#as a fan of Skyward Sword too this is just. what the fuck. what the actual fuck

[pa-pa-plasma]

zelda blasted moldugas in the gerudo assault scene, it was a group effort between her sonia and rauru. you can see the light coming from her hand. they just channeled it through rauru bc he was/is the chosen hero from that era

I saw that as them just giving him the power to preform such a massive attack rather than Zelda herself blasting them (probably supplied by the sage stone thing which i cant remember the name of). I'd have to rewatch the scene to check (the only one I rewatched was the one where Fi's theme played) but if she seems surprised I take it as more of a "oh shit i/we have that much power??" rather than a "holy shit my attack personally killed all those moldugas" kinda thing. it was Rauru's attack, Sonia & Zelda just supplied an extra power source.

[st-hedge]

I said a while ago that for totk’s one anniversary I would write a weird little review of the game in which I throw roses at it while simultaneously slandering it. So I made an attempt which is very abbreviated

Disclaimer: I’m not telling u how u should feel about totk or what’s the right way to feel about it, I’m just trying to make sense of why the game frustrates me and putting it into words. It’s completely fine if u disagree with me, I’m not pitching an argument but just putting words on paper

Totk is one of the best games I’ve ever had the opportunity to play. The mechanics, the music, the designs, the revised world of hyrule, makes me want to curl up on the floor and cry. It is stunning and done with so much love. Where botw had lacked, totk has improved and gone above and beyond. It had frustrated me that botw only allowed us to explore the ground surface, but botw was an exploration into open world games which allowed for totk to happen. The caves, the boats, the islands, and the depths add so much to already such a vast world. I only wish there was also diving but beggars can’t be choosers beh

Although it still doesn’t make too much sense to me why all weapons are suddenly corrupted, I do love the new weapons system. I love how it gives more variety to explore. Materials which previously sat unused in the inventory are now key and nothing feels like a waste to collect. Even rupees have found another use. I’m not the biggest fan of the zonai devices but the addition feels like a love letter to the creativity of the fan base and it feels at place. They help to traverse an otherwise huge and intimidating world. But at times I feel like they give too much leverage and break down too many boundaries and leave little to solve and explore. What im basically saying is fuck the rockets.

I feel that totk doesn’t have enough progress boundaries that make u pause and explore what u have at hand. I found myself just pushing and pushing, forgetting and leaving behind areas I barely touched. It felt too easy getting into the sky and returning to the islands and they lost some of their mystery to me. I think this would have been a great opportunity to reintroduce the loftwings from skyward sword. I’ve talked before about how much this would make sense for totk. The loftwings could be a means to cross boundaries and explore new territories, but it takes time to catch and tame one as a companion. But like horses they should have their limits, presenting new boundaries u need to overcome again

Where the totk’s hyrule begins to confuse and disappoint me goes hand in hand with my main issue (confusion?) with the game. Although botw felt incomplete (the world was a little sparse and one dimensional), the story was comprehensive and clear. Meanwhile, totk has a complete and lively world but it doesn’t have a story to carry

Totk’s story doesn’t have an identity I can grasp and understand. It’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to tell the player, what story it wants to direct them to. On one hand, it seems to want us to know about the origins of hyrule and the mysterious landmarks and characters that are permanent fixtures in this world (castle, ruins, dragons) but at the same time it suddenly wants to do a retelling of OoT and about the sages and these secret stones. But the game never completes any of these stories. Maybe it wants to tell us these stories through the environment, but there is just not enough embedded into the world to grasp and tie together into a narrative. Which is ironic considering how big the world is

We begin to be told the story of the dragons, we suddenly understand how they came to be (the secret stones). But we are never told about the events of their creation (an act of desperation, like Zelda’s) and we are never close to understanding them. Then we are told about the sages, but meeting them tells us nothing new. No new cutscenes, no new items or lore directly related to them. The new sages are found, but didn’t we just discover the divine beasts with them? Suddenly another layer of importance is added to them which makes the ties between legacy and the current sages muddier. I wish there had been focus on them creating their own legacy instead

I think totk could’ve had a very interesting story to tell if it chose what it wants to focus on. Maybe the secret stones were introduced just as a way for Zelda to become a dragon? I dunno

There are so many new places that feel like fantastic opportunities for moments of pause and to uncover lore, unearth memories. But instead they’re brisk puzzles or empty sites. Like the graveyard underneath the desert, the forge islands, the factories, and the fucking poe statues. Tell me as much as u want that I can’t read environmental story telling, but I’ll just keep saying there’s nothing to read into cuz the game doesn’t know what it wants to say. There’s no thread to follow in the way there was with, for example, the graveyard at the spirit temple in OoT. We could’ve been just left with a strange well and a graveyard and told to figure it out, but a thread is laid down that these are the skeletons in the royal family’s closet.

Totk does have amazing moments, like Zelda meeting her ancestors and giving up her identity to become a living legend to revive the master sword, the discovery of the ancient temples, the story of the zonai and their origins. But these are just pieces with many loose ends around them that go nowhere. Even Ganon is left as a loose end where there was so much opportunity to say something worth saying. He seems comically evil with bogstandard bah I want to rule the world lines. If u want to make a case for evil for the sake of evil, u can at least show me a character repeatedly making horrible choices which lead them to the current predicament. Just like totk’s hyrule, he is lovingly designed but he tells absolutely no story

If the reason behind the lack of story is that the devs/writers wanted us to make our own story out of this, then I think this is a case where it was a poor choice. The fans can make theories, hcs, pick up pieces and make AUs, but we also love the stories told by the games and it’s what inspires us to uncover more stories (hey wanna talk about tp and why we hear Malon’s song at night, or what’s up with the empty desert)

I’d love to see totk from the perspective of someone who had never played or known botw. Did it really help to remove any traces of sheikah tech besides the labs and the guardian limbs in the towers. Although the zonai devices and the sheikah tech are from different time periods, totk was a perfect opportunity to marry the two elements together. The shrines and the divine beasts could’ve collapsed into the depths, but instead they have just vanished like erased history

Totk’s story doesn’t have an identity in the same way botw’s does. Even though botw’s hyrule was much smaller and emptier, we found stories there cuz we knew what that game was trying to tell us. If totk is about making sacrifices, then this message feels obsolete by the end. U should make sacrifices, but u will only be happy again if it all goes back to exactly how it was before

As happy and sweet the ending is, it made all the worry and sadness I felt seem pointless cuz of course everything would reset back to the norm cuz how else would this game have a happy ending. What was there to worry about. Yeah so what that Zelda became a dragon losing herself, she was just asleep the entire time and effortlessly she becomes her normal self. So what that link lost his sword arm, of course he would miraculously get it back even though it took him 100 years to recover from a mortal wound. No trace of the things they withstood and lost, no mark, nothing.

I loved the final battle and spectacle of the dragons struggling against each other in the sky. The battle went from the deepest depths to the highest reaches of the sky and I thought it was perfect. But once again how the story concluded and the logic behind it me made me feel like I was chewing on sand and the idyllic ending just made me look about in confusion

TLDR; totk is an amazing game with a stunning world that lacks a comprehensive story to tell

I hoped that I would get a better understanding why I’m so frustrated by totk, but instead I just feel even more confused by it and I think that’s just how I’ll have to leave it

[kozachenko]

So a little while ago I did this background thingy of my interpretation of Hakugyokurou in Touhou 7, then left it at the sketch and forgot about it for a while. Then after changing up my art style a lot, I came back to this and decided to finish it as a way of testing out how my new style would look on backgrounds. Then when I finished it, I also didn't look at it for a while, until today where I decided that I liked it and wanted to post it.

Artist's Notes:

IDK how much this actually looks like Hakugyokurou tbh, but I liked the idea of there being a fuck ton of trees that just kinda grow on the stairs and Yuyuko's garden being on an island of some kind, though tbh as I write this now, this same feeling could be accomplished with just having the stairs be on top of a hill with the trees soooo... oops. IDK how mythologically/lore accurate that would be, but hey, just a cool idea I had. I feel like we need more fan interpretations of certain Touhou locations because I think those could be really fucking cool, like, I should do more of these myself because I have a fuck ton of ideas (plus I need the practice with drawing backgrounds so win-win).

Even if this... doesn't really look like Hakugyokurou in Touhou canon, this was still good practice for perspective, as well as getting better at drawing backgrounds/environment pieces (plus what annoys me is that I wanted to make the tori gate red but had to make it pink because the red was too much for the colour scheme and I should have adjusted the rest of the colours but I don't feel like going back and fucking with this piece now because I feel like I am going to end up like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill with this drawing).

I think the reason we don't see those as often is because there's a lot more consistency with the location designs in Touhou than the character designs. Like, in the mainline games themselves, Marisa's outfit changes every fucking game, and small details in how characters outfits are drawn also lend themselves to that looser character design base. As long as you keep the core design philosophies of the character (i.e. Reimu keeping her loose, baggy clothes, Yukari with her hat and ribbons, Keiki with her headkerchief (I FINALLY LEARNED WHAT IT WAS FUCKING CALLED WOOHOOO!!!! I COULD HAVE JUST LOOKED IT UP ON THE WIKI THIS WHOLE TIME YAAAAAY), and many more examples) you're basically good. However, the actual locations in Touhou have been so set in stone with all the printed works that I think it's a shame we don't see any more variations of how they could look.

I'm not saying to completely ditch how each location is portrayed in games (also don't take this whole thing as me completely dissing the canon looks of the locations) but, treating the locations like character designs in and of themselves. Like, take Sakuya's canon design and her Touhouvania design. Both of them are very different takes on the same design idea. Yet you still recognize Touhouvania Sakuya as... well, Sakuya. And also, keeping the same mythological/historical/irl inspirations for said locations (again, don't know if having a floating island in the Japanese netherworld is accurate but it was a cool idea)

Some other location ideas I have include:

The SDM looking relatively normal from the outside but when you go inside it looks like a fucking gothic cathedral/castle because Sakuya keeps fucking with the space time continuum and there is also an organ the size of a fucking house in there that Sakuya dramatically plays. Also having it be surrounded by trees and having some mountains surrounding the misty lake would be cool as well.

Keiki's base in the animal spirit garden being reminiscent of the ancient technology in Laputa, some of the zonai technology in ToTK and some of the Lanayru desert buildings in Skyward Sword (i.e. Lanayru Mine, the shipyard, etc), as well as a lot of the other ancient technologically advanced sky people ruins seen in some other Zelda games, but with the clear Kofun era theming she already has.

Old Hell having a mix of western influences with it's prodominantly Japanese ones, mainly inspired by how the Palace of Earth spirits looks significantly more western than the rest of Old Hell (though that could be because it was more recently built idk), as well as there being emblems from the time that Old Hell was actually Hell being strewn about in the ruins of old hell, also being inspired by a Japanese historical anecdote about how certain families had specific crests/emblems representing them and how when a new clan would take over everything would be replaced with that families' emblem although my memory is a bit foggy (since I saw it a while ago) and I got info from a Youtube short so take this info with a huge grain of salt (and it anyone actually knows if this info is legit or not, please correct me if I get anything wrong).

Overall, don't think this looks too much like Hakugyokurou, but I am glad I drew this anyway because I needed the practice with drawing backgrounds.

[willorm-the-seer]

𓄃 intro post + some art examples𓄃

((also i apologize ahead of time if i spam reblog/like your posts, i forget that’s a thing that happens and never think to check who posted what😭 i try not to! but i do apologize, my memory sucks ass lol))

⋆⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺⋆ go ahead and call me willen/will, whichever you choose❤️ just a silly little guy sitting in the dark corner of my little cave, pondering and scheming ⋆⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺⋆

⚠︎ I AM

NONHUMAN

and do NOT identify as a human/nor a person. please do not refer to me as such. you will be blocked immediately if it is done on purpose ⚠︎

𓃠 𝕮✮𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖋𝖎✮𝖉 𝖑𝖔𝖘✮𝖗, 𓃠

𓃠 • MALE & he/its ONLY. UNLESS you are a very close friend, or specified differently. sometimes i will use she/her. never a woman, nor a female though • 𓃠

𓃠 • trans and gender-fluid, mainly only firmly identifying as a man or male, unless SPECIFICALLY stated otherwise. pronouns will always be in bio • 𓃠

𓃠 • URUK/ORC nonhuman/endel & zoanthrope. i firmly believe i had a past life, AND have a future life as an uruk. this ��humanly” existence is merely an intermission of sorts. i am still an uruk at heart, mind and soul. i am not human • 𓃠

𓃠 • on that note, i am also a practiced spirit medium, and have a deep interest in necromancy and witchcraft • 𓃠

𓃠 • i also have a psychological equine theriotype due to imprinting, as i have worked with and owned horses for going on 10+ years now. will occasionally post about my horse because she is pretty much my daughter, and the only reason i get up in the mornings • 𓃠

𓃠 • 18+ legal adult. MINORS DNI pls • 𓃠

𓃠 • have art commissions OPEN currently, will have examples of my work down below. pls feel free to shoot me a dm if at all interested • 𓃠

⋆♱✮♱⋆ 𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖘, ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • big fan of anything lotr related, including any of tolkiens works, peter jackson’s movies, trop/rop, shadow of war/shadow of mordor, the hobbit, etc. • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • LOVE love love the transformers franchise, especially the IDW mtmte/lost light comics🫶 • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • love horses or anything equine related! big on western riding/western disciplines and liberty work. avid horse racing hater, and will always have a soft spot in my heart for ottbs and the struggles they go through • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • LOVE the legend of zelda! any of the games, but i specifically ADORE twilight princess and it is probably by far my favorite🥰 ocarina of time and majoras mask are close seconds! with skyward sword being the third, and windwaker the fourth❤️ love these games to death • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • same goes for minecraft❤️❤️❤️ minecraft is my absolute everything, i am a SLUT for this game omg. waking up at 7am at the sleepover, grabbing some cereal, and going and playing minecraft together until 12pm? laughing and listening to the CAT music disc over and over again? yeah, minecraft is the best❤️‍🩹 • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • TERRARIA TOO! most of my OCs are based in/off/from terraria! such a staple • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • rdr/rdr2/rdo🫶🫶🫶 • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • love the winter, and the fall. snow is my absolute favorite thing❤️ i am a seregost uruk and love the snow and the mountains more than anything in this universe • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ • LOVE horror/scary shit, ESPECIALLY anything body horror related🫀 gore is my absolute favorite🫀 love the darkness and late nights as well🫶 anything spooky • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⋆♱✮♱⋆ •❤️ scenecore & the gothic aesthetic • ⋆♱✮♱⋆

⚠︎𝖉𝖎𝖘𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊𝖘/𝖉𝖓𝖎, ⚠︎

⚠︎• random, but anything fish, ocean, lake, water related. i have an intense phobia of anything aquatic related and will go into a full panic attack😭 i have absolutely no idea why •⚠︎

⚠︎• anyone fucking weird and/or disgusting, and disgusting in the sense of being a PEDO, ZOO, RACIST, BIGOT, etc. blocked and reported IMMEDIATELY. get your nasty ass OUTTA here •⚠︎

⚠︎• anyone who hates/dislikes/attacks the therian/otherkin/alterhuman/nonhuman communities. there will be absolutely none of that hatred here •⚠︎

⚠︎• anyone who IS a therian/otherkin and HATES/ATTACKS/doesn’t support: endels / clinical zoanthropes / clinical lycanthropes / delusional alterhumans. you will be blocked immediately, because that is fucking ridiculous and disgusting behavior of you❤️ •⚠︎

⚠︎• this is an endogenic and tulpamancer safe space. anyone who is ANTI-endogenic will be blocked immediately. get your nasty ass outta here •⚠︎

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 𝖊𝖝𝖙𝖗𝖆, ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 • i am mated to my lovely partner, who is also an uruk🫶 we have been married for over a year now❤️ • ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 • i am a christopagan, and respect all religions/beliefs • ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 • i collect blankets in my spare time, i have way too many, pls feel free to tag me in anything blanket related i will go FERAL • ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 • planning on posting some of my writing/stories • ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

ty for reading if you’ve made it this far! appreciate it❤️ have a good day/night lovelies ((+ said art examples(all mine)/my nonhuman appearance))

[jellyfishvibes]

hi jelly! <3

oooooooh, so many interesting wips. I would like to know about curse of the four crowns. and sillies!!!!!! there can never be too many sillies.

Hello beloved!

Ok so curse of the four crowns is a fan game(?) idea for a era set between skyward sword and minish cap, with the zelda getting split into four instead of link (from what i remember link is kinda a non character in that story, whoops) its only half my child, the other person i'm building it with isn't on tumblr though so i dont have an @ to give

Anyways that doc is a designs v2 doc so the only sketch kinda finished is Mint's

I am very proud of her, the other colours are..... less done

Here is the much older version of them so you can get an idea for their designs

(Their nicknames are Mint, Strawberry, Lavender and Lemon, yes they are based on the pastel joycons and in my notes they are the icecream gals <3)

Anyways Sillies!

Sillies is my fuck around doc for Star, so it has just some rando doodles of them haha

i can't explain these tbh

[lilflowerpot]

hello again~

I'm here to ask a question about LoZ. so, I have a friend who plays and recommended it to me because she knows I love open world games and breath of the wild is (apparently) one of the best open world games ever and I've been hesitating ever since. she might be a little biased tho lol

and like. there's a sale going on right now for botw, so the recommendation just kind made itself known in my memory again

anyway so, basically I'm here to ask if it'll be worth it? I mean, the general consensus wherever I go seems to be 'amazing, go get it u won't regret it'

(and, this is totally optional, but if you could answer asap that would be great because idk when the sale ends, thank you)

p.s I love little blade. you're amazing

I think it's obvious by now that I am a //massive// Zelda fan so tbh I'm likely no less bias than your friend lmfao, but that being said I'm going to try and give as balanced a response as possible!

Pros

BotW is beautiful, and I mean b e a u t i f u l . The graphics have this lovely watercolour quality to them as an ode to the artstyle used in Skyward Sword, but more crisp & refined. Unlike a lot of the big open world games (looking at you skyrim) BotW doesn't sacrifice colour or try to be "gritty", but rather leans into that soft-apocalypse, studio ghibli vibe.

The narrative is equally lovely and fulfilling, and depending upon what order you collect Link's memories in you will likely have a different gameplay experience. You'll also meet a lovable cast of characters to whom you'll end up unreasonably attached, which will ultimately break your heart in the end,,, I apologise in advance, but I promise you it's worth the pain.

On that note, do it for my bitch-ass bird son. You'll know him when you meet him.

Link can jump. This will mean very little to you if you've not played a LoZ game before, but my boy can fucking JUMP.

You can also climb pretty much everything (bar like one specific material) which means if you want to get to that Cool Thing Over There, then with a mix of mix of ungodly arrogance, sheer willpower, and a lot of stamina potions, you can. If you suffer from the magpie brain (ie. you see a new shiny thing and become immediately sidetracked from your original objective) this will mean that you take about 10x as long as you should to do literally anything, but my god is it fun.

The soundtrack gives me feelings that I cannot put into words, and the voice acting is //phenomenal//. Importantly, Link himself does not have a voice actor which is the only correct choice considering he's been heavily implied throughout the entire LoZ franchise to be an elective mute, and I would have //hated// hearing him speak.

Link is also just a very sweet & funny golden retriever boy who occasionally sasses back like nobody's business. 10/10 protagonist.

If you like women, you will like them even more by the end. If you don't like women, there's a 90% chance you'll seriously reconsider it upon meeting [REDACTED].

The game has something for everyone: you like exploring? Well you're going to do a lot of that. You like collectables? There are so many outfits (that you can dye to your liking!) and a wholeass compendium to fill out. You like puzzles? You'll certainly find your fair share. You like combat? The basic mechanics are what you'd expect with there are enough different enemy types to keep it interesting, but dO NOT FIGHT A LYNEL WITHOUT MAKING SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH WEAPONS BC THEY WILL BREAK AND LEAVE YOU WITH A VERY ANGRY VERY MEAN MAN TRYING TO KILL YOU.

It is genuinely very good value for money, and even more so if you can get it on sale! Not only do you have the mainline game & all its side-quests, but there's also the expansion pass, and, of course, an entire sequel just ready and waiting!

Cons

Sometimes the open world can feel a little too open. Considering the game's context, it makes sense, but comparatively games like Skyrim feel more densely packed with Things To Do, whereas BotW has several areas of overgrown nothingness that are lovely to look at, but not especially interesting (though this is better rectified in TotK).

You can't swim underwater. This was not rectified in TotK, though I dearly wish it had been.

A lot of fans used to complain about the temple format of p much every Zelda game up until this point, so the developers essentially removed temples altogether and instead replaced them with only four (technically optional) Divine Beasts, plus Hyrule Castle itself. I... did not like this. I'm a big puzzle girlie, and though BotW has shrines scattered across the landscape—most of which are puzzle-based—I personally felt that this substitute was lacking in comparison to the original. TotK does improve on this by reintroducing temples, but I still could have gone for a few more (Skyward Sword was the opposite of this, with very linear gameplay which a lot of people hated, but I personally will stand by SS's Ancient Cistern until my dying breath, and Twilight Princess had some really innovative temples that I have replayed several times over).

On a semi-adjacent note, the final boss just... wasn't my favourite. That's not to say it was bad, only as boss fights go I've had better (I did, however, like the final segment of that fight).

You will develop an immediate fear response to the Guardian music.

Ultimately though, I absolutely do think you should buy it, and am jealous that you'll get to have that bright-eyed bushy-tailed first-time experience, because believe me, if I could erase my memories and play BotW all over again, I would.

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-pokemon-fan]

Oops, forgot to post my early review of Violet

I found this just chilling in the drafts of my main blog, so I'm gonna post my initial review of Pokémon Violet here, then follow up on it with thoughts now that I'm on my seventh playthrough (sixth Nuzlocke, third Hardcore Nuzlocke).

When I was in the midst of catching Pokémon and progressing the story of Violet, it hit me that I was having some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing Pokémon. The fact that the game runs so abysmally is all the more tragic because other than that, I’m tempted to say this is one of the best games in the franchise. I grew up on Platinum, and White/White 2 are my overall favorites, but Violet is creeping real close. Performance aside, I think the biggest weakness is one that most open world games suffer from—a fragmented story. It’s eerily similar to Breath of the Wild in that sense. The story that’s there is really good, but the world design leads to a loose execution. Compared to Skyward Sword and Pokémon Gen 5, which are suffocatingly linear but deliver a tightly executed story that hits all the right beats at all the right points.

That’s the crazy thing about Violet, too. The story isn’t just good because of the characterizations and themes. The dialogue is just straight up good. It feels like you’re talking to real people and not video game npcs, or at least the most like it we’ve gotten in Pokémon. The localization was clearly done by people who are young and/or in touch. There are so many little gems. A gym leader who is a streamer and tells her audience to smash the subscribe button? The earnest but out of touch school headmaster asking you what “cheugy” means? It’s so good.

I’m surprised with how well the three-prong story fits and comes all together in the end. The gym challenge in your standard Pokémon romp and is fun but honestly the least interesting of the three. Arven and Team Star’s stories are genuinely well-written and touching. They both start kind of weird and forced, but they grew on me really fast.

Alright, and the music is fucking fantastic. Pokémon has always had great music. That’s probably the coldest take in this post. But there are some serious hits in this score. The East Province themes, Team Star themes, and very spoiler-heavy, late-game songs are so, so good. They made a great choice bringing Toby Fox in for more tracks.

In terms of the game design though, I’m a huge fan. Terastylizing is probably the most interesting battle gimmick since double battles introduced in Gen 3. The regional Pokédex is a nice balance of mons from every generation and sits at a very respectable number of 400 Pokémon. I just caught myself a whole living dex up thru Gen 6, so for this playthrough I chose to only use new (Gen 8 and 9) Pokémon. Still, I came into it knowing I wanted to catch every mon I can. I was struck by just how much encounter variety there is. On a second playthrough where I allow mons from Gen 7 and earlier, I can see myself using a completely different team.

Ah, my team. My companions for this adventures were as follows: Zaza the Meowscarada, Li’l Buddy the Pawmot, Blaze the Ceruledge, False Knees the Corviknight, Honey Bun the Dachsbun, Connie the Frosmoth, and the late substitution for False Knees to cover my crippling weakness to fire-types: Norm the Veluza. I can and will go in depth into this team and what I love about it, but suffice it to say that Weed Cat was a great starter.

I do think I’ll need a second playthrough a while down the road before I can say if I love this game, but it’s easily one of my favorites in the series. Again, that’s why it’s poor performance sucks so much. I really, really like Violet, but it can be miserable to play sometimes. I know it can be so much better then it is. So let’s get to the elephant in the room.

Gamefreak needs to slow down. From what I saw of Sword and Shield (I skipped these ones), there are points where you can tell corners had to be cut. The problem became obvious with Legends Arceus. I love the gameplay, music, art direction, and all the little experiments the designers took, but holy Arceus above, the game looks like ass. If the devs were given more time, it could have looked so much better. And now we’re here with Scarlet and Violet. The art direction is strong but it’s obvious in one look that the devs were rushed. The only parts of the game that don’t consistently drop frames are the Tera raid battles. I’m sure there are countless people listing every performance issue, so I’ll stop there.

The devs need more time to put out their best work, and the Gamefreak and Pokémon Company execs know that. But. Their main audience is children. As a former child myself, I know that children have no taste or sense of quality. Unless the game is literally unplayable and crashes every other minute, kids will not notice the myriad performance issues. So they will continue to ask their parents to buy them the games, and the games will continue being purchased. The share of Pokémon fans who are A) adults, and B) concerned with the state of the games and franchise, is tiny compared to the primary audience. So unless the next game is so rushed that it actually sells as terribly as it runs, things will never change.

So,,, yeah. I give it a 6/10. Fix the performance and I’d give it a 9.5/10. Good game. They gave me a weed cat.

~~~~~~

Alright, that was the review I wrote on December 31st, six days after I got the game. I had just finished my vanilla playthrough of the game. I'm even more conflicted on the score now than I was before. I think I'll itemize it then revisit the overall score.

Music: Easy 10/10. Banger after banger here. Battle themes, boss themes, town themes, area themes, oh man. Almost everything is great. There are some tracks I aren't the biggest fan of, namely the West Province theme and variants. But the sheer quantity of songs I like, and the phenomenal use of adaptive music makes up for it.

Story: 8/10. Easily the strongest story of the series in terms of writing quality and dialogue. I don't have much more to say than what I wrote in December. It loses points on having that weaker execution than Black and White, and if I'm being honest, it still doesn't compare to the better-written non-Pokémon games I've played. Halo 4 or Undertale, anyone?

Trainer/Boss Battles: 7/10. Where are the healing items? Where are the switch-ins? Random trainer battles aren't always easy, granted. The trainers with black dialogue boxes (the strongest trainer of each area) are no joke, especially in Nuzlockes. Boss battles though. Thematically, always reserving their ace for last then Terastallizing works very well. It makes the battles much more predictable. I can definitely feel the lack of healing items, which reduces the amount of strategizing needed. I also dock points for removing set mode. That was legitimately the only form of a difficulty option in this game and they turned it into another input and a time loss every time you KO an opponent's Pokémon. It's especially frustrating when I return to Violet after playing earlier games that have the option. Overall enjoyable though.

Wild Pokémon Battles: 10/10. Phenomenal. Perfect, even. Continuing the mapping of Pokéballs to the X button instead of needing to go into the bag is perfect. Makes catching smoother. Pokéball animations are much faster. Roaming encounters are such a welcome change from random encounters. The only problem with them is that they complicate Nuzlockes, but that's really not the designers' fault.

Accessibility: 1/10. Abysmal. Disclaimer that I almost never use any accessibility options in games because I don't need them. But there's no options for disabling or toning down animations. No button remapping. No color blindness options. No text options beside changing the speed. Forgive me if I forgot some. Again, I don't use them so I don't usually think consciously about it. Besides, GameFreak forgot all of them. I give one point because falling of cliffs is made harder by a buffer, and you can warp back up if you do fall. Nintendo-published games need to have more accessibility options and I can't believe they keep getting away with their absence of options.

Presentation: 4/10. Oh, this is rough. Character and Pokémon models are fantastic, manmade structures are great, but almost everything natural looks terrible. I don't see any anti-aliasing. It's terribly optimized. Performance issues abound. And what's with the pace of battles? The higher ups needed to let the devs and QA teams cook. Damn.

Overall: ... 8/10. In some ways, ScarVio knocks it out of the park. In others, it falls flat on its face. But the most important part to me personally is whether the game is fun. And I stand by my previous take. It's some of the most fun I've had in Pokémon game. If my seven playthroughs (four complete, two Nuzlocke wipes, one in progress) are any indication, I like this game quite a lot.

[youssefguedira]

One of the fan casts I’ve seen a lot is Hunter Schafer as Zelda. Thoughts?

image for reference because i had to google who hunter schafer was

i could back it? she'd definitely be able to pull off like. oot or twilight princess zelda (by looks alone i haven't seen her act) really depends on what they're doing story wise. but ultimately i don't particularly care what the actor looks like as long as they are believably link or zelda to me and i just. don't think the kind of "major hollywood actors" that people toss around when talking about it could really have that effect because they're too recognisable? if that makes any sense. also a bit of a tangent but i don't know if i WANT the zelda movie to adapt an existing game or a new one, though if i had ti guess it'll adapt something connected to botw/totk and that timeline if it is in any way tied to a game because nintendo is generally trying to move away from the 'traditional' zeldas so to speak

for context this is the hypothetical cast in the article i was reading earlier:

like i respect timothee but i think seeing him as link would just make me laugh. he's a perfectly good actor i just don't vibe with this. mr. holland. can we be serious here. respect the inclusion of dev patel and steven yeun but i think this would only work in a post-oot movie that was a tragic retelling of what happens to the hero of time / an exploration of the effect of All That. which won't happen but i think they could pull it off. we're very much dependent on how old link and zelda will be but if i HAD to pick from this list i'd say aramis knight (in ms marvel) because he's not as immediately recognisable and also he's around the right age for Link That Lives In My Head

moving to the zeldas. florence pugh are you KIDDING me. again i respect her i think ms pugh is very talented. but i don't think i'd want her to play zelda. ultimately it comes down to the fact that link and zelda are almost always teenagers and i want the movie to lean into that. especially because AGAIN this won't happen but i would like an examination of the impact of being declared Saviour Of The Entire World at approximately 12-17 years old. though i guess this could also work with an adult link and zelda but that would lean towards more of a drama than a Big Action Fantasy which is what this will be. zendaya again can we be serious i don't think this would work. personally i'd go w/ kathryn newton or stephanie hsu on this list tbh. or hunter schafer i think she'd be a pretty good choice on vibes alone but ive never seen her in anything (euphoria?)

the article also included these as cast possibilities for minor characters and when i tell you some of them made me choke on my water

i respect natasha lyonne as navi because that could be funny. the others are just. really. something

sorry this answer was super long and also not coherent i should inform you that i am running on approximately 2hrs sleep today. so. but if anyone wants to further discuss zelda PLEASE do i am going through a mini phase rn

also as a second tangent. my ideal zelda plots:

skyward sword zelda during her time on the surface because you could have some REALLY good conflict between her goddess side and her human side and the way she slowly realises she has to manipulate link

zelda becoming sheik in oot!!

my roommate pointed it out the other day but i haven't been able to stop thinking about it since: majora's mask stop motion movie in the style of gdt's pinocchio. directed of course by mr Fucked Up Fairytale del toro himself

[ladyjenise]

I watched the new Tears of the Kingdom trailer, and decided to sit back, think about it, read some analysis from others, and try to understand what I saw.

The initial reactions online swung wildly from full hype to disinterest. I probably shouldn’t be too surprised bc I can’t recall a Zelda trailer that has been universally loved. Twilight Princess was close but that was a thing of its time. Zelda games need to be played to understand their brilliance. The true mark of great media.

But I’m not here to analyze people’s reactions. I’m here to talk game.

The Gameplay

Admittedly I wasn’t quite sure about it. I’m not a fan of sky shit bc I am afraid of heights (even in games - makes me anxious as fuck) but with this second trailer and having read comments from folks who watch more gameplay streams and Youtube, my understanding is this game will have more soapbox elements to craft vehicles and whatnot, and that sounds dope as fuck.

Consider the interviews with some of the devs after BOTW released: many discussed the influence of Minecraft, a game that became wildly popular since Skyward Sword released. You can of course point back to many Zelda-like elements in Minecraft, too. This connection between the two series is an excellent example of media influence is a dialogue. I’m very excited to see what elements Tears of the Kingdom brings to it.

Aside from the trailer, if you go to the e-shop, you’ll see the description for the game laying out that this is likely to be more of a sandbox game than maybe any Zelda before it (sorry for the shitty pic lol)

The words “create” and “imagination” really spell it out: this is basically Zelda Minecraft, and I’m here for it.

Link’s Weird Hand/Arm, The Master Sword, and Zelda

I put these all together because I’m not going to say a lot about each, but they’re obviously tied. And Link’s weird arm is related to both the story and game mechanic (he’s using it with powers like the Sheikah Slate gave him).

I can’t guess too much at the story bc I haven’t seen enough. Zelda falls down a hole at point (seeing a lot of “Zelda dies” posts from people who, I assume, don’t understand story or are trolls) and Link and Zelda are separated. Maybe Zelda will be playable, maybe she won’t be. Depends on if it fits into the game mechanics.

Link’s corrupted arm and the decaying Master Sword are connected. I doubt Fi will be returning in any major way like in Skyward Sword, just perhaps callbacks (its too complicated for the story and her use as a guide isn’t needed). However, something (or better yet, SOMEONE) is deliberately trying to destroy the Master Sword. Of course they are: the Master Sword has the ability to repel AND lock away evil. Ganondorf himself in Wind Waker describes it as a key, and every time we have seem him he is killed or held in place by its power (in OOT, Link holds him with it so the sages can toss him away into the Sacred Realm, in Wind Waker it turns him to stone, and in Twilight Princess it kills him). We haven’t seen Ganondorf since Twilight Princess. Presumably by BOTW he’s figured out the sword needs to go. And that’s what is happening: the key to hold back Ganondorf is being destroyed.

As for Link’s arm, its facing similar decay. But its not being destroyed. It’s just withering to look corpse-like (and look like a certain Gerudo king whose corpse we also see - more on him in a sec). But why Link? Maybe its a way to destroy him, too.

I had this thought about how, if Breath of the Wild was revisiting the original Zelda, then what if Tears of the Kingdom is revisiting Zelda II? And if that is true, one major plot point in that game is that monsters are hunting Link because if they kill him and spread his blood on Ganon’s ashes, they will revive him (if you die in the game it tells you Ganon returns, ominously lol). So what if that’s how Ganondorf is trying to revive?

The only thing is that it doesn’t quite fit with Zelda’s words in the trailer, but its just a theory so I’m excited to be wrong, too.

Return of Ganondorf(???)

One of the bigger story reveals of the trailers has been the Ganondorf-like corpse hanging around (in some cases literally).

First off, is it Ganondorf? We assume yes because all evidence points to it. Probably the best argument is that he wears a Gerudo emblem, and he presents as male. Male Gerudo being extremely rare and, in BOTW, non-existent (presumably due to Ganondorf acquiring the Triforce of Power and living forever), it is unlikely to be any other Gerudo male but him.

But is HE running the show? The voice over in this trailer was, for me, something I was actually hoping for, and I was shocked I got it. But it makes sense: Ganondorf is the last major Zelda character who had no voice. He’s a fan fave, the devs like him. He feels like the missing piece.

I’ve seen theories that the voice was Demise but that doesn’t work: Ganondorf is Demise reborn like Zelda is Hylia. So they’re the same person. I think we’re so used to being tricked and hoodwinked by modern media that when we are presented now with the most obvious answer we hesitate to believe it. But its likely Ganondorf.

But what is he doing? Reviving? Or is his power being used by someone else? An interesting scenario would be if Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf are forced to work together for a common interest. There’s also the possibility that Ganondorf is tricks them into freeing him from something else.

However, i really think there’s a point where Ganondorf is pulling the strings bc his speech points to the huge grudge he has against the Kingdom of Hyrule, the destruction of the Master Sword he sees as gatekeeping his powers, and the destruction of Link, the hero who keeps thwarting him.

He could also be trying to get Link to switch places with him in a kind of limbo-hell. What if thats the corruption away Link’s body? a reverse curse where Link is drained and goes to whatever purgatory Ganondorf is stuck in?

That’s all I have for now. I’m sure more will come in time. And all will be revealed this May!

[ofcowardiceandkings]

me rambling about "Staring at the Sun" by Jacob Gellar and how much it smacked me in the face under the cut lol (contains exactly ZERO spoilers for TotK 💙)

AS SOON as i saw that his video would touch on the quests it does in some way i knew it'd fuck me up for a week or two but i didnt expect it to go that way - he rarely dives into the base plot of these things so i knew that was safe but ohhhh man

ive not played The Last Guardian but i know its one of my best friends favourite games, though the light in watching my partner play Shadow of the Colossus was amazing to see, but this really hit me hard because it pin-pointed one of the things i love most and maybe why i just love being in the world of Tears of the Kingdom (and BotW) so much ?? ive always been a fan of impressionist art too, and Turner as well, i've been trying to push myself into that space in my own art for so long. i always feel mega cliche saying these really well known artists are my favourites but i truly mean it jfdkjf ... this is probably one of the reasons i appreciated how bright and chipper the art style for Skyward Sword was with its fading blues and 'brush strokes', but it just doesnt compare to Breath or Tears with the amount of work the light puts in now, i spend so much time just STARING and ive just realised its usually at the light playing the forms and atmosphere in a real but beyond real way

i'm stuck in two art world of really enjoying doing linework and texture - and being reasonable at it - but wanting to go into colour and light though ive never been comfortable with doing so for some reason ??? im trying but i often just forget to try when im just drawing something self-indulgent and silly (most of what i have time for)

the play of light off cave art and that theory has lodged in my head forever too, As A Nerd On Such Things, there's something absolutely stunning about cave art, how it was made how it was put there and why how it was supposed to be viewed if at all, anything. absolutely fascinating, especially with the seemingly shifting images of Chauvet & Lascaux caves ??

a thing that always stuck with me as well - it might seem like a bizarre pull but it feels the same to me - is actually how the sun is portrayed and animated in the 1978 Watership Down ??? pulsing and moving and quaking with pattern and colour, not to be seen properly by us on earth, but you cant NOT look. i've not shaken the imagery of the sun from that movie from my mind since the first time i saw it as a child im STILL obsessed, it STILL almost haunts me

additionally, as someone who's repeatedly defended how these games look to people who complain about framerates and textures and whatever, i appreciate this. don't get me wrong, it doesnt HURT, especially from such a large gaming company (not that Nintendo have ever put heavy focus on the technical specs of their products though lets be real) but Breath/Tears just emphasises how much art direction or a vision can carry a project compared to other high-spec but ultimately forgettable titles. maybe a little much salt in that sentiment on my end but boy it bothers me when its all people can think about.

i'm gonna be stuck here for another few weeks lol this happens every time Jacob posts a video theyre ALL so winding and drawn out and beautiful gjfkds fuck

[letsplayzelda]

Hey Listen!

This is my Zelda sideblog to word vomit about my fav lil guys throughout the series. Here I go by Twilight and use they/them pronouns. I'm currently playing through Tears of the Kingdom rn and may post spoilers about it.

Anyways, here's a list of which games I've played (thoughts and word vomit included):

The Legend of Zelda: I've beaten the first quest! Did not 100% it bc this game was too hard for me to manage that. This forced me to have quicker reactions in games and I'm greatful lmao

Adventures of Link: I cannot for the life of me progress. I'm definitely overleveled for where I need to be, but Death Mountain simply bests me every time. I'm still trying tho.

A Link to the Past: I've played the opening, but that's about it.

Link's Awakening: Finished the Switch version! I wanna play the DX version at some point, but that probably won't happen until I play all the other games in the series at least once. I get a little depressed every time I think about Marin...

Ocarina of Time: I have played this game like three times. First on GameCube, then the 3D remake on 3DS, and then the N64 multiplayer mod. I plan on 100%ing it at some point, but I just dread doing heart containers and skulltulas. I wanna play Master Quest at some point too. Agh Link at the end of this game just makes me wanna sob.

Majora's Mask: Similar situation to OoT (I have the Collector's Edition for GC), except I never finished the original version. I've only beat the 3DS version. Recently started the multiplayer mod, but we've only done like 2 cycles.

Oracle of Seasons: I have the 3DS Virtual Console version, but I haven't played it yet.

Oracle of Ages: I played a little bit of this game, but it's been so long that I'll probably restart it when I plan to finish it.

Four Swords: I literally bought a used dsi to get this damn game. I've beat this game, but I've yet to 100% it. Kinda hard to bc it's not as fun playing it single player.

Wind Waker: Playing this game was such a treat. I played the GC version so sailing took literal ages but besides that, I rly enjoyed Tetra <3 tho Nintendo did her dirty. On the trend of beating games, I haven't 100% this one either. There's so many side quests that I simply cannot invest my time in. Like the Goron one? No clue what's going on there.

Four Swords Adventures: Ik there's a sub-fandom that rly loves this game but that's literally the most ik about it. I've yet to play it but I'll have to hunt down a copy at some point.

Minish Cap: oooo I fucking love this game. I haven't finished it yet, but that's because I got sidetracked by so many different things. I've wasted so much time trying to get all the figures it's insane. Plus this game is gorgeous <3

Twilight Princess: I played the Wii version of this game and honestly, I wished I didn't. Not bc I don't like this game, but because I did not like the motion controls. And this was the first time Link was right handed which is kinda lame. So I'll probably play one of the other versions of this game at some point. BUT, I adore the story in this game. Love Wolf Link and Midna. I literally cried at the end of this game, it was absolutely devastating.

Phantom Hourglass: I'm like halfway through this game I think. I'm not a big fan of it's controls or graphics, but I enjoy the follow up to WW. Also Linebeck's character development is very sweet.

Spirit Tracks: Once I finish PH, I'll play this one. Ik I probably don't need to, but I like following timeline stuff.

Skyward Sword: I played the Switch version and it's probably the only way I would've been able to get through it. I mainly played with motion controls but would switch to button controls for certain fights bc I was sick of struggling. Link and Zelda's relationship in this game is very cute. I also rly enjoyed the dungeons and getting more of Hyrule's history.

A Link Between Worlds: My second Zelda game ever, and I still consider it one of my favorites. Ravio and Hilda are some of the best characters ever. I can't remember if I 100% this game, but ik I got very close if I hadn't. If ALttP is as good as this game, I will probably love that game as well.

Tri Force Heroes: I've played some of this game, but I feel it suffers from a lot of the same issues as FS since no one ik has this fucking game. Have I finished it? No. Will I? If I can find two people to suffer through this game with me. I enjoy that the game doesn't take itself too seriously and has a bunch of fun outfits, but that's all I can rly say about it.

Breath of the Wild: My first Zelda game!! I've spent almost 500 hours in this game and still haven't 100% it. I'm at like 86% with just 150ish koroks left but now that TotK is out, it will be a while before I touch the game again. I fucking adore this game (although I hated it at first) and the relationship between Zelda and Link is just. Mwah. Mipha, Sidon, and Urbosa are my favs from this one <3

Tears of the Kingdom: I've been playing this since release day and have been loving it! It definitely fixes a lot of the weird quirks BotW had, but I'm finding I have more issues with this game so far. I'm at around 130 hours with 3 dungeons done so far, but I'll likely dive deeper into my thoughts once I finish the game.

[game-boy-pocket]

i’m curious why you dislike skyward sword’s story. not that i disagree with you, i just haven’t heard of anyone that hasn’t loved the story before

Because it promised a lot and delivered nothing. We were going to learn the origin of the Master Sword, and that origin is that it was an upgrade of a sword that already existed. So what's the origin of that sword then?

We were promised we were going to see a lot of things fall into place that would set up ocarina of time. We got.... "maybe this will eventually become the temple of time, but we're not telling" and a really shitty origin for Ganondorf that kind of ruined the character for me, personally speaking, not only that but it was revealed in the most unceremonious way possible. And we got a new goddess at the earliest point in the timeline that had supposedly been there the whole time, when we really didn't need this character because the Golden Goddesses were already very good divine figures for the series, and i've noticed they are barely mentioned anymore while Hylia is now somehow remembered this many millennia in the future? Skyward Sword is not an origin of anything, it just kind of "suggests" a few origins, except for the worst ones which are just flat out said by Demise.

I also actively dislike Zelda in SS. Mostly in the beginning of the game, but she's kind of pushy and ignores Link's concerns that something is wrong with his loftwing and then just shoves him off the side of Skyloft? That's fucked up. They also play up the romance a bit but it falls flat becuse Link, a silent protagonist who is meant to reflect the player, is not believable in a romance subplot.

Then you have Fi, this entity who, again, supposedly been in the Master Sword this whole time ( and also, only just now does she start showing signs she's still around? ), who's robotic way of speaking is meant to be charming but it really just makes me unable to connect with her, and it it makes that whole "emotional" goodbye at the end of the game feel extremely unearned... and that's not even fatoring in all the annoying tutorial text she spouts at you. She's not the only one who does this but she's plot relevant.

I didn't really see any characters in this game that I liked very much, the one exception being Groose.

Then this also kind of spit in the face of the backstory for Zelda 2. That was supposed to have the origin of the very first Princess Zelda, whom all other princesses were named. That may be cool with fans who don't care about retro Zelda, but it's not cool with me.

I don't think making a game set at the beginning of the timeline was necessarily a bad idea but they executed it horribly, they treated this as if it was a self contained thing mostly.

I have way more problems with Skyward Sword than just it's story. But the story is a big problem for me. I was kind of glad story was de-emphasized in the next game, because SS put a bit too much emphasis on it.

[serious-tabaxi]

I'm just gonna get this off of chest

I actually really hate tears of the kingdom.

Oh, first king of hyrule eh? huh, I must have missed that part of Skyward Sword, the bit where the camel people came down from the mountains and where like "hello hey howdy greeting bonjour I'm actually gonna make the kingdom named after the goddess that save you specifically".

"darkest legend of zelda game" MY ASS! it's lighter hearted than the FUCKING wind waker (granted Wind Waker isn't actually *THAT* happy, like, narrativily, it's just cartoony and brightly lit). Nobody brings up that they said that before release and either they retracted it or they just forgot I guess BUT I REMEMBER E V E R Y T H I N G.

what do you MEAN the shiekah tech "went back in the ground"? what, did it just fuckin' SINK? and NO ONE tried to dig it back up? not even, oh, I don't know, the faction founded specifically because they wanted to keep using the technology that they were banned from using? maybe them? no? ok, sucks to be in the yiga clan I guess.

WHatever happened to the zonai being mesoamerican-themed "barbarians" with implied connection to lurelin instead of vaguely indiochinese purple camels? OH! I know! the writers caved into peer pressure and made their new faction with no relation to past games into being the zonai out of fear of upsetting the fans, THAT'S what happened.

IT HAS THE SAME FUCKING PLOT AS BOTW BUT WITH MORE STUPID FLUFF TO ADD PLAYTIME. YOU CAN'T JUST HAVE TWO GAMES WITH TWO DIFFERENT ANCIENT TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED PRECURSOR RACES BACK-TO-BACK! YOU NEED AT LEAST TWO GAMES BETWEEN THEM!

Fuck you and your stupid camels with your stupid long necks and your weird stupid long dragons.

man I used to be EXCITED for this shit. Majora's Mask (and the original BOTW) still on top.

i think nintendo really should have said outright "yeah, this is completely seperate from all other zeldas <3" because as it is, true, botw and totk(i guess age of calamity too) dont really fit in with any other zelda games.

[aemehhh]

Ohhh I see you're a fellow TLOK and JJBA fan 😌👌 I'm happy I found your blog!

Which Link and game are your favourite? Mines are Skyward Sword and its Link. I would die for SS Link everytime. (Not that I wouldn't for the other Links, but SS Link is special to me just like the game itself)

Oh this is such a tough one! I have to be honest, I only recently got back into the series, like, a year ago with BOTW and then TOTK! I grew up playing Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on the N64 (both of which I fucking loved to death) and then kind of got out of playing them. However, my love for the games rekindled when I played BOTW.

So, I haven't played a lot of them yet. What I did do, however, was watch at least 300 hours of video material on all the games.. xD

My absolute favorite Link would either be the one from TOTK/BOTW or Twilight (the TP Manga just hit different, not sure if your read it). Totk/botw Link has such a silly, adorable personality that I couldn't help, but fall in love with! And I also feel so sorry for him; he basically died trying to protect his kingdom, only to be resurrected, waking up a hundred years later to see he basically died for nothing and having to save the world AGAIN. And if that wasn't enough, a few years later the princess goes missing under his care AGAIN, he has to save the world AGAIN. Which, of course, is his job, but the guilt that must be eating him up alive? It gives me shivers. He also has a soft spot in my heart for getting me back into the franchise <3

Also, sidenote, I do LOVE Skyward Sword (watched way too many video essays for my own good) and I am saving up to get it, because the Story is just so cool? I think it gets hated too much for the gameplay (though, I would have to play it first to make a real, unbiased judgement on that). I totally see that you have good taste hehe😽

I do have to say, as an honorable mention, Time hits different, too. Not just speaking from the Nostalgia standpoint, but his life is so, so tragic. He lost his whole childhood, was sent back to relive it, only to have to go through another tragic adventure. And if that wasn't enough, he dies later on in life during a random battle? Lil thing couldn't get any rest, and I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him :(

[crystalelemental]

"megazardx2: USUM…That was where all the trouble with mainline Pokémon really started, looking back on it. I’d probably be mentally better off if I’d jumped ship back then and invested all my time in the anime. (Oh wait, Journeys happened…)"

I think USUM was the biggest notably failure of a story mode, but it's debatable when the backslide really started. I personally still argue XY. Even though I've come to like those games well enough, I feel like it was the first time you could really feel how much less was in a game, and that things weren't going in a great direction. They still had some really good ideas, and I think were trying to make the series more accessible, which...worked to some degree, I suppose. Gen 7 was an attempt at improving story (cited as a problem in Gen 6), and to increase difficulty (also cited as a problem in Gen 6 by the specific fans we know), but the changes in gameplay were the worst they ever had and no one liked it. So with Gen 8 I think they kinda tried to synthesize the two, aiming for a simpler story (that wouldn't anger parents), with the simplified gameplay of Gen 6.

It's kinda like...look, it's kinda like Zelda I feel? You know how everyone got really pissy Wind Waker wasn't just like OoT, but then it really grew on people because it's legitimately great, but they tried to listen to fan feedback and made Twilight Princess, which got people mad for being too much like OoT and not doing its own thing, so they gave up on that and made Skyward Sword trying to bridge the gap between the two but then no one liked it because it's actually terrible, so they fucked off and did whatever they wanted and now you have the BotW/TotK thing going on? I feel like Pokemon did the same. Even down to the ability to argue that Gen 8 was an attempt at synthesizing the two styles that didn't click but eventually gained some following, and the argument that Gen 9 is giving up on listening to fan feedback and doing what they wanted to much greater success, even if it wasn't to everyone's tastes. The difference, I think, is Zelda still has to care. Yeah it's one of the big Nintendo IPs, but it's not at the same level of effectively unkillable as a franchise as Pokemon seems to be. Or at the very least, Nintendo cares more about Zelda, because while Zelda still gets a ton of budget and all the time they need, Pokemon Company is insistent on pumping out whatever's done after three years despite diminishing quality, because this is literally for baby children and their marketing strategy is pretty flawless so it keeps selling like hotcakes.

...I kinda forget where I was going with this. I swear my intention was to be depressing.

[jcmorrigan]

blakeworther- I personally I love your hc’s so much- any au’s or anything ya got for them? I really wanna know more about what goes on.

This was once again a BAD QUESTION TO ASK

Aside from the Skyward Sword AU, which I never went back to again, there’s only one AU that I like for Blakeworther, which is the AU that I like for everything ever. I’m not even sure I consider it a true AU, even though it absolutely is. So, okay, I have this thing called the WHAM ARMY, which is a massive crossover group of my favorite villains (led by the eight who make up the acronym but this ain’t about them). Obviously, because Victor, Vincent, and Albert are all pretty firmly villains (even if they lean “those weird morally bereft people we end up being friends with somehow”), I want them to join the WHAM ARMY. So my thoughts for them here are pretty much how they’d react in a multicrossover setting, which of my other villain loves they’d get along with, and what the intro arc is for them. Keep in mind I haven’t gotten here in the fanfic yet, so some of this could change in practice, but here are my plans right now.

Cringe ahead.

-They aren’t the originals. I want to make something that doesn’t trip over canon’s current trajectory, even though I don’t know exactly where canon is going, so what happens is that Vexen (Kingdom Hearts) is going to rebuild the three of them as replicas, since he can easily find memory cores for Victor and Vincent in Myers’ storage rooms and there’s just going to be an Albert core there for no reason.

-Vexen then pulls some Chain of Memories magic and restricts the memories they have access to. They will only remember things we have literally seen in VTSOM/TWDAK, and then I can have him release more of their memory banks to them as we get more chapters. (Even if they all three get redemption arcs, my replica versions can stay little shits!)

-He DOES NOT tell them that they’re not the originals! For all they know, they fell asleep at the last day they remember and woke up here. But they figure it out on their own despite his best efforts. They still want to get their memories back anyway so they know what the people they were replicated from were like and have a framework to build their personalities from.

-Yes, of course they’re cyborgs! Cyborg replicas. Since they’re operating by KH rules, they prooooobably don’t need to eat human meat? But also I like when villains do fucked-up things and I have jokes about the others packaging “cyborg chow” to embarrass them so maybe they still do engage in a little cannibalism, as a treat

-Each was engineered with a different specialty. Vincent’s is raw physical strength; he can walk into a gunfight without even needing a weapon and still have a chance of winning. Victor’s arms have been upgraded to hold a variety of cannons; he’s the team sniper. Albert is the team “mage���; he can conjure Dream Eaters. In this AU, TWDAK Dream Eaters and KH Dream Eaters are basically the same thing. Albert has mastered a strange art of being able to draw Dream Pieces out of the Realm of Sleep and implant them in physical forms of creatures in the waking world, creating his army. They look like they do because he hates the pastel aesthetic of KH Dream Eaters and redesigned his personal ones to look more fitting with his aesthetic. He’s also a speedster.

-The intro mission involves Vexen attempting to track down a newly-rebuilt Xion (this AU is divergent from KHIII) in Radiant Garden so he can bring her back under his control with some brainwashing. I’m also bringing in the Tsviets as past experiments of Vexen’s, so he’s basically pitting his newer models of experiment against his old ones.

-The party he already has built by this point is going to be Demyx, Simon Laurent (Infinity Train), Tsumugi Shirogane (DanganRonpa), skekSil (The Dark Crystal), and a couple other people I haven’t hinted at instory yet and don’t quite want to spoil. But Simon, Tsumugi, and skekSil will all also be Vexen’s creations - Simon and skekSil are replicas and Tsumugi is an android.

-Vincent, Victor, and Albert wake up for the first time, and while Vincent and Victor remember each other as friends, they’re just like “And why is our nemesis from RMU also here?”

-Albert probably fights with Vincent for dominance of the trio and I’m not sure which one of them is the trio leader at this point.

-I moved Nine Bean Hill from World of Final Fantasy to Radiant Garden because Radiant Garden needs a coffee shop and first of all, thanks to Hunger Games Simulator fuckery, my friends and I have an in-joke about Vincent Edgeworth having an eternal grudge against Dunkacino, so I’m going to use the coffee shop to reference this somehow without having to put actual Corporate Brainwashed Al Pacino in this ‘verse

-But also I like to think Lann and Reynn play a lot of bubblegum pop, so catch Victor and Albert dancing to the PA like idiots and then getting Demyx, skekSil, and Simon in on it while Vincent and Vexen are like “Oh God why are these our friends”

-(There are reasons this particular Demyx goes by a different name instory and it’s weirding me out to type “Demyx” for this post)

-Without spoiling too much of the arc, there IS a part where Blakeworther beats up the Tsviets, there IS a part where they battle the Anima summon from FFX and win, and there IS a part where despite all of this, Xion kicks their asses across the city

-They go through this mission seeing each other as partners and friends (though Vincent and Albert are reluctant to use the “friend” word at first), but after they all get back to base, they’re just...suddenly overwhelmed with the fact that they’re strangers in a strange land missing half their memories.

-They room together, and they end up crawling into the same bed for solidarity reasons. This is actually where I first envisioned the “rough day” sleeping position - Vincent and Victor are chest-to-chest, then Albert just snuggles in behind Victor and the other two are like “Okay, we’re gonna just let this happen” and Vincent and Albert touch at one tangent point where their arms cross.

-The days might get a little rougher after they realize they aren’t even the originals.

-Eventually they assimilate into the chaos house with no problem.

-Vincent tends to hang out with the party poopers of the house. Especially Mozenrath (Aladdin: The Animated Series). (P.S. If there are any VTSOM fans out there who also know the 90s Aladdin TV series...I CAN’T be the only one who noticed the surface similarities here, right?)

-Victor Blake and Roman Torchwick (RWBY). Oh, God, this is the hell duo. They’re party animals who love to dance and drink and dance drunk. It was not a good idea to let these two redheads meet.

-Albert and Neopolitan (RWBY)! They both love stabbing people and Victorian button boots! I actually kinda have this idea that they would pick up more fucked-up serial killer types to hang out with them - Mad Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone) is their patron despite being a much tamer example, but Albert also decides he really likes Scaramouche (Samurai Jack), Junko Enoshima (DanganRonpa), and Jerome Valeska (Gotham).

-For a real deep cut, Albert also opens up a joint Dream Therapy office with Dr. Cheshire Broach (Crypt TV). It’s either called “Krueger & Broach” or “Broach & Krueger” depending on how long it takes either to notice that the other moved his name to the front of the sign again. You should ABSOLUTELY not trust either of these men to give you legitimate therapy (though if you’re good friends with them, they can and will use their dreamon powers to help you best your nightmares in a bloody fashion).

-Actually this ‘verse is the entire reason I thought of them doing drag karaoke to “United We Stand” by Amberian Dawn because the WHAM ARMY is all about karaoke, drag, and any combination of the two

-I haven’t decided yet if their romance will be a slow burn or a faster affair. I’m expecting them to tell me as I write out the fic. But I think in a lot of respects, it’s going to be more of a friends-to-lovers story than their original forms had. The three of them are forced to become an elite cyborg warrior unit created by the same mad scientist, they had a big bonding mission together where they became ride or die (whether or not they want to admit it), and eventually...we can start revealing that they’re CATCHING FEELINGS.

-The WHAM ARMY has many, many power couples and ships of various numbers of people but Blakeworther ends up becoming yet another POWER THROUPLE around base, and it’s understood that messing with one of them will earn the wrath of the other two

-They go on to assist in many, many missions with the purpose of taking over various worlds and kingdoms and just fucking them up

-Vincent Edgeworth will kill the TBTC equivalent of Dunkacino

You have to understand that TBTC is my hyperfixation to end all hyperfixations. Every piece of fiction I touch ends up related to it in some way. At some point the majority of how I interact with Blakeworther is going to be through this AU. I’m just a sucker for crossovers and villains having a place to be bros and party.