#and yeah its just a really brilliant game design

[mania-sama]

Repetition in Mondstadt (Genshin Impact Analysis)

In response to @sleepytwyla42's request for my thoughts in Old Mondstadt, I present you this: something that is not quite Old Mondstadt but kind of sort of is. If you squint. :)

One of the most common and sensible theories for Genshin Impact's main storyline is that the Traveler is going to return to Mondstadt for, essentially, Round 2 of Archon quests. This is backed namely by the fact that the Mondstadt storyline feels very unfinished, especially in comparison to the other nations. There are several mysteries left yet to unfold, with their proximity to Khaenri'ah being one and the upside-down tainted Anemo Statue of the Seven being another. However, I'd like to present a slightly different point of view on why we are probably going to be returning to Mondstadt before this game is over:

Mondstadt's theme of repetition. Yes, I think it has even Sumeru beat out on this theme. Here's why.

Everybody knows the story of Old Mondstadt and Decarabian. It's fairly straightforward: Decarabian, the god of storms, and Andrius, the north wind (god of ice and snow, if you wish to interpret it that way) get into a small war with each other during the chaotic, power-struggle time period overall known as the Archon War. Andrius covers the land now known as Mondstadt in ice and snow, making it virtually uninhabitable by humans, which causes Decarabian to gather his followers/people into a sectioned-off area. He encases his segment in protective winds, and although it does a good job of keeping out the cold, he also completely traps his people inside. They cannot escape (for the most part), he treats them terribly, hides in his tower to "watch" over them, and is overall an evil tyrant. When evil tyrants rule, revolutions tend to happen. After encouragement from a small wind sprite giving a blessing to a group of Gunnhildr's that left Decarabian's land to live in the cold, Mondstadt's people uprise and overthrow Decarabian's rule. No, we do not know where Decarabian is now. We are not quite sure where his body is or how they managed to contain such a powerful god.

Anyway, now that we have a brief summary of Old Mondstadt, it is time to move to what happens next. Decarabian's (ex) followers all leave to live in the little sprite-blessed town called Mondstadt. The wind sprite strikes up a deal with Andrius; Andrius stops terrorizing the land and gives up his title of Anemo Archon to Barbatos, and Barbatos proceeds to terraform the land to be more habitable to his newfound people. These people pack up and move to Cider Lake, which is then terraformed to keep the city strategically protected.

Now we have (New?) Mondstadt and the Anemo Archon. Here is where our repetition begins.

The Genshin Impact manga depicts two times of Mondstadt's history: one, the Era of Aristocracy, which was Venessa's early life in Mondstadt as a slave battling for her freedom. The second is Diluc and Kaeya's timeline, about 3-4 years before the main timeline events, where their father dies, they fight, and Diluc defects. For right now, we will focus on the Era of Aristocracy.

Here is this thing about aristocracy: it doesn't come out of nowhere. Generally speaking, based on actual human history, ruling clans, factions, and families tend to come from the early founders of a certain city/state/nation. They could also come from the noble classes of other cities/states/nations, and they just use their wealth, power, and status to establish dominance in whatever region they are taking over. Really, truly, the whole of Mondstadt is pretty reminiscent of French and English history.

To tie into Mondstadt: Really, truly, the whole of this nation is pretty reminiscent of French and English history. We see that Decarabian is overthrown by the people. What we don't see, at first, is that the ones leading the charge would later become the major and minor noble clans. Some of them probably already were noble families (case in point, the Gunnhildrs probably were. They most likely used some sect of their power to escape the storms and brave the Monstadt's snowy wasteland). A tyrannical ruler is never going to rule alone. They are always going to have an upper noble class that they have in their pocket to quell the common people and stomp out uprisings. You have to have friends to defeat your enemies. Or, you want to keep those wealthy who are happy, appealing to other proverb keep your friends close but your enemies closer. The noble class can kill you. Typically, peasants cannot.

Until the peasants do kill you. In this case, they probably still did have help from some rich people. See: the likelihood of the Gunnhildr family being high nobles. MOVING ON.

So three big clans established Mondstadt on Cider Lake with the blessing of freedom and independence from Barbatos: Gunnhildr, Lawrence, and Imunlaukr (which seems to have faded into obscurity in modern Mondstadt, but I digress). You may be thinking: what about Ragnvindr? I imagine they were a noble class at this time, along with many unnamed ones; they were likely lesser nobles and weren't those founding Mondstadt like the big three.

What do nobles do when they gain power? That's right. THEY BECOME TRYANTS! Even though Barbatos gave them their independence to escape tyranny, rich people did what rich people do best and they became rulers and tyrants. This is where we see the first major repetition come into play in Mondstadt's history. Even though they all knew of Decarabian's tyranny like the back of their hand, history still repeated itself. Like it always doomed to do.

And like Venti is always doomed to do, he wakes from his slumber to give his blessing to his people to overthrow the tyrannical Lawrence clan. As for the other clans, people tend to herald the Gunnhildr clan mainly for being awesome and helping the people, but they were still a clan that did NOTHING until the common people revolted. Which is also pretty common in real-life history. Rich clans tend to only cash in when it seems profitable, and in order to not be exiled with the "bad guys", even though their inaction was still aiding the tyranny (proverb: "Evil persists when good people do nothing"),

We come to the modern day, where the clans are still evident in different ways. While the Lawrence clan and Imunlaukr clans have both lost significant power and relevance (due to their previous exile) and are more just an occasional societal nuisance, the Gunnhildr and Ragnvindr clans are still extremely prevalent in modern society. And while I am not saying that either of them is going to repeat their ancestors' mistakes any time soon (moreso Diluc than Jean, no hate to my queen though, it's just the archetype of intense, overworked protection leading to Accidental Tyranny), it still shows that Mondstadt cannot let go of the scars of the past. Their aristocracy still exists, it just breathes a different air.

It seems inevitable that one day, it will be the Gunnhildr's turn to be tyrannical. It's just how this thing goes. Or, someone else is going to come in and take over to terrorize the Mondstadt citizens. I am going to use this as a shitty transition into the second repetition: Dvalin and Durin.

By the time Dvalin comes around, the Archon War is finished and done with. This also means that dragons are Not Liked by General Populous, so nobody really likes this new, innocent creature. Nobody tries to befriend it. Except for, well, Venti. Venti and Dvalin the Dragon become friends. They are ride or DIE, okay. And then the abyss strikes.

While Mondstadt's people fight a war on the ground by sending out a squadron to the apparent source of the abyssal monsters (Khaenri'ah), Venti and Dvalin fight a sky(?) war against the Khemia-dragon named Durin, who is most notable for being Evil, corrupted by the Abyss, and for terrorizing the citizens of Mondstadt. Dvalin and Venti manage to defeat Durin, but not without grave hits to their health. They both seem to follow the path of deep slumber to recover from the abyssal corrosion they suffered from the fight. And while Venti seemed to heal... Dvalin, with an immense lack of Venti's archon power, is not so lucky.

Dvalin is then woken from his slumber and his abyssal corrosion from his fight 500 years ago is used to by the Abyss to be Evil and terrorize the citizens of Mondstadt. Sound familiar? Yes, because this is the second major repetition. While it isn't the exact same circumstances, it is still similar. Proper measures were not taken to root out evil (like the Mondstadt aristocracy), and thus, evil came back with a vicious bite. Thankfully, the Traveler's ability to cure abyssal corrosion seems to have solved the biggest of these issues. Still don't know what's going on with Durin's heart, though. That's kind of. Concerning.

But on the topic of dragons, we do have another pretty important and relevant repetition, which concerns both the first and the second half of the Genshin Impact manga, and now with our favorite evil organization: the Fatui!

The Era of Aristocracy is a painful time in Mondstadt's history. It is also a point in time when Ursa the Drake was roaming around Mondstadt. For those unaware, the creature drake is essentially just a dragon/dragon-like animal. So, by accordance to our pre-established rules, Ursa was not very well liked at this point. She was also a bit of a foul creature, unlike Dvalin, who was pretty innocent and unassuming at his point of roaming Teyvat originally.

Vanessa and her tribe run into Ursa the Drake while traveling in the Mondstadt wilderness, which is what leads to their seeking of refugee, capture, and subsequent enslavement by the high nobles in Mondstadt on Cider Lake. They do eventually have to fight Ursa the Drake again in the gladiator-type arena while attempting to win their freedom, and while they think they've killed Ursa, they've merely driven her away.

Which is why she comes back, 1000 years later. Ursa the Drake serves as sort of our third and fourth repetition. For now, I will just focus on the third major repetition: the mere fact of her return. Just like always, something that is not properly vanquished will come back to bite in Mondstadt. And so it does: Ursa does not merely terrorize a group of traveling tribesmen. Ursa indirectly kills Crepus, Diluc's father, which leads to a massive political scandal. Eroch, a high-ranking member of the Knights of Favonius, tries first to make Diluc take credit for killing Ursa (at this point in time, Ursa had only been driven away again, not killed). Eroch suggests this because Diluc, newly 18 - quite literally, it was his birthday - and promoted in the Knights, was the only one there at the time of Crepus' death. Diluc, enraged by the suggestion, promptly quits the Knights and flees Mondstadt entirely after a fight with his adopted brother, Kaeya. Eroch takes claim for the defeat, but that is quickly uprooted and dismissed.

As I've repeated, nothing that is not killed comes back. Nothing that is not defeated will bite. Ursa does not come back again, but she is killed by a Fatui Harbinger: Il Dottore, the Doctor, the Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. And the big thing to understand about Dottore is that he is not a dumb man; he does not do something nice for the sake of nicety. No. This action of eliminating a major threat to Mondstadt makes Mondstadt indebted to Snezhnaya and the Fatui Harbingers.

You all have (presumably) played the Archon Quest. You know that the major point of concern for our leaders of Mondstadt is to make sure that the Fatui have no hand in eliminating Dvalin. That would put them in an incredibly horrendous position with Snezhnaya, and they could not afford it. Hence, our fourth major repetition: a dragon that terrorizes Mondstadt and leads to immense pressure from Mondstadt and the Fatui Harbingers. A problem that is not killed or defeated coming to bite them in the ass, as always.

It is also at this point that Venti makes a reappearance in Mondstadt. He wakes up again to help his people, as he always does when it is apparent their freedom is in danger. So far, this has been recorded in these instances (excluding the Archon War/and the years following. Only starting from when he first relinquished full freedom to his people): the Era of Aristocracy, the Cataclysm, and the Stormterror.

... But it really isn't Stormterror, is it? Because we know that Dvalin was never really out to kill anybody. He was being hurt and manipulated. That situation is quite unlike the Cataclysm, in which he likely also received a calling from Celestia and the other gods to, I don't know, do something??????????? So it can't just be Stormterror. Venti knows that his people's freedom is at stake.

And, well, that Abyss issue was never really resolved in Mondstadt, was it? Durin's heart is still beating, Venti's statue is corroded and upside-down, and the hilichurls and other Abyssal creatures still have strongholds and are forming true offenses against Mondstadt. And the Fatui are still, you know, around. They were never defeated. Only minorly wounded, a mere setback in their plan.

If I know anything about Mondstadt, it is that their oversights will eat them alive.

At least Barbatos is sticking around for this one.

[tbshorts]

Turtwig and Torterra are almost perfect. Grotle........ is also there.

Chimchar really doesn't look like much, but Infernape absolutely rips

Piplup is easily the best gen 4 starter, Empoleon is practically a legendary

Video scripts below the cut

Turtwig:

Ah, the worst gen 4 starter - I'm kidding! I'm kidding. It's only second worst. It's a simple concept, executed well: what if a tortoise was also the seed of a plant, and as the tortoise grows, so does the tree on its shell. It recalls the idea of world turtles, the best cosmological concept, which is also hinted at in Torterra's pokédex entries.

But, right, Turtwig - like most starters it's mostly designed to be cute, with its broad smiling jaw and oversized upper lip and chibi proportions. The lil' twig with the two leaves on the head is just adorable, it's the pokémon version of a propeller hat, and I'm really charmed by it.

As for Grotle, well, middle stages are often awkward, and with its weird almost caterpillar body shape and two… bushes(?) on the back, it looks a bit half-finished. It really could have done more to imply a flowering garden on its back, it looks too barren.

Torterra, though? Fuck yeah, Torterra, this pokémon is so fucking cool. A giant tortoise with legs like tree trunks and claws made of boulders, and hills and trees perched upon its back, that RULES. My only criticism is that it is way too small in-game. If it was Wailord sized, it'd be S-tier.

Grade: A

Chimchar

Chimchar is probably the weakest design among the starters, both it and Monferno never really transcend just being… monkeys with fire on their tails. Chimchar has the… well it's supposed to be the shape of a small ember on its head, but let's be real, it looks like a poop, and there just isn't enough THERE to make it more than what it seems on the surface.

Monferno at least has the blue and red face markings, slightly recalling the idea of a mandrill, which is cool, and a bit of that wild white collar, which, okay, that's something, but it still barely looks special - if anything it looks like a first-stage evolution, honestly.

Infernape, thankfully, makes up for a LOT of lost ground. The billowing fire hair gives it a sense of dynamism, the powerful red crest on the face makes it look tough, the bright white is striking and the decorative gold pads on its body recalls how divinity is often decorated in Asian art. It's trite to compare every mystical monkey to Sun Wukong, but it does feel like some of him or Hanuman is in here, the design has a ton of charisma. And I really like that it remains slim, it looks agile, quick, clever, and more than a little mischievous. Weak pre-evolution designs are worth it to get to here.

Grade: B

Piplup is easily the best gen 4 starter, Empoleon is practically legendary

Piplup is the cutest gen 4 starter and also the best designed, this lil' guy is such an instant and immediate charmer. Being a baby penguin, how could it not be, but also the way that its blue markings are "fastened" on its beak and cascade down into a cloak hanging over its shoulders gives it a real "preschool kid in a raincoat" vibe that I love, and the two "buttons" on the tummy like it's wearing overalls just… god it's cute.

Prinplup avoids the awkwardness of middle stage evolutions, looking both cute with its plump little body, buttons and tailcoat, like a kid wearing his first fancy suit, but also like it's fast and powerful, thanks to those sleek fins and the head crest.

Empoleon, meanwhile… like holy shit, this thing looks like a LEGENDARY. The beak extending into a shape which is both a crown AND a trident is genuinely brilliant design, the picture of a nautical ruler. The stippling on the white marking makes it look like a fancy cravat of a king or prince, the hard edges of its collar look at once regal and dangerous, like it could slice you to piece with it, and together with those shield-like hard fins gives it an air of invulnerability almost. This thing is INTIMIDATING, it's regal, it's powerful, it's amazing!

Grade: S

[midnightechoes]

Five years ago today, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power premiered on Netflix. I had seen a few preview articles about it, and liked what I saw. Those articles mostly focused on She-Ra’s, Adora’s, Glimmer’s, Bow’s, and Catra’s redesigns, and I thought they were fabulous. I loved Adora’s new red jacket and bouffant hair style. Glimmer’s entire redesign was inspired, and I loved that they made Bow black so we could have more diversity in the main cast.

It was She-Ra’s and Catra’s redesigns that caught my eyes the most, though. They made Catra an actual catgirl, and not just in the anime sense where she's just a cute girl with cat ears and maybe a cat tail. She was a full-on furry. It was a brilliant design choice. Honestly it’s no wonder that so many were instantly drawn to her.

And of course, She-Ra herself. I loved her new look, and her huge ass new Sword of Protection. In fact, I loved it so much that I drew this picture of her before the show even came out:

Then the show came out, and needless to say, I fell in love. And honestly, it changed my life.

I know, I know. That sounds very hyperbolic, and to an extent it is, but in a lot of ways, I’m absolutely serious.

Alright, I have to back up a little. Back when I was in college, and for a few years after, a couple of friends and I tried to make a webcomic called The Devil’s Gate. It was minorly successful but eventually floundered. Then I met some people and we tried to make a video game, which also failed. After those few years, I found myself on my own and trying to rework the concept of my webcomic. Making comics, creating stories, those have always been my dream, and I was desperately trying to figure out a story I could make work, something that I believed in. But it never truly got off the ground. By the end of 2015 I had given up on the comic, realizing that after working on it for years in different forms that I needed to step away from it.

I didn’t really know what to do after that. I was still doing my quick daily doodles, but I wasn’t writing, I wasn’t drawing anything of note. I felt emotionally and physically drained of my creativity. I was honestly getting to the point where I thought it might be time for me to give up on trying to be creative or making things all together.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power came out on November 13, 2018, but despite looking forward to it, I didn’t actually watch it when it came out. It wasn’t until that weekend that I decided to check it out.

I was instantly hooked. I binged through the entire season in two days, and did plenty of crying and cheering. And then rewatched it immediately. I was in love. I was obsessed. It had been a long time since anything grabbed me like SPOP did. I loved the characters. I loved the colorful, sci-fi-fairy tale world of Etheria. I loved how unapologetically feminine it was. And most of all, I loved how queer it was.

I hadn’t done a ton of shipping before SPOP. I’ve been down bad for harlivy for what feels like my whole life, and I was angry when Mika and HG didn’t get together in Warehouse 13, but more often than not I had just been conditioned not to look for queer things in mainstream culture, and even barely in subculture.

That is to say, when I was smashed in the face with Catradora I was surprised how much I glommed onto it immediately. I was absolutely taken with Adora and Catra and their relationship. Both characters were so relatable, and despite not quite being text (although the subtext was so loud and obvious it might as well have been text), it was impossible to not read their feelings for each other as romantic.

It wasn’t just Catradora, even if that was a lot of it. Spinnerella and Netossa being canon from the start was wonderful. How much Glimmer and Bow screamed “BISEXUAL DISASTERS” from the start was adorable. Scorpia’s crush on Catra was as cute as it was sad in its one-sidedness.

I had never really been in a fandom. That is, yeah I’ve liked things, loved things even, but I never found other people to talk about it at length, never found discords just for that thing, never read or wrote fanfic, barely ever drew fanart. 

But, I watched SPOP, and then I watched it again. And then I drew Catra. And then I drew Adora. And then I drew them again. And suddenly I was on AO3, a site I never frequented, reading Catradora fics. And then I had an AO3 account. That December I participated in Catradora Week 2018 (I’d never heard of this kind of thing) and drew two pictures for it and wrote my first fanfic.

By the end of February I had drawn more in the three months since the show had premiered than I had in the previous year. I was working furiously on a long, multi-chapter fanfic, and writing more words than I had in the previous couple of years combined.

I was inspired again.

In the 18 months that SPOP ran for, I drew more than I had in years, I wrote hundreds of thousands of words. I felt so rejuvenated and happy about my creativity and free for the first time in years.

It’s hard to put into words exactly how it felt. I was so close to giving up my art and writing, which honestly, would have been giving up a part of myself. An important part of myself. It’s not overstating that SPOP saved me, or at least my creative spirit.

I also learned about the wonders of being in a fandom and fandom things like fan weeks, big bangs, zines. And I made some wonderful friends that I cherish to this day.

Even as I inevitably moved onto other hyperfixations, my love for She-Ra hasn’t diminished. Plushie Catra and Adora sit next to me on my desk every day. Catradora art still hangs on my wall.

The inspiration that SPOP ignited in me hasn’t died either. It’s carried me through a tremendous level of creativity that I’ve been riding since the premiere. It let me create a ton of fan art for SPOP, and then RWBY and then the Witch From Mercury, and I’ve written a ton of fanfics for RWBY and Supergirl. And perhaps the best, that inspiration has helped me create more OC stuff in the last couple years than I had in a long time.

I owe She-Ra and The Princesses of Power so much. I am so happy that it exists and that it happened when it did. I’ll always cherish it.

And for real, Netflix, SPOP spin-off movies WHEN?!

[hakugreenfinch]

Ooh Mouthwashing discussion! It's so weird how the fandom went from hating Jimmy to hating Curly!! And the the weirdest thing of all to me- the people who go "well if Anya had just told Swansea about the assault and not Curly, Jimmy would've gotten his ass kicked!" And it's like... no? Part of the point of the game is that nobody would've done anything! Whether it's because they're the captain, too new, or just doesn't want to get involved, no one was going to help Anya. It's wild to me that people can villainize Curly and Jimmy but not Swansea.

ok so uh sorry anon this ask has been buried in my inbox for like to months ToT

but yeah the way especially among fresh new fans there seems to be a need to have a "good guy" and a "bad guy" has been kinda fascinating to me. im going to just ramble with some excellent posts from other people who i think have the biggest brains if you dont mind!

so i will never deny that i fell for most "first play" tricks, especially because the insane replay value is one of the games biggest charmpoint to me. i will also never deny that i first became interested in mouthwashing because i saw post-crash curly's design and ti amo started playing in my head i was hooked on his design immediately because hey what happened to this guy? does that not hurt him? however i will say that despite having been told "he deserves to burn in hell" i did avoid that one thing. i could not imagine anyone deserving to go through all that pain and abuse. so now planning my 9th run and looking back it is even more fascinating how far some people will go to demonize curly, ignoring every circumstance that he couldnt help and that stopped him from thinking rationally or doing what we think he should have done. its actually quite ironic, people censoring jimmy's name and refusing to see him as anything but an inhuman monster while doing the exact thing he did and blaming curly because "hes the captain".

now, about swansea. there is also an irony to how people want him to be a savior to anya and to untangle this we need to understand that the tulpar crew is not a group of friends, they are coworkers, two of whom happen to have been friends for a while. and because of this it is very important that anya asking curly for help wasnt an act of friendship but an employee reporting abuse to her boss. the irony here is that people are hard on curly because he is the captain and he should have done this or that while also saying anya should have asked the mechanic of the ship for help and not her superior. and then theres also the part where anya does in canon ask swansea for help, to which swansea very likely gives a negative response (anya is crying when we find them in the cockpit) and a month later gives jimmy the axe, not lifting a finger to help anyone until daisuke gets hurt.

and im glad you hint at daisuke also probably not being as willing to help as we want to think he would be because mhm! mhm! i think this is the point to say that i very dearly love all of these characters. their writing is brilliant and i wish they all got the help they needed with their problems. but trying to sort them into boxes of "good people" and "bad people" is ultimately a misunderstanding of what the game wants to say about human nature and morality. daisuke wouldnt have helped not because hes a bad person but because this isnt something he can or should deal with on his own. when your coworker is being weird to you, you dont go to the student doing dishes for $30 a week, you go to the manager.

all this to say, i dont think swansea (or daisuke) should be villanized, just like how curly should not be villanized. heck, i kinda dont like it when jimmy is referred to as a "villain" because that to me implies an intention and motive that he doesnt really have - but thats another tale for another day when i dont fear people reading things i dont mean into my words. my point here is that yeah, it is ignoring many aspects of who curly is as a person and swansea's complexities that make him one of the most brilliantly written characters ive ever seen. which is a shame, this story is supposed to be turning our gears and forcing us to make peace with our favourite characters making mistakes and hurting those around them and suffering the consequences.

[dalesramblingsblog]

Yeah completed the Andor rewatch, no words. It's nothing short of a game changer in the base terms of what you can do with Star Wars Andor does things that no piece of this franchise has ever dared to do in almost fifty years of existence. It is phenomenally well-produced, well-written, timely, and simply one of the most intelligent pieces of franchise media of the decade; certainly I would have a hard time believing that there is a single other Star Wars thing from the 2020s that compares to this.

The biggest crime Tony Gilroy is guilty of in the creation of this show is simply in showing up how it is entirely possible for movies and TV shows of this kind to be more than just soulless IP recognition conveyor belts designed to funnel kids into buying merchandise. Not only that, but he makes it look absolutely fucking effortless (while also clearly demonstrating a lot of craft and attention to quality, if that isn't a contradiction). The fact that there aren't more franchise shows of this quality out there is an embarrassment, plain and simple.

And I need you to understand, once again, that I am not a Star Wars fan in the widely understood definition of that term. I am generally not someone who will watch something purely for the fact of its being Star Wars, certainly not if it's a streaming original series.

And I haven't really given a toss about anything the franchise has done since The Last Jedi came out, was good, and a bunch of fucking Nazis and incels lost their minds because they just couldn't tolerate their perfect little space wizard boy from the eighties not being the centre of the universe for five minutes after forty years of pop culture iconicity. So when I say Andor is unequivocally brilliant, know that I really, truly mean that.

I wish I had twelve more weeks of this to look forward to rather than only four.

[spliqi]

lucy and/or sigma for the ask game!!

LENA hello!! <3

lucy maud montgomery - bsd

favorite thing about them: oh god. where do i begin. lucy’s character is one that i admit i didn’t examine too closely at first but i’m so pleased i did because she’s amazing. she’s such a brilliant subversion of so many romantic tropes especially in regards to her relationship with atsushi. the fact that she’s set up to be the conventional damsel in distress and a cut-and-paste version of him, but then throughout their relationship she turns all of that on its head. becoming the hero she needed when atsushi fails to save her, having her development pushed by a male character instead of existing solely to further his, her relationship with kyouka developing as a criticism of love triangles/rivals — instead of fighting with another girl over a guy it’s their mutual care for him that brings them together and keeps them strong. her and atsushi looking after each other in each other’s love languages — she risks her life to save him, an act which is so important to him he feels it’s his life’s purpose, while he is open and vulnerable with her — the one thing she struggles with most. yeah. also her design is gorgeous, one of the best in the series imo

least favorite thing about them: that she doesn’t play more of a central role in the story #tbh

favorite line:

i could write an akulucy thesis abt this

brOTP: lucy & kyouka! also mutuals have converted me into lucy & sigma brainrot

OTP: MONTCOTT ARGHHHH bashes my head into the wall repeatedly. also atsulucy if that giant rant at the beginning didn’t give it away

nOTP: lucy/kyouka. also not particularly fond of lucy/twain for a reason i can’t figure out

random headcanon: that she collects stuffed animals in anne's room and gives them as gifts to people she really likes

unpopular opinion: uhhh that she isn't one-dimensional. and her feelings for atsushi don't take away from her character just because they're a significant part of it. there are many characters in bsd who have heavy ties to another character (many of those ties much stronger than lucy's are) and none of them get the same flak as the female characters seem to

song i associate with them: BECAUSE LOVE GROWSSS WHERE MY ROSEMARY GOESSSS AND NOBODY KNOWSSSS LIKE MEEEE and also aint it fun by paramore <3

favorite picture of them: her early manga droopy eyes can be something so personal 🫶

sigma - bsd

favorite thing about them: his mysterious backstory... i love theorizing about him and what author he could possibly represent. his design is also absolutely stunning and i'm still mourning how much of it was sacrificed by bones studio

least favorite thing about them: his anime adaptation

favorite line: "It might just be a trick, but Dazai paid a price. An immense price. It's part of the casino's style to match the customer's stakes."

brOTP: siglai!

OTP: years of slander and mischaracterization and still nobody has managed to wean me off sigzai. you bozos will have to pry them from my cold dead hands. also kunisig!! also my guilty pleasure sigsskk (yes you read that right. no i didn’t accidentally type an extra s)

nOTP: sigma/teruko

random headcanon: not random at all and in fact very popular hc but sigma ur so transgender.... transmasc sigma = peak. transfem sigma = peak. nonbinary sigma = peak. honestly every trans hc can be reasonably supported by the text and i just love that about him. i love them all

unpopular opinion: he’s not dumb he’s not a baby he knows when he’s being taken advantage of!!! he knows when he’s being manipulated he just goes along with it anyway because he’s that desperate for somewhere to belong !!!!! that’s the whole point!!!! that’s why his relationship with dazai (and atsushi) is so important!! through them he’s learning that home is where the heart is and that it doesn’t have to be conditional or transactional

song i associate with them: skyfall is too obvious of an answer so i'm gonna say split by 88rising & niki 🙏 also coin by iu for the casino vibes. i used to have a sigma playlist but i’ve forgotten every song that was in it so that’s all you’re getting

favorite picture of them: LOL i have so many. he’s so expressive

character ask game

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials - NUMBER 1🥇: Danganronpa 2 Case 4 {BEST CASE IN DR2}

//One could argue that this case doesn't reach the same incredible heights as the case that comes after it. One could also argue that the emotions that this trial gives off make it unworthy of the top spot.

//Many could argue that there are holes in the writing that really make the intentions not come through as clearly as they could do.

//And to be honest, I was seriously considering putting 2-5 at the top of this list, because I do agree that it's probably the better mystery, and story arc, of this game.

//However, this is still my list. And as I said before, I am ranking these trials based on how important they are to me, how much they resonated with me emotionally, and how much I enjoyed them. Effectively, if they had a lasting impact on me, and how strongly they did.

//And with that in mind, I simply could not put Game 2 Case 4 anywhere else.

//As I’ve mentioned before, the fourth cases in these games often mark the point where the mysteries start to push boundaries, leaning into ideas that feel uniquely suited to the medium of video games. This is usually when the developers get more daring with the setup, location, atmosphere, and sometimes even technical elements of the case.

//This applies to both Kodaka AND LINUJ.

//But among them, this particular case holds a special place in my heart.

//Here's why:

//For starters, I absolutely adore this chapter.

//It’s one of those rare gems where everything feels deliberately crafted to mess with your head, in the best way possible. Much like Chapter 4 in V3, the environment itself takes center stage, practically becoming its own character in the narrative.

But while V3’s virtual world only influences the case itself, this chapter traps you in its bizarre locale for the entire duration. This location, as we've referenced a few times up until now, is a giant, fruit-themed funhouse.

//A murder mystery set in a place that sounds like it was dreamed up by a sugar-high interior designer with a vendetta against logic. It’s as unusual as it is brilliant.

//But yes. We've talked about Sakura's locked rec room, the virtual world, the ballroom, and the Tower of Babel, and now we finally get to talk about the infamous Strawberry House/Grape House; a maze-like funhouse whose entire purpose is to confuse the living daylights out of everyone inside.

//And trust me, it succeeds spectacularly. Like V3-4, and what made that case so damn good, is that understanding how the building, particulatly the central tower, works, is downright essential.

//But while the mechanics of the funhouse are enough to make your head spin, what really elevates this chapter is the contrast. For a case that’s as ridiculously complicated and meta as they come, the setup is shockingly raw, relatable, and utterly heartbreaking.

//The despair kicks in from the moment you wake up in this architectural fever dream. There’s a sense of suspense hanging in the air, and before you can catch your breath, Monokuma drops his latest sadistic twist: you’re not leaving the funhouse unless someone kills someone.

Also, to add to the desperation, despite the fact that we're in a funhouse based on food, there IS NO FOOD! So, you’re left with the cruelest ultimatum imaginable: kill or starve. Survive or succumb.

//Personally, I think this setup is complete bullshit, but it’s also what makes this chapter so unforgettable. It’s a constant pressure cooker, and just when you think things can’t get worse, Monokuma turns the dial up to eleven with mandatory Monokuma Tai Chi sessions. Fun fact: Tai Chi on an empty stomach only makes you hungrier! Who knew?

//But yeah, we've already talked about the motives in this story that are basically "kill someone, or die," but I think that argument works for V3-1, and not so much 2-4. And it's mainly got to do with the difference in motives for the Masterminds.

//While Tsumugi is just desperate to get the latest season of her killing game kicked off, AI Junko in DR2 REALLY needs people to die so she can take over her bodies, which is largely why the motives in Game 2 feel like more targeted attacks. If you think about it:

Case 1's motive feels like it could apply to anyone, but Monokuma must have known that Teruteru especially would fall for the trap because he's the one with the sick mother that he needed to get out and save.

Case 2 was set up to be a targeted attack against Fuyuhiko so that he would stage a plan to kill Mahiru and avenge Natsumi.

Case 3 is bullshit because it's literally a brainwashing disease that conviniently makes you act the opposite of how you usually act.

//Compared to some of that, this is tame by comparison.

//At least in terms of ridiculousness and unfairness. Not in terms of desperation; I will make that VERY clear.

//As the days drag on, the desperation becomes almost unbearable. Watching Hajime slowly unravel under the strain is one of the most emotionally gut-wrenching experiences in the entire series. You can practically feel his grip on reality slipping as hunger, confusion, and tension eat away at him and the others. It’s a situation that’s so dire, it might even make you consider snacking between play sessions just to cope.

//(Pro tip: don’t play this chapter while hungry. You’ll regret it.)

//Now, let’s circle back to the Funhouse itself. It’s divided into two sections: Strawberry House, where most of the boys sleep, and Grape House, where the girls and a room-less Hajime bunk down.

//Each side SUPPOSEDLY has its own tower, and while they seem connected, no one can figure out exactly how, besides a single, maddening elevator.

//There are no windows, Monokuma cancels the morning announcements, and any sense of time completely disintegrates. Oh, and there’s something called the Octagon thrown into the mix, just to make everything even more mind-bending.

//This chapter is an assault on the senses, a test of endurance, and a masterclass in psychological tension. It’s frustrating, fascinating, and unforgettable all at once. By the time you finish, you’ll likely be as emotionally drained as the characters. And that’s what makes it so damn great.

//But when the murder actually happens, things get even CRAZIER!

//One of the standout reasons this case is so phenomenal is because it dares to be wildly different from the others, and not just in a "slight deviation from the norm" way, but in a "what-the-actual-fuck-is-happening" kind of way.

//Let’s dive into the first element that makes this case unbelievably unique: the Victim.

//The unfortunate soul this time around is none other than Nekomaru Nidai, and...I do admit that one of the more unfortunate parts of this case is the fact that Nekomaru gets cucked REALLY bad by the narrative in this later part of the story.

//At this point in the story, Nekomaru has already met his untimely demise in an execution that wasn’t even meant for him. But Monokuma, ever the stickler for his own twisted rules, couldn’t let him stay dead, as that would technically break the school trip regulations.

//So, what’s the solution? Resurrect him, of course! But because Monokuma is also a petty jerk, he didn’t just bring Nekomaru back to life, he brought him back as a robot. A full-fledged, chrome-plated, hydraulically-enhanced robot. Out of pure spite. You know, like any sane bear would do.

//So after his execution, he's not only absent for all of Trial 3/the Despair Disease segment of Chapter 3, but after they bring him back, he DIES AGAIN.

//And it makes me feel a lot of shit, because Nekomaru, when you do his FTE's, is actually a RIDICULOUSLY INTERESTING character!

//The big issue with DR2's characters, as much as I love them, is the fact that the best parts of them are only seen in the optional Free Time Events, and without them, they're honestly kind of one-dimensional, and it doesn't make them as sympathetic when they die. Mahiru, Hiyoko, and Teruteru are easily the biggest examples, and Nekomaru is another one.

//All these characters are amazing, but you have to look deeper into them if you really want to see that. I just feel really bad for Nekomaru, because this part of the story screws him over so hard.

//However...Here’s where things get even more interesting: while Nekomaru himself doesn’t play a massive role in the overall murder plot, his robotic status is absolutely central to how the crime unfolds.

//In fact, it’s safe to say this murder could only happen to someone like him. It’s a case tailor-made for a victim with robot-specific quirks, and the execution is nothing short of brilliant.

//Let’s talk specifics, shall we? First up, Nekomaru’s internal radio clock. Unlike everyone else, he has a perfectly accurate internal timepiece, making him the only one who would know the exact time down to the second.

//Then there’s his sleep function. He has a built-in mechanism to enter sleep mode, complete with a timer that can wake him up. And it’s not just a nifty feature; it’s a key element in how the murder plays out.

//Add in a host of other robot-specific traits, and you’ve got a murder mystery that feels refreshingly original, pushing the boundaries of what a Danganronpa case can be.

//What makes this all work so well is that it embraces the absurdity of the situation without losing sight of the logic and strategy that define the series. The murder isn’t just unique for the sake of being unique, it’s a puzzle that could only exist in this specific set of circumstances, with this specific victim. It’s bizarre, it’s intricate, and it’s utterly unforgettable.

//Which is also a large contributing factor to why this investigation sequence stands out as my absolute favorite in the entire Danganronpa series. From start to finish, it delivers a perfect blend of creativity, complexity, and downright bizarre twists that keep you on your toes. The clues you uncover are not only unique but also challenging, making it nearly impossible to predict how everything will play out. It’s a mental workout in the best way possible.

//Let’s start with the setup. By the time Nekomaru’s body is discovered, the group feels like they’ve got a decent grasp on how the funhouse operates. But then, as you start piecing things together, you realize, some of the evidence directly contradicts what everyone thought they understood about the layout.

//This throws a wrench into the group's theories and forces you to think beyond the obvious. The only way to crack this case is by carefully examining each clue, laying them all out in a neat little mental grid, and connecting the dots one by one.

//What’s brilliant here is that almost all the conclusions the group reaches feel logical in some way, even if they’re hilariously off the mark at times.

//Now, let’s talk about the real highlight of this investigation. We all love to rave about the protag switch in Danganronpa V3, but does anyone remember that Game 2 briefly pulled the same trick?

//During this investigation, Hajime, who’s stuck in Grape House, can’t cross over to Strawberry House to investigate. So who steps up to the plate instead? None other than everyone’s favorite chaotic wildcard, Nagito Komaeda. And let me tell you, it’s every bit as wild as you’d expect.

//The peak of Nagito’s investigation is the iconic Final Dead Room sequence. This part is pure nostalgic gold, as it feels like Danganronpa took a detour through an early 2000s Big Fish-style point-and-click adventure game. The sheer absurdity of solving puzzles in this creepy, isolated room, combined with the ominous atmosphere, makes it a standout moment.

//And then, of course, there’s the Russian Roulette scene. This is where Nagito’s…unique...personality really shines. Not only is the concept of spinning a loaded gun for clues objectively insane, but the way he handles it, like it’s just another Tuesday, is as hilarious as it is unnerving.

//tldr; It’s a brilliant combination of clever game design, character development, and humor, all wrapped up in the offbeat charm that Danganronpa does so well. Whether it’s the jaw-dropping twists, the nostalgic game mechanics, or the pure chaos of stepping into Nagito’s shoes, this sequence has it all, and that’s why it works so perfectly.

//And then when we get to the trial, and all of these things are brought up. And holy shit, basically ALL of these elements come together in a way that is downright MASTERFUL!

//Let me say it again for emphasis: this case isn’t just one of the most engaging mysteries in all of Danganronpa, it’s also one of the hardest to crack.

//Seriously, you’ll need to flex every neuron in your brain to make sense of this mind-bender. From understanding time consistencies to grasping environmental nuances, this case demands a lot from you.

//And that’s part of its charm. It’s a delightful challenge that pushes your detective skills to their limits while keeping you glued to the screen.

//The pacing here is impeccable, and every character gets their moment to shine (or stumble hilariously). Even the less-than-genius members of the group, like Akane, contribute to the discussion in surprising ways.

//In fact, not only does she join in in a meaningful way, but Akane ends up being the closest to cracking the case early on, proving that sometimes brute-force logic works!

//I...almost forget that despite being so dumb, Akane is actually super helpful in these trials, because her gut instinct is almost always right. Case 3 notwithstanding.

//The debates feel surprisingly realistic for such an outlandish scenario, with each character proposing their own theories. These range from plausible to downright wacky, but they all make sense in their own way.

//The theories fly fast and furious, covering everything from the layout of the funhouse to the relationship between Strawberry House, Grape House, and the mysterious tower in the middle. Questions about how the elevator works, how it moves, and what secrets it might be hiding dominate the discussion.

//And here’s the kicker: unlike some other cases, almost nothing in this investigation is a red herring. EVERY clue matters, and EVERY detail ties back into the murder somehow. It’s an intricate web that rewards careful observation and critical thinking.

//Now let’s talk about the murder itself, because, wow, it’s a doozy. The killer ends up being, in a very unexpected fashion, Gundham Tanaka, the Ultimate Breeder and hamster enthusiast extraordinaire. Not only that, but he orchestrates one of the most elaborate kills in the series, using almost EVERY aspect of the funhouse to achieve his goal.

//The method is as over-the-top as Gundham himself, and it’s a blast to unravel. Here’s how it went down:

//Gundham manipulated the funhouse’s alarm clocks, setting them back so they’d go off much later than usual. However, Nekomaru had that internal radio clock that always kept perfect time. So, while everyone else is blissfully unaware of the real time, Nekomaru is the only one to wake up for Monokuma Tai Chi.

//Once Nekomaru is alone, Gundham uses the "power of hamsters" to shut him off and ties him to the handle of one of the tower doors.

//Here’s where it gets even crazier: the tower itself is a giant elevator that moves between floors, though it’s designed to keep this fact hidden.

//Gundham manipulates the tower, causing the floor to descend and leaving Nekomaru suspended in midair. When Nekomaru reactivates, he struggles, triggering his fall, and ultimately, his death.

//What makes this case so brilliant is how satisfying it is to piece everything together. The complexity of the setup keeps you guessing until the very end, and the realization of how it all fits together is genuinely exhilarating.

//The sheer creativity of Gundham’s plan, combined with the funhouse’s disorienting design, makes this case a true standout. It’s a wild ride from start to finish, full of twists, turns, and insane moments. And that’s what makes it work. It’s challenging, inventive, and, above all, fun.

//But of course, we need to talk more specifically about Gundham here. And trust me when I say I have been waiting for this for literally almost a month.

//Gundham Tanaka isn’t just my favorite killer in Danganronpa 2, he’s my favorite killer in the ENTIRE SERIES.

//And no, Kaede does not count, because 1) Kaede did not actually kill Rantaro, and 2) even though I like Kaede more as a CHARACTER, I like Gundham's role as a killer more than hers.

//Largely because he combines a brilliant murder plan with an equally compelling motive, both of which fit his eccentric, larger-than-life personality perfectly. His scheme is a masterpiece of manipulation, utilizing every rule and quirk of the funhouse setting to orchestrate an elaborate, nearly unsolvable murder. Add in the unique mechanics of Nekomaru's robotic body, and you’ve got a case that’s as ingenious as it is wild.

//Honestly, this plan was so good that the ONLY reason Gundham lost was due to a minor accident that most players (myself included) don’t even notice until it’s pointed out in the trial!

//Even if the group figured out how Nekomaru died, they might never have deduced who did it if not for sheer chance. Specifically, if Fuyuhiko had chosen to sleep in his assigned room, Gundham’s identity could’ve stayed hidden. That’s how airtight his plan was.

//But what elevates this case even further is Gundham’s motive, which is one of the most fascinating in the series.

//When the trial ends, Chiaki posits that Gundham and Nekomaru might have fought to determine who would die, with Gundham initially luring Nekomaru out with the intent to sacrifice himself so the others could escape the funhouse.

//It’s a noble, heart-wrenching idea that makes perfect sense, but at the same time, it’s only an implication. Gundham never outright admits to it, which adds layers of depth to his character and his actions.

//Instead, Gundham ties his motive to his grandiose, demonic-villain persona and his unique philosophy on life.

//Earlier in the chapter, Hajime expresses his despair over the situation, saying he’d rather starve than see another murder. To Gundham, this attitude is utterly repugnant.

//His entire reason for committing the murder is to jolt the group out of their apathy, to remind them that clinging to life, even in dire circumstances, is a battle worth fighting. It’s a twisted, almost poetic motive that fits Gundham’s character to a T.

//What really makes Gundham’s actions unforgettable, though, is his refusal to drop his villainous façade, even in his final moments. His last words are both inspiring and devastating, cementing his role as a tragic anti-hero.

//Why doesn’t Gundham explicitly admit to his noble intentions? Well, I think there are two reasons.

//First, as he states during his monologue, he wants to uphold his villainous philosophy until the bitter end, sticking to his "evil" persona even as he faces execution.

//Second, I believe he wants to avoid being called a hypocrite. How could he tell the others not to give up on life while willingly sacrificing his own?

//So by keeping his true motives ambiguous, Gundham ensures that his message is one of strength and perseverance, free from contradictions.

//Now...*sigh* Let's talk about the elephant in the room.

//Not too long ago, and while I was looking at references for this review, I have seen a multitude of people talking about Gundham's motives, and being generally confused, and some even upset by the notion. That they think the game is playing it as a noble sacrifice, but believe that it's anything but.

//Beyond what I've just talked about, the murder itself is so elaborate that it overshadows Gundham’s motivations. The focus on the mechanics of the crime, the tower, Nekomaru’s robotic body, and the use of the funhouse’s unique design, leaves little room for deeper exploration of Gundham’s internal reasoning.

//So people usually walk away more impressed by the puzzle-solving than by Gundham’s character arc, leading to dissatisfaction with how his motives are addressed.

//Some fans take issue with this vagueness, finding it hard to reconcile the idea of Gundham as a noble sacrificer with his over-the-top villainous persona. The lack of an explicit confession leaves people questioning whether his actions were truly altruistic or just a convoluted ploy to "play hero."

//And generally, a lot of people seem confused as to why Gundham didn't just step forward and out himself from the start, like how Satsuki Iranami did in A-4.

//What upsets me most, and not to sound rude, is that the reasoning is so BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that I don't see how people miss it. The reason why Gundham stands on ceremony, lets the trial happen, even though he always intended to give his and Nekomaru's life for this cause, is very simple.

//Gundham’s ultimate goal wasn’t just to save the group but to teach them the importance of persistence. He saw that the others were beginning to waver, paralyzed by the dilemma of starvation versus murder. So his actions were designed to snap them out of their indecision, reminding them that survival often requires difficult, morally ambiguous choices.

//He wanted to inspire them to keep moving forward, even if it meant being vilified in the process. And the reason he didn't step forward is BECAUSE of this.

//Gundham wanted everyone to put more value in their lives.

//So what's the best way to do that?

//He makes them FIGHT FOR THEM!

//I'm in no way saying that this kind of moral quandry justifies murder, but while if Gundham had just outed himself as the killer, that would have gotten everyone out of the funhouse quickly and easily, but he didn't WANT it to be easy! Because even if they do escape, that pessimism will be brought out with them, and if Hajime and co. are so willing to give up here, who's to say they won't lay down and die when they reach the NEXT roadblock?

//Gundham’s disdain for Hajime’s willingness to starve reflects his core belief: that life, no matter how dire the circumstances, is WORTH fighting for.

//His decision to kill Nekomaru wasn’t an act of giving up; or an act of burtality or spite. It was a calculated risk to prevent the group from succumbing to Despair.

//By orchestrating the murder, he ensured that the group would be able to escape the funhouse, while also having them struggle to achieve their goals, and realize that their lives are important to them, effectively preserving their ability to continue the fight for survival.

//On top of this, Gundham’s refusal to admit to a noble sacrifice aligns with his commitment to his "evil overlord" persona. To him, openly admitting a selfless motive would contradict the image he’s built for himself and dilute the impact of his message.

//By framing his actions in philosophical terms rather than emotional ones, he maintains his integrity and avoids being seen as a martyr.

//And I would quote his final lines so I can pick apart what all this means, but...

//I think I'd rather let the man himself do it. Take it away, Chris!

//Love this man and his voice btw^^^

//But yeah, this is such an important sequence of dialogue for me, and if you don't mind (you probably do, but I don't care about your feelings) I'm going to pick it apart.

//Gundham begins by acknowledging that he cannot, and will not, force others to adopt his perspective. He's aware that his views are unconventional and that others may not fully understand his actions or motivations. However, this also demonstrates his resolve. Even if his beliefs are not embraced, he remains steadfast in them, confident in their validity.

//Gundham directly challenges the resignation and apathy that had gripped the group in the funhouse. For him, life is inherently valuable, and simply waiting for death without striving for survival or growth is cowardly and meaningless. This sentiment reflects his earlier disdain for Hajime's suggestion that starving to death was preferable to murder. Gundham views such passivity as an insult to the struggles and instincts that define life.

//Gundham identifies the root of the group’s despair: their sense of abandonment and hopelessness. By calling this out, he frames his actions as a rebellion against this mindset. He believes that resignation breeds stagnation and that nothing meaningful or productive can come from surrendering to despair. His words highlight his desire to jolt the group out of their apathy and push them toward action.

//And then the statement "Giving up on life…That's just an insult to life itself!"

//This statement is the core of Gundham’s philosophy. To him, life, regardless of its hardships, is sacred and worth fighting for. Surrendering to despair or choosing to give up on life, in his eyes, is a betrayal of the very essence of existence. This belief underpins his actions throughout the chapter, including his willingness to kill Nekomaru to ensure the survival of the group.

//He goes on to use a zoological metaphor to explain his perspective on survival. By referencing the natural world's harsh realities, he justifies his actions as being in line with the instinctual drive to live. In his view, killing for survival is not inherently evil but rather a natural part of life. This perspective contrasts sharply with human moral frameworks, which often demonize such actions. By invoking nature, Gundham suggests that survival often requires difficult choices that transcend conventional notions of good and evil.

//But then, Gundham flips the moral question back on the group. If survival through killing is deemed evil, then allowing oneself to die without resistance, effectively rejecting life, must be an even greater moral failing. His rejection of this so-called "justice" underscores his defiance against societal norms and his commitment to his beliefs. This statement also reinforces his role as a philosophical antagonist: someone who challenges the group’s, and by extension, the player’s, assumptions about morality.

//In Gundham’s eyes, resignation to death is not just cowardly but also a rejection of the natural order. He believes life is a sacred, universal force, and to willingly abandon it is to defy the very principles of existence. His critique of humanity’s "arrogance" suggests that humans, in their pursuit of moral absolutes and societal constructs, have lost touch with the primal instincts that drive life. To him, embracing those instincts, even when it involves moral ambiguity, is the true path to honoring life.

//People are free to interpret Gundham's words however they want, but for me personally...these words matter.

//These final words encapsulate his philosophy: life is sacred, and to give up on it is the ultimate sin. His rejection of resignation and embrace of survival, even through morally ambiguous means, reflect his unwavering commitment to his ideals, making his character and his death both memorable and thought-provoking.

//This sequence, and Gundham as a character alone, carry this case to the high-heights, but coupling that with what is generally the best mystery, most engaging investigation and trial, and greatest logical loops in the series.

//And it takes it all the way to numero uno.

//So let's give it EVERYTHING we've got! It's RECAP TIME!

#24: Danganronpa 2 Case 3 #23: Danganronpa V3 Case 6 #22: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 5 #21: Danganronpa 1 Case 3 #20: Danganronpa V3 Case 5 #19: Danganronpa 2 Case 2 #18: Danganronpa Another Case 1 #17: Danganronpa Another Case 2 #16: Danganronpa Another Case 5 #15: Danganronpa 1 Case 6 #14: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 4 #13: Danganronpa V3 Case 2 #12: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 6 #11: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 1 #10: Danganronpa 2 Case 1 #9: Danganronpa Another Case 6 #8: Danganronpa Another Case 4 #7: Danganronpa 1 Case 4 #6: Danganronpa V3 Case 4 #5: Danganronpa V3 Case 1 #4: Danganronpa 2 Case 6 #3: Danganronpa 1 Case 2 #2: Danganronpa 2 Case 5 #1: Danganronpa 2 Case 4

//And with that...Happy Dangancember everybody ;) And Merry Christmas!

-Mod

[redguns]

Armored Core 6 main cast thoughts. spoilers for all endings

btw. categorizing endings by number rather than if they're "good" or bad" because i think thats stupid. if you categorize them like that you're a fool! Coral take you!

Starting off with Handler Walter. Went into the game not trusting him at all. Whenever he said anything I always thought "Yeah, okay, whatever Walter. in that kind of mocking tone but that changed quicker than i thought once i realized there was a genuine care in his voice and started putting the pieces together for his end-goal. The second ending is genuinely heartbreaking. He really meant every word he said to you. And I adore him for it. View him like a father now

Moving on, Ayre. My beautiful coral anomaly wife.. her kinder and more supportive demeanor immediately sold me, of course, but it was her efforts to actually get me to care about Rubicon as a planet and it's people that really hit. It's special. It's tasteful. It feels great. And it hurts all the more in the first ending when I have to discard all of that. It sucked so much. I was on the verge of tears throughout the whole final boss of the first ending. Worst break-up of my life. Girl I love you so much

Up next, speaking of love, is "Cinder" Carla, who I fell in love with like, 2 lines in? Very attractive voice and then an incredible personality to go with it. Probably the most fun character in the game by design and it goes a long way. She's like a role model to me. I want to be her and I want to date her at the same time. She's just like me Fr. I want to kiss her

transitioning from that to V.IV- SIKE IT'S "CHATTY" STICK TIME Phenomenal. Absolutely incredible performance. Absolutely sells the no emotion AI aspect without being too overbearing. Armored core as a series has always had a high standard for AI characters, and chatty is absolutely at the top of the pile for me along with Chief from V... I love him so much... The strongest little soldier...

Up next, for real now, is V.IV Rusty. What a strong first impression. It was always his line that stuck with me from the trailer. Ready to climb over the wall? They nailed the "rival pilot who's just like you but in another faction" to a degree I haven't seen in decades. A genuine brother in arms. My best buddy in the world. Every time he showed up in the game he just did the coolest fucking thing in the world. Slides right under the door as its opening. Crackshot sniper nailing insane headshots. And then he gets the coolest fights in the game against you. BOTH OF THEM!! HE'S SO COOL!!! HE'S HIM!!!!!! I WAS SO HAPPY IN THE SECOND ENDING ROUTE TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE HIM!!!! THATS MY BROTHER!!!!!! THATS MY BUDDY!!!!!!!!!

..Ahem, moving on then. V.II Snail. Yes. Another motherfucker they nailed perfectly. From the first SECOND you hear his voice you hate him. The fact his head's up his own ass. The fact you keep learning over and over throughout the game that he's SUCH a piece of shit. The fact there is nothing he wouldn't do to stay on top. Despicable little man. Absolutely brilliant antagonist.

And now, finally, the last main character to talk about is G5 Iguazu. Where to begin with this guy... Right from the get go you understand the kind of character he is. All bark, no bite. Every now and then you run into him, you kick his ass, he whines and seemingly gets away. It's interesting, then, that in the second playthrough, already, he shows up more. He sends an assassin after you. And that's that. Nothing until route 3, where it all finally comes together. How he keeps coming back. The ringing in his ears. His hatred and envy of you so strong he gives up his entire body just for a chance to beat you. He's fascinating to me. For whatever reason, his final words stick to me like glue. How he sees you, despite everything. A relic, yes, but one who's free. He wanted those wings, too. I've really come to love him, and what an annoying brat he is. That's his entire charm. He is welcome to the pantheon of Real Haters

there. that covers all the main players. that ended up being longer than i expected. thank you if you humored reading through all of that! i dont usually do these kinds of posts cause i go on for too long!

but this shit mean something to me man

[edaworks]

Wasteland Survival Guide: The Institute, Fusion Reactors, and M.I.T.'s Actual Basement

It's that time again. Periodically I make unreasonable longposts about Fallout-related topics (it's a good way to keep track of fic research). Today I'm tackling nuclear fusion, the Institute, and the real-world Massachusetts Institute of Technology's basement.

Yeah, Yeah, M.I.T. is the Institute, We've All Seen - Wait, What Do You Mean, "The Vault Laboratory?"

M.I.T. - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - is a highly exclusive research university with a well-deserved reputation for hosting brilliant minds.

It also got its serial numbers filed off in order to host the in-game Institute. Why? Probably because of all the very real research into robotics, artificial intelligence, and power armor (no really). And because M.I.T. is actually doing now what the Institute tries to do in-game with nuclear fusion.

And, of course, because of the vaults in the basement.

You know what? I'll just start at the top...Read on below.

I'll be focusing on fusion-related research in this post, and comparing in-game Institute work on fusion to what's actually happening over at M.I.T. (We'll get to the Media Laboratory and robotics and AI and the, uhm, power armor stuff in a separate post. Or three.)

all actual M.I.T. researchers/faculty/students and/or nuclear physicists have my sincere apologies, I don't know shit about shit but I'm doing my best

I Didn't Sign Up for a Physics Class, but Okay

Here's the thing about nuclear fusion generators - y'know...the ones powering nearly** the entirety of pre-war in-game America?

Including self-contained, miniaturized reactors (fusion cores, fusion cells, microfusion cells, Corvega engines, assaultron and robobrain power supplies, recharger weapons, G.E.C.K.s, etc.) and full-scale reactors (powering vaults, the Lucky 38, the Prydwen (and Rivet City before Maxson Happened), missile silos, etc.)...?

We don't have them yet.

Of course we have nuclear power generation, what are you talking about?

Yes - but nuclear power plants currently operating use fission reactors! Fusion reactors, though? Well...

For the pre-war in-game universe, even more than for us, that fuel-to-energy ratio would have been absurdly important. Companies rushed to implement fusion for damn near every possible use, but waited until the Resource Wars left them no other choice. "No more (viable) oil reserves? Well, shit. Fusion it is."

Because of this, by October 23, 2077, pre-war Western markets were still somewhat new to adopting miniaturized nuclear fusion reactors.

For instance, Chryslus' first fusion vehicles - intentionally reminiscent of the absolutely wild Ford Nucleon concept car dreamed up in 1957 - came to market in 2070, less than a decade before the nuclear exchange.

As for the other benefits of nuclear fusion...Atom knows the in-game universe could do with less radioactive contamination:

It is no wonder the Institute wants to get the reactor in their basement up, running, and running better than originally designed.

Real-life M.I.T. is no stranger to running fusion reactors - they've been at it since the late '60s - but as it turns out, they are currently also "building a better mousetrap," and if they succeed they will be achieving all the Institute would hope for in clean energy production - without the moral deficit.

If nuclear fusion is so great, why aren't we using this technology yet IRL?

Because - and I cannot stress this enough - we are attempting to levitate bits of the Sun inside a donut to make really hot things boil water* so steam will turn a fan attached to a dynamo to power light bulbs.

*(there are two other ways to generate power using this heat)

Naturally...this comes with some complications.

We know fusion reactors can be the most energy-efficient form of power generation - we just need better reactors. That's where M.I.T. comes in.

The biggest problem right now is efficiency:

TL;DR - as of April 2024, all fusion reactors as a matter of course still consume more power to run than they are able to produce (meaning they do not reach "breakeven"). Many cutting-edge reactors also require tritium (very rare) as well as deuterium (very common) fuel.

We did not even see a fusion reaction that reached "breakeven" for power production until December of 2022. That reaction occurred at the National Ignition Facility in California, and their results just passed peer review in February of this year (2024).

Several in-progress reactors aim to improve on this, including ITER (the combined work of dozens of nations) in France, and SPARC: the new reactor under development by Mass Fusion Commonwealth Fusion Systems and M.I.T.'s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC).

Another big problem with this technology is that it involves plasma.

Plasma, as a particular song reminds us, is what the Sun is made of and The Sun Is Hot. That means plasma carries some very real 'we're-losing-structural-integrity, the-warp-core-is-breaching' risks, and we must jump through all kinds of hoops to work with it.

Why are we shoving the Sun inside a donut, again?

The most well-funded, well-researched way of smashing atoms together involves plasma and magnetic confinement fusion.

This shit is beyond cool. It may also look very familiar:

In-game, the Institute is trying to get what appears to be a spherical tokamak reactor up and running.

Bethesda's choice of reactor was no coincidence: M.I.T. operated the Alcator C-Mod, a spherical tokamak, while Fallout 4 was under development - but that reactor could not achieve "breakeven" IRL, and per Shaun's in-game dialogue, the fictional Alcator C-Mod couldn't either. (Weird given the miniaturized fusion devices everywhere in-universe, but okay, Shaun.)

However, M.I.T. stopped operating that reactor in 2016, a year after Fallout 4's release. SPARC, their planned replacement reactor actually has the sort of power potential we see in-game - and they aim to bring fusion power to market in this decade.

M.I.T., right now, in real life, is doing exactly what you're asked to help the Institute do in-game: build a fusion reactor that surpasses "breakeven."

What the hell is a tokamak and why does it look like half of a Star Trek warp core?

Your typical tokamak reactor is a great big donut-shaped vacuum chamber (the torus), traditionally surrounded by AT LEAST three sets of electromagnets (sometimes many more). M.I.T.'s design for the new SPARC reactor is a bit different, but let's start with the basics.

Why so many magnets?

Because plasma, being Literal Sun Matter, cannot come into contact with the torus containment walls or it will instantly burn through. (This happened in France in 1975. Following initial "well, fuck"s and a couple years' repairs, the logical next step was to publish a paper about it.)

The magnetic fields work to heat the plasma and provide current drive (keep electrons moving in a consistent direction through the plasma and around the torus), while also keeping it from touching anything, preventing a "warp core breach." I'll take a stab at explaining it but the Department of Energy probably does it better.

Meet the magnets:

Toroidal field magnets (blue, above): These enormous D-shaped magnets wrap around and through the torus, conducting an electrical current. This creates a magnetic field that keeps plasma from drifting horizontally into the containment walls.

Central solenoid (green, above): Inside the "donut hole" sits a massive, stacked electromagnet that generates enough electromagnetic force to launch two space shuttles at once. This heats the fuel to about one hundred million degrees Celsius so that it reaches plasma state, and helps "drive" the plasma current around the torus. (Radiofrequency or neutral beam injection heating/drive may be used as well for reactor prototypes aiming for power generation, because current drive from just the solenoid isn’t practical for continuous operation.) The central solenoid also creates another magnetic field called the "poloidal field," which "loops" around the plasma like a collar to prevent it from drifting vertically into the walls. The strongest central solenoid in existence was made for the ITER reactor...by General Atomics.

Outer poloidal field magnets (grey, above): A third set of electromagnets "stacks" up the outside of the torus, and helps maintain and adjust the poloidal field.

Together these three sets of magnets force the plasma to "float" inside the torus, shape it, and provide current drive. The stronger the magnetic field, the higher the reactor's power output.

Okay, and then what?

Given sufficient heat and drive/stability, the plasma fuel mixture undergoes fusion.

Neutrons released during fusion have plenty of kinetic energy (the kind of energy a kickball has midair before it hits you in the face), but no electric charge.

Since magnetic fields only affect negatively or positively charged particles, neutrons completely ignore the fields, sailing straight through and slamming into a "blanket" of metal coating the donut's insides. Neutrons passing into the 'blanket" lose their kinetic energy, which is converted to heat and absorbed by the "blanket." (ITER's "blanket" involves a lot of beryllium, which...behaves a bit differently IRL than it does in-game.)

Heat captured by the "blanket" is then used to generate power. For instance, a water cooling system can bleed heat from the "blanket," regulating temperature and creating superheated highly-pressurized steam to run turbine generators.

I notice you described a "typical" tokamak above -what's the atypical option?

Check out SPARC.

Its huge design departure is that it uses new high-temperature superconducing magnets (most existing types have to be cooled to vacuum-of-space temperatures using something like a liquid helium system to achieve superconductivity, which is a huge power drain) to create a monstrous magnetic field - and its size is tiny in comparison to its projected power output.

Neat. So why did you refer to plasma as a problem?

Well...between the heat and the neutrons, the "blanket," the "first wall" and all plasma-facing surfaces inside the torus take one hell of a beating:

"Neutron degradation of wall surfaces-" "Energy is released in the form of the kinetic energy of the reaction products-" In practical terms, that just means countless neutrons are doing THIS:

...but to the containment wall and other surfaces inside the torus, instead of to Batshuayi's face. And so:

Basically, this stuff breaks fast enough - and the only materials that don't break quickly are rare enough - to create a real barrier to commercial use.

And THIS is one of the problems they're working on solving in M.I.T.'s basement.

Now we can talk about the Vault. FINALLY.

M.I.T. is home to the Center for Science and Technology with Accelerators and Radiation (CSTAR). CSTAR's splash page announces:

Linear plasma devices? You mean like -

No, not like plasma rifles. Instead of weapons, we're talking about tools being used to solve the "plasma fucking destroys everything it touches" problem.

How does CSTAR do this? They've got CLASS. ...No, really:

This field is called plasma-surface interaction science, and if you want a really long but very informative read on how CSTAR's work helps move it forward, check this out. It involves the DIONISOS Linear Plasma Device - a "let's shoot it with plasma and see what happens" tool.

CSTAR also works to better undertstand how materials handle radiation damage, and how they behave after becoming irradiated.

And to handle this sort of work, one needs a...

The Vault Laboratory for Nuclear Science "combines high-intensity particle sources, precision particle detection, and a heavily shielded experimental area to create a facility for nuclear research in high-radiation environments." It contains, among other things:

the DT Neutron Generator, which is used in a variety of experiments, including radiation detector development (pretty damned important) and characterization, fast neutron imaging, and material activation (stuff becoming radioactive).

the DANTE Tandem Accelerator, which was "originally designed to produce high neutron yields for use in cancer therapy research."

And that is what's actually going on in M.I.T.'s basement: truth is cooler than fiction.

The takeaways:

Yes, M.I.T. really is building a revolutionary fusion reactor with parts from Mass Fusion Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

Yes, there really is a secure underground facility where incredibly advanced research related to nuclear fusion, radiation detection, irradiated materials, and degradation of materials due to radiation exposure takes place.

Yes, I really would spend eight hours researching nuclear physics instead of doing more dishes. Shoutout to @twosides--samecoin for tolerating my absurd hyperfocus on researching this.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk on what M.I.T. is really doing in its basement.

Tune in next time for M.I.T.'s Media Laboratory, and how it is related to real-world power armor, plus: the relationship between Langley, P.A.M.'s IRL cousin, and Vault 101.

** (Fallout is wildly inconsistent re: how widespread fusion is in-game and when it was developed. I mean we're talking a two-decade spread of inconsistency! And somehow the technology - first available to the military - was then miniaturized and made available to the general public before becoming widespread for commercial power generation? And somehow we both do and don't have impossible cold fusion in game? It's a mess. I reject this reality and replace it with a fish, hence this post. Also, I hate fission batteries. don't talk to me about fission batteries, "fission batteries" are small fission reactors but they are definitely not "battery sized" - the "fission batteries" in-universe are so miniaturized that they are more likely another kind of atomic battery like a radioisotope thermoelectric generator and those are subject to a law of diminishing returns as the fuel decays/not producing a reasonably useful power output after over 200 years due to the isotopes normally used/can be VERY dangerous if the shielding is breached or removed, and - you know what, that's also a whole different post.)

[beatcroc]

alright kids we fuckin did it

and even managed to first try s-rank the final boss somehow. crazy. im pretty sure that's the only s rank i got in the entire game.

so why did i do it? how do i feel? most of the experience of playing 06 is stuff that really only matters being experienced in the moment, but i took a shot at trying to quantify why i went out of my way to play sonic 06 anno domini 2024, with some subsequent thoughts about each after having finished.

1. silver is there. i like him. it seems most people do these days; no doubt largely due to the comics, but that was absolutely not the case upon his debut. i wanted to see where the character started and if there was truly Anything salvageable from his initial appearance, or if there are any throughlines to his current characterization. verdict: yeah, like, way more than i thought there was going to be actually. it solidly exceeded my expectations here. obviously, i was will to be EXTREMELY lenient about him because hes my special little guy and he is SUCH a gift in idw; but even so he never really did anything like, wrong. like as a character i mean. he's a little annoying sure, but so are most of the characters in this game. i know this would have been infinitely worse back when it was his only appearance, but UNLIKE most of the characters in this game, he is at least also consistent. all in all he's still just kind of a hasty little fuckup here, which is much of why i like him in present.

2. the general notoriety of it. everyone knows sonic 06 is bad. you hear lots of insane stuff about all the various ways in which 06 is bad, but they all feel like such disconnected points by now. you need to get the whole picture you know. the full breadth of it. i think cultural significance for being dogshit is just as interesting as cultural significance for being brilliant. verdict: its so bad. its fascinating. there really were quite a few cool ideas in here but the execution of them all is consistently so, SO baffling. there's the utter lack of polish and functionality yeah, but even underneath that in its base design it there is just so much that's so inherently unintuitive. one really does have to wonder about it. i must, however, stress that poor execution on decent ideas [or in some cases decent execution on bad ideas like, say, omega's fucking bizzare characterization here, and really most of the plot in general especially wrt to elise] is far more forgivable to me than no ideas [most of the boost-era games If I Am Being Frank], or cool ideas with No execution [sonic forces. [i played through it about right in the middle of my 06 journey and it's amazing how that game is like the exact opposite kind of bad from 06. that one is the kind that really pisses me off, as it turns out! you would not believe how hatermoded i got during forces' short duration.]

3. it had a lot more going on than i'd realized. i'd kind of always just held 06 as "the sonic and silver game and sometimes i guess shadow is there also?" but the more i heard about it it was like "wait blaze is in this game? how does that work??" "omega is in this game? AMY is in this game???? PLAYABLE????? how does all that fit together???". in more recent years i've heard people refer to 06 as 'the last sonic game where they really tried', and now that i know my own disdain for boost era games and gameplay was NOT just me being a shitty teen, i figure it would be interesting to see what all that was about. now that the series has returned from its, shall we say, prodigal son arc, i'm in general a lot more willing to explore where things went awry. verdict: turns out it did not in fact fit together very well at all, but again, i respect a blundered attempt at something like this far more than the subsequent several years of "sonic and his one wacky gimmick partner" games that followed. i think anyone genuinely praising this game and its Quite Frankly Pretty Damn Bad characterization is insane, but i do understand the respect for its ideas; and i definitely understand the 'this game could be so good if it was good'-type obsessions. it's certainly a type i am prone to but fortunately it did not get to me with 06.

4. hubworlds. this isn't a full point in and of itself, but it's why i decided to just play the damn game as it is instead of playing project 06 and/or watching the cutscenes on youtube. it feeds largely into the second point of just wanting to experience it as a whole package; but also i just generally like the idea of hubworlds in sonic, and i like that they have missions in them here. verdict: there's not a verdict for this one as it wasn't a question or a curiosity i had. naturally, they're also not good, but i didn't go in expecting to enjoy the sonic 06 hubworlds. i just think they're nicer than only having a map screen or level select.

all in all i think it's kind of impossible for me to hate sonic 06. like at this point you know what it is. you know what it's known for, its reputation far preceeds it. i've dealt with my fair share of janky games, and it actually wasn't nearly as uniquely unplayably nonfunctional as i was expecting. it's bad but it's the amusing kind of bad, and though there's certainly no laughing with it, if you aren't laughing at it you're laughing a yourself for deliberately choosing to play this stupid fucking game 18 years later.

[kozykricket]

Now that we have music and a name for 1.21, I'll give some of my thoughts ... on 1.21 as it is. That is to say, I'll withdraw any comments about "they... didn't update this unrelated thing :/" because like... yes, theres many other things that I think they could've updated, and I do hope they get to stuff thats on the backburner/backlog soon, but I respect 1.21 heavily for its lovely, wonderful additions LONG READ AHEAD!!

Tricky Trials feels like it … didn’t overscope, and thus was able to accomplish confidently what it had set out to do: To add more fun to Minecraft. Yes, there are of course still issues in Minecraft, and many things on the backlog / stuck in the ideas box, but… when you just look at 1.21 for what it DOES and not for what it DOESNT do? You get a 9/10 update, I’d say.

By focusing on the trial chambers, they’ve really created a special experience. A more refined dungeon than any other. I want to talk about… why I love trial spawners. 

So, I’ve thought frequently of adding my own dungeons to minecraft, but a struggle I always came to was… If I want the player to have several rooms with encounters of enemies, how will I do that elegantly? If its rooms with spawners, they’ll just be overwhelmed forever in each room until they light it up… and they’ll be able to farm a single room for mob loot, if they so please. They’d also be able to just… completely farm the heck out of every single spawner constantly working, like you can do with battle towers in modded minecraft. I think that feels a bit too cheap. But what if you go the nether fortress route, and just have mobs spawn in the structure? Well, thats … random. Its based on the mobcap, which is unpredictable especially in multiplayer. There won’t be a consistent difficulty to the dungeon… which leaves the bastion route: Designated single time enemy spawns. It’d probably be the best, but… it also leaves the enemies to wander around while the player is in nearby rooms. What if I only want them to spawn in when the player gets near? That’s… exactly what the trial spawner is. It goes on a long cooldown, so it might as well be a single time spawner. You get into a single encounter with a wave of mobs when it gains line of sight with you, and this allows for there to be plenty of them in the chambers without it being overpowered to farm or overwhelming if not lit up. The per player loot via vaults is also fantastic. It lets players who are “late to the server / structure” have a chance at getting their own loot, and even still enjoying themselves with trial spawners resetting their cooldowns. An example of why trial spawners help the experience for players coming to structures late, is… even if we had once-per-player loot in say, bastions, there’d still be… no piglins left guarding the treasure. No fun experience, just purely the loot. But with trial spawners AND vaults? You get the full experience… minus any destruction your friends may have caused to the structure, and a few chests or so. But the chests are mostly just supplies like wood as far as I’ve seen.

And then, to add on top of that, the ominous events system lets us experience the same structure AGAIN but in a HARDER mode that lets us access more cool and powerful loot in the ominous vaults… its brilliant!

But lets get back to 1.21 being Fun: I think the breeze, mace, and wind charges are perfect examples of just purely fun content. The Mace feels a tad unbalanced at times, but its also just… fun? Like, yeah, it could stand to pierce armor less, or do less single target damage, but in terms of flying with wind burst and wind charges? Thats just FUN. When was the last time we got a fun utility consumable? Ender pearls? They aren’t even that fun, its just teleporting. Movement in games is very, very fun. Wind charges stopping your fall damage to some extent feels like they’re welcoming you into giving them a try. This combined with the open chambers of the titular structure, and the overall adventure-map like design leads to … more fun!

I really respect how the ominous trials throwing potions to make encounters tougher is done, because it feels so much like a thing you’d see done in some adventure map. A lot of the trial chambers feels very in touch with what a player might make as a map or challenge for their friends. Which, I think does sort of take away from player-built structures and challenges, but luckily they kept all of the redstoning extremely simplistic, relying on breezes to activate the dispensers. It feels hard to critique such a fun dungeon just because “it feels really well made, like it was actually made by a real person with intent” because… well, we can have a little bit of fun, can’t we? Sure, if every structure was like this, I’d have some concerns for the sandbox elements of minecraft, but having one structure in the game that embodies what the end product of creation can look like? I think that works out well. Might even inspire some people!

And theres a certain jankiness of using in game mechanics like dispensers and potions that makes it feel… human, as opposed to extremely gamey. 

Theres more I could say, I’m sure. Like how the breeze is quite a breathe of fresh air in terms of enemy design, being a disruptor / support rather than full on beeline-attack-you

But yeah, I think 1.21, Tricky Trials, is shaping up to be fun. I know mojang had been thinking about how they needed to freshen up the extrinsic content a little bit, even though minecraft IS a game focused on intrinsic motivation; doing what YOU want to do.

But having fun midgame things for people to do when they want to take a break from their personal projects is something I consider important. Maybe I want to take a break from building my house, but I don’t wanna stop playing minecraft, so I’ll pop on over to the nearest trial chamber, and do some fights.

…Did I even mention how much groundwork this lays for future updates? Like, they can use trial spawners and vaults in MORE structures, like giving them to, I dunno, strongholds! Bastions! 

I do hope 1.22 is an update that focuses on updating old stuff to newer standards, like new models for old animals or new sounds for old wood types… or changing some old weird recipes…

But as Tricky Trials stands on its own? It’s great. Maybe the vault loot needs a bit of tweaking; I sorta disagree with different dungeons having different pieces of gear… I’d like to get enchanted pickaxes, but the experience is overall pretty good, considering I can actually get XP and mob loot in an engaging manner rather than just running around at night.

[beevean]

Favorite snow/ice themed level in Sonic? :3

Let's see 👀

Ice Cap (S3&K): to be honest, this is not my favorite level in S3&K like it is for many lol. But it is a fun level in its own right! Interesting choice to make Act 1 linear and platformy and Act 2 open and fast, almost as a reward. Poor Knuckles is stuck in the caves a bit longer, though.

Ice Cap (SA1): A fairly easy level, one you can easily beat in two minutes if you know what you're doing. I just like a lot how peaceful it feels at first... until the epic radical snowboarding section :P also shout out to Big's version, for being at night (hell yeah consistency!) and being actually very large to explore.

Twinkle Snow: The auroraaaaaa <3 I like the Aquatic Ruin approach of this level: if you're fast and good enough, you'll have a fast, dry ride, but if you fall down into the icy waters... don't :) It's only a shame that you unlock Cream near the end of the game: Sonic/Cream makes this level a breeze.

Cool Edge: I really don't know what else to say, other than it's fun :( while the Day stage is fairly straightforward and easy, the Night stage is actually a noticeable difficulty spike with its ice physics and balancing. But it's pretty <3 and both themes are just <3

Special shout out to Press Garden Act 2: to this day I don't fully understand Mania's level design philosophy, let alone maps... but it's an absolutely gorgeous level and combining the ice aesthetic with a Japanese garden design is brilliant.

[creativesplat]

Alfred for the Character Opinion bingo? (I love your Alfred art btw!! You are so correct about him I think we should be friends)

OH MY WORD THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!! JFJSKYWK I WOULD LOVE TO BE FRIENDS! (I am very bad at replying to messages tho so… yeah…) anyway! For the bingo: 

They are so cool looking:

His design sort of mirroring dimitiri's and having such beautiful floral vibes and flouncy clothes is just so good. I love the fact he's quite a slender character because it gives an odd sort of dis-congruence with his gym-bro vibe, and that adds a layer of mystery that we don't see uncovered until Celine's A support with him. It's such subtle story telling in the design but it's so brilliant. You wouldn't see it unless you knew the spoiler, but once you know it it's so obvious and such a good bit of character design.

His somniel outfit is also a banger. Orange roses signify enthusiasm, encouragement, desire, and energy, which is just so perfect for Alfred. And he also has flower crown hoops on his belt - SO perfect, someone's sad? gift them a flower crown. You're bored? make a flower crown. You need to fiddle to make yourself concentrate? flower crown! its such a small detail but I love it so so much.

No real reason to put this in other than the fact I love it, and the yellow and peaches and blues and greens really shouldn't work but they really do. It is fab.

Another detail I love is that in his upgraded outfit in avenir he gets a crown very similar to his mother's (with the tiara shape in the middle) and with white windflowers on them. The gift Lumera used to give him for his birthday (Alfred and Vander supports) and symbolising protection against illness and recovery. White windflowers are subtly hinting at his character arc and what he deals with in his story (illness, death, protection all being meanings), and pair that with his class name Avenir (French, meaning future or time to come) it's just a really good reflection of his anxieties around chronic and probably terminal illness, but also of his hope for the future and his role as a protector for Alear ("I will be your sword and your shield divine one, and a flower, what could bring more comfort than that?")

If they were real I would marry them:

I mean, kind, loyal, adorable, sweet, loving, not to mention handsome. Honestly there are very few characters I adore that I could say: 'yeah, why not?' to that question, but Alfred is one of them. His good vibes and uncomplicated golden retriever joy just scream husband material. Plus he's religious in game - one of the most religious out of all the characters, which I didn't realise until I looked at his preferred gifts - and as a Christian, having a religious partner is like one of the most important things on the list of requirements for a good match for me.

In all seriousness tho, if he were real, he would be good husband material, but not really my type, so I'm just going on hypothetical how many of the boxes does he tick. lol

they're like a blorbo to me:

I mean... if it wasn't already obvious with the long list of details I gave about his clothing, and all the drawing I do of him... he is very blorbo. Honestly I love him so much. He is a perfect little guy.

not as deep as they seem (1/2):

I shaded this in half, because next to other fire emblem characters he's not really that complex or deep (cough cough dimitri and three houses in general cough cough) and he's very uncomplicated in terms of emotion. He's normally joyful and happy. He's normally protective, and trusting. Honestly uncomplicated puppy vibes.

But at the same time, he does also have that element of deepness (hence the 1/2 box). He isn't always honest about his feelings, because he wants to put others above himself and make sure they see him as a happy guy they can lean on (the Celine A support has quite a lot of this, but so do others). He is a golden retriever boi, but he also hides his illness from his friends and pretends that everything's fine - even to his sister and mother - until he openly has an attack in front of Celine.

He's not as deep as other characters are, and with the exception of feeling guilt and shame over his chronic illness, is a fairly happy and uncomplicated guy.

Why do they look like that:

Purely because I would have loved to see him have a Celine's green colour scheme, I'm putting this there. Also because his feh art does him a bit dirty...

they've never done anything wrong in their live <33

this is a fact. he is the best. he is too good to pure. Honestly I think this bit is self explanatory. He's one of the sweetest little guys who is an honest to goodness sweetheart.

[melloggd]

Review: Another Code: Two Memories

CiNG • Nintendo • 2005 • Nintendo DS Read it on Backloggd: (x)

After discovering Hotel Dusk, I like many others became enamored by the mystique surrounding its developer, Cing: A tiny team that brought the absolute most out of both the DS and Wii, made 4 Nintendo-published games, and despite that died less than 10 years after being founded.

Out of those 4 games, Hotel Dusk is definitely the most well known, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Beyond the fascinating hardware uses and overall presentation, it was the mood and overall pacing of its story that captivated me. A game relishing in the mundane. Games like Shenmue and No More Heroes captivate me with how they use those chunks of silent, "uninteresting" gameplay to both further enhance the more exciting moments and immerse you more in their everyday worlds. Even Ace Attorney does it in a sense with its investigations.

Long story short: I wanted more Hotel Dusk and decided to try out Cing's first ever Nintendo-published game. And to make another long story short, whilst it definitely shows more rough edges and lack of focus compared to Hotel Dusk, the game's heart is still in the right place.

Its a quirky little game: The textboxes look right out of a flash game, the mouth movements can look flat-out creepy if you pay enough attention to them, and unlike Hotel Dusk most puzzles are moreso there to just...be puzzles, rather than have much of anything to do with the world. Its set up sort of similarly to old-school Resident Evil in that way, I guess. You get a mansion with an assortment of rooms and need to decode how to progress further into the house: Solving a puzzle in the living room gives you a key to a drawer in the office, et cetera.

What really made me draw the Resident Evil connection is the abundance of lore-nuggets sprinkled about: It uses its premise of having two characters with memory issues to let the player ponder over two mysteries at once. Its a neat way to handle the story over its short runtime. Outside of solving that mystery the story isn't all that special on paper, and honestly I mostly played this game as preparation to eventually be able to play Another Code R on Wii.

Yet even in those 5 little hours and all that crust, you can definitely feel the Cing spirit here. The atmosphere of Blood Edward Island in general is fantastic, arguably better than Hotel Dusk, due both to the surprisingly large soundtrack as well as the absolutely brilliant use of the two-screen setups. Its straight-up one of the best Adventure game UI's I've ever used, having a 3D-modelled world on one screen as well as 2D stills of the island's most captivating viewpoints on the other. When paired with the music, it creates a kind of immersion I haven't really felt in any other game, and am sad to realize will probably never be seen in any future games given the 3DS' discontinuation. It really does help sell this abandoned mansion's eerieness to both be able to see it at large and see its more detailed spots at the same time.

What also helps with this is that, for as simple as the story is on the whole and as cutesy as the premise seems (A 14 year old goes investigating with her ghost best friend!!), it touches on some surprisingly dark yet very real subjects, with Ashley reacting accordingly. The writer of all four Cing games, Rika Suzuki, has always emphasized that Another Code is specifically about Ashley's mental state first and foremost, and I feel like these moments of discussing betrayal, suicide, abandonment and grief really tie the game together nicely. But really, what'll drive you through the game is its story and atmosphere, alongside the curiousity of how it'll use the DS hardware next.

With its puzzles feeling so deliberately designed to be "DS gimmicks" compared to the more grounded Hotel Dusk puzzles, it end up feeling somewhat self-aware in a really fun way, like "ooh yeah this puzzle is really clever of us", and you yourself cant do anything but go "yeahh youre right", even when they as puzzles are often not anything special. A lot of the time I'd even argue they're too cryptic for their own good.

The story at large is also like a puzzle in of itself, but with its aforementioned short runtime and constant new little pieces uncovered, alongside just generally pretty sweet little character moments, its very fun to just follow along with. Weird, grounded, silly, ominous, crusty, atmospheric: Another Code is most definitely able to be a lot of things in its runtime. At the end of the day I am still very glad I took the time to play it, if only for the memories it gave me.

[Playtime: 5 hours] [Key Word: Novelty]

[bodacioustomato]

idv player here!!! they reworked the lore a lot. and i feel like compare to dbd the playstyle isn’t the same? like the game is considerably more fast-paced. and hunters do tend to camp, so different rescue strategy and stuff. so i would really recommend trying the game out first (around 5 matches cuz the first ones are usually against bots) and see if you like it. but if you expect the game to be like dbd then it’s not the same. currently they have skins crossover with sherlock holmes and link click rn. sorry if i’m a bother but just wanted to put this out there ><

Im so sorry I forgot to answer this. Its been in my asks for a few days my bad.

Overall, not saying anyone shouldn't check out idv. I really hope I didn't come off in that way. I have played both games, and even at the time when I played it, dbd mobile was pretty popular. I felt like even as the mobile version, dbd did things better? That's just an opinion. Not stating it like its a fact. By all means, check out idv if you wish.

I guess it has been a while since I've played idv, so from when I played it vs. now, it could 100% changed. I won't compare lores too much since I don't know idvs current lore.

The styles are obviously very different as idv has more of a dolly anime look while dbd is on the more horror side. I do like both styles. By heart, I'm always a horror fanatic. I will say, idvs character designs, not including collaborations, are VERY nice. Both survivor and hunter designs are definitely interesting and unique. I can definitely appreciate that. I think with the concept of collaborations tho, dbd definitely takes the cake in my honest to God opinion. Imagine Ashley from Ash vs Evil Dead, Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil, Steve Harrington from Stranger Things, Alucard from Castlevania running from the xenomorph from Alien in Midwich Elementary from Silent Hill. How is that not hilariously and stupidly brilliant? Idv has bsd characters in it tho so I will look past a lot of that for that reason lmfao (bsd for life).

Play style, the objective is relatively the same. Survival based. One killer/hunter, group of survivors who must complete the objective to escape. They get hooked/chaired. You save eachother, Yada yada yada. I know that the idv characters have their own personal abilities, where as dbd survivors have perks. Perks can get shared amongst other survivors, so if you are a till death Jill Valentine main, you can use other survivors perks where as in idv, you have to use a specific character for their abilities. Camping? 🚬 yeah I've heard of that term before. Definitely not a new concept in dbd lemme tell you since day one of me playing it, I've dealt with that. I will say, I've seen many people state that idv is faster paced which I don't get? What does that mean? Games are faster? You try harder? I don't get it. Dbd can be fast paced especially if you're playing with a group of survivors and you're coordinated. I really can't say anything on that aspect because I really don't know what people mean by that. I think for both games, a games pace can rely on how the players play, the characters they use, and even the maps can affect the outcome of a match. So... yeah idk i can't really comment on this.

Overall, not saying anyone shouldn't try out idv. You can try it out and find that you like it. I just personally don't get the same joy as I do from dbd, but it's mainly because of gameplay style and artistic style. I'm a horror fanatic for life, and I think dbd scratches the itch just in the right way. But thats just me. Anyone can play either game and think idv is better. No competition. Just with me personally, if you'd ask me my judgement of games, I'd pick dbd because that game is my everything. Been playing it since high school, and yes, have thousands of hours in it. I wish everyone a happy gaming overall 🫡

[review-anon]

You know as much as we, deservingly, shit on disney live action remakes i gotta admit there were a few good ones in the enormous pile of soulless cash-grab blockbusters made by people who didn't understand what made the original so great and insisted on fixing things that weren't actual problems in the original works.

Both the live action 101 dalmatians movies from the 90s/2000s were pretty good, especially since they were ACTUAL adaptations that made changes for the story to fit a new, more modern, setting instead of being 1 to 1 remakes of the og, with Roger being a game designer that ends up making a game based on Cruella's kidnappings of the puppies by the end instead of writing a song about her villainy, and the sequel having a complete different storyline than the sequel to the animated counterpart.

Maleficent was a pretty interesting movie too. Yes, I'm counting it as a live action remake since we haven't had the displeasure of seeing an actual Sleeping beauty one yet, besides it shifting the focus to the vilain of the original story to show her side of things was pretty neat to watch.

And I'd even go as far as saying that the more recent Jungle book live action remake was really the last good one they made since it was a much darker and serious take on a storyline that was originally very goofy and lighthearted. And the fact that you could actually discern the emotions the animals characters had in their faces, unlike a certain lion centric remake that came out later down the line, was a huge plus!

-Critic anon

I haven't watched the 101 Dalmatians remakes but I have watched Maleficent and the Jungle Book Remake and yeah I admit both of them were really good. Live Action remakes can work if you say go for a unique spin on the idea or go a different direction on the story while still keeping the same beats.

I admit I wasn't super stoked about the idea focusing on the villain at first but the way they portray Maleficent is so brilliant and how its a capital example why you don't disrespect the fae. Since Disney themselves are the main culpirts why people think of the fae folk as cute and wholesome when in reality they were not, its a very well done move on their part to go back to the original roots. I also like how the Prince actually has objections to kissing Aurora while she is a magical coma which is much better then the original fairy tale. If you know...you know.

And the Jungle Book Remake is good as well because yeah the original Disney one was quite goofy where this they actually make Shere Khan intimidating as a villain where he really wasn't in the original book and the animated Disney film. It was also a good move to not only gender flip Kaa because fun fact in reptiles the females are larger then the males so given how big Kaa is, being female would make more sense, and also to make King Louie a Gigantopithecus to justify how big he is since yeah they really do get that large. I also got to give Neel Seithi credit since he's really the only human in the film, he has to do a lot of acting on green screen due to how everyone else is CGI.

Unfortunately it seems Disney have taken the wrong messages from it and just went for lazy soulless cash grabs. And it seems Lilo & Stitch, which I adore, is gonna be the latest victim of that. So I can then join the long queue of people who's childhoods were ruined by soulless Disney live action remakes.