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I am loving this shit! |
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The Dark Id is a popular Let's Player on the Something Awful forums. He has (as of this time of writing) completed 26 Let's Plays; 23 of them being featured on the LP Archive. Known for his wit, alternate character interpretations and low tolerance for annoying things.
So far, The Dark Id has completed Let's Plays for the following games:
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil Code: Veronica (which included a Show Within a Show playthrough of Resident Evil: Survivor)
- Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
- Resident Evil 2
- Resident Evil Dead Aim
- Resident Evil Zero
- Resident Evil (Remake)
- Clock Tower 3
- Onimusha Warlords
- Dirge of Cerberus
- Drakengard
- Limbo of the Lost
- Wirehead
- Chrono Cross
- NieR'
- Drakengard 2
- Xenogears
- The Blackwell Legacy
- Gemini Rue
- Metal Gear Ghost Babel
- Drakengard 3
- Final Fantasy X
- The Third Birthday
- I Am Setsuna
- NieR: Automata
- Koudelka
In progress:
Aborted:
- Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven
- Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
- Resident Evil 5
- Fallout
- The Silver Case
He also does livestreams, some of them he has uploaded on his YouTube channel.
The Dark Id provides examples of the following tropes:
- Air Vent Passageway: In the Resident Evil playthrough, he gives us this gem:
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I've never actually seen a vent shaft a man could fit through. But, I assume they are, at all times, occupied by Special Forces commandos, lab technicians, children, or Bruce Willis. |
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- Resident Evil 2 has a similar line:
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"Don't be another giant mutant. Please be Gordon Freeman. Please be JC Denton. Please be Frank Zappa. Don't be another giant mutant... (It's the mutated G-Birkin) Ah shit! It's never Frank Zappa." |
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- All Powerful Bystander/Spirit Advisor: As a result of The Id playing Resident Evil with both Chris and Jill concurrently as if both characters are present in the mansion and exploring it at the same time (in order to follow the game's canon), a rather strange entity represented by static keeps following Chris and repairing gameplay-induced Plot Holes by warping reality around him while speaking in odd riddles and nursery tunes.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: IN. SPADES.
- Steve Burnside is an Emo Teen and has hormones that are playing havoc on his mind, his dad is an abusive git, Alfred Ashford is Ambiguously Gay yet into his sister big time, Nosferatu/Alexander Ashford is a very upper class, polite, monocle-and-top-hat-clad gentlemen reminiscing about his ancestry and the T-078 Tyrant is Mike Tyson.
- Billy FUCKING Coen is a Jewish uber Jerkass who bullies, threatens and treats Rebecca like a pack mule, Marcus' love for his leeches reaches a disturbingly sexual level, the leeches are portrayed as Gang-Bangers speaking Ebonics straight out of Boyz N the Hood, and after Rebecca kills Billy at the end of Zero for all his mistreatment of her, returns as a ghost to bully her senseless and eventually becomes the main antagonist, possessing the body of a Tyrant and all..
- The Nemesis is a mutant who thinks he's a Blaxploitation character who thinks he's a Californian governor who thinks he's a Super Saiyan. And then he becomes a freakish amalgamation of all of them (and Bert) at the end. And Nicholai is nigh-on indestructible to the point when Jill blows up the chopper he's riding out on, Nicholai is instead sent blasting off again.
- Leon's just getting into his RE4 action hero groove and won't stop shouting Ada's name, Claire doesn't seem to mind showing Sherry all sorts of traumatizing things they can find within the RPD and making her feel even more unwanted, William Birkin makes eye puns, divorces his wife Annette monster-style (And muttered that he should have gotten one before he injects himself with the G-Virus) and may be into incest. Also Mr. X is now Señor X, is mostly Spexican and, courtesy of Leon throwing it out a window, is constantly looking for his hat. At the end, he finally gets a new sombrero, loses it, and gets another one made of fire...and speaks English much to Leon's surprise.
- Chris starts out mildly grumpy, goes through a Yawn-poison-induced acid trip and later becomes a Man Child after a herbal binge with Rebecca, said medic keeps trying to convince Chris that her adventures with leech-men and trains really happened, Barry ends up with captains-at-attention at inopportune times and Billy FUCKING Coen is now a ghost, annoys Rebecca and Chris, sexually harrasses Jill, takes various shapes, learns how to possess monsters and takes control of the Tyrant.
- Corroder is a door-to-door salesman who constantly espouses the virtues of acid-based cleaning systems, even in the middle of his boss fight.
- Inuart is a loser that Caim only tolerates as a pack mule, Verdelet is an old racist obsessed with whining about doom and destruction (and by the sequel is the true villain of the game for his various fuckups), Caim and Angelus are Vitriolic Best Buds and Nowe is an utter moron who is clueless on just about everything, including things that as a Knight of the Seal he should already know (granted, this isn't that big of a change from his actual portrayal). Eris, Urick, Legna and even Seere however are the Only Sane Characters.
- Serge has a voice, and is the Only Sane Man in a world where everyone else's traits are Flanderized. ZOAH becomes his Captain Obvious wing-man.
- Vincent Valentine gets a lot more sarcastic, and his self-loathing switches from "I hate my crappy life" to "I hate my crappy game".
- Fei and everybody else become far more sarcastic and Citan is quite happily the biggest dick on the planet. Also every outlandish thing he does, he learnt in medical school.
- Samanosuke inadvertently advertises for top of the line scowls and is VERY disapproving of Kaede, Kaede is the worst ninja ever with knee problems preventing her from jumping, Yuki is selectively lazy, Tokichiro is a paedophile, Marcellus is an emo, and Fortinbras states the obvious constantly.
- Alternate History: According to TDI, in a world where Caim's parents were not killed by The Empire and went on to inherit their kingdom, he would have become Vlad the Impaler.
- Screencapped Music Video Lyrics Fic Thing.: A bizarre variant considering The Dark Id does screenshot LPs but they usually start up when one character sees a rocket launcher and mistakes it for a boombox or a microphone. This pops up in...
- Resident Evil 4: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
- Resident Evil Code Veronica: Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by REM
- Resident Evil REmake: Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones
- Back to Front: The Resident Evil series, minus Resident Evil 5 (which wasn't released until after he finished them anyway) was played by him in reverse order release- and timeline-wise, with the exception of Dead Aim before Zero, and Zero before the first.
- Berserk Button: Ada doesn't quite like Leon constantly shouting her name.
- Call Back/Brick Joke: Many and often, even across certain LPs.
- Catch Phrase: Quite a few:
- <Character> is loving this shit! (Usually in regards to a character displaying a look of much glee on their face)
- "<Character> is not amused", in regards to a character displaying a displeased or utterly uninterested look on their face.
- Played with in his LP of Nie R, in which he declares "I am loving this... No wait, I actually am!"
- "X out of fucking nowhere!" whenever someone or something suddenly appears without warning.
- NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMUUUUUUURRRRRRAAAAAA!!!!!!!
- Drakengard! (Said in, quote unquote "The tone of a kooky sitcom catchphrase. Pretend someone looking at the camera with a goofy face and shrugging their shoulders while saying it. In other words, it is not to be mistaken with abject rage as "NOOOOOOOMMMMMMMUUUUURRRRAAAA!!!" was...")
- "Cavia hates children" as well as "Trolled by Cavia!", which in Drakengard 2 is occasionally turned into "Trolled by General Gismor".
- When characters die in Drakengard 2, they let out <Barf!> as a death cry.
- To the posters he likes in the thread: "I like the cut of your jib."
- When faced with an excessively cheesy moment, he would describe it as "So cheesy I just shat pepperjack."
- He also tends to describe various Nintendo Hard segments in games and various parts of games he utterly detests as "like having (his) dick in a vise".
- Darkly-dressed characters such as Vincent Valentine with equally as dark personalities also tend to get described by TDI as "So Goth they shit bats."
- Characters generalized as completely useless or counter-productive are described by him as "As useful as an asshole on my elbow".
- No, fuck you, dad!
- In his Resident Evil playthroughs, the appearance of a sub-boss or boss on the screen is usually followed by "Run away! RUN AWAY!"
- With that said, let's continue.
- <Character> is loving this shit! (Usually in regards to a character displaying a look of much glee on their face)
- Caustic Critic
- Child-Hater: Cavia, due to their propensity towards children dying violent deaths in their games, from Arioch being a Baby Eater, Caim chopping down Child Soldiers and Nier cutting down baby Shades and the game's equivalent of Hogarth and the Iron Giant. Add Leonard's pedophilia and...
- Continuity Nod & Mythology Gag: Some of his LPs make slight references to his previous LPs. At one point in the first Drakengard LP, Caim mentions having fought alongside a guy with a bitchin' moustache who took an arrow to the throat. He's talking about Oda Nobunaga, mainly the Onimusha depiction, the first game of which The Dark Id had earlier LPed. And yes, Nobunaga had a bitchin' moustache there and took an arrow to the throat. This is one of many references to that project.
- When Angelus reads the mind of a dying ogre, amongst many repeats of "kill" and "eat" she notes the dead ogre as thinking "give magical gauntlet to those who scowl". Another Onimusha reference, this time to the hero Samanosuke, whose possession of a magical gauntlet given to him by a Clan of Ogres and constant scowl did not evade Id's notice.
- The epilogue of Drakengard 2 mentions how Gismor rented out his old clock tower to one Lord Burroughs, the principal villain of Clock Tower 3, although Gismor can't quite read the name.
- Every so often an update for a Nie R let's play will begin with a conversation between the ghosts of Caim and Angelus as Caim searches the world for his lost collection of weapons.
- Curse Cut Short: Every time he's Trolled By Cavia.
- Darker and Edgier: Although Drakengard 2 is Lighter and Softer than its predecessor, the LP's humor is far more scathing and ranting than previous LPs, mainly due to Id's utter fury at the sheer Idiot Plot.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Often, be it due to The Dark Id having some form of fondness for a character (or just making them more fun to read about), some characters become this. Examples include:
- Fan Nickname: After the point when Alfred Ashford starts talking in his imitation of his sister Alexia's voice, Id begins referring to him as Alfrexia. And photoshops makeup onto his face.
- Fun with Acronyms: Pulls this off with Nicholai when he points out Jill being with S.T.A.R.S, the R.P.D's special forces:
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Nicholai: I'm with U.I.'s U.B.C.S. on a mission to rescue civilians from R.C. with orders to move A.S.A.P. |
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- Gang-Bangers: How the leeches from Resident Evil Zero are portrayed here, speaking quite like typical gangstas out of Boyz N the Hood amongst others.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Several Alternate Character Interpretations create characters like this. Billy FUCKING Coen, Serge and Caim are the main ones, though in Caim's case all it took was a few pieces of internal monologue.
- High-Class Glass: Donned by El Gigante and Nosferatu/Alexander Ashford.
- Hurricane of Puns: Fires off one in his Remake LP:
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If there's a survivor in this residence, then I hope they have dead aim. Personally, I would give them zero chance against any evil nemesis they might encounter. I couldn't fit Code Veronica into a silly sentence, I tried. |
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- Speaking of Code Veronica he fires one off there, this time referencing a bunch of Valve titles.
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Tossing the valve in here automatically makes the machine steam up so we can get to the source of this problem in half the time. I do have a life, you know. And if you do have anything to counter the way I'm operating, let me just be the first to strike. This will not be a day of which I'll face defeat. We've got to work as a team to escape this icy fortress if we ever hope to see an episode 3. |
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- Hypocritical Humor: He maintains that Bitores Mendez is the most competent of the villains in Resident Evil 4, even though he's the one constantly leaving notes detailing all of their plans in Leon's path.
- In Leon's earlier game, TDI notes at one point that the autopsy room in the police department would be the last place any sane person would go to during a Zombie Apocalypse. He then immediately states that the only reason Leon isn't entering it at that moment is that he doesn't have the key, and then he takes both Claire and Leon into that room as soon as he grabs the key.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Id expresses this after particularly unpleasant stretches of gameplay or irrational plot points. States his intentions as such after his Dead Aim and Clock Tower 3 LPs.
- Idiot Plot: The main reason that Drakengard 2 and the main characters are despised is because the story revolves around Nowe and Manah's idiocy dooming the world. While Manah is secretly guided by The Watchers in her actions, Nowe has no such excuse except for The Dulcinea Effect.
- One of the most constant irritations in the Resident Evil series is the nonsensical plots, such as Los Illuminados trying to prevent Ashley from being rescued the fact despite the fact that goal of their plan being to insert her as an sleeper agent in the White House.
- Imagine Spot: Frequent in a few, most notably Dirge of Cerberus.
- The Resident Evil ones had entire sequences, including Chris Redfield's acid trip (he ended up in an old-style text adventure) and a truly bizarre showdown with Billy Coen's ghost in Resident Evil 1, culminating in a battle that goes through 2D sprite style, The Movies, and Soul Calibur 3.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes:
- Dirge of Cerberus had an entire segment devoted to mocking Nomura's character designs, lovingy titled "Fuck Tetsuya Nomura". His only reaction to Vincent's Chaos form was derisive laughter and a "fuck you" to Nomura.
- And he's back at it again in his Final Fantasy X Let's Play.
- Jerkass: He adopts this persona for the Let's Plays.
- Karma Houdini:
- Nowe and Manah manage to get a happy ending in the Third Ending of the game despite being responsible for practically everything wrong.
- Krelian gets to go off with the Wave Existence at the end of Xenogears despite 500 years of scientific atrocities and being responsible for helping to kill off nearly all humans on the planet.
- Lighter and Softer: Although Nie R is just as depressing as Drakengard, if not more so, Id's Let's Play of it is much easier on the snark and rage than his previous LPs, as he actually enjoyed the game.
- Made of Iron: The moment Id finds out Nicholai Ginovaef survived being blown up in a gas station, he ends up joking about his almost ridiculous unexplained survival in this way after his second meeting with Jill in a shack (Which also helps explain how he would survive to write a file in Survivor.
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The Dark Id regarding Nicholai: Thus, Nicholai abruptly departs. Along the way he falls into a sink hole, lands in a sewer passage full of poisonous gas. This gas also happens to be flammable and the place goes up like a match when Nikkie stumbles over a stick of TNT left by bank robbers who's heist ran afoul due to the viral outbreak. He is then blasted clear across the park and lands in a ravine filled with bees. Zombie bees. He will emerge without a scratch in the final act. |
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- And during said final act, when Jill blows up his chopper after negotiations fall through, Id instead decides to conclude said skirmish with not with Nicholai getting fried with the chopper but with Nicholai blasting off again.
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Nicholai: Aha, I am invincible! Unfortunately, my helicopter seems not to be... *sent blasting off again* |
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- Man Child: Chris Redfield becomes one midway through the Resident Evil 1 LP, thanks to brain damage from going on a herbal binge with Rebecca Chambers. I need an adult!
- MST: His treatment of Resident Evil: Survivor midway through the Code Veronica LP. Whilst their cargo plane is being flown remotely by Alfred Ashford, a bored Claire and Steve discover it gets cable TV. Claire notices the title screen of Survivor as Steve flicks through channels. Cue the two hitting Survivor as a regular Mike and Crow as they rename Ark Thompson to "Hernando" and upon him being called Vincent, give him surnames from every other Vince they know of, take the Andy route (Since it fits the tone of the game best), mock the Cleaner enemies, reusage of character models and other such stupidity.
- My Friends and Zoidberg: From his Chrono Cross New Game+;
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After the battle, Solt and Peppor come to investigate the unstoppable end game squad that could murder their entire army busting through the front gate. And Pierre. |
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- Nice Hat: Señor X's sombrero which he spends the whole LP looking for thanks to Leon trying ti on, not liking how it looks and tossing it out a window.
- And later on he gets a second sombrero within the underground lab and when Señor X becomes the Super Tyrant, he gains a sombrero made of fire.
- Nosferatu/Alexander Ashford dons a nice top hat upon freeing himself from the basement of the Antarctica base.
- No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: The Dark Id makes his feelings on Resident Evil 4's TMP clear (he thinks it's a waste of money). Naturally, every cutscene featuring actual shooting arms everybody with said gun.
- Nominal Importance: Elly during the Xenogears LP sadly notes over a dying soldier: "I'm afraid he lacks a character portrait. It's no use..."
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- In the Drakengard 2 LP, Gismor and Seere each eventually give one to Nowe and Manah for destroying the world while trying to "save" it.
- In the Xenogears LP, Fei gives one to the Queen of Shevat, describing her (and by extension, Shevat's) many unhelpful actions after she gives a rather lame vote of confidence.
- And in the Resident Evil 2 LP, Señor X gives one to Leon in their final fight:
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Señor X: Your discrimination over de country of my origin is most disrespectful, mah. At least I can hold a job. What are you doing, eh? Lost your job on your first day? Itz pathetic, ese. What kinda cop are you? |
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- Running Gag:
- Plenty in the Xenogears LP.
- Citan Uzuki being a dick as well as explaining how he knows various things or how to perform/operate outlandish stuff as having learnt them in medical school.
- Fei forgetting Billy's name.
- Comparing Rico to Blanka.
- Characters (usually Elly and/or Bart) bringing sandwiches when there is a long cutscene.
- Grahf adding the word POWER!! into his speeches at every opportunity.
- In Chrono Cross:
- Kid constantly accusing Leena of being a sex crazed country girl with low morals. It's a minor example since Kid disapears for a considerable portion of the game but it's almost heartwarming when it comes back.
- Plenty in the Xenogears LP.
- Sarcasm Failure: The endings to Dirge of Cerberus and Limbo of the Lost were so bad that the commentary devolved into "I have no words for this", followed by Cluster F Bombs directed at the cast & crew.
- The Scottish Trope:
- Mentions of "Belts and Zippers" were officially banned from the Dirge of Cerberus thread.
- The first few chapters of Resident Evil 4 continually referenced the fact that the developers had stated the game is not set in Spain. By the eighth chapter he just decided to call it Sapin and then never speak of it again.
- The Scrappy: A lot of characters end up as this, due to The Dark Id's hatred for them. These include:
- Steve Burnside and Rebecca Chambers.
- Kaede
- Verdelet, Inuart, Seere, Nowe (though Seere in Drakengard 2 eventually becomes the Only Sane Man by the endgame)
- Poshul, Steve, Pierre, Korcha
- Rico, Citan, and Chu-Chu (Though Rico is disliked less for personality than his prohibitively slow movement in battle and boring introductory level.)
- Scrappy Mechanic: The box puzzle in Metal Gear Ghost Babel damn near drove him into a frothing rage.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness and British Stuffiness: El Gigante. All of them. Except Mid-boss.
- Shout-Out: It would be meaningless to list them all. From Chief Bitorez being a Packers fan (complete with the hat) and a Gigante quoting Mid-Boss to Serge making Caruso One Liners (complete with sunglasses and ZOAH providing the YEAAAAH!) to Caim referencing Thundercats and people yelling BARF! as they die, to Fei using Buster Wolf, there are a lot.
- Shown His Work: His LP of Nie R shows incredibly detailed information on the backstory garnered from Grimoire Nier.
- Show Within a Show: His treatment of Resident Evil: Survivor with a dash of MST in the middle of his Code Veronica LP. While their cargo plane is being controlled remotely by Alfred/Alfrexia, a bored Claire and Steve discover it gets cable and Claire spies the title screen to Survivor as Steve flicks through channels. Cue the short playthrough...
- Solve the Soup Cans: A pet peeve of his; especially the more ridiculous (and unnecessary) ones.
- Spexico: How Mr. X/Señor X is portrayed: Wearing a sombrero in his first and last appearences, sporting a bandito moustache and speaking Spanish right up to the final fight against Leon. Leon is stymied by Señor X's guttural babbling.
- The Stinger: The final scene of the Resident Evil LP is of Chris waking up in Kijuju just in time for Resident Evil 5, with the voice of Billy Coen ringing in his ears. Cue Big No.
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Chris: Ugh. I really need to stop looking at the...sun? No. No! |
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- Sunglasses at Night: Wesker gets put through the wringer with this. Id usually notes his creepy habit of wearing them at 11PM, and in Code Veronica makes it a point to photoshop various bits of eyewear on Wesker's face up to and including Cyclops' visor (complete with the reveal of Wesker's cat eyes briefly being played with when he reveals a spare set of shades he had on...which Chris promptly punches off as well), and by the LP of Resident Evil 1, Id makes a tiny running gag of Wesker bumping into things due to still wearing his sunglasses in the rather dark Spencer Mansion.
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Wesker: Still securing the area. It's proving to be a bit more difficult than anticipated. Keep bumping into things for some reason. Wonder what's up with that. |
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- Twinkle in The Sky: Nicholai suffers this courtesy of Jill blowing up his chopper with him in it at the end of the Resident Evil 3 LP, mainly thanks to Nicholai's newly found invincibility.
- Verbal Tic: James Marcus ending most of his sentences with "Leeches!!" or some variant. Soon enough, it slips into some of Id's own sentences. LEECHES! Billy FUCKING Coen's "Bwahaha!" might also count.
- Villains Out Shopping: At one point the Gazel Ministry are shown playing Deus Ex Human Revolution.
- Where Are They Now: Drakengard 2 ends with a Fallout: New Vegas-style epilogue.