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ablupen · 1 year

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I Completed Lessons 1-10. Here's what happened, and the ending I got.

Alright! After about 15 hr 23 min total of F2P playing, I've completed all 10 lessons with all main stories/episodes watched. Granted, anything past lesson 4 isn't full S completed anymore, and I am very broke, but eh.

Anyways, here's some pictures of how it's going:

And now some more thoughts and summaries, including stuff I didn't say in my last post.

The boss levels are basically beating up the boys... Well, uh, if you're mad at one of the seven, go play their boss level, ig?

Solomon's cooking is so bad it caused Henry 1.0 to rapidly polymorph temporarily into random things

Henry 1.0 was originally huge. Levi befriended the snake when both of them were hiding from Satan

Henry 1.0 became regular snake sized bc Sol shrank him 😐 This means the shrink spell wore off, apparently.

The building that you and Sol share is called Cocytus Hall. I wonder where this building would be present day..? Did it get recycled?

Newly-demon brothers are being discriminated

Cerberus was obtained bc of a rumor that anyone who tames it becomes Ruler of the Underworld.

Mammon rallies everyone behind Luci's back to find and tame Cerberus

On the way there, we discover that we can still summon the brothers (We summon Beel to eat a magically growing pile of apples)

Apprehension attempt on Cerberus did not succeed. Luci saves everyone and tames Cerberus. Someone leaks these news and this is how the seven brothers become the seven rulers.

We become one of the three core founding members of RAD lmao

Somehow we get caught in a dream(?) with Levi in the TSL world. Levi does not know TSL at this point in time. Anyways, he summons Lotan at the end of it, who apparently actually appeared in real life, flooded the room, and then left.

Fuck i forgot when this happened so I'll just leave it here, but: Satan turned everyone except you and Lucifer into Chihuahuas. Including himself. Thankfully, the spell had a limit so it didn't last long

Angels enter the scene! For RAD consultation.

Apparently at some point the bottom of Asmo's bathtub becomes a portal.

Solomon is a fucking bastard and pushes everyone into the bathtub. You choose if you go in by your own will or if he also pushes you.

It leads to the Celestial Realm??? No lol jk, it's actually inside a very familiar looking labyrinth and y'all are being chased by a giant spider, fuck.

Solomon remakes pact with Asmo to distract spider.

Solomon then summons Barbatos

Unfortunately at some point he pissed Barbs off so he's ticked off by this summon. Barbs teleports the spider away and Sol uses his pact to force him to make a portal back home, but Barbs gets mad and later TELEPORTS HIM TO A DRAGON'S DEN LMAO

dw he's alright! He returns next lesson with a dragon egg.

Bad news! Diavolo and Barbatos realize you're human and not a demon after... What/when is this? 6-7 lessons? Yeah. Anyways, Dia tells you that you should pack up bc he's sending you back to the human world. You're another distraction, so to eliminate some stress, you're being deported, sorry. This is not a good thing.

Mammon and crew - except Luci obviously take on a ghost hunting job at the tome place idk I forgot the spelling

Mammon gets fucking possessed by a human ghost named Adam after you read his name off of a tomestone bc it was written in a human language.

Adam says that a demon killed him with consent many years ago bc Adam was trying to look for his lover but their dead

In case it wasn't obvious, that you.

Also, the demon knew you'd have the Ring of Light on you still. Anyways, Adam tells you that the demon's name/alias was Nightbringer. Guys, it's a fucking name drop!!!

You manage to open the gates for Adam by slurping up some of the brothers' powers and by the powers of the ring

Next day, you get a letter telling you to meet Dia concerning your expulsion, which Sol comes with you to try and change Dia's mind.

Suddenly, Belphegor basically kicks open the doors to demand that Beel be released. Apparently, he's been jailed. Shit, isn't that a parallel or what, huh?

Apparently, he suddenly got out of control and rampaged. Dia manages to pin him down and get him into a cell with sheer strength alone, but later escapes in the next lesson after you confront Luci and Belphegor who had a spat.

You, Luci, and Belphie get blamed for causing all of this 🥴 Especially by Barbs. Anyways, using your magic siphoning ability from your future pacts and the Ring of Light, you knock Beel out. Lesson 10 ends with you revealing that you're human and Dia and everyone wondering who tf you are to have this kind of power.

That was a lie. The very last scene was actually Satan and Simeon watching a cat that you introduced to Satan before you left with Luci and Belphie and discover the rampaging Beel. "Do you think MC will come back before the cat wakes up?" "I hope so."

Context for the quotes on the Nightbringer site:

Lucifer; "My pride hurt my brothers": I actually don't remember this one. I don't even know if my choices led up to this one. Will maybe revisit everything tomorrow or sum

Mammon; "We chose to follow Lucifer here. We all had reasons for doin' what we did.": This is from when Mammon is trying to convince the other brothers to join him in his search for Cerberus. He's tired of being discriminated, and doesn't regret his choice.

Leviathan; "I never wanted to come to this awful place, to begin with!": When Diavolo meets with the brothers concerning plans for RAD and about possibly making an announcement to show the brothers'presence, Levi is against this. He doesn't want the attention.

Satan; "I can barely stand being around them. It's torture.": Obviously, "them" are his "brothers". I can assume when he says this, but I think I can guess when it is. It was probably after he stormed off once the others discuss what the Celestial Realm was like. He's never seen that place, and he can't relate to the other brothers.

Asmodeus; "I want to return to the Celestial Realm...! I want to be an angel again! The way I used to be... White wings and all!": This is during the weird portal in the bathtub scene. He had tried to move on from the fall, but Simeon's appearance reminds him of what he lost again. He's scared of the fact that he's getting used to his demon self and that he's forgetting what it was like to be an angel.

Beelzebub; "I have a big secret that I've never been able to tell... Not even to Belphie.": I've actually never encountered this one bc I didn't get close to Beel. Has anyone seen this one?

Belphegor; "Who deserves to be punished the most?": After Lucifer temporarily admits defeat and doesn't stand up to Diavolo to let Beel go, Belphegor gets angry. He's scared that he'll lose another sibling. After telling you about Lilith and how stubborn she was, he admits that he doesn't know who to blame: Lilith for breaking the rules, the angels for directly killing her (or was this second one the other brothers for not doing more? I forgot damn), or himself for not protecting Lilith.

Anyways, that's all I can think of rn. Do note though that in Nightbringer, choices apparently actually matter so you may have gotten different results!

#obey me nightbringer #obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me main character #obey me side characters #obey me swd

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tasteslikevequill · 2 days

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I reblog so much of Aphblr, I felt the need to share this headcanon of mine (or well, my personal take on Travis from Phoenix Drop High.)

At one point, I had "remade" the characters. Kind of like, reassigning them vibes. Nothing major. It was something I kept in my head or made (Pinterest) boards, and this one document for.

And during these, I headcanoned Travis as trans. Specifically; ftm. I had looked at his wiki, discovered he 'apparently' was originally going to be a girl, and it stuck.

He quickly became my favorite character in my little imagined 'rewrite' besides Aaron and Aphmau. (They were all weird high schoolers being edgy, but mostly themselves, and Aaron and Aphmau resonated the most.)

However, I'd constantly get these imagined thoughts of a nervous Travis experiencing dysphoria, struggling to make friends because he -- didn't want someone to mistake him as a girl. He wanted friends that he felt safe with, that treated him properly, when he was still adjusting.

My idea was, his father was accepting, but they had a deal for him not to transition until he was eighteen. So, he was extremely pre-T and very feminine/flamboyant despite his attempts to man up (under Dante's influence and the gentle pushes from Aphmau.)

I imagined him finding out Katelyn is bisexual, and feeling like he might have a chance with her. But also having an extreme anxiousness that she wouldn't see him as a man, considering she is attracted to women.

I can imagine him not knowing how to tie a tie, and it still being awkward for him to ask his father -- so he asks Dante. Dante takes him under his wing, and it establishes their close relationship and why Travis picks up so much from him. (Although, in this remake, it was Aphmau that helped Travis be more confident around people.)

I imagined Travis using the staff bathrooms to change, and only telling a select few people. Though, he often finds himself mistaken for a girl anyway.

I never decided what his "dead name" would be, in this headcanoned universe of mine because -- it didn't matter? Travis is Travis.

I imagined the moment he opened up to Dante, Aphmau, and a few other friends about his dysphoria and what he struggles with -- really strengthened their bonds.

I'd probably use this as an excuse for him to grow closer to Katelyn due to her acceptance, even if a relationship between them wouldn't work. (Right people, wrong time, for them in high school. But also, all these characters deserved to go out with people, date different people, before settling on each other for life. But, that's not a major fault, it's just something I'd like.)

I don't know, all these posts on here about people's rewrites really brings me joy, and -- allows me to think of my own that I never committed to. Of course, I am working on a world similar to MCD and Mystreet right now, but it is not a rewrite. It's something I did to appreciate the kind of fantasy MCD showed, with some tastes and twists of my own.

...Maybe I'll share the characters from it, one day. :)

Although, more on Travis. This headcanoned version of him was a major Kirby fan. He would often read the fan fiction Aphmau wrote, and get flustered by some of risque themes she would add. And Aphmau would just wiggle her eye brows at him, and they'd both crack up.

(As, this version of PDH Aphmau is a content creator in universe, and a lot less... Innocent? More well-rounded with hobbies and style. She's one of those, 'my mom would kill me if she found out I put make up on at school,' kind of kiddos.)

Maybe I'll write posts about the rest of them, and share more, if people are interested.

#travis aphmau #pheonix drop high #aphblr #mystreet #headcanons #rambles #aphmau pdh #mild rant #aphmau #aaron lycan #travis “what ever his last name is”#trans headcanon #transmasc

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lraerosesims · 2 months

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Hey, hi, hello, greetings, sul sul!

So I know I've been a little quiet lately on the Sims CC front, so I thought I'd update you all on what stage I'm up to on each project:

1. The Elderwood Manor Build

I was working on testing this build for functionality etc, and tried to test in different spots in the neighbourhood, and that's when I discovered some broken terrain in the back of the lot (where the terrain slopes from road height to the beach). I've tried to fix it, haven't had any success yet. So I may end up having to either:

Do more heavy research on how to repair just the broken part - putting off uploading it until fixed, or

Remaking the build as close as possible to how it currently looks but on a flatter beach lot to avoid breaking terrain

Either way, it's unfortunately not ready to post for you all to enjoy just yet, I'M SORRY!!! 😭😭😭 I was really hoping to post it but I'd rather not give you guys a broken lot.

I haven't made basically any progress on this outfit since I last shared a texture WIP here. No excuse really, just taking on too much for my little pea-sized brain to handle and can feel the ADHD burnout creeping in so I don't wanna push myself too hard. Making my CC textures is exhausting, and takes a very big toll on ye olde✨mental✨ so I promise it will get done, but I just require some time to recharge so that way I can share the best possible retextures for you all to enjoy.

2. The Harlow Jumpsuit outfit

This one is about 75 to 80% complete. It's another very time consuming project, with the screen recording, video editing, voice over recording, blah blah blah. The biggest problem I have is that I feel the need to announce when I'm working on something (to build interest and anticipation for what's to come) but then take ages to finish it - which leaves people wondering if I'm just full of shit or actually going through with it 😂😂but I promise the tut is happening still!

3. Retexturing YouTube Tutorial

Don't expect this one anytime this decade🤣 I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm winging it entirely. Watch this space though, because who knows maybe I'll just magically find the willpower and mental capacity to figure it all out.

4. Stretched earlobe mesh

And...5. Whatever this hair is

So I did a recolour of a base game hair to make an undercut bun hairstyle (that's accurate to my real life five-head)...not sure if anyone would ever even want this in their game. So far I haven't gotten around to binning it, or even making it in different hair colours. It's also just using a Maxis texture I stole from a different hair and reworked to fit this one. But anyway, that one...exists...for some ungodly reason 😅😂

If you read this far, and haven't given up on me or this page yet then I'm eternally grateful (and slightly confused, but I won't question your intentions 😝)

To be honest with you all, I've got a heap of stressful shit going on in the real worldz right now so bear with me and I'll eventually work through the current projects I'm yet to finish.

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤 - L'Rae

#WIP update #Help I'm tired and need a 10 year long nap #lraerosesims

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youredreamingofroo · 3 months

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so something I've never shown off (on tumblr) of Roo is all the alternate universe Roos that I've made. What kind of alternate universe Roos??

I introduce you to (a very blurry image)

The Roo Purgatory

Continuing this under the cut because this gets lengthy ehehe

Each Roo is from a different area, it started off as just making "American" Roo, as a joke, where I made my discord profile VERY sarcastically America oriented, I don't have a pic of my profile, but I DO still have the PFP I used (since I made it lmao):

The left is my OG Roo pfp, I drew Roo (with nothing but a finger and my phone 💪) in front of the "guess that pokemon!" background, and then just put the MLM flag around him, and the right is Roo but American, which if you don't know, Roo is not American, he is Swedish

But this went deeper (as you can tell by the Roo Purgatory image above lmao), I made MORE versions (none of them were race-changing lmao), and not only that, but I gave them all different names, so here's the rest of them (with names and stuff in the Alt text):

I even made art of Roo and Roy!

I intended to eventually draw every version together, but that was too complicated for me, and I just ended up putting them in the Sims 4! They are by no means "canon," I mean I COULD make them canon, but that would take a lot of effort, as I intended every AU Roo to have a different personality depending on the Area they're from, and considering how extensive his family is and how overbearing I can be on myself, to make all AU Roos canon would be the death of me. Consider this, Roo has 4 siblings, 2 parents, 2 step(? half?) parents, a brother-in-law, a niece and a nephew, and if you wanna go further, three other people significant in his life (which would cross over to other AUs), in total, that's 11 people (14 if you count the three others) that I'd have to completely remake 7 times over, now granted, Mateo is a different race, as well as Rylan, so I would NOT be changing them, as I don't want to whitewash/race-swap them :) But that's still 10 people (12 if you count the two others, and not Rylan), 7 TIMES OVER, that's 70 (84) SIMS TO MAKE, no thank you <3 Maybe I'll REMAKE the 7 other Roos that I've made, but that's as far as I'll go, you can just imagine the others 🫶

Anyways, this was a fun little post I wanted to make, and I like sharing these tidbits that aren't a part of Roo's canon story, I have other art of Roo but I'm not sure I'll share it, this time was just an exception cause I thought it was silly

#posting this because I am literally fighting for my life to not say anything about WAS rn yall.....#Roo #Roo*#Unrooleased #yapping

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aerifth · 1 month

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3 am rebirth spoiler thoughts

sifting through some of the direct translated japanese dialogue from rebirth has me reconsidering a few scenes... by the way i finished rebirth and thought the ending was a little stupid but the emotional impact worked on me so whatever. anyway

i have a bunch of Big questions that are sort of swirling and intermingling as more time is spent by the community breaking it all down and speculating. a couple of my big ones right now are:

- why is zack's timeline healing?

- what the fuck is the dream date?

- why can only cloud see aerith, and the crack in the sky?

and i think these all are connected, in that breaking them each down helps me get the bigger picture. a big concept right away thats been on my mind: does despair signal the end of the world?

in intermission, we see zack entering the church to find no aerith but her flowers dying and a bunch of townies sobbing for a previously unknown reason. in rebirth, we learn his world is dying- marked by the scar across the sky. this is a common theme across all of the alternate universes- tear in the sky, locals believe the world to be ending. what if one is causing the other?

i believe that these alternative timelines /are/ fragile, but not necessarily predestined to die- not any more than our planet is predestined, for instance. all things die, eventually, but what if that great despair is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy? people believe the world is ending, and so it does.

zack is the wildcard here. we're left to assume that aerith, somehow, saved him by taking control over the whispers- otherwise, we don't fully understand how zack was able to unite with whats left of the otherwise post-remake sector 5 civilians. zack, throughout the entire story of rebirth, is constantly trying to outrun his fate; constantly trying to uplift others and get them to believe that something can be done, and that they still have a life to fight for. we periodically check in with the aforementioned flowers, and something strange happens: over the course of the story, they start to come back to life.

we hear from biggs that the lifestream is "all dried up", in one of the offshoot timelines. there's no more mako left to take from the planet. if we're to assume this is precisely how these worlds are dying, then that means, at least in zack's main timeline (terrier), there is a lifestream. one that is healing. this can't just be aerith, somehow - one might assume it's a sign of her return, following her death, but this regrowth begins long before approaching aerith's destiny.

on that note: the dream date. in the japanese direct translation, the thing she says to cloud in the beginning is a little different.

"simply returned to the planet? or returning?" is a notably different line, if only because it's a little more direct than her quoting sephiroth's one-liner about a "homecoming". i'm still not 100% on its meaning, so i'll explore a couple of avenues.

my first inclination is that, somehow, this is implying that this is something they've done before. not literally, per se, but it's an awareness of the original game's events that suggests this is some kind of reunion of a cloud with an aerith. this, regardless, is echoed in the final scenes of ch 14 anyway. after the dream date, cloud seems far more aware of what's happening to aerith, and when fighting jenova lifeclinger, he mentions that he's "done it before, he can do it again"- something that can only really imply that he's now much more aware of the original games events than before. aerith and cloud even talk about meteor before it's been cast, making it sound like they know what's coming. you could interpret that because of this "enlightenment", that is how he can see the crack that the party cannot. maybe aerith could see it herself the whole time? it would give another meaning to why she "hates the sky", enough to have gone back and retconned her final line from remake before rebirth came out.

that was a doozy, but the other interpretation of aerith's dream date line is that they're somehow between life and death. maybe not in a literal way (though in the main timeline, both are unconscious), but in a way that maybe suggests the true nature of the alternate timelines. aerith take cloud on a date that is intentionally very similar to when zack takes her shopping in crisis core, which is solidified in the japanese dialogue where she quotes this original scene directly.

i'm left wondering if these timelines (or at least this one) are made of memories. hodge-podged together worlds with no destiny or motivation to exist, just to be as they were until they no longer can. it's a little shaky, but the way things interconnect in general is very hard to tell right now. in the japanese text, sephiroth calls the lifestream's alternate realities "layered", which would explain a bit how this could work (inception style - literally a dream (date) within a dream (zack's world). the game suggests that consciousness can be transferred between multiversal bodies, so i don't think coma aerith and cloud just suddenly got up and were fine. they seem more separated, and even when cloud is able to visit that body and see zack in the gold saucer hotel, he still can't just get up and move. he's confined in the same way zack's cloud is.

the big point i think i wanna make here is that i think hope is what is fixing zack's timeline. without him, the world would be doomed to die, because without him everyone else is already resigned to their fate. sephiroth wishes to use negative emotions and despair to choke the lifestream out of being functional, which i think seems to happen innately. zack's world heals as a result of him spreading hope. it's a sentiment echoed all throughout rebirth: if you believe, you will.

this could also be why cloud's world has a crack in the first place. if the party had been resigned to their fates, unwilling to think they can change it, then the world they inhabit will reflect that. cloud, the one who made that change in saving aerith, can see the truth- he is fully free from the shackles of hopelessness, free to make his own destiny. the rest of the party, however, mourning aerith's death, are already feeding into sephiroth's plan. that despair on a global scale is what he's wanted the entire game- it's why he's fueling the shinra-wutai war. global scale despair to choke the planet out of its hope.

this was a big brain dump and im not sure how much it holds any water, but i feel like i'm onto Something that's making sense of what all happens in rebirth. i'm still, like, mega coping that the interview quote about "linking up to advent children" is misleading, because frankly by this point that seems thoroughly impossible, unless AC is just a part of re3 and itll be new and different following the events of the story. aerith half dying already has me checked out a little bit, i think they should've committed to saving or killing her, though it seems that either way she can still be "brought back" one way or another (which seems likely anyway given how some of her most iconic weapons are still awol, and her level 4 limit break, accessible in the original game, is just not in rebirth at all). i don't know!!! this all feels star wars sequel make-it-up-on-the-fly to me and i hope they can stick the landing. i do deeply think if aerith dies at the end of all this then the story sucks and i don't see why they'd bother with all the "changing fate" stuff. i hope these mystery boxes aren't empty...!

#ff7 rebirth #ff7r spoilers

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sapphire-weapon · 1 year

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oof yeah, i don't claim to be an expert in og, especially not having played the game or experienced the fandom, so i definitely stand corrected that og leon and ashley's connection wasn't as profound. i'll concede that my take on it was through a retroactive lens — i know ashley disappears from the franchise post-re4, and my interpretation of the og game is shaped by that knowledge

either way, it definitely sucks that she had to pretty much be erased from the narrative because of negative fan reaction, but i'm very glad they were willing to take another shot at bringing her back. so far fan reaction this time for ashley has been pretty overwhelmingly positive, so i definitely hope that we get to see her again in some capacity, or at least be name-dropped as a reminder that she still exists

(still trying to manifest the whole "leon wears ashley's necklace as a memento" deal that you touched on)

Dude, I laughed so fucking hard when Infinite Darkness showed that photo of Ashley, because it was like... IT WAS SO FUCKING OBVIOUS that Capcom dropped that in there to just be like "hey guys... we're releasing RE4 Remake soon... I want you to remember she exists before we release it so that you get your rage out now, ok????"

I bet it was a real relief for Capcom execs when the fanbase basically had a non-reaction to her in ID. I feel like I was the only person who even mentioned it at all when ID came out LMAO

BUT ANYWAY FUCK ALL THAT SHIT I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE NECKLACE THING AGAIN

It never goes away. Even years later, he's still wearing it.

He only takes it off to shower -- and even then, not always. It comes with him on every mission, just tucked away behind the neckline of his shirt for good luck (and the physical reminder of the girl he saved who still thinks the world of him).

Ashley's heart swells every time she opens the buttons of his shirt and finds that little dove still sitting there right below the hollow of Leon's neck. And of course he wears it when he fucks her aRE YOU KIDDING ME OF COURSE HE DOES

If it ever slips out from under his shirt and out into the open, he won't talk about it -- because it's nobody's fucking business. Even if someone asks him, "Is that your girlfriend's?" he just answers with "I don't have a girlfriend." and refuses to say anything more.

And he's not lying. That's not what Ashley is. If she was his girlfriend, he'd probably talk to her way more often than once every few weeks, and he'd definitely see her more often than a handful of times a year -- if that.

But he refuses to put a label on their relationship, because he knows that if he tries to, his thoughts will inevitably brush up against the L-word, and that's not something he can afford to feel. Not in his line of work.

And he especially can't wonder if she feels the same way back, because if she did, it would suddenly become a whole lot harder for him to justify throwing himself at near-certain death on a regular basis. At least for now, he still needs to be expendable.

#I AM THE ARCHITECT OF MY OWN SUFFERING #GODDAMN IT I JUST FUCKING LOVE THIS CONCEPT SO FUCKING MUCH #/kicks things around

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silver-wield · 2 months

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The devs and these convoluted messy shit endings. 2 for 2. It’s like they remain mostly faithful then at the end just throw everything at the wall. Less is more sometimes. The OG handled everything at that moment so much better. I don’t give a damn about Aerith but that death was horrible. OG did it right. Sudden and final. She had an avengers endgame scene what the fuck lmao. Awful trash.

I'm over halfway through a chapter by chapter review, which is being done on a replay, but I did actually finish chapter 14 again last night and it's so much ass Idk where to start.

I'll get into it properly in a separate post, but pro tip for people messing with outfits, you wanna change Cloud back before you start that one. As hilarious as it is watching him fight shirtless, it's makes everything else so skeevy.

Oh but extra funny, no blood on Cloud's alt costumes, so when he's glitching between that whole sad happy crying not whatever tf was going on, he looks even more insane than he would in his regular uniform because you can't see any blood or tears on his face. I was fucking rolling with laughter I shit you not! 🤣🤣🤣

But yeah, in general, chapter 14 is a huge mess. To compare to ch18 of Remake, I'd say that made more sense.

But also to bring up a point in ch18 of Remake, Sephiroth talks about other worlds and how they all eventually die, and you see a clip of Zack taking the right path while the left disappears in that shitty my little pony rainbow sparkles garbage (I really hate that. They need to stop it) and in ch18 we see the arbiter of fate has an ability called "correction" where it changes the outcome of the battle so it survived. This is basically what the planet does with these choices, and while Sephiroth is a big fat liar about most things, this is the truth. The planet corrects the errant course and that pathway is reabsorbed into the planet to nourish it. So there's no alt timelines, just other choices that eventually go nowhere.

Anyway, it seemed both Sephiroth and Aerith were taking advantage of those pathways to kinda hop between them. Maybe she was trying to survive while he was cutting off any chance of that until we get to the final pathway where she's definitely dead.

I mean Cloud deflected the sword, but didn't, then she woke up, but died again, then she came back to get in the way (and what's with that stupid entrance like she's been gone for fifty years? She was dead for less than five fucking minutes. It was ridiculous and embarrassing. Does she think she's special?) then she's lying dead, then she's waking up again.

And by the end I'd also had enough of Cloud being crazy. I get it. We all get it. He's insane. Can he not be an embarrassing douchebag about it? Kinda felt like we'd got stuck with a Cloud from a different pathway and I was like "can we give him back and get the regular one returned to us?"

So I obviously have a lotta thoughts about chapter 14 🤣

Let's hope the end of part three isn't as much ass as the endings of part one and two have been 🤣

#FF7Rebirth spoilers

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verflares · 3 months

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oh gosh, thank you so so much for such a thorough response!! i appreciate you taking the time to type all of that out 🥺 i def asked the right person wahhh

made a note check out the social links once i'm done with this watch through!! thanks for the warnings as well—i've played both p4g and p5r and although i love both games dearly, they are quite. flawed. to put it lightly, haha.

unrelated but you should totally post more about whatever you'd like!! it's your blog and know that at least this random anon enjoys reading your thoughts about persona <3

anyway cheers!! thanks again for your help, hope you take care :D

no problem!!! i'm glad i could offer my two cents, and i hope you enjoy the story!! ^_^

thank you as well btw wehhh 🥹 i'm just a bit more shy when it comes to posting about my non-loz and art related posts LMAO... buuuut i can already tell i'll probably be posting now and then on my thoughts abt the remake, so my fellow gamers™ know they are free to look or look away as they please

#i beat portable back in 2022 so the story is Relatively fresh in my mind... but i havent touched fes since like 2013 #so i am excited to see what they'll surprise me with #also a closing note if you like persona music you should listen to portables ost too. femc has some bangers on there 🫡#ask #persona

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proximasc0rner · 4 months

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(So. I'm going to preface this by saying I'm a Gen Z queer kid who doesn't know what it was like to be LGBTQ in the earlier days of our fight for equality, and I don't know what it was like to have the ONLY queer representation onscreen be queer-coded villains. This post is not to be taken too seriously. It was just a silly thought that popped into my head, so I wanted to share a lighthearted rant about it. Please don't murder me okay thanks)

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes it hits you with the Disney Villains hyperfixation. Again.

This post isn't going to be about how much I am a fUCKING SIMP because I do NOT have the balls to talk about the shit that runs through my head when I'm just casually in love with fictional Bad People™️

Instead, it's just about me diving through various rabbit holes and learning about the queer community's complicated relationship with Disney Villains. I learned what the Hays Code was, and how it was the origin of the queer-coded villain trope. Good guys weren't allowed to be gay. And even though the Hays Code eventually just kinda died for the most part, the trope stuck around.

But even though the trope was designed to frame queer people as untrustworthy, perverse, and strange, a lot of LGBTQ folks really, REALLY love these diabolical characters, myself included-- although I wasn't around when the queer community first "claimed" the villains as our own, so to speak. I actually watched a really interesting video essay on the subject that I'll link to below! A lot of it boiled down to a sense of relatability to these characters-- these villains want to take charge of their lives, and are more often than not outcasts in some respects. So, really, it becomes easy to see the appeal of these extremely self-confident and unapologetically different characters.

But again. Queer-coded villains come with a lot of historical baggage. Thus, when the live-action remakes started coming out, the villains lost most of the queer-coding they had.

But that gave them the new problem. They are FUCKING BORING. LOOK I HAD TO SAY IT. These bitches do NOT have much personality to them. I'd give an example of a Disney live-action remake villain to prove this point, but uh I'm. Kinda boycotting Disney right now, and these movies. I cannot remember these movies enough to tell you anything about them.

BUT ANYWAY. I realized that kind of leaves queer audiences between a rock and a hard place: either have a queer-coded villain whose trope was literally made to villainize queer people, orrrr have a villain whose personality is so bland that you might as well replace them with a sapient cup of tap water and still have the same impact.

And thus, I propose a solution to this dilemma!

Yes, queer-code the villains (DONT LEAVE YET IM GETTING SOMEWHERE). Make them just as delightfully overdramatic as villains like Maleficent or Jafar. Give them that limp wrist. GIVE THOSE MALE VILLAINS PERFECT EYELINER.

But if you're going to queer-code the villain? Then queer-code the hero, too. Show that queerness is not intrinsically tied to morality of any kind, it's just a part of who some people are. Make those heroes flamboyant. Give them that drag queen gait. If you're feeling froggy, lesbian-code the hero's mom or something! Make her be older and unmarried and give her that deeper voice and then show how fucking awesome of a mother she is to the hero. Walt Disney would be rolling in his grave (or cryogenic pod depending on who you ask /j), and I think that would be truly beautiful.

So. Yeah. That about covers it. Okay everyone go home and drink water. :)

EDIT: HAHAHAHA I DEFINITELY DIDNT FORGET ABOUT THE LINK TO THE VIDEO OR ANYTHING

youtube

#but seriously guys do NOT give your money to Disney rn. theyre funding genocide.#disney #disney villains #queer #lgbtq+#lgbtq #lgbtqia #queer coding #walt disney #villain #Youtube

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agentvalentine · 8 months

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About Jill's Brainwashing and Trauma.

This is a very, very long post. It's longer than I intended for it to be. But anyway, some of you know I studied psychology and it tends to be one of my main interests in media I consume. I like to analyze characters and dive into their headspace and make sense of what they've been through and how it affects their behavior and relationships, etc. Jill is one of those characters who have gone through so much from a young age, and, naturally, I like to analyze her and think about how everything she experienced has shaped her up into who she is now. I'll be referencing stuff from RE.5, RE.3R and DI. I have to preface this by saying I love RE.5. I think it's a good game and super fun to play. But I do have some criticism for it, specficially in terms of how it treats Jill.

Content warning for: attempted suicide.

I've talked about this before in an ask, but also just to double down on it. We see in RE3.R, during that first nightmate sequence, that Jill would rather shoot herself than turn into an infected. We also see in another dream sequence in that game that she'd rather let an infected Carlos kill her than shoot him.

Having seen DI and the extra content, the writers also talk about this when they compare Jill to Dylan, where the difference between them is that Jill would never pull the trigger on her friends/people she considers close. This is why she doesn't pull the trigger on Claire who is on the verge of turning. Jill also sympathizes with Dylan to a certain degree because she recognizes their similarities, and that's why she doesn't shoot him, either, even though she had every opportunity to.

I think Jill's "Go f yourself" to Dylan is less about her telling him to F himself, and more about her feeling frustrated and conflicted. Because on one hand, she gets where he's coming from, on the other, they both made different choices.

In addition, what happened in RE5 was totally out of Jill's control. She didn't choose to attack Chris or Sheva or anyone. It was all happening against her will, and we even see her resisting that for a moment. Whereas Dylan willingly pulled the trigger on his friend, so even though the weapon turned out to be empty, he still made that choice of his own free will, and had to live with it.

Knowing all this, I don't think it's farfetched to assume that Jill was wishing death upon herself all the while she was attacking Chris and Sheva or hurting whoever it is Wesker ordered her to hurt that day. Because, as we've established before, she'd rather die than become a monster who poses a danger to her friends, and she'd rather die than have to fight/kill her friends and those she cares about.

My headcanon (while taking the rewrite of Jill's character into consideration) has always been that, throughout the experiments, and knowing that she did manage to gain some level of consciousness admist them (which led to the gradual increase of the dosage), Jill would have likely tried to end her life on multiple occasions just to stop herself from: a. doing things against her will and b. hurting people she didn't want to hurt and c. becoming the puppet of the man who is the cause of all her suffering since 1998 and d. becoming and aiding the one thing she's been trying to fight against (bioterrorists).

But even ignoring the remake and putting its acknowledgement of Jill's PTSD aside, what Jill experiences in those 3 years is still, pretty simply, messed up. I dare say beyond messed up, even. And this is where my frustration comes from. Because this is such a big deal that was downplayed so hard in RE.5. It's really funny to me that Cap.com thought the best way to handle someone who's been through all this is to essentially have her wake up from being brainwashed for three whole years, and be immediately hit on by a random man she just met. Not only that, my woman somehow finds it in her to flirt back. And then later on it's not just Josh hitting on her, but also Doug on the comms, and Jill's just there like "yeah, tell me more."

I like Josh and his dynamic with Jill, and I also liked their chemistry. So my problem isn't at all with the flirting itself, per se (although I stand by the fact Josh shouldn't have flirted with her IMMEDIATELY after waking up, nor should she have flirted back). The flirting could have actually worked perfectly if it had been used in a smart way, as means for Jill to cope with her trauma. If it had been Jill's way of distracting herself and keeping herself grounded in the present.

The problem is that, this is not at all how the flirting was used. Because throughout the entirety of RE5 and Desperate Escape, Jill's trauma is never ONCE acknowledged. We never see her dissociate, pause, freeze or "lose" herself momentarily as she processes everything that happened to her. We never see her struggling or fighting with her body that is still not 100% responding to her because the virus is still in her system and hasn't left it completely.

We never see any signs or hints about how awful and draining the whole brainwashing experience was for Jill. She just passes out after Chris and Sheva save her, wakes up, and suddenly she's fine. Everything's functioning as normal. She's being hit on and hitting back on people. Because Cap.com chose to reduce her character to badass blonde in sexy catsuit. Jill had to endure so much, and yet her own struggles are barely acknowledged, and simply used as a tool to amplify Chris's "oh no i lost my partner and now she's working for my archnemesis i'm so sad and angry." That's all she was in that game, fuel to Chris's trauma. Never mind what she had to go through in those three years.

The laziest thing they could have done is include flashbacks from the game itself (if they were too lazy to animate new cutscenes), from her fight with Chris and Sheva + the flashbacks from the Spencer Estate, but shown from HER POV, just so we know "hey, btw, Jill is absolutely not over the fact she nearly died, was brainwashed AND almost killed her best friend."

More effectively, they should have shown us things from when Jill was working under Wesker's control, the horrible things he made her do, the awful experiments she had to endure, instances of her regaining control and trying to fight for her freedom. Hell, they could have made those events part of the RE5 narrative, a "what Jill has been up to while Chris was doing this" sort of thing. In the vein of Separate Ways in RE.4. Instead of starting Desperate Escape during the point at which Jill is "free," we could have started it earlier. We could have also used Jill's familiarity with the setting, as she guides Josh around during their escape, to include instances of her telling Josh "this is where X happened and this is where Wesker did Y and this is where I did Z" etc.

Jill was so objectified beyond belief in RE.5 both by the narrative and by the writers/developers. The funny thing is there were easy and quick solutions to give her character more depth throughout so she's not as flat as a blank sheet of paper (character-wise, because they made damn sure she wasn't flat physique-wise).

They could have delayed the flirting with Josh till after they've established her messed up mental state and used it as a coping mechanism. They could have shown us flashbacks from her POV to get a better, closer look into what she had to endure. They could have interrupted Jill's badassery and used breathing moments to showcase instances of weakness where she dissociates or temporarily loses control again and attacks Josh, just so we know this woman is still struggling, but she's doing her best to fight and get out of here regardless.

I don't think allowing Jill to be weak for a few minutes would have taken away from her badass status. On the contrary, I think it would have made her even stronger because, despite all her internal struggles, she's still fighting. But the complete erasure of her internal struggles and trauma in favor of her looking badass is just quite honestly icky and unrealistic. Not only that, any reference to what Jill went through is only within context of "this is really sad for Chris. Look at what Chris had to endure. Poor man."

And the thing is, I'm not even asking they take that out, because yeah, what Chris went through? It's pretty horrible and messed up and very valid, too. But I do take issue with the fact only HIS struggles are recognized but not Jill's.

RE.5 gives a very unrealistic, crappy and objectifying portrayal of Jill, and I wholeheartedly believe this is one of the main reasons why, now that cap.com is actually trying to acknowledge Jill's trauma from the very start (since the Spencer Mansion incident), and give a more accurate perspective on her mental and emotional state, people are struggling to accept this "new" Jill. Even though, at her core, she is very much the same Jill, just reacting to certain things the way a human would react after enduring so much.

The many times she shows kindness and care for characters (dead and alive) in RE3R are countless. Her resolve to fight for the innocent and save people is ever stronger. So strong she's willing to team up with people who work for the corporation that caused the deaths of her comrades and traumatized her for life, in order to save and help those in need.

It's always funny to me people call Jill a b because of the way she acts with Carlos at the start of the game. Are you telling me that after surviving a horror mansion filled with zombies and all sorts of monsters, watching your comrades die and failing to save most of them, barely making it out yourself, being betrayed by your captain whom you trusted, returning with the hope to stop the tragedy only to find out your chief has been bribed by the corporation behind it all, getting suspended by said chief, watching the city fall apart as the evil corporation takes control of it, having to literally take medication made by said corporation to help yourself sleep at night so you can function as a human being for a while, knowing this company is constantly endangering the lives of the innocent, that after going through ALL OF THIS, you run into a dude who works for the nightmare company, and you just go "Oh cool, nice to meet you"????

I think Jill has earned every right to be angry and throw a few f-bombs at people, but that's just me.

And I also have a whole lot to say about Jill and Chris post-RE.5 all the way to DI, but this post is already so long, so I'm gonna cut it here and maybe talk about that another day.

Edit to add: it's also even more frustrating that Jill didn't even get to execute revenge on the man who enslaved her for years and instead had to watch Chris and Sheva kill him with a very minor contribution on her end. This adds to just how downplayed Jill's struggles are in the game. Because throughout it all, Wesker is more or less Chris's archnemesis even though he messed up Jill's life just as bad, if not more.

#〈 ✘ Headcanon 〉#〈 Analysis • Character 〉#〈 ❝ F*queue. ❞ 〉#this is probably my most important analysis about Jill tbh #i want to write more about her psychology specifically after recovery and also maybe something after the mansion incident #but yeah one thing at a time

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ayamisc · 13 years

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MY RETURN TO J-DORAMALAND… HOPEFULLY?

The 2011 Summer Season line-up is.. INTERESTING? NO! AWESOOOME! hahaha. (yes, i think i'm fangirling again. :P)

Anyway. I might go and check out the following dramas. HAHA. Tell me whatcha think of them, and if I should watch something that is not on this list. :)

1. Zenkai Girl. Initially, because I saw that Aragaki Yui and Nishikido Ryo stars in this. I mean, I love Gakky. And almost ALL the dramas that Ryo appears in proves to be worth watching for me. Anyhow, aside from this, reading the synopsis.. well. It seems like those feel-good drama things. So. To combat stress brought on by school, WHY NOT? [Started: 7/11/11]

2. Hi wa Mata Noboru. It's a police drama, in a way.. I guess. So that's a plus. Then there's Miura Haruma so that's awesome. Then there's also Narimiya Hiroki. LOL. I LOVE it when those two work together. hahahaha. In Akibahara@Deep and Bloody Monday I and II. LOL. Then, it's one of those feel-good storylines too. And, this might be the Miura Haruma's first.. "negative" role.. maaah, you know what I mean. hahaha. So, let's go see this!

3. Meitantei Conan. Come on. Who hasn't heard of Detective Conan? hahaha. yes, it should be obvious by now that I like police dramas. hahahaa. Anyway, Mizobata Junpei stars here! He's one of those actors I wanna see evolve into great ones. So.. him in the leading role this time might be worth watching. I liked him in Hana Kimi, BOSS, Buzzer Beat, and Seito Shokun! Maybe I'll like him as Conan too. (But before that, I have to watch the 3rd special starting him as well. lol. Heard it was released around April 2011. :P)

4. Ikemen desu ne Hmm. I dunno. I saw Minami Shineyo. I liked it, but I thought it was too... shallow. Maybe with a Japanese rendition it will be deeper? I mean, Jdoramas are often less shallower than Kdramas anyway. So. Maybe. I'll take a chance. Hn. Cast-wise. Well, there are Johnnys present. So. Maybe, let's see. Yaotome Hikaru was pretty good in Orthros no Inu. So. Let's see.

5. Jiu Series about investigators! Which means, this is of the mystery genre!! :D :D :D Plus, Kuroki Meisa + Tabe Mikako. That would be an interesting pair, wouldn't it? And I think Shirota Yu is on this one too. I never really liked him, but he's "okay." hahaha XD

6. Ouran High School Host Club. Need I say more? HAHAHA. I'm sorta familiar with most of the cast. BUT. Ryusei Ryo as NEKOZAWA? WHAT? hahahaha. That will be interesting. XD

7. Tempest A jidaigeki in 10eps? That's unusual. Plus, it's a gender bender starring Nakama Yukie. So. Let's try. haha.

8. Hana Kimi. A remake not even 5 years later? Weird. >.< But, that akb48 girl in Q10 stars as Ashiya. Hmm. Let's see. (I probably won't go through with this though. So why is this even on this list? LOL)

So. A list of 8 dramas. I probably won't watch all. Considering I'm currently busy with school work (4th year college, thesis and all..) also I'm kinda watching/catching-up with some Kdramas. LOL. But we'll see. Maybe. Just maybe. :}

PS. This blog was originally posted on LiveJournal—

#J-dorama #jdrama #japanese drama #asiandramaland #Asian drama #fandom #livejournal #aragaki yui #nishikido ryo #zenkai girl #miura haruma #narimiya hiroki #mizobata junpei #ouran #ouran high school host club #live action

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peemanne · 8 months

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pee-man yakuza ost review: Kiwami 1 (IT MEANS EXTREME!!)

So since I did a little write-up on the original game's OST and I thought it'd be fun to do it with Kiwami's soundtrack, since I got the original's soundtrack fresh in my mind, and because I haven't actually played the Kiwamis yet. (i've been playing these games in the world's jankiest order don't question it).

So here we are! Since it's my first time fully listening to this, I decided to make this write up a little more complete. And by little more, I mean I wrote about just about every track available to me. Whoops.

I wrote and listened to this over the course of 3 nights, so I'll mark the "sessions" as such if you're curious. I'll also have hyperlinks to all the tracks in their titles for convenience.

This is gonna be a very subjective thing, and I'm gonna make a LOT of comparisons to the original work. I'm sure at least some of my opinions would change if I actually played them in their original, specifically Kiwami context, but for now, here are my thoughts on Yakuza Kiwami's soundtrack. (i don't think there are any major spoilers for most of this post!! though i'll be using a pastebin to talk about the final boss theme so keep that in mind)

it means extreme by the way

Session 1 Receive You Reborn

DUDE.

I love this rendition so much. The revamped, heavy drums. The heavy guitar. THE VOCALIST. I can’t even understand Japanese but they add so so much to the track. I still haven’t played Kiwami myself but I know for a fact this ended up getting cut from the english release because of licensing funnies, and that just sucks, because this song ROCKS. A more than worthy rendition of the original, iconic theme. The lyrics actually make the song reflect into Nishiki instead of the original reflecting to Kiryu, which is just amazing. The lack of the “ROLLING EYES FALL” choir stings a little, sure, but it’s gonna take a lot more than that to take this track down. It’s so good.

極龍の嘶き+ 極龍の胎動 (Roar of the Dragon Redux):

I’m assuming this is the main menu theme, and it’s pretty good at conveying the mood and atmosphere for the story, I feel. It’s quite the haunting melody, and I love those sirens at the very start, referencing the opening scene with Kiryu getting arrested. Pretty cooooooooool.

Renewed Unrest: (Remake of Unrest)

ok but listen to that bassline though. mmmmmmmm.

The original Unrest track is one I’ll definitely remember: Yakuza 1’s atmosphere was one of its greatest strengths in my eyes, and that panic track solidified that a lot during those tense moments in the story. This remake is really good! It still has the strong atmospheric sound of the original, while giving it more instruments to work with. It tells you there’s danger right around the corner, but you don’t know when it’s gonna jump.

迫 (Urgency): I think this is a blow to the city remake? I’m not confident in saying that. But hey, it’s another good, more tense panic theme. Not much to really say here, but I still like it. They use some unique instruments here (my dumbass only really noticed towards the end) and I think they’re awesome and add a lot to the (obvious) urgency of the track.

Funk Goes On 極:

Kiwami!! It means extreme!! This is probably one of the more famous tracks in like… the whole series. I’m pretty sure most of its success is because of Majima Everywhere funnies. Anyways, I think the original wins out here, but Kiwami isn't bad at all. It’s definitely faster paced: whether or not you think that’s a good thing is up to preference, but it does make a distinction between the two. I’m much more preferable to the original’s rocky jazz. It feels more effortlessly badass, y’know? The techno in Kiwami isn’t bad, sure, but I feel it just lacks some of the punch the original had.

Flirt With Bomb: (Remake of son of a gun)

Look how they massacred my boy… My son of a gun (2006)...

Alright, I’m not really being fair with this one, but I just vastly prefer the original. Still though, this is a solid track in its own right. It still gets the hype going, and I just love the buildup at the start. I like how they handled the techno here more than they did Funk Goes On Kiwami, honestly. But again, I just like son of a gun more. Like, way more. I’m getting sad just thinking about it.

Scarlet Scar by Fierce Tiger: (Remake of Scarlet Scar)

Pretty sick, actually! I feel like this matches the original’s energy much more than the last two battle themes did. They even kept the original samples with unintelligible mouth noises and stuff!! And you gotta love those Y1 sirens, I love it when the tracks add that in. The original still feels like the heavier of the two, but this one still stands as an aggressive, raw track to match the Shimano Family’s brutishness. It's a bop either way, that's for sure.

Ideal For Violence: (Remake of Intelligence For Violence)

HELL YEAH DUDE!!

I ADORE this track. I love the guitars. I love the little “YEAH YO!” at the start. I love those crass, vaguely drug-related (probably) unintelligible English vocals, and those guys yelling “YO! YO! YO!” with him. AND THAT SAX. That sax has been stuck in my mind for so long. I like the original Intelligence For Violence, sure, but Ideal is just amazing to me. Why does RGG keep giving Shindo the coolest tracks ever? Hell if I know, but I’m so glad this exists because of it.

Session 2

Get Over It

First completely original song I’m pretty sure, and comments are saying it’s the generic long battle theme. And I think it’s a pretty solid track! It does a good job at setting up the stakes and some of the tragedy of Y1’s fights, and again, I like some of those unique instruments they use. It’s almost trance-like in some sections. And that guitar section in the middle: that’s what really makes the track. It reminds me a lot of Solitude and that atmosphere of that track, and considering that’s one of my absolute favorite tracks in the series, that’s pretty high praise. It sounds dream-like, but still tense as hell and it really gets the blood pumping that way.

キワメシトキ (no translation sorry :C)

Apparently this is the theme for some prototype Extreme Heat/EX Boost/Install Super/Devil Trigger thing in Kiwami? Anyways, not really much to say here. The drums feel heavy I guess, but there’s just not much to this. Can’t imagine hearing it repeatedly either without getting at least somewhat annoyed at it. Meh.

The End of the Dogma: (Remake of End of the Drama)

Alright, I’m feeling this one! I really like how they handled the techno here: the original feel can still definitely be felt strong, while still allowing it to crank it up a notch and be its own thing. The original still feels more raw, which honestly applies to almost all of the remakes, but this one hits hard in its own right. It’s those triple echoes, man. The WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. I dig this one quite a bit! I’d personally put it on-par with the original.

Pray Me ~Revive~:

they removed most of the unintelligible rap parts 0/10 remake

Look, I can excuse some songs just now quite matching the energy of the original, but I’m just not really on board with Revive. Of all the tracks in the original, Pray Me was probably the rawest sounding, angry track, and Revive tries to match it, but it just… doesn’t do it for me. There are some parts to like, of course: the more orchestral sounding sections near the end are pretty cool. But like…man. I just can’t help but feel a little let down by this one. It should feel like it’s more energetic, but it really doesn’t. It’s honestly not that bad, but compared to the original, it just can’t stand on its own.

Receive You the madtype: (Remake of Receive You the Prototype)

CONFESSION: This is my least favorite of the Majima themes. There’s just something about it to me that I can’t really put my finger on. It just feels like it’s lacking something. Maybe Hyperactive and Subtype just spoiled me in regards to the more techno themes, I don’t know. It’s still good, don’t get me wrong, it’s probably one of the better tracks out of the OST so far, but man. I’m sorry I can’t explain it, I really am, but it just feels off to me. Cannot emphasize this enough, it’s still an actually pretty damn good song, but it’s just not for me personally with the competition it has to stand up to. Maybe I’ll warm up to it the more I listen to it like I did with Subtype, but for now, I think it’s the weakest Majima theme.

Virtical Point: (Remake of Turning Point)

I don’t know why they named it like that with the typo. Anyways, Turning Point is probably my favorite track in the original game, so I also walked into this one with pretty high expectations. And after listening to it, I honestly can’t really compare the two. But I can say I did quite like the track. I can feel the sorrow and the overall mood of the original more, but this one is literally just rave music. And I like Yakuza’s literally just rave music tracks, so…

I can’t really say how much this would fit the big fight it plays in, because again, I haven't actually played the Kiwamis. But as a track, Virtical Point’s a hell of a vibe. I’m not saying it's completely devoid of that feeling the original had, the build-up sections are amazing, but I feel like they trade some of that for just pure techno blast. And I love those drops with the “FEEL THE FORCE” and “FEEL THE POWER''s. I’m glad this is probably what led them to create Rake Your Inside, which is very awesome and cool and swag.

End Point still better though don’t @ me

Ogre Has Reborn: (Remake of Ogre Has Returned)

Don’t really know if this is gonna surprise anyone, but this is actually a remake of a Yakuza 3 track! Lau just used the generic boss theme in the original game.

Anyways, this track’s interesting, because it sounds more… triumphant, more than anything? It’s really badass in a pretty unique way in that aspect. The first half conveys the intimidation part well, but the second half just sounds amazing. The original track does that too, and honestly I think it sounds better there, but here it feels more refined and even graceful. I dig the little Chinese motifs too, of course. Pretty dope track overall. It’s all ogre now.

The Wicked:

Another original track, and I can probably appreciate this one more than usual because I don’t have the nightmares it seems to be associated with.

I quite like this one! Like the last track, it feels triumphant: it’s one last, herculean push to the finish line. The piano and string sections convey that really well, but it still exposes the wickedness of the other side. It still feels menacing, like evil itself. The choir actually fulfills both roles perfectly, too. The techno doesn’t feel too overbearing either, which can be a bit of a problem with the OST at times.

Cool song that I’ll be glad to remember just as a cool song and not whatever nightmare boss fight Kiwami players had to sit through.

Final Boss Theme pastebin: (spoilers, obviously)

Lunatic Warrior (Remake of Fiercest Warrior from Ishin!)WHERE’S THE “afloi” AT THE START????

Anyways, pretty cool track. It’s against some VERY stiff competition to me (I adore the Amon themes), and while I don’t think it’s quite as good as they are, this one still slaps. This is Kiryu and Amon’s (technically) first meeting, and it makes sense that it wouldn’t really be as menacing as stuff like K2’s Fiercest Warrior, for example. The main melody’s catchy and the choir remains amazing. And while it’s not AS menacing as some other Fiercest Warriors, it still fits that quota pretty well. This track has a lot of energy to it, which I appreciate. Plus they got the sirens back. I love the sirens.

TAKUMI 2016 (Remake of TAKUMI 2009 from Yakuza 3)

I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t really a fan of the TAKUMI themes for a while, then I listened to 0’s again, and suddenly I think they’re awesome now. Anyways, this one’s definitely up there with 1988. This goes prettttyyyyyyyyy hard. I love the graceful mix of the traditional bits with the intense techno breaks: it makes for a pretty one-of-a-kind track while still being sick and feeling heavy. Pretty neat!

Also it sounds like a song from one of the rhythm games I play (Rhythm Doctor) so it gets bonus points for reminding me of another game I really like.

Amusing Octagon:

I knew this track from before this session because of a meme with Walter White complaining about not being able to play Yakuza Kiwami OST - 20 Amusing Octagon or something

It sounds like a Tekken track. Like, you could slap this onto some random character select screen and it’d probably fit perfectly. This hits pretty hard! It fits the colosseum vibe really well and just sounds great on top of that. It’s a fun track. Amusing, even. Maybe even Yakuza Kiwami OST - 20 Amusing Octagon or something

Session 3

Ruthless Octagon:

It’s a mean track. Ruthless, even. Maybe even uhhhhhh

I think Amusing’s the better Octagon here but this one’s decent too. I’m gonna assume this is what plays for final rounds, and it does a good job at conveying that last push feeling. It’s heavy, it gets the blood pumping, and again, fits the colosseum vibe like a glove. I've been told they used this for K2's colosseum too, and overall they made a pretty good choice for a track to bring back for it!

Set My Heart:

I have literally no idea what this plays for. It sounds like another character select screen to me. Anyways, really fun track! It’s short, sure, but it’s a funky little beat the whole time and doesn’t overstay its welcome. And I love those brass sections, making it even better. It’s just a short little vibe, and it doesn’t really need to be anything more than that.

Everlasting Spirit:

This is randomly super catchy. Again, absolutely no idea what it plays for, but it’s a real earworm…

This sounds like something that would play while Kiryu busts a move with a completely straight face the whole time. I’d probably be dancing with him, too. Cool song! Gotta love that percussion.

In a Dead Heat:

Now this one sounds like a customization menu theme for a racing game. Probably pocket circuit, if I’d have to guess. I really dig the guitar riffs they use here. It’s just a cool, short upbeat track to get you ready to very excitedly scream at toy cars.

Beastie Beat:

so true beastie

This one sounds really arcade-y, in a good way! It’s really fun and even feels a little nostalgic. Again, I dig the guitar riffs they use in this one. This definitely makes me want to very excitedly scream at toy cars.

Smack In The Forest:

Sounds like a more intense version of the last track, like a final-lap scenario. It’s definitely more energetic and the guitar feels heavier. Something something scream at toy cars. Good track. I want to make out with pocket circuit fi

As a Memory:

I know for a FACT this plays in Yakuza 5. I can’t remember exactly when, but I’ve definitely heard it in there. Probably with Haruka.

That aside, the track’s a little repetitive, but still pretty fun. It’s just a little something to maybe bop your head to for a few. I like the strong bassline throughout, it really adds a lot to the vibe.

TONIGHT-restart from this night-【Full Spec Edition】:

I’m playing through 6 right now and I recently got to experience playing this song for the first time. You can’t do this to me RGG

It’s no secret Takaya Kuroda’s a great singer, but man… He really poured his soul out for this track. You can really just feel all the sorrow Kiryu’s had to bottle up. That chorus just hits so hard.

those Y0 screenshots were a CHEAP SHOT AND YOU KNOW IT RGG. IT’S NOT FAIR DAMMIT

意地桜 (Iji Sakura) 2000 [Full Spec Edition]:

I’ve listened to the Ishin version and I just like the more traditional, heartfelt ballad that one was, but this one just steers into a completely different direction and I just can’t dislike it for that. The instrumental is way more badass than it really has any right to be, lmao. This track makes me want to go outside and very angrily pluck out turnips from the ground. That chorus is just unbeatable in either version, and is very easily my favorite part of the song. Not really a karaoke song that I’ll be blasting on repeat, but it’s a pretty cool track nonetheless.

ばかみたい哀愁 Baka Mitai ~Sorrow~ [Full Spec Edition]:

I had no idea Kiwami had a Baka Mitai remix! I was completely expecting to just skip this one because it’s… well, it’s Baka Mitai. Who in this community hasn’t heard it a million times?

So it’s an acoustic cover with some strings slapped on there for good measure. I think the original still stands superior, but it’s still really neat that this gets to exist alongside it. It amplifies the sorrow a bit more (I mean I'd hope so from “Baka Mitai ~Sorrow~), and obviously Kuroda’s cover of Baka Mitai is legendary at this point. This was more or less destined to sound good no matter what, and again, it’s just really cool that this exists.

Ishin spec still better though don’t @ me

Moment de la Petite Sirene 刹那の人魚姫 (Heartbreak Mermaid) [Full Spec Edition]:

JAN! JAN! JAN! JAN!

This song caught me off-guard: it’s pretty damn good! I’m admittedly a sucker for this kind of music, and I honestly prefer this version to the original’s. It’s catchy, sounds a little nostalgic, and also has Spanish guitar. And Spanish guitar is always a win. The singer’s also pretty good, she really adds to the more laid back feeling this track has. It sounds like something I’d have blasting in my headphones while doing grocery shopping at 9AM. It just has that kind of vibe, I can’t really describe it in another way.

ユーロde×3シャイン (x3 SHINE) [Full Spec Edition]:

Maybe a little too energetic for my tastes, I think the original does better here, but this isn’t a bad rendition. It’s just the chorus which is my problem, though. The original has such a memorable, fun chorus, but here it’s just not as strong. It might just be I find Yuki to be a way better vocalist, but eh. It feels like it loses itself a little with going all in with the energy.

オトメタルmy life (Otometal my life) [Full Spec Edition]:

I love how split this track is. You got a guitar just FIGHTING FOR ITS LIFE in there, and Haruka just singing sweetly. No seriously, the instrumental’s so sick in this one. Haruka’s honestly a really good vocalist, and Kiryu just hyping his daughter up by putting his ALL into screaming for her is amazing as well. It’s so stupid, and it dedicates 100% effort to it anyways, and that results in this insane, fun karaoke song. Also completionists apparently hate this song for some reason, which I find very comedic.

10/10. I thought it was “oatmeal” at first. Also made me forget this actually showed up in Yakuza 4 first. This one's cooler though

in conclusion and stuff

Overall, I'm pretty mixed on Kiwami's soundtrack. There are a couple of songs, while not bad, just don't really compare to the original. The techno direction isn't inherently bad (look at LJ, 0, LAD, those all have amazing music), but Kiwami can definitely go a little overboard with it, souring some songs.

That being said, Kiwami still has no shortage of just fantastic tracks. Ideal For Violence is literally the best thing ever, for example. The original tracks are pretty strong too, with Get Over It and The Wicked being tracks that really caught my attention. The karaoke selection's a nice little bonus too, basically being a remix selection, which is just fun.

Maybe I'd like Kiwami's soundtrack more if it didn't have to directly compare the whole thing to the original, but for what it's worth, I still think it has a very solid OST overall. RGG's composers are just on another level honestly

Since I had a lot of fun making this, I'll probably end up going wildly off-course for my original plan for these and just start doing full soundtrack write-ups. Oh well. I'll probably take a look at Kenzan's next, if that's the case. Until then, thanks for reading me ramble about video game osts for awhile :)

also i still promise i have swag please its not the only thing i listen to you have to believe me please don't leave pl

#ryu ga gotoku #yakuza #rgg #like a dragon #yakuza kiwami #yakuza ost #video game osts......................#by the way if you're wondering about the game order it's 0>OG1>OG2>LAD>JE>3>4>5>LJ>6(current)#jankiest order ever i know it wasn't on purpose #...mostly #ramblings of the pee-man

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rapifessor · 9 months

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Pokéchronology, Volume I: Yellow

Day 1

Welcome to Pokéchronology! This is a post series where I play through one game from every core Pokémon release, including remakes, in chronological order; hence the name. As I do, I'll be recording my thoughts and experiences in posts like this one, whenever I make progress.

We're starting off with Pokémon Yellow, the most feature-complete version of the Generation I games. This will continue as a trend going forward wherever there is a third main series Pokémon game released after the initial pair.

If for some reason you're worried about spoilers for the plot of one of the first Pokémon games ever released, I've hidden the rest of this post beyond this point. It should also make things nice and compact and easier to see before you start reading.

Pallet Town

Well now, my first ever experience playing a main line Pokémon game. What to name my character? Imagining what I would do if I were a kid playing this game on his GameBoy twenty years ago, I went with the obvious choice: Evan. Because that's my name.

I didn't feel like naming the rival, so I just called him Gary and got down to business. I spent a little bit of time exploring Pallet Town, in particular examining all the bookshelves, because for some reason I thought one of them might have something different to say. Once I was satisfied I went to find Professor Oak and soon after got my Pikachu, who I named BIG RAT. I am way more amused by that than I probably should be, evidenced by the fact that I couldn't stop giggling like an idiot after I had done so.

The first battle with Gary was somewhat unremarkable but I quickly realized that Gary's Eevee is not to be underestimated. That Tackle does quite a lot of damage, and I very well could have lost that battle if all it did was attack. Maybe I should have started off by lowering its Attack before Thundershocking my way to victory.

Viridian City

Time to go to Viridian City. Once I arrive I get Oak's package and take it back to him, he gives me the Pokédex, and I return to the city to get some Poké Balls. I thought about going back to Route 1 and catching some Pokémon, but because BIG RAT is too strong, I couldn't really improve my chances by weakening said Pokémon. So I continued, deciding to explore the path west of Viridian City where I was accosted by Gary.

This is a dicey battle to get in when all you've got is an underleveled Pikachu and Gary now has two level 8 Pokémon. The first isn't really a problem, but Eevee is still tough to handle. Thankfully, Gary is an idiot and keeps telling his Eevee to use Status moves instead of spamming Tackle. After a very long and protracted battle where Sand Attack had dropped BIG RAT's Accuracy so low I wasn't sure I'd be lucky enough to finish the battle, I managed to scrape by with two Potions, and ending the battle with BIG RAT at critical health.

Viridian Forest

Okay, so I definitely need to catch some Pokémon. After healing up at the Pokémon Center I went to Viridian Forest hoping to add some new members to my team. Something that really struck me was that many trainers already have more than one Pokémon to battle you with, which I know is not the case in modern Pokémon games. It's good to know they put a little more thought into trainer battles and didn't make the games into total cakewalks back then.

Anyway, I fought all the trainers in Viridian Forest, who in spite of what I just said were all generally pushovers. Well, not that I expected much from a bunch of kids fielding weak ass bug Pokémon. I added three members to my team in the process: a Metapod that I named Dusty, a Caterpie named Butterboy, and BIRD UP, the Pidgey. Hardly a stellar lineup, but I don't think Pikachu is going to cut it in the first gym.

Pewter City

Here we go, first gym coming up. I figure Brock will be a lot tougher than my previous opponents, so I pop back into Viridian Forest for a bit of training before challenging his gym. The trainer upfront isn't a total joke but easy enough to win against, and you can just leave the gym to heal before coming back to challenge Brock himself.

There really isn't much you can do about his Rock type Pokémon in Yellow. They're just really sturdy and you're gonna have to deal with it. Which would be an issue... if you couldn't just Sand-Attack and Growl their stats into oblivion. Yeah, once you nerf them they become pretty harmless, which means you're free to then beat the shit out of them. Verrry slowly.

And there you have it: first gym beaten. The difficulty curve so far has been interesting; it's steep in some ways, compared to other Pokémon games, but it's manageable if you come in knowing what you're up against. I admit that I'm not really getting the true first-time Pokémon experience here. I'm familiar with a number of type match-ups already from having played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, and I have watched a fair amount of Pokémon content in my spare time.

That's where I'll be wrapping things up for Day 1. I feel like I'm off to a good start. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going as I continue. I figure the gyms won't be super problematic since they're all based around a certain type which means they're easy to strategize around, but I have no idea how the Elite Four and Champion battles are going to go.

#rapifessor rambles #long post #nerd shit #pokémon #pokemon #pkmn #Pokéchronology #Pokéchron #classic games #retro gaming #pokeblogging #Pokechronology #Pokechron

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