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throwingideasatthewall · 3 years

Text

Star Wars Episode 4;

Destroy malevolence

Didn’t we just do that?

I’m assuming this is going to be focusing on the aftermath of the destruction of the malevolence

And the preceding unraveling of general grievous’s net work

[And several acquaintances probably trying to break him out,]

Anyway...

On with It!

Quote;

“A Plan is only as good as those who see it out,”

Odd I’ve Stopped giving much stock into the quotes

Consider ing the last one had a relatively good one

And Is on the lower end of my expectations

My criticism of this Is a Short Plans can be good But People flawed

The narrator sounds a bit more enthusiastic

Weirdly drawn out pause

But it does get the point across

Allows enough time

“ Grievous in retreat,” Honestly Is this where we’re going to start

Like no disrespect- (I have the patience) But are we honestly going to spend the whole entire time watching Obi-Wan fuck up catching Grievous?

That would work with the theme of Jedi Masters

They make it seem a lot less stupid

[Recap

Also I really like the movement on the ship

Much more real istic

Continuing to Hold on it not so much

This is like someone continuously kicking someone when they’re already down

Or like a fire

After a while it just gets sort of boring

Or worrying

And you realize they could just take them into custody

Or that the fire is starting to envelope nearby forest With everyone having a bucket of water

Obi wan, why

Do you torment so?

He can’t even die

If so; He’d be dead

I love how Plo Koon and him are just watching the shit show like “Bitch”

You know they could both take him

But are just that dedicated to being sandry old man

“Commander, how much damage to the enemy ship?”

Have they suffered enough?

Also, geez dude’s been demoted it to commander

I mean I know he’s just Comms Guy But geez. (He probably deserved it)

Oh no, Random dude On The ground

Why?

“ She’s lost primary shields and stabilizers,”

So shooting at it is doing minimal damage

“ It can take all the fire our cannons can manage,”

Okay, time to get you two down there

“ we must summon reinforcements,”

Plo is slowly becoming that we “need reinforcements” guy

Like he can’t do anything by himself

(Except for last episode)

“ That’s why I’m here Master Plo,”

That’s not the right tone

And..... I was kind of hoping we’d get a Master Plo and Obi-Wan episode

This time around

Never mind the fact that Anakin can’t take on grievous

“ what are you able to contact Master (Liam Niara) (That’s how voice text spells it) (I have no idea)

“ Yes, master,”

That’s better

“She’s busy with a bunch of separatist reinforcement’s nearby,”

Bit too much eye movement but otherwise good

“ she won’t be able to give us support till she’s turn ing them away,”

Meanwhile you’ve already pretty much kill ed him

Guess just play poker?

Then we’ll have to do with what we have

Oh now with the teenager around you’re so brave

How’s that going to help?

Burning

On fire

Really, no mercy

Poor droid jerking around

Ex ploding

Perfect balance of kar mic pay back

“We’ve lost our primary weapon,”

Shit just continues to get worse and worse

General grievous is just there with his hands in his head

Not looking too great

“ The hyper drive is dis -abled,”

It’s been disabled since last episode but good repeating

Good to re-iterate

“Argh,”

“ General general,”

The forward engines are shutting down

“ im poss ible,”

Dude, look around

That’s pretty - heavy denial

You should just sur -render

More Sho -oting

This is going to be a sl -ow ep i sode

Ahsoka Managing systems

A not bad role for her

Certain-

“ Admiral Status- Re port,”

Shit’s fucked once again

They’re hyperdrive must be damaged

What you didn’t figure out the first time will Obi won must’ve checked

Compulsively For the 170th time in the last hour

“This our chance”

It wasn’t a few seconds ago?

“all ships target the bridge maximum fire power,”

Dude, what do you think that’ll do

Grievous is made out of pure titanium

It’s like.. a slightly long fall for him..

Generals.. really don’t wanna deal with Grievous’s shit today

Episode is 22:40 Long Left

All they’re doing is shooting at him

Grievous Called Dooku

“Dad I crashed the car,”

Sustained advanced damage

“ I know,”

Just dead panned

“ I have arranged a trap,”

Oohh! Interesting

But Also completely bullshit

Guess this is his punishment

Being used as bait

“To give you an advantage over the Jedi,”

“ I assure you,”

Please no

You’re not compound your failure this day,”

Ah, there’s the chewing out I was looking for

Perfect

Continue

“ war ship to fall,”

Oh so it wasn’t going to be a - get them sent to prison- thing

So how are you planning to unfuck the situation

Cause this looks pretty bad

They will never catch me or this ship

Bless him he’s trying

The expression just says ‘I have no idea how’

Like He knows what’s expected of him but has no idea

How?!

Heading towards you is a very important galactic senat or,”

In the middle of a war zone

Seriously not a good time for a photo op

“ With her as a hostage,”

“call off the attack,”

Ok no one is calling off an attack this important for a senator

Nor should be letting her get captured ....

*Bowing down*

*Assumed authority*

Blue

It looks remarkably better this episode 👍 Also of course it’s Padme Amidala Couldn’t be any of the 4000 other senators we know nothing about

Really getting into the love triangle stuff right away, aren’t we?

Like why couldn’t we slow burn it

(I know she was in the movie) But

I wouldn’t mind “Are you sure the infor mation from the chan cellor Palpatine is reliable?”

Fore shadowing!

Good job authors you get a cookie

“ it was secretly given to him by the leader of the Bank-he Clan, himself!”

Okay Amidala’s tone kinda works

Could use a little more monotone but it works

I gave Anakin like three tries so I’m not gonna be too harsh

There is still time for the minimal improve ment it needs

“ if they leave the separatist alliance it will go along way to shortening this war,”

Er- Okay it makes sense for her character

She’s sup posed to be around the same age as Anakin

“Beep, Beep,”

“ We’re approaching the system now,”

“Oh shit,”

Crud

“ my goodness,”

Best Droid

“This isn’t right,”

Then Move!

That’s a droid warship

“We’re in the middle of a battle!”

Hey, that’s a smart character

Hyper drive out of there

“ we’re scanning a small ship off our bow,”

Get out of there “ Good,”

Yeah, how are you going to get her?

Seeing as how like a million warships are belting your bow?

I know those must be like raindrops to him

But come on

Don’t go into the burn -ing wreckage

And towards enemy fire

Then again she was probably heading towards the Jedi ship

So (as a civilian) that makes sense

“Master I’m picking up a signal near the enemy vessel,”

Tone

Enemy reinforcements

That’s- A Good Call

Respectively

“ it looks like-”

“A Naboo ship”

“Gunners stand day,”

Hey everyone’s competent today!

(Not that there’s anything wrong with enablers being stupid)

This just requires more brain power

“ what in Blazers are they doing out here?”

A valid response

But weren’t they the ones that pledged transport ships?

Like oh yeah stupid going out into a war zone

But not completely out of the question

“ Ahsoka contact that ship,”

Bit too much energy

But still resp ect able

Literally coming from fiery hell

Identify yourself

“Padme what are you doing out here,”

Cringe

That line sounds like boomer. What boomers think high school jocks sound like

And we’re like no

“ I was sent on a special mission,”

Good job Writers

The ‘Bang he Klan Wanted to negotiate a treaty

Good reason

“Get out of there,”

Too Force ful

Better Idea; Have Obi-Wan try to calmly explain the situation to her

Possibly distracting her for general grievous to kidnap

“ Activate the tractor beam,”

Damn we’re going back to old old sci Fi- with tractor beams and shit

I was expecting like a hook and chain, a harpoon

Was not expecting that

That made me laugh

WTF

Tell them some nonsense is going on!

“i’m afraid it’s much worse than that,” Gunners Do Something?!

it’s a beam; it can be broken

“ Padme what’s happening?”

A go- decent response

“ i’m being pulled inside the droid cruiser by a tractor beam,”

Good Commun ication

Whelp, Done

So at 22: 40 Rest of the episode is hostage situ ation?

Inter es ting

Much Better Than Just Shooting at it for an hour

“I will not be made a separatist bargaining chip,”

Initiative

Though Less Emo -tion

Should be recited like something she had to read off a paper

Guessing I’m not Padme I’m Padme’s handmaiden thing only works once

Continue your attack

You must continue-

I hope she get some actual action

Nothing too intense because she’s still a kid

But like a surprise attack on General grievous

Destroy this monstrous ship

That’s kind of like-

How-

I saw the next frame

Wtf-

WTF

HIS FACE JUST-

CON-torts

You are not Romeo and Juliet movie

You are two kids reinacting Romeo and Juliet clumsy

Get it right

“Admiral, order our ships to stop firing,”

No one’s gonna stop this

No one‘s gonna comment...

Okay....

Obi-Wan And Plo Koon are just gone

Left when Anakin started acting unchild like

Never mind still there

Nothing suspicious *Rubs beard*

Whelp

It does not look safe out there my lady

Screw with the tractor beam and leave

No one can stop you

Droid Related

“I see now this whole thing was a trap,”

The Bang’he Clan Works With The-

I can’t even make that joke because the bang’he clan are working with the separatists

Good writers you out joked me

“ we walked right into it,”

Pressing buttons isn’t going to help lady

Sir the republic cruisers have halted their attack

Bit too much emotion for a droid but it works

“Jedi are so predictable,”

Hit him with a gun

Get the repair team up here

“ i’m going down to the main hanger,”

The arm motion was a little weird... for ‘I’m going down to the main hanger’

Street Railways?

Are we getting *tour the inside of the ship??

Nice

This ship must be returned to Count Dooku intact

Nice little interaction

Rail ways

There’s no room for failure

Hard Moral

One on fast speed ing train

Moves over to another pad

Don’t think that’s gonna help

“Come on I’ve over loaded the power system,”

THAT’S actually really clever

Good job whoever gave that order

General grievous goes boom

Fighter door opens

Find a Fighter

And fly out

* Anakin walks away*

You know this would be a good idea if Obi-Wan had ordered him to do so when feeling the emotion of ‘love’, miscommunicating the concept of love, and didn’t realize that’s what he was doing - what clues him in

“ where do you think you’re going,”

“ someone’s got to save her,”

Still too much emotion

“I thought you might say that,”

Did you give him that, did you give him an order relevant to that?

There he goes again

Yeah Someone should really check up on that

Or get Obi-Wan to lay off the suicidal orders

“Craving adventures and excitement,”

No, orders

“ You get used to it”

Could be just a response

But too much reaction And Person ality

Oh, Shit’s On Fire

“Come on 3PO hurry,”

Flaming wreck lady

“not sure this is such a good idea,”

Neither is being held captive

You’re made of like solid gold

Timing

[also the announce in the background like a train station - just cracks me up]

Time to get blown up

“ Mind the gap”

“Mind the gap”

Haha

You two come with me

Command

That droid’s-

No, wait- It’s Amidala

And C3PO

He’s trying to help

Looks Inside

Beeping

Timer

Look like the engine- Are Set To -

Timing

“Destroy themselves,”

He really needed them to say that

Get out of my way

“Ow,” You don’t want to die

That’s just rude

So is death

You should get out of there

He’s going to come back around

Geez

Fire squad is a train wreck

They’re Trying

Crud if this gets back to Skywalker and he thinks she’s dead

After That Speech

Who knows what toxic morals of love Obi-Wan taught him could activate

This could become a train wreck

Ahhh!

It got worse

Seriously who made the droids that have to with stand high water pressure Light weights

Oof

Even high water pressure cannot kill him

Even running away cannot save him

Wonder what that attack would’ve done

Sound the alarm

“We have stowaways,”

Or...

She was never on that ship

Seriously no one besides the republic saw her

I’d go with “she isn’t on board,”

Run

Back to the republic ships

Who are doing nothing while grievous rebuilds

Like, The medical station is right there

You might want to get back on moving them

Just Saying

“ i’ve trusted you already formulated a brilliant plan to rescue the Senator,”

“ as a matter of fact I have,”

Umm,

Weird How to Code that

“ what do you have a Plan B Every good plan has a back up,”

Stop forcing his dependence on you

“ I don’t have a back up yet,”

Too much emotion

Really

Questioning

Not really helping his self-esteem

Really “ we’ll sneak behind them and dock at the emergency air lock,”

So I’m guessing this is going to set up Padme going there

“ That’s your plan?” Discouraging

“Fly land,”

That’s literally what all maneuvers rely on

Also it sounds like something out of a fairy book

Which might explain Anakin toxic behavior

“ Walk in the door,”

“Basically,”

Too much emotion

“Oh Brilliant,”

Dick

Firey Wreck

“ Might I suggest we keep moving?”

Bit Loud There It

“ I think I hear battle droids approaching,”

Talking is not helping

“But we also need to contact the fleet,”

Getting out is the prerogative

They don’t know where you are

And you can’t stay in a constant location

If I can just keep this com panel working

Ahhh!

Well just disappeared

“The Damage to the hyper drive was not as bad as we first thought,”

How?!

It’s been damaged for about two episodes

Also, Good for Her

“ We’ll be able to get underway again shortly,”

With this mess of a ship

Hyperdrive would send half of it flying

It’s barely holding together by a string

You’re screwed

I must inform count Dooku

Seems oddly suspic.

Continue the search

Find the stowaway

How does that change anything in Amidala’s eyes

Getting to know the boss isn’t worth it

Just be more careful

Roger, roger

Commander

Intimidating

*Spark*

Oh She Was In A Cabinet

Thought she made it in

C3PO Looks creepy in one frame

Shit’s Constantly on fire

“If they spot us we’ll be pulverized,”

With what guns??

You’ve been doing all the hitting this entire time

They’ve been sitting Geese

“They’re too busy repairing the ship,”

Thank you

[also Obi-Wan complainers rules]

“ They don’t have time to notice us,”

Cocky

Subtlety has never been one of your strong points Anakin

Neither Yours Person who orders him!

“ Everything I know I learned from you master,”

Point Yes Attitude? No

Oh if only that was true

Should Be

Might be a side jab at how he took orders from the Chancellor

There we go

Only Obi-Wan was worried

“Didn’t You Hear It,”

Your circuits are loose

Or maybe you’ve lost your hearing

From the impact

“ No one’s crazy enough to do that,”

Cut

“Anakin”

Perfect

“You’re Crazy,”

You groomed him this way

“ spinning is not flying”

“But it’s a good trick,”

Too much emotion

Do not want to be spotted

Good job

You’re standing more in the doorway than he is

“I knew it it’s them,”

That droid is just having a day

Aww But his friend came down to check with him

That’s adorable

Oh no

They’re backing off peacefully

ASSHOLES!

Obi-wan specifically

You stay here R2

Again why did you bring him

Another bold strategy by -

Say Skywalker

‘Skywalker’

Ordered

“I presume,”

No, Obi-Wan’s

When it’s not Palpatine’s

“That’s my master”

Children don’t show preference for handlers

“ once they rescue the Senator we will need to reinforcement to finish off the enemy

Sounds nonsense but OK

Dude really Likes enforcement’s “ i’m on my way,”

“Master Plo”

“ We’re receiving a transmission,”

Padme

Weird distance to start a conversation at

Running for some reason

“ Master we found the senator,”

Good

“ We’re patching Her through,”

Helpful...?

What is it with Skywalker and becoming a Barking over- animated Puppet Every time senator Amidala gets involved ?

“Anakin where are you,”

Better; where are your coordinates

“ On lower levels,”

Better but where

“I don’t know,”

Give a better location

For how long

Problem with this whole plan

Give Landmarks

Get to the rendezvous point

“Obi won and I are on board too,”

Better; get to the ship on level ____ on your ___ side Optional; Closest landmark ____

We’ll meet you there

What what are you doing?

Not the best point to argue

Ahsoka, how can we get to the senator

Better how can we both get to the escape pad?

In case we both get separated

Taking longer to coordinate that complicated-

How long till they get separated?

Center of the ship

Half way between the two of you

Neither Ahsoka gave neither

Bad instructions

“ we’re on our way

To a very unspecified point on not specified level at a not specified time

Let the hijinks commence

“ Did you hear that Padme?”

You’re on the same com

“ i’ll be there,”

Some-how

The question to my answer was 22:40

When do the Hijinks begin?

Let’s See

Marching Intimidated

“we just detected An unauthorized communication Coming from within the ship,”

Shouldn’t he be making a phone call?

“ what did it say?”

Interesting

Well we don’t know

That’s how encoding works

We didn’t catch it in time

Off

Droid winces

Monitor all internal communications

Like they’ll do it again

I want that senator on this bridge

Good luck with that

You haven’t even saw her

Rail-ways

Nice

Busy

Should be a cakewalk

Is Not a cakewalk

All the way up there

“I do not see her,”

Yeah, that’s the problem-

She’s here master

I sent it

Or you got the wrong port

(So you heard her voice so she’s clearly somewhere on this ship)

He’s probably late again

But we do have company of another sort

Oh She has a gun

And somehow none of that hits her

And of course that gets the attention

I’m honestly glad they didn’t go with miscommunication Causes fake stand up scenario

Even if this is faux Romeo and Juliet

Good job

Lots of jumping

Look Jedi

Good job nice guy

No wait That one guy had common sense

“I knew that was a bad idea,”

Mercy

That you didn’t show on the other guys

Who were far more hesitant

And you took out that one guy

Who didn’t do anything

Just wasn’t as vocal

Dicks

Jump The peashooter isn’t doing the job?

Jump

He tried

Power Thrust

Ana kin

“ There. they are!”

Bull shit

No way

he saw those guys

On all those Packages

Also ‘the i knew It was a bad Idea Guy Got New Friends

“Fire!”

Fuck

The bridge is out

“Jump to me,”

Try it with a little bit more disinterest

“ I’ll use the force”

Even she realizes it’s not that intense

“ You have to trust me,”

Good Luck

OMG

It looks like she just falls

Also Obi-wan’s in the back like it’s none of my business

Like dude came on a rescue mission And has become completely useless never helped once Complained the whole way there

Manages

“Got you,”

“ NICE CATCH,” Obi -Wan from the sidelines

10/10 Hilarious

“ I’ll fetch the droid,”

What??

This isn’t cute

Disgusting

“Oh the things you do to get me alone,”

KIDS don’t-

Ack-

Please no more smoopy-

nope

I’m putting it in the “bad” corner Till it stops trying to ship children

Bad Movie

That’s Not Cute

Obi-wan Sucks

Can’t even levitate A Droid

“Stop me please”

Poor Droid

Blast You’re Weak

“ That’s not good”

Yeah you’re weak

“Anakin I got separated from your droid,” Thank God

I’ll take care of it

Better “ We’ll meet you back at the Twilight”?

“ I overheard grievous,”

Annnnnd

“ They’re hyper-drive is nearly fixed,”

Soooo, He better get you back to the ship so we can start blasting it with Cannon balls again?

“ i’m already headed in that direction,”

Soooooo, don’t do it, Obi-wan?

Or have Anakin and take the extremely important senator And come back for you later?

“ i’ll make sure the hyperdrive stays off line,”

By shooting it with more cannon-balls?

Ha ha Ha ha ha

We’ll see about that

What?! Person who can do nothing!

Like seriously if they just go back to the ship-

That Jedi

“I’m getting you out of here,”

Good decisions

“I need you to help me find 3PO,”

How?

“ I know I know he does,”

Padme’s expression

“And i’ll be there soon,”

That’s almost adorable

Oh like that

‘Someone stop this contraption,”

Careful Words

Yeet

There We Go

Into those boxes

“ I suppose I did ask for that,”

Ha-he

That got a small giggle out of me

Stomping

Bait

Murderous Intent

Get Fucked Obi Wan

Really rolling out all the stops

Hahaha

“ Hello there,”

[Took a pause. a long break]

General Kenobi

“ kill him,”

Straight. To. The. Point.

More in line with the characterization we’ve seen up so far, not that much for conversation

Dude’s just rolling

There went the others

Bowling pins they are

Oh grievous has a gun

And hiding behind the enemy

Thought he sent both those guys flying

Apparently I was wrong

Must’ve Been a Third

Didn’t Work

Yeet

That poor Droid...

Spark*

That was impressive

Nah he ran around things

It really set up your forces for a brawl among them selves

“Argh,”

Dude, how insecure

“ Guard the hyperdrive,”

Oh yeah he did shit to it

Also sending basic level mooks to deal with it

Shooting Things

Again how did Anakin and Padme end up in the situation?

They were at the train station last

Now they’re at??

And have agroed every enemy

Who should be focusing on Obi-Wan because

That was their last order

Grievous has just completely ignored Anakin

Hiding

You aggroed Them!

Why are you calling Obi -Wan

“Come in Obi-wan,”

Get her to the shuttle

“ i’m afraid grievous is onto us,”

“We noticed,”

Hey you guys Aggroed those guys completely on your own don’t blame Grievous for this

“Ack,”

Those are Tanks

You’re peashooter isn’t going to do much

Also, Anakin shouldn’t be able to take them either

This should be a properly terrifying moment

“ We’ll meet you back on the twilight,”

Good plan

“Obi- Wan!”

Writers don’t screw this up

“Come In,”

His communicuff clearly got damaged

What’s wrong?!

They’re jamming all communication

No again it’s far more likely that his communicuff Got Damaged (Especially with Grievous listening in,”

Not everything is jammed communi cations Yeet, yeet Yeet

That should not work Those are tanks

Anakin is a lightweight

His skill set is unspecified

But he shouldn’t be able to cut more than butter with that knife

Light wieght clankers should pose a challenge

Due to the amount of energy

“That might buy us some time

Unlikely

I suppose you have a plan Yeah, Get to the escape pad

Follow Me

...To the escape pod

C3PO I do believe I’m lost

Seriously you haven’t found this guy

Enemy Territory

And all alone

You’re a service droid

Probably wouldn’t notice anything

“Ah,”

Dude, they’d probably just adopt you into the clan

“ I surrender,”

Again I really want to see the C3PO and battle droids conversation

(When not aware of the other side)

It’s a projector... R2 D2

“ you are a sight for old eyes,”

A nice interaction

“ Master Anakin sent you to find me,”

“ what kept you then?”

He does have a point

Dude got thrown off the train about an hour ago

R2′s just been messing with him

“ follow me,”

“ The general is demanding a status report,”

Oh some driod on droid interactions (without the general)

Nice

Is the hyperdrive re-paired Yet

From there?

“ i’ll give him the good news,”

This isn’t the escape pad

Did you take a wrong detour?

Also no one guarding the super important one panel repair

Just Light weight clankers

Also that’s not good news

(Especially considering it’s one panel)

Surprised this goes so well

Also; now there’s tanks

Surprised you think that peashooter can do anything ma’am

Like seriously should’ve grabbed a bigger gun

The droids have some

And you can’t tell me there hasn’t been artillery laying around this entire time

Yeet

That almost- Turned into murder This is why not going to the escape pods immediately was a bad idea

Again this should be a stressful fight

But turning your child soldier Into an all powerful can never lose child soldier

Is bullshit movie

Opened Door

“Ever since I’ve known you you’ve been playing with droids,”

Ack

“I used to put them together,”

Alright...

Now I only take them apart Child soldiering...

It sucks

So, where do we start

GETTING TO THE ESCAPE PAD!

Obi-Wan supposed to be here any minute!

With whole lot of bullshit!

Move!

First we need to get one of these droids so they don’t know we were here

No destroy the thing and go

They’ll figure it out in like five seconds

When they go to start the thing up!

Running is a good option

“I’m gonna hot wire this ship,”

How does this make anything better?

He’s already down and in kicking position

Everyone’s waiting for Amidala

You’re not helping, good sir!

(In fact I’m pretty sure you’d have to fix something To make it go,”

Secondly, This is a HUGE -ass ship

As a reason it has an electrical team

Squeezing two little wires

Isn’t going to do much

It requires continuous effort to different parts of the ship To make a dent

And I truly doubt such a large ship is going to have such a non-complicated Start-up compared to hotwiring a car

Point being; this shouldn’t work

Give Grievous a little surprise

Again if it’s anything less Then a bomb

Dude isn’t gonna have much trouble

And this is a waste of time

I’ll guess I’ll clean up the droids then

LITERally im possible

That’s a tank!

You carry light weaponry!

Back to the fleet

Plo Koon Is doing nothing

Having tea and cookies with Ahsoka

Our ships are in attack position

So... nothings changed

“Master Skywalker,”

No one else either

“No,”

Deadpanned

“ The droids are jamming our transmissions,”

(More likely reason for that on a -damaged ship)

But Ergh-

“We need to give him more time,”

Opinion!

“ i’m sure we can,”

I’ve been sitting on my ass-

[Plo’s Head Moves -Railway]

We’re back here again?

Obi-Wan should be at the station by now

Everything is behind him

Yeet

Make it to the Coms center

Break Some Shit

Oof Those Poor Droids Good Pa rell els

Splat!

Obi won looking back-and-forth

Obi-Wan you are a Jedi master this shouldn’t be hard

Run

Tum ble

I was fully planning on him stacking it

Roof

Also, Obiwan

Stop fecking Around

Get to the place

Woof

How

Did you end up falling over?

Ironically Obi-Wan shows less emotion than Anakin

* Slashing the train*

Okay... what did I do

Snarky little shit

Could be snarkier

“That oughta do it,”

Ana -kin Doing Obi-wan’s Job

Also Oh shit is he plugging in the location of that supposed fight with master-

How’s the house cleaning going-

Im-

That dude made out of -metal

He is FIVE times your bodyweight!

HOW?

Done?

You MOVED a Tank??

HOW-

That’s-

What ever

* Guys coming in*

Oh yeah that’s a door

I guess repairs are finished

Or they went on lunch break

Prepared to charge up the hyperdrive

Right on it

“Roger, Roger,” -famous last words

Sparking

Driving

Are we seriously waiting on these two

“Are you quite sure the ship is in that direction?

He’s basically a GPS

That way looks potentially dangerous

All of them do

“Haz ardous,”

Better Example beeping irritatedly

“I know the whole place is dangerous,”

Thank you R2- D2

“ I suggest we stay here and let master Anakin find us,”

Bad idea

A better idea than anyone in the ‘let’s meet up in an undisclosed location’ came up with

Good idea

3PO

Fecking Irony

“Don’t just stand there,”

See?

“Let’s get back to the ship,”

Irony

Power up the engines R2

You know Obi-Wan’s likely going to screw up your shit right

*obi-Wan comes around the corner,*

Dude you have shit to screw up

Did you forget?

There shouldn’t be an escape pod for you

What

Hold the ship

No, you didn’t do anything...

Then again he could just cannonball it

How’s that-

Okay Very light bullshit

“ i’ll contact the fleet,”

It’s the most you’ve done this entire time

Focus On The chair

Do cking Clamp

There We Go

Off We Go

It’s still Burning

Grievous Off

Why?

He doesn’t know

Obi-Wan’s off the ship

Last saw him on the train...

(Not followed up on directly)

Flighters, Where I thought they all got destroyed?!

All batteries open fire

Again Plo Koon does not give a shit who dies

(Until sitting on his ass gets too boring)

Also this isn’t his fleet

They shouldn’t listen to him

(Especially after he got his last one killed)

More Shooting at the burning wreck

Turb ulence

And Obi-Wan still didn’t do his job

Guns

You can shoot back at any time

“ I wa-”

Obi-wan being completely useless

Anakin having too much emotion

“I got it,”

Shoo ting stuff

Somehow doesn’t go down immediately

Hit

“ She seems to know her way around,”

Gross

Hit Something

The Hyper Drive

-repaired

Also Obi-Wan didn’t fuck up shit

Dis appointed

Also it certainly as frick isn’t now

After they’ve been shooting

Should we retreat to friendly space?

If You can make there it with it in one piece (Which was the qualifications)

Engage the hyperdrive

With me not on it

“Secret base sector four,”

Interesting

“Prepare-”

Enthus iastic

“Yes, Sir,”

Fighters still chasing

Intense

“Nice Shoot,”

Gross

“Beginners luck,”

Beeping

“Pardin-”

“Hyperdrive is activating,”

Obi-Wan

“ Oh-shit Caught in a lie.”

“-what”

-They’re getting hit with cannonballs Anakin what did you do ?!

(What Did I order you to do?)

Coordinates are locked

“Hyperdrives engaging,”

Shit’s about to go-

Ar-

Sp- arking

Glitzy display Base

“ I think there’s a problem,”

“General I think there’s a problem with the hyperdrive,”

Yeah The ship got refired upon it’s probably re broken

Seriously

“ I thought the hyperdrive was fixed,”

And then it got shot again...

The navigate computer is heading a straight into the moon

What ??

Fools reset the Navi computer

“Quick,”

Tech Support

Dooku

Worst time to call

(Don’t think it could’ve gone more sideways)

Also good job Anakin You crash landed them on a planet with significantly larger surface area and resources that they can use to re-build

Aka you made things harder than they needed to be

Obi-Wan, what are you ordering this kid

Narrowed eyes

-No reset it

“General,”

Harsh

But I’m interested in where this is going

Since Grievous has had a lot of shit thrown at him

Doesn’t matter which side of enablers he still enabling

But I suppose over involved positivity Would be kind of a nice change for him

Over over involved negativity

Speeds off

“Trans -mission Has been cut,”

Intentionally

* also smart droid

“ We’re Gonna die

[Explosion]

How?!

Whelp Obi-Wan has to have a sit down talk with Anakin. about the ‘ Drive the ship into the moon,’ order

Also I realized (thanks to Obi-Wan) they know nothing about what just happened Grievous either decided to just end it

or they’re all dead

Obi-Wan

Dick move

“ I imagine you had something to do with that,”

WTF- orders

“ all part of the plan,”

Obi-Wan schooled Anakin in extraterrestrial terrorism

Cheering at least the ion cannon isn’t coming back

Nice shot

...So Destroy Malevolence

I have to say I really like this episode

Despite the plot stretched thin

There was a noticeable increase in the quality of animation

The child characters were good

The other characters were a lot more consistent And a lot smarter

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thebeckychronicles · 7 years

Text

Post 22- 7 day countdown, infections, biopsies, PTSD, and CHAD IS OUT

Warning: lots of cursing because I was annoyed with half of what went down this past week so I think you’ll be able to tell which parts hehe

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an actual update that wasn’t written while I was all up in my feels.

The date of my last chemo infusion is August 9th, with me getting fluids for the last time on August 10th. I’ve been counting down the days since I hit 60. Right now it’s 7 days til the 9th. To say I’m ECSTATIC is to say the least. This past Tuesday was my 11th chemotherapy session, so the first part of my 6th cycle. 6 seems like such a small number but when I think about it but then I think how those 6 cycles translated to 6 months of treatment and I’m kind of left in awe at how far I’ve come. It’s both shocking and heartening.

It’s funny because my oncologist had said in the beginning that after the second or third treatment Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients typically feel better, or that the chemotherapy side effects tend to bottom out instead of getting worse. She, as well as other specialists, had said that the port would be super easy to have, I wouldn’t even notice it and that it’d make getting treatment a lot easier. Seems like I hit the jackpot on experiencing all the unlikely scenarios when it came to my port and to chemo. So let me give you a rundown on life in general and how treatment is going.

I can’t remember whether I mentioned it or not but last month I started an internship at a non-profit immigration legal services organization. I’ve been LOVING IT. The woman I’m interning for is WONDERFUL (Hi T) and is as excited to teach me as I am to learn. It feels really good to be getting out of the house more often and doing something that isn’t just productive but actually meaningful and helping others. Plus, they’re so flexible with my treatment schedule and take into consideration my needs especially considering my health.

I also enrolled at Cascadia for the fall quarter to finish up my AA since I didn’t get to last year. Tuition is a little stressful considering financial aid sucks and I haven’t really been working much but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I’m just excited to have some sort of routine and normalcy back in my life. Before my diagnosis I felt burned out and kind of rudderless. Now, as clichéd as it is, I’m feeling more motivated to finish school, to figure out what I want for myself and what I want my life to look like.

Two of my best friends moved to different states. One from California to Colorado, and I’m super excited to see her thrive in her new place since she’s been talking about it non-stop. She drove up from California and I met her in Oregon and we saw her favorite band the Avett Brothers in Bend, Oregon which was amazing. That small town in kind of in the middle of nowhere and on the edge of the Willamette national forest and the stars there are ridiculous. It’s funny we always half-way plan these spontaneous little trips so we didn’t really thinking about where we were gonna spend the night so we ended up sleeping in her car in the national forest at some random campground. The view of the sky was worth the slightly uncomfortable sleeping arrangement. My other best friend moved to New Mexico. I’m also super excited to see her grow where she’s at now.

So last week Tuesday was my 11th chemo session. And it was an eventful one. In the days leading up to my last infusion my port had swelled up and actually blistered. At this point my port acting up isn’t anything new so I didn’t bother to go the clinic about it since I was going to soon anyway. Whatever, I’m a bad patient. Morning of the infusion comes and I tell my nurse that my port looks funny and that it’s hurting a bit more than usual. She peels back the sticky paper stuff (can you tell chemo brain is taking its toll on my vocab?) and wipes off the numbing cream.

“Oh kittens.”

Did I mention how much Chad (my port) sucks?

As endearing as her exclamation was, it was also kind of concerning since she’d never seemed really thrown by how messed up my port looked. Apparently my port was so concerning she went to get one of the other oncologists I was meant to see today (my oncologist was out of town) and see whether they should access it or not. He came in, looked at my port and then proceeded to look just as confused and alarmed as my nurse. He then went outside to talk to another oncologist who came to see my port and they decided to go ahead and access my port (which fucking hurt despite the stupid numbing cream). My nurse accessed my port but it was decided that I needed to go down to Radia Diagnostic Imaging where they put my port in because while they successfully accessed my port they weren’t sure if it was leaking (ew) and that’s what was causing so many issues.

At this point a 15 minute appointment before treatment turned into an hour long one that was making me late for chemo. I went down to RDI where they injected dye into my port and then used an x-ray to see if it was working properly. Which it was. I will say that the whole team in RDI seemed perplexed by Chad too. One of them even said, “In my ten years of doing ports I’ve never seen this.” Thank you for that reassuring comment dude. They deemed Chad well enough to get treatment so they sent me to infusion with instructions to come back once I was done so a specialist could look at it. Infusion was infusion, nothing new except I had an awesome visitor. Hi Shauna! :D

Once infusion was done, I went back down to RDI. The specialist looked at it, again seeming very confused by Chad and said the dreaded B word. Biopsy. I swear I didn’t used to have an issue with needles until I got cancer. THANK YOU BECKY. So they brought me into a different room and had me take off my shirt and lay down under a blanket while they set up their torture tools (Again, I NEVER had issue with needles and getting blood drawn or anything until that first awful biopsy. Shit’s traumatizing.) Luckily at that point my mom got to the hospital and was able to be in the room with me while the biopsy was done. They got me all cleaned up. 1, 2, 3, a “quick pinch, quick pinch,” from the specialist and a huge fucking sting later, I was numb and they were digging out tissue and whatever fluid was in that blister. A few minutes later they had me cleaned up and on my way home, with a reminder that they’d let me know if anything suspect popped up in the culture and a prescription for major antibiotics just in case.

The next day I went back to infusion for fluids. Honestly, I was feeling pretty good. Having one more down just one more infusion to go, in addition to the fact that I hadn’t started to feel awful, I felt like I was sprinting towards the finish line.

Then Thursday came. If I was sprinting towards the finish line, feeling good Tuesday and Wednesday, I ate it hard on Thursday. (Insert appropriate meme here.) I woke up and my body was in total rebellion to the things I was putting it through. I woke up and my teeth hurt, my muscles were cramping, my bones felt like they were on fire and everything hurt. I couldn’t even really name the pain. To top it off, Friday morning I woke up with an awful rash that burned and stung, in addition to Chad being his usual pain in the ass self. I figured I should call the clinic and they had me come in immediately. Usually I’m pretty lowkey at my appointments, I’m not really demanding and I’m pretty patient during mix ups and stuff. But at this point, I’m annoyed that they’ve insisted I keep Chad even though he’s been more trouble than he’s worth, a lot of my issues that have come with treatment have stemmed from Chad, and three NO ONE LISTENS WHEN I SAY I DON’T WANT THE PORT. I’m pissy, I feel terrible and I’m done being an easygoing patient.

So after my RN took my vitals and went to consult with another oncologist, two nurses came in to do blood cultures from BOTH my arms. They had already done 2 blood cultures that both gave negative results to an infection, so I with, some attitude I’ll admit, asked why they were doing another blood culture when they’d recently done two others. One of the nurses had been the same one to do the blood cultures the last two times. And apparently, nurses don’t really get to do them too often so they hit the jackpot with me and she got to teach two other nurses how to do it with me as their guinea pig. Apparently, I was to be the guinea pig again. Right then, I was super frustrated and wanting to cry because one, everything hurts and two, I actually wanted to rip that damn port out myself if they weren’t going to do it. Whatever, the nurse explained to me that this time they were just gonna focus on blood infections on both sides of my body rather than whatever else it was that they were testing last time (I guess the blood cultures last time weren’t to test… for… blood… infections?). They did the blood cultures (I think at this point I can do them myself considering I know the procedure now ha) and my RN came back. She told me to get some type of cream for the rash and that if develop a fever to call back and that they’d let me know about the blood infection. Also, side note, that biopsy they did Tuesday also yielded negative results so no infection. Which is good but WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH MY PORT THEN???? She also tried to give me a bit of a pep talk, saying that they only had to use the port one more time for one more chemo session. To which my response was, hell no. You are taking this thing out of me. The next time someone touches my port it’s to take the damn thing out. So I insisted on her writing up the order so that when my oncologist got back Monday, she could just sign it, send it to RDI and get me scheduled to have Chad taken out that week. So she did and now here we are. The rest of the weekend was physically painful in ways I can’t really describe but still pretty enjoyable. I went to my sister’s best friend’s wedding which was sweet. Although I went sporting that awful rash (that I still have today- Wednesday.) And then Sunday was spent with the family celebrating my uncle’s birthday and yesterday we celebrated my cousin’s birthday too.

But let’s talk about today (8/1). CHAD HAS VACATED MY BODY THANK YOU GOD. But let me also just say that removing him was a terrible process that I was awake for and do not recommend that AT ALL. Seriously. Maybe because my port and the area around it is just generally super tender and painful and that made the process of removing it more painful than usual but whatever- point is the port removal was just as bad and traumatizing- if not more- than my first biopsy. My first biopsy which I start crying about when asked to talk about it.

I guess what doesn’t kill you make you stronger. Or it just gives you really unhealthy coping mechanisms, a morbid sense of humor and some PTSD. I really think the biopsies and the port removal and being awake for those procedures really fucked me up in the head. Someone will ask about those procedures and I kid you not I have to try not to cry or get emotional when I do. Even writing this now I’m tearing up which sucks because again things like needles and surgeries didn’t bother me before. Now I’m THAT patient. The one that although doesn’t flail and make your job harder as the person performing the procedure, they do panic and quietly cry and loudly curse a lot and probably make your job slightly entertaining but at the same time you want to roll your eyes at because you think they’re being dramatic.

Yeah, that’s now me.

First I had to check in at clinic and get my blood drawn by my nurse. After confirming that my white blood cell count was well enough to go on with the procedure I went down to RDI and waited an hour for to be called back. A nurse came to get me and led me to the room where they were gonna perform the procedure, the specialist saw my port and said, “Oh yeah, that needs to come out.” THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU FOR 6 MONTHS. So I walked into this procedure thinking it’ll be as easy as when they put the port in. They’d knock me out and I’d wake up sans Chad.

Nope.

They explained the procedure to me and right before I signed the consent forms they mentioned that I’d be awake during this and that they’d be using local anesthetic. Keep in mind, the memory of the last biopsy from last week and the anesthetic is still fresh in my mind, so my first thought was WTF. Rude. I went ahead and signed the forms because I was getting this thing out of me one way or another and I was trying not to panic about that and not be a baby about the whole thing.

They got me all set up on the same x-ray table they had used on me last week. They covered my whole body with this tent-type thing that gives them access to the area but covers the rest of my body. I started to panic a little bit more because it was weird that I wouldn’t be able to see what they’re doing. There were two nurses helping the specialist during this procedure.

The whole experience was not fun. The anesthetic hurt. A lot. I think they injected me a total of 8 times. The last 3 being because when they started cutting me open I felt something sharp rather than the pressure and pulling/tugging you’re supposed to feel when you’ve been numbed for a procedure. So apparently, I didn’t take to well to the anesthetic and honestly I could still feel sharp sensations during the procedure even after the 8 shots of anesthetic. But at that point I figured just suck it up because I didn’t want to get unnecessarily poked if the anesthetic wasn’t gonna work anyway. Either way I was going to feel pain. Pretty sure I was having a panic attack during the whole thing. I just was laying there silently crying out of pain and frustration and just being overwhelmed by everything I’m putting my body through in the name of regaining my health and wellbeing. It was like that first biopsy and feeling overwhelmed and so foreign in my own body all over again. During this procedure they took some skin samples and blood samples to see if they could figure out what kind of infection caused me to have so many issues with Chad.

After that whole ordeal, they stitched and glued me up. Trying to make myself feel better I sarcastically said, “Well that was pleasant.” To which one of the nurses responded saying, “See, it’s not so bad! Most patients end up saying it wasn’t too bad.” To which I thought, BITCH WHERE???

So then they sent me off with another batch of major antibiotics to take for the next five days, three times a day.

So here I am, the next day FREE OF CHAD.

Next week Tuesday I’m going in for another procedure to get a PICC line put it. A PICC line is like a really long IV that stays in your arm and is threaded into one of the major veins there. Since Chad got the boot they need another way for me to receive my last chemo which they’re going to administer using the PICC line. I hear they use local anesthetic to place it too. So we’ll see how that goes. Thanks for keeping up with me everyone, I really appreciate it. 7 MORE DAYS :D

#the becky chronicles #hodgkin's lymphoma #cancer sucks #but life doesn't have to #cancer #health #life #chad #becky #chemo #i'm sad but its still lit

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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Final Fantasy 9 and the picture book adventure of a PS1 Final Fantasy • Eurogamer.net

There’s a small, almost incidental sequence that I’ve often thought about since I first played Final Fantasy 9. In it, Princess Garnet (or ‘Dagger’, at this point in the game) and her buffoonish knight Steiner have a conversation whilst in a hillside cable car, all brass and rivets. Soon after they are reunited with thespian/thief Marcus in the station café, before the next leg of their journey. The area is framed from up high, round tables and stools and bottle green gas-lamps. The lighting is warm, people are chilling, and the music is a near-lullaby recorder version of the game’s theme Melodies of Life. The scene feels recognisably suspended, in transit. An enclave of calm and safety removed from normal concerns, like morning light on a weekend lie-in.

Marcus notes that Garnet has changed during her adventures, now more experienced, talking in slang. This is later in another carriage, and you mainly see the back of her seat throughout the conversation, as if happening upon it as it unfolds. Then she gets up, suddenly excited to talk about the things she’s seen, the battles she’s fought. And then, ‘I’ve always wanted to see the marvellous architecture of Treno! I can hardly wait!’.

‘On second thought’ – Marcus thinks, in a thought bubble – ‘she hasn’t changed that much’.

I think what stuck with me was the sense of an in-between time, but captured, noticed. Made visible by its inclusion but still casual, offhand, overheard in the way it’s framed on the screen. It’s even more effective because the cable car and station sequences straddle more dramatic scenes with hero Zidane and the rest of the gang in the ravaged, rain-pelt kingdom of Burmecia. And I love the sense of scope this brings, that adventures are big (cosmically so, this being Final Fantasy) but they’re also asymmetrical and irregular and the small bits matter, too. But also, I love how much of this texture comes from the fixed-perspective backdrops of the game.

Now you might have guessed, but I only started this replay because I was Full Of Hype from all the Final Fantasy 7 Remake coverage. My YouTube algorithm had doubled-down on reviews and comparisons and Let’s Plays. Between you and me, I even got emotional watching a YouTube player herself get emotional at the Remake’s title screen and I’ve barely even played the original. And I never normally watch Let’s Plays! I don’t even have a PS4!

I had bought 9 for the Switch previously though, not because I had any intention to actually replay my Favourite Ever Final Fantasy – of the four I’ve played, tied with 12 – but because I vaguely intended to use the new modifiers like No Encounters and Speed-Up to have a dip sometime. A quick-flick through a fondly remembered journey I once took – charming and painterly and medieval-adjacent. I think I’d pegged FF9 as an aesthetic and world I loved (which reminds me of Crystal Chronicles too actually, which is gorgeous), but draped and fastened around a rickety old gameplay machine. I’d bought it as a playable nostalgia prompt, I had no real interest in playing it again properly.

But all that Hype pushed me over – along with those Speed-Up and No Encounters options – and I decided to play a bit, then a bit more, and then a lot. Because to my surprise, the thing holds up! Battle animations have real crunch and flair (and that mid-air hang-time of Freya’s Spear!). The menu work is responsive and engrossing, with that bright and breezy chime-squeak noise. Even Zidane’s run gait and footstep patter seems somehow right-on and satisfying, with that little whoosh on jumps. And pressing your way through the game’s story grammar of dialogue boxes and panto reactions feels less archaic and limited than just different but charming: A uniquely-video game hybrid of reading and theatre, metered out and sped-up with button-presses and without the tedium of voice recordings read out slower (and false-er) than you can read. Oh, and of course there’s the music!

But most of all, it’s been a treat to play through this kind of adventure again, one that takes place on gorgeous pre-rendered backdrops. Without the concerns of a right camera stick. Without constantly, distractedly roaming my gaze around for the next engagement or interaction. Without being the screen-centred nucleus of all happenings, shifting the world around my avatar’s back.

Instead you get the stripped-back, near 2D pleasure of controlling Zidane – or Garnet, who runs knock-kneed, or Steiner who runs like a bucket – around a fixed scene, drawing the control stick around its ring in pleasing curves and loops that follow the path’s many (many) meanders. These are routes that curl over and around themselves within a single area – the M6 spaghetti junction but fantasy.

And with this comes characters who run into and out of the scene, sometimes disappearing towards a vanishing point, like on the walkway to Lindblum that stretches away like the bridge in Shadow of the Colossus. Or sometimes startlingly big and screen-filling, the party now all cramped together in Eiko’s rock-hewn cave cellar. When Marcus is looking for Blank (who’s been petrified in stone by a forest spell) the scene plays out sideways through a silhouette forest like it’s Donkey Kong Country Returns.

All this elasticity of perspective lends a neat sort of visual potential energy to the journey, a cinematic framing that’s baked into the game as you play it, and a sense of movement and progress as you transfer between backdrops. There’s a screen in which you run towards the Iifa Tree on a huge woven road of roots, shot from above with mist-shrouded tendrils stretching far down into the crevasse. Then when you get to the tree proper the camera pans up, the characters dwarfed at the bottom like that famous Secret of Mana title screen.

Yes it is a shame that in these HD ports the backgrounds are a little smeared in translation, and the newly bright and crisp character models look a little detached atop them – you can see a YouTube PSX Let’s Play to see how it should look, with the pleasing grain of its unsmoothed textures. And for how good it could look check out the unearthed original source images, or a video of the brilliant-looking AI-enhanced Moguri Mod) – but these images are still a treat. This is a fantasy world that looks lived-in, drawn with a free-hand irregularity. Ladders bend, roof-tiles curve, stairs are uneven, and overall things seem slightly chubby, charming, emplumped (yes, I made that up). But it still feels well-observed and grounded, with that So True recognition of real spaces and how they happen: There’s a worn groove in the cobblestones outside a theatre’s back-alley entrance. Rat-kid Puck calls to Vivi from a wooden scaffolding platform amidst the rooftops of Alexandria.

Often these areas are anchored by some foreground detail, like the strange dragonfly with a ballooning frog-neck in Black Mage Village, or the clutch of bluebells by the North Gate. And many of the scenes have movement and noise, like the clatter of cogs and gears (there are so many cogs and gears!) or passing clouds outside a shattered airship window. I especially like how the shop and house interiors are painted as if cut-open to peer in, the outside alongside the insides, drainpipes and grass tufts and some birds nesting in the Card Enthusiast’s chimney. All of this collapsed together in flatness, squashed into single frames dense with stuff and secret, without being beholden to – and broken by – 3D space and shifting perspectives.

So the story itself plays out as moments witnessed within these scenes, sometimes even across scenes, as FF9’s Active Time Event mechanic allows you to cut to character vignettes happening simultaneously elsewhere. And as with any real adventure, important events and conversations often take place in unassuming edge lands and collateral spaces; cellars and riversides and make-shift paths as much as throne rooms and city-squares.

CGI cut-scenes aside, this is drama and movement that occurs within the frame, instead of your avatar being the focus, the centre of the story, The Shit – the heroic, roaming Inducer of Important Moments. Here instead Dagger will run atop the screen, small amidst the clutter of Treno city. Or Eiko the child-summoner will jump off the airship’s bow, surprising and sudden without any fuss or angle change. At one point Freya performs a river-dance prayer in the sanctuary of Cleyra, facing the screen like an audience. At the end the camera pans quickly across to see the harpist’s strings break into a droplet shiver, which feels interesting and uncertain because it happens within shot, without the machinery of cuts and edits.

Quick aside – have you ever used the word ‘continua’? I hadn’t! But I recently saw a BBC3 short about languages, and in it this guy just comes on and casually says that language is what ‘helps us make sense of the continua of experience’. Just casually! Like ‘continua’ wasn’t the word I’d needed for so long! Because I’m always thinking about this kind of thing. About where you make the breaks, and how that affects the whole.

I often think about the way that music (or silence!) in games is such a physical component of game spaces. And how it can lend that sort of metaphysical differentiation to areas – this place is different to the last in some essential way. And I think a lot about visual voltas too, jolts of change like that fixed shot of the Temple of Time behind Hyrule Square, where suddenly all is quiet and Link seems small. The kind of step change that gives a visual journey its stresses, its passage and rhythm.

Part of the richness of this whole era of Final Fantasy came from its four-course fullness, from flipping between the flavours of battle and town and overworld and menu. But also, from a game made up of pre-rendered or painted screens, its areas tied intractably to their framing, perspective and paths. So that each one is firmed up by specificity, as discreet places in the world and unique beats in the story.

When I’m feeling particularly pretentious (or caffeinated, basically), I wonder if it’s a bit like spacetime, and its interdependence. As in, because videogame spaces happen via video (and sound, and play), so how we see and control a character through them also sort of is the space. Like how Samus’ weighted movement in Metroid Prime make the planet Tallon IV itself feel heavier, more solid. Or the university newspaper piece I once wrote about playing Tomb Raider Anniversary (The best Tomb Raider. Tied with nothing) with mouse control on PC – able to jump with the right-click and move the camera simultaneously like a first-person shooter – and how it seemed to subtly shift the focus from Lara as a marionette I manoeuvred around the environment, to a central axel around which I looked around tombs. And I can’t tell you how much time I spent fiddling about and experimenting in Breath of the Wild – forcing myself to play only with the lock-on camera, or with other Zelda area music playing concurrently through headphones – to try and work out what exactly had so changed the felt quality of this 3D Zelda.

And I wonder how different the spaces of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake feel to those playing fresh, compared to those to whom these new 3D-spaces exist in relation to their memory of the f9ed-perspective 2D originals, like visual DNA now brought to life.

(With caffeine and sugar I’m even worse).

These FF9 backgrounds don’t really feel like potential 3D spaces to me, to be imagined and triangulated out into something else – not unless I try to imagine it for fun. Instead it’s an adventure that feels- as artist Toshiyuki Itahana says in the Inside Final Fantasy 9 documentary – like a picture book. Occurring in solid, particular visual moments that feel lived in, witnessed, specific. And it’s still so fun! With its own type of happening that emerges from these scenes with the luminous, captured happenstance of a photo: The opening with Puck the rat, criss-crossing across Alexandria’s rooftops. The chat between Zidane and Vivi by a village wall behind a windmill field. And a long-remembered scene in a hillside cable car, just to the side of the plot proper, but right at the centre of a story that builds and builds from moments and details and asides. And then an ending so lovely I cried.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/final-fantasy-9-and-the-picture-book-adventure-of-a-ps1-final-fantasy-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=final-fantasy-9-and-the-picture-book-adventure-of-a-ps1-final-fantasy-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

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