#I once again hate that this is a mobage

[moment-live]

I can't beat the Buno D'rhad fight so nothing happened and everyone lived happily ever after as one big happy family

[net-game-sekai]

i think the biggest issue in the "diva is dead but don't blame sekai for xyz reasons" argument is like yes of course, but literally everything about "blaming" sekai aside. i don't want to play sekai as a rhythm game. it's being put forward by the fanbase as like, some sort of replacement but the story and new characters don't come close to saving it for me and the rhythm game mechanic is not interesting! if you're into tile tap rhythm games then that's great but it's not a diva equivalent!! at all!! project diva is a proper rhythm game, you use literally all the buttons on your controller, it's hard and takes practice and you have to actually learn it. people (myself included) have put hours into learning and playing diva, you can't just be like well sekai is the new vocaloid rhythm game, suck it up and have at it, when that hasn't been the case from the start. if i WANTED to play a tile tap rhythm game i would download literally any other gacha mobage that's idol themed lol. there's no actual diva replacement and THAT'S why people are upset

[dreamerwitches]

I feel like such a fool for not reading the Mobage story with the new girls in before... like, I love them so much but I never actually read the story XD

So I’m going to share the good bits for y’all!

-

Elise, Komachi, Hiyori and Claire are a team of magical girls who want to defend Mitakihara instead of the Quintet so they fight a lot. Elise is the strongest out of them and seems to have a connection to Sayaka (who is going through her anime arc in the story, albeit everyone is alive and magical girls already).

At the scene where Sayaka usually turns into Oktavia, Elise and co appear and Elise reveals that she became a magical girl to save her little sister. Her sister was in fact a magical girl too who became a witch. Apparently Elise’s wish allowed her to trade places with a witch to save her but it seems like she didn’t do this fast enough and her sister - as a witch - died. Elise made a wish for another just like Sayaka so when she turns into a witch, Elise trades places with Sayaka to save her, becoming a witch herself. It seems that Claire is most torn up about her decision.

Claire reveals that Elise’s little sister was a magical girl in Mitakihara which was why she wanted to defend it herself. She also states that Sayaka is similar in both appearance and feel(?) as her sister.

For some reason, everyone in the quintet still hates the group even though Elise literally saved Sayaka’s life. They say they won’t ever meet again (though Komachi is stubborn that they will). But... the writing seems kinda ooc and awful in Mobage so whatever..

Another point is that Homura doesn’t recognise any of the girls and at the end states that this world is unknown to her (also because Sayaka doesn’t die). It’s a really interesting idea, it’s a bit like the Magia Record world, it’s a total anomaly.

-

It’s kinda sad that the girls all have like, 0 personality in this... I was hoping more but what can you expect from a cheapo phone game from the early 2000s. Claire is like a worse Homura who just spews exposition, Claire and Hiyori are just there and Komachi is Kyoko 2.0. They straight up just copy some dialogue at some points with Elise repeating Kyoko’s ‘break Kyosuke’s legs’ rant word for word.

BUT, I was really happy to find out more about my favourite underrated girls, even if it was the tiniest of breadcrumbs.

So what can we get out of this? Mobage is an abnormal timeline Elise’s little sister was a magical girl and looked and felt very similar to Sayaka Elise had magic to switch places with a witch which obviously could only be used once

Elise’s witch is never shown since she takes on Oktavia from Sayaka but since her wish/ability seems so unnatural, she still fits in with my speculation that she’s the base magical girl for Walpurgisnacht. Like, the witch that is suffering the most, and Elise’s ability literally makes her take on the suffering of somebody else. Homura probably never met her before because there’s no way for her to have met Walpurgisnacht’s magical girl usually because Walpurgisnacht has already formed before Homura even becomes a magical girl. There is a hole in this theory still though since Homura has lots of data on Walpurgis in her home that seems kinda ancient, you know? They look like artefacts. So maybe Walpurgisnacht is way way older than any modern magical girls/witches. But perhaps one could counter this by saying there have been multiple Walpurgis over the course of history.

[icharchivist]

I think it speaks to how much you love the original game that you'd be having so many critical thoughts about the "Remake" (no, I will not stop putting it in quotes, thank you)

It's a good thing

You can be critical of media, even if you like it, hell, especially if you like it. You should be

But yeah, maybe all of the different things will pay off in a big way later

I can see why they'd feel the need to forego subtetly, because they assume a lot of players are familiar with the OG, so just retreading the same steps would bore them (because they don't understand what Remake means)

And also Sephiroth popular, better cram him in there

aahh thank you <3 i really appreciate it.

I'm trying to be fair with the "Remake" as i can -- i genuinely don't want to dislike it and it saddens me so much that there's elements i don't get into, but i genuinely want to be fair on what it does right. But that also means i can't really ignore my problems with it either.

I do love the original game a whole lot, and i'm glad it kinda shows -- i just hope i can just approach the remake without letting my bitterness or my nostalgia fully get in the way either.

For now i do like playing the remake, but i really do hate the parts where it goes on the "not remake" parts. But it doesn't stop me from enjoying the scenes themselves at last.

And for all the issues i have with Sephiroth here (and that i find it tragic that new people who only try the remake may not know how much of a slow burn Sephiroth's introduction was), at least he's in character from his AC's persona, so it's still fun to watch. It's just not how Sephiroth behaves in this part of the OG. And it's difficult of like, both enjoying his antics because hell yeah that's the bitch i know, but also, he shouldn't be like that now, yaknow?

They did mention that once they wanted to cut the game in three parts and "really wanted to do justice to the fans of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth" (that's something they said in an interview pre-release), and that was a major red flag honestly. I feel like they were so scared with the fact part 1 of the remake wouldn't have had two of the most popular characters of the franchise that they had to find way to shoe them in. While a huge part of the reasons they became fav to start with is the way they haunt the narrative. How sad.

so instead the game does act like you probably knows the basics anyway so we will spoil the big twists here and there so we can focus on new ones. And it's just sad.

and they said only after the remake came out that if people wanted to play the OG they should just replay the OG and it's frustrating. And then they made a gacha mobage supposed to remake all the big moments of the franchise to "give the OG in better graphisms back to the fans <3" as if it's not the worst thing they could have done lmao

But oh well. What's done is done an at this point i'm just repeating the same frustrations as ever.

But i do enjoy the game, i do enjoy playing it. It's just so sad that the biggest problem the game has is really that it feels ashamed to just be a remake so it has to be a metacommentary on the saga instead. Sad as hell to me.

BUT i'll find ways to enjoy it regardless. I love those characters too much not to try at least.

anyway thank you again for the nice message <33

[hysokaz]

ok. fine genthrus kinda funny hes like First Hi im the serial killer you guys have been worrying about, youre all gonna die, also heres your friend’s severed head!

ok bye now<3 *kills u and steals ur cards*

[hanbereviews]

Heartslaybul Main Story Review

We will be taking a short break from the otome review to tap into the joseimuke side of this blog and start by reviewing a new popular mobage named Twisted Wonderland. I shall be using looser criteria than my otome review, as this can be a bit rambly due to it being my sole opinion. Thus we will simply be reviewing each character in regards to the plot. I will also be reviewing with the idea that one has already read the story, or at least tangentially knows of the struggles presented here. 

Heartslaybul suffers from incredibly poor characterization for some, whilst reaching the narrative end of an arc for others. In particular, the big winner of this story is of course Riddle, the main antagonist. The biggest loser? Cater Diamond. 

But before we address either of those characters, let's take a look at the first years! So the twst writers made a decision to primarily include the first years Ace and Deuce as main characters not only in this story, but in each main story beyond. However with their native dorms being Heartslaybul, you are treated to respective backstories. 

Ace Trappola

Ace’s brother used to be a heartslaybul student several years ago, and Ace has a bit of an inferiority complex because of it. Naturally, the main inner conflict with him is the idea of living up to his brother whilst also still remaining himself. It is more than a bit barebones, the only other thing we learn about him being that he had a girlfriend in middle school. However throughout the story he serves as the main combatant to Riddle’s antagonism. A popular suggestion is that he takes the place of Alice’s role when she disputed the Queen’s ridiculous rules. Ace does the same here, being the main source of question when it comes to Riddle’s nonsensical rulebook and the abuse of power he wroughts upon Heartslaybul students. 

Deuce Spade

Deuce in contrast, does not get as much of a shining character moment as his dorm mate ace does. However he makes up for it with a rich backstory that while ultimately simple, gives a pretty fair view of his personality. Being a former delinquent, he cleaned up his act and tried hard to get into Nightraven College for his mother’s sake, and even now he attempts to be a good student. Sometimes this doesn’t end up working out, but it certainly makes for an endearing character trait. He displays that trait a lot throughout the narrative, to some’s annoyance, and other’s glee. 

He’s naturally competitive with Ace, being his rival and bickering with him constantly. However the narrative does not position them as hating each other, and instead makes their exchanges more into playful banter. Deuce and Ace are showcased in Heartslaybul and onward to have an extremely strong bond with each other. 

Now, with that out of the way let’s take a look at the third years, and the Heartslaybul dorm head. 

Riddle Rosehearts

Riddle is once again, the main antagonist of the narrative. As it progresses we learn that his abuse of power and commitment to the rules results from serious parental trauma, raised by a helicopter parent of a mother who refused to let him engage in any childish things. Riddle reacted to this by maturing at a younger age than most of his classmates, but it also severely hurt his ability to simply act like a teenager. 

You see these two opposing ideas come into play here, and I will make the bold suggestion that Ace represents the childish side of him that he so terribly fears coming into contact with once again. Ace frequently shows very little care for the rules, only attempting to follow them when he is forced to. And as the story progresses, you see Riddle go into overblot not only due to Ace turning the dorm against him, but because he resents that Ace and his friends can so brazenly defy authority while Riddle was subject to it all of his life. Even as his overblot is calmed down and the narrative ends, Riddle still shows that he is more than a little uncomfortable indulging in the normalcy of his teenage years. However, the fact that he is even able to shows major character growth and sets him up for future exploration.

Trey Clover 

Next we move to Trey Clover, vice dorm head. Trey is Riddle’s childhood friend, and as such their backstories are intimately connected. Inparticular, Trey feels partly responsible for Riddle’s state due to Riddle frequently sneaking out of his house to play with him and their friend Che’nya. Riddle’s mother caught onto these playdates, and thus Riddle was treated much more harshly as a result. Trey has “corrected” this behavior by essentially letting riddle become a tyrant to his dorm. This aspect of his is heavily criticized within the narrative by others, and presents Trey’s major character flaw. 

Trey does not care about other people. The story is bluntly phrased, Riddle is objectively the bad guy in this situation. Yet as Vice Dorm Head, Trey supposedly cannot do anything to stop his reign of terror. This is blatantly not true, considering the fact a few first years are able to help completely restructure the dorm into a much more tolerable place to be. So with this point in mind, the only way to reconcile Trey’s behavior with what happens in the narrative is that he prioritizes Riddle’s feelings over everyone else’s. 

Trey positions himself as “helping” when Ace’s magic is sealed by Riddle’s unique magic by making more tarts. However this is all he really does, when Riddle expresses annoyance at bringing the “wrong” tarts to the party, Trey throws up his hands and says there’s nothing else he can do. This is due to the fact that to get out of the situation, Trey must challenge Riddle and go against his ideals. This is something he just blatantly does not want to do, Trey has evidently had an easier time adjusting to Riddle’s ideas more than others and thus these issues do not get in the way of his guilt in regards to Riddle’s trauma. Even as the narrative ends, Trey doesn’t exactly learn anything from this whole fiasco. Why is that? Because it worked out without him having to be the one to lead the charge in opposing Riddle!

Cater Diamond

For our last character and one of my personal favorites we take a look at Cater Diamond. Cater actually seems to be a victim of the fact that Heartslaybul is the first dorm to be introduced in the narrative. One can’t help but feel like one character had to be picked to be shafted and he was the natural choice. We learn little about Cater besides small hints here and there. Uniquely despite being a third year, he doesn’t seem to have a particularly strong connection to Riddle. In contrast to Trey’s fake powerlessness, Cater is actually powerless to do anything about Heartslaybul’s situation. Whilst he tries to help as much as he can, the situation quickly slips out of his hands. Cater is thus forced to rely on other people to truly fix the deplorable state Heartslaybul is in. 

Though beyond that, we actually don’t know much about him. We know that he loves social media, that you could perhaps characterize him as a gyaruo type or something similar. But his relationship to his dorm mates and even other characters isn’t exactly anywhere in the vein of complex. And that is not necessarily his fault, because it isn’t like Cater can’t be an interesting character. But once again, with Heartslaybul being the first dorm introduced it’s not like he can interact with others outside of it. And Trey is so wrapped up in Riddle that Cater can’t exactly worm his way into that dynamic until the end of the story. 

Final Thoughts

Overall while being very strong plotwise, Heartslaybul needs to be backed up by character events to really solidify their characters and give themselves a place in the world of Twisted Wonderland outside of the dorm. This makes it a bit of a weak story in terms of characterization, but due to the wonderful nature of mobile games that characterization has tons of potential to be fleshed out in other avenues besides the main story itself!

[mobagehelllocal]

July 7, 2020

Hi everyone, it’s Ai! 

Sorry for disappearing so long, but I’m also super grateful that I managed to have some time off to myself! :) It has really help me internalize a lot of things and in short... I’m ready to start writing again. 

It’s a little embarrassing, and I hate spoiling my future projects but I am planning on releasing an all new prompt that I’ll be opening requests too once I finish with everything in my ask box! I was originally going to post it with a “I’m back!” message but... I’m still not done because I keep getting busy and the pieces are getting longer than originally planned. 

Either way, I hope you all enjoy it, because it’s been a blast world building it~! Hopefully it will be up by July 8 night, or on the 9th--depending on if I finish all my chores early. 

I’m super excited to share it! 

On the other hand, I hope everyone’s having fun with Ghost Marriage too. Personally, I must wait for translations before really enjoying myself but... I’m just glad I finally got to spawn again! How’s the gacha treating you all? I got Epel, who was my target in the first place~ Now, I can keep saving again hahaha.

See you all very soon!

Love from mobage hell,

Ai

[holdharmonysacred]

Finally getting Phantom in Arknights means I want to actually play the game again and once again I am out of sanity and once again it’s time for me to complain that I can’t play the game because my hoard of sanity potions expired because AP refill items in this game expire for god knows why and I hate it so much. It’s genuinely very infuriating that the game makes its AP potions expire, why the fuck is that something they decided to do. Literally all that does is punish players for doing something that is otherwise a completely normal thing to do in mobages and I hate it so much.

[primarch]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER.

can be used for RP  &&  non-RP blogs to get to know a bit about the person behind the screen

1. FIRST NAME  : sanchan mun works for now.

2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF  : i.. can’t think of anything that’s considered strange. maybe that i don’t have pronouns i’ve come to find and using my name is a no go because i don’t like sharing that either ( unless i have with you already, )  so if you must refer to me, ‘ sanchan mun ’ works fine. 

3. TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON  :  tattoos tattoos tattoos. glasses normally, piercings sometimes as well ? but mostly tattoos. thank you.

4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF  : noodles babey !!!!!!!

5. A FOOD YOU HATE  : oh boy. i do not care for shrimp. or sweet & sour chicken.

6. GUILTY PLEASURE  :  i don’t have any that i feel guilty for, only pleasure, thanks for coming !

7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN  :  comfey shorts and a tshirt, sometimes pajama pants if im too tired to switch into shorts before bed.

8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS  : serious relationships both ICly and OOCly, ICly depends on the muse.

9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE  ,  WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE  : this question i’m really struggling with because i can think of something(s) i would want to change, but those events all lead up to where i am now and i can only think of the things i would lose that i have now from losing those.. other things i lost, so ! no, i guess.

10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON  :  i am very affectionate, but i also have brainrot and don’t fuckin feel alive.

11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN  :  treasure planet. 🥺

12. FAVORITE BOOK  :  me ? read anything that’s not a light novel or graphic novel ? i would like to see it.

13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE  : i would like to keep my late dog, actually.

14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS   (  IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG  ,  YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL  )  : outside of crossover ships i really like lucisan.. flavio/mc. mipha/link. len/miku. galolio. honorable mention sandanchou. crossover ships wise i love sangiyuu / rinku / will o’ wisp / cielen / and i don’t have a brain so i can’t think of a fifth off the top of my head but watch me immediately think of one after i post this.

15. PIE OR CAKE  : i’m picky as hell with both but i like more cakes than pies.

16. FAVORITE SCENT  :  coconut/caramel ? this body wash i have from bath & body works called champagne toast as well.

17. CELEBRITY CRUSH  :  park bo-young.

18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO  : wherever my partner is and would like to go.

19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT  :  extrovert with people who don’t make me tired. but even then i am not very good at replying to messages quickly.

20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY  : yea. real bonkers because horror is my favorite genre which is surprisingly one of the only things that doesn’t scare me.

21. IPHONE OR ANDROID  : only ever had an iphone but honestly fuck 🍏.

22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES  : i play mobages like nobody’s business.. ( gbf, dragalia, fgo, enstars, sinoalice... ) console games i do sometimes but not frequently, but you bet i’m gonna get so wrapped up in animal crossing that i will ascend this realm completely.

23. DREAM JOB  : my dream job is not to have a job lmao what kind of question... 

24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS  :  save & donate, buy a cute home for me and my gf, primarily. 

25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE  : i don’t really have anyone ? i do have some where i’m like “ yo fuck that guy, ” but hate ? who has the time. the emotional reserves. certainly not me.

26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER  : i’ve never been a part of fandoms because i distance myself from fandom circles or i’ll pop a blood vessel, also my interests don’t disappear they just go dormant until someone activates them like a sleeper agent by talking to me about them. or even just mentioning them within my line of sight.

tagged by  :  the red robe...

tagging  : @mizukata​ @einsamkalte​ @flrepuer​ @overeternity​ @psyncintheabis​ @sucredanse​ @mysterthree​ and 

you.

[harusha]

What are your top pokemon games??

Official or fangame? I’ll just list both. I will say Pokemon Reborn is my top-rated overall if we combine both lists (with HGSS and Collesseum/XD following as 2 and 3 respectively.)

On Official, it’s 

1. Heartgold/Soulsilver (My favorite region is Johto, and Ethan is my favorite Pokemon protagonist so…unsurprising. The games are still genuinely good though imo because of the massive amount of content and post-game and QoL stuff like following Pokemon, auto-run, etc.) I also love the nostalgic feeling of the region. Lance is also here, and I like him and his design a lot, not as much as Volkner though. Also Proton is here, and I love the dude so. Pedometer is included here.

2. Pokemon Colosseum/Pokemon XD; I include this together since they’re a duo set in terms of story. XD is the better one gameplay-wise because of the new additions of Shadow moves, more Pokemon choices, QoL changes like saving, etc. but Colosseum is the harder of the two games imo b/c of the sparsity of Pokemon–if you can play it on laptop, mod XD with Pokemon XG for massive QoL changes (Fairy Type, more shadow Pokemon, upped difficulty, etc.)

I like how this set tries new stuff and it honestly showcases how if you the Pokemon IP to a third-party, you end up with something that tries to be different and actually plays pretty well.

3. Pokemon BWBW2; included as a set because of joint story line. Honestly, I feel like BWBW2 are objectively the last great mainline series additions. Even if you didn’t care for the story, they at least tried with it and the rivals. You had the nice rival in Bianca and the “focused/ruder” rival in Cheren, and both encompassed the themes of the game (Truth with Bianca as she realizes her ineptness as a trainer and Ideals with Cheren who strives to overcome his boundaries and the player even if he never can). N is pretty awesome, and I think Ghetsis is a better Lusamine (sorry, idc for how Lusamine’s actions are brushed over and blamed on the space jellyfish). There’s a lot to enjoy in Unova imo.

Also massive post-game stuff like Join Avenue (which encourages one of the main tenets of Pokemon, interacting with others and trading; ex. “Magnemite Coil”), half the region opening up for Post-game (White Treehollow, Kyurem’s abode, etc.). The Legendaries also have home locations for the most part, and their items aren’t just given to you by random people. A lot of stuff to do that isn’t just breeding mindlessly for shinies (I mean I love doing that, but options ya know?) or online battle.

4. Pokemon Conquest; Fire Emblem (or more accurately, Nobunaga’s ambition) meets Pokemon. I like turn-based grid tactic games, and this one’s actually pretty fun. You’re encouraged to roam around and give people different Pokemon to see which ones they’re compatible with. Also another example of what can be done if Pokemon is given to a another developer.

5. Pokemon Explores of Sky (and to a lesser extent since it’s the base, Time/Darkness); you can swap this with Colloseum/XD, BWBW2 or Pokemon Conquest depending on if you prefer Pokemon’s style of play, tactics games, or dungeon crawlers. I like this one since the story’s actually pretty good, the difficulty’s nice, and especially the post-game dungeons and content.

6. Pokemon Platinum and Diamond+Pearl to a lesser extent– the region that actually has a reasonably difficult Elite Four and champion. I love the additions they have like distortion world, the melancholic feel you get at times in the Chateau area and snowfields, and the post-game Battle Frontier. However, the games run so slow without Drayano’s mods. In terms of husbandos, Volkner’s pretty nice as well, and he’s pretty high-tier for me. Cynthia’s here as well, so I guess she counts since she’s a feature every time she shows up.

7. Pokemon FRLG-The definite version of Kanto for me. Sevii Islands, callbacks (callforwards?) to the Johto games with the Rocket Admins, decent difficulty and ability to sequence break somewhat, etc. It gives new experiences for those who’ve played the OG versions, but doesn’t change them drastically. The “you can’t evolve anything outside of the OG 151 before post-game” is stupid though. Lance is here as well, but his half Dragonite/Dragonair team annoys me b/c of how repetitive it is, but product of the time as well and the HGSS first battle had that as well but at least they’re all evolved.

8. Pokemon Red/Blue Rescue Team-I like this one since the story’s still good and incorporates the idea of a human being transported to a Pokemon world, but I just feel like Sky’s gameplay improvements and portraits for everyone trumps this one. I like Gengar a lot and his team. I also think the difficulty on this one (depending on starter and partner) is fairly good at times (The Moltres fight is actually pretty difficult if you don’t have Pikachu or a water type partner).

9. Pokemon Emerald and to a lesser extent Ruby/Sapphire–Battle Frontier, Scott and Smeargle cave (ie. post-game content), beautiful promotional artwork (including ORAS’s), fairly difficult battles at time if you aren’t prepared/going in blind with no excessive grinding (2nd May battle, Flannery, etc.), hidden secrets like Regis and Secret Bases. However, the latter half is so boring with the excessive surfing and lackluster variety. Steven’s here, and he’s a dreamboat even with the sprite graphics.

10. Pokemon Channel and Hey you, Pikachu!-Weird I know. This would be higher if I didn’t think this was a niche pick. It’s just really relaxing, and I want another one, especially if you can get more Pokemon to raise. It’s a lot more fun once you play it. I like exploring with Pikachu and it offers a look into the world of Pokemon as a non-trainer. I really want another one tbh.

11. Pokemon Rangers series (Ranked from favorite to lowest; Shadows of Almia–>OG–>Guardian Signs; all are good but that’s my preference) The gameplay is actually pretty fun, and I wish we got another one. They could use Joycons as a styler. Spencer, Sven, and Lunick are also pretty cute

12. Pokken Tournament- What battles should feel like in mainline if they injected millions of dollars into the mainline, so unrealistic expectation. I think Pokken is a decent fighting game. The moves are nice, and the music is good. This can go lower if you don’t care for fighting games.

13. Pokemon Battle Revolution and Stadium games-They’re mostly battle simulators with some mini-games. The animations are actually pretty lively and fun compared to SWSH’s. I would like to rank this higher, but there is no story mode sadly. It’s great if you want to see what Pokemon would look like in-scale.

14. Pokemon X/Y-I think these are actually pretty nice if only for the fact there isn’t excessive handholding; it’s there but it doesn’t force me to put down the game out of boredom. The outfits are genuinely pretty cute. However, the rivals are ridiculously terrible, difficulty is either too low or unbalanced if you use/turn off exp. share. Let’s put ORAS here as well b/c I think the lack of Battle Frontier and mediocre post-game, getting Lati@s early, etc. drops it down from Emerald. The PSS system is amazing though.

15. Pokemon Trozei and Pokemon Pinball series-Yeah, I’ve played these. Trozei’s actually pretty cool as a match-3 game, and pinball is pinball. You also get slightly more lore into the Pokemon world with Lucy Fleetfoot. I like match-3 and pinball so very much a YMMV. Pop Gates to Infinity and Super Mystery Dungeon here as well. Idk, they just lack the magic of the first two entries.

16. Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Dash, all the other spin-offs I didn’t talk about-they all offer something fun, but I just wish it was either updated for modern times and not released again (like with Snap) or a bit more (in the case of Detective Pikachu and Pokepark series). Pop Puzzle League games here as well. I like them, but they aren’t much besides Tetris games. Same goes for the Pokemon Trading Card games; they’re nice, but not super great imo.

???. Pokemon Box/Ranch/all the other storage games and stuff like Dream Radar-Idk what you’d want me to say since they’re storage space or gimmick games to catch HA Pokemon. You do get Extremespeed Zigzagoon which I love since the little buggers are very adorable.

Bottom Tier. Pokemon SM and USUM. I hate these games. They’re cash grabs (more so than usual) with being $40 a piece and the updated versions being barely changed (and actually feeling like what should have been released first). Incredibly handholding, areas feel half-baked, lacks areas to explore for the most part, Lillie is kinda annoying for me tbh (which hurts because you’re supposed to feel for her and the game’s story hinges on that), and the player is an actual detriment to what they’re trying to achieve story-wise. A big shame b/c Alola is a pretty region and Team Skull is great in concept, but execution is awful. Stated as someone who has bought all 4 versions to keep, and 2 extras for gifting.

Absolute Bottom Tier- Pokemon Masters, incredibly terrible mobage game coming from someone who plays FGO, FEH, etc. lack of meaningful content, grinding but meaningless b/c of said lack of content (ex. FGO gates you with mats but it makes you feel like you’re growing with your servants and offers a story and events to compensate; basically, a sense of achievement). CO-OP is pretty bad when you can just hop over to GBF or something if you want guilds and group content. I’m still gonna wait for Ethan and Volkner to appear though.

Unrated-OG RBGY and OG GSC (the remakes are superior outside of nostalgia factor imo so I think it’d be unfair for them to take a spot), LGPE (didn’t buy them b/c pricing but the colors are vibrant and I love that), SWSH (didn’t buy them because I have opinions on the cuts and stuff and price point doesn’t look appealing for what’s offered), Pokemon Mini (these were included with Pokemon Channel), Magikarp Jump+Duel (Duel was a cash grab and Magikarp Jump is cute but no real opinion on it), Pokemon Go (weird spot where I like it, but I don’t live in an area with safe walking areas so very much area-dependent), Arcade games (I don’t live in Japan for that), Perdue Farm games (they’re flash games made to promote so…), Pokemon Rumble (enjoyable but not memorable for me imo) etc.

Fangames-

1. Pokemon Reborn-150+ hours of content, visible themes that permeate the story and characters, beautiful spritework for some of the areas, intuitive usage of TMs/HMs and some logic (ex. Field Effects that emulate anime battling in turn-based rpg such as Corrosive Field; using Rock Smash to break the glass in some areas to solve puzzles, etc.), actual difficulty that hinges on how much you understand Pokemon (ex. IVs, stats, EVs, etc.) that’s fair but still difficult, puzzles and rewards for exploring and coming back to areas, etc. Fantastic game that I wish Gamefreak had attempted to emulate (perhaps not the darker themes but the ambition basically). Has some kinks with the revolving door of characters and such but still fantastic. Also offers custom shiny sprites, custom egg sprites, and online play like Wonder Trade and battling.

2. Pokemon Rocket Edition-Not done but I think this is a fantastic hack so far story-wise and how it implements its mechanics. You’re a Rocket Grunt, but you aren’t OP. It deals with the politics behind Kanto and Team Rocket. Still being worked on.

3. Pokemon Viridian Version-Another “play as a Rocket” game. Funny yet still can be serious; it takes the tone of the anime and understands when to be serious and when to not be. It feels like it would fit into the canon tone-wise, and deconstructs the “it’s cool to be a Rocket!” thing.

4. Pokemon Gaia-Excellent and a huge callback to classic Pokemon in story. It’s an OG region and offers a lot to do.

5. Drayano hacks- QoL updates but his work actually adds a lot to the games+new events.

Anyways, that’s my list. There’s a lot of Pokemon content, but this is how I feel for the most part.

[toku-explained]

Jyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: Brave Forever It's pretty hard to deny we're living in some pretty incredible times as Toku fans. Ultraman is in its longest continuous broadcast period ever, even if it is only having new shows during the latter half of the year, it's working great. We're still getting Space Sheriff Next Generation material coming out this year. Sure it's V-Cinema rather than shows but the format is working. Both Rider and Sentai are including more material than ever before, with post series V-Cinemas for both being the norm, and each having their winter crossovers (this year's Sentai crossover notwithstanding) to give us something great at the end. We've consistently been surprised by returning actors for the spring films (regardless of your views of their quality) and their spin-offs with Red One, GoseiRed, GokaiRed, Rider 1, X-Rider, ZX, Decade, Faiz, half of W, Black, Zeronos, Blade, Garren, Chalice, Leangle, KyoryuGold, Zolda, Aoninger, Beet Buster, Baron, Marika, Another Agito all having their actors at least return in voice for the spring crossovers while they lasted. In projects that weren't part of the inter franchise crossovers we saw the unexpected but welcome returns of 5 Zyurangers, 2 Abarangers, all 5 Hurricangers, one of them twice, NinjaRed, Jiraiya, Accel, all of the Dekarangers twice, Ouja, and, the one I wouldn't have believed would happen if you'd told me it was coming a month beforehand, all 6 Gokaigers. But there's one return that just happened which I think I can honestly say none of us saw coming. And in a way, it was the most likely to happen. Since in a way, it never really left. Jyuden Sentai Kyoryuger was the last Sentai I managed to keep up with as it aired. That isn't anything against Toqger, Ninninger, Zyuohger, and definitely not Kyuranger, but somehow that's what happened. By comparison, I kept up with Ultraman and Rider week by week no matter what, save for the latter half of Ghost/the early half of Orb, where real life caused me to kind of run away from pretty much all my regular online activity at the time for a couple of months. It's remained probably more popular than any of the series that followed except Kyuranger, although I can't guarantee that as I kind of try to avoid seeing too much fan opinions since it turns to vitriol at the drop of a hat. Sure people had problems with Kyoryuger, although even those who hated the show's Daigo focus seemed to hate Takaharu for it more despite the fact he was by a huge extent the lesser offender. Probably more upsetting to most people was the out of nowhere romance between Daigo and Amy in the last three episodes, which had no build up beyond a minor plot point in a single episode 30 episodes earlier, especially bizarre given Sanjou has written far better handled romances in W and Drive, and Daigo had an established love interest he plainly actually liked (people will also tell you Amy had more chemistry with literally every other member of the team). But enough about that. Over the course of a year we fell in love with these 14 men, women, ghosts and bird people, and their 11 dinosaur partners. The movie managed to actually be important to the overall story in some way. Heck, it was the last time the movie mecha actually appeared in the show (and not just for a one time appearance either) with subsequent movie mech being limited to a scene in the crossover or appearing in the V-Cinema. But eventually the series came to an end, Deboss was destroyed, leaving us a plot thread for the Vs film to come and a chance for some of the characters we'd come to love to show up again, and we turned to waiting for the V-Cinema and the Vs movie. The V-Cinema had a pretty interesting concept, placing the action 100 years in the future with the team's descendants struggling against a new Deboss Army. There was part of the story I would have preferred not to happen but it was good and just genuinely a lot of fun. It also turned out we were also getting another Toei Hero Next project, the 4th and currently final one, as a vehicle for the main cast, happening to feature several other Sentai actors in other roles. We're the Bounty Hunter Troupe managed to be a fun if very Kyoryuger referential story set in the same world with the cast being a group who used scripts devised by one of them to help them Bounty Hunt, enabling the actors to portray characters who were very much different to their first familiar roles. Most of us watched it the once if that and then forgot it to look to other things. It must have done pretty well though since it got two stage sequels. The first came out 18 months after the original, and featured only half the original Kyoryuger cast, the rest of the team was filled up by Blue Buster, GokaiGreen and Toq5, playing different characters with their own quirks different to the roles they were replacing. A talk show after each performance had different guests on different nights, including GokaiRed, Toq2, and the three Kyoryuger who weren't in the play, depending on the night. 14 months later another stage happened, with the same cast as the previous just with GokaiGreen replaced by KiNinger. Both also featured other Sentai actors in other roles in the plays. I feel like even if the original Toei Hero Next film didn't fly under our radars, the two stage shows definitely did. What didn't however was the amazing news last year of Kyoryuger Brave. It may not have been the best developed story, considering it amounted to around 2 hours and that's including 12 uses of both the OP and the ED, but the designs were nice, especially the modified Zyudenryu, and the changes made to create the Neo Deboss were also cool. In fact sadly, I imagine most feel the biggest issue with the series was the actors, though K can't be sure of that. Still it was a fun rise. And now in what's possibly more unexpected than even Brave, episode 33.5, with all 6 main actors returning to play a simple non-plot intrusive story, to promote a mobage of all things. It's nothing special but it is fun and if you have a spare half hour go watch it. It has a new Debo Monster and all (unless it's really well modified) which is incredible. I will not be surprised if this is the last we see of several of these actors in their Kyoryuger roles, though it's heartening to see them all willing to return after so long. Kyoryuger has certainly enjoyed a life well beyond its expected length, and that's pretty Brave.

[love-laika]

As a companion to what I posted last night, here are all of the games I played this year! I’m not ready to pick a favorite yet, but you can probably draw your own conclusions from this list.

First, the games I did manage to finish

Inside is really short but totally wild. A solid if occasionally frustrating platformer that is more about dystopian horror, but like in a quiet way. It uses every second with purpose and is much better for it. I never played much of Limbo, but I think I enjoy the atmosphere of inside much more. It's really scary!!! 

i "finished" playing Starlight Stage (as much as one can) this year too. The rhythm game is pretty fun but I'm just so tired of mobage/gacha stuff. It takes up so much time and just makes me stressed. I'm tired. But if you like idol games, and haven't tried it yet I highly recommend! It's a great time to jump in 

Hiveswap! You're all probably pretty tired of my Homestuck talk, but it's a great adventure game. I hope future chapters will continue to be fun and creative and silly (and eventually probably break my heart)

Wolfenstein 2: a game that juggles lots of ideas and delivers on most of them. It deserves kudos just for being willing to tackle prickly subjects (like America’s horrific past). The shooting is fun but way too hard. Play it on easy. And no spoilers but the ending sucks, in multiple ways kinda. The set pieces around the midsection just had my jaw on the floor though

It's strange to have a brutal FPS where the story is better than the shooting in some places?

Last for beaten games is Heat Signature (again as much as you can beat a randomly generated roguelike). I am SO into its approach to stealth, where basically you are urged to think on your feet and adapt to changing situation. the simple fact that you can stop time for as long as you want and just think is really great. its less about execution and more about doing the right sequence of events for the situation

Some of my fav game moments came totally unscripted from me taking on a really tough mission and just getting out by the skin of my teeth

Now for the probably really long part, stuff I didn't finish. I'm bad at finishing things (anything) so it's not that I hated these games, but I do generally have more mixed feelings

An older game I played a lot was Burnout 3 and like that game is *chef kiss*. I used to be WAY into racing games, so this really scratched that old itch. It is, dare I say it, the best racing game I've ever played. It strikes that really perfect balance of control and chaos for each race. The AI is super aggressive so have to play offense and defense equally to get ahead. The triumph of getting gold in a difficult race is just exhilarating

I had a specific moment where it was just me and one other guy duking it out for first. He was way ahead after I got in a bad crash so for the final lap I was boosting all the way, cutting every corner, and drifting around every bend to catch up. Then finally just seconds from the checkered line, I nudged him into an oncoming car and finished. I was fucking hooting and hollering in my room at 2 in the morning

The only reason I haven't finished is that there's no real rush to. There's no story to get to, just a larger collection of cars and tracks. It’s always ready for me when I decide to come back

(brief aside) I opened up Burnout Paradise after this and while the open world is really cool to explore (one of the best for driving) it doesn't give me the same adrenaline rush. It’s too easy and the AI is not nearly as vengeful

Night in the Woods I started in like February and have barely touched and I feel SUPER bad about that. It's a good game, but I think I might be kind of afraid to play it... at first I related a LOT, maybe too much, to Mae. As the game goes on and begins to seriously judge her it started to make me seriously uneasy. I'm afraid to confront my problems and it felt like the game was calling me, specifically, out for that. Which I mean the writing must be pretty good then. I’ll get back to it... eventually

Of the games I'm bad at finishing, visual novels are probably at the top of that list just because of how long they are and the relatively low amount of direct participation. but VA-11 Hall-A is really good!!!! It's just a really solid cyberpunk bartending simulator. And Jill is like my favorite protag this year. did you know I had never seen blade runner before this year?

The reason I dropped off a bit is that I had computer problems and lost some saves. I’d need to go through like 2 hours of stuff I already read. but. Words are failing a little bit. The writing is just good y’all

The further I get from Persona 5 the less I'm in love with it. Once you get past the fantastic music and slick graphics... the writing is just kind of bad. Characters feel kind of hollow and it sends really REALLY mixed messages and society and conformity. It could be the script or just the translation but everything just comes out sounding bad. After 100 hours, forgivable flaws just get grating. I'm in the last dungeon and I don't think I'm going to finish it

Just like put a hold on Nier: Automata for me. I've started but I haven't really gotten to the parts where it supposedly kicks into gear. 2B is hot though

Breath of the Wild has got to be like, the pinnacle of open world design right? A lot has been said about Zelda so I’ll skip the main stuff. My favorite thing is how physical your interactions with the world are. The game encourages you to play with its systems and see how they interact. Drop food into a fire to cook it a shocked enemy will drop their gear, water and metal will conduct electricity, tame your horse by riding it and correcting when it veers off the path etc.

I played just a little bit of LISA too. I like its really dark sense of humor, but the game also feels like it is sometimes actively discouraging you to play. It's interesting!!

Lastly is Metal Gear Solid V. I've thought a lot about this game because it succeeds and fails in a lot of weird ways. For now, just know this. The stealth is so good it got me to buy all of the previous games just so I can understand the series better (though I have played MGS 1 before my thoughts are basically the same as this)

The final game I played this year is Super Mario Odyssey literally this morning so I got nothing to say on that one

jesus christ there were so many games in 2017 and yet I'm still going back to ones made years ago

[moontailor]

7,32,34,44 for the knb ask meme! ☺️

Seiraaaaaaa ; v ; *hugs you* Thank you, honey! ♥

7. What are your otps/brotps/notps?:

OH BOY. Generally I’m pretty open to a lot of ships, mostly like if I like two characters, any characters, I could be interested in their couple dynamic (say for instance Imayoshi x Mibuchi) and there are some not so obvious ones I do love dearly (Imayoshi x Kasamatsu hnnngg)But like OFFICIAL STATUS most fave otps would be MayuAka, AkaKuro, KiKasa, AoKaga, NijiAka and MayuKuro I guess?Then IDK WHAT COUNTS AS A BROTP I could take any of my otps as a brotp as well, but like I guess MidoTaka. I like them but I don’t actively think about them.Then the notps are akafuri and aokuro :—) and then kinda pairings of characters I’m not really interested about at all

32. If you could change the protagonist, who will it be?:THERE HAS BEEN TALK ABOUT KNB BUT MAYUZUMI AS THE MAIN CHARA so I mean– That could be interesting. Then also Akashi could be a thing, but then again idk would he then trade places with Kuroko or what but…

34. Opinion about Kuroko:I like Kuroko ´ 7 ` Kuroko is adorable. He’s an ass and he actually tried to lie that one time that he had been there the whole time though he just arrived. Then he just keep jabbing Kagami to make him cool down and also actually punched him if I remember correctly SO HE’S GOT PUNCH IN HIM (lol punch). He’s an interesting character with a good heart and a level head on his shoulders and then he’s also just such a cutie >v

44. Opinion about Mayuzumi Chihiro:I LOVE HIM SO MUCH No but in the very beginning before I knew anything abt him he had been in a fic and I hated him. Then I honestly don’t know what happened but now I love him ; 7 ; I love his guts and his saltiness. How he actually says he’s a prideful person and loves himself too much to be just a pass specialist. How he’s kinda full of himself while still being an outcast. HOW HE’S A NERD WHO ONLY LIKES 2D GIRLS AND I SWEAR HE HAS WAIFUS AND HE PLAYS DATING SIMS AND MOBAGES WHAT A DORK I just feel him so much ´ 7 ` the most relatable chara of knb. And I mean how he just talks back to Akashi is amazing, he’s not just going to be used just like that without paying you back one way or another. He’s such a great character I love him; v ;

Thank you once again Seira! >v

// KNB Questions! //

[holdharmonysacred]

Been thinking about FE Heroes again and I know the other day I talked about how underutilized the characters are, but thinking about it more the setting and plots themselves are just... so underused.

Like, for all intents and purposes your castle in Askr is the FE equivalent of Valhalla. Most of the units were yoinked from some period while they were alive, but a lot of the units you can pull or recruit fucking died or were otherwise yoinked from shortly before their doom. Sigurd’s max-level confession flat out implies that he’s literally a ghost or undead or the FE version of a Heroic Spirit or Einharjar (the Norse kind), or that he at the very least was pulled from his home time right as the rocks were coming down and could make an educated guess as to what happened to him and his troops. Units like Eldigan don’t even know they died, or that once their contract’s up they’ll be going back to their bad fates. Not to mention the reactions of loved ones who outlived them like Deirdre or Lachesis, or characters like Hector and Sigurd having to potentially face and work with the people who killed them in the first place.

Like, given how the entire plot is about Askr and Embla summoning these living and dead heroes to fight each other, there could be some genuine conflict and moral ambiguity involved! There could be units on Embla’s side that conflicted over the contract or don’t want it to be broken, because for them going home means dying. There could be units that choose to go rogue and not take a side, instead going out to do whatever the hell they want because they’re alive again and can act on their regrets and wishes in life. You could have genuinely complicated interactions between characters and side storylines involving  these suddenly revived conflicts and yet for some reason we just don’t.

Like I know everyone hates comparisons to other mobages but like, this is another thing F/GO aces in comparison - so much of its cast’s characterization revolves around coming to turns with how bad their lives turned out and their leftover regrets and wishes from life, such as Brynhildr’s fear that her growing close to others could make her turn obsessive-murderous again, or Medea Lily’s motive in knowing that her and Jason’s relationship won’t turn out well, or the entire Camelot chapter being driven by the Knights of the Round's regrets as to how Arthur’s story turned out, or the entire main story happening in the first place because a certain heroic spirit made a wish so that they could just be a happy normal human being for once.

And like, that game fucking nails it! It’s got what is probably the single best, most solid mobage storyline I’ve seen, and it gives the game and its characters a level of genuine depth I have yet to see in FE Heroes. And it’s just such a shame that Heroes doesn’t explore its own setting at all given just how story-focused every other FE game is, it’s a goddamn waste. I really do hope Nintendo someday goes back to do the game justice, the story has so much potential but it’s just never acted upon and it sucks.