn't merely some tyrant makes sense. There's one thing that puts Edelgard apart.

Remember how the Japanese script outright says that Edelgard is using an information campaign? That's what Seteth is alluding to. Imperial soldiers fight to the bitter end for her because they've bought into what she's been telling them. They believe that they're the good guys, but they don't think deeper on it. And this is what Edelgard does across Houses and Hopes.

She has made the commoners believe that she's fighting for them, but at the same time will also put her ideals ahead of those commoners. If her reforms don't benefit them, it's their fault. But we also get Ferdinand's paralogue, revealing that the Imperial troops were also conscripted and those who resisted were executed. Likewise, it's shown that part of the unrest in the Empire is due to Edelgard starving the civilians in order to feed her army, while Hopes outright says that the reforms Edelgard put in place largely favor the nobility and oppress the commoners. Meanwhile, Edelgard is also going around saying that any nobility who submit to her get to keep their positions. She has the Agarthans believing she's dancing to her tune, and goes around saying she's not attacking the faith. Meanwhile, Edelgard is also shown to keep her own allies in the dark, withhold information while at the same time blaming people for things they didn't do while taking credit for Byleth's leadership to make herself look good. Hopes has her going around saving the nobles who pledge themselves to her, despite how this conflicts with her ideals, simply because doing so make her look good.

Edelgard is still a tyrant, but she can convince people to join her by saying whatever she needs to. But this is where the Fodlan games misstep. Follow me on this: Part of Verdant Wind's message is the importance of getting to know people and clearing up any misconceptions you may have about them. In Claude's case, it's him realizing that the Church isn't the big bad he thought they would be and in fact would help him achieve his own goals. Hell, he'd probably cry tears of happiness over Seteth's solo ending and would be pissed at Treehouse trying to make Seteth look bad in their translation of it (they turned “Seteth became less strict” as “Seteth stopped being intolerant” before going into Seteth working to make Fodlan more accepting of other faiths). So with that in mind, look at what happens when we spend time with Edelgard.

We support Edelgard over Rhea, and Edelgard just keeps lying for the rest of the game, with the Japanese text having the information campaign and her manipulating TWSITD. At the end, it's telling us that Edelgard knows more than she's letting on, and to be worried about what she's keeping from people. She's depicted as a liar who then goes on to centralize power on herself and push ideals on Fodlan that run counter to her supposed hero speech while killing Rhea. And to top it all off, the devs confirmed that Edelgard being the villain seeking conquest was meant to be a twist, meaning the cute anime girl in White Clouds was the misconception of her character and all the negative shit we see later on is meant to clear that up.

So the game is trying to make me feel bad because I'm fighting someone who tried to manipulate me into ignoring the horrible shit she's been a party to and then who goes on to do horrible shit herself and spread a toxic ideology. You're trying to make me feel bad for fighting someone who will turn herself into a literal monster in her attempt to rule the world. That's not sad, that's tone-deaf and no amount of “uwu she wanted to walk with you and was even reconsidering her path” can excuse that because at the end of the day she choose to be a dickbag. And this ignores all of her victims, both current and would-be.

It basically reminds me of Miyazaki talking about how otaku ruined the anime industry. How they don't like looking at real people, they like looking at anime characters and go on to make more anime characters rather than realistic ones.

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hamofjustice · 1 year ago

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I don't want to just painstakingly copypaste my triple-layered self-QRT thread about it on Twitter and any other ones floating around but

I am very emotionally invested in seeing Penny, Arven, and (personally) especially Nemona again in the Scarlet/Violet DLC, after GF followed up the best 3 hours of Pokemon game story ever by having to abruptly cut it off the second these lonely kids finish opening up to you and say you can hang out with them anytime. Which you never do. It was some pretty painful whiplash, and I was sure the main point of the DLC was to relieve that, especially when their arcs don't seem quite complete yet. Very clever, evil marketing! But uh... well... about that...

It is very worrying that aside from a little "the story so far" montage, they have not been seen or mentioned in promotional material/footage whatsoever. Y'know, DLC for the game that's about how the real treasure was the friends you found along the way (literally, in Nemona's case), and even if your family and support systems fail you, you still have each other? Written from the heart by someone who said Arven's story is inspired by their own life? With the sappy Ed Sheeran song about reaching out for connection with others, that also seems to be named after Team Star? The game where one of the features the devs seemed most proud of was going on adventures and into boss fights with 3 of your friends? The game that ended with a fully functional and quite immersive bonding adventure with these characters you'd gotten to know and care about, that basically everyone thought was the best part of the game by a mile, and were left wishing the whole game was like that?

Yeah, I (and everyone else) have been driving around alone in that game for 8 months ever since finishing that story. 8 months of minor updates with a ton of the beloved characters functionally or literally gone, while we go around doing online stuff with nothing else to do in the world, with a single player postgame more barren than we had on Game Boy Color (thank god for mints and bottle caps though). I'm left just... wanting to go back to the way things were before I beat the game. Not to be overly dramatic, but this world I supposedly saved feels like one I failed to save. And I'm getting really frustrated. (The framerate hasn't gotten any better, either, but this isn't about that.)

It's like Game Freak (or whoever forced this thing out a year early, or both) never expected you to boot the game up again once you got bored of the Ace Academy Tournament, which the game acts like is the entire total of what you could want from being friends and "rivals for life" with your squad (I mean I'm the sicko that loves Tera Raids, so I'm not that bored, but still). It makes a bunch of implications that your adventure is just beginning, and then it totally just... isn't. Why is the E4 building closed? Why do you only rematch the gyms once? And most of all, for me personally: Why did we get access to our friends' rooms if there's nothing to do or talk about there? (Besides look for character study clues, which they have lots of)

All they could come up with when asked to write a newsletter email about what you can still do in S/V and why you should still be playing it was Raids. That was it. Remember when you had an endless challenge in the Tower/Maison that you could optionally take on with a bunch of story characters as your partners instead of alone, that motivated you to keep getting stronger bit by bit? Remember rematching gym leaders multiple times and watching their teams grow and evolve each time? Yeah, there's none of that here, because that would take more than a week to implement. If you want friends and you want battles, you'll have to do it yourself online now. They're not allocating any budget for that.

Your rival for life, who's so excited you're on her level now, who seems to have the passion and skill to be the your Battle Tower gameplay loop by herself if she wanted to, who battles you for hours offscreen with multiple teams, whose whole character arc is that she finally has someone she can do this with... is fully static, with one kinda mediocre team that never grows or changes. She can't keep up with you and doesn't know what items or EVs are. You have to get lucky to even see her at all. She is no more your rival than your Home Ec teacher is (no offense Saguaro, you're cool too). I think it's really, really sad.

I'm left nostalgic and pining to go back, having to cope through fanfic because my character can't spend the day with - or even so much as take a new trainer card photo with - the girl who said they might be her greatest treasure, without resetting my save, because she and the others are standing somewhere that the camera and internet features are both disabled.

Like, legitimately, I want to keep being friends with these kids the way we were before, and have the ability to do post-game stuff with them, like being able to go out and adventure together whenever in some basic, non-story capacity, or just, I don't know, maybe give them more than one line of dialogue in their rooms? I don't want a new region or new characters. Not yet, anyway.

I thought I was preordering the continuation of their story and rewarding the company for making me care about Pokemon so much again.

But, uh... I'm really worried that the people who own these characters do not care. And as I said on the trailer's comments before they turned them off (lol), I'll be pissed enough to not buy any more games if I'm right, and we're forced to abandon these poor kids. At the very least, it's some pretty garbage marketing to leave the possibility of that up in the air. If nothing else, that is a frustration that I'm going to keep talking about for a while, even if it ends up being fine.

I thought it was impossible, and I was being silly. Why not have our friends in cute new outfits as promo art when the DLC was first announced, and all they had was promo art? Seems like an easy slam dunk. Oh, they didn't yet? Well, I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

And then they weren't in the trailer either, months later. Are they trying to sell us on it or not?

The whole reason I want the DLCs. Still not a single word acknowledging them, just that little opening montage. Still no hints of how the DLCs have anything to do with Area Zero's ongoing story, either. How is a sea turtle linked with a landlocked crater?

So like... At this point I have to assume both DLCs start with you making your friends cry as they're left alone again, arbitrarily excluded from events they're more than qualified to be invited to, to make room for some new dweebs we don't need, who won't be given nearly enough time to be as compelling as Nemona, Arven, and Penny were, because that makes the trailer look more like a new game, and that's the only way they know how to advertise. More. New. Buy. Consume. Throw away. Buy. Consume. Throw away. I should assume this so that whatever we get can't be worse.

But they're probably not (self-aware enough / allowed / both) to write that. Your lonely / orphaned / anime-binging friends might just cheer you on for getting to go do something cool like being forced to train a new legendary because the story said so, then go back to being statues with as much relevance to your life as an NPC in a third story apartment that tells you what a hold item is.

Can't I just live in Paldea with my friends, in the version of the game we would have gotten if it was finished, instead of being pulled into these adventures for the sake of looking good in a trailer? (which it doesn't btw lol) It's not an unrealistic thing to want when that's what it briefly was, and I was so excited that it would keep being that I've been thinking about it this entire time.

...

I hope I'm wrong about all this, and next year I can look back on this post, happy that the DLC did actually allow us to continue to take care of these characters, conclude Area Zero's mysteries in a satisfying way, fix up some technical issues, let us relive some things that are currently once-only (including letting us see that photo album our character made but we had to screenshot ourselves), and make it fun to keep playing for years afterward, and let that be the model for games going forward, but uh...

They really are not showing me anything I care about in the game I desperately want to care about, that I saw - and wanted to defend - the heart in, despite the circumstances it was produced under, and that really worries and frustrates me. The surprisingly many great things about this game got my hopes up for an awesome postgame full of warm fuzzy feelings and cool things to do 8 months ago that just didn't deliver, and now, I'm not sure if they'll even let me pay for one, at this rate, because they're not advertising one.

Just throw us a scrap. If whoever's in charge here stops caring about this story, I won't care about the next one.

Anyone else feeling this?

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catboytenya · 5 days ago

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who do you think is mostly responsible for the mass incorrect marking with shinigami eyes? i've seen a lot of people exclusively blaming transfems and that just makes me sad :(

i think that exclusively blaming transfems is just plain fucking shitty and transfems deserve better.

i think there's a lot of factors.

there definitely is infighting happening being somewhat headed by radfem transfems, but that's like. not. the majority. i don't think. i think that it's just the easiest community for tumblr to blame since tumblr loves to target transfems. and a lot of people are using transfems as a kinda scapegoat. so if someone is critical of shinigami eyes they can point and go "OH SO YOU HATE TRANSFEMS?" and it's like. n. no. you're just using transfems as a whole as a shield and that's fucking shitty.

another factor is intersexism, which is rampant in the trans community AS A WHOLE. it's not just transfems who are intersexist. it is transmascs too. and as someone who's been in the nonbinary community for years? it's. a lot of nonbinaries. by like. a large amount. considering intersex people have been begging not to be called "biologically nonbinary" and nonbinary people keep. doing it. so a lot of intersex people and people who support the intersex community are being marked red, because the trans community as a WHOLE is intersexist and that's a problem that needs to be worked on as a community.

another factor i'm seeing is a lot of trans poc are getting marked red for talking about things that they experience exclusively as trans poc that white trans people don't experience. which is just. racism. and white people thinking they're the main characters. the trans community is very white, which is not to say that only white people are trans, it is to say that white people love to bully poc out of their spaces and that doesn't change just because the space is queer.

and another factor is terfs and transphobes are using shinigami eyes too. and they are on purpose messing with the markings. that's been a problem for years. they download it and they mark themselves green and they mark trans people as red and they do it to mess with the markings to make shinigami eyes an unusable mess. and it works! it worked! i'm sure they're very happy with themselves right now.

all in all? there's a lot of factors and a lot of people fucking with the markings. and i'm hearing a lot of people say there's a new dev/dev team which makes me think the moderation in keeping the markings checked and things like that has changed and now it's easier for a marking to get through, red or green. i don't even know if it's moderated at all anymore (or if it ever was!)

it's unfortunate. shinigami eyes is unusable right now. and it's causing so much infighting and so many people are just saying it's all just transfems. and like! a portion of it is specifically radfem transfems! that's true! because there will be radfems in any community of women. just like how you get transmasc with an andrew tate ass world view too. this is not exclusive to cis people.

and, from what i've seen from the reviews, those are the loudest people giving the 5 star reviews, the radfem transfems, but that's because radfems are always the loudest people ever. there's a lot of reviews claiming that shinigami eyes has always just been about transmisogyny only, when shinigami eyes was made to flag transphobia in general (which was what my rant last night was about, which i'm proooobably gonna delete because i made it while very angry and i've since calmed down)

maybe, in a few months, or a year, shinigami eyes will become usable again and i'll be able to recommend it again. i will not hold my breath.

as for now? support your trans siblings right now. regardless of what flavor of trans you are. because infighting is pointless right now. they are trying to make all of us illegal. they want us all dead. they want us all in camps. there are bigger people we should be fighting rather than ourselves.

this is what they want, they want us to tear each other apart. because then we can't focus on tearing them apart.

#shinigami eyes #transphobia #intersexism #racism #< ask to tag i may have missed some #reblogs are off now because apparently the fact i. a fandom blog. post fandom headcanons. is a crime.#this is why i always say to leave me out of discourse!!#additionally lemme just say that getting mad at a sideblog for not posting a certain kinda thing is crazy #you don't know what i post on my other sideblogs!!#this is a fandom sideblog!!!

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tagring · 10 days ago

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i usually avoid fandoms for modern, squeaky-clean new things because i'm never sure what kind of characters i'm going to find. and now, i kind of wish i'd waited out until mouthwashing stopped being as popular as it is in favor of not being forced to read the most vile, repugnant misogynistic drivel i've had to listen to in years.

and as a preface - i'm not a fandom moralist. i believe you can make whatever kind of fanworks you want. but there is a difference as wide and far as the sea between "this is my ship that's fucked up, and i think that's hot while being aware that it's fucked up" and "actually i only engage with men because uh women are boring."

there's so many places i could start with but i'm going to bring up the elephant(s) in the room first: jimmy and captain curly.

honestly? i've seen people handle jimmy in a fastastic way. mouthwashing shook me to my core by presenting me with a protagonist who was every last moment as capable of pretending to be a good person - to the point of even deluding himself that what he's doing is right (i'm going to fix it. we're going to make it.) as the men who've passed through my life were. and i feel the average person is respectful of that, while preserving his humanity.

however, there's a very loud minority that simply refuses to acknowledge his existence, despite his status as the protagonist, the one who kickstarts the plot and vehemently dominates it. are you afraid of acknowledging him? of acknowledging men like him exist? that you can pass by them in gas stations, that they can be your friends, work colleagues? why do so many people talk about 'what he did to anya', completely avoiding the word 'rape'? you can say it, you know. here, i'll do it right now - rape, rape rape rape. jimmy raped anya.

and now, here's the hornet's nest - curly. i've heard so much about curly. being mad at his enabling of his friend is ableist because he 'paid for it' by becoming disabled (excuse me?), criticizing a disabled person - for something he did before he was ever disabled - is bad, actually (do you hear yourself right now?). people are 'watering down' the meaning of enabler actually, because it's unreasonable to expect someone to protect a victim when they're friends with the rapist. [to the same intonation as pepe silvia] can we talk about curly, charlie, i've been DYING to talk about curly.

people have kneejerk defensive reactions to curly because they don't want to think of themselves as enablers. because they view non-action as acceptable. you know who also did? my family, when my father took advantage of me! you know what that makes them? enablers. that doesn't make them sub-human, no, but i'm allowed to be upset at them for that. unforgivable but not irredeemable.

"anya's already been raped, what could curly have done?" anything. gave her a safe place to stay, stayed with her, kept an eye out. you're all very creative, i'm sure you can think of any number of things. anything. like he promised her, and then proceeded to do nothing. (if swansea could keep utility under lockdown for an extended period of time, why couldn't anyone have done anything? is it too hard to look out for your only female colleague?) rapists don't just do it once, you know. if you think she's unworthy of protection or support because she's already 'spoiled goods', you're part of the problem. if you see yourself in curly, and you see yourself in this? i hope it hurts. i hope it hurts, hurts, hurts.

these things are worth thinking about. if you don't want to think about the main driving force of this entire game - a game made about how men in positions of power will utilize their chokehold on people to get what they want and create environments that allow men working under them to turn a blind eye to rampant misogyny and inter-worker abuse, that was, from the devs' mouth, 'aimed at certain people in the games industry' - you can simply go somewhere else. you can play other games, and make content for them.

#mouthwashing #theres so much more i could talk about but this is already getting too wordy for something i'm writing on an empty stomach and 3hrs of slee #like how people keep forcing anya into positions of motherhood or elder sisterhood because uhh muh found family?#it's misogyny! fuck #it's misogyny.#you all better behave btw i didn't make this post to pick fights. i have my hand hovering on the mute post and limit reblogs buttons.#also don't follow me for this. this is my alloted once every 5 years whiny bitch post #rdl

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pleasantspark · 22 days ago

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A/N: This series came to an end! Atleast with Season One! After this specific episode a short will be out, then Season Two will begin it's production. Season Two will however be in development until Mid February if I plan correctly, the post credit scene (Featuring Azzy and someone you'd probably guessed in the past) was finished before this episode was even conceived as with other episodes. It was made around A Bakers Dozen and the video was also made too. I want to thank @pastel-kaleesh and @esotericdivinity for their support. There's not much about the Season Two as it's titles are in dev, but look forward to it. This entire episode was in the works for Three Months.

It’s a day before the exterminations and many of the HFIL Residents were around the table. Orion was currently drinking with her friends. She was happy to spend her last days with her friends. Cell had her on his lap, as she was giggling and joking with her friends.

“So, Cell and you, hm?” Zarbon asked. Waggling his eyebrows.

“Yeah, it’s crazy.” Orion laughs.

“It’s crazy, I never thought the two of you would get together.” Zarbon smirks, flipping back his hair.

“Clearly.” Ginyu said, downing his 4th glass of the night, Cell smirks.

“You’re just upset I swooped her before you could reclaim her.” Cell states, and Ginyu rolled his eyes. Dore pours more alcohol for Ginyu.

Zarbon snickers at the two’s banter, and turns his attention back to Orion. “So, what’s Cell like?”

The question was phrased as innocent. “What does that mean-” Orion began seeing what Zarbon was talking about and her face flushed.

“ZARBON!” She gasps, slapping his arm playfully, Zarbon laughs and shakes his head.

“What? Am I wrong~?” He asked, a little too invested. Orion rolled her eyes.

“Still, that was very crass of you to ask!” Orion Chides. Zarbon lets out a sad hum, albeit a little joking.

“Zarbon, why are you asking if my girlfriend has done anything with me? Isn’t that inappropriate?” Cell asked, a little on the jealous side. Zarbon huffs and waves his arm dismissively.

“Oh, cool it, Cell! It’s just girl talk!” Zarbon teases. Cell rolls his eyes.

“Girl talk? Last time I checked, Zarbon you’re a male.” Cell said.

“Hey! It’s 2024. You can be whatever you want!” Zarbon chides, and waggles his finger. Cell rolled his eyes.

“Now you have to call me, Zarbona!” Zarbon said.

“I am not calling you that.” Cell deadpans.

“You want to get canceled on Swinner?” Zarbon asked, and to emphasize, he pulled out his phone and Cell scoffs.

“Cell, that’s disrespectful, her name is Zarbona. Princess of the Brench-Seijins.” Orion scolds Cell.

“Wait, you’re a brench-seijin?” Cell asked.

“Yep, yours truly is indeed, a brench-seijiin!~” Zarbon croons, he flutters his eyelashes dramatically before turning to face Orion again.

“So, like I was saying~ How is he~ Tell me everything~” Zarbon said sweetly, Orion smirks.

“I mean, once you get over the fact he uses his tail then you're all set.” Orion winks, Cell’s face flushed.

“Orion! Why would you say that!?” Cell sputters out.

“Oooh~ Tailplay nice, nice…” Zarbon muses. Orion laughs.

“Oh, you.”

“Isn’t it too early in the relationship to be this intimate?” Dodoria asked. Zarbon rolled his eyes at their answer. Only smirking.

“You only live once, Dodoria. And why not spend that moment intimately with your partner, eh?” Zarbon chuckles, Dodoria seemed displeased by that.

“I wouldn’t know anything like that.” They said.

“Right, right. You're an ace in a hole, hm?” Zarbon presses. Dodoria shrugs.

“Even if you weren't, I'm sure any man would be glad to have you in bed with him~” Zarbon flutters his eyelids.

“I'm non-gender. I’m non-binary.” Dodoria pans, they seemed to be used to this kind of behavior from Zarbon.

“Wait, Dodoria, you’re non binary?” Orion asked.

“Yeah, shortly after arriving at HFIL, Dodoria just out of nowhere announced they were non-binary! It was not on my 2023 bingo card that year.” Zarbon reached for another cup of alcohol, and Orion seemed to be shocked.

“Um, congrats!” Orion said.

“Yeah, but seriously, Orion. I am pretty happy you and Cell are together. Spend as much time as you two want, you both deserve each other. I just wish I could be with someone.” Zarbon sighs, Orion placed a hand on Zarbon’s arm comforting him.

“Hey, it’s going to be alright. You’ll find someone eventually. Okay?” Orion reassures him, Zarbon’s face flushed.

“I hope so.” Zarbon responds with a more optimistic tone. Fu cleared his throat and with his working hand lifted his cup.

“To friendships!” Fu toasts.

“To friendships!” Everyone responds.

“Whatever may happen tomorrow, let it fall into place! Just know we may all die tomorrow but today’s the day where we celebrate!” Fu toasts, everyone cheers. Everyone downed their drinks as it shifted to Dabura and BoJack watching from afar.

“Ah, isn’t it lovely? To watch friends converse before a life altering event, isn’t it, BoJack?” Dabura muses to the ginger. BoJack hums in agreement.

“It is truly remarkable to see them all spend time with one another, you don’t see that very often.” BoJack stares at the group.

“You are a man of a very few words, BoJack, a few words but profound enough to make such a compelling statement. I must applaud you.” Dabura compliments.

BoJack chuckled and walked away, “Oh, you know. It’s better to speak less than speak a lot. A lot of people should take that to heart.”

It was nighttime, and Orion was curled up against Cell, running a finger across his chest. His tail having long gone tucked away in betwixt his back. Cell seemed to be deep in thought after their downtime while Orion was thinking to herself.

“Cell?” Orion began.

“Yes, Orion.” Cell said, a bit quiet.

“I was wondering… What would happen if you died?” Orion asked.

“...You move on.” Cell whispered.

“But tommorrows the day where everything is off the table. All bets are off. If lost you, and....” Orion sighs.

“I know you can’t bear to lose me… But you have to understand… You have to move on, if I go, then please stay behind and watch this place…” Cell said.

“If you go, I don't think I can handle it, I already lost…” She trails off, somberly looking down, a part of her was unable to think of a life without Cell, even though it’s been a day since they confessed she would find it nearly impossible to even consider “moving on” she didn’t do that when she lost him why would she do that for Cell? She sighs and looks down.

“Well, the part of healing is learning to let go and move on. Which is something you need to do. It’s not healthy to keep torturing yourself like this, Orion.” Cell said. Orion looked down.

“I suppose so…” Orion sighs. Cell nodded and caressed her cheek.

“Get to sleep, we have a loooong day ahead of us.” Cell then turns over and Orion couldn't sleep. She gets up and heads to where Zarbon was. She knocks on his door, and shortly after Zarbon exits the room.

“Can’t sleep either?” Zarbon asked, Orion shook her head. And he smiles, opening the door letting Orion in, she walks in, and Zarbon sat on his bed, and Orion sat next to him.

“So.” Orion began.

“Yeah, tomorrow's going to be stressful, I’ve been worried a lot.” Zarbon said, his hand snaking its way to where Orion’s was, and he squeezed it.

“...” Orion’s face flushes.

“I’ve been unable to sleep. I never thought that fighting against violence I sought to remove was a good idea.” Orion said, Zarbon hums.

“I mean, you did try. If peace won’t work, then there’s violence.” Zarbon said.

“Violence isn’t always the solution. I wanted to try and be peaceful and not hurt people, solving this by the way of whatever Razzamoth does isn’t the way.” She said sadly.

Zarbon nodded. “I understand, but you’ve got far! I know how that feels, wanting to show people change.”

Orion nodded, and leaned on Zarbon who blushed. “Zarbon, you’ve been such a good friend.”

“Really now?” Zarbon swallows.

“Mhm.” Orion said.

“I just, I feel like I am not doing much for you.” She says.

“You are doing…” He bit his lip, “Alot.”

Orion turned to face Zarbon. “Really?”

“Yes, in fact let me show you how much you do for me.” Zarbon closed the gap between them with a kiss, and after that, it was sealed.

Orion found herself walking back to the room she shared with Cell, she panted and her legs were wobbly, She got in the bed, and headed to sleep.

The next morning, Fu found himself working on something to help him. When he was finished. He tested it out. It was a prosthetic arm.

“It should do. It’s scrappy. But it’s something I can use.” He hums, and types on the computer to test it out. He still had trouble managing it. While he was testing out his arm, Orion was finishing the touches on her battlegear. She smiled gently. Cell walked in. He changed his armor to reflect that of a Mecha.

“Orion… You’re dressed rather… suggestively.” Cell said, Orion giggled.

“Many of my people always dress like this.” Orion said.

“Yeah, but must you show off every side of you? I don’t like people ogling you. It makes me angry.” Cell said.

“Hm, are you jealous?” Orion giggles. Cell flushed, and turned away.

“No, it’s just, some people can get handsy or sleazy and I don’t want you to get hurt.” Cell said.

Orion hums and Cell sighs.

“Alright, let’s go, we’re almost at the mark where the Demons arrive. I want to get to have a speech.” She said, Cell nodded and followed Orion.

Arriving at the living room, Orion sees most of the Ginyu Force dressed in advanced uniforms. She smiled, and walked up to the group.

“I see you’re also ready.” Orion smiled towards Ginyu who looked away blushing. The feelings lingering around.

“Yeah, I am glad to see you are- Wow, uh…” Ginyu said.

“Wowie! Ginyu was your ex this HOT!?” Guldo said with rapt attention, Orion pouts, and rubs the back of her head nervously.

“Shut up Guldo.” Ginyu flusters.

Zarbon walked up to Orion and tapped her shoulder. Orion turned around and smiled gently at Zarbon before gaping. “Wow, I didn’t know you were this prepared!” She chirps.

“Yeah, me and Salza stayed up all night for this. And I am happy with the way my battle suit turned out, and wow, yours is… Interesting.” Zarbon explained.

“Yeah, I am pretty well. Pretty built differently. I tend to wear binder and baggy clothes to prevent men from ogling at me.” She glares at Guldo who Ginyu bonked on the head.

“I can imagine. With hips like those, no one in HFIL can resist the urge to rubberneck.” Zarbon said. Orion nodded, Cell came in, and upon laying eyes on him, Orion’s face flushed. He looked handsome. He was in full mecha form, and most of his armor was modified to be advanced. Gero looked impressed.

“Cell, you look amazing!” She said, rushing up to him.

“No, I look perfect. Dr. Gero worked wonders on making my Perfect Form even more Perfect.” Cell gloats, which emitted an annoyed eye roll from Zarbon, although it seemed to be playful rather than genuine annoyance.

Then the sounds of the horn signalling the exterminations was about to begin. Cell nodded his head directly towards Orion who decided to lead them out. Upon arriving, Orion turned to Cell.

Cell nodded, and turned to the group. “Remember, fight like you’ve never fought before. Come whether it may be, death or freedom. Choose your destiny!” Cell dropped his mask over his mouth and grabbed his sword and rushed towards the opposing group as with the other side.

“We’re going to show you WHOSE IN CHARGE!” Razzamoth shouts, charging at Cell, who they clashed swords with, meanwhile Azzy took on Orion while the others took on the other soldiers. Cell was fighting with all his might when he clashed swords with Razzamoth.

“Why are you fighting Cell? Isn’t it better to allow your fate to happen naturally instead of postponing it?” Razzamoth sneered.

“No, I refuse to. That’s a coward's way. I suppose you know what being a coward is like, huh?” Cell counters.

“No, but I know you have flaws, you’re broken.” Razzamoth laughs bitterly, which causes Cell to get confused and Razzamoth gets him on his back. With his sword drawn to Cell’s body, “Now, any last words?”

Orion noticed Cell about to get hurt, and she swooped in and fought back Razzamoth, and he fell on the floor. “You BITCH!” Razzamoth roars. Orion held Cell close.

“Are you okay?” She asked, Cell nodded.

“Of course, thanks for having my back.” Cell smiled.

“No problem.” Orion smiles back in return.

“Ugh! This is so disgusting!” Razzamoth gags, “Nothing gets me more disgusted then two sinners acting all lovey-dovey. Azzy, you should just kill them where they stand now.”

“Yes, sir!” Azzy salutes as he rushes at the two, and Orion moves her body in front of Cell to shield him from the hit.

“Orion! What are you doing!?” Cell shrieks.

“Protecting you, what else is it!?” Orion asked.

Orion closed her eyes, and was prepared to have Azzy strike her, but she didn’t feel anything at all. Instead Azzy let out a scream of pain.

“Azzy!” said the voice of Razzamoth. Orion looked up and saw Fu, his sword drawn and in the eye- or what remained of Azzy’s eye. Specifically his left eye. Azzy was in immense pain, he held onto his eye.

“You fucking bitch!” Azzy yells at Fu.

“Now, you feel the same way I felt when you tore my arm off.” Fu coldly responded.

“You deserved every bit of that! You deserved to be tortured, you HARMED your chances at being a part of the Exterminators! You fucking traitor!” Azzy yelled.

“You can scream at me all you want, but nothing will or can change the fact you hurt me for ever daring to spare a child. I have morals, and those morals were overstepped when you forced me or at least tried to make me kill Kuriza. An INNOCENT child. He did NOTHING wrong! Now, since we’re here. Do you want me to do the same to your eye? It’ll even it out a bit…” Fu smirked. Razzamoth was seeing red.

“You keep your dirty filthy traitor hands off him! If you want to hurt him you have to go through me first!” Razzamoth barks, Fu turns his head to face his former commander, he turns the sword over to him.

“I don’t take orders from you anymore, Razzamoth.” Fu hisses.

“You had a chance to return!” Razzamoth gets up to Fu.

“Return to what? What exactly do I have to return to? A job that’s more on the level akin to that of a chore? A meaningless existence consisting of killing potential children and lost souls who want redemption? Give me a break, Razzamoth! I think I was better off sparing Kuriza then wasting away working for the Demon King!” Fu snaps.

“You wash your fucking mouth!” Razzamoth snaps.

“He’s not the real king you know, my Uncle is deserving of that title I am more deserving of that title!” Fu snaps.

“Is this really how it’s going to go down? I the grand boisterous Razzamoth, leader of the only good thing to happen to this shithole reduced as a mere laughingstock? I should be feared and revered by this HFILhole, you should be thanking me. Because this place is filled with misery. None of you are spared from eternal judgement and redemption is not ever going to happen at all!” Razzamoth screamed. Zarbon snuck up behind Razzamoth and smirked.

“And no pretty boy is going to kill me like THAT!” Razzamoth plunges the sword in Zarbon’s chest, causing him to gag and choke, Orion screamed and rushed over to Zarbon who was coughing up blood.

"Remember what I said to you in Fus lab?" Zarbon smiled, Orion tears up.

"Yeah. About how all women are valid?"

"Yeah... I'm not... Actually kidding when I said that, I... I'm in love with you. The idea of being with you. But sadly. There's not much time for me left here..."

"Zarbon. Don't say this. Hang on."

"I can't. Just promise me you'll be happy with Cell. Keep a happy smile on your face."

Orion’s lip quivers, and Zarbon went limp. "Zarbon... Don't go..."

When Orion gained confirmation that Zarbon won’t rise from his sleep at all, Orion placed her head down on the corpse of her friend, and potential lover. Razzamoth laughs.

“You see? You see? Even when you fight for those you LOVE you only hurt them! He’s dead because of your pathetic attempt at peace! No matter what you do, someone ends up hurt, Yamcha, Krillin and even Him! Because you are running away from something and now, you can’t run away from me THE NEXT DEMON KI-” Razzamoth was cut short when he felt something pierced through his chest, Razzamoth chokes at a gasp.

“SIR!” Azzy shouts to his partner, Razzamoth coughs in disbelief.

“Wh- How!?”

Once the object was dislodged and Razzamoth slumped over, it revealed it was Fu, despite being near Azzy, Fu managed to bide his time, at the expense of no one’s surprise Zarbon. Fu was tearful.

“You fucking dick.” Fu looked over to a shocked and crying Orion. And back at Razzamoth.

“You had no idea how long I dreamt of this moment.” Fu said, Razzamoth coughs up blood and his eyes dulled.

“Your end of terror ends now, and you.” Fu said sternly to Azzy, who looked up at him, hatred and anger in his eyes, “Tell them, Send no more.”

Azzy grimaced. “No! I won’t-” Before Azzy could protest, Goz came with Mez, and looked at Azzy.

“I believe you are in no position to argue, unless you want your troops to be slaughtered next, I suggest you take your friends and split.” Mez said.

“...Fine. Come on guys, exterminations are cancelled.” Azzy gets up, and takes one long look at Razzamoth and plucks his earrings off while hauling his body with him to go and leave with his flock.

Back at the Mansion, Orion looked forlornly at the circlet Zarbon wore prior to his death. She looked at the pretty gem glowing and tears streamed from her face. She saw the reflection of her downtrodden expression. She sniffled and Cell walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“What’s the matter?” Cell asked.

“Zarbon…” Orion sniffled, Cell nodded and hugged Orion gently.

“He wouldn’t want you to mope about, he wanted you to live on out of spite for those who hurt him.” Cell said.

“Yeah, but his legacy lies in the hands of some poor decisions he made down here, who knows where he’s been… Or where he ended up.” Orion got up and slowly made her way to a plaque with the name Zarbon written on there, and placed the Circlet on there, she smiled longfully.

“Wherever he is, I hope he’s happy.”

The scene changes to a bright location where a discussion is taking place between King Yemma and Lilac, when the figure of Zarbon appears. His eyes momentarily adjusted as King Yemma’s eyes widened. The file of Zarbon manifested in front of him and the added words to the last section of his file appeared in bold:

“Zarbon LeBeau: Former Frieza Elite, Loving and Doting Father, Did a heroic act in the name of protecting those he loves, First Redeemed Soul.”

Reading those words, King Yemma’s face fell, his face was horrified. He knew, he realized in that moment what he did, Lilac on the other hand was giddy to see him. Zarbon shyly waves to them.

In the land of the kais in the overworld, sat a Kai, who was humming and pouring tea. He seemed to have no care in the world. As he turned away from the tea cup. His eyes twinkled a bit before a bitter chuckle escaped his mouth.

“Azzy, what are you doing here?” The Kai asked. With a smirk.

“...Cut the shit. You know why I am here.” Azzy said, floating down. He seemed to be very upset judging by the tone and indicator of his voice, the Kai hums and approaches the smaller Demon with a smirk.

“And why is that?” The Kai asked. Azzy growls and grabs the kai roughly, causing the taller male to elicit a grunt.

“You have no fucking idea what I have been through. My fucking eye has been ripped out, these fucking monsters somehow had the balls to attack back! We anticipated it, we prepared for it. But we didn’t expect them to be THAT strong!” Azzy snaps.

“I mean, most of the population consists of either Saiyans or Namekians or even that Cell guy.” The Kai said dismissively.

“They fucking killed Razzamoth!” Azzy hisses.

“What do you want me to do about it?” The Kai asked, Azzy pressed his face closer to the Kai’s and snarls.

“I want you, to get your ass down there, and fucking teach them a goddamn lesson!” Azzy snaps.

“...And what if I don’t?” The Kai asked, seemingly threatened.

Azzy chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, you have to do it, you have no choice, you and your sister are subservient to the demon realm. If you don’t do it, then your deal is off. You don’t want to disappoint your sister, do you?”

The Kai grimaced. “Very well then, consider it done.”

<Last Chapter >Next Chapter

A03 | WATTPAD | FF.NET | QUOTEV

If you want to be tagged in updates for this fic, please let me know.

#dbz #dragon ball #dragon ball hfil #hfil #erm what the hfil!? dragon ball #series #dragon ball z #dragon ball super #dragon ball heroes #dragon ball gt #fanfiction #dbz fanfiction #dragon ball fanfiction

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askagamedev · 5 months ago

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I've been employed as a senior game programmer for two years but I really need a new job and I don't think I'm good enough to compete as a senior, if took a salary decrease I wouldn't receive much less a year after tax. I don't wanna be stressed out being expected to do things I can't do effectively. How would you recommend getting a new job at a more junior position? My heart is no longer in this profession I don't have love for it anymore. I just want a job to provide for my family.

There seems to be a lot to unpack here. I'm reading several different elements that each warrants its own response. Here's what I'm seeing:

You aren't feeling job satisfaction with what you do any more

This happens from time to time and likely needs some soul-searching to seriously answer. If you just want to provide for your family, there's nothing wrong with doing what is expected of you and no more. If you really don't like game dev anymore, you could always try finding a job in a game-adjacent field - simulation, gambling software, user experience, education and training software, and so on. Most technical problems are fairly fungible.

That said, sometimes all it takes is a reminder that there are players out there who really do appreciate what we do. I get a tremendous amount of job satisfaction seeing players enjoying the parts of the game I made.

You're feeling some imposter syndrome in your current job

Imposter syndrome is very normal, especially for where you are in your career. It never really goes away, and it will always tell you that what you're doing is scary and that you can always give up and go back. If you're really concerned about your performance on the job, you should talk to your manager about it. Ask for a one-on-one and discuss it. If you're doing fine, your manager will tell you so. If you aren't, your manager will also tell you and likely suggest ways to improve. And, if you really want to take a more junior position, your manager should be able to help you transition to one of those too.

You want a new job with less responsibility

There's nothing wrong with this per se, but accepting a demotion will probably take a toll on your long-term career. At the very least, it is likely that you will be asked about it at any job you apply for in the field, and you may get passed over for roles because the hiring managers consider you too senior for it. This may not matter to you but you should probably consider your long-term vs short-term goals and what it is you want to do with the rest of your career and life. If you've taken the time to consider the ramifications (especially with your family) and still feel like it is the best choice, by all means do it. I caution against making such a long-term decision hastily.

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#career advice #career advancement #working in the game industry

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selicyoats · 1 year ago

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my thoughts on the persona 3 cast

SPOILERS BELOW (OBVIOUSLY) Junpei Iori Battle Rating: 3/10 Junpei was never doing anything too impressive in all honesty. He had Agi and he had decent Phys skills, but he began losing relevance once Akihiko joined and Character Rating: 10/10 There's one of his lines that really spoke to me, and it went something like: "The only reason every day has felt the same was because I wasn't putting in the effort to make every day different." It's really stuck with me, and in addition, him helping Chidori find reason to want to look towards the future and living was also beautifully done. Yukari Takeba Battle Rating: 9/10 She's pretty useful early-game and late-game, with a slightly weaker mid-game due to Ken and Mitsuru being slightly more useful. Character Rating: 8/10 Seeing her come to terms with her father's death and her resolve to end the Dark Hour was very beautifully done, and seeing her interactions with Mitsuru really helped her character a lot. Akihiko Sanada Battle Rating: 10/10 Debuffing and having ridiculous normal attacks made Akihiko a staple team member for me, and boy does he pack a punch. It's a shame he doesn't get any physical skills, but his normal attack is pretty good as is. Character Rating: 10/10 Just look at the scene where he talks to Shinjiro's coffin and you just know, man. I couldn't do his character justice in a description, but I can at least lament at how they murdered his character so he could be turned into "lol protein!!!!!" man.

Mitsuru Kirijo Battle Rating: 8/10 "haha marin karin" have you heard about FULL OFFENSE (or playing portable like i did) She's pretty good. Heals plus damn good ice damage is very very nice. Character Rating: 8/10 Similarly to Yukari, her character benefits a lot from having to come to terms with her father's death. I unfortunately can't give much say, as I didn't get to spend much time with her. Once I do replay P3, I'll go through her S. Link. Fuuka Yamagishi Battle Rating: uhhh/10 She's your support, so, uh. Yeah? Kinda hard to rate her in that aspect. Character Rating: 7/10 She had cute interactions with Natsuki. While her character don't go extraordinarily far, she doesn't really need to have a deep character. Aigis Battle Rating: 10/10 She is so fucking busted and she also provides buffs and can also HEAL??? And she comes with Orgia Mode to boot? The devs 100% wanted you to use Aigis. Character Rating: 10/10 Man. Seeing her come to terms with how she'll never be human the more human she gets really hits hard, but seeing her resolve to "live" as herself and not as who she was made to be was such a great scene it made me tear up. Koromaru Battle Rating: 8/10 dog. The Mudo and Agi support kind of just make him a better Junpei I guess? I used him a bunch while Aigis was out and he did a great job. Character Rating: 6/10 I mean, dog? It's hard to give him character, but it's nice seeing him come to terms with his former master's death. Ken Amada Battle Rating: 7/10 He comes with healing support like Yukari, and the Hama skills are nice too. Shame he overlaps Zio with Akihiko, but he's not bad if you're not running Akihiko. Character Rating: 8/10 Like with most Persona 3 characters, seeing him deal with his mother's death is a big showcase of his character. It's nice seeing undertones of his character in the S. Link, and how he wants to be older and how he likes superhero movies but deep down he wants to be taken seriously, and he wants to be seen as more than just a kid. That being said, if you romance him with FeMC, what the fuck is wrong with you. That's a kid. Shinjiro Aragaki Battle Rating: i dunno I never used Shinjiro, but from the looks of it, he seems to be heavily phys-focused which is good for bosses but not so much for Tartatus exploration. Character Rating: 8/10 He's got cute stuff going on with Koromaru, but he's mostly a wheel to move other characters than he is a vehicle himself, if you understand what I'm saying. That being said, he acts as a fantastic wheel for both Akihiko and Ken, being pivotal for their character growths. In general, the S.E.E.S. has some fantastic characters under their belt, and I couldn't be any happier Persona 3 was my first Persona game. I'll probably give my thoughts on the Investigation Team another time.

#persona 3 #aigis persona 3 #akihiko sanada #mitsuru kirijo #shinjiro aragaki #koromaru #ken amada #yukari takeba #junpei iori #fuuka yamagishi #opinion #please don't murder me #thanks

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