Info-dump then, man! /pos

Okay- okay okay, this is probably going to be really long and I'm gonna start with DOOM (yes, both of them, both 2016 and Eternal and the DLCS for Eternal), and then move onto the entire Splatoon series (but focusing more heavily on 2 and its DLC since that one just... Got me man)

Warnings below for definite spoilers for DOOM 2016, DOOM Eternal, The Ancient Gods Part 1, The Ancient Gods Part 2, Splatoon 2, Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion

Okay so... With DOOM, just the everything? I hate gore and blood and all that nasty stuff usually but with DOOM it's... Different I guess? All the different weapons you get, and the fact you never have to reload?? I adore that so fucking much. Like and how it goes level by level, slowly giving you things while also feeling like everything's speeding past you, it's the perfect pace. And oh my gods, the soundtrack for them both goes so fucking hard, though I do personally prefer Eternals soundtrack they're both amazing. And the story it tells? How it goes beyond just The Slayer and saving Earth and all that? How every single demon is completely different from the last and how it consistently throws new mechanics at you? I love love love that.

I'm also going to touch on Eternal more here because I love the collectables and the secrets? How you get music that you can play and also all the toys? The Slayers room? It gives him so much more than just huge guts kill maim murder man because he got fucked over. The comics, the books, how it displays your weapons in your room? The broken mech that hangs in the station? Just the entire scenery is... It's incredible, it's so detailed and being able to see just how far it's come from when it first came out to now is... It blows my mind when I think about it too long.

And the DLCs for Eternal? The plot twist? The fact that everything led up to this if you go back and play it and all the little hints they left along the way that didn't mean anything if you haven't played the DLC yet I just... Wow. Wow man wow. Also just saying getting to finally fucking deck Samur? Oh I was thrilled to do that, absolutely delighted I love getting to bash his stupid fucking Seraphim head in over and over. And part 2? Where everyone just showed up to literally help you I had to put the controller down. In a good way because just... Oh it was the perfect ending, just everything about these DLCs was perfect. The very end of the game where they seal you back up? Man... Gets to me every fucking time without fail for a game that's on the surface funny haha kill game

Now for Splatoon... I didn't get a chance to play the first one unfortunately, though I've probably spent a good couple hours digging into it, though I don't know as much about it as I do Splatoon 2. For starters, the square? It's so detailed and thorough. How the TV's move with things on them, how there's players just chilling? I love all that. And that all the characters, at least NPCs all look different, and have such different backstories and personalities on top of all that.

I love the differences in Pearl and Marina. Looks, their personalities, their histories and backstories just all of it? I mean Marina was a fucking child soldier for the Octarian Army if I'm not mistaken. And Pearls dad is so fucking rich, and yes she's spoiled, but she's kind at the same time. They did a really good job balancing her out and I adore her color pallet. And it's the other little things around the game that really make it for me.

For a game with really simple and repetitive mechanics, it keeps you interested. Because it's not just turf wars. That not your thing? Go do salmon runs, or play one of their ranked battles! Personally I love splat zones. Or you just wanna be here for the story? Play hero mode! That too hard and you want a different branch of the story? Get the DLC.

The mem cakes, the fact that you could skip levels if they were too hard and still get the rewards from them, the fact that the train consistently refreshed with new passengers on it? Oh and dont forget the chat logs you got to see giving you even more story, alongside the fact that once you beat it you can actually play as an Octoling? And OH MY GODS THAT END FIGHT. The music, the setting, the everything got me so hard. I won't even lie I cried a little at it.

It's not just a game where you shoot either, all of the incredibly creative weapons, and how if you don't like the bomb or the special on that one weapon, you can find the same weapon, but with a different bomb and/or special? I love that so much. I also love how it's locked behind leveling, it makes leveling seem actually important and not just... Do it for bragging rights, which yes it's also that once you stop getting weapons at level 30 I believe, but you get what I'm getting at. And all of the clothes and the shoes and the hats you can put onto your little guy! Oh sometimes I just go in to mess around with that.

There's just so much to them both and I love them both dearly.

Hi, I'm Rei. I hope this is not rude or weird, but I just finished the TKA novel and somehow I still can't quite grasp the difference between the 4 Tacticians' way of thinking. Like i know that YX is more unorthodox and ZXJ is detail oriented, but don't they all pay attention to details? I found your blog and it seems like you have a deep understanding of these characters (esp YWZ), so I'm curious, what do you think is the biggest difference between them? Like do you think that they process information differently? Have a nice day!

hi!!! no worries, it's not rude or weird at all. it's fun to talk about fandom stuff! 💙

I think a lot of my headcanons for ywz (and everyone, really) are heavily live action + prequel based, since those are my favorite flavors of tka. but that's the fun of fandom, we get to pick and choose what we want to engage with!

I see yu wenzhou's style of tactics as very psychology based, in the sense that he devotes a lot of time to understanding how the people around him act (both opponents and teammates) so he can anticipate what they're going to do and get there first. this is supplemented by his very deep knowledge of glory. i definitely think that his rough start drilled into him that the only chance he has of overcoming his slow speed is to start defending before his opponent has started attacking. so he's always looking for that angle, that weakness where he can slip in through the cracks and strike when the moment is right.

For zhang xinjie, I see him as someone who calculates every possibility and their resulting possibilities and on and on, and then tries to force his opponent onto the path most favorable for him. his tactics are about controlling the world around him, and around his opponents and in a lot of ways it's an extension of his personal life. the part about him that makes him super interesting is that for all his very straightforward thinking and adherence to timetables, he isn't a control freak. he knows he can't calculate everything and so he has no problem passing authority to and from hwq.

I have a hard time getting a handle on xiao shiqin because he's so different in the live action and the novel. i adore live action xsq for his gentle manipulations, and so i base my headcanons on that. i like to think of him as someone who can manipulate his opponents to act in a certain way and they don't even realize they're dancing to his tune until it's too late.

lol this is where I admit I have zero idea about ye xiu. I find him a difficult character to relate to because he doesn't really have any weaknesses. for me, watching a character struggle to overcome their weakness is what makes me interested in them and as a result I haven't given him a whole lot of analysis. the only thing I've been able to gather about yx is that he knows so much about glory and he's so good at playing it that he always knows the best things to do and the best way to pull them off, and he has both the knowledge and mechanics to support that type of decision making. that's probably a shallow reading but it's all I've got.

anyway this was fun to think about, thanks for the lovely ask!! I'd be very interested in hearing your opinions, too, if you want to share!