moar RD livebloggin' III
Mar. 16th, 2021 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kradeelavHalfway through Glory Unwanted aka that fucking swamp chapter
* ok, i figured it out, the terrain chapter i always loathe the most in any kind of video game: SWAMP LEVELS. They're always a dreary brown/grey, they don't have the elegance of water levels and yet they're just as difficult, there's often a quicksand/mud/poison restriction, they're often in early-game levels where the fun characters/elements aren't introduced yet (Twilight Princes lookin' at you) ... shit, that probably makes Wind Waker more enjoyable alone. Majora's Mask's swamp chapter is only made fun by the sheer dint of how surreal-zany-colorful-weird it was.
* puzzling here for a good hour as to why Jill and Tauroneo is unplayable on this chapter and Zihark isn't? Like i get story-wise why Jill/Tauroneo are not there - they're not part of Micaiah's 'dawn brigade gang' as much as more affiliated with Pelleas, and there was that izuka vs micaiah friction at the beginning of the chapter ... but how come Zihark wasn't in that trio? Gameplay wise I could get it if Jill/Tauroneo was too OP rescuing the prisoners in terms of like flying and being an overleveled tank, but still is kind of random of a choice lol. (then again I am not complaining as he's the only thing that makes this fucking chapter worth it lol)
* [slaps paragon/cancel/wind edge on zihark, zihark goes brrrrrrrrr] (I swear one time i think I actually managed to get him to be a trueblade by 1-E for yolo 'zihark solo' reasons. would not recommend for level wonkiness but still lol worthy :D )
* still so terribly amused you can get tons of wyrmslayers this early when they're ultra-effective against the hardest boss in the game :D
*story-wise this is another snooze level, other than that one talk between pelleas/micaiah on their spirit marks. whooo. I've always been interested in the idea of spirit charmers in these gamestotally not for self insert worldbuilding reasons nope, and the idea of it being reasonably well known among scholars that there's active spirits out there that make pacts with mages (some even as babies!) is fascinating. Especially given Sephiran comes with them during his battle - are they just nameless elemental abstract things, or do they take firmer shapes? Are they connected with 'demons' in Tellius lore? (which is mentioned by name when you fight Bertram in PoR by Soren). I like the fact that there's so few hints on it, too, makes it that much more realistic in terms of forbidden access to knowlage.
* izuka's been fun for the last two chapters, he's so cartoonishly deranged and yet everyone has to play along like he's a literal missing stair in the gang, simply because he has that much emotional power over Pelleas. It's a very tight commentary on toxic social dynamics when you think about it closely (likewise with Almedha); i've always been impressed in the Tellius duology about being ... frank? about less-than-ideal relationships/dynamics.
* likewise super enjoying Sothe being genuinely, visibly uncomfortable/resentful with Micaiah's new role as the General; a lot of times established relationships in the series tends to be treated as a given or a 'sweet' thing, wheras here you get to see allllll the bumps in their relationship. it's kind of saucy considering what happens next level when the black knight rescues micaiah hurhuhr (coincidentally i'm about to roll for zelgius/OG!Micaiah in FEH and you bet i'm supporting those two. :D )
* ok, i figured it out, the terrain chapter i always loathe the most in any kind of video game: SWAMP LEVELS. They're always a dreary brown/grey, they don't have the elegance of water levels and yet they're just as difficult, there's often a quicksand/mud/poison restriction, they're often in early-game levels where the fun characters/elements aren't introduced yet (Twilight Princes lookin' at you) ... shit, that probably makes Wind Waker more enjoyable alone. Majora's Mask's swamp chapter is only made fun by the sheer dint of how surreal-zany-colorful-weird it was.
* puzzling here for a good hour as to why Jill and Tauroneo is unplayable on this chapter and Zihark isn't? Like i get story-wise why Jill/Tauroneo are not there - they're not part of Micaiah's 'dawn brigade gang' as much as more affiliated with Pelleas, and there was that izuka vs micaiah friction at the beginning of the chapter ... but how come Zihark wasn't in that trio? Gameplay wise I could get it if Jill/Tauroneo was too OP rescuing the prisoners in terms of like flying and being an overleveled tank, but still is kind of random of a choice lol. (then again I am not complaining as he's the only thing that makes this fucking chapter worth it lol)
* [slaps paragon/cancel/wind edge on zihark, zihark goes brrrrrrrrr] (I swear one time i think I actually managed to get him to be a trueblade by 1-E for yolo 'zihark solo' reasons. would not recommend for level wonkiness but still lol worthy :D )
* still so terribly amused you can get tons of wyrmslayers this early when they're ultra-effective against the hardest boss in the game :D
*story-wise this is another snooze level, other than that one talk between pelleas/micaiah on their spirit marks. whooo. I've always been interested in the idea of spirit charmers in these games
* izuka's been fun for the last two chapters, he's so cartoonishly deranged and yet everyone has to play along like he's a literal missing stair in the gang, simply because he has that much emotional power over Pelleas. It's a very tight commentary on toxic social dynamics when you think about it closely (likewise with Almedha); i've always been impressed in the Tellius duology about being ... frank? about less-than-ideal relationships/dynamics.
* likewise super enjoying Sothe being genuinely, visibly uncomfortable/resentful with Micaiah's new role as the General; a lot of times established relationships in the series tends to be treated as a given or a 'sweet' thing, wheras here you get to see allllll the bumps in their relationship.
