#and top-notch writing

[slugg-it-out]

its too late senator! ive depicted myself as chad-sian Andor and you are Mon Moth-mald! welcome to the rebellion.

[rednightmare18]

It's not even about the vindication of calling a ship, okay. It's that the supposedly anti woke studio wrote about 3 million words of medieval fiction centering the relationship of the two main characters who are in most ways (or in all ways if you follow the obvious canon momentum of the story) meant for each other, as counterparts who help each other survive the great travails of their lives and who challenge/complete the other to become fuller, braver, kinder people. It's so clear these two people are soulmates, platonically or romantically, something observed consistently by the world around them and by themselves.

Except their society (feudalism, Catholicism) dictates that they are intended to be completely incompatible by nature and divine law. Not just for the obvious fact they are both men, but they are separated by what is arguably an even steeper chasm of social class. Their existence even as friends utterly spites, interrupts, and threatens feudal order right down to its theological and philosophical roots. They should not see each other as human and yet.

It's the fact that they do. The fact that the entire story has been about this--that these two protagonists fit together, undeniably, and grow to love each other fiercely (a love that deepens superbly from their knee-jerk playful puppy-friend-love in kcd1 to something selfless and mature by the end of kcd2). And they do so despite the immense opposition by their world, their social circles, their faith, and indeed their fandom.

And yes, it really does fucking matter that all of this culminates into a deep onscreen romantic love (if you get out of the way and allow it to) between two fandom-beloved male main characters (not just side characters rammed in for an optional gay romance but THE main characters of the duology; the "you" as in the player character and your erstwhile dick-jokes bro you have perhaps grudgingly at first been invited as the audience to love) in a historical fiction story that has been wrongly touted by the worst of our contemporaries as the holy grail of cultural conservatism.

Holy shit. Warhorse -- y'all. I'm sorry I doubted you. So few game writers understand how love works and indeed how people work, let alone translate it so well onto the screen.

Calling this an "optional romance" is not technically incorrect, I suppose, because it's true you can opt out and choose to remain platonic friends. But this language feels like a disservice, as if Henry & Hans's romance is a typical RPG wham-bam fanservice makeout with a minor fan fave character who never interacts meaningfully with the player again. Or as if it's a Bioware-style "give this NPC the right gift and do their side quest and you get to see a jankly ugly-bumpin' montage" situation.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is so very much not that. The "main, optional" romance scene in question is just one consummation event of two people who have been growing up and falling in love in front of us over the course of some 200-300 (or god knows how many) hours. The fact these protagonists openly love each other is very much not optional.

This is, sincerely, groundbreaking storytelling in this medium and this genre. How fucking cool that we all got to see it now.

[royalarmyofoz]

spotted a weird kier doll in dylan's house

[evilkaeya]

turning is so good i keep forgetting yuder can canonically get pregnant

[maskedchip]

the juicebox bandits

[superbat-lmao]

Superbat but it’s Booth and Brennan from Bones™️.

Bruce is trapped in a situation where he genuinely believes he may die and writes Clark a letter that will later be read as the vows at their wedding.

Or there’s a supervillain that says they will only come out of the woodwork at Superman’s funeral so when he gets hurt on a mission they hold a public funeral for him. And Bruce isn’t told he’s alive until he catches the supervillain at the funeral by taking the dummy in Superman’s casket and hitting the villian, and Clark, with its detached plastic arm. Bruce being pissed that no one told him. That Clark didn’t tell him. But also, that for it to be believable, Batman had to grieve.

Maybe they spot scars on one of the kids’ backs and know they don’t want to talk about it so Bruce, unprompted, shares a deeply personal trauma in order to level the playing field and Clark follows suit.

Alfred is on trial for something he definitely did (kill joker?) but Bruce doesn’t want his father to go to prison so he creates plausible doubt that he committed the crime and testifies against Superman in court to that effect.

Going undercover with the circus and “rocking the trailer” as part of that cover.

The ideas are endless.

[like-tears-in-rain-storms]

I know I was joking when I said "Konrad Curze did not do enough things wrong", but as I'm getting deeper into the actual meat of his bibliography I genuinely feel like I'm staring into an abyss so dark it never even dreamed of the light.

Like holy shit. This is DARK. I know Warhammer 40k is grimdark and all, but this hits so much more deep and accurate than it has any right to. Almost suffocating in its hopelessness.

Suffice to say, this cannibalistic unwashed trainwreck is officially my favourite character. I'm kinda scared for myself, but hey, that's Night Lords for you I guess.

[raineyraven]

just watched vide noir (2022) and i have to say the tragedy of a man whose love leaves him because he wasn't what she needed him to be, who through his journey to find her again became the man she wanted him to be so that he could get to her, only to reach her and find that it's too late to get her back, who grew and changed in his quest for someone who was always going to be out of his reach and he didn't know it until he'd undergone that change?? that shit fucks oh my god.

[littlespoonevan]

.

[quadrantadvisor]

Tactical Breach Wizards fucking rules btw. In case anyone was wondering.

[galedekarios]

people can say what they want about the game, but i honestly wish i could experience act 3 of datv as if it were new to me all over again

[anotherfanaccount]

Given what we know of this drama. There will be no plot holes and loose ends.

Justitia dresses up and sends all the culprits to hell herself. Taegyu is going to get what he deserves soon. He gets the extra human world justice because he was that heinous.

And by dying Justitia fulfills Bael's annoying rule. Now the cleanup crew can preserve Bit Na's body. And Justitia will return. And Tae Gyu will see hell for real.

And then we can see Da On and Bit Na camping for real. The demon subunit join sometimes. Da On's found family and colleagues will join some days. And they'll live together till the end of their human lives happily and making sure the evils of the world get what they deserve.

[lesvegas]

What is it about Skyrim that feels like the peak of Bethesda games

[veilkeeper]

was looking through my screenshots and. it was there the whole time man

[ancestral-steppe]

[functionalasfuck]

I think my (one of many) favorite thing about The Double is the romance.

At the core of this story, it’s about one woman enacting the revenge and justice of two scorned and murdered women. So the romance instead becomes the perfect seasoning instead of the meat of the plot.

Jiang Li/Fang Fei and Duke Su’s romance progresses organically and refreshingly. It’s not established through grand confessions or plot relevant romantic drama.

Instead, every time they interact, their dynamic mutually progresses. Starting as chess pieces they can use but don’t think about past exploitation, to allies, until their dialogue naturally starts to become flirty and banter-y, and then a bit marriage-y, until they are soulmate ride or die for eachother.

It’s the perfect example of show not tell, and proves some fucking fantastic writing. Because neither of them really discuss the changing beats of their relationship. They are mutually aware of their own evolution and the audience is also aware without needing explicit exposition.

And that is SO FUCKING HARD TO PULL OFF AND YET THEY SOMEHOW DID IT PERFECTLY?!?!?! I’m so impressed