straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2025-02-27 12:24 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2025-02-27 12:24 pm
303 | two games, miraculous ladybug, & a fanart rec
Apparently, the last time I updated was back in January! I do vaguely try to aim for updating my dreamwidth at least once a month, so I thought I’d do a post with some brief thoughts on what I’ve been up to lately.
► This month, I beat two different games! Which I’m pretty pleased about.
First up, I thiiiink I might have mentioned that I’ve been working my way through Pokémon Moon lately? I originally started my file back in 2017, but set the game down at some point during the second island*, and never went back to it—until last December, when I picked up again. I continued on with the same file, meaning that my memory of the beginning of the game is pretty much nonexistent, but I’m fine with that.
* specifically, I put it down after having spent a long time hunting a female Salandit WITHOUT trash IVs, lol. My second one found was the winner, but it took so long that I was exhausted, and then I just never went back to the game.
I do find it interesting that both Black/White and Sun/Moon are pretty beloved entries to the series—and they’re both the only generations where I put it down partway through and only got back to it years later. Though, while Black/White never won me over, I will say that I genuinely had a good time with Sun/Moon’s story by the end. Which is probably unsurprising, since I’m always down for messy family dynamics, and that was very much the core of Sun/Moon. And while I know it wasn’t the main focus, there were some moments with Lillie and Gladion that really fed my love of complicated sibling relationships. Both Lillie and Gladion were great and personally compelling to me, and I loved them both!
I also really loved Team Skull in general and Guzma and Plumeria in particular. Honestly, as far as villain teams go, they’re one of the best in the series. Of course, nothing beats out Team Galactic in my heart… but they definitely can take a place in my personal top three.
But I still think that Sun/Moon is kind of a mid entry to the series, and that’s mostly because of the gameplay. While I’m fine with the series trying new things out beyond the traditional gym challenges, the trials were not it. I think the only one I liked was the ghost trial, and that’s purely because I always love haunted ghost aesthetics/vibes.
Final verdict: while it’s really not my favorite entry in the series, the story was great, and I’m glad that I went back and beat it.
The other game I beat was a far more recent acquisition—Strange Horticulture, which I bought on sale on Steam over the weekend (my first gaming purchase of this year!), and beat a few days later. (Here, I’m defining “beat” as “reached at least one of the endings”, which in this case was ending II.) I had a good time! It has a great, moody ambience, the puzzles were satisfying, and I found labelling the plants oddly soothing. Plus, you can pet the cat, who makes the most delightful purring sound. <3 I’m not intending on going after the other endings straight away—this doesn’t strike me as the kind of game that benefits being replayed back-to-back—but I do think I’m going to tinker around a bit more in the day 17 post-game first before I set it down.
► I’ve also actually been watching things for once?? Specifically, since shortly after my last fic recs post, I’ve watched the first four seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, plus a number of the specials. Season one was a rewatch, while the rest was new-to-me.
Some rapid-fire thoughts on each season + some of the specials:
Season One: my rewatch! This was super cute and made me smile so much—it really hits those nostalgic magical girl anime vibes for me.
”Sandy Claws”: also a rewatch, and thus also a repeat disappointment. I love musicals, tend to enjoy Christmas specials, and am here for Adrien angst, so in theory this should be up my alley… but I can’t. It’s just genuinely not good, imo.
Season Two: an absolutely BANGER. There was only one episode that I didn’t really enjoy (“Frightningale”), and even that had some excellent moments. The plot developments, the lore reveals, the relationship developments, the character developments, the storytelling—I had a rocking time from start to finish, 10/10, absolutely the best season. This was also the season where the side characters got fleshed out and imo started feeling like actual characters rather than paper dolls that only existed to further Adrien and Marinette’s stories.
Shanghai Special: I loved this one. Fei was great, as was her dynamic with Marinette, and I just had such a good time watching this one.
Season Three: Meanwhile… season 03 was suffering. It was so bad. There are a few good episodes, and few episodes of mixed quality that nonetheless had some genuinely great moments, but mostly, it was a struggle to get through. It also has the dubious distinction of having the two worst episodes of the series so far (“Chris Master” and “Stormy Weather 2”), which featured me staring at my screen going, what the fuck am I even watching.
New York Special: the moment where Chat Noir gave up his ring gave me all the feelings in a super iddy way, as did Ladybug’s reactions to it, but otherwise, I didn’t like this one at all. It feels very American comic book, in a way I hate, and I felt like a lot about how the superhero elements were handled clashed with existing show lore. I did like Uncanny Valley and Sparrow (can’t remember their real names) as characters, but not in this context.
Season Four: Started out strong, ended up being kind of a mixed bag, but it never fell to the depths of season 03, and ultimately I still think this was a pretty good season! The highlight to me was Alya’s character growth, which came hand-in-hand with some lovely fleshing out of the Alya & Marinette friendship. As a fervent ladynoir enjoyer who’d picked up some things about this season from osmosis, I was nervous about it, but I think the conflict was handled well, even if I was missing their season 02 dynamic. Both their perspectives made sense, and the way they handled it, for good or ill, checked out considering both their characters and their age.
I do want to watch season 05… but it’s not available on the streaming service I used to watch the other ones, meaning I’d have to shell out on a different one, which is something I’m always allergic to. I’m going to do it (...probably), but first I need to be paralyzed in indecision for a few weeks.*
*this is not that much of an exaggeration, seeing as it’s already close to two weeks since I finished season 04.
► Finally, last but definitely not least, someone made the most beautiful fanart for one of my Scum Villain fics! At the time, I’d noticed an unusual surge in comments on that particular fic, and was a little ??? about it, but then one of the people commenting kindly linked me to this fanart. It’s so pretty…
► This month, I beat two different games! Which I’m pretty pleased about.
First up, I thiiiink I might have mentioned that I’ve been working my way through Pokémon Moon lately? I originally started my file back in 2017, but set the game down at some point during the second island*, and never went back to it—until last December, when I picked up again. I continued on with the same file, meaning that my memory of the beginning of the game is pretty much nonexistent, but I’m fine with that.
* specifically, I put it down after having spent a long time hunting a female Salandit WITHOUT trash IVs, lol. My second one found was the winner, but it took so long that I was exhausted, and then I just never went back to the game.
I do find it interesting that both Black/White and Sun/Moon are pretty beloved entries to the series—and they’re both the only generations where I put it down partway through and only got back to it years later. Though, while Black/White never won me over, I will say that I genuinely had a good time with Sun/Moon’s story by the end. Which is probably unsurprising, since I’m always down for messy family dynamics, and that was very much the core of Sun/Moon. And while I know it wasn’t the main focus, there were some moments with Lillie and Gladion that really fed my love of complicated sibling relationships. Both Lillie and Gladion were great and personally compelling to me, and I loved them both!
I also really loved Team Skull in general and Guzma and Plumeria in particular. Honestly, as far as villain teams go, they’re one of the best in the series. Of course, nothing beats out Team Galactic in my heart… but they definitely can take a place in my personal top three.
But I still think that Sun/Moon is kind of a mid entry to the series, and that’s mostly because of the gameplay. While I’m fine with the series trying new things out beyond the traditional gym challenges, the trials were not it. I think the only one I liked was the ghost trial, and that’s purely because I always love haunted ghost aesthetics/vibes.
Final verdict: while it’s really not my favorite entry in the series, the story was great, and I’m glad that I went back and beat it.
The other game I beat was a far more recent acquisition—Strange Horticulture, which I bought on sale on Steam over the weekend (my first gaming purchase of this year!), and beat a few days later. (Here, I’m defining “beat” as “reached at least one of the endings”, which in this case was ending II.) I had a good time! It has a great, moody ambience, the puzzles were satisfying, and I found labelling the plants oddly soothing. Plus, you can pet the cat, who makes the most delightful purring sound. <3 I’m not intending on going after the other endings straight away—this doesn’t strike me as the kind of game that benefits being replayed back-to-back—but I do think I’m going to tinker around a bit more in the day 17 post-game first before I set it down.
► I’ve also actually been watching things for once?? Specifically, since shortly after my last fic recs post, I’ve watched the first four seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, plus a number of the specials. Season one was a rewatch, while the rest was new-to-me.
Some rapid-fire thoughts on each season + some of the specials:
Season One: my rewatch! This was super cute and made me smile so much—it really hits those nostalgic magical girl anime vibes for me.
”Sandy Claws”: also a rewatch, and thus also a repeat disappointment. I love musicals, tend to enjoy Christmas specials, and am here for Adrien angst, so in theory this should be up my alley… but I can’t. It’s just genuinely not good, imo.
Season Two: an absolutely BANGER. There was only one episode that I didn’t really enjoy (“Frightningale”), and even that had some excellent moments. The plot developments, the lore reveals, the relationship developments, the character developments, the storytelling—I had a rocking time from start to finish, 10/10, absolutely the best season. This was also the season where the side characters got fleshed out and imo started feeling like actual characters rather than paper dolls that only existed to further Adrien and Marinette’s stories.
Shanghai Special: I loved this one. Fei was great, as was her dynamic with Marinette, and I just had such a good time watching this one.
Season Three: Meanwhile… season 03 was suffering. It was so bad. There are a few good episodes, and few episodes of mixed quality that nonetheless had some genuinely great moments, but mostly, it was a struggle to get through. It also has the dubious distinction of having the two worst episodes of the series so far (“Chris Master” and “Stormy Weather 2”), which featured me staring at my screen going, what the fuck am I even watching.
New York Special: the moment where Chat Noir gave up his ring gave me all the feelings in a super iddy way, as did Ladybug’s reactions to it, but otherwise, I didn’t like this one at all. It feels very American comic book, in a way I hate, and I felt like a lot about how the superhero elements were handled clashed with existing show lore. I did like Uncanny Valley and Sparrow (can’t remember their real names) as characters, but not in this context.
Season Four: Started out strong, ended up being kind of a mixed bag, but it never fell to the depths of season 03, and ultimately I still think this was a pretty good season! The highlight to me was Alya’s character growth, which came hand-in-hand with some lovely fleshing out of the Alya & Marinette friendship. As a fervent ladynoir enjoyer who’d picked up some things about this season from osmosis, I was nervous about it, but I think the conflict was handled well, even if I was missing their season 02 dynamic. Both their perspectives made sense, and the way they handled it, for good or ill, checked out considering both their characters and their age.
I do want to watch season 05… but it’s not available on the streaming service I used to watch the other ones, meaning I’d have to shell out on a different one, which is something I’m always allergic to. I’m going to do it (...probably), but first I need to be paralyzed in indecision for a few weeks.*
*this is not that much of an exaggeration, seeing as it’s already close to two weeks since I finished season 04.
► Finally, last but definitely not least, someone made the most beautiful fanart for one of my Scum Villain fics! At the time, I’d noticed an unusual surge in comments on that particular fic, and was a little ??? about it, but then one of the people commenting kindly linked me to this fanart. It’s so pretty…