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tenshinoakuma) wrote2011-11-27 12:46 pm
tenshinoakuma) wrote2011-11-27 12:46 pm
3 for 1 LJ post
If 0:20 to 0:37 do not sell you on Digital Devil Saga, I cannot do much more to help. I'm not sure if they do PAL in general, but at the very least, if you live in Australia or New Zealand, you can get it from Ozgameshop for $14, free delivery. That's like, the same price as a meal from Nando's.
Digital Devil Saga is an old game. You can tell in a few areas where the animation is a little clunky, but boy does it still look beautiful. The aesthetic is consistent and pervasive and, while overall there's a lot of grey (at first) because you're in a place called the Junkyard, it is never boring. The splashes of colour draw your attention, and the characters themselves have wildly different coloured hair and clothing choices (an NPC even points out in game that black hair is unusual). The architecture is incredibly detailed, with all kinds of statues, murals, pillars reminiscent of Buddhist or Hindu (I am actually not entirely sure what religion they're drawing inspiration from, and I'm certain there's someone on my flist with the appropriate vocabulary to describe this ;D ) architecture. I spent quite a while wandering around admiring the scenery, which is something I haven't done since TWEWY. I mean seriously, just look at this save point! Even your normal every day corridors are filled with beautiful detail.
I'd actually seen the character art for this game before I played it, so I already knew what all the characters looked like, as well as the Atma (demon) forms.
Serph ( Varna ), Argilla ( Prithivi aka teeth boobs ), Heat ( Agni ), Cielo mist? ( Dyaus ) and Gale ( Vayu ).
But it's an entirely different matter seeing them in action. Just... the blades in Varna's arms flicking out, Prithivi's whip arms retracting... it's incredibly awesome to watch. Little things like using the tag ring on Serph's hand to unlock doors or activate terminals is a really cool touch, and going to a vendor for the first time and suddenly having all these walls roll and in reveal rows and rows of guns and ammunition is just /JAWDROP.
The music is also to die for. It's composed by Shoji Meguro, who also did Persona 3 and 4's soundtrack, but unlike P3/4, I love every. single. track. I never knew how much I loved electric guitars until now. Here, have a listen:
Muladhara (the first area you end up in)
Hunting (your normal battle music)
All the animalistic cries and the ability to devour your enemies, the instances of futuristic technology combined with some of the really creepy human fusions with it (looking at you, Dissemination Machine), the game really does have a rather cyberpunk feel to it and an incredible aesthetic to it.
ALRIGHT NOW THAT I'M DONE JOYGASMING ALL OVER THE AESTHETICS, I'M GONNA JOYGASM ALL OVER THE BATTLE SYSTEM.
EXCEPT I AM APPARENTLY JOYGASMING OVER IT SO MUCH I CAN'T TALK ABOUT IT COHERENTLY so I guess that's a tl;dr for another day.
I had been unabashedly enjoying the Persona 4 anime until episode 7 and 8 came along, where the anime's storytelling sort of falls apart, never mind how jumpy episode 8 was. Other people have already written things about the treatment Kanji has been getting from Yu, so I'm not going to talk more about that.
What actually bothers me most about these episodes is that Yu's characterisation is wildly inconsistent both within the episodes themselves, as well as inconsistent with what was set up in the previous episodes. When he's been portrayed as sometimes saying some really weird stuff, but ultimately understanding of people, it's really off putting to see him not be understanding of Kanji in all instances outside of the brief moment in Kanji's Shadow fight. Coupled with the fact he's been leering along with Yosuke at the girls has kind of made me :/ at the anime lately. The anime really doesn't need two Yosukes, you know? Yosuke may be the jerk character in both the anime and the game (and as a result, he ends up being the butt monkey most), but to have Yu doing the same things as Yosuke is really :| inducing because not only is that inconsistent with his earlier behaviour, but Yu is the protagonist and presented in a wholly positive light and thus doesn't get any form of retribution from this.
It's been pointed out that Yu's actions have been even more uncomfortable because he's supposed to be representative of the player/viewer, but I do think that's an unfair call to make; the only reason you'd think Yu is representative of you is if you played the game first. The anime names no attempt to have you in Yu's shoes; you're observing and following Yu's actions, but you are not represented by Yu in any way. He was the player representative in the game, but in the anime, he's simply the main character. This doesn't mean his actions lately haven't been terrible, but I do think it's unfair to think of him as your representative when in the anime, he's not.
It's really unfortunate that Yu's characterisation has been so inconsistent lately, because the bad storytelling has just lead to all kinds of unfortunate implications, both with Kanji, and Yu's reaction to the situations the girls' were put in. Considering how well they'd handled the previous Shadow Confrontations, I'm a little sad about this. And now incredibly wary of how they're going to handle Rise.
Recently I've been considering dropping Onion Knight, which is a real shame because he is definitely my favourite character in Dissidia and I do enjoy the threads I have with him. But... at the same time, I haven't been feeling it for a while. And while it's probably a sign I need to get a refresher on canon, I think this feeling might be a consequence of how annoying it is to work his characterisation through my usual mental process thanks to the way his canons are set up.
I've said a few times that I don't get RP muses; everyone I play is the result of a lot of hard work, so I can generally play any character I want, provided I put in the miles for them. And the amount of work depends entirely on the canon. I could never RP from Homestuck because it's way too large for my miniscule mind. TWEWY was gloriously easy because it was short and compact, but gave me so much to work with in terms of characterisation. I generally don't like to play the main protagonist, but I like to play main characters. The main protagonist tends to have a little too much content for me, while non-main characters tend to have too little for me.
It's the latter that's the problem I'm having with Onion Knight, along with having multiple canons. While I wouldn't say his characterisation is sparse by any means, I kind of feel that there aren't enough other things for me to really make him shine as a character. One of my weaknesses in RPing is that I'm not very imaginative, so I generally do not stray very far from canon. It generally means that I'm unwilling to fill in the gaps canon has left unless there is something in the canon itself that implies something more. This has actually been present whenever I play Joshua (which is why my Joshua's backstory is so simple compared to other players. I'm a little envious, I admit), it's just less noticeable because there's so much for me to draw on in TWEWY, and how often is Joshua going to react differently from how he already has in canon?
Entirely different matter for Onion Knight, who has had far more limited interactions. Always fighting, working to protect people, having doubts and looking for guidance/reassurance, getting annoyed with people and being all tsun tsun. In Dissidia, there's a goal, a thing to be fighting for, but to have him in a place where that is not the case, I'm actually at a bit of a loss. The time that I felt most comfortable with him was when he was fighting alongside others to fight off the Kraken that invaded Vatheon, and that's because it's a mirror of what's already happened in canon. Gosh I guess I never knew I was one of those canon elitists, rarely straying outside the railroads canon has given us.
The main complicating matter is Onion Knight's multiple canons. First of all, between the original Dissidia and 012, his personality is slightly different. He's more reserved and focused in 012, while in the first game, he's definitely more child-like and bratty, which I thought served a better contrast to his 'knightliness' than in 012. Easy solution to that is to go with one game's characterisation, with the other one supporting it, which is what I intend to do. The other annoying factor is that I have to consider FF3 as well, which is rather difficult considering how sparse that game is in terms of characterisation and world building, as well as the fact that Onion Knight as a character is actually practically non-present. He is indistinguishable from the 3 other orphans in the original, and as a collective, their personalities are different from Onion Knight anyway. You can't really draw on Luneth, Arc, or Ingus, because they are also clearly different from Onion Knight.
Well, I'll hold off dropping, since it's not really a good idea to impulse drop when my attention has been on so many other things, and RP tends to be a rather cyclical process.
tl;dr Ten is an inflexible RPer
no subject
I'm still enjoying the P4 anime, but I definitely agree with the issue of Yu's characterisation, you've worded it beautifully. We don't need two Yosukes, and the inconsistency is a bit annoying. I too am worried about Rise's dungeon... although I am totally looking forward to Shadow!Teddie getting animated! That should be terrifying.
God, Onion Knight characterisation... I am impressed by how much effort you put into it with your RPing (just from the character dissertations I've read on your journal), it's a logistical nightmare with the way Square break their own canon.
...Here's a cool thought, what if instead of it being Luneth like we always assumed, Onion Knight Dissidia is actually one of the other orphans! It's not like original colours really survive the transition to Dissidia world, after all. :P THINK ABOUT IT, Dissidia's Onion Knight matches Arc's personality much more closely than Luneth's!
...Have I just committed a fandom blasphemy?
...Now I want to play a Dissidia where all the mains are replaced with their seconds.
no subject
Hahaha! It's actually kind of interesting picking out who the 'seconds' would be for each of the games. Even more interesting in that there's a pretty good chance there's a lot more female characters in this lineup of seconds than mains.
no subject
FF1 - Black Mage?
FF2 - Maria
FF3 - Arc or Refia?
FF4 - Assuming we eliminate those who turned up in Duodecim for the sake of fairness, Rosa or Rydia? Hell, I want it to be Rydia.
FF5 - Gotta be Faris. I can't take Reina as seriously.
FF6 - Cyan I guess?
FF7 - Aeris
FF8 - Rinoa
FF9 - Dagger/Garnet
FF10 - lol, if you take away Yuna too... ooo, Auron.
FF11 - I don't know FF11 well enough. :/
FF12 - BALTHIER! \o/
FF13 - This is a tough one. Snow, maybe?
Your thoughts? ...I kind of want to make this happen now. *adds to impossibly long list of dream fanfictions to write*
... :O Would you do it for the villains too?! Or even base the villains off the new cast.
*has gone completely off topic from your original post*
no subject
I was thinking maybe Locke for FF6 (though this is mostly because he was the one who found Terra). Alternatively... Celes? She did end up becoming the 'main' character after the world broke.
Oh man I would totally base the villains off the new cast, though I guess some villains wouldn't change that much? If FF3's new warrior of Cosmos was Arc, I'd say his villain would be Garuda, though :Oa And Garnet -> Queen Brahne?
Does your list look anything like my WIP list? XD
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XD Queen Brahne as the villain? How would she FIGHT? Although maybe in that vein, Bellatrix? Since she was always trying to get Garnet back for Brahne. HOW COOL WOULD IT BE TO PLAY AS BELLATRIX?
XD I can't quite recall what your WIP list looks like, but if it's embarrassingly long and seems impossible to ever catch up with, then yes, there is a good chance they look alike.
no subject