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beginningobserver · 2 months

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I'm pretty sure he met Ukkomon before that event happened. After all the flashback/memory? showed it took place around young Tai's and Kari's age of that movie, and after the wish that event happened right after. Unless I missed something that proves its after that event? [...] Lui and Ukkomon state how they're the first Digimon and human to interact. When they're actually the third ones to interact in the timeline.

Kinda got this on my replies for the headcanon-theory that Rui witnessed the Greymon vs Parrotmon in 1995. And since due to the character limit in the place i got this response, i'll just talk about it here.

Things to consider:

The cameo of baby Taichi and Hikari in the movie is not retconning anything. It's just a small cameo and to indicate Rui and Ukkomon lived in Hikarigaoka in 1996. Besides, this video here has a timeline for the movie. [static photos of said timeline here and here]

[⚠ Take this with a grain of salt] In an interview in Korean with SekiP, she already confirmed they changed a bit of the lore. And, since we can't check the original wording in Japanese (since translation from JP to KR to EN might have something lost in the translation and re-translation) there's nothing we can do about it. Said interview also mentioned the math count being about a kid with a digivice, and not by digimon encounters. Because we all know the "first" to have interacted with a digimon were Oikawa Yukio and Hiroki Hida (Iori's dad) in the 1980s. I took those words granted (yeah i decided to take the risks) when i made this list & math here.

If we're going with that statement, Taichi and Hikari never had a digivice in the 1995 events. They only got digivices and partners in 1999. You can consider Wallace’s issue solved if you think this way too: Got the twin-mons before 1995 but only got a digivice and officially partnered with Terriermon/Gummymon somewhere later.

I'm so sorry to disagree here, but I don't think director Kakudou ever explained how the math actually worked. So i can't really claim this is a plot hole/contradiction or just straight up the 02TB staff interpreting the rule of "digimon partnerships doubling once per year" in their own way. Like i said, we never had details about how digimon partnerships happen: is it one per each person in the span of a year or the number just doubles instantly?

Now, actual SPOILERS from the movie. This section will be left under "read more" in case you haven't watched it yet!

The entire movie does not blatantly agree with Rui's statements -- None of the 02 kids believe him immediately. They even point out certain oddities in Rui's statements, especially about the origins of the human-digimon partnerships. The movie definitely makes you question if whatever he's saying is true or is something Ukkomon told him a long time ago and he believed it.

The movie also is in check with the "math" as well, and said count is stated in one scene. The math just tracks with the count for the 2012 period -- it's not a full number, but makes sense coming from the actual count stated in Kizuna materials. Despite Kizuna also breaking a few specifics in order to make their plot work, it is still pretty loyal to the OG rules about partnerships.

According to the Bandai null lore profile for Ukkomon, the part of granting wishes is a rumor, not something confirmed to be true. This is also something that makes everyone doubt Rui's words. Miyako even comments on this being suspicious enough. (tho i can't remember exactly her words now alas)

However, i give Ukkomon the benefit of the doubt when he talks about being part of something bigger. Which is proven correct because once BigUkkomon is beaten, the digivices also are not needed anymore and they disappear. If this was part of Ukkomon's power or not, i don't know, but my assumption is that whoever is Ukkomon's higher ups acknowledged that the humans can form bonds with their digimon without that token. It's something similar to Adv'99 ep 53 & 54 in which the kids realize they didn't need the tags to evolve their digimon -- and that said tags were only needed to teach/train them to unlock those evolutions properly.

Btw the reason the digivices disappear are stated by the staff that in the OG 02 epilogue there's no digivices shown. This is correct: None of the scenes involving the grown up Tokyo Chosen or their children depict the digivices.

The movie is still in check with the OG lore and it might be its own interpretation of what we only got from the "digimon partnerships double per year" rule (which we never had enough details of how it worked). Even if it is plot hole or not it doesn't matter to me, or to others who liked this movie.

I'll quote Shinomiya Rina's words in Cyber Sleuth, when you have a friendly match with her:

[ID: "Haha, who cares? Don't think so deeply about it. It's boring to give a reason for everything, isn't it?"]

Interpret it in your own way, i'm just pointing out my own chain of thought and stating what was already said by the staff as well.

#02tb spoilers #ni's digitheories

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digitalgate02 · 9 months

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Sep/2018 & Jan/2019 → July/2023

Art style evolved since 2018, and with this some design quirks on them as well. Instead of making a separate post for each of them… I will post them together, since they were planned to be a “trio of misfits”.

First rough idea was “I need to make a new character to fill the Fragment of Light” in my DigiTimeLines project. Soleil came first, as the mysterious yet suspicious vessel for “Homeostasis” – which was my trying to work with ▽ back in time until i decided this wouldn’t work with Adv/02 lore and started to just plot new ideas based on ▽ concepts. So, this “Homeostasis” who keeps in touch with Soleil? Might not be the real one. I won’t spoil stuff in-progress sorry.

Soleil was inspired by a Kamen Rider Fourze character (you can notice it by the space naming + the “uniform”) – Sakuta Ryuusei/Kamen Rider Meteor, which is one of my favorite secondary Riders in the entire franchise. I’m not spoiling Fourze, but if you watched it you’ll notice the similarities soon. Besides Ryuusei, I also got driven back into Xros Wars Hunters arc and got some inspiration from Mogami Ryouma for his classy and smug style. I think if Soleil had a voice actor… It would probably be shared with Ryouma’s – because I like this character and enjoyed his VA in Hunters (who’s also Simon from TTGL). Ah, the Detective Ichijouji blog-and-story Soleil has aged up a little more – So he’s not a 14yo there!!

As for Lune… She came later in the same month. She was supposed to be the “psychic girl” with the Fragment of Energy and be Soleil’s ally-and-best-friend. Her design was inspired by another Fourze character, Nadeshiko/Kamen Rider Nadeshiko. Despite the appearance being quite inspired by Nadeshiko… Her personality is… not much. She could’ve gotten Amano Nene’s vibes more often – she’s a mysterious girl, yet she advocates for pacific methods and found interesting Daichi’s ways to challenge Soleil-and-”Homeo” justice. Besides that, she… She doesn’t like to cross the line, and this is why she’s the only person (besides Étoile) who can stop Soleil from going off the rails. But she has her own issues too!! She only follows what she thinks is right and correct.

Étoile was the last, and his entire existence is a SPOILER for both projects featuring him. Despite using male pronouns, Étoile is enby and it might make sense once you learn more about him. His design is based on a Beyblade character whose name I only know by “Kenny”. He’s also paired with a Pokomon/Viximon subspecies, and its name is Renard.

Ah, the Detective Ichijouji blog-and-story Soleil has aged up a little more – So they’re not their original ages there!!

(btw their space French-like codenames are not their surnames.)

#digitalgate02 chara design development #youta soleil #mizuki lune #noel etoile #digimon adventure timelines #young prince detective ichijouji ken

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v-for-verity · 6 months

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[FxM] Cyberpunk 2077 [literate/adv literate/novella]

✦ ۰ — hi. i am 21f and go by graves/auron. I am a writing-focused roleplayer and generally favor other writers that place emphasis on maintaining a consistent and gramatically sound style.

Whether it's angst, romance, heavy content, or mature topics, I'm pretty open to exploring all sorts of things. I'm very strongly back in my cyberpunk 2077 obsession which has been taking up a huge chunk of my few remaining braincells since release- so I'd love to get to write for it a little.

I'll go ahead and include a few more important bits regarding roleplaying with me;

✦ ۰ — I have no triggers and will never judge a partner for whatever they may bring up, so communicating with me is very much a safe space. On the other hand, i'd like to know of any topics that may make you uncomfortable.

i'm aware that i'm looking for pairings that are likely hard to find, especially some of these cases - but i can promise that i'lll try to incorporate as many of your own preferences as well so this works for the both of us. admittedly, this is very different from anything i've posted for in the past.

✦ ۰ — 3rd person / past or present tense preferred in writing.

✦ ۰ — enjoyer of ooc chatting, discussion, analysis and headcanoning.

✦ ۰ — though i have no issues with various irp content, no ooc flirting is tolerated. please respect my wishes regarding this.

The main pairings i'm currently looking for are;

[FxM]

- Johnny Silverhand x Female V (op)

I haven't quite gotten the chance to write as Fem V much, and though the chances are slim that I'll find anyone interested, i at least wanted to try.

I'd like to play V as a complex, hashed out character with her own background, quirks, and personality traits. I can promise that all my depictions have depth and will not be delivered flatly. I'll also do my best to make sure the character doesn't come off as dislikeable to you.

I've got information/lore for her, but as a very brief description;

"V" as in short for Verity. She's a conflicted nomad with a martyr complex- self-sacrificing to the core and often suffers because of it. It's a downright toxic trait that she largely cannot help- which contrasts strongly with her newly evolving traits of nihilism and cynicism brought on by Night City and even more so by Johnny's personality seeping into her own. A desire to be hopeful that often is hard to realistically maintain.

She has a slight obsession regarding old-school stuff. Ranging from tech, to media, to music. She's an avid enjoyer of punk music and rock from way before she was even born.

Part of her misses her life as a nomad, while the other part knows she doesn't truly belong there, feels that maybe she never did.

- Jackie Welles and Female V (op)

This one is a maybe. I'd be interested, but it's not at the top of my list. Everything I've said before pretty much carries over onto here. I just adore and miss Jackie a lot, so I wouldn't mind expanding on him a little.

[MxF]

- (op) Johnny Silverhand x Female V

I do have extensive experience with this specific pairing and with myself playing as Johnny. In this case though, I'd like an engaging V to play against.

I can promise canon-accuracy and complex characterization on my part as well.

✦ ۰ — anyway, ik I may sound a little intimidating or even pedantic through my posts, but I tend to be very relaxed and talkative through chat. so feel free to hit me up if you're interested in discussing a little.

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beevean · 2 years

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Sadly the reason I don't like The Geek Critique too much is that even when very aware of old 90s and 2000s fandom views, his own bias rooted in similar nostalgia still exudes in his opinions.

"Hey, look at all these comments in 1994 that note CD being convoluted, with 3K being a far better game"

Proceeds to act like it's the second best Classic game, despite having far worse issues than Adv 2's level design, and time travel being garbage

Same with the bias to and against Jam and 06 respectively

-Jam he's erroneously wrong on why it was made. It wasn't a love letter to unionize American and Japan canon, it was bluntly stated by Naka to be cuz Japan literally didn't know what Sonic was given absence on the Saturn, and Sonic in general not having good footing at all on Saturn. The other issue is the PC ports of CD and 3K already did that, by translating manual lore unlike Genesis release, so he accidentally discredited them, AND accidentally discredited Adventure in further unifying canon. It was just gushing praise for what is literally a game collection that barely swayed western views, instead reinforcing the shock when Sonic got green eyes because no one paid attention to his character design evolving after 1993

-06 similarly, negative biases against it fully, almost no positive mentioned. It was a 40 min rant on how Sonic's reputation died, when ironically as his notes on the fandom showed, the elitist mindset was already toxifying Sonic's rep before

He also completely missed on why fans and casuals jumped ship; the fanbase was 300% way too into a console rivalry that stopped being promoted after 1995. They also had the incorrect interpretation of Sonic being a sole lonewolf "bad dude". Noticeably Sonic 2 sold way less than 1 (7.55 vs 22.22 mil units) due to this and console packs, despite being a better game. The addition of Tails dissented them from the ad slam campaign for the public, and for those that stayed, then got lumped into Satam nostalgia as 3Ks release was split and delayed, and CD was on hard to obtain hardware. With 32x being a failure, and Saturn era not having much, these fans soon became elitist and rabid to Nintendo's successes, hung on to Sonic 1 and 2 very heavily, then also became rabid to themselves when some Weebs wanted to act superior in having exclusive stuff

Jam's compilation didn't help. They just got a compilation of stuff they already played to death, bar 3K

When Adventure came out, it did several things

-The casual public and fans not caring for Sonic 1994-1997 at all now are suddenly alienated to design, despite changing since 1993

-Satam and Archie fans now forced to accept that 1991-1993 US canon no longer mattered

-Weebs now no longer had exclusive access to unique stuff since canon was unified, localization differences aside

And finally, fans NOW had to give a cent to the game's story and character personalities

And so we ended with even more turmoil, which skyrocketed when Sega discontinued being hardware

So seeing Sonic on this killed many of the 90s/early 2000 crowd, and seeing Advance take cues from Adventure 1/2 hurt their """purist""" garbage opinions. Sprite comics dominated the web, elitist forums like Retro and Sonic Cult, even modding became elitist retro havens with this mindset

Heroes they glossed over it being made to appease them and attract newcomers, as they already made up their mind to hating new none 2D

Shadow was made to appease the gunho crowd, and failed

TCG is so very naive on how his own nostalgia affects his views, even the thumbnails progressively got more clickbaity and biased.

The fanbase ultimately will never recover, especially when Sonictubers just villify nostalgia bias, or blatant misinfo if it sounds convenient/coddles said nostalgia. Sadly no one can call him out; he's too big

TLDR: I find him mid and waddling in nostalgia

Anyway, how's your day?

I'm still processing the elections, thanks for asking 👍

It's undeniable that TGC is biased, that much is true, and he has all the hallmarks of an Adventure fan - his most recent Rush video basically starts with him complaining about the state of the franchise in 2005 lol. I can't think of a Sonic reviewer, or hell any reviewer in general, that is 100% fair and impartial. I judge how they come across with their bias :P for example, J has straight up admitted that he was one of the most influencial Youtubers in smearing the Meta era and its stories, and I can't stand Garrulous and his perpetually cynical tone as if he's forced to talk about Sonic at gunpoint, while I appreciate TGC and Implant Games for explaining themselves well and at least trying to motivate their opinions. (although apparently IG made a mess with his SA2 video, shame)

Admittedly I haven't watched all of his reviews, I skipped Heroes because I like the game enough and I skipped '06 because what else can you say about that one? And I didn't even know that he made a video about Jam lmao. Your explanation is very informative, thank you :)

I agree with your last paragraph. I think Adventure fans forgot how it was back in the 2000s when the "adults" were Classic fans and the Adventure fans were the kiddies with cringe tastes that didn't understand what Sonic was all about. So now they grew up, and it's their turn to make fun of the kiddies who like the Meta Era and don't understand what Sonic was all about. I'm tired of this "back in my day" attitude because it feels so myopic.

#sonic the hedgehog #long post

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noctuascion · 4 years

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I'm gonna make 2 requests, because I'm greedy and a little Cryptage starved right now. Also, you write so good and you have this way of turning a phrase that makes me super jealous so here goes. 1) FAKE DATING! Just... always with the fake dating. 2) Not sure how the lore works on your au but if it's applicable, either vamp crypto accidentally exposing wolf mirage to silver or wolf mirage exposing vamp crypto to sunlight.

;; Be as greedy as you want, sweetums. I love writing your prompts and also love you so it works out. uwu

Also, anything to keep me from falling asleep lol

I'll write your second request in a different post, but it'll be a bit. I write kinda slowly chjdjw ;;

Elliott Witt has had a lot of things happen to him. He's had first loves, first kisses, first everythings. He's done a lot in his life, but, in all his years of living and loving, he didn't think fake dating his rival would ever make the list. It did, though, as much as both of them resented it.

One of the promotional managers had called them in for a quick meeting. Basically, he laid down that they were to start appearing in public more and that they were doing it together. At first, Elliott had been on board. Having more time in the limelight sounded amazing, but then came in Park, who was now going to be his boyfriend.

Now, he's not saying Park's disgusting or revolting or that he isn't comfortable enough with his sexuality to be able to freely hug and tell his buddies he loves them (because, well, his only friends are a lesbian and a drug addict for the most part), but he's straight, a ladies man! Sure, the kid's pretty and everything, but he's not feminine either. He has his own special type of charm that's not entirely easy to put into words. (He has nice legs, though. Elliott will give him that much.)

He's glad, though, that he's not the only one entirely against this. Park managed to miss a lot of meet 'n greets, forgoing seeing his fans and opting out of photo shoots. He's rarely seen in public, and, if he is, he looks about as shady as a drug dealer—hiding his face, oversized clothing, etc. He hates the spotlight, Elliott quickly figured out, and that was his only real issue with this whole ordeal.

And when Elliott pointed out that he seemed to be perfectly fine with dating him, he called him what he assumes are curse words and insults in his native tongue before telling him he'd sooner date Nox.

However, their word was final, and the two were now a "couple" in the eyes of the public. Their fellow competitors were allowed insight on their little "agreement," and they did what any supportive friends would do: they laughed and wished the new couple a happy life.

Today was their first official "date" as a couple, so Elliott intended for it to be at least somewhat decent for them. He was aware Park hated public places, but they wanted them to be seen in public together. He couldn't please both parties, so he decided a small, family restaurant would be their destination. There wasn't a lot of people that normally visited, but Elliott was a personal fan of the food served there. The atmosphere was warm and friendly and he's sure Park would appreciate that much.

Why am I trying so hard again…?

Shrugging, he pulled on his second nicest jacket—a nice yellow shade that went well with his white shirt and blue jeans. His hair was done up in its usual style, though he lacked the goggles he normally wore, so his hair fell in his eyes a bit. He was sure Park wasn't going to try too hard, so he didn't either. It was a casual outing, after all; no need for either to wear anything extravagant.

Well, Elliott was wrong when Park met up with him wearing a white turtleneck, a nice black blazer, and matching slacks. He suspects a turtleneck because he's at least trying to hide his cybernetic implantations without being too obvious and still looking like effort was put in. There was such a stark color difference, though—he felt like the sun next to the moon.

"Oh, h-hey, you look…" Elliott trailed off, unsure if he should give a genuine compliment or play it off like a joke—but he's already stuttered, so he may as well commit, "… good—you dress up nice."

"Paquette and Wraith helped." He huffed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I wouldn't have put in so much effort otherwise."

"Such a heartbreaker, Kim."

Elliott chuckled before reaching out and opening the door, gesturing for him to hop inside his car. The hacker rolled his eyes before slipping inside, the trickster shutting it before hurrying to the other side.

"Where are we going?" Park asked once Elliott was inside, turning the engine on and beginning to leave the complex.

"I know you don't like public places, and a movie is a terrible first date, so I picked out a small family restaurant that has some of the best lemon cakes I've tasted. Not to mention some people will see us, together, so it'll make the higher-ups happy, y'know?"

"Hm. You're smarter than I thought you were."

"I'm full of surprises, sugar."

"Don't push your luck with this 'dating' thing, Witt."

"Oh! That reminds me—we should probably establish some boundaries." Elliott took a right, keeping his eyes on the road but focus elsewhere. "Personally, I don't really care. So long as we don't have sex, I think I'm good otherwise. How about you?"

"No kissing, holding hands, touching in general, stupid pet names, or sex."

"… Well, you've eliminated every possible way of showing we're 'dating.' Anymore you wanna ban there, kid?" Elliott sighed, stopping at a red light and looking over to where Park was seated, glaring out the window. "This is definitely more like a friendly outing, if anything, but no one's gonna talk about us if we just seem like friends. Higher-ups will have our necks."

"I take back what I said earlier. You're an idiot if you think I care about whether or not they're happy with what I do."

"All right, fair point. Can we at least hold hands? That shouldn't be too much to ask."

Park sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and sinking into his seat. "Fine. If it'll get them out of our business, we can do that. But only for a few seconds."

"Gotcha. Man, whoever dated you in the past must've been as touch-adv—avd—ad—ad… adverse as you."

"…"

"… Holy shit—you've never dated anybody."

"Shut up."

"No, no, that just makes this whole thing worse!" Elliott began driving again once the red light changed to green. His eyes returned to the road as well, though he was no less focused on the topic at hand. "You're experiencing a date for the first time with someone you don't even like, a-and that's not fair!"

"I—"

"No, y'know what? No, you're getting a date. Getting everything! You're getting the ol' Mirage charm, gonna get swept right off your feet."

"Witt—"

"No buts! You're being dragged out of your cave and getting screwed out of a first date with someone you're actually interested in. The least I can do is be as good to you as possible."

Park only stared at him, silent, before an amused breath left him, letting himself smile. "Okay."

—;;

Park wasn't a conversationalist, Elliott quickly found out. He was very quiet and reserved, which didn't help much either. He was, however, a great listener, and Elliott loved to talk, so, in a way, it worked out for the better.

The small restaurant they were seated in was relatively quiet, but they could hear hushed whispers about them being together, seated in a secluded booth that helped alleviate any anxiety Park might have with being seen by a bunch of people.

The holographic expert had ordered himself a steak, medium rare, with a salad on the side. He opted out for any alcohol, since he was the driver and he had no idea if Park was comfortable dealing with someone drunk, so all he ordered was some tea. Park, though, only asked for steak fries and a soda.

"Y'know," Elliott said after taking a sip of his tea, "you should get more meat in your diet. Helps build muscle, gets some meat on your bones."

"Hm…"

"C'mon! You also never join us for dinner. Or lunch—or, actually, I don't… see you eat. You eat, right?"

"Yes."

Elliott hummed in suspicion, a hand smoothing down his beard, though Park's stoic gaze didn't relent any. "All right… What do you normally eat?"

"Usually from whatever takeout menu is closer."

"… How are you even standing right now?" Elliott looked sad for a moment before shaking his head. "Let's make a quick deal here—"

"We've already made a deal."

"Let's make another. If you agree to come out of your cave for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I'll agree to do whatever you want. Anything. Well, except really bad stuff. Like, I won't kill someone. Too far."

It was Park's turn to hum, taking a sip from his straw, before placing the glass on the table. "I benefit from this more than you do."

"I get the benefit of helping my sweet sugar plum get better, even if it's just a little bit."

Park raised a brow. "What did I say about pushing luck?"

"Ya love me. You wouldn't leave me on our date like this… Well, I hope not."

Park wanted to roll his eyes, say "I would and I will," but he didn't. He kept silent, giving Elliott a look, who seemingly took the hint and changed subject.

"So, have you ever been asked out before?"

"Isn't that a bad topic for dates?"

"Just curious. Feel free to not say. Besides, it's not a real date."

"Don't let them hear you say that." Park stirred his drink with his straw absentmindedly, watching it fizz up at his ministrations. "No, no one's ever asked me out."

"Really?"

"You sound surprised."

Elliott laughed in disbelief. "Well, yeah! I mean, you're…"

"What?"

"I dunno—gorgeous, beautiful, cool and mysterious! You'd think girls would be all over you."

"I'm not exactly pleasant to be around, Witt. I'd think you'd have figured that out by now."

The trickster waved a hand, like he was denying Park's claim. "You're rough around the edges, but you're not horrible." He shrugged, taking another sip from his drink. "I'm sure someone out there's just dying to wanna date you! Or maybe you haven't met them yet. Who knows!"

Park let another faint smile curl his lips, looking into his drink. "Who knows, indeed."

—;;

Day two of their time as a couple was during a duos match (of course it was just them), and Elliott had counted this as possibly his most unlucky match.

They had landed at Epicenter and Park landed on top of the tower, alone, and Elliott landed on the ground with two other squads, one consisting of Nox and Octavio and the other being Natalie and Ajay. Nox had trained his sights on him immediately and began chasing him down (the sadistic bastard), and he had to rush to find a gun. All he could find was a P2020, and it wasn't exactly a fair match against the scientist's Spitfire.

Neither of them had any shields, but just a couple of shots from the toxic trapper's gun was enough to down him, slipping on ice and colliding with the hard ground.

"Oh—fuck!" the trickster cursed, trying to crawl away from the man towering over him. "C-C'mon, Caustic, don't you have anyone else to shoot at?"

"No."

"That's a lie and you know it."

However, before Nox could kill him off, the sound of a Sentinel going off, following by Nox quickly being down, sent a wave of relief through his system, looking over onto the cliff to see Park perched atop it, the bolt-action sniper in his hands.

No scope. That's kinda hot.

The hacker had shot off a few more rounds, and Elliott could hear Octavio shout in pain, before he began sliding down the hill, swapping out his sniper for a Wingman. The revolver was shot off twice before Nox's death box suddenly popped up in front of him, signaling the end of that squad.

However, they still had Natalie and Ajay, though they'd been injured by Octavio. They were clinging to D.O.C.'s healing up until Park tosses a grenade where they were healing. Natalie hadn't escaped fast enough, and she ended up downed, whereas Ajay was only injured.

She put up a fight, firing off her Alternator with frightening precision, and, had Park not hit his shots, he would've been killed off.

However, the man calmly approaching his fallen teammate was enough of an indicator that he won that battle, only a few wounds and scratches indicating his prior struggle.

"Kid, if I didn't know better," he said, pausing to let out a grunt at the syringe being plunged into his chest, "I'd think you're trying to show off and steal my heart."

For a moment, Park was silent, helping Elliott back to his feet, before a smirk crossed those dashing fractures, looking up at the other with a faint sense of mirth dancing in his eyes.

"Did it work?"

For once in his life, Elliott was left stunned, mouth open, unable to formulate a response, before the surveillance expert left to loot.

He regained his senses after a moment, blinking himself back into reality, and shutting his mouth.

Kid's full of surprises.

—;;

Their third date wasn't for the public. Their third date wasn't even suggested by Elliott. Park had just grabbed Elliott by the arm, dragged him out to god-knows-where, late at night, and laid down on a small hill. He didn't say anything, didn't give any explanation, and, honestly, Elliott didn't expect anything less. He just laid down beside the other, looked up at the stars, and let out a breath.

However, as Park's own mind was clear, hands resting on his stomach and a leg bent at the knee, Elliott's own was filled with thoughts of confusion, his hands behind his head, acting as a pillow.

Park was such a strange guy. One day, he acts like he's the bane of his existence, and, the next, he's smiling and making quips that make Elliott's heart race. Elliott's been with a lot of people, and he's learned a lot from his time with them, but there's never been a time where they've made him feel like… this.

They never badger him about his gross, smelly hair spray, they never playfully banter with him, they never push him off of exploding trains, and they certainly never made him speechless, never made him feel like he lost the ability to function. They never treated him like a person. They always just treated him like… Mirage.

"Hyeon?"

"Hm?"

"I don't think I'm straight."

"Mm. What makes you say that?"

"Because I think I'm in love with you."

Park smiled, letting out a quiet laugh. "You don't even know how I feel about you."

"I don't. You're weird, and you're never forward w-with how you feel, but… I just… thought you should, y'know, know, since we're doing this whole… thing."

"Mm. The fake dating thing?"

"The fake dating thing, yeah."

"… Do you want it to be fake anymore?"

Elliott turned into his side, Park own head moving to meet his gaze. "No."

"Mm. Good." Park's head turned back to the stars, shutting his eyes. "Neither did I."

#apex legends #cryptage #oops this was really long !!!#but that's okay #i hope you at least enjoyed my gross cheesy cliché nonsense #i'll get to working on the other one i promise #maybe make it a little shorter lol #lenardo does a write

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analyzingadventure · 6 years

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Incase you missed it, yesterday Hiroyuki Kakudou talked about his resignation from the new Digimon project. If you want to see the details, check WtW for Onkeikun’s translations of the tweets, but the TL:DR;

Kakudou had been invited to work on the new project

The project has been in production since last year

Kakudou has now left it and won’t be involved any further due to unknown creative differences between him and the studio

The first thing we can take from this is that since the 20th Anniversary Project has been in production since last year (aka it didn’t go into production when tri. ended) we can be sure to hear something about it in the Digimon Thanksgiving event in July. Trailer? Probably not. Concept art? Possibly.

The other thing we can take away is that while Kakudou doesn’t explicitly state it, we can be very sure that the new project is indeed going to be Adventure-related. Kakudou’s grievances with the new project and the reason he left was that something about the setting of the new project contradicts what has been previously established “in the TV series” (and the fact that the story/ideas he submitted got rejected over what Toei ended up accepting).

There is no TV series Kakudou knows better than Adventure and Zero Two; he may have been in the staff for Tamers and Frontier, but Adv+02 are his babies, it’s safe to assume Toei asked him to help because the project is Adv-related and he’s the most familiar with them.

Now... people have taken kind of an “abandon ship”-attitude over the 20th Anniversary Project after Kakudou’s tweets, and yeah, I just want everybody to calm down a bit. Kakudou leaving the project doesn’t mean it’s all already going to hell.

As much as I love Adventure, we all must admit that Adventure’s lore is not flawless without holes or that it makes perfect sense all the time. Kakudou has had a pretty damn fluid view of the Adverse’s lore, you can see it in Adventure, Zero Two, the CD Dramas and the novels. So his lack of involvement in the new project doesn’t mean the project will suck. If anything it might mean the writing could turn out more consistent even.

It is still concerning however since, yeah, Kakudou’s view of Adventure IS fluid. So the fact that he wanted to leave the project because of some kind of continuity errors is somewhat alarming to a degree. Either the something truly awful is brewing in Toei’s studio, something so out there that even Kakudou was like “aww hell naw”, or it might just be a petty fight over artistic vision.

The thing is; we have no idea where the consistency error is.

The new project could be planning on changing or retconning important events established in Adventure/Zero Two, it could be planning on changing rules we’ve come to expect as facts about the world, or a crucial part of the new project might be completely OOC for some of the characters.

The issue in the new project could be that they’re changing how evolution works. Or it could be a “Luke Skywalker tried to kill Ben Solo” situation.

We don’t know where the issue lies, and thus we don’t know how severe it is. And not all of these issues are equally bad.

Kakudou did say that he thinks some fans will be able to enjoy the new project despite the issue he sees in it. Kakudou leaving the project this early doesn’t mean it already sucks. Yes, treading with caution is for the best, but there is still hope, the 20th Anniversary Project isn’t doomed yet.

#DigiSafe #20th #Text post #I do absolutely feel bad for Kakudou #Dude loves his babies so having to leave the project because he was that done with it must've hurt

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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Sakura Wars Review (PS4) — The Dream is Back

April 29, 2020 10:00 AM EST

While it has been a long wait, Sakura Wars is a satisfying blend of everything that the franchise has done well for a new generation on PS4.

Claiming that Sakura Wars (aka Sakura Taisen) is a huge franchise is an understatement. The steampunk, East meets West stylized series featuring courageous women who act as a theater revue by day and fight demons at night left a huge mark on Japanese pop culture and on anyone who encountered it. When Sega and Red Entertainment released the first Sakura Taisen game on Sega Saturn in 1996, it made history with its peculiar aforementioned mix of genres and atmospheres. Most notably, it mixed various dating simulator, tactical RPG, and adventure elements (what we commonly call visual novels in English) together. By far, it wasn’t the first game that strove to create mixes like these. Red Entertainment themselves weren’t at their first attempt, as Sakura Taisen followed in the footsteps of games such as the Galaxy Fräulein Yuna series.

Sakura Taisen, however, is the first franchise of its kind that managed to reach such mainstream stardom, at least in Japan. This is in part thanks to a very unorthodox idea back then that the franchise pulled off. The seiyuu, Japanese voice actresses and actors, of Sakura Taisen would all regularly hold “Kayou Shows”–musicals similar to the ones that players experienced in-game–that greatly contributed to establish the franchise’ cult status. Putting the seiyuu themselves in the spotlight through stage events, streams and radio shows is usual nowadays, but it was a very novel idea back then, as Sakura Taisen‘s original author Oji Hiroi recently pointed out. Today, many game and anime franchises all do their own stage play musicals in the same vein.

While the Sakura Taisen series reached a conclusion with Sakura Taisen 4 in 2002, followed by a standalone Sakura Taisen V in 2005 (the sole episode that officially left Japan), the series never truly stopped. Indeed, the mainline game part stayed dormant, but anime, manga adaptations and spinoffs, mobile games, apparitions in crossovers such as Project X Zone, and real life events such as art expositions kept it rolling around over the years. And last but not least, the Kayou Shows continued for all these years. Fan demand for a new game never relented, and Sakura Taisen is such a big piece of Sega’s (and gaming) history that culturally and business-wise, a game comeback was only a matter of time. When, and how, were the main questions. And the answer is this brand new PlayStation 4 game, titled Shin Sakura Taisen/New Sakura Wars in Japan, and simply rebranded as Sakura Wars overseas.

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Sakura Wars brings back the franchise that everyone loved in a magnificent way, all while making it accessible to neophytes.

Sakura Wars, the PS4 game, is the first main game of the series in 15 years. Officially announced in March 2018 and revealed in March 2019, Sakura Wars is Sega’s attempt to fully relaunch the franchise worldwide, hence why a localization in multiple languages was announced from the get-go. The game is accompanied with its own novel, manga, and a multitude of new crossover collaborations and goods. Seeing the game is already available in Japan since December 2019, an anime sequel also started this April. A stage play was planned as well, but was sadly canceled due to COVID-19.

To be honest, as I relentlessly covered Sakura Wars news via the monthly streams that Sega organized for the game, part of myself was scared. I asked a lot of different questions to myself: “What if the game sucks? What if they only show the good parts on stream? What if I end up hating it?” I’ve rarely been this scared of being disappointed when it comes to my hobbies. It would have been incredibly painful to see the series fail its comeback and fall into oblivion. As I grabbed the game in Japanese, part of my doubts were dispelled after spending some time on it. I even attempted live translating part of the game to show my enthusiasm and spread awareness. Now with this English version, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with the game, and I can finally affirm this now, with conviction: Sakura Wars brings back the franchise that everyone loved in a magnificent way, all while making it accessible to neophytes.

“Sakura Wars is an ADV, a pure and thorough Adventure game akin to what we call visual novels, and should be approached as such.”

Sakura Wars works both as a sequel and as a reboot. The game’s intro explains how the cast from the previous games all disappeared after a decisive battle against the demons, and introduces instead a brand new cast of main characters. Players are put in the role of Seijuro Kamiyama, a young, talented ex-marine ship captain, who’s now assigned as the captain of the Flower Division. The Flower Division is the core battle and theater unit of the Imperial Combat Revue, protecting Tokyo from demons. All big cities in the current world of Sakura Wars similarly have their own Combat Revues, and they are about to participate in a big tournament to hone their skills. However, the Imperial Combat Revue is facing both a financial and identity crisis, and it’ll be up to Kamiyama to give the Flower Division members the trust they need to overcome their issues and win the tournament, all while fighting off a new demon threat.

You might be wondering why I’ve yet to touch upon the gameplay aspect of Sakura Wars in this review, but you’ve actually been experiencing it already if you’ve read this far. Just like its predecessors, Sakura Wars is an ADV, a pure and thorough Adventure game akin to what we call visual novels, and should be approached as such. You’ll be spending the vast majority of your time in the game reading the dialogue and events unfolding as you control Kamiyama and interact with the characters.

The game reintroduces the series’ LISP system, which are short-timed dialogue choices selected with the directional stick. This aims to make the players realistically think about their words and strengthen immersion. Most of the time, players will have a clear choice between either acting in a positive and gentle way (Top Choice), in a harsh and stern way (Left Choice), or being some kind of creep or clown (Right Choice). Beyond these obvious dialogue choices, you’ll have to do your best to figure out the characters’ feelings, as always picking cliche anime lines about friendship and love won’t work. Kamiyama himself isn’t a self-insert; he has his own personality, and will choose his own words in certain crucial moments, where you’ll instead be urged to pick the intensity of said words.

“All of the concepts and mechanics unique to the Sakura Taisen series have been tirelessly thought over by the development team. They have all been improved and adapted to 3D.”

The true difference in Sakura Wars compared to its predecessors isn’t the change from a tactical RPG system to action RPG elements for its battles; I’ll get to that later. It’s the fact that the game has switched to full 3D. This is a revolution for the series, and Sega made the best out of it. The past games let you roam around the Imperial Theater, which is the Imperial Combat Revue’s base of operations, via a 2D map where characters were represented in Super-Deformed, SD style. When you triggered dialogue with other characters, the games switched to a visual novel-like style, with the characters illustrated with 2D artworks and occasional anime cutscenes. It had (and still has) its charm.

On the opposite side, Sakura Wars lets you explore its environments in full 3D. This choice wasn’t simply fueled by a desire to make the series more appealing to a new generation of players. All of the concepts and mechanics unique to the Sakura Taisen series have been tirelessly thought over by the development team. They have all been improved and adapted to 3D. Exploring the Imperial Theater and the city has never felt so rewarding and immersive. While each area barring the Imperial Theater is quite small, they are packed with small details, fun NPCs, and points of interests. Kamiyama’s own thoughts and observations when inspecting elements will evolve together with the story. Sakura Wars is full of intricate world-building, most notably thanks to the contribution of military specialist and world setting advisor genius Takaaki Suzuki. Simply heading to your next main objective pointed out on the Teletron, Kamiyama’s steam-technology powered smartphone, will probably only make you experience half of the game. You’ll end up missing a myriad of optional events, which aren’t necessarily pointed out on the map, Bromides to collect (photographic portraits of the characters), minigames, and lore.

The most striking aspect introduced thanks to 3D is how Sakura Wars handles its dialogue and events. Nearly all the dialogue is presented through in-engine cutscenes, and each one is stunning. Except during their pre-rendered cutscenes, I dare you to find any other typically Japanese game with as much camerawork, screenplay, and especially lively characters during dialogue. Be it Yakuza, Persona, the Tales series, Ni no Kuni, or any offerings from smaller independent studios like Falcom or Nippon Ichi Software, the characters will most certainly simply be standing there when chatting. Most of the time in several of those games, you will be cycling through minimal, prepared in-advance movements and expressions.

Meanwhile, Sakura Wars feels as if specific movement patterns and facial expressions were tailor-made for every single dialogue in the game. They’re always on-point with the discussion and emotions conveyed by the characters. This is so disconcerting compared to what Japanese games usually offer that I’m convinced some players will dislike how the characters in Sakura Wars are constantly in movement. In-universe it makes perfect sense, as the members of the Combat Revues are all used to performing arts and expressing themselves with their bodies.

“Only 60% to 70% of Sakura Wars‘ dialogue is voiced, and it’s the biggest disappointment that I have with the game. It’s especially jarring to see such incredible vivid dialogue scenes being left unvoiced.”

As for the ever-changing expressions of the characters, you might have heard how multiple artists have worked on Sakura Wars. The original character design of the main cast was handled by Bleach‘s Kubo Tite. Other original character designers handled side characters in the game, and we have K-On‘s Yukiko Horiguchi, Sword Art Online‘s Bunbun, Strike Witches‘ Fumikane Shimada, Pokemon‘s Ken Sugimori, Haruhi Suzumiya‘s Noizi Ito, and Persona‘s Shigenori Soejima. However, it’s important to note that similarly with an anime’s production, another single character designer redrew all the designs so that they’re easy to animate and more uniform. That task was handled by Masashi Kudo, who did a terrific job. In fact, Masashi Kudo in the past did the exact same job with Kubo Tite’s designs on the Bleach anime. As such, there’s absolutely no sense of disunity when it comes to the characters’ designs, despite the various artists.

Sadly, overall, I’d say only 60% to 70% of Sakura Wars‘ dialogue is voiced, and it’s the biggest disappointment that I have with the game. It’s especially jarring to see such incredible vivid dialogue scenes being left unvoiced. Sega’s auditioning for the game, which included singing–seeing as each character has their own theme song–brought us an all-star and talented cast of seiyuu. It’s a huge shame they didn’t get to fully demonstrate their skills. Pre-rendered anime cutscenes are back too, and are in 3D as well. These were handled by famous 3D anime studio Sanzigen. Ironically, the sole lackluster visual aspect of Sakura Wars lies in some of its 2D illustrations used to depict certain scenes in the game, with some of them being of varying quality. Going out of your way to interact with the characters and experience as much of the dialogue as possible, the core gameplay will have a direct influence on the minor gameplay elements, the battles.

“Rather than the battles, what makes Sakura Wars so good is definitely its cast. It’s a purely character-driven experience.”

Each story chapter in Sakura Wars follows a typical mecha anime pattern, with the characters heading to sortie near the chapter’s conclusion, setting up a fight scene for the climax. Characters in the Sakura Taisen franchise fight demons using Combat Armors, which are mecha powered by steam and magical spirit energy, mixing steampunk and fantasy elements. This is where a stern warning is due: you definitely shouldn’t expect to be playing a traditional JRPG. Sakura Wars and its predecessors do not feature numbers to grind, equipment to maintain and skills to learn. The only variable which makes your characters stronger, or weaker, are their Trust Levels, the only way to influence Trust Levels are through your dialogue choices. There’s no real changes to the battle system throughout the whole game, except for Team Attacks that you’ll unlock as you increase Trust.

The battle stages aren’t that big and are globally pretty easy. If you do get a game over, you’ll always be able to restart with extra help. While there are many different types of enemies, none of them will stay etched in your memory. The only exception are the bosses, all introduced with huge on-screen Kanji, following Sakura Taisen tradition, and something you might be acquainted with through Skies of Arcadia and Valkyria Chronicles.

As an important note, the battle system of the original Japanese release of the game had no lock-on system and instead used an automatic homing function, which made it hard to hit flying enemies, most notably. This isn’t a problem anymore as a patch has long been released, adding a lock-on system, a better radar, limited button remapping, being able to save anytime, and last but not least, a dialogue log with voice playback. These improvements will be included in the Western version, so make sure to download the day one patch. However, the patch was only made available to reviewers a little bit before embargo, so some reviews might mistakenly point out these faults, even though they are now patched.

In any case, you’ll only be fighting for around 20 minutes for about every 3 hours of gameplay, and despite being so simple, the battles are still fun and do their job well. The battles, like the rest of the game, are also filled by cool dialogue and incredible cutscenes, including dialogue choices. The music by the legendary Kohei Tanaka (One Piece, Gravity Rush, among others) is always on-point as well, and it’s the combination of these factors that makes these climaxes so awesome. But ultimately, the battle system of Sakura Wars in itself is marginal. Rather than changing from a tactical RPG to action RPG, the battle system might as well have switched to Sega’s match-three puzzle game Columns, and it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Rather than the battles, what makes Sakura Wars so good is definitely its cast. It’s a purely character-driven experience. Japanese games tend to traditionally include a stereotypical cast, which gradually shows its uniqueness as you play. Sakura Taisen is and always was the culmination of this concept. The protagonists fight to protect the world and follow huge cliches based on their country of origin. The villains simply wish to see humans suffer for no reason. Everything is cheesy, but it works terribly well. The original script, written by 428 Shibuya Scramble‘s director Jiro Ishii, doesn’t stray from these traditions of the Sakura Taisen series, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Each chapter mostly focuses on a single main character, but all the others will play a role too. This is especially true for the second half of the game, when all the characters have already gone through a good chunk of development. Each character’s individuality slowly unveils itself through the multitude of dialogue events, and you just can’t help but fall in love with the characters.

Ultimately, while we might call it a dating sim, Sakura Wars is quite different from most. Of course, in the same vein as its stereotypical characters and plot, Sakura Wars is also filled with cliche anime situations. Kamiyama often finds himself in “lucky pervert” incidents depending of your choices. I’d add Sakura Taisen is one of the few franchises that manages to make sexual fan service moments and “romantic comedy” misunderstandings like these actually comedic and funny. Still, you shouldn’t expect anything steamy to happen, as even the unlockable optional flirting scenes are very tame. Indeed, your true goal in Sakura Wars isn’t to whoo girls, it’s to make the team members feel at home and have a place where to belong. I believe this is why the nomenclature of the series always used “Trust Levels” instead of “Affection” or “Love” levels.

Moreover, while we control Kamiyama, the true protagonist of this new Sakura Wars is Sakura Amamiya, the most devoted member of the Flower Division, who aims to restore the Imperial Combat Revue to its former glory. While the game includes a dive into each main character’ psychology and worries, everything revolves around Sakura Amamiya. She’s the sole character on the game’s case artwork, the first character you see in the opening anime sequence, and she’s the one getting a typical mecha anime midseason upgrade. It’s not a baseless choice as to why the ongoing manga version and sequel anime both put the spotlight on her.

Sakura Wars might even be too much centered around Sakura Amamiya at times. Most side characters, and those who belong to the other Combat Revues fought during the tournament, barely interact for most of the game with the main cast besides Kamiyama and Sakura Amamiya. Moreover, while the tournament battles are centered around 3 vs 3 team battles, only two members of each Combat Revue we face off against are introduced. Their third combatant is always a nameless, faceless character we’re never introduced to.

Nonetheless, in Sakura Wars the girls are always the true stars of the stage. This approach is one of the many reasons why the franchise as a whole is so inspiring and attractive to anyone, despite being a dating simulator for hetero male anime otaku. Furthermore, Sakura Amamiya idolizes Sakura Shinguji, one of the main characters of the past games in the series, which brings us to the final important point; how meta this Sakura Wars is.

“Overall I’ve rarely seen a game manage to deliver a commentary on itself, all while handling fan service perfectly, brimming with love and respect for its own legacy.”

The first part of Sakura Wars‘ story features an obsolete Imperial Combat Revue shunned by all and on the verge of shutting down. It’s almost as if the game is reflecting the image of the franchise itself in the eyes of younger folks who didn’t live through it. Then, you’d be amazed at the numbers of NPCs who trashtalk the new characters while singing the praise of the old ones. Sega is fully aware of grumpy fans who claimed on social media that instead of a new cast, they’d rather have the ex-main characters back even if they were into their senior years. Players can regularly learn about the previous cast via the Imperial Theater’s archives, with Kamiyama sharing words of admiration. And then you have Itsuki, an embodiment of the good fan, with whom you can fangirl with while chatting about both the old and new characters.

As a newcomer or as an oldtimer, your overall opinion of the game and its characters will grow positively as you play, exactly mirroring how the Imperial Combat Revue slowly regain its fame through the main story, making for a unique experience. Overall I’ve rarely seen a game manage to deliver a commentary on itself, all while handling fan service perfectly, brimming with love and respect for its own legacy. I clearly remember the excitement I’d feel when I was a kid looping the Sakura Taisen games’ anime opening sequences while dreaming of playing the series. Experiencing Sakura Wars on PS4 feels exactly like that. The dream is back.

Before concluding, I’d also throw in a word regarding the English localization of Sakura Wars. As I mentioned earlier on, I’ve partly played the Japanese version, and I must say that the English translation is amazing. Despite the Japanese heavy setting, It doesn’t go with the simple choice of keeping Japanese terms and honorifics, and yet still retains what makes the series’ atmosphere so unique, and conveys everything that needs to be conveyed. Every ten lines I was in awe and reminded of how much I suck as a translator.

In conclusion, while Sakura Wars never feels like it cuts corners, you can clearly tell, with the lack of full-voice acting or the nameless third combatants thing, that Sega didn’t fully believe in themselves. Sega is incredibly eager to make the series reach glory again, and brought to the development team all-star artists, writers and seiyuu, but at the same time was reluctant and wary. They believed in this comeback but lacked conviction to put more resources on the table, which is slightly disappointing. A more ambitious and polished sequel would definitely have the potential to become one of the most iconic Japanese games in years, similarly to Persona 5. With full voice acting this time, even denser content, more interactions between the main and side casts, and an attempt to make the battle parts into something more than narrative climaxes, you’d have the formula for a masterpiece. Sales would follow suit, boosting the franchise’s popularity worldwide, and we could even see the past games finally get official localization.

Unless you religiously scorn the act known as reading, there is absolutely no reason to avoid grabbing Sakura Wars on PS4. If you’ve read the integrity of this review, you need to hurry up and grab the game right the hell now. It’ll make you discover a fresh universe full of surprise. If you’re a complete stranger to this culture, it will surely be the game that makes you realize what’s so good about Japanese games, anime and manga. In an era where the most exported Japanese cultural products are battle stories inspired by Dragon Ball, playing Sakura Wars can be a gateway that will definitely broaden your horizons.

April 29, 2020 10:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/sakura-wars-review-ps4-the-dream-is-back/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sakura-wars-review-ps4-the-dream-is-back

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