#uni2 is about to do so much irreparable damage to my oc side story btw. autism is strong.

[gaienenkidou]

Hi! Thoughts on Enkidu's Arcade Route, and the others you've played or watched?

hihi! thank you for giving me an excuse to talk abt the uni2 arcade stuff hehe <:3 everyone's being hush hush abt it for the first month (understandable) but ive been itchingggg to talk about it! sorry for this response taking a day or two a big update for arcaea dropped when uni2 dropped and i was super occupied with that. uni2 spoiler under the cut obviously so youve been warned of the spoiler boogeyman okay? okay!!!!

i'm just gonna talk about the arcade routes that really interested me which is just codeword for amnesia and a select few Sorry to any orie fans or carmine fans or anyone i don't mention here (though carmine becoming a rebirth was interesting)

ENKIDU:

first things first. i wont lie i meowed at the screen when i saw enkidu got long hair in the ending cg. i already like enkidu for obvious reasons (he's hot and my type. most normal comphet videogame crush.) but then give him long hair and i'm like bouncing up and down my chair squealing and crying and throwing up!!!!! damn you yoshihara!!!! (shaking my fists)

the arcade route itself however seemed to imply and bring up a lot of interesting things about his power. they seem to hint at the power deep inside him is not even related to anything in the under night lore at all and its just his OWN thing he's dealing with which is really really cool to think about but since he's a lesser popular side character we will probably never get a satisfactory elaboration on it. great! i saw the person who's uploaded all the arcade modes say that the "demon" he addresses could have been inside of him from day one and is not something related to exs and in-birth turning and is not an inverse version of him, and i think that's a really cool working theory, also re-contextualizes the whole "body being so strong voids can barely pierce it" because voidlike exs cant fit in there if you have like, A Literal Fucking Demon inside of you. really taking advantage of the clear kouma expy... the demon inside of him takes over him very obviously in the ending which :( enki...i could save him...enkidu's story (at least in chronicle mode) has always had this underlying tone of depression but also being the stoic and less emotional fronting Martial Artist Fighting Game Character he has some form of uncertainty of dealing with those emotions beyond the art of fighting (insert the autistic individual enkidu picture here.) in uni2 arcade though he expresses the fact that he can't let the world end even if it is so tainted, albeit for his own answers, but he has a very genuine approach to the fate of kanzakai...i like to think he was starting to truly enjoy being apart of the world ever since the unib shenanigans started and gordeau's ending clearly shows that he does genuinely like being around amnesia and is a tease about it. deep down i think he really cares about the "tainted world" though his stoic disposition doesn't allow him to emote that well and thats just pure old man moe and i need more of it. but man the fact that he turns into a warded off demon to continue to live in that world is cruel irony...but a very interesting way to show his (presumable) development. fpan please for the love of god just give us that chronicle mode patch i need more of him you're implying so much cool shit emotionally and physically about him but RESTRICTING IT TO ARCADE ROUTES GRAHHH

half of this might just be insane delusioned interpretations but what am i if not tumblr user gaienenkidou, master enkidu scholar! tldr it was in an unexpected angle but also REALLY cool to muse about. i expected fpan to neglect any development for him in the first place but i came out with more answers and questions about him so for an enkidu liker like myself i'm pleased. could be better but pleased. At least out of the suffering he got a for realsies command grab move. now the next question is will 66c be fun again

KAGUYA:

don't have a whole essay about miss jinguu like enkidu thank god but when uni2 announcements dropped i was so fucking fixated on kaguya i am INCREDIBLY happy they made her playable finally, i imagine she's been in spriting development hell since she's had a shitton of placeholders from what i remember. the tsurugi pick is cool too but KAGUYA!!!!! I LOVE HIME CUT GIRLS WITH BIG BOOBS!!!!

her ending cg makes me feel a lot of emotions particularly about being attracted to women. she's so pretty. i'm incredibly interested in where she'll go from here since they scrapped her being from a wealthy family and being the ditzy sheltered rich girl to being an orphan with a dark past just posing as that exact trope. implications of her effect on licht kreis lore particularly silvaria are also cool to think about because licht kreis lore goes from really interesting to soul crushingly boring sometimes. her creepy loner girl to hime pipeline...she's perfect to me. love you kaguya mwah GORDEAU:

when i saw the description on a video of gordeau's arcade mode say he secured the good ending i was expecting something bittersweet BUT I WASN'T EXPECTING ROGER TO COME BACK EVEN THOUGH I FELT LIKE I SHOULD :') i think thats because i was expecting some sort of narrative where gordeau learns to kinda let go of it and just chill out with amnesia because i mean they're his homies too. thought he would have an arc in his arcade based on that but i think the indomitable and selfless spirit angle leading to him getting roger back is also pretty decent as well! no complaints. i wonder if theyre implying roger could be playable in the future but unlike ogre mmmm ehhh there's better npcs that deserve that first and roger isn't really striking, he always struck me as the guy there for a narrative purpose for gordeau (and amnesia.) his design is cool but less remarkable than like...londrekia when he was just a chronicles mode guy or azel/mercedes or uzuki when she was an arcade exclusive talk sprite. we'll see! :D

HILDA: don't have a lot to say cuz yeah that's about what i expected but She deserves it in my opinion hell yeah girl. really cool of them to use the insect ideas from ageha-chou (sorry i'm not saying the whole scientific name i'll malfunction) in her rebirth design. i want to touch her feelers.... CHAOS:

not a bunch to say again but thank you chaos for being the guy consistently advancing the lore and any terminology yet again sir yes sir oorah

BYAKUYA/STRIX:

yuri lives on...kind of really anticlimatic and i feel like there should've been more buildup but it just kind of happens...? but it might be just because the way uni tells story through arcade mode makes it feel. using sprites to tell the story like mbtl would've REALLLLY helped here, uni2 is already built off of mbtl's version of their engine lolol. nonetheless i am happy for strix. seems they kinda soft deconfirmed the idea of them not being playable since byakuya broke both their vessels so they can just be regular people again but WHO KNOWS ANYMORE since ogre is back anything can go at this point

a lot of my thoughts funnily enough aren't completely abt uni2 though. ive never been the biggest fan of byakuya and even now i'm pretty flatly neutral to him but brushing up on his chronicle mode before uni2 dropped man. i just feel bad for him. he deserves friends and something else to be around other than his sister and fragments of her. hes like only in junior high he should be making a school festival with people and enrolling in clubs. his mia status in uni2 just makes it worse. give him a break jesus christ

MERKAVA:

already a fan of merkava's void design but.........oh my god he's so pretty for no reason? what the fuck? they could've easily fumbled a human merkava and making him somehow less cooler and appealing than the obviously more interesting void design but i like human merk. still a bit inferior to typical merk though.

MIKA:

love and peace and happiness. mika so cute. not really much i have to say for her but i main her with enkidu so i didn't want to not mention her. she's my baby

WALDSTEIN: AND JUST LET HIM FUCKING DIE!!@?!@?>!@?> i mean its EXPECTED but what the fuck i was a waldstein shooter. do you know how many people actually LIKE WALDSTEIN. you can count it on one hand INCLUDING ME. i wanted more of himmmm out of everyone he deserved a slice of life ending. impactful nonetheless though. i am in fact a big fan of the oddly attractive (subjective) grandpa. ending cg is adorable but jesus adelheid is smaller than i expected and that's while being aware that she's gonna naturally look smaller beside wald.

LONDREKIA:

i do...not have a lot to say on londrekia's story to be honest except the ending was really fucking dorky in a cute way. really i just wanted this section so i can say hes so stupid and moe and i like him. i really warmed up to him over the course of seven years. i used to be so neutral towards his existence when not paired with merk but nowadays he's one of my favorites. i often do not like anime white boys but he is SO SO SO COMICALLY WHITE that it's charming. i think him becoming playable aided in that though because oh my god. oh my god. he's such a loser and i want to playfully tease him for it

uhh i think that's all my thoughts? oh wait yeah phonana mentioned. ok now im done. sorry for the 3 page long analysis as a uni fan its second nature to take their microscopic small implications and go crazy over the crumbs when it comes to the story. gameplay still looks peak as hell though would expect no less from fpan. excited to get the game soon :3