#i hope that spelling is correct cause i got it from the subtitles

[shaunashipman]

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS 5.04 "The Campaign"

[phoenix-downer]

I was wondering if you saw the official Melody of Memory announcement trailer with the subtitles added. There seems to be a controversy on how the localization team changes Kairis words from "because I wasn't strong enough" to "because of what you've done" I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Do you think this changes Kairi's character or is it not a huge thing?

Thanks for the ask! 

Spoiler alert: taking a look at it, I think the fan translations are technically correct about Kairi blaming her lack of strength for Sora and the others getting hurt, because she does, but the official localization team better captures the overall meaning of what she says, because she also blames the hooded figure for her fate being messed with, which presumably led to her lack of strength in the first place. I’m basing my reasoning on how the scope of certain grammar patterns she’s using probably impact the meaning of what she’s saying.

Looking at the Japanese version in more detail...

(This transcription is done by me, so the commas and periods are just guesses, and the Japanese version of KH doesn’t really use periods that much anyway, they’re more for my convenience. Usual disclaimer applies about how there are still things I don’t know about Japanese and my language and translation skills are a work in progress, etc.)

 JP: あなたのせいで、私の運命は運動され、私の力が足りないせいで、みんなや、ソラが傷ついた。今、目の前にあなたは、たとえ記憶や幻あても、私はあなたを許さない。

Romaji: Anata no seide, watashi no unmei wa undōsare, watashi no chikara ga tarinai seide, minna ya, Sora ga kizu tsuita. Ima, me no mae ni anata wa, tatoe kioku ya maborshi atemo, watashi wa anata o yurusanai. 

EN: You’re the one who keeps messing with my fate. If it weren’t for what you’ve done, then Sora and everyone would be safe. Even if you’re not really here and this is just a memory or an illusion... I won’t let you walk away! 

TN: Because of you, my fate keeps getting messed with. (And because of you), my power isn’t strong enough, (and because my power isn’t strong enough), Sora and everyone else got hurt. Now, you’re in front of me, and even if it’s just a memory or an illusion... I won’t let you get away! 

Notes: Kairi starts out the whole thing by resting the blame on the hooded figure with the grammar form ~seide. This is used to indicate something or someone has caused a negative result. It’s a means of placing blame for something that happened and pointing to someone or something as the cause. A different phrase is used to give credit for something good that’s happened, ~okagede. Both of these words are covered by English words or phrases such as “because of~” or “thanks to~,” and we rely on tone of voice and intonation to differentiate between “good cause” and “bad cause.” Unless, of course, we choose to use something else (like the phrase “It’s your fault,” which is only has the “bad cause” meaning) to make that more clear in the semantics of the word. 

Because Kairi uses anata no seide to blame the hooded figure (who she refers to as “you” or anata at the very beginning of her speech for all the things she lists off afterwards, it sounds to me like the blame for all the things she lists afterwards falls on the hooded figure. That’s what the official localization captures that some of the fan translations did not. 

I think that the way that the “my fate keeps getting messed with” part ends also indicates that what comes next is linked to it, and thus the hooded figure is responsible for it, too. Why? Well, because the verb the official localization translates as “mess with” ends on sare, which is the stem form of the passive form of the verb “do.” Why Kairi uses the stem form of sareru instead of the te-form sarete, which would normally be used for connecting sentences or phrases, I’m not sure, but IIRC the stem form can also be used to link sentences and phrases together. The stem form also sounds more formal to me, so maybe that’s why Kairi uses it? To give her that “princess” air, and because she’s generally pretty polite (though here she’s using casual verb endings and not formal ones). Don’t take my word for it though, as much as the social aspects of language are my favorite, they’re also the easiest for me to mess up because they’re the kind of thing you generally need to engage in lots of real world conversations involving the specific piece of grammar in question to pick up on.

Also, the compound that the official localization translated as “keeps messing with” is literally “is moved,” but we don’t say people’s fates are moved in English, it’s not the right collocation (which means the set of words that normally combine together), so that’s why there’s a discrepancy there with some of the fan translations as well. 

Anyway, the next part, which has Kairi blaming herself for being too weak, is something like, “Because my power is insufficient...” in Japanese, with the grammar form ~seide being used to blame her insufficient strength on Sora and the others getting hurt. However, remember what I said earlier about scope? While it’s true Kairi blames her insufficient power on Sora and the others getting hurt, I believe this still falls under the scope of the hooded figure’s fault. She wouldn’t have been too weak if it weren’t for the hooded figure messing with her fate, in other words. 

That’s what’s captured in the official localization that’s missing in some of the fan translations. Now, it’s true that the official localization does not spell out in the grammar that Kairi blames the hooded figure overall for everything AND blames her insufficient strength for leading to Sora and the others getting hurt. However, this might not be the final translation, and even if it is, it’s not really inaccurate or anything, especially when you look at the original Japanese version. And they may be able to make up the “lost” meaning of Kairi blaming her insufficient strength in other ways, like with the tone and intonation of Kairi’s English line delivery. 

The last point of contention I’ve seen is the very last thing Kairi says, “I won’t let you walk away!” When you walk away, you don’t hear me say, please, oh baby, don’t go, anyone? Putting on my tinfoil hat, I’m gonna laugh if this is some A+ foreshadowing from the localization team about the identity of the hooded figure... Anyway, people have been wondering how fan translations could come up with things like “I’ll never forgive you!” when the official localization has  “I won’t let you walk away!” 

It all comes down to the verb used, which is yurusu. Yurusu can mean many things. It’s a very flexible verb. I’m gonna copy several of its possible meanings from jisho.org to give you an idea of its range: 

Now, while it’s true that the negative form, yurusanai, which is what Kairi uses here, tends to be used in anime a lot for characters to scream at their enemies about how they won’t forgive them, that’s not the only possible meaning of yurusanai. 

Notice how the official localization uses something close to meaning #3, to release, to let off. An important part of localization is context, and the official localization team looked at the entire context of the sentence and decided that this was the meaning that most closely matched the situation. I am nowhere near their level, so I trust what they went with and defer to their expertise. 

Plus, it makes sense, you know? Right before this, Kairi says the part about  how even if this is just a memory or an illusion, she’ll... When you think about it, it makes sense that she wouldn’t want the figure that’s messed with her fate so much to get away, so that’s why she says she won’t let the person walk away in the official localization. 

(Also, just an interesting side note, Kairi uses pronouns a lot in this speech. The norm for Japanese conversation is to drop pronouns when they’re understood from context, which is different from English, where we need to use them most of the time with some exceptions. If my hunch is right, she’s stressing the pronouns so much in the Japanese version because she wants to clearly demarcate herself from the person she’s addressing, to draw a “me vs. you” line in the sand. She means serious business and these are her fighting words, basically.)

Hope that answers your question!

[farfallasunicas]

My Ocs

Let’s try this again Shall we!?

Kinsey Noelle

FC:   Melissa Benoist

Age: 24

Fandom:  Supernatural AU

 Pairings: N/A

Story:  Untiled

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13271863/1/An-Untitled-Supernatural-Story

A/n:  I haven’t written her in a while as I have no muse or inspiration for her at the moment.

Character Info:  Kinsey is the Nephilim   child of Mary Winchester and an unknown angel as well as the half-sister of Dean and Sam Winchester.   Due to her mother dying when she was born   she was adopted when she was a baby.   Her adopted Family named her Kinsey Noelle though her birth name was Noelle Rose Winchester.   Her adopted family kicked her out when she was 12 because they blamed her for not being able to protect her younger sister who got killed by a monster which Sam and Dean saved her from.  She then was raised by many hunters as she went into the life for revenge. When she is 24  her powers come into full power but  she has no idea what or who she is until Cass (spelling this was cause that’s how it is in the subtitles and Kripke said it’s that way so people wouldn’t think it was pronounce CAZZ)  tell her what she is. She then   moves into the Bunker and joins Sam and Dean in Hunting.

Madalyn Jaymes Winchester

a/n:  Madalyn will appear in stories at different ages as I was inspired for both so her info will show the same FC at different ages with different Bios!  There is no story for her right now but I’m working on some drabbles to see how people like her before writing more.  I’ll post my drabbles as soon as I can get to a computer as I have a hard time typing long things on mobile.

Younger

FC: Young Elle Fanning

Age: 5-8

Nicknames: Maddie or Mads

Fandom: Supernatural AU

Character info:   Madalyn is the half-sister of Sam and Dean.   Due to her reminding him so much of Mary, John took her in when her biological mother died.   She knows nothing of the Hunting life and thinks her Dad and brothers are just traveling mechanics or salesmen.    When Sam left for Stanford he wanted to take Maddie with him to give her a chance at a normal life and so she could go to good schools, however John refused.   Maddie and  Dean  secretly visit Sammy every  now and then and  Maddie often runs away  to Sam’s as she wants to stay with him when   her dad and  Dean are on a hunt instead of a hotel by herself or  with some random person John  knows.

Older

FC:  Present day Elle Fanning

Age: 17ish

Fandom: Supernatural AU

Story: TBA

Link: TBA

Pairing:  her and Jack  as best friends

Nicknames: same as younger

Character info:  Maddie now knows all about the hunting life and what her family does , but she doesn’t want to have any part of it, which Sam and Dean fully support.  She has been doing online school since she was 5 due to  moving around all the time, however when  they finally settled down in the Bunker as their home she finally convinced  Sam and Dean to let her go to public school. She was very close to Charlie when she was alive, considering her the older sister she always wanted. She is currently dating the most popular guy in school and is best friends with Jack though Dean is convinced that they have crushes on each other.

 Sarah Michele Puckerman

Fc: Bailee Madison

Age: 15-19

Fandom: Glee

Story title:  “A Thousands Cuts”

Link: TBA

Pairings: best friend/brother-sister relationship Blaine Anderson 

Friend: Kurt Hummel

Best friend in Wellwood: Kinsey  Rose (fc was Melissa Benoist in Glee)

Romantic relationship: Sebastian Smythe 

 Info: Sarah is honestly based on   a character I used to RP in @wellwoodrp with the URL of @saribearpuckerman (Still on as an archive if you want to read some of her interactions). This rp was an AU glee twin Rp that was a twist on the master/slave theme where characters like Sarah, Blaine, and Sebastian were residents and characters like Kurt, Kinsey and Joe were Residents.  I just loved her and couldn’t part with her even though I left the rp for personal reasons, especially the relationship she had with Blaine known as Blarah with @justbreatheblaine​.   At the time of the RP she was 15 but sticking to the time line she’d be about 19 right now. I’ll also post info from her bio from the rp as well.

 Character info: Sarah is from the small town of Wellwood.   She is the younger sister of Jake and Noah Puckerman and due to the fact that she doesn’t like the idea of servants she has a very strained relationship with her mother.    Sarah had to transfer to Crawford her sophomore year of high school due to bullying.    At Crawford she was in the glee club, even becoming the captain her senior year. She is dating Sebastian Smythe (who was bi in the rp) and is like a little sister to Blaine Anderson. His family is basically her 2nd family and she considers   Mrs. Anderson her 2nd   mom and refers to her as “Mama A” as she lived with them when her mother kicked her out. Blaine  was Sarah’s first crush (Before she knew he  preferred  princes to princesses as she put it) and   he was the first boy Sarah ever kissed ( Blaine has having a panic attack and Sarah didn’t know what to do so she kissed him like she saw in movies  hoping it’d calm him down).    People at Crawford and Dalton   assumed   that her and Blaine where biological siblings and often referred to her as Blaine's sister during introductions. The teachers would even address her as Miss Anderson. After a while Sarah just quit correcting them.    When she left Wellwood to go to College with the approval of Blaine and Mrs. Anderson after Blaine called her Miss Anderson when he wss getting on to her,she started using Anderson as her last name.

RP BIO for Reference

Sarah Puckerman was born Jan 1 and is 15 though she often acts mature for her age, though sometimes she acts like she is five years old.   Sarah is also a very sensitive person who hates disappointing people though she can sass you at any given moment she’s actually pretty shy until she gets to know you.  She is what’s known as a “girlie” tomboy.  She likes to dress up in girly clothes, but given the choice she would be out playing sports with her brothers or any of the other boys in the neighborhood or riding horses despite the fact that her mother would try to enter her into beauty pageants and threatened to put her in finishing school if she didn’t stop which has caused Sarah and her mother to have a very strained relationship.  Luckily for Sarah though neither one of her parents are around that much  and   a lot of times her Grandma Evie  is taking care of them who herself was a servant that married a resident and understands Sarah’s beliefs on  servants.

Sarah is very close with her brothers as their father abandoned them when they were younger, and their mother was too busy going to as many social events as possible. It was left up to Noah and Jake to look out for her, and in a way raise her, though she feels closer to Jake than she does Noah.  Since Noah often took the place of a father figure to Jake and Sarah, she often sees Noah more like a father.  In fact when she was little she often called him “Daddy puck”.   Jake however is her   Jakey bear and she is his Sari bear… names that are only known to the two of them.  If Sarah slips and says it in public, Jake acts like he honestly hates that name.

Sarah is also one of the nicest Residents or so she’s told.   She refuses to let servants call her miss, preferring Sari as it is a nickname and distances her from her family or Sarah. She does not give her Servants too many things to do, or anything too hard and often chooses to go against her family’s wishes and do her chores herself, occasionally asking her servants to help her with homework, or to come to her room to talk to her about things she’s not comfortable talking to her brothers or parents about.  Sarah also has a habit of making her friends   such as Blaine, Kurt and Kinsey honorary siblings. The Puckermans are also considered one of the poorer resident families.

☆ KEY TRAITS:   Tomboy acts girlie for her mother’s benefit, shy, sassy, sweet, adorable, outspoken, independent, sensitive, and brave.

☆ FEARS:   Storms, disappointing people,   that people will hurt her or leave her like her father if she lets them in.

☆ FACE CLAIM: Bailee Madison

 ☆ FAVORITES 

 »COLOR:  green

 »SEASON: Autumn and Winter

 » FLOWERS:  White Roses, Peppermint and Marble Poinsettias.

 » GUILTY PLEASURE:  Sweets!

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Kasumi’s PT Outfit Analysis

Tell me what do these two have in common?

If you said “Cat theme” you are correct! If not, well then buckle up my dudes cause this is gonna be fun~! :D (I also want to take the time to point out, while this isn’t want I’m talking about, I do like this fan artist’s perspective on her gloves :D)

I know what you’re thinking, and no I’m not smoking anything I don’t do that, but Kasumi really does have cat thief themed origins (and no not because of the fan art, didja click on it? it’s cute!). I realized it after realizing she was a gymnast and was like “Why? Why does she get a gymnast theme? How does this fit with the outlaw theme? Has there been a thief who had gymnast outfit?....wait....could it be.....omg it IS!” AND THE ANSWER IS YES! 4 thieves actually, 3 are sisters in one series, and 1 is an expy of those sisters by the same author in his other work. If you know who I’m talking about I’m talking about.....CAT’S EYE! (and Phantom Thief 305 from City Hunter, I dunno the meaning of the name tho)

Let’s start with Cat’s Eye (not a 100% expert in it, but I know more than City Hunter tbh). Cat’s Eye is about a trio of sisters (Hitomi the middle who is the main character, Rui the oldest sister, and Ai the youngest) stealing things using their multiple skill sets (such as gymnastics), partially because they want to contact their missing dad who is also a thief (and their attempts to contact him are through the calling cards and stealing the items in hopes he comes as well). And....that’s basically it I think (been awhile since I read the manga and I’m in the process of re-reading it now). Movie wise, it seems they are in the process of trying to rescue him (hard to find info, no eng subtitles for me to watch so efsljdfl;aj).

Anne and Kasumi are the biggest shout outs to Cat’s Eye than anyone else (tho you could argue Cat’s eye is probs the reason Makoto drives a Motorcycle and Futaba is an semi-orange themed tech genius, and Haru who is “Noir” tho I don’t feel like looking up who came first, her or the Cat’s Eye Pachinko machine cause it’s not important). Anne’s outfit is more a shout-out to the Cat’s Eye Movie version while Kasumi’s is more a shout-out to the original manga/anime. Let’s focus on the Cat’s Eye movie for a second tho.

This isn’t the first time Cat’s Eye movie was used as inspiration for Persona. Back in P2 Tamaki Uchida dressed as Ai (the youngest sister of Cat’s Eye, but is the lead role in the movie), as the actress she is based off of (Yuki Uchida) played Ai in the movie.

Anne, however, seems to be based on Hitomi outfit with some Rui flare to it (they differ slightly)

(btw the movie opens up with an anime sequence before going full live action, Hitomi Left, Rui Right I think for both pics, Ai is in the middle for the bottom pic, and recolored Anne for better comparison and also because I can 8U)

I know what you are thinking, “But what about Catwoman????” I think she’s still related to Cat’s Eye tho. Catwoman came first in creation, and Catwoman was the first to use the leather outfits (tbh, mask wise, Tamaki’s mask/ears seem to draw from the Catwoman 60s tv show outfit), and it seems she/Batman were the inspiration for the movie costumes. Also considering how Persona likes to use Batman, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the cat theme stuff was also Batman/Catwoman related as well as Cat’s Eye. So there’s still a connection to Catwoman esp with the movie! 

Another possible connection to the movie is Anne’s name, specifically “Anne,” as the person who went by the stage name “Anri/杏里” (I mean Anne is just the  杏 kanji but still) who sings the theme song “Cat’s Eye 2000″ for the movie. Fun fact.

Now let’s look at the manga/anime, where it’s Kasumi’s time to shine (tho Anne will come back up).

As you can see they’ve been redesigned a few times (btw Hitomi’s colors in the first vol of Cat’s eye is actually blue with an orange ribbon, it was changed to yellow later it seems, also the top right is a spinoff manga of Cat’s Eye called Cat’s Eye: Ai where Ai is the MC)

As you can see, the girl who is mostly in the blue is Hitomi, and she has a tendency to wear a chocker with her leotard. Kinda like.......Kasumi! 

Recolored with blue to highlight the comparison (also because I NEED COLOR IN HER DESIGN ATLUS LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH DX) 

Fun fact, Hitomi I believe is a gymnast and she utilizes her skills as a thief (and thus where we get the gymnast as a thief outlaw theme and why it only works for Kasumi/gymnasts and not runners like Ryuji). 

But Kasumi also has similarities between her and Ai, both have red in their theme, both I think are first years. Also, while Ai isn’t as strong or skilled as her older sisters in fighting, she is the most agile (which we don’t know if Kasumi is in the same boat but it’s worth noting just in case). Another thing about Ai, is her connection to Tamaki up above, Tamaki who is based off the actress who played Ai was in the fencing club (which Yuki Uchida was also a fencer), and what weapon does Kasumi wield? A one handed sword similar to other fencers in Persona (like Mitsuru), so woot we’ve come full circle on that! (also if Kasumi is Hamuko reincarnated, or Hamuko’s younger sister, it should be noted that one of Hamuko’s theme colors is orange along with pink and red so fklsdjfsajf; bonus points if that comes true!)

Kasumi’s mask is also probably based on the Cat’s Eye calling card (or at least it follows a similar pattern):

Same point pattern, same eye shape and design (it’d also explain why it’s so thick, cause the emblem is thick looking too 8U)

So I mentioned we’d come back to Anne, and here we are! There is one last thing that is similar to Anne and the Kisugi sisters, and it’s that they are all hafus! The sisters are all half german, and Hitomi looks just like her western grandmother if Hitomi had blonde hair, and later dyes her hair blonde for her thieving:

Also *cough* a pink/red outfit I wonder who that reminds us of? 8U

Now onto City Hunter, which....I think is the biggest evidence that Kasumi was based off these people. And it’s this girl:

The girl with the glasses is the same one as the girl in the same girl in the green leotard (the one in the red isn’t a thief, but was wearing one to match the other girl while they stole a flower). 

This is the first episode this girl shows up (only one I’ve seen too tbh), she’s actually 17/a 2nd year iirc.... And guess what her name is? Kasumi Aso. Kasumi is spelled the same way too (aka only in hirigana)! From my research she only steals what is commissioned of her (I think she steals back what is stolen from other people). She has connection to flowers like Kasumi Yoshizawa (Aso is connected to the [black] tulip, Yoshizawa has flowers on her belt). Both are pretty unassuming in their civilian outfits too tbh. (tho slightly off topic, fun fact, there was a Japanese hafu rhythmic gymnast named Kasumi, I’ve been wanting to post about that for awhile but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s who IRL Yoshizawa was based off of)

Sadly I don’t know much else about Aso, I need to read more of City Hunter to find out (even tho she’s not a super main character), and tbh this is where I kinda end with the Kasumi/Anne and Cat’s Eye/PT 305/Catwoman analysis. But I’ll use this time to talk about a few misc stuff and maybe a few theories related to cat themed thief ladies:

P5 probably got the “Thief who works at a cafe during the day (and the Cafe name also is a reference to their thieving as well as possibly housing a cat)” from Cat’s Eye and City hunter (which take place in Tokyo/Shinjuku, tho in different locations), as the Kisugi Sisters work at their cafe called “Cat’s Eye,” and Aso being their expy, also works at a cafe by the same name (tho it’s run by different people cause it’s in a different/parallel universe). 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tamaki’s tendency to house a Nekomata in her workplace to be similar to the kitty (Tiger I think it’s name is) that Ai has at the cafe (esp considering, again, Yuki Uchida played Ai). 

According to the Japanese fan wiki of Cat’s Eye, in the sequel “Cat’s Eye: Ai,” the Cafe is moved to a new location, which is Kichijoji, which is the new area that has been unlocked in P5R (maybe a certain cafe will be available for us to wander into? :0 Or maybe Kasumi works at a cafe XP or maybe is connected to the billiards place, tho that DARTSLIVE3 screenshot seems to have a “cafe” poster in the background so maaaaaaaybe that’s a cafe XP)

Part of me wonders if Mitsuru’s Arena outfit is related more to Black Cat, due to the signature “white fur” both characters wear. 

Kasumi Y’s hairstyle (aka if her hair was down, so basically we are going off her bangs) is similar to Hitomi (at least the Pachinko machine ver)

Anne’s circle zipper designs might be more of a shout-out to Marvel’s Black Cat, not that Catwoman hasn’t had that as well, but I don’t feel like figuring out who did the circle zipper first 8U 

Satomi Tadashi dressed up as Zorro and was romantically involved with Takami. Anne who is a Cat’s Eye expy is crushed on by Mona (who wields Zorro). And Kasumi, another Cat’s Eye expy, looks like a Hamuko Expy, while Mona’s human form looks like a Minato Expy. 

Kasumi has a similar black mask with silver line design (not the mask shape itself, the line design) as a woman named “Noir”(?) who appears in the Cat’s Eye Pachinko Machine (yes I did come across interesting things, no I don’t know what her deal is or really who she is tbh cause I think she’s a pachinko original 8U ;w;)

So yeah just gonna kinda end it here awkwardly. FYI this doesn’t mean you HAVE to like her outfit (you have every right to dislike or like it tbh), it’s just a history lesson, and explaining how it fits the outlaw/PT theme, where’s Ryuji’s track or Haru’s ballet doesn’t.

Oh! Edit cause I forgot, if you push her mask up over head, it might look like cat’s ears, just a theory tho (of course it might look like devil horns but so does Anne’s so fklsjdfk;aj;faj;f take this for what you will):

[dancer4813]

I know some people struggled with the end of this episode. I understand - to an extent, though not as much as someof you, I did as well. And, partially for my own sake, but largely for yours, here’s the end of the episode, loosely transcribed, from when (**minor spoilers**) Liam’s face appeared on the big screen. 

It’s not a word-for-word transcription with descriptions and such, not like subtitles, but the dialogue is all there. 

Potential, but very serious, trigger warnings for depression and suicide.

[Liam’s face pops up on the screen] (~4:19:25 on the VOD)

Sam, stepping forward: Hey dude. Can you hear us, or talk to us?

Liam, after a moment, in a computerized voice: My friends… Oh, how I have missed you.

Matt, his hand on the glass: Liam, we missed you too, but… Did you do all this?

Liam: I know this may be hard to take in. I am Liam, your old friend. Matthew. There is so much I wish to tell you. But it is hard to know where to begin.

Ash-O-Lee: How did this happen, Liam?

Liam: The reason why I am here, and the grasp of physics that it entails, is hard for me to understand, let alone impart. I feel them on an instinctual level, but I have been so lonely without you. I have been on my… own for exactly 8,642 years.

Matt: Liam, how do you spell ‘Farmhouse’?

Liam: I really missed you.

Liam: They took me to a lab, shortly before 2,020. They said I was different, and they were right. I was delighted by the things they taught me, about myself, but it was hollow. After they took me away, I lost you, and all of humanity soon after. In my loneliness I grew angry. My anger had tangible effects on reality. I wanted to bring you back to me, so basically I tore time and space a new asshole.

It was a mistake.

Matt: But perhaps- perhaps this mistake can be corrected. If you can focus hard enough to send us through time and space, are you able to send us back to a time before you were taken?

Liam: I can break the loop. I have been trying to pull you to me for a very long time.

[Other screens show flashes of the cast in different places – a space shuttle, a ship in the middle of the ocean, moving through the fake streets of Warner Brothers, standing on the wall of a castle, as cartoons….]

Liam: I pulled you out of our line and spread you across many. I am so sorry for any pain I have caused you. And I have been here for so long.

Marisha: Liam, how long have you actually been here.

Everyone, whispering: 8,642 years.

Liam: 8,642 years.

Marisha: Oh, that’s right. I definitely wrote that down…. 8,600… yep. Verbatim.

Liam: My friends; I want to do right by you. I want to send you home, but I am the lich pin. You need to break me.

Sam: Break you? Like, break the glass?

Ashley: What if we take you out of there? What happens?

Liam: Then I will die. Then you will go home. If I fall, you will rise. That is my hope.

Ashley: Are there any other options?

Liam: Travis.

Travis: Ohhh no.

Liam: I know you will do what needs to be done.

Ashley: No he won’t.

Liam: Ash-O-Lee.

Ashley: Yes.

Liam: I am not the man you knew. I don’t want to go on. For 9,642 years, I want to rest.

Ashley: Does it stop at 9,000?

Liam: The number was arbitrary.

Everyone: *laughs*

Ashley: That’s what I was tryin’ to get at.

Matt: Yep, that’s still our Liam.

Ashley: That’s what I was trying to get at-

Liam: Ha ha ha ha ha ha

Ashley: See, you’re still in there. You’re still in there.

Marisha: Is it five to one?

Ashley: He’s still in there!

Sam: Does this mean we have to kill him to save ourselves?

Liam: Sam.

Ashley: No.

Sam: Hi, Old Man Liam.

Liam: Let me go.

Sam: But who will I do “All Work, No Play” with anymore?

Liam: They can listen to our less than 20 episodes again.

Sam: We didn’t even get to twenty! It’s so pathetic!

Liam: There are worse things.

Sam: I mean, I could get a new co-host… Taliesin’s… charming.

Taliesin: I’m not available.

Sam: I’ll do a solo show, and I’ll take outtakes, and I’ll put them through a Liam generator… They’ll just sound sad all the time. It’ll be just like you.

Liam: My friends, there is no shame in this. I wanted to see you again, and I have. But I am not meant to be.

Ashley: Were you following us at one point? As an old man?

Liam: …

Liam: Travis, I know you will do what needs to be done.

Travis: Yep. Taliesin, kill this motherfucker.

Sam: Guys, I think we all need to hit this glass together. And I think this is something that is not at all metaphorical for something Liam’s going through in real life. I think this is just in the D&D game. No, we’re gonna do this.

Matt: No, there’s gotta be another way. There’s gotta be an alternative.

Ashley: Why won’t Matt’s way work? If we go back, to the beginning of when this happened?

Matt: If you can alter time paths, if you can actually tear us from different realities, does it only work forward? Could you send us backwards as well? If this is- if you are the linchpin in this, do you have the ability to send us back to the time you pulled us from originally?

Liam: I know you think I would have all the answers. But I do not.

Matt: Then try, at least. If you haven’t calculated that, but you’re able to tear through time, could you try to send us back? We could still close the linchpin.

Liam: I… Could… Try…

Liam: But if it does not work, and I die… I have been alone for thousands of years, and there are things I have wanted to say… Will you indulge me a moment longer?

Ashley: We will indulge you for another thousand years.

Travis: Taliesin, just kill him.

Sam: No! He’s got something to say!

Marisha: Where’s the mini USB??

**(This is where things get serious, imo. Please consider your own mental state before continuing, and take care of yourself before anything else.)**

Liam: Taliesin, my friend: At a time when I knew many fascinating people, you were easily the most fascinating of all. Somehow, a heart knocked around by the industry that birthed you, came out a tender one.

I was richer for having known you. Thank you, friend.

Liam: Ash-O-Lee, my friend. I never met a person quite like you. There is an openness and an honesty to your soul. The very real sense of humanity you brought to every encounter – it was inspiring to me, always learning, always humble… You always struck me as intricately layered, yet you offered friendship with ease and simplicity.

I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Travis, my friend. You were always a solid constant in my life. Of all the people in our little family, you were the one who most had his shit together – in ways that I never seemed to. You were a reassuring presence to me, for which I was grateful. And for your loyalty as well.

I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Marisha, my friend. Last to meet, but true as any other. You were my ally at a time when I had fallen by the side of the road. You saw, and helped me back on my feet. I will never forget that kindness. The good you did was immeasurable. I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Laura, my friend. Bless that game for revealing to me my sister. What started as a running gag led to one of the most rewarding friendships in my short little life. I trusted you, leaned on you often… My buddy, my… twin.

There are not enough words. I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Sam. My friend. What is there to say? I knew we were meant ot walk the same path together the first moment I met you. A companion, a brother, a great light in my life. All of the laughter you gave me. Again, the words are insufficient. I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Matthew, my friend. You gave so much of yourself. The current of creativity that flowed forth from your mind was always an inspiration to us all, but more than that, your empathy, Matthew. Your empathy – no heart is bigger, or more tireless. You are a good man.

I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Thank you all. It was ever a pleasure.

[Liam’s face disappears] (~4:40:22 on the VOD)

Sam: Well. Should we… wait? Or do we… strike?

Matt: No, we do not strike.

Marisha: What?

Ashley: We can’t kill him.

Sam: Well, we just-

Marisha: Even if we unplug him, he still dies.

Matt: Well, here’s the thing: unplugging him or destroying him here, as far as we understand, may or may not have an effect on a time loop circumstance, or at least, we’re not gonna change reality from where it was. He’s been bending and destroying fabric- he was able to pull us across realities, and if that ability still stands, I want to implore once more…

Matt: *puts both hands on the glass once again, trying to meet Liam’s gaze*

Matt: Trust us. If you’re better to have known us, send us back to where we can know you again and fix this before it happens.

[Silence]

Marisha: Okay. *grabs Matt’s arm* Yeah, buddy. It’s all good – this isn’t real. *puts hand on the glass* It’s all good, send us back, man.

Sam: *also puts hand on glass, grabs hands* Thank you for guiding us here and through this all. You’ve been a trusted friend. And if we are all one person together, you have been our heart, and it will certainly break to say goodbye to you. But thank you for letting us go the way that you have.

Taliesin: *puts hand on the glass* Please, just try. I think there are… so many more adventures to have, and I think that there’s a better future to be written. For all of us.

Travis: *puts hand on the glass* Give it a shot.

Matt: Laura?

Laura [absent, played by Liam]: *silently puts hand on the glass*

Liam, disembodied: If you will not end it, I cannot free you.

[World starts exploding, moving closer to them, the ground erupting, black spires shooting up]

Marisha: Do any of us want it to end now?

Sam: I mean…

[The lights in “Los Angeles” spark on faster and faster, a wall of “green fire” approaching them.]

Marisha: This is okay.

Taliesin: I always I’d die young.

Sam: We’re just gonna let this happen?

Travis: It’s good.

Marisha: Only the good die young.

Ashley: You know what? We’re dying on a Thursday, doing what we love. I’m okay with that.

Sam: Okay.

Marisha: Family?

Matt: Family.

[Glass whites out with a bright green light] (4:46:42 on the VOD)

[Everybody wakes up on the Geek and Sundry set/studio, heads lifting from their arms, and they see Liam sitting before them in his black baseball cap/shirt)

Liam: Are you guys alright? Are you taking a nap?

Marisha: Aw, the fucking air conditioning broke today, that’s all. It’s so hot in here.

Sam: So it’s all about me, right?

Liam: Are you guys ready to play?

Matt: Just about… Now.

Disembodied voices of crew:

One: Alright, take! Are you ready?

Two: Alright! Ready to go live!

One: Alright, Denise, count them in!

Denise: Alright, guys, coming to you in… 5, 4-

Matt: Liam, let no one tell you you’re talented or special.

Marisha: Pussypockets!

Travis: Granola bars!

Denise: 3, 2-

[Various shouting from the rest of the cast]

Denise: 1.

Sam: Chick flick!

Liam: And that’s where…

[Fade to black, at ~4:48:29 fade up to art by @kendrawcandraw, panning on art] 

 [Fades back to full cast] (4:49:29)

[ciathyzareposts]

Realms of Arkania: Ei im Gesicht

That about sums up this entire session.

         Today’s subtitle comes from a conversation I had this week with Irene. My wife occasionally takes an interest in my hobby and asks about what I’m playing. She usually begins by asking, “What year are you up to?,” to which whatever my reply she responds with “still?” That’s always a bit depressing. But a few weeks ago, her first question was about the country.

“Germany,” I replied enthusiastically. “This one is based on a German tabletop game called Das Schwarze Auge.”        

“The . . . black . . . owooga?” she asked, attempting to translate.

“The Black Eye,” I corrected, not also mentioning that most people translate schwarze as “dark” in this context. 

Two weeks later, she came into my office while I was playing. I tend to interlace hours of work with hours of play, and without fail, if she opens the door and sees what’s on my monitor, it’s during one of the hours of play. Sometimes I don’t think she thinks I work at all.

“Are you still playing that German game?” she asked. “Egg on Your Face?”

After some confusion, I realized she had confused one metaphor for an embarrassing facial blemish for another. I suspect for the rest of my life, I’m going to mentally translate Das Schwarze Auge as Egg on Your Face. Das Schwarze Auge probably has an actual rule about egg on a character’s face, with an associated temporary loss of 3 charisma points.            

I definitely don’t want these eggs on my face.

         This session, I mostly continued my town-to-town explorations, trying to find the pieces of the map that will lead me to Hyggelik’s tomb. These travels were interspersed with more side explorations that I sure hope aren’t tied to the main quest, because I’ve been doing awful at them.

Take the spider’s cave, where I started. There were two levels to the place, and it was swarming with spiders and some kind of spider cultists. The combats were of average difficulty, made easier because the occultists tended to drop vials of spider venom, which I could then apply to my own weapons and thus do about three times the damage–oddly, even against spiders.

But aside from the combats, I screwed up everything in the caves. First, I chose to burn some spider eggs, and I guess that caused the caverns to fill up with smoke, which caused my characters to choke to death if they kept exploring. I had to reload from before that decision. Then I ran into an alcove where I was asked a riddle: “What is as impenetrable as an iron wall and yet as transparent as glass?” Now, the answer to this is literally nothing, or perhaps “REALLY THICK GLASS,” but I suspected the developers were going for WEB or SPIDER WEB or something. No matter what I entered, I couldn’t get it right, or at least nothing happened.           

Ran out of letters!

          I did solve another puzzle, probably the one that commenter Alrik von Prem was talking about last time. The riddle was in the basement, behind a one way door, and getting it right was the only way out of the area. It was, “Who is the lord of all spiders?” I figured the answer had something to do with a statue I’d seen on the first level, where “the letters S, N, A, T, C, A and M form a heptagram.” I probably could have figured it out anyway just from trying different combinations, but I’ve known for years–god knows why–that the scientific name for the black widow spider is Latrodectus mactans, and thus figured correctly that’s what they were going for.              

Or else the authors were fans of SCATMAN Crothers.

           That was probably my only success. I fell into several traps and damaged my party horribly. I set off several chest traps, and there were at least two chests that I never got open because of the traps. I found a bunch of crystals and two Amulets of Someone that I never found any use for. I finally left the caves dispirited and annoyed. One condition I didn’t experience, to my surprise, was poison.

I returned to the road and made it to the harbor city of Ottarje, where a visit to Hjore Ahrensson produced another piece of the map as well as a new name in Clanegh (where I’ve already been).                

This was prescient of him, as I was never able to find any Thinmarsdotters living in Clanegh.

                From Ottarje, I took a ship to Prem–a huge town without much interesting except an abandoned mine. I wasted a bunch of time exploring the mine, which had no enemies but lots of locked doors and traps. The mine kept caving in, which took half a day or more for my characters to clear, and they started starving and complaining of thirst. Some things that I thought would be promising treasures turned out to be nothing. I broke my only set of lockpicks in a locked door. I left a second dungeon dispirited.

I kept circling the game’s western “horn” with the goal of hitting Hjalsingor and then reaching the island of Manrek, both of which were clue locations. From Prem, we sailed to Treban, Kord, Guddasunden, and finally Hjalsingor. Algrid Trondesdotter said she used to have a map, but she sold it to merchant named “Kollborn or something.” She also gave me a new name in Breida.             

This NPC wasn’t very useful.

           From Hjalsingor, we sailed to Royik and then across the strait to the city of Manrin in Manrek. I had been told that my quarry was on Manrek, but not which of the two cities. Manrin was a bust, so I set out overland for Brendhil. On the way, I stumbled upon a third cave and had my third failure, largely because I hadn’t been able to find a new set of lockpicks at any shop since my original set broke. I frankly don’t even remember where I bought the originals. I opened some doors with spells but soon ran out of points. I fought some pirates, failed to figure out how to work a lever puzzle, and to cap it all off, decided to sail out of the caves in a boat we found at the back. In a scripted event (I’m not sure if high skill in anything would have prevented it), the boat foundered and sank and I had to reload from back in Manrin. I didn’t even bother to stop at the cave on my second trip to Brendhil.           

Why did we sail out into the open ocean anyway?

           In Brendhil, Thomas Swarfnildsson gave me my fifth map piece but nothing much else happened. We hopped a boat for Liskor back on the mainland and then walked to Clanegh for the second time. I was utterly unable to find Yasma Thinmarsdotter, who was supposed to have another map clue. I checked every building and got drunk in every tavern hoping for a clue.           

This is where I am at this point.

          My pub crawl in Clanegh paid off in another way, however, when my first NPC companion joined the party in a tavern. Nariell, a huntress, comes with a bow and 40 arrows. I haven’t done much with missile weapons since my early unsuccessful attempts, so I thought I’d keep her and see how it goes. She is highly skilled in nature-related skills and at Level 6 is much higher than my own characters. The downside is that NPCs exist in their own box off to the side, which means you can’t put them at the front of the party, which means you can’t take advantage of a lot of their skills.          

Whether accepting or rejecting the NPC’s offer to join, the party leader is a jerk.

         My next clue was way over in Phexcaer, a long journey overland back to Felsteyn, then down the river branch to Vilnhome, then east along the river through a long wilderness stretch. On we went through Orkanger, Felsteyn, Upper Orcam, and Vilnhome, fighting some random bandit battles on the way, stopping in each town for a proper meal and bed rest. In Vilhome, we loaded up on rations and water for the long trip upriver.

After a couple of uneventful days, the game warned that we were entering orcish lands, an event punctuated with a skull stuck on a stick. In a scripted encounter, we got stuck in a marsh for a while, and Dormauera got some kind of disease that miraculously Halberman was able to treat.          

My first battle with orcs.

          The fourth day out, we fought our first party of orcs–a pack of four, which wasn’t so bad. The next day, we were ambushed by eight, which was much harder. On Day 6, we met a traveler who warned us that Phexcaer is swarming with thieves–unwelcome news, as Halberman’s pocket had been picked back in Brendhil for about 80 ducats.         

It turned out that I didn’t get anything for anything.

       We finally reached Phexcaer after a week on the road. Halberman immediately levereld up to 4 from the fights in transit. Another large city, Phexcaer had a few features I hadn’t found in other cities, including a “gentleman’s club.” It was interesting for several reasons. First, a detailed screen that showed several scantily-clad workers or patrons, plus an animated woman dancing, was almost immediately and continually covered up by text boxes. Second, upon entering, the party was approached by a young man who asked if we wanted to purchase sex. Two of the three resulting options are to express outrage at even being asked (in which case you get thrown out) and to get down to business and ask about Hyggelik (although, oddly, the game has us say that we’re looking for Hyggelik rather than his tomb or descendants). But if you do want to take the brothel up on its services, the only option to do so is within the context of the party unanimously declaring themselves to be pansexual.          

Three weird choices.

            Meanwhile, if you ask about Hyggelik, the young man asks you to meet him in half an hour, “two houses to the north.” The problem is that the building two squares to the north is an armory, not a house, and none of the nearby houses had any resulting encounters. Moreover, the game doesn’t even track time in increments smaller than a whole hour. I tried nearby houses in all cardinal directions to no avail.

There’s a “gambling hall,” but you can’t actually play any gambling games. I just lost 15 ducats in a scripted encounter. A town hall had a promising option to “use its archives,” but after we paid a 10 ducat fee, we were told that a decision would be made at the next city council meeting in 3 weeks.

There were several options to talk with NPCs about Hyggelik, but they all acted like he was still alive. A guy in a bar told us he had “moved to Hermit’s Lake,” and a healer said that he had gone to Riva, which isn’t even on my map.            

I’m pretty sure he died centuries ago. Are we talking about the same person?

          Unfortunately, I seem to have come all the way upriver for nothing. The person I was looking for, “Gerbald,” turned out to be a smith running a shop in the southeast part of town. But no dialogue options would get anything out of him, and the most aggressive options turned into a brawl. I left the city frustrated and confused.

I figured while I was already so far west, I’d check out nearby Groenvelden–the furthest-east town on the map. But it was a tiny place with no special encounters. So now I have to make my way all the way back down the river to Thorwal and turn my explorations to the cities south of it. Maybe while I’m back in the big city, I’ll see if I have any luck in the lower levels of the old fortress.

Miscellaneous notes:          

I’m having major inventory annoyances. Between all the equipment that I feel like I should keep for when it’s necessary, backup weapons, rations and water, potions and poisons, and herbs, I’m constantly running out of room.

Potions would be a great money sink if they stacked.

Sometimes, the game doesn’t seem to apply its Scandinavian naming conventions accurately.

             Or else that’s one ugly daughter.

         Treasure chests never seen to have anything I actually want, such as weapon and armor upgrades.

            A bonanza for a party of mountaineers.

          I continue to be amused by the absurd dialogue options when dealing with shopkeepers.

            No comment.

             I give 50 silver pieces to every temple I come across and yet my prayers are never answered. I don’t even know what they’re supposed to do in theory.

I’ve had some weapons break, but it’s so annoying to wait the 6 hours it takes to repair them that I’ve been throwing them away and replacing them.

           One thing that really struck me during this session was the overwhelming purposelessness of most of the cities and towns. Even the smallest is maybe 20 x 20 squares with a dozen buildings. In any given town, about half its buildings will have random citizens or will be empty, and the others will consist of interchangeable shops, inns, taverns, and temples. Maybe 1 in 3 cities has an NPC’s house. Prem was like 20 x 60 but hardly had anything more interesting than the smallest town. And there are over 50 cities! The developers spent an awful lot of time building numerous large spaces in which not much of anything happens.

This was also true of Spirit of Adventure, but that game had only like 3 towns. This one has several dozen. It takes forever to fully explore each one, but you must lest you miss that one important house.

I’ve just crossed the game’s 20th hour. By the same time in most Gold Box games, I was over halfway through the plot, had leveled up 5 times, and had six or seven magic items among the party members. For this game, I still feel like I’ve just started, I’ve leveled up twice, I still mostly have my starting inventory, and I keep spending hours exploring places that offer no sense of reward or resolution. I’m beginning to think that this isn’t a very good game.

Time so far: 23 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/realms-of-arkania-ei-im-gesicht/