#apologies for the group start

[silver-horse]

if we are talking about the lost dream lover/daisy scenes from act 1 then we should talk about why those scenes were so good and why the loss of that storyline is so disappointing. because it's not just "oh those scenes looked better or whatever" it was a completely different character and storyline.

even though the companions pushed back way more and the whole narrative was telling you to resist the dream lover, it was somehow far more tempting. you were constantly tempted in dialogues to use your powers and if you did, you slowly started to lose yourself, the narrator said you could feel something slipping away, something you will never get back. You were giving yourself over to the fantasy, a mindflayer illusion

the game asked you during character creation "who do you dream of at night?" obviously meaning "what are you attracted to?" rather than just "you need a guardian. choose one." there is already a different implication there. I wonder how people interpret "guardian" if they don't know about the original dream lover. they might not even create someone they find tempting. a guardian sounds more like a mentor figure, rather than your ideal fantasy partner.

During early access the dream lover not only offered us power, they also showed us a tempting future where we are powerful and important and beloved and we are ruling the world. such universal temptations and desires. and we were resting on a peaceful field with the person of our dreams. it was peace in the dream world vs the real life struggle.

In the end it seemed obvious where this was leading... if you use the tadpole too much, you would have turned into a mindflayer. and whatever is left of your individuality and consciousness would have stayed in that fantasy world with your perfect fantasy partner. the mindflayer illusion forever trapped you. the song "Down by the River" was written about this fantasy dream lover. and what a banger and creative storyline this could have been. what a tragic ending! to just give up, lose yourself in the fantasy, the easy way out. choose this beautiful fantasy over the imperfect real world. and choose your perfect imaginary partner over the flawed real people, your companions. truly I mourn what an incredible storyline this could have been. It would have resonated with basically everyone.

and you would have been constantly tempted. to avoid this fate you would need to struggle constantly while the easy fantasy is dangling in front of your face with a zero difficulty ability check.

turning into a mindflayer wouldn't have been something you have the option to choose. and you can get cured no matter how much you indulged in the tadpole powers. lmao I kinda hate that there is no consequence for any of that now

[mega-banette]

you know what. if we’re imagining Fox as being 17-19 then offering her french toast was actually a genius move on the Bizzies’ part. because from experience the number 1 way to get a teenager to trust you is to give them free food

[sunlight-shunlight]

starting to think Weekes was never the powerhouse literary kind we’d given them credit for

i think veilguard was such an unhinged development atmosphere that it was probably impossible for anyone to do particularly good work on it (the evil ea elven gods were running loose) but also

oughghhhh.... no one was making them do elf original sin. or the world's only "eternal imprisonment is good, actually, no problems with it 👍" adaptation of the omelas short story. or whatever all that was in the masked empire. or taash picking between two cultures while rejecting the gender binary. and i only read one of their original fiction novels, but it did have the same sort of veilguard problems of being very quippy, and a bit nonsensical if you thought about the plot too long, and also the main character was a black woman and i was Baffled and Uneasy by how weirdly she was described fhdgjfdjgh. i think they're trying to be progressive by acknowledging racism and colourism exist(?) but also not giving a clear rationale for why they work the same way as real life in a fantasy setting. and also it comes off as odd and not very cohesive to the rest of the tone of their writing. similar energy to the random "celene is somewhat actually racist about briala's features! this is mentioned offhand and never addressed" tangents in the masked empire.

anyway i feel bad being too parasocially harsh on people, so i guess i will say that weekes does write fun dialogue usually. and i thought it was well observed how iron bull had a very dark sense of humour, in the way that military/other high stress professions tend to have. and the whole "solas' lines are in a particular syllable cadence" is genuinely a crazy amount of effort and technical skill to pull off. but i wish... they would get an editor... perhaps read a bit more nonfiction... if this level of weird faux-progressive racism becomes common in game writing i will turn into the ben affleck smoking meme

[kagiura-akira]

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Atp I'm not worried about ME seeing spoilers or my mutuals for the most part bc I know we've seen the same TLs but there are still people posting untagged pages with reckless abandon and idk man I have uncomfy feelings about those people

[equalperson]

I fucking hate being traumatized because why am I bawling the hardest I've bawled in god-knows-how-long because someone I didn't even like that much berated Me. gasping wailing trembling and snotting over this for several minutes.

[day-mark]

i mean we dont know if she said anything privately too but the fact that there was definitely a chance that robbo and tubbo and whatever other fuckass man wouldve kept running with that story had the clip not been found

[aryomengrande]

🎁 ˶˙ᵕ˙ )ﾉ hello hello rara !!! please don’t mind me as i pop into your inbox to deliver you a little love letter > < it’s been a minute since i last complimented your art !! BUT FIRST i have to say that this theme is so pretty — i love the blues and purples, as well as this pinned video ?! all your art aaaaa !!!! your style is so lovely ,, and oh its absolutely breathtaking when you look at all the details in each one ?!?! the fabrics of clothing ?! THE HAIR ?! it’s all insane /pos you have such beautiful art !!! BUT ALSO YOU !!! you are so kind ): your good mornings ( though we are in opposite time zones, and you still say good morning to me !! i appreciate you so much 🥺 ) EEAAAA i adore you infinitely! i hope you have a wonderful rest of your year + christmas if you celebrate (((: and an awesome new year when it comes!! 🤍🤍🤍

EVIEEEEEE happy holidays !! thank u for this v heartfelt message ! i want u to know that i rly appreciate all the love and compliments (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)♡ and that your chatters are v welcoming and give me 'it's a new day' vibes like the morning show i used to watch before going to school hssjjs im not much of a talker so this is all i can offer in exchange for ur v kind words ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧ hope u gave a great holiday szn and a merry, merry christmas w your loved ones (+ moze (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝))

[vaingod]

im the prime perpetrator for all "young gnc women" all over the world to want mastectomies and testosterone and i do it on purpose by popping my pussy and telling them how easy it is to just get those things and still be a gnc woman, fortunately none of them stay gnc women BUT that part is not actually my fault and usually the fault of their nasty radfem plague brained friends that start treating them badly for being masc women, curious situation for sure

[occultbooks]

when the interesting part of the story is not interesting enough to require the amount of lead-up that it does so you just don’t tell anyone

[stellewriites]

fuck me.. work tonight was so draining like i suddenly remember why i moved into admin a few years ago now. let me never complain about my job again

[leatherbookmark]

"I know why you want to return to our world, Meggie! You just miss your boyfriend! But we haven't seen everything of this beautiful world yet!" Mr Mortimer sir your wife was enslaved for working as a scribe disguised as a man. In this world women are punished for learning their fathers' craft and your thirteen years old daughter would be already married if she was born in this world. I know the books are very pretty but Mo your wife is pregnant. I don't think they have c-sections here :(

[cern1cal0]

we'll grow out of it, surely

[imthatwannabeauthor]

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[queenangella]

someone tell me how to get actually close to people I just realized I haven’t done that with someone new in the last six years😭

[thekidsfromyestergay]

You don’t have to post this I just wanna pop in and say I’m coming from the discord and I’m glad your taking time away <3 things are so slow in there now but it’s fine. I miss you of course, and a lot of people who I was and am friends with. Hope everything’s going well for you :) I too am trying to fix my heart, and build a altar where it swells

WE ARE FIXING OUR HEARTS AND BUILDING ALTARS WHERE THEY SWELL!!! LET IT FLOOD LET IT FLOOD LET IT WASH AWAY!!! This is genuinely so sweet thank you so much 🥹 it means a lot <3 tell everyone I miss them and I will try to be back soon

[daz4i]

unfortunately in order to want to live you need to make a decision that you want to live. and in order to do that, you need to want to live. do you see my issue here