Guy

Wrapped up chapter 3 of Wuchang and wow, this is probably one of the best stretches I've ever seen a souls game have. Literally everything here was of fantastic quality. They legit did not miss at all holy shit.

@nazar1328 There's a boss for this area?

@Invinium fought the boss of the area? 🗿

I'm moved

Bo sorcerer's boss fight

"But you only stun locked him, disrupted his tracking and you removed 1 healthbar at the start" Goddamit. Fine! Stealthless and no stun locking. Just a good old 1v1 (and no sugars). Happy?

@Tharizdun03 By all means, take your time, I'm interested to see how you'll feel when you get there. Admittadly I haven't read the manga in a while so my view on a lot of things might change if I give it a re-read.

@Invinium only at the very end which i think is slightly incongruent with sasuke's character in several way but i'd have to wait until my rereadgets there. for most of the story sasuke has no interest in killing naruto tho unless naruto seeks him out to stand in his way.

NO THEY COULDN’T HAVE

@Tharizdun03 By abandon, it also means severing emotional connection, him wanting to kill Naruto stems from the fact that Sasuke can never bring himself to not care about him. I don't think Sasuke hold taka to that same pedestal, he can emotionally cut himself from them without killing em.

@Invinium he doesn't have to stick by taka no matter what tho. "he will still consciously decide to abandon them" and why is this a problem exactly? sasuke abandoned konoha cause they invalidated him. taka is a temporary friend group but it doesn't mean he doesn't care. that's fine.

@Emperor_Sheev66 The way Isshin viewed Genichiro and Senpou temple's heretical means always interested me, as it can come from religious tainting but can also be from Isshin's mindset, obtaining power through means that aren't refined from your own practice.

@Invinium The only guy who stands against the established religion in a way is Genichiro by his willingness to accept heretical powers to save Ashina and guess what? Not even Isshin, the hierarch of Ashina, stands with him because he thinks it's too far lol. I just like Fromsoft narratives

An overlooked aspect in the game that I hope the anime touches on is the religious sub-text that's used to embody the personal journey and growth that Wolf undergoes within the game. Not just as a metaphor, but as an actual plot beat.

@Tharizdun03 will still consciously decide to abandon them. His breakdown in the summit presumably affected his psyche which is what led to his war-arc philosophy, along with talking to itachi and the reanimated hokage.

@Tharizdun03 I think Sasuke's mindset in the war arc is a calm, but more self-aware and reflected form of his isolation, he was grieving and lashing out in the summit but once he cooled his head and talked to the people he needed to. Even if we say that he cares for taka in the war arc, he-

@Tharizdun03 No it's all good, don't worry about your tone I get where your coming from.

@Invinium i know you have hangups about the political resolution too, so sorry if i'm sounding snappy (not indended), but i just don't think sasuke isolating himself is potent enough as a theme or more essential to his character than the stuff that the story never resolves i guess.

@Tharizdun03 Because that's how it started with Naruto, him being on team 7 was a means to an end but Sasuke at that time was willing to save Naruto. Compare it with Taka, where he truly does not care and would kill them all in a heartbeat for his goal. It's showing his descent.

@Invinium they formed from the start out of convenience and as a means to an end. i just don't see how them not being true friends or sasuke not connecting like that with people has ANYTHING to do with his actual problems or his actual ambitions.

@Tharizdun03 Agreed with konoha not being held accountable, that has always been an issue of mine.

@Invinium we just disagree on this i guess. and even if it was true, the cause to sasuke's isolation is being a genocide victim and the konoha government not being held accountable. i just don't think you can fix his loneliness without fixing that.

@Tharizdun03 Yes it didn't happen because he *wanted to* but it's because that's what he saw her as. Expendable, Sasuke would have sacrificed any taka member because he didn't view them as people he was attached to.

@Invinium it happens during a psychotic break tho. he doesn't treat karen as expendable because he started wanting to be more lonely, he's just extreme in a lot of his emotions in this stretch. and after this calms down again and taka sticks with him.

@Tharizdun03 Naruto no matter how hard he tries can't fully connect to what Sasuke has been through, but he can connect on isolation, because he knows that to an extent he drives them both. He uses that to save sasuke, we can help others without fully connecting to what they've been through.

@Tharizdun03 While Sasuke in pre timeskip cuts off konoha because he felt it was stopping his progression, post time-skip he goes through different stages and forms in isolation. Taka being more destructive, while war arc is a culmination of reflecting on his behavior and konoha itself.

@Tharizdun03 The execution of the dynamic is rocky and imperfect but it doesn't fall face flat I would say, Kishimoto here prioritized one aspect of the story telling and despite it's issues I think he handled that aspect solid.

@Tharizdun03 conflict well. However it addresses his romanticization of dark emotions as a strength well enough, Naruto did successfully save Sasuke from going down a darker road which is a core part of the series itself even if it's execution is rocky by letting konoha get off the hook.