AMA Setsu-AMA

[Setsuna]

What are your favorite Castlevania games?

Thanks, Setsuna.

Okay, so Castlevania is interesting because of how it's divided up as a series. If people aren't familiar, over the years Castlevania has basically been three different genres throughout its life and most of the time what you're playing depends on when it was released. The old ones people know about like Castlevania NES or Super Castlevania IV are different in gameplay from games like Symphony of the Night or those in the Advance/Dominus Collections, which are different from the newer games like Lords of Shadow. There are exceptions, stuff like Mirror of Fate or Castlevania 64, but for the most part I've always thought of Castlevania as three different eras: Classicvania, Metroidvania, and Modernvania.

That being said, I've played very little Classicvania and basically no Modernvania. They have interested me for different reasons over the years, but given my last answer about the metroidvania gameplay being my favourite aspect of the series, it's probably easy to see why I've yet to play most of them.
I've mainly stuck with the handheld games (because again I started with Dawn of Sorrow, which was the first DS game) and got used to those before eventually playing Symphony of the Night. Anything in the Advance Collection or Dominus Collection are games I really enjoy, but I easily think Aria of Sorrow is one of the best Castlevania games they've ever made and is incredible as a starting point to the series. Even as a 20+ year old game I have absolutely no hesitation recommending it to people as both a great game and a great first vania. All three of the DS vanias are fantastic too, Dawn is a really solid take on Aria's formula (though I'm unsure which one I like more) that I can genuinely recommend now that the Dominus Collection brought it to modern consoles and fixed Magic Seals. Portrait of Ruin experimented a lot and I think things like switching playable characters, the sheer amount of different equipment and weapons you can get, and the variety in map design thanks to the portraits are wonderful, and Order of Ecclesia is a game that I've really loved once I started to understand it and I think once the formula was perfected after so many games, switching it up to focus more on combat, switching glyphs constantly and managing your MP was a great step for the series to take.
As for the GBA games, I think Harmony of Dissonance is good but it's not something I'd recommend to people until they really get the hang of the formula and feel comfortable playing a game like this that... doesn't feel as great to play. I personally enjoy it but I doubt it's for everyone. Circle of the Moon is good too, but it's easily the weakest because it just feels clunky to control and I'll be honest, it can get annoying at points.
And yes, people are gonna talk about Symphony of the Night, and while I think it's very solid and playing as Alucard is sick, I don't think it stands up to Aria or the DS games which feel stronger in their own identities (things like collecting souls for example) and while I think it's super well designed, it can definitely show its age at points compared to something like Aria. I think it's wonderful and I'm glad it exists and set the stage for what the series would become, but I wouldn't play it over Portrait of Ruin, y'know?
If you made me pick a favourite, I'd struggle between Portrait of Ruin and Aria of Sorrow.

Bloodstained Ritual of the Night also gets a very special mention because as a fan of these Metroidvania era games, especially the Sorrow games, it's something incredibly special. I consider it one of my favourite games of all time, though that's both because I enjoy the game itself, and the story behind its development and what it stands for. Anyone who enjoys metroidvanias of any kind owes it to themselves to play Ritual of the Night. I want Bloodstained as a series to continue to thrive.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

I like the idea of being close to the biggest city in the state without actually living in that city myself, that's more or less always how I've lived. So looking at a map, I think something like North Charleston or Mount Pleasant would be nice. Mind you, I don't really know anything about those cities.

Funny thing is, I visit Charleston yearly for vacations, and I have a favorite hotel in Mount Pleasant that I've been using for over a decade. Take it from me, Mount Pleasant is by far the better area/suburb to live in, but it's hella expensive as a result. The Convention Center/Coliseum area and the Northwoods Mall/Ashley Phosphate area in North Charleston are fairly nice, but there are some sketchy areas of town as well. Mount Pleasant definitely has more "nice" areas.

Are you aware that animated desktop pointers featuring the μ's girls in their No Brand Girls outfits is a thing?
Google search it, don't be dismayed that the Reddit post is 10 years old because the download link was still active as of two days ago, and you can thank me later :)

Now for my actual question:
Who is your favorite Fire Emblem mage and why?
(You can do a Google search and pick the best looking one if you've never played Fire Emblem, but I'd like an actual answer if you have played lol)

 

[Setsuna]

Funny thing is, I visit Charleston yearly for vacations, and I have a favorite hotel in Mount Pleasant that I've been using for over a decade. Take it from me, Mount Pleasant is by far the better area/suburb to live in, but it's hella expensive as a result. The Convention Center/Coliseum area and the Northwoods Mall/Ashley Phosphate area in North Charleston are fairly nice, but there are some sketchy areas of town as well. Mount Pleasant definitely has more "nice" areas.

I see I see... Then North Charleston is probably the kind of city I would end up in, I've been no stranger to being around cities with some sketchy parts, even being outside America. Both sound great, I'm glad I made a nice decision! I can't see myself going to South Carolina anytime soon, but if I ever do and I can remember, I might ask you about that hotel or get a list of places to hit up. Convention centers and malls are both places I love visiting when I go on vacations.

Are you aware that animated desktop pointers featuring the μ's girls in their No Brand Girls outfits is a thing?
Google search it, don't be dismayed that the Reddit post is 10 years old because the download link was still active as of two days ago, and you can thank me later :)

I wasn't before today, but I am now! Thanks for letting me know about that! I've never had a custom/animated desktop cursor, but it's the kind of thing that always seemed really cool to me. I'll try them out sometime!

Now for my actual question:
Who is your favorite Fire Emblem mage and why?
(You can do a Google search and pick the best looking one if you've never played Fire Emblem, but I'd like an actual answer if you have played lol)

Oh no, now I have to admit some things...

I've played a single Fire Emblem game and it was Awakening. I don't really enjoy the series or am a fan of its gameplay but I'm familiar with that game and at least loosely familiar with Fates, Three Houses, and Engage. If you're willing to accept a Dark Mage as an answer, I'm cursed to tell you that I really like Tharja, I just kinda have a thing for girls like her. I'm not really familiar with any mages from Fates, but when it comes to Three Houses I love Lysithea, I think she's incredibly adorable, and apparently Dorothea is listed as a mage on this website? So I don't care if that's correct information or not, I just really like Dorothea, she's gorgeous. I also barely know anything about Echoes, but Mae seems like my kind of character, and Delthea interests me for sharing a voice actress with Yukiho Kosaka in SIP's dub.
But yeah, unfortunately (or fortunately, y'know, maybe?) when I think "Fire Emblem Mage", I think of Tharja. If Dark Mages don't count, I say Lysithea.

Thanks for your question!

 

[Arcaneum]

And yes, people are gonna talk about Symphony of the Night, and while I think it's very solid and playing as Alucard is sick, I don't think it stands up to Aria or the DS games which feel stronger in their own identities (things like collecting souls for example) and while I think it's super well designed, it can definitely show its age at points compared to something like Aria.

Why are you wrong?

Actual question - what is your favourite meal of all time?

 

[Setsuna]

Why are you wrong?

No, why are you wrong?

Actually though, it's probably because I didn't play SotN growing up? It's still a great game, an absolute visual treat. Though I kind of wince at the idea of things like having to equip a healing item in your hand, use the button for that hand to throw the item onto the ground, and then walk into it in order to use it. I love the awful voice acting but the actual audio quality is something I'm not sure I like and kinda takes me out of the experience sometimes and makes me think "Oh, this is an old game." and that's weird when things like the sprite animations are phenomenal, there's a weird dissonance there. In terms of Alucard's identity compared to some of the other games, I think every other 2D metroidvania after Symphony has something like that to set it apart, besides Harmony of Dissonance, which I could say the same complaint for. Circle of the Moon has the DSS card system (god forbid), Aria and Dawn have the ability to collect souls, Portrait of Ruin has the portraits for different maps and the ability to swap between two characters, and Order of Ecclesia has the MP bar management, 3 sets of glyphs to swap between, and mixing and matching glyph unions.
You could say Symphony of the Night's identity are things like the magic spells that require button inputs or the inverted castle for the second half of the game, but I don't really think those are the best/most interesting parts of the game. Spells are completely optional and you can go an entire playthrough without even knowing they exist, and the inverted castle is really cool until you realize it's the exact same map and there isn't much of a point to exploring most of it because at that point the game just amounts to "obtain 5 relics that don't influence progression and then go fight Dracula". By that point the entire map is already open to you, so it can feel like a lot of empty space. I think Ecclesia did the twist better with Dracula's Castle only appearing once you've done everything for the best ending, and having progression tools to obtain and backtrack with, things like Paries, Rapidus Fio, or Volaticus.

Actual question - what is your favourite meal of all time?

Well I guess given my bf has exposed me for waking up to steal his popcorn I suppose it's still sort of topical to answer this.
Maybe this is a vague answer but my favourite meal of all time is just going to an all you can eat Japanese restaurant. There used to be a bunch back home and I've made so many good memories going to them with groups of friends. They're the kind of places I'll go to have a meal to celebrate something or the kinda place I'll always ask that we go to when I visit home. While it's been with a much smaller group over the past few years, I've always enjoyed just having a really good time with friends around a big table of food I love.

If I'm cooking at home or just for myself, I'll get really excited for a good mac and cheese or pizza and hot wings or a chicken caesar wrap, those are all wonderful. If I was made to pick a last meal I feel like it'd be a big spread of mismatched things.

Thanks for your questions!

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

You've been named a new Gym Leader. You like the guaranteed salary, benefits, and other perks of the job, but you don't really want to waste time battling random kids. What sort of near-impossible Gym puzzle do you devise so that the vast majority of challengers ragequit your gym before even getting to you?

(This doesn't have to be simply limited to a game mechanic. I would answer this question with either "a 50-question calculus exam" or "parallel-parking an 18-wheel big rig")

 

[Setsuna]

You've been named a new Gym Leader. You like the guaranteed salary, benefits, and other perks of the job, but you don't really want to waste time battling random kids. What sort of near-impossible Gym puzzle do you devise so that the vast majority of challengers ragequit your gym before even getting to you?

(This doesn't have to be simply limited to a game mechanic. I would answer this question with either "a 50-question calculus exam" or "parallel-parking an 18-wheel big rig")

If you wanna challenge my gym you've gotta find your way to play Love Live SIFAS after its servers shut down, complete a collection of every single gacha card in the entire game, max out each and every card, grind out every single character to max bond level, complete every song on every difficulty with an S rank, and obtain every title for clearing each song 100 times. Show me you have a save file with all of these completed, and I'll open the doors for you, it's that simple. A big long-term grind in a game I really love would both be personalized just for me and something that would keep a lot of people away lol

I can't tell which of those two I'd hate to do more but I'd definitely suck at either of them, those are good answers.

Thanks for your question!

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Take 3 members of u's, 3 from Aqours and 4 from Niji (1/3rd of each group) and make the ultimate LL idol girl group. Who do you pick and why?

 

[Setsuna]

Take 3 members of u's, 3 from Aqours and 4 from Niji (1/3rd of each group) and make the ultimate LL idol girl group. Who do you pick and why?

This is interesting to think about. I wanted to answer it differently than the previous question you asked me a while ago about mixing different idols to form my ideal group, I answered that kinda just in terms of my own taste/what I wanted to see/hear aesthetically, but as I tried to come up with different reasons for different characters I think I ended up picking something closer to that previous answer. I'll at least elaborate more and say that I really like groups whose aesthetics are something like DiverDiva, BiBi, Guilty Kiss, A-Rise, or Saint Snow, so anything that really combines into something that can really showcase that kind of vibe really appeals to me. Strictly in terms of group identity and aesthetic, I like the darker costumes and the more electronic music. Then again, there are full group songs like Daydream Warrior, Wake Up Challenger, or Go Our Way that really carry that idea for me, regardless of sub-units or specific combinations of characters.

I think there are both characters who either definitely bring that kind of vibe or ones who I think would be really interesting if they picked it up, Yoshiko and Hanamaru being great examples of both of those. Not to mention I'd love any excuse to put them together. I think including Dia in that, not just because of how much I love her, would be a really fun dynamic for the three of them and the group as a whole. I would also say that Ruby would be really fun to include, but I don't wanna just say "just the Aqours first-years", because I love their dynamic more for things like Hajimari Road and Waku-Waku Week.
Maki and Eli both fit really well into that as well, and while I don't really think Nozomi fits into that, I really like both the dynamic she has with both Eli and Maki, as well as how she'd interact with someone like Hanamaru or Yoshiko. Every group needs someone doing some chaotic stuff with other members to keep things interesting.
I like the idea of putting Maki with Mia as well, because the two are very similar in very different ways, both being younger composers but different ages composing different kinds of music for different reasons. I'm obviously going to also include Ayumu and Setsuna as I think they fit what I'm looking for really well, and I'll also include Karin because I think she'd fit along really well with this kind of group. I'm realizing I'm picking almost exclusively first and third years.

An argument could be made for including people like Honoka and Chika as the leaders of their group inspiring others and having a lot of strong moments throughout the series, but if I'm putting together my own group I think I'd value aesthetic cohesion over what I think could be strong individuals.

I personally can't help but worry this is sort of a boring, uninteresting answer to give, but I hope it's satisfying regardless! Thanks for the question!

 

[Yellow Bommen]

What are your favorite Pokemon games?

Thanks, Setsuna.

 

[Setsuna]

What are your favorite Pokemon games?

This is something I want to respond to with "all of them", but I think I've become more interested in deciding which Pokemon games I like over others in recent years. My opinions have changed as generations get older and things like shiny object syndrome and recency bias fade away. Basically, as they get older people love them less. And I think it's interesting to weigh how I feel against those opinions.
Though it's literally impossible for me to hide the fact that Pokemon Platinum is my favourite video game of all time, I've mentioned it in this thread a bunch, but I don't mind more opportunities to say it. It's the game that really hooked me on the series, it's the game I spent a lot of time growing up with both when it was new and a generation or two later when I was really wanting to get everything I could out of it, it's a piece of media that I can genuinely say helped me in my life when I've needed that. I've got a save file with a black trainer card, gold prints in the entire Battle Frontier, a full legitimate (as much as possible) 493 Pokedex, completely furnished villa, basically if it exists in the game by legitimate means I've done it. It's the first game I ever really set that kind of goal for and very few have ever reached that level. It is genuinely one of the most meaningful things in my life.

Gushing about Platinum aside, I love Emerald and it's a game I think I should play a few more times throughout the course of my life just because it's always felt so well-made. Even 20 years later I have no issues with revisiting Gen III because it's always felt solid. If I go further back I think things like "Man I miss Abilities" but Gen III was really worthy of being called the Advanced generation because I think it's really where the series started being undeniably incredibly solid.
Black and White are great but their sequels are excellent, I have a lot of good memories playing Black 2 throughout school years and it was the first Pokemon game where I started pre-ordering them and buying them on release or going to midnight releases at my local mall for them. I've heard B2W2 being called the most complete Pokemon games with the most content and it's honestly a pretty believable argument.
And I know at least one person is going to want to call me out for this, but man, I just love Sun and Moon a lot. Upon thinking a little more, I do think I might prefer the original Sun and Moon over the Ultra games, and I think it's awkward that the two kinda exist parallel to each other, but I have so much respect for what Sun and Moon set out to do and I always enjoy replaying them. I love Alola, I love the way it looks and sounds, I love the Pokemon it introduced and the story it has to tell, the game's different discussions of tradition and invasion in its characters, its world and culture, and its Pokemon are really interesting to me. I have so many good memories from when Sun and Moon were new, despite being in such a tough point in my life, and it feels like such a warm, comforting breath of fresh air for me. It has its issues, sure, but I do genuinely think Sun and Moon is the best modern Pokemon has ever been.

Thanks for your question!

 

[Diamond 97]

Do you have any pets?

 

[Setsuna]

Do you have any pets?

I do! Well, kind of? We have a cat and a rat dog, though they're my bf's pets. But after moving in with him and being here for a while I've just begun to consider them my pets as well because of how much time we spend together. I never had any pets growing up but have always wanted a cat for years, and I've been really loving having one around to interact with and take care of. They can definitely be a handful, they'll wake me or him up fairly often, bother us when we're in the middle of doing something, or do something they're definitely not supposed to, but I genuinely love both of them so much and would be a lot sadder without them. They add a spice into my life that I've never really had before and kinda always wanted. I spent the first several months of living here trying to get our cat to like me and seeing her come around and start to love me gave me a kind of happiness not a lot of things in life have. I do really, really want to continue having pets into the future, especially once the uncertain future of my life is worked through.
Thanks for your question!

 

[Diamond 97]

What's your favourite kind of music?

 

[Setsuna]

What's your favourite kind of music?

Right, so it's not gonna be a surprise to anyone to hear me say that my go-to answer for music is J-Pop. I didn't really listen to music at all until I got into J-Pop through Bandori, and that then expanded into my love for Love Live's music, since a good amount of it is J-Pop that I think is really enjoyable to me. Love Live really excels at using its music as a vehicle to tell its stories or expand upon or develop its characters and I think that really helped me start to appreciate music more. J-Rock is the same deal, I became a fan of it through Bandori and it's bled into other aspects of my life, and while I'd easily say both of them are my favourite genres I'd probably pick J-Pop over J-Rock if you forced me to only give a single answer. I also reply with Anisong when people ask me this question because I think it really encompasses the music I like and why I like it, most of the time I just find songs through being tied to the anime I watch, like an opening or ending song, usually. I also think that if anyone is a fan of the music through something like Love Live, live performances of those songs are absolutely more than worth watching. They pull out all the stops for live performances and it can usually make the songs more powerful or have some sort of aspect that really sticks with you rather than just listening to the recorded version of the same song. Seeing these idols perform live is incredibly special to me because the fans always feel involved in some aspect. Maybe they're singing on these carts or platforms that circle around the arena, waving to fans as they move around like Hajimari Road, or there's a part in the song where the crowd gets really excited and sings along like 5201314, or there's a part where the crowd supplies backing vocals for the idol like a call-and-response sort of deal like Diamond. The performances are more than the songs, more than the idols, more than the fans, more than the choreography or lighting or stage effects, they're everything coming together to form an incredible experience that absolutely cannot exist anywhere else in any point in time. That's what the peak of music is to me, I suppose.

On that topic, recently I've been really into what I refer to as "cosplay bass", bass covers of J-Pop/J-Rock songs, mostly anisong or vocaloid music, because of the large amount of covers of people playing these songs in cosplay of the characters from the series. I've become a big fan of Pinyo, Fami, and Mina recently.

Whenever I've talked about this topic I've mentioned I'm also a fan of 2000s pop because whenever there was something playing on the radio or we had music played at school or something, it was usually that. I've realized my music range is sorta more late 2000s or early 2010s, I think of something like Fireflies or Tik Tok, as well as California Girls or Call Me Maybe. Blame it on the Pop is something I always send to describe my "normie" music taste because it's made of songs that I all recognize and mostly all enjoy. As a blanket term I tend to lovingly and ironically call it "white girl music". I've also recently been enjoying stuff that's kinda adjacent to that, and as we've been farming boss fights in FFXIV recently I've been playing several "white girl music", 2000s/2010s nightcore, and hyperpop playlists. It's a vibe and a half.
I think I may have also mentioned this before, but I never go a play session of Osu without playing a sped-up version of Die Young. It's a guilty pleasure I suppose.

Thanks for your question!

 

[Diamond 97]

What's your favourite video game?

 

[𒈟Lavemu𒐫]

If you could give any fictional character something, what would you give and why??

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I asked PK this too, but I honestly think it's a good question lol, so 'what is generally your favorite biome in games?'

 

[Setsuna]

What's your favourite video game?

This is something I've previously answered, but honestly I don't really think I have much new on the topic to add since then. Here's my full answer:

Spoiler:

I've always answered "what's your favourite game" with Pokemon Platinum and... yeah, I'd still like to say that hasn't changed! Ordering the rest of them is tough but I'd probably have to say:

1. Pokemon Platinum
2. Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars
3. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
4. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
5. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess

You could probably re-order 2-4 in different ways, like currently I'm just super duper into SIFAS so I'll put it above Bloodstained. I've mentioned in this thread how SIFAS is the thing that got me back into Love Live when I was starting to lose interest in it but it's also given me so much enjoyment in basically every aspect of it. I love getting more interactions between the characters, the big collection of different cards and costumes and cosmetics to obtain, I loved playing in every single event, playing it with friends during specific events and talking about the game every day even when we weren't playing, sharing ideas and strategies for teambuilding and how they helped me improve, it feels like one of those things that's less like a video game and more like something that helped define my life and I have a ton of memories of it.
But I love the metroidvania-era Castlevania games and Bloodstained kinda stands as that shining example people still love them and I love what it stands for and what it accomplished. Final Fantasy XIV is something I'm so invested in that it's the kind of thing I'm pretty much playing or thinking about daily and constantly finding new things to do or enjoy. I only mention Shadowbringers because even after Dawntrail it's my favourite expansion, especially considering the extra content like the raids. Purely in terms of the concept for the fights and how they feel to play, I think the Shadowbringers raids are the strongest set of raids the game has had. Twilight Princess is simply something I grew up on and always loved. It's got a certain atmosphere no other Zelda game has, being kinda creepy and dark without being as deep into it as Majora's Mask, and something about the art style and the act of riding around Hyrule is incredibly comforting to me. Its music is fantastic too.

But the short answer is my favourite game is still Pokemon Platinum. 🤍

If you could give any fictional character something, what would you give and why??

This is tough to answer because it feels so... open? Like there's countless possibilities of answers I'd want to give this question, the answer would probably be different depending on the character.
If I had to settle for one thing, the first thing that comes to mind is giving Setsuna Yuki a present including a box set of whatever her most recent favourite anime happens to be at the time, along with a heartfelt letter about what her performances and passion mean to me and have impacted my life.
Again, if you asked me a specific character, I'd totally have a different response. But this is what just immediately pops into my mind.

I asked PK this too, but I honestly think it's a good question lol, so 'what is generally your favorite biome in games?'

I don't think this counts as a biome, but I have to mention I really like city areas in games, especially port/coastal cities. Something like FFXIV's Kugane, Old Sharlayan, or Tuliyollal, Sea of Stars's Brisk, Bravely Second's Gathelatio, Paper Mario's Rogueport, and cities in Pokemon like Canalave, Cianwood, or Olivine.

If that doesn't count, it's really tough for me. Maybe something like a moonlit forest with some buildings or houses? The opening area of Symphony of the Night or Holminster Switch from FFXIV come to mind. Hopefully giving examples of what these specific places are kinda gives you a clearer view of what I have in mind.

Thanks for your questions!

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

So, you finished Banjo-Kazooie for the first time... Weeeeell:

What were your favorite and least favorite levels?
What were your favorite and least favorite (or least memorable anyway) songs from the game?
Favorite and least favorite moves?
Favorite and least favorite characters?
Favorite Mumbo transformation?
What did you think about the game overall?
Score/10?
Do you plan on trying the second one?

How's that for some questions? :P