Meletonin and soma interaction
Soma - Decentralized Social Marketplace
2018.06.18 14:33 soma_sct Soma - Decentralized Social Marketplace
Soma is a revolutionary decentralized platform that facilitates trade and social interaction powered by blockchain technology and a native cryptocurrency (Soma Community Token, or SCT) for liquidity within the Soma Community.
2024.05.14 16:22 TheBlaringBlue Ranking the Shire Arcs in AC: Valhalla
I wrote mini reviews of each arc here, but because there are so damn many arcs, this ended up being a wall of text, despite me trying to keep them short. Feel free to skim or read only what interests you!
--
The episodic nature of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla means that its narrative is split into chunks. These chunks take place across the many shires of medieval England and vary in terms of length, depth and, well, pointlessness. I thought ranking them would be a fun exercise — a competition of story arcs, all vying for best Viking mini-narrative.
It goes without saying, but I’m about to spoil the whole damn game, so read at your own risk.
--
21. Wincestre
Wincestre is just another Lunden or Jorvik, accept with more Jesus, more King Aelfred and way less… anything worthwhile. This one was just a total nothing-burger of an experience. The fact that it comes so late in the narrative really hurts it, too, because by now you’ve experienced arcs that are a similar traditional Assassin’s Creed city-style that at least aren’t this bad. Aelfred’s turning on Eivor at the end also didn’t feel coherent, convincing or warranted to me. Big miss.
20. Lunden
The smaller, denser cities with multiple targets to track down and ‘social stealth’ options are certainly here to attempt to replicate the traditional AC experience, but Lunden fails to do so meaningfully, and even gets a huge points deduction for being misleading.
The arc is set up to feature twists with Stowe and Ercke (is one a traitor? Will your romancing of Stowe make things complicated?), but after their initial scenes they’re mitigated to what I would hardly even call side characters as Eivor unveils three randos as Order members, kills them and then leaves town. At least there was a cool boss sequence on the river?
19. Snotinghamscire
This arc sees you reunite with Hemmingr Jarl, his son Villi and his compatriot, Trygve. Eivor has an existing relationship with these characters, but the player doesn’t. As a result, nothing that happens with them lands meaningfully.
After Hemmingr passes, this arc boils down to running dull errands to prepare for the burial ceremony. Eivor chooses whether Villi or Trygve will succeed Hemmingr in the end, but the decision is very clear-cut and suggested to the player, lacking the nuance of the game’s other difficult decisions. This arc isn’t memorable, doesn’t concern the main quest, and feels like fluffy filler in the worst way.
18. Jorvik
Another version of the Lunden & Wincestre arcs, Jorvik is stronger than its competitors for presenting the Order members to your face before you deduce who they are. There was nothing shocking about their reveals, but each provided an interesting set piece to navigate during assassinations.
Problematically, the arc sets itself up for Eivor to accuse a traitor, only for her decision to not matter at all. You never get to act on your accusation at Yuletide — the Order member interrupts and attacks the feast no matter who you accuse.
17. Cent
The Cent arc sees Eivor team with Basim to track Fulke. It feels important and part of the main story, but it’s all for naught in the end — you come face-to-face with Fulke in what seems like a meaningful story moment, only for her to run away. Your reward is finding out Sigurd had his arm cut off.
This arc earns some points for getting Fulke screen time and tiptoeing the tightrope of Eivor and Basim’s rocky relationship believably, but certainly can’t be called good. This is because once you pull back the veil, you realize you never advanced the plot and were running in circles for nothing the entire time. At least the other “filler” arcs were forthright about their (lack of) connection to the main story.
16. Jotunheim
This arc has a compelling story to it — Odin running from his fate and bending over backwards to flee from it is interesting, his broken relationship with Loki should be a strong point for the arc, and his moral gray areas (sleeping with a Jotunn, betraying Tyr) certainly make for a complex character’s development.
It has the ingredients of a strong arc, but I just couldn’t shake the why am I doing this feeling I had the entire time. Everything in between Odin’s big moments is a fetch quest and I just felt like I was wasting my life.
This one is weird because on paper it feels like there’s a lot of substance here, but ultimately, I felt nothing while playing it besides contempt for having drank the potion in Ravensthorpe again.
15. Lincolnscire
Heir to the throne Hunwald is exiled from Lincoln and reaches out to Ravensthorpe for help. Eivor tracks down his sickly and dying father and then must cast the deciding vote for whom the new Ealdorman will be after his death.
The game wastes your time with one of Hunwald’s competitors, Aelfgar, (who is a dork) and paints the bishop as evil pretty clearly (he turns out to be an Order member). I suppose this arc could hit hard for someone who accidently put an Order member in charge. For that and for Hunwald at least having a strong drive and personality, this arc earns some marks.
14. Essex
Eivor is brought in to repair a marriage by separating husband and wife naturally without a public divorce. She reunites Ealdorman Birstan with his former lover and sets up a fake public kidnapping to whisk away his wife, Estrid.
I think many would rate this arc far lower than I have here because it is pure side mission nonsense — but for me, this arc stands strong on the backs of convincing and fun characters in Birstan and Estrid, as well as the tangled web of relationships between the two of them, Birstan’s son, and Rollo, Estrid’s former lover.
13. Ledecestrescire
Ledecestre sees the intros of Ivarr, Ubba and Ceowulf. You team up with the sons of Ragnar to help put Ceowulf’s father on the throne in Mercia.
Ledecestrescire earns points for strong, realized characters in the Ragnarsons and Ceowulf, a believable conflict with the Mercian king, as well as the arc’s biggest moment with killing or sparing Leofrith in Tamworth.
12. Asgard
Asgard looks pretty and hits hard when you first arrive. I appreciate Ubi for creating places like Atlantis and Asgard to run around and explore in.
Unfortunately, both felt supremely empty. However, watching Odin fight tooth and nail to run from his fate was satisfying and Loki is aptly deceptive and frustrating. The Builder gave the arc a nice wrinkle, too and climaxed with a nice boss fight.
I spent too much time tracking down tears, but I think if you look at just the main missions here, this is a solid experience in an incredible environment.
11. East Anglia
In this arc, Eivor works alongside Oswald to fend off violent Dane aggressors and claim his leadership role.
Oswald is honorable and likeable — watching him teach the Danes in his court that bravery can reveal itself in more nuanced ways rather than physically was powerful, and giving Eivor the decision to allow Oswald to fight his own battles or fight for him solidified the feeling of fathering Oswald through this arc into manhood and leadership.
I bought into this arc because I felt the story was touching and meaningful and the cast was strong.
10. Vinland
Nothing really happens here aside from hunting down Gorm Kjotveson, but the arc earns major points for how refreshing it is.
I played it late in the story when I was feeling quite a bit of fatigue towards the game and everything about Vinland just landed for me, giving me new energy to actually enjoy what I was doing.
The new landscape is insanely gorgeous and fun to navigate. The stripping down of Eivor’s equipment essentially forces you to start from scratch — but it really makes the four stealth encounters stronger; you have to approach them differently due to being unarmed and unarmored.
The whole thing was a little bit of a reset button for the entire experience of Valhalla and it sorely needed it.
9. Suthsexe
Suthsexe is the meeting with Guthrum and the rising action leading up to defeating Fulke.
The arc is fun, feels impactful as well as meaningful and sees you reunite with all the old friends you’ve made up to this point. Fighting alongside Soma and others was a big positive for me. Storming Fulke’s fort at least included some different mechanics than many forts up to this point, so it felt fresh. Her boss fight in the darkness of the crypts was exceptional, as was her confession sequence.
This arc was mostly good, satisfying fun the whole way through, but didn’t include too much intrigue as the ones ranked above it did.
8. Rygjafylke
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m writing this particular paragraph after completing the game and this opening section was so long ago that I don’t have a great memory of it.
What I do know is that Valhalla opened strongly. I found it all pretty compelling. I remember it being atmospheric, believable and driven by strong characters like Sigurd, Varin, Haytham, Basim and Kyotve. I was bought-in very early and Rygjafylke really got the game off to a strong start.
7. Hamtunscire & Epilogue
Aelfred screen time is a good thing, and this arc earns marks for his badassery in the face of Guthrum, as well as his manipulation of the Dane army. Ally deaths in the battle at Chepeham give the arc meaningful stakes and ratchet up the tension. This arc is brief and straightforward — there’s not much story to it since it’s really just war throughout the whole thing.
Afterwards, Eivor tracks down the final member of the Order and confronts him in a touching sequence over some burnt bread in a small swampy town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a humble conclusion for Aelfred and the swirling epic that was AC: Valhalla.
6. Hordafylke
The return to Norway contains two things: Eivor & Sigurd finding closure with Sigurd’s father, and the two locating “Yggdrasil.”
I quite enjoyed the pit stop with Sigurd’s father, and the entire Yggdrasil sequence was incredibly interesting. It was a refreshing change of pace from what you’ve been doing for the past 100 hours and featured a nice boss fight at the end. No matter which ending you get, the conversation with Sigurd after the dust settles is impactful and weighty.
5. Oxenefordscire
Finally reunited with Sigurd, this is the arc we learn of his obsession with his ancestry and true nature. Eivor’s reaction of discomfort and distrust towards Sigurd’s change is honest and relatable and she must juggle relations between Sigurd and the Thane they are working to put in charge, Gaedric.
Negotiations with King Aelfred are complex and a late intervention from Fulke reveals her true allegiance to the Order and puts Sigurd in enemy hands.
This arc moves the plot along moreso than the last 400 hours you’ve been playing the game, while also establishing and reinterpreting Eivor’s relations with the cast in meaningful ways. It ratchets up the tension of the main quest and narrative, which up to this point had been lagging behind due to a breadth of shire arcs.
4. Glowecestrecire
I’m so surprised to see myself rank this so high — after the first third of the arc, I was considering putting it in dead last. I felt Gunnar’s fiancé’s unintelligible dialogue, the trick-or-treating, the druid encounter, and Eivor’s 400th drunken night of debauchery to be a disrespectful waste of my time this deep (over 80 hours) into the game.
But then the arc turned, with two solid stealth encounters and a stellar boss fight. Navigating the Aelfwood was a gorgeous thrill and the confrontation with Modran is atmospheric and a fantastically fresh take on the typical Valhalla boss or mini boss fight.
When I decided to focus-up on the story and let the Celtic and Welsh mythos shine, the arc became a terrestrial fever dream of satisfying magic, intrigue and character interactions.
3. Grantebridgescire
Eivor looks to ally with Soma, the leader of Grantebridge, but her town’s just been sacked from the inside by a traitor. After saving her three companions in the thick river bogs, you take back Grantebridge and then embark on an investigation to discover the rat.
Its the investigation that makes the whole arc. It has a slew of clues, nuance and red herrings to consider. One of its strengths is how open ended the investigation is — you can follow the quest markers, but talking to the town’s people and hunting down the yellow-painted ship is up to you (at least I think, I played on the most ‘difficult’ exploration setting).
This arc earns big points because the investigation matters — you have to tell Soma to kill one of her closest friends and then watch her do it, living with your right or wrong decision.
2. Eurvicscire
Finally meeting the third of the famed Ragnarson’s, Eivor finds Halfdan a paranoid soul, waxing poetic about friendship and treason. The arc balances the two on a blade’s edge to tremendous effect.
Halfdan believes he has a traitor in his midst and the main culprit is his right-hand man, Faravid.
Faravid's dialogue is expertly written to feign allegiance to Halfdan, but never reveal too much of his true nature. Eivor’s wavering relationship and trust with him are complex and the Wolf-Kissed can lie to both him and Halfdan depending on dialogue choice. Every decision feels like it carries weight. It’s this ambiguity that makes the arc compelling and gives the decisions importance.
This arc could feel disconnected (it’s not part of the main plot and Halfdan doesn’t appear in the late game, no matter your decision) and thus appear as pointless fluff, but I won’t fault it for that. As a self-contained story, this was flat-out interesting and kept me in anticipation of the next reveal or twist. Imagery and foreshadowing, red-herrings, and great atmosphere all make for an engaging and compelling experience. I only wish every shire arc could’ve reached these heights.
1. Sciropscire
Sciropescire’s strengths come somewhat from the arcs that came before it, as it sees Eivor quickly reunited and working with Ivarr and Ceowulf. Your preexisting relationship with both gives this arc an advantage over others where it doesn’t have to establish too much all at once, as well as it starting off with you already having a personal connection of some sort with the main cast. Still, each set piece here is strong enough on its own –
For once, the game forces you to face the trail of bloodshed and destruction your ‘pacifying’ of England has left in your wake. Additionally, the ambiguous decision-making process in negotiating peace, the brutal village burning sequence, the tangled web of Ivarr’s relationships and motivations, the twists of the peaceful alliance and Rhodri’s fate, and finally, the Ivarr boss fight are just too good all in tandem to not take first place.
--
I’m conflicted looking back on these.
There’s many that feel even more empty than I remember them being now that I draft them as text. However, a surprising number of highly-rated arcs aren’t actually part of the main quest.
Ultimately, I’m left bewildered at the scale and scope of the epic that this game took me on. I was so fatigued by the end of it, but in hindsight so happy I completed it.
submitted by TheBlaringBlue to assassinscreed [link] [comments]
--
The episodic nature of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla means that its narrative is split into chunks. These chunks take place across the many shires of medieval England and vary in terms of length, depth and, well, pointlessness. I thought ranking them would be a fun exercise — a competition of story arcs, all vying for best Viking mini-narrative.
It goes without saying, but I’m about to spoil the whole damn game, so read at your own risk.
--
21. Wincestre
Wincestre is just another Lunden or Jorvik, accept with more Jesus, more King Aelfred and way less… anything worthwhile. This one was just a total nothing-burger of an experience. The fact that it comes so late in the narrative really hurts it, too, because by now you’ve experienced arcs that are a similar traditional Assassin’s Creed city-style that at least aren’t this bad. Aelfred’s turning on Eivor at the end also didn’t feel coherent, convincing or warranted to me. Big miss.
20. Lunden
The smaller, denser cities with multiple targets to track down and ‘social stealth’ options are certainly here to attempt to replicate the traditional AC experience, but Lunden fails to do so meaningfully, and even gets a huge points deduction for being misleading.
The arc is set up to feature twists with Stowe and Ercke (is one a traitor? Will your romancing of Stowe make things complicated?), but after their initial scenes they’re mitigated to what I would hardly even call side characters as Eivor unveils three randos as Order members, kills them and then leaves town. At least there was a cool boss sequence on the river?
19. Snotinghamscire
This arc sees you reunite with Hemmingr Jarl, his son Villi and his compatriot, Trygve. Eivor has an existing relationship with these characters, but the player doesn’t. As a result, nothing that happens with them lands meaningfully.
After Hemmingr passes, this arc boils down to running dull errands to prepare for the burial ceremony. Eivor chooses whether Villi or Trygve will succeed Hemmingr in the end, but the decision is very clear-cut and suggested to the player, lacking the nuance of the game’s other difficult decisions. This arc isn’t memorable, doesn’t concern the main quest, and feels like fluffy filler in the worst way.
18. Jorvik
Another version of the Lunden & Wincestre arcs, Jorvik is stronger than its competitors for presenting the Order members to your face before you deduce who they are. There was nothing shocking about their reveals, but each provided an interesting set piece to navigate during assassinations.
Problematically, the arc sets itself up for Eivor to accuse a traitor, only for her decision to not matter at all. You never get to act on your accusation at Yuletide — the Order member interrupts and attacks the feast no matter who you accuse.
17. Cent
The Cent arc sees Eivor team with Basim to track Fulke. It feels important and part of the main story, but it’s all for naught in the end — you come face-to-face with Fulke in what seems like a meaningful story moment, only for her to run away. Your reward is finding out Sigurd had his arm cut off.
This arc earns some points for getting Fulke screen time and tiptoeing the tightrope of Eivor and Basim’s rocky relationship believably, but certainly can’t be called good. This is because once you pull back the veil, you realize you never advanced the plot and were running in circles for nothing the entire time. At least the other “filler” arcs were forthright about their (lack of) connection to the main story.
16. Jotunheim
This arc has a compelling story to it — Odin running from his fate and bending over backwards to flee from it is interesting, his broken relationship with Loki should be a strong point for the arc, and his moral gray areas (sleeping with a Jotunn, betraying Tyr) certainly make for a complex character’s development.
It has the ingredients of a strong arc, but I just couldn’t shake the why am I doing this feeling I had the entire time. Everything in between Odin’s big moments is a fetch quest and I just felt like I was wasting my life.
This one is weird because on paper it feels like there’s a lot of substance here, but ultimately, I felt nothing while playing it besides contempt for having drank the potion in Ravensthorpe again.
15. Lincolnscire
Heir to the throne Hunwald is exiled from Lincoln and reaches out to Ravensthorpe for help. Eivor tracks down his sickly and dying father and then must cast the deciding vote for whom the new Ealdorman will be after his death.
The game wastes your time with one of Hunwald’s competitors, Aelfgar, (who is a dork) and paints the bishop as evil pretty clearly (he turns out to be an Order member). I suppose this arc could hit hard for someone who accidently put an Order member in charge. For that and for Hunwald at least having a strong drive and personality, this arc earns some marks.
14. Essex
Eivor is brought in to repair a marriage by separating husband and wife naturally without a public divorce. She reunites Ealdorman Birstan with his former lover and sets up a fake public kidnapping to whisk away his wife, Estrid.
I think many would rate this arc far lower than I have here because it is pure side mission nonsense — but for me, this arc stands strong on the backs of convincing and fun characters in Birstan and Estrid, as well as the tangled web of relationships between the two of them, Birstan’s son, and Rollo, Estrid’s former lover.
13. Ledecestrescire
Ledecestre sees the intros of Ivarr, Ubba and Ceowulf. You team up with the sons of Ragnar to help put Ceowulf’s father on the throne in Mercia.
Ledecestrescire earns points for strong, realized characters in the Ragnarsons and Ceowulf, a believable conflict with the Mercian king, as well as the arc’s biggest moment with killing or sparing Leofrith in Tamworth.
12. Asgard
Asgard looks pretty and hits hard when you first arrive. I appreciate Ubi for creating places like Atlantis and Asgard to run around and explore in.
Unfortunately, both felt supremely empty. However, watching Odin fight tooth and nail to run from his fate was satisfying and Loki is aptly deceptive and frustrating. The Builder gave the arc a nice wrinkle, too and climaxed with a nice boss fight.
I spent too much time tracking down tears, but I think if you look at just the main missions here, this is a solid experience in an incredible environment.
11. East Anglia
In this arc, Eivor works alongside Oswald to fend off violent Dane aggressors and claim his leadership role.
Oswald is honorable and likeable — watching him teach the Danes in his court that bravery can reveal itself in more nuanced ways rather than physically was powerful, and giving Eivor the decision to allow Oswald to fight his own battles or fight for him solidified the feeling of fathering Oswald through this arc into manhood and leadership.
I bought into this arc because I felt the story was touching and meaningful and the cast was strong.
10. Vinland
Nothing really happens here aside from hunting down Gorm Kjotveson, but the arc earns major points for how refreshing it is.
I played it late in the story when I was feeling quite a bit of fatigue towards the game and everything about Vinland just landed for me, giving me new energy to actually enjoy what I was doing.
The new landscape is insanely gorgeous and fun to navigate. The stripping down of Eivor’s equipment essentially forces you to start from scratch — but it really makes the four stealth encounters stronger; you have to approach them differently due to being unarmed and unarmored.
The whole thing was a little bit of a reset button for the entire experience of Valhalla and it sorely needed it.
9. Suthsexe
Suthsexe is the meeting with Guthrum and the rising action leading up to defeating Fulke.
The arc is fun, feels impactful as well as meaningful and sees you reunite with all the old friends you’ve made up to this point. Fighting alongside Soma and others was a big positive for me. Storming Fulke’s fort at least included some different mechanics than many forts up to this point, so it felt fresh. Her boss fight in the darkness of the crypts was exceptional, as was her confession sequence.
This arc was mostly good, satisfying fun the whole way through, but didn’t include too much intrigue as the ones ranked above it did.
8. Rygjafylke
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m writing this particular paragraph after completing the game and this opening section was so long ago that I don’t have a great memory of it.
What I do know is that Valhalla opened strongly. I found it all pretty compelling. I remember it being atmospheric, believable and driven by strong characters like Sigurd, Varin, Haytham, Basim and Kyotve. I was bought-in very early and Rygjafylke really got the game off to a strong start.
7. Hamtunscire & Epilogue
Aelfred screen time is a good thing, and this arc earns marks for his badassery in the face of Guthrum, as well as his manipulation of the Dane army. Ally deaths in the battle at Chepeham give the arc meaningful stakes and ratchet up the tension. This arc is brief and straightforward — there’s not much story to it since it’s really just war throughout the whole thing.
Afterwards, Eivor tracks down the final member of the Order and confronts him in a touching sequence over some burnt bread in a small swampy town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a humble conclusion for Aelfred and the swirling epic that was AC: Valhalla.
6. Hordafylke
The return to Norway contains two things: Eivor & Sigurd finding closure with Sigurd’s father, and the two locating “Yggdrasil.”
I quite enjoyed the pit stop with Sigurd’s father, and the entire Yggdrasil sequence was incredibly interesting. It was a refreshing change of pace from what you’ve been doing for the past 100 hours and featured a nice boss fight at the end. No matter which ending you get, the conversation with Sigurd after the dust settles is impactful and weighty.
5. Oxenefordscire
Finally reunited with Sigurd, this is the arc we learn of his obsession with his ancestry and true nature. Eivor’s reaction of discomfort and distrust towards Sigurd’s change is honest and relatable and she must juggle relations between Sigurd and the Thane they are working to put in charge, Gaedric.
Negotiations with King Aelfred are complex and a late intervention from Fulke reveals her true allegiance to the Order and puts Sigurd in enemy hands.
This arc moves the plot along moreso than the last 400 hours you’ve been playing the game, while also establishing and reinterpreting Eivor’s relations with the cast in meaningful ways. It ratchets up the tension of the main quest and narrative, which up to this point had been lagging behind due to a breadth of shire arcs.
4. Glowecestrecire
I’m so surprised to see myself rank this so high — after the first third of the arc, I was considering putting it in dead last. I felt Gunnar’s fiancé’s unintelligible dialogue, the trick-or-treating, the druid encounter, and Eivor’s 400th drunken night of debauchery to be a disrespectful waste of my time this deep (over 80 hours) into the game.
But then the arc turned, with two solid stealth encounters and a stellar boss fight. Navigating the Aelfwood was a gorgeous thrill and the confrontation with Modran is atmospheric and a fantastically fresh take on the typical Valhalla boss or mini boss fight.
When I decided to focus-up on the story and let the Celtic and Welsh mythos shine, the arc became a terrestrial fever dream of satisfying magic, intrigue and character interactions.
3. Grantebridgescire
Eivor looks to ally with Soma, the leader of Grantebridge, but her town’s just been sacked from the inside by a traitor. After saving her three companions in the thick river bogs, you take back Grantebridge and then embark on an investigation to discover the rat.
Its the investigation that makes the whole arc. It has a slew of clues, nuance and red herrings to consider. One of its strengths is how open ended the investigation is — you can follow the quest markers, but talking to the town’s people and hunting down the yellow-painted ship is up to you (at least I think, I played on the most ‘difficult’ exploration setting).
This arc earns big points because the investigation matters — you have to tell Soma to kill one of her closest friends and then watch her do it, living with your right or wrong decision.
2. Eurvicscire
Finally meeting the third of the famed Ragnarson’s, Eivor finds Halfdan a paranoid soul, waxing poetic about friendship and treason. The arc balances the two on a blade’s edge to tremendous effect.
Halfdan believes he has a traitor in his midst and the main culprit is his right-hand man, Faravid.
Faravid's dialogue is expertly written to feign allegiance to Halfdan, but never reveal too much of his true nature. Eivor’s wavering relationship and trust with him are complex and the Wolf-Kissed can lie to both him and Halfdan depending on dialogue choice. Every decision feels like it carries weight. It’s this ambiguity that makes the arc compelling and gives the decisions importance.
This arc could feel disconnected (it’s not part of the main plot and Halfdan doesn’t appear in the late game, no matter your decision) and thus appear as pointless fluff, but I won’t fault it for that. As a self-contained story, this was flat-out interesting and kept me in anticipation of the next reveal or twist. Imagery and foreshadowing, red-herrings, and great atmosphere all make for an engaging and compelling experience. I only wish every shire arc could’ve reached these heights.
1. Sciropscire
Sciropescire’s strengths come somewhat from the arcs that came before it, as it sees Eivor quickly reunited and working with Ivarr and Ceowulf. Your preexisting relationship with both gives this arc an advantage over others where it doesn’t have to establish too much all at once, as well as it starting off with you already having a personal connection of some sort with the main cast. Still, each set piece here is strong enough on its own –
- Eivor & co. join to negotiate peace with King Rhodri. She can offer 600 silver to whomever she chooses to try and quell the peace talks. Each option is mired in obscurity, has obvious pros and cons, and plenty of uncertainty. It felt impactful, difficult and nuanced.
- After peace talks go sour with Ivarr’s outburst, Eivor, Ivarr and Ceowulf sack a village under Rhodri’s control. It’s brutal and takes a long time to burn (on purpose!). You then fight a huge party of Rhodri’s men. The whole scene feels vile, over the top and harsh (on purpose!).
- The twist is that Ivarr kills Ceowulf in cold blood to earn himself the opportunity to get his own revenge on Rhodri — only revealed after you sack Rhodri’s fort (after reaching peace with him). A brutal blood eagle from Ivarr and the game’s best boss fight ensue.
For once, the game forces you to face the trail of bloodshed and destruction your ‘pacifying’ of England has left in your wake. Additionally, the ambiguous decision-making process in negotiating peace, the brutal village burning sequence, the tangled web of Ivarr’s relationships and motivations, the twists of the peaceful alliance and Rhodri’s fate, and finally, the Ivarr boss fight are just too good all in tandem to not take first place.
--
I’m conflicted looking back on these.
There’s many that feel even more empty than I remember them being now that I draft them as text. However, a surprising number of highly-rated arcs aren’t actually part of the main quest.
Ultimately, I’m left bewildered at the scale and scope of the epic that this game took me on. I was so fatigued by the end of it, but in hindsight so happy I completed it.
2024.05.13 01:32 TheBlaringBlue Ranking the Shire Arcs
I wrote mini reviews of each arc here, but because there are so damn many arcs, this ended up being a wall of text, despite me trying to keep them short. Feel free to skim or read only what interests you!
--
The episodic nature of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla means that its narrative is split into chunks. These chunks take place across the many shires of medieval England and vary in terms of length, depth and, well, pointlessness. I thought ranking them would be a fun exercise — a competition of story arcs, all vying for best Viking mini-narrative.
It goes without saying, but I’m about to spoil the whole damn game, so read at your own risk.
--
21. Wincestre
Wincestre is just another Lunden or Jorvik, accept with more Jesus, more King Aelfred and way less… anything worthwhile. This one was just a total nothing-burger of an experience. The fact that it comes so late in the narrative really hurts it, too, because by now you’ve experienced arcs that are a similar traditional Assassin’s Creed city-style that at least aren’t this bad. Aelfred’s turning on Eivor at the end also didn’t feel coherent, convincing or warranted to me. Big miss.
20. Lunden
The smaller, denser cities with multiple targets to track down and ‘social stealth’ options are certainly here to attempt to replicate the traditional AC experience, but Lunden fails to do so meaningfully, and even gets a huge points deduction for being misleading.
The arc is set up to feature twists with Stowe and Ercke (is one a traitor? Will your romancing of Stowe make things complicated?), but after their initial scenes they’re mitigated to what I would hardly even call side characters as Eivor unveils three randos as Order members, kills them and then leaves town. At least there was a cool boss sequence on the river?
19. Snotinghamscire
This arc sees you reunite with Hemmingr Jarl, his son Villi and his compatriot, Trygve. Eivor has an existing relationship with these characters, but the player doesn’t. As a result, nothing that happens with them lands meaningfully.
After Hemmingr passes, this arc boils down to running dull errands to prepare for the burial ceremony. Eivor chooses whether Villi or Trygve will succeed Hemmingr in the end, but the decision is very clear-cut and suggested to the player, lacking the nuance of the game’s other difficult decisions. This arc isn’t memorable, doesn’t concern the main quest, and feels like fluffy filler in the worst way.
18. Jorvik
Another version of the Lunden & Wincestre arcs, Jorvik is stronger than its competitors for presenting the Order members to your face before you deduce who they are. There was nothing shocking about their reveals, but each provided an interesting set piece to navigate during assassinations.
Problematically, the arc sets itself up for Eivor to accuse a traitor, only for her decision to not matter at all. You never get to act on your accusation at Yuletide — the Order member interrupts and attacks the feast no matter who you accuse.
17. Cent
The Cent arc sees Eivor team with Basim to track Fulke. It feels important and part of the main story, but it’s all for naught in the end — you come face-to-face with Fulke in what seems like a meaningful story moment, only for her to run away. Your reward is finding out Sigurd had his arm cut off.
This arc earns some points for getting Fulke screen time and tiptoeing the tightrope of Eivor and Basim’s rocky relationship believably, but certainly can’t be called good. This is because once you pull back the veil, you realize you never advanced the plot and were running in circles for nothing the entire time. At least the other “filler” arcs were forthright about their (lack of) connection to the main story.
16. Jotunheim
This arc has a compelling story to it — Odin running from his fate and bending over backwards to flee from it is interesting, his broken relationship with Loki should be a strong point for the arc, and his moral gray areas (sleeping with a Jotunn, betraying Tyr) certainly make for a complex character’s development.
It has the ingredients of a strong arc, but I just couldn’t shake the why am I doing this feeling I had the entire time. Everything in between Odin’s big moments is a fetch quest and I just felt like I was wasting my life.
This one is weird because on paper it feels like there’s a lot of substance here, but ultimately, I felt nothing while playing it besides contempt for having drank the potion in Ravensthorpe again.
15. Lincolnscire
Heir to the throne Hunwald is exiled from Lincoln and reaches out to Ravensthorpe for help. Eivor tracks down his sickly and dying father and then must cast the deciding vote for whom the new Ealdorman will be after his death.
The game wastes your time with one of Hunwald’s competitors, Aelfgar, (who is a dork) and paints the bishop as evil pretty clearly (he turns out to be an Order member). I suppose this arc could hit hard for someone who accidently put an Order member in charge. For that and for Hunwald at least having a strong drive and personality, this arc earns some marks.
14. Essex
Eivor is brought in to repair a marriage by separating husband and wife naturally without a public divorce. She reunites Ealdorman Birstan with his former lover and sets up a fake public kidnapping to whisk away his wife, Estrid.
I think many would rate this arc far lower than I have here because it is pure side mission nonsense — but for me, this arc stands strong on the backs of convincing and fun characters in Birstan and Estrid, as well as the tangled web of relationships between the two of them, Birstan’s son, and Rollo, Estrid’s former lover.
13. Ledecestrescire
Ledecestre sees the intros of Ivarr, Ubba and Ceowulf. You team up with the sons of Ragnar to help put Ceowulf’s father on the throne in Mercia.
Ledecestrescire earns points for strong, realized characters in the Ragnarsons and Ceowulf, a believable conflict with the Mercian king, as well as the arc’s biggest moment with killing or sparing Leofrith in Tamworth.
12. Asgard
Asgard looks pretty and hits hard when you first arrive. I appreciate Ubi for creating places like Atlantis and Asgard to run around and explore in.
Unfortunately, both felt supremely empty. However, watching Odin fight tooth and nail to run from his fate was satisfying and Loki is aptly deceptive and frustrating. The Builder gave the arc a nice wrinkle, too and climaxed with a nice boss fight.
I spent too much time tracking down tears, but I think if you look at just the main missions here, this is a solid experience in an incredible environment.
11. East Anglia
In this arc, Eivor works alongside Oswald to fend off violent Dane aggressors and claim his leadership role.
Oswald is honorable and likeable — watching him teach the Danes in his court that bravery can reveal itself in more nuanced ways rather than physically was powerful, and giving Eivor the decision to allow Oswald to fight his own battles or fight for him solidified the feeling of fathering Oswald through this arc into manhood and leadership.
I bought into this arc because I felt the story was touching and meaningful and the cast was strong.
10. Vinland
Nothing really happens here aside from hunting down Gorm Kjotveson, but the arc earns major points for how refreshing it is.
I played it late in the story when I was feeling quite a bit of fatigue towards the game and everything about Vinland just landed for me, giving me new energy to actually enjoy what I was doing.
The new landscape is insanely gorgeous and fun to navigate. The stripping down of Eivor’s equipment essentially forces you to start from scratch — but it really makes the four stealth encounters stronger; you have to approach them differently due to being unarmed and unarmored.
The whole thing was a little bit of a reset button for the entire experience of Valhalla and it sorely needed it.
9. Suthsexe
Suthsexe is the meeting with Guthrum and the rising action leading up to defeating Fulke.
The arc is fun, feels impactful as well as meaningful and sees you reunite with all the old friends you’ve made up to this point. Fighting alongside Soma and others was a big positive for me. Storming Fulke’s fort at least included some different mechanics than many forts up to this point, so it felt fresh. Her boss fight in the darkness of the crypts was exceptional, as was her confession sequence.
This arc was mostly good, satisfying fun the whole way through, but didn’t include too much intrigue as the ones ranked above it did.
8. Rygjafylke
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m writing this particular paragraph after completing the game and this opening section was so long ago that I don’t have a great memory of it.
What I do know is that Valhalla opened strongly. I found it all pretty compelling. I remember it being atmospheric, believable and driven by strong characters like Sigurd, Varin, Haytham, Basim and Kyotve. I was bought-in very early and Rygjafylke really got the game off to a strong start.
7. Hamtunscire & Epilogue
Aelfred screen time is a good thing, and this arc earns marks for his badassery in the face of Guthrum, as well as his manipulation of the Dane army. Ally deaths in the battle at Chepeham give the arc meaningful stakes and ratchet up the tension. This arc is brief and straightforward — there’s not much story to it since it’s really just war throughout the whole thing.
Afterwards, Eivor tracks down the final member of the Order and confronts him in a touching sequence over some burnt bread in a small swampy town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a humble conclusion for Aelfred and the swirling epic that was AC: Valhalla.
6. Hordafylke
The return to Norway contains two things: Eivor & Sigurd finding closure with Sigurd’s father, and the two locating “Yggdrasil.”
I quite enjoyed the pit stop with Sigurd’s father, and the entire Yggdrasil sequence was incredibly interesting. It was a refreshing change of pace from what you’ve been doing for the past 100 hours and featured a nice boss fight at the end. No matter which ending you get, the conversation with Sigurd after the dust settles is impactful and weighty.
5. Oxenefordscire
Finally reunited with Sigurd, this is the arc we learn of his obsession with his ancestry and true nature. Eivor’s reaction of discomfort and distrust towards Sigurd’s change is honest and relatable and she must juggle relations between Sigurd and the Thane they are working to put in charge, Gaedric.
Negotiations with King Aelfred are complex and a late intervention from Fulke reveals her true allegiance to the Order and puts Sigurd in enemy hands.
This arc moves the plot along moreso than the last 400 hours you’ve been playing the game, while also establishing and reinterpreting Eivor’s relations with the cast in meaningful ways. It ratchets up the tension of the main quest and narrative, which up to this point had been lagging behind due to a breadth of shire arcs.
4. Glowecestrecire
I’m so surprised to see myself rank this so high — after the first third of the arc, I was considering putting it in dead last. I felt Gunnar’s fiancé’s unintelligible dialogue, the trick-or-treating, the druid encounter, and Eivor’s 400th drunken night of debauchery to be a disrespectful waste of my time this deep (over 80 hours) into the game.
But then the arc turned, with two solid stealth encounters and a stellar boss fight. Navigating the Aelfwood was a gorgeous thrill and the confrontation with Modran is atmospheric and a fantastically fresh take on the typical Valhalla boss or mini boss fight.
When I decided to focus-up on the story and let the Celtic and Welsh mythos shine, the arc became a terrestrial fever dream of satisfying magic, intrigue and character interactions.
3. Grantebridgescire
Eivor looks to ally with Soma, the leader of Grantebridge, but her town’s just been sacked from the inside by a traitor. After saving her three companions in the thick river bogs, you take back Grantebridge and then embark on an investigation to discover the rat.
Its the investigation that makes the whole arc. It has a slew of clues, nuance and red herrings to consider. One of its strengths is how open ended the investigation is — you can follow the quest markers, but talking to the town’s people and hunting down the yellow-painted ship is up to you (at least I think, I played on the most ‘difficult’ exploration setting).
This arc earns big points because the investigation matters — you have to tell Soma to kill one of her closest friends and then watch her do it, living with your right or wrong decision.
2. Eurvicscire
Finally meeting the third of the famed Ragnarson’s, Eivor finds Halfdan a paranoid soul, waxing poetic about friendship and treason. The arc balances the two on a blade’s edge to tremendous effect.
Halfdan believes he has a traitor in his midst and the main culprit is his right-hand man, Faravid.
Faravid's dialogue is expertly written to feign allegiance to Halfdan, but never reveal too much of his true nature. Eivor’s wavering relationship and trust with him are complex and the Wolf-Kissed can lie to both him and Halfdan depending on dialogue choice. Every decision feels like it carries weight. It’s this ambiguity that makes the arc compelling and gives the decisions importance.
This arc could feel disconnected (it’s not part of the main plot and Halfdan doesn’t appear in the late game, no matter your decision) and thus appear as pointless fluff, but I won’t fault it for that. As a self-contained story, this was flat-out interesting and kept me in anticipation of the next reveal or twist. Imagery and foreshadowing, red-herrings, and great atmosphere all make for an engaging and compelling experience. I only wish every shire arc could’ve reached these heights.
1. Sciropscire
Sciropescire’s strengths come somewhat from the arcs that came before it, as it sees Eivor quickly reunited and working with Ivarr and Ceowulf. Your preexisting relationship with both gives this arc an advantage over others where it doesn’t have to establish too much all at once, as well as it starting off with you already having a personal connection of some sort with the main cast. Still, each set piece here is strong enough on its own –
For once, the game forces you to face the trail of bloodshed and destruction your ‘pacifying’ of England has left in your wake. Additionally, the ambiguous decision-making process in negotiating peace, the brutal village burning sequence, the tangled web of Ivarr’s relationships and motivations, the twists of the peaceful alliance and Rhodri’s fate, and finally, the Ivarr boss fight are just too good all in tandem to not take first place.
--
Ultimately, I’m conflicted looking back on these.
There’s many that feel even more empty than I remember them being now that I draft them as text. However, a surprising number of highly-rated arcs aren’t actually part of the main quest.
I’m left bewildered at the scale and scope of the epic that this game took me on. I was so fatigued by the end of it, but in hindsight so happy I completed it.
submitted by TheBlaringBlue to AssassinsCreedValhala [link] [comments]
--
The episodic nature of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla means that its narrative is split into chunks. These chunks take place across the many shires of medieval England and vary in terms of length, depth and, well, pointlessness. I thought ranking them would be a fun exercise — a competition of story arcs, all vying for best Viking mini-narrative.
It goes without saying, but I’m about to spoil the whole damn game, so read at your own risk.
--
21. Wincestre
Wincestre is just another Lunden or Jorvik, accept with more Jesus, more King Aelfred and way less… anything worthwhile. This one was just a total nothing-burger of an experience. The fact that it comes so late in the narrative really hurts it, too, because by now you’ve experienced arcs that are a similar traditional Assassin’s Creed city-style that at least aren’t this bad. Aelfred’s turning on Eivor at the end also didn’t feel coherent, convincing or warranted to me. Big miss.
20. Lunden
The smaller, denser cities with multiple targets to track down and ‘social stealth’ options are certainly here to attempt to replicate the traditional AC experience, but Lunden fails to do so meaningfully, and even gets a huge points deduction for being misleading.
The arc is set up to feature twists with Stowe and Ercke (is one a traitor? Will your romancing of Stowe make things complicated?), but after their initial scenes they’re mitigated to what I would hardly even call side characters as Eivor unveils three randos as Order members, kills them and then leaves town. At least there was a cool boss sequence on the river?
19. Snotinghamscire
This arc sees you reunite with Hemmingr Jarl, his son Villi and his compatriot, Trygve. Eivor has an existing relationship with these characters, but the player doesn’t. As a result, nothing that happens with them lands meaningfully.
After Hemmingr passes, this arc boils down to running dull errands to prepare for the burial ceremony. Eivor chooses whether Villi or Trygve will succeed Hemmingr in the end, but the decision is very clear-cut and suggested to the player, lacking the nuance of the game’s other difficult decisions. This arc isn’t memorable, doesn’t concern the main quest, and feels like fluffy filler in the worst way.
18. Jorvik
Another version of the Lunden & Wincestre arcs, Jorvik is stronger than its competitors for presenting the Order members to your face before you deduce who they are. There was nothing shocking about their reveals, but each provided an interesting set piece to navigate during assassinations.
Problematically, the arc sets itself up for Eivor to accuse a traitor, only for her decision to not matter at all. You never get to act on your accusation at Yuletide — the Order member interrupts and attacks the feast no matter who you accuse.
17. Cent
The Cent arc sees Eivor team with Basim to track Fulke. It feels important and part of the main story, but it’s all for naught in the end — you come face-to-face with Fulke in what seems like a meaningful story moment, only for her to run away. Your reward is finding out Sigurd had his arm cut off.
This arc earns some points for getting Fulke screen time and tiptoeing the tightrope of Eivor and Basim’s rocky relationship believably, but certainly can’t be called good. This is because once you pull back the veil, you realize you never advanced the plot and were running in circles for nothing the entire time. At least the other “filler” arcs were forthright about their (lack of) connection to the main story.
16. Jotunheim
This arc has a compelling story to it — Odin running from his fate and bending over backwards to flee from it is interesting, his broken relationship with Loki should be a strong point for the arc, and his moral gray areas (sleeping with a Jotunn, betraying Tyr) certainly make for a complex character’s development.
It has the ingredients of a strong arc, but I just couldn’t shake the why am I doing this feeling I had the entire time. Everything in between Odin’s big moments is a fetch quest and I just felt like I was wasting my life.
This one is weird because on paper it feels like there’s a lot of substance here, but ultimately, I felt nothing while playing it besides contempt for having drank the potion in Ravensthorpe again.
15. Lincolnscire
Heir to the throne Hunwald is exiled from Lincoln and reaches out to Ravensthorpe for help. Eivor tracks down his sickly and dying father and then must cast the deciding vote for whom the new Ealdorman will be after his death.
The game wastes your time with one of Hunwald’s competitors, Aelfgar, (who is a dork) and paints the bishop as evil pretty clearly (he turns out to be an Order member). I suppose this arc could hit hard for someone who accidently put an Order member in charge. For that and for Hunwald at least having a strong drive and personality, this arc earns some marks.
14. Essex
Eivor is brought in to repair a marriage by separating husband and wife naturally without a public divorce. She reunites Ealdorman Birstan with his former lover and sets up a fake public kidnapping to whisk away his wife, Estrid.
I think many would rate this arc far lower than I have here because it is pure side mission nonsense — but for me, this arc stands strong on the backs of convincing and fun characters in Birstan and Estrid, as well as the tangled web of relationships between the two of them, Birstan’s son, and Rollo, Estrid’s former lover.
13. Ledecestrescire
Ledecestre sees the intros of Ivarr, Ubba and Ceowulf. You team up with the sons of Ragnar to help put Ceowulf’s father on the throne in Mercia.
Ledecestrescire earns points for strong, realized characters in the Ragnarsons and Ceowulf, a believable conflict with the Mercian king, as well as the arc’s biggest moment with killing or sparing Leofrith in Tamworth.
12. Asgard
Asgard looks pretty and hits hard when you first arrive. I appreciate Ubi for creating places like Atlantis and Asgard to run around and explore in.
Unfortunately, both felt supremely empty. However, watching Odin fight tooth and nail to run from his fate was satisfying and Loki is aptly deceptive and frustrating. The Builder gave the arc a nice wrinkle, too and climaxed with a nice boss fight.
I spent too much time tracking down tears, but I think if you look at just the main missions here, this is a solid experience in an incredible environment.
11. East Anglia
In this arc, Eivor works alongside Oswald to fend off violent Dane aggressors and claim his leadership role.
Oswald is honorable and likeable — watching him teach the Danes in his court that bravery can reveal itself in more nuanced ways rather than physically was powerful, and giving Eivor the decision to allow Oswald to fight his own battles or fight for him solidified the feeling of fathering Oswald through this arc into manhood and leadership.
I bought into this arc because I felt the story was touching and meaningful and the cast was strong.
10. Vinland
Nothing really happens here aside from hunting down Gorm Kjotveson, but the arc earns major points for how refreshing it is.
I played it late in the story when I was feeling quite a bit of fatigue towards the game and everything about Vinland just landed for me, giving me new energy to actually enjoy what I was doing.
The new landscape is insanely gorgeous and fun to navigate. The stripping down of Eivor’s equipment essentially forces you to start from scratch — but it really makes the four stealth encounters stronger; you have to approach them differently due to being unarmed and unarmored.
The whole thing was a little bit of a reset button for the entire experience of Valhalla and it sorely needed it.
9. Suthsexe
Suthsexe is the meeting with Guthrum and the rising action leading up to defeating Fulke.
The arc is fun, feels impactful as well as meaningful and sees you reunite with all the old friends you’ve made up to this point. Fighting alongside Soma and others was a big positive for me. Storming Fulke’s fort at least included some different mechanics than many forts up to this point, so it felt fresh. Her boss fight in the darkness of the crypts was exceptional, as was her confession sequence.
This arc was mostly good, satisfying fun the whole way through, but didn’t include too much intrigue as the ones ranked above it did.
8. Rygjafylke
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m writing this particular paragraph after completing the game and this opening section was so long ago that I don’t have a great memory of it.
What I do know is that Valhalla opened strongly. I found it all pretty compelling. I remember it being atmospheric, believable and driven by strong characters like Sigurd, Varin, Haytham, Basim and Kyotve. I was bought-in very early and Rygjafylke really got the game off to a strong start.
7. Hamtunscire & Epilogue
Aelfred screen time is a good thing, and this arc earns marks for his badassery in the face of Guthrum, as well as his manipulation of the Dane army. Ally deaths in the battle at Chepeham give the arc meaningful stakes and ratchet up the tension. This arc is brief and straightforward — there’s not much story to it since it’s really just war throughout the whole thing.
Afterwards, Eivor tracks down the final member of the Order and confronts him in a touching sequence over some burnt bread in a small swampy town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a humble conclusion for Aelfred and the swirling epic that was AC: Valhalla.
6. Hordafylke
The return to Norway contains two things: Eivor & Sigurd finding closure with Sigurd’s father, and the two locating “Yggdrasil.”
I quite enjoyed the pit stop with Sigurd’s father, and the entire Yggdrasil sequence was incredibly interesting. It was a refreshing change of pace from what you’ve been doing for the past 100 hours and featured a nice boss fight at the end. No matter which ending you get, the conversation with Sigurd after the dust settles is impactful and weighty.
5. Oxenefordscire
Finally reunited with Sigurd, this is the arc we learn of his obsession with his ancestry and true nature. Eivor’s reaction of discomfort and distrust towards Sigurd’s change is honest and relatable and she must juggle relations between Sigurd and the Thane they are working to put in charge, Gaedric.
Negotiations with King Aelfred are complex and a late intervention from Fulke reveals her true allegiance to the Order and puts Sigurd in enemy hands.
This arc moves the plot along moreso than the last 400 hours you’ve been playing the game, while also establishing and reinterpreting Eivor’s relations with the cast in meaningful ways. It ratchets up the tension of the main quest and narrative, which up to this point had been lagging behind due to a breadth of shire arcs.
4. Glowecestrecire
I’m so surprised to see myself rank this so high — after the first third of the arc, I was considering putting it in dead last. I felt Gunnar’s fiancé’s unintelligible dialogue, the trick-or-treating, the druid encounter, and Eivor’s 400th drunken night of debauchery to be a disrespectful waste of my time this deep (over 80 hours) into the game.
But then the arc turned, with two solid stealth encounters and a stellar boss fight. Navigating the Aelfwood was a gorgeous thrill and the confrontation with Modran is atmospheric and a fantastically fresh take on the typical Valhalla boss or mini boss fight.
When I decided to focus-up on the story and let the Celtic and Welsh mythos shine, the arc became a terrestrial fever dream of satisfying magic, intrigue and character interactions.
3. Grantebridgescire
Eivor looks to ally with Soma, the leader of Grantebridge, but her town’s just been sacked from the inside by a traitor. After saving her three companions in the thick river bogs, you take back Grantebridge and then embark on an investigation to discover the rat.
Its the investigation that makes the whole arc. It has a slew of clues, nuance and red herrings to consider. One of its strengths is how open ended the investigation is — you can follow the quest markers, but talking to the town’s people and hunting down the yellow-painted ship is up to you (at least I think, I played on the most ‘difficult’ exploration setting).
This arc earns big points because the investigation matters — you have to tell Soma to kill one of her closest friends and then watch her do it, living with your right or wrong decision.
2. Eurvicscire
Finally meeting the third of the famed Ragnarson’s, Eivor finds Halfdan a paranoid soul, waxing poetic about friendship and treason. The arc balances the two on a blade’s edge to tremendous effect.
Halfdan believes he has a traitor in his midst and the main culprit is his right-hand man, Faravid.
Faravid's dialogue is expertly written to feign allegiance to Halfdan, but never reveal too much of his true nature. Eivor’s wavering relationship and trust with him are complex and the Wolf-Kissed can lie to both him and Halfdan depending on dialogue choice. Every decision feels like it carries weight. It’s this ambiguity that makes the arc compelling and gives the decisions importance.
This arc could feel disconnected (it’s not part of the main plot and Halfdan doesn’t appear in the late game, no matter your decision) and thus appear as pointless fluff, but I won’t fault it for that. As a self-contained story, this was flat-out interesting and kept me in anticipation of the next reveal or twist. Imagery and foreshadowing, red-herrings, and great atmosphere all make for an engaging and compelling experience. I only wish every shire arc could’ve reached these heights.
1. Sciropscire
Sciropescire’s strengths come somewhat from the arcs that came before it, as it sees Eivor quickly reunited and working with Ivarr and Ceowulf. Your preexisting relationship with both gives this arc an advantage over others where it doesn’t have to establish too much all at once, as well as it starting off with you already having a personal connection of some sort with the main cast. Still, each set piece here is strong enough on its own –
- Eivor & co. join to negotiate peace with King Rhodri. She can offer 600 silver to whomever she chooses to try and quell the peace talks. Each option is mired in obscurity, has obvious pros and cons, and plenty of uncertainty. It felt impactful, difficult and nuanced.
- After peace talks go sour with Ivarr’s outburst, Eivor, Ivarr and Ceowulf sack a village under Rhodri’s control. It’s brutal and takes a long time to burn (on purpose!). You then fight a huge party of Rhodri’s men. The whole scene feels vile, over the top and harsh (on purpose!).
- The twist is that Ivarr kills Ceowulf in cold blood to earn himself the opportunity to get his own revenge on Rhodri — only revealed after you sack Rhodri’s fort (after reaching peace with him). A brutal blood eagle from Ivarr and the game’s best boss fight ensue.
For once, the game forces you to face the trail of bloodshed and destruction your ‘pacifying’ of England has left in your wake. Additionally, the ambiguous decision-making process in negotiating peace, the brutal village burning sequence, the tangled web of Ivarr’s relationships and motivations, the twists of the peaceful alliance and Rhodri’s fate, and finally, the Ivarr boss fight are just too good all in tandem to not take first place.
--
Ultimately, I’m conflicted looking back on these.
There’s many that feel even more empty than I remember them being now that I draft them as text. However, a surprising number of highly-rated arcs aren’t actually part of the main quest.
I’m left bewildered at the scale and scope of the epic that this game took me on. I was so fatigued by the end of it, but in hindsight so happy I completed it.
2024.05.10 01:58 TornkeS JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #7: R2M21 - Sonika Singha and Windy vs ???
The results are in for Match 19. The winner is…
Bony limbs swarmed Charlie from all sides. She was locked in. Her clones couldn’t escape, and neither could she.
She could hear the rhythmic steps of the Middleman approaching her. Her fists pounded on Helena’s skeletal constructs, her shouts ringing out throughout the bazaar..
They were on top of her. Their Stand reeled its claws back, before jabbing forwards. Charlie grimaced as a clone burst from her back—a last ditch effort to escape. She swapped its position with hers, but it wasn’t enough. Sharp fingers plowed into her gut as the rest of the hand followed. Muscles clenched in agony as blood dripped down to the floor. She gasped in pain, falling over and clutching at herself once they crudely ripped their stand’s hand back out. It wasn’t a mortal wound, she thought—her little maneuver may have just saved her life…
…And on the other side of the stage, Helena just watched with shaking breaths. It was exhilarating, seeing death like this up close. The Middleman turned to look at her, and her heart basically stopped. They trundled forth, slowly and certainly. She felt almost embarrassed to stand in the same room as someone who embodied the end so succinctly, like she was a poser.
Soon enough, they were face to face. Their features were almost invisible in the shadow of sundown. Nothing besides their sharp eyes. A low chuckle escaped from them as they brought a hand up to Helena’s face, stroking it. She remained deathly still, as if a single twitch would cause them to attack. It wasn’t so unreasonable—they just might.
“Tell the world what happened here. Turn this place into a grave, or I will come back—and it will become a mausoleum.”
Helena’s eyes widened. Not because of the threat of mass murder, she didn’t really care about that. It was the smell. The Middleman smelled like something, and it was right on the tip of her nose…
It was train tracks. They smelled like train tracks. She recognized the smell from some of Dr. Mali’s teachings—a local rail corporation used a specific in-house chemical mixture to clean their rail lines and fill in any scratches. He had samples of it around occasionally—he had been investigating it for damaging properties. She might have a lead on who they might be.
Just as she made the connection, she blinked—and the Middleman was gone. Disappeared into thin air.
Then it was just her, the death surrounding her.
The results are in for Match 20. The winner is…
In the midst of the military base, this intricately constructed hive, people moved in all their patterns, a thousand interlocking pieces. In a way, it reminded Disco of ants or bees. This was not an insult, a comparison to something lesser. If anything, it was a compliment. Even when these people had stripped nature from this place, it still existed inside of them.
It had been fine to exist with them, to trace those patterns, to join the hive for a while. Disco had already gotten useful information just by speaking with the soldiers and the workers, to the point where she wondered if she still needed to follow Zafar. Yet, as she pondered that question, something drew her to a shadowed corner. Something familiar. There it was.
In the midst of the military base, Disco stopped for a moment, unseen by any eye near or far.
She paused at a crevice somewhere deep inside this building, strange geometry obscuring its position to any passerby. It was clear that nobody came through here much.
Nobody except-
The lights flickered again, as they had every now and again. One of the many powers of that panther, Dried Donuts, which she had informed her ‘fellow soldiers’ all about.
However, she wasn’t expecting the cat herself to be standing at the end of the hall. For a moment, Disco tensed, wondering if the animal knew why she was here, if she was here to sabotage her efforts directly. But DD just gave her a toothy smile, a text ringing out on Disco’s phone.
[when im away i totes miss the mountain too!! >w<]
Disco tilted her head for a moment, unsure what the panther meant. “Too?”
[idk! u just remind me of home. epic trolling btw! theyre totes after me now! but im 2 sneaky 4 them!! Owo]
Disco couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. In a way, perhaps the feeling was mutual. The spirit of the land, the marsh this place once was, it lived on within them both. This place, with all its war, and conflict, and retribution, how had it convinced them they were enemies? How silly was that?
“After all that time gossiping about your powers, I can’t help but gain a new respect for them.”
[ya!! DD is super cool n your ddoors are super cool 2! it was fun playing with u! gg!]
“Playing, hm?” It then occurred to Disco, that even with the stakes so high, it had been fun.
[mr military is gonna split soon! i m gonna make a big blackout! we could race? :3]
Disco considered it a moment, and then shook her head. Zafar would notice if they both tailed him. At this point, Disco wasn’t sure that she would make it there first, and even if she did, it could put the panther in danger. Still, stepping back wasn’t so bad. Disco could keep her place inside the hive, disturbing those patterns from within, while Dried Donuts went on to target the queen. Evergreen had learned to extend their branches…why stop now?
“You go ahead,” she smiled. “I have something else I need to do.”
Dried Donuts nodded, tail swishing happily.
[okie! next time! bai ddisco!!]
That was when the lights cut out, and the panther bounded down the hall. Yet, Disco did not need it to guide her. She knew where it was. She knew what she had to do. She turned to the crevice and…
She reached out.
Scenario: ???? — ??:??PM
Celebrating a complete mission and a shiny new achievement, Dried Donuts slunk through this meeting place, well out of sight. The panther could hear the sounds of discussion already going on from the hall that the general was walking to. She didn’t have to worry about how she was going to sneak in when the door swung open from the inside—a man started to step out, pausing as he spotted Zafar reaching the door. The brief moment was enough for D.D. to sneak past the pair and into the room, where she started to get a good look at all the figures in the room. There were a few who she didn’t recognise but could tell must be ‘important’ humans.
Zafar entered the hall, the door closing shut behind him as he took a seat, pulling out a handgun and holding it against the table. A few members reacted in fear—the rest barely reacted to it.
“Wha—” one member sputtered. “What are you doing?!”
Zafar chuckled. “Not all of us here have Stands—while we have provided some glasses for that reason, I have access to one through the perfection of an ancient firearm-focused martial art. And it’s very much necessary for this next part…for today we’re being visited by someone who only visits with their Stand...I introduce to you ｢Diamond Life｣.”
A bony hand burst up from the center of the table, finding its footing before dragging the rest of its body upwards, the Stand’s horned crown phasing through first as this skeletal alien pulled itself into full view. Those who were seeing it for the first time were terrified—“Has it been here the whole time?”—and D.D. was no exception. This thing mortified her: as the internet would say, its vibes were rancid, unnatural, and her senses were going nuts just being near.
The panther could feel her cloak slipping. Her instincts were beginning to interfere, she couldn’t stay, she had to go. She’d seen enough anyways…though she didn’t mind taking a poorly placed guest list as she went.
She didn’t need to text these guys, swiping the book would send her message:
[l8ter suckas!!! >:3c]
Scenario: Soma’s Cup, Mist City — 5:36 PM
The afternoon sun shone across the streets of Mist City, gleaming along the green shade of a van parked outside of a cafe. It wasn’t often that PINDROP and the Moonbeam Riders had met together to share information on their investigations into the Metropolis Suite and their Middleman, but with the information that allies of theirs had acquired from spying upon a meeting of their enemy it was necessary—Soma’s Cup serving as a more private meeting place as public, overt meetings were much riskier now.
Corkboards laid upon a few tables, the two groups stood somewhat awkwardly around the information they each had gathered: PINDROP’s wide web of information, looking through chains of command and where money flows to gather a list of suspects; and the Riders’ deeper investigations into various individuals and locale, hoping to figure out what drove these people, why they would assassinate Paris Aco.
However, there were some things to address first: while the two groups had become allies, it seemed that recently they managed to get into a couple of fights recently: while the first resolved itself easily, the second was still somewhat sore in Drippy’s mind. Yet, no matter how many glares she sent towards the riders, their members seemed undeterred. After all, through their work with Gioia Arancini, they had gained a recent victory against the Suite. Now, they just had to keep up their momentum. When it came to such a vital campaign, all who could help were welcome in their coalition. Even former enemies.
Though you couldn’t tell that the two groups had fought by looking at Inago and Sonika. The two had taken the reins of the meeting, excitedly going back and forth comparing information. The fire in their hearts blazed brightly, stirring even the most reluctant members of their groups.
“Yes, this will be helpful,” Sonika continued on, only pausing her speech to take a sip of coffee. “But what is the important thing we must remember?”
She paused, as if waiting for everyone else to answer on cue. When no one did, she took another long sip, and then smacked her mug down on the table.
“That’s right! We must remember to follow the money. Sure, there are various people doing the dirty work, but that’s just the work. When we see who pays them, when we follow the money…we find people with their fingers in all sorts of industries. That man, Xenagoras, he’s our prime example. We can’t spend all our time chasing their various guards, employees, and confidants, we need to dig right down to the root.”
Inago nodded along, still relieved that Cage the Elephant was gone, that his pale city had crumbled. “There’s a few complications that have sprung from his defeat,” he noted. “For all his faults, Xenagoras was dedicated to keeping the Hymnal Bazaar afloat. It would need new management, and there’s no telling what kind it could get. Not only that, there’s also that man in the mountain.”
“Right—while this ‘Spanda’ figure’s interference once provided cover for some illegal construction, it interfered with construction broadly. With him gone, the Suite has lost and gained opportunities.” Sonika moved her hand towards the latest addition to the boards. “...which brings us to the reason we called this meeting: a list of figures who had been spotted at a meeting.”
“Media, railways, politics…they really have their hands in everything.” Angelino noted, peering over the list and the new connections that had been made.
“The railway…” Yankee murmured to himself, before speaking up. “Paris Aco believed they were involved, didn’t she? Wasn’t that long before she died as well. Maybe the answer to why the Middleman was called on her lies there?”
“Makes sense!” Luna remarked. “It helps that a friend of ours managed to find some conversations between Sing Now! and the railway CEO a week before her death—that has to be something.”
“I would imagine that tracks through the mountain could be what they attempt towards next,” Sonika noted, refocusing the conversation. “But we have no leads as to who would even be willing to work on such a project.”
“It’s not the sort of thing that could exactly be easily presented to the city’s Planning Board,” Inago stated. “While Zhengqi does associate with Mahimit, tearing apart the mountain isn’t something he’d be down for.”
Windy spoke up in agreement. “I remember back at the Gala I was at that the fella really cared about the environment. ‘Tis a shame that his pa’s one of the Suite—he seemed a swell guy too.”
“Zafar Singh, right?” Arizona asked, leaning back against a wall as she listened on. “Heard he runs the army base here—must be, ah, pretty big in their ranks. Maybe he knows about who the Middleman is?”
“Perhaps…” Inago pondered, before turning to the guest in their midst. “Ajay, what do you think of this?”
The welder looked up as he put down his phone, having finished a call while the others were discussing their findings. He had come to the cafe at the right time, seeking someone to discuss the worrying events happening recently only to walk into the two detective groups setting up shop.
“Well, Mahi would be willing to discuss the topic—just called them now actually, they want to meet up!”
“Wha—really?” Sonika asked. “You called them right before—sigh well, it’s a good lead to follow.”
“Agreed,” Inago spoke, stretching as he stepped away from the corkboards. “Ajay, would it be ok if me and Sonika came with you?”
“Actually—” Windy stepped down from her seat. “May I come as well? I want to see if the poor fella’s doing ok, and maybe figure out why his pa would be in the Suite.”
“Sure thing!” Ajay smiled. “Anyone else want to join us?”
Scenario: Port Konwar — 8:56 PM
Night had fallen on Rakin City, the moonlight shining on the green paint of the BigTop as it drove through Port Konwar. The streets were quiet, with only a few people prowling about who’d yet to return home, and even less the closer the group got to their destination. The docks seemed to drift further and further into silence, until the dusk was all that awaited them.
“—and that over there should be where they said to meet up.” Ajay noted, pointing out the locale in question to Jon who began to turn the van towards it: a construction site, another building designed for the utility it serves the city.
“Are you certain?” Sonika asked as she looked past the two at their destination. “Not ideal for a secret meetup, isn’t it? Wouldn’t call it the safest place...”
“Nobody would stumble in on you, at least,” Jon noted, pulling the van up next to a motorcycle parked nearby. “You guys, uh, g-got the recording gear ready? The BigTop should be set up, s-so I can write up a copy of anything important in case things go, ah, south.”
“Are ya certain that’s necessary?” Windy asked from further back in the van. “Fella’s a pretty swell guy from what I’ve seen of him. Y’really think we’ll be having any trouble?”
“Better safe than sorry,” Sonika sighed. Exiting the van, she watched as those who had come along for this interview started filing out: Drippy leaving at a brisk pace, eager for this to reveal something about the Middleman who had been plaguing her thoughts, followed by Inago and then Ajay—once Windy hopped out alongside them, the PI stepped out and shut the BigTop’s door behind them.
For a moment, Sonika paused, inhaling crisp night air. Port Konwar’s air was thick with the smell of the water just nearby. Her thoughts were crowded, as they always were. Everyone here was pretty confident that something good would come of the lead they were chasing. If the architect’s father, Zafar, was actually a member of the Suite as they’d been informed, this’d be huge. Why didn’t she feel that same excitement?
Steric had informed her of the situation with the late Mrs. Aco’s daughter, currently taken in by an associate of his (something about a lawyer?). Maybe that was what gave her pause. That gruesome murder, everything surrounding it. It made her feel a little-
Windy tugged on her sleeve, and she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in. She nodded, stuffing her hands in her pockets and moving forward.
It didn’t take the group long to reach the center of the construction site, striding past concrete bricks and wooden beams, keeping an eye out for the architect they were to meet. Drippy was the first to spot someone within the construction site, but this did not appear to be Mahimit: the figure was sitting atop some lone concrete bricks, the lower part of their face somewhat obscured by the high collar of a long-coat, and their eyes covered by shades a deep red.
She held her arm out to stop the others as she summoned her Stand in her other, the bone blade of her longsword pointing right at the person in front of them. “The hell are you?” She called out.
Inago was quick to recognise the figure: “That’s Hira!” The statement was greeted with silence. “They’re mainly known as Tamas. Vigilantes always wind up with a few names. Last I heard, they’d gone missing.”
“Do you types just all know each other?” Drippy raised an eyebrow, lowering her blade slightly.
Like her PINDROP ally, Sonika was also on guard, the metallic figure of ｢Chain Of Prospit｣ manifesting beside her as the moonlight shone on its golden armor. “Then why are they here, and now?”
The one of the group unperturbed by this was Ajay, a brief look of curiosity before he sidestepped past the armored Stand and walked forward with a grin on his face. “Hey Mon-Ami, we’re here! Hope we didn’t make you wait!”
The entire group turned to their guide in confusion, but they all realized one by one what exactly the situation was.
Mahimit was Tamas.
Windy’s grin dropped, but only slightly. Even if it was somber news, she always made sure to smile in times of distress. ’He was such a lovely fella’, she thought to herself. ’I suppose that makes sense given what I’ve heard of Tamas’s approach. But what could drive ‘em to such violence? His dad seemed nice too, but I’m not sure what else could be the reason why…
Drippy lowered her sword, but she wasn’t any less wary. Vigilante types were always a violent bunch, and she couldn’t afford to keep her guard down for even a moment. The name wasn’t unfamiliar to her, though. Even beyond her job at PINDROP keeping her up to date on the city’s affairs, Susie herself had only kind things to say about the guy. Apparently he was an associate of Rasna’s to some degree. She didn’t really know if she liked the sound of that.
Sonika, shocked as she was, kept focused—this new piece of the puzzle meant so much. Her mind flicked through its own internal reasonings at bullet speed, as it always did when a new clue appeared. ’So Mahimit is also Tamas…didn’t Titan mention something about blackmail? He said it was about his position in the City Planning Board, but having a powerful Stand User in their pocket might also be another reason to…didn’t Tamas disappear roughly about the time Mahi would have been blackmailed? For that matter, who would even want to? The influence he has now in the planning board is a good thing to have, su…re…
Something clicked into place, and Sonika’s eyes widened.
“Oh, shit.”
Scenario: One Month Ago, Mahimit Rākin’s Apartment, Mist City — 10:25PM
Mahimit had come back from another night out on the streets as Tamas, but like a phantom that Stand had appeared in his living room while his back was turned. He stepped backwards, nearly tripping on their own feet. He put his arms up in defense, his hands blocking its inky stare. “｢D-Diamond Life｣,” they stammered, doing everything to force a smile. “A p-pleasure to…see you.” They were lying through their teeth, naturally. Ghoulish appearance aside, an audience with them was rare; for it to show up on its own time…
Mahimit gulped. “It’s rather late. What brings you by?”
The Stand said nothing, only placing a claw onto the edge of the sofa, faint scratching from each step as it moved from towards the window. Mahi froze as it finally turned its head to the glass pane.
“How long has it been?” It hissed.
“W-what do you mean?”
“Ah, it would have been about three years, now. Is that right?” The Stand turned its head to the architect. “Yes, I remember now. The day your father brought you along to one of our gatherings.” A breeze blew into the room, jostling the loose cloth hanging on its rigid body. “How the time passes us by.”
Mahi’s eyes shot to the floor as they dug into their palms. Had it only been that long? It felt like an eternity since they joined the Suite. He never much cared for most of their company, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t getting anything out of this. They may have initially joined at the request of Zafar, but there were undeniable benefits. Few he grew to enjoy, as much as he loathed to admit even that. Mahi looked back up, the Stand peering out of the window.
“I never got the chance to…thank you,” he nearly choked on the words. “—I’ve been able to do amazing things through the board that—”
“You studied in Tamil Nadu, yes?” it said sharply. “That’s what Zafar told me anyways.”
The blood running through Mahimit’s veins was ice cold.
“I hear it was quite a dangerous place back then,” the Stand shook its split head. “It takes a lot of vigilance to make it in an area like that. A trait that has served you well in the few years I’ve known you.”
Mahi felt an intense aura seeping throughout the room. What was it talking about? Why bring all this up? He frowned, uncomfortable with where this was going.
“Having lived there, surely you’ve heard of Hira?”
Mahi’s eyes widened. His eyes darted back to the couch, only to find that ｢Diamond Life｣ was already holding their coat in its jagged grip, a hole in the shoulder where a knife cut through before they could transform. Their heart sank to the floor.
“You did know Hira originally operated there, correct?” The Stand continued, tracing its finger over the coat linings. “Though they have recently found a home in Rākinnagarh, the mysterious “Rider Tamas” watched over a small city within the region.” Seemingly from nowhere, it produced a newspaper and tossed it into Mahimit’s chest. Unrolling it revealed a grainy image of a shape atop a three story building. A figure, looming over the city, something billowing around them, obscuring their form. “TAMAS, HERO OR MENACE?”
｢Diamond Life｣ shook its head. “Courtesy of one troublesome tiger. It came at no small cost.”
Mahimit’s hands shook violently as they read over the contents of the print. Though, they weren’t really reading it, they just couldn’t bear to look up from the page. It knew. ｢Diamond Life｣ knew everything. Their identity, their values. Their true self…If it knew about Tamas, then surely it would’ve made the connection to their actions against Binay’s group. Their collusion with VULTURE. Hira had been a thorn in the side for the Metropolis Suite for the better part of a year. This wasn’t something that could be ignored.
Mahimit lowered the paper, their eyes wide with energy. “So, what now? Is this why you’ve come? To tie up loose ends?”
｢Diamond Life｣ took a step towards them. And then another. “You know, when most people refer to ‘tying loose ends’, they often mean to rip out the thread entirely.”
The stand poked its claw through the hole in Hira’s coat, pinching a loose snag, staring intently at it. “Of course, sometimes one must act quickly to remove the string. It’s important to prevent the cloth from snagging on anything. It could bring about untold damage.”
It took another step towards Mahimit, its chilling aura suffocating them. “However, this is ultimately shortsighted. Ripping the string will only hurt the quality of the cloth, giving way to future snags, which inevitably leads to an unstable material.”
As it spoke, it ran a single claw through the hole, taking the loose strands of string through the shoulder in a circular motion as it circled behind Mahimit, causing another shudder to shoot through his body.
“W-what are you doing?”
“According to the tailors of Assam, if you truly want to preserve a piece of clothing, it's best to string the thread back through the reverse side of the cloth. It’s often best to use a blunt needle to smooth the snag out. It’s a delicate process, but I’ve come to find it’s well worth it.” As it spoke, it slowly placed its claws onto the architect’s shoulders, one claw at a time.
“I’m sure you’d agree.”
Mahimit flinched at the touch, turning around to find that the Stand had vanished. Confused, he touched his fingers to his shoulders, feeling the weight of his coat resting upon them. Running his hand against the right sleeve, they were stunned to find that the hole was gone, with only a tiny stitch to remember it by. Despite this miracle, however, Mahimit couldn’t shake the creeping dread that was ebbing in their chest. This was no mere gift. It was a warning. And if they stepped out of line…No. It wouldn’t come to that. It couldn’t.
Mahimit inhaled, and exhaled, and inhaled, and exhaled.
“Who... did you bring with you?” His eyes moved from Ajay to the people behind him.
“Some friends.” Ajay nodded. “They’re good people. They wanna help you out as much as I do. I promise you that much.”
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
“If it’s not too much trouble...” Sonika cleared her throat, offering a hand. “We’d like to take you somewhere safer. It’s a bit risky out here.”
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
“Get out.” Mahimit grit their teeth, nails digging into the soft flesh of their palms. “I-I’ll tell you everything, just, get out of here, now.”
Ajay’s reassuring smile faltered. “Mon-Ami, what’re you-”
“GET OUT!”
Mahimit shoved the man away, panic overtaking those practiced breaths. They took a moment to calm themselves. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Ex-
“...Father?”
Zafar was watching from somewhere. Of course he was. Of course he would fire, take this away from them. Of course he would be watching Mahi now. Of course he would see the chipped nail polish frantically washed off every morning before anyone could see. The cheap lipstick that they could never spend too much on because they always wound up throwing it away out of fear. Of course he would see these stupid tears-
Mahimit’s breath hitched.
Their father would be there to take this away from them, as he had always been. He was a tall, vast man, who commanded your respect, no matter how much you hated him. He knew what was right. His choice was yours. What he wanted would be what occurred, simple as.
And right now, what he wanted was a perfect son who would help with his work.
Mahimit screamed, his voice reverberating through the construction site, Stand manifesting as it tried to keep them together, a hole ripping in his body. The costume he’d worn so fondly ripped itself to shreds, something pulling itself out from the hole and staring him down. For just a moment, Mahimit stared back, before the all-consuming despair washed over his reason.
The loud click of a reload was all that he heard as he rose to his feet.
He didn’t tell his body to stand—it seemed to do that on its own, puppeteered by the figure snaking out from his chest.
Tamas had simply become another thing that was no longer his.
“Shit!” Drippy cursed as she deflected another strike from Mahimit’s Stand, gritting her teeth. She glanced backwards, watching as Inago slung the unconscious Ajay over his shoulder. That was the cue to get going, now. She barely had time to reel backwards before another bullet went sailing past her, almost blowing her damn arm off.
”GO, GO, GO!” The group was on the retreat in the blink of an eye, Inago throwing up another diamond barrier in time to block another one of the Stand’s frenzied strikes. He felt his bones rattle at the impact—this thing was tough, and it was mad.
A massive concrete pillar served as a damn fine bit of cover, and Mahimit seemed too distracted to follow. That wouldn’t last, though; the second the architect came to his senses, they’d need to get into action. They needed a plan, now.
Windy kept watch, her smaller body allowing her some strength. Inago set himself to stabilizing Ajay, and Sonika just sort of...sat there. Drippy watched in awe as their fearless leader spaced out, clearly too lost in thought to be of much strategic assistance. She’d been weird for a while now, but this was the last time to be having some sort of crisis.
Drippy groaned. She needed to figure this out, then. She was half a mind to march over there and show that architect the works, but...
She couldn’t help recalling the words of a certain ex-gang leader. They were swords, and they carried violence wherever they went, or something. She didn’t quite remember how it went, but, well, this wasn’t the kind of situation where the violent types would be able to do much. This guy didn’t need to be hit with swords, he needed some combat therapy, and she was the last person who’d be able to give it.
She glanced between her comrades, and groaned again.
“Al-RIGHT!” Drippy rose to her feet. “Fedora boy!”
“Inago.” Inago sighed.
“Whatever! We’re tracking down the sniper!” She turned to Sonika. “Boss, you and the puppet can deal with this shit! We’ll be off!”
Inago barely had time to protest before Drippy was dragging him off to find Zafar, Leaving Sonika and Windy alone behind the pillar.
“Looks like it’s the two of us, then!” Windy grinned, balling felt into fist. “No worries! We can get this one done lickety-split!”
Sonika didn’t respond
“Uh... Miss detective?”
“Ah, sorry.” Sonika shook her head to clear her thoughts, but trouble still creased her brow. She stared at the water in front of her, visible through the bars of a fence. “...Did you hear the way that kid screamed?”
“Was awfully loud, wasn’t it? Woulda made my eardrums pop! If I had any.” Windy offered a smile and a chuckle. Sonika didn’t take it.
“It was just, so...” She sighed. “What good can we even do, here, huh? What’s the point in any of this?”
“The point?” Windy tilted her head to the side. What a strange question! “The point is that we’re helpin’ people, ain’t it? Get this done, and we’ll be one step closer to helping a lot of people. That’s what we’re here for.”
Sonika chuckled, and Windy smiled at that.
“Our help hasn’t done a damn thing, kid.” The detective rose to her feet. “No matter how hard I try, how many cases I solve, that…beast is going to kill someone else. It’ll keep happening. Even if we stop him, throw him behind bars or whatever, will that stop any of this? It’s all...” Sonika’s crisis of faith wasn’t new. It had boiled, brewing just underneath her skin. Her hands shook at the thought of Rakin’s plight—and her own hopelessness before it. She was just a detective. She couldn’t stop this train of death, no matter how hard she—
A ball of yarn hit her square in the jaw, sending her stumbling back.
“...Huh?”
She turned to face an uncharacteristically furious Windy. She gaped, awestruck. She didn’t even know Windy could be mad. The muppet was so mad, in fact, that she had to take a few seconds to huff and calm herself down so she could actually speak.
“...First off.” Windy jabbed a thumb into her chest. “I’m pretty sure I’m just about as old as you, buddy!”
Sonika blinked a few times.
“Secondly!” Windy crossed her arms. “You think I’m naive, don’tcha?! I get it! I am pretty naive! I really do think that if we just keep tryin’ and tryin’ and tryin’ we’ll get everything fixed up and everyone’ll hold hands and sing and dance! Sue me! But y’know what?!” Windy huffed again, placing her hands on her hips. “I don’t care if that’s unrealistic! Cause that’s just what I want! I don’t care if it’s hard! I don’t care if things are bad! Cause if I’ve got somethin’ to work towards, then I can put on a smile and keep doing it and doing it and doing it till I do make a difference! We’ve always been working at the impossible!”
“If it’s impossible, then...What’s the point of trying?”
Windy grinned. “Pal, you’re having a conversation with a talking muppet. Words like that don’t mean a dang thing anymore!” She pointed at Sonika, grin widening. “Even the impossible’s possible, if you believe it is! That’s what it means to be a hero-ah.”
In a mere instant, Tamas was upon them, the arms of his Stand hurtling towards Windy, aiming to rip a hole right through her. The muppet froze up like a deer in headlights.
“Aw, shoo-”
“I’m a pretty old woman, y’know.” She smirked, flipping open her notepad. “You really think I can be so naive?”
“You’d better!” Windy hopped onto her shoulder, cracking her knuckles, somehow. “You can’t make miracles happen if you don’t believe in ‘em!”
Sonika nodded. Truth be told, she didn’t really know how much this would help, but one case at a time. That’s how she’d always done it.
“Alright, Windy.” Sonika put on the best smile she could. For now, it’d be enough. “Let’s see your miracle.”
”Open the game!”
Location: A building in the first stages of its construction. The map is 24 x 30 meters, with each square being 1x1 meter. At the bottom of the map is a trailer filled with documentation of the jobs that the construction company have done over the past few years in the area. The red squares are large tool boxes and storage boxes for various construction tools. Blue squares on the building itself are window frames, roughly a meter off the ground, while the walls themselves are made of poured concrete.
The yellow is a backhoe, and the brown areas are large piles of dirt, excavated to pour the foundations of the building. The piles have been moved around, with some partially on current sections of the foundation, and stand 3m high. The walls of the building are similarly high; work has not finished on the first story.
A sniper loyal to Metropolis is located somewhere to the north of the map with a sniper rifle; while the rounds they currently have loaded are not able to penetrate through concrete, dirt, or other significant cover, they can harm Stands. They will take about ten seconds to reload and get a bead on a player, and will prioritize shooting Windy, attempting to use the force of the bullets to disorient her, hurt her, and/or knock her out of the arena.
Goal: RETIRE your opponents! Notably for Windy, a ring out will also be considered a RETIRE, as she’s forced away from contributing to the fight!
Additional Information: Marked on the map in orange are several exclamation points. These are points of interest that Sonika can use to clue in where exactly the sniper is shooting from and call in their position to Ol’ Drippy and Inago via phone. Once this is done, the sniper will stop shooting after a minute, as they’ll be tied up with the other two.
Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
submitted by TornkeS to StardustCrusaders [link] [comments]
Bony limbs swarmed Charlie from all sides. She was locked in. Her clones couldn’t escape, and neither could she.
She could hear the rhythmic steps of the Middleman approaching her. Her fists pounded on Helena’s skeletal constructs, her shouts ringing out throughout the bazaar..
They were on top of her. Their Stand reeled its claws back, before jabbing forwards. Charlie grimaced as a clone burst from her back—a last ditch effort to escape. She swapped its position with hers, but it wasn’t enough. Sharp fingers plowed into her gut as the rest of the hand followed. Muscles clenched in agony as blood dripped down to the floor. She gasped in pain, falling over and clutching at herself once they crudely ripped their stand’s hand back out. It wasn’t a mortal wound, she thought—her little maneuver may have just saved her life…
Helena Beats, with a score of 70 to Charlie Hoosier's 56!
| Category | Winner | Point Totals | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popularity | Helena Beats | 20 (8+0.5+2) - 10 (3+0.5+2) | When the dust settled, Helena was left standing with a popularity lead! |
| Quality | Helena Beats | 19 (6 7 6) - 18 (6 6 6) | Reasoning |
| JoJolity | Helena Beats | 21 (7 7 7) - 18 (6 6 6) | Reasoning |
| Conduct | Tie | 10-10 | Nothing to report! |
Soon enough, they were face to face. Their features were almost invisible in the shadow of sundown. Nothing besides their sharp eyes. A low chuckle escaped from them as they brought a hand up to Helena’s face, stroking it. She remained deathly still, as if a single twitch would cause them to attack. It wasn’t so unreasonable—they just might.
“Tell the world what happened here. Turn this place into a grave, or I will come back—and it will become a mausoleum.”
Helena’s eyes widened. Not because of the threat of mass murder, she didn’t really care about that. It was the smell. The Middleman smelled like something, and it was right on the tip of her nose…
It was train tracks. They smelled like train tracks. She recognized the smell from some of Dr. Mali’s teachings—a local rail corporation used a specific in-house chemical mixture to clean their rail lines and fill in any scratches. He had samples of it around occasionally—he had been investigating it for damaging properties. She might have a lead on who they might be.
Just as she made the connection, she blinked—and the Middleman was gone. Disappeared into thin air.
Then it was just her, the death surrounding her.
In the midst of the military base, this intricately constructed hive, people moved in all their patterns, a thousand interlocking pieces. In a way, it reminded Disco of ants or bees. This was not an insult, a comparison to something lesser. If anything, it was a compliment. Even when these people had stripped nature from this place, it still existed inside of them.
It had been fine to exist with them, to trace those patterns, to join the hive for a while. Disco had already gotten useful information just by speaking with the soldiers and the workers, to the point where she wondered if she still needed to follow Zafar. Yet, as she pondered that question, something drew her to a shadowed corner. Something familiar. There it was.
In the midst of the military base, Disco stopped for a moment, unseen by any eye near or far.
She paused at a crevice somewhere deep inside this building, strange geometry obscuring its position to any passerby. It was clear that nobody came through here much.
Nobody except-
The lights flickered again, as they had every now and again. One of the many powers of that panther, Dried Donuts, which she had informed her ‘fellow soldiers’ all about.
However, she wasn’t expecting the cat herself to be standing at the end of the hall. For a moment, Disco tensed, wondering if the animal knew why she was here, if she was here to sabotage her efforts directly. But DD just gave her a toothy smile, a text ringing out on Disco’s phone.
[when im away i totes miss the mountain too!! >w<]
Disco tilted her head for a moment, unsure what the panther meant. “Too?”
[idk! u just remind me of home. epic trolling btw! theyre totes after me now! but im 2 sneaky 4 them!! Owo]
Disco couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. In a way, perhaps the feeling was mutual. The spirit of the land, the marsh this place once was, it lived on within them both. This place, with all its war, and conflict, and retribution, how had it convinced them they were enemies? How silly was that?
“After all that time gossiping about your powers, I can’t help but gain a new respect for them.”
[ya!! DD is super cool n your ddoors are super cool 2! it was fun playing with u! gg!]
“Playing, hm?” It then occurred to Disco, that even with the stakes so high, it had been fun.
[mr military is gonna split soon! i m gonna make a big blackout! we could race? :3]
Disco considered it a moment, and then shook her head. Zafar would notice if they both tailed him. At this point, Disco wasn’t sure that she would make it there first, and even if she did, it could put the panther in danger. Still, stepping back wasn’t so bad. Disco could keep her place inside the hive, disturbing those patterns from within, while Dried Donuts went on to target the queen. Evergreen had learned to extend their branches…why stop now?
“You go ahead,” she smiled. “I have something else I need to do.”
Dried Donuts nodded, tail swishing happily.
[okie! next time! bai ddisco!!]
That was when the lights cut out, and the panther bounded down the hall. Yet, Disco did not need it to guide her. She knew where it was. She knew what she had to do. She turned to the crevice and…
She reached out.
”We’re no strangers to love…”
Dried Donuts, with a score of 77 to Disco D. Lune’s 72!
| Category | Winner | Point Totals | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popularity | Dried Donuts | 20 (6+2.5+2) - 10 (1+2.5+2) | Dried Donuts started strong and held onto a commanding lead! |
| Quality | Disco D. Lune | 22 (8 7 7) - 25 (9 8 8) | Reasoning |
| JoJolity | Disco D. Lune | 25 (8 8 9) - 27 (9 9 9) | Reasoning |
| Conduct | Tie | 10-10 | Nothing to report! |
Celebrating a complete mission and a shiny new achievement, Dried Donuts slunk through this meeting place, well out of sight. The panther could hear the sounds of discussion already going on from the hall that the general was walking to. She didn’t have to worry about how she was going to sneak in when the door swung open from the inside—a man started to step out, pausing as he spotted Zafar reaching the door. The brief moment was enough for D.D. to sneak past the pair and into the room, where she started to get a good look at all the figures in the room. There were a few who she didn’t recognise but could tell must be ‘important’ humans.
Zafar entered the hall, the door closing shut behind him as he took a seat, pulling out a handgun and holding it against the table. A few members reacted in fear—the rest barely reacted to it.
“Wha—” one member sputtered. “What are you doing?!”
Zafar chuckled. “Not all of us here have Stands—while we have provided some glasses for that reason, I have access to one through the perfection of an ancient firearm-focused martial art. And it’s very much necessary for this next part…for today we’re being visited by someone who only visits with their Stand...I introduce to you ｢Diamond Life｣.”
A bony hand burst up from the center of the table, finding its footing before dragging the rest of its body upwards, the Stand’s horned crown phasing through first as this skeletal alien pulled itself into full view. Those who were seeing it for the first time were terrified—“Has it been here the whole time?”—and D.D. was no exception. This thing mortified her: as the internet would say, its vibes were rancid, unnatural, and her senses were going nuts just being near.
The panther could feel her cloak slipping. Her instincts were beginning to interfere, she couldn’t stay, she had to go. She’d seen enough anyways…though she didn’t mind taking a poorly placed guest list as she went.
She didn’t need to text these guys, swiping the book would send her message:
[l8ter suckas!!! >:3c]
The afternoon sun shone across the streets of Mist City, gleaming along the green shade of a van parked outside of a cafe. It wasn’t often that PINDROP and the Moonbeam Riders had met together to share information on their investigations into the Metropolis Suite and their Middleman, but with the information that allies of theirs had acquired from spying upon a meeting of their enemy it was necessary—Soma’s Cup serving as a more private meeting place as public, overt meetings were much riskier now.
Corkboards laid upon a few tables, the two groups stood somewhat awkwardly around the information they each had gathered: PINDROP’s wide web of information, looking through chains of command and where money flows to gather a list of suspects; and the Riders’ deeper investigations into various individuals and locale, hoping to figure out what drove these people, why they would assassinate Paris Aco.
However, there were some things to address first: while the two groups had become allies, it seemed that recently they managed to get into a couple of fights recently: while the first resolved itself easily, the second was still somewhat sore in Drippy’s mind. Yet, no matter how many glares she sent towards the riders, their members seemed undeterred. After all, through their work with Gioia Arancini, they had gained a recent victory against the Suite. Now, they just had to keep up their momentum. When it came to such a vital campaign, all who could help were welcome in their coalition. Even former enemies.
Though you couldn’t tell that the two groups had fought by looking at Inago and Sonika. The two had taken the reins of the meeting, excitedly going back and forth comparing information. The fire in their hearts blazed brightly, stirring even the most reluctant members of their groups.
“Yes, this will be helpful,” Sonika continued on, only pausing her speech to take a sip of coffee. “But what is the important thing we must remember?”
She paused, as if waiting for everyone else to answer on cue. When no one did, she took another long sip, and then smacked her mug down on the table.
“That’s right! We must remember to follow the money. Sure, there are various people doing the dirty work, but that’s just the work. When we see who pays them, when we follow the money…we find people with their fingers in all sorts of industries. That man, Xenagoras, he’s our prime example. We can’t spend all our time chasing their various guards, employees, and confidants, we need to dig right down to the root.”
Inago nodded along, still relieved that Cage the Elephant was gone, that his pale city had crumbled. “There’s a few complications that have sprung from his defeat,” he noted. “For all his faults, Xenagoras was dedicated to keeping the Hymnal Bazaar afloat. It would need new management, and there’s no telling what kind it could get. Not only that, there’s also that man in the mountain.”
“Right—while this ‘Spanda’ figure’s interference once provided cover for some illegal construction, it interfered with construction broadly. With him gone, the Suite has lost and gained opportunities.” Sonika moved her hand towards the latest addition to the boards. “...which brings us to the reason we called this meeting: a list of figures who had been spotted at a meeting.”
“Media, railways, politics…they really have their hands in everything.” Angelino noted, peering over the list and the new connections that had been made.
“The railway…” Yankee murmured to himself, before speaking up. “Paris Aco believed they were involved, didn’t she? Wasn’t that long before she died as well. Maybe the answer to why the Middleman was called on her lies there?”
“Makes sense!” Luna remarked. “It helps that a friend of ours managed to find some conversations between Sing Now! and the railway CEO a week before her death—that has to be something.”
“I would imagine that tracks through the mountain could be what they attempt towards next,” Sonika noted, refocusing the conversation. “But we have no leads as to who would even be willing to work on such a project.”
“It’s not the sort of thing that could exactly be easily presented to the city’s Planning Board,” Inago stated. “While Zhengqi does associate with Mahimit, tearing apart the mountain isn’t something he’d be down for.”
Windy spoke up in agreement. “I remember back at the Gala I was at that the fella really cared about the environment. ‘Tis a shame that his pa’s one of the Suite—he seemed a swell guy too.”
“Zafar Singh, right?” Arizona asked, leaning back against a wall as she listened on. “Heard he runs the army base here—must be, ah, pretty big in their ranks. Maybe he knows about who the Middleman is?”
“Perhaps…” Inago pondered, before turning to the guest in their midst. “Ajay, what do you think of this?”
The welder looked up as he put down his phone, having finished a call while the others were discussing their findings. He had come to the cafe at the right time, seeking someone to discuss the worrying events happening recently only to walk into the two detective groups setting up shop.
“Well, Mahi would be willing to discuss the topic—just called them now actually, they want to meet up!”
“Wha—really?” Sonika asked. “You called them right before—sigh well, it’s a good lead to follow.”
“Agreed,” Inago spoke, stretching as he stepped away from the corkboards. “Ajay, would it be ok if me and Sonika came with you?”
“Actually—” Windy stepped down from her seat. “May I come as well? I want to see if the poor fella’s doing ok, and maybe figure out why his pa would be in the Suite.”
“Sure thing!” Ajay smiled. “Anyone else want to join us?”
Night had fallen on Rakin City, the moonlight shining on the green paint of the BigTop as it drove through Port Konwar. The streets were quiet, with only a few people prowling about who’d yet to return home, and even less the closer the group got to their destination. The docks seemed to drift further and further into silence, until the dusk was all that awaited them.
“—and that over there should be where they said to meet up.” Ajay noted, pointing out the locale in question to Jon who began to turn the van towards it: a construction site, another building designed for the utility it serves the city.
“Are you certain?” Sonika asked as she looked past the two at their destination. “Not ideal for a secret meetup, isn’t it? Wouldn’t call it the safest place...”
“Nobody would stumble in on you, at least,” Jon noted, pulling the van up next to a motorcycle parked nearby. “You guys, uh, g-got the recording gear ready? The BigTop should be set up, s-so I can write up a copy of anything important in case things go, ah, south.”
“Are ya certain that’s necessary?” Windy asked from further back in the van. “Fella’s a pretty swell guy from what I’ve seen of him. Y’really think we’ll be having any trouble?”
“Better safe than sorry,” Sonika sighed. Exiting the van, she watched as those who had come along for this interview started filing out: Drippy leaving at a brisk pace, eager for this to reveal something about the Middleman who had been plaguing her thoughts, followed by Inago and then Ajay—once Windy hopped out alongside them, the PI stepped out and shut the BigTop’s door behind them.
For a moment, Sonika paused, inhaling crisp night air. Port Konwar’s air was thick with the smell of the water just nearby. Her thoughts were crowded, as they always were. Everyone here was pretty confident that something good would come of the lead they were chasing. If the architect’s father, Zafar, was actually a member of the Suite as they’d been informed, this’d be huge. Why didn’t she feel that same excitement?
Steric had informed her of the situation with the late Mrs. Aco’s daughter, currently taken in by an associate of his (something about a lawyer?). Maybe that was what gave her pause. That gruesome murder, everything surrounding it. It made her feel a little-
Windy tugged on her sleeve, and she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in. She nodded, stuffing her hands in her pockets and moving forward.
It didn’t take the group long to reach the center of the construction site, striding past concrete bricks and wooden beams, keeping an eye out for the architect they were to meet. Drippy was the first to spot someone within the construction site, but this did not appear to be Mahimit: the figure was sitting atop some lone concrete bricks, the lower part of their face somewhat obscured by the high collar of a long-coat, and their eyes covered by shades a deep red.
She held her arm out to stop the others as she summoned her Stand in her other, the bone blade of her longsword pointing right at the person in front of them. “The hell are you?” She called out.
Inago was quick to recognise the figure: “That’s Hira!” The statement was greeted with silence. “They’re mainly known as Tamas. Vigilantes always wind up with a few names. Last I heard, they’d gone missing.”
“Do you types just all know each other?” Drippy raised an eyebrow, lowering her blade slightly.
Like her PINDROP ally, Sonika was also on guard, the metallic figure of ｢Chain Of Prospit｣ manifesting beside her as the moonlight shone on its golden armor. “Then why are they here, and now?”
The one of the group unperturbed by this was Ajay, a brief look of curiosity before he sidestepped past the armored Stand and walked forward with a grin on his face. “Hey Mon-Ami, we’re here! Hope we didn’t make you wait!”
The entire group turned to their guide in confusion, but they all realized one by one what exactly the situation was.
Mahimit was Tamas.
Windy’s grin dropped, but only slightly. Even if it was somber news, she always made sure to smile in times of distress. ’He was such a lovely fella’, she thought to herself. ’I suppose that makes sense given what I’ve heard of Tamas’s approach. But what could drive ‘em to such violence? His dad seemed nice too, but I’m not sure what else could be the reason why…
Drippy lowered her sword, but she wasn’t any less wary. Vigilante types were always a violent bunch, and she couldn’t afford to keep her guard down for even a moment. The name wasn’t unfamiliar to her, though. Even beyond her job at PINDROP keeping her up to date on the city’s affairs, Susie herself had only kind things to say about the guy. Apparently he was an associate of Rasna’s to some degree. She didn’t really know if she liked the sound of that.
Sonika, shocked as she was, kept focused—this new piece of the puzzle meant so much. Her mind flicked through its own internal reasonings at bullet speed, as it always did when a new clue appeared. ’So Mahimit is also Tamas…didn’t Titan mention something about blackmail? He said it was about his position in the City Planning Board, but having a powerful Stand User in their pocket might also be another reason to…didn’t Tamas disappear roughly about the time Mahi would have been blackmailed? For that matter, who would even want to? The influence he has now in the planning board is a good thing to have, su…re…
Something clicked into place, and Sonika’s eyes widened.
“Oh, shit.”
Mahimit had come back from another night out on the streets as Tamas, but like a phantom that Stand had appeared in his living room while his back was turned. He stepped backwards, nearly tripping on their own feet. He put his arms up in defense, his hands blocking its inky stare. “｢D-Diamond Life｣,” they stammered, doing everything to force a smile. “A p-pleasure to…see you.” They were lying through their teeth, naturally. Ghoulish appearance aside, an audience with them was rare; for it to show up on its own time…
Mahimit gulped. “It’s rather late. What brings you by?”
The Stand said nothing, only placing a claw onto the edge of the sofa, faint scratching from each step as it moved from towards the window. Mahi froze as it finally turned its head to the glass pane.
“How long has it been?” It hissed.
“W-what do you mean?”
“Ah, it would have been about three years, now. Is that right?” The Stand turned its head to the architect. “Yes, I remember now. The day your father brought you along to one of our gatherings.” A breeze blew into the room, jostling the loose cloth hanging on its rigid body. “How the time passes us by.”
Mahi’s eyes shot to the floor as they dug into their palms. Had it only been that long? It felt like an eternity since they joined the Suite. He never much cared for most of their company, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t getting anything out of this. They may have initially joined at the request of Zafar, but there were undeniable benefits. Few he grew to enjoy, as much as he loathed to admit even that. Mahi looked back up, the Stand peering out of the window.
“I never got the chance to…thank you,” he nearly choked on the words. “—I’ve been able to do amazing things through the board that—”
“You studied in Tamil Nadu, yes?” it said sharply. “That’s what Zafar told me anyways.”
The blood running through Mahimit’s veins was ice cold.
“I hear it was quite a dangerous place back then,” the Stand shook its split head. “It takes a lot of vigilance to make it in an area like that. A trait that has served you well in the few years I’ve known you.”
Mahi felt an intense aura seeping throughout the room. What was it talking about? Why bring all this up? He frowned, uncomfortable with where this was going.
“Having lived there, surely you’ve heard of Hira?”
Mahi’s eyes widened. His eyes darted back to the couch, only to find that ｢Diamond Life｣ was already holding their coat in its jagged grip, a hole in the shoulder where a knife cut through before they could transform. Their heart sank to the floor.
“You did know Hira originally operated there, correct?” The Stand continued, tracing its finger over the coat linings. “Though they have recently found a home in Rākinnagarh, the mysterious “Rider Tamas” watched over a small city within the region.” Seemingly from nowhere, it produced a newspaper and tossed it into Mahimit’s chest. Unrolling it revealed a grainy image of a shape atop a three story building. A figure, looming over the city, something billowing around them, obscuring their form. “TAMAS, HERO OR MENACE?”
｢Diamond Life｣ shook its head. “Courtesy of one troublesome tiger. It came at no small cost.”
Mahimit’s hands shook violently as they read over the contents of the print. Though, they weren’t really reading it, they just couldn’t bear to look up from the page. It knew. ｢Diamond Life｣ knew everything. Their identity, their values. Their true self…If it knew about Tamas, then surely it would’ve made the connection to their actions against Binay’s group. Their collusion with VULTURE. Hira had been a thorn in the side for the Metropolis Suite for the better part of a year. This wasn’t something that could be ignored.
Mahimit lowered the paper, their eyes wide with energy. “So, what now? Is this why you’ve come? To tie up loose ends?”
｢Diamond Life｣ took a step towards them. And then another. “You know, when most people refer to ‘tying loose ends’, they often mean to rip out the thread entirely.”
The stand poked its claw through the hole in Hira’s coat, pinching a loose snag, staring intently at it. “Of course, sometimes one must act quickly to remove the string. It’s important to prevent the cloth from snagging on anything. It could bring about untold damage.”
It took another step towards Mahimit, its chilling aura suffocating them. “However, this is ultimately shortsighted. Ripping the string will only hurt the quality of the cloth, giving way to future snags, which inevitably leads to an unstable material.”
As it spoke, it ran a single claw through the hole, taking the loose strands of string through the shoulder in a circular motion as it circled behind Mahimit, causing another shudder to shoot through his body.
“W-what are you doing?”
“According to the tailors of Assam, if you truly want to preserve a piece of clothing, it's best to string the thread back through the reverse side of the cloth. It’s often best to use a blunt needle to smooth the snag out. It’s a delicate process, but I’ve come to find it’s well worth it.” As it spoke, it slowly placed its claws onto the architect’s shoulders, one claw at a time.
“I’m sure you’d agree.”
Mahimit flinched at the touch, turning around to find that the Stand had vanished. Confused, he touched his fingers to his shoulders, feeling the weight of his coat resting upon them. Running his hand against the right sleeve, they were stunned to find that the hole was gone, with only a tiny stitch to remember it by. Despite this miracle, however, Mahimit couldn’t shake the creeping dread that was ebbing in their chest. This was no mere gift. It was a warning. And if they stepped out of line…No. It wouldn’t come to that. It couldn’t.
“Who... did you bring with you?” His eyes moved from Ajay to the people behind him.
“Some friends.” Ajay nodded. “They’re good people. They wanna help you out as much as I do. I promise you that much.”
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
“If it’s not too much trouble...” Sonika cleared her throat, offering a hand. “We’d like to take you somewhere safer. It’s a bit risky out here.”
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
“Get out.” Mahimit grit their teeth, nails digging into the soft flesh of their palms. “I-I’ll tell you everything, just, get out of here, now.”
Ajay’s reassuring smile faltered. “Mon-Ami, what’re you-”
“GET OUT!”
Mahimit shoved the man away, panic overtaking those practiced breaths. They took a moment to calm themselves. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Ex-
BANG
They blinked a few times. Looked away from the floor. Saw Ajay collapsed, blood pouring from a bullet wound on his shoulder, eyes wide from shock. The people behind him were immediately panicking, but they didn’t care. That bullet hole. Straight through the shoulder, clean and precise, like a knife through butter. A perfect shot, not intended to kill, but to disarm. It always had to be perfect.“...Father?”
Zafar was watching from somewhere. Of course he was. Of course he would fire, take this away from them. Of course he would be watching Mahi now. Of course he would see the chipped nail polish frantically washed off every morning before anyone could see. The cheap lipstick that they could never spend too much on because they always wound up throwing it away out of fear. Of course he would see these stupid tears-
Mahimit’s breath hitched.
Their father would be there to take this away from them, as he had always been. He was a tall, vast man, who commanded your respect, no matter how much you hated him. He knew what was right. His choice was yours. What he wanted would be what occurred, simple as.
And right now, what he wanted was a perfect son who would help with his work.
Mahimit screamed, his voice reverberating through the construction site, Stand manifesting as it tried to keep them together, a hole ripping in his body. The costume he’d worn so fondly ripped itself to shreds, something pulling itself out from the hole and staring him down. For just a moment, Mahimit stared back, before the all-consuming despair washed over his reason.
The loud click of a reload was all that he heard as he rose to his feet.
He didn’t tell his body to stand—it seemed to do that on its own, puppeteered by the figure snaking out from his chest.
Tamas had simply become another thing that was no longer his.
”GO, GO, GO!” The group was on the retreat in the blink of an eye, Inago throwing up another diamond barrier in time to block another one of the Stand’s frenzied strikes. He felt his bones rattle at the impact—this thing was tough, and it was mad.
A massive concrete pillar served as a damn fine bit of cover, and Mahimit seemed too distracted to follow. That wouldn’t last, though; the second the architect came to his senses, they’d need to get into action. They needed a plan, now.
Windy kept watch, her smaller body allowing her some strength. Inago set himself to stabilizing Ajay, and Sonika just sort of...sat there. Drippy watched in awe as their fearless leader spaced out, clearly too lost in thought to be of much strategic assistance. She’d been weird for a while now, but this was the last time to be having some sort of crisis.
Drippy groaned. She needed to figure this out, then. She was half a mind to march over there and show that architect the works, but...
She couldn’t help recalling the words of a certain ex-gang leader. They were swords, and they carried violence wherever they went, or something. She didn’t quite remember how it went, but, well, this wasn’t the kind of situation where the violent types would be able to do much. This guy didn’t need to be hit with swords, he needed some combat therapy, and she was the last person who’d be able to give it.
She glanced between her comrades, and groaned again.
“Al-RIGHT!” Drippy rose to her feet. “Fedora boy!”
“Inago.” Inago sighed.
“Whatever! We’re tracking down the sniper!” She turned to Sonika. “Boss, you and the puppet can deal with this shit! We’ll be off!”
Inago barely had time to protest before Drippy was dragging him off to find Zafar, Leaving Sonika and Windy alone behind the pillar.
“Looks like it’s the two of us, then!” Windy grinned, balling felt into fist. “No worries! We can get this one done lickety-split!”
Sonika didn’t respond
“Uh... Miss detective?”
“Ah, sorry.” Sonika shook her head to clear her thoughts, but trouble still creased her brow. She stared at the water in front of her, visible through the bars of a fence. “...Did you hear the way that kid screamed?”
“Was awfully loud, wasn’t it? Woulda made my eardrums pop! If I had any.” Windy offered a smile and a chuckle. Sonika didn’t take it.
“It was just, so...” She sighed. “What good can we even do, here, huh? What’s the point in any of this?”
“The point?” Windy tilted her head to the side. What a strange question! “The point is that we’re helpin’ people, ain’t it? Get this done, and we’ll be one step closer to helping a lot of people. That’s what we’re here for.”
Sonika chuckled, and Windy smiled at that.
“Our help hasn’t done a damn thing, kid.” The detective rose to her feet. “No matter how hard I try, how many cases I solve, that…beast is going to kill someone else. It’ll keep happening. Even if we stop him, throw him behind bars or whatever, will that stop any of this? It’s all...” Sonika’s crisis of faith wasn’t new. It had boiled, brewing just underneath her skin. Her hands shook at the thought of Rakin’s plight—and her own hopelessness before it. She was just a detective. She couldn’t stop this train of death, no matter how hard she—
A ball of yarn hit her square in the jaw, sending her stumbling back.
“...Huh?”
She turned to face an uncharacteristically furious Windy. She gaped, awestruck. She didn’t even know Windy could be mad. The muppet was so mad, in fact, that she had to take a few seconds to huff and calm herself down so she could actually speak.
“...First off.” Windy jabbed a thumb into her chest. “I’m pretty sure I’m just about as old as you, buddy!”
Sonika blinked a few times.
“Secondly!” Windy crossed her arms. “You think I’m naive, don’tcha?! I get it! I am pretty naive! I really do think that if we just keep tryin’ and tryin’ and tryin’ we’ll get everything fixed up and everyone’ll hold hands and sing and dance! Sue me! But y’know what?!” Windy huffed again, placing her hands on her hips. “I don’t care if that’s unrealistic! Cause that’s just what I want! I don’t care if it’s hard! I don’t care if things are bad! Cause if I’ve got somethin’ to work towards, then I can put on a smile and keep doing it and doing it and doing it till I do make a difference! We’ve always been working at the impossible!”
“If it’s impossible, then...What’s the point of trying?”
Windy grinned. “Pal, you’re having a conversation with a talking muppet. Words like that don’t mean a dang thing anymore!” She pointed at Sonika, grin widening. “Even the impossible’s possible, if you believe it is! That’s what it means to be a hero-ah.”
In a mere instant, Tamas was upon them, the arms of his Stand hurtling towards Windy, aiming to rip a hole right through her. The muppet froze up like a deer in headlights.
“Aw, shoo-”
KLANG!
A chain unfurled from the pillar, barely blocking off Tamas’s strike, forcing it back. Sonika pushed a hand through her hair, exhaling, her Stand shining bright behind her.“I’m a pretty old woman, y’know.” She smirked, flipping open her notepad. “You really think I can be so naive?”
“You’d better!” Windy hopped onto her shoulder, cracking her knuckles, somehow. “You can’t make miracles happen if you don’t believe in ‘em!”
Sonika nodded. Truth be told, she didn’t really know how much this would help, but one case at a time. That’s how she’d always done it.
“Alright, Windy.” Sonika put on the best smile she could. For now, it’d be enough. “Let’s see your miracle.”
”Open the game!”
The yellow is a backhoe, and the brown areas are large piles of dirt, excavated to pour the foundations of the building. The piles have been moved around, with some partially on current sections of the foundation, and stand 3m high. The walls of the building are similarly high; work has not finished on the first story.
A sniper loyal to Metropolis is located somewhere to the north of the map with a sniper rifle; while the rounds they currently have loaded are not able to penetrate through concrete, dirt, or other significant cover, they can harm Stands. They will take about ten seconds to reload and get a bead on a player, and will prioritize shooting Windy, attempting to use the force of the bullets to disorient her, hurt her, and/or knock her out of the arena.
Goal: RETIRE your opponents! Notably for Windy, a ring out will also be considered a RETIRE, as she’s forced away from contributing to the fight!
Additional Information: Marked on the map in orange are several exclamation points. These are points of interest that Sonika can use to clue in where exactly the sniper is shooting from and call in their position to Ol’ Drippy and Inago via phone. Once this is done, the sniper will stop shooting after a minute, as they’ll be tied up with the other two.
| Team | Combatant | JoJolity |
|---|---|---|
| Moondrop Detective Agency | Sonika Singha | ”I’ll try to get closer while I go up the side of the hill. Look for the moment it fires.” This sniper absolutely can’t be left to dictate the pace of this fight. Solve the case of the sniper’s nest and call them out to your comrades! |
| Moondrop Detective Agency | Windy | “Charlotte, my assistant, if you’d help me introduce you to everyone…” All of this carnage happening around you… this isn’t how things should be! Things don’t have to be this way! All of this pain and suffering, it’s all meaningless! Through your words and actions during the fight, prove that there’s another, better path, and set an example of it! |
| The Metropolis Suite | Mahimit “Hira” Rākin | “Speaking to someone’s heart is an amazing thing, but sometimes… ‘garbage’ gets left over.” What else is left for you, really? Through your actions in this fight, do your best to make your father proud! |
Link to Match Schedule
2024.05.09 20:47 SomaYukihira30 43 [M4F] #San Diego California - FREE Yoni Massage for sexual Healing and Pleasure
Namaste,
I want to extend a heartfelt wish for a fantastic day to all of the wonderful women out there. Thank you for taking the time to read my post, and I hope it brings you comfort and acceptance as you navigate through this lengthy post here in reddit. “For personal reasons, I am unable to host. If you can provide a place for the massage, I’d be happy to come to you.”
Yoni massage is a type of massage that is meant to make women feel loved and nurtured, and to give her healing/stored trauma release and sexual pleasure. You are worthy of deep respect and gentle care. celebrating the divine feminine inside you and worship the goddess.
To avoid potential scammers or imposters, I require verification. This will involve you taking pictures of yourself holding a handwritten piece of paper with the words My Username **. This is a MUST Before contacting me.**
I prioritize safety and privacy when it comes to my massages, so anything you tell me will be kept secure and confidential, I am particularly good at providing comfort and discretion with verbal and written consent.
Navatantra, Neotantra, and Tantric sex all derive from Tantra, a philosophy that combines Eastern esotericism and Sanskrit. These practices aim to promote personal growth through physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual development.
With countless schools of thought in tantra, I choose to practice the traditional Indian style. This particular practice originates from Sanskrit, a sacred language rooted in ancient Indian culture.
Yoni massage is an ancient practice rooted in Navatantra, focused on awakening the deep sexual energies within a woman's body. It is a profound and transformative therapy that goes beyond physical pleasure to unlock the full potential of one's sexual being
Yoni Massage is a whole-body experience that includes a full-body massage focusing on the buttocks, breasts, hips, and outside/ inside of the vagina. This vaginal stimulation can include the A-Spot, C-Spot, G-Spot, K-Spot, O-Spot, P-Spot, and U-Spot.
Yoni massage is a healing practice focused on your physical and emotional health. Multiple orgasms, squirting, and profound emotional release are common.
Consider this more as an experience or a journey than just a means of achieving physical pleasure. While sexual release may occur, it is not the ultimate goal.
Imagine this as a relaxing spa day just for you. We will begin with a ceremonial Tantric session, followed by a full body massage, and end with a cleansing ritual. You will feel respected and leave feeling content and rejuvenated. This is extremely safe and secure experience and you will be protected and leave my place with big smile in your face.
To begin, I will ask you a series of questions to get to know you and better understand your desires and requirements. Clear communication is crucial for this intimate interaction.
I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Before we start the massage, i want to ensure you are completely relaxed and turned on. Far too many of women have been penetrated before they were ready, creating unwanted tension in the vagina. This makes it crucial to be adequately turned on before beginning yoni massage. This step in itself is very healing and will help you reclaim the power of choice and consent.
Recipients should be comfortable with nudity in a well-lit environment and skin-to-skin contact. This experience is full of sensual touch, erotic and sexy. Reciprocation is not expected, but I am open-minded if there is a mutual desire.
I am 43, Single, 5'11", 185lb, with Brown skin, Brown eyes, Black Hair, and a trimmed beard. I'm vaccinated/boosted and tested, STD Free, and very clean.
When you contact me, please include your age (18+), location, and availability. and tell me bit about you. We can also exchange photos to ensure it will be a good fit. This is a female-oriented massage, so women only please.
I have no intention of changing your current relationship status, whether you are married, engaged, in a committed relationship, or single. If you do not wish to stay in contact or pursue a deeper connection, that is perfectly acceptable here. If you could kindly provide an anonymous testimony after the massage, I would greatly appreciate it.
Rest assured that everything I do is with your consent and full knowledge. I make sure to provide all necessary details so that you are fully informed and aware during the massage process.
Request for consideration: I am eager to further my understanding and experience with Reiki healing. If you or someone you know would like me to administer Reiki, please inform me. we can go over details in private.
Experiencing this sacred sexual practice is as healing as it is pleasurable. I hope I will be able to share it with you!
Thank you very much!
submitted by SomaYukihira30 to CuckoldMassage [link] [comments]
I want to extend a heartfelt wish for a fantastic day to all of the wonderful women out there. Thank you for taking the time to read my post, and I hope it brings you comfort and acceptance as you navigate through this lengthy post here in reddit. “For personal reasons, I am unable to host. If you can provide a place for the massage, I’d be happy to come to you.”
Yoni massage is a type of massage that is meant to make women feel loved and nurtured, and to give her healing/stored trauma release and sexual pleasure. You are worthy of deep respect and gentle care. celebrating the divine feminine inside you and worship the goddess.
To avoid potential scammers or imposters, I require verification. This will involve you taking pictures of yourself holding a handwritten piece of paper with the words My Username **. This is a MUST Before contacting me.**
I prioritize safety and privacy when it comes to my massages, so anything you tell me will be kept secure and confidential, I am particularly good at providing comfort and discretion with verbal and written consent.
Navatantra, Neotantra, and Tantric sex all derive from Tantra, a philosophy that combines Eastern esotericism and Sanskrit. These practices aim to promote personal growth through physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual development.
With countless schools of thought in tantra, I choose to practice the traditional Indian style. This particular practice originates from Sanskrit, a sacred language rooted in ancient Indian culture.
Yoni massage is an ancient practice rooted in Navatantra, focused on awakening the deep sexual energies within a woman's body. It is a profound and transformative therapy that goes beyond physical pleasure to unlock the full potential of one's sexual being
Yoni Massage is a whole-body experience that includes a full-body massage focusing on the buttocks, breasts, hips, and outside/ inside of the vagina. This vaginal stimulation can include the A-Spot, C-Spot, G-Spot, K-Spot, O-Spot, P-Spot, and U-Spot.
Yoni massage is a healing practice focused on your physical and emotional health. Multiple orgasms, squirting, and profound emotional release are common.
Consider this more as an experience or a journey than just a means of achieving physical pleasure. While sexual release may occur, it is not the ultimate goal.
Imagine this as a relaxing spa day just for you. We will begin with a ceremonial Tantric session, followed by a full body massage, and end with a cleansing ritual. You will feel respected and leave feeling content and rejuvenated. This is extremely safe and secure experience and you will be protected and leave my place with big smile in your face.
To begin, I will ask you a series of questions to get to know you and better understand your desires and requirements. Clear communication is crucial for this intimate interaction.
I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Before we start the massage, i want to ensure you are completely relaxed and turned on. Far too many of women have been penetrated before they were ready, creating unwanted tension in the vagina. This makes it crucial to be adequately turned on before beginning yoni massage. This step in itself is very healing and will help you reclaim the power of choice and consent.
Recipients should be comfortable with nudity in a well-lit environment and skin-to-skin contact. This experience is full of sensual touch, erotic and sexy. Reciprocation is not expected, but I am open-minded if there is a mutual desire.
I am 43, Single, 5'11", 185lb, with Brown skin, Brown eyes, Black Hair, and a trimmed beard. I'm vaccinated/boosted and tested, STD Free, and very clean.
When you contact me, please include your age (18+), location, and availability. and tell me bit about you. We can also exchange photos to ensure it will be a good fit. This is a female-oriented massage, so women only please.
I have no intention of changing your current relationship status, whether you are married, engaged, in a committed relationship, or single. If you do not wish to stay in contact or pursue a deeper connection, that is perfectly acceptable here. If you could kindly provide an anonymous testimony after the massage, I would greatly appreciate it.
Rest assured that everything I do is with your consent and full knowledge. I make sure to provide all necessary details so that you are fully informed and aware during the massage process.
Request for consideration: I am eager to further my understanding and experience with Reiki healing. If you or someone you know would like me to administer Reiki, please inform me. we can go over details in private.
Experiencing this sacred sexual practice is as healing as it is pleasurable. I hope I will be able to share it with you!
Thank you very much!
2024.05.06 07:53 raccoontrash_ Some thoughts about the adaptation of the Weston’s arc…
Tldr : very length post, a bit of an essay but also mostly my thoughts about the new season, or more so it’s adaptation of the arc : from the very probable difficulties the studio faced (notably the animation, but not only), the difficulty adapting the material, which if more than great for the manga, was sadly not enough to be an entire season and how it could have been solved by notably fleshing out some things, notably the interesting conflict that could have been created between Ciel and his need to pretend and play a life he could have had but never got, one of a normal boy to infiltrate the school and fulfil his duty, with an essay on Ciel’s character. Also, important note… I know I’m not saying necessarily only nice things about this season but… this story, it’s characters, themes are very, very dear to my heart, and I need to let out all of my thoughts a bit :))
I have the feeling that this season of Black butler could have been so much better. Maybe it’s the fact that I read the manga fest that makes me much more critical than I usually am -I usually always watch the anime first and then read the manga-, but.. I don’t know, this season feels off. And I’m not saying this against the anime studio by the way, I actually have the feeling this was already from starters going to be hard.
Weston College’s arc, if it’s fluid in the manga because the medium allows it, isn’t.. enough to sustain a 12 episodes season. At first I thought it was just me, I thought ‘oh, maybe it’s cause I read the manga first that it feels like less things are happening’ but the time length of the episode, around 20 minutes (instead of the usual 25), 20 minutes which includes a 1 minute recap which is just not necessary each time (and where I re-checked too, others seasons did not having that episode recap each time so it’s not black butler’s tradition neither) doesn’t really lie. Maybe it’s just me too, but the scene feels much more dragged out than in the manga : a fun running gag in the manga will last 5 minutes in the anime. And finally, and it’s the moment where I’m aware it must have been really hard for the studio : Who is this season for ? Or more so, obviously, the manga readers but also, I feel like they went in asking themselves if the older viewers -who only watched the anime when it first came out-, were gonna be there again. Making this season was a ´risk’ in that way, and if I think they gambled a bit on Black butler’s high popularity, I feel like Cloverwork didn’t want to put too much money into it neither, explaining the well, very very still animation, and also the way they try to animate as little as possibly (random focus on background still objects etc.), and where once you notice it… it’s pretty much everywhere.
In the end, it’s kinda the ‘adaptation’ question that always comes back in general but : what more can they bring that the original material didn’t already have ?
I’ve wondered a bit about why they chose to go with a much more shoujo artstyle than the previous seasons (albeit I know it wasn’t the same studios, but basically, why didn’t they follow in the same continuation than previously). Maybe it’s just me, but for me -and I feel like also others-, Weston’s arc strengths always lied a bit in its ambiance : Old, British board school, a mystery to solve here. I don’t think that the shoujo style really allows this ambiance to live, on the contrary. I actually feel like an artstyle with a much darker palette would have worked better, more foggy and mysterious like.
And sure, the tone of this arc is considerably lighter than the Campagnia arc or the Emerald Witch arc, but… I feel like they can’t actually really make the anime entirely on this more funnier aspect of the arc : the animation budget and the need to drag out to make the episode an acceptance lengths makes most of the jokes that were funny in the manga falls flat in my opinion.
That’s the moment where, not gonna lie, it’s about being a bit about what I would have wanted this adaptation to be a bit. I really wish they would have delved into the dark academia ambiance more, but also, I feel like one of the ways the Studio could have solved one of the difficulties encountered was by delving deeper into what was already there, adding more to it. If they needed to make this season because there are clues about the reveal in the later manga (I’m assuming people who are reading this knows but just in case I won’t spoil ; it’s a ‘if you know you know), they also should have adding more things to it.
I’ve always thought, that Black Butler was, at its core, about trauma. And if I plan on making a whole very very lengthy essay on this at some point, I feel like Weston’s arc would have been the perfect moment to explore Ciel’s character. Am I the only one who finds it interesting, the way that, if he is at its core a traumatised child who had to become an adult much sooner, because of this mission he’s forced to not only being surroundered, but also to play into a character who isn’t but could have been, a normal boy who could have had an actual childhood ? And if Ciel isn’t the one to exactly pity himself, I feel like there’s a part of him longing for that : See the special Halloween chapter, Ciel, seeing a few children happy, trying to grasp towards them with his hand before giving up. That longing is there… and this arc would have been such a perfect way to explore this. It also could have fleshed out the intrigue of this arc : Infiltrating himself among the boys, having a taste of that childhood but obviously because it’s Ciel, refusing it -which also, would have planted the seeds of Ciel’s arc in the emerald arc, and that paradox between the role of an adult he took upon himself, but also that underneath there’s still a part of him who’s a scared little child, albeit a scared little child that he tried to reduce to silence because that’s what Ciel does, he looks for control, isolate his thoughts and affects he deems weak. But here, in this arc, he is forced to delve much more into this, to play and pretend to be that ‘somewhat weak and kind and very normal boy’. If we got to see a little bit of this in his interactions with McMillan and Soma a bit, since this arc is at its core an investigation where Ciel has to infiltrate himself as a student to gather intells in a board school where being seen well is what would allow him to fulfil his duty as the queen’s watchdog could have been great. In general, the anime could have added something to the manga by delving much more on this part and Ciel and his interactions with other student.
We have not reached that point yet, but I wonder if it could have also added something to the dynamic between Ciel and Sebastian in this arc. If they are -mostly- separated or much more than in the others seasons, I wonder if Sebastian, watching from a watchful eye Ciel pretending to be this innocent boy could also have made him more on guard. Also had this idea that they could have made a few shots (Kinda similar to the promised neverland, which, welp same studio) showing Ciel being observed : is this Sebastian watching him ? (Tying in into the manga and how … was observing him all along). This would also have added to the ‘mysterious’ (albeit it’s not the wrong I’m looking for exactly but close enough) ambiance that the Weston arc does have.
I don’t think, that the manga needed to have all of that, the manga in itself was great already. But the thing is that the material of this arc, if necessary to adapt, simply isn’t enough to be 12 episodes long, and if the anime, -since the animation budget seemed to be pretty low for this season- couldn’t add to the manga by simply bringing it to life, it needs to flesh out what’s already there. And… Weston’s arc had plenty things to flesh out. The very dark academia ambiance of this arc that is why from my understanding so many of us loved, the dynamics between the student which could have brought an aspect of Ciel we hadn’t delve deeper too much yet, or not as much that this arc would have allowed it : what could have been but wasn’t, with the longing that Ciel has, longing that he restricts. It could have been the perfect bridge between Book of Circus, Book of Murder and Book of Atlantic, and the following Emerald Witch’s arc that is very very dear to a lot of us. It really could have been perfect..
submitted by raccoontrash_ to blackbutler [link] [comments]
I have the feeling that this season of Black butler could have been so much better. Maybe it’s the fact that I read the manga fest that makes me much more critical than I usually am -I usually always watch the anime first and then read the manga-, but.. I don’t know, this season feels off. And I’m not saying this against the anime studio by the way, I actually have the feeling this was already from starters going to be hard.
Weston College’s arc, if it’s fluid in the manga because the medium allows it, isn’t.. enough to sustain a 12 episodes season. At first I thought it was just me, I thought ‘oh, maybe it’s cause I read the manga first that it feels like less things are happening’ but the time length of the episode, around 20 minutes (instead of the usual 25), 20 minutes which includes a 1 minute recap which is just not necessary each time (and where I re-checked too, others seasons did not having that episode recap each time so it’s not black butler’s tradition neither) doesn’t really lie. Maybe it’s just me too, but the scene feels much more dragged out than in the manga : a fun running gag in the manga will last 5 minutes in the anime. And finally, and it’s the moment where I’m aware it must have been really hard for the studio : Who is this season for ? Or more so, obviously, the manga readers but also, I feel like they went in asking themselves if the older viewers -who only watched the anime when it first came out-, were gonna be there again. Making this season was a ´risk’ in that way, and if I think they gambled a bit on Black butler’s high popularity, I feel like Cloverwork didn’t want to put too much money into it neither, explaining the well, very very still animation, and also the way they try to animate as little as possibly (random focus on background still objects etc.), and where once you notice it… it’s pretty much everywhere.
In the end, it’s kinda the ‘adaptation’ question that always comes back in general but : what more can they bring that the original material didn’t already have ?
I’ve wondered a bit about why they chose to go with a much more shoujo artstyle than the previous seasons (albeit I know it wasn’t the same studios, but basically, why didn’t they follow in the same continuation than previously). Maybe it’s just me, but for me -and I feel like also others-, Weston’s arc strengths always lied a bit in its ambiance : Old, British board school, a mystery to solve here. I don’t think that the shoujo style really allows this ambiance to live, on the contrary. I actually feel like an artstyle with a much darker palette would have worked better, more foggy and mysterious like.
And sure, the tone of this arc is considerably lighter than the Campagnia arc or the Emerald Witch arc, but… I feel like they can’t actually really make the anime entirely on this more funnier aspect of the arc : the animation budget and the need to drag out to make the episode an acceptance lengths makes most of the jokes that were funny in the manga falls flat in my opinion.
That’s the moment where, not gonna lie, it’s about being a bit about what I would have wanted this adaptation to be a bit. I really wish they would have delved into the dark academia ambiance more, but also, I feel like one of the ways the Studio could have solved one of the difficulties encountered was by delving deeper into what was already there, adding more to it. If they needed to make this season because there are clues about the reveal in the later manga (I’m assuming people who are reading this knows but just in case I won’t spoil ; it’s a ‘if you know you know), they also should have adding more things to it.
I’ve always thought, that Black Butler was, at its core, about trauma. And if I plan on making a whole very very lengthy essay on this at some point, I feel like Weston’s arc would have been the perfect moment to explore Ciel’s character. Am I the only one who finds it interesting, the way that, if he is at its core a traumatised child who had to become an adult much sooner, because of this mission he’s forced to not only being surroundered, but also to play into a character who isn’t but could have been, a normal boy who could have had an actual childhood ? And if Ciel isn’t the one to exactly pity himself, I feel like there’s a part of him longing for that : See the special Halloween chapter, Ciel, seeing a few children happy, trying to grasp towards them with his hand before giving up. That longing is there… and this arc would have been such a perfect way to explore this. It also could have fleshed out the intrigue of this arc : Infiltrating himself among the boys, having a taste of that childhood but obviously because it’s Ciel, refusing it -which also, would have planted the seeds of Ciel’s arc in the emerald arc, and that paradox between the role of an adult he took upon himself, but also that underneath there’s still a part of him who’s a scared little child, albeit a scared little child that he tried to reduce to silence because that’s what Ciel does, he looks for control, isolate his thoughts and affects he deems weak. But here, in this arc, he is forced to delve much more into this, to play and pretend to be that ‘somewhat weak and kind and very normal boy’. If we got to see a little bit of this in his interactions with McMillan and Soma a bit, since this arc is at its core an investigation where Ciel has to infiltrate himself as a student to gather intells in a board school where being seen well is what would allow him to fulfil his duty as the queen’s watchdog could have been great. In general, the anime could have added something to the manga by delving much more on this part and Ciel and his interactions with other student.
We have not reached that point yet, but I wonder if it could have also added something to the dynamic between Ciel and Sebastian in this arc. If they are -mostly- separated or much more than in the others seasons, I wonder if Sebastian, watching from a watchful eye Ciel pretending to be this innocent boy could also have made him more on guard. Also had this idea that they could have made a few shots (Kinda similar to the promised neverland, which, welp same studio) showing Ciel being observed : is this Sebastian watching him ? (Tying in into the manga and how … was observing him all along). This would also have added to the ‘mysterious’ (albeit it’s not the wrong I’m looking for exactly but close enough) ambiance that the Weston arc does have.
I don’t think, that the manga needed to have all of that, the manga in itself was great already. But the thing is that the material of this arc, if necessary to adapt, simply isn’t enough to be 12 episodes long, and if the anime, -since the animation budget seemed to be pretty low for this season- couldn’t add to the manga by simply bringing it to life, it needs to flesh out what’s already there. And… Weston’s arc had plenty things to flesh out. The very dark academia ambiance of this arc that is why from my understanding so many of us loved, the dynamics between the student which could have brought an aspect of Ciel we hadn’t delve deeper too much yet, or not as much that this arc would have allowed it : what could have been but wasn’t, with the longing that Ciel has, longing that he restricts. It could have been the perfect bridge between Book of Circus, Book of Murder and Book of Atlantic, and the following Emerald Witch’s arc that is very very dear to a lot of us. It really could have been perfect..
2024.04.30 14:21 Encryption45 Big Twist: 5E Homebrew Campaign [Online]
Hi! I am a semi experienced Dungeon Master looking for two more players to run a homebrew campaign with. We're looking to do Thursdays at 8pm CST. This homebrew campaign will feature some re-flavoured and new mechanics. The information I will be providing currently is purely for character backstory and personality building, stats and more will come into play after session 0 and the big reveal happens. Session 0 of RP and a slight introduction to some of my custom mechanics. This will also allow the opportunity to get used to each other. I love genuine reactions, so the actual theme of this campaign is a bit shrouded in mystery.
For the set-up of your character, you are from an alternate earth, Earth-22. The year is 1979 and you've received an invitation to Soma Enterprises Laboratories to witness the Exhibition of the Future. Characters do not need to be famous, they simply need to be someone who has a background in medicine, science, or technology. This doesn't mean a college degree, you could be a beta tester for new technology. Even a journalist or history major. I'm looking for characters that have interacted or researched these things enough to have familiarity and a growing desire to learn even if not complete mastery.
If this mystery and a little bit of information interest you, apply, and once accepted you'll be given more information to build off of.
Application: https://forms.gle/zNhJKKYnC5mUAbXz8
submitted by Encryption45 to lfg [link] [comments]
For the set-up of your character, you are from an alternate earth, Earth-22. The year is 1979 and you've received an invitation to Soma Enterprises Laboratories to witness the Exhibition of the Future. Characters do not need to be famous, they simply need to be someone who has a background in medicine, science, or technology. This doesn't mean a college degree, you could be a beta tester for new technology. Even a journalist or history major. I'm looking for characters that have interacted or researched these things enough to have familiarity and a growing desire to learn even if not complete mastery.
If this mystery and a little bit of information interest you, apply, and once accepted you'll be given more information to build off of.
Application: https://forms.gle/zNhJKKYnC5mUAbXz8
2024.04.25 02:12 TheSlyKoopa JoJo’s Bizarre OC Tournament #7: R2M16 - R.K. Viswanathan Ashok vs David Jackson
The results are in for Match 14. The winner is…
After a long day’s work, Soma’s Cup found itself patronized by more than the riders that had called it home. Tea, alcohol, pasta flowed like water as the construction workers—both professional and deputized—rested and recuperated from the hours of manual labor. Yes, there was still work to be done on the morrow, but the tools and the friendships forged would be enough to carry it on.
Titan, lapping happily from a saucer of diluted green tea, perked up to the sound of a door opening. Not the ethereal chimes of ｢The Doors｣, but the humble bell of the front doors. While they might have once been their boss, here they were just another humble patron, lured by the smell of tea and good company: “Ajay?”
The welder looked up, “Mahimit!” He waved the architect over, shuffling himself and his plate of pasta aside to make room. “Man, it’s been a while since we’ve hung out hasn’t it?”
“Indeed,” Mahi nodded, sliding in next to the welder. “Sorry I couldn’t meet up with you when you first got the the city, I—”
“Don’t worry about it! You’re a busy person nowadays, but we can catch up now!”
The two conversed, separately from the rest of the group who were discussing with each other about a job well done and their plans for the rest of the day. Cal was still among them, but what they had seen in Mahimit came to mind whenever they glanced over to the other two, their discussion lost underneath the cheer of the table.
His hearing better than most, Titan was able to discern Mahimit and Ajay’s friendship, arising from their time studying in Vellore before Ajay’s apprenticeship where they had formed a tight-knit trio with another student in the area, before Mahimit’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Someone…confronted me the other day. They knew stuff that I thought I had kept private, and they’re threatening to release it to the public unless I push forward to the city planning board something—t-they weren’t clear on what they wanted, but I just…I just don’t know what to do about this.”
Ajay’s response was similarly hushed. “Have you gone to the police about this?”
“And have it go to my father? Half of the higher ups are his military buddies.” Wincing, Mahimit shook his head. “I…I don’t want to risk him finding out. I love him, but I don’t know how much longer I can deal with the whole…”favorite son” thing. I don’t want to disappoint him, but…” He put his head in his hands. “God, I’m not making any sense am I.”
“You don’t have to.” Ajay gingerly patted them on the back. “You’ll figure it out, Mon-Ami. You always do.”
Scenario: Red Velvet Country Club, Vasitanagarh — 10:07 AM
The grandparents of Vastianagarh can remember when the region wasn’t this nice. Until the 70s—within their lifetimes—the locals had to scrounge for the dirty, demeaning work that the rest of Rākinnagarh could not stand. They could remain separated from the smell of waste and water treatment by the mountain that split the city in twain, like chambers of the heart that beat within.
Yet, the same beat of life thumped in the chest of the citizens of Vastianagarh, thumped beneath its earth, and life soon flourished in the region. It was by helping each other up, by turning fortune into fortune, the people of the region were able to rise above their station. Cracked hands that worked rough leather wove the finest fabrics and sold them to those carried forth from across the mountain—across the lands.
Grandparents who could remember walking cracked roads to school now lead their grandchildren by those same hands through streets that connected them to the rest of the city.
These were the stories that the members of the Red Velvet Country Club would tell each other, nouveau riche who were ever thankful for the good fortune that had granted their families such wealth. Bashfully, they would take the opportunity to enjoy it.
Yes, this was a fundraiser—and large checks were made out to Vilduveta compound—but the country club was the local haunt for many of the families that had established themselves within a few generations; indeed many of them would meet here before taking a train or a boat up river to the compound proper. To the guru, this was a fundraiser—but to the donors, this was akin to another round of golf. “Did you hear about that little fundraiser at the edge of Bedtown?”
One donor tutted sadly as she shook her head. “I did, I did—I can’t believe it happened so close to us. I’m glad you don’t seem hurt, Mr. Liang.”
The first, a gentleman in a pastel button-up with its sleeves rolled up, nearly spat out his drink, stumbling slightly at the thought. His conversation partner went to help, but Liang waved her off, insisting that he was fine. “No, no, heaven’s no. With ｢Cage the Elephant｣ roaming around, I would never set foot over there—Maryam, you remember Kali, my daughter, yes?”
“The one taking violin lessons-”
“Yes, them—I had heard about the fundraiser, but I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving them behind.”
“There’s only so much we can do—at least the thing seems to have disappeared.” Maryam nodded with something between melancholy and relief. Things weren’t perfect in Rakin City, but at least they were getting better, just like they had for Vastianagarh. Suddenly her face lit up as she made eye contact across the patio. “Ah! I think I see Sara over there; please excuse me, I haven’t seen her in so long-”
“No offense taken!” With a brief hug, Maryam let go of her fellow club member, almost bumping into a frazzled Villu Vilduveta. He assured her it was an accident, none of her mimosa got on his robe, and sent her on her way. She would gossip with almost childish excitement that the famed thought-leader was just as kind as the rumors had said, but his mind was spinning.
As proven by the sun beating down upon him, it was solidly summer, and reams of grass spanned the golf course before him, just as neat and manicured as the Bengali architecture of the Red Velvet country club itself. While the members’ pride in their club and their area’s unique cultural legacy could be overbearing, the result made him feel somewhat at home.
If it was such pride that encouraged them to donate to charitable causes such as his, then he could play their game…as much as he preferred cricket. Villu tensed then exhaled. The anticipation for this event had been dwelling on him for weeks, but this was not the place for doubt—this was the place where he could do good. He set aside thoughts of handshakes, small talk, and mocktails (he didn’t drink) and let the stress pass through him. It was just a charity event, one of countless that he had run.
“Pardon us, Mr. Vilduveta?” His eyes opened, and he turned to see a small crowd had gathered around him, bearing hardback books. “We didn’t mean to bother you, but we read your biography, and-”
“Oh, of course!” Villu had already pulled forth a pen and had begun signing. “If anything, I’m glad you didn’t ask me to write one!”
The crowd laughed good-naturedly along with him; for his introversive tendencies, Villu still could converse deftly, his tone gentle but more than able to keep up in wit and ease. Even if he did not care for his fame, he had to begrudgingly admit that garnering such attention made solicitation easier—being a conversation piece could open checkbooks.
One of them, an upstart holding a glass of wine, reached out and tugged on his sleeve. “The sections of your work in Myanmar were really inspiring!”
“O-oh?” Villu asked warily.
“It’s like Star Wars! You and your revolutionaries against the empire, the start of your political career—I can’t believe you and your author kept that to one chapter! And your wife, my deepest condolences, she sounded wonderfu-”
“Please.” There was a sharpness in Villu’s gaze that pressed against the donor’s neck, revealing the steel thorns beneath his pastel silk. The crowd had become tense at the mere word, but Villu’s expression soon softened, blunted into a pensive smile. “My…my work is in honor of her life; I would rather not relive her death.”
There was an uneasy silence over the group, until Villu dramatically shut the last book with a loud FHUMP! “But enough of that,” he beamed at them as they nearly jumped at the sudden noise. “No use staying out here, hmm?”
For a larger event, a certain David Jackson had decided to bust out his older wardrobe.
Part of the choice was to blend in. The well-to-do of Vasitanagarh were dressed in well tailored suits, slacks, and shawls for the Indian summer weather, and while his clothing wasn’t tailored for the situation, he seemed like he belonged well enough.
Luiviton had attended the spa that was hosting this charity—raising money for providing meals and shelters to the homeless, or something—and mentioned something about the fundraiser in the few times David had seen him before they had split. David managed to scrounge together enough money to pay for an entry ticket.
“You said that the Red Velvet club displays the work of Earthgang students?” David asked. “I’m something of an artist myself, you know.”
“Indeed, but we try to select artwork somewhat in line with the extant decor. The art college is occasionally more…eccentric for our tastes.” Maryam laughed sheepishly, standing beside Sara.
“I’ll say,” David pointed to a large vase, holding more of the assorted flowers that decorated the parlor, and indeed the region as a whole. A small circle of artisans and parents had formed to discuss the wares they sold to tourists and galleries alike. Generations of jewelers, watchmakers, and metal workers wore silver and gold that fit their station and profession. “Is that 19th century porcelain?”
“Indeed it is, Mr Jackson! You have quite an eye…”
Part of the choice in outfit was to feel normal. If he truly wanted comfort, he might have donned the white t-shirt, but the club patrons seemed to accept him and his talk of Rakin’s art and culture. Yet, as he laughed and kibitzed with the club members, he found himself zoning out, sipping from his glass until all that touched his tongue was melting ice. “Did you hear about that magistrate? The one involved with the Overcome Foundation?”
Despite the air conditioning and cool beverage, David felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple.
“Yeah, I heard about that scandal not too long ago.” With the recent exposee on the Foundation’s relationship with the Dead City Haunts’ racketeering, lines in the sand had been drawn as its members sought to escape public, social, and legal scrutiny. Small talk churned into gossip as anxiety churned in David’s stomach:
“He was at Sonasuyast when I visited!” “He seemed polite enough.” “To think I donated to them…” “He claimed that he was under duress, but I don’t know…”
“Mhmm,” Maryam tutted, shaking her head with disdain. “Someone always tries to abuse the system. At least they got rid of him.”
“…You think you know someone,” David added with an unsteady expression. With Maryam putting the final nail in the coffin, the topic passed and the group’s ire with it. Yet David retreated further into himself. Part of the choice in outfit was to provide cover, but the sharp tang of spite to Maryam’s voice that reminded him of the sword that hung over his head.
But he shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside. All he had to do was play off his connections to Goldfinger and now Vasitanagarh. With its geometrically-tiled roads and urbane cafes and markets, this part of the city was clean, it was safe, and the more he ingratiated himself with this part of society, the less he would have to worry about a roof over his head and the more he could finally—
“Mr. Jackson!?”
He had jumped back, accidentally dropping his glass with a loud CRASH! Everyone looked at him with concern as he waved them off.
“Sorry, everyone; glass just slipped.” He raised his palms showing that he was uninjured. “Guess I’ve had one too many!” More good natured laughter as a janitor brought a broom to sweep aside the shards. As the commotion died down, David saw what had scared him in his paranoia:
A vase of purple flowers on a cocktail table as a conversation piece.
Attending this stuffy event wasn’t Ashok’s idea, but nowadays, what was? Those unseen chains were bound as tight as ever, tugging him this way and that. Suggestions traveled through them like impulses through nerves, sparking up his spine, rattling in his skull. But at least these whispers silenced the rumours swirling outside. Sulka’s strange behavior was starting to become the subject of the city’s constant gossip, and every mention of them was fraying Ashok’s nerves. If you couldn’t trust your own teammates, who could you trust?
Me, whispered the Puppet, as the message sparked across its chains. It had asserted that the situation with Sulka was unfolding as it should be, and that he should concern himself with other matters. Dutifully, Ashok followed this generous advice, and found himself a matter most concerning. Unlike many other Stand users, this Puppet was not the creation of his own spirit, but an external force that chose him after its last user had passed away.
The question clattering in Ashok’s mind was not the why, but the how. How had that last user perished? Was it natural? Was it foul play? Was it the Puppet’s meddling? Surely, with the how, the why would follow. That answer, that knowledge, it would be the key that would unlock these shackles. The key to controlling his own destiny–no, to control destiny itself.
That very key lay here, somewhere in this crowd of sentimental socialites. It was those sentiments that Ashok found appealing–an easy in, a means of taking the reins and steering them as he saw fit.
As was the case right now, as he hummed and hawed at some poor charity worker. All of it with a caring smile. It’s not as if that smile was fake, Ashok knew that this group was doing good work, it’s just that…
“...I’ve been rather concerned about some rumours I’ve been hearing lately,” he sighed, swirling the liquid in his glass, forming a miniature whirlpool. “You know how certain charities have been, such a large portion of their donations go to the administration, and their patrons are none the wiser. It leaves such a sour taste in my mouth–I like to think this group is different, after all, it’s such a good cause, but…” another sigh, leaving the thought unfinished. His eyes strayed from his whirlpool, watching the worker. They would be the one to complete the sentence, and with it, they would offer themselves up to him. As they should. After all, he was simply doing his due diligence.
The look on their face struck him with a pang of excitement. That was it. Ashok had wrapped his chain around their wrist, and now he would be the one to make them dance. These were the moments that he lived for, the moments where he knew he was alive. He was not some marionette–he pulled the strings. Let these people have their idle chatter, none of it mattered to him. None of it could compare to this. Finally, his bindings loosened. Finally, Ashok could breathe, and the air tasted so sweet.
But then a passing figure caught his eye, and for a moment, it felt like his lungs had filled with something viscous. Quickly he shook the sensation away, breaking away from the worker, no longer interested. This new figure was far more pressing: David Jackson, a member of the Overcome Foundation, an associate of that infested woman that Pluto had fought against. Their Foundation was corrupt, it was criminal—as much as Ashok could dislike the rumour mill, sometimes it gave him valuable intel.
Yet, the other attendees either didn’t know, or didn’t care, if they simply let this man walk amongst them. Surely, he should let someone know—otherwise this man’s crimes would go unpunished. But who would he tell? These people milling around didn’t seem to care, but- that’s it. Smiling to himself, Ashok decided on his play, and walked right up to David himself.
All the while, David was looking at a painting, though he wasn’t taking in the artwork. It was a good way to stare into the distance and get your bearings without seeming weird. However, it seemed this tactic wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped–someone was sidling up next to him. The other man was slight, though his eyes were bright and his smile was soft and pleasant. That being said, he was staring at David for several unbroken seconds, without saying anything.
“Ah?” David began, trying to recenter himself on the spot. “Hello there,” he smiled back, “here to admire the painting?”
“It’s quite lovely, isn’t it?” the other man commented, still standing rather close to David. The man took a few seconds to stare into the artwork, before turning to David and extending a hand. “It’s nice to meet someone with similar taste, Mr…?”
David blinked. There was no reason to hesitate–it wasn’t as though he hadn’t introduced himself before, why should this be any different?
“Jackson,” he replied, “Mr. Jackson.”
Once again, the young man just stared at him, for long enough that David began to wonder if-
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jackson,” the stranger interjected, still offering his hand. David reached out to complete the gesture, trying to put himself at ease. The flowers made him jumpy, that was all.
“My name is Ashok.” A pause, as he withdrew his hand. “I hope I’m not being too forward, I was actually wondering if you were the artist of this piece.”
“This one? No, I was just admiring it.”
“I see!” Ashok responded, taking a sip from his glass. “I’m rather curious about its creator–I’ve heard you can tell a lot about an artist just through their work. If that’s true, then this collection certainly represents the character of our city!”
“Oh..?” David raised a brow, “how so?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Ashok asked in return.
“Yeah, totally,” David trailed off, glancing around, looking for a theme. Before he could come up with one, Ashok simply chuckled and shook his head.
“Such a varied and eclectic collection represents a city so full of characters. Surely you’ve heard the gossip. We have so many interesting figures… there was that one older man, he runs a machine shop, what was his name…”
“How would I know-”
“Goldfinger, that’s it. Now there’s an interesting man–it seems like everyone fashions themselves king nowadays. But I heard he had the racket to support it.”
David swallowed, trying to keep a jovial air. The rumour mill kept spinning after all, that wasn’t so strange. Ashok himself was still smiling at him, his voice cheerful and light. As David remained silent, Ashok continued, “Maybe you haven’t heard of him. Oh, but you must know about that woman—she’s got a flower for an eye, can you believe that?”
David frowned a moment, sucking in a breath. “Wow. How strange.”
Ashok’s smile only seemed to glow brighter. He tapped on his chin, continuing on. “I know, right? Oh, get this- I heard that those two might even work together. It’s that foundation- everyone here keeps talking about it. It’s only natural, right? When you’re doing good work, you don’t want it dragged down by other people’s corruption.”
“For sure.” David quickly agreed, now finally glancing for an exit.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to take up your time,” Ashok laughed, though he didn’t move away. “You must be quite busy, considering.”
“Considering what?” David asked, a little harsher than he intended.
Ashok grinned. For a moment, the air rattled with the clattering of chains. “Considering you’re on display tonight, David Jackson.”
David tried to unclench his jaw, uncurl his fingers. It wasn’t that difficult of an inference to make. But there was something about the way he said it.
“You know, you’re quite deep in the rumour mill,” David responded, trying to give the man a smirk of his own. “Maybe you should start minding your own business.”
The rattling grew more intense, a cold feeling curling around David’s limbs.
“Oh, but I have to be,” Ashok smiled, though the light in his eyes was as frigid as iron. “When there are criminals about, ruining my city.”
Surely, David thought, he could just surprise this willowy little man with his Stand and be done with it. But he would rather avoid such a needless scuffle, especially in front of this crowd. If anything, that was probably what this guy wanted. But David had a much better idea.
“Yeah, that’s rough,” he smiled, patting Ashok on the shoulder. “Hope they catch those guys. Anyways, I think the golf tournament’s starting–I’ve gotta go. See you around, enjoy the art!”
Then, just like that, he was gone. Ashok stared after him, perfectly still…before his body began to rattle. Damn it. He was so close- if David had just been caught off guard enough, if he had tried to make a move against Ashok, it would have raised suspicions against him. But the truth was, right now these people liked him too much–and so they remained ignorant, some of them willfully so. David knew he had the opportunity to simple disengage, and blend in with the crowd.
[There goes your single opportunity to gain your answers.]
The whisper grasped his shaking form, and made him still. No, no, that couldn’t be right. Ashok still had a chance–he could still corner this criminal, and this time there would be no chance of escape.
As Ashok strode out to the green, the sun shone down upon him, illuminating the manicured course that wound across the island.
David caught his eye, golf club slung over his shoulder, and this time he was the one to shoot Ashok a grin.
“Hey, there you are. Tell you what,” he offered. “We’re at a charity event, we’re both donors…we should do as the Romans do. Half these people’s deals are decided on the green. Come play a round with me. If you win, we’ll talk. If you lose…you finally start minding your own business.”
Ashok picked up a club, admiring it for a moment. This man thought he was in a position to set the terms? Fine then. Once Ashok one, once they had their talk, he would make sure the chains of fate found their way round David’s neck.
“Sounds wonderful.
“Open the Game!”
Location: This particular round of golf will span across three different holes, Hole 4, Hole 13, and Hole 15. Each hole will have two maps provided - one for the entire overview of the hole and one for a topographical view of the putting green. Each map consists of 5x5 meter tiles.
General Map Key:
There are two major parts to each of the three holes: Driving to get the ball as near to the hole as possible and Putting to get the ball in.
Driving in a team golf game means that several people hit the ball, with the closest hit being chosen for the Putting section. As both players will be monopolizing the Putting, their teammates only matter insofar as they’ll have a minimum floor on each map: each map has a red zone where players may choose to take their second shot from in the event their first is greatly sabotaged. Note that players can get much closer to the hole than this “fallback” option; it exists so that players won’t fall too far behind for the Putting phase.
Putting is more complex, since both characters will be able to better utilize their Stands on the comparatively smaller scale.
Physical combat between players is not allowed, but other subtle interference is. Terrain manipulation, affecting the opponent, and other Stand use is all on the table, as there are no Stand users currently watching the game. However, keep in mind that all Stand use must be deniable. More egregious sabotage will be increasingly held as foul play, reducing its efficacy, and outright breaking the laws of causality in a way that can’t be explained by skill will cause a loss as everyone around is too busy trying to figure out why and how you’re cheating to be impressed at your skills. Keep in mind that directly affecting players is somewhat risky, so terrain or NPCs may be more reliable.
The winner for this match will be determined by whoever obtains the lowest golf score. Each hole has a “Par”, which is the target amount of strokes it should take to get the ball in the hole. Matching this Par equals 0 Points, with each stroke below this being “-1” point and each stroke above being “+1” point. Holes-in-one are not possible in this match, this ain’t mini golf.
Additional Information:
All right, so we got two different “meta-ability/meta-skill” lads in this match so get ready for a big info dump.
Ashok:
Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
submitted by TheSlyKoopa to StardustCrusaders [link] [comments]
Titan Patel and “Calabasas” with a score of 79!
| Category | Winner | Point Totals | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popularity | Titan Patel and “Calabasas” | 15 (0+6+2) - N/A | We thank everyone who gave their thoughts on this match! For the sake of record keeping, this conceded match is considered to have no (comparative) votes cast, so MBR gets 15 Pop Points (following the Low Turnout + Buffer rules). |
| Quality | Titan Patel and “Calabasas” | 25 (8 8 9) - N/A | Reasoning |
| JoJolity | Titan Patel and “Calabasas” | 29 (10 9 10) - N/A | Reasoning |
| Conduct | Tie | 10-10 | Due to unforeseen circumstances, Dead City Haunts made the decision to officially concede from M14. Despite the unfortunate situation, we wish them all the best! |
Titan, lapping happily from a saucer of diluted green tea, perked up to the sound of a door opening. Not the ethereal chimes of ｢The Doors｣, but the humble bell of the front doors. While they might have once been their boss, here they were just another humble patron, lured by the smell of tea and good company: “Ajay?”
The welder looked up, “Mahimit!” He waved the architect over, shuffling himself and his plate of pasta aside to make room. “Man, it’s been a while since we’ve hung out hasn’t it?”
“Indeed,” Mahi nodded, sliding in next to the welder. “Sorry I couldn’t meet up with you when you first got the the city, I—”
“Don’t worry about it! You’re a busy person nowadays, but we can catch up now!”
The two conversed, separately from the rest of the group who were discussing with each other about a job well done and their plans for the rest of the day. Cal was still among them, but what they had seen in Mahimit came to mind whenever they glanced over to the other two, their discussion lost underneath the cheer of the table.
His hearing better than most, Titan was able to discern Mahimit and Ajay’s friendship, arising from their time studying in Vellore before Ajay’s apprenticeship where they had formed a tight-knit trio with another student in the area, before Mahimit’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Someone…confronted me the other day. They knew stuff that I thought I had kept private, and they’re threatening to release it to the public unless I push forward to the city planning board something—t-they weren’t clear on what they wanted, but I just…I just don’t know what to do about this.”
Ajay’s response was similarly hushed. “Have you gone to the police about this?”
“And have it go to my father? Half of the higher ups are his military buddies.” Wincing, Mahimit shook his head. “I…I don’t want to risk him finding out. I love him, but I don’t know how much longer I can deal with the whole…”favorite son” thing. I don’t want to disappoint him, but…” He put his head in his hands. “God, I’m not making any sense am I.”
“You don’t have to.” Ajay gingerly patted them on the back. “You’ll figure it out, Mon-Ami. You always do.”
The grandparents of Vastianagarh can remember when the region wasn’t this nice. Until the 70s—within their lifetimes—the locals had to scrounge for the dirty, demeaning work that the rest of Rākinnagarh could not stand. They could remain separated from the smell of waste and water treatment by the mountain that split the city in twain, like chambers of the heart that beat within.
Yet, the same beat of life thumped in the chest of the citizens of Vastianagarh, thumped beneath its earth, and life soon flourished in the region. It was by helping each other up, by turning fortune into fortune, the people of the region were able to rise above their station. Cracked hands that worked rough leather wove the finest fabrics and sold them to those carried forth from across the mountain—across the lands.
Grandparents who could remember walking cracked roads to school now lead their grandchildren by those same hands through streets that connected them to the rest of the city.
These were the stories that the members of the Red Velvet Country Club would tell each other, nouveau riche who were ever thankful for the good fortune that had granted their families such wealth. Bashfully, they would take the opportunity to enjoy it.
Yes, this was a fundraiser—and large checks were made out to Vilduveta compound—but the country club was the local haunt for many of the families that had established themselves within a few generations; indeed many of them would meet here before taking a train or a boat up river to the compound proper. To the guru, this was a fundraiser—but to the donors, this was akin to another round of golf. “Did you hear about that little fundraiser at the edge of Bedtown?”
One donor tutted sadly as she shook her head. “I did, I did—I can’t believe it happened so close to us. I’m glad you don’t seem hurt, Mr. Liang.”
The first, a gentleman in a pastel button-up with its sleeves rolled up, nearly spat out his drink, stumbling slightly at the thought. His conversation partner went to help, but Liang waved her off, insisting that he was fine. “No, no, heaven’s no. With ｢Cage the Elephant｣ roaming around, I would never set foot over there—Maryam, you remember Kali, my daughter, yes?”
“The one taking violin lessons-”
“Yes, them—I had heard about the fundraiser, but I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving them behind.”
“There’s only so much we can do—at least the thing seems to have disappeared.” Maryam nodded with something between melancholy and relief. Things weren’t perfect in Rakin City, but at least they were getting better, just like they had for Vastianagarh. Suddenly her face lit up as she made eye contact across the patio. “Ah! I think I see Sara over there; please excuse me, I haven’t seen her in so long-”
“No offense taken!” With a brief hug, Maryam let go of her fellow club member, almost bumping into a frazzled Villu Vilduveta. He assured her it was an accident, none of her mimosa got on his robe, and sent her on her way. She would gossip with almost childish excitement that the famed thought-leader was just as kind as the rumors had said, but his mind was spinning.
As proven by the sun beating down upon him, it was solidly summer, and reams of grass spanned the golf course before him, just as neat and manicured as the Bengali architecture of the Red Velvet country club itself. While the members’ pride in their club and their area’s unique cultural legacy could be overbearing, the result made him feel somewhat at home.
If it was such pride that encouraged them to donate to charitable causes such as his, then he could play their game…as much as he preferred cricket. Villu tensed then exhaled. The anticipation for this event had been dwelling on him for weeks, but this was not the place for doubt—this was the place where he could do good. He set aside thoughts of handshakes, small talk, and mocktails (he didn’t drink) and let the stress pass through him. It was just a charity event, one of countless that he had run.
“Pardon us, Mr. Vilduveta?” His eyes opened, and he turned to see a small crowd had gathered around him, bearing hardback books. “We didn’t mean to bother you, but we read your biography, and-”
“Oh, of course!” Villu had already pulled forth a pen and had begun signing. “If anything, I’m glad you didn’t ask me to write one!”
The crowd laughed good-naturedly along with him; for his introversive tendencies, Villu still could converse deftly, his tone gentle but more than able to keep up in wit and ease. Even if he did not care for his fame, he had to begrudgingly admit that garnering such attention made solicitation easier—being a conversation piece could open checkbooks.
One of them, an upstart holding a glass of wine, reached out and tugged on his sleeve. “The sections of your work in Myanmar were really inspiring!”
“O-oh?” Villu asked warily.
“It’s like Star Wars! You and your revolutionaries against the empire, the start of your political career—I can’t believe you and your author kept that to one chapter! And your wife, my deepest condolences, she sounded wonderfu-”
“Please.” There was a sharpness in Villu’s gaze that pressed against the donor’s neck, revealing the steel thorns beneath his pastel silk. The crowd had become tense at the mere word, but Villu’s expression soon softened, blunted into a pensive smile. “My…my work is in honor of her life; I would rather not relive her death.”
There was an uneasy silence over the group, until Villu dramatically shut the last book with a loud FHUMP! “But enough of that,” he beamed at them as they nearly jumped at the sudden noise. “No use staying out here, hmm?”
Part of the choice was to blend in. The well-to-do of Vasitanagarh were dressed in well tailored suits, slacks, and shawls for the Indian summer weather, and while his clothing wasn’t tailored for the situation, he seemed like he belonged well enough.
Luiviton had attended the spa that was hosting this charity—raising money for providing meals and shelters to the homeless, or something—and mentioned something about the fundraiser in the few times David had seen him before they had split. David managed to scrounge together enough money to pay for an entry ticket.
“You said that the Red Velvet club displays the work of Earthgang students?” David asked. “I’m something of an artist myself, you know.”
“Indeed, but we try to select artwork somewhat in line with the extant decor. The art college is occasionally more…eccentric for our tastes.” Maryam laughed sheepishly, standing beside Sara.
“I’ll say,” David pointed to a large vase, holding more of the assorted flowers that decorated the parlor, and indeed the region as a whole. A small circle of artisans and parents had formed to discuss the wares they sold to tourists and galleries alike. Generations of jewelers, watchmakers, and metal workers wore silver and gold that fit their station and profession. “Is that 19th century porcelain?”
“Indeed it is, Mr Jackson! You have quite an eye…”
Part of the choice in outfit was to feel normal. If he truly wanted comfort, he might have donned the white t-shirt, but the club patrons seemed to accept him and his talk of Rakin’s art and culture. Yet, as he laughed and kibitzed with the club members, he found himself zoning out, sipping from his glass until all that touched his tongue was melting ice. “Did you hear about that magistrate? The one involved with the Overcome Foundation?”
Despite the air conditioning and cool beverage, David felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple.
“Yeah, I heard about that scandal not too long ago.” With the recent exposee on the Foundation’s relationship with the Dead City Haunts’ racketeering, lines in the sand had been drawn as its members sought to escape public, social, and legal scrutiny. Small talk churned into gossip as anxiety churned in David’s stomach:
“He was at Sonasuyast when I visited!” “He seemed polite enough.” “To think I donated to them…” “He claimed that he was under duress, but I don’t know…”
“Mhmm,” Maryam tutted, shaking her head with disdain. “Someone always tries to abuse the system. At least they got rid of him.”
“…You think you know someone,” David added with an unsteady expression. With Maryam putting the final nail in the coffin, the topic passed and the group’s ire with it. Yet David retreated further into himself. Part of the choice in outfit was to provide cover, but the sharp tang of spite to Maryam’s voice that reminded him of the sword that hung over his head.
But he shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside. All he had to do was play off his connections to Goldfinger and now Vasitanagarh. With its geometrically-tiled roads and urbane cafes and markets, this part of the city was clean, it was safe, and the more he ingratiated himself with this part of society, the less he would have to worry about a roof over his head and the more he could finally—
“Mr. Jackson!?”
He had jumped back, accidentally dropping his glass with a loud CRASH! Everyone looked at him with concern as he waved them off.
“Sorry, everyone; glass just slipped.” He raised his palms showing that he was uninjured. “Guess I’ve had one too many!” More good natured laughter as a janitor brought a broom to sweep aside the shards. As the commotion died down, David saw what had scared him in his paranoia:
A vase of purple flowers on a cocktail table as a conversation piece.
Me, whispered the Puppet, as the message sparked across its chains. It had asserted that the situation with Sulka was unfolding as it should be, and that he should concern himself with other matters. Dutifully, Ashok followed this generous advice, and found himself a matter most concerning. Unlike many other Stand users, this Puppet was not the creation of his own spirit, but an external force that chose him after its last user had passed away.
The question clattering in Ashok’s mind was not the why, but the how. How had that last user perished? Was it natural? Was it foul play? Was it the Puppet’s meddling? Surely, with the how, the why would follow. That answer, that knowledge, it would be the key that would unlock these shackles. The key to controlling his own destiny–no, to control destiny itself.
That very key lay here, somewhere in this crowd of sentimental socialites. It was those sentiments that Ashok found appealing–an easy in, a means of taking the reins and steering them as he saw fit.
As was the case right now, as he hummed and hawed at some poor charity worker. All of it with a caring smile. It’s not as if that smile was fake, Ashok knew that this group was doing good work, it’s just that…
“...I’ve been rather concerned about some rumours I’ve been hearing lately,” he sighed, swirling the liquid in his glass, forming a miniature whirlpool. “You know how certain charities have been, such a large portion of their donations go to the administration, and their patrons are none the wiser. It leaves such a sour taste in my mouth–I like to think this group is different, after all, it’s such a good cause, but…” another sigh, leaving the thought unfinished. His eyes strayed from his whirlpool, watching the worker. They would be the one to complete the sentence, and with it, they would offer themselves up to him. As they should. After all, he was simply doing his due diligence.
The look on their face struck him with a pang of excitement. That was it. Ashok had wrapped his chain around their wrist, and now he would be the one to make them dance. These were the moments that he lived for, the moments where he knew he was alive. He was not some marionette–he pulled the strings. Let these people have their idle chatter, none of it mattered to him. None of it could compare to this. Finally, his bindings loosened. Finally, Ashok could breathe, and the air tasted so sweet.
But then a passing figure caught his eye, and for a moment, it felt like his lungs had filled with something viscous. Quickly he shook the sensation away, breaking away from the worker, no longer interested. This new figure was far more pressing: David Jackson, a member of the Overcome Foundation, an associate of that infested woman that Pluto had fought against. Their Foundation was corrupt, it was criminal—as much as Ashok could dislike the rumour mill, sometimes it gave him valuable intel.
Yet, the other attendees either didn’t know, or didn’t care, if they simply let this man walk amongst them. Surely, he should let someone know—otherwise this man’s crimes would go unpunished. But who would he tell? These people milling around didn’t seem to care, but- that’s it. Smiling to himself, Ashok decided on his play, and walked right up to David himself.
All the while, David was looking at a painting, though he wasn’t taking in the artwork. It was a good way to stare into the distance and get your bearings without seeming weird. However, it seemed this tactic wasn’t as effective as he’d hoped–someone was sidling up next to him. The other man was slight, though his eyes were bright and his smile was soft and pleasant. That being said, he was staring at David for several unbroken seconds, without saying anything.
“Ah?” David began, trying to recenter himself on the spot. “Hello there,” he smiled back, “here to admire the painting?”
“It’s quite lovely, isn’t it?” the other man commented, still standing rather close to David. The man took a few seconds to stare into the artwork, before turning to David and extending a hand. “It’s nice to meet someone with similar taste, Mr…?”
David blinked. There was no reason to hesitate–it wasn’t as though he hadn’t introduced himself before, why should this be any different?
“Jackson,” he replied, “Mr. Jackson.”
Once again, the young man just stared at him, for long enough that David began to wonder if-
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Jackson,” the stranger interjected, still offering his hand. David reached out to complete the gesture, trying to put himself at ease. The flowers made him jumpy, that was all.
“My name is Ashok.” A pause, as he withdrew his hand. “I hope I’m not being too forward, I was actually wondering if you were the artist of this piece.”
“This one? No, I was just admiring it.”
“I see!” Ashok responded, taking a sip from his glass. “I’m rather curious about its creator–I’ve heard you can tell a lot about an artist just through their work. If that’s true, then this collection certainly represents the character of our city!”
“Oh..?” David raised a brow, “how so?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Ashok asked in return.
“Yeah, totally,” David trailed off, glancing around, looking for a theme. Before he could come up with one, Ashok simply chuckled and shook his head.
“Such a varied and eclectic collection represents a city so full of characters. Surely you’ve heard the gossip. We have so many interesting figures… there was that one older man, he runs a machine shop, what was his name…”
“How would I know-”
“Goldfinger, that’s it. Now there’s an interesting man–it seems like everyone fashions themselves king nowadays. But I heard he had the racket to support it.”
David swallowed, trying to keep a jovial air. The rumour mill kept spinning after all, that wasn’t so strange. Ashok himself was still smiling at him, his voice cheerful and light. As David remained silent, Ashok continued, “Maybe you haven’t heard of him. Oh, but you must know about that woman—she’s got a flower for an eye, can you believe that?”
David frowned a moment, sucking in a breath. “Wow. How strange.”
Ashok’s smile only seemed to glow brighter. He tapped on his chin, continuing on. “I know, right? Oh, get this- I heard that those two might even work together. It’s that foundation- everyone here keeps talking about it. It’s only natural, right? When you’re doing good work, you don’t want it dragged down by other people’s corruption.”
“For sure.” David quickly agreed, now finally glancing for an exit.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to take up your time,” Ashok laughed, though he didn’t move away. “You must be quite busy, considering.”
“Considering what?” David asked, a little harsher than he intended.
Ashok grinned. For a moment, the air rattled with the clattering of chains. “Considering you’re on display tonight, David Jackson.”
David tried to unclench his jaw, uncurl his fingers. It wasn’t that difficult of an inference to make. But there was something about the way he said it.
“You know, you’re quite deep in the rumour mill,” David responded, trying to give the man a smirk of his own. “Maybe you should start minding your own business.”
The rattling grew more intense, a cold feeling curling around David’s limbs.
“Oh, but I have to be,” Ashok smiled, though the light in his eyes was as frigid as iron. “When there are criminals about, ruining my city.”
Surely, David thought, he could just surprise this willowy little man with his Stand and be done with it. But he would rather avoid such a needless scuffle, especially in front of this crowd. If anything, that was probably what this guy wanted. But David had a much better idea.
“Yeah, that’s rough,” he smiled, patting Ashok on the shoulder. “Hope they catch those guys. Anyways, I think the golf tournament’s starting–I’ve gotta go. See you around, enjoy the art!”
Then, just like that, he was gone. Ashok stared after him, perfectly still…before his body began to rattle. Damn it. He was so close- if David had just been caught off guard enough, if he had tried to make a move against Ashok, it would have raised suspicions against him. But the truth was, right now these people liked him too much–and so they remained ignorant, some of them willfully so. David knew he had the opportunity to simple disengage, and blend in with the crowd.
[There goes your single opportunity to gain your answers.]
The whisper grasped his shaking form, and made him still. No, no, that couldn’t be right. Ashok still had a chance–he could still corner this criminal, and this time there would be no chance of escape.
As Ashok strode out to the green, the sun shone down upon him, illuminating the manicured course that wound across the island.
David caught his eye, golf club slung over his shoulder, and this time he was the one to shoot Ashok a grin.
“Hey, there you are. Tell you what,” he offered. “We’re at a charity event, we’re both donors…we should do as the Romans do. Half these people’s deals are decided on the green. Come play a round with me. If you win, we’ll talk. If you lose…you finally start minding your own business.”
Ashok picked up a club, admiring it for a moment. This man thought he was in a position to set the terms? Fine then. Once Ashok one, once they had their talk, he would make sure the chains of fate found their way round David’s neck.
“Sounds wonderful.
“Open the Game!”
General Map Key:
- Lightest Green: The putting green area, which has a Yellow Circle denoting that the hole is in the center of that tile. A 2.5 meter tall flag will be sticking out of the hole. The grass here is 4mm tall. For the topographical views, there is an inch difference between each colored ring, with RED (or the ring with intersecting lines in it) being the highest elevation and BLUE/PURPLE (or the ring with circles intersecting it) being the lowest.
- Light Green: The fairway, which has differing levels of elevation across them (no map for this as precision here isn’t as important here as it is on the green). The grass here is 15mm tall. The section of fairway with the red triangle is the tee-off position, and players will drive their first shots from here.
- Green: The rough, which are areas of tall grass that the golf ball will not bounce off of very well. The grass here ranges from 1-2 inches tall. For the sake of simplicity, there is no “semi-rough” area depicted on the maps.
- Darkest Green: Forested areas with rough dirt/root terrain that make it very difficult to hit the ball out of. The trees are also tall enough that “driving the ball” over them will also pose a significant challenge.
- Light Tan/White: Sand bunkers, these are concave pits of sand that are very difficult to hit golf balls out of.
- Light Gray: Golf cart paths that are made of chunky gravel, individual gravel pieces are about golf-ball-sized.
- Translucent Red Circle: A “safety” area for where your first shot can land, see Match Info below for more details.
- Topographical Map
- PAR 3
- Topographical Map
- PAR 4
- Blue: Water hazards, should the golf ball sink into them, that is considered a penalty and will add 1 to your score for this hole. The terrain around the water gently slopes into it.
- Brown: Bridges, golf balls are not allowed to be hit from these, they’re just there for players to walk across.
- Topographical Map
- PAR 5
- Dark Gray: Large rocks jutting out from the earth, ranging from 4-5 meters tall. The tops of these are not flat surfaces, so the ball will not rest on top of them.
There are two major parts to each of the three holes: Driving to get the ball as near to the hole as possible and Putting to get the ball in.
Driving in a team golf game means that several people hit the ball, with the closest hit being chosen for the Putting section. As both players will be monopolizing the Putting, their teammates only matter insofar as they’ll have a minimum floor on each map: each map has a red zone where players may choose to take their second shot from in the event their first is greatly sabotaged. Note that players can get much closer to the hole than this “fallback” option; it exists so that players won’t fall too far behind for the Putting phase.
Putting is more complex, since both characters will be able to better utilize their Stands on the comparatively smaller scale.
Physical combat between players is not allowed, but other subtle interference is. Terrain manipulation, affecting the opponent, and other Stand use is all on the table, as there are no Stand users currently watching the game. However, keep in mind that all Stand use must be deniable. More egregious sabotage will be increasingly held as foul play, reducing its efficacy, and outright breaking the laws of causality in a way that can’t be explained by skill will cause a loss as everyone around is too busy trying to figure out why and how you’re cheating to be impressed at your skills. Keep in mind that directly affecting players is somewhat risky, so terrain or NPCs may be more reliable.
The winner for this match will be determined by whoever obtains the lowest golf score. Each hole has a “Par”, which is the target amount of strokes it should take to get the ball in the hole. Matching this Par equals 0 Points, with each stroke below this being “-1” point and each stroke above being “+1” point. Holes-in-one are not possible in this match, this ain’t mini golf.
Additional Information:
All right, so we got two different “meta-ability/meta-skill” lads in this match so get ready for a big info dump.
Ashok:
｢Puppet Loosely Strung｣ Mandates
- The target may not move closer toward the portal.
- The target must move closer to the portal. (mutually exclusive with the above Mandate)
- The target may not move faster than D Speed.
- The target must reverse their current direction. (Does nothing if target is not moving, Mandate chain will disappear)
- The target must avert their eyes from their golf ball.
- The target cannot be submerged in water.
- The target must spin around.
Ashok’s “Stand Memory” Skills
- Governess 4: This former user had to play a lot of croquet in their time, which for this match roughly equates to a “Golfing 2” skill. This also aids Ashok in staying composed in the face of childish absurdity.
- Textiles 4: Grants Ashok knowledge of cloth-related things, as well as a deep understanding of “texture” and an eye for detail. This will help them identify what the current texture of objects or terrain is and will better aid them in determining minor elevation differences on the putting green.
David’s “One Step Ahead” Advantages
- Golfing 3 Skill
- About 1 kilogram of modeling clay in his backpack
- A 1.5 liter thermos full of Goo taken from Jyotsna’s ｢DICTATOR｣
| ｢The Fine Print｣ x | Special Goo Description |
|---|---|
| ｢Puppet Loosely Strung｣ | A “Stand material” chain can form between two applied instances of this Goo, this cannot be seen by non Stand-Users. David can extract up to 5 liters of this at once. |
| ｢DICTATOR｣ | Objects infused with this Goo turn white. David is limited to the 1.5 liters he brought with him. Borrowed from Jyotsna Mathur. |
| Team | Combatant | JoJolity |
|---|---|---|
| Heart of the Rose | R.K. Viswanathan Ashok | “You can’t say I didn’t warn you. Calamity will come.” You need to exert control over the situation—your kind of control, not that of some puppet. Be stylish in your golfing and your sabotage! |
| Dead City Haunts | David Jackson | “Yeah? Well I got these sneakers at an outlet for 7980 yen.” You’ve been the life of the party since you got here, and you’re gonna prove it out on the green. Be stylish in your golfing and your sabotage! |
Link to Match Schedule
2024.04.19 13:13 Buygenmed Who should not take carisoprodol?
Several groups of individuals should avoid taking carisoprodol or use it with caution due to the risk of adverse effects or interactions. Here are some groups who should not take carisoprodol or should use it under close medical supervision:
Individuals with a History of Substance Abuse or Dependence: Carisoprodol has the potential for abuse and dependence, particularly when used for prolonged periods or in high doses. Individuals with a history of substance abuse or dependence, including alcohol, prescription drugs, or illicit drugs, may be at increased risk of misusing carisoprodol and should use it cautiously under medical supervision.
Patients with Acute Intermittent Porphyria: Carisoprodol is contraindicated in individuals with acute intermittent porphyria, a rare genetic disorder characterized by abnormal metabolism of heme, a component of red blood cells. Carisoprodol can exacerbate porphyria symptoms and should be avoided in individuals with this condition.
Those with Hypersensitivity to Carisoprodol: Individuals who have experienced allergic reactions or hypersensitivity to carisoprodol or any of its components should not take the medication. Allergic reactions to carisoprodol may include rash, itching, swelling, difficulty breathing, or anaphylaxis, and immediate medical attention is necessary if these symptoms occur.
Patients with Severe Liver or Kidney Impairment: Carisoprodol is metabolized in the liver and excreted by the kidneys, and its clearance may be impaired in individuals with severe liver or kidney dysfunction. Such patients may be at increased risk of adverse effects or accumulation of carisoprodol or its metabolite, meprobamate, and should use the medication with caution or avoid it altogether.
Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: The safety of carisoprodol during pregnancy and lactation has not been established, and its use is not recommended in pregnant or breastfeeding women unless the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Carisoprodol may cross the placenta and be excreted into breast milk, potentially affecting the fetus or nursing infant.
Overall, it's essential to consult with a healthcare provider before taking carisoprodol, especially if you have any underlying health conditions, allergies, or concerns about its safety. Your healthcare provider can evaluate your medical history and individual risk factors to determine if carisoprodol is appropriate for you and provide guidance on its safe and responsible use.
submitted by Buygenmed to u/Buygenmed [link] [comments]
Individuals with a History of Substance Abuse or Dependence: Carisoprodol has the potential for abuse and dependence, particularly when used for prolonged periods or in high doses. Individuals with a history of substance abuse or dependence, including alcohol, prescription drugs, or illicit drugs, may be at increased risk of misusing carisoprodol and should use it cautiously under medical supervision.
Patients with Acute Intermittent Porphyria: Carisoprodol is contraindicated in individuals with acute intermittent porphyria, a rare genetic disorder characterized by abnormal metabolism of heme, a component of red blood cells. Carisoprodol can exacerbate porphyria symptoms and should be avoided in individuals with this condition.
Those with Hypersensitivity to Carisoprodol: Individuals who have experienced allergic reactions or hypersensitivity to carisoprodol or any of its components should not take the medication. Allergic reactions to carisoprodol may include rash, itching, swelling, difficulty breathing, or anaphylaxis, and immediate medical attention is necessary if these symptoms occur.
Patients with Severe Liver or Kidney Impairment: Carisoprodol is metabolized in the liver and excreted by the kidneys, and its clearance may be impaired in individuals with severe liver or kidney dysfunction. Such patients may be at increased risk of adverse effects or accumulation of carisoprodol or its metabolite, meprobamate, and should use the medication with caution or avoid it altogether.
Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: The safety of carisoprodol during pregnancy and lactation has not been established, and its use is not recommended in pregnant or breastfeeding women unless the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Carisoprodol may cross the placenta and be excreted into breast milk, potentially affecting the fetus or nursing infant.
Overall, it's essential to consult with a healthcare provider before taking carisoprodol, especially if you have any underlying health conditions, allergies, or concerns about its safety. Your healthcare provider can evaluate your medical history and individual risk factors to determine if carisoprodol is appropriate for you and provide guidance on its safe and responsible use.
2024.04.19 07:25 elheber If SOMA were to get a VR port, what affordances would it need to make?
Sometimes you wake up in a chair and it made me wonder how the arm rests would interfere with your hand positions if this ever got a VR port. After some thinking, I realized that since you were sitting with arm rests beforehand, waking up with arms in the same position wouldn't be an issue anyway. But still, it got me thinking what other issues might need addressing if it was converted to VR?
The biggest issue that has come to mind is screens and reach. The normal game pulls you close range into computer monitors, but a VR game can't do that. You'd have to lean in and reach out, but VR devices don't diferenciarte between leaning forward and moving forward.
Flat games tend to exaggerate the player's reach. In VR you wouldn't be able to interact with objects at even half the distance with your IRL arms.
What about taking to people? In the normal game you just click on them. Sure you could touch the Omnitool to trigger dialogue with Catherine, but what about Munchi, Carl, Any, Robin or anyone else? Do you gently caress their face to trigger dialogue?
What about the Omnitool and your inventory? Is the Omnitool strapped to your chest when you aren't using it? What about the other key items?
How about climbing ladders with one hand? Or climbing down ladders from above?
Any other issues to consider?
All in all, SOMA has got to be one of the flat games that most easily adapts to VR. And I really want such a port too. The Quest 3 could probably handle it standalone. Maybe one day.
submitted by elheber to soma [link] [comments]
The biggest issue that has come to mind is screens and reach. The normal game pulls you close range into computer monitors, but a VR game can't do that. You'd have to lean in and reach out, but VR devices don't diferenciarte between leaning forward and moving forward.
Flat games tend to exaggerate the player's reach. In VR you wouldn't be able to interact with objects at even half the distance with your IRL arms.
What about taking to people? In the normal game you just click on them. Sure you could touch the Omnitool to trigger dialogue with Catherine, but what about Munchi, Carl, Any, Robin or anyone else? Do you gently caress their face to trigger dialogue?
What about the Omnitool and your inventory? Is the Omnitool strapped to your chest when you aren't using it? What about the other key items?
How about climbing ladders with one hand? Or climbing down ladders from above?
Any other issues to consider?
All in all, SOMA has got to be one of the flat games that most easily adapts to VR. And I really want such a port too. The Quest 3 could probably handle it standalone. Maybe one day.
2024.04.19 00:25 shikaiDosai Why the Alien Chapter "failed" - A measured response
 | I think one of the most confusing things to happen in the current year of Dead by Daylight was the release of the Alien chapter, coming with two of the most iconic and likely most anticipated characters to ever be added to the game: Ellen Ripley and of course the one and only Xenomorph. Alien is the flagship IP for sci-fi horror having essentially birthed the genre, with Ripley being one of the original "tough female badass" final girls to contrast the traditional female damsel in distress we saw as the final girl in movies like the original Halloween and original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, giving birth to many iconic characters like Kirsty Cotton (Hellraiser), Sidney Prescott (Scream), and of course Dana Polk in the deconstructive Cabin in the Woods movie. submitted by shikaiDosai to deadbydaylight [link] [comments] So what's confusing is how such an iconic franchise ended up being largely ignored by the community. Everywhere you go you'll find posts by content creators and common players alike asking "what happened to Xeno?" and the stats don't lie: nightlight.gg cites Xenomorph as having a 2.2% pick rate, below the overall killer average (2.9%) and below the likes of Spirit or Clown. While Xeno's pickrate isn't truly in the godawful tier (she beats out Knight, Pyramid Head, and Demogorgon to name a few) it's still insanely low for an iconic movie monster. But a character who fares even worse is Ripley: for such an iconic character having them be (according to Nightlight.gg) the 6th least played survivor in the game (above Haddie, Quentin, Tapp, Jonah, and Yoichi from most to least played) is truly a sad display. She's under even Laurie Strode (by a tiny margin, but still) a character who notoriously aged far worse than her. I want to write out a detailed analysis on why I think the Alien chapter "failed", diving into the survivor, the killer, and the map to see how such a major license could've failed so spectacularly. Part 1 - The SurvivorStarting with Ripley because she is much, much easier to talk about than her killer counterpart. There is a lot of detail that goes into a killer power but since survivors are ultimately "just skins" there's only two things you can really care about: their looks and their perks... shame neither of which are that good.The Perks Ripley's perks are... bad. Okay that's the understatement of the century: Ripley's perks are easily the worst we've gotten all year, and the worst perks we ever got since... well, Thalita Lyra (goddamn Year 7 was a bad year for DbD.) Lucky Star Lucky Star is such a bafflingly bad perk. For one the activation requirement of going into a locker is pretty big: doing so slowly (and it's not like you're going to fast vault into a locker) takes about 3 seconds, which if you account for both entering and exiting a locker means that you're wasting about 6 seconds just to use this perk. 6 seconds doesn't sound like a lot but that's everything in DbD time, especially since the perk has a very notable effect of being a stealth perk. Spending 3 seconds to activate "stealth mode" and silence your grunts of pain is pointless: you'd be better off running away as no killer is going to give you 3 seconds to hide mid-chase or even when approaching your generator. Even in the context of running it alongside Quick and Quiet your lingering pools of blood and scratch marks will likely inform the killer where you are hiding anyways. And that isn't even mentioning that for whatever baffling reason this perk has a limited duration of 10 seconds. Why? This is a very genuine question: why does the perk that makes you quiet while inside of a locker have a limited duration? I have tried my best to make Lucky Star work as a perk (because I hate myself) and you do not know how often I have been hiding in a locker, the killer searches the area around a completed generator (because they see no signs that the survivor ran away), and then midway through checking the area my character starts fucking grunting in pain again because of the perk's limited duration. You are legitimately better off running Iron Will instead of Lucky Star if planning to hide quietly in a locker, because while Iron Will doesn't make you completely quiet the natural muffling effect of the locker will mix with Iron Will to make you fairly quiet. And simply put: it's probably more effective for you to be at 10% volume all the time instead of being at 0% volume for 10 seconds and 40% volume after that. Even if it had been released in Year 1 of DbD it would still be pretty awful, but given the context that at the time Deja Vu had recently been buffed to be one of the best generator tracking / generator speed perks in the game having a perk that was mainly advertised as "a perk to find generators" was redundant. This would be akin to releasing a killer perk that allows you to slow healing down by 10% for 30 seconds when Sloppy Butcher lets you slow it down by 30% for 90 seconds... Oh wait we have a perk like that it's called Leverage (from Skull Merchant), and that isn't used either. The effect of revealing teammates is similarly limited by the duration: while I don't think Lucky Star should just be "Aftercare but better" the fact stands that perks like Bond and (the previously mentioned) Aftercare are available 24/7, giving you immediately actionable information at all times. Lucky Star's 10 second duration means that you only have a mere 10 seconds to do anything useful with knowing where your teammates are, and this is all after spending 6 seconds bumming around in lockers pretending that wasting 6 seconds to get 10 seconds of aura reading is in any way valuable. Oh and did I mention this perk has a cooldown? Yes the perk that consists of Iron Will but only in lockers for 10 seconds, Aftercare for 10 seconds, and Deja Vu but not even on important generators for 10 seconds has a cooldown. Okay so how long is this cooldown? 10 seconds like its duration? No: THIRTY. Thirty goddamn seconds to get the effects of 3 mid-tier perks but weaker for 10 seconds! To put 30 seconds of DbD time into perspective: healing someone takes 16 seconds. Healing yourself with a medkit is 33% slower, so it takes 21.3 seconds to heal yourself with a medkit. That means that you could use this perk, heal yourself to full with a medkit, and the perk would STILL be on cooldown for another 8.7 seconds! Lucky Star is a perk that already only worked in extremely niche situations that has limitations upon limitations upon limitations holding it back. But at the very least I can say as someone who has used Lucky Star that the perk has potential. Seeing where your teammates are from across the map can be useful in a variety of builds and scenarios, and silencing your grunts of pain can lead to some fun escapes. But for the perk to be in any way viable it needs its limitations removed: Jesus Christ remove the cooldown from this perk, and make it so the silencing effect is permanent while in a locker. Additionally the aura reading from this perk could be buffed to have a longer duration, since the perks its trying to replace (Deja Vu / Visionary / Aftercare / Bond) have unlimited durations. But even then I don't think Lucky Star would even be worth running outside of niche builds unless the perk had either a Quick and Quiet effect basekit (entering lockers quickly is silent; this effect would honestly warrant having a cooldown to prevent abuse) or have another effect like entering lockers 50% faster. Woo that's probably the most thought anyone has put into Lucky Star. Thankfully Ripley's other perks have way less to talk about. Chemical Trap I think this concept is cute but the problem is that it fundamentally requires you to play badly for a bad effect. For one Chemical Trap only works on downed pallets, which I mean... yeah duh but the point still stands. But what's worse is that to place the Chemical Trap you have to stand still for 2 seconds doing an animation just to activate the perk. And if the recent PTB has taught us anything, it's that Behaviour does not know how important animation times are when it comes to game balance. But what's worse is that this perk only affects one pallet. And "well yeah duh" you say, but most pallets can be mindgamed nowadays. This means that Chemical Trap is pretty much only useful on what's colloquially known as "god pallets" in the DbD sphere: otherwise known as pallets the killer has to break if they want to continue chasing. The thing is that these pallets are extremely valuable and many high-end players will recommend not dropping them at all so that a player who's in a more dangerous game state (such as on death hook) can use it for distance. "But how does this perk require you to play badly?" Well put simply in order to use this perk you have to:
Light-Footed Talk about a perk released way too late. There is one killer in the entire game who cares about footstep sounds, and that's The Spirit. "Oh but what about killers like Wraith or Pig or what if you're on The Game and sprinting on another floor and the killer hears you upstai-" No. We're in 2024 now and killers have better ways to track survivors than hearing their footsteps in the modern state of Dead by Daylight. So this perk is good against one, singular killer out of 33 available killers. And that killer isn't even all that popular. Cool. Calm Spirit at least hypothetically counters more killers than just Doctor, but that perk wasn't popular until Ultimate Weapon became popular. Oh and by the way: Doctor is played more than Spirit, so that says a lot about its usefulness. "But Light-Footed has uses beyond playing against Spirit! It lets you run away from killers without them realizing!" Yeah about that: there's this cool mechanic in Dead by Daylight called scratch marks. If a survivor sprints they leave them behind, and the killer can track them. Light-Footed does nothing to combat this mechanic, and in the words of SkoochLoL's video "Can We Talk About This: Pyke" What good is it to be unseen by the naked eye if the person in stealth is screaming at you yelling "I'M INVISIBLE!"Or in this case the inverse is true: what good is it to be completely silent if you're holding a bright neon sign reading "HELLO MISTER DUMB IDIOT KILLER I RAN IN THIS DIRECTION PLEASE FOLLOW THESE SCRATCHES TO FIND ME AND CLAP MY CHEEKS." This means that Light-Footed is essentially useless outside of extremely niche builds running perks like Lightweight or Boon: Shadowstep to hide the far more important thing, which is scratch marks. "Oh but I can run this with Dance With Me or Lucky Break to make my footsteps silent so I can use the hidden scratch marks after I vault / am injured to hide better!" Oh did I mention that this perk doesn't work while injured and is disabled for TWENTY SECONDS after vaulting?! Why?! It's just limitations upon limitations for an already weak effect! Light-Footed is a perk effect I'd expect to be attached to another, better perk as a bonus; not an entire dedicated perk slot. It's ridiculous that (release day) Made For This could've had its speed effect along with the effect of getting Endurance for healing others, but Light-Footed takes an entire perk slot for an effect that you need 3 other perks to support. Her Appearance This is probably the biggest issue with Ripley. Or at least that's what the website formerly known as Twitter would have you believe. Ripley fundamentally doesn't look like Sigourney Weaver, and while this is not Behaviour's fault in the slightest (it is up to miss Weaver herself if she is to give her likeness to corporations to use it) the fact remains that DbD Ripley looks very "baby-faced" for lack of a better explanation. I'm no expert on character modeling but DbD Ripley's face is too round. Sigourney Weaver's face is taller and DbD Ripley lacks the defined cheekbones and chin shape of Sigourney Weaver, something that Behaviour has proven themselves capable of doing not only with the two recent male survivors (Gabriel and Nic Cage, both of whom have defined chinbones and cheekbones) but also other female survivors like Haddie, Elodie, and Yui. Yui has a clearly "triangular" face, Elodie has noticeable creases around the top of her mouth, and Haddie similarly has very notable cheekbones. Fortnite understood the assignment regardless of if they were allowed to use Ripley's likeness or not. Ripley's hair also suffers. Put simply it doesn't look like she was given "hair" but rather a flat texture with some hair models loosely taped onto it. This looks especially bad in Ripley's "Back in Action" outfit where the hair is essentially one massive blob. It's extremely strange because other survivors with similar hairstyles are not modeled nearly as poorly, most notably Thalita Lyra who practically has the same haircut as Ripley minus the length and inclusion of a hairband. Thalita's hair looks... like hair, with individual strands while Ripley looks like doll hair where all the hair is connected at one point on the scalp. But I think the most notable part about the DbD model versus the actress is the eyes. I can't explain it (again: not a professional modeler) but they seem too... wide. Maybe it's because its attached to Ripley's flat, porcelain doll-esque face but she seems to have a constant doe-eyed expression that makes her look incredibly goofy. Overall while I do not know how much of the issue with Ripley's character model was a result of copyright the fact still stands that her appearance is lackluster in comparison to even Laurie Strode, a survivor released in 2016 who also couldn't be made to look like the actress due to copyright issues. DbD Laurie has a similar facial structure and eye shape to Jamie Lee Curtis, and while the model lacks proper cheekbones (old model) or the "softness" of Jamie Lee in the 1978 classic you could still make a convincing argument that DbD Laurie looks like Jamie Lee Curtis. Ellen Ripley doesn't look like Sigourney Weaver in the slightest. But hey: I can at least compliment BHVR that they got Weaver's nose right. Oh and not so much about her face but another weird part of her model, and there's no way to mention this without sounding like a creep... but why are her boobs so pointy? https://preview.redd.it/1zyozv8eqavc1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&s=2457ae56a314cabbbfd359a562db3ab0ecb39b1b This is not an issue with Ripley 8 (which notably doesn't have a cloth top) or her Christmas sweater, but both her base cosmetic and the "Back in Action" Aliens cosmetic have extremely strange pointy boobs. Her Cosmetics & "The Set problem" The truth about Ellen Ripley is that outside of Legendary Cosmetics for Amanda Ripley or other characters from the Aliens franchise we weren't going to get many outfits. Behaviour more-or-less gathered every appearance of Ripley / Sigourney Weaver and gave us a cosmetic for each one: Alien Ripley (the default), Aliens Ripley (her more action-oriented look), and Alien: Resurrection Ripley (Ripley 8.) I think that minus the weird pointy boobs problem I mentioned with her base model her default is very good, and it manages the appearance of a one-piece sweatsuit well, complete with the lazily opened zipper that's iconic in almost all depictions of Alien 1 Ripley. Ripley 8 meanwhile... was never going to be a popular skin. Alien Resurrection is a very unpopular movie from the era where "everything was trying to be The Matrix" and having what's extensively "Matrix Ripley" was inherently not going to be popular amongst both Aliens fans and the general DbD audience. I think the only cosmetic that translated poorly is "Back in Action" IE Aliens (Aliens 2) Ripley. Yes it is movie-accurate: In Aliens Ripley does wear a white shirt, jean overalls with bullets on her straps, and has short hair... but it becomes very, VERY obvious when looking at the skin in Dead by Daylight that this outfit was NEVER meant to be seen in the lighting of Coldwind Farm. Because put as bluntly as possible: bright blue jeans and a bright white tee-shirt looks gaudy as hell and sticks out like a sore thumb. Aliens was specifically filmed in darker, moodier settings of space stations, and Ripley's brighter outfit was picked to make her stand out amidst that darker backdrop. And while I'm not saying that Ripley's shirt should be dark blue to compensate, perhaps the shirt should be #AAAFAE instead of #C0C6C4 is all I'm saying. But now for the other issue, which is "The Set Problem." Ever since the introduction of Cheryl Mason almost every licensed character has released with sets as opposed to individual cosmetic pieces you could mix-and-match. The only exception to this prior to Nic Cage and Alan Wake was Yoichi, who "doesn't really count" as he's technically a half-original character for Dead by Daylight (we've only ever seen child Yoichi in the Ringu films), and because well... he only has two alternate cosmetics, and one of them is actually a set. I think while everyone was expecting Ripley to only have sets there was also a hope that we'd return to the ways of old. The last time we had a film license in DbD was Stranger Things and none of those cosmetics were sets, even though many cosmetics (namely on Nancy) looked terrible when attached to other cosmetics. I think that deep down we hoped that the choice to make all outfits be sets was something exclusive to the video game licenses, as Capcom and Konami were perhaps stricter with their intellectual IPs. Unfortunately that's not the case, and all of Ripley's outfits can't be combined at all. Want the Prestige head on Back in Action Ripley? Too bad. Want your default Ripley to wear a cool leather jacket? Sucks to be you! Want to wear casual jeans alongside your Christmas sweater? Well shit bro that's too bad. I fully understand that sets are ultimately the choice of the license holders as opposed to Behaviour: I do not remotely believe that the choice to make all of Ripley's outfits sets was some sort of cruelty or negligence on the developers. But I think that perhaps at some point in the negotiations a push should've been made to allow for mixing-and-matching of cosmetic pieces, or further technology needs to be pushed in Behaviour's pipeline so sets aren't forced to consist of all 3 pieces of an outfit. I understand the need for sets if a shirt + pants combo can't be split (either due to licensing issues or clipping issues) but I think it would really help Behaviour in the long-term if people could wear their Prestige heads on top of their favorite outfits. I think Behaviour vastly underestimates how much... well, prestige a prestige bloody face carries when sitting in the survivor lobby. Stealth & Audio A very quick passing mention of Ripley's stealth as someone who's been playing her semi-regularly: ...She's fucking loud. Both her injured sounds and her general breathing are very distinct, putting you at an automatic disadvantage when playing against killers who rely on sound for tracking. Not only that but her cosmetics aren't good for stealth either: her Prestige model isn't nearly bloody enough to be good for stealth and both her alternate cosmetics are sleeveless, meaning that her bare white arms will be visible from a distance to any killer. Stealth as a playstyle is largely dead (and anyone who wants to play stealthy is playing Claudette, Zarina, or Ace anyways) but it is still worth mentioning. Consider her lack of stealthy options a cherry on top of all her other issues. The Context One final thing that I think is very important to analyze about Ripley is the context she was released in. No character is ever released in a vacuum and general community consensus can shape a lot of perception. Take for example the release of Knight into Skull Merchant during one of the worst generator metas of all time: the perception of releasing highly defensive killers during an incredibly generator-stall focused meta resulted in one of the worst perceived killers of all time, and while no one can argue that release-day Skull Merchant was a good addition to the game I think community opinion on Skull Merchant might not be so vile if not for the context she was released in. "But you're talking about Ripley: why are you bringing up Skull Merchant?" Well Ripley released at a time that two of the most impactful survivor releases in recent times had recently occurred: Gabriel Soma and Nicholas Cage. I can not stress that while I don't think Nic Cage was "the most played, most popular survivor ever in the history of the game" or anything he is easily one of the most hyped survivor releases since probably the first Resident Evil DLC with Leon and Jill. Having a survivor with proper voice lines who was simply put funny to play was a massive breath of fresh air to Dead by Daylight at the time (again: still dealing with the after-effects of CoBverchaRuption meta.) The overwhelming community response of "I am going to P100 Nic Cage" was staggering, and any survivor released after him would have an extremely high bar to climb. Not helping Ripley's case was Gabriel Soma. While the survivor himself is unpopular and his perks now are nothing to ride home about, release day Gabriel came with one very important perk for understanding the context of DbD at the time: Made for This. For those of you who don't remember (or wish to forget) Made for This originally only required you to be Injured and not Exhausted, a very low bar to allow good players to run every loop far more tightly and also allowed bad players to still get a massive increase in distance when holding W while still being able to run perks like Dead Hard to have the safety of an Exhaustion perk at hand. (MFT didn't Exhaust you, it just turned off when Exhausted.) So in short Ripley released at a time that almost everyone wanted to get Nic Cage to high Prestige, and also when most newer / returning players would be encouraged to dump bloodpoints into Gabriel Soma to get him Prestiged to unlock Made For This on their other characters. Ripley already arrived at the marathon with two bullets in her feet just for Nic Cage to shoot her in the kneecap and Gabriel Soma to kick her while she was down. Who'd Prestige an ugly survivor with bad perks and cosmetics you couldn't mix-and-match when you could instead prestige the funny Nicholas Cage who screams whenever he sees a killer and wants to have tea parties with Sadako, or the insanely broken new survivor with "new Dead Hard" as one of his teachables? tl;dr of the problems with Ripley: her perks are awful, she doesn't look anything like Sigourney Weaver, her model is just generally bad with low quality hair and weird body parts, her cosmetics are all sets that can't be mixed together, and she was released right after two extremely popular survivors Part 2 - The KillerSo there are some things that remain constant issues about Xenomorph, but I don't think we can talk about this killer without discussing...Release Day Xeno Release day Xenomorph was... overpowered. There's no other way to put this. On release Xeno had basically no slowdown for their tail attack, meaning that they could keep following you at full speed after hitting you (or missing.) Imagine a killer who permanently had 8 stacks of Save the Best for Last. Okay: now imagine a killer who permanently has 8 STBFL stacks, can hit over pallets, has a smaller model (making it harder to mindgame them at loops), a smaller terror radius, and a global pseudo-teleport. Can you see why Xeno was so hated on release? And negative reviews on Steam reflect this with many reviews mentioning how OP Xenomorph was on release. Oh but it's okay! Behaviour were going to fix the killer right! Just make the killer slow down a bit and maybe make the tail take a bit to charge. Certainly they'd make the animation slower to compensa... Patch 1 Xeno Oh dear they broke the alien kitty. After Xenomorph's first nerf he was broken. Not "insanely overpowered broken"; I'm talking "Twins" broken. Behaviour made the tail attack slower but did not slow down the animation to compensate. This made the tail feel unbelievably janky as both killer and survivor because as killer you'd watch your tail travel through a survivor and miss them completely, and as survivor you'd watch the killer's tail strike where you were 5 seconds ago and then hit you anyways. It was the worst of both worlds: the killer was confusing to play and survivors were dealing with Long Arm Freddy Syndrome every time the killer used their power. How long did this bug last for? A day? A week? THREE WEEKS. Three weeks of one of the most anticipated characters in the game being simultaneously unplayable and so ungodly buggy that every survivor had to second guess if they were playing against a hacker! "Why does this matter? Xeno works fine now, right? It's not like a killer being bugged so hard they're practically unplayable is new, right? I mean, Twins and Knight players experience that biweekly!" No you do not understand: while Xenomorph was extremely frustrating for survivors to play against on release, she was also extremely fun to play as killer. You had an anti-loop killer with good mobility who was... well essentially cheating, meaning that low-skill players could have fun with her while high-skill players had fun discovering unique techs you could perform with Xenomorph's tail hitbox. She was an incredibly fun killer... and breaking her two weeks after release to leave her in a practically unplayable state for nearly a month was the biggest crash you could possibly give a player after the dopamine rush of essentially playing with cheat codes on. Imagine if you will a low MMR baby killer: the ideal "casual player" as it were. They love the Aliens franchise and purchase Xenomorph day 1. They play her and dominate, I'm talking completely stomp the competition. Sure they need to play around flame turrets but the survivors also don't know how to face Xeno. They don't know good flame turret placements, so our killer has a massive advantage. Then one day a hotfix comes out and they can't hit any tail attacks. At first they think they're just having a bad game but then they notice the tail going straight through survivors and not giving health states. They post on the official forums or Reddit or wherever and learn that "oh yeah the tail attack hitbox is bugged now." Doesn't that just feel like complete shit? You had a very fun killer that no one knew was overpowered because... well new character, and after winning game after game thinking "man this character is so good" they're hit not with the Nerf bad, but with the "Gamebreaking Bug" bat. They're not "worse" they're unplayably bad, right at the peak of your enjoyment. Imagine every time a new killer comes out how much fun you have, and now imagine that Behaviour comes and takes your toys away and replaces your cool RC car with a McDonald's Hotwheels toy that's missing a wheel. Wouldn't you be upset too? So killers hate Patch 1 Xeno because she literally doesn't work, and survivors still hate Patch 1 Xeno because we replaced "insanely overpowered" jank with "busted hitboxes" jank, which no matter what feels awful to play against from the survivor perspective. Neither side has fun and many of the Xenomorph players quit playing her because... well she literally doesn't work. Why play Xeno when you can play Nemesis or Demogorgon and accomplish similar results on a killer who actually functions? Patch 2 Xeno (IE Current Xenomorph) Current Xenomorph feels just a little too clunky, as someone who has her as an off-main (P13, which yeah ain't impressive but my highest prestige is P34 so sue me.) The tail has a nearly second-long windup and getting used to it can be frustrating. The best analogy I've heard is that Xenomorph's tail works like a flintlock pistol where you have to pull the hammer back before it fires. But very few abilities in Dead by Daylight work like this, and those that do have far more fluid animations than Xeno. Huntress raises her arm, goes "HOP", and then goes "YA" and flings her hatchet. Deathslinger raises his gun and fires. Nemesis raises his tentacle before whipping it. Wesker raises his tentacle, goes "heh heh heh", and then goes "HUUUUHHHH" and choke slams a survivor into a wall. Xenomorph raises their tail, waits for a second while they read their website formerly known as Twitter feed, and then strikes forward. It's weird and takes getting used to. The problem however is that playing against Xenomorph still feels odd, especially for new players. While I think Xenomorph is more balanced (and possibly even weaker) than the likes of Nemesis due to the counterplay of turrets many new players do not know how to effectively place turrets, so even though Nemmy can shred through pallets Xeno still feels worse to play against due to her longer range and less obvious windup. (Not to mention she can start to wind up while keeping full momentum.) Even veteran players are often put into lose-lose situations against Xeno if there are no turrets nearby. "Okay so it's just a skill issue on both sides then? Killers need to git gud and learn how to aim their tail, and survivors need to git gud and learn flame turret placement." Well not quite. There are still other problems with Xenomorph that will constantly exist that hinder her play rate, even if they're far less impactful than her other issues. Flame Turrets, otherwise known as "The Singularity EMP Problem" Few killers have powers that encourage the survivor to fight back directly. Yes a survivor can clicky clicky a flashlight at you but there's few killers where the power actively consists of survivors doing something to hinder you. Singularity was the first time Behaviour truly experimented with the survivors being able to do something mid-chase to hinder your power beyond looping well, and it's perhaps fitting that the next killer released had a very similar mechanic. The problem with Flame Turrets versus Singularity's EMPs is how the power dynamic between the two interacts. The problem with Singu EMPs is that they require very little effort on the survivors' part to use: they just hold M1 and a big "no touch me mister killer" bubble appears to disable your power. But the good thing about Singu is how the killer can dynamically respond to this counterplay by replacing biopods. Flame Turrets meanwhile are the exact opposite. They require a good bit of skill to find effective spots to put them so that they can knock the killer out of their power before they're destroyed. This means that new players will inherently struggle with placing Flame Turrets and with facing Xenomorph by proxy, as Flame Turrets are the only truly effective means of disabling the killer's power. But the bigger issue is that the counterplay as killer remains fairly binary: hit the turret before it knocks you out of your power. There are ways to play around this (such as walking around cover) but this almost always relies on either the survivors making misplays or you bringing addons to counteract the turrets (Emergency Helmet / Lambert's Map.) I think every Xeno player can recall at least one match where it felt like there was a turret everywhere you went and you weren't allowed to use your power. Having your power get disabled inherently feels bad, which leads to the killer feeling frustrating to play. Not helping this problem is... OH MY GOD STOP SCREAMING AT ME There are loud killers: Oni is loud. Demogorgon is loud. Knight is loud. The thing about this killers is that they're menacingly loud: Oni's roars and stomping, Demogorgon's stomping, Knight's... stomping: they all contribute to an aura that the killer is a big lumbering beast coming to crush your skull like a sparrow egg. Xenomorph is a different type of loud. Xenomorph is fucking annoying. The Xenomorph's sound design is not Behaviour's fault, and in fact I think the sounds themselves are fantastic and very movie-accurate. The problem with Xeno is that the alien's screeching is meant to contribute to a horror atmosphere. Hearing them screech when they attack is meant to be a jumpscare, and hearing them scream in agony as they're burnt alive is meant to make you think "fuck yeah you space bastard; get away from our heroes!" These sounds do not sound good as a killer player. The hit sounds are fine enough but every fucking time you walk into a flame turret you're met with a mix of obnoxious SFX. You hear flames being shot in your face, your killer screams in agony, and all the while the beeping of a safety alarm is blaring in your ears as you do the gameplay equivalent of smacking your alarm clock off. This happens every goddamn time you walk into a flame turret. It's inherently unpleasant to constantly hear your character screaming any time you deal with your main form of counterplay, which by necessity of the killer's design will happen a lot. Control Stations, otherwise known as "The Sadako TV Problem" I'm sure anyone who's played Sadako has had a time when they've teleported to a TV that's facing the opposite direction of a generator and is 10 feet away from said gen, giving the survivor ample time to run away... Xeno's Control Stations have a similar spawning logic to Sadako TVs, which therefor means she experiences the exact same issues as her ghostly counterpart. It just feels bad to have a control station be behind two walls, giving the survivors a massive head start. It just feels bad when for whatever reason the game's RNG decides that you shouldn't have a control station beside an important generator. It just feels bad when the control station in the Garden of Joy main building is located on the first floor but the gen is on the second floor and in the time it takes you to walk up the stairs to the gen the survivors finish it in your face and all take the window to escape you. This is sadly an issue that can not be fixed without a complete rework to the spawning logic of Sadako TVs / Freddy clocks / Pig boxes and so-on. I think this is an unfortunate "c'est la vie" sort of issue with Xenomorph, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. The Addons, otherwise known as "the just another anti-loop killer problem" One sad thing about Xenomorph is that the power doesn't lend itself to a lot of creativity. Xeno isn't a Chucky or Blight or Wraith where they can attach a lot of different effects to the power. She fundamentally has three mechanics:
Not helping is that many of Xeno's addons have durations that are simply far too short to use. Parker's Headband is 5% Haste for 3 seconds, shorter than the time gained from one use of Brutal Strength. Harpoon Gun lasts 10 seconds, which given the bad spawns of control stations it's never guaranteed you'll get a hit in that time. Molted Skin lasts a mere 3 seconds which... why? Who the heck is going to deploy a turret directly in front of the killer when the turrets already make you move at a snail's pace? Same thing can be said for Brett's Cap: it would be fine if the effect was tied to the range of turrets (akin to Sadako's Rickety Pinwheel addon), but no it's just "placed a turret? Have 25 seconds of blindness lol." Cat Carrier and Acidic Blood require you to mess up to get any value (Cat Carrier in particular requiring you to turn off your power for some gimmicky stealth)... The only addon that does anything interesting is Self-Destruct Bolt, and that's just basekit Superior Anatomy. It's only really useful in gimmick builds running Bamboozle or Superior Anatomy to just W key a survivor to death if they spam window vaults. I'm in no way trying to imply that Xenomorph's addons are bad: no no she has plenty of good ones like Semiotic Keyboard, Kane's Helmet, Lambert's Star Map, Crew Headset, Cereal Rations, Ripley's Watch, and of course Emergency Helmet. My point is that all the addons are very boring and either make turrets weaker, apply negligible debuffs, or have too short of a duration to use. tl;dr about the problems with Xenomorph as a killer: she was released in an overpowered state, "patched" with a gamebreaking bug for a month, and is now rather clunky to play. Flame turrets feel bad to play against, sometimes control stations spawn in bad locations, Xenomorph herself is very loud and annoying, and her addons are boring(Continued in the replies because post is too long) |
2024.04.15 03:32 Awkward-Board4102 San Francisco Coup d'État via Food Delivery Drivers
San Franciscians, change is near. Whilst you retire to your West Elm couches and oscillate your muddled gaze between 3 screens, a powerful force stirs just outside your bay windows.
For too long, you have not only neglected to see, but actively taken part in a subjugation of caste now rivaled only by the untouchables of pre-imperial India.
They go by many names: Dashers, Postmates, Uber Eats…. But regardless of name you send them into the cold and foggy streets in retrieval of your lukewarm pad thai with a simple click of a few buttons and the idle acceptance of $5 fee.
Sure, you may be among the few to take that extra moment and, like a lord flipping a handful of pence to his grateful subject, hit the “Tip” button as well, but it is of no use. Mercy is beyond reach, and a rough beast now slouches towards Civic Center, in search of retribution.
If you look on any street corner, or listen to the buzz of their second hand mopeds, you will recognize their numbers. Not only do they have power in numbers, but they command a comradery and work ethic only rivaled by an elite military task force. It would only take the guidance and foresight of a charismatic Strong Man to unite these forces, and the result would be unstoppable.
Well today, that strong man has arisen.
The drivers will be assembled using the Napoleonic Corps system. Each Corp can act as an independent army, allowing for swift movements and repositioning.
These corps will be made up of a mix of Infantry (Scooters and E-Bikes), Cavalry (Moped and Motorcycle), and Artillery (Compact Cars).
The corps will be strategically positioned in all of the major regions of the city: I Corps in North Beach/Russian Hill. II Corps in Marina/Pac Heights. III Corps (aka Les Invincibles) in Soma/Tenderloin, etc.
Additionally, there will be an elite Imperial Guard Unit (made up of pre-iPhone era delivery drivers), to accompany the Supreme Leader and be used in decisive moments of the battles.
Staging the Coup:
The coup will begin with a hunger siege on a Monday at lunch. Most San Fransicans neglect to eat breakfast to start the week. When they look to break their fast at lunch, they will notice the average expected delivery time to exceed 2.5 hours. Our work has begun.
It's unlikely this will lead to any significant chatter online, as most of these folks will be too embarrassed to admit that a typical Monday lunch is brought to their doorstep. The hunger will begin to weigh on them in the afternoon, but they expect to relieve this once their laptops close and they scroll through their favorite ghost kitchens.
But they will be gravely mistaken.
On Monday night, average delivery times will exceed 4 hours, and will be past closing hours for most of their favorite grub locations. We might expect some level of internet chatter, but nothing that cannot be overcome. People will look to their freezer reserves, or walk to their corner store, but they will go to bed that night unsubstantiated.
Tuesday morning will be a disaster. Coffee delivery: gone. Breakfast burrito? No chance. The Drivers will feel no remorse for this act, as the targets of this particular attack are amongst the most gluttonous and least generous lot of the delivery customer base.
By Lunch on Tuesday, the city will be famished. Work will be picking up, brains will be foggy, nerves will be tested, and the quality of decision making will be at an all time low.
By Dinner, the attack is launched.
Each corps will send out skirmishers from the Scooter infantry to invade the sidewalks and harass those looking to pickup dinner themselves. This will cause general fear and confusion amongst the populace.
The skirmishers will provide coverage for the Artillery (primarily Honda Prius and Scions) to be positioned on the high grounds. They will blockade the primary entryways into the city, bringing Franklin, Pine/Bush, Van Ness, Lombard and Geary to a standstill.
From the command center (Chinatown), the Supreme Leader will call on the Cavalry to lead a general charge on Civic Center. The Hussars (Postmates) will take the flanks, while the Dragoons (Door Dashers) take the enemy center.
By 8PM, the Civic Center is taken, Martial Law is in place, the mayor and all district supervisors are ordered to appear in front of Bill Graham, which has now been commandeered by the Supreme Leader.
The first demand: Green Cards for every driver (regardless of existing residential status). No paperwork required.
The second demand: elimination of delivery availability for any food items excluding Chinese, Thai, Indian and Pizza. McDonalds is fine too because they actually do a pretty good job, but no fries.
The citizens will begin to sympathize with the movement, as many of the rational actors already recognize this as a defacto rule of delivery, but are often burdened by driver limitations directly resulting from preposterous orders for burgers, fries, milkshakes and italian pasta.
The third demand: Mandatory conscription of every delivery age person, until satisfactory completion of 10 deliveries.
This will instill empathy for the drivers, and will lead to friendlier interactions and an increase in tipping.
Fourth demand: No more special orders. The restaurants hate it. The drivers are often punished for demand fulfilment issues, and it's just arrogant to think you can rewrite the menu each time you need to eat.
The demands will be met that evening, and by Wednesday morning peace will be restored.
The Supreme Leader will retire from his position, return to his farm, pick up his plow and get back to work. He will not expect any thanks from his army or the citizens of a now saved San Francisco.
submitted by Awkward-Board4102 to sanfrancisco [link] [comments]
For too long, you have not only neglected to see, but actively taken part in a subjugation of caste now rivaled only by the untouchables of pre-imperial India.
They go by many names: Dashers, Postmates, Uber Eats…. But regardless of name you send them into the cold and foggy streets in retrieval of your lukewarm pad thai with a simple click of a few buttons and the idle acceptance of $5 fee.
Sure, you may be among the few to take that extra moment and, like a lord flipping a handful of pence to his grateful subject, hit the “Tip” button as well, but it is of no use. Mercy is beyond reach, and a rough beast now slouches towards Civic Center, in search of retribution.
If you look on any street corner, or listen to the buzz of their second hand mopeds, you will recognize their numbers. Not only do they have power in numbers, but they command a comradery and work ethic only rivaled by an elite military task force. It would only take the guidance and foresight of a charismatic Strong Man to unite these forces, and the result would be unstoppable.
Well today, that strong man has arisen.
The drivers will be assembled using the Napoleonic Corps system. Each Corp can act as an independent army, allowing for swift movements and repositioning.
These corps will be made up of a mix of Infantry (Scooters and E-Bikes), Cavalry (Moped and Motorcycle), and Artillery (Compact Cars).
The corps will be strategically positioned in all of the major regions of the city: I Corps in North Beach/Russian Hill. II Corps in Marina/Pac Heights. III Corps (aka Les Invincibles) in Soma/Tenderloin, etc.
Additionally, there will be an elite Imperial Guard Unit (made up of pre-iPhone era delivery drivers), to accompany the Supreme Leader and be used in decisive moments of the battles.
Staging the Coup:
The coup will begin with a hunger siege on a Monday at lunch. Most San Fransicans neglect to eat breakfast to start the week. When they look to break their fast at lunch, they will notice the average expected delivery time to exceed 2.5 hours. Our work has begun.
It's unlikely this will lead to any significant chatter online, as most of these folks will be too embarrassed to admit that a typical Monday lunch is brought to their doorstep. The hunger will begin to weigh on them in the afternoon, but they expect to relieve this once their laptops close and they scroll through their favorite ghost kitchens.
But they will be gravely mistaken.
On Monday night, average delivery times will exceed 4 hours, and will be past closing hours for most of their favorite grub locations. We might expect some level of internet chatter, but nothing that cannot be overcome. People will look to their freezer reserves, or walk to their corner store, but they will go to bed that night unsubstantiated.
Tuesday morning will be a disaster. Coffee delivery: gone. Breakfast burrito? No chance. The Drivers will feel no remorse for this act, as the targets of this particular attack are amongst the most gluttonous and least generous lot of the delivery customer base.
By Lunch on Tuesday, the city will be famished. Work will be picking up, brains will be foggy, nerves will be tested, and the quality of decision making will be at an all time low.
By Dinner, the attack is launched.
Each corps will send out skirmishers from the Scooter infantry to invade the sidewalks and harass those looking to pickup dinner themselves. This will cause general fear and confusion amongst the populace.
The skirmishers will provide coverage for the Artillery (primarily Honda Prius and Scions) to be positioned on the high grounds. They will blockade the primary entryways into the city, bringing Franklin, Pine/Bush, Van Ness, Lombard and Geary to a standstill.
From the command center (Chinatown), the Supreme Leader will call on the Cavalry to lead a general charge on Civic Center. The Hussars (Postmates) will take the flanks, while the Dragoons (Door Dashers) take the enemy center.
By 8PM, the Civic Center is taken, Martial Law is in place, the mayor and all district supervisors are ordered to appear in front of Bill Graham, which has now been commandeered by the Supreme Leader.
The first demand: Green Cards for every driver (regardless of existing residential status). No paperwork required.
The second demand: elimination of delivery availability for any food items excluding Chinese, Thai, Indian and Pizza. McDonalds is fine too because they actually do a pretty good job, but no fries.
The citizens will begin to sympathize with the movement, as many of the rational actors already recognize this as a defacto rule of delivery, but are often burdened by driver limitations directly resulting from preposterous orders for burgers, fries, milkshakes and italian pasta.
The third demand: Mandatory conscription of every delivery age person, until satisfactory completion of 10 deliveries.
This will instill empathy for the drivers, and will lead to friendlier interactions and an increase in tipping.
Fourth demand: No more special orders. The restaurants hate it. The drivers are often punished for demand fulfilment issues, and it's just arrogant to think you can rewrite the menu each time you need to eat.
The demands will be met that evening, and by Wednesday morning peace will be restored.
The Supreme Leader will retire from his position, return to his farm, pick up his plow and get back to work. He will not expect any thanks from his army or the citizens of a now saved San Francisco.
2024.04.13 01:23 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer: An Extraterrestrial Existential Crisis
Gundam 00 is one of the best AU Gundam series of all time. Ask any who've watched it and 9x out of 10 they say they've loved it. However, there's one tiny issue with this series. It's that the movie exists. I felt like someone at Bandai went like “Hey, you know that Gundam series that everyone loves with a perfect & satisfying ending? Let's fuck it up, so we can earn more money”. And ya, I know that quick tease on Jupiter towards the end of Season 2 was hinting at the movie. Hell, good ol’ Aeolia’s plan was to prepare humanity to encounter extraterrestrials. It still doesn't make the movie any better. When it comes to movies that follows up a series, there's quite a few I like; Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale, Love, Chuunibiyo, & Other Delusions: Take on Me, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, and so on. Unfortunately the Gundam 00 movie is not one of those movies. Poorly paced plot with 4 plots stuffed into one, characters that get no developed whatsoever, world building that adds plot holes to the story, & an ending that's absolute nonsense, this movie isn't really good. Now let's see why.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to Gundam [link] [comments]
- Plot:
- 2 years after the events of Season 2, the world is finally at peace. However, a group of Extraterrestrial Living-Metal Shapeshifters (ELS for short) threatens the Earth, Celestial Being must once again change the world. Along the way, they get help from past enemies turned Allies. That was just the quick synopsis, & already it sounds wrong. Here, the story doesn't feel like a story that would naturally follow up S2. It gets worse is that the story feels multiple plot points are shoved in together. The start of the movie has Celestial Being saving Marina Ismail & Shirin Bakhtiar again (standard stuff, I accept this). But then aliens show up & secretly assimilate with Innovators. Next we have aliens absorbing mobile suits & ships alike. And then the final battle happens & there's a flower in the end. So we went from your standard Gundam MO, to a Sci Fi horror movie, and then a dynasty warriors style battle where everything is solved with a fucking flower. Ya, good luck figuring out how all that fits together.
- What's worse is the pacing, the movie takes place within a span of 3 months, yet it felt more like 3 days or weeks at most. I get it, it's a movie, it needs to condense these events within a 2hr runtime. But with multiple plot points, you gotta ditch some of them to keep the story going at a steady pace. This anime just has too much going on & doesn't have a plot that feels true to the franchise, how easily were you shown up by Ordinal Scale of all things (a quote I’ll be saying until the end of the review).
- Characters:
- 00 Had a well established roaster of characters with personalities & arcs with satisfying ends. And then this movie shits on that & makes the majority of the characters do nothing for 2 hrs straight. Any of the good character writing of the original series is thrown into the trash in favor of mindless video game action.
- But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start with CB as we usually do:
- Setsuna F. Seiei is a far cry from the character arc he was given in the 2nd season. With his newly found coordinator powers that used to defeat Ribbons turns into a handicap when he's facing off against the ELS. Outside of the beginning & the end of the movie, he does NOTHING but get headaches & getting his machine assimilated.
- The rest of the Meisters were fine I guess, but they basically have nothing to do in the movie. Lockon Stratos basically doesn't do much outside of saving Marina & Shirin from the a shuttle raided by terrorists & also saving Hallelujah & Marie from Transformer in an lazy attempt at fan service.
- Speaking of which, Allelujah Haptism, along with Marie Parfacy, also has nothing to do. The last time we saw them, they were looking for a new beginning & following a trail to do so. And then in this movie, they got lost and somehow stumbled upon this facility where the aliens were located. They also become a liability because they have quantum brain waves too. I can at least say these 2 are cute together & I do like how when they're in battle they switched to their more aggressive personalities (Hallelujah & Soma), which is a good detail.
- And then there's Tierra Erde, and….oh boy, do they do this boy dirty. Luckily his return isn't a “somehow palpatine returns” scenario, as it was explained in the 2nd season that Innovades don't technically die & can get new bodies at will (now that I think about it, could've Aeolia done that or the tech didn't exist before his death). However, he only shows up for a couple minutes to save Setsuna 2x & then blows himself up. Like…that quickly? Now that's depressing. Especially with the growth he went through in both seasons. But that's fine, he gets turned into Setsuna's Google Maps, sure why not.
- And it doesn't get better, as the rest of the crew also don't get much to do. Lasse just doesn't contribute much outside of steering the ship. Milena is still a sweet little tart, so I won't touch her. However I found her confession to Tierra really cute & funny, with Ian & Linda's reactions being hilarious. Feldt also doesn't really have much to do, & has this crush on Setsuna. While rushed, it was established in S2 with her giving Setsuna a flower. And honestly, I think she's a better fit for him since they both work together & care for the crew a lot more. I honestly buy this over his relationship with Marina.
- However, Sumeragi also doesn't have much to do either. Outside giving Feldt a heart to heart, she doesn't really have a moment to really coordinate with the Gundam Meisters.
- So Celestial Being don't have much in terms of personality & motivations compared to S1 or S2. And I haven't gotten to the other characters yet. One positive note is Katy remains as competent as the original series as she does strategize with the Federation with the upcoming invasion. Plus her & Patrick's relationship will always be cute (anything with Patrick is instantly better). But I can't say much beyond that. She doesn't interact with Sumeragi until the very end, which is a shame cause I wanted to see them interact more after the events of Season 2.
- Billy is alright, but I also can't comment too much on this. He just provides exposition on the ELS, gets a horny lab partner, and that's it. He also only talked to Graham once in the movie. Speaking of whom, Graham is also here & completely ditches his weeb persona and doesn't do much outside of saving Celestial Being & getting himself killed helping Setsuna. That last part doesn't really feel earned as it was rushed & doesn't even interact with Setsuna because he's in a fucking coma. I think if he & Setsuna talked face to face at least once, the sacrifice would've felt more genuine.
- There's also Andrei & Kim…..there’s not a whole lot I can say about them. For anyone who hated Mr. Patricide for offing Sergei, he has been terminated by the interseller T-1000s. As for Kim, he’s just there to remind us that Sergei existed. Also, isn't it weird that he didn’t bring up the fact that he basically sent him to a trap just to get a rank promotion? There’s a reason why I didn’t bring him up in the S2 review. He also has a mustache now.
- Saiji & Louise are somehow more useless than Season 1. Saiji only really serves as the concerned figure who worries about her hospital-ridden wife. Speaking of whom, she has no part in the story and only serves as a damsel in distress. Going back to Saiji, he kinda acts like an asshole towards Setsuna who saved his and his girlfriend’s ass. Like Jesus boy, he saved you multiple times & all he gets is “what the hell is going on”. Like come on, where’s that “thank you” you gave Setsuna in Season 2.
- And finally we have the Azadastan group for our returning characters. If you thought Marina was useless in Season 2, it’s especially through her. After getting saved from Celestial Being AGAIN in space while inspecting her colony, she just goes home. She does provide shelter for her people in her palace, so I’ll give her that. At this point, I can’t say too much about Shirin, so I won’t even bother. Especially Klaus, there’s a piece of dialogue where he told Shirin on the phone when they were prepping for the invasion that he will “Carry a Gun again”, and I honestly thought he might be involved in the fight. But no, we don’t see the man until the end where he shows up on a TV screen as an old man.
- So the old characters didn’t impress me, and we’re not done yet with the characters. There’s also 2 new characters in the anime. Descartes Shaman, an innovator from Celestial Being (the ship, not the crew) that has a pretty egotistical personality along with being arrogant. He gets killed by metallic slime (in a brutally entertaining way too). Next we got the hornest scientist ever put in a Gundam series, Mina Carmine. While she doesn’t hide how much she wants her kuchi to be stuffed by Billy, she at least shows a level of competence and is pretty smart. And I’ll be honest, her sexual tendencies were honestly the most entertaining part of the movie. It’s even funnier imagining her as Neina back from the dead looking for another man to be thirsty for (especially since her VA, Nicole Bouma, voices her too).
- Overall, the characters are kinda a disappointment. The old characters feel like massive down grades of themselves with some of their character arcs from the previous season being thrown out of the window to forward the plot, and the new characters only serving as exposition dumpers or bodies to add to the antagonist's kill count to make them more threatening. Nearly all of these characters are shells of themselves & have no purpose in the plot, how easily were you shown up by Ordinal Scale of all things.
- World Building:
- It’s been 2 years since S2, so you would expect some changes. Unfortunately, not too much has changed. But before we get to silver plated elephant in the room, let's talk about the normal stuff 1st. For starters, The Earth Sphere Federation isn't being runned by sociopaths with god complexes anymore, it’s a peaceful government with ex-Katheron people being a part of it & even some Innovaders. So unlike every other federal faction set on earth in the franchise, these guys got their shit together and worked to protect Earth, which is a nice change of pace.
- I found it funny that they made a movie about Celestial Being, cementing their reputation as heroes in the eyes of the public. Wait, now that I think about it, Hollywood in Gundam Universe would milk the shit out of the wars that happen in-universe, as much as Bandai would milk the mobile suits with their model kits (Both Bloody Valentine Wars from SEED, the Eve Wars from Wing, the Gundam fighting tournament from Mobile Fighter, hell the One Year War from the original series would be milked to death like the many OVAs we've gotten). I would imagine the amount of box office revenue these “war” movies would make.
- While we're still on the topic of war, let's bring up the fact that the military now basically controls Celestial Being (the ship, not the crew). While I won't deny that it does serve an important role in the final battle, it's kinda weird they would control arguably the most OP battleship in the series. Like, it has a few chambers to mass produce Innovades, areas to produce mobile suits & ships, cloaking tech, and multiple laser cannons (including the Memento Mori). With this kind of power, we're lucky it's not used in the wrong hands (then again, Veda can probably shut it down if necessary).
- While we’re still on the subject of Celestial bodies, let's see how CB is doing. Outside of like 2 new unnamed members, not much has changed. They're still up to their usual anti-war shenanigans with one of them involving saving Marina AGAIN. So there's not a whole lot to comment until we reach the mobile suit section.
- Now let's get to the chrome plated thorn on the side of the movie, the ELS. The Extraterrestrial Living-metal Shapeshifters are Gundam’s 2nd attempt at aliens, and like the 1st one with that useless ass space whale from SEED, it fails miserably. There's 2 aspects that the ELS fails at that would've made them interesting:
- Aliens= when it comes to extraterrestrials in media they all come in different shapes and sizes. Maybe they're just like humans but in a different color (not remotely what I meant), maybe they have horns on their heads, multiple limbs, maybe they're furries, maybe they're made out of slime, WHATEVER. But one thing remains a constant, THEY HAVE A PERSONALITY & A REASON WHY THEY'RE INVADING EARTH. We don't know why the ELS are going after the Innovators until the end where Setsuna & Tierra go on a trip in the mothership (seriously, what were the animators smoking when they were making that sequence). Even after everything when they just stop fusing with everyone & everything on sight, we don't care as we never know them on a personal level. They're just there, so we can't get invested in their defeat or feel for their cause. And that's not even mentioning the bad designs they came up with for the ELS. They look like something I'll find in my mom's jewelry box. How am I supposed to take these guys seriously if they’re morphing into flying chandeliers?
- This leads to their next missed opportunity, shapeshifting= Shapechangers in media are used in a variety of ways that makes them an interesting threat; Secret Invasion (EMH not the MCU), The Thing, Terminator 2, X-Men, Transformers, etc. With beings that can take the form of anyone or anything, it keeps us on our toes and has us biting out nails on who’s real and who’s not. They did that for like 5 minutes and instantly shifted to gundams & mobile suits fighting shiny blob monsters for the rest of the damn movie. It starts off a body snatcher movie with ELS fusing with potential Innovators by disguising themselves as vehicles and even humans. Not gonna lie, it was an interesting scene and added a level of mystique to the invasion, making us wonder if there are aliens unknowingly among us. One problem, It doesn’t fit a Gundam plot and doesn’t even last long. It gets worse when they just turn into the Federation’s mobile suits & spaceships to fight them. Like, these guys went from secretly infiltrating earth to being generic enemy units.
- My point is that the ELS are really forgettable villains that fail to leave an impact as villains. And I’m not saying that the concept of aliens couldn’t work, far from it (it worked really well in Re:Rise). What I’m saying is that if you don’t make them interesting or compelling in the series, then they won’t stand out in the show (take a look at Build Fighters).
- So overall, the world building started off ok in the beginning, but then went downhill the moment the ELS 1st appeared. I don't add anything interesting to Anno Domini, we’re just retold things we knew from the original series, & the ELS are really forgettable factions. Whatever it adds, it doesn’t complement the world at all (how easily you were beaten out by Ordinal Scale of all things).
- Mobile Suits:
- The best thing I can say is the designs aren’t half bad. They're well equipped for battle & provide some decent action. I'll criticize the fights being made to ward off our boredom, but the action still slaps. Starting with the CB suits, we got some over the top but decent designs.
- With Setsuna's Gundam, we got the poster boy himself, the 00 Qan [T]. In Spite of being my least favorite suit in the lineage, I can't deny that this design slaps. Keeping with the close combat aesthetic of the originals, it has a GN Sword V (that can turn into a gun), a GN shield with a beam gun, and a load of GN Sword Bits. The latter of which has a multitude of uses: it can slice enemies from afar, create a shield, make a portal, and combine with the GN Sword V to make a giant sword or a giant gun. This machine is the most OP Gundam of ALL TIME, so why isn't it my favorite? Simple, it's too OP. This thing has the power to slice a ship the size of the moon in half, it can shred suits in seconds effortlessly without moving an inch, and it can teleport. It gets wackier when it fuses with the ELS & basically becomes god-like. While we never see it in the anime, if you've seen clips from the SD games, it can morph its sword into a gun, grow tentacles, turn said tentacles into swords, and summon a metric shit ton of swords. Like….what. Look, I'm not complaining just because of the OP power scaling, because 00 can be over the top at times. But it's at least within reason. In season 2 and even season 1 for that matter, Setsuna does the over the top stuff. But those were important moments for his character. Him being the 1st to use Trans-Am, him starting up the 00 with, reconnecting Saiji & Louise with quantum brain waves, saving Lyle while allowing him to say his final goodbyes to Anew, and him connecting with the other meisters to keep fighting. They were insane moments that would fry a real robot fan’s brain, but it made sense on a thematic level. Something I can't say the same about the 00 Qan[T] or anything about this movie.
- Next we got Lockon’s machine, the Zabanya. Remember when both Dynames & Cherudim were expertly crafted to be sniping units to provide long range support? Well this machine said fuck it & went full heavyarms in it's loadout. It has a lot of missiles, pistols, and both rifle & shield bits. I don't really like that its shield bits have to combine to block incoming attacks. The moment he says “Firing without Targeting”, a part of my soul left my body. This is no longer the amazing sniping machine that we all love with its accurate pression & clever tactics, this is a glorified beam & missile spamming machine. I didn't even bring up the fact that it didn't even have any beam sabers or any form of offensive weapons. Like, what did they do to you man.
- We also got the birth child of both Arios & Archer, the Harute. Honestly, out of all of the CB machines in this movie, this one's my favorite. It's a good design that's evocative of the lineage of Allelujah’s Gundams. It has 2x GN Sword Rifles that can act as rifles, swords, & scissors (noice). It also got a pair of back cannons, a missile container, & some GN Scissor Bits. And like the suits that came before it, it can transform into a sexy fighter jet. Yanase knows his transforming Gundam designs, and this is no exception. I also do like the fact that it's a 2 seater, cementing Allelujah & Marie’s relationship. It also has a berserker system called the Marute mode, that's neat, I like it.
- Finally there's the Gundam piloted by someone who’s cool but rude, the Rapheal Gundam. In a lineage thick & curvy Gundams with the Virtue & Seravee, you would think that it would follow that tradition too, right? All of the thickness is relegated to his back and it just looks like the Nadeelah with a big ass backpack. My disappointment is immeasurable. It doesn’t even have the cool weapons of the original, all it has is a regular ass GN Rifle and a pair of GN Bazookas in the back. The only cool part is that the backpack can act as claws, separate itself to act as bits, and can transform into the Seravee Gundam. To add insult to injury, the damn thing only shows up once and blows itself up in the second battle.
- Now let's talk about 2 returning suits, the Dynames Repair & the 00 Raiser (GN Condenser Type). Dynames Repair only shows up for one scene to save Allelujah and Marie from the gooey chrome ETs, while providing fans with some fanservice. 00 Raiser (GN Condenser Type) on the other hand insults me the most for how it does a disservice to one of my all time favorite Gundam designs. The 00 doesn’t do a damn thing throughout the whole movie and then gets tentacle raped by the bad guys. I know that since it doesn’t have the original drives, it can’t do too much. But I expected it to do SOMETHING. I went in depth on why I love the 00 Raiser, why it’s Kanetake’s design at its peak. So seeing my all time favorite Gundam getting sidelined like this was a massive slap in the face for me. I
- think the worst thing about these designs is that they weren’t coordinated in the slightest. There’s no sense of planning, no moment of Sumeragi’s clever tactics, or any moments of the Gundams doing combo moves together.
- And there’s the mobile suits, and I can’t comment on them too much. The Union Flag Celestial Being type was pretty cool though with its GN sword II and smoke bomb, among other things. I also do like that Setsuna is using something outside of a Gundam to prove how good of a pilot he is. I love moments like this where Gundam Pilots use regular mobile suits, showing them how skilled they are.
- With that being said there’s not many suits I can really talk about from the Federation’s side. The GN-XIV looks way better than the original GN-X machines, but outside of the V-fin, it's just another GN-X machine. Same thing for the Gaga Cannon, since its OG suicide machine with cannons on its back. The Gadelaza on the other hand is actually a pretty cool design. The mobile armor has a big ass cannon, 4x Beam guns/Sabers on its sub arms, and a metric shit ton of missiles & fangs. The thing may have been piloted by a prick, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that scene. The only other suits worth talking about are the Brave Standard Test Type & Commander Test type. Both of which have the same weapons: 2x machine guns, a grenade, 2x GN machine guns, 2x GN beam sabers, 2x GN Cannons, 4x GN missiles, and a GN Beam Rifle. The only difference between the 2 is that the Standard type is greenish blue and piloted by random characters we barely know, while the Commander type is blue and is piloted by Graham Aker (right out of his weeb phase).
- Outside of those 3 mobile suits & mobile armor, everything else is just a space version of a MS from the previous seasons. Here's a list in case anyone's interested:
- Hellion Orbit Package
- Enact Orbit Package
- Xiaoshou
- Tieren Space type
- Flag Orbit Package Colony Guard Type
- Over Flag Astro Package
- Flag Orbit Package
- & Realdo Orbit Package
- I'll throw in the Realdo Hover tank too for safe measure.
- Check the wiki if you're curious about their loadout. I’m also not gonna cover the ELS’s GN-XIV, cause they're just the regular ass GN-XS but with purple GNParticles. T
- he only thing left to talk about is the fight scenes. Visually speaking, I thought the fights weren't half bad. They really used the movie’s budget and made the fights more fluid. However, spectacle is one thing, but substance is another. These fights may look good, but there's barely any weight to them. There's no prior drama with the enemy, any personal motive to fight, none of that. It's just to kill the aliens because “they're not like you & me. We must sound the drums of WAAAARRRR” (sorry I kinda lost it back there). All these fights feel like a distraction for how boring & convoluted the plot is, how easily you were beat out by Ordinal Scale of all things. It gets worse with the CGI of the ELS. 00 actually has pretty great CGI believe or not, since it has pretty good shading and is well animated. I don't know why, but in this movie it just looks worse. The animation is a little off, but it's mainly because it's overused.
- Overall, in spite of good action & some decent designs, I can't really call it remarkable. It all feels pointless if action just happens with no drama or suspense in the fight. The magic of well designed machines, tactically planned fights, and emotionally charged drama is now gone.
- The best thing I can say is the designs aren’t half bad. They're well equipped for battle & provide some decent action. I'll criticize the fights being made to ward off our boredom, but the action still slaps. Starting with the CB suits, we got some over the top but decent designs.
- Verdict:
- Before I end things off, I'll give you my 2 cents on the ending, it fucking sucks. Once Setsuna & Tierra smoke weed and see those weird ass images in the ELS’s mother ship, they go to their homeworld and bring a big ass flower. That's enough to stop the ELS from absorbing everything. That's it, THAT'S HOW THE FUCKING MOVIE ENDS? Not only the ending feels out of nowhere, be feels unearned. The only positive thing to come out of this ending is the epilogue. We see Aeolia Schenberg at a younger age talking about how he hates how selfish people are in the world with his buddy and it's honestly a well written scene with great voice acting. Then we cut to a spaceship with a group of people getting ready to explore the next frontier. And then it ends with Setsuna visiting an old Marina. If the movie didn't exist & the epilogue (modified of course) was in S2, it would've been a perfect way to end the series. But we just don't live in that world, don't we.
- After rewatching this movie for the review, I've rewatched Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale as a palate cleanser. And judging by the amount of time I've mentioned said film in the review, I can confidently say that this is exactly what I expect from a movie following up a show; the story is new while fitting it with the themes of the show, the characters have new roles & arcs, the new characters contribute something to the story, the world building adds something new that adds insight to what came before it, the fights are motivated through drama, and the ending leaves a positive impact on the series. Awakening of the Trailblazer does none of that as the story has plots that don't feel like a Gundam story, the returning characters aren't given anything to do outside of killing metallic slime monsters, the new characters contribute next to nothing to the plot, adds something that felt out of left field, the fights have no weight to them & are there to ward away our boredom, and the ending makes no sense. Even with the context of me being an SAO fan, as a Gundam fan I'll say this, if the Sword Art Online movie is a better job than the Gundam movie, you're doing something very, VERY WRONG.
- So ya, this movie is as bad as I remembered it. Does it ruin both seasons of Gundam 00? Surprisingly no, not in the slightest. I'll always rewatch both seasons annually and it'll still remain my favorite anime of all time. I'll just treat the movie like how Pacific Rim fans treat uprising, or how Shrek fans treat Shrek the Third. However, there's one thing that I can't deny. This movie was the beginning of an era I would like to call, “The Dark Age of Mecha”.
2024.04.13 01:21 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer: An Extraterrestrial Existential Crisis
Gundam 00 is one of the best AU Gundam series of all time. Ask any who've watched it and 9x out of 10 they say they've loved it. However, there's one tiny issue with this series. It's that the movie exists. I felt like someone at Bandai went like “Hey, you know that Gundam series that everyone loves with a perfect & satisfying ending? Let's fuck it up, so we can earn more money”. And ya, I know that quick tease on Jupiter towards the end of Season 2 was hinting at the movie. Hell, good ol’ Aeolia’s plan was to prepare humanity to encounter extraterrestrials. It still doesn't make the movie any better. When it comes to movies that follows up a series, there's quite a few I like; Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale, Love, Chuunibiyo, & Other Delusions: Take on Me, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, and so on. Unfortunately the Gundam 00 movie is not one of those movies. Poorly paced plot with 4 plots stuffed into one, characters that get no developed whatsoever, world building that adds plot holes to the story, & an ending that's absolute nonsense, this movie isn't really good. Now let's see why.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to anime [link] [comments]
- Plot:
- 2 years after the events of Season 2, the world is finally at peace. However, a group of Extraterrestrial Living-Metal Shapeshifters (ELS for short) threatens the Earth, Celestial Being must once again change the world. Along the way, they get help from past enemies turned Allies. That was just the quick synopsis, & already it sounds wrong. Here, the story doesn't feel like a story that would naturally follow up S2. It gets worse is that the story feels multiple plot points are shoved in together. The start of the movie has Celestial Being saving Marina Ismail & Shirin Bakhtiar again (standard stuff, I accept this). But then aliens show up & secretly assimilate with Innovators. Next we have aliens absorbing mobile suits & ships alike. And then the final battle happens & there's a flower in the end. So we went from your standard Gundam MO, to a Sci Fi horror movie, and then a dynasty warriors style battle where everything is solved with a fucking flower. Ya, good luck figuring out how all that fits together.
- What's worse is the pacing, the movie takes place within a span of 3 months, yet it felt more like 3 days or weeks at most. I get it, it's a movie, it needs to condense these events within a 2hr runtime. But with multiple plot points, you gotta ditch some of them to keep the story going at a steady pace. This anime just has too much going on & doesn't have a plot that feels true to the franchise, how easily were you shown up by Ordinal Scale of all things (a quote I’ll be saying until the end of the review).
- Characters:
- 00 Had a well established roaster of characters with personalities & arcs with satisfying ends. And then this movie shits on that & makes the majority of the characters do nothing for 2 hrs straight. Any of the good character writing of the original series is thrown into the trash in favor of mindless video game action.
- But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start with CB as we usually do:
- Setsuna F. Seiei is a far cry from the character arc he was given in the 2nd season. With his newly found coordinator powers that used to defeat Ribbons turns into a handicap when he's facing off against the ELS. Outside of the beginning & the end of the movie, he does NOTHING but get headaches & getting his machine assimilated.
- The rest of the Meisters were fine I guess, but they basically have nothing to do in the movie. Lockon Stratos basically doesn't do much outside of saving Marina & Shirin from the a shuttle raided by terrorists & also saving Hallelujah & Marie from Transformer in an lazy attempt at fan service.
- Speaking of which, Allelujah Haptism, along with Marie Parfacy, also has nothing to do. The last time we saw them, they were looking for a new beginning & following a trail to do so. And then in this movie, they got lost and somehow stumbled upon this facility where the aliens were located. They also become a liability because they have quantum brain waves too. I can at least say these 2 are cute together & I do like how when they're in battle they switched to their more aggressive personalities (Hallelujah & Soma), which is a good detail.
- And then there's Tierra Erde, and….oh boy, do they do this boy dirty. Luckily his return isn't a “somehow palpatine returns” scenario, as it was explained in the 2nd season that Innovades don't technically die & can get new bodies at will (now that I think about it, could've Aeolia done that or the tech didn't exist before his death). However, he only shows up for a couple minutes to save Setsuna 2x & then blows himself up. Like…that quickly? Now that's depressing. Especially with the growth he went through in both seasons. But that's fine, he gets turned into Setsuna's Google Maps, sure why not.
- And it doesn't get better, as the rest of the crew also don't get much to do. Lasse just doesn't contribute much outside of steering the ship. Milena is still a sweet little tart, so I won't touch her. However I found her confession to Tierra really cute & funny, with Ian & Linda's reactions being hilarious. Feldt also doesn't really have much to do, & has this crush on Setsuna. While rushed, it was established in S2 with her giving Setsuna a flower. And honestly, I think she's a better fit for him since they both work together & care for the crew a lot more. I honestly buy this over his relationship with Marina.
- However, Sumeragi also doesn't have much to do either. Outside giving Feldt a heart to heart, she doesn't really have a moment to really coordinate with the Gundam Meisters.
- So Celestial Being don't have much in terms of personality & motivations compared to S1 or S2. And I haven't gotten to the other characters yet. One positive note is Katy remains as competent as the original series as she does strategize with the Federation with the upcoming invasion. Plus her & Patrick's relationship will always be cute (anything with Patrick is instantly better). But I can't say much beyond that. She doesn't interact with Sumeragi until the very end, which is a shame cause I wanted to see them interact more after the events of Season 2.
- Billy is alright, but I also can't comment too much on this. He just provides exposition on the ELS, gets a horny lab partner, and that's it. He also only talked to Graham once in the movie. Speaking of whom, Graham is also here & completely ditches his weeb persona and doesn't do much outside of saving Celestial Being & getting himself killed helping Setsuna. That last part doesn't really feel earned as it was rushed & doesn't even interact with Setsuna because he's in a fucking coma. I think if he & Setsuna talked face to face at least once, the sacrifice would've felt more genuine.
- There's also Andrei & Kim…..there’s not a whole lot I can say about them. For anyone who hated Mr. Patricide for offing Sergei, he has been terminated by the interseller T-1000s. As for Kim, he’s just there to remind us that Sergei existed. Also, isn't it weird that he didn’t bring up the fact that he basically sent him to a trap just to get a rank promotion? There’s a reason why I didn’t bring him up in the S2 review. He also has a mustache now.
- Saiji & Louise are somehow more useless than Season 1. Saiji only really serves as the concerned figure who worries about her hospital-ridden wife. Speaking of whom, she has no part in the story and only serves as a damsel in distress. Going back to Saiji, he kinda acts like an asshole towards Setsuna who saved his and his girlfriend’s ass. Like Jesus boy, he saved you multiple times & all he gets is “what the hell is going on”. Like come on, where’s that “thank you” you gave Setsuna in Season 2.
- And finally we have the Azadastan group for our returning characters. If you thought Marina was useless in Season 2, it’s especially through her. After getting saved from Celestial Being AGAIN in space while inspecting her colony, she just goes home. She does provide shelter for her people in her palace, so I’ll give her that. At this point, I can’t say too much about Shirin, so I won’t even bother. Especially Klaus, there’s a piece of dialogue where he told Shirin on the phone when they were prepping for the invasion that he will “Carry a Gun again”, and I honestly thought he might be involved in the fight. But no, we don’t see the man until the end where he shows up on a TV screen as an old man.
- So the old characters didn’t impress me, and we’re not done yet with the characters. There’s also 2 new characters in the anime. Descartes Shaman, an innovator from Celestial Being (the ship, not the crew) that has a pretty egotistical personality along with being arrogant. He gets killed by metallic slime (in a brutally entertaining way too). Next we got the hornest scientist ever put in a Gundam series, Mina Carmine. While she doesn’t hide how much she wants her kuchi to be stuffed by Billy, she at least shows a level of competence and is pretty smart. And I’ll be honest, her sexual tendencies were honestly the most entertaining part of the movie. It’s even funnier imagining her as Neina back from the dead looking for another man to be thirsty for (especially since her VA, Nicole Bouma, voices her too).
- Overall, the characters are kinda a disappointment. The old characters feel like massive down grades of themselves with some of their character arcs from the previous season being thrown out of the window to forward the plot, and the new characters only serving as exposition dumpers or bodies to add to the antagonist's kill count to make them more threatening. Nearly all of these characters are shells of themselves & have no purpose in the plot, how easily were you shown up by Ordinal Scale of all things.
- World Building:
- It’s been 2 years since S2, so you would expect some changes. Unfortunately, not too much has changed. But before we get to silver plated elephant in the room, let's talk about the normal stuff 1st. For starters, The Earth Sphere Federation isn't being runned by sociopaths with god complexes anymore, it’s a peaceful government with ex-Katheron people being a part of it & even some Innovaders. So unlike every other federal faction set on earth in the franchise, these guys got their shit together and worked to protect Earth, which is a nice change of pace.
- I found it funny that they made a movie about Celestial Being, cementing their reputation as heroes in the eyes of the public. Wait, now that I think about it, Hollywood in Gundam Universe would milk the shit out of the wars that happen in-universe, as much as Bandai would milk the mobile suits with their model kits (Both Bloody Valentine Wars from SEED, the Eve Wars from Wing, the Gundam fighting tournament from Mobile Fighter, hell the One Year War from the original series would be milked to death like the many OVAs we've gotten). I would imagine the amount of box office revenue these “war” movies would make.
- While we're still on the topic of war, let's bring up the fact that the military now basically controls Celestial Being (the ship, not the crew). While I won't deny that it does serve an important role in the final battle, it's kinda weird they would control arguably the most OP battleship in the series. Like, it has a few chambers to mass produce Innovades, areas to produce mobile suits & ships, cloaking tech, and multiple laser cannons (including the Memento Mori). With this kind of power, we're lucky it's not used in the wrong hands (then again, Veda can probably shut it down if necessary).
- While we’re still on the subject of Celestial bodies, let's see how CB is doing. Outside of like 2 new unnamed members, not much has changed. They're still up to their usual anti-war shenanigans with one of them involving saving Marina AGAIN. So there's not a whole lot to comment until we reach the mobile suit section.
- Now let's get to the chrome plated thorn on the side of the movie, the ELS. The Extraterrestrial Living-metal Shapeshifters are Gundam’s 2nd attempt at aliens, and like the 1st one with that useless ass space whale from SEED, it fails miserably. There's 2 aspects that the ELS fails at that would've made them interesting:
- Aliens= when it comes to extraterrestrials in media they all come in different shapes and sizes. Maybe they're just like humans but in a different color (not remotely what I meant), maybe they have horns on their heads, multiple limbs, maybe they're furries, maybe they're made out of slime, WHATEVER. But one thing remains a constant, THEY HAVE A PERSONALITY & A REASON WHY THEY'RE INVADING EARTH. We don't know why the ELS are going after the Innovators until the end where Setsuna & Tierra go on a trip in the mothership (seriously, what were the animators smoking when they were making that sequence). Even after everything when they just stop fusing with everyone & everything on sight, we don't care as we never know them on a personal level. They're just there, so we can't get invested in their defeat or feel for their cause. And that's not even mentioning the bad designs they came up with for the ELS. They look like something I'll find in my mom's jewelry box. How am I supposed to take these guys seriously if they’re morphing into flying chandeliers?
- This leads to their next missed opportunity, shapeshifting= Shapechangers in media are used in a variety of ways that makes them an interesting threat; Secret Invasion (EMH not the MCU), The Thing, Terminator 2, X-Men, Transformers, etc. With beings that can take the form of anyone or anything, it keeps us on our toes and has us biting out nails on who’s real and who’s not. They did that for like 5 minutes and instantly shifted to gundams & mobile suits fighting shiny blob monsters for the rest of the damn movie. It starts off a body snatcher movie with ELS fusing with potential Innovators by disguising themselves as vehicles and even humans. Not gonna lie, it was an interesting scene and added a level of mystique to the invasion, making us wonder if there are aliens unknowingly among us. One problem, It doesn’t fit a Gundam plot and doesn’t even last long. It gets worse when they just turn into the Federation’s mobile suits & spaceships to fight them. Like, these guys went from secretly infiltrating earth to being generic enemy units.
- My point is that the ELS are really forgettable villains that fail to leave an impact as villains. And I’m not saying that the concept of aliens couldn’t work, far from it (it worked really well in Re:Rise). What I’m saying is that if you don’t make them interesting or compelling in the series, then they won’t stand out in the show (take a look at Build Fighters).
- So overall, the world building started off ok in the beginning, but then went downhill the moment the ELS 1st appeared. I don't add anything interesting to Anno Domini, we’re just retold things we knew from the original series, & the ELS are really forgettable factions. Whatever it adds, it doesn’t complement the world at all (how easily you were beaten out by Ordinal Scale of all things).
- Mobile Suits:
- The best thing I can say is the designs aren’t half bad. They're well equipped for battle & provide some decent action. I'll criticize the fights being made to ward off our boredom, but the action still slaps. Starting with the CB suits, we got some over the top but decent designs.
- With Setsuna's Gundam, we got the poster boy himself, the 00 Qan [T]. In Spite of being my least favorite suit in the lineage, I can't deny that this design slaps. Keeping with the close combat aesthetic of the originals, it has a GN Sword V (that can turn into a gun), a GN shield with a beam gun, and a load of GN Sword Bits. The latter of which has a multitude of uses: it can slice enemies from afar, create a shield, make a portal, and combine with the GN Sword V to make a giant sword or a giant gun. This machine is the most OP Gundam of ALL TIME, so why isn't it my favorite? Simple, it's too OP. This thing has the power to slice a ship the size of the moon in half, it can shred suits in seconds effortlessly without moving an inch, and it can teleport. It gets wackier when it fuses with the ELS & basically becomes god-like. While we never see it in the anime, if you've seen clips from the SD games, it can morph its sword into a gun, grow tentacles, turn said tentacles into swords, and summon a metric shit ton of swords. Like….what. Look, I'm not complaining just because of the OP power scaling, because 00 can be over the top at times. But it's at least within reason. In season 2 and even season 1 for that matter, Setsuna does the over the top stuff. But those were important moments for his character. Him being the 1st to use Trans-Am, him starting up the 00 with, reconnecting Saiji & Louise with quantum brain waves, saving Lyle while allowing him to say his final goodbyes to Anew, and him connecting with the other meisters to keep fighting. They were insane moments that would fry a real robot fan’s brain, but it made sense on a thematic level. Something I can't say the same about the 00 Qan[T] or anything about this movie.
- Next we got Lockon’s machine, the Zabanya. Remember when both Dynames & Cherudim were expertly crafted to be sniping units to provide long range support? Well this machine said fuck it & went full heavyarms in it's loadout. It has a lot of missiles, pistols, and both rifle & shield bits. I don't really like that its shield bits have to combine to block incoming attacks. The moment he says “Firing without Targeting”, a part of my soul left my body. This is no longer the amazing sniping machine that we all love with its accurate pression & clever tactics, this is a glorified beam & missile spamming machine. I didn't even bring up the fact that it didn't even have any beam sabers or any form of offensive weapons. Like, what did they do to you man.
- We also got the birth child of both Arios & Archer, the Harute. Honestly, out of all of the CB machines in this movie, this one's my favorite. It's a good design that's evocative of the lineage of Allelujah’s Gundams. It has 2x GN Sword Rifles that can act as rifles, swords, & scissors (noice). It also got a pair of back cannons, a missile container, & some GN Scissor Bits. And like the suits that came before it, it can transform into a sexy fighter jet. Yanase knows his transforming Gundam designs, and this is no exception. I also do like the fact that it's a 2 seater, cementing Allelujah & Marie’s relationship. It also has a berserker system called the Marute mode, that's neat, I like it.
- Finally there's the Gundam piloted by someone who’s cool but rude, the Rapheal Gundam. In a lineage thick & curvy Gundams with the Virtue & Seravee, you would think that it would follow that tradition too, right? All of the thickness is relegated to his back and it just looks like the Nadeelah with a big ass backpack. My disappointment is immeasurable. It doesn’t even have the cool weapons of the original, all it has is a regular ass GN Rifle and a pair of GN Bazookas in the back. The only cool part is that the backpack can act as claws, separate itself to act as bits, and can transform into the Seravee Gundam. To add insult to injury, the damn thing only shows up once and blows itself up in the second battle.
- Now let's talk about 2 returning suits, the Dynames Repair & the 00 Raiser (GN Condenser Type). Dynames Repair only shows up for one scene to save Allelujah and Marie from the gooey chrome ETs, while providing fans with some fanservice. 00 Raiser (GN Condenser Type) on the other hand insults me the most for how it does a disservice to one of my all time favorite Gundam designs. The 00 doesn’t do a damn thing throughout the whole movie and then gets tentacle raped by the bad guys. I know that since it doesn’t have the original drives, it can’t do too much. But I expected it to do SOMETHING. I went in depth on why I love the 00 Raiser, why it’s Kanetake’s design at its peak. So seeing my all time favorite Gundam getting sidelined like this was a massive slap in the face for me. I
- think the worst thing about these designs is that they weren’t coordinated in the slightest. There’s no sense of planning, no moment of Sumeragi’s clever tactics, or any moments of the Gundams doing combo moves together.
- And there’s the mobile suits, and I can’t comment on them too much. The Union Flag Celestial Being type was pretty cool though with its GN sword II and smoke bomb, among other things. I also do like that Setsuna is using something outside of a Gundam to prove how good of a pilot he is. I love moments like this where Gundam Pilots use regular mobile suits, showing them how skilled they are.
- With that being said there’s not many suits I can really talk about from the Federation’s side. The GN-XIV looks way better than the original GN-X machines, but outside of the V-fin, it's just another GN-X machine. Same thing for the Gaga Cannon, since its OG suicide machine with cannons on its back. The Gadelaza on the other hand is actually a pretty cool design. The mobile armor has a big ass cannon, 4x Beam guns/Sabers on its sub arms, and a metric shit ton of missiles & fangs. The thing may have been piloted by a prick, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that scene. The only other suits worth talking about are the Brave Standard Test Type & Commander Test type. Both of which have the same weapons: 2x machine guns, a grenade, 2x GN machine guns, 2x GN beam sabers, 2x GN Cannons, 4x GN missiles, and a GN Beam Rifle. The only difference between the 2 is that the Standard type is greenish blue and piloted by random characters we barely know, while the Commander type is blue and is piloted by Graham Aker (right out of his weeb phase).
- Outside of those 3 mobile suits & mobile armor, everything else is just a space version of a MS from the previous seasons. Here's a list in case anyone's interested:
- Hellion Orbit Package
- Enact Orbit Package
- Xiaoshou
- Tieren Space type
- Flag Orbit Package Colony Guard Type
- Over Flag Astro Package
- Flag Orbit Package
- & Realdo Orbit Package
- I'll throw in the Realdo Hover tank too for safe measure.
- Check the wiki if you're curious about their loadout. I’m also not gonna cover the ELS’s GN-XIV, cause they're just the regular ass GN-XS but with purple GNParticles. T
- he only thing left to talk about is the fight scenes. Visually speaking, I thought the fights weren't half bad. They really used the movie’s budget and made the fights more fluid. However, spectacle is one thing, but substance is another. These fights may look good, but there's barely any weight to them. There's no prior drama with the enemy, any personal motive to fight, none of that. It's just to kill the aliens because “they're not like you & me. We must sound the drums of WAAAARRRR” (sorry I kinda lost it back there). All these fights feel like a distraction for how boring & convoluted the plot is, how easily you were beat out by Ordinal Scale of all things. It gets worse with the CGI of the ELS. 00 actually has pretty great CGI believe or not, since it has pretty good shading and is well animated. I don't know why, but in this movie it just looks worse. The animation is a little off, but it's mainly because it's overused.
- Overall, in spite of good action & some decent designs, I can't really call it remarkable. It all feels pointless if action just happens with no drama or suspense in the fight. The magic of well designed machines, tactically planned fights, and emotionally charged drama is now gone.
- The best thing I can say is the designs aren’t half bad. They're well equipped for battle & provide some decent action. I'll criticize the fights being made to ward off our boredom, but the action still slaps. Starting with the CB suits, we got some over the top but decent designs.
- Verdict:
- Before I end things off, I'll give you my 2 cents on the ending, it fucking sucks. Once Setsuna & Tierra smoke weed and see those weird ass images in the ELS’s mother ship, they go to their homeworld and bring a big ass flower. That's enough to stop the ELS from absorbing everything. That's it, THAT'S HOW THE FUCKING MOVIE ENDS? Not only the ending feels out of nowhere, be feels unearned. The only positive thing to come out of this ending is the epilogue. We see Aeolia Schenberg at a younger age talking about how he hates how selfish people are in the world with his buddy and it's honestly a well written scene with great voice acting. Then we cut to a spaceship with a group of people getting ready to explore the next frontier. And then it ends with Setsuna visiting an old Marina. If the movie didn't exist & the epilogue (modified of course) was in S2, it would've been a perfect way to end the series. But we just don't live in that world, don't we.
- After rewatching this movie for the review, I've rewatched Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale as a palate cleanser. And judging by the amount of time I've mentioned said film in the review, I can confidently say that this is exactly what I expect from a movie following up a show; the story is new while fitting it with the themes of the show, the characters have new roles & arcs, the new characters contribute something to the story, the world building adds something new that adds insight to what came before it, the fights are motivated through drama, and the ending leaves a positive impact on the series. Awakening of the Trailblazer does none of that as the story has plots that don't feel like a Gundam story, the returning characters aren't given anything to do outside of killing metallic slime monsters, the new characters contribute next to nothing to the plot, adds something that felt out of left field, the fights have no weight to them & are there to ward away our boredom, and the ending makes no sense. Even with the context of me being an SAO fan, as a Gundam fan I'll say this, if the Sword Art Online movie is a better job than the Gundam movie, you're doing something very, VERY WRONG.
- So ya, this movie is as bad as I remembered it. Does it ruin both seasons of Gundam 00? Surprisingly no, not in the slightest. I'll always rewatch both seasons annually and it'll still remain my favorite anime of all time. I'll just treat the movie like how Pacific Rim fans treat uprising, or how Shrek fans treat Shrek the Third. However, there's one thing that I can't deny. This movie was the beginning of an era I would like to call, “The Dark Age of Mecha”.
2024.04.12 22:35 phojayUK Will AI Push Civilisation Over The Edge?
This is a long one, so go and make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and we'll shoot through this as quickly as possible. Bare in mind that this is the result of a few random thoughts that came to me the other day, and I've not yet had the opportunity to really go through it meticulously and gather any supporting evidence or anything, but I'm working on it.
Consider this an advanced brainfart for now.
Before you read any of this, you'll need some background information on Calhoun's rodent “utopia” experiments, designed to test how they reacted to an overpopulated environment. I suggest watching this video to catch up and then come back here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgGLFozNM2o
So my main consideration here, is that maybe human cultures aren't derived through either political will or from the collective decisions made by the population. What if cultures are for the most part biological in nature? Not just in terms of genetics but in terms of environmental impact on collective neuro-chemistry during development stages.
What if mass cultural change is in fact the 'behavioural sink', written about in Calhoun's observations.
For example, shortly after the First Agricultural Revolution in Europe, scientists observed a sudden dip in human population. You would expect human population growth to exponentially rise after going from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one, but the opposite was true. Now it is true that some of this may have been due to the spread of disease spurred on by closer living arrangements (there is evidence of plague) but what if it was also due to a cultural shock factor limiting human reproduction?
Moving from tribal nomadic hunter gatherers to large settlements may have had a similar shock factor that modern populations are currently dealing with with increasing urbanisation. The religious changes in this period from animistic to polytheistic might also be representative of the significant changes in psychology that the society underwent.
Another example would be the Late Roman Empire. The largely urban dwelling heart of the Empire had suffered with a declining birthrate due to cultural stagnation, resulting in widespread use of abortion, contraceptives and 'alternative' sexual lifestyles. From the urban centre's point of view, the rise of the Roman Church and the replacement of Greco-Roman polytheism may have simply been a cultural readjustment as the culture healed from whatever stress factor had caused the initial stagnation.
If the idea that culture is simply 'group psychology', brought about by the environmental factors imposed on it, has some validity, then we may be in a world of trouble today. My main concern would be that the incredibly fast cultural changes that we're experiencing in the developed world, is in a way, our group-psychology adjusting to changes that may have already occurred.
In other words, post-modernism, nihilism and 'progressive' politics may simply be a species-wide biological response to increasing stressors after the industrial revolution – a process which started in earnest in the 1800s but has continued to accelerate in it's reach since. The incredibly quick changes in lifestyle after the industrial revolution has potentially caught up with us today, and post-modern philosophy, nihilism and "progressive" politics might in fact be a biological response, on a species level, to the rapid urbanisation, increasing sedentary lifestyles and (relative to historical standards) material abundance. The current deadlock between the so called left and right, rising urban violent crime, substance abuse and the rise in alternative sexual dysfunction such as transgenderism, may potentially be a biological or neurological response to stresses experienced as a result of modern society and urbanised environments in particular.
Much of this correlates with Calhoun's rodent experiments and this hypothesis is nothing new, parallels have been made between urban environments and the 'rat utopia' for decades - although if you add new data suggesting a looming population collapse in every developed nation in a few decades, it does in my (admittedly uneducated) opinion increase its likelihood.
Added to this are compounding issues impacting on fertility and birth rates, which as far as I can tell, also worryingly align with much of the behaviour seen in Rat Utopia: A. Feminism (potentially as discussed, actually a symptom of urban environments impacting group psychology and neurology rather than a cultural 'choice') expecting women to join the workforce which, all things relative, halves the wages and makes raising a family even more expensive and difficult.
B. A cultural emphasis on staying young and youthful for as long as possible, and therefore putting off having children for as long as possible. Examples are obviously all around us, with cosmetic surgery becoming mainstream and socially acceptable.
C. The resentment of children and motherhood in general, seeing children as a burden and eschewing child rearing duties. You only need to look around at Reddit to see the kind of anti-children sentiment and whilst that doesn't necessarily mean anything, look at the relative selfishness of the Baby Boomer generation which potentially led to half of the generational trauma.
D. Reducing sperm quality that compounds with each generation (ie, a father with a 50% reduction in sperm will pass this on to his son and so on), at least partially believed to be the result of contraceptives entering the environment (both human and bovine) and due to both lead pollution (that mostly stopped in the 1980s) and estrogen mimicking chemicals, often found in plastics and cleaning products.
E. The Rat Utopia conclusion was that there was two underlying causes for stresses within the experiment. The first was population density and the second was social density, which they hypothesised as being the worse of the two. The social density is the number of others you typically need to interact with on a regular basis and the rats in the experiment seemed to have their own version of Dunbar's Number. In humans it remains around 200, in rats it was somewhere around 12.
The social density issue for humans in modern society, with the addition of the internet, puts up another barrier to fertility and stressors. The creation of dating apps has led to the increase in "incels", because the 'dominant males' out compete the less dominant ones leading to 'chads' who quite often not interested in having families at all. Its been covered at length by various content creators so I doubt I need to explain this any further, but again, it seems to parallel the Rat experiments.
If there are parallels between the Rat Utopia and human society then the prognosis doesn't look great. Without fundamentally altering how society works from the top down, I suspect it will continue to nose dive on its current trajectory. If the theory that culture is actually downstream from group-psychology, then an organic realignment is unlikely, even if everyone becomes aware of the problems. And it will likely accelerate with every generation. A top-down approach is also unlikely because it would require a genuine hardline dictatorship to fix the problems and deal with the resulting dissent from a society too broken to see why such measures would be necessary. The ruling elite would also need to give up their financial incentives willingly to solve the situation, which is unlikely since they're also a victim of their own success.
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
AI has in a short space of time acquired a cult-like, messianic hope that it will fix all of our problems. Elon Musk only a few days ago was in an interview explaining that AI could lead to an age of material 'abundance' but I am incredibly sceptical that this would solve anything. In fact I think it would actually increase the problem.
Whilst it is true that disruption to the labour market as the population declines may be mitigated by the use of automation and AI, I think the long-term implications of that would accelerate the decline in human civilisation and lead to an inevitable collapse. The reasons I think this, are:
In my view, most things that is seen as culturally positive now need to be reversed. If AI is unstoppable now then it needs to benefit all of humanity and not just the few. Urbanisation should be scrapped as study after study associates high population density with unhappiness.
In my view, land should be democratised and spread amongst the people, small-scale farms and towns need to become ubiquitous, and traditional family values restored as sacrosanct. Some form of spirituality should also fill the gap left behind in the wake of the "murder" of God, too.
In my view, real research should take place into the nature between infertility and possible behavioural changes due to environment and pollution, and not swept under the carpet just because it's inconvenient or offensive to minorities.
The Internet should return to being a tool and not a surrogate for real human interaction. Social media and dating apps should be banned and the people who continue to run them despite knowing the harms they cause, should face charges for mass-psychological abuse. This is all best case scenario according to my own views. Others will no doubt disagree with me - including most notably the powers that be. It is not really an option, and even if the powers that be did agree with me, I doubt they could fix things now without facing a significant backlash.
For the rest of us, I think we have to look for other ways to get ourselves out. In the book Brave New World, it presents a world of polar opposites. Whilst most live in giant cities and are kept from committing suicide through the drug Soma, others live as 'savages', a borderline medieval existence living amongst the ruins of the old world.
As it happens, the now infamous article by a WEF contributor “you vil own nothing", also had this exact same scenario. People living outside of the system, hanging on to their humanity somehow. I'm not sure whether the authorities would allow communities to live outside of the smart grid forever, but the fact that even their own writers acknowledge that some would rather live outside of their system speaks volumes.
Honestly, I think the only solution open to ordinary people at this point, presuming things don't collapse in the next few years anyway, is to try and live as a 'savage'. Homesteading or off-grid living is no doubt the direction we should strive but that doesn't help the millions currently stuck living inside the system, inside cities, in an awful economy. The only solution for the vast majority right now, is to seek to live in a sort of parallel society. Not be tempted by the endless automated conveniences, dump the smart phone and start seeking like-minded souls to actually interact with in real life.
submitted by phojayUK to conspiracy_commons [link] [comments]
Consider this an advanced brainfart for now.
Before you read any of this, you'll need some background information on Calhoun's rodent “utopia” experiments, designed to test how they reacted to an overpopulated environment. I suggest watching this video to catch up and then come back here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgGLFozNM2o
So my main consideration here, is that maybe human cultures aren't derived through either political will or from the collective decisions made by the population. What if cultures are for the most part biological in nature? Not just in terms of genetics but in terms of environmental impact on collective neuro-chemistry during development stages.
What if mass cultural change is in fact the 'behavioural sink', written about in Calhoun's observations.
For example, shortly after the First Agricultural Revolution in Europe, scientists observed a sudden dip in human population. You would expect human population growth to exponentially rise after going from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one, but the opposite was true. Now it is true that some of this may have been due to the spread of disease spurred on by closer living arrangements (there is evidence of plague) but what if it was also due to a cultural shock factor limiting human reproduction?
Moving from tribal nomadic hunter gatherers to large settlements may have had a similar shock factor that modern populations are currently dealing with with increasing urbanisation. The religious changes in this period from animistic to polytheistic might also be representative of the significant changes in psychology that the society underwent.
Another example would be the Late Roman Empire. The largely urban dwelling heart of the Empire had suffered with a declining birthrate due to cultural stagnation, resulting in widespread use of abortion, contraceptives and 'alternative' sexual lifestyles. From the urban centre's point of view, the rise of the Roman Church and the replacement of Greco-Roman polytheism may have simply been a cultural readjustment as the culture healed from whatever stress factor had caused the initial stagnation.
If the idea that culture is simply 'group psychology', brought about by the environmental factors imposed on it, has some validity, then we may be in a world of trouble today. My main concern would be that the incredibly fast cultural changes that we're experiencing in the developed world, is in a way, our group-psychology adjusting to changes that may have already occurred.
In other words, post-modernism, nihilism and 'progressive' politics may simply be a species-wide biological response to increasing stressors after the industrial revolution – a process which started in earnest in the 1800s but has continued to accelerate in it's reach since. The incredibly quick changes in lifestyle after the industrial revolution has potentially caught up with us today, and post-modern philosophy, nihilism and "progressive" politics might in fact be a biological response, on a species level, to the rapid urbanisation, increasing sedentary lifestyles and (relative to historical standards) material abundance. The current deadlock between the so called left and right, rising urban violent crime, substance abuse and the rise in alternative sexual dysfunction such as transgenderism, may potentially be a biological or neurological response to stresses experienced as a result of modern society and urbanised environments in particular.
Much of this correlates with Calhoun's rodent experiments and this hypothesis is nothing new, parallels have been made between urban environments and the 'rat utopia' for decades - although if you add new data suggesting a looming population collapse in every developed nation in a few decades, it does in my (admittedly uneducated) opinion increase its likelihood.
Added to this are compounding issues impacting on fertility and birth rates, which as far as I can tell, also worryingly align with much of the behaviour seen in Rat Utopia: A. Feminism (potentially as discussed, actually a symptom of urban environments impacting group psychology and neurology rather than a cultural 'choice') expecting women to join the workforce which, all things relative, halves the wages and makes raising a family even more expensive and difficult.
B. A cultural emphasis on staying young and youthful for as long as possible, and therefore putting off having children for as long as possible. Examples are obviously all around us, with cosmetic surgery becoming mainstream and socially acceptable.
C. The resentment of children and motherhood in general, seeing children as a burden and eschewing child rearing duties. You only need to look around at Reddit to see the kind of anti-children sentiment and whilst that doesn't necessarily mean anything, look at the relative selfishness of the Baby Boomer generation which potentially led to half of the generational trauma.
D. Reducing sperm quality that compounds with each generation (ie, a father with a 50% reduction in sperm will pass this on to his son and so on), at least partially believed to be the result of contraceptives entering the environment (both human and bovine) and due to both lead pollution (that mostly stopped in the 1980s) and estrogen mimicking chemicals, often found in plastics and cleaning products.
E. The Rat Utopia conclusion was that there was two underlying causes for stresses within the experiment. The first was population density and the second was social density, which they hypothesised as being the worse of the two. The social density is the number of others you typically need to interact with on a regular basis and the rats in the experiment seemed to have their own version of Dunbar's Number. In humans it remains around 200, in rats it was somewhere around 12.
The social density issue for humans in modern society, with the addition of the internet, puts up another barrier to fertility and stressors. The creation of dating apps has led to the increase in "incels", because the 'dominant males' out compete the less dominant ones leading to 'chads' who quite often not interested in having families at all. Its been covered at length by various content creators so I doubt I need to explain this any further, but again, it seems to parallel the Rat experiments.
If there are parallels between the Rat Utopia and human society then the prognosis doesn't look great. Without fundamentally altering how society works from the top down, I suspect it will continue to nose dive on its current trajectory. If the theory that culture is actually downstream from group-psychology, then an organic realignment is unlikely, even if everyone becomes aware of the problems. And it will likely accelerate with every generation. A top-down approach is also unlikely because it would require a genuine hardline dictatorship to fix the problems and deal with the resulting dissent from a society too broken to see why such measures would be necessary. The ruling elite would also need to give up their financial incentives willingly to solve the situation, which is unlikely since they're also a victim of their own success.
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
AI has in a short space of time acquired a cult-like, messianic hope that it will fix all of our problems. Elon Musk only a few days ago was in an interview explaining that AI could lead to an age of material 'abundance' but I am incredibly sceptical that this would solve anything. In fact I think it would actually increase the problem.
Whilst it is true that disruption to the labour market as the population declines may be mitigated by the use of automation and AI, I think the long-term implications of that would accelerate the decline in human civilisation and lead to an inevitable collapse. The reasons I think this, are:
- Productivity is already at an all time high and humanity has never had so much material abundance - yet people are more unhappy than ever. Material consumption is not the issue. Meaning, purpose and the lack of human connection (and the inability for people to be able to relate and connect) is the primary driver for human misery, I would wager.
- There is already a huge disproportionate gap in power (finance is irrelevant because money is simply a reflection of authority) and AI will accentuate this, unless it is democratised to all - which is unlikely.
- The term 'crisis of meaning' has been doing the rounds in recent years. After post-modernism destroyed any means of self-identification, whether that be race, religion, family, gender or class, many people only found an identity in their work and if that goes due to AI then many people will have nothing to identify as or with. For decades, the accumulation of money or material possessions has been the only aspiration available to people in our culture. If AI leads to material abundance and joblessness, all meaning goes out of the window entirely. Suicide rates will be through the roof!
- Currently our civilisation is overly complicated but it is still vaguely understandable. If we imagine that humanity is inside a version of the Rat experiment, we can hope that our individual understanding of our own situation at least gives us some opportunity to make decisions that run counter to whatever our internal fight or flight mechanisms are telling us to do. However, if we allow an AI run our planet instead, then we run the risk of becoming no more aware of our surroundings than the rats in the utopia experiment. In other words, if we tell the AI to meet all of our basic physical needs then we are quite literally making ourselves into the test subjects, with no understanding of the way we're being potentially manipulated.
- Progressive institutions like the UN seem to value the idea of rewilding schemes and "hyper-urbanisation" using incredibly high population density and smart technology to tackle environmental degradation. People maybe already familiar with the memes associated with the WEF, "you vil eat the bugs, you vil live in the pod". Given everything we suspect about the potential dysgenic influence of living in close proximity to one another, this would result in a dystopian nightmare.
In my view, most things that is seen as culturally positive now need to be reversed. If AI is unstoppable now then it needs to benefit all of humanity and not just the few. Urbanisation should be scrapped as study after study associates high population density with unhappiness.
In my view, land should be democratised and spread amongst the people, small-scale farms and towns need to become ubiquitous, and traditional family values restored as sacrosanct. Some form of spirituality should also fill the gap left behind in the wake of the "murder" of God, too.
In my view, real research should take place into the nature between infertility and possible behavioural changes due to environment and pollution, and not swept under the carpet just because it's inconvenient or offensive to minorities.
The Internet should return to being a tool and not a surrogate for real human interaction. Social media and dating apps should be banned and the people who continue to run them despite knowing the harms they cause, should face charges for mass-psychological abuse. This is all best case scenario according to my own views. Others will no doubt disagree with me - including most notably the powers that be. It is not really an option, and even if the powers that be did agree with me, I doubt they could fix things now without facing a significant backlash.
For the rest of us, I think we have to look for other ways to get ourselves out. In the book Brave New World, it presents a world of polar opposites. Whilst most live in giant cities and are kept from committing suicide through the drug Soma, others live as 'savages', a borderline medieval existence living amongst the ruins of the old world.
As it happens, the now infamous article by a WEF contributor “you vil own nothing", also had this exact same scenario. People living outside of the system, hanging on to their humanity somehow. I'm not sure whether the authorities would allow communities to live outside of the smart grid forever, but the fact that even their own writers acknowledge that some would rather live outside of their system speaks volumes.
Honestly, I think the only solution open to ordinary people at this point, presuming things don't collapse in the next few years anyway, is to try and live as a 'savage'. Homesteading or off-grid living is no doubt the direction we should strive but that doesn't help the millions currently stuck living inside the system, inside cities, in an awful economy. The only solution for the vast majority right now, is to seek to live in a sort of parallel society. Not be tempted by the endless automated conveniences, dump the smart phone and start seeking like-minded souls to actually interact with in real life.
2024.04.08 13:27 berndscb1 I played through Cyberpunk 2077 last week
I rather enjoyed all the Witcher games to various degrees, so it was only a matter of time until I was going to try CP77 as well. There'll be heavy spoilers after this brief TLDR and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to hide and show it with a single click. Overall it was an enjoyable video game which sucked me in for a good week. Visually quite impressive, mechanically better than some other AAA titles I've seen, with an OKish story and some very good characters. But my negatives lie along the same axes: it has an aesthetic that mostly did not appeal to me; thematically it's unfocused, and it had a number of moments that I thought did not ring true. Perhaps my strongest criticism is that for almost everything CP77 does, another game has done it better in the past - in some cases already in the PS2 era.
Spoilers follow.
I skipped basically the entire hype cycle, but followed initial reviews and discussion to get basic impressions without too many details - I'd say I had spoilers of some game elements, but not too many. I played on Hard throughout, with a male protagonist (V) with corpo background. I put most of my points in Body (strength) and Technical Ability, playing with a mixture of hacking, shotgunning and stealth takeouts. And that already leads us to the first of the positives: on the whole all that worked really well for me. I especially liked the stealth gameplay: it seemed like enemies and objects were placed very carefully to give a satisfying stealth puzzle, and all the missions were well done in this way. I'd contrast this with Watch Dogs 2, where I gave up after a few missions because I felt I was given all the tools to solve a cool puzzle, but I didn't know how the game wanted me to use them, and perhaps neither did the game.
But just ignoring stealth also worked in CP77, and that's another plus. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR) I might have wanted to go for a guns blazing approach, but it never felt truly viable. Here I could choose whichever approach I wanted. Perhaps the balance wasn't quite there: in the beginning, all enemies were awful bullet sponges, but once I got better equipment and spent some points on attributes, I could just waltz in and the biggest problem was stepping over the corpses. Difficulty was mostly found in the early game and in one middle-game boss fight; the final boss went down quickly in the second attempt, even though I had many points unspent on my character - they became unnecessary in the late game where it really is just a power fantasy.
Switching topics, to another obvious positive: the graphics. I've always liked large cities to roam in, like the old GTA titles or Sleeping Dogs. Purely in terms of graphical fidelity, CP77 is at or near the top. Even still in GTA5, curved roads were a sequence of long straight segments, but with CP77 we're now almost at the point where we can no longer see objects being approximated by polygons. I played with a GTX 1660S - so lowish middle end, a few generations behind and no raytracing, but it looked really good and I had no serious issues. The actual gameplay was completely fluid at all times (though oddly the map screen wasn't, and rarely it would also chug at the end of dialogues). Even the view distance was good: pop-in was there, but not super visible unless I was specifically looking for it. I'd seen some RT-on videos where it was extremely obvious that light sources only appeared very close to the player, but apparently when you're playing yourself, you're less likely to notice such things, or maybe it shows up more with RT than without.
But visuals are not just about graphical fidelity, and here we come to things I liked less. The aesthetic of the game did not appeal to me. The city didn't actually seem that far removed from the present day - I've been to some real-world cities that were much more awe-inspiring with their skyscrapers, and much more eye-opening with the visible contrast between rich and poor (see also below), than anything I got to see in CP77. I expected a vision of the future, and did not feel that I got a credible or impressive one.
If anything, the game world is closer to 1977 than 2077, with fashion sense removed from the population and two additional wheels fitted to some cars for no reason. Go back another 100 years and you find yourself in the wild west, and I would have expected a similar step going another 100 years into the future. The source material (a tabletop RPG made in the 80s, set originally in 2013) might play a role - this used to be a near-ish future as imagined in the past. But even in the past, other genre-adjacent works had more inspiring visuals - Blade Runner, the Matrix, Midgar in FF7 or even concept art for DX:HR. Even games that look objectively terrible today had scenes that were visually very memorable: examples might be the airplane graveyard in GTA:SA, or the burning city in Witcher 1. It's a question of design, not graphics power, and I thought CP77 was weak in that regard. The one moment that impressed me the most were the endless heaps of trash outside the city - here the game made a point without saying anything or showing off a spectacular sight. Other than that there was little that I think I'm specifically going to remember.
Audio also deserves a mention. People often say that the game feels lifeless, and at times I had the same impression ("abandoned movie set" was a thought I had in one area), but I couldn't really put my finger on why. At some point I realized that the ambient sounds seem somewhat weak, muffled and remote. If I stand next to the not very busy road where I live, I can hear rather more going on. I think this is an area where they dropped the ball a little.
During the initial aircar flight over the city I immediately felt that an equivalent of the Vangelis soundtrack was absent. And I also did not enjoy the radio music selection at all - maybe I'm too old, but essentially all of it sounded like meaningless noise. I do wonder whether that might have been intentional, to contribute to the atmosphere of Night City being oppressive and unbearable - the cheery pop tunes of Vice City wouldn't have worked. There is noticeably a very different feeling to the music that plays in the epilogue after beating the final mission. If it was deliberate: hats off for creative vision, although purely from an "enjoyable gameplay" perspective I would have preferred something listenable on the radio. Even more generally perhaps there was an unresolveable conflict between making a fun game and one that was as dark and disturbing as they perhaps wanted it to be at times.
Let's come to story and themes. The corpo background immediately gave me an insight into how the corporations are portrayed. Apparently they are run like the Sith academy in KotOR: cartoonish pinky-at-the-mouth eeeevil, where you always plot the downfall of your superiour while defending against your underlings. Our boss blows up the heads of a roomful of people in the intro. Right here the game already loses impact, because with that kind of setup, you are never going to be able to make a serious point. The Sith academy was actually done way better because they developed a philosophy about it.
Night City is a terrible place, or so we are frequently told. But why? I never felt this was clearly shown, there always seemed to be a missing step between "1. This is Night City", and "3. Therefore people look for escape using sex, drugs and violence". Nobody really seems oppressively poor. Everyone and their dog is walking around with cyber implants which cannot come cheap. The Nomads out in the wilderness have enough resources to liberate serious military hardware. We meet a single mom at one point, and even her children are playing AR games. Perhaps it's just the well known phenomenon that no one is really poor, except people who don't matter and are therefore not shown.
Certainly V and some of his associates are having a bad time in Night City. But if you're goint to walk into a super-rich man's home, steal some secret technology and use it without knowing what it is, perhaps you've got yourself to blame for the consequences, rather than Night City. Anyhow, the sequence of events leading up to this is worth examining.
At the start, we do some jobs with an established team: ourselves as V, Jackie, and T-Bug in the background. Jackie is V's best friend, and here again it's more like we're being told than shown. Part of the problem is that modern video games have terrible pacing - all the dialogues are slow and ponderous, you can easily spend the better part of an hour just going through cutscenes and dialogue trees and watching animated characters talk. Because of that, although we as players know Jackie for (guessing) around 4 hours, we don't actually see much of the relationship. IIRC we play two missions with him, and at the beginning of the second one the game already makes it clear he will be killed off. (Even his animations switch to "staggering" at one point before he's even shot). When he died, he was still just an NPC to me. Contrast with, for example, Obi-Wan in Ep IV, whom we know for maybe an hour, and whose death means so much more because he gets to do things in that time. Thus, Jackie's entire death/funeral sequence was the first point where I clearly felt: this does not ring true.
The beginning of the game revolves around themes like "get into the big leagues", or "become a legend of Night City" (apparently also a motif in the marketing material leading up to the game's release). Johnny Silverhand is a legend, and he blew up a tower with a nuclear bomb. So right there I can see possibilities for an RPG story: do progressively darker things, go out in a blaze, and be considered as a legend by people who don't know what really happened. Or do the good path and get the "bad" ending where you're forgotten. But the story turns into an entirely different direction: Johnny Silverhand aka Keanu starts to live in our brain, and from here it's about desperate survival, if we can spare the time while exploring the open world. We must find people involved in the creation of the biochip or the software for creating the engram, and try to find some way out before the chip kills you. I'm only speculating, but this switch looks to me like a development history fault line visible in the final product.
The new story from here almost feels a bit like "Blade Runner, from the other side" - there are quite a few parallels to the androids with a limited lifespan, trying to find their creators. Too bad Anders Hellmann is so much blander than J.F. Sebastian, but Silverhand makes up for it: I really enjoyed Keanu and his sarcastic, cynical commentary on game events.
The relationship with Johnny is a bit weird at times. Quite early on he suddenly started a serious conversation asking me lines like "would you take a bullet for me?" At that point I'd barely talked to him in any meaningful way, and the whole scene didn't seem genuine. In fact, based on experience with Witcher 3 and Ciri I thought this was where I was supposed to lock in a good ending and dutifully said yes. Maybe I did things in a slightly unintended order and got the conversation at the wrong time.
So, V now does a number of story missions to find a cure, while also doing normal videogame protagonist things - solve a few mysteries, be nice to everyone, make friends that way, get romance options. All of that is basically fine, sometimes even heartfelt, but not highly inspired, and I did at some point think "maybe I should be inviting real friends to dinner instead of pressing F to stir the pot". Related to this, a side mission led me to find a kidnapper and his victims, and the whole thing seemed to be played just for shock value. Maybe it was intended to hold up a mirror to the player ("you are just like the people in this game who buy BDs of killings"), but to that I would answer: you made those cut scenes, not me, I'm just here to enjoy a video game. It would be ironic for a game to have the message "do something else with your time". Perhaps it would be appropriate for a game in this setting, but it still felt too muddled to be sure if there was intention behind it all. I did learn my lesson and ended up skipping the latter half of another mission which I knew was going in a similar direction ("I wasn't cross about that at all. I thought they nailed it." -- Cohh).
There is also some open-world content, where we learn that "assault in progress" means that if you look around, you'll see a group of thugs patiently standing around waiting for you to select the right weapon with which to shoot them in the face. They'll have readables on them which I found so consistently terrible (stream of consciousness wall-of-text verbal diarrhea about gonks and chooms and eddies) that I quickly stopped reading them. Apparently there is some potentially neat worldbuilding going on here, but I found it way too inaccessible and tedious to bother with. The open world aspects aren't one of the game's strong points, but also nowhere near as bad as billiards in GTA IV or some of the stuff in Watch Dogs.
We all know the game did not launch in a good state. Even today, it still has more than its fair share of jank and glitches. I've seen things you people would not believe... bosses in T-pose in the Grand Imperial Mall... vans materializing near the Arasaka base... anyhow, maybe all that's best saved for a comment below to stop this from getting even longer. The shortcomings are never far from the surface, even when the game is flowing well.
In the end, I completed one of several possible endings and rode into the sunset with Panam. V won't live, but then again - who does?
In the end, did the game have anything to say? Overall, unfortunately, my feeling is "no". As I said above, the corporations can't be taken seriously, and I didn't see much credible background for the gangs either. Other games did it better in the past - DX:HR was at least a serious attempt at exploring a "what if" science fiction scenario, developing a premise ("what if cyber implants were available") and looking at it from almost too many angles. SOMA explored the relationship between the human brain and the "software" running on it, and something similar appears in Shadowrun Dragonfall (a cyberpunk game I loved much more than CP77). These themes also occur in CP77, but they take a back seat - there's no clear focus, no commitment. The Delamain quest could have been an exploration of issues around AI, but it was purely played for laughs. Johnny seemed to want to say something serious about it at the end, but it was just another does-not-ring-true moment.
But nobody really complained about that sort of thing in The Witcher. Perhaps a sci-fi scenario creates different expectations, but the creators of the game approached cyberpunk like any other video game setting and used it purely as a background.
The gameplay elements, while largely enjoyable, have also been done better in past titles. Even very old GTA games were much more advanced when it came to providing a living, interactive city, not to mention M+KB driving physics, and I'd name Dishonored for way better on-foot movement and some aspects of stealth. Finally... for city visuals, I'd even go so far as to say I still prefer New York in The Division over Night City.
There was a lot to enjoy in CP77, but in my eyes this game is a bit of a mess and not a genuine milestone achievement.
submitted by berndscb1 to patientgamers [link] [comments]
Spoilers follow.
I skipped basically the entire hype cycle, but followed initial reviews and discussion to get basic impressions without too many details - I'd say I had spoilers of some game elements, but not too many. I played on Hard throughout, with a male protagonist (V) with corpo background. I put most of my points in Body (strength) and Technical Ability, playing with a mixture of hacking, shotgunning and stealth takeouts. And that already leads us to the first of the positives: on the whole all that worked really well for me. I especially liked the stealth gameplay: it seemed like enemies and objects were placed very carefully to give a satisfying stealth puzzle, and all the missions were well done in this way. I'd contrast this with Watch Dogs 2, where I gave up after a few missions because I felt I was given all the tools to solve a cool puzzle, but I didn't know how the game wanted me to use them, and perhaps neither did the game.
But just ignoring stealth also worked in CP77, and that's another plus. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR) I might have wanted to go for a guns blazing approach, but it never felt truly viable. Here I could choose whichever approach I wanted. Perhaps the balance wasn't quite there: in the beginning, all enemies were awful bullet sponges, but once I got better equipment and spent some points on attributes, I could just waltz in and the biggest problem was stepping over the corpses. Difficulty was mostly found in the early game and in one middle-game boss fight; the final boss went down quickly in the second attempt, even though I had many points unspent on my character - they became unnecessary in the late game where it really is just a power fantasy.
Switching topics, to another obvious positive: the graphics. I've always liked large cities to roam in, like the old GTA titles or Sleeping Dogs. Purely in terms of graphical fidelity, CP77 is at or near the top. Even still in GTA5, curved roads were a sequence of long straight segments, but with CP77 we're now almost at the point where we can no longer see objects being approximated by polygons. I played with a GTX 1660S - so lowish middle end, a few generations behind and no raytracing, but it looked really good and I had no serious issues. The actual gameplay was completely fluid at all times (though oddly the map screen wasn't, and rarely it would also chug at the end of dialogues). Even the view distance was good: pop-in was there, but not super visible unless I was specifically looking for it. I'd seen some RT-on videos where it was extremely obvious that light sources only appeared very close to the player, but apparently when you're playing yourself, you're less likely to notice such things, or maybe it shows up more with RT than without.
But visuals are not just about graphical fidelity, and here we come to things I liked less. The aesthetic of the game did not appeal to me. The city didn't actually seem that far removed from the present day - I've been to some real-world cities that were much more awe-inspiring with their skyscrapers, and much more eye-opening with the visible contrast between rich and poor (see also below), than anything I got to see in CP77. I expected a vision of the future, and did not feel that I got a credible or impressive one.
If anything, the game world is closer to 1977 than 2077, with fashion sense removed from the population and two additional wheels fitted to some cars for no reason. Go back another 100 years and you find yourself in the wild west, and I would have expected a similar step going another 100 years into the future. The source material (a tabletop RPG made in the 80s, set originally in 2013) might play a role - this used to be a near-ish future as imagined in the past. But even in the past, other genre-adjacent works had more inspiring visuals - Blade Runner, the Matrix, Midgar in FF7 or even concept art for DX:HR. Even games that look objectively terrible today had scenes that were visually very memorable: examples might be the airplane graveyard in GTA:SA, or the burning city in Witcher 1. It's a question of design, not graphics power, and I thought CP77 was weak in that regard. The one moment that impressed me the most were the endless heaps of trash outside the city - here the game made a point without saying anything or showing off a spectacular sight. Other than that there was little that I think I'm specifically going to remember.
Audio also deserves a mention. People often say that the game feels lifeless, and at times I had the same impression ("abandoned movie set" was a thought I had in one area), but I couldn't really put my finger on why. At some point I realized that the ambient sounds seem somewhat weak, muffled and remote. If I stand next to the not very busy road where I live, I can hear rather more going on. I think this is an area where they dropped the ball a little.
During the initial aircar flight over the city I immediately felt that an equivalent of the Vangelis soundtrack was absent. And I also did not enjoy the radio music selection at all - maybe I'm too old, but essentially all of it sounded like meaningless noise. I do wonder whether that might have been intentional, to contribute to the atmosphere of Night City being oppressive and unbearable - the cheery pop tunes of Vice City wouldn't have worked. There is noticeably a very different feeling to the music that plays in the epilogue after beating the final mission. If it was deliberate: hats off for creative vision, although purely from an "enjoyable gameplay" perspective I would have preferred something listenable on the radio. Even more generally perhaps there was an unresolveable conflict between making a fun game and one that was as dark and disturbing as they perhaps wanted it to be at times.
Let's come to story and themes. The corpo background immediately gave me an insight into how the corporations are portrayed. Apparently they are run like the Sith academy in KotOR: cartoonish pinky-at-the-mouth eeeevil, where you always plot the downfall of your superiour while defending against your underlings. Our boss blows up the heads of a roomful of people in the intro. Right here the game already loses impact, because with that kind of setup, you are never going to be able to make a serious point. The Sith academy was actually done way better because they developed a philosophy about it.
Night City is a terrible place, or so we are frequently told. But why? I never felt this was clearly shown, there always seemed to be a missing step between "1. This is Night City", and "3. Therefore people look for escape using sex, drugs and violence". Nobody really seems oppressively poor. Everyone and their dog is walking around with cyber implants which cannot come cheap. The Nomads out in the wilderness have enough resources to liberate serious military hardware. We meet a single mom at one point, and even her children are playing AR games. Perhaps it's just the well known phenomenon that no one is really poor, except people who don't matter and are therefore not shown.
Certainly V and some of his associates are having a bad time in Night City. But if you're goint to walk into a super-rich man's home, steal some secret technology and use it without knowing what it is, perhaps you've got yourself to blame for the consequences, rather than Night City. Anyhow, the sequence of events leading up to this is worth examining.
At the start, we do some jobs with an established team: ourselves as V, Jackie, and T-Bug in the background. Jackie is V's best friend, and here again it's more like we're being told than shown. Part of the problem is that modern video games have terrible pacing - all the dialogues are slow and ponderous, you can easily spend the better part of an hour just going through cutscenes and dialogue trees and watching animated characters talk. Because of that, although we as players know Jackie for (guessing) around 4 hours, we don't actually see much of the relationship. IIRC we play two missions with him, and at the beginning of the second one the game already makes it clear he will be killed off. (Even his animations switch to "staggering" at one point before he's even shot). When he died, he was still just an NPC to me. Contrast with, for example, Obi-Wan in Ep IV, whom we know for maybe an hour, and whose death means so much more because he gets to do things in that time. Thus, Jackie's entire death/funeral sequence was the first point where I clearly felt: this does not ring true.
The beginning of the game revolves around themes like "get into the big leagues", or "become a legend of Night City" (apparently also a motif in the marketing material leading up to the game's release). Johnny Silverhand is a legend, and he blew up a tower with a nuclear bomb. So right there I can see possibilities for an RPG story: do progressively darker things, go out in a blaze, and be considered as a legend by people who don't know what really happened. Or do the good path and get the "bad" ending where you're forgotten. But the story turns into an entirely different direction: Johnny Silverhand aka Keanu starts to live in our brain, and from here it's about desperate survival, if we can spare the time while exploring the open world. We must find people involved in the creation of the biochip or the software for creating the engram, and try to find some way out before the chip kills you. I'm only speculating, but this switch looks to me like a development history fault line visible in the final product.
The new story from here almost feels a bit like "Blade Runner, from the other side" - there are quite a few parallels to the androids with a limited lifespan, trying to find their creators. Too bad Anders Hellmann is so much blander than J.F. Sebastian, but Silverhand makes up for it: I really enjoyed Keanu and his sarcastic, cynical commentary on game events.
The relationship with Johnny is a bit weird at times. Quite early on he suddenly started a serious conversation asking me lines like "would you take a bullet for me?" At that point I'd barely talked to him in any meaningful way, and the whole scene didn't seem genuine. In fact, based on experience with Witcher 3 and Ciri I thought this was where I was supposed to lock in a good ending and dutifully said yes. Maybe I did things in a slightly unintended order and got the conversation at the wrong time.
So, V now does a number of story missions to find a cure, while also doing normal videogame protagonist things - solve a few mysteries, be nice to everyone, make friends that way, get romance options. All of that is basically fine, sometimes even heartfelt, but not highly inspired, and I did at some point think "maybe I should be inviting real friends to dinner instead of pressing F to stir the pot". Related to this, a side mission led me to find a kidnapper and his victims, and the whole thing seemed to be played just for shock value. Maybe it was intended to hold up a mirror to the player ("you are just like the people in this game who buy BDs of killings"), but to that I would answer: you made those cut scenes, not me, I'm just here to enjoy a video game. It would be ironic for a game to have the message "do something else with your time". Perhaps it would be appropriate for a game in this setting, but it still felt too muddled to be sure if there was intention behind it all. I did learn my lesson and ended up skipping the latter half of another mission which I knew was going in a similar direction ("I wasn't cross about that at all. I thought they nailed it." -- Cohh).
There is also some open-world content, where we learn that "assault in progress" means that if you look around, you'll see a group of thugs patiently standing around waiting for you to select the right weapon with which to shoot them in the face. They'll have readables on them which I found so consistently terrible (stream of consciousness wall-of-text verbal diarrhea about gonks and chooms and eddies) that I quickly stopped reading them. Apparently there is some potentially neat worldbuilding going on here, but I found it way too inaccessible and tedious to bother with. The open world aspects aren't one of the game's strong points, but also nowhere near as bad as billiards in GTA IV or some of the stuff in Watch Dogs.
We all know the game did not launch in a good state. Even today, it still has more than its fair share of jank and glitches. I've seen things you people would not believe... bosses in T-pose in the Grand Imperial Mall... vans materializing near the Arasaka base... anyhow, maybe all that's best saved for a comment below to stop this from getting even longer. The shortcomings are never far from the surface, even when the game is flowing well.
In the end, I completed one of several possible endings and rode into the sunset with Panam. V won't live, but then again - who does?
In the end, did the game have anything to say? Overall, unfortunately, my feeling is "no". As I said above, the corporations can't be taken seriously, and I didn't see much credible background for the gangs either. Other games did it better in the past - DX:HR was at least a serious attempt at exploring a "what if" science fiction scenario, developing a premise ("what if cyber implants were available") and looking at it from almost too many angles. SOMA explored the relationship between the human brain and the "software" running on it, and something similar appears in Shadowrun Dragonfall (a cyberpunk game I loved much more than CP77). These themes also occur in CP77, but they take a back seat - there's no clear focus, no commitment. The Delamain quest could have been an exploration of issues around AI, but it was purely played for laughs. Johnny seemed to want to say something serious about it at the end, but it was just another does-not-ring-true moment.
But nobody really complained about that sort of thing in The Witcher. Perhaps a sci-fi scenario creates different expectations, but the creators of the game approached cyberpunk like any other video game setting and used it purely as a background.
The gameplay elements, while largely enjoyable, have also been done better in past titles. Even very old GTA games were much more advanced when it came to providing a living, interactive city, not to mention M+KB driving physics, and I'd name Dishonored for way better on-foot movement and some aspects of stealth. Finally... for city visuals, I'd even go so far as to say I still prefer New York in The Division over Night City.
There was a lot to enjoy in CP77, but in my eyes this game is a bit of a mess and not a genuine milestone achievement.
2024.04.02 21:07 armin-lakatos Rating all games I have played so far
I have decided that after 10 full years of gaming, it is time to rate most if not all the games I have played up to this day. This might not be the best subreddit for this, so please remove if not appropriate. I am only rating games I have completed or have played for a considerable time. I'll try to be as objective as possible and provide my main thoughts for each game.
I'm happy to hear your comments, comparisions and criticism regarding these games (and also my ratings) and I'm also open to any recommendations on further games to play based on my interests. I'm also happy to discuss more about these games and offer advice whether it's worth purchasing or not.
submitted by armin-lakatos to gaming [link] [comments]
I'm happy to hear your comments, comparisions and criticism regarding these games (and also my ratings) and I'm also open to any recommendations on further games to play based on my interests. I'm also happy to discuss more about these games and offer advice whether it's worth purchasing or not.
- 2064: Read Only Memories - 7/10 - Interesting and sometimes thought-provoking side scrolling interactive drama that manages to remain lighthearted, but has a lot more depth than it seems at first.
- ABZU - 7/10 - Beautiful and calming, a lovely atmospheric game that manages to tell a story without any words.
- Alien: Isolation - 6.5/10 - Might be the most terrifying game I've ever played, but it overstays its welcome and drags on for too long with little to no change in gameplay.
- Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs - 5.5/10 - Fails to live up to The Dark Descent, but it's still a fine game on its own, even if it is more of a walking simulator than horror.
- Amnesia: Rebirth - 6/10 - Not exactly the expected renaissance of the series, but still a decent horror in its own regard.
- Amnesia: The Bunker - 7.5/10 - Unexpectedly good, even for its shortness, the introduction of new mechanics is a fresh breath of air, all while managing to stick to the roots of the franchise.
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent - 8/10 - A classic that revitalized psychological horror and made the hide-and-seek game design popular in the genre. My personal favourite.
- Among Us - 6.5/10 - Unique idea, very fun with friends if you all know how to play the game.
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - 6.5/10 - Highlight of the franchise that is made fun by the pirate gameplay and the atmosphere of the Carribbeans.
- Assassin's Creed: Origins - 5/10 - The first AC game with the new open-world RPG direction, something I despise even more than the original design of the franchise. It was an okay game and the combat was fun, but it's flawed in almost every every other aspect. Wasted potential to revive the series.
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - 5/10 - Fairly divisive game that I also tried to really like, but it fails at the obligatory turf-war and lackluster storyline, despite its very promising characters and historical figures.
- A Way Out - 6/10 - Unique idea with average execution, quite fun with a friend, but it's a one-time game at best.
- Badland - 7/10 - Creative and well-executed platformer that's even more fun with friends.
- Batman: The Telltale Series - 6/10 - I'm not a huge Telltale fan, this one was alright though. Nothing special, but it was sometimes interesting and/or exciting.
- Beyond: Two Souls - 6.5/10 - Very unique idea, with sometimes great, sometimes horrendous execution. Despite the craziness of the story, it manages to be relatable. It's a shame we never got a sequel.
- Broforce - 7/10 - Pure chaos, very fun mindless 2D action with tons of irony. Even better with friends.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - 6/10 - Decent FPS that managed to stay mostly grounded compared to other entries in the series.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 6.5/10 - Probably the peak of the franchise and a milestone for FPS games as well.
- Cities: Skylines - 6.5/10 - Dethroned the SimCity franchise from being the top city builder, but it's painfully empty without the add-ons or mods, not to mention the hellish traffic management.
- Cooking Companions - 7/10 - Inspired by DDLC, it manages to be a unique and fresh nightmare in the horror visual novel genre.
- Cry of Fear - 6.5/10 - Frustratingly clunky with many more flaws, but it still beats many high-profile horror games and is among the scariest (and most depressing) efforts in gaming history.
- Dead by Daylight - 5/10 - Interesting concept that gets a bit boring and repetitive unless played with friends. It's also a shame that lots of characters are locked behind paywalls.
- Detroit: Become Human - 7/10 - Interesting game with sometimes questionable design choices and storylines. I wish it delved a bit deeper into its themes and questions, 2064: ROM handled the topic much better.
- Doki Doki Literature Club - 6.5/10 - An unforgettable, unique and creative nightmare lies beneath probably the cheesiest horror dating sim I've ever seen.
- Doom (2016) - 7/10 - Paved the way for the modern era of the franchise, incredibly fun, but sometimes lacks variety.
- Doom Eternal - 8/10 - Improves on the previous game in almost every aspect and cranks up the action to 11. One of the best FPS games of all time.
- Erica - 4.5/10 - An okay live action interactive drama with a somewhat creative story. The game is nothing special and while it's worth a playthrough, you wouldn't miss much by skipping it.
- Fall Guys - 6/10 - Fun online platformer made mostly for kids, sometimes dominated by tryhards for some reason. I still play every once in a while with friends.
- Flower - 6.5/10 - Beautiful game about reviving a depressed city. Just like ABZU and Journey, it manages to tell its story without words.
- God of War (2018) - 8.5/10 - Revitalized the series with a whole new direction that was an absolute hit. Bar a few minor flaws, it's an amazing game, can't wait to play the sequel.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 7.5/10 - Stands the test of time amazingly well with very little flaws and is a core childhood memory not just for me but most likely lot of others.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - 5.5/10 - Very atmospheric, but also fairly outdated, even if it improves on many of the flaws of its predecessor.
- Grand Theft Auto III - 4/10 - Revolutionary at its time, but even compared to San Andreas, its many flaws make it a much weaker entry in the series.
- Grand Theft Auto IV - 7/10 - A new chapter in the franchise and a considerable upgrade from the 3D era, even if it sometimes falls flat. Probably the best story in the series.
- Grand Theft Auto V - 8/10 - Most influental game in the series and arguably of the modern gaming era. While it's sometimes missing that special feel of GTA games, it's still one of the strongest entries in the franchise.
- Heavy Rain - 3/10 - So many ridiculous design choices and plot twists. It has a decent concept, but the execution is poor to say the least. This is the game that walked so Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human could run.
- Helltaker - 5/10 - Equal part horny and wholesome, a fun short puzzle game with many loveable demons and a soundtrack that slaps.
- Here They Lie - 7/10 - Equally good for a horror game and a walking simulator, it provides a thought-provoking and quite depressing and disturbing allegory about today's society.
- Hollow Knight - 10/10 - Excellent example of a 2D action-adventure metroidvania, a near perfect game that sets the bar insanely high for all indie developers, which is a remarkable feat considering it was pretty much made by 2 people. Easily my favourite game.
- Horizon Chase Turbo - 5.5/10 - Not to be confused with the open-world action-adventure series, this is a simple and fun arcade racing game that is a lot of fun with friends.
- Horizon Forbidden West - 8/10 - Huge improvement compared to the first game in almost all aspects and manages to stay interesting and fun even if it's plagued by boring modern open-world game design and forgettable dialogues.
- Horizon Zero Dawn - 7/10 - Incredibly unique concept and story with fun combat that is held back (but improved upon in later games) by poor animation and dialogue writing and lack of interesting side content.
- Hue - 7/10 - Very creative puzzle / platformer that utilizes colors as its core mechanic. I wish it was longer and had more complicated levels.
- Journey - 7/10 - The most popular and probably the best in its genre, beatiful and emotional game.
- Just Cause 3 - 6/10 - Fun open-world action that gives you a lot of freedom, but the pacing is terrible with all the mandatory turf-war, not to mention the horrific vehicle controls.
- KickBeat - 5.5/10 - Very underrated rhythm game with huge potential that's held back by its lack of depth and track selection.
- Late Shift - 5/10 - Fun live action interactive drama that takes us through a normal guy's night who gets caught up in a robbery. Perfect for a different kind of movie night, but nothing more than that.
- Life Is Strange - 5/10 - It was a complete miss for me and I do feel that it could have been a lot more objectively as well. The plot twists were more on Heavy Rain's level and the overall game didn't feel as compelling as others in the genre, despite the time travelling mechanic.
- Mafia III - 5.5/10 - Very atmospheric game with great soundtrack and fun main missions made frustratingly boring with mandatory turf-war gameplay.
- Outer Wilds - 9.5/10 - Incredible exploration game with probably the most creative and unique concept ever and also with a near perfect execution. This is the game I'd love to experience again for the first time, only going in blind is recommended.
- Outlast - 6.5/10 - Often compared to Amnesia (and sometimes as the better one), but it didn't click for me that well. The atmosphere is great, but the gameplay gets old after a while, despite the frequent change of setting.
- Outlast 2 - 4.5/10 - Not quite the sequel Outlast deserved. Way too over the top with the gore and shock factor to be effective, visually very dark or confusing at times and overall not that interesting, even if it has its moments.
- Planet of the Eyes - 6/10 - Cute little platformer that has all the usual mechanics for the genre. Great for a short playthrough.
- Portal - 9/10 - Classic platformer with a very unique concept, a remarkable game that tells a great story despite its very sterile environment and small amount of dialogue.
- Portal 2 - 9.5/10 - Even better than the first one, the sequel manages to keep the original concept of Portal and wildly expand on it in lots of aspects. Excellent game.
- Ratchet & Clank (2016) - 7/10 - I never played anything else in the series, so I don't have any comparison, but it's a really good lighthearted action-adventure, something that's quite rare in the industry nowadays.
- Rebel Galaxy - 6/10 - Insanely good soundtrack and overall great atmosphere with decent space combat, but the gameplay loop gets boring quite fast and the game is fairly grindy, not to mention the lackluster story and exploration that seems more promising in the beginning.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9/10 - The pinnacle of modern gaming, probably the most complete game ever made, considering all genres. It has its flaws and drags on a bit towards the end, but overall, it's an excellent and very well made game.
- Resident Evil 7 - 7/10 - A good effort on the revival of the series and a nice return to the original roots of the franchise in first-person. It's a shame the Baker family storyline ends so fast, the first 1-2 hours are among the best in horror gaming.
- Rocket League - 6.5/10 - Decent game with a very toxic community, but still a lot of fun regardless, even better with friends. However, ever since Epic bought the game, it's been going downhill.
- Rome: Total War - 7/10 - Despite its many flaws, broken mechanics and outdated graphics, it's still one of the best turned-based strategies I've ever played.
- Rome: Total War 2 - 6/10 - Despite all the hate it gets from the community, I still found this sequel a decent one, even if I don't agree with some of the design choices and mechanics.
- SimCity 4 - 6.5/10 - Albeit outdated in many aspects, it's a clear contender for the best city builder ever made. Great for nostalgia.
- Slay the Spire - 9/10 - I'm into neither roguelikes nor card games, so can't compare, but this is a phenomenal combination of both. The mechanics are simple yet so in-depth, I feel I'm only scratching the surface after almost 100 hours.
- SOMA - 8.5/10 - Amazingly well-written and rather thought-provoking horror that sticks with you for a long time and is among the best in the genre. Might not be the scariest, but definitely quality.
- Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion - 5/10 - A one-time fun ride that has the most potential for giving heart attacks. Gets quite disturbing at times, but mostly repetitive towards the end.
- Spore - 4/10 - One of my childhood favourites, but looking back, it's a very simplified (and at times boring) game for kids, especially if you consider what it was originally meant to be.
- Star Wars Battlefront - 6/10 - Fun multiplayer for fans, but severely lacks depth and is somewhat a disappointment for the much anticipated revamp of the Battlefront series.
- Star Wars Battlefront II - 6/10 - Infamous for its terrible launch and approach to microtransactions, EA managed to dig the game out of the grave, but it is still lacking in many departments. At least the atmosphere is spot on most of the time.
- Stellaris - 7.5/10 - The most approachable RTS of Paradox and one that is also not completely empty without the DLCs (although it's definitely more fun with them). Very fun space empire sim that allows for a wide variety and flexible roleplay (again, more so with add-ons).
- Subnautica - 8/10 - Easily the best and most unique survival game, only held back by lack of optimalization and an abundance of bugs and glitches. Would be rated higher if not for all the technical issues. Also, it severely needs multiplayer.
- Superhot - 7.5/10 - Incredibly creative and unique FPS where time only moves when you do. Apparantly more fun in VR, but it was just as fine on flatscreen. Shame it's so short.
- The Coffin of Andy and Leyley - 6/10 - Edgy visual novel / interactive drama that may or may not turn into an incest dating sim upon full release. Has some creative writing and meta design choices and is worth a playthrough if you are okay with its themes.
- The Last of Us - 8/10 - Great game with one of the best stories ever written in video games. The gameplay loop may get a bit stale, but the story and the atmosphere make up for it.
- The Sims 3 - 6/10 - One of my childhood favourites. Unique concept and design, but somewhat lackluster execution that is only improved by paid additional content.
- This War of Mine - 8/10 - Very atmospheric and emotional game that shows the ugly side of war. Resource management can get unbalanced during playthroughs both ways and that sometimes ruins the immersion, but overall, great game.
- Titanfall 2 - 9/10 - Probably the best FPS I've ever played. Not only it has amazing gunplay and spectacular missions but also a great story, loveable characters and very well-written dialogues. It's a shame it's so short.
- TrackMania Nations Forever - 6/10 - One of the games I grew up on and made me interested in the series. Cool game, even if it lacked customization.
- TrackMania Turbo - 6/10 - Even if it's dead online, I still play every once in a while. I'd give it a much higher score if not only 2 out of 4 track types would be enjoyable.
- Tropico 5 - 6.5/10 - Fun dictator simulator and city builder that goes for entertainment more than for realism. The advisors' dialogues are golden.
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - 6/10 - The first title of a great franchise. Clearly has some outdated design choices and it's not as polished and balanced as the others, but still a decent game.
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.5/10 - Often regarded as the best in the series in many aspects, while I don't see it that way, I have to concede that it's easily the best from the Nathan Drake Collection.
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - 6.5/10 - While not as spectacular and high-stakes as Among Thieves, it's still a good entry with some crazy set pieces.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - 8/10 - The best in the series and an overall remarkable TPS that stands among the best shooters. Some of the most spectacular set-pieces and action scenes I've ever seen are from this game, not to mention the emotional story and beautiful graphics (especially for its time).
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - 7.5/10 - Fine addition to UC4 and a great chance to see the rest of the cast shine. Not much different from the previous title, but it's nice to see Chloe as the protagonist.
- Until Dawn - 6/10 - A decent interactive horror that offers a fun movie night (and a lenghty one) with friends or even alone. Not too scary and it mostly builds on cheap jumpscares, but it's a fun ride for a one-time playthrough.
- Watch Dogs - 6/10 - Compared to its E3 trailer, sure it's a huge disappointment, but despite its flaws and all, it's still a decent game with fun enough gameplay.
- Watch Dogs 2 - 6.5/10 - Slight improvement in gunplay and the overall open-world, but insanely cringey and weak storyline. Nevertheless, it's a fun game, worth a playthrough.
- What Remains of Edith Finch - 8/10 - A beautiful walking simulator that blends some of the most creative minigames, game designs and set pieces mixed with a vastly emotional story. Absolutely recommended, shame it's so short.
- XCOM 2 - 8/10 - Very entertaining and incredibly unforgiving turn-based strategy that's capable of making anyone swing from a state of triumphant euphoria to complete despair in a matter of seconds. I've never went from strategic genius to enormous fool so fast and so often, absolutely recommended for strategy fans.
- Zombi - 7.5/10 - Criminally underrated survival horror that is, despite its flaws, one of the best in the zombie genre.
2024.03.29 00:41 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 2: The Sequel Season of Payoff
When it comes to season 2 of any show, there’s 4 things that I look for (guidelines made by Schaffrillas): Expand the Universe, Continue the story, introduce/expand on themes, & leave an impact on the franchise. Many S2 anime I’ve seen absolutely fail at these, but thank god 00 S2 is not one of those anime. Season 2 is just as good as season 1 and is just the perfect follow up season. It follows the story right after season 1, it goes deep into certain aspects of Anno Domini, expands on the themes of the anime, and definitely leaves a lasting impact on the franchise. This beats out Destiny & dare I say Zeta as the best sequel season of all of Gundam. It may not be perfect, but its easily stands on its own as a really solid Gundam series.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to Gundam [link] [comments]
- Plot:
- 4 years after operation “Fallen Angels”’ where all the economic blocks destroyed Celestial Being, A new faction known as the A-Laws grew corrupt & abused their power under the orders of the Innovators. So Setsuna & all of the surviving members of Celestial Being reunited to stop them. Along the way, they learn more about Aeolia’s true goal behind his plans.
- Despite the 1st season ending on a high note, there were still parts that hinted at the possibility of a 2nd season: Ribbon’s Betrayal, who Tierra is, Nena’s survival, the reveal of the 00, and so on. In a bad sequel season, these aspects would’ve been ignored (I’m looking at you IBO season 2), but 00 doesn’t do these and fully acknowledges them.
- It also manages to tell new stories as well, like the attack on the Memento Mori, the Coup d'etat at the Africa tower, and the recapture of Veda. All of these are interesting stories that make the anime worth watching, as they perfectly connect back to the 1st season. However, not every aspect landed, but I’ll get to some later. We also must discuss the elephant in the room,how much it mimicks Zeta. While some considered this a negative point, I honestly think it handled it better than Destiny since it's not a one-to-one copy. It has some aspects inspired by Zeta, not to the point where it's copying it. Overall, season 2 has a really strong start.
- Characters:
- It’s safe to say that the majority are just as strong as the original seasons, and the anime even expands on certain parts of these characters, with some new characters included. Starting of with CB of course, Setsuna makes a comeback with a bang. He saves Saji, destroys some automatons, and holds out against some A-Laws with his damaged Exia. Now that's how you make a comeback. This anime also develops his character a whole lot more; such as exploring how killing his parents impacted him, his guilt on his inability to save Lockon, who was in the Gundam who saved him, & even the change he's going through lately. And the character growth doesn't stop there as the Meisters get some time to shine.
- Tierra is a massive improvement from season 1, as he has grown more mellow towards the group. He's more accepting of his mistakes and isn't as hard on perfection like he was in S1. We also finally learn who he really is. We know in S1 that he had a strong connection with Veda & wasn't fully human, but we didn't get much info beyond that. In S2, we finally learn that he’s a biological terminal known as an Innovade made to support Veda. This leads to an inner turmoil that makes him question if he & CB are really going along with Aeolia’s plan.
- As for Lockon’s replacement, since was killed off in the 1st season the most logical replacement is of course his twin brother, Lyle Dylandy (yeah we might as well bring it up). If you were a massive Neil Dylandy fan, then you were one of two camps; you liked Lyle as much as you liked Neil or you think he’s a cheap copy who should’ve been someone else. I’m the former as I thought they did a pretty good job differentiating him from his brother. For one, he has better control of his emotions, making decisions more rationally, only lashing out when Katharon is being attacked by the Federation. He also takes the revelation of Setsuna being part of the group who killed his family way better than Neil, as the former nearly shot him for that.
- As for Allelujah, while not having too many stakes in the plot, he still has something to do with him finally learning who Soma really is. I’ll go more into detail later on, but it makes sense that they would’ve interacted eventually, with them being from the Super Soldier Institute. I also do like the idea of Marie Parfacy (Soma’s real name) giving Hallelujah his name as it was a really nice detail. I will say him not wanting her to fight was kinda weird, but it makes way more sense towards the end.
- As for the other Members old & new, safe to say they’re just as loveable as they were in the 1st season, with the new ones serving their place just as well. Ian Vashti is just as funny as before and we get some insight on his life before joining CB. We also get to see both his wife & daughter, who are also fun characters. Linda is a fun & caring person who shows us that CB has more members than we expected. Mileina, while not replacing Chris or Lichtendahl after what happened, does provide an upbeat attitude that definitely lightens the room, so it’s really hard to hate her. I also love how much of a nosy romantic she is when she snoops around other’s love lives. She also has a crush on Tierra, which I also find cute.
- Lasse & Feldt returns too, and while not contributing too much, it was nice to see them. Anew Returner also serves as both a new recruit & as a love interest to Lyle. As a character herself, she is pretty decent. Those two have some real chemistry together, making what happens next really sad.
- But of course I have to talk about Sumeragi Lee Noriega. I think her character is well expanded upon as we finally learned that she used to be an AEU commander who incidentally led her soldiers, including a soldier she loved, to their deaths due to false information. And after seeing the deaths of both Chris and Lichtendahl, of course she'll start off reluctant to join CB again. Luckily she joined again and she's as great as she was in the original season. I also like that her relationship with Billy has expanded and we finally learned how they met. We also know that she once knew Katy, giving her a rivalry with her that's pretty interesting.
- Now it's time to talk about the two other new recruits, Saiji Crossroads & Marie Parfacy. Saiji starts the series very against CB to where he held Setsuna at gunpoint. Some may say that Saiji is annoying here, but if you view his situation from his POV, then you’ll get where he’s coming from; his girlfriend lost her family & arm to a Gundam he thought was part of CB (I know it’s from Trinity, but just bare with me) and sister because she got too deep into learning about CB. And then the man who he thought was a part of those events is the man standing in front of him, of course he would freak out like that. But even so, he’s still sorta selfish at 1st. But all of that changed when he inadvertently revealed Katheron’s base to the Federation, showing that his naive thinking has consequences, earning him a Tierra slap. This, along with what he sees what Louise has become, really pushed his character forward into helping CB. I also like his dynamic with Ian, which makes sense since they’re both mechanics. My only complaint is that I wished he interacted with the other Meisters outside of Setsuna (especially with Allelujah since he was the one who saved him in S1).
- As for Marie, I think they did a great job with her character. Expanding her relationship with Allelujah was a good idea and it’s better than the rivalry in S1 for the reason I’ve mentioned with said Meister. They expanded on her backstory a little more, with her being unable to interact with the world until given another personality, which also explains Allelujah’s duo personality. As for her relationship with him, I found it as cute as Shiro & Aina (rushed, sure. But they’re still really cute with each other). I’ll get to more of her character when I get to Sergei & Andrei. But overall, the crew (old & new members) are just as likable as before.
- Now let's get to the new factions, Katheron, the A-Laws, & the Innovators. Katheron is unfortunately the weakest as they're not as memorable as the rest. Not necessarily because they’re bad characters, it’s just that they don’t have much to do in the plot outside of showing how evil the A-Laws are. Both Marina & Shirin return, but don’t add to much as they aren’t given much to do. Marina just babysits some children & writes a song, which stops a fight I guess (it’s more than what Kuudelia did in IBO S2, I’ll say that). While Shirin is supposed to be the second in command of Katheron, neither she nor Klaus do much. Klaus is your generic leader character who doesn't affect the plot until the end where he gets into a shootout to protect some kids & sends his troops into battle. Also there’s that reporter Ikeda from JNN, but he also doesn't have much of a purpose either. Again, Katheron aren’t bad, I just wish that they were involved in the plot a whole lot more.
- As for the A-Laws, while the majority of them (Goodman, Rindt, & Homer) are just generic bad guys, everyone else was pretty good. Especially Katy, as she has way more to do. As I mentioned earlier, Sumeragi knew her & Billy, as it was revealed that they went to the same college together. This makes their rivalry a whole lot more interesting as both are well coordinated tactical forecasters, making their battles an interesting game of chess. I also do like that, unlike the majority of the A-Laws commander, she's more 3-Dimensional as she doesn't agree with their methods. That attack on the Africa Tower was the final straw, making her turn against them & temporarily join CB in their final fight. Also, more Patrick is always a good thing.
- Billy is a whole other story. After learning who Sumeragi is (or to him, Lisa Kujo), he loses it & joins the A-Laws. In his POV, it makes sense considering what happened in season 1. However, unlike Katy who eventually grew out of it, Billy’s resentment was still there until he & Sumeriagi talked it out (with some GN particles to help out).
- While I’m on the subject of Billy, I might as well bring up one complaint that a lot fans have, and that of Graham Aker’s return as a Char Clone known as Mr. Bushido (name a more weeb nickname). Some say it “ruined his character” when he put on his mask, and like, did we watch the same anime, cuz he’s just fine. He’s still the cocky but honorable soldier from S1. I don’t really have too much to say, as he’s just kinda there. But his fights with Setsuna are top tier though.
- And then there’s Sergei Smirnov, and I’m happy that they preserve his character. He’s still an honorable father-like soldier who cares about his soldiers. Also do like how they expanded on his previous life, as he once had a wife & son way before he met Soma. The former unfortunately died in a mission defending the Orbital elevators, while the latter resent him for that. This adds more depth to his relationship with Soma, as he wants to make up for his failings as a father with her.
- He also had an old friend named Pang Hercury, that adds a lot to his past as a soldier. While Pang himself didn’t have too much time to shine, I do like that he represents the soldiers not part of the A-Laws who resent their actions. It’s a really good plot point and made Sergei realize how corrupt the A-Laws are.
- Now let's get to the new members of the A-Laws, Louise Halavy & Andrei Smirnov. Louise is the last person you’ve expected to become a soldier and I like how it’s handled. She progressively gets more and more deranged as her hatred for the Gundams grows. She went from spoiled but sweet girl from S1 to a cold blooded soldier who nearly killed the man he loves just because he interacted with CB.
- As for Andrei, he’s honestly my least favorite character in the series. I won’t really go into a rant why, all you need to know is that I find his obsession with Louise a little creepy & what he did to his father is beyond irredeemable, leading to Soma’s rampage.
- Now let's get to the Innovators (mainly Ribbons & Regene). I won’t really talk about Revive, Heling, Bring, or Divine as they all function as just antagonists and not much else. As for Ribbons, he’s so delightfully hateable that he makes for an effective villain, as he’s a snake with a god complex who manipulates & pulls strings to get what he wants. People tend to forget that an effective villain doesn’t have to be complex, but to be someone who we want to see defeated. First, get us to hate them, which is pretty easy. Then make them seem unbeatable, and he also does this really well. He has Veda & the Federation at his disposal, along with an elite group of powerfully Innovators & Ali Al Saachez, that gives him an edge over Celestial Being that makes him seem unstoppable. He’s also good at manipulating people, as he has control of Louise, eventually Anew, & nearly got to Tierra and Setsuna with his promise to return access to Veda & him revealing that he was the one who saved Setsuna in the 0 Gundam. This makes him all the more dangerous as he slither into any scenario to get what he wants. Also Ali Al Saachez is just a delightful bastard who finally gets his just desserts at the hand of Lyle in the most satisfying death ever.
- As for Regene Regetta, I do like that she starts off as a simple follower, but grows to resent Ribbons after belittling her too many times.
- We finally have to talk about Wang Liu Mei & Nena. Wang Liu Mei was way more proactive in this season, as she served as a double agent to aid both CB & the Innovators. Ya, we also learned that her family forced her to become head of the family business and the pressure finally got to her. As for Nena, they don’t really do too much with her character outside of being Li Mei’s servant and eventually betrays her in my favorite episodes “The Door of Change”, which led to the most brutal revenge kill ever.
- The TL;DR is that the characters are still as well written as they were in Season 1. Each of them are given a great character arc, some depth to them and get the payoff they all deserve. All of them contribute to the story in some shape or form, making the anime more engaging because of it.
- World Building:
- While in season 1 had a more focus on its world as a whole, season 2 doesn’t have that luxury. We mainly focus more on the Innovators, the cruel methods of the A-Laws, Katheron, and Celestial Being. While this is a negative to some, to me I think it makes sense to expand on those aspects instead. We’re already well versed in Anno Domini, so the anime doesn’t need to reiterate things we already know and expand on previous concepts that weren’t focused on until now, which is kinda the whole point of a sequel. So let's start off with CB, and it's nice to see them expanded on a whole lot more. We learn that they’re a bigger group and we learn a little more about Aeolia’s plan. I also do like that Ptolemy gets more offensive equipment to defend itself, it’s all terrain ability, & its ability to use Trans-Am with the help of the Gundams (being perfectly displayed at the attack on the Memento Mori).
- As for the A-Laws, while not the most compelling group of villains, they serve their role pretty well. They not only have more resources to rival CB, they also have the power to manipulate the media. At first, I thought this ability was kinda lame, but as I've grown older I thought this made the A-Laws more unstoppable as no one will oppose them if they don't know about their heinous actions. It goes to show that the power of any faction in any Gundam series is public reception.
- They also have support from the Innovators (or Innovades), who are enhanced biological terminals of Veda with Quantum Brain Waves, which grants them telepathy. Both of these forces add a lot of stakes to the series. They also have these machines called Automatons that are basically kill on sight robots that can also make deep fakes. These attributes make these things genuinely scary (kinda creepy that this anime predicted A.I. generated content).
- As for Katheron, I can't really say too much about them, as they mainly serve as cannon fodder for the A-Laws to highlight “how evil they are”. You can remove them and nothing will change. Which is such a shame, because I like the idea of a rebel group joining CB.
- So overall, while less in detail than the original, there's still interesting stuff to get invested in. It expands on Anno Domini by expanding on things that were established in S1 that weren't fully explained. It does what a sequel does in terms of world building really well & makes those aspects more interesting (something Destiny & IBO S2 did poorly)
- Mobile Suits:
- If the 1st season cooked with their mobile suits, then season 2 seasoned it & chef’s kiss. All of these were designed to perfection, all were improved from their predecessors, and the predecessors return with a vengeance. Both Gundams & mobile suits were designed to bring out their A-Game, and it shows in the series.
- Now let’s start with the Gundams of Celestia Being;
- starting with the Gundam the show is named after, the 00 Gundam. This is easily my favorite Gundam, of ALL TIME (right next to Exia of course). With its twin drive system, dual beam sabers, dual GN swords II, and 2x Katars that can combine into a shield, this is a machine made for melee combat. And then it combines with the 0 Raiser to become the 00 Raiser, making it the ultimate machine. And my god that perfect introduction, may I say that this scene ruined me. Cuz since that day, I’ve been in love with dual wielders (ok, maybe Sword Art Online convinced me of that, but that’s besides the point). Kanetake just perfected the art of close combat mecha here and no designer will ever top this magnum opus. Setsuna just gets the best machines, whenever he encounters bigger machines than him, he talks shit to them, calls them a bitch, and then slices and dice them. So whenever there’s a game where I can be a duel wielder I’ll typically be the dual wielder. Hell the HG 00 Raiser got me into building Gunpla and why I even liked Build Divers more than Fighters (a discussion for another time). And I know some of you guys are gonna be like, “If I was a Gundam pilot I would use a big ass sword”, I think you’re crazy for picking that, you a fucking lonitic for picking it. You want to carry a big slab of metal that weighs down your mobility, can that’s fine. But you know what you can do in any RPG, every RPG protagonist carries hunk of metal. That’s not even the coolest weapon in the series. It’s cannons, you should use cannons, bitches love cannons. I’m just saying that no one can do sharp symmetrical mecha like Kanetake Ebikawa. There’s a reason why 00 is the face of the Gundam wiki.
- However, the other gundams unfortunately don’t share the same kind of iconic resonance. They’re still top tier designs, people just overlook them since their original designs were so iconic. Even so, Yanase worked to make these designs look good and I honestly think he did a really good job. Visually speaking, they just don’t equate to the original designs. But in terms of equipment, they’re sure as hell a massive improvement.
- Starting with the successor to Virtue, Gundam Seravee has a whole lot more going for it. For one, its 2x GN bazookas can now shoot consecutively & can combine for more firepower. As it also has 4x GN Cannons that not only shoot & combine with the GN bazookas, they can also turn into beam sabers. That’s right, Seravee can also use multiple beam sabers without the need to shed its armor. Instead, it has a backpack that can transform into its own separate unit known as Seraphim. It's basically like one of those G-bits from AWGX. You can tell that past experiences really molded these machines.
- Next, there’s the Cherudim Gundam, being the successor to Dynames. While keeping its role as a long range sniping machine, it has some new weapons to handle close ranged encounters. Like the Dynames, it has a GN Beam Sniper Rifle, 2x GN Beam pistols, & waist mounted GN missiles, but the 1st 2 have new features. The Rifle can now fold up into a beam submachine gun and the pistols have a beam resistant blade on each of them for both blocking & dishing out some melee attacks. Later in the series, it gets 2 kinds of bits, shield bits for defense & and rifle bits for attacking from a distance (the shield bits also have beam guns as well). All of this makes the Cherudim versatile for any situation.
- And finally there’s the Arios Gundam, successor to the Kyrios. Instead of a handheld GN beam sub machine gun, there’s one built into both of his arms. It does have a regular handheld GN Beam rifle though. It also doesn’t have a shield that transforms into a claw anymore, instead it can open its nose in fighter mode and crush any enemy caught in it.
- It doesn’t have any drastic changes from the Kyrios, but like 00 it has its own support unit that can dock with it, The GN Archer (a transforming GM with a GN Drive). Not only its combination of both Kyrios’s Tail Unit (that missile bomber) & Tail Booster (that boost with the cannons), its own MS that can transform between MS mode & fighter mode.
- All of these changes to the Gundams make them more versatile and adaptable to any situation, hence why Celestia Being will remain the best team in the Gundam franchise. They’re well coordinated together, and can handle any situation they're in. When there’s a mecha team, they have to be like a superhero team, and I mean that. There’s 5 more Gundams that I’ll talk about (3 of which are returning suits), but I’ll get to those in a little.
- Now lets get to the A-Laws machines, and honestly they don’t have the flavor as the last season’s grunts had in terms of diversity. The 3 economic blocks had very distinct suits that are different from one other (with the expectation of the AEU). These designs are still fine, but I just missed the other ones.
- The GNX-III is basically the OG GNX, but with a lance with a built in GN rifle
- The Trilobite looks pretty neat for a mobile armor, with its claws & missiles
- The Ahead is a little more interesting as its based on the Tieren Taozi (even has the same designer, Kenji Teraoka). Too bad its weapons are basically the same of those the GNX.
- Yeah, these designs make me miss the old grunts. At least Katheron and some Federation forces has them in blue spades (Flag, Realdo, Tierans, Enfs, Enacts, & Helios) and we even get to see the predecessor to the Tierans in the form of the Fathom in a flashback. Hell we even get to see the Tieran All Region Type (which is a Taozi usable by regular people).
- The best A-Laws suits are easily the ones Mr. Bushido uses:
- The Ahead Sakigake type is better looking machine with its short & long GN beam katanas
- Masurao being the 1st non gundam to use Trans-Am with its GN long & Short beam sabers being named after his fallen comades, head beam cannon, & chest beam guns
- And his final suit, Susanowo with 2x Shiranui physical swords that combine into the Souten naginata and has a big ass beam cannon in its chest.
- Graham Aker may have gone full weeb, but at has better suits than the rest of the A-Laws. Innovators on the other hand has some great designs.
- The Gadessa being a long range bombardment type with the GN Mega Launcher. It also has some beam sabers for close encounters
- The Garazzo is a more close combat type machine with 2x GN beam claws (a beam saber on each finger), 14x Spikes, and 2x GN vulcans. Same thing for the Gaddess with a GN Heat saber & fangs (poor Anew)
- The Empruss being a Mobile Armor with a beam cannon, claws, and tazers. This is more of a precursor for the Regnant. That one is a transformable unit that has a beam cannon that can curve & follow its target and claws that can turn into fangs
- We also got the Gaga units that are just kamikaze machines with nothing more than 2x GN vulcans and Trans-Am. This one’s kinda weak IMO since they’re just bland suicide bombers.
- These Innovator machines are really good at adding tension since they’re nearly stronger than CB’s Gundams, adding stakes to the story and leading to a lot of close calls. And some may think “this anime doesn’t have enough stakes” and I wonder if we’re talking about the same anime, there’s a lot of moments in the anime where I was at the edge of my seat.
- There’s also the Arche Gundam that has a GN buster sword, a beam saber on both legs, and fangs. A mobile suit for a true psychopath indeed.
- The Throne Drei returns, but it’s in a transport ship for the majority of the anime. And once it shows up it gets shredded by a revenge driven Louise.
- Not a big fan of those 2 gundams. But then, we got arguably the best evil gundam period, the Reborns Gundam. It has fangs, tasers, a buster rifle, the ability to turn into a Guncannon, this thing is the perfect final boss. It led to easily the best final fight in any Gundam series. And the best part is that it doesn't end there. After Setsuna and Ribbons heavily damage their machines in combat, Ribbons takes the 00’s GN drive and books. However, the Reborns are seriously damaged so he takes the 1st ever Gundam and tries to kill Setsuna. The 0 Gundam only really has a beam rifle, shield, & beam saber, but it will have to do. As for Setsuna, he’s sent the Exia to finish off Ribbons once and for all. The 1st time we saw the Exia as the Repair II, it was heavily damaged and barely held its own as its GN Sword was sliced off But now as the Repair III, it finishes the fight against the man who brought him into this twisted world. Seriously, no words can express this fight is just pure perfection as it ends the series off perfectly.
- So in short, all of these designs were top tier and complement both the characters and story really well. Kanetake Ebikawa, Takayuki Yanase, Kenji Teraoka, Hitoshi Fukuchi, and Naohiro Washiro put everything into these designs and it shows in the final product. That’s not mentioning the fact that fight are really fucking good, dare I say perfect. So ya, these are my all time favorite Gundams PERIOD.
- Verdict:
- Before ending this review, let's talk about the ending of the series, its fucking brillant. Everyone got what they deserved and ends on the highest note any Gundam series can end on. Marina gets to save her home by building an orbital elevator, Lousie gets her treatment & reunites with Saji, Lyle gets his revenge & finally accepts the name of Lockon Stratos, the A-Laws dissolves & reformed the Federation with Katheron’s help, Patrick & Katy get married, Andrei continues his father’s legacy by being a good soldier, Allelujah & Marie look for a new beginning together, Tierra becomes one with Veda, even the fucking Innovades who didn’t die start new lives on Earth and Space. THIS IS HOW YOU END A SERIES.
- As for my overall thoughts on S2, if it weren’t obvious I freaking loved it as much as I loved the 1st season. While it does have issues, I would still lump this with S1 as it still real solid series that pays off what it did in the beginning. This is genuinely the best 2nd season I’ve ever seen in any anime. I’ve been talking a lot about the story in both this and S1, but honestly, that’s just what this anime is really shines. The animation is always good, the voice acting is always good, the mechanical designs are also good, but the story, that’s where 00 shines. And I can safely say, in my most humblest opinion, that it is a masterpiece. (just ignore the movie though)
2024.03.29 00:39 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 2: The Sequel Season of Payoff
When it comes to season 2 of any show, there’s 4 things that I look for (guidelines made by Schaffrillas): Expand the Universe, Continue the story, introduce/expand on themes, & leave an impact on the franchise. Many S2 anime I’ve seen absolutely fail at these, but thank god 00 S2 is not one of those anime. Season 2 is just as good as season 1 and is just the perfect follow up season. It follows the story right after season 1, it goes deep into certain aspects of Anno Domini, expands on the themes of the anime, and definitely leaves a lasting impact on the franchise. This beats out Destiny & dare I say Zeta as the best sequel season of all of Gundam. It may not be perfect, but its easily stands on its own as a really solid Gundam series.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to anime [link] [comments]
- Plot:
- 4 years after operation “Fallen Angels”’ where all the economic blocks destroyed Celestial Being, A new faction known as the A-Laws grew corrupt & abused their power under the orders of the Innovators. So Setsuna & all of the surviving members of Celestial Being reunited to stop them. Along the way, they learn more about Aeolia’s true goal behind his plans.
- Despite the 1st season ending on a high note, there were still parts that hinted at the possibility of a 2nd season: Ribbon’s Betrayal, who Tierra is, Nena’s survival, the reveal of the 00, and so on. In a bad sequel season, these aspects would’ve been ignored (I’m looking at you IBO season 2), but 00 doesn’t do these and fully acknowledges them.
- It also manages to tell new stories as well, like the attack on the Memento Mori, the Coup d'etat at the Africa tower, and the recapture of Veda. All of these are interesting stories that make the anime worth watching, as they perfectly connect back to the 1st season. However, not every aspect landed, but I’ll get to some later. We also must discuss the elephant in the room,how much it mimicks Zeta. While some considered this a negative point, I honestly think it handled it better than Destiny since it's not a one-to-one copy. It has some aspects inspired by Zeta, not to the point where it's copying it. Overall, season 2 has a really strong start.
- Characters:
- It’s safe to say that the majority are just as strong as the original seasons, and the anime even expands on certain parts of these characters, with some new characters included. Starting of with CB of course, Setsuna makes a comeback with a bang. He saves Saji, destroys some automatons, and holds out against some A-Laws with his damaged Exia. Now that's how you make a comeback. This anime also develops his character a whole lot more; such as exploring how killing his parents impacted him, his guilt on his inability to save Lockon, who was in the Gundam who saved him, & even the change he's going through lately. And the character growth doesn't stop there as the Meisters get some time to shine.
- Tierra is a massive improvement from season 1, as he has grown more mellow towards the group. He's more accepting of his mistakes and isn't as hard on perfection like he was in S1. We also finally learn who he really is. We know in S1 that he had a strong connection with Veda & wasn't fully human, but we didn't get much info beyond that. In S2, we finally learn that he’s a biological terminal known as an Innovade made to support Veda. This leads to an inner turmoil that makes him question if he & CB are really going along with Aeolia’s plan.
- As for Lockon’s replacement, since was killed off in the 1st season the most logical replacement is of course his twin brother, Lyle Dylandy (yeah we might as well bring it up). If you were a massive Neil Dylandy fan, then you were one of two camps; you liked Lyle as much as you liked Neil or you think he’s a cheap copy who should’ve been someone else. I’m the former as I thought they did a pretty good job differentiating him from his brother. For one, he has better control of his emotions, making decisions more rationally, only lashing out when Katharon is being attacked by the Federation. He also takes the revelation of Setsuna being part of the group who killed his family way better than Neil, as the former nearly shot him for that.
- As for Allelujah, while not having too many stakes in the plot, he still has something to do with him finally learning who Soma really is. I’ll go more into detail later on, but it makes sense that they would’ve interacted eventually, with them being from the Super Soldier Institute. I also do like the idea of Marie Parfacy (Soma’s real name) giving Hallelujah his name as it was a really nice detail. I will say him not wanting her to fight was kinda weird, but it makes way more sense towards the end.
- As for the other Members old & new, safe to say they’re just as loveable as they were in the 1st season, with the new ones serving their place just as well. Ian Vashti is just as funny as before and we get some insight on his life before joining CB. We also get to see both his wife & daughter, who are also fun characters. Linda is a fun & caring person who shows us that CB has more members than we expected. Mileina, while not replacing Chris or Lichtendahl after what happened, does provide an upbeat attitude that definitely lightens the room, so it’s really hard to hate her. I also love how much of a nosy romantic she is when she snoops around other’s love lives. She also has a crush on Tierra, which I also find cute.
- Lasse & Feldt returns too, and while not contributing too much, it was nice to see them. Anew Returner also serves as both a new recruit & as a love interest to Lyle. As a character herself, she is pretty decent. Those two have some real chemistry together, making what happens next really sad.
- But of course I have to talk about Sumeragi Lee Noriega. I think her character is well expanded upon as we finally learned that she used to be an AEU commander who incidentally led her soldiers, including a soldier she loved, to their deaths due to false information. And after seeing the deaths of both Chris and Lichtendahl, of course she'll start off reluctant to join CB again. Luckily she joined again and she's as great as she was in the original season. I also like that her relationship with Billy has expanded and we finally learned how they met. We also know that she once knew Katy, giving her a rivalry with her that's pretty interesting.
- Now it's time to talk about the two other new recruits, Saiji Crossroads & Marie Parfacy. Saiji starts the series very against CB to where he held Setsuna at gunpoint. Some may say that Saiji is annoying here, but if you view his situation from his POV, then you’ll get where he’s coming from; his girlfriend lost her family & arm to a Gundam he thought was part of CB (I know it’s from Trinity, but just bare with me) and sister because she got too deep into learning about CB. And then the man who he thought was a part of those events is the man standing in front of him, of course he would freak out like that. But even so, he’s still sorta selfish at 1st. But all of that changed when he inadvertently revealed Katheron’s base to the Federation, showing that his naive thinking has consequences, earning him a Tierra slap. This, along with what he sees what Louise has become, really pushed his character forward into helping CB. I also like his dynamic with Ian, which makes sense since they’re both mechanics. My only complaint is that I wished he interacted with the other Meisters outside of Setsuna (especially with Allelujah since he was the one who saved him in S1).
- As for Marie, I think they did a great job with her character. Expanding her relationship with Allelujah was a good idea and it’s better than the rivalry in S1 for the reason I’ve mentioned with said Meister. They expanded on her backstory a little more, with her being unable to interact with the world until given another personality, which also explains Allelujah’s duo personality. As for her relationship with him, I found it as cute as Shiro & Aina (rushed, sure. But they’re still really cute with each other). I’ll get to more of her character when I get to Sergei & Andrei. But overall, the crew (old & new members) are just as likable as before.
- Now let's get to the new factions, Katheron, the A-Laws, & the Innovators. Katheron is unfortunately the weakest as they're not as memorable as the rest. Not necessarily because they’re bad characters, it’s just that they don’t have much to do in the plot outside of showing how evil the A-Laws are. Both Marina & Shirin return, but don’t add to much as they aren’t given much to do. Marina just babysits some children & writes a song, which stops a fight I guess (it’s more than what Kuudelia did in IBO S2, I’ll say that). While Shirin is supposed to be the second in command of Katheron, neither she nor Klaus do much. Klaus is your generic leader character who doesn't affect the plot until the end where he gets into a shootout to protect some kids & sends his troops into battle. Also there’s that reporter Ikeda from JNN, but he also doesn't have much of a purpose either. Again, Katheron aren’t bad, I just wish that they were involved in the plot a whole lot more.
- As for the A-Laws, while the majority of them (Goodman, Rindt, & Homer) are just generic bad guys, everyone else was pretty good. Especially Katy, as she has way more to do. As I mentioned earlier, Sumeragi knew her & Billy, as it was revealed that they went to the same college together. This makes their rivalry a whole lot more interesting as both are well coordinated tactical forecasters, making their battles an interesting game of chess. I also do like that, unlike the majority of the A-Laws commander, she's more 3-Dimensional as she doesn't agree with their methods. That attack on the Africa Tower was the final straw, making her turn against them & temporarily join CB in their final fight. Also, more Patrick is always a good thing.
- Billy is a whole other story. After learning who Sumeragi is (or to him, Lisa Kujo), he loses it & joins the A-Laws. In his POV, it makes sense considering what happened in season 1. However, unlike Katy who eventually grew out of it, Billy’s resentment was still there until he & Sumeriagi talked it out (with some GN particles to help out).
- While I’m on the subject of Billy, I might as well bring up one complaint that a lot fans have, and that of Graham Aker’s return as a Char Clone known as Mr. Bushido (name a more weeb nickname). Some say it “ruined his character” when he put on his mask, and like, did we watch the same anime, cuz he’s just fine. He’s still the cocky but honorable soldier from S1. I don’t really have too much to say, as he’s just kinda there. But his fights with Setsuna are top tier though.
- And then there’s Sergei Smirnov, and I’m happy that they preserve his character. He’s still an honorable father-like soldier who cares about his soldiers. Also do like how they expanded on his previous life, as he once had a wife & son way before he met Soma. The former unfortunately died in a mission defending the Orbital elevators, while the latter resent him for that. This adds more depth to his relationship with Soma, as he wants to make up for his failings as a father with her.
- He also had an old friend named Pang Hercury, that adds a lot to his past as a soldier. While Pang himself didn’t have too much time to shine, I do like that he represents the soldiers not part of the A-Laws who resent their actions. It’s a really good plot point and made Sergei realize how corrupt the A-Laws are.
- Now let's get to the new members of the A-Laws, Louise Halavy & Andrei Smirnov. Louise is the last person you’ve expected to become a soldier and I like how it’s handled. She progressively gets more and more deranged as her hatred for the Gundams grows. She went from spoiled but sweet girl from S1 to a cold blooded soldier who nearly killed the man he loves just because he interacted with CB.
- As for Andrei, he’s honestly my least favorite character in the series. I won’t really go into a rant why, all you need to know is that I find his obsession with Louise a little creepy & what he did to his father is beyond irredeemable, leading to Soma’s rampage.
- Now let's get to the Innovators (mainly Ribbons & Regene). I won’t really talk about Revive, Heling, Bring, or Divine as they all function as just antagonists and not much else. As for Ribbons, he’s so delightfully hateable that he makes for an effective villain, as he’s a snake with a god complex who manipulates & pulls strings to get what he wants. People tend to forget that an effective villain doesn’t have to be complex, but to be someone who we want to see defeated. First, get us to hate them, which is pretty easy. Then make them seem unbeatable, and he also does this really well. He has Veda & the Federation at his disposal, along with an elite group of powerfully Innovators & Ali Al Saachez, that gives him an edge over Celestial Being that makes him seem unstoppable. He’s also good at manipulating people, as he has control of Louise, eventually Anew, & nearly got to Tierra and Setsuna with his promise to return access to Veda & him revealing that he was the one who saved Setsuna in the 0 Gundam. This makes him all the more dangerous as he slither into any scenario to get what he wants. Also Ali Al Saachez is just a delightful bastard who finally gets his just desserts at the hand of Lyle in the most satisfying death ever.
- As for Regene Regetta, I do like that she starts off as a simple follower, but grows to resent Ribbons after belittling her too many times.
- We finally have to talk about Wang Liu Mei & Nena. Wang Liu Mei was way more proactive in this season, as she served as a double agent to aid both CB & the Innovators. Ya, we also learned that her family forced her to become head of the family business and the pressure finally got to her. As for Nena, they don’t really do too much with her character outside of being Li Mei’s servant and eventually betrays her in my favorite episodes “The Door of Change”, which led to the most brutal revenge kill ever.
- The TL;DR is that the characters are still as well written as they were in Season 1. Each of them are given a great character arc, some depth to them and get the payoff they all deserve. All of them contribute to the story in some shape or form, making the anime more engaging because of it.
- World Building:
- While in season 1 had a more focus on its world as a whole, season 2 doesn’t have that luxury. We mainly focus more on the Innovators, the cruel methods of the A-Laws, Katheron, and Celestial Being. While this is a negative to some, to me I think it makes sense to expand on those aspects instead. We’re already well versed in Anno Domini, so the anime doesn’t need to reiterate things we already know and expand on previous concepts that weren’t focused on until now, which is kinda the whole point of a sequel. So let's start off with CB, and it's nice to see them expanded on a whole lot more. We learn that they’re a bigger group and we learn a little more about Aeolia’s plan. I also do like that Ptolemy gets more offensive equipment to defend itself, it’s all terrain ability, & its ability to use Trans-Am with the help of the Gundams (being perfectly displayed at the attack on the Memento Mori).
- As for the A-Laws, while not the most compelling group of villains, they serve their role pretty well. They not only have more resources to rival CB, they also have the power to manipulate the media. At first, I thought this ability was kinda lame, but as I've grown older I thought this made the A-Laws more unstoppable as no one will oppose them if they don't know about their heinous actions. It goes to show that the power of any faction in any Gundam series is public reception.
- They also have support from the Innovators (or Innovades), who are enhanced biological terminals of Veda with Quantum Brain Waves, which grants them telepathy. Both of these forces add a lot of stakes to the series. They also have these machines called Automatons that are basically kill on sight robots that can also make deep fakes. These attributes make these things genuinely scary (kinda creepy that this anime predicted A.I. generated content).
- As for Katheron, I can't really say too much about them, as they mainly serve as cannon fodder for the A-Laws to highlight “how evil they are”. You can remove them and nothing will change. Which is such a shame, because I like the idea of a rebel group joining CB.
- So overall, while less in detail than the original, there's still interesting stuff to get invested in. It expands on Anno Domini by expanding on things that were established in S1 that weren't fully explained. It does what a sequel does in terms of world building really well & makes those aspects more interesting (something Destiny & IBO S2 did poorly)
- Mobile Suits:
- If the 1st season cooked with their mobile suits, then season 2 seasoned it & chef’s kiss. All of these were designed to perfection, all were improved from their predecessors, and the predecessors return with a vengeance. Both Gundams & mobile suits were designed to bring out their A-Game, and it shows in the series.
- Now let’s start with the Gundams of Celestia Being;
- starting with the Gundam the show is named after, the 00 Gundam. This is easily my favorite Gundam, of ALL TIME (right next to Exia of course). With its twin drive system, dual beam sabers, dual GN swords II, and 2x Katars that can combine into a shield, this is a machine made for melee combat. And then it combines with the 0 Raiser to become the 00 Raiser, making it the ultimate machine. And my god that perfect introduction, may I say that this scene ruined me. Cuz since that day, I’ve been in love with dual wielders (ok, maybe Sword Art Online convinced me of that, but that’s besides the point). Kanetake just perfected the art of close combat mecha here and no designer will ever top this magnum opus. Setsuna just gets the best machines, whenever he encounters bigger machines than him, he talks shit to them, calls them a bitch, and then slices and dice them. So whenever there’s a game where I can be a duel wielder I’ll typically be the dual wielder. Hell the HG 00 Raiser got me into building Gunpla and why I even liked Build Divers more than Fighters (a discussion for another time). And I know some of you guys are gonna be like, “If I was a Gundam pilot I would use a big ass sword”, I think you’re crazy for picking that, you a fucking lonitic for picking it. You want to carry a big slab of metal that weighs down your mobility, can that’s fine. But you know what you can do in any RPG, every RPG protagonist carries hunk of metal. That’s not even the coolest weapon in the series. It’s cannons, you should use cannons, bitches love cannons. I’m just saying that no one can do sharp symmetrical mecha like Kanetake Ebikawa. There’s a reason why 00 is the face of the Gundam wiki.
- However, the other gundams unfortunately don’t share the same kind of iconic resonance. They’re still top tier designs, people just overlook them since their original designs were so iconic. Even so, Yanase worked to make these designs look good and I honestly think he did a really good job. Visually speaking, they just don’t equate to the original designs. But in terms of equipment, they’re sure as hell a massive improvement.
- Starting with the successor to Virtue, Gundam Seravee has a whole lot more going for it. For one, its 2x GN bazookas can now shoot consecutively & can combine for more firepower. As it also has 4x GN Cannons that not only shoot & combine with the GN bazookas, they can also turn into beam sabers. That’s right, Seravee can also use multiple beam sabers without the need to shed its armor. Instead, it has a backpack that can transform into its own separate unit known as Seraphim. It's basically like one of those G-bits from AWGX. You can tell that past experiences really molded these machines.
- Next, there’s the Cherudim Gundam, being the successor to Dynames. While keeping its role as a long range sniping machine, it has some new weapons to handle close ranged encounters. Like the Dynames, it has a GN Beam Sniper Rifle, 2x GN Beam pistols, & waist mounted GN missiles, but the 1st 2 have new features. The Rifle can now fold up into a beam submachine gun and the pistols have a beam resistant blade on each of them for both blocking & dishing out some melee attacks. Later in the series, it gets 2 kinds of bits, shield bits for defense & and rifle bits for attacking from a distance (the shield bits also have beam guns as well). All of this makes the Cherudim versatile for any situation.
- And finally there’s the Arios Gundam, successor to the Kyrios. Instead of a handheld GN beam sub machine gun, there’s one built into both of his arms. It does have a regular handheld GN Beam rifle though. It also doesn’t have a shield that transforms into a claw anymore, instead it can open its nose in fighter mode and crush any enemy caught in it.
- It doesn’t have any drastic changes from the Kyrios, but like 00 it has its own support unit that can dock with it, The GN Archer (a transforming GM with a GN Drive). Not only its combination of both Kyrios’s Tail Unit (that missile bomber) & Tail Booster (that boost with the cannons), its own MS that can transform between MS mode & fighter mode.
- All of these changes to the Gundams make them more versatile and adaptable to any situation, hence why Celestia Being will remain the best team in the Gundam franchise. They’re well coordinated together, and can handle any situation they're in. When there’s a mecha team, they have to be like a superhero team, and I mean that. There’s 5 more Gundams that I’ll talk about (3 of which are returning suits), but I’ll get to those in a little.
- Now lets get to the A-Laws machines, and honestly they don’t have the flavor as the last season’s grunts had in terms of diversity. The 3 economic blocks had very distinct suits that are different from one other (with the expectation of the AEU). These designs are still fine, but I just missed the other ones.
- The GNX-III is basically the OG GNX, but with a lance with a built in GN rifle
- The Trilobite looks pretty neat for a mobile armor, with its claws & missiles
- The Ahead is a little more interesting as its based on the Tieren Taozi (even has the same designer, Kenji Teraoka). Too bad its weapons are basically the same of those the GNX.
- Yeah, these designs make me miss the old grunts. At least Katheron and some Federation forces has them in blue spades (Flag, Realdo, Tierans, Enfs, Enacts, & Helios) and we even get to see the predecessor to the Tierans in the form of the Fathom in a flashback. Hell we even get to see the Tieran All Region Type (which is a Taozi usable by regular people).
- The best A-Laws suits are easily the ones Mr. Bushido uses:
- The Ahead Sakigake type is better looking machine with its short & long GN beam katanas
- Masurao being the 1st non gundam to use Trans-Am with its GN long & Short beam sabers being named after his fallen comades, head beam cannon, & chest beam guns
- And his final suit, Susanowo with 2x Shiranui physical swords that combine into the Souten naginata and has a big ass beam cannon in its chest.
- Graham Aker may have gone full weeb, but at has better suits than the rest of the A-Laws. Innovators on the other hand has some great designs.
- The Gadessa being a long range bombardment type with the GN Mega Launcher. It also has some beam sabers for close encounters
- The Garazzo is a more close combat type machine with 2x GN beam claws (a beam saber on each finger), 14x Spikes, and 2x GN vulcans. Same thing for the Gaddess with a GN Heat saber & fangs (poor Anew)
- The Empruss being a Mobile Armor with a beam cannon, claws, and tazers. This is more of a precursor for the Regnant. That one is a transformable unit that has a beam cannon that can curve & follow its target and claws that can turn into fangs
- We also got the Gaga units that are just kamikaze machines with nothing more than 2x GN vulcans and Trans-Am. This one’s kinda weak IMO since they’re just bland suicide bombers.
- These Innovator machines are really good at adding tension since they’re nearly stronger than CB’s Gundams, adding stakes to the story and leading to a lot of close calls. And some may think “this anime doesn’t have enough stakes” and I wonder if we’re talking about the same anime, there’s a lot of moments in the anime where I was at the edge of my seat.
- There’s also the Arche Gundam that has a GN buster sword, a beam saber on both legs, and fangs. A mobile suit for a true psychopath indeed.
- The Throne Drei returns, but it’s in a transport ship for the majority of the anime. And once it shows up it gets shredded by a revenge driven Louise.
- Not a big fan of those 2 gundams. But then, we got arguably the best evil gundam period, the Reborns Gundam. It has fangs, tasers, a buster rifle, the ability to turn into a Guncannon, this thing is the perfect final boss. It led to easily the best final fight in any Gundam series. And the best part is that it doesn't end there. After Setsuna and Ribbons heavily damage their machines in combat, Ribbons takes the 00’s GN drive and books. However, the Reborns are seriously damaged so he takes the 1st ever Gundam and tries to kill Setsuna. The 0 Gundam only really has a beam rifle, shield, & beam saber, but it will have to do. As for Setsuna, he’s sent the Exia to finish off Ribbons once and for all. The 1st time we saw the Exia as the Repair II, it was heavily damaged and barely held its own as its GN Sword was sliced off But now as the Repair III, it finishes the fight against the man who brought him into this twisted world. Seriously, no words can express this fight is just pure perfection as it ends the series off perfectly.
- So in short, all of these designs were top tier and complement both the characters and story really well. Kanetake Ebikawa, Takayuki Yanase, Kenji Teraoka, Hitoshi Fukuchi, and Naohiro Washiro put everything into these designs and it shows in the final product. That’s not mentioning the fact that fight are really fucking good, dare I say perfect. So ya, these are my all time favorite Gundams PERIOD.
- Verdict:
- Before ending this review, let's talk about the ending of the series, its fucking brillant. Everyone got what they deserved and ends on the highest note any Gundam series can end on. Marina gets to save her home by building an orbital elevator, Lousie gets her treatment & reunites with Saji, Lyle gets his revenge & finally accepts the name of Lockon Stratos, the A-Laws dissolves & reformed the Federation with Katheron’s help, Patrick & Katy get married, Andrei continues his father’s legacy by being a good soldier, Allelujah & Marie look for a new beginning together, Tierra becomes one with Veda, even the fucking Innovades who didn’t die start new lives on Earth and Space. THIS IS HOW YOU END A SERIES.
- As for my overall thoughts on S2, if it weren’t obvious I freaking loved it as much as I loved the 1st season. While it does have issues, I would still lump this with S1 as it still real solid series that pays off what it did in the beginning. This is genuinely the best 2nd season I’ve ever seen in any anime. I’ve been talking a lot about the story in both this and S1, but honestly, that’s just what this anime is really shines. The animation is always good, the voice acting is always good, the mechanical designs are also good, but the story, that’s where 00 shines. And I can safely say, in my most humblest opinion, that it is a masterpiece. (just ignore the movie though)
2024.03.29 00:24 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Magnum Opus of modern mecha
After over a year of writing these reviews, slugging through shows that I had mixed feelings on (except 08th, Unicorn, G Gundam, & X), I've made it to the anime that got me into this franchise. The anime that got me into anime as a whole. I'm talking about the anime that reignited the Mecha boom, Gundam 00. In my Unicorn review, I've mentioned that this and 00 was my favorite anime of all time, and honestly what can I say that hasn't been said before. I can say, “ya this anime is perfect, 20/10” and none of you would question it. Because it's not a far stretch to say this anime is the most influential Mecha series of all time. 00 may have not created militarized giant robots, it's Gundam, those existed forever. But it did popularize the idea of a well coordinated team with giant robots having specific roles in mind. Sorry folks, teens in multi-colored spandex don't use their machines to fight silly looking monsters, in this anime they fight other Mecha, and they're also terrorists. Pacific Rim, Infinite Stratos, Knights and Magic, and basically any Mecha anime involving a team, was shaped by 00. And it helps that the anime is really good, so I'm gonna explain why I love this anime.
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to Gundam [link] [comments]
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
- Plot:
- Before I give you the synopsis, I gotta talk about the opening scene. This is known as the most iconic opening of all time, and good reason. It begins in a torn down village where a fight is taking place. Rotting bodies laying on the ground, mobile suits get wrecked left to right, child soldiers fighting desperately for their lives, all while a single Enf mobile suit looms over them slaughtering them one by one with a single voice spouting out some redirect about “God’s Holy War”. A single boy running helplessly clinging to life until he's finally cornered. And as he's about to be killed, a light shot out of sky, taking out every invading MS in town. And as the little boy looks into the sky, he sees an angelic figure in the shape of a Gundam, becoming the god that he'll worship for as long as he lives. Now THAT'S how you start an anime.
- As for the actual story, an armed organization known as Celestial Being in possession of the mobile weapons Gundam, who uses their mechanical superiority to eliminate all conflicts from the world. That one simple premise opens the floodgates to so many great stories. From getting involved with century long conflicts to stopping war from starting, anything involving warfare will be a target by Celestial Being. And the pacing is just on point, they speed up with the action, and then slow down with the character drama, and then speed up, all leading to a final stand and bittersweet ending with the possibility of more stories. It's just so good. My favorite arcs are the space arc against the Human Reform League & the Azadistan arc revolving around the civil unrest. Both of these arcs dive deep into the lore of Anno Domini & goes deep into both Allelujah’s & Setsuna’s character. The story is just really well written. And then there's the animation. For a mid 2000s anime, it looks really good, especially less than 20 years later. Even the CGI animation holds up really well. So far, it's a really great start to the series.
- Characters:
- It's not a far stretch to say that these are easily the best characters in the anime. Every single character is written in a way that makes their motivations interesting & understandable. From the main group to the civilians, everyone was in top form here. Starting off with the fine people at Celestial Being, we have the boy who started off, Setsuna F. Seie. As the 1st person we see on screen, it's not hard to see why we get invested in his character immediately. He's a distant & stoic boy who bottles up his emotions, with a single goal to become a Gundam himself. The last part may not make sense to everyone, or his personality may turn off some people, but what saves itself is his backstory. Not only do we have the opening scene to consider, we also have more flashbacks towards his past. As a child, he was kidnapped & brainwashed into taking part in doing some messed up stuff “in the name of god”. In Wing, we're told that Heero went through brutal training that led to his distant persona. But that's so vague and we're never given an idea on what he went through, since it was told to us instead of shown. In 00, we clearly see why Setsuna would be like this. He's been through a lot and with a traumatic experience like that, who can blame him for being distant towards people.
- And the great character writing doesn't stop there, as there's the rest of the ministers to consider. Lockon Stratos is a lot of people’s favorite just for how laid back he is. He's basically the big brother of the group and always tries to be a shoulder to lean on. He may be tough at times and does let his emotions get in the way of his actions, but he's still the most down to earth guy out there.
- But my favorite has to go to Allelujah Haptism, as he's probably the best written character. He's Gundam’s answer to Jeckle & Haide as he has a dark side that he must suppress at all times. This Two-face persona makes him such an interesting character as in one moment he can show compassion & a good level of humanity. But when Hallelujah takes over, he'll murder the shit out of his enemies and leave their corpses to rot. It's a great contrast that shows us his inner turmoil that he constantly struggles with.
- The only weak character of the ministers is Tierra Erde. He's not a bad character by any means, but one of the boys has to be last place. He was just so confined to the Ptolemy that we rarely see him interact with the characters outside of CB. But in spite of that, he still has a really solid character arc. He began the series cold & stern with a belief that anything less than perfection is a sign of weakness. But after nearly getting captured, he learns that even he has his limits and accepts them. I also do like how he progressively gets close to both Setsuna & Lockon after learning about their pasts.
- There's also the rest of the group, Christina Sierra & Lichtendahl Tsery, while not having major character arcs themselves, adds a sense of humanity to the group as they feel the least serious about their work and more about the vibe of the group. That's the opposite case of Lasse Aeon, as he's too dedicated to his work to so any form of emotion and/or form any relationship with his co-workers. Feldt is also serious about her work, but is willing to open up to others, especially towards Lockon.
- But the best characters in CB outside of the Ministers is without a doubt Ian Vassti & Sumeragi Lee Noriega. Ian is just a funny character because of his short temper & hilarious remarks. I missed it when the mechanics had personality. As for Sumeragi, she's a milky commander, what can I say. But in all seriousness, she has a really deep character as she acts as both the team tactical forecast (the most badass term for a strategist) and as a motherly figure for the team. She comforts them in their time of need & treats them like she's her own kids. I also gotta throw my 2 cents on Aeolia Schenberg before I forget. Despite his lack of screentime & lines, his importance looms all over CB.
- The only weak CB character I can think of is Dr. Moreno as he only appears in one episode and that's about it. Also, Wang Wu Mei, while having some decent dialogue, doesn't have her role in the plot defined well. It took me a year to learn that she's basically the group’s sugar mama.
- As for the characters from the other factions, they're filled to the brim with distinct personalities & goals. Starting off with the Union, our starring American Graham Aker steals both the show & our hearts whenever he appears on screen. He just has this grace & charisma to him that hardly any Gundam rivals have. And he also can put his money where his mouth is as a mobile suit pilot as he can keep up with the Gundams with an inferior MS and still give them a hard time. I also do like his relationship with his team, more specifically with Billy Katagiri. Billy as a character has always been interesting to me as not only he has a good back to back relationship with Graham, but also had a relationship with Sumeragi in the past. Howard & Daryl (the black dude voiced by Wolverine, not the cripple) also has a great relationship with their leader. Howard always tries to keep up with him and is the straight man with a calm & collective demeanor. As for Daryl, he's more emotional and very defensive for the captain. The man was about to throw hands with Patrick for nearly insulting him. The last memorable Union member is definitely Professor Ralph Eifman. While he does help the Union with hunting down the Gundams, he has a more calm & rational view towards them. In one scene, he prevents Graham from interfering with one of CB’s interventions involving drugs because he hates drugs that much (makes sense since he’s a college professor and all).
- Moving into the AEU, where unfortunately Patrick Colasour & eventually Kati Mannequin are the only characters worth talking about. But even so, they're still worth talking about as they steal the show. Especially Patrick Colasour, as he's the 1st one who encounters the one of the Gundams. And let me tell you, this anime used his plot armor & cocky arrogance to great comedic effect. While Kati is a competent commander, she doesn't get expanded upon until S2. However, her rapport with Patrick is pretty funny.
- Next we got the Human Reform League with Sergei Smirnov & Soma Peries. Sergei is an honorable soldier who's loyal to his country, while Soma is a cold hearted super soldier who'll follow her orders to the letter. This leads to a really cute father & daughter dynamic. Kim is a decent character too as he does respect his troops, but not much else.
- As for the girls from Azadistan, Marina Ismail & Shirin Bakhtiar, let's just say they feel the same way for them as I do for Reilina, they're there I guess. However there's one character who's delightfully hateable, and that's Ali Al Saachez. This man is a menace to society and takes pride in it. A man you want to get his just desserts.
- Same thing for the Trinity Team; Johann, Michael, & Nena. Johann is the nonchalant head of the team who justify their mass murder with being “part of the plan”. Michael is both an asshole & a straight up psychopath. And Nena is thirsty for her kuchi to be filled, and she killed an entire family because she was “jealous”.
- And while we're still on the subject of villains, we got 2 more; Alejandro Corner & Ribbons Allmark. While Alejandro isn't the most compelling villain, it's nice to see him slither his way through any position he wants. Plus him being gay for Ribbons was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Ribbons starts off as just his sexy gay man servant AT FIRST, but then backstabs towards the end, perfectly setting up his role as a main antagonist in the next season. So while not the most interesting villain, they do set up a lot of important moments in the anime.
- As for the side characters we got Saji Crossroad & Louise Halevy. While a lot of people don't like them because of how little they contribute to the plot (at least in the beginning), I found them really cute and a nice break from the serious moments in the anime. I like the back & forth they had as both have personalities that parallel one another, with Saji being more shy, timid, & easily embarrassed while Louis is more spoiled & whinny. I also really love Kinue as she's a strong-willed journalist who gets deeper into discovering the truth of Aeolia Schenberg’s plan. And I do like how much she cares about her brother Saiji, making her brutal death really upsetting. So the characters are really well defined and diverse.
- However, I would be an absolute fool to ignore the great voice acting from the cast, especially Brad Swalie as Setsuna & Scott McNeil as Ali Al Saachez. Two VAs that defined my childhood in X-Men Evolution as Nightcrawler & Wolverine…oh and Light & Duo. While beaten by Unicorn in terms of voice acting years later, all the VAs gave it their A-game here.
- World Building:
- For a timeline set on our own, it could've easily half-assed it and not put too much thought into it. But thank God they did & gave us easily the best time in the franchise. Each side has such great detail that reflects the real world with a sci-fi twist. Stuff like the architecture of famous landmarks gets a more futuristic look like white house or Tokyo tower. But the crowning jewel that isn't based on real life is definitely the Orbital Elevators. These are towering pillars reaching space that provide the Earth with Solar Energy while also serving as easy transport to space and a social hub with shops & restaurants. With lore like that, it's really easy to see why the economic blocks would take advantage of them.
- Speaking of which, I also love how each faction is formed based on their IRL country.
- The Union of Solar Energy is based around both North & South America, Australia, and Japan. These are mainly countries that are based on capitalist economies. They will also get involved in other wars if it benefits they're goals.
- The Advance European Union (AEU) is both the United Kingdom & basically all of Europe. They'll take advantage of any other nation by selling weapons to them. Both the Union & AEU handles Celestial Being in a more defensive sense.
- As for the Human Reform League, they are mainly composed of communist countries such as China, Russia, and every other Asian country. They have a super soldier program where they kidnap random children and force surgery onto them. They also take a more offensive approach towards CB as they're the ones that nearly capture both Tierra & Allelujah. The latter of which came from there & was the result of his dual personality.
- While these blocks have easy access to the elevators, Azadistan is another story. They're one of the very last countries that heavily relies on fossil fuels, which have been affected by some rough regulations, since they never participated in the construction of said elevators, and there's a reason for that. Based heavily on Middle Eastern countries, there's the religion aspect that's evocative of the real life connection to their politics. There's 2 sides of the country that's affected by this; the Reformists who want to change their country for the better & getting access to solar energy, and the Conservatives who stick to their religious beliefs & view solar energy as blasphemy towards god. This exact turmoil is what destroyed Krugis with terrorism in the solar wars in the past, how it caused a civil war in the present, and how it'll eventually destroy them in the future.
- And last but not least, there's Celestial Being. While not too much is known about the organization itself, you can tell they're a very well coordinated team as all of their interventions are well planned out. They're always based on the issues at hand and there's an ambiguity in these missions. One minute they're taking out militaries like it's a musou game, and the other they're saving civilians from terrorists. And all of these cleverly made tactics were made with the super computer, Veda. It's basically the backbone of a lot of the team’s tactics & is responsible for picking the pilots. You can tell by the last half of the series how important Veda is, as the Tierra couldn't access it or when the Gundams shut down instantaneously. It makes the system a vital part of the team. It also makes sense that the meisters were products of the effects of war; Setsuna was brainwashed into guerilla warfare, Lockon’s family were killed in a terrorist attack, & Allelujah was a test subject to the HRL’s super soldier program. This makes CB’s actions, while questionable at times, understandable. Team Trinity on the other hand, are the total extreme where they take out anyone they deemed a threat to the world with no ethical reasoning (let alone an actual plan).
- So the TL;DR is that Anno Domini has a really deep world that feels so lived in. Its world building can rival that of the Universal Century in terms of lore. My only complaint is that it doesn’t go deep into the colonies, but the lore on Earth is so interesting that I can live it. Overall, the world building is top notch
- Mobile Suits:
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Starting off with the Gundam that made me believe in Kanetake supremacy, the GN-001 Gundam Exia. Easily one of the most iconic Gundam in the franchise, the seven swords live up to its name by slicing & dicing through the Enact and into our hearts. Equipped with a GN Sword that can turn into a gun (beginning my sword/gun kink), 4x GN beam sabers (2x long & 2x short), a long & short GN blade, a bladed shield, and a left hand mount vulcan gun, this thing brings close-combat to a whole other level.
- The following Gundams follow Takayuki’s design philosophy, starting with the GN-002 Gundam Dynames. This thing excels at long range shooting with its GN Beam Sniper rifle, 2x beam pistols, and GN missiles. It also has shoulder guards that can cover its body & 2x GN beam sabers for close combat.
- GN-003 Gundam Kyrios on the other hand is more of a hit & run machine that can transform into a fighter mode for more mobility, and I gotta say its fighter form looks slick as hell & its transformation isn't complex at all. As for weapons, it has a GN beam submachine gun, 2x handheld missile pods, a shield that can turn into a bladed claw, & 2x GN beam sabers. Even its fighter mode has weapons, with a missile container & Tail booster with 2x GN beam cannons.
- And finally we have the thicc curvy mama, the GN-005 Gundam Virtue. This thing is a monster with heavy armor with the weapons to boot. With both the GN Bazooka & 2x GN shoulder beam cannons. And that's not all, it can strip its armor to become the GN-004 Gundam Nadheel for more mobility & use some beam sabers (with some sexy locks). It can use another type of beam rifle.
- These Gundams are not only well armed, but also well equipped with the powerful GN Solar Reactors. These babies can provide the Gundams an infinite amount of solar energy, block communication signals, & generate a near invincible GN field which can give it some defense against incoming fire & give it atmospheric re-entry capabilities. They also have a special system they use at the end of the season called Trans-Am, which turns them red & makes them 3x faster & stronger than regular mobile suits (see what's going on here). I guess the reason I'm not bothered by its color changing effect is because you can easily make a red effect with some lights without painting the kits IRL.
- The Gundams are versatile as individuals & as a team. Over the past reviews, I've been talking about how effective their respective Gundam teams are as both individuals & as a single unit. The reason is because this anime completely perfected the concept with Celestial Being. These 4 are well coordinated and have well defined roles.
- Exia for close combat
- Dynames for long range sniping
- Kyrios for hit & run maneuvers
- and Virtue for heavy support
- Even by themselves, they can handle themselves as they have defensive measures to hold out.
- Exia has range weapons
- both Dynames & Virtue have some beam sabers with the latter being able to strip its armor,
- and Kyrios having its shield turn into a claw
- It's kinda funny that the Gundam team concept is like a game of telephone; ZZ started the trend, G gave them more definably roles, Wing popularized it, X & 08th made them more tactical, SEED made them more coordinated (get it), and 00 completely hit out of the park. Same thing applies to the Trinity Team.
- The GNW-001 Gundam Throne Eins is a long range machine
- GNW-002 Throne Drei is a support that provides energy to the Eins & provide a stealth field
- GNW-003 Gundam Throne Zwei copies Berserk's edgelord with a big sword & left arm mounted beam gun, with some drone like fangs that can shoot beams & act as close combat bits.
- While more violent, Trinity is still a pretty well coordinated team too. They also have GN Drive, but it's vastly different from CB’s GN Drives. For one, the particles are red, giving it a more violent look. There’s also the fact that it has stronger signal blocking capabilities & has a harmful effect to everyone surrounding it. I also like how both Haros are used on both sides. I didn't bring up Haro in any of these reviews because, while I really do like that ball of joy, it never really served much of a purpose outside of fan service. But here it not only serves as a data terminal & can help with repairs, but help the Gundams with certain actions like secondary defenses and weapons control.
- Moving onto the other sides, outside of the GN-Xs (which are kind meh in my opinion) the other suits are grossly underrated. Which is a shame cuz these are some genuinely good mechanical designs. Starting with the Union, these are easily the best designs out of these factions.
- The Union Flags are one of, if not, the best transformable mobile suits in the franchise as they are the apex of Anno Domini. Equipped with a linear rifle that has a rapid fire mode & long range fire mode, these things serve as great rifles. It also has a plasma sword that just looks so cool, along with a defensive rod that basically serves as a shield. And its 2 other variants are just as badass
- The Over Flag has an even stronger rifle that can even knockback a Gundam in a single shot. And then Graham’s Union Flag Custom II, which unfortunately can't transform or even has a rifle, but is powered by a GN Solar Reactor and has a GN Beam saber, letting it go toe to toe with a gundam properly
- There’s also the Union Realdo, which kinda underrated NGL. It just has the Flag’s armaments with some shoulder missiles. These were designed by Armored Core mechanical designer Hiroshi Fukushi.
- On to the Human Reform League, they have the case of the “Zeon simping” and have its Tierens looking like Zakus. Even so, these are some cool looking designs. Its equipment is composed of a smoothbore cannon, machine gun, & carbon hand blade. I especially love the variations;
- the Tieren Space type (including the commander type) with its carbon nets & gel launchers
- the Tieren High Mobility Type with its carbon bladed smoothbore cannon
- the Tieren Taozi with about the same weapons but has high mobility as it was made for super soldiers,
- Tieren Long Range Cannon Type with its head cannon
- And of these Communist Zakus were designed by good ol Kenji Teraoka. There's also the Anf with its chin machine gun & smoothbore arm cannon. All of these are good, but I can't say the same about the AEU machines. To quote our favorite engineer (RIP Kirby Morrow) “It's just a cheap knockoff of our Union Flag”. And it literally is, same frame, same transformation, same weapons, even the same designer. Even the fucking Hellion were copying the Realdos. Europeans really do like copying us, don't they? The Agrissa looks cool though.
- The final machines are made with Pseudo GN Drives, the GN-X. Hot take: I'm not a fan of the GN-Xs. The head looks ugly, the X on its chest is silly, it has pretty lame weapons. Alvatore & Alvaaron looked cool though.
- That's all of the Mobile Suits in 00 (at least for season 1), and if it wasn't obvious by now, these are some top tier designs. Kanetake Ebikawa became my all time favorite mechanical designer along with Takayuki Yanase. These are easily the best Mobile Suit designs in any series.
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Verdict:
- Gundam 00 is without a doubt the best Gundam series. And it seems a lot of people are on my side. This along with Code Geass & Gurren Lagann single handedly revived the Mecha genre in the 2000’s. These became instant favorites along with many fans, and 00 was no exception. Many consider this the best Gundam series of all time, and with the kind of rep like that, they of course have to make a second season. Was it going to be a good second season? To quote our boy Tobey, “Oh boy ya”.
2024.03.29 00:22 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Magnum Opus of modern mecha
After over a year of writing these reviews, slugging through shows that I had mixed feelings on (except 08th, Unicorn, G Gundam, & X), I've made it to the anime that got me into this franchise. The anime that got me into anime as a whole. I'm talking about the anime that reignited the Mecha boom, Gundam 00. In my Unicorn review, I've mentioned that this and 00 was my favorite anime of all time, and honestly what can I say that hasn't been said before. I can say, “ya this anime is perfect, 20/10” and none of you would question it. Because it's not a far stretch to say this anime is the most influential Mecha series of all time. 00 may have not created militarized giant robots, it's Gundam, those existed forever. But it did popularize the idea of a well coordinated team with giant robots having specific roles in mind. Sorry folks, teens in multi-colored spandex don't use their machines to fight silly looking monsters, in this anime they fight other Mecha, and they're also terrorists. Pacific Rim, Infinite Stratos, Knights and Magic, and basically any Mecha anime involving a team, was shaped by 00. And it helps that the anime is really good, so I'm gonna explain why I love this anime.
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to anime [link] [comments]
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
- Plot:
- Before I give you the synopsis, I gotta talk about the opening scene. This is known as the most iconic opening of all time, and good reason. It begins in a torn down village where a fight is taking place. Rotting bodies laying on the ground, mobile suits get wrecked left to right, child soldiers fighting desperately for their lives, all while a single Enf mobile suit looms over them slaughtering them one by one with a single voice spouting out some redirect about “God’s Holy War”. A single boy running helplessly clinging to life until he's finally cornered. And as he's about to be killed, a light shot out of sky, taking out every invading MS in town. And as the little boy looks into the sky, he sees an angelic figure in the shape of a Gundam, becoming the god that he'll worship for as long as he lives. Now THAT'S how you start an anime.
- As for the actual story, an armed organization known as Celestial Being in possession of the mobile weapons Gundam, who uses their mechanical superiority to eliminate all conflicts from the world. That one simple premise opens the floodgates to so many great stories. From getting involved with century long conflicts to stopping war from starting, anything involving warfare will be a target by Celestial Being. And the pacing is just on point, they speed up with the action, and then slow down with the character drama, and then speed up, all leading to a final stand and bittersweet ending with the possibility of more stories. It's just so good. My favorite arcs are the space arc against the Human Reform League & the Azadistan arc revolving around the civil unrest. Both of these arcs dive deep into the lore of Anno Domini & goes deep into both Allelujah’s & Setsuna’s character. The story is just really well written. And then there's the animation. For a mid 2000s anime, it looks really good, especially less than 20 years later. Even the CGI animation holds up really well. So far, it's a really great start to the series.
- Characters:
- It's not a far stretch to say that these are easily the best characters in the anime. Every single character is written in a way that makes their motivations interesting & understandable. From the main group to the civilians, everyone was in top form here. Starting off with the fine people at Celestial Being, we have the boy who started off, Setsuna F. Seie. As the 1st person we see on screen, it's not hard to see why we get invested in his character immediately. He's a distant & stoic boy who bottles up his emotions, with a single goal to become a Gundam himself. The last part may not make sense to everyone, or his personality may turn off some people, but what saves itself is his backstory. Not only do we have the opening scene to consider, we also have more flashbacks towards his past. As a child, he was kidnapped & brainwashed into taking part in doing some messed up stuff “in the name of god”. In Wing, we're told that Heero went through brutal training that led to his distant persona. But that's so vague and we're never given an idea on what he went through, since it was told to us instead of shown. In 00, we clearly see why Setsuna would be like this. He's been through a lot and with a traumatic experience like that, who can blame him for being distant towards people.
- And the great character writing doesn't stop there, as there's the rest of the ministers to consider. Lockon Stratos is a lot of people’s favorite just for how laid back he is. He's basically the big brother of the group and always tries to be a shoulder to lean on. He may be tough at times and does let his emotions get in the way of his actions, but he's still the most down to earth guy out there.
- But my favorite has to go to Allelujah Haptism, as he's probably the best written character. He's Gundam’s answer to Jeckle & Haide as he has a dark side that he must suppress at all times. This Two-face persona makes him such an interesting character as in one moment he can show compassion & a good level of humanity. But when Hallelujah takes over, he'll murder the shit out of his enemies and leave their corpses to rot. It's a great contrast that shows us his inner turmoil that he constantly struggles with.
- The only weak character of the ministers is Tierra Erde. He's not a bad character by any means, but one of the boys has to be last place. He was just so confined to the Ptolemy that we rarely see him interact with the characters outside of CB. But in spite of that, he still has a really solid character arc. He began the series cold & stern with a belief that anything less than perfection is a sign of weakness. But after nearly getting captured, he learns that even he has his limits and accepts them. I also do like how he progressively gets close to both Setsuna & Lockon after learning about their pasts.
- There's also the rest of the group, Christina Sierra & Lichtendahl Tsery, while not having major character arcs themselves, adds a sense of humanity to the group as they feel the least serious about their work and more about the vibe of the group. That's the opposite case of Lasse Aeon, as he's too dedicated to his work to so any form of emotion and/or form any relationship with his co-workers. Feldt is also serious about her work, but is willing to open up to others, especially towards Lockon.
- But the best characters in CB outside of the Ministers is without a doubt Ian Vassti & Sumeragi Lee Noriega. Ian is just a funny character because of his short temper & hilarious remarks. I missed it when the mechanics had personality. As for Sumeragi, she's a milky commander, what can I say. But in all seriousness, she has a really deep character as she acts as both the team tactical forecast (the most badass term for a strategist) and as a motherly figure for the team. She comforts them in their time of need & treats them like she's her own kids. I also gotta throw my 2 cents on Aeolia Schenberg before I forget. Despite his lack of screentime & lines, his importance looms all over CB.
- The only weak CB character I can think of is Dr. Moreno as he only appears in one episode and that's about it. Also, Wang Wu Mei, while having some decent dialogue, doesn't have her role in the plot defined well. It took me a year to learn that she's basically the group’s sugar mama.
- As for the characters from the other factions, they're filled to the brim with distinct personalities & goals. Starting off with the Union, our starring American Graham Aker steals both the show & our hearts whenever he appears on screen. He just has this grace & charisma to him that hardly any Gundam rivals have. And he also can put his money where his mouth is as a mobile suit pilot as he can keep up with the Gundams with an inferior MS and still give them a hard time. I also do like his relationship with his team, more specifically with Billy Katagiri. Billy as a character has always been interesting to me as not only he has a good back to back relationship with Graham, but also had a relationship with Sumeragi in the past. Howard & Daryl (the black dude voiced by Wolverine, not the cripple) also has a great relationship with their leader. Howard always tries to keep up with him and is the straight man with a calm & collective demeanor. As for Daryl, he's more emotional and very defensive for the captain. The man was about to throw hands with Patrick for nearly insulting him. The last memorable Union member is definitely Professor Ralph Eifman. While he does help the Union with hunting down the Gundams, he has a more calm & rational view towards them. In one scene, he prevents Graham from interfering with one of CB’s interventions involving drugs because he hates drugs that much (makes sense since he’s a college professor and all).
- Moving into the AEU, where unfortunately Patrick Colasour & eventually Kati Mannequin are the only characters worth talking about. But even so, they're still worth talking about as they steal the show. Especially Patrick Colasour, as he's the 1st one who encounters the one of the Gundams. And let me tell you, this anime used his plot armor & cocky arrogance to great comedic effect. While Kati is a competent commander, she doesn't get expanded upon until S2. However, her rapport with Patrick is pretty funny.
- Next we got the Human Reform League with Sergei Smirnov & Soma Peries. Sergei is an honorable soldier who's loyal to his country, while Soma is a cold hearted super soldier who'll follow her orders to the letter. This leads to a really cute father & daughter dynamic. Kim is a decent character too as he does respect his troops, but not much else.
- As for the girls from Azadistan, Marina Ismail & Shirin Bakhtiar, let's just say they feel the same way for them as I do for Reilina, they're there I guess. However there's one character who's delightfully hateable, and that's Ali Al Saachez. This man is a menace to society and takes pride in it. A man you want to get his just desserts.
- Same thing for the Trinity Team; Johann, Michael, & Nena. Johann is the nonchalant head of the team who justify their mass murder with being “part of the plan”. Michael is both an asshole & a straight up psychopath. And Nena is thirsty for her kuchi to be filled, and she killed an entire family because she was “jealous”.
- And while we're still on the subject of villains, we got 2 more; Alejandro Corner & Ribbons Allmark. While Alejandro isn't the most compelling villain, it's nice to see him slither his way through any position he wants. Plus him being gay for Ribbons was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Ribbons starts off as just his sexy gay man servant AT FIRST, but then backstabs towards the end, perfectly setting up his role as a main antagonist in the next season. So while not the most interesting villain, they do set up a lot of important moments in the anime.
- As for the side characters we got Saji Crossroad & Louise Halevy. While a lot of people don't like them because of how little they contribute to the plot (at least in the beginning), I found them really cute and a nice break from the serious moments in the anime. I like the back & forth they had as both have personalities that parallel one another, with Saji being more shy, timid, & easily embarrassed while Louis is more spoiled & whinny. I also really love Kinue as she's a strong-willed journalist who gets deeper into discovering the truth of Aeolia Schenberg’s plan. And I do like how much she cares about her brother Saiji, making her brutal death really upsetting. So the characters are really well defined and diverse.
- However, I would be an absolute fool to ignore the great voice acting from the cast, especially Brad Swalie as Setsuna & Scott McNeil as Ali Al Saachez. Two VAs that defined my childhood in X-Men Evolution as Nightcrawler & Wolverine…oh and Light & Duo. While beaten by Unicorn in terms of voice acting years later, all the VAs gave it their A-game here.
- World Building:
- For a timeline set on our own, it could've easily half-assed it and not put too much thought into it. But thank God they did & gave us easily the best time in the franchise. Each side has such great detail that reflects the real world with a sci-fi twist. Stuff like the architecture of famous landmarks gets a more futuristic look like white house or Tokyo tower. But the crowning jewel that isn't based on real life is definitely the Orbital Elevators. These are towering pillars reaching space that provide the Earth with Solar Energy while also serving as easy transport to space and a social hub with shops & restaurants. With lore like that, it's really easy to see why the economic blocks would take advantage of them.
- Speaking of which, I also love how each faction is formed based on their IRL country.
- The Union of Solar Energy is based around both North & South America, Australia, and Japan. These are mainly countries that are based on capitalist economies. They will also get involved in other wars if it benefits they're goals.
- The Advance European Union (AEU) is both the United Kingdom & basically all of Europe. They'll take advantage of any other nation by selling weapons to them. Both the Union & AEU handles Celestial Being in a more defensive sense.
- As for the Human Reform League, they are mainly composed of communist countries such as China, Russia, and every other Asian country. They have a super soldier program where they kidnap random children and force surgery onto them. They also take a more offensive approach towards CB as they're the ones that nearly capture both Tierra & Allelujah. The latter of which came from there & was the result of his dual personality.
- While these blocks have easy access to the elevators, Azadistan is another story. They're one of the very last countries that heavily relies on fossil fuels, which have been affected by some rough regulations, since they never participated in the construction of said elevators, and there's a reason for that. Based heavily on Middle Eastern countries, there's the religion aspect that's evocative of the real life connection to their politics. There's 2 sides of the country that's affected by this; the Reformists who want to change their country for the better & getting access to solar energy, and the Conservatives who stick to their religious beliefs & view solar energy as blasphemy towards god. This exact turmoil is what destroyed Krugis with terrorism in the solar wars in the past, how it caused a civil war in the present, and how it'll eventually destroy them in the future.
- And last but not least, there's Celestial Being. While not too much is known about the organization itself, you can tell they're a very well coordinated team as all of their interventions are well planned out. They're always based on the issues at hand and there's an ambiguity in these missions. One minute they're taking out militaries like it's a musou game, and the other they're saving civilians from terrorists. And all of these cleverly made tactics were made with the super computer, Veda. It's basically the backbone of a lot of the team’s tactics & is responsible for picking the pilots. You can tell by the last half of the series how important Veda is, as the Tierra couldn't access it or when the Gundams shut down instantaneously. It makes the system a vital part of the team. It also makes sense that the meisters were products of the effects of war; Setsuna was brainwashed into guerilla warfare, Lockon’s family were killed in a terrorist attack, & Allelujah was a test subject to the HRL’s super soldier program. This makes CB’s actions, while questionable at times, understandable. Team Trinity on the other hand, are the total extreme where they take out anyone they deemed a threat to the world with no ethical reasoning (let alone an actual plan).
- So the TL;DR is that Anno Domini has a really deep world that feels so lived in. Its world building can rival that of the Universal Century in terms of lore. My only complaint is that it doesn’t go deep into the colonies, but the lore on Earth is so interesting that I can live it. Overall, the world building is top notch
- Mobile Suits:
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Starting off with the Gundam that made me believe in Kanetake supremacy, the GN-001 Gundam Exia. Easily one of the most iconic Gundam in the franchise, the seven swords live up to its name by slicing & dicing through the Enact and into our hearts. Equipped with a GN Sword that can turn into a gun (beginning my sword/gun kink), 4x GN beam sabers (2x long & 2x short), a long & short GN blade, a bladed shield, and a left hand mount vulcan gun, this thing brings close-combat to a whole other level.
- The following Gundams follow Takayuki’s design philosophy, starting with the GN-002 Gundam Dynames. This thing excels at long range shooting with its GN Beam Sniper rifle, 2x beam pistols, and GN missiles. It also has shoulder guards that can cover its body & 2x GN beam sabers for close combat.
- GN-003 Gundam Kyrios on the other hand is more of a hit & run machine that can transform into a fighter mode for more mobility, and I gotta say its fighter form looks slick as hell & its transformation isn't complex at all. As for weapons, it has a GN beam submachine gun, 2x handheld missile pods, a shield that can turn into a bladed claw, & 2x GN beam sabers. Even its fighter mode has weapons, with a missile container & Tail booster with 2x GN beam cannons.
- And finally we have the thicc curvy mama, the GN-005 Gundam Virtue. This thing is a monster with heavy armor with the weapons to boot. With both the GN Bazooka & 2x GN shoulder beam cannons. And that's not all, it can strip its armor to become the GN-004 Gundam Nadheel for more mobility & use some beam sabers (with some sexy locks). It can use another type of beam rifle.
- These Gundams are not only well armed, but also well equipped with the powerful GN Solar Reactors. These babies can provide the Gundams an infinite amount of solar energy, block communication signals, & generate a near invincible GN field which can give it some defense against incoming fire & give it atmospheric re-entry capabilities. They also have a special system they use at the end of the season called Trans-Am, which turns them red & makes them 3x faster & stronger than regular mobile suits (see what's going on here). I guess the reason I'm not bothered by its color changing effect is because you can easily make a red effect with some lights without painting the kits IRL.
- The Gundams are versatile as individuals & as a team. Over the past reviews, I've been talking about how effective their respective Gundam teams are as both individuals & as a single unit. The reason is because this anime completely perfected the concept with Celestial Being. These 4 are well coordinated and have well defined roles.
- Exia for close combat
- Dynames for long range sniping
- Kyrios for hit & run maneuvers
- and Virtue for heavy support
- Even by themselves, they can handle themselves as they have defensive measures to hold out.
- Exia has range weapons
- both Dynames & Virtue have some beam sabers with the latter being able to strip its armor,
- and Kyrios having its shield turn into a claw
- It's kinda funny that the Gundam team concept is like a game of telephone; ZZ started the trend, G gave them more definably roles, Wing popularized it, X & 08th made them more tactical, SEED made them more coordinated (get it), and 00 completely hit out of the park. Same thing applies to the Trinity Team.
- The GNW-001 Gundam Throne Eins is a long range machine
- GNW-002 Throne Drei is a support that provides energy to the Eins & provide a stealth field
- GNW-003 Gundam Throne Zwei copies Berserk's edgelord with a big sword & left arm mounted beam gun, with some drone like fangs that can shoot beams & act as close combat bits.
- While more violent, Trinity is still a pretty well coordinated team too. They also have GN Drive, but it's vastly different from CB’s GN Drives. For one, the particles are red, giving it a more violent look. There’s also the fact that it has stronger signal blocking capabilities & has a harmful effect to everyone surrounding it. I also like how both Haros are used on both sides. I didn't bring up Haro in any of these reviews because, while I really do like that ball of joy, it never really served much of a purpose outside of fan service. But here it not only serves as a data terminal & can help with repairs, but help the Gundams with certain actions like secondary defenses and weapons control.
- Moving onto the other sides, outside of the GN-Xs (which are kind meh in my opinion) the other suits are grossly underrated. Which is a shame cuz these are some genuinely good mechanical designs. Starting with the Union, these are easily the best designs out of these factions.
- The Union Flags are one of, if not, the best transformable mobile suits in the franchise as they are the apex of Anno Domini. Equipped with a linear rifle that has a rapid fire mode & long range fire mode, these things serve as great rifles. It also has a plasma sword that just looks so cool, along with a defensive rod that basically serves as a shield. And its 2 other variants are just as badass
- The Over Flag has an even stronger rifle that can even knockback a Gundam in a single shot. And then Graham’s Union Flag Custom II, which unfortunately can't transform or even has a rifle, but is powered by a GN Solar Reactor and has a GN Beam saber, letting it go toe to toe with a gundam properly
- There’s also the Union Realdo, which kinda underrated NGL. It just has the Flag’s armaments with some shoulder missiles. These were designed by Armored Core mechanical designer Hiroshi Fukushi.
- On to the Human Reform League, they have the case of the “Zeon simping” and have its Tierens looking like Zakus. Even so, these are some cool looking designs. Its equipment is composed of a smoothbore cannon, machine gun, & carbon hand blade. I especially love the variations;
- the Tieren Space type (including the commander type) with its carbon nets & gel launchers
- the Tieren High Mobility Type with its carbon bladed smoothbore cannon
- the Tieren Taozi with about the same weapons but has high mobility as it was made for super soldiers,
- Tieren Long Range Cannon Type with its head cannon
- And of these Communist Zakus were designed by good ol Kenji Teraoka. There's also the Anf with its chin machine gun & smoothbore arm cannon. All of these are good, but I can't say the same about the AEU machines. To quote our favorite engineer (RIP Kirby Morrow) “It's just a cheap knockoff of our Union Flag”. And it literally is, same frame, same transformation, same weapons, even the same designer. Even the fucking Hellion were copying the Realdos. Europeans really do like copying us, don't they? The Agrissa looks cool though.
- The final machines are made with Pseudo GN Drives, the GN-X. Hot take: I'm not a fan of the GN-Xs. The head looks ugly, the X on its chest is silly, it has pretty lame weapons. Alvatore & Alvaaron looked cool though.
- That's all of the Mobile Suits in 00 (at least for season 1), and if it wasn't obvious by now, these are some top tier designs. Kanetake Ebikawa became my all time favorite mechanical designer along with Takayuki Yanase. These are easily the best Mobile Suit designs in any series.
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Verdict:
- Gundam 00 is without a doubt the best Gundam series. And it seems a lot of people are on my side. This along with Code Geass & Gurren Lagann single handedly revived the Mecha genre in the 2000’s. These became instant favorites along with many fans, and 00 was no exception. Many consider this the best Gundam series of all time, and with the kind of rep like that, they of course have to make a second season. Was it going to be a good second season? To quote our boy Tobey, “Oh boy ya”.
2024.03.26 15:20 DndQuickQuestion The Tainted God’s Pantry (WPAtaMS Fanfic Part 3/4): And the Devil Deals the Cards
Chapter Links: [1: Trouble for Dessert], [2: Poison and Potash], [3: And the Devil Deals the Cards], [4: Crownlands Pride] / (Main Index)
Last Chapter: Cadet Emma Booker managed to convince her skeptical professors that her dad’s chocolate cake wasn’t the recipe of an evil cultist and Chef Keiran wasn’t poisoning students with rare alchemicals, but it seems the cook was hiding a secret from Emma about one of the ingredients...
Chef Keiran smirked mischievously like he had been caught. He averted his eyes, “By far the most difficult part, milady Apprentice. Even with earthrealm artifices and painfully exact instructions, those caused me weeks more failed trials than alkalizing the cocoa nibs without eliminating too much of the flavor.”
“They are... milk chocolate.”
No one reacted to his dramatic pronouncement except Mal'tory, whose eyes widened ever so slightly with recognition.
The chef continued with a crooked grin, “The solid chocolate squares you are familiar with have been made in elite confectionery houses for a millennium and a half, but their use is mostly limited to couvertures, fillings, and accenting other dishes because sugar alone is insufficient to quench cocoa’s innate bitterness. Crafting milk-free ‘dark’ chocolate into a stable solid is difficult enough. A slight deviation in melting temperature, discrepancy in the balance of butters and cocoa, unevenness in the nib milling, mixing, or cooling, or even a single errant drop of moisture, and the batch is ruined.”
“Milk removes the bitterness of cocoa, as you might know if you have ever had a mug of hot cocoa, but combining the essences of milk and cocoa into a stable, solid form is a damnably tricky affair.”
“About 250 years ago, a process to alloy the two was discovered which was held in secret by a single entrusted Crownlands guild-kitchen. Everything was kept behind lock and spell, but scullery canard held that preparing the milk was somehow equally as laborious as the cocoa: bizarre and extremely precise, doubling the troubles. Milk chocolate doesn’t keep like darker milk-free chocolate either. For all these reasons, milk chocolate was almost never found outside the palace and a few of the highest houses of the Crownlands core.”
“But something unfortunate occurred. An edict enacting eminent domain was brought down on the guild-kitchen’s borough so that its character could be raised up to the standards of modern enlightenment.” There was a faint tinge of resentment in the way Keiran said that made me think the Crownlands high nobles treat city districts like their personal sim game.
“The heir had to relocate. Certain tools were damaged in the move and atmospheric conditions at the new location weren’t quite right. They were eventually able to bring back their solid dark chocolate but not at their former quality. The prepared milk failed to stabilize with the chocolate. The founder soon passed and his heir could not afford to keep trying. She couldn’t let it alone though and one morn her mate found her dead, suffocated. Guardsmen established it was a spell that got out of control, but a lot of folks kept skeptic thoughts. Her heir was a babe and never even tasted the proper stuff. And so milk chocolate faded into urban legend.”
“This the first tempered milk chocolate to be produced on Nexus in over 200 years.” Chef Keiran crossed his arms across his broad aproned chest, rippling with pride.
“Making this milk chocolate is the reason for my suspicious activities. Working the witching hours alone, setting up anti-observation spells, and why I caused you gentles an unnecessary degree of trouble,” he acknowledged Vanavan and Mal'tory.
“It was bad enough that the formula for milk chocolate was lost so tragically, but there are more devils lurking in the dark. You see, palace observers gossiped that the Eternal King himself became fond enough of the treat that he still laments its absence from time to time. That’s caused something of a competition between notable Crownlands confectioners to rediscover the recipe for milk chocolate. Now I wish to clarify, I never sought involvement in that complicated business. Sweetmeats weren’t what I was known for, but I know the scuttlebutt simply by adjacency. Anyhow, that competition... has become a bit warm at moments. Certainly it’s hot enough to take a swing at a lone mate with weak backing like me,” Keiran accidentally slipped back into his naval voice before clearing his throat with a hasty cough.
“The most deeply invested competitors could certainly fall for the diabolical allure of fame and royal patronage. It would be very tempting to hire rogues to waylay a student of Transgracian to misappropriate her recipes.”
Belnor hemmed under her breath, “Perhaps ‘chocolate cake from the evil god’s pantry’ is an apt name.”
Keiran acknowledged that, “I was lucky to be the first chef our dear Cadet showed her recipes to. If she had interviewed others and rumors spread that she held such coveted intelligence, conspiracy would have forced itself on the Academy and its guardians. Covetous devils may visit yet, but now their plots will be redirected at me in Elaseer rather than at the school and the newrealmer.”
I pondered this Nexian tale of tragedy and intrigue. Once again, I had become a lightning rod for controversy simply by existing, and once again the center of the storm was one of those bolt-from-blue topics I could have never predicted would be troublesome and thus had no context for knowing ought to be withheld. At least this time, I had found a friend rather than a foe.
Larial chirped up, “And how could Earthrealm and Cadet Emma Booker’s common father know this legendary lost recipe, or is theirs some inferior… artifice-based equivalent?”
“Their alchemist-chefs discovered it independently. And, comparing memories, I would not consider Earthrealm’s version inferior. It chafes my pride to say this, but theirs is clearly better… for now. You see, their discovery not only predates our own, it seems to be so celebrated that Earthrealm has a specific holiday where commoners gift each other boxes of exquisitely-decorated tempered chocolates with various fillings such as caramel, nuts, marzipan, jam, and even liqueur so that each one is a delightful surprise. I believe it was called something like the ‘Feast-day of Saint Valinor’... Oh! Is he one of the saints of virtue you mentioned, Cadet Booker?”
“Valentine is the saint of, um ... courtly love,” EVI hopping in for a quick save. “The holiday gifting traditions have gradually expanded to cover any sort of love, especially romance.
Now, everyone’s focus was squarely on the cake and its king-coveted, legendary garnitures. Room heavy with ulterior motives, I could see a way out of this predicament, albeit one that would require a sacrifice.
“Dean Astur, sir, maybe any remaining uncertainties about the chef’s and my motives could be cleared up if I surrender the cake for your official inspection. You could also suggest a more... enlightened name for it?”
Astur dramatically paused to pretend he was meaningfully considering a foregone conclusion, “...Yes, that would be an acceptable solution for now, Cadet Emma Booker.” His thin, concessional smile could not mask his concession-hungry eyes.
“Perhaps we should send for a lesser elf to taste first. They are particularly sensitive to even trace poisons.” Mal'tory offered.
I muted my vocoder and furiously wished a curry-paste enema upon his slave-owning posterior in slightly-mangled Thai.
“Acknowledged. Objective added. Would you like to set a priority?” My over-stressed imagination colored the VI’s military-grade monotone with a faint hue of dismay.
“No! Cancel that, EVI! Belay that order.”
“Acknowledged, Cadet Booker.”
I returned to the conversation in time to hear Keiran say “...safe for those of elvish heritage, or I would be quite deceased,” and a mana-surge ping from blue-robed Vanavan who suddenly had a stack of gold-rimmed plates and cutlery. Keiran retrieved his keychain of doodads, fiddled with it, and suddenly he had a full-sized knife and server to start cutting the cake with.
The apprentice, technically the lowest-rank and most expendable person present besides me, hesitantly stepped forward to be the first to taste the unknown and shoulder-bumped into gangly Vanavan who was making no pretense of hiding that he was thrilled for the opportunity to eat my dad’s alien alchemical chocolate cake.
Larial hesitated to examine one of the spiraling chocolate curls, while the blue-robed professor plowed right into his slice.
Everyone took a half-step back from Vanavan at the same time EVI dinged that there was a localized increase in indeterminate mana radiation from his direction. “This is a testament to the incredible talents of two realms!” He grinned infectiously at me and Keiran.
Larial’s face became nearly as vacant as Lortal’s as she channeled for the first time the luscious, sugary ‘mana’ that comforts and sustains every overworked and overstrung human graduate student.
Belnor poked at the spongy cake with her fork, “I am impressed alchemicals could achieve such a texture without magic.”
“Much of what fine diners attribute to the mana-arts is merely the selection of the right ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and precision in technique, but I daren’t lecture to a grandmaster on that topic.” Keiran offered diplomatically.
Mal'tory scrutinized a milk-chocolate petal and realized about then that the cruel pleasure of forcing me to watch everyone enjoy my special cake while I got none also required him to eat my cake, which meant I was going to win gloating points if he admitted he liked my completely unNexian, mana-deficient, family heritage cake.
He just about broke his purple face trying to hide his rapture to chocolate paradise, which was far more hilarious than if he had simply let himself enjoy it.
I muted my vocoder in the nick of time while EVI snapped on in-armor positional reorientation mode so I could figure out how to breathe again beneath the unmoving armor’s stoic facade. I’m so close to getting out of this, Director Weir and Field Captain McCay would be disappointed if I blew it now because I was making fun of an alien on a cultural exchange mission. That thought immediately grounded me and EVI returned my movement.
Keiran focused like he was prepared to cast, then a look of confusion and realization crossed his features. “Ah. Honorable Dean, could you permit an outward bound–” Astur simply cut him off with a nod and casual flourish of his hand.
ALERT: UNKNOWN MANA-SURGE, 425% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO NEUTRAL A05: PROFESSOR ASTUR.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY E89: CHEF KEIRAN.
“And to celebrate the spring return of a Nexian treasure after a much-too-long winter, albeit in alien form...”
He presented a wine-like bottle for the faculty’s inspection. “This one compliments chocolate quite well.” I didn’t know enough about alcohol to guess what it was, but the tawny-rose color looked expensive. There was no cork to pull either; it was sealed like an ampoule at the top.
The educational collective’s eyes went a bit wide at what to me looked like a picture-only label. It was slightly subtler than the usual sort of ostentatious, a small belly-up black dragon and gold leaf knight with a floating crown kneeling in front of the sword impaling the dragon’s neck. Golden glitter sparkled within, some mana-based shenanigans no doubt. I had a feeling that to end the war in our favor, Chef Keiran had brought out a decisive tactical warhead.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 325% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY A03: PROFESSOR BELNOR.
Transgracian Academy’s legendary brewmaster had the glasses in hand before anyone could suggest fetching them. She looked at me apologetically, and I waved my hand understandingly.
Soon, the professors were heaping compliments upon compliments on the drink and Keiran started telling them about a sightseer memory I had shown him of cakes disguised as common objects, and that Earthrealmish courts would summon grandmaster confectioners to hide chocolate sculptures and well-decorated cakes among real clutter and force jesters to select objects to try to eat in front of the spectators.
With Keiran topping them up before they were even half into their first glass and Astur cutting a second round of cake slices, the arcane educators seemed well on their way to sloshing and noshing into a golden chocolate haze that would hopefully spell the end of this evening’s troubles for me.
As if I would ever be that fortunate.
“Chef Keiran, what do you think of Cadet Emma Booker’s candidacy?” Astur asked.
Candidate.
I have really come to despise that word.
That meant Keiran was one of those personally-interested “hands”. In retrospect it was obvious. He was from the Crownlands and cagey about who exactly he worked for before. This encounter proved he had a lot of intellectual interests outside of being a chef. The town nobles hadn’t been able to bully him into toning down his ‘research campus’ that anyone else would have been sixed and kicked for. Hindsight is 20/10.
I didn’t doubt his fall from grace because everything about his usual down-to-earth persona was consistent. But in asking Keiran about me, it meant Astur still considered him consequential enough to be worthy of voicing an opinion.
Keiran swirled his own glass while formulating a political answer, looking specifically at Mal'tory for a moment.
“This cake was made with unorthodox ingredients without the gift of mana, yet it is undeniably delicious. Cadet Emma Booker does not wield magic arts as we understand them, yet she is undeniably powerful in her own ways.”
“While I can only speak from my perspective in the culinary arts, she has been strategically omitting information, less to deceive and more to avoid further friction with her peers and Nexus’ representatives. This is a dangerous pattern because I see the aura of a greater power beyond that portal veil, an order more characteristic of a trusted realm long patronized by Nexus rather than a typical newrealm. An order likely capable of fielding great armies, but which rarely practices war because they build greenhouses that cannot be repaired by magic. An order which has impressively attacked the fundamental problem that plagues all growing civilizations, hunger, with designed crops, not merely products of careful breeding.”
Keiran then turned to stare me down with a callous and lordly expression that fit his face yet was utterly foreign to me, “...An order that requires crops modified so that they can be tended by explorers and soldiers on long distance ventures in mobile gardens, and fields those especially large vessels capable of supporting mobile gardens.”
I started at that.
“I spent some time in the navy, Cadet Emma Booker,” he snapped at my silence. “Surely you do not presume your military is the only one to conceive of plants meant to be grown in hazardous conditions, properties carefully selected so that they will survive even a hungover boatswain’s mate who thinks gardening is beneath him?”
I said nothing.
Dean Astur nodded solemnly like the answer was not completely unexpected, casting a glance at me I could not read. Professor Mal'tory flickered with an ugly, twisted grin of victory.
And before I could really take in what just happened, cobble together a reply to this foreign Keiran I have never met, Astur redirected the conversation.
“Does your kitchen take appointments or tours?”
Keiran’s gaze lingered on me for a moment, the conceit gone from his eyes, before slipping back into stuffy chef, “Very unofficially. I have begun to consider light service now that I have established a beachhead and finally have a little free time to rectify the privations and bring the campus up to expectant decorum. The dock still requires renovations, but I gardened a path to the canal so visitors don’t have to arrive by the mud and cobble road. I have gotten into the habit of taking regular palate cleansers from all these experiments and foreign alchemical foods by practicing The Golden Palantine Garden Gourmet Coursebook, but the workhands and half the kitchen staff don’t appreciate it. Some days, I’m just handing samplers out the kitchen front window to whoever walks by.
Astur’s mouth fell open aghast, unable to find all the words, “The Palantine Garden... to riff-raff?”
“They think the snacks are more of my taste tests. I had to break up a street brawl over my tartlets, but I can’t even give away grape leaf paper terrine. Butter-churn ladies scarf it down and suggest it tastes ‘funky’ and too sharp, so I ought to spread it thin over bread.”
White-robed Astur kneaded his forehead with one hand, disgusted with the philistine modality of Elaseer’s plebs and Keiran for graciously indulging them anyway.
Keiran continued, “Now, to be fair, everything looks a little off because of the plating. Earthrealm...”
Larial motioned Mal'tory aside, whispered something, and dropped a privacy spell.
Without turning, I strong eyed the 3 o’clock cam, but EVI had already launched the lip reading alpha test which so far only worked well on elves I had gotten lots of speech data with in good lighting who also had “standard accents” that didn’t veer into heavy vernacular like Keiran or Belnor. Luckily, that included these two.
[A110 APPRENTICE LARIAL (FRIENDLY): The {soma-dissectant} duplicants failed to thrive, as you predicted. Perhaps the council should recall you to interpret prophecies. (NOVEL WORDS PRESENT! HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)] Reading the word ‘duplicant’ in this room made my spine crawl.
The apprentice politely averted her eyes to the floor in lieu of a bow that would draw attention. [LARIAL: May I inquire into the source of your sagacity, Professor, to further my horticultural knowledge?]
The duplicants were made from my plants?
EVI’s spirograph gyrated in a yellow triangle-knot like it had a realization and popped out two infoboxes titled “cloning plants via micropropagation” and “LREF protocols to mitigate agricultural espionage, unwanted crossbreeding, and invasive potential using genetic use-restriction technology” and slid them unexpanded into the secondary priority collapsible of my HUD.
Taking the VI’s ‘word’ for it, I refocused on the conversation.
[A02 PROFESSOR MAL'TORY (HOSTILE): My wisdom was rooted not in vegetable aspects but rather the possessive and paranoid character of their animal source. I foresaw the final act when your memorandum stated the Groundskeeper was convinced the pollen was sterile. (HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)]
[LARIAL: I am prepared to try again, if you can obtain more fresh samples.] I couldn’t hear her voice, but her demeanor read tired.
[MAL'TORY: Disabling the chef’s alarms and venturing into another house of pranks is far too tiresome. I would rather obtain another point in my contest with Professor Astur.], Mal'tory almost let himself chuckle like he had a private joke but snapped back to seriousness, [Request a point of personal privilege if you wish to discuss this matter further, out of line of sight.] I had barely got this program launched and he was already getting suspicious!? Sure, Mal'tory was right on the money, but he had no right to call me paranoid!
The two, side-eyeing me without knowing I was side-eyeing the hell out of them, started meandering back in our direction.
And I returned from that high-stakes, cloak and whispers spy saga to find Keiran, Astur, and Belnor three glasses deep into what I can only call the conversational equivalent of moon food while Vanavan impishly snuck extra milk chocolate curls, magically flicking one to Larial to buy her silence when she made a face at him. Tonal whiplash seemed to be the menu theme of the night.
Keiran was describing boxed meals, “... a puzzle-form lunchbox of many layers, and the self-cooking military ‘Emma-Ree’ which discards all pretenses of decorum and most of edibility for field longevity. To explore potential paths to the cultural reformation of Earthrealm’s obsession with maximal compactification of anything and everything into boxlike forms, I am putting forth that necessary first foot into the foreign ... by establishing a single booth table right in the kitchen.”
“Now, several adjacent realms had kingdoms where diplomats and nobility were served intimately so they could oversee preparations as security against poisoning. But these kitchenary developments were motivated by mistrust and habitual anarchy, not cultural devotion to the rectangular.”
“To pull down that final barrier and truly emboxify the entire dining experience requires both a brigade de cuisine of supreme confidence and honored guests possessing the highest caliber of civility in a state of mutual trust so that the pace of the kitchen hierarchy and the flow of guestly conversation is not disrupted. I do have my doubts, but if Earthrealm can attempt, then Nexus can achieve,” Keiran concluded his rousing officer’s speech.
“Well, if you’ll be baking more sponges, enroll me as your lab elf! And tour me through those newrealm borosilicates and maybe your wine closet along the way!” Belnor guffawed.
“Periodic inspections to ensure compliance with the Academy’s standards and moral duties would be wise.” Astur seemed pleased with the idea. Larial was too busy snagging the last milk chocolate flower petals before Vanavan snarfed them.
Mal'tory, having had enough interactions with Earth-made boxes for one lifetime, immediately gave up trying to parse that half-heard nonsense and swiftly finished his glass. He didn’t share his headspace with a surly VI that could instantly summarize the prior conversation for me to speed read.
Keiran, knowing ringmaster of this conversational circus, was rather more sober than the others. “Course, I have to get approval from the admiral of my operation.”
“Er, if you think everything is squared away go ahead and open up your restaurant. I think a chef’s table in the kitchen does sound very fancy, Chef Keiran, but if you think putting things in boxes is a disease, maybe I don’t want to be cured.”
“Textbook. Absolutely textbook anti-reformative polemic.” Astur looked like he had a thunderous epiphany. He also looked a tad rosy in the cheeks.
“Emboxified, you could say,” Vanavan bantered jovially at me.
I flipped over to the helmet mic, “Uh, huh. Good luck ‘emboxifying’ whatever the heck that ‘out-boxing Earthrealm’ reformation talk was about for the sociologists, EVI.”
It beeped and its avatar briefly collapsed into a square.
“Set objective, lowest priority, mail reminder one week after I return to Earth to send whoever snuck banter mode onto you a box of chocolate doughnuts from that one bakery near Auntie’s apartment, the one that makes them square shaped.” ❧
Chapter Links: [1: Trouble for Dessert], [2: Poison and Potash], [3: And the Devil Deals the Cards], [4: Crownlands Pride] / (Main Index)
This is a completed, four-part fanfiction loosely based on StopDownloadin's Eat Well, Live Free. Thank you to StopDownloadin for beta reading.
submitted by DndQuickQuestion to JCBWritingCorner [link] [comments]
Last Chapter: Cadet Emma Booker managed to convince her skeptical professors that her dad’s chocolate cake wasn’t the recipe of an evil cultist and Chef Keiran wasn’t poisoning students with rare alchemicals, but it seems the cook was hiding a secret from Emma about one of the ingredients...
The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, Secure Ritual Room. Local Time: 2010 Hours.
Larial scrutinized the cake and her eyes suddenly narrowed. “And what are the flower and curls made of? They don’t appear to be pulled sugar.” The professorial collective stared down Keiran with renewed suspicion.Chef Keiran smirked mischievously like he had been caught. He averted his eyes, “By far the most difficult part, milady Apprentice. Even with earthrealm artifices and painfully exact instructions, those caused me weeks more failed trials than alkalizing the cocoa nibs without eliminating too much of the flavor.”
“They are... milk chocolate.”
No one reacted to his dramatic pronouncement except Mal'tory, whose eyes widened ever so slightly with recognition.
The chef continued with a crooked grin, “The solid chocolate squares you are familiar with have been made in elite confectionery houses for a millennium and a half, but their use is mostly limited to couvertures, fillings, and accenting other dishes because sugar alone is insufficient to quench cocoa’s innate bitterness. Crafting milk-free ‘dark’ chocolate into a stable solid is difficult enough. A slight deviation in melting temperature, discrepancy in the balance of butters and cocoa, unevenness in the nib milling, mixing, or cooling, or even a single errant drop of moisture, and the batch is ruined.”
“Milk removes the bitterness of cocoa, as you might know if you have ever had a mug of hot cocoa, but combining the essences of milk and cocoa into a stable, solid form is a damnably tricky affair.”
“About 250 years ago, a process to alloy the two was discovered which was held in secret by a single entrusted Crownlands guild-kitchen. Everything was kept behind lock and spell, but scullery canard held that preparing the milk was somehow equally as laborious as the cocoa: bizarre and extremely precise, doubling the troubles. Milk chocolate doesn’t keep like darker milk-free chocolate either. For all these reasons, milk chocolate was almost never found outside the palace and a few of the highest houses of the Crownlands core.”
“But something unfortunate occurred. An edict enacting eminent domain was brought down on the guild-kitchen’s borough so that its character could be raised up to the standards of modern enlightenment.” There was a faint tinge of resentment in the way Keiran said that made me think the Crownlands high nobles treat city districts like their personal sim game.
“The heir had to relocate. Certain tools were damaged in the move and atmospheric conditions at the new location weren’t quite right. They were eventually able to bring back their solid dark chocolate but not at their former quality. The prepared milk failed to stabilize with the chocolate. The founder soon passed and his heir could not afford to keep trying. She couldn’t let it alone though and one morn her mate found her dead, suffocated. Guardsmen established it was a spell that got out of control, but a lot of folks kept skeptic thoughts. Her heir was a babe and never even tasted the proper stuff. And so milk chocolate faded into urban legend.”
“This the first tempered milk chocolate to be produced on Nexus in over 200 years.” Chef Keiran crossed his arms across his broad aproned chest, rippling with pride.
“Making this milk chocolate is the reason for my suspicious activities. Working the witching hours alone, setting up anti-observation spells, and why I caused you gentles an unnecessary degree of trouble,” he acknowledged Vanavan and Mal'tory.
“It was bad enough that the formula for milk chocolate was lost so tragically, but there are more devils lurking in the dark. You see, palace observers gossiped that the Eternal King himself became fond enough of the treat that he still laments its absence from time to time. That’s caused something of a competition between notable Crownlands confectioners to rediscover the recipe for milk chocolate. Now I wish to clarify, I never sought involvement in that complicated business. Sweetmeats weren’t what I was known for, but I know the scuttlebutt simply by adjacency. Anyhow, that competition... has become a bit warm at moments. Certainly it’s hot enough to take a swing at a lone mate with weak backing like me,” Keiran accidentally slipped back into his naval voice before clearing his throat with a hasty cough.
“The most deeply invested competitors could certainly fall for the diabolical allure of fame and royal patronage. It would be very tempting to hire rogues to waylay a student of Transgracian to misappropriate her recipes.”
Belnor hemmed under her breath, “Perhaps ‘chocolate cake from the evil god’s pantry’ is an apt name.”
Keiran acknowledged that, “I was lucky to be the first chef our dear Cadet showed her recipes to. If she had interviewed others and rumors spread that she held such coveted intelligence, conspiracy would have forced itself on the Academy and its guardians. Covetous devils may visit yet, but now their plots will be redirected at me in Elaseer rather than at the school and the newrealmer.”
I pondered this Nexian tale of tragedy and intrigue. Once again, I had become a lightning rod for controversy simply by existing, and once again the center of the storm was one of those bolt-from-blue topics I could have never predicted would be troublesome and thus had no context for knowing ought to be withheld. At least this time, I had found a friend rather than a foe.
Larial chirped up, “And how could Earthrealm and Cadet Emma Booker’s common father know this legendary lost recipe, or is theirs some inferior… artifice-based equivalent?”
“Their alchemist-chefs discovered it independently. And, comparing memories, I would not consider Earthrealm’s version inferior. It chafes my pride to say this, but theirs is clearly better… for now. You see, their discovery not only predates our own, it seems to be so celebrated that Earthrealm has a specific holiday where commoners gift each other boxes of exquisitely-decorated tempered chocolates with various fillings such as caramel, nuts, marzipan, jam, and even liqueur so that each one is a delightful surprise. I believe it was called something like the ‘Feast-day of Saint Valinor’... Oh! Is he one of the saints of virtue you mentioned, Cadet Booker?”
“Valentine is the saint of, um ... courtly love,” EVI hopping in for a quick save. “The holiday gifting traditions have gradually expanded to cover any sort of love, especially romance.
Now, everyone’s focus was squarely on the cake and its king-coveted, legendary garnitures. Room heavy with ulterior motives, I could see a way out of this predicament, albeit one that would require a sacrifice.
“Dean Astur, sir, maybe any remaining uncertainties about the chef’s and my motives could be cleared up if I surrender the cake for your official inspection. You could also suggest a more... enlightened name for it?”
Astur dramatically paused to pretend he was meaningfully considering a foregone conclusion, “...Yes, that would be an acceptable solution for now, Cadet Emma Booker.” His thin, concessional smile could not mask his concession-hungry eyes.
“Perhaps we should send for a lesser elf to taste first. They are particularly sensitive to even trace poisons.” Mal'tory offered.
I muted my vocoder and furiously wished a curry-paste enema upon his slave-owning posterior in slightly-mangled Thai.
“Acknowledged. Objective added. Would you like to set a priority?” My over-stressed imagination colored the VI’s military-grade monotone with a faint hue of dismay.
“No! Cancel that, EVI! Belay that order.”
“Acknowledged, Cadet Booker.”
I returned to the conversation in time to hear Keiran say “...safe for those of elvish heritage, or I would be quite deceased,” and a mana-surge ping from blue-robed Vanavan who suddenly had a stack of gold-rimmed plates and cutlery. Keiran retrieved his keychain of doodads, fiddled with it, and suddenly he had a full-sized knife and server to start cutting the cake with.
The apprentice, technically the lowest-rank and most expendable person present besides me, hesitantly stepped forward to be the first to taste the unknown and shoulder-bumped into gangly Vanavan who was making no pretense of hiding that he was thrilled for the opportunity to eat my dad’s alien alchemical chocolate cake.
Larial hesitated to examine one of the spiraling chocolate curls, while the blue-robed professor plowed right into his slice.
Everyone took a half-step back from Vanavan at the same time EVI dinged that there was a localized increase in indeterminate mana radiation from his direction. “This is a testament to the incredible talents of two realms!” He grinned infectiously at me and Keiran.
Larial’s face became nearly as vacant as Lortal’s as she channeled for the first time the luscious, sugary ‘mana’ that comforts and sustains every overworked and overstrung human graduate student.
Belnor poked at the spongy cake with her fork, “I am impressed alchemicals could achieve such a texture without magic.”
“Much of what fine diners attribute to the mana-arts is merely the selection of the right ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and precision in technique, but I daren’t lecture to a grandmaster on that topic.” Keiran offered diplomatically.
Mal'tory scrutinized a milk-chocolate petal and realized about then that the cruel pleasure of forcing me to watch everyone enjoy my special cake while I got none also required him to eat my cake, which meant I was going to win gloating points if he admitted he liked my completely unNexian, mana-deficient, family heritage cake.
He just about broke his purple face trying to hide his rapture to chocolate paradise, which was far more hilarious than if he had simply let himself enjoy it.
I muted my vocoder in the nick of time while EVI snapped on in-armor positional reorientation mode so I could figure out how to breathe again beneath the unmoving armor’s stoic facade. I’m so close to getting out of this, Director Weir and Field Captain McCay would be disappointed if I blew it now because I was making fun of an alien on a cultural exchange mission. That thought immediately grounded me and EVI returned my movement.
Keiran focused like he was prepared to cast, then a look of confusion and realization crossed his features. “Ah. Honorable Dean, could you permit an outward bound–” Astur simply cut him off with a nod and casual flourish of his hand.
ALERT: UNKNOWN MANA-SURGE, 425% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO NEUTRAL A05: PROFESSOR ASTUR.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY E89: CHEF KEIRAN.
“And to celebrate the spring return of a Nexian treasure after a much-too-long winter, albeit in alien form...”
He presented a wine-like bottle for the faculty’s inspection. “This one compliments chocolate quite well.” I didn’t know enough about alcohol to guess what it was, but the tawny-rose color looked expensive. There was no cork to pull either; it was sealed like an ampoule at the top.
The educational collective’s eyes went a bit wide at what to me looked like a picture-only label. It was slightly subtler than the usual sort of ostentatious, a small belly-up black dragon and gold leaf knight with a floating crown kneeling in front of the sword impaling the dragon’s neck. Golden glitter sparkled within, some mana-based shenanigans no doubt. I had a feeling that to end the war in our favor, Chef Keiran had brought out a decisive tactical warhead.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 325% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY A03: PROFESSOR BELNOR.
Transgracian Academy’s legendary brewmaster had the glasses in hand before anyone could suggest fetching them. She looked at me apologetically, and I waved my hand understandingly.
Soon, the professors were heaping compliments upon compliments on the drink and Keiran started telling them about a sightseer memory I had shown him of cakes disguised as common objects, and that Earthrealmish courts would summon grandmaster confectioners to hide chocolate sculptures and well-decorated cakes among real clutter and force jesters to select objects to try to eat in front of the spectators.
With Keiran topping them up before they were even half into their first glass and Astur cutting a second round of cake slices, the arcane educators seemed well on their way to sloshing and noshing into a golden chocolate haze that would hopefully spell the end of this evening’s troubles for me.
As if I would ever be that fortunate.
“Chef Keiran, what do you think of Cadet Emma Booker’s candidacy?” Astur asked.
Candidate.
I have really come to despise that word.
That meant Keiran was one of those personally-interested “hands”. In retrospect it was obvious. He was from the Crownlands and cagey about who exactly he worked for before. This encounter proved he had a lot of intellectual interests outside of being a chef. The town nobles hadn’t been able to bully him into toning down his ‘research campus’ that anyone else would have been sixed and kicked for. Hindsight is 20/10.
I didn’t doubt his fall from grace because everything about his usual down-to-earth persona was consistent. But in asking Keiran about me, it meant Astur still considered him consequential enough to be worthy of voicing an opinion.
Keiran swirled his own glass while formulating a political answer, looking specifically at Mal'tory for a moment.
“This cake was made with unorthodox ingredients without the gift of mana, yet it is undeniably delicious. Cadet Emma Booker does not wield magic arts as we understand them, yet she is undeniably powerful in her own ways.”
“While I can only speak from my perspective in the culinary arts, she has been strategically omitting information, less to deceive and more to avoid further friction with her peers and Nexus’ representatives. This is a dangerous pattern because I see the aura of a greater power beyond that portal veil, an order more characteristic of a trusted realm long patronized by Nexus rather than a typical newrealm. An order likely capable of fielding great armies, but which rarely practices war because they build greenhouses that cannot be repaired by magic. An order which has impressively attacked the fundamental problem that plagues all growing civilizations, hunger, with designed crops, not merely products of careful breeding.”
Keiran then turned to stare me down with a callous and lordly expression that fit his face yet was utterly foreign to me, “...An order that requires crops modified so that they can be tended by explorers and soldiers on long distance ventures in mobile gardens, and fields those especially large vessels capable of supporting mobile gardens.”
I started at that.
“I spent some time in the navy, Cadet Emma Booker,” he snapped at my silence. “Surely you do not presume your military is the only one to conceive of plants meant to be grown in hazardous conditions, properties carefully selected so that they will survive even a hungover boatswain’s mate who thinks gardening is beneath him?”
I said nothing.
Dean Astur nodded solemnly like the answer was not completely unexpected, casting a glance at me I could not read. Professor Mal'tory flickered with an ugly, twisted grin of victory.
And before I could really take in what just happened, cobble together a reply to this foreign Keiran I have never met, Astur redirected the conversation.
“Does your kitchen take appointments or tours?”
Keiran’s gaze lingered on me for a moment, the conceit gone from his eyes, before slipping back into stuffy chef, “Very unofficially. I have begun to consider light service now that I have established a beachhead and finally have a little free time to rectify the privations and bring the campus up to expectant decorum. The dock still requires renovations, but I gardened a path to the canal so visitors don’t have to arrive by the mud and cobble road. I have gotten into the habit of taking regular palate cleansers from all these experiments and foreign alchemical foods by practicing The Golden Palantine Garden Gourmet Coursebook, but the workhands and half the kitchen staff don’t appreciate it. Some days, I’m just handing samplers out the kitchen front window to whoever walks by.
Astur’s mouth fell open aghast, unable to find all the words, “The Palantine Garden... to riff-raff?”
“They think the snacks are more of my taste tests. I had to break up a street brawl over my tartlets, but I can’t even give away grape leaf paper terrine. Butter-churn ladies scarf it down and suggest it tastes ‘funky’ and too sharp, so I ought to spread it thin over bread.”
White-robed Astur kneaded his forehead with one hand, disgusted with the philistine modality of Elaseer’s plebs and Keiran for graciously indulging them anyway.
Keiran continued, “Now, to be fair, everything looks a little off because of the plating. Earthrealm...”
Larial motioned Mal'tory aside, whispered something, and dropped a privacy spell.
Without turning, I strong eyed the 3 o’clock cam, but EVI had already launched the lip reading alpha test which so far only worked well on elves I had gotten lots of speech data with in good lighting who also had “standard accents” that didn’t veer into heavy vernacular like Keiran or Belnor. Luckily, that included these two.
[A110 APPRENTICE LARIAL (FRIENDLY): The {soma-dissectant} duplicants failed to thrive, as you predicted. Perhaps the council should recall you to interpret prophecies. (NOVEL WORDS PRESENT! HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)] Reading the word ‘duplicant’ in this room made my spine crawl.
The apprentice politely averted her eyes to the floor in lieu of a bow that would draw attention. [LARIAL: May I inquire into the source of your sagacity, Professor, to further my horticultural knowledge?]
The duplicants were made from my plants?
EVI’s spirograph gyrated in a yellow triangle-knot like it had a realization and popped out two infoboxes titled “cloning plants via micropropagation” and “LREF protocols to mitigate agricultural espionage, unwanted crossbreeding, and invasive potential using genetic use-restriction technology” and slid them unexpanded into the secondary priority collapsible of my HUD.
Taking the VI’s ‘word’ for it, I refocused on the conversation.
[A02 PROFESSOR MAL'TORY (HOSTILE): My wisdom was rooted not in vegetable aspects but rather the possessive and paranoid character of their animal source. I foresaw the final act when your memorandum stated the Groundskeeper was convinced the pollen was sterile. (HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)]
[LARIAL: I am prepared to try again, if you can obtain more fresh samples.] I couldn’t hear her voice, but her demeanor read tired.
[MAL'TORY: Disabling the chef’s alarms and venturing into another house of pranks is far too tiresome. I would rather obtain another point in my contest with Professor Astur.], Mal'tory almost let himself chuckle like he had a private joke but snapped back to seriousness, [Request a point of personal privilege if you wish to discuss this matter further, out of line of sight.] I had barely got this program launched and he was already getting suspicious!? Sure, Mal'tory was right on the money, but he had no right to call me paranoid!
The two, side-eyeing me without knowing I was side-eyeing the hell out of them, started meandering back in our direction.
And I returned from that high-stakes, cloak and whispers spy saga to find Keiran, Astur, and Belnor three glasses deep into what I can only call the conversational equivalent of moon food while Vanavan impishly snuck extra milk chocolate curls, magically flicking one to Larial to buy her silence when she made a face at him. Tonal whiplash seemed to be the menu theme of the night.
Keiran was describing boxed meals, “... a puzzle-form lunchbox of many layers, and the self-cooking military ‘Emma-Ree’ which discards all pretenses of decorum and most of edibility for field longevity. To explore potential paths to the cultural reformation of Earthrealm’s obsession with maximal compactification of anything and everything into boxlike forms, I am putting forth that necessary first foot into the foreign ... by establishing a single booth table right in the kitchen.”
“Now, several adjacent realms had kingdoms where diplomats and nobility were served intimately so they could oversee preparations as security against poisoning. But these kitchenary developments were motivated by mistrust and habitual anarchy, not cultural devotion to the rectangular.”
“To pull down that final barrier and truly emboxify the entire dining experience requires both a brigade de cuisine of supreme confidence and honored guests possessing the highest caliber of civility in a state of mutual trust so that the pace of the kitchen hierarchy and the flow of guestly conversation is not disrupted. I do have my doubts, but if Earthrealm can attempt, then Nexus can achieve,” Keiran concluded his rousing officer’s speech.
“Well, if you’ll be baking more sponges, enroll me as your lab elf! And tour me through those newrealm borosilicates and maybe your wine closet along the way!” Belnor guffawed.
“Periodic inspections to ensure compliance with the Academy’s standards and moral duties would be wise.” Astur seemed pleased with the idea. Larial was too busy snagging the last milk chocolate flower petals before Vanavan snarfed them.
Mal'tory, having had enough interactions with Earth-made boxes for one lifetime, immediately gave up trying to parse that half-heard nonsense and swiftly finished his glass. He didn’t share his headspace with a surly VI that could instantly summarize the prior conversation for me to speed read.
Keiran, knowing ringmaster of this conversational circus, was rather more sober than the others. “Course, I have to get approval from the admiral of my operation.”
“Er, if you think everything is squared away go ahead and open up your restaurant. I think a chef’s table in the kitchen does sound very fancy, Chef Keiran, but if you think putting things in boxes is a disease, maybe I don’t want to be cured.”
“Textbook. Absolutely textbook anti-reformative polemic.” Astur looked like he had a thunderous epiphany. He also looked a tad rosy in the cheeks.
“Emboxified, you could say,” Vanavan bantered jovially at me.
I flipped over to the helmet mic, “Uh, huh. Good luck ‘emboxifying’ whatever the heck that ‘out-boxing Earthrealm’ reformation talk was about for the sociologists, EVI.”
It beeped and its avatar briefly collapsed into a square.
“Set objective, lowest priority, mail reminder one week after I return to Earth to send whoever snuck banter mode onto you a box of chocolate doughnuts from that one bakery near Auntie’s apartment, the one that makes them square shaped.” ❧
This is a completed, four-part fanfiction loosely based on StopDownloadin's Eat Well, Live Free. Thank you to StopDownloadin for beta reading.
2024.03.26 03:28 gilette_bayonete Giving it another go after several years
I loved it initially and I consider Soma to have one of the best storylines ever written for a game. In my opinion it feels more like an interactive 10-12 hour movie it's so well thought-out and original. Longer if you really get into dissecting everything and take your time at a slower pace.
Visually it's obviously stunning as well as terrifying, but things go much deeper than just eye candy. No puns intended.
You have all of these incredible characters that are depicted through audio logs (as well as the WAU) and most of them Simon technically never even meets. I must have finished this game over five years ago and I still find myself thinking of Johan Ross occasionally, lol. The writing was so strong and immersive that these characters stayed with me.
I'm looking forward to going through this again as I re-downloaded it the other night. I'm at the beginning in Simon's apartment taking things slowly and re-absorbing everything. There are a lot of things I had forgotten about so putting the pieces together again already feels awesome.
If anyone is interested or debating on getting this game I would say do yourself a huge service and pull the trigger. You'll be very happy with this one
It's awesome to see the community active as well. I remember when I finished it for the first time I had so many questions and things I wanted to talk about. Everyone on this sub was so kind and helpful.
And so I'm off to Dr. Munshi's about to ride the subway train. I'll see all of you on the other side 😊 have a wonderful evening!
submitted by gilette_bayonete to soma [link] [comments]
Visually it's obviously stunning as well as terrifying, but things go much deeper than just eye candy. No puns intended.
You have all of these incredible characters that are depicted through audio logs (as well as the WAU) and most of them Simon technically never even meets. I must have finished this game over five years ago and I still find myself thinking of Johan Ross occasionally, lol. The writing was so strong and immersive that these characters stayed with me.
I'm looking forward to going through this again as I re-downloaded it the other night. I'm at the beginning in Simon's apartment taking things slowly and re-absorbing everything. There are a lot of things I had forgotten about so putting the pieces together again already feels awesome.
If anyone is interested or debating on getting this game I would say do yourself a huge service and pull the trigger. You'll be very happy with this one
It's awesome to see the community active as well. I remember when I finished it for the first time I had so many questions and things I wanted to talk about. Everyone on this sub was so kind and helpful.
And so I'm off to Dr. Munshi's about to ride the subway train. I'll see all of you on the other side 😊 have a wonderful evening!