patchouli KNAWLEDGE

THIS IS SO FUCKING COOL AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

i'm so happy!

All my DS games (like $1200 worth, not that it matters) got stolen last year, and I can't and will likely never be able to replace those cartridges. I tried an R4, but it was a time bomb. And this thing looks really promising - it should be delivered some time this week.

So I've been putting together a folder of all the games I want to play. This is primarily a project I wanted to do because, when I become a cranky old man with memory loss, I think that one thing anyone who is taking care of me will be able to give me to entertain myself is a DS. I can replay Renegade Platinum, Explorers of Sky, Crystal Chronicles EoT, Digimon Dusk, Animal Crossing - the list goes on and on. The DS had some truly great games.

And I also downloaded some I've never played! I'm particularly excited to try Phantasy Star Zero, Ghost Trick, and Solatorobo.

But for now, other than Renegade Platinum, I decided to make a small little Explorers of Sky Hack of my own - since I've always wanted to play through the game with Cherry, my favorite Pokemon and a shiny Buneary, as my partner. But I ended up going a little overboard - I got to thinking, I can make every single partner result exciting for old man me. I will likey forget some of these decisions and end up giddy as a child upon seeing some of them, too.

Imagine I get surprised by my personality quiz results and get a Popplio!! Or even a Bagon I think could be really cool. I grew to love Girafarig through PMD (because it was the first mon I was able to clear one of those super hard lv 1 dungeons with), so she felt fitting to add - all the other choices explain themselves. They're just my favorites. And Swablu and Altaria have some truly amazing portrait art courtesy of Emmuffin, gromchurch and tawnysoup. So a huge thanks to the PMD Sprite Repository for the sprites necessary to make this happen.

There's a small chance SkyTemple-edited roms can't actually be played on DS hardware - hopefully, that's not the case.

Higan Zesshosai appreciation post:

I did not think I was going to like this character based solely on design (the same goes for a lot of the D7 cast actually). But I was wrong. My appreciation for Higan began with her very strong and very unique introduction, coming out of nowhere and, slight spoiler alert, stabbing the bad guy that had been built up over the entire last chapter up the ass with a spear, then stealing his Infernal spear, then suddenly being the boss of the stage instead. I actually could not believe it, when I first saw the bad guy of the chapter I was like "oh look, there's generic bad guy." I wasn't excited or motivated to fight him. So when the game did away with him for me and replaced him with the hardest boss in the game to that point in Higan, I was already sold. But from there Higan only gets better.

The title of "Zesshosai" is given to the strongest demon swordsman, and Higan is consistently throughout the story both acknowledged and feared for the title. She shows no fear in dialogue when encountering even the toughest bosses, and enemies respect her presence. She has limited herself to using only Spears to explain why she is around (around) the same power level as the rest of your party, but when she uses one of her signature abilities, "Unrestrained" she gains all stats up and is able to use Swords for 3 turns, immediately having access to the highest level Sword skills. Her base defenses and growths also lend her to, once having those boosts, being nearly unkillable. If I ever needed to bait a strong enemy or group of enemies closer but not die to their attacks, Higan was 99% of the time the unit I'd send into their range to tank, because somehow she just lives everything, so long as shes either defending or has those Unrestrained boosts.

I think I got a little unlucky in the midgame with my spear drops, so my Higan's damage was suffering, but after I slapped some Hit and Attack growth Evilities on her she ended up being probably my strongest unit outside of Fuji into the late and post game, and definitely my most resilient.

There is something about her voice (JP) that I find very unique and pleasant, too. There will be these little fluctuations in her pitch, most notably in one of her Attack lines, "Shiaou-ka!?" I dont know what that means but the way she says it just HITS for me. It's cocky and intimidating and evocative (non-sexual) all at once and I feel her VA is very much to thank for bringing out this character's personality.

Her dynamic within the group is also very multifaceted - she is at one point wise, known to be the strongest, and observant, while at the other easy to trigger into a rampage, and a huge spender because shes obsessed with sweets. Unlike several Disgaea character gimmicks, this is used purely for comedy and not overplayed - Higan can be 100% serious, and when she is you feel it. Due to her strong and flexible personality, I think that she was the second most used character after Pirilika in the comedy bits that follow each episode, and her presence was always funny and believable in whatever nonsense they had her doing. Also worth mentioning is that Higan was Fuji's master, and thus always commands respect from the character we are most meant to see the world through. Though Fuji has some bad memories of his training days, he does trust Higan and her gut.

Been thinking about Hornet's interaction with Lace in the cradle. "Yours is life, pale one. Do not confuse your unique creation with its absence. I have seen others make the same mistake."

Lace responds, "Platitudes, spider? From you? Don't be gross."

But whats beautiful about that is that of all beings, Hornet is one of the very few who CAN say that. I think this exchange is the grandest in Silksong in terms of theme. Hornet respects Lace and I believe is motivated to save her not despite knowing her essence, but BECAUSE of it, and that very motivation, the respect she has for her siblings, ends up paying itself back for her in Sister of the Void. She once saved the Knight, now the Knight saves her. And I like to think the Knight saw to some extent what she was doing in saving Lace, too.