#also long

Gabi talks at length about CPom (she likes the FD, thinks it has even more potential than Carmen, thinks they might have underperformed on competition day compared to how they looked in practice, where she had thought they would be an easy 2nd place, and that a jump in scores is very possible as they progress this season)

that Z/K looked SO improved at Cup of China compared to last year they were almost unrecognizable, that it's a possibility they could be 2nd at Nationals, we'll see

Shibs - likes their RD, they looked ready. it's hard to adjust to the changes in the last 7 years. a lot isn't about how good you are, it's how adapted to the rules you are

Gabi's commentating GPF, US Nationals, maybe Euros, definitely the Olympics

L/B's FD is her favorite - that she's jealous, she'd want to skate that FD (probably coudln't do the lifts, she said, that Evgenia's so strong). that Loicia and Theo deserved their high score

also talked at length about the Browns - that she loves their skating, that she hates gimmicks, but they always find a way to put something in their programs, and she buys it. that she finds them introverted live - that once they unlock that they could break through

*Commentary including things from latest chapters

i thought about writing it and the mental breakdown (dread) is ALSO still ongoing

i definitely love this game more than i dislike it, but now that the hype has died down and ive had more time with the game ive come to realize a few things about it that i dont like all that much or are just unfortunate observations

i think the developers really spent all their time and resources on designing each level and making the gameplay feel as satisfying as possible. this is a good thing, and i would rather every game do this at the expense of everything else. however, the expense this has on quest lines gets really hard to ignore in the latter half of the game, and it does a lot to show how a lot of the last areas feel a little unpolished compared to the rest of the game

so far, almost all the quest lines ive been through have had two kinds of endings: one that ends unexpectedly and anticlimactically, or none at all. the seigmeyer equivalent in this game dies off screen and drops an item you can't do anything with. there's a guy named kenneth who you have to rescue but even after you rescue him he never leaves that spot. he tells you to clear the fort he lords over. as far as im aware, even after clearing the fort and talking to him he never goes back to that fort. apparently he's supposed to, but it doesn't seem to work for me

there's an npc who gives you a potion that you have to give to another npc, and if you get the chance to give it to them nothing comes of it. its never explained or ever brought up again as far as im aware. diallos, one of the first npcs in the game you meet, has an entire questline that goes up to an area halfway into the game, and once he disappears that's it for him. he drops a unique item, and the only time you can get it is the one time he's ever in the overworld, and you have no reason to fight him in that encounter.

usually id say this is classic from soft cryptic bullshit, but there are quite a few things that point towards the game not being finished. jarburg is the biggest piece of evidence pointing to the questlines and npcs being incomplete. in the games files there are numerous lines of dialog and two npcs who are supposed to show up there and possibly interact, but nothing really happens in that area at all.

also i just have to be honest, the game at times is too hard to be enjoyable. this will come down to your personal taste, but for me i don't enjoy bashing my head against a wall waiting for luck to be on my side and some of these encounters feel like that's the only way you're supposed to win. i dont mean any part of the first 50% of the game btw, i mean once you unlock the last 3 areas the game Cranks the bullshit factor up to 11. castle sol has a boss with two ads that have ~2500 health, can teleport, and have two greatswords on top of dealing frostbite damage, and the boss itself creates giant frostbite aoes when he does literally any move at all. that's just one example but there are so many more but this post is getting too long lol

there's a long period after you hit the mid point of the game where you don't feel adjusted to take on anything. and eventually you run out of things to do in the beginning areas either because youve completed most of it, or because the soul yield is so low that its not even worth it.

“Credenza's life as a waitress on a magical chain of islands is interrupted when a mysterious man with a missing eye washes up on the beach, beginning a series of events that will pull her into a battle to save the world and the people she loves.” - The Archipelago

Fascinating creatures! Living machinery! A submarine! What more could you want?? Magic? Has that too!