#mino rants

[mistbow]

I know this may seem so sudden but I unironically love how vague Zesty can be sometimes, that every time I come back to it, I will probably learn something new about it.

And tbh that’s probably intended too. The main reason I probably keep coming back to this game no matter how much time has passed is because I agree with the way Hase Yuuta (the director of the game) thinks.

From his interview in the Complete Guide:

説明しすぎるとかっこ悪いというか興をそいでしまうので、大事なところは秘めています。表情で描いたり、背中で語らせたりと演出には気をつけたかったので、「深読みかな？」と思うくらい読んでいただけるとうれしいです。

If I explain it too much, it would be uncool, or rather, not intriguing, so I hide the important parts. I wanted to be careful with the direction, such as depicting it with facial expressions or body language [i.e. through the way they act, not what they say; speaking with their backs], so I would be happy if you were to read into it while thinking “Am I reading into it too much?”

Also earlier, from his interview with Famitsu:

最後に、ゲーム全体についてお伝えさせてください。作中のあるシーンで、スレイが言う「自分で見つけるのが探検の醍醐味じゃないか」というセリフ。ここにこだわって、今回のゲームを作り上げた面があります。バトルも、探索も、そして物語も、ゲームのあちこちにお楽しみや解釈のヒントが散りばめられていますから、ぜひ皆さんのお好きなように進めて、最後まで楽しんでください！

Finally, let me tell you something about the game as a whole. In one scene, there’s a line where Sorey says “Isn’t discovering things by yourself the best part of exploration?” This is one of the aspects of the game that we focused on. There are hints of interpretation, of fun things that you can look forward to, scattered here and there in the game: in the battles, exploration, and even the story, so please enjoy the game the way you want to play it until the end!

It’s things like the game (or anyone involved in the game, in any interview, ever) never really brings to your attention that Sorey (or humans in general) being right-handed and Mikleo (or seraphim in general) being left-handed actually explains why Sorey stands on the right side and Mikleo on the left, except for the time Sorey was blind on the right eye that Mikleo covers his right side (in cutscenes, in skits, in battles...), and that Sorey moving to Mikleo’s left side on the night before the final battle scene as a way to ask his support once again. But that’s just one example.

I love how this idea is reflected in Sorey as the protagonist too. I mean, they mentioned about his quote above, but there’s something alluring about a game that doesn’t really explain itself, lol, like uncovering the mysteries surrounding the world it takes place in (it helps that Sorey is naturally curious about the world around him... his curiosity is contagious LOL). This might seem like I excuse what might seem like poor worldbuilding/storytelling to others but that’s exactly why I find Zesty fascinating the way I don’t find a lot of things are lol.

tl;dr I love how there’s probably a lot of things not set in stone by the creators in Zesty and I wish there were more stuff like it because there are not a lot of stuff quite like it. I love to read too much into stuff, let me do it.

[mistbow]

I was in Zesty equipment grinding hell for this and it still kinda makes me a bit sad that this localization totally misses the reference.

(Sanctified Astral Mastery btw, Mikleo’s rarest staff since it drops from Level 90+ enemies lol)

In Japanese it was a reference to Mix Master (ミックスマスター), one of the extension spells in Crazy Comet (クレイジーコメット), originally coming from Destiny 2 (and also in Hearts).

It’s 星河ミックスマスター, which I would probably translate to something like Galaxy Masterstroke? Galactic Masterstroke? Since Masterstroke is what Mix Master is localized as in Hearts R anyway.

This is how the weapon looks like:

Which kinda looks like Harold’s staff (or not really lol) except with Meebo colors. As a D2 fan I’m, again, very sad the localization misses this LOL.

Though if only Mikleo really had Crazy Comet and its extensions (Twinkle Star, Mix Master, and Princess of Mermaid... after all, Princess of Mermaid is a Water spell too in D2, and I guess the rest can count as non-elemental like in the original D2 too, so Void I guess lol). I also am wondering what’s with Mikleo and being star-themed, for some reason, since his sanctified circlets are named after the stars in the twelve zodiac sign constellations. Oh well, if anything, it goes well with his Prima Stella costume lmao.

[mistbow]

スタン「ディムロス……」 ディムロス「最後に一つだけ言っておく」 ディムロス「私は嘘をついていた。おまえは選ばれた存在などではないのだ」 スタン「…………！」 ディムロス「元々、人間にはお互いに意志疎通を行う力があった」 ディムロス「だが、長い時間の中で、天地戦争が始まった頃には、人間はそれを忘れていた」 ディムロス「おまえは私と出会う前から、その資質を目覚めさせていた」 ディムロス「それは非常に希有な事ではあったが、特別な事ではない」 ディムロス「その資質は誰の中にも、眠っているものなのだからな」 スタン「なんだ、そういうことか……　気にするなよ、俺は別に気にしてないからな」

STAHN: Dymlos.... DYMLOS: I want to say one final word to you. DYMLOS: I lied to you. You were not chosen. STAHN: .........! DYMLOS: In the beginning, people were blessed with the power to truly understand one another. DYMLOS: However, this power was lost by the time of Aeth’er Wars. DYMLOS: But you found that quality within yourself even before you met me. DYMLOS: It was very unusual to find someone like you, but your abilities are not extraordinary. DYMLOS: This is because this power, this ability lies dormant within everyone. STAHN: Is that all? Hey, don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me at all.

When people (usually English-speaking people, because Japanese fans of Destiny often have this attachment to the original game because of nostalgia) ask me if I seriously prefer the original version to the PS2 remake of the game in terms of overall narrative and characters, I really mean it unironically.

I feel like in the bigger picture, the message of the original game (like why it was even called Tales of Destiny, for instance) had truly been lost when it was remade, and I lament for this loss more than anything else. In terms of gameplay, yes, it’s more polished and I’d argue they had turned one of the most horribly-aged games to something that’s so damn fun to play, and I know that’s what matters the most when it comes to videogames in general, but I wish it had retained what made the original game so special to the people who have played it, despite of all of its faults. (As a disclaimer: I started with this game, however, I don’t have nostalgic attachment to it like a lot of people do; that nostalgia is for D2 in my case, as it was the first one that wholly captured the magic of Tales to me. However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate D for what it was at the time.)

Sure, you can say more details are fleshed out (debatable for the characters, as I feel they have become more of flanderized or even outright contradictory versions of themselves at worst, and ‘softened’ at best, not allowed to act truly like humans at times, compared to their original counterpart with all their 人間臭い qualities), but is it worth it in place of muddying or even distorting the message it was meant to convey in the first place? I’ve said before that in my opinion, overcomplicated worldbuilding just for the sake of it is overrated. In trying to explain how the Swordians work in the remake, they changed the setting, but then the above doesn’t work anymore in this context. It’s gone. Just like that.

Making the characters more ‘palatable’ beats the purpose. I deliberately used the word 人間臭い because you know what? Yes, they stink, but you can feel the humanity exactly because of the stink. Humans are good, but humans are also bad. If you’re gonna say Stahn (or anyone for that matter) is not that special, then show it to me, show how human he can get. I’m not saying the original version of the characters are that well-written either, because honestly, they could’ve been fleshed out more... just not in the way how the remake does it, if you can call that fleshing out the characters. There are so many ways you could’ve expanded on them without truly erasing what made them charming in the first place. As well as, again, I want to believe the characters were created and written that way for a reason, and getting hung up in the details of these characters make a lot of people miss the point.

(There’s a beauty in Stahn having done all the things he did in the game because he believed he was destined to do so, but deep inside, even if he wanted to tell himself that, he was still doing all of these because he believed in what he had already believed, long before even meeting Dymlos. That’s an admirable character.)

(By the way, I know a lot of these issues also stemmed from how D2 tried to expand on the world of D though they can't even be consistent with D2 despite coming after it; for the record, I’m not absolving D2 for these problems either. However, at the same time, if you let my bias speak for just a moment, D2 is there to tell its own story. It doesn’t try to override D. The remake of D’s raison d’être is to be the definitive version of D. That’s the biggest problem there.)

These details don’t matter much to me, what matters is if these details truly serve their purpose, which in my opinion is the themes along with the messages. For me, everything has to begin with an intent, with a broad idea, as well as end with that intent, that idea. And I’m not sure if the remake manages to expand on the idea the original game represents... it just seems like they were confused about what D was really about in the first place. Applied to things like world and characters, it might make it seem like I don’t really care about the individuals, that it might make me seem so detached, but on the contrary, I want to appreciate something as a whole, and to appreciate that whole, I need to appreciate every individual element that is there, that is needed to build it. Because the individuals, when divorced from their contextual whole, mean almost nothing to me. They shine more because they work together to make up something that is whole.

[mistbow]

“would you recommend this thing to others” my mode of enjoying things is that I enjoy things for what they are for me myself. who cares what other people think about what I like, we’re all different anyway that’s just a fact.

[mistbow]

Rays Recollection incoherent rambling. Spoilers obviously.

“This is a tale of recollecting memories, that proves that even if you lose everything, the memories engraved in your heart will never disappear. This is your story.” what does this mean, Rays, explain to me. This is so ominous.

Doesn’t seem Kodama and the other Recollection characters come from Tir na Nog? (seems to take place in Isavelle (sp?), Neo-Idea Kingdom?) Why are they attacking Ix (also attacking the nexuses? huh?)? Fake Baldr retreating when he saw Ix and Mileena?? So many questions...... so many vague stuff lol. confusion. I’m intrigued.

Ix’s rainbow? gem? thing? tasting like bitter memories? huh... Kodama’s line where he says memories have tastes (and that he looks forward to tasting our memories lmao), also the fact that he can hear Phantoms (while we’re at this, he has his... headphones? thing? too), something ordinary people can’t do... he’s an Interesting character. On top of his personality, I actually like his dynamic with Haze too.

Speaking of Haze, she seems to have trouble remembering the past? Also obviously, definitely, she is older than she seems. The King who has problems recollecting her memories, and the boy who looks up to her and aspires to be her right hand, who can taste memories? Intriguing pair lol. My fav so far.

Some notes:

Kodama grew up as an Abandoned person (棄民) who knows nothing of his origin, not even his parents or actual name. Yet despite this he becomes a Reaper? Death Knight? how do you guys translate 死神騎士 lol. So from what I got, Isavelle is protected by Aegis and the colony that houses the Abandoned people isn’t. Seems like they’re treated as second class too from the way that Death Knight treats Kodama in the end.

Only those who are far removed from humanity can be Death Knights. There’s a... throwaway? (not really?) line where Iris says the Phantoms took away her “voice.” Character designs imply something too... fake Baldr with eyepatch. Iris with megaphone. Seirios with prosthetic. That part in the OP too, where the lyrics are like “How much have we fought? How much have we lost? To the point where we can’t remember what we’ve lost” and the animation was like... Seirios touching his prosthetic leg, Iris touching her throat, Liwanna her body, fake Baldr his eyepatch... interesting...........

Speaking of which what is this Idea value? human..... energy..... index...? huh? Basically only those with low Idea can be Death Knights. The Kingdom is named Neo-Idea too like lol. Could it be based on the Platonic Idea?

I wonder if Ix’s memory being fuzzy in the beginning has any kind of plot importance...????? later on????? since they seem to focus a lot on memories.........

EDIT: almost forgot that the Phantom that is kinda unusually strong takes the form of Seirios? even if just for a bit. huh. what does that mean (I keep asking this)

but well I’m sold lol looking forward to the next part. still tho. all this talk of “losing everything but it will still live on in your memories” “we are Reapers who come to end your story” scares me lmao

[mistbow]

The me who doesn’t want any attention and bring my stuff to people’s face vs. the me who wants my blog to be organized and easy to search for me myself only.

[mistbow]

あとこれだけ言っとくけど私が好きなのはD2準拠でツンデレに改造されたリメDリオンじゃなくて、オリDを経て、年相応に丸くなって保護者枠になったジューダスなんだ。

こうしてみるとジューダスはリメDよりオリDのリオンの方にずっと性格近いと思う。オリDでもリオンは正直あまり好きじゃないんだが、オリDリオンを否定することは、私にとってはジューダスをも否定することになる。

[inthemere]

I’m obviously an artistry over athletics girlie when it comes the figure skating so I havnt bothered to learn the difference between the jumps and what proper technique actually looks like but sometime a jump just doesn’t look nice and I don’t know why certain skaters just aren’t visually appealing when they jump. Like one of my issues with the sport starting to be all jumps is that despite them being cool some skaters jumps just look ugly or like the landing looks wonky or the skaters looks like they’re fighting to stay in the air, despite it (apparently-according to commentators and judges which like grain of salt) getting good GOE.

For the most part, I do think it’s because of body type like I personally think shorter, more muscular skaters have nicer looking jumps than super lanky skaters cause their legs just look like they’re wildly swinging around as opposed to more compact? skaters. Some examples that come to mind are skaters like Kaori Sakamoto or Wakaba Hihuchi vs the Russian girlies or Isabelle Levito or really any underaged skater especially if they haven’t gone through puberty. But sometimes thats not the case cause I love Junhwa Cha’s jumps so I do wonder if it’s a technique thing after all? Maybe it’s just that GOE covers specific things and not others or weighs things differently like blade position is more important than body position or it matters how many rotations you get rather than if your leg just keeps going out after you land but like idk I’m just here to watch pretty skating