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squeerpia · 2 years

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Ey can I ask you about serial experiments lain? I watched the anime and I could use some help

I've probably had this in my darfts for years and I am answering now your question I'm sorry but here we go.

⚠️⚠️ I might include a bunch of spoilers so SPOILER ALERT and read carefully if you want to watch this show for the first time. Also TW because we might speak about topics like s*icid*, d*ssoc*ation and cults. ⚠️⚠️

Every episode is called layer 1 to 13 and those layers have also a name that is associated with the theme that is exploring the episode:

Layer 1: Weird

Layer 2: Girls

Layer 3: Psyque

Layer 4: Religion

Layer 5: Distortion

Layer 6: Kids

Layer 7: Society

Layer 8: Rumors

Layer 9: Protocol

Layer 10: Love

Layer 11: Infornography

Layer 12: Landscape

Layer 13: Ego

The first scene of the first episode, Chisa, a girl that studies in the same secondary school as our main character, Lain, k*lls h*rself jumping off a building. The death is not at all explicit as we start to see the kind of scenario that the show is going to portray: flashing lights, blurry backgrounds, scenarios that don't really make sense but they are understandable and the constant focus on cables or wires. That's where the play on words begins: the alias of the internet in this show is called the wired, which ties with the name of the layer 1, the weird. The wired is introduced to us through a chain of emails that Chisa is sending to her schoolmates after her death, saying that she found God in the wired and inciting everyone to commit s*icid* too, so they can find God. When Lain reads the email she starts to deep dive throuhg the wired to find out what is it really about. The wired sounds very similar to weird, the unknown, which keeps deepning in the misterious and dreamlike atmosophere that is being constructed. It also sounds like wires, which are all around the city. That's a representation of the collide between the real (the city) and the unknown, the virtual, the alternative or, in this case, the wired. This can also be seen in Lain, that is obviously related to line, as a connection or a bridge between the werid and the real world.

Layer 01: weird

These play on words keep going in layer 2, Girls, when Lain meets with some girls from her class to go to a night club called Cyberia. The annomalies keep going, as they encounter a catfish of Lain, a girl that looks identical to her and keeps causing problems around the club. They also find an unspecified drug, in the form of a capsule, that turns into a microchip in their hands. This ties up with the next episode, layer 3, psyche. Lain receives a microchip to enhance the potency of her computers, the ones that she has been using to dive through the wired. It was an annonimus gift from a group called the Knights. All these elements are bringing another layer to the wired: there is not only a collision between real world and virtual world, there is also a fusion between mind (psyche) and the machine. This will be touched up upon later, but mind or psyche is not only refering to the concious or the actions of the person that gets in touch with the machine, but the identity and humanity of the person that is slowly transfering into it, even in a spiritual way. That bring us to layer 4, Religion.

Here, we are introduced to phantoma, an online game made by these group, The Knights. It is used by them as a kind of "recruitment" for their mission, which is to connect as many people as possible to the Wired to begin their "ascension" to a hyperreality (the Wired). It is seen as a mimic of heaven in the spiritual sense, where your soul goes once it leaves your body, but the ascending is not through a moral doctrine, that makes you deserving of the paradise once you die. The promise is that if you commit su*c*de, you'll ascend to the Wired, and they use these microchips and techno-drugs seen in layer 2 and 3 to introduced people into the sensorial experience of the Wired until they don't even need a computer or any device to connect to phantoma, as their mind is already connected. Phantoma is a hook for young teens that are into games and get trapped until they are so merged with the server that if they lose/die in the game, they die in real life too. This obssesions and connections between the virtual world and human behaviours is a commentary on abuse of technogy and dehumanisation of human relationships, how they distort our personalities and the vision we have of other people (this is usually shown through all the catfishes that are shown like the mother and the daughter that are connected in phantoma) and the withdrawal of real life relationships, as Lain sinks more into the Wired and isolates herself from everyone and upgrades more and more her computer. This is also showing how the wired distorts human relationships and human minds, as we are been shown the split in Lain's identity through her contact with this virtual world: there is this agressive Lain we saw in the club, a passive femcel rot girl summer Lain that was shown from the begining and a new skilled and proactive and obssesive Lain that wants to endure her knowledge of the Wired. This brings the next episode, layer 5, Distortion.

The separation between the three Lains becomes real, and the three take action separated from each other. Most of the action takes place this time in the city, where "God" is talking as a voice in off to the audience (it's kinda breaking the third wall but not really because those inner speeches as narration for a scene are common in anime) about the deviance of the capitalist society, that has become purposeless and they need to trascend to the Wired (very Cult like rethoric). The active Lain is trying to stop the Knights, that are spreading these words through paper tissues to random people in the streets (kinda dumb and kinda genius) while agressive Lain is sabotaging her manipulating traffic lights to cause accidents and stop her. The contact with the Wired has split these two parts appart from the original Lain: one that is connected to the real world and the life of those who live there; and another one that is connected to the virtual world and is looking for the trascendance of humanity to the Wired. The original Lain is laying in the middle, unable to reconcile with both parts of her psyque.

Layers 03 and 04: psyque and religion

Layer 6, Kids, I'm not gonna lie, is a mess. Not because it's bad, I mean that we had like five episodes where half of it is just Lain walking around liminal semi-empty spaces with a weird soundscape and now there's so much random shit happening at the same time that it bothered me. It's not even that much action and we still have a good amount of weird cryptic dialogs but Idk the rythm here was kinda messy. The important parts of the episode are at the begining when Lain is talking to a stranger in the Wired and the mention "the next project" (she's talking to the Knights) and when Lain while hanging up with her schoolmates in the street sees herself in the sky as if she was god opening the clouds and a bunch of people adoring her and after Alice (one of the girls from her friend group) sees it she reacts like wtf is that Lain??? And it seems like no one else sees it because she acts like nothing happened after and everyone is totally fine with it. I know I'm been dramatic, it's surreal not a plot hole but idk man I didn't like that, at least act shocked. Anyways, Lain connects again to the Wired at home and we see her again walking around a dark void in silence again and someone makes an Alice's adventures in Wonderland, which is kinda fitting with the show. She starts a weird dialog in another empty liminal space that's very Alice in Wonderland like (play on words and riddles) until she ask a random dying scientist about KIDS (a hit that was given to her in the dialog, she thought it was phantoma because it traps gamer™ kids until they die). He tells her that someone learned about his experiments to create phantoma, using the PSI (a power I guess) of children. He did an experiment where he extracted the PSI from a whole buch of children to connect their mind into a bigger energy but it was unstable and all the children died. This experiment is KIDS and the Knights are using the simulation of phantoma to recreate the experiment, as all the data has been leaked in the Werid. Conveniently when Lain asks why tf did he want to do this experiment the answer is something along the lines of "I thought I would be cool" like mixing mentos with coke to see what happens. Whatever, this episode is not my favorite, but out of context it's hilarious.

In layer 7, society, the Knights are revealed as normal people: they are not an underground society (like the illuminatis or that sort of things), they're just everyday people that happened to be hackers. This touches a bit on the catfish commentary that was shown before, but distorsion of identity can become distorsion of perception too. In the lines of the cult behaviour, an idea of union and the dehumanisation and allienation from society can make everyday people become attrocious and elevate a random person on the internet to a god-like status. Meanwhile, the Knights are able to take down the local police's website (based) and some agents from Tachibana General Laboratories (they're like the Microsoft of this show but they also create the technogy that keeps up the Werid, seems like they have a weird monopoly going on) take Lain to talk to a man in an empty room and they have (again) a cryptic and weird dialog but with the difference that these men acknowledge that Lain's identity is tearing appart from the contact with the Wired and they force a switch between femcel Lain into proactive Lain (Lain from the Wired). It could be seen before but the different Lains are taking more and more control over the life of the original Lain until she feels completly depersonalized and can't remember anything about her. The purpose of this visit to a man in black in an empty space is, obviously, not explained but as they seem to be tracking the Knights to stop them they might have wanted proactive Lain as a potential source of information . In the end, she does not want to collaborate with them, as she sees them as dangerous as the Knights.

Layers 08, 10 and 12: Rumors, Love and Landscape

In layer 8, Rumors, everything starts falling appart and happening in weird dark multichromatic voids or dark long corridors or empty spaces and there's almost no dialog. Original Lain after her mental breakdown where she finds out she knows nothing about her family or herself starts spiriling into a crisis because the very little human and authetic relationship that she has, with Alice, is been sabotaged by aggresive Lain because she's a b and proactive Lain is out to stop her. After this it's revelation after revelation. First, Lain is not real, she does not know anything about herself because she's a software, so she's not a real person connecting into the Werid but a Werid product connecting into the real world. Second, the Lains that appeared on screen are representations of the id (impulsive and aggresive Lain), the ego (plathpilled femcel laying in her bed all day contamplating shy dissociated probably mitski fan Lain) and the superego (proactive Lain that's trying to repress aggresive Lain's impulses). Third, the so called God was a designer working un Tachibana General Laboratories, and was creating Protocol 7. Protocol 6 is the technology that susteins the Wired and can be used along the psyque (the microchip) to project yourself into it. Protocol 7 is the trascendance that the Knights are talking about, a technology that allows you to uplode your mind to the Wired. So God (I don't remember his name and I can't be bothered to look it up again in the wikia) basicly uploaded himself to the Wired and when they found out this at Tachibana General Laboratories they fired him but it was todo late and he k*ll3d h1ms*lf. He founded the Knights and created Lain.

Layer 9, Protocol, tbh it's so cryptic, too much nerd stuff. They talk something about the Schumann Resonance and dolphin communication with aliens and some aliens appear and talk to Lain like...I don't know anything about physics, I'm not going to touch on that topic. In layer 10, love, Lain has to face that everything she's lived was a lie (Lain is pronounced like line but also like lying) and her father is leaving her home as his work is over. The Knights are being prosecuted and killed by Tachibana General Laboratories and making it seem like s*icid*s while they're trying to erase God from Protocol 6. This episode touches on love, the different kinds of unconditional love that kept the project functioning: from Lain's father love to her, even tho he knew it was an scenario, the love that believers show to a God, that make it's existance needed and therefore mantains it alive (they basicly say that God is a product of our minds). God needs love from Lain to exists, but she refuses to believe in him. In layer 12, Landscape, when God presents in front of her and Alice, Lain deligitimazes him as God and says that God is actually herself so he turns into a monstrous creature and Lain destroys him. I haven't touched on layer 11, Infornography, yet but it's because it's kind of a transition episode where Lain is connecting to the wired and has a bunch of flahsbacks (like a 0% to 100% upload) and it's kinda cute because it touches on the love and sense of longing that she has towards Alice. In layer 13, ego, Lain erases herself from the real world so no one remembers her, using her God Status. She has a conflict between what's right and what she wants that is identical to The End of Evangelion but with a cuter resolution. She promises Alice she will visit her after she leaves the real world and when she visits her, Alice is married and does not remember Lain but she keeps by her side, as love is what defines her existance.

Okay I think that's it. Idk if there is any doubts left but probably I'm not gonna be able to answer it because this show might be my second favoutire anime but is confusing as fuck. I hope you found it helpful, even if it's three years later.

#serial experiments lain #sel #lain iwakura #anime #90s anime #retro anime #animation #femcel #girlblogger #girlblog #girlblogging #gaslight gatekeep girlboss #mentally unstable

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paleoblue · 1 year

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Hi, i'm Paleo, but my friends usually call me Pablo. Don't call me Blue. Welcome to my blog!

🚹 Non-Binary [any pronouns] | 🏳️‍🌈 Pansexual | 🎂 18 | Follow at your own discretion, please

•———•———•

Most know me as an artist, some know me as a musician. You'll find my endeavors in the former here, as well as occasional "funny" text posts and lots of reblogs of art i like.

I enjoy making characters, and I often log their lore in text posts. None of my characters are based on existing properties, but many are inspired by my interests. Just don't anticipate me giving my blorbos boyfriends.

If you wanna see just my art without the reblogs or any of the other stuff, you can check the first tag on this post. I've also included original character tags if you're looking for art featuring one specific character of mine.

Don't expect a lot of the same type of art. I like to experiment, and I don't enjoy limiting myself to one specific niche. I'm more than just the big lizard men, contrary to popular belief. My art style is also ever-evolving because stagnation kills me, so try to keep that in mind.

•———•———•

I also have a linktree for my other accounts, and if you want, you can add me on Discord! You can find all of that here:

My Instagram is currently the only place where I post directly from my sketchbook, so if you wanna see some bonus art without any of the text posts, go check me out over there.

Along with that, my Twitter's where all my random thoughts and opinions go, so if you wanna hear me actually talk about the stuff I enjoy, you can head on over to that site.

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My interests cover a broad range, so expect a lot of fanart of my favorite things.

I love adventure games, puzzle games, metroidvanias, soulslikes, and more recently find myself enjoying jrpgs. I like tabletop rpgs but unfortunately I do not get many chances to play them. Fantasy and science fiction settings are some of my favorite worlds to immerse myself in, and i'm also a big fan of steampunk. Grounded or modern settings can also be interesting, which is why I based my own characters on a setting more familiar to current media consumers, while still retaining some more fantastical elements.

I really like indie and alternative music, and especially enjoy a large variety of rock. Jazz and fusion are really cool, and funk is just a fun time all around. I'd say my favorite band is probably The Strokes.

•———•———•

This is my sona, Pablo! This particular outfit is heavily inspired by Jack from Bioshock, hence the wrench, but he also has some other outfits that take inspiration from other sources. He's tall for a kobold, and he's flat-footed instead of digitigrade. He's also the perfect size for being held, specifically by a very large man, but that's not very important, is it?

I'd describe his personality, but that would get too personal cause he's kinda just me, so i'll leave it at this: if you want to do fanart but you feel you don't have the proper reference material, I would be willing to send more through direct messages.

•———•———•

Some side notes:

-This post is subject to change. Not every detail will remain consistent.

-I do not have a posting schedule, so expect to see occasional long gaps between posts.

I hope you like my blog :)

#paleoblueart #antero sheckley #felix marlow #alder von lehtinen #maya swell #alfred williams #tanner williams #mei-lin fan

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archoneddzs15 · 11 days

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PC Engine - DEAD OF THE BRAIN 1 & 2

Title: DEAD OF THE BRAIN 1 & 2 / デッド・オブ・ザ・ブレイン１＆２

Developer: Fairytale / Kindle Imagine Develop / Spiel

Publisher: NEC Home Electronics

Release date: 3 June 1999

Catalogue No.: HECD5024

Genre: Digital Comic

Format: Super CD-ROM2

There is something so cool about playing video games that serve as the final game release for any platform. They serve as a final chapter for any video game console and as an ending to that console's life. Anyway, backstory. I remember watching one of a few zombie-themed Eddsworld episodes [and WTFuture] and watching movies of such ilk, and thought "What if someone made a game combining the two elements?" and set about on a quest to find any video game that would fit the bill for me, until eventually I found this.

So, what is Dead of the Brain 1&2? Well, it's a PC Engine conversion of two digital comics that originally appeared on the PC-98. It's especially a strange release! First of all, despite being a PC Engine Super CD release, and the PC Engine itself dating its way back to 1987, this game was somehow released on June 3rd, **1999**. This was the same year the Sega Dreamcast was on the way to a global release, hype for the PlayStation 2 was building up, and this was the year before the Sega Saturn would be laid to rest. Also, this game was only ever sold in two retail stores in Japan, one being Sofmap.

Anyway back to the game. The first game in this disc is called "Nightmare Collection ~ Dead of the Brain: Day of the Living Dead", and is themed around a scientist who tripped and fell onto the ground of a cemetery during an escape from a zombie outbreak which leads to a zombie takeover of the world. The second game is "Nightmare Collection ~ Dead of the Brain 2" whose plot is a fusion of Dead of the Brain 1, mixed with a bit of Snatcher for good measure. Both games play the exact same way - a portion of the screen is dedicated to the animation, and another portion is dedicated to the user interface. It kinda reminds me of the Psychic Detective Series of games, though I say this game is definitely more appealing to my taste.

Also, I found the Stephen King name-drop reference to be hilarious. Stephen King is well known as the "King of Horror", and this game actually takes influence from Stephen King's 1983 novel 'Pet Sematary' so it would be fitting for NEC to include that reference as tongue-in-cheek as it was.

Overall, if you can find it, I can recommend getting a copy of this game. It's stupidly expensive now too, and I wonder why. Maybe its rarity had to do with it, what with it being a limited release.

youtube

#turbografx 16 #turbografx cd #Youtube

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parasite-core · 9 months

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I have found an extremely fun indie game these last few days and I want to boost it. It’s a monster raising/fusing game that’s an rpg with roguelike elements and it is incredibly fun. It’s called Siralim Ultimate. It’s actually the 4th Siralim game apparently but you don’t need to know anything going in and it boasted having 1200 monsters/combinations as opposed to Siralim 3’s 700, so I obviously went with the game with more creatures to encounter 😂

At the start you choose a class for your character, out of an extensive list. Your class affects the gameplay immensely, because each class has special ‘perks’ that affect their monsters. I’m playing a necromancer (aptly named after my necromancer OC Calio), and what they do is summon a bunch of ‘minions’ which stack on your actual monsters and give effects, generally passive damage but occasionally things like buffs/debuffs, and the necromancer class gets a bunch of perks that affect the minion ability—things like ‘your monster gains x% atk per different minion’ or something like that. This feels like it’s going to give it a ton of replayability because I want to try every class and different combinations of monsters that gel better with other classes than the one I’m currently using.

The monsters look really good, and the fusion system generally gives you at least one option of the 4 color schemes it offers that looks cool.

The battle system is all about finding abilities on your monsters that gel well together. Every creature has a passive ability, and when you fuse them the new creature keeps both parents’ abilities. So the best monsters have two parents with abilities that have good synergy. Depending on your play style you can end up with pretty intricate passive activations at the start of the battle, sometimes enough to end a battle before it’s even begun if you play your cards right.

You even get your own base of operations that you can customize—not just the position and upgrades on the necessary things like the fusion lab or blacksmith, but also custom NPCs to wander around with new appearances you unlock as you play, and various decorative options to make it your own.

Anyways, there’s my speal. If you like monster collecting games and games where you find synergy between your party’s abilities to make the best combos, then I highly recommend checking this out.

(Note: the screenshot is from the iOS version. I suggest the Switch version, as I found the touch controls really finnicky. I can’t vouch for the Xbox, PlayStation, or Steam versions but assume they’re probably on par with the Switch version’s quality. On the bright side there’s a ‘save to cloud’ feature so when I decided to move from iOS to the Switch I didn’t lose any progress)

#video games #video game recommendations #video game review #Siralim Ultimate #rpg games #indie games

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myfrenzi · 1 year

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Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in OTT Entertainment

Elevating Entertainment: The Convergence of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in OTT — What to Watch on OTT

The realm of entertainment has witnessed a profound transformation with the integration of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) into the Over-The-Top (OTT) landscape. These immersive technologies are reshaping how we consume content, offering new dimensions of engagement and interactivity. In this blog, we will embark on a journey through the exciting world where VR and AR meet OTT entertainment. Along the way, we’ll explore some noteworthy examples of what to watch on OTT in this immersive era.

Act I: The Fusion of VR and AR

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) represent the zenith of immersive experiences, transcending the confines of traditional screens.

VR: A World of Its Own: VR immerses users in entirely virtual environments, providing a 360-degree sensory experience.

AR: Enhancing Reality: AR overlays digital elements onto the real world, blending the virtual and physical seamlessly.

Act II: The Potential in OTT Entertainment

OTT platforms are harnessing VR and AR to create groundbreaking experiences that defy convention.

Interactive Storytelling: VR allows users to step inside the narrative, making choices that shape the plot and character interactions.

Enhanced Viewing: AR enhances live events and sports by overlaying real-time statistics, information, and graphics onto the screen.

Act III: VR in OTT: A New Dimension of Immersion

Virtual Reality offers a complete departure from conventional viewing experiences.

Theater in Your Living Room: VR headsets can transport you to a virtual cinema, where you can watch movies on an enormous screen from the comfort of your home.

360-Degree Storytelling: VR documentaries and series immerse viewers in the heart of the action, offering an unparalleled sense of presence.

Act IV: AR in OTT: Augmenting the Reality

Augmented Reality enhances our connection with the real world, even as we interact with digital elements.

Second-Screen Magic: AR apps allow viewers to scan posters or objects related to a show, unlocking bonus content and interactive experiences.

Live Sports AR: Augmented Reality overlays real-time statistics, replays, and player insights onto the screen during live sports events, creating a more immersive and informative experience.

Act V: What to Watch on OTT in the VR and AR Era

Let’s delve into some notable examples of content that epitomize the potential of VR and AR in OTT entertainment:

1. “Dispatch” (VR — Hulu): This VR series immerses viewers in a gripping crime drama where they play a key role in solving the case.

2. “Stranger Things AR Game” (AR — Netflix): Netflix’s AR game brings the supernatural world of “Stranger Things” into your living room, allowing you to interact with the show’s iconic elements.

3. “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” (Interactive VR — Netflix): An early foray into interactive storytelling, this VR experience lets viewers make choices that impact the outcome of the episode.

4. “NBA AR Experiences” (AR — NBA League Pass): Augmented Reality enhances the NBA viewing experience, providing real-time stats, player highlights, and interactive elements during games.

Act VI: FAQs on VR and AR in OTT Entertainment

Q1: Do I need special equipment to enjoy VR and AR content on OTT platforms? Yes, VR content typically requires a VR headset, while AR experiences can often be enjoyed using a smartphone or tablet.

Q2: Are there specific genres of content that work particularly well with VR and AR? VR excels in immersive storytelling and experiences, while AR enhances live events, sports, and interactive content.

Q3: Can I find VR and AR content on all OTT platforms? While the availability of VR and AR content may vary, many major OTT platforms are embracing these technologies, offering a range of experiences.

Curtain Call: The Future of Immersive Entertainment

As we conclude our journey through the captivating merger of VR and AR with OTT entertainment, we find ourselves standing on the cusp of a new era. These immersive technologies have the potential to redefine how we experience content, inviting us to be active participants rather than passive viewers.

The question of what to watch on OTT is no longer confined to screens; it extends into a realm where the boundaries between reality and fiction blur. With each new release, VR and AR continue to push the envelope, offering endless possibilities for immersive storytelling and entertainment.

#ott #web series #best movie on ott #movies #movie poster #movie

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tokiro07 · 2 years

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Still thinking about video game genres and it just occurred to me that “Metroidvania” isn’t really a genre in and of itself, and I think that’s the reason why Metroidvanias play nearly identically

To illustrate what I mean, what does one do in any given Metroid game specifically? The gameplay loop generally looks something like this:

The player is given multiple directions to choose from

The player chooses one and eventually reaches a dead end

The player backtracks and chooses a different direction

The new direction leads to some kind of upgrade (ability, item, previously unknown game mechanic, etc.)

Remembering the specifics of the dead end, the player realizes how this upgrade will allow them to progress and returns

The player unlocks multiple directions to choose from

There’s some variation to the exact order, but typically an upgrade is only attained after the player has already seen a scenario where they would need it, and backtracking is required to make use of it

Now, what does the gameplay loop look like in say...the first Legend of Zelda?

That’s right, it’s nearly identical to the gameplay loop in Metroid, the only major mechanical difference is the perspective, with Metroid being a sidescrolling Platformer and Zelda being a top-down Dungeon-Crawler. Samus needs the Morph Ball to roll through small passages, Link needs bombs to open holes in walls; Samus needs the Grapple Beam to swing to far off ledges, Link needs the raft to cross water; Samus can learn the Shinespark to reach greater heights, Link needs to learn the order for navigating the Lost Woods, etc.

Both Metroid and Zelda utilize a gameplay loop of exploration and upgrades, but I don’t think anyone has ever called Zelda a Metroidvania, likely because with the exception of Adventure of Link, there aren’t any sidescrolling Zelda games. Sure, a lot of Zelda games streamline the exploration process by having a linear story, but even within dungeons there’s almost always an element of backtracking and the items you get within them are still commonly used in the overworld to solve puzzles that you likely passed earlier. Metroid Fusion and Other M both did something similar with their linear, mission-based story structures, but I don’t think anyone would say that either of those aren’t Metroidvanias just because of that

Of course, Metroid and Zelda aren’t the only games where the player needs to expand their inventory through exploration, and in fact probably aren’t the games best known for this gameplay loop: that would likely be the Adventure genre

Adventure Games

Nowadays “Adventure” is a pretty vague term that’s kind of appended to any game where the player goes on some kind of journey or quest, but traditionally it referred to games like Secret of Monkey Island, King’s Quest, Myst, etc., all of which have the player, you guessed it, choose a direction to wander through until they hit a dead end and backtrack to find an upgrade that will allow them to progress past the dead end

Usually in Adventure games, though, the “upgrade” is a one-time use item rather than a persistent change to the player’s abilities, but conceptually it’s the same principle: forward progression is blocked without the appropriate “key.” Honestly, even Metroid often reduces its upgrades to glorified keys with items like the Power Bombs, which almost never have any real practical use outside of opening specific colored doors or destroying otherwise indestructible blocks

So what makes Metroid different from Secret of Monkey Island? Quite simply, it’s an Action Platformer rather than a Point-and-Click Adventure, but there are lots of games that are Action Platformers without being Metroidvanias. Because Metroid combines the exploration of Adventure games with the physicality of Platformers, Metroid’s official genre is Adventure Platformer (or Platform Adventure if you prefer, it really doesn’t matter)

So...why do we call all Adventure Platformers “Metroidvanias?” What do Metroidvanias bring to the table that didn’t come explicitly from Adventure games or Platformers?

Differentiation

Dark Souls is an Action RPG, but it’s specific brand of opportunistic combat mechanics, cryptic storytelling and recursive challenge have all inspired games that, with enough distance from the original design, can no longer be called Action RPGs. Dead Cells and Hollow Knight have RPG elements, but neither is really an RPG. Shovel Knight uses Dark Souls’ recursive death mechanics, but is an Action Platformer rather than an Action RPG

Rogue is a Procedural Dungeon Crawling RPG, but the majority of modern Procedural games aren’t RPGs. Spelunky is an Action Platformer, Binding of Isaac is a Shooter, Hades is a Brawler, etc.

Metroidvanias though? They’re all Adventure Platformers. Guacamelee, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Axiom Verge, Ori, etc. etc. There are differences between them, but all of them are perfectly recognizable as Adventure Platformers because none of them are utilizing mechanics that separate them from that genre

The two most drastic departures that I can think of are Yoku’s Island Express (wherein the overworld is a giant pinball board and jumps are performed exclusively via paddles) and Toki Tori 2 (wherein the player receives no upgrades, instead only learning how their existing abilities interact differently via clever contextual tutorials spread across the map). However, even then, the aspects that these games take from Metroid still qualify them as Adventure Platformers, just a Pinball Adventure Platformer and Puzzle Adventure Platformer respectfully

Naturally, I haven’t played every game under the Metroidvania banner, but I can’t think of a single one that uses mechanics that would allow it to be recognizable as a Metroidvania without also being an Adventure Platformer

At this point, I think the issue is the dilution of the Adventure genre. Like I said, a lack of understanding of the term has led to people using it for a ludicrously broad range of definitions, but the gameplay mechanic that it is meant to evoke is exploration. People don’t want to refer to Metroid as an Adventure because that term has become either vague to the point of meaninglessness or become so specific that it only refers to the Point-and-Click genre. I have referred to Metroidvanias as Explorers in the past to try to separate it from such games, but realistically this also describes any other given Adventure game, so my current proposal is that we drop “Adventure” entirely and replace it with “Explorer” to make it clearer that games without exploration do not fall under this category while also elaborating on what makes Metroid, Zelda, Monkey Island, etc. all similar mechanically

If anyone ever finds something truly unique about Metroid that can’t be attributed to how it simply mixes two existing genres, then I think we can start analyzing what it truly means to be a “Metroidvania,” but for now, I think the most effective and efficient term is Exploration Platformer

#video games #genres #metroid #metroidvanias

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dailyadventureprompts · 4 years

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First off, I love your blog! It's been the highlight of my day to see what you've posted. I was wondering if you have any ideas for setting design? Your settings/locations are so evocative, and I want my players to feel the same way about my settings. But I have a hard time balancing familiarity with originality. I want my setting to be relatable, yet its own thing. Any tips?

Friend you’re already on the right track, because you asked me about creating something specific, rather than something that’s simply “good”. More specifically: evocative, familiar, original, relatable. These are all VERY good goals to write for when developing a setting, so thanks for taking care of the first part of my job for me.

So... how do we go about creating such settings?

First: don’t worry about getting everything perfect and detailed on the first blush. All the best settings you can probably call to mind were given their depth and scope by many stages of drafting and redrafting, so when you’re writing your own, focus on establishing a solid foundation and then layer on from there.

Second: to establish that foundation, we’re going to look at three elements I consider absolutely CRITICAL to good fantasy setting design,

Genre Emulation: if you’re writing a d&d adventure, it’s a good chance that you know what type of stories you’re looking to evoke. These stories come with their own stock characters, allusions, and assumptions, and you should abuse the HELL out of these when doing your own writing. Playing on archetypes and shaping them to your liking can help you know where else you need to go, and gives your audience an immediate buy in. “ oh yes, I’ve heard this story before, I know what’s going on, I know what’s expected of me” is something you want to aim for, while putting your own character into it.

Verisimilitude: While amateur gamemasters are often notorious for overdetailing their world and getting completely lost in the weeds of world building, you DO need to do some work in justifying how exactly your setting works, how society functions, and the basics of trade. The good news? Most of that is an illusion you can totally fake, by only detailing the stuff that’s DIRECTLY RELEVANT to the ongoing plot and using that as a jumping off point to make up anything else you might need. To tell you a dirty secret of most major media franchises, most worldbuilding is done this way, a hasty level of detail thrown on top of random justifications.

Purpose: When we’re designing, we always have to keep our goals in mind. What sort of game are you running, what are your plans for your big setpeices? Its important to build your setting in such a way as to facilitate and highlight, rather than restrict those goals. If you know you’re running a mystery, you need to build knots of personal relation, hidden agendas, and secrets. If you’re planning to run a battle, you need to work on developing natural defenses, economic resources, and tenuous alliances.

Below the cut I’ll go into deeper examples of properties that do each of these topics well, as well as give more tips on how you can get the most out of your setting design.

Genre Emulation : This is key to getting your players invested early on. They’ve absorbed a lot of media before they sit down at your table, at least second hand, and you want to be able to tap into that familiarity so that you can start building their bonds with each other and with the world stakes. We humans LIKE knowing what’s expected of us, and knowing what stories you’re emulating is going to give your players a good understanding right away of the tone. I’d honestly encourage being very up front with your campaign’s influences, and if you yourself aren’t sure, maybe do a media binge until you find something that you can point to as a reference.

The Witcher is a master in genre emulation. The audience can immediately buy into the fusion of a) gritty fantasy ala game of thrones b) classic heroic narratives in the form of the questing monster slaying knight ( Geralt), the self discovery magical apprenticeship (Yennifer), and the orphaned chosen one’s odyssey ( Ciri). The thematic twist that the Witcher pulls off is getting jaded modern audiences to accept these classic, uplifting, archetypical stories, by having their characters start off as disillusioned as the audience and slowly gain hope and understanding and love overtime.

If you can figure out what your story is ABOUT, and then couch that in a familiar storytelling niche, I can guarantee you your setting will be rich and memorable.

Verisimilitude: The art of making your setting feel like one that actual people live in is an ongoing affair, but thankfully it requires little actual prep-work on your part, maybe a bit of vague brainstorming about how life in the relevant settlement/region. What’s the common monster problem? What was the last big war? when’s the next feast or festival? what ruler fucked up so bad in the recent past that people are STILL making fun of them? These little things add texture to your setting way more than a giant infodump ever could.

I might anger some people for saying this but you know what setting has excellent verisimilitude? Harry Potter. Rowling didn’t build her world top down and peruse implications of her magic system down to the smallest detail. She randomly adds details and justifies it later. Chocolate frog cards have no explanation, or greater meaning in the world, but they’re 1000% you’d expect wizard kids in the early 90s to be snacking on. We see this applied to things like shopping districts and banking and government within the setting: here’s a thing wizards would need, lets make it a bit fantastical and then plug it in. it doesn’t need to be any harder than that.

Work out the basic logistics of your current adventure, add a few flourishes, don’t sweat the big stuff. Keep doing this long enough and you’ll make a setting that seems like it was puled out of the aether by a master storyteller, whole cloth.

Purpose: If there’s a cardinal sin of dungeonmasters: it’s prepping blind, just adding things to their world because they feel like they SHOULD have it and bloating the campaign. Reading Tolkien and becoming convinced they need to build your own language system, reading Martin and thinking they need to plot out every minor noble house and their relationships to one another, completely missing the point with how LOTR is about how history + language are fading in the time of modernity, or how ASOIAF is about dynastic politics.

What is your story, fundamentally, ABOUT? Theming is important here of course, but also what’s the primary gameplay hook? Exploring dungeons? Traveling to exotic new lands? Swashbuckling and sailing? Epic warfare? You can’t just grab-bag everything together, you need to figure out what your campaign is about before you go building a setting around it. Most people who set out to dungeonmaster are critically unaware of this step and so they create yet another generic fantasy land and wonder why their setting lacks real character.

Say what you will about modern Starwars, but they’re the CHAMPS of purpose these days. Nearly new planet from the sequel trilogy onwards has been perfectly designed to facilitate a key scene, and I encourage you to go out and watch the secondary media ( Rogue one, Solo, The Mandalorian) and see how they build a setting AROUND an action set piece, rather than building the setting first and then trying to cram the fun into it.

Rather than just filling up pages and pages with detail, your first priority should be building and refining the fundamentals of your story. Figure out the cool stuff you want to focus your adventure/campaign around, and then build back from there.

#Anonymous #D&D #D&D adventure #Homebrew Adventure #Adventure #DnD #drafting an adventure #dm advice #prompt postage

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faelapis · 3 years

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Outside of Animal Crossing, what other video games are you playing right now/have played while growing up? What video game genres do you like, and what genres do you not like?

i've always been a nintendo boy - honestly i grew up with zelda and pokemon first and foremost, didn't pick up animal crossing until a little while after new leaf came out. still love those series, still hyped when a new zelda game comes out once a decade. pokemon not so much, because its very iterative, but its still something i play a lot. i just play it "my own way", ie i create challenges like finding shinies.

in terms of genre... yknow i'm not much of a genre person in general, most things can get my attention, it depends totally on what it individually is. i don't care if something is a rouge-like or platformer, i care if it's "good". if i had to choose, i guess i tend to like things that are a fusion of nintendo games and what people call "story-based" games or at least elements. like. this is just a small thing, but mario galaxy is one of my all time faves not just because of it being a fun game in an engaging environment, but also because rosalina's backstory makes me cry every time.

i wish nintendo would lean in to having more story in their games. its always pretty worlds that are fun to explore, characters and plot not so much. even zelda, which has a lot of lore fanboys, almost always has a very simple story and only rarely dares to emotionally engage the player. i know that miyamoto has like a weird allergy to story, explored by kingk here, but like kingk i dont share his sentiments.

oh actually, one genre i don't like - first person shooters, and anything gore-heavy. i have overactive empathy when it comes to gore, in the sense that i can imagine myself vicariously feeling all the torture and injuries. i've excluded myself from a lot of great art because i just cannot deal with gore, unfortunately, its much too visceral and almost borders on mental torture in the moment for me.

#not su /#on the gore thing - its not that it looks gross per se. i can look at still images of gore. but its about me constantly imagining how it #would actually feel to experience that and the unimaginable yet palpable pain it evokes #i dont know how you're 'actually' supposed to engage with blood or gore #i guess you're supposed to either see yourself as the attacker or just not think about it too much?#the former being what stereotypical dudebros imagine when they call gore-heavy scenes awesome??#but i can't help but see myself as the person being tortured / murdered

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the-evil-authoress · 3 years

Text

GX Month Day 4: “Swing of Memories”

Ah, yes, those sweet, precious memories shared with siblings...and a few you’d rather forget. Explore the bond between Asuka Tenjoin/Alexis Rhodes and Fubuki Tenjoin/Atticus Rhodes today! A sweet sibling hug? A heated argument? Show us!

Yes, I summarized and skipped over parts of the actual duel. This thing would have been so much longer if I hadn’t. Cheese and crackers this monster. O_O

This is not how Alexis expected this night to go. She almost regrets her idea for all of them to crash together when they are now standing on a magic platform above lava that will destabilize with every turn that passes. Syrus already looks ready to pass out, clinging to the back of Jaden’s jacket for dear life.

“Isn’t this counterproductive for you?!” Alexis yells at the shadowy creep. The way the darkness clings to him makes it impossible to distinguish any features, beyond the fact he wears black and that creepy mask. Even his voice sounds distorted. “If we die, you can’t duel us for the keys!”

A dark laugh like shadows on the walls. “Do you know why the Keys cannot simply be taken?” the man asks instead of answering.

“Because the Keys form a bond with whomever holds them,” Bastion snaps. Of course they already asked the important questions when Chancellor Sheppard told them about this crazy shadow war. “Therefore that bond must be broken through ritual combat.”

“Mmm, well you’re half right.” The man tilts his head, sounding smug under the layers of shadows that mask his real voice. “There’s more than one way to break a bond. A Key holder could give their Key to another- a simple, painless transfer. But I don’t expect you lot to do that. You’re far too good.” For a moment his voice is viscous, deadly, and sends a shiver down Alexis’ spine. The next he returns to almost mockingly light-hearted teasing. “However, if a Key holder dies, there’s nothing for the Key to bond to, now is there? A Key without an owner is free for the taking.”

Great, just great! So much for ‘can only be won in a duel’. If this wackjob figured out a loophole, then how many of the other Shadow Riders know about it?

Bastion inhales sharply, eyes darting back to the dark platform under their feet as Christina snarls a curse and Syrus and Chumley wail.

“Of fucking course!”

“I don’t wanna die~!”

“Don’t you worry about that.” That shadows-on-the-wall laugh again. “I’ll win this match long before you can fall. I want the pleasure of taking you all out myself.”

“Certainly confident,” Bastion grumbles, but there’s genuine fear in his eyes.

“Not gonna happen!” Jaden yells with all of his usual bravado; Alexis shouldn’t be surprised.

The duel starts to everyone’s dismay but it’s not like they actually have a way off this volcano. Alexis still doesn’t know how they got here beyond falling through the magical darkness that overtook Jaden’s dorm room. The first round isn’t anything special, the most excitement comes from Chumley’s leg falling through the platform as he tries to convince himself it’s still stable. Syrus and Chumley both scream as they all yank him back up and stare in horror at the brand new hole in the only thing between them and certain death.

“-Red-Eyes Black Dragon!”

What?

Alexis’ attention snaps back to the duel as the familiar monster takes the field in a blaze of glory and proceeds to blast Jaden back several feet. Syrus goes tumbling with him, and Christina shrieks as they come dangerously close to the edge, but Jaden skids to stop with a foot to spare, one hand braced against the platform and the other fisted in Syrus’ jacket.

Barely able to breathe, Alexis turns back to Nightshroud and Red-Eyes Black Dragon. “Why do you have that card? What did you do to my brother?!”

“Your brother?” Bastion yelps but Alexis can’t focus on anything but the man in front of her.

Nightshroud pauses, head tilting. “Who? Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. This card has always been mine.”

“Liar!” Alexis screams, voice raw, chest heavy. “That card is a tournament exclusive!” Atticus gushed over it for weeks, showed it off at school, more excited about the card than winning the tournament. This is the first sign she’s seen of her brother in two years! This man has to know something!

“You dare call me a liar?” A dark bolt darts out at Nightshroud’s command and sends Alexis careening back. Her foot slips off the edge.

“ALEXIS!”

Jaden yanks her back by the arm with a grip hard enough to bruise, and Alexis startles at the absolute terror in his eyes. “Hey, not cool!” He swings back around to face Nightshroud, the bravado back in full force, but this time Alexis knows what it hides. “You’re dueling me! Leave them out of this!”

Nightshroud only snorts, a derisive sound. “Then duel me, since you want to save them so badly.”

Alexis is still close enough to see the cards as Jaden draws Polymerization and fusion summons Rampart Blaster to deal Nightshroud damage even from defense position. The shadows shiver as Nightshroud suffers the pain of his own shadow game, momentarily revealing brown hair.

“Feel like talking now, buddy?” Jaden taunts with a grin.

Nightshroud’s legs shake before he stands tall once again. “I already told you! This card has always been mine! I don’t know anything about the girl’s brother!” For a moment, the shadows obscuring his voice part and it sounds almost familiar.

Rampart Blaster’s defense proves futile as Nightshroud hits Jaden directly with the spell Inferno Fire Blast. The flames that engulf Jaden are far too real for any hologram, and Jaden sinks to his knees and nearly through the platform as it gives way beneath him. Christina and Syrus scramble to drag him back up as Bastion checks him over for serious injury.

“‘M fine.” Jaden tries to brush them off and stand on his own but immediately winces and sways.

“Fine my ass!” Christina hisses.

“I’m inclined to agree!” Bastion pushes up Jaden’s sleeve to reveal an angry red splotch. “You’re covered in blisters if not more severe burns!”

“We can worry about that later!” Jaden pries his hand free with another wince as Nightshroud uses his next monster to force Rampart Blaster into attack mode.

“Wait. No.” A cold spot appears in Alexis’ chest as she takes a step back. She recognizes more than one card Nightshroud has played. “It’s not just Red-Eyes... I think he has Atticus’ whole deck.”

“What?” Christina spins from where she stands to act as Jaden’s support.

“But how is that possible?” Chumley stammers.

“I don’t know!” Alexis snaps, shaking. She has this horrible, horrible feeling. No matter what Nightshroud claims, he must have done something to her brother and taken his deck. She never once let herself consider the possibility, because it meant giving up, it meant letting her grief win, but what if... “I-”

Syrus shrieks as the platform gives way underneath him, stumbling forward as Chumley catches and hauls him back to safety. Their safe places to stand are dwindling quickly. Jaden finishes his combo by fusion summoning Thunder Giant. The two monsters’ clash ends in a draw as both are destroyed, setting up Burstinatrix for a direct attack.

“Let’s see how you like it!”

Nightshroud barely flinches against the assault of flame as the shadows around him flicker and swell as if fending off the attack. Pouting, Jaden moves onto his next play then passes the turn to Nightshroud. Mirage Dragon takes the field and Alexis startles as Nightshroud refers to the dragon with feminine pronouns. That’s how Atticus always referred to that card. Most duelists default to masculine pronouns unless the card art is obviously feminine, but Atticus was different.

-“She just gives me, ‘cranky old lady’ vibes, ya know?”- Atticus said when Alexis asked. She hadn’t known, not all, what Atticus meant.

Atticus’ deck was one thing, but this particular quirk... It couldn’t be.

Jaden goes down again as Mirage Dragon takes out Burstinatrix; Christina drags him back to his feet and away as a new hole opens up in the platform. His next turn sees Elemental Hero Tempest take the field and obliterate Mirage Dragon. This time, Nightshroud flinches as the shadows scatter off his form; and even with that mask on his face, Alexis knows what she sees.

“ATTICUS?!”

“Hold on whut?” Jaden jerks, gaping at her.

Alexis starts forward and stumbles as her foot falls through another hole.

“And who the hell is that supposed to be?” Nightshroud growls, and it’s Atticus’ voice now that the shadowy echo no longer obscures it.

“You!” Pulling herself upright, Alexis watches the floor for holes as she continues forward. Her friends call after her but she ignores them. “I know that’s you, Atticus! You really think a dumb mask would make me not recognize my own brother?!”

“My name is Nightshroud-”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you a Shadow Rider? What happened to you, Atticus?!”

“Lexi!!”

She manages to duck this time before the darkness strikes her, elbows banging hard against the platform. The breath shudders out of her and she realizes she’s crying.

“I don’t know you, little girl.”

It hurts. It hurts so much. She found him but like this and he doesn’t even know who she is. A hand on her shoulder alerts her to one of her friends, unsurprised to find Christina kneeling next to her. “It’s him...” Alexis whispers brokenly as Christina pulls her up.

“I know.”

“Why is he...” she hiccups, unable to finish the sentence. Christina squeezes her finger as she leads Alexis safely back to their friends.

Atticus summons Red-Eyes back to the field with Red-Eyes Chick’s ability then trades it in for a card Alexis has never seen before - Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon. Darkness. Nightshroud. That thing has her brother and she needs to figure out how to get him back from its clutches. Jaden ends the turn with Negate Attack, surviving to the next round. He hesitates as he draws his next card, then plays Wroughtweiler in defense and switches Tempest to defense.

“Jay?” Christina sends him a look.

“I honestly don’t have any other plays right now,” Jaden says, voice low as he glances back at her. “Besides, if that’s Lexi’s brother... Doesn’t the loser of this duel die?”

Alexis breathes in sharply. Christina hisses through her teeth.

“But what if winning gets rid of whatever is controlling him,” Bastions says. “Assuming he’s been possessed by some sort of dark power.”

“Yeah, maybe, but-”

“Jaden.” Alexis forces the words out as he turns to look at her, those eyes so full of compassion and concern. “If you lose, we all die. We can worry about the rest of it later.”

Jaden flinches. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m not!” Alexis loses the battle against her emotions as a fresh wave of tears overtakes her. “But what other choice do we have?”

Jaden stares at her a moment longer before turning back to face his opponent as Atticus attacks Wroughtweiler with Spear Dragon. He activates Wroughtweiler’s effect and goes down with a scream as his Life Points drop because Spear Dragon deals damage even if the monster it battles is in defense. Still, Jaden gets to add Sparkman and Polymerization back to his hand and gets back to his feet with a little help. Not that it does much good. The force of Tempest’s destruction sends him reeling back into Bastion, and Bastion yelps as the ground threatens to cave under their combined weight. Between the four of them, they manage to keep their friends on stable ground, but Jaden looks like he’s barely conscious at this point. With 600 Life Points left and their safety net looking like swiss cheese, Alexis glances at the lava below and turns back to her brother.

“Enough! Enough, Atticus! This duel is over!” she declares with all the fire she can muster. “You want a Spirit Key so badly, then you can have mine!” Ignoring the startled outburst from her friends, she pulls the object from its place around her neck and holds it out. “You said it works if it’s given freely, right? Let my friends go, and you can have it!”

“Alexis...” Jaden rasps, held upright by Christina’s arm. Alexis never looks away from her brother.

Atticus scoffs. “While I’m flattered that you’d give me your Key willingly, I’m afraid just one Key won’t do. I want them all.” His voice darkens, distorts into something unrecognizable again as the shadows rise up and cling to him. “Wait your turn, little girl. I’ll duel you next.”

“Atticus!” Alexis pleads, except this time she knows she’s not talking to her brother anymore - if she ever was - but this thing that’s taken over him.

“Make your move, Key keeper. If you can.”

Pulling his arm off Christina’s shoulders, Jaden glares his opponent down. “Oh, I can. And I’m winning this duel!”

“But you can barely sta-AAAAAA!” Syrus screams as he falls entirely through the platform. Alexis dives, catching his hand as Bastion grabs the other. Together they haul him back up while Jaden watches, pale as a sheet.

“Whatever you’re about to do, do it fast!” Chumley clasps his hand together, legs shaking so hard Alexis is surprised he still stands.

“Right!” With Christina’s hand on his shoulder, Jaden draws his card.

The combo he gets off next is a spectacular comeback. Atticus hits his knees with a scream as darkness rolls off his form in waves, and Alexis runs for him without a second thought. She doesn’t get far before the dark platform vanishes completely from beneath her feet. She has a single terrifying moment to think, This is how we die, before a bright golden light engulfs her.

When she opens her eyes again, she pushes herself off the cold, rocky ground of the mountainside while Syrus and Chumley cry over not being dead.

"What was that light? It looked like it came from your deck," Bastion murmurs, and something glows faintly as Christina shuffles through her cards with a frown, Jaden slumped against her.

Alexis spares them only a glance as she continues straight for her brother, collapsed face down on the ground feet in front of her. “Atticus!” She drops to her knees and rolls him to face her.

His eyes flutter briefly open. “Who...?” he mumbles weakly before his head lulls again, and Alexis fears the worst as she searches for his pulse. It flutters under her fingers, slow but strong, and she finally releases the breath she’d be holding. It comes out a sob.

“Is he...?” Bastion ventures closer, not daring to finish the inquiry.

“He’s alive...” Alexis breathes, cradling her brother close as another voice breaches the mountain air.

“Heeeey! What’s going on over here?!”

Alexis looks up as Zane and Chazz come running. “Zane. Zane!” she calls, heedless to how broken her voice is and doesn’t miss the way Zane immediately speeds up. “It’s him! It’s Atticus!” She holds her brother closer as Zane freezes in his tracks, face flooding with shock. “I found him...”

“What-” Zane croaks as he kneels next to them slowly, and reaches out like he expects Atticus to disappear under his fingers. The emotions that play out over his face when his hand lands on Atticus’ shoulder are too complicated to name. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

They sit in silence like that for another moment, just soaking in that Atticus is back. Then Zane shifts to slide his arms under Atticus’ limp form. “Here.” Nodding, Alexis moves aside to let Zane lift Atticus into his arms. Some distance away, her friends hoist an unconscious Jaden onto Chumley’s back.

“If he looks this bad after winning, I don’t wanna know what losing looks like,” Chazz gripes.

“That?” Syrus points hesitantly at Atticus.

“What?”

Zane sends Alexis a sharp look. “He was a Shadow Rider,” Alexis whispers, and glances away as Zane’s expression breaks again. “He didn’t recognize me. That’s all I know.”

“Okay,” Zane says at length and they begin the long trek down the mountain.

Alexis still has so many questions...and fears. She once thought finding her brother would make everything okay again, but now... Now she’s scared this is only the beginning rather than the end she sought. What if he wakes up and still doesn’t recognize her? Can she handle that? Can she handle learning what turned him into a Shadow Rider? Her hand fists itself into Zane’s coat tail. If he notices, he doesn’t comment.

#gxmonth2021 #alexis rhodes #tenjoin asuka #tenjoin fubuki #atticus rhodes #nightshroud #jaden yuki #syrus truesdale #chumley huffington #bastion misawa #chazz princeton #zane truesdale #ygo gx #yugioh gx #yu gi oh gx #long post

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aitaikimochi · 4 years

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Here is the full translation of Nomura, Kitase, and Toriyama, and Hamaguchi’s interview from the FF7R Famitsu feature! Nomura talks about Jessie's popularity, the decision to include the Masssage Parlour scene, comments about the next installment's release, and more! Kitase discusses how it’s like working with a new generation of game developers, explains a bit more about the scene with Sephiroth and Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and refers to the Remake as the “New FFVII Story.” Toriyama mentions that the staff who worked on the original game wanted to create a completely new game while younger staff wanted to stay true to the original. Hamaguchi explains more about the development process as well as how they came up with the battle system, what type of system they have planned for Part 2, and more!

DIRECTOR TETSUYA NOMURA INTERVIEW —Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Nomura: Well first off, I feel very relieved. Although there’s still a long way to go on the road to completing the entire story, we are now able to see exactly which direction we will be heading.

—From the game’s battle system to its story to the elaborate details of Midgar’s various environments, including songs that sometimes only play in one scene, the game is full of a richness that has been carefully crafted, which shows that a lot of time and effort was spent creating this game. The staff must have been very enthusiastic, right?

Nomura: I think it’s due to the staff’s love for FFVII. The enthusiasm from the fans also helped propel us forward.

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that then added into this game?

Nomura: Definitely the world itself as well as how richly the people are portrayed. With all the different compilations gathered, it was rather easy to create the world. I think we were able to convey the importance of the areas seamlessly.

—FF7R really digs deep into the Original Game’s story, but there is a surprising development towards the end of the game. With Remakes, there’s always a faction of people who don’t want anything changed, but there are also those who actually want things to be changed. Were there discussions among the creators on whether or not you should change things?

Nomura: Since the concept of FF7R was already decided from the beginning, there wasn’t that much discussion. However, since each individual had different ways of perceiving things, we did discuss exactly how far we will change the story. I believe that I was the one who actually put a stop on several ideas towards the latter half of development (laughs).

—The Remake contains the “Whispers of Fate” that are not present in the original story, but what was the intent of having this presence? In English, they’re called the Whispers, but in Japanese they’re called the “Feelers.” Is there a specific reason for this difference, for example if the word “Feeler” was the origin of the name?

Nomura: Nojima-san actually requested us to give the Whispers an eerie aura. Initially, the Whispers were designed to be made out of small particles of sand that crumbled while still maintaining its shape, but also unclear in form. We then created an image of them wearing a robe, but more so than that, when we had to make a lot of them appear together, that’s when their form took a clear shape. The word “feeler” means to sense and to touch, but at the moment I cannot say anymore than that.

—Those who come into contact with Aerith can see the Whispers, right? Also, was Aerith able to see them from the beginning?

Nomura: People can see the Whispers when they come into contact with Aerith. However, at the moment I am unable to tell you when Aerith started seeing them.

—Instead of always being on edge, Cloud seems to behave more cooly but instead comes off as uncool to those around him. Aerith also seems a bit more mature than the original’s portrayal of her, and Barret seems a more unhinged and tense. The characters all seem to have a new side of them now. What kind of concepts did you use to add to the characters in this game?

Nomura: I personally think that the characters still have the same image as they did before, but with much more expressions now, and adding voices also created a large impact. This was my interpretation of the characters at the start, but since the original game required the player to imagine the type of reactions the characters would have, I think that this caused there to be different images of the characters. As time passed, I’m sure that those images of the characters had changed as well. I think that the errors in each individual player’s interpretation is in itself an interesting part of the game.

—Jessie has a lot of scenes in the Remake and has become quite a popular character. Were her scenes planned from the beginning, or were they something that was added midway through development?

Nomura: It was planned from the beginning. However, I did not expect her to be this popular though!

—The three new characters in Wall Market, Andrea Rhodea, Madam M, and Chocobo Sam, left quite an impression. What was created first, the characters’ personalities or their designs? Also, how did the concept of the Massage Parlour come about?

Nomura: At first, the characters’ personalities weren’t that detailed. We didn’t plan for their designs to be that rich either. However, I think that the voices and acting played a great role for them. In regards to the hand massage, in a city like that, well, the maturity rating would probably go up, so we couldn’t go further with what we had.

—Characters such as Leslie and Kyrie appeared in the light novels, but what was the background on bringing them into the Remake? For example, was it for fan service or something else?

Nomura: Since the stories are part of the Compilation, Nojima-san and myself had plans for them to be included from the beginning. We thought that it would be natural for them to appear in that time and place within the story, so we decided to leave them there. In regards to what happens to them after the events in the Remake, I recommend that players read the light novel “Final Fantasy 7 TURKS: The Kids Are All Right.”

—In regards to the battle system, it contains a fusion of both command and action elements, and each character has a different fighting style. By choosing different character moves, players are able to form various effective strategies, making for a very refreshing experience. Also, the acting and conversations that the characters have during battle also gives a fresh spin on each battle. I’m sure that this was made possible by trial and error, but what was the most difficult part in doing all of this?

Nomura: A real time action battle requires a sense of nervousness and realism, but we couldn’t discard the form and battle of the original game’s command RPG style. As a result, we went through a lot of trial and error to find a perfect harmony for the two. We decided early on to allow for a slow motion sequence to take place to allow players the advantage of being able to select their actions, but there was a long period of time that we couldn’t do it properly. It was largely thanks to the staff for tying in the ATB system to perfect this as well.

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Nomura: We know that everyone wants the next installment to be released quickly. We would also like to deliver it as soon as possible. Since we were able to see the line of quality from the first installment, we hope to make the next installment even better in quality that will make for an even greater experience. We hope to release it as soon as possible, so please wait a bit more. I think we can clearly convey the direction when we officially announce the next installment, so we hope you can look forward to it!

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PRODUCER YOSHINORI KITASE INTERVIEW

—From the time that the game was announced at E3 during 2015, the world focused their attention on the game, and after releasing footage of the game’s progress through a promotional video at E3 during 2019, the expectations from the fans has only increased. I’m sure you felt quite a lot of pressure at that time, but now that the game is finally released, how do you feel?

Kitase: I feel relieved that we were able to successfully approach both veteran fans who have been there since the beginning as well as new fans. I feel like right now, the expectations are even higher than before the game was released, and that gives us a lot of motivation to develop the next installment.

—Before the game was released, you mentioned that the hurdle that you needed to overcome was that of the player’s imagination that they have constructed in their minds for the Remake. After seeing the reception from the players post-release, do you feel that you have overcome that hurdle?

Kitase: Well, not just for me, but the power of the entire development staff combined was great. Most of them were fans from the beginning who also played the original game when it first came out. Thanks to that, they knew what kind of image fans probably had for the Remake, and I think we were able to overcome the hurdles that way.

—The game was released worldwide during a time when COVID-19 was affecting the entire world, but did that have any impacts on the game’s development? Also, before the game was released, promotional events were cancelled and the distribution of the game was also shipped ahead of schedule. There seemed to have been a lot of hard decisions to make depending on the situation…

Kitase: In terms of development, we only had the debugging phase left, which meant that the game was pretty much already complete, so there was not much impact from the virus. However, it was a pity that many promotional events were cancelled, and people were not able to really celebrate the release of the game. Luckily, through the means of the downloadable version, we were able to deliver some fun during a very stressful time where it was hard for people to even leave their homes. I hope that we were able to give them at least a moment of reprieve through the game.

—In regards to the FFVII Remake production, was there anything you were particular about?

Kitase: In the latter half of the story, there’s a scene where Cloud and Sephiroth have a confrontation. I wanted the scenery of that segment to show a starry sky that represents the overall themes of FFVII, and the art design team was able to bring that image to life.

Kitase: That’s all thanks to the careful attention that the Co-Directors Hamaguchi and Toriyama as well as the development staff put in making this game. I started game development ever since the Super Famicom console, so I’m used to the type of “cut” and “reuse” way of production. However, the new generation of games require a sense of reality, so that former way of developing games has become obsolete. The current generation of game development staff have that new type of conscience when creating games, so it’s thanks to their enthusiasm that we were able to make this possible.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Kitase: Not really. But I guess when we wanted to give an example from a movie or something, we wouldn’t bring up a reference from an old movie that they probably wouldn’t know (laughs).

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the Compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that was then added into this game?

Kitase: I suppose that would be making everything in 3D with a 360 degree scope of the world. Especially when you’re looking up into the sky of Midgar or looking down towards the slums, I’m really glad that we were able to give the city a sense of realism.

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Kitase: This is connected with my answer to the previous question, but yes, being able to look above towards the sky from the slums, thinking “wow, you can see the sky after all!” For 23 years, I imagined the slums to be under a lot of pressure and cloaked in darkness. In the Remake, you can see a different side of the city during the day that you could not see in the original game, and I thought that was really fun.

—You were involved with the initial level design of the Sector 5 Mako Reactor from when the characters infiltrate the reactor to their escape, but were there any other parts that you also were involved in?

Kitase: I was also in charge of the initial stage level design for the scene at the top of the Shinra Building. The scene where Cloud is about to fall off the rooftop but is saved by Tifa is a callback and answer to the Sector 5 Mako Reactor scene where Tifa couldn’t save Cloud from falling.

Kitase: Director Nomura as well as Co-Director Hamaguchi and Toriyama hoped to be able to keep all the parts of the original that fans have come to love. However, we also wanted to add several surprises that would balance out the story too. I’m sure there are people who wish to experience the exact same story and relive memories. However, if we were to do that, then all we would be doing is just adding to the original experience, which would cause the Remake to lose its significance. I think that we were able to successfully revive the story by adding new elements for the new generation of a “New FFVII.”

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Kitase: The new FFVII’s story has only just begun. Please look forward to the story from here on out! --------- CO-DIRECTOR TORIYAMA MOTOMU INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Toriyama: I’m really glad that despite the abrupt change in lifestyle [due to COVID-19], this game is able to deliver entertainment to people around the world in the comfort of their own homes. There was some skeptism from fans when we announced before the release of the game that the FF7 Remake will only take place in Midgar, but because the game dug so deeply into the world of FF7, I was relieved to hear that a lot of people were extremely satisfied with the game.

Toriyama: We thought about how we can revive the entity of FFVII using the latest technology as well as capturing the richness of the original. The time it took to oversee one scene or area was great, and in order to do so, we needed much more staff than what we had back in the day. Each and every staff had their own things they were particular about, and we were able to find a balance and successfully craft this game.

—Since you were involved with the development of the game, was there anything you were concerned about?

Toriyama: Since we had to replace many things with a new portrayal, I was quite particular that the essence of FFVII still remained true throughout. I think that if you had played the original game too, you would know which parts were changed and which parts were left in. However, I wanted to make sure that the events of the Remake flowed in a natural way with both new and familiar elements that you can enjoy. I’m happy to know that the Remake is able to add an even more vivid experience to go along with your memories of FFVII.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Toriyama: There are actually a lot of staff who have played the original FFVII and got the opportunity to work in this industry. There are also staff who are more versed in the original game than even the members of staff who worked on the original game, and many of those staff wanted to make an adaptation that kept faithful to the original. In terms of keeping things as traditional as possible, the staff who worked on the original game, myself included, had the notion of “making a new game that no one has ever seen before.” With that conscience in mind, we were able to decide the type of direction we wanted to go in the Remake.

Toriyama: In terms of music, FFVII is a rather cinematic series, but in the original game due to disc space and time restraints, we weren’t able to include a movie-worthy soundtrack. However, we were able to challenge ourselves with the Remake. We wanted to have specific songs that played throughout the entire game that would also go along with the scenes, so the Remake gave us a chance to be able to try this out. With this type of composing, we didn’t really have a specific detailed list, so we didn’t count exactly how many songs we created until we realized that the soundtrack itself would span to seven discs, making it a huge volume of songs (laughs).

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Toriyama: After the game was released, I saw a gaming review website capture all the little details of various landscapes in the game, from the posters and billboards to the train time schedules, close inspections of the buildings, pretty much everything that showed the lifestyles of people living in Midgar. Although I’m glad that people were able to deeply observe the details we put in, I can’t help but see some flaws, so it kind of gives me pressure to make sure that the next installment will have even more perfected details (laughs).

—Compared to 23 years ago, from the addition of voices in conversations to a change of design, trends have changed. Was it difficult to achieve a balance of retaining the essence of the original game but still representing it for a new generation?

Toriyama: We wanted to have the game be fully voiced including the NPC within the city, so we were careful when putting in dialogue that would sound natural. We left in some funny lines spoken from the original game’s NPC too, but since there were way more NPCs in the Remake compared to the original, we made sure to find a good balance where those lines wouldn’t be buried among the other spoken dialogue.

Toriyama: For the Remake, the voice acting was added after we had finished creating the cutscenes, and I think that the character’s performance really shined through from the work that the actors and actresses have done that brought out each character’s charm. During recording, Barret had an unexpected continuity that we pushed further, and the results really brought out his character very well.

—In regards to seeing a brand new side of Cloud, the peak of it would probably be the dance sequence at the Honey Bee Inn. Was this scene planned from the beginning?

Toriyama: We strongly did not want to leave out Cloud’s crossdressing scene but instead wanted to create a concept that would make it stand out even more in the Remake. We decided to make Wall Market a huge entertainment district, and we were very enthusiastic in making the Honey Bee Inn even more of an entertainment hotspot in the Remake. I actually helped create the Honey Bee Inn for the original game, so it was easy for me to reimagine the place for the Remake. While still retaining some elements from the original, we were able to give it a huge makeover.

—The Shinra Mascot dog “Stamp” appears in various locations, even on a snack package blowing in the wind in towards the ending with Zack. Was the character of Stamp originally created in the beginning stages of development?

Toriyama: The dog Stamp is a very important symbol that was planned since the beginning. Stamp’s use was determined along with the game design. AVALANCHE also uses him as their symbol, so there is a good meaning to him that we included to have him stand out. However, the Stamp that appears in the scene with Zack is a different breed, so please pay attention to that.

—I was quite surprised that Chadley turned out to be what he was in the story, but who’s idea was it to create this character?

Toriyama: Chadley is a new character that was not in the original game, so it was the scenario team who decided on creating this character. There are a lot of contents regarding the game’s difficulty levels and clearing the battle reports, so we decided to have Cloud be able to encounter Chadley throughout the entire game. I haven’t finished clearing the HARD mode yet, but I hope that those who haven’t cleared everything yet can challenge themselves with this!

—The new character Roche left quite an impact, but he’s an eccentric one that only appears in Chapter 4 and nowhere else. What was the purpose of his character, and will he appear in the next installment?

Toriyama: We had initially drawn up a concept of having Roche appear at the last battle on the Midgar Highway, but we thought that he might ruin the serious mood of the ending sequence, so we scrapped that idea. We also thought to put him in as a boss battle in the Chapter 14 slums, but since you can’t really race around on a motorbike in the slums, we unfortunately could not make it work. Roche’s spontaneity is one of his character traits that stands out though, so there’s a high chance that he’ll appear in the next installment (laughs).

—In the Remake, the characters have a lot of banter when they’re walking around or fighting battles, and the dialogue is not always the same either. Did you oversee the types of conversations that were put in?

Toriyama: All scenarios were checked and supervised by me and Nojima-san. We actually had a lot more lines prepared in the script for dialogue spoken by characters in boss battles, but somewhere around the middle of production, we eventually cut out the frequency of giving out hints and instead left it to the players to think about what to do. This in turn caused us to cut a lot of dialogue out.

—Are there any specific episodes, scenes, or dialogue that you were interested in or wanted to include?

Toriyama: The AVALANCHE base at the bottom of Seventh Heaven in the original game was an interesting area that left an impression on me, but since Cloud is not very close with AVALANCHE in the Remake, we wanted to show that distance between them, which made us leave out that scene. Although I really wanted to have Barret punching that sandbag in the Remake, I had to restrain myself (laughs).

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Toriyama: Even though the first installment of the “FFVII Remake” has ended, the story has only just begun. While listening to the voices of the fans, we also hope to make the next installments something that would exceed your expectations. I personally also played the original game again after finishing the Remake. While waiting for the next installment, I hope you can enjoy the differences in the Remake’s portrayal of Midgar and also have fun imagining what kinds of things lie ahead in the next game too!

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CO-DIRECTOR HAMAGUCHI NAOKI INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Hamaguchi: I felt very relieved after seeing the user feedback after the game was released. I fully joined the development team for FF7R in 2017 when the fans had been waiting for this game for quite some time already. So I made it my mission to ensure that fans do not wait longer than 3 years for the completion of the game. FF7 is a game that many people have come to love, so there was a real sense of responsibility to carry, but even so, the development team staff is composed of people who are extremely passionate about FF7, so we were able to enjoy making this game while progressing on its development.

—Since you were involved with the development of the game, was there anything you were concerned about?

Hamaguchi: What was constantly said to the team was that we must “respect the original game.” We were not creating a new game that is only inspired by the characters and world of FFVII, but we strove to create a game where the elements of the original are remade using the latest game design and graphics, making it feel “nostalgic yet new.” If we were to stray far away from the source material, then people might think “this is not the FFVII that I know,” so we tried to follow the original story but added details that we could not add 20 years ago using the latest technology. With that, we were able to focus on enriching the story to create an experience that is still “the FFVII that l know, but with a lot more new things waiting to be discovered.”

Hamaguchi: The Remake was made possible by the enthusiasm from the entire staff. During the production of this game, the task division between the development staff was even more than another Final Fantasy numbered game. For example, a person in charge of location would usually be a level designer that would spend 2-3 years on a single location’s design, execution, and then implementation, and we had specific staff designated to work on all the locations as well. For battle parts, we had a single person in charge of 2-3 bosses at a time, and a level designers also oversaw everything from design to implementation. With this scheme, we were able to have each game designer focus on only the parts that they are designated with, which allowed them to be enthusiastic and particular with the production of their areas. However, because of this, each game designer felt very strongly of their work that they poured their all into, so in order to not lose satisfaction, wemade it a priority to view the contents as a whole within the team. By doing this, we were able to combine everyone’s vision into the end product.

—Without having the battle system be solely either a Command RPG or Action style, it must have been challenging to fuse the two together. During development, there must have been some trial and error to get it right, but was there any part that was specifically concerning or challenging?

Hamaguchi: One of the most particular parts was how we were going to incorporate the ATB Battle System. We didn’t want to incorporate a completely new battle style that was different than the original, so we were inspired by the original FF7’s ATB battle system to create a new and improved one that also works in real time. Of course, I’m sure that the action elements we added gives off a very fresh impression, but the root of the system is from the ATB battle system, allowing us to incorporate a sense of nostalgia to the battle system. The part we worked extremely hard on was how to fuse together action and command style elements. Many of the development team staff including myself have a long history working with command RPGs, so we are very confident with that type of battle style in that field. However, when we tried adding action elements in, there was a sense of discord within the battle system we had.

The part we were stuck on was that implementing a command system will cause the the user to have too much information in regards to fighting strategy, and that would only cause issues if we were also going to add real time action options too. When we were doing trial and error to figure out how to draw the line between how many action and command elements we could add, Battle Director Endou Teruki was able to join our team. He is extremely versed with action battle systems and how to develop them, so as soon as he saw what we had created, he immediately pointed out that we were lacking features in regards to the action elements of the battle system. Since we were having trouble figuring out a balance between the action and command elements, we couldn’t really answer what we were lacking since we just simply added in action elements, so we were not able to create a very refreshing experience. Luckily, Endou was able to concentrate on the action parts and balanced out the battle system with fast paced command RPG strategy as well as action elements, which is what you see in the finished product.

—In terms of creating an action battle system, I’m sure there were concerns about the increasing difficulty of that fighting style. For those who are not fond of action battle systems, there’s also the option of “CLASSIC Mode,” but was there anything else you were particularly conscious about?

Hamaguchi: For those who only wanted to enjoy the game’s story, we implemented EASY Mode, for those who wanted to enjoy the command RPG style of fighting, we also created the CLASSIC mode, so there are different play styles you can choose from. Since the “CLASSIC mode” was something we tried for the first time, we were excited to hear the reactions of the players, and I think the reviews have been favorable. We heard comments from users who enjoyed the Normal mode’s difficulty level but in the CLASSIC mode style, so we will refer to their feedback in the future as well.

—Since the game’s release, I’m sure that most people have viewed the battle system in a very favorable light. What do you think about the reactions that you have seen thus far?

Hamaguchi: We feel that we have delivered the exact type of battle experience that users can accept. I think this is thanks to the way we were able to create a system that not only reimagines the ATB battle system in real time form, but we also pays homage to the Command RPG style, which leaves a sense of nostalgia while giving a fresh new experience to the battle style. I’m sure there are a lot of people who are interested in what kind of battle system we have in store for the next installment too. We would like the battle system to be even more customizable with more action and command strategies that users can curate into their own playing style, giving an even newer experience, so please look forward to that!

—It seems that the level cap at 50 has some limitations in regards to your status attributes and range, and since various weapons have their own strengths, it seems like you put thought into balancing out battles. In regular RPGs, characters grow and their weapons become stronger, but it feels like this was done in moderation. Was this balance something that the development team had planned from the beginning?

Hamaguchi: When we were stuck on how to create the battle system, we made changes to optimize the balance of the battle system. We wanted a balance that also incorporated the original FF7’s customizable options with materia, and Battle Director Endou also had the same thoughts. However, if we allowed players to get as many materia as they would like, then they could technically give the same set of materia to each character, which would defeat the purpose of giving each character their own unique abilities. Thus, we decided to put limits on the amount of attributes you can have. Moreso than putting a moderation on gaining strength, we wanted players to have fun with the strategies that they could incorporate by using different materia or weapons. If you were to redo a battle, you could try other ways of setting up your weapons and materia to create a stress free battle, and I thought that was an important function to have.

—Boss battles within the game have different stages where the attacks or field changes, such as the Sword Dance battle that splits between two parties during the fight. Was this concept of having battles be set up in different stages as the fight progressed something that was decided during the beginning of production?

Hamaguchi: That’s right. I told the team during the beginning that boss battles would be executed out in phases. Many of the bosses within each chapter contain some of the most exciting reveals, so we wanted players to be able to feel immersed within the story even through the boss battles. In order to do that, we constructed each boss battle to have several different phases where the battle strategy changes and also focuses on the story at the same time. We also paid attention to the party structure. In particular, we spent a lot of time and effort to solidify the party structure during the battle with Sephiroth. The battle with the Whisper Harbinger that leads to the climax fight with Sephiroth is one that changes automatically as does the structure of the party you are fighting with, so the protagonists need to work together in order to challenge their own fate.

However, we felt that if we were to do the same type of structure during Sephiroth’s battle, then it might become tedious to the player. For example, if we were to take away one of the protagonists out of the four, then the fans of that protagonist might feel let down. Because of that, we decided that the characters who join you during the Sephiroth battle will depend on how you fought during the Whisper Harbinger battle. However, in order to do this, we would have to create a ton of cutscenes depending on the order that the characters appear in, and even now I remember the look on the cutscene team member’s faces when I proposed the idea and the blank stares that I received (laughs). Because the Final Fantasy Series is one that is known for having a large amount of cutscenes, I am really grateful for the cutscene team member’s assistance in not just the Sephiroth battle scene, but for working so hard on all cutscenes within the series too.

—There are weapons, accessories, materia, and items that were added into the Remake that were not present in the original game, but was there any particular reason for doing this?

Hamaguchi: Right before the game went gold, I actually made an absurd request to the team to add the “Pedometer” materia. You get this materia at the start of Chapter 14, and since you’re there to help people out with odds and ends within the Sector 5 and Sector 6 slums, you would need to walk around the areas a lot. Since you had visited these areas within Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 already, there wouldn’t be many changes, so I thought to give players a reason for walking around these places again by adding in this materia. I actually originally called the materia the “Step” materia, but I noticed that Toriyama changed the name to the “Pedometer” materia instead (laughs). I was reminded of it again when I saw the strategy book refer to that name.

—Is there any specific monster enemy or battle (whether it be within the Colosseum or Battle Simulator) that piqued your interest?

Hamaguchi: The “Level 7 Top Secret Battle” has quite a shock factor. The person in charge of battle planning asked me, “Does it make sense for Bahamut to summon Ifrit?” Since they are fighting in a virtual reality, it wouldn’t be a problem, so I answered “Yeah, go for it!” without thinking too much about it. However, when I was doing a play check for the difficulty level of the battle, I remember being shocked (laughs). When that happens, you’d probably panic and think that you should defeat Ifrit first, but it’s actually more advantageous to focus on attacking Bahamut instead. This battle was the most difficult one for me and left quite an impression.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Hamaguchi: Since the original game was so widely loved by fans everywhere, there were a lot of younger staff members who were scared of making changes. On the other hand, Producer Kitase wanted big changes (laughs). Nomura and I saw the Remake as an homage to the original game, so if we were to change anything, we made sure that it would be something planned with a specific reason that fans could accept.

—Did you have any ideas or wishes that you were entertaining by yourself that was then made a reality in this game?

Hamaguchi: It’s not something I was entertaining for a while, but having an automatic weapon growth system was something that I focused on before working on FF7R since I was on the development team for the “Mobius Final Fantasy” game, which left a strong impression on me. Since a smartphone game operates in a way that you return to it on a daily basis, lots of things are automated as much as possible to create a smooth experience. There’s also a card synthesis system within the game that allows for an automated way to synthesize your cards, so that was a point that I thought would be nice to have in FF7R where weapons could automatically level up as well. I’m always thinking about the consumer side when developing games, and being able to see customer reactions in real time, such as when I was developing smartphone games, gave me an environment to try out a lot of ideas I had. I think that was a great experience for me.

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Hamaguchi: Although I myself was involved too, I’m still very impressed that we were able to successfully create a game from start to finish without making compromises to any of the large amount of data we had. This is all thanks to not only Nomura, Toriyama, and other directors such as me, but also to the game designers, graphics team, sound team, system staff, and more. All of us had various responsibilities as creators, and it’s because of the best efforts of everyone that we were able to make this game possible. I’m personally very excited to make the next game with the same team members again!

—FFVII Remake is highly praised as a game with amazing quality with the latest technology, but was there anything that was challenging or something that you did not personally oversee but was still impressed with the outcome?

Hamaguchi: Seeing the world of FFVII open up through its story is one of the highlights that makes the game so enjoyable, but the user experience and story immersion could be greatly impacted with too many loading screens and wait times. We therefore kept a technical eye on the loading system since the beginning. In order to do this, we aligned the data with each situation so that it could simultaneously load, which allowed us to not have the loading screen appear during the middle of the chapter. During the last cutscene of each chapter, the next chapter’s data would already be loading in the background, which allowed for the load screen between chapters to also be as short as possible. We also added tips to read on the load screen, but because the loading times are so short, it’s also difficult to read all of them. It made me cry out with joy!

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Hamaguchi: The first installment of the “FFVII Remake Project” was centered around Midgar, and we strived to recreate a Midgar that you could not experience in the original story, showcasing the hustle and bustle of the lives of the people there as well as the environment. The next installment will then shift to the other parts of the world since the characters have escaped from Midgar in the story. We hope to create a game that allows you to experience the charm and allure of the world of FFVII from the various lives of the people as well as the environments that will be present. Production for the next installment is already under way, and our team is putting their all into the advancement of the game. Although there is still a wait, we hope that you can look forward to what we have in store!

#final fantasy 7 #ff7r #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7 #final fantasy vii remake #ffvii #final fantasy #cloud #aerith #tifa #barret #red xiii #reno #rude #tseng #rufus #my translations

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secret-diary-of-an-fa · 3 years

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God of War (PS4) Review: Kratos’ Postal Grief Beard Versus Norse Mythology

Once upon a time, a man was born by the name of Cory Barlog and thus a coin was flipped. Would he become a videogame developer or would he take up guarding the Mines of Moria by pulling wizards into a precipice? Those really are the only two options with a name like Barlog. Anyway, apparently the Mines of Moria were a bit of a commute, so the world gained a talented Auteur developer with a unique vision for a game series about going postal in ancient Greece. Fast-foward a number of years specifically calculated to make you feel old and ancient Greece is a distant memory. Norse mythology is where all the cool kids hang out nowadays, and that’s where we’re going in today’s review.

As you might have guessed, I’ve just finished playing God of War (PS4), which is fun to say because it rhymes. It’s a very good game that should be a very bad game. When considering modern media artefacts, I’m often prompted to ask the question ‘what went so wrong?’, but this may be the first time I’ve had to ask the question ‘what went so right?’.

Let me explain: God of War 4 (I don’t care that they don’t put the number on the box art, that’s what it fucking is) makes a single, monumentally stupid creative decision that should ruin the entire enterprise, but doesn’t. And that creative decision was- wait for it- a stab at maturity.

The last time we saw Kratos- the world’s angriest mythical being- he was finishing his battle with the Greek gods in God of War 3. There was a moment in that game which, to me, typified what was so great about the series. If I recall the sequence of events correctly, you kill your way through an ocean of expendable goons and critters who are just trying to defend their home on Mount Olympus, dripping with blood and screaming furiously, then wander into the bedroom of one of ancient Greece’s sauciest goddesses and play a sex minigame that you win by fucking her so well that her handmaids orgasm too. Then you toddle outside again and, head cleared, solve an incredibly complex and cerebral puzzle involving non-Euclidean geometry and perspective manipulation that takes bloody ages. That, in a nutshell, was the core identity of the original God of War: a gleefully unrestrained and immature approach to sex and violence coupled with a grouchy willingness to make unsuspecting players feel like fucking idiots for no reason whatsoever. It was awesome. In contrast, God of War 4 picks up many, many years later with Kratos hiding out in Midgard of the Norse mythos and, for once, he hasn’t got a nark on and he’s not trying to stick his cock in someone with cartoonishly huge knockers. He’s just sad because his missus has passed away, leaving him and their young, impressionable son alone in a big, scary world full of trolls and ginger psychopaths. ‘Sad’ isn’t a completely new emotion for Kratos, but, up until this point, he was usually sad in a way that resulted in five hundred people getting their spines broken in a very colourful manner. Now he just wants to cremate the remains of the woman he loved and carry her ashes to the tallest peak in the nine realms so he can scatter her in accordance with her final wishes. And that’s what he does, with son- Atreus- in tow. It’s a twenty-plus hour game in which the objective is very simply to honour someone’s preferred funeral rites- nothing more, nothing less. It’s very modest by Kratos usual standards. Remember that his stated goal in the previous game was to punch freakin’ Zeus so hard that his face would go all concave and then repeatedly stamp on his corpse.

We never actually find out much about what Kratos was up to between games or how he met his wife. However, he’s a bit thiccer than in previous instalments and seems to have lost the use of the ‘jump’ button outside of context-sensitive environments. On that evidence, I choose to believe he’s been running a small but successful family restaurant called ‘Kratos’ Potatoes’ and enjoying it all a bit much. And why not? He beat up Zeus- if he just wants to create and sample homely yet exotic Greco-Norse fusion cuisine while growing a ridiculous straggly dad-beard, I say let him crack on. Actually, is it a ‘dad beard’ or is it a ‘grief beard’? I think they send them to videogame characters in the post whenever a loved one dies so they can signal to the world how sad they are through the medium of angsty facial hair. But where was? Oh yeah: cracking on with it.

Y’see this is where the plot comes in: the Norse gods won’t let Kratos crack on. They’re determined to make him bow before Odin- especially Baldur, who is way too invested in having a fight with Kratos for reasons that won’t become apparent until very late in the game. They just keep turning up and trying to break Kratos and his increasingly like-him-but-not-as-good-at-it son Atreus. This time around, our heroes commit heinous acts of violence to defend themselves, not enact revenge, as they travel, inexorably, to the top of a lonely mountain through landscapes of stunning natural beauty and many, many hostile creatures.

Of course, Kratos taking his son on a hiking holiday with added troll-murder and the occasional slap-fight with Norse mythology’s biggest killjoys doesn’t sound as interesting as the original games. After all, those were basically a production of Kill Bill in which the part of Bill was played by a guy with the power to summon lightning bolts and access to a seemingly unstoppable army of monsters and demigods. The ‘fun factor’ even seems to have taken another downgrade, in that Kratos no longer operates with the entertainingly demented passion of the insane: he has been tempered by time and love and managed to turn himself into a paragon of serious self control. So why is God of War 4 so bloody good? Partly, I suspect, the answer lies in the constantly evolving relationship between Kratos and Atreus, which gives the story an unbelievable amount of heart and always manages to feel very organic. Kratos never learned how to be a parent, and we essentially watch him do it in real time, forming a bond with his son that seems impossible at the start of the game and inevitable by the end. Partly, the games greatness lies in the characters you meet along the way, who range from bickering dwarves to talking, decapitated heads who prattle on like laid-back tour-guides. Partly, it’s in the beautiful, epic landscapes that make the journey across the Realms to the highest peak feel epic and significant, even while it is small and personal.

But a videogame is nothing without gameplay, and it is here that God of War 4 really shines. I loved the original God of War trilogy (especially the third instalment), but I rarely felt like I was playing as, y’know, a god of war. Kratos might not be an uncontrollable whirlwind of fury any more, but he feels truly powerful for the first time in the ongoing series. In fights, every punch feels like it could crack stone; every axe-throw like it could rend the sky; every chain-whip like it could legitimately start a forest-fire. Out of combat, Kratos moves around the environment with the stolid grace of a man who knows his movements are inevitable; irresistible; an imposition on the environment that can’t be denied. You climb and complete elaborate, complex traversals knowing that the satisfaction you feel isn’t just the satisfaction of finding the correct route or solving an obstacle, but the satisfaction of a being forcing his way through a landscape that resists him at every turn but cannot stop him. The puzzles- of which there are many- strike the perfect balance between conceptual trickiness and ease of execution to remind you that Kratos is smart as well as determined; that his mind is as indomitable as his body. Then there are the little touches involving heaving huge stone pillars and similar unnecessarily over-the-top efforts. In short, the gameplay is interwoven with who Kratos is- with what he is in way that seems completely unprecedented. Even the RPG elements feel appropriate: they reflect the protagonist’s growing confidence in a skillet he hasn’t used in a long, long time.

Do I miss the uniquely juvenile, over the top identity of the old games? Absolutely: I’m a great fan of gratuitous gore and scantily clad women with big fuck-off swords. Usually, I find the desire for maturity in games to be a silly, pretentious trend that foolishly eschews anything obviously ‘fun’ for no reason other than courting the respect of people whose respect isn’t worth having. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here- at least, not entirely. The developers of the God of War games are clearly artisans and craftsmen of extreme talent: their attention to detail is superb and their ability to weave a good tale from a simple premise is actually a little daunting for someone who considers himself a bloody good story-teller. It’s worth remembering that the de facto head of the studio, Barlog, became a father himself before commencing work on this game about a father learning to bond with his son. It feels personal and meant because it is. Other games might reach for superficially mature themes like family and redemption for altogether cynical reasons. God of War 4 does it because such thoughts are clearly much on the developer’s mind. I asked already ‘Do I miss the identity of the old games?’ and the answer is still yes. But that question deserves a follow-up: am I willing to embrace the identity of this new, quieter God of War anyway? And yes, yes I am.

But if we could have a few more women with enormous knockers and Kratos going properly batshit just once or twice in the next sequel, that would also be welcome. I mean, let’s try to strike a balance here, people, for pity’s sake.

#Secret Diary of a Fat Admirer #God of War #God of War 4 #god of war sequel #Kratos #Zeus #norse mythology #greek mythology #videogames #game review #games

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