#Explorers of sky remake when

[fivepebsi]

been having a lotttt of fun playing denpa men

[totodiletears]

Nintendo Direct partner showcase is probably gonna be somewhat meh. Pokemon Presents a few days later is also probably gonna be meh, at least until the very end where they're due to announce an upcoming mainline game (either a remake or a "visit an old region in a new way" game like Legends Arceus was). Because, you know, they're incapable of going a single year without a mainline release. Yeah 2023's was DLC, but that's what they're doing now instead of updated 3rd versions so it still fills their yearly mainline release slot.

That said as a longtime Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fan I will gladly stand in solidarity with the Hollow Knight community in hoping for something amazing in these two presentations.

[sunsbaby]

❝ everything is blue . . .❞

❝ her grace, his hands, her jeans . . . ❞

dean winchester x fallen angel!reader

falling from heaven was no easy task, and so was losing your grace—it was the one thing that made you who you were. the only thing you were able to grasp onto for understanding when times got tough, reminding you that god made you; that you were his soldier and his child more importantly.

turns out your peers thought otherwise, continuously having to fix and remake you—not something they seemed to have time for. they toyed with your mind and the code that was carved into your being; it wasn't something they'd seen before. it scared them, so just like michael to lucifer, they cast you away.

god made you this way, why weren't you accepted? your grace, drained from your form—shining in its glory; unlike usual angels yours was blue, not iridescent and white. blue was what humans used to depict the emotion of sadness. the blue which once brought you comfort only taunting you with your past. though you could never get away.

everything around you was blue.

even the sky was taunting you. with a turn of your head there it was again—a flower. the petals a shade of blue, you couldn't bear it. so, you took off, your body carried you far far away. the gravel beneath you scraping against the soles of your feet. blood followed in a trail behind you, not that you could feel it. it didn't make sense, tears fell from your eyes—the salty fluid slowly trickling down your cheeks.

you ran until all you felt was pain, falling on the floor in agony as your body ached. your feet were bloody and dirty, remnants of the rocks left wedged between the cuts. all you could do was cry, you were now human; once an angel to which you had a purpose. now, all you had were feelings and nothing to help guide you in your new life. laying on the floor, curling up into a ball, you cried until you couldn't. gasps left your lips, red eyed, and sore.

you woke up somewhere new, a bunker of some sorts; however, you weren't safe. as your eyes cleared up, all you saw was blue. what used to ignite a feeling of warmth inside only brought a feeling of emptiness. your body still hurt, yet your feet were taken care of—bandaged and cleaned. a man appeared, he stuck his hand out towards you.

blue

it was all blue, it reminded you of heaven. what had been stolen from you and kept sealed away. the spot left in your soul—in your being was affecting your body negatively.

"please.." you muttered out, your body trembling and suddenly everything around you was cold.

dean didn't know what to do, sam had seen you and brought you back to nurse back to health—dean didn't really want to, for safety of course. yet, when he saw you, bloodied, dirty, with tear-stained cheeks something burned inside him. something new, something he'd never felt for another before.

"what's wrong, does something hurt?" he retracted his hand while he spoke, his eyes softening slightly—just enough to show he cared.

your mind was running with all possible outcomes, all painted blue. your grace was your foundation, what you stood on to stay strong. now it was gone, the most important part of you was stripped away from you with harsh hands. you'd been molded into the perfect soldier by god himself, but you weren't the same as others. and just like humans—anything different scares them. it strikes fear in those with authority.

what you hadn't realized was that's all you were to them: a dog. when you showed signs of wanting to explore heaven more, pulling away from your leash—they deemed you a danger. they tried and tried to figure out what god had done to you. what he did to make you so, unique. when they couldn't, they tossed you out. to them you were useless, sure you were strong—but now all you are is just a human. angelic powers now in their greedy grasp.

"hey, hey–what's happening?" dean placed a hand on your denim-clad legs.

somehow his touch caused a reaction, your vision faded from blue, colors you were once able to see came back. your body flowed with a fire, warming you up. you locked eyes with his, the green orbs that stared back at you shined with something new—something exciting beneath the worry and confusion. there was no blue, except for a small streak running down your back.

a realization came into your mind, now clear with no thoughts or fears clouding it. you never did fear blue, it still brought you comfort.

your fear was change.

change as in the fact that you were now a fallen angel—human, if you will. but, that made you just like them. this strange yet handsome man helped you conclude, change can be good, even if you lost something in the process.

sunny yaps! this is actually horrible but i had to let it escape the confinements of my drafts! comments are greatly appreciated and honestly this is NOT one of my best works omg.. I CANNOT WRITE HURT OR ANYTHING FOR SHHH or plot even like HELP! I LOVE YOU ALLL

special tags! @bluemerakis @figthoughts @dulcescorderitas @h8aaz @rositaslabyrinth @bejeweledinterludes

𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 ® 𓂃 do not repost or copy my works without permission!!

[spacer-case]

...and when the last blood-beast comes to rest unto the Earth, what next will arrive to inherit it?

i drew this sci fi piece for my portfolio, but it also turned loosely into a marcoace au because my brain got zoomies

short version: guy on a joyride (coughs ace) accidentally travels to another world filled with mythological-ish creatures, but they're actually all robots mimicking life with no real sentience of their own - except one lone, lonely consciousness (coughs marco) whose mind was digitally preserved before the rest of organic life got wiped out, and has been waiting a long time for a friend

long nerdy version under the cut:

ace's world is a fun and scrappy sci fi future world, with stuff like his hovercraft that syncs to his body's movements too

he was out riding with deuce and got too caught up in the thrill of flying that he went way out of safe bounds (not pictured: deuce panicking) and got swallowed by a giant sky beast

somehow (i haven't thought that hard about it) he appears in marco's world after this - when i first had this idea i was just thinking of a literal reference to the philosophical concept of animals as other worlds/animal alterity, a la Barbara Noske), plus i like the idea of gateways being where you least expect them

anyway yeah he gets isekai'd

enter: marco's world!! this is a land where organic life once thrived, including sentient beings (i haven't decided if they were also humans), but all organic life has long since died out and given way to a new, constructed "ecology"

it's full of seemingly mythological-ish creatures (phoenix, dragon, etc. but all are also warped from what we would imagine)!! but SIKE they are actually robots; cybernetic constructs!!! each one goes through the motions of life for many years until they steadily break down. their parts get recycled and they are remade to spawn from egg-like structures (like the one in the bottom left corner of the drawing)

and who is remaking them? MARCO! aka the last, lone remaining consciousness from the sentient race that died out. his mind was preserved digitally, but by the time he awoke he only remembers snapshots of his original life. he continuously cares for and builds all the robots, and uploads himself into different bodies whenever he wants, but no matter what he tries he can't recreate anything truly alive with its own free will

so he's lonely and sad

basically the whole thing was an exploration of the concept of a man-made mythos! and the boundaries of what defines life, will, sentience, etc. etc.

but when he meets ace - a real, living breathing organic human - it will change his life! because............because...i haven't thought that far

many questions remain...is ace's world a past version of marco's? will he find a way to restore organic life to marco's world? should he even do that? will he find a way back home? will they kiss? ? will marco get a human body?? will i ever make something bigger from this or even turn it back into ocs instead of op characters??? will they wear wigs???? when will they wear wigs????????? who knows!

but for now it is what it is hehe

i doubt anyone read all that, but if you did, thank you for your time....here i reward you with a secret:

below is an early sketch of this illustration, and underneath that, the composition originally came from A FAILED DRAWING OF MARCO!!!

the brainrot goes deep :')

[possessionisamyth]

Here's some RE Separate Ways analysis that isn't about shipping because I like Ada. I'm happy her DLC actually focuses on her, but some of the takes I'm seeing are Insufferable. Main statements in bold for ease of reading and skipping purposes.

-Wesker and Ada haven't been working together consistently for the past 6 years. This dripless bitch is calling Ada every five minutes to babysit her. I don't think that's the relationship dynamic of someone you're regularly employed under, and when it is, Ada is not the type of character to tolerate that behavior for 6 years. We know Ada is a contract worker. We can understand she's worked for Wesker on and off, but she's a freelance agent period. She must've done enough jobs for Wesker that he feels the need to check on her and have this constant reporting in to make sure she stays on task since he's clearly used to her not always following his orders. He 100% hired her for this assignment because he knew the situation and compared to the other options, she had the highest survival chances. Which, he was right. High risk, high reward.

Sometimes Wesker's babysitting works: Ada holding Luis at gunpoint when he tries to negotiate saving Leon and Ashley. Sometimes he knows when to step away: "Keep your dog." All of it is in the effort to get what he wants. Look, he let her live. He worked with S.T.A.R.S for years and wanted them all dead. If he worked with Ada regularly and she pulled this shit with the amber, he would've had that helicopter blown out of the sky. There's always some restraint with personal distance, especially with a guy who thinks so highly of himself.

-Luis is a drama queen. In the regular game, Luis acts cool and under control to the best of his abilities around Leon and Ashley. It's a part of his newly found hero-complex even though he does still know when to ask for help: "save me prince charming!" In the DLC, we see the real side of Luis. The one who's scared, and dramatic, and knows when he's not shooting with a loaded gun so to speak. When Ada tells him to leave her to fight, he does. He wants to help, but his respect for her abilities sends him fleeing like she orders him to. Also, like every scientist, he has zero self-preservation! He ran into a fire that clearly would kill him to get medicine. And the exchange afterwards? "No! Now you'll all die!" "Make some more medicine." "Oh..yeah...I can do that. I do have that ability."

The flamenco dance. "Are you mad at me???🥺 You're mad at me!😭" This man understands Ada can kill him without blinking, but still can't keep his composure around her. This is such a fun dynamic to explore in fic for expansion stories and "Luis lives" au's. The DLC gives him breaks to freak out and panic, whereas the main game holds the "cool persona" moments after Leon saves him. Even his dying words to Ada. This man is bleeding to death and still can't shut up. I love him.

Okay, that's all I gotta say about the loser men. Now for the star of the DLC. Ada. :)

-Ada "Sans Undertale go into my eyes" Wong. The methods Ada uses in the DLC are fun and appropriate. It's not invasive and in your face unlike another agent, but more subtle. She can track footprints, fingerprints, gauge the safe distance required for her grappling hook, and she knows when she needs to fight and whens he needs to run. Her practicality has always been the cleanest of the entire cast due to her being a spy, but this time we actually get to see this trait utilized through her tools.

-Ada is silly and quips her own jokes to get through it. Something I'm not seeing anyone talk about including the aeon people who are claiming anything they can get, is this specific humor parallel between Leon and Ada in the remake. Both of them have gone through the horrors of Raccoon City. Both of them went right back into very difficult military in function style work which always has a body count. I talked about Leon's humor coping mechanism here [X], but to hear Ada do the same thing? I feel like they went under the radar because they don't sound as stupid as Leon's quips, but they are still so stupid. "Nighty night." "Lights out." "Bring me a real challenge next time." "Now look at the mess you've made." "You think that gun will be enough?" She and Leon even share the same "Next," line!

If I had 80GB to spare on the game, I'd see just how many more I could get out of her. Like, these are dumb as hell. She's found a method to cope with the horrors she's witnessing that just so happens to coincide with Leon's. I'm not saying this as a marker of whatever romance you've tossed them in or even to diss any other romances. What I am saying is that they have a similar type of mental illness resulting from trauma, and they ended up using the exact same coping method despite never seeing each other.

Ada fans who hate Leon! This opens a door for you when it comes to character analysis and how Ada deals with her PTSD and/or depression! Run through it RIGHT NOW!

-Ada's infection pulls a lot more weight than it seems. I've seen some people say Ada's parasite should've been removed the same as Leon's and Ashley's. (Which is an extremely unsubtle argument to get them all in the same room for your shipping nonsense.) However, something I noticed with the DLC were the parallels to the troubles in RE2. The Black Robe/U-3/Pesenta monster is the first time where we get to see Ada dealing with a stalking enemy. Due to RE4 being so much more plot-lined streamed to maintain the flow of gameplay, these events were not allowed to be random, but the narrative purpose remains. Ada gets to have a stalking enemy in her DLC like Claire and Leon did in RE2 with the addition of a hubris check.

The hubris check? Well, Ada has never been infected until this DLC. In the original games, she can step back and watch people die because she doesn't know what it feels like. Now she knows what it feels like. The lack of control. The pain. The slow turning. Her job has had her flirting with death for years, but not in a way she can't fiddle with the odds. A parasite is not something a person can distract with words. The action to steal the amber is backed up via personal experience not just a morality code slapped on. The addition of Wesker's correction to "billions of causalities" means she's included in that number and just cements her incentive to flee. She's not doing this for Leon. She's not doing this for Luis. She's doing this for herself, and if it so happens to help other people then it is what it is. After being on both sides of the coin when it comes to viruses, she can no longer function as entirely impartial to the work she's doing.

-Ada doesn't ask for permission but asks for forgiveness. Don't take this phrasing literally. She doesn't ask Wesker to forgive her. What this means is that she'll do something before asking, and if it upsets people then she'll course correct. Her job is not the kind of job where she needs to take orders for every action she implements which is why Wesker calling every five minutes was annoying as hell. In the OG RE4 she kind of argues with Wesker for Leon to live for "his usefulness", but it's swiftly shut down until it's convenient to Wesker for Leon to live. This forces her to sneak around and betray Wesker multiple times to save Leon secretly, and the concept rightfully gets thrown into the garbage for the remake DLC.

The scene in the bedroom where Wesker tells Ada not to become a liability after taking her blood? Ada doesn't fight to get her shit back. Some people said this was flirting. Wrong. This is Ada seeking forgiveness after the fuck up of passing out in the middle of an active field by letting Wesker walk off with an infection sample. She then makes sure not to fuck up a second time in the same way, and she doesn't. She learns the signs of her parasite so in case she does pass out again, she'll be somewhere much less conspicuous. She listens for the changes in her environment and the feelings in her body and prepares herself for what's next.

-Ada saves Leon and Ashley for Luis' sake. I stated earlier that Ada's action to take the amber was for her own sake but ends up helping others. This is the exact situation going on when Luis talks about getting the suppressant. She needs the suppressant in order to do her job and kill the black robe so she can heal. It just so happens that Leon and Ashley need the suppressant for survival reasons too. They are an afterthought until Luis dies.

We watch Ada question Wesker and his plans all throughout this DLC, and she comes to her own conclusions after her experience working with him. She could've gotten the amber back and let the whole place blow into smithereens like Wesker intended. Who cares about the president's daughter? Who cares about another dead federal agent? Luis did. He cared so much he died for it, and just like that other clown in Raccoon City (aka her), she got emotionally attached. If there was anything she could've done for Luis to make his death mean something, it was this act.

-Ada sells Leon's jacket. This isn't analysis, but I thought this was funny as hell. ACAB! No exceptions! Freeze your tiddies off, Leon! I don't give a shit!

-Ada's new outfit is still better than her old one. It's still not the best they could've given her. I'm also not speaking from a fashion point of view when I say this. In the OG RE4 we see Leon in a jacket which is forcibly removed to show off his pecs to the ladies, but it clearly marks a colder time of year. OG RE4 Ada has arms out, legs out, and tits out because a hoe never gets cold. The sweater dress for the remake re-establishes that it's colder here because even Luis doesn't lose his jacket. Ashley doesn't lose her jacket either until they yoink it off her for ritual reasons. I still hate that the thigh high boots have that heel and would prefer the flats, but that's going to be in the complaint paragraph below.

-Capcom sexism at play once again. I don't give a shit about rigs and motion capture or whatever, her walk cycle was 2 adjustments from being full Bayonetta, and I hate it. The ass shots? Disrespectful. Her heels didn't have to be that high. Never heard of a kitten heel? They exist. The people who worked on RE3 Remake and worked on this DLC sure love to make a woman vomit don't they? Why the fuck was she so clean the entire game? She was being thrown around and tossed in the dirt a lot, but this woman's skin is shinier than a waxed apple. Either she has some wet wipes on hand, or god forbid women get filthy. Absolutely zero reason she shouldn't have been looking as rough as Leon by the time she gets on the helicopter! No reason at all!

That's all they wrote! I love Ada. I loved this DLC, and I loved the dynamics going on here even though I hated every time Wesker was on screen or opened his mouth at all.

As much as I would love to expand this post and go further into the changed Ada and Leon relationship, I frankly hate all the takes I've been seeing so much on either side of the Aeon debate. I hate the ongoing conversation around it so much that I don't know if I want to discuss this at all. The Aeon should've gotten this if not for Luis and Ashley side and the Aeon is dead side going back and forth with each other? All of you put on your clown noses! None of you are looking at this situation objectively to see where the lines cross and where they run alongside each other, and frankly I'm tired! I could clear this whole table off so both of you can get exactly what you want based on what you're not actually interpreting from this media, but I won't! Kill each other!

[yutopia-eleftheria]

Hero Partner Week 2025

Last year, I learned about Hero Partner Week thanks to the account owned by @heropartnerweek , and I was absolutely thrilled to see that someone made a drawing week about the Mystery Dungeon Series !

These spin-off games are criminally underrated and they deserve more recognition ! ♥

So I decided that as long as this Week goes on, I will participate in every edition for each year, so the Mystery Dungeon fandom can live on ! ♥

So of course I'm participating in this 2025 Edition !

Last year I participated with my team from Explorers of Sky : Gwladys the female Eevee (now Glaceon), and Tonbee the male Shinx (now Luxray).

For this edition, I decided to go with my DX Team, since I decided recently to entirely restart the game. So guys, meet the Lacerta female Totodile and Ilyès the male Cubone ! ♥

Prompt List

There are multiple choices for each day so you can choose what you prefer for each of them. For this edition I decided to go with these themes :

Accessories

Species Swap

Recovery

Team Base (since it is a remake of the original game and this day's choices depends on the game you choose)

Folklore

Final Adventure

Previous Prompt (that I will talk about below)

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@heropartnerweek 2025 starts ... now !

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Day 1 / June 1st : Home- Feast - Accessories

I don't know why, but I like to think that they are the silliest team out of all the ones I've got. So don't mind me with some goofy ideas !

Sometimes, the duo likes to "play" with their badges, and despite being the formerly human one, Lacerta has the Totodile genes taking control from time to time, and she can't stop biting things up (just be careful not to strangle yourself dear !) Also Ilyès took the bag for a moment because of her teammate's silliness.

Day 2 / June 2nd : Genre Swap - Species Swap - Role Swap

What's even sillier than Lacerta biting her badge off ? Having the duo slowly transitioning to another species of Pokémon without being able to do anything against it !

For an unknown reason, Lacerta and Ilyès started to turn into another species of Pokémon, more specifically a Fuecoco for Lacerta and a Charmander for Ilyès Their body started to turn entirely. Lacerta's body became a bit shorter and chubbier, bigger dark claws grew, as well as a singular teeth coming out of her mouth, and two "tiffs of hair", strange... Some sprouts of pale yellowish grey are appearing into her head and lower body as well. All she could go was poutting at this weird condition...

On Ilyès's hand, he grew taller and a bit skinnier. His singular claws on his feet separated into 3 distinct claws. His tail grew longer and a tiny flame started to blaze on it, which scares him off, so he put on the skull on it so he would not see the flame on his back. However, the poor little Cubone-turning-Charmander was a bit uncomfortable, and all he could do was standing there, blushing and looking nowhere in front of him in despair...

Note : I love this frankly stupid idea of mine ! I thought it would look cooler to have them be in the middle of the transformation. I think it gives more opportunity to draw something unique, so don't mind me with that silly idea guys ! ...

Day 3 / June 3rd : Trust - Confrontation - Recovery

Sometimes, the mission is really tough... And let's not forget that Lacerta and Ilyès are still little Pokémon that have yet to evolve, so they may not be as bulky as their evolved forms. Thankfully, when they are injured after a rescue mission (strong opponents spawn in the DX dungeons, like Rapidash or Azumarill), they can count on their friends and teammates to comfort them. Magnemite, their very first teammate, brought some bandages for his friends. And even their idol Caterpie wants to help ! With his secretions, he is able to create strong bandages as well, and Magnemite tells him to to tie them up into their injuries. Team MisticXXX is so proud of their friends and teammates !

Day 4 / June 4th : Team Base - Beach at Dusk - Paradise - Hill with the Big Tree

Note : this was a pain to draw the entire base all by myself... But I absolutely loved doing this nonetheless !

Taking some time to rest...

Building up the team base was very long and tiring. But once again, Lacerta and Ilyès can be very thankful of their friends who helped them build it (even the stubborn Mankeys !) With their new base finally built, Lacerta and Ilyès can rest in a peaceful place, with the sound of water flowing around them (after all there's water all around and inside the base).

Honestly though, I want to be in this place !

Day 5 / June 5th : Seasons - Gifts - Folklore

The folkloric Legend of Ninetales...

You heard about this legend when going to the Pokémon Plaza, like every single day. It was your routine. But today was different. You hear 3 Pokémon, Snubull, Lombre and Bellsprout talking about an uncanny legend that gives shivers in your entire body. When you talk to them about their topic, they redirect you to Whiscash, who knows everything about this legend. When you go talk to the fish Pokémon about this legend, you'll never believe how much more frightened you'll be after hearing his tale.

Once upon a time, there was a Pokémon named Ninetales. This Pokémon possesses multiple tails that contains mystical powers, and whoever would dare to touch even a single one of its tails would be cursed. One day, someone dared to touch one of its tails and would have been immediately cursed by it. The person who dared to do this was a human being. But right before the curse was upon the human, a Pokémon named Gardevoir stepped up between them and took the curse instead of what appears to be her trainer. As Ninetales felt pity for this Pokémon, it wanted to ask a question to the human, but the latter already ran away, leaving Gardevoir behind. Shocked by the human's behaviour, Ninetales unleashed another curse upon the human being, turning it into a Pokémon, which will break the balance of the World...

This completely broke apart the duo for quite some time... And Lacerta had nightmares of it, thinking she was the human in the legend (turns out she's not but Oh My God !). This drawing is the personification of her dream... Spooky isn't it ?

Day 6 / June 6th : Final Adventure - Alone

One last mystery dungeon exploring... Just so they can reach out the top to meet the God of the Sky itself : Rayquaza.

Their sole purpose is to tell Rayquaza of the upcoming danger. A huge meteorite is aiming straight to their World, and Rayquaza is the only one who can destroy it before their World will be completely anihilated.

However, things did not go really as planned. When they reach the top of the dungeon, Rayquaza does not believe these little Pokémons' words, and considers them intruders.

The duo had no choice but to face the Legendary Pokémon, but they have to do it quickly, as the meteorite will strike them very soon...

A last battle for team MisticXX in order to save the World !...

Day 7 / June 7th : Free Day - Previous Prompt

(Hero Partner Week 2023 ; June 7th : Festival - Legends - Memories)

One of the major threats our team has to face off : the three Legendary Birds !

Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno are fought in that order by our rescue team. One to save a fellow rescuer, and the others to escape and find the truth about Lacerta's origins and why she was sent here as a Totodile...

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What a journey it was ! I was so happy to participate for this 2025 Edition ! And everyone did amazing drawings as well ! Love you all guys ♥ And I can't wait for Hero Partner Week 2026 ! ♥

[baudshaw]

50 seasonal concepts I made for Sky!

Updated from my seasonal concepts a few years back. It adds a lot of new ones

If you find any these concepts interesting, please say so and I’ll elaborate for most of them!

Aviary Village

Season of Rebirth: Basically just Revival 2, the Hopeful Steward seeks to establish new visitors in the village. All the season guides get their houses now: Belonging Guide gets a small hut/igloo, Sanctuary Guide gets a floating island with a small tent, Prophecy Guide gets a mini cave, Assembly Guide gets a tree fort, Abyss Guide gets a flying boat, Performance Guide gets an actual home, Void of Shattering gets a weird rift in reality, and Remembrance Guide gets a small shrine. It's unlocked similar to the Revival quests.

Season of Life: Hopeful Steward works with the Master of Life (the season guide) in order to establish a garden plaza behind Aviary Village.

Season of Guiding: Hopeful Steward works with the Skykids to establish a Helping Hall, which is like a center for all player guide. It also radically changes the guide feature. Now, veteran players can queue up to automatically teleport to any new moth asking for a guide.

Season of Hope: Hopeful Steward finally gets a house of their own, and an updated quest system as well.

Season of The Void: Remember the rift for the Void of Shattering? Well, they've allowed you to access six new, detailed memories: birds, butterflies, Ancestor Spirits, King Krill, cosmic mantas, and the Dawn Ember. The shard mechanics are radically changed, with new underwater shards and aerial shards, plus an update to the old shard mechanics to make it more like a tutorial and easier to get AC.

Isle

Season of Nocturnes: “These dark lands, once our childhood home, have been abandoned for centuries. Now we have returned long past its saving. What must we do?”

Season of Gusts: Cast out from the Isle, four young spirits try to create a makeshift home in the clouds. But they better watch their step!

Season of Homelands: The Home Island is retconned to be a part of Isle, and the new lore is that it was an ancient shrine used by the oldest of spirits. Their descendants plan to remake it and turn it into something new.

Season of Release: For so long, this strict warrior clan in Isle forbade anyone from entering. But their thoughts change after meeting a young child.

Season of Alter: In the deepest bowels of the Isle Temple, an old community seeks to transform the realm into a glorious paradise. But failure is at every corner.

Season of Tears: A family group in Isle has seen their once beautiful meadow grow more and more deteriorated. Should they stay true to their roots or venture to better lands?

Season of Dunes: Not Sky x Dune, I swear! Instead, we have a unique culture that's adapted to the conditions of this harsh desert... oh wait...

Season of Pilgrimage: Lost and dazed, these young travelers never even made it to the land of Sky. But they’re determined to see this beautiful world, or at least what’s remaining of it.

Season of Harbors: Merchants from afar have planned to make a center of culture by the sea. But when trade is slow, problems start to arise…

Prairie

Season of Binding: A strange group of floating islands is connected by an odd stringy material. You and a group of spirits try to explore it, but a cute new creature reveals itself.

Season of Exploration: “What happens when your desires to go forth outpace the land you can find?

Season of Abundance: Four rural ranchers love to bicker about what foods they should get. In their barn, no food goes to waste.

Season of Harvest: Cultivating the vast lands of Prairie requires strenuous work. Are these spirits up for the task?

Season of Exchange: Instead of using candles, these fledgling spirits have planned to make a new fiat currency! But convincing the people of Sky to use it is harder than they think.

Season of Knolls: These cloudy hills were occupied by many rival spirits, but they all passed in the Shattering. Who owns it now?

Season of Clay: Slowly build a small mudbrick village into a thriving hub of arts and crafts, all with the help of the Earthen Expert and a small group of spirits.

Forest:

Season of Withdrawal: “In these harsh rains, not even the warmest campfire can save you. But it must save them. For if they go, then everything goes."

Season of Protection: One guardian, barely an adult, has to help four young children in these rains of darkness. A cozy shelter has been constructed, but it cannot last forever.

Season of Brinkmanship: A large connection of expansive mines lies below the Forest, inviting many to try their luck. But some have come for more than just ore.

Season of Loss: Spirits from many ages have to learn to process a devastating battle together by trying to re-enact it.

Season of Structures: A new land in the Hidden Forest reveals a small community living in a pristine land. They have unique wooden buildings, but a new type of crab threatens them.

Season of Lightseekers 2: Because they’re just so epic, they get a new Lightseekers Fort to scout the area and summon light. Lightseekers Guide not included, they're the most forgotten character in Sky history.

Valley

Season of Innocence: “The snow is as pure as ever, so pure that it absorbs all imperfections in the land. Yet still, the land is not perfect!”

Season of Liars: The dark underbelly of the Valley city has been exposed! Corruption in the sports betting market has been rampant among the youth of Valley. What can you even do at this point?!

Season of Floating: A strange spirit has been trying to conquer the skies by learning how to fly. Yet all their friends use boats.

Season of Prosperity: A bustling center of architecture has burned down. It’s up to four inexperienced designers to re-create it while adding their own touch.

Season of Glories: The Valley Elder's first expedition into the harsh realm led to disasters and failure. Their acolytes have stayed behind to work through the damage.

Season of Mastery: The Oracle of Triumph, a re-used version of the Valley Priestess from Sky's concept art, is the season guide. They live in a grand training camp in the interior of Valley, offering to train Skykids to learn new mechanics like candle swinging and light-throwing.

Season of Convergence: A strange natural phenomenon has attracted a massive amount of shards. As you explore deeper, you'll learn the true reason why...

Season of Heights: To the tallest mountain of Valley, four spirits try to mount an expedition. But strange things happen when you’re so close to the stars…

Wasteland

Season of Beneath: “And so, the spirits have made it here. A land that stars never reach. A land that, somehow, is inhabited. Who would willingly reject themselves from the Light while still being part of it?”

Season of Stability: One lone spirit goes through a horrific journey to recall their past, ending only in tragedy as they find out how they died.

Season of Hiding: Those horrific creatures may not be fully conquered, but in a remote outpost, some have talked about change. They believe that by studying their behaviors, they can outsmart the Dark Dragons.

Season of Collapse: A large dock is breaking down due to poor management. Most spirits want to evacuate, but a nostalgic loner believes in something better.

Season of Burning: (my main one): Traumatized by the war, some spirits still believe there’s a battle to fight. What campaigns will they go on? Nobody knows as they go on an adventure of a lifetime.

Season of Desolation: Even in the Golden Wasteland, this dump would never be willingly inhabited�� or so, one might think.

Season of Sharing: This tight-knit community sent soldiers to both sides of the war. After both sides lost, their purpose seems unclear, until someone new steps up.

Season of Survival: Rejects from the Forgotten Ark, these gloomy spirits feel like they have nowhere else to go. But once they find a pristine lake filled with wildlife, their attitude start to shift.

Vault:

Season of Relinquish: “What if both the light and dark could be left behind… to forge a new world? Something that truly belongs to us? I have been thinking a lot, in this place beyond order and chaos.”

Season of Stories: Writing is all these spirits want to do. Who can blame them, with that beautiful library of theirs? But with no one to read it, they feel frustrated.

Season of Reality: Literally jutting outside of the Vault of Knowledge, this weird outpost is right on the Eden Mountain. Despite the harsh winds and strange conditions, some spirits have found a home here.

Season of Emptiness: A horrifying, unreal part of the Vault of Knowledge has opened up, distorting everything around this once-vibrant temple. The Shattered Rogue has been horribly affected by the darkness, and their light is waning.

Season of Facade: The Vault Elder tried to expand the Vault of Knowledge, but it caused strange... errors to occur. Truth and lies seem to blend together in this area.

Season of Opening: Trapped in a bunker for the war, these spirits have a warped perception of time. Can you convince them that they now live in an era of peace?

Season of Closing: A sequel to the Season of Opening. After realizing the horrors of the Shattering, the spirits from the bunker go to the Vault Elder to beg for help. But nobody is there.

[eerie-cipher]

Some PMD Opinions

On Super Mystery Dungeon... - I enjoy it so much, but good lord I hate the focus on item usage. Maybe because I'm stubborn in playing the way I've always played in the PMD games. I have always been one to save items for harder enemies and bosses... - The difficulty is annoying, honestly. I know part of it is the lack of easy ways to grind but good lord does it get frustrating. I shouldn't have to keep dying on a story mission in order to grind. - I like the partner pokemon a lot. They are oddly endearing? I miss it in returning to DX On Gates - I cannot get past how fucking slow the dialog is oh my GOD!

On DX - I love the style and feel of the game and I really hope they remake Explorers of Sky in this style (plz give me a remake of that game I beg you, Pokemon Company) - They did better at balancing item usage and move usage in DX than in Super and it feels so good, gameplay wise! - The recruit system is a little OP tbh but boy howdy do I feel powerful when I have a full team against a boss xD

[asimplearchivist]

A Proposition for Potential PMD: Explorers Remakes

If and when Nintendo remakes PMD: Explorers (preferably optimized/combined as they did with Sky versus Time/Darkness, like they did with Red/Blue Rescue Team into DX), I think it could work as an open-world game like Legends: Arceus.

Hear me out.

We don't exactly know the context of the hero being brought to the world in the first place: in PMD lore humans apparently exist in the world but are exceedingly rare to come across, like unicorns it seems like to me. What if the reason for this is because humans can only exist in the PMD world if they're brought there?

It's implied that a higher power than Dialga returned the hero after they disappeared from the timeline, and who is above Dialga?

Who brought a modern human into the world of Hisui?

More thoughts below:

I want, more than anything for the reboots, for there to be an elaboration on what it was like in the future between the hero and Grovyle (and the other members of the investigation team, whoever they were besides Celebi), but this would require a certain amount of personalization for the human!player due to the implementation of character customization in most of the recent games.

The solution? Present it like Legends: Arceus.

Show Arceus approaching the hero to help save this world from time (minus the phone, obviously). Whether or not he wipes the hero's memory of their time in their world is debatable, but I think that would be an interesting dynamic to see the hero willing to sacrifice all knowledge of their life prior to being sent there—it would give a similar feeling to the mystery of the base game, and limit the hero's knowledge to match new players' for plot polishing.

Your main question might be, 'Fisara, the whole point of these games are the mystery dungeons! How can you have an open-world game like Legends: Arceus, which has a set map, and use it this way?'

I propose to you the concept of labyrinths.

Hypothetically, one could construct a basic structure of a map of any given dungeon, sort of like Legend of Zelda dungeons, but have the individual rooms/pathways randomized like normal. That way you have an entrance and an exit, but if you don't make your way through the mystery dungeon correctly, as normal, it spits you back out at the beginning.

I say this because the concept of having 'floors' can pose immersion issues since this format would have to be more realistic—having random staircases littered throughout the place wouldn't make very much sense.

However, one could break down the dungeons into levels, especially since many of them are located either in caves or mountainous regions; like switching between main rooms in LoZ dungeons, again, just sealing them off so you can't go back—more of a gradual descent.

For plains/forests/et cetera, it could simply be the winding trail through these places on the same vertical plane, presented as zones or sections instead.

Items and Pokemon could still be randomly generated like Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet, as well.

While the idea isn't perfect and definitely would need some refining to make it feasible, I feel that it would work.

So now that the player as a human is established, the 'modernization' of mystery dungeons solved for the most part, what about the story?

I think the reboot's plot could be the same as the base games, perhaps with added scenes in the time gaps to fill out the plot more—you wake up as a Pokemon, save the world, go through the post-game, you know the drill.

I definitely want them to bring forward the Special Episodes, likewise, and maybe add some more! I'd like to know how Chatot and Wigglytuff met, more about Wigglytuff and Armaldo/Team Charm, and some of the other Guildmembers and side characters that didn't get spotlights.

Where I propose that it differs is my own personal canon, but I'll try to keep it general.

It would be required that the team reaches Guildmaster Rank before this could happen, and that Darkrai's situation has been settled. (Whether or not there's an implied time skip or not, I don't know.) But one day your partner asks you if there's anything you wonder about regarding your past, and you could be presented with two options:

'I wish I could get my memories back,' or, 'I wish I knew if Grovyle is okay.'

This choice doesn't really divert any changes, just the order they take place in, if that makes sense.

Your partner agrees with you, whatever you say, and it falls to the back of your minds until you happen to learn from Bidoof (or the other Guildmembers, since they were there) that Jirachi grants wishes—and that his came true since the team joined the Guild.

I know you can visit Star Cave and receive a wish from Jirachi, in Red/Blue Rescue Team/DX, and he's featured in Bidoof's Wish, but I don't recall if you as the hero can get a wish granted from him—which is where this plot point comes into play.

Your partner proposes that you two travel to Star Cave to see if Jirachi could answer your wishes, and should you go it proceeds as normal: dungeon layout has changed like the base game, you have to fight Jirachi, and he offers you the same options as in Bidoof's Wish: to become rich (lots of money), to be the strongest Pokemon (power-up items), to be the best explorer (perhaps a map to an unexplored/undiscovered dungeon?), to eat lots of yummy food (gummis), to get lots of items (from the dungeon), to rule the world (which I think would prompt a repeat question, since it's a rather silly answer)...

...Or 'something else'.

You have the choice to select any of the former options, but picking 'something else' will instigate a new conversation after confirming that it is truly and that you are absolutely sure that it's what you want. This relates directly to the conversation you had with your partner earlier, so the player's choice will be their wish—however, you don't have to worry about which one you pick, because your partner will share the one you didn't, so the dialogue would be switched around a little bit to accommodate for that.

Hero: (Something else.) Partner: ...Oh, [Player], you mean...what we talked about earlier? Hero: (Nods) Partner: Okay. {Turns to Jirachi} [Player] is originally from the future, and lost his/her memories during an accident while traveling back through time. We wanted to know if you could...well, if you could grant his/her wish to restore them! Jirachi: Hmm...that is not an easy wish to grant, as I don't normally have the power to influence anyone's memory. Partner, downtrodden: ...Oh. Jirachi: ...But, since you and [Player] have worked so hard and one so much...I will make [Player]'s wish come true. Partner, excited: R-really? You'll do that, Jirachi? Jirachi: Yes. And as a personal favor for you saving the world twice over...I'll grant your wish, too, [Partner]. Partner: O-oh! My wish? I didn't even think about it...I was so caught up with [Player]'s that I haven't even considered what I would ask for... Jirachi: It's all right. That you were so concerned for [Player] says a lot about you. You're a good Pokemon, [Partner]. So if you don't have a wish now... Partner: W-wait! I do think I have one, if that's all right! Jirachi: Go on. Partner: We have some friends in the future, and we're not sure if they're okay. We would really like to know if they're all right, Jirachi, if that's at all possible. Jirachi: Hmm...that isn't exactly easier, either, but...it will happen. You'll be able to find out soon if your friends are alive and well, [Player] and [Partner]. It may not happen today, or tomorrow, but...one day. Partner: Thank you, Jirachi! You don't know how much this means to us! Jirachi: I'm glad. Consider it my thanks for your efforts in saving our world.

Jirachi grants the wishes and disappears to go back to sleep. Nothing changes at first, so they worry a little, but partner has hope that Jirachi's word is true.

Hero and partner return home, and during the night while the player is dreaming, the hero starts to have dreams of snippets of their life before—mostly dialogue with some images, like their dimensional scream flashes.

This unlocks a new section, similar to the Special Episodes, of the pre-story—where the aforementioned plot of the player being chosen and deposited into the PMD world occurs.

I think it should focus on the player getting through a first dungeon by themselves to learn combat—and, again, you might wonder 'how in the world would that work, Fisara?' but I say to that: the proliferation of items littering the place.

It never really made sense to me why Pokemon would use items, particularly those for attacks, when they have moves (other than a mechanical sense, of course, for the game's sake), but it would make perfect sense for a human who has no abilities to use them: Gravelrocks/Geo-Pebbles, Sticks/Iron and Silver Thorns, various Seeds and Orbs...the human would not be defenseless, and this would explain why Grovyle uses them with such familiarity, also.

Then the player meets Grovyle (though I'd honestly prefer it if they met him as a Treecko and they 'grew up' together a bit, although other than some magic with the evolutionary spring I don't know how he'd evolve in-lore unless they sought a special item or something. They get connected with the investigation society and—for the main plot of this extension—you and Grovyle explore the Grass Continent as it stands in the corrupted future.

This would give so many opportunities to see how the ecology/environment changes, the names that future Pokemon give the locations, and while it would follow a similar path to the main game it would be a refreshing view of it since this is where all of the hero's flashbacks originate. Having to discover old maps and texts to figure out the locations of the Time Gears, maybe even tracking down Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf if they're still around/haven't been driven mad by the planet's paralysis (maybe Uxie is the only one who remembers since his specialty is in memory, idk). Then we would have the opportunity to introduce the danger that Dusknoir poses, trying to track them down to stop them. I'd also like to see at least some background indications of Darkrai's meddling, because there is so much potential to bring the plot full circle with more exploration.

They would somehow need to be able to travel to the Hidden Land (now, canonically, Dusk Forest) to find Celebi, so I don't know if the Relic Fragment and Lapras would come into play, or if Celebi just travels around the continent (in the case of there being more than one time portal). Anyway, Dusknoir and his Sableye finally almost catch them, Celebi sends them back, and then Grovyle and the hero are attacked during the time stream by Darkrai (which I'd really like to see a glimpse/indication of him, even if he's in the shadows).

Once this is completed, when you go back to the main game (after a day, so the following night), you explain to your partner that you received your memory back and explain everything that happened. They're ecstatic, and they ask you about Grovyle and Celebi and your adventures that you remembered. Then they get a little down, asking if you miss them now, and you're able to respond.

Small time skip (bc this post is already way too long), and one day Celebi shows up at the guild looking for you! She explains that the time portal has been repaired now that time has evened back out, and says that you can come to the future again. The player decides to go, but the partner decides to stay because they belong there, and the player truly belongs in the future. Cue tearful goodbye (pls animate a hug also that'd be great), and player travels to the Hidden Land with Celebi to find it (opening up another section like the memories one so the player can still hang out in the present and do missions and stuff—no obligation to go forward).

They travel back to the future, and while it would hypothetically look the same as the past since the paralysis is gone, I think it'd be great to show the passage of time with the ruins being a little more decayed and overgrown w/ vegetation/etc. Maybe Dialga visits them and bids them hello.

Celebi takes them back to the mainland where the others have settled, maybe Treasure Town but I think it would be nice to see anew settlement instead. Cue tearful reunion with Grovyle (another animated hug pls), but then gasp! Dusknoir's there too!

I want there to be full explanations on how everything's going on—did they form an exploration team? Are they managing their town? How are they adjusting to non-post-apocalyptic life? (With a whole story arc on learning to trust Dusknoir again since he's been redeemed, I will accept no other option, Nintendo. Give me wholesomeness with that old man.) I want them to go on adventures again with the hero and them all be happy. Then I want them to go visit Treasure Town to find out that your partner has become the Guildmaster since Wigglytuff decided to retire/go exploring on his own again (with or without Chatot, maybe depending on how severely his wounds from Kabutops/Omanytes limited his exploration abilities, idk). Wrap it all up in a nice little bow.

I'd love it if you also had the option to return the player to a human or not, too, but I don't really know how you'd execute that other than another wish from Jirachi maybe—but we never really got an explanation on how the player was turned into a human in the first place (which I would absolutely want—did Arceus do it to protect them?), so I think it would potentially work, though I'm sure some people wouldn't be a fan of that idea since being a Pokemon is one of the main premises of the games.

Anyway...you can tell I spent far too much time thinking about this. Feel free to add any more ideas with reblogs or comments, I'd love to hear what y'all think! :)

[8bitsupervillain]

When the PS2 Mod of the 2009 Higurashi Cry Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 95

I was going to title this as the PS2 Mod Part Final, but I didn’t want to mislead anyone, because there’s still a bit to go.

One of the odd things I noticed while reading the PS2 modded version of the 2009 translation (2010 translation technically, but that’s kind of a whatever) is the tendency for them to switch between using the photographed backgrounds and the newer anime style backgrounds. I wonder if it’s down to budgetary constraints or something else? I wouldn’t claim that the original backgrounds are a higher resolution. Given the positively tiny screen resolution of the 2009 version I don’t think there’s any appreciable difference that you can glean from just a glance. I’m really terrible at discerning resolution just by looking at it, but all I know is that if you play the visual novel as is without making it full screen the window is not a particularly large one. I don’t think it’s a 640x480, but it definitely is sub 720. If File Explorer and MS Paint is to be believed each screenshot is a 642x507 sized picture, so make of that what you will. The 2009 versions are both restricted in the size of visual novel, it wasn’t until the remake and the 07th-Mod that you could adjust the screen resolutions to be bigger than the size of a post it note. Which really makes you think about screen resolutions because this was on a PS2, so you could in theory have played this on a large television. I think I had some point I was trying to make about the backgrounds, instead I got distracted talking about game resolutions.

Something I’ve noticed, and you may have as well, is the fact they reuse this ceiling shot a lot for a bunch of rooms. I know it’s generic enough that really who the hell cares, but it just amuses me that this particular background, both in the PS2, and as the basis for the 07th-Mod gets used for multiple hospitals, police stations, and government buildings over the course of the series.

A somewhat peculiar change that only exists in the modded version of Higurashi is the change of Ohtaka’s name to Ootaka. Every other version he appears in; the original translation, the newer one (unmodded), the anime, even going as far back as Tsumihoroboshi and all of those versions there he’s called Ohtaka. It wasn’t a one-time slip either, this was a consistent translation thing in the modded version whenever Ootaka showed up there.

A uguisu is a Japanese bush warbler. The funny thing about the design of this “hotel room” is that this is the screenshot they use in Meakashi for Shion’s apartment. Meanwhile Karasu is apparently a word from the Turkic language that means “black water/river.” The wikipedia page specifically mentions rivers in the Balkans, Asia, a specific river in the Gunma prefecture in Japan, and a few in Turkey. Other references are a Japanese noise musician named Masami Akita (Merzbow), and a fictional prefecture in a game called The Sky Crawlers. I can only assume this is another bird reference, because I doubt Ryukishi07 has a deep undying love of a Turkish volleyball player.

As someone who’s worked retail sometimes the pretty young women with big boobs are the worst people to deal with.

Hibari is the Japanese name for the Eurasian skylark, and Shirasagi is apparently an egret. Isn’t learning fun?

What a peculiar choice of words there. “Final phase symptoms” I can understand why MangaGamer wanted to give the translation a bit of a sprucing up.

Do not be intimidated by the floating Hanyu. It’s a very definite “we didn’t think we had to finish the sprite” look.

In case you’re wondering the reason there’s the jump from the Ooishi Ohtaka confrontation to the capture of Tomitake to now is because I didn’t screenshot anything worthwhile from those sections. It all played out largely to how it did in the playthrough proper so I didn’t bother capturing the moments again. Which is funny to me because I had to go through those sections twice to capture the floating Hanyu due to accidentally overwriting a screenshot and not being as cautious with my saves as I was during my initial reading of Matsuribayashi. So I definitely could have got more screenshots, but clearly my mind was elsewhere, also don’t be surprised when the screenshots suddenly end seven screens from now.

Bold choice going with this as the background. A quadrisect monitor is when a security monitor is divided into four separate squares, and not when you have four monitors together lined up to make a wall of monitors basically. You can sort of see it in the monitors in the background, the screen divider.

I wonder if anyone at Ryukishi07’s old job ever wondered why he was taking random pictures of the front of the building and the parking lot? Or if they just shook their head at that kooky Ryukishi07 and went about their day?

The car chase goes about the same as it did in the modded game. The second screenshot is when the van that shot out Irie’s tires are following our protagonists to the Sonozaki home. Something about this dialogue bugged me, because I was fairly convinced that this was changed in the modded version. To my surprise it wasn’t really, it was all fairly consistent, just the more stilted way of speaking threw me off I suppose.

I do wonder if it’s a common thing in Japan to refer to the era you live in? I’m sure that people in China do refer to the year of the dragon, but I also imagine they put the year onto it. Year of the dragon 2024, you know? Because there’s probably been thousands of years of the dragon at this point. So I’m wondering if the Japanese refer to this being the fifth year of Reiwa (sixth year if you read this after May 2025)?

Rereading this screen I thought of a way you could make Higurashi infinitely worse. Start including eighties slang liberally throughout the dialogue. I’d read it, just to strengthen my ability to handle cringe-worthy dialogue.

Now I know what you’re thinking: 8bit, this is rather an abrupt ending to the sudden inclusion of the 2009 Mangagamer translation of beloved sound novel Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, alternately known as Higurashi When They Cry, that was modded to include the graphics of the Sony Playstation 2 home video game console. You’re right, it is somewhat abrupt, but I assure you that there really wasn’t anything particularly worth screenshotting from this point forward. The translation plays out the same as it had in the rest of the playthrough. Also during my reading of the PS2 modded version I was also reading the regular unmodified version of the 2009 translation. So I was, admittedly, starting to get somewhat burnt out on it.

The most jarring thing for me when it comes to reading the modded 2009 translation is the lack of some of the CG scenes that were added in the later editions of Higurashi. My theory for this is because of the fact that for several years the Playstation 2 version didn’t have a version of Matsuribayashi, so the mod makers just took sprites from the PS2 versions the other games and inserted them into the mod. Which that must have been annoying to do. Perhaps that’s the reason for the floating Hanyu from earlier on. That must have made the sudden announcement of the DS versions of Higurashi: Kizuna that much more of an irritation. Because suddenly now there is specific sprites for Matsuribayashi, as well as specially made CG scenes.

Which leads us to:

When The DS Higurashi Cry Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi

I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures, I tried to make them look alright, but there’s only so much taking a picture of a 3DS screen using my phone can do.

I didn’t take pictures of it, but when you boot up the game you need to tap the screen to start it. When you do so it leaves behind a bloody fingerprint oooooohhhhhhh spooooooooky. Oh hell I’ll go back and take a picture of it, and the fragments screen.

See there you go. Instead of the specialized graphics with the thumbnail letting you know which fragment is which it uses this list version. For a brief moment I did consider playing through the DS version as well, but the idea of playing the game entirely looking at it through my phone is a bit of effort I’m just not willing to put in to this. I’m not very interested in what the google translation might say. But circling back, as you can see with the Hanyuu sprites on the DS there are indeed multiple different sprites, perhaps owing to the newer crisper art the DS afforded compared to the PS2 version. Also, it only just now occurred to me that throughout the entire final fight between the gaming club and Takano and the Mountain Hounds Takano wasn’t wearing her military outfit. She was rather conspicuously off-screen during the encounter.

I love the DS and 3DS. It tries so very hard to have one continuous image going across the screens, but the unfortunate reality of the device itself makes that a literal impossibility.

The DS version does include the special scenes of a tormented young Miyoko Tanashi and the final group shot of the gaming club before the credits.

Love giving myself extra work when I decided I didn’t need to include these screens originally. But here they are anyway. Because I love you so much.

Also I had google translate these screenshots, and man that is some gibberish.

In case you're wondering, the red square covering Rena's face is a little panning effect for the picture. There wasn't a way to actually remove it from the picture itself, the face buttons on the DS don't actually do anything during the gameplay itself. The only functional button on the D-pad just takes you back out a menu depending on which screen it's on. It was incredibly lucky for me that the copies I got included these save files from after completing the games. Had they not been there this little digression wouldn't exist, and I think it was kind of interesting. Don't worry, there won't be a sudden inclusion in the other 2009 parts where I suddenly talk about playing the actual PS3 ports of Matsuribayashi. My PS3's disc drive doesn't work, and the discs won't arrive in time anyway.

[soundleer]

Which game series do you like more?

PMD or Miitopia?

oh fuck that's a good question- hope you don't mind me rambling lol

explorers of sky was my first exposure to pokemon and has been around in my childhood somewhere in 2009 and that game subconsciously made me learn the concept of therian/otherkin... but i got miitopia in 2018 and the face-stealing machanic influenced my artstyle so heavily that without it i wouldn't have drawn anything the way i do then and now

pitting these two together based on which i like more is kinda difficult since they're both on the same game genre but i guess ill give my biases

story? gameplay? pmd (as a series)

customizations? character designs? miitopia (3DS and switch remake)

nostalgia? with all the information i give out in this post, its self-explanatory that i have huge connections with pmd even if ive only played the first two entries.

fandom? ive never involved myself in pmd community and i used to be the face of miitopia community up till 2023. while i stray away from miitopia (as a fandom, not as a game) nowadays, i guess there's the answer.

final verdict?

im struggling to give a definitive answer of which game i like more when i have connections with both of them in different ways. if i have to rank the two, id prioritize gameplay as the main determining factor—therefore, pmd goes above miitopia. however when it comes to ocs, ive had mii ocs that existed for longer which would make miitopia go above pmd.

BUT imma throw in what i like more now that i thought long and hard on it. ill give that to.....

PMD!!

i still love miitopia for its own influences on me but there's your answer hyee!!

[eldragon-x-moved]

should i play a pokemon mystery dungeon game? i only have a switch atm and the only one they have is Rescue Team DX

ive only really played the main series of pokemon so far so i dont know anything about the pmd games but lots of people seem to like them and being a pokemon sounds cool and i miss pokepark

ANON. ANON YES YOU SHOULD PLAY POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON if you like plot driven games because pmd is basically pokemon for story-driven games enjoyers.

I havent played Rescue Team DX buuut as far as I know the story is basically the same as the original Rescue Teams plus it functions better so youre not missing out on this one unless you'd like to see how the old game looks with the 2d pixel style.

Explorers is the fan favorite and deserves it tbh. It has the strongest story which probably has the darkest tone and while you can play Explorers of Darkness or Time, Explorers of Sky has much more mechanics, Dungeons, and storybeats, including Special Episode 5 which is one of my favorite things in the PMD series. However physical copies of Sky are expensive as shit so you might wanna look for a rom or just play Time/Darkness and check out the extra story stuff on youtube. There's whole cutscene compilations of those.

Gates to Infinity is the first 3D PMD title, my personal favorite, and criminally underrated even within the community. I admit the gameplay is kinda bad but it has the best cast of characters and a really moving story about hope and nihilism and the importance of community. It also lets you build your own Pokemon Paradise with shops and fields around your house which is fun and Munna is one of my favorite characters of all time in anything ever please for the love of god give gates to infinity a chance even if you just watch a playthrough if you dont wanna deal with the gameplay i fucking love gates to infinity

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon is the final installment before we got the Rescue Team remake. The plot can get kinda messy but its still really enjoyable and has a unique charm and imo the best soundtrack in the series alongside Explorers of Sky. If you get into the series I'd ask you to get to this one last as the stakes get high, theres references to past games, and the ending hits harder when youre familiar with the series (though its not required to understand the story).

[icharchivist]

i do love that when Barret confronts President Shinra about how Shinra is exploiting the planet to generate electricity and stuff, the President just replies "oh sure you accuse us, but who benefits of it? if you weren't taking advantage of it, we wouldn't be doing it!" and Barret rightfully gets angry because "don't you dare pinning that on us!"

like. it's like Barret and the President recreated the "we should improve society somewhat" "and yet you live in society. curious."

like it's the classic way that the system continue to exist because people cannot live outside of this system, but instead of blaming the system we blame the people who have no other choice but to rely on the system.

And the game irrevocably take Barret's side, as it should

but i also find it even more interesting when you think about the implications of the plate, and actually it's making me forgive the way too long lamp section because it does push its point forward.

Midgar is built on two layers, they put a plate on top of the city, and the rich lives on top of the plate and the poor lives in the under city where they can't see the sky (i do think the remake made the undercity too bright but that's another point all together)

But at least the lamp section showed us that Shinra basically placed huge lamps under the plate so that they would "look like the sun" for the people living in the undercity, and since the whole quest is about disabling the lamps because they took too much power and you need power to access the elevator, it shows exactly that Shinra is creating a demand for something that shouldn't even exist to start with.

like yeah, they need Mako to light up the whole city, and those living in the undercity needs the light produced by Mako energy, because else they'll never see the light of the sun! obviously! As if the fact the undercity cannot see the sun isn't Shinra's fault to start with.

Like in the end with this exploration time, it really gives you an idea of how the energy that's being generated from the planet's abuse is used on things that wouldn't even exist if this exploitation wasn't going on t start with.

I'm forgiving the super long lamp section that made me mad actually i see what the point is and it's brilliant and it works very well at painting Shinra as bad guys in the most accurately capitalistic way while also really showing you how they're full of lies and that Barret is right.

[braixen]

top 5 pokemon games? :)

OKAY SO these are my own opinions with a bit of reasoning for each ranking, also sorry for the wait!

1. Black and White

best art style, ost, story, i could go on and it’s my opinion so i will.

it was basically an entire overhaul/new start to the series (entirely new pokédex with no repeats of pokémon from past generations), the ost was great and i listen to this and this regularly even when i’m not replaying.

i also really miss the pixel art style…the way each pokémon had it’s own little movement was great for characterizing each of them which i loved. i had two friends that were new to pokémon and when they asked, i told them to pick these games as their first since they’re objectively the best. no complaints.

2. Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

The story is so good, and my love for the game has been really influenced by playing it with my best friend who knows nothing about the series, and a lot of mutuals on my dash just adore it as well :3c

3. Legends: Arceus

a much needed rehaul of the series, especially after sword and shield. great story, great villain, great new evolutions (except eternatus.) i was worried about the new play style, but it was so fun and added a lot of fun character to the game! the agile/strong style was so fun to think about when playing, and the last boss fight is one of the best in the series with an amazing song playing.

4. Emerald

it was my first game on the gba when i was seven, and it made me fall in love with pokémon, and i think if they had chosen to not make alpha sapphire/omega ruby and just made delta emerald with the delta episode in it, they could’ve had a really good remake on their hands that would’ve lived up to the gen 3 remake hype.

5. X and Y

it was 3D, gave me my username, and also these outfits were SLICK

[south-sea]

ask game stuff yahooo

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

baby's first favorite character ever. i think. definitely the first one who properly stuck with me, anyway. thank you 4kids reruns of the SA2 arc of Sonic X burning certain parts of those episodes into my brain for the rest of eternity. it has been almost nineteen years and my attachment to him never really went away.

i don't know how to describe it other than i was just endlessly fascinated by him as a kid. these days it's about gradually discovering and exploring ways his backstory and company has an impact on him as a person, and how it might differ depending on those circumstances.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

i would say he's fine right where he's at, but that's a trick answer considering in my AU that means "literally anywhere, since it's the multiverse". maybe that's just the answer; he's hard to imagine tied down to any one specific place.

maybe the closest equivalent then would be the game Starbound? but if i had to pick something still in-universe for him, i want a still-pixel remake of Sonic Battle with him included. like just keep all the other assets the same and add him onto the playable roster with a new story arc and such.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

easiest thing in the world. he's a very well-mannered quiet little guy. usually. and i mean he's already been living rent free in my head for nearly nineteen years already so what's the difference,

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

i don't know about emojis, but metal in the context of second chance au canonically sends the most bizarre memes and such only he really understands the intention behind.

like metal. buddy. what the hell does any of this mean

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

you're going to have to wait 1-3 business days for the drawn response to a similar ask game prompt anon

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

love love love writing from metal's point of view and how his manner of processing information influences the narrative style/generally just how he sees the world. the sky is blue because that's the way light works, and it is not pretty, etc. everything's always just about the science and logic.

shadow's narrative style is not very unique by comparison. it's more about the implications and nuances in her actions rather than about internal thoughts. i guess it just comes down to the fact i don't have to think too hard about writing for him.

there's nothing i particularly dislike when it comes to writing for either of them.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

way back when, i didn't have the full picture of SA2, only what those Sonic X episodes showed, so my understanding of shadow was that i didn't understand him at all. i couldn't wrap my head around what his motives were, didn't have a good grasp on his character traits, hardly even knew who maria was, and that fascinated me. he was the ultimate mystery.

in a way, that's still true when i look at canon shadow, but not in a particularly good way. i see inconsistencies and loopholes and frankly prefer to just turn away and look at the interpretations that make sense to me, like SA2, Battle, Rivals, and 06. hence "semi-modern" being what he is.

for metal, my first introduction to him was the OVA. and all i have to say about that is looking back, it's pretty clear where my appreciation for robotic characters came from, among certain other relevant trends. the amount of narrative nuance/angst/exploration that can fit into one little guy is impressive. now i just want him to be content if nothing else.

mephiles is probably the weirdest one on the list, seeing as my first time seeing him was in the 06 fandub. so i latched onto the parody interpretation first, even ending up with my own before anything else (that would be ros). i've done some dabbling in canon, and like all stories, i end up invested in my own little corner of what-ifs that got away from me completely. and now the character i view as "mephiles" vs their canon counterpart is still different, for completely different reasons now.

it's probably safe to say i never fully had a chance to appreciate canon mephiles for what he is, and instead kept rerouting into parodies and eventually AU elements so much i doubt my appreciation for canon mephiles as a concept even really counts. i'm more invested in everything but canon mephiles. which is not to say i dislike him in canon or anything, i just never had a chance to interact with him firsthand so to speak.

i don't think my versions are "better" or "should be considered canon" or whatever. using the foundation already there but exploring my own story routes/backstory elements/etc is just how my brain works when it comes to staying invested in a character.

[aerifth]

3 am rebirth spoiler thoughts

sifting through some of the direct translated japanese dialogue from rebirth has me reconsidering a few scenes... by the way i finished rebirth and thought the ending was a little stupid but the emotional impact worked on me so whatever. anyway

i have a bunch of Big questions that are sort of swirling and intermingling as more time is spent by the community breaking it all down and speculating. a couple of my big ones right now are:

- why is zack's timeline healing?

- what the fuck is the dream date?

- why can only cloud see aerith, and the crack in the sky?

and i think these all are connected, in that breaking them each down helps me get the bigger picture. a big concept right away thats been on my mind: does despair signal the end of the world?

in intermission, we see zack entering the church to find no aerith but her flowers dying and a bunch of townies sobbing for a previously unknown reason. in rebirth, we learn his world is dying- marked by the scar across the sky. this is a common theme across all of the alternate universes- tear in the sky, locals believe the world to be ending. what if one is causing the other?

i believe that these alternative timelines /are/ fragile, but not necessarily predestined to die- not any more than our planet is predestined, for instance. all things die, eventually, but what if that great despair is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy? people believe the world is ending, and so it does.

zack is the wildcard here. we're left to assume that aerith, somehow, saved him by taking control over the whispers- otherwise, we don't fully understand how zack was able to unite with whats left of the otherwise post-remake sector 5 civilians. zack, throughout the entire story of rebirth, is constantly trying to outrun his fate; constantly trying to uplift others and get them to believe that something can be done, and that they still have a life to fight for. we periodically check in with the aforementioned flowers, and something strange happens: over the course of the story, they start to come back to life.

we hear from biggs that the lifestream is "all dried up", in one of the offshoot timelines. there's no more mako left to take from the planet. if we're to assume this is precisely how these worlds are dying, then that means, at least in zack's main timeline (terrier), there is a lifestream. one that is healing. this can't just be aerith, somehow - one might assume it's a sign of her return, following her death, but this regrowth begins long before approaching aerith's destiny.

on that note: the dream date. in the japanese direct translation, the thing she says to cloud in the beginning is a little different.

"simply returned to the planet? or returning?" is a notably different line, if only because it's a little more direct than her quoting sephiroth's one-liner about a "homecoming". i'm still not 100% on its meaning, so i'll explore a couple of avenues.

my first inclination is that, somehow, this is implying that this is something they've done before. not literally, per se, but it's an awareness of the original game's events that suggests this is some kind of reunion of a cloud with an aerith. this, regardless, is echoed in the final scenes of ch 14 anyway. after the dream date, cloud seems far more aware of what's happening to aerith, and when fighting jenova lifeclinger, he mentions that he's "done it before, he can do it again"- something that can only really imply that he's now much more aware of the original games events than before. aerith and cloud even talk about meteor before it's been cast, making it sound like they know what's coming. you could interpret that because of this "enlightenment", that is how he can see the crack that the party cannot. maybe aerith could see it herself the whole time? it would give another meaning to why she "hates the sky", enough to have gone back and retconned her final line from remake before rebirth came out.

that was a doozy, but the other interpretation of aerith's dream date line is that they're somehow between life and death. maybe not in a literal way (though in the main timeline, both are unconscious), but in a way that maybe suggests the true nature of the alternate timelines. aerith take cloud on a date that is intentionally very similar to when zack takes her shopping in crisis core, which is solidified in the japanese dialogue where she quotes this original scene directly.

i'm left wondering if these timelines (or at least this one) are made of memories. hodge-podged together worlds with no destiny or motivation to exist, just to be as they were until they no longer can. it's a little shaky, but the way things interconnect in general is very hard to tell right now. in the japanese text, sephiroth calls the lifestream's alternate realities "layered", which would explain a bit how this could work (inception style - literally a dream (date) within a dream (zack's world). the game suggests that consciousness can be transferred between multiversal bodies, so i don't think coma aerith and cloud just suddenly got up and were fine. they seem more separated, and even when cloud is able to visit that body and see zack in the gold saucer hotel, he still can't just get up and move. he's confined in the same way zack's cloud is.

the big point i think i wanna make here is that i think hope is what is fixing zack's timeline. without him, the world would be doomed to die, because without him everyone else is already resigned to their fate. sephiroth wishes to use negative emotions and despair to choke the lifestream out of being functional, which i think seems to happen innately. zack's world heals as a result of him spreading hope. it's a sentiment echoed all throughout rebirth: if you believe, you will.

this could also be why cloud's world has a crack in the first place. if the party had been resigned to their fates, unwilling to think they can change it, then the world they inhabit will reflect that. cloud, the one who made that change in saving aerith, can see the truth- he is fully free from the shackles of hopelessness, free to make his own destiny. the rest of the party, however, mourning aerith's death, are already feeding into sephiroth's plan. that despair on a global scale is what he's wanted the entire game- it's why he's fueling the shinra-wutai war. global scale despair to choke the planet out of its hope.

this was a big brain dump and im not sure how much it holds any water, but i feel like i'm onto Something that's making sense of what all happens in rebirth. i'm still, like, mega coping that the interview quote about "linking up to advent children" is misleading, because frankly by this point that seems thoroughly impossible, unless AC is just a part of re3 and itll be new and different following the events of the story. aerith half dying already has me checked out a little bit, i think they should've committed to saving or killing her, though it seems that either way she can still be "brought back" one way or another (which seems likely anyway given how some of her most iconic weapons are still awol, and her level 4 limit break, accessible in the original game, is just not in rebirth at all). i don't know!!! this all feels star wars sequel make-it-up-on-the-fly to me and i hope they can stick the landing. i do deeply think if aerith dies at the end of all this then the story sucks and i don't see why they'd bother with all the "changing fate" stuff. i hope these mystery boxes aren't empty...!