3d, 5d and 5n? :)

3d. Rank the endings (for one game of your choice or the true endings of the 3 games)

In terms of all games, I think I would rank 999 ending > VLR ending > ZTD ending.

However, each one of them gave me a different experience so I really enjoy them as a whole package. For example, when I finished VLR, I felt I needed more. The experience had been so intense that I wanted to play ZTD right away. On the other hand, ZTD's true ending made me feel very introspective, even if the writting felt lacking sometimes.

I ranked 999's ending higher because I feel like 999, in general, felt more concise and it had my favourite cast. I loved the epilogue and how the game could simply end there and not even have a sequel. It felt like a complete game by itself. Of course I was a bit desperate with the situation between Akane and Junpei, and how they ended up in separate ways, but it felt fitting.

As for VLR I really enjoyed the plot twist. I felt the true ending was a bit too long, like a never ending ride, but, despite the confusion, I enjoyed the general explanation of it. I also enjoyed the sad tone of the story, and I absolutely loved some of the reflections from the another time (even if not considered as canon).

However, the game asked for more.

And there's where ZTD enters. I had some problems getting used to the cinematics of the game and the characters, and, at the time I played, some things felt weird, like how suddenly it seemed so simple to just shift. As for the ending, I really like how it was put as a moral dilemma, a ZERO TIME DILEMMA, in fact, the situation of shifting (not sure if to think that the shifting until then had been made too easy, or it was purposedly used so that only later they had to face the fact that they doomed their other selves). The ending made me think a lot about how, despite them being alive at the end, despite this seemingly good turn of events, it still felt all like a gamble, as the begining of the game. In the end we didnt' even know the identity of the terrorist, and they still doomed their first ending iteration, for their last iteration (which has the trauma from playing the decision game).

Delta's character is generally a source of memes due to his quotes, but his words still left some marks. His whole plan was convoluted. It's almost like the second nonary game, but here the multiple timelines had to happen in order for this future to come true, and for him and Phi to exist.

I also love the ending theme and it plays very well, complementing this interminable dilemma mood the characters live through. I also love how, in the end, we can interpret Delta as a character portraying the player: "One of Delta's motivations for creating the Decision Game: he can't shift himself, but can read the minds of those who experienced other timelines, and was interested in learning about them. Given that Delta is technically the Player Character, this is probably a meta-narrative commentary on player curiosity" (taken from ZTD TV tropes).

So in the end this was all to say that, despite liking 999's ending better for how solid it seemed to me, the other games' endings also deserve a lot of credit for their worth.

(I didn't know the ranking was for the endings of all games or one in specific so I went with this, but I may try to rank for a specific game later).

5d. Do you consider Another Time to be canon? If so, do you have any theories on ?'s identity

I think at the time I finished ZTD I found that Another Time was not considered canon. Nevertheless I really liked its contents so I like to pick elements from it and incorporate in canon. One of my favourite part of it is Tenmyouji’s thoughts on this plan of jumping to the past and change it. The bikers’ story is one of my favourites there and I felt it was a message about how, despite losing Akane, he found Quark along his journey in this doomed timeline, and how, even if their plan works, this timeline still exists. There is also a possibility that the transporter was hinted with Alice and Clover’s conversation, but not sure if that was the alternative or not.

About ?’s identity, I think my favourite take is the player. Because the player is an irregular identity in the game. To get the Another Time, the player has to achieve certain goals, such as collecting the golden files. The player can play with timelines as much as they want since they can jump through the flowchart freely and they even command Sigma’s action through the game (which can explain the way sometimes he was surprised with his vote during the Nonary Game). And I believe it refers to the player coming from the true ending of ZTD, but this is merely speculation...

Since Delta could be meta commentary about the player, I also liked to think he could be involved in this, but since he can’t shift , it’s much improbable. However I like how there is a link with how the end of ZTD is Carlos pointing the gun at him, which represents a situation of danger that could trigger a shift.

Other than this, I think I haven’t thought much about it. I may have read some theories some time ago, but I don’t remember them now...

5n. Do you have any fanart/fanfic/fangame recommendations?

Fanart is probably what I consume the most. I really love @/keycrash’s works, @/kisschasey’s portraits of Snake, @/caelytrix, the way @/aestheticcannibal portrays Kyle and Dio, @/i0n4 and much more artists. I always try to reblog the amazing works I find from the fandom and sorry for not listing more, nor any work in specific.

Twitter is also a very good media to find a lot of good ZE fanarts. Not all of them are tagged, but generally searching the ZeroEscape tag allows you to find very cool works, along with other tweets and memes.

Now, on fanfiction I can’t really give much recommendations because I haven’t read many. I mainly read some from Zecret Santa event. I remember enjoying the one I got about Tenmyouji and Quark because I really love their wholesome relationship. Link here

There’s also one I once started to read but didn’t finish due to lack of time, but which was VLR’s story told from Phi’s POV and I found the idea extremely interesting although I still haven’t read it. It’s pretty long too. Link here

Now for an idea which concept I feel it’s funny and interesting: I once found one that was a Nonary game in the IKEA. I actually haven’t read it but at the time I thought it was a really funny idea. Link here

I’ve only read the first recommendation, but thought I should leave the other two, as they seem interesting and funny.

Sorry for the long post and the delay in replying. I also apologize for any mistake I made. I’m a bit tired but I really wanted to finish this post.

And thank you for the asks. I really enjoyed the question about Another Time and, although I’m pretty bad at ranking things, I like discussing and going through the games’ content again.

Westworld 2x05: Ain’t Nothing To Fuck With

How did all these disparate threads come together to create this nightmare? HOW INDEED FARES FARES, HOW INDEED.

Anyway welcome back to Westworld! I was pleasantly surprised by the cohesion and thematic relevance of last week's episode, and while they weren't able to deliver as tight a narrative this week, the hour did manage to deliver something often sorely missed on this show - fun! Sure, there was still some gloom and doom, but there was also like adventure! Comic relief! Action! Wu-Tang! And from what well did this welcome variance in tone spring? Why from Shogun World of course! My preferred setting for the rest of the series, please and thank you.

Shogun World was teased in season one, as well as a couple episodes ago when Maeve and her crew accidentally stumbled into it, but now we finally get to explored it in full. Shogun World is set during the Edo period (1603 - 1868) in Japan, which was marked by the rule of well...shoguns! Shogun World boasts incredible scenic beauty, as well as awesome samurai-based violence. Simon Quartermain describes it as the World for people who think Westworld is too tame. Lol okay. Of course I also have to point out that Shogun World also has its own MOUNT FUJI. This iconic Japanese geographical feature, and giant ass volcano, only furthers my theory that the location of these parks is a twist/important. I mean, they have a whole mountain!!!! But while no expensive has been spared in the environment, there was clearly some budget saving in the narrative department....

Maeve and her unlikely band are captured by a group of samurai, Maeve's robot voodoo doesn't work on them, nor does their automatic translation feature. Her group is taken into a...vaguely familiar town square, and by the time Paint it Black kicks in, we know what's happening. In a shot for shot sequence we see Sweetwater's vault robbery event (led in that world by Rodrigo Santoro and Armistice) enacted by a new, but not TOO new, cast of characters. Simon admits he may have lifted the character's and story from world to world to save time, as a writer I do not blame him. But besides other-world doubles of Rodrigo and Armistice (Hannibal's Tao Okamoto featuring a dragon tattoo instead of a snake), there is of course also an alternate universe Maeve and Clementine. At the end of the robbery Maeve comes face to face with Akane (Pacific Rim's Rinko Kikuch). Like Maeve, Akane is quick, cunning and fiercely loyal to Sakura, her surrogate daughter. Seeing Maeve, and a bevy of other characters, come face to face with themselves was the kind of boost this show desperately needed. Finally we get to see the  show poking a bit of fun at its own expense, and it could not be more welcome. After hours of unrelenting Very Serious Mystery Time, it was nice to have a scene about Rodrigo having an inherent mistrust of his Other (every TV show ever's Hiroyuki Sanada). This is what we want from you Westworld!

The plot thickens as the local Shogun's messenger comes to buy Sakura from Akane, who bloodily refuses by going off-script and stabbing him in the eye. Our combined super-group makes a plan to return to Sakura's homeland Snow Lake (ps there is a whole-ass lake in this world too, where ARE we) but their plan is foiled by NINJA. ACTUAL NINJA. Imagine I am using the handclap emoji when I say this-is-what-I-am-talking-about. In a fantastic fight sequence that pits our brawlers and gunslingers against NINJA, Maeve's control powers get a major upgrade. Not only is she able to verbally instruct other hosts, apparently she can now even control them with her mind. Perhaps she is able to cognitively access the host network, issuing commands via cyberspace. Or you know, maybe she's a witch. But beside Maeve’s newfound ability to plug directly in the matrix, Sakura is captured anyway.  No sooner have the ninja been defeated by the power of Maeve's brainwaves than who should role up but the Shogun's guard. In an amazing development, that the best samurai movies would be jealous of, it is revealed that ronin Hiroyuki Sanada is the ex-captain of the guard, and at the behest of Akane he rides out to confront the new, shittier, captain. Truly, I could live in this storyline forever. 

[Note: I started writing this at work where I apparently left all my notes. So from here on out I’m flying blind people!]

The Hectors’ and Armisti allow themselves to be taken prisoner by the Shogun’s army allowing Maeve, Akane, and Simon to escape. Maeve is bent on helping Akane rescue Sakura, another mother trying to reunite with her daughter. Once they arrive at the Shogun’s camp however things don’t go quite so smoothly. The Shogun has gone a bit mad and had all of his men’s ears chopped off so Maeve can’t influence them with her witchy words. This seems sort of impractical for a number of reasons, but it’s whats happening. The Shogun says he will release Sakura if Akane also agrees to dance for him, and she reluctantly agrees. In the dressing room Maeve attempts to level-up Akane and free her mind, but Akane rejects the “freedom” Maeve offers her.  She chooses to stay in the reality of her personal Matrix, with Sakura,  rather than waking up and realizing she is really in ugly sweater land (it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Matrix okay). 

Sakura and Akane prepare to dance for the Shogun, but the Shogun murders Sakura in front of Akane and then demands she proceed with the performance, and proceed she does. In one of the season’s best sequences, Akane lays down a beautiful geisha dance, that turns into a brutal decapitation of the Shogun, all set to cover of Wu-Tang’s C.R.E.A.M. This was one of the rare scenes on Westworld that really exceeded the sum of its parts. The unexpected cover song, the grand aesthetic of the setting and Akane herself, and the emotional stakes of the scene, all came together to create a truly effective and memorable sequence. Westworld often boasts individual cool or compelling elements, but rarely do they all come together to create such an effective and engrossing narrative moment. These past couple episodes have been some of the best of the series in terms of episode construction and payoff, even displaying emotional connection, which the series has struggled with. However despite the sheer badassery displayed by Akane, she and Maeve are captured and set to be beheaded by the Shogun’s soldiers (they yell orders to each other which is weird because I thought they had no ears?). As they are about to be executed, Maeve tells Akane she is a true mother, and Akane thanks her. Akane has put Sakura before all else, her happiness, her freedom, even her life. However before the blades can fall, Maeve uses her new psychic power to turn the soldiers against one another (and she had to use mind power because all their ears were cut off...but then why were they JUST talking- never mind). Bloodshed and violence ensues, and armed with her new power, Maeve turns her eyes to the horizon, the future, and her daughter.

And that’s it! What a great and enjoyable hour (plus) of television. An engaging story with great new characters powered by a stand-out guest cast, new locales and exciting action. I can’t believe this episode was able to avoid the usual drudgery and angst of most of Westworld, what a welcome reprieve, what a tight- oh wait.

That’s right these guys. For all the delightful surprises to be had in Shogun World, Teddy and Dolores’ storyline came to an all-too predictable head. Back in Sweetwater Dolores’ gives Teddy one final “test”, metaphorically asking him how he would protect an infected herd of cattle. His answer is of course reflective of Teddy himself, gentle and caring: protect the sick, hope for the best. The answer Dolores is of course looking for is: burn it down, burn it all down, and if there are casualties so be it. Teddy and Dolores’ finally knock boots, but it’s more of a goodbye before Dolores sets him up for a full reboot (get it, boots, reboot. I work hard on these things). This “twist”, if we can even call it that, has been projected from the beginning as Teddy has consistently failed to adapt to Dolores’ new world order. However we know that Teddy is still going to end up floating in face down in a lake, so maybe this reboot won’t be as effective as Dolores’ hopes. Dolores tells Teddy that ‘to grow, we all need to suffer’, and she clearly sees sacrifice as the way to do that. She has cut away all the ties that made Dolores, well Dolores, and is living largely as the Wyatt personality. In Maeve’s storyline though, she grew by seeing a reflection of herself, and another path she could take. Akane was fully devoted to Sakura, and even though Maeve is dedicated to finding her own daughter, it’s unlikely she would have sacrificed the knowledge and power she currently has to do so (unlike Akane). 

The introduction of the new worlds in Westworld is the best thing the show could have done. The time spent in Shogun World, as both a new setting, and a foil to the world we are familiar with, was a refreshing change. The return to the scenes in Sweetwater felt like a big clunk in an episode that otherwise soared. Like Maeve and Dolores, I as the viewer am also ready to venture out into a larger world, the new world. 

Can you believe we are only halfway through the season?

XO MD