#or you can read about it in the mechanisms wiki

[ne-hny-patyk]

you really got me thinking about listening to the mechanisms, could you recommend any songs? what are your favourites?

:D

One thing about the mechanisms is that their albums are story-based, so to fully understand the songs you have to listen to albums

The albums are:

Once Upon A Time (In Space)

Ulysses Dies At Dawn

Tales To Be Told

High Noon Over Camelot

Frankenstein

The Bifrost Incident

Tales To Be Told, Volume II

Death To The Mechanisms

There's no order, except that you should save both Tales To Be Told albums for last because they have links to previous albums, and Death To The Mechanisms also for last because that's the last album.

My personal favourites are Once Upon A Time (In Space) and The Bifrost Incident.

I also recommend this channel because ot has lyrics to all the songs

I hope you'll have fun!

[jils-things]

id.v is one of those games where you can say this character is your favorite and not know their lore

[elden-hicks]

A note for the fellow strugglers in TS1

Hey, it's Seth! I know how frustrating TS1 can be (considering it's age and being the first game in the franchise), so I am here to introduce a list of personal must have mods and programs, which I always use whenever I re-install the game to make it more user-friendly. The list itself is quite short, actually, since it only consists of my personal gameplay choice mods. So there's no building objects, deco, skins and heads there.

MODS AND CC

This calendar will report the day of the month to your sims and -- and this is amazing -- even introduce a concept of days off. Sims should have about every 6th and 7th day off. - THE ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE. It's in the painting section and costs 15 simoleons. Works a bit wonky with children, but otherwise a very useful mod to have.

Call work/give interview job phone plugins to give your sim a day off. - I use those mostly when sims have to take care of the baby.

A family mod by Gothi_family_4ever. - another must have in my collection, introduces the familial relationships in game! No more inappropriate relationships between relatives. It's a 0 simoleon painting, which you can delete once you've done.

A hacked frigde mod by the same author. - allows your sims to put their food into the refrigirator, call the household members for the meal, and requires the usage of products (like meat and in-game vegetables) in order to cook a dish instead of insta-paying. You kinda have to build a grocery shop for your sims, so they could buy the required products, I prefer to install the stalls into the pre-existing farm shop in Old Town area. P.S DON'T FORGET TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE INSTALLING BEFORE DRAGGING ANY FILE. As much as I love this mod, I don't, for example, use their cereal add-on.

The Elixir ExpressiBuy Computer. - a computer that allows you to buy any in-game buyable product (like vacation gifts, grocery, tonics, etc etc) in stock. They won't magically appear overnight but would be brought by a special courier npc. It also allows your sim to research logic, creativity, culinary and mechanical skills. I'd also recommend diving further into their site, since they have a lot of cool and unique gameplay content as well!

MagiCo's Bookshelf of Dimensional Storage - the official Maxis item, that was in the 'Get Cool Stuff' section. Allows your sims to keep their magic coins and ingrediends in special bookshelf storage, I mostly use it so the kids could get the ingredients for their spells from the adults. It is in the Magic section, btw

The Magic Mirror - the only outright cheat object that I have in my possesion. This mirror refreshes your sims needs, builds skills, friends, stardom, etc. Saves headaches when you are not in the mood to fullfill your sims' mood, ha-ha.

PROGRAMS

SimEnchancer 3D - basically a program that allows you to change the basic sim's attributes, including their heads and bodytypes. If you are familiar with TS2's SimPE, you'd have the idea how it works. NOTE: if you have to run your TS1 game as an administrator, you'd have to open it up in the same vein as well. And don't forget to backup your UserData files when you are working with it, just in case!

The Sims Creator - the official Maxis program for players to create some basic skins content. The program is only suitable to work with head and skins textures and not the meshes! Likewise, if you have to open the game as an administrator, you'd have to do the same with that program.

NEIGHBORHOODS

This section for the fellow premade enjoyers out there, who mostly played TS2 before and decided to give the local premades a chance as well

Here you can download the original UserData 1 and 2 if you want to reset your neigborhoods as they were if you had already played the neighborhood before and want to start anew. The Sims Wiki also gives you an instruction for how to do so.

And here you can download the additional Maxis families like The Hatfield, The Maximus, The Mashuga, The Snooty, The Jones and that weird agent White House familes. For some reasons, some of them refused to function in my game, so I had to install the empty houses and recreate them by hand, using the SimEnchancer and Wikia to give them appropriate skills and careers.

OTHER

Sims 1 Alternative UI - refreshes your game by a margin. I really recomend this one!

Well, that's basically it! I hope, my list would help you as well!

[jangmi-latte]

this is to add up from @lovee-infected's analysis back in 2020 about leona being in the lion guard (read it here) but i randomly binged-watched the lion king series and realized scar was part of the lion guard before and has a tattoo which signifies his position. was also gifted "the roar (roar of the elders)" as his weapon but he must use it wisely or else he'll lose both his position and power (to which he eventually did).

the roar is booming, thunderous, and powerful. leona's roar is loud...really loud and it's not just his roar, it's his voice in general. AND HIS UNIQUE MAGIC IS "KING'S ROAR" and he seems well-educated in his country's defense mechanism. here's the difference between "king's roar" and "roar of the elders" take note of the bolded words

ROAR OF THE ELDERS/THE ROAR (The Lion Guard)

The Roar is strong enough to blast downward-falling water upward, scatter a pile of boulders, or force someone else backward, sometimes sending them flying miles away. However, if the Roar is used in anger, regardless of the intent, it can cause mass destruction and there is a risk of it rebounding like an echo, which can cause natural disasters such as earthquakes. When used in anger, the clouds will be dark and stormy...before Kion uses the Roar, he always tells everyone to get behind him...So he [Scar] tried to employ the rest of his Lion Guard to help him overthrow Mufasa, but when they refused, he destroyed them (Roar of the Elders from The Lion Guard Wiki).

KING'S ROAR (Leona Kingscholar)

In Leona's dorm uniform card, we see him confronting his dorm mates after they mobbed on Jack. His dorm mates threatened him [Leona], questioned his position as their boss and why does he have the right to order them around. He told Jack to "stand back" while he handles them himself. To deflect them and show them his power he used "King's Roar" which resulted in his dormmates and Jack saying:

"My foothold is trembling." "The terrain is rapidly shifting." "The ground is splitting?!" (Jack)

During his overblot, the skies and the clouds turned dark (as it commonly does during overblots). It showed that it can harm a person (such as Ruggie) by turning them into dust/sand. Ruggie also mentioned how he doesn't want to get involved in a blast from Leona's unique magic's full potential. Here's to say that turning something into sand ISN'T the only thing his unique magic can do.

ruggie also mentioned during his magishift club wear card that leona's voice is loud and that they can hear him very well despite the spectators being noisy (translation credits go to @mysteryshoptls):

We can hear Leona’s voice pretty good even when we got noisy spectators durin’ a game. Guess lions just got a healthier roar to ‘em.

if the roar of the elders is used for good and must be used for good, then king's roar is the twisted version of the roar of the elders since it is seen as something dangerous instead of something that can be used for good. seeing as the leona's unique magic was feared upon by his people in the palace, the roar of the elders, on the other hand, was seen as something admirable and worthy for a person to have.

heck the roar of the elders is confiscated if they're used for bad and evil as it musn't be used for ill-intentions. meanwhile, leona's unique magic is implied to be used for ill-intentions because "anything he touches turns into sand" and what good can it bring, right?

i see what you did there twst...very clever.

[swordlike]

Why I think Muu has NPD !

with more information from trial 3 this might change, but i have npd and for now i think this bug has it too. BTW if your weird abt people with personality disorders in the notes im stealing shit from your house ! take everything with a grain of salt, im not a therapist and disorders present differently for different people, this is just for fun. so lets get into it, all the translations are from the milgram wiki <3

belief in her own superiority, you can especially see this in one of the repeat lines in its not my fault. the imagery of the mv is also very tied to the idea of this, we know the mvs are biased, meaning this is how muu sees it herself, her being queen is only natural. 

next is muu’s sureness of her own innocence, this is of course, readily apparent. this ties into several npd traits, but mainly lack of empathy and self importance. she defends herself at every opportunity, in both audio dramas and her songs. 

while i’d consider these definitely major factors, i’m more interested in these lines from its not my fault,

her fear of being found guilty, of being caught out or wrong, is very common in those with npd, the way shes trying to set up es as special and understanding to manipulate them into not hating her out of this fear is really telling (you can also see her do this in both her audio dramas). the way she repeatedly asserts her innocence and status is also a common self soothing tactic to maintain ones ego, if she was “wrong” she would have to acknowledge that she isnt as perfect as she thinks, and this fear keeps her from even acknowledging the possibility. which is to say, i think muu is slipping into the queen bee role and imagery in the mv out of the fear she is wrong, as how npd functions is the grandiose self is a coping mechanism for poor self esteem and deep rooted shame.

manipulative tendencies, muu spends a lot of her interogations talking around es to get them to see muu as innocent, in her second interrogation with es its especially clear that shes trying to talk circles around them to get them to believe in her innocence. Also this.

she also is in the habit of using others. in the not my fault amv you can very clearly see the other girls bringing muu "honey", and one can’t so she immediately gets rid of her, for people with npd this is a common maladaptive defense mechanism, if someone stops providing you with praise or status theyll cut them out to protect themselves and thusly their ego.

people with npd, are unable to regulate their self esteem on their own and as such rely on outside praise or personal success to maintain their egos, know as "supply", which is one way you can interpret the honey in this reading.

belief others are jealous of her or out to hurt her. at multiple points across milgram muu accuses others of being jealous of her and thus out to get her, which is a common symptom of npd.

due to their belief in their own superiority and suspecting others of jealousy, people with npd are prone to hierarchical thinking and can often use putting others down as a way of maintaining their position, which would make sense since we know muu was a bully.

lack of empathy, people with npd struggle with affective empathy in particular (feeling stressed or anxious in response to others negative emotions), note muu’s lack of distress over others being hurt or upset.

avoidance of situations she doesn't like, while this may seem vague, this ties into multiple symptoms, having a large sense of self importance often can mean viewing certain tasks as bellow you or being extra adverse to things you don’t want to do regardless of consequences. she often is shown shoving her work off on other people, theres SO many examples of this one but heres just a few.

black and white thinking, not much to say about this one, this set of dialogue is also her trying to talk es into thinking she's innocent.

theres also her situation with haruka which ties into several things ive mentioned, lack of empathy, using others, etc. It's worth noting she says it makes her feel that they're friends, this probably reaffirms her own importance to her

dont really know where to put this one but. its very funny how she dodges the question.

as for how i think this could affect trial three, i think muu will either completely crash and burn and despise herself (narc crash moment) or she'll lean even harder on her grandioseness to cope.

anyways theres more i could say but this post was already getting long, maybe ill add more in an rb sometime, but in conclusion:

[starferret]

You ready for the most insane and pointless theory?

So let’s talk about the Shamans/descendants of the ancients. Idk how common knowledge this is since I spend an ungodly amount of time reading the Mario wiki, but in TTYD they do explain why throughout the games they have the same name but look different. Wonky, who is essentially the equivalent to Carson/Garson, says “Ol' Wonky hears they're from a strange tribe that names people by profession. So, for example, if someone did the same work as Merlon, they'd have the same name...”

So their names are based on their profession, cool. Each of the games have some of their own shaman characters that aren’t in the others. In 64, there’s a shaman npc that sell badges in exchange for Star Pieces. In TTYD, this character is replaced with one named Dazzle, who doesn’t look much the shaman characters. In SPM, there is no equivalent, due to badges and Star Pieces being absent in this game.

So what’s the big deal? There’s a bunch of shaman characters from the first two games that don’t appear in SPM since their mechanics aren’t in the game. But there is an instance where another old character returned with a different name.

Madam Merlar and Merlumia

Now what if I said….

NOW HEAR ME OUT-

I know it sounds crazy and it totally is, but let me just be silly

Now what does this mean in the long run?

Honestly nothing. The most lore implications you can get from this is that both of them are shamans that ran away from tradition and decided to be a silly jester or something. Plus the fun design headcanon that the diamonds on Dimentio’s hat and chest are Star Pieces

Was there any point in making this post? Eh. Idk just wanted to show the mental gymnastics I go through trying to figure out any extra SPM lore

But that’s just a theory, A GAME THEORY

Ok bye-bye :]

[gachabastard]

Limbus Company Sinners as Fallen London Companions

Smashing my two hyperfixations together like dolls and making them kiss. What I'm seeking (lol) to do here is not to conflate the Sinners to existing Companions, but rather create Companions based off of them instead. If you know both things then this won't take any explaining.

For people who know Limbus Company but not Fallen London: Fallen London is a browser game made by Failbetter Studios. It is an alternate history of an 1800s London that has sunk deep below the earth into a subterranean cavern known as the Neath and is now overseen by the mysterious Masters of the Bazaar. You begin the game as a Surface-dweller who has recently descended into the Neath for certain reasons, which you are able to decide for yourself and act upon as you progress through the game. Companions are "equipment" of sorts that you can equip to increase (or lower) your character's stats. A full write-up of FL's mechanics could be another three separate posts on its own, so I recommend the wiki's Beginner's Guide and other resources therein to understand the mechanics I'll detail here. If you enjoy the writing in LCB you will most likely also love FL's writing. Please play it, it is awesome. (And lmk if you do, I'll add you as a friend and definitely not stab you in the back)

For people who know Fallen London but not Limbus Company: Limbus Company is a mobile game made by Project Moon. It is the third in a series of games, preceded by Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina, which are both available for purchase on Steam, though Limbus Company can be played independently of these if you want; the player avatar is an amnesiac so things are generally explained as needed (though Lobcorp and LoR are also very good and I recommend them, but you do have to buy those, so). The game centers around a department of the titular Limbus Company, the Limbus Company Bus Team (often shortened to LCB), the twelve individuals referred to as Sinners who make up the team, and their amnesiac Manager named Dante as they brave the ruins of the old branches of Lobotomy Corporation to retrieve strange objects known as Golden Boughs. All of the major characters in LCB are based off of classic literature (for example, Dante is based off of Dante's Inferno). If you like FL's writing you may enjoy LCB, but it is a gacha game which turns a lot of people off. For character info you can visit the Fandom wiki (yeah I know, it's a Fandom wiki), and if you want to read the story so far without playing the game you can check out this github page which contains all of the story text.

And if you don't know either...I don't know why you're reading this, but I hope my explanations and provided resources are enough to help you understand it regardless.

Okay, wall of text out of the way, let's get into the actual point of the post. This isn't meant to be balanced or anything this is just for fun because I'm diseased. Also LIMBUS SPOILERS THRU CANTO VI sorry.

Starting off with Sinner #1, Yi Sang:

Mirror-Marred Litterateur In the Mirror's glass, he observed endless possibilities. One such possibility observed him back. Watchful +4, Glasswork +2, Bizarre +1

Reasoning: Honestly? I thought about Sang Yi chilling in Parabola and that colored my whole concept here. But for real the whole Mirror thing is too perfect. Yi Sang defines Glasswork.

Sinner #2, Faust

Hell-Touched Engineer She hasn't the eyes of a devil, but builds infernal machinery previously unseen outside of Hell. Claims to know all outcomes, but shares precious little. Dreaded +2, Artisan of the Red Science +2, Decreases Nightmare build up

Reasoning: Something something Faust something something Mephistopheles something something her base EGO heals SP.

Sinner #3, Don Quixote

Dreaming Knight The only weapon stronger than a dream is delusion. Dangerous +5, Mithridacy +2, Increases Scandal build up

Reasoning: DQ is so skilled in Mithridacy she's got herself convinced of untruths, man. She's also allowed little a Scandal. As a treat.

Sinner #4, Ryoshu

Bohemian Blademaster Her masterwork blade is her brush; her enemies, her canvas. Legend has it that even the Boatman respects her work. Dangerous +4, Dreaded +2, Monstrous Anatomy +1

Reasoning: I feel like this one's pretty self-explanatory. I added a point of MA since I feel like she'd want to be a bit knowledgeable in monster anatomy for Art Reasons

Sinner #5, Meursault

Chained Stranger "The Neath is a prison," he says matter-of-factly, "And I am here because I am meant to be." Despite this, one could swear they saw the sun reflecting off his eyes. Persuasive +2, Respectable +3, Reduces Scandal build up

Reasoning: Hehe did you see what I did there. I referenced the thing. Anyway aside from being pretty blunt, he's probably the best candidate out of the whole group for Respectable.

Sinner #6, Hong Lu

Bright-Eyed Debonair New to the Neath, from an affluent Surface family. The Neath's many delights confuse and excite him. Persuasive +2, Shadowy +1, Kataleptic Toxicology +1

Reasoning: I think Hong Lu being new to the Neath fits with him being sheltered in canon. Also +1 KA cuz you know that boy is hittin that Honey. The Honey-Dens of Veilgarden already know him by name.

Sinner #7, Heathcliff

Bereaved Ruffian He knows the backstreets of London like the scars on his hands. He remembers that which the world does not, and waits. Dangerous +8, Shadowy -3, Chthonosophy +1

Reasoning: Oops Canto VI colored the fuck out of this one oops oops oops. Happy Firmament Day btw have some Chthonosophy. :)

Sinner #8, Ishmael

Zeefaring Pathfinder She's hunted the most feared creatures known to the Zee, losing her way to chart a path for her mad captain. Her compass will see that she never loses sight of her path again. Zeefaring +2, Monstrous Anatomy +3, Increases Nightmares build up

Reasoning: Ishy-Fishy you were made to embody Zeefaring and MA.

Sinner #9, Rodion

Lacre-Drowned Cardshark Born in a run-down corner of London where the Lacre falls thickest at Sacksmas, she knows a thing or two about cards. She wouldn't mind teaching you...for a price. Persuasive +4, Watchful +6

Reasoning: Heart's Desire vibes. That's it.

Sinner #10, Dante

Timepiece Manager An infernal timepiece ticks away where a head should be. They have no memories of their own, but they can never forget again. Chthonosophy +2, Steward of the Discordance +1, Dangerous -5, Reduces Wounds build up

Reasoning: Congratulations Dante on being the only bitch to not have the Discordance because the Discordance isn't real. Ummm I went off vibes here but tbh I think Dante should decrease your Dangerous by way more actually. Hell, let's make then decrease Dreaded too. Let's make them a Weasel of Woe.

Sinner #11, Sinclair

Unrealized Prodigy Young and anxious, jumping at every shadow. His potential is very promising. Dangerous +6, Dreaded +1, Increases Wounds build up

Reasoning: Sinclair may be baby. But he is Scary Baby.

Sinner #12, Outis

Commanding Oneironaut She's led the forces of Parabola to victory more times than you could count. Don't ask her any questions. Dangerous +8, A Player of Chess +2, Glasswork +1

Reasoning: Everybody shut the fuck up Parabolan War General Outis is everything to me, you hear me. EVERYTHING. She favors the Chessboard, obviously, with that +2 to APoC.

Sinner #13, Gregor

Metamorphic Veteran A large insectoid pincer sits where a right arm should be. He'll talk about pretty much anything but the details around that. Seriously, be careful around that thing. Dangerous +5, Shapeling Arts +3, Bizarre +2

Reasoning: You had to know Gregor would be the only bitch to get Shapeling Arts. Look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't. I wanted to give him Persuasive due to his amicability but also he actually. Sucks at being persuasive like canonically, so. Dangerous it is.

BONUS! Vergilius

The Red Gaze The most feared Fixer in the Neath. Whatever could you have done to strike up an alliance with him? Watchful +30, Shadowy +30, Dangerous +30, Persuasive +30, Greatly reduces Nightmare build up

Reasoning: He's the Red Goat I ain't gotta explain shit.

anyway hope you enjoyed even though you definitely didn't. i have a headache now so i'm gonna go consume painkillers and caffeine and go run mirror dungeons in lcb for that limbus battle pass.

[free-chozo-hrt]

Let's talk about the retconned lore from Metroid Prime

Way back in 2002, Metroid Prime was released for Gamecube in the United States. Play through the game, and you'll eventually reach the final boss, who is also named metroid prime! But just who is metroid prime? Well, the original release of the game had quite a lot of things to say about the final boss! There were space pirate logs that detail how the creature came to appear in its final state. You get to read about the formidable beast, and how the pirates tried and failed to keep it contained. Eventually, you get to have a showdown with this terrifying creature you've heard so much about.

A couple months later, the game released in Europe, and several of the pirate log entries were completely revised, scrubbing away most mentions of metroid prime. The creature was no longer built up as a villain, but only mentioned in passing and left largely mysterious until the final encounter. These changes would persist for subsequent versions of the game, and the original NTSC logs would not be acknowledged again.

What happened? Why did they change so much in the PAL version? Well, let's start by taking a closer look at the log entries we're not supposed to see. The following log entries are courtesy of the independent Metroid Wiki, and you can read all the old and new logs there.

The retconned logs

The following logs are all from the NTSC version of the game, and none of them appear in subsequent versions.

Pirate Data: "Metroid Prime" Test subject Z-d, hereafter referred to as Metroid Prime, was recently discovered in a cavern by mining crews. It quickly dispatched the miners, but was eventually contained by security units and drones. Once contained, we were able to begin studies upon Metroid Prime. The results have been astonishing. It is genetically similar to a Metroid, albeit on a high evolved level. It displays a limitless capacity for Phazon infusion and shows no Phazon-based degeneration whatsoever. It continues to grow in size, and while it has manifested some psychotic behavior, the cold field we use to pacify remain effective. Authorization for advanced studies on Metroid Prime have been approved.

This entry describes how the pirates chanced upon metroid prime and managed to capture it. It likely looked very different at this point in time, since they were able to subdue it and still had a lot of growing to do. They decide to keep it as a research subject.

Pirate Data: "Prime Breach" Subject Metroid Prime's breach has been contained. Reports indicate that it sensed a large batch of raw Phazon in the lab from within its stasis tank and broke through the glass, using previously unsuspected strength. Besides consuming all of the Phazon, Metroid Prime assimilated several weapons and defense systems from fallen security units. It has suffered no ill effect from said assimilation: indeed, it began to use its newly acquired weapons against us. Once we pacified it, we were unable to remove the assimilated gear without threat to Metroid Prime — the gear is now an integral part of its body. Command is intrigued by this newfound ability, and has ordered further study to commence at once.

This entry describes an incident where metroid prime escaped containment and got a hold of some space pirate weapons. The technology was permanently melded to its body and instantly made it much more threatening. Nonetheless, they were able to contain the creature for further study.

Pirate Data: "Prime Mutations" Metroid Prime continues to feed and grow ever larger in the impact crater caves. Its hunger knows no bounds, and it has begun to manifest unusual mutations since its breach. These include armor plating on its epidermis and mechanical outgrowths that generate defense screens. These screens render it invulnerable to most weapon systems, but a flaw in the mutation leads to increased vulnerability to certain weapons. It compensates for this by shifting the screens quickly. This latest development concerns Security units greatly: they feel it's a matter of time before Metroid Prime corrects this defect and renders itself invulnerable to all weaponry. Containment would be nigh impossible if this were to occur.

The pirates continue to monitor metroid prime, and take note that it is only growing more powerful. It now has armor plating and defensive screens that block most types of damage, and the pirates grow anxious that it might soon become completely impervious.

Pirate Data: "Chozo Artifacts" We are particularly interested in a number of curious Chozo Artifacts we have been able to recover from a number of religious sites on Tallon IV. These relics resonate with power, and yet we are unable to harness them in any way. Science Team is attempting to fuse them together with Phazon, believing that a link might exist between them. We know that these Artifacts are linked to the Chozo Temple that block full access to the Impact Crater. We have yet to crack this enigma, however. Command grows impatient regarding this matter: results must be produced soon.

I am including this log for the sake of completeness, even though it has nothing to do with metroid prime. It was replaced with a similarly-worded log, the only difference being that the new log implies that the space pirates have no knowledge of the artifacts' locations.

What do they imply?

There's one important thing I want to point out about these logs. The story about metroid prime assimilating space pirate armor and weaponry does a lot to explain the boss's appearance and abilities. I believe it was a very intentional choice that the player encounters beam troopers earlier in the game, who are only vulnerable to one of several specific weapons, and then this mechanic is iterated upon during the battle with metroid prime. Metroid prime's design even calls back to the armor of the beam troopers.

All this to say: according to the NTSC version, the boss we encounter at the end of the game is some kind of phazon-mutated metroid that's been souped up with space pirate technology. The logs end without any conclusion to this story, so we're left to assume that metroid prime has become too powerful to be contained, so it decided to make its home in the impact crater, where it could feast on an endless supply of phazon.

I also want to note something the logs don't tell us: where the creature originated from. The space pirates simply found it in a cave during a mining operation, so its origin is left unclear.

And that brings us to the next topic...

Why were they changed?

Anyone familiar with the lore of Metroid Prime will have noticed a huge plot hole in this story. In all versions of the game, the lore entries explain how the Chozo erected an impenetrable containment field around the impact crater to slow the rate of corruption, and the space pirates have spent considerable effort trying to break through it. This leaves no explanation for how metroid prime, the creature, could have entered the impact crater after spending time in the pirates' custody. Unless it has some unexplained method of effortlessly passing through the barrier, the story told through the pirate logbooks doesn't make much sense.

In order to fix this plot hole, all of the above pirate data entries were replaced in the PAL version with completely new ones, most of which make no mention of metroid prime. The following is the only PAL log entry which makes reference to metroid prime:

Pirate Data: "Impact Crater" Investigations into a possible ingress point for the Impact Crater continue to meet with failure. The shield of strange energy that protects it is impermeable, and all attempts to tunnel past it have proved fruitless. Our continued futility in this matter is made all the more significant in light of recent life form readings we've discovered emanating from deep within the crater. Analysis of the readings indicates that a massive creature is gestating in there, absorbing enormous amounts or Phazon from the Phazon core at the heart of the impact crater. This discovery makes accessing the crater doubly important - not only will it open the door to the vast deposits of Phazon within, but it will also lead us to this creature, whatever it may be.

The new lore emphasizes that the space pirates cannot breach the impact crater, but they can sense the presence of a powerful being inside. In this version of the game, this is our only hint towards the existence of metroid prime. It makes more sense that the final boss lurking inside the impact crater has been trapped in there the whole time, festering in its own juices, growing more powerful until our fateful encounter.

You could also read these changes as being more in line with the lore developed in the rest of the Prime trilogy. Metroid prime is implied to be the guardian of Tallon IV's leviathan core, or perhaps a mutated version of the core itself. Either way, it cannot leave the leviathan seed that it is bound to.

What was lost?

The new lore introduced in the PAL version gives no explanation for why metroid prime so strongly resembles a space pirate trooper, since according to the current canon, it would have no contact with pirate technology. We can only interpret its similarities as a coincidence. This is unfortunately a very cool design choice that will forever be a leftover of a patched over plot hole.

While I'm extremely interested in the retconned log entries as a historical curiosity, I think the writers ultimately made the right call changing the lore to be more consistent with the rest of the game and the trilogy as a whole. I know it couldn't have been an easy choice.

And hey, if you learned something new from this analysis, I'll consider it a job well done!

[nyaagolor]

Howdy again, if it's the meta world VS "real world" thing in Umineko that's got you stumbling, don't worry. The assumption Ryukishi and co. seem to be going with is that the meta world IS real, and everyone's just chilling in a happy magic afterlife post-series (hence how episodes 7, 8, and 9 can even happen). The "07th Expansion All Characters Settings Collection" guidebook even has little epilogue blurbs for the cast, I can link you the translation hosted on the wiki if you want. It's still bleak in the sense that, yknow, everyone was dead from the start and the whole journey was more of a "coming to terms with what happened" kind of deal, but I think it works given stuff like the Divine Comedy references going on (if you read Battler as Dante and Beatrice as uh, Beatrice, a lot of Umineko'll start to make sense). The way I see the split is kind of an "as above, so below" type deal - while Tohya is down in the land of the living trying to write and solve things, Battler and friends really are up there fighting for their lives in purgatory, and the two reflect each other. Of course if that's not the problem you have, I'd love to hear what you're thinking!

hiii thank u for the ask!! (sorry this will be a Long One). I'll admit the meta world / real world stuff tripped me up at first, because looking at episodes 4 and 8 it really seemed to be implying that the metanarrative was the coping mechanism of Ange+Tohya and their way of pretending like their loved ones got the happy endings they didn't get in life rather than something we can actually assume happened. However extra content implies this is not the case, Ryukishi doesn't feel like the author who would do that especially after the thesis of Higurashi, and tbh even if he did there was enough plausible deniability that I would just imagine the Golden Land as real because You Gotta Cope Somehow. I love the "as above so below" vibes too, that's a fun new aspect to incorporate

My biggest hangup with the ending was basically in the idea that Sayo's narrative is fundamentally doomed. I was under the impression that the boat scene was implying that Sayo couldn't be happy even if she did escape due to the burden of the truth / her trauma. The positive framing of the catbox remaining at the bottom of the ocean initially struck me as a "her death is the happiest ending you can hope for because of how fucked up this all is" which is already a nihilistic narrative but downright unbearable when given to an intersex trans woman. I just don't vibe with hopeless trans narratives at all, and felt like I had misinterpreted smth bc Ryukishi isn't really a nihilistic guy. I'll admit I got a little soured to the narrative as a whole when I looked around online and saw people talking about how Sayo getting a happy ending was "missing the point".

After talking to @heartgold I realized that I had reversed the causality a bit. I was under the impression while playing that Ryukishi's insistence that "things had to happen this way" was him not just saying "oh everyone is already dead, the end result is already the same bc we're looking back at past events" but also "it doesn't matter what individual actions people took, it was always going to end in tragedy". I realize now it's more of a "this was totally preventable in so many ways but it already happened and now we have to grieve and cope in whatever way we can manage" kinda thing rather than a "this is fate and Sayo was screwed regardless", so I'm cool with that aspect. (Also I won't lie I prefer to imagine the boat scene as almost entirely metaphorical and more of a representation of the fragmentation of Battler's consciousness due to trauma in a similar way as what happened to Sayo, but that's neither here nor there)

The other part of it, and the thing I'm still really hung up on, is the question of whether or not the Golden Land is actually a happy ending and, if it is real, whether we're supposed to view it as a sorta perverse tragedy. On one hand, the alters are all implied to be separate people and they get their happy endings (yay), but on the other hand that doesn't really fix nor address Sayo feeling like she needs romantic love to be fulfilled (also The Incest(?) I'm genuinely unsure if the whole "alters becoming separate entities" negates the incest or not). The idea that Sayo was so far gone that even the fantasy created from her best memories does not allow her to truly be happy is just so insanely depressing to me, so I find myself stuck with that friction of wanting Sayo to have her prince and her white horse and her fantasy happy ending while also not wanting to downplay the truth. Having this little moral dilemma feels like the point of Episode 8 and really gets us into Tohya's head, which is awesome, but also gives me a lot of mixed feelings. Knowing that Sayo's truth literally has Beatrice married to Battler makes it even tougher bc I can't just use plausible deniability and say they're platonic bc they are uh. very much not as far as Ryukishi is concerned. I'm still working out my feelings on it, mostly because I desperately want Sayo to have everything she's ever wanted but also having to contend with the little part of me that's whispering "it can't and shouldn't happen and you know it". Alas. Umineko.

PS: thank you for telling me about the character booklet, that's SO cute!!! I love the little details about everyone and the cat-ear Bern is everything I've ever wanted

[thefalloutwiki]

Fallout: New Vegas: Lucky Horseshoes

Were you previously aware that the player can play a unique version of Blackjack called Lucky Horseshoes with Festus?

Unlike the other gambling games, this is played entirely through dialog. It can be played by selecting the “I Feel Lucky” option.

You can read more about the mechanics of Lucky Horseshoes and how it is played here:

https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Lucky_Horseshoes

[wolfisblank]

Why does Five Pebbles encourage Artificer's violence? (Analysis)

Among my many strolls through the Rain World fandom across multiple platforms, I've seen a strange sentiment when it comes to discussions of Downpour lore and, more specifically, Artificer's campaign. It comes down to a variation of the following question:

Why does Five Pebbles ask for Artificer's help, and encourage their violence, even though it will prevent them from ascending?

I've seen many people call this behavior of his unexplained, or "out of character". I've seen some say it was done just to motivate the plot of Artificer's campaign, without regard for how it "contradicts" his behavior in other campaigns, and his philosophy and outlook on ascension and life in general. I'd like to argue that it is not.

When taken in the broader context of all the campaigns and his character arc throughout, and when reading the words he says to Artificer in their own campaign, this behavior makes perfect sense.

I am not interested in arguing whether or not it is congruent with his behavior in base, non-Downpour Rain World. While I believe that you could make the argument that it is, I will be discussing it in the context in which it was presented: with all of Downpour included.

There will be spoilers for all campaigns.

What He Actually Says to Artificer

When speaking to Artificer in their first encounter, he says the following. You need not read it all, as I will be going over what's important, but it is here in full for convenience and transparency.

. . . ...is this reaching you? I suppose it was only a matter of time before you ended up here. Your journey throughout my facility grounds has been incessantly brought to my attention by my overseers, thanks to the device that follows you. It is the citizen ID drone of one of my long departed creators. It seems to have been damaged, and imprinted itself with you on reactivation. Much of the data on the drone has been corrupted. Allow me to do my duty as an Iterator and resync it to my structure. . . . Little ruffian. You are stuck in a cycle, a repeating pattern. I assume you have come here because you want a way out. However, there is little I can do. A primal urge, one that tears from deep inside your very core, keeps you bound here. Even with my divine influence, there is nothing that can be done. However, if you intend to carry that device around and masquerade as one of my citizens, then perhaps you can at least properly perform your responsibility of tending to this superstructure. From the glimpses I've been shown of your journey so far, it is apparent you have a need to inflict violence against the scavenger population. While I find your way of life appalling, it seems we share a common enemy. A large pack of them has made a home in my city, and have been causing progressive damage to the roof of my structure in their attempts to gather scrap metal and other mechanical parts. As my dutiful citizen, I would encourage you to return home to your city and pay them a visit. Perhaps in that way, we can both depart from this interaction with something we desire. . . . But unless you have something interesting to show or to bring to me, it is time for you to leave.

(transcript pulled from the Rain World Wiki)

The first part is largely unimportant to our particular discussion. This is the part we care about:

Little ruffian. You are stuck in a cycle, a repeating pattern. I assume you have come here because you want a way out. However, there is little I can do. A primal urge, one that tears from deep inside your very core, keeps you bound here. Even with my divine influence, there is nothing that can be done. However, if you intend to carry that device around and masquerade as one of my citizens, then perhaps you can at least properly perform your responsibility of tending to this superstructure.

He makes himself rather clear during this first interaction. He says, "However, there is little I can do. A primal urge [...] keeps you bound here. Even with my divine influence, there is nothing that can be done."

Five Pebbles is overall a rather pessimistic character throughout all of Rain World. He believes that Artificer is beyond saving, and is not even willing to try to see if that belief could be false. The ascension ending for Artificer is another discussion entirely. What matters here is that Pebbles believes that they are beyond help, and that they are doomed to never ascend while they cling to their violence. And he has no means to help them let go of that. Besides, he has better uses for them.

When returning to him after killing the Scavenger King, he says the following:

Ah, you've returned. You know that I care very little for the creatures that wander through my facility. In your current state. I can only assume that you have found what you were looking for. For your own sake, I hope it was worth your struggle. Now, please leave. I would prefer to be alone.

(transcript pulled from the Rain World Wiki)

He makes it very clear here that he does not care about any creatures that may wander into his can. The line, "You know that I care very little for the creatures that wander through my facility," being said directly to Artificer can only mean that he is clarifying that he does not care about them. (Note that this is not a discussion of their relationship. Fanon depictions of fondness between them are fine and fun)

He viewed Artificer as a means to an end. The scavengers were damaging his structure, Artificer wanted to kill the scavengers. A mutually beneficial interaction, in his eyes. They lacked the ability to ascend, and he took advantage of that, as a justification to use them. He encouraged their violence for his own goals. Plain and simple

Pebbles Doesn't Actually Care About Other Creatures Ascending

Yes, it is true that he helps other creatures ascend, mostly out of duty. But that does not necessarily mean he cares about their ascension. He gives them basic instructions to take the old path, but that is all he gives beyond the mark.

Beyond his intended job of seeking an answer to the question, he does not care for the ascension of individuals besides him. And even then, his own personal ascension is a great taboo, something his creators forbade. Why should he obey their words and goals to the letter when he's already tried to break his programming? We can assume he is seeking an answer to the question, a triple affirmative, but he only ever vaguely alludes to his "work", which could be any manner of things. While this is likely his intended iterator purpose, it is still a bit ambiguous.

But that's besides the point.

Arguing interpretations of his general behavior is a much broader subject, and one in which I am not particularly confident. What interests me in particular for this discussion is his initial interaction with Gourmand. Once again, I will be putting the full transcript below, but isolating what actually matters. You need not read the whole thing.

. . . Gluttonous beast, what brings you to my chamber? You are like no other messenger before you. Perhaps I have underestimated the ability for your kind to communicate my existence? I may have been too rash in bestowing the mark of communication upon you. With the recent traffic through my structure however, I would hesitate to believe that you will be my last encounter with your kind. You have the same problem as everyone else, from the microbes in the processing strata to me, who is, if you excuse me, godlike in comparison. We all want a way out. However, your particular... . . . rotundness, might well imply how little you seem to care. A simple animal ignorantly accepting its existence. I do not believe my intended purpose will be much help to you. I can however encourage you and your kind to leave my facility grounds. Unfortunately, the same locks that were supposed to prevent creatures from getting in, will now prevent you from getting out. Perhaps this strategy was ill conceived after all. Allow me to just... Go west, through the underground tunnels at the outskirts of my territory. You will find the gate to the world outside of it now unlocked. In return I ask that you encourage your community, through whatever method of communication you choose to employ, to also go west. Off into the wastes below, far away from me and my work. Speaking of, on your way out please use the access shaft.

(transcript pulled from the Rain World Wiki)

He is rather curt to Gourmand, though not nearly as blunt as he was with Artificer. But specifically, he says this:

[...] We all want a way out. However, your particular... . . . rotundness, might well imply how little you seem to care. A simple animal ignorantly accepting its existence. I do not believe my intended purpose will be much help to you. I can however encourage you and your kind to leave my facility grounds.

He recognizes that Gourmand is content in their life and likely would not want to actively seek ascension as a result. So he... discourages it. If the ascension of other singular creatures mattered so much to him, he would not have done this. He did not have to open the locks around his facility grounds. He could have told Gourmand about the old path and left it at that. But the reason he does this is once again, made rather clear.

In return I ask that you encourage your community, through whatever method of communication you choose to employ, to also go west. Off into the wastes below, far away from me and my work.

He just wants to be left alone. Like with the end of Artificer's campaign, the thing he consistently makes clear is that he wants to be left alone. One could easily read his assistance in the Survivor and Monk campaigns as, "Here's how to ascend, now leave me alone." He does not like the slugcats, he does not care about the creatures that wander into his can. He finds them annoying. His goal with Gourmand is to get the slugcat colony to leave him be, and to stop coming to his facility to seek ascension. If he cared about the ascension of the slugcats, he would not have encouraged them to go further away from him, where he cannot help them ascend.

Five Pebbles' Character Arc as a Whole

Over the course of Downpour, we see a clear character progression with Five Pebbles. He is angry and hurt and ashamed. But as the story progresses, and time wears on, he starts to lose that anger. He, in his pessimism, comes to believe himself beyond saving.

I cannot run away from my mistakes forever. There is nothing else that can be done now. Please, do this for me. I've made my choice.

(dialogue from his initial interaction with Rivulet)

His overall character progression can be seen through his interactions with the slugcats. Spearmaster he has no patience for, harming them and killing them if they return. Artificer he uses for his own ends, and when annoyed, he makes it clear that he would kill them if he could. Hunter he helps for Moon's sake and due to their similar plight. Gourmand he sends away. Survivor and Monk he encourages to ascend. Rivulet he asks a final favor of, thanks for the company, and thanks for their help. And Saint, he can't say much to, but what little he expresses is gratitude for the company.

I used to be furious at the idea of creatures crawling through my superstructure. However, I am actually grateful for this rare opportunity to not be alone.

(dialogue from Rivulet's campaign)

He behaves this way towards Artificer simply because he just hasn't gone through his arc yet. He is still angry and hurting. He is still isolating himself. He is still ashamed over his failed ascension, and what happened to Looks to the Moon. He still has yet to come to care about the creatures around him. And he still has yet to realize that he doesn't have to be alone.

While I wish there was more I could do for you, my time is running out. These ordeals have made me understand what they all tried to tell me. ...I don't have to go through this alone.

(dialogue from Rivulet's campaign)

[skelswritingcorner]

An Unfamiliar Place

A/N: Ah yes, my first foray into writing anything Transformers related. No specific characters are mentioned, I'll have to consult the wikis and read the comics before I even try to add any characters.

Also First Contact AU stuff WOOOOOO

Reader is gender neutral.

Word Count: 409

Warnings: SFW, mentions of injuries and blood (no gore tho)

Edit: A version of this that was not written while watching a clown Vtuber can be read here.

Everything was so massive to you, yet familiar. Like you were a doll in a normal sized house. However, there was no time for that. Not with the injuries making you bleed out from so many places you can’t figure out all of them. Clutching at your side, where you 100 percent knew you were bleeding the most, you stumbled your way through the unfamiliar territory.

You had to find somewhere to hide, and hopefully tend to your wounds as well. At least figure out where you got injured during the crash. If anyone’s in here, they’re looking for me. You thought to yourself. Fortunately, you had the gut feeling to have some medical supplies in the several pockets of your jacket and pants that you can patch yourself up with. If you didn’t have that, you’d be fucked.

Limping against a wall, you found a potential place to hide. You weren’t sure how long you could hide before anything detected you, but it’s a place to hide. It looked like a metal crate to you, about the height of a shipping container. There was the slightest gap at the side, which you eagerly shimmied into.

There were glowing pink cubes inside, light enough for you to check your wounds. Lifting up your jacket and shirt, you assessed the damage to your torso.

A decent amount of blood was trickling out. Not flowing as much as before, but still enough to be concerning.

It might’ve dripped on the floor.

The ones here might see the blood, they could find you.

You unzipped the pockets of your jacket, grabbing something, anything, that you could use to cover the hole. Stuffing a large cotton ball inside was the most you could do.

Fortunately, that was pretty much the only injury that needed treatment. It was just scrapes and scratches from what you could see.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Mechanical whirls, growling of machines speaking vowels and consonants. Did they notice blood? From what you could tell, there were at least two speaking. Will they notice you? Will they help you? Or will you die here, succumbing to either your injuries or an infection?

The voices and thumping stopped. Mumbles from the mechanical beings started, then a set of footsteps got closer and closer to where you were. You squeaked, unsure if they’ll even consider trying to help you.

What looked like a finger prodded the gap you entered, then pulled it open.

(Sorry this was super brief, I don't know how to continue this or what characters to include. Hope y'all enjoy this funky thing I wrote at midnight :3)

[jasonswh0rre]

(Delete if too weird, too heavy or simply not allowed)

I loved the psychological analysis of Jason Todd through his story in Arkham and I love the accuracy and the explanation of every possible disorder or trauma that the events on the game/comic caused him.

I was wondering (and I'm not really sure if it's even canon or fanon) the idea of Joker feeding Jason rotten, poisoned and for sure other inedible things during the tortures. By that idea, what kind of aftermath would have left in Jason's mind?

Hello! I'm very happy you loved my analysis.

I am a little inept as to the comics but I have watched videos that explain the Arkham Genesis story as well as just reading the Jason Todd wiki page so I'll try my best to answer.

Based on the videos that showed comic pieces of Genesis, Joker fed Jason inedible items such as things like dead rodents, poison, etc. Considering this would have been happening for nearly 2 years this greatly would impact his relationship with food.

Survivors of long-termed forced consumptions often develop eating disorders or a straight aversion to food in general. For Jason, food could be a trigger, associated with his captivity and feelings of helplessness. He might experience anxiety or panic at the sight or smell of certain foods, or even at the thought eating itself.

To my knowledge and what I've read on him through wikis, Jason was much short and weighed less than the average child during his stint as Robin. Taking that into consideration, this makes his experience of being fed rotten or poisoned food even more damaging, given his body was already vulnerable and malnourished.

Now as an early 20 year old man, given he's 200 pounds surely this means process, right? Well that's only half right, it is without a doubt remarkable. However, the trauma associated with food and eating might still linger hindering any real progress in recovery. Besides, I have it on good authority this change was due to two things: 1. Motivation by a desire to distance himself from the vulnerability of his past trauma and 2. Sheer will to be strong enough defeat and Batman.

Diagnosing him with an eating disorder, I might be inclined to say Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. The unique thing about this disorder is it is not caused by a negative body image. It's characterized by a failure to meet certain nutritional needs leading to weight loss, nutritional deficiency, or even being required to use feeding or oral supplements.

Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa with trauma as its factor. Now these disorders are linked to a lack of self esteem and body image. However they can develop as maladaptive coping mechanisms as a result to trauma. I could see Jason exhibiting behaviors associated with those disorders as a way to exert control over his body and environment.

[corvuscorona]

"You Never Forget Your First Love."

The other day, a mutual (hi! you know who you are I think probably hello hi! thank you for the Posting Impetus!) said something that made me curious (for, like, the 80th time, actually; lol. I Have Thoughts) about something: what's the split on people who subscribe to the "Stranger of Paradise probably intended for us to believe that Jack & Sarah were in love" mindset, vs. not? In general, but ESPECIALLY around these parts.

I genuinely didn't read it that way myself (& I do NOT normally give media (general) this much credit, but the writing in this game is sublime; I had no choice but to fully engage Scholar Mode on it), + I think it's interesting that SPECIFICALLY any of my fellow tumblr people / AO3-heads / Gay People Online / etc. seem to have. (I expect nothing from people who haven't been basting themselves in the same online sub-subcultures as me for over a decade. They're allowed to write wrong things on wikis, and have done so already; it's whatever.)

I wanna metapost badly again, so let's go. Join me. No poll. If you have an opinion on this, I'm looking directly into your eyes and beckoning you towards your own keyboard + also the reblog button / comment section, like a weird ghost. What did you think when you first played the game?? What do you think right now? What are you about to think after you have read a bunch of my words. Tell Me. I Need To Know This.

Spoilers for, idk, everything? Today we will use everything we've got to talk about Princess Sarah.

1. As a Narrative Element

This game makes a point of referring to Sarah as things like "a symbol of hope and peace" as often as possible, & when it isn't doing that she's usually in the role of An Object Or Device Of Some Kind, anyway. She's important because she's capable of holding light and dark in balance & SOMEONE'S gotta hold onto this dark crystal for safekeeping, and also we're gonna need to upset that balance on purpose later. There's that conversation in the Wicked Arbor about whether the Strangers would "choose" her (as opposed to "treasure") as the "reward" for succeeding in their mission[1], & there's the one in the Sunken Shrine where Jed asks Jack what he thinks of her and Jack says that he doesn't care about her as a person[2] BUT that protecting her is mission-critical (lol), too.

Sarah's death is metaphorically charged. It's the point of no return: the dark crystal breaks, the balance of light & dark gets extremely ruined, & Literally All The Darkness In Cornelia converges in one place (Fool's Missive XXVII). That's the payoff for the "symbol of hope and peace" motif, and communicating this idea that "the metaphorical light of hope just For Real Died, Like Catastrophically Imploded, No Take-Backs" feels to me like it was the highest priority here. Second-highest goes to "Jack had way more humanity before, but he set it aside on purpose and is actively in the middle of losing the rest of it." "Sort of." "I'm not getting into what counts as humanity or doesn't because if I did we would be here forever."

Basically, I'm saying that the tidiest read on the situation is "Jack despairs because Sarah dying means in a very literary and final way that everything is ruined forever, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with, like, Love (romantic)." I don't think the text of the game is particularly signaling that Love (romantic) is involved, and I think that if it meant to, it would be more obvious about it. You could bundle "an romance" into the "humanity" thing if you wanted to, but I'm not inclined to, based on some additional list items that you can read below this one.

[1] The fact that Neon ALSO says she feels bad for her for being thought of in this way only reinforces my conviction that the game is pointing at Sarah & yelling "REMEMBER THAT SHE IS MOSTLY A SYMBOL!", tbh. Who wants to go point out how freaky the mechanics of Being An Royalty are w/ me and the boys??

[2] I will give the Wiki WrongPosters this: I can totally see this as some kind of irony thing, given that he's still missing like a fucktillion of his memories when he says it. However! As mentioned above, I have other reasons not to read it as evidence that he was ever, like, romantically interested in her.

2. As a Sheltered Youth™

We don't have a TON of information to work with RE: Sarah as, like, a person, but here are a couple of hard facts to start with: she's 19 (per the data book, but she'd have to be somewhere in the 18-to-early-20's age range regardless or her whole deal wouldn't really make much sense, imo. She's a baby...!), and she's royalty. I think this ties into her utility as a walking metaphor, among other things; she's archetypically young, fresh, & idealistic. I'd call her naïve but the game obviously isn't interested in portraying it as a weakness, so positive words only; why not.

You could argue that people look to her as a symbol of hope because she hasn't directly experienced enough strife to exhibit hopelessness or fear in response to bad news in the abstract. I find it interesting that before Jack, like, knocks the wind out of her & tells Sophia to take her outside so she can see for herself how bad things have gotten at the end of the game, she says that her duty is to die with her people if she has to, & it doesn't even seem to occur to her that she could lead at least some of them away to safety...? When she changes her mind, she still talks about herself as a symbol before she ever uses the word "leader". She sees HERSELF in terms of symbols and metaphors, and takes action based on her designated role As One Of Those. Not very practical.

There's also the dialogue you can have with the queen the first time you're allowed to run around in the throne room at the beginning of the game, where she asks Jack to smile in front of her daughters (NOT just Mia; daughters, plural). Even if she only means "dude can you be polite please," the fact that this is The thing she has to say to Jack is telling. Is it going to upset your 19-year-old daughter to see that the Guy Whose Job It Is To Kill Monsters looks serious? Why do you think this? Does your 19-year-old daughter understand how serious the situation is, generally speaking? Do you not WANT her to for some reason? Boats don't work anymore unless a weird elf messes with them first. Not thinking very hard about the implications of this is something a sheltered person does.

Residual time loop un-memories aside, a young woman in this situation is so obviously going to have a huge crush on Jack Garland no matter what. He Is So Cool, first of all, & he's also Different from the adult men she gets to see on an everyday basis (family, guards, rando townspeople[3]...). It's not like the political social scene could POSSIBLY be thriving in this world, either; it all seems to be one kingdom we're dealing with and they're kind of busy with the external threat of being Under Fucking Attack By Monsters. Does she even get fun treats like "handsome visiting dignitaries" & what-have-you? The game doesn't present us with any potential options, here. Jack is mysterious, he has special-boy Warrior of Light status, his one job & apparent life's purpose is protecting the kingdom she loves, he's pretty nice to her (even in later cycles he at least goes out of his way to be polite!), & additionally, he's shredded. THIS makes sense to me.

There's a Q&A in the data book that has something to say about JACK as a symbol & what that has to do with this whole thing but we'll get there. We'll get there.

[3] Tangent: what's up with how Cornelia's entire adult male population appears to consist of aging queens. Why did they only make models that look Like That for the NPCs? It's awesome but I have 1 quastion

3. JACK JUMPSCARE !

I'm not about to say that he's just humoring her, or anything, but please humor ME for one second & put yourself in Jack's shoes. Not the default shoes; we can have more fun than that. Maybe the Banded Boots. Blurple ones? Shaped like a cartoon would wear them? Big spikes on the back for no reason? I love those things. Anyway, you're Jack. You're working for literally the king, & the work means Everything to you for reasons you can't even necessarily explain except to say that it JUST does. The king's eldest daughter (very young adult; Never Been Outdoors; a little overly-sociable but nice enough & what do you expect from a princess, anyway) has imprinted on you like a duckling for whatever reason. You would be nice to this person, yes? You'd be patient with her while you're in town. You have Brutal Murders to be doing, but not until, like, 2 days from now, or whatever; you're sharing space with her in some capacity in the meantime & it's in your best interests to keep her happy. (You probably even enjoy doing this, if you're Jack of a Way Earlier Cycle; I'm in no way ruling that out. Sharing your music collection with an enthusiastic Baby Adult? That's fun. I think he was probably having fun. Okay, you can step out of the fun purple shoes if you want; the Humoring Me Minute has concluded; thanks.)

Also, @2000sanimeop and I think that if Jack felt that way about her Astos would have been a little More Something about how much it was gonna suck for him when she died. In Fool's Missive XXVII he uses the word "painful," but that's about it. He doesn't even bring it up in XXV, which is the one where he says he's curious about whether she'd survive being turned into a fiend (side note: Astos fucking rocks. Why did he write that down?? I love him). & Hey SPEAKING OF ASTOS,

4. I wouldn't put Jackstos on a wiki, either.

The writing in Stranger of Paradise, SERIOUSLY, WITHOUT EXAGGERATION, is some of the best I've seen in literally anything ever. It suits not just its medium but also its sort of Place in History Relative to Other Video Games & the things it chose to DO with that medium & that niche INSANELY well. It is CUSTOMIZED. It's SO INTENTIONAL. I can't get too far into this or we'll be here all day, but the essence of what I want to say here is: there are relatively few facts presented to us by this game, compared to the implications we can go about drawing from those facts & other, external sources of context.

Sarah calls Jack her first love; that's a fact. No facts are presented to us that REALLY say much one way or the other[4] about what Jack thinks of this, himself; "fucktillion memories missing" Jack says he doesn't care, but he's missing a fucktillion of his memories, and DLC2 Jack has a set of dialogue options (hi Anne the Malboro I love you Anne the Malboro) that can point either way depending on what the player chooses, which is kind of nothing, on balance. As the audience, we can (should!) draw whatever conclusion we want about it, but none of those conclusions are text.

[4] I WILL GET TO THE DATA BOOK IN ONE SECOND. HOLD ON.

And, okay, please let me level with you. Let's be on the same page. Jack & Astos had some kind of thing going on, imo, OBVIOUSLY, but I want to be CLEAR and I want to get CREDIT for the things I'M bringing to the table to help generate this conviction. I drew that conclusion & I read that reading based on subtext, context, personal history, personal preference, & sheer gay zest for life. It is also, emphatically, NOT TEXT.

Astos refers to Jack with the ol' "...friend" in Fool's Missive XXI. He calls him "my Jack" in Fool's Missive XXXI. Canonically, textually, he has some big fucking COMPLICATED fucking feelings about this man. These are facts. If you're playing this game as Some Guy, I can see how you could potentially absorb these facts & still pay them much less regard[5] than I did & continue to. My argument here is that god I wish I lived in a world where Some Guy could extend the same courtesy to me and not treat Sarah's textual affection for Jack as something that necessarily indicates Some Kind Of Reciprocal Romantic Whatever, Definitely, Obviously, Of Course.

[5] Longer Tangent: I have been informed that the Some Guys of the world are currently pretty good at Recognizing a character that behaves in a way that's Pretty Gay, but tend to stop there, possibly for the combined reasons that A. they're not very familiar with a lot of the the ways gay relationships often work (you know, soul resonance. mutual recognition. sharing a brain etc.) and B. the Object Of Affection is usually the player character and they subconsciously shy away from thinking of a Guy They're Supposed To Identify With as gay. This is practically a lead-in to an entire separate post I could make, so I'll leave it at that, lol.

The writing is too good for that kind of assumption! I'M SERIOUS!! It's mind-blowingly subtle & endlessly fascinating to hold up to the light & view from every possible angle, and "Jack & Sarah were in love" + "Jack & Astos were in love" are BOTH ANGLES. I'm personally very very interested in giving the text credit for that. I think it's impressive. I think it's really, really cool, and I think it was on purpose. Speaking of which,

5. Word of God agrees with me, btw

This is from the Q&A section on page 156 of the Confidential File. The translations below are my own (I think they're straightforward enough, but lmk if you know more than me & I'm actually being stupid in there somewhere. Alt text has the JPN, if you want to copypaste it or something). Someone asked:

Why is it that you established Garland as someone Sarah has a romantic interest in?

The answer is from Daisuke Inoue (director, one of 3; the other 2 are from Team Ninja; he's from Square Enix):

That was because, from a narrative standpoint, we wanted Sarah to be the kind of person who holds onto hope. You can imagine that she saw the "hope" to save the world in Jack, a potential Warrior of Light. Sarah is seen by her people as a symbol of a bright future, but if there were nobody to give her hope, that might destabilize her emotionally. As for whether she felt genuine love for Jack, or just mistook her feelings of admiration towards him for "first love," we'll leave that to your interpretation.

The first time I read this, I thought the question was implying the aforementioned Reciprocal Something, but on closer inspection that doesn't even seem to be true! "思い人" seems to indicate a directional relationship; as in, the question assumes that Jack is an object of affection to Sarah, but assumes nothing about what Jack thinks.

Also, the answer uses the word "初恋" (hatsukoi), which is a very established Concept as far as "first love" goes, but in that one cutscene, Sarah says "初めての恋" (hajimete no koi), which is. Different, but I couldn't tell you how, lol. It's Not The Exact Same Phrase, but I'm not sure whether it's meaningfully different in this context. If I had to guess, I'd say that IF ANYTHING it could be a way of saying "first love" without invoking the cultural CONSTRUCT of First Love (as much)? But it's whatever. The localization holds up. All sources show that Sarah had Feelings about Jack, and all sources CONSPICUOUSLY neglect to mention Jack's feelings about her.

It was on purpose. This is my license to be as annoying as I want for one second here. I am right. All the other writing in this game is notably subtle, efficient, intentional, and skilled, AND ALSO, WHEN do you ever see anyone write such a richly beautiful, mostly-subtextual relationship between two men, which can easily be read as a romantic thing, and NOT explicitly canonize a very possible romantic relationship between at least one of those men and a woman, like not even in an interview or anything. What the fuck, man.

I'm putting away the Respectable Scholar Hat now. This is so funny. The person asking this question didn't EVEN go as far as assuming Jack & Sarah had any kind of Actual Romance going on, & the answer STILL dials it back to "she might have been conflating her feelings about Jack AS A SYMBOL with actual affection, also. We'll let you decide : ) ". This game is everything ever.

[linkedin-corp]

okay heres the timeline/series of events for my "chimera vivian" au <- guy who needs to make a better name for it

ONCE AGAIN WARNING FOR LOOOONG POST! bring popcorn

and yes before you ask i Did write this in a Sort Of. wiki "plot explanation" type of fashion, mainly because i was thinking in the pov of like. if this was actually part of the game. idk why i did that. helps me think about the mechanics of everything more

the au begins once the party reaches the shadow palace , on a seemingly normal path to completion

the party is tired from traversing through the shadow palace once they reach gloomtail

gloomtail is significantly harder, and eats vivian halfway through the fight

the party flees due to this

they take refuge in rogueport once again to try and think of a way to get her back

they find the real frankly still in rogueport, and tell him of what happened

frankly is visibly very stressed and panicked after they tell him this and he digs through multiple books to find useful information; eventually he tells them of a very powerful magician that very briefly mentored the four heros of old, whos tale was lost to time due to the thousand year door story

the party has to find a certain someone who would be willing to take them to a dangerous dungeon that the magician is rumored to live

once they do, they need to do a favor for them so that this person can trust them

once this favor is completed, the guide introduces themself and their own party, who coincidentally wants to visit the magician themselves (though most of the party is more interested in the riches)

after a nice ‘getting to know eachother’ dinner, the next day they head off

meanwhile, the shadow queen awakens due to the time of the doors seal being up

grodus still tries to take control of the shadow queen, but fails

the shadow queen remains within the shadow palace, and plots a way to stop mario before they return with the crystal stars (also spends her time creating many creatures that wreck havoc while the party is away)

the two parties have some trouble along the way, including a handful of very overpowered enemies (as theyve traveled into the untraversed areas of the map, looking for the magician's dungeon)

once they finally find it, the trials inside are sort of like the pit of 100 trials and keelhaul keep combined

the dungeon is huge and full of life, (like the dunmeshi dungeon) they get lost inside a few times due to the secondary party’s leader reading the map wrong accidentally

a huge puzzle lies before the final room of the dungeon, the crystal castle (now abandoned and visibly crumbling)

inside lies a cloaked boss that can shapeshift into previous bosses mario's party has faught; once they defeat it, it reveals itself as the thousand year old magician. (“well done for combining your strengths to defeat me!”)

because they defeated them, the wizard allows them to request anything they want of him. mario tells the wizard they need him to help revive vivian

the wizard only agrees to help if mario acknowledges that revival magic is very fickle, and that it may not work perfectly or as they intend. they agree, as it's their only choice

the party makes the trek back; noticing the enemies in their path have become increasingly more difficult to defeat ; luckily, having the wizard on their side helps tenfold

on the way back, one of the secondary party members gets severely wounded. this forces them to reveal themselves as doopliss. (“beldam .. she was rude, but these guys seemed kind to eachother. i thought i wouldve been able to finally fit in with a powerful group.”) (doopliss wouldve appeared after gloomtail with beldam and marilyn, but because mario’s party did not appear when beldam had expected, he had time to rethink and turn back after beldam was using him as a verbal punching bag)

the entire group returns eventually, moderately unscathed. unfortunately, rogueport and adjacent towns are in ruins because of the shadow queens minions

the secondary party ends up staying in rogueport to help the locals with their infestation problem

mario’s party returns to the thousand year door with the wizard and goes back to gloomtail to defeat him

after they defeat him, they notice vivian isnt being spit out like koops dad

the wizard tries to use the revival spell, but everyone is filled with tension and worry because of the unexpected circumstances

the spell of course backfires, and vivian is revived— only alongside gloomtail as well (chimera time)

just as ‘vivian’ wakes up, the secondary party arrives because their leader got worried for their safety (and surprisingly, they cleaned up rogueport quite quickly)

vivian freaks out, heavily injuring many of them in the process

after a very confusing fight that got pretty much nowhere (as mario’s party didint want to harm vivian), she flees

mario’s party and the secondary party form up and decide to yet again return to rogueport to heal up

mario insists the secondary party stays behind; after much arguments on both sides, they agree

the wizard stays behind to help the secondary party heal as well, as he doesnt want to make any more preventable messes with his rusty work

mario’s party visits frankly to try and get advice on how to turn vivian back

he suggests the only way to do so is by sealing away the shadow queen, as once she is sealed away, all of the shadow palace subjects will be sealed away too

mario asks how will they make sure vivian is safe while also making sure she doesnt kill anyone else

frankly suggests perhaps using the power of a crystal star to do so (“maybe jogging her memory so she can gain control might help!”) (if you feel like doing other stuff at this rate (stuff like mindless quests like the help board n stuff), you can try and help other towns get rid of pests made by the shadow queen— you of course get rewarded for doing this — doing it also makes the shadow queen weaker during the final fight)

mario’s party returns to the shadow palace to try and find vivian (this takes maybe like 30 minutes of going through each room except the ones right before the shadow queen; you follow vivian's footprints) while also trying to avoid the shadow queen and her minions

once they find vivian and corner her, mario shows her the ruby star, which makes her lash out as if she were in immense pain before passing out

it takes her awhile to wake up, but mario’s party stays with her to make sure she gets up

once she does, her memories are retained and shes much calmer now (but can barely speak, only uses hand signs and warbled speech)

almost immediately after vivian wakes, the shadow queen finds them and corners mario’s party, hoping to get rid of them once and for all

due to now having vivian back, the party is able to defeat the shadow queen, and seal her away

once she is finally sealed again, vivian returns to normal (albeit with a few permanent changes)

rollllll credits

most of these details are. not entirely set in stone , obviously, so i might be editing this occasionally or talking about stuff ive changed. obviously i havent figured out the details with the new party or the wizard yet, but i will ! eventually !

i have a vague idea of what the secondary party might consist of for now, so ill be updating on that periodically

[sparkyblizz]

I need to talk about Robonyan and B3-NK1. if you're a fan of whatever the hell these two have going on, please read through this entire post I beg you. (I am a Fellow Fan of whatever the hell these two have going on and I'm just rambling about the hilarity of the writer's decisions, especially looking at episode 119.)

I'm gonna set the scene. been a fan of the game for years. used to watch the anime with my parents back when it aired on TV. I watched episode 23. even back then, even though it was the dub, with reanimated scenes, I picked up on what they were putting down. eventually forgot about this, went about my life. years later, talking about queercoding in video games with friend. bring up Yo-Kai Watch, talking about another instance of queerness, and then I remember episode 23. go to the wiki, research it. lose my shit when I find out that the version that I saw on TV was edited to make it less suggestive. also lost my shit when the wiki said the Latin American dub skipped it entirely. I just need you to know that because it's hilarious to me.

I ended up rewatching said episode, but the subbed version. the original, unedited version. holy shit. anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I learned about episode 85 and the Komasan Taxi segment. I watched it (subbed version). it seems the complaints may be from real viewers. I can't say I can prove that, but it is extremely funny, because Robonyan (at this point upgraded to Robonyan F) gets put on blast by someone's disapproving mother. Robonyan F becomes increasingly more mortified, trying to explain what happened by first saying that he's from the future and it's different there (hilarious excuse, based) and that it's B3-NK1's fault (which, I mean, he was the one who stuck his naginata in Robonyan, so, fair enough man). you might think at this point that the writers are gonna try and backtrack, apologise, something! you would be wrong. they FUCKING DOUBLE DOWN. Koma bros bring B3-NK1 in. guy is friendly and immediately initiates conversation with Robonyan F who cannot handle this situation at all, and the fact B3-NK1 just comes off friendly and relatively casual is amazing to me. (at least, that's how the subs where I watched it portrayed him.) peak writing decision. Robonyan F tries to not be horny, ends up being horny anyway. writers are committed to the bit. AND THEN THERE'S EPISODE 119. I only briefly perused tumblr to see what the fandom's got to say and I had yet to see anyone acknowledge episode 119. I myself was intent upon finding it and watching it after I see this in the wiki.

me, looking at the wiki saying B3-NK1 "distracted" Robonyan F: "what do you mean by that?" I just had to know the full context. so I watched the episode (subbed as well). and if you haven't seen it, let me explain its relevance. Nate and several other Yo-Kai end up competing in a grand prix. one of the racers is Robonyan F. according to the subs (which I know may differ depending on where you watch the show), Robonyan F is the crowd favourite. he's got a cool ass car (that he himself seems to be a part of) that manages to break free of the ice that trapped everyone else, caused by Blizzaria, who is also one of the racers. B3-NK1 is cheering for Robonyan F. he has a flag with Robonyan F's face on it attached to his naginata. he says that as they're both mechanical yo-kai, he'll cheer him on. he waves the flag excitedly. he then does something reminiscent of a cheerleader—he shouts "Hooray! Hooray!" then cheers Robonyan F's name, punctuating each syllable by swinging the flag—and his naginata—in a different direction. he then twirls it in his hand and it spins out of his grip and out of control, and ends up flying onto the track and embedding itself in the rear of Robonyan F's car. this causes him to lose control, the car starts transforming into references to different anime, and then promptly veers off the racetrack and smashes into a rock, making him the first racer to lose. he is in eighth place, LAST PLACE. that detail is hilarious and important to me. what this episode tells me is that the writers not only doubled down, THEY TRIPLED DOWN. they did it again! they made the joke again! and the way they do it is criminally funny. I'm just imagining that in the writer's room, they decided that they needed Robonyan F in this race because robot and robot car. but Nate has to win the race, which means everyone else has to lose in an interesting way. what's the best way to make him lose? reference episode 23 again! B3-NK1 is here purely for the joke! he's cheering him on, excitedly to boot! he seems genuinely happy to be here! but oops! he accidentally loses control of his naginata and it goes and stabs Robonyan F's car, and by proxy him, in the ass, and is what puts him in last place. FUCKING L. has this happened enough times for it to be a running gag? it might as well be one!

anyway I just like episode 119's implication that B3-NK1 at the very least likes Robonyan F, enough to cheer him on happily. even if it's just for a gag! love wins!