#i KNOW the answer is so the game devs could have her react

[the-grey-hunt]

in the submarine when sissel changes his "face", lynne reacts with shock even though they never enter the ghost world....if a ghost is visible like that, i wonder, what did they see when they looked at the pile of trash?

[mandalhoerian]

I’m really impressed by your analysis of Raf’s new card! Everything you stated makes so much sense and gave me a fresh perspective on his insecurities.

However, I recently came across a discussion on Reddit where someone pointed out that Rafayel's actions could be seen as problematic. They argued there’s a lack of consent from MC, suggesting that MC wasn’t fully into it. They mentioned the use of the dagger as a symbol of the MC's discomfort or pain, which they attributed to her being tense or unrelaxed. They also highlighted how MC seemed to try distracting him, like asking him to answer the phone or pointing out the snow.

Personally, I don’t agree with their interpretation, but I’m struggling to articulate why. Do you have any thoughts or interpretations that might help address this perspective?

Okay, um. First and foremost, thank you for sharing your thoughts and for trusting me with this question, but god did I literally react like this.

But, before we get into the analysis of the deed itself, let’s start first by grounding this discussion in the context of the product that is Love and Deepspace.

This is a 12+ rated action-adventure sci-fi otome game, which sets a clear expectation for the tone and themes presented. While otome games can and often do explore nuanced and occasionally darker themes (and this doesn't mean they have subpar writing just because they're meant for a wider audience), they are typically balanced with the age-appropriate rating in mind. In a banner like this that is intentionally designed to revolve around romantic sex, it’s essential to recognize that the developers aren’t aiming to create content that veers into dead dove or non-consensual territory. To suggest that the writers or developers would include something as serious as this, especially under the guise of a romance storyline, is not only a misinterpretation but also an extreme departure from the genre’s conventions and the intended tone of the game.

The entire theme of the event is centered on exploring romantic tension, intimacy, and the growing bond between characters in a way that’s exciting but ultimately safe and consensual. The "spice" in these scenarios is shockingly suggestive when you have the censorship in mind, and designed to make us scream, not to introduce dark or inappropriate themes that would completely undermine the romantic fantasy. To imply otherwise is frankly absurd and feels like reading intent where there is none.

1) Otome games, particularly those rated 12+, are crafted to engage players in a romantic and emotionally fulfilling experience. They're fluffy, they're angsty, they can be dark and heavy, but even in more mature otome games, themes of non-consent (when they appear) are explicitly framed and addressed with appropriate tonal shifts. This isn’t a game where heavy, disturbing themes are shoehorned into a romantic storyline for shock value.

2) If the developers were truly presenting a situation where non-consensual sex or coercion was involved, it would be a complete betrayal of the genre, the event’s theme, and the player’s trust. The "spice" banner would instantly alienate the audience it’s designed for and spark backlash, not romantic engagement. The devs know their audience and their ratings, and this simply isn’t the place or context for something so serious.

Now that we're done WHY this sort of scenario CANNOT be the case for infold's writing, let's go into the symbolism and the language used to describe the act.

Rafayel enters the room abruptly and begins kissing MC without preamble. While this could initially seem forward, the scene takes care to show that:

MC actively breaks away to question him multiple times. This demonstrates that she is neither overpowered nor silenced, she has the agency to assert herself.

When she bites his lip, Rafayel respects this boundary and answers her questions, and more importantly, stops being non-verbal and communicates. It shows he is responsive to her cues, even when caught up in the moment.

The dynamic here leans into playful tension rather than coercion. MC’s actions (breaking away and biting) and Rafayel’s response (answering her and continuing to interact with her desires) showcase a mutual push-and-pull, common in romantic tension scenes.

As the scene progresses, it becomes clear that MC is not just passively involved but actively reciprocates:

Holds his hand on her own to make him accept the call while they're being sexual. That's freaky.

She flips him over and begins initiating physical affection, kissing him from his ear to his chest. This is a strong indication that she is not only comfortable but also eager to participate in their intimacy.

The "punish" action selected by the player highlights MC’s playful intent and interest in this interaction, especially in the context of teasing Rafayel while his friend’s call looms in the background. This playful edge basically screams mutual enjoyment rather than discomfort.

And now to the main course

the dagger

Listen. As much as we've normalized that this is dick in puss moment, infold can't. So, they've got to use euphemisms to describe Rafayel's dick and what he does with it. The metaphor of the "dagger" isn't meant to represent his dick and it hurting her.

Soft sharpness seeps into me bit by bit: This describes the initial entry, slow and deliberate, emphasizing Rafayel’s care in ensuring the act is comfortable and mutual. "Soft" reflects the intensity of the sensation without implying pain by juxtaposing with "sharpness". It also tells you that "soft sharpness" is his dick and it's describing how gentle he's being. How can sharpness be soft? When you're careful with it that it doesn't feel "sharp" anymore. It's meant to be a stand-in for his cock. It's not describing pain. It's his peanis. The dong. The verb "seeps" here says all you need to know, it's not painful.

Then it (the <<soft sharpness>>) digs into me like a dagger: This directly describes Rafayel increasing his movement (or thrusting), with the "dagger" symbolizing THE MOVEMENT. You know what you do with a dagger? Stab with it. The imagery of a dagger isn’t meant to evoke harm, it’s a stand-in for the deliberate and rhythmic motion of penetration.

So, in smut-language, Rafayel was putting it in slowly, then half-way, he thrusted it all the way in, quickly.

And so, let's interpret the act going forward.

"Yellow sand as far as the eye can see is covered by snow"

Remember that Rafayel indirectly called MC "the snow" by saying "it was soft and beautiful" when she pointed out it was snowing in the desert? This metaphor reflects the emotional and physical dynamic between Rafayel and MC. The “yellow sand” symbolizes Rafayel and his inner turmoil, dryness, and insecurities. The “snow” represents MC and his soothing presence and how her love transforms and comforts him. They are also on top of each other lmao, he is being “covered” by her presence, fully surrendering to her.

"We approach the sea beyond the dunes despite the bumpiness"

The "sea" symbolizes climax or release, both physically and emotionally. The “bumpiness” describes the physical intensity of their rhythm as they near this point together.

"Ripples travel along the undulating water's surface"

Yep. They're still going at it. This metaphor captures the sensations and physical effects of reaching climax. The ripples signify the aftereffects of release, the pleasure that radiates and envelops both of them. This is Rafayel and MC experiencing the peak of their intimacy, with the “undulating water” representing their synchronized pleasure and satisfaction.

"Swept into that endless blue"

Post-orgasm bliss. The overwhelming euphoria and serenity that comes with shared climax. It emphasizes the emotional connection they feel in this moment—boundless and all-encompassing.

"This isn't the abyss. Rather, it's a place filled with red flame lilies. This is Rafayel's color."

Now, this is MY interpretation, so take it with a grain of salt.

The "abyss" here symbolizes the emotional and creative void Rafayel has been experiencing--his lack of inspiration and his deep-rooted insecurities that leave him feeling hollow and disconnected. The abyss represents the blank canvas of his mind.

The transition from the abyss to the field of red flame lilies signifies a turning point for Rafayel. The flame lilies are not just a burst of inspiration, they are deeply tied to MC and the way she has reignited his passion BEYOND pain, both as an artist and as a person capable of love and connection.

By stating, “This is Rafayel’s color,” the narrative emphasizes that the flame lilies are uniquely his. They symbolize the return of his personal brand of creativity and vibrancy. It’s not about finding generic inspiration, it’s about rediscovering his own voice and perspective and MC doesn’t simply provide inspiration, she helps him unlock what was already inside him, and I believe, somehow witnesses the bursting of life inside him in her mind throughout the bond they share. MC serves as the guiding force that helps him reclaim his “color,” allowing him to see himself, and his art, in a new light.

Flame lilies are striking and bold, often symbolizing passion, love, and transformation. They’re an apt metaphor for Rafayel’s internal rebirth. Where the abyss was blank and desolate, the lilies are vibrant and overflowing with meaning, mirroring his renewed sense of self.

So, yeah.

And let’s be honest if you’re going to suggest non-consensual sex in a scene where MC flips him over, actively teases him, and metaphorically commands his every move through a glowing mark on his chest, then maybe it’s time to step away from the Reddit threads and reconnect with nature, maybe consider why you're intentionally picking on Rafayel like this.

He even asked, “Are you sure?” AND checked in with her later with "Are you comfortable?" -- all green flags here. If that’s not the gold standard of consent in an otome game, I don’t know what is.

I hope this was satisfactory, anon!!!!!

[rae-zone]

Loadout of the Heart

Chapter Two: The Quiet Between Blades

They left the crowded edges of Ashveil Hollow and entered the Whispering Vale, a zone known for its eerie silence and sudden ambushes. The fog here didn’t feel like game code—it clung to the trees like something alive.

Cassie walked just a few steps behind Dexter, trying to figure him out.

He didn’t talk much. He didn’t react like other NPCs either. When a merchant shouted for help nearby, he didn’t trigger a quest prompt. When Cassie stumbled and her health dipped into the red, he didn’t shout a generic line. He turned—fast—and cut through a hidden Valehound with surgical precision.

Then he looked at her, eyes sharp, voice quiet. “You okay?”

Cassie blinked. “Yeah. Thanks.”

He nodded once. “They don’t usually spawn this early. Something’s shifted in the spawn cycle.”

She frowned. “You… noticed that?”

He said nothing. Just turned and kept walking.

Most characters in Hollow Rift didn’t break immersion like that. They didn’t comment on code behavior—or speak like they’d been watching the world longer than the devs themselves.

Eventually, they made camp in a broken shrine that sat in the center of a sunken grove. The mist thinned out here, and the fire Dexter built crackled with heat Cassie could actually feel through the haptic suit. She still wasn’t used to that.

He sat on a cracked stone slab, sharpening one of his blades. Not a looped animation—every movement was different, smooth, human.

Cassie finally sat across from him. “So… Dexter Storms. That your real name or just your dramatic stage title?”

He glanced up. “It’s what I was given. I didn’t choose it.”

She smirked. “Deep.”

He looked back down at the blade. “Names matter more when you don’t know where you came from.”

The fire popped.

Cassie tilted her head. “You have lore or something?”

“Not really,” he said. “Not like the others. No faction. No origin quest. No flashback cutscenes. Just… here.”

He stopped sharpening. Looked at her.

“You ever feel like you weren’t meant to be where you are—but still ended up there anyway?”

Cassie’s breath caught.

It didn’t sound like a line. Didn’t feel like a character moment.

It felt like a confession.

She tried to laugh it off. “I mean… I feel like that all the time. I suck at games. My brother’s the real player.”

Dexter’s expression shifted—just slightly. Like a flicker of something he couldn’t quite name.

“I like that,” he said.

“What?”

“You talk like you’re still trying to figure out who you are.”

She gave a half-smile. “Aren’t you?”

He stared into the fire for a long time before finally answering.

“I think I already know… I just don’t know if I’m allowed to be him.” Dexter whisper quiet lyrics , hoping the girl didn’t heard him..

[nukaberries]

Ahh im so happy to find a blog that writes new vegas! I got into it recently and its so fun! Sometimes i get tired of hearing the radio especially if im travelling way too much, so i just start singing any song that pops into my head or talk to the companions like they're real pfft

im also way too cheery for my own good lmao, game devs knew what they were doing when there was no push button for running, you know how many times i ran into mines and kept running 🧍🏽

I kinda wanna know how the companions would react to that? A Courier who practically bounces as they walk and if its not the radio or them talking to fill the silence, its them singing as they shoot radscorpions !! Couriers not half bad at singing either! They mostly sing quietly while walking the mojave for obvious reasons but on a night they feel especially safe, they'll be singing so well people will wonder why they're not making holotapes for mr new vegas to play (esp if they say the radio gets annoying at times)im sorry this is long im just excited to see a new vegas writer that hasnt left their blog 🤧

I'm SO late to this one, I'm so sorry! But I'm so glad you're enjoying New Vegas! It's tied with Red Dead Redemption 2 as one of my favourite video games! And I'm exactly the same when I play New Vegas, the radio's never off and I have no spatial awareness. I hope this was worth the wait!! (Sorry again lmao)

//

Companions React to a Loud/Chatty Courier (Includes: Arcade, Boone, Cass, Lily, Raul and Veronica)

Arcade Gannon Admittedly, he's a little intimidated at first. He agrees to go with the Courier since there's no point in him sticking around Freeside where he's not helping anyone. He just doesn't realise he's taken up with the most obnoxious person in the West. He's not annoyed by any means, in fact, the singing is actually quite a nice change from the radio. The constant talking is a little overwhelming for him at first though, as someone whose trying his best to keep his past with the Enclave a secret. He knows the Courier means no harm, and he feels a little guilty having to shut down their questions about him, knowing that they only mean well. They do bring out a different side to him he didn't know he had and he sometimes finds himself humming along to either the radio or Six's singing.

Craig Boone At first, he's annoyed by the Courier, but it's not like he has anything better to do. They're his best chance at wiping out the Legion, even if their incessant talking and singing is a little too much for him. He doesn't have a problem with them, but he prefers silence to having to begrudgingly answer someone who talks at a million miles per hour. The only time he'll really voice his complaints is when he actually needs them to be quiet, such as if they're trying to stealthily take out enemies, thankfully the Courier seems to know when to turn off their radio and stop singing. Eventually, the constant chatter and the singing - that he'll never admit is actually enough to rival the radio songs - become background noise he learns to appreciate. He'll never join in with the Courier's singing, but he tries his best to answer their questions and respond to their comments.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy Cass is another one who can't stand the Courier's chatter and singing at first, however, she's more than willing to voice this. A few times, she actually hid the Courier's Pip-Boy while they slept, unfortunately for Cass, they'd already memorised all the lyrics to Johnny Guitar and sung that on repeat for most of the day. It was starting to reach the point where Cass was certain they were doing it on purpose. The singing she hated, but the talking? She didn't mind the talking. In fact, Cass actually looked forward to the talking, she often struggled to make friends, considering her problems with whiskey, so it was nice to just make conversation sometimes. Sure, she'd still keep trying to put an end to the singing, no matter how good it was, but the talking Cass could live with.

Lily Bowen The first time Lily started travelling with the Courier, she was thrilled. Everyone in Jacobstown took life a little too seriously and being with the Courier was a refreshing change for her. Unlike most of the other companions, Lily actually loves the singing and the talking. She'll even suggest that the Courier tries their hand at singing on the Strip, the Tops and the Atomic Wrangler are always looking for new acts after all. Lily will even try and sing along with them, before realising her voice doesn't exactly compliment or rival the Courier's, but so long as they encourage to join in, she always will. The talking is just as lovely for her, it's nice to know that the Courier still cares about their grandma, even if they are growing up so fast.

Raul Tejada Never in all his years of being alive has he met someone like the Courier. It was one thing that they managed to deal with Tabitha, but the fact that they did it with Radio New Vegas playing on full blast from their Pip-Boy? Raul wasn't sure whether to be impressed or absolutely terrified. He leans more towards the latter once he starts travelling with them, struggling to keep up with the Courier constantly asking him questions about where he's from and what his life was like before the war and how he turned ghoul. Like Arcade, Raul finds it overwhelming and eventually asks politely if the Courier can calm down a little with all the questions, thankful when they actually oblige. He learns to love the Courier in spite of their loud habits, even being happy to fix their Pip-Boy when it stops letting them connect to the radio stations. It's against his better judgement, but they seem grateful for it.

Veronica Santangelo She immediately bonds with the Courier over their love for Radio New Vegas. Veronica wishes she had her own Pip-Boy so she could listen to the radio in her own free time, since lugging a radio around the Mojave Desert doesn't seem like the best idea. She absolutely loves the Courier's singing too, insisting that they don't forget her once they make it big in some bar in New Reno. She also tries her best to be the Courier's backup singer when wandering the wasteland, however, she accidentally stumbles up on a lot of her lyrics and trying to pronounce "Agua Fria" at the start of Big Iron quickly becomes the bane of her existence. Veronica also loves to gossip with the Courier, about her love life - and the Courier's if they're willing to disclose it - and all her least favourite things about her commanding officers in the Brotherhood. Whenever she travels with Six, Veronica manages to get a lot of off her chest

[randomnameless]

I know you love to call sothis the worst mom but I can't help but feel the only reason her (byleth too to a degree) gets shoved into never being able to take stance on anything is due to edelgard.

The multiple route systems and the devs trying (and failing) to make every side "have a point/reason". We can't let byleth (who sothis is stuck to) make choice by default to go against edelgard. Few characters are allowed to get pissed and stay that way with edelgard in both games. They shackle both byleth and sothis to "any route can be canon" so they don't get to react or remark to anything. No matter the route in hopes its the same for them. I wish they just committed to having byleth/sothis be the main villain protecting their family in hopes but they needed them both for marketing.

I don't see either character truly bad due to being underutilized and stagnant. The multiple-route system has to have them agree with all the routes regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

Of course anon!

That's the Doylist answer to Sothis being, well, nothing more than a plot device who has to follow the player's choice to side with X or Y, even when Y sides with Agarthans and swears to obliterate her kin.

Tru Piss is basically "fuck Sothis" route, but with a greater emphasis on Rhea because red herring and because "Rhea BaD", even if Supreme Leader is barking at the wrong tree!

And yeah, ultimately, all those characters are written in a doylist POV to fit with what the devs intended.

However, even if the Fodlan continuity is rife with, uh, writers and devs wanting to convey one thing but doing it in the most roundabout way possible so no one actually buys it - time and time again they could have written Sothis as a character who gives a fuck about her family, but doesn't.

Voice Line Anon (tm lol) is kind enough to provide me with a translation of her lines in Nopes, but basically yeah, the writers had her actually interact with her fam in an AU of an AU with NG+ on top.

And it would just be, annoying but okay-ish if a certain character's entire arc - as we're supposed to believe per the writers - is about meeting her again!

Mind you, even in SS (or VW), we don't see Sothis, fully aware, react to Rhea giving the most important infodump of all infodumps - answering one of Sothis's biggest questions after she woke up - and in the worst S-Support of the game, we're told they, uh, spoke while Rhea was flying in her half-berserk state and told her some words that made Rhea wonder if she should be happy not to have died.

We're not even in "any route can be canon", because Felix can be recruited to other routes than his own, but at least in AM Felix has plot relevance, has words for Dimitri and reacts to his dad's death. SS could have been the route where Rhea's despair, crying or begging for Sothis just to hold her once again, would amount to something... but no.

To give a parallel, the devs deliberately wrote Dedue as unrecruitable, but who participates in SS/VW to take down Supreme Leader. The same devs wrote Hilda as unrecruitable in Tru Piss - even if in Nopes she dgaf about Supreme Leader anymore and can join her team.

But the devs never bothered to make an event, less a line where Sothis talks to her children - especially to her heartbroken daughter - save for Nopes' AU of an AU. Heck, even in FEH they dance around it, and she looks even more callous because F!Rhea in her FB pleads for Sothis's presence and just wants to see her (even her lvl40 quote!) but Halloween!Sothis refuses to see Halloween!Rhea - when she knows she's the progenitor god!! - for some reason, and I'm pretty sure it's not one that is only tied to Supreme Leader.

Ultimately, yeah, I agree, Sothis is underutilised and stagnant, but both her apparition off-screen in SS and her S-Support in Tru Piss (any routes but Tru Piss takes the cake) really makes me wonder, did the devs really intended her to be a mc guffin but unconsciously wrote her to be the worst parent of the franchise - heck even Sonia looks better - ?

Nopes's NG+ lines really made me reconsider because gfdi she has lines she could have acted/reacted in the game damn it, they even got a characterisation for her regarding each of her relatives... but no.

At times I really wonder if the main crux of the game isn't the corollary to Hresvelg Tea - everyone should love Supreme Leader, of course, but "Rhea BaD" because if she's not "BaD" then what is the player even supposed to be/do? And as sad as it is, Sothis - in general - was used to fuel the "Rhea BaD" pyre more than, imo, the "Hresvelg Grey" uwufest, even if indeed, the two are closely linked.

[metaphorical-goblin]

Ask game! (For AA bc I’m not familiar with DnDads):

🎁💕✨📚

Ahh hi! First off thank you so much for asking! Hopefully we'll get some good stuff ehehe

🎁Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

I feel like I'm nothing but WIPs lately so let's see what we've got! This is from a little snippet of Miles traveling to Germany and getting himself a little companion.

Then, he stumbled his way to an animal shelter.

This was stupid. Utterly stupid.

The volunteer showed him around the facility–surprisingly clean, considering the nature of the business–and pointed out their residents while he fought the urge to cover his ears. Loud, yapping things and big, drooly mixes and old, trembling beasts that were standing on shaking legs. His heart twisted at the sight of those; he wasn’t sure that he could handle something like that at the moment.

Then, her. A collie mixed with something else (they weren’t quite sure), tapping back and forth on her feet, great pink tongue lolling out of her mouth as she kept jumping down into a bow in front of him. Her card said that she was about two years old (they weren’t quite sure) and that she was brought in because her previous owners could not handle her high energy. 

This was a horrible, terrible idea.

“I think… I think I’m interested in this one.”

💕What is your favorite fic that you've written?

I hate to repeat myself about this one all the time, but I just adore The Essential Guide to Avian Development. Seeing all of my research and work and everything just come together in such a beautiful and cohesive way is something I'm really proud of! Plus, seeing how others interpreted Avian characteristics and the characters' development was just so euphoric to see! It was such a blast to plan and write, and I really want to write another long fic soon!

If I had to pick another, it would probably be The Things We Agree to Believe Are True, which is kind of my self-indulgent sappy marriage fic, or Change of Heart (which, honestly, I wish I could go back and make longer lol).

✨Out of the comments you've received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

I'm going to be honest, I love ALL the comments I get! It makes me feel so nice when someone takes the time to write something out and share it with me; it's sort of like reading the story with someone!

Having said that... there have been a few that have made me feel extra-special, ehehe. One of the more recent ones was from Living_Death on "Double Date:"

I have come to the point at which I have noted your username at the top of really great reading experiences enough to where when I see it attached to a new fic, I get to feel excitement, and I am relieved to know that it's a fic from an author I trust. And that's honestly such a gift. I love your work, this included.

There are a few more that are a bit too long to post, but seeing ArthurtheGatekeeper basically live-react to reading "And I Will Stay With You Through Spring" was such a boost of confidence, and bat15's consistent and kind comments on every chapter of Avian Dev. when I was first posting was such a sweet feeling! It really helped me to continue writing.

📚Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

Ohhhh boy. That's a long answer. I won't rec any mature/NSFW fics at the moment since I'm not sure if you're comfortable with that, but I do have a few favorites I'd love to share (though, to be honest, you've probably heard of them already).

As far as authors go, you are in good hands with anything by Ophelia_Writes, kbots, whackamacka, JustNerdyThings, ArthurtheGatekeeper... I could go on, but we'd be here all day lol.

For fics, I'll try to keep it brief (and maybe not exclusively the authors I recommended).

I do have to point out "A Brief for the Defense" by Ophelia_Writes, specifically, though, because it is just such a beautiful illustration of grief and loss, character depth and development, flaws (Ophelia is incredible with character flaws that are realistic and functional). This is honestly one of the best overviews of Ace Attorney and I kind of consider it canon lol. The representation of Maya and spirit channeling, specifically, alongside the VK sibs complicated feelings about Manfred, are what really drew me in.

Another great read (particularly if you're interested in some fun Mia & Bratworth bonding) would be "No Winners" by MostWeakHamlets. It's still ongoing, but so far it has been really intriguing, especially regarding how Miles reacts to his losses and how Mia almost "coaches" him, in this parallel of treating him like a little brother, that is really beautiful.

A great fantasy fic would be "Phoenix Wright and the Myth of the Amethyst Prince" by EdwirdoNomen and prince_pqul. (Yes, I KNOW it says "Major Character Death," but just ignore it, I promise everything is happy in the end.) It's honestly this really whimsical, mythical quest to rescue the "captured prince," so to speak, with the whole cast of characters well-suited for the fantasy environment. The lore of the dragons is incredibly well-thought-out, and the world itself just oozes whimsy. It's a fantastic story, and it's complete!

Aaaaand, just so I'm not here all evening, my last recommendation is "The Wedding Planner" by famousinthatanonymousway. It's long, fluffy, and complete, so it's really the perfect little read to curl up with. I'm a sucker for AUs, and a WEDDING PLANNER AU?? WITH A BAKER??? oh that really takes the cake (pun so graciously intended). Plus, Pess is there! And who wouldn't want more Pess?

Wooo, sorry for the long-winded answer! I've never done an ask before so I think I just got excited. I hope you enjoy the recommendations, and thanks for reaching out!

[iaintyourbro]

Shipping Makes Me Question My Sanity

I learned about the FFVII waifu wars after playing the remake. I played the OG many moons ago, replayed it a few years ago, but really got interested in the character dynamics after playing FFVIIR. 

I foolishly looked up “Is the remake pushing Cloud and Tifa more?” I found the shipping wars... That I never knew existed. 

You see, I played the OG and it was pretty clear to me that the story went a certain way. In fact, I didn’t even associate FFVII to romance. 

FFVII was a story about a villain who was pissed off that a grunt killed him, so he finds a way to come back from the dead through clones that his father made to fuck with said grunt and get revenge on all the humans that wronged his Mother. 

(This is my explanation in as few words as possible, because we all know explaining FFVII would take multiple posts). 

So why did I look up my question about Cloud and Tifa? Well, I was shocked at how they presented them. I didn’t remember this from the OG. Like I said, I didn’t associate FFVII to romance like I did with VIII, IX, and X. Those were clear. FFVII didn’t have this as a main theme. FFVIIR created extreme sexual tension between Cloud and Tifa. 

I remember when you finally found out Cloud wasn’t a SOLDIER, that he actually DID kill Sephiroth 5 years ago, and that he did come to save Tifa - he fulfilled his promise. The part when the main theme plays and he takes his helmet off... chills. Even now, I love that part. Still, I associated this with us finally getting answers to some of the weird shit that happens earlier in the game. And I was way too young and dense to understand the Under the Highwind scene. 

Needless to say, I wanted to see if others had the same impression. It seems they did, and those posts were then overpowered by the other side. “Yeah, I used to ship Cloti, but the remake made me see that it’s clearly Aerith.” What? What did I miss? 

So I questioned my sanity a bit. I played every quest - I did both Tifa and Aerith’s discovery quests. Until the point we get back to Tifa in Wall Market, I still was kind of iffy on how they were presenting Aerith and Cloud. They removed a lot of stuff from the OG that was a bit more direct from Cloud’s end. They also removed a lot of the jealousy scenes between Tifa and Aerith. Seems they gave all the jealousy to Cloud in other scenes. 

Cloud clearly is soft with Tifa. He remembers The Promise, he calls her beautiful, you have no choice but to give her the flower. No matter what choices you make with Aerith. He still gives her the flower. He gets jealous whenever he even thinks a guy is talking about her in a romantic/sexual way.

Then I see things like “Cloud was so emotionless and mean until Chapter 8″. HOW? And this goes beyond Tifa. Cloud had a ton of character growth during the first 3 chapters, and it continued on until Chapter 8. This was not something where he suddenly turned nice to Aerith. He had a ton of people help him out before.

Take Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. Cloud was a dick to them. I mean, he really was. I was sad for Wedge, cuz I think he’s so nice, and Cloud was just mean to him. By the end of Chapter 4, he’s much nicer to them. He’s left out of their celebration, and I think maybe this was a reference to him as a child. He thought he was better than the other kids (except Tifa). He treated everybody like shit (except Tifa) in the first three chapters and Barret told him to gtfo. 

Jessie made sure to let him know she wanted him there. Now, I’m not a fan of how thirsty Jessie is. I mean they REALLY slam it on you how bad she wants to get with Cloud. Cloud then says what I was thinking “Are you seriously that desperate?!” Yes, she is, and it’s obnoxious, but I think it’s a hilarious addition to the story. However, I think it was a light bulb moment that he would be included if he was a bit nicer to people.

Cloud and Barret start getting along more as time goes on as well. This is all before Chapter 8. So I actually have commented on these posts... “Did you play the first 7 chapters? Did you play the rest of the game?” There’s so many points during FFVIIR where Cloud clearly has character development outside of what Tifa and Aerith do. 

They ignore this. That’s my issue. The ignore everything else in the story. They ignore reality, so that makes people like me question themselves.

It reminds me of a personal situation with my job. We had a really bad leader. Like, cruel, mean. And he got away with it for a long time. You can say, “just leave”, but I think anybody with a family knows that’s not as easy as it sounds. Not when you rely on your job for not only income, but benefits, retirement, and stability. Not when changing buildings causes months of legit mental breakdowns (imagine changing companies completely?). So, it wasn’t really an option.

The worst part during all of that was knowing and seeing the reality of what was going on and having people flat out try to tell me that what I was seeing wasn’t true. I had conversations with other co-workers who started to question their sanity. Is it us? Are we the problem? Are we wrong? What are we missing? And that’s tough, especially when it goes on for so long.

In the real life example, there was a resolution earlier this year, where finally the guy was fired. And a lot of people were fighting him. More than you’d think. But they were scared, so they had to be careful. This is real life, not a game, so the stakes were much higher. The truth all comes out after this type of thing, and it was actually worse than we thought. There was a lot we missed, and a lot we just weren’t aware of. We weren’t crazy - there was just a group of his followers trying to brainwash us in to thinking he was great. 

The shipping wars give me the same feelings I had during that. I question my sanity and don’t get what I’m missing. This is beyond how you interpret the LTD. This is legit ignoring parts of the story as it’s presented. SE put these Cloti moments throughout the Remake to make a point. They have Aerith say things to make a point. They even have Aerith stop making moves on Cloud after Tifa comes back and she sees the obvious “thing” between them.

There are tons of analysis on multiple scenes and how Cloud reacts. Facial expressions tell a lot, so does voice acting. There are reasons they put these scenes in. There are reasons they are part of the main story and not part of side quests. There are reasons that the devs responded the way they did in interviews. 

The Ultimania clearly talks about Cloud’s feelings. The OG talks about them. 

So why do I still feel upset when I see these? Well, for one, the posters that say “I was a Cloti until..” in most cases are probably shipping the other side, but this is a great way to make people question themselves. It may make new fans not enjoy the story as much.

Then you have Twitter. And it’s a shame, because there’s some great fanart on Twitter. But, you can’t search for “tifa” without seeing some really bad posts. And it’s the same accounts over and over. There isn’t a large amount. 

The entire goal of these posters is to fight people who don’t agree with them. They also start posting similar complaints about a week after the Cloti side makes them.

The most recent being that Cloti fans are going after Nojima and it’s not going to change anything. What? I saw a similar post about the C////erith side about a week or two ago. Why are Cloti’s going after Nojima? So I went through some of his posts. I found one where he posted about FF7R. The only Cloti posts I saw were thanking him. The C///erith ones were over the top trying to say how it was all C///erith and there was no Cloti in the remake. One even said that “millions of fans want Aerith to survive.” No, I’d say the majority of fans want the original plot points to stay. 

Nojima himself liked a fanart of himself... where they called him the Cloti king.

So where are the Cloti’s going after Nojima? I only saw praise... 

The next new one is that C///eriths aren’t racist and Cloti’s are. I’ve seen this argument in reverse as well. It seems they scope out some things and repost them in the opposite argument. 

I just don’t understand the extreme nature. You can ship who you want, but you can’t erase parts of the story to make it work. Why even bother playing the game? The romance aspect is SO SMALL in the OG. 

In the remake its a bit heavier, but it’s different times. Sex sells. Let’s add some spice to the game, and they did. I felt no sexual tension between Cloud and Aerith. Jessie tried HARD. The only mutual tension felt was between Cloud and Tifa. That deep, dear lord please do something to release this tension, feeling. Cloud and Aerith had cute little moments similar to a Disney movie or a kids movie. Tifa and Cloud had the moments you see in more mature things. 

Some of these moments are optional - the resolution scene you can technically avoid every time you play if you choose to. The Clotiscrew tunnel roll is a bit harder unless you KNOW you can avoid it and/or are terrible at the game. You literally have to try hard to mess up to not get that scene. 

The Clotiscrew tunnel scene is also hilarious to watch people react to. Cuz you do feel like you need to take a quick walk to cool off from that heat. Even my husband who doesn’t give a shit was like “wow, yeah, okay, that’s... intense.” 

It didn’t have to be, it could have been a roll and release, but he holds her and says “You okay?” in that soft af voice THAT HE ONLY USES ON HER. Her response is equally sexy. Then they get up and stare. Once again, not necessary.

All the “unnecessary” touching that goes on is fun to point out. People are still finding moments, I think. During battles, in the background during other scenes. They’re making this a point. They make it a point to show shots of those two during other scenes in the game. They aren’t being subtle anymore. 

So I don’t understand how you can erase all of that. 

The other side has a small group that is completely shitting on Tifa to do it. I don’t see that as much on the Cloti side towards Aerith. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, I bet it does, but it’s not as easy to find. Almost EVERY shipping fight has something about Tifa’s boobs, Tifa not telling Cloud about his past, something. They make stuff up in some cases.

All of this is a way to recruit people to their side. To “convert” them. I feel bad for the streamers who like Tifa and you see a group come in to try and “correct” that thought. Why do they care so much? 

Maximillian Dood doesn’t seem affected by those opinions - he’s a great supporter of Tifa as a character. He was very happy with the way they handled the remake, and that says a lot. He also has some great reactions to parts of the game. He also is a more experienced streamer, it seems.

My thoughts are... the Remake has blown expectations on how it was supposed to go. Probably a lot of fans assumed they’d make a point to build up Aerith as the love interest... but they didn’t. Tifa is in almost every chapter (2 is the exception). She is referenced multiple times in Wall Market - especially if you actually listen to the lyrics for Midgar Blues. Why place that song in during that part? 

So we go to the attack mode of survival here. They’re going to change as many opinions as possible. They’re going to make people question themselves. Make people feel bad. 

The reality is, there’s a clear cut story - they’re making it that way. There’s multiple hints that there isn’t going to be a love triangle. There’s multiple hints that Zack is going to be a thing in the Remake. They’ve definitely put it on more heavy that Aerith still loves Zack. 

I can only hope that things are made clear. That this can stop. I still say people should ship who they want. Hell, I ship Vincent and Lucrecia (this was my only romantic love in the OG back then...). However, canon is that Hojo and Lucrecia married and had a child. I wanted Vincent to secretly be the father so bad, but he’s not. That doesn’t ruin the game for me, at all. 

It would ruin the game for me, in a sense, if they completely pull a 180 in Part 2 and try to “remove” all of the stuff from Part 1 from a character dynamics perspective. It would feel wrong for Aerith to tell Cloud not to fall in love with her, tell him that everything isn’t real if he does, and also have her back off completely after Tifa is back, and then all of a sudden throw herself at him. It would erase all the friendship scenes between Tifa and Aerith.

And how could you just “turn off” Cloud’s attentive nature to Tifa? It wouldn’t make sense. It would ruin it for me because that is legit trying to erase parts of the story.

I don’t think that will happen. But I still get anxious when I see shit on the internet.

[silver-wield]

FF7R: The Cloud Narrative

While in the middle of one of my replays that involved making different choices for Cloud to get other stuff, I started thinking, “What would Cloud choose?”

And that got me thinking some more about the fact we say it's all what Cloud would choose, but really, it's what we pick to get the best story that suits our preferences.

And since I'm that kind of dork, I decided to replay and let Cloud's personality and development lead me to make the choices so I could try and see what Cloud would've chosen if he had autonomy. It makes for a slightly different game than the one I usually play, but it was fun really thinking over the options and deciding how Cloud would react to every situation and whether he'd choose to engage with it or not.  

I didn't actually remember to grab every screenshot of my playthrough, so some of these are from Youtube, but the decisions I say I made are the ones I made because why would I lie?

Ok, let's mosey...

Spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be long.

The opening decision is in Chapter 2 when we first meet Aerith. None of these decisions affect anything within the game to do with the resolution, it just makes either girl react differently to Cloud.

I'm sure some people would argue he'd buy it because Aerith, but he doesn't know her, has no obligation to be nice to her – especially compared to the Avalanche crew who he needed to rely on back in the reactor and he was a dick to them – he's in a rush and has no reason to buy flowers unless people want to assume he already had Tifa in mind the moment Aerith mentioned it. If we do choose the option to buy it right away, Aerith flirts a little and slots the flower into Cloud's shoulder strap over his heart. We get none of the extended dialogue if we choose this option. For those people who say the more someone talks is a sign of canon, this would make the “how much” option the non-canon choice because it contains the least amount of dialogue and time they spend together.

If we choose “I'm good,” then we hear Aerith insisting he takes it by saying, “When was the last time you saw a real one,” and adding that “it'll make your girlfriend's day.”

Then we get the automatic line from Cloud that happened when we originally chose “how much.”

After some more dialogue from Aerith another choice occurs, one which can make Cloud sound like a royal shitbag or not.

I think everyone would agree that Cloud purposely pissing off a total stranger is out of character, and if you choose the second option he doesn't actually speak and Aerith goes straight into her line about how “lovers used to give these when they were reunited.”

For my choices as Cloud I said, “I'm good,” and then when she insisted, I agreed to take it because to me – and this is how I always answer – it feels the most Cloud kind of answer.

Chapter 3

The next choice Cloud's presented with is during chapter 3 when Tifa offers him a drink. No matter which choice you make he calls Tifa beautiful as the outcome.

By answering “something hard” Tifa goes into her cocktail making routine before pouring Cloud a drink that looks suspiciously like piss, but is actually meant to represent the colour of his hair. Hard and bitter. Like him. He doesn't like it. Colour me shocked. She then goes on to make the red drink that's a representation of her eye colour. This is when Cloud raises the glass and makes the “beautiful” comment.

If you choose the refuse option, Tifa replies that “if you were in the mood” and then goes into the same drinks making routine as the first option, with the exact same dialogue and outcome between them. (And now I know it's almost identical I wonder why the devs did it? It seems like a straw man option tbf. There's no real choice or changes to the dialogue and it's like it's been put there to give the illusion of it being optional).

Since Cloud is secretly into Tifa I figured he'd choose “something hard and bitter” as a way to try and show off how tough he is. However, it’s worth noting that Cloud isn’t a big drinker and only drinks when he’s in a low mood. He’s pretty happy here, so I’d say in general he wouldn’t drink, but because he’s only recently reunited with Tifa he still wants to impress her. So yeah, to drink.

The next chance for Cloud to have a choice concerns the chapter 3 side quests that open up the alone at last which goes towards choosing a dress for Tifa later in chapter 9. If you don't finish the quests or miss alone at last you always get Tifa's blue dress and moon charm earring. That is her canon outfit.

The quests for chapter 3 are all monster related apart from one – which I'll get to in a minute.

Chadley's report involves scanning monsters for data and killing them. Rat problem comes from the item vendor and involves killing doomrats.

Nuisance in the factory involves killing drakes.

On the prowl involves going after a shinra dog thing

Just flew in from the graveyard involves a larger drake.

These are all the type of job that Cloud would accept without thinking about it too much. He's a merc, he's getting paid to kill monsters. It'll show off his skills and build his rep and as Tifa says, the better his rep the more he gets paid. These five quests are ones Cloud would take because that's the type of person he thinks he should be. The monster slayer.

As for quest 4, lost friends, I initially said that Cloud would avoid this because it involves two things he isn't good with: kids and animals. Now, I've heard from people that by AC Cloud is actually pretty good around kids, and I agree, he's got a lot of love from them by this point. But that's at least two years away from now and he's not even slightly good around kids and actively avoids them. Cats seem to have a grudge against him, too, at this point in the game – though Wedge's cat mellows towards him after he helps out. These were my reasons for deciding to avoid this quest because Cloud just wouldn't do it. Then, once I got to it, I realised the reason why Cloud would do it.

Tifa.

Tifa likes kids and animals. Now, as a respectful type of girl, she doesn't usually push Cloud to do things he doesn't want to. She's always considerate to his feelings and to others too. In this case, though, she's not focused on Cloud and if he'd want to do this job, but on helping out a little girl. Cloud's been running around doing jobs all morning, so Tifa's related him to the task of finding the cats.

Usually Cloud would refuse to something that's so obviously beneath his skills, but because it's Tifa who's asking, he agrees.

Alone at last triggers and we get to view a moment between Cloud and Tifa that ends in him choosing a dress for her. Alone as last is narrative canon whether we choose to see it or not because of other hints in the game that refer back to the conversation they had. While they talk about the past we get an above view of the rug that has a reunion flower pattern on it. Tifa and Cloud both take steps towards each other during this scene, which symbolises their closing the emotional distance that's between them.

This choice changes nothing about the game and only matters if you want to go for the dressed to the nines achievement.

If you choose the top option – for her canon outfit, Tifa replies “Yeah, I guess we aren't kids anymore.” If you choose the second option she says, “That's not much different to my regular style.”

If you choose the exotic outfit she says, “really?” and acts a little awkward about it.

She then asks Cloud to dress to match her. The dresses he wears during wall market all have a similar style to Tifa's options, showing he did dress to match her. The narrative canon choice for which dress Cloud eventually went with is something I'll be bringing up later.

By choosing the canon outfit option and getting Tifa's canon dialogue we get a reference to the fact they've known each other for a long time. This ties into the conversation they had which also touched on their shared history. This is a background development scene between them, but isn't necessary to know because we get other info about them over the rest of the game. This extra bit of dialogue is to increase our knowledge of Cloud and Tifa, both separately and together.

Chapter Four

Jessie’s bike ride, which isn’t optional in the sense you can choose how it goes. The result depends on how good you are at the minigame. However, since there’s three endings, this is a choice based result.

Are you, Cloud? Really? When did you get that SOLDIER mandatory training? Of the three optional endings, the narrative canon that makes the most sense is Cloud being really bad at it. This is his first time doing any of that, but it gives him the crash course he needs for later in the Shinra building when he does all those fancy moves. Cloud owes Roche some props for observational bike stunting. 

Chapter Five

And our next canon narrative choice is between making Cloud look incompetent at his job or choosing to have an intimate moment with his one true love. Well, seeing how the cloti roll is in the ultimania we know this is the correct narrative choice.

Chapter 8

There's a long gap between chapter 5 and the next option we get for Cloud. Once we meet Aerith again and get her back to Sector 5, we go into her side quests and optional discovery. Aerith's side quests are tied to what dress she later wears during chapter 9.

The side quests for Aerith's chapter are split into groups of 3. This means that by unlocking one, you get the further quests on that branch. One branch is more of a Cloud oriented style set of quests, while the other involves the thing he doesn't do well around: kids.

Kids on patrol → A verified hero + Angel of the slums

Weapons on a rampage → Paying respects + moogle merchant.

If you don't complete kids on patrol first then the other two don't unlock. One of these further quests involves more kids and playing with them. Not really Cloud type activities and unlike with chapter 3 where he'd do something because Tifa asked, he's not got that type of relationship with Aerith that he'd be willing to do stuff that he doesn't want to just to impress her.

Breakdown of sidequests in sector 5 and NPC background dialogues.

Weapons on a rampage is more his style of quest, which leads to the NPC who set it to ask a further favour. This links to the next quest where you have to pay respects for the old man. The thing is, he doesn't have the graveyard key, which leads to the next quest where we have to go buy it off Moggie. This is the only kid related quest on this branch and it's over in moments. Cloud has the minimum amount of contact with Moggie and doesn't show any kind of tolerance towards her while he's talking. There's also no apology for his behaviour – unlike when he said to Tifa he was doing his best when she scolded him for being rude.  

The way these quests are set out in blocks of three and the fact one half is heavily reliant on child interaction – which Cloud wouldn't do at this point in his development or association with Aerith – leads me to believe he wouldn't agree to these quests. This means the language of flowers discovery doesn't trigger and Aerith ends up in her second option dress – which I've theorised is her canon outfit because of its design similarity to the OG version, her reaction to the dress, the fact that in OG, Aerith chose her own dress, the hairstyle and accessory match the OG style and Cloud's reaction is a very Cloud reaction to have, compared to the other two outfits – the bad dress has dogs and rats following her and the red dress is so ott she's swarmed by fans, a red carpet and so on, but also her accessories don't fit her symbolism theme of flowers because she's wearing stars.

With all of the above in mind, I surmised Cloud would do the monster hunt branch of quests and quit while he was ahead.

Chapter 9

Where before we had a few choices happening, once we hit Wall Market we're inundated with options that affect Cloud's outfit later on. They also showcase what kind of morals Cloud has. Either way, it's canonically easier to get Chocobo Sam's pts higher than Madam M's, leading me to believe he is the canon narrative choice for this section and that Cloud's black and blue corset dress is the one he ends up wearing.

This contradicts my previous theory about the ultimania in which Cloud is shown very uncomfortable in the loli outfit, which led me to believe that was the one he ended up in if he made the choices in Wall Market. I now believe it's because if you pick this outfit it's his “bad ending”, worse than if you don't make any effort and get the plain black and grey dress.

The maximum amount of pts you can get from Chocobo Sam's options is 6.5, compared to Madam M's 5.

There are several people who offer you options during Wall Market.

The love hotel owner (not a Nojima self-insert lol).

Johnny (discovery) + before the first coloseum match – there's a bottle on the table and the choice is to drink or not.

Madam M x2

Sam x2

The first option you get in Wall Market happens before you've even entered the place. Sam asks you what the girl you're searching for looks like. No matter which option you choose, Sam says that Cloud has a crush on Tifa – which he doesn't deny.

If you choose the first option you get 1pt with Sam.

If you choose the second option you get 0pts

If you choose the 3rd option you get 1pt with Madam M.

I chose the first option because Cloud's a guy, with eyes, and the other two choices don't offer anything in the way of a physical description and if he's describing her to someone then he needs to actually describe what she looks like in some way. This is the only option that does that. It's also the only option that gets a different reaction out of Aerith, whereas the other two options have the same reaction from her.

This is the second option we can choose from and it's the love hotel guy (still not a Nojima self-insert). If you choose “no thanks,” this gets you 1pt with Sam and Aerith flirts with Cloud.

If you choose “how much?” you get a surprised “Cloud!” from Aerith and 1pt with Madam M.

If you choose “back off” you get 0pts and Aerith apologises on his behalf.

Of the 3 choices, I picked “back off” because it's the most Cloud appropriate choice.

Next, we have the Johnny discovery when he literally runs past you as you try to go to Don Corneo's for the first time. By following him to the Honey Bee, we get a lecherous dialogue from him and then a question about Cloud's own preferences. Would he go into the Honey Bee? If he agrees with Johnny, we get a slightly self-loathing assumption of a reply, whereas if we disagree, Johnny says that Cloud hasn't experienced anything yet. Either way, he runs off once he's finished.

By agreeing with Johnny you get 1pt for Sam.

If you don't agree you get 0pts.

I chose to disagree because Cloud isn't a lecherous pig and is actually pure af with no experience.

We learn from Leslie that the only way to get into an audition with Corneo is through the trio. Andrea Rhodea has a 3 year waiting list, so we don't even see him. So, we go back to Sam.

This is a hint that the following event with Sam is a load of bull. Johnny telling Cloud – if you interact with him – that he should've followed his gut is a hint that Cloud should trust his instincts. It’s also confirming that while Cloud is a total cheapskate who doesn’t do anything for free, he’s also a betting man who’ll think little of dropping 1000g on a sure thing (why 1000g? because that’s the amount he says to Barret in chapter 6, showing that while Cloud appreciates having money, he’ll also spend it.) Then it's around the corner to where Sam waits. Who, despite having already endorsed Tifa, says he's willing to help Aerith if she can guess the result of a coin toss.

Ofc it's rigged. But if you choose to gamble, it impresses Sam. You get 1.5 pts for choosing heads or tails. If you refuse to gamble then you get 0.5pts.

I believe the narrative choice is to pick heads, like Johnny suggested because he is the inner voice of Cloud and gives us hints as to real Cloud’s feelings at different points in the game. Either way, Cloud gets the coin and says he had a hunch about the result.

After this it's away to Madam M's and the most hilarious choice I've ever seen! I have to wait until the room's clear before choosing because it's a watch from behind a cushion moment lol

Madam M won't help Cloud unless he agrees to a massage. Since our SOLDIER boi doesn't like being forced into decisions and has issues around touch and intimacy, not to mention he's stingy af and wouldn't drop 3k on a massage when he's previously hounded people for a lot less money. But, he also doesn’t stop to think about spending money if it’s worth this while. 1000g doesn’t seem like much of a big deal to him, if it’s his standard amount of bet on a sure thing. He wants to save Tifa, so he’d likely go with the standard course. The other one alludes to him being a cheapskate like Aerith accused and there’s no reference to the luxury course anywhere in the game except here. This isn't something he's doing for pleasure, he's in Wall Market to save Tifa, so the things he's doing are a means to an end.

If you pick the luxury massage you get 2pts with Madam M.

If you pick the standard massage you get 1pt with Madam M

If you pick the poor man's massage you get 0pts.

I chose the standard course massage because I believe that's what Cloud would choose just to get Madam M to agree to help them.

The next choice comes right off the back of the massage at Madam M's and involves Cloud giving an opinion of Aerith's outfit.

If you choose the first option it gets you 1pt with Sam and a pleased reaction from Aerith.

If you choose the second option you get 0pts and an angry retort from Aerith.

If you choose the third option you get 1pt with Madam M and a middle of the road comment from Aerith. No matter which you choose, Madam M scolds you.

Since by this point in the game Cloud and Aerith are friendly enough for him to pass comment on her outfit, I could see him answering with the second choice, but not the first since he doesn't even notice what anyone's wearing let alone have an opinion on it. The third option sounds the most Cloud-centric choice, so that's what I picked.

The last option is for Cloud to drink an unknown substance or not while waiting for his match to start at the coliseum. Johnny gives the explanation of what it is, who it came from and what it potentially does.

By choosing to drink the mystery substance you get 1pt with Sam.

By ignoring the drink you get 0pts.

Since Cloud is the last person to put weird shit in his body I went with not drinking it.

The final tally for the options that Cloud gets set him on Chocobo Sam's side quests for the blue corset dress that matches Tifa's canon outfit – she said dress to match, remember? It's also the one that in the ultimania Cloud looks the most at ease in.

Chocobo Sam's sidequests are the ones that I got as a result of choosing the options I did. I believe this is the canon narrative that Cloud would take if he were choosing. After several playthroughs I did waver on whose quests seemed more the narrative canon. I began thinking Sam's were, but then the ultimania illustration of Cloud embarrassed in the satin dress led me to think Madam M's were the narrative canon. After playing both sets of side quests, I've come to the conclusion that Sam's would be the narrative choice if Cloud were making the decisions.

Having Cloud's choices result in Sam's side quests we get burning thighs (appears in both), the party never stops and a dynamite body.

Burning thighs is the squats contest that echoes the OG storyline. We meet Andrea's little brother, Jules – who is totally not staring at Cloud's ass through the entire minigame while encouraging him.  This side quest touches on egos and being cocky – which Cloud can be. It's a humble pie moment, which is another life lesson that Cloud needs to learn also.

The party never stops features the return of Johnny, who appears as we leave the dressmaker's son who's the originator for the quest. We're sent over into the bar, where we can collect the Midgar Blues single for the cd achievement. This song is canonically Cloud and Tifa's romantic theme in Advent Children. Once we meet the dressmaker, we're sent over to the materia guy who wants “the sauce” in exchange for “inspiration”.

This sidequest is a bunch of tongue in cheek dick jokes and it's hilarious! It's also alludes to the fact that Cloud has zero experience since he had a crush on Tifa until he left the village, spent his time pining for her as a grunt, then got stuffed in a test tube and was in a coma for five years. Ofc he blusters his way through it, handling his balls and making comments about how he doesn't need lessons on “whipping it out”. Oh you poor sweet boi.

Once we get the sauce – fun fact there's no picture in the inventory of it when you get it – and we hand off to the materia guy (unintentional pun but I'm leaving it in now I've done it – and that one) we head over to the next weirdo on the list. The chef. Who literally poisons all of his customers. I suspect he and the pharmacy guy are in cahoots. He poisons people, the pharmacy guy cures them and they both get rich.

The chef asks Cloud to help fix the problem with his kitchen – but from npcs around it sounds like it's just his cooking that's the issue. It doesn't matter which option you pick, Johnny still gets food poisoning. Even if you max your materia, nothing changes. Cloud doesn't even offer the options, Johnny does the talking.

Once we're done with the killer chef, it's over to the pharmacy guy, who asks Cloud to go and deliver medicine. If you maxed your cleansing materia you get 3 packets of meds. The only one that matters is the guy in the pub bathroom since that moves the side quest along. The others are optional, but increase Cloud's rep about town since he's helping more people.

The pharmacy guy gives Cloud a Honey Bee Inn VIP pass, which is the dressmaker's inspiration. Once that's handed back, Cloud chats to the dressmaker's son, who caps the side quest off with the below screen.

This is a reference to the dream that Cloud had during chapter 8 where his mother mentioned he should have a mature girlfriend. This is the contradicting opinion that balances that. The dressmaker's son saying age doesn't equal maturity is referencing Tifa – since these quests are the ones that get you the matching dress to her canon one. This is the same as the Midgar Blues playing in the pub. These are Tifa centric quests, which is the entire reason Cloud's in Wall Market to begin with.

The last quest is a dynamite body, which comes from Sam. Tifa has a bomb bracelet on her default weapon that is part of a matching pair with her chocobo bracelet. Tifa is represented by “da bomb” and everyone knows Cloud’s a chocobo head. This quest is referencing cloti, and a comment from the announcer using a mixed metaphor mentions putting on shades. 

Afterwards Same tries to hand Cloud his cut of the prize money and Cloud says he's there for Tifa, not money. Sam replies that Cloud has changed since his arrival and could likely storm Corneo's place all by himself to save Tifa. He also mentions that Tifa is a bombshell and Cloud goes to confront him by taking a step forward and saying “Hey.” This is Cloud stepping up to people sexually objectifying Tifa.

Once the quests are done, it's back to Corneo's where Cloud considers breaking in – like Sam suggested – but Leslie uses Cloud's feelings for Tifa against him by saying Corneo could hurt her if he does anything he shouldn't. This isn’t the first time Cloud’s emotionally blackmailed in Wall Market. 

Cloud backs down, but is now operating under the sense that Corneo is a lot more dangerous than he first thought, and he's sending Aerith in. Aerith. Who's useless in a fight. He's now thinking that he'd have to go in and save them both, which is why he says to Aerith that he's not letting her go alone.

We've now reached the point where Cloud's earlier refusal to do kid related quests gives us the result with Aerith's dress. Her theme has been given a slightly rock vibe, which is SOLDIER Cloud appropriate, and the design is something that she has chosen – this is in line with her OG dress which she chose herself. She also has a large hair bow, similar hairstyle to OG and her flower symbolism throughout – compared to the red dress which has stars that haven't been associated with her at any point. The straps on the pink dress – which is her signature colour – also match the straps on the OG design. Johnny’s around throwing cherry blossom petals, which match several of her abilities and are a reference to Zack. Aerith wore this dress for Zack. This is her Zack date dress. This leads me to believe that this is her canon narrative outfit.

The accompanying blocking to this scene is also more realistic than the other two.

Cloud's reaction to the dress is suitably Cloud. His jaw drops a little and he gets a bit soft voiced when talking to Aerith, though it's a quick moment that ends when he asks why she left Madam M's.

And now we're at the point where Cloud has to impress Andrea Rhodea. As long as you get 112pts in his dance sequence (great = 2, good = 1) then Cloud will wear the earrings with his dress, no matter which one it is.

This is the last choice you have and it's the tie breaker between the two girls if you chose to do all of the side quests for them. By choosing Aerith you get her resolution later in chapter 14, but in the meantime you get a short dialogue and then Tifa wakes up.

If you choose Tifa, this goes towards her resolution in chapter 14, but in the meantime you get a longer dialogue concerning the imminent dangers in sector 7 and also she questions Cloud about his relationship with Aerith. This is referencing all of the strange things about Aerith from her initial touch to Cloud’s wrist letting him see the whispers, to the whispers attacking them later in sector 7, to her not letting him leave sector 5, to her crying and wanting to go with him. Tifa’s question makes Cloud suspicious. It’s not romantically motivated on her part because her focus is on saving sector 7.

Cloud doesn't get a chance to answer, as Aerith wakes up.

Chapter 12

Technically not a choice -- in fact it implies the opposite -- because if you run the timer out in chapter 12 at the top of the pillar nothing happens. This is a message that all previous timed events were optional because that’s what the players wanted. This is saying that no matter if you try to choose to ignore Tifa or Barret or any of the plot, that the game will wait for you to move. There are no consequences to running this timer down because it’s implying that the time for optional choices has passed. Narrative canon only will commence from this point on.

The last optional choice in the game comes a lot later with the stairs and elevator, so anything that Cloud says or does between then is canon. All of the resolutions are canon, but we're only able to view one at a time because of how the game operates. Cloud is the witness to the resolutions because they’re Barret, Tifa’s and Aerith’s resolutions.

Barret's resolution is first because the lighting is much brighter indicating it's earlier in the night.

After that comes Tifa's resolution, which is much later in the night, but well before dawn.

The last resolution is Aerith's and she indicates that it's almost morning at the end of hers.

All resolutions are canon

Aerith's resolution is hinted at by Mirielle during the lost wallet and Kyrie sidequests.

Tifa's resolution is hinted at by Tifa, through Leslie in the chapter 14 intel gathering main quest where you hunt down Don Corneo. Tifa relates Leslie's fiancee's necklace to a symbol of reunion. Since the necklace has a reunion flower on it, that she's seen, and the only time she mentions learning about the meaning of that flower is during her resolution, this is the confirmation of it having happened. Also, the fact that Cloud was about to mention the meaning, then stopped because he thought it might embarrass Tifa – who'd been in a vulnerable state at the time – shows that he was aware of both the meaning and the resolution and Tifa's feelings.

Chapter 16

Last choice in the game and it’s between the stairs and the elevator. And as much as I love the stairs, Mayor Domino tells us later on that the stuff in the elevator is what happened. 

Feel bad for Cloud having to confront his claustrophobia with Tifa there. He’s not happy at all by the time they reach the top.

In Conclusion.

Playing as though Cloud were the one making the choices was a lot harder than I thought. I tend to choose things either as he would, or close enough in most cases, but there were some choices that had me stopping to debate which was the right choice. Cloud's character development is a slow process and even though I know he's got a whole kid army in AC, I couldn't resolve that with his current personality, so that led me to avoiding the kid quests. This revealed that Aerith should have worn her pink dress in the narrative and the scene between them when she reveals it feels a very narrative canon type of scene.

Tifa's dress is the same no matter what. I also believe she'd be the narrative choice in the sewers over Aerith because of the content of her dialogue and the fact real!Cloud has a crush on her still. He often checks in with her to make sure she's ok and he has an overriding urge to support and comfort her even when he doesn't know how. The way she lands in the sewers is echoed later in several other falls, but there’s one in the opening of chapter 13 where she’s got her arm under her head. This is because Cloud positioned her that way after she got knocked out. This shows he’d go to her if he saw her hurt.

All of the events, options and side quests culminate in Tifa's resolution being the main narrative option we see, with Aerith and Barret as a second and third option through replay choices, though all three do happen. From Cloud’s pov, though, the important one is Tifa because that’s the person he cares about the most. You only get Barret’s resolution by being a closed off asshole and Aerith’s if you act out of character and more like Zack, which is what Aerith wants. The quest dialogue with Leslie shows the resolutions happened, which makes them narrative canon.

People can disagree with this, but I found the narrative canon a really enjoyable way to play – once I got over messing up in wall market with the dress and had to start again (the choices are hard lol). Seeing events through Cloud's eyes, instead of being like some puppet master telling him what to do so I could get the story I wanted to see, was a really fun way to play. I definitely recommend it!

[dorkshadows]

(MazM anon) RE: MELEK.... even putting aside the stuff you pointed out, why would Christine wait to get Erik to untie her when she can just have Melek do it? Raoul and Hatim could be discovered and tortured to death any time and she's just like "welp we HAVE to convince Erik to do it and then hope he leaves a second time so I can search." It really seems like they tried to put the book events in there for the Authenticity and didn't think enough about how their changes would affect the plot

(Mazm anon): Also for Raoul, I loved Raoul from the time he was out for blood, except the ring scene Raoul definitely needed to apologize for the ring scene fdgskfdgs. Also loved him roasting Hatim by the end of his story (sorry Hatim.) He annoyed me a bit in the book D: so I do agree this is one very fleshed out Raoul. Even if they didn't give him his mustache smh. And they didn't give Erik his Red Death costume (that's my one real complaint with the visuals lol)

Hi anon! sorry it took me a while to answer! You’re always welcome to spam my inbox with mazm thoughts- it’s a very underrated game anyway ;)

re: Melek: LMAO right!? Melek just “being there” really doesn’t make sense on a lot of levels and makes everyone else look dumb because the devs don’t seem to know how they want others to react too. I totally agree- they wanted the “authentic” book events, but their own drastic changes just completely clashed with canon. And not in a good way.

haha I loved Raoul roasting Hatim too XD That was true character development. There were lots of points in the book where the original Raoul annoyed me too so you’re not alone lol. Hence why I never understood people who said book Raoul was more sympathetic than musical Raoul because like where lol. But I LOVED him in mazm. I really wasn’t expecting them to flesh out Raoul the way they did and it’s super rare for poto adaptations to have Raoul acknowledge his own mistakes, much less actually portray him as the person in the wrong. So his arc here was just very mature and satisfying. He made you mad at him, made you happy for him, made you love him. All Raouls should be like this!

rip mustache though. And same! I was so disappointed that they didn’t do a Red Death costume. It would have looked amazing in their style. 

[make-it-mavis]

Homesick (Entry #13)

(cw: graphic descriptions of wounds) <-Previous | Next-> ----------

01/01/88   10:54 PM

Hey.

It’s not really an everyday thing to begin with, finding an Easter Egg, so it’s gotta be a shock finding one half-dead on your doorstep.

A Nicelander’s scream startled me awake. By the time I saw her, she was already hopping out of view and calling Fix-it for help. The Nicelanders’ patented annoying catchphrase even slipped out, that grating “Fix it, Felix!!” Which, to these little squares, could be the equivalent of wetting their tiny pants. She called up to his apartment around the corner, and I heard the fire escape rattling as he hurried down, but Wreck-it actually got to me first.

That is to say, he saw me first. He lumbered to the bottom of his bricks a good distance away, and just stopped dead in his tracks. I wasn’t in love with the idea of him seeing me like that, used and abused and all, but I couldn’t really do anything about it. His face turned white as I stared back at him, and he was clearly at a loss, anxiously waiting for Fix-it to come down and deal with me. If I were to give him the benefit of the doubt, I would say that he kept his distance because he knew his hulking fists were the last things I needed. If not, I’d say it was because he’s a big squeamish baby who’s scared of a little blood. 

Could be both, I guess.

Gasps and screams spilled around the corners of the building as more Nicelanders flocked in, but I didn’t bother looking until I heard the very effeminate shriek of my cousin. He rushed up and overflowed with whispers of “Mavy,” and “Oh my land,” and “Good gracious,” you know, the works. At first, it was like he was trying to decipher the situation just by looking at me, which I think could be some kind of party game -- Mangled Mavis: Guess with your eyes, win a cool prize.

But then he wanted to guess with his hands. He reached out, and I jabbed him in the gut with my walking stick. The Nicelanders gasped, and he coughed, but he didn’t seem shocked. He took that as a scolding for not fixing me first, so he pulled out his hammer. I just jabbed him again. He wheezed out, “Why, Mavy?”

It almost made me smile.

I just didn’t want him to patch me up while everyone watched. I hated being reduced to some object of their morbid curiosities -- the Nicelanders don’t actually care what happens to me, and they never have. They only ever want something juicy to talk about in their boring-ass lives. A broken brush and your name cut into my body made a juicier morsel than they’ll ever deserve. Hell if I was gonna give it to them.

I still couldn’t quite speak, but Fix-it got the hint after a good deal of obvious gestures. He let me into the back of Niceland once I’d gotten to my feet (having insisted on doing it myself), and made me wait inside for a moment while he addressed the crowd. I heard him tell everyone not to worry, that everything was alright, that I just needed some space right now, and that they should all just go back to their apartments for the night. Maybe the Nicelanders couldn’t tell, but he was freaking out hardcore. I could hear it in his voice. I was not looking forward to that getting worse as the evening went on. 

He’s so impossible to deal with when he’s worried. Things panned out even worse than I anticipated. 

After a sufficiently awkward elevator ride, we arrived in his apartment, which was just as freakishly pristine and tidy as the last time I saw it. I sat on his couch, he sat on the coffee table in front of me, and he asked what in the world happened. He wasn’t satisfied when I just shook my head, but he healed my cheeks for me, anyway.

As he asked more questions, like if I’d gotten in a fight, and how long I’d been waiting by the door, I just sat there stewing in how much I didn’t want to talk to him. Whatever had just happened to me, I didn’t want to say a word about it to anyone. All sorts of pitiful labels were already being slapped on me left and right: “Delusional,” “hysterical,” “heartbroken,” “junkie,” and so on. The last thing I wanted to do was add “victim” to that list. 

So I didn’t tell him. Big deal. He could heal me without knowing I was almost murdered. 

But he couldn’t heal my injuries without seeing them. That was the catch -- I didn’t want to show him, either, but I had to suck it up. The wounds were just too… intimate, you know. Aimed to hit me in a very personal way. I wish I could say that they didn’t succeed. 

Nonetheless, I opened the little smock-sack on the cushion next to me. Therein sat what was left of my tools -- the bundle of splinters and the split golden can still flashing with binary. Fix-it made a sound like someone poured cold water on him. I even heard him breathe “Sweet Nana Litwak,” which is a pretty harsh curse coming from him. Then, of course, came the grave stares, whispered questions, and more futile attempts to put the metaphorical pieces together. His hands kept hovering around my tools like they were some dead animal that he was too mortified to decide what to do with. Watching it just brought my headache back.

Just when I started reaching for my walking stick, he came to his senses and repaired it all. Brush, paint can, and smock. Then, I think I made a sound like someone poured hot water on me. My tools erupted with intense pins and needles and I broke into a sudden sweat. It was like my code was spinning and grinding itself back into place, and the friction could have sent smoke out my ears. It did not feel nearly as good as I would have liked.

Finally having my tools back, though, was relieving in ways I can’t even describe. After seeing them in pieces, it felt like I was holding them for the first time all over again. You know how important they are to me. But until then, I don’t think I ever appreciated just how beautiful they are. I just wanted to hold onto them and never let go.  

With my tools whole and near, my right leg finally stabilized and took solid form again. All the pain from those bite wounds really woke back up. I wasn’t ready for it -- I didn’t even think about it, honestly -- and I yelped. Fix-it was on it instantly. For a minute, he was even blessedly free of questions.

Except the dumbass couldn’t get to the wounds, because he fixed my pants by accident. So I had to take them off.

That bothered him way more than it bothered me. His face was red as a beet. You know I’m not shy about my body. I’ve never understood the big deal -- it’s just a freakin’ body. But what was admittedly terrible about it was that, since my knees were still basically locked, he had to help me get my pants off. That image, that concept, still haunts me. But I take some comfort in the idea of my shredded legs haunting him. Once they were fully bare, all that beet red was sucked right out of his cheeks. He blanched so hard I thought his hair would turn white.

I’ll give him this much: They certainly were not for the faint of heart. I had grossly underestimated how bad they were through the tears in my pant legs. 

Two bites were so deep that I could actually see a little ridge of deep pink meat jutting out. My skin had been flayed off in several thumbprint-sized patches. There were dozens of puncture wounds in curved lines, gouges nearly an inch long, claw marks like long, dirty blisters, and weaving through it all was a tangle of blackening purple welts that bled into feverish reds and nauseous yellows. And of course, they were absolutely covered in dried blood and dirt and Devs know what else.

I definitely deserve a medal for walking anywhere with those.

After making sure he was not going to hurl all over me, Fix-it quickly set to work on my right leg. Each hit felt like a killer muscle cramp at first, but Devs, the fading of that pain was dizzyingly sweet. Then he had to sully it by speaking again. He asked an impressively stupid question: “Are these bite marks?” 

I didn’t really mean to answer. I think the pain relief had loosened me up enough for the door in my throat to open just a crack. As if the word had been loaded and ready from before, I just said, “Dogs.”

Fix-it jumped. I immediately regretted speaking when I saw the way he was looking at me, as if I’d been suddenly and miraculously cured of my lifelong muteness. He took it to mean that I was open to questions. They came flooding out again, way more insistent this time. To my dismay, he even stopped healing me in favor of interrogating me, and, amazingly, that didn’t earn him any answers. But for every second that I stayed quiet, he just escalated. He leaned towards me and really got into the hand gestures and kept trying to coax a reply out of me in this annoyingly urgent tone, “Mavy!” pause, “Mavy!” pause, “Mavy!!”

I’d had enough. I snatched up my walking stick, ready to give him a ‘back to work’ jab, but my blow didn’t land. Instead, the exchange (and, consequently, the evening) took a completely unexpected turn -- Fix-it caught the stick in his hand, yanked it away from me, and raised his voice.

“NO, Mavis! ENOUGH of this!”

He even dropped the nickname. 

I was too stunned to react. He tossed the stick out of my reach, and we were both quiet for a short-lived moment.

There are a lot of words coming up. I remember it all surprisingly clearly -- I mean, how often is it that Fix-it loses his temper -- but I’ll still be paraphrasing here.

Words sort of burst from his mouth, and it visibly shook him. He said, “This is just too much, Mavis! This is too much for you to give me the silent treatment right now! You can’t just keep me in the dark like this! I’m not your paramedic, I’m your cousin! I’m your family, Mavis!”

Yeah. Dramatic. Just like that, he lost me. I didn’t know when Fix-it would grasp these simple concepts: I am not touchy-feely, I absolutely detested the ‘F’ word, and I so genuinely, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, did not care. 

He kept going, but I didn’t catch a word of it. I figured I’d let him get it out of his system while I mentally checked out. I just stared at the ceiling, fruitlessly trying to process the last 24 hours. They didn’t feel real. They felt like a nightmare. But I’d been down that road already; I knew it was all real. It just wasn’t sinking in -- it was looming above me and sucking up my emotions like a sponge. There was a feeling, almost physical, telling me that it could all rain down at any second. It would weigh down the already crushing load on my shoulders, and just like that, it would be too heavy to bear anymore. I’d crumple beneath it. I’d break into a million pieces. 

I just… didn’t know what to think, what to do, what to feel. I was floundering.

I came back into Fix-it’s rant just as he was saying, “...even listening to me right now? Hey, young lady. Did you listen to a single word I just said?”

To say that I wasn’t in the mood would be a massive understatement. I tried to massage the ache out of my forehead and gave a “Mmhmm.”

He clicked his tongue impatiently. “Well, what have I been talking about, Mavis?”

“Something about…” I felt too sick to be witty. “...pies n’ hammers n’... blue shirts…”

“Do you think this is a joke?!”

I deadpanned, “It’s pretty funny.”

Fix-it is well-known for his long quarter queue, but by the look in his eyes, I could tell he was on his last coins. That famous patience was worn razor-thin. Kind of an accomplishment on my part, really, but I was too tired, sick, and an all around mess to enjoy it. He stood up and started pacing around the room, leaving me couch-bound with one useless leg. His voice wavered from an effort to keep his volume down. “I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to help everyone. I’m trying to be here for you and run this building-- this GAME, even-- and I feel like I’m not asking much, here! Why, oh why, are you deliberately making it so hard for me?”

“That’s,” I interjected, “what she sai--”

“MAVIS!!”

“Well, get to the point!”

He paused, sighed, and lowered his voice just a tad. “Look, I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through right now. I know this has taken its toll on you, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But Mavis, you’re not the only one affected by all this, you know!”

Now he had my attention.

The absolute nerve of him to say that, after what I’d just dealt with! As if any of his minor inconveniences and uncomfy feelings could even slightly compare! I had both of those points ready to throw in his face, but in my rage, I kind of forgot that I was, you know, wounded. I tried to jump to my feet and tell him off, but I didn’t get past “NOT THE--!!” before the pain dropped me back into my seat. Fix-it stepped forward, looking concerned, but I waved him off. 

Wincing through the pain, I said, “Is that a point you really wanna make right now?”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry, Mavy, but please, let me finish. This is a really terrifying time for the whole arcade. Everyone’s been affected in one way or another, but, mostly, everyone’s just… scared. The Nicelanders have all been losing sleep over the thought of getting unplugged, and they look to me for reassurance and security, and I just… don’t always have it! How can I convince them that there’s nothing to worry about when, every night, you come home looking sicker than the night before, covered in cuts and bruises, with Devs know how many buffs in your system? I don’t even know what you’re really doing out there, and you won’t say a word to me about it! How can I tell them not to worry when I’m worried, too?”

“They’re worried I’ll go nuts.” I did not ask, but stated.

He tried to disagree, but he’s a terrible liar.

I continued, “They’re afraid that I’ll get their game unplugged. I know. Let ‘em join the freakin’ club forming out there. Think I don’t know what everyone’s saying about me? That it’s just a matter of time ‘til I lose it, too, and, as they’re so eloquently putting it --” I gave very heavy quotation marks, “-- go Turbo?”

I’m gonna be honest, here. Seeing your name in my handwriting feels… weird. I’ve actually been avoiding it until now, because… well, saying it out loud to Fix-it felt like a punch to the chest. Even he winced, but I’m not sure why.

It was a struggle not to shout as I went on.

“Oh, must be terrifying, being stuck in a box with a tickin’ time bomb. Every rough day I have just pushes me one step closer to the edge, is that it? It ain’t exactly sunshine and rainbows out there, y’know. I won’t act like I’m having the time of my life just so your little babies don’t have bad dreams -- get ‘em freakin’ nightlights, for cuss’ sake! I could not give less of a crit about your NPCs’ emotional stability! Just do your job and fix it!”

Fix-it looked exhausted. “I’m trying to do my job right now! That’s all I’ve been doing since-- since--... you know! There are so many jobs to do, so many problems to fix, coming at me higgledy-piggledy from everywhere, and here I have my cousin digging her claws in the dirt!”

I was way more exhausted. “Well, gee, if I’m such a problem, why not fix two birds with one hammer and throw me to the curb!? I’m gone, Nicelanders are happy, your life’s freakin’ perfect again.”

“No, Mavy, that’s not…” He sighed and sat on the coffee table again. “No one wants that. I’m not here to just make you go away. Yes, my job is to fix things, but I don’t want to fix you. Right now, my job is to help you. That’s all I want to do. But, by golly, I need you to work with me on this. You’re not a problem. You just… have a problem.”

I’m not sure how he thought saying that would go. I’m not sure why he thought that would be an appropriate time to say it. But damn if he didn’t say it. I just glared daggers, daring him to elaborate. 

He suddenly looked anxious, and mumbled, barely loud enough to hear, “A… lot… of them…”

I wanted to fight him on that. I wanted him to point out everything that he thought was a problem, so that I could fight him on each and every one of them. Who gave him the authority to determine my problems? Who told him it was any of his Dev-damned business? How many times did I have to beat it into his head that I knew how to look after myself, even if it was not in his way? Too many freakin’ times -- so many, in fact, that just the thought of doing it again doubled my headache. As pissed as I was, I didn’t have the energy for that particular fight. I just wanted him to heal me so I could leave.

After a few tense minutes, he continued cautiously, “I’m so sorry, Mavy. All this… grief… hasn’t been kind to you. We can-- I can help you find ways to cope that aren’t so harmful. You don’t have to handle all this on your own.”

What a load of crap, I thought.

“Yes, I do.”

“Why, Mavy?”

The truthful answer to that would have been a whole other can of worms. “I just do. You couldn’t understand.”

He said insistently, “I could if you would give me a chance.”

I was more than ready for this conversation to end. He was giving me the heart-to-heart eyes, and I’d be in for a world of gross if I let that go unchecked. 

“Why would I let someone help me when the only reason they’re doing it is so their annoying-ass NPCs will shut up?”

He looked appalled. “How could you think--”

“Look, Fix-it. I can tell there’s a lot on your plate, so let me help you. Firstly, apart from stuff like this,” I pointed to my chomped up leg, “I don’t need your help, I don’t want your help, and will not accept your help, because I know, with full certainty, that you can’t help me. So you can cross me off your list and forget about it -- problem solved. As for the Nicelanders? You’re practically a Dev to them, dumbass, they’ll trust anything you say! You know I’m not dangerous, not… that way. You know I’m no threat to the arcade. Just keep telling ‘em that, and they’ll smarten up!”

Silence.

“I mean… you do know that, right?”

I have a bad relationship with silence. I’ve found, in my life, that the worst answers are the ones I don’t receive. The ones that make me fill in the blanks. It’s like the Devs don’t have the guts to give bad news to me straight. 

Or, in this case, Fix-it didn’t.

He tried to backpedal and reassure me, but I told him to save it. The pregnant pause already said it all. My heart sank into my gut at this revelation and everything it meant. Fix-it believed nothing but the best of me since day one. In all likelihood, I could have set him on fire and he would still say that I meant no harm by it. He trusted me, definitely more than anyone ever should. I guess I thought that would never change. But the loss of his faith in itself wasn’t really the issue; I didn’t really want his moral support. It’s just that he’s always thought more highly of me than anybody. If these rumors about me were so rampant and convincing that even Fix-it bought into them, then everyone did. If he didn’t believe in me anymore, then no one did. 

I was alone. I was really, truly alone. 

My understanding of reality turned over itself. In an instant, the arcade became nothing but a bunch of boxes jam-packed with sprites who wanted to kill me, peppered with ones who would actually try. Somehow, I felt like they were all watching me already, hundreds of burning eyes trying to smother me with the sheer volume of their hatred -- and it was working. The room around me started to swim. I could inhale and exhale, but I couldn’t breathe. If I had been standing, I would have collapsed. 

And then, in the midst of it all, I noticed Fix-it getting closer. Whatever willpower I had to deal with him was all but crushed. I had so, so much sickness in my head, churning and whirling like a tornado of black smoke. Next to all that, Fix-it was dwarfed. Insignificant. His presence just felt like a fly buzzing around my ears, which would have been annoying on a good day. In this case, it made me want to scream.

So I did.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!!” 

He jumped backwards, clear over the coffee table, with a ‘boing’. I obviously scared the cuss out of him, but still, the fright in his eyes faded into an expression that may or may not have been one of pity. I sure read it that way at the time.

“STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!!” I tried to get up again, to no avail. My leg was still wrapped in a vice of pain, and that squeezed my screaming back down to shouting. “When were you planning on telling me you’d turned your back on me?!”

Fix-it almost matched my volume, but it was obviously forced. He’s not known for his yelling. “I haven’t!! I believe in you, Mavis! But this isn’t you! You haven’t been you since-- since that day! That-- that spark in your eyes is just gone! I never see you eat, I know you’ve barely been sleeping, you don’t even frequent Tapper’s anymore -- all I hear about you is that you’re fighting, or-- or attacking sprites--”

“I never ATTACKED anybody!!”

“--taking buffs all the time, and snooping around other games! Mavis, a lot of sprites think you’re looking for a game to-- to-- you know!”

“And you believe that crap?!”

“No!” He paused. “I don’t want to believe it! But it’s the only side of the story I’m getting!”

I seethed. “You shouldn’t NEED me to tell you that I’m not a murderer!! Do you really think I’d do something like that?!”

“No, Mavis, I don’t! I just don’t know if I can rely solely on my own judge of character to keep my game safe now! I mean, we didn’t think--” he paused, avoiding your name like a curse word, “--didn’t think he was capable of that, either, but he still--”

“BUT THAT’S--!! HE WASN’T--!!” my stomach was twisting over itself. I felt just about ready to breathe fire. “Nevermind what HE did! We’re not talking about him, we’re talking about me! I’m still me! I can’t believe I have to spell that out for you! It’s like the whole arcade just got together and agreed that me being-- I don’t know, me being around him all the time just made us carbon copies of each other! Like I’m coded to be his-- his sequel or something! And you REALLY buy into that?!”

“No!”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU LISTENING TO THE SPRITES THAT DO?!”

“I’m TRYING not to!” I half expected him to start pulling his hair out. “It’s hard when they’re the only ones actually speaking to me! I want to listen to you, but you won’t-- you won’t talk to me! I’m on your side, I really am, and I’m trying to stay there! But, darn it all, it’s like you’re trying to push me out! Let me be on your side! Let me help you through this! Trust me, so I can trust you! All I am asking is for you to just-- just--” he clenched his teeth and grasped at the air, “--TALK TO ME!!”

He was exhausting me of coherent thought. I was just running on a fun cocktail of mindless frustration and hopelessness. If I had a filter at any point, it had dissolved. Words fell straight from my head and into my mouth.

I shouted, “WHY?! What’s so SPECIAL about you?! You’re just a dime-a-dozen privileged GOOD GUY!! Living that cushy life of luxury, making more credits in a day than I do in a month, deluding yourself into thinking you’d still want to help a dirty wretch like me if it weren’t in your job description -- gimme a freakin’ break!! You wanna tell me I’m NOT ALONE, while you’re out there siding with them!? You don’t get to jump on the Mavis-hating bandwagon and then come back here, SPEWING THAT SAME TIRED CRAP ABOUT US BEING FAMILY!!”

I didn’t even realize what I’d said until the silence that followed it.

It was like his sprite froze. He just stared at me, with a look in his eyes like he’d been struck hard enough to leave a crack. The tell-tale face of emotional overkill.

As soon as I saw that look, I realized my mouth had gotten away from me. I’m so used to arguing with you, and your skin is way, way thicker than my cousin’s. He’s too decent for language like that. I can honestly say that cutting him that deep was an accident. But I can’t say that I didn’t mean it, and I didn’t say I was sorry.

After a pause that lasted far too long, wherein we both just tried to breathe evenly, he took up his hammer and finally set to fixing my left leg. He finished quickly and silently, and as I tried not to pass out from the onslaught of pain relief, he backed away and gestured to the door.

“I think it’s time for you to go,” he said in a tone that sounded profoundly disappointed, yet somehow still polite. “If you need healing again, I’ll be here. But please come to me ready to talk. Take care of yourself, and be safe out there, Mavis.”

‘Out there.’ Those words made my blood run cold.

Something had shifted since I realized how alone I was. Up until that point, all I’d wanted to do was be healed and leave. But once he finally expected me to go, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I froze up. My guts twisted around inside me. I even caught myself gripping the couch, lest he try to force me out. Behind that door was nothing but a regular hallway, more doors, and an elevator, but it felt as if he wanted me to walk the plank into shark-infested waters. After being caught completely by surprise in Dragon’s Lair, I’d been hit with the chilling realization that I couldn’t trust my own senses. I couldn’t trust my own perception of safety. Someone could ambush me again, anytime, anywhere, and they could have a mind even sicker than the first offender. I needed a second pair of eyes to literally watch my back. Even if they were eyes I wasn’t sure I could trust anymore.

We weren’t exactly done yet, either.

I said, “Wait.” Fix-it looked at me, confused and a bit apprehensive.

The wound on my chest was the most personal of all. It stayed well hidden behind my weird cowl, and Fix-it didn’t bother asking why I wasn’t properly wearing a shirt -- I guess that wasn’t too out of the ordinary. I’d been dreading taking it off and showing him. If I bared those cuts, I’d be baring all the shame, the weakness, the worthlessness, degradation, humiliation... I’d be digging back up all the psychological terrors I’d just been forced through. I wasn’t even ready to face those again on my own, let alone open them up to someone else. But I had no choice. I had to lay it all bare in front of Fix-it and risk him painting me as a victim at best, or taking me for a maniac at worst.  

“Just…” I started, but had no idea what to say. I’m not one to really… you know, open up verbally. In the end, I’m always better at showing than telling, even in situations where I’d rather do neither. So there seemed little point in wasting time. If Fix-it was so bloody desperate for answers, he could find them written in my skin.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and pulled the cowl off over my head.

I heard no reaction from him. I heard nothing at all, save for the thumping in my ears and that thick hum of an awkward silence. I put off opening my eyes for as long as I could stand to. Even just feeling his gaze on me was enough to drive me mad. But after another long, steadying breath, I opened my eyes. 

There was a ghost standing where Fix-it had been a second ago. He had gone white as a sheet, stiff with shock, one hand clasped over his mouth. His eyes were wide and glassy, and I just hoped to the Devs that he wouldn’t start crying. But I couldn’t get a good read on what he was taking away from the sight of me, and he just wouldn’t move. With every passing second, I became more and more anxious that all I’d done was prove myself a lunatic. If he didn’t do something, I was going to throw up.

When I tried to speak, to snap him out of it, I found my throat door locked once more. But I couldn’t sit in silence a moment longer. It took an unreasonable amount of effort to force words out, and even when I did, they were clipped and staggered. 

But I said to him, as clearly as I could, “I--... didn’t--... do this.”

Finally, his hand slowly fell from his face, and he took in a short breath that I almost thought he would hold forever, before exhaling, “Who… did this to you?”

I shook my head, wishing I had a real answer, and said, “I-- don’t know…”

I waited for another question, a response, anything, but he just fell silent again. There were gears turning in his head, and I couldn’t stand not knowing where they were going. Everything inside me screamed that they were going the wrong way. 

“I didn’t-- do this,” I restated, but when no response came, a heat rose in my belly and words boiled over. “I didn’t do this. This wasn’t me. I couldn’t have-- I didn’t want this. I didn’t do this to myself.”

There was a pause, and Fix-it might have spoken if I’d let that pause go any longer. Those few seconds of silence were enough to give the impression that he wasn’t listening to me, and that drove me right over the edge.

“You don’t--... This--...” I couldn’t breathe, again. “This wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t my fault! Stop-- Stop LOOKING at me like it was my fault! IT WASN’T! I DIDN’T DO THIS! IT WASN’T MY FAULT I DIDN’T DO IT THIS WASN’T ME IT WASN’T MY FAULT--!!”

“Hey! Hey, hey, hey,” Fix-it finally spoke up, albeit softly and cautiously. He slid closer, palms open, voice low, as if he were soothing some spooked animal -- kind of demeaning, but at least he was doing something. He sat in front of me again, his eyes wide in that painfully honest way, and took off his hat. “Mavis--”

I choked, “It wasn’t my fault.”

His hand moved to touch my shoulder, but he caught himself and drew it back.

“I believe you, Mavy.”

Part of me didn’t believe him. The rest of me wanted to take that sentence, curl over it in a hole somewhere, and sleep off this entire nightmare.

Fix-it didn’t ask me to leave again after that, and I didn’t try to go. We both silently agreed that I’d be staying the night, something I’d not done willingly in about four and a half years. He fixed my chest wounds, the bruises over my ribs, and the bump on my head. His hammer doesn’t exactly clean things, though, so he gave me a fresh towel and an extra pair of pajamas so I could shower while he threw my clothes in the wash. I wasn’t keen on wearing his fancy-pants rich boy pajamas, mostly because they belonged to him and that’s gross, but I welcomed the shower. I hadn’t bathed at all in a couple weeks.

I had no interest in seeing myself in the bathroom mirror, but it happened regardless. I still looked like a sick parody of myself, like some sullen, exhausted girl with greasy hair, caked almost head to toe in blood, dirt and sweat. Most of your name was still visible on my chest, but inverted, like clean lines scrubbed into a wall of dried blood. But there were lines on my face that were far more alarming -- streaks through the smeared blood on my cheeks, running down from my red, puffy eyes.

Apparently, I’d been crying.

I just hoped to the Devs that it hadn’t been for long.

[ziracona]

One aspect I find fascinating about your fics is that Meg and a lot of the other characters are pop culture savvy, but also live in a universe where some of the most popular horror characters were real people. So, how do you think they would've reacted to meeting Nancy and Steve, who come from a universe where Michael, Laurie, and Freddy are all horror movie characters?

Ahhh thank you so much! I’m really glad you liked that. Pop culture was a really big element for a lot of the cast, & it is kinda funny I guess that several of them /are/ core horror pop culture.

So, this is kind of a hard one for me to answer, because I didn’t do ILM canon like DbD official canon. I do explicitly reference Stranger Things as fiction in Nearly Departed, but that was because I had not the foggiest clue DbD would /add/ a Stranger Things chapter—both because it’s super new and ongoing unlike their other horror “classic” staples, & because I wouldn’t even really call Stranger Things horror. I had been so damn careful 😂—I think the only horror film I name is Friday the 13th, which felt safe at the time because it’s got its own similar game & thus seemed unlikely to give DbD rights. If I had included Nancy & Steve, I would have gone back and replaced that segment with something similar, and just had ST exist in the same world as Halloween, NOES 2010, and Saw/all of the ILM cast. It’s the best solution, and you really don’t have to change any of the stories to do it. All that would have to change is that in this version of ST, Max wore a different Halloween costume, & three lines of dialogue are different. Fundamentally it’s exactly the same world. I know that’s maybe not the most exciting answer TuT, but it’s what I’d have done for a few reasons. Ima drop the rest under a read more bc I go way into writing & a little w horror meta tho: 💙

For one, it’s just kinda sad. It lowers the storytelling stakes because even a best-case scenario would be kind of a letdown for everyone. Not as much to gain: Not as much to lose. So, sad emotionally & kinda less motivating story-wise. Like, if any version of a happy ending even hypothetically would always mean these people who have bonded through years of self sacrifice and friendship and trauma and growth either /never/ see each other again, or go to one world together where only maybe one person would ever get to see their OG family again, and might also have to suffer with seeing their life as a film on that planet? Joked about, critiques, not taken seriously, no privacy? That’s just. It’s not a happy ending, or a satisfying one, even for the characters to /fight/ for, regardless of if they can win it or not. 

I’m aware that official DbD is multiverse, and there’s no assurance for even say Claudette and Meg being from the same world, let alone the world Halloween happens in, and was when I started writing. I just elected to ignore it. The devs even also explain a lot of the cosmetics as “alternate world versions” of the characters, instead of just fun costumes. I personally think that’s silly? And I’ve really never liked the multiverse decision. I got nothing at all against multiverse stories—they can be amazing—but you’ve got to have a reason if you do, and as far as I can tell, the only reason DbD is multiverse was so the Devs could release a bunch of classic horror characters into their game without worrying about continuity, which is lazy & not a great reason to pick multiverse. It can be great for stories, but in DbD, it would if anything just detract from the reality of the situation & the storytelling? Like, if I showed up in a hell pocket universe, and Michael Myers was there, it would be hard to take that situation entirely seriously, and it would fundamentally change how I interacted with others & they with me. If I knew his history, I’d use that to try to get through to him (what’s the worst that’ll happen? I’ll die like I do every day anyway?), but it would also be just weird & hard for people to relate. Like, if Steve Harrington has had conversations with a buddy about Laurie Strode being careless for not double-tapping her dead assailant & thinks of her as Jamie Lee Curtis & in some ways knows more about her life & family & universe than she does, but knows it all as an element of fiction? And at the same time, Kate’s seen Steve’s actor do interviews & play other roles and caught continuity errors in his /life/ while watching ST??? Hypothetically, someone /could/ unpack all that to tell a story, & maybe a fan has, but the Devs/game really, really haven’t, and in most instances, it’ll just mess up the characters’ abilities to relate to each other as human beings, as well as being miserable for the ones told they’re just characters from horror films in other people’s worlds.

The way DbD is set up really doesn’t lend itself to the kind of meta character vs humanity, role relationships between fiction & life narrative of, say, The Final Girls. Really all it does is make the world less real feeling. Less whole, more artificial. Less to be taken seriously, less belief willing to be suspended. Why are Laurie & Quentin fake in someone’s world? Does Meg not being in a story in Quentin’s universe mean she’s more real? It’s just messy. Multiverse is fine, but if you pick multiverse solely to make your job easier, at the cost of a more coherent, real, and engagable story (@ Devs >.>) that’s lazy/bad writing. I’ve read & enjoyed multiverse stories, but I’d never write DbD that way, bc I’d need a reason to, and I don’t have one. There was really no need for the devs to feel like they had to either, except pure ease w no work at all thinking about how or needing to explain anything, and I wish they hadn’t. : /

Like. Technically, Halloween & Scream shouldn’t be in the same canon—Halloween H20 plays a chunk of Scream 2 on TV, Scream 1 they’re watching Halloween 1978 & Scream 4 Sidney is asked “Who are you? Michael fucking Myers?” When she survives a murder attempt. But that’s not a big deal. It’s not a pivotal piece of world building and canon for either franchise. Scream is not fundamentally different if Randy is watching Friday the 13th or even some made up film, instead of Halloween. On top of that, a lot of horror references each other for fun and as tribute and I’m a huge nerd who adores this tradition. 😂 Scream & Halloween are so tight as franchises by the time Halloween H20 was released, that it actually uses chunks of Scream’s OST. It’s much better narratively for DbD if they’re all from one world, and in a way, it’s just a cool next step to the preexisting horror friendship metas between a lot of films. It’s really fun to figure out how they’d function together in one universe.

Anyway, that was long but I have so many thoughts on DbD & writing thank you for giving me an excuse to gush!! And thank you again for the compliment. I’m really happy you like my writing. It means a lot. 💙

[videogamesincolor]

Resident Evil 2 (2019) - Not quite the ‘re-imagining’ it purports to be (SPOILERS)

[Written: Feb 4-25, 2019. As always, act brand new on my post, you will catch the fastest block in the west.]

The 2019 iteration of Resident Evil 2 shares a lot of common ground with games like Silent Hill: Shattered Memories versus something like Bluepoint Games’ Shadow of the Colossus or even Sega’s Yakuza Kiwami series. 

The first game is a re-imagining – effectively a reboot –, recreated from the ground up with almost little to do with its predecessor. The others are genuine remakes that change very little in the way of the framework or structure of the game and merely recreate or repair its presentation with the graphical fidelity (or control schemes) of the present era.

While both profit and rely on nostalgia, a remake has the specific ‘obligation’ to maintain what came before it. A re-imagining has cart blanche to do what it wants under the pretense that it has no obligation to restore or replicate. In the case of Resident Evil 2, it’s a bit funny in the fact that the existence of its reboot was reliant on the 2002 remake of Resident Evil.

During the re-release of the 2002 Resident Evil remake in 2015, Capcom more or less ransomed the idea of making a “remake” of Resident Evil 2 by placing the burden of that reality on the shoulders of Resident Evil HD. Or rather, the shoulders of their consumer base.

If Resident Evil HD didn’t meet publisher sales expectations, no “remake”. It was an easy sell, of course, because the Gamecube remake was not a game everyone played (on account of Nintendo console exclusivity). To no surprise, Resident Evil HD ended up being their “fastest selling digital title” in 2015. That same year, Capcom officially announced the Resident Evil 2 “remake” was becoming reality, went radio silent, and the aged fandom wept.

Common knowledge, but Capcom originally wanted a remake for RE2O in the vein of the 2002 remake. Mikami, however, was preoccupied with Resident Evil 4. He would never return to look back on the series because Capcom was Capcom, which inspired Mikami to depart from the company.

I think the assumption folk made (at the time), was that because the reboot was necessitated by the financial success of Resident Evil HD, Capcom might go for an experience similar to the 2002 remake, but with the graphical fidelity of present day consoles.

Graphical remasters and remakes are a “hit and miss” production. They happen because publishers (and by extension, developers), know there is profit to made in the machine of nostalgia, not (necessarily) because they’re interested in preserving or restoring old games. You see developers clearly holding back the desire to remix instead of being completely restorative, removing things they either didn’t like or expanding on things that couldn’t be done with previous hardware. 

Yet, “if it ain’t broke, just update the visuals, maintain the rest”, is an adage some prefer. More often than not, remakes end up splitting older and younger audiences down the middle regardless of what changes or what remains. And that’s without taking into account bugged and half-hearted releases that never get addressed by devs.

But, Resident Evil 7 (“we swear it’s not a reboot”) happened, and it was fairly clear what direction Capcom was going to go in. While Capcom and fanbase for the game were content with calling Resident Evil 2 a “remake”, Capcom later insisted, “This is not a remake. It’s a retelling, a new game built from the ground up.” So, on the surface, RE2R definitely has more common with Shattered Memories than it does 2002’s Resident Evil. But, where Shattered Memories wasn’t interested in treading so familiar waters, the same cannot be said of this reboot.

The 2019 iteration of Resident Evil 2 is a monkey’s paw wish of a game, just based on the observation of how the established fanbase is reacting and my own personal feelings (as someone with no nostalgia for it). For some, they got exactly the experience they wanted (more RE7). For others, modifying the game (on PC, naturally) to recreate an experience closer to the 1998 release is a must. And then there are some who are simply disinterested in the game, content with the original, or dissatisfied with the creative or business choices made by Capcom (and given Capcom’s track record, I can’t blame them).

Within the game itself, there is a lot about the reboot that feels unfocused, hindered by budget, last minute decisions, a blandly retold narrative, and trying to cling to abstract bones in an effort to maintain the audience it courted, when abandoning those bones might’ve been a better idea.

I. Presentation – The "Realistic” “Re-Imagining”

If Marvin’s final moments with Leon or Claire weren’t enough to convince you the of the severity of the situation, maybe a emotionally manipulative scene with Dad and Zombie child will.

The Resident Evil series is not one known for its screenwriting. If anyone’s being real honest themselves, the shit’s bad 90% of the time, reached peak stupidity in RE6 and just kinda self-destructed from there. YMMV, but Resident Evil is the “so-bad-bad-its-good” game you could enjoy up to a point. The 2002 Resident Evil remake took a particularly poor script localization and improved upon its delivery, right down to the voice direction (which could still be a bit stilted). Yet, you never got the feeling RE1R was striving to be anything other than what it was: A cinematic-based video game that reveled in the aesthetic of Gothic environment design, mood, and b-movie monsters with a world domination plot thrown for extra spice. It had a decent sense of humor, and often poked fun at itself.

RE2O built its foundation on the basic principles of the original (isolation, aesthetic, framing, mood), but focused a little more on its humor, body horror and action-movie flair. The plot of RE2O was as bare-bones as it got with the presentation of its narrative. A new cop and an AWOL cop’s bike enthusiast sister wind up trapped in a police station, accidentally stumble across a corporate conspiracy and must escape a giant underground complex before it blows up. Simple stuff. And the dialog – with a fairly improved localization and English performances – got you from point A to point B.

For everything I didn’t like about RE7 (from its aesthetic, plot, combat, creature design, and its bologna white characters), it was, to some degree, an attempt to recapture the camp and b-movie horror that RE4 so firmly embraced without damaging its atmosphere. RE7 was self-aware enough to embrace the inanity that was its premise in a way the series had only recently attempted again in Resident Evil Revelations 2, which also had its tongue firmly placed in its cheek. Resident Evil is a game comfortable with its silliness, but can still deliver a tense mood and atmosphere.

It’s disappointing that RE2R adopts the tone of, “Please, take me seriously”, with all the self-awareness that RE6 had when it tried to be an action/thriller.

RE2R’s primary issue is tone and presentation. From the jump you can tell the scenario writers of RE2R want the game to be this gritty drama with “complex characters”, grounded in reality, right down to the HBO-levels of profanity and the redundant use of “bitch” littered throughout the script. In an attempt to remold a cast of characters designed for the absurd into “realistic” persons, what you get characters largely disinterested in their circumstances. Claire and Leon seem only mildly inconvenienced by the end of the world. They casually shout over explosions (that might as well not have happened), and often can’t be arsed to sound anything other than annoyed by most events that unfold around them as repetitive canned reactions regurgitate through the speakers.

The script doesn’t trust scenes like Leon’s one-to-one moments with Marvin to sell the dire circumstance. So, casually chauvinistic characters like the Gunshop owner (who got comically bodied by zombies) becomes a saccharine drama piece that stalls the progression of the plot in what might be one of most disingenuous moments I’ve seen in a game. When monsters like William Birkin, Mr. X, the Licker, and the plant monsters eventually begin to appear, they stand out and heighten the already problematic uncanny valley present in the game, and seem better suited for the elder games of the series.

You never really get moments like Chief Irons sorrowfully lamenting, “And to think taxidermy used to be my hobby”, Ada shrugging dismissively at Leon’s pride as a police officer, Annette getting conked upside the head by falling debris, or Claire tricking Mr. X into jumping over the ledge to go after the G-Virus hidden in Sherry’s locket and straight up calling him a sucker. The drab, washed out presentation of the plot, played so deadly serious, honestly made for a joyless experience.

RE2R asks and answers the questions like, “What if Leon was wearing civvies on the way to work?” or “What if Ada Wong pretended to be an FBI agent?” A lot of it comes off like a fan novelization that proudly boasts “My version of how Resident Evil 2 would go”. The first time you read it, maybe it’s an interesting take to indulge, but the more you revisit it, the more unessential or cosmetic the changes end up feeling. (The only real cosmetic change that doesn’t seem weird to me is the idea that the police hijacked a museum and made it their dumping grounds.)

A lot of changes to the plot seem to function largely on the assumption that things like Ada posing as a civilian, Sherry being sent to the police station by her parents (as opposed to leaving her in a unprotected living residence with no immediate help), the RPD knowing about the Mansion Incident and brushing off the survivors (Chris, Jill, Barry, etc.), or Ben the reporter locking himself a jail cell to avoid other monsters, are things that strain suspension of belief or just wouldn’t happen in “real life”. So things of that nature either get removed or reworked altogether, often times for jump scares telegraphed a mile away, or left hanging for prequel baiting (because Capcom knows folk are going to be clamoring for another remake of RE1 and RE3).

The plot and its progression feels condensed down to something that’s like the bullet points version of RE2O. It over-simplifies what was already a simpleton of a narrative, largely to compress a lot of events into two campaigns that now never work in harmony. To add insult to that injury, Claire and Leon never communicate, let alone work together. They pretty much forget the other exists, thus making that friendship pretty non-existent.

Say hello to your friends. Say hello people who care. Nothing’s better than friends.

With regard to the two campaigns, for all the focus Capcom places on Leon – the mascot of the reboot itself –, Claire’s campaign is probably a better presentation of a rebooted RE2O, even with its drawbacks to Claire as a character overall (more on that later). The highlight of Claire’s campaign is the fact that her friendship with Sherry Birkin remains intact. I actually think it gets a better representation here than in the original, or what was only marginally improved in side-games like Darkside Chronicles. The downside is that the two interact even less than they did in RE2O, the plot separating them immediately after forming a partnership.

There are some genuine moments of scripted walk-n-talk between Claire and Sherry as they explore the early parts of the game, which in turn makes Claire a far more engaging character than she is with Leon (who is devoid of any real charm or personality in this reboot). The downside, however, is that Sherry is reduced to a prop, where she was a far more proactive party in the original game. That and by the end of Claire’s campaign, there is a lot of “shitty mom” apologia from Claire, whose basic human decency makes her better guardian than Annette Birkin.

Annette Birkin is questionably re-framed as a sympathetic and even tragic hero character who “never meant for this to happen”, never-mind she and her husband (who is also framed as a victim) were involved in the testing, abuse and deaths of orphaned children in the name of science. Then there’s the whole virus that turns people into zombies. But, yeah, what a tragic figure.

My primary issue with the narrative of Leon’s campaign is that they decide to tie him more into the Umbrella plot (aka, Ada and Claire’s shtick) instead of having him focus on finding a way out and helping other people. The reboot actually had the opportunity to employ the “help the other survivors” bit I always felt was dropped in the original (but revisited in Outbreak), and put Leon’s altruistic character into more action. But, then the reboot removes this motivation altogether by making Marvin and RPD’s rescue efforts a complete and utter failure (thanks, Capcom). 

His plot lacks any real momentum, largely because the game nixes his original cast dynamic. Despite nothing crucial happening in his campaign until the end of it, his bears the greatest consequence on the reboot’s compressed narrative. The outright removal of his friendship with Claire, and even the briefest interaction he has with Sherry, makes Leon pretty bland as hell. 

The only time he comes off as remotely personable is when he interacted with Marvin. Otherwise, it’s one eye open, one eye closed with this iteration of the character. The fact that he’s less of a take charge personality, and more of pushover (to sad degrees) also makes for less entertaining interaction all around.

You can tell someone with no ability to write or direct romantic subplots handled this. Whoof.

And while I’m not against reworking the Ada/Leon dynamic where the start of an attraction is a little less like a brick to the head (”Ada wouldn’t do that. I KNOW her!”)?  A): this is Capcom, so that didn’t happen, B):  It’s still pretty much like a brick to the head, only this time it’s last minute, with less foundation, and outright unimaginative. Nothing about the execution of the “romance” in this game works at all. Where Ada and Leon at the very least had a functional rapport and partnership in RE2O, in the reboot the majority of their time is spent in passive aggressive disharmony. The outright antagonism between the two characters in the reboot is not only boring, but not remotely conducive for what follows near the climax.

As something that takes up the majority of his narrative, for worse instead of better, a lot the dialog – a direct consequence of what they choose to do with Ada – is comprised of uninspired “enemies-to-lovers” shtick, right down to drab flirt dialog and throwing one’s words back at the other (“I didn’t realize you were keeping score” / “I didn’t realize we were keeping score”).

The worst thing about his campaign is Ada’s depiction. The reboot effectively turns her into a character who does more damage to her own agenda than Leon being remotely present. I get the writers think having Ada posing as a federal agent is “smart” or “realistic”, but the character instead comes off as more suspicious than a civvie with a gun. She’s a pretty terrible spy in this reboot. Reboot Ada is an antagonistic character with zero charisma or personality, there’s no fun in finding out her ulterior motives. On top of that, the FBI shtick is probably the dullest iteration of the character since her “fringe observer” status in her RE6 campaign. 

But, where you had complete control of her and she was motivated by her own subplot (that did intersect with Leon, sometimes), realized in gameplay and plot, RE2R reduces Ada to a purely cinematic and expositional tag-along character with no agency in the narrative. A lot of what was done to and happens to Ada’s character is purely in service of Leon’s plot and actions. They really fire-bombed the character, but if you’re a hardcore Ada/Leon shipper, then her function will have served its purpose, both for you and Leon’s arc.

Marvin Branagh is humanized on such a level he is no longer the same character from the original game, but his role is effectively the same one. Like Ada, Marvin was re-contextualized largely as a sacrifice to Leon’s character arc (this is not a vibe you get with Claire’s campaign ever). Chief Irons, who feels like he appears out of nowhere, with no buildup, has been reduced to this kind’ve ineffectual kidnapper who disappears just as quickly.

Resident Evil is at its best when it knows it’s an interactive horror b-movie – with action elements – and has a director who knows how to balance all those elements. Beyond the singular moment wherein Claire Redfield declares “I’m gonna kill the monster” while wielding a six shooter and Annette Birkin is actively cheering for the death of her Frankenstein husband, RE2R never tries to be that kind’ve game. It actively runs away from schlock, and so it is the less remarkable product.

Things gleamed from Resident Evil 2′s abandoned direction offer a far more interesting “re-imagining” than 2019 end result. To a degree.

Part of the problem with Capcom’s attempt to “re-imagine” RE2O is that it wants to cling so badly to the framework and story beats of the original game instead of creating an identity of its own. It wants the ability to say, “we’re a totally different story!”, but at the same time does very little to become a different story, and exiles itself to this island of nowhere because it actively alienates the connections to the games that come before and after it.

This is where I think, while a lot of people disliked Shattered Memories, it’s a better re-imagining of the original Silent Hill, because its bold enough to actually commit to that definition. Capcom’s execution here is pretty half-hearted, deliberately so.

I’ve only just chosen to acknowledge the prototype of Resident Evil 2, but despite knowing the devs were not happy with the end result (and just scrapped it), it does a lot of things that this reboot honestly should’ve at least attempted.

Not only does it handle the character plots in a way where scenario nonsense would not be a problem, you basically had (what are now) established (or nixed) characters in different roles, reasonably isolated from the RE1 plot, working in tandem with your player characters (Eliza and Leon) and their cast of characters, who were never designed to meet until the apparent end of the game. Also, Marvin had a larger role and a functional relationship with Leon (I hate Capcom).

As a “retelling” of RE2O, RE2R is pretty weak. There are so many ways Capcom could’ve “re-imagine” RE2O if they were being genuine about that, but the final product more or less proves they weren’t. It’s over-reliance on referencing or leaning on things from RE2O hinders more than helps the game. It invites comparison to what is a better product despite its age. 

The reboot wants to be taken seriously, and does everything it can to project that image to the detriment of its presentation. RE2O more or less reveled in its silliness, and shlocky horror movie tropes and knew you would enjoy the ride anyway.

Separate Ways, Broken Scenarios

Claire and Leon working together, solving the problems...

RE2O’s scenario system was a fairly interesting way of presenting the story of two characters, and I always wondered why this was never more of a thing in games. Claire and Leon’s plot were separated on two discs (PS1). Leon was first, Claire, second. Completing one character’s “A Scenario” unlocked the other character’s “B Scenario”. Certain gameplay actions created minor consequences to affect the respective character’s scenarios (if you took a certain weapon or item over another, it wouldn’t appear in the other character’s alternate scenario).

The scenario system and the corresponding plots of the player characters were clearly developed in tandem with each other. Whatever goofs arose from therein, the narrative position of the characters remained firmly in place (largely because they were told through cinematics).

Claire’s B scenario always felt the most changed because the cinematics had to accommodate for a change to get Claire in places I was otherwise unaccustomed to seeing her. Legit, some of the cinematic differences were wild.

Back in June 2018, Capcom made it clear that RE2R was not intended to have a scenario campaign at all. The decision was (apparently) made back in 2017, when it was clear doing an A/B scenario was going to be costly on a AAA budget. It was only going to be a single campaign for Leon and Claire. So, Claire and Leon’s campaigns in RE2R are, structurally and plot-wise, “Scenario A and B did a fusion dance”.

In execution, their campaigns are like choose your own adventures. It asks the question “what if you went with Claire?” and its answer is “Leon de-spawns and doesn’t appear again until the end of the game”. It’s definitely not “Two strangers walkie-talkie a plan to escape a zombie infested city”.

Inside or outside, the B Scenario for the player characters barely differentiates itself from Scenario A

In this case, they should’ve stuck to their guns, just released one campaign per character (it’s not exactly like the absence of the B scenarios would actually impact their sales. Not with the fans whipped into a frenzy) and focused on getting their plot to work a little better.

“Claire B” and “Leon B” come off like a slapdash cut-and-paste job that made me question whether or not I had hit something on the controller that was causing the sequences to skip right through whole gameplay segments. Yet, now armed with the knowledge of a year before, it would explain why nothing in this game’s presentation ever feels like it gels, or was hastily put together.

Another issue the RE2R’s alternate scenarios make is not maintaining the characters static narrative placement as RE2O did. I think this is where you really start to see how little interest Capcom had in Claire as a character versus Leon. 

RE2R’s “Claire A” Scenario opens with a brief clip of Claire on her bike, talking to someone on the phone about Chris, then hearing something in the gas station store. The game then proceeds to put her in the exact same circumstances as Leon, which is baffling. They really have her doing the Leon shtick and repeats what she did in “Leon A”, but inside the gas station. Whack.

If you play “Leon A” first, she appears out of nowhere like she’s been attacked outside the gas station somewhere nearby. Her motorcycle isn’t even anywhere in view, so, the natural assumption you make is that maybe they’ll show that later when you play “Claire B”. Maybe there’s another area you can explore.

Nah. In “Claire B” the exact same cinematic plays again, trailer music starts, cut to black, and, it jumps to her intro scene in “Leon A”. At no point are you given a unique gameplay level or cinematic for Claire to bridge the gap between Leon heading for the store exit and Claire being chased by zombies that suddenly surrounded the gas station. She lit. just spawned into the area! Whack.

Now for some awkward car dialog

The original game was smart enough to give you a cinematic where she scoped out an empty diner and happened across some zombies while Leon’s boots were being accosted outside by zombies near his jeep. It really sold the idea of events happening concurrently to two different people within the same area.

Claire in “Claire B” doesn’t even get a section where she runs through the city after escaping the T-bone incident. The game just drops you in the graveyard, and then drops you at the rear police station gate where Leon spots her outside. You do a lot of backtracking in RPD with zero character interaction, and then, about an hour into the game, you end up on the exact same track as you did in “Claire A” (meeting Sherry, saving Sherry, Birkin #3-5 fight, escape) with no scene restructuring or whatnot, just the standard “Extended Ending” shtick.

“Leon B” in RE2R shares the exact same problems as “Claire B”. It feels like an abridged version of “Leon A”. Beyond Leon standing outside the gas station store and instant transmission’ing to the back of the police station there are zero story differences. But, with Leon you always have the reassurance that you can just play “Leon A” if you want a more complete experience.

Driving motorcycles in the rain is, factually, an accident waiting to happen

Claire regardless of the scenario you choose for her, A or B, will never get a unique starting gameplay moment of her own. While I think they did a far better job of reworking “Claire A” better than either of Leon’s scenarios, that’s disappointing. Claire really feels like something of a afterthought. 

Other detractors from the scenario nightmare include Mr. X following you around in the A Scenario and the B Scenario, instead of the B scenario only. Mr. X went from a fairly unsettling stalker of a boss enemy, who worked on slasher movie principals (the monster appears out of nowhere when you least expect him), then quickly transformed in a wearying exercise of dodging an enemy type that overstays its welcome. Both scenarios feature the helicopter crash and skylight Licker ambush, etc., etc.. 

If they couldn’t build upon or better realize what the 1998 game did, then the B Scenario was best left to the wayside. Naturally, Capcom didn’t follow their own advice and the want to cater to nostalgia bit them in the ass. 

Water is wet.

II. Gameplay – Night of the Living Bullet Sponges

Lickers (who are still terrifying) are practically one-hit-kill monsters now. Yippie.

There is a lot about the cinematic presentation of the elder Resident Evil games that defines much of its identity. An identity strong enough that most games that came out during the high point of its career were content to copy or refine its formula (Temco’s Fatal Frame, Konami’s Silent Hill 3, and Capcom’s Onimusha and Haunting Ground for example). There is a lot that loses the more it – a two decade old franchise – attempts to keep up with an ever-changing landscape of what’s considered modern-gaming-at-the-moment, instead of going to sleep like Onimusha, or even being forcefully put out to pasture like Silent Hill and Dead Space.

RE2R is a standard third person shooter that de-emphasizes cinematic presentation within its plot and its game space. There are no establishing cinematics, and the Kamiya action-movie-esque flair that made the last stretch of the climax what it is, is thoroughly absent. RE2R instead opts to – present the plot of the game completely within the game space itself with minimal cinematics. Sometimes it works, other times, it doesn’t.

Lickers drop unceremoniously on your head in your first encounter, Mr. X just appears out of nowhere then hounds you like Jehovah’s Witnesses, the sound of a helicopter crash goes whizzing by in time for you to walk past the model that’s already in the wall, Marvin becomes a zombie with no real sense of mourning or terror about his passing, Ada Wong gets the worst on-screen send off, etc. Cinematic moments that were meant to emphasize and foreshadow the decaying situation of the police station and the stakes of the characters are just kinda nullified.

Sherry Birkin’s gameplay segment is one of my favorite parts of the reboot.

I think one of the reasons Claire’s campaign leaves a better impression on me than that of Leon’s is what they decided to with Sherry Birkin’s part in her plot. Leon’s scenario has Ada trudging through a boring sewer corridor hunting for fuse boxes and then the game knocks her out so Leon can come to her rescue. With Sherry, you get something a little more creative, something that doesn’t treat her like a momentary distraction from the player character like it does with Ada. The entire orphanage level, from its presentation, to its level design, is probably what I would’ve liked to haven seen more of in the game.

The game puts you in the shoes of Sherry, but instead of traveling through sewers on your own, you’re exploring and searching an empty building that invokes a mood similar to – but not like – 2002’s Resident Evil. Obviously, this choice was made to keep Leon and Claire’s paths from intersecting (fuck that, I guess), and in a lot of ways, the game abandons the mechanics of Resident Evil and becomes a modern Clocktower game.

Chief Irons becomes the scissorman to Sherry’s Jennifer Simpson, and you, the player, have to navigate a fairly limited space to get away from him. They basically expand upon the Natalia stealth segments from Resident Evil Revelations 2 and create a fantastic gameplay segment full of distressing near misses and a legitimate win for Sherry. (I only wish they had allowed her to lock Irons in the bathroom. He would’ve Nicholson’ed his way out anyway.) Unfortunately, it ends with a Deus Ex Birkin appearance and leaves the player asking more questions that it’s not interested in answering on any level. Also Mr. X just spontaneously appears as well, which only compounds the Deus Ex Birkin thing.

Where you could soccer kick a head from a zombie in the original, Claire and Leon can barely expend energy to shake ‘em off their shins. Fantastic.

Combat wise, in a lot of ways, RE2R feels like a chore. A regression of the advancements that RE4 and RE1R was able to strike a balance with, but later iterations leaned too heavily on or used too little. Hell, I even think it’s a regression of how Dead Space approached combat. RE1R encouraged the player of doing away with zombies much in the same fashion as its counterpart and RE2O, with tactile and visible indicators that the zombies were dead (pools of blood under the body, dismemberment, headshots), but, it also threw in the risk of dealing with a new threat (Crimson Heads) if you chose not to oil and burn the bodies you left behind as you cleared the area. The gameplay was solid about letting the player know their resources had been put to good use.

RE4 encouraged smarter gunplay, aided by laser sight, and critical damage hits to other areas of the Ganados. The risk of taking headshots were being attacked by the parasites that could take large chunks of your health out in tandem with the mobs that – one way or another – would catch up to you. Dead Space took the critical hit system of RE4 and transformed it into a mechanic that made the complete dismemberment of the Necromorph critical to survival. Effectively, both you and the enemies were fairly balanced against each the other. You were never so strong that you could blast through your opponents and your opponents were never so OP that you lost unnecessary resources trying to kill them.

The same really cannot be said of RE2R. Nothing about the combat or enemy encounters feels particularly balanced for much of anything save busywork and resource death. There is no real balance between yours and the strength your opponent. I’ve heard RE4’s adaptive difficulty is still in play here, but if it is, its implementation here is not great. I certainly never reached that flow-state where I felt I was in harmony with the game.

Yeah, I didn’t miss this bit at all.

Headshots are nullified in a way they’ve never been in the series, and right off you can tell what the devs consider a “challenge” in terms of gameplay. Zombies eat bullets as badly as any mid-tier B.O.W., regardless of what difficulty setting you choose. In standard I saw six-to-nine bullets go into the head of a zombie and there was no guarantee they were dead until you saw their head explode or maybe saw them twitch. In hardcore (my sister’s preferred mode), zombies will eat eight-to-twelve-or-more bullets to the head and the consequence is the same.

It’s imperative to try and incapacitate the undead, because minimizing your enemy count in RE2R is an exercise of frustration and often, a waste of bullets. Zombies move far faster than they did the original iteration of this game, practically zapping over to you no matter how much space is between you and them. They do just about the same, if not more, damage to you. The common defense against this is grenades, flashbangs and knives. If you haven’t used them for other things (like Ninja vanishing or crowd control), it’s the quickest way to get out of their hold. It’s simply not as reliable or was enjoyable a method to fight the zombies off in the vein RE4 provided (German Suplexes, kicks, elbows to the face, a knife that isn’t dollar store plastic, dodging, etc.).

If you can avoid them, by all means, avoid them. The consequence, however, is if you have to backtrack, well, you might be running into a bigger crowd, one that may include the problem monster of the given area (Lickers, Mr. X, Dogs, Plant Monsters, etc.) and potentially less resources. It’s a particular problem in the police station with Mr. X following you everywhere and not being remotely helpful enough to do some of the killing for you. He just gently pushes them out of the way.

A lot of the time, my sister was preoccupied with head-shots (against all odds) while I spent my time (trying to) cap their knees, and remove their limbs (so they couldn’t grab us after I capped their knees) so we could sprint our way through environments when the opportunity presented itself (largely to save ammo for another problem area). She’s the better shot, I’m only great with projectile weapons (so Claire’s campaign is even better to me in that regard), which I largely prefer on principal of strength. For me, there is no real satisfaction in the game’s combat, not even in a fight-or-flight sense (prime example: the village and castle encounters in RE4), or on a level capable of inducing the worst panic attack in me like Dead Space 2′s opening hospital sequence.

I was frustrated with near misses. My sister was a little more forgiving about the changes despite never being to make the clean headshots she wanted. We only really agreed on mutual dislike of the boss battles, but’s more or less how we feel about all of RE’s bosses. There is not a single one we’ve enjoyed fighting, and the worst ones were all in RE6 (which literally had us not talking to each other for days afterward) and Revelations 2.

Local zombie mocks police station’s lack of shutters

RE2R is pretty generous with its ammo cashes, with most of what you need readily available. The map, for the most part, makes locating items easier, but spotting them poorly lit environments, and around mini horde-like numbers that seemingly materialize out of nowhere is a bit of chore. Rarer types of ammo, like shotgun or automatic weapon ammo are often hidden in safes or lockers with combination locks.

Resource management returns in the reboot, copy-pasted from RE7, right down to the stark menu and a minimalist design that makes item management, I guess, less busy (color wise). It works, so it doesn’t bother me in context. The maps are definitely easier to read and a little more explicit about what items are where, but have otherwise maintained the “cleared” / “in progress” blue and red dynamic. 

Depending on the difficulty level you’re playing on --- easy (assisted), normal (standard), or hard (hardcore) ---, your resources will be readily available to you, somewhere in the middle, or few and far between (in practice). Hard mode will have you rely on ink ribbons to save your game (like a standard PS1-PS2 game), and I think there are no checkpoints. Save points are scattered in new locations and are a brief safe haven.

Puzzles in Resident Evil have always been a series of frustrating events, particularly slide-and-complete-the-picture and “find the missing themed piece” puzzles. But, this game actually made me appreciate them, largely because the gun-play is no longer a satisfying aspect (and probably will never be again). 

Mechanically speaking, a lot of the puzzles or item hunts from RE2O are sort’ve retained, but they’ve been mixed up or their importance to getting to one place or another has been (extremely) reduced or made even more convoluted. The reboot is definitely not that interested in puzzles, so it feels and is designed less like a dungeon crawler.

Item hunting in order to solve puzzles requires you backtrack quite a number of times through the environment-of-the-moment. However, backtracking is perhaps more nightmare-ish and gauntlet-like than previous entries because it seems like the game spawns more zombies into the area. And with Mr. X basically breaking the exploratory pace of the game, the want to explore your environment is actively discouraged.

[Sighs Loudly For a Thousand Years]

Despite the game’s over-reliance on Mr. X, breaking from the series formula of not over-exposing its mini-bosses (the Regeneradors, Verdugo, or even that huge Centipede in a Trenchcoat for example, were not following you everywhere), Mr. X was, for a short time, the only ‘combat’ element in this game that invoked the right kind of déjà vu.

It was actually satisfying knocking him down, and ducking his punches at the last minute. I mean, at least it was in levels having nothing to do that Ada Wong segment. (Then. he. kept. coming. back.)

Ending him isn’t quite as satisfying as it is in the original game. Not because he effectively became an SNK boss, but because the component that makes that fun (The Resurrection of Ada Wong and the emancipation of the Rocket Launcher) was removed entirely from the game for a sequence far, far blander in comparison.

III. Non-Union for Billion Dollar Corporations

Around 2015 or so, there were rumblings (outright vocalizations)  from unionized voice actors that shed some light on some particularly horrible business practices that developers and publishers were carrying out on voice actors. They were either not being paid their due, or not allowed proper rest-time during the jobs they worked on. Big studios like Insomniac Games, EA Games, Activison, and the like were mistreating voice actors, often to the point where some confessed to experiencing vocal damage, stress or injuries sustained from shitty work conditions and people who clearly viewed their occupation as a lesser division of their project’s production.

At the same time, well before the strike became officiated, Capcom made the conscious decision not to hire unionized voice actors for the production of the Resident Evil 2 reboot. No one knew about this until 2017, when the game was well on its way to being released the following year (before a delay pushed it to 2019) and the Strike was ongoing. Alyson Court (on-again-off-again VA of Claire Redfield), Matthew Mercer (the most recent VA for Leon), and Courtenay Taylor (the most recent VA for Ada Wong) all announced that they weren’t reprising their roles in the game because the reboot was not a union project, but it was not a result of the strike.

Some vocalized their displeasure with this, even going as far as to say that they wouldn’t buy the game in a show of support of the actors. Others aren’t sparing it a glance because they’re otherwise disappointed with the creative direction anyway. But if the reception of the game from basic users – aware of the circumstances or not – is anything to go by, solidarity will typically lose out to FOMA (Fear of Missing Out). Especially if you’re not getting anything out of it personally or emotionally as a consumer of media.

I’m not particularly interested in demeaning non-union voice actors, (I’ve watched and paid for many a-thing that used non-union labor). Capcom, despite working on union projects, also continues to dabble in non-union label as well. I know Capcom’s likely wasn’t interested nor aiming to help voice actors not represented by SAG-AFTRA (or other organizations) become better known or gain better opportunities.

The less money they can probably shell out with non-union work, the better it is for them in the long run. Knowing the striking voice actors didn’t remotely get what they wanted out of negations (and probably didn’t get the support they wanted on account of whataboutism) will probably only embolden Capcom and other publishers and developers to make/continue behavior like this, whether or not another strike ever occur.

Resident Evil has never been particularly known for its voice acting beyond the scope of how terribly it started out in 1996 and kinda petered out on the platform of “meh, it’s not completely terrible” with later entries.

The series could hire some fantastic voice actors (Rino Ramano, Karen Dyer, Sally Cahill, and Paul Mercier, for example), and a lot of them can deliver some dud performances regardless of experience. At the end of the day, unless they have an equally strong director and screenwriter, you’re going to end up with an embarrassment of riches that may become memes one day (“Complete. Global. Saturation.”).

That said, RE2R’s issue seems to lie primarily within the writing. In an attempt “humanize” characters, major to minor, the script is often littered with profanity that not only distracts from the point of what you’re reading or listening to, but adds unnecessary fat to a script that’s already bogged down with dialog and text.

The downside to a rebooting a 20 year old game, is when corporations indulge in fandom bullshit. RE2R is pretty rife with cutesy dialog meant to whip the “Cleon” shippers into a frenzy. Its nauseating, really.

Claire and Leon’s conversation at the back of the police station is a prime example of that: Instead of having the dialog delivering urgency of the scene,  the objective of the characters we get an aimless exchange full of flirty dialog, and two characters not all that concerned with zombies materializing behind them (given they take forever to put the fire under their boots). In RE2O, at least the writers were smart enough to have the characters meet in a zombie-free room or hall.

I’ve seen people make the Realism™ argument constantly with this game (esp. when counterpointing the gameplay criticisms), but, "realism” is a weak argument and esp. when you’re simply looking to be dismissive. When dialog begins to wander from its point, when profanity hinders more than helps your delivery, your story not only loses impact, it rather shows you’re a mite lazy or weak as a writer. 

Comparatively, RE2O was able to communicate the urgency, anger and tone of their characters, and under no circumstances were they this reliant on profanity or long-winded dialog. The issue isn’t that profanity is present, or that the game is text or dialog heavy, it’s how its executed. And at present, the execution is lacking in a strong focus or reduces the game to script written by someone who just realized, “wait, I can make characters swear????”

I can honestly see why a lot of protagonists in survival-horror games were silent for so long outside of cinematics, or simply had substituted thoughts (”I better find Ashley quick”). Running commentary really does break the immersion. 

Claire and Leon go from mildly relatable to mechanical models spewing canned reactions that lost their bite forty minutes ago. It’s like being stuck with multiple versions of the Generic Husband from RE7 who “what the fucks?” at every single thing when given the opportunity. So, in a lot of ways, it has a lot of the same problems that made the dialog in Resident Evil Revelations 2 anguish to listen to (hello, Moria Burton), but it lacks such charming (/s) quips like, “Holy balls, my life is awesome!”

That said, not all of the performances are terrible. The voice actors for Claire (Stephanie Panisello), Marvin (Christopher Mychael Watson) and Sherry (Eliza Pryor) probably leave the greatest impression, and are arguably the strongest performers in the game. Christopher Mychael Watson in particular gives a wildly different performance depending on who you’re playing as (Leon or Claire) and has the strongest rapport with Stephanie Panisello.

Nick Apostolides, on the other hand, he just turns in a really unremarkable performance as Leon. Like, in comparison to Mercer, Mercier, he simply does not charisma to inject personality into what is an otherwise really boring version of Leon. He definitely doesn’t have the hammy, but dead-serious delivery of Paul ”why does no one listen to me?” Haddad (Leon’s original VA). 

I think one of the more disappointing sequences in the game is when Leon returns to the main lobby in the station and gets jumped by zombie Marvin. Instead of sounding devastated, Leon just sounds mildly disappointed his C.O is a zombie (Panisello gives you a better impression of Claire’s heartbreak). And because this scene isn’t a cinematic, you as a player are just running around in circles hoping you have enough ammo to kill the bullet sponge zombie Marvin. When Marvin is finally a gory mess on the ground, Leon saying, “Don’t worry, Lieutenant. I’ll stop this” (paraphrasing) to the pieces of Marvin’s body, comes off as unintentionally hilarious, right down to the delivery of Apostolides.

My feelings are about the same on Jolene Andersen (but we all can’t be Sally Cahill, can we?), but also makes me wonder why Capcom didn’t go the distance to hire a Chinese-American voice actress for Ada. They clearly had the opportunity to do so, they found a Black actor for Marvin, but they just didn’t bother with Ada.

The worst performances out of the bunch is probably Daddy Gunshop owner, “Hello Human” reporter guy, Annette “You’ll Never Get the G-Virus” Birkin, and Chief Irons.

IV. Capcom’s Adventures in Sexism Rebooted

One of these characters had some thought put into their design. It’s not the character on the left.

The Resident Evil series is no stranger the sexualization or objectification of female characters. Historically, for every step forward Resident Evil takes with the presentation of its female characters, it takes six steps back. If there is a female character in the series, the chances are she’s going to be wearing something meant purely for the male gaze, while her male companions wear something far more appropriate for the game’s plot. It only gets worse with alternate costumes, which are typically comprised of sexy school girl fantasies, Daisy Duke hot pants, anti-Black fetishism, and little red riding hood looks. (And no, costumes like Chris’ Sailor Man and Mad Max looks aren’t a counterpoint gotcha.)

RE2R, on the surface, seems to be yet another step-up in the presentation department for female characters in the series. Claire is wearing a leather jacket over a black tank top and sports jeans instead of shorts in new her default costume, they even presented Ada Wong in a world’s ugliest looking trenchcoat. Even better, one of Claire’s alternate costumes is a suit pants and shirt look. Claire has three alternate costumes that aren’t even remotely fanservice-y in the least and it’s great.

Then Capcom announced the “Classic Costume” for Claire and finally revealed Ada Wong without the trenchcoat, and it was business as usual. Claire Redfield’s “Classic Costume” in the reboot is, for lack of a better word, closer to fanservice-y than the original leotard under shorts, black shirt, and vest combo ever turned out to be. The only marked improvement made are the shorts are equal to the length of the leotards and no longer look like underwear.

Where the tank top worked with her new jacket and jeans, it throws the entire look of the original costume’s framing off, and based on the cinematics. While it’s nowhere near as sexualized as her Revelations 2 alt costume, Capcom’s intent here is pretty clear.

Effectively, Claire looks closer to a character who would appear in a Michael Bay produced horror film, whose talking points are usually how sexy the actress makes being terrified look. In the original she was simply meant to look “cool”. When she removed the vest, and wore the holster over her black shirt, she did.

Ada Wong goes from wearing a halter top dress with leggings, and flat heeled shoes that looked fairly maneuverable in, to looking as though she’s been zip-locked into a red slip that doesn’t fit her, finished off with a tacky tiny black bow, a choker and two inch heels. 

The entire look of it rather screams at you like a flashing ad banner advertising for an explicit website fetishizing Chinese-American woman. A lot of the fan art coming out of the fandom for Ada Wong in the remake is reflecting more or less that, so the target audience has been completely satisfied in this regard.

She looks absolutely ridiculous in gameplay segments because the dress was designed with no reactionary physics. It doesn’t flex the way a dress does around legs. It looks like a bad mod made by a fan that wanted a “sexier” looking Ada Wong.

Even outside the context of alternate costumes, female characters like 18-Year old Rebecca Chambers (who isn’t even in this game) ends up being oddly sexualized in a photograph where she was originally just sitting on the ground with a basketball in front of her leg, grinning like a goofy kid on a Scholastic paperback from the 90s.

Were it not for the fact that they were legitimately aiming to make Annette Birkin look undesirable, I’d be surprised that she didn’t appear in this game wearing a lab coat, half-open dress shirt, office skirt and three inch heels with heavy makeup.

Meanwhile, Leon Kennedy gets a “Classic Costume” that gets no [major] alternations to its look and thus is restored, unlike Claire or Ada, normal civilian clothing, and a Noir costume. Ada basically got no alternate costumes despite her playability, and I think it was the same with Sherry as well?

Standard, tried and true sexism aside, when it comes right down to it, even if your female character has the reputation of characters like Leon, “How can I make her sexier?” is a question Capcom all too readily answers instead of being creative.

V. RE Engine or, a Trip into the Dark Valley of Uncanny Gray People Land

Photorealism in games isn’t something I’m crazy about and how I react to it ultimately depends on the developer. A lot of video games have been worse for it – dead eye and plastic looking characters is an issue that persists – while very few have used it to the advantage of their creativity.

The major thing that puts me off is the blandness of a photo-realistic white faces. Developers are have shown they can sleepwalk a photo-realistic white face with no issues, but when it comes to the faces of people of color, well, either their biases start to show in the designs (its real easy to make a caricature of Black or non-Black face for video game devs) or their limitations are inherent in their how they see faces that don’t look like them.

I find myself struggling to say what I enjoyed about this game on a visual aspect, because its biggest detriment is without a doubt the RE Engine.

Environment Design - You want it Darker

Creative Assembly’s Alien Isolation did something I really liked. And that’s make the player reliant upon its darkness. You spend as much time in the light as you do enshrouded in the dark. The A.I. systems of Amanda Ripley’s enemies: Hostile humans, androids on an aggressive warpath of helpfulness, and the Xenomorph make hyper-aware of just how exposed you are bathed in the light, just as the dark and shadow make you equally aware that you’re just as open to an attack from the Xenomorph who needs no light to see you should it ever spot you therein.

A lot of the design philosophies in RE2R were built on the groundwork established by RE7, but its disadvantage was the player’s familiarity with RE2O’s level design. In a lot ways, I think they opted for pitch black environments to break that confidence. There are several environments throughout the presentation of RE2R that are turn-the-lights-off dark (which makes for an unpleasant experience for my eyes), but in a way that’s more superficial than essential.

Most areas in the game contain low-level lightning most of the series is known for, but it lacks any of the color and saturation from older games that make set pieces stand out. The most light you’ll see in RE2R is within the lobby, library and upper offices of the police station and the underground lab at the climax of the game. 

The closest the game ever gets to replicating the atmosphere and mood of the older Resident Evil games is probably the orphanage level and the later street level in Claire’s campaign. The lightning and shadows are perfect there.  But, more often than not, RE2R is content to plunge you into a adversarial darkness repeatedly with a flashlight. In addition to the game’s muted or desaturated colors and washed out look, nothing about the environment design really stands out as remarkable outside of the aforementioned levels.

I don’t think I’ve read so many complaints about having to adjust the contrast, color, brightness, and etc just to get one area or another to look normal before this game (in relation to RE). It’s apparently bad enough that PC Modders are creating mods that fix the overall presentation of the game (more color contrast, sharper image, improved lightning). Devil May Cry 5‘s environment and lightning design tends to looks leagues better than this game, and its got its fair share of bland looking levels. 

The screenshot is edited, but this is a solid approximation of how dark it is in a lot of areas.

Where almost no light worked in a game like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, SOMA, Penumbra, or even Silent Hill, RE2R’s design template actively discourages exploration in a way the older games did the opposite. It gives you the impression that the game has more to hide than it does to show you. The 2002 Resident Evil remake is still one of the best examples of cinematic light, dark, and shadow created purely for navigation purposes. The game is seventeen years old (holy shit), and legit, I don’t think there is a Resident Evil game in the series that nails how essential lightning is to your environment like this one.

On an aesthetic level, the reboot fails to capture the period of the world that its predecessor was basically developed, lived and breathed in. Setting aside product placement (“Pepsi”) and musical cues (“Baby one More Time”) is beyond Capcom’s budget, it’s the little things about the environment and level design in the reboot that really fails to say, “Here lay 1998. We’re a year away from the full-blown Y2K craze, floppy discs, and pagers were still a thing.”

There’s a tape recorder, yes, there are big, blocky computers sitting on hardwood desks and gas prices I still can’t believe my father grouched over in comparison to the shit they have us paying now, but, a lot of those things feel like superficial window dressing on a poster board. 

The environment design and world of RE2R feels very much like a 2019 era world with very little ringing true of the 90s.. I don’t think any damages the authenticity of the world much like the design of the characters – who look a little too 21st century as opposed to individuals trapped in a moment of time – now twenty years ago – and the same can be said of the secret evil lair of the Umbrella Corporation.

Everything in the final level of the game feels like something of Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil (The HIVE), and less like a lab that was built and constructed with what a 90s era architect would think was cutting edge tech and aesthetic of the late 1990s. It got to a point where I honestly think they should’ve just set the reboot in 2018.

Character Design - Petrified Faces and Awkward Mouths

He’s lit. melting in the rain right now.

Photo-realistic characters live and die by how well they imitate life without setting off the alarms in your mind. RE2R falls on the spectrum of “missing your mark” in a lot of ways. Characters in RE7 had the look of wax mannequin dolls walking around terrorizing you’re equally doll-esque player characters (with no heads). Nothing about how these characters were rendered and animated was particularly great, and it constantly triggered the meant response of “there is something wrong with what I’m looking at” that often comes with the uncanny valley.

The biggest issue facing the grand majority of the white characters RE2R is the fact that Capcom is still manipulating faces like they’re still using stylized animation and not an engine “based in reality” to its detriment. Characters are puppet-esque, or look particularly unfinished in the washed out environment and desaturated colors. This is noticeable in throwaway characters like the trucker in the opening cinematic (eating a burger that reacts unlike food) with a face that seems ready to melt off of its model at any moment, Chief Irons, “Hello Human” reporter guy, and the father and zombie daughter from the trite Gunshop sequence begging for its SAG award. None of these characters emote or animate well and draw the eye to the imperfections of the engine than wow you with its animation.

Among the central cast, the characters that look the worst rendered in the RE Engine are probably Claire Redfield and Annette Birkin. Both characters look as though the face models simply did not cooperate with Capcom tweaking the faces. Annette is more puppet-like than say, Claire (who at least has genuine moments of humanity). The less than stellar facial and lip animation is extremely noticeable on Annette's model who might’ve been promoted to minor antagonist at the last minute, because she has no business moving so robotically. It probably doesn’t help matters that Capcom designed her character with the philosophy of “working women don’t care about their appearances” (paraphrased) in mind, which makes their changes to Ada and Claire all the more suspect.

Claire’s biggest issue seems to be that Capcom simply spent less time on her than they did Leon. The model’s face is often stiff and under-animated, so it looks like Claire’s face is struggling to emote. This is especially notifiable when you compare Claire’s model to her living counterpart (who is far more expressive in a still image than her 3D model). Capcom more than likely tweaked the model’s face more than a little bit, and to the character’s detriment. Honestly, it’s comparable to how she ended up looking in CGI film Degeneration (where her face barley animated). Claire’s model really, really, really needed more work, or Capcom needed to find a face they could work with better than the one they chose.

Leon is the character they clearly spent more time on, at least in terms of details. In general, his animations are probably stiffer than Claire. Most of the cinematics involving close-ups of Leon’s face make it appear as though Leon has mastered the art of talking through one’s teeth without moving their lips, and he’s not particularly emotive unless the emotion is an extreme one.

Out of the characters with any remote screen-time or plot-related dialog, the only ones that look slightly more remarkable are Ada Wong and Marvin Branagh. Marvin in particular might be the best example of what the RE Engine can do with unique faces and competent performance from the animators and the actor. 

Ada Wong looks better than she ever did in Resident Evil 6, and while this not my favorite rendition of her character on any level, she is only female character in the game – in terms of character design – that got a decent face model.

The only drawback with these two characters that Marvin looks as ashy white as the white characters (and no blood-loss isn’t a justification for that) and he shares the same thousand yard dead-eye look in his eyes that a lot of the other characters have. The less-than-stellar facial animation is more than a little noticeable in Ada Wong’s sequences a well (was she snarling or trying to annunciate words at Annette?).

The zombies and non-human enemy types look better suited the grayscale, clay-esque look the RE Engine gives everything. Zombies require almost little to no real facial animation, but against the backdrop of reality they are truly out of place (to reiterate). The same can be said of characters like Mr. X or William Birkin’s monster form.

The big sell Capcom made with the zombies and monsters in RE2R is that they could render insane amounts of gore, based on the human anatomy. On paper, it definitely sounds like a cool idea, in execution? I’ve been so desensitized to gore and human guts – within the fictional spectrum – that this really doesn’t impress me. (My sister, on the other hand, needed a moment.) 

It’s like, “Yeah, that guy’s arm is are hanging off alright.” But, unless you’re giving me RE4 or Dead Space level styled deaths, where the gore is put on display with a sort’ve Evil Dead irreverence, well, the most your doing is just demonstrating gross anatomy. It’s cool, but not exactly satisfying, esp. when taking the clay-esque look of the models into consideration. The masturbatory gore dislay is also probably a big reason why firearms and explosives against zombies no longer have the desired effect. The most you’ll be doing a lot of the time is peeling the skin off of a model, which I guess, is your cue to go, “Wow, look these physics, look at that gore.”

There are some developers who really know how to work with photo-realistic environments and, even moreso, how to render photo-realistic characters, be they based on living people or not. Remedy Entertainment (using the in-house engine, Northlight Engine), is one, and Naughty Dog – who still rely heavily on stylization – has only recently entered that threshold during the PS4 era.

A lot of this of course, is a consequence of experience with that medium. Naughty Dog’s history with more animated styles definitely helps more than harms their photo-realistic models and environment. Remedy Entertainment’s persistent desire to render the real world in a 3D environment has simply improved as the tech has gotten better.

Capcom, like Square Enix and the late Konami, was always at its best with hybrid blend of animation and photo-realism. Resident Evil was rendered and designed in such a way that it straddled the line of photo-realism and stylistic animation in way no other games did. It wasn’t too real, and it wasn’t too cartoony.

That creative style lent itself to their level design as one was often not without the other. The Gothic horror design of mansions or European countries, and the stark familiarity of places like a police station, a cruise ship or a prison island, were often picture-esque or surreal by design. The RE Engine is probably the biggest step backward in terms of design and atmosphere.

VI. Conclusion – “All Employees Proceed to the Bottom Platform.”

Hey, look, a callback to Resident Evil 2. Neat.

As a game I played with my sister, passing he controller to her every fifteen minutes, I had fun based purely on how she reacted to the game. Whatever my quibbles, the most fun I’ve had with this game is probably screaming and yelling with my sister, and acting as her personal exposition machine. 

She asks so many questions about what the hell is going on in the greater scheme of the plot. She doesn’t care, per-say, but she asks anyway because she knows I like reading Wikipedia and thus have the answers. I can only tell her what I know from the previous games, which I know effectively don’t count for shit with this reboot.

That said, the reboot just made me weirdly appreciative of what went into the creation of the original Resident Evil 2, especially in terms of structure, gameplay and presentation. The reboot is ultimately something that feels like it was produced within a AAA space, right down to its paid DLC offerings, which once would’ve been natural unlockables in the game. It’s budget was probably sunk by the over-lavish requirements of the RE Engine, and just from looking at it, this game had budget it was straining against. It ultimately ends up making its predecessor all the more crucial and unique.

It kinda highlights just how useless exploiting nostalgia is in the process of replicating things. You don’t get the same results, and in the end you’re only playing an imitation of something that was a consequence of the right people coming together at the right period of time. It’s what makes things like polygonal character skins, or “play this game with lower resolution settings”, give the impression that devs largely miss the point or misunderstand what people like or continue to like about older productions, even when a newer imitation of it comes out (the discussions people have about Metal Gear Solid vs. The Twin Snakes highlights this best, I think).

I enjoyed Bluepoint’s Shadow of the Colossus, they went above and beyond the call of duty to reproduce the original, but I often find myself playing the older far more than its 2018 remake, because the latter ultimately lacks what Team Ico put into that game.

In its attempts to be a retelling of the game, RE2R probably would’ve been better off abandoning the entire framework and creating something entirely new (I say again). But because it never tries to be different enough from its counterpart, especially in terms of story beats, the end result is a condensed soup with missing flavor. Otherwise, I think restorative would’ve been a better move than remixing it. Not something I could say about Shattered Memories. If I could describe RE2R, outside of the interaction I had with it in the company of my sister, “boring” would be the kindest descriptor I could give it. Everything about its aesthetic, to the delivery as a much toned down version of RE2O, was not gripping [for] me.

Comparing this reboot to something like DMC5, something using the same engine, but manages to be more vibrant in design and presentation, makes RE2R look unremarkable in comparison. The visual quality of the game tended to remind me of the presentation of Ready at Dawn’s The Order 1886, which was also heavily reliant on photo-realistic graphics and a washed out presentation.

This game is nowhere near as engaging as its original. And because the campaigns are basically a Frankenstein hybrid of the original A/B set up, a lot of the changes to the plot seem really superfluous or detrimental to the structure overall.

They really did Ada dirty in this game.

Playing the events of RE2O as more overly dramatic or serious effectively makes for a really dull game. A more reality-based RE isn’t something I’m particularly interested in, especially since the end result appears to be a less exciting product. The fact that they did so little with or reduced characters like Marvin and Ada – who are nowhere near as present or independent of the scenario characters as they should be, just makes for a greater disappointment.

RE2R is a reboot of the original 1998 game in all the ways that are reflective of RE7’s design principals, carrying the pretense of realism on its shoulders. RE2R keeps some of the bones of RE2O, but discards the rest in exchange for something trying really hard to be different, but familiar enough to invoke déjà vu. If you spent the radio silence hoping for the lavish recreation Mikami made of his 1996 original in 2002 for Gamecube audiences, you sadly won’t find it here. If anything this more or less proves something like that will never happen again.

RE2R strives to be a third person iteration of RE7 with an older title. If you weren’t crazy for what a lot of people more or less called “Resident Evil in Name Only” when it was released in 2017, chances are you won’t enjoy your time with RE2R. If you were completely and utterly for RE7, the RE Engine and all that this blueprint entails, you’ll basically have a good time with RE2R and whatever else gets remade under this umbrella.

The last temptation I have toward this game is playing it heavily modified on the PC because the mods for this game actually look like something to mess with. I’m just waiting for the “Classic Ada” costume mod, because that dress is some of the laziest character design I’ve ever seen.

[badsithnocookie]

anyway, unrelated: k2ds

falyn’s attempts to make the jedi masters live with their failures went... poorly. the only reasonable one of the lot continued to be zez-kai ell, though in fairness between her being responsible for the overthrow of kavar’s gf and the death of vrook’s gf, i’m not really surprised those two reacted, well, poorly

idk if it’s an effect of mods i’ve got installed but the ds route... actually has kreia exposit what the frell is going on with everything in a much more direct way than

the ls route

the rest of the game generally

and it’s like. this is stuff that would have been useful to know forty hours ago. but i digress. the game then locks you into answering one of her traps and only permits you to give the wrong answer, which... i hate about the writing in k2. the player is only ever permitted to be wrong - not in a “kreia reacts poorly no matter what you say” sense, but that the player/character is never even given the option to say or conclude the kreia-friendly conclusion.

kreia having a hissy fit no matter what the player says is one thing, and says one thing about her character, but the writers not permitting the character to say what kreia is looking for and then admonishing the player/character for... not saying the right thing... is quite another

-

visas’s ds meditation is um. yikes.

-

it’s a general gripe but i hate that bao dur just... stops existing in the narrative after the dantooine enclave. i remember reading somewhere he was originally supposed to die in telos v2, but he just straight up. doesn’t have anything. he’s unable to be selected and has seemingly peaced out to his retirement hut in one of the restoration zones.

i hate that bao dur gets so shafted by the writers. someone who knew the exile personally during the war, who has so much to contribute and so much more he could be, and he gets constantly ignored by the devs and fanbase both for avellone’s self insert.

[nataliesewell]

the arcana masterlist

Stop reblogging this post. The masterlist is no longer being updated. Dana Rune, the artist, is an incest shipper and the devs are just generally horrible. DON’T SUPPORT THE ARCANA.

i’m dreadfully curious and hopelessly lost when it comes to the arcana’s twisting, complex plot, which we still don’t know much about, so i figured it’d be best to compile what i know about the characters and the plot intertwining them so far.

of course, different options / combos in the game reveal different things. as i haven’t gotten them all, and i’m forgetful af, there’ll be information missing. this is where you lovely people come in. feel free to message me stuff i’ve missed, or ask me for proof of something i’ve mentioned that you haven’t seen before! this way this masterlist will remain canonical and truthful.

just to be clear, there aren’t meant to be any assumptions or theories here; this post contains only what we know to be fact, whether it be confirmed in-game or by the devs on tumblr.

there are major spoilers abound under the cut, for future discoveries in the game even: read at your own discretion.

UPDATES

AUG 29: added more information, including that from the devs’ tumblr, and made some fixes as pointed out by some lovely tumblr users

SEP 24: removed and added information on asra’s memory wipe

SEP 28: made a heading for book vi + future books and added new information

BOOKS I - V

BACK STORY

the apprentice and other characters reside in a seaside city-state named vesuvia

count lucio hosted the masquerade, a festival held every year on his birthday, where all the cityfolk are invited, rich or poor (people were only turned away when the palace was at capacity)

at some point, the red plague sweeps vesuvia, killing countless people

if affected by the plague, a person’s sclera (the outer part / layer of their eyeball) will noticeably turn from white to red

in the hopes of finding a cure, various physicians, scientists, alchemists, witches, and even fortune tellers were invited by the count and countess to the palace, where they offered them resources for their research

during the last masquerade, three years ago, someone killed the count when he retired to his chambers

julian devorak is believed to be the killer, and is being hunted by countess nadia, however there aren’t any leads on his whereabouts

the palace has been barred from cityfolk since julian’s escape, and no more masquerades have been hosted... Until Now

LUCIO

“provocative count whose presence still lingers over the city”

before becoming a count, he was a mercenary

was feared yet loved by his subjects / the cityfolk

had the red plague, as in his sprite lucio has red sclera

commissioned a painting in which he appears as the central figure, a goat, surrounded by other animals; it was a favourite painting of his, and so it still hangs in the dining room

killed in his chambers during the last masquerade, at midnight, by manner of burning / fire; the entire wing has been closed down and abandoned since

portia mentions there are many people who had motive to kill lucio, as he had a lot of enemies

has two dogs, melchior and mercedes, who guard the staircase leading to the abandoned wing; they might later lead the apprentice to the wing

depending on the player’s choices, the apprentice may explore the abandoned palace wing / lucio’s chambers and come into contact with an apparition of a goat with red eyes

ASRA

“wandering magician with a wealth of secrets”

grew up in the streets of vesuvia alongside muriel, as confirmed by the devs on tumblr

has a familiar, a snake named faust

the devs disclosed that faust was given to asra when she was an egg by another, unknown magician

operated from a fortune teller’s booth in the city for an unknown amount of time before he met the apprentice

well known by cityfolk, and appears to be feared by some as well (namely the fortune teller whose booth is close to the palace)

later came to live with the apprentice in their shop-slash-home

went to the palace to find a cure for the red plague; the apprentice had no knowledge of this

left on a journey during the start of the game, though where he went is unknown to the player and apprentice

when telling his fortune, the apprentice picks the high priestess card, and says to asra, “you’ve forsaken her. you’ve pushed her away, and buried her voice. she calls out to you, but you won’t listen. if you don’t listen to her...”

was in a relationship with julian for an unknown amount of time; it also isn’t known when the relationship started or ended

in his grimoire preview, julian says that asra is a “witch that fears commitment”

gave julian a key to the apprentice’s shop during their relationship; julian reveals he made various house calls, namely to asra’s bedroom (the apprentice had no knowledge of this, nor of their relationship)

left faust behind with the apprentice, stating his instincts told him to after having his fortune read

when glimpsed from the fountain at the palace, as well as in the apprentice’s dreams, asra is in a vast desert atop a “strange beast”

if the player asks where he is, asra answers, “a place inside of me. who would have thought you’d be able to reach me here?”

if asked about his relation to julian, asra admits he was his friend and later became “more. and then something else... something that i had to get away from”

if asked about his relation to nadia, asra says that she was “a dear friend, once. we could talk about anything, everything, all night long. we trusted each other. for a time... but we’re strangers now”

if asked who the apprentice is to them, asra confesses his romantic feelings for them, and then erases the apprentice’s memory of it; the devs have explained this is not a continuous thing

JULIAN

“fugitive doctor who hungers for revenge”

while he is a doctor, he’s an unlicensed one

brother of portia (who refers to him as ilya); the two of them haven’t seen each other in years

went to the palace in order to find a cure for the red plague; nadia  says that julian was lucio’s “trusted physician” before his death

at the last masquerade, julian was implicated in lucio’s murder; the apprentice mentions he was captured (or surrendered) “on the spot”, but before he could be executed, he escaped

wrote a letter to portia while at the palace, which the player / apprentice doesn’t know the entirety of; as it was found among his things at the palace, he might not have sent it to portia

what we know was in the letter: “dear sister, i have... much to share since last i wrote. winter has come to the palace... these marble floors are so cold... each morning...”

looking for asra at the start of the game, which is why he breaks into the shop and meets the apprentice

when telling his fortune, the apprentice picks the death card, but the card doesn’t speak to them; whether it be because of how nervous they are or something else, we don’t know

julian reacts to the card by laughing  and saying “death cast her gaze on this wretch and turned away. she has no interest in an abomination like me”

was given a key to the apprentice’s shop by asra during their relationship; it appears julian didn’t know anything about the apprentice prior to meeting them at the start of the game

isn’t afraid to be seen, as evidenced by his appearance at the marketplace as well as at the rowdy raven tavern

if the player asks about this, julian explains the tavern goers won’t turn him in as they don’t like the palace guards (the apprentice is surprised, as where they live, the cityfolk treat the guards with reverence)

should the player have seen him at the marketplace, they will comment on his presence there, to which julian vaguely answers he “just has one of those faces”

of julian, asra says he’s “a hack physician with a lot to learn” and continues with “who is julian to me... who is he to anyone? whoever he needs to be, to get what he wants”

NADIA

“widowed countess whose word is law”

a foreigner to vesuvia, she lived in prakra (“a vast empire in the north”) before marrying lucio; she misses it deeply, and speaks on length about the sea there

doesn’t feel she can trust most people at the palace, as mentioned by portia

not a magician, however can see visions of the future in her dreams; she dreamt of the apprentice before the start of the game, which is why she sought them out

nadia comments the apprentice was “...different” in her dream

in the same dream, she saw a vision of a future she “will not allow to pass”

when telling her fortune, the apprentice picks the magician card, and says nadia has “a plan. one that’s long in the making. years upon years” that she hopes to put into motion

the devs have revealed that nadia doesn’t love lucio, and might not even harbour any friendly / kind feelings towards him either

regardless, she calls lucio’s death a “vicious injustice upon this house”

when revealing her plan to host another masquerade, she says it will be “more fanatical than ever. fantastical, excuse me”

the cityfolk believe her to be a tyrant, and fear her, much like they did lucio; however they do not love her as they loved lucio

is known to despise magicians and fortune tellers; nadia later explains she doesn’t hate them but is wary of them (as they may be pretending to have magical abilities)

has frequent, recurring headaches, which portia says are getting worse since nadia decided to host another masquerade and find julian

announces (through portia) to the cityfolk that another masquerade will be hosted soon, in honour of lucio --- none of the courtiers were aware of this until the announcement

she hopes the masquerade will lure julian, whom she believes to be lucio’s killer; she wishes to execute him publicly for the crime

wants help from the apprentice in catching julian, through magical means

gifts the apprentice an emerald necklace, which has asra’s magic tied to it; how she came to possess it is not explained

used to be friends with asra, though they are strangers now

of nadia, asra comments, “precious friends, precious experiences... you’d be amazed what people can forget. when they don’t want to remember...”

MURIEL

“fearsome outsider who owes an onerous debt”

muriel and asra are childhood friends, as confirmed by the devs on tumblr

also confirmed is the fact that muriel used to be a gladiator

muriel owes someone - currently unknown - an enormous monetary debt

if the player moves past him in the alley, he warns the apprentice of someone who “will return, uninvited. he will offer you a gift, when you need it most... turn it away. or you will fall into his hand... just like the rest of us” --- it is unknown who he’s referring to

if the player tells him to move in the alley, his warning changes slightly; he says “he will offer you an escape” instead

smells strongly of myrrh; the small leather pouch left on the stoop of the apprentice’s shop smelled of myrrh as well, which the apprentice notes, so it was likely left there by muriel

if the player seeks muriel out before portia’s announcement, asking him where he’s going, muriel answers, “blindly to the slaughter. just like the rest of you”

he later adds: “it doesn’t matter what i say. my words won’t last. they never do”

PORTIA

“trusted handmaiden with a penchant for snooping”

sister of julian (who refers to her as pasha); the two of them haven’t seen each other in years

handmaiden to nadia, and is faithful to her, however her loyalties are skewed due to her relation to julian, which is a secret none know

she is presumably known to be the countess’ favourite servant by the cityfolk

no one apart from her had known of nadia’s plan of hosting another masquerade prior to nadia announcing it during dinner, however she didn’t know nadia plans to capture and kill julian as well

had a tearful reunion with julian at the apprentice’s shop, as well as a conversation with him the apprentice isn’t privy to

snoops on the apprentice’s second meeting with asra at the fountain; depending on the player’s choice, she learns asra and the apprentice are secretly seeing each other via magic and there may be something romantic between them, or that they have feelings for each other and that asra has removed the apprentice’s memories (and has done so before as well)

for now, portia has decided to keep the above information to herself

MISCELLANEOUS

as explained by asra, anyone can do magic, for it is the will to make what you desire reality

the apprentice is believed by asra to be powerful and gifted; nadia comments on this as well, however the apprentice thinks she has mistaken them for asra

BOOKS VI -

ASRA’S ROUTE

the apprentice can hear faust and recalls that “limited communication is possible” between a magician and their familiar; however faust isn’t their familiar, making their sudden communication implausible

the apprentice notices their name having been carved into the tree by the fountain, made by asra; they express confusion, as they have only known each other for a few years, yet the carving looks to be years old

faust shows flashbacks of asra’s time at the palace to the apprentice

in the first flashback, asra mentions julian (whom he refers to as ilya) has begun to think he likes him, although his true affections lie with the apprentice; when faust asks where they are, he answers “a place i can’t follow, yet”

faust leads them to the library, where various books seem to have asra’s magic on them

if the apprentice touches the big tattered tome, they experience a flashback between asra and muriel; muriel pleads asra not to go to the palace, however asra argues the palace has resources he needs

muriel says “and when he rips your heart out?” to which asra replies “he’ll have to get me, first. he’s weak and dying. what could he do? throw his medicine at me? he was dangerous once, i know, but i can handle him”

if the apprentice touches the elegant purple codex, they experience a flashback between asra and nadia; she’s finishing explaining the properties of a fern to asra, and warns him that it’s poisonous before he can try to eat it

if the apprentice touches the gilded monstrosity, they experience another flashback; this time, lucio is heard yelling at julian before julian exits his room; he had attempted to get rid of his plague by using leeches, which didn’t work

if the apprentice touches the alluring volume, they experience another flashback, this one between asra and the apprentice; asra is helping them pick what to wear for the upcoming masquerade

the apprentice expresses confusion over this; they don’t remember ever going to the masquerade with asra, as they didn’t know each other at the time

after touching an oversized red tome, named composium on the stupendencies of the fabric of the human form, the apprentice experiences a flashback between asra and julian

in it, julian’s feelings for asra are clear, however asra is not interested

julian warns asra he shouldn’t keep slacking off and try to actively search for a cure to the red plague, as the count will die without it, and julian is worried “he’ll take you with him"

asra ignores his warnings and leaves, with julian resolving to “make him see reason”

the apprentice is confused about the nature of their relationship and, depending on the player’s choice, can attempt to find out more about them

if the player chooses “i need to see it”, they see a vision of the past wherein julian goes to the shop to speak to asra

when julian asks about what he’s doing in the backroom, asra says it’s “just a magic trick” that is “something from one of those ridiculous tomes”

asra asks if he wants to help, to which julian agrees eagerly; asra draws blood from julian’s hand and, when asked what he used the blood for, says “i’m not sure. i won’t know until it happens. perhaps nothing, perhaps...”

asra warns he can’t give julian what he wants, however julian assures him he’s fine with that; the two then first engage in what appears to be a purely sexual relationship

the apprentice thinks about their memory loss; their first memory is of meeting asra and beyond that there is nothing, any attempt to remember results in headaches

asra has always told them not to try and remember the past, and they have apparently not spoken much about it afterwards

when the apprentice seeks out to asra, he says “i think you’re ready now” and encourages them to reach into the fountain and take his hand

he then pulls them to where he is, which he refers to as an oasis, “a gateway, from one world into the next”

if the player has the apprentice ask why he didn’t tell them about their missing past before, he admits he tried to trigger their memories, but the apprentice would always go catatonic and would only “go back to normal” if he took the memories away again; he kept trying, in a variety of different ways

later, a shadow in the oasis calls to the apprentice, only for asra to stop them from listening to the call; when they turn back, the growing darkness and the shadow are gone

JULIAN’S ROUTE

portia admits that julian is her brother, and if asked, reveals she didn’t know he was back in vesuvia and has no idea why

the apprentice notices red in the banks and stream near a small, isolated part of the palace; the trees nearby are dying as a result

they follow the stream, which leads to one of many aqueducts that provide water for vesuvia’s citizens; “crimson poison” is in the city’s water supply, unbeknownst to anyone

when the apprentice brings this up to julian, he dismisses it and calls it “harmless” as the red plague is over

julian explains that asra cursed julian as a “parting gift”: he can now heal a person’s injuries, however he experiences their injury for a short time as a consequence

julian and the apprentice hide in the house of a person named mazelinka; we learn he often hides there when evading the palace guards

if the player asks julian why he came back, he explains he needs answers and wants to find out the truth; he adds he’d like to ask asra some questions

if the player asks julian if he killed the count, he replies that he asks himself the same thing, before admitting that he doesn’t remember if he did

NADIA’S ROUTE

nadia reveals to the apprentice that her constant headaches are because she has memory loss; whenever she tries to remember something, a headache stops her

she doesn’t remember the count whatsoever, though does know she was married to him for a long time, and the last thing she remembers is moving to vesuvia (which was years ago)

the apprentice informs her of their own memory loss, and that they had dealt with headaches themself before; they realize their shared loss of memories can’t be a coincidence

what nadia has learned so far: julian was seen escaping from count lucio’s room while it was on fire by multiple eyewitnesses; he later confessed to killing the count, only to escape from the dungeon the night before he was to be executed for the crime

nadia’s currently keeping her missing memories a secret; only portia---and now the apprentice---knows the truth

nadia and the apprentice learn from consul valerius, who was in the count’s wing on the night of lucio’s murder, that the courtiers (praetor vlastomil, pontifex vulgora, procurator volta, and quaestor valdemar) were there before him

he recounts that julian was inside the bedroom, and the courtiers were “shrieking things as they gathered around the door. at first [he] assumed they were after the doctor. some of the things they said... [he] remember[s] one. ‘he won’t get away with this.’ [he] assumed...”

the reason behind the courtiers’ presence in the wing is unknown, apart from valdemar’s as he was head physician; they were attempting to enter the count’s room when julian came outside, however the courtiers didn’t try to arrest him until valerius revealed himself

valerius confirms the count was one of the last victims of the red plague, however this was kept secret; the count invited experts to the palace as he wanted the cure for himself

if asked why he went to the count’s rooms, valerius becomes visibly uncomfortable and does not answer the question

portia informs the apprentice how some time after count lucio’s death, nadia “entered a deep sleep”; when portia began working at the palace, nadia had been asleep for almost a year

three months ago, nadia suddenly and inexplicably woke up, which coincides with her memory loss

as said earlier, if you find / know anything integral to the plot that’s not mentioned before, or if you believe i may have made a mistake somewhere, do contact me and let me know! :)

[silver-wield]

Okay, as requested a few days ago, a Cloud and Aerith analysis. I feel like I've spent a lot of time in chapter 8/9 today lol 

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response) 

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read) 

Cloti action touching 

Aerti friendship analysis 

Cloti body language chapter 3 

Cloti healthy disagreement 

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15) 

Clerith playground scene 

Cloti body language plate fall 

Cloud and Barret friendship 

Resolution scene analysis (A) 

Barret character analysis (chapter 13) 

Cloud character analysis (Honey Bee Inn) 

Cloud character analysis (Barret's death) 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Recap time!

Okay, our delightful heroine (I will rein in the sarcasm, but Aerith aggs me when Cloud says no and she ignores him. No means no.) and our moody af hero have finally got done with the flowery side quests, kiddos, Rude and the giant hands of crash crash boom oops there's an invisible wall there minigame trip through sector 6 to reach sector 7.

Aerith says “let's take a break.”

Cloud says, “No.”

They take a break anyway.

(I've already done the slide analysis, link above)

Back down from the slide and it's time to go. Aerith opens up the underground link into sector 7 and we're venturing into awkward goodbyes.

So, we're starting with Aerith being chipper and cute with the quips. Standard stuff. It's possible she's feeling regretful they're parting, but I've said plenty of times that of everyone in this, Aerith has the best poker face. There's very few times she lets that mask slip and lets us see what she's really feeling and it's usually in times of intense stress. This isn't stressful, although she was feeling down a few moments ago while talking about Zack, so maybe that'll make her a little easier to read. For now, though, she's fronting like a boss.

Hmm interesting. He's definitely thoughtful here. So, I'm gonna have to put together some possibilities.

He's clearly mellowed his attitude towards her – he was proper stroppy at her house the day before, shouting and so on – so this isn't negative. We could say he started feeling more positive towards her through their interactions over the day or maybe when he saw the whole Rude bit and realised she's not quite what he first thought. Or it might have been when he saw her looking downcast about not high fiving or it could've been their chat on the slide that finally thawed him out towards her.

And Aerith's the same. Her smile falters just a bit and she can't meet his eye. Maybe she knows they have no reason to meet again or that her mother told him not to see her. We don't know for sure, but it's possible, otherwise why is she disappointed? She could expect to see him again. They could make plans. It could be meta!Aerith knowing that Cloud is probably better off not getting to know her.

Eugh dammit. Does anyone know how hard it is to analyse people's motives when you can't see their faces clearly? I bet this was on purpose, thanks Square.

I mean, having to go by the above data I've mentioned, they could both be feeling the same lingering regret intuitively. You know like how you just get the sense how someone's feeling? That.

Their poses are identical, and coupled with the slightly awkward intonation on “so” I'd look at this and say this comes across like a couple of teenagers who kinda like each other and don't know how to take the next step. You know, that kind of immature I have no idea what I'm doing with my life kinda deal. That's not to say it's romantic, especially not from Cloud. He's an awkward introvert. Aerith has no social skills. They're not friends and up until five minutes ago Cloud was annoyed af at her. That'd make for an awkward goodbye.

Aerith laughs, Cloud doesn't, and she moves aside so he can leave. Looks like the moment’s over.

Before going, Cloud turns back to ask if Aerith can get home ok. This looks like polite concern, which I'd expect considering they just came through an area full of monsters, mech and bandits. If Cloud wasn't concerned, I'd call him a douchebag. His eyes widen a little as he speaks, but it's not that same kind of expression he pulls whenever we're suspecting a visit from real!Cloud. This is SOLDIER!Cloud asking. 

(I've said that typically Cloud's eyes go very wide as a hint that his real self is reacting to things, but widening eyes on their own do not indicate real!Cloud. It's something about the way he does it that shows it's not quite right for the SOLDIER persona we usually see. I can't explain it properly, but it's likely something the devs have done to his microexpressions on purpose to differentiate between the two and without knowing exactly what I can't put a pin in it. All I can say is when it looks like real!Cloud is expressing himself and when it isn't because there’s a difference that I’ve picked up on.)

This is flirting. Plain and simple. Head tilted, little smile, crinkling eyes. She's amused and teasing him in a flirtatious manner and her dialogue backs that up, although at the same time the tone she puts it in also sounds quite matter of fact, like she's genuinely asking what if she wasn't ok? That likely does appeal to the protective SOLDIER side of Cloud. He wants to be known as the hero. Still not romantic.

That's what I like to call a shit-fuck-bollocks moment. The realisation he should take her back home and make sure she's safe, but then he's also got to get back to sector 7, and this is all SOLDIER!Cloud's debate. There's no sign of real!Cloud and there's a quick decisive result that he should do the right thing, which is why he says he’ll take her home.

This is nothing like in the honey bee inn later when you see the clear back and forth of his eyes darting around as he argues with real!Cloud about dancing to get Andrea's approval.

And Aerith laughs again because I think she's aware how ridiculous it is that he'll walk her back when he needs to get home. She was teasing the entire time, but it looks like it went over Cloud's head – colour me unsurprised.

I mean, there's no romantic undertone to her expression here. It's genuine amusement and I'd definitely say friendship towards Cloud.

Ah the image that certain people hang their hat on. Let's get this one done.

Aerith says she has a backup route for emergencies that's safer than the one they used. You can hear Cloud start to speak—- ask a question because the sound is a “W” -- then cuts himself off and smiles. That smile is a mix of bemused and amused. 

For anyone who doesn't have a stupidly large vocabulary and thinks those two are the same thing:

Bemused

adjective: puzzled, confused, or bewildered.

Amused

adjective: finding something funny or entertaining.

Cloud's bemused because back at the start of the collapsed expressway he literally asked if there was a better way and she avoided answering. So, he's caught her in a lie and what can he do about it? Nothing. That's why he's all "of course there's a safer route".

And then we're back in control and moving onto the next part of the game.

Conclusion:

Well, they're awkward. Both of them. Cloud is an introvert with mental issues and Aerith has no social skills and a terrible personality flaw in which she bosses everyone around and doesn't listen.

I wouldn't say they're friends, more like comrades. Cloud's still very resistant to her company even after she helps him save Tifa.

[carryoncastiel]

Thoughts on ME:A now that I’ve finished the main story

SPOILERS obviously

Overall: Good game. I had quite a lot of fun with it though I definitely wouldn’t call it great. I think it’s a good starting point for a new trilogy(or however many games there are going to be) and something the devs can build on for the next game(s). I also think they should’ve delayed it for maybe half a year to fix some (technical) problems. 

Positive:

The facial animations weren’t at all as bad as many people made it out to be. Not really a positive in general but given the outcry before release I think I should mention it.

The soundtrack. I didn’t really hear too much in the game itself ‘cause I either concentrated on the fighting or on the dialog (or both). But I love listening to the whole thing on youtube.

A good casual outfit. After having to endure those ugly beige Pajamas I am so happy to have a cool leather jacket.

Ryder and crew reacting to stuff like datapad texts or when you drive too close to the edge of a canyon. It creates a good immersion.

Overall good characters. Ryder is funny and all the squadmates are unique. The friendship with Cora is one of my favorites. Alot of interesting side characters as well.

The story was good. It was kinda like the Reaper story and nothing super original but I think it worked pretty well. Especially the quest where you save the Salarian arc was done well. Creepy and disturbing. I also like that they don’t answer everything. What were the Jardaan up to? Who gave the Archon orders? As long as they don’t pull a DA:I and answer those questions in a DLC I’m excited to get more answers in the next game.

Combat is fun. I didn’t try out different profiles or much of the powers though since after finding a combat style that works I stick with it unless I have to change it.

Good sidequests. There are also fetch quests but I thought them to be more interesting than “I need ten elfroots please” (though I’m one of the only people who didn’t mind the fetch quests in DA:I that much). Reyes questline was the best for obvious reasons.

The world and quests weren’t overwhelming. That at least for me is the biggest concern with open world games (though ME:A isn’t really open world - but the different worlds are pretty big) and when I saw the first planet map I thought “Oh shit this is gonna take forever”. But in the end it felt like the right amount of stuff to do - not too much and not too little.

Negative:

The character creator. I think we can all agree on that one. 

No real jerk/evil dialog options and not enough of those action prompts (or whatever you call them). Excluding the romance scenes I can only think of one prompt in the game and that is shooting that asshole orb boss. Paragon and Renegade interrupts were so good. “Biotic God” anyone? Or killing Kai Leng as revenge for Thane. Having a prompt to punch the Archon in the face at the end would’ve been so satisfying for example.

Enemies could be more varied. It’s kinda weird ‘cause there are a lot of different type of enemies but fighting them felt pretty much always the same. The only exception is the boss-turned-mook with the orb.

No memorable boss fights. The boss with the orb could’ve been good if you weren’t fighting three or more later as normal enemies. The most memorable fight was against the one arcitect that I fought (so far) and that is optional.

The last fight is a letdown. I mention in another post that the Archon wouldn’t shut up during his fight and it was super annoying. And I thought after he fell down that you’ll get to fight him (since he is the bad guy after all) but nope. It’s over. Meh.

The romances. Apart from the obvious disservise to m/m romancers the romances seem uneven in general. I have only done the Vetra and Reyes romance so far (and I undid the Reyes one for Vetra so I didn’t see all the dialog for it - though apart from the finale I doubt there was much more) and even though I love Vetra as a character and the scenes with her and Ryder are cute it felt incredibly lacking. There were like two major cutscenes and the rest were short dialog scenes and emails (Her quest doesn’t have romance dialog). Again I loved those especially the emails. But for example the scene before the last battle was like four lines of dialog with a little handholding!? It was basically nothing. And I just have to think about DA:I where in the Cullen romance you get that whole chapel scene with worried hugging and after the final boss you get more nice scenes and argh. Also in DA:I you get to kiss your LI whenever you want and in ME:A  the dialog (at least on the ship) stays the same as if you weren’t together. Just the Vetra romance of course. I hear the Cora romance has more stuff and yeah that just sucks. But anyway before I go on forever...

Technical stuff (that maybe could’ve been fixed with a delay):

Glitches and perfomance issues. Luckily I didn’t get many glitches but I still had four times where I had to load a save or even exit the game before I could continue playing. More annoying were the framerate stuttering when driving around in the Nomad. Overall nothing super frustrating though.

The landing and starting cutscenes should be skippable. Seeing it maybe two times is enough. So much loading time could be saved. There is also dialog that repeats too often. Everytime you get to the panel that activates a vault SAM and Ryder always say the exact same lines. SAM is understandable since he’s a robot but Ryder's “Before it’s gonna try to kill us, you mean” being repeated over and over makes no sense.

Dialog being cut off by other dialog shouldn’t happen.

The writing of the Angara. This is maybe gonna be an unpopular opinion but the Angara felt like any other Milky Way race to me. They may look different but other than that there wasn’t really anything “alien” about them. They even have movies and with the same kind of tropes than we do, like...what? I know they can’t be too different because you are supposed to empathize with them but they are already humanoid looking so they could’ve gone wild with everything else imo. And since this takes place in a completly different galaxy it feels weird for them to not really be any different.

And now as I wait for the inevitable DLC announcement I may try to get the other romances as well. Though will I be able to resist Reyes a second time? I doubt it.