#i need to watch a separate ways playthrough lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

icycream24 · 5 months

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Silver and Espio for the ask meme? :>

hehehe my favs hehee🤤🤤🤤

SILVER:

I think most ppl don't know, but I used to really dislike Silver when I was first introduced to this character online. Not a game, no no, but YouTube AMV vids of this dude with cutesy shippy art of Silvaze. His portrayal was so degraded to me (I was 11 at that time?) that I believed he was a self-insert character for some popular artists to ship themselves with Blaze, in the girl-boss dynamic. Ofc, I looked for more info online and realised Silver was an actual character.

At that time I was playing Sonic Riders Zero Gravity and only unlocked Shadow/Rouge/Cream. After knowing what characters were avaliable, I tried my best to unlock the rest, including Silver. I also did not like his voice in English at that time, so much that I decided to switch the voice-overs to Japanese. And I also did not like it 😂 Not because it was grading! But more like, I was shocked by the drastic difference between the two. Kid me had to decide which portrayal I prefer more (ofc not aware of narrative difference of the scripts, I just chose based on my preference) and ended up with Japanese bc I vibe with the calm seriousness in the voice more. Eventually I did get used to both voices after more exposure of this character, watching playthrough videos online.

Talking about watching 06, I was not expecting him to be so different from my first impression of this "whiny/incapable/loser" kid. Silver actually was serious about fighting for his future, like a dedicated soldier. Blaze was *not* the girl-boss, she was on equal grounds with Silver. (Really... I was like 11/12, now that I think about it, how come ppl's comprehension skills so drastically apart that we can get totally different character interpretations?) I started to find charming traits on Silver, and that was when I started looking up for this character's info more & more.

And then I discovered the Rivals series. I watched the whole thing, 1&2, and this Espio character... Wait they're kinda nice tgt. (it was year 2012?? AAAAA I can't believe I'm still insane about Espilver/Silvespio, they're my sons now at this point 😭✨) I remember using Skype and talked about the ✨chemistry✨ between Silver & Espio, and my friend said I was tripping 😭

Anyway here's Espio:

At that time I didn't have that much knowledge on Espio, I just thought their Eng voice in Heroes sounded like he's dying in a few years with how gruff & grandpa it sounded LOL. Mostly I only draw him with Silver bc I realised no one shipped these two back then. (there was ppl but there was no tags for them) So I felt like, no, impossible. I need to COOK for them! So I started shipping them like FedEx with my limited skills 🥴

My Espio appriciation was mainly started by shipping him with Silver. As I reflect on why I enjoy this ship so much, I dug up traits that I like about Espio. He was helpful, supportive, and overall has a rather peaceful way of communicating with others (aka SILVER hhh). Compared to other characters, especially in Rivals, he was really chill and kept his head clear, and unconditionally aided Silver simply bc he knew he was helping someone with a good cause. Such admirable traits that I'd say are pretty rare even irl.

Still, Espio did not have that much screen time. His portrayal in my mind I do admit was half canon, half fanon. Silly ninja with goofy teammates that values teamwork & is capable of aiding others, plus saint-like patience & wisdom. (Haha...really, a lot of his traits are get from Rivals 2, his ways of interacting with individuals was way more informative than games & anime shows combined 🤧)

But yeah, with time I like these 2 characters even more, started to make all kinds of headcanons that I won't be able to elaborate here. The texts are already getting too long here 😂 I've imagined them, either tgt or separately, in fluff/angst/spice/AU/wholesome/dead dove/anything really bc I just enjoy these two so much 💕

It's kinda selfish to say, but with how little Espilver there was during that time, it was almost like they got a clean slate & I was not swayed by any other ppl's interpretation of these two for a few years. And ofc by time these two surely became my favorite characters. LOL I realised in my busy years of not drawing often, Silver & Espio were the only characters I drew 😂

UGGGHHHAA I love these two sm 😭✨ thanks for asking hahah I wanna talk about them all day 🤧✨

#silver the hedgehog #espio the chameleon #espilver #silvespio #Ask meme #Ask me anything about them & I'll go 👀👀👀👀👀

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livmadart · 1 year

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This is unrelated but the empath Hakuba post is helping cook up ideas for the mixing of my playthrough of Master Detective Archives: Raincode and my interest in Detective Conan! Basically within the game there are Master Detectives that have supernatural powers that help with investigation and I've been thinking about what kind of powers the detectives of Detective Conan would have!

To maybe help with this separate power au, here are some of the powers that Master Detectives in Raincode have!

Post-Cognition: The ability to look into the past. It's specifically used to see the crime scene as it was when it was first discovered with exception of seeing anything living. There are various in-lore reasons for the limitations that I won't go into here

Audio Aptitude: When the user concentrates they can hear just about any noise such as footsteps, breathing, and heartbeats.

Disguise: The user can make a perfect disquise of anyone. This does however put a big strain on their body so it can't last long

Coalescence: The user can share abilities with others as long as the other person allows it and is holding their hand. This is a 2 way street!

And that's all the powers I can think that sound cool. I haven't finished the game so there is probably some cooler power I don't know about yet lol. Anyways hopefully this can grease some gears for this power au thing!

Hi! I’ve never heard of this game but it sounds fun! And you know I am all for slightly supernatural dcmk AUs 😎

I think out of the powers you mentioned, they would fit the Gosho boys as follows:

Shinichi would get Post-Cognition, since he’s already so skilled at evaluating the crime scenes and working backwards—it would really help him out on investigations

Hakuba would get Audio Aptitude. I think that that power would be helpful catching thieves and it matches well with his fondness for timekeeping—he could always hear the tick of his watch

Kaito gets Disguise. Need I say more?

I would give Coalescence to Heiji. He’s so hands-on and I think he could get really creative with a power like this!

Thank you for your ask!

#asks!

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pink-strawberry-kissess · 1 year

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Saw your post about how hard it is to characterize Ada and I just had some thoughts:

For Ada especially. When going back to OGRE2’s writing there were literally unsubtle exposition that Capcom throws right into the players face with how Ada views herself and her wants as character “I know I’m not capable of caring about anyone, but I don’t want to lose you” to “I really wanted to escape with you Leon, escape from everything”. So I feel like Ada does want to leave the Spy life, but can’t. Hopefully Capcom remembers this and decides to expand on this in a future game.

And with Resident Evil I feel a big part of the game is the concept of scenarios. Obviously there is the “official” canon, but I feel different scenarios are still in the realm of what the characters would do. In OG Leon A/Claire B, in the scenario where she saw a Claire fighting the tyrant she would absolutely help despite not knowing her, so this popular belief she’s the type to only help Leon or anyone for her own gain is false.

The epilogue card of her you get after beating OGRE3 where she cries after what she went through in Raccoon city, who’s to say that not the type of feeling/reaction she still had when they basically still kept Leon’s epilogue. Maybe she still does after every difficult jobs she takes on. “I’m just a Woman who fell in love with you” and “A woman looks at herself in the mirror” Capcom emphasizes a lot of the difference between Ada the woman vs Ada the spy. Even at the end of Separate Ways when her helicopter flies away, she takes off her playful mask she uses with Leon, closes her eyes to let out huge sigh and stares off into the sun with such a melancholic expression. I feel like Ada’s vulnerability has always been on display for people who paid attention.

When she talks about Luis in Separate Ways, “His history betrays an enthusiasm I once shared.” Makes u think about a young version of herself who had an enthusiastic outlook on life, but clearly something she experienced destroyed that. I’m sure she saw a lot of that in Leon when she first met him too, I’d like to think after their experience together it he brought back some of her positive outlook on life.

And I know it’s popular that Ada is super but when she says to Krauser, “I don’t like it when men play rough” I think she totally means it, if anyone is gonna be soft with her it’s gonna be Leon 😂

Even her in Umbrella Chronicles “it is important to remain calm and collected even in the most extreme situations” is why she’s so good at her job. It’s funny bc when I watch playthroughs of RE2R so many people are always like “how is she so calm?!” when she first shows up. She likely does have an initial panicking but can turn it off immediately to focus. Staying calm is such a big part of her section too, once Mr. X arrives, all of a sudden people panic and can’t think straight enough to remember her hacking tool they used less than a minute ago lol

Sorry for all the random thoughts I had to get out, even though this is what I feel I still love seeing other peoples interpretation of Ada, so when you ever do Ada’s POV I’ll be interested to see!

this was long so it took me a while to get to lol

one of the characterizations i don't see often talked about is the fact that it's likely she was forced into a life of crime from a young age and needed it to live. most people who are normal would see this as a form of abuse/trafficking/or just taking advantage of her. i see it as interesting if she choose to use that, to her advantage and using those same organizations that tried to use her. it makes more sense and gives her a sense of agency on why she double crosses people. she does it to whoever she sees is "the lesser of two evils."

and when she comes across people like leon who are genuinely good people, especially in re2 (albeit a bit naive, since leon still was appealing to authority example: chief irons, and how he still works for the government (corrupt) for many years)

I feel like Ada’s vulnerability has always been on display for people who paid attention.

this is literally why i think that people who do not pay attention to ada completely misunderstand her as a character. she's not an easy character to read, and it's so easy to just label her as some dumbed down "spy lady with no feelings" type of stereotype. like genuinely i think ada antis just lack critical thinking skills and media literacy because i've seen the worst takes about ada. and they're always rooted in

they didn't actually pay attention to the story

they didn't even play ada's campaigns

they didn't try to view ada's story from an unbiased perspective

they still think carla is ada in re6

or they're being outwardly misogynistic

or they're being racist

or both or all of the above

if people can't see in re4r that ada has several moments of vulnerability, then i just have no faith in people lol

the characterization of ada in separate ways is so needed for remake separate ways, i just need to see more of what she's like behind the facade of "ada wong, the mercenary." we've always seen glimpses of it because we actually pay attention lmao. but yes we need more

i think to think that she's so detached from her personal self sometimes she even scares herself. she definitely does when she cares for others and cares about leon. she's an incredibly multi-faceted but also flawed character, and we love that. give us women that make mistakes and then have to live with it. have her develop and change. have her self reflect on her choices.

but yeah tysm for this!

#ask heart #heart answers #ada wong ramble #ada wong #aeon #leon x ada

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languidangel · 1 year

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Ohmygod ohmygod. I'm so sleep deprived but I called out of work so it's fine. I kinda did a quick as fuck playthrough (took me six hours with the breaks I took because I'm bad at videogames) and I have some thoughts SEPARATE WAYS SPOILERS AHEAD:

I didn't think they would retcon Ada saving Luis, it was more so something I just really HOPED would happen but the fact she was RIGHT THERE and still went after Krauser? In character but disappointing. I guess her character arc is a slower one. Although maybe she just assumed that what Luis said was true or Leon could help him idk.

WESKER AND ADA OHMYGOD?!? I SAID THEY WERE FUCKING AS A JOKE BUT CAPCOM SAID BET! THEYRE FUCKING FUCKINH OHMYGOD?!?!?!

Whatever shit with the one thing (I think U3 in the original but I'm not sure if it was given a different name here) was...somewhat anticlimactic. I can see the different strain not needing radiation to kill it but I think it would have been more interesting if Ada coughed it up way later in the game.

No Wesker OR Krauser boss fight wtf.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS WITH WESKER JUST SITTING OUT ON A BOAT AND MAKING ADA DO EVERYTHING?!?! JUST TO SHOW UP SOMETIMES WITH A GUN LIKE "hey wifey :3 btw if you don't get my amber I'll shoot you" ??????

No Ada background story :(

The jacket bit was kinda cute. But also?!? Why does the merchant need it???? Hello??? I guess it probably is expensive lol. Poor Leon.

THE LUIS AND ADA DANCE SCENE HOLY SHIT I ALMOST FORGOT LUIS FLIRTED SO MUCH. THE MOST BISEXUAL MAN EVER OML. Anyways...AND THE TIED UP LINE????? I LOVE THEM TOGETHER ACTUALLY THEYRE SO CUTE!!!

I think people have already mentioned this but Krauser??? Is here??? Why???? How the fuck did he even hear about Los Illuminados? He's (supposedly) not working for Wesker????

"fly, my pretty" ADA I WILL BE SUCH A GOOD SPOUSE, YOU ARE SO ADORABLE EVEN IF YOURE A LITTLE MORALLY BANKRUPT BUT LISTEN OKAY

God and her fucking melee moves, she serves cunt this entire DLC.

Okay now for the bit that will make people mad. I'm SO SO happy with how they changed Ada/Leon's relationship. I actually really disliked aeon and somehow them having what feels like a more natural relationship given Racoon City...made me actually consider that ship. Like I actually felt the weird sort of longing that they both had for each other that I didn't enjoy in 4 original or 6 (omg 6, that needs its own rant post) Ada is clearly still attracted to him but she has to be forced to see him having gotten over her, at least to whatever degree Leon can get over anything, especially seeing him with Ashley. Ohmygod. There's a lot of subtext I'm reading into but her watching them after she wakes up on the cot, I could feel the conflicting emotions there even though Ada didn't say shit about it, because she wouldn't.

How DARE you make me fight more regeneradors Capcom

I wanted more Ash/Ada interactions and the one we got was okay but I feel like with how little Ashley actually saw Ada, a lot of her questions to Leon don't...super make sense?

Anyways I will be playing it again sometime, it was really good. I definitely missed some things.

#revr spoilers #separate ways spoilers

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therealjammy · 8 months

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Well, the IRL best friend and I finished TLOU2 Remastered this afternoon and spent the rest of the day going through most of the behind the scenes stuff--there's still more to get through and I'm thrilled. My thoughts will be beneath the cut, so you all don't have to scroll through a massive post lol

(Also, this will contain game spoilers, for my followers who haven't played it/watched it but may want to; please keep that in mind!)

So as you might know, this was my first time actually experiencing the game by playing it myself; I watched other people play it when it was first released in 2020 (nearly four years ago! WTF), and let me tell you, the narrative points that hit me hard while watching other playthroughs hit me so much harder when it was me who was controlling the character, or watching the cutscenes with the controller in my hands. The one that filled me with the biggest knot of hot dread in my stomach was the game's ultimate climatic fight between Abby and Ellie on the beach in Santa Barbara. It was an incredible experience the first time around in watching (and many watches since), but the incredibility was tenfold, I feel, not only because I was in control of the moments and how long the fight really lasted, but because Abby is a character that has wormed her way into my heart and has a permanent place there; I didn't want to harm her, I didn't want to press the button when prompted, etc.; and the catharsis I felt, when Ellie lets her go, was an even bigger brick to the face.

Naturally, after finishing the game, we watched the documentary of the making of--something that got me incredibly excited, when it was first announced, because as a creative person I love seeing how a project of this scope gets made, from the initial concept to the process of building it and to the final product, and all the people it takes to bring it to life. My thoughts on this are a little scattered, and I'll definitely have to watch it again to gain a clearer picture, but I can definitely say it was inspiring and emotional to watch. Everyone, from the higher-ups at the studio to the entry-level people, the writers and artists and actors and sound designers, etc., was so goddamn passionate about this game, even when it hit challenges and roadblocks, and seeing them overcome those to create the best game possible was inspiring. It was lovely to see higher-ups recognise the culture of their studio and how the crunch isn't a very healthy working environment for anyone to work in, and acknowledge that that needs to change (though it was, in my view, slightly disappointing that it took a pandemic and a radical shift of working remotely to realise that).

The part that really got me angry and emotional was when Laura Bailey came on and described the visceral hate and death threats she received for portraying Abby, and how those same people threatened her newborn son, and how she had to make certain that none of these threats came from anywhere local due to safety reasons--and I had to pause and absorb and breathe, because I could not, for one, imagine being in such a position, and two, couldn't believe the fucking audacity and lengths that people--"fans"--will go to when they don't like something, or a character and those actions that character does. I'll never understand how people cannot separate an actor from their character, or what makes them think they can send death threats to a complete stranger who was merely doing their job (and doing it with passion and love and nuance). I know I shouldn't try to; it'll only lead down a black rabbit hole. All I can say, now, is that no one else could have played Abby with such nuance and heart, or brought her to such vivid life that I would stand in that character's corner and take up sword and shield for them.

I'll have more thoughts later, I'm sure, but for now, this is where I'll leave it. Very excited to continue digging into the BTS, and to play the game again with the commentary!

#personal #jamie plays games #tlou2 #my brain is tired so i'm sorry if this doesn't seem very cohesive

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zephyr-mew · 2 years

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twitter: @ZyxousMew

fandoms I'm currently love very much

✨Yakuza (mainly Infinite Wealth)✨ ❤️Ichiban❤️ 🩶Kiryu🩶 💛Zhao💛 🖤 Masato🖤 (!!untagged spoilers will be happening!!)

I have SO MANY FEELINGS-- • kiryuichi when • polycule when • dub defender, hearing people actually speak like local boys is wild (it actually feels like here!! ;w;) dub obispo my beloved

fave boys: (I've got love in my heart for most of the boys tbh)

ichi • kiryu • masato • zhao • daigo • ryoma • majima • akiyama • nishiki • yamai • tomi • adachi • shinada • kaito •

fave ships: (I ship most things ngl, this is by no means an exhaustive list)

kiryuichi • masadai • kiryuichitomi • kiryuichizhao • tomiyamai • nishikiryu • masaichi • ichizhaohan • minedai • kirinan • ebisawa • yamaichi • shinakitani • shinadai •

honestly anything yakuza has consumed my soul, so that's uh,, kinda it right now lmao

faves of yore

📺 RTVS + Friends 📺

love all of them so much 💜

🌌 Arcana 💚Muriel💚❤️Julian❤️💜Asra💜

mash these boys together in every which way and I'll die happy 💜 also lucio/valerius fucks. unfortunately a simp for devil lucio

Jerma

jerma

Stanley Parable

ultra deluxe reignited my love for this :3 check out the demo, it's a completely separate thing from the main game + absolutely worth playing

Homestar Runner

a formative childhood experience + permanent vocabulary alterer

Jak and Daxter

Jak ✔️ Erol ✔️ Torn ✔️

Hotel Dusk + Last Window

thinkin bout Hyde... and Jeff... and Charles... and Louis... and Tony...

Dan Vs

official episodes are all free on youtube 👀 all my love for this fucked up little dude

Subeta

honestly the best avatar and pet site I've ever seen, hmu @ LyricZephyr for buddy gold account gifts :3 please they're just sitting there uselessly otherwise

Ace Attorney

Apollo best boy ❤️ haven't played anything past 5 tbh, they did my boy dirty and I needed a long break from the fandom

OFMD

izzy meow meow - particularly fond of steddyhands and rizzy

Hotline Miami

other things that I have liked at some point under the cut

A Way Out

acab ✌️

Animal Crossing

Kicks is bae, he's the only one who didn't make a Big Fucking Deal of me trying on femme stuff as a guy back in New Leaf

Be My Princess

Roberto my love my life ❤️

Beginner's Guide

Bugsnax

these bitches gay, your honor

Cause of Death

iOS game that shut down in like 2010 ;_; I miss Mal. and Kai. Fun fact, I shipped Mal with Hyde from Hotel Dusk - mainly bc they're both detectives lol. nevermind the fact that they're in different time periods

Créme de la Créme

from Choice Of games - literally writing up a whole rec post for this, there's so many queer options it's great

Dem Salty Bois + Friends

Pat 💜 Wade 🐔 Gar 🐺 JP 🍍 special guest BreadHeroDan 🍞

Dragon Age Origins + 2 + Inquisition

tbh I haven't personally played much, but I watched a lot of my sibling's playthroughs. I've got a soft spot for a lot of these guys. god I wish I didn't have to draw/commission stuff myself to see more of my inquisitor/warden/hawke

Dream Daddy

Damien especially 💜

Fire Emblem Awakening + Fates

admittedly weak for takumi. and a lot of the boys tbh. maaaybe someday I'll play 3H

Gabriel Knight 3

why this. damn my weakness for shitty 90s games and a sassy bitch boy with chaotic bi vibes

Journey

Legend of Dragoon

The Longing

the scronkly bab ;w;

Markiplier

look

Metal Gear Solid 1-3

I haven't played myself, but I grew up watching my sibling play these a lot. Ocelot's stupid hand guns gesture and Raiden slipping on bird shit are forever burned into my brain.

Motorcity

lost before its time

My Little Pony

Braeburn 💛

Osomatsu-san

def a Karamatsu boy 💙

Oxboxtra

Persona 3/4/5/Q

tbh I've only fully finished 3s male mc route and q, the rest I've roughly half finished? I'm aware of 4s major spoiler, somehow never seen 5s I think - but honestly, I don't care about spoilers for this fandom. yusuke best boy

Portal

Professor Layton 1-6

Punch-Out Wii + Super

I don't know why I love these characters as much as I do, but hey

Return of the Obra Dinn

Sam & Max

alas I am not immune to Jergen the goth german vampire and his fucking doorknocker-ass nipple piercings

Sims 2 DS

I like Sims in general, but this particular weirdass game had a stranglehold on me for a hot minute

Smosh

Sorted Food

Stumpt

Tales Runner

Rough... Kai... Ocean... Maki... I forget what they changed their names to in the newest server, they're dumb and I'm not using them

TF2

trucks 👏 n 👏 vans // hmu for my decade-old playlist of sfms and music~

Wild Kratts

stg Chris looks like Apollo Justice, Martin looks like Chris Dan Vs, Zach looks like Dan Dan Vs... what is up with this

Witcher

I'm gay

Wolf Among Us

I just,, really like Bigby okay

for any youtube types, hmu for my most likely absurdly long playlists of them ✌️

#pinned

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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I adore talking about this with you, it's so cool to be able to agree, everything I've read is just excusing yen lmao.

And with "geralt would rather do and say things Yen wants to avoid pissing her off" LIKE YEAHH I guess I annoyed yen with my answers and she teleported Geralt out of the tower thing, and then threatened to do it again like??? Like he pissed her off so she has fuck all care about him, was over water thank god but like girl??? omg and her refusing to tell the wticher bros what she was planning on doing to Uma, like I get that they would be hesistent but I mean it's cause it's cruel and painful and they have that trauma around that. She just expects everyone to do what she asks when she asks no questions. (Lambert's "I'm not geralt" when he and Yen are kinda arguring, bb red flags)

I just assumed she didn't believe him cause if she did whats her excuse for behaving how she is lmao??? Like you believe he has amnesia and you still blame HIM over the person who maniplated him KAY.

And goodddd that fucking scene when Triss and Yen see Ciri in Kaer Morhen is genuinely the worst, Triss and Yen see their sis/daughter (not gonna get into how weird I find it that Triss considers Ciri her sister and Geralt is Ciris father and she still wants to fuck him, uncomfy) for the first time in forever, she's alive and well and while Triss is hugging Ciri, Yen kisses Geralt and Triss throws a glare at her. I hated that scene so damn much, it's stupid and shouldn't have been there. (aso I get emotions and all but Yen kissing Geralt is so bitchy, idk even full of gratitude and emotion I wouldn't kiss the man who just dumped me lol, especially not in front of a situation like Triss)

I'm still mad about the women, I really wanted to like them fuck meeee

YOU GOT TO THE PART. Oh thank god, anon, I've wanted to talk about this since we started these conversations lol

Okay, let's set the scene, shall we? You arrive to find that, with our playthroughs anyway, your ex has barged into your home. I say "barged in" because although we (Geralt) know that Yen's help is necessary and she'll be tagging along, the other witchers living there are given no prior warning and, according to Vesemir, Yen teleported in without so much as a "Hello." She then immediately starts ordering everyone around like her servants, failing to explain the situation beyond there being a curse that they have to help with. No, this isn't negotiable. She (still being an ex) takes your old room for herself, which just happens to be the biggest in the keep, and proceeds to toss a bed out the window. It's only later that Vesemir recalls that Triss used to use it, so prior to that everyone apparently just accepted that Yen was destroying their stuff for no understandable reason. Classic Yen. You go upstairs to find her cursing a blue streak at her failed experiment and when you try to lighten the mood, she snaps at you. If you're of the opinion that Yen's every order must be obeyed, this is when you're supposed to drop the conversation entirely, because she said to. Except, funnily enough, you'd like to know why she's up here being The Worst Guest Ever and destroying your property. She tries to justify this by saying that destroying a bed is better than how she could be dealing with her anger over Triss. Be grateful and all that. Except, it's not really about Triss, is it? The line is "You shagged my friend. For upwards of a year. I don't know what your witcher's code says on the matter, but ordinary folk would consider it obscene, base, vile." The blame is not on the woman who knowingly manipulated Geralt into having sex with her while he was vulnerable, it's on Geralt himself! He is the "obscene, base, vile" person for... daring to have amnesia? And when you point that out - "Yen... told you already. I lost my memory" - she yells that she's "lost [her] patience" and teleports you into a lake! This is, apparently, how she really wants to deal with her anger. Not by destroying beds, but by attacking you for things outside of your control. And I do consider it an attack. Yen is meant to be insanely powerful, she is leveraging her magic as a weapon here, particularly when Geralt has spent the whole game commenting on how much he hates portals. Yen knows this. Not just because he says so in her presence, but because she frequently reads his mind, something else he's expressed discomfort with. She's not just demonstrating her power (controlling) and sending him away when he makes a point she doesn't want to acknowledge (immature), she chooses the one thing she knows makes Geralt uncomfortable, perhaps even scared. Then when you've swum your way back to shore and returned to, despite all this, begin her list of chores, she makes a dry comment about how next time she just might drop you high enough for the fall to be fatal. With the next time implied to be, you know, the next time you disagree with her. The next time you dare to do anything other than agree with her every belief and jump at her every command.

The fandom interpretation of all this: "Lol Geralt getting yeeted is so funny. And their banter is just 😍"

Me:

You mentioned red flags and yeah like that ENTIRE SCENE is a crimson banner for me. I mean, by all means, love the fictional ships that are super messed up (I often do), but it astounds me how many fans honestly think this is just a cute interaction with absolutely no problems attached. Nothing to question here, folks. I've mentioned before, but last I discussed this in depth the asker wanted to know if I'd been an asshole to Yen and... that's it. That's the perspective. Any disagreement with her, any pushback, anything that's not complete, blind obedience is something she will not permit AND something most fans take as a given. If you're not doing what Yen tells you to, you're automatically the asshole, and if you're the asshole, you automatically deserve any punishment she chooses to dish out.

Comic spoilers coming up if you want to skip, but this is made abundantly clear in "Curse of Crows." Yen and Geralt are at their best in the moment below, enjoying one another's company on a nice day. Yen asks if Geralt wants to swim and he says nah, he'd rather watch her. She appears to like that idea and, indeed, swims naked while Geralt admires from the shore.

Actually cute right? I really liked this moment! They're cuddled up together and exchanging smiles. It's a rare moment of peace where I can believe that they truly care for one another, outside of passionate sex and not wanting the other dead. Finally, something beyond that incredibly low bar.

...except Yen starts flirting with a young man who shows up, invites him to travel with them, all while refusing to explain why she's interested in his company. The sudden third wheel is clearly bothering Geralt, but Yen continues to ignore his questioning. The answer she finally gives later that night?

She did it purely to mess with Geralt! It's his "just desserts" for "refusing to swim with [her]." She is "not one to be refused - I thought you needed reminding" by giving him "a flick on the nose." When I say that Yen treats Geralt like a dog I mean she literally treats him like a dog. He's a servant who must jump at her every command and if he doesn't, he'll punished for disobedience. He might not even know why he's being punished for a long stretch because Yen enjoys making him think she's a normal person capable of accepting that he doesn't feel like swimming right now - insert the Kaer Morhen scene where she wants to go have sex upstairs, but Geralt wants to catch up with the brothers he hasn't seen in an age here - only to reveal that actually she's made their formerly nice outing uncomfortable because he needs to be put in his place. All of which is followed by, "So... willing to join me now?" The message is very clear! Geralt had better get his ass in that tub unless he wants to be punished some more. Whether he wants a bath right now or not is inconsequential.

This is also the run where she scares the women Geralt was with, despite them being separated right now. Why? "I could."

Claims that Geralt is allowed to return to his companions (who he actually waves away) only for him to realize she's cast a spell to burn him with the water. Yen loves pretending she's okay with things only to punish Geralt for them later - sometimes with physical punishments. And what would have happened if the women had actually joined him again? Do witchers weather hot water better than the average courtesan? Who knows, but Yen clearly doesn't care who might get hurt.

Just like her time in Skellige and at Kaer Morhen, she refuses to explain what's going on. She just expects people to obey her, so-called loved ones included. Geralt was to get her cider, and arrive before her bath went cold, not question what they're doing on this dangerous hunt. He's a servant.

And my favorite, petty moment: transforming her awful inn food into a lavish meal without offering to do the same for either Geralt or Ciri.

"But, Clyde, that's just the comics. They're not really canon." Nah, questions of canon aside, this is 100% Yen's characterization. She's prideful. Immature. Beyond controlling. And punishes anyone who dares to tell her "No." Fans are always pointing out that she's meant to be horrible, she could have been a villain in another life, like any of that explains why I'm supposed to root for this relationship or enjoy her existence outside of being a complex character. Yen is interesting, but she's interesting in a "I can't wait to see her get her own just desserts" way. Not "Wooo now I get to watch this story ignore her behavior again to push a True Love narrative."

She punished Geralt frequently during their first meeting, she punishes him whenever they get together, and, I think, she punished him during the reunion with Ciri. Given our playthroughs, do we really think that after breaking up with her and all this fury over Triss - an anger so deep she destroyed the bed and attacked Geralt - she's just overcome with such joy that she forgets they're not together anymore and forgets the anger she's been nurturing for years? Yen doesn't forget. She's staring at Ciri during that moment, right where Triss is currently running towards them, and then after a considering look at Geralt pulls him in for that kiss. That was calculated. She did that to make a claim she no longer had. To punish them both: make Triss uncomfortable by playing at the "perfect" family reunion; make Geralt uncomfortable by kissing him when she knows he doesn't feel the same way. But of course, the popular reading is that she just loves him so much she couldn't help herself. Riiight.

It's just all SO BAD. (Including, as you say, the ickiness of having Triss lusting after Geralt and referring to Ciri as "little sis.") I love a lot of the women in Witcher - Cerys is a fave, Ciri, Saskia, Philippa, Keira, etc. - but the two I'm supposedly meant to fall in love with are just the worst lol.

Basically:

Half the fandom: TEAM TRISS 🤬

The other half: TEAM YEN🤬

Me: TEAM REGIS 😭

#witcher #mymetas #long post

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felassan · 4 years

Text

Dragon Age development insights from David Gaider - PART 4

This information came from DG on a recent SummerfallStudios Twitch stream where he gave developer commentary while Liam Esler continued playing DAO from where they had left off in Part 1, 2 and 3. I transcribed it in case there’s anyone who can’t watch the stream (for example due to connection/tech limitations, data, time constraints, personal accessibility reasons, etc). A lot of it is centered on DAO, but there’s also insights into other parts of the franchise. Some of it is info which is known having been put out there in the past, and some of it is new. There’s a bit of overlap or repetition with topics covered in Parts 1-3. This post leaps from topic to topic as it’s a transcript of a conversational format. It’s under a cut due to length.

The stream can currently be watched back here. Next week LE will be streaming a different DAO playthrough with commentary from another guest. Two weeks from now LE and DG will return to continue this playthrough for another stream session like this one.

(Part 5, Part 6)

[wording and opinions DG’s, occasionally LE’s; paraphrased]

The Loghain sequences, where it jumps out of the HoF’s point of view to let the player see what Loghain is up to, were added quite late on in development. Some of the dream sequences (like the HoF’s dream of the Archdemon) were also probably added quite late. Those sequences were added as they felt that they needed to have more indication of the larger goings-on in terms of what Loghain was up to, since they had cut some stuff that was meant to have shown this. Cutting things can be funny like that as you’re then left trying to explain the holes.

An original Archdemon concept drawing had them as a lot more demonic as opposed to draconic, with blank all-black faces, a giant ornate crown, smoke, tentacles and a Cthulhu-esque feel. Things change a lot during the concept phase however. At the time, DG wasn’t sure if he liked the changing of the ‘demon’ into a ‘dragon’, but over time he digs it - it sorta implies some things about the nature of dragons in the world that they later decided “yes, that is probably the case”. They then worked that more into the lore so that dragons weren’t just there to be huge lizards. Given the difficulty the team had modelling things like tentacles and snakes, the original Archdemon concept would probably have been iterated on and would’ve had to become something else eventually anyway.

Having the party camp was probably always part of James Ohlen’s plan. Originally, there was going to be different camps in specific places around the map. They then made it a sort of ‘pocket area’ that the player always ‘took with them’, but here they had problems figuring out things like what would happen if the player rested while in an interior location as opposed to somewhere out in the wilderness, “like, does that change it?” For a while there was a complicated system where the party members would do things in camp that would give the player items and help out in such ways - like a party member who made potions, ones that could be interacted with and asked to craft, a whole crafting system relating to that, etc (this all got cut). This was supposed to act as a reason for the player to return to camp and have more interactions at camp; they didn’t want the camp just to be ‘the place you go just to talk to followers’. A good portion of the team considered dialogue to be boring and not an activity that was engaged in.

As soon as hair/beard hair came past the ‘clipping plane’ of the neck, they had real trouble getting it to move due to lack of proper cloth physics and the troubles they had with hair. Beards were rectangular strips that dangled from the chin with the beard texture attached to it. Sometimes certain points were connected to the chest which is why there’s the weird stretching if models move in certain ways. This happens with robes as well. The reason they did this is so that there’s no clipping. For some reason the BW animation team was so averse to clipping compared to other games from elsewhere which sometimes have a bit of clipping that they’re actually not fussed about. At one point they had a big fight on the DA team because the art team said “We need to make every entrance and doorway [including tents] about twice the size that it is, about Shale-size specifically, because of Shale” because they were worried that there would be scenes where Shale would clip through the wall, and about how this would look to players. Others responded that it’d be rare where Shale would be seen going through a door and also that nobody really cares (as in it’s not a big deal). DG half-seriously suggested that instead of making every door bigger, have it so that after entering the door’s texture at the sides and above it would look cracked and have an outline of Shale’s arms and head as if she’d just barreled her way through the stonework. In the end Shale’s size was reduced as a solution to this (so Shale was originally intended to be a lot larger). This is an example of a place where different parts of the team had different priorities in development. It was pointed out that in the end having giant doors may not have made much difference, as every interior in DA is massive in terms of floor and ceiling-space, as well as items (huge jugs of ale etc) anyway.

Weapons and staves hover on characters’ backs due to the team’s aforementioned aversion to clipping. Originally there were plans for scabbards and straps, but they didn’t have the resources for these and they were also concerned about staves clipping through straps, especially when being ‘drawn’ for combat, even though that would just be a second or so. So this is why we instead have floating magnetically-attached-looking weapons.

DG wrote Nature of the Beast including all of the Brecilian Forest, it’s possibly his favorite plot/questline out of the ones he wrote for DAO. It’s one of the plots that survived best from first inception to final result. One of the prominent cultural features of Ferelden is the werewolves, and so DG had to make ‘the werewolf plot’. All the initial plots were split up like that (the werewolf plot, the dwarf plot, etc). Originally there was a separate ‘elf plot’ but it got joined together with the werewolf one. DG had an idea for a being that was like male and female, terrible and kind, beautiful and horrible and so forth - both at once, like the way nature is. This was the vague initial idea from which this plot grew. The nature spirit encountered is the flipside of the being. The spirit of the forest is both male and female, or something akin to being bigender (both rather than neither). There’s not much difference between the Lady and Witherfang. DG finds it so weird hearing the DAO Dalish elves’ American accents (since their accents were changed for the next game). The American Dalish elf accents bugged DG enough that when they got to DA2, he said to Caroline Livingstone “can we just retcon this” and she was like “yeah”. “I think we underestimated how weird prevalent American accents in the game alongside the British ones would be”. Zathrian is voiced by Tim Russ (Tuvok from Star Trek).

The Cammen-Gheyna plot is a fairly ‘nothing-y’ sidequest relatively speaking, but is so complex in terms of how many options and paths through it that it has that DG got a big of a finger-wagging for it and some people were not happy. LE commented that this quest is “an extremely Gaider plot”, as the player can ruin everyone’s lives in it. Gheyna’s pronunciation of Andaran atish'an is incorrect. This phrase is one of the ones that got mixed up in the pronunciation guide and one of the ones that when they got to DA2, DG was like “ignore what we did before, here’s the new pronunciation files”. One of the first ‘images’ the team had of the Dalish was that they had reindeer-like creatures that pulled the aravels. In DAO aravels look more like standard wagons than the ones in the ‘images’, and they weren’t shown properly. Aravels are wagons but they’re supposed to have big sails (not naval-style sails on top) all over the place to catch the wind, so that they look like a bunch of ships being drawn across a field. They got closer to how they’re supposed to be in DAI. At one point the artists sat DG down and asked him what should set the Dalish apart visually. “Funny you should ask, I have some very specific ideas about what the Dalish should look like that have just never been done”. [I think here he meant hadn’t yet been implemented in the franchise] “Oh, we just thought they were ‘people with wagons’.” “Nobody reads documentation...”

The lamps in the Brecilian Forest are a bit random. They put light sources everywhere and it seems like the Brecilian lamp thing was art-asset use that boiled down to “guess it’s an elven forest?”. The Deep Roads were supposed to be properly dark. The team had a lot of conversations over how dark they could or should make the Deep Roads. They constantly had beams of light coming from above and it was like “this is supposed to be like a mile underground, why are there sunbeams coming through cracks in the ceiling” - the answer is it looks good and they didn’t want to do proper darkness. By DAI, they got closer to the ‘look’ the Deep Roads are supposed to have. This is a recurring theme in the DA franchise lol. “This was a weakness in our team and processes, that it took two titles before we got on board with each other and with the vision.” But they had plenty of good strengths too! DG wishes they had iterated a bit more on the werewolves’ look.

“Evil options” was always one of the big conversations that they had. DG wasn’t a fan of the evil options because they mostly boiled down to being a big jerk. The reason for this is a lengthy design discussion that relies on interface - proper, smart evil usually implies some kind of deception, and how do you indicate to the player that the option they’re about to take has a more cleverly-sinister aspect to it (as opposed to simple Intimidate options)? They didn’t really enjoy just letting the player run around being an asshole to people, “do we have to service this hyuk-hyuk-hyuk, particular type of enjoyment?” DG wishes they had figured out how to do the evil stuff a little better (feeling that in a game, doing good has less merit unless there’s temptation to do evil, and that evil paths should be more materially rewarding).

DG wrote The Dawn Will Come with some help from PW and Karin Weekes. It was the first song he wrote. Trevor Morris sent him the tune and he listened to it many times and wrote out the lyrics. PW and KW helped him make it “less awkward and cringey”. “They’re very good at that”. PW is good at poetry, KW is more musical and knows more about music. “If you get something which is as ridiculous as it is memorable, it’s probably Sheryl. If you get something that’s beautiful prose, it’s probably Mary. Something in-between is probably PW.” The DAI bardsongs were written by an external party brought in specially to do so. This required a fair bit of review and revision to make sure they followed DA lore. “It’s a problem we’ve always had trying to work with third parties, they tend to think that anything that falls under the umbrella of ‘medieval fantasy’ would fit in DA”. (Here DG groaned a bit thinking about Orson Scott Card.)

On the Grand Oak and co: “After I finished writing this I totally regretted it. It’s a big dialogue and there’s a lot involved in this quest. Do you know how hard it is to make somebody rhyme in a way that’s not completely cringey for the entire dialogue? I was three quarters into it and I so wanted to stop but I was past the point of no return. But I did it! And it worked out.” The Grand Oak should have been a LotR-style ent-like being in terms of animations and presence. When DG sees the Oak’s stationary pose he’s reminded of Silence of the Lambs. When he finished the Grand Oak and hermit quest he was like “I make way more trouble for myself than I should”. The Hermit cycles through random animations outside of conversation because he’s supposed to be twitchy and weird.

The haunted empty camp side encounter was a pain for the tech designers to make work because there’s no NPC to talk to. It was a pain whenever companions had to offer critical information like in these sorts of parts in fact, as they had to write 9 versions of each ‘line’ (1 for each companion).

There are certain spells/abilities in D&D that can make a GM’s life frustrating, such as teleportation, telling the future, resurrection. The fact that death is not permanent, for instance, should be a huge thing that affects society and how the people in it view death. This is why they were thinking stuff like “If every low-level mage in the setting had a skill like ‘Charm Person’, what would non-mages make of that?” This ties back to discussions in previous part/s where there are lore rules like no teleportation. DA was originally envisioned as a low-magic setting, but this didn’t last long [this subject is also covered in previous part/s]. The rules of magic didn’t really change though, they just weren’t really communicated that well to the other teams in the early days. They slowly realized that it was incumbent on the design team to explain and sell to the other teams the vision, not just expect them to read documentation. They were also constantly fighting against their own presuppositions of “DA is like D&D”.

Desire demons were supposed to be genderless. DG isn’t a fan of how the Fade turned out in DAO. The quests themselves were too long; they couldn’t do all the original plans they had for them so there was a lot of iteration, “then we ended up settling for something not very exciting”. Another big fight the team had was about whether they should have permanent death since DA was a more realistic world? One side’s argument was that ‘if you don’t allow for resurrection then we can’t have death in combat’. DG wondered if there was a different dichotomy they could get to but didn’t want to dictate how combat should work or tell combat designers how to do their job, as he wasn’t the one doing that work.

One of the best moves they made when working on DAI was the concept artist consulting cosplayers. This was good work not only in a fashion sense but also in that it led to making outfits for characters that someone could actually wear (contrast those with Sebastian’s outfit, which DG remembers cosplayers having trouble making functional/wearable and putting together). DG really wasn’t keen at all on Cole’s hat. When designing the clothing-clothing in DAO, the artists were trying to get the most variation for clothing out of assembling pieces. For the sake of variation they allowed pieces to go together that really shouldn’t go together. This allowed for a larger number of clothing options to be made out of a smaller number of clothing models/textures.

In Neverwinter Nights they added a “jiggle mesh” to the engine, it was used in only one place (Aribeth’s cleavage).

Writers are the first ones that jump onto a project, so when last touches and polish is being added to a game they’re often not aware of it. Once the writing is more or less locked down for a game, they start working on the next project. On every project at some point they had to have what they called the “profanity meeting”, where they decide what types of profanity exist in that world, what level of profanity they’re accepting, establishing the standard on this front, etc. This leads to fun meetings where they go through every profanity that they know and try to create new ones. “Maker’s breath!” and “Void take you!” are some of these kinds of things. They needed exclamations akin to “Goddamnit” but which made sense in this fantasy setting (“Goddamnit” implies the context of God, and the concept of damning, for example, so it doesn’t hold up) and weren’t just word substitution like “frack” instead of fuck or something.

The Grey Wardens gained their trademark blue and silver uniformed look for DA2. When the new art director Matt Goldman came on before DA2, he wanted to re-approach a number of things such as the darkspawn (mentioned in previous parts) and the Wardens. He wanted factions like the Wardens to be more uniform and easily identifiable at a distance by silhouettes and colors. He wanted factions to be more visually distinct and to introduce more color in general, as DAO was very brown and muddy. This was something of a standing mission of his when he came onto the project. He disliked the idea that there wasn’t anything unifying or distinct or ‘easily identifiable as a DAO screenshot’ about DAO screenshots, other than that brown muddiness.

Deciding how to design the Lady of the Forest was a long conversation due to the potential nsfw elements. It was a long haul to get her to look a certain way.

The thing DG found easiest/least painful to write was probably Zevran’s dialogue. He felt less pressure about it and had a bit more fun with it. Zevran has a certain story about trust that DG found pleasurable to build on; Zevran had grown up with a certain expectation of deceit and trauma, and when confronted with earnest feelings, that was the more puzzling part for [Zevran] to process. “When you expect everyone around you to deceive you, you’re kinda like, okay, this is life. But then to figure out, ‘oh, I guess it doesn’t need to be that way’, well how do you even... not?” DG remembers straight male players complaining on the forum after accepting Zevran’s massage tent-invite and not clocking that that was an invite of a certain nature. Overall Zevran was a more relaxed piece of writing for him. Shale came later but writing Shale was also a lot of fun. Like HK-47, “you can string together a few quirks that you find amusing and people will still treat that like a character and love it”.

In DA2 there was an entire subplot centered around the Carta and Varric. It spanned all three Acts. Mary Kirby had written it to completion and it was good. DG had to tell her it was among the cuts they needed to do because it was written a bit later relative to other stuff and because cutting it offered the most return according to the schedule and resources/subsequent downstream work. In cases like these they sometimes take the cut plotbeats and put it in a ‘box’, in the hopes that they may be able to use it for DLC or something later on. In practise this doesn’t happen very often at all. On DAO it did happen once with Shale. Shale was cut from DAO and had to be moved to become Day 1 DLC. Work on Shale therefore took place after most of the game had been finished. If they hadn’t done this, she would have been cut completely. It also sort of happened on DAO with Loghain. It originally had a whole plotline in Denerim involving him which had the player figuring out his background, motivations and interacting more with Anora. All of that got cut (requiring the cutscenes mentioned at the start of this post being added), and this is where the idea came of writing a novel (The Stolen Throne). This occurred in the period when the game had been delayed and DG particularly regretted that particular cut. He thought, “I could take this story that you were going to learn about the history of Loghain and his relationship with Cailan, and rescue it in a way.” [source]

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

[Part 3]

[Part 5]

[Part 6]

[‘Insights into DA dev from the Gamers For Groceries stream’ transcript]

#dragon age #bioware #video games #cole #spirit boy

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personuhh · 4 years

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hello ! i know this isn't ur yakuza blog, but im refraining from followin it to avoid spoilers (also i trust ur persona opinions more than most of the fandom's so im inclined to trust ur yakuza opinions lol). i've never played a yakuza game in my life, however based on what little i know of the series i rly wanna get into it. i'd prefer to watch playthroughs (cant justify dropping a ton of money on games rn) and im kinda intimidated on where to start lmao do you have any recs?

Yakuza 0!! If you DO want to play, it frequently goes on sale and is a great place to jump in (and it's on xbox/ps4/steam). I think even when it's not on sale it's like $20 maximum? But yeah, watch or play them in numerical order, it's not like Metal Gear where they're all weirdly out of order; go 0, kiwami, kiwami 2 (they're remakes of 1 and 2), 3 & 4 Remastered, and then I recommend watching the original Yakuza 5 on PS3 (it doesn't REALLY matter, but I have some issues with changes made in the updated translation where I feel like the writing feels a little underwhelming and they gave Saejima a weird accent that I had a conversation about with the head of the localization team about and he was like lol yeah shit sucks, wish I could've changed it but-- anyway uh, if you're watching it, watch original Yakuza 5, if you're playing I'd say just play Yakuza 3-5 Remastered on PS4) and then watch 6.

Yakuza 7 isn't really a continuation, stars a new protagonist, but is my favourite game in the series (it's so fucking good oh my god) so I'd suggest watching a playthrough after 6, since it does have to do with them, but it's not entirely necessary.

Judgment is completely separate from the main series and is good as well! Highly recommend a watch, it's got the best finale out of all the RGG Studio games IMO.

The spinoffs (that are worth checking out) are Yakuza: Dead Souls which is a little hard to find on YouTube but doable (the substories and side content are some of my favourite in the series, I have a video I posted with all of Majima's hostess interactions which are great even if you don't wanna watch the whe game) It's a zombie AU and it's a LOT of dumb fun with some genuinely good character moments.

Kenzan/Ishin are JP exclusive and are set in the past, so they don't have anything to do with the main series. As much as I love Ishin, they're both skippable, and I wouldn't worry about them unless you're done and want more content.

TLDR; Play the games in order, starting with 0 all the way to 6.

A warning for Yakuza 4, it's a trainwreck and I would honestly suggest skipping it, especially if you're sensitive to sexual assault, it's got a (non-explicit) scene in the second quarter of the game that really triggered me (I nearly dropped the series because of it). I wrote the wiki pages for several characters in Yakuza 4 specifically so that the recap would cover basic information you'd need to know (Yasuko Saejima, Taiga Saejima, Shun Akiyama) so you can read them before playing 5, other than those characters' introductions, the plot of 4 doesn't matter at all in Yakuza 5, 6 and 7.

So basically, what I wrote for the Yakuza Wiki's homepage but like.... I dunno, I didn't give my own personal thoughts when I wrote this because I can't be biased on the wiki LOL but seriously fuck Yakuza 4 and don't bother with the PS2 versions of Yakuza 1 and 2, they're bad.

#ask ada #ALSO I TAG SHIT VERY WELL ON MY YAKUZA BLOG I PROMISE you can just mute specific game tags until you watch them #everything is tagged with their respective games #im glad you trust my opinions because i am the yakuza wiki admin dhdjvfjfjsksj

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paladin-lynx · 4 years

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Be More Chill “Sky” AU - Part 1?

Dreams

Ships Involved: None (yet?)

Setting: A Sky: Children of the Light crossover/AU where Jeremy and Michael are Skykids who travel around the different Realms together.

Trigger/Content Warnings: Nightmares

Author’s Notes: I haven’t sat down and written in like...months, so this may be a little rusty. But I recently finished my first playthrough of Sky (which I highly recommend checking out), and I apologize that some of the terminology/references in this may be confusing for people who don’t know the game. This is kind of a test-run for this AU. The basic premise of the game and explanation of some of the terms mentioned (hopefully with little to no spoilers for the game) is that you are a “Skykid”, a child essentially made of light, and you explore different areas to learn the history of a fallen civilization by finding Spirits and reliving their memories and then meeting Elders who oversee each Realm of the game. You get around by using a special cape that lets you glide and fly. There’s a big emphasis on working with other players to get through things, and every friend you make is represented by a star in your main hub, called Home. Krill are dragon-esque enemies who steal your light, which is your life-force, and the Eye of Eden is the final level of the game. Each time you complete the game you start over as a reincarnation of your Skykid. I don’t know all the lore myself since the game has no dialogue and leaves a lot to interpretation and imagination, and I haven’t done too too much research yet, and honestly I may not do too much so that I can learn more in my future playthroughs, lol. Hopefully that helps those of you who don’t know as much. Sorry for the lengthy explanation, I’m curious to know what people think of this potential AU!

“I had a weird dream last night.”

Jeremy wasn’t sure what made him say it. He had been with Michael all day, running around and exploring as they always did, with Michael leading him around by the hand and making conversation with every wayward Skykid they crossed paths with. Jeremy had never been the best at making friends and was lucky to have met Michael at all, who was intent on not letting him go anywhere on his own.

He had been thinking about the dream since the night before, but he supposed he’d been too distracted by their adventures to mention it. Now, as they lounged in the grass in the Home Realm, just relaxing by the campfire and gazing at the stars as Michael lazily strummed his guitar, his thoughts had drifted back to it.

Michael paused in his playing, glancing over at Jeremy. “A weird dream?” he echoed. “I mean…dreams aren’t really supposed to make sense, are they?”

“That’s not what I mean.” Jeremy shifted so that he could pull his knees to his chest, resting his chin on top of them and looking down at the fire. “I remember it so clearly. It felt so real. It’s been bothering me.”

“Hm. Alright.” Michael tossed his guitar into the air, watching it spin as it fell back down to its spot on his back. He leaned back on his hands and turned his full attention to Jeremy. “Well, let’s hear it, then.”

Jeremy blinked at him, his brow furrowing. “I don’t wanna be a bother.”

“Oh c’mon, Jer-bear, you’ve barely talked all day. And you know it isn’t bothering me, I asked to hear it. Got nothin’ better to do until tomorrow, do we?”

“I…guess.” Jeremy knew he could trust Michael with anything, and he knew that dreams were only dreams, but something about this felt almost…private. Like he wasn’t meant to divulge what he’d seen to anyone else. It was all just so strange and normally Jeremy couldn’t even recall his dreams when he woke up in the morning. Maybe he’d have an inkling of an idea of what it had been about, but he had never been like Michael, who could prattle on about his dreams for hours, although for all Jeremy knew he was just making it up as he went.

Jeremy fidgeted with the edge of his cape, still hesitant, but he finally decided there was no real harm in sharing: “Okay, so, uh…I was in the Wastes. I was by myself, heading towards the Temple. It was dark and windy which, er, you know, is normal for the Golden Wasteland. But as I was going…I got spotted by a Krill.”

Michael’s eyes widened immediately. “Oh shit.”

It wasn’t like Jeremy and Michael had never encountered Krill before – or Dragons as Michael preferred to call them, since apparently ‘Krill’ wasn’t menacing enough – but they’d always managed to stay safe by sticking together. While Michael was good at talking to people and getting their help, Jeremy was good at finding places to stay hidden. They had yet to venture into the Eye of Eden, but Michael always liked to say that he was positive they must have been there before in past lives and just didn’t remember it.

Jeremy wasn’t so sure. They’d met other Skykids who spun tales about their previous incarnations going into Eden, about how it was the ultimate test and that they weren’t allowed to speak of what they’d seen in there but it wasn’t something you could forget. And that the end result of Ascension made the struggle so, so worth it. Jeremy had his doubts that he and Michael would just conveniently not remember something so significant.

“What happened next?” Michael prompted, pulling Jeremy from his thoughts.

“Right, um…Well, it spotted me. You know, the whole blue-light-turns-red deal. And I couldn’t move once it did, like I was frozen in place. I was bracing myself, ready for it to just…eat me whole, but then it…didn’t.” Jeremy tugged the ends of his cape close, wrapping himself up like it was a blanket. He could almost feel ice running down his spine at the memory. “It…i-it came up close to me. And it…it spoke to me.”

Michael’s brow furrowed, his expression a mix of confused and warily curious. “…Can they even speak?”

Jeremy managed a shrug. “Anything can happen in a dream, I guess. But it…it said…‘Give me all of your Light, Sky Child, and I will make you the brightest star in Eden.’”

Silence hung between them for a long moment, the quote lingering in the air. Jeremy had only seen Michael speechless a few times in his life, and they were usually because Jeremy had said something too stupid to fathom. Now, Jeremy could tell that even if it had been a dream, Michael was quiet because he felt the same chill in his bones at the words that Jeremy did.

“…Then what?” Michael finally murmured, much less enthusiastic than before.

Jeremy paused, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, watching as a few sparks of light snuck out of his mouth. “I don’t really know. I heard it roar, felt really cold, and then I woke up.”

There was silence again, before Michael mumbled a disturbed, “Spooky.”

Jeremy nodded in agreement, although he had to admit even with the memory of the dream still haunting him, it felt kind of nice to get it out in the open. He had had nightmares before, of course, but they had never been so vivid, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever dreamed about the Krill until now. Generally they were normal bad dreams, like getting separated from Michael in a storm or slipping up in saving a lost Spirit or having one of the Elders disapprove of him. Nothing ever quite this degree of frightening.

He tipped his head back to look up at the stars, some shining brighter than others thanks to the friends that they – mainly Michael, to be honest – had made along the way in their various travels. There were a lot of mysteries in this world that couldn’t be solved alone, even if Jeremy had tried all he could at first to get through by himself, too nervous to try and reach out to anyone else. Michael had stumbled upon him by chance and had all but dragged him to a door that needed two people to work together to open it, and they had been inseparable ever since.

He blinked as Michael suddenly stepped into his field of vision, offering a smile and holding out a hand. Even if his grin was as bright as the campfire, Jeremy could see in Michael’s eyes that he was still shaken by the talk of the dream.

“C’mon,” Michael coaxed, wiggling his fingers. “Let’s go for a fly. Clear our minds before we go to bed.”

Jeremy took in another breath and gave a stiff nod, grabbing Michael’s hand and pulling himself up. He always felt safer, stronger, when his hand was clasped tightly with Michael’s. They were a team, through and through, and Jeremy wasn’t sure where he’d be without him.

“Yeah,” he murmured, giving Michael’s hand a fond squeeze. “That sounds good.”

Michael turned with a flourish of his cape and led Jeremy towards the portal to the Daylight Prairie. But as they went, Jeremy couldn’t help a peek at the gateway to the Golden Wasteland, that deep, purring voice rolling through his mind again.

“I will make you the brightest star in Eden.”

#mine #writing #BMC Sky AU #i'll try to come up with a name proper #this is very self indulgent lol #Be More Chill #Sky CotL #thatskygame #crossover #AU #Jeremy Heere #BMC Jeremy Heere #BMC Michael Mell #Michael Mell #fanfiction #fic #i don't have a fancy queue tag #BMC #lynx tales

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gayregis · 4 years

Note

Hi, just wanted to ask, how did you get into the witcher franchise (did you read the books before you played the games or vice versa?). Love your blog, byeeee :)

ty for the ask!! i hope you dont mind if i go too in-depth because i was legit thinking about this earlier today...

tldr: i played tw3 and liked it, then read the books

i got into the witcher because one of my favorite gaming youtubers was doing a playthrough of tw3 on youtube in around i think september 2017. i liked this specific gaming youtuber for being shit at games and not caring about it... but tw3 was a different game. it felt like the decisions mattered, that there was an actual story here, that when this youtuber made shitty decisions and didn’t really care about the characters involved, i got frustrated because this game seemed really good... so i picked up the game myself and played it though, it was magnificent. not to r/witcher “the witcher 3 is literally the best game created in this history of ever” but it was sincerely good... not only does it have a great story, characters, and graphics, but it is genuinely comfortable to play as a game, even if you’re not great at games (i like playing video games but i’m not good at them when it comes to combat, i literally just would prefer to hack and slash through). so, i played through tw3 and the fact that it made me cry multiple times i found to be really interesting... but it was still just a game to me, it wasn’t something i thought about when i have time to daydream headcanons. i had read i think the witcher (short story) halfway through playing, just to get a feel of what tw3 came from, but from that, i realized the books and the games were incredibly different entitities, and i decided to not read the books until i had finished the game, or at least until i had more free time on my hands (mind i was in high school and was a senior, and during this time was when i was submitting college applications... exceptionally stressful, and the reading/writing part of my brain was absolutely fried from essay writing and reviewing). i was particularly struck by geralt and ciri’s relationship and the isle of mists quests fucked me up pretty bad.

then around later 2017, i was really enjoying tw3, and had finished tw3′s base game and hearts of stone, and was now making my way into blood & wine. i was just playing it like normal, then came the part when geralt met regis. at first i wasn’t too interested (i mean, i was, but in the story of blood & wine, not in the books) until the little journal text pop-up appeared on my screen. you know, the one about quests you just received, or characters you just met. it was going through the motions of saying i finished this quest, picked up this new one, i was all like fine, fine, okay, alright, and then it just fucking puts regis’ long-ass name on the screen taking up a good amount of my FOV and i am immediately like, what? what the fuck? who the fuck? that’s the name? of the guy we just met? that guy??? he didn’t seem like someone with a name like that? who the fuck IS this guy.

so i head over to the wiki page for regis. i thumb through the basic information, i’m pretty interested, this quest stuff to find ciri sounds interesting. i decide to give the witcher books another try, because i have more free time now and am way more invested as everyone here as characters. also, i want to find out more about yennefer, because she was being badmouthed by everyone i saw online, and i wanted to read more about her and see if she was really so bad (spoilers: she’s not at all, the internet is just misogynistic).

i don’t think that i’m going to actually really care about these books, i just want more flavor and explanation about how in hell a witcher met a vampire and these two somehow became friends. so, i don’t care about reading them in order. i go online and find fan translations of every book, i open baptism of fire and i just start reading the bit about the fish soup. i’m suddenly just laughing my ass off, really interested in who these other characters are, milva and cahir, and how dandelion seems to actually be the best friend to geralt that he was said to be in tw3. i also notice immediately that geralt... oh my god, geralt’s such a cranky bitch. i’m SHOCKED at how annoying geralt is. i realize that this is probably what geralt’s been like, this whole time, and tw3 just gave me a sterilized version of him. i’m trying to decide if i like this change or not, at first i HATED it... but then realized it actually gave him a character, where in tw3 he feels a little more... empty, waiting for the player to project a personality onto him.

so, i just read all of the hansa bits of baptism of fire, skipping over anything i don’t understand. i am saddened when i can’t find any more, so i move onto tower of the swallow. and then lady of the lake. “oh, so that’s why geralt was surprised to see regis in blood & wine...” feeling at a loss after reading stygga, i start at the beginning and make my way through the books chronologically, like they should be read. i soon realize that this series really isn’t about killing monsters at all, and i’m thrilled. i thought the series was just going to be about geralt killing things in a swamp and reporting back to whoever hired him, like in tw3... and i was wrong. this series is about personal connections! relationships! ... and fatherhood. [see read more for personal junk]

i can’t remember when i started disliking tw3. it must have been around the time that i finished the books (im using the word finished loosely... i still havent finished some scenes because theyre too violent to read and continue with my day in peace, and i also read tos/lotl by skipping around, so i never got the full experience of reading them as full novels).

i just distinctly remember returning to my tw3 new game+ save after rereading the fish soup scene, and thinking about how lonely the game felt... i just felt so dispairingly alone, this loneliness that i hadn’t felt while playing before, that i had to put the game down. i returned to the game again, but i had just reread edge of the world... and i felt so alone again.

so reading the books ruined tw3 for me, not out of malicious intent, but just because i think i realized geralt isn’t meant to be the lone wolf. the novels center around him and his family and friends, and i just genuinely missed that when replaying tw3. plus, i began to realize a bunch of things, like ciri’s scar is supposed to be bigger, geralt’s supposed to wear his hair in a headband, yennefer’s hair is actually curly, dandelion’s supposed to actually be in the game. there were so many inconsistencies with the characters i had imagined while reading the books that eventually i just stopped playing tw3 (i already played it once, so nbd) and got really into the books.

sometime later i saved up like $80 to buy the paperback versions of the books (UK versions including season of storms) because i knew i was in really deep lol and i wanted the official translations super badly, also we were doing an assignment in class that allowed us to do something with our favorite book, but we needed to have it in-person and not as an e-book, so it was the perfect excuse. much time spent on hansa headcanons later and... here we are today.

a read-more, because this is more personal.

the witcher series picked me up at an eerily appropriate time. two things in it stood out to me: 1) geralt’s relationship with ciri 2) regis’s alcoholism.

i distinctly remember an event where i started crying in front of my parents because my dad was being so absent in my life or maybe it was because they were arguing, something like this... and i remember referencing tw3 isle of mists quest actually by saying “i shouldn’t have to learn it (good parenting) from a video game” ... lol. it wasn’t an epic burn from a 17 yo, but it was just a painful remark made in anger. i still think back to it because of how first watching geralt hug ciri made me feel and how i was actually really bitter because i was jealous of ciri for about a week after completing the quest. then i kind of pushed it out of my mind and didn’t think so much about it, until the night i mentioned it.

in late march of 2018, something very bad happened in my family. that’s probably the best way to describe it. the situation ended in my parents finally separating. my mom and i were pretty afraid and lost after that. after i had collected my thoughts and everything and went back to as “normal” as i could, about a month later, when the creative part of my brain finally began to function again and wasn’t inhibited due to fear, i clung to the witcher more than i did before... and this time, actually particularly to regis, because guess who has a whole redemption arc relating to not being alcoholic and being a genuinely good person who speaks gently and heals the vulnerable?

#anon #ask

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fallingin-like · 5 years

Text

november 21

push to talk by @alexjosten [requested by @nikothespoonklepto]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this is a delightfully engaging fic based on the game firewatch that follows neil as he spends a summer as a fire lookout, isolated except for radio communication with andrew, a fire lookout in the adjacent sector of the park. this is such an intense, fun, beautiful, and humorous fic.

i remember enjoying this so much as it came out, eagerly awaiting each new chapter. you drew me in so easily and deeply that i watched a whole playthrough of this game. i can fully appreciate how well you were able to translate the plot, gameplay, interactions between characters, and the stunning visuals so so seamlessly and have it aftg so well.

some parts that stood out to me:

”dusk settles on the trees like clay powder, dusting the evergreens with a red tint” woah this is such a gorgeous way of starting off this fic.

”the moon extends her helping hand to guide him out into a clearing. here, neil can see. but also, he can be seen” i love these descriptions, and our introduction to neil.

”he ignores his sleeping bag and the strict instructions to camp at nightfall and continue during the day” ah yes, Neil I Do What I Want Josten strikes again, with little regard for what people tell him to do

”if he’s not careful, the black dirt beneath his feet could bleed crimson. the exact combination of colours he came out here to avoid” this is stunning. i am immediately drawn into this fic, wanting to know what or who exactly neil is running from, and where he’s going

”buttermilk rays whisk the shadows of leaves into a dance on the forest floor beneath his feet” !! buttermilk?? somehow that works so so well

”the irony of calling it that in his head isn’t lost on him, and he vows to avoid that comparison again” what a subtle detail, but so telling! i am pretty bad with reading tags a lot of the time, so this was a great introduction to raven!neil

”it’s as exposing as it is freeing. he can’t feel trapped when he can see for miles every way he turns” wow it’s still so early in the fic, but you’ve already done an exceptional job at justifying neil choosing to come here, to escape.

foxtrot tower is such a cute name! i love that it’s not something directly taken from the books, this name seems to fit this au so well. i know that you likely had the game as reference for the tower, but i really liked the way you describe it, you were able to establish the same tone that exists in the game, but you did it through words instead of visuals and audio, something that really impresses me

”glad to hear you’re literate enough to have read the dossier” ohmygoodness ANDREW

”andrew’s tone is playful. neil thinks it might even be flirtatious, but he doesn’t care enough right now to find out” as much as i enjoy oblivious!neil, i appreciate that this version of neil is more aware, he seems more in tune with things around him. it fits better with this story, with the isolation and only communication being through the radio

”the sky slips into a more comfortable pink, the sun laying down to rest amongst the mountains” am i ever going to get over your descriptions of the environment? i don’t think so

of course neil goes for a run, basically right after doing a super intense two day hike in one day

”andrew sounds agitated” I LOVE THIS

oh dang, neil’s panic is so sudden, i’m so immersed that i immediately felt nervous too

”it’s our job to watch the horizon, neil. it’s not my fault you’re on mine” oh this is so good

”neil doesn’t believe in coincidences. he believes in traps and ill intentions, because that’s all his life has been until now” it’s honestly amazing how quickly the atmosphere of this fic has turned to something a little bit darker, kind of scary. we know neil as a runner, but the idea of someone finding him so soon and trying to lure him out? gives me chills

“he doesn’t realise his hands are shaking until he struggles to press the push-to-talk button” PUSH TO TALK I AM SO FOND OF FICS THAT INCLUDE THE TITLE OF THE FIC IN THEIR FIC. also shaky hands are my kryptonite

”he also takes the cleaver from the kitchen counter” NEIL I- I AM SPEECHLESS

”a small sensible part of his brain tries to convince him that there are much easier ways to kill him than leading him out in the middle of nowhere, in a forest that he told nobody from his past life that he would be living in, where he uses a new name that nobody knows” !! good to hear that neil has a sensible part of his brain LOL

”but underestimating his enemies and their taste for dramatics would be a mistake” neil of all people does have a good reason for being paranoid. i love that you have this separated as a different paragraph, i read it differently because of it and i think that it adds more gravity to the sentence

”there, he finds a lipstick-red tent, zipper teeth yawning open to reveal two pink sleeping bag tongues” the imagery!!! incredible

”he feels like a walking timebomb” yeah i am definitely nervous for neil

”’girls don’t do it for you?’ andrew’s curiosity has a hopeful slant” OHMYGOODNESS ANDREW

”andrew’s voice is a firm, solid reassurance” bless andrew

”neil never thought he’d be relieved to meet someone who didn’t like exy” i also never thought that. neil you are a changed man

ooh the backstory to the fireworks is so good! i was also thinking it was a little out of character, but this is the perfect reason that renee would let it slide!

”the stars are withering in the purpling sky” i could cry because i love your writing so much

A MAN I AM FREAKING OUT. WHO IS HE

the easygoing banter between andrew and neil is so great, their conversation is interesting and flows really well

”he’s almost home” it amazes me and really shows something about this version of neil that he’s so quick to call this tower his home

”i know i needed to do this, but i am not sure i am ready to be so alone” woah break my heart why don’t you? this hits really close to home,, how dare you make me feel emotions

”i usually take a more straightforward approach” andrew never lies, but this is the truest thing he has ever said

”they’ll probably never meet, because neil intends on spending the rest of his summer without meeting another soul, andrew included” hmmm why do i have the sneaking suspicion that this will not be the case?

”neil’s not sure what grindr is but his face heats up all the same” this sentence is a MOOD (except i do know what grindr is)

”andrew’s response is sharp like a blade. ‘why? because one of the girls called you scarface?’ neil feels himself flinch” hhh i am secretly a very big fan of scenes that include neil’s scars, so you got me here

”andrew keeps neil company on the hour hike up to the north of his sector, but his usual commentary seems a bit strained today” uhH what’s going on, i’m getting scared

DID ANDREW BRING NEIL OVER JUST SO HE CAN SEE WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE?

ohmygoodness, neil leaving andrew pictures and a sweatshirt? so so so cute

”he imagines the fear they felt when they saw him holding it wasn’t too unlike the fear that used to paralyse him when his father, or lola, would threaten him back home” woah this is good

i would bet that allison was the one to write that letter haha i can imagine that renee is likely kind of shaken by the incident, otherwise she might not have let allison leave it behind

andrew is such a good companion for neil, calming him both by his presence and by logically explaining what could have happened to the tent. he’s an anchor

”he feels like the cleaver he had attempted to defend himself with on his first day now carries a foreboding aura” YEAH I’M GETTING PRETTY NERVOUS TOO

WAIT NATHAN IS DEAD? THANK GOODNESS

woah so interesting to learn about neil’s backstory and his reason for not going pro “his offers to join pro teams curled up like dead leaves in a fire” dang, referencing both his burns and his new job? so good

ANDREW MINYARD IMITATING A VALLEY GIRL I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE PLEASE

oo that subtle way of mentioning andrew’s memory

i am so emotional, andrew is just so so good. makes me feel all the feelings ;-;

”andrew sounds like a bristled up cat tail” CUTE!!

i am dying to know what is going on in andrew’s head, during this conversation, when he left his tower to see neil, and really, just throughout this whole fic

woah i really like the way that you had neil describe his asexuality. it’s something that i recognize in myself and i like the way that you handled it.

>:C

them drawing each other?? peak cute. i want that to happen to me (have someone who doesn’t know what i look like try and draw me)

”neil waits for him to say more. he doesn’t. oh. that’s why. ‘heh’” LOLOL

you know what, i actually,,, only recognized the name draco malfoy LOL

ANDREW PRETENDING THAT HE DOESN’T ACTUALLY KNOW AARON OH MY GOODNESS. I CANNOT BELIEVE HE PRETENDED TO GET HIS NAME WRONG. “i look like him. but hotter and better dressed” ANDREW HOW GOOD TO YOU DRESS YOU LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST. this whole section is hilarious and really helps lighten the tone and keep things playful

”’why would i wear that?’ andrew’s response is too quick and defensive” *unintelligible screaming*

ANDREW DRAWING NEIL IN TINY RUNNING SHORTS. THIS! MAN! I CAN’T HANDLE HIM

”neil gets into the routine of falling asleep next to his radio, talking to andrew deep into the night, far past his ability to keep his eyes open. they take turns drifting off mid conversation…” this is the softest thing ever

”considering neil’s job is to prevent forest fires, there’s a certain irony in how beautiful the park is when painted the colours of flames” oh (like a good oh)

ANDREW REJECTING NEIL REALLY JUST BROKE MY HEART WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME

”his heart tumbles from his chest and falls to the bottom of the ravine. he doesn’t understand why it was so close to the railings of his ribcage in the first place” this is so so beautiful even though it’s describing something so sad. makes me feel achy

drunk andrew. how is it that you, alexjosten, seem to know everything that i love in a fic?

”neil’s cabin floods with light. how real is neil josten without nathaniel wesninski filling his shell? with a snap, it’s gone.” uh this is so incredible, i love how you split everything up into its own paragraph, their conversation so similar to the storm. ugh i can’t get enough

”still, neil feels the change: the undeniable part of him where his branches have been torn asunder and his bark has been scorched away to expose his core” every time i think that this sentence is the best, and every time you blow me away again. i can’t describe how this sentence makes me feel

the scene of neil rescuing allison and renee fills me with adrenaline, it’s so intense

having the girls recognize neil was like being trapped in a nightmare, there was nothing i could do but read on and see how it ends. dajsflks. but also i really hope that neil got back his jacket and sweater lol

WHAT IN THE WORLD NEIL HAVING TO PLAY A GAME ON CODEINE, RIKO TRYING TO KILL NEIL ON TV, THIS IS SO INTENSE. also, i love what you’ve done with this

dang, how does andrew know kevin?

andrew’s gifts for neil are so cute. i am here just freaking out!!!!

A PUFFBALL DANDELION

“you sweet, sheltered city child” oh my goodness adorable

”you’re going to go nuts when i tell you what a caterpillar turns into” ANDREW

THE BEAR. THE JUMP

honestly, i’m a little surprised that neil wasn’t supplied with bear spray

”’andrew, i don’t think they’re coming for me.’ ‘of course they’re not.’ neil’s heart sinks. ‘they’re not?’ ‘i am’” KFAJSDFJPOJAFD THIS GLORIOUS INTERACTION WILL FOREVER BE WITH ME

THEM TRAVELLING AND EVERYTHING WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE BECAUSE OF THE DARK. ALSO ANDREW BEING SUPER BUFF AND PICKING NEIL UP NO BIG DEAL

”we had your face on a dart board in the break room” AHHHH

”the only consolation is it smells of the andrew who just walked two hours to rescue him from the side of a cliff, and then spent another two hours carrying him here” i don’t even know what to say

wait andrew knew who neil was the whole time oh my goodness

THE GAME IS ANIMAL CROSSING. this is now and forevermore considered canon!

ANDREW DROPPING THE GAME HE’S SO TIRED. ANDREW MY BABY

ANDREW’S DRAWING OF NEIL

”half of andrew’s sandwich is in his mouth, and he kind of looks like a hamster” adorable!

okay okay jean and jeremy being the two trading letters? so so good.

THE ENDING WITH ANDREW TELLING STORIES ABOUT NEIL BEING DEAD

the last chapter was amazing, i loved the way that you wrote the interactions between andrew and neil, they fit so well together. i also appreciate that you deviated from the game and had them meet! it is infinitely more satisfying. this was such an easy fic to read, everything felt right. i love your characterization of both of them. to have andrew treat neil the way that he did, knowing who neil was? amazing

also, can i just say that the moodboards that you include at the beginning of each chapter are amazing? they really helped with establishing the tone of the fic.

this fic is so intense, i was constantly amazed by how i was so fully immersed in it. everything that neil felt, i felt. your descriptions were gorgeous and i could not get enough of them. there were so many small details, sentences that were pure gems, that rereading this was just as, if not more, enjoyable than the first time. i really cannot put to words how much i loved reading this. thank you so so much for writing it!

#push to talk #aftg fic review #raelle writes

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ohnomybreadsticks · 4 years

Note

DBH AND THE WITCHER FOR THE FANDOM ASKS GAME!!!

(Ask Game here) Yes!! Absolutely anon, your enthusiasm has me excited :D For the sake of length though I’m gonna split this into two parts! DBH first in this ask, then I’ll make a Witcher one separately

1. The first character I fell in love with:

Surprising or not, Connor was the character who pulled me into the fandom! Even though I don’t write him as much any more he was absolutely the reason I fell in love with dbh! I just loved his dynamic with Hank, and how goofy he was lol.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Gavin lmaoooo, if you had told me before I started watching a dbh playthrough that I’d fall so hard for one of Cabbage man’s ‘bully’ stereotypes I would have laughed my ass off at you XD and now I can’t live without this rat man

3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t:

Hmmmm I dunno, I like pretty much all of the characters (except like, Zlatko and Ted lmao). I guess I don’t get too hype for Fowler, although I know he has a pretty excited fanbase. He’s cool! Just not the type of character I get obsessed over :)

4. The character I love that everyone else hates:

Honestly I try not to get involved/look at any fandom drama, so I’m not too up on what characters are getting hate (thank god, please don’t tell me). But I do know there was a lot of drama around North for a while and I love her so much! I’ll be honest, I hate the way her character was handled in game but I adore being able to give her my own spin and the love and respect she deserves!!

5. The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Again I guess I’d have to say Connor? I still love him but I’m not like, obsessed and seeking out tons of Connor content the same way I was at the beginning

6. The character I would totally smooch:

Oh this is a tough one!! I’d say probably fanon Nines (where he looks not like B Dechart but with a stretched out neck), or Simon!

7. The character I’d want to be like:

I really admire Markus’ dedication to a cause and his ability to speak up for himself and others! And also Kara’s kind and caring nature. So I think I’d probably like to be like those two C:

8. The character I’d slap:

Look we all know Gavin needs a good smack upside the head lmao. But I’ll hold true to my instinct and say I’d smack Dabbing Cabbage into the sun

9. A pairing that I love:

Look ya’ll already know I’m Reed900 trash lollll, but I’m also a sucker for Allen60, Polycho, and Hankcon the old reliable

10. A pairing that I despise:

Um....look, I really don’t despise pairings in general, if it’s not for me it’s not for me and that’s fine! I guess I’ve never really gotten too into RK1700? But again I don’t despise it, I just won’t seek it out

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ryouverua · 6 years

Text

Trial 6 - Oh, I am one yet many (5)

The above inspirational picture was taken seconds before disaster.

Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Tsumugi is not the one-trick pony we thought she was ABORT MISSION, ABORT MISSION!!!!

NO YOU AIN’T! NO YOU AIN’T I DID NOT SIGN UP TO BE HAJIMEMED, NO SIR I DID NOT!

i mentioned it during the text hellstorm I unleashed when I was mid-playthrough but the way Shuichi says ‘cosplaying’ here is ADORABLE. I love his VA she is so good -

also

oh no

o h n o

I can’t just... express how deeply that feeling of ‘oh no’ pervaded my being. My soul.

“THIS IS JUST COSPLAY“ SHE SAYS - AND GOD, THE MUSIC, THE MUSIC IS SO WACKY LIKE THESE ARE JUST SOME NORMAL FTE ANTICS -

wait no this is the ‘let’s start the killing game music’ -

ah that’s why I’m lowkey terrified right now

W-What in the world are those white smears across Hagakure’s eyes??? And oh god the first game too???

WHAT THE HELL TSUMUGI YOU’VE REALLY BEEN HOLDING OUT ON US TELL ME HOW YOU’RE DOING THIS I-I mean oh no, how dare you, this is so awful...

SHE’S TAKEN FULL OWNERSHIP OF JUNKO!PERSONA

AJSLKDF

TSUMUGI

HOLY SHIT

TSUMUGI

IS THIS YOUR FINAL FORM

ironically this got me thinking ‘this would be a really cool cosplay + prop’ once I got over the sheer terror of the situation and I starting thinking, oh, wouldn’t it be cool if you even had a sort of pinwheel mechanism (with the main body of it being hidden by her long hair) that rotated all of these pieces, and have you ever realized that there is a small piece of you that is the monster

also I just realized... she kept putting her glasses on as Junko. But I’m assuming she won’t ever wear them as Hajime. So it’s true - the moment she actually took off her glasses, we really did get to see her final form..

IS THAT KOMAEDA’S HAIR

ALL OF THESE THINGS, I RECOGNIZE ALL OF THEM OMG

This............ this is terrible, terrifying, and also really, really good

don’t say you’re jealous don’t say you’re jealous don’t say you’re jealous okay I’m a bit jealous FFU --

SHUICHI I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE TIMES WHERE YOU DON’T WANT TO PURSUE THE TRUTH I HAVE A TERRIBLE, AWFUL FEELING -

oh no oh no

here I was doing mental gymnastics to justify why she’d be able to cosplay as Junko, a real person

but I was over-complicating things as usual

even the egg has been compromised for her nefarious scheme this truly is the worst timeline

What is with me and stumbling into series that just bloody smash their fourth wall until there’s nothing but broken pieces left

thank you for having twogami right after togami it’s not something I realized I needed and among all this heartbreak is a blessing

THIS IS NOT YOUR CUE TO START PLAYING THE CREDITS MONOKUMA

I am only making it through this trial by sheer force of will and the power of Sweetcheeks’ adorable voice.

Dangan.... ronpa....?

oh god she said ‘we’ she said ‘WE’ THIS IS REALLY NOT GOOD

‘Don’t get too whacky with your theories,’ I said. ‘You don’t want to sound like a total crackpot,’ I said. DAMN YOU SELF I SHOULD HAVE LET MYSELF GO ABSOLUTELY WILD AFTER ALL

So this was invented completely from nothing??? My initial theory had them seeing themselves in someone else’s actual memories as themselves, and having their own brains play tricks on them that way - but all those scenes with them being interviewed by Makoto, of applying to Hope’s Peak, and possibly everything else about them - oh god - how powerful are these lights? How much detail was crammed into them? Can this all be done with a mere flash of a light???

‘We.’ Her use of ‘we’ is interesting, here. It really does feel like Tsumugi sees all of her cosplay personas as actual people that she can channel to ‘help her’ as opposed to just mere characters. Like entities fighting along side of her, not just through her...

also hello ibuki I forgot how much I enjoyed your VA they make me hear seagulls in the distance

aaaaaaw look at how much the art style has improved from the first game!!!

Y.......... YES.......?????? wait actually as someone who is lowkey interested in props and set design - BUT NO WAIT STILL THIS IS WAY BEYOND THAT -

How... the hell... do you cosplay the world?! The entire world?!?!

Is that possible?? If the entire world isn’t real - if it’s all being propped up by you - then -

Who - who are we playing this game for then??? Why make us play it??? Who is watching the game???

I KNEW IT

I AND PROBABLY HALF OF THE PEOPLE PLAYING WERE JUST WAITING FOR YOU TO SHOW UP

......

Did. Did you just say it takes place in the real world.

Oh no -

It... It’s real fiction... because they’ve kidnapped actual people... and brainwashed them... and then trapped them in a situation where they were forced to kill each other to get out?? For things that didn’t exist??? For reasons that weren’t ever real???

Wait - so that means they can get out and it’ll be fine?! That’s..... t-that’s not as bad as I thought, but...

‘STAFF’ OH THAT WORD IS SO OUT OF PLACE -

...............................

There are. There are people backstage. It’s not just Tsumugi. This. This is super not good.

insert inappropriately-timed comment about how I love this VA

Okay. This actually took me by surprise. And I’m kinda terrified to ask.

W.... Why not? Is - Is this actually a space separated from reality? Can they physically.... not go back....???

no wait -

what are you doing

PUT THAT KEY BACK RIGHT NOW

OH UNCANNY VALLEY-LEVELS OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

NO DON’T THROW REAL FACES UP THERE -

IS THIS A BLOODY COMMENT BOARD

I mean I know in my head that this is a niconico parody but the fact is they have to translate the comments to suit an english audience so -

omfg no I cannot believe what is coming out of the screen right now

wait wait

Kyoko is my waifu

My husbando Shuichi

first

Sakura is my muscle waifu good taste anon

Bring on the spoilers

LOL are you watching?

I feel like I’m participating too!

she’s shaking

Aaaw, Himiko is still alive.

Wow it’s on? LOL!

this is what the creepy kid at the beginning of the chapter was about

this was who that Makoto kid was

WHERE IS HIS CREEPY-ASS FACE I KNOW YOU’RE THERE MAKOTO

Is this the everyone... the real everyone Tsumugi says she represents, then??? That she’s fighting for? Omg was Kirumi’s motive/trial foreshadowing all along -

Anyway, damn Tsumugi is proud of her viewership.

#humblebrag #musclewaifu

EVERYONE???? LITERALLY EVERYONE?!?!?!

SURELY... SURELY THAT IS THE CONCEITED TALK OF A MANAGER TRYING TO TALK UP THEIR ‘BABY’.... SURELY...

I appreciate the use of Celes here. This is.... damn dark. They’ve achieved such a peaceful world that the have to manufacture darkness and blood-sport for people to get their kicks???

STIMULATION?!

first of all where’s miu when you need her

SECOND OF ALL ARE YOU SURE HUMANITY WAS BEAUTIFUL, KOREKIYO??? ARE YOU SURE?

“It’s simple economics.”

THERE YOU ARE MAKOTO YOU CREEP

oh no he was... literally... using this game to cope with his problems.... and he said that one day he wanted to be a part of it... oh no.....

..... D... Did one of the comments say that it had been years? That they had been waiting for a few years for the sequel?

Does - does that mean something, or is it just a throwaway audience comment? Why years? If Rantaro was in the last one, why would it have been years for this one to happen??? How old is Rantaro? How old is Tsumugi?!?!

FML I had been wondering how ‘Monokuma’ could exist without Junko existing since they’re inextricably linked. FML.

MONOKUMA CAN YOU STOP ROLLING THE CREDITS, THE MUSIC AND THE TITLE CARDS FOR A MINUTE PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU

Because I don’t enjoy having Saioinji’s terrifying eyes trained on me while she questions my intelligence, so I’ll sum up the next question - what season of this gameshow from hell are we apparently on?

I mean, considering Junko’s title... well...

..... yeah it looks better with a V.

the real answer to why they used V3 even though it’s technically not the correct way to say ‘53′ - it’s the aesthetic.

FFFF

I actually screenshot all the parody!title cards and they’re amazing. I’ll post them just once a bit later when it shows up again because this post is entirely too long, but needless to say, whoever designed them had fun. And the titles of the games, too - Birth of Despair? Dream Danganronpa? Sign me tf up! oh no does this make me part of the problem I’M SORRY SWEETCHEEKS

I can’t believe I was bitching about Junko being the mastermind for the third game when apparently audience members have had to sit through 53 Junkos

You couldn’t have changed it up??? Not even once??? Like, one led by Mukuro as a prologue idea or??? quietly denies the existence of the anime

Oh, speaking of which, I do like the excuse they came up with as to why the drv3 creators didn’t create new characters from the supposed other games why Tsumugi didn’t cosplay anyone outside the first two games - it’s for the class’s benefit, since they only knew those two casts, and y’know. She cares. about shock value

DON’T YOU PASS THE BUCK, GIRL

Ah, so that ‘staff’ you mentioned earlier...

why is this so funny to me

T-Tsumugi, do you have a tumultuous relationship with your managers or something

why are you airing out your dirty laundry on live television

is it all the incest plotlines

I feel like at this point it’s less ‘Tsumugi is trying to rub into the students how completely and absolutely they are boned’ and more ‘okay, it’s time to give a shout-out to everyone who put this production together! Perfect time to slap on that logo, guys!‘

oh my god that was supposed to be a trailer in-meta too alsd;kfj i’m losing it

AND AGAIN, THOSE TITLE CARDS - THEY ARE AMAZING.

SHE IS SHE’S TOTALLY ADVERTISING MID-SHOW

TSUMUGI STOP BEING A CORPORATE SELL-OUT

"NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOUR CRAPPY SHOEHORNED ADVERTISING!!!”

oh god oh no

who’s going to tell him -

MONOKUMA DON’T YOU DARE

i’m having an existential crisis alongside sweetcheeks ngl

there are so many layers

....

we need to go deeper

So, just to clarify, there are three layers right now:

There’s us, the players. In a sense, we could be considered ‘equal but different than the tier’, but we do still operate on a plane separate from the metafiction of Tsumugi’s ‘everyone in the world’.

There’s the ‘audience’, the outside world. This is the space that’s been breached at this point. And this... this is the level where the students are from, too - aka the reason I think we and the audience should exist as separate entities.

And there’s the domain of the Killing Game, a space created to play out this story, using real people - a place separated from reality... how? If Tsumugi is talking about a set, it could easily be the real world, which means they’ve been isolated somewhere. At the same time though, when they managed to reach the end of the escape tunnel and saw the outside world, they all started to choke and suffocate. So... could this be VR still? Or no? Can these existences known as Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective, Maki Harukawa, the Ultimate Assassin, Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Robot, K1-b0, the Ultimate Robot, and even Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer, leave this space in any way, shape or form... or not at all? Is them suffocating ^ like that a sign that they literally cannot exist outside of this space?

She is literally throwing the same question back in Shuichi’s face ghdfkgh

NO I’M ON SHUICHI’S SIDE I COULDN’T HELP IT I HAD TO CHOOSE REAL PEOPLE

no!!! no!!!! NO!!!!

no seriously I still chose real people because I am stubborn

sweetcheeks et al. do not deserve any of this

Of course they brought out despair!Mikan for this. Of course.

I have to say, I do like these little character touches - the decisions that have been made as to which ‘cosplay’ says what. I mean, it’s supposed to also act as a way to throw our known and loved favourites in our face too, but having Celes comment on how boring ‘peace’ is? Having Ibuki smashing through the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience, Gundham remarking on their abnormal existence and Leon commenting on how cool the ‘aesthetic’ of the title card is? It’s such a nice touch. also horrifying. butalsonice

Oh we really are addressing the prologue now??? And - I’m assuming Tsumugi is referring to Hajime when she says ‘me’, but is there a chance she isn’t?

Just as I initially suspected, though - they really were normal when they got in. So how did they decide who got what personality/talent, or was that random? I mean, that might be the case - it was potentially hinted by the motive video switch of Chapter 2..

............. Huh.

But..... in what sense? Like the 16 talents were stored in those lights and they were ‘picked up’ by the most suited participant? How could you make sure there were no doubles? Or - and this is possible because of the vague language - did the talents build on what the student knew already? In which case, how would they know what the talents would end up being and plan the labs around them?

No, it would... have to be... the first one. Talents had its own selection in the flashback creating machine, though without verifying what the subcategories are it’s hard to confirm or deny anything... but I also can’t shake what Maki said at the beginning of the game? How it felt like their talents were given at random?

So... so they’re not only back where they started - completely isolated with everyone they’ve ever known and the world they knew completely out of reach (in this sense, dead/not actually existing are functionally the same), but they get a helping of a totally warranted existential crisis on top of that.

And... their bodies are real, so everyone else really is dead. No happy sdr2 ending. Well, unless I mental-gymnastics that to read ‘they have physical bodies to return to, but as manufactured personas it’s pointless.’

Me too, Sweetcheeks.

We can’t go 5 minutes without a WHAM line.

B-But they were kidnapped weren’t they -?!

fujisaki does not deserve this slander

Return of the hat!!!

..... is it bad that I miss his hat. I. I really liked his hat. I know that it was representative of the way he held back and used it to hide himself, but - but I liked his original portrait. And I liked the way it was incorporated into his sprites and all the movements he makes with it and without it, like it‘s a phantom limb. okayI’llstop

Why... are we not getting a name here? Was Shuichi Saihara a made-up name too?

oh -

oh no

D: A... Anything...

H-He’s.... a complete fanboy too.................... holy shit. cute but terrifying he looks like much more of a schoolboy super!fan than real Shuichi

S-So wait, it’s not even autosuggestion then - he asked for it? How - how does this work with the flashback lights? It can be targeted like that??? god I’m going to have so many questions after this is all over

I think this may be the death knell for his psyche oTL I certainly wouldn’t be able to take this if I was in his position.

LOOK I KNOW I GET EXCITED ABOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT TOO

but this is a bit much c-can you please keep that drool in -

asdfkjlsdf w h a t

was

was this omitted or something

I - I swear they were kidnapped they seemed a lot more freaked out?!

Even Rantaro, who seemed to know more than he let on at the time - ?!

I... I think I really need to go back and replay the prologue.

ME NEITHER K1-B0 I FEEL LIKE I’M BEING GASLIT

d-did

did you use it on me too

That... that I can believe. No matter who they were before - if they were consenting or not - it might not even matter, if they can’t return to how they were. In a sense, the Gopher Project story was practically preparing them for it - the idea that everything they knew and loved were gone, and would never come back. Oh... oh that’s bad....

TSUMUGI IS ACTUALLY TERRIFYING

SHUT UP NAEGI

wait why is seeing him say that worse than seeing Junko say her normal despair stuff

it’s the insincerity, probably...

YOU NERFED KAITO?!?!?!

YOU NERFED KAITO!!!!!!!

okay I take back what I said Maki you have my enthusiastic blessing to recklessly murder as necessary

RIP Tsumugi and all of her new depth

“I’m also the one that kept sneaking all of the death flags into his room while you were out training every night!”

Y O O O

YOU NERFED HER CHARACTER TOO?!?!?! YOU GOTTA LET THAT HAPPEN ORGANICALLY!!!

LMAO

Souda will never show this much awareness in his actual every day fictional life and that makes this 100% funnier

Everything has a writing credit.... every single thing? Every bit of development?

Even Kokichi’s coup and Kaito’s cooperation? And Kokichi manipulating Gonta? You just seemed so - so angry about that after the trial. Surely those, if nothing else...

At this point they’re just kicking a sad, beaten-down puppy. What more could you possibly do at this point - ?!

oH GOD I DON’T WANT TO SEE THIS

WHAT THE HELL WHO EVEN SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THAT

nNOOO

NO LET ME REMEMBER HIM THE WAY HE WAS

DON’T YOU CROSS THIS BRIGHT RED LINE SHIROGANE

NO THIS IS ILLEGAL I’M CALLING THE POLICE HE LOOKS ABSOLUTELY MAD -

GHGHGGHGHGHGH

GHGHghghghghhh

ghghgh

sdkflj

n o o o o oooo o o o o o o o

gggkghk

I-It’s not a lie! Even if it was manufactured, even if it was coded into them - their feelings were real to them! It might be by design, but - oh this sounds so hollow. It’s one thing to talk about ‘fate’ and ‘this was the work of a higher power’, but having it brought down on you in such a trivial way must be absolutely soul-crushing.

this is the saddest iteration of hangover!Shuichi that I have laid my eyes on in the entire game

nihilism.

tbh I never found Izuru that intimidating as a final villain in the last game - but here? Terrifying. Maybe it’s in contrast to Junko here, who has the overbearing destructive personality of a tornado, but the quiet emptiness and lack of a higher purpose, of absolute futility that he stands for here - that scares me a lot. Maybe it’s just because it seems to bring the concept of DR’s despair to a place that I can personally understand?

I keep saying ‘this is terrifying!’ but I mean, to be fair... it... kind of is. as always, fantastic use of text DRV3!

also can someone please shut up the peanut gallery for five minutes

well damn Monokuma that one felt aimed right at me

It reminds me of what Komaeda would say about his own motivation: it was watching everyone struggle with adversity, or the ‘despair of the killing game’, with the end goal of them ‘reaching hope’ - of seeing them overcome and grow stronger for it, that drove him forward. From the outside that makes sense; seeing other people overcome struggles, even ones so terrible, give us the mental strength to overcome our own problems. But for someone on the inside looking out... how perverse would that feel, to think that your suffering is basically being used as inspiration!p0rn? Knowing that there were voyeurs getting a kick out of your struggle?

What happens to game pieces after the game board is closed and put away?

Do they go into stasis? Do they just... exist, outside of time? Frozen forever, until they’re taken out to be ‘played with’ again; left to rot?

If they ‘win’.... they have no future. There’s nothing for them to move forward to reach. A piece learning that they’re a piece, and knowing their dreams after their trials will always stay just out of reach... how can anyone move foward like that?