#I finished code Veronica for the first time

[elena-fishr]

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[breadbartz]

If you still take requests, could you draw Alfred Ashford in a red and grey color palette?

angry soldier ant

transparent version + the pallette !

[homosexuality-and-morphine]

Man I love my au cause chreon is a 17 year long slow burn but they almost immediately get married after making their relationship official (mainly bc I hate making time go by in my aus but they play like a show in my mind)

[diggitydoggo]

!Spoilers for Vee's room (+Blot) up ahead!

Starting off with Blot. MY SON! MY BABY! I LOVE HIM! I LOVE HIS GOOFY IDOL ANIMATIONS WHERE HE DOES MIME SHIT! AHHH!

But also WHO SUMMONED THIS DEMON INTO GARDENVIEW!? THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN HE CAN SPAWN BIG ASS HANDS ANYWHERE!? WHEN MY TEAM FIRST ENCOUNTERED HIM ONE OF THE HANDS SPAWNED ON THE WALL! (Pretty sure that's a glitch though) One of them spawned next to a machine and it felt like it was taunting me with hand signs!

Anyways moving onto Vee's room!

First time I got her room was during a blackout (and by then my whole team was dead so I was solo running it)

I guess that's payback for Dandy throwing Vee's egg in the trash during the Easter event.

Veronica!!

New poster!!!

AAHH THE GAMES ARE SO CUTEEE!!! LOOK AT HOW HAPPY MY BABIES ARE!

After a bit I got this bug where I finished the machine but it didn't do the little animation, it had no sounds, and the light was still red. Don't know what's up with that. (also lost all my heals cause Sprout's tall ass kept chasing me while I was trying to get rid of Poppy and Brightney)

Unfortunately the first impression was during a blackout BUT I WAS SO LUCKY TO GET THE FLOOR AGAIN RIGHT AFTER!

I didn't take a video of this cause I got spotted by a twisted and forgot

Lots of phones in cases on this floor. I'm sure they don't work though cause why wouldn't the toons break the glass and use them to call for help? There has to be employee records with all the handler's phone numbers still around somewhere right?

These are so cool!

There are cameras around this map so I wonder if they'll add visible cameras to the other ones over time.

Now for the best part! NEW LORE!!!

I did actually record this little secret I found if you watch the TV where that picture of Veronica is!!

Dialogue (based on what I could read):

Veronica: "Did you hear the news from Delilah and Arthur?"

Veronica: "There are plans for Vee version two!"

Vee: "Do I really need an "upgrade"?"

Vee: "I'm almost as recognizable as Dandy! Kids love trivia games! The prizes!"

Vee: "No other toons deal with this. What will change? I'm more than my code..."

Vee: "Ugh. Veronica are you even listening? You're always so silent and I-"

Veronica: "We can try and change their mind. I'll help, Vee. Best I can."

Vee: "Thanks."

Vee also has a dialogue box when you watch it for the first time while playing as her! I don't know if any of the other toons say anything about it yet.

So far we have floors for Astro, Shelly, and Vee so all that's left is Sprout (and I mean an actual Sprout themed floor cause the diner maps don't count) and Dandy (and maybe Pebble idk I personally think he and Dandy are just going to share a floor)

I definitely think they're saving Dandy's floor for last cause cmon...there's no way a floor themed around the main guy isn't going to have super important lore hidden inside.

Overall 10/10 update! Love Blot! Love Vee's room! Love the new lore! Especially love that we're getting more than just the notes now!! And bonus we finally get to SEE a main toon interact with their handler!

[livfordoodles]

I finished code veronica for the first time :D

[blood-darkened-moon]

Alexia Ashford CV vs DSC

I wrote this character comparison almost an eternity ago and revised it from time to time but never posted it. In fact, the character comparisons were one of the first things I ever wrote about the Ashfords. I had finished Alexander and Veronica some time ago. Alexia and Alfred are still missing. Now, I’ve used the time to rewrite everything again and add a few points to Alexia’s character comparison.

Advantages of Code Veronica

Let’s start with Alexia herself. Probably the most notable change to Alexia’s character in DSC compared to the original is her relationship with her brother. However, since I already elaborated on this in more detail in other posts, I’ll mainly focus on the narrative impact of this change.

In the original, the twins’ relationship is characterized by mutual, possibly asymmetrical, affection. Alfred’s death and Alexia’s desire to revenge it are the cause of everything that happens afterward. Removing this aspect by having Alexia kill Alfred herself was not a particularly wise decision in DSC. Alexia’s part was not rewritten on a larger scale either to justify this decision. Given the playtime of the CV section in DSC and the greater focus on action, I understand why they didn’t do it, too much effort for no appreciable gain. However, Alexia’s revenge was a simple yet effective motive for her actions in CV. Why did they have to remove it if they didn’t have a better idea for the character anyway?

Alexia has very little screen time, and apart from what you can gather from text documents, a large part of her characterization is based on her affection for her brother. However, as both are omitted in DCS (text documents have to be unlocked first, so they are completely optional), all that’s left is a shallow character whose motivations and actions make little to no sense.

The affection for Alfred also gives Alexia humanity in CV. She may otherwise be cold and calculating, but Alfred’s death ultimately makes her act emotionally. This humanity also makes it clear once again that the twins’ story is a tragedy. Alexia (and Alfred) were not evil from birth but simply victims of circumstance. DSC-Alexia, however, has nothing human about her. She is evil for the sake of being evil. She has been stripped of any complexity. From that point of view, a tyrant could have easily replaced her as the final boss.

Besides, the trope of the supervillain who doesn’t care about anyone but themselves and gets rid of their subordinates when they are no longer of any use is quite common in fictional stories. A villain who cares about at least certain other people, on the other hand, is relatively rare. That’s why I think it’s particularly unfortunate that they’ve changed this point and turned DSC-Alexia into an overused cliché.

However, the change has further consequences. With the revenge for Alfred removed, they had to give her something else as a motive for her actions after his death. In this case, they focused more on her world domination plans without thinking them through first. The plans weren’t worked out in the original either. But since they ultimately didn’t play a role there in terms of the plot, it didn’t matter. In DSC, they have been superficially expanded to some extent, but this addition only raises more questions than it answers.

DSC-Alexia wants to use her world domination to turn all humans into her lab rats and carry out unspecified experiments on them. What is the point of this? This woman sacrificed 15 years(!) of her life just for a little “fuck around, find out”. Really? That’s all she wants? She already works for Umbrella, who obviously have no problem with human experimentation. As long as she delivers results anyway, they probably don’t care if she uses a few test subjects for private purposes. And if that’s not enough, there’s always Rockfort Island, where Alfred could also act like a dictator and torture people at will. There, Alexia could simply do whatever she wanted, including human experiments. If DSC-Alexia had been successful, she wouldn’t have gotten anything she couldn’t already have without the t-Veronica virus and a 15-year wait. So why all the effort?

What does she want to do with billions of people anyway? She can’t even carry out that many experiments. Here’s a bit of math. If Alexia were to conduct a billion experiments, each lasting just one second, it would take her 31.7 years (not including sleeping, eating, etc.).

Also, in DSC, it’s questionable why Alexia starts experimenting on Steve as soon as she wakes up. First of all, shouldn’t she already know how controlling people through her virus works? Did she go into cryogenic sleep for 15 years only to possibly realize, “Oops, doesn’t work like I thought it would”? That would be pretty stupid, especially since she’s supposed to be exceptionally intelligent. Besides, she should have other things to worry about at this point than any experiments. The situation in the Antarctic facility is rather suboptimal, to say the least. Everyone is dead, the facility is damaged, and it is surely only a matter of time before the supply systems collapse. She probably can’t fly a plane herself and Alfred, who could, is dead. Also, very intelligent to eliminate the only ally and thus the only escape option before using it and then be left without one.

It would be logical for DSC-Alexia to try to escape from Antarctica first instead of running around the facility as if the situation there was none of her business. After all, she is supposed to be a genius. I would expect a logical analysis of the situation from a genius followed by reasonable measures. DCS-Alexia, however, seems to have absolutely no idea about anything and just acts completely randomly and irrationally.

In CV, Alexia’s actions are understandable. Because of Alfred’s death, Alexia has a reason to act illogically and just give in to her emotions. She wants revenge and is obviously trying to save her brother. Otherwise, she would hardly have put him in the tank. That’s more important to her at that moment than anything else. Escape and the state of the base are secondary.

Throwing away the comprehensible revenge plot and delving into Alexia’s world domination plans instead, without even a remotely reasonable idea for it, is absolutely wild to me. This change was completely unnecessary. Her desire for revenge for Alfred was neither too complex to fit into the more limited playtime nor would it have been incomprehensible due to the quasi-missing text documents. It’s a simple yet effective plot. But no, instead they had to let Alexia’s storyline drift into complete nonsense. I like the original storyline better anyway, but it’s not that I wouldn’t accept an alternative version if it was done well, but it isn’t. If you remove dramaturgically critical elements, you have to replace them in an adequate way. In that case, it would involve rewriting Alexia’s story segment on a large scale. If Capcom didn’t want to do this, keep the original plot, ffs.

Alexia’s Personality

As for Alexia’s personality, I’m not satisfied either. I understand what they wanted to do, but once again, it’s not well realized. Alexia was 12 years old when she started her cryosleep. In the 15 years, she has aged physically but not mentally. So Alexia shouldn’t behave any more maturely than she did before that time.

I think the idea of adapting her a little in this respect is a good one. But the question is, how childish was Alexia anyway? Alexia was definitely not a normal child at the age of 12. She had a university degree by the age of 10, which, despite her superhuman intellect, would only have been possible in terms of time if she had worked on it from a very early age. In other words, Alexia never had an actual childhood. Moreover, she worked for Umbrella for two years in a position that normally involves personnel responsibility. Therefore, Alexia would likely have behaved much more maturely than an average 12-year-old would.

What we do know about 12-year-old Alexia is that she is patient. She was willing to submit to the long cryogenic sleep in order to achieve her goals. She also seems to weigh up situations rather than immediately giving in to emotional impulses. After Alfred learned the truth about his and Alexia’s origins, he wanted to kill his father. However, Alexia decided not to kill Alexander but to use him for her own purposes. You wouldn’t expect something like that from an infantile girl.

DSC-Alexia seems far too childish compared to what we know. Actually, childish isn’t even the right word here. She appears much more like a complete idiot who has no idea what she’s actually doing. As described above, her actions are not guided by any kind of logic. Everything she does seems to be the result of a spontaneous idea. She acts irrationally and at random. She kills Alfred, even though he would be more useful while still alive. She plays around with her virus, even though she has other problems in her situation. She is also very easily distracted. The video with Alexander is enough to stop her from immediately attacking Chris and Claire instead of taking advantage of their moment of carelessness. Then there’s the weird talk about Veronica, where she means her virus, only she’s personifying it for some reason. This is also something that I wouldn’t describe as childish but bizarre.

If you want to give Alexia a more childish side, that’s perfectly fine and would suit the character. But it shouldn’t be overdone, and especially Alexia shouldn’t come across as an idiot, completely contrary to how the character is intended. I think a personality comparable to Natalia Korda’s would be the best fit in this respect. Natalia also behaved more maturely than would be expected for a child her age, but every now and then, you can see her childish side. This is also what you might expect from Alexia.

Advantages of Darkside Chronicles

Initially, I only wanted to rant in these posts about how DSC messed up the Ashfords. I especially didn’t like the implementation of Alexia, and other than Alfred, I didn’t have anything positive to say about her. But the longer I think about it, the more I notice some positive aspects. In addition to some plot holes that DSC has eliminated (see below), I also think that the way Alexia is incorporated into the games is much better handled in DSC than in CV.

In both games, she is built up as the main antagonist for a long time. The whole time, she hovers over the player like a sword of Damocles. In CV, she appears personally for the first time at the end of Claire’s part, which accounts for about two-thirds to three-quarters of the total playtime. In DSC, she appears at the end of chapter 6 of 7, so in principle, the time she could actively participate in the story is even shorter. However, they made significantly better use of it.

After the long wait for her appearance in CV, Alexia wakes up, attacks Claire and Steve, and immediately disappears into oblivion again until almost the very end of the game. Instead of focusing on the character the game should be about, it is named after the project that led to her creation and her virus, after all, the focus suddenly switches to Wesker. However, Wesker is practically irrelevant to the overall plot of this game. Even if his scenes are entertaining, they often disrupt the narrative. Apart from the fact that Wesker attacked Rockfort Island and took Steve’s body at the end, the two things he does off-screen(!), you can remove everything that happens with him without the plot changing much. He’s just a side character in this game. There isn’t even a real boss fight with him. Nevertheless, he completely dominates Chris’ section, while Alexia is only sort of there.

The only attention Alexia is granted until shortly before the end of the game are relatively pointless brief appearances, which seem to be more like a reminder to the player that Alexia still exists. These appearances include two scenes in which she appears on screens on Rockfort Island. Both scenes don’t make any logical sense (see below). Then she appears again when Chris finds Alexander’s body. The appearances that follow are at least plot-relevant.

After the game has reached the final phase in CV, Alexia’s story unfortunately comes to a very unspectacular and unsatisfying conclusion, mainly due to some not particularly great gameplay decisions. First of all, it’s annoying that regular gameplay, including puzzles and a lot of running back and forth, still makes up quite a large part of this section, like the puzzle to open Steve’s room (which was really unnecessary) and everything that has to be done after the first boss fight in the mansion. Stretching the playtime, that’s all it was. Alexia isn’t given a coherent ending, and the pacing problems ruin the little bit of tension built up.

Alexia’s actual boss fight was also designed to be extremely boring. While the fight with her first form is still quite good in terms of challenge and difficulty, her other two forms are disappointing. Shouldn’t they be an upgrade and not a downgrade? You defeat her second form by simply standing around, shooting with large-caliber weapons, and healing yourself from time to time. Apart from the poison, the damage is limited. Otherwise, no strategy is necessary. The third phase only depends on luck. You have to hit her once with the Linear Launcher. If you’re lucky, you’ll hit it with the first shot. If you’re unlucky, time will run out. Once again, a strategic approach is not required.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Alexia isn’t even allowed to end the game with her fight. No. They had to add the pseudo-boss fight with Wesker, which is once again irrelevant to the story and logically questionable. During Alexia’s boss fight, time is limited before the facility blows up, but afterward, there is apparently enough time to deal with Wesker extensively.

DSC has improved the narrative around Alexia tremendously by cutting Wesker almost completely out of the plot. Even though she only really appears in one chapter, she plays an important role there and doesn’t feel like she’s been relegated to a side character in her own game. Every scene in which she appears is relevant to the story. She has several appearances before the boss fight. The boss fight takes up a good part of the chapter, and Wesker’s appearance after she is defeated is short enough that he doesn’t steal the show.

All three phases of the boss fight are well implemented. Each one requires a certain strategic approach, with the requirements also changing for each form. Additionally, Alexia can take a good amount of damage without feeling like a bullet sponge, which gives the fights a good length. Overall, it is a worthy conclusion to the chapter.

Note: Don’t get me wrong, I like Wesker, but just putting him in a game as often as possible, even if he barely contributes to the plot, is not good storytelling. I don’t think Wesker’s scenes should be almost completely removed in a remake, as DSC did. However, Capcom should think about which ones are actually necessary for the main game. I like some of the scenes quite a lot and would like to have them included. Nevertheless, it would certainly make more sense to put most of Wesker’s story in a DLC or an extra chapter than to include all of it in the main game. That way, the game can focus on Alexia without losing Wesker’s content. Alternatively, Alexia could get additional and more meaningful scenes to balance out Wesker’s appearances. Well, as the main antagonist, she should get more content anyway.

Plot Holes in CV

Now, let us get to the above-mentioned plot holes in CV. These mainly involve strangely placed cameras that shouldn’t exist. That happens three times in total. But while two scenes could at least be explained somehow, albeit far-fetched, the first time is particularly nonsensical.

The first of these cameras appears directly after Alexia’s awakening. Claire and Steve leave the base in a snowmobile and are attacked by the tentacles during their journey. Even though they may not have gotten very far, they have definitely already left the facility. But Alexia can still follow everything on a screen. So, where did the camera come from? Was it just installed there by chance? Did Alexia equip one of the tentacles with a camera? Can Alexia project an image onto a screen using only the power of her mind, contrary to the laws of physics? Nothing really makes sense here. In DSC, Alexia personally attacks Claire and Steve before they can leave the base, which completely eliminates this plot hole.

The other two times Alexia appears on screens on Rockfort Island. But from Alexia’s perspective, this makes no sense whatsoever. These scenes only seem to be a reminder of her existence.

First of all, the UBCS training center was built in the early 90s. Alexia shouldn’t have known it existed since she was asleep during that time. Even assuming Claire or Steve told her (Alfred is already dead), why would she livestream herself to Rockfort Island while mourning Alfred? Alexia doesn’t even know who is watching, whether anyone is there at all, or whether a transmission is possible. After all, she must have heard from Claire or Steve as well that the facility exploded earlier.

Why is there even a connection to the training center on Rockfort Island? Did Alexia set it up herself? With her ancient early-80s computer and no knowledge of the latest technical developments? Even as a genius, knowledge doesn’t just transfer to the brain.

Did Alfred set up the connection? That would make sense if there was a connection to his private residence, but to the surveillance room of the training center, where lots of people come and go and could discover Alexia? That doesn’t make sense either. The fact that Alexia is still alive should be a secret.

Besides, after Alfred’s death, with Steve and Claire and the overall situation in the facility, Alexia probably has other things to do than look for a camera that she can connect to the ancient computer and then film herself holding her dead brother in her arms like a total attention whore.

What is she actually trying to achieve with her performances? Is she trying to lure Chris to Antarctica? But she doesn’t talk to him. She doesn’t say a single word, and nothing in the videos indicates where she currently is. Chris gets the information from Wesker, who just happens to be running around the buildings at the time. Without Wesker, Chris wouldn’t know anything, neither who the strange woman on the screen is nor where Claire is. (Technically, the confrontation between Chris and Wesker is also relevant for this specific reason. However, since it’s just based on too many coincidences, I think this shouldn’t be how Chris finds out about Claire’s whereabouts.) Alexia would have to wait who knows how many extra hours until Chris figured out where to go. Also, She doesn’t even know what Chris looks like. The best she has is a verbal description from Claire, but Chris doesn’t look that special, and the man walking around could still be some UBCS mercenary, looter, or someone else entirely.

Does she even know if there’s someone there? She would need cameras that transmit the images to her location. It’s a miracle that the technology still works so well after the explosion on Rockfort Island anyway. Or is she just switching to various monitors on the off chance that someone is watching? That actually seems to be the case. In her first appearance, in which she holds Alfred in her arms, Chris has entered the surveillance room but is outside the field of vision of the screens, i.e., where a camera would most likely be located. Alexia can’t know he’s there. Wesker can also see her transmission, and he’s somewhere else entirely at the time. So apparently, she live-streams herself to random ass monitors for whatever.

Her second appearance is even more pointless. What was that about? Again, she doesn’t talk. Alexia just watches (or not) Wesker and Chris, then she laughs and is gone again. This appearance makes even less sense than the previous one. It’s just another reminder of her existence, plus her appearance stops Wesker from killing Chris for whatever reason. Why actually? Alexia isn’t on Rockfort Island, and Wesker already wasted a lot of time there anyway, despite knowing her location. He surely still has an additional minute to spare. I mean, if killing Chris is his priority, just kill him right then and there. And if Alexia is his priority, why is he still running around Rockfort Island? This entire scene makes so little sense if you think about it.

There’s also a plot hole regarding one of Wesker’s lines. He says during Alexia’s first appearance on screen, she is fully awake again. How did he know she was asleep? He attacked Rockfort Island because Alfred was dressing up as Alexia, right? That was the “Alexia” he was looking for. He shouldn’t know anything about Alexia’s 15-year sleep, and according to what he knows, she’s awake at the time anyway. The texts on Alexia’s experiments are all located in Antarctica. So if he knows by then where Alexia and the virus are, what is he still doing on Rockfort Island at least 10 hours after the attack? If Alexia had told Wesker and Chris where she was at this time, that would have been a different story, but as I said, she doesn’t talk.

DSC cleverly avoids all these plot holes by removing the part with Chris. Due to the changed gameplay, it wouldn’t have fit into the game anyway. Nevertheless, this decision has had a very positive effect on the narrative, both dramaturgically and in terms of logic.

Conclusion

DSC-Alexia could have worked if Capcom had put more effort into rewriting her. Since they didn’t do that we only get a villain without any depth. DSC-Alexia doesn’t convey how tragic the twins’ background was, and above all, her motivation and actions make almost no sense. As a character, she is inferior to CV-Alexia.

CV-Alexia isn’t perfect either. While her characterization is more thought through, she isn’t utilized well in the game. She is basically just a side character despite being the main villain. Still, I like her much better, especially her relationship with Alfred, and I hope a remake is based on her not on DCS-Alexia. I would welcome a few changes, though, for example, she should appear in more scenes and these should actually be story-relevant contributions instead of random pointless reminders of her existence. The second part of the game should focus on Alexia instead of putting Wesker in the foreground. In general, rewriting and restructuring Chris’ part would help a lot in this regard.

[crazylittlejester]

Hi I saw in you pinned post that you like resident evil. My question is who in the chain do you think would play resident evil

IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS AND YOU HAVE ENABLED ME TO YAP ABOUT THIS THANK YOU SO MUCH. THE ANSWER IS ALL OF THEM SORT OF:

- Time I think would dabble in it a bit, maybe he’s played some of the og games, definitely none of the remakes because he has no time to game anymore, but I think he’d listen to the others yap about it any nod along because he doesn’t know everything but he knows it’s important to them and has enough knowledge of the characters he understands what they’re saying

- Wars and Twi play together, not because they can’t handle it alone, but because they freak each other out more than the game and for them that’s fun. Like Wars will put his hand on the back of Twi’s neck when he’s creeping around in game and give him a heart attack, and Twilight will randomly scream and point at NOTHING to freak Wars out. Them playing re5 together was a disaster and there was a lot of screaming and there were fucking TEARS during the Wesker fight. Time came in thinking someone was dying but no, they were just playing re5 of all games. They did NOT make it through Biohazard without one of them having a legit breakdown (it was Wars). If you ask either of them what their favorite re game they’ll say re5 because they genuinely had so much fun playing it together, but Twilight will go crazy for re4r and Wars LOVES Village

- Sky wouldn’t touch the games with a ten foot pole, he watched those Village streams and got so stressed out watching streamers make bad decisions that he just can’t do it. He likes the lore though and knows enough about Village to hold a conversation. He’s seen all the movies and he likes Death Island a lot, his favorite character is Claire

- Legend is the kind of streamer that would send Sky into a coma because it’s not that he’s BAD at the games, he just will randomly Go For Things ignoring the fact that he’s making incredibly stupid decisions, and it’s a damn miracle he doesn’t die more in game because it comes SO close. His favorite game is Biohazard, and Wars actually hates him for it

- Hyrule gets forced to watch Wild or Legend play and leaves with tears in his eyes every time. He was one time handed the controller for the re4r el gigante fight and he did it in one shot somehow, but he did cry

- Wild will scream every time something grabs him and each time he does Hyrule loses one year off his life. Wild’s similar to Legend because he will just Go For Things but he doesn’t always narrowly escape like Legend does. His favorite is re2r, he’s a big Ada fan

- Four is the best re player out of all of them, he’s so serious about it too and his accuracy is INSANE. He played re5 on his own because he did the first section with Wild and Wild used up all his ammo and Four couldn’t handle such a huge waste of resources so he finished the game with the ai lmao. He did make Wild play re6 with him though because the re6 game play annoyed him So Much he almost had a stroke, and turning on friendly fire and kicking Wild was the only way he stayed sane through the game. He will short circuit if you ask him what his favorite re game is because he genuinely loves them all, but re1 is his comfort game so he’d probably say that. Four is on his hands and knees begging capcom for a Code Veronica remake

- Wind goes in screaming his head off and is not the best at playing but his enthusiasm makes up for it and he gets through the games eventually. He does better in the multiplayer games where he can follow someone around because he gets distracted and forgets where to go (he does NOT check the maps), but he got so stressed about the re4 waterway he had actual nightmares about it and woke up crying because it was absolutely impossible to beat for him, he spent hours on it. He ended up making Four do it for him. He does not fuck with Biohazard or Village, they stress him out too much, so he watched streams for those (he will NEVER let the others know this though)

[folksy]

when I was a depressed teenager I didn’t really watch movies or play video games and started reading books less which is something I really regret bc I feel I just wasted my time being chronically online or sleeping and brooding. when I could have been enriching my life more. you feel. I was really into music and twin peaks but I just felt things weren’t worth my time yet I was doing stuff that was less worth my time. which ironically the stuff I feel wasn’t worthwhile was stuff I was into a lot as kid (video games, reading, movies) so maybe that’s why I had that reaction as I was being the rebellious teen or whatever and growing out of things. I had an MP3 player and portable CD player as a kid but it wasn’t the same like where I had all these video games and movies. I didn’t go to my first concert until I was 16… and then on top of that teenage angst there was the depression just telling me nothing is worthwhile. I feel like I just missed out on a lot of stuff that I would’ve liked. anyway so I’m still super depressed in my twenties but this year thus far I’ve:

• watched 50+ movies, including finally watching stuff like parasite (I started it a few years ago but didn’t finish it), the terminator, spirited away, trainspotting, almost famous (a movie I was really interested in while in high school yet never actually watched), and in the mood for love

• finished some games that I had started like resident evil 5, as well as started and finished resident evil 2, 3, code veronica x, and 6 (had literally only did a little bit of the prologue and quit for a year lol but it wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating). I’ve been on a resident evil kick within the last year and a half to two years. I’ve played through 12 of them. wished I had gotten into them earlier as I feel they would’ve been great for me as a teen because I’ve always liked supernatural or spooky stuff (the same thing applies to horror movies- I wish I had gotten into them as a teen too) and the gamecube games I bought would’ve been cheaper lol

• read the stepford wives, fight club, brokeback mountain, american psycho, and red dragon. I read the last two both within a span of less than two weeks which is crazy to me as I haven’t been a big reader (of books) as an adult. I have nine books on hold on libby including giovanni’s room, the only good indians, and flowers in the attic

I know this was really long but if anyone has any recommendations or wants to talk about any of this stuff I’d love to…

[kingflups]

Your WIPs. Hand them over

AHHH I only got a preview of this on my phone the fucking hand took me out holy shit

god bless you I have things I want to talk about but I just can’t get them flushed out you so thank you so so so much for the opportunity to ramble I love you so much moose mwah

There’s three main WIPS I’m working on right now, all resident evil because that’s all my brain has been stuck on for a hot minute and riding this train as long as it take me. In no particular order:

Nights-- My serrenedy long fic Nights aren’t so bad with you. Chapter ten is in progress I just need to finish the draft. Luis finally starts to crack a little bit and he’s going to enter a spiral about infection and feeling this need to run away again because Leon is very clearly getting attached to him and he doesn’t feel he deserves it, but for the first time in his life he’s not physically well enough to function on his own and can’t leave. He’s trapped, he’s tricked someone into thinking he’s worth being care for, and worse of all, he really, really likes it. Also, we’re getting closer to the chapter where Leon gets fucking bit by one of the werewolves! Yippe!

Next one I’m excited about is a platonic post re-5 Jill and Chris fic. Chris receives on ominous text from Jill asking for help and he rushes to her apartment assuming the worse. He arrives to something more shocking: Jill broken down, post sobbing, her hair freshly dyed a terrible unnatural shade.

I for one, hated how Jill’s hair (and skin. Literally also her skin) were bleached as a part of the brain washing she went through in 5 and then it just got dropped. So as part of the recovery from that I think recoloring her hair to natural brown would be a small way of reclaiming herself in an immediate and visual way. I also think because Jill is such an independent character, she’d do it by herself. If by chance this very immediate very visible way to reclaim herself went wrong…. It would just be terrible, wouldn’t it? Plus I just fucking love Jill’s and Chris’s friendship and low key I’m a sucker for platonic intimacy like hair washing

Alexia Ashford and Claire Redfield toxic yuri sexpollen fic.

Do I think these two would be a good couple? No. No no no no. Not in a million years. But. Alexia and Claire are already interesting to me because they’re both very family motivated but neither in the typical mother/love interest role (Alexia being very focused on preserving legacy, Claire on finding the little family she has left). So if you imagine with me a bad timeline where Chris doesn’t get Claire’s massage in Code Veronica, Claire is trapped in the antarctic, Steve killed Alexia’s brother, and Alexia kills Steve. I just think it’s really fun if because Alexia is a total shut in and because of the age she put herself into a coma at and because the only person who could reign her in is now dead, that Alexia finds herself with a massive crush for the first time and can’t fucking process it in a normal fucking way.

Thus we find Claire captive and Alexia is attempting to infect Claire with a similar bug-like infection because of her obsession with creating a hive- and maybe a second queen. Claire hates it, hates Alexia, but as her own mutations worsen, she finds herself producing a sexually charged aura and the two fuck nasty on the floor of a polished bathroom about it.

Maybe I’m crazy for it. Maybe I should be silenced. But the idea of Claire taking control of her situation by scuffing up Alexia’s dainty femme knees on filthy tile is hot to me and since Alexia is a freaky bug lady I can get weird with it. I haven’t decided if I’ll end it with one chapter or do a porn with plot type situation (where it goes Alexia and Claire fuck nasty/Fallout and Rescue/Claire can be cured but she has to go through one last heat and asks Jill to come over) cause I can’t stand to personally do implied sad endings even if it is for porn

This was unhinged if anyone read though this god bless you

[arcticgraverobber]

I just finished: Resident Evil 4 Remake - Separate Ways DLC!

The original Separate Ways DLC didn't seem like much more than a throwaway excuse to add more content - the answer to what Ada was doing all that time during the main game being: exactly what you expected her to be doing. I'm happy to say the remake is anything but, and likely surpasses the remake in my mind.

The voice actor change was something that I largely didn't notice in the main game - the controversy is not something I particularly want to talk about but from what I have seen it does make seem to make sense to change to a more appropriate actor, even though that may not be the actual reasoning behind Capcom's decision. Playing the DLC I went back and forth on how I felt about the new VA, initially thinking that I just hadn't noticed how bad she was in the main game because Ada has fairly little screen time. However, while I would've preferred someone more in line with the previous pefromances, allowing consistency within the 'remake verse' as it were, as I played more of Separate Ways I softened up on the potrayal - I think some of the more throwaway lines may have been a little flatter, but that can possibly be put down to this being a DLC and thus having tighter time constraints. Contrasting the lines that are repeated from the main game she sounds a lot better, and some of the performances later in the game are particularly memorable - in fact, overall this game has made me much more interested in Ada Wong as a character.

This is also the first time Albert Wesker has been shown in any meaningful way, and whilst I enjoyed him well enough (though disappointed it's not DC Douglas) I feel like this may not be the best way to introduce him to players only familiar with the post 7 games. I do think it's important that these games stand on their own - and I really don't think this is enough of an introduction to go in to 5, as the end of the game seems to imply. My hope is that they at least put out a remake of the original, if not Code Veronica as well.

The DLC also introduces new abilities for Ada, unlike the original, where the main difference in game play was simply that you had slightly different weapons than Leon. Ada now can use here grappling hook both to move quickly to certain predetermined locations, and also to perform melee attacks on enemies from further away. While the change is fairly minimal, paired with new attack animations it's enough to make you feel more agile and fluid, suiting Ada's character.

Ada seems to have had quite a change in this - previously always the enigma, Separate Ways gives us just a little more of an insight into her background, and develops her as a character more than any of her other appearances. While a mysterious figure can be compelling for a while, it loses it's charm when it becomes clear that there are in fact no hidden answers to be found in the first place. Simple things, like Ada remarking that she thought she was 'done smelling burnt bodies' or her disobeying of Wesker's orders are enough to develop her beyond simply being a mysterious femme fatale.

This is certainly a good step if they are planning on also producing a remake of 6 after 5, though I still really hope they don't go straight to that. Separate Ways however, stands on it's own well, and again, maybe even surpasses the main game in my estimations.

Significance: 1/3

Grade: A

[jammyreeds]

Fall Reading List:

(or, an overambitious list of options for a three month period)

The Blacktongue Thief | Christopher Beuhlman

A DnD-esque fantasy with unlikely allies (who I will assume are gay and in love until they’re evidently not).

The Poppy War | R. F. Kuang

I just finished The Night Ends with Fire by K. X. Song (the first book of an epic fantasy based on the legend of Hua Mulan) and some said it was sort of like The Poppy War, so!

The Priory of the Orange Tree | Samantha Shannon

I started Priory earlier this year and then put it down for too long and never got back to it…I was about 1/4 of the way through and loving it but I fear I’ll have to restart it if I’m to pick it back up…

An Ember in the Ashes (reread) | Sabaa Tahir

I’ve been re-listening to Pure Heroine by Lorde, and Glory and Gore distinctly reminds me of when I was 16 and obsessed with this book and that song at the same time. So now I have to reread it.

Le Morte d’Arthur | Sir Thomas Malory

Could honestly be read in any season, and I fear this will probably not be one I get around to. But I do own it and thought I’d add it to the list.

Wicked | Gregory Maguire

In honor of the movie coming out next month. I’m not particularly anticipating it (the movie) but when in Rome…

Wildwood | Colin Meloy

Also in honor of the movie soon releasing, and this one I am highly anticipating, and feel must be read in autumn! It’s so Over the Garden Wall coded.

Shady Hollow | Juneau Black

Autumn is all about silly whimsy and murder!!

The Only One Left | Riley Sager

A spookier murder mystery for Halloween :)

Dark Matter | Blake Crouch

Inter-dimensional science experiments sounds like Halloween shit to me.

Frankenstein | Mary Shelley

No comment necessary other than I know I should have already read this but classics scare me.

Project Hail Mary | Andy Weir

Massively hyped and endorsed by my fav tiktok book reviewer. I know it’s massively hyped in general, but so are a lot of other books I have totally hated. She’s the only one I trust.

Carve the Mark (reread) | Veronica Roth

This might end up on my winter list instead, but I’d like to get around to it sometime soon so I can finally read the sequel; I’ve been avoiding the second book for years because I think someone is going to die :/

Would love to know what everyone else is reading as well! :)

[via01lactea]

hai! speaking of RE’s storywriting, I’d like to hear your thoughts on what you personally think is the best, and worst story in the franchise? (Remake games included) :o

🚨First of all, thank you so much for this ask ���

Okay so, I'll list the games I've played first:

RE1 remake (Jill scenario)

RE2make

RE3make

RE4 og

RE4 remake (+ DLC)

Revelations 1 and 2

RE 5

RE0 (not finished)

RE6

RE7 (+ Chris and Zoe'sDLC)

RE8 (+ Rose DLC)

As you can see, I can't speak for much for the original trilogy + Code Veronica (1-3) because I haven't played them, I know very specific things and the story in general, but I haven't played them.

The worst is definitely RE6, by all means. The only campaign I genuinely liked was Chris' and that’s because I like his dynamic with Piers, but everything else? RE6 doesn't work because it tries to do everything and doesn't end up nailing anything down. Having so many playable characters may sound like a great thing, but everyone's time is so limited that none of them feel complete.

On better storytelling,

I would like to give more credit to Ethan's saga because I love that character (cof cof I have daddy issues cof cof cof) but other than that we control someone outside of the main cast it offers...nothing substantially interesting story-wise.

And I would LOVE to give the spot to RE2make because my critical sense goes with that game, but I won't. Because there was wasted potential there. Still, I think the characters and how Leon and Claire's campaigns are developed respectively are fine and respect the essence of these characters giving them even more charisma than they had in the originals in my opinion.

And finally answering the question I must say RE4make.

And it's no surprise to anyone, I think it's a popular opinion. When I touch RE4 og again I'm surprised because now my mind instantly thinks about the remake first and I've only finished it about...2 times?

But think about it, you have your protagonists: Leon and Ashley, their personal conflicts are simple but completely understandable and even relatable. The dynamic between them is so organic that sometimes I get the impression that they had more interactions than were written.

RE4's story has always felt like fanfic to me (lol) but Leon and Ashley hold that simple story to give us something memorable and it closes on all sides.

Even Ada and Luis who are secondary characters have their moment to shine (DLC for Ada). The writers saw these characters and said "Let's make each character to have something to say" and everything they said was consistent and fair.

[thecodeveronica]

3, 8, 22, and 27 for the ask game :3

Hi, thanks for the numbers!!

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed Ooo I'll keep this to games I only played for the first time:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth A wild ride to the end, but that's what I've enjoyed about Remake and Rebirth and the excitement of seeing the differences from the original FFVII, and seeing how the games toy with the concept of a "remake." I demand playable Rufus in part 3, I looooove him and the little adjustments they've made to his character.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (remake) I played the original (several times actually, years ago) but I think the remake does almost everything better. Just a fantastic remake all around. Gorgeous visuals, fantastic redone soundtrack with only a few stumbles, the same classic Paper Mario battle system and exploration that I love so much... No joke, I finished this two-ish weeks ago and I've been empty ever since, I miss it already. Koops is my ride-or-die partner, and I feel like the fanbase doesn't talk about TEC enough? I adore him and always have, I kinda love his feelings for Peach and how he wanted to protect her 😭 8. A series you haven’t played but are interested in trying The Red Dead series has always intrigued me, and I'm always so close to picking up RDR1 and RDR2 when they go on sale. Look like fun to play and I think I'd enjoy the plot in both, I'm just afraid of the time commitment to play them and can't bring myself to play 2 without 1 first lol.

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you Can't say much about this because it really is a game that deserves to be seen as blind as possible for the full effect, but lets just say SOMA's ending is ingrained in my mind forever and... yeah. Wow. Highly recommend that game to any horror fans btw. Had no expectations for it going in and only played it since it was a PS+ monthly game a few years ago and was blown away.

27. A game you love the atmosphere of Gonna list more than one because I'm a cheater and I have Chronic Rambler Disease: Resident Evil: CODE: Veronica Aesthetically my favorite Resi game and favorite overall and I actually like the non-prerendered backgrounds a lot! I know they may not have aged as well as in some of the other games in an objective sense, but I LOOOOOOVE Dreamcast-era visuals and the game has a perfect mix of being colorful but also dreariness. The Ashford Residence is the big standout! A dimly lit, creepy old house with a half-finished large doll hanging from the ceiling, bats everywhere, all the antiques... *chef's kiss* delicious

Paper Mario The N64 one!! The only one that was more of a crayon and storybook-themed aesthetic over the more overt "paper" of later games. It's so comforting, it's literally like video game chicken noodle soup to me. Everything is so cute, even the enemies. Charming as charming can be.

And thanks again, hope this wasn't too long lol

[lipglossanon]

Hope you had a good break girlie! So I looked into it and you unfortunately cannot get OG 2 or 3 on PS. I finished Leon 1st route! I was literally cheering as Ada fell and was yelling at her when she kissed him I was pissed. I started Claire 2nd and I’m having trouble understanding how her run lines up with Leon’s. I’m doing basically the same exact things I did with him which is honestly kinda annoying. I’m also trying to figure out the timeline between this one and the first one. Ik that 1 takes place in July & 2 is in September, but what happens in between that with the STARS members? Hoping it touches more on that in 3 (it was on sale digitally for like $10 I’m so excited!). Mr X is terrifying I see why people said this one was the scariest. Anyway sorry for all the info but I couldn’t remember which comment section we were talking g about this before on. 😂😅

Hi!!! 🥰 Never apologize for talking Resident Evil with me cause I’m a huge fucking nerd for this series 🤣

Read more cause it’s long lmao also spoilers for 3 😬 but nothing crazy I don’t think plus 3make is a little different from OG

Also sorry this is like another rant lmao

Yeah I didn’t think it was possible but I always hold out hope cause Capcom are so weird about their IPs 😒 and yes Mr. X was so fun in RE2make (way better than Nemesis but that’s a whole other tangent 🤣)

You might if you can find the GameCube versions of the OG RE2 and RE3 games. They play as well as the PS1 versions and it’s the exact same so not missing anything 😉

Haha that kiss is what I was talking about! Like she’s such a user —which I get that’s her character she’s a spy (first mentioned in RE1 as John’s password-his girlfriend’s name- and that’s why she’s in OG RE2, looking for her boyfriend who was a researcher for umbrella).

And to be honest the B scenarios do NOT complement the A scenarios. I am 100% of the belief that they were last minute additions 😒 for the most part they don’t really add too much in the way of story aside from a few little anecdotes.

So yeah sorry for that big disappointment 😆 oh man that’s a whole can of worms sorta? Lmao. Capcom is notorious for retconning or having confusing timelines 🤣 So buckle up I’ll try to keep this pretty streamlined:

RE1 takes place in July of 1998 and RE2 and RE3 take place at the same time with 3 lasting longer as Jill becomes infected and is in the city a bit longer. Like another disappointing factor is not having any crossover from the 2 and 3 remake cause come on! That would’ve been sick as hell for Jill to run into Claire or Leon in the RPD 🙄

Anywho, but as for the time between RE1 and RE2 is that Umbrella has Chief Irons in their pocket and so has him disband STARS and sweep everything under the rug. So no one believes them about the Spencer Mansions incident and so everyone’s oblivious to the shit storm about to happen 🤣

Brad is a chicken so hides away from everything. Rebecca peaces out. Barry takes his family and leaves for safety; Chris goes off to Europe to look into some Umbrella connections (which is why Claire didn’t find him and what leads into her looking for him a la Code Veronica).

Jill stays behind in Raccoon but she’s legit about to peace out to go after Chris when all that shit goes down and Nemesis is hunting the STARS members down; he fucking annihilates Brad, like tentacle through the mouth out the back of the head (so in 3make his death was way lame in my opinion 😒)

So unfortunate in 3make they don’t touch on anything inbetween 1 to 2 and 3; with OG RE3, there were epilogue scenes that explained what happened to everyone which was really cool but they took those out for some reason. They’re online if you wanna look it up. It explains why Leon ended up working for the govt, where Claire went, what happened to Jill, Barry, Chris, Ada, etc. All really cool and idk why they didn’t toss it in 😞

[bestepisode]

what shows are in your suggestions rn?

These are the suggestions I haven't done (yet). The shows in bold are ones I've actually seen all the way through.

Code Lyoko

Death Note

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Tokyo Mew Mew

Teen Titans

The Owl House

Amphibia

The Great

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Twin Peaks (I have seen the full original series but not the return)

Dragons: Race to the Edge

Dickinson

The Dragon Prince (not finished yet, but I intend to do a tournament for this show once it's over)

What We Do in the Shadows (also not finished yet, but the next season is the final one. I am planning on doing that tournament at the end of season 6.)

Adventure Time

Minx

Carmen Sandiego (2019)

Steven Universe (should this include future and the movie?)

Invader Zim (this will be the next tournament)

Scream Queens

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

How to Get Away with Murder (seen the first 3 seasons and lost interest, may try again if enough people say later seasons are worthwhile)

Community

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

Veronica Mars

The Good Place

Supernatural (this one is pretty unlikely, tbh. Several people have tried to get me to watch with them and I could never pay attention all the way through episode one. I might give it another shot since this, on paper, is the type of show I typically like.)

Person of Interest

Glee

Young Justice

Kevin Can F**k Himself

Pushing Daisies

Merlin

Schmigadoon

The Other Two

[rakkikuroba]

Some of the hardest boss in RE in my opinion and my experience.

No note for Neil or Alex because I struggled more with Pedro that with them lol

12. Mr X. I was too horny to really concentrate on the fight.

11. Lisa Trevor. Giving Barry his gun back for her to just punch him out of the platform made me so fucking angry. Also the Tyrant killed him during the last fight when I was trying to keep everyone alive :)))

10. 20h of gameplay to spent 10min on the last bad guy?? i didn’t like RE4. And I certainly didn’t like the fight against Saddler.

9. Wesker. I have something like 10 tries and 5 of them are me trying to figure out how im supposed to kill the fuckers while struggling with keeping ammos. Sheva was really fucking useless.

8. Jack Norman. Jack is in this because he is honestly the most fucked up BOWs bro could teleport and make illusion of him. Overall it’s was pattern recognition (thx autism) that beat his ass. Also he is terrifying? And Chris was absolutely useless.

7. The Haos. I didn’t have bullet anymore so I would wait for Piers to attack for me. It was long because the bot in RE6 are useless and they kept not healing me while standing right next to me?? And the Haos’s kind of the only memorable boss in RE6 because Piers dies right after :(

6. Jack Krauser this time. (To explain i played the og) COULDN’T THEY TELL ME SOONER I NEED TO USE MY KNIFE??? Leon went kaboom so much because of this

5. Nemesis. Not even going to specify which fight. The two last one. Carlos was useless "Careful more zombies coming" I KNOW IT’S THE 6TH TIME YOURE TELLING ME I CAN’T SHOOT NEMESIS WHEN HES RUNNING ON FUCKING WALL. And i couldn’t figure out how to shoot bro with the big gun.

4. Excella and the cadavers. GUESS WHO ALSO WAS USELESS DURING THIS FIGHT?? SHEVA!! (At least she helped with Jill because i just shot Jill without thinking lol.

3. William but only with Leon (?). Like i spent so long trying to correctly shoot him without him throwing shit at me and with Claire I did it in under 10min??? Then he beat my ass again in Darkside Chronicles. I didn’t feel very sad for him very long…

2. Alexia. Alexia is a pain in the ass. And a naked one. Im at the very end, I have 10 ammos left, Claire’s mourning, my health bar is red. And you’re in a very small space AGAIN. She sends little insects that one-shotted me and then when you finished phase 1 you get phase 2 where she fucking flies and you have to shoot her except she flies and dodges and sends fireball. Almost rage quit (then 5min after Chris get his ass whooped by Wesker)

Special mention for Pedro, ily you’re not on this list because i didn’t beat you with Claire the first time i played lol.

For the fat T-Abyss zombies. You were a pain in the ass because you could one shot me (the most annoying part was the hundred of other zombies who kept spawning)

Not special mention for Simmons. Because you just couldn’t take a hint and kept coming back in another animal, lion, t-rex, fly??? Not even the same animals group?? I can’t remember who else i fought in Re6 because it wasn’t rememberable.

For the little guy in re4, can’t remember his name. Annoying but kinda cathartic ?

And for the OG tyrant, eat shit. But good job killing Wesker lol

Who else did we fight? Do we fight a boss in RE0? I don’t think we did? I mean the plant but not really we exploded it. The plant? I can’t remember the name of the guy im too tired it will come back tomorrow.

1. THE FUCKING TYRANT IN CODE VERONICA. MY SWORN ENEMY. THE VIDEO GAME ENEMY I PROBABLY SPENT THE MOST TIME TRYING TO BEAT. Im not even kidding it took me 3 days to beat his ass. I was in tears when i finally pushed his ass out of my plane. He’s the fucker i don’t want to see in the Remake lol.