#because changing after a character arc is fine but i think zeldas character arc was more about beating her into submission than actual chan

[doomed-era]

like i don't want to complain too much on main but botw genuinely loves forcing female characters to sacrifice themselves and then either wiping their personality (zelda) or them never demonstrably showing much of a personality anyway and getting turned into a saint (mipha.) and considering the one memory where mipha gives zelda advice i really think the narrative is framing mipha's lack of real ambition besides her crush on link and her duty to hyrule and the domain as a good thing.

and i'm not saying that sacrifice is always bad, because it certainly isn't. the problem is that these characters are really not given the option to do anything else, so it doesn't really mean anything. we don't get another side of mipha, and zelda has been primed for most of her life to end up doing what she does. it doesn't really feel genuine to me.

i need to find that one video my wonderful mutual sent me that explains it better but this era of zelda has always had a tendency towards this and it drives me crazy

#glider rambles #and i think you can argue that zeldas just under a lot of pressure during the post-awakening memories #but there is a noticeable personality change imo #and i don't think the narrative was right to reward that #because changing after a character arc is fine but i think zeldas character arc was more about beating her into submission than actual chan #you Will love link you Will sacrifice yourself. you have no choice

[rawliverandgoronspice]

"And I genuinely don’t think either of you understand HOW Zelda turns back to a Hylian at the end of the game.

I’m sorry but these are exceptionally poor analysis and criticisms of the game and it’s cut scenes." As the anon who wrote the ask who started this, I'll just say... nah. Also, pro-tip, don’t be angry, eat a banany. 🍌 You say that all the elements give a lot of insight into Zelda, her relationship, and all that… and then just explain it in the most barebones accusatory way possible, instead of just giving a polite counter and constructively explaining WHY you disagree. Since you apparently just wanna be angy that someone doesn’t like what you likes, and explains why they criticise it, I don’t think there really is a point to argue.   Honestly, my best tip is: Eat nanner, shhhhhhh, touch grass, go sleep. Move on. Ps: Banana’s are the worst.

Also, lemme add, add some spice to your salt: “It reveals Zelda’s feelings for Link which have clearly significantly changed since Breath of the Wild.” I did not feel like they changed much at all, Zelda still feels like she’s simping for Link hard, it's just a few years later now. 😜 Extra bonus: Yeah we know why Zelda got turned back into a Hylian with no repercussions. Bc it had to happen, bc reasons-McGuffin.

Hey!

Yeah, sorry this thing escalated on your ask anon. It got significantly worse after that, so I did block the person because at some point it becomes clear they were having an argument with someone who was simply not in this virtual room and might probably not exist at all anywhere, so there was no point in engaging with a brick wall who was hurling insults based on half a paragraph taken out of context. Pretty sad way to use your free time or deploy love for the media you enjoy, but! To each their own I suppose.

But yeah, I did look it over to see if I missed something, because somebody's tone being inacceptable doesn't mean their arguments also are, but. Yeah. Zelda had her arc of going from being cold and angry with Link to learning to rely on him in Breath of the Wild already, and then literally holds the fort for a hundred years just holding on to the desperate trust that he will arise and become a hero and be capable of defeating the scourge if only she can buy him as much time as she can, which is *crazy* devotion-wise (and also active! in TotK she mostly talks about how much she trusts Link --I guess she turns into a dragon to restore the Master Sword for him, but again I don't believe she really has any other choice and it's not a struggle she must maintain over a hundred years always relying on her own resolve all the way through, so it doesn't translate as hard in my opinion). It's literally her affection for Link and her urge to protect him that awakens her powers! This arc worked great in Breath of the Wild! But TotK loves nothing more than to rethread every character's arc, except again, but less compelling and complicated and without emotional rises or character changes.

Also: a kind tumblr user out there who did not play any game but TotK, believing the marketing that you could basically jump in blind, pointed out to me that there is *no way* to catch onto any of that complexity of their relationship if you haven't played BotW (not that I think it particularly helps). Same deal with the parental thing: they did not bring up the relationship between Zelda and her dad at any point, which makes it a non-information for newcomers. While it is fine to lose some degree of nuance and be a little confused if you jump in a second videogame after the first videogame, you still need to provide something for people to hang onto, and, as I feared, the refusals to expand on BotW backstory didn't seem to help the newcomers familiarize themselves with Hyrule particularly well. Even in extremely well known IPs, it is important to re-establish the bases: jedis are sensitive with the Force, the Ring corrupts its bearer, etc etc. And this was not particularly well done here (for example: it is never explained that Ganondorf is a sorcerer on top of being a Huge Guy that will break your spine with a punch, which makes the appearance of Puppet Zelda *before* he grabs the stone extremely confusing --this relies on pre-assumptions about Ganondorf and a familiarity with the series and its tropes to make any sense, and this is yet another example of what I mean by: this game is awfully self-referential while not really standing on its own two feet).

As for the argument that Zelda was returned to a hylian because of Rauru's arm, Rauru again but ghost (??? hello again?) and Sonia (??? WHY are you here) are actually using recall on the Secret Stone? It's a cool headcanon, and honestly that would have been great and made sense (I mean, a little empty thematically again but at least a cool setup and payoff), but I see nothing that supports that in practice beyond that the power deployed is the color of gold, which, yes, is the color of Recall, buuuut it's also the color of Light and good things and the Triforce and divinity and a billion other things.

If this was what we were meant to take away, then: 1) the actual particles and sound effect of Recall should have been used instead of a vague halo of magical sparkles and 2) the Secret Stone should have hovered and glowed above her chest Laputa-style (thinking of Sheeta from Castle in the Sky, which I'm 99,9% sure was the visual inspiration anyway).

This does not happen. If them using Recall was the intent, then it's badly conveyed. But I see no textual reason to believe this is what's going on.

#asks #thoughts #totk spoilers #totk critical #when will my brain return from the imprisoning war... #zelda #botw #thanks for the ask! #general note however: #I always welcome nice asks that are kindly showing support in uhhh trying times haha #but try to not attack the other part anonymously through the ask system #it puts me in pretty awkward situations where I want to be !! thank you!! but also not. stir up the flames. #I don't particularly want to foster an atmosphere of vindictiveness if I can help it!!

[glassbirdfeather]

Yo! I'm new to tumblr, kinda. Made an account a buncha years ago but now I'm actually using it! I didn't think Elden Ring was talked about here, but seeing a multi paragraph essay about Mohg's horn surely changed that. But with all of that out of the way, I'd like your perspective on something. It seems many tarnished online believe that embracing the Flame of Frenzy and robbing Melina of her purpose as a Finger Maiden is "saving her". This is very obviously wrong, or else Melina wouldn't vow to kill you if she felt she was being saved. She doesn't merely vow to kill you, either. She explicitly plans to bring you Destined Death. She is going to ULTRAkill you. Yet many tarnished still interpret the Flame of Frenzy as an option to "save" Melina. This confuses me, and I was wondering if you had any idea why this interpretation is so popular.

Well, you're definitely saving her from self-immolation, people are right about that. Whether her existence as a "burned and bodiless" spirit is one worth 'living' is up to interpretation. She may not think so.

But perhaps she does. After all, Ranni seems… fine? With not having a flesh body? Sleeps a lot, but plenty of people do. Sellen doesn't care. Stick Melina in a doll and maybe she'd be pretty cool with it. The key thing here is, if she does think her existence is one she could enjoy if she had another way, the absolute destruction of everything forever-and-always is not something she considers an acceptable trade.

You can reverse the Frenzy ending with the needle so she survives, but doesn't come after you during the end cutscene because you're not burning down the world--of course, it isn't a stretch to think she still resents you. Whether or not you take this as her letting go of her vow to ultrakill you, since this keeps her from ending her existence, some people consider it worth her eternal grudge.

Personally, I consider Melina the not-irritating version of Fi from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I don't think her character arc was handled very well, I think she didn't demonstrate much personality, and I think there was not enough agency to her to feel like she was ever a 'real' person instead of a gameplay mechanic with a voice. She went from "I need to go here to find my purpose," to "This is my purpose I was given by someone else and I'm going to do it," so any motivations or desires she might have beyond that are up to fandom interpretation.

Why is this interpretation so popular? I dunno, not to be flippant, but, uhhhh, maybe people don't care to look much further than "Oh noes, mah waifu's on fire D:" and don't consider why she might be okay with or even want that? There can be fandom spaces for thirsting after your favorite Elden Ring girlie AND spaces for in-depth, canon-focused lore discussions. Not everyone is into both. Just. Make sure you know which one you're in.

On the other hand, I'm sure there ARE some people who will insist that this is the best ending because you save her, and that means it's definitely a black-and-white choice and of course she's better off this way. There's no nuance there, because, after all, being alive(?) is better than being dead!

And those people are lacking in critical thinking skills and media literacy because their education system has failed them. While I could go down the rabbit hole of why that is (at least, in the USA), that's probably not what you were looking for with this ask.

----

Funny enough, I think Melina shows the most of her own values and perception of the world right outside the Frenzy Flame Proscription where she pleas to you that births continue and there is still beauty in the world.

#raybytheway #melina #elden ring

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - The current trend in the fandom is to draw Knives as a McDonalds worker to “Make his desire to kill all of humanity reasonable as a customer service employee” which. Hilarious, I love people.

- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Video Game) - Obviously I’ve been having a blast with this, I love exploring the sky islands and caves, the Zonai and new monster designs are awesome, and the memes of messing with the Koroks and creating batshit machines have been wonderful. My main complaint so far is how they handle the NPCs memory of Link, I’d be fine with the main ones remembering him and the rest having a Tony Hawk-esque knowledge of Link without realizing he was in front of them, but it’s kind of sad to run into NPCs that Link definitely helped in the first game only to have them forget him - Like the people of Tarry Town and Hateno village. Ganon’s design is incredible though, amazing job there.

- Monster High (Cartoon) - Finished up the Monster High TV series and while it’s definitely aimed at a pretty young age group, I thought it was cute enough. I like a lot of the new designs with their differing heights and body types, I like how the characters hang out with multiple friend groups and seem to generally get a along with the whole class, and I like the LGBTQA+ and Autism representation being handled well in a show aimed towards children. 

- SSS Class Revival Hunter (Webcomic) - I was really craving more S-Class adjacent content and was led to pick up the next few series since I could get through the chapters in a couple days. This one was okay? I liked the time travel by death mechanic and the brain roommate force ghost, but the series lost quite a bit of momentum in the recent arc with it’s protagonist purposely dying of starvation to learn fighting techniques so that two groups of people could go back to happily murdering each other which. hmm. yeah I’m not feeling it homie, I basically disagree with all of your philosophies here. I might pick it back up after a few months of updates as I do appreciate the larger cast of largely unsexualized women, but ehhh It might just not be for me.

- When the Third Wheel Strikes Back (Webcomic) - I picked this up for the same reason as the previous series, and while there's very few chapters out I am enjoying it as an opener. As tropey as it is the world does at least seem interesting with several mysteries and complicated intrapersonal relationships mixing with political ones, which is fun. I also like the protagonist is a confessional Priest as that’s a pretty fun way to have him hear interesting lore and meet oddballs, so that’s cool. Honestly I’m biased because I always appreciate the “love triangle but the axis is not who you think” dynamic., but I’m looking forward to updates.

- Trash of the Count’s Family (Webcomic) - Reread this as it’s the Holy Trinity series I’m least familiar with. I do still like it quite a bit, and Cale in particular is a fun protagonist, but so far the rest of the characters are cute but a bit flat. Obviously that could change as the story goes on, and it’s possible they are more fleshed out in the novel, but for now I’ll still rank this as the least interesting of the trifecta, if not still an enjoyable series on it’s own. There’s also some great fanfic out there if you’re looking for wholesome found family stuff.

- The Locked Tomb Series (Books) - Harrow is really going through it huh. I miss Gideon.

- Crazy Ex Girlfriend (TV) - As I mentioned before, this series is turning out to be way better than I thought it would be, and honestly that it has any right to be considering it aired on the CW. I’ve been listening to the songs on loop, I love all the different styles, the rhythms, and the humor. 

- The S Classes That I Raised (Webcomic) - Still having a great time.

Listening to: A bunch of Crazy Ex Girlfriend songs, including I’m a Good Person, After Everything You Made Me Do, Nothing Is Ever Anyone’s Fault, and The End of the Movie, The Herse Song by Rusty Cage, Hey I Don’t Work Here by Tom Cardy, Jet Lag by Simple Plan, All Things End by Hozier, Lent by Autoheart, The Sound of Silence cover by Disturbed, and Holy Water by Michael Ray.

#weekly roundup #My posts #late again but we are back to Tuesday so eh

[know-the-way]

Hi, writing to you because you have such a clear head and have been so very good at untangling my messy responses to Caos.

My question is whether it is wrong to feel thrown under a bus as a Spellwood fan when Miranda Otto comes out in a live to say she doesn't only ship MS but thought from the start they should be endgame, and a reason for part 5? She also said something about relationships once established being uninteresting in dramatic terms. And it was implied the reason for other relationships was that MS should not happen too early.

I personally don't think MS makes any sense but support all fans to love all the ships. I completely disagree about the dramatic potential of established relationships. It's what happens next that intrigues me personally.

So obviously it's her privilege and her love for MS has been no secret. It may even be a way to promote part 5 but if that's true about her ideas about Zelda and MS from the start I feel truly manipulated and it's not a good feeling, especially when I consider how dishonest certain emissions made in some paid-for video messages (really Q and A about Caos) feel to me in hindsight.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I already learned from you my not seeing the bi potential of Zelda in part 1 was because it wasn't part of my life experience and expectations. And it's quite clear the whole keeping actors and characters apart in terms of fandom is even more important than I already thought. Lessons learnt I guess. After all I'm generally completely fine with my ships being alternate universe. But damn, Zelda and Faustus were so good and interesting together, it feels such a shame their relationship was apparently discard material from the start for at least one of their actors. Whose wishes may well have influenced the character's arc.

And since my love of Spellwood was somehow part of a personal grieving process it wasn't great to lose them as canon, too. But that's nothing anyone could have predicted while creating of course.

I suppose my question is whether it's stupid to feel so stupid. And for feeling manipulated, and not liking it.

And whether we, who love Spellwood fictions and art or create them, need to be influenced by the creators' intentions if we also really respect them as creators. But have other choices and preferences. Especially when actors come out so strongly in favour of one version. It's their embodiments that made us ship these characters after all...

I'd love to hear your take on this.

*slow exhale* I’ve gotten several questions about this over night and let me just start by saying - I can’t speak for Miranda, I can only try and discern her intentions from the things I have observed in the past.

That being said, I did not take her saying she and Michelle were “endgame” as a “fuck you” to all other ships. Tbh, I’m not entirely convinced - and I don’t mean this as an insult in any way - that Miranda fully understands what endgame means in the fandom world. Because, to us, it means “character a and character b are soul mates and should end up together forever.” But I got the impression, from the way Miranda used the word, that she perhaps thinks it’s just the relationship that happens last lol (“I thought we’d have another season and that would be our endgame thing!”).

Could you read this as Miranda giving fuck all about the other ships in favor of MS? Sure, I guess. But I rather think, given how generous and kind she’s been to fans of every ship, that she just wanted everyone to have a little bit of something on the show. MS is the only main ship yet to have any romantic moments of substance after four seasons, and I think Miranda - knowing how large that part of her fan base is - wanted to change that. To give them something, because it means something to them, just like any other person’s ship means something to them. It appears she thought part 5 was going to be that opportunity, and anticipated that being the last season, so MS would be endgame because it very literally happened at the end.

I could be interpreting it all wrong, of course. But this is the same woman who declared “all ships still sea-worthy” in the middle of shooting part 4, the same woman who posts cheeky teasing photos on instagram for every ship (Zarie, Spellwood, and MS), and the same woman who I believe, given past interactions - if asked about Spellwood or Zarie directly the way she was MS - would have equally positive things to say about them. Because she’s a lovely, considerate person who wants everyone to enjoy themselves and be happy.

#zelda spellman #miranda otto #spellwood #madam spellman #zarie

[not-iscariot]

This was really hard but if you’re interested in my reasoning then scroll below...

Favorite game of all time: Dragon Age Inquisition

For a lot of the answers I wanted to give Big Brain Answers, but thinking through all the games I’ve ever played... I don’t have the hours on any other game like I do this one. I have my own issues with the franchise and some of the decisions that get made but hot damn does a good RPG Fantasy series do it for me. I’ve never played another game that genuinely feels different and unique every playthrough, the world is so big and the ability to feel like a bunch of different versions of the Inquisitor are some of the reasons I find the game so fun to replay. I’ve played 3 games through to completion, 2 with the Trespasser DLC, and 1 where I played every DLC available. I’m currently on another playthrough right now... so based on my attachment and hour log I would say this is my favorite game of all time.

Best Story: Mass Effect 3

This was also really hard because there are a lot of games where I loved the story. I think it’s really hard to end a series and I honestly liked the ending of Mass Effect although not everyone is a fan. The choice-consequence ramifications in this game are pretty brutal and it’s rewarding to see the conclusion of so many of the companions’ arcs. The first time I finished this game I was sobbing which showed how much investment I had in the story and the characters, especially Shepard. I think there are a lot of interesting larger ideas explored in the series like collective consciousness through the Geth as well as the tension between synthetic and organic, which I found myself thinking about a lot when reading Emergent Strategy. 

Favorite Art Style: The Wolf Among Us

RIP Telltale. I liked a lot of their games, but WAU is where I feel the style really hit it’s stride. It worked super well with the fantasy/detective story. I’m sad they never got to finish the game. 

“I’ll finish it some day”: Zelda: Breath of the Wild

BotW is a really amazing game but I have never in my life finished a Zelda game. I want to finish it bad but I sucked literal ass at the boss fights. I also struggle hard with games that have huge open worlds when there isn’t a story really driving me through objectives and missions. Some people love the freedom, I tend to get bored quickly. I dropped the game because I didn’t have time to play it so when I feel up to it again I’m starting from the beginning.

Big Personal Impact: Dragon Age 2

This game made me realize I was bi and helped me come out. That’s pretty much all there is to it. By far my favorite companion set, I hope for future games they take more cross impact between companion characters because that was seriously lacking in Inquisition.

Best Combat: Spider-man 

Super fun combat that you personalize to your fighting style. When I was hitting my best in terms of combos it felt super cool. Just a really strong game gameplay-wise. 

You like, but everyone else hates: Beyond: Two Souls

I don’t know if everyone hates it but when I talk about it I hear a lot of groans... this is definitely one of my favorite games to play with someone else and I think it’s super engaging to play with people who aren’t really into video games. It’s easy enough for them to get into with a decent story and decent twist reveals. 

You hate, but everyone likes: Fallout Franchise

I’ve tried so hard to get into these games. I own most of them but I have never been able to finish one. Fallout 4 was super buggy and I couldn’t get through some of the critical fights. I wanted to be into it but it just didn’t do it for me.

Underrated: Jedi Fallen Order

I don’t think it’s that underrated but I had a friend tell me it was “just Dark Souls with lightsabers” and I thought that was an unfair assessment. The Jedi gameplay is really fun and the boss fights are hard but so worth it to keep trying until you get through them. Also, as a Star Wars nerd, I liked this offshoot exploration of the Jedi. 

Overrated: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

OK I bought this game having never played a Witcher game or engaged with really any Witcher content and I thought, based off the amazing reviews, that wouldn’t be a problem but I could not get through it. I just didn’t understand what the heck was going on or get attached to any of the characters. I went back and bought the first two games on sale, although the first is so frustrating because you have to obsessively save so that you don’t lose progress. I’m open to changing my mind down the road but I just didn’t get into it.

“Why do I like this?”: Grand Theft Auto V

I bought this at the beginning of quarantine last year as a long game to have that would take me ages to complete so I wouldn’t lose my mind. It’s the only GTA game I’ve ever played and I got super into it even though it’s like... GTA. Truly just THAT video game stereotype, you know?

Game you always go back to: Borderlands 2

I’ve played the other Borderlands games but this is definitely my favorite. Just a decent game to playthrough either on your own or with other people. I like the drop-in, drop-out story play through you can do with people.

That atmosphere...: Stardew Valley

Pretty self-explanatory. I wish I lived there. I want what they have...

Bad Day Cure: The Uncharted Franchise

Decent story and story arcs. Good gameplay to zone out to. I like the characters. This was the first set of games I played on my PS4 and it was during a blizzard. Super replayable.

Favorite Protagonist: Hades (Zagreus)

I almost said Dragon Age 2 for Hawke but because Hawke’s personality really depends on the player (I exclusively do humorous) I didn’t feel that counted for strong protag writing. Zagreus rocks. Bi king. He’s sensitive and caring and tough and funny. His arc is so wholesome... my childhood trauma definitely projected heavy onto this game.

After Work Game: Left 4 Dead 2

This was the first game I ever bought on Steam back in 2012 to play with my online friends from deviantArt... that’s how old this game is for me. I’ve clocked almost 400 hours and it’s definitely my go-to comfort/tune out game. I literally play this game to self soothe when I have anxiety... I’m so used to it and familiar with the gameplay that it doesn’t stress me out at all. 

Biggest Letdown: Mass Effect Andromeda

After ME series I was honestly fine where Shepard’s story ended and I was down for another protag and offshoot story but... the game sucked. The combat was fun and it wasn’t unplayable but ME was so good that this game just didn’t live up to the standard. The companions are just not as interesting or engaging, it was buggy and animated weird as hell, and I couldn’t give a fuck about Ryder honestly...

“Back in the day” game: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire

Curling up on the couch or in my room on my Gameboy Advanced SP in red collecting pokémon... these were the DAYS. 

“Not the best but having fun”: Fire Emblem Franchise

Three Houses is definitely my favorite and the only other that I liked out of the few I’ve played was Awakening. I think the games are decent and fun, Three Houses was definitely the strongest in terms of side characters and story, but there are still issues like... how romancing works. Claude is so bisexual it’s actually alarming... 

Criminally Overlooked: Mirror’s Edge

This series had potential to become such a cool franchise but it stopped after Catalyst. I was so invested in the world they created and it was just very... whatever Watchdogs was trying to do but I didn’t like as much. Some really awesome gameplay, just a lot of parkour and running.

Depressing Game: The Walking Dead 

This game and the subsequent ones I just feel so bad for Clementine, this poor girl cannot win. I never finished the last season because I lost track of what Telltale ended up doing, but now I know they finished it so I gotta get back in there. Yeah I cried at the end of this first game.

Favorite ACTIVE Franchise: Dragon Age

So many issues with the series but... it’s likely if they’ve announced a new one I’ve already pre-ordered. I’m very invested and hope Dragon Age 4 is as good if not better than Inquisition...

Not usually my thing but...: Red Dead Redemption 2

Not at all a game I would usually get based of how it was advertised and explained to me as well as the usual crowd who’s into it but... I really loved it. I said this before that I’m not great with super large maps and free reign but RDR2 is one of the few exceptions. I would spend hours just running around and hunting. I started playing it in quarantine and lord... it was so nice to just roam around this huge, beautiful map and feel like I was hanging out outdoors. It also made it shitty to be stuck outdoors because all I wanted to do after I finished was go on a cross-country road trip. Still very much a like... manly man game. But I don’t mind that.

Anyways that’s my two cents. Here’s the blank:

#video games #me #long post

[skekheck]

In that same vein, how about gelfling ranking??? OwO

Warning this post may contain lightly spiced opinions. Also not going to list all of them because there’s a lot...

BUT HERE WE GOOOOOO

1. Seladon: Say what you want with how AOR handled her redemption arc, but she’s by far the most interesting and complexly written gelfling character in the series. She was raised with a lot of pressure, being the eldest daughter of the all Maudra. She had to train hard and taught by a mother who never really showed her love or recognize her accomplishments. Most scenes she’s in with Mayrin her mother criticizes her constantly. Seladon was raised to serve the skeksis and that their word is law and true. And then suddenly her mother and her younger sister who she had a strained relationship are planning to flip it upside down. Lead by the being who represents all of Thra who hasn’t been seen or heard of in forever. And then her mother was murdered for treachery and further being manipulated by the beings she was taught to serve. Does any of this excuse what she did? Of course not, but constantly seeing people berate her over actual genocidal turkeys is very telling how people’s biases get in the way of what’s going on. But at the same time, a character generating this much discussion for her gray morale is proof of how great of a character she is. Also she rocks the goth look. 

2. Kylan: Sweetest boy. Because he’s a minor character in AOR, I’m going to be talking about him from the books. His characterization was inconsistent in Shadows, but they became clearer in Song thanks to the fact his story was told from his perspective. He never really fit into anything: his parents were taken from him at an young age, his step-mother was not very kind to him despite loving him, he never fit in as a Spriton. Now, being part of a resistance of fighters, he once again feels inadequate as a songteller. How can a songteller fight the skeksis? Kylan struggled with self-worth, constantly comparing himself to his peers. But through his travels, he discovers that he has a place in the resistance and there are things that he can do that no one else can. He took on and defeated skekLi the Satirist through playing is firca (and aided by the mystics). Kylan was able to engrave dreametches (a rare and hard to learn skill) into the petals of the Sanctuary Tree to get the word out about the skeksis. He even saved Tavra’s life. He may be the broth boy in AOR, but he’s the smart, shy but very sweet songteller and I think more people should acknowledge that. 

3. Tavra: Absolute MVP in both AOR and the book series. There are things I wish AOR kept about her, like her relationship with Onica (but I feel this can still be remedied if they find the right way to include it). She was the glue in her relationship with her sisters, keeping them together even after she “passed away”. Although it took her a while to get there, Tavra shined even brighter in the books. After losing her original body, she lives the rest of her life as a spider. Like Kylan, she was having her own self-doubts of what she could do with her new body. She does manage to find ways to work around her predicament, but seeing what sacrifices she would have to make (like not being able to see her sisters ever again) is heart breaking. Whatever her situation may be, in both iterations her bravery is commendable and I absolutely adore her character.

4. Periss: So this is my complete bias coming in, but I loved this character. Although he’s not my favorite from the book series anymore, he still remains high on my list. He’s a rebel: he hates his clan and their complacent ways. He knew their Great Tree was alive, but no one listened to him as they thought he wasn’t able to let go. He fought with his brother, sandmaster Erimon, to the point he decided to run away. Periss became a thief who grew a fondness for materialism, as opposed to a clan who lives on minimalism. When the main group finds him after stealing from them, they force him to get them to the Dousan Clan and indirectly confront his problems. It’s there that we find he’s not completely selfish and cares for those around him. I adore smug thief characters with a heart of gold and Periss quickly grew on me. Please be in future seasons.

5. Onica: While a minor character in AOR, she plays a bigger role in the book series. Her characterization is similar, but we get to see more of her: she has a backstory and established relationships with other characters. She lost her wings while stuck in a storm, losing her wings by saving one of her friends. Although she mourns over the loss, she will never regret doing what she did and even concluding that meeting Tavra was worth it. She’s also got a little sass to her and I love how she doesn’t take shit from no one. I hope we get to see this version of Onica in future seasons.

6. Naia: Once again, book series does her more justice. She’s a headstrong badass who cares about her family and goes through great lengths to find her brother. Like a lot of her friends, she has her own problems of fitting in into the grand scheme of things and eventually doubting herself when she believed her one special gift was taken from her. Also she had a super interesting expansion on her dreamfasting ability where not only could she dreamfast with animals but also with the skeksis/mystics (with Gurjin involved). She doesn’t take shit and she gets stuff done no matter how hard it is. 

7. Maudra Argot: Sassy, doesn’t take any shit, should have been the All Maudra. How dare Mayrin rob that from her?

8. Maudra Seethi: My favorite maudra only for the tiniest bit of lore about her and design. I want to know more about you. Gimmie more lore.

9.  Rek’yr: He’s really cool, but there’s not much to him. Hopefully we get a prequel comic starring him soon.

10.  Kira: Should have been the protagonist of the movie. She’s a cute bog princess with a noisy rolly polly dog, can speak to animals, used said animals to kill a skeksis, knows how to use throwing weapons, what’s not to love? Sequel comics ruined her, though.

11.  Brea: I love her inquisitiveness and her need to find the truth. I said this before, but my friend and I joked she was BOTW!Zelda and that still sticks with me. The two are so much alike. Brea is my favorite out of the main trio, but I wished she was as developed as her sisters.

12.  Gurjin: I like him just fine. I don’t really get why people are so thirsty for him but everyone’s got different interests. He is really funny though and kiddos to him for staying strong while being tortured by the skeksis. He’s kind of the odd one out as I like him better in AOR than I did in the book series. I mean we didn’t really get to know him until Flames and by then he just couldn’t leave an impression on me.

13.  Mira: Should have been alive instead of Rian. I kinda really wanted an all girl trio.

14.  Maudra Ethri: I wish they kept her gem eye that was really cool.

15. Maudra Fara: She’s cool. That’s all I can really say.

16.  Maudra Mayrin: Conflicted. One hand I understand why she acts the way she does but on the other hand that doesn’t excuse her from treating Seladon so poorly. Even when she finally steps up to the skeksis I don’t think it really makes up for what she did. A golden star for trying, though.

17.  Elder Cadia: Who?

18.  Deet: Okay I might get some salty fans on me but... I don’t particularly care for Deet? Like she’s cute and should be protected, but that’s really it. She’s just cute. It’s cool to see things from her perspective: the surface world of Thra is so new and newcomers to the series can see its wonders and dangers through her. But there’s not much else. Hopefully this changes but I’m not very impressed.

19.  Rian: Now I don’t mind him, but I think I fell into the camp of I wish Mira was alive instead. He’s the typical hero character who’s needlessly surrounded by tragedy. The show never really gets him to mourn properly. And then he just moves on from Mira to Deet just like that? He’s also not really interesting as a character. He’s my least favorite of the main trio.

20.  Ordon:  I like him, but I don’t think he was very rememberable. I think he resolved his issues with his son too quickly and as soon as they reunite Ordon is killed off. His sacrifice wasn’t even worth it because skekMal survived anyway. Ordon’s death felt cheap, adding needless trauma and sorrow for Rian who was already dealing with the loss of Mira. Ordon deserved better.

21.  Amri: Okay here’s another take people might get salty over: he’s boring. he had promise being a weird experimenter, but we don’t really get to see much of that except for a few instances. Amri had a collection of jars full of weird junk he made. They were brought up in Song and never again. I’m not sure why he became the protagonist of Tides I feel like he should have remained as a side character. He just never made an impression on me.

22.  Jen: As interesting as white bread. I haven’t read the novelization of the movie yet so this opinion may change, but he’s just... not interesting. Also the sequel comics totally ruined him for me.

23. Kensho: I keep forgetting him most of the time. He’s boring.

24. Maudra Mera: Fuck this racist bitch. Worst gelfling 0/10.

#here's a longer one I probably forgot some peeps but here you go #nightmarefueler #asks for skekheck

[itsurmumus]

my OITNB thoughts

*spoilers*

Okay so I literally JUST finished season 7 and here’s what I have to say;

Piper: ok piper as a character overall is annoying we know this, but I liked that in the end she stuck by Alex despite what everyone in her life told her. The whole cheating/not-cheating thing pissed me off a lil even though I really liked Zelda as a character. Alex+Piper may have had their ups and downs but I’m glad that vauseman is endgame.

Alex: She is one of my favourite characters because she is such a strong one. We know from previous seasons that she has loved piper for 10 years if not more (love is pain??) so the whole Guard-cheating situation really annoyed me as it seemed very forced. I almost cried in the scene where Hellman shoved the Heroin down her throat as it was so brutal. I LOVED that she got to go to Ohio and be with Boo, Jones, Gina, Norma etc because it shows that she won’t be alone and that the ‘rest of the gang’ is all doing okay down in Ohio together - it made me smile :))

Red: IM STILL CRYING OVER HER. Fr this one I’m hella pissed at. They really took the Mother of the family and destroyed her in front of them??? Did they have to??? I think it’s just such a shame that she was seperated from Nicky. Red is/was THE strongest, maternal, most badass character and definitely one of my favourites, so so so heartbreaking to see her story end like this (but at least she has morello) seeing her deteriorate really felt like losing someone.

Taystee: She really did deserve justice, honestly one of the most disappointing but realistic character endings. I loved the poussey flashback she had - and the way she set up the found inside the prison, I thought it was good that they are giving her something to do within her sentence.

Cindy: even though I know she deserved it, I still felt bad for what happened to cindy

Suzanne: I liked how they showed her development really well over the last couple of seasons, and that they have shown a friendship between her and lolly. I really love Suzanne (ice cream... and justice!!!)

Pensatucky: she lost A LOT over the whole series and has honestly had THE BEST character arc/development. From going to a character that everyone hated- to one that everyone is grieving for?? Incredible. The one thing that made me even sadder was the fact that taystee found her, even after all the shit she’s been through. Tiffany’s death was so shocking but she died so taystee could live.

Morello: AGAIN- STILL CRYING. Lorna is the sweetest character of this whole show, and one of my favourite characters. Did they really have to take sterling away from her?? Was it necessary??? At least she is in Florida where she can be looked after - make some friends, instead of being in psyc where she may not have survived. Seeing morello get worse and worse this season really broke me because even though I knew she was crazy, I really thought that Nicky and her would be able to stay by each other’s sides and the fact that Nicky had to ‘turn’ her into Florida... that shit hurted. Her last scene with red really said a lot nd spoke. Her ending may not have been happy at all but it was realistic and that’s what’s upsetting

Gloria: mama had a brilliant ending. She didn’t turn in Maria again to be nasty and she got the proper release date. Gloria got to see her family, got her daughters back AND got to see her grandchild. She got the ending that I would have liked red to have but I’m still happy :)

Shani: everyone seems to love shani, and while I appreciate that her and Nicky had a special relationship- I just didn’t like it :/ maybe because I rlly want morello and Nicky together?? But I think mainly because it seemed a bit forced and unreal- idk but for me it didn’t seem to fit right. I agreed that her story was tragic though - she didn’t deserve the ending that’s predicted

Flaca/Maritza: Maritza’s ending was brutal, and left us to chose what happened. I really thought that when flaca and maritza found each other again it was gonna be a happy situation for them (me -> 🤡) What I did like though was the fact that Flaca is carrying on Gloria’s work and helping the women in the detention centre.

Blanca: Her character played a really big role in this season (and in season 5 too) I love the way they ended things with her, because for her all she ever wanted was Diablo- this was a solid + happy ending :))

Pornstache/luzchek/warden ward: Mendez seemed to be a changed man, and I liked the little scene we had with him and his daughter, luzchek had a reasonable ending but a good one in terms of - he did the right thing. Warden ward was a good women, and a good friend too - I liked her character, she was funny but also a good warden, FUCK HELLMAN!

Fig+Caputo: I’ve always liked caputo even in the beginning, although I thought fig was a bitch. I loved them both this season they were amazing as a couple and fig giving that woman her abortion pill - well done 👏👏 I also liked the twist on the fact that they chose to adopt! (See the end for notes on the MeToo)

Maria: her character arc seemed forced?? I like that she was trying to improve though

Daya: so..........we just gotta asume she’s dead??? Tbh this bitch deserved it. Yeah she got life, but she could have desided to do something good with it - like taystee. Instead she goes for drugs and dragging her sister(s) into it. I agree with aleida here, I don’t recognise the s6/s7 daya.

Nicky: I saved the best till last. Nicky is my all time favourite character because she is strong, funny and tough, but at the same time we see a really vulnerable and raw side of her. SHE DESERVED BETTER. Nicky has lost everyone. Lorna, red, piper, Alex, shani- all gone and on top of that she had to deal with turning in the woman she loved most to Florida where she could never care for her again, she had to deal with watching red (her mother) deteriorate before her, and watch her love interest be deported without saying goodbye or being able to do anything. Nicky deserved none of this but what gets me is that this is realistic, and not a happy ending :(( I will never stop being sad about nickys ending. The only good part is she chose to learn from red, and become a newer version of red. Working in the kitchen (running it) and helping girls to get clean, this shows hope for her- maybe even find a new family. But Nicky doesn’t know that Boo, Gina, Norma etc and now Alex are all fine and together and happy. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen to Red or Morello and will never be able to help them again - that’s what makes me sad and what made my heartbreak.

gangs @ the end: I really liked that they showed all the characters staying true to them selves. All the old friends are still together and still surviving/thriving. The last 2 seasons were very focused on only the people in max and the detour showed us all the old inmates. Honestly I miss the original Litchfield - nothing will beat the first 5 seasons.

SIDE NOTES: the show did soooo good to show the truth about ICE and the brutality of it all. They also included MeToo which I think was a good addition. This season was heavily set in today’s world and shed such good light on all current events - I really really liked that. Even though it’s over now, the show will still go on the effect more and more lives, just like it’s effected mine. truly- orange forever :)

#this show man... #oitnb #season7 #red #nicky nichols #lorna #taystee #cindy #pensatucky #daya #gloria #flaritza #vausseman #vausman #caputo #ice #metoo

[malo-mart]

I saw some of your tags in a previous post, did you not like BotW? (not trying to stir shit, genuinely curious because I didn't love it myself)

 so i’ve gotten a couple asks today like this one so I think it’s finally time to make a post about why i didnt love botw :~) this is like 2 years worth of internal critique that ive held in because i know its a really really popular game and arguably the most mainstream zelda game ever (possibly after oot) but i managed to write just my top 3 dislikes!!! woo!!!!

anyway so i just want to disclaim that botw is an amazing and incredible open world game with fantastic graphics and designs and just all round gorgeous! but it doesnt really hit the standard of a Zelda game to me....so here we go

music: forgettable ost  so we’ve all played Zelda games before and we’re all familiar with the music of the franchise. We all know the classics, like the overworld theme, and song of storms, dragon roost island, midnas lament etc. These are really, really iconic songs which we all know and love....So i want to ask how many memorable songs did we get from botw? i loved the trailer music, you know the song that plays when you unlock towers, but the best use of that song was seriously only done in the trailer. I know a big argument a lot of people use to defend the music in botw is “you’re supposed to feel empty and alone” but I don’t want to feel like im alone! I want to feel like i’m on an adventure to save Hyrule. just want to reiterate that botw outside of the zelda franchise is AMAZING but as a zelda game im not impressed. so for the music, in comparison to 30+ years of incredible soundtracks, botw didn’t leave a mark (for me) ((these are just personal opinions)) (((so keep hate to a minimum thabk u))) also i want to add that i shouldn’t like watching the trailer more than i actually like playing the game......you gotta admit the trailer was awesome 

plot: weak plot, boring, no flavour lol  plot.....what plot....lol....surely we can all agree that botw had a weak ass plot. i understand that nintendo was trying to break zelda conventions by allowing you to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted but what i dont understand is why that had to come at the cost of a good story....the fact that you could do a playthrough of botw without having to collect the memories really made the characters and the arc feel so insignificant when it could have been a really great story. one of my favourite zelda games is albw because i loved how they gave you the choice of where to go and what to do through Ravio! and then the plot right at the end....blew my tiny mind. i loved it! albw broke zelda conventions while also delivering an iconic story line. Finishing botw was not satisfying for me. The characters felt incomplete and there were entire plot points that were completely insignificant, like the Koroks. Even the Guardians were made to feel completely obsolete by the end of the game. They were never given a finishing story line. My girlfriend was telling me how botw would have had a greater impact if the final boss fight had involved the guardians, as in they returned to your side and helped you finish ganon or something like that, but instead they were just forgotten about. i feel like a lot of botw was just forgotten about...........but yeah. it was a weak plot, especially in comparison to other zelda games. i really feel like a good story is a key element to a good zelda game 

shrines: too easy, too short, underwhelming  ahhhh. shrines. 120 shrines, and all you get at the end are some clothes. i have a LOT to say about the shrines. they tried hard to switch it up here, replacing dungeons with shrines & divine beasts. i was really excited about this change at first but i felt they really under-delivered. Here are the zelda conventions they got rid of with the divine beasts: boss keys, dungeon specific items (bow, hookshot, boomerang etc), maps (kind of), compasses, mini boss. cool cool cool cool cool thats fine. i feel like they couldnt include any of these because the divine beasts were soooo short. i feel like i completed them in like 20 minutes. i’d say that they were underwhelming! it really made me miss getting stuck in the bloody forest temple in oot shooting an arrow at the walls trying to get the hallways to untwist for like 7 hours u know? as for the shrines, they were boring too lol. the music was all the same, there was barely any variety in the elements or challenges and they were pretty simple to complete. i thought they were booooorrriiiing. i think definitely my key word for this section is underwhelming. the only reason i would get excited about finding a shrine is because it actually gave me something to do instead of just frolicking around and foraging for like 15 hours straight  

but yeah anyway i did like botw but its not in my top 5 loz games barely even in my top 10 like maybe its tenth. and reiterating these are my personal opinions if u relate im starting a club we will have shirts that say ‘botw was okay’. if u thought this was completely wrong then i feel for ya i dont blame u for loving botw. its great! i have high hopes for the sequel!!! also if anyone read this far im surprised but i love u 

#personal #botw #i tried putting a read more in idk if it worked??????? #just edited to try and make it work

[sibyl-of-space]

Finished a binge re-play of Ocarina of Time (3D) for the first time in a very, very long time. Long-winded thoughts below.

Disclaimer: I played the original n64 version (red blood Ganondorf and all) ad NAUSEUM as a kid. It was by far in my top 3 most-played video games, and if you all know me you know that I don’t play a lot of video games, I play the same few over and over and over and become obsessed with them. As such, OoT is not new to me. I also played the 3D version once before, but it was over the course of several years when I was in college and that was a no-lens-of-truth run for the heck of it. I have not touched either since though, so this is the freshest eyes I’ve had on the game since I was probably about 6-7 years old seeing it for the first time. Do keep in mind though that I already knew virtually all the easter eggs and secrets and story and progression and had a vague recollection of the vast majority of dungeon concepts/puzzles before going in, because this game was my entire world for many formative years.

This game has really excellent dungeons. I ranked them below because I was inspired by my friend ML’s ranking (in fact a desire to rank them myself is what caused me to binge replay this in the first place), but honestly I found all of them engaging. My least favorite was ice cavern but even ice cavern has a really cool atmosphere and an interesting concept, it’s just a bit tedious and bottle management gameplay is not particularly fun to me.

1. Spirit Temple - unlike Shadow which uses invisible walls as a mechanic to trick you, Spirit subverts every single mechanic and puzzle you've encountered so far to really throw you. It's extremely clever. The ambience and overall design is also just excellent.

2. Forest Temple - gameplay wise it is fine but as the first adult temple it REALLY sets the scale and tone for the latter portion of your adventure; the vibe in this temple is just so fucking cool. The sacred forest meadow honestly does come off as sacred, ancient, and haunted but in an ethereal way as opposed to a spooky way. Ooh, I love it.

3. Ganon's Tower - the concept is excellent and the execution is solid, the medallion portion is interesting but the gauntlet up to Ganondorf with increasingly loud organ music and hallways filled with bats and just cool fights and great atmosphere makes this one of the sickest final dungeons I can think of. I was starting to be like "eh maybe the medallion rooms are a bit underwhelming" and then I got hit with the fakeout room in Light that just won me over with how cheeky it was. All the medallion rooms felt a bit like Spirit temple with how they played with expectations, which (ironically?) made the spirit portion actually the least good.

4. Gerudo Fortress - I'm counting mini dungeons and the whole espionage thing is just SO much fun. Break into a thieves’ hideout, jump across rooftops and shoot people with your bow to sneak past them?? WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE?????

5. Water Temple - okay I gotta say this replay really sold me on water temple. It's a cool concept and a fantastic atmosphere, and 3DS quality of life changes (boot swap ease of access + very clearly visually marked water level change rooms) made me actually thoroughly enjoy playing it. Also Dark Link is rightfully hailed as one of the coolest, if not the coolest, miniboss(es) in the game, so extra points there.

6. Bottom of the Well - Shadow's invisible wall mechanic is much more interesting when you can't see through them and everything is a potential trap. Falling down to the basement does get frustrating but that room where you light torches to open coffins and a FLOATING GIBDO EMERGES makes up for it, holy crap. Shadow Temple is underwhelming because Bottom of the Well already did what it tries to do but better.

7. Dodongo's Cavern - hey man I like blowing up dinosaurs this dungeon is just solid 0 complaints

8. Fire Temple - Fire Temple is also solid I just a) am so used to the original music that this version feels empty and lacking atmosphere by comparison, and b) find the above temples cooler. Shout out to dragon whack-a-mole boss fight though.

9. Shadow Temple - this suffers from being the only temple I really had completely memorized (I think my weenie friends* must have made me beat it for them as kids) so playing it this time was really just going through the motions; it didn’t get the chance to win me over because I remembered all of it and nothing particularly stuck out to me as being super clever. The boat ride, however, is sick as hell.

(*disclaimer: I was also a weenie. Shadow Temple scared the absolute pants off of me. But I clearly played it enough times that the entire thing was etched into my memory regardless, so.)

10. Deku Tree - does its job as tutorial dungeon, nice atmosphere, thats about all there is to say.

11. Jabu-Jabu's Belly - redeeming feature is using Ruto as a projectile. Throwing her at the ceiling switches will never not be hilarious. Honestly not a bad dungeon, merely gross and I like the other ones better.

12. Ice Cavern - I used to dread Ice Cavern; this time around I just found it tedious. The atmosphere is successful - it really feels cold and chilling - but not appealing enough to make up for it being dull and kind of annoying. Has the potential to be really cool if the blue fire were used in a more interesting way than “fill your bottles and dump them elsewhere.”

BUT, I feel it would be a complete disservice to my younger self and my younger self’s reasons for playing this game so much, if I focus completely on dungeons and disproportionately on gameplay in a review. Because while gameplay is a huge reason I kept going back to it (hard to want to go back to a game if it isn't fun to play), that’s not what made me love it so much, and a replay has given me fresher eyes to enjoy everything else it has to offer.

Ocarina of Time creates a world and a story that I deeply cared about, and revisiting as an adult, I find if anything I have more take-aways than I did previously. I have always really enjoyed coming-of-age narratives when done well, and this is a coming-of-age narrative done REMARKABLY well. You see dumb bratty kids doing dumb bratty kid things and then see the mature people they’ve grown into 7 years later; the game does not make the mistake of projecting a personality onto a voiceless protagonist, but it does imply a narrative arc for him (and you) regardless just through how strong and cool and awesome you get by the end and all the rad shit you’ve accomplished over the course of the game. It manages to very, very successfully make its story about other characters who DO have personalities, but also make you as the blank slate mc cool guy hero very much have a part in that story that feels very earned and satisfying.

Link doesn’t have a personality. You can project whatever the hell you want onto him or nothing at all. Ocarina of Time makes that *work*, because it doesn’t try to frame him as either ~adult in a child’s body~ or ~child in adult’s body~, it just lets you experience the literal growth from a kid who has to jump to reach ledges and has to thwack things twice with a slingshot and tiny sword, to an adult who can LAUNCH MASSIVE PILLARS INTO THE AIR and one-shot previously difficult enemies, and interpret that however you will. I think the most powerful example of this is going back in time again after doing several adult temples, and entering the bottom of the well, where you see enemies you’ve previously only encountered as an adult, and feel confident that you can tackle them as a child, too.

I really love these kinds of narratives. Where the growth of the main character is purely in the sense of you as the player becoming more adept and stronger, and the context of the story makes that mean something, but the game doesn’t try and pretend the avatar itself has a 3-dimensional personality.

I also think the balance between narrative and gameplay is excellent once it hits its groove. The beginning is very hand-holdy (Navi taught me how to open a door after I had already opened a door elsewhere because she’s scripted to do it at a specific door even though you can technically get to a later one first. lol), and I very firmly believe that with Saria’s Song as a device that lets you seek advice when you want to, it is completely unnecessary to have Navi yell at you what she thinks you should be doing. That said, the game doesn’t stop you from doing whatever the hell you want, and the number and depth of dungeons makes exploring and killing stuff by FAR the meat of the game, over the story. There is a suggested dungeon order, but you have some freedom if you’d rather do them a bit out of order, and there is a LOT of fun side stuff you can do and get rewarded for.

Most of that side stuff is an excellent way to highlight the humor in this game. If you beat Malon’s horse race record she mails a literal fucking cow to your house. Your house in Kokiri Forest. You just show up and there is a fucking cow in your house. That is the funniest thing that has ever happened in a game in the history of forever, sorry. You can race the running man, and all of the other sidequests in the game make you think there is a beatable goal you’ll be rewarded for, and the fucker just goes “lol good try but I beat you by one second. :)” You can blow up the Gossip Stones and they turn into rocketships and launch into space. After you beat the game, and have a really poignant moment with Princess Zelda where she sends you back in time, there is a completely out of nowhere dance party featuring the entire cast in celebration. The game does not try to explain this. It just gives you a dance party, and after such a bittersweet finale and such a fun and engaging game, a no-context dance party is exactly what it needs. A line o Gerudo doing the can-can? Thank you, yes please.

There is SO much that this game does not feel any need to justify in-game, that it simply puts in there because it is fun or cool or both, and I appreciate that so much. There are easter eggs out the butt (still haven’t bothered catching the Hylian Loach and I have still NEVER found the sinking lure despite following every guide in existence). Most of the temples imply some sort of greater history that is not even the slightest bit touched on. It has a very cohesive “core” game that has a start-to-finish suggested progression and a matching narrative, and it has absolute mountains of random shit outside of that it in no way pretends to justify. It explains just enough to give it ground to stand on, but no more, leaving you with more questions than answers. That ambiguity drove me nuts as a kid, but now, I think it’s also why I kept coming back. I wanted answers the game wouldn’t give me so I felt compelled to try and find them myself.

Ocarina of Time’s ending is incredible in ways I am just now able to appreciate. First of all, Zelda is like “I’m gonna send you back in time now” and pulls up the Ocarina and instead of playing the Song of Time which everything in the game implies she should, she plays Zelda’s Lullaby and hesitates just enough on the last note as you are sent back in the past - oof, that’s a good moment. The entire game you’re told about how the Kokiri can’t survive outside of the forest and suddenly they’re at Lon Lon Ranch having a dance party. You walk away from the Master Sword and seal it back in the temple, but nonsensically are then able to meet Zelda in her garden as if nothing had happened, meaning she sent you back so far it erased not just the adult timeline but also everything you accomplished as a child too? So many questions, but the fact that it does not even bother to answer them and just leaves you with such an open-ended image of you and Zelda as kids, calling back to that very early moment after the first dungeon in the game, and you can interpret for yourself what exactly that means.

I’m getting rambly (HAHA as if I’m ever not) so I should wrap this up shortly. Ocarina of Time’s ending is why I am so vehemently opposed to the concept of a ~Zelda Timeline~. The ending is nonsensical if you try to apply concrete logic to it. This game proposes ideas and makes me feel a certain way about them and the ending succeeds in providing just enough closure to make me satisfied and just enough open-ness that makes me want to keep coming back to it to experience it again. It’s not an open-and-shut piece of history of a fake world, it’s a really remarkable journey thats ambiguity is what allows it to feel so very magical.

Ooh boy I can’t wait to replay MM again, but that is a game I’ve never stopped playing, so it’ll be anything but fresh. It hits different right after completing OoT, though. The only way to follow up on a story like Ocarina of Time is to be even MORE batshit, ambiguous, and loose with your definition of how time works.

#analyses #ocarina of time #i have a LOT of thoughts it is very long

[talysalankil]

talys’s great nanowrimo 2019 debacle: the post

i felt like being grandiose, just not grandiose enough that I’d properly capitalize things. bear with me.

So I’ve had a bit of a time figuring out what to do for NaNoWriMo this year. So it’s venting time.

I’m also using this to do like, a status report on all my writing endeavors.

Okay so I haven’t had any new novel idea in a while now. I mean, that’s fine. I have a massive pile of WIPs anyway. But (and I think I already made a post about it earlier) the problem for nanowrimo was this:

I didn’t want to do a rewrite of any of the existing drafts:

FEITS v3 was paused at about halfway done in 2017, and while I’ve had a bunch of ideas for it, I haven’t really taken the time to work on them.

Psychopomp’s first draft is complete, but it could use a rewrite

Tangled Stars and Dragged to the Underworld are about 50k each with a missing third act

Eloped in the Night is a 15k word mess that needs major rewriting because it was still Brooding Lust when I wrote those)

Of these five books, four have planned sequels, but: I didn’t want to write a sequel, since none of them anywhere near a final stage. That being

FTEITS (for which I wrote like 30k of a first draft of book 2, most of which is good for the trash what with all the changes I’ve made), 

Psychopomp, whose sequel would have been the best candidate in this category honestly because I don’t think the rewrites would be super structural

Eloped/Dragged are part of the same universe though mostly standalones, but each of the subsequent books in that series would draw from one or both of these, and like I said, neither are even a complete first draft.

While I have a bunch of fic ideas, I didn’t want to do a fic for nanowrimo because it felt like cheating.

Which left me with um…like, nothing. Well, not quite.

So you may or may not know this (I kind of forget where I put information online) but my first draw to storytelling was actually video games. In broad strokes, here’s a quick history of that:

As a very young child (we’re talking 4-8 years old here), I’d play pretend with my plushies

When I got Crash Bandicoot 2 (one of my first video games I was really into), I started to imagine various games where my plushies would be the protagonists. Inspired by Crash, Zelda, other games…I remember once outlining a 15-part series of games around my favorite plushy, each of which was basically subdivided into chunks of different genres. I even invented a “dark age of the franchise”.

When I got Final Fantasy X and then got another gaming magazine with a walkthrough of Final Fantasy X, I started inventing a self-insert game based heavily on it, and wrote most of my ideas in the format of a walkthrough. I even parroted the editing style because I was like nine.

That story was iterated upon several times, and eventually yielded the character of Talys Alankil (well, sort of—the name actually originated in Guild Wars and was then repurposed. Somewhere in the lore, the two of them are like, extremely distant relatives, or were until I decided all copyrighted works were purged from canon). Thanks for creating my brand, 13 and 15-year-old mes.

I actually got into computer engineering because of games, except I then realized the storytelling was what interested me. Oops. I mean I like programming but I’d never want to work as a programmer in a game.

That tangent was completely pointless but whatever, this is the state of the talys post.

Anyway. Point is. I got a new idea for a game earlier this year. Life Is Strange 2 meets Octopath Traveler by way of Vanitas from Kingdom Hearts as the protagonist. This is the first time I have an idea that I can phrase in this kind of pitch so I’ll indulge. Fight me.

Working title is just “The Road” though obviously it needs some work, and over the past few months I’ve actually done some pretty good prep work, so I thought, hey, why not challenge myself this nanowrimo and write a script for a game instead of a novel!

And like, there’s no reason why not. I’m actually feeling pretty attached to the protagonist already, I’ve been wanting to try scrivener’s script writing tool, it could be fun. Of course, the problem is that a script for a game (especially this one) is inerently nonlinear and requires thorough planning, which I have not done. And nanowrimo starts…technically tomorrow night if I can still stay up past midnight.

[Second tangent time: I’ve been going for a teaching degree, which has forced me to reset my sleep schedule extremely hard and I hate it]

So that brings me option 2. Well, technically there are two options here, but only one that’s remotely viable.

I may have mentioned it before but in FTEITS, Adam and Cell bond over (among other things) a shared favorite book/author. Well, mostly a book. There is also a scene of Adam finding that author’s new book and experiencing nostalgia over his lost life, which may or may not survive the rewrites. The author, incidentally, is my self-insert in that world, and will also not be an active character in the plot of the books, but I just felt like mentioning it. And yes, that means my protagonists are fans of my work. Sue me.

The one they’re both a fan of is titled Snow to Ashes (I remember way way back, when I randomly picked a title “The Brain is Out”, before I had any idea what it was about). It is, incidentally, a chance to analyze Adam and Cell’s character arc by proxy and in a microcosm, which is good because I feel that sometimes their arcs are still kind of ill-defined. Basically the story has two protagonist and it is canon that Adam and Cell each relate more to one of them.

The problem with that is that now I’m getting a lot of ideas for Snow to Ashes, and I don’t know if I have the time to work all of these ideas and iron them out before nanowrimo starts.

So that’s where I’m at. Either way I will be pantsing it. I was hoping to get to do some outlining this week before Friday, but it turns out that being tired, having a pretty big spike of executive dysfunction, final fantasy 14, and my parents deciding to watch the TV again after years of not doing it (thus making noise at the time of day that would be perfect for me to write), is not fertile grounds for productivity. I am, incidentally, out of a FF14 subscription in four days, which is very fine by me since that game would also ruin nanowrimo itself, not just the pre-nano prep.

This isn’t really a request for feedback tbh, just, like I said, venting. Hoping to straighten my thoughts and figure out which choice is best.

As a PS i should mention that yes, the Talys Alankil game is also technically a writing option, and I could write a script for that. I mean it’s almost a rewrite because that one has a pretty rigid outline already, but. Yeah. It’s an option too.

Edited: I didn’t mention Malefacta. I didn’t forget about malefacta. I just don’t know what to do with Malefacta. It’s annoying.

Edited2: Remember when I almost wrote a superhero book for nanowrimo 2017? yeah that’s still a project I have somewhere. I’m no feeling it though. Sorry, superhero project. You were never meant to be, I guess.

#talys liveblogs nanowrimo #nanowrimo 19 #talysnovel: fteits #talysnovel: psychopomp #talysnovel: tangled stars #talysnovel: eloped #talysnovel: dragged #talysnovel: snow to ashes #talysnovel: the road #i'm using a talysnovel: tag even though it's not a novel idc #talys reboots a universe #I think that's my tag for the Talys game #talysnovel: malefacta #talysnovel: tpe

[8bitsupervillain]

End of the Year 2018 (I’m a few days late)

Hello ladies and gentlemen, it's that lovely time of the year again. The holiday season is past, the year is winding down and there's a new year on the horizon. As is traditional at this time of year I feel the need to force upon you my thoughts and feelings about the best things and the worst things I personally have endured this year. Once again, I can't really bring myself to do a best film of the year because honestly I don't recall seeing a movie that really stood out as particularly good this year. Some films I only saw because it was something to get me out of the house for a few hours, and honestly the only movies I can really remember seeing in the theaters were: Solo A Star Wars Story, Slender-Man, and Avengers Infinity War. 

Anyway, my Games of the Year 2018 edition. I decided to do something a bit different with this particular list, even though I played quite a number of games this year I didn't really play many that come out this, just a lot of older stuff. You may notice some glaring omissions from the games I did play this year, some of the big titles that came out I simply didn't play. So, you fine people are going to get a double list this year. I will have a top five for games that came out pre-2018 that I played this year, and one for games that did come out this year.

Honorable mentions:

HM: Call of Duty Black Ops IIII. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this game. I haven't really played many shooters in the past couple of years, but I greatly enjoyed my time with Black Ops 4. The base multiplayer plays pretty decently these days, and it reminds me a lot of Counter-Strike for reasons I can't really explain. Like so many of my friends though I really liked the time I spent in Blackout, I don't really play these battle royale games, but I enjoyed the time I put into this one.

HM: Mega Man 11. This was a very fun game, and I liked it quite a lot. Some of the pixel perfect jumps the game requires of you are a fair bit irritating though. I freely admit, I may have liked this a lot more than I may have otherwise because of the fact that I played Mighty No. 9 a couple months before the games release.

HM: Elder Scrolls Legends. I played this game a lot over the year, and I'd probably still be playing it if they didn't make the game unplayable on mobile and completely uninteresting to play on PC.

HM: SoulCalibur VI. I was really looking forward to this game, and I was so happy that the game came out as good as it did. It's a delight to play, and I really want to get back into playing more of it. Geralt was an interesting addition to the game that I'm really glad made it, he's quite fun to play as, and I can't wait to try out 2B.

HM: Deltarune. I'll admit that when I started playing this I wasn't really feeling it, I thought that the game was going to be trying too hard to recapture what made Undertale good. But it's a surprisingly enjoyable game, can't wait for the rest of it to come out eventually.

HM: Faith. A retro-style horror game, done in vector graphics. I like this game, granted some aspects of the boss fight, and the events just prior to this fight are somewhat annoying.

HM: King's Field (and King's Field 2). I played these in about mid-January, shortly after playing Persona 5. It was a nice little palette cleanser because it was a change going from a big story RPG to a game with a barebones plot. I played the Sword of Moonlight version of King's Field, and I had fun with it. King's Field 2 was also fun, I could not play these games without a guide though.

Game of the Year: Pre-2018

5. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

I played the 3DS version of this game, and honestly I loved just about every minute of it. The storyline was actually very well done, and I liked basically every character in this game. I was a bit unsure of how the game would play on the 3DS but it ran really well, and actually holds up great in the visuals. This is going to sound silly but I really like it when games include outfits that actually change the look of your character, it's a real treat. I really wish I had actually played this one when I got a PS2 copy years ago, but at least I finally got the chance to play this one.

4. Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

I'm very slowly going through my backlog of 3DS/DS games that I've built up over the past five years or so. I played through this game back in March, and honestly I keep having a desire to go back through the game again just for the fun of it. The game becomes a bit of a bastard to go through towards the end, but I found it to be a greatly rewarding experience to play through. Also unlike Untold 1, the story mode in this game isn't a complete mess! So that's nice, a shame there will probably never be an Untold 3.

3. Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

Briefly alluded to as "a game I'd probably really like if I played more than an hour" on last year's list I found that to be the case entirely. Breath of the Wild was a really great game that I found myself loving from top to bottom. This is another game that I completed fairly early in the year that I find myself wanting to replay again because I enjoyed it that much. Even when I played other games that are entirely different from it I found myself trying to pull off some of the moves and abilities you get in Breath of the Wild. Maybe I wouldn't have found this game to be so great had I played any of the newer Zelda titles (the last one I played was Wind Waker), but I found this game to be an absolute joy to play. I admit that the announcement of it being an open-world game filled me with dread, but I was so pleased to find out my fears were entirely unfounded. It's just really remarkable how much stuff they were able to put in this game, I wonder how the Wii U version fairs in comparison?

2. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (and the DLC)

This is quite possibly the best version of Dragon Quest V I have ever played! I don't really know why it took me so long to get to this game, but for whatever it's worth the slightly over one hundred hours I've sunk into the game was a trip entirely worth taking. A bad habit I have when playing RPGs is sometimes near the end I start wishing it would wrap up, I never had this thought while playing through the Witcher's length. Even when I played the DLC almost immediately upon completing the primary story I didn't want my time in this world to end. This was an unexpected treat, after having played the first two Witchers I didn't in my wildest dreams think the third one would be this good. I absolutely adore this game, it has some of the best writing I've seen in an RPG, the characters are great, and I really like the villains. They feel like a very real, tangible threat as opposed to a vague evil sitting just beyond the horizon. Add to that the inclusion of Gwent and you have a game that holds its value really well. It must be said that Blood and Wine has what might be one of the most affecting endings I have ever seen in ages.

1. Fire Emblem Warriors

Surely I'm out of my mind, you must be thinking. After the words I said about Breath of the Wild, and Witcher III, how could a Musou game be the best of the pre-2018 games I played this year? Particularly in a year where Hyrule Warriors got a re-release? It's simple, I didn't really play Hyrule Warriors, and I played through Fire Emblem Warriors three times. While Breath of the Wild, and Witcher III have story, waifus, and better looks and feel about them, Fire Emblem Warriors has gameplay working in its favor. The gameplay in Fire Emblem Warriors is quite possibly some of the best Musou gameplay I've seen in a long while. Sure I might have issues with the fact that this is primarily an Awakening/Fates show I'm able to get over it because of how good the game plays. I earnestly hope for a sequel, I know it's a long-shot that any of the older Fire Emblem heroes would get in, but I would love it. Also this game does the impossible and makes the cast and story beats of Fates tolerable and decent.

Games of the Year 2018

5.  Detroit: Become Human

This game should count itself lucky I didn't play anything slightly more substantive. If I had played anything better than this I don't honestly think Detroit would have gotten any more than an honorable mention. That's not to say I didn't like the game, I enjoyed it greatly in fact, I just am surprised this game managed to be one of the better games I've played this year. The story really isn't the greatest around, but it did have moments that I liked a whole lot. Like so many others I think I liked the stuff with Connor and Hank the best. If this game had focused more on the "android cop" idea I might have liked it more, but I do want to reiterate I do think this was a good game. As by the numbers as Markus's story may have been, and some really hamfisted story beats that occur toward the end of the game it was a really solid game overall. I kind of feel like the game also played its hand regarding some of the characters a bit too early, and as such it kind of fumbled the reveal when it happens. It is pretty interesting seeing some of the variations between being peaceful Markus versus violent Markus, also the endgame variations of Connor's arc are pretty intriguing. Sadly Kara kind of gets the short end of the stick when it comes to characterization. Despite the game not quite sticking the landing when it approaches the ending it was still a good game to play through.

4. The Banner Saga Trilogy

This might be a bit of a cheat, but the console versions of the trilogy came out this year, so I'm counting it. It might not have the deepest strategy gameplay around, but this series is so much more than just the combat encounters. Some of the choices you're forced to make as the series advances are actually pretty difficult to deal with, but for its credit the game never really goes out of its way to chastise you for the decisions. I enjoyed the setting of these games a lot, Viking stuff is very interesting to me, and I absolutely adore the art style these games use. It reminded me a whole lot of the animated Hobbit movie that was out in the early 80s that I remember my dad having. I adore pretty much the whole cast that is in this trilogy, some of the characters fall flat, but when the cast is as large as the one in this series it's to be expected. This series also reminded me a lot of the early Fire Emblem games (specifically the ones on the GBA), in that your characters can permanently die as the story progresses. I played through this entire series over the course of a month because I was that engrossed in the world and story this series takes place in. I like how the threat in the series becomes much larger and grander as the games go on, and it never really feels entirely out of left field. The story does take a bit of a dive towards the end of the third game, but it was never really a deal breaker for me. If you like turn-based tactical combat, vaguely Norse mythology, or just a compelling story I really can't recommend this enough.

3. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Perhaps they should have done the Kiwami games prior to making this, since they seem to have had some issues with the engine. That said however I really enjoyed this one a whole lot. I don't really have a lot to say about the gameplay for this game, it is still some of the best combat you can experience in most modern games these days. Style switching from 0 is gone, but that's alright. Most heat moves seem to boil down to mashing the button a whole lot to make the impact greater, but none of the gameplay changes were a deal breaker for me. I don't really want to talk about the story in the game because I feel that the story is really the game's greatest aspect. The story has some major gut punch moments, it still has its more outlandish moments (it is Yakuza after all), but the story overall is a very satisfying very moving finale for Kiryu's story. I desperately want more people to play these games because the ending was perhaps one of the most emotionally satisfying things I have ever experienced with a video game.

2. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of An Elusive Age

I adore this game. When it came out in September I played nothing but Dragon Quest XI until I completed the game. It's rare these days that something I look forward to actually lives up to my expectations, but Dragon Quest XI hit the mark and then some. I love just about every single member of the party in this game, I don't think there's a single weak link to be found in the cast. Sure the villain of the game lacks a bit of oomph despite the build-up, but I was still really digging the final villain by the time the game was approaching its end. Normally when I play an RPG by the end I start to drift away from it a bit, but I was thoroughly enjoying my time with it. I do have some complaints with the narrative towards the end, some minor complaints I have with certain characters and their characterizations near the end. The game is absolutely worth playing, it is just sheer classic role playing joy from beginning to end. Plus if you play it on PC you can mod in the orchestral soundtrack which is nice.

1. Monster Hunter: World

I sunk a lot of time into this game over the year. Two hundred and twenty-five hours to be precise (on one character at least). Granted that might be small potatoes compared to the time others have sunk into this I think that is quite a large amount. There's just something about this game that keeps calling me back to it. It might not be the most narratively rich game, but quite frankly I love this game to pieces. It's very cathartic hunting down these big behemoths. To be honest though I was kind of split between declaring this or Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate my favorite of the year. They both do something that I love so much about these games. It might be shallow to say but I probably like World more due to the graphical polish that the game possesses over Generations Ultimate. I love the inclusion of the cosmetic add-ons that are in World, it amuses me greatly to run around dressed up like Ryu from Street Fighter, or Dante from Devil May Cry, I also like the Aloy costume from Horizon: Zero Dawn. However I kind of prefer the greater amount of monsters that are available in Generations Ultimate. The sheer volume of monsters in the game is kind of ridiculous, but some of them are just tremendously fun to fight and I wish they could be in World. Generations Ultimate I kind of feel like I might be cheating by including it here, since it was an import copy for the Switch I played a lot. Honestly though, Monster Hunter World and Generations Ultimate I spent an absurd amount of time with during the year. In World's case at least I imagine I'll play a lot more during this year simply because of the inclusion of multiple crossover events that will no doubt be happening over the year. There's also the fact that Iceborne is coming out later this year, and I really can't wait to get my hands on that.

The honest truth is every single game that make up my best of list are all games that I really want to replay because I enjoyed them so much. Also just for fun here's the order the list would go in if I combined the two lists:

10. Detroit Become Human 09. Dragon Quest VIII 08. Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold 07. The Banner Saga Trilogy 06. Yakuza 6 05. Breath of the Wild 04. The Witcher 3 03. Dragon Quest XI 02. Fire Emblem Warriors 01. Monster Hunter World/Generations Ultimate

Here’s to 2019, and the very many games that are coming out that I am really looking forward to! Thank you for reading, and until next time farewell.

#Game of the Year #2018

[entergamingxp]

DualShockers’ Favorite Games of 2019 — Allisa’s Top 10

December 29, 2019 2:00 PM EST

My top 10 for 2019 include some obvious choices, such as Fire Emblem: Three Houses and the Ace Attorney trilogy, and a few surprises.

As 2019 comes to a close, DualShockers and our staff are reflecting on this year’s batch of games and what were their personal highlights within the last year. Unlike the official Game of the Year 2019 awards for DualShockers, there are little-to-no-rules on our individual Top 10 posts. For instance, any game — not just 2019 releases — can be considered.

2019 for me is a year filled with surprises. Although the majority of games on this list were ones that I expected to love, a few of these titles truly threw me for a loop with how much I enjoyed playing them. And for me, that’s the most rewarding part about gaming — finding those hidden gems that reignite your passion for your hobby while challenging your notion of what makes a good game in the first place.

So with that said, here are my top 10 games for 2019.

10. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Ace Attorney is one of my favorite franchises of all time, and this collection of the first three in the series–particularly the Switch version–is by far the best way to play it. Not to mention that so many years later the characters, writing, and gameplay still holds up incredibly well.

The writing really is the standout in this series with plenty of heartwarming and hilarious moments conveyed through near flawless story presentation and pacing. With the remastered sprite art, updated translations, and remastered music of the trilogy this already fantastic series has been elevated even more.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Ace Attorney Trilogy.

9. Fire Emblem: Three Houses

After being so badly burned on the lackluster Fire Emblem Fates, all I could hope for the next entry in the main series was something decent. Instead I got my favorite Fire Emblem game in the franchise. The characters are well-written, fleshed out, and with fully realized character arcs.

The gameplay not only polishes the classic tactical formula we all know and love, but also added in bold new mechanics such as the School system. Instead of worrying about future babies, we get by far the most class depth and customization in any FE title. It’s an absolutely solid tactical RPG that continued to blow me away until the very end.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

8. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered

Being able to play Final Fantasy VIII, my favorite entry in the franchise, on my Switch was an experience filled not only with nostalgia but with reminders as to why I loved this entry so much in the first place. Though it seriously misstepped with its romance plot (I’m in favor of removing it all together), this is a game of innovation and risk.

It discarded the hugely popular Materia system from FFVII and instead created one that emphasized on character customization without the need for strict class systems. It introduced summons that have an actual impact on both gameplay and story outside of “doing tons of damage.” And the narrative itself was incredibly subtle and thought-provoking, letting players interpret key plot points without spoonfeeding them story beats. It’s an incredible game that still holds up today, and most importantly, the updated graphics finally let Squall be the most handsome guy in the room.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Final Fantasy VIII Remastered.

7. Pokemon Sword and Shield

I love Pokemon. So, I knew that I would enjoy Sword and Shield regardless of fan controversies, especially with the quality of life changes, brand new Dynamaxing mechanic, fine-tuned battle system, a truly, uniquely designed region, the introduction of the huge Wild Area, and the best 3D graphics this series has seen to date. But what I didn’t expect was to fall in love with the characters so much. The Gym Leaders alone have so much flare and personality, but then we have Champion Leon who’s kind, human, charismatic, and extensively involved in his region.

And of course Hop, the best developed rival character in Pokemon history. His character arc is not only incredibly relatable (living under the shadow of his successful and older sibling) but the way that development is conveyed in the story and gameplay. His animations change to match Leon’s because Hop thinks imitating him is right way of things. He swaps out his first and most treasured Pokemon at one point because a crushing defeat and harsh words damaged his self esteem, and his eventual career choice in the end that’s wholly himself. Hop takes an already fun game and adds tons of heart and that’s what really cemented this game in my heart as one of my favorites of 2019.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Pokemon Sword and Shield.

6. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

My second favorite entry in the Final Fantasy mainline franchise, its inclusive was also a no brainer. I really, really love Final Fantasy XII. It has a richly detailed and extensive world that’s breathtaking to explore, the characters are interesting and well-acted, and its politically-focused plot is a welcome breath of fresh air that never fails to deliver on its intrigue.

The gameplay is also absolutely phenomenal, as it takes the character customization systems of Final Fantasy VIII and X and combines them together while polishing them to a near-perfect sheen. And most importantly, Vaan’s abs have finally been fixed. If I ever had to recommend a single title in the franchise, this one would be right up there with Tactics.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

5. Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy – Deluxe Edition

The Professor Layton series is one that I’ve always enjoyed because of its excellent soundtracks, fun and satisfying puzzles, the charming characters and graphics. The latest entry in the series, Mystery Journey, is no slouch, as it still manages to deliver on all these points even as it changes direction with a brand new protagonist and different style of story progression through solving cases.

It also managed to accomplish something I didn’t realize I craved: returning the Layton series back to its more focused and simpler roots of the first game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy – Deluxe Edition.

4. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux

I played this game last year and then replayed it again in 2019. Strange Journey was always one of my favorite entries in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise even, on the DS. It hits my love for sci-fi, so that’s an automatic point in its favor and the endlessly intriguing and dark story starring nothing but adults doing adult things just speaks to me on every level. Not to mention how refreshing it is to play a game that researches and implements its mythological inspirations with a razor sharp accuracy that’s unparalleled in JRPGs.

Redux takes this game and revamps it with some of the best quality of life updates I’ve ever seen in a remake or port. Even then, it also adds on a brand new dungeon, new characters, a new final boss, and three new endings. I can’t sing enough praises for Redux.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux.

3. Octopath Traveler

When I first tried the demo for Octopath Traveler, I knew I was onto something truly special. Not only was the turn-based gameplay fast and strategic, but the story itself has no qualms about submerging its proverbial hands in the grime and muck of its plot, without losing sight of its characters’ motivations and humanity.

Then when the full game released, I fell in love all over again. The plotlines of the eight protagonists are all so varied yet equally compelling, the graphics beyond breathtaking, the battle system even more polished and rewarding while maintaining its strategic depth, and the character customization is rich. This is easily one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played and it absolutely had to be on my top list for 2019.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Octopath Traveler.

2. Cadence of Hyrule

Despite how awful I am at rhythm games, I find myself addicted to polishing my skills and learning the ins and outs of this game’s battle mechanics. Based off the original Crypt of the NecroDancer, Cadence is set in The Legend of Zelda‘s Hyrule as you dance your way through hordes of foes to save the land either as Link or Zelda.

The 16-bit graphics are richly detailed and colorful while the combat system, although based in rhythm game mechanics, never feels tacked on or out of place. It’s amazing how much I feel like I’m playing a traditional Zelda title.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for Cadence of Hyrule.

1. VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

Imagine a world where corporations reign supreme, all human life is infected with nanomachines designed to oppress them, and the terrifying White Knights ensure that everyone obeys the laws. This sounds like the setup for an epic tale of rebellion against an oppressive capitalistic society right? But that’s not it. You play as a bartender who serves her customers whatever drinks they desire while listening to them pour their hearts out. It’s a simple premise that’s executed perfectly.

Between the graphics straight out of a PC-98 Japanese adventure visual novel, killer retro soundtrack, endlessly intriguing and raunchy dialogue, and incredibly unique gameplay centered around making good drinks, VA-11 HALL-A is a real standout title.

Check out DualShockers‘ review for VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action.

Check out the rest of the DualShockers staff Top 10 lists and our official Game of the Year Awards:

December 23: DualShockers Game of the Year Awards 2019 December 25: Lou Contaldi, Editor-in-Chief // Logan Moore, Managing Editor December 26: Tomas Franzese, News Editor // Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor  December 27: Mike Long, Community Manager // Scott White, Staff Writer December 28: Chris Compendio, Contributor // Mario Rivera, Video Manager // Kris Cornelisse, Staff Writer December 29: Scott Meaney, Community Director // Allisa James, Senior Staff Writer // Ben Bayliss, Senior Staff Writer December 30: Cameron Hawkins, Staff Writer // David Gill, Senior Staff Writer // Portia Lightfoot, Contributor December 31: Iyane Agossah, Senior Staff Writer // Michael Ruiz, Senior Staff Writer // Rachael Fiddis, Contributor January 1: Ricky Frech, Senior Staff Writer // Tanner Pierce, Staff Writer

December 29, 2019 2:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-allisas-top-10/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dualshockers-favorite-games-of-2019-allisas-top-10