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flamebyrdI enjoyed it a lot! It really amps up the tension for the final 2 arcs (was that really only 2 arcs), which was making it excruciatingly slow to complete episodes as I'd have to keep pausing to recover. But then I realised I could read the fan transcripts first, and then listen to the podcast afterwards. It went a lot faster after that.
Spoilers below!
It felt kinder than Balance, in the sense that the player characters were not engaging in indiscriminate murder, nor winding up NPCs just for the fun of it (well, maybe once or twice). It was also less outrageously funny, although not because of that. I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and probably more consistently than Balance, although in general the characters' emotional arcs resonated for me better in Balance.
- The shapeshifter arc (The Countenance) was genuinely unsettling and I can't exactly say I liked it, but it's definitely interesting to have the player characters struggle and fail to defeat the monster and/or stop the disaster every so often.
- There was a non-binary character (or at least, a character who uses they/them pronouns) and they were human and not evil and barely even an antagonist, although they had completely understandable conflict with the player characters! Hollis, you're great.
- Although because I was listening to this arc while watching people play Pokemon Sword/Shield, I did keep picturing the Hornets as Team Yell, which was awkward.
- Duck losing his powers for an arc was also a really interesting development for the character emotionally, and I enjoyed what exploration of that we got. That change from "I never wanted this" to struggling with not having it and realising he wanted it back was delicious.
- That brief snatch of what it was like having all the Amnesty residents plus a few other hangers-on in a few small apartments was incredible and so much fun.
- If Griffin hasn't already read the Three Body Problem and/or the Dark Forest, he might find it interesting based on the aliens in this!
- Speaking of which, I cannot believe that scene where Duck proposes aliens and Barclay, the shape-shifting bigfoot from another world thinks he's gone off the rails. So I hope Duck felt justifiably smug once it turned out it really was aliens!
- Duck/Minerva... Justin did a great job of justifying it but I'm still not sure it works for me.
- Duck's mercy killing of Billy was kind of uncomfortable for me, but then they brought him back so I guess that's okay? I feel like I missed some in-jokes by not having played Final Fantasy VII, so maybe this is my cue to finally do that.
- On that topic, the Billy The Goat Pin Set is incredible, that mallard wearing a hat is the best thing ever.
- Beacon saving the day by just being really, really belligerent and bloodthirsty was absolutely beautiful.
- How did Agent Stern get back to Earth? He was in Sylvain and they destroyed the portal!
-
I loved this, and I wish Griffin had had the opportunity to set up the Stern/Barclay ship more than a gratuitous hot springs cameo in the epilogue and mentioning the ship in the final TTAZZ. But it's great and I love it, and I guess there's always fanfic.
- Speaking of fic, I'd also like to read some exploring the way the Hornets' dynamics change post-canon.
Just in case anyone reading this is okay with vague reaction spoilers but wants to avoid major spoilers, I'm putting a spoiler warning within a spoiler warning here.
- So, they killed off a player character in this one! I knew it was coming because of careless AO3 browsing, but I didn't know exactly how or why. It was a good death, I thought, although it did sort of... remove Ned's ability to face the consequences of his actions. Because it didn't happen on a failed roll, just a mixed success, it felt weird that it resulted in his death - although from their discussion in the Amnesty wrap-up TTAZZ they felt it was better that way.
- Thacker was fine, I found it hard to form an emotional connection with him and his story arc definitely needed some better development in order to make me care more about his fate, but there wasn't exactly time for that in the final arc.
- Because I think it's funny, I'm going to include my reaction to Duck's birth name in this section. But all I'm going to say is that it makes perfect sense for him to use a nickname instead, although I'm still wildly curious about why Duck.
- I did not predict that Aubrey would be Sylvain (or, be Sylvain's host, or whatever was going on there). Aubrey's personal tragedy being the trigger for Sylvain to completely withdraw is an interesting way to tie it all together, although I'm not sure if it entirely makes sense to me.
--
Spoilers below!
It felt kinder than Balance, in the sense that the player characters were not engaging in indiscriminate murder, nor winding up NPCs just for the fun of it (well, maybe once or twice). It was also less outrageously funny, although not because of that. I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and probably more consistently than Balance, although in general the characters' emotional arcs resonated for me better in Balance.
- The shapeshifter arc (The Countenance) was genuinely unsettling and I can't exactly say I liked it, but it's definitely interesting to have the player characters struggle and fail to defeat the monster and/or stop the disaster every so often.
- There was a non-binary character (or at least, a character who uses they/them pronouns) and they were human and not evil and barely even an antagonist, although they had completely understandable conflict with the player characters! Hollis, you're great.
- Although because I was listening to this arc while watching people play Pokemon Sword/Shield, I did keep picturing the Hornets as Team Yell, which was awkward.
- Duck losing his powers for an arc was also a really interesting development for the character emotionally, and I enjoyed what exploration of that we got. That change from "I never wanted this" to struggling with not having it and realising he wanted it back was delicious.
- That brief snatch of what it was like having all the Amnesty residents plus a few other hangers-on in a few small apartments was incredible and so much fun.
- If Griffin hasn't already read the Three Body Problem and/or the Dark Forest, he might find it interesting based on the aliens in this!
- Speaking of which, I cannot believe that scene where Duck proposes aliens and Barclay, the shape-shifting bigfoot from another world thinks he's gone off the rails. So I hope Duck felt justifiably smug once it turned out it really was aliens!
- Duck/Minerva... Justin did a great job of justifying it but I'm still not sure it works for me.
- Duck's mercy killing of Billy was kind of uncomfortable for me, but then they brought him back so I guess that's okay? I feel like I missed some in-jokes by not having played Final Fantasy VII, so maybe this is my cue to finally do that.
- On that topic, the Billy The Goat Pin Set is incredible, that mallard wearing a hat is the best thing ever.
- Beacon saving the day by just being really, really belligerent and bloodthirsty was absolutely beautiful.
- How did Agent Stern get back to Earth? He was in Sylvain and they destroyed the portal!
-
Griffin: Agent Stern has been gone all day. He's been sort of back on the beat, patrolling the woods for any sign of Bigfoot, now that most of the snow has cleared. He's trying to find Bigfoot, who is in the other room making pancakes.
I loved this, and I wish Griffin had had the opportunity to set up the Stern/Barclay ship more than a gratuitous hot springs cameo in the epilogue and mentioning the ship in the final TTAZZ. But it's great and I love it, and I guess there's always fanfic.
- Speaking of fic, I'd also like to read some exploring the way the Hornets' dynamics change post-canon.
Just in case anyone reading this is okay with vague reaction spoilers but wants to avoid major spoilers, I'm putting a spoiler warning within a spoiler warning here.
- So, they killed off a player character in this one! I knew it was coming because of careless AO3 browsing, but I didn't know exactly how or why. It was a good death, I thought, although it did sort of... remove Ned's ability to face the consequences of his actions. Because it didn't happen on a failed roll, just a mixed success, it felt weird that it resulted in his death - although from their discussion in the Amnesty wrap-up TTAZZ they felt it was better that way.
- Thacker was fine, I found it hard to form an emotional connection with him and his story arc definitely needed some better development in order to make me care more about his fate, but there wasn't exactly time for that in the final arc.
- Because I think it's funny, I'm going to include my reaction to Duck's birth name in this section. But all I'm going to say is that it makes perfect sense for him to use a nickname instead, although I'm still wildly curious about why Duck.
- I did not predict that Aubrey would be Sylvain (or, be Sylvain's host, or whatever was going on there). Aubrey's personal tragedy being the trigger for Sylvain to completely withdraw is an interesting way to tie it all together, although I'm not sure if it entirely makes sense to me.
--