Safeworks' Journal @safeworksjournal - Tumblr Blog

"Please don't leave me."

#persona 3 #makoto yuki #mitsuru kirijo #shumitsu #megaten #blender3d

Red Dead Redemption 2 - A cruel magnum opus that demonstrates how revenge is a luxury no one can afford

The last time I had played Red Dead Redemption 2 was during its launch period in October 2018. Life was a lot different back then - I was just starting College and didn't have any means of putting my own food on the table. But despite the stress that came with the predicaments I found myself in at the time, I still had enough bandwidth in my fragile mind to lose myself in its world, characters, and all the contentious gameplay mechanics that brought the experience together. What I was left with at the time was a game that had left a mark on me for its memorable cast of characters, with the highlight naturally being the protagonist, Arthur Morgan - a character whose story beautifully depicted how one's meeting with Father Time can shift their entire perspective on their world and what their purpose truly is with the precious time they've been granted. And for many years, after playing through Arthur Morgan's story, it was in fact the only thing I was able to bring myself to fondly remember about the game, because the reality was that the game just simply didn't feel all that good to play. I often felt like I was fighting the controls against this imaginary input delay, and some portions of the game just felt too on-rails for my liking. I also shared some heavy gripes with the pacing of the game's main missions and its overall narrative, often feeling like I was being strung along through a 30+ hour experience with the promise of "it'll be worth it in the end". And thankfully, it was indeed worth it in the end. But, equally, I shared no desire to go back and experience this game again under any circumstance.

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, I suddenly was reminded of this game and, alongside that rediscovery, was met with the urge to replay through the experience again. Even with the unfond memories I have of this game's feel and pacing, I still wanted to go through it all again to see if I still felt the same way that I did about its overall story and characters. I guess I'm kind of at this weird point in my life where I feel like my perspective on things has changed a lot over the years, and so I find a lot of interest in knowing if that somehow has affected my stance on some of the games, movies, books, or music I've previously consumed. And so, I went ahead and booted up the game on PC and played through it over the past few days to re-experience the whole thing with a much cleaner image output and frame-rate, and overall... I think I still sort of feel the same way about this game. There are parts of it that I enjoyed more this time around, but there also a few things that I actually think have aged fairly poorly in my eyes.

I used to be a big defender of the nearly 7-hour long epilogue of this game, but I just cannot find myself to defend it in good faith this time around. My main argument for this epilogue's length at the time was that it really made the player anticipate the moment where they'll finally hear that it's time to exact revenge on Micah. And perhaps at the time, I was just clouded by the incredible goosebumps that I got when hearing the music during the "American Venom" mission. But now, I just feel like there are a few plot points that simply did not need to exist or just went on for too long. I just didn't care about the subplot with the Skinners, or the fishing trip that went wrong between John Marston and Jack because of Rufus (their dog) getting poisoned by a snake, because these things ultimately didn't add much, if anything, to the overall narrative for me. On the other hand, something I've grown to appreciate a whole lot more this time around was just Dutch van der Linde as a character. I often found myself in awe of just how effortlessly he seemed to be throwing thought-provoking one-liners around, which were enhanced even more so through his VA's incredible performance. It's also just genuinely heartbreaking watching his relationship with Arthur, and the rest of the group, deteriorate as quickly as it does by the last third of the game. Another aspect I've grown to appreciate more this time are just the incredibly random activities that you can stumble upon in the open world. I remember these feeling more like unnecessary distractions when I first played the game, but now I really have grown to appreciate them as effective ways to make the experience feel fresh enough for each player while also making the world feel like it continues to move on even when the player is not present.

All this to say, however, there is one glaring thing that I've personally realized about this game's narrative after playing through it for the first time in over 7 years, which is the fact that I feel like the story doesn't truly kick into the next gear until Chapter 6... which is the penultimate chapter before the two-part Epilogue. There are moments such as Hosea's death at the end of Chapter 4 that gave me a little hint of things getting a bit more dramatic, but then that feeling quickly gets stomped into the mud by Chapter 5 in Guarma, which is a chapter that I still did not enjoy. It just felt like there were a lot of "start and stop" moments in this game during its early portions, and I guess they were a lot more glaring to me now than they were on a first playthrough. It ultimately really made me sit back and think about how the plot doesn't truly evolve beyond a story about a group of outlaws on the run until Chapter 6, and I think that is what makes this game so cruel to me in some ways. All of the things that I appreciate the most about this game, and how well it hammers home the fact that revenge is never worth the price of admission, none of it really come together until its closing moments... and then the game just ends. And if I want to experience those incredible moments again, I got to go through another 20+ hours before I finally get to any of it - and I find that to be cruel.

Despite all my love and equal gripes with this game, one thing I can say with certainty is that it will always remain Rockstar Games' true magnum opus.

#red dead redemption two #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption #game thoughts #my thoughts #rdr

I just finished my first replay of Assassin's Creed III - a game I haven't touched in about 12 or so years. Somehow, as the years have passed by since this game's release, I was gaslit into believing that neither this game's narrative nor its characters were compelling in the slightest. But after this most recent playthrough, I feel confident in saying that this game probably has one of the more compelling narratives and characters in the franchise. Some of the narrative beats, particularly the ones that put an emphasis on Connor's deep-rooted beliefs in what it truly means to be a free man, really hit home for me today as an adult than they did when I was just a young teenager.

In some ways, I now sort of look at this game as Ubisoft's swansong for the incredible run they were on from early 2000s to early 2010s. And as the years continue to pass by, I'd like to think that more people will start to look at this game more fondly.

#assassin's creed #assassin's creed iii #connor kenway #game thoughts #my thoughts #journal #ubisoft

"This... This is our terms." - Why Final Fantasy XVI is my second favorite entry in the franchise

Final Fantasy in this day and age is... such a complicated topic. A lot of times, when you talk about any entry in the franchise after FFX or XII, you'll often find yourself being posed the question of "What even is Final Fantasy anymore?"

And to be honest, you'd be justified in having any ounce of trouble answering that very question, especially after how the franchise has completely strayed away from its turn-based battle system for the last couple mainline entries. In fact, I probably couldn't even give you a simple one-liner to answer that question myself. Is simply having chocobos, a familiar set of spells, and a heavy emphasis on crystal-powered magic enough to make a Final Fantasy game - a "Final Fantasy game"? This was, and still is, a question that I've had a hard time answering.

But that doesn't mean that I don't have something to add to this sometimes heated debate, because the game that I'm writing about in this post is the one that I'd truly use as a visual aid to help describe to others what makes a Final Fantasy game to me. And that game is none other than 2023's Final Fantasy XVI - a game that a significant portion of the fanbase would say is the antithesis of what Final Fantasy should be.

This game doesn't feature the classic turn-based system that most have come to know and love up until the PS2 days, or that sense of grand adventure that the likes of FF6 have given us. Rather, it does the complete opposite. This game is unashamedly an action game, through and through, and gives up that sense of adventure for something more enclosed and intimate. Gone is the classic overworld map, for in its place are your traditional sets of semi-open levels that act as bridges for the player to get from point A to point B. Gone is the heavy emphasis on grinding for levels, and building up your roster of party members to effortlessly tackle any boss fights that may come your way, for in its place is a fast-paced battle system that gives you immediate feedback and adrenaline for every single one of your inputs.

And so, all we're now left with in Final Fantasy XVI are the chocobos, the iconic roster of summons and magic spells, and another iteration of a character that goes by the name of 'Cid'. But despite it all, there is one important thing that this game retains and, in my opinion, does so wonderfully compared to all of the other entries I've played in this franchise. That feeling is the second half of the franchise's title itself - "Fantasy". That indescribable feeling that fills you with a sense of "No book tells a fantasy story like this one, for better or worse" after rolling credits - which is exactly how I felt after finishing this game for a second time.

Because what I felt after once again playing through Clive's story about the importance of an unbreakable will wasn't a feeling that I'd normally have when playing through any other game. In fact, what I felt was special. It was something that I've only felt after playing some of my favorite entries in this historic franchise like FFVI, FFVII, or FFX. It was something that only "Final Fantasy" has ever made me feel. Not Dragon Quest, or The Witcher, or LIVE A LIVE, or Persona. No, only Final Fantasy has ever made me feel what I felt after finishing FFXVI.

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This game is flawed, but it's so wonderful."

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This story did not go where I thought it would. And yet, it all makes sense now."

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This world is so much bigger, so much more important, than just these characters."

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This is the sort of music that I won't hear anywhere else."

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This is a kind of boss fight that I won't experience anywhere else."

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This is a cast of characters that can be fleshed out so much more. And yet, they don't even need to be."

It's only Final Fantasy that has ever given me that feeling of "This is a story and world that feels like something I'd dream about as a child."

And my god, for everything I've stated above, Final Fantasy XVI is the one game in the franchise that has made me feel all of it as strongly as I ever did. Because on paper, in action, it seems nothing like a Final Fantasy game. But when I rolled credits, especially after this recent second playthrough, it absolutely is my emotional blueprint for what a Final Fantasy game should be.

#final fantasy xvi #ffxvi #clive rosfield #game thoughts #my thoughts #final fantasy

Hello! I've been following you on twitter for a while but I hadn't noticed you had a Tumblr (also I Feel slightly more confortable saying this here), but this is with regards to that tweet you made about your soul searching.

I felt the need to reach out because i'm also sorta struggling to a degree with that question (you know, what to do with life and such), so I wanted to express my sympathies!

What I can tell you is that the way I've "Settled" this debate for me has to essentially see it as a side thing that you just throw your extra hours on (putting It like this makes It sound wasteful, but it's absolutely not!). I feel like it's a good thing to aim this energy towards a goal (like say, improving a skill, finishing a project, etc), but it really needs to be more like a thing you *become*, and less a thing you're *doing*. Like, you became a person who's tinkering with a game, that's just who you are now, and you don't really think about the future where you become the person who made a game.

Was that helpful? I hope It was helpful, If It wasn't, I just hope you're feeling better.

Thank you. That does help a little

I've done a lot of thinking over the last few days/week and I've come to the conclusion that I need to step away from making fanart for a few months, and instead start to make art for myself - with my own unique world, characters, and stories.

As a result, I'll be uploading the entirety of my story, Never Alone-Never Again, in the coming days on AO3 (I'll be wiping the Wattpad version due to the abundance of AI comments)

I'll hopefully have the entire thing up by the end of this weekend. But if not, it will definitely be all up next week.

I don't have much else I can say outside of the fact that I genuinely had a fun time making the P3 fanart and stories with Makoto and Mitsuru, but I feel that it's time for me to take time to make stuff that I own - stuff that I could proudly call mine.

If you supported me in any way, whether it was through here or on Twitter, all I could say is "Thank You"

Link to the story is below. Feel free to keep an eye for updates:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/68593181/chapters/177595466

#persona 3 #persona 3 reload #makoto yuki #mitsuru kirijo #atlus #my art #fanfic