#they wrote the soundtrack of the apocalypse

[lovesgoneinsane]

the constant references to the apocalypse/end of the world in sm(f)s <3

[penna-nomen]

Music Monday on whatever today is

I've lost all track of what day of the week it is! Thanks for the tag @a-noble-dragon!

Rules: Choose a few fics you wrote that were inspired by a song - not just with song lyrics in title - and share the tune and the link to the fics. If anyone wants to guess which goes with which go for it in comments or tags!

This made me laugh, because a big part of my Caffrey Conversation series is the idea that the Caffrey family is obsessed with music. Many of the stories were inspired by multiple songs, which are featured in the story either as being sung or as chapter titles or both.

For instance:

Caffrey Conversation, set in December 2003. Songs: Meet Me in St. Louis, Little Drummer Boy, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, The Alphabet Song (yes, as in A B C D...) -- I had a lot of fun with loopy Neal

Caffrey Choirboy, set in December 2003. Songs: Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming, Various songs by Coldplay and Muse, Young at Heart

In the Driver's Seat, set in December 2003. Songs: Dream a Little Dream of Me, Stormy Weather, O Holy Night, Respect

By the Book, set at the end of 2003 & start of 2004. Songs: BBC's Pride & Prejudice soundtrack, My Sacrifice, The Reason, My Own Worst Enemy, My Immortal, With a Little Help From My Friends, Candle in the Wind

Caffrey Flashback, set in February - March 2004. Songs: Me Against the World, Broken, Young at Heart, Let it Be, Roads Untraveled (not released in 2004 but inspirational for the funeral scene), Nobody Knows the Trouble, The Waiting, Au Clair de la Lune, Coldplay's Trouble, Nothing Else Matters, Fix You, Yesterday, You're so Vain, Why Can't You Behave, You Are My Lucky Star, Wanted

Caffrey Disclosure, set in summer 2004, where one of the cases involves taking down a corrupt music executive by pretending to be up-and-coming rock stars. Songs: Liszt's La Campanella, Let Me Be Myself, Are You Happy Now, Firework (yeah, not released in 2004 but still inspirational for the 4th of July chapters), Carry on Wayward Son, Danny Boy, My Hero, Disappear, Runaway Train, Muse: Apocalypse Please & Time is Running Out, It's Hard to be Humble, I'm Too Sexy, Easier to Run, I Wanna Be a Cowboy, I Love a Rainy Night, Ave Maria, Help Me Rhonda, A Spoonful of Sugar, You've Got a Friend, Eye of the Tiger, Sailing, Fly Like an Eagle, Steve McQueen, I Am a Rock, Hanging by a Moment, I'll Be, Here I Go Again, Tomorrow, Someone Waits for You, Everybody Hurts, The Embassy Waltz

Caffrey Aloha, set in Dec 2004 - January 2005. Songs: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, If Only I Had a Brain, Let There Be Peace On Earth, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Silver Bells, Footloose, Sorcerer's Apprentice song from Disney's Fantasia

Lavender Dreams, set in summer 2006. Songs: Once Upon a Dream, Dream a Little Dream of Me, All I Have to Do is Dream, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, Day Dream Believer, Nessun Dorma, River of Dreams, Impossible Dream, Dream On, Purple Rain, Zing Went the Strings of My Heart, Lay Your Hands on Me, La Bamba

I could go on, but you get the idea...

And I'll tag @thesymphonytrue because I know you're into music, too. Open tag to anyone else who's tempted

[cherrylng]

MUSE X MOVIE [STYLE Series #004 - Muse (August 2010)]

A love story between a vampire and a human, the Twilight series is having a huge ripple effect! The key to this film, which triggered the explosion of Muse's popularity in the US, is the author's ‘love for Muse’. Text by Naoto Mori

"I'd like to thank the talented musicians who inspired me, especially Muse, from whose songs the sentiments, scenes, and synopsis of this novel were born. Without their extraordinary talent, this novel would not exist."

These are the words of Stephenie Meyer, the American author of the Twilight series, the international bestselling teen romance novels about vampire boys and human girls (from the acknowledgements to the second novel in the series, New Moon). She is an avowed fanatic of Muse and is now a cheerleader for the cultural quota. Originally a housewife in Arizona, when she suddenly wrote her debut novel at the age of 30, she was inspired by the dreams she had and the songs of Muse and other popular rock bands. Their music functioned as a literal ‘muse’ (Greek goddess of the arts). Meyer herself wrote in her acknowledgements for the final film in the series, Breaking Dawn:

"Thank you, my beloved band. Muse is really an appropriate name, as you have been an important inspiration for this saga!"

For example, in Japan, Chika Umino's manga Hachimitsu to Clover was based on two albums, Hachimitsu by Spitz and Clover by Suga Shikao, and Meyer seems to have drawn inspiration for the colour and atmosphere of her world from the songs of Muse. On her official website, she presents a ‘playlist’ of songs that have specifically inspired her. You have to go directly to the site for more details, but some excerpts include ‘Time is Running Out’ from the first film in the series. In the second film, there's ‘Hyper Music’ and ‘Apocalypse Please’. The third album, Eclipse, has six songs, including ‘The Small Print’, ‘New Born’ and ‘Hysteria’, and is particularly Muse-intensive! The final album includes a cover of ‘Can't Take My Eyes Off You’ (Frankie Valli's 1967 hit), which is not included on the album. Incidentally, other bands that stand out are Coldplay, Travis, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance…… and so on.

This playlist could be called an album of images of Twilight by the author Meyer, but Muse also participated in the soundtrack of the film adaptation series that started in 2008. The first film, Twilight, featured the song ‘Supermassive Black Hole’. At this point, Muse was still using pre-existing songs, but for the second film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Muse provided a ‘New Moon Remix’ of ‘I Belong to You’. For the third film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, they wrote a new song, ‘Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever)’, which became the first single from the soundtrack. Finally, Meyer and Muse had an official collaboration through the film!

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is directed by David Slade (a Brit, of course), who has been working on music clips for Muse for some time. He was chosen to direct the Twilight series, which shares a common motif with the Sam Raimi-produced vampire horror film 30 Days of Night, which was a No.1 hit in the US. The Muse-Meyer-Slade connection, then, is completely predestined. In this sense, the film version of Eclipse, which brought their creative meeting to fruition, may be called a monumental film.

Slade's clip for Bliss, shot long before his directorial debut, had the feel of a sci-fi short film starring Matthew Bellamy, but the Muse clips shot by other directors are also filled with a magnificent and fantastical sense of beauty. Muse's sound world must have a tremendous power to evoke images for creators of film and literature. For example, the clip for ‘New Born’ was also directed by Slade, and the song was used so memorably in the ending of the 2003 French splatter horror film ‘Haute Tension/High Tension’ that it was the talk of the town among film buffs at the time.

Now, it's time for a delusional analysis. Why is Meyer so firmly attracted to Muse? What is the connection between Twilight, their music, and their creations?

The following quote from Meyer may help to decipher this. In an interview published on the official website of the Japanese edition of Twilight by Village Books, she was asked, "Do you read other vampire novels?" She replied: "No, I've actually never read any vampire novels. (It's the same) with films."

Yes, Twilight can be categorised as a gothic horror genre, but it is not a heavyweight, authentic one. It is based on a Romeo and Juliet-type boy-meets-girl story, to which the vampire legend has been introduced as a sweet European taste. The ideal balance of romantic and gothic flavours is the sound world created by Muse in Meyer's mind.

In line with the Twilight story, Meyer is the American ‘normal girl’ heroine Bella and Muse is the ‘ideal prince’ Edward from a foreign country (England). Their music and characters (mainly Matthew) provide the ‘eternal maidens’, symbolised by Meyer, with a kind of royal shoujo manga fantasy, just as Queen did in the 1970s.

One last little tidbit, by the way. Here's an interesting remark from Robert Pattinson, the pretty boy actor who plays Edward in the film. He wants Gus Van Sant, the director behind ‘My Own Private Idaho’ and ‘Elephant’, to direct the final film, ‘Breaking Dawn’. Sullen!!! Well, the style of the series so far will be too artistic to stand out, but it's likely to produce a standout masterpiece. I'd love to see it!

In the first film, ‘Twilight’, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is played during a baseball game between vampire Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, and his family. Vampires, who never age, fly up and down the mountain.

For the second film, ‘New Moon/Twilight Saga’, Muse provided the ‘New Moon Mix’ of ‘I Belong to You’. Unfortunately, it is only used in the film for a short time, when Bella is seen off by her father and gets into the car, so check it out carefully!

At the suggestion of director Catherine Hardwicke, Ms Stephenie Meyer, the author of the original novel, also makes a cameo appearance in Twilight! She plays a customer at the diner where Bella goes with her father and orders a vegetarian sandwich. She is only in the film for a brief moment, so check it out!

The original series of four books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, which sold explosively. Acknowledgements by Stephenie Meyer can be found here. The original Japanese translation is available from Village Books, translated by Ami Obara.

‘Lords of Dogtown’ Sony Pictures Entertainment

Directed and executive produced by Catherine Hardwicke, director of Twilight: First Love, this is the true story of the ‘Z-Boys’ who revolutionised skateboarding in the 1970s in Venice Beach, aka Dogtown, on the west coast of the USA. The film stars Emile Hirsch and also features the late Heath Ledger.

‘The Golden Compass’ Happinet

The first solo fantasy film from Chris Weitz, director of New Moon, tells the story of Lyra, a 12-year-old girl who, after the disappearance of her best friend and uncle, sets off on a journey with a compass that shows her the truth and her alter ego dæmon. Based on a fantasy novel by British children's author Philip Pullman.

‘Hard Candy’ Geneon Entertainment

In this first feature from David Slade (Eclipse), 32-year-old photographer Jeff brings home Haley, a 14-year-old girl he met on a dating website, only to have her punish him for it. This thriller was inspired by the Japanese ‘oyaji-hunting’. Slade's fresh sense of imagery is on full display.

‘30 Days Of Night’ Pony Canyon

Vampire action film directed by David Slade, which debuted at No. 1 in the US. The film depicts an epic battle between a group of vampires who attack a town where the sun doesn't rise for 30 days, and a young sheriff played by Josh Hartnett. Based on a comic book by Steve Niles (written) & John Templesmith (illustrated).

‘High Tension’ Asmik

An extremely brutal, bloody splatter movie from the director of French horror hopeful Alexandre Azizi comes HIGH TENSION. When a schoolgirl leaves the city to visit her best friend's family home, she sees a chainsaw-wielding killer slaughtering the family and stands up to save her best friend, but what follows has surprising consequences……

‘My Own Private Idaho’ Kadokawa Pictures

One of Gus Van Sant's best-known films, in which Mike, a narcoleptic played by the late River Phoenix, and Scott, a man of wealth played by Keanu Reeves, who both make a living as male prostitutes, embark on a journey in search of their identities. His latest film, Restless (2011), also stars Japan's Ryo Kase.

‘Hyper Music’ A simple piece of work, with dynamic camerawork capturing the aggressive performance scenes of the three musicians. I sigh at the power of how they disappear at full speed towards the end.

‘Feeling Good’ Taken on set at the same time as ‘Hyper Music’, which became both A-sides.The contrast between the monstrously distorted faces of the people and the performance amidst the dancing flower petals is typical of Slade.

‘Bliss’ A spectacular piece in which Chris and Dom watch Matthew fall through a hole in a huge structure, like a future space station, to nowhere. Truly a Muse!

‘New Born’ This is one of Slade's best efforts, made on a tight budget and in a tight time frame. Filmed in Prague, the scenes of the three performing under the control of the girl's psychic powers are powerful.

Translator's Notes: I never watched the movies but I have read all of the Twilight books. I was a teenager back then who voraciously read through any books just out of that need to get through the boring tedium of school. It was an okay-ish read for the first 3 books, up until I finally reached Breaking Dawn. And honestly? The last book would've been better off never having that subplot about Jacob and Esme. Even teenage Cherry read that whole subplot and went "WTF????" It was just that memorably messed up and I don't even know how the film cast even powered through that part of the story.

Also, I wasn't surprised by My Chemical Romance being part of Meyer's playlist. What I didn't expect was that Coldplay was included as well. So... I guess if Meyer had liked Coldplay far more, who she dedicated the books to and the story itself would've carried very, very different contexts and plots????

[iridescentnuances]

5 Movies I'd Show You

Thank you @psalacanthea for always tagging me in games even though I'm not very good at it lol

Okay so with this list, it's going to become pretty obvious that I am a huge weeb. I spent some time thinking about what non-Asian movies I could include. I almost came up with none because weeb foggy brain is foggy. But worst of all, it's really shameful that me, a Spaniard, couldn't come up with a single Spanish recommendation! I will duely reflect upon this tragedy.

So here we go, in no particular order:

One of my favourite musical films of all time, a gut-wrenching tragicomedy about a woman who desperately looks for true love in abusive men. Great acting, great comedic scenes, and when it's time to cry, oh boy does it make me cry. Used to hit too close to home. Can't wait to watch it again after some years.

Okay, when talking Wong Kar-wai, everyone always says how good In the Mood for Love is. I get it. But its sequel hit all the right buttons for me. A man obssessed with the past leaves a trail of emotional corpses. The past never was, as one would think, any better than the present. All that's left is picking up the pieces to try and make something out of the treacherous nostalgia of an unfulfilled romance.

From when I decided to watch each and every Cillian Murphy movie ever. If you liked Girl Interrupted or But I'm a Cheerleader, y'know, any movie about teenagers being committed somewhere, you'll probably like this one. Romance, memorable lines, great soundtrack and honestly, a worthwhile cute ending to dig oneself out of depression.

Hear me out. This movie, this fucking movie. It gets a bad rep for allegedly being too misogynistic and/or too feminist. I wrote my bachelor's thesis about this movie. Twenty-seven pages worth of paper just going on and on about it. I could talk for hours about the book, the adaptation, the authors, the script, eeeeeverything. If you haven't seen it yet in your life, you just have to. If you've already seen it, watch it again and open your mind to it. I won't say anything about it except GOD FORBID WOMEN DO ANYTHING. A very controversial academic opinion, I was told.

The nightmare version of a teenage flick. This one might be my favourite out of Gregg Araki's "Apocalypse Trilogy". If I'm not mistaken, it features all of Araki's tropes: reptilian aliens, problematic bisexuals, at least two pairs of twins, impending doom, and homoerotic longing. It's funny, it's queer, it's horny, it's violent, it's a total freak-out.

Anyone who sees this and wants to do it, consider yourselves tagged!

[carcrash429]

Get to Know Me

Tagged by @claraxbarton

List 3 ships I like: most of the ones with Clint lmao, let's go with Clint/Bucky for a common one and Clint/Sam for a less common one and then John Sheppard/Ronon Dex for a non-Marvel one XD

First ship ever: Steve/Bucky got me into fanfic in general I guess? First ship I wrote for was... Clint & Bucky, closely followed by Clint/Sam lmao

Last Song I heard: No idea but Canceling The Apocalypse from the Pacific Rim Soundtrack is playing in my head :)

Favorite Childhood Book: definitely something by Tamora Pierce, probably either Squire or Shatterglass

Currently Reading Now: well I've got a book rec'd by @wyxan sitting on my coffee table and also a friend started up a book club so I should be reading the book for that but actively I'm reading... nothing 🙃

Currently Watching: ALSO NOTHING lmao football season is almost over, I've been watching PWHL games when they're on, but mostly I'm writing or I'm playing Baldur's Gate with my partner :)

Currently Consuming: chocolate cherry wine

Currently Craving: dark chocolate nonpareils

no-pressure tags for @wyxan, @safelycapricious, @noxnthea and @im-95-not-dead

[astralartefact]

Placeholder Name for Atarase's Media Diary

Entry 003 - NieR Reincarnation <<Prev: Dragon's Dogma 2

Synopsis

Living in the shadow of its predecessors a [g___] grapples with the fact that it was born shouldering the burden of Reincarnation.

And don't forget, Mother is watching. Don't. fuck it up.

gambling that whatever they announce next week makes parts of this post irrelevant

How much did I know before playing?

I played it since the JP launch despite not understanding a single word and I've played every DrakeNieR Adjacent thing in existence except for DoD2 (no interest, sry) and... NieR Automata which I refuse to play at this point - but I guess that just means you can't complain that I haven't played DoD2 lol.

Did I like it more than I expected?

I did in fact not expect the Gacha game to turn out the best NieR game but here we are.

Since I liked it, here's what I hated about it

Despite its (to me) clear intention to present a diverse and not particularly "objectified" cast it still has a visible bias towards a certain group of characters - by which i of course mean the waifus, because those make more money. But it means that certain characters never get the 'worthless' free event units while some only get them - snd I mean, just look at Priyet who has 3 less costumes than Yurie who came out months after her.

Also, the story was clearly supposed to be longer, especially with 10H's more-than-swift in- and ex-troduction, but tbh I didn't particularly mind it? 'Cutting it short' didn't ruin anything even though it could have taken the game a bit longer to end - but I wouldn't have said no to a Purple Season 3 Chapter either.

Also also, 'Tis evident that this ludus has maybe one singular mention of our Lord and Saviour YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse (henceforth referred to as Y:DA) - and even that one mention is marvelously vague. Father, are you ashamed of your best work? Is it because it doesn't qualify as its own game? Please, I beg of you to acknowledge the existence of the Crime & Punishment fanfiction sequel you wrote in a MMORPG cross-over! Do it for meeee!

What did this game make me think about?

Reincarnation is a Cage.

Specific Impressions that will stick with me

Honestly? A lot, so this is very non exhaustive.

The Art, both 2D and 3D, especially the very limited usage of color.

The Story and how exactly it was written. Every single line in this game pulls at the same rope and that's impressive for a game that's basically a very, very complicatedly put together Collection of Vignettes written from more than 5 people.

How thought through this game's structure is - how and when what kind of story was introduced/unlocked, stuff like that. I even thought "the grind" wasn't pointless okay, sue me but it makes the pay-off from the ex stories feel better.

Sarafa and Priyet

Outstanding Audio

The entire soundtrack, as always the crew at MONACA is beyond mere mortals - and honestly, Shotaro Seo deserves more credit for his NieR work!!! (also he's cute but that's besides the point)

Here are some fave picks:

Inori, Kizuna & the S3 Main Theme

Kusabi (i love seo's voice i think its so funny that they just used him as the male voice)

Mizukagami

Madan & the S3 Battle Themes

The Return of Normandy

The Mourning Mother Theme, All Versions (if this one doesn't come back in one of the next games i swear to mother)

The Final Boss Theme

Favorite Character

this is so hard why would Past!Me make me choos- Sarafa.

also mama, dark mama and papa and fio and levania and saryu and yudil and priyet and yuzuki and hina and argo (bc he's an idiot) and akeha and frenlise (still not sure why that's the only name they changed) and- all of them, i love all of them, some more than others but all of them except for the carrier, fuck the carrier also anogg y:da should be on this list

Favorite Arc/Story Line

Sun/Moon Story

Favorite Set Piece

The S3 Cage is so fcking gorgeous, around every corner another compositional marvel, they went above and beyond.

Favorite Scene

Priyet's Hidden Stories

The Library

Mourning Mother

Best Performance (I played with JP voices)

Yumi Hara as Mama.

--- ENTERING THE PRETENTIOUS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY --- reminder that the pretentious section is called that way for a reason, don't take it too seriously

What about this game gives me Hope for the future of gaming?

I guess the death of the Common Gacha is somewhat imminent if even Square Enix is giving up on it. A shame that what's left in its wake (the Gacha with "Gameplay Value") is so much more worrisome than shitty jpg dispensers ever could be.

And I don't know, I guess I'm just excited for Yoko Taro's next big hit because he has yet to really miss. Sadly this game won't set any industry standards in the ways I would like it to :/

What about this game makes me scared for the future of gaming?

The Internet has figured out that complaining about things that everybody agrees is bad is fun - and that's nothing new. What's new is that they have at this point seen enough video essays to make their incessant complaining sound like "Criticism."

The problem I have with that is that these surface level "Criticisms" taint the stage, so to speak. Everyone is constantly mad at the mere mention of Microtransactions or of Gacha Games (except, of course, if it's one of the popular ones) and it makes it so that "not critizising" Gacha Games for even just existing in the first place makes you "uncritical."

Can you tell by my usage of Quotation Marks that I do not like the word Criticism anymore?

And I wish that my only stake with this is that I think this shit is annoying as fuck. That I think it sucks that every person having something, anything genuine to say about this game feels the need to state how they know Gacha games are bad because Capitalism sucks - a so surface level fact I would genuinely struggle to believe anyone who would agree with that hasn't already caught on to it yet.

But no - that's where our public interrogation of this type of media starts and ends, because god forbid we have a more nuanced opinion about this shit than "Gacha Bad".

Instead of talking about anything below the surface, good or bad, be it the artistic merits of this game I really like or the actually deeply fucked up evolution on the Gacha Formula the Industry is going through to make their practices more palatable despite being so much worse and deeply ingrained into everything else - resulting in an ecosystem that's so much more dangerous than anything Square Enix could ever hope to come up with.

Instead of talking about any of that I get to hear people act high and mighty about how smart and brave they are for voicing an opinion everybody shares with them.

Meanwhile Hoyoverse has made it cool to just take whatever game is currently popular and turn it into an industrial-grade FOMO machine printing object women of the week and money and everybody unironically endorses it, creates endless amounts of free publicity through fan-art & co, feeding into this FOMO cycle that's already exacerbated by games solely built to drive you to FOMO through all of its built-in game design mechanisms - all so you gamble your money away for your own enjoyment - but that's 'better', actually, 'because it has good gameplay.'

[This is where I cut a lengthy section about how Japanese Idols and Gacha Games are both selling the same things. It was very informative and you are disappointed you're missing out on this quality content.]

Because clearly, the problem with Gacha Games has all this time been that Gacha Games have boring gameplay and not that they do everything in their power to addict people into spending money on parasocial relationships to people (mostly women) that don't even exist, all to impress themselves and their friends.

and also you guys it looks kind of silly when you say 'good riddance, you cheap cash-grab' to a game that a) clearly wasn't that cheap and b) clearly didn't grab that much cash

The Ramble Section where I get to actually talk about what I thought about

[This is where I cut a lengthy section about my complicated feelings towards Video Game Archiving and how Lore is a blight. It was very informative and you are disappointed you're missing out on this quality content.]

So a couple days ago Yoko Taro met up with the Stellar Blade guy and the only thing I can think about is... well...

Was 2B a mistake?

I mean, it's kind of a sign of how good he is at analyzing the topic at hand so take that as you will, but the fact is that Yoko Taro set out to create the most objectifiable women he could think of - and he was so good at it she has become what is probably the most objectified female character of our time.

And yet, despite knowing that that's not really a good thing - because clearly he did all of that for a reason and Reincarnation didn't really do all that despite being a Gacha - he continues to just... enable people (and by people I do mean Men) to keep doing these kinds of disgusting behaviours to an entire gender, fictional or not. Things that Automata at least to some degree criticizes through 9S (like there's a reason he's the final boss you guys)

And I guess it just feels shitty to see Yoko Taro publicly give this game his stamp of approval when the entire existential premise for Stellar Blade seems to be that clip of Yoko Taro saying "I just really like girls"; a shitty quote that 100% has caused women some societal harm he has yet to r3pent for because Gamers took it and ran - and now we have another game with a big tits SciFi Woman for Men to objectify and I'm pretty sure this one won't have the underlying subtext of "maybe objectifying women is not all that great you guys"

But then there's stuff like putting a shallow husk of 2B - and they somehow also always feature the butt out version too, isn't that interesting - into any game that will take her - which is pretty much every game that is physically able to because thanks to her standing for nothing but ass woman in the popular conscious everyone wants a piece of that free money from horny gamers.

And I guess I have to legally state that that's fine or else the horny fun police is taking me in, but with how he's treating this character outside of the game it feels like it does such a disservice to the points he makes in his games (plural bc of dod3) and that fucking sucks because clearly the world isn't ready to move on from 2B so she'll be around, and with her a symbol that actually, it's fine to objectify your female characters - full stop because nobody but us few cares about the things he's criticizing through subtext.

And it sucks that to SquareEnix her stupid ass (like literally just her ass) is going to overshadow anything Reincarnation has ever done, all the interesting points it makes about societal agency and human relationships and gender and consent and family - because I wouldn't be surprised if NieR 4 manages to barely acknowledge Reincarnation's existence at all while still churning out YoRHa DLC - I mean just look at how they treat Drakengard, which for its 20th anniversary got... an entire tweet.

Like. They didn't even play Reincarnation Music at the NieR Concert!!! Not even Inori!!! It's been three years, why was there no Reincarnation Music at the fucking NieR concert??? I guess we'll just hear Grandma and Kainé and Weight of the World Remixes forever because squeenix mandated that everything that's not the big 2 games can only be referenced in vague subtext (and listen, I love how NieR treats Drakengard Lore, I will be severly disappointed if he ever actually explains any of it - it just hurts my soul that Kuroi Hana has never been performed live) (also y:da's final boss theme should have been a kuroi hana arrangement and not kainé but i guess licensing is a bitch so there's that)

But I mean it is kind of funny that NieR Reincarnation is in a Reincarnation Cage of its own. It's living in the shadow of its predecessors, grappling with the fact that it was born shouldering the burden of Reincarnation. Another Yoko Taro story whose story is about itself. (can i interest you in a german review i wrote where i explain which other yoko taro story also does that) (it's y:da, it's always y:da)

I guess all I can say is that you're clowning about Women, Yoko Taro, and I really hate that. Do Better, as they say. I wish you would publicly talk about literally anything else at this point, especially since you made a good point and then ruined it by not just simply shutting up about it like you do about anything else you do. (remember the ff14 live stream where he proceeded to not answer a single question about y:da? iconic behavior and absolutely the right choice)

And you have so many other good points to make that you could talk about instead! ...then again I swear to mother if Kamierabi really is about how Abortions are bad I will abort you, we have a perfectly capable successor in Yuki Wada right there. (btw praise be Yuki Wada, the true hero of this story, living his dream with his two nier ocs hina and yuzuki)

[memorableconcerts]

Nick Cave The Bad Seeds - "From Her To Eternity" - Live 1989

Live 1988

Nicholas Edward Cave AO FRSL (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.

Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art in Melbourne before fronting the Birthday Party, one of the city's leading post-punk bands, in the late 1970s. In 1980 they evolved towards a darker and more challenging sound that helped inspire gothic rock, and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world". Cave became recognised for his confrontational performances, his shock of black hair and pale, emaciated look. The band broke up soon after moving to Berlin in 1982, and Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds the year after, later described as one of rock's "most redoubtable, enduring" bands. Much of their early material is set in a mythic American Deep South, drawing on spirituals and Delta blues, while Cave's preoccupation with Old Testament notions of good versus evil culminated in what has been called his signature song, "The Mercy Seat" (1988), and in his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). In 1988, he appeared in Ghosts... of the Civil Dead, an Australian prison film which he both co-wrote and scored.

The 1990s saw Cave move between São Paulo and England, and find inspiration in the New Testament. He went on to achieve mainstream success with quieter, piano-driven ballads, notably the Kylie Minogue duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1996), and "Into My Arms" (1997). Turning increasingly to film in the 2000s, Cave wrote the Australian Western The Proposition (2005), also composing its soundtrack with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pair's film score credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Road (2009) and Lawless (2012). Their garage rock side project Grinderman has released two albums since 2006. In 2009, he released his second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, and starred in the semi-fictional "day in the life" film 20,000 Days on Earth (2014). His more recent musical work features ambient and electronic elements, as well as increasingly abstract lyrics, informed in part by grief over his son Arthur's 2015 death, which is explored in the documentary One More Time with Feeling (2016) and the Bad Seeds' 17th and latest album, Ghosteen (2019).

Cave maintains The Red Hand Files, a newsletter he uses to respond to questions from fans. He has collaborated with the likes of Shane MacGowan and ex-partner PJ Harvey, and his songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Cash ("The Mercy Seat"), Metallica ("Loverman") and Snoop Dogg ("Red Right Hand"). He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007, and named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017.

Live 1988

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1984–present)

The band with Cave as their leader and frontman has released seventeen studio albums. Pitchfork Media calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography. Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequently histrionic theatrics. Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey wrote: "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk."

Reviewing 2008's Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! album, NME used the phrase "gothic psycho-sexual apocalypse" to describe the "menace" present in the lyrics of the title track.[23] Their most recent work, Ghosteen, was released in October 2019.

In mid-August 2013, Cave was a 'First Longlist' finalist for the 9th Coopers AMP, alongside artists such as Kevin Mitchell and the Drones. The Australian music prize is worth A$30,000. The prize ultimately went to Big Scary. In a September 2013 interview, Cave explained that he returned to using a typewriter for songwriting after his experience with the Nocturama album, as he "could walk in on a bad day and hit 'delete' and that was the end of it". Cave believes that he lost valuable work due to a "bad day".

Live 1986

[eskawrites]

3, 12, 15, 20, then 27-30! If that’s not too many!

it's never too many! <3

3) What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

it's really so hard to choose between Raise Dead and the celebrity fake dating au buuuuut i think Raise Dead. just because so early on, like possibly before i started writing fic and when i was just lurking on ao3 without an account lmao, i had this thought like 'wouldn't it be so cool if someone could pull off integrating dnd into a fic the way the duffer brothers do.' and then like two months later i had the idea to do that, and it was so intimidating that i wrote the outline and a couple of snippets and then immediately abandoned it. but eventually it worked out, and i'm really proud of the flashbacks and the characterization and just...writing grief overall was a very hard but gratifying experience. anyway i'll shut up about it now but i really truly am proud of it

12) How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

technicallyyyy if we're going by documents only, then 6, one of which is the ronance winter/christmas fic that idk if i'll finish in time for the holidays lmao. but that's also counting all of the thriving in the apocalypse ideas as one doc, and all of the raise dead series ideas as one doc. if we're going individual pieces then, like...30ish?

15) What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

i mean hopefully most of them but if we're talking, like, one i'm most excited about i gotta say robin's coming out scene in thriving in the apocalypse (it is coming, i am excited for it, one day i'll finish it...eventually)

20 is answered!

27) What do you listen to while writing?

so i have a writing playlist that's like...instrumentals and game soundtracks and stuff that i've had since college and traditionally i listen to that. but also sometimes i want to fit the mood so i'll listen to like...specific lofi or dark instrumentals or whatever (throwback to the time i spent half an hour trying to find a good 'nyc in the snow' lofi playlist to write for the celebrity fake dating au. that was not a productive day.)

that said! for some reason my brain finally said 'hey you can write while listening to music with lyrics' this year and like 90% of the celebrity fake dating au was written to a specific playlist i made that's like novo amor, lowswimmer, some phoebe bridgers and maya hawke, you get the vibe

28) Favorite work you wrote this year?

welllll it has to be the this story that we found ourselves in, doesn't it? celebrity fake dating au my beloved. it truly took over my life for a good 4 months. i think between my actual writing job and my freelance writing job and that fic i was writing like an average of 12 hours a day which is insane but i never lost steam with it the way i thought i would. there's so much that happens in that story (y'all just wait) and it was so much fun trying to explore a different yet not totally different side to the characters. i adore it so much

and 29 and 30 are already answered! thank you! <3

[primewritessmut]

3, 27, and 29 for ao3 wrapped? thanks for your services in 2023 prime i’m super excited for what you’re cooking in 2024

Hiiiii! Thank you for reading my work (which I assume you do) and begin excited for more things. It's still unreal to me that people read what I write so ❤️❤️

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Definitely Songs for the Zombie Apocalypse. There were so many goals I had behind that work outside of whatever the plot turned out to be and to have it finished and to love the way it turned out is just... it's good.

I fully understand why it is (probably) my least read Spideypool work and I know that people are going to be pissed about the ending but it's exactly what I set out to write at the beginning of the year and I'm so so proud of it.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

Oh my god. It is a joke/known truth within my writing circle that I am not a musically motivated neurodivergent. I honestly tend to write in silence (my brain is loud enough, thank you very much) but, when I do listen because there are other, more annoying noises, competing, it's usually something like medieval lofi or white noise.

It can't be songs that I know or recognize (so not orchestral versions of childhood favorites or 90s lofi or the soundtrack of The Nutcracker) otherwise my brain will get snagged on the song and not the writing.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

To be honest, I have no idea. I write so much (like too much really) that there's no way for me to remember a particular line or passage that stood out to me. I really should have a side doc to dump in the things I'm really proud of, but then that would get hugely long and unwieldy and, I don't know. I'm usually most enamored by whatever I've written that day because I, of course, think I'm witty and hilarious.

So instead, I'm just going to share some passages I wrote today since... yeah, those are currently my favorite, I guess.

His hands are free, mostly because he’s in a fucking library and doesn’t anticipate having to fight off any irate librarians. There’s no way they could know about how big his late fee is at the Regina Public Library. Right? (Chapter 29 of A Particular Set of Skills)

Usually, he’s so careful about what he says, threading the smallest of needles with his words and using them to sew the world into the shape he wants. But he hadn’t meant to say that. (Chapter 5 of He Speaks Daggers)

The man leans back and gives Mobius a smile, all teeth and charm. He’s always thought there was an implied threat to bite hidden inside that smile, but also the promise that you might just like it. (Lokius AU WIP)

[ladylightning]

I think the reason that never happened is most likely more down to the fact that Who Wants to Live Forever is one of the main theme songs for Highlander and was specifically written for it. Anyone working on Supernatural would have been very familiar with its use in both the long-running Highlander film and television series, especially since both shows are in a similar genre.

So it might have been difficult to consider using it in another show because of how strongly it is associated with the Highlander franchise. Kind of in the same way Carry On Wayward Son is strongly associated with Supernatural and would feel out of place in another show to people familiar with that series. The main difference is that Kansas's song existed long before the Supernatural franchise, while Queen wrote both Who Wants to Live Forever and Princes of the Universe for the Highlander soundtrack.

very true and very correct! there are probably a ton of behind the scenes reasons why there was no Queen in the show even beyond the highlander connection (for that song) and limited budget. arguably they could have weaved a (messy) highlander reference into s5 for the “there can only be one” big bad lucifer/michael apocalypse showdown to set up a use of “who wants to live forever” that makes sense, but i digress. i’m just surprised there aren’t many edits/amvs that use that song!

to that end i wish we got a full blown highlander-themed episode of supernatural as well!

[biglisbonnews]

Joanie Channels Nihilistic Eroticism on 'Neurotica' London-based indie-pop artist Joanie just released her debut EP Neurotica via Permanent Creeps Records. A cult-favorite in the London live-scene, supporting alternative rock acts like Black Lips and The Moonlandingz, Joanie infuses the grit and punk ethos of sweaty basement rock into her glittery, glamorous orb. Jessica Winter, UK-based artist and producer, lays down stabbing, ominous synths that layer the four-track project with a spell-binding, dystopian edge.Joanie's lead track "Schadenfreude" shines as the apex of the project, its wicked and rapturous composition tottering between disco decadence and haunting apocalypse. "'Schadenfreude' interrogates the sickness of the modern age," Joanie tells PAPER​, "where the downfall of celebrated women is entertainment." The sickly sweet delivery of the impossibly grim is tantamount to Joanie's magic. "Kerosene," with its luxurious music video directed by Ash K Halliburton, takes on the melodramatic world of the iconic '70s film Pink Narcissus. The intoxicating result captures the "intoxication, obsession and escapism" of the homoerotic oldie.From camp anthems to nihilistic eroticism, Joanie's overt interest in first-world hedonism creates thematic anchors in the project, using pop culture as kitschy, ironic breadcrumbs for contemplation. Her biting commentary, satirical edge and catchy lyricism push the strobe-lit dance songs and glossy production into exciting territory. Read on for Joanie's track-by-track breakdown of her psychological and deliciously cheeky EP Neurotica below."Schadenfreude"Margaret Atwood said, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” In its crudest terms, "Schadenfreude" is concerned with the conundrum of patriarchal obsession that women are to be fucked or destroyed for fear they may become too powerful. This track interrogates the sickness of the modern age, where the downfall of celebrated women is entertainment, and I wanted to open up a conversation about that. Within the song, I reference fantastic women who society deemed crazy. It’s a pattern that keeps repeating from Marilyn to Britney."Kerosene"I wrote the lyrics to this song during a really transformative period of my life. I was working through a lot of neuroses — hence, the EP title Neurotica. Channeling those heavy emotions through upbeat disco sounds was a way of reclaiming the power of those feelings, whilst forcing me not to take myself too seriously."Your Kind Of Freak""Your Kind of Freak” is a camp anthem that celebrates the othered beauties in society. It is a celebration song of empowerment, joy and acceptance. Conformity is often celebrated as beauty — lip injections, leggings and Ugg boots. Walking through Soho, I see my kind of beauty, I see my kind of freak. I adore the strippers and the beautiful creatures who dare to live in their authenticity, dancing beyond claustrophobic norms. The throbbing disco beats in this song offer up a soundtrack to accompany the euphoric war cry that is living in one’s own truth."Casino"Casinos are strangely enticing, straddling the nihilistic eroticism that exists between glamour and tragedy. For me, the casino can be a metaphor for any tempting mistress who promises the world but strips you of it — an unavailable lover, a self-delusion, an addiction, a fantasy. The monotonous throwing of the dice and the clinking of the slot machine are echoed in the relentless driving bass.Photography by Deelo Arizona https://www.papermag.com/joanie-neurotica-2659565163.html

[flyinghumpbackwhales]

Spooky Szn part 6 & 7 & 8

It’s halloween! I like halloween, I like jack-o’-lanterns, orange is my favorite color, fall is my favorite season and skellies are surpsingly fun. Did you know there’s a nearby skelly next to you? 

 Without further ado let’s get it on!

Ghost Trick: The Phantom Detective in my opinion is the greatest fiction ever written till this day by human kind. Please play it or watch this silent playthrough like I did; I want you to experience Ghost Trick, you need to FEEL what this game has to offer you, from music to story. It’s a fantastic journey and I loved it. 

Zombies Ate My Neighbors I had this one in my mind ever since I wrote about the Wizard of Oz game. Banger soundtrack.  A Twin stick shooter with lots of personality. Another one that I had in my childhood and never got to finish due to how difficult it is.

The game is surprisingly scary at some points even when most parts of the game it’s goofy as well.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse The Shin Megami Tensei series are in my opinion the ultimate halloween games. Pure folklore till the bones. You get myths, tales, legends from a LOT of cultures throghout centuries of human kind telling. Not every folklore made into the game though. There’s a bunch of Brazillian folklore there’s still not present, even in the latest installments of the series. It’s okay, one day it’ll come. Oh this one is a JRPG.

The story is fun and the music is fantastic. It’s so fun fusing demons I lost track how many hours I spent. Love it.

And that’s it folks! I hope someone ends up trying any of these I posted today or the ones I posted other days as well. Chances are slim and hope is the last one to die. Have a good one and thanks for reading. Have an amazing week.

[arg-machine]

machine HQ November 2022 playlist

The November 2022 machine HQ playlist is now online, folks! While listening to albums he either streamed from an online platform or played from his old-school music collection, arg selected a couple of tracks from each and included them in this latest playlist… just like he always does.

And all this music provided an exciting and stimulating background score for the other stuff arg does. Over the last month, he revealed more characters/3D models from the gradually-expanding Marvinverse, wrote about some of the books he’s been reading over the last few months and listed a few of the comics he’s enjoyed…

The jams… And here it is – a new playlist with over half-a-day of music to listen to! As with all previous machine HQ playlists, it, too, features music from a diverse range of genres. You can find hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. As usual, you can get a taste of it above, or listen to the entire playlist here.

Well, that’s it for this quick-and-short post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [on twitter and on tumblr], and stay tuned to machine HQ blog…

[candiliam328]

So um… pianist Five, huh?

Hey, @kakakuroo? Remember that playlist? The one with the classical pieces I think Five should play?

Um, I made it... 

and um, it’s about 40 minutes long (sorry). Highkey, it was originally longer, but then, I decided to focus on pieces that I think would resonate with our current Five as the pianist playing them.

But... oops I made myself sad.

Note: I said “our current” Five and yes, that means our post-season 2 Five.

(….. interestingly enough, I do have a few pieces in mind for pre-apocalypse, actually 13-year-old Five and some pieces for apocalypse Five....)

These aren’t even pieces that I think would actually play in the context of the show (yes, I have pieces for that too), but really, just pieces that I think Five would vibe with *as the pianist playing them.*

Now, a warning: I’m about to go on a whole thing about why I think this is the case, so if you don’t want to be bothered with me blabbing in depth about music and unnecessarily projecting onto a fictional character, don’t click keep reading…..  

OK, HERE WE GO

(Special shoutout goes to @disco-tea​ for letting me ramble about this with her for literal weeks)

Full disclaimer: I am NOT a music major nor do I claim to be super knowledgeable in music theory. This is just my personal take and experience and LOL I’m just a (barely) pianist with enough knowledge of music theory and composers to shitpost about them occasionally and apparently a lot of emotions about pianist!five (lol).

So, yeah, UM ANY ACTUAL MUSICIANS PLEASE DISREGARD THIS ENTIRE POST OMG – I’M ASHAMED.

ANYWAY --

Most of the pieces I included are by Chopin.

Bit of background: Frederic Chopin was a Polish composer of the Romantic era and a virtuosic pianist. At the core of his artistic process was improvisation and his pieces are known for their lyrical quality. The way his pieces are written allows for a lot of interpretation from the pianist performing the pieces.

But what do we mean by interpretation?

… oof um, where do I even start…

Okay, so each musician and in fact, each performance of a musician has a different interpretation, a different feeling if you will. There’s a certain level of flexibility in how you perform any piece and there’s a fine line each performer has to walk between being respectful to the source material and adding your own kind of flavor.

But what does that sound like? For pianists in particular, we’ll play around with articulation, phrasing, dynamics, pedaling, and (most importantly for this post) rubato.

Chopin pieces tend to be played with a lot of rubato.

Now, what’s that? Well, to be honest with you, in my head, rubato has always been a fancy term for “messing around with the rhythm of the piece.” There are some pieces for which you absolutely cannot do this (like a march, where you need to keep constant time), but remember, Chopin was a fan of improvisation, so he always had a “go with the flow” kind of thing going.

Rubato means you can stretch some beats and speed through others – it allows you to build suspense and breathe some life into your piece. That way, it’s not boring for the audience and it gets you invested as the pianist. 

Speaking from experience, some pieces require you to be vulnerable as the pianist playing them. These pieces that utilize tons of rubato? They practically demand it. You have to pour a little bit of yourself into them and allow yourself to feel the piece and get in your head a little to do justice to the notes the composer wrote. Inherently, each time you play the piece, your performance will be different and will sound different. You know the journey the piece is going to take you on, but not even you know exactly how your piece is going to sound -- it’s all about how you feel in the moment.

(And yeah, that’s why all the videos in the playlist show you the actual pianist playing the pieces -- sorry, I tried to find versions that had the least amount of coughing and clapping, but… live performances *shrugs*. It’s important for the sake of this (long-ass) analysis that you realize there is an actual person behind the music, feeling the notes and sharing themselves with you through the music.)

Now, I’m here to tell you that it can be incredibly therapeutic to play these pieces alone. For no one else. Just you and the piano. You can be feeling all these emotions and you can pour them into these gorgeous pieces and you can hear the emotions as well. Yeah, and remember that fine line I talked about for interpretation? That’s out the window. You’re just playing for you. You can stretch out this measure for as long as you want or you can rush through this run as much as you feel. You are completely free to manipulate this piece to how you feel in that moment and just play your feelings out. And it’s amazing.

 ...

And yup, all that brings us to our favorite time-traveling assassin.

Post-season 2 Five... um… he’s had a rough few days to say the least.

He was so close to getting his siblings safe back in their timeline, but he just… can’t… seem… to… do… it… right.

He’s been on edge for so long now that he seems kind of... weary?

What was it the old man said?

“I’m too tired.”

Anyway, there’s… emotions. He’s got a lot of them.

But he’s shit at being able to express himself non-violently, especially when the emotion isn’t anger. (and whenever he has tried to be vulnerable, it hasn't necessarily ended well...)

He needs another outlet. One that forces him to be vulnerable and honest with himself.

Enter: The piano. And these beautiful pieces with tons of room for rubato and self-expression.

(Let the man feel his feelings and play his heart out gdi.)

Now, if all I cared about was room for rubato, I could have chosen from a billion other pieces. So why would Five vibe with these ones in particular?

Well, I’m not going to use any musical terminology, because that’s not what matters here. I’m talking about the journey the pieces take you on as a pianist and as a listener. Give it a real close listen. 

None of these pieces feel like they’ve “arrived.” 

None of them feel “grounded” or “settled.” 

They’re all kind of wandering… yearning for something possibly beyond their reach. 

(Perhaps a desire to relive the past. Perhaps an unattainable dream.)

So, yeah, if I had to name the vibe, I would call it “longing”… but maybe with a twinge of “resignation.”

For 45 years, Five was wandering about in the apocalypse, longing to return home. His primary motivator became to return to his family and to go home. To keep them safe. Maybe even settle down.

And this hasn’t changed for the entirety of the series.

…

But what can he even call his home now?

And will he ever be able to rest?

[lorazx]

Shin Megami Tensei V Broke My Heart

(hey! this is an old post i wrote on my medium!)

(This post contains spoilers for Shin Megami Tensei V)

Shin Megami Tensei V was supposed to be my game if the year.

Atlus’ newest numbered entry into the cult classic Shin Megami Tensei series was announced in 2017, and from the first showing of SMTIV:A’s version of Odin in all his vaguely Kamen Rider-esque glory rendered in Unreal 4 made me feel a level of excitement I hadn’t felt for a game in years.

I was ready to tell all my friends about it, to finally have a new game in this series to recommend to friends and strangers who may have been turned off by one of the previous entries or the various spin-offs (especially the Persona series post-3, with it’s long and slow openings before the true action began). It was coming off the heels of an internet that was getting tired of Pokemon, and no other developers were putting out this sort of “Befriending various creatures to take out a great evil” game in the triple A space. It was perfectly timed.

Every year without it was torture. In between the reveal and its release Atlus put out five games under the greater Shin Megami Tensei banner; a remake of the semi-mainline game Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey for the 3DS and four Persona games. Each new entry reminded me how much I wanted V.

But eventually it was released on November 12th, 2021; two days after my birthday. I was ecstatic. A new Shin Megami Tensei game? On my birthday? It was the perfect gift.

I played all of it down to almost every sidequest. It took 70 hours of tough battles and grinding. I picked my ending, and the credits rolled.The weight of what I had played washed over me.

I hated it.

There are positives, the combat is the standard fare; which means that it’s amazing, although while the essence system allowed for a wide breadth of customization; the specialization system left over from Apocalypse meant that the truly broken stuff (which means the truly fun stuff) was always just out of arms reach because your demon wasn’t “good at fire”. The soundtrack by Ryota Kozuka and Toshiki Konishi masterfully jumps from industrial to EDM to all manner of other genres so deftly that not even the random encounter theme got tiring after the copious amounts of battles you had to got through. It was beautiful, the Switch being pushed to its limits to make the world look appropriately post-apocalyptic and the demons as terrifying, epic or adorable as they possibly could.

But the graphical intensity also made the game run poorly, attacks that would kill multiple enemies would cause the game to freeze or chug for full seconds, or would make enemies or buildings pop in front of you while moving around the overworld.

Said overworld, for all it’s aesthetic brilliance, is a massive pain to move around in with the Nahobino sliding around like they’re on ice. The whole game my Switch felt like it was going to explode, or simply melt into goo if I played for more than twenty minutes. They had to patch a dungeon.

But the biggest disappointment for me was the writing. Shin Megami Tensei V aims to balance the “vibe” based open ended and thematic storytelling of the oft-memed Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, while also maintaining the character driven plot of that defined Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (or the Persona series, if you haven’t play IV:A). But while striving for both they failed to achieve either. There’s too much of the characters and “plot” for it to completely rest of vibes and suggestions but the characters and plot is so all threadbare and all over the place that there is nothing to latch on to.The game jumps from a “save your friends at school” to “actually go help the Japanese gods become the ruler of the world” to “Choose your ending” with such little variation that the beginning and the endings might as well not even exist.

Yuzuru, the game’s “Chaos” rep, is a cardboard cut out, who goes from “polite and friendly” to “polite and friendly and only a little upset” if you don’t side with him. His sister appears once at the beginning, then disappears with new demon and other wasted character Konshu to be part of a late game sidequest. Sahori and Tao both die in the aforementioned “save the school” plot with Sahori never coming back, and Tao returning as another character who only appears at the end, then leaves if you pick the one ending she doesn’t like. Aogami, who is this games attempt at IV:A’s Dagda, has a major plot point of trying to rediscover who is he is. You are told by the president of Bethel midway through the game to no fanfare or drama. Aogami isn’t even there. This wasted potential goes on for every major character, sans Dazai, who might be the most interesting take on a Law protagonist in the entire series though it isn’t worth much when he’s surrounded by nothing.

The choices the series is so well known for had basically no effect on the overall plot, there was no pushback for suddenly changing from one alignment to the other at the final choice. Hell, the fact that the ultimate decision of your ending was one choice in the final dungeon almost felt like an insult. It could’ve been so much more, but it wasn’t.

I thought I was dreaming. The game was getting good reviews! And was selling well! It was what I wanted! Why didn’t I like it?

I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it for three whole months and I still can’t figure it out. Maybe I had built up too many expectations on in my head that no game could deliver. Maybe the people at Atlus ran out of time, leaving a lot of the plot unfinished just to get it out. Maybe they will release an updated version in a few years. Maybe after years and years of playing games, both from this series and others in the same genre, I have finally stopped wanting to play JRPG’s and have gotten so used to their cliche’s that I can’t find them fun anymore.

I hope that last part isn’t true. I want to be able to get just as excited for any game as I did for this so many years ago, and I hope that no matter how long I wait, the games that come out of it are worth it. And I still hope for more Shin Megami Tensei in the future just entries that are better than this, because I know it can be better.(hey! you can also read this on my medium!

[snooziangel]

somethin i wrote last night while half awake and listening to genshin’s soundtrack (it’s my god au btw 🕺 i finally wrote something for it)

A forest sat overgrown and comfortable, tall and old. It’s trees were there for centuries, and it’s dirt for even longer. The grass was tall and thick yet soft to touch. Nature had taken its place, and had everything to show for it. Including covering the long dirt path that led into the forest, to a small temple which had long been forgotten. The building was practically falling apart, the stone pillars covered in vines, window glass shattered, and holy statue dusting day after day.

The holy statue depicted someone with a large staff, fluffy hair merging into a long braid, big flowing clothes, and an unfortunate past. Yet, they had a sad smile etched on their face. It had been decades since this temple had been taken care of- as well as all the other temples for this deity. The Wind deity had been forgotten by mortals and writen down as a storybook character.

Years ago, a war raged upon the gods, causing an apocalypse for their humans. A now caring and guilty god once ruthless and murderous. They fought as their immortality could be stripped of them, from those they helped bless their mortal’s world with. It left gruesome stories and anguish from the god. Yet, they knew they bestowed this upon themselves.

They watch over their temples by themselves, and drift on the winds of the world. Careless and forgotten, this wind god- named Kaidou Shun- sat with the warm rays from the sun on his body. The field he laid in concealing him, and leaving only air and sun to find him. Eyes shut and breath even. Asleep.

Kaidou knows he won’t be found in this field, so he doesn’t worry, and one nap won’t take up too much time. The wind stays southbound as he sleeps. Yet, there’s a surprising visitor at a temple of his, and he can feel the moment someone enters his temple in a reverent manner.

Once asleep, Kaidou sits up with great speed, now fully awake and wind blowing harshfully southwest. His eyes are opened wide, thoughts blowing through his mind, and before he comes up with a solid thought, he’s already in his temple. He sits on a stone balcony in the upper of the temple, invisible, and very intrigued.

The man in his temple is tall with dark purple hair, he wears glasses, and a standard warriors uniform for one of the human’s militaries. Kaidou briefly ponders what he truly needed to want to come to the infamous wind god. Before he can finish his own thought, he hears the most beautiful voice. Silk-like and deep, comforting and masculine. It makes Kaidou flush a tinge of pink.