[Image description: The first image is a digital painting of Visual Calculus' skill portrait in Disco Elysium. Text reads: "VISUAL CALCULUS - The cold sea breeze stings your face as you step on the boardwalk. The body is gone, but something still lingers in the air. And high above it, against the stars..." End text. The portrait then fades into a dark night sky. The second image continues from the first with the same night sky. Text reads: "VISUAL CALCULUS - A luminous wheel of pleasure and all things bright, its wooden frame creaking in the wind. Twelve red cabins form a circle that stretches from the engines below to the flocks of seagulls up in the sky. INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - The mirage looks both sad and glorious in the mist, like an insect trapped in glass." End text. Green and blue lines from Visual Calculus' portrait twist around an orange, blue and purple projection of a ferris wheel. Behind it, the sun emerges in a bright burst of colour. Harry Du Bois looks up at it, amazed; Kim Kitsuragi looks at him in concern. Text reads: "YOU - 'You don't see it?' KIM KITSURAGI - 'See what?' The lieutenant looks around uncomfortably." End ID]

I know Espilver week is half over, but the first theme of absence got me thinking about why I find this ship compelling, and one of the few I would actually be happy to see happen in canon. Specifically, it's loneliness.

Where they came from:

Aside from being an uncalled for and fantastically blunt burn from Blaze that I love, I think it's fun that this is an insight that 06 felt to give us into Silver's character. We wouldn't have known this if she didn't idly wonder it - we definitely didn't know Silver well enough to assume. Love you, Blaze.

BUT my thought is there's a lot of characters in this series for whom a core lesson they are learning is accepting others into their lives. Silver is too, to an extent. But he's also inherently needy, and we are told as much by his closest and only friend. Silver's got a particularly raw deal by literally being satellite to everyone. I'm probably not alone in finding that makes me want to solve his loneliness more.

Espio has not (in my knowledge - being not acquainted with the og comics) been through any major character development that has transformed him, as he is presented as quite a mature (comparatively) character, but in my opinion he also has a core dissonance between being a loner and part of a team. He has a fighting style that lends itself to solo heroism, and yet we always see him in a team, and his personality is what makes it work. I like to interpret this as someone who used to be alone and has been through the journey that Silver needs to find his place in a group. Except Silver can't.

Wheras now:

Pulling out two screenshots that sorta give the vibe I'm looking for, but I think in present they're both actually and actively trying to find and be with companions/ allies. Silver's latest arc shows us he's still someone looking for people to guide and ground him in the past. Espio is the most stable and grounded guy you can imagine in the Sonic cast tbh, and although he's pretty self confident, he's never been ashamed to rely on his trusted friends. If anything, he has trouble trusting outside of his team, although we see him try and put aside his misgivings about others judgements and choices.

There's a lot of characters that have or can have chemistry, but this is one of the few pairings - if not the only pairing - where I actually think being in a relationship develops and furthers both characters growth. Which is very appealing to me.

Also, there's very few characters in canon that I actually think would be happy in a relationship in the current time, at current ages. Not that I think relationships all have to make sense, but narratively speaking, I like it for both of them as well as generally just thinking they're cute. Especially because the tragedy bug bit me, and their setting means they're stuck with the most isolating LDR ever ❤️

That's all, ty for coming to my tedtalk

My biggest complaint about last night's episode was the tonal dissonance between the two halves (thought admittedly I only partially understood the Opal/Ted thing, and will have to watch the VOD on Monday to fully parse it). I find your Hamlet/Sheer Madness metaphor incredibly apt.

During the episode, I wondered if there was going to be a longer wait until we returned to the Hells, and if Aabria and the Crown Keepers had been brought in to fill space while the main cast or parts of it were unable to follow their regular filming schedule.

If that were the case, then I thought that ending the Bells Hells portion of the episode where they did the right choice, and made sense from both a narrative perspective (once the Hells arrive at the encampment, they will report to Keyleth and begin planning for their next steps, thus entering the next arc of their story), and a characterological perspective (they are still fresh off the fight and the loss of FGC, their intial feelings have been established, and while I'd love more rp, I think the next step of actually proccessing it and letting it propell them is more likely to be tied to their next actions/mission). Liam also provided a lovely button with his call to Dorian, and ending it with his call yet unanswerd increases acticipation. It felt very much like the last beats before intermission in a play, or the last episode of a tv show before the mid-season hiatis. I was therefore willing to be more generous. While the tonal dissonance was incredibly jarring, and ultimately I feel did both halves a diservice, I could understand them wanting to a) end on that beat, and b) keep to the usual length of their episodes.

Now that I know we are getting the Hells back presumably sometime after break next episode, I am not only feeling less forgiving, but also rather confused. I can't think of another reason to split the episode beyond shock value, and also can't help but wonder why they didn't just bring the crown keepers in during the second half for what I am assuming is the reunion we will be getting next episode, and have all of the

Opal/Loth stuff happen in a flash-back one-shot at a later date. While the Crown Keepers and their earnest slap-dickery were bound to change the tone regardless due to their nature, I feel that would have at the very least mitigated some of the emotional whiplash.

If you were to speculate, why do you think they made the choice to split the episode this way?

Also if you had to bring the crown keepers into the main campaign, how would you do so while maintaing narrative integrity and emotional tenor? (Or not, sometimes crack is fun, and if you have alcohol induced ideas, I'd love to hear them as well).

I truly do not know why they made this choice. The only thing I can think of, since it doesn't seem to be related to personal life reasons nor giving Sam more time to work on a character since functionally it's not more time than finishing out this episode with Bells Hells and airing a Crown Keepers episode for 93 is the surprise factor. And I'm going to be honest: I know this is something that is fun when you are at the table and so I think the "it's their game and their table" rule applies* but more often than not these surprises end up kind of sucking as a viewer.

I'm going to be honest but very vague re: bringing the Crown Keepers into the main campaign because I am waiting until after next C3 episode, and probably a bit after that, before I say anything more specific, but. I probably wouldn't. I liked the Crown Keepers well enough when they aired, but a lot of the generosity I extended at the time to the rougher patches is something I've since had second and third thoughts about. I would do another Kymal-style two-shot and then I'd have Dorian come back into the main campaign.

*just as a note: It's their game and their table means they get to make the decisions that they want to make and acting entitled and as if you deserve the outcome you personally want - as people did, for example, when Molly died - is, well, entitled and not something you have a right to ask for. It does not mean you can't say "I disliked this choice greatly."

nobody look at or talk to me. i watched the first season of centaurworld and loved it so i wonder why i never finished season 2. probably because i didnt like the idea of having no more centaurworld and also that the last episode is an entire fucking hour long and is 90% deer backstory but still. my god. i cried my eyes out.

centaurworld is such a unique watch in general. the tonal dissonance between different episodes and scenes and even art and animation styles is insanely jarring but also so. intriguing?? captivating??? the character design philosophy is also batshit insane. its like its parodying 2 different genres while also implimenting both of them completely unironically, while also parodying itself? it goes off on so many tangents that sometimes veer way off track and its like 10 minutes of comfortable doug screentime before it cuts to a scene of the nowhere king graphically devouring some guy whole. i cant even get mad at it because its so good

but i gotta say its something you have to go into with an open mind. and if you dont like cartoon musical numbers that go on for way too long youre not gonna like it. there are a good amount of songs on the soundtrack that i love but there are also a bunch of them that are kinda just like... meh okay what next. and i know i shouldnt be surprised that there are fart jokes in a netflix original animated series but sometimes it feels a bit excessive. but its good when the only nitpicks you come away with are inconsequential stuff that doesnt really take away from your enjoyment of something that much. anyway. never the same again

okay i saw someone who interpreted bo burnham's "all eyes on me" as being about his desire to return to performing, and found that i didnt agree at all. but i also found that i didn't know what the song is about, so i listened to it a few more times and compiled my thoughts.

cause like, first of all, he uses a LOT of religious language. its like he's leading a church service. and that COULD be my christian background talking, but: "get your hands up" "get out of your seats" "heads down, pray for me" "come on in, the water's fine" (that last one is a pretty normal turn of phrase but combined with the other stuff it really evokes baptism. at least in my opinion). and of course, the style of the song: slow, heavy on repetition, gradual build to a strong emotional resolution, HEAVY on reverb and layered vocals..... it legitimately sounds more like a worship song than the songs my mom sings at church.

and i think the core message of it is essentially "dont think about it, just follow me". especially with the bit about "you say the ocean's rising, like i give a shit" ending with "got it, good, now get inside"? and also stuff like "dont overthink this, look in my eye, dont be scared dont be shy" etc etc. its like its saying shhhhh just don't think about it. come with me, we'll stay inside and it'll be okay.

but there's also the rant in the middle about getting back to performing. to me it does NOT come across like "i want to get back to performing but i'm stuck inside", it sounds more like "i was SO CLOSE to being back to normal and now look where we are!" which is kind of the opposite of what the song is saying (everything is fine), but thats intentional! because like. he knows the message he's singing is bullshit. it's NOT okay. the world IS ending. you can tell that theres dissonance between himself and his pretend audience because of the laugh track that plays during that rant. things like panic attacks and the world shutting down are funny if theyre not your reality. but theyre still HIS reality, no matter how much he wants to pretend. theres also the way he gets kinda unhinged at the end, yelling at the listener to "get the FUCK UP!" and his manic little laugh. dont think about it, dont question it, because i know its not true, but if we acknowledge the truth, that makes it real. it's easier to just stay inside.

i could get WAY more into how this mirrors religion, but i feel like i've made my point and this post is already long enough. but its soooooo good, i LOVE the parallels and the way it strengthens the message of the song. idk how much of it was intentional but i'm obsessed with it.

anyway. i could be reading into it too much, but i feel like this interpretation really ties the whole show together. i'd love to hear any different perspectives!

also if youre wondering why i'm bo burnham posting in 2023.....

Aikatsu song reviews: Hadashi no Renaissance

Sword idols for the win.

Song

Some fun facts:

If some website is to be believed, this is tied with MUSIC of DREAM!!! for Aikatsu song that used the largest number of live instruments. (8 instruments, although the tin whistle is credited with two different names, so maybe 9 instruments?)

This is my most replayed song in all of Aikatsu.

I saw someone list it as their least-favourite Aikatsu Stars song. All I can say to that is, "you're entitled to your opinion".

But no, I do get why someone might not like this song. It's very jaunty, and if you're not into medieval stuff or high fantasy then I can see that it might not be for you. Personally, though, I am all about atmospheric songs that transport you to another time and place, so of course I love this. Even the melody is perfectly suited to the theme... if you were to hum it with no lyrics and no backing track, it would still evoke that medieval knight vibe.

I initially found the tin whistle in the intro to be VERY annoying, but I think it does a really good job setting up that jaunty medieval atmosphere, so I got used to it. On a conceptual level, I don't really like when the electric guitar plays along with the tin whistle near the end of the outro, because it sort of destroys the medieval vibe, and electric guitars are so overused. But it sounds cool, so I don't actually have a problem with it. It's well-incorporated; it's not jarring like the guitar in "Have a Dream".

I like every part of this song, but if I had to choose just one, I really like the part just before the chorus where the beat turns slow and heavy for a moment and the instrumentals sound deep. On its own, it doesn't sound like much, but when contrasted against the rest of the song, which is faster and higher, it's just special. To me, at least.

While this is clearly an anime song, it's one of the least pop-like out of all of Aikatsu's discography. It fully embraces the medieval fantasy sound and doesn't try to sound modern or danceable, but it still keeps up a lot of energy that makes it feel Aikatsu-like.

Vocals

I was surprised when Rei started singing, because her singing voice does not sound at all how I expected it to. Every time I watch the music video, I feel a sense of dissonance between her looks and her voice, but I sort of love when someone's voice is very different than what you'd expect.

A lot of people seem to not be a fan of Rie's vocals. I agree that they're not as polished as many of the other singers' vocals, largely because Rie was newer to the group at the time. Her vocals don't have a ton of individual expression, and her breathing is quite audible at some parts. But her voice is just so pretty! How can you hate such a pretty voice?!

Rei and Lily have similar voices, but contrast each other through their personal styles. Rei has a more simple and straightforward style, while Lily's style is more emotional and expressive. It suits their personalities well.

Regarding technicalities... would you believe me if I told you that, out of all the Aikatsu songs I've recorded the vocal ranges of, this one is actually one of the overall highest? It's sung entirely above middle C (most Aikatsu songs go down to at least middle C if not lower). It doesn't have the highest notes ever, but it's sung in a higher range than the other songs. I just found that surprising since it's sung by characters with deeper-sounding voices, one of whom has a more androgynous appearance.

I like Rie's vocals even if other people don't, but for some reason, after the 15th or 20th listen, they start sounding weird and choppy and shallow? Maybe it's just me, though. Or maybe other people heard them like that the first time, and it just took me longer.

Lyrics

They're exactly what you'd expect from a character cosplaying as a knight to express her devotion to one person. Pretty self-explanatory.

Choreography

There's something about the choreography that reminds me a bit of martial arts. Obviously there's the kendo aspect since part of the dance features a sword. But there are some parts that reminds me of other martial arts, like how a part near the end has the dancer go into cat stance, and the second verse has them sort of punching into their own hand. The dance looks a little odd at times, but it's unique and has a certain something to it.

The duet version of the dance seems a little weak. I think the intention is for Rei to be the main dancer and Lily to be the secondary dancer, but it just gives off the impression that Lily forgot some of the dance moves.

Visuals

I love the stage, and how it starts inside the castle and ends outside. There are some reused elements, like the fountain from "Start Line!" and the chandeliers from "Kouya no Kiseki", but they blend in well and feel more like a motif than a stolen element. The blue lighting from the stained glass at the beginning is beyond cool. So is the gate opening at the climax. I don't think an Aikatsu Stars stage design can get much better than this.

The outfit is perfectly on-theme, and the rare appearance of an Aikatsu coord with pants is always appreciated. The stained glass look of the boots' tongue, pants' lining, undershirt and wings helps the outfit match the stage without blending in to the point of camouflage.

Lots of people have pointed out how good Lily's emoting is when she performs this song. Her expressions match her vocals really well and add something that Rei's expressions lack.

I once counted the number of swords that appear in Rei's performance... it was 15. I assume that, with the addition of Lily, the number of swords goes up to 16.

Good points: Strong theme/aesthetic Bad points: Tin whistle might be annoying, song is just not for everyone

Rating: 8.7/10 because I can't rate this one fairly; I'm too biased. Personal rating: 9.8/10

(Ever since I gave Glass Doll a 9.6/10, I've been scared to give any other songs a higher score, because what could possibly be better than Glass Doll? But you know what, I can't let that stop me. I don't think this song is better than Glass Doll but I do appreciate not having to sit through a 2.5-minute guitar solo.)

So I have this long-standing tradition where, after I finish a video game, I sit down and listen to the soundtrack outside of the game's context.

It serves as a sort of "conclusion" to the experience and simultaneously helps me evaluate the game as a whole a little better... After all the soundtrack is often what sticks with us long after we're done actively playing a game. It preserves the memories we've made along the way.

That means: I have finally found the FF Sixteen OST online in its entirety and could finally follow through with this tradition. (Debatable how much it applies considering I didn't actually play the game myself, but it felt necessary.)

The final missing piece to the pissbaby gamer rage essay. Significantly less raging this time, though.

It's okay. I don't love it. There's worse.

I had very unfavourable opinions of the OST during the game itself which might have been due to the overall pacing issues, where large stretches were filled with the same hub music and then everything bombastic all happened at once and either side of the coin was exhausting in its own way.

I still can't believe there are over 200 songs in the OST when I could have sworn I heard like. Maybe 10 or so during gameplay. A lot of it is very same-y. A large part of the OST can be split into "loud choir explosion" or "sad piano". There isn't a whole lot in between. Good for people who like it, not so much for me.

Which means my biggest issue is the very subjective "I just don't like the style". It's not a bad soundtrack, but I'm just really not a fan of the direction the music took. The battle themes are over the top (fair for the equally over the top DBZ kaijū battles, annoying with 3 wolves that show up on the side of the road). The calmer songs don't really hit right for me. No chord progressions or melodies that hook me. Unfortunate. I did however appreciate the electronic influences in the music when the alien baddies were on screen. (in this fantasy game that is based on medieval reality and that's why people of colour cant exi-)

I have also since learned that there isn't one acoustic guitar song that plays for 20 hours straight. There are like 6 or so that all sound the same. I don't know if that makes it better or worse. I hate them all. (I don't hate acoustic guitars. It's these songs in particular.)

That said - I was curious about which ones are people's favourite tracks of the OST and went checking those out in particular. Consistently in people's tops was Ascension and I can't deny that one's been plagueing (semi-endearing) my memory a bunch the past days. Probably the theme that stuck out the most to me while watching the game. If not the entire theme, then at the very least That Violin Part. If you know, you know.

You know what. If you don't know, here:

(footage stolen from here)

Like damn. Good rhythm going on there with the off beats. Also fits the relevant character nicely in terms of mood. And I like that the battle phase before this one has a more low-key version of this song playing before it goes into this full ham version.

I just kinda wish more of the battle music had been a bit more... this. A bit more... subtle. Like yes it slaps hard but this song legitimately feels calm in comparison to the other battle tracks. This drives me nuts.

There's one other song I keep getting stuck in my head which is one that plays fairly close to the end (in the final... "dungeon" (cutscene? sequence? QTE battle?)). I figured out today that I don't actually really enjoy listening to the song on its own but I like it in-game in combination with the voice perfomance. There's an interesting dissonance in it that blends super nicely with the voice acting. (I'm being held hostage by the game's voice acting. It's unfortunately way too good. Voice actors are once again holding too much power over me.)

Other than that... I have one final criticism. The prelude theme. We must. Leave it. Alone. Enough. It's fine playing once as a gimmick somewhere in the game (I do genuinely like the menu (pause screen?) arrangement) but having it woven into what seems like every 5th song feels like someone is smacking a sign into your face that screams "YOU ARE PLAYING A FINAL FANTASY GAME." Seriously it's unbearable. (Also I did take notice of the FF1 overworld theme being rearranged into a battle theme for the final segment of the game. I don't know why, but fine. Not complaining about that one.)

Overall it's a solid "mh" from me. Not the worst OST we've had in the series (thirteen trilogy exis-COUGHAGFNJKN) but definitely on the lower end for me. Not of bad quality, but not my cup of tea at all. Dark Souls III OST executed the epic orchestra choirs better somehow. More interesting composition. Spaced out better throughout the game. Idk.

Welp. Back to getting haunted by voices and violins now o/

Plusquam Chapter 7 director's commentary because i adore being a blabbermouth

hi hi hello. i am going to talk about my fic and nobody can stop me but i don't want to turn the ao3 author's notes into their own 30k novel so yelling on tumblr it is!!

if you are interested in SOME of the machenations of my enigmatic mind, feel free to read. If not. Well i don't care really it's your life. I'm writing this for MY enjoyment.

First of!! I dunno if I talked about them before!! (I have the memory of a goldfish). The silly codenames!!

As I may or may not have mentioned before, the inspiration for this came from the Project Thabes mod for Awakening. In the ferox duel, the mod replaces the generics with inigo, severa, owain, and gerome. The awakening trio get their fates names (a coward's move, but one i understand), but gerome is named michalis, which i just enjoy soooo much???

so when i initially planned out for all the future kids to band together with lucina, i decided they all had to have codenames! otherwise there's really no point in lucina having one....

merric for laurent was the biggest no brainer of all of them, with caeda for severa being a close second. feel free to interpret why. gerome was obviously taken from the thabes mod, and the rest were... a challenge... to come up with!

owain actually gave me a lot of trouble. what WOULD he name himself? i've not finished shadow dragon myself (I only played the prologue so far... haha...), and most i know of the cast comes from mitosis. and scarf's new mystery lunatic reverse run on youtube. and it was that run that reminded me. that kris's confect is an item in the game. meaning that awakening era people know kris exists. except wasn't kris' deal that they like. did not want to be noted down in history.

hence kris being a "heavily debated historical subject". which of COURSE owain would name himself after an unsung but vitally important hero of the shadows.

others i may discuss as they come up? eh, we'll see. not every future kid is gonna be important (god knows that's way too many characters for me to handle), but they will be There. main focus of course being the fp3 squad, with the addition of two others. it is very obvious who it will be, i think.

next up, pairings!

most pairings werent set, outside the ones that are my obvious favorites (panne/lonqu, henlivia, chrobin (duh)). others were up in the air and just happened as i wrote. as i thought about gerome in this, and chatted about the subject with friends, frederick/cherche came to be for this fic! (and for the shrek au, oddly enough. it may have just been on my mind, and i thought chrom missing freddie's wedding was funny.)

it suited my purposes best if gerome had a stronger emotional tie to the blueberry siblings, and a knightly duty to protect them served just that. hence the dialogue of lucina being his liege. he's so utterly disinterested in getting to know the people of the past that i needed that extra bit to keep him coherent. he won't get close to anyone, but he'll do anything to support lucina's aims as though they were his own.

which brings me to the next subject, lucina's PoV! This is the first perspective switch in all of plusquam (not just because I couldn't meet my 4k benchmark with morgan alone this time). Since Morgan and Lucina act separately and won't encounter often, I needed the extra time to establish her character here. To me, there's a clear dissonance between how Morgan views her and how Lucina is. Both of them are unreliable narrators to varying degrees, yet how they differ is where the meat is.

Like, for example, Morgan completely rejecting that Lucina is Robin's child as well, and not just Chrom's, because Grima told them Lucina was different. As compared to the actual Lucina still deeply affected by Robin, and even engaging with grimleal theology on an even field because of him and the other plegian influences in her life.

there's also the matter of her narration style. I waffled back and forth on whether to give her second person narration as well, but ultimately decided on third person limited, with a catch - she exclusively refers to everyone, including herself, by their codenames.

in both their perspectives, i want to create separation between their original names and who they act as. With morgan, this succeeds because the viewpoint has no need to mention their name whatsoever, and with lucina, it succeeds because she's the one creating that distance in her own mind. it's fun to play with!

ah, siblings. so different, yet so similar.

as for the pronouns situation on lucina's pov. well. schrödinger's transgender.

minor thing. i hate adapting canon scenes close to script, hence me just freestyling when lucina and co meet chrom and squad. there's also just... no future portal risen roaming about, which would've made the point moot anyway. that's a very interesting consequence to play with.

having an endless army of generic undead is lame. having to draw on the actual dead of the immediate area - now we're getting spicy!

despite everything, i have grown attached to the risen wyvern and its chittering ways, but it sadly has to go. there's a reason morgan never named it. farewell my sweet prince. aurgh. i mean. this thing has been with morgan through the entire past so far. and it just fell apart more and more over time. crashing into a wall and breaking its neck, having half its throat torn out - poor thing. good thing it can't feel pain anymore.

that is, i think, all i wanted to blabber about? if you're a reader of plusquam, hi, i love you, i hope you have a great day, you may summon me for one turn of battle without expending an action and i will appear as a shimmering blue specter to protect you from harm.

that's all!! see you next time!! as usual, if anyone has questions of their own, or wants to yell at me for hurting their feelings, shoot me an ask, a comment, or anything at all! see ya!! ily!!

So, I heard Castlevania Nocturne season 2 is in the works. Big excite! That being said!

I'm overall fine with Nocturne as is if only because I know that Castlevania is no stranger to negative fan feedback whether it's legitimate grievances or petty complaints (and Nocturne is flawed, I won't argue that) – just look at the series history. Simon's Quest being a different sequel like Adventure of Link, 64 being called the worst Castlevania game for years (go watch Ragnarrox's video on it), Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin having an anime art style despite Rondo being just as anime if not more so, Symphony being too easy, Ecclesia being too hard, the very existence of Judgment and its take on the characters, Shadowvania being fine or a God of War ripoff. There will ALWAYS be Castlevania fans who dislike something, whether it's retconning Sonya Belmont or Netflixvania simply existing.

I've also played very few games in the entire series (GBA trilogy, SotN, Order of Ecclesia, Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, bit of Dracula X) so the changes in Nocturne don't bother me that much if at all, and my general sense of being fine with Nocturne set in the French Revolution boils down to "Rondo was set during that period and France is one of the stages in Bloodlines". It also helps that I don't have as much energy for vitriol in my old by tumblr standards age, and I know adaptations will change things for better or worse... and Nocturne could have been worse. Imagine if Uwe Boll directed Nocturne.

So far Season 1 presents a fast and loose adaptation of Rondo of Blood with elements from Bloodlines and a dash of Aria of Sorrow (the eclipse) and a smidge of Harmony of Dissonance, just as the previous series adapted Dracula's Curse with bits from Curse of Darkness (Hector and Isaac) and Symphony of the Night (character designs and Lisa's death). Nocturne needs to adapt Rondo in order to properly introduce Richter and Maria and set things up for Symphony, obviously. Assuming it goes that far in future seasons, which it might.

But depending on how things go, once Nocturne is finished with Rondo and if it moves on to Symphony, there's a key element of SotN's story that falls apart when you remember that Dracula and Lisa were resurrected at the end of Castlevania Season 4; SotN happens because Richter is possessed and brings back both the Castle and Dracula, but you can't resurrect someone who's still alive, assuming Dracula hasn't died in the interim between Season 4 and Nocturne, and a whole village was being built around the still standing Castle last time we saw it. So what happens then?

An important thing to note is that Lament of Innocence, chronologically the first game in the timeline, happened in Netflixvania; Trevor mentions Leon Belmont, the game's protagonist. Lament is also where we see Dracula's origins not as a Wallachian prince turned vampire, but as Leon's friend Mathias Cronqvist – a fellow crusader who after the death of his wife Elizabetha, became Dracula by taking the soul of the vampire Walter Bernhard into a vampiric treasure called the Crimson Stone, which is basically if a Philosopher's Stone gave you vampirism because that's a kind of immortality. (There's also the Ebony Stone which is a vampire treasure like the Crimson Stone, the colors are important because there's some alchemy in Lament.)

In SotN Alucard describes the Castle as "a creature of chaos. It may take many incarnations." Apparently in the game Dracula's Curse, Dracula made a pact with the Evil God – who may or may not be Satan, somebody at Konami please clarify – to gain the power of Chaos (and also a monster horde), which would neatly explain why Netflix Drac needed a year to prep his assault after Lisa was burned at the stake. In Aria of Sorrow (in which Dracula dies for good in 1999 and is reincarnated as Soma Cruz), the final boss is literally Chaos, and its second form takes the appearance of (among other things) a black stone that flashes red – Castlevania is a creature of Chaos and the center of it is the Crimson Stone, the origin of Dracula's power.

In Dawn of Sorrow, the cult under Celia Fortner created a "perfect replica" of the Castle and wants to make a whole new Dracula; it isn't outright stated iirc, been a while since I played it, but I'm guessing the implication is that Celia created another Crimson Stone to be a new Chaos for the Castle. Plus, with two candidates being groomed for the Dark Lord position (and Soma himself being Dracula reborn and getting involved), someone would have to be sacrificed like Walter was so someone can become Dracula 2.0.

However, I don't recall seeing a Crimson Stone in Netflixvania, which is interesting considering the focus on alchemy once Saint Germain gets involved. Considering how spotty Trevor's knowledge of the Belmont family's history is, he probably didn't know how Dracula became Dracula. Maybe Leon took that knowledge to the grave, or maybe Sypha uncovered the identity of the man who became Dracula years later while she and Trevor raised their child Simon. If Nocturne will one day adapt Symphony, it needs to address the lack of a Dracula to resurrect. Maybe it can take a leaf out of Dawn of Sorrow's book and have a cult just try to make a new Dracula to replace the old one, and the party meets up with the Vlad Tepes Formerly Known as Dracula in order for him to explain how he became what he is and what the cult is doing, not to mention the whole possessed Richter part... or, perhaps the cult mind controls Richter into going through the motions so he can be forced to sacrifice someone, perhaps one of vampiric blood like Alucard, to take on the Dark Lord's mantle. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a Belmont became a Dracula!

If you'll excuse me, I'm about to go into Deltarune Theory Mode, about something I've had brewing in the back of my mind for months. I want to be the first person on record about this, if my theory is correct.

I don't think that the speaker in the SURVEY_PROGRAM intro is Gaster. Or any character we've already met.

First off, the speaker does not use either Wingdings or Aster as his font. Instead, he uses the game's default font (introduced with a glowing variation, before later reverting to the regular sharp-edges version), in a slow and deliberate typing style with no sound for his voice.

Next, the theme that plays during the intro is obviously inspired by Gaster's theme, but the titles are interesting -- Gaster's theme is "mus_st_him", whereas the music during the intro is "Another Him" -- seemingly citing another individual, rather than being another theme for the same character.

This character seems to be very heavily tied to communication and connection. In the mysterious tweets preceding the game's reveal, the character spoke of being in contact soon, and that he and you are on the verge of connection. When you start the game, he asks, "ARE WE CONNECTED?"

Jevil and Spamton are, of course, implied to have been getting information from a mystery character, often theorized to be Gaster. Jevil met a strange man, whose knowledge drove him mad from the revelation. Spamton was in constant contact with a person who brought him success, until suddenly he was cut off from his benefactor and similarly spiraled into madness. Both Spamton and Jevil are unique in having real spoken voice clips; notably, in the SURVEY_PROGRAM intro, one of the gifts you can give to the discarded vessel is VOICE as well.

(Sidenote, the only other voice clips are the singer of Don't Forget/Until Next Time, and the "HEY" in It's Pronounced "Rules" that Rouxls also says in a speech bubble. I think both are significant, but that's more for other speculation.)

Personally, I do think that Gaster was Spamton's benefactor, as well as the mystery man who met Jevil. But I don't think he was the voice at the beginning of the game.

Seeing as the default font, and therefore his voice, is 8-Bit Operator, I'm choosing to call him The Operator.

An operator can mean a few things. In mathematics, it refers to the function of an equation, such as plus for addition or times for multiplication. In machinery, it refers to the person using the machine. In business, it refers to someone running the enterprise.

More significantly, in telecommunications, the operator is a middle man who facilitates communication, by assisting users or working with the telephone switchboard. Such a person would be responsible for maintaining the connection between Gaster and Spamton during their phone calls -- as well as potentially being the reason that contact is lost, and why an attempted phone call might only return garbage noise.

Another meaning of operator is a manipulator. Someone controlling, someone who makes other people do what he wants. Someone who pulls the strings. The Operator very well could have manipulated Gaster or those he offers his help to.

My personal theory? Is that the Operator sabotaged Gaster's experiment and caused his disappearance, potentially due to him knowing too much and sharing too much. For as much as Gaster has a spooky reputation, everyone who talks about him seems to agree that he's quite the honorable and charitable man. The dissonance seems a bit too off to attribute to Gaster being a malicious chessmaster, especially for someone whose death was an accident.

I also think a lot about how the Operator speaks about connecting you. He's the one who tells you that your choices don't matter, and that it's not you who you are playing as, but rather, another individual that got saddled with the SOUL you control. Kris, the SOUL, and you-the-player all seem to be fully different entities with fully distinct motivations, that just happen to line up for the plot. The SOUL seems to be a new addition to Kris's life, as of the moment they wake up in the beginning of the game, because up until that very day, Kris acted like a different person. I think the moment the Operator created that connection, was the moment Kris's life changed. And, of course, it's driving Kris absolutely up the wall.

Glitch, Vol. 1: That Funny Feeling

You know that feeling when something isn't right, but it's not wrong either. Where you're trying to find out the cause of it, of all the things you're seeing and feeling that are different. You're not quite afraid, but neither are you overly excited about the feeling. That's what this first volume of Glitch conveys, and in really solid fashion. A few missteps and stumbles here and there, but overall a deeply engaging and unique read.

A little more explanation, Minato and Akira move into a new town with their mother (who they refer to by name) and quickly discover things aren't what they seem. Spurred on by the oddity, they end up seeking to understand what's going on around them.

Really interesting concept, right?

I'd agree, and while not everything they see is the same, it's centered around the idea of a "glitch", which I think is a genius idea given the art style of the series. I mean, just take a look at it, so angular and digital feeling. All the triangles and rectangles that are rendered in things like the greenery or buildings. It all works in bringing the concept of a glitch in the digital sense closer to mind.

And truthfully, the art is the strongest visual suit with the manga. Not that the rest are terrible, but that they can't keep pace with the talent. Layouts and boarding are solid, but the paneling needs some work. With the concept of glitches I feel like there's endless potential for how you approach paneling, but it remains largely focused on rectangles which is a bit of a shame.

Anyways, the aspect of discomfort. I don't call it horror because it's not horror, not yet. Rather, it's just this weird sense that there's something around you. Like it's not just what you see, that there's a separation between your senses and your experience. And I think that this volume expresses that dissonance incredibly well in simple terms.

Separating the reader from the object.

Now you might say, "Hey, this panel only has angel head guy in it, so wouldn't it be more focused on bringing the reader in?". It would, if this story was told from a first person perspective, but it's not. We focus largely on the third person. Instead, it's attempting to separate angel head from the rest of the world of Glitch in this instance.

It's a really interesting trick where the expectations of the experience are betrayed and it makes things feel different. Something similar is at play with the earlier image of Minato. The environment looks sketchier. There's less noticeable detail and information in the panel, despite it being full. We lead up to the page by focusing on (mostly) closeups of Minato only to zoom out on the reveal. It creates a sense of isolation, and well, difference. And really, the key to the success of the approach is in what it changes. It needs to focus on a single piece to succeed, to make something just that little bit different from the usual so that readers think something's off.

And time and time again in this volume, it betrays expectations in really interesting ways. It's unique, it's fresh, it's creative. It hits all the right notes for its approach to succeed. And then it adds some more.

A mystery means nothing without worldbuilding, and building a world it does. Forgetting where you originally came from, being able to see glitches, calling your mother by her name, only seeing a single adult at a time. There's all sorts of little oddities and intricacies that pepper this peculiar story.

Really, that's all I have to say. There's a lot that's better left unspoken with this story as a lot of its allure is the experience itself. Feeling the disconnect between worlds and what you see. Figuring out why this one piece feels weird. Trying to think of what will come next. It's a surprisingly engaging title for how passive it is, so it truly is a unique experience that I recommend.

I just reread The Host and I found your blog! I have no one else to spill to, so I’m going to go on a rant in your inbox lol. Ignore if it’s too much!

I too have a few points of contention with the book. I dislike how nothing is ever addressed, like the dissonance between the Souls being horrified that the living flowers on the Fire World had human-like sentience and then the simultaneous justification of erasing humans when inhabiting their bodies. (No offense to the rebels, but I think Melanie and Lacey were outliers, and it wasn’t because they were particularly strong or stubborn. I think they got lucky and if their Souls had remained with them for longer, they too would have been erased. Also would have added some urgency to separating Melanie and Wanderer IMO.) Whether they’re being erased or eaten, two sentient things are disappearing, so why is one murder and the other isn’t?

What makes Seekers so different? Why was The Seeker able to kill Wes when Wanderer was unable to ‘kill’ Kyle by leaving him behind? I wonder what the difference in compassion was, whether The Seeker’s experience during the occupation made a difference.

I also think it’s so weird that Wanderer was a virgin? Like she’s thousands of years old and I totally get that she’d never fallen in love, but I think it’s wild that it’s implied that Jared and Ian have had sex because they’re grown men but Wanderer hasn’t because she’s Delicate Fragile Woman? Ah, gender roles.

I wish we’d gotten more of Ian’s POV because I want to know how he fell for Wanderer and not Melanie’s body specifically. I believe he did, but I also believed that Edward genuinely fell for Bella, but in Midnight Sun it was revealed that he fell for her bc he could project a personality onto her silent mind. My main complaint is, if all souls are as kind and considerate as Wanderer is, then Ian could have feasibly fallen for any soul. What makes Wanderer special? I wish the book had covered this.

Obligatory more Shannon and Maggie, more of Doc and Shannon, and more of why Jeb is so okay with Jared dating Melanie other than an apocalypse.

I also wanted a bit more of Wanderer’s experiences as other beings. She told the humans in the caves about the planets and the life there, but very little about her own personal history. I fully believe she’s a bad bitch and the Rides the Beast story plus the entirety of The Host confirms this.

In terms of Kyle’s redemption, I really wanted him to examine why he was so kind to Sunny. Maybe it was because he’d gotten to know Wanderer, but I can’t help but feel like it was because she was in Jodi’s body. Some reflection would be nice, is all I’m saying. Like, what if Sunny had showed up to the caves instead of Wanderer? Would he have killed her?

I have more thoughts but these are all I can think of at the moment. Again, sorry if this is too much! I just got excited at seeing your blog.

Literally ALWAYS feel free to message me about the Host!! I love talking about it.

These are super valid imo. Maybe it’s just smeyer’s writing style but I do feel like she occasionally drops interesting lore/character hints that don’t get fleshed out (or, often, that are contradictory. See rant ahead.).

The one that’s the worst for me, personally, is that she establishes Wanda as this character who really values strength and resilience in the traditional sense. Like literally Wanda cares about being perceived as strong and being assertive and self-sustaining, as we see in the entire first half of the novel.

Then, at the end, she ends up with this super weak (underaged) body that is ultra teeny-tiny. This isn’t a problem in and of itself (other than the UNDERAGE thing). The biggest issue is that everyone around her then infantilizes her to an absurd degree, and somehow this doesn’t bother her??? Plus, it’s not written like her character developed, or anything like that, it’s approached like smeyer genuinely forgot a huge aspect of Wanda’s character?? Like smeyer I’ve said this once already but literally. READ. YOUR OWN. BOOK.

Glimmer by Katie Benson

============= Links

Play the game See other reviews of the game Read the Post-Mortem See other games by Katie

============= Synopsis

It's bleak out there. No one would blame you for turning away.

============= Other Info

Glimmer is a Twine (Harlowe) game, submitted to the 2022 Edition of the IFComp. It was ranked 53th overall.

Status: Completed Genre: Slice-of-Life

CW: depiction of depression

============= Playthrough

First Played: 3-Oct-2023 Last Played: 11 Aug 2023 Playtime: around 10min Rating: 3 /5 Thoughts: Short but hopeful story. Kinda.

============= Review

Glimmer is about a person spiraling in helplessness, having a hard time to function around the bleakness of their situation. It is also about hope, and the importance of having caring people around.

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

The game is simplistic in both style and visual. A few lines of text, one choice, maybe some extra interactive links to add description. It is straight to the point. The world is bleak, so you turn your back to it. You face some hardship, so you avoid them. Little by little, you close yourself to everything around you. But, at your lowest point, a hand reaches out to you to pull you out of your funk (forcibly if you resist), reminding you that there are still good things out there to enjoy.

I thought the game started out strong, with tackling themes of drifting and avoidance turning into depression and isolation (though it felt at time a tad too surface-level in its representation), when faced with a bleak world and difficulties in your life. The whole losing your joie de vivre and vicious cycle of negativity.

However, I found the whole second act... dissonant almost? In your darkest moment, an unnamed friend* barges (back?) into your life, gives you a cup of tea and a biscuit, and like that, you snap out of it, awkwardly and timidly claiming you tried to get better all this time. When the first part of the game implied quite some time had passed between the first event of the spiral and current time, it feels like a whiplash to have a "recovery" happening so suddenly. This feeling was aggravated when choosing to resist the friend's pleas does little to change the outcome. As if by magic, you get better by the last page. After just a cup of tea. *I really didn't like that you would not even acknowledge their personhood, I think that's also a reason why it felt weird.

I still haven't made my mind about the (lack of) choices and what it means for the player agency. I've come to appreciate more the kinetic approach of storytelling in IF, and considering how debilitating depression can be, making you think you do not have a choice, it is thematically in line with the story. However, the few available choices lack in consequence or are essentially disregarded by the story, which makes the little agency the player has essentially useless. It felt a bit frustrating and unsatisfying.

I did appreciate the message the game was trying to convey, but I don't think the game quite manage to get the point across.

=============

OG Review during the IFComp:

Short but hopeful story. Kinda.

There is something so tragic with this story that did not hit me right away. One my first playthrough, I dismissed it as dealing with the surface-level aspect of isolation (whether by your environment/other people or yourself). Maybe it has to do with the way the writing portrays the indifference of the main character about what is happening around them and to them. It really shows how easy and how fast it is to become completely isolated and how much effort is required to get out of that pervasive cycle. I only realised how subtle this was until my second run.

Still, I am not sure how I feel yet about the game as a whole. The forcefulness of the friend in contrast with the absolute passiveness of the player made me feel a bit awkward. Even when you choose not to follow your friend, you don’t really have a choice in the matter at the end. The “recovery” of the player also felt a bit rushed*? I know sometimes it can take just a message to be “brought back to the living” for some people, but it felt a bit too fast when the first part of the game saw the player spiralling into deep despair.

The choices also don’t have any consequences at all, which I think is a shame. Even when isolating yourself, you still have agency about what to do (even if you end up choosing to isolate yourself more every time) and your action have consequences to yourself and the people in your circle. That felt a bit lacking? That or the MC has a really nice friend.

Overall, this was a short and concise story, but it also left me unsatisfied.

The Game Medium: Tension Between Game and Narrative

(SPOILERS FOR THE GAME OMORI)

Heya guys. I’m thinking about making some blog posts that focus on game design and game narrative. These can just be leftover thoughts on a game or just observations that can be applied to the game medium or game genres. I don’t think I’ll do these routinely. These will just come up whenever I feel like it. 

If you look at it a certain way, it might be a bit weird to call video games a narrative medium. It’s one of the few narrative mediums in which the medium doesn’t need a story to be truly engaging; the story can literally just be a 2 second premise that justifies the fun stuff you do the entire game like in Mario or it can have none at all like Pac-Man. In other words, the “fun”, the main source of engagement, can be completely disconnected from the in-text narrative.

When you step forth into game design school, one of the first things you’ll probably learn is the M/D/A paradigm: mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics. The mechanics of a game, the individual actions and abilities that you’re allowed to do (jump abilities), will inevitably dictate dynamics, the strategies a player can come up with (the sequence of jump abilities to make across a gap). These dynamics will eventually reinforce the overall aesthetic of the game, the art style, tone, and narrative. In a truly narratively cohesive game, how you feel when doing the dynamic should reinforce what the character feels in the story. However, this dynamic-aesthetic connection usually doesn’t focus on narrative as often as you think it does. In many cases when strategies connect to aesthetics, it’s usually that dynamics reinforce a power fantasy: the ability to be a superhero, a knight, the fastest thing alive, etc. As long as the power fantasy is reinforced through these mechanics and dynamics, you don’t really need a story to reinforce it even further because the mechanics and dynamics are already doing that. It’s entirely optional to have a competently written story for a game.

Because mechanics-dynamics are usually the core of what makes a game engaging, there can be this grave disconnect between what makes a game engaging and what makes the story engaging. This is why many games in earlier ages never really bothered with a story, because all you really need to make a good game is good mechanics and dynamics. This is also why, even in modern games, ludonarrative dissonance is a pretty severe issue, because the interactive engagement powered by mechanics-dynamics won’t be congruent with the engagement powered by narrative. This is how you get Bioshock Infinite where you spend the entire game driving hooks into skulls and gunning down masses of people while the narrative tries to wax poetry about violence and why it sucks. 

Compared to other mediums, having different types of engagement is nothing new. A moviegoer can watch a movie just for the movie just for the spectacle, an anime fan can watch an anime just for fight scenes, and a reader can read erotica just to masturbate, but very few mediums allow such a massive disconnect between the narrative and the other types of engagement. The only type of medium I can think of is pop music. Tell me if you heard this before for a pop song: “the lyrics are kinda nonsensical (Rather Be by Clean Bandit) or awful (Sorry by Justin Bieber), but it’s such a bop!” Both songs referenced have reached the top 100 in the billboard charts in previous years. So if interactive engagement can be separated from narrative engagement, how do we handle that?

The easiest answer to this is to make the focus of interactive engagement and the focus of narrative engagement completely congruent to each other. This means making where the feelings of fun of the game happen when strong narrative and thematic beats occur, and having the emotions match accordingly. Boss battles tend to be great examples of this. At the end of a boss battle, how do I feel when doing my mechanics and strategies against them. Did the boss put in an extremely close duel and I feel honored for being able to beat them with my inventive strategies? Or did the boss just, in their final phase, sit there, waiting for me to kill them. These 2 bosses require different dynamics to defeat them, leading to different emotions, and, thus, requiring different story beats to them to match that emotion, to be congruent with the mechanics-dynamics used. However, what happens if the focus of interactive engagement intentionally causes tension with that of the narrative engagement?

OMORI: “The Cruelty of Fun” (SPOILERS FOR OMORI)

To summarize the game, OMORI centers around a kid named Sunny who, after 4 years, decided to become a shut-in after the death of his sister Mari. Ever since then, Sunny has been living within his dreamscape to escape from the real world and from truly processing his sister’s death. Meanwhile, Sunny’s perfect friend group back then completely broke up after the loss of Mari: Hero heads off to College, Aubrey turned into an angry delinquent, and Kel decided to focus more on other friends and high school sports. It’s not until Sunny’s family decide to move out of town did Kel finally reach out to Sunny, inviting him to hang out one last time before moving out.

From then on, the game takes place in 2 completely different worlds: Sunny’s dreamscape that he uses as escapism and the real world in Faraway Town. While both worlds use the same battle system, they differ from each other in certain mechanics, leading to completely different dynamics. The biggest mechanic of the entire game is the emotion mechanic in which each battle unit can hold a certain emotion, and, like most rock-paper-scissors type mechanics, the emotions force a unit to be strong against 1 emotion and weak to another. Happy beats angry, angry beats sad, and sad beats happy. What makes the system so interesting is that, unlike Pokemon or other RPGS, these emotions can be changed dynamically during battle. As such, many of the key dynamics of the game involve manipulating emotions to get the perfect setup and maximum amounts of damage.

Furthermore, another key mechanic of the game is the follow up system in which one of your party members can do a follow up action after doing a basic attack. These follow up actions can lead to massive changes such as changing the mood of a party member or allowing another party member to attack again. Mastering these follow up attacks will allow players the ability to do quick reversals and react to sudden changes. Both the follow up mechanic and the emotion manipulation mechanic are tested immensely in the minor battles and the boss battles, and, in my opinion, are the components that make the battles of Omori engaging.

Both of these key mechanics are only present in the dreamscape world, not in the real world. Because of that, the dynamics and strategies of the real world contrast heavily from that of the dreamscape. When you exit the house as Sunny, battle encounters are little more than a game of clicking the damage action or heal up any damage you receive, and then repeat until the enemy dies. The dynamics of emotion manipulation and the collaboration of emotion manipulation are simply not present, leading to battles in the real world feeling incredibly drab. In fact, if you didn’t get certain items, battles might feel impossible and hopeless as you just flail your arms at the enemy and waste away all your bandages to fix all of the damage.

Youtuber ABItorial made a fantastic video exploring this in which he investigated the dynamic contrast and explained how it affects the emotions of the player and how that emotion gets shaped by the context of the story. In the sense of Omori, it shows the alluring nature of escapism, to hide away in a room and believe in  a dreamworld where you have all of the power, especially when in the real world, you just feel so helpless. ABI described it as the “cruelty of fun” in which, by imagining a world in which nothing is wrong and “everything is okay” by the game’s own text, your real friends suffer outside.

This cruelty is shaped by the contrast between what’s interactively engaging (by the mechanics-dynamics) and what’s narratively engaging. In terms of narrative engagement, the fun lies in the dreamscape where one can do interesting strategies in battle and have access to a variety of abilities. Meanwhile, all of the more three-dimensional characters and the tension of the plot lies in the real world. All of the characters in the dreamscape are two-dimension, or at least, flatter than their real world counterparts. The main consequences and conflict caused by Mari’s death exist in the real world while, in the dreamscape, the death is not even mentioned. 

As such, there’s this tension between what the player wants to do in terms of a game and what the player wants to do in terms of the story, selling this feeling of what escapism is so alluring to some people. It sells what Sunny is feeling in Omori expertly and doing it in a way that only a game can, because games are one of the few mediums that can allow for a clean separation between game and story. Writers and video game designers, more than most narrative mediums, have to work harder to make those elements congruent with each other.

For the sake of argument, say that someone wanted to adapt Omori into a TV show or a movie: how would one make the dreamscape, with its two-dimensional characters and saccharine “friendship solves all” morals, as interesting or engaging as the game does through its mechanics and dynamics which, in game, symbolizes the amount of power, safety, and control Sunny has in his own world. One would have to make massive changes to sell that someone would want to stay in the dreamscape when literally a friend outside the dream world turns into a bully and another contemplates suicide. In a movie context, if you just do a direct copy and paste translation, Sunny would come off as selfish and cowardly, hiding behind a flimsy facade and refusing to help his own friends. Without a powerful interactive contrast causing tension between the narrative engagement, something has to replace it.

I highlight this aspect of Omori because this is a very unique aspect to games as a narrative medium and I feel, for more interactive and engaging stories, designers and game writers should explore it. Omori is not the only game that does this. Undertale’s genocide run heavily contrasts the interactive desire of being a completionist with being a murderer, something made explicit with Flowey’s motivation and Chara’s quote of “perverted sentimentality”. Another example of this is Lewis’s story from What Remains of Edith Finch in which the player is asked to play 2 games simultaneously: one where you play as an adventurer in your dreams and the other where you repetitively chop fish heads in your monotonous job.

The further we can explore these different aspects of the game medium, the more we can utilize the medium to its fullest. If you have any other games or game scenes that utilize this type of tension, please let me know! I’m curious.

The magic system and the evolution of the people (second try)

There are six elements recognized by the Temple of Living Light. Living Elements are Air, Water, and Growth/Nature, and all are capable of healing. Unliving elements are Fire, Ice, and Decay, which can't heal and are considered corruptions of the three Living Elements. If this seems a bit baseless, that's a special surprise tool to help us later.

Evolution history below the cut.

In the beginning, the six elemental gods dropped the elves onto the continent like a sims game. The elves spread out and established six nations, one for each god but still acknowledging all six. The gods blessed them with unique traits and competed amongst themselves, showing off their people like shiny pokemon.

Eventually, the elves started growing too strong too fast and the gods collectively decided that that was bad, so they nerfed them, taking away their longevity and inborn magic ability and also razed their cities. They are humans now. The only elves that were spared were the groups of elves who never settled in one nation, never dedicated themselves to one god, and had no interest in the hubris of the other nations.

The elves helped the humans get back on their feet but eventually, people made the discovery that longevity is hereditary. A child of an elf with a lifespan of 10,000 years and a human with a lifespan of 100 years would have a child with a lifespan of 5,000 years. Horrifying implications, a sucky part of history starts.

Just so we're on the same page, elves and humans are the same species. An elf is just a human who hasn't been nerfed by the gods, there are no biological differences.

Anyway, after a while of being treated horribly, the elves say "screw this," take as many of the long-lived children as they can find, and sail away to an island to live in seclusion. It's still pretty rough for long-lived people for a while, but a few thousand years later when the story actually takes place, we're working with humans with lifespans between 100 and 500 years old.

Almost none of this is relevant to my story, so why did I include it? The answer is kind of silly. If you've ever roleplayed in an MMO, you know that the writing style can vary in accuracy and... quality is a bit harsh. You put two identical 10,000 year old elves in a room and there's a chance that one is a wizened sage with perfect Arthurian court manners and the other says "Let's throw hands, bitch, meet me behind the tavern."

I want to be able to emulate the dissonance that comes with people with speech patterns that don't match their appearance. There will be a young-looking character with older speech patterns and an old character with modern (for the time) speech patterns. I also didn't want to just completely make up fantasy races, that felt like I'd just be putting myself in a box. You know the "dashing 20 year old multi-war veteran with a long history" thing? Now when I have to write those guys, I can stay closer to the aesthetic.

Really though. Most of it is literally just for the speech pattern thing.

Mozart – Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K.622 (1791) As with the popular clarinet quintet, Mozart wrote this concerto for his friend and renowned clarinetist Anton Stadler. The two of them had met through the Masonic lodge where they were members and Mozart had written several works featuring the clarinet for him to play. It was among the handful of masterpieces he wrote during his last year, 1791 (others include The Magic Flute, Piano Concerto no.27, and fragments of the infamous Requiem). Because of this, along with the clarinet’s deeper timbre, leads people to suggest that the concerto is like a Swan Song, an autumnal sunset piece that’s a resignation into and acceptance of one’s death. While that’s pretty and poetic, I also think it’s a bit too Romantic. This theory or attitude is understandable because this concerto is somewhat more restrained than his others. It’s more soft and lyrical than it is flashy, it doesn’t feature a cadenza (which is very rare for Mozart to do), and the orchestra itself is toned down: 2 flutes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings. No percussion, no louder brass, and no oboes. For most of it, the music sounds more like a concerto for clarinet and strings, while the few winds and horns add some background color. The lack of a cadenza is understandable though. The clarinet is almost constantly playing, and the difficulty of these passages strung together with very little time to catch one’s breath makes for a kind of synthesis between “soloist virtuoso technique” and “musical structure / architecture”. The first movement shows the expressive possibilities of the clarinet: it plays with the tutti, it flutters a lot, it sings, it does scales and arpeggios, and there’s a cool section (which repeats later) where the clarinet plays a kind of duet with itself; a melody in the higher registers calling and responding with another voice in the lowest register. The effect sounds like two different instruments and for a long time I assumed that part was played by the bassoon. Even with being 200 years old by now, Mozart’s music still surprises me. The movement is mainly driven by lyricism, and with surprisingly dense part-writing in the strings. The second movement has one of those trademark Mozartian melodies that is graceful, emotional, and the constant uses of subtle dissonances give it a longing quality. That, plus some passages that others describe as ‘haunting’, is part of why people assumed this was a ‘swan song’. While this slow movement makes me think of Brahms, the rondo finale makes me think ‘Schubert’. It’s “Allegro” but doesn’t come off too fast because of the ‘toned-down’ writing. Again, unrushed and brings back the lyricism of the first movement. Being sonata-rondo, it also has the opening’s ‘weightiness’; the ‘development’ section pulls away from the ‘dancing’ music back to ‘serious academic’ music, starting with a thick counterpoint with the strings modulating into the minor. The overall intimacy of the work is similar to the unorthodox ‘intimacy’ of his equally ‘reserved’ Piano Concerto no.27, mentioned above as also being written during this final year. While people often compare Mozart and Beethoven, I think this is a quality that starts to predict Schubert more, and I am guessing that had Mozart lived longer he would be writing more and more music in this reserved and heavenly style. Movements: 1. Allegro 2. Adagio 3. Rondo: Allegro

mikrokosmos: Mozart – Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K.622 (1791) As with the popular clarinet quintet, Mozart wrote this concerto for his friend and renowned clarinetist Anton Stadler. The two of them had met through the Masonic lodge where they were members and Mozart had written several works featuring the clarinet for him to play.…