#i had a decent amount of conflicting feelings due to personal experiences but i love the game

[blackmoonoracle]

PICK A CARD - THE ☕ON UR ENEMIES

PILE ONE

I can see where there was an immense imbalance occurring. It looks like the scales are on the verge of shifting again. It's possible that things up until recently have been going pretty decently for your enemies. I believe there were lessons you needed to experience in order to rise above states of being that served you in no way shape or form. It's weird because I think this shift is very unprecedented by your enemies. This is very much an unexpected- not exactly usurp of power? Because I do see here where you are entitled to being empowered and learning to come back on top. DON'T let yourself become consumed with pride or immaturity. Let the scales move as they're meant to. It's important to mind your business and move in accordance with your highest good. I see here that a QUICK shift is coming, it is possible that people have been feeding on your energy in order to sustain themselves. Without even having awareness. Perhaps you will call back your power and it will shift the scales back into balance. Do not forget all that you've learned. I do see here that there will be a major moment of egotism that could drag down your enemy(ies)? I heard Judas, so this could be someone who betrayed you. I'm also thinking of the song Brutus by the Buttress. They are going to now be forced to undergo the same lessons you underwent. The power imbalance that might've previously existed in past connections you had is being destroyed. I believe that honestly what's in store is truly just the restore of balance. It's possible one of these enemies was very obsessed with you? Or desired to take your place in some sort of way. You were seen as a threat by whoever this individual is. I'm thinking of impostor syndrome, like they want to BE you. I see that this person may have been causing you nightmares, or showing up in your dreams. Or there could be some kind of subconscious, or deeply hidden wound this person caused you or that you caused them. Probably both if I'm being honest. I see that they also could've been doing black magic of some kind on you. You've remained determined throughout all of the trials and tribulations you've experienced and you are being rewarded. Your enemies could begin to experience some kind of financial lack. Perhaps due to a heartbreak or loss of some kind, I also heard something about an investment. They may be investing their time, love, energy, and most likely resources into something that will not last. For some of you it could be into a relationship that is not going to last, they are investing insane amounts of time and energy into a relationship on the verge of failure. I heard something about arguments, violence is even possible. There is a lot of regression that is about to happen in the lives of your enemies or enemy. I heard "time" so in time, things will begin to unfold.

PILE TWO

It's possible there was a recent death in the family of your enemy. Either a father or grandfather, I also see there's a lot of conflict unfolding in their life as a result of aggressive tendencies. Some of them could be lashing out in unpredictable manners- some of them could even be leaning on drugs or alcohol to satiate their emptiness. I see there could also be a spiritual attachment on some of these people. There is justice coming into play as a result of their emotionally immature, and tyrannical nature. If there wasn't a death in the family, it's perhaps that their ego has gotten so massive that they cannot even see with gratitude. It's like nothing is enough, I feel like a thirst. It could be that they feel unfulfilled and are smitten with the desire to have, or possess at any cost. This person is being consumed by their own shadow. That is for damn sure. They could be lashing out at others by way of mouth, I see here that there will be a moment of clarity to come for your enemy. It's possible that collaborations they're working in or on could become obsolete, I see here a loss of some kind. It's interesting because in the 3 of pentacles, and the 5 of cups the same individual is present. In the 3 of pentacles though there are 2 others present, and then in the 5 of cups it's just the one character remaining. So this person could end up lashing out or going through some kind of upheaval that ends up being incredibly isolating. This is coming from a lack of gratitude, this person is blind to the blessings that are present in their life. I also see here that this comes from some sort of long standing pain or trauma they experienced. They are simply looking to defend themselves. It could be that this person is in fact blinded by the grief of this death they're experiencing. Whether it be ego death, or a death in the family. They could also be self sabotaging some kind of romantic opportunity being offered to them. If you've made predictions regarding this situation it looks like those predictions are unfolding in haste. I also see they are being blinded to something? Perhaps this has to do with their divination. Maybe their divination is easily swayed or influenced by the pressure that comes from their subconscious minds. I definitely see that some kind of money magic this person could be trying to do is resulting in extreme blockages. They could end up overburdened and overworked, or if that isn't the case their manipulative tendencies are going to result in them having to pick up a HUGE mess. Whether that be literally or metaphorically. This person may be an air sign or have air placements, as well as water placements. It's possible they're an air moon. Regardless, this person is very driven by immaturity and emotional instability and these themes have come to the forefront of their lives in order to be healed and dealt with.

PILE THREE

This person is digging themselves into a hole they are not going to be a fan of digging themselves out of. I see they may be isolated in some kind of romantic connection they are struggling to release themselves from. Some of you could also be drawn to pile 1, if so I recommend you check that out. It's weird, this person could be as a result of this connection be losing touch with their family. Being isolated in similar ways that you experienced isolation. Some of you this could be for someone who got with an abusive ex against your warnings? I see that this person is feeling very trapped. On a leash even, or alternatively if it's your ex in question who is the enemy they could be experiencing what they put you through. I see here that they may be feeling like a shallow sense of completion and recognition- I do however see that in the end there is definitely going to be some sort of conflict regarding their public successes. So perhaps this could be a lack of gratitude for what they've received. It could also be that they get too cocky and start creating issues with others. This person may end up feeling like their fun and happiness is literally being killed before their own eyes. A lot of loneliness here, and a destruction of the foundation they've created. This person could be feeling dried out because they cannot feed on your energy. It's like I'm getting this energy that everything they touch is kind of rotting away or rotting under their care. Whatever they love and nurture just sort of wilts. I also heard "willow" so they could like Willow Smith, or maybe Willow trees are relevant. Aren't Willow trees associated with grief? This person could be experiencing a lot of grief and feeling no comfort while going through this grief. They could end up completely alone.

[cringelordofchaos]

It's really difficult to write bullies for a multitude of reasons. Primarily cuz many people have been bullies in their life before - they just don't know.

Which makes everything so fucking difficult. Because, when writing a fictional character, especially one with noticable flaws, you want to explain their behaviour - not excuse it, necessarily, but show the audience why they are the way they are. For example, a character with trust issues may be that way due to being lied to and deceived in the past by those they loved.

But, for whatever reasons I find this becoming more difficult to nail down with bullies, specifically.

Because, again - most bullies don't think they're bullies. In their eyes, they might have not noticed the actual damage they've done to others, or maybe they were just focusing on how much fun they've had with their friends, or the laughs they shared over teasing others. We're the main characters in our own lives so, for us, we fail to realize when in other people's lives, we become a form of an antagonist. I would know

For bullies, writers typically try explaining why they're bullies - it's typically family issues or other forms of inner emotional conflicts.

And y'know what? I think it makes sense. I'll make a concession - briefly, I've bullied others before as a result of peer pressure. I've never fully "fit in" with others, and in middle school that feeling only became more abundant, and my bullies only got worse, so when others told me to do dumb or mean stuff to other kids, I'd... Submit, because when they laughed over or even just desired me doing... Anything, I felt more loved and accepted. I admit it was stupid of me and overall a bad thing to do, and when I realized it, I quickly stopped (though I failed to apologize, and now it's too late). So yeah; bullying can stem from issues and problems from childhood and such.

Though I typically see people saying that bullies being the way they are due to trauma or similar stuff is "unrealistic", and they usually just do it because they're bored - and while I do believe this very well can be the case as well, usually the people that say this (from my personal experience) tend to be ones who say they've been victims of bullies, rather than bullies themselves - so I don't fully understand where their arguments stem from, or why they believe they fully understand the internal mindscape of every kid that anyone can deem to be a bully.

Also, from personal experience, I tend to notice my past bullies have struggled a decent amount themselves over all sorts of things. While I've never come to fully understand them, it was pretty obvious - to me, at least - that their bullying was simply a way of coping or seeking attention, positive or otherwise.

And also, a kid that bullies others just because they're bored makes up for a pretty boring antagonist IMO. i mean, you could probably make it work, but it's more interesting to give them complex family lore and coping mechanisms, even if it's not always the case.

There also comes the subject of prioritizing how much the bully is sad or how they feel, over... Those they're bullying. One time, in a middle school class focused on primarily mental healtn, the topic of bullying was the subject of the day. It wasn't anything too special - just a typical Powerpoint presentation that almost no one really payed attention to (especially since literally no one cared about the class and it was extremely unserious - I can't blame them, I didn't care either). However the presentation exclusively focused on how the bully might feels rather than the victim.

And like, yeah. We should talk about why some kids bully others. But we need to point out now anyone can be a bully, even you - but, from what my forgetful mind remembers at least, the Powerpoint presentation failed to achieve that.

I feel like the concept of The Bully has been a bit... Romanticized??? Is that the right word? So people just see it as a vague fictional concept rather than something anyone can be realistically

I don't know. But long post short - most people don't think they could possibly have been bullies ever, but they want to write bullies, some - due to lack of personal perspective - heavily rely on tropes such as parent issues while I've seen many people criticize these tropes due to being "unrealistic" but those people tend to not have been bullies themselves (or at least don't think they've been).

[urupotter]

So while I've said before that I don't like the HP subreddit, I still frequent it because occasionally I read something insightful. This is one such case, where I read a reading of Lupin that I'd never seen before in response to a comment of mine analyzing the shrieking shack confrontation between Snape, Remus, Sirius and the golden trio, where I mentioned that Lupin was a gaslighter so I wanted to share. It was created by reddit user u/UsuallySiSometimesNo and is posted here with his permission. We had a little conversation in the comments. Read it under the cut

UsuallySiSometimesNo: That struck a cord with me, too. I didn't think about that on a conscious level before, but when I read it, it felt instantly true.

Honestly, I think the strongest examples of Lupin gaslighting are actually done to himself. The biggest, character-defining example, I think, is that after finding friendship with James, Sirius, and Peter, he becomes so desperate not to be ostracized from them (due to his issues of self-worth and his personal brand of impostor syndrome) that he deliberately and routinely feeds himself false narratives about their behavior until he can no longer tell fact from fiction, even as he's experiencing it.

Their relentless bullying of Snape? A childhood rivalry.

Their casual bullying of other students? Kids being young and stupid.

Their clear disinterest verging on contempt for Peter, someone less fortunate and vulnerable with whom they're supposed to be good friends? Just mates being mates.

Even actions taken against Lupin, himself, are revised in his memory to be 'no big deal', because he desperately needs that to be true. Let's pretend for a moment that Snape indisputably deserved to be slaughtered by a werewolf the night Sirius told him how to get past the Whomping Willow. Sirius did not send Snape to be killed by any old werewolf. What happened that night was that Sirius - one of Remus' best friends, if not his actual best friend - attempted to use Remus' curse/illness against someone (which is a big enough betrayal on it's own) without ever telling Remus that when he woke up in the morning (covered in blood and in the presence of a shredded corpse) it would be to find that he had committed the act he was most petrified he might one day commit. In setting Snape up to be killed by Lupin, Sirius, at the very least, risked Lupin's sanity, and, at the very most, risked Lupin being sentenced to death.

Now, I understand that Sirius wasn't thinking about all of that when he did what he did, and I, as a someone removed from the situation (and armed with the additional character/situational knowledge granted to a reader) can even understand why Sirius' own trauma led him to grant such a blind death sentence to Snape (which I think is related to a point you made elsewhere, u/Adventure_Time_Snail, about Sirius' "violence towards those who trigger his fundamental fear of wizard fascists" because of his abusive upbringing). But Lupin's perspective is not one of an unbiased observer. And once James found out what was happening and pulled Snape back before it was too late (which, I would think, was more to save Lupin than to save Snape) and once Remus awoke the next to day to discover everything that transpired the night before, I find it hard to believe there wasn't at least some conversation about the true gravity of the situation. And yet, even all these years later, Lupin doesn't bat an eye when Sirius not only doesn't display shame when the event is mentioned in POA, but offers something akin to regret, NOT at the fact that his actions could have gotten Lupin killed, but that that they DIDN'T get Snape killed: "It served him right...", he sneered. etc. etc.

I think the obvious question here, is 'Even disregarding what Sirius did to Snape - how can Lupin be okay with the knowledge that Sirius has no regret, at all, for what he did to him, even now that they're adults?' Well, we're not in Lupin's point of view in the books, which means we can't hear his internal monologue, but I think a satisfactory answer to the question is that he's done a substantial amount of internal gymnastics in order to get to a point where he doesn't see this as a big deal, or even as something that he has a right to be upset about.... just like a gaslighter does to their victim.

Again, because we're not in Lupin's POV, we can't point to the exact instances that such internal gaslighting took place, but, based on what we do observe from Harry's POV (and based on external knowledge of gaslighting as a true-to-life concept) I wouldn't be surprised if Lupin so desperately needs everything to be okay that he derides himself for feeling bad or betrayed, that he calls himself stupid for thinking terrible things that have happened to him are a big deal, that he wars with himself about how people who are his friends and who are so good to him and who are better friends than he thinks he deserves could possibly do something to harm him/others, and that he beats down whatever emotions and senses and gut feelings he has that tells him something his friends have done might be very wrong. What we see in the books is a man who makes excuses for his friends and harbors a warped perception of reality in much the same way victims of gaslighting do, and he seems to exploit his own insecurities in order to instill doubt in his own experiences in much the same way perpetrators of gaslighting do.

I can't help but think that, by the time Lupin tells Harry that Snape harbors a particularly strong hatred for James because James was a better Quidditch player, Lupin has become so adept at gaslighting himself that he actually believes it.

tl;dr: One of Lupin's defining characteristics is that he gaslights himself out of a desperate need to be liked by others, since he has a difficult time liking himself and seems to believe all of his relationships are incredibly fragile.

Urupotter:

This is a fascinating reading on Lupin that I've never seen. I don't read him the same way, in that I think Lupin actually does know that what he's doing is wrong, he just doesn't have the moral courage to act on his conscience. (I view him as the anti Snape, great conscience, but abysmal moral courage, while Snape had unbelievable moral courage but a shitty conscience. Their arcs are about growing their moral courage and their conscience respectively) Realizing that his negligence almost got Harry killed is what triggers his arc, concluding when he goes back to Tonks and Teddy after running away, taking responsibility for his actions for the first time.

But this reading is so interesting that I'll have to reflect on it. Do you mind if I post it on my Harry Potter tumblr blog? I'll credit you of course, I would just like to discuss it with my followers. Of course if you don't want to I won't.

UsuallySiSometimesNo:

Honestly, I think the lack of in-depth conversation about Remus Lupin (at least compared to fan favorites Sirius Black and Severus Snape) is a missed opportunity and a shame. Don't get me wrong, I can discuss Sirius and Snape until blue in the face, but Lupin's arc is just as powerful in an understated (and often underestimated) way. The muddy, oversimplified truth is, without the fatal-flaw decision making of all four Marauders throughout their lives, the series of events proceeding the first chapter of the first book don't happen, and the story we all know and love never comes to be.

And speaking of sparking a discussion about Lupin...

I think Lupin actually does know that what he's doing is wrong, he just doesn't have the moral courage to act on his conscience.

You know what? I agree. And that's what makes him so interesting, I think. He is constantly and dependably full to bursting with internal conflict. When his friends are wrong/do something wrong/say something wrong, he can and does immediately identify the situation as wrong. When he does something wrong, or when he does nothing in the face of something wrong, in that moment I believe he knows the full weight of the situation. Like you said, he has a strong conscience, as well as a deeper, perhaps more nuanced understanding of right and wrong than do, for example, James and Sirius. Now, Lupin needs his friends. They're not just people to hang out with, they're a lifeline for him. He's not going to engage in conflict with them if there is even the slightest chance that he might lose them (for a variety of reasons, he lacks, as you said, the moral courage to do so). But he's also a generally decent human being, and with a strong conscience comes the capacity for sincere guilt and remorse. So, not only will he not confront his friends, he needs it to be okay that he doesn't confront them. And it's at that point that I think the self gaslighting is triggered.

But Lupin is intelligent and nobody's fool, so the gaslighting creates only a thin layer of ice over the problem. Just enough of a cover that he can live with the things he would otherwise deeply regret. I do think he believes the alternative reality he makes for himself to be accurate as long as it isn't really challenged. Crack the ice, though, and we see him express remorse and reveal an underlying awareness of past and present truths. But then the moment is over, and the war between the uncomfortably and full weight of the truth and his need for the companionship of his friends returns, and then the gaslighting begins again, allowing him an easier return to his closest friends (and eventually his closest friend, singular, after the others have been taken from him as was his fear all along) without conflict and with minimal strain on his conscience.

Once Sirius, the last of his original chosen family is gone - truly gone, as opposed to 'located elsewhere' as he was when in prison - following OOtP, suddenly Lupin's arc takes off at a greater speed than at any point prior. He's now literally lost all of the people he'd been terrified of figuratively losing. Although there are still people and things he cares about, he isn't as dependent on any of them as he was on those foundational friendships, and the finality of their absence allows him to finally grow beyond his stifling cycle of reality shifting, confront the truths of his reality and his circumstances, and, as you said, finally take responsibility by returning to Tonks and Teddy - a decision that, ultimately, triggers his death (I don't mean to imply that it was a bad decision or that it's the sole cause of his death, but Rowling has said that being 'out of practice' contributed to his loss at the Battle of Hogwarts, which makes for a fantastic tragedy).

I don't mean to overstate the importance of this theory or imply that it's always present when he's on-stage, and, as with anyone, many other elements, of course, factor into his actions/words/motives. But I think it's a fascinating potential component of his character all the same. If you have more thoughts on this, I love to hear them - and I look forward to reading the discussion on your blog!

So what do you think? Is this a valid reading of Lupin? I'd say it is, but I'm interested in reading my followers thoughts!

[thetypedwriter]

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic Book Review by V.E. Schwab 

I should really trust myself more. 

Do you ever have that one gut feeling or you just know yourself and if you’re going to like something or not?

That was my experience with A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. I’ve read only one other V.E. Schwab novel and it was Vicious-you can read my review on it HERE. 

And while I by no means disliked Vicious, I was also not nearly as enraptured as everyone else seemed to be about the novel and about Schwab pieces in general. 

So when another Tumblr user recommended A Darker Shade of Magic I figured that I owed it to myself, this other user, and to Schwab to not write her off entirely and read something else she had crafted, even though I knew deep down inside that I probably wouldn’t like it. 

Buttttttt, the opposite has happened before, like with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 

However, once again, while I by no means detested the book, I was less than enthused by the work and the reading experience as a whole. 

As a sort of flimsy disclaimer, I do generally tend to read YA and when I delve into adult fiction it’s often hit or miss with me as I usually feel bogged down by repetitious details and boring descriptive paragraphs that I find unnecessary and the main reason why adult fiction is so slow and banal (in my opinion). 

So, the amount of YA I read and the tropes and pace that comes with that kind of material is on me as I’m simply just very used to books working that way. But, once again, there have been outliers and I truly think that only so much of my boredom and dislike can be explained away due to what I’m familiar with. 

Onto the actual novel, A Darker Shade of Magic is really the story of two characters, Kell and Lilah, two separate people from literally two different worlds. You see, Kell is an Antari, a rare being that can tap into the pure magic of the world and wield it to his liking, allowing him to pass between the veil separating the worlds.

Lilah, on the other hand, is a conniving thief with the stereotypical heart of gold and tragic backstory. She inadvertently finds herself in possession of a magical stone and in the troubling presence of Kell himself, leading her on an adventure between worlds as they try to restore the stone to Black London where it belongs. 

Along the way, Holland, the only other Antari, is out to get them both and the stone, dripping blood in his wake, the stone itself is too powerful to resist with disastrous consequences if you don’t, a darkness of sorts is infecting the different London’s and the people in it, and political machinations run abundant and bloodthirsty as worlds crash for the first time in years. 

It sounds very action-packed and intriguing and for some of you it may very well be. 

For me personally, though, I just could never buy into this world that had been slowly crafted and built upon. Schwab does a great job of creating the world(s), the people in it, and finely tuned details so that each London had a distinct flavor with their own set of issues and conflict. 

I just didn’t care. 

Kell and Lilah were fine as characters. I found Kell to be whiny more often than not and he would constantly tell himself that he would stop doing something (like taking items from one London and bringing it into another) and then never follow through. It also irked me that Kell was this all mighty, all kind and altruistic person. I found that boring. 

Lilah, on the other hand, I liked a great deal more. It’s a bit tiresome to me that Kell and Lilah will no doubt develop feelings for one another, but it’s far from the worst pairing I’ve ever seen. Lilah is fierce and I often liked her lack of empathy and her cruelty, which I found much more realistic than Kell’s humble persona given her backstory and her circumstances. 

All the other characters didn’t even make a blip on my radar to be honest. 

Holland is evil. I got the impression that Schwab was trying to make him be one of those I-once-was-good-but-pain-carved-it-out-of-me-characters, but it just didn’t work for me. I found him empty and shallow and I didn’t have enough information about him to really care about his actions and motivations. 

The twins from White London, Astrid and Athos Dane, are almost comically vile and corrupt. Once again, I’m sure Schwab has a backstory on the ruling twins and their iniquitous ways, but I just couldn't shake off the indifference I had while reading this entire story. 

Rhy was simply there for comic relief and not much else. 

The writing itself was good and decently paced, although I did find some parts, particularly bits of Kell whining, to be monotonous and wearisome, the rest of the story was written just fine with some bits of well-timed action and riveting fight-scenes. 

However, none of it was enough to shake off my apathy. 

At the end of the day, the story and its characters failed to suck me in and engross me. I wasn’t attached to anyone and I didn’t feel the particular need to read the story at all. Towards the end, my motivation was more about finishing the book so I could move onto something else than it was actually reading the conclusion and wrapping up the tale. 

This book wasn’t for me. 

I tried, I truly did, and gave myself, this user, and Schwab the benefit of the doubt, but this was strike two. It’ll take a prodigious amount of convincing to get me to read another Schwab novel, and I certainly have no interest in reading the rest of the Shades of Magic trilogy.

  All that being said, even though this book and perhaps this author aren’t for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be for you or to your liking. If adult fantasy really tickles your fancy, this could be your great big love. Take what I’m saying with a grain of salt as I know I’m biased towards YA and my familiarity with that. If you don’t fall into the same category as me, it’s highly likely you’d really enjoy A Darker Shade of Magic. 

Recommendation: If all you read is YA like me then this is probably not your cup of tea. If you’re on the fence, then check it out from your local library free of charge and give it a spin. You might find that you crash and burn or that you’ve found the next exhilarating series to add to your magical fantasy repertoire. 

Score: 4/10

[realbigpodcastslut]

Should You Listen to King Falls AM?

(Update at the bottom) 

Lately, I’ve seen a lot people looking to start KFAM and conflicting views on if you should listen. Being a fan for a long time, I’d like to put in my two-cents. I’m not going to tell you if you should listen or not, but I’ll present the facts so you can make your own choice.

Overall:

King Falls AM is a podcast, and out of the hundred+ I’ve listened to, it is definitely my favorite one and I always seem to be relistening to it. Taking place in the small town of King Falls, late-night radio hosts Sammy and Ben have to tackle the weird and whacky. It’s funny, the characters are amazing, and I just love the overall idea of love (platonic and romantic) conquering all. The music is also amazing. While the background music is to die for, this is really shown in their musical episode (which is done right).

Now, while it is my favorite podcast, there are a lot of faults. Representation is mishandled, there are problematic parts, and the creators and actors have had some not-so-great reactions to valid criticism. Also, the story is unfinished and there is no word if they’re coming back after COVID-19.

Characters:

I can’t deny, I love the characters (especially Lily Wright). The characters will worm their way into your heart until you fall in-love. Whether it’s the main characters of Sammy, Ben, (Emily, Troy, and Lily), or the townspeople, you’ll most likely end up loving them. And if you don’t love them, then you will hate them so much you love hating them. I’m going to avoid spoilers, but you will love these characters and feel for them. Even I, the stone-cold bitch that brags about not crying that much over media, ended up crying over them. 

On the other hand, the characters are not the stellar representation that a lot of podcasts have. There are plenty of LGBT characters later on, but a lot of them are stereotypes. Archie, a gay man, is overly camp, and Jacob, a bisexual man, is sex-crazed. Though, I should point out that almost every non-main character is a stereotype, but this can be off-putting to a lot of people. Women are also not represented great. They’re pretty one-dimensional and while they grow, they’re sort of looked-down upon and hated. This changes around episode 90 where it is specifically called out on and episodes 75+ start to change this poor representation somewhat. Though the representation of POC is just bad, with Walt being a stereotypical Native American man and Storm Sanders an alcoholic. There is also a racist witch, while hated by everyone, is still suspicious. 

Comedy:

King Falls AM is also extremely funny. There are several jokes they actually made me laugh out loud (hard to do) and in my relistens I still laugh. The character’s banter is hilarious and I just can’t state how funny some of the stuff is. While some stuff aren’t direct jokes, the absurdity of events are funny. For example, there is a vigilante named the Dirt who is basically a dimestore Batman in BDSM gear. Another thing is that there is a murderous Elf of the Shelf that says some things that are comedy gold. Even later on, they don’t sacrifice much of the comedy for arcs that will tear your heart out.

While the jokes are funny, there are many jokes that miss the mark and are not politically correct. One that sticks out is “Don’t assume my gender.” There are a lot of race jokes (ew) and quite a few on the holocaust. There are also a lot of gay jokes, which while sometimes done right, can make LGBT people uncomfortable. Especially when two characters (Archie and Lily) are made out to be too gay to function and make a lot of sexual jokes. This missing-the-mark is made clear as it is written by straight white men, which really can’t joke about stuff they don’t experience.

Themes:

The themes of KFAM are also good and you can’t ever go wrong with found-family. Love is the main aspect surrounding the show and whether platonic or romantic love, it’s embraced. I really enjoy how Sammy and Ben are able to say “I love you” to each other without it being seen as creepy or “gay.” Characters also grow for the better and are always pushing to be better. They even talk about mental health struggles and pushing each other up to be the best they can be. Lastly, the main storyline is compelling and it opens up for a lot of theorizing and trying to figure out what is going to happen (or what happened).

The themes of found family can be criticized over the fact that several characters already experienced found family due to being gay and already being a family, though I think this one is a little weak (but I included it). Some of the storylines may get boring and it can be a sort of slow-burn as things come to fruition. There are also plot holes (but not that noticeable).

Creators, Actors and Community:

This is the final point and the thing that has made many die-hard fans dislike KFAM and be ashamed for listening to it. Starting at episode 34, there was an episode on Helen Keller and it was essentially making fun of her. Obviously, fans did not like this episode and told the creators so. They did not apologize and basically said, “Sorry you didn’t like it.” Around April or March of 2020, one of the creators retweeted NSFW fan works and people told them how they needed to tag it, etc. They reacted poorly, only for a person to say “Death of the Author” (a literary idea where you ignore the author’s influence on a work), and then the creator freaked out, thinking this was a death threat. These were not the only events, so if you’d like to find out more, I have archived (with my friend) a decent amount on the blog @kfam-tea.

The community is also toxic. There have been a lot of times where die-hard fans will delete any criticism from the subreddit (though this has seemed to stop). These fans also started “attacking” WTNV after Cecil Baldwin (voice of Cecil) made a jab at other radio podcasts. The discord server is also closed off from everyone except those already on it, and they’ve deleted a lot of channels and such. Overall, the community is not the best and it’s quite divided.

Lastly, we don’t know if KFAM is coming back. While they said it was going to start after COVID-19, there’s reason to believe that isn’t the case. The creators unfollowed each other on Instagram and Twitter. There was a Reddit threat where people asked if it was coming back only for Kyle (co-creator) to call them entitled (yikes, I know). So far, there is another podcast made by everyone but Kyle and Trent (the actor for about half of the town).

Conclusion:

The choice to listen is up to you. You may or may not like it, but I’m not going to say this is strictly a terrible or amazing podcast. I think it is both. I fell in love with the story and while it has many, many, terrible warts, I think people should know what they are heading into. I see too many people either praising or hating KFAM completely, and it’s not fair. This story isn’t for everyone and has it’s bad moments, but it also has it’s wonderful moments. To listen, that is a personal decision for you to make.

UPDATE:

KFAM isn’t coming back and it left on a big cliffhanger so maybe don’t listen.

[fectless]

(This is technically in response to the post right below this one, as world building totally counts for it, right?)

Anywho, more fandom thoughts, but for BLEACH this time. I recently started rewatching the anime again for the nth time as part of my language practice (and having the Japanese subtitles on while watching it in Japanese is an experience) and reached that episode where Aizen and co. get rescued by Menos Grande after declaring their intentions to Soul Society. And then a few things hit me.

The first: Rukia says, the first time Ichigo sees her sending someone on via Soul Burial, that one neither feels hunger nor gets sick in Soul Society. We know that this is false for a few reasons.

Those who can become shinigami definitely need to eat and all souls need water which implies that they can suffer from thirst (and perhaps heat exhaustion).

Captain Ukitake is suffering from an unknown disease that makes him literally cough out his lungs. I’ve read something about it being a defect in the make up of his soul that is only not killing him because of the pact with the Soul King’s arm, but I cannot recall if this was canon or fanon (as the Blood War arc was just like that). If so, does this mean that sickness does occur in Soul Society, but so rarely as to not be mentioned? Or does it occur more in the outer districts? Why does it occur?

Hisana died from a sickness as well. Yes, it’s stated to be exhaustion, but I feel like that doesn’t make sense? Like, the flashback in the anime has her abandoning Rukia after she collapses while carrying her around. And she collapses later when she regrets this and goes to look for her sister. And then she dies.

Seriously, why does it occur? It’s weird. And it cannot be an Aizen thing as I’m pretty sure Aizen is younger than Ukitake. Is it because of what happened to the soul king? Does it have something to do with when people get sent on (like if they were close to being a hollow)? Is it because they died while sick? Is it because of their resolve?

...Do we never see sick souls in Soul Society other than them because they usually just. Die pretty soon after arriving?

And if spiritual power leaking is what causes spiritual pressure, and the “vents” can be closed... do people in the districts sometimes close them by mistake and then blow up? Is spontaneous combustion a thing in the afterlife?

The second: I’m pretty sure “Ichirin no Hana” is a love song that Byakuya is singing to Hisana’s memory.

Someone has probably stated this before, but the lyrics of the song literally say how some one, a “single flower,” is precious and can’t be replaced. How that flower bloomed despite being stuck somewhere dark and how they looked lovely but like they were about to wither away. And that the singer would accept all of their pain if only that person would smile and stay with them...

The title of the song also matches the title of the chapter in which Byakuya reveals to Rukia the secrets he’d been keeping from her about Hisana. He uses the same words, “ichirin no hana” to describe the season in which she died

Literally his whole dilema during this arc, the entire way he interacted with Rukia up to this point, was that he was conflicted between his sense of duty (to his parents, his wife and keeping his word) and his feelings for his beloved Hisana. Rukia’s physical resemblance to her sister is almost uncanny and the lie she is told when she asks why she was adopted was, “You look like Byakuya’s late wife.” How much must he have hated that? A person whom he had sworn to protect that, had she arrived two years earlier might have saved his wife’s (after)life? A person that looks just like his beloved, who reminds him of her every time he sees her (for those first 50 years), but is not and never will be Hisana. And then. To know that she’s going to be executed for crimes, that she felt she could not rely upon him enough to even let him know she’d encountered trouble in the human world when he’s been doing his best to ensure she’s safe (because that is one of the few reasonable explanations for why Rukia hadn’t been promoted yet, and then was promoted during the 3 year gap)? To see her stripped of her rank, her strength even (with that collar and the stone of the prison tower). To see a small form who so resembles his beloved all listless and soon to die, wearing a white yukata like his wife had in her last days...

Watching it again made me feel things, okay? Like yeah, it seems like it’s a stupid dilema from some perspectives. Especially considering Central 46 had a run in with Aizen by then, but. Byakuya was raised in the Seireitei. He was raised knowing that his life was the Seireitei’s tool. That his duty, his reason for existing was for the sake of his family’s honor, so he must be composed, must act as the family and Soul Society bid him. That’s some mighty powerful brainwashing/indoctrination right there. And he broke it once already to marry some nobody from the slums. He did something not only against the norms, but something selfish. Maybe if she’d had high spiritual power this would have been accepted, but she was sickly and likely did not. He went against the clan elders who had probably instilled obedience in him since birth and was afraid of doing it again.

(And if you count the filler arcs, you can bet that they held that one Kuchiki who went traitor against him too. Like: “he married that Hisana girl against our orders? What next? Will he betray Soul Society too?”)

And maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of his upbringing than I need to. Maybe it wasn’t really like this. But I feel like it really was. (Moreso with the filler arcs and what I’ve heard of the light novels.)

Also, this song and the way that the opening animation fit together really solidifies the whole “Ichigo and Rukia were always meant to have a tragic romance” vibe that I kept getting the first time I encountered this series.

The third: Rukia was likely younger than six months (physically) when she was abandoned, but I’m pretty sure that she was older than three months when she and Hisana died.

Her blanket was pink in the flashback.

Sure, the above might not seem to have much significance but it’s been proven in canon that clothes are part of oneself. I reblogged a post a while ago that went into detail, but to sum it up, clothes are part of your self image and your self image determines a bit about what you look like when you die.

Babies are usually no longer swaddled by the time they’re six months old, and some places recommend that you stop by the end of their second month.

Babies have pretty bad vision when they’re born. They take four to six months to reliably track objects in motion and use binocular vision decently. They take about four months to see across a room, and about two months to see farther than maybe 30 cm away. And around the three month mark, they start having decent color vision. Around then is when babies supposedly start showing color preference.

Babies tend to have poor long term memory. (To be fair, they’ve got a lot going on compared to being in the womb and sensory overload sucks.) Their memory by the age of six months is only a few weeks. Two months old had a memory span of a few days.

If she’s been consistently wrapped in a pink blanket, then by the time she’s old enough to see color, she would be old enough to remember what color her blanket usually is— or if it was a different color that particular day.

The fourth: when Gin raises his spiritual pressure on Aizen’s orders, Chad remains standing. This raised a bunch of questions as Gin is stronger than Yammy (to the best of my memory).

Chad remained standing. Yes, his whole fight with Captain Kyouraku was about his resolve and how he would stand by his friends and fight for their safety/ideals but. Like. Earlier that year, his spiritual strength was on par with Yuzu. He’d been friends with Ichigo for years which was why he was even that strong. He’d been in a Hollow attack maybe three times before Rukia was arrested and could only barely see them the time Ishida pulled a stupid and used Hollow Bait. Sure, he has experience fighting and he’d trained under Yoruichi, but it feels sus considering how the others fared.

Orihime fell to her knees pretty quickly after Gin turned up the pressure. She’d also fought against high-ranking shinigami at that point, and trained under Yoruichi, and fought off Hollow (alone even! And she was the reason why Sora moved on, despite Ichigo’s Blade purifying him) before. And yet... It could just be a lack of resolve, as that had come up in earlier chapters but it doesn’t feel right.

Ishida is excused from this due to circumstances.

Tatsuki has been friends with him for ages. Sure, it seems like they weren’t as close after his Mom’s passing, but by then they’d already known each other for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that they were hanging out semi-regularly through junior high/middle school, at which point he got close with Chad and she got close with Orihime. She also has experience fighting (admittedly in martial arts rather than the street fights Ichigo and Chad get dragged into). She experienced at least one hollow attack during Ishida’s Stupid Day. But she collapses as soon as Yammy shows up? That feels off.

In contrast, Ganju was struggling about the same amount. He was born to a noble family— who are known to typically have decently high spiritual power, like his older brother Kaien and his cousin/uncle Issin. He was raised in the Rukongai, meaning he likely came across Hollow attacks. (And those definitely occur.)

Makes me wonder things about Karin’s strength. Like, she managed to escape from the hollow who attacked their house to run for Ichigo’s help (manga) or lived long enough while alone with it that Ichigo and Rukia could come save her (anime), both of which are quite impressive for an eleven year old. She also kept up with Hitsugaya when they played soccer and he’s a captain. Based on Ichigo’s experience, it’s likely that she too will become stronger as she grows up. And does she have an inner hollow too, or is that Ichigo only? If White was simply a parasite and decided to stick to Ichigo I could accept it. But as a hollow Ichigo is a Vast Lorde, and hollows of that level can split into parts (like Starrk and Lilynette).

Does Yuzu not really have any spiritual strength because she inherited more of the Quincy genes from her mom and the hollow genes she inherited don’t balance out that same way it does in her siblings...? Food for thought.

TLDR: how and why is sickness as thing in Soul Society? Byakuya listens to rock music and I’m p. sure the third opening song is him angsting over his wife’s death; it also gave me strong feelings about how he was prolly brainwashed growing up so his angst over Rukia’s fate is not actually stupid. I continue to have IchiRuki feels. Rukia and Hisana died when Rukia was about 3 months old. And I am more confused now about how spiritual power works than I was before I started rewatching the anime for language practice. Also, more questions have arisen about hollows.

[the-other-totally-normal-account]

Lobotomyhammer 40k: The Most Dangerous Enemies The Average “Clerk” Will Face

> OPEN FILE; ARTICLE 378-B OF THE CLERK REGIMENTAL STANDARD?

> [YES]       [NO]

...

... ...

Greetings, Clerk Omega-45978888402. Today, you will learn about two of the most common, and most dangerous foes you will face against. But do not fret or fear, Carmen Protects.

Here, we do not believe in sugar coating or downplaying threats, as that is likely to waste important resources, such as you.

SWEEPERS

They are named due to their tendency to "sweep" entire planets of all life; And to level with you, entire Regiments of Fixers and Clerks (Clerks just like you, mind you) have been reported to vanish without a trace besides a few distressed radio transmissions. They are often one of the most threatening entities one can encounter in the cold vastness of space, next to only Aleph class (and above, though those are rare) Abnormalities.

Their strength is that of their numbers, which is Legion. They are one of the more numerous threats you will have to face, though, thankfully, they do not often attack. When they do, however, it is devastating.

It is unknown exactly what they are, but they appear to be composed of a techno-organic shell, containing liquefied biomass inside. They need to regularly replenish this disgusting material in order to continue living; Like how we eat to survive, yet more dire.

Sometimes, citizens among those areas they "sweep" are reported by survivors as not having been liquefied for consumption. It is unknown where they are taken or what exactly happens to them, but theories and rumors are in abundance. It is best not to dwell on their fates, quite frankly.

Next up are the agents of the Great Enemy, Abnormalities.

ABNORMALITIES

Abnormalities are, as you have likely been informed during training, abominations that often must be purged from existence at all cost. One of the main threats they pose is that they have the tendency to corrupt those that encounter them, if they don't outright kill, so cleansing and oftentimes the "firing" of Clerks that encounter them often take place post conflicts.

Thankfully, "firing" is rarely done unless one is corrupted beyond repair, which often does not happen with the more common abnormalities, so you may rest easy after most engagements with Abnormalities.You will find a list below, however, of more dangerous Abnormalities, dangerous enough to have been cataloged by survivors and submitted to our archives. Some accounts may be obscured by personal hatred of the abnormalities mentioned on account of the experiences the aforementioned survivors had with them. Also, unlike other enemies you may encounter, they are far more diverse and varied than most. Thusly, it’s best to approach them if encountered as a unique entity instead of a greater part of a whole, despite that being exactly what they are.

ARCHIVED INFORMATION ON NOTABLE ABNORMALITIES

[The Blue Shepherd and his Infernal Hound. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: Especially cruel. Do not be taken alive if encountered. Recite prayer number 987 if encountered. It helped.)

[The Great Devourer. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: Remember that battlefields don’t have pretty glowing flowers sticking out of the ground. That’s this thing about to devour you if you’re tricked by it.)

[Infectious, Burning Love. Threat Level: Aleph] (Note by Veteran Clerk Alpha-118: That [EXPLETIVE OMITTED] turned half of my entire Regiment into mounds of bone and melted flesh. They were still moving and vocalizing and shrieking. If encountered, apply bullet to your skull.)

[The Greedy King. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: Stay behind It at all times. It's one of the dumber ones I've encountered.)

[The Ashen Child. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: If you're marked, you'll immediately be able to tell. You'll smell burning wood, and sometimes flesh. For the good of your comrades, die before it reaches you, or tactically retreat.) [Eurydice. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: Do not interact. Under any circumstance do not interact. Do not listen. Do not look. Walk away slowly. Don't look.) [The Mechanical War Machine. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: It's an oddly common one to encounter, and for that reason, a lot of information has been compiled on it by various regiments, but one of the most important parts is, perhaps, its origin. First appearance was during the Heresy, during a raid on a Sector that allied with The Sons of The Well. Unlike most Abnormalities, it seems like this one was made. It's unknown how this is even possible. It also seems to collect hearts. It's best to keep your distance from it and call in artillery support. Just don't let anyone die due to it, or, well, you don't want to see what happens. Also, it has a massive axe with a pretty decent reach on it. Don't get within range, though that goes without saying.) [The Brainless Scarecrow. Threat Level: HE] (Note: Tricky, vile [EXPLETIVE OMITTED]. If you're above the minimum education- why are you even a Clerk in that case- needed for getting a job at a Conglomerate Factory, keep your distance and set up a firing line. If you have a flamer, even better. It's a bit of a weakling if you've got enough manpower. On your own, pray for your life and run.) [The Living(?) Apple Threat Level: WAW] (Note: Burn it before the vines get you. I doubt you've ever seen a man be impaled [EXPLETIVE OMITTED] to mouth by a vine before but you're going to if you encounter this thing. Only thing you can do is prevent as many needless deaths as you can, really. Good luck.] [The Beautiful Beast. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: Do not interact. Do not under any [EXPLETIVE OMITTED] circumstance even remotely think about attacking this thing. You really, really don't want to know what happens to the person who manages to kill it in a futile attempt to send it back to where it came from) [The Patchwork Abomination. Threat Level: HE] (Note: PULSATING EYES. EMPTY. STITCHES. DEATH OF INNOCENCE. WRITHING ORGANS.) [Alriune The Crumbling. Threat Level: WAW] (Note by Veteran Clerk Alpha-118: Destroy it as fast as possible, before it relocates and causes an entire squad or something to lose their minds violently. Also, tip, if you notice those floating petals, take the thing out before there's a large amount of them. It's an odd sort of timer, I've found.) [The Queen Bee and Her Hive. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: Do not inhale the spores. If your regiment has helmets that use filters, consider yourself one of the luckiest people alive- hopefully, at least.  If you don't have helmets like that, you probably have melta charges. If you inhale the spores, I hope you know how to use one and are willing to give your life to Her and Her corporation.) [The Shard of The Galaxy. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: Plug your ears with something. Anything. If you don't have anything to do that with, consider deafening yourself. You can always get implants later.) [The Jittering Doll. Threat Level: HE] (Note: If she tries to give you a present, punt that little [EXPLETIVE OMITTED] across the battlefield. It's fairly stupid and mindless so you can probably pick it up and use it as a meatshield or sandbag if the need be. It has the annoying tendency to survive a ridiculous amount of punishment, though.] [The Butterfly's Burial. Threat Level: HE] (Note: Utilizes ranged attacks heavily. Engage in glorious melee combat from behind or pelt with grenades. Either way tends to work) [The Black Swan's Nightmare. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: Take great care when it comes to the lookalikes. If you do something they don't like or harm them, be prepared for a difficult fight with a massive mutated bird-like abomination and brace for casualties. To be honest, I'm not even sure what a swan is but if that's even remotely similar to what one looks like, I don't want to know.) [The Sleeping Carcharodon. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: Back off and don't provoke it. You do not want to be ran through by a drug addled... fish thing(?) going at ridiculous speeds, I'm sure. I've seen all of my squadmates die from that, and only managed to survive because I was taking a piss in the corner in the shell of a bombed out building.) [The Burrowing Tree. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: If you have servitors, order them to watch it. If you don't, I highly advise you to either end yourself before it gets an opportunity to turn you into a really messed up Carmenmas tree, or if you're confident enough try your luck and keep eye contact.) [The Mountain of Wailing Corpses. Threat Level: Aleph] (Note by Veteran Clerk Alpha-118: I sincerely feel bad for you if you have the misfortune to encounter this abomination. Melta and Flamer weaponry do wonders against it, but not all regiments have that kind of equipment. If you do, start burning corpses once it's spotted. Good luck.) [The Observer. Threat Level: HE] (Note: Look away if you don't enjoy being split in two by massive buzzsaws. Also, Abnormalities apparently are manifestations of human concepts, feelings, stories, traumas, and things we experience; But for the life of me I can't figure out what this thing even is supposed to be. It's just... awful. Anyway, call an artillery strike on the thing before it's too late if you encounter it.) [The Dimensional Refraction. Threat Level: WAW] (Note: [EXPLETIVE OMITTED]  [EXPLETIVE OMITTED]  [EXPLETIVE OMITTED]  [EXPLETIVE OMITTED]  [EXPLETIVE OMITTED]. This thing, this [EXPLETIVE OMITTED] thing. Newly emerged Abnormality, I'm a survivor of perhaps the first encounter with it. Almost the entirety of my regiment was wiped out by this abomination. 1,000 lights snuffed out in a blink, suffocated and pulled apart violently. We couldn't fight it. We couldn't see it. By sheer chance it was discovered that it could be viewed with Thermal and even then we couldn't deal meaningful damage to it. The vessel we were on was blown to bits as a handful of us managed to escape. Carmen protect you all.) [The Event Horizon. Threat Level: Aleph] (Note: I've seen the end of all things, the ultimate, finality of everything that ever was and will ever be. And it was heart shaped. I'm probably going to be "fired" shortly. Remember that there's no hope if you see the Blue Star.] [The Shy One. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: This one is very finicky. Best to leave it alone. It's harmless unless you catch it in a bad mood or take a peak behind the curtain.) [The Dreaming Void. Threat Level: Teth] (Note: I hope you have Recaff on hand and enough people who are insomniacs to wake everyone else when this thing shows up. If you don't, chances are you're going to fall asleep and never wake up. Also, don't attack it, even if people are dying due to it. It will raise your chances of death from "possible" to "completely screwed".) [CENSORED] (NOTE: CENSORED FOR YOUR SAFETY) [He's Not There. Threat Level: Aleph] (Note: Don't trust anyone around you if there's even the slightest chance this thing's around. It's gotten really good at acting since it was first encountered ages ago. You will die painfully, horribly, and you will be used as a skin suit by this abomination. And, if one of your squadmates suddenly says that they love you, put them down without hesitation. Whether it was genuine, or whether it was this thing wearing them, it doesn't matter; You may have just prevented a disaster. Don't express sorrow for the loss of a possible happy future if you were mistaken, it was for the good of all mankind. ...And, got to admit, it sucks that these things always come back, never truly dying.)

[baconpal]

Bravely Default and BD2

Here it is, the partially prompted bravely default rant/retrospective/whatever the fuck!

With the announcement and demo of bravely default 2 out now for a bigger market than the original game ever had, I feel that as a massive fan of the original I should put some amount of effort into explaining what the appeal of the original is, why bravely second missed a lot of the appeal, and why bravely default 2 has been very, very worrying so far.

If you care about any of that, come on in and I'll try to actually avoid spoilers this time and make this a more legitimate recommendation of a game than usual.

THE APPEAL OF BRAVELY DEFAULT The games obviously have a beautiful art style, especially when it comes to the backgrounds. Every city is like a painting, a beautifully composed shot that you see from just one direction to give you one very strong impression. While the overworld and dungeons are fully 3d and do not have as strong of an artistic impact, they are still very competent and have good colors and cohesive elements. The character design, including the job outfits, the monsters, and all the villains are just top notch. Simple, evocative designs that make the most of the 3DS' limited hardware and build upon the teams skill in making handheld games look good. (its the same team that did the ff3 remake and 4 heroes of light, which looks absolutely kino on original DS) The music is also consistently excellent, with great use of motifing, a full and varied orchestra, and many good slow paced tracks for most of the non-combat segments. Shit like "Conflict's Chime" being the main battle theme, "Infiltrating Hostile Territory" being a common dungeon theme, and "That person's name is" as the rival boss themes makes even the seemingly repetitive songs a constant joy to listen to.

The story is pretty decent, it's not the best part of the game, and there are definitely some aspects of the story some people loathe, but the characters (specifically ringabel fuckin love him) are pretty good and the make for an enjoyable experience. The side material like D's journal are really well done and integrate into the main narrative well for how tucked away and ignored it is.

The gameplay and systems are also some of the best of any RPG I've played, and I've played far too many. The job system from ff3 and 5 is brought to an even greater depth with the addition of universal job abilities, allowing any character of any job make use of another jobs features to create an endless depth to strategy. The way various jobs can mingle together, and how no job is completely perfect on its own makes for very compelling team composition and unit design. The extensive amount of jobs helps as well for replay value and for assuring that no easy winning strategy is found by all players.

The BP system makes battles take on a very unique pacing as the player and enemies can choose to save up turns or blow them all at once to make more complicated strategies possible, or to make the most of an enemies vulnerabilities. This powerful option gives the player a meaningful way to capitalize on their knowledge of the game, while also allowing them to make truly detrimental mistakes. That may sound not good if you're a fucking baby, but nobody wants an RPG you cant lose, but losing because you fucked up is much better than losing because the enemies are just stronger than you or anything to that effect.

But the single greatest part of bravely defaults, which creates the games wonderful balance and unique design philosophy, is that the player is expected to hit the level cap long before finishing the game. Reaching level 99 should occur somewhere just after the middle of the game, at the point where the player has access to almost every job and has encountered almost every type of threat. Reaching level 99 brings with it a certain security, the implication that from then on, all enemies will also be level 99, and that any failure to defeat an enemy will be a result of a bad strategy or the players own mistakes. The game is not easy, and is certainly intended for veteran final fantasy players used to the games with job systems and changing up your entire party to combat a single encounter. Leveling up is not a slow grind part of the game, as you have a lot of control over the speed and frequency of battles, and it is not difficult to keep up with the games level curve.

The other layer to this unique design is that the game expects you to "cheat", or use strategies that would be overpowered and frowned upon in most other games. Bravely default easily expects you to know or discover strategies such as: applying a status to all enemies and killing every enemy with that status using another spell, cycling a counter move over and over to have a nearly invincible party member, applying a healing attribute to a self-damaging character to get huge damage at little cost, casting reflect and dangerous spells on your own party to bounce them at the enemy, or duplicating a move that does maximum damage 15 times in a row. The game builds all of its encounters with the knowledge that your team will be the maximum level and that you will be using the most vile tactics you can come up with, and the game will do the same. Bosses and even common enemies will employ equally vile tactics using the exact same moves that you have access to, meaning you can learn from your enemies or quickly grasp the enemies strategy through your own experiences. One of the late game dungeons is entirely optional, but involves several fights against parties of 4 just like your, using the same jobs and skills you have gained during the game as a perfect test of your ability to develop counter-strategies, instead of relying on your own overpowered tactics. This type of design is really not something you find in many games due to the prominence of grinding or the lack testing strategies, and it is the most true appeal of bravely default to me.

BRAVELY SECOND EXISTS I GUESS So bravely second, a direct sequel to bravely default, definitely is a video game. It uses the original game as a base to generate more content, but completely misses the appeal of the original, and the new content added makes the experience even less focused. Overall, it's still a fairly alright RPG, but it fails to follow up on bravely default in a meaningful way or to provide as compelling of a gameplay experience. Here's some of the things it fucked up.

The game reuses almost everything the original game had, including the same music, world map, and most of the original's towns and dungeons, while adding a few of it's own. Going through areas you've been before never feels good, and the new areas lack the quality or brevity of the original game, leading to uninteresting areas that overstay their welcome, despite being the only break from repetitively reused content.

This extends to the classes but in an even worse sense. One important trait of the original jobs is that they were not perfect by themselves. While every job provided some useful abilities to be shared with other classes, or provided a good base with which to make a character, no class was without flaws. The new classes in bravely second are a lot of the opposite, they are closed loops that think of everything they could have to make a good standalone character. The 4 starter classes you get in bravely second are all brand new, and there's almost no reason to use any class besides those 4 as they are just insanely good. The priest and magician specifically augment magic in a way that makes spells infinity scalable into the end game, completely trampling on any other magic classes territory without needing the extra effort of grinding a new class out. Many of the new job concepts are actually really interesting, like going back in time to return to a healthier state, or a class that changes the stats and attributes of all units in a battle, allowing for all new kinds of strategies; but these classes lack any opportunity to be used to their full potential since they don't mesh well with other jobs and are limited by their self-centered design.

Another completely missed aspect of the original is the level curve discussed before. Bravely second only really requires you get somewhere in the ballpark of level 60-70 to comfortably beat the final boss, and getting too leveled up is really hard to avoid if you are plan to try out various jobs.

Second also fails to account for how many incredibly strong strategies the player can come up with, and even introduces some of its own strategies that it has no way to counteract, such as halfsies (the first skill the first class gets) pretty much splitting the game in two by tripling the value of items like phoenix downs, and allowing for fool-proof strategies by making 1 character focus entirely on defense, effectively making the party unkillable. Essentially, if you play second after having played the original (like any sane person would) then you will absolutely destroy the game with no sense of satisfaction.

The story is also a large step down, enough to become an annoyance, as the writing style changes to a strange romantic comedy situation with, for lack of a better term please forgive my sin, anime writing, but like bad anime writing, ya know the kind of shit that makes people write off all anime cus a lot of it is awkward and unpleasant to listen to. The story tries to mess with some big concepts like "what if new game + was a real thing???" and time travel and shit like that but it doesn't mesh with the tone the rest of the game has and that tone doesn't mesh with the world or art style and it's just a mess.

BRAVELY DEFAULT 2 SEEMS KINDA POOPIE SO FAR So unfortunately, the big appeal of bravely default being part of it's end game makes it hard to judge how 2 is gonna go given we only have a demo of the beginning, but given that the original team behind bravely default has slowly been stripped out of the series as it goes on, the outlook is bleek.

Most immediately obvious is that the artstyle has made a horrible transition from handheld to console, somehow even worse than pokemon. The areas are all fully 3d and lack the style or compositional excellence of bravely default, and the outside environment look like asset store products. The small proportioned characters with simple features to be readable on a small screen have been replaced with identically proportioned characters with excessive detail and ugly features, and look horrible up close on a big screen. Only the negatives of the art style have made it over, and everything good has been made unsavory. The character and enemy design overall is much worse as a result, everything is messy, unclear, and clashes with everything else. It's an absolutely shocking downgrade.

The characters themselves are overly hammy and feel like shallow attempts to have a similar party dynamic to the original without having identical character types, and the writing as a whole doesn't seem to have improved from second, which was already quite a step down from the original.

The gameplay also has not done anything different or interesting yet, and seems to be selling itself to people haven't heard of or gotten enough of the BP system. Enemies being on the overworld as opposed to random encounters shows they have dropped the player agency over encounter frequency, which is dumb. The battles lack any of the flow the original had, especially when using the battle speed option, as the camera does not present everything very well and changes position often as a result. Overall, I have not enjoyed the bravely default 2 demo and feel it shows nothing but a continued decline in the series that likely should have just been a single game. With the release date being set for sometime this year, I feel there is no chance any amount of player feedback could save the game or even begin to pull it in the right direction, as it seems to be fundamentally flawed with an inescapable feeling of shovelware.

SO WHAT? Basically, all I wanted to say here is that the original bravely default is a very unique experience I think every RPG fan should give a good chance (and just do all the optional stuff during the "repetitive" part of the game, it's where all the best content is you bozo) and that the sequels are NOT the same experience. I guess it's kind of mean to just say "hey don't buy or like this new thing cus its not like the old thing" but people should know why there's a bravely default 2 in the first place, and should fight for what made the original great. I worry that BD goes down the same sad path that FF did, becoming a completely hollow, middling series that strayed so far from it's home that a whole new series had to be made to give the fans of the old style a place to go.

Thanks for reading, and hope you got something out of it.

[lady-griffin]

Feelings on Simone (Spoilers Below)

I have to say I greatly enjoy what The Good Place has done with Simone’s character.

From a side-character from last season, who we assumed was simply a genuine and nice person and who was an enjoyable foil to Chidi and the rest of the gang and fit in rather well. To a more complex character, who has more major flaws than we initially assumed.

I personally feel conflicted over Simone due to the last episode (which I have to tell you, I think that is pretty great for a character who is pretty recent to the story).

And to be clear, Simone is not a Good Person. None of the humans that have ended up in “The Good Place” are just humans that simply got screwed by the point system and complexities of life (while that is of course a good chunk of it) all the humans have a fatal flaw that made them not good people (medium people). 

Eleanor – Selfishness

Chidi – Indecisiveness/Overthinking

Tahani – Narcissism

Jason – Impulsiveness

Brent – Honestly just everything, but largely the root of his bad person status is his inability to accept blame and responsibility for his actions and he’s incapable of looking at himself critically or objectively.

John – Gossip, Jealousy, putting others down to make himself feel better ( I would be interested in an episode explore him more as a character and his flaws)

Simone – Judgmental and quick to assume the worst

And I will get to Simon’s fatal flaw in a bit, but I just wanted to talk about my conflicting feelings for her based on the last episode.

On the one hand, she should absolutely be 100% suspicious of the situation she is in. She is being lied to and manipulated and she is not in The Good Place and she is in an experiment. It’s hard to fault her when she is right.

On the other hand, it’s hard not to feel a bit frustrated with her by exposing the experiment, seeing as all of humanity’s afterlife is being judged on this experiment. And there is the fact that likely the good points the team and the audience presumed she earned aren’t valid, as she had an ulterior motive (gathering data).

But we also have the question of “how many chances is too many?” Simone gave Brent plenty of chances to be better and (I believed) tried to be his friend. Can we really blame her for writing him off at the end? There needs to be a limit. 

Side note: I think this could be a major point system flaw in determining the value of your choice in said situation. You either lose points for being friends with a person like Brent and “enabling” him, or you lose points for giving up on another person and not doing what you can to help them. Either way it’s lose, lose. 

However, choosing to leave someone in a hell pit and your significant other as they attempt to save said person in pit, because you want to save yourself, is objectively bad. That is a bad thing to do.

And Chidi has a point, just because someone wouldn’t do the same for you, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do good by them.

Michael essentially laid out Simone’s problem in the episode, “A Chip Driver Mystery” and what I said a few paragraphs ago also relates. The problem with Simone is that she makes snap judgments on people, more often then not believing the worse in others.

And again it can be hard to fault her, as she is often right.

But it doesn’t matter if she is right or wrong in her quick assumptions, the problem is that she is making these quick assumptions (and possibly for a decent amount of time has confirmation bias). Evidence that supports her snap judgment she accepts, evidence on the contrary she often seems to try and argue against it, using “logic.”

Simone is a very judgmental person, who strongly believes she is the only one who is right. Facts and Data while important and far from being bad, aren’t everything and can be used to form an inaccurate picture.

If there was going to be a final test of sorts, I think Simone’s test should absolutely involve a leap of faith (or a leap into faith as Chidi would say).

Go back to the end of the experiment in Season 2. All the evidence the team was presented was that Michael had betrayed them and was going to take his promotion and they would be tortured in hell for the rest of eternity. But the team, Eleanor especially and specifically, took a huge leap of faith for Michael, despite the so-called evidence. And she was right.

I think for Simone, it would be very interesting to see her abandoned her belief she is always right and the evidence/data she has gathered and take a leap of faith for someone else. 

I really like Simone and I love these additional complexities to her character and I can’t wait to see more of her and see how she progresses along. Because just like the initial four, Simone has the capability of changing for the better.

[breakingspecters]

20-30 for kassius AND sage!!!

20.In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

Kass:

Kass compares himself to others in terms of achievement, life experience, and how much of a decent human being they are to others. His self-comparison almost always skews self-critical, as he has a tendency to really believe in others but not extend that same compassion to himself. He tends to think “I should have done that. I’m going to start learning to do that, and I can’t mess up.”

Sage:

Sage is very self-critical, but has reached the “fuck it, I’m a lost cause” point for himself. He just assumes everyone is better than he could ever be, so when he consciously self-compares, it’s usually to validate his actions. Like, thinking, “Oh, people on extreme couponing buy WAY more than I do, so I don’t have a spending problem.”

21. If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

Kass: 

While Kass is on the “I believe I caused it,” side, he’s also on the “I’m going to fix it,” side. He’s a very proactive person and will try to find some way to reverse the affects of any situation whether or not he genuinely believes he’s responsible, because in his experience, no one he was close to would ever take responsibility. It was just easier for him to take the blame and fix it. This DOES result in him overstepping boundaries and trying to fix peoples’ problems for them.

Sage:

Sage is on the “That’s a mess. Oh well, I earned it,” side of things, and tends to try and not deal with it. There are occasions where he’ll offset blame on others (usually as an excuse not to confront his trauma, it hurts to think about), but usually he’ll throw his hands up in defeat and say, “Welp. It’s what I get.”

22. What does your character like in other people?

Kass:

Kass loves to see compassion and understanding at work. He grew up surrounded by people who were determined to misunderstand him, so to see someone genuinely listen and respond in kind really, really brightens his day. Also, he loves someone with a wicked sense of humor. And, despite being a tech geek, loves hanging around near artistic types. 

Sage:

Sage likes to see intelligent, passionate thinkers at work. He considers himself a little bit of a philosopher, and while he considers himself not booksmart, he loves talking to people who he believes are. Seeing people in love with ideas is just fascinating. And, he likes it when people surprise him. Digging into the hidden layers of someone’s mind is like bonding to him.

23. What does your character dislike in other people?

Kass:

Kass dislikes people who are quick to blame others, who only superficially listen, and who believe they have more of a right to something than someone else does. Also for the love of god, PLEASE stop flat-tiring him. Jim from Psych 201, he’s looking at you.

Sage:

Sage dislikes people who make others deal with their drama or make things about themselves at every given opportunity, who argue literally at EVERY chance, and who condescend. Big egos just really piss him off.

24. How quick is your character to trust someone else?

Kass:

Relatively so. He operates on an “innocent until proven guilty” basis, and feels he has no reason to distrust a majority of people on-sight. That said, past experiences with toxic others, discrimination, and betrayal make him wary of seeking out others.

Sage:

Everyone’s held at arm’s length, until they somehow manage to earn his trust. Then he’s loyal until the end and will defend you always. He’s quite social and has a myriad of acquaintances, but only rarely has true connections. He’s scared he’ll hurt perfectly good people.

25. How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

Kass:

Depends. As said earlier, he believes in “innocent until proven guilty”, though has a tendency to misread the actions of others and feel slighted. He spends a while talking himself in and out of how he understands the person’s action and if he should even do anything about it until he either brings it up or lets it go. Their reaction determines whether or not he still trusts them.

Sage:

Also depends. He’s suspicious of everyone he’s not close to, and that’s... a lot of people. However, when he lets them in, he’ll believe they hung the moon and can do no wrong. That means he ends up putting up with a lot he shouldn’t have to. Often, even if at some point he KNOWS they’re hurting him, he’ll just justify it. Unless what they’ve done is super egregious and immoral. Then they’re in for the tongue-lashing of a lifetime.

26. How does your character behave around children?

Kass:

Pretty good! He’s the oldest of his two siblings and spent a good amount of time watching them when his parents were busy or at work. He tends to take the “I will now tell you how the world works” approach. Teaching others and helping them understand something really, really drives him. So much so, for a while he considered pursuing education as a career. 

Sage:

Doesn’t quite understand kids, but he doesn’t underestimate them, either. He’s pretty much the same around them, minus the crass language and political rants. Calls most any kid “little dude” and if he has to babysit, focuses on having fun.

27. How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

Kass:

If he finally convinces himself the problem is worth bringing up, he’ll try to pull someone aside and talk about it. If he’s confronted with his own behaviors, he’s quick to apologize, but also gets just a bit defensive. In his mind, he’s just letting the person know he didn’t hurt them on purpose or isn’t, like, evil. But, it just looks like he’s trying to excuse himself.

Sage:

He’s got two gut reactions: 1. Avoid; Either he’ll redirect the conversation or just straight up ditch. 2. Argue; What, are you calling ME bad? What the fuck?

In both cases, he still believes he’s the issue anyways, but he lashes out.

If he really, REALLY trusts someone, though, he’ll try to pull himself together and talk. He’s not good at it though.

28. How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

Kass:

Oh, heavens no. He doesn’t think it’s really worth it most of the time. If the need be, he would fight in self-defense; He’s not spineless. But... nah. If words can’t reach them, fists aren’t gonna do any better.

Sage:

Kind of quick. If he’s anxious, doesn’t trust the person, and has no way to escape, you bet he’ll throw his scrawny fists. In middle school, he was the kid that’d pummel dudes who so much as looked at his friends wrong. Don’t get me wrong, though, he’s not a saint or hero.

29. What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

Kass:

He dreamt of two things: Working with technology in the astronomy field, and being a musician. Real conflicting, right?

He’s lost sight of his goals due to his overbearing family and immense pressure to succeed (due to family, financial strain, reputation, you name it) and doesn’t know how to really address what he wants. He had a mental breakdown right after high-school and for a bit, REALLY lost sight of his goals and what he wanted. His family let him stay, but he was still expected to be the emotional caretaker of his mother and the only adult-like person in the house. Out of necessity pulled himself together and got himself a scholarship and made the very tough decision to cut contact w/ his family and is now working to understand what he wants.

Sage:

When he was in his early teens, he decided he was going to be a famous tattoo artist... or a musician. He actually scored an apprenticeship right after high-school and then... His family decided they were under no legal obligation to house him and kicked him out. He couldn’t maintain any sort of rent payment, so he had to switch jobs.

30. What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Kass:

Aside from the things we know to be morally disgusting, Kass HATES slugs, chewing with your mouth open, ranch dressing, places that smell like the inside of someone’s mouth, beer (literally its spoiled yeast juice at LEAST drink the mike’s dude), and wet socks.

Sage:

Also aside from the things we know to be morally disgusting, Sage HATES that weird sour pre-rain smell, the smell of wet clothing, starchy foods that have gotten soggy, cucumbers, geoduck (though he still loves making people pronounce it), the smell of sandalwood

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

What are your headcanons for Izuku and All Might’s father-son, master-student dynamic, and how do Inko and Hisashi fit into that? The other students? I love the world you’ve crafted in Butterfly and am desperate for more of your ideas, as I wait patiently between chapters.

My dude you have come to the right place.

- As mentioned in a previous headcanon post, All Might heard the advice, “be the person you needed when you were their age,” and took it to heart.  He was also a quirkless kid without many friends or family, and what helped him was Nana’s casual praise.  Moments where she pulled him aside and explained to him in-depth how important he was were rare, instead favoring the technique of tossing “you’re a good kid,” and “I’m proud of you,” into everyday conversation.    All Might does that for Izuku for a while, but after their talk at the sports festival he realizes it’s not enough.  Izuku had been misinterpreting his casualness as dismissiveness, and that was not ok.  Now, during their little tea sessions (which are probably once/twice a week), Izuku rambles about his concerns and self doubts, and All Might do everything he can at the time to ease his boy’s worries, then help formulate a plan for how to tackle the problems.  Basically, it’s a much more collaborative effort.

- Eventually, Izuku gets comfortable enough to ask All Might’s advice on stuff not related to heroes or One for All.  It’s probably stomething super basic at first, like running a paper topic for another class by him.  It escalates from there.  Maybe he wants a second opinion on a gift for his mom.  Maybe somebody on a hero forum said something weird about Izuku, who’s not sure how to feel.  Maybe he gets into a disagreement with a classmate, and asks how best to resolve the conflict without jeopardizing a friendship.  

- One day, he confesses that someone, and he won’t say who, told him to kill himself back in middle school.  All Might would give quiet support and advice in the moment, maybe a shoulder to cry on, but as soon as Izuku leaves, he loses his shit.  Some sick punk could have ended his successor’s (his son’s) life before it even truly began.  He uses his crazy All Might money and Naomasa to dig for evidence as the what happened, and finds nothing of the sort.  Instead, he finds clearly biased reports how how much of a “distraction to other students” Izuku was.  In private, he uses his connections to eat Aldera Middle School alive.  In public, he makes a sizable donation to one of the last quirkless’ rights groups in Japan, and politely dares anyone to say anything about it.

- I also mentioned before that All Might kept a lot of old fanart and pulls out some of Izuku’s to tease him in private.  Well one time, Izuku snagged one back,  and All Might thinks he’s crossed a line.  But a week or so latter, Izuku come back with the old art, a crayon drawing of All Might and Izuku in his hero costume flying through the air together from when he was five, and a new one.  The same scene, rendered with Izuku’s current artistic experience.  He’s no master illustrator, but All Might still frames it.

- All Might has a bad habit of spoiling Izuku with stuff.  Free hero merch from some conference?  Give it to Izuku.  Books he’s read over and over?  Izuku might like them.  Cool old clothes that don’t fit anymore but are still in decent condition?  Izuku might grow into them.  The clothes are especially fun to give, because the fanboy extreme himself will probably recognize some fight All Might wore them in back in the day.  His face lights up while asks if it’s really okay to have it, and Toshinori’s heart melts.

- there’s a betting pool in class 1A as to when Izuku’s going to call All Might Dad.  Joke’s on them, because Izuku already did and Naomasa had to buy Gran Torino lunch.

- Todoroki still genuinely believes Izuku is All Might’s son.  After the I-Island mess, he asked Melissa about it, to which she jokingly replied that yes, she and Izuku were cousins.  He took it seriously, and now half the hero course and a couple teachers have considered the possibility.

- Speaking of Todoroki, besides Izuku and Bakugou, he’s the one that All Might dads at the most.  Izuku didn’t tell him about Endeavor, because 1) he doesn’t think it’s his story to tell and 2) letting the cat out of the bag might make things worse.  But he did let on that Todoroki wasn’t super happy at home, so All Might offers his support where he can.

- most of the students trust him with their problems, especially after they moved into the dorms.  Some kids are away from home for the first time, or don’t have the most stable situations in general.  All Might has become sort of the official class 1A life coach.

- Inko gradually softened to All Might, particularly after the cultural festival, believe it or not.  The school put up a recording, and she thought Izuku dancing in the footage was fake at first.  She couldn’t imagine her son doing something so outgoing and outside his comfort zone before going to U.A.  And All Might helped him get there.

- All Might probably told her about the suicide thing in private, believing she already knew.  He was shocked she didn’t.  After the initial shock and crying session, she became one of the greatest assets behind the scenes for the case against Izuku’s old middle school.  The school may have covered their negligence up, but she’s got nearly a decade of screenshots of parents talking shit about her and her son.  

*gonna creep into minor spoiler territory for Butterfly so be warned*

- much like Izuku, Hisashi was a huge hero fan from a young age.  Also like his son, he was told from an early age that his dream wasn’t feasible.  He’s an asthmatic with a fire breath quirk, it was never going to work.  Unlike his son, he  made his peace with it and moved on to a different career, while still being a fan.

- when izuku was diagnoses as quirkless, it was like his world came crashing down too.  Seeing his son, his baby, go though the almost the same thing as him was torture.  Luckily, he knew all the right things to say from experience.

- he’s away at his translator job in America most of the year.  His knowledge of local heroes makes him popular with international hero chasers who need a guide.

- He and Inko are still married, and they videochats all the time, and sends emails and letters to Izuku since he doesn’t want the calls at weird hours due to time zones to mess up his son’s sleep schedule.

- he used to make sporadic trips home throughout the year, but recently has only been able to make it back for New Years.  The last time he visited, Izuku told him he was training for UA’s hero course.  Hisashi took him aside, and explained that once he accepts himself for who he is, he’ll be happier.

- once he heard Izuku not only got into the hero course, but got a quirk too, he was over the moon.  Hisashi is the founder and president of the unofficial American branch of the Deku fan club.  He keeps up with all the UA action and watches all the videos they put out like any good fan, not to mention he’s doubled the amount of emails and letters (fanmail) he sends.  Maybe that’s why it feels like his son responds a lot slower.

- he knows that All Might teaches Izuku at UA, but has no idea the man has chosen his son as his successor.  If he did, he’d never shut up about it.  Heck, he already never shuts up about it.  Like son like father, once he starts rambling, it’s hard to stop.  At least Inko is a good sport about it in their calls.

- he was planning on flying back home and surprising Izuku at some point during the school year, but stuff kept coming up.

These posts are fun to make, please keep sending prompts!  Thanks again!

[nonsensical-rants]

So, I 100%ed the Kingdom Hearts Franchise.

Alright. This might be a long take, just saying that now. But I know exactly where to start. This franchise. Is not as confusing as the entirety of the internet would like you to believe. It's mostly due to bad writing decisions here and there. I mean, yeah if you wanna have every single detail and definition ingrained into your brain. Then of course it can get complicated, but what franchise lasting as long as Kingdom Hearts isn't annoyingly convoluted? I can't think of one.

So my thoughts about  the series is that they're pretty good! Both as a story and as games, with some very big exceptions. I wanna say that you should definitely not try to 100% all of these games in chronological order in rapid succession. It will drain you. I can confirm this beyond a shadow of a doubt. After I beat KH2 it really start to hit me. Chain of Memories was fine, if not a bit tedious to get all the cards and Riku to level 100. But other than that I more than enjoyed my time with the game.

Heartless are born from the darkness in peoples hearts. Nobodies are created from the husk of a body left behind in the creation of a Heartless. While Unversed are born from supreme negative emotions that live inside us all. The stronger these feelings are/the person is, the stronger the heartless/unversed and nobody. Especially strong people can keep their identity when transformed into Nobodies. Thus explaining Organization 13. Only the keyblade can truly defeat these creatures. What's so hard about describing that to someone? It isn't that far fetched in terms of the fantasy genre.

Though personally. I have an enormous hatred from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. Despite trying to keep an open mind about any and all forms of media I come across, I cannot ever get behind this title in the series because it is just too much and strays too far from what i consider to be "Kingdom Hearts". The gameplay was not fun for me personally, the story was iffy at best in comparison to the others and it really felt like the biggest amount of padding. If you have to do that to become a Keyblade Master, I think i'd rather stay as a rouge agent like Sora did for 99% of the series.

The dream eater system was probably the biggest factor here as for 100% completion you have to get every single dream eater, and every single skill that they can give you which means leveling a lot of them up to the point where they have points to buy said skills. Which takes forever. And then there's the Dream Eater tournaments, which I would have never gotten past without cheap strategies I found online. Usually I get everybody to max potential in these games and give the best items and accessories all around. But as soon as I got the platinum I ejected the disk and took a break. I felt like I needed it.

Alright, putting that behind us. The difference in fighting styles from game to game can get a bit jarring but in the PS4 re-releases it can usually be adjusted too in about half an hour to an hour's worth of gameplay. Chain of Memories was fun, but tedious like I mentioned. And Birth By Sleep was actually a fresh of breath air (until you get to the secret boss fights that is...) If it wasn't for my need to see that 100% bar next to the game title I would classify these games as something everybody should try out and enjoy. They are fantastic experiences. So lets go in order for a bit.

KH1 is a classic story, going through Disney worlds with a fine mix of Final Fantasy. Meeting the princesses and seeing they are "Princesses of Heart" that have strength beyond muscles. Able to use the power of Light and what not. There's a few hiccups here and there (like Cloud and Sephiroth not acting like how they are in FF7 but everyone's already mentioned that.) But aside from that and the bad platforming, its a genuinely fun game to 100% and I'd highly recommend it. Maybe even try to get cosmic arts for everyone so you can have 16-19 MP bars. It gets silly.

Chain of Memories i've already mentioned a lot so far. So I don't think I need to go that in depth. Fun to go through but wouldn't recommend 100%ing it because it takes far to long. The story is actually pretty decent and isn't that complicated. Sora and the gang lose their memories of KH1 because of the magic witch Namine, while we get our first look at Organization 13.

KH2. The golden child. Still played by many to this day and its obvious to see why. The game play is crisp and fantastic as I remember it from my youth. Traveling to Disney worlds again (and not card versions of them that have no people except for cut scenes, like CoM) and having a constant looming threat over your head while you try to have fun on your journey. Its great. I have yet to do a level 1 critical mode (as that's not required thankfully) but I did thoroughly enjoy my regular Critical play though. Story still isn't that bad yet. Organization 13 comes in full force, trying to get a new version of "Kingdom Hearts" so they can restore their humanity. I'd highly recommend 100%ing this one as well. Would also recommend maxing out your stats and putting on multiple Full Bloom+'s and Shadow Archieve+'s for the fun of it.

Birth By Sleep. Still not that bad honestly. It comes at a weird time though, and the story telling kind of requires you to have some outsider knowledge so that you're not thrown for a loop the entire time. So it feels weird to go back in the past, but also necessary for the story as a whole. Fun game to play minus the hundreds of mini games you need to do for all three main characters. If it wasn't for that I would recommend playing this game to completion. It's hard to reach higher levels though and as everyone's who played the game knows. Terra sucks at End Game compared to Aqua and Ven. I beat the Secret bosses by sheer luck and I would not go back for them. You do get to learn the origins of what makes most of the future events play out though and you even get to see younger versions of Organization 13. Back when they weren't evil!

Nothing eventful happens in Re:Coded.

Dream Drop Distance... Already talked about it. Let's move on before i'm forced to remember dream eaters and their annoyingly high pitched theme song.

Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage. Really good demo for KH3 in all honestly. I had a fun time with it and seeing Aqua's pain and journey through the realm of darkness for a whole 10 years was interesting.

And now we're at Kh3. The big game we waited so long for. And its... Alright. Nothing really spectacular. The graphics are certainly splendid and gameplay feels great! If not a bit too floaty. Thats a problem for some people, especially those who were avid fans of KH2. But I had no problem with it. I have yet to play it on critical but i've heard it makes things far more entertaining. As for story, its also alright. Not the grand ending I was expecting but it was really fun all things considered. Just another ride through more modern Disney worlds. But no Final Fantasy! I get that they feel KH can stand on its own legs now but you can't take out half the formula that people fell in love with originally. Then there's no battle arena or replayable boss fights. Doesn't have to be the Real Orginization 13. Just any replayable fights with end game gear would be enough.

As for my real problem with the games. Is the treatement of the third member of the original trio. Kairi. Oh, how this character has divided a good portion of the fan base just by existing. It feels like all the time that she is just a damsel for Sora/Riku to save and rescue. In the first game, thats fine. Whatever. She was unconcious the whole time and had her heart within Sora. Chain of Memories was a game about Sora losing his memories and Riku overcoming his darkness. Thats also fine. But in KH2. Really? She gets a keyblade and can't even handle a group of shadows? The lowest level of heartless? It's embarrassing. She's supposed to be a Princess of Heart. What's that even mean anymore? It doesn't even seem relevant.

KH2 should've been her moment to become a party member just like Riku did. I dont care that it means you could possibly not have Donald or Goofy. KH2 felt the most like the penultimate ending to the series than Kh3 did in my opinon. Having the choice between your KH1 buddies (Sora, Donald and Goofy) or the Island Trio (Sora, Riku and Kairi) would have added excellent variety and much needed development for Kairi as a person rather than leaving her as a one dimensional damsel in distress who has a Nobody with more internal conflict and character motivation. Moving past that... BBS is a prequel so nothing for the original trio except for meeting Aqua/Ven/Terra. And we come back to the dreaded DDD again.

If my vision for Kairi in KH2 couldn't have become a reality. Then why wasn't DDD Kairi's game? The set up was perfect. The heroes of light need to train to overcome almost double the amount of darkness agents. Kairi (and Axel) are practically beginners at wielding a Keyblade. It should've been their time to shine and get some love while occasionally helping Sora and Riku in their Mark of Mastery exam. Why did it have to be something you do alone? Well actually you're not alone you have the stupid Dream Eaters. Regardless it could have been the newbies learning how to get to Kh2 Sora's level while Sora goes beyond his limits.

As for KH3, it's just awful. Kairi's treatment is awful and everyone knows it. She said she was gonna help but hit one whole heartless in the finale. Better than KH2 i suppose. And as for the argument of her being "too weak" to try anything agaisnt Xemans. Really? She couldn't even like. Step on his foot? Pull agaisnt his grip or switch which hand the blade is in? Since the keyblade can teleport to your hands when you need it. I don't expect her to randomly become a Keyblade Master, but. I think we all would've prefer if she just did ANYTHING over what actually happened. It's sad. I hope KH4 will give Kairi the proper treatment and character development she deserves. But for all we know it might be another Sora/Riku dual protagonist game like CoM or DDD. What do you think?

[iamcinema]

IAC Reviews #005: Await Further Instructions (2018)

I've been on the prowl for a film that gives me vibes like Would You Rather or Cube again. There's something about the isolation, paranoia, and mistrust that can make for a quality watch. So going into this, I was expecting a type of game to be played at the expense of someone else suffering in the process and the title alone made think about something you'd see on Adult Swim.

So how did our time waiting for instructions go?

Await Further Instructions in One Gif:

Okay. Let's take things back a bit.

Have you ever hated a pack of characters that were so unlikable that you got excited over the prospect of them dying? I'm not even saying that in the sense of having genuinely good villains that brought you blissful satisfaction over them getting their comeuppance either. I mean truly god awful characters that are just so annoying, meanspirited, and hateful that seeing them get written off make up the only enjoyable scenes period - like, that's how much they fucking suck.

Aside from Nick and Annji, nobody is likable or even remotely pleasant; not even in the way, as I referenced with Would You Rather, where you had deplorable scumbags either enacting terrible things onto others or having no real shame, remorse, or second thoughts about what they're about to inflict on the other person. There, you could at least have some fun with characters that you loved to hate. Here, you just have characters you hate and just about any scene that isn't focused on the two of them alone is one of constant stress.

Usually, for me, when it comes to movies with characters who sole purpose just seems to infuriate you, the tipping point takes a while for that to show. It's a true labor love to culminate that one character that feels like a cosmic punishment, and it's not very often that just them breathing or the first sentence that comes out of their mouth proves that first impressions really are everything.

To be brief, Nick's family likes to lay it on super thick about their beliefs and aren't shy to tell Nick that he's the problem, as he hasn't come home in years, or make it clear Annji isn't welcome in their house. Yeah, they're that perky charming bunch. I was hoping that with one of them, they'd be that kind of person with some sort of secondary trait to them, even if it's negative; like that hateful bigot who happens to be uncomfortably charismatic or the sleazy womanizer who is just the perfect amount of being an arrogant monster that makes you want to hate and love him.

A good example here would be Kate, Nick's younger sister. She's written as the clichéd, bigoted bitchy type of character who stirs the pot the most and starts much of the conflict with Annji (next to Granddad, who seems to take joy in it). Her only other real defining characteristic is that she's expecting, which you think would give her more depth or sympathetic... but it doesn't - even when the stakes are drastically raised. It just leaves you feeling like "Okay...and?", and not much else. Perhaps if there was a tipping point where she had a change of heart or did something admirable that she'd garner anything resembling a pat on the back, but still no.

This ends up being the case for the rest of Nick's family as things progress. There's no character development, their motives are confused as shit, and there's never really a true point where you see any of them make a solid path forward. You'll see a nudge in the right direction where you think you'll see someone do anything remotely productive or helpful to the cause of the group...and yet...take a guess.

A telling moment comes in the form of Kate needing help after shit goes down. Nick makes it very clear that Annji is the only one that can help save her since she works at a hospital - as Scott, her [Kate's] own husband, who also has medical experience, refuses to do anything. Even when it's made explicitly clear that she will die if Annji can't help, they refuse to budge. It's like this whole family has a fucking listening problem, and when the obvious happens, they still refuse to do anything productive to help give them the slightest chance of surviving the night. It's so exhausting to see the only two characters you want to root for who give a genuine shit about what's going on keep getting the run around, only to go through all of that for what?

I hate that I have to keep focusing on characterization here, but it makes up the bulk of the problem I have with this movie. I've rooted for the killer(s) before when it came to this very issue, with characters like Tony from Blood Lake or Alan from Return to Sleepaway Camp being so annoying or irritating that they made finishing the film feel like a chore. But I have never endured a movie so frustrating that I hated five of your seven characters. I don't know if that was the intention or not either. It's one thing to have genuinely unlikable characters due to their actions or motives, but at least give the viewer something about them that at least makes their screen presence one of tolerance or even apathy - not wishing for sweet release that doesn't involve only turning it off.

If it wasn't for this one big fucking problem, then I'd have more interest in the plot and what's going on.

Honestly, if you just focus on the bare bones concept, it's not that bad and is one we've seen variations of before; which is that of a family being trapped in their house on Christmas Eve with no means of escaping or making contact with the outside world as they're receiving ominous instructions and messages of impending death from their television if they don't comply. With that alone, there's many ways you can drive the story and it could be interesting - but this all goes out the window because of the characters. Even with movies like Cube, you have characters that clash and obvious tension there due to their situation and how one of them poses a serious threat to their survival - but that didn't halt the plot or made it feel like pulling teeth to have everyone get their shit together.

Outside that, the only other thing you have to look at would be the special effects. They really aren't that anything too remarkable, at least to me when it's directly in relation to features that are keeping them trapped in the house or what happens if someone tries to escape. The effects in the third act when we get the "big reveal" about whose behind the happenings are just barely that much better. But I'm not sure how much of me feeling underwhelmed is due to being burnt out due to the sheer amount of fuckery we had to out up with to get this far.

Writing this has been a long, exhausting task, and now I'm ready to call it quits here. This was more of a rant than a review, but I feel this is one of those films worthy of such a treatment. It's been a long while since I've felt this tired over a film, and I'm almost offended by how disappointing it was. For the first time in years, I'm giving a single star to each of the only tolerable characters and half a star for the half-way decent idea that got thrown away. Now, I'm off to bed as means to apologize to myself for what I just endured.

Rating 2.5/10

[harukatomoe]

Taste (Dazai x Reader x Chūya)

Taste

It was crazy how with just a sway of your hips could send the poor brunette and ginger-haired men drooling and dropping to their knees for a better look. Oh, how they wished for a little touch to your skin with their hands, unfortunately they were denied the feeling. They were shameless when it came to being around you, even if they were at a public beach with their organizations. Yes, the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency were at the same beach, at the same time, on the same day. It was uncanny.

You somehow managed to enforce a peace treaty between the two conflicting organizations of Yokohama for the time being, somehow convincing them that the beach was for enjoying and having a fun time, not for winding up tense muscles even more and causing havoc. Each organization was mere metres planted away from each other, but that didn't stop any one of them from interacting peacefully with each other. It was odd seeing people who'd be at each other's throat doing fun activities together, not that you mind though, at least you could enjoy a day off without any of them complaining to you.

You were an informant that worked nationwide for all of Japan. You happened to reside inside of Yokohama and gave information to anyone who gave a good amount of cash that satisfied you. You were on neither side, nor did you play favourites; it just so happened you delivered a decent amount of information to both of the sides. You were lucky that you weren't shut down as an information broker because you made deals with the government and police that your information was extremely resourceful.

In your time on the job, you met all sorts of people; including Dazai and Chūya.  They had to admit that you were an attractive lady, at the same time a nosy and dangerous one, but that didn't stop them from coming to see you. Whenever any of them heard that they needed information (after Rokuzō's death), they came straight to you. Eventually you came to bond with them and managed to develop a somewhat close relationship with them. You could tell that they had an interest in you, they were quite obvious with their laid back flirtations.

"Oh, would you two close your mouths and stop drooling." You huffed, placing both your hands under their chins and closing their mouths for them. After that, your hands found their way to your hips, swaying them as you turned your back to them to march away. It was said as more as an eye-roll to their obnoxiousness than an annoyance, they were head over heels for you. You knew exactly how they felt about you, slightly interested, you decided to play a little game with them since you didn't interact with anyone much but them.

"Give me a day and I'll show you that I'm better than-"

"(First Name)-chan! Wouldn't you like to go out with someone taller than you?"

You could sense them tripping each other behind you, you could sense they were taking any chance to sabotage the other just to get a head start on each other. Oh, how pesky it was to listen to them bicker at each other endlessly, yet at the same time it was intriguing because you never had someone, nonetheless two people obsess over you this way. Being an informant was a lonely job where you didn't have time for someone else, so when either one of them came around, it made your day better.

"I like men who would do anything for something they want," you commented, a smirk rising on the right side of your face at your little enigma. Both the men stuck out their chests for a few seconds, believing that it applied to them; only to slump back down in a slightly irritated manner due to the fact it applied to the both of them. Upon hearing their annoyed grumbles and unhappy mumbling, you laughed. Dipping your feet sideways into the warm sand, you twirled your body around to face them.

"I assume you said that on purpose with the knowledge that it applies to the both of us?" Dazai queried, smiling in defeat a little at your successful little trick. You nodded through half-lidded eyes, your smirk feeling like it was something rare to them. They couldn't stop admiring your absolutely drop-dead gorgeous looks and not to mention your sly behaviour that they were amused by. You were a cunning woman, candour as well, that's what made you so interesting.

"If this is the game you want to play, I'll play." Oh, how Chūya revealed his panty-dropping smirk. You had to admit that he was indeed a gorgeous man, handsome even. His cerulean optics intrigued you as well as his ginger hair, surely he had foreign blood in him or even was foreign, right? His personality matched well with his face, his words matched well with everything about him. He was determined to attract a woman like you into going on a date with him, keeping in mind he wanted to impress you, but at the same time, wouldn't mind anything else that could happen on the way.

As for Dazai, he was surely an attractive man. His eyes were a bright light brown that seemed like sweet cocoa with marshmallows in colour, his hair was messy but kept slightly neat and framed his face with brown that reminded you of the colour coffee you would drink. You had gotten a glimpse of his face without his bangs in the way and for that moment back then, you swore you felt your breath being taken away. Dazai's personality was mysterious, you could see he was bright in personality and at the same time he was hiding something, he was truly an interesting man.

Both of them were similar in ways, but completely different. That's what made your feelings so conflicted. Both of them were deep in affection and fancy towards you that it made it hard to escape and not decide; not that you could decide though, you didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings nor let any of them be the one to reign victorious. It was hard to escape your keen interest in them.

"Really? Then here's my next one," you hummed, watching the both of them ready themselves for your next clue, you couldn't help but to want their attention. "I like men who will love me like no other can." It was vague but, you could see the fire that burned inside of them. Immediately they looked each other in the eye and began to push and pull at each other's faces, kicking each other while they were at it. Oh, how only a few words and a hint from you could cause your own little entertainment.

"I can." Dazai chirped, his height overpowering the shorter man as he somehow managed to trip him into the sand, his face planting into the grains as Dazai stepped on top of him in success. Dazai reached out and caressed your hand into his, leaning forward so that his lips could approach your delicate fingers. He smiled and shut his eyes in delight, savouring the moment he had with you.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Chūya exerted, throwing Dazai off of him and sending him a metre and a half away. He fumed uncontrollably as his sworn enemy had embarrassed him in front of a woman he was trying to impress. Grains of sand decorated his hair and face like stars, only to he shaken off with a quick head whip back and forth. He successfully managed to throw his ex-partner away from you just in time so that his lips couldn't reach your sugar-sweet skin.

Dazai shrugged, his hands up to the level of his face as if he didn't care about what he was going to say to embarrass the redhead. "This hat rack cares more about his clothing than-"

"Imma send your address to every women you've left crying." Chūya threatened, his face falling annoyed in darkness as he glared Dazai dead in the eyes. You could see Dazai falter slightly, whispering a quick, "could you not do that" to him before bouncing back to his previous personality.

"Ohh~ Dazai-san is a womanizer, I hear? Too bad...~" you raised your chin, frowning in play as you grabbed your chin in query to their past relationship and knowledge with and of each other. Alarmed, Chūya spun his body in a quick pivot to face you, his eyes wide and slight desperate. You could see his lips purse in temptation as he waited for you to say something. He wanted to know if he won.

"Does that mean...?" He asked, eager to find out if he had beat Dazai in something yet again. Their competitions with each other were pretty even. Though, it was rare for Dazai to make a mistake due to his past experience. He felt a tad bit outsmarted by words, but was still determined to win, he listened in.

"No, no, I still have one more." Their ears perked with amusement, both of them coming together to find out what you were going to puzzle next. If Dazai being a womanizer had not affected you and gave Chūya a head start, it still meant he had a chance. You inhaled deeply, almost ready to express your last hint towards them. Oh, how they could fall at your feet at any given second. You took a step forward and brushed the both of their shoulders with yours, bumping your hips to theirs a little to keep their attention on you. They could smell the wonderfully delicious fragrant smell of your hair, their heads following you as you pushed past them.

"I like men who will..." you paused, your eyes amorous and your lips seductive.

"...follow me to my place~"

End

[fullysowerewolf]

My Thoughts on Resident Evil 2 (2019); It Could Have Been Great

I've taken some time off to reflect on Remake 2 and take into account all of my thoughts on its gameplay and story. And I think it's time for me to give my full review on the game.

WARNING: This post will contain unpopular views on a well liked/received game. Turn back now if you want to return to the comfort of the status quo.  

Resident Evil 2 (2019) is not a bad game. It is entertaining as an experience and functions as it is supposed to. The atmosphere, outside of some issues I have with the tone and how they've been marketing it with the series presently, is good. The revamp they gave the environments and and enemies, while not something I personally give much value to, is impressive. The sewers look grimy and disgusting, the BOWs look like rotting corpses and react to getting their heads blown off like, well, someone getting their head blown off in real life. The best environment by far is the police station though. I am completely satisfied with how they've designed the station here.

On paper, the zombies function well and their AI is decent. Mr. X is the breakout feature of the game and he does end intensity to the game but I think he overstays welcome a bit too much and steals away attention from G-Birkin, as I feel there's not enough scenes or standout gameplay moments with G. Sherry's segment is actually tense and I like it.

Some of the story works, the new addition of the Orphanage is good and adds a neat new location to experience in the city as well as a chance to actually explore the city outside of the station. Something that fans had complained about in the original. Annette Birkin and Marvin Branagh both stand out as well portrayed characters, with Annette being given more things to do in the story and interact with the characters. And Marvin's interactions with Leon and Claire (Leon in particular) are great and make you feel for him and his steady decline in health. Annette's death scene in Claire's story and the scene with Kendo were the only moments in the game I felt an emotion for. It's not the worst story in the series. But it's not the best. It fulfills its requirement of being a story. As a whole, it is a good horror game to play and an ok RE game.

This game, however, may as well be called "Missed Opportunity the game". They had the ability to really make this game pop out and be a new experience while still giving a good showing of what made RE2 so great and they completely dropped the ball.

Files are omitted, something well known and beloved in the series that's used to add flavor and life to the story and environment are gone and replaced with bare bones explanations that just tell you how to solve puzzle Y.

The option to interact with the environment is removed as well, something that's been a part of the games since the beginning and only RE6 has ever done until now. Why?! This is the perfect game to add these kind of details in, to add more charm and flair to the setting and even some depth to the character you're playing as and to make the story feel more alive. They may not add anything to the mechanics of the game, but it gets you further invested into the story and environment around you. This is the ultimate irony of RE2 remake. The environment and graphics look and feel more realistic than ever before, but you are completely unable to simply look at or comment on them like a real person would in the world, be able to experience them. You can look, but you can't touch.

Characters this time around feel off and simplified from how they were in the original.

Irons is an example, in the original his villainy was more understated. You couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him, but he still came off as someone in command and faked being morose about what was happening. It was only later after you meet him in his torture chamber and after reading the various files throughout the game that lay out his depravity he really becomes unhinged. But in this new telling, he just automatically beats up Claire and kidnaps Sherry right on first meeting him, no subtlety, no buildup, just straight up asshole. And that's just not interesting.

Ada feels very cardboard in this game, there's not very many standout moments with her, even when she's given her own gameplay segment, she immediately makes herself suspicious with her noir ripoff coat and glasses and behavior. Gives away that she's here to steal the G-virus to Annette when originally she didn't break cover as John's girlfriend until the very end of the game. Her 'death" is unrealistic and contradicts what Capcom has been giving us as her death scene for years by now, as well as just not being as emotional or engaging. And her relationship with Leon come off as more like a partnership the likes of Helena in RE6 than of a growing romance that eventually spans decades. It felt more like manipulation mixed with appreciating Leon as a person overall and not as "wow, this guy really cares about me and is charming, there's something I really love about him".

Leon comes off as much flater than he did originally as well. Originally, he took charge of the situation and made it his mission to gather survivors and get out of dodge as fast as he can. Even though he was a rookie and in over his head, he actively tried to help people and get them to listen to him and what he had to say. Here, Leon just fumbles around obeying whatever anyone says to him. He never questions Ada and her odd behavior until the end, which comes off as weird considering he did everything she asked and never has seriously questioned or brought up concerns about her until that point. Just blindly says he's got to talk to Irons first when Ben begs him to let him out, rather than question seriously what Ben had to say about Irons or how he had locked Ben up in the first place. Leon's really passive this time around rather than being active in trying to help people. 

Claire (and also Leon) is way too casual about this whole thing. Neither really reacts appropriately to seeing this messed up shit. Some of this might also be the lackluster dialogue (which tried too hard to be gritty and edgy at times especially when it came to Claire, my god) and acting on Claire's VA's part but it's still negative. 

Claire should not be so gung ho about facing down a 15 foot tall abomination against nature like it's Revelations 2 rather than it being her seeing these things for the first time ever. Critical Nobody made a good point in how in the original the boss fights happened out of the blue and neither Leon or Claire actively tried to take on G- Birkin or Mr. X. They were ambushed and had to fight their way out of the conflict and neither made some dumb action quote line during it as well until the very final boss where it was warranted. It's like Ethan and RE7 all over again with the generic action movie responses to shit he should be freaking out about. And once again it takes me out of the experience.  

Claire's story revolving her brother just gets dropped like a sack of bricks during it for dumb reasoning, after being placated by some coded message with which her mild confusion at doesn’t sell me on her being so concerned she’d fly to Paris and bust into Umbrella’s HQ over later on.. What I think they should have  done if the devs really wanted to sell this one being more “real” than the original, was put that scene with Leon and Claire in the STARS office over some limp wristed attempt at Chris writing a coded message. That scene in the original was one of the best in the game. 

The scenarios and how they handled them is fucked. We all know it. They completely shat the bed when it came to making use out of the A/B gimmick. 

Both the 1st run and the 2nd amount to playing the same story, only you don't meet Marvin in the 2nd. Which is not enough of a difference to justify the existence of a A/B scenario thing. In the original, A and B discs gave you an obvious difference. Characters have different deaths, the boss fights were different, there were changes in the actual story if you play Leon or Claire first or second that affected the B scenario, whatever items you picked in the A scenario affected the B one. This greatly increased the replayablity of the game and added much more bang for your buck in enjoyment.

I understand if they seriously weren't able to really do an A/B gimmick like before due to different constraints on the budget that differed from the 90's. Which is why when I heard they weren't going to do the A/B thing that didn't bother me. But they either lied or changed their minds mid production and shoehorned it in, most likely for nostalgia points and to haphazardly add more replayability. What is the point doing alternate scenarios if they don't differ or add anything new to the game? That's just a waste of resources and everyone's time. They could have spent their time on simply making two solid stories/campaigns that worked coherently, but they didn't. 

Turns out IGN weren't completely lying or wrong when they said that the two stories played the same way. Even when you play the 2nd run there's no real difference.

The story changes are really bunk as well. Why omit the police knowing about the Mansion Incident and making Marvin and Co look like idiots who can't put 2 and 2 together? Why change things like Claire's story progression and removing the interactions between the two throughout the game (even though this game really wanted to push the idea of them being an item they only had two scenes of them interacting??)? Leon and Claire talked with each other via the radio the whole time and really let you believe these two were working together to get out alive, even with you weren't face to face most of the time in the original. Leon also played a roll in saving Sherry as well, which carries over into future games but that's completely scrapped here. 

Why is Ada's connection to the original game, (which is still in Remake 1 which now is the prequel to this game), absent? Where's new lore and enemies like Lisa Trevor? Where's the potential of connecting things to future events like the Simmons thing with Ada from 6?They had a golden opportunity to clear up some confusion about what events from which scenario were canon or not here and to really add some surprise into the story, but nothing was done with it. 

The enemies are all bullet sponges, even the bosses, that makes fighting them really cheap and frustrating. You have to shoot a zombie something like 4 times with a shotgun to put it down. I repeat. A Shotgun to the head takes more than two times to put down. And even than that's probably not good enough. That's not good enemy design, that's just an exercise of my patience that I am now very in short supply of.

There's also a severe lack of enemy variety. You only get zombies, lickers (for one part of the game), zombies with a plant skin, and G-embryos. That's it. No Licker B's, no giant moths, no giant spiders, no new enemies that could add some more challenge to the game. Nothing. And with most of those enemies being of the zombie mold, that means more repetition in gameplay. Add in the frustration of everything being a bullet sponge, and you're not in for a good time.

The Characters you're playing as feel the same with little to no different weapons or attributes to set them apart. Unlike in Remake 1, where both Chris and Jill had completely different defensive items and skills such as exclusive lockpicking, more inventory space, and a lighter preset. Remake 1 also had interesting mechanics that really added more challenge and intrigue to the game in the form of a new enemy (Crimson Heads) and a way to effect directly how much challenge you want in your playthrough (you could choose to leave the corpses unburnt and make life harder or make things easier by burning as much as you can). In Re2make, there are no such distinctions between between Leon and Claire that really make them stand out as unique characters in gameplay.

The soundtrack is bland and generic. You also can barely even hear it. You absolutely have to play the OG OST to really get any kind of musical accompaniment in the game. Too bad that's something you have to pay Capcom $3.00 for. I think the only music that really stands out are the G-3 and 4 boss themes and The 4th Survivor music.

In the end, I was let down heavily from Remake 2. I wanted to like this game. I wanted to see Capcom learn from their mistakes with the foreign, lackluster 7 and see them make an actual RE game again. They succeeded, somewhat with the latter. RE2 '19 IS better than 7 and does feel like an actual RE game and deserves the title of such. But it's not better than Remake 1. Or even as good. Every time I look at Remake 2, all I see is what could have been. And every time I think about the positives of this game, a niggling thought of "but it could have also done..." is there in back of my mind. While seeing and viewing this game, I was in an emotional dead zone, not excited, not angry, just a near continuous state of "meh".

The story's mediocre and feels simplified from the previous one. The environment, while looking nice, feels lifeless (and not in a good way). I don't feel like I'm in a real breathing world, fighting against zombies. And this trend towards photorealism and making things more "gritty" for the sake of gritty while sliding further and further on quality in writing is not something I wanted or expected of this series. And it feels like the heart and soul of this series is getting drained out and replaced with some mediocre expy of the latest horror trends rather than doing its own thing.Which to me seems like we're going to head for another slump like what happened with 6, where the series gameplay quality generally increases, but the meant of the characters, writing and series' uniqueness gets worse and worse.

Before Remake 2 came out, I was excited to see what the remakes of Nemesis and Code Veronica were going to be like. But now I'm very wary of what they might do to the story and gameplay of those games when they remake them. And I'm even less enthused than I already wasn't about RE8 or any new games going forward.

Remake 2 was Capcom's last shot of getting me on board with their new "vision" for the series started with RE7. And I'm just not interested. So this will be last game I give any attention to for Resident Evil.

[wacheypena]

Movies I often ColdFlash Take 2:

Decided to make a new post about it with updated ideas and such, the original list is here.

The Holiday - Still coldflash as the main couple, with Barry being single and he and Len totally hopping into the sack at some point if not as soon as they meet XD But the second pairing is now arrowwave cause I want it, and I can easily see Oliver breaking up with someone and leaving on impulse for a vacation elsewhere. Mick is still a single dad with two daughters, Len's a writer who was having an affair with Sam Scudder, who is now engaged and refuses to let it be known that he's gay if not bi. 

Oliver didn't take his previous relationships seriously, b/c most dated him for what he was, rather than who he is, and Mick could care less what he is aside from hot af and great in bed. He's also got two little girls to consider, which endears him to Oliver and makes him take this budding relationship a lot more seriously. Meanwhile, Len loves that Barry isn't afraid to share that they're dating and doesn't treat him like some dirty little secret. The main issue would be the distance when they inevitably return home. (Yeah I'm totally resolving that via some peeps move.) First post about this Second post about this

Stepford Wives - Same, after killing his dad, rather than go to Iron Heights, Lyla Diggle arranges for Len to work for Argus, b/c Barry knew he was under duress and deserved a chance to do good in the world, he just needed a chance. That and monetary motivation, but Len won't be paid until he's worked his prison time off. His first mission: investigate the town of Stepford as one of their latest married couples. He got to choose his spouse, and deciding on some revenge, he chooses Barry Allen. Fake dating trope to the max, cause I love this fucking trope XD

The Mummy - I feel this would be easier as a coldwave fic, cause Mick as the American who charms librarian Len sounds really hot XD And Barry as their adopted son would be so cute :3 I know this is a coldflash list, but seriously, it would be easier to have Len and Lisa as a pair of archaeologists/historians, and Mick is the ex-soldier who's been to the place they want to go. Otherwise, I have no idea who Lisa or the others would be if I coldflash-ed this.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - This would totally have to be an AU, and I'd make Len and Mick both thieves as well as entertainers. Oliver or Ray are the detective sent to follow the two on Barry's behalf, and thus shenanigans.

Coming to America - I know I said Barry was the prince in the last post, but now I have it in my head that Len is a fairy!Prince and he drags Mick with him to find a bride cause he believes his people have become too isolated and need new world views. He doesn't limit his search to women of course, and Barry is totally adorable. I'd let Barry have his powers and be the Flash in this case, so both of them have a secret to keep, though Len is better at figuring out Barry's XD

Labyrinth - Same as before, Barry is annoyed with Captain Cold constantly pulling heists to get his attention, and wishes he'd just go away for a while. Enter Mirror Master sending Cold into some random mirror dimension and Barry feeling guilty and going after him. They have to work together to get out of there, encountering all kinds of obstacles and discovering love in the process XD

(more under the cut, with a lot of details XD)

Teen Witch - I never explained what I had planned here: Barry lives with the Wests cause his mom was killed and his dad put in jail, etc, and he's best friends with Cisco and Caitlin at school. Iris is also a good friend but she's part of the popular crowd and dating Eddie, a football player who's friends with Ronnie. Other football players include Mick, Len and Tony, the last two often times bullying/teasing Barry.

On his sixteenth b-day, during a class field trip, Barry discovers a necklace w/a lightning bolt, his teacher Dr. Wells encouraging him to keep it. Hartley, a loner/outsider that people often called weird, approaches Barry and claims he's a witch like him and that they should rely on each other and learn to master their powers together. Barry immediately rejects the idea, cause witches aren't real, but then at a party Iris invited him too, he's cornered by Tony and manages to make him 'disappear' into thin air, which freaks him out. With Hartley's help, he brings Tony back with no memory of what happened at the party, and Tony transfers to another school not too long after.

Turns out, Barry is a witch from his mother's side, and the necklace is his talisman. Hartley having a similar necklace only with a flute at the end of it. Hart also has a ton of books on magic so Barry has a lot to read through.

Barry discovers a love potion and considers using it on Iris, but he knows it wouldn't be real and it would hurt Eddie, who he has gotten to know as a decent guy. Instead, he tells Iris about the witch stuff, and she happily agrees to help keep it hush hush from Joe who would probably send Barry to a mental institution.

Some conflict arises as Cisco and Caitlin want to know why Barry's not hanging out with them as much, and so he confesses to them too. They don't believe him at first, so he demonstrates his power by making Caitlin admit her feelings to her crush, Ronnie. Turns out that Ronnie had a crush on her too, but thought she'd rebuff him since she was so aloof. Of course, Cisco now wants to experiment and test out Barry's abilities, including the use of that love potion. (No worries, it doesn't get used.)

Meanwhile, though he wasn't nearly as cruel and as menacing as Tony had been, Len still teases Barry to some extent, but rather than use his powers to make him go away, cause Barry feels that makes him just as bad as a bully, he applies a truth spell on Len, and discovers Len has been in the closet due to an abusive dad and has a crush on Barry. (Even though Barry utters the spell, Len would be admitting these things in front of Mick and Eddie who are in the locker room with him after gym class, the spell breaking after Len takes a shower cause water did that in this movie's continuity.)

And that's as far as I got with this XD (I'm a dick.)

True Lies - Len is the super, sexy, spy and Barry is his adorable husband who works in a cubicle and doesn't realize he's married to a spy. (They also have an adopted son.) Barry's been neglected for some time though, and he starts to worry he's being cheated on. With this state of mind, it's fairly easy for some scumbag to try and seduce him into an affair. Though like in the movie, Len discovers this affair before anything too scandalous can occur, and in his jealous rage he gets Barry to perform his own little 'spy' mission. It backfires when the real terrorists come in and kidnap them both and the rest of the fic is like the movie. @mockingbird-22 and I angsted it up though in certain parts cause Barry inspired it XD

Romancing the Stone - Definitely an AU, though this story could be turned into a coldwave as well as a coldflash story. Len as a romantic novelist sounds lovely doesn't it? And he'd do anything to protect Lisa, including traveling to a foreign country and risk all types of danger. Barry I see as more of an action/adventure, sci-fi thriller type of writer. He'd still go and try to save Iris of course. And either Len or Mick would make a great con artist/love interest.

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead - So Len, Mick, Lisa, and maybe a few others are orphans and living together in one house. Len successfully got their care taker put in jail cause they were embezzling funds. Of course the state gives them someone new, but that person winds up dying of natural causes on the first night. Mick and Len get rid of the body, unintentionally destroying the money along with it. The only choice they have now is to either wait till the next monthly deposit, or one of them gets a job. Len winds up getting a job while Mick agrees to stay and watch the younger kids. (They're 17 and 16 respectively, Mick being oldest.) (Btw, Len drops out of high school but gets his GED, in case peeps wonder why he doesn’t attend school)

Len's first job sucks, though he meets Barry who's secretly a hero in training. Len winds up quitting cause the pay isn't enough to cover all the bills or worth the amount of stress it gives him. He recruits Hartley, a kid really good at hacking, into making him a new resume that would land him a better desk job somewhere. Only he made it too good, as Malcolm Merlyn decides to hire Len on the spot as an executive assistant to his 'secretly a bad guy company' rather than be a simple receptionist. (Yeah I went cartoony with this XD)

Len is surprisingly good at this job, as he's organized, logical, and a great strategist. His only obstacle being Sam Scudder who had been in line to take the position until he showed up. Also, his creepy g/f Rosa who keeps hitting on him. Eobard is another creep who apparently likes to brag about tormenting the Flash. Oh, and Len is dating Barry now, so keeping this whole thing a secret is hard, especially when he finds out Barry lives with a cop and intends to become a CSI when he's older. So much conflict and all Len wants to do is keep a roof over everyone's head.

The Mask of Zorro - Netflix recently added this, so now it got me thinking of Henry being the original Zorro/Flash, only for Eobard to kill his wife and frame him for it. Then whisk Barry away to raise him as his own while also disguised as Dr. Harrison Wells. Len, Lisa and Mick are sort of thieves/anti-heroes until Lisa and Mick are captured and in his attempt to break them out of prison, Len breaks Henry out on accident. His family was sent elsewhere, and Henry offers to help Len find them if he agrees to help him put a stop to all the evil that's corrupting their city. Len doesn't want to be a hero, but he understands their city is suffering and he needs help investigating his family's whereabouts. Turns out Dr. Wells has been capturing metas and trying to turn them into soldiers so he could take over the city. (Len, Mick and Lisa are metas in this.) Keep in mind, the time period would be the same as in the movie. Romance wise, Barry would totally be enamored with the mysterious hooded figure who wields ice in ways he didn't know were so beautiful. And who is this charming but infuriating man named Leonard Snart?

Look Who's Talking - @mockingbird-22 and I both have different takes on this. In my version, it's an a/b/o world, and Eowells(?) has made a bad habit of spreading his seed. Barry thought it was true love, but turns out he was being used like the other omegas in Eowells life. (Debating if I should name Hartley among them and bring him into this idea or not.) Barry does what he can to move on, though it is quite stressful, especially when one omega pursues a lawsuit against Eowells for sleeping around so much with no intention of helping out with the resulting offspring. Barry, along with a few others, are called to witness the trial and to provide proof that they were all impregnated by the same man. It's enough to stress Barry into labor as he exits the building and into Len's unsuspecting cab.

Len saw that Barry came out of the courthouse, but he doesn't know why he was there. He just drives him to the hospital as quick as he can. Barry gives birth to a healthy baby boy, and returns to his apartment with both his baby and a compensation check from the lawsuit. Len arrives not too long after cause Barry forgot his wallet inside the cab.

If you've seen the movie, the rest follows along the same lines with a few details changed such as Len using Barry's address so Lisa can attend a different school, and both Len and Lisa taking turns to babysit the baby. Also, Barry's relieved when Len forcibly removes Eowells from visiting the baby, as Barry wants nothing to do with him anymore. Though the explanation as to why the other man was trying to visit is awkward, Len takes it in stride.

I can see Barry giving in and wanting a relationship with Len easily, but then worrying that Len was too dubious in the eyes of the law to consider, especially if I make him a thief in this verse XD

And that’s all I got for now folks! Thanks for reading, and if you’d like to head canon some stuff with me on this, feel free to message me. If you want me to just write these fics already, let me know which and please wait :3