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Short Story - Favors
A slice of life featuring most of the Johto and Hoenn casts.
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Silver looked up from his Pokégear when someone rang the doorbell. He waited for a few seconds to see if anyone would answer the door, but no one seemed to respond. Once the doorbell rang a second time, he got off of the couch and walked over towards the door. He opened it a bit to peek out, and was surprised to see Ruby and Sapphire outside.
“Oh! Hi, Silver,” Sapphire said, looking surprised to see him in Gold’s house as well. “… Is Gold home? I was supposed to meet him here…”
Silver glanced back inside the house, wondering why exactly Gold was still asleep when he was expecting visitors. “… One moment.” He closed the door and headed towards the basement where Gold and all of his Pokémon were at the moment.
As he approached the basement, he could hear a cacophony of snores, belonging to Gold and whichever of his Pokémon were also asleep. Apparently, Gold had the nickname of Pokémon Boy in New Bark Town, and Silver could see why, as Gold was currently asleep on the basement couch, his legs on top of his sleeping Houndoom, while his Chandelure slowly spun on top of him, functioning as a belly warmer. And next to the couch, his Sudowoodo was playing pool against Togekiss, and in the far corner, his Politoed, Sunflora, Ambipom, and Typhlosion were playing mahjong.
Silver watched the two games go on for a bit, surprised to see that the Pokémon knew what they were doing. Pool, he could understand. But apparently, Gold had successfully taught his Pokémon how to play mahjong. So now even more of his Pokémon were capable of gambling. So was Gold planning on taking all of his Pokémon to a gambling hall to play every single game at once, or… Silver looked away from the games and walked over towards Gold, remembering that there were visitors still waiting outside.
“Hey. Wake up. You have guests,” he said, shaking Gold by the shoulder. Gold didn’t respond, so Silver shook him a few more times.
“… What now?” Gold mumbled, sounding to be asleep still.
“You have visitors waiting for you,” Silver said again.
“… Unleash the hounds…” Gold mumbled again.
Silver frowned, as he did not expect that response, but soon shrugged and looked over at Gold’s Houndoom. He shook it a little, and unlike its trainer, it woke up quickly.
“Hey Hountaro, there are intruders just outside the front door, and Gold wants you out there.”
The Houndoom looked confused for a bit, but soon began to growl.
“… Sic ‘em, boy…” Gold mumbled again.
“You heard him,” Silver said again. “Go get them!”
The Houndoom snarled and ran upstairs to deal with the intruders, and Silver quickly followed, just in case things got out of hand. By the time the Houndoom had reached upstairs, Sapphire had opened the front door, wondering what was taking so long. And just as she realized that there were strange scurrying sounds rapidly approaching, Gold’s Houndoom leapt into the air towards her from around the corner, with its fangs bared for an attack.
…
Meanwhile, Crystal’s Xatu slowly descended towards the ground and once it was close enough, Crystal freed herself from its grip. She returned her Xatu and walked towards Gold’s house in the distance, fixing her clothes and hair as she walked. Ordinarily, she would’ve called first instead of visiting, but she had a couple of favors to ask, and it only felt right to ask face to face.
As she got close, she spotted Ruby and Sapphire outside Gold’s house, with Ruby seated on a nearby bench next to his Mightyena, and Sapphire on her knees doing… something. Crystal quickened her pace but soon realized that nothing was wrong, as Sapphire seemed to be having a lot of fun.
“Aw, you’re so cute!” Sapphire squealed as she gently scratched the neck of Gold’s Houndoom, which was on its back, flailing its limbs in the air happily. “Is it here? Ah, you like that?”
The Houndoom barked happily as Sapphire rubbed and massaged it. But nearby, Ruby’s Mightyena whimpered a bit as it watched Sapphire having fun playing with another Pokémon. Ruby chuckled a bit and gave it a gentle pat.
“Don’t get too jealous, Nana. Sapphire played with you a lot over the years, and will continue to do so when we get home.”
“So… you two are having fun here. Where’s Gold?” Crystal asked as she approached her juniors.
“Hi, Crystal!” Sapphire called, looking up. “We’re still waiting for him. He’s inside, I think.”
Gold’s Houndoom quickly rose to its feet and ran towards her, wagging its tail as a greeting. Crystal gave it a gentle pet, though she always found it a bit unnerving that a Houndoom could act so cute and friendly.
“And I see that you’ve bonded with one of his new adoptions pretty quickly,” Crystal remarked.
“It’s so cute!” Sapphire said with a nod. “It’s the first time I ever saw a non-hostile Houndoom. I want to play with it some more! … If only I had something to throw…” She looked around a bit before setting her eyes on Ruby. With a grin, she quickly approached him and took off one of his mechanical shoes (which have cost her many impromptu races and speed competitions over the years). “Perfect! Hey Houndtaro, fetch!”
“Wait, what?! No, no, wait! I haven’t finished paying for that!” Ruby exclaimed as Sapphire tossed his Devon Corporation made Running Shoe 3.0 far away, and Gold’s Houndoom chased after it with its sharp fangs bared. He quickly began hobbling towards his shoe on one foot but there was no way he would be able to catch up.
Crystal shook her head a bit and watched the commotion unfold. Before too long, Silver came back outside, drinking from a can of soda.
“Oh, hey Crys. What are you doing here?”
“Hi, Silver. I came by to ask Gold a favor, but it looks like he has other visitors today.”
Silver took a sip of soda as he watched Sapphire running with the stolen shoe, with Gold’s Houndoom happily chasing after her, and Ruby furiously hopping behind them. “Yeah. Seems like it. … One moment.” Silver went back inside Gold’s house, shouted something loudly, and then came back outside. “He’s coming.”
“Oh, I also wanted to ask you a favor too,” Crystal said, looking over at him.
“Hm? Okay. What is it?”
“There’s an orphan in Violet City, and his birthday is coming up soon. He’s also really into that weird robot show that you happen to really enjoy, so I want to get him a gift that relates to that show, but I don’t know what to look for and where.”
“I see. So you want me to find a suitable birthday gift from that franchise. I can do that. What’s your price range?”
“It’s a birthday gift for a kid, so as long as it’s not crazy expensive, it’s fine. Though… I wouldn’t know.”
“Hmm… I know of some places where I could get some limited edition models that any fan would like to have. I’ll see what I can do. So, do you want me to send you the bill after?”
“Huh? Um… yeah. That’s fine.”
“Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute,” Gold said as he stepped outside his house. “Are we charging friends now? So does that mean I can finally start charging rent?” He stared at the last can of soda in Silver’s hand. “… And other expenses? … And what the hell is even happening in front of my house? What are those two doing here?”
Silver slowly turned away and took a sip of soda. “… You know what, Crys? Don’t worry about the bill.”
“It’s okay, Silver. I’ll pay you. I was the one who decided to buy the kid a gift in the first place.”
Silver glanced at Gold and shook his head. “Nah. It’s fine. It won’t be that expensive anyways.”
“Well… then… thank you. Oh, and Gold? I need to ask you a favor too. We’re planning to repair and renovate the playground in the orphanage, but it’s a big enough task that we’re essentially rebuilding it entirely. So I was hoping to borrow you, your Tartaro, and some of your other Pokémon for some construction work.”
Gold stared at her with narrowed eyes. “… That’s a lot of manual labor there, Crys. Seems like a bit much for a simple favor.”
Crystal grinned. “Well, I would pay you for your work, but since you just made it clear that you’re against charging friends for money…”
Gold smirked. “Crys, you’re working 3 jobs and you’re still so broke that you can’t afford going on a trip anywhere. That’s why you came to me, and not to a certified construction worker. If I charged you for this, I’ll just have an IOU for like a decade. So don’t worry about it. … When do you plan to start?”
Crystal grumbled a bit but let it slide. “As soon as possible.”
“All right then.” Gold turned his attention to Ruby and Sapphire, who were doing their usual routine. “And you two! What are you doing here?!”
Sapphire pulled Ruby’s head out of the grass and looked up at her senior. “You said you were going to show me some baby Pokémon up for adoption at the daycare, remember?”
“… And I’m here just to accompany her,” Ruby said, brushing away the dirt on his face and clothes. “… Though I’m really starting to regret that decision…”
“Oh yeah. I remember. Okay then. You’re coming with us. We’re going to stop by Violet City orphanage, help out a bit with the construction, and then head to the Goldenrod daycare.”
“Okay!” Sapphire said, jumping up to her feet.
Ruby looked at his already-dirty clothes and let out a long sigh. “Construction work, huh? … I knew I should’ve stayed home…”
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Well, I found the trove of functions and variables that I was sort of looking for with this little modding project. As in, I found all of them. Now I'm overwhelmed.
This is way too much stuff. I'm not going to sift through all that... yet.
I'll just... continue with the simpler but time consuming stuff I began on day 1, and then move on to trying to fix a few issues that I noticed. And then when I'm truly bored, I'll venture into this coding pit of doom and see what's what.
... All this so I can do what the memory editor did for the game already before I had to update to the new version (which the editor doesn't recognize), which was mandatory for the mod framework. And the mod runs on Korean patch, which creates a whole ton of name and input issues which the game didn't have before the mod when it was running the original Japanese version.
... And I just remembered... I had a short story that was almost done before I willingly stepped into this modding mess. ... I'll get to that when I feel the need of a break.
But it is satisfying when I see and hear the things working as intended. And I even figured out how to mess with the background music. Time to replace all the music with the wrong tones? Hehehe. Oh, the BGM for a peaceful talking session? ... Replace with that with Yakuza 0's Receive You (Tech Trance Arrange). And then edit the dialogue. "Sounds like someone's getting their ass kicked."
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Mods
So, I finally figured out how to get mods for my favorite game of my second favorite franchise. It took... a lot of bypassing. The forum where the mod framework and the mods themselves were posted requires a lot of verification, which I can't do. So most of the mods are locked off (for now), and I have to figure out everything myself. ... Why does that site require legal name verification... And no, it's not a fishy site. It's the equivalent of a Google account, except in Korea. Koreans use that site more than Google. ... And thus the problem. I can't do Korean legal ID verification because I don't live in Korea. I can't imagine that this site would have access to Service Canada information. So... are they going to need my Ontario driver's license? Heh.
Well, anyways. That's a future problem when I'd like more mods. For now, I've spent the last two days modding and playing the game. By "playing", I mean briefly going into the game to see if the mod worked, and by "modding", I mean scrolling through hundreds of lines of code trying to figure out what the hell the modder did and try to edit it to match my preference. It really makes me appreciate the days in Waterloo where the TAs were drilling into the students about commenting the code properly. None of these mod files have proper commenting so I can't make my own. There's not a whole lot I can do when I don't know what variables the game uses and how. It's like... I don't know the math function, but I know 2 coordinates. There's like nothing I can do with that.
ANYWAYS. The few changes I made do work, so... great! And now I've hit another problem because of course I have. I'm modding the character voice files, since the ones the mod came with kind of suck, and the game's default voice files... well, I've heard them for 15 years now and they're mostly the same. The voice replacements I have in mind are... from a game in my Xbox. And I can't find the sound files online, and I have no idea how to pull the data out of my Xbox game. Hmm...
Well. I guess I'm just screwed in that regard.
... And there's no script for editing the background music? So I can't listen to Samurai Ondo when I'm attacking? Why do I even bother. Heh.
... Why are there no comments on these codes... ... Huh. Come to think of it, I don't have any right to complain about that. Once upon a time when I worked briefly in Korea, I was the only one who knew how to make computer programs. And... I never put any comments in those programs. So when I left... those are tens of thousands of lines of code that don't have a single piece of comment, so the unfortunate souls who picked up where I left off would have to figure it all out by themselves. Oops.
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I guess it's not that surprising for people to latch onto something familiar in a different culture setting. Something to relate to, you know?
Hmm... so, when thinking of Kpop idols and K-drama settings, what comes to mind? ... Pokemon Musical and the Pokestar Studios. ... Well, in that regard, I guess they already did all that.
... So did I, I guess. Hehehe.
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Well, considering how the reason why the young Japanese people love Korea is because of either Kpop or K-drama... it's probably unavoidable. The Team Flare admins in Kalos were like that. I still can't tell who's who because they have no unique defining trait. Just like the Kpop idols who all look the same, sound the same, and will be replaced by more similar individuals in like 4 years.
... But in Galar, huh? Isn't that based on England? ... If they did that to an England-based region, then for a hypothetical Korea-based one in 30 years... heh. Let's make every Gym Leader, Elite Four, and other prominent characters all look like pop idols! So no one can tell who anyone is because they all look the damn same... which is sadly accurate. In a group-mentality country like Korea and Japan, you can't be standing out, so when something is in trend, everyone has it, which naturally makes most people look the same. Korea also has very little hair color variance, which doesn't help.
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I recently saw a... um... I guess it's kind of like a podcast? Anyways. That thing about why Korea, China, and Japan all hate each other. As sadly funny as the topic may be, it was actually pretty fascinating. The host was a French dude living in Korea who spoke flawless Korean (which in itself is real surprising to see), so he offered a neutral view on the matter, which makes sense.
Obviously, I knew why Korea hates China and Japan, but not the other two's perspectives, though I could kind of guess why Japan would hate Korea. And I certainly didn't know that it was generational, though I can definitely see how that would be the case.
Heh. At the end of the day, it's a lot of history related hatred, politics related hatred (which is unavoidable, as any two neighboring countries will always have some kind of strife), and people just generally hating others.
So... if Japanese people who are currently 60+ mostly think of Korea as less than dirt, and 40+ also think that but don't voice those thoughts, and 20s mostly love Korea... Then I guess we can expect to see a Pokemon region based on Korea in about 20 - 30 years, when those around my age take the company reins. So if there's a new generation about once every 5 years... Pfft...
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Had a dream where I was dying from cancer today. Most likely due to Yakuza 8 influence, although... in recent days, I've only been playing Starcraft 2 Archipelago mod, and not Yakuza games. I guess I did play 7 Gaiden a bit before, but Kiryu doesn't have cancer in that game, and I've only been playing poker in it. And no one in my family has cancer either, so... weird.
It's one of those dreams whose details are lost immediately after waking up, so I don't remember much about it, but I do remember being very nonchalant. Fitting, I suppose. But if I really was dying from cancer right now, I'd be a tiny bit mad. Like... why did I survive the heart failure at 27, if I was going to die of cancer at 30?
Heh, dreams. The frequency of dreams has increased quite a lot in recent years. I wonder why. But I guess they are amusing, even those where I cry so much that I cry for real (although only for a split second).
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So... my parents saw the total solar eclipse. Apparently the clouds parted just in time for that in their area. Some of my friends went to Niagara Falls to see the eclipse there, and were able to see it through the clouds.
... All I saw were clouds here. Not a single patch of sky was visible! And these were some thick clouds too. I couldn't even tell where the sun was. It was interesting though, for everything to darken like that during the partial eclipse. It was 3 pm, but it looked as if the sun had set on a cloudy evening. And then the clouds dissipated an hour or two after the partial eclipse so everything was real bright, and since my apartment window faces west, I got the full brunt of sunlight... in a condo whose heating unit hasn't switched off yet. So it got real hot.
Hehe. Well... better luck next time. Whenever that is.
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Today's the day. Solar eclipse. Even if I don't get to see the total eclipse, at least I can see the partial-
Weather: cloudy. Can't see sh*t. I don't even know where the sun is.
Well. DAMN. ... At least it ain't snowing, I guess?
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Deliberately Misleading?
Red: "Hey, Crys! You okay?"
Crystal: "Huh? O - Oh! Yeah! Um... Sorry."
Red: "What's up? It's not like you to have your head in the clouds like that."
Crystal: "Well... it's just... Gold."
Red: "Oh. What'd he do this time?"
Crystal: "It's just that... lately, he's been saying some strange things, as if he has some kind of tragic past but has never mentioned it before. And the way he says it, I can't tell if he really did have something tragic happen, or he's just deliberately wording it that way to confuse me. Given the variety of stuff he says, I'm leaning towards this all being a series of deliberately misleading tales, but I can't know for sure."
Red: "Huh. That's new."
Crystal: "Yesterday, I was talking to him about the kids in the Violet City orphanage, and how they look up to me like an older sister. And so I said that he probably wouldn't know what it's like being an older sibling figure. And he said that he used to know, once upon a time."
Red: "Oh. I see why you're conflicted now."
Crystal: "And I can't tell if he actually had a younger sibling that he doesn't have anymore, or just knew some kid that looked up to him in the past, or if he's just making it up. If he was lying and I believed it, he'll just think I'm a sucker. But if he's not lying and I call him out on it, that'd just be way too cruel."
Red: "Hmm... All right. Next time I talk to him, I'll see if he tries something similar, and see if he's being genuine. Though the only way to know the truth might be to go back in time and spy on him or something..."
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WARNING!
So that messaging option literally does nothing. Tsk. Well then, time to do the same thing as last time... Proceed at your discretion.
Okay. Where to start... I think I mentioned this in either the return post or the one right after. Something along the lines of... subtle hints didn't work last time, so it probably won't work this time. So I'll be blunt. I don't want to though. However, you are "the reason" I mentioned in the return post. Meaning, this conversation here is literally the reason why I came back again. But what I wanted to prepare for you ahead of time... that I totally forgot about... is most likely not something you'd want to hear.
As for the messaging, it's too late now. I'll just respond through a post like now. And yes, that someone was you.
I think your idea of this being a mistake is slightly different than mine. Certainly, if you never saw that I returned or took too long like last time, this return would've been a mistake. However, if you saw the return and was really pissed off that I disappeared on you twice, this would not have been a mistake.
I really don't want to get into the details. It's really not in my nature to be blunt about things like this. If I didn't like you or something, this wouldn't be a problem and I'd be as blunt as a hammer. So that's some consolation, maybe.
There was a scene in Yakuza 8 that oddly resembles this situation, now that I think about it. Kasuga Ichiban goes on a date with Mukoda Saeko, and the two have fun hanging out and yadda yadda. And then Kasuga proposes to her, says a bunch of things that came to mind. Saeko doesn't give him an answer and goes home for the day, and then completely ignores him for a year. Kasuga doesn't know why and thinks he did something wrong. But in truth, he simply said something that really pissed her off but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. And Kasuga couldn't go to her directly because he was afraid of worsening the situation and losing her forever.
Obviously the situation isn't the same, but the responses were oddly reminiscent.
From here, I'd say we have two options.
Option 1: We could just drop this matter entirely.
You could just be satisfied knowing that I'm not gone, and that through the Ask option or otherwise, you have the ability to contact me, probably not as frequently as before considering how I'd respond through posts and not the messaging system. That could be seen as an improvement from how it's been for the past 3.5 years, no?
Option 2: I can be honest and tell you why I disappeared in 2020, why the return in 2022 was temporary, and why I came back in 2024, and why you were "the reason" mentioned in the return post.
And then we'll see depending on your response. There is a chance I purge everything related to 135 and disappear permanently. I once said something along the lines of "we'll see if this was a mistake or not" because I had this in mind. And the reason why I'm responding to a private message with a post is in the event that happens. That way, other people would know why everything related to me is suddenly gone for good.
So... do you really want to continue with this?
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Favorite Games
I was talking with a friend of mine and this thought occurred. What are my top 10 favorite games? So these games are those I wouldn't mind introducing to others. Now, these are games, and not franchises. So multiple games of the same franchise can make it on here.
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10) Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
I absolutely love this game. But... it's from 2005, and the series has been dead for like 10 years. The last game was Blacklist that came out for the Xbox 360. Not even Xbox One. Such a shame. In order for me to play this game again, I have to run it on my old 360 that barely works, or buy it again on the Xbox marketplace. That's probably still worth it given how good this is and how cheap it is now. Super serious story of course, but there are still comic relief here and there, usually in interrogations.
Guard: "I knew it! I knew there were ninjas here!"
Fisher: "What?"
Guard: "You must be a ninja! How else could you sneak up and grab me like that?"
Fisher: "Look, I don't know what you're-"
Guard: "Wow! I can't believe it! A real, live ninja!"
Fisher: "Listen, I'm going to kill you if you-"
Guard: "Wow! Killed by a ninja! Cool!"
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9) <Redacted> 10
... At this point, it's going to be the Redacted series. ... Sure. The 10th entry of my second favorite franchise. This came out in... 2005 as well. Wow.
As much as I like the game, it's not easy for anyone new to pick up, because... story and the characters, I guess. Unless you already know the story, it's not going to be clear what's happening, why, and what comes next. And as a single player game, the AI is pretty important, and... it's very frustrating in a wide variety of ways. They spam an action that mildly annoys you, but they do it like 30 times a minute. And the AI doesn't do sh*t in combat, whether it's working for you or against you.
Unfortunately, this can no longer run on latest Windows. So I have my laptop permanently on "Test Mode" just so I can run the thing. Which means when I eventually get a desktop PC, this game will not be copied onto there.
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8) Hitman: World of Assassination
This game provides a lot of entertainment in very... unique ways. Sometimes, pulling off the perfect assassination is very cool and sneaky. Sabotage a heart surgery (...), make two targets kill each other, sabotage an explosive device that the target is testing out so he blows himself up, etc. Sometimes, the assassination is rather... goofy. Swap a golf ball with an explosive golf ball and watch the target blow himself up in an accident (???). Put a car battery in the washroom and overflow the sink so the target gets electrocuted in an unfortunate accident that no one could've seen coming (????). Punch the target right in the face so they fall over while strolling on extremely shallow waters so they accidentally drown. And on and on.
And of course, the classic Hitman "disguises" that... just... heh. Nothing is quite as amusing as running around in a bank, dressed as Santa Claus, carrying a big ass magnum pistol and blasting people into oblivion. Santa wants his paycheque cashed in now, damn it. Hehehe.
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7) Yakuza Kiwami
The first Yakuza game to make it in here, out of 13 that I've played since 2020. Damn.
The game's great. Combat is amazing, plot is great but not as great as in 0. And Majima Everywhere does get annoying in NG+. But the start of Yakuza Kiwami is like the only time Kiryu is perfectly happy, so... ohhh... And... Haruka...
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6) <Redacted> 11
Much of the same for 10. AI is very annoying, spams same dumb moves over and over because if it did literally nothing the first 15 times, surely the 16th time would...
But 11, which is from... 2006, is the game I've played the most out of every other game, including Starcraft II and Yakuza 0, and even Pokemon Gold version, whose game time maxed out.
I would very much love to start modding this, except I don't know how. Hehe... This game also only runs on my laptop thanks to the Test Mode, so... that sucks.
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5) Lost Judgment: Unjudged Memories
This game's so good. Judgment too. The only downside is how long the games are. And since Judgment series only mention the mainline Yakuza games stuff in passing reference, the mainline Yakuza games are not required!
These are like the first notable cases for me where the bad guys are definitely in the bad but I understand why they're doing it. Like... in Judgment, the bad guys are covering up and continuing with lethal human experimentations to get the cure for dementia to work on humans. The serial killer himself says that at this point, they need to get this drug to work, else nothing could possibly save them. And in Lost Judgment, your ally says that there is no clear right answer here. Though that's because they don't have a correct starting point of morality, but hey. It's a crappy situation where no outcome can be a happy one.
... Though Lost Judgment does have a DLC story, and for the first time ever, that has a happy ending.
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4) Starcraft: Brood War
Ah... the game that I would love to play a lot of... if I wasn't so scared. Hehehe. Not only do you have to fight the game, you also have to fight the other guy who's in the game playing against you. And anyone who's still playing on the ladder probably has been playing the game for like 15 years at this point. If I play on the ladder, I'll just end up getting annihilated nonstop. Someone much better than I am at RTS described it as "getting cyber bullied by Koreans on the ladder".
You need like 300 APM just to manage your economy and macro properly. And with the other guy who's in the game, you now have to scout and see what they're up to and actually know what to do next. So for now, I'll just be satisfied with watching ASL, Ultimate Battles, and Major Pro Team Leagues.
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3) Yakuza 8
... Ow, my heart. The game is so fun. And long. Very long. And unlike 7 where the past games were not strictly required, in 8, all the past games are required for full comprehension. Since half of the main cast is from Yakuza 7, 7 is absolutely required. And since the other half of the game focuses on Kiryu, 0 ~ 7G are all required. So I guess this game can't really be recommended to anyone. It's a super long game that requires the player to have played all the other games in the series so far.
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2) Yakuza 0: Place of Oath
This game was so fun. I kind of wish I could go back to before I played this for the first time, just so I can enjoy it all over again. And since this game is (chronologically) the start of the series, I can actually recommend it to others and drag them into this rabbit hole too.
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1) Starcraft II
... I guess this isn't surprising at all.
The campaigns are fun to play (the story might suck but the gameplay is awesome), and with a huge influx of mods nowadays, it gets even better. Real Scale, where you either get smashed by the Protoss fleet or use the Protoss fleet to smash the enemies, Mass Recall, where you play Starcraft I campaign on the SCII engine, Randomizer, which can comically screw you over at times, Reversed Campaigns where you play the campaign missions but from the enemy's side, etc. The SCII editor is so big that you can do almost anything in it, including making a whole new game using the engine, like Heroes of the Storm.
There's also co-op, which is just a ton of fun. I don't know why people get salty on co-op missions, but some do. And of course, the multiplayer. Ladder is actually very fun. Of course there are the standard multiplayer issues, such as salty players whining about balance and spamming insults, but that doesn't say anything about the game itself, and only how sh*tty people are.
That said, I don't think I can easily recommend this game. SCII may be a lot more beginner friendly, but it's too fast for beginners.
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Whew. So, there were 2 Starcraft games, 4 Yakuza games, 2 games from my second favorite franchise, and 2 miscellaneous.
Why didn't any Pokemon games make it in? Because of course they didn't. I don't like any aspect of those games. Look at what I've been doing lately in Generation I and II. Either glitch heavy runs or challenge runs only. And I highly doubt that Yellow version was made intentionally to allow players to create various Pikachu-shaped abominations before settling them loose in the wild. The only fun I had in playing Pokemon games were when I broke the game with glitches, and RNG manipulations, neither of which are intended.
Why didn't any Halo games make it in? Because I'm not that much of a fan of FPS multiplayer games. And Halo Wars are console RTS, so they suck horribly in comparison with either Starcraft games. Which is sad, since Starcraft 1 was from 1998, and its crappy ass N64 version had more available commands for units than Halo Wars 2.
Why didn't the other Yakuza games make it in? For 2, I didn't feel anything for the personal story and the yakuza story was only decent. For 3, the combat kind of sucks, and it's now the oldest game with 1 and 2 being remade as Kiwami and Kiwami 2. Though after 7 Gaiden and 8, there's a lot of desire to go back to 3 and hang out with the kids in Morning Glory. ... Kiwami 3 when? For 4, the plot kind of... meh. 5 was far too long and the yakuza story did not make a lick of sense, seeing as how the final boss doesn't even know why he's the final boss. 6 has gameplay issues and the yakuza story kind of sucks. 7 is fine and just narrowly didn't make it in. 7 Gaiden is way too short and doesn't have NG+. Ishin is a rather strange spinoff. And Judgment can get a bit frustrating with the combat and the Keihin Gang.
And my second favorite franchise... heh. I'll keep it redacted for as long as no one recognizes it. "Heh. It's all right. Everyone has secrets." ... Even though I don't particularly have a reason to keep it secret.
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Heavy rain and potential for 10 cm of snow? In April? Well damn. Good thing I haven't swapped out the snow tires yet.
Well, at least this storm isn't going to last until the solar eclipse next week.
... The path of totality does not reach Toronto. Well. Damn.
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Poor Gold, there is such a thing as saying too little XD Crys did assume a bit too much tho. Also good luck to Politaro in finding what could be tiny rock pieces...Fun little Mangaquest short and well-written as always! - Rider
Hehe. Crystal got unintentionally tricked by Gold's tone. ... But was it unintentional though?? Now she'll have to wonder if she's misinterpreting the situation, if Gold is lying, or if she's doubting his sincerity. Hehe. There'll be a Banter post about this soon.
For some reason, I seem to be in a Generation II - III mood. So... Gold and Crystal will be back soon. With friends.
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Short - Memento
Gold is reminiscing about his past and Crystal is curious.
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Gold stood by the sea in the eastern end of New Bark Town, staring silently into the distance. The constant crashing waves helped in making him lose himself in his memories, and as a result, he failed to notice that someone had walked up next to him.
Crystal looked at him for a while, and crossed her arms when she noticed that he didn’t even notice her presence. She waited a bit longer, wondering what he was doing here, standing like a statue, before waving a hand in front of his face.
“Hello? You in there?”
Gold blinked a few times and glanced over at her. “Oh. Hi, Crys,” he said oddly quietly.
“… What are you doing here?” Crystal asked.
“I’m just… reminiscing,” he answered, sounding oddly sad.
Crystal frowned a bit, finding his unusual melancholy rather unsettling. “… About what?”
Gold pointed ahead into the sea. “There’s a tiny rock sticking out of the water over there. And a long time ago, my friend and I would play in the water all the time, with the goal of reaching that rock one day.”
Crystal glanced at the water but didn't see anything. “Hmm… I guess the water is calm enough for kids, but swimming into deep water is still very dangerous…” She smiled a bit, feeling the need to cheer him up. “Still though, you had a childhood friend, huh? I never knew that.”
“Yeah. She wanted to be a lab assistant, and maybe become a professor herself. Crazy goal for a kid.”
“… Oh. A childhood girl friend, huh,” she remarked, narrowing her eyes a bit.
Gold stared into the water. “She was always kind of driven. Like you, in a way. And she always wanted to conquer that rock. You probably would’ve liked her.”
“Where is this old girlfriend of yours? I’ve never seen her around here.”
“… She’s not here anymore, Crys. She hasn’t been for many years.”
Crystal faintly gasped in shock and fell silent as she watched the waters. Kids playing in the sea, trying to reach a rock in the distance… She had thought that Gold was just reminiscing fond childhood memories, and not memories of a lost childhood friend.
“… I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
Gold let out a sigh. “In the end, she never managed to reach that rock. Yesterday, during the thunderstorm, a few Water type Pokémon got into a fight and they ended up destroying it. I have Politaro searching for its pieces right now.”
‘And that’s why he’s standing out here, sounding so sad,’ Crystal thought. ‘He just lost the memento of his lost childhood friend. And he wants to find even just a piece of that memento…’
Gold stuffed his hands into his pockets. “A damn shame. Especially since she’s coming to visit next month.”
‘… Huh?’ Crystal blinked and faced him again. “… What?”
“Yeah. She’s coming to Johto for a seminar of sorts, and she said she was going to swing by for old times’ sake. But that rock is gone, so… damn.”
“Um… what?! I thought you said she was gone!” Crystal shouted in shock.
Gold looked over at her, wondering why she was reacting like this. “Uh… yeah? She moved to Unova like 15 years ago.”
Crystal’s eye twitched as she stared at him in disbelief. She promptly kicked him in the leg. “You jerk! I thought she drowned or something!”
“Hey, ow! I never said that she died! I just said that she wasn’t in New Bark Town anymore!” Gold watched her storm off fuming and rubbed his leg where she had kicked. “Sheesh. What’s gotten into her?”
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... I thought I disabled messaging... "Only allow messages from people I follow." ... I don't follow anyone, so... the hell's the point of this...
Well, well. It's certainly been a while. Good to know that it didn't take you a year and half to notice that I was back this time. That's good, since... you are "the reason" I mentioned when I came back again.
There was something I wanted to say to you, and I was going to prepare that ahead of time, adding to it so I don't forget anything. But then I completely forgot about it when Yakuza 8 came out...
So for now... hello again.
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NG+ Story Points
The idea won't leave me alone, as I said, so... I'm hoping that listing out the points of interest will get me to stop thinking about this. Just like the story idea of Platinum's assassination that I listed out once upon a time. And then I'll have another excerpt fodder! Whenever I choose to get around to doing that. Then I'll have Legacy Excerpt, Assassination Excerpt, and NG+ Excerpt. Sweet.
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So after Red wakes up and finds himself tiny, he'll have to spend some time digesting what happened. He'll first think that he got shrunk, and then realize that Blue's not around, and then notice that a lot of devices around the house are missing because they didn't exist yet in his house at least (such as, no Pokegear). And then from television, he'd see the date and realize that he's been sent to the past.
And in particular, he's 5. So while digesting that information, he'd suddenly realize that Blue got kidnapped when she was 5, and so he'd rush over to her old house and see her in the garden. He wants to go talk to her, but stops himself because he doesn't know what to say at the moment. And he'll wonder if preventing her kidnapping is even a good idea. He'll retreat to his house and gather his thoughts, writing down everything he knows about the future, and organizing them by time.
If Blue isn't kidnapped, then Silver has no one to take care of him. And assuming he survives, he certainly wouldn't be able to escape. So compared to the normal timeline where Blue and Silver escape and eventually find happiness and peace, if Red intervenes, Blue doesn't get kidnapped and doesn't have to endure through the darkest parts of her life, but Silver doesn't get to escape at all. And while Red wouldn't know this part, but if Silver doesn't get to escape, then he doesn't run into Gold, who then has no reason to leave his house, which then means no one can come to Crystal's aid around Whirl Island.
Upon completing the list of events that he knows and remembers, and roughly arranging them by time, Red spends the next few days pondering his actions.
A few days later, Blue gets kidnapped by Ho-oh, and Red is forced to do nothing. His consolation is that as a 5 year old kid without a single Pokemon, there was nothing he could do anyways, and that he knows that Blue would be fine, albeit irreversibly changed. But he still hates this outcome, since he knows just how much Blue suffers as a result of this. But this does remind him that he's currently very much powerless to do anything about anything that's going to happen, since he's woefully underprepared. So he decides to leave and journey around the world, gathering and building up his team. He realizes that he's not limited to just Kanto, so he sets his eyes on the other regions. Which means his Pokemon team needs a NG+ Overhaul. He'll leave a slot open for Bulbasaur since that's pretty important. And since he's just 5 years old, he'll need a way to protect himself from people and Pokemon alike, so he takes a bat with him, which then gives him cover as being just a kid who wants to play baseball, while having... defensive options. Yakuza influence. Majima's Slugger style! But before he leaves, Red stops by Blue's house and does what he can to comfort her parents. He does it mostly to console himself, but this results in Blue's parents staying in Pallet Town and not moving to the Sevii Islands.
Since the next important event is meeting Green and Mew when he's 11, Red has 6 years to prepare himself both Pokemon-wise and financially. He briefly wonders if he'd get a lot of money if he tells Giovanni where Silver is right now, but decides against getting involved with Team Rocket so early on. And while traveling the world, he's absolutely going to spy on his future juniors, assuming they've been born by then. Of course, Red doesn't know the full details of every junior so mistakes will be made. "Is that... Sapphire in a dress?? And where's Ruby?"
3 years later, Red travels around Johto to check on Gold and Crystal. He won't meet them yet, but he wants to see them since he's very lonely at this point, since none of his friends are around. And in New Bark Town, he'll see Gold and a childhood friend, which will tie in with an upcoming short.
And while Red is traveling around Sinnoh, he'll run into Cynthia a lot earlier than normal, and shows her the ropes of being a Pokemon trainer a lot earlier as a result. Believe it or not, this was in the Headcanon Chronology Post for many years now.
The relevant part is the one in bold. The new updates are in bold, but the update itself was before I went away the last time. So while it's not like Starcraft 1, whose last balance patch notes are from 2001, this update has still been around for a while.
And when Red is 11, he'll start the Pokemon Special events. ... I'll have to reread a lot for this. Maybe after ASL. He'll find Green in a battle with Mew, but this time, Red doesn't fight Mew, because he knows better. "Did I really try to fight Mew back then? Man, what the hell was I thinking?" He'll still "accidentally" release all of Prof. Oak's Pokemon as before, because he'll need a way to impress Oak without using his NG+ Overhaul team, since that might result in Oak not giving him Bulbasaur.
He'll start his journey as before, but since he has aerial transport this time, he can quickly zip back to Pallet Town in order to camp Prof. Oak's lab. And so one day, he'll see Blue sneaking into the lab and confront her when she tries to leave. Since he knows what Blue's longing for, he tries to be as warm and friendly as possible, while also trying to steer her away from stealing and scamming. While he's successful in making a better first impression and preventing future guilt, he fails to change her, as she runs away instead and labels him as someone she should avoid at all costs.
There's not a lot planned from this point. This post has gone on long enough anyways, so that works out. To point out the remainder...
- Red runs into Blue a few more times just like before, but after revealing a little bit of his knowledge of her past ("You're taking care of someone, aren't you? That's why you need money, and that's why you can't abandon doing this right now."), he eventually convinces her to accept his offer of help. Blue reluctantly follows him for now, though she does disappear from time to time.
- Red does not get frozen this time (since he'd really like to avoid that), nor does he lose consciousness during the fight against Giovanni, which then prevents Yellow from getting involved at this point. However, after winning the Pokemon League, he goes to visit Hoenn. He doesn't tell anyone where he's going and why (since no one would understand), so Blue thinks he's gone missing as before and gets Yellow involved anyways. So Red's quite surprised to see all the fuss when he comes back.
- In Hoenn, Red spots Ruby and Sapphire, and is surprised to hear them talking about him, and is even more surprised to see how different they are from his memories, since he doesn't know about their past. Satisfied that he got to see them, he leaves them alone, so the Salamence incident happens as before.
- After Blue and Silver get revenge, Red tells them who and where their parents are. Blue is happy a lot earlier than before, and while Silver is disappointed to find out who his father is, since he hadn't spent that much time wondering about it, he's not crushed by the discovery as before. This prevents FRLG from happening, which then drastically changes how E arc happens, since no one gets turned to stone.
- Red visits Sinnoh to spy on Platinum when she's around 5, and wonders if he should get involved with preventing the impending tragedy. He ultimately decides against it since he doesn't know how that would change Platinum.
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Whew. I think that's all of them for now. Most of the stuff are from before RGB starts. If I choose to fully flesh this out or even just make excerpt posts, I'll need to reread a lot of Pokemon Special, and consider more timeline changes.
This focuses on Red getting involved earlier with those who he's already close to, so pretty much nothing from DPPt onwards are affected. So after a certain point, I wonder if it'll be more interesting if Platinum got her memories too. That way the latter half of the Dex Holders could get involved earlier. Then Platinum could save Moon earlier, prevent the Light Stone incident (hehe), help with Y's regret...
Well, that's a future problem I guess. I hope this was interesting enough to read.
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