#{ Nomura Ai ;; ask }

[autumn-may]

Please tell me about the data boys AU I love the data boys so much and you draw them so CUTE AAAAA

(Im gonna @ the people who asked about the fic: @dergshadow @mosttsundereofplants @bloody-holly)

(It’s more of a fix-it fic than a au but lol)

Ask and ye shall receive ig 

The short of it is I force data sora and data riku back into the story while flipping nomura off for the re:coded ending ft. Riku and data-riku being friends, data-soriku being fun, and minor 358/2 references. I’ve been calling the au Re:Boot! 

Full concept under cut: (it’s pretty long)

edit:I’m writing it

The long of it is during re:mind the data battles crash, and the Final Fantasy group+Riku theorize that it might have something to do with Jiminys Journal (seeing as the data battles are made with data from the journal) Riku goes to Disney castle and it turns out yeah that’s probably what’s happening! The Disney castle computer displays the words ‘there are new hurts to be undone’. Riku is sent into the datascape in order to help with said hurts. 

   The long of it is  Riku enters to a really bugged up version of the data destiny islands, and is told by the Disney gang from the outside to find a way to get deeper into the datascape and help out. (System sectors). Riku finds it and enters. 

  First and second levels of the sector go pretty standard, fight the buggy heartless and all that however one of the bugs for the second level has a similar silhouette to sora, which is a little unnerving to say the least. The third level looks like rikus data(from when he got bugs in him) and the Disney gang loses contact with riku at this point. 

(YES the three stages getting more buggy the deeper you go is a reference to the boss stages in re:coded. If you even care) 

Riku looks around for a bit and D!riku (that’s what I’m calling data-riku rn) notices him from somewhere in the datascape, and teleports or something to him. After the initial ‘we’re the same guy’ convo D!riku tells him about the bugs, and how he believes that they are caused by D!soras amnesia, as he gained a heart, which is currently sleeping due to the reset (hearts can be destroyed and all that yk the deal). Since the datascape is sorta centered on d!sora, if something’s wrong with his code it might affect the datascape. D!riku tells him that since the reset, he’s been working to attempt to find soras heart, but he hasn’t been able to make much headway (maybe because a heart is separate from data, and isn’t as easily manipulated) 

(That’s my idea for why he wasn’t really there in the post reset stuff on soras side at least ) 

Well where is D!sora you ask? Well let’s go see! They teleport away and oh frick is that the memory pod. (Things are getting uncomfortably familiar for riku) D!riku has him in there as he works to find and wake soras sleeping heart, (instead of having to like, chase him around the datascape with a computer or something, sleeping heart doesn’t necessarily equal sleeping guy in this situation so we just put him in a coma). D!riku opens the way to D!soras data, and in they go.

They search for a bit, and when D!riku gets frustrated at the lack of progress, the bugs slightly worsen (riku notes this). Riku asks a bit about d!rikus relationship with d!sora, saying his drive to protect him is something they have in common. D!riku actually somewhat denies this, reminding riku about how the datascape is centered on sora, d!riku—to some level— is the datascape. it’s just a part of his programming, the journal correcting a glitch in the system through him. Besides, d!soras the one with a heart, d!rikus just a really good AI and also kinda a clone. Riku is so skeptical of this.

Riku says that he doesn’t believe that, d!riku fights to protect d!sora because he just cares about d!sora. Surely d!rikus noticed the bugs grow stronger the worse d!riku feels, if the data scape affects him, surely he affects the datascape as well. And a system as advanced as the data scape wouldn’t be programmed to destroy itself. By going to such lengths, d!riku proves he’s more than his programming, he’s more than the datascape, he has a heart, and he cares about d!sora in a way a line of code couldn’t. 

Well that revelation kinda broke d!riku but that’s fine. The bugs lessen however, so that’s a good sign also the final boss dark side shows up. The rikus prepare for  a fight, and d!riku recognizes this as d!soras heartless. (Bond between d!soriku manifested in the datascape bringing their hearts together)  They win the fight, and recover d!soras heart, which is still sleeping. Riku uses the power of waking, tracing the bond between him and d!riku, and d!riku and d!sora. Rikus able to wake up d!soras heart, restoring his memories, and the rikus leave his data. 

D!riku thanks riku for the help, and releases d!sora from the memory pod. D!sora and d!Riku reunite (i fight the urge to reverse the kh2 scene yk the one) riku feels comforted in his search for sora (idk he sees the bond between data!soriku as able to physically manifest into bringing them together so I mean why not real soriku?)  

The trio go back to the surface of the datascape, Disney gang gets to reunite with the data-gang and they apologize for not being able to help more (“gee well, if we knew you were hurting, we would of sent someone way sooner” “We can’t just leave our friends behind!” Or something idk) and riku comes back to the real world.

Riku talks to the data boys through the computer, d!sora asks about sora which is just a little bit of a punch in the gut (reminder this takes place during re:mind) but anywayyyy d!sora wonders if there’s a way they could enter the real world, since riku was able to come to the datascape. (They probably couldn’t :( they never had physical bodies, they have data bodies) Riku thinks about it and realizes hey wait a minute isnt Evens whole job making bodies for hearts that need them they totally could come to the real world. 

So riku calls up Even who’s intrigued by the idea of hearts that existed only in data, and how they would manifest in the real world. So needless to say, he gets to work. A while later d!rikus separated from the journal, and the dynamic data duo is brought to the real world yippee!! 

(If you’ve ever seen my redesigns of the two data’s they would get their new outfits right here) 

And that’s the main idea! I’ve had it for like,,,a couple months? But it’s been stuck in my brain for a while and i like it a lot, just got a Ao3 account so maybe I’ll write it but no promises 

[titleknown]

So, using AI art, I asked NightCafe to make Hordak from He-Man/She-Ra in the style of Yoshitaka Amano & Tetsuya Nomura.

You will note that, while this design looks very cool, it also does not look much like Hordak.

Which, I did not get, until friend of the blog @therobotmonster showed me the dataset, and it turns out a lot of not-Hordak things were very much correlated by the AI with Hordak.

Which, I think shows some interesting things about the nature of AI Art and datasets, really.

[itscxpycat]

♥ ( Ai y Kotaro owo

Send me a ♥ and I will generate a number for what my muse will say to yours.

7.      “Let’s hold hands.”

     Encuentros que lucieran como pareja eran poco comunes entre ambos, es especial para Kotario, quien poco sentía el derecho de tomar su mano o dedicarle un poco de cariño del cual tanto anhelaba; igual y prefería no presionar demasiado, trataba de darle a entender que podía ir a su ritmo; aun así, Ai temía que su compañero se sintiera forzado y más ahora que la muchacha intentaba de todo para tener su atención. Hoy haría un último intento, algo básico y pasable; algo que los dos pudieran disfrutar a su manera. Estuvo observando al mayor por largo rato, él estaba hundido en sus pensamientos mientras miraba la computadora y ella por su lado solo observaba con cierto nerviosismo, tanto que llegaba a preguntarse si lo que estaba a punto de hacer era lo correcto. ¡Era demasiada la necesidad de tomar su mano! su impulso poco a poco se daba a mostrar y poco le importaba la negación contraría. 

     Con cierta inquietud, Ai se acercó aún más al mayor, tanto que su cuerpo se halaba sin espacio y fue en ese momento que dirigió la mirada hacía él, pero con un evidente sonrojo y nerviosismo. 

     — ¡V…Vamos a tomarnos de las manos! No quiero un no como respuesta. — Espetó con voz temblorosa y mientras hablaba, Ai buscó la mano contraría para entrelazarla y así sentir el calor contrario, esa suavidad y calidez. — N…No me vas a soltar, no quiero me rechaces de nuevo. 

[analyzingadventure]

Potential Ghost Game spoilers due to new DiMs that were announced?? And GG speculation

Okay so Bandai had announced these two new DiMs that’re coming out, which, okay, sure, nothing fancy, nothing unusual, they’re making lots of new DiMs after all and like, Vital Bracelets with Midoriya Izuku on them or some wild shit

But the fun thing is

This thing is branded as Ghost Game

Which means that these two might appear in Ghost Game. Which on its own may not be that wild, but like. Usually, anime-branded merch like this tends to relate to the main characters, right?

So now we have to ask... are we getting a Green Ranger* in Ghost Game? Maybe two, even??

(*Green Ranger/Sixth Ranger = Term comes from Power Rangers but is used in these kinds of kids shows to refer to new party member who joins the group mid-late series, examples include Hikari, Ken, Kouichi, Rei and Yuujin, just to name a few)

It is a trope old as time, so it’s not like it’d be unusual for GG to do the Green Ranger, it’s just that often there’d be maybe a little bit more foreshadowing for a new party member-- well, maybe not foreshadowing, but often shows like these have more minor human characters, enough that you could maybe even speculate who amongst the sidecast could join the main group.

But, right now, Ghost Game doesn’t really have minor characters like that? Like there’s Nomura, Aoi and... Mika? (I absolutely had to look up their names) But none of them really seem like potential candidates, maybe Aoi, MAYBE, but the other two..?

Like, it’s not like in Tamers where Hirokazu and Kenta made sense, or it’s not like Appmon with Ai or Watson, where had either of those become Appli Drivers, it would’ve made sense, since they would’ve been characters we had known for a long time and all. Hell, there’s a reason people like to associate the other four spirits from Frontier with the leftover kids

But GG doesn’t really do supporting cast, it’s much more focused on the MotW episodic vibes. And that leaves me a little concerned? IDK, I think I would like it if the hypotetical characters were built up more before hand, because without any foreshadowing... we’re going to end up going into an episode one day and they introduce a new member to the party and if not handled right, it’s gonna feel like wack, and I’m kind of concerned about that.

I do feel like, if the kids just kind of show up with their VBs already in hand like Uver had delivered them to the kids directly from Hiro’s dad, that could add to the whole mystery of what’s going on, but yeah, it just depends on how the writing handles it

But I’ve been just talking about the possibility that we could get a Green Ranger in GG. It’s possible we might not get a Green Ranger at all! So who/what is the deal with these two then?

Well, there’s one very Interesting Detail about the evolution tree Espimon has going on for them.

Did you catch that?

Epismon seems to tie to the Ludomon evolution tree here, like an alternative evolution path, so we have understandable shield-based Digimon and the mechs and what not

BUT THEN UVER IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE

AND SURELY THAT’S NOT A FUCKING COINCIDENCE

SO, what might it be that’s happening right here?

Either there is a 6th ranger, and their partner is the same Uver we’ve seen already so many times. Hell, for all we know, it could be Hiro’s dad (although that would be anticlimactic), but yeah, the Uver we know has a partner out there somewhere waiting to be revealed

Or.

Well.

How do I put this.

What if... Gammamon had to... go away for a while... And Hiro and co have to go save his ass from his edgy side? What Digimon would Hokuto send to his son on his quest to save his baby brother?

What if Hiro is going to get another partner for this mission? What if that’s fucking Uver aka Epismon??

Hell, why not two, he could have Ryudamon too, I don’t think Kiyo or Ruri would want or need Ryudamon. Or who knows, maybe there is a Green Ranger but only for Ryudamon and Epismon goes to Hiro.

The third option is that they just put Uver into Epis’ chip ‘cause they needed to include the baby somewhere and this chip was already going to be GG Branded so why not

IDK, these DiMs are giving me a lot of thoughts but it’s all very incoherent... But regardless, the potential these DiMs bring to light for Ghost Game is all very interesting. It’s gonna be one hell of a time to see what’s gonna go down

[themattress]

Kingdom Hearts vs. Kingdom Hearts II vs. Kingdom Hearts III

I am never playing Kingdom Hearts IV, so might as well see how these three stack up.

GRAPHICS - Let’s get the easiest one out of the way first. Obviously graphics improve as time goes on, and such is the case here. While I have issues with many of the KH-original characters’ models in Kingdom Hearts III since they seem so stiff, that’s more than balanced out by all the breathtakingly accurate Disney models and scenery. The worlds of Hercules and Winnie the Pooh look great enough, but the worlds of Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Pirates of the Caribbean look exactly like those movies; it’s amazing!

Winner: Kingdom Hearts III

GAMEPLAY - The combat in the original Kingdom Hearts is fun, but can also be pretty cumbersome due to Sora’s unrefined movement, Donald and Goofy’s less than reliable AI, a frustratingly too-close camera, and the default game difficulty being a tad more difficult than one might expect. The combat in Kingdom Hearts III is also fun, but its problem is the exact opposite - it’s way too easy, with Sora’s floaty movements combined with all kinds of special features in battle at your disposal right from the start making every fight a walk in the park. Kingdom Hearts II‘s combat, otoh, is a perfect balance; the best in the series hands-down.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts II

MUSIC - This seems like a tough one since Yoko Shimomura always does a fantastic job. However, you have to ask yourself which soundtrack is the most impressive on the basis of how it was put together. And the answer is the original Kingdom Hearts’ soundtrack - with the other games’, musical tracks are always re-used and put alongside new additions. The first game’s soundtrack, by contrast, was 100% new, meaning its success was crucial. Also, none of Utadu Hikaru’s songs afterward are nearly as iconic as “Hikari” / “Simple and Clean”.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts

VOICE-ACTING - Another tough one, since the KH series usually excels at voice-acting, helped by many of the voices being original Disney film cast members or convincing soundalikes. When it comes down to it, though, I’m going to have to give the nod to Kingdom Hearts II. There’s only one especially bad performance in that game - Mena Suvari as Aerith. But otherwise, everyone is giving it their best. Standouts include Haley Joel Osment, who isn’t as whinily high as in the first game or artificially modulated to sound younger in the third, Jesse McCartney who first showed us all what an amazing voice-actor he can be with his performance as Roxas, Paul St. Peter who is chilling as Xemnas, the late Wayne Allwine who makes Mickey sound convincing even with dialogue like “Did somebody mention the Door to Darkness?”, and the legendary Sir Christopher Lee lending all his dignity, gravity and general badassness as DiZ / Ansem the Wise. It’s just a perfectly skilled and star-studded vocal cast. 

Winner: Kingdom Hearts II

STORY - Ha! This one’s easy. The original Kingdom Hearts, no question about it. The story of Kingdom Hearts II is good, but it’s haphazardly told due to disharmony between its primary tellers (Tetsuya Nomura, Kazushige Nojima and Masaru Oka), can be confounding with its central concepts which isn’t helped by said haphazard storytelling, and won’t leave the same impact if you haven’t been through Chain of Memories first. And as for the story of Kingdom Hearts III....pfffft, WHAT story? That thing is a goddamn mess! This naturally leaves the original Kingdom Hearts’ story, which is classically themed, perfectly structured, and beautifully told, being both incredibly simple and incredibly deep. The talents of Tetsuya Nomura, Jun Akiyama, Daisuke Watanabe, Kazushige Nojima, and Keiko Nobumoto came together perfectly; it was lightning in a bottle that was never really going to be recaptured.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts

CHARACTERS - From a character arc standpoint, the three leads Sora, Riku and Kairi were never written better than they were in the original Kingdom Hearts. They feel like they’re just wrapping up loose ends in Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts III shits on all of them in various ways. While Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II is actually a stronger character than his Heartless counterpart Ansem in Kingdom Hearts, Ansem is still well-written in his own right, and both are far ahead of Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts III. Kingdom Hearts II also has the advantage of memorable characters such as Roxas and his friends, Namine, Axel, and DiZ /  Ansem the Wise. Kingdom Hearts has more Disney characters in major roles, while Kingdom Hearts II has more original characters in major roles, with certain Final Fantasy characters having major roles in both (and absolutely not in Kingdom Hearts III!) Given that and how well the majority are depicted, I think this one is a tie between the PS2 installments.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts & Kingdom Hearts II (TIE)

UNIVERSAL LORE - Let’s rule out Kingdom Hearts III right now, since the universal lore at this point is nigh incomprehensible and so sharply divided from the Disney stuff that it may as well be two different universes altogether. As for Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, their universal lore is equally solid and compatible, and the difference lies in their presentation. Simply put, Kingdom Hearts does it better because it’s simply put. The more perplexing aspects of the lore are there for you to think about on your own as they float along in the background of the story and the actions of the characters. Kingdom Hearts II brought them to the forefront, which leads to a lot of expositing and drawn-out cutscenes that more often than not still leave players confused, and unless it’s Christopher Lee talking it’s never done particularly well. Leagues ahead of Kingdom Hearts III, don’t get me wrong, but not ideal.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts 

WORLDS - With this category, I mean the worlds from an outside perspective, not related to the events or gameplay that goes on within them. Which assortment of worlds holds the most appeal? Much of that will depend on your preference in Disney properties, but this is my post so my opinion is the one that counts here. And my opinion is that Kingdom Hearts II wins out. Worlds representing Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, The Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King and Tron, all some of the finest Disney properties of all time....oh, and let’s top that off with a world based on fucking Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse’s premiere! You just can’t beat a line-up like this.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts II

LEVEL DESIGN - Now we get into how it actually feels to play through the worlds. Kingdom Hearts’ worlds are designed where you get the maximum amount out of all space available, with all sorts of things to interact with, puzzles to solve, and treasures to collect. The downside is that combat in these areas can be a chore, especially with the game’s weak camera. Kingdom Hearts II’s worlds are streamlined for combat, with the camera expanded which helps make battling through them fun as all Hell (or Hades, in one specific case), but the lack of interactivity and exploration is missed, and the lack of collectibles given how easy it is to get every treasure chest in the original edition went over so badly that Final Mix had to make up for it with the puzzle piece and Mushroom XIII sidequests. And that brings us to Kingdom Hearts III - not only are both previous game’s styles merged perfectly, but each world feels like it’s in its own sub-genre of video game altogether. Combine that with the graphics replicating each world’s cinematic source material perfectly and you have the best experience playing through worlds. Kingdom Hearts III is worth it if not only for this factor.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts III

GUMMI SHIP - The scenery and music in the original Kingdom Hearts’ Gummi Ship segments is wonderful, but the gameplay is horrendous. Kingdom Hearts III has great scenery and gameplay, but the music is bland and forcing you to fight Gummi bosses three times to progress to a world was not a good choice. Kingdom Hearts II is the only one that it’s get it all right - great visuals, great music (in a wide variety of different tracks, too!), and great gameplay, feeling almost like a Disney theme park ride. I always love going through it.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts II

MINIGAMES - Kingdom Hearts had many memorable minigames....unfortunately, the majority of them weren’t very well designed. Kingdom Hearts II’s are much better designed, but a lot of them are repetitive and sometimes feel like more time went into them than other things that needed it more. That leaves Kingdom Hearts III as the winner, as its minigames such as the Bistro, the 100 Acre Wood and the Flan Heartless, are fun, plentiful and unique. Special mention goes to the Classic Kingdom app, which packs over 20 minigames into it.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts III

EXTRA CONTENT - In terms of which game is packed with the most stuff beyond what is required to get through, I’m not sure which one objectively places first. What I do know is that what Kingdom Hearts II had initially didn’t feel sufficient compared to its predecessor and needed to be rectified by its Final Mix. Kingdom Hearts III had more from the getgo, but at the cost of crucial things that should have been required being absent and needing to be filled in with Re:Mind. The original Kingdom Hearts, even before its Final Mix, felt so loaded with extra content that it was dizzying; truly on par with what you would expect out of a Final Fantasy game. Square, still headed by Hironobu Sakaguchi at the time, spared no expense.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts 

OVERALL SATISFACTION - So, Kingdom Hearts III clearly isn’t winning this whole thing, with just two victories to its name. But Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II are tied, so this last category has to serve as the tiebreaker. Which game, as a whole product, is the most satisfactory? Which of the two has all its qualities even out to provide the best experience?

Personally, playing through the original Kingdom Hearts is an experience that has never been matched by anything since in this franchise. And therein lies the problem. It’s not that the game doesn’t hold up and I don’t enjoy replaying it - far from it! But the sheer magical feeling that gripped me back at the end of 2002 and start of 2003 can’t be replicated, which leaves some of the game’s technical issues in a more glaring light. And that’s a problem that doesn’t exist with Kingdom Hearts II (especially the Final Mix version). It was a highly fun, thrilling, well-polished ride to begin with, and it still is with every new playthrough. It feels like the apex of what the concept of Kingdom Hearts is supposed to be: the best of Disney and the best of Square all in one crazy, epic package. It’s the series’ finest game....and it always will be.

Winner: Kingdom Hearts II

[crispyapplepies]

AkuRoku Defense pt 2

Axel and Roxas’s ship has had one of the most bizarre fandom journey’s i have ever come to witness. It has gone from being one of the most popular ships maybe ever, to being dead cancelled over a supposed age gap and I find that completely unfair, especially when it speaks to so many innocent people who emotionally depend on the ship, (yes innocent includes the spicy people because art literally is not a crime). So its time to defend it.

Brief Review on Nobodies vs Aging

First of all, l already explained in part 1 what the Nobodies Don’t Age thing means but I’ll go over it again briefly, since it can be confusing, though also many people seem to demand their hands be held rather than use their imaginations to understand. Even so, here’s the short version just for a review:

-A person in KH is made of a heart, body, and soul.

-The body reflects the heart in KH. (See: replica bodies taking on the appearance of the heart that’s inside them). 

-A nobody lacks a heart, making them just a body and soul. They’re advanced zombies of sorts.

Nobodies do not age because they have no heart for the body to reflect. This is why they won’t change until they form one. Change includes age

-Ergo, you can imagine any age you like for Axel to be nobodied, cuz he was frozen at that age and did not change for 10 years. Not until he met Roxas. 

We’ll come back to this again later.

Axel Loves Roxas Canonically

Second of all, Axel loves Roxas and you are allowed to interpret that as platonic, familial, or romantic, I don’t care as long as you’re not forcing that idea on others like the ship police. That said, people are allowed to explore how romantic this love potentially is. 

And what you might like to know is that the canon is even open to this. Axel’s love for Roxas is canonically expressed, and if you would like, you can even interpret that love as romantic. See below:

We are going to look at the japanese translation because AS ALWAYS good old SENA is here for the straights and erases the gay, like clockwork. 

In English, Axel says this:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas. He...was the only one I liked... He made me feel...like I had a heart. It's kind of...funny... You make me feel...the same...

Axel’s line here in Japanese:

Axel: I wanted to see Roxas... I loved him. Being with him... it made me feel like I had a heart. I feel it from you, too... the same kind of....

You may notice that as romantic as the line “he made me feel like I had a heart” sounds, the original can be read as wAY gooier, specifically cuz of this word:

好き: "suki"

Now here’s the thing. Japanese is a pretty vague language which is why context is so important for these things, as well as what you say, and what you don’t say. 

“Suki” is a very key word here because it is often used in romantic confession scenes.

(I have no idea what this panel is from, I apologize lol) 

It CAN mean something casual, like “I love video games”, but considering Axel is saying this with his dying breath, I don’t think we should be treating it as some hyperbole. He is referring to a person and it is meaningful. However. It is still a word with plausible deniability. Japanese has several words for love, “ai” for example being one of the most inarguable means of referring to romantic love. So choosing “suki” still leaves room for the homophobes to disregard it as something not romantic. Which makes it objectively inconclusive. Here is the thing though… they specifically chose that word, suki, a word which IS so often used in a romantic context in many anime and manga. 

They also chose to use that word rather than something objectively platonic. Which means you also cannot conclude Axel did NOT mean it romantically. Given his devotion to Roxas, and the fact that they chose this word of all words for him to say… I’m personally going to assume it’s romantic. You are free not to interpret it that way. But I am because I am considering the fact that they did not choose something strictly platonic. 

(My translator friend actually freaked out when I showed her this, she’s translated and seen enough confession scenes to know what connotations that particular word comes with lol). 

If you’ve read my queer coding doc, you may recall I also go over how this is one of the most important tricks with queer coding. You write something that CAN be viewed as queer but with plausible deniability for straight people to ignore it. It’s a means of protecting oneself and the text from homophobic oppression. It is a legitimate practice. So even though it can be denied as a queer text, it can also very very well be viewed as a definite queer text. We are choosing to queer it here. It is not as explicit as it could be, but it is still very bold, suggestive coding considering the homophobic world we live in, and especially with KH2 being released in 2004. 

“But Age Gap!” (ughhhhh)

We’re back to this cuz I also finally have the Japanese version of that infamous page in the Day’s novel to look at.  

I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a little bit salty but I don’t like to repeat myself lol so I’m gonna try to keep this section short and to the point.

In this interview with Nomura, he expresses that nobodies do not age, and they exist as they were at the time of becoming a nobody. He then suggests Xemnas seems 30 ish.

Now I truly do not care to hold your hand through the process of thinking creatively because you should be using your own imagination, if you have one, to think critically and creatively about what this idea means.

Kingdom Hearts is a FANTASY game. Nobodies are a FANTASY concept. They can break ALL the rules about real life that you want them to. But I will go ahead and explain this for you even though I’ve already done it many times, in this very document even and in other meta posts.

The body reflects the heart. Nobodies are frozen as they are from the moment they are “born”, which is to say the moment they are created. Glorified zombies. They aren’t going to age unless they form a heart. Why does Xemnas look 30? He has a heart! Or he was formed 10 years after TerraNort defected. You tell me. Why did Ienzo age? I dunno, you tell me! Either he formed a heart and didn’t know it, (he’s passionate about his work, he loves Ansem the Wise, any number of things could’ve made him form a new heart), or he was nobodied later in life. Axel is frozen at whatever age he was when he was nobodied, all the while Ienzo could’ve been nobodied 10 years later. It’s a fantasy, and these are fantasy rules. That scenario can happen. YOU decide. Until the canon tells us for sure, your imaginations can run wild with explanations. Even if the canon does tell us, you can still imagine whatever you want for your own headcanons. Freedom is amazing, it’s salty and sweet. 

Now let’s talk about that annoying page in the Days novel people keep shoving in my face.

This one right here. The official english translation is this:

That’s not the worst translation I’ve seen them put out there. But let’s look closer at the Japanese:

 Here, Axel says he thinks Roxas is about 10 years separate from himself, but things like age don't exist for nobodies.

Already that’s making a lot more sense to me for nobodies since we are told nobodies do not age. As such Axel speaking like he is 10 years older would feels almost contradictory when he has no heart and cannot change. 

This wording is important. Recall me saying that Japanese is very vague so all of the context matters. No one is denying that 10 years passed between Birth By Sleep and Axel meeting Roxas. However. Nobodies don’t age.

(please dont make me explain that a third time in this essay alone)

The Japanese and English both express that age does not apply to nobodies, (as discussed above^^^^) and the Japanese furthers this with its wording. They have 10 years of separation between Axel being nobodied, and Roxas existing.  

Axel saying in English that Roxas is simply 10 years younger than himself is rather misleading considering the ambiguity of the original. I can’t fault the translators too much for not understanding this nobody concept so well because it is obviously confusing. However, I do not think Axel was saying Roxas is literally, in real life human somebody terms, 10 literal physical years younger than him. He is expressing that he became a nobody 10 years ago whereas this guy became a nobody very recently, and it shows with how little he can even function right now. A zombie who has been wandering around with no heart for 10 years meets a fresh zombie wandering around with no heart for 1 day. 

I know antis are gonna use it against us no matter what, but at least know that akuroku is not inherently pedophilia nor is it inherently an adult/minor ship.

In many of our headcanons, Axel was frozen at age 18 or 19, with Roxas being 16. Absolutely no one is required to view them with a big age gap because imagination is free and you literally have no right to police it, but also because the canon expresses these nobodies as beings outside of the realm of age. They do not operate under real life rules or somebody rules. Think of Steven Universe where Rose was thousands of years old but only “grew up” as a person when she fell in love with Greg, a human in his 20s-30s who asked her to consider other people’s feelings. Consider the mind of a nobody as a state of Neverland. You aren’t gonna age unless you step out of it and change. Mature. Isn’t it sad that Axel did not feel like he had a heart until Roxas? No wonder people ship it!

Coding is Obvious

Finally I wanna conclude on a simple thought. This interview right here? I’d be curious what the original Japanese actually says lol but the english translation of it says that romantic akuroku was not Nomura’s intent. 

Here’s the thing though. If you know anything about queer coding, you know that using romantic coding between 2 male characters is signaling something. It is not something you should ignore. It would not be there if the characters were meant to be viewed as objectively straight. And for something “unintentional”... there sure is a lot of coding at work here.

From Axel pinning Roxas down and asking him to come home in a very sexually suggestive pose,

to watching the sunset in sheer bliss together just enjoying the peace of reunion,

to watching the sunset together while talking about what LOVE is, specifICALLY romantic love,

To this. And I already told you what this was in Japanese.

I’m not saying Nomura lied…

But I am saying that a whole staff worked together to create these games, and it is very difficult for me to believe that no one thought to say “these characters appear to be romantic, let us change the scene to be more platonic” if the characters were not meant to be romantically suggestive. 

Tl;Dr I wanna live in the timeline where people let you ship akuroku lol

[outbythehighwind]

The Misconceptions of FF7: A Cloud, Aerith & Tifa Analysis Part 4/5

Link to all parts: https://outbythehighwind.tumblr.com/post/640347336477966336/the-misconceptions-of-ff7-a-cloud-aerith-tifa

Previously, I examined the misconceptions around Cloud’s character and his feelings toward Aerith and Tifa. I determined that his feelings for Aerith are of a powerful friendship in the sense of plot (and, if the player so interprets by their experience of the narrative, romantic). This friendship is by no means a ‘lesser’ love than Eros (romantic love) – friendship, it its true sense, being one of the highest forms of love also. In addition to being the one for whom Cloud holds Eros (per the plot) after all, Tifa is also Cloud’s best friend.

Just as the substantial importance of both women to Cloud cannot be denied, the game makes it abundantly clear that Cloud is substantially, substantially important to them both.

AERITH

Established in narrative and plot, Aerith has romantic feelings for Cloud. Let us debunk yet another ridiculous argument – that Aerith does not ‘truly’ love Cloud, only being attracted to the ‘Zack-Cloud’. What begins as mere intrigue born out of Cloud’s similarities to her prior Eros, grows into a genuine Eros for Cloud. During the optional Gold Saucer date, Aerith clearly addresses this fact.

Where in the Sector 5 playground Aerith shows the beginnings of a crush (on “Ex-SOLDIER” Cloud), the night at Gold Saucer has her revealing that this crush has developed into a genuine romantic interest in Cloud. Aerith reveals that she does not know Cloud’s true self and that she is – romantically – searching for him. The fact that Cloud’s true self is buried by “Ex-SOLDIER” does not alter the fact that Aerith is falling for the being that is Cloud.

Because this scene an optional experience, however, we must look further. In the Temple of the Ancients, Aerith openly asks Cait Sith to read her and Cloud’s fortune as a couple. Of course, Aerith is primarily trying to encourage Cait Sith and bring cheer to the farewell as he is about to sacrifice himself. One could also argue that beyond that she is just being her playful self – with which I can agree to a point, considering Cloud’s lack of reaction.

But given the seriousness of the situation (Cait Sith is about to leave them for good), and her flirtiness with Cloud throughout the game, I believe Aerith is wittingly testing the waters at the least. She has known Cloud long enough to know the being Cloud and even though she does not fully know him – the self he is presently projecting being that of “Ex-SOLDIER” – she is openly pursuing a romantic relationship with him.

Coupled with Gold Saucer, I see this as clear evidence of Aerith’s Eros for Cloud. But for sake of (the sadly common) argument that Aerith never knew or loved the ‘real’ Cloud, I will provide one further verification. Of course, Aerith died before Cloud’s true self was recovered in the Lifestream, so such evidence must come from the FF7 compilation. That can be found in the explicit statement from On The Way To A Smile: Lifestream: White I: “Cloud was her friend. More than a friend, for she had loved him. He was a symbol of everything she held dear. She would protect him.”

I wish to avoid the can of worms that is the 恋人 (“koibito”) argument – 恋人 being the Japanese word that is used for both Lifestream: White I’s statement of what Cloud was to Aerith, and character designer Nomura’s description of Tifa in an interview on Advent Children (you can see how this argument would go in circles) – but I want to point out that this word is only used when specifically referring to Eros. 恋 (“koi”) specifically pertains to “romantic love” (“ai”, the same kanji, being “feelings of love” in the general sense). 人 (by itself “hito”) means “person”. A 恋人 (“koibito”) thus literally translates to “a person one loves (romantically)” and is often used when referring to a “lover”. Aerith’s feelings for Cloud – the ‘real’ Cloud – are undeniably Eros.

__________

TIFA

Established in both narrative and plot, Tifa’s love for Cloud is Eros.

At 13, during – or even before – their promise at the water tower, she may have had a bit of crush on Cloud (”You were so small then... and cute”). It is also revealed in the Lifestream sequence that Tifa thought she and Cloud were close. Oblivious to his feelings of inadequacy and him putting up a distance between them because of that, it shocked her to even learn that Cloud had only once been in her room.

Tifa was upset when Cloud announced he was leaving and prompted him to make the promise in response – partly out of a young teen’s princess fantasy. But moreover, it was so that Cloud would have a reason to come back to her. She asked him to be her hero – her personal knight in shining armor. This is further indicative of a crush.

Although Cloud was very small and his decision to join SOLDIER was surprising, Tifa believed in him and encouraged him. After he left, she cared to the point of pining for whatever news she could find about him. Her and Cloud were not close, yet she thought about him a lot after he left.

She was inspired to learn martial arts, to be able to fight alongside him, and when she heard two SOLDIERS were coming to town, volunteered – against her father’s wishes – to be their guide just so that she could see Cloud again. She was immensely upset when he did not come.

When she found him at the station – not fully himself – she took him to Seventh Heaven to care for him and persuaded him to join AVALANCHE in order to watch over him. Throughout the entire game, Tifa does everything in her power to stay by Cloud’s side, buying herself time because she is at a loss at what to do. She can’t figure out what is wrong with him, and she holds back for fear of losing him again – losing the boy she had pined for and only just gotten back, in addition him to being the only thing she has left of home.

Now, some more nonsense to refute – that Tifa was ‘selfish’, and only wanted Cloud because he was all that was left of Nibelheim. Aside from the indicated importance Cloud already was to Tifa while Nibelheim and her loved ones were still around, let us take a look at what occurred in Mideel. Here we have the most unconditional act of Eros in the entire FF7 compilation. When the world is a week from being destroyed, Tifa stays with the catatonic Cloud, who may or may not be the Cloud from her childhood, who may not recover at all let alone when, and uses every ounce of energy to care for him.

The nurse, who sees only this part of their journey, remarks that “She must really love him.”

When the Lifestream erupts beneath them, Tifa risks her life to get Cloud (who may or may not be Cloud, who may not recover) to safety, and falling into the Lifestream with him, determines to stitch his psyche back together piece by piece.

Now, let’s recall the circumstances that led up to the finding of Cloud in Mideel.

After Sephiroth breaks their trust, Cloud apologizes to Tifa for ‘having not lived up to the boy she believed to be Cloud’ (believing Sephiroth’s lie that he is a fake created from her memories), and then gives Sephiroth the Black Materia. Believing he is a Sephiroth clone, Cloud tells her, breaking her heart, “I never lived up to being ‘Cloud’. Tifa… maybe one day you’ll meet the real ‘Cloud’.” The Japanese version emphasizes the heartbreak even further. Cloud adds the honorific -さん to her name, adding formality, and says: TIFAさん…どこかで本当のCLOUDくんに会えるといいですね (“Tifa-san… itsuka doko ka de hontō no CLOUD-kun ni aeru to īdesu ne” – lit. “I hope that someday, somewhere, you can meet the real Cloud”.)

Tifa falls to the ground and weeps, remaining in this state while Cloud begs Hojo for a number, while he gives Sephiroth the Black Materia, and while the cave collapses and she dragged out to safety.

Despite all the uncertainties about Cloud and herself – bordering to the point where she questions her very own identity (worrying whether her memories were all “made up”), Tifa refuses to give up. When finding the comatose Cloud in Mideel, she expresses that she still believes in Cloud – in them.

At her very breaking point, having lost the man she loves (who may be dead at this point, or, if alive, a mere Sephiroth clone fabricated from the memories she herself questions) while Meteor is coming to destroy the future, Tifa is the most distraught over the loss of Cloud. Yet the party forces her into the role of leader, only believing there might be hope for Cloud being the man they had come to know him as because of Tifa’s believing in him.

When finding the catatonic Cloud, the party abandons him to fight both Shinra and Meteor. After all, what could he do to help now? Even if he were to help, could they rely on him after all the disaster he’d caused? Was he even the man they’d known him to be at all?

Yet Tifa remains and, despite her doubts, despite her fears, despite being alone in her decision while the party gives up on him, chooses to continue believing in Cloud. Above the fight for the Planet itself, she is – and has been this entire time – fighting for him.

Which brings us to the other fatuous notion around Tifa and Cloud – that she was ‘selfish’ for not telling him the truth about their past and that it was ‘all her fault’ that his psyche collapsed. People find it easy, it seems, to forget Tifa’s own inner struggle throughout the entire game. So, in addition to what I’ve already said regarding her doubts, I want to briefly consider this in light of Cloud’s reliability.

Cloud, since the very beginning, is established as a reliable narrator, and throughout the game is the party’s go-to on everything they do not understand – from the Materia tutorial to all things pertaining to the enemy. He is Ex-SOLDIER. He knows the inner workings of Shinra. He knows more about Sephiroth than anyone. He recounts most things that occurred at Nibelheim – accurately – when, to Tifa’s recalling, he wasn’t even there. Moreover, she was delirious from her injuries, at the point of dying from blood loss when Cloud supposedly found her in the reactor. How could she not doubt herself?

In addition to not being able to find the answers no matter what she did, Tifa kept quiet out of her greatest fear – losing, in addition to the one thing she had left of past, the man she loves. She had already lost everything else and thus tried everything in her power to keep Cloud close.

It is in the Lifestream that the narrative finally reveals the plot. This narrative that introduced and stressed Cloud as “Ex-SOLDIER”, even prior to the player’s naming him, him no longer lies or distracts the player from the ‘real’ Cloud. With no more deception or diversion, the player learns that Cloud’s love for Tifa was what began the plot, and now allows him to resolve it in both recovering and for the first time accepting himself. The self-rejecting inadequacy, weakness and failure that begun his struggle are overpowered by those feelings – the Eros that is so intrinsic to his being that he is enabled to recover his true self.

Meanwhile, Tifa learns that Cloud was there for her all along, keeping his promise. And when she was injured before him 5 years ago, the ‘weak’ boy who failed to make SOLDIER accomplished what even Zack could not; he defeated “the best of the best” that is Sephiroth.

Link to all parts: https://outbythehighwind.tumblr.com/post/640347336477966336/the-misconceptions-of-ff7-a-cloud-aerith-tifa

[palizinhas]

As someone who's more or less on the S*kai side of the ship war, a ship war I try to avoid entirely, I mostly only see attacks on my ship, and the occasional insult thrown in K*iri's way. Thus I don't often see the negativity So*ikus may experience. I know you're a Rkai fan and that you're fed up with both ships, so I wanted to ask you, what's some of the negativity that S*kais have hurled at So*ikus? I feel like I need to give up the victim complex I have in terms of my ship.

I think s*kai fans have two main issues.

The first is how smug they can be of how “canon” their ship is. Which is, like. I’ve said in the past that not seeing them, especially in KH3, as supposed to be canon gives Nomura too much credit, but I’m not sure them being canon is a good thing. Because up to this point K*iri has been S*ra’s thing to chase after and be motivated by something bad happening to her.

So there’s a lot of downplaying his relationship with everyone else, especially R*ku, basically doing the same mistake So*iku fans do of putting their relationship with each other over everything. Which isn’t true, S*ra loves a lot of people, regardless of whether that love is romantic or not.

The other issue is a fandom thing. Constantly saying that anyone who doesn’t like K*iri/ships So*iku has to be misogynistic, that it’s the only reason someone would ship it. It’s kinda like So*iku fans claiming anyone that doesn’t like their ship is homophobic.

All in all both sides have very similar rethoric, tbh. I think the main difference when it comes to Ka*ri vs R*ku is the fact that most so*ai fans LIKE him as a character, so there’s less hate directed at him (outside of people wishing he got less focus on the next phase because of how much focus he got in the first).

[kitsoa]

A list of KH theories that I have begun drafting in some form but can’t finish because they keep interconnecting and I don’t know which one to start with. 

Meta-catastrophe: Kingdom Hearts (the series) is becoming self aware of it’s status as a video game. The 4th Wall is slowly breaking and will completely shatter in future installments. This will not be funny. 

This ~Shibuya~ Sora is in is an incarnation of our reality. It’s not able to be the actual real world because it still exists within a form of fiction (the next video game installment). Which is why the building is still 104 and why Nomura calls it Shibuya in kana. But for all intents and purposes, it’s the real world. The world that hosts his fiction.

The Master of Masters is an authorial (Nomura’s) self-insert from this reality. He penned the KH fiction and has thus authored Destiny itself. He’s granted some level of autonomy to his characters and is playing the apathetic god (power trip?). The conflict of man vs destiny becomes a more literal man vs god. 

Kingdom Hearts (the object) is not a massive collection of hearts-- world’s hearts or hearts of men-- no it’s the collective heart of reality itself.

The Worlds in Kingdom Hearts are not isolated environments and settings, or even dimensions of progressed scenarios but literally manifestation of authored Stories. The actual Disney movie stories. They are physically limited to the stories they derive from, but by virtue of being connected to the greater collective story of KH they are capable of behaving like transformative works. 

Because Worlds are Stories, the Hearts of Worlds are actually the Hearts of the Stories they contain. We connect with people from the heart. We also connect with stories and characters in the same way. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t real. 

If Kingdom Hearts (the object) is the Heart of Reality, and the Heart of Worlds are actually the Hearts of Stories, and Kingdom Hearts (the game) is becoming self aware of its status as a work of fiction (A Story), then Kingdom Hearts is both the game and the in-universe object. 

The ‘Unchained Realm’ is actually more of the ‘Realm of Fiction’ where dreams and fictional fabrications become real, untethered to (KH) Reality.

The Realm of Sleep falls under this umbrella because dreams are fiction that don’t actually exist. 

There are two forms of fiction. Set and Continuous. Set stories are stories already written, with a beginning and an end, unable to be changed by virtue of their source material. Continuous Stories are stories currently being written, able to change and be manipulated. The kind of fiction depends on the type of medium and if there’s an active author. Books can’t change whats been physically written, AI driven simulations have some kind active author in the form of computer unless programmed otherwise. The dreams of worlds (stories) can’t actually expand past what’s already happened so they are set unless tethered to the land of the living (awoken). 

Worldlines as parallel timelines with minute differences, are within the Unchained Realm, untethered to the original (KH) Reality as they are fictional depictions of an alternative scenario in the original story. 

The Realm of Fiction is only traversable due to the objective definition empowering the select denizens of the (also fictional) Realm of KH Reality to traverse Stories tethered to their reality. Nothing is fake and nothing is real at the same time. 

The objective definition of ‘traversing worlds’ allowing to make real, actual elements of fiction in their universe, is the same obtuse exploitation used with the Power of Waking. “To wake something from slumber” is initially mundane until exploited against the concept that ‘sleep and death cross over.’ Thus you can wake someone up from the dead. 

Sora exploiting the objective definition of his Reality’s laws by sole nature of being a work of fiction caused him to weaken the fabric of said fiction. So he fell through into the Actual Real World. 

Master of Masters wanted this because Sora has the power to see a heart in everything and can even give the Real World a heart if he connects with it. That’s why he makes a Kingdom Hearts out of the Real Moon. It’s going to become a part of Kingdom Hearts(the game) and no longer be bound to the limits of Actual Reality. Actual godhood achieved.

I had to get this down. If you have questions or want elaboration drop me an ask. 

[akanemachurida-blog]

Love Crescendo’s Counter-Attack!

[This interview is from the February edition of EX Taishu. You can get it here: http://amzn.asia/dovqv2t]

-I’m interested in the pairing between Goto-san and Sugawara-san, so I’ve come to hear your story.

Goto: (while shaking Maya’s hand) Thanks for making this pairing with me!

Sugawara: (while shaking Rara’s hand) I’m glad!

-You two are close, huh.

Sugawara: It’s a business relationship.

Goto: Yup, it’s for work so we have no choice but look like we are close to one another.

-It doesn’t seem that way. (laugh) Does your unit have a name?

Goto/Sugawara: Kuzuzu.

-That name doesn’t seem like one that will spread very easily. (laughs) Tell us about its origins.

Goto: Maya and I often share a room when we get accommodation and we always stay up until 2 in the morning just wasting time. In that sense we are “kuzu” (crap). I want to see Kuzuzu spread, so please [help us]!

-What do the two of you talk about?

Goto: I listen to Sugawara’s worries. (laugh)

Sugawara: Hey, hey. Don’t I listen to your stories too? (Laugh)

Goto: Sugawara talks about SKE48.

Sugawara: Rara talks a lot about her studies or herself. She also talk about things high school girls talk about.

Goto: It’s always funny when the two of us are together. If she invites me to go to the convenience store with her and I refuse, she replies “Oh, is that so” coldly and turns into a tsundere.

Sugawara: I act cold towards to a friendly person, unfortunately. (Laugh) Rara is friendly to everyone, she spoils me too.

Goto: Sugawara surprisingly has qualities of an older sister, so I really want to pamper her.

Sugawara: Maybe I’m seen as an object, but I’m often used a pillow. But since I want a younger sister… Nah, I don’t really need one after all.

Goto: Hey ~ (laugh)

-Are there any things you’d like the other to improve on?

Goto: She uses me as her errand-goer. She asks me stuff like, “Hey, get a tissue for me over there.” (Laugh) I get annoyed but if I think about it I use her as a slave too.

Sugawara: We’re both the same, huh. (Laugh) As for the stuff I’d like Rara-chan to improve on, there’s quite a lot of it.

Goto: Huh, what? Probably how I don’t listen to your stories right?

Sugawara: Well that applies to me too. I want you to be quiet. When we’re in the same room she puts her music on extremely loudly and starts singing. I can’t stand it. I try telling her to shut up.

Goto: Ahahahaha! I thought you were happy when you told me that. I sing wildly even in the cars that drive and pick us up from work. For me, doing that is necessary.

Sugawara: When she did that I went to take a bath and when I came back she was sleeping. (Laugh)

-When Love Crescendo was formed it was believed that the two of you, together with Obata-san, would carry SKE48 forward.

Sugawara: That might be the case for Rara-chan and Yunana, but it was wrong to believe that from me.

Goto: She is negative.

Sugawara: I’m negative, but I’m also the kind to get very excited.

-You weren’t happy during Love Crescendo.

Sugawara: I was simply happy. Even though I didn’t appear in the first performance for the kenkyuusei stage and my position in the second draft was on the margins, I was still selected for Love Crescendo. A lot of people probably wondered why I was chosen. So I didn’t want to waste that chance.

Goto: I didn’t realize the meaning of the unit at the time. But the filming of the MV in Kumamoto was a lot of fun. We were made to do a lot of things that we normally wouldn’t be able to do in the great wild.

-After two years of Love Crescendo, Obata-san has become the center for Igai ni Mango and Muishiki no Iro.

Goto/Sugawara: *handshake*

Goto: It felt like we had been building up towards Igai ni Mango, so it felt right when it happened.

Sugawara: I, along with other members, hoped that Obata would have a position in the front. There was an impact in having her be the center for her first senbatsu, and I think being the center suits her.

-Did you feel that you needed to do better?

Goto: I wasn’t upset. I thought it was another chance for me. And with Igai ni Mango I felt like I was able to forget all of my past pressure. Those around me told me I got brighter as a result.

Sugawara: I’m hearing a lot fewer negative stories from Rara since then.

Goto: I’m serious at heart. (Laugh)

Sugawara: Could you not say that about yourself? (Laugh)

Goto: I had a lot of fun during Mae Nomeri and Love Crescendo’s Koppu no Naka no Komorebi, but I was frustrated with my worthlessness during Chicken LINE and Kin no Ai, Gin no Ai, and I drove myself into a corner.

-You didn’t talk about it with Sugawara-san?

Goto: I’m the type to be hard on myself. On the other hand, Sugawara is the type to pay too much attention to others, and when she was feeling deflated I cheered her up by saying I was there for her.

-Sugawara-san got into the senbatsu for Chicken LINE but got left out for Kin no Ai, Gin no Ai, and Igai ni Mango.

Sugawara: For a period I thought that the senbatsu was “whatever” and gave up on getting back in. I thought it was a time to focus on doing the work I was given. However, I felt Yahagi-chan’s effort as the first 8th generation member in the senbatsu, and I felt like getting back into the senbatsu. I feel like the time spent out of the senbatsu was a plus for me.

-I believe that the fact you are both in the senbatsu now is a big thing.

Goto: I was happy we were both in it. We get mails to inform us about the senbatsu when it’s decided. I thought, “Oh crap, Sugawara’s in it.”

Sugawara: Rara was the one who told me I was in it.

Goto: But she told me “I already know.” (Laugh)

-Love Crescendo has also been brought back, and four new faces have been added.

Goto: At first I wondered what was with this timing. Love Crescendo sang before the Unit Battle concert, and Jurina told us “I was told that the seven of us are the best, so let’s do our best”, so I felt fired up. However, a few days later it was decided that we would get new members, so I was surprised.

Sugawara: It’s because we love Love Crescendo so much. We talked to each other on LINE.

Goto: When we shot the MV I felt the energy of the new members, particularly the two 8th generation members. (Inoue Ruka, Nomura Miyo) My feelings were complicated but I felt like I didn’t want to lose to the new members.

Sugawara: There was a time where I was the only one in Love Crescendo left out of the senbatsu. Due to that I felt like I needed to try harder. I’m glad I’m able to be part of Love Crescendo.

-Do you feel like Love Crescendo’s time is coming?

Sugawara: If you compare us to our senpai in terms of name recognition, we’re no where close, but 7D2 has a lot of cute girls. (Laugh)

Goto: I really do think so.

Sugawara: I want us to appear more and be noticed more.

-Do you want to keep Kuzuzu going?

Goto: Yup. Sugawara is able to express her funny side, but although I’m able to joke around with my inner circle, I end up being in the background when I’m in front of many people. I want people to see me fooling around, but I can’t get it out.

Sugawara: That’s because I’ve got the joking character.

Goto: I’m jealous. I want to get a joking character too.

Sugawara: But I wanted to be known as a pure girl!

[getgamez]

In Other Waters

.ugb-ce32c06 .ugb-video-popup__wrapper{max-width:1774px;border-radius:25px;background-color:#1b2838;background-image:url(https://getgamez.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/In-Other-Waters-free.jpg)}.ugb-ce32c06 .ugb-video-popup__play-button svg{fill:#ffffff !important}.ugb-ce32c06 .ugb-video-popup__wrapper:before{background-color:#1b2838;opacity:0.3}.ugb-ce32c06 .ugb-video-popup__wrapper:hover:before{opacity:0.6}.ugb-ce32c06.ugb-video-popup{margin-top:-7px !important}@media screen and (max-width:768px){.ugb-ce32c06 .ugb-video-popup__wrapper{max-width:242px;height:180px !important}} Game Overview a xenobiologist who discovers extraterrestrial life while searching for her missing partner. When Ellery is called to planet Gliese 677Cc by Minae Nomura, only to arrive at an abandoned base, she finds herself adrift in an ocean of secrets, with little more than a malfunctioning diving suit and a strange AI to guide her. You are this AI. Guide Ellery—and keep her safe—as you dive deeper and explore an underwater alien landscape. The planet’s unique life, and its dark history, are yours to uncover and the bond between you and Ellery will be tested by the secrets you learn. Through this shifting narrative, In Other Waters asks questions about the nature of “natural” and “artificial” life, and investigates what it means to be a human in an epoch of extreme environmental destruction. For life to continue, it must change. Freely dive into an expansive section of seafloor, from shimmering reefs to inky depths. Unlock upgrades and make discoveries that allow you to open up new paths, uncovering strange creatures and environments as you do. Navigate an elegant, intuitive UI via gamepad or mouse controls. Interpret signals, set headings, and map the ocean through experimentation and intuition. Discover and catalogue species through observation, scanning, taking samples, and interacting with alien life. Read Ellery’s notes, look at her sketches, and help her classify an entirely new ecosystem. Choose whether to study creatures, investigate secrets or dive new areas, then come back to your base to study samples in the lab, chat to Ellery or read her journals to understand more about this world. Through limited communication learn more about the person whose suit you inhabit, and help guide her towards a terrible truth. What you experience together will bring you closer. Screenshots for System Requirements Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7+ Processor: 2.0 GHz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: 2 GB VRAM Storage: 700 MB available space Read the full article

[cosmiciaria]

Final Fantasy XV [long] Review (minor spoilers!)

This is going to be my first review here on Tumblr, and I thought, why not start with something that’s still boiling out there? 

FFXV was many things for me. It was one of the three reasons why I bought a PS4 (the other two being Persona 5 and… eventually, KH3); it was, in fact, the first game I played on that console! I went from having a PS2 to a complete and brand new PS4, and it was all so overwhelming and beautiful for me, that I couldn't not feel amazed by everything.

Ok, so let's clear something out of the table: did I like FFXV? Yes! I thought it was a good game. Was it perfect? Hell no, I'm not blind, people! But, is there anything outside that it's perfect? *cof cof don't throw The Last of Us at me cof*

FFXV was highly expected by the audience, and after '10 years' of waiting, they were thirsty for something innovative, fresh, new, creative and mind blowing. What we did get, nonetheless, was a game that was worth only the four or three years in development that it actually had. The so called Final Fantasy Versus XIII never saw the light of day, much to many people's disgrace, and all those years that supposedly the game was being developed vanished entirely from the face of earth. What happened, we'll never truly know, and one can only speculate.

Me, personally, I wasn't interested in FFvXIII. It wasn't until this game was rebranded as FFXV that it caught my attention. And with each trailer, I grew more and more hyped. I started being a fan of Final Fantasy games in late 2014, when I was in my most stressed month of first year of college, and I needed something to clear my mind after hours of studying. Final Fantasy games showed me that videogames can have plot!, can have good characters!, can have good plot twists!, can rip your heart out and twist it in their hands and then give it back to you all broken and shattered! So, of course I was going to be hyped for this game: it had a prince, it had four handsome characters, it had an awesome car, it had magic and it had crystals. A complete score for me.

FFXV, for those who haven't played it, is about the heir of the Kingdom of Lucis: Noctis. Noctis isn't your average prince: he's more the lazy kind of royalty child. And no, he's not emo. Yes, he likes his hair like that. Yes, he can see through it. Stop considering him as an emo. Play the game, you'll learn why. Anyway, Noctis's kingdom is in turmoil and fighting against the Niffleheim Empire, a technologically advanced country that's using the power of Magitek Troopers to submit as much as Lucis's territories as it can. Only Insomnia, the Crown City capital, remains safe behind its magical walls.

The political truce comes by the hand of Niffleheim chancellor Ardyn Izunia, a very funny character (and funny here meaning strange – oh I'm beginning to sound like Lemony Snicket) who's obviously up to no good. He proposes the marriage between Noctis, the prince of Lucis, and Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, the Oracle of Tenebrae. This is kind of ironic here, because Luna and Noctis knew each other from when they were children, but that's another story. Go watch the anime Brotherhood.

The kingdom of Lucis accepts this truce, albeit with suspicious eyes. Noctis, unaware of his father's true plans, is sent on a trip with his boyfriends – I mean, best friends, to Altissia, the city in which he's gonna marry Luna. He's happy, though. So happy that he even jokes about it to his father.

The moment he leaves Insomnia, all hell breaks loose. His city is attacked, destroyed, massacred, and many other synonyms, and his father dies in battle. The truce was no truce at all, the marriage was a façade, and the whole purpose was to wipe the Lucis Caelum dynasty from the face of Eos. Noctis, with the help of his bros, has to reclaim back his throne (huh, ring a bell? Back cover of the game? No?), by requesting the help of the Six Astrals (a.k.a. gods, a.k.a. gameplay wise, summons) and by seeking the Royal Arms, weapons wielded by Lucis Kings of old, his forebears.

So that's the set up. You start here, and everything goes downhill.

I'm going with the bad news first: what did FFXV do wrong – so wrong that it makes you wanna throw the game and ask yourself 'why did I buy this! This is no FF at all!'?

The FIRST thing this game did wrong was to be rushed. Yes. People are still saying that this game was ten years in development: guess what, it wasn't! Until Tabata relieved Nomura as director, the game was going nowhere. They had little time to create something worth the wait of ten years, and, inevitably, things were going to get crazy for these people working under pressure. I DID feel the game was rushed in the last chapters after leaving Altissia. The chapters that occur on the train feel like a plot device: we're moving, but there's nowhere to go, but the plot goes on, and so you gotta go on too, go with the flow, don't ask questions, just go there, do the thing, come back here, sit down, keep doing it. In one moment, after losing Prompto to that fall and witnessing the demise of Tenebrae (well, 'witness', we arrived just after the attack), I was just sitting there, watching Noctis and Ignis having a conversation and asking myself 'why the hell are we here, where are we heading'. MANY things happen off screen, and it gets on my nerves every time I think about it: the transformation of emperor into Foras, a demon that hunts you down during Chapter 13; the betrayal of Ravus Nox Fleuret; whatever happened to Verstael (is that man still alive? I guess we won't know until Episode Prompto DLC). We also don't get to see the content of Kingsglaive movie and the anime Brotherhood in the actual game, so if you were expecting some kind of backstory for each character, sorry to disappoint you, you gotta watch 'em all.

Actually, I do wanna do a sidenote here: the anime is pretty good. It's short: only an hour long, and it provides you with a lot of info you'll be glad to have. Also, it makes you like the characters even more. Yes, the content should've been there in the game SOMEWHERE (we don't ask for much), but still, it's worth your time. Kingsglaive, on the other hand… yes, it provides with crucial information for the start of the game that you SHOULD know, but that's only some minutes in the movie. The rest is just Nyx's story, and we're not really here for Nyx, are we?

At any rate, the second thing people are complaining more about is the cut content. There are lands and lands and lands AND LANDS of explorable places in the game that you CAN'T reach. They're there, they were supposed to serve some purpose, but you can't touch them. Shuuu. Also, prior to the game, many trailers were released and many scenes shown there didn't make it to the final product. Where is Luna's backstory? Where is that kid Noctis and king Regis scene from the Dawn Trailer? Nope, not for you! Sorry to disappoint ya!

That doesn't bother me too much. I don't pretty much look at the cut content: it's not in the game, it shouldn't be taken into account while reviewing it. But it's there, I guess.

What it actually bothers me a lot, is that you can't control your whole party. You only control Noctis. And that's fine, when you haven't played Final Fantasy Type 0, which was directed by the same man here. And in FF T0 you can control and SWITCH between 14 characters. All the time. Whenever you want. Always. And you're left wondering how the hell was that possible in a PSP game, but not in a PS4 game. I wonder.

The third thing I personally hate about this game, is Luna. Really. She's such a wasted potential that makes me wanna hit something. Period. I shipped Noctis more with the car than with her (joking, actually I ship Noct with Iris, but that's just me).

ALRIGHT, let's go with the good news now! Hell, how did you manage to like the game after all this that you've mentioned?

Like? Like? I LOVED the game!

Bear with me a little longer.

Yes, the game it's flawed in more ways that should've been allowed. But it also does many things well. Very well. The core of the game is on its gameplay: addictive, fun, not so strategic at the beginning, but still worth it. I spent hours killing fiends just to feel the enjoyment of smashing that sword and warping around with the prince of pain! The game has many optional dungeons, and some of them are nightmares made flesh, and if you want even a harder challenge, you have the dungeons inside of the dungeons, which are even more nightmarish! There are optional bosses here and there. It'll take some time before you run out of things to kill in the game. And even then, you can try your platforming skills in the Pitioss Dungeon, although I'd advise you to take it easy, because you're gonna have a bad time. Trust me, I'm an enginstudent of law.

Alright, you don't like the gameplay? Still, there are plenty of things to enjoy. The visuals in the game are awestriking. I used to hate driving in the car, but now, I enjoy the view and I listen to the music of older FF's, because everything there is worth seeing. The amount of details put into the game is amazing: how things get wet when it rains, even the car's glass gets pixelated with drops; how Noctis and the others interact with the environment; how the AI is programmed to make them react to different things in different ways. Even when Ignis, while driving, takes his Ebony coffee, the can doesn't disappear into thin air, but it's instead placed in a coaster in the car. It's a tiny thing, but it's there, people worked on it and it deserves praise!!

Fine, fine, you're not looking for details. Ok. Then you gotta love the characters. The way they interect with each other. Yes, we didn't have backstory for any of them. We don't know where Prompto comes from, or what Gladiolus wants, or why Iginis is likes he is. But, who cares. The time you spend with your bros is where the real trip is. No wonder Tabata said he wanted to make the 'roadtrip with friends' the main idea of the game. You grow fond of them without even noticing it, you start caring for them, even more when bad things start happening to them! Oh, my god, could SOMEONE hug PROMPTO, FOR F*CK'S SAKE HE NEEDS A HUG RIGHT NOW!!

And it's not just the main characters: Aranea Highwind is such a good asset in your party, that people even found the way to force her permanently in your team! (although they say new patches have removed this glitch – unfortunately) Iris Amicitia, Gladio's sister, is also a good change of pace for the male party members. And, hey, what about the main villain? Ardyn Izunia may very well be one of the best antagonists ON EARTH. I just love him so much, him and his plans and his voice actor.

OKAY, you don't like any of this! What about the music? It's gorgeous, it makes you tear up and have goosebumps. I cry myself to sleep with the soundtrack!

Music either…? Alright, alright. Maybe the ending of the game will compensate for something. No? Fine… maybe, just MAYBE FFXV isn't for you. And I'm not judging you!! Between us, my favorite FF is FFX.

Anyway, yes! I loved the game! And I cried a thousand rivers! And I started a new game + right after finishing it while still having tears in my eyes! Because this game, flawed though it is, means a lot to me. Really. It has given me many laughs, many cries, and it has made me feel real friendship. It's been a long time since I don't feel something real coming from a story, but this game has made it.

At the end of the day, this is the story of four friends: Noct, Iggy, Prom and Gladio. It doesn't matter the future of the kingdom. It doesn't matter how this war is going to end. What's important is the time you spend together with them. And how they, slowly but steadily, make their way into the player's heart.

So now, I do have a soft spot for this game in my heart. Although I know it's not perfect, it makes me glad to see how many people out there are still supporting it, and how the development team 'keeps on keeping on, the only way they know how'.

If you ever liked a Final Fantasy game… please, just give it a shot. If not, you can come to me and complain all you want, but don't miss the chance of playing this awesome game.

My final verdict, is an 8 out of 10. Could've been better, but still worth it. Really worth it. 

[anime-ace]

Spring 2017 (part 1/6)

Alice to Zouroku

Other Titles: アリスと蔵六, Alice & Zouroku

Source: manga

Studio: J.C.Staff

Genre: adventure, mystery, seinen

The story centers on a little girl called Sana, who is one of the children that holds the power of "Alice's Dream," an ability that enables her to materialize anything she imagines. After escaping a lab where she was a test subject, Sana ends up in a normal world where she encounters an old man named Zouroku, but will he help her?

This probably has a lot of lolis with tragic backstories but maybe it’ll turn out to be good. You never know with these. I’m hoping for a feel-good friendship/family story. -Ace

Atom: the Beginning

Other Titles: アトムザ・ビギニング

Source: manga

Studio: Production I.G, OLM, Signal. MD

Genre: action, sci-fi, mecha, seinen

Japan in the near future suffers an unexplained major disaster. Five years later, reconstruction is well underway. Two young researchers at a university are pinning all their hopes on robot development. Now their new interpretation of the eternal hero Astro Boy up until his birth is just about to start!

The prequel to Astro Boy. A cute tale of AIs, love, and friendship. 6 is really adorable. -Ace

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Other Titles: 

Source: Manga

Studio: Studio Pierrot

Genre: action, adventure, super power, martial arts, shounen

Naruto was a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He achieved his dream to become the greatest ninja in the village and his face sits atop the Hokage monument. But this is not his story... A new generation of ninja is ready to take the stage, led by Naruto's own son, Boruto!

Ugh. I’m pretty sure Kishimoto-sensei was done but WSJ is just playing this out for more money. It’s past the point of absurdity, honestly. Unless you’re really into Naruto, there’s no point in watching it. -Ace

Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism

Other Titles: 武装少女マキャヴェリズム, Armed Girls’ Machiavellianism

Source: manga

Studio: Silver Link

Genre: action, school, shounen

The Private Aichi Symbiosis Academy was originally a high school for high-class girls. When it became co-ed, the girls, out of fear, asked to be permitted to bring weapons to school. When that was enforced, a five-member vigilante corps-like organization called the "Supreme Five Swords" was also formed. After many generations, the five swords eventually became a group which corrected problematic students, and the academy started proactively accepting such students in order to correct them. Nomura Fudou was sent to this school after being part of a huge brawl. What will he do when the only options he has after enrolling are being expelled from that school or being corrected the way the rest of the male students there were...by being forced to dress and act like a girl!

One of those OP mains who is a pervert and yet really strong. The girls are all there to show off how cool he is. I can’t abide this crap. The writers never treat females as fellow people. -Ace

Clockwork Planet

Other Titles: クロックワーク・プラネット

Source: light novel

Studio: Xebec

Genre: sci-fi, fantasy

One day, a black box suddenly crashed into the house of the high school dropout Naoto Miura. Inside it was a female automaton. The endless cycle of failure and success. The world that does change and the mankind that does not change. At a time where reality and fantasy are screaming, the encounters of these two make the gears of fate move!

A shounen manga about mechanics, plus a cute robot maid wife. Aside from the annoying slave-girl robot, it’s not that bad. -Ace

[emilyplaysotome]

Get to Know Me Tag

Tagged by @ai-shi-te​ ;)

Nickame:  Em or Emmy but most people call me Emily Gender:  Female Star Sign:  Gemini Height:  5′2.5″ Time Right Now:  1:31 Last Thing I Googled:  Alan Jouban (was watching a UFC - he’s very handsome)

Favorite Bands:  I don’t really listen to music but the ones I used to listen to were The Magnetic Fields and Ratatat Favorite Solo Artists:  Elliot Smith and Sondre Lerche were my go tos back in the day. I’ll always love Britney Spears too. Song Stuck in Your Head: A random  stock music track that I’ve been editing to :\ - so boring

Last Movie I Watched: Arrival Last TV show I watched:  Great British Bake Off!

When Did You Create your Blog:  2016 What kind of stuff do you post:  All Otome for the most part When did your blog reach it’s peak:  I have one KBTBB post with Ota’s little girl that’s gotten over 500+ likes/reblogs Do you have any other blogs:  Yes.  I have a professional one and a food one. Do you get asks regularly:  Very rarely but I love chatting with new people here so feel free to hit me up! Why did you choose your url:  I wanted to better understand this community and otome games so what better way to do that but by playing hence EmilyPlaysOtome. Not super creative haha Following:  180 (I need more people so recommend folks to me!) Posts:  357

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor Pokemon Team:  Been a long time but when Pokemon Go was all the rage I was Team Blue Favorite Colors:  Blue  Average Hours of Sleep: If I don’t get 8+ I’m a hot mess. Lucky Numbers:  17

Favorite Characters: Keeping it to voltage otome and in order of favorite: Kazumi Kagami (Liar), Hiroshi Kirisawa (MPD), Shinichi Kagari (ASA), Nozomu Fuse (TLSL), Mamoru Kishi (KBTBB), Ginnosuke Oguri (IYAT), Iori Enjo (SITS), Ichigo Sato (Dreamy Days), Zyglavis (SCM), Toshizo Hijikata (EOS;COL), Ken (Knights), Haruichi Mamiya (Liar), Masashi Himuro (MPD), Kyohei Rikudoh (SITS), Genji Higashiyama (IYAT), Tadanobu Nomura (MPD), Scorpio (SCM)

What are you wearing right now:  As my grandma would have said “house clothes” How many blankets do you sleep with:  1

Dream Job:  Director at the level where I’m able to make my own work with autonomy and get paid, Right now I work as a Director/Editor at an advertising agency (believe it or not my parent company is Dentsu or as it is in SITS Iori’s story “Entsudoh”) but I’d like to do more int he entertainment space. Dream Trip:  Right now, I want a chill-the-fuck-out vacation in a place like Fiji, or Hawaii

Tagging my newer followers or anyone else who wants to participate: @danielleslauter​ @sal-anjelica​ @deliciousartisanlove​ @makingastar​ @livy1195​ @otome-jade @nasica @mitsukicoco @classicfxckngqueen @tsubasa18

[0100100100101101]

A future in which human workers are replaced by machines is about to become a reality at an insurance firm in Japan, where more than 30 employees are being laid off and replaced with an artificial intelligence system that can calculate payouts to policyholders.

Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance believes it will increase productivity by 30% and see a return on its investment in less than two years. The firm said it would save about 140m yen (£1m) a year after the 200m yen (£1.4m) AI system is installed this month. Maintaining it will cost about 15m yen (£100k) a year.

The move is unlikely to be welcomed, however, by 34 employees who will be made redundant by the end of March.

The system is based on IBM’s Watson Explorer, which, according to the tech firm, possesses “cognitive technology that can think like a human”, enabling it to “analyse and interpret all of your data, including unstructured text, images, audio and video”.

The technology will be able to read tens of thousands of medical certificates and factor in the length of hospital stays, medical histories and any surgical procedures before calculating payouts, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

While the use of AI will drastically reduce the time needed to calculate Fukoku Mutual’s payouts – which reportedly totalled 132,000 during the current financial year – the sums will not be paid until they have been approved by a member of staff, the newspaper said.

Japan’s shrinking, ageing population, coupled with its prowess in robot technology, makes it a prime testing ground for AI.

According to a 2015 report by the Nomura Research Institute, nearly half of all jobs in Japan could be performed by robots by 2035.

Dai-Ichi Life Insurance has already introduced a Watson-based system to assess payments - although it has not cut staff numbers - and Japan Post Insurance is interested in introducing a similar setup, the Mainichi said.

AI could soon be playing a role in the country’s politics. Next month, the economy, trade and industry ministry will introduce AI on a trial basis to help civil servants draft answers for ministers during cabinet meetings and parliamentary sessions.

The ministry hopes AI will help reduce the punishingly long hours bureaucrats spend preparing written answers for ministers.

If the experiment is a success, it could be adopted by other government agencies, according the Jiji news agency.

If, for example a question is asked about energy-saving policies, the AI system will provide civil servants with the relevant data and a list of pertinent debating points based on past answers to similar questions.

The march of Japan’s AI robots hasn’t been entirely glitch-free, however. At the end of last year a team of researchers abandoned an attempt to develop a robot intelligent enough to pass the entrance exam for the prestigious Tokyo University.

“AI is not good at answering the type of questions that require an ability to grasp meanings across a broad spectrum,” Noriko Arai, a professor at the National Institute of Informatics, told Kyodo news agency.

[entergamingxp]

Square Enix Answers 7 Questions of Light On Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind

January 21, 2020 7:39 AM EST

The Japanese Kingdom Hearts Twitter account published a summary of everything we know about the Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind DLC.

The Japanese Kingdom Hearts 3 Twitter published a Q&A about the Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind DLC, with Kingdom Hearts 3 Co-director Tai Yasue. He summarized everything we know about the DLC so far, explaining the reasoning behind the additions of features such as the Data Greeting, the Slideshow, and the Premium Menu, and he chatted about the Limit Cut Bosses and the Secret Boss.

Nearly everything Tai Yasue said covers information Square Enix already revealed and that we’ve already covered. But it can work as a refresher of sorts. Square Enix probably did this in case some Japanese players are confused about the DLC’s contents.

Note that certain English terms I’m using in my translation are from the Japanese version of the game, some terms are named differently in the English version.

『KHIII Re MIND』発売記念「7つの光と13の闇 Q&A」”光編”を公開！ #KH3 #_KH #KH3_ReMind pic.twitter.com/p1U9nZipDF

— キングダム ハーツ (@_KINGDOMHEARTS) January 21, 2020

1/ Free update version 1.07 launches alongside the Remind paid DLC. What does it contain? “The free update 1.07 adds the Keyblades Oathkeeper and Oblivion. You can change to Light Form with Oathkeeper and Dark Form with Oblivion, each with their own combo actions. Moreover, the two Keyblades can be dual-wielded with the Double Form. 6 new Combo Action Abilities were also added. Certain cutscenes in the main story have been corrected. Restrictions on Share functions will be greatly reduced.”

2/ Why did you decide to increase the number of photo-related possibilities by adding the Data Greeting feature and the Slideshow feature?

“Since Kingdom Hearts III‘s release, many players created really cool screenshots and videos, which really impressed us. We decided to support these endeavors and give you even more possibilities. With the Slideshow feature, you can now pick themes and BGMs to your liking to make any album and video you want. After we developed these features, all the development team participated in a photo contest to test them out. You can create heartwarming situations that never happen in the story with certain characters, or create unique and unexpected situations, so we’re convinced many players will enjoy this feature.”

3/ Why did you decide to create the Premium Menu and the Black Code? What’s the point of these challenges?

“The Premium Menu allows you to customize many elements in the game. The Premium Menu can be accessed right from the start of a New Game. There’s the Fast Pass Code, which includes functions such as “Auto Guard”, making the game easier for those who wish to go through it quickly. And then there’s the Black Code, which includes high difficulty challenges such as the HP Slip function, which makes your HP decrease at regular intervals. This is for players who want to enjoy a highly difficult challenge. Moreover, the Fast Pass Code and the Black Code each have a set of achievements you can try to unlock after changing certain settings in each. For example in Fast Pass Code, there’s an obtainable achievement if you manage to go from the top of Rapunzel’s tower to the town of Corona while only touching the ground a selected number of times.”

4/ Are the Limit Cut Boss battles against the Real Organization XIII characters different from the Real Organization XIII boss fights in the main story? Or are they simply stronger versions? Which Limit Cut Boss is the hardest one to defeat?

“The Limit Cut Bosses are completely different. Their AI and action patterns have been completely reworked. Certain bosses can only be beaten if you’ve mastered offense or defense, certain bosses have completely unpredictable movements, etc. Each boss has different strengths and weaknesses, so which one turns out to be the hardest to defeat will vary from each player. However, Xion and Master Xehanort are overall much harder to defeat than all the others. After I managed to beat one of them, my hands kept shaking for a good 15 minutes, showing how tense their battles are, and how great the feeling of accomplishment is.”

5/ Tetsuya Nomura previously said that he asked the development team to make the Secret Boss “hard enough to make you cry”. Did the Secret Boss really turn out like this?

“We asked through a poll all the developers and testers who managed to defeat all the Secret Bosses of the Kingdom Hearts series, and they did answer “it’s strong enough to make you cry”. The Secret Boss has a high amount of different attack patterns, so you will need a lot of time to understand it and defeat it. I could say the same for the Limit Cut Bosses, but for each of these bosses, each of their movements have specific counter-strategies, so they aren’t unfairly strong, and if you play perfectly, you can defeat them all without taking damage.”

6/ What else is included in the Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind DLC?

There’s an additional story that completes the game’s ending, and an additional scenario where you can control other characters such as Kairi, Roxas, Riku, and Aqua. Also, you can switch between English and Japanese voices. Lastly, there’s a bonus version of the DLC containing videos of an orchestral concert.

Note that the switch between English and Japanese voices will only be possible in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts 3. The DLC won’t add Japanese voiceovers to the non-Japanese versions of the game. And as a seiyuu fan, I think that’s a huge shame, if you wished to hear my unneeded opinion.

The seventh and final question is unimportant. It asked Tai Yasue to share some final words for the fans awaiting Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind. Long story short he said to look forward to it like any Japanese developer does when they’re asked this.

As a reminder, Limit Cut Bosses were named this way by Square Enix to represent the meta fact that the powerlevels of boss characters in the main story aren’t truly reflected, so that way they aren’t too hard to defeat. Limit Cut literally means their power limit was removed. They just named it this way to be cool.

You can read more about the DLC’s content with our previous coverage here, here. and here. We also translated the previous details on playable characters Square Enix published when the KH3 Remind official site got previously updated. You can also check out the story hints Tetsuya Nomura shared in the past through interviews we translated. 

Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind launches in two days on January 23 on PlayStation 4. The DLC will be available a month later on February 25 on Xbox One.

January 21, 2020 7:39 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/square-enix-answers-7-questions-of-light-on-kingdom-hearts-3-remind/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=square-enix-answers-7-questions-of-light-on-kingdom-hearts-3-remind