Hiya, this will probably be a throwaway post as I’m not planning on linking this in the directory but I have a few story ideas I wanna at least flesh out into existence before I forget them haha

So for story idea 1 it would be a reader insert/isekai since it would take place in the Legend of Zelda Universe- more specifically whenever Breath of the Wild takes place. So the story is basically the reader being dropped into BOTW to guide Link to the castle to defeat Ganon -yada yada except that you attempt to bring courage to the once courageous silent knight as he’s now terrified out of his mind about all this sealing darkness junk. As the games story goes you will visit each champions homeland, solve shrine puzzles, and now will also have more than just one companion as the descendants of said champions join along on your journey. That’s all I’ve really got so far because Sidon has my heart istg- oh and as for the Rito descendant (I can’t remember his name and I know they’re not all related but just go with it for the moment) with those that are already married he wouldn’t be included in what will become a sort of reverse harem because I don’t want to encourage cheating or anything of the sort! Though if & when I write this I may write him to be single lol.

That’s all I’ve got for that story thus far but if and when I write said story I’m not sure if I want Link to obtain the champions abilities, have the reader obtain them instead, split the abilities with Link, or better yet maybe the descendants could obtain them rather than the reader or Link. Anywho- moving in to the next story idea!

So for the next idea- this legit just popped into my head so it’s a very rough idea but it would be adorable if I were to write this out I think! So the story would be about a girl (or for tumblr sake/my own a reader insert) who stumbles on something she probably shouldn’t have as she sees a big foot- long story short it’s a meet cute(?) on a girl finding a Sasquatch/bigfoot that isn’t how they tend to be described. In this story I’d go into detail about how other mythical creatures such as fairies, gnomes, witches, etc. also live in the world without being found out by humans. Despite MC being human- bf decides to befriend said human and eventually this devolves into a cute little romance that eventually will overcome different obstacles that any mystical creature in love with a human would have to eventually face. Again- would probably be a very cute story that didn’t have a really clear ending and would eventually have a small happy ending that I’d later down the line consider either drawing or possibly publishing (saying this as if I know how lmao).

Finally- I’d like to apologize for being so inactive on this page- though I’m sure not many miss me I will try to be more active now that I finished my summer classes!! And for future note- if I’m ever inactive it’s probably because I’m either busy or lazy in all honesty. If I did worry anyone though- I do apologize. When I’ve slept and make it back home (at moms at the moment) I’ll probably write a small idea that I have for the UDDUP(?) story- sort of b-plot that has me in its clutches.

Currently is 3:35 a.m. so with all this said I bid whomever you are adieu and hope you enjoy the show :)

Dream journal: Kaiju Apocalypse

Overall dream mood: apocalyptic doom. Fear but the action-y kind.

This dream was a combination of the legend of Zelda: breath of the wild and a Godzilla-type kaiju flick.

So first thing to point out is that, like in a video game like Zelda, there was a world map menu screen that I kept constantly referring to. In this case, it looked like a virtual globe. There were at least two continents, a northern one and a southern one, separated by ocean. I lived on the northern continent, which also had some kind of castle thing.

The earliest thing I distinctly remember, I was with a group of people - my family? My friends? Maybe you? - in an rv in the middle of the desert in the southern continent. There was a violent sandstorm whipping around the desert. We were there looking for something. I don’t know what, but it was something important. The whole desert looked like a wasteland. I know this was happening very shortly before or right after the apocalypse had started. I don’t really know.

Evidently we found whatever we were looking for, because I was suddenly in the northern continent in some kind of huge brownstone castle sitting right on a circular beach with huge, brown, sharp rocks right around the water’s edge. The castle was simultaneously at the center of the northern continent while also sitting at its most southern edge, right at the edge of the ocean separating the northern and Souter bay continents. I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s a dream. That’s just the way it crumbles.

Ok so here’s an important thing about this castle: I was definitely there far earlier in the dream, evacuating people from nearby into it in preparation for the coming kaiju apocalypse. Like I was there before the desert stuff, and I had flashbacks to evacuating people into this castle, but I don’t remember that part of the dream.

Anyway, now I’m on the beach, running around as these huge black jagged rock-eggs fall from the sky and release these enormous insect kaiju. Each one is glossy jet black with six spider legs attached to a monstrous humanoid torso that looked like a leaner, more muscular Godzilla but without spine. They were terrifying and awful, but I somehow had a way to defeat them if I could reach these ancient and powerful computer terminals in various places in the world. The two most obvious ones I knew or were on the beach...right where the kaiju kept dropping. I was DESPERATELY trying to reach the terminals, but the kaiju kept killing me or stopping me (don’t worry though; it was like video game dying where I’d respawn somewhere and try again). I managed to stop a couple of these kaiju, but they also had a special ability: whenever they died, a similarly sized spider creature would tear out of their armored bodies and keep fighting, making it really hard to catch a break against them.

Eventually, I ended up getting chased by one into the water. I’m swimming backwards, desperately trying to keep space between myself in this monster while it swings big at me trying to end my life. I open up my world map and try to teleport away to somewhere on the southern continent (something you can do in the legend of Zelda: breath of the wild). Unfortunately, I had just borrow my ancient teleport iPad from my friend Ivana from college (who I haven’t seen or thought of in YEARS), and she unfortunately didn’t have any location unlocked. I had to keep swimming until we reached the southern continent. And I say “we” because halfway through, the monster stopped attacking me, and suddenly the monster wasn’t a monster, it was this younger black dude around my age. He was the son of the man who had worked with the monsters to bring about this apocalypse. He and I end up on the Southern continent and then somehow together teleport to the northern one. We ended up talking, and I asked him, does he really want this end of the world?

“Yes,” he replied.

“Really?” I asked. “You want to go with your father on this? You’ve seen movies and read books right? You’re here with him until the monsters ask him to sacrifice you, or ask him to fight you. Is that really what you want?”

He didn’t really answer; he just kind of stormed off to find his father. I stopped him to say one more thing: “please. Just help me. I can stop this.” He looked conflicted as he walked away.

Meanwhile, my friend from high school, Wei-Ting Huang, decided now was a good time to walk out on to the beach. I ran after him and was like “wei-ting, you have to get inside NOW!” He turns and runs back in, across some short small bridge back inside. I had a brief flashback to when I was evacuating people right across this bridge, causing me to freeze up. Wei-ting came back out to grab me and pull me across - just in time because the bridge got destroyed by a kaiju-blast of air.

Then I woke up.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - The lore

I know this is an art blog but i can’t contain myself and I need to talk about zelda2 lore. Why? You all heard about the botw sequel being darker, much darker. And people made connections to Majora’s mask, because it was a dark sequel. But you know what? Zelda 2 was also a dark sequel. Nintendo are doing it for a THIRD time and I'm proud. Sit tight and maybe grab a snack because this will probably be a long passion essay. Here we go.

Most of you MIGHT be familiar with the storyline of Zelda2, but in summary, here is how it goes: Princess Zelda from an ancient time has been put to spell by a curse. Only the power of the full triforce touched by a pure heart can wake her. Finally after hundreds of years, the chosen one came along (Link). Link must place 6 crystals in 6 palaces to break the spell on the Great palace where the Triforce of courage is enclosed. Once there, he takes the triforce, completes it with the other two pieces, and wakes zelda up. The End.

And Here is the story in MORE detail (unless you are in a hurry , I recommend you read it. The top summary is just for people who have no clue what the story is:

    The king of hyrule always passes down the power of the triforce to his son next-to-be-king. This time however, he wants to give it to his daughter, Zelda, because he believes she is wiser and more considerate than the son. The son was very upset about it and has summoned a wizard to scare the princess and give up the triforce to him. The wizard however, overcome with hatred towards zelda, uses all his magic to put her to an eternal sleep, and he dies (only recently in the hyrule historia has the identity of the wizard been revealed: he is a follower of Ganon, or an embodiment of ganon himself (sort of like ghost ganon in oot or blight ganons in botw. So in this case he might have not died but just extinguished all his powers)). The son, overcome with grief for his sister, promises that every girl born into the Royal family henceforth will be named Zelda. He locks the triforce of courage far away, so only those worthy of it will be able to access it, and leaving the remaining two in the castle, unable to use its full power.

Hundreds of years have passed by and no worthy hero came by, until now. On his 16th birthday, Link noticed that a mark resembling the triforce glowed on his left hand. Worried and Confused, he goes to seek information on it from Impa. She tells him that he is the hero chosen to save the sleeping princess Zelda. She gave Link a scroll written in ancient text that only the true hero can read to ensure that he is in fact the chosen one. Link was able to read it despite never seeing that language before. The Great Palace where the triforce of courage lies is locked with a spell. The spell comes from 6 different temples, and he must break part of the spell at each temple so he can open the gates of the Palace. To do that, A crystal must be placed in each, and that is exactly what he does.

While Link is going on his journey, the minions of Ganon are going after him, trying to capture him and use his blood to revive Ganon (It’s unclear if they want him alive or dead, or simply his blood. All we know is they want to use Link’s blood in a sacrifice to bring Ganon back from the dead). If Link dies, Ganon will be revived, so he must remain alive. At the end of the trial to the triforce of courage, Link was made to fight his own shadow by the triforce keeper. After defeating his shadow, he made the triforce whole again, wished for the curse on Princess Zelda to break, and she woke. The End.

Now that is my extensive summary on the official story. Obviously I will fill in now MY theories on some points. My biggest point is Link fighting his shadow. Why did Link have to fight his shadow? Why was Link not ready to touch the triforce? He already went through ALL the trials, so why this now? My theory is that Link’s heart was not pure. Only a pure heart must touch the triforce. A corrupted heart will corrupt the world when the triforce is touched, no matter what the wish is. Link was most likely the chosen hero, but he is not completely pure. I believe Link was made to fight his shadow as a final step to touching the triforce; to cleanse his heart from any evils that are in it. Why would Link be evil and corrupt? I don’t know, but that’s hella dark.     Another point, that can be connected to BoTW, is Link’s death, and the revival of Ganon. If you played AoL before, then you are familiar with the red screen of death and Ganon’s evil laughter. Well, if Link dies, that means Ganon will return. That means Link should NEVER die. But he is not a god or eternal deity. He will die at some point during his journey after the events of the game or simply from old age, or whatever. He will die. At this point, if the people of Hyrule really want Ganon to remain dead, then Link should simply disappear once he dies. If he were to be buried, they have to hide his body somewhere the monsters will NEVER reach. I have no idea where that could be: the dungeons of hyrule castle? Something similar to the Great Palace? Maybe. The better option is to burn him, but I don’t know if people in Hyrule do that (they probably should in this case because yikes Ganon)

Where am I going with this? I’m not sure, but It vaguely reminded me of Ganon(dorf) coming back to life in the new BoTW trailer. Who was he even? A new ganondorf? Or one we already know?

Lets go back… what about AoL Link’s death? Another option for keeping Link out of the hands of Ganon’s minions is for him to never die. To be absolutely safe, protected, and strong enough to protect himself, and to live eternally. And I know the people of hyrule (at some point) will have that technology available, because BoTW Link was revived after his death. Link can probably die countless of times and still continue to live because of that shiekah tech. Now about the tech, AoL seems too middle ages, right? WELL… this is going to sound dumb but the temples in AoL have elevator thingies in them. Shiekah technology? Maybe. It could be a manual pulley system. Or pure magic. We don’t know, but we are a step closer at least.

BASICALLY i see a lot of similar points between these two games and idk if nintendo accidentally did that or took inspiration from aol but its cool that these two games share the concept of the kind of tragedy hyrule will go through if link dies and the idea of Ganom coming back to life.     Why am I even getting into BoTW… let’s get back to AoL lore! If you played AoL, you might be familiar with the Link dolls. Dolls that save Link from death (i.e extra lives) those dolls are pretty creepy and they look like a tiny hunched over limb Link. They are scattered throughout all of hyrule, and you find them in random weird places, like at the beach, in a swamp, inside a temple, in a cave, near a graveyard, forest, etc. They are everywhere. Who put these dolls there? No one knows. But someone is totally trying to save Link from dying on his journey. If he dies, Hyrule is screwed. Could it be Goddess Hylia? The fairies? A magician? Link Dolls are extremely strange and Nintendo could have gone more in depth on them because they provide some super cool dark lore.

Also we can’t forget about Kasuto Town. All the inhabitants of the town went to camp in the forest because their town was destroyed. Why? No one knows, again (everything in this game is shrouded in mystery). There is only a single man living there in old Kasuto. Kasuto town is entirely destroyed, all the buildings are decaying and crumbling, the air looks nasty and the sky is purple. There are ghosts EVERYWHERE. And if Link didn’t acquire the cross before entering, he will not see the ghosts at all and will just die from being hit by what looks like air. Now the civilians! The civilians are hiding in the forest! In-game, you will never be able to find them unless you hit a random block of grass with the hammer, and then it will appear. They are well hidden. Something must have destroyed their town, something terrifying, and they are hiding from it. The entire population has gone to hide in the depths of the forest. Now I have a theory that these people COULD be related to the shiekah. Those people are magic experts. You learn something called The Spell in old kasuto. And in new kasuto, you use this spell to raise a small temple from the GROUND to get the key in it (idk man but reminds me of the shrines) You also receive the final magic container there. So, yeah, those people definitely have a magic obsession or *super powers*. (i’m hinting at it but these people could be the shiekah). Also one more thing, these people are begging Link to save hyrule. They are the only people who are begging him to do something. They know HE will save hyrule. In all other towns, it only seems like Link is asking for advice and they answer Link is a random nobody. However, the people of Kasuto are AWARE. (shiekah much? idk)

This is not too lore-y but it’s about how dark this game is: there is so much red in it. Game over screen is red. The lining of the triforce on Link’s hand is red. The windows in the temples are stained red (blood?). The Tinsuit sprites have fresh blood dripping down their swords. Also, sleeping Zelda’s dress is red. I can’t brush that off. Whenever I think of AoL I think of the colour red. There is so much to say about AoL... But what I want to say is that this game is HELLA dark. I hope Nintendo uses its lore in future games, and adds references, because it can totally work if they try to. This game has a lot of lore material to work with. Nintnedo should consider expanding on it (and botw was inspired by loz1, it would only make sense if the sequel will mirror the original loz sequel too :3)

PLEASe share your ideas! I’d love to hear what you all think! There are many ideas to go around so share your thoughts! And one last thing, AoL is very difficult. If you want to try it, be prepared to see the colour red a lot, cry a lot, and rage quit a lot.

Thank you for reading my very long post! Enjoy your day <3 <3 <3

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Le Dessert Chapter 1 (315.1) Review

When you’re finished with your meal, you either call it a day or request for a dessert. Thus, the fans have their dessert that will be the definitive conclusion to the overall series. There will be three extra chapters in total, each releases a month apart. The first part takes place a year later after BLUE and yes, we do have the result. After color pages of “desserts,” the story enters the epilogue stage that has good promises for a delightful conclusion.

It makes sense for the series to skip a year since it does have a year left to cover. Instead of creating a plot, it establishes some of aftermath effects from the first two years, and it begins with a rather humorous end result from BLUE. Megumi narrates the story, much like any other times, and so, the story begins with the winner. Soma lost to Erina. Looks like we have a new member to be in the list for “Top 10 Protagonist that Doesn’t Win.” It’s Soma’s fault for giving Erina’s groove back. I laughed at the trophy size difference. Good game, Soma.

Soma almost pulled a Hitman Reborn ending, which almost terrified the hell out of me, by declaring himself to redo everything from scratch. Funny enough, Joichiro is willing to accept him back to the diner and run it, but Soma is far too hell-bent to defeat the Goddess Erina. That speaks volume that he can’t move on, even when he’s perfectly capable enough as he is. He even tried to redo everything and all he gets is a derpy look on his face, like “Why can’t I win her?” I probably meant that in more than one way.

The best solution is to go oversea and disappear for a couple of months. The problem is, it lasted over a half a month with no sight of return. Amazing how plenty of Shounen series like to have the protagonist disappear and keeps us wondering if he/she would ever return. I blame Dragon Ball for its not-really-ending endings. Anyway, I find it funny Hayama is getting Tsukasa’s treatment when he was running the Elite Ten; meaning Soma dumped all the paper works on him. Karma, I suppose. Oh well, they have an event going on, so it’s all good. For the record, Alice looks charming with that long hair. Almost like a trade; we’ll get to that soon.

The Annual Fall Classic does give me the nostalgia feeling; no pun intended. In fact, the chapter so far had the old feeling of the series in its heyday, where there’s no “deep” story to worry about (in more ways than one), and the sensation is relaxing and fun. The Polar Star has two new members, Takai and Terumoto, competing in the event. The idea isn’t to brew a new series or falsely advertise the next generation, because God knows how I took that in back in 2014, rather to establish the influence of Soma in BLUE. He lost, sure, but he greatly inspired the new generation or to be precise, those who are from “low standards” like a diner. It’s as if Soma has died for their cook; he’s a martyr. But seriously, this was nice.

I’m reminded that Isshiki and Kuga are no longer students; however, it’s good to see them associating with the events as judges. Tsukasa also arrives as well. Rindo shows up and immediately, my mind tells me, “How I miss this character so much.” Lastly, Shinomiya enters the stage, who I also miss. Shame that I can’t find a way to read the spin-off. It’s fortunate, however, to learn his dream has come true. His restaurant in Paris is the first Japanese-run restaurant in France to earn three stars. He still acts tsundere, but it’s all good. It’s neat to know Tsukasa and Rindo help out Shino’s Tokyo whenever they return to Japan. I would like to see the third chapter showcasing that.

I got to give credit to Megumi for handling the administrative side. Back then, she’d probably hesitate to death for handling this amount of work, let alone interactive with a large group. It’s easy to compliment when you have Rindo recalling her moment in Elite Ten discussion board, where no one can decide a single thing. I do miss this group though. Lunch Sets sound odd as a theme and everyone there called it, but it does bring some uniqueness to it. Bottom line, Tootsuki is heading for a bright future and that’s all it matters. It’s good to have alumnus around to know everything will be good. Again, Soma has died for our cooks. So, everything is heading for a swell end, right? If we go by Erina’s anger, then no, not really.

First of all, she has a new hairstyle, a short haircut to be exact. This is what I meant about the “trade;” Alice and Erina swapped hair length. That or Erina wants to replicate Zelda from the future Zelda game. Either way, she looks good. She goes on a long rant about Soma not showing for this month’s event; more on that later. I find her rant hilarious, considering how lengthy it is. It reminded me of another series, where one speech bubble consist a really long rant about her love interest not being in presence for her. The moral is, don’t piss them off. Amazing that she is the reason for his absence; can’t this pairing get a happy ending?!

The more notable note is how Erina worked her way to not only create the event, but also brought in the two transfer students; the one that was mentioned earlier. She had to show whose boss and they submitted it. I don’t blame them. She did it, so she can make sure when Soma returns, Tootsuki won’t disappoint him. While fans are recovering from fainting, I thought this was pretty charming. No wonder she got incredibly angry, though I do believe there’s more than simply showing up for an event. Judging by her rant, she has been doing this for a while, yet no reply. Stop keeping her waiting, Soma. Plenty of characters we know are at the event that is about to begin; this is sweet. Almost feel like the ending, but the chapter continues.

Earlier, Erina mentioned that she has dinner planned for the evening with Senzaemon and Mana. It’s nice to know that she and her mother are on better term. It also means Mana is more open to come visit to the household. As nice that all sounded, it looks like they are now rivals; the battle for the true God Tongue wielder. Well, it’s better than distance themselves, so it’s a great progress. Speaking of progress, supposedly Mana is getting better, but have a long way to go. Better than nothing. All in all, the family is getting better in health and relationship. That all being said, Joichiro was also there; gearing up for the next chapter.

Prior to this chapter, a Weekly Shounen Jump issue stated that the second chapter of Le Dessert will be about a past. Not only the fans didn’t know whose, but didn’t know how it will lead to it. In a way, this chapter surprised me. Not necessarily on whose, but how it ignited. Erina asks Joichiro about Soma’s mother, Tamako, and that leads to the closure with Joichiro preparing for an origin story.

Once again, while fans are recovering from fainting, it’s quite telling that Erina is the one to ask about her. Now, it does make sense when you remember she was there when Soma told Azami to shut it because he knows very well Joichiro was saved by his mother. She meant the world to him, and Erina noticed it. I can’t say that’s what made her inspired to ask, but it’s definitely a key moment that led to this point.

I thought this was a nice chapter all around. It’s more relaxed without worrying about a dark sinister plot. Therefore, it’s all on the characters, which are the better selling point. It’s also good to see how things are slowly evolving within the academy before entering a likely time-skip with everyone in their career. The sensation felt nostalgic; if only it was like this in the final arc. All scenes with Erina were funny and charming. The ending got me interested for the next, only to be reminded the long wait. Will this benefit the shipping? Quite possibly, but first and foremost, I am very eager to know the story.

Dream Palace Summary

Dream Palace is an upcoming story about what I dream about at night. Dreams are surreal, magical, funny, and often scary, just like this story. My OC, Pastell Rain, will be playing the role of me!

Each chapter or so, Pastell gets a new crush on an adult woman who’s way out of her league. It always ends when Pastell realizes they already have someone!

Pastell is only 14 in this story, and in 10th grade. Usually in my dreams, I’m a kid who goes to school or summer camp.

Pastell may also switch to her 20-year-old form as well, if she does end up with one of her 18+ adult crushes. This is to make it less creepy and awkward.

But given the nature of the story, Pastell may not end up with any of her crushes anyway.

This story takes place in an alternate version of Whimsica that exists in the Realm of Dreams.

Kimi, nicknamed “Missouri”, is an imaginary friend I dreamed of as a child. Why her name is Missouri, nobody knows.

The story starts on a dark, rainy morning. Pastell is on the school bus with Missouri. The school bus is old and beat up.

Along with Pastell, two obnoxious boys are on the bus. Their names are Inky and Marker. They might be dating, who knows.

Then all of a sudden, the bus goes through a roller coaster. Roller coasters are recurring subjects in my dreams and often they take me to school. They’re never fun in the dreams, they’re only scary and make me nauseous.

Pastell talks to a girl named Bess, but doesn’t make friends with her because Pastell is awkward. Bess as a character is a homage to my grandmother who passed away during my childhood.

Pastell has to go to gym class. For some reason we’re running laps at the mall. Except the mall is scary and filled with booby traps. And suddenly Pastell starts running very slowly, because in dreams you just can’t seem to run fast.

Pastell pops into a peculiar shop and she finds a pretty scepter that catches her eye. She gets it for free because she shop couldn’t seem to sell it, and it was bringing them bad luck.

Little did she know, the scepter was magic.

At lunch time, there was no more mac and cheese, so Pastell had to get the icky pizza that was greasy and looked like it had pimples (and tasted like it too.)

The lunch lady always yelled and cooked her food in a giant volcano. As dessert, Pastell got lava cookies. She sits next to Missouri, Bess, Camille, Inky, Marker, and... Claudia! Her love!

Claudia had beautiful coral-colored hair that elegantly cascaded down her neck and back and... gee. Maybe I said too much.

Then, Pastell has boring economy class with boring Mr. Oguchi. He was so boring that after listening to him for 2 seconds, he’d sound like an adult from “Peanuts”.

Oguchi meant “small mouth” in Japanese, but Ooguchi, with an elongated “o” sound, meant big mouth. Everyone called him Mr. Bigmouth, along with his obnoxious son, Renta Oguchi.

Next, Pastell has math class. She can’t find the room in her school, because in dreams, you’re always lost and have anxiety. Or is that just me? At least Pastell had the class with Claudia, which is strange because Claudia is 24 and Pastell is 14...

Pastell runs into the strict teacher Ms. Dolce (Aria) who leads her back to class. Pastell befriends Bess.

Marker runs out of the room gagging because he ate pizza from the gym floor and got sick. Newsflash, he’s going to do this a lot. That’s called a “running gag”. But this time, it’s literal.

Now Inky is sad because Marker had is sick and isn’t there anymore. Those guys are always together. He starts howling at the moon.

Then, Ms. Scherzando (Octavia), the fun teacher, walks in the room and tells the class they were having a pop field trip, which was kind of like a pop quiz except it was a field trip.

It turns out that the field trip was a cruise to the islands near Whimsica’s equator. And it’s required.

Pastell’s overprotective parents go with her.

As the bus goes to the cruise port, it goes through another roller coaster. Marker comes back because his stomach ache is gone, and Inky hugs him and have a very touching moment. Ms. Dolce rolls her eyes, to hide the fact she was crying.

Also, I took my cat Scout with me on the cruise.

A wave crashes through the window on our cruise room so Pastell goes for an outing.

Missouri and Pastell go to the book store.

That evening, Pastell is on the pool deck again. Claudia sits down next to Pastell and says hello. Pastell suddenly can’t talk right, because sometimes in dreams I can’t talk.

Suddenly Claudia suggests she and Pastell play hide-and-seek. Pastell agrees, but wishes Claudia suggested a game where they can spend time together.

Claudia hides, but then Pastell can’t find her. She suddenly dons an explorer’s hat and an epic adventure soundtrack, and decides to search the whole 27-floor ship through. Too bad Pastell is afraid of everything.

On one floor, floor 22, there’s no electricity and Pastell sees a ghost. She runs and curls into a ball, accepting her fate, when suddenly Bianca shows up and Pastell feels like she’s saved.

There’s a flashback of how Pastell and Bianca meet.

During dodgeball, Bianca protected Pastell from a ball to the face by running in front of her and blocking the ball. Afterwards, Bianca shyly goes up to Pastell asking to be friends. Before she can let it out, a dodgeball hits her in the back and she starts crying. Pastell takes her to the nurse’s office.

It turns out Bianca went to floor 22 whenever she could, to feed the ghosts. Pastell asks if they eat souls. Bianca says no, it turns out that the ghosts eat candy! The ghosts are glowing and squishy-looking and had no legs. Pastell realizes they’re kind of cute.

Pastell realizes that Missouri’s ballet recital is coming up, and she has to find Claudia quick.

They go to a number of other weird floors.

On floor 20, there’s a place that looked like a dream land. There’s a rainbow bridge, a floating pink cookie to ride on, and a swimming pool filled with clear soda.

Pastell and Bianca meet Joy on this floor, which she said was her secret floor.

Pastell and the others decide to just go to Missouri’s dance recital.

In Pastell’s room, her mom starts showing Bianca and Joy her embarrassing baby pictures and telling the, her embarrassing secrets.

During the ballet recital, there was a Cinderella play. Cinderella was played by Reina and the prince was... Claudia!?

Then at the end, Reina and Claudia kiss, and Pastell feels her chance to be with Claudia slip away.

Afterwards, Pastell, Missouri, Joy, Bianca, Bess, Camille, Claudia, and Reina hang out at a restaurant on the cruise ship. They go outside and night and see a gigantic moon in the night sky with a huge terrifying face. (Which is kind of like the moon from Zelda: Majora’s Mask.)

Though scared, they decide to ignore the strange object in the sky and have a big sleepover in a Pastell’s room!

Going to her room, there are two kids in the hallway. One kid says “Put it in the elegant cup.” The other kid says “You mean the elephant cup?”

The next day, there’s swim lessons at the resort. The moon in the sky is a little bit bigger, hinting in on impending doom...

There’s a huge pool that’s around 20 feet deep. Pastell tries to improve her swimming, when she comes across a girl who can swim and dive very well. Her name is Lucille White and she becomes Pastell’s new crush! Now Pastell wants to improve her swimming to impress her senpai.

Then there’s locker room antics with Lucille and her girlfriend (unknown to Pastell), Iris. I guess you can call it ecchi but with adult characters only. Things get a little PG-13. Hey, I sometimes dream about this stuff. Gotta keep it true to my dreams.)

Next day, the ship stops at an island. We take a long walk down an island path, and then take a boat ride. During the boat ride, Bianca’s friend Pepper’s head gets knocked off. She’s still alive, only headless. We now have to look for her head.

Eventually Pastell catches Lucille and Iris kissing, thus ending her second love.

That night, they stay at a sea hotel that rises out of the ocean. There’s purple dolphins, and that scary moon in the sky is even bigger.

Also staying at the hotel, is our favorite monster-fighting marine biologist, Rhona Aequor. Pastell wakes up in the middle of the night and takes a walk since she can’t sleep. She sees Rhona fight a monster outside and falls in love. When she realizes how much she knows about marine life, she falls in love even more!

The next day, the terrifying moon is EVEN BIGGER in the sky. Everyone plays video games together to distract themselves, but then the video game gives us a prophecy that the moon the end the world. It then tells us that we can save it with a scepter and some courage. Remember the scepter Pastell got at the beginning of the story?

Then, with a goal of somehow saving the world, Pastell and friends end up at a tall tower on the top of a mountain where we can somehow combat the moon if it falls any closer. A bunch of strong wizards have gathered around and even their spells can’t affect it.

Pastell feels like she can’t do it, but then Camille starts giving a speech about believing in oneself. It gets so dramatic, that she starts playing the electric guitar in the middle of the speech. Camille says that she just believed she could play the guitar, and now suddenly she could.

You can do anything if you try. Too bad the moon is going to fall in about 30 seconds.

Then suddenly, by believing in herself, Bianca stops the moon right in her tracks, just by believing in herself!

Pastell starts chanting randomness and gains the ability to fly over the moon, and with her magic scepter, she shatters it. The moon is like a giant piñata and it rains stuffed animals as Pastell falls with them back to the ground.

Camille, who was playing the electric guitar, provides the climatic music for the scene.

Then, to celebrate, the next day everyone hangs out at a huge water park. They party until night, by then, someone dumped hot dogs in the main pool (probably either Inky or Marker), so Pastell goes to the hot tub. Then, she sees Rhona! Pastell tells Rhona that she admires her bravery, and she was part of the inspiration Pastell had to become strong and to shatter the moon. Rhona praises Pastell and they bond. But suddenly, Rhona’s girlfriend, Nagisa comes in, and start making out in front of Pastell.

Oh no! Pastell’s third love is also unattainable.

The next day, we go to the island’s airport in order to fly back home. The airport is huge and everyone gets lost. There’s a lot of stores and gift shops there, however, and everyone has a shopping spree.

Pastell as to say goodbye to Rhona and Nagisa, and go back to daily school life.

Instead of a plane taking us home, there’s actually a big hot air balloon. And how do we get to it? Through another roller-coaster.

After we return home, we learn that a Dissonance is opening up near our home. A Dissonance is like a Mystery Dungeon from PMD. It’s like a cursed labyrinth that doesn’t have a fixed interior. It’s maze always changes, and once you find yourself in one, it’s possible to be lost for days.

The Dissonance already claimed lives. It’s named Tragic Woods.

It turns out that Pastell didn’t go to one of her classes for a month, and she fails that class. She has overdue books from the school library. Then she fails a test, gets last place on an art contest, and missed an assignment. Pastell gets sad because of her bad day and goes to the school’s counselor to talk. Except now the school is huge and 69 stories high for some reason. Yes, 69.

That night Pastell watches magical girl anime with her friends and sleeps over.

The next day is fairly normal, but still wacky, because this IS based on my dreams. Pastell and her family go shopping and see a bunch of giant stuffed animals at the store. Then Pastell accidentally flies in someone’s big pot of lasagna. It took them three days to make that lasagna.

Pastell runs away and discovers a secret room behind the grocery store where there’s a lot of video games, and if you win, you get stuffed animal prizes.

That night, we get introduced to Sumi. She and Reina end up getting stuck at the bottom of a strangely placed slope in the grocery store. They argue a lot at first, but then Reina ends up seeing that Sumi has a dream in life. Reina sacrifices herself so that Sumi can get out, because only one person was able to get out. Reina wants Sumi to be able to fulfill her dreams, because Reina is a pessimist with no dreams and thinks Sumi deserves to live more than she does. Reina has to stay at the bottom of the slope, possibly until her death. This is a tearful parting and sacrifice.

Then, Reina just anticlimactically gets found by a worker the next morning and gets saved.

The next night, there’s a chorus recital. Since when was Pastell in chorus, anyway? Well, for now, she’s stuck in a storage room while the performance is going to start. Pastell is only able to get out by pretending she is Mario and jumping out of the small exit.

Then, Pastell gets to become a school idol. She forms a group of nine. The group is Pastell, Bianca, Joy, Camille, Missouri, Bess, Ruby, Emi, and Connie.

While they’re practicing in a parking lot at night, one of the cars goes haywire. It starts spinning around erratically and bumping into everything. Everyone runs away, because the car could potentially run them over. It becomes known as the “Killer Car of Tragic Woods”, even though it never is physically inside the Dissonance, but rather in the surrounding town of Mushroom Forest. Now, there’s an erratic killer car that could potentially be anywhere in town and could run you over if you’re not paying attention. Everyone now has to avoid being alone, and has to keep a lookout for the car before it kills them.

Eventually, the car gets in the school library while Pastell is there. Pastell panics and climbs the bookshelf to stay safe. Then, she goes to the Chinese restaurant (possibly the Meng family’s restaurant from the other story), and the car follows her there.

Pastell runs away from the car and ends up in the expanding Tragic Woods. Pastell is now lost all alone in a Dissonance. She’s terrified and this is her first time being in one. There’s monsters in there.

Suddenly, she is saved by a monster-hunting princess named Celestine, who’s going to be Pastell’s fourth love...

Celestine then gives Pastell an Escape Orb. Basically it lets her escape from the Dissonance by going high in the air. Pastell ends up going over all the trees, to high altitude. By then, it’s night. She then falls all the way to Earth, being so high up she can see the sun rising from the other side of the world.

Pastell hits the water, causes a tsunami of a splash, and goes down under at least 300 feet. She “dies” and somehow wakes up in the nurse’s office and got told she had surgery.

Pastell doesn’t know how much of that scenario was a dream, or if it even was a dream at all. And if it was a dream, then when exactly did it start?

This causes a mystery. Is Celestine even real? Pastell’s fourth love could just be a figment of her imagination...

That night Pastell is in her backyard and she drops her iPad and it rolls away into the woods. (How an iPad can roll, I don’t know.)

She runs after it in the woods until it falls in a giant drain pipe. Pastell goes in the drain pipe as well to retrieve her precious iPad. But the drain pipe leads to some sort of dark maze and the only quick way out is through a roller coaster. A dark, scary, creaky, old, one-person roller-coaster.

Pastell is terrified but rides it anyway. She comes out in the middle of the polluted, industrial city. Great, now she’s lost again. Then she meets an elf named Alvarina who is also lost. They have an adventure together to get out of the industrial city, that involves riding a giant chicken. There’s still the danger of The Car, however, which could be anywhere. Pastell falls in love with Alvarina, who is a beautiful singer and very pretty.

Eventually, Pastell finds out that Celestine is real. But get this, she’s dating Alvarina!

Her fourth AND fifth loves are now over too!

And, that’s all I have for now.

Thoughts on Hollow Knight: I gazed into the void and it was full of cute buggies

(very minor spoilers for Hollow Knight ahead)

It occurred to me when I was writing up my thoughts on The Surge that Hollow Knight probably deserved the same treatment, as it is another recent Dark Souls inspired offering that I played quite a bit of. I think the reason I haven't really put my thoughts together about Hollow Knight yet is that I haven't really needed to. The game is simply very good in a straightforward, easy to understand way. Hollow Knight is a metroidvania made by the indie studio Team Cherry with charming hand-drawn graphics. Mechanically, it draws much more from modern Castlevania titles than Souls. The only thing that really even qualifies it as a Dark Souls inspired game is the fact you lose your money on death and have to recover it again. It's a rather unnecessary addition, but at least in Hollow Knight, this mechanic has some (vague) diegetic reason for being.

I don't feel quite as inclined to explain the systems of Hollow Knight in such excruciating detail as I did for The Surge, mostly because they are simpler, better implemented, and easier to understand. You swing your sword (or Nail, in the parlance of Hallownest, the ancient bug city where the game takes place), it does damage to enemies, enemies drop money (or Geo, as it is called) you can use to buy things, and you explore a huge 2D interconnected world. Character progression is done entirely by finding upgrades in the game world, or finding NPCs in the game world to buy things from, so Hollow Knight is quite light on RPG aspects. The main character customization aspect comes from charms, your only real gear analogue, which you can equip at benches, your rest and respawn points, for various helpful effects like increased swing range, extra health, and a passive magnetic field that draws Geo into you so it doesn't go flying off into the abyss all the time.

What I would say is the most unique mechanic in the game is the Soul system, which sounds ridiculous, but it's not what it sounds like i swear don't close the window. Instead of currency, Soul is basically your MP equivalent, which you use to cast spells and heal yourself. You regain soul by striking enemies with your nail, creating a rewarding rhythm of using basic attacks to power up your big moves or keep yourself alive. It encourages using spells instead of hoarding them because your Soul is effectively unlimited as long as you have things to smack. The game can get pretty hard towards the end because bosses and tougher enemies tend to go berserk the moment you step back to take a moment to heal, but otherwise it's a well realized system that gives you a lot of variety and flexibility in how you approach the game's various challenges.

Where the game really gets its self-proclaimed Dark Souls inspiration is in its world design and preferred method of storytelling. You play as the nameless Knight, a cute little bug child with some interesting powers and no sense of smell or verbal communication skills. The Knight is explicitly and importantly genderless. You start the game making your way to Dirtmouth, small town of friendly bugs situated on top of Hallownest, a huge bug metropolis built beneath the ground. Unfortunately, Hallownest has been visited by a Terrible Calamity and most bugs brave enough to venture into the depths eventually lose their sense of self and wander the tunnels aimlessly, attacking anything that moves. The comparison with Lordran is quite self-evident, and the general structure of the narrative mirrors the original Dark Souls quite faithfully. The world is designed similarly, exploring the nooks and crannies of a once great civilization, marveling at its grand archtiecture, and gradually uncovering the unseemly secrets it was built upon.

Unlike The Surge, which was so much of a narrative mess I felt like I had to go into it in detail just to sort my thoughts out and sort of confirm to the world at large that I wasn't having some sort of fever dream, I have enough respect for the tale of Hollow Knight that I don't really want to spoil it. It's worth seeing and exploring for yourself, and at a very affordable price point, I would really recommend giving it a try. A lot of love and care went into Hollow Knight. One area where the game shines is in its characters, a motley collection of bugs from all walks of life with many different perspectives and goals. They are both memorable in personality and in design, each one drawn in an expressive and unique way that emphasizes their own little idiosyncracies. Quirrel, a happy go lucky adventurer explores Hallownest for its secrets much like you do and you get to be friends with him as you go through the game. Zote the Mighty, a supremely overconfident and haughty warrior, becomes your rival of sorts after you get him out of a sticky situation. Cornifer, a jolly and helpful cartographer, can be found in each area selling a map for a reasonable fee and offering insight about the locale. You need to buy these to have a map to begin with, so you tend to be extremely grateful whenever you hear his trademark hummning and find the paper trail he leaves behind. There are a lot of characters in Hollow Knight, and most of them have their own stories and surprises. They're also "voice acted" in a sing-song fake bug language sort of reminiscent of older Legend of Zelda titles that's quite charming and evocative.

The game's various bosses (of which there are more than 5, I might add) are quite similar to the characters. They've got their own stories and goals and take on a variety of forms, some cute, some terrifying, some a little bit of both. I've been fairly effusive in my praise of the game so far, and while I do think that the bosses are very good for the most part, it is worth noting that a lot of later fights in the game, especially some optional ones, are huge difficulty spikes that can kind of take you out of the game. Being optional, of course, means that this is never a huge problem, but Hollow Knight can get pretty brutal later on even on the critical path. It has a much more traditional difficulty curve than the average Souls style game, which usually start very difficult and become easier as you master the mechanics. Instead, the game starts off quite leisurely but gradually (and sometimes not so gradually) ramps up into a very difficult fight for survival. Bosses, and regular enemies, also have their own bits of lore courtesy of the game's bestiary system, the Hunter's Journal. The Hunter is an NPC you meet fairly early on in the game who, impressed either by your courage or simple disregard for your own safety, bequeaths to you his journal and exhorts you to hunt and grow strong. By killing a certain number of each enemy type, you get both basic information and the Hunter's own thoughts and feelings, which can be quite edifying -- or at least amusing. I will criticize that the prose used in some of these entries is a bit amateurish, but, glass houses and all that.

Speaking of optional bosses, Hollow Knight has a lot of them. It has a lot of optional stuff period. It's a legitimately pretty huge game, especially your first time through. You go through a large variety of environments, from crystalline mines to verdant gardens to horrifying spider-infested tunnels. Hollow Knight can, on rare occasions, go right for the jugular with that primal fear of things that skitter and bite, and given how cute and pleasant most of the game world looks, these occasional forays into nightmare made manifest are extremely jarring and if you are particularly afraid of phylum Euarthropoda, you may want to give this game a pass. Or at least maybe have somebody hold your hand while you go through Deepnest. Spider hell aside, the game rewards exploration with all sorts of hidden goodies, vendors, and even entire areas that somebody only going through the critical path might never even see. It is in this aspect that the Souls lineage really shines through, at least by my estimation. The game is so big and multilayered that not having a map available from the start can be kind of difficult, since 2D space tends to be more difficult to make a mental map of. There's plenty of options for fast travel and shortcuts to take from place to place, but without some sort of anchor, getting lost is an inevitability.

My biggest singular complaint comes at the very end of the game, on the way to get the Best Ending, so it is once again optional content so I can't count it against the overall package too harshly. Even so, it's pretty bad. Leaving out on the specifics for spoiler's sake, you find yourself in a sawblade and spike infested deathrap straight out of Super Meatboy. The platforming in Hollow Knight is Perfectly Fine, but not quite precise enough to really shine in situations where I Wanna Be the Guy style jumping puzzles are presented as obstacles. It's a very out of place segment with no enemies to fight whatsoever (and thus, no really reliable way to refill soul and heal yourself from the inevitable damage you're going to take from whirling death) and while the payoff is good, I still came out of it feeling more annoyed than anything. The checkpointing in some of the game's later segments can be obnoxiously unforgiving, most of all in this particular part. Eventually I had to entirely reconfigure my charm layout to go for maximum survivability, and I would not envy the player who made it there without finding some of the special HP regen charms or enough mask fragments to upgrade their health bar. Also I keep almost calling charms badges because I am a huge Paper Mario girl until the end of time so sorry if that ever slips through.

I mentioned earlier that the story of Hollow Knight was worth seeing and experiencing for yourself, and I stand by that. I think that there are some criticisms to be had with the execution and perhaps the derivative nature of it all, but an indepth analysis of Bug Lore will have to be its own post, should I feel like making it. For now, I will simply say that the characters are brilliant and lovable, and piecing together the mystery of Hollownest is quite rewarding, even if it is frustratingly vague at times. I think a lot of people forget that in Dark Souls, most of the digging had to be done for the finer details about the various historical figures and places. The main thrust of the narrative, the curse of the undead and the Dark Sign and all that, was actually kind of just Out There from minute one. It gave you a foundation to work with. Hollow Knight goes for Maximum Enigma and obfuscates even the foundation until a pretty good chunk of the way in, which is maybe a little bit excessive. Ultimately, I think it's a valid stylistic choice, but one I'm not a huge fan of.

Hollow Knight is good. Hollow Knight is great! Aforementioned considerations of arachnophobia aside, I would recommend it to anyone who ever enjoyed a Metroidvania or similarly styled game, or any Souls fan. There's lots to see and do, most of it gorgeous and haunting in equal measure. I have a few fairly minor complaints, and people without much patience for Hard Games might want to consider just sticking to the critical path and looking up the rest on Youtube, but overall it's a fantastic package made with a lot of love and heart. There's an earnestness and sincerity to Hollow Knight that's very precious and should be nurtured as much as possible. It's this extremely high-concept bug adventure that is nevertheless very affecting and memorable. The eventual payoff for seeing and doing everything is very impressive and quite a spectacle, with some evocative visuals that will stay with you for a long time. Definitely a game of the year contender as we approach the conclusion of 2017.

11 Questions Meme

Rules:

Post the rules

Answer the questions given to you by the tagger

Write 11 questions of your own

And tag 11 people

Tagged by @sealandangel! ^_^

I am actually procrastinating right now and don’t really have time to make up 11 new questions so I’m gonna be a putz and not tag anyone sorry

What is your favorite way to spend a rainy day?

Just hanging out at home with my computer, kitty, and whatever random project I want to work on that day. ^_^

If you’re in the CLAMP fandom whats your favorite manga and favorite character and why?  

Hahaha, I don’t know that’d I’d say I was in the CLAMP fandom per se, but I do like my fair share of CLAMP stuff. Perhaps surprisingly I think I’d have to say that Magic Knight Rayearth is my favorite of their manga - a bit cliche by today’s standards, sure, but it was one of the first manga series I read, so it introduced me to a lot of those cliches, haha. I just really like the characters and think it’s a solid story with a nice twist at the end.

As for favorite CLAMP character, I’d probably have to go with both Sakura and Shaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. My heart says that Shaoran is #1, but I know that without Sakura I wouldn’t like him nearly so much. So for me they come as a package deal. They are just both so sweet and innocently adorable, even if Shaoran starts out a bit grumpy, lol. Sakura is a little ray of sunshine that still gets some nice depth, and Shaoran’s journey through self discovery always makes me happy.

Favorite Anime?

My nostalgic favorite is Digimon (specifically Adventure), so I don’t know that anything will ever be able to topple it from that spot as nostalgia is a powerful thing. I love the characters and the fact that it has some surprising depth for a show based on a toy line. Also the backgrounds are GORGEOUS.

But as far as a series where my nostalgia does not taint my opinion, there are a lot I could chose from, but the one that really does just stick out the most is Tsuritama. I love that series so much. <3 Yuki honestly means so much to me, and I truly love the entire cast. That and the story is so unique and fun and interesting! Everyone should watch the show about aliens, fishing, dancing, and social anxiety! XD

Favorite Cartoon?

Oh, this one’s a lot easier: Batman the Animated Series! I mean, sure, there are a ton of cartoons I love, but none will ever top that one. The writing, the atmosphere, the characters, the voice acting, the music... it is truly a masterpiece. BtAS Batman is MY Batman (and none of this later season junk where suddenly all of his personality was zapped away and Babs was, like, dating him or something weird and gross like that and Dick was turned emo and Tim was beyond annoying... ok I’ll stop now...).

Favorite Video game?

I don’t care if it’s the cliche answer: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. While other Zelda games may do individual aspects better (Midna = best companion, BotW’s climbing and paragliding, etc), OoT has the best full package and, in my opinion, the most compelling story. It’s not a groundbreaking story, but as you might have been able to tell by MKR being my fav CLAMP manga, I’m not super concerned about a story having to be unique to be good, lol. That and I love Zelda being Shiek and running around like a ninja for half the game! XD

What do you like to collect if anything?

Hmm, don’t know that I really collect anything. I have in recent years made a point to buy more prints from artists at anime conventions despite not really having the wall space to hang them, so I suppose that might count? lol I want to get, like, a large book I can put them all in or something!

Windows or Mac?

GIVE ME WINDOWS OR GIVE ME DEATH

...I had a rough time in the computer labs back in college. I did so many art projects in a super old version of Paint Shop Pro on my Windows computer simply to avoid having to use the schools Macs because I hated them THAT much. ^_^;;

What languages can you speak in?

Only English... I can understand some Spanish and Japanese, but it’s very minimal.

Do you like the nightmare before christmas?

OF COURSE

Whats your OTP to end all OTPs?

I actually already touched on it: Sakura and Shaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. <3 It’s just so freaking cute... I won’t start gushing again, though, since, ya know, I already did. XD Just know that I think of it as a super innocent ship - I don’t ship things for the “sexy make out timez” or whatever. I just think they are adorable together.

If you could change ONE outcome in any anime/manga what would it be?

Oooooooooooh that’s rough... See, I’m one of those people who is ok with good characters dying and super bad things happening IF it has significance. So I wouldn’t, like, bring Hughes back or keep Nina from being turned into a chimera, because those are big, impactful moments. So it has to be something that really changed the way I felt about that particular anime/manga...

(I’m... I’m just gonna put this last one under a cut. XD I get pretty heated. LOL It is something that will forever bother me, and if you EVER want to get me going, just bring up Naruto’s Itachi.)

I’ll be honest, the first thing that came to mind is actually from Naruto. I’m not so sure this would be “the ONE” if I actually had time to give this a ton of thought because I stopped enjoying the series even before this happened. But this. THIS was the breaking point. THIS was the one thing that made me turn my back on it completely and despise it with the passion of a thousand burning suns.

Itachi being a “good guy”.

No. NO. NO NO NO NO NO!

This ruined everything. It ruined Itachi who was once this terrifying villain with no remorse toward the killing of his family and made him into a guy who made some really dumb and pointless decisions that ultimately went against what his supposed main goal was all for a cheap shock twist. It ruined Sasuke who should have finally come to the end of his avenging days and had to deal with the fact that it was just as empty and hollow as everyone told him it would be, leading him an ACTUAL path to redemption, but instead was given a lobotomy by the author and only made incomprehensibly dumb choices that went against literally any amount of sense, all so he could stay “bad” until the very end (or whenever exactly that happened - I’m pretty fuzzy on the whole final... war... thing). It ruined Sakura who continued to pine for a guy 100% not worth pining for because he was literally a scumbag when she could have been trying to help a post-avenging Sasuke come to terms with everything instead.

It ruined Naruto himself - say what you want about Sasuke as a character (I loved him pre-time jump, but I know many hated him and I totally get why lol), but one thing you have to give him is that the rivalry between him and Naruto was almost always interesting and fun. They learned from each other, grew together, and yet still wanted nothing more than to one up the other - good, typical shounen rivalry. Sasuke leaving made sense in the story so I was ok with it, but it DID make me care a lot less about Naruto because suddenly I didn’t find the characters he was surrounded with compelling (I’m looking at you, Sai...). If Itachi had not been revealed as a secret “good guy”, this would have left Sasuke with more chances to interact with Naruto in ways other than “I hate the Leaf and want to kill everyone and that includes you”. We could have gotten so much more from the two of them! Maybe they still would have fought sometimes. Maybe Sasuke would help him out before taking off again. It wouldn’t have necessarily meant that Sasuke would have been around all the time, but it still could have given us bits here and there of the two of them interacting with each other which is what made me like the series so much in the first place.

*DEEP BREATH*

Ok. I’m ok. I’m better now. I just... have a lot of feelings about this... XD sorry not sorry

You could remake Metroid 2 as a survival horror game and it would be amazing

And you wouldn't even need to change it that much.

I've been on a Metroid kick as of late and happened to have $4.80 on my 3DS e-shop account that I thought I'd never be able to use (NES games are 4.99) but while taking a routine check to see if Super Metroid was available (it's not, no SNES games are, I want a portable version of Super Metroid, damn it Nintendo) I saw that you could get original GameBoy games for under four bucks and that Metroid 2 was available.

Now I had played and beaten Metroid 2 before but it was years ago and since I'm on a Metroid kick and had $4.80 on the account anyway I decided to get it. It was almost immediately after starting that I came to the conclusion expressed in the title.

Before getting into the specifics of why I believe this some background on Metroid 2.

The basic premise of Metroid 2 is that after Metroid 1, the people of the galaxy determined that metroids suck and send Samus to their homeworld to commit floating jelly brain genocide. Once there you quickly find out that the floating jellyfish you're used to fighting are actually just the larval form of the Metroid species and as the game progresses you encounter stronger and stronger variations. Gameplay wise you basically have an area where the exit is blocked by acid until you kill all the metroids in that area at which point the acid recedes and you advance deeper into the planet until you hit the next acid blocked path and kill all the metroids in that area. repeat till all metroids are dead.

It was because of that gameplay that for the longest time Metroid 2 was considered the weakest of the core Metroid series. While most Metroid games are characterized by big open maps it's ridiculously easy to get lost in, Metroid 2 was pretty aggressively linear, as mentioned the areas you explore are sectioned off until it's time to advance and any powerups you need are pretty easy to find (I actually missed like a third of them my first run through on the 3DS and didn't realize it). It didn't feel like a Metroid game.

To me, it felt like a survival horror game. Here's why.

Because of the limits of the Gameboy they made Samus' sprite pretty big compared to the screen. This is turn gave the game (which took place in a series of underground caverns) a really claustrophobic feel and makes the metroid fights pretty intense as you don't usually have a lot of room to maneuver. As a result, whenever I suspected a metroid was about (helpfully indicated by ominous shed shells littered about) I would find myself creeping forward just so I wouldn't be caught off guard by one, and then they'd occasionally stick one in a spot where it would trigger before you could see it and you'd have no idea where it was coming from which was terrifying.

The metroids are great enemies for a horror game. The first one you come across leads to a introductory scene. As you advance through the first section of the game you eventually come across one just lying on the floor glowing. if you never played Metroid 1 it gives a bit of tension as you go "What the heck is that thing?" but if you'd beaten Metroid 1 and were familiar with them it was kind of terrifying because metroids were the LAST enemy you encountered in the original game and had very specific requirements to kill them, requirements you do not meet. Also they floated and didn't glow. Either way you inch closer not sure what to expect when a screech is let out, the music changes and this weird thing rises out of the metroid shell. You fire you beam at it (which has worked on every other enemy thus far) and it does nothing, so your switch to you missiles (your limited missiles) and open fire and try not to miss as this thing erratically flies at you. It takes five missiles (provided you don't miss) to kill this first alpha metroid, which is half your present supply and there are 38 left to go.

Like most Metroid games as you advance through the game you acquire power ups that make travel easier and the normal enemies you encounter easier to deal with. Eventually you get to the point were the alpha metroids don’t even pose that much of a threat, and just as that happens you meat your first beta metroid. Bigger faster and stronger then any enemy you’ve met all the powering up you’ve done just puts you on a level where you can just scrape out a win. With that encounter you’re put basically back at square one, while you can handle most normal enemies without issue any metroid encounter becomes re-terrifying.

This pattern continues throughout the game, just as you get comfortable dealing with the established threat, it evolves and your left basically back where you started. This I feel is why this concept makes such a good premise for a survival horror game. While you’re technically always getting more powerful, against the most major threats you are always vulnerable. Combine that with Metroid’s stellar spooky sci-fi soundtrack and traditional environment design and you could have a pants shitting-ly intense experience.

Given the success that Breath of the Wind has had in shaking up the Legend of Zelda format I think it would be amazing if Nintendo could do something similar with Metroid. Mind Nintendo doesn’t have a super stellar track record with the Metroid franchise lately but Reggie did say in an interview, recently, when asked about it’s future to ask him again in a years time. Don’t let me down Reggie    

Earning Credit scores Promptly, Fastest Car, Customization & PP.

When you had to buy a dedicated video gaming gear and spend a load of cash money for a premium gaming experience are lengthy gone, the times. Yet considering that our team've strained anything here ₤ 15,000, our experts are actually left with perhaps the most popular cars coming from that year: Tuscans, Impreza P1s, and also additional 911s in comparison to you can easily beverage a continue. After that along with more amount of money come the Ferrari 360s as well as a wayward yellow Diablo. This is actually not in my bones to, however imma willing to go stage 5 clinger outrageous and get into my auto and also increase to Georgia to find this author! If you loved this information and you would such as to obtain even more information regarding athenswarriors.info kindly browse through our webpage. When that's your turn, manicures and also merely learning concerning the big purchase at the shopping center do certainly not qualify as authentic explanations to certainly not steer. The components likely to wear the best are actually the glass on the front end as well as the plastic on the edges. Still, like the potential appears you shouldn't let that stop you coming from taking pleasure in the wonderful games that are actually readily available at this moment. The Dream Mercedes -Maybach 6 idea automobile: right now this is what you pertain to an electric motor program for. When sliding right into a tight car park spot, lots of vehicles right now happen with sensing units and video cams to show blind places and also tone. I've enjoyed with development systems (a carton with the infotainment system, certainly not in a cars and truck) as well as haven't faced any sort of issues. I want to know that these folks are as well as just what they need to point out yet considering that there's a popular instance of the Freaky Friday instance going on whenever they open their mouths, it eventually got to a factor where I really did not even care anymore. The majority of the dealers can profit from the fact that a lot of the moments the package carries out not go through and they could end up with the whole rental fee total up to their discretion as the lease credit history is actually considered non refundable. There were ratings of vehicle providers that began in the early 1900s, as well as lots of were gone within a year or two. They are actually both inanimate items that are quite risky to the user as well as to those around all of them yet that are looked at essential to the American way of living, so the analogy appears a really tough one: practical steps our experts require to manage autos as well as guarantee they are actually as safe as possible for Americans to work are also perhaps wise regulative procedures for weapons. At the same time, Waymo - the provider born out from Google.com's self-driving auto project - continues to release regular monthly documents on all the bumps and pulverizes its personal self-governing motors are involved in. Until now they have actually usually been actually dued to errors for individual chauffeurs, as well as none of Waymo's automobiles have actually but ended up on their side. Or even though Lyon's population is actually expected to climb through more than 10% over the upcoming years, he is targeting a further 20% decrease in car make use of. Our experts may begin managing our knackered old Nissans a lot more like those classic automobiles that enthusiasts invest lengthy nights reverentially restoring so as to own them extremely little by little, while wearing special gloves, to country clubs at weekend breaks. This is actually specifically what dealerships carry out, they purchase your car at a low cost and after that sell you one of their makes at a higher rate. You could browse through the trailer for Task AUTOMOBILES: Activity of the Year Version here. There are bunches of means to engage in thankfulness, from always keeping a journal from points you are actually happy for, sharing 3 benefits that happen each day along with a close friend or even your companion, and also going out of your way to show gratitude when others help you. It carries out obtain a bit samey, as well as the online multiplayer is actually drab, however Infinite Train's helpful for a fast blast, as well as if you get sick from the unlimited method, there are actually stage-based problems to deal with. Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo all introduced that CarPlay will be matched to particular new autos today in Geneva, but many various other makers additionally revealed help will be coming for Apple's brand-new apple iphone connectivity system in the near future. Not every person may spring for a brand-new car or broadcast along with Android Car connectivity, however AutoMate carries the tidy car-friendly interface to any kind of Android phone or tablet computer. These friendly-looking factors are going to come from that somewhat terrifying class of cars and trucks that battles catbird seat from its individual professionals. . Even with how unclear the rumours regarding the Apple Cars and truck have been thus far, many sources appear to agree on a launch timespan. Baseding on the record, Apple is actually keeping staff numbers 'consistent' by tapping the services of new people to work with the driverless automobile system, observing an extensive spate from reassignments, redundancies, and willful departures. He can certainly never return, considering that the traditional papers in Iran indicted him from spying and also of dispersing propaganda He would like to inform people regarding the revolution as well as he understands that a video game is a good way to present other viewpoints, and also to urge viewers/players to explore as well as understand those perspectives. I attempt not to follow Zelda due to the fact that Ocarina of Time and also Majora's Cover-up were actually the 2 best video games from my childhood years and I believe that the remainder will only be cash grabs that really spoil them for me. I have actually listened to beneficial things about the later video games as well as have a basic knowledge coming from word-of-mouth yet that is actually the extent from it. I also would not would like to purchase a Wii thus appearing them up could produce me want to get one lol.