oh taupewolfy also asked me about Transistor lol. I'll post the final boss theme:

I love Impossible bcuz it's like. Okay it's too late for me to be articulate but it's weirdly like, upbeat for a final boss theme (especially the major key harp section in the middle) and I think that's really cool. Royce is having the fucking high of his life in this duel for control of the city and his life's work. It's also about the fantastical nature of what they're dueling for which, until now, has been presented fairly scientifically. Also the bass line is strong, as it should be because bass is Royce's theme instrument. I try to let the man have as few Turn()s as possible but I do kinda like it when he gets one so I can just hear the bass.

Umm, for Deltarune... let's stay on trend and post another boss theme.

i actually just sent that exact ask to someone else earlier hehe

always happy to talk about tales :D

thanks for lmk, for my followers it's this post

the character i least understand

There is a level of apathy to Amarant I cannot get behind. It doesn’t help that you’re not given much of a context as to why he behaves like this.

interactions i enjoyed the most

The way Garnet interacts with the rest of the cast (namely Zidane, Steiner, Vivi and Eiko) is really good. In all the franchise, she may be the character with the most growth and the most interesting dynamics around her in general imo.

the character who scares me the most

Look Zorn and Thorn are not exactly scary in their regular state(s?) but then they turn into this 

And this was their true form all along? Unsettling.

the character who is mostly like me

I related to Garnet a lot growing up and still I think she is the most like me in the game. But admittedly she’s more the character I’d like to be the most like. I relate a lot to her reflections regarding her weaknesses, her vulnerability and her sorrows and unfortunately less so to her growing confidence and her boldness.

hottest looks character

(Unfortunately I am like this)

one thing i dislike about my fave character

My favourite character is Kuja and honestly, I don’t have to look too far to find something to hate about him, I just have to see how S-E writes him out of his own game.

one thing i like about my hated character

I hate Brahne because they made her so stereotypically evil (and slapped typically alienating ideas of what evil people look like onto her) and yet, in the same time, they manage to depict Garnet’s feelings for her with incredible depth.

In Garnet I see a moving portrayal of a victim of domestic abuse who can’t let go of the love she feels for her mother, even after all the harm she’s done her. Often when dealing with an abusive parent, there are those who can’t help but retain some aspect of affection for them. Garnet’s words for her when she died echo this complicated notion and overall felt very convincing and personal. It’s hard to reconcile the nuances of her death, and the nuances of Garnet’s feelings with the blatant evil characterization but that scene speaks to me nonetheless.

a quote or scene that haunts me

Honestly I find the entire Bran Bal segment haunting, in the best way possible (the discovery of Terra is my favourite part in the game). There is something so hollow about it, so souless and melancholic which makes the atmosphere unforgettable.

a death that left me indifferent

I think none left me entirely indifferent but Kuja’s death might just be the one I cared the least about (which might sound odd considering I like him the most).

a character i wish died but didn’t

Fratley: It’s not that I hate him (I just do not care for him), I think Freya first having to mourn their relationship and then having to mourn the man himself, with all the complicated feelings it entails would have been great in this game.

my ship that never sailed

3. 1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed

Oh I was gonna include this in my "video games I played in 2022" wrap-up post I'm theoretically gonna make. But as a sneak peek, my top three games of 2022 (that maybe aren't the best but that I enjoyed the most) are AI: The Somnium Files -- nirvanA Initiative, Pyre, and Odin Sphere Leifthrasir.

5. Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

Ah jeez. I try really hard not to follow current releases since I don't have current gen consoles, but it would be a lie if I said I'm not interested in playing Dragon Age 4 (no I'm not calling it "Dreadwolf"). I probably won't play it when it comes out, since I don't have a PS5, but I definitely have to play it eventually. Also FFVII Remake stuff, because, despite all my complaints with the first one, I still enjoyed the experience. u_u

7. A series you’ve lost interest in

I feel like you know the answer to this lmao... Kingdom Hearts for sure. That was my favorite series as a kid, but once I started hitting the end of high school / early undergrad years, I stopped following the series (since it kept releasing "spin-offs" [see: actually entirely necessary games to understand the story] for consoles I didn't have). I still have a lot of nostalgia for the first one--weirdly I would say that one is the game that ignited my interest in the open world format, despite being a very linear experience--and I still really like the Chain of Memories manga (FORMATIVE!!) but I'm just not into it these days. Not really being into Disney properties anymore also definitely contributes.

11. Do you prefer ‘blank slate’ main characters you make yourself or otherwise project onto, or characters with a set personality and backstory?

Very tough call... it depends on the game & the protagonist, honestly. I don't really like playing as men, which is unavoidable if you're into video games, so on a very shallow level I wish more games allowed me to make my own character. I also enjoy crafting one that I think fits into the setting and making choices with them, I like feeling like I have a hand in shaping the story (which is an experience only video games can provide). Also I think a lot of protagonists are forgettable, and outshone by a far more memorable supporting cast, so why not let me just make my own? (Barring, you know, budget/resource reasons.) But some video game protagonists are really good, and have important roles in the story they're in, and I wouldn't swap them out for a blank slate. SO... depends on the game tbh! Also I just want to play as more women. If your game lets me play as a woman I'm already invested (even if I don't end up liking that woman very much).

13. Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind

AAAA!! Um, Cosmo Canyon? From FFVII?

5: A popular series/game you just can’t get into no matter how much you try?

i'm just like @catiuapavel re: pokemon. i played it a bunch as a kid, but these days none of the games can hold my interest, i find the premise extremely boring. battling and catching cute animals just doesn't keep my attention for the sheer length of those games. it's also the kind of thing i wish i was into, because It's Huge, but i also don't feel like i'm missing out because i've got other things i can be into. i felt some FOMO when pokemon go was a huge thing, but that's mostly because i didn't even have a smart phone then, so i couldn't have played even if i wanted to (which i did, just so i could play with friends)

6: A game that’s changed you the most?

this is a tough question. i'm nixing any games from my childhood because i don't feel like they "changed" me as much as they established my interests/character. (who was i when i was five years old? a five-year-old.) so final fantasy tactics is out, because that one is more amy-defining than it is amy-changing (though i feel like i've grown into it and continue to find things to love about it, twenty fucking years later). i'm actually gonna answer this question in phases.

high school: final fantasy ix. i like ffvii better, but that's mostly nostalgia; like other people who have mentioned this already, ffix's narrative has an extraordinarily unique relationship with death that completely changed how i feel about it as a person, and what it means to face it. it gave me like a baby existential crisis, but a good one.

university: i technically played assassin's creed games first, but i feel like getting into skyrim was the number one game-changer for me (lol). an entire world of video games that weren't just linear, tightly controlled rpgs or relaxing & simple adventure-platformers opened up to me after i mastered skyrim. skyrim was the game that got me from "gamer who only plays one specific genre" to "gamer who is willing to experiment and play with all kinds of different genres." the open world and real-time combat was so huge and terrifying to me when i first played it, but because skyrim is easy (relatively speaking, like it's easy for its genre) i was able to get over some fears and learn some new video game skills that have stayed with me since.

post-university: good lord but dragon age. it was the gay romances that drew me in and kept me there, i'd never experienced anything like it before in video games. i loved the date mechanics of ffvii, but dating aeris as cloud was different than dating aeris as me / as a woman, and dragon age like... as sad as it sounds, it offered the chance to play as a lesbian, which was really exhilarating the first go-round. it's still mind-boggling to me that people play it and do like... all the straight person romances. why???

recently: i'm still stewing over it but i think outer wilds is really one of the best games ever made and, like ffix, also has an extremely unique, refreshing, and also kind of terrifying approach to life & death, and i'm obsessed with it. i'll be chewing on this game for a long, long time, it's without peer tbh.

secondarily tales of the abyss has now surpassed a vast majority of jrpg titles i hold dear to my heart, like i'm talking most of the final fantasies, so that was fun to play. ALSO has a very good relationship with existence & with death, though imo it's more depressing than ffix (but like, worthwhile depressing)

sorry about the length of this question lol. it's hard to answer. i'm sure i will find another game somewhere down the line that will change me again, too.

9: A game you turn your volume off every time you play it?