#i really enjoy the limited palette i'm using for this but i was also fighting for my life so [jazz hands] hfhs

[keeps-ache]

'-and she said forever'

[theultimatenonbinarynerd]

Star Wars High Republic A Test Of Courage! A Review By Mel.

Major Spoiler Warning For Those Who Haven't Read!

Introduction

Wow I'm speechless, its bit insulting I had such low expectations in the first place. I thought as a Middle Grade book or as us Brits would call it Primary School novel I thought it would just be Light Of The Jedi but with the darkness and mature themes toned down but boy I was wrong. I feel bad for the 8-12 year olds who have to witness millions of people die in the opening chapter. Just like Light Of The Jedi had an intense start with the great disaster I loved the intense build up to the steady wing being exploded. It was a perfect plot set up to help motivate our characters. Master Douglas, Honesty's father and his ambassadors all sacrifice themselves so the younger generation can survive this attack. It's super emotional and is what helps grow as they are stranded together. You really get to see the tragedy of Vernestra having to take a leadership role at the Age of 16 already knighted, Honesty living with the guilt he had a strained relationship with his father and had a fight with him before he died, Avon who has to realise that her mother sent her to the port to be safe, her droid J-6 who has developed her own conscience and personality and poor Imri who has to deal with Darkside whilst also grieving his former Master Douglas.

The themes of grief and guilt were explored thoroughly throughout the book which created a very unique book that could be enjoyed by all ages as a result.

I'm going to split my review into four main categories Plot, Illustrations/Visuals, Character Development and of course a Rating/Conclusion.

Plot

Wow I sort of touched on it in my introduction but I thought the story was fantastic due to the fact Ireland balanced making the story have deep themes and not negating its 8-12 audience very well. Grief is a very hard topic to handle but she did it very well.

I'm also glad that in order to consider her target audience she limited the cast so that younger ones can't lose track of characters. Having a limited cast allowed her to tell the story she needed to tell. I normally find the people stranded in a unknown place together boring but here it worked very well. Every chapter Ireland had me praying for the groups safety and survival especially with that nasty rain.

I also loved that Ireland made the planet just as much of an essential part of the story just as much as the characters. The fact the animals played a key part in helping discover how to survive with the fruits being the key, not to mention the sacrifice of Imris adorable furry friend. I also like how all though this book is for kids Ireland still managed to get off the brutality and beauty of the planet. Every description is vivid and makes me connect with the location and how are characters feel about it.

The stakes felt really high from Imris temptation to kill the Nhil that destroyed the ship, the acid rain and the urgency to escape the planet and hopefully make it to the Starlight Beacon dedication ceremony. For me it made the ending of light of the Jedi even more powerful for me. I loved the fact that even the characters were all under stress they did their best to try stay calm.

This plot is so memorable that its definitely going to engrained in my head forever.

Illustrations/Visuals

Even though illustrations and visual descriptions are two completely separate things, I definitely want to talk about both here as both heavily resonated.

Petur Antonsson illustrates absolutely fantastic pictures in this book that go along side the story written by Ireland, although the art style is clearly aimed at children it is absolutely stunning. I was honestly so tempted to rip out all the pages with art and pin it on my wall. Like the illustration of our core characters exploring the planet was absolutely stunning from the colour palettes to the design of the trees it was just simply amazing. Hope this artist gets to be hired outside of Star Wars because they have a great potential.

Now the visual descriptions are beautiful despite the target audience. Everything Ireland writes especially the Lightsaber battle makes you feel absolutely goose bumps. Ireland brings Star Wars to life through visual descriptions that you desperately want to be in a Star Wars film.

If your wanting this book to have good artwork you won't be disappointed at all.

Now let's get onto character development.

Character Development

Now every character was throughly entertaining and there wasn't a single character I didn't dislike apart from the Nhil of course. There was a lot of depth and personality to the characters despite the target audience of this novel and I really liked that so let's talk about all these characters and my thoughts on how Ireland writes them.

Vernestra Rwoh- An absolutely amazing developed character she has probably one of my favourite character arcs next to Bell Zettifar in Light Of The Jedi. Its very interesting that she's the student that gets higher grades and has lots of high expectations put on her as a result. As someone who's also on the Aro Ace Spec I really related to her. Also the way she grows her confidence and eventually becomes Imris new master makes me super emotional. You feel it pay off when she tells Imri that at the young age of 16 she will be taking Imri as her padawan. A master and apprentice dynamic where there similar ages is certainly something unique and I feel like it was set up well. Especially when Vernestra managed to bring Imri back to the light side of the force.

Imri Cantros- Imri had a really great arc through this book and I honestly felt like he had the strongest writing. Ireland managed to essentially make an Anakin like character but without all the confidence and cockiness. The way we see him lose his way due to his grief really connects with me on a personal level. His inner conflicts showed how human the Jedi were and that it wasn't easy being a Jedi. The build up to him snapping was written amazingly and I got goose bumps when Imri finally got to see the Nhil responsible for his former Masters death. I really emphasised with his arc and hope this amazing writing for him continues in other books he appears in.

Honesty Weft- I liked this character but he did feel a bit one dimensional at first but Ireland eventually won me other with him. I love how you see his grief in contrast with Imri. Like Honesty I also felt guilty about my Dad when he passed and blamed myself for being distance. I love how throughout the book Honesty has to deal with his grief and guilt over the fact he had a fight with his father just before he died. The fact we see him become more like his father but still his own unique person is great. I also like how humble he is after he's rescued from the clutches of the Nhil. Hope that this book wasn't the last we read of him.

Avon Starros- I love this character and found it refreshing to have another non force sensitive character that's got unique skills and is useful to the group. Every time she mentioned wanting to use kyber crystals for the good of science I was like no Avon studying kyber crystals will be bad for science as you'll indirectly help create the Death Star. So I loved that connection as I knew somebody had to have been the one to figure out Kyber Crystals. I'm also of a fan of how mischievous and resourceful she is. I love how prepped and resourceful she is with all of her inventions. As a fellow nerd I also love her nerdy rambles she has. Ireland has definitely unintentionally made an awesome autistic coded character. Her backstory is also really sad and you generally sympathize when she explains how horrible it was getting kidnapped her interactions with the rest of the cast are definitely the most memorable. Definitely one of my favourite characters and I want know must see her again in another book.

J-6: J-6 is probably my second favourite droid to ever exist in Star Wars. I always thought the droid with a personality was not well done in Solo as it was used for comedy and not explored enough. Even though Avon saids shes going to strip back J-6's personality I hope she doesn't as here Ireland writes a really sassy and independent droid. With having her own conscience you can tell how annoyed she is having to serve everyone else and not be her own person. When she let out all of those weapons I thought it was absolutely badass and thoroughly entertaining.

The Nhil: Klinith and Gwishi felt very one dimensional but I enjoyed the back and forth banter between them when they were stranded. Typical moustache twirling villians but I felt like Ireland wrote them terrifyingly. It was quite scary how easily they were able to blend in and destroy a ship with so many innocent people on it. As soon as it mentioned they were from Kassavs Nhil crew I was like oh so that's why they are so sadistic I mean we do remember when Kassav blackmailed a planet for credits to give them information on the emergences.

Rating/Conclusion

A Test Of Courage is a good book for younger audiences but is also a must read for adults if you want to understand what its like being a Jedi and how important it is to not let revenge consume. The characters are all very relatable and you will become heavily attached to them. Despite the target audience it is a book that gets you wanting more, with thrilling action for the whole family.

It's a nice memorable quick read. Therefore I give A Test Of Courage 5 stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks for reading my review, I promise I will review more High Republic once I get A Test Of Courage.

-Melody-

They/Them

[hardpacker]

KLONOA: Door to Phantomile

PS1, Namco, 1999

a couple minutes that i recorded of myself starting a new game of Klonoa, because some friends haven't seen it before. i have a longer video here, of clearing Vision 1-1 and 1-2.

sorry if i'm a little slow/clunky, i've never done this kind of thing so for the short segment above i first used some shitty freeware that unfortunately only recorded in like 5-min intervals, and for my second try i used different software that required more finessing but i used it to record up to the 2nd boss fight. maybe sometime i can do a proper run with a hot mic so you can really hear my dark nights of the soul with this children's game.

it gets even better than this!

i do have favourite games, but the truth is more that i have "games i've played" (and those are my favourites) and "games" (all other games. there's gotta be at least a hundred by now!) i'm not very good at them lol so i guess what happened is that if i'm going to sink hours and hours into something i end up enjoying it. but Klonoa is pretty breezy (haha.)

most of the games i played as a kid were distinctly of their time: strange, empty, experimental expanses full of 90s patterns and colours, with corners creatively cut. vast, sisyphean 3D platformers like Croc or Glover, all of the Myst games, virtual pets like Petz (dogz, catz) but also the Creatures series starting in 1996, and even more importantly, 1996's Fin-Fin-- produced by Osamu Tezuka's son, and while the company Fujitsu went under, Fin-Fin survives almost entirely due to a German fan site. fin-fin is genuinely perfect though, i mean look, look at this

fin-fin makes a bitch out of james cameron

meanwhile, Glover (1998)

Pokemon G/S/C were instantly and still are my favourite Pokemon installment for how much bigger and more mysterious they felt--and how much bigger they are literally! they're pretty huge games especially relative to the Pokemon games before and after. bigger still is how little is explained and how much room is left for a kid's imagination to build an experience from more simple pixels. it's a place to live in. coupled with the Pokemon 1999/2000 film featuring Lugia (my all-time fave) and my complete lack of access to any press about new Pokemon, the sense of mystery lasted quite a long time. the surprises, the entire soft but vibrant colour palette, the history and legends permeating the countryside, the simple but immersive integration of day/night and events throughout the week, and a soundtrack of top to bottom heaters... it felt personal, intimate.

compared to the newer series which i just find too stacked with convoluted elements. as of X/Y, they really began to feel like homework to me. i barely remember the plotlines after Black/White. i welcomed Heart Gold and Soul Silver, too, because it was incredible to see these beloved environments come into what was then HD focus. i replayed Crystal last summer (?) on my GBA and seamlessly remembered the way i imagined all those original environments and events. the limitations on these games make for infinite interpretation, and for me, contentment.

i don't tackle all my favourite media with the problem-solving/"what if" approach that i do with other properties... in fact it's pretty rare. games especially are a full sensory experience. Metal Gear Solid is another favourite series, special in that it's one of the few games i've repeatedly played just for the hell of it. Ace Attorney, which i was obsessed with as a young adult, i made almost 0 "content" for. i just didn't feel that impulse but still liked it all the same. versus something like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which fucked my ass up; that was a world i wanted to not only explore, but explore by creating my own ideas bound to it. the fact that JJBA has continued for so long, incorporates many genres and tones, and has been adapted into multiple formats, means it's accessible to more people and i. (i need to save all that for its own post ha ha.)

Klonoa really is dreamy though, and that's essential to the story. it starts immediately following a luscious, ominous opening, and you're rushing off with little preamble. Klonoa himself is guileless and accepting of the logic presented, while his orb friend Huepow prompts him to question meanings and intentions. but why should he question it? why should you? it's his home, and just look at it! gorgeous.

the pan flute-heavy soundtrack rips. the characters speak in individual conlangs based on Japanese, sort of like the Sims. those little enemies i'm grabbing in the video are called Moos and there are different variants-- flying moos that look like parrots, moos that hop around on what looks like an inner tube with a spring, ghost moos, armoured moos (these run fast) and giant moos (which you can blow up to receive a handful of stones, or inflate to use them as a platform.)

this is from the beach volleyball game. the guy with the heart on his head is the king of all moos.

i rented Klonoa from my small town's video store so many times that finally my parents begged them to sell it to us, and that's what happened. it's such a charming game, the colours and music and whimsical winding 2.5D tracks are cleverly and lusciously laid out. it makes no sense that this is contemporary with big time uggos Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. i loved Spyro too, because he was a little dragon and i was pretty confidently a little dragon, too. pwho doesn't love a melted ice cream-y world and a million sparkly sound effects! the closest i come to ASMR is the soft crunch of crashing through baskets of gems.

i'm grateful kids might experience a new and improved Spyro. those remakes don't rekindle excitement in me as much, only because i think i pretty much got what i wanted out of them when i was younger. and omfg Crash is something else entirely. i don't know much about those games because i was bad at them, but i played Crash Team Racing repeatedly until i sold it (and Ape Escape, a game i remember feeling genuine rage toward) to an old woman at a flea market lol. i learned last month that i'd never played story mode, didn't register that it was there at all, and it's so weird to discover a whole other aspect to this game. weird too because, like Crash proper, it's frankly a bit too racist!

now. need to talk about Klonoa more.

at the time, critics thought the games were "too cute" and "too easy", but now it seems like a lot of reviewers have gone back and adjusted their response-- the sequel is considered one of the greatest PS2 games iirc? even from the time, there are equal reviews remarking on seeming randomness of the difficulty level and, especially, toward the end, ramps up sharply. this game has some hard shit in it! especially when it comes to timing and building up momentum. lots of heights-based challenges that make me flinch and kick reflexively.

these came to me at a time with barely any internet, so games were just random items that appeared in my house or were available at the video store, not things i knew how to find or should consider finding on my own. i didn't know there was a sequel until i thought to punch "klonoa" into a search in my Netscape browser, something i could've done at any point (during my allotted 20-30min computer time) like an early human inventing fire lol. it was one of the first things i ever bought online and it came to me during a part of summer while my parents were away, and this hushed sense of freedom coloured my experience.

there are 2 Klonoa GBA games and a silly beach volleyball offshoot game as well, featuring characters from Lunatea's Veil onward. i played one of the GBA ones as a kid, Empire of Dreams, but i don't think i finished it. at the time, shrinking Klonoa into a gameboy just wasn't what i wanted-- i liked how odd and big the PS games felt, the structures receding into a darkness i simultaneously filled in and was thrilled by in its own right. and i was gutted by the story and wanted to follow it on the platform i loved most. but Empire of Dreams and Dream Championship both look so natural and very pretty, and i think these play basically like a Mario. i should try it again.

There are technically 3 handheld Klonoa games-- Moonlight Museum was only for the WonderSwan, but it can now be played as a translated rom, available here! i'm pretty sure it's intended to take place before(?) Door to Phantomile.

Empire of Dreams takes place in an indeterminate time after(?) Door to Phantomile. Dream Championship takes place after the Playstation 2 sequel, Lunatea's Veil, the direct continuation of Door to Phantomile and utilises the same foundation/mechanics.

from replaying them recently, i found out Klonoa 1-2 are being remastered for the nintendo switch. i don't have a switch so i can't compare, and i hope they retain all the same qualities. i played the Wii version of Klonoa many times and i did like it, but there is something that gets lost in each rework. even the colours and light of the switch version feel... yes, more "realistic" in some ways, but they're not as cohesive or as saturated, not as lively, a little faded. the UI isn't as unique either. i hope my impressions are wrong though and that regardless, it's still just as fun (and sad, haha.)

i'll have to show a bit of Lunatea's Veil, at least just one of my favourite locations... La-Lakoosha. i can run through it in my sleep.