#Main Story Roulette is not real content

[takepon007]

Detective Erika Furudo’s Serious Deduction11

Chapter of Erika Furudo’s EP7 Deductions

Direction of Motive Deduction

In the seventh game, the focus will likely be on motive deduction, but as a premise, we must construct a motive that does not contradict the following three red truths:

“The purpose is not to make anyone experience fear.”

“It is not for the sake of revenge against anyone.”

“…Beato does not commit murder for pleasure.”

In a mystery, the classic motives for murder—revenge, fear, and pleasure—are all denied by the red truth. Only two fragments remain, huh? That was quick. I’ll occasionally weave in deductions about magic, and the reason for doing so is that it’s crucial for interpreting Ange’s heart at the end. This applies to both the game board’s Ange and the writer Ange’s heart, which ties to the meaning of the Magic Ending. Why did writer Ange remodel the House of the Gospel to resemble Rokkenjima’s hall? It relates to that reason—a deduction about her deeply loving psychology. The key to unlocking this is the deduction of magic. The critical point is that magic has a front and a back, and those who use magic must know the truth behind it. Actually, my favorite thing to deduce is the eighth game. It may seem like there’s little to deduce at first glance, but that’s not true.

Stories That Reveal and Stories That Conceal

From my perspective, deducing a story that ends without revealing anything is fun, but stories that reveal and those that conceal each have different kinds of enjoyment. Choosing which enjoyment to offer is a matter of selection—you can’t have both. It’s a tricky thing. The enjoyment of a revealing story is like what’s happening in the manga now—the classic mystery pleasure of revelation. The enjoyment of a concealing story is easier to grasp if you play EP8 of the original after knowing the manga’s information: the joy of grasping metaphors. The truth isn’t revealed, but by deducing and forming hypotheses, you can sense what Battler and the others are trying to convey to Ange. That pleasure is incredibly fun. It’s an enjoyment only possible because the truth isn’t revealed, and such an experience is rare. Those who’ve experienced it with this work are truly fortunate. Treasure that experience.

Deduction of the Incident’s Truth

In the fifth game, we discussed Yasu’s deduction: he reached the truth too late. This can be understood from that deduction alone, but what’s crucial is what happened to Sayo on Rokkenjima in 1986. What plan did she devise, what beliefs drove her to carry out the incident, what actually happened on Rokkenjima as a result, what did she feel during the incident, what did she lose, and what outcome did the roulette present? Deducing this is extremely painful, but it cannot be avoided. Originally, this part was meant to be deduced logically, not emotionally burdensome, but with how much the manga revealed, the reality seeps into the logic, doesn’t it? That’s my concern. What will the manga do? Ideally, it would “fully reveal Yasu’s real-world truth,” but Confession left parts like “the promise inferred from a lie” and “the duplicate identity trick premised on a forged manuscript” unaddressed. They’re intentionally leaving some mysteries.

Which Motive to Deduce

Let’s move to the seventh game. Since the tricks and world structure have already been fully deduced, the main focus is Yasu’s motive and the contents of the cat box. First, let’s define the motive precisely. The motive I’m deducing is “the real-world Sayo Yasuda’s motive,” not “the motive of the game board’s culprit piece, Beatrice, aka Sayo Yasuda.” Since this is closely tied to the real-world Yasu’s story, I’m deducing the real-world Sayo’s motive. The difference between the two lies in whether murder occurs and the outcome of the roulette, necessitating this distinction. On the game board, the culprit piece, under GM Beatrice’s control, commits murder to pose a puzzle to Battler. From the meta-world perspective, it’s like chess, so the weight of murder is absent. From the piece’s perspective, murder is committed, but since the purpose is “to convey a message to meta-world Battler using such a game board,” strictly speaking, it’s not murder. Pieces are reset and revived with each new game board, so it’s merely a means. Deducing the motive of the game board’s culprit piece is meaningless, so let’s deduce the real-world Sayo Yasuda’s motive based on the clues presented in the story.

Typhoon

First, what was she trying to do in 1986? Let’s consider the typhoon. On the game board, a typhoon hits 100% of the time on the day of the incident, isolating the island. In the real world, when Sayo planned the incident, it’s impossible to predict whether a typhoon would hit that day—it’s weather, after all. Thus, it’s natural to assume Sayo didn’t incorporate the uncertain element of a typhoon into her plan. Whether a typhoon hits or not relates to whether the island is isolated from the outside world and whether the police are contacted. Since it’s impossible to include an uncertain element like a typhoon, it’s deducible that Sayo’s incident is “a plan that holds regardless of whether a typhoon hits.” Even if a typhoon doesn’t hit, it poses no issue, suggesting the plan isn’t one that would lead to police involvement. This involves some speculation, so keep it in mind as “likely such a plan.”

Cash Card

Next, consider the cash card foreshadowing from the fourth game. Nanjo’s son checks the money on the cash card at the bank, and over 20 lamps were lit. This means Sayo sent at least 20 cards to the victims’ families. Two possibilities arise: “payment to accomplices” or “apology money for murder.” The former is unlikely since cards were sent to nonexistent addresses, returned by the post office, and sent in numbers exceeding the people on Rokkenjima. It’s straightforward to deduce they’re apology money.

These two elements—typhoon and cash card—lead to contradictory deductions. The typhoon suggests a plan unlikely to involve the police, while the cash card suggests murder. Ultimately, the incident’s peripheral information doesn’t pinpoint the motive. Thus, we’ll identify the motive in two steps: first, pinpoint the purpose of the incident, then identify the specific plan to achieve it. One note: there’s a slight difference between the “real-world motive” and the “forged manuscript world motive.” While broadly the same, the game board’s culprit piece is “forced to commit murder by the GM,” making murder-based motive deduction impossible from the piece’s perspective. This will become clear during the deduction.

Identifying the Incident’s Purpose

What is the purpose? In the fifth game, these red truths provided clues:

“The purpose is not to make anyone experience fear.”

“It is not for the sake of revenge against anyone.”

“Beato does not commit murder for pleasure.”

Thus, it’s not a classic mystery motive. The incident in 1986 isn’t driven by such purposes. From the game board’s piece perspective, the “forced murder” restriction ties the motive to killing, but from the meta-world GM perspective, it’s not. Let’s refer to Clair’s line in the seventh game, which likely indicates the purpose:

“We held a duel. It was nearing its conclusion. But the year 1986 was far too merciless. Why 1986…?”

The word “duel” rings a bell. Yes, the Trial of Love duel depicted by Battler in the sixth game, as proof of understanding the truth. In the end, Shannon and Kanon stake their lives to fulfill their love. Will said that if Battler hadn’t returned in 1986, the incident wouldn’t have happened. Why? If Battler didn’t return, Sayo’s love would have focused on George. If the purpose of Sayo’s incident wasn’t revenge, pleasure, or fear but purely to resolve her love, Battler’s return in 1986 caused her loves to overlap. Beyond this love conflict, Sayo faces several obstacles.

Obstacles to Love

Her inability to bear children. Being the daughter of Kuwadorian Beatrice, making it an incestuous relationship. Facing 1986 without confessing these issues. These are significant obstacles. Sayo’s purpose in carrying out the incident likely stems from this: “Using the incident as a roulette to resolve her overlapping loves and, if a miracle occurs, achieve happiness in reality.”

Interpreting the Mass Suicide by Explosion

One crucial element: on the game board, the incident includes a mass killing by explosion. As deduced in the second game, this is a “risk setting to fulfill a magical miracle,” rooted in the magical system’s philosophy. Let’s quote some foreshadowing. From Kinzo in the second game:

“Today, I will perform a ceremony. It’s closer to a gamble than a ceremony. Because magic without risk cannot house a miracle.”

From Maria:

“Magic requires risk. (…) Every great magic has a weakness or risk. No, it must have one.”

“Humans can create miracles by risking death. An immortal human would have no reason to create miracles. …Our lives, witches, and ceremonies—we can achieve nothing without taking risks.”

Finally, from Battler in the fifth game, when he reached the truth too late:

“Don’t mess with me… If it’s such a complex, boasted mystery, don’t set a time limit….”

“…No, …I get it…. In that fleeting miracle, …you prayed, didn’t you…. …You were the same as Grandfather.”

See the philosophy? For Sayo, with her numerous love obstacles, to wish for happiness in the real world, she must carry out an incident risking her own death. Only then might her love obstacles be overcome, and a miracle achieved.

Love Obstacles and Solutions

Are there logical solutions to her love obstacles? Possibilities exist, but they’re highly unlikely. For the incest issue, as mentioned before, Sayo was likely raised as “Sayo Yasuda” in the House of the Gospel, receiving a headship registry from the state. Legally, she’s not in the Ushiromiya registry, so the blood relation isn’t apparent, making marriage legally possible. However, this requires hiding the truth or “gaining the partner’s understanding,” the latter needing a miracle of acceptance. The infertility issue is similar—George’s acceptance requires a miracle. The overlapping loves also require a miracle during the incident. For Sayo’s love to be fulfilled in reality, miracles are needed—elements beyond her control, left to prayer. If she still wishes for happiness and miracles despite her circumstances, she’d perform a ceremony to achieve them. That’s the mass suicide by explosion—a risk setting where she and her loved ones might die. If a miracle occurs during the incident, her love might be fulfilled. This deduction is built from the story’s foreshadowing.

The Roulette of Love

What is the roulette Sayo set as a means to resolve her love and achieve a miracle? The fifth game explicitly provided clues, already deduced, but let’s review the red truths:

“No one gains anything from someone solving the epitaph.”

“The gold of the Golden Land originally belongs to this child. There’s no need to let someone find it or steal it.”

“Whether the epitaph’s riddle is solved or not, this child gains nothing.”

“Whether the epitaph is solved or not, Beato gains nothing.”

Beatrice’s love interest is Battler, as shown in the sixth game’s wedding foreshadowing: “I created this story to be with you. Thus, this world’s purpose is fulfilled.” However, solving the epitaph brings Beatrice no benefit, per the red truths. Logically, Beatrice’s love depends on Battler reaching the incident’s truth. Sayo’s roulette for choosing Battler is “Battler solving the epitaph murder mystery, recalling his promise, and accepting Sayo.” The act of solving the epitaph interrupts the Battler route, benefiting Shannon, who has nurtured her love before the incident. Thus, solving the epitaph equals the Shannon route. Since one of Sayo’s love obstacles is resolving the overlapping loves, the incident is designed to have someone else resolve it. The incident must achieve “marrying George” or “marrying Battler.” The only roulette explicitly shown in the story is the “epitaph and epitaph murders” from the fifth game, leading to the deduction: “Solving the epitaph means choosing George; solving the incident’s truth means choosing Battler.” However, there’s one issue.

Kanon-Jessica Route

In the real world, the “Kanon and Jessica’s love” is highly complex. It’s unclear from foreshadowing whether Kanon exists in reality, making it an undeducible element. From the roulette perspective, no Kanon route is found, suggesting Kanon doesn’t exist in reality, but this is too rough a deduction. The disappearance of bodies during the incident hints at fantasy, but it’s not conclusive. It’s frustrating to rely on speculation, but let’s hypothesize: “Since Kanon doesn’t exist in reality, his roulette doesn’t exist.” That’s likely the case.

Identifying the Plan

From the deduced elements, let’s identify the specific incident plan. Sayo’s purpose is to resolve her love through the roulette of the epitaph being solved or Battler uncovering the incident’s truth, aiming to achieve happiness. Let’s devise a plan that doesn’t contradict this purpose, the typhoon, or the cash card.

Planned Murder Theory

Assume Sayo intended to commit murder in 1986. If the epitaph is solved before the incident, it ends without victims, achieving the George route. However, if someone is killed during the incident, as in the third game, and the epitaph is solved afterward, a logical contradiction arises. A murderer being accepted and fulfilling love is impossible. Even if a miracle occurs, Sayo’s purpose becomes unachievable, lacking psychological consistency. Since her goal is to resolve love and achieve happiness, actively eliminating that possibility contradicts human behavior principles. The same applies if Battler solves the mystery—the Battler route only exists after the incident, so murder makes the purpose unachievable. Additionally, it contradicts the typhoon’s implication of a plan unlikely to involve the police. Logically, Sayo cannot plan murder in the real world.

Hoax Murder TheoryAssume it was a hoax, not murder, just a performance. This doesn’t work either. It contradicts the cash card, which suggests mass murder, and the “explosion risk setting for a miracle.”

You’ve likely realized it, but the possibilities narrow to one. Execute the incident as a hoax murder until the eighth twilight, and if no miracle occurs by then, proceed with a mass suicide by explosion after the ninth twilight. This solution satisfies all elements without contradiction—a fully logical plan.

Foreshadowing of Hoax Murder

Let’s review the hoax murder foreshadowing, specifically the special clause in the witch’s letter:

Special Clause:

At the end of the contract, Beatrice has the right to reclaim the gold and interest. However, if someone uncovers the hidden contract’s gold, Beatrice must permanently relinquish all rights. Interest collection begins now, but if anyone among you fulfills the special clause, everything collected, including what’s already taken, will be returned.

Even if people are killed, solving the epitaph returns everything, including those killed. This is feasible only with a hoax murder. As an aside, Sayo’s motive can also be inferred from Clair’s words to Lion:

“Thank you… Be happy. Meet a wonderful person… I hope you live as a human, not awakening as a witch… With one soul, love your one true love completely… I wish for you to live such a life.”

This suggests Clair’s awareness of multiple overlapping loves.

Why Deduce the Motive in Such Detail?

Before tackling the cat box, why do we need to deduce this? Sayo’s motive and the cat box’s contents are deduced to logically determine “what happened to Sayo on Rokkenjima and what happened to Battler as a result.” This aims to identify “the true real-world truth,” the story’s core. Thus, motive deduction builds meticulous logic to make these elements deducible. It enables deducing “the heart of Beatrice, who drowned herself.” In a mystery, even the heart must be deduced logically—and it’s possible. I believe so, as a detective.

The Cat Box’s Contents

We’ve identified Sayo’s incident purpose and specific plan. Now, the cat box’s contents. The manga revealed this as the truth, but let’s deduce it based on evidence. If the cat box’s contents are deducible from clues, the question is whether the seventh game’s tragedy story is true or false. If false, the contents become unidentifiable, so it’s likely true, but it must be deduced from clues. There are four major clues to ensure consistency. Let’s verify them individually. Even the unrevealed cat box can be deduced to a “likely this” degree.

First, consider Eva avoiding the 1986 explosion at Kuwadorian. What route did she take? The clues are: “The underground VIP room has a path to an underground passage leading to Kuwadorian,” and “Rosa stumbled upon it from the forest as a child.” The latter is unlikely since Rosa said, “I couldn’t go back even if told to.” The former is probable. Going from the underground VIP room to the passage suggests the epitaph was solved during the incident. It’s highly likely the epitaph was solved on the real Rokkenjima—clue one.

Second, why only Eva survived? If it were Eva’s conspiracy, as rumored, George and Hideyoshi should have survived, but only Eva did. This suggests someone else killed them.

Third, Eva’s attitude toward Ange—not revealing Rokkenjima’s truth. Possible reasons are “maliciously withholding” or “protecting Ange from a painful truth.” The eighth game suggests the latter.

Finally, writer Ange’s encounter with Yasu’s testimony: “We escaped to the submarine base.” The plural “we” implies someone else, deducible from the tragedy story. Kyrie and Rudolf’s guns are often noted as “having faulty aim.” When Beatrice was shot by Kyrie, it’s written, “The witch spilled blood from her mouth,” not that she died. When Eva awoke from Kyrie’s gunfire, it’s described: “Beside her was the corpse of her beloved husband. The corpses of Krauss and his wife, Rosa’s corpse. A room of death with bodies strewn about,” but Beatrice’s corpse is notably absent. This suggests Sayo and Battler escaped, tying to the island escape depicted in the eighth game. These four clues all point to the seventh game’s tragedy story.

The deduction is that the tragedy story is the truth. The circumstantial evidence aligns perfectly, so it’s almost certain. In that story, Beatrice explains things to the family who solved the epitaph but is extremely listless, as if everything is meaningless. Matching this with her motive, it’s deducible that “Shannon’s victory condition was met, determining her own death.” There’s foreshadowing for this in Beatrice’s character description:

It’s a futile dream for a human to kill me.

Even shooting lead bullets would only rebound like a mirror.

But there’s one way to kill me.

That method is in your hands.

Though it’s likely impossible for a mere mortal like you?

Kihihihihihihihihi!

Kukkukkukkukkukku!

This “method” is likely solving the epitaph. Solving it cuts off Beatrice’s love, leading to her death during personality unification, along with her love for Battler.

The cat box and motive deductions are complete. With these two keys, what happened to Sayo on Rokkenjima should be identifiable. I’ll tackle that in the eighth game. For now, consider it with these keys—you’ll surely understand.

Beatrice’s Funeral

Let’s move to other parts. In the seventh game, Beatrice’s funeral is held, where Will says something important:

“People are saved only when understood by someone. Even years after death… A pitiful witch who ended her life without being understood by the man she most wanted to understand her—someone should forgive her now.”

“In the end, he remembered. But long after you gave up and vanished.”

The notable part is “even years after death.” This refers to Yasu’s deduction in the fifth game. Reading the message bottle, Yasu understood Sayo but was too late—a hint of that.

My Master’s Red Truth

My master’s red truth: “This game will not grant a happy ending.” This was deduced in the sixth game. Considering the red truth’s scope, it applies only to the fictional world, not reality.

By the seventh game, deductions about tricks and the world structure were fully completed, leaving little to deduce beyond the motive and cat box contents. That’s the end of the seventh game. Only one remains for the game board deductions. This time’s detailed deductions fried my brain. In Confession, it’s said that if the epitaph is solved, she’d follow the solver. The motive deduction explains why. On a murder-based game board, the only love possibility is “the epitaph being solved before the incident.” If Battler solves the incident, the murder eliminates love possibilities, leading to “please stop.” There’s a difference between the game board and reality, but Sayo’s heart interpretation is clear and I like it.

[nuesora]

Thoughts on how Robin & Kylar would play ffxiv

.

Robin:

Start playing at mid shadowbringer.

Lalafell (gender same with their irl gender). Have tried hyur once on a sub character but soon found they're more fond of their little lala popoto.

Play on console, can only play the game in controller.

Mostly prefer casual, slightly modern glamour, but have one set of high-fantasy adventurer-ish glamor for msq.

Is in a big FC, but have a few friends good enough to do daily roulettes with.

Hangout with these people at their FC house regularly.

If Robin has to sell their console and quit the game these friends will genuinely be worried of them.

Have tried most content in game except ultimates.

Casual raid player, usually clear the current tier within a month from release.

Don't have a static but is good enough to clear with random people on pf.

Mainly play magical range dps, can play both 3 magic dps job fairly well. Have max leveled at least 1 job in all categories but haven't maxed all job.

Don't own any online store item, but have a fairly good collection of in-game collectibles (mounts, minions, gears, etc.)

Don't have their personal estate but owns a apartment at Limsa. Indoor decoration doesn't involve complicated techniques but is hearty and clearly a lot of efforts and thoughts have been put into it.

Enjoy showing pc the world of Eorzea and (especially) their apartment.

Have tried convincing pc to also play ffxiv at least once.

Have dreamed about living in a place like their in-game apartment in real life with pc more than once.

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Kylar:

Started playing at ARR release.

Solo player, empty friend list, in a solo FC.

Is in a lot of people's black list.

Started as bard main but switched to dancer after shb. Maxed all jobs but bought skip for most of them. Did all skipped job quest later in new game +.

Other than msq and chronicles first clear, they only do contents that absolutely does not involve another player (island sanctuary, criterion dungeons, etc.). Most of the time they just stay in their FC house (doors locked).

FC house interior is not very sfw.

HEAVY mod user, have enough mods (both sfw & nsfw) installed to get them perma banned by se instantly if there's a screenshot with their id on get leaked.

Started as a cat boy but soon modded their character into their crush at the time, currently their wol looks exactly like pc.

Actually paid people online to make hairstyle and face mod of pc.

Heavy fantasia user as they would like to see pc in different race and can't really choose between pc with cat ears and bunny ears and dragon horns.

If pc has any of the TF Kylar will have a paid mod of that TF. Except cat TF, in which case Kylar just fantasiaed into a miqo'te, but will have the tail modded if pc is demonic cat.

All the mods they commissioned are private.

Their screenshot folder size have exceeded game file size long time ago.

Have an alt on separate account modded into themselves to eternal bond with their main and do nsfw screenshots. Think double month sub and expansion fee is like nothing comparing to get "eternally bonded" with their love.

Do found some sort of comfort after their parents' tragedy in ffxiv's story.

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Bonus Whitney:

Don't play "weeb game", but would very much like to see pc cosing female viera in their racial starting glamour despite of pc's gender if they ever lays their eyes on it.

[the-penguin-of-baskervilles]

when you are writing a fic do you have most of it planned out beforehand or do you kind of make it up as you go along?

In the past, I've mainly identified as a plotter.

My typical approach to a story was to use Google sheets and write out mini summaries of each chapter. I used Blake Snyder’s story beats, the 27 chapter method, Dan Wells’ seven point story structure, the Highway and Service Road method from Jane Cleland’s book, “Mastering Plot Twists” and everything in between.

However, after composing the blueprint for a story I’d often be bored and struggle to write the actual novel. Knowing what happened next killed the vibe. Another issue that I saw in my writing was that my character development and their growth cycles sometimes felt stilted and forced. Whether or not I could capture the essence of a character was a roulette of hit or miss.

Because of that, I approached TPATL in a different manner. I felt like I finally knew structure well enough that I could pull off a character driven story - I’d attempted it before, around 2018, and it ended disastrously. TPATL exists primarily because Lloyd was the perfect character with enough conflict and personality drama to keep pushing the story forward. The tension between him making a conscious choice to be good, when his natural instinct is to be bad, and the effect that Princess has on him in suppressing a lot of those urges, makes a character driven story about him much easier to develop.

I do still use plotting and structure to set overarching plot goals, but the finer details of the story are left open for spontaneous creation. For example, I knew I wanted to write the scene where the stalker enters Lloyd’s backyard and attacks Princess by the swimming pool from the start. The identity of the stalker though, was up for debate until this morning when I officially decided who it was. I really enjoyed writing this way. Using structure when I needed it to figure out where I was going and letting the rest unfurl organically was fun and frustrating. There have been several points where I’d painted myself into a corner and didn’t know how to get out. But something always came together in the end - albeit to varying degrees of success and gracefulness. (Ahem… subplot with Lloyd and Sheriff Holbrook, I’m looking at you. That ended up taking so long that I just decided to cut it short. I deleted a bunch of content that would’ve rounded it out, and yes, I do mean deleted as in permanently deleting those chapters from my hard drive/cloud.)

Writing TPATL as a character driven story has enriched my ability to think on my feet, solve plot holes as they crop up, and write characters with richer internal conflicts. Even Princess has become more complex to the point where she’s less of a reader insert and more of a real character. Her behavior is fairly consistent and there’s an identifiable personality with its own unique thought patterns.

I even dove into Lloyd’s childhood with the Idaho subplot. Unfortunately, this had the side effect of turning the story into a massive plot sprawl. I needed to wrap things up and tie off loose ends to get back to the main storyline. In hindsight, had I planned this out architect style, the narrative would have flowed smoother, culminating in a more logical conclusion.

As I approach the climax of TPATL, I’ve found myself grappling with a number of challenges because of my lack of planning. At this point, the whole thing is a maze. It’s irritating, especially for someone averse to revisiting their past work, but it’s forced me to think creatively and find innovative solutions when I’ve written myself into a corner.

So, to answer your question: usually I’m a plotter. My natural inclination is towards plotting, but TPATL has been an exercise in flying by the seat of my pants. I’d say that this current story has been 85% improvised and 15% planned.

[yakdeculture]

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Review

The 4th expansion to A Realm Reborn and a culmination to the story up to that point. Y’all ff14 don’t play about spoilers so I’m not even gonna say what’s goin on in there but some crazy shit is going down and its up to you to solve it.

Do you like my character? That;s Spice World on Famfrit you can add me if you want I mostly play Dancer but I also like astrologian dragoon and pictomancer I’m gonna level samurai and reaper too though. Anyways so I first started playing ff14 like right after high school so like probably right after Stromblood came out maybe what would that be like 4.1? Something like that? Anyways that’s when I started played and I played pretty consistently up through the patch before Endwalker I think by then I was already pretty burnt out and wasn’t logging in that much but like I hadn’t even finished the last like few quests in post Shadowbringers when I quit. I had logged in like a few times when there was like free time or whatever since then and now but literally the only thing I did was visit my friends little animal crossing island. But with Dawntrail coming out a lot of people on the TL were getting back into it so I said fuck it why not. A lot of the things I don’t like about this game/don’t really appeal to me is still true I’m not a fan of the postgame content structure in the sense that like I frankly just don’t care about raiding and like unlocking extreme trials I just don’t care. I don’t see the appeal of doing just a Fight You Already Did But Watch Out Because Some of These AOEs are Crazier. And I think it can take up too much time of like your social life this is true of all MMOS but this is like the only one most sane people would even think to care about. But like its a similar deal to gatcha games but if instead there being like 15 minutes worth of dailies there are like up to 4 hours worth of dailies depending on how invested you are in the game and thats just insane to me and I’m the kind of person who would do MSQ roulette back when that shit took like 30 to 40 minutes every time before the ARR update.

Anyways let me actually talk about the Endwalker MSQ this review only covers up to the actual end of the MSQ I haven’t started the real postgame yet. THERE ARE SPOILERS OF ENDWALKER AFTER THIS POINT if you are like me and stopped playing or are newer to the game or something. So personally honestly up until like level 83 and you go to the moon and do the trial and shit the story really just feels like more postgame patch stuff where its like sure you are progressing the story and you even visit new places but you don’t really do anything there and you leave before anything interesting can happen and garlemald is basically empty (fine I guess kind of funny though) but like I think around 65 after the dungeon it starts picking up again and then you go to Elpis and then after that its basically all peak I think Shadowbringers story is more consistent but Endwalker peaks higher. Also I should say I like Heavensward significantly less than most people I just do not fuck with most of the characters (Harchefant) and I think its annoying how like most of the story is everyone telling Ysayle hows shes a fucking idiot stupid loser and shes wrong and bad and then it turns out she was was more right then everybody else and then she kills herself so a guy who hasn’t taken a shower in his entire life can join the main cast. And then when Vrtra comes out to people at Radz at Han they have the fucking gall to be like [flashback of Ysyals] we did it buddy! Y’ALL WERE NOT HER FRIEND Y’ALL TREATED HER LIKE SHIT. But I have to give them serious credit because in Shadowbringers I thought the Armout shit and like Emet’s whole deal was fucking stupid granted this is because I already did not like the Ascains up to that point so it just kind of felt like they were like were just pivoting and making them something they weren’t but ultimately they really fleshed it out in Endwalker and like it really did tie it all together I do have to give them credit for that. It’s funny bc I forgot Hydoleathaeus (not checking how to spell his name) was a character you met multiple times so the time in the section I was is it gonna be like some twist like this fucking twink was actually somebody else the whole time but no he was just the friendly guy you met a couple of times. Zenos is also really funny in this expac its hilarious they brought him back and then it was like barely for any reason at all other than to have a few epics moments and then kill him again in a way thats like okay try bringing this mf back again I dare you to find a way. The ending was very Marcoss 7 so I appreciated that. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the story especially because of how it started out. Not to be thing Japan but I played every other expac on English voices but I just can’t listen to the british shit again so I switched to JP and it was so good.

postpatch review

If this was any other set of post game patches I wouldn’t do a review for them because usually frankly pretty much all the post expansion story before this point goes like this

X.1: Filler

X.2: Filler but then something happens in the last quest

X.3 actual story

X.4: Filler but you notice they keep bringing up some location name constantly

X.5: Somee boss fight that makes the scions decide they gotta go take a trip to the next expac location

This time they decided to actually have a real story that actually had time to develop. I enjoyed this one a lot but also part of that is because Zero was so hot that I could ignore the fact that they had like 50 different scenes where someone explained like the concept of trust or friendship or hanging out or whatever to her and she did her stupid fucking fedora thing and went … like look I get it and I like it but its like obnoxious at this point. We all get we get what you are doing you don’t have to do this same thing over and over again. I understand most ff14 players struggle to interpret information beyond going in and then out to dodge aoes and are not equipped to handle actual character writing but they will never grow or improve their literacy rates if you don’t give them the chance.

But genuinely this was like the first time I enjoyed reading or doing post game stuff since like. The Yotsuyu stuff in Stormblood. Probably won’t start Dawntrail for a while (my sub ran out and down feel like renewing) but it seems cool from the little story preview I like that Wuk Lamat’s introducing is like patting Graha’s back and since he’s a weak little beta chud he almost breaks all his bones in his body recoiling from her powerful aura and then he immediately annnounces he will not be going on the adventure with us like thank fucking god get this catboy FREAK out of my sight.

[ceardaw]

Apply Buy Ffxiv Gil Order To Gather All Vital Details

Final Fantasy XIV Gil

Gil is the game's premium currency that allows players to catch up on gear for new content releases, stockpile consumables and upgrade weapons and armor. A steady supply of Gil is essential to having a positive experience in FFXIV.

Players can acquire FFXIV Gil through quests, guildleves, fulfilling duties on the Duty Finder, killing enemies in dungeons and selling equipment or Materia on the Market Board.

Buying

Gil is the primary currency in Final Fantasy XIV and plays an essential role in character growth and development. Therefore, having sufficient Gil reserves is key and can be obtained in various ways such as daily dungeons, guildleves, agglons and duty roulettes.

Players can earn gil by killing monsters and selling the materials gathered from these monsters on the Market Board or through retainers, where these materials fetch top dollar.

Selling

Arming yourself with the appropriate weapons and armor in Final Fantasy XIV can play an integral part of success, both against enemies as well as protecting players from them. Unfortunately, however, purchasing such gear requires spending considerable Gil, the game's in-game currency.

There are various ways of earning Gil in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, such as completing daily roulettes and working through the challenge log. Furthermore, players can sell unwanted items on the market board; kill monsters for Gil drops; sell items obtained through hunting; or simply kill monsters purely to earn Gil for themselves and sell what drops are left over, such as equipment materials minions furnishings dyes etc if available (kill monsters only when required to gain Gil). But do not buy Gil for real money as this violates terms of service agreement and may get banned!

Dungeons

Players in Final Fantasy XIV can earn an endless supply of FFxiv Gil through various means such as the main story, guildleves, FATE Dungeon runs and Duty Finder; additionally they may profit by selling equipment and items on the Market Board.

However, keep the following in mind before entering a dungeon: they can be risky! These complex environments exist to test players and reward them with experience and buy ffxiv gil.

Furthermore, they serve as one of the best places to source mendacity and poetics, which can be used to produce valuable crafting mats and grade III soil that are in high demand on the market. Such materials command higher prices.

FATEs

FATEs (Full Active Time Events) are dynamic battle scenarios which recur across Eorzea. FATEs grant experience points, Gil and Grand Company seals as rewards; certain FATEs also grant special items!

Boss FATEs, marked on your map with a monster maw, offer one of the fastest means of leveling in Final Fantasy XIV for DPS jobs. Players gain participation rating by attacking or tanking (dodging, parrying and blocking) the boss attacks or healing other players - this rate should be prioritized when possible! FATEs located within Stormblood or later expansion areas often offer bonus experience when completed - these should also be prioritized.

Retainers

Retainers are non-player characters that players can hire through Retainer Vocates located throughout major cities. Once hired, Retainers can be assigned classes, gear and jobs before being sent on Ventures in search of items and experience.

Leveling retainers is relatively straightforward and doesn't require extensive investments in gear if they can be reset frequently. Plus, it can help get back into the game after an absence.

Retainers primarily serve as market sellers on the Market Board. How much a player receives for selling an item depends on its city-state tax rate which may change over time.

Market Board

Gil can be obtained in various ways in Final Fantasy XIV, such as daily duty roulettes, Leve quests and FATEs. Furthermore, players can gather and craft items that sell well on the market board - this process provides quick Gil earnings but may become monotonous over time.

A market board is an interactive object found in both marketplaces and residential districts in major cities, indicated on maps by its icon. Players can use this board to access items from another server through World Visit System; saving both time and money as well as offering more selection than vendor NPCs.

[emmys-grimoire]

Lesson 67 Summary & Analysis, Part 1

This was part 1 of the next trial. It’s not the best, but not the worst, either.

The Story

Lucifer’s team was victorious in the first leg of the sports’ festival. Diavolo unveils our next challenge:

It’s a game called “purgatorio”, only with an “added twist”. This added twist is just a task each member of each team much complete in order to move onto the actual climbing part of the game. It sounds like a contrived way to enlongate this challenge into two lessons, but whatever. Diavolo is quick to make sure the competitors are forbidden from using their wings.

Simeon notes Barbatos isn’t present. Apparently No. 2 caught the Devildom flu and Barbatos is at home taking care of him. So instead...

Diavolo happily joins Mammon’s team in his place. The brothers note how “suspiciously happy” Diavolo seems and correctly deduce that he’s eager to join the fun; Belphie thinks the “little D is sick” thing is just an excuse to let Diavolo join, but they all clam up once Diavolo looks in their direction and inquires about what they’re talking about.

There’s some angsting and squabbling between the characters. Raphael wants to strategize, while Thirteen wants to just jump in headfirst, which highlights their differences once again.

Levi gets his task and freaks out again. Belphie says he’s getting a really strong sense of deja vu... and so am I. Haven’t we banged Leviathan in the main story already? He’s acting like he’s allergic to hand-holding now. His task is “play the ‘I love you’ game with MC”... which I’m pretty sure is just a variation of how he’s confessed several times now. If he laughs or breaks eye contact he loses. Whatever.

Our task is to play hide-and-seek with another team. Luke overhears, and happily volunteers his team as a way to get us to agree to help them with their tasks (particularly Levi’s). Raphael likely teases Luke about wanting to play and not just out of a sense of obligation like he claims.

Thirteen and Raphael choose to be “eh, whatever” for some reason. They’re content to just let MC do it while they go off to try to complete their own tasks because hide-and-seek is for babies. Great teamwork, guys. We’re our own.

During our quest to find the hiders, we run into Asmo. He asks us for help with his task, which is...”butt charades”. Not kidding. He uses his butt to write something in the air. He claims people play it up in the human world, too, but I don’t think I’ve heard of this one.

It doesn’t matter how you answer his question, the result is the same. But the text that comes afterward is funny.

You help him complete his task, and he gives you a hint about where Beel might be. In the cafeteria. It was a real mystery up until this point.

Asmo does spend a few seconds opining about how Raphael was always a stick-in-the-mud who prayed instead of playing games with them, so there’s that.

We’re drawn to the cafeteria after Thirteen starts shouting at Beel for eating her cream puffs. Asmo congratulates us for finding her, but notes her unusually sour mood (though honestly she hasn’t been in any other mood since we’ve met her, really). Her task was to “enjoy a bit of Russian roulette”. As part of the game, she filled her cream puffs with Death’s Door sauce... which of course had no effect on Beel.

Buuuut her task didn’t require her to win, so it’s completed. She’s initially confused, then claims that makes no sense, though it is technically correct. Beel asks us to help him with his task next, which is to perform a magic trick in front of an audience...

His trick is just showing us his bowl of grilled chicken and making it “disappear” by devouring it. Thirteen loudly complains about how lame it was, but it also technically counts.

For all her complaining, though, Thirteen seems annoyed enough to actually start assisting us after this whole ordeal, so that’s something, at least. Raphael has left us. We embark on our quest to find the rest.

While we’re searching and she’s complaining (again, very loudly, exclamation points and all) we finally get an opportunity to ask her some questions about herself. Thirteen evidently has a family, and an older sister named Candy. Makes me wonder if Thirteen was her given name. I see no theme between the two, and since they don’t seem to have a cordial relationship, I’m thinking “Thirteen” might be a chosen moniker instead.

You can also ask who she hates, but since she doesn’t immediately answer with the obvious choice (Solomon) and rebuffs, I’m thinking it’s someone else.

We ultimately decide to lure one of them out with a trap. You get a choice between a pillow, a ruri-chan figurine, and something that makes it sound like Lucifer’s in trouble. The third choice is obviously for Luke, which is much more interesting, so I naturally make that choice.

Thirteen sets up a tiny Lucifer figurine that cries in his voice.

Poor Luke is too good for this world. Apparently he’d jump in to help Lucifer if he was in trouble.

... Or at least I’d say that if this wasn’t the result for all three choices lol. Had me for a moment there, Solmare!

We agree to help Luke with his task, which is just giving him three hints about someone and he has to guess who we’re referring to. It’s very easy.

Then we run into Lucifer... in his unicorn onesie.

I’m impressed that the Avatar of Pride didn’t forfeit immediately. It seems like he really wants to win, or doesn’t want to let his teammates down. Character progression, folks.

His task is to stay in this thing for a certain period of time. He glowers at us while Thirteen openly mocks him. It’s great.

Satan drops by, and much to everyone’s surprise, he’s not rubbing Lucifer’s face in his own embarrassment. It’s not out of the goodness of his heart, though: his task is to show Lucifer gratitude. He’s having a really hard time bringing himself to do it, though.

Lucifer casually tells Satan that he left his cat cookies at the House of Lamentation and be brought them for Satan. Satan just as casually thanks him without thinking about it, and his task is complete.

Then he immediately whips out his cell phone and tries to take a picture of unicorn Lucifer, but a magical ward ruins the ploy. Lucifer knew better. We ask him where Raphael may be, and he answers he’d be “somewhere quiet”. The most quiet place we can think of is the library. 

Sure enough, he’s there with Belphegor, who is trying to complete his own task in vain. Belphie has to make Raphael smile. He tries his Mammon impression first, but Raph’s not amused.

After all attempts fall flat, Belphegor falls asleep and that apparently makes Raphael smile. Belphie’s not awake to notice his task is completed.

We ask Raphael what his task was but he continues to refuse to divulge it. We learn what it was in hard mode (which I’ll reblog).

We return to the classroom to finally get Levi to complete his task. It’s hard to tell if he really completed it or if Diavolo just had pity on him lol. That’s where the lesson ends.

The subnodes show us the tasks given to the other characters. Mammon has to take Cerberus out for a walk (Solomon assists) and Mephisto and Simeon help each other with theirs (Simeon must talk in Shakespearean, while Mephisto must complete a tongue twister). Diavolo tortures Lucifer by fawning over him while taking pictures of him in his onesie: he will undoubtedly destroy the phone once this is done.

This was a very light hearted and humorous lesson. Don’t think they needed to stretch it out this much, but I got a chuckle or two out of it, I guess.

I’m going to separate the analysis portion again (I have a feeling this will be the norm now), but I’ll have to post it later. The most interesting bits were in hard mode, and I’m tired. Gonna see if I can catch up now that they’ve tweaked the difficulty.

UPDATE: Here it is.

Predictions

The next lesson will just be a continuation of this challenge. We got hardly any Mephisto in this, and there was no more Simeon prodding. We might have to complete the entire festival before we get that, unfortunately. Curious about how the climbing portion will go: expect more shenanigans. I hope Diavolo gets to have fun and Thirteen mellows out.

tl;dr more of the same

[ursifors]

Jeremy Dooley Twitch AMA May 27th

NOT verbatim Jeremy talks a lot and I don't have that much time on my hands. He also goes off on a lot of tangents between answers that I didn't write down so watch the VOD for those.

Q: Which of the 1551 songs that you've written is your favorite? A: That's a tough call - Going Down Swinging is a lot of fun - Nobody Gets Left Behind is another one of my favorites. It's a really good one.

Q: How is it being a 29 year old infant? A: Well that's not for much longer, I'm only 29 for another week. And then I'm the big Three Oh.

Q: Have you ever been to the Big E in Springfield, Mass.? A: No I don't think I've ever been to Springfield, Mass.

Q: What's your best memory with Fredo and Trevor? A: The three tall guys bit in Off Topic 200 + In live shows we would do improve stuff together and we'd do Whose Line type games and it was a lot of fun.

Q: If you had to pick would you rather be stuck in a space station with Darryl the alien or necromorphs. A: I don't know if I can really answer that because I've never played Dead Space. Necromorphs sound awful because you don't just die, Darryl would just kill you.

Q: If you couldn't live in Austin or the North East where would you live? A: Australia.

Q: Do you plan on having kids? A: I don't know. As of right now, no.

Q: Will you still go see the new office? A: Yes, absolutely I will.

Q: Why did you tease Uranium(?) in Go Nitro and then he disappeared? A: He's an overarching enemy in Go Nitro and will pop up in later stories.

Q: Any new music projects? A: Just working on the new album right now!

Q: How you likin' the mustang? A: I'm liking it a lot!

Q: Was the kitty situation a factor in staying home? A: No it was not, this has been a long time in the works.

Q: Do you collect pokemon cards? A: I used to!

Q: Have you checked out the DLC for Borderlands 3? A: Some of it!

Q: Purple or orange? A: Purple over orange.

Q: Will you do a meet and greet in Mass? A: Yes I'd love to do more meet and greets! We just have to be more careful nowadays.

Q: What do you do when you get writers block? A: I would go for a walk and put myself in a situation where I can't write, and talk to myself as characters talking to each other in the book and it would get me excited to write again.

Q: Who's your favorite member of the post team and why is it Jerren(?) A: I don't have a favorite post team member they're all great!

Q: How long did it take you to write your book? A: I've been writing Go Nitro one since I was in the 3rd grade, so it's hard to answer.

Q: If you were the supreme leader of a cult what would it be called? A: Do As I Say Not As I Do

Q: 1551 songs are fun to try and play. A: PLEASE UPLOAD COVERS ON YOUTUBE AND SEND THEM TO ME

Q: Favorite state you've lived in? A: Mass!

Q: Are you gonna be doing more private streaming with you being less involved with AH when they go back to the office? A: That's a bridge that we'll cross when we come to it type thing. The short answer is yes. I'm not leaving AH but I'll be more of a contract worker like Ify is.

Q: Do you have a P.O. box? A: Yes! (Note from Logan: Idk the address sorry LOL)

Q: What happened to the second mass effect vod? A: There were some edits I wanted to make to it, there were times I got up and left and I wanted to cut that down, I took the video I edited a bunch of stuff and then uploaded that and took it down from twitch.

Q: Next tattoo? A: Compass rose on my chest. I also wanna get mom's knife from Binding of Isaac and a creeper face.

Q: Who will do dumb stuff like marshmallow spiderman :( A: I'm sure people will be stepping up to do stuff like that.

Q: Best Linkin Park song? A: impossible to say

Q: Will you be playing Returnal? A: yes i want to but i have so many games to play right now + achievement hunter stuff

Q: How long did you have the tall desk? A: two or three days before i was like please i need life back

Q: Any updates on Go Nitro? A: Not right now! When I have more time to write I will.

Q: Favorite Three Days Grace song? A: It's too hard to pick just one song. Animal I Become, Just Like You, Riot, are all some favorites.

Q: Do you plan on playing Subnautica? A: I plan on it! Q: New musical artist you recommend? A: No, but listen to Syler(???) if you haven't.

Q: Do you ever get tired of playing video games all day for work and then playing them on stream/for yourself after work? A: Yes and no. I don't play games I like a lot at work usually so I don't get sick of them.

Q: With the announcement are you still going to make it to RTX? A: Yes!

Q: Are you staying with AH and just working remote? A: Yes.

Q: If there is a season 3 of Haunter will you be in it? A: Yeah if i'm invited!

Q: What's the best food you ever had and where? A: I don't know how to answer that, that is such a wide spectrum of stuff. A food I've only had once is caviar. Also when I was in South Korean I had abalone.

Q: If given the opportunity to do so safely would you pet a sea monster? A: No I don't wanna touch it but I'd like to look at it.

Q: What is your favorite thing to cook? A: Steak and mashed potatoes. Q: I'm playing one of your songs at my wedding what do you suggest for dancing? A: Please do not play 1551 at your wedding (he was laughing here)

Q: Is there a dream car if not another high ticket dream item? A: We have our mustang, but I'm not a super car guy?

Q: Are you going to stream more once you do less AH content? A: Yes that is the plan, the number of days I stream will go up.

Q: Are you still playing pokemon go? A: Nope.

Q: Favorite city in Mass? A: Burlington my home town!

Q: Do you think you could persuade Chilled to join in AH among us? A: I mean if he has time, Chilled is an insanely busy person it's kind of hard to like, book him.

Q: Any plans to return to Stardew? A: I think that's run it's course and we have a lot more games to play.

Q: Was Roulette's play with all them getting replaced with Rainbow Six real or fake? A: First of all they were getting replaced with Battlefront. There might have been some tomfoolery in that.

Q: How did you feel when you started getting famous on the internet was it a surreal experience? A: Yeah! Yeah - It's weird. It was a weird feeling the first time someone recognized me, or I did a signing and people were there. The first time it really kicked it was we were about to go out and do like an off topic at rtx or something, and it was very shortly after I had been pulled in as part of the main cast and the crowd started to chant "lil j" for no reason and it was so weird.

Q: If you could have one thing behind you while your stream what would it be? A: A neon sign- You know those neon signs that depending on what colors light up its a different image? Right? I want one that pertains to what alcohol I'm drinking at the time.

[ever-searching]

Since in less than an hour the servers will go down for the traditional one-day pre-expansion maintenance, I figured I could do my final Shadowbringers-era update.

The past few months have been... eh, more than a bit busy. Various real life things (including, but not limited to, work and a house move) caused me to have less time to play, so I didn't manage everything I wanted to do before Endwalker.

Things I did manage to do:

finish main scenario quests on both Cain and G'ilas

finish the Sorrow of Werlyt questline on the same two characters

finish Save the Queen storyline on one character (ironically on G'ilas rather than Cain... but then again, G'ilas would more likely be found on a battlefield like Bozja IC :p)

finish post-Yorha quests on Cain

get main jobs adequately geared

level various alt jobs to either 80 or a suitable level on a few characters, which should make my Armory less likely to burst in the future

spend all of my tomestones and scrips

run enough Main Scenario Roulette to lose my mind buy the jacket and the missing mounts on Cain (a friend kindly supplied me with the orchestrion roll)

Things I didn't manage to do:

finish Resistance weapon questline on anyone (Cain got to the second-to-last phase though, and thankfully I should be able to finish the quests in time by running raids, Heaven-on-High etc.)

finish Skysteel tools on anyone (reminder to self: macro-spamming and me aren't friends. I can't stand it >>')

get Sasameru to level 50 (mostly so that he could buy a FC room and the bookshop-café could finally get an office)

get my alt on Lich pretty much anywhere (but ah well; maybe I'll eventually just buy him a level and story boost if I decide that he needs to be able to access high-level content)

do Masked Carnivale i.e. unlock the headache emote

level a few alt jobs to nice rounded levels

I've reserved some time this weekend to get started on Endwalker, but I will refrain from posting any spoilers until late December, i.e. probably until Christmas has passed. I might share some gear screenshots earlier, but those too will be properly tagged as 'Endwalker spoilers' (and 'EW spoilers' just to be safe).

Take care of yourself, everyone, and see you in Eorzea, hopefully!

[tigstripe]

Gacha Impression #1: Fate/Grand Order

Total Score: 3.3/5

Full review under the break

Presentation (3/5): FGO presents itself as a waifu/husbando simulator (and yes, there are valid husbandos!) with pretty typical anime flair. The artwork is top-notch (most of the time...I’m looking at you, Nightingale) and the animations are clean and flashy when they need to be. The music is appropriate, but forgettable at times, ultimately dragging this score down. The in-battle sprites are so obviously Flash puppets it hurts, but their actions are still quite dynamic. The best part about the game’s presentation is that they hired so many unique artists to help vary up the art styles between characters and craft essences. It suffers a little from long load times, alleviated mostly by the Download All Data option.

Story (5/5): It’s a game made by a company that made itself known for publishing popular visual novels and establishing one of the most fleshed out worlds in digital media. This game’s story is good. It’s very good. There are dozens of hours of texted cutscenes, with added mini-stories for characters and special events if you care to read them. You will fall in love with the supporting cast. Some of the in-world magic systems will go over your head. It’s okay. Just take it in - this is a vividly written story in an immensely developed fictional universe.

Combat (2/5): What I used to think was a solid combat system has proven to be quite stale and not terribly deep. You have characters with three skills each and a super move, and you have some gimmicks to throw in the mix when you need to. There are quite a few strategies to use when you approach the combat system, but they’re very straightforward and don’t vary much from team comp to team comp. The most customizability you have are some bonuses gained from Craft Essences (the game’s form of equipment), which are arguably more important than which characters you choose to use. New characters rarely offer anything unique to combat, and when they do, they’re pretty damn broken as a result.

Noncombat Mechanics (3/5): Character development is a commitment, especially for higher rarity characters, but it’s quite straightforward and easy to grasp. Fight mobs, get drops, boost Servants. That’s it, and it’s real boring. Real world money will not help you enhance your Servants outside of rolling for additional copies to enhance their Noble Phantasm strength. Craft Essences and Servants level up in very similar ways, allowing a very low learning curve to effectively enhance your cast. The game’s energy system can be quite restrictive during special events, but at this point in the game’s life, completing the primary story is smooth enough with new accounts constantly leveling up and getting refreshed energy reserves. The devs really like to dish out energy replenishing items, too, so you can often go entire months without running out of opportunity to play the game. Weekly missions help you to nab extra rolls in the gacha, and the game will reward you for devoting time to extra content. The monthly store is mostly a trap, but can be a boon for casual players.

Events (3/5): Their special events vary greatly, too greatly to give them a stellar score, because some events are simply “run this specific combat a billion times” while others are legitimate, fun Story events with very strong writing. Overall, the game focuses too much on farming for enhancement materials to be considered “fun,” but some events can really come out of left field, especially with their story. Time gates often prevent people from just abusing the more story-driven events, but some events (like the Christmas Roulette) are so openly abusable the game made a meme out of them.

Gacha Mechanics (2/5): This is one of the only gacha games I’ve seen that has no pity mechanic, but the game and devs throw free rolls at you via story completion, events, and social media drives all the time. That being said, you roll for both Servants and Equipment (called “Craft Essences”), and the 4 and 5 star Servant drop rates are abysmal. The “Story” gacha is a trap except for brand new players. The daily free friend point rolls are very nice and are often undervalued.

Free to Play Friendliness (4/5): Between getting handed lots of extra rolls as noted above and the inability of real world money buying you enhancement items, the game is surprisingly Free to Play Friendly considering it’s still one of the (of not the) most lucrative gachas in existence. Even lower-rarity characters can carry your team with proper planning and support (we’re talking about you, Andersen!). Plus, most of the story-driven special events come with 4-star “Wellfare Servants,” which allow you free, high-quality characters you can easily max out simply by participating in the events fully. Some of the best 4-star characters in the game are free Event Servants! While quite a few characters are event-specific, many of them will come back eventually through event reruns or specialized gachas around the holidays, allowing F2P players more chances at pulling their faves. If a character shows up in the main story, they wind up in the Story gacha. Still, it’s best to wait for events to fish for your faves.

Total Score: 3.3/5

It’s charming, easy to get into, and its story is very good. It has some boring bits and the combat system isn’t terribly riveting, but being able to use your favorite Fate characters is always fun, and the cast is constantly growing with new, colorful members. While the gacha is punishing, some of the best characters in the game are given to you for free during events.

[drcreatureflix]

More Family Content: Setting Up A Grimdark Campaign

Grimdark is a setting style thats focus on dystopian fantasy violence and the ammoral, think less ‘Starving Games 9: the diverging maze runner, girl is special but in love with two guys’ nonsense and more the Warhammer. I myself, (being someone who never grew out his angsty side) is an absolute whore for this kinda stuff. The main appeal for this setting is no matter who you are, you are a villain. But thats good. Cause everyone is  a villain in a grimdark campagin and being the villain is cool sometimes. So I thought I would give you my process of setting up a Grimdark D&D Campaign if anyone wants to try it.

Inspiration

Well before we commence on actually scarring our players we need ideas. And to quote Picasso, “good artists borrow, great artists steal”. So lets look at some recommendations for you to read or look up or play to steal-I mean take ‘inspiration’ from.

The Warhammer Franchise: If you looked up Grimdark in the dictionary you would find a image of the Warhammer universes with the words ‘For The Emperor’ covered in heretic blood. The Warhammer Franchise has two Grimdark settings, the ‘40k universe’ and the ‘Age of Sigmar universe’, both good examples. The 40k universe being a high gothic sci-fi universe as the zealous and xenophobic imperium of mankind and their space marines who fight gods of chaos and egyptian alien terminators... and Orks (Yes actual orks) who paint things red to make them ‘go fasta’. Age of Sigmar is the more fantasy side with Giant bat zombies and Rat hulks and whatever the Hell-pit Abomination is supposed to be. Both good starting points, if you would rather read then trying to play the games and get drowned in lore, for the Age of Sigmar angle try ‘Scourge of Fate’, ‘Court of the Blind King’ and ‘Rulers of the Dead’ for my recommendations, though Age of Sigmar has book series for each faction in the game so choose an aesthetic you would like. For 40k, could not recommend anything outside the Horus Heresy series, yes its over 50 books but pick the first one ‘Horus Rising’ and that should help. Warhammer actually even has ‘Warhammer horror’ series set in the universes as well if you want to go a spoopy angle.

The Starcraft Franchise: Moving alittle over and returning to the realm of science fiction there is the Starcraft franchise. The starcraft games really pull from the previous mention Warhammer for its concepts and designs and pulls it off well. Plus I really enjoy the world building almost as much as the warhammer stuff (Okay last time I will mention Warhammer). So go onto youtube and look  the games up or go buy and play them. However there are some books aswell if you would rather just read up on the lore like ‘Flashpoint’ and ‘Queen of Blades’. Obviously this is if you want to go for a more sci-fi or steam punk styled game but its D&D, do want you want (And if you want to do a sci-fi, look up the Dark Matter suppliment). But overal a good idea of how to do Grimdark.

The Song of Ice and Fire Books: Now put your pitchforks and torches down, I know season 8 of Game of Thrones was the equivlent of a hooker; that being you expect a huge payoff but you get robbed the satisfaction, being left with nothing but disappointment and a strange itch in your groin afterwards that reminds you of what you hoped for. But we are talking the books not the tv series (Though you can include it I suppose). Many of us know this franchise for its sheer bleak outlook of alliances and the concept of loyalty and the roulette of life that may just kill someone important at any point. Obviously a more medival approach for Grimdark but a good one and I would recommend it to anyone (When he finally finishes writing THE DAMN FINAL BOOKS). Obviously the whole book series is the reading recommadtion so find them cheap somewhere and delve in headfirst.

Other more Eldritch recommendations: Cosmic horror and grimdark go together like a fat kid and diabetes so I thought I would throw some quick recommendations for if you want to explore this angle aswell:

The Yellow King-Robert Chambers: A collection of short stories revolving around cults and maddness... yes please.

Bloodbourne-fromsoftware:  Phenomenal game, explores both classic gothic and cosmic horror, I have drawn from this game for inspiration A LOT more than I am comfortable saying. If you can’t get through the game, maybe try the Offical Artwork book as it can gve images that you can use a inspiration for scene dressing in game.

The HP Lovecraft bibliography and the Cthullu Mythos: Seperating the man from his work, the penned work of HP Lovecraft is still some of the best written cosmic horror from the arguable father of cosmic horror... once you get over the racial stuff.

The Dark tower book series and IT- Stephen King: A more light hearted apporach to Cosmic Horror but still good horror to pull inspiration from. Main issue, if you wish to read up on Stephen King, set some time aside  

The Darkest Dungeon-Red Hook Studios: Not gonna lie, I love this game probably too much (I will probably blame it for my obesity if I wasn’t aware thats it’s my fault I am a fat f*ck) I think it shows exactly how bad it probably would be a adventurer (I actually base my own stress rules on this game-more on that in another post) so is a good representation on what a grimdark fanatsy world would be like on these characters.

Session 0

Alright now that you have successfully ripped off every grimdark franchise-I mean collected recommendations for inspiration, let’s move onto what to discuss in your Session 0.

1. What are your players okay with?

This one is painfully obvious but a session 0 is like when you lose your virignity; you don’t set some bounderies or go into it somewhat prepared, you are gonna face a sticky situation afterwards and probably get your head kicked in by someones dad for corrupting their kid (Just me?...).On the topic at hand, its good to know what your players are okay with and can inform your story direction. For instance, I had a player who want to play a reform brothel worker but i would not allow it due to the circumstances of another player.  Normally the questions I ask beforehand is is the following

Are you okay with detail viseral descriptions of violence?

Are you okay with scenes of torture/depravity?

Are you okay with depictions of slavery or prostitution?

Are you okay with themes like suicide or mental/phyiscal abuse?

Are you okay with sacrifical death or occult themes?

Are you okay with swearing?

Following this you should adjust according to suit your players, you want them to enjoy being evil, not weeping at the evil around them. So before you do anything, set your bounderies.

2. What is their motivation?

Another obvious one but also important one. To help establish characters in the world they live in, you must discuss their motives. Why are they on a quest? What are their intentions with the reward after? And so on and so on. Then once you have that and have discuss you can help the players fit the world alittle more. A thing I have told my players is to think of a motive for a character and turn it into an obession; this is due to the theme of obession is thorough throughout many grimdark settings as it’s easy to make a character’s good intentions twisted when they become so obessed with and wrapped up in it.

Of course you’ll get players that while wanting to play grimdark still want to be the token good upstanding hero because reasons (These would be the people that go to a pick and mix shop just gets white mice the bland pricks). But it is okay, you can work with it and truthfully I like the dynamic of the bright eyed advenutrer and friends that slowly gets tainted by the reality of the world they live in (If you want some inspiration on this I recommend the show Madoka Magica).

3. Understanding

Okay this is a more serious point. Alot of players I have played grimdark have kinda took some of the darker elements for granted as well they haven’t experience things like that. Which in turn can hurt players that have experience in those matters. So I always ask my players (And I am asking you too future grimdark DMs) to look into these themes, research and understand why they are not right and why we should not really have them in real life. If you are playing something like this just so you can be a slave trader without consequence then may I ask you to leave the table.

Playing to be a villain is good, playing to be an asshole is bad.

And that should help, I would in0clude some the additonal rules I use aswell like Stress and Bleeding but I will save them for another post after I am finished rewriting them for the third time and this post is already so goddamn long. If you also have recommendations for new DMs when it comes to running Grimdark, by all means share them. Thank you for reading.

[readingaway]

Danielle Babbles About Books - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Rating: 4/5 stars

Adult Content: lots and lots of drugs, some sex, bombings, shootouts, you name it

Review: I really am playing Russian roulette with my reading choices, not bothering with summaries half the time but this was way better than I expected. I think what I liked most was the ending, I’m trying not to spoil anything but I really liked was how it wasn’t packaged neatly with a bow but the main questions were answered. I enjoyed the craziness and how completely screwed up Theo and all his friends and associates are. I like that Theo can be just generally a dirtbag and I still feel sympathy for him because I spent so much time listening to his story. I also love that he can dig himself into a hole and there is no easy way out. I like stories that have consequences for the characters and I like the exploration of extreme or absurd situations because real life can be so bland sometimes and I’ll always be wondering “what’s the craziest thing that could happen?” or “what would happen if X occurred or if I did [this] instead of [this]?” and I really think Tartt’s stories are similar in that way that they take this dramatic twist.

Favorite Quote: “—if a painting really works down in your heart and changes the way you see, and think, and feel, you don’t think, ‘oh, I love this picture because it’s universal.’ ‘I love this painting because it speaks to all mankind.’ That’s not the reason anyone loves a piece of art. It’s a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes you.”  

[illegiblewords]

FOR CONFUSED BYSTANDERS

I know that I have a lot of followers who have been (very patiently) witnessing a stream of pictures, commentary, and general posts related to Final Fantasy XIV. This is going to be my attempt to present the game and its story with context for you guys who have no idea what’s going on.

I’m doing this for two reasons, the first being I LOVE THIS GAME. If I can share the positive experience I’ve had with other people, I’d like to do that. The second reason is, for people who still follow but aren’t necessarily going to play themselves--it might offer enough background info to make posts that go up more entertaining at least. I know I don’t personally mind seeing bloggers, writers, artists, etc. share something I’m unfamiliar with, but it gets more fun when I have some clue what it’s about.

Parts of this post will be just about my own subjective experience, some will be recapping the story, some will be going over different ways I’ve seen people play in case that appeals. So on and so forth. I’m aiming to offer an honest reflection on whatever seems important.

Putting this under a cut because really, this is fucking long. Not as long as it looks because pictures are included but even still. For anyone who reads, I hope you enjoy and if you have questions don’t hesitate to hit me up! :)

BACKGROUND - NON-MMO PLAYER LOVES THIS MMO

I have never played an MMO before this. I’m pretty apathetic about them for the most part. When I play games I like to design things, get good pictures, and kill baddies for stress relief. I'm here to immerse in an exciting world and story, meet characters I can invest in. Stuff in that vein. So far as gaming goes I’m pretty simple.

There are people who put heavy emphasis on the social elements of FFXIV. They’ll play with their friends specifically, either because they’re focused on fighting together or because they want to roleplay or just to hang out. I’m not really in that category.

I entered knowing no one, and while I’ve made some friends through FFXIV I mostly interact with them outside the game itself. This can happen on tumblr, on forums, on the official blog platform, etc. In-game, I encounter other players all the time but it is generally something like “I was running around the city doing stuff and other people were also running around the city doing stuff”. You can approach people. You can message them and do little emotes like waving or hugging or slapping or whatever. You can do these emotes directed at nobody and just see your character go through the animations, which can be fun for taking pictures.

More detailed encounters with other players happen in dungeons, trials, and raids. These are called registered duties. Guildhests and PVP (player versus player) exist too, but I haven’t done them. I’ll elaborate later, but the gist you need to know here is that you are grouped in with a fixed number of additional players and then placed in a setting with a pre-set encounter or encounters to overcome. Some of these are straightforward, some require strategy.

In FFXIV, people usually chat to varying degrees during duties. Most are polite, pleasant, and focused on gameplay. At least where I am, which I’ll also go into later. Occasionally there are people who are jerks in the sense that they are inconsiderate or rude to other players. Also occasionally, people are incompetent. More often though I’ll encounter someone with a great sense of humor or people who have helpful tips to improve.

This is a game where, if you see a player marked as new struggling with low level monsters, a more experienced player might pause to oneshot that monster so the newbie can escape. People are casually nice most of the time.

Since I’d normally be doing single-player anyway, for me this is very refreshing. I get to do all the things I’d be doing in a single-player video game, but I also get light exchanges with other fans in ways that aren’t disruptive. There’s enough meat to the Main Quest Scenario (MSQ) and side quests that I don’t feel bored or lonely at all.

FFXIV does cost money to play and has a subscription. This can be paid in varying increments. I personally think it’s worth it because 1) the developers are adding new content on a pretty regular basis 2) the developers actually care about quality and having happy fans 3) the game keeps getting better over time 4) there is SO MUCH you can do in the game. It is truly expansive beyond anything else I’ve seen. I might not be ready to do a subscription with every game, but for this one absolutely.

This essentially plays like a normal final fantasy game in most respects. You might run around solo by-and-large, but there is an NPC supporting cast. They and the villains get fleshed out very well. Same goes for civilians and other background characters. The biggest difference off the top of my head is the story’s beginning...

OBSTACLES

I’m going to get this out of the way early, but in essence I think there are two main obstacles as a beginner. The first and most notable of these is that the game’s entry point, called “A Realm Reborn”, is less well-written and EXTREMELY LONG.

Seriously. I’ve only gotten one character past this point and it took me a stupid amount of time. Some of the quests at this stage are things like “my dad doesn’t like the stinky chocobo please spray it with perfume so it is less stinky”.  Or “jump through all these stupid hoops so you can fight the exciting boss you’ve been waiting for”.

However, the length at least is slotted to be fixed in the future. I’ll probably announce that when it happens in case that’s the deal changer for anyone.

On writing quality, it starts off mediocre. However, later writing is so strong that it actually manages to make past scenes WAY more interesting. The initial setup also kind of lures you into a false sense of security, at which point shit gets real very fast.

The second obstacle for beginners involves a degree of not knowing what you don’t know. For example, there is an extremely powerful attack that can be used in registered duties called “Limit Break”. Initially I didn’t even know where to find it to put in my move hotbar. Then I didn’t know that using it would take limit break away from other players in the group. Then I didn’t know that the limit breaks of different jobs needed to be used under different circumstances. An example of this would be that spellcaster SHOULD use a limit break attack on freakishly large groups of enemies, but SHOULD NOT use limit break on a lone boss unless there is literally no other damage class (DPS) available to do it. This is because the overall impact of caster limit break is comparatively low, but effects more enemies at the same time. Using limit break inappropriately can frustrate people.

There are other things similar to this, such as when you use Duty Finder (a roulette that sets you up with completely random people interested in the same registered duty) and when you use Party Finder (where you announce what registered duty you want to do with what circumstances, then people volunteer to join), or being aware of which moves are supposed to be used in which order for top efficiency. That said, if you tell people you’re completely new they’ll usually be willing to explain.

If it’s something like “how do I use the glamour plates to switch into designs I made easily” or “how does crafting even work”, youtube is very helpful too! Overall just take initiative and communicate to people your experience level while in groups and things tend to work out.

THE STORY

Disclaimer: Recaps get less detailed over time to avoid spoiling too hard.

SHORT VERSION

You are a god-slayer, or more precisely the slayer of false-gods. False-gods drain the land to make it lifeless and are prone to brainwashing people. You also regularly fight the rough equivalent of angels who believe the world as you know it has gone horribly wrong and are trying to force things back into their natural forms. Excessive death ensues anytime they are successful, so high stakes. Meanwhile, an authoritarian and technologically advanced nation is causing issues on the regular and has to be stopped.

PRELUDE/LEGACY

Final Fantasy XIV had a rocky start with patch section 1.0/the true beginning, which I did not play. While there are videos online of what it was like for those curious, the gist is that five years before the current opening the world was stricken by a terrible calamity. The nation of Eorzea (an allied collection of city states) was at war with the Garlean Empire--otherwise known as Garlemald. During this war, one of Garlemald’s scientists implemented a genocidal strategy against the Eorzeans by dragging the lesser of two moons down upon their heads. This moon was called Dalamud. However, what took this situation from bad to worse was that Dalamud wasn’t actually a moon but a prison.

Thousands of years prior, the technologically advanced nation of Allag had been performing experiments using dragons and entities known as primals. Primals are summoned into being using a combination of aether (life energy, the source of magic), ritual, and the belief of their summoners. One of Allag’s experiments involved murdering a powerful dragon then using the tortured prayers of his lover and his kin to summon a warped, primal imitation of him. This primal was then trapped as a power source and left to fester in rage and insanity.

The dragon’s primal is Bahamut. Dalamud was his cage.

When Dalamud burst open above Eorzea, Bahamut was released in all his apocalyptic glory. A collection of heroes, allied to an organization called the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (dedicated to eliminating primals for the toll they take on the land and its people) stood against Bahamut. A man named Louisoix Levellieur, leader of the Scions, cast a powerful spell by summoning the Twelve Eorzean gods to stop Bahamut. This spell cast the primal, Louisoix, and the heroes five years into the future. It also wiped the heroes, known thereafter as the Warriors of Light, from memory.

Part of what makes 1.0 really cool looking back--when the developers saw how many problems existed in the MMO, they knew they would need to reboot it. There was a date set for that to happen, which would involve taking Final Fantasy XIV offline until an improved version could be released. Players knew the real world reasons behind all this. What they didn’t know was how the hiatus and reboot would be presented within the narrative.

People who were up-to-date in the storyline knew that war had erupted and that the moon was falling. They also knew that a particular time, the game would be taken offline.

This is what they saw.

A REALM REBORN

The average player, and likely anyone reading this, will not have played patch 1.0. For us, Final Fantasy XIV begins five years after Bahamut’s calamity. The world is still recovering and has been irrevocably scarred in the dragon’s wake. Refugees from both that event and Garlemald’s conquered territories pour in even as the empire bides its time for another invasion.

The player is a fledgling adventurer endowed with a gift called The Echo. The Echo is an ability that first, prevents them from being brainwashed (or “Tempered”) by primals. This is important because like I said before, one of the things that gives primals their power is belief. This extends to prayer. If a person is tempered, they will worship and empower the primal responsible until they die. This means most people can’t even approach primals safely, much less fight them. More than one character (including NPCs) possess The Echo, but it remains a rare ability.

Another aspect of this gift is that it allows someone (without any deliberate control) to see into the memories of others, superimposing emotions and perspectives of the event over the witnessing Echo-user. It also translates all direct speech into an understandable form to the Echo-user. There are additional abilities that become unveiled over the course of the story, but these are most important and consistent going in.

The player initially is just one of many such adventurers, a guild of independent mercenaries willing to undertake odd jobs using their skill in combat. After coming into conflict with a mysterious, masked organization, however, it becomes clear that the player has been chosen as champion to Hydaelyn herself.

Because you see, Hydaelyn isn’t just the name of the planet. This is also a sentient mothercrystal claiming the role of protector to all life on Her surface.

The masked organization consists of spirits with varying degrees of immortality. They also have the ability to body snatch. These are called Ascians. Ascians argue that the world was split into fourteen pieces thousands of years ago by Hydaelyn, and that their dark crystal god--Zodiark--is the true will of the star and represents a natural state of being that must be reclaimed. Their way of pursuing this objective requires causing a series of apocalypses or near-apocalypses, always coming with innumerable casualties.

As Hydaelyn’s champion the player joins the Scions of the Seventh Dawn in combating primals, fights against lingering threats from Garlemald, and thwarts Ascian plans to continue rejoining the world through calamities.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

HEAVENSWARD

Shit goes pear shaped in a big way and you have to flee territories held by the Eorzean Alliance--city states including Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, and Gridania. Ishgard, now a frozen, mountainous landscape ruled by a religion dedicated to the goddess Halone, takes your character in.

Ishgard has been at war with the draconic nation of Dravania for thousands of years. Dragons are immortal by natural means, but can be slain. Ishgard no longer remembers, by and large, why the war even started except that they have been losing loved ones in horrifying ways for as long as they can remember. They refused to send aid during the struggle against Garlemald specifically because they couldn’t spare forces from their war with Dravania. They have a reputation for being hostile to outsiders, having extreme class divides, and inquisition-style zealotry. Nonetheless, there are good people here and over the course of A Realm Reborn the player manages to befriend some of them.

This arc delves into Ishgard’s war, and involves the player taking part while clearing their name in the Alliance. Toward the end, it is also extremely important to note that the player encounters a group calling themselves “Warriors of Darkness”, who are in-league with the Ascians. It comes to light that they hail from one of the divided worlds, that their world is in terrible danger, and they believe the path to survival comes from confronting you.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

STORMBLOOD

One of the antagonists we encounter forces the Alliance to involve itself in freeing Garlemald’s conquered territories, namely the nations of Ala Mhigo (largely Middle Eastern) and Doma (East Asian). In undertaking this task, the hero comes into repeated conflict with Garlemald’s crown prince, Zenos yae Galvus. Zenos is basically a serial killer with the resources of a prince but no actual investment in being a prince. It’s pretty wild.

A lot of this plot focuses on the consequences of Garlean rule. Over time though, it comes to light that the founder of Garlemald was a high-ranked Ascian and is still very much alive.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

SHADOWBRINGERS

The plot set into motion with the Warriors of Darkness resumes as the player is forced to travel to their home world. Dealing with a setting on the brink of Armageddon, this current arc has a ton to do with examining different perspectives while getting much clearer insight on lore metaphysics. Most notably, we finally learn why the Ascians act the way they do and discover more about the nature of the player character and Hydaelyn.

I’m aware this is vague, but honestly this is my favorite of all the expansions/arcs so far. Seriously it is fucking killer.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

YOUR PROTAGONIST/THE CHARACTER CREATOR

The main character of Final Fantasy XIV is known as the Warrior of Light, regardless of whether you play from the Legacy version of the game or A Realm Reborn. Similar to the Dragon Age games, in Final Fantasy XIV you get to design your own main character and shape their identity to varying degrees through the story. Some people like to imagine their protagonist as existing within a completely different role in the world of Hydaelyn for roleplay purposes (so not a Warrior of Light), but that involves essentially disregarding the main quest scenario narrative provided. It’s fine to do that of course, but I’m going to be explaining things that essentially fit within the canon approach.

There are currently eight playable races for the Warrior of Light. These include hyur (human stand-ins), elezen (elf stand-ins), roegadyns (orc or giant stand-ins), miqo’te (cat people), lalafells (dwarf or gnome stand-ins), au ra (tiefling or draeni stand-ins), viera (female-only bunny people at the moment), and hrothgar (male-only lion people, the beast race).

Each race option has two subraces attached. The most dramatic differences between subraces come up for hyur, where there are Midlanders (shorter and slighter frames) and Highlanders (taller and beefier/curvier). Otherwise it’s more minor differences.

It is common for players to develop their own personal interpretations of who their Warrior of Light character was before the story begins and how that impacts progression. This can be shaped by what race they belong to and what lore is attached to that race according to region. It is also possible to shape things according to which of the Twelve (Eorzea’s pantheon) the Warrior of Light worships. These deities are loosely described and made available for selection at the beginning of the game.

It isn’t unusual for people to pick names in-keeping with lore. A good site to turn to for this is over here, although there are also spots that go into what different names actually translate to. Other people just go with whatever they feel like. I think I saw someone named Cheese Whiz once.

Stat variation is pretty negligible between races, and it’s mainly an aesthetic/tonal choice. Currently there is some pressure on game developers to make Viera and Hrothgar playable for male and female gender options both, and it seems likely that at some point this will happen. Currently there are indications that the release for Viera and Hrothgar was somewhat rushed due to some behind-the-scenes circumstances, so while they are less versatile than other options this is likely to change at some point.

As someone who is a sucker for character customization, I want to mention that while it might be easier to get some of the fantasy races to fit a particular ethnicity--Final Fantasy actually does a great job in terms of visual versatility and has made it possible to hit a wide range of options well. For example, it might be easier to make an East Asian au ra or a French elezen, but you can easily break with that in totally believable ways. You might not have the precision adjustments of Dragon Age: Inquisition or Bloodborne, but the options presented are pretty flexible.

In terms of how the Warrior of Light works through the game, again while there is some wiggle room there are certain aspects to their identity that stay pretty consistent. They get jaded and worn out by the narrative as time goes on, they experience loss, they become increasingly chatty and sarcastic. They have powerful neck muscles from years of communication by nodding. Commonly, the personality of the Warrior of Light is also influenced by the job they choose.

THE JOBS

Something I wish got explained to me early--you only get certain jobs as options starting out, and any others you hear about getting added are only accessible at higher levels. In Final Fantasy XIV, basically when it comes to combat you start with a very basic class, which graduates to a job (better versions of the class) when you fulfill certain requirements.

There are notably three main roles a combat class or job can fall into. These include tanks, healers, and DPS. Tanks are responsible for leading the charge, provoking aggression, directing mobs, and enduring attacks in groups. They don’t deal the most damage but have the highest defense and are generally right in the thick of the action. Healers can deal damage but their main purpose is to keep themselves and everyone around them from dying, especially in groups. At the moment all of the healer jobs use magic. DPS (Damage Per Second) are the jobs that are mainly responsible for taking chunks out of the enemy’s health. Within DPS there are additionally three subcategories, these being Melee DPS (non-magical and close-range), Physical Ranged DPS (non-magical and fighting from a distance), and Magic Ranged DPS (magical and fighting from a distance). There is also a limited job and Crafter/Gatherer classes, but I’ll get to those later.

Some DPS jobs, additionally, focus more on playing support to other party members while others are geared toward boosting their own damage output.

The classes you can choose from in the character creator include:

Gladiator (Tank, Sword and Shield)

Marauder (Tank, Axe)

Lancer (Melee DPS, Lance)

Pugilist (Melee DPS, Fists)

Archer (Physical Ranged DPS, Bow)

Conjurer (Healer, Wand)

Thaumaturge (Magical Ranged DPS, Staff)

Arcanist (Magical Ranged DPS, Tome)

At level 10, if your armory system is unlocked (you need to complete a quest for your starting class NPC mentor to do this) you can approach an NPC in Limsa Lominsa to unlock the Rogue class as well. This is a Melee DPS class and uses twin daggers. If your character starts with Marauder or Arcanist this takes less time.

To graduate each of these early classes into a job, the following requirements need to be met:

Paladin (Sword and Shield): Requires Gladiator level 30, Conjurer level 15.

Warrior (Axe): Requires Marauder level 30, Gladiator level 15.

Dragoon (Lance): Requires Lancer level 30, Marauder level 15.

Monk (Fists): Requires Pugilist level 30, Lancer level 15.

Bard (Bow): Requires Archer level 30, Pugilist level 15.

White Mage (Wand): Requires Conjurer level 30, Arcanist level 15.

Scholar (Tome): Requires Arcanist level 30, Conjurer level 15.

Black Mage (Staff): Requires Thaumaturge level 30, Archer level 15.

Summoner (Tome): Requires Arcanist level 30, Thaumaturge level 15.

Ninja (Daggers): Requires Rogue level 30 and completion of quests Sylph-Management and Cloying Victory.

I’ll describe these in more detail in a bit, but there are waaaay more combat jobs than this. Currently the others are:

Dark Knight (Tank, Greatsword): Requires having purchased the Heavensward expansion and having completed all of the Seventh Astral Era Quests up to Before the Dawn, which is needed to unlock the city of Ishgard. This job starts at level 30.

Gunbreaker (Tank, Gunblade): Requires having purchased the Shadowbringers expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 60. This job starts at level 60.

Astrologian (Healer, Star Globe): Requires having purchased the Heavensward expansion and having completed all of the Seventh Astral Era Quests up to Before the Dawn, which is needed to unlock the city of Ishgard. This job starts at level 30.

Samurai (Melee DPS, Katana): Requires having purchased the Stormblood expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 50. This job starts at level 50.

Machinist (Physical Ranged DPS, Firearm) Requires having purchased the Heavensward expansion and having completed all of the Seventh Astral Era Quests up to Before the Dawn, which is needed to unlock the city of Ishgard. This job starts at level 30.

Dancer (Physical Ranged DPS, Chakrams): Requires having purchased the Shadowbringers expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 60. This job starts at level 60.

Red Mage (Magical Ranged DPS, Rapier): Requires having purchased the Stormblood expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 50. This job starts at level 50.

So total, right now the jobs include 4 Tanks (Paladin, Warrior, Dark Knight, Gunbreaker), 3 Healers (White Mage, Scholar, Astrologian), 4 Melee DPS (Dragoon, Monk, Ninja, Samurai), 3 Physical Ranged DPS (Bard, Machinist, Dancer), and 3 Magical Ranged DPS (Black Mage, Summoner, Red Mage). Total is 17 jobs. When I describe these combat based jobs, I’m not going to focus on the actual gameplay aspect because frankly I don’t know how to play all of the jobs. This is gonna be a quick and dirty explanation based on the scientific approach of “idk that’s just my impression”.

Paladin: You are a holy knight and you can heal a little sometimes maybe (???) and you are very good and noble with great defense.

Warrior: You are a beserker who loves to release your inner beast and kill shit in really violent ways and are kind of a badass and do the most damage of the tanks.

Dark Knight: Super super edgy and kind of magical but also straight up crazy, you hate corrupt authority figures and are willing to get your hands dirty and darken your name in order to protect others. One of the most beloved job questlines.

Gunbreaker: You have a sword that is also a gun and you can shoot people with it, soldier style. Basically if you have ever fantasized about having a knifegun this is like that but better.

White Mage: Very pure, focused on nature and communing with elemental beings, all about that land/sea/sky thing with ties to the elements earth, water, and air. One of three magic traditions that got involved in a next level magic fight, this one stemming from the city of Amdapor. Amdapor is full of fungus and poison spores now.

Scholar: Takes a highly intellectual spin on magic with ties to weird geometries and so forth, figured out how to summon fairy familiars from aether. Does a lot with shields and preventing people from taking as much damage in the first place. One of three magic traditions that got involved in a next level magic fight, this one stemming from the city of Nym. Nym is a floating city and is basically hovering in ruins now, with any surviving residents having been transformed into tonberries. Tonberries are little green creatures that like to stab people.

Astrologian: A fortuneteller take on magic that combines tarot cards, astrology, and crystal balls. The idea here is that Astrologians are messing with fate and time in order to heal you, sort of undoing damage. Snazzy dressers, intimidating moveset.

Dragoon: Jumpy people with spears who struggle to live down their legacy of animation lag-related deaths, my understanding is that today’s Dragoons do solid damage and are decent at survival. Their reputation, however, is that if someone is going to die in a fight it’s probably them. They are very broody and like to hang out in high places with capes billowing in the wind. They also wear spiky armor and fight dragons and have the soul of a dragon. People make jokes at their expense a lot but with affection.

Monk: You punch people to death and get gauntlets of varying levels of sharp. You also get to master chakras and go through forms associated with different animals. In a series like Final Fantasy where people carry swords bigger than they are, you’re the job that said lol who needs that and made your body the weapon.

Ninja: Very very sneaky, used to be sort of a state-sanctioned criminal. If anybody is a spy it’s you. You are very fast and can basically turn invisible and sometimes smoke bombs go off. Mudras are used and I don’t understand.

Samurai: Deal a solid amount of damage and are very flashy and cool, probably one of the highest damage outputs for Melee DPS. Very neat and fancy katanas.

Bard: Draws a connection between the strings of a harp and the strings of a bow, is able to both shoot the crap out of enemies, make enemies more vulnerable with some songs, and make allies more powerful with other songs. I think Bards are very pretty and fancy.

Machinist: These are tech nerds who realized that guns are an option. So are flamethrowers. So are robots. This job has a reputation for being ungodly complicated to play but this has apparently been rectified recently.

Dancer: Similar to Bard in that they do a lot to boost allies in a fight, do lower damage as a result but damn do they boost their allies. Also have ridiculously swanky outfits and are super flashy in fights.

Black Mage: The edgy magic users, they are disciples of Eorzea’s death god and all of their magic ties into destruction. If you wanna make the biggest explosions Black Mage is where you go. Magic ties to fire, ice, and electricity but primarily puts focus on the shift between fire and ice. Black Mages also have a reputation for being involved in demon summoning because they were kind of the assholes in that magic war against White Mages and Scholars. Black Magic as a discipline has ancestry in Mhach, which is of course now crawling with demons. Black Mage is the DPS king in the sense that if you want the biggest numbers of damage dealt, this is where you go. They are however tragically slow and squishy so expect the Black Mage to be somewhere between standing right where an attack will land or dodging frantically between spells.

Summoner: Has the ability to summon small familiars in the form of defeated primals, these being namely Ifrit (fire-based), Titan (earth-based), Garuda (air-based), Bahamut, and Phoenix. Apparently their questline is covered in Ascians too. One of two DPS capable of raising fallen allies.

Red Mage: Very fancy, fast-moving swordsmen covered in ruffles. The founders of Red Magic were Black and White Mages who came together in the wake of that magic war mentioned above. They essentially work to balance Black Magic and White Magic alongside physical attacks. They don’t get the numbers of some DPS but are again extremely fast and are also capable of raising allies. Versatile.

The limited job is called Blue Mage, currently being lamented because it’s unable to fight in dungeons or main quest situations to the extent of other jobs. Blue Mage gets abilities by fighting monsters and learning magical abilities from them. They use a cane and are massive dandies who will hopefully get the opportunity to do more in the future.

If you want to actually make in-game money without blood sacrifice, you want to get involved in a Crafter or Gatherer job. These don’t deal with combat but instead let you acquire, develop, and sell in-demand resources to other players.

Gatherer jobs include Fishers, Botanists, and Miners. Crafter jobs include Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Armorers, Goldsmiths, Leatherworkers, Weavers, Alchemists, and Culinarians. I am not good at these and so can’t explain them properly, but some people do play the game exclusively so they can level these jobs. I think that besides getting mad cash, this is probably because Crafters and Gatherers also get to make really fancy houses and get very pretty clothes with their vast amounts of wealth, skill, and resources.

THE SETTING

There are three city states that, at the start of A Realm Reborn, comprise the Eorzean Alliance. Your character becomes a hero to the Eorzean Alliance before any other nation. The three nations are Ul’dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa. Ul’dah is a desert city (someone mentioned it being Byzantine), ruled by a Sultana, and watched over by the dual-aspected god of death and commerce. Gridania is a forest city (to me it looks Western European but unsure?), ruled by a spiritual Elder Seedseer, and is watched over by the nature goddess Nophica--her will embodied in the form of spirits called Elementals. Limsa Lominsa is an ocean city (Greek influenced, although some territories read Caribbean), ruled over by an Admiral, and is watched over by a sea-goddess.

Ul’dah is a major trade center and known for having a solid amount of crime and corruption, harsh wealth divides, huge reverence for the dead, and general canniness. Gridania is super spiritual and has massive reverence for the forest and maintaining both it and the boundaries necessary to co-exist peacefully with Elementals. Limsa Lominsa is literally pirate town and have the most kickass military/naval fleet ever.

Depending on what job you choose in the character creator will effect which of these three cities you start out in. It’s ambiguous where the Warrior of Light comes from so conceivably you could be a native to that city state or a foreigner from somewhere else. It mainly matters in terms of if you’re making a story up for your character or not.

Another city state is Ishgard (technically Eorzean but isolationist), which has parallels to Norse mythology, France, and the Catholic church. It is covered in snow and full of mountains. Ala Mhigo is also a city state, and while like Ul’dah it is also a desert environment this one seems to place higher emphasis on different regions within the Middle East and India. One part looks strongly reminiscent of the Dead Sea, for example. Idyllshire was formerly a territory of the nation Sharlayan, which dedicates itself to the scholar-god. However, Sharlayan up and bailed when Garlemald showed up so that whole city got evacuated.

Those city states are all based on the continent Aldenard. Garlemald comes from a continent called Ilsabard that we haven’t gotten to see yet. It’s supposed to be cold and shitty there. Also worth mentioning, Garleans are on the one hand atheists and on the other hand borderline worship their emperor.

Othard is the Far Eastern continent and represents Asia. The two main city states we’ve seen there are Kugane (Japan) and Doma (China). There are other nations in the surrounding areas that we know about as well but haven’t explored. Both Kugane and Doma worship entities known as kami, omnipresent spirits who appreciate treasure and sometimes play a role in manipulating the fates of mortals. There are also animal spirits who through wisdom and longevity gain power and the ability to change form. These are called auspices. Special shout out to the Azim Steppe of Othard as well for representing Mongolian tribes and a plains environment.

There at least two other continents around but we don’t know a lot about them yet. One is The New World and draws from pre-Columbian North America. The other once housed a nation called Meracydia that opposed the ancient Allagan empire.

Shadowbringers takes place on a world called The First, which is one of the fragmented realities split by Hydaelyn. This world is called Norvrandt. It parallels Hydaelyn in some ways but not others. The desert environment of Ahm Areng geographically resembles the red deserts of the Southwestern US, but the architecture doesn’t match. The Rak’tika Greatwood is an A+ perfect jungle setting and heavily modeled after Mayan civilization. Eulmore kind of reminds me of the idea of pre-French Revolution excesses surrounded by poverty but with almost neon circus aesthetics married in. Il Mheg is rainbow fields and glassy lakes and fae creatures fucking with you 24/7. Very pretty and art nouveau.

The Tempest is full of secrets.

THE COMMUNITY

People focus on different things in this game. It’s huge enough to make that extremely doable.

One group involves the combat-focused players. These are people who just want to take on content labeled Extreme or Savage and beat it as smoothly as possible. Very talented bunch but tend to be short tempered sometimes, also often can’t wrap their heads around people playing any other way.

Glamour hounds are people who are in this for the A E S T H E T I C S. They want their characters to look a very specific way with certain gear in certain colors and god damn it if they have to run savage to achieve their goals they are going to do it. Often also are very into exciting mounts and housing, will frequently do artsy screencaps and share them online.

Lore hounds are people who focus mainly on the main quest scenario, overall storytelling, NPCs, setting, metaphysics, etc. Some of these people just want to analyze and make predictions. Some are independent fan creators. Some are roleplayers.

Worth noting--the most active roleplay communities are on the Crystal server, on the worlds Balmung and Mateus. My understanding is that these worlds are pretty packed and come with their own collection of pluses and minuses. More drama and a high likelihood of being ambushed for erotic RP, but fun community storytelling too. You can absolutely join servers outside your geographic location, by the way.

I’m on Primal server. It’s pretty chill.

Crafters, gatherers, and gamblers as far as I can tell are out to get top tier gil and fabulous prizes. I think some just honestly like the process too tbh and it happens to pay swimmingly. By the by, yes there is an in-game casino.

Last major group off the top of my head is the people who are mainly, specifically there to hang with friends and otherwise socialize with the game as a medium for that.

OKAY BUT I FOLLOW YOU SPECIFICALLY, WHO THE HELL ARE THOSE CHARACTERS YOU KEEP REBLOGGING?

EMET-SELCH

He is an Ascian who showed up fashionably late, would rather be napping than villaining around. Massive troll and also responsible for single-handedly making the fandom care about Ascians after four arcs of apathy. Secret sad boi. I am omitting a bunch because he’s basically a walking spoiler, but someone once described him as having absolutely relentless theater kid energy and I have yet to see it put better than that.

ELIDIBUS

Another Ascian known as the Emissary. Talks more about balance than ZODIARK!!!??!!!?11111!! and sometimes tries to have conversations instead of fistfights. Is not as good at having conversations instead of fistfights as Emet-Selch but is significantly better at it than Lahabrea, who will be described next. Elidibus is notable for spontaneously adopting a child and then passing that child off to the heroes as discreetly as he could.

LAHABREA

The third major Ascian and the first recurring one players meet in A Realm Reborn. Lahabrea seems like he is probably a few screws loose, fucking loves to blow shit up, embarrasses all of the interns who get stuck with him, and spent years in charge of PR before his colleagues realized that was a mistake. Makes very poor life choices. Apparently he used to be a fantastic orator and was praised for his imagination but these talents have since been replaced by ZODIARK!!!??!!!?11111!! and explosions. Has been described as an idiot by Emet-Selch and “unique” by Elidibus, who needed to take a very long pause before saying so.

G’RAHA TIA/THE CRYSTAL EXARCH

Honestly this is only pseudo spoilers, basically everyone figured out who he was well before Shadowbringers got released. Catman is currently doing battle with another character called Haurchefant for the position of #1 fan to the Warrior of Light. Has some wild misadventures with you that involve exploring ancient ruins, excessively long fetch quests, clones, and getting sucked into a demon world. Later runs across time and space to save your life but kind of almost gets you killed in the attempt. Says he is very sorry for this later. Just doing his best.

NERO TOL SCAEVA

A scientist who fights with a massive hammer, formerly worked for Garlemald but finds himself unemployed later. Is better than the engineer Cid, who gives you all your tech. He is also a troll, an egomaniac, and fucking hilarious. It takes a while for the extent of this to be revealed because A Realm Reborn still had some issues.

AYMERIC DE BOREL

Basically in charge of Ishgard, for a while literally but now only mostly. A very reasonable authority figure, runs the the Warrior of Light across several countries when you get injured in battle then chills at your bedside. Thinks you should relax sometimes. Encourages this by taking you to dinner once.

ESTINIEN WYRMBLOOD

Broody Dragoon McAngst of Ishgard, fucking hated dragons for the longest time because they murdered his whole family. Goes on an extended journey with you and in the process reveals he also hates moogles with a burning passion. Chills out a lot later, has demonstrated he is in fact a real bro.

YSAYLE DANGOULAIN/ICEHEART/LADY SHIVA

Delusions of grandeur and good intentions, also chosen by Hydaelyn and possessing The Echo. Figured out she could use her possession of The Echo to literally become a primal without losing her mind or body. Wants peace at any cost and will kill shitloads of people in the name of peace. Morally questionable but an interesting lady. Disagrees strongly with Estinien about moogles.

HAURCHEFANT GREYSTONE

Name sounds like a sneeze, is currently fighting G’raha Tia for the title of #1 fan to the Warrior of Light. Apparently there was an event where he said he wants the Warrior of Light to be his pony, as in he wants to ride you. Has shirtless men doing squats in his office. Saves your ass when shit gets real for Heavensward and then saves your ass again when the Pope’s bodyguard tries to murder you. It does not go well.

ZENOS YAE GALVUS

Absolute serial killer who feels like you complete him and give his life meaning and are his BFF. Probably wants you to fuck him. Also the crown prince of Garlemald and has spent years trying to engineer situations that will produce someone who can actually fight him as an equal. Doesn’t give a fuck about most things but jesus does he go yandere.

FRAY

If you become a Dark Knight, Fray becomes your NPC mentor and basically takes the Warrior of Light on a journey in becoming batshit insane. 10/10 Best teacher hands down.

SOPHIA THE GODDESS

A primal who I love to pieces, basically shows that the only way you can have perfect balance forever is if you are literally dead. We know this because the song that plays during her fight is about her murdering an entire family because they were unstable.

SRI LAKSHMI

Another primal who I love to pieces, just full throttle lotus eater in action where she encourages you to go fuck everything and be happy. Super pretty.

SEPHIROT THE FIEND

One of my top fav primals, pure id and distorted Kabbalah. I have a lot of feelings about him and have analyzed his fight to pieces.

CENRIC ASHER

Lol he just my Warrior of Light. I have a story for him but it is not official or anything.

THE FIVE BILLION OTHERS

Probably other people’s characters! I just really love seeing what people come up with, whether it’s their version of the Warrior of Light or going full-throttle into OC territory. It’s really refreshing to me, seeing how passionate and inventive people get. ^^ There are plenty of other important NPC characters, some I would even consider favorites of mine, but I just don’t post them as much.

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR JESUS CHRIST GET YOURSELF A COOKIE OR SOMETHING. GOD DAMN.

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Another Set of Updates

Okay, gonna try to keep this as brief as possible!

My poll regarding which Kidge-a-Palooza AU I should turn into a story proper is still available: [here]. I’m gonna leave it up for another week or so, so please give it a vote if you haven’t already!

Chapter 4 of Here (In Your Arms) is up and available: [here].

Chapter 2 of Paint me in Trust is up and available: [here].

Chapter 2(6) of Time, Space and Everything Between is up and available: [here].

Since the update for Time, Space and Everything Between is up, I wanted to clarify a few things about where it’ll be going from hence forth. That information (spoiler free) can be found below for those that are interested.

Okay, so, confession time! This fic wasn’t supposed to become what it is now. Originally, I planned for this fic to be about six/ seven chapters and go in a somewhat different direction than it has. There was going to be an entire chapter dedicated just to the Kogane and Holt families bonding. The rescue of Shiro was going to go almost the same as it did in the series canon, with Keith being kept on Earth with his father using his camouflage device and entering the Garrison in hopes of snuffing out who the Blue Paladin was. The only big changes to it that I intended to make was Keith and Pidge knowing each other prior, Keith actually being a Galra, and when they head back to the shack, they’re greeted by Papa Kogane. From there, I was planning to end the fic with them going through the wormhole and implying events played out mostly the same as canon. But, then I decided I didn’t really like that idea either, so then I thought I’d go the route of letting Keith grow up with the Holt’s. Like, Ethan moving out there and Krolia leaving Keith on Earth to have a tradional human childhood.

As you can see, I didn’t end up doing any of that. And you may be wondering why.

Because the last season of Voltron left me that disappointed but I will admit I had issues with the show even before that Spit-in-the-Face ending but we’ll get there and I was raised by parents who said “If you don’t know how you’d improve something, you shouldn’t be the one to complain about it.”

Well, fine then. I’m gonna do just that.

ALSO I WANT TO CLARIFY that I am NOT saying I could have written the show better than the show runners themselves! I’ve never been in the position(s) they were in. I do, however, have the benefit of hindsight, which allows me to look at where the show succeeded and failed respectively, and take steps that I think would offer a more cohesive, enjoyable story-telling experience as a whole. I am taking the things that I, personally, took issue with, as well as some of the bigger things I’ve seen the fandom at large take issue with. At the end of the day, though, most of these decisions will be made from my own personal desires/ whims (since, you know, ship-feels and all that jazz). I will, however, be open to criticism from any and all who read my fics, so please feel free to tell me what you think does or doesn’t work as we go along.

I’m gonna break this down into four main categories down below; Things I’m Adding, Things I’m Cutting, Things I’m Adjusting, and Cut Fic Content. All but one of these is pretty self-explanatory, I think, but I promise to explain that little oddity when we get there. I’ll also touch on what and why I chose to approach certain things the way that I did.

Things I’m Adding

Melenor and Garett

Queen Melenor is kind of an anomaly in the series, don’t you think? It was kind of implied throughout most of the series proper that she died while Allura was still pretty young, which would have made a lot more sense for both Allura’s relationship with Alfor, as well as why Alfor was so distant from Zarkon when Daibazaal began tattering at the seams. But then Season 8 happened and threw all that out the window! All of a sudden, Melenor’s death suddenly carries this great significance for Allura, to the point she has a hallucination about her. Plus, it also kinda throws a wrench into scenes from the earlier seasons. Allura specifically says “Zarkon killed my Father and my Mother!” but… If Melenor was killed by Zarkon, where was she during the fall of Altea? Why wasn’t she with her daughter and husband in the final moments? And it makes even less sense when you look at that first scene where Allura and Coran were introduced. There were eight pods there. You mean to tell me Alfor didn’t think it might be a good idea to save an extra body or two to help guide Allura as she steps into the role she will have to take once he’s gone? Or even to help with maintaining/ rebuilding the Castle of Lions?

So, I’ve decided to add Melenor as a way to give some more characterization to not only she herself as a character, but also Alfor. Plus, I decided to make use of Garett (whose name I spell differently for reasons), Coran’s son from the original series, too. I think it’d be more fun to have an extra set of hands on board to help maintain the Castle of Lions and teach the Paladins, but maybe closer to their age range. So, we’ll see how things go with adding him to the roster. :3

Backstory for the Blades

This was something that we should have gotten a little bit of exposition on, considering how inflated their importance got. Like, the Blade became instrumental to the functionality of both Voltron and the Rebels due to their intelligence gathering. I think it’d have been kind of cool to see where it all started and what events in specific triggered it into becoming.

More Focus on Team Relationships

I didn’t really feel like the big victory against Zarkon was earned at the end of Season 2. I also didn’t think the team really earned any of their bigger victories, such as against Lotor and Honerva. They never felt like a real team that meshed because they just kinda stuck the same pairs/ clicks together. This was my biggest issue throughout most of the show and I really want to explore the dynamics we never really got to see. There are a few standout relationships that definitely needed some retooling, but I’ll mention those farther down. 

More Alien Worlds

Sci-fi and Fantasy are my big genres because I. Fudgin. Love seeing the designs for different technology, worlds and races. And while we did get some interesting ones with the series proper - which I’ll be mostly still including - I wish we’d gotten to see more. So, because I have no self-control, I’ll be planning to do that here!

Shiro’s Love Life

Shiro deserved better. I feel like that’s kind of something that most of the fandom can agree on. I don’t say this from a place of hate for Curtis, though, because… Well, what is there to hate? He was a literal background character who did nothing, said maybe two lines of dialogue, and that was it. Considering how much they pushed Shiro being the rep for the LGBT+ crowd, they did literally nothing with his love life. Hell, Adam was only revealed as his fiance because Bex fought tooth and nail for them to say it! If they hadn’t pushed the way they did, it would have all been subtext.

So, Shiro is going to have a romantic side plot in this fic, where we’ll focus on him and the character I’ve picked to be his partner.

Minor Side Romances

Some other little side pairings are gonna get a bit of love, here, too, since Voltron really only did the romance side of things well with, like, two couples. All the main couples are also gonna get plenty of spotlight, but I also think it would be fun to do some smaller side ships every now and then, too.

Things I’m Cutting

Villain Roulette

There was way too much jumping back and forth between who our main villain to focus on was. Bam, it’s Zarkon! No, wait, now it’s Lotor! Just kidding, here comes Zarkon again! Except that it was actually Lotor! Or so you thought; it’s actually Honerva haha great prank amiright? It was exhausting and I think it’d be a lot simpler to just… Stick with one villain who controls the smaller monster-of-the-day bad guys for an extended period of time and, once they’re for reals defeated, then move on to the next. I’ll be taking this approach for the sake of not only having a more focused story, but also my own sanity. I’ve never been good at gambling so trying the same thing as the show would probably turn out even worse for me.

Keith’s Excellent Blade Adventure with His Mommy

This is all unnecessary in this story, so we won’t be doing it at all. Keith’s sorry purple tail is staying with Team Voltron; no buts, no fuss, no coconuts.

Shiro’s Illness and Adam’s Death

Adam’s death is something I could go on about for hours specifically because it seemed unfair and kinda petty. Like, I feel they killed him specifically because they couldn’t kill Shiro, and they wanted to amp up the Tragic Backstory for our prior leader. So, instead, that’s getting the boot, as well as Shiro’s illness, since it’s also unneeded for plot convenience. Plus, it could have been nice to have a character that was willing to call Shiro out on the Atlus. Shiro always got treated like some kind of flawless entity, and I think it’d been nice to have someone call that Nice Guy Schtick out.

Allura and the Entity Plotline

This whole thing made no sense, got no proper development because of how late into the game they introduced it, and ended up being nothing more than a tool for them to kill Allura off. So, that can GTFO of my house post haste.

The Ending as a Whole

Some parts of the ending worked, but most of it just sucked. When the ending is so bad that it makes me feel obligated to stan characters I was ambivalent/ outright disliked? Yeah, gonna need to walk that back a bit.

Most of Seasons 3-6

The pacing in these seasons really was terrible. We derailed working on the team dynamic, building up the Coalition and Rebel forces, and developing the Paladins’ characters to instead focus on all that shit with Lotor. That… Was infuriating. Especially considering it was all basically a waste.

Additionally, we had Keith sidelined and his arc - which was clearly going to be center around him learning how to be a leader - completely pushed aside and then treated as if it did happened when he showed up late with Starbucks at the end of Season 6. That felt really unbelievable to me.

Time Skips

There were way too many time skips, for serious. Especially when those time skips didn’t include any kind of change in development/ character for the team. There’ll be smaller time skips, but nothing as egregious as what we got in seasons 6 and 7.

Things I’m Adjusting                                                              

Lion Swap

This’ll still be happening, but the circumstances that trigger it will be different. I may also shift around who gets to take which Lion when we get to that point. I haven’t decided just yet, but I’ll have it figured out before we reach that point. Most of this fic is already planned out and, honestly, the Lion Swap will be finalized once I figure out what I’m doing with a few of the other characters.

Shiro and Keith’s Relationship

This, right here? This was one of my biggest issues with Voltron. Keith was completely codependent on Shiro, while Shiro clearly cared about Keith’s well-being but it always felt like he’d have been just fine if something similar to what happened to him happened to Keith. It’s just… Really gross to me. It doesn’t help that I also find the whole “Dying for Your Lover” Trope – which I’ve seen a lot of people praise The Black Paladins for implying - to be incredibly disgusting and unhealthy. Also Keith’s flagrant hypocrisy never getting called out bothers me a lot since I actually like when a character behaves in a hypocritical manner, since it feels organic, but it has to be called out because hypocrisy can lead to double-standards and create harmful environments and I need to stop for now

So, Keith and Shiro are still going to be close, but they aren’t going to be that close.

Keith and Allura’s Relationship

Oh, look! Another potentially interesting aspect of the show that they kinda dropped the ball on! I really hated Allura’s heel-turn on Keith when it’s revealed that he’s Galra in S2 because a) It’s not like Keith himself knew this and was actively hiding it, and b) It felt out of character for the way Allura had been presented thus far. Her lashing out at Zarkon when she was captured made sense since he directly killed her father, her people and her planet. And I could understand being wary of the Blades – to the extent that she was in the first half – but after Keith’s heritage is revealed, she’s completely cold to him and only seems to decide he’s a good guy when he’s willing to take on a potential suicide mission! They either needed to drag the animosity out and show it effecting Allura’s ability to work with the team as a whole and also show the team sticking up for Keith because the fact that Hunk was the only one that said anything is kinda messed up like where tf was Shiro if he and Keith are oh so close? or they needed to tone Allura’s attitude towards him back a bit more, have her approach him in a manner similar to how she addressed the Blade members; acknowledging he is there and contributing, but not praising or thanking him outright.

And since Keith presents and knows he’s part Galra from the start in this fic? Well, we’ll actually get to play around with that dynamic a little more. And while I’m on the subject of our favorite Altean princess…

Allura’s Character Inconsistencies

Allura’s character jumped around a lot in some of the earlier seasons and I’d be willing to wager that this is because the writers never settled on an age for her. And I don’t mean during the big changes like her becoming a Paladin or Lotor’s betrayal, since it’d make sense she be shaken by situations that drastic. One minute, she’s this composed, confident and well-spoken young leader doing the best she can. The next, she’s a more temperamental sort who has low self-esteem/ confidence in her own abilities to even successfully contribute to a team. Now, I think I kniw what they were trying to do; they were trying to show that the more impulsive side of her is more genuine while the composed side is her trying to be the leader she is expected to be. I get it. They fixed this and improved on it later down the line, but they could have done better by maybe addressing it and using it as a chance to develop her relationship with another member or two of Team Voltron.

Season 2’s Ending

The defeat of Zarkon happened way too soon. Especially since then, because they wanted to play around with Lotor’s intentions, they had to bring him back as a cyborg-zombie fueled by quintessence. Zarkon should have only been defeated once and then we should have been allowed to move on to the next main villain. As such, I’m moving Zarkon’s defeat further down the line and will be modifying some of the consequences there in.

P Much Everything About Lotor’s Acr/ Motives

Lotor… Man, Lotor was confusing and a lot of wasted potential. They painted him as if they wanted him to be a morally grey villain, where he does terrible things for what he considers the betterment of others, but then, once it’s revealed that he was keeping secrets, he just… Goes full ham. He becomes Evil McAwful incarnate and it felt unrealistic. There were about 20 different directions they could have taken Lotor – before and after the reveal – and I just didn’t care for the approach they took. So, I’ll be doing things a little different and seeing how that goes.

What I’m Keeping from Seasons 3-6

Very, very little things are going to be kept from each of the aforementioned seasons and implemented in the fic. I’m not planning to keep too many of the big plot moments because they all bled into the issues I had with the story as it stood on its own. I will, however, take some of the small things from those three seasons and include them here. This also applies to certain elements from the other seasons as well, but we’ll get there when we get there.

Adopting Kosmo

Kosmo will be in this fic, come Hell or high water. He is the Best Boi and deserves to be here.

Cut Fic Content

Okay, so here’s the weird one in this line up! As the title implies, there’s some content that I have cut from the fic, even this early on. I actually have some of the Kogane-Holt bonding scenes still drafted up somewhere in my files. I removed them because I was worried that they’d feel too much like filler. There’s also some scenes I started to work out from when I planned to have Keith grow up with Pidge and Matt; specifically including a scene where Krolia and Ethan talk about the idea and decide to commit.

Some of these ideas won’t work in the fic as it stands now, though. I also, however, like the idea of putting it out for everyone to read. So, I’m debating on making a separate one-shot collection of things that could have happened, or just adding them as the occasional buffer between the arcs of the story. I’ll make a poll when I get closer to the point of deciding how to proceed, so keep an eye out for that. :3

That’s all for now! I hope you all enjoy the updates and I’ll hopefully be updating again sooner than this time!

[vgwriter]

Red Dead Redemption 2: A Review

The Good

Red Dead Redemtion 2 came out last October to a grand opening. It is certainly an instant classic and further cemented Rockstars reputation as one of the few AAA developers to make truly AAA worthy games. But, is this game really that flippin' fantastic?

spoilers

#1-The Story

This games biggest strength has got to be its story. Arthur's redemption and how it conflicts with Dutch's Micah fueled descent into madness is what anchors the main storyline. There are many moving parts within these two opposing forces that sometimes overlap and other times occur almost as in a vacuum. What makes it brilliant is that each mission and camp scene reveals something new about the characters involved, unfolds more of who they think they are and who they really are. It is a difficult thing to do for two pages, let alone a 60 hour game but somehow Rockstar pulled it off. The side content (or stranger missions) also all fit in to the story and expand characters for the player. Whether helping Mary or robbing with Micah, the player always learns more about Arthur and the people involved and to me, it's fascinating. Within the story there are important themes that are masterfully explored. To name a few: Obviously, the idea of redemption plays a huge role in the games plot but I think it has an equal partner in the question of can someone really change? or do they just become more of who they were? The comparison of the two ideas is played out beautifully with Dutch and Arthur. There is also the clashing of ideologies, with Dutch and his gang being anarchist facing a rapid expasion of civilisation. And of course, the dying out of the old west outlaw comes in with the theme of change which graces every character and mission in this game.

#1.5-The Characters

In the end, this game hinges on it's characters. Every member of the gang is their own person with their own reasons for riding with Dutch and their own desires driving them in life and this makes for an exceptional game. Now, every character is great but there a few who stand out to me that really make the game shine. Arthur is a complex fellow whose moral compass is a bit of roulette wheel due to game design but no matter how you play the story it is clear that he thinks of the gang as his family and Dutch as his father. Speaking of Dutch, he is also an exceedingly complex character whose goals and ambitions come to define him and shape him into the man we see in Red Dead Redemption. Charles is a good man whose situation is defined by his heritage and skin color rather than his own actions; he is by far the most likable member of the gang. We see John Marston go from a childish manboy who never takes responsibilty to the family man trying to bury his past. Sadie Adler (oh boy), while I don't like when seemingly pedestrian characters go from hunting housewife to gang killing badass, I gotta admit, Sadie did grow on me. Her transformation is sadly unseen for the most part but I think that is because Rockstar cut out a few missions with her involved. Last, but cerainly not least, Rains Fall and Eagle Flies. Rockstar does an amazing job with writing these two opposing father and son characters and their tragic story. They portray the Native American not as savages or perfect helpless victims, but as real people in a lose-lose situation with their own faults and personalities outside of their struggles. Each character is fully realized and interesting in their own way and they carry this game through its shortcomings.

#2-Voice Acting

Roger Clark is an excellent lead throughout the entire game with absolutely zero dips in quality. Aside from Clark, Benjamin Byron Davis makes a return as Dutch as well as Rob Wietoff for John Marston. Davis does an amazing job with his expanded role and Wietoff is great at making John into the John we see in RDR1. Peter Blomquist made me hate Micah Bell more than I ever hated a fictional person before and that is an accomplishment. I could go on down the cast lineup but it is safe to assume that each voice is directed and performed incredibly.

#3-and, uh, the GRAPHICS

While I am not a believer in the idea that great graphics makes for a great game, the realism is important in this title. Motion capture was used extensively (like, even on the horses) and it gives that whole game a grounded feeling. Like, yeah, people move like this in real life. It beautifully accents the voice acting and really gives the player the full impact of the story as though they were watching a movie.

The Bad

#1-The Rootin' Tootin' Shootin'

Rockstar has been using RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Gaming Engine) for over a decade now and it is starting to show its age. While playing the game, getting into cover felt like guess work sometimes. I would hit right bumper and instead of going for the rock right in front of Mr. Morgan, he would get behind a tree 3 yards away with his back to the people shooting at him. This clumsiness is horrible because the actual shooting is pretty fun. What was introduced as a Table Tennis simulator (seriously) has made some seriously impressive games but the combat has become stale and clunky. Hopefully, they will focus on fine tuning the combat because the engine is great at making vivid worlds with powerful draw distances, which is perfect for what Rockstar does.

#2-Oh, That's Your Fast Travel?

Rockstar made a huge map. It is massive even without the epilogue and the only free transportation the player has is a horse? "Well, Rockstar developers, will there be a fast travel system in place? Oh, only in camp and inaccessible from literally anywhere else?" Seriously, why did they make a huge map with such slow transportation and only one way to fast travel? I cannot count the number of times I misclicked and sent myself to the other side of the map and had to take a longer trip. Also, there was no way to fast travel back to camp, free or payed. It was a real hassle and felt like game padding to me.

#3-The Length

This is a 60 hour game. That is more than two days of content and while most of it is a gripping story, there are some definite dips in gameplay. The fast travel system, or lack thereof, is the biggest contributor to this unwanted down time in the game. The player has to ride out for 5 minutes to one mission where they ride halfway back to camp. It's even worse when the mission is nowhere near a fast travel point should the player even be in camp at the time. Also, the lack of mission variety begins to show after chapter 5, with each mission being a shooting gallary while trying to protect certain people. Not every late-game mission is this way but enough to where it is a bit monotonous.

The Ugly...Verdict

Well, it's far from ugly. Overall, I give the game a solid 4/5 with it being one of the best games I've played since The Witcher 3. High and well deserved praise.

[yvaquietdays]

unfriending my phone

So the leaves are finally starting to drop off the trees around here, giving me all the autumnal/winter pinterest-your-way-to-Halloween vibrations. Nature has a canny way of living and dying and getting rid of what it doesn’t need, taking time out, taking a rest and putting its feet up while the cold weather sets in. It doesn’t need to tweet about it, or update an instagram story with the caption “Branches are dying off lolz.” Autumn marks the beginning of death and decay, it won’t be long until we start posting pictures of our favourite streets coated in leaves (I’m into it). It’s amazing; so many of us love the colours of the fall but in essence, it is the death of living things that we celebrate, so that everything can start anew next year. That’s reality, and I think that’s beautiful. 

Here’s my point. I wish social media would take a break; I wish it would curl up in front of the fire, maybe die off and come back better for everyone next year. I know so many people who now log out of their apps, only to be sent emails from the apps themselves trying to help them “get back online.” This happened to me two weeks ago. 

I don’t know whether I was suffering from PMS, or if I’d been sitting around too long, but my anxiety came on through flood gates I’d obviously forgotten to shut, so it took me a little while to realise the frequency had returned and was buzzing underneath everything before I tried to counteract its presence. I’ve realised I find it quite difficult trying to relive just how my anxiety feels in those moments, because everything seems like a big grey, squishy worm that bleeds into each passing minute, floating midair, making the atmosphere dreadful and vehr wormy. So there are no definitive emotions. Just worry, dread, pressure around my brain and the existential worry that I am not enough.  What I can recall, though, is that I was on social media so often I must have feared it was going to miss me. I have noticed that in times of my quarter life existentialism, the less I have going on around me, the more I automatically, without thought or intention, find myself immersed balls deep in social media. It takes around an hour of surfing absolute dink before I even realise how deep my balls are in the first place. I scrolled mindlessly, and through that open window of my phone, that little ignorant bitch named anxiety flew in as easily as a mother-fucking pidgeon, and I felt just as bad as that time I accidentally pronounced Pinot Grigio as Pee-not-Gri-guy-O. But alas! What did I do, but continue to swipe my poor little finger, as if it would find some answer, some pick-me-up that would relieve the overwhelming feeling of I-HAVE-FAILED (and believe me, when I ordered a Pee-not-Gri-guy-O to that waitress in the restaraunt I did feel that same sense of existential failure). I couldn’t explain to you or myself what I was looking for, and yet the more I found myself looking the worse I felt.

Let me tell you, that shit is as dangerous and addictive as gambling. 

Did you know, Twitter was the first application to develop the pull-to-refresh feature, which was essentially mimicry of a slot machine? It wasn’t long before all the others followed suit (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat et al); ever wonder why you keep refreshing your pages? Do you hope to see something new? Something more beautiful? Something you’ve been tagged in? What’s the difference between you and the fella in Aspers, feeding in twenty after twenty into the machine, in the hopes that this time, this time, he’ll be rewarded? What about the woman who keeps getting four fifties changed at a time, laying all her chips on the roulette table, and losing it all, only to change more money, because this time, this time, she might win? 

It’s not about the money any more. It’s about seeking the reward, the win, the fulfilment, and in social media’s world, validation.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/08/social-media-copies-gambling-methods-to-create-psychological-cravings

So I’ve known for a while the power the internet and social media apps have had over me; all the articles I read in research for my novel really opened my eyes. Sometimes, though, I’m just as good as all the other people on the bus; neck craned, eyes cast downwards, quickly researching Ariana Grande’s insta feed to salivate over her aesthetic, or to see why everyone thought she was responsible for Mac Millers death (hint: she wasn’t). It’s because, just like everyone else, I’m totally addicted to my phone.

Aside: I’m not blaming my bout of anxiety on social media, I’m just noting that it is a huge factor in how I perceive my life.

I use social media as a drug for my restlessness, and I receive sweet fuck all from it. Every time I look, it’s a reminder of how little I’m working, because I’m spending all my time thinking about working and looking at other people succeeding. It integrates this sense of failure, the smallness of my successes look in comparison, to be puney and frail. My lovely living room, amidst the quaint backdrop of my London suburb, looks boring against other artists hanging out in studios and lounging against LA backdrops online. What a failure I am; I’m eating into my savings to pay rent and afford food, I can’t buy that nice contouring set they’re selling to look the part, I’m flogging my clothes on Depop for spare change, I can’t afford flights there, I can’t afford any of this and I’m still chasing this pathetic goal of making money from my art. Every time I leave my parents house, my Dad hugs me and says, “Keep your head up, it’ll happen,” even if I haven’t spent the last two days complaining, even if I’m content, even if I run a bloody half marathon. Everyone’s still aware that she’s still trying, she’s not there yet. It’s really quite easy to lose yourself in those thoughts, it’s easy for me to reel all this off for the sake of a blogpost, but in the end I have to remind myself of the reality.

And that is, I’m fine. I’ve been doing better than I have for a long time. I’m excited, I’m getting motivated, I’m trying, I’m earning, I’m positive about the future. I’m looking after myself.It’s uncertain at times, but life is uncertain. I’m not stepping forward to play the victim in the play of me life. But that’s the kind of outlook I have in hindsight when I haven’t been on my phone all day, because social media does not help my anxiety, or hinder its progress at all. It encourages it. Instagram feeds off of my insecurity and isolation, Twitter feeds off my desire to be all knowing, Facebook creates the illusion that I’m connected when in reality I’m more separated from everyone on there than I’ve ever been.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/19/popular-social-media-sites-harm-young-peoples-mental-health

As a generation, we’re so very disenfranchised but we’re all part of this huge market. It feels as though we’re connecting, and don’t get me wrong, social media is great for self expression and identity and openness. But at the end of the day, it’s a business, and we’re it’s blind, salivating customers. It’s a marketplace for everyone to sell themselves, even when they have no goods to offer. We’re advertised products that an algorithm predicted we’d like, we’re told to post daily to reach more followers, but most of them are bots or strangers who won’t look at your page more than once. Everyone follows each other but we don’t support or give like we used to. I get the odd comment on Instagram complimenting me on my “content,” but that “content” is just my life, I don’t plan it, I don’t create it, it just is. When did our lives become fictional?! I’m all about real action, not figurative or hopeful. I’m about judging my relationships on how they are outside of an app, not what’s said inside of it. It’s too easy to lose ourselves in the virtual version of reality, where we can create how we’re seen. That’s the side of social media that I see, in terms of how it reflects back to me; it’s dark and foreboding, it’s void of meaning. And that is why I’ve been logging out. I want to enjoy it when I’m on there, not reminded of every flaw in my makeup. I rarely login in to Facebook now. I allow myself, twice a day, to look at Instagram (my main vice and source of all my first world anguish), and now I’ve been off-line, my desire to browse the app has diminished dramatically. I notice my boredom better than before; It doesn’t hold my attention. I caught myself scrolling half loaded pictures (bad wifi connection) this morning, and realised fifteen seconds in that I wasn’t actually looking at anything, I was swiping, endlessly, but the pictures were blurry and it was only the subconscious idea that something would appear that kept me going. So I put my phone down and finished my poop.

Has anyone else found themselves doing something similar? Has anyone else tried logging out? What kind of an effect did it have on you, on your mental health? What kind of an effect does your active participation on social media have, as a whole, on your mind? Do you feel less connected to the world, or more connected to those around you? Perhaps you have a better relationship with your phone than I do. *shrug*

I know I sound like a real doomsayer with my dark cloak (I’m not really wearing a cloak, but damn I think I’d like to) and and my seemingly pessimistic outlook. It’s not my intention to negate social media’s power to instigate positive change; just look at iWeigh, Help Refugees, Political Jules or Coppafeel. All good people using a Instagram to better spread their message of good health, equality and better body image across all platforms. I also believe the people who have really nailed social media are the heroes, the mums and dads of Facebook and Instagram, using Facebook to share with friends and family. That’s the whole point, and I personally think that we’re missing it as a younger generation. It’s so easy to lose ourselves in a business who’s main priority is traffic across all its apps. It doesn’t care what the traffic is, whether its bad or good, friend or foe, wizard or troll (I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter books again), only that we’re there and we’re active. 

I reckon I really am an old woman at heart; so shoot me. I love my plants and painting, and I dream of living in some log cabin with an art studio, with a huge allotment, my main man and a couple of dergs, Bob Ross style. I love making music and getting on stage and performing, I love acting and I love media and I love galleries, I adore bookshops, beaches, forests. The whole, soppy whack. So what? I’m a romantic.

(That’s the only cool old lady gif I could find)^^^

I’m tired of stalling real conversations because either they or I have been sucked into apps, emails or jigsaw puzzles (it me). I want to live in this real world and create in this real world, but the discontent and conflict I feel is sometimes really, really irritating; I don’t want to use social media for my art, but it seems the only way you’re to be judged by labels and music makers. How much of a following do you have? How many likes do you pull in? How often do you post? It’s not about your art any more, it’s how good you are at selling it. I have enough trouble dealing with all the cogs turning in my brainbox without thinking about all this bullshit. And it goes beyond all that, it’s really irrelevant what career I choose, social media is addictive regardless of what we do. 

So fuck that. I play the game when I have to, but I’m not bending over backwards for it. 

[retro-roulette]

Retro Roulette #31: Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast, 2001)

Oh nice, this doesn’t suck. I think?

Sonic Adventure 2 and its predecessor are among the biggest first-party releases for the Sega Dreamcast, a console near and dear to my heart. It has a great library, cool ‘VMU’ memory cards, and makes noises only a true fan could love.

Seriously, if you grew up with one of these, you can hear this picture.

There’s a general belief that early 3D games have aged very poorly. There’s a good amount of truth to that, but I feel there are a good number of exceptions. Super Mario 64 is likely the biggest, but the Sonic Adventure series is definitely up there for me, too. While they’re not perfect by any means, they have a lot of content, 

This week, though we’re focused specifically on  game begins with you in control of Sonic, racing through the streets of a city based on San Francisco if every street was Lombard Street. Despite the occasional camera-related weirdness (the camera is not great overall, but not awful either), this does a decent job of setting the tone for the game and gives you the sense of speed that a Sonic game requires. Eventually you’re tasked without running a giant truck labeled GUN:

This game also introduces Shadow, a hedgehog that’s probably best described as “like Sonic, but different.” I’m sure there are a number of differences in other releases (as well as in story, as I’m sure some commenter will exhaustively explain unprompted), but in Sonic Adventure 2 they’re...very similar, and their levels play out in largely the same ways. Even his first boss fight is effectively the same as Sonic’s.

Unfortunately, not all of the levels have quite that same feel. The game’s full story mode has six playable characters - three good and three evil - though the Sonic/Shadow dichotomy applies those characters’ levels as well, and some of them are pretty rough. Knuckles and his counterpart Rouge the Bat both have levels that require finding shards of a chaos emerald by...wandering around and trying to find them. Knuckles and Rouge have cool gliding and wall-climbing abilities, but these levels aren’t particularly enthralling.

The other two characters are Tails and Eggman (who is still Dr. Robotnik to me, dammit) - they are also similar, in that they each operate big mechanical things that shoot guided missiles. I definitely like these levels, but there’s a real discrepancy in their vehicles. Robotnik’s is a pretty cool looking mech, but Tails seems to have one of those coin-operated rides from the fronts of grocery stores:

I feel I should point out that Tails can fly. That’s kinda his whole thing, and yet he’s stuck in this dumb thing. I feel super bad for him.

There’s a ton of stuff to do in this game - each level has numerous emblems that can be earned in numerous ways, which strongly encourages replaying to get faster times and find more secrets. There’s also the Chao garden, where you can...uh...frolick with animals? I’ve never understood the point of these, beyond that it’s a digital pet sort of thing. Their main purpose, I think, is to be cute - the rest is honestly secondary. It’s pretty harmless.

Overall, Sonic Adventure 2 has a lot going for it, and...wait, hang on a second...

Is that Comic Sans? You know what, forget the rest of this article, this game is garbage. That’s just inexcusable.

Jokes (and unforgivable font choices) aside, I enjoyed playing through Sonic Adventure 2 again for the first time in ages. It hasn’t aged well in some respects, and some of the levels are a slog, but the good certainly outweighs the bad - there’s a ton to do and a lot of variety, including some multiplayer modes that I didn’t even touch on for this. If you have a Dreamcast, this should be part of your library.

This has been re-released a few different times, including as downloadable content on modern platforms and as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on the GameCube, which added some new multiplayer stuff. Some have argued that this was the last good Sonic game in the series, though I’d definitely disagree with that - last year’s Sonic Mania is a truly outstanding return to the series’ roots, for instance. While I can’t speak to them specifically I’ve heard good things about some other recent entries, including Sonic Colors. If you’re like me, though, nothing beats the classics.

Next week...uh...concerns me. I really don’t know what’s going to happen with this one, everyone. You’ll want to come back and find out, I’m sure.