#so all the cutscenes were a little darker than usual

[mk-wizard]

Big Hero 6 The Series: It could have been better

Hello, friends. Today, I will be analyzing a TV series based on a movie that I fell in love with for its colourful themes, deep plot, compelling characters, great CGI and memorable messages. Before I get into it, I want to take a moment to say that I have quit doing videos. They are too big of a pain in the petunia to make and I write better than I speak, so I will stick to writing essays, reviews and more. Anyway, onto the analysis.

All I can say about Big Hero 6 the series is that it had a great concept, it presented some great ideas and tried hard to be a cartoon of the times, but it could have and should have been a lot better. The show’s downfall all centers around trying too hard to be kid friendly which makes the shame sting all the more because Big Hero 6 was already kid friendly even with its dark themes, sharp edges and intelligent writing. If anything, even the brightest kid friendly cartoons (Steven Universe, She-Ra, etc.) had those things and actually benefitted from them. By needlessly trying too hard, character development got scrapped, the edges were all smoothed out, storytelling was subpar, the humour was too silly and the executive meddling in the end produced a dismal final season. However, I don’t want this analysis to be one lengthy negative rant about how awful the series was because in its defense, awful is an unfair word. It did have potential and ideas which are worth carrying over to a reboot that I hope will be done someday in the future. Also, we should root for a reboot because Big Hero 6 would not be the first story that needs it before striking gold. Just look at how many times Spider-Man was rebooted in film before MCU found the version that worked. Anyway, I will list all the things in Big Hero 6 that could have been better in my opinion;

1- Go easy on the laughs and be more generous with the action. - I love adding comedy to my own writing because I think a good sense of humour makes everything better, but Big Hero 6 is not a stand up comedy routine. It is a superhero story where we expect action, suspense and life or death situations that are to be taken seriously first. The comedy should be for relief and with the right timing. Also, the chibi cutscenes and having characters act like fools aren’t funny. Ren and Stimpy are the exception not the standard and their way of making you laugh doesn’t fit an action series. In a show as big as Big Hero 6, real life physics and danger matters.

2- Make the villains menacing and gritty. - I admit that after having a movie villain like Yokai who was the stuff of nightmares, it is going to be a challenging act to follow, but it was obvious that the writers were trying especially with some villains who could have easily gone into some dark relatable territory. For example, Mr. Sparkles (the gentleman in the photo above) embodies social media and Internet personalities. Right off the bat, you have a long list of things which embody the dark side of that like scams, fraud, using social media to dox or harass, driving people to suicide, online predators, the Internet personalities being very depressed people in real life, and much more horrifying things. When you stop and look at it, Mr. Sparkles even looks like the Joker which hints how dark and scary he could have been if the stops were removed. The same goes for enemies like Hardlight who embodies online gaming, Liv with cloning, Obake an amoral and insane scientist, and Trina and Noodle Burger Boy (more on him later) being evil robots. Globby especially should have been painted and written in much darker colours rather being played off for laughs because he has many parallels with Clay Face. The only two villains who I can say were supposed to be campy, charming and comical were Baron Von Steamer and Supersonic Sue because they were a satire of the Adam West style villains.

The rest of them needed to be dark and threatening including Mr. Sparkles. In fact, I would love a rebooted version of Mr. Sparkles who gives me the heebie-jeebies. Going back to Noodle Burger Boy, I must confess that I was actually excited when I heard that he was going to be the main villain of the final season because I thought he was going to fulfill his master’s final wish and as a reminder, Noodle Burger Boy was based on a super robot for military purposes.

It would have been fantastic if Noodle Burger Boy was upgraded into a full military war machine with a new threatening look. For that, I think all of the villains deserve to be rebooted and have their full potential unlocked for better or for worse.

3- A show about geniuses merits genius level art quality. - I am usually forgiving towards art styles, but in the case of Big Hero 6, the oversimplified style with minimal details and lack of textures did not suit the show. The characters blend in with the background which makes them look flat and the special effects were extremely dulled down. I also know for a fact that Disney can do a lot better than this because I saw how superbly Tangled the Series was drawn.

You can see and almost feel the difference in quality, the number of layers and level of detail between the two styles. I think there was no excuse Big Hero 6 was not done in the same style and at the same level if not better as Tangled.

3- Don’t dumb down or flanderize amazing characters. - I absolutely detest it when characters are flanderized because it makes them one dimensional and grating. For example, Go Go is tough as nails and extremely calm, but she is not cold or hesitant towards helping her friends. She doesn’t require very special episodes for us to know that. If anything, the movie version of Go Go reminded me a lot of Garnet in how she deconstructed the broody character. She isn’t cold or emotionless. Just calm and mature. Another good example was how Honey Lemon was rewritten to be overly positive to the point of toxicity, naïve and oblivious with a juvenile obsession with stickers. Then you have poor Fred who was rewritten to be an incompetent fool. The spark that makes Big Hero 6 shine is that they are a team of geniuses meaning they are all intelligent. Even Fred is genius in his own way just not a scientific one. He has a vivid imagination, he is resourceful and can get himself out of tight spots. Please, don’t turn characters into dummies especially if their intelligence is a part of them. It doesn’t make them better or funnier. It ruins them.

4- Tadashi needs closure and honour. - I am all for Hiro making peace with the loss of his brother, but Tadashi is to the Big Hero 6 team what Uncle Ben was to Spider-Man. His loss was the catalyst if not the reason. He should never be forgotten. Moreover, there was never any true closure to him especially with the possibility that he may still be alive up in the air. After all, like Callaghan, his body was never found and it turned out that Callaghan was still alive.

With that said, who is to say that Tadashi was not secretly still alive and just hiding or being hidden? This is something that Disney really needed to clear up if not for the fans, then at least as a service to such an important character. Never just forget about them.

5- The format can only be episodic with a deep plots, continuity and character development. - Random episodes with a mere monster of the day is an outdated format which doesn’t fit Big Hero 6′s modern and bright setting. In seasons 1 and 2, when the episodes were plot heavy with character development, the series shined brightest. It also helped move the story along, but with the final season, plot was removed, closure was abandoned or poorly written if any was given, and characters were disallowed from growing. A good example at how plot and character development could have made this series and its characters better was the relationship between Hiro and Megan. Would it have truly survived or would they have broken up?

Would Richardson Mole have eventually lost interest in his obsession with besting and bullying Fred or would his obsession consume him compelling him to become a super villain? I do see quite a few similarities between Mole and Reverse Flash.

Then you have Karmi who is in my opinion, the biggest wild card of the bunch. She was intentionally introduced as an arrogant, prickly and unlikable yet complex character who rivaled Hiro bitterly.

Yet had a huge crush on his alter ego and as time went on, started to grow up and even form a friendship with Hiro. What would have happened further down the road with her? Would she have become a super hero herself? Or maybe even another love interest for Hiro kind of like how Black Cat is for Spider-Man?

Is Obake really gone?

What does the future hold Diana (Liv’s clone), Liv herself or the Sycorax the genetics company?

Is Alistair Krei going to become an ally to Big Hero 6 or an antagonist? There is also the issue at how little we know about the other Big Hero 6 characters other than Fred, Hiro and Baymax. What are Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Go Go’s backstories? These questions matter and while not every mystery can be solved, leaving none of them solved is lazy writing.

6- Executives, kindly stay out of the writing and any other part of the creative process. - I’m sorry, execs, but there is no nice way to say it. History itself proves that every time executives got involved in the creative process of any media, it got worse not better. Leave the writing to the creative team and the execs should only handle the legal stuff. Please. We understand that TV is a business, but writing itself is not. It is an art which you just don’t have a talent for. Let the creative people do their thing with the freedom necessary and you do your thing, deal? Deal.

7- Focus on Hiro and Baymax. - The are the main characters so keep them at the heart of the series no matter what happens around them. That is all I can say.

And that sums up all the things that could have made Big Hero 6 the series better, but this is all just my opinion. What is yours?

PS: I am well aware that the Big Hero 6 series is being retconned because a new series called Baymax is in the works as well as the long awaited sequel to the first movie. I am looking forward to both with an open mind. PPS: I also am aware that some people liked this show the way it was including the art style and I am cool with that. An analysis for art that includes cartoons is never right or wrong. It is solely based on opinion. I may have thought this series could have been better, but there are people who make arguments that it could have been worse.

[spidermilkshake]

“Link’s Bad Horsemanship”

XD This is half critique of the development of... er, pretty much all of the Legend of Zelda series featuring horse-riding, and half a goof. It's very very apparent that people working in Nintendo on various horse-riding animations, the riding game mechanics, and how the horses get used or behave in-game in general... are either blatantly bad equestrians, or not equestrians at all, and are getting their visual references and information from such sources as cheesy old Western movies (which featured outright horse abuse very often, usually in ways that were and remain kind of normalized) and the jockey club, which makes money off of callously abusive horse-keeping practices. So it's either ignorance out of thinking they're doing it right, or ignorance outright! And, since the majority of people have never worked with horses at all or know their physical limitations or history of abusive practices--generally people playing the games will not at all notice how hilariously bad some of the horsemanship turns out in the games. XD

But, having researched horses and proper horsemanship, and knowing what constitutes animal abuse... WOW does this series have a lot of Fridge Horror for an equestrian. By far, Majora's Mask is the most outright abusive in its treatment of horse, and probably completely by accident, simply by having Link ride Epona when she's a developing filly, which is absolutely going to either ruin her spine and halve her lifespan, or cause her to have fucked-up knees and much more easily slip and break her legs. You never ride a horse under a minimum of 2.5 years old for these reasons, and never ride a horse if you weight any more than 20% of their body weight (or under 20% including the combined weight of your saddle and tack). MM, when I was researching how the horsemanship is shown in each game, was the only game that made me reflexively gasp and cringe at how bad it was! I mean, I know MM is supposed to be darker, but GEEZ, maybe accidentally including the fact that Link is slowly and unknowingly killing his horse isn't the way, guys. <_<; Breath of the Wild actually comes in second place, purely for it's accidentally horrible "horse-taming" mechanic (which is definitely NOT how you actually tame a wild horse, it's how you intimidate and exhaust one into submission and give it mental trauma and also possibly get yourself killed). Also the fact that, because of increased graphical fidelity, there is now no question that Hyrule ubiquitously uses the nastiness that is the bit in riding, which are tools designed specifically to cause at least discomfort inside a horse's mouth to make them obey (and most types also coerce the horse through pain, and when too much pressure is applied have a very high risk of actually damaging a horse's teeth and gums, and even panicking a horse out of pain and fear and causing them to throw you, trip, or even over-rear and flip themselves over). Thankfully, they have done away with the idea that you smack a horse to get it to go faster for the most part minus the implication of a crop being used in the icons measuring the horse's stamina (though there's still the stupid whipping the reins thing in Link's animation, which is still a tooth-dryer when you realize the pressure of those reins are connected to the metal stuck in his steed's mouth... that's got to be awful for the horse when that leather slaps around wildly). Also, a more minor thing, most of the decorative tack for the horses, especially Epona's fancy breastpiece thing, are, uh, apparently not padded and have thin straps and big metal buckles up on her sensitive hide... That's going to chafe in about ten minutes of riding. There is a reason girth straps and saddles have saddlepads and girth padding secured under them! Twilight Princess is eh... it's not great. It's the only game besides BoTW with bits, and the only one which shows Ganondorf doing bad horsemanship things (which appears to have been done in total ignorance for the purposes of making the scene look "cool", which always turns out making the scene hilariously bad for anyone watching who knows horse body language). Most of the bad parts of TP are more implications than outright confirmed mechanics or just obvious. There's the implication that spurs are used on the horses in the speeding-up mechanic (spurs are yet another rather questionable equestrian tool. They are sharp things attacked to the rider's heels which jab the horse's sensitive flank. They absolutely have the potential to wound horses, even when used "lightly". Some types of spurs look damn psychotic, but they're all pretty harsh things to push or hit an animal with). There's still the issue of lacking padding under most of the tack. There's also the very alarming implication that Link overworks or mistreats Epona by pushing her hard to do dangerous things, as shown in dialogue with Ilia if you show up and Epona has taken any damage. It's... iffy, but it's not as bad and the aforementioned two. Overall, Ocarina of Time actually has the best horsemanship. It's still not perfect--and it's mostly down to how Link is shown interacting with Epona when he's grown. XD Oops. Now, the good point of equestrianism shown in OoT is that Epona and Link (and Malon's) relationship is shown to be founded on trust. It's a little gamified due to the whole "magic song" thing, but the fact that the horse wants to be near you because the horse chose to and likes you is so significant when all the other games either show you already having a captive Epona or having you physically force horses to tolerate you before any actual "bonding" (i.e. lovebombing with treats) happens (ick). Also, this is the game which shows Link doing a bunch of things wrong but yet shows Ganondorf being actually very skilled and not forceful when it comes to horsemanship. XD Another oops. You wouldn't believe how many minutes were wasted rewinding that cutscene to confirm that yes, Ganon is managing his reins properly with soft hands, yes, Ganon is able to compensate for surprise rearing without harming his horse and helping rebalance the horse instead, yes, Ganon is using extensive padding and protective gear for his horse and riding expertly enough that he's preserving the horse's back health... and Link is not. XD It's like... in trying to make him all tall and scary, and Link all plucky and active, they accidentally made the "bad guy" do big good and the "good guy" do big doofus. >u<; And now, there is horse abuse present in-universe, but it's presented as such. I won't have any issue with that because it's on the part of Ingo, and it's supposed to make you know it's bad. Ingo uses a crop to whip the horse he rides in races, which, I mean, I shouldn't have to tell anyone that taking a stick with a leather strap on it and whacking a captive animal with it to make it do something is baaaaad. My only problem of OoT is regarding hitting horses being normalized, and this lies with Link.. because for some dumb reason, whoever animated Link riding Epona decided that whenever he makes Epona speed up, he should look like he's open-hand slapping Epona on the haunch, or at least threatening to hit her. This is equally as bad as what Ingo's doing. You don't hit horses, and you don't threaten to hit them to make them too scared to defy you. They feel pain (horses actually have thinner skin and about three to four times the nerve endings in the skin as humans!). It's wrong, and from a pragmatic perspective you don't do it anyway. Eventually even the calmest, most timid horse will reach a breaking point, and enough abuse will cause them to either flip you off and run you over from fear, or just outright bite and kick the shit out of you in self-defense. It's big no. So here's Ganondorf, apparently Best Equestrian in the Series, just... giving Link the gears about his horsemanship skills. Throwing all the shade in the land of Hyrule. XD Poor Link--he's mostly just ignorant and gotten used to the wrong things (and who knows, maybe he did just ape on Ingo and learn wrongly) and he's just... havin' a hard time relearning how to ride. At least Epona likes him enough that she'll let him start to know better. At least in OoT, he hasn't got as far to go!

[mysterious-prophetess]

so, I just finished watching the Snyder Cut of Justice League

And since I did watch the Theatrical Cut or Josstice League (and own that on Blu-Ray) I thought I’d compare and contrast.

From here on out the Theatrical version is Josstice League and Snyder Cut is Snyder Cut

First, the things they have in common: A lot of the plot beats and characters appear in both with the exceptions that are probably obvious.

But the story still is

“Space Invader from beyond the stars is on earth searching for magic macguffins to end life on Earth as we know it forces Bruce and Diana to recruit a team of other metas to stop this and they end up reenacting Re-Animator with Superman/Clark who died in Batman v Superman with the MAcGuffin and the MacGuffin Ship from Man of Steel and in the end, though shit gets weird in Russia, they save the world and resume their lives in slightly better shape than before.”

Now onto the contrasts

I’ll hit the low hanging fruit and go with Tones first.

Josstice League’s tone could flip-flop wildly. Which, since they were trying to mimic the MCU’s tonal flip-flopping (by even hiring the same guy who set it up with Avengers) makes some sense.

Snyder Cut isn’t without levity but it doesn’t do the drastic veers that Josstice League did.

There are some things I liked better about Josstice League, believe it or not.

While the tone shifting like it did was very MCU copy-paste at times, there were character moments of the Flash from Josstice League I enjoyed.

I even liked Diana’s little heart-to-heart with Bruce from Josstice League.

I also liked Bruce being behind bringing Lois into the fray post their attempts at science based necromancy calling her “the big guns” even if that sounded way more like Tony Stark than Bruce Wayne.

One final compliment I can give Josstice League was the soundtrack. I like the music I like and I liked the music they chose.

The scenes that the Snyder cut extended were a 70/30 split of me liking the extensions with a 30% split of them thinking “You know, I get why they cut this” and this being the character set up scenes. Flash’s sequence is ok, and so is Cyborg’s, but the Aquaman one with Bruce and Diana’s foiling of a bank heist felt too drawn out. Aquaman interacting with Atlanteans sequences are mostly needed to establish the other characters and how he got the trident and costume change.

It’s neat to see how things got into place for each scene but.....if this was a book I was editing, those would be the darlings I’d have told Snyder to kill.

The extra characters were folded in seamlessly. It was nice to see Willem DaFoe’s Aquaman character get an appearance since he’s a big player though the change in hair style was jarring.

I was stoked to see Martian Manhunter. So stoked.

I was also pleased by the revised Steppenwolf design. Before, he just seemed like....I can’t quite put it into words eloquently but Josstice Steppenwolf looked liked an early 2000′s CGI cutscene character crossed with a few of the Orcs from Lord of the Rings and an orc from Warcraft the failed movie. Just off and not much of a villain.

This one is a major improvement and it’s pretty clear he’s a grunt the whole time.

Was very excited to see Darkseid in a major movie.

Now all they need to do to make me happy is use Brainiac in a live action movie. Yeah, I know he’s been live action a couple of times but not in a major movie.

For the most part, the action of Snyder Cut just felt better.

The quiet scenes also felt better.

Problem is, the length makes watching this in one go not really a practical thing. I know there are chapter marks, so kudos for that, but this film isn’t perfect.

The Length thing is a nitpick. Since this is a special home-release, I don’t care as much as usual about length but I really have opinions on movie lengths for theatrical stuff partly from being a movie goer back when that was a possible thing to be AND from working in a movie theater. (I’m of the opinion that keep theatrical releases to 150 minutes or you’re just being an over indulgent jerk of a studio)

Now onto actual problems.

First is that I both love and hate Snyder’s Snyder-verse.

So, I hate the Grittier Superman Snyder came up with in Man of Steel wherein Superman is less Paragon and more like a Punisher type. Same goes for Batman in Snyder-verse (since he’s not a fan of guns and the whole doesn’t KILL people rule)

If any come at me with “but that’s because he’s too simple a character otherwise” I’ll direct you to Overly Sarcastic Productions’s better worded video essay about paragons not being boring/simple.

But Snyder does have good ideas for a general shape of his universe, and he also is pulling in more comic book source material into the films, which I love.

but his universe is always darker and grimmer than necessary and sometimes his aesthetics are weird.

Speaking of that-that weird destroyed future timeline wherein Supes is working for Darkseid.

Can’t say I like the aesthetics of it. Can’t say I like how Batman is portrayed in it either and no, not a fan of Mera or Joker’s presence. I’m able to admit that this is due to both of the actors portraying them. Though, I also really don’t like the Suicide Squad Joker.

Superman going evil isn’t unheard of in story arcs. See animated Justice League story arc wherein the Flash was killed by Lex Luthor.

Making Lois the key to his heart also isn’t a bad idea. 

It’s just the moment the movie threw that in just before the end, I rolled my eyes at it. I also thought the Lex Luthor bits were a bit superfluous, at first, but hey, it explained Deathstroke the Terminator (and gave a name for the face of his terrible future counterpart).

So, yes, I enjoyed the Snyder Cut for the most part. Should it come to physical media, I’ll probably purchase it.

Comparing the two films isn’t quite fair, but Snyder Cut just looks better over all.

I’ll give the Josstice league credit for being shorter-easier movie to sit through, with some dumb moments enough for fun and maybe even a scmaltzier ending at times but it just looks like the second draft of something next to a final draft with the Snyder Cut.

Snyer’s Cut’s polish is nice, but the length does undermine it.

So, actually both versions are fine but one clearly looks like it had been smashed and glued back together while the other is smooth and seamless with more consistency over all.

Like what  you will.

I like both but Snyder Cut is, to my eyes, the better put-together film.

[snazzamazing]

Stupid random theories, headcanons, and unpopular opinions of mine

Btw, these are all long so sit tight

My mangle theory :

I cant be the only one here who thinks that mangle was taken apart by little kids. It wouldn't make sense that little toddlers would be strong enough to pull apart a metal robot. That's because the kids didnt break her, william did. Mangle seems like he was an inspiration from funtime foxy because sister location happened before AND a lot of times, "toy foxy" is often referred to "funtime foxy". Due to this inspiration, mangle had the ability to record voices and things just like funtime foxy. Why am I pointing this out? Well, why would mangle randomly have static noises and a broken radio sound? It's her recorder, it's broken. He recorded many things and then recorded something that someone didnt want anyone to find out about. That someone would be William afton. William is always suspicious and doing evil things.Let's say that, oh idk, maybe William murdered someone, some person called the cops on him, (which explains the police messages n stuff in the radio) William killed that person and his the evidence of the murders. At least that's what he thought. Mangle was somehow recording the whole thing. William had no other choice but to take her apart and destroy him. But then William thought that it would to suspicious to have mangle be randomly broken the next day and so he fixed mangle up in way where it looks like shes fixed, but one tug hes broken and the kids are there to blame for. All of this might be a stretch I know, but apparently in one of the fnaf 2 minigames where theres a mangle Sprite, in the files or sources codes or WHATEVER IDK, there's a hidden message that says "he was here" or something like that. THAT CAN SUPPORT THIS THEORY errr headcanons? Idk I should go sleep lol

Micheal headcanon:

I always wanted to believe that Micheal was the older brother/Bully and that the bite victim was a different character. Why? Because I want more..character for Micheal. He went to sister location because he wants his torn apart family to be back together. He went to save Elizabeth and he never forgave himself for being the one to 'kill' his brother and all that failed. I wanted Michaels story to be exciting and emotional because of his past and the whole family thing

I also always liked to think that Micheal started working out to gain some strength before becoming a technician because he knows that the robots are strong and dangerous. That way things can be more action packed with Michael punching through pipes and walls, and holding back animatronics trying to grab him, and just...cool stuff

Fnaf headcanons:

Freddy has a nice deep voice and that's his real voice. When it comes to preforming during the day, he talks in his "family friendly" voice which is all goofy and fun (kinda like Patrick star's voice) The animatronics are a lot different on stage. It's as if they play as characters and they change their voices sometimes (like Freddy). Chica acts like this ditzy cute country gal, Bonnie is a laid back chill bon, foxy is just more ...pirate, and Freddy is a fun loving silly lead singer

Nightmarriones pupils change shape to Express his emotions. (Sad=tear drop pupils, sick=swirly pupils, angry=skull or fire pupils)

Lefty has his own voice instead of a whispery girly voice because he is his own character. He may look like the rockstars but he was made differently. The rockstars were built by some factory or company and they have advanced technology which gives em the ability to have emotions, personalities and to do tricks. Meanwhile lefty was built by henry in a shed or something. Henry only focused on programming him to find charlie and he had to make lefty look like the rockstars to blend in and not be suspicious. Other than that, lefty was a total rush job. Henry only wanted Charlie therefore, Henry didn't care to give lefty a personality, emotions, an EYE, or stablness.

In the afton family, the mother is sweet, kind, caring, and over protective while william is outgoing, silly, and isnt afraid to do anything (before he went insane). Usually kids have similar personalities to their parents soooo I like to think that Micheal is more like his mom but looks like his dad and that Elizabeth looks like her mom but acts like her dad. Why? Because I always saw Michael as a hero, he cares for others and he wants to save his family. He is sweet and protective like his mom. Elizabeth is rebellious and sassy. In the sister location mini cutscene with William and Elizabeth, she disobeys william to see baby and that's a rebellious move. Elizabeth likes adventure and crazy things so she wont follow the rules any time soon.

Funtime chica does all the rockstar's make up. When months pass by, the rockstar's paint would peel or chip and so ft. Chica would repaint their lipsticks, eye shadows, cheeks, etc. And they look fresh and new afterwards

Even though puppet and Goldie (and all the other animatronics) have been through so much shiz, they still try to keep their cool and enjoy life

In the rockstar crew r. Bonnie is the creepiest. Yeah, he seems chill and is self centered, he is the only rockstar who is most likely to murder someone if he's told to do so (this isn't counting ucn where they all kill). All on Bonnie's songs are so creepy and he sings about killing you in unique ways. Stuff like making slivers (or slippers) out of you, flaying your flesh, smashing your face into concrete, ending your life, and stabbing your heart with his guitar. He's definitely into gory stuff

Springtrap has two different personalities. Most of the time he's himself, spring bonnie. A kind fun loving bun who completely changed his personality after becoming springtrap. He is know constantly scared, upset, and afraid of Williams next move. He hates being an evil monster but it's not something he can control due to William still having control over him. When the slringbonnie side of springtrap gets mad or upset that's when hes weak and William takes control and becomes the evil side of springtrap. Springtrap is very aggressive and very strong. Slringbonnie tries to fight back Williams spirit, but as time went on and when the kids got sent free, spring bonnie got lonely and gave up which let William take full control over him. Sprjngbonnie is gone, its William now (which explains scraptrap)

Idk if this is a theory or headcanon but fnaf 1 bonnie is blue. Yes, he is known to be purple and everyone says and draws him purple but he's blue. Maybe it's the certain blue color he is but due to lightning it makes him look very purple. When he's in more darker areas, bonnie is very blue but when he's in the light areas, hes purple. Let's not forget how every single version on bonnie is blue (except for extras like spring springbon and bonnet etc.) Exept for fnaf 1 bonnie. That doesn't make sense if one of the originals would be purple but all the other versions are blue. One more thing, in the silver eyes, they mention that bonnie has blue fur ;) this was a dumb rant sorry

Shadow bon is evil and can shape shift cause hes a goopy shadow boy and shadow fred is his lil assistant

After fazbears fright burned down, William got to take control over springbonnie(trap) and roamed the streets at night. He roamed dark allies and probably killed whoever slighted him. It was a long walk but he was just trying to get to his destination, fred bears diner. Because of the fires, the springtrap suit was more ruined and unsturdy and so it was time for a change. Somehow William got out of the suit but he's weak without one so he picked an old spring bonnie suit, scraptrap. (According to the fnaf minigames there are multiple spring bonnie suits so that why spring trap looks different)

I got more headcanons but this post is already to long :p

My Unpopular opinions:

Am I the only one here who's not way into the whole Michael AI theory?? Like it kinda makes sense but at the same time, making a whole new robot son with advanced technology IN THE 80s does not give the fnaf-y feel?? Ya know what I mean? Like it doesn't fit the theme? Also the ai thing is in the books and the books are a different universe from the games sooo idk why matpat still connected them?? Hsjsbsjsjsn fnaf is just waaaaay to confusing. Also please dont get mad at me for this opinion cause matpats ai thing is just a theory, its not canon

Foxy isnt super great. Dont get me wrong, I love foxy and he's an amazing character but I don't get why he got so much attention and hype

Bonnet and lolbit should just be canon already. They're not canon characters but they're included in sooo many things in fnaf so might as well make em canon

Funko needs to make a fnaf 2 figure set where you collect t.chica,t.bonnie,t.freddy, puppet, one of the withereds or shadows and you collect them all to make a mangled mangle figure. I would DIE for a fully formed noodle fox figure, how cool would that be?

Scraptrap design is perfect. I know that we all make peanut and Jimmy neutron jokes but honestly I love his sharp teach, creepy eyes, AMazInG voice, and his stabby arm. Sometimes in some angles, he can look heck a creepy

SCRAP BABY LEGITIMATELY FREAKS ME OUT SHES SCARY

butter sock

[egg-emperor]

to combat the hate anon here's a love anon : how DARE you mention you had an alternate ShTH path and not expand upon it in true, beloved julian fashion???

Aaahhh I’ve had this idea for years without sharing it and I seriously didn’t think anyone would want to hear it so this means a lot to me, thank you so much!! I would love to finally talk about it!  

It includes a looot of Eggman, which really goes without saying for me. And of course since it’s about Eggman I naturally have a lot to say!

Like all of the other story beginnings in the game, the first cutscene of Shadow recalling the ARK’s events and the entire scene goes exactly the same. Black Doom appears and he listens to him, running to Westopolis to start his search for the emeralds. But after he collects the first one, the green one, it reminds him of one of the only things that he knows is real for certain.

After his fall in SA2 and being rescued by a robot, he recalls waking up in Eggman’s base, restrained, panicked and confused. The man himself walks in to see that he’s awake and is met with tons of Shadow’s questions. Eggman, being the oh so loveable bastard he is, ignores all of them, is very vague and constantly refers to himself as his ‘master’ and ‘creator’. He puts Shadow to sleep to research him and collect the data to create the clones. This is a chance for him to really dissect his grandfather’s creation. Then he encapsulates Shadow and seals him in the room with Omega. The screen of the capsule was green.

Now remembering this situation, he isn’t so sure if the events on the ARK ever happened. Because of how confused and vulnerable he is, Eggman partially convinces him that none of it was real, with the false knowledge of him being another android. Shadow comes to the conclusion that his memories are of the ‘real Shadow’ that came before him, just like he did in the other android routes.

Eggman is actually physically present in a bunch of these levels because that’s something that the game needed for me. The first is Sky Troops, where he initially shows up with his communicator but directs Shadow to where he is. When the hedgehog enters a room that Eggman is in, the temple reacts to his presence because of the black arms blood in him. 

Eggman takes note of this and boldly confronts him, asking if he’s been involved with their established enemies, hence being able to ‘control’ parts of the ancient building. That’s when Shadow reveals Black Doom had visited him. Shadow wonders why he’d suspect that the aliens were involved with him if he really was his android, but Eggman stays cool and says that Black Doom is just trying to trick him.

Cryptic Castle is another where Eggman meets him long before the Egg Breaker fight, where Cream walks into the castle while Eggman is on his way to fetch the white emerald. She gets in without him noticing and gets trapped behind a door in one of the spires. Amy and Shadow happen to arrive at the same time and she begs him to help her locate Cream. Eggman demands him to help out with the activation of his defenses instead. Shadow eventually obeys and has to leave Cream there. (This isn’t Shadow’s fault, it’s Eggman’s.)

Also deeper into the heart of the castle, Eggman gets to see that some of the walls that he warns will crush you, has actually caught a person. And he’s just like “well, looks like someone got a little too curious about this place and met their demise!” Y’know, because the wall fucking crushed them and he just expects dead intruders. (LMAO IT’S NOT CREAM THOUGH DW, Amy freed her.) 

They still fight over the white emerald because Shadow is having second doubts and keeps thinking about changing his mind in helping Eggman at this point. Shadow almost gets away with the emerald but ultimately stays with Eggman despite his uneasiness because he’s lost and doesn’t know who to trust at all.

What’s different about Iron Jungle in this story, is that this is where Shadow discovers the existence of all the other clones, but the difference is that Eggman had already convinced him that he was artificial long before it. It’s not an abrupt discovery and instead the surprise is of everything piecing together as the ‘truth’ of his existence. That he’s just another copy, easily replaceable and his memories of the ARK aren’t really his own.

I have a lot more planned out for this story, only I haven’t structured it enough to explain them coherently in full yet. Some other ideas include: 

Eggman physically being present in Circus Park and getting Shadow involved with the show

Eggman being in Westopolis himself at one point with a very interesting objective (but not during the actual attacks)

Eggman is also in Mad Matrix beyond the Egg Breaker fight where a LOT of dramatic shit goes down with him, Shadow and Espio. He’s basically physically present in a l o t of the levels and scenes because that’s what I always needed more of in the game XD

There’s also a scene in Glyphic Canyon where Knuckles is desperate for Shadow to realize that he’s being tricked after his past situations with him. But it’s gone too far for Shadow to believe him at this point. A few new levels I came up with are part of it too, one being a cemetery that spans off of Cryptic Castle. I might share more of it as it builds in the future.

There are two different endings to this story depending on what you decide to do. Shadow can either end up being so lost under Eggman’s control that he believes him and joins the empire to collect the emeralds, stop the aliens and GUN and then serve him.

Or Shadow finally snaps out of it when the Commander tells him his story and gets his revenge on the doctor. The ‘canon’ ending to this would be the betrayal, so Eggman isn’t killed but the situation does turn out very badly. Those healing units come in very handy after it.

The GUN Commander is one of my FAVORITE Sonic characters and the BEST character with heterochromia. He has a big involvement in this path too but the reason I’m not sharing any details yet is that I’m still deciding on the part where his involvement becomes a main part of the story. At the moment I’m considering it to be Iron Jungle.

What Eggman does throughout all of this is fucked up as usual but all of his personality design goes unchanged, just like the actual game of course. That’s what I love about them not changing his design in games that got deep and serious, like ShtH and SA2 for example. Eggman as the way he always is + a darker story is constantly proven possible. 

The reason I bring this up is because of 06, I was pissed when they seemed to took away all of his goofiness and changed his design like they believed that it wouldn’t work with for the tone of the game. It’s obvious that the two don’t have to be exclusive. In my path, he’s also balanced in that regard, showing how cold dark while still being the same man that has a couple of tantrums over some of the most ridiculous things in this same story lol

Woaahhh this got way longer than I had meant for it to be but I’m super passionate about ShtH, it’s my second favorite Sonic game after all and I think it had so much potential that I love to explore. One thing’s for sure though, I would definitely like to talk about this more in the future!

[characteroulette]

Hey PQ was pretty good!

so I’m having trouble getting into PQ2 because of several factors, so I thought I’d write a half-think piece, half-essay on why I think the first PQ gets more flak than it deserves. So here’s that.

------

I genuinely don't understand why, when talking about Persona Q, people are always saying things along the lines of, "The gameplay was good, but the characters were trite and the story wasn't that great." Like, as a fan of the Persona series, I genuinely don't understand that assessment.

Not saying PQ is flawless, oh no. There are PLENTY of things in PQ that I have an axe to grind with (the small door scene with the P4 gang, for one), but the overall story? The characters? They're both fine. Good, even, dare I say. And here's my argument as to why:

The returning Persona series characters (from 3 and 4) in PQ do a good job of representing their games and their own personalities, even if a little more light-hearted than their source material,

AND

The story is genuinely in-line with the rest of the Persona/SMT series, even if it ultimately doesn't matter due to time shenanigans (and I'm okay with that).

These are my two points. Just those two. Because these are the two most contested parts of PQ, as far as I can hear, since we all agree that the gameplay is the real breadwinner here hahaha

Anyway.

First, let's talk about the returning characters, since they seem to be the ones who matter most. The P4 cast are generally less griped about (save Chie and Teddie) and I believe this is largely due to the brighter, more hopeful tone of P4 as a whole. (Aaand, in my opinion, they're done a MUCH BIGGER disservice in the Arena games, but no one ever talks about that so let's not bother with those right now.)

P4 was a game about making friends, the hijinx that come from that, and finding the truth about a string of murders and confronting the worst parts of yourself in a harsher world in the process! And it executes this with the appropriate amount of balance between serious moments and comedic relief. The theme colour for the whole game is bright yellow/gold, a happier and more friendly colour which helps remind you that this game is all in good fun.

(Side note here: I honestly think that P5 really failed in this respect, despite my liking its tone slightly more. I just personally like darker-themed games, but P5 was a little too dark and oppressive right out the gate, with hardly a friendly face, which helps make your gradually growing group of friends much more appreciated but also a harder atmosphere for jokes to really land well. Most of the 'funny' sequences felt very undeserved and really dragged because uh guys we literally just fought a rapist, an abusive father figure, and some other fucked-up shit. Can we please acknowledge that a bit more instead of pretending it never happened by laughing at the expense of Ann's autonomy of her body? Especially when she was a target of said rapist??) But that's its own discussion for later.

Really, the fact that most of the P4 gang get out of this with little criticism shows how accepted their caricatures have become. I guess? At least, except for Teddie and Chie.

Teddie being a wannabe Casanova must've been a huge hit with the Japanese audience, because it's just the hill he's going to die on for the writers. There was more to Teddie than his hitting on the girls in P4, believe it or not! (And there's a whole thing about it being brought on by him mimicking the type of behaviour he saw Yukiko's shadow exhibiting, which has a lot of really interesting undertones, but it makes him more swappable with Junpei, so whatever, I guess.) Meanwhile, Chie's not as meat-crazy, either, but I guess it's a better trait for them to roll with than her (cut in the translation) glossed-over sexism.

Both work fine, however, and aren't really too annoying enough to be that egregious. (Though they both go right up to the line sometimes. Teddie more so, but none of the girls playing along really helps show how gross his actions are. Most of the time.)

No, the real complaints I see directed at the characters being 'too cartoonish' are usually reserved for the P3 gang.

P3 is, really, such a bizarre game to go back to now when compared to its two successors. It's dark and hopeless, like P5, but formulaic and mystery, like P4. It's actually a natural progression when looking at its two/three older siblings (both P2s are bleak. As. Hell!), but, at least to me, it's the odd duck of the bunch, being the first to implement this winning formula of being caught in a time limit of a school year and managing spending time exploring this other world. It adds Social Links and social stats with this new time limit and this idea that the Persona and Shadows you fight don't just happen out on the streets in 'normal' circumstances for everyone to see. It pretty much went from an RPG to a management game with RPG elements.

And its emotional, impactful story, like P5, had a lot of tonal whiplash due to the attempts at comedy!

I feel like a lot of people forget this about P3 (and maybe I think more about it because I haven't actually beaten the whole game yet myself), but the story is actually a goddamn mess of tonal confusion. You got kids shooting themselves in the heads and a Social Link dealing with a classmate's crush on his teacher. You got wacky foreign exchange student and kids taking experimental drugs to suppress their Persona and slowly poisoning themselves to death as a side effect. The protagonist is an orphan who lost his parents in a huge, plot-relevant accident... But he's able to date every single girl at the same time and be the most wish fulfillment charming guy if the player so desires.

P3 being messy isn't a bad thing. P4, P5, and even P2 and PQ are all a little messy in their own rights, too. But because P3 was a lot of fans' first in the series, and PQ is just a spin-off, it gets way more flak for this than I feel it deserves.

(I mean, hey. Both P3 and P4 have those classic anime scenes of the boys walking in on the girls while at a hot springs. All PQ's got is an awkward group date scene and the implication that Yosuke and Kanji kissed each other while getting knocked out.) (They all. Have. Problems.)

And I know a lot of this comes down to personal preference. I'm not saying you're wrong for liking P3 or P4 more than PQ. I'm just saying I feel like PQ is often wrongly accused of being worse and less well-written when, really, they're all pretty much on par with each other. (And someone on the team really doesn't understand how to handle large casts of characters sharing the same space...)

But, personally, from everything I've seen from P3, I don't like the way most of the characters get presented to me in the source material. Junpei is way more insufferable in P3 than in PQ and Yukari is way more uninteresting in P3 than in PQ. Really, PQ helped me appreciate these characters more than P3 itself did. And, yes, they're more funny when they're trying to be, too. Because PQ is set up better for comedy than the 'remember you are mortal' tone of P3.

(Which makes dramatic moments hit all the harder when they happen) HEY check that segue! It's time to talk about the story and the two original characters of the game!

So, second point: people say the story isn't very good. To which I wanna ask... "Did you stop playing before defeating the fourth Boss?" Because it really sounds like, to me, everyone who says that didn't actually finish the game and reach all that juicy character development that happens for both sides around the fourth dungeon, where all the issues they've been building up (like Yukari's issue with Mitsuru for the P3 side and Kanji and Ken's awkwardness in the P4 side) start getting resolved in a satisfying way. And it comes with a reveal for the two characters we've been getting to know, Zen and Rei, as well.

(And, from here on in, there be spoilers. You've been warned.)

The two new characters to this game are Zen and Rei, who were in this place before the P3 or P4 gangs were called to the scene. Zen is quiet and a bit unsettlingly dense, but devoted to Rei, who is bubbly and full of life, but terrified of the dungeons you have to traverse. The two have been in this place for (what's implied to be) a very long time and enlist the help of the P3 and P4 teams in order to find a way out through defeating the bosses of each Labyrinth/dungeon. Simple enough, as it also helps the P3 and P4 team's goal of getting out. With each new dungeon, it feels more and more like something about Zen and Rei aren't quite right, but the length of the dungeon and all the team chats help you put it out of your mind each time. Rei can even get kinda annoying with her loudness and big appetite if you don't find her cute (which: how dare you. But yeah, I get it).

And then, at the end of a fiery festival fourth dungeon, you find yourself in a dark tomb at the bottom level. The boss awaiting you is Rei's shadow (a nice callback to the way P4 works) whom she still doesn't accept after you defeat it.

All the locks are gone and the P3 and P4 teams can return to their worlds if they wanted. Except Rei gets kidnapped after Zen reveals that Rei has been dead all along and it was him who trapped them here. It was he who created this place and even he who called both teams here.

And this was a plot twist that I friggin' loved.

It definitely had more impact on me because Zen and Rei easily became my favourites out of the whole cast, to the point of having them on my team for the whole game, but to find out such a fucked up twist is wild! (Seriously! Go watch the cutscene and tell me it isn't super fucked up!) You can say the P3 and P4 twists were shocking (or P5s I guess), but for my money, this is the best reversal of expectations I'd ever seen in a Persona game. In any game, really!

Zen was, in effect, the villain the whole time. His true identity as Chronos, God of time, makes sense with displacing the teams from their own times and the time here being erased once you reach the end. His own power that he sealed away growing impatient and taking matters into its own hands by drawing the teams to this haven displaced from time also makes perfect sense! And the entire climb through the last dungeon is his redemption arc and it makes for a super emotionally investing final dungeon all the way. (Which is great, because I hate every single one of the enemies that appear in this god-forsaken place.) (Even P4 and P5 can't really boast that, I felt very little investment through Izanami's dungeon and Baldabaoth's distortion.)

Of course, if you found Zen and Rei to be annoying and pointless, I can see how this would fall flat for you. The fact that they hinged such an emotional climax on these new characters, characters that don't even matter outside of this game!, was such a risky move. Especially when you consider this is just a fanservice game made basically under the promise of seeing the P3 team interact with the P4 team. But, for me, it really paid off.

And whatever complaints you had with the P3 or P4 characters, I feel like the resolutions to those character moments I mentioned earlier get explored even further during the climb through the final dungeon. From the P3 gang coming together to finally communicate with one another to the P4 gang reconfirming their bonds with one another, it's a really investing and emotional journey. I do wish the writing had been this tight and impactful through more of the game, but I believe it's worth it in the end.

Perhaps this moment comes too late in the game, though. I can definitely see others giving up before reaching this point due to the repetitive nature of the dungeons and the tidbits of character development that are meant to build up to this moment that can be too sparsely placed. (But, really, it's the same from P3 to P5, Social Links don't really add much variety when they can be just as repetitive and boring, just saying. Especially when you get caught in waiting to rank up hell, ugh.) For me, however, this really sealed the deal on this game being an incredible experience that I adored from start to finish. 7/10. Final score.

....

....

(7 outta 10?? Not perfect??) Well, it's not perfect. Japan's blatant homophobia and sexism really ruins a lot of scenes for me. I'm super salty especially about how the fake marriage scenes are handled so differently from the girl choices to the boy choices. (But you just argued in its favour for 2000 words!) Listen. ALL the Persona games wouldn't receive perfect scores for me for this aspect alone. There are a lot of other factors as well, but they vary from title to title and PQ in particular is guilty of spending too much time focusing on Teddie and Junpei being girl-crazy. And Marie is in this game more than she really should be. UGH.

But I digress.

In conclusion, this game's story and characters are better than most give it credit for. Hopefully, my argument helped you see why I believe this and why I think claiming that both aspects are just 'bad' is lazy.

[enchantment1385]

INQUISITOR AS A COMPANION

I was tagged by the lovely @ironbullsmissingeye thanks sweetie! 

Inquisitor’s Name: Faeron Tamlin Lavellan & Nico Ashara Lavellan

Race / Class / Specialization: Elf 

Mage/ Rift mage/ Dreamer 

Warrior / Reaver 

Gender Identity: Faeron ~ Male - Nico ~ Female

Varric’s Nickname for them?: Faeron - Dreamy - Nico - Firecracker

Short bio: The twins are the only children of Thalion Lavellan, keeper of their clan. Thalion’s clan has freely traded with humans for sometime. However, after the chantry was destroyed in Kirkwall, tension had been slowly building before the inevitable war spilled out over Thedas, involving them by proxy. It’s decided that the twins should go to look into the situation, gather information, and offer help if it is needed. Faeron and Nico are were both brought up believing in the elven gods, and with a strict set of discipline.  Faeron was gifted with magic early in his life, and is a highly skilled mage, however his abilities as a dreamer have left some in his clan distrustful of a magic they do not fully understand.  Nico was an angry child when she developed no signs of magical talent. Her high stealth and ability to adapt quickly in any situation left her parents encouraging her to take up a bow... However, Nico had little patience and quickly took the sword instead. After many years she is now known as the clan’s strongest warrior.     Where one goes, the other will always follow. So, if you love Faeron, better get used to having Nico around, and vice versa!

Initial Card: The twins first card has the same image for both. The card would be black at the bottom fading into green at the top. There would be one of those trees, (sorry i honestly had no idea how to classify it without the picture! Elfy metal tree from the crossroads or old temples?!?)

in gold, and the twins silhouettes in a purple (Twins clan colour).  

Loyalty: After the twins loyalty mission, depending on the actions taken, the twins will either; Receive their own individual companion cards.  Or  Leave the inquisition for good.  In this case, the image will change slightly, the scene will appear darker, with all the leaves being stripped from the tree, and the branches alit with veilfire. Faeron’s silhouette would be kneeling in distress, while Nico will have her sword drawn with her other hand on her brother’s shoulder. The cards will be grayed out, and unable to be selected.  

Faeron ~ Faeron’s card would show him close-up so you could only see from his torso to his nose, he would be hanging upside down with his legs wrapped around a tree branch with a huge smile on his face. A few strands of his hair would be trailing  up his face and he would be glowing a soft silvery colour.

Nico ~ Nico would be hunched over a map laid out on a table, her sword would also be on the table, covering the far off areas (we don’t get to visit) she would be ever so slightly smirking as she pushed her brother’s face out of the scene.

Romanced: Faeron ~ What is it they say? A picture is worth a 1000 words? Well, this is exactly what his romance card would be- just done in the tarot style!

Nico ~ Nico would be looking over her shoulder, with a bare back except for some material (in purple of course!) gathered around her waist (like she just woke up and sat up in bed),  she would be smiling (YES! It does happen!) as the inquisitors marked hand stroked her hair to one side of the neck. 

Recruitment mission: Double trouble ~ On your return to Haven after your first visit to the storm coast, a cutscene will trigger in which you will meet the twins. If inquisitor is an elf ~ Nico will demand to see her clansmen is ‘safe’ with her own eyes. Faeron will be uncomfortably trying to make the situation less tense and calm his sister’s temper. If inquisitor is any other race ~ The twins will approach the party before reaching the gates, if Cassandra or Blackwall are in the party they will warn the inquisitor to be wary which will trigger a small, somewhat hilarious argument between Nico and said companion, where you can earn friendship points if the inquisitor picks either the heart option or the pleased (thumbs up option). Even if this option is not picked the twins will offer their help in the efforts to fix the hole in the sky.  

Where they would be in Skyhold / Haven: Faeron can be found sat by the fire by Varric in Haven and in the kitchen cooking once you reach skyhold. Nico can be found opposite her brother at Haven and in main hall on a table covered in maps and papers once you reach skyhold.

Personal quests: Twins mission ~ The Halla and the hound War table, ‘We have received word from the twins father, asking for assistance with a local lord who is causing… Trouble’   Advisor Options Leliana ~ I can spare a few of my best scouts. They can move quickly and fully assess the situation. They can also think on their feet if the need arise. Josephine ~ Ah yes. Lord Bran Perrin. He is young and… Disliked by many due to his attitude. Perhaps I can speak with a neighbouring lady I know, who holds a personal grudge? She could threaten a scandal if he does not ‘back off’? Cullen: Sneaking around and noble bickering won’t solve the real problem! Send in a small group to stand guard for a few weeks let this ‘Lord’ 👀 the clan is under inquisition protection! Any action taken against the clan will also be seen as a move against the inquisition and will be treated as such. Whichever action taken you will receive a letter from the lord requesting a meeting. The young arrogant git… I mean lord, offers you a cut of the newly imparted taxes he is now levying and says ‘If they can not provide coin we will have to find more... creative ways of receiving ‘payment.’ The inquisitor can; Side with the twins: Which leads to Nico headbutting the lord and Faeron sending a small lightning bolt shocking the him before the inquisitor forcibly recruits him *Bran can be found shoveling dung at the stables if this option is chosen.  Faeron and Nico both Greatly Approve. Side with Lord Bran: Which ends with Nico telling the inquisitor exactly what he can do with the 💰. Faeron will turn and walk away sadly. Faeron and Nico both Greatly Disapprove This will also have further consequences on returning to Skyhold.   Kill Lord Bran: This option does not have any lasting consequences nor does it offer any boons. Faeron Slightly Approves ~ Nico Approves   The twins personal missions will not trigger unless one is romanced. 

Faeron ~ Chasing the dream(er) If the inquisitor is pursuing a romance with Faeron after a certain point has been met, through banter and mission progression, will appear to become quite withdrawn from the inquisitor and will not be found with Nico, or in his usual spot in skyhold. As such the inquisitor will have to search the grounds and ask the companions if they have seen Faeron. After talking to all the companions and advisers, Faeron can be found in the undercroft sitting alone at the edge overlooking the waterfall, and in some distress. After approaching a cutscene will trigger with Faeron explaining about a mistake made long ago, a mistake that still haunts him (quite literally) to this day, a mistake that almost cost Faeron, Nico and their clan their lives. Faeron was almost killed in this experience and lost control of his magic, killing several men. Faeron still relives the experience in his darkest nightmares, and is terrified that the inquisitor may be drawn into one of these nightmares and think less of him or worse be hurt in the process.  The inquisitor has the choice of - Ending the relationship OR   Kiss Faeron telling him wherever life takes them, it’s now together. 

Nico ~ Loves a Bitch  The inquisitor if pursuing a relationship with Nico has had to sleep with her once before this mission will trigger.  Once the inquisitor has slept with Nico she can be found in the courtyard sparing with Bull. At the end of the sparing the two will briefly flirt.  Nico will appear happy enough but will not bring up the encounter, when asked she will simply reply something along the lines of ‘I assumed that was out of our system, and we simply move on now.’  The inquisitor can leave things as they are OR Can press for more than a one night stand.  If this option is chosen Nico will laugh and say words of ‘love’ are meaningless, if you really want more, you have to best her in combat.  The inquisitor will be forced to ask for help from the others in terms of strategy. (Faeron’s advice is priceless!) One the inquisitor has spoken to all the companions, a rather awesome or hilarious (depending which choice the inquisitor chooses) ‘Battle’ will ensue.  

Approval / Disapproval:

Faeron is pro people, any decision that will benefit an innocent will gain friendship points from him. He is somewhat pro mages but not anti templar. He approves of kind and friendly Inquisitors. Faeron is sweet and flirty. He disapproves of evil inquisitors. Nico is pro inquisition, any decision made that strengthens your army. Recruiting any new companion, gaining resources, or upgrade made on skyhold will gain friendship from her.  Nico is somewhat neutral when it comes to the mages/templars, but does believe in greater freedom for the mages. Nico can be blunt if she dislikes the inquisitor and will appear as somewhat cold until you reach skyhold. She disapproves of evil inquisitors. 

Break down Approval Ratings for Major Missions:

                                  Faeron  ~   Nico If sided with the mages:

-Conscripted mages: Greatly disapproves ~ Disapproves

-Free mages: Greatly Approves ~  Approves

If sided with the Templars:

-Disband the Templars: Disapproves ~ Disapproves

-Ally with the Templars: Slightly Approves ~ Approves

In Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts:

-Celene lives: Greatly Approves ~ Approves

-Celene dies: Greatly Disapproves ~ Disapproves

In Here lies the Abyss

-Grey Wardens join the Inquisition: Approves ~ Greatly Approves

-Grey Wardens banished: Greatly Disapproves ~ Greatly Disapproves

Other (Optional):

-Cole joins:  Approves ~ Slightly Disapproves

-Cole is not allowed to stay: Disapproves ~ Slightly Approves

-Saves the chargers: Greatly Approves ~  Approves -Saves the dreadnought: Greatly Disapproves ~ Disapproves - Drink from the Well: Inquisitor Drinks: Approves ~ Slightly Approves  Romanced Inquisitor Drinks: Slightly Disapproves ~ Approves

Morrigan Drinks: Greatly Disapproves ~  Slightly Disapproves

Are they romanceable? Yes. Both twins are both romanceable by any male inquisitor.  Faeron’s friendship route with a female inquisitor is very much like Dorian’s. Many of the flirt options will still be open.

Can you have sex with them?  Does a bear shit in the woods?  Faeron only if romanced Nico can be a one night stand with no negative consequences or be pursued further into a romance. 

Are they open to polyamory?: Probably not. Faeron is too insecure and Nico is too territorial to share. 

Relationship with the other characters?

                  Faeron   ~     Nico

*Cassandra: Neutral  ~  Friendly  

*Varric: Friendly ~  Neutral

*Solas: Averse/ wary ~ Friendly

*Dorian: Friendly ~ Neutral

*Vivienne: Neutral  ~  Neutral

*Blackwall: Friendly ~  Neutral

*Iron Bull: Friendly ~  Friendly

*Sera: Friendly ~ Averse

*Cole: Friendly ~  Neutral / wary

Others: (optional)

*Leliana: Neutral  ~  Friendly  

*Josephine: Friendly ~  Neutral

*Cullen: Neutral  ~  Friendly  

*Morrigan: Averse ~  Neutral

Side Missions:  Faeron ~ A feast like no other! Faeron is a great cook and has been dying to make use of skyhold’s impressive kitchens since your arrival. And how better than by preparing a feast! However, to make the feast ‘like no other’ you’re going to need to go shopping for some... Odd ingredients. 

Nico ~ Training day There a certain places where one should not tread... At least if you hope to keep all your blood on the inside anyway! Nico has asked to visit some of the more... ‘Perilous’ places to put herself through some serious training! And she’s kindly invited you to come along too... Great.

Special Events: Imprisoned at Redcliffe: How is your Inquisitor holding up in Redcliffe, being slowly infected with red lyrium over the course of a year?

Faeron would be a lot darker than before. Almost as if the darkness inside him he kept locked away with light and laughter, would be breaking through. He would physically shake his head a lot to try and remember himself, and make small quips about how green was never his colour. He would gladly give up his life if it meant saving the inquisitor, and resetting time. 

Nico would just be angry and looking for revenge on those who infected her. A pissed powerhouse of anger. 

At the Winter Palace: Does your Inquisitor enjoy the party, any special events with them at the Palace? Faeron would be enraptured by it all! The pretty-ness of everything. The food and wine! And Dancing OH! He LOVES to dance! His big eyes would be twice the size and shining brightly. He would complain about his suit though, and how daft he feel he looks in it!

Nico would be scheming. Listening, annnnnd probably threatening anyone who mistook her or Faeron as servants. She’d find the whole thing crass.

Both would have a dance scene if romanced. 

In the Fade: Your Inquisitor’s reaction upon entering the Fade? Archdemon’s taunt, and Inquisitor’s response? Epitaph on their grave?

Faeron Upon entering ~ Oh... Balls. And things were going SO well too! Well, apart from the murious wardens thing... and the big dragon..

Archdemon taunt   Shall we let Nicolas out to play Lavellan? He always was much more fun than you. (Evil laugh)   Inquisitor’s response? Alas, you’re not his type. The melting face thing isn’t a good look.

Epitaph on their grave? Faeron died screaming in his sleep.

Nico Upon entering If Faeron is NOT present - I wish Faeron was here... If Faeron is present - This is your stomping ground isn’t it? Gods, you are way more messed up and I realised...    

Archdemon taunt You’ll never be able to protect him forever Nico... Faeron will die, and you will be powerless. Inquisitor’s response? I’d like to see you make those threats again once I smash all your teeth down your throat...

Epitaph on their grave? Nico a weak feeble knifear.    

Other Major Events: Any other major events that happen with them over the course of the main game? Banter: (If Faeron is in a romance with the inquisitor) Nico ~ Faeron, wha… What are you doing? Faeron ~ I think the proper term is ‘Fawning’. *Sighhhhh* Inquisitor ~ What have I told you about being adorable in public, 😍? Faeron ~ *Giggle* Nico ~ I’m going to be 😷… (If Nico is in a romance with the inquisitor) Faeron ~ *Cute noises* Nico ~ Wha-? Heh- What was that noise for?! Faeron ~ I’m just.. I’m so -. You two, It’s just so-.. *snuff snuff* Nico ~ … Faeron? Are… You 😭? Faeron ~ … *Sob*. Nooo…. Maybe. Cole (if present) ~ He is happy. He likes 👀 you both 😁. It makes him 😁 too. Sera (if present) ~ *laughs* You soppy tit! Dorian (if present) ~ Now that is precious. Varric (if present) *chuckling* Come here dreamy! There there. You are way too soft for this 💩. 

Okay... That.. that was a LOT! (Sorry!)  Tagging @heraldofwho @keeperscompanionsdai @dreadhobo @kagetsukai @john-cousland @gugle1980  @dinah-myles @tessa1972 No pressure as always guys!!

[thefoxoftimeandspace]

Dmc

Ideas, Questions, and Theories

•We've literally never seen Dante pushed to his limit or reach his full potential. Evidently, he's "so strong" that he takes nothing seriously and kills the enemy in one go. If that's true, who's the real victor in these death matches? We'll never know. So cool it with these fights.

•Theory I have that something happens to Dante's human side, be it his soul or the side himself, and then his demonic blood takes over and becomes the Perfect Devil Trigger. Of course, either Dante does something dickish, or he's actually struggling when it comes to something in order for this to happen.

•When is Nero going to open up his shop? Will he be rivals with Dante? Or does he open up shop after the Demon Hunter disappears? That would make sense considering DMC2's ending. It's not guaranteed that it's Dante who comes back. After all, Trish has a motorcycle as well.

•Dante's DT goes like: Red, black, red, black. Supposedly his DT is red when he gains a new form/boost of power. When it's black, that means he's fully mastered that power.....or it can just be color inconsistency >>

*Going along with my former theory, there are two images of his PDT. Black and red. So I may or may not be right. I would think that it starts out red, and the more feral he becomes, the darker it gets, until it's completely black. He's "mastered" it, yes, but now he's completely insane.

**If my PDT theory is true, then how would Nero get that form? He's not half demon, so either he's REALLY injured, somehow doesn't have complete control over his demon side, or that's just what happens when his Devil Bringer takes over and now he's half demon??? Would Vergil have this form as well?

•Speaking of Vergil, it was said that he and Nero were supposed to meet in-game. Instead? They've met in the novel. But does that mean Vergil's alive? As a spirit maybe? Or is his soul within Nero? Or would Nero get the PDT via Vergil's help somehow? But the real question is, HOW ARE THEY GONNA TURN BACK TO NORMAL???

~Random, but I want Lucia and Patty back. What becomes of Patty anyways? Does she become a demon hunter as well? Or live a normal life? What about Lucia's "Devil trigger"? It looks rather...angelic. Maybe a different type of demon? Or do angels exist in this world? On that note, is she as strong or stronger than Dante? There's also Beryl. Is she coming back? Gonna kiss the guy? Teehee..

~Random, would the Devil Bringer be a piece of Vergil to Nero? Just an idea. Then PDT Nero/Vergil thing would make a little more sense. But then again, in Nero's PDT pic, there's Yamato in his arm. Maybe they both have an influence? I mean his DB is slightly altered. What's with weapons fusing with bodies....

~DOES DANTE LIKE OLIVES ON HIS PIZZA OR WHAT? In the anime, he made it a point that he doesn't live olives on his pizza. But in DMC4, he's eating a pizza with olives on it with seemingly no problems at all.

I could say that the anime isn't canon, but then if that's the case, how did Trish and Lady meet?

~Is Trish ever going to change her look? Not complaining, but she's able to magically change both her outfit and skin color in one second. Or does Trish have a piece of Eva's soul or something and doesn't want to change? That's what was hinted in Viewtiful Joe at least. So was that Trish talking to Dante in that one cutscene??

~Where do Trish and Lady live? With Dante, or in their own homes? They kinda just...appear. And then they disappear. Supposedly they work there, but live there? I mean in the anime, it's usually just Dante and Patty. So where are the other two? At a job or..?

~Why does Dante have two....managers or whatever? Morrison and Enzo. Why does he have two? Nothing's really changed in his shop. Or does he just hire them when his business needs a boost? Or does that have something to do with him being in debt.....You'd think someone this deep in debt would've lost their business by now. I guess Dante's magical :D

•Would Rebellion also play a part in Dante's PDT? In dmc3, when he devil triggered for the first time, the sword changed, or "awakened". In Dante's PDT image, it becomes his tail. Is Rebellion connected to Dante in some way? And in terms of his demonic side, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

•WHERE 👏IS👏EVERYONE👏IN👏DMC👏2?👏. I haven't read the dmc2 Novel, but I heard that they are talking about Trish's disappearance. What happened to Trish anyways? And at the end of dmc2, is that her coming back? And what's up with Dante's coin? It has Trish on it, so did she give that to him? And notice how...deserted the area in dmc2 looks. It's almost the exact opposite of the place in dmc4, where there were actual towns and people there. In dmc2's..."story", apparently demons attacked the area. So did everyone just retreat?

And Dante seems a lot..quieter than usual. It could just be the fact that he's matured, but that theory's thrown off the window when we see him goofing off in Nocturne (You know, the game that featured Dante) and being snarky in the novel. (At some point at least). And considering the fact that nobody is there, (Nero, Lady, etc) was there some incident that may have killed them? Or are they off somewhere? The PDT erases one's humanity, could it be Dante was the one that caused that apocalyptic scenario? Maybe that's why he's hesitant to accept jobs and does the coin flip.

Also there is the fact that dmc2 was made before three and four, but according to the timeline, dmc2 takes place after all the other games. Yet it's never explained what happened to everyone, or if Dante is alive, or what happened after that. (Maybe nocturne happened kek.)

~Something about dmc2 Dante saying "Let's go all the way to hell!" Creepy as that line is, does that symbolize something? What does he mean by "all the way?" Does he do something horrible (PDT for the umpteenth time) and he's just willing to take punishment for it? He seems rather "excited" about that though....Also also, there's the fact that Dante never devil triggers in Nocturne. He still does the coin flip thing as well. Going along with my former theory, is he still guilty about that whole "incident"?

~Also in dmc2, if you die and don't continue, you get the screen "Your Soul Is Doomed".

So according to the timeline game over screens, it goes: "Rest In Peace/You Are Dead...Abandon All Hope...Your Soul Is Doomed". O_O I...don't like how the game over screens get creepier. (*Maybe when Dante dies it's actually his human side that dies, and his demon side takes over or something. Maybe.)

~*Or would his soul be doomed upon going to hell? Being exposed, perhaps? Do demons even have souls? Dante DTs when he's holding that soul sucking thing. Which would indicate that if something happened to his soul, his demon side would gain strength.

~*If Dante really did PDT in 4, then that would explain was Dante is such a freakin' powerhouse in dmc2, and probably why his DT is black again.

~I've also noticed that Dante's only gone into his Majin form when his devil trigger color is black. So does that mean he can only do that if he's "mastered" his power?

~*Completely random and has nothing to do with nothing, but when did Dante buy a car? Or a motorcycle? You mean to tell me he actually had time to learn to drive and buy his own car? Or was he taught in the dmc1 novel (Haven't read that one either)

~*Another random bit, but why is it that in these novels, Dante doesn't like it when girls get the hots for him, but is still trying to flirt with these other girls?

Eh, maybe I'm just looking too deeply into these things, but what do you all think?

[bunchofdoodlesinspace]

Anti and Fear

Buckle up kiddos, we’re analyzing my favourite evil glitchy boi today

SO

Jack has stated that Anti is a representation/represents several of his own fears (eg. Getting stabbed, knives, glitchy effects, etc.). Since then, I’ve noticed that Anti has represented, to some degree, some fears that I have. So today I thought I’d do a little analysis thing and talk about some of those fears and how they’ve been represented in past and present appearances.

1. Jump scares/sudden, loud noises:

Even before my love of horror based games grew, I never enjoyed sudden, loud noises. When I was younger, I was terrified of thunder and thunderstorms. I despised alarms and sirens. And depending on how close we were, I would cover my ears during fireworks.

Even though most of those are fears of the past, I still carry a general fear of sudden appearances and noises. In other words: I hate jump scares. They’re the only reason I have any difficulty watching horror play throughs. I’m always the person searching through the comments for a list of jump scares so I don’t have a heart attack halfway through the video. Creepy imagery? I’m usually fine. Weird, glitchy cutscene? Probably okay. But put a sudden loud scream, or have a character suddenly pop up in your face? No. No thank you.

And don’t get me started on random noises you hear alone in the house and such. Those things make me paranoid. 

Now, in the Anti-centric vids, I noticed that Anti pops up typically in the form of a jump scare of sorts. In Say Goodbye, after a moment of quiet and a bit of static, Anti is suddenly laughing loudly and maniacally, while reaching towards the camera. In KJSE, we see only a few glitches followed by silence before his big monologue. 

And don’t forget all those little hints throughout certain play throughs. 

This is one fear of mine Anti represents almost too well.

2. The dark: 

Yeah, okay, this is a classic. But it is a very real fear of mine. Yet again this fear starts back in my childhood, when just darkness in general was the worst thing on the planet. In fact, it was only a few years ago that I stopped sleeping with a night light. 

Nowadays, this fear has dwindled. But it still remains in part. i don’t fear sleeping in the dark, nor am I afraid of walking dark streets with friends and others. 

What I hate is being alone, completely alone, in a huge, dark area. For example, going to the bathroom in the night at the camp I go to requires me to go outside and through the trees. When that happens, I always freak myself out over how dark it is. And never just because the dark itself is creepy; I freak out over the possibility of what could be hiding in the dark. That’s what scares me the most.

In most of the Anti vids, the lighting in the background is darkened and tinted green, making the room have a darker, more sinister air about it. In KJSE the room looks pitch black and completely devoid of light.

The best example is actually in Dark Silence. At one point, the lights in Jack’s studio burn out, changing the lighting for the remainder of the video. 

It’s more subtle, but these definitely count as representations of this fear in my mind.

3. Manipulation:  

This last one is a bit different than the others. It’s a more...personal fear, I guess? There’s also no irl examples I have of this happening to me. It’s just something that has always struck me as a terrifying concept.

Being controlled/manipulated against your will, unknowingly.

This concept is actually something I love using when it comes to my...uh...creepier stuff, simply because I find it terrifying. Just the thought that you could think what you’re doing is your own choice only to discover that someone else has been controlling you all this time is scary. And for some reason, I’ve always been particularly wary of it from other scary concepts. I don’t know why. But when it pops up in books or movies...oof. It’s just really freaky to me.   

And it’s definitely not unknown in the Anti vids.

We’re all aware of the moments of possible/confirmed possession among the egos. But he’s controlled us too. Anti has distracted and driven us away from the real problems before. He’s gotten us to lose sight of what we should be concerned about. To distrust some of our favourite characters when they had done nothing wrong. 

And he’s not being subtle about it either. He has outright called us “his puppets” before.

Point is, Anti is doing a little too well at representing this one.

Conclusion? Anti hasn’t just been built as an embodiment of Jack’s fears. He’s an embodiment of many fears that many people have. Wether it’s some of the things I mentioned here, or other things I didn’t write about, they are there. And that’s really really clever character building. it makes him terrifying to some degree to nearly all of us, and it could be for completely different reasons. Maybe it’s the gore, the knives, the threats. Maybe it’s the glitching, the distorted voice and laughter. Maybe it’s the things I listed here. Whatever it is, it makes him scary, and for a villain like Anti, that’s a good thing. Even if it was accidental, it still really works.

(Also I really just wanted an excuse to analyze Anti’s character for a quick sec bc I love analyzing villains ok)

TL;DR: Anti is terrifying and it’s pretty great.

[alexanderessex3dstoryart]

Character Design - Style Referencing and Silhouette Research - 30/12/20

For today’s research on character design, I thought I would look into the style referencing for my characters as I’m still not sure weather to go for a realistic art style or a cartoon based one. On top of that, I’m kinda not sure what kind of art style I would then go for either style I end up choosing which is something I plan for today to understand and find out for myself. 

Starting off with looking at the realistic depictions, Cyberpunk 2077 is definitely one I’m already hooked with having already covered it previously in my blog posts. It’s dark, gritty, noir-style visuals give it a rough environment to be in but also an emotional one whether its trying to be sombre on your mood or trying to show the sadistic nature of the world that those characters live in. The visuals of the characters are very mute looking with their colour palette with the exceptions being gangs like the Maelstrom with these bright neon lights emitting from their faces standing themselves from the crowds. In fact, neon colours are the only ones that seem to stand out on any character from the universe other than a few colours being saturated highly. I think this is to go alongside the tone of the game as whilst it can be a chaotic game, there’s a real human element to it’s art style and narrative that you can see from looking at the characters which is most established in it’s launch trailer for the game. That goes for the environment too as it’s often muted in colour to help further emphasizes that realist tone to the story and the characters that live in it. 

In addition to it’s use of colour, the way characters are made and rendered are very hyper-realistic as it looks like a natural progression of human life in the future with us adding cybernetic parts to ourselves. This also goes for the clothing of the characters too being very detailed and natural to the world created. I think this style of render is what i’m so far attached too from how these elements have come together especially for my kind of setting being in a Cyberpunk universe. 

Another source of render that I was influenced by and a bit of a comparisonment to Cyberpunk 2077 is another game called Final Fantasy VII Remake which contrasts Cyberpunk’s mute palette as whilst it’s set in a similar styled environment, there’s a lot more colour and freedom to be found as characters are distinguished from each other with colours popping out in their uniforms to many different and unnatural colours illuminating the city. Even somewhere like the slums that we see in the opening cinematic look busy, healthy and vibrant to look out from how brightly lit the city is. Character's like Aireth (the one in the red jacket) are really defined in the city by how she pops out of the dark city with her reds and pinks in her colour palette. The characters themselves have a much smoother render to the much more realistic style of Cyberpunk 2077 with the characters looking a bit plasticy in comparison. However for close up’s of the characters, details of them looking realistic are more present like close up of eye’s where we can see eyelashes and skin particles/textures evident. Unlike Cyberpunk 2077′s different usage of designs on the faces of their characters, FFVII Remake’s faces are a lot cleaner looking which whilst mostly looking the same-ish across all the characters from the game, the designs of their outfits really help the characters define who they are as people which makes them easy to identify. This also links into the silhouette design of these characters too as if you were to only create a black mask of their neutral poses, you would easily be able to identify who’s who from their body structure as well as key characteristics which is a lot more than Cyberpunk 2077′s visuals. Characters like Cloud are defined by his thin statuerette and his rectangular sword which is very identifiable in this space and somebody like Baracus who is known for his immense body and gatling gun arm. Details like these is something that’s going to be really important to me when I come back to making my characters again.

Final Fantasy VII Remake - Opening Movie | PS4

Cloud Strife Pose

One of the last renders I looked at today was from the Skylanders Games for it’s cartoonish art style as well as looking a little bit into the characters as I’m still considering of going with a dynamic animalistic design for my characters. The style of these characters is similar to the plasticy nature from FFVII Remake’s design but works alongside the dynamic and exaggerated features of the characters like the bug eyed eyes of the characters as well as the specific details of each character that makes them unique. One of my favourite characters Wham-Shell helps bring this point across through not only his eyes but the exaggerated size of his weapon and his crustation on arms which you could also say for the body of the character too. Looking at him and the rest of the characters that are featured in the game’s universe, they all provide a very glossy finish to the characters like they’ve been made in a factory and are brand new looking. This gloss tends to evolve overtime with each new iteration for the game as the characters get a lot more glossier as they progress 

Wham-Shell Character

Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Opening Scene

[HD] Skylanders Swap Force Opening Cutscenes + First Area Tutorial !!!

I think overall looking at the skylanders games as ideas for my render, I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I want to pursue a more realistic depiction of my characters both look wise as well as render. I think this decision mostly comes from the overall tone and setting for my characters as I imagine a darker but gritter environment for them to manifest in which I can’t see with the cartoony style of the skylanders games and think sources like Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy are tonelly more correct. However, there are some details I would like to carry over into the realistic art style such as looking into the big eye designs that a lot of the characters posses from the games into my characters. 

After my research and conclusions with render research, I looked into silhouette designs after being inspired by both Final Fantasy VII Remake as well as one of the natural progressions I needed to take with my character in order to make an effective model/character for the project. I first started by looking into different websites for creating effective silhouette theory which I stumbled across this really nice set of pages of showing  how you can use silhouettes effectively from developing your ideas. The pages show a complete page of developed silhouettes that have been used to express different ideas for a character which those designs have been inspired to create drawings from to eventually lead to a final character. I think combined with Jon’s suggestions as well as from these pages is where I would really succeed in developing my character for the project as this feels the most comfortable avenue for me to advance the designs of my characters as well as understanding the flow of the character too.

(Note: Artwork is from "The Skillful Huntsman" Copyright 2011 Design Studio Press & Scott Robertson - artwork by Mike Yamada.) 

Looking into the term itself, silhouettes are used to help define a character by using shape language to suggest what a character may look like and act just by looking at them. This is usually done by using different types of shapes to help build up the character and what kind of emotion they’re suggesting in their pose which range from; organic, geometric and abstract shapes. ‘Concept Start’ was a really good website that highlighted this way of working as it uses the characters from Madagascar as examples to expressing emotion through silhouette. Below they detail that Alex (Lion) having such a wide expression to him makes him very inviting from his silhouette as its very inviting to us if we were to see his shadow. For Gloria (Hippo), she comes across as very round and smooth and very much like shes comes straight from a cartoon from the light bits of details suggested in her design. And then for Melvin (Giarffe) his body and and appendages are very jumbly and clumsy which perfectly describes the kind of movement and character he is. But going back to the term again, the best thing you can do with a silhouette is if the character is still recognisable if you block them in, then it makes the silhouette strong and readable.

Overall, I’m happy with my research as not only have I understood what kind of style I want to aim for my characters mainly Hyde, but as well looking into how I can create characters more effectively using silhouettes as well as having that extra bit of info from the tutorial notes I was given. I think looking forward, I plan to create my Hyde character through using silhouettes designs the same way as the image above as well as maybe trying it with my Jekyll character too. 

The use of Silhouettes in Concept Design

http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com/2011/03/use-of-silhouettes-in-concept-design.html

SHAPE LANGUAGE & SILHOUETTE IN ART & DESIGN

https://www.conceptstart.net/art-tutorial/improve-shape-language-silhouette-in-concept-art-design-illustration

How to Design Characters with Bold Fashion and Strong Silhouettes

https://www.clipstudio.net/how-to-draw/archives/157653

[tuxedo-rabbit]

Tips on CC for ME:A

*UPDATE 8/15/2017* Bioware has updated the game and fixed pretty much all these issues!! This guide is useless unless you have a non-updated version of the game for some reason!

So we all know the facial animations in me:a can be a little...weird. BUT I’ve noticed there are some things you can mess with in the CC that seem to help make it look a little better! Here’s what I’ve found so far:

Don’t choose the default for you or your twin: They just have really bad facial animations. Idk why.

Give your Ryder dark eyes: The way the eye shading works in ME:A makes your character’s eye’s look really wide all the time. Giving your character a darker eye color for some reason seems to help this. It also helps to choose a preset where the upper eyelids fall lower on the eye.

If you’re making a femryder, make the character’s mouth less wide: Someone else noted that it looks like the face scans for femryder’s presets weren’t taken in a neutral pose. This caused a lot of them to have stretched out mouths that looks pretty uncanny in cutscenes. I made my Ryder’s mouth a little less wide than I usually like to, and that seemed to help get rid of those freaky smile scenes.

Mess with the depthness of the mouth: Making Ryder’s lips stick out from their face less seems to help with the weird flappy lip syndrome I’ve seen some people have. Default m!ryder has this issue especially bad.

Remember to compare the jawline to your character’s neck: You can’t adjust Ryder’s neck thickness like you can with Shepard’s, so if your character has a wide face or a big jaw, it can make their head look too big for their body at times.

The funky hair colors are always that bright: Ok this is less about animation and more about aesthetic, but I had to remake my Ryder because her blue hair looked too bright compared to everything else. In my opinion, the dyed hair looks less pastel looking and more neon in-game. There are a couple hairstyles it looks ok on (the curly bob and the braids for f!ryder both look pretty nice with the dyed colors) but most were brighter than I expected.

The CC angles the face down and is not in a neutral position: Don’t worry about this one too much, just keep it in mind while you’re messing with the height of Ryder’s facial features bc it does mess with the perspective a bit. I moved my character’s mouth up to what looked like an ok position in the CC, but in most cutscenes her mouth looks waaay to high.

These are the things I noticed gave the animations trouble, and they’re largely femryder centric. If anyone else had a different experience/wants to share more feel free to reblog!

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Thoughts On Tales of Berseria

Soooooooo this is a very long overdue post (like a month late lol), but my health was in a meh state for a long time pretty much starting with when I first beat the game and technically still isn’t over yet but it’s bearable now so so that killed a lot of my motivation to do... much of anything, so here we are now. I also rewatched a good portion of the game while my friend was playing it for the first time and that helped me figure out my thoughts on it better (while talking with her about it).

I want to clarify that despite the... kind of negative tone of this analysis, I still really enjoyed Berseria. After all, it is a Tales game, and I love Tales, and there isn’t a single one I outright dislike. This also contains some spoilers for Tales of Zestiria, as the distant sequel to Berseria and a game that is very important to me as one of my favorite Tales so yeah, just a warning, I love Zestiria, and that’s gonna be prevalent here some.

Spoilers below. Also this is incredibly long, I am so sorry; if you read it all you deserve a medal, as usual:

This will mostly just be a collection of random points, not organized really in any particular way:

Burn is a badass opening. Fucking love it, and the animation with it; watched it every time, as expected.

I really enjoyed Berseria’s battle system; normally I’m not one to really scrutinize how good a gameplay system is or isn’t because I’m not actually good at playing lmao but I liked the soul system, and the break souls, and how you can do an epic chain of mystic artes together in a row <333 also Eizen’s dragon MA is just rude, okay.

The weapon upgrading system is so much easier and less confusing compared to Zestiria’s; thank fucking god

The cameo character side quest in this game is just... what the fuck, Bamco. not only did you use two of my least favorite characters in the entire Tales series, but you used them in the weirdest scenario ever. i’m so disturbed i want to... forget all of that... lol.

The soundtrack is okay, sadly not as standout as Zestiria’s but I expected that. :/ There are still a few amazing tracks though that I have listened to by themselves a lot; specifically Eizen’s theme, Rokurou’s theme, Shigure’s theme, all variations of Velvet’s theme (”True Will” is just UGH), Oscar’s theme okay so all the character themes lol, the Hellewes song I think, the song that plays in Palimedes Temple, “Time to Relax” (Titania Prison’s softer and more homey theme song), “The Last Word” (</3), the credits song, and the epilogue cutscene song ughhhh (my favorite).

Really wish there were more anime cutscenes. Feels like there were a few at the beginning and then..... literally none until almost the very end of the game; kinda disappointing.

I was really concerned when I first was told by somebody that most of the dialogue in the game is told through mandatory skits, but in the end it didn’t bother me as much as I expected it to. Still, I think they were overused a bit too much; I get that it’s easier but there’s only a limited number of expressions that the sprites can show, no matter how much movement they’re given, and the models can get across emotions specific to a certain situation much better, so I wish they would have utilized them more just for talking.

Voice acting is amazing, as usual. Cristina Vee did an INCREDIBLE job as Velvet, just wow, and I was also really impressed with Ray Chase as Artorius ughhh, so good. <3

I love Velvet’s outfit; no shame, sorry. also Eizen without his jacket is mmmmMMMMM

Berseria has really good writing, storywise. The plot is well-conceived and I love the themes behind it, the focus on the importance of family, and where it eventually leads to in the end. Lot of emotion with Velvet’s story with Phi, Laphicet, Artorius, (and Celica/Seres), and it really hits hard ugh. </3 So I really respect the game for the main underlying plot, the message it was trying to get across, how hopeful it is despite how frankly depressing the entirety of the game is, and for the parts that it did well, because those parts are incredible.

but

I’m sorry but there is a big but

My biggest problem with Berseria stems from the fact that aside from Velvet, Phi, and Eleanor, everyone else is... rather flat. Sort of related to that (but not entirely) is the fact that despite me liking almost everyone in the party to varying degrees, they honestly didn’t feel that close? I was told this game had a huge found family aspect to it, which is what I always expect and want from Tales, and I was especially anticipating it in this game with Velvet’s initial setup, and how excellently (and emotionally) that prologue was handled. But although by the end of the game, they do feel closer to each other in some ways, it takes an insane amount of time to get there, and even then, it’s not that strong except in certain skits. For a lot of the game it feels like half of the characters in this party have absolutely no reason to be traveling with this group, and although that can happen in Tales, usually by the middle of the game, and especially at the end, you know they definitely belong with the group, in your heart. But I just wasn’t feeling that here, and it doesn’t help that Rokurou is constantly rubbing in my face that he’s only here to repay his “debt”, and Magilou constantly reminding us that she absolutely couldn’t care less about anything we’re doing, making the feeling even worse. Eizen, too, has this issue, even though eventually he has a unbearably tragic motivating reason to follow them, but again, it comes so late. ...Ironically, I felt more of a found family vibe in the side characters and the party than I did within the party itself (Kamoana, (with Eleanor and Medissa), Dyle, Kurogane (with Rokurou), Percieval (with Phi kinda), and although I wholeheartedly enjoyed every moment of that... I also wanted it in the party more. And like I said, it is there SOME, and the moments that do happen are so sweet... but I just wanted and expected so much more from their dynamic. And the relationships within the party that exist as much as they do are split up into specific pairs and trios, which are Rokurou&Eizen, Rokurou&Phi&Eizen, Eleanor&Phi, Eleanor&Velvet, and of course, Velvet&Phi, and the latter vastly overwhelms the others by an enormous margin. Give me different match-ups; give me Velvet and Eizen having quiet talks as the group parents and two broken people who know what it’s like to lose, know what it’s like to care about family, and can relate to one another (the dialogue where she talks to him before the final battle and worries about his condition with the malevolence was just everything I ever wanted), give me Eizen and Eleanor, because she is so kind and changes so much throughout the game and so would be (and is) sympathetic towards him, like she is towards Rokurou, give me more blatant Eizen and Phi brotherly stuff okay just everyone with Eizen, give me more Velvet and Rokurou because I honestly adored their interactions in the very begnning, give me Phi trying to talk to Magilou and forcing her to break out of her comedic farce personality to try to find out why she is the way she is, just... give me more, game. ugh.

Getting back to how I said everyone who isn’t Velvet/Phi/Eleanor is pretty flat. Berseria has this weird thing about... no flashbacks being allowed, ever, unless they’re related to Velvet’s story and the immediate characters related to her. Honestly, if I had to summarize it, that’s what I’d say: this game is too Velvet-centric. Which, I mean, she’s a great character! And her story is amazing! ...But I play Tales for the entire party, and so the entire party should get focus as well, and the connections between them and the protagonist(s) should be balanced evenly. That’s not the case here. Soooooo many characters could use more depth in this game (sometimes even depth at all...), but the game chooses to adopt a “tell not show” method of giving it to them, and often far, far too late in the game, with absolutely no build-up to it, which... fails. Really hard; worse in some places than others. Older Tales games have a slew of side quests that do nothing but give further development to party members and side characters, but in Berseria, there’s only one side quest for each party member plus an important side character, and none of them have flashbacks at all if they involve a backstory. Party-wise, Rokurou and Magilou suffer the worst from this. I love Rokurou as a person, but honestly? I couldn’t tell you why I love him. He’s cool, and that’s about it. His story with his clan is so confusing because it’s barely expanded on at all, and the emotion that should be there with him and Shigure just... isn’t, because Rokurou himself isn’t emotional about it at all, so how can we feel anything? We just get a bunch of cryptic statements from him that we’re supposed to accept, and move on, just as the party moves on from it, confusedly. Shigure’s death made me feel a little because the scene itself was executed ha ha well, but it could have made me feel so much more. And then after that we get some info about their mom, which is all told to us in dialogue and nothing shown at all, and then it’s over. Magilou suffers from this even WORSE... like, I’m sorry, but I really just don’t care for Magilou. At all. I tried! I really did! And by the end of the game, I had gone from straight-up disliking her to just being neutral about her, at least! ....But the game literally just gave me zero reason to care about her, ever. She is nothing but the comic relief character for most of the game, her only role being to rudely butt in on the end of important conversations to add her own two cents (which usually amount to “haha look how much I don’t give a crap about any of this”) and messing with Phi. When they finally do start trying to show a darker side to her, when Melchior starts torturing her and taunting her, and then later when she asks Velvet what it feels like to hate, I... just can’t bring myself to care/try to figure out wth is going on? Because there’s been no build-up to it. She stays stagnant throughout the entirety of the game, unlike typical Tales characters of her type that are broken from their pasts and use cheerfulness to cover it up, that gradually show signs of becoming closer to the party throughout the game until there’s usually a Big Moment(tm) where they have to decide what they’re going to choose (see: Alvin, Zelos, Dezel, Jade minus the big moment, Raven, etc etc). The first scene I mentioned should be Magilou’s Big Moment(tm), but it doesn’t work because we’re suddenly getting this backstory hastily shoved in our faces all of a sudden, with absolutely no hints of it beforehand and thus no emotion at all from the scene. Instead it’s just confusing, not unlike Rokurou’s scenes I mentioned. Her backstory is cryptically shoved into side quest npc dialogue that you’ll absolutely miss if you’re not looking for it instead of in the main game, where it should be, and even what you get is barely anything, with no flashbacks to give you that emotion you really need for her. Magilou treats it casually, so, I treated it casually too. It’s not important to her, or the game, so I couldn’t care either. When she verbally takes down Melchior in Merchio later, I cheered, but that was literally the strongest emotions I ever felt towards her, and it didn’t have nearly the amount of oomph it should have because of everything I stated. Just. Why did they not handle her better; it makes me so sad, because she could have been AMAZING. I’ve never felt like a character belongs less in a Tales party than Magilou, tbh; she stood out so much and I just kept asking “why are you still here, again?”, and the party basically asks the same thing lol. Bienfu felt like he belonged more than she did... >.> Eizen in particular wounds me deeply because we’re already predisposed to care about him so much because of Zestiria (and lbr, Bamco knows everyone who is playing this has played Zestiria, so there’s no excuse), and so I so desperately wanted flashbacks of him and Edna. I can’t even begin to describe how much I wanted them *sobs* and the skits where he talks about her were perfect and beautiful and made my heart soar and yet break into a thousand pieces, but... I wanted them to go further with it. I wanted to see him get more emotional, and I understand that the way he is is just his personality, but like... this character is so crucial to one of the mains in Zestiria, and we love Edna and we know how important Eizen was to her, so I just wanted the game to treat him with so much more love because Zestiria frankly handled that subplot so terribly. *sighs* That being said, though, his relationship with Zaveid in Berseria is by far one of THE best done parts of the game (more on Zaveid later)... and the Aifread subplot literally destroyed me. Just. Destroyed. Yet another example of flashbacks I wanted, with the two of them (BAMCO I WOULD LITERALLY PAY YOU SO MUCH TO SEE AIFREAD AND BBY!EIZEN, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I WOULD PAY *sobs*), but even still, it was done pretty well compared to other things, and I’m still crying over it. ;________; </3 <3 ...In the end, though, although I do really like Eizen (his nerd rambling speeches were just b l e s s, and the black humor with his curse omg poor baby; and of course HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PIRATES WHICH IS THE BEST FAMILY IN THE GAME TBQH *tears*), I didn’t adore him as much as I assumed I would, and that sucks. :/ Eleanor is an amazing character, 10/10, and it’s kind of baffling how much focus she gets over the three mentioned above. Her side quest about her mother once again gets the obnoxious “tell not show” treatment, but it’s alleviated by the fact that she’s had so much development in the main story so it’s not as huge of a letdown (did I mention that regulating backstories to side quests, and not even well-executed ones, is a huge problem? :))) ). She’s so sweet and pure and I honestly just adore here ugh <3 unexpected favorite. Other characters in the game who suffer from the problem of not having flashbacks dedicated to them but then the game trying to make us care about them too late are again Shigure, Melchior only in the sense of in relation to his past with Magilou, and most importantly Teresa and Oscar. I love Oscar for shallow reasons, but neither of them are well-fleshed out, only getting a handful of backstory lines thrown in by Teresa right before her death and after Oscar’s, again, just telling it to us. Their relationship honestly creeped me out throughout the game, Teresa treating Oscar reallllllllly obsessively, but if we had gotten their past way ahead of time, we could understand them better even if she is still a bitch. Sadly, that’s not how it’s handled, and it’s a shame. Like I said, I sobbed got upset at Oscar’s death, but there was no justification for getting upset at all, really. Other than them, Artorius I would have liked to have gotten more scenes. His flashbacks near the end of the game were done beautifully (as was that entire segment period), but I wished that it didn’t take me that long to really feel for him, with how three-dimensional he was set up in the prologue. for those who have read the manga Akatsuki no Yona, I was expecting a Soo-won/Hak/Yona(/Il) vibe from the Artorius/Velvet/Laphicet trio because of how similar the setups were, kinda, and that wasn’t quite what I got, unfortunately More scenes on the legate side of things earlier in the game would have done him and the others a world of good, essentially. Also wished that he and Velvet had a little more to say to each other in the end, but that’s a nitpick really.

Tying in talk of Velvet’s character arc with something else: Berseria’s pacing. This game is oddly paced, if I’m being honest. I can pick out about probably ten specific big events that I remember, and everything else is rather foggy, for having just recently played it. The prologue and Velvet breaking out of prison starts the game off extremely strong, and then it feels like it hits a lull until the first confrontation with Artorius... and then there is a lonnnnnng lull until Innominat’s first appearance... and then suddenly everything is happening with absolutely no breaks until the end. Velvet’s character development matches this, as well; she stays pretty much the same for most of the game, with occasional flashes of ptsd (which are done perfectly, by the way) until Innominat’s reveal, and then her subsequent massive mental breakdown and rising up again to become someone who is still going to get revenge, but now she knows why she is, and why she needs to, and she’s happier for it. She’s definitely my favorite character in the game, and one of the best Tales protagonists out there imo, but I wish her development was more evenly distributed throughout the game, instead of nothing and then this HUGE moment where she honestly completely and utterly breaks down and shows how she truly feels and has felt about what happened to her, and then it sort of goes back to how it was before, albeit not entirely. That is the high point of the game, the best part of the game, for so many reasons, which is why I keep mentioning it; it’s done so well, and I don’t feel like anything after it even comes close to matching it, and I wish some parts did. Still love her, but her arc could have been better paced imo, and the flow of events in general (all the deaths that happen one after the other in the last fourth of the game (minus Artorius and Innominat) feel even more rushed because of the problems I stated earlier, and also this).

Phi’s a perfect pure angel cinnamon roll, his arc is amazing, and his relationship with Velvet is so touching; nothing else needs to be said. :’) <3 Although I will say I loved that he stood up to her about his identity; major props for them doing that, because it really needed to be said.

One last thing to end this on a positive note because I’ve spewed so much negativity ugh, and that is: I absolutely cannot even begin to describe how happy I am at all of the references to Tales of Zestiria in this game. Zestiria is one of my favorite Tales; it has major writing flaws, but I love almost all of the characters dearly, and even though some of them too could use some more depth, the party’s dynamic in that game is just done so well and makes me feel so good, gives me that warm Tales vibe that I just love so much (I won’t talk specifically about why I love Zestiria in this post lol, but basically what it comes down to is that it has heart, even though it has so many problems, and I respect it and love it for that, even though I acknowledge that it’s not that great). So when I heard that Berseria was a prequel to Zestiria, I was ecstatic. And it delivered to me, as a Zesty fan. Berseria may be a really long time before Zestiria, but all of the references, of which there are SO MANY, in npc dialogues and terminology and specific in-game events, are treated with so much care, obviously added in so purposefully and logically thought about how things that are considered normal in Zestiria’s time would be not quite developed all the way or have entirely different names in Berseria, and I just... I love that so much??? I loved standing in a town and getting a strange sense of deja vu, I was screaming when malevolence was mentioned and the truth about “daemonblight” was revealed, I was screaming about Edna and Eizen of course, I was screaming at “Artorius’ Throne” of course, I was screaming at Zaveid of course, I was screaming when the Shepherd was mentioned, when the Lord of Calamity was mentioned, and how they’re flip-flopped in roles from Zestiria (!!!!!), when the imperfect ARMATUS was introduced, oh my god, and when Phi became Maotelus at the end I was in tears, and got chills. Just... Zestiria didn’t do so well with its lore, and even though at the end of the day, Berseria’s existence can’t magically make Zestiria’s story writing and character writing better, it did add something to it, something special, something beautiful, something poignant, and for that, I am so happy. Zaveid in particular I have no words for; he was the single character I never have cared about in Zestiria, with how rude he is about a certain traumatic incident that happens right before he forcefully shoves himself into the party, and overall his type is just one I don’t care for. Then Berseria happened, and I adore him in Berseria. It honestly weirds me out and haunts me to realize and admit, but yes, he’s one of my favorite characters in this game, and by far one of the best written ones, and to see how different he is in this game compared to the other is just surreal, and chilling, and sad, and to play Zestiria from here on out knowing how and why he eventually becomes the way he does, after seeing how his beliefs used to be and seeing what he lost, and what his relationship with Eizen was like? I’m so upset, and fucked up, good GOD. ;______; All in all, I love Berseria purely because it made me love Zestiria even more, and whenever I play Zestiria from here on out I’ll never look at it the same way again, especially when Sorey sleeps with Maotelus in the end. </3 <3 and Zestiria the X and whatever the hell it was trying to do can go fuck itself lol >_______> Instead, can we just have something where Sorey learns all about the first Lord of Calamity and her gang from Zaveid? *cries* and about how Eizen was with them? BETTER YET, CAN WE HAVE MAOTELUS!PHI JUST TELLING SOREY EVERYTHING AND SOREY GETS SO EMOTIONAL OVER IT BECAUSE HE’S HIM; MY HEART

The ending. What the fuck, Bamco. My heart is in pieces, and then also you just... do that with the credits.... seriously WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF SATAN IDEA IS THAT

Despite all of my criticisms, which I promise I give out of love because I love this series so much, Berseria is still a really really good Tales. I don’t think it’s as godly as everyone is hyping it up to be, and definitely not Abyss tier (I don’t think the Tales series will ever create another Abyss, honestly, as sad as I am to say it) like some are saying, but still, it’s up there. I wish the party’s development and dynamic was handled better, and I wish the game wasn’t so damn insistent on never using flashbacks, and me not being attached to the party is why I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would, but the writing is very solid, and the parts that Berseria does well are godly. I’d probably give it a 7/10; it gave me a lot of feels though I wish more and now I’m just really depressed about everything. :’)))) and I can write fic about the characters I wanted more depth for if no one else will Final character ranking in terms of favorites would probably be Zaveid > Velvet > Phi > Eleanor > Rokurou > Eizen > Magilou

[ciangiuffusvaniaorwhatever-blog]

Guess who’s back! I’m a slowpoke, still playing Dark Souls for the first time!

Well, actually, just one of many, not here to be liked or to do something useful, Just wanted to blog about videogames and  i’m happy i’ve resumed, it’s a good stress reliever. Been very busy getting my University degree (which i had!) and looking for a job, but i missed doing this! I’ll drop the italian blog (for now), don’t have enough brain power for both (still for now) Little disclaimer: i’m not a pro, this isn’t a review, just the opinions, rants and thoughts of one of the many. And my main language is not english, so just skip the monster mistakes there will be around. Time for my usual(?) pre-emptive TL, DR: New computer, Dark Souls is actually cool altought i have some doubts that become bigger looking at the full saga. Ok first things first. I’m finally on a brand new computer, little graduation present. Won’t waste time with bragging about the stats, it works and it’s pretty powerful. With it i could finally defeat one of the monsters that kept me from playing Dark Souls, the first: BLIGHTTOWN. Who knows the game (or the memes) knows that in that zone the player will experience an unhealthy amount of FPS drops. My old notebook had an Intel Graphics HD, you can already imagine. I struggled to the whole level, it was all completely dark, darker than my brightness settings should allow, plus i had 7-20 fps, dropping down the more models there were on the screen. It was so dark and clunky i lost my way in the swamps! I remember asking this to a friend years ago: “What do i have to find in the swamp? I know the boss is Quelaag but where do i find the entrance?”. He looked me a bit funny and said “Come on, how is it possible you don’t find it, it’s there, looks like a spiky mountain with a hole, it’s just there” he said simply. I didn’t understand what he meant and kept rolling through the swamp with poison eating my unliving flesh, i couldn’t find anythingand kept running around in circles until i grew annoyed due to the low fps i had and uninstalled everything. That was my experience in dark souls, Now, with my brand new machine I was determined (Picture Undertale’s game over in your mind) and give it another try. With 0 issues i sped trough the first part of the game, i reached the accursed Blighttown (actually from behind this time, the circular map is one of DS’s most awesome features), dropped in the swamp and...it was THERE. at my right, a huge mound with a hole. It was IMPOSSIBLE to miss. I made the most Apulean (it means from Puglia, the Italian region i grew and live in) reaction i can think of, i kept staring at the screen with raised eyebrows, pressed lips, and pointed the screen with my extended hand. This gesture means “Are you serious? Really? Is this a joke?” etc etc. It was just there. That boss fight was awesome tho, really well designed. Well after playing some hours (I’m currently in Anor Londo, close to killing the dynamic duo, for who knows the game) I can finally understand a bit of what Dark Souls is and why is so compelling. I’ve seen lots of love around for this Game. I can understand it now, since i like the game too. I personally liked silent narratives in games where you explore, i’m a Symphony of the night fan after all. Playing dark souls remembers me those goods time, going around, searching for items and secrets, really loved that kind of games. Plus it adds majestic level design, an interesting dark fantasy setting, a bit depressed maybe but pretty cool.  Ok we can criticize From Software’s policy of NOT SAYING ANYTHING, but well it’s a kind of approach to the game i (and many others it seems) do not dislike. It gave the players a thrill of discovery, differently from other games where you  watch the story and setting unfold via a massive amount of cutscenes like Metal Gear Solid for an instance. DS tells you almost everything via item description, a sort of “Serious” version of Castlevania’s item description, saying a good amount of things about the setting. About the story, well, there’s not much story, that is true, most characters are just there waiting for your arrival, sometimes it feels a bit static but well, it works. Dark souls is very well done and has some very very intersting ideas but i do not want to do a full review of it, so i’ll go on to the issue i found aout the setting. This issue becomes bigger and BIGGER looking on DSII and DSIII (I didn’t play them but i watched nearly everything on youtube, an Italian guy named Sabaku. Or Sbabaku. Long story. Pretty cool channel) We are presented with a world that it’s about to end, we know nothing of its beginnings. That’s the issue. we know NOTHING on how it began. “They came”: that’s it, we don’t know how humans began to actually be, where are the non-undeads, how is the world outside Lordran made, we know nothing. And in ds2-3 we still do not know nothing! How does the cycle begin after the end of the previous? Why only some people remain “alive” after the cycle resets? What happened before our arrival? I think this kind of fuzzy setting works for a standalone games, but in a Saga? I don’t know, i think after 3 games you should start clearing some doubts instead of adding them to the pile.  Well, i’m already (???) done, hope you found this even slightly interesting, I’ll try to keep this thing updated with my experiences and my thoughts about what i love, videogames. If you liked it feel free to follow or send me messages, i like some good ol’ chit-chat.  The normal guy who loves videogames retreats coolly. Alla prossima!

[waynekelton]

This is The Police 2 Review

The first This is The Police tried to replicate the fine line Hollywood has been walking for decades when it comes to its portrayal of the men and women of small town American police forces. It failed, as it lacked any of the subtlety of of high minded critique or clever charisma of a sharp satire. Its' melodrama, though noir in spirit, was flaccid and rote in practice. It felt filthy all the time, and never for any reason other than 'because it could.'

This is The Police 2 is better in almost every way than the first. But it’s still weighed down but much of the same issues.

Part of that weight is the returning Jack Boyd. No longer Police Chief of Freeburg, he’s found himself on the run from the federal government thanks to his heavy involvement with his former city being smothered by organized crime. Circumstance gets him arrested by the local police in nearby Sharpwood, and eventually he becomes the right hand man for Sharpwood’s Chief of Police, Lilly Reed.

TITP2 breathlessly breezes past this incredible narrative contrivance to reintroduce us to the dirty cop that can’t help but do dirty things. Conveniently, Sharpwood’s PD is filled to the brim with chaotic cops that are one or two bad shifts away from being criminals themselves. The streets themselves are filled with people who seem to do the most outrageous criminal activity you’d ever heard of in at town like this.

All this is to say that TITP2 still makes no effort to make anything or anyone feel redeemable in this story. Jack is still mostly a trash bag of a human. At no point in the hours of time I spent playing did I want him to succeed. If I could have called the feds on him myself, I would’ve. All of the characters you meet are either obnoxious cops, excited to abuse their authority to bully locals; douchey agents that’ll stop at nothing to impede you; and slimy criminals trying to bleed you dry in exchange for your freedom.

Maybe the one exception to this is Lilly Reed. Even then, she is initially framed as the new female boss attempting to wrangle her out-of-control team. TITP2 almost pretends that she might be the centerpiece in a story about a women’s struggle in an male-dominated career field. And yet, as soon as we meet her and her plight, its bulldozed away by Jack and his bullshit. She’s relegated to nagging nanny status, when she’s included in the story at all.

The story itself is told in well-imagined, lo-fi moving comic book frames. If you’ve seen stills from the recently released Untitled Goose Game, think that kind of abstract art, but with a darker hue. Sometimes, scenes will be fully animated cartoons that are totally fine, if not a little awkward. The scenes that end up in motion never seem like they were providing much more of a particular punctuation to the sequence. It begs the question, why are they there at all?

They look great, but these cutscenes are almost always too long. Many of these exposition dumps have the incredibly arduous writing to thank for their length. Dialogue often goes waaay too long. These character exchanges are clearly inspired by movies like Reservoir Dogs, but completely lack their tact or brevity. They are at least well acted. Even John St. John’s reprisal of Boyd feels more nuanced and refined this time around.

These overlong sequences predictably book end the nitty gritty of TITP2 - deploying officers for daily duties. This was always the most interesting part of the first game, and it remains so here. Knowing what cop is the right one for a particular call is a little easier to discern now that individual officers have statlines that cover more than just this abstract idea of 'professionalism.' Officers with high Negotiations should be the ones attempting to talk people out of foolishness, for example. This is a way more reliable way to make sure your officers come home at night.

Another addition to the formula are full on, XCOM style tactical battles. You can assign a squad of officers to assault a location, SWAT Style, when the situation calls for this sort of large scale attention. The same non-lethal and lethal options you have available in the normal mode - through equipment or individual skills - are available here as well. The stats play a dual purpose here - each rank your officer has in a stat will unlock an ability to be used on these maps. Cops with a high enough strength can kick doors in, for instance.

The sort of reward you get from these battles are hit and miss. They can be pretty challenging, and your officers can be killed pretty easily should a shootout happen. Patiently taking targets out quietly usually is the best way to go, but there really is no reason to prioritize non-lethal over lethal, outside of personal preference. The game doesn’t seem to care how you handle suspects, so long as you walk out in one piece.

That’s the sort of cynicism that This is The Police 2 is drenched in. In one way, the simple addition of this mode feels completely out of place and unnecessary. It’s indicative of maybe an overarching issue in this sequel: adding things that don’t do anything to make the game better, while not really addressing anything that made the first game unbearable. It expands its own mythos, but still refuses to make any salient commentary regarding any of the themes it’s playing in. Like Boyd himself, Weappy’s crime series is hopelessly irredeemable.

This is The Police 2 Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[kaiserdingus]

The Return of Classic Sonic - Part 4 - Sonic Mania/Sonic Forces

Over the past couple of years, and especially recently with the release of Sonic Mania, we’ve seen a resurgence in media depicting the classic version of Sonic the Hedgehog from the 1990’s. He’s shorter, he’s voiceless, and he represents a simpler time in video games from before voice acting and cinematic cutscenes.

In recent games he’s been offered as an alternative to the modern aesthetic and play-style that’s been the standard since Sonic Adventure. How did we get to this point? How has Sonic changed over the years, and why are there now two Sonics?

In this series I plan to observe the time period in Sonic history where SEGA decided to shake things up and make what was once old new again. This is The Return of Classic Sonic.

Sonic Mania

After the release of Sonic Generations, things seemed to be going well for Sonic Team. In 2013 they announced an exclusivity deal with Nintendo for their recently released Wii U. The deal was that the next three Sonic the Hedgehog titles would be exclusive to the Wii U. Sonic Lost World, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, and Sonic Boom were the three Nintendo exclusive titles as part of the deal. After how good Generations was, things were not looking good for Sonic the Hedgehog fans who weren’t fond of Lost World or Boom.

Things felt dark at the time, but then in July 2016 Sega held a big Sonic-themed fan event where they announced two new titles. The first was a new collaboration with Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, and PagodaWest Games called “Sonic Mania”, a true return to the classic 2D gameplay that Sega and Sonic Team tried to achieve with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

The second game was an untitled 3D game introduced with a pre-rendered trailer showing Sonic in a dystopian wasteland, and joining him yet again would be Classic Sonic. The trailer looked drove home the idea that this was a new modern-style Sonic game that followed the style of Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, except now with a darker, more serious story. Even though the trailer featured Classic Sonic, the producers were quick to express that this wasn’t a sequel to Sonic Generations. Eventually, the title would be revealed as Sonic Forces, and we’ll talk about that a little later.

Despite Sonic Forces raising a ton of questions, the real show-stealer that night was Sonic Mania. An officially sanctioned new title in the classic Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, one that compiled new, original stages with stages from older titles that were remixed for a new generation of fans.

The game launched in August 2017 and was a smash hit, having the highest score for a Sonic the Hedgehog title on review sites in years. Previous Whitehead produced Sonic titles include Sonic CD, Sonic 1, and Sonic 2 which were remakes of classic titles with some enhancements. Now, his team were able to fill it with not just new enhancements, but completely new features. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are all playable with their own moves and character-specific paths, but now Sonic has a new “Drop Dash” that allows him to charge a spindash while in mid-air.

Similarly to Sonic CD, Sonic Mania opens with an animated full-motion video. Animated by Tyson Hesse, a comic book illustrator who previously worked on Archie’s Sonic comics as well as having done Sonic fan comics online, it’s the perfect cherry on top to complete a wonderful game. Hesse’s art has been celebrated in the Sonic fan community, from his parody comic “Sonic’s Big Fat Adventure”, to his Sonic CD/Sonic OVA style designs in the Archie mini-series Sonic Mega Drive.

Something that’s usually considered taboo when adapting another’s work is adding new elements, but that taboo has been successfully broken with the addition of the Hard Boiled Heavies as antagonists assisting Dr. Eggman this time around.

Originally Egg-Robos from Sonic & Knuckles, they’ve been corrupted by the Phantom Ruby which is given each of them individual personalities. The boss fights against the Hard Boiled Heavies are some of the best in the entire game, and I would not be opposed to seeing more of them in future titles.

The marketing for Sonic Mania disguised one of the bigger plot points to the game, and the game itself doesn’t make it clear, but Sonic Mania cleverly ties into Sonic Forces which was released 3 months later. The Phantom Ruby, Eggman’s world-altering MacGuffin, appears in Sonic Mania and is the force that transports Sonic to Modern Sonic’s world in Forces. They even snuck Sonic Forces’ theme song “Fist Bump” into the final boss battle.

When Mania came out I played the hell out of it and cleared each of the 8 save files. The special stages from Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles return, but now they replace the pinball bonus stages. They quickly become irritating as you find yourself entering nearly 3 special stages per level. It’s not that they’re not fun to play, but rather that they take longer than standard bonus stages so they break up the pace of the game.

I loved Sonic Mania, I thought it filled a much needed desire in me to play a game that really understood what makes Sonic great. The way Sega released Sonic Forces following Mania made Mania seem like an appetizer, but one that’s infinitely better than the perfectly acceptable main course.

Sonic Forces

Originally announced alongside Sonic Mania in June of 2016, Sonic Forces was released in November 2017 and landed with an unfortunate thud. Dr. Eggman has taken over the world and now it’s up to Sonic to save the day, only this time he’s joined by a new friend - YOU. Oh, and also Classic Sonic returns from Sonic Generations for no clear reason. This game isn’t bad by any means, but it certainly isn’t seen very positively within some parts of the fan community? The fans celebrated Sonic Generations, how did Forces go so wrong?

When planning this game simultaneously with Sonic Mania, it’s assumed that the producers wanted to cater to two very specific audiences: people who grew up with and prefer the style of the classic Sonic games, or people who prefer the more story driven modern titles. Mania was meant to be for the fans of the classic games, while Forces would be aimed at those who liked Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations.

The only problem with basing this game off of Generations is that by the time this game would come out, that game would already be 6 years old. For some perspective, that’s the same amount of time between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Adventure. With that big of a time gap, it was assumed Sonic Team would be able to make a game that would surpass the quality of the ones that came before it. Instead, we got a game that feels more or less like Generations 2 (more like Generations 2 Late).

This isn’t to say the game is bad, it just feels dated, ironically its biggest competition is a game that’s entire gimmick is how dated it is. The game follows an edgy storyline about Dr. Eggman capturing Sonic and taking over the world, and the resistance group that forms to stop Dr. Eggman and liberate the world. Typical for a Sonic game post-1992, Dr. Eggman has a new friend with him, a jackal named Infinite who’s been made incredibly powerful with the strength of a magical MacGuffin known as the Phantom Ruby.

The story wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the fact that none of the characters develop or grow, aside from the player’s Avatar character. The avatar is the last of their people after Infinite showed up and killed them all for no apparent reason, and now they’ve teamed up with Sonic and the resistance to stop Eggman from… keeping control of the world.

That’s right, besides the lack of character development or growth there’s also a lack of motivation for the villains. Dr. Eggman beats Sonic with the help of Infinite at the beginning of the game, Sonic gets captured and taken to the Death Egg, and his friends break him out.

Sonic Adventure 2’s edgy storyline worked because characters had motivation and they grew as the story went. Shadow wanted to avenge the death of his friend, but eventually discovered that vengeance wouldn’t be what she wanted. Rouge offers her skills as a jewel thief to help Dr. Eggman, only to double cross him when it’s revealed she’s a spy working for the President. Tails, having overcome his fears in the previous Sonic Adventure games, asserts himself as a competent mechanic and hero. Even Eggman realizes the error of his ways near the end of the game and helps the heroes stop the destruction he caused.

Gameplay wise, the game plays just as good as Sonic Generations did, and it even looks better. Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom, the two titles to come out in the years between Generations and Forces, were too radically different and didn’t work. Sonic Forces might feel like too little too late, it its very playable. The levels are more cinematic this time around, but they’re also a lot shorter. While Generations had 9 different areas with two stages each, Forces only has 6 areas with a combined 24 action stages. A casual Sonic player can easily clear the game in under 4 hours.

The game has a lot of replay value, though. Especially in regards to the Avatar, who can equip clothing and accessories that you gain by clearing stages and missions. The Wispons act as different equippables for your character’s grappling hook, giving them new abilities that can help them reach different pathways.

Classic Sonic, honestly, feels a little tacked on in this game. Like I said previously, Classic Sonic felt integral to Generations, but this time he feels like Werehog-esque filler. I love the gameplay and the dedicated 2D levels, but you they didn’t need to shoe-horn Classic Sonic into the game. It feels like a cheap gimmick to bring in people coming down from the high of Sonic Mania, rather than something that’s important to the story.

Sonic Forces really isn’t a bad game, it feels like a love letter to the fans of the 2000’s era Sonic games. It’s cheesy, with the grim-dark story, the DeviantArt-esque character creator, the butt rock theme song featuring Hoobastank singer Doug Robb, and the incredibly edgy Infinite who automatically replaces Shadow as “most cringey Sonic character”. It probably won’t ever be seen in the same light as it’s companion game, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

After 9 years of attempts by Sega, prompted by the passion and dedication of the Sonic the Hedgehog fan base, we’re finally seeing a resurgence of classic Sonic. Sonic 4 was a shallow attempt, Sonic Generations was an honest try, but Sonic Mania nailed it completely. A team of fans have done the impossible and have used their skills from making fan games to make a perfect Sonic game. Something any Nintendo fans would’ve been shut down for, Sega allowed to happen and are now benefiting from it.

It’s an exciting time for fans of Classic Sonic, as this July Sega are releasing a definitive edition of Sonic Mania called Sonic Mania Plus. The new content will be available as DLC for players who already own Mania. Alongside Sonic Mania Plus is a new animated series directed by Tyson Hesse. Five short episodes released in the weeks leading up to the release of Sonic Mania Plus.

What’s next for Sonic fans? Beyond Sonic Mania Plus, not much. If fans respond to Sonic Mania Plus well and it sells enough copies, I’m sure Sega will produce more games in the classic style. Hopefully using Christian Whitehead’s Retro Engine and with the same love the team put into Sonic Mania.

Where to Buy

Sonic Mania  (PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC)

Sonic Mania Plus  (PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)

Sonic Forces (PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC)

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[sugirandom]

365 days of writing: day 196

Day 196: ghost children

           My best bro came over a little late yesterday but not as late as he did Tuesday. We mostly talked before dinner and I treated us to a pizza. (some Chrono Cross spoilers ahead) Then we played Chrono Cross and found an area of the abandoned station that had ghost children versions of Crono, Marle, and Lucca from Chrono Trigger. The ghost children accuse Serge of being the reason that this “world ended up the way it did” and then we meet Miguel who explains that the ghost children are illusions of a future that was eliminated due to an event that happened 10 years ago. I’m a little confused as to what alternate future this is considering the main characters of Trigger didn’t fight Lavos in 2300 A.D. and that’s merely the place where they learned about Lavos’ existence and decided they would stop him before he caused the end of their planet. I’m not sure if they died before they were able to stop LAvos in this ‘eliminated future’ or not. I theorized that if that’s the case they are probably angry at Serge for that since they somehow came to know that he was the reason they weren’t able to carry out their plan to defeat Lavos. As far as I know, based on the ending cutscenes in the PSONE remake of Chrono Trigger they were successful in defeating Lavos in the canon timeline but that Guardia was conquered five years later. Perhaps they are envious of the other dimensions of themselves who were successful? IDK but I guess we’ll find out eventually.

           Anyway, we are at a point where we’re fighting this man who is the friend of Serge’s father. He and Serge’s father have been there for 14 years (unless Serge’s father is now dead, they didn’t make that part clear yet). We have to fight him if we want to fix the distortion done to that area and I don’t quite understand why yet but I assume the game will reveal why later. A lot of fans claim this man might be Crono but I see too many inconsistencies with timing and also with how this guy has darker skin, is right-handed (even though the theorist said he was left-handed?), and wears glasses. I actually told my best bro a theory that would make more sense is that he’s the son of Crono, the one who lived at least up until Guardia was conquered. I have no idea if this theory holds any truth but we’ll see as we get further in the game I guess.

             This morning I tried to catch up on some of my YouTube queue but I still have a bit to watch before I’m caught up since it’s Friday and that’s usually a busy day for people to upload videos. The BGE guys came to update our electric and thankfully they were a lot faster than the guys who set it up so they were in and out in 45 minutes, I also set up plans to meet Lara in person and we’ll be meeting for dinner at an Asian Bistro that’s about half way between both of our homes. I’m a little nervous since I haven’t met her in person yet but we’ve been talking longer than I had been with Natasha before I met her so I think I’m a little less nervous than I was during that date. I also have a little more faith that Lara won’t end up being the same way she was but I’ll try to keep a clear head and not get my hopes up too high, especially since I have no idea if she considers this meeting a friend or dating. We haven’t really talked about dating yet so I assume we’re starting out as friends for now. I think have a new friend is good too so I won’t be disappointed either way.

           Anyway, after lunch Poppy and I went to the bank to update my main credit card to my new name and it went smoothly. Now we’re back home for a few hours until Poppy takes me to meet up with Lara. Though I think Aunt Christel is planning to show up at the house and hang out with Poppy while I’m at dinner. I don’t really know if she’s going to spend the night here or if Poppy will go down her way and the fact that I can’t know ahead of time pisses me off as usual but oh well. I do know regardless Poppy has plans with her tomorrow and it involves going out of state so I’ll probably have to make dinner by myself again tomorrow. Hopefully this time they sent us the ingredients for the right recipes so I don’t have to improvise again.

I also got my new Testosterone medicine and it will be weird getting a dose daily but I’m hoping it will help me feel a little more balanced mood-wise. I’m going to end the entry here and watch some Dragon Ball and maybe try to finish off that queue or make as much progress as I can at least. If I don’t today I can probably empty it out tomorrow. It really all depends on how much time things take and also what we’re doing tonight I guess.