It Definitely Sells Her Animal Tamer Role.

WLC 2.6-1: Flashback Within a Flashback

"Is this the way into the Underdank?" asks a tall, lanky knight in shining armor. Her voice is a shrill whisper, but upbeat. The green spiral symbol on her shield marks her as a follower of Freegh, the Goddess of Life.

Bobbobo the guard's eyes shift back into focus. At a glance, he may have mistaken her for a tallgoblin, but her large hooked nose and long skinny neck weren't like anyone he'd seen before. Her legs are more cat than goblin, too. Perhaps that is why he hadn't heard her approach. These thoughts occupy his mind for barely a second before he discards them. "Yes," he says, back to business, "Reason for leaving?"

M: She has a striking figure. She's as beautiful as she is kind. But she has a nasty habit of sneaking off, vanishing into darkness.

"I've been tasked with locating the Shadow Queen," says the knight, pumping her fist, "This is the closest entrance to her fortress... I think."

"Time to return, knight?" asks Bobbobo.

"I... hadn't thought about... that?" The knight turns around. "Do I need to know that?"

"No."

YL: Wait, I may have seen your mate.

M: You saw her? You met Kirono?

K: I thhink I did, too. Jusst briefly.

YL: Last week, yeah? Kee-RAW-naw? Cute name.

Before Kirono can speak, a bell rings out from within the dome behind the guard. He claps the fingers of his right hand against its palm, then slaps the dome. The magic barrier become translucent revealing the entrance to the Underdank. "Welcome back, Ling." He does not turn to face the gecko climbing out of the hole.

"G'day, Bob," says Ling, who looks up to the knight, "And ya too, sheila. Love to chat, but I've work to do." She races into the nearby building.

Kirono bends her neck ninety degrees and peers into the hole. She whistles. "That's... not the angle I was expecting."

"Four hundred metres straight down," recites Bobbobo, "The Township of Rankedge 'olds no responsibility for your safety. It is advised not to enter the Underdank." He eyes Kirono without turning his head. "Especially alone."

"I'll be fine," says Kirono, proudly, "I'm a wayang, I was born down there."

"Be careful down there," says Bobbobo.

Seeing the guards apathy, Kirono hesitates. "Maaaaaybe I should tell someone where I'm going first," she says, "Where's the... post office?"

M: I received a letter from her five days ago and- Oh, the ground. Thank you, both of you.

YL: No worries, mate.

K: Now, where shhould we sstart looking, dear?

WLC 2.3: Must Love Gods

The chamber for Vanessa is as white as the rest of the shrine, but with a splash of color upon the pulpit coming through the stained glass window depicting the goddess' most common appearance: six winged eyes encircling a larger one, all wreathed in golden flame and squished as if concealed by unseen eyelids. A stack of prayer mats are tucked in the corner by the door. The altar stands less than a meter in front of the pulpit; it's supports resemble a bed frame decorated with engravings of the goddess' eyes with inset jewels for their pupils.

As Maraja approaches the altar, Ling slips up to the pulpit and stares into the window. Maraja and Kalyani begin praying and the eyes of glass give a brief twinkle.

L: Weren't really listening to what they were saying. It didn't look like it was working anyway, so, after ten minutes or so, I joined in as respectfully as I could.

"Oi, ya heavenly b*****d!" yells Ling, "Your girls need your help. Get down here!"

Kalyani gasps in shock.

"Hold your tongue," says Maraja, "You can't act like that here."

L: Though, my wizardly ways were less than appreciated.

Ling pounds on palms onto the pulpit persistently. "Ya dumb b***c," she yells again, "We came to see you."

L: And maybe the drink had its say too.

The blessed women grab Ling and attempt to pull her from the room. She clings on, yelling at the window.

"Thhiss behaviour iss unaccceptable," says Kalyani, "You are more likely to incur divine wrathh thhan aid."

L: But it worked.

A bright light fills the room as the goddess Vanessa emerges from the glass, her eyes and wings shimmering and a weaving of colors spirals behind her.

L: I'll never forget what we first said to each other. I told her, "Your radiance is blinding."

"Hey, ya glowing c**t," shouts Ling, desperately covering her unblinking eyes with her hands, "The room's white as snow, ya drongo!"

The goddess looks down on the three pained mortals and says, "Oh, I am so sorry! Let's turn that down to a soft glimmer." Her radiance dims down and the women regain their sight.

L: I doubt any mortal's said anything like that to her.

"Now, what was I doing? Ah, yes." The eyes surround Ling and glare at her. "You dare to enter holy ground and behave thusly? I am more than aware of your life and deeds, Kun Ling. Moving across the world may hide you from mortals, but you cannot escape my gaze."

J: You expect to believe she knew you already? L: Why wouldn't she? Of course, the Love Goddess'd heard of me. J: And you're proud of that? D: What are you talking about?

"Are ya going to help her or not?" asks Ling, her voice as flat as someone investigated by a blind elephant.

"Did you not hear me?" asks the goddess, the eyes spin around Ling, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I heard ya," says the wizard, "Ya can deal with me after ya help your champion rescue her girlfriend." She licks her eyes and resumes staring into the largest of Vanessa's.

Maraja resists correcting this statement, too afraid to speak in the presence of an angry god.

L: Angry's overselling it; irate, maybe?

"Why are you so concerned about them?" Vanessa's eyes narrow, "What do you stand to gain?"

L: It's an odd question, right? Took me a second to get it. Why wouldn't she just strike me down without being there?

"Ah, I see," says Ling, "This is a trial, right? Gods love trials. Ya already said ya knew me."

"Yes, I did," says Vanessa, "And I shall test your worthiness of my aid."

L: So we did a trial and I passed. D: What was the trial? L: Oh, uh, it was just some questions to prove... that I understood- understood... the concept of love. J: ... L: Shut up, Jevoi. That trial took several hours. Several long, glo- I mean, long, tedious hours.

MKDA has my favorite take on Reptile, even if it's because he was literally going insane.

I miss pirate Nitara too. There's absolutely room in MK for a pirate.

Vampires of the DA era are of impressive size.

WLC 2.B: Trip Trap Trope

The party enters a massive sandy chamber, they stand atop a slope above the black desert. The fossilized remains of a massive spike-shelled creature lies atop a fortress, thirty stories tall, sculpted from the caverns themselves to fit the creature's silhouette.

"Hiding, shhe iss not," says Kalyani, "It lookss familiar, thhough."

"You'd think someone calling herself 'The Shadow Queen' would live somewhere more... subtle," says Maraja, "Any ideas, wizard?"

A magical pulse emits from Ling's location; as it moves forward, an invisible runic wall shimmers briefly ahead of the group. "I know that symbol," says Ling, "That's a 'false ward' alarm... ward."

L: I know it's a dumb name.

At Kalyani's insistence, Ling continues, "This ward does exactly one thing: alert its creator to any change. Unwelcome intruder? Alarm. Attempt to disable? Alarm. Warp past it? Alarm. Actually disable it? Ya guessed it: alarm. But," Ling raises her finger, "That's ALL it can do."

D: I don't get it. Why's it special? L: How do I put this? On top of alerting their creator, most wards try to do something to whoever trips them. J: Mindjack, teleport, incinerate. L: They're intended to go unnoticed until it's too late. J: They're meant to catch dumb thieves and animals. D: So, why use this one? J: Paranoia.

"Asssuming it'ss a perfect ssphere, whichh iss likely," says Kalyani, "Thhey will know we're coming, no matter what."

"Maraja," says Ling, stretching, "You stay here and, when you see your chance, get in that building. Save your mate."

"I'm not leaving you out here," says Maraja, "You have no idea who or what will come out of there."

"Hang back, dear," says Kalyani, "Make that call after they come forth."

Maraja nods her watery head and steps back into the tunnel; Ling and Kalyani race down the slope. Ling feels the hot sand between her toes and Kalyani carves a trail with her tail.

"A late realizzation," says Kalyani, "But iss thhat a tarrassque?"

"Trying not to think about that," says Ling.

"Do you thhink it died reccently?"

"Trying not to think about that."

"HALT!" calls out a raspy woman, when the duo are about a hundred meters from the tower.

"CEASE!" call out a gravelly man, immediately after.

Standing in a second floor, a pair of heavily armored bipeds. They're too far away for Ling to identify who or what they are.

"HOW'S YA GOING?" yells Ling, "WE'RE AS LOST AS A EUNUCH'S BALLS!"

"WHAT?" yells the woman wearing her shield on her right, "WE'RE NOT HOLDING ANY BALLS."

"WAIT," yells the man wearing his shield on his left. He then speaks to the woman beside him.

D: What did he say? L: I don't know; I wasn't going to cast spells where they could see me.

The two jump down, slowing down before landing. They then pose together. Ling can now clearly see the mace and scimitar the man and woman respectfully carry.

Execution

In the first game, surrender leaves you open to attack and ends the fight after a set time, but in the sequel, it's a cutscene.

Here's that bloodstained versus Mikado accepting her fate.

And so, the bandaged story Mikado cannot outlive herself.

This location, by the way, is a story scene exclusive: outside the Tatara Shrine. (Not the Tatara Shrine Path stage.) You normally cannot fight here.

This happened when I ran Age of Ashes too. She got a great scene showing up to help in the sixth book.

Also she has a friend called Belmazog. She was a big bad villain who tried to summon a dark god of death and destruction to slaughter indiscriminately but she’s alright now.

WLC 6.5: Weapon Identification

"To what end are you traveling, Loomy and Bacon?" asks the radiant lady of the pond, looming above the water, staring down at them. The two speak over each other.

"Visiting my bunica," says Loomy.

"Searching for danger," says Bacon.

"Both of these things?" Ms. Aurocor tilts her head, "And nothing more?"

The duo look at each other for a moment, understanding the risky nature of their situation, then Loomy says, "Some kids are missing. Have you seen any come by?"

"No, I have not," says Ms. Aurocor, "But, alas, I have been here nary a week." She sits in midair, crossing her legs. "And of that time, my focus has been inward. Only these discarded blades have stolen my attention, cast into me by parties unknown."

"Can we see them?" asks Bacon.

"Verily," says the lady diving into the lake, "Mayhaps, you can identify their owners." She emerges four swords held awkwardly in her arms.

The iron sword is a straight short-sword with a typical elven hilt, somewhat fancy, but not overly so. This could belong to anyone who could afford a blade.

D: What's a short-sword? L: A big knife. A: Technically, not wrong. They're usually no longer than sixty centimeters and are built to be used with one hand.

The steel sword is a great-sword with a dwarven-style hilt, a weapon for a true warrior. Unfortunately, warriors are common to Rankedge, but someone who lost a blade this well-crafted would surely be searching for it.

D: What's a great-sword? L: Bigger sword. A: Unhelpful, but still not wrong. It'd would be longer than you are tall, Dalini.

Held carefully between the other weapons, so as to avoid direct contact with Ms. Aurocor, the silver sword is a horrifyingly serrated bastard-sword of crude goblin-make; more an instrument of torture than anything else. It is stained with hardened blood. The girls cannot identify its owner, nor would they care to meet them. Yet, still, this may prove useful.

D: What's a bastard-sword? L: It's a b*****d's sword. J: Mum, don't say that. L: What? This bloody bastard-sword belonged to a b****y b*****d. A: It's just a weapon of a very specific size; longer and heavier than one-handed weapons, but shorter and lighter than two-handers.

Finally, the gold sword is a not a sword at all. It is a wave-bladed dagger with an upturned spiked hilt. This weapon is easily recognizable.

A: Silver, I understand, but why gold? L: Gold's a good conductor. Mages are creative.

"That's the sheriff's Tei Zing dagger," says Bacon, "Who could have taken that?"

"Whose to say she didn't drop it?" asks Ms. Aurocor.

"No way the sheriff would've thrown his favorite weapon away," says Loomy.

"Oh, 'his'?" says the lady of the pond, "Then it can't have been; I've only heard two fellows around here. One I know is not your sheriff, and the other I should hope isn't."

"Who are these blokes?" asks Loomy.

"My friend has business around here; he's an educator, of sorts," says Ms. Aurocor, "The other is a svelte ne'er-do-'ell who comes forth, looming around at night. He leaves strange notes and letters on trees. Avoid him."

"Is he dangerous?" asks Bacon, "That sounds important."

"No, he's just... annoying," says the lady of the pond, she retreats, blade in tow, back into her aquatic home, "Good luck, honest travelers."

I can give you this design sketch of Katze, but you've probably already seen it.

curse of favourite character being from an obscure game with no fanart from years ago that no one plays

Mikado Mirror

There are so many death animations in Bushido Blade 1 and a few in the sequel. For some reason (probably demons), I recorded Mikado ending herself for more than six minutes straight.

Just screaming and dying for six minutes.

An Overview of Bushido Blade 1 & 2

I really love Bushido Blade 2, the somewhat realistic sword-fighting sequel for the PS1. Though I understand why someone may love the first game more.

Both games operate on the idea that if I stab you in the face, then you die and I win the fight right there. In the first game the area on the body for a fatal hit is much smaller, so fights could take longer. You could also break both the left arm and a leg to greatly weaken a character. Leg-breaking was removed in the sequel for being too devastating; you were reduced to only a few desperate attacks in that state.

In BB1, buttons were high, mid, and low attacks and a deflect/parry. You changed stances with the same buttons that controlled jumping snd crouching. There was also run and surrender (for when your legs were broken) buttons.

In BB2, buttons were vertical/stab and horizontal attacks, and stance change. Jumping and crouching are easier to do, as are the moves from those positions (like throwing things). Running is the same and surrender is now a pointless gimmick cutscene you can trigger for fun. Parrying is now done by hitting an attack right before the attack hits. Opposing attacks are an advantageous parry, same attack are disad. You can quit a fight from the pause menu instead of having to die; you can choose to go to either sub-menu (character select) or top-menu (main menu). Yes, those are the names they use.

BB1 has far fewer characters (6 plus Katze), but more weapons (8 plus Katze's gun) and bigger movelists, making each character feel special.

BB2 has a huge number of characters (20 plus 2 gunners), but the weapon pool (4 swords plus 2 faction exclusive polearms plus 2 guns) and special moves are less diverse. It does have dual-wielding, iaijutsu, deadly grabs, and falling to your death. The final bosses also cheat requiring breaking the first games honor rules: one wears armor (you have to stab him in the back) and the other can teleport for no dang reason (you have to hit him while he's getting back up from it).

BB1 modes are story, normal versus, 1st person link versus, training (freely fight the CPU), and chambara/slash. BB2 adds an additional training mode (commandable CPU), vs CPU, and team battle to that list.

Chambara/Slash is a vs 100 survival time trial against progressively harder mooks. This unlocks Katze the revolver user in both games and Tsubame (who traded her NPC ninja sword for an M16) and the bonus mirror match duo in 2.

Vs CPU is actually a gauntlet against every character you've unlocked (minus your chosen and one of those two bonus characters).

Team Battle has both players select one of the two factions and select 3-5 characters and weapons each. No character or weapon can be repeated for each team. CPU cannot play this mode.

Link Battle requires two copies of the game, PS1s, and TVs along with the PS1 link cable. All that just so both players could play in 1st person mode. Both games have a special maze stage exclusive to this mode.

Story mode is the only changed mode. In BB1, you fight 4 of the other characters (but are actually supposed to lead the first across the huge map, break their legs at the exit, and escape in a tunnel), the fight the last playable character and a series of NPCs. All without breaking the code of honor or getting hit.

BB2 is much simpler. There are eight stages consisting of 3-5 ninja and then boss on all (except the first). The gun characters and the final boss have no ninja. The Shainto also have a ninth stage, but it's just a choice of killing the descendant or just leaving. You have additional characters that you switch to for a stage, and, if they don't die, you unlock them.

The six normal characters in the first game and the starting six characters of the second have alternative costumes in it. You normally cannot use them elsewhere.

I'll probably post more about these games later because I have a lot I could talk about. I will definitely post pictures too. Special pictures; the kind you won't see anywhere else.