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yukirayu · 1 year

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Lyrics: “Denshō no Uta -Verum-”

While the opening theme of the VN got an English translation, the same couldn’t be said for its good ending theme, “Verum”.

As such, I tried to see what the lyrics could possibly mean by getting both the Latin and the Japanese lyrics from the soundtrack booklet and crossreferencing the translations of the lyrics in both languages.

So know that this is just an edited MTL of the lyrics. Take the (attempt at a) translation with a grain of salt. Still, I hope you enjoy knowing how you can possibly read the lyrics and what the song intended to convey, since Lamento has one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard in a visual novel.

......

“Denshō no Uta -Verum-” “伝承の詩 -Verum-” (Note: The word verum is Latin for “truth”.)

Performed by: Kanako Itou

Lyrics

Let me tell you something important now: the truth is hidden Dicam rem gravem, nunc: veritas est celata 螺旋翔け昇り届け･言葉･想い

It continues to exist, unravaged by the flow of time sed tempus eam possit perdere et violare が、時の流れに決して揺るがず、在り続けるのだ

He stood in the midst of disaster, death, defamation, and damnation In calamitate, morte, fama, in maledictio, erat ibi hic 災害、死、噂、呪いの渦中に、彼は佇んでいた

In ruthlessness, conflict and darkness, he stood as an evil omen In misericorde, bello, tenebris, ut ipsus malus stabat hic 非情､争い、闇、その中で禍々しさの象徴として彼は立っていた

In blasphemy and impiety, there he stood as a form that inspired fear In blasphemia, impietate, in terribli forma est hic 冒涜、邪悪の中、恐ろしい姿で、彼はそこにいた

The screams resounded from the void, “Is that form real? Is it not an illusion? Is it real or not?” In clamore, vanitate: Estne vera forma, non vera? Non vera? 叫び、空虚の中:真実の姿なのか? 真実ではないのか? 真実では･･･ない?

Open your eyes, open your eyes and behold! Oculos tuos aperite occulusos, ecce! ごらん! 閉じた瞼あけて

He brought a red flower to an ashen world Rubem florem in canam terram tulit 灰色の世界に、彼は赤い花をもたらした

Hope, that is our only hope Spes, ea spes, sola 希望・・・それは唯一の希望

I’ll share with you the memories and truth of a distant past Memoriam antiquam et veritatem te donam 遠い記憶そして真理を君に贈ろう

The truth is hidden from sight, but it remains there for eternity Veritas invisibilis est, sed manet, manet in perpetua 真実は見えないしかし失われず永遠に留まるのだ

Days of peace, laughter and tranquility, of life, fertility and joy Diem pacis, risum, placidem... Vitam, fructum, felicem… 平和な日々、笑い、穏やかさ… 人生、実り、幸福・・・

Of benevolence and order, of unity, virtue and light Bonitatem, ordinem... Consensum, asquum, lucem… 充足、秩序･･･心の一致、正しきこと光・・・

Everyone desired them all, and his wounds pained and ached Omnis eos petunt, ergo hujus dolebat vulnus 誰もが、それらを求め彼の傷は痛んでいた

Quietly, yet certainly Quiete, sed certe 静かに、しかし確実に・・・

Does he seek love? Or does he not seek love? Vultne amorem, vel non vult? Vel non vult? O! 彼は愛を求めていたか? あるいは求めていなかったか? ・・･求めていなかった?

My heart and thoughts reach beyond the boundaries of time Trans finem temporis, cor mei, vola 届け僕の想い悠久を越えて

He breathes life into the earth In terram hic donat spiritum 彼は大地に息吹を贈る

This is something that I, and only I know Solus ego, solus ego id scio 僕だけが僕だけがそれを知っている

He stood in the midst of damnation In maledictio, erat ibi hic 呪いの渦中に、彼は佇んでいた

He stood as an evil omen Ut ipsus malus stabat hic 禍々しさの象徴として彼は立っていた

He stood as a form that inspired fear In terribli forma est hic 恐ろしい姿で、彼はそこにいた

Is that form real or an illusion? Estne vera, non vera? 真実なのか?真実ではないのか?

Does he seek love or not? Vultne amorem, vel non vult? 彼は愛を求めていたか? あるいは求めていなかったか?

Does anyone know the answer? Quisne id scit? 誰が知っているというのか?

Open your eyes, open your eyes and behold! Oculos tuos aperite occulusos, ecce! ごらん! 閉じた瞼あけて

He brought a red flower to an ashen world Rubem florem in canam terram tulit 灰色の世界に、彼は赤い花をもたらした

Hope, that is our hope Spes, ea spes 希望・・・それは希望

My heart and thoughts reach beyond the boundaries of time Trans finem temporis, cor mei, vola 届け僕の想い悠久を越えて

He breathes life into the earth In terram hic donat spiritum 彼は大地に息吹を贈る

This is something that I, and only I know Solus ego, solus ego id scio 僕だけが僕だけがそれを知っている

#lamento #fen tries to translate

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faunastanza · 2 months

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Who's left, or what's right?

Who's left, or what's right? by Calliope

Oh man, Calliope! Remember Calliope?? What have she and Cayenne been up to!

We open on a house on Trebol, nearby some kind of "forgettable disaster". Calliope comes up to Cayenne, now an adult, and says she has some good news. Cayenne now works making weapons and such for commanders who fight angels, and he is also missing an arm, notably. Calliope says it'll take the length of a medium sized story to tell her good news and Cayenne is annoyed but says fine.

Calliope says that the story is called The Lonely Door. OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!! Cayenne says he knows this already, and Calliope says he doesn't know this version, because the version he knows ends half-way through.

It starts with a lonely door. No one knew where it came from or where it went or why it was there. No one knew how to open it either since no one had any keys. It was locked! It had always been locked. Calliope asks a bunch of rhetorical questions about what it means to be locked and trapped somewhere, saying that no one can hear any screaming or scraping or clawing behind the door because it's locked.

The story asks if you remember the story of the seven. The heroes that got mentioned a long time ago in Onza's character sheet!! IT'S ALL COMING BACK!!

silhouettes galore

It has silhouettes of the seven in front of the door and they're hard to identify, but one is Pride and one is Baphomet at least, or at least they look a lot like them. A stranger appears on the door that's the Masked Sun as they looked back in the Lonely Door vn a bit ago (UnMasked Sun?), before they revealed their new cool name of CALL-CLOUT. Anyway, they congratulate the seven on having come so far and that in their passion for knowledge, they've conquered the world. Just like the Seeds prologue! They say that there's nothing left for them out there since they have trapped the seven here with them.

The UnMasked Sun says they don't have to thank them, because if they hadn't trapped them there, the seven wouldn't be. They wouldn't be without the UnMasked Sun! They say they can unlock the door for the seven, if they want. They say that if the seven say no, then they like torturing others, and if the seven say yes, then they want the UnMasked Sun to torture others. Again, not subtle commentary on stories and writing. It feels like that's 90% of this comic honestly.

The seven think about it and the spokesperson asks if they can ask some questions, so they'll know what they're agreeing to. The UnMasked Sun says of course they can ask then says some cryptic nonsense. The spokesperson calls them a witch and wants to know if there's a penalty for asking questions.

The UnMasked Sun holds up a flower with one blue petal, saying that it represents a choice. They say that the seven have to choose between this choice or the previous one. The spokesperson asks who the UnMasked Sun is. The UnMasked Sun is surprised that they don't remember and that they wanted to help them.

They ask if the UnMasked Sun knows who they themselves are and they hesitate. They fell back, confused and disheartened that the seven no longer seem to remember them. They then say they're not the forgettable one anymore, because the penalty is invoked.

looking a bit worse for wear

The UnMasked Sun asks why someone ignored the evidence that it was a bad idea and why they ignored what they said, specifically saying that it's not for "you" (the seven?) to answer. The UnMasked Sun turns back to their flower, saying that the seven can lose one or the other, and they have to pick quickly or they'll lose both. One petal is magenta and the other is blue, and I think they represent Andre and Paige, or more simply - pick either writing or art to focus on.

UnMasked Sun asks what it's like to be the villain of the story, and says the seven are all remembered as fighting a great evil. She asks if they've thought about what it's like from the other side. They ramble something about how they came to this barren rock and time is all weird and slow for them here. Again the UnMasked Sun addresses the mystery person with questions about how long it'll be before they're caught and before someone comes for them. This could be a veiled dig at the haters again but I don't know.

The UnMasked Sun is all, let's take a look at the other side of this door then. Inside the door, Papaya stands and her tail goes out into a bit of black gloop as she asks why Mr. 5 is called Mr. 5. Either they don't know or they forgot, but which is which! Papaya/Scornch says the seven don't deserve to know and tells them to come inside. Glip then talks about being stuck in a box for years talking to no one in a self-imposed prison.

need more lamps

It's their room, clearly, and it could either be about the isolation of doing art or the isolation due to their ex-husband, it's not clear, but again we're going into real life territory. Call-Clout shows up and asks if it'd help if they laid it all out in detail for them, then wonders why they're even trying to help the seven because they haven't given Call-Clout a good reason.

Papaya, now looking like Mr. 5 with the flower on their head, says that they know a lot of things other people forgot and it'd be really embarrassing if anyone else found out, and maybe they'll keep it in their head instead of tell stories about it. But then they realized that nothing was stopping them from doing that, so why not? They say that it's weird how they can accumulate a lot of stuff, and strangers can also accumulate stuff, but then it can get misplaced. It starts going into cancelling again with talking about people presenting a flawed picture of Glip.

mr. 5 still sucks

We abruptly cut to Amdusias and what looks like Cress5 back from Draft 5. Amdusias shouts that "she" didn't want her to do this and to spare her ignorance of their ways. She then stops, asking herself "she who" and that she doesn't know who she's talking about. She asks herself if she's been here before and says she was choking, and that "I was myself".

Someone says that Amdusias can't remember the right words, but that she does remember that there are no right words, and that all she can do here is nothing. She's seen this happen before! There's a shot of her that kind of looks like she has lines on her neck and someone is holding a needle or something sharp but I could be wrong, the mspaint scribbles are hard to interpret.

eat this tiny star

There's also an X on her chest, a typical Double/Extra trademark. Ugh. The narration says that Amdusias forgot that she did it to herself, and that people like her always do that kind of thing. Mr. 5 holds a knife and someone asks "will he put it in me or not?" "Will I die here or not?" so it looks like this is what Orobas was talking about before and as usual this comic went backwards for no reason.

Mr. 5, maybe, says that Amdusias "killed flowers" for him and asks why. Amdusias says she doesn't want to risk saying. Someone, I'm not entirely sure who but maybe Mr. 5, asks why she (I assume he's addressing Amdusias) erased all the bad parts and why everything she remembers is only what everyone else wants forgotten. He asks why none of her own sins are present when he's seen first hand what "she" can do. She here is highlighted in blue, like it was when Amdusias mentioned a she a bit ago. It is possible though that Amdusias is asking Mr. 5 this. Ugh.

Amdusias tells Mr. 5 to hand over the knife. Mr. 5 says no and that she wouldn't want this, and she told him so herself. He says everyone's so quick to turn on him and that he was just trying to plant a fairy circle, they didn't do anything wrong. In the back it looks like something got chopped in half. I'm pretty sure its Min.

a scythe, where did he get a scythe

Someone tells Mr. 5 to stop talking. Mr. 5 goes on to say that they were trying to plant a garden, and the other voice says to stop telling the story to a stranger (like when Cress warned Min not to talk to strangers in Draft 5!). Mr. 5 says they were also trying to make a fairy circle and that Min had finally gotten her big wings and was going to start a fairy circle of her own down here. She was trying to do it before the plague so she could help.

Mr. 5 says that time is wrong down here and that they were supposed to make the dropoff but couldn't stop bickering. They ask why it's always like this and that the one time they do make it on time, something bad happens to her anyway. They forget why it's like this.

Mr. 5 seems to have two heads now. He goes on about how maybe this was supposed to keep happening until "you" noticed. He asks whose fault it is, since all Min wanted to do was help. He asks if you remember the plague and why it happened, if it was because "you" killed another innocent and if that's how it is here, presumably Hellside.

is that what it sounds like when doves cry

Is that who you are, do you cannibalize each other down here, he asks. He says that he knows the one your kind (addressing Amdusias, so demons presumably) abandoned, and that her kind gave him a flower (Cress's flower!). He says he can hear her even now as she bleeds. She is leaving and he has a choice to make, he says.

Meanwhile, PrideDouble opens a door, and someone tells her to go towards Mr. 5 and Amdusias. They say this is her only shot, so do it right. Pride is concerned about what happened and can't remember who Mr. 5 is, which bothers her, but the other parts of her tell her to stop thinking about it and that she's not allowed to help her. Her could refer to Min or Amdusias or maybe Mr. 5, I'm not sure.

Amdusias says this is Mr. 5's last chance to hand over the knife. Mr. 5 says no, saying that he's seen the ways that she misused forgetting. He says that he knows what Amdusias is up to, and he remembers that she will end herself if he listens to her. Amdusias is offended and says she'd never do something like that and Mr. 5 doesn't know anything about her. She accuses Mr. 5 of planting false memories in her, which he denies. She insists he knows nothing of her and can't judge her.

looks kind of schoolgirl-ish

Mr. 5 says he forgot and asks why Amdusias killed Min. Amdusias says that she was an enemy of Hellside and an unavoidable casualty in the face of the dangers she brought. She says that help is already on the way and that they'll keep Min's body technically alive so they can "extract the secrets" from it, and that they'll uproot the seeds. Mr. 5 muses that he wouldn't mind watching this play out, and that maybe she (not sure who he means) wouldn't either, since it doesn't matter if they can never escape.

Mr. 5 doesn't like the idea and I think he's talking to himself but I'm not sure. He says to think of a new one but he's not supposed to hurt you, so he's not sure where to go from here. Amdusias repeats her name and occupation to him, saying that she controls the conversation and that Mr. 5 causes all the suffering and ruination around her and that this is the last story he'll destroy, and that others are coming. Mr. 5 asks how Amdusias can say that after she devastated Min's body (chopped her in half, I think), and they don't understand what makes that okay. He says that he thinks he gets it now, Min, and that he understands last time and that Min is wonderful.

Suddenly someone else calls out, interrupting the discussion. It turns out its DoublePride and boy Amdusias reaches some scribbled heights.

i will not lift my pen from the tablet

Amdusias asks DoublePride what she's holding, and she says its Paige. She says that none of Amdusias's words will work which startles her, as she's sure she's holding Mr. 5 back with them right now. It shifts to Amdusias looking pretty melty and weird with DoublePride scolding her that attacking Topsiders is against the rules and that "now he's here for you". Amdusias says she thought it was okay with the scythe, and DoublePride says it wasn't. Meanwhile, Mr. 5 thinks to himself that neither one of them are wrong, and that he remembers this trick.

Amdusias is sure that DoublePride told her the scythe was okay and gets scared about what's going to happen to her. DoublePride holds up Paige and says that Amdusias did this and that none of this would be happening if she wasn't here, and they wouldn't be facing anything if Amdusias hadn't done this. She's ruined everything! DoublePride says that the only useful thing Amdusias can do now is get her a governor's blood for a transfusion.

Mr. 5 says that he remembers that the governor's name is Andre, and asks why DoublePride(with an X for Double I guess) is allowed to do this while Mr. 5 isn't. Double (i think) says that they save things while Mr. 5 erases them, they see motivations while Mr. 5 doesn't, they look and try something new while Mr. 5 doesn't.

Amdusias is still distraught, lamenting that it was all for nothing, and asks DoublePride what she should do. DoublePride says that Mr. 5's knife can remove someone from the story and that they've seen it happen. She says that Amdusias is the reason the islands are going to fall, and wonders what she should do, hint hint.

cough ahem wink nudge cough

Amdusias asks if that's an order and DoublePride says that it isn't, and it's up to Amdusias about whether or not everyone she knows disappears. Mr. 5 says that something's wrong. DoublePride says she didn't think it would take this long for Amdusias to make this decision and wonders if she misjudged her character. Amdusias pleads for an explanation, absolutely positive that she obeyed Pride's directions to the letter, and wants to understand before she makes her decision.

PrideDouble says that she's a tiny cog in the cosmos, and asks if she thought her violence would go unpunished. She says Amdusias is nothing, and tells her to prove it.

We then abruptly cut to Pride some time ago saying she wants to put a curse on one of her subordinates. She asks Andre for help, saying she wants to put this curse on "every version" of them. Andre asks what she means, and Pride says she had a dream (maybe) where there was a door, and she saw her subordinate through the door and she was about to do something terrible to her, but she doesn't know why.

She says that Amdusias has a big flaw where she doesn't take pride in how she helps others and doesn't notice when she does. She thinks something is wrong with Amdusias since she seems really detached and she feels like her music has no heart, like she's a husk.

how many powers does pride have

I assume this is related to Amdusias being a doppelganger and not the original but who knows. Pride says she wants to put a cheer curse on Amdusias and "She seems lost. I need a way in." is pasted over some of her dialogue. She hopes that the bweehorses might jangle her memory, and that maybe they can find her. Andre asks if they want to do that, and Pride says it seems like the right thing to do. Pride says she really thinks this is what Amdusias needs, a little symphony to let her know how they feel about everything she does.

Andre is a bit :/ about how Pride thinks music is the solution to every problem. Pride says she thinks Amdusias could use a friend like a bweehorse who's simple and easy to understand. Pride says there's a trigger they can use, and that it involves Andre. Andre is deeply uninterested in music and has no interest, saying he's annoyed having to babysit people and just wants to paint in peace.

Pride asks why Andre is here and why he's helping them out, and that he won't even tell them his name. She asks if he has one. Andre says he doesn't know what names have to do with anything but he'll play dressup with her for a bit. He looks through a little book while in the background "i don't care about this i want to work on art" scrolls by. He then asks (himself I think) how to pick out a name and that he doesn't like any of the names he sees, since they all lock him into a role. He didn't think picking a name would be that difficult and asks Pride how she picked hers. In the back repeats "this was a mistake so why can't i paint over it".

his face is intact, now that i notice

Pride says that she never picked out her own name, but says if she did, she'd want to be known as Pride. She says names are fun and you can try out different ones to exist in a different way. Andre says that sounds dumb because he's already perfect the way he is lol. Pride declares that if Andre doesn't know why he's here and doesn't even have a name, then he's too far above the commonfolk to try and help them, so he has to learn how to know them to truly help them. Andre's like FINE WHATEVER THIS IS KEEPING ME FROM MY ART.

Pride thinks he sounds embarrassed, which Andre denies. He says he's art and art doesn't care about anyone, art is for the self and isn't a guessing game for the audience. Pride asks where and why Andre got that book if he doesn't care. Andre says he could have that book for LOTS of reasons and he says he has it because he's trying to understand why his sister uses these things called "words". He says they're ugly scribbles and he doesn't understand why they'd be fun to make.

It turns out Andre doesn't know how to read.

he's a bit grouchy in this but i assume it's because he's still settling in on this plane of reality

Pride offers to take the book and help him. He's a bit resistant to giving it to her and says he can't through his painting. She insists that he can and he gets suspicious. She taunts him into giving it a try and he does but the book doesn't go through. Pride can see what it says though and she says it's very interesting. She wonders if it'll work.

Pride manages to lead Andre along in a ruse to prove his sister wrong about words being good or useful. She says she's going to give him a name to prove Paige is dumb, and Andre is :/ about it but does want to be right. Pride names him Andrealphus, the demon who rules the planes of geometry in a perfect manner.

Andre is startled, saying he's not a demon with a bit of his second face showing.

mask cracked? perspective shift? i dunno

Pride says that he is a demon now since that's what she called him and that's how it works. She named him as she sees him. She asks how long he's been hiding, and Andre insists he hasn't been. She asks him to prove it and says that if he's a demon, he should be able to hand her the book now. Andre insists that he will never be a demon. Pride's like oh well, I guess your sister was right and words aren't meaningless.

We cut back to Amdusias with Mr. 5. She asks if it will be meaningless, and if she'll be forgotten in her wrongness. She asks if her failure will be repeated.

We then abruptly cut to the UnMasked Sun sitting on top of the lonely door. They say they know you don't care about this part and that the door is already locked, and that we're stuck between the last door and this one. Every time you pass through the last door you just end up in a circle, and you don't remember doing it because it makes you feel bad.

It turns out the UnMasked Sun is talking to Pride, who now has her name erased out. Pride asks where everyone else is, and the UnMasked Sun is like since when did you have a name and censors it out for her. Pride says she can't remember when she got her name.

The UnMasked Sun gives Pride two choices. Either the art will suffer, or "that other thing". Then Glip says it wasn't actually a choice and makes a dig at the haters again.

damn! got you good!

I don't normally put two pics together but

dear god in heaven, am *I* the expert on this now in writing this?? what am i doing with my life

Come on man, I'm trying here, work with me. Anyway, Call-Clout goes on a bit about being cancelled and then says that Pride would know a lot about shepherding others when they're all a bunch of scared little sheep. Call-Clout asks what she thinks will happen if she keeps forcing others to do what she thinks is right, and wonders how long it'll be before an innocent dies in their pursuit. They ask if Pride is willing to shoulder that burden and if they like being controlled by a crowd.

They continue on, asking if Pride likes being used by someone else and when their censorship keeps them from helping everyone depending on them. They then say that they're just curious and there's no reason to get upset, it's just a story.

i'm talking about you! maybe

They go on basically asking Pride why they think they're so much more important than anyone else. This is supposedly directed at Pride but it really feels like more digs at their ex-husband and harrassers. The UnMasked Sun says that Pride will probably try to turn their words back on them, but they say they got them from Pride in the first place. They ask if Pride has forgotten how to see herself in others if she didn't plant herself there first, and what they think happens when they scare people into doing what they want.

So many rhetorical questions, I swear. The UnMasked Sun asks how many demons she can scare into killing themselves and being forgotten, and asks if Pride can tell her what it's like to usher countless husks/shells onto a battlefield. They ask her what it's like when she can't remember the name of the one she pushed beyond her morals (Amdusias?), and what it's like to know you've caused this and will never be able to tell. They also have a mask that kind of looks like Andre, whatever that means.

The UnMasked Sun asks Pride if she makes them empty to give them a purpose in war, or to use as a pawn, or if she thrusts new names on people so that they rely on her to exist. Suddenly, there's a shot of a door and some knocking. Two hands come out from behind it, one wand on the left symbolizing Andre, and the other symbolizing Paige.

"Who's left, and what's right?" someone (the UnMasked Sun, presumably) says.

We suddenly cut back to Cayenne and Calliope. Cayenne is annoyed that Calliope's long story has made him late on one of his orders. Calliope says she can finish the story later, then reaches into her head and gets... the beads!! The beads way from the beginning of the story! I told you!

She says she inverted the curse on them, although Cayenne doesn't remember even buying them.

can't help comparing this to the early pages

Before she can explain what they do, Cayenne asks her to get the door and then the VN just stops there. OKAY, FINE. Blueballsed again about those beads!

#floraverse

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herotome · 3 years

Note

I dreamed a dreaaaam~ ^^ How cool, what an awesome way to be inspired. Do you have any specific games you really enjoy from the visual novel/otome side, and does anyone in particular inspire your writing style? Thank you again for answering my questions. <3

Hmm, I'll start with my writing style...

I have a long history of writing in a more flowery, long-winded style, and switched to a more concise, read-between-the-lines style when I started writing this game. I currently try to take after Gillian Flynn, but I was a big fan of Neil Gaiman for a long time.

Specific games I've enjoyed VN/otome side... Mainstream games like Ozmafia!! and Amnesia: Memories were fun enough, but left me with a lot of ideas on what not to do haha.

I did mention Mystic Messenger already, so I'll move onto indie suggestions:

EBON LIGHT: @underbliss (Creator is not active on tumblr but I've taken a lot of inspiration from how she answered her asks, so....)

Thiiis game. It's a dark adventure fantasy about being carted to a foreign land with ancient magic and suspense and allying yourself with ELVES who each have their own motivations; some less savory than others! If you've ever wanted to date a canonically EVIL elf, choo-choo, this is your stop.

This was the first VN/otome I played that had my exact preference/style of writing dialogue choices! We both write them like RPGs - both inspired by games like Dragon Age, I think. Herotome was already well underway by the time I found this game, but it was still such a pleasant surprise; I actively replay it when I need motivation.

Link: https://underbliss.itch.io/ebon-light

SOULSET: @nobreadstudio (They're more active on twitter, I think.)

Their story structure and use of foreshadowing is insane. It's another dark fantasy, but with more of an emphasis on solving various mysteries at the heart of the game. And lord do the mysteries blossom like goddamn flowers. It's a whole orchard of mysteries.

You start off with amnesia, locked in a house with five other people, so it's an escape room mystery, to boot.

What really sold me was the main character: the mature, sexy necromancer with the thigh high boots. I felt like games NEVER let me be the mature sexy anime lady, so this was quite the sell for me.

Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/589860/SoulSet/

Link: https://nobreadstudio.itch.io/soulset

THIS, MY SOUL: I was OBSESSED with the writing style of this game. It's a short romantic sci-fi about being adrift in space with a doting (if surly) android.

Link: https://agashi.itch.io/thismysoul

CHANGELING: @steamberrystudio (the dev is actively working on a new game called Gilded Shadows!)

A high school urban fantasy about joining a club of supernatural teens and run-ins with the fae. To be honest I was just following the dev (Esh) here on tumblr and didn't even play the game until after I'd gotten to know her. I was leery of the fact that it took place in a school (felt like I was too old to enjoy high school games lol), and "ehhh isn't the whole supernatural BF shebang rather overdone?"

Then I played it. Oh. My. God. I really liked the protagonist. I got to fight with my in-game brother and I was hooked. The drama was well-paced and sensible, the characters were all interesting and well-developed, I think I stayed up late like 3 nights in a row trying to finish this game. I NEEDED to kiss them all and the bad endings were so fun.

Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1010240/Changeling/

Link: https://steamberry.itch.io/changeling

BLOOMING PANIC: This game just came out this year and made some hella waves, maybe you guys have already heard of it? It takes place primarily in a chatroom like Mystic Messenger, but has video call segments!

The game is 100% dialogue, so rather than the writing I'm moreso inspired by how they coded an entire mock discord server in renpy, with functional individual channels. Like what??? You can do that?? Black magic. But in all seriousness the story is quite good, the characters have depth that surprised me, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Link: https://robobarbie.itch.io/blooming-panic

CUPID: This one's a dark historical fantasy, and a horror, too. Mostly psychological horror?

I thiiiink the writing style was good... It certainly kept me reading, I binged the whole game in a single day. 8| Kept me on my toes and made a very interesting design choice in regarding its dialogue choices. I feel like I'm not selling this one very well, but if you enjoy horror, I do recommend going in blind. I don't like horror; I loved this.

Link: https://fervent.itch.io/cupidvn

PERFUMARE: @pdrrook (this VN's final chapter JUST came out!! and there's will be more to enjoy in the upcoming IF, very exciting)

Last but very much not last, a modern dark... ... perhaps by now you noticed I really love dark stories lol.

A modern dark fantasy with a heavy emphasis on crime, mystery, and romance. You get framed, accused of murdering a drug dealer! You ally yourself with one of three phenomenal romance options! You can choose your pronouns! You have mind control powers.

The writing style is superb and enviable. At first I was just kind of clicking through, not especially engaged, but once those romances kick in? Oh boy. Rook has an incredible, enviable gift for writing romance scenes and relationships, an absolute inspiration. And once I was hooked on the first romantic moment, my third eye was open and I saw how beautifully the entire game was written from start to finish.

Perfumare should probably go higher on this list since I particularly enjoy and would love to emulate its writing style, but... this wasn't actually in a specific order, I just listed games off as I remembered them;;;

Link: https://pdrr.itch.io/perfumare

Not remotely otome but enormously inspirational to my writing and game design decisions:

DISCO ELYSIUM: Hoo. I don't even know what to say. The murder! The banter! The CHOICES! This damn isometric RPG makes you fall in love with the most unlikely characters and doesn't let you date any of them. Then their official twitter account liked my comment wherein I whined about wanting to marry Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi. Jerks!!! This game drives me CRAZY, but in a good, aspirational way.

The writing style is exceptionally beautiful, the branching and variations are vast and superb.

Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/

And some additional shout-outs to these interactive fiction games that can be played right in your browser:

VAMPIRE LTD: Ok you need to listen to me please this is truly shocking, I AM LITERALLY THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS EVER PLAYED AND RATED THIS GAME??? BUT IT'S AMAZING?? Please go play it now. The writing is amazing. It is exceptionally charming and so funny, my absolute ideal sense of humor. You play as a modern vampire and you're trying to get a job at a rival vampire's company so you can sabotage him from within. You can immediately die at the start of the game by closing your umbrella and burning yourself in the sunlight.

It's a free game that doesn't even cost anything and it came out in February, how am I still the only person who has played this omg? :( You guys. Please play it, leave a rating and a nice comment, I adore it deeply. It is a text parser, so you'll have to get used to typing in commands like "go north," "take blood bag," "bite receptionist," but it really is not difficult.

Link: https://comfortcastle.itch.io/vampire-ltd

TAVERN CRAWLER: A very charming fantasy RPG, Discworld-esque: funny but with an enormous amount of heart and meaningful choices. The side characters are all fun, and you can date both love interests at the same time. You can be POLY! And you can drink in bars to increase your stats. What's not to love?

Premise: You get hired to kill a dragon. Problem: You were shit-faced drunk when you got the job and ddooon't totally remember where to go to get your reward.

Link: https://cogsandspanners.itch.io/tavern-crawler

THE PASSENGER: @the-passenger-if (... Ok so this one isn't exactly done yet, but the creator issss almost done? Actively working on the last chapters and such?)

This is a very special mention because despite being a WIP, the writing is vivid, gorgeous, and has been wildly inspirational for me. It's a 90's eldritch horror story (you play as the horror! :D), and it's... fun. It's so much fun. You can play truth or dare and then dare one of your love interests to take their pants off in the car. And they do it, they take their dang pants off and you get this whole description of their raggedy underwear. Do I need to sell it harder? I don't know what to say. This was the game that got me interested in giving the player an in-game option to be trans, because I'd never seen it as an option anywhere else before.

Link: https://dashingdon.com/play/pime/the-passenger/mygame/

So yeah, these are my inspirations!! Other than The Passenger at the very end, these games are ALL 100% RELEASED/COMPLETED and ready to be enjoyed in full. And a lot of them are FREE. $0.00! FREE!! You still ought to throw some dimes in if you can afford it, but if not -- free. $0.00. Free.

I hope you guys give them a shot if you have not played them already, because I find them all truly magnificent.

And even if you don't have time to play them at the moment, please give them a boost! Reblog!!! Who cares if you have zero followers or if it will interrupt your aesthetic posts, reblog anyway!!! These are ALL lovingly and painstakingly made by small creators and I must reiterate I AM THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WHO HAS PLAYED AND RATED VAMPIRE LTD ON ITCH.IO AND I CANNOT STAND FOR THIS. Jiminy criminy y'all please at least go play Vampire LTD, I am begging you.

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vampcubus · 3 years

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𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐄

ashi is my preferred name :3

i'm twenty-two and use she/her pronouns.

acespec lesbian, single.

cancer ☼ pisces ☾ taurus ↑

highly adhd and an insomniac 💀

EST timezone but my sleep schedule is atrocious so i could be up at any time really.

i'm shy about starting conversations but i'm friendly to those who approach me <3 i don't bite... hard.

i like to jokingly flirt and lovingly bully my mutuals, but if this ever rubs you the wrong way don't be afraid to tell me.

i tend to fall for sunshine-y characters, puppyish types, and evil / troubled / emotionally unavailable villains (especially if they’re women).

✔️ 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒 : bats, rabbits, spooky stuff, horror, slasher films, anime, cutesy pink shit, blood, bones, spider lilies, monsters, cryptids, vampires, sweets, spicy food, women (especially mascs <3), pathetic loserboy fictional men, villains.

✖️ 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒 : most holidays, conflict, ghosts, large bodies of water, and bugs.

📓 𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒 : writing, digital art, gaming, scaring my moots with my fictional crushes.

💍 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 : abby anderson, ellie williams, kyojuro rengoku, akaza, vi, sevika, silco, scorpia, cathleen bate, toshinori yagi, sidon, karlach, lae’zel, minthara, inuyasha, mizu, varric tethras, fenris, garrus vakarian, thane krios, vetra nyx, zevin raeka, jaal ama darav, rock lee, annie leonhart, yelena, hange zoë, john doe / joker, count lucio, vulgora.

🖤 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐒 𝐈 𝐄𝐍𝐉𝐎𝐘 : kny, the last of us, arcane, she-ra and the princesses of power, kaiju no. 8, inuyasha, avatar way of water, howl’s moving castle, aot, dragon ball, bnha, twst, csm, death note, loz (botw, totk, & ss mostly), devilman crybaby, blue eye samurai, telltale batman, something’s wrong with sunny day jack (vn), 14 days with you (vn), my dear hatchet man (vn), flowers of evil (vn), dragon age, baldur's gate 3, mass effect, the elder scrolls (oblivion & skyrim), john doe (vn), touchstarved (vn), the arcana, welcome home, hannibal (nbc), the witcher (netflix show), kill bill, twilight (derogatory & affectionate).

#‧₊⚰️˚⊹ navigation #about me

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knxtl · 5 years

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Meaning of VnS Names

Vanitas:

- a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability.

- A vanitas painting contains collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures; it exhorts the viewer to consider mortality and to repent.

- These are paintings with still life symbolism around a central theme with a moral message. They remind the viewer of death, the fragility of human life, and the brevity of our existence.

- The symbol of the skull serves as a reflection of a once living person, the physical form of ones living head. As both Vanitas symbols and memento mori the symbol of the skull is primarily linked to death.

- A chain can symbolize the coming together of two things

- (Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning 'remember you must die') and include symbols such as skulls and extinguished candles.

Although a few vanitas pictures include figures, the vast majority are pure still lifes, containing certain standard elements: symbols of arts and sciences (books, maps, and musical instruments), wealth and power (purses, jewelry, gold objects), and earthly pleasures (goblets, pipes, and playing cards); symbols of death or transience (skulls, clocks, burning candles, soap bubbles, and flowers); and, sometimes, symbols of resurrection and eternal life (usually ears of corn or sprigs of ivy or laurel).

>>>> Just based on Vanitas’ name, it is inevitable that he was going to die in the end. Now we know that he inherited the name from Vanitas of the Blue Moon, so I have been curious about both Vanitas’ true names. We have seen Vanitas not care for his life on a couple occasions. As if he does not value it due to what he did in the past and how it affected Misha. This constant indifference towards his own life leaves a solemn, lonely air surrounding him. I believe the Vampire Vanitas had these depressing feelings surrounding her as well. She seemed to carry the same kind of air surrounding her due to the negative connations about her and the way both humans and her own Vampire kind would treat her.

Noé:

- Noé is the French, Spanish and Portuguese form of Noah.

- Some say the name is derived from the Hebrew “noach” meaning “rest” or “comfort.”

- Obviously, Noah was a significant and central character in the Old Testament, and according to the story, all people are descended from Noah’s children. The story of Noah and the Ark is one of the most well known of all Biblical stories. Frustrated with the state of affairs on earth, God sent the Great Flood to cleanse the evilness but spared Noah and his family because he was a righteous man.

Archviste:

- French word for archivist (recorder).

- Someone who stores information.

Lou:

- Male (Louis) means famous warrior and

- Female (Louise) means “renowned warrior"

- Louise is up for reappreciation—sleek and chic, stylish in Paris.

Dominique:

- The French feminine form of Dominic, meaning of the lord, or belonging to God.

- Bestowed upon both females and males in France, Dominique is from the Latin Dominicus (belonging to a lord), which is derived from dominus (a master, a lord).

- Later its use was extended to children born on a Sunday (the day consecrated by the Lord).

Jeanne:

- The name Jeanne is a girl's name of French origin meaning "God is gracious".

- Joan of Arc is known as Jeanne d'Arc in France.

- Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans," was born in 1412 in Domrémy, Bar, France. A national heroine of France, at age 18 she led the French army to victory over the English at Orléans. Captured a year later, Joan was burned at the stake as a heretic by the English and their French collaborators.

>>>> Based on the ending of Jeanne d’Arc, Jeanne may actually die by the hands of Vanitas at the end of the story as it was foreshadowed in the extra chapter.

Charlatan:

- A person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.

- A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick or deception in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception. Synonyms for "charlatan" include "shyster", "quack", or "faker".

>>>> Notice how Dante calls Vanitas a “quack.” Do you think Jun gave him that nickname on purpose. We already know Vanitas does not let anyone actually know his true motive. Why does he need to save every curse-bearer? How does he actually feel about Vanitas of the Blue Moon? Why does he absolutely not want Noe to see his past? One moment we see him spout a claim and the next he contradicts himself like what Noe said to Ruthuven. Vanitas is a fraud in the way he tries to present himself constantly. Now for Charlatan, my question is why do people call becoming a malonomen the curse of Vanitas? In the current timeline, it is Charlatan that makes curse bearers. So do you think Charlatan may actually be a “fraud?”

Dang. Jun Mochizuki really looked into these French names. I googled the meanings to see if it would tell us any hints about them.

#vnc #vns #Vanitas no shuki #the case study of vanitas #noe archviste #dominique de sade #jeanne #i also looked up murr and it just said a cat #vnc theories

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flowersofevilvn · 4 months

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final touches ! players will now be able to choose their NSFW preferences from the onset of the game.

#flowers of evil vn #yandere male #yandere vn #flowers of evil #foevn #visual novel #yandere visual novel #yandere game

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thirdmagic · 6 years

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uhhhhhhhh mildly spoilery lost butterfly rant

other Cool Trends ufo continues from not only ubw but as early as zero: oh no the narration in this scene describes kirei as having Feelings and Caring about things and being troubled, maybe even having sympathetic qualities, oh no we can't have that, better suck ALL the emotion dry out of it and COMPLETELY change everything about it because that's Wrong

like................... look............... i Get that there was no way to translate the flashback with risei visually from prose and that there was no time but come O N how in the world did you take 'kneels down and looks up at the sky with anger in his eyes as he declares an intent that exposes a deeply rooted anger and frustration with the world that's been built up in him his entire life' and turn it into 'stands around monologuing dryly and with no emotion literally just saying words' that is so. fuckin..... transparent.... after turning tokiomi's death from 'kirei laughs and smiles with genuine cheer and happiness while tokiomi is vaguely confused at what's going on up until the last second of his life' to 'kirei is EVIL and BAD and tokiomi is SHOCKED and BETRAYED', to completely removing him legit crying when he found risei's corpse and that he was upset and terrified and thrown completely off balance by it all because he was just then thinking of confessing everything, and then even ignoring the few seconds or lines you could have added in presage flower where he talks about his motivations to shirou......... yeah I Don't Know What I Expected but i really thought!!! i really thought mayhaps they've learned their lesson since then!!!!!! that MAYBE they stepped up their game since it's been years since then!!!!!! like obviously i have no way of actually knowing WHY these changes are made but it sure as hell looks like the very concept of kirei showing Feelings and sympathetic qualities and emotional vulnerability and openness and genuine human traits is just so alien to someone up there that it needs to be removed even when it's staring you straight in the face through the narration, and i genuinely.... don't understand........ how could you look at fate and then find the concept of a complicated and sympathetic villain so alien......... they sure weren't afraid to go there with shinji and still never even once pretended to try to justify him and managed to find the balance between displaying these sympathetic aspects and making us understand what he's going through emotionally and why, so whyest the fuckingest hellest would kirei be any different i literally just CANNOT understand........... esp when this is the same director who actively objected to nasu himself wanting to change things because he wanted to be accurate to the vn........... like, who do i have to kill to get his story and characterization adapted properly just goddamn once............... (i don't remember what hf manga did with him thus far bc i don't think it got to most of the relevant parts yet but)................... i'm just............. i'm not even mad anymore i have no more energy left in me to be mad about this it's been years and it's just making me go ???????? at this point........

#textpost #nothing to see here at all i just needed......... to get this out of my system............

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promiscuous-jalapeno · 7 years

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☼ V Route Review ☼

I have had so many messages asking for my input on the route and the characters, so here it is!!! (p.s. I made that gif^^^^ I’m pretty impressed with myself ?? wow lmao)

Heavy on spoilers so the text is under a cut! It’s also pretty lengthy so...you’ve been warned haha.

This route had me feeling different ways as I moved through the days. I’ll try to touch on as many subjects as I can, and I am not sure how lengthy this will be getting. Some themes/aspects I both liked and disliked for different reasons. It is in my nature to debate myself and see both sides to things, so if you see me basically contradicting myself or arguing with a point I made previously, that is why.

I am basing this on the Good End play-through alone, as that makes the most sense.

I’d also like to state that, of course, these are all my personal opinion. If you disagree with anything in my review then that’s great! But on the contrary, you will not find me fighting you over opinions. If you come into my box to attack me over what I have to say about the route, I will simply ignore. I’m really sorry I have to say this, but as I have unfortunately already seen several...distasteful arguments over this route, I feel it needs to be said. I think everyones opinions are valid and this is by no means me trying to force my opinions or tell you that what you feel and think is wrong! It’s just my analysis^^

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I’d like to preface this by saying that I did have fun and enjoyed the route for entertainment purposes. We got to see more of those minor characters we have been craving (i.e. Saeran, Rika, and even Vanderwood!)

I think I am not alone in my wanting to see more of Mint Eye and the interactions between Saeran and Rika (as well as V, of course). I am so glad this route focused a lot on that aspect. Before the route was released, I thought it would make the most sense to approach it from MC being involved with Mint Eye more in order to get closer to V and/or Saeran, and after playing it I still believe they made a smart choice!

The beginning of the route was everything I wanted. We had plenty of Saeran, we had our set-up. Game testers in an unknown place. I had stated this before but I honestly loved this premise so much more than “wow you’re now in some random apartment and btw you can’t leave.” They kept it otome fanciful while making it a bit more believable, I was really happy with that. And when I first saw V in his Mint Eye garb my heart dropped! I especially love the CG where Saeran is behind him with the flowers!

I’m kind of a sucker for story lines where you’re a captive and someone rescues you, so I was so so happy with the plot for this route. Not to mention being in the middle of not TWO people, but THREE. I was not expecting Rika to be so infatuated with MC as well. That threw me for a loop, and hats off to Cheritz for that because I was digging it lolol.

I adored learning about V’s mother. That was something I hadn’t expected, and I am just so happy that we got to see what we did. The CG’s were so heartwarming, and the diary entries and thoughts were just beautiful. I loved seeing V progress in his relationship with his mother, and how her love for him helped him be who he truly was. For once, it was nice to see a parent in this game really nurture their kid and help them grow.

Lastly, I would like to add that I was completely pleased with the timeline of this route, simply for Saeran. I was so curious what he was like during the formation of Mint Eye. I loved seeing this glimpse of ‘Ray’ since this takes place a mere 6 months ? after Rika’s “death” so it is still very fresh. Mint Eye is very new. The building isn’t even completed yet--

The basement....yikes. Yes, the last and most important detail to any good, well functioning cult hideout--the creepy dungeon-esque torture chambers complete with jail cells and the happy shrieks of pain excitement from loyal followers.

MC is kinda joining this clusterfuck in its heyday. We are seeing these characters before they are too far gone. They’re figuring things out, Saeran is still mostly his kind and calm self, Rika is still questioning very much her relationship with V and the RFA, as well as her inner demon. I think it was an integral part of the story and a very smart placement for this route.

Overall, there were plenty of things I enjoyed and also things that bugged me. I think Cheritz did a very good job, all things considered. But the Good Ending left me feeling...more dissatisfied than I had hoped.

As I drew nearer to the ending, I got the overall feeling of a kid watching your parents argue. A lot of the interactions as the days rolled on were quite repetitive and honestly I found myself getting bored reading them. They filled up the days with an onslaught of chats and VN’s featuring Rika talking about loving her demons--we GET IT. YOU LIKE BEING EVIL-- V being a wet blanket and a masochist, and lots and LOTS AND LOTS of talking about the Sun. To the point that most of the language and poetic descriptions of love and suns just started to mesh together, seeming fake deep and overworked and mundane.

Instead of these repetitive chats, we should have had more interactions with V, where he actually relies on MC and they learn more about each other. Most of the time MC was with V he was either SICK or hurt or...asleep. Or weirdly sitting in Saeyoung’s car outside for no apparent reason. Why? It almost seems lazy. Like they couldn’t figure out a way for V and MC to interact and bond more (or it was just too difficult to squeeze it in) so they kept find reasons to keep them apart. I felt the text messages from V were the most he really tried to communicate with MC and really learn about her. Most of the texts were philosophical back and forth or him asking her how he should deal with feelings like apprehension in art when faced with criticism etc.

I think we could have scrapped quite a few of the lovey-dovey VNs where Rika and V are proclaiming their undying dark love over and over again or like...in bed together (groan)...and replaced it with, I don’t know, maybe MC and V? Actually learning about each other????

It didn’t bother me so much during the route that V had a hard time confessing that he had feelings for MC. That part seemed very natural. What bothered me was just the complete lack of true interaction with V. If he was so obsessed with Rika, we would really need to see just why he fell for MC. I’m not satisfied with the answer that MC is naive, or that she’s so good and pure just because she didn’t form an evil cult.

I felt more romance from Rika than I did from V. And in the other routes, we ALWAYS help the characters overcome their fears and learn to be better people. We help Zen get in touch with his family again, and we love him for his heart not his looks. We help Jumin overcome his issues with women and possession. We help Jaehee finally go for her dreams. We help Yoosung learn to work through grief and become mature. And Saeyoung of course, we help him accept love, and finally search for his brother. This didn’t happen with V. Well, it did a little bit. I liked that MC wasn’t pushy, and she encouraged him that he could find true love! I liked that part a lot. But for the majority, I just felt more like a passive observer in the route. Talking to V seemed like you were talking to a brick wall at times, and no matter what you say he still wants to sacrifice himself. So it felt like, while we said kind and encouraging words, V sort of did his own thing until he figured it out himself.

Not to mention the fact that they gave him an out in the end. Why was it Yoosung who makes Rika face what she has done? Don’t get me wrong, it was still wonderful to see Yoosung taking charge and using his familial love to push her to get the help she needs! I was so happy! But... It should have been V. Everything got tidied up for him, and apart from telling her it’s over, I didn’t see much development of his character towards the ending. I wanted to see him go from refusing medical treatment in order to protect Rika, to finally realizing what she is doing is wrong, she needs help, and having her face the authorities.

And what about Saeran??? That was handled so oddly? It’s like everyone forgot he existed or didn’t care what happened to him? It was the weirdest from V. It left a sour taste in my mouth that they made it seem like Saeran died and yet V is off getting puka shell necklaces or whatever for 2 years and then comes back with the strength to love. Like, that’s all well and good but....did you forget about Saeran? And how are you going to tell Saeyoung his brother is dead now even though the only thing he asked of you was to keep Saeran safe.

I TRULY HOPE they touch on this in the after ending, because I don’t think it was like V at all to just toss Saeran aside like that. -_-;;

I loved the route for what it was. I’m playing it again, and I’ll continue to play for the different endings. I am so grateful to Cheritz for this content and for being gracious enough to give us a route for V! Some days had me on the edge of my seat, some parts had me laughing or made my heart ache completely. I probably sound really nitpicky with some of the above text lol but in all honesty I loved the route and had a ton of fun playing it. The music was brilliant! The CGs were beautiful, I really love whoever the artist(s) was that worked on these for the route. Playing this game again was a bit surreal, and I found myself filled with memories of when I first downloaded and played the game (obsessively). I think the route was worth the wait.

-ON SAERAN-

I think it goes without saying but I will say it anyway--I LOVED SEEING MORE SAERAN!!! Going into this route, I had the lowest of hopes for Saeran interaction. It’s better to have low expectations and then be thrilled instead of high expectations and disappointed, right? We got to learn so much about his character, just from the few interactions we had with him. His confirmation of loving ice cream, he enjoys being outdoors, he loves flowers and has even gone so far as to know the language of flowers (which is impressive), he has an intense need for validation and love, and finally, due to his extreme circumstances--he has compartmentalized his feelings and personalities in order to protect himself.

Learning his softer side was a shock as well as a pleasant surprise. I felt my heart warming up as I chat with him.

On top of that, I would also like to point out that since this takes place over a year (?) prior to the regular routes...it was heartbreaking and eye opening to see how often he was taking medicine/drugs.

Saeran turned into unknown when he drank the elixir (as the majority of what he took “with each meal” was just painkillers). It was so sad to see just how loaded up with drugs he was. And it gives you a scary comparison between ‘Ray’ in this route and the Unknown we know from the original game. I can’t imagine just how many things he is taking during the original. Wow. I just kept clinging to the memory that we save him in Saeyoung’s route lol.

-ON RIKA-

I loved learning about Rika’s backstory. We did learn a bit from the normal routes and secret endings, but I think it helped to get a glimpse into her own perspective of her life. I think it was also really important, this feeling that she hadn’t even disclosed this information (her school life/some of her childhood and feelings about her darkness) to even V himself. She really opened up to MC, apparently more than anyone else, EVER. This was strange to me at first...but I think it is a positive. I felt that she was just so desperate for someone to be close to her again, and she latched on to MC.

Her character is so interesting and I know she’s a topic of such controversy in the fandom, but I liked hearing her thoughts on why she did what she did. It’s something I wanted since I finished the secret endings. I hope in this unreleased after ending we might see her making progress in treatment.

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So those are my thoughts. I could probably keep going but I think I’ve said enough to convey the key points! Kudos if you read all of that haha!

-Jalapeño

#mystic messenger #v route #jihyun kim #v route review #mystic messenger headcanons #mine

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pcrownnewsletterexample · 7 years

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Hey! Below is my Patreon newsletter for October - I’m sharing this one publicly as an example of what I’ve been writing up and posting every month since July. I cover all the game dev & 3D modelling work I’ve done that month and post progress gifs and lil explanations of my progress and such! There’s usually a bunch in em that I don’t post anywhere else too. October’s newsletter is also a good introduction to my current game project, Housepet! If you’d like to support me and read newsletters like this every month, please consider becoming a Patreon here :O At the time of posting this I’m pretty close to my first goal...! Thanks for reading!!

BOO!!! It’s here again, the spookiest time of the year... [THUNDER SFX] When Ghouls and and Devils roam the streets... [WOLF HOWL SFX] That’s right, it’s [AUSTIN POWERS VOICE] Halloween Baby!! Although by the time you’re reading this it’ll be… [GHOST MOAN SFX] NOVEEEMMMBER 2017! Truly, the march of time is the ultimate fright. Speaking of, let me start talking about the work I did this month past.

A reminder of what my current game project is: it’s called Housepet! It’s a game where you decorate the inside of a pet house to attract characters that can become tenants who pay you rent which can be used to buy more furniture. The furniture you place alter your Housepet’s stats and your tenant’s comfort contributes to your Housepet’s mood. You also fight enemy houses in simple RPG style battles, and every tenant you have can be equipped as their own unique attacks to be used in fights. Obviously.

The first thing I did this month was start designing some enemy houses for World 1! Last time I talked about the battle system it was time based, but I’ve since remade it to be turn based and more similar to a pokemon battle system, which I think is generally easier to explain and get into. Here’re some sketches:

Enemy houses have an evil form when you fight them and a good form when you beat them. You cured them by fighting them I guess?? I’m not worrying too much about making stuff make sense at this point, I’m just doing what I think feels funny or game-y. A more cohesive “plot” can be figured out later if I want there to be one.

For the first overworld area I want these guys to be the enemies, going in order of No. 1, Birdnest, Neighbours, Sweetooth, B&B and then the boss, St. Catherine. The theme of the overworld here is like, typical grass intro level and small village/town, so the enemy houses are kinda standard houses/buildings, but it’d definitely be fun to start losing that in later levels.

Battles in Housepet would be pretty special events as opposed to a game where you’re expected to grind by fighting enemies. You have to fight them one at a time to progress through a board, and the stat increases between them will usually mean you’ll need to decorate your house some more or get more tenants before you can win the next fight. Battling here isn’t a focus of the game, but more of a way of marking progression. Beaten houses will drop Catalog Scraps which can be used to unlock new types of furniture as well as rewarding players with a chunk of cash, and there’ll be a simple EXP system that rewards you with new rooms in your Housepet on level up. There’ll also be bonus spaces on the board with rewards and minigames and such. That’s the plan!

Like I mentioned previously, the battle system has been reworked to be more similar to something like Pokemon, but I’ve simplified it. The only stats the Housepet has are HP, POW, DEF and SPD. HP is just health, or House Points (lol...). POW is your attack power, DEF is your defence against being attacked and SPD determines if you should go first in a battle. You might notice there’s no special attack or special defence, since in Housepet attacks won’t have elements tied to them.

In this early gif (the UI is very temporary) you can see you can exit to the overworld from inside the house, pick the enemy to fight, compare stats, choose and make attacks, damage/crit the enemy and have the enemy take turns too. I’ve also implemented winning and losing, progressing to the next enemy after a win, attacks that can damage others/damage self/heal others/heal self and such, as well as a STUN and SLP status. STUN is essentially being paralyzed, meaning there’s a chance you won’t be able to make a move that turn, and SLP means you’ll sleep for a few turns before waking up. I have other statues I want to implement planned too.

I also played about with making a system for controlling the camera during fights, which I think’ll add a cool dramatic element to certain attack animations!

Below is a text example of just how exciting fights can be with the SLP status…!

Obviously here I was just testing - enemies actually have a hidden “urgency” variable that helps determine the chances of what attack they’ll use (above though it was ignored and they were forced to use Birdsong every turn). If their urgency is high, if they have low HP for example, they’ll be more likely to use more advantageous attacks, such as something damaging or something that would heal them. With a low urgency though, say if they had high HP, they might be more lax and more likely to take a turn to try do a non damaging move that might cause a status on the player. Urgency can also be lowered if the player has a status, and if they have one that can be caused by one of the enemies attacks, the chance for them trying to use that attack while you already have the status dips very low. Each enemy has their own unique rules for urgency and their attacks, which means they all act differently! I think that’s cool.

Woah who’s this!! I want Housepet to have lots of different characters you can unlock as tenants, since the character collection to me is a pretty important and fun aspect of the game. This guy’s the Edgy Rival type, look at his cool spikes and brooding, golden eyes...

I’ve come up with a good few tenants so far and plan to make many more. Here’s a look into the Creative Process of coming up with character types:

Right now I have it in my head that you convert Guests (visiting characters attracted to your house) into Tenants (permanent characters in your inventory you can place in your house and use as attacks in battles) by finding them visiting one of your rooms and interacting with them in a short VN/dating game style dialog back-and-forth where they ask questions about the home and, depending on how appealing to them you make it sound with your answers, you’ll “weaken” them. The more weakened they are, the more likely you’ll be able to “catch” them Pokemon GO style by throwing a crumpled up paper lease ball at them. But I also want there to be other ways that are perhaps more secret or multi-staged. For example, there’ll be characters that knock on your front door from time to time, and one of them could start a path like this:

...Listen, it’s fine. This is what people want from games I think.

I spent a good half of the month just on designing a more permanent UI that connects everything together, since that was a big goal of mine for this month. Man, UI is hard…! It’s something that takes a lot of energy for me to do personally at least. I’ve come up with a solid enough solution for now, for inside the house at least, that’ll work something like this:

I’ve started implementing this and so far you can pick items by main category and subcategory, place move rotate and remove furniture and tenants, have tenants activate and move around when not in move or remove mode. I’ve also started to re-implement buying and selling furniture from the catalog.

The last thing worked on this month was starting to add a way to change the floors and walls of a room. I’m thinking I want low res tiling photograph textures for the floors to give it that Petz/early 2000s game feel that has such a charm to it and works well in highlighting the solid colour furniture and characters.

Oh! And! I modeled a victoria sponge cake I ate in Edinburgh castle as an item I want people to be able to place on surfaces. I want a whole sub category of food “furniture” because, it’ll be a good excuse to model a lot of pretty food.

Unrelated to Housepet, here’re the sticker designs I’ll be sending out to this month’s sticker tier backers! I haven’t done pixel stuff for a long time now and I miss it, so it was fun to do these pixel flowers… Very relaxing. I’ll also add in stickers of these pixel roses I did a while ago now (the ones featured on my business cards!) since I think they’ll go nice together…!

[THUNDER SFX, AGAIN] Hah ha ha… Did you enjoy it? My spooky tale of times since past? Thanks for supporting me this month everyone!! I think I made some good progress - it’s definitely fun to compare stuff from the first newsletter I introduced Housepet to how it is here. But for now… [DOOR SQUEAK SFX AS I CREEP OUT] Farewell… And sweet dreams… [NO FURTHER SFX AS I STAND OUTSIDE THE DOOR I LEFT AND WAIT FOR YOU TO LEAVE SO I CAN COME BACK IN AND WORK SOME MORE]

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kurozu501 · 7 years

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im gonna give this HF nitpick it’s own post. Spoilers for presage flower under the cut!

I feel like Saberhype really weakened the climax of this movie.

Having the movie end on Shirou and Saber vs Zouken and Hassan at the temple makes perfect sense. In the VN this is a dramatic and shocking night that makes a great ending point for a first film. But it feels like the overhype of Saber that has built up in the franchise weakened the impact because the film both doesn’t want to actually show Saber lose, and doesn’t have any intention of commiting to the idea that Saber could be gone even for the span of one film. I guess ufotable was afraid that people might not come back for the next 2 movies if they thought Saber was really gone.

In the VN, Saber loses. period. We see the shadow form right under her feet, and we see her get pulled right down into the darkness after stopping Assassin’s NP. We see her whisper she’s sorry to Shirou as she vanishes into the shadows just like Caster and Lancer did. Everything we’ve seen up to this point indicates its permanent. It’s a gutting loss, made all the worse by how Shirou later walks to the spot where she vanished and grieves for her.

In the movie theres a big explosion, Saber is gone, and Hassan says a line thats like “as expected of the saber class, she has chosen to face her own darkness.” Then we get this entirely unnecessary scene of Saber in water (which i guess is supposed to be the inside of the shadow which, wow i never thought it would ever look that peaceful) being confronted by Saber Alter. Oh and Shirou sort of walks to her losing point but first he sees the shadow, and then instead of a line mentioning Saber he just gets a line about how he’s no longer a master.

So instead of watching Saber lose onscreen, we get an explosion and “she chose to face her darkness.” Instead of being left with the impression that Saber might really be gone for good, we’re left with “no no don’t worry guys we promise there will be more Saber if you come back for movie 2.”

I especially dislike the Saber Alter scene not only because it ruins the impact of Saber Alter’s later introduction, but because it weirdly implies that Saber and Saber Alter are not the same person. It implies Saber has just been replaced with Evil Saber instead of this being the actual Arturia herself corrupted. Also because they had to stick her in the fha dress. If you are gonna have this happen why not have Saber Alter in full armor so she looks really evil and menacing?

So yeah i get why the Saber Alter scene happened, but they could have at least given us the money shot of Saber getting dragged into the darkness instead of another wind explosion.

#Fate Stay Night #fate series #Heaven's Feel #Saber #Saber Alter #Arturia Pendragon #type moon #heaven's feel trilogy #criticism #not to mention hassan literally just told her he was immune to wind attacks so why would she try another wind explosion

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marketingadvisorvietnam · 6 years

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A lovely day to remember in Tai Chung - Travel - Vietnam News | Politics, Business, Economy, Society, Life, Sports

Marketing Advisor đã viết bài trên https://www.ticvietnam.vn/a-lovely-day-to-remember-in-tai-chung-travel-vietnam-news-politics-business-economy-society-life-sports/

A lovely day to remember in Tai Chung - Travel - Vietnam News | Politics, Business, Economy, Society, Life, Sports

Viet Nam News

by Thu Giang

HÀ NỘI — I begin a one-day tour in Tai Chung, in central Taiwan, on a beautiful day in autumn. The weather is so cool that it makes me feel happy to mix with the green atmosphere and daily life of the local residents.

It’s 8am when my friends and I leave our hotel in the centre of Tai Chung City to ride in a passenger car, which takes us to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village – about 60 kilometres to the south of the city.

Our car drives on the highway, which winds through mountains and hills. The mountain range is not too high, so it easily allows for views of a picturesque mountain with white clouds drifting and bobbing around the top, while the bright morning sunlight travels down through clouds, along with sparkling paddy fields and highlighting the roof of several houses built separately on the mountains’ slopes.

On the way to the village, Chiu Yi-Chuan, a local tour guide, tells us that since first opening in July 1986, Formosan Village had become popular for its introducing Taiwanese aboriginal culture and for its lush forest and beautiful European Garden.

Chiu, who speaks Vietnamese fluently, says the village has added an amusement park and other attractions since 1992. The large numbers of attractions ensured the position of the village as a highly competitive and leading edge theme park in Taiwan.

The green village gathers together 14 ethnic minority groups. Each group has its own characteristics that are displayed in their traditional houses, clothing, lifestyles, musical instruments, hunting tools and jewelry in the museum.

Full plate: An appetiser at a restaurant in Tai Chung.

I am very lucky to have visited the village during a performance by local dancers. In the theatre, located in the middle of a small lake, Paiwan ethnic minority dancers are in traditional clothing and dance around a stack of firewood burning during their thanksgiving festival.

It is the dance that displays the power of humans who are willing to deal with difficulties to obtain a peaceful life.

The 22 year-old tour guide, intern Esther Chen, who speaks English fluently, says this is the traditional festival of the Paiwan people. The festival is organised to ask their ancestors to return home and enjoy the party. They give thanks to the ancestors and wish for a good crop, love among people and a peaceful life.

Many dancing and singing performances take place in the theatre. The most interesting one may be the interaction between artists and audiences when the performers throw souvenir gifts towards them.

After going around the village on a small path with many trees planted alongside, we enter a restaurant for lunch in a corner of the village, which offers a really impressive meal. I don’t know the names of traditional dishes, but I do believe that they have been made with the heart and skillful hands of the chef. The dishes are made of seafood, pork, chicken, beef and salted eggs, and all are presented with a beautiful and colourful décor, highlighted with local special vegetables, spices and flowers. It’s nice that I don’t want to destroy its shape, but I am hungry and eager to enjoy the taste.

Sun Moon Lake

After a break with my friends at lunch, we get in the car to continue to Sun Moon Lake, which is the largest fresh water lake in Taiwan and located at the heart of Tai Chung.

Watching from an overview of the lake while in a cable car at the top of the mountain, about 1,000m high from the water surface, I see it is a natural and majestic landscape of lake and mountains, with Lalu Island in the middle of the lake.

With an explanation from tour guide Chiu Yi-Chuan, I can imagine the shapes of the sun in the north and the crescent moon in the south, which is why its name is Sun Moon Lake.

We enter the boat station to begin our trip around the lake.

The station is busy, with several street music bands performing folk songs. I don’t understand the songs’ contents, but their lively voices and sounds from instruments make me want to dance.

It’s an amazing feeling, sitting on the boat to enjoy snacks and chat with friends, surrounded by a fresh and cool breath of air.

In term of the multiple ethnic groups and cultures, the indigenous groups include Ita Thao, Taypina Wa and Bunun Tannan.

“The lake is the heart of this area. Local residents always gather here to enjoy fresh air, cycling around the lake, walking and exercising in the morning and evening. It’s an indispensable part of the local life,” said Chiu.

Tradition has it that Thao ancestors came across Sun Moon Lake when hunting a white deer. The Thao is one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Taiwan and the earliest inhabitants in the Sun Moon Lake area.

Alexandre Brilleaud, a French visitor who is working in the finance sector in Taiwan, says this is the first time his family from France has visited him in Taiwan.

He noted that Sun Moon Lake is his first choice for sightseeing.

“I am really impressed with the colour of the lake’s water. It’s unique for its colour of between blue and green. The light shining from the sun makes a great picture,” said Brilleaud.

Chung Tai Chan Monastery

The Chung Tai Chan Monastery is a majestic spiritual landmark in Tai Chung.

It’s an imposing pagoda that makes me feel so small in the world of Buddhas, while the tour guide, who is also a nun from the pagoda, shows us the architecture of the monastery, which expresses a harmony of the arts, culture and science.

Chung Tai resembles a cultivator surrounded by mountains, sitting in meditation, majestic and serene. The entire structure reflects the Dharma, embodying the unification of sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation.

Going up the pilgrimage stairway to the centre of the monastery from the Buddha halls, I perceive the wonder and profundity of the Buddha Dharma. Towering high above us, the four heavenly kings guard the four directions. Their dignified presence is a reminder to all people: Do no evil and perform only good.

The statue of Shakyamuni Buddha sits at the centre of the Great Majestic Hall on the second floor. Small Buddhas on the nimbus indicate the various manifestations of the Buddha in his vow to guide sentient beings and to continue returning to this world of samsara.

The Great Majestic Hall on the fifth floor illustrates the Avatamsaka Lotus Realm, where many Buddhas preside. The Rocana Buddha is wearing the thousand-Buddha robe and sits on the thousand-lotus platform.

The ceiling is an admirable artwork, hand-painted by Taiwanese artists, depicting the splendor and perfection of the realm.

Entering the hall of ten thousand Buddhas is like placing oneself in the realm of the Buddhas.

“The small bronze Buddhas were made by Vietnamese artists,” says the nun, adding that the halos of the surrounding Buddhas are illuminated using energy saving optic fibers.

It’s really interesting to see an overview of the pagoda through massive glass curtains. It is visible high in the air, showing sentient beings the entrance to Buddha’s world. — VNS

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