#this is going to be a next playthrough goal now

[citizen-of-the-fandom]

so I made the funniest error in baldur's gate 3. my playstyle is very much "loot everything not nailed to the floor" and "left alt is my friend" and "if there's blank spots on the map I haven't played the game correctly" which means:

I'm constantly struggling with inventory

I discovered that if you extract alchemical ingredients they weigh less, regardless of if you're actually crafting potions with them

there's an 'extract all' button

I have so many sublimates of autumncrocus, you guys. feather fall for days.

I've gotten through almost all of Act 1, leveled my party to level 7, and when I interact with shopkeepers they sell like tier 3 alchemy ingredients

INSTEAD OF the tier 1

So! When I get to the Underdark and want to lay autumncrocus on the dog's grave, I can't, because I have literally looted every single autumncrocus on the entire map, extracted it, and I'm too high level to buy more!

[arolesbianism]

Starting a new oni save that's not a rime colony for the first time in forever and I am in agony how do y'all live like this (shaking and crying as it is forced to enter a mildly warm area for drekos)

[citrlet]

meet sydney wilder, gen 1 of my new gameplay~

i'm kicking off a new playthrough of the whimsy legacy expanded by @lysiablr , starting at gen 3 just to spice things up!

very long overview and premise of this gens details under the cut if you wanna know what's goin on

premise

Sometimes life brings you a little bundle of joy in the shape of an accident. As soon as you're of age - after whirlwind teenage years of partying, skipping classes, and turning in homework late - you become a mixologist at the local bar.  You are a clumsy Sim who fears the sound of commitment, but loves to have a good time. You enjoy dating new and exciting Sims, but you never, ever commit to anything too serious.  You love your job, and you love that you don’t have to show up for anyone. Period. If you don’t have to show up for anyone, then you can’t disappoint them, right? One morning, after a rough night of partying and a whole lot of bubble blowing and juice, you wake up feeling... off. There's something that just isn't right, and you just can't shake it. You’re tired, you’re feeling ill, and food sounds absolutely revolting.  ... It can't be. But it is. One pregnancy test later, and sure enough, the lines clearly fade into view. You're about to be a parent. After the initial wave of fear, you regain your senses, heart filling with warmth at the idea of no longer being alone. While having children was hardly the first thing on your mind, you can’t say you'd totally ruled out having a few later in life. Turns out later is right now.  But... who is the parent? All at once, you recall the night before, and realize that there are three different possibilities. The catch is, you won’t know the answer for sure until the baby is here. Is that too late? Will you confront your partner when you find out, jump in with them and co-parent, lie and tell a different partner the child is theirs, or will you go it alone?

starting info

Aspiration(s): Serial Romantic [Base Game] Traits:  Clumsy [Base Game] Party Animal [High School Years] Non-Committal [Base Game] Bonus Traits / Lifestyles: Compassionate (For Richer) [Parenthood] Incredibly Friendly (For Richer) [Outdoor Retreat] Uncontrolled Emotions (Or for Poorer) [Parenthood] Beguiling (Or for Poorer) [Base Game] Focused Skills:  Dancing [Get Together] Mixology [Base Game] Juice Fizzing [Eco Lifestyle]

events

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) Have your Sim romance at least three different Sims at once, enough to be able to woohoo / try for baby with each. Be careful of jealousy! No getting married or entering into any kind of committed relationships.

Voulez-Vous During the first half of your young adulthood, complete the 'try for baby' interaction with three different Sims in one night. Do not test for pregnancy at all; wait until the next couple of days and see if your Sim experiences any symptoms of pregnancy. If not, do it all over again. If your Sim cannot get pregnant, first check all three partners for pregnancy; if none are pregnant, try again OR randomly select one of your partners to have a science baby with three to seven days after the one-night stand, as if a baby was dropped off at their doorstep by an unknown partner.

When All is Said and Done Choose whether to parent the child alone, confront the correct partner, or approach a different partner to claim that the child was theirs. In the event you choose to confront or approach a partner (regardless of whether they are the correct one), start an argument with them and then play out the scenario from there.

goals

Always have a bright / fun hair color. Change it up frequently!

Have a hobby making juice / nectar.

Name the child after an alcoholic beverage.

Start a fight with who you think is the co-parent or who you have chosen to be the co-parent, then decide to make up or split up based on the reactions.

Obtain as many milestones as possible for your infant.

Live life normally from there, with or without a partner - new or old.

Master the Dancing / Mixology / Juice Fizzing skills.

Complete the Serial Romantic aspiration.

Complete the Mixologist career.

[ddwcaph-game]

Ask Guidelines Update

Now that I've cleared my ask backlog from the latest update, I've added the following to the FAQ:

To ensure a better response time from me, PLEASE LIMIT CHARACTER-RELATED ASKS TO 2 CHARACTERS. I might include other characters to my answer if I feel like it, but this will help me a lot in lightening my mental load when it comes to unanswered asks. I figure this is much better than restricting those kinds of asks entirely. I hope you understand!

Again, please keep in mind that I have trouble answering "favorite" asks in general unless it's something I've already established. It's not something I enjoy answering, and it'd be much easier for me to answer if a character would like something, rather than asking what their favorites are.

What's in the Next Update?

Anyway, before I decide how I'm going forward with Chapter 6, I’m also planning a smaller update later:

Extra ancestry flavor text

New NP option to ask Julie/Robert to pick you up even if your MC isn’t short

An entirely new discoverable secret for Tito Nestor that can help you with your sidequest

[T-Rex Tooth Replica] Souvenir will now give extra Max NP on successful Intimidation checks

Certain customization choices in the prologue are no longer considered NP choices.

A super special surprise!

The majority also seem in favor of the new Alternate Musical Scenes, so I might include that in the next update as well.

I'm also considering on reworking the [Five-Year-Old MC's Wish] Sidequests and change it to some sort of "bucket list" instead, so it's less restrictive to certain playstyles. Instead of specific objectives, you need to complete an X amount of goals (from a list of objectives based on your traits that you can do repeatedly), and you will gain additional EXP and NP for every milestone you achieve.

For example, MCs with the [Sweet Tooth] Trait will have "Eat sweets or desserts" as one of their goals. If you have a very high Manipulative stat, increasing/decreasing your Manipulative stat might also be one of your goals depending on your other traits.

I know it's hard to do with a mostly linear narrative, but I'm trying to add more emergent gameplay/mechanics to the story, so that you always feel like you're progressing towards something, and so that different playthroughs feel more unique to each other.

Bug Fixes

On another note, I just fixed a bunch of bugs (I fixed the first two secretly earlier):

Fixed certain clubs displaying incorrectly in the About Me section.

Fixed a bug in JM Sr.'s diary entry when a certain secret has been discovered.

Separated relative height choice in the prologue and moved to Chapter 2 to fix a bug with Dwarf/Halfling/Gnome/Goblin MCs being able to pick the [Tall-Blooded] Trait.

Minor edits/typo correction.

Roselyna is now approximately 2% more huggable!

[redguns]

Armored Core 6 main cast thoughts. spoilers for all endings

btw. categorizing endings by number rather than if they're "good" or bad" because i think thats stupid. if you categorize them like that you're a fool! Coral take you!

Starting off with Handler Walter. Went into the game not trusting him at all. Whenever he said anything I always thought "Yeah, okay, whatever Walter. in that kind of mocking tone but that changed quicker than i thought once i realized there was a genuine care in his voice and started putting the pieces together for his end-goal. The second ending is genuinely heartbreaking. He really meant every word he said to you. And I adore him for it. View him like a father now

Moving on, Ayre. My beautiful coral anomaly wife.. her kinder and more supportive demeanor immediately sold me, of course, but it was her efforts to actually get me to care about Rubicon as a planet and it's people that really hit. It's special. It's tasteful. It feels great. And it hurts all the more in the first ending when I have to discard all of that. It sucked so much. I was on the verge of tears throughout the whole final boss of the first ending. Worst break-up of my life. Girl I love you so much

Up next, speaking of love, is "Cinder" Carla, who I fell in love with like, 2 lines in? Very attractive voice and then an incredible personality to go with it. Probably the most fun character in the game by design and it goes a long way. She's like a role model to me. I want to be her and I want to date her at the same time. She's just like me Fr. I want to kiss her

transitioning from that to V.IV- SIKE IT'S "CHATTY" STICK TIME Phenomenal. Absolutely incredible performance. Absolutely sells the no emotion AI aspect without being too overbearing. Armored core as a series has always had a high standard for AI characters, and chatty is absolutely at the top of the pile for me along with Chief from V... I love him so much... The strongest little soldier...

Up next, for real now, is V.IV Rusty. What a strong first impression. It was always his line that stuck with me from the trailer. Ready to climb over the wall? They nailed the "rival pilot who's just like you but in another faction" to a degree I haven't seen in decades. A genuine brother in arms. My best buddy in the world. Every time he showed up in the game he just did the coolest fucking thing in the world. Slides right under the door as its opening. Crackshot sniper nailing insane headshots. And then he gets the coolest fights in the game against you. BOTH OF THEM!! HE'S SO COOL!!! HE'S HIM!!!!!! I WAS SO HAPPY IN THE SECOND ENDING ROUTE TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE HIM!!!! THATS MY BROTHER!!!!!! THATS MY BUDDY!!!!!!!!!

..Ahem, moving on then. V.II Snail. Yes. Another motherfucker they nailed perfectly. From the first SECOND you hear his voice you hate him. The fact his head's up his own ass. The fact you keep learning over and over throughout the game that he's SUCH a piece of shit. The fact there is nothing he wouldn't do to stay on top. Despicable little man. Absolutely brilliant antagonist.

And now, finally, the last main character to talk about is G5 Iguazu. Where to begin with this guy... Right from the get go you understand the kind of character he is. All bark, no bite. Every now and then you run into him, you kick his ass, he whines and seemingly gets away. It's interesting, then, that in the second playthrough, already, he shows up more. He sends an assassin after you. And that's that. Nothing until route 3, where it all finally comes together. How he keeps coming back. The ringing in his ears. His hatred and envy of you so strong he gives up his entire body just for a chance to beat you. He's fascinating to me. For whatever reason, his final words stick to me like glue. How he sees you, despite everything. A relic, yes, but one who's free. He wanted those wings, too. I've really come to love him, and what an annoying brat he is. That's his entire charm. He is welcome to the pantheon of Real Haters

there. that covers all the main players. that ended up being longer than i expected. thank you if you humored reading through all of that! i dont usually do these kinds of posts cause i go on for too long!

but this shit mean something to me man

[awakened-dreamers-blog]

Soulslikes, just like any genre of media, obviously aren't for everyone. However, they often seem to resonate with trans people in particular (or, at least, they did for me), and I've figured out what one of the bigger psychological reasons for that may be.

If I asked a bunch of different people what one word they most associate with the genre, most of them would probably answer something to the tune of "persistence." These are games about throwing yourself at seemingly insurmountable obstacles and failing. A lot. Until, eventually, you succeed. And you will succeed, no matter what, as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort and just don't give up.

Every time you try to get past a boss or a tough group fight in those games, you learn something. You get experience. Even if you don't actively realize it at the time, you are closer to achieving your goal, simply because you tried and failed. But at least you tried. And, when you eventually put all of your accumulated knowledge and skill into beating the fight, what once seemed like an insurmountable obstacle is vanquished, rewarding you with a nice [noun] [verb]ed screen, some levels, and maybe a weapon or something.

So you persisted, even though it seemed insurmountable at first? Isn't that the definition of insanity? Well yes, because you'd have to be insane to actually enjoy those games, but also no.

Because soulslikes bosses are a very practical example that perseverance can work.

Sure, you'll die a bunch. Maybe even spend 4 hours on a single boss like I did when I killed the first Tree Sentinel without doing anything else. But the first few times you die, you'll notice that the boss's health bar is a little hit more empty than it was the first time. After that, you'll probably plateau as you work out the moveset and the dodge timings and all that, but at least you know it's possible. And once you do beat that first boss, that rush of dopamine is even more confirmation for your brain that trying (and failing along the way) does eventually lead to success. So at the next obstacle, you're lore than willing to throw yourself at it and learn and grow until you win because you've already seen that it will work and that it's not fruitless. And, when you come back to that boss on subsequent playthroughs, I bet it'll be a lot easier now that you've already overcome it

Now, to bring this back to trans people, you can probably already see where I'm going with this. If you can't, allow me to explain with the metaphor that led me to this realization in the first place: voice feminization training.

At first, it seems impossible. You'll never sound as cool or as pretty or girly or whatever as the people that have already mastered their girl voice and been using it for years. But those are the speedrunners. The people that have already mastered the game's mechanics and can no-hit bosses faster than you can beat them normally. But you aren't an expert on the game yet. In fact, you've just started, so you shouldn't fee bad about not being as good as they are. If anything, all it should do is serve to prove that your goals are attainable, as long as you put in the effort.

So you try. You're never gonna get it your first try, unless you have a really good build and crazy skill, which, if you do, then good on you, I guess. But for the vast majority of us, you're going to fail at first. That's fine. Resurrect at the nearest bonfire, grab your runes, and keep on saying "heat from fire, fire from heat."

Yes, it's uncomfortable and dysphoric, and yeah, maybe you need to take a break and come back the next day because it's too uncomfortable to have to pay so much attention to the voice you've been avoiding for years. But simply in the act of trying, you've gotten closer to your goal. Literally just by playing with your voice and seeing what happens if you x or y, you have gained experience and knowledge that will get you closer and closer to your goal. It'll probably take a while, of course, but as long as you keep trying, the voice you dream of someday having will eventually end up being the voice you use to order coffee and chit chat and mundane crap like that.

Eventually, you'll be the one no hitting social encounters with your relaxed and flawless girl voice. It'll be so commonplace for you that it won't even seem notable that you didn't slip up at all.

Anyway, all of this to say that trans people like soulslikes because they show us that working towards a goal is the most important step in achieving that goal. They teach us that failure is just a step in the path of learning and that anyone is capable of doing things that seem impossible to them, as long as they try.

Father Gascoigne will never be put to rest if you don't get curb stomped by him a few times, and, I'm sorry to say, you won't ever wake up with the feminine voice of your dreams. You have to work for it. And you'll fail along the way, which is unpleasant and sucks major ass. But you beat everything Miyazaki could throw at you, goddammit, and you can beat your larynx into submission too!

[starseedgames]

Difficulty Options

Hymn to the Earless God has about 8 days left on Kickstarter and is about halfway to the funding goal. If we hit our numbers, it'll probably be just barely, so now seems like a weird time to talk about stretch goals, but I wanted to hit on difficulty options.

From the outset, we really wanted to include difficulty options. Even if we don't hit the stretch goals, we're going to try really hard to include them--they're basically the last thing on the chopping block.

We broke the game's difficulty into three broad categories: Maggot, Fly, and Spider Modes. In practice, there will be multiple difficulty sliders that affect different things: monster stats, battle rewards, allowing you to use the same mercenaries across characters, etc.

To me, though, the most exciting aspect is that monster behavior is also adjustable. For instance, let's look at the humble Mana Leech.

In the demo, the Mana Leech will drain your MP on attack. On the next turn, they'll run away, taking your precious MP with them (unless you kill them, which will give the stolen MP back to whoever got the kill). This would be the normal, or Fly mode, difficulty.

If you're wanting a more laid back playthrough, Maggot Mode makes it to where the Mana Leech takes one additional turn prior to running, giving you more time to get your MP back. On Spider Mode, however…

Mana Leeches don't run--they explode! They use your MP to self-destruct, causing major damage to the party and making them much more of a priority to take care of.

This is just a small example--every monster has three different behavior sets planned, so we really want to get this difficulty system in. If you haven't pledged anything to the Kickstarter, please do so, and let as many people know about it as you can!

[bladeweaver-if]

Devlog (01/02/24) Plus an Announcement

2k words written today, same as yesterday roughly. February's off to a pretty good start! I want to be writing basically every other day (ideally that would be every day but I have other responsibilities, sadly 😝) which would help me get very close to my goal of getting around 30-40k done this month, not counting days where I go insane and write way too much, of course haha.

Chapter 2, in total, is around 75-80k words long right now. When split in two to account for each mentor's path, adding the parts that don't branch, that would make it around 50k on a playthrough, including code. I want this chapter to roughly be around 100-120k words long?

For context, the total wordcount of the entire game right now is 124,000 words.

So, yeah. Lots to do! I'm thinking that most of the chapters afterwards will be a similar length to this one, especially the next, Chapter 3. Lots of stuff happening there, lol.

That leads in to my next topic:

Bladeweaver as a book. I've had this story planned down in two distinct 'parts' for a while, and it makes sense to me to split those parts into two different games. I feel that it'd be just too long to fit everything into one package.

To that end, I'm going to tentatively say that Bladeweaver is going to be a duology! I'll begin work on the second book once this one is almost done, though once book 1 is released I'll be focusing mainly on a different unannounced project while working on book 2 on the side. That project will be smaller in scope, so I'm aiming to have it done quick so I can then ramp up book 2 writing after that.

It's a cool world and premise that I'm excited to show off one day, but I won't say anything about it now. I feel it's a trap for IF authors to have too many projects being worked on at once 😅

Both books are being written at the same time, though I'm only actively working on, and coding, book 1.

That's all for now, bye!

[jake-marshall]

[Fic] Burn That Map

Okay, I don't have much to say here that hasn't already been said before, so I will try to keep this concise. "Burn That Map" is a fic that is part-me-thumbing-my-nose-at-Cecil's-pre-marriage-event-and-trying-to-do-his-character-justice but mostly, it's me having found a catharsis following the circumstances of my life over the past few months. Some of you know what's going on, and some of you don't, and I'm not going to share here, but needless to say, I found safety and release in the sandbox that is this fic that I actually started two years ago during my first playthrough of RF5. I should note that this is a gen fic. While Alice/Reinhard makes an appearance in the background of this fic (enough that I'll eventually tag for it, once Alice and Reiny show up), the 3 main characters in this (Cecil, Martin, and Terry) are not paired off with anyone nor are there any (intentional) hints at ships for any of them. I love shipping as much as the next person, esp in RF + HM/SoS, but a big reason for me writing this was because of wanting to focus on dynamics that weren't romantic/sexual. And while I do write my fair share of gen, I wanted to point it out here in particular because this is a fairly long (est. 30k ) story and I know not everyone is willing to invest in a story that long with no romance at the center. And that's okay! The next two updates are planned for June 19th and July 4th/5th. But here is the summary, and Chapter 1, in it's 5k super-brotherly-angst glory!

On the anniversary of the day Cecil last saw his parents, he's determined to mark the somber occasion by being there for Martin in whatever way his brother needs.

But Martin's completely forgotten about it, and what's more, doesn't seem to particularly care when Cecil points it out. The ensuing argument results in revelations that turn Cecil's world on its head and leave him wondering if there's anyone in Rigbarth who he can put his faith in... or who is willing to put any faith in him.

Faced with a now uncertain future, Cecil is forced to consider what it means not only to forgive others, but to ask for forgiveness from those he's hurt as well, and to evaluate what his goals and motivations in life truly are.

>>Read Ch. 1 of "Burn That Map" on ao3!<<

[jarkonian]

Idk I’ve got a migraine and a bone to pick rn. I used to be a big proponent of “roll with the punches” when it comes to how a game can change depending on your actions, but after Baldurs Gate 3….. gotta say I’m not so sure anymore.

Spoilers, I guess, but… Last Light Inn? My first playthrough, Isobel got kidnapped and everyone died. And it just sucked.

And I don’t mean that the feeling I got sucked, that parts fine. I mean the game just got less good because I let that stick.

Narratively, it wasn’t really treated like the massive “low point” it should be. Next to nothing acknowledges it outside Jeheira and like one dialogue option.

In game, not much changed either. There was a big fight and my main memory of it was carefully knocking out Damon (to no avail, of course).

And in exchange for that? My main goal of Act I was rendered pointless. I didn’t get to see the adorable interactions between Isobel and Aylin. And now I’m constantly seeing gifs of interactions with the other tieflings in Act III that were just erased for me.

So many details and interactions wiped off the map cuz I trusted the game to provide something more interesting in their place. I guess making me mad enough to rant about it after finishing the game should count for something, but I’m only mad because it wasn’t clear to me how objectively hollow “rolling with this punch” would be.

Idk. On me for not reloading I guess, but I feel like for a crucial moment like that one, if you’re going to be just flatly removing parts of the game because of one battle, then there should be some kind of interesting new stuff added to even that out.

As it stands if Isobel is knocked out the game becomes notably less interesting in numerous ways, and doesn’t do a good job of making it feel like anything else

[swimmingtrunks]

Baldur's Gate 3 progress report:

I'm in Act 3 with Durge. Lost my grasp on her character a bit in Act 2, and then accidentally locked her out of all origin character romances. So now I'm trying to find fun in having this playthrough go a little off the rails and exploring choices I probably won't be inclined to make on a more "canon" run. Still not really interested in a full on "evil" run, but definitely making some questionable choices here. A heel turn, if only a weak one.

The romance mess:

She was indulging in benefits with Astarion but after that pivotal conversation decided to be there for him as a friend instead.

I feel like Lae'zel woulda been a good route for this run but she didn't want sloppy seconds after the tiefling party I guess? (Also didn't let her ask until after the creche so that's maybe more the problem.)

By the time Wyll took her up on the dance she had other things cooking, and to be honest he didn't really click for me as a character until Act 3. That pout tho :(((

Pretty sure I want to do a Gale romance with my Tav so I swore him off for now. Gale romance as a treat. Look I KNOW I have a TYPE I have a THIRST for NERD CHARACTERS who spackle EGO and BAD HUMOR over their INSECURITIES like NO ONE WILL NOTICE I NOTICE

Wasn't ready to commit to a Karlach romance after the second engine upgrade and didn't wanna hurt her so skipped that lil' exclamation point and the whole thing fizzled.

I thought Shadowheart was still a possibility but nope! Not sure why!

I'm not sure if I haven't invested enough time in Minthara or if I missed the hop-on point there too. Or if glitched because I did the workaround to recruit her

Luckily Daddy Druid is around and horny, so Durge has an outlet for her less dark urges. Because why not.

The heel turn:

After abstaining from tadpoles for the first two acts, Durge flipped and took the astral tadpole, then started snackin' on the ones she tucked away earlier. She's not pushing them on anyone else who objects, but Minthara was jazzed and Gale was curious so who was she to deprive them of cool powers and a gross complexion.

Oddly enough, I had given her heterochromia at some point to turn the eye with the scarring around it white, and it did NOT get the astral worm treatment. She's got quite the look going on now.

The small grip I have on Durge's motivations is that after the paternity reveal she's feeling like bucking authority and throwing some vindictive middle fingers. Not sure where that will lead with the Emperor/ main quest but I do have a feeling Durge will be indulging the misguided goals of her [power] hungry guys.

Other thoughts:

Astarion is an EXTREMELY good character and all around well written and acted. I do wonder if there would be more affection for other characters if their animations were anywhere near as lively as his. He SHOULD be more dramatic than the rest, but idk. I feel like the others have a few good moments sprinkled in (SH fingerguns, Lae'zel describing turning into a mindflayer, Gale's needle miming, etc) but mostly end up... just standing there. Even Karlach, who's idle animations are the least idle things ever.

When I found some in-world text referencing a miniature giant space hamster, I thought it was a Mass Effect reference, not the other way around. I am on the precipice of meeting Minsc and Boo and I am excited.

Pretty sure I'm having a similar banter bug to DAI. Act 1 had tons of banter, but even then I'd have issues where I couldn't actually hear one of the characters, only read what they were saying. In Act 2 there was like NOTHING, and Act 3 has been sparse with the same issue as Act 1. Made Act 2 feel kinda stagnant to me, really hoping it doesn't happen in my next playthrough.

[commentaryvorg]

The Great Ace Attorney Final Trial Commentary: Day 3, Part 1

This is an ongoing mini-commentary covering the final trial of The Great Ace Attorney (Resolve) in line-by-line detail. It’s written from a perspective of already knowing the full truth of things, so there will be spoilers for facts that only get revealed later on in the trial. This is not a commentary to read along with one’s first playthrough!

(The commentary will update on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Check this blog to find any other parts currently posted, and if it’s not yet finished, follow to catch future updates!)

Now that we’re below the readmore, I can add that this isn’t quite a commentary for everything going on in the final trial. It’s focused specifically on Kazuma and what’s going on in his head, only covering things which are relevant to him in some way (for the most part). I already had a lot to say about him in a big analysis post over on my main blog – but I have even more to say about him during the trial in even more detail, so here we are!

Time for the final day of the trial!

Van Zieks:  “On what grounds is Kazuma Asogi permitted to continue in his role as prosecutor? He has admitted to colluding with the victim in a plot to assassinate an innocent man. He shouldn’t be enjoying the privilege of freedom, let alone be leading the prosecution.”

Of course it’s van Zieks who points this out, when nobody else was going to bring it up.

(Kazuma should be in prison right now for a lot more than just this, but we can’t have that, grumble.)

Kazuma:  “I submitted a written petition to Lord Stronghart… requesting that judgement of my transgressions be delayed by one day.” Van Zieks:  “You did what?”

This is probably highly irregular and not something that someone would usually be able to get away with. But Stronghart wants van Zieks convicted and figures Kazuma’s the best person to have do that… and Kazuma is so, so desperate to get to do this.

Kazuma:  “In today’s proceedings… I intend to expose everything. My whole life for the last ten years… has all been leading up to this one day!” Ryunosuke:  “Kazuma…”

Hnnnngh, Kazuma. The outcome of this trial is everything to him, everything he’s been working so hard for, for so long. And now he’s trapped himself in a situation where he has to finish it all today, or else he might never get another chance.

I enjoy Ryunosuke reacting to this, at getting a sense of just how huge this is for his best friend.

Kazuma:  “Whatever the outcome of this trial… I give my word that I will accept whatever punishment is deemed appropriate. However severe.”

Kazuma means this, too; I don’t think he was ever intending to escape repercussions for his actions forever. All the way back when he agreed to the assassination mission in Japan, and when he went with Gregson and threatened him – he probably did all this while fully expecting to face the consequences for it in the end. He just needs to be able to finish getting justice for his father first, before all that happens. Afterwards? It doesn’t matter what happens to him afterwards. So long as he can fulfil his mission, that’s the only thing that’s important.

The ”however severe” especially brings this home. Even if it was capital punishment, which might actually be on the table under the circumstances. He is and has always been determined to avenge his father at any cost, even if it’s literally the last thing he ever does.

Of course, it’s not like he didn’t also have other things he wanted to do with his life – he still did mean it about wanting to study in Britain to be able to improve Japan’s legal system. But all of that is minuscule next to his main goal. He would sacrifice anything for this. Anything.

(The game actually kinda drops the ball on what’s supposedly going to happen with Kazuma’s own trial after this main trial concludes. The writing sort of just forgets about it and doesn’t bring it up again? So I can only assume that the British legal system also kind of forgot about it, or at worst let Kazuma off with only a minor punishment. That certainly feels most fair to me, given that his only real crime was saying that he’d kill someone, which he was emotionally manipulated into in the first place, and that his own guilt over what he’s done is more than punishment enough already. It did rather bother me on my original playthrough, though, that there was this apparent nebulous future punishment for his transgressions hanging over Kazuma’s head, and the game acted like it kind of just didn’t care and didn’t want to push for him getting a reasonably happy ending… until suddenly his ending did come across as reasonably happy after all.)

Ryunosuke:  (Kazuma is bristling with hostility today. I get the distinct impression we’re heading into very dangerous territory.)

I dunno, Ryunosuke; while Kazuma might be even more hostile than usual today out of desperation, we were already deep in quite some territory regarding Kazuma’s twisted tunnel-visioning on van Zieks’s guilt.

Susato:  “Is that even really Kazuma-sama standing before us?”

Oh nooooo, Susato, my heart. Ryunosuke also said something similar during the intervening scene at Baker Street – that Kazuma’s no longer quite the friend he knew and that he’s changed. I really wish the game did more with this! Kazuma is still the person they both know and hasn’t actually changed; it’s just that he’s dealing with a hell of a lot more issues than either of them expected him to have. I wish the narrative had gone more into exploring this and having them realise in the end that he is still their friend, instead of, again, having things between them suddenly be okay again in the ending scene with no real transition.

(There would have been a perfect opportunity for such introspection and development regarding this if only Kazuma had been arrested for Gregson’s murder and Ryunosuke had had to defend him, just saying!!! Again, this is why I wrote my AU fic.)

Ryunosuke:  “The defence is ready, My Lord.” Kazuma:  “The prosecution is more than ready.”

Once again, Kazuma is more than ready. He didn’t say this on the second day of the trial, but today of all days, on which he plans to bring this to an end – on which he has to bring this to an end because he won’t get another chance – of course he’s more ready than he’s ever been.

Jigoku:  “Haah… So it was you who issued this, was it?” Kazuma:  “Your subpoena? …I did what was necessary.”

It’s interesting that the game highlights that it was Kazuma who issued Jigoku’s subpoena. Without that, Sholmes and Mikotoba wouldn’t have been able to bring Jigoku with them off the Grouse yesterday, and he’d have got away. They had the subpoena with them when they went after him, meaning Kazuma must have issued it shortly after the first trial day at the latest, just in case it became necessary.

This is in stark contrast to how Kazuma was on the second trial day, where he was absolutely convinced that Jigoku must have been killed, and it didn’t even seem to occur to him that the court could possibly want to hear testimony from Jigoku about what happened on the Grouse if he did happen to be alive. That is not a Kazuma that I would have imagined preparing a subpoena for Jigoku in advance at all.

I guess what this speaks to is partly a hint of that very small and buried part of Kazuma that isn’t actually sure if van Zieks is guilty and genuinely wants to give him a fair chance. But perhaps it’s also partly a sign of something else I’ve been meaning to bring up at some point – that Kazuma’s tunnel-visioning has been getting worse as this trial’s gone on.

See, I roasted him a lot for his terrible logic yesterday, but it actually wasn’t nearly as bad on day 1! There was that part near the beginning where Susato commended him for not trying to argue that the gun might have belonged to van Zieks – and yet, “this gun could have been van Zieks’s, and so that somehow proves it definitely was, which means he totally did it” is an argument pretty much on par with his day 2 arguments in terms of logic.

So it seems, perhaps, that Ryunosuke casting very valid doubt onto the Fresno Street crime scene on day 1 made Kazuma become more desperate. With less confidence in the actual evidence, he began pulling more and more from his own hatred and twisted justifications that van Zieks is the worst and must be the killer and the Reaper and everything bad, to the point that he ended up with logic as flawed as in yesterday’s session.

Jigoku:  “…but my decision is unrelated to this case. I can’t be bound to testify.” Stronghart:  “Unrelated, you say?” Kazuma:  “………”

Kazuma is again pointedly shown being silent, and I imagine what he’s thinking is similar to what he was probably thinking at the end of the trial yesterday. Jigoku’s actions on the Grouse totally are unrelated to this case, because van Zieks definitely killed Gregson at Fresno Street, and so bringing Jigoku onto the stand is just a dead end that’s going to do nothing but quickly put an end to Ryunosuke’s hypothetical version of events. Right?

Susato:  “It has ties to another murder. A case that was tried in Japan almost a year ago now.” Kazuma:  “A year ago in Japan… The murder of Dr John H. Wilson, you mean?”

Kazuma looks to be in thought for a moment here, as if he’s only just realising the connection Gregson’s assassination has to Wilson’s death.

Kazuma:  “What’s this all about? Why is my name on that list?”

Here, too, is an indication that Kazuma had no idea about this being an entire plot with multiple assassinations such that there’d need to be a list of four names and not just two.

Ryunosuke:  “K. Asogi and A. Shinn… are the names of assassins.” Kazuma:  “No…”

It seems like Kazuma was really hoping he could at least get through things without this assassination agreement also coming to light – but nope.

Ryunosuke:  “…were masterminded by a pair of individuals from each country as a form of assassin exchange! And the telegram the defence has acquired is proof of this international ‘contract’ to kill!” Kazuma:  “Wha… WHAT?!”

And again: Kazuma’s reaction to this is distinctly shocked. He did not have the slightest idea that the assassination he was involved in one of a pair – that back when he was furiously defending Ryunosuke from false charges in Japan last year, that crime was the counterpart to the very murder he’d been forced to agree to himself.

Kazuma:  “Judge Jigoku…? What’s this all about?!”

Kazuma’s pretty forceful in questioning Jigoku here. Obviously he already knew Jigoku wanted him to kill Gregson in England, that’s not a surprise – so this is about the other crime. He’s probably only just realising now that for the entirety of the trial for Wilson’s murder, Jigoku – who was the judge – knew who the real killer was and yet cheerfully tried to get Ryunosuke convicted as a scapegoat. Kazuma faced a lot of roadblocks back then to even be able to defend Ryunosuke in the first place, which he must have at least partially known were thanks to Jigoku; now he understands exactly why.

Meanwhile, Ryunosuke accuses Kazuma of having lied in court yesterday, because his mark wasn’t actually Jigoku but Gregson.

Kazuma:  “……… Very impressive, Ryunosuke. But actually, I didn’t lie.” Ryunosuke:  “…!” Kazuma:  “The name of the target I was ordered to kill never passed my lips yesterday. The idea that Seishiro Jigoku was the mark… came entirely from you!”

I like that we have this one moment of Kazuma getting to show off and draw attention to his incredible skill at hiding the truth without actually lying. He’s done it a lot more than just this once, but explicitly pointing out this one instance invites us to look for other times he’s done the same kind of thing!

He’s also smirking a little bit as he says this. Apparently he feels at least somewhat smug about his prowess in deception-without-lying, although he probably wouldn’t consciously think that.

Ryunosuke:  (You… deliberately avoided saying a name?)

Oh, Ryunosuke, there are so many more things that Kazuma has deliberately avoided saying than just that.

--- Testimony 1 ---

(The game’s chapter select calls this one “Testimony 3”, because it seems to want to treat this day and the previous trial day just one long extended day. Which is pretty silly, because it isn’t. We may have had much less of a proper investigation in between than usual, but it is still day 3 of the trial now! So anyway, I’m going to ignore the game and number these testimonies based on what number they are in this trial day. Add two to these if you want to match them up with what the game calls them.)

Susato:  “To use such a worthy practice as foreign study to coerce somebody to commit murder… It’s the most appalling thing I’ve ever heard!”

Usually-soft-spoken Susato is not pulling her punches! She is incredibly disgusted at her family friend for manipulating Kazuma into agreeing to be an assassin. The fact that she sees foreign study as such a “worthy practice” in itself probably stems from how Kazuma wanted so badly to study in Britain all along – and as far as Susato knew, that was entirely for its own sake and not for a specific purpose.

Jigoku:  “Asogi had a reason for taking his sword to that British inspector, you know.” Ryunosuke:  “What?!” Jigoku:  “Which is why he accepted the mission in the first place. Isn’t that right… Counsel?” Kazuma:  “………”

I’m not convinced I believe this claim of Jigoku’s. Obviously we know Kazuma does have a motive to have wanted Gregson dead, now. But I’m not sure about Jigoku’s implication that Kazuma was aware of that when he took the mission, a year ago. The only person who could have told Kazuma about Gregson’s connection to his father’s case is Jigoku. For one, I’m not entirely sure Jigoku even knew that much, since he was only involved in the prison escape half of the plot – but more pointedly, I doubt he would have wanted to tell Kazuma anything he knew, because that’d cast suspicion on his own role in Genshin’s death, something he very much would not want Kazuma figuring out.

Nonetheless, Kazuma is evasively silent in response to this, because while he may indeed not have known about Gregson’s involvement back then, it’s likely he was able to piece things together enough to suspect something. And of course, it all eventually came to a head with him actually wanting to kill Gregson in that terrible moment, which Kazuma must not enjoy thinking about.

Kazuma:  “As I said yesterday, I’ve killed nobody. I freely admit that I accepted the mission, but on the night the plan was to be executed, I backed out.”

Kazuma is still wording things carefully. While talking about the night in question, he simply says that he didn’t go through with it, and not that he didn’t want to go through with it, because that would be a lie.

Kazuma:  “Gregson was killed after returning to London. In the room on Fresno Street. And the perpetrator of the crime was the Reaper, Barok van Zieks! The prosecution’s accusation remains unchanged.”

Naturally, Kazuma wants to remind everyone that van Zieks, who is definitely the Reaper, definitely did the murder, and everything we’re talking about now is just an irrelevant dead end. He is still genuinely convinced of this.

Susato:  “It’s unforgivable! Using Kazuma-sama’s feelings to manipulate him into agreeing to such a despicable plan…”

In the testimony’s recap dialogue, Susato has more Strong Opinions. I love that she’s thinking about Kazuma’s feelings and fully realises that he was manipulated and should barely be morally condemned for this decision at all. Honestly, I agree with her – despite all of Stronghart’s many crimes, the thing that gives me the biggest emotional reaction out of any of the villains’ actions in this game is Jigoku doing this to Kazuma. He knew that Kazuma was so desperate to get to Britain that he’d agree to absolutely anything if it was presented as his only way to do so, and ugh. To his friend’s son, and all. What a bastard.

Ryunosuke:  “But I think Kazuma manipulated Judge Jigoku, too. He completely double-crossed him.” Susato:  “Oh dear… It’s hard not to see that as a stroke of brilliance on Kazuma-sama’s part…”

I wouldn’t quite call it “brilliance” when it was as simple as “not keeping the promise he never wanted to be forced to make in the first place”, but I’m still with Susato here. Kazuma didn’t do anything wrong by refusing to go through with Jigoku’s expectations when Jigoku was the one who wronged him first by expecting him to do it at all.

Susato:  “I know I shouldn’t let my emotions cloud my judgement… but you must destroy him, Mr Naruhodo!”

Yesss, Susato. Love her being so furious on Kazuma’s behalf, not even caring that Jigoku is a respected figure and a family friend.

Kazuma:  “I thought it was a joke at first, of course. But then… it was made clear to me that if I didn’t accept, I wouldn’t be considered for the study tour.” Ryunosuke:  “So, so you agreed to it… just for that?! I mean, I know how much you wanted to study in Britain, but… assassination?!”

Ugh, I get it, but it still hurts to see Ryunosuke react with horror like this. You know he wasn’t planning to go through with it, Ryunosuke! His only crime was agreeing to something shady without any intent to follow through!

But even then, it’s still not remotely something he would have expected from his best friend a year ago.

Kazuma:  “………”

Kazuma’s not trying to defend himself. No doubt he always felt guilty about hiding this from his friend, and always expected it would make Ryunosuke think less of him.

Ryunosuke:  “Why Kazuma? Why did you pick him as the assassin?” Jigoku:  “He was the most capable of all the applicants. And in addition… I knew his desire to travel to Britain was very strong. In fact, it was almost more than a desire. It was his whole purpose in life.”

Ugh. Jigoku knew exactly how desperate Kazuma was and took advantage of that. He couldn’t risk bringing up the assassination mission to any potential candidate unless he was already sure that they would agree, lest they just turn him in to the police. But Kazuma was someone he could be certain would agree to this, so long as Jigoku threatened his chances to ever make it to Britain if he didn’t.

And conveniently, the candidate who was so utterly desperate to do this that he’d agree to an assassination for it was also the candidate who’d studied ridiculously hard to the point that he was the most capable applicant anyway and it wouldn’t look suspicious. Funny, that.

Kazuma:  “There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done to get here. Be that agreeing to assume the role of an assassin… or betraying people’s trust.”

Guhhhhhh, Kazumaaaa. This line really punches me in the gut with how completely desperately determined Kazuma was and is. And it’s interesting that he’s saying this to justify his decision… but he didn’t do so just a little earlier when Ryunosuke was directly accusing him. This time it’s directed more at Jigoku, or just the court in general. Perhaps he doesn’t really feel like these words would be enough to justify his actions to his best friend.

The “betraying people’s trust” part especially hit hard on my first playthrough. What with the more distant and hostile way he’d been acting lately, it felt like Kazuma could have been talking about betraying Ryunosuke’s trust. Aaaagh.

Jigoku:  “Well, you certainly did a fine job of betraying mine, Asogi.”

What Kazuma actually means, though, is this. He promised Jigoku he would carry out the assassination, Jigoku trusted him with it… and then he betrayed that.

And yet it’s so incredibly grossly entitled of Jigoku to be angry at Kazuma over this when he was the one who betrayed Kazuma’s trust in the first place by forcing him into this at all. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t have trusted Kazuma’s promise, when it was a promise made out of coercion.

(I guess this is Jigoku being mad that this then meant he had be the one to murder Gregson in the end. Oh no, you had to get your hands dirty yourself instead of coercing the son of the friend you also killed into doing it for you, how terrible.)

Ryunosuke:  “But why was Inspector Gregson the target?” Jigoku:  “I have no idea. Those were the orders from Britain. I was in no position to question them.” Kazuma:  “You have no idea? Really? I find that hard to believe.”

Kazuma’s right to. Not only is he bound to suspect that Jigoku knew something about Gregson’s involvement in his father’s death from his time in Britain ten years ago, but also, Jigoku literally just told the court that Kazuma had a reason to kill Gregson, which definitely implies that he knows the reason too!

Ryunosuke:  “Obviously, Kazuma didn’t actually die at all. But he did lose his memory. Including all details about his special mission.” Kazuma:  “………”

This bit is very rude to me personally, because on my first playthrough, I thought, “Why are they making a point of Kazuma’s silence here? Surely this is meant as a hint that he didn’t really lose his memory?” Which led me to continue to entertain that fervent theory of mine just a little more, even after I’d mostly abandoned it. First-time-me had further ammo for it by this point, too, because wanting to pretend he’d forgotten about his assassination mission would have been a very plausible reason for Kazuma to have faked amnesia!!!

In reality, we can presume that the actual reason the narrative is making a point of Kazuma’s silence is that he’s thinking about how losing his memory was painful and difficult, but god forbid Kazuma ever actually talk about or openly acknowledge the suffering he’s been through.

Kazuma:  “But I’d never intended to go through with the assassination mission anyway.”

Again, some very careful phrasing. He had never intended. Meaning he’s referring to a period of time in the past, around when he accepted the mission, at which point he did not intend to go through with it. A certain point in time much closer to the present day? He’s not talking about that point in this sentence. That would be a lie.

Jigoku:  “So you were playing me right from the outset, were you? Is that it?” Kazuma:  “I’d sooner be guilty of that crime than of taking someone else’s life. I was prepared to do whatever I had to in order to get myself here to Britain.”

Yes, Jigoku, and you should have realised from the start that he was planning to repay you in kind.

It is something that Kazuma still considers this – simply double-crossing Jigoku and making a false promise he intended to break – to be a “crime”. Kazuma cares a lot about honour and integrity, and it really hurt him to have to tarnish that in order to make it to Britain! Even though he was only doing this to somebody who’d already done much worse to him. Really, Kazuma, don’t beat yourself up over this – Jigoku deserved it.

Ryunosuke:  “I suppose Inspector Gregson was there in his capacity as the Reaper… He was intending to take the witness’s life.” Kazuma:  “Exactly. As I’ve said numerous times now, I had no intention of killing anyone.”

Once again, Kazuma is referring to a specific time period here – the point at which he and Gregson entered Jigoku’s cabin. At that point, he had no intention of killing anyone. Later than that? He’s not talking about that. Because he doesn’t lie.

It’s also starting to seem just a little suspiciously specific that Kazuma keeps repeating that he had no intention of doing any murders. Overcompensating for that guilt much, Kazuma?

Kazuma:  “I stayed to talk with Inspector Gregson for a short while… and then I left him there and made my way off the ship alone.” Ryunosuke:  “Was the guard still at the door when you went?” Kazuma:  “Yes. He glared at me as I walked past.”

Yes, just a short, casual conversation in which nothing at all serious happened, don’t worry about the blade tip in Gregson’s trunk, it’s totally irrelevant to the case.

Given that Kazuma must have been in rather a panicked state of mind after finding himself wanting to kill Gregson and very nearly doing it, it sure is something that he then immediately passed by the guard glaring at him. He must have managed to put up one hell of a poker face.

It’s surprising that the crewman didn’t hear the sound of Karuma hitting Gregson’s trunk, honestly, but then that could easily have led to Kazuma being arrested, and we can’t have that, apparently

(…Actually, scratch that – there’s a specific reason he wouldn’t have heard it. Someone had muffled the speaking tube in the cabin with a piece of cloth, which likely wouldn’t have drowned out a gunshot, but I could buy it muffling less loud sounds. It’s never revealed who did that, but it could very easily have been Kazuma, given that he wouldn’t have wanted anybody to overhear him threatening Gregson.)

Ryunosuke:  “But a hole like that made by a bullet was found in your cabin, Judge Jigoku! That’s compelling evidence that a gun was fired in there!” Kazuma:  “What’s that? A bullet hole…?”

Yes, Kazuma, speaking of bullet holes—

…That aside, Kazuma’s reacting to this in surprise because he’s only just realising that Ryunosuke has actual evidence that the murder might have occurred there. What do you mean it could have actually been Jigoku who did it, and not van Zieks.

(Jigoku goes on to write off the bullet hole as totally just woodworm or something, and Kazuma probably justifies it that way in his head, too.)

Kazuma:  “All crewmen were… away from their posts?!”

Kazuma also reacts to this. He’d been seeing Jigoku’s testimony as open and shut, he obviously couldn’t have done it because the guard would have heard the gunshot – what do you mean it actually was possible after all?!

Kazuma:  “A twenty-minute window of opportunity… That’s an excellent find, Ryunosuke. But it amounts to nothing!”

Even though he’s proud of his friend for figuring something out, Kazuma is still quick to brush this off as definitely irrelevant, because a mere possibility isn’t proof that anything actually happened.

(Funny how he’s able to acknowledge that proving something is possible is not the same as proving that it definitely happened that way, now that we’re talking about it being someone other than van Zieks who maybe did the murder.)

Kazuma:  “Unless you have some decisive evidence […]… your accusation is nothing more than conjecture!”

So is yours, Kazuma! Someone is still managing to forget this.

Ryunosuke:  “Judge Jigoku! This was found in your cabin yesterday.” Stronghart:  “What is that? The crown of a pocket watch?”

Interestingly, it seems Sholmes missed out a few details when he passed the evidence from his investigation of the cabin onto Ryunosuke. The crown of the watch was actually found in Jigoku’s trunk, which is distinctly not the same thing as his cabin. It could have been in the trunk without ever actually being in the cabin itself, so this technically doesn’t prove Gregson was attacked in the cabin… but on the other hand, it being in the trunk pretty much already proves that Gregson was inside there at some point. That’s not something the game wants us to get to just yet, so instead we have this little discrepancy that’s honestly very easy to not even notice (and makes sense to have happened, since Sholmes could have just not mentioned it).

Ryunosuke:  “Moreover, this crown is a perfect fit on the spindle protruding from the victim’s watch.” Kazuma:  “…!”

Kazuma’s shown being alarmed as he realises that Ryunosuke has some actual compelling evidence here. But barely a minute later…

Kazuma:  “Expertly manoeuvred, Ryunosuke.” Ryunosuke:  “…!” Kazuma:  “And your argument sounds entirely plausible… at first. But rather like this pocket watch, it’s full of cracks.”

…even despite praising his friend (I love how Kazuma’s always proud of Ryunosuke for coming up with his arguments even as he’s shooting them down, they are friends), he’s already figured out a way out of it. It’s probably easier than it would otherwise be to come up with ways in which this still doesn’t prove Jigoku’s guilt when you’re utterly convinced that van Zieks must have done it.

--- Testimony 2 ---

Jigoku:  “When I walked through the door, a mustachioed Englishman was there, foolishly waving a gun at me.”

Here’s an interesting point: I don’t think Gregson actually did point a gun at Jigoku. Sure, he was technically supposed to kill him since Kazuma had walked out, but I don’t believe he actually wanted to, given that Jigoku isn’t the kind of irredeemable criminal that the Reaper usually kills. He was probably feeling pretty conflicted about this whole mission, especially with his imminent transfer to France in which he was going to finally be done with all this murdering.

That and, if Gregson had had his gun out during their struggle, it rather begs the question… why didn’t Jigoku do the murder with Gregson’s gun? That would have been much easier to pin on somebody else, because anyone could theoretically have turned Gregson’s gun on him. As it is, by using his own gun, Jigoku limited the possible suspects to other judiciary members who carry the same model of gun (and coincidentally happen to have misplaced theirs). Framing Hugh Boone, like he'd originally intended to, wouldn’t actually have worked, because where would that guy have obtained such a weapon?

Ryunosuke:  “Far from being impossible for you to do… the transporting of Inspector Gregson’s body back to Britain is something ONLY you could do!” Kazuma:  “What are you talking about, Ryunosuke?”

Kazuma’s leaning forward and seeming quite urgent with this. What do you mean, it was possible, and maybe Jigoku did do it, and not van Zieks.

Ryunosuke:  “The actual scene of the crime…” Kazuma:  “The prosecution’s stance is unaltered. The killing took place on Fresno Street when the gunshot was heard… as the accused, Barok van Zieks, shot the victim at point blank range!”

Kazuma’s still insisting on this, again. He has to be starting to think by this point that maybe Ryunosuke’s onto something, but no, it was definitely van Zieks, it has to be.

Stronghart:  “Since no tangible evidence exists to disprove the prosecution’s claim at this time…”

No tangible evidence has existed to prove it for quite some time now!!!

The part where you have to prove Gregson couldn’t have been shot at Fresno Street because he died instantly and couldn’t have curled up like that is a bit silly and unintuitive. This is something Ryunosuke could have pointed out at any point earlier in the trial, to support his argument that the murder took place elsewhere! I suppose it makes some sense that it’s coming up now, because now that we know Gregson’s body was in a trunk, we have an explanation for why he was curled up, but still.

(But then if Ryunosuke had brought it up earlier, that might have been seen as actual proof that Kazuma’s argument is all wrong, because apparently the scorch marks on the candle were not already enough proof of that, even though they were and just got conveniently brushed aside and forgotten.)

Also, we could have just skipped this awkward unintuitive bit by simply forcing Jigoku to present his trunk for inspection, which would prove it anyway.

Ryunosuke:  “…before it was coldly turned out on the floor… from the inside of a large travel trunk!” Kazuma:  “No!”

Anyway, here’s Kazuma with a powerfully shocked reaction as he realises how much sense Ryunosuke’s argument makes and that Gregson couldn’t have been killed at Fresno Street at all.

Jigoku:  “Present my trunk? I refuse!” Kazuma:  “What?!”

What do you mean Jigoku’s being suspicious in a way that implies he obviously did it?!

Stronghart:  “Well, Mr Jigoku… what’s it to be?” Jigoku:  “………” Kazuma:  “You can’t be serious! You did it?!”

What do you mean, Jigoku did it, and it really wasn’t van Zieks at all???

Kazuma’s reaction here goes to show that he had still genuinely managed to keep convincing himself it was van Zieks until only just now, when the truth becomes completely impossible to deny.

And then Jigoku admits to moving the body but accuses Kazuma of the actual murder in a last-ditch effort to defend himself, which is far too little too late, grumble grumble. There’s no interesting narrative tension surrounding the question of whether Kazuma really might have done it when it’s already so obviously Jigoku at this point!

Jigoku:  “As you know, there was one other person in my cabin that night. He had the opportunity.”

We’ve known that Kazuma theoretically had the opportunity to do the murder for a while now, which is such a juicy point, but the narrative’s done nothing with it until just now! Like, I get why Ryunosuke and Susato wouldn’t want to think about it, but why has nobody else even pointed out this possibility until it already became clear the killer was someone else anyway???? Bah.

Stronghart:  “Well… the prosecution counsel has already admitted to visiting the witness’s cabin on the night in question.”

And this is all we get from Stronghart on the matter – the vaguest indication that he’d be more okay with throwing Kazuma under the bus for this than Jigoku. Because somehow he was not more okay with sacrificing Kazuma rather than van Zieks, even after Kazuma had repeatedly shown himself to be impossible to keep in line.

There’s not even that much narrative weight behind Ryunosuke being the one to prove Kazuma’s innocence in this one brief moment here, because Kazuma could perfectly well have done it himself anyway!

The “Overture to Pursuit” music kicks in about here as Ryunosuke begins to do so, which is a track that I love and that usually gets me really hyped. But no matter how much the music wants me to be, I can’t get hyped here over the fact that it was always literally impossible for Kazuma to have done this murder. He just had a freaking alibi the entire time, removing any potential for tension over whether or not it could have been him!!! Why.

And the thing is, Kazuma’s alibi is a really incidental, offhand sort of thing. Him staying at that boarding house in Dunkirk is only mentioned one other time and isn’t connected to any other part of the plot – it could have been completely removed while keeping everything else intact! This is particularly notable when almost every other plot point in this narrative serves multiple purposes for the story one way or another. Kazuma’s Dunkirk stay is one of the only things that doesn’t! It’s just… there, purely to give him an alibi and nothing else.

This means that it would have been so, so easily possible to write a story in which Kazuma theoretically could have done the deed and we’d actually had something come of this! If he’d just been on the ship the whole time – perhaps because the cabin’s guard had actually done his job and refused them entry due to Kazuma’s two fricking swords, meaning they had to wait until that window when all the crewmen left – then Kazuma would have been a perfectly viable suspect!

But nope, he just gets an alibi, making it that easy to prove his innocence when things actually come to this. Grumble grumble grumble.

(I think I am probably done complaining about this, finally, now that we’ve got past this point. Please read my fic in which Kazuma does get arrested if this idea seems enticing to you too.)

Jigoku:  “To lure the man in, he was given a sham mission by the Reaper.” Ryunosuke:  “W-What?!” (The Reaper…?) Kazuma:  “But there’s only one person who could have done that! The mastermind of the entire operation: the Reaper himself!” Ryunosuke:  “Ah!” Susato:  “So… that means the assassin exchange was… It was all planned by the Reaper!”

Kazuma is the first person to jump on this and point out that Jigoku has just effectively told the court that the Reaper mastermind and the exchange mastermind are the same person. As I touched on earlier, Kazuma would already have been pretty sure of that himself due to the circumstances of him getting the mission to supposedly kill Gregson, and he’d have been itching for an opportunity to prove as much in court, so that he can use his father’s case as evidence that van Zieks is the Reaper.

Jigoku:  “I decided that man [Hugh Boone] would be the perfect person to set up as the culprit.”

Framing van Zieks was actually an unexpected accident! While it’s a little frustrating that this means that Stronghart’s insistence on using this trial to get rid of van Zieks (and not Kazuma for some reason) wasn’t even planned, it does actually matter that Jigoku’s intended scapegoat was not van Zieks, as we’ll see later.

Kazuma:  “………”

Kazuma’s shown silently uncomplaining as Stronghart accepts Jigoku’s confession. No doubt he’s just waiting until he can get to the part where he accuses van Zieks of being the Reaper and the man who ordered Jigoku to kill Gregson.

Ryunosuke:  “Mr Jigoku! One last detail! Who was your counterpart in Britain? Who was the mastermind behind the assassin exchange?” Jigoku:  “………” Ryunosuke:  “Nothing you say now can make matters any worse for you! Just tell us!”

Ryunosuke’s got a point here – Jigoku’s apparently going to go down for murder, so he really shouldn’t have anything to lose. Even the fact that Stronghart’s holding him shooting Genshin over his head shouldn’t really matter any more, because one murder or two doesn’t make a difference to the death penalty. (Although I do suspect that Jigoku might feel a certain amount of personal guilt over shooting his friend dead, to the point that he just doesn’t want anyone to know about that, regardless of the consequences.)

But mostly, I think the reason Jigoku insists he can’t say anyway is that, despite what he keeps saying, it’s not actually over for him. Not as long as Stronghart’s still able to pull some strings behind the scenes to get him out of this.

Stronghart:  “Seishiro Jigoku, it is the opinion of this court that you should be found… Guilty. And may I remind all those present of the strict confidentiality demanded by this closed court!”

Stronghart’s approach here certainly implies he’s planning as much. Look, everyone, he’s unofficially declared him guilty here, so that totally counts right? And nobody’s allowed to tell anybody that this happened – which means nobody can complain if Jigoku conveniently gets let off the hook in his actual trial later.

(It is a bit silly that it does the whole flames-in-the-scales thing for the Guilty, but not only is that setup for Stronghart’s breakdown later, declaring an unofficial verdict here actually does make some sense with the manipulation Stronghart’s trying to pull for Jigoku. See – most things in this story serve multiple purposes!)

Anyway, that was a point I found interesting and non-obvious enough that I wanted to talk about it even though it has nothing much to do with Kazuma, but let’s get back to Kazuma.

Stronghart:  “In short, the defendant’s innocence has therefore been established beyond doubt.” Kazuma:  “………”

Kazuma’s still biding his time, just waiting for the perfect moment to object and argue that no, it hasn’t.

Ryunosuke:  “I’m just a little troubled… by his silence.”

Ryunosuke notices it too! He knows his friend – which in this instance means he knows Kazuma’s fervent determination to convict van Zieks well enough to be sure he’s not just going to give up and accept defeat like this.

Stronghart:  “I hereby declare the defendant, Barok van Zieks………” Kazuma:  “Objection!”

Seriously, Kazuma, you really were just waiting for the most dramatic possible moment, weren’t you? Dork.

[propertyofkylar]

hiiiii Nica!! I’m the anon who gave you otome reccs a while ago <33 I know it’s been a while, but I finally had the time to catch up on your OS playthrough (from what you posted about it on here), and omg I’m so glad you seemed to enjoy it as much as you did!!! I was really hoping you would, so seeing that you played it and had a great time makes me really happy!

now I was wondering what you’ve got lined up for the future, if anything!! or if you’ve gotten any new games lately? I’m personally on rest while waiting for 9RIP in October so I can play during the end of spooky season C:

HI BESTIEEEE thank u for the recs because i owe you my life. the riku and akaza brainrot has been INSANE i love them….

i just played through hanakare which like., so cute, gin brainrot goes crazy but no one is posting about it so sad.

rn im back in the falzone’s torture chamber 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 going to finish piofiore and then bustafellows bc im playing both

then idk…picked up some new games hehehe. probably will either play collar x malice next or maybe tengoku struggle…idk yet.

i also did break down and preorder 9rip so im excited for that!! im gonna post a review of it when i get it like i did for hanakare :D

my goal is to cut down the backlog significantly so i can replay routes without feeling guilty abt it…i miss ukyo i wanna see him again

[autopotion]

Recruiting the Hat Man

In this challenge playthrough of FFT, I was determined to recruit the thief in the Dorter Trade City battle--you know, the guy who throws his hat on the ground. I knew his unique menu portrait would change to the generic one as soon as I did, but I didn't care. He's one of the few enemy generics to express any personality, so he's the perfect prize for a playthrough like this one. Additionally, he's demonstratively afraid of Gafgarion (and might or might not have had some sort of tryst with him, according to the most venerable of Tactics scholars), so the idea of coaxing him into my party, with Gafgarion still in it, tickled me. I had to get him.

First of all, Agrias and Gafgarion are guests for this fight. I didn't unequip them or change their classes because I figured they would come in handy taking out the rest of the enemy units (they did!), but they presented a very unique challenge to my truly deranged endeavors to keep the hat man alive.

Second of all, the RNG gods decided the hat man's name is Heinline. That is a terrible name. I almost reset the battle upon seeing it. But I decided against it (mostly due to impatience). This is the hand that fate dealt me. I would have Heinline or I would not have the hat man at all.

The following sequence had Zoe and I howling in laughter for like twenty minutes.

My mediator, Tia, got to go fairly early in the order after Ramza Yelled at her. I boldly attempt to Invite the thief on her first turn. First recruitment attempt didn't work, and as a result of this configuration my mediator got killed by two archers and a wizard. My time mage fell shortly after.

Agrias came in clutch with a phoenix down, which was a nice surprise. I moved my mediator behind one of the houses and let her relax for a bit.

Once Tia was in better health, I tried one more time to invite the thief. That failed. Gafgarion killed him.

"Okay," I said to Zoe, starting to feel a tad frustrated. "I'm about to do something hilarious." I whittled down the rest of the enemies and waited for Gafgarion and Agrias to move closer to the archers, the only remaining units.

My mediator used a phoenix down and brought the enemy thief back to life.

Gafgarion killed him instantly.

Alright, poorly timed resurrection. I waited a bit longer and brought thief back to life a second time. He retreated to a corner after stabbing Tia (that's gratitude for ya). My mediator followed him, to no avail. Gafgarion killed him again.

Not to be deterred, I revived the thief once more. This battle had dragged on far longer than it needed to, but I was determined. (Shortly after this, Agrias killed the last archer.)

This time I captured him in an alley squished behind the tall houses. After another failed invite, he tried to steal the heart of my mediator, which similarly failed. (Dare I say… kismeses?)

Unfortunately, because I didn't see him there, Gafgarion was also trapped in the alley. This was very bad for me, because if he killed the thief, the battle was over, and the hat man would slip from my grasp forever. Fortunately, instead of slaughtering the thief again, he decided to waste one of his turns casting Protect (???) on my clustered troops when the thief was standing literally right next to him. Pinned between him and Ramza, in fact.

My only goal now was to get the thief on my side before my overpowered guests killed him again. Every time his health dipped I had Ramza heal him. The rest of the battle wound up being a cycle of Tia using Invite -> Silky casting Haste (which often got everyone BUT my mediator) -> Ramza Yelling at Tia -> Tia using Invite -> Gafgarion and/or Agrias getting in a sword skill on the thief -> The thief stabbing someone -> My wizard skipping his turn -> Ramza using Chakra on the thief -> Tia using Invite.

One of Agrias's strategically timed Stasis Swords Stopped the guy, which was an unexpected boon. So he just had to stand there in petrified silence as he had the life drained from him and then restored every couple of turns while my mediator seduced him over Ramza's head.

After TWELVE tries, long after my mages were out of MP and had little to do but jog in place, the thief finally surrendered and allowed himself to be press-ganged into joining our merry band of mercenaries. Join Up! :)

Sorry Agrias. I was a little busy psychologically torturing an irrelevant ruffian. But it was, like, really important.

[celestialcrownsvn]

11/1/23 Update

Hello! Sorry this update is a bit late. Let's dive in!

Backerkit Survey

Still waiting for about half of the backers to complete their Backerkit survey! If you got yours, make sure to fill it out as soon as possible to help me with reward fulfillment.

Join the Discord

We've gotten a lot of new Discord members lately! Come join the fun! See updates before anyone else, participate in polls, and read some fun AU stories!

Sahi's Route

Sahi's route is in beta testing!

Lune's Route

So I've been working through Lune's route, mostly coding in sprites and music, etc. The writing was pretty solid for this one on the first go through, but there are a few things I want to tidy up and add, I believe. I'm actually on the last scene in his route, and then I just have the endings. The endings will take a bit more time because there are a few scenes I tagged that need to be added in or fleshed out, but it shouldn't take me much longer. I anticipate finishing this up mid November.

In the final draft, I'll be adding more branching for personality stats—just small, one or two line changes in dialogue, but combined with a couple of these in every scene, it should make for a fun new experience with each playthrough.

Love Letters

These should be out by the time of my first Kickstarter update, which will be 11/12. All the recordings are in, I just need to put together the final cut and package them nicely. I'll be including a .mov, a .txt, and .wav for all three for all backers in nicely zipped packages.

New Start Screen

I've been working on a new start screen, as the original was always intended as a placeholder. I'd thought about commissioning one but with the final budget decided to draw it myself. I'm happy with how it came out! This has been implemented and will be in the next update.

Skin Tones

I've been slowly working on implementing the new skin tones, thanks to reaching our stretch goal! Right now I've just done masc Terra's darker skin tone. My goal is to do about one a week until completion. I really like how they turned out!

Notice

I will be going to visit family from Mid November to early December, during which I won't have my tablet, so the weekly drawing streams will be canceled during that time. Unfortunately my new tablet is just too big to travel and my license for CSP is only available on one computer at a time, and I can't bring my desktop. I'll be sad but will have to subsist on a sketchbook in the meantime.

Anyway, because I won't be able to draw I'll be focusing on programming and writing.

Conclusion

Things are still going along smoothly! I'm still hoping to finish up the second draft and send all routes to beta testing by the end of the year.

[solottrpgchronicles]

4b. Restless - Dead Letter Society (Emile)

Algonquin Park, March 9, 2024

I was all fired up and ready to investigate when I arrived in Algonquin, proud to have reached the destination before Ava; I thought it would be no problem to uncover some juicy news while talking to the tourists or surveying the area, but I'm feeling too restless, too unfocused to do anything useful.

Lately, my opinions about how great it is to be a vampire are rapidly changing. The old, confident me who just wanted to live as a vampire among humans, without any secrets, is but a fading memory.

I still want to live among mortals, but maybe not as I am right now; I miss being one of them. The main reason why I'm in this mess is my cursed condition; and now I find myself on the run from who knows who or what exactly, framed for inadvertently killing a monster, forced to go no contact with my family to protect both myself and them.

I feel uncharacteristically lonely. Most of my conversations with people these past nights had the hidden goal of seeking company and comfort, rather than investigating.

I met this mortal girl, Daphne, a social media manager who moved to Canada from Greece; after making the mandatory remarks about "oh, do you miss Greece?? I bet the weather is much nicer there!" We chatted about her job. I learned the following:

Social media users have, sadly, a short attention span (I could have guessed that one)

They seek new content all the time, while old content is easily forgotten

When it comes to viral news videos, the best way to make people forget is therefore to give them some new viral video to munch on

If I apply myself and Ava finally gets here and helps me, we could find out the solution to the mystery, which is probably way more interesting than what was going on in the video about me. We'll have to get the media involved somehow.

With that end goal in mind, I keep trying to investigate, but it's hard. These past few nights I've consistently seen the same group of mom friends hanging out at the hotel bar, drinking and laughing. One of their recurring topics - they talk really loudly - is how beneficial yoga and meditation are, how they can't live without the practice anymore, yada yada. All I recall about meditation is that you need to breathe deeply, "find stillness" and be in the present.

I don't know what got into me, but today before sunrise I stepped into the woods out back and I found a big rock just off the trail to sit on.

I tried to meditate.

Since I don't need to breathe, that part is useless to me, but stillness and noticing my surroundings are enough of a mental exercise. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but when I opened my eyes I noticed something half covered in mud, on the ground next to me: it was a clear resin ring with miniature leaves inside.

For some reason, holding that ring suddenly calmed me. I'm wearing it right now as a necklace, almost as if it was an amulet.

I'm being weird, I know, but so what if my mind is convinced this silly object is special? If it helps clear my mind, so be it. I want to listen, feel, really be here just the way I am.

---

P.S: I just received a threatening letter from the Dead Letter Society. It said "Our dance begins", and attached I found a piece of crimson red paper... and one of my mom's old earrings.

What does it mean? Did they kidnap my parents? What's going on with the DLS?

Perhaps I shouldn't be here, after all. Perhaps I should go back to Montreal, even if it's a trap.

I don't know what to do.

--------------------

This is a playthrough of a solo TTRPG called "Dead Letter Society", by Rori Montford.

You can check it out on itch.io: https://montfordtales.itch.io/dead-letter-society