Sunday, April 12, 2015

Welcome back, aka ATR ch22 commentary

I have so much to talk about omf okay.

Update Wise

The Timeline has been updated so that it has Nothing's Fair Rewrite info, also I deleted obsolete Replica Program stuff between BBS and the Truth Hurts because I'm sure no one cares. (If you are I guess contact me and I'll put it up somewhere again.)

On that vein, I discussed Aqua and Ven's ages in a previous post.

Joseph got an updated character mix, with songs that are actually relevant to his development in the series, so, that's nice.

Irrelevant and unnecessary, but I made a mix documenting Shad's life from start to finish and I'm only slightly sorry.


Other stuff:

I already talked about Steven Universe in a previous post, but I've been watching it a lot lately, and it's really good, and I wholeheartedly recommend it!! It's on level with ALTA Good between just overall quality along with plot depth.

I recently finished Earthbound Zero/Mother 1, and am now playing Earthbound on the Wii U virtual console. I wholeheartedly recommend both of these, as well!!

Earthbound Zero is something you have to emulate, and I played it using this 25th anniversary hack! It was actually a little too easy with that hack, I felt, but the final battle was still really satisfying!

I'm about halfway through Earthbound, but it's quirky and a lot of fun!! It's ten bucks on the virtual console, and you should definitely buy it and support Nintendo (also perhaps if Earthbound gets enough attention they'll actually localize the other two games. laughs.)

And I suppose while I'm rec'ing stuff, have a shout out to Cucumber Quest which is the best webcomic I've ever read, also the plot got Really Good in this latest chapter (and we're only on chapter 3!?)

Finally I'm also going to recommend PBGGameplay's LP of Super Mario 64 chaos edition, in which he plays a horribly corrupted/hacked rom of Super Mario 64 and it leads to a lot of crazy and hilarious situations/commentary. (I also haven ever heard him cuss or make dirty jokes, if you're on the look out for that sort of thing.)


I've talked too much to post a famix, I think, so I won't.

Also I have way too many famixes I've made/enjoyed and while I will probably still post some over here regularly, you should really just follow/stalk my 8tracks if you're interested in that sort of thing.


Chapter Time!

Link to chapter

tumblr tag

commentary under the cut, as always



I don't have a lot of introduction notes, but I did tell myself to mention that I spent like a month or so before finally writing this working on Kairi and Aqua fics (which, uh, you all probably know about.)

Said fics are:


Anyway, ch22 is actually my favorite chapter so far of All that Remains! Or, at least, All that Remains part 2!! I'm really happy about the RiKai development, along with everything they discussed, in general. 

I remember I found my brainstorm for this chapter after not touching it for three months (between NFRW and those Kairi and Aqua fics) and I was screaming because it was so good.

And it is!! Really!! It's so good. Personal favorite events from this chapter:
  • Riku being legitimately happy and enjoying himself—not because ~rebuilding is his passion~ (it is definitely not) but because he’s with people he loves and who love him
  • KAIRI ACKNOWLEDGING THAT!!! like initially she wasn’t going to but she thought it and then I was like “the readers need to fucking know what she’s thinking” so I had her tell Riku (and it actually didn’t feel too ooc)
  • KAIRI FUCKING DOING A 180 ON RIKU YOU WOULDN’T REALLY COMMIT SUICIDE, WOULD YOU!?!
  • The replinami conclusion went in this chapter hghhghfhhff it was initially scheduled to go in a convo w/ my namine but why the fuck not have riku talk to kairi about it, I mean, it flows

I had initially planned for this first chapter of ATR part 2 to be something else, but after writing it I realized that it did less "hint at things to come" and more "give them away to any reader who's paying attention" so I obviously didn't go with it! I'll most likely post it (if I remember) after we're past a Certain Point, but we have to get there first.

Also there was a Xehanort related thing I considered including (actually I considered including it as the interlude) but I didn't--not really because I didn't like how it flowed, but more because I wasn't happy with it as it was at the time. I'm happy with it now! But it's still not going as the interlude, seeing as it's too late for that.


IT FEELS GOOD TO GET BACK INTO RIKU’S HEAD

Also I won’t say I Concretely have a Better Understanding of Kairi after writing the Kai3D fic but…. her voice was coming a little more easily


I’m laughing because they were walkin thru theeee place w/ all the cliffs and the Morning Stars (the Ravine Trail) where Riku initially dislocated his shoulder and he was like “I don’t want to find heartless here bc that’s the easiest way to get distracted enough to fall off”

And I was considering them actually running into heartless and Kairi falling and Riku catching her and pulling her back up okay but he dislocates his shoulder AGAIN in doing so which was a P GOOD thought, especially considering he was slotted to dislocate his shoulder in this chap...

But not this early

So

Nope

((Actually it ended up getting moved to the next chapter, as it turns out--that's because this chapter took 4k words and adding another thousand made it 5k and then it was Too Long))


At least Riku’s being cautious

(Kairi doesn’t even notice)

(also Riku being cautious is really ONLY because he’s already fallen off here and while he’s a little reckless, he’s not stupid)

LIKE, REALLY, this isn’t Riku being afraid of heights—but you know how sometimes you’re on a second or third story (or even higher) of some building and you’re like “yeah this is fine” but then you get to the edge like rly close and look down and you go “oh…..” bc it hits you again just how high up you are

It’s that, plus the fact that there are no railings, the drop is higher, and he’s already fallen from this exact spot before

His reluctance later to climb the rubble is not a heights thing, but more of a “I can’t really climb with a bum shoulder” and then Kairi gets down on the same ledge as him and that’s more “KAIRI I AM LITTERALLY A STEP AWAY FROM THE EDGE GET OUT OF MY SPACE BC I CAN’T BACK UP” and if he toppled over backward he knows he would hit his head, and, well

Also??? potentially?? Replicas are more cautious of things they’ve encountered as being dangerous in the past bc that’s just how they’re Programmed or w/e


UH don’t ask/think too hard about world layout I mean we all know I’ve never been 100% accurate to the game before and while I’m coming off as accurate to it for now, that only applies to the “past the bailey”—once you get into actual town you have a much larger than shown in game housing district, and the shopping area is probably even further out or smth

I’d initially pictured this scene happening in fountain court from BBS (or what it would look like now) and while I COULD have incorporated that I…. I figured I might as go w/ KH2 layout…. Partially bc there were more likely to be heartless outside of town yyyyanno
(I’d still like to think there is a not-as-beautiful-and-not-working fountain court in HB somewhere that they just haven’t fixed up yet)

I‘m rly mad (actually no I’m not) there was going to be this thing where Riku was like “the hb gang…. Talks…. About Namine…. it’s so weird…..” bc they do discuss her Yuffie ask where she is why hasn’t she come back they all do Yuffie’s just the loudest and Aerith and Leon off and on hold hushed conversations about why they think she left, whether or not they should do anything, it’s not their place, exactly, especially since Namine isn’t here, but obviously something is going on and Riku’s only handling it…. well he’s handling it better than Aerith expected him to, honestly, but that doesn’t mean this is going to be good if it continues for much longer

I JUST COULDN’T FIND A SPOT TO BRING THAT UP sighs and shrugs


THIS DIDN’T MAKE IT IN…. WHAT A SHAME…
Kairi: besides Riku if it really does take her another two weeks I will do something about it at that point—NOT TELL YOU WHAT SHE’S THINKING but make her talk to you, certainly
Riku: how are you gonna do that?
Kairi: well if telling her to doesn’t work, there’s nothing stopping me and sora from having you two conveneiently in the same place at the same time
Riku: you’d do that?
Kairi: for you as much as Namine. she can’t run from this forever

OH YEAH! I nearly forgot to mention, but remember that I made a mix about my Riku / magik's Namine and their relationship? Well, it's relevant again. (Or, it's more relevant than it was at ATR ch13, I suppose I should say). 

No comments: