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toloveawarlord · 4 years

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Ch. 2

Characters: Elaine, Arthur x Theo, Vincent

Pairing: Elaine x Isaac (eventually)

Tagging: @plumpblueberry @lady-moonbroch

A/N: This chapter turned out nothing like the first draft XD Enjoy some Elaine spending time with her Uncle and she meets a boy!

Four days into her new job as Theo’s assistant, the mood in their home had drastically lifted. Elaine never complained and paid close attention to every task given to her, exceeding all expectations. She quoted things he’d said to her years ago and questioned smartly, craving the knowledge he had. Having her along had proved quite useful with prickly clients, smoothing over situations with a charming smile and sweet words, likely emulating Arthur.

Theo enjoyed having time with her. In recent years, they’d grown strained. The teenager wanted more freedom and broke rules in place to protect her because she believed them unnecessary. Now, at nearly eighteen in only two days, she’d fought harder. Being able to keep an eye on her put the art dealer at little more at ease.

His daughter sat across from him, glancing at him out of the corner of her vision. Elaine hadn’t taken the news that she couldn’t accompany him today well. Instead of anger, she’d pouted silently all morning.

“I take it that you aren’t happy with today’s agenda,” Arthur piped up with an amused grin not quite hidden by his cup of steaming coffee. The previous night Theo had informed him of the impending unhappy teenager.

Elaine stuffed the fork full of pancakes into her mouth, enough to make her cheeks puff out to match her frown. She’d gotten up extra early and made pancakes and extra sweet coffee, but the answer remained unchanged. Now, she wanted to drown her sorrows in syrup and butter until she got sick.

“Vincent has asked for you to help him today while I’m gone.” Theo could easily see the motive behind his brother’s sudden request. He’d promised to make her do some work instead of spoiling her the entire day.

The teenager flinched at those words. She couldn’t very well turn down her uncle, as she adored him so much. Help isn’t the word she’d choose to describe what the day would entail. He’d likely ask her to do a small task or two, nothing that required much effort. “Fine. I guess I can do that.”

Working didn’t bother her. She assisted around the house with the chores without complaint. If Comte asked, she would readily agree. It irritated her that this client wouldn’t allow her entrance to his home, prompting this sour mood. No promises of being quiet or staying outside had swayed Theo. He couldn’t risk spooking the man.

“If you find yourself in need of something to do, I can have you proofread for me.” Her grimace only made the mystery writer chuckle again. Her disdain for that job well-known. Though she enjoyed his stories, playing editor didn’t appeal to her. A tedious thing.

Theo cracked a grin, rising from the table. “You better thank Vincent for saving you from that.” One check of his watch ended the conversation. He bid his family farewell before heading into town alone.

“Are you sure you don’t want to help your Papa with his work?” Arthur teased further. He had been a tad jealous that she eagerly wanted to assist Theo over the course of the week. Ah, but he was also grateful that the two were more understanding of each other.

Elaine stacked all the empty plates to carry them to the kitchen. “I love you but no.” Her curt reply still amusing. Setting the dishes in the sink, she licked the sticky syrup off her fingers.

“Off you go then. I’ll take care of the cleanup.”

The young vampire didn’t need to be told twice. Housework didn’t appeal to her either. She did her part, pitching in when needed, but if told she didn’t have to do it... the teenager bailed as quickly as she could.

Inside the mansion, the hallways were quiet and empty. At this hour, everyone should be awake, except for Leonardo perhaps. Rapping her fist against Vincent’s door, she cast confused glances down the hallway.

“Goede morgen, Elaine,” Vincent greeted with a bright smile. He laughed softly at her confusion. Since Arthur and Theo had moved out of the mansion with her when she was only 4 years old, daily happenings didn’t reach their house as quickly as it spread through the mansion. “We’re the only ones here today.”

“I’m okay with that.” She flashed a disheartened smile, unable to shake the dark cloud hanging over her. Her normally mischievous and lively attitude disappeared. The others might have tried to make her understand. She understood perfectly fine.

That didn’t make it less saddening.

“Come here.” He’d barely open his arms and invited his niece to find comfort with him when the teenager stepped forward and accepted the warm hug. Vincent stroked his fingers through her copper hair. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but she reminded him so much of Theo when he was a child. “You know, he couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful you were on the job.”

“Really?”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t said so to her. Theo would give praise often, especially when she came up with new ideas. Telling the others about it, that was rarer.

Vincent hummed in response, a gentle smile on his lips as she peeked up at him. “I’d say he was outright bragging. I’m not surprised. You’re his daughter after all.” Placing a kiss on the top of her head, he laughed softly at her uplifted mood.

Elaine lingered a little longer before releasing him, soaking up his sunshine-like warmth. “I guess I could stop pouting about it.” Relenting her sad feelings, she sighed softly before questioning. “So, what was it you wanted my help with?”

“I finished the final painting and I thought I’d ask for your expert advice on where to put it in the gallery space. That is, if you want to.” His request was well-received with a glowing smile from his niece. Theo had mentioned that he’d given her the sole responsibility of choosing how to use the space to best showcase the art. The uncle looked forward to seeing what she’d done.

***********

The paintings on the wall were shrouded in black cloth, to hide the precious items from view until the day of the showing. Only a select few knew what was beneath, ones trusted by Theo to make this a success. Elaine had been gifted one of the only keys to venue, a testament to her importance.

“I believe I’m looking forward to this event more than any other,” Vincent commented, allowing the staff to hang the framed piece in its designated spot.

The heat in her cheeks caused the teenager to turn her gaze anywhere else. “It’s not much different from how Vader does it. I’ve been to more of these than any other event in the city.” The location changed but ever since she learned to walk, she’d been toddling around, observing, and learning how it works. Before she’d even realized, she’d begun understanding color theory and composition.

“It wasn’t too long ago that you were only a few years old and correcting patrons on the medium or style of the art. You always had this incredibly serious expression, much like Theo.”

“That was so long ago! I’m almost eighteen!”

Vincent chuckled with a loving smile. “Yes, I guess that’s right.”

The chime of the door timed perfectly with one of the staff calling to speak with Vincent. Elaine stepped away to investigate the newcomer. Violet eyes narrowed at the sight of a boy, likely no older than herself, attempting to take a peek at the portrait veiled by the black cloth. “Excuse me, but you can’t be in here.” Her tone less than polite, Elaine thrust her palms against his chest to push him away from the art piece.

“Oh, my apologies. I’ve been most curious about why there are staff entering but it’s never been open for business.” His emerald eyes filled with hidden intent that didn’t quite match the half smirk on his lips. The boy never resisted her pushing him back to the door and onto the street. “A secretive operation, I presume, miss?”

“Elaine and we don’t open for another two days.”

Her biggest fear was that he was a spy for le academia and all of her father’s hard work would go to waste if they were discovered. He didn’t fit the typical appearance of a high bred family, usually scrawny and uptight, and he wasn’t either of those things.

“I’ll have to pop in when you are open. My name is Leon Autry.” He flashed another brilliantly smug smile and winked. “Might I inquire your surname, should I have any future questions?” The reason lost on the recipient. He’d yet to ask anything relevant to the gallery.

Elaine turned on her heel to return inside. “It’s Doyle.” Even though she didn’t quite like the boy, she couldn’t risk turning away a potential buyer. Her cheeks were warm, and it wasn’t clear if it was from embarrassment or anger. The young pureblood didn’t have many friends her age, and that led to a bit of awkwardness when around humans her age.

“Ah, like the writer.”

The girl stilled, hand hovering above the door handle. Perhaps she’d heard him incorrectly.

“You might not know of him. He’s a British writer, mystery, I think.”

Or perhaps not.

“I believe it’s Arthur Conan Doyle. Any relation?” Leon asked as if he already knew the answer, like playing a game of truth or dare in order reveal a secret for confirmation.

Elaine relaxed her shoulders. Although she could hardly admit that she was indeed was the daughter of that very Arthur, albeit the vampire one, she wouldn’t allow him to glean that precious information from her. “No, but you aren’t the first to ask. But wouldn’t that be grand? Imagine being related to someone as talented as that.” Her dreamy smile fowled his for a moment.

“Imagine.” The façade of his grin had ghosted away for a split second, but it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Elaine, are you ready to head back?” A third party interrupted, much welcomed by the girl. Vincent approached the two, protectively a half step in front of his niece. The tension between the two children enough to worry him.

Her head bobbed once in response. “Yes, let’s go home.” The way Leon’s eyes followed her unsettled the girl. Elaine settled back on the seat in the carriage, mulling over the strange interaction. Was it so unusual for someone to draw a connection between her name and the human Arthur from this era?

Whatever the case, she now had a proper mystery on her hands.

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp #ikevamp arthur #ikevamp theo #ikevamp vincent #ikemen vampire fanfiction #arthur and theo have a child #elaine odette doyle #truth in simplicity #isaac is coming soon i promise

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momorabu · 4 years

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Code Realize ~Wintertide Miracles~ Playthrough - Alternate Story - First Christmas Fran -

Warning: Spoilers. Image heavy post.

Please read Fran’s route on the original Code Realize’s playthrough before procceeding.

Sorry that this was yet another blog post that took a long time to be completed ><” Was planning on finishing this sooner but work and health problems recently made me tired and reluctant to write for a long time D: But my love for Fran had finally made me pull through, so enjoy!

In this alternate timeline, the story started off summarizing abit on the terrorist plan that was created by Isaac, Cardia’s father, and after the group had managed to stop the plan, Fran decided to leave the government and become a doctor. Cardia had managed to save her brother, Finis, and now both of them stayed at Wales, in this beautiful mansion.

The story changed over to Fran’s point of view, where he had opened a clinic for a few months already, and with his reputation growing, he gradually gets more and more patients every day. The patient he’s seeing today was a mafia boss, Darius, who may look tough on the outside but was suffering a backache. (His expression here is quite funny XD)

Shirley, his daughter asked him to take it easy, alongside with her bodyguard, Passy. (Though it’s definitely not a good thing to diss that your boss is getting on age, Passy =w=“)

Darius was the head of the Gordon family, and with the family selling affordable medicine to Van, he was able to keep his rates low for his customers and that was a big help to the residents since most of them were usually too poor to visit a doctor. Darius wondered why Van had decided to open a clinic in such a neighbourhood rather than heading back to Royal Society, but even though he could help the country by creating new medicine and saving those that suffer from incurable diseases, Van felt that it will be important for him to understand the things that he creates will bring upon the people in the end.

Shirley asked Fran on Cardia’s situation, to which Fran replied that Cardia was doing well, and Finis and her would come over for checkups from time to time.

(It’s great that Cardia had actually made a female friend here on this alternate storyline ^^ Shirley looks pretty cute~)

(These characters are pretty interesting, I think more information regarding them are found on Finis’s Route in Code Realize ~Future Blessings~? Shall play that next time to figure it out~)

When the Gordon Family had left, Fran wondered what the rest of the gang was doing now. Lupin and Impey had left for France to look for someone, Van and Dora-chan had went off to search for other surviving vampires, and Saint would appear unexpectedly at times, with Fran only knew that he was affiliated with a secret society and was quite busy. Cardia and Finis had reunited and were now living peacefully in Wales. Thinking about them made Fran felt lonely as Cardia filled his mind again. (Awww~)

Even after the clinic had closed, Fran still needed to check his supplies, prepare his medicine for tomorrow’s examinations and working on his research for new medicine. When all his tasks were finally done, he sat down and looked through his mail and found a letter addressed to him from his mother.

Fran initially lived in Switzerland but had left several years ago in order to follow his path on alchemy. But when he ended up being on the wanted list and was on the run, he wasn’t able to write to his parents and guessed that his circumstances back then. His mother had told Fran to think about settling down now that he’s a grown man, and Fran was thinking about writing his usual response when he wondered if it’s okay if he wrote about Cardia in his letter, and started writing. When he was done, he flustered as he realised that he was pretty much bragging about Cardia in his letter, but ultimately still decided to send it out since what he had written was true and Cardia was indeed important to him.

(I do like Fran’s indoor outfit here, he looks even cuter when he blushed >/////<)

Later on, Fran found himself dreaming, a dream where he and Cardia had their last walk in London before Cardia heads back to Wales. He wondered whether Cardia and he would have a different future if he had said something different back then... But ultimately, he still encouraged her to be happy with Finis now that they are normal siblings, and that they should live together to make up for their lost time.

(Cardia looked so adorable here and Fran was so dependable as always~ ^^)

Fran had noticed that Cardia had shown a lonely face, he assured her that she can always come back for checkups frequently so it’s not like they can’t see each other again. Cardia continued to look at Fran intensely as if she had wanted to say something, however, in the end, she decided not to say anything, and left for Wales. Actually, at that time, Fran had another desire in his heart, but he had pushed it away since he knew that it’s best for Cardia to be with her family. He pondered what if he did something different back then, and had the courage to ask her to stay, will things be different between then now...?

When Fran awoke, he found himself in Watson’s house. Apparently, Fran had decided to stay at Watson’s house the night before. Fran and Watson had met when Fran was helping the victims injured by the Nautilus bombings, and from then the two had became great colleagues and friends. Watson was worried about Fran’s health, telling him that it would be bad if the doctor himself had fainted with exhaustion while consulting a patient.

Even though Fran had felt fulfilled being a doctor and treating patients, he still experiences loneliness, to the point that he kept dreaming the above heartbreaking dream every night. (Wow... that sounds like Fran really misses Cardia very much ><”) Watson mentioned that he had heard Fran’s sleeptalk and he was repeating a single name multiple times, which led to Fran blurting out about Cardia. In the end, Fran had no choice but to let Watson know about his feelings about Cardia. He had regretted about missing the opportunity to speak openly before they parted ways, and wondered if a new path may appear before him if he had chose to say his thoughts back then. Watson suggested Fran go and meet Cardia instead rather than waiting for her to come back to London, which somehow seems to convince Fran.

When Fran was heading home later on, he met Leonhardt, who praised him that he’s like a real doctor now, and tried to convince him to come back to the Royal Alchemy. But Fran refused Leonhardt once again, saying that his mind was set on that he wanted to help people’s lives directly by treating them in the clinic, rather than staying in the lab. Leonhardt was satisfied with Fran’s answer and told him that he would be rooting for him ^^ He also told Fran that the government had managed to locate the Zicterium from the document they had retrieved from Twilight, and Queen Victoria had decided to seal it to prevent it being used as a weapon again. In the end, Fran asked for a small sample for Cardia, and requested for the rest of them to be destroyed.

(This is the first time I see Fran in such an outfit~ He really looks quite different in terms of aura when compared to his original outfit~ >////<)

On the way home, Fran came across the Tower Bridge, he remembered the day he had gone on his last walk with Cardia, and wondered what Cardia had tried to tell him on that day. He also wondered what happens if he had said the below to Cardia, but thought that he might have troubled her instead...

When Fran finally reached, he found a letter from his mother again, surprised to see a reply so soon. Turned out that Fran’s parents were glad to hear about Cardia, and had mistaken that Fran was dating her. They wanted to meet Cardia, and decided to come over to London during Christmas, asking Fran to plan accordingly. (Yikes! Here comes trouble~!)

The story then continued on in Cardia’s point of view. Fran had written to her and she was surprised that he was coming to visit them rather than them going over to London this time. Cardia’s impression of Fran was that he was the one who had helped her more than the others, since he was the only one who could examine her and Finis. Cardia remembered that Fran had reassured her countless times that she’s a normal girl, giving her strength with his words. She realised that Fran was an important person to her that even now, just thinking about him makes her heart throb. She thought about her last walk in London with Fran, and was actually expecting Fran to tell her to stay with him at that time. (Awww~ >////<) She had suspected the words were there, just waiting to come out on that day, and had thought that Fran had thought of her in a very special way too. But she also wondered what would happen, if she was the one who had told Fran that she didn’t want to leave on that day... would things be different now?

Now that Fran was arriving soon, Cardia made sure that she was dressed up and even wanted to put on the lipstick she had bought with Shirley last time. But Finis spotted her actions and started dissing her that she was smiling creepily at the mirror ^^; He had baked some cookies, ready to serve them together with some tea to Fran when he arrived. Cardia smiled, noticing that Finis’s attitude towards Fran was much better than the other guys since he was ready to chase the others like Saint or Impey when they come visiting.

(Finis’s words of approval of Fran~ He’s indeed the most acceptable, or say, least craziest among the group XD)

(Finis looked quite cute now with his two buns on the head XDD)

Fran soon arrived and started looking around Cardia’s room, remarking that it’s cute and that it’s charmingly feminine, and his compliments made Cardia embarrassed. Fran noticed that Cardia was blushing, and wanted to take a look at her if she’s not feeling well. Cardia explained that she was just feeling restless and nervous since this was the first time she was showing Fran her room here and her reaction ended up making Fran felt abit restless too and started blushing.

(These two are both blushing which makes the situation awkwardly adorable~ >////<)

Realising the situation was too awkward at the moment, Cardia decided to leave the room, offering to call Finis. But Fran grabbed her arm to stop from heading out, since he wanted to talk to Cardia alone.

There was something important that Fran had wanted to tell Cardia that he needed to tell her in person, even though he felt that it might be really embarrassing. Asking Cardia to listen to him carefully, Fran asked her to become his significant other. (Fran finally confessed~! Yeah~~)

These words were what Cardia had been waiting for, though she wondered whether she is enough for him. However, Fran’s words later on crushed her fantasy, telling her that she doesn’t have to be his “real” significant other. She’s confused, wondered what had he meant by that. (Excuse me, Fran?!)

Fran noticed that Cardia looked confused and tried to explain in a hurry. Long story short, he needed Cardia to pretend to be his significant other. Cardia’s mood turned sour, demanding Fran to stay in the room while she left to get some tea.

(Cardia was indeed quite pissed off if she had such thought OWO”)

When Cardia returned, Fran decided to give her a proper explanation, saying that he had written to his parents about her being a girl that he was interested in, but his parents had mistaken and thought that they were engaged, and had planned to come over during Christmas to visit. Thus, Fran needed Cardia’s help during Christmas to act as a couple together. Cardia still felt upset, but realised that she was upset about herself misunderstanding the situation from earlier on. TWT Though she knew that Fran was very troubled, she actually felt exremely opposed to it, and thus wanted a reason to reject this proposal.

(Yikes, I didn’t know which option I should choose honestly, so I just chose a random one seriously D:)

Cardia answered that she won’t be a very good actor and suggested getting Finis or Lupin to disguise and act as her instead, but Fran opposed to it frantically. He blushed as he admitted that he had written alot of details regarding her to his parents, like how adorable she was, the places they had been through together and...

(Seriously, that’s wayyyyy too much information out there, Fran =////=“)

(I know how embarrassing it is, Cardia XD)

With Fran begging like this, Cardia can’t bear to reject him in the end, though she had a special condition for accepting this proposal...

(I just love this part where Cardia played a joke on Fran, pretending to reject him to make him panic for a moment XD Look at Fran’s face of doom XDD)

The story changed to Fran’s point of view as it continues. Cardia had accepted his request, so all he had to do now was to make sure his clinic’s matter was well organised and explain the current situation to the rest of the gang, since Lupin and the others will be coming over to London to celebrate Christmas together. However, rather than Cardia arriving on the morning of Christmas, Finis and her had arrived at the train station, whom Fran had went to fetch.

(Cardia’s and Finis’s winter outfit are so beautiful and cute~ >////<)

Suddenly, a man appeared mysteriously before them, whom Finis identified him from Idea. The man reintroduced him as Hansel, asking Finis to remember his name since they’re friends. Hansel explained that he’s here to check up on them since “mother” was worried, but assured them everything’s fine.

Finis was shocked when Hansel suddenly grabbed him, whining to put him down. Hansel reminded Finis that the latter had wanted to go somewhere in the south since the weather was cold here, though Finis had said that casually and didn’t really mean it. Hansel still wanted to keep his promise though and forcefully brought Finis away, leaving just Cardia and Fran to themselves.

(Both of them looks compatible here in the winter outfit~ ^^)

Fran proposed that they head back to the clinic to put away their luggage, and as he was about to head away, Cardia held onto his sleeve, reminding him to fulfil his condition. What follows was a short flashback to Cardia proposing her two conditions on helping Fran - (1) Fran was to act as her significant other and cares for her as well, (2) Cardia wanted as much practice as possible with Fran before she met his parents, and came to London a few days earlier than Christmas for that.

Since Fran had to fulfil his condition, he had to start their practice, by putting his arm around Cardia. The two of them head off, with Cardia being amazed to see snow for the first time in her life.

(At this moment I actually get an option screen, when I’m in Fran’s POV?! This feels like I’m getting Cardia’s affection up rather than Fran, in an otome game =w=“)

Fran accidentally revealed his true thoughts, which made both Cardia and him blushed like crazy XDDD But Cardia thought he was acting when he said that actually. Fran wanted to tell Cardia that he didn’t want to act (since he wanted to be an actual significant other), but missed the chance to do so, since he was afraid of destroying Cardia’s happiness. (*disappointed TWT*)

Anyway, they’ve completed their first mission of walking in London together as a couple. Their next mission on the next day was to tell their friends that they’re a couple~!

Turns out that Fran was the one who’s all embarrassed to tell them, but Cardia encouraged him, saying that if he can’t even tell his friends this, it’s going to be harder when facing his parents later on.

When Cardia and Fran entered the mansion where the gang used to gather, they’re first greeted by Impey, who was glad to see his angel. But he made a weird face when he noticed something...

Fran had wanted to announce that Cardia and him were a couple as soon as they stepped in initially, but the others soon turned out and everyone was caught up in greetings and catching up... until Impey finally pointed out that Cardia and Fran were linking arms together XD

(Feels abit bad for Impey that his angel Cardia was snatched away~~~)

Now that Impey had brought it up, Fran finally had the chance to announce Cardia as his~

(I love this line of his so much XDDD)

The rest of the gang didn’t seems shocked and accept it easily, much to the dismay of Impey (I bet he wanted others to object to Fran and Cardia dating, but oh well....). Van remarked that it seems natural and normal to him that Fran and Cardia are together~ (Van gave his thumb of approval? XD)

Fran and Cardia decided to explain everything in the end when the commotion had settled. Realising that Fran’s parents would be visiting on 24th December which was the same day the gang was having their party, Lupin “demanded” Fran to spend the entire day with his parents, and they would postpone the party to another day, even encouraging Cardia and Fran to have more “practice” and leave the preparations for the party to the rest of the gang.

(Impey was glad that all of this was an act though he was crying about it earlier on ^^; You definitely thought that was real just now XD)

(I just realised this now and reading this made me a little sad...)

Even though both Fran and Cardia wanted to spend as much time as possible practising to be a couple and going on dates, Fran still had to run his clinic, and Cardia decided to help him out. The patient had noticed her and teased Fran, remarking that he’s married.

(Fran’s explanation is so cute and definitely doesn’t stop the patient from continuing on teasing him XD)

They closed the clinic after the morning on December 23, and decided to spend the afternoon walking around the town as a couple. Along the way, they stopped by a cafe for a tea break, but the couple menu offered to them was full of dishes’ names that were embarrassing for one to say it out loud ^^;

(What follows was pretty much the humiliation of Fran X3, since you can select from three different dishes for him to order >/////< Yep, I’ve selected all of them just to listen to him saying it XD)

Cardia felt embarrassed to the point that she looked away from him, to which he complained that he’s the one who felt more embarrassed since he was the one who ordered it XD Cardia wondered if they looked like a real couple seeing that the waiter offered them the couple’s menu when they entered the cafe, to which Fran mummered whether it would be wrong if they’re a real couple. (Sounds like he wanted them to be an actual couple rather than for act, same like Cardia, but no one is taking another step in confirming their relationship TWT)

Fran later proposed that they shall try to do everything couples do, and brought her to this beautiful place...

There was an ice rink available there, and thus Fran decided to teach Cardia how to ice skate. Cardia can’t help but feel abit pissed on how good Fran at ice-skating since she had thought of him as one who isn’t so athletic. Fran smiled and answered that since he had been skating pretty much his entire life in his hometown, he’s proud of his skating skills when compared to Lupin or Van.

(It’s refreshing to see that Fran had his childish / boyish side as well~ ^////^)

Just then, Fran pulled Cardia away from the fence that she was holding on, making her all flustered and holding tightly to his hand, while being aware of the close distance between them. When Fran suggested whether he should let go of her arm so she could try to skate on her own, Cardia told him not to let go of her, and he replied that he won’t let go of her anymore. (In a different sense, but awww~ this part is sweet~ >////<)

Even though Cardia cherished these moments she had with Fran, she can’t help but think that Fran was doing all these with her as part of their practices and them being a couple was just temporary. Finally, on December 24, Christmas Eve, it was planned that they would welcome Fran’s parents who would arrive by train in the evening. Cardia felt that it would be hard to let go of Fran when the act comes to an end, wondering whether she would be able to refrain herself from making any sad expressions.

They went for a walk together, talking about how they’ve felt these few days that they’ve been through together. Cardia had noticed that Fran seems to let himself free to the point that she felt that he wasn’t even acting when he looked at her with such gentle expression, leading her to be deceived that they were really a couple.

When they arrived at the train station, Fran asked Cardia to come closer to him since he’s afraid that she would get a cold, and wrapped his arms around her. Even though Cardia tried to create a conversation with him, she found herself unable to do so and end up crying instead.

(This part was so heart-breaking at that moment T////T)

In reply to Fran, Cardia finally decided to let out her true feelings, she had fun for the past few days, but felt painful too, knowing that all of this would come to an end, and revealed that she didn’t want them being a couple to be a lie. She told Fran that she would keep a good act until the very end even though she’s sad, to which Fran replied that she’s very strong, even stronger than him. He told Cardia that he didn’t want both of them to be liars, nor he wanted to live with any more regrets in his life, and thus proposed a way for them to turn their lie into the truth.

(I’ve been waiting for this moment since the start of the route T////T You guys took way too long to get together! T////T )

Seeing that Cardia might now believe his words and thought that he was saying all this as part of their act, he decided to turn his feelings into actions... by kissing Cardia on the lips.

With that, Cardia believed him and both of them became a couple at last~ ^////^ Cardia was interested to know what Fran’s parents were like, since they could be her family one day. (Wow, the pace is moving towards marriage now?! O////O) Fran laughed and replied that they’re very normal, and that they loved Fran very much. (Sounds like Fran really did grew up in a loving family ^^)

When Fran’s parents arrived, Fran greeted them warmly and introduced Cardia to them, which they were curious to know since Fran had written so much about her in the letter XD

(Cardia’s reply when Fran’s parents asked her to take good care of him is just too adorable >/////<)

What Cardia and Fran would have to worry will be to explain their relationship status to their friends later on, and she looked forward to the near future where Fran’s family will become part of her family too, with Fran vowing that he will cherish every moment that they spend together, and their future was just beginning.

Final Thoughts / Ramblings:

And~ it’s the end~ Welp, I actually felt this was short (it seems even shorter than the last FD) since it feels like their sweet moments were about to start but it ended T////T Fran’s route sure likes to feed me bitter and sweet moments T/////T Overall I still enjoyed them very much since it’s “Fran”, but a part of me sure do craves for more sweet moments with him since even after two fan discs of Fran’s moment, I didn’t felt it was enough >/////< Fran is really such a great character for me that he seriously jumped up to my top favourites of guys after so many years of otome-gaming ^/////^

I realised that there was still the triangle date but I shall not play that part yet until I’m done with another character’s route~ You guys might know whose route I’m going for next in the main game seeing how I’ve put up the banner on the blog, so see you guys on the next route~!

#code realize #wintertide miracles #fran route #otome game #playthrough #cr:playthrough

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pelikinesis · 4 years

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ended up typing a lot about JJBA

finally making my way through JJBA Stardust Crusaders. On the one hand, from what I’ve seen of JJBA in general, a lot of shit happens basically for *THE DRAMA*, but due to artistic choices, clever execution, and committing to its own outlandishness, it really does work on a certain level. and if you’re down to meet it at that level, you’ll have a good time probably.

at least, that was my initial takeaway after having watched the first two seasons. But even though the whole point of JJBA is that each series creates its own paradigm (Phantom Blood is basically Great Expectations meets vampires meets sunlight kung fu, and then Battle Tendency replaces the noble and pure-hearted Jonathan with his conniving shonen Tom Sawyer-esque grandson, Joseph), I feel like Stardust Crusaders is easily the biggest change.

not just because of The Stands, but actually because the main cast broadens to including at least 4 characters early on. It’s really the only way a character as stoic and seemingly-unflappable as Jotaro can really work in a story. There always needs to be another character on-scene and similarly invested in his quest to react to all the shenanigans going on, so he can bide his time just glaring impassively at the obstacles in his way before he gives them the ora ora ora and then yare yare da ze at the right moments.

And while Jotaro is starting to grow on me, i imagine i would have been way more into his character when i was in my teens or early twenties. But these days, I’m much too aware of how the story twists and turns so that Jotaro always looks SO FREAKING COOL. Like, i couldn’t manually activate that particular section of my suspension of disbelief even if i tried. if i could do that, believe me, i would, because i can see the appeal of Jotaro at a distance. And maybe by the time Stardust Crusaders is over, that’ll change things.

but as for right now, I equally like Jonathan and Joseph, though since I relate more to Joseph i’d pick him if i had to have a favorite. Phantom Blood is really short, but since Jonathan is such a simultaneously straightforwards but also immensely likable character, it works.

If anything, it’s the other way around: if Phantom Blood were longer, that might be a problem, because Jonathan barely changes at all as a character (because he’s already a precious cinnamon roll too pure for this world) and essentially just learns Hamon as far as development goes.

If it had gone even a few more episodes, Jonathan might have started to get stale. But since he’s taken from Erina and Speedwagon and the rest of the cast (and US) far too soon, his passing is tragic, and all the more fondly remembered for it. That’d be kind of a shitty thing to say about an actual person I think, but since this is fiction I guess that’s alright to say.

and Joseph is just...incredibly entertaining. nonstop. He reaches near Deadpool-levels of zaniness, but since he’s picking up where the almost impossibly noble and heroic Jonathan left off, it feels fresh to begin with, and then Joseph continues to grow and change throughout Battle Tendency.

At first he seems to inherit little of Jonathan’s character, due to his cocky demeanor, but those sparks of brilliance back in Phantom Blood that added a garnish of depth to Jonathan go supernova in Joseph and never look back, because he’s all about outwitting his opponents. So as compelling as the fights get in Phantom Blood, they become absolutely fascinating in Battle Tendency as Joseph pulls gambit after gambit out of his ass while having to fight the Pillar Men who are way above his weight class.

In Stardust Crusaders, they “preserve” Jotaro’s image usually by having Polnareff or Old Joseph fall into the situations that do a number on their bodies, minds, and dignity. I’m not saying Jotaro never struggles or gets worried, it’s just that he shows it a lot less than everyone else, and since (thus far) he always comes out on top a lot quicker or at least more abruptly than the rest of the cast, I find myself being a lot less concerned about his well-being and the possibility of his victory when he’s in danger.

And for what it’s worth, that’s completely telegraphed and likely deliberate. It’s my understanding that he’s the one that faces DIO in the end, so i would imagine there’s a payoff for him being handled relatively ‘safely’ in comparison to the rest of the main cast. I say it’s telegraphed because in the very first episode, characters comment about how powerful his Stand, Star Platinum is, and of course those attributes seem to transfer over, or at least get conflated with its user as well.

This wasn’t originally what i wanted to talk about though, precisely because i’m not yet done with the series. I actually wanted to write a bit about Hol Horse, because he’s just such a great antivillain, but I realized that what really makes JJBA so compelling, aside from its fascinating artistic direction and the fact that it’s very good at doing the main things it wants to do, is that the writers understand drama--and I said it was conspicuously, even overly-dramatic earlier, but right now I’m focusing on each episode’s ability to build and release tension.

No matter how wacky the show gets, it’s unfailingly adept at ramping up the tension. Even when I’m presented with a character so grotesquely, cartoonishly evil and unpleasant that it begs the question of how such a person could exist in the world as is. Even though I know the writers are unsubtly trying to play me so i rejoice when the bad guy gets ORAORAORA’d into the stratosphere. Even though everything at the forefront of the plot often ORAORAORAs whatever verisimilitude the setting has. I still cheer when the bad guys get obliterated. I still worry when the good guys are on the ropes.

And so I have a hard time critiquing the writing of JJBA. Maybe I’m just not qualified to form an opinion more refined than, “I enjoy it and it’s special, but not for everyone.” I guess what I would say, is that the story is extremely compelling to me as I’m watching it. But when I stop to think about it with some distance, the impact of the story beats and the characters’ fates become greatly diminished, and when it comes to other stories the opposite is true.

Because when I think about His Dark Materials, or Final Fantasy 6, or my other all time favorite stories, I feel a lot more strongly about them even if I haven’t read, watched, or played them in years. But on the other hand, maybe nostalgia has a lot to do with it. That’s probably a topic better suited for a back-and-forth discussion than as a stream-of-consciousness post though.

I wanted to return to the topic of Hol Horse for a second though, because by the third time he shows up in the story, he’s the POV character of the episode, and the main cast are positioned within the narrative of the episode as the antagonists. And it’s the weirdest thing, because I don’t know how many stories have managed to pull this off, or even try to do it.

But it works, because Hol Horse has already been established as being an ineffectual villain, but we don’t hate him because it turns out he failed to kill Avdol, and he hasn’t done anything absolutely reprehensible. He’s a bit of an everyman who is way in over his head and doesn’t want to die, and he even kinda sorta helped out the heroes once.

All that makes him sympathetic to a certain extent. And over the course of his episode, the tension comes from the question of will he or won’t he put his trust and faith in Oingo’s prophecies. It actually reminded me of the Biblical stories of Abraham and Isaac, or Job. Any time the character has their faith tested. Hol Horse gets that exact arc, and we see him struggle on whether to trust his own instincts and judgment, or entrust his life to the will of a higher power (I guess. It’s a Stand, so...).

It’s because Stardust Crusaders does stuff like this that it gets away with being structurally formulaic. It’s really just a sequence of them running into enemy Stand users, struggling to survive, figuring out how the Stand works, then coming up with a way to use their own Stands and/or the environment to overcome them.

Except when there are other resolutions, including but not limited to using the enemy Stand’s power against their users, using their enemies’ fear of Dio against them, and Jotaro overcoming the setback of being de-aged back to 7 years old through the strategy of Jotaro being able to kick a grown man’s ass at 7 years old.

In every way, JJBA is just an explosive riot of unfettered creativity, with enough strong consistent elements to give it a unique flavor, and if nothing else, i feel like i should be taking pointers from how it creates dramatic tension.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jjba

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janiedean · 5 years

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Why do you think the SW fandom is so knee-deep in SJ Calvinism? Because I understand wanting representation or being upset because a movie didn’t fulfill your expectations, but the “if you don’t ship X you’re racist” “if you don’t stan Y you’re bigoted” and the harassment over a disappointing movie is surprising just because of how pervasive it is. I was trying to find some St*rmpilot blogs to follow and the amount of hate is Yikes, especially the hate for Rose and the stans of a Certain Ship

eeeeeeh I think it’s because ep. 7 came out at the height of the... well, reaping the seeds the social justice calvinism had sown since 2014 so to speak? I mean, SW is hardly the one fandom where it happened (*cough* voltron and SU *cough*) but as SW is way broader in audience than those other shows that certainly didn’t help, but like, if you think on it, since 2013-ish (but I think before as well, I mean, I’ve been here since 2011 and already when I got here I felt like something was going very wrong when it came to politics-in-fandom-attitude), basically people on tumblr have progressively, when it came to fandoms:

pushed the idea that you have to over-analyze everything you consume through political lens;

pushed the idea that what you like and how you like it also has to be pushed through political lens and what you like says things about who you are as a person or your political leanings;

pushed the idea that if you care for something *problematic* just because you like it you’re excusing it;

pushed the idea that if you were problematic once you can’t ever not be problematic, you can’t change your mind and you can’t learn also because ‘it’s not my job to educate you’ so people either learn themselves or idek what but again, calvinism.

now obviously those politics are tumblr-politics which are also US centric like woah and are also high-school petty like woah, and since more or less then people have:

continuously other-ed lgbt people from *straight*/heterosexual people pushing a narrative where straight = bad and therefore putting it before anything automatically makes it a valid insult which added to the above means that if you ship het you’re already problematic regardless of whether you’re straight or not (and if you are.. lol);

pushed the performative feminism of Doom TM that says men and women should be equal but is like, an excuse to shit on men and on women who like men (see the rampant biphobia around and the whole ‘straight girls are so stupid if they’re into men they should try women’ discourse);

pushed the US terminology when it comes to the POC discourse, in the sense that everything works on the US-centered context where white people = white anglosaxon protestant, poc = everything else without realizing that in the rest of the world white does not equal wasp, that poc = black people only in most of europe (and no one who’s actually black or not white who lives in africa or asia and so on would describe themselves as poc because why the hell would you when your skin color/ethinicity is the norm where you live?), which also goes with the whole white passing debate which where I live would not exist but in that context is a mess because again, oscar i*saac is schroedinger’s poc (as in, he’s poc automatically for american standards because he’s latin-american but like he has the same skin tone as my mother and my mother in italy is white same as 90% of us, which means endless confusion) and assumed that all of us have to accept that terminology/context regardless of whether it’s valid in our countries;

kept on progressively putting minorities against each other in an endless loop of WHO HAS IT WORST/oppression olympics;

kept on progressively split hairs on issues that aren’t exactly, like, that important if there’s more urgent stuff to deal with because 90% of the activism here is performative;

made the 180° turn for which headcanons and shit are seen as, like, doing representation instead of, you know, supporting what rep is there never mind when people decide *one* ship is the right one and if another is canonized and it’s rep it gets thoroughly ignored;

pushed on a mindset for which if something isn’t perfect at the get-go then it’s canceled.

and so on.

like, all of that shit has been continuously not criticized because criticizing it especially if you don’t belong to a minority means that you’re out of line/discussing things that don’t concern you, but if you’re a minority and you criticize it then it’s suddenly YOU BETRAYED OUR CAUSE *INSERT SLUR HERE ABOUT PANDERING TO THE MAJORITY*, and the result exploded in toxic af fandoms, but like... if you look at the issues of the SW sequel trilogy fandom it’s all of that in a nutshell because:

k/ylo ren is automatically the worst because he’s white (horrible), a man (even worse), not canonically attractive (I didn’t touch on that topic bc I’m honestly not up for it mentally but lmao that counts too) and presumably heterosexual (or well, no one said he’s not but you know, since he’s a white dude on the bad side [supposedly] then we don’t give him the benefit of the doubt that he might be bi), so if you like ky/lo ren or relate to him you’re automatically problematic;

shipping re/ylo because automatically problematic because it’s a *straight* (evil) ship made of two white people (when there’s options to ship them both with people that aren’t white, so IT’S RACIST), they have an age gap (BAD BECAUSE POWER IMBALANCE) and it’s enemies to lovers, so it’s a context where people who don’t conceive redemption or that people can become better are basically crying problematic all the time, and the fact that people decided it’s *abusive* when it has like nothing that can equate it to a really abusive relationship says all;

ky/lux being the most popular slash ship immediately means that it’s the fault of the horrible straight (white) women fetishizing the (white) men on the dark side (when it’s most likely because for a while ky/lux was literally the only side of that fandom where people were chill/there wasn’t wank every other moment);

st/ormpilot has been declared The Right Ship because it’s two non-white men and it’s not straight which automatically turns into what I said before about hating other ships that would be rep anyway and feeds into the lowkey oppression olympics racism, because like if finn/rose becomes canon it’s still a mixed/biracial ship because he’s black and she’s asian....... except that it’s not the right ship for people who decided that finn has to be either with rey or poe (and guess what rey is white and poe is... schroedinger’s poc because oscar isaac in europe wouldn’t pass for *poc*), which to me has stank of lowkey racism since tlj came out because sorry but if ‘finn deserves better than rose’ or ‘finn should be with rey because if he doesn’t get rey then it’s unfair’ and the various other bullshit I read on the topic basically says that the white woman is *worthier* than the asian woman or that rose is a downgrade from rey which is fucking bullshit, rose isn’t even a bad character all the contrary. and that’s for the het side of it, but like then it’s not as good as stormpilot because it’s a straight ship (NOOOO THEY MADE FINN STRAIGHT/THEY’RE NOT MAKING THEM GAY THIS IS SUCH BULLSHIT = stuff I legit saw on the tag) and ngl I’m 100% sure that the fact that daisy is Standard Attractive and kelly marie t/ran is lovely but doesn't conform to the usual beauty standard western-viewers apply on asian women did play a role in there, but: what did I say before? the slash ship is automatically better than the het ship never mind that they’re both biracial and rose is actually a rep (asian girls who don’t adhere to stereotypical body shapes - and like, the rep for all body types and shapes should be valid for all women, not just white) that isn’t exactly popular especially in mainstream cinema, so people should be happy.... but since rose is Not A Dude and Not Rey and Not The Right Kind Of Representation For That Crowd, automatically rose is a shit character and deserves to be viciously hated on. and this is a thing done by people who most likely then turn on the other side and talk shit about horrible straight women who hate the only female character for getting in the way of their slash ship without realizing that their rose hate is exactly that. and of course since sto/rmpilot is the two good guys, if you ship that then you also have to hate re/ylo because how can you, a person who ships The Good Ship On The Light Side, support such a problematic enemies to lovers thing? yeah, right, hahaha.

this also tbqh also pairs up with how on tumblr people only recognize mental health issues/abuse victims when the narrative suits them - like, being a bad victim automatically means you lose sympathy and mental health issues are only valid if you aren’t ***privileged*** otherwise why would you have them, which shows transparently in how a lot of people absolutely deny that ky/lo ren is a) an abuse victim, b) obviously mentally ill however it is that he deals with it, but no, he has to be The Most Horrible In Existence Because Otherwise We Should Have Empathy For A Bad Guy Who Also Might Get Redeemed And Redemption Is Not Happening Ever Because Bad People Don’t Deserve it.

like, all of the issues sw sequel trilogy has when it comes to the fandom are direct consequences of the nonsensical social justice calvinism climate on tumblr dot com that no one took care to put a stop to since 2013 and of its ridiculous oppression olympics and pitting people against each other and that was my take. cheers.

(ps: I also ship sto/rmpilot like woah and it’s my otp but there’s a reason why I unfollowed most SP blogs I followed and why I don’t go into the tag anymore - I’m not here for the anti-rose racism dressed up as performative wokeness, I’m not here to get lectured about as a white person I fetishize poc gay men if I ship it - yes I read that too - and I’m not here to read a bunch of meta about how re/ylo is a bad ship and blah blah blah, so yeah. I feel you.) (pps: ky/lo ren isn’t even my favorite character and I care relatively but gdi the way the fandom approaches him is honestly mindboggling in that sense, and I don’t mean people who actually dislike him because fair reasons, I mean people who can’t recognize his abuse victim status and the precarious status of his mental health. like, not all abuse victims and mentally ill people are the right victim or come from the right background and you can be cool motive still murder and still recognize that he’s like that because he has issues, not because he was drawn that way. /bye)

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #i said my piece bye #reylo for ts #kylo ren for ts #sw wank for ts #i don't mean ppl shouldn't be uncomfortable with re/ylo or ky/lo btw #but like........... this level of vitriol is ridiculous #and the rose hate is dumb af #bye *shrug*#social justice calvinism #the first person whining about straight people feeling left out as last time this happened #is getting automatically blocked bye #Anonymous #ask post

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operationrainfall · 4 years

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Title The Legend of Bum-Bo: Bum-Bo Want Coin! Developer Edmund McMillen, James Interactive Publisher Edmund McMillen Release Date November 12th, 2019 Genre Rogue, Match-3, RPG Platform Steam Age Rating N/A Official Website

There was never any question that I would be the person reviewing The Legend of Bum-Bo for the oprainfall site. After all, I quickly became a convert to The Binding of Isaac in recent years, which was also created by Edmund McMillen. Unlike that game, The Legend of Bum-Bo is a rogue dungeon crawler styled game with match-3 mechanics and brutal difficulty. Despite all that, it looks and plays much like fans of McMillen’s art would expect. The question is, did it blow away this Binding of Isaac fanboy? Or should Bum-Bo have stayed home with his coin?

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The Legend of Bum-Bo is a prequel of sorts to Binding of Isaac. We play the hapless partner from that game, Bum-Bo himself. He was a strange character even then, starting as a floating head who eats coins and slowly evolves into a more robust form. The only thing this iteration has in common with that version is his love of coins. In fact, the story starts when Bum-Bo’s lone coin is stolen by some sinister force, and Bum-Bo races into the sewers after it. Thus begins this twisted tale of vengeance, comedy and twisted storytelling.

Unlike The Binding of Isaac, this game is not a twin-stick. It’s still rogue, but more of a mixture of dungeon crawling and match-3 with rogue elements everywhere. I started to envision it as Puzzle Quest with McMillen flair, since you match pieces on the board to initiate attacks and collect Mana to activate spells. There’s 5 different primary types of Mana, and as you might expect, they’re all pretty gross. There’s Yellow Mana (pee), Brown Mana (poo), Green Mana (boogers), White Mana (bones) and Black Mana (teeth). By matching 4 or more of any of them, you’ll be rewarded with something helpful, but not always an attack. White and Black Mana are turned into attacks, with Bum-Bo flinging bones or teeth at foes respectively. Brown and Green Mana are defensive in nature. Matching enough Brown creates a turd wall that blocks an attack, while matching Green hurls a gooey booger at foes, paralyzing them for a turn. Finally, Yellow Mana will provide energy, making it the most vital of all Mana. The reason is, most every version of Bum-Bo in the game only has a limited amount of energy, which translates to how many moves you can make each turn on the puzzle board. Thankfully this doesn’t restrict your spells, which can be cast again and again so long as you have enough Mana. At first I was bothered by having such a limited amount of actions each turn, but it turned out to be a wise decision, since it forced me to be more strategic and not just go for attacks every turn.

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Speaking of multiple Bum-Bos, there’s more than one “class” in The Legend of Bum-Bo. They sort of split Bum-Bo into multiple variations, each with different stats and spells available. You start as Bum-Bo the Brave. He’s pretty basic, having the most health and hitting adequately hard. He starts with one spell that does damage using White Mana and another that rerolls the puzzle board using Black Mana. Frankly he was my least favorite, but a good starting point. Afterwards I unlocked Bum-Bo the Nimble, essentially the thief version with a rapid attack spell, followed by Bum-Bo the Stout, a hefty beast whose Mana pool drains at the end of each turn, forcing you to play super aggressively, followed by my favorite, Bum-Bo the Weird. On paper, Bum-Bo the Weird looks horrible. He has the lowest health of the starting group and his strength is nothing amazing. What makes him my favorite is that whenever Weird kills an enemy, he gains more energy, which means he can move again. When you combine that with his spells that create more of a selected Mana on the board or removes all of a specific Mana to fling it at the foe as a puzzle piece, you start to see how amazing he is. There’s other classes too, but I don’t want to spoil everything. Suffice to say, much like The Binding of Isaac, there’s a lot to do even once you think you’ve totally beaten the game, including some really insane achievements.

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The one bit of advice I’ll give players is to pay close attention to the character select screen, since the passive abilities of each Bum-Bo are spelled out there, but only there. I was initially confused about this, but after playing for some 14 hours, every quirk of each character became second nature. Which is a good thing, since The Legend of Bum-Bo is a hard game. Though that’s hardly unusual in the rogue genre, I will say this game can take it to new heights on occasion. It’s very easy to die only a couple rooms into any run, and each and every boss can wipe the floor with you if you’re not prepared. Hell, even the basic enemies can throttle you, but a lot depends on the RNG that provides your free trinkets and upgrades. Each chapter is peppered with a few battles, and in between you’ll get a freebie. These items will give your chosen Bum-Bo new spells, or even single use items like Tarot cards on occasion. You can only have so many spells at a time, and if you get a new one when you’re full, you’ll have to swap it out for an old one. Another way you can improve your chances is with the Stat Wheel. Once you beat a chapter by defeating a boss, you’ll find yourself in a strange area full of vendors, including a Vanna White looking lady. By spending 15 coins, you can spin her Wheel and improve your stats. I can’t express enough how important this is. You can get more health, more energy, or even boost how much damage your puzzle matches and spell attacks deal. Besides that, you can spend more money to reroll your various spell parameters, such as Mana cost, or try your luck to win a new trinket. So you do have some control over how your game progresses, but never quite enough to feel you’re totally unbeatable.

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I should probably spend some time discussing the primary loop of the game. At the start, there’s just one chapter and one Bum-Bo. By beating it, you’ll unlock another Bum-Bo. Beat the next chapter with the unlocked character, and you’ll unlock another chapter, rinse and repeat. Each chapter is punctuated by several floors full of enemies, and you have to beat them all to reach the boss. As I said earlier, you have to match at least 4 of the same Mana to do anything, though by matching 5 or more, you’ll get more powerful effects. For example, if you match 5 White Mana, you’ll get two bone tosses instead of just one, whereas matching 5 Black Mana throws a more harmful tooth at foes. If you’re able to match more than 6, you’ll get a floor-clearing mega attack, though I usually stumbled upon those. Another important mechanic are the lanes. There’s three lanes that enemies can move on, and they’ll generally get close before readying an attack. This is referred to as Priming, and you can tell it’s gonna happen when you see an exclamation mark above an enemy. You want to kill them quick or block their attack the following turn. It’s just important to keep in mind that you always attack the foes in the front and at the highest altitude of each lane first. Meaning if there’s a fly hovering above another enemy’s head, it will take the attack first. There’s also Hearts (Red Mana) you can match to heal yourself on the puzzle board, though finding these is so rare that I ended up relying on spells and items to heal myself. Especially since matching 4 Red Mana only rewards you with half a heart. If you’re lucky, you find a wildcard, which can match with anything. I liked the combat in the game, though it can be frustrating only having a couple moves each turn. That’s a huge part of why I loved Bum-Bo the Weird, since he was able to effectively attack again and again in a single turn.

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Aesthetically, The Legend of Bum-Bo is quite interesting. The whole game has a handmade cardboard cut-out aesthetic. Think a demonic Paper Mario, and you’re on the right track. Everything is made out of cardboard, even the stalactites in caverns or burning flame foes. Thankfully I didn’t find this off putting, as it meshed well with McMillen’s cute yet creepy art style. Color-wise the game is dark and dreary, which fits it to a tee. Musically, the game has different tracks for each chapter, and they all do a good job. That’s probably because they’re by Ridiculon, who also did the music for Binding of Isaac. So if you liked the tunes in that game, you’ll enjoy it here too. Besides the music, there’s good sound effects, such as the various grunts of Bum-Bo or the squishy sound of worms firing projectiles. Altogether, The Legend of Bum-Bo is great looking and sounding.

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While I did very much enjoy my time with The Legend of Bum-Bo, there’s a few minor niggles I need to mention. One is that the game’s initial tutorial doesn’t explain many of the advanced mechanics, such as some of the lane strategy or additional effects for matching extra Mana. A larger annoyance is that you can’t save your progress in one run and return to it later. I was frankly really surprised by this, especially given how The Binding of Isaac allowed this feature, as well as Seeds to replay runs. While this isn’t a huge problem, since most complete runs won’t take you longer than a half hour or so, it still was a constant irritation. Also, I absolutely hate the blue and purple enemies, which are immune to spells and puzzle attacks respectively. And though I didn’t encounter much in the way of bugs or glitches, one run I was inexplicably unable to hit one type of worm enemy with attacks or spells, and had to restart my game. Other than these, I really found the experience quite enjoyable.

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It’s true that The Legend of Bum-Bo isn’t for everyone. It’s demented, crude, immature and hard as hell. And yet, it’s crazy addictive, fun and very compelling. If you don’t mind losing a lot and like a game with good strategy, I think you’ll enjoy it. I know I loved my time with it, and found it an incredible bargain for only $14.99. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this prequel to The Binding of Isaac, but should have known I’d end up appreciating it. Especially the super clever ending you’ll get once you beat the Basement for the first time. If you’re a fan of rogue or Edmund McMillen’s work, you’ll find a lot to enjoy in the darkness with Bum-Bo.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4.5″]

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REVIEW: The Legend of Bum-Bo Title The Legend of Bum-Bo: Bum-Bo Want Coin!

#Bum-Bo Want Coin!#Dark #Edmund McMillen #funny #match 3 #Prequel #Rogue #RPG #The Binding of Isaac #The Legend of Bum-Bo

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