#i'm just over here playing with my lore and scripts

[skinsort]

Hello, I've been thinking about code and selling code and sharing code in the rpc because someone posed the question to me of what I'd want to happen if someone was heavily editing a skin I sold, and to be honest, my first instinct was 'take my name off it'. That was met with some surprise, but let me explain why.

Code, to me, is a largely democratic landscape. If you want to learn, hundreds of thousands of people and websites have come together to teach you. Masses of people share open source work on codepen, stack overflow etc. Code as a skill is like assembling an especially abstract puzzle where you can only think about the pieces, not really see them. But most puzzles have similar strategies to solve- start with the corner pieces, then the edges, then the most recognizable patterns etc etc etc working your way down to the more and more difficult details. Most of code- most of my job writing code- involves minimizing the amount of time working on those shared strategies so we can have more time to work on the the interesting bits, the hard bits. the bits that make the site we're working on unique and useful. Frankly, jcink is the easy part of code, by and large. Your data is already structured and provided to you in a very particular way. It is inefficiently, but largely documented. Many other people have solved all the problems you are likely to have trying to build a skin. Skinning is html and css for the vast majority of items. It is the easy stuff. If I sell code, that code is now the property of the person I sold it to. It is not shareable or redistributable. You can't take my code and resell it as your own, but as far as I'm concerned you can do whatever you want with it. If I solved problems that might otherwise feel difficult (accessibility and responsiveness come to mind) cool. You can solve the easy ones, like styling and colors and fonts you like. You can add or subtract things that vibe with what you want that code to do. Once it is sold, it is yours to do with what you like when it comes to personal use. This is true of almost all coding contracts that exist in the entire world. If it weren't, no one would ever hire external contractors to do any work for their company, and I can tell you now, even companies which could fully afford to do all their tech in house absolutely do not in 99% of cases if their business isn't selling their own tech. The rule is generally- you may do anything you like with this, except resell it to someone else. So why take my name off it? I don't endorse how other people code. Even in my professional life, I've taken projects off my portfolio because the client took a project I worked on and broke it (imo), often with other professional developers doing the breaking. If a prospective employer were to go look at it, I'd be embarrassed by what it looks like today. Tell me why I (and my team) created a website that was fully responsive, and they went back to make it adaptive in the year of our lord 2022 because they preferred to have pixel perfect views at 3 specific breakpoints rather than a responsive site. I don't know, it's infuriating. I can't cite that project as an example of my work anymore, because it isn't. I would never leave a site in that state.

So, my first instinct with the idea of people using a skin i sell them as a base is 'take my name off it.' I don't want to be associated if responsive/accessible features are lost due to others working on a skin I wrote. But at the same time, where is the line between using something as a base, and editing a few small features? I certainly don't want to be an arbiter of that, or have to field questions or navigate feelings about it. In fact, personally I would not feel upset at all if someone used a paid for skin as a base, and inviting that kind of discussion is the only way I possibly could get upset since people have weird attitudes about a lot of this stuff. So I think the more practical standard is just to put credit, but make it explicit that the work has been heavily altered. Don't resell or redistribute, and you're golden, imo. Anyway, those are my feelings as someone who writes code for a living. I'm interested to hear counterpoints - constructively of course.

[heartavenue]

ㅤㅤㅤ . ˚ Very Niche Things That I Scripted Into My Better Cr ₊ ꒱

Oreo’s with just the cookie 

Sprite Lymonade 

Dr Pepper Vanila Floats EVERYWHERE 

People loved ariana grande’s positions more & the content that was scrapped makes it this go round 

Beyonce won aoty for lemonade 

Ariana Grande wins aoty for tun 

Ptv wins a grammy for selfish machines 

Moreso rock/metal gets more love as a genre 

Very niche and very specific but a bridgerton season maybe eloise’s first make her gay…and second I need a regency era butchfemme/studfemme romance PLEASE 

THANKS A LOTS ARE BACK 

More...sapphic...media! Specifically more DIVERSE sapphics I am TIRED of the white girls 

More music based shows in america (MTV is BACK) think about sbs inkaigyo, m countdown in korea 

Alabama isn’t known as the cotton state…how the hell is my black ass gonna rep COTTON

Alabama isn't known for INCEST

Hayley didn’t get pregnant with twins with dylan in modern family 

The last season of b99 is…better. 

Mbav didn’t get canceled 

Shameless doesn’t fall off 

Bisexual Fiona 

Everyone ALWAYS follows the theme at the met gala

Arcane didn’t end like that…also ekko is a stud! 

Moreso a sevika brothel scene 

Red Robin is in my town, In n out, Jack in the box, and Baskin Robins.

Beyonce dropping donk 

Ariana dropping fantasize, ridiculous, he had it comin, jada 

Coryxkenshin finally playing kindergarten 2 

People liked Beyonce’s cowboy carter AND understood the significance of it 

I can spell necessary and sandwich on my first try 

B99 x modern family episode 

Iwtv got way more acknowledgment and SWEPT during awards season

We find out who tf took that book at the end of fear street 1666

Rkelly didn’t produce outrageous by britney spears 

Or write Aaliyah's debut album 

Joanna Ceddia is back on youtube 

Less shortform content 

The Until Dawn and FNAF movies followed the game lore

Wicked beat out Emilia Perez during award season

People don't use the word "tits"

the term "bigback" never existed

The "oh oh oh oh" version of no tears left to cry is the original ver

Pharrell and JT work together on another album (this is so niche but I love justified and I need another album like it STAT)

Birria tacos come in five

British people don't say "wank, shag, fap"

They aren't called wifebeaters

In inside out 2 Riley is gay and valentina/valentine(? I forget her name) was her gay awakening

Rainbows actually have a pot of gold at the end them

Ariana grande singing my hair Jessica rabbit style (courtesy of anon)

There is no such thing as the dark web

Still into you wins a Grammy

Gelphie lezzes out in both wicked films!

Dr pepper bar

Justin Timberlake trifling ass never did that to Janet

There are merch stations inside movie theaters

The library of Alexandria never burned down

The female anatomy was not named after men...

There is a perfume based on the potion in arianas tbim mv

Abbott elementary has a full 3rd season

Adults didn't have an 8 episode but a 22 episode season

Coryxkenshin doesn't leave for long periods of time.

Death to streaming culture and Zeus network

I can find Americone dream more easily (why is this the only flavor that I can't find...)

The rise of boygroups I yearn for another nsync

King Charles chopped ass never did that princess Diana. I am ready to go to war over my girl don't play with me.

Moreso Meghan Markle never received any hate.

A girl group full of sapphics that make music about girls, I'm so sick and tired of ggs only talking about niggas WE GET IT (flo is excluded I love them down.)

Ronald Regan bitch ass never become president.

Glinda is canoncially a lesbian (idk if she is here but she's going to be there idc)

People don't use the word "fanny."

People don't call all Latinos, mexican and they don't refer to all east Asian people as Chinese.

NONBLACK PEOPLE DON'T USE THE NWORD! IM TIRED IM TIRED IM TIRED!

[meilarchives]

ʚɞ this is a shifting exercise by @zaddizu !! had so much fun doing this :(

ʚɞ WHAT IS YOUR NAME? my name is meilani lianne loveshore. my family comes from chinese and hawaiian ethnic backgrounds, and in chinese, "mei" can mean beauty, and "lani" can mean heavenly or sky in hawaiian. my mother blessed me with the middle name lianne like her little sister.

ʚɞ WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? my favorite food will forever and always be the cherry pie that my grandma makes for me and my twin brother on our birthday every year. seriously. every. year.

ʚɞ FAVORITE COLOR, GO! my favorite color is literally any shade of pink.. i did in fact go through a phase where i told everyone i hate pink but i was wearing frilly socks until i was 15... who was i trying to fool.

ʚɞ NAME THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO YOU. physically i think the most important thing in my life is the people i'm surrounding myself with.. that is so broad, but for the past few years i've really worked on making sure that the people i hang out with are good people who i know make me feel good as well. spiritually God and church are the most important things in my life.

ʚɞ FAVORITE MEMORY? i have had so many amazing experiences that it's hard to narrow it down to one thing, but after a lot of thinking i've come to the conclusion that the day i introduced my boyfriend, hugh, to my siblings and we were playing at the lake for hours.. it's just so beautiful and fresh in my mind.

ʚɞ WHATS YOUR HOGWARTS HOUSE? i wasn't ever really big on harry potter - that was my twin brother's thing and when we were young we tried to differenciate ourselves as much as possible - but any time i did get curious and take a test, i always got hufflepuff!

ʚɞ IN A CROWDED ROOM, WHO WOULD YOU LOOK FOR FIRST? my twin brother immediately. i drag him around literally everywhere, and he truley is the first person i tell when anything happens.

ʚɞ WHAT TOPIC WOULD YOU DEFEND WITH YOUR LIFE? the whole no hate like christian love saying makes me so hot headed. i understand that not everyone has amazing experiences with christianity, but the whole basis of my religion is to love everyone no matter what. yes, some christians are misguided by judgement, but saying it like it's a generalization is so insulting and upsetting to me.

ʚɞ WHAT CHARACTER DO YOU RELATE TO? linus van pelt.. the way you clutch onto your childhood blanket like it's your lifeline is the most me coded thing ever.

ʚɞ WHAT PERSON IN YOUR DR WOULD YOU NOT BE SURPRISED IF THEY CAME OUT AS A SHIFTER? one of my best friend's paige... even in this reality we literally spend hours talking about mcu thoeires and giving eachother fic recs... tell me thats not a shifter i dare you.

ʚɞ AMBIVERT, INTROVERT, OR, EXTRAVERT? don't even try to convince me to talk to someone who isn't my family, boyfriend, or friends because it will not happen. i get so shynervousawkward when i'm talking to people who i don't already really know i am such an introvert.

ʚɞ BEST SCHOOL SUBJECT? psychology come over here and kiss me so hard on the mouth. i LOVE psychology. and PE. PE you can join in the fun..

ʚɞ WHERE CAN SOMEONE FIND YOU IF YOU ARE SAD? the second i feel the slightest bit upset, i'm texting my best friend aurora and asking her if i can sleep over. there's just something about her house that is so comforting.

ʚɞ HAVE YOU HAD A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE? no but once aurora slapped my ass so bad i fell over on to rocks and now i have a permanent scar (this was this current reality.. but i scripted it into my better cr for the friendship lore) heh...

ʚɞ WHO WAS YOUR FIRST LOVE? DO YOU REGRET IT? i would argue that my first love was milo thatch from atlantis: the lost empire... but really it was hughie. we just fit together so perfectly i start blushing whenever he's around as if we haven't been together for almost three years.

IB: @laylasverse and her post !!

[nalyra-dreaming]

COMMENTS on 2x07 - SPOILERS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *FIRST OFF: GOD HAVE I CRIED *No breath, no relief, all the pain This… contains a lot of swearing. . . . . . . .

The fucking rat box - there is a significant time gap between Claudia being shoved in there and her on stage. I BET that will become "that" time frame later, when Armand.... finally gets to it.

Btw, the iron boxes... an iron entrapment. I'm not sure if deliberate, but there is a piece of lore from Blood Communion that could come into play here IF they should pick it up again, later on

I’m glad they made the mental influence clear right away. Like… it’s not even subtle. And Lestat acting weird AF isn’t subtle either. It’s clear. It’s scripted. It’s the “last play”. It’s been “designed, and rehearsed.”

The Achilles’ heel slashed is so… vicious

Louis sensing and smelling Lestat… oh honey

Like that they referred to “the old place” for the other theater

Them making him swear on her diary is sooooo…💀

Santiago is so PLEASED when Lestat returns to script lol… we don’t see it but I wonder how many of the jury it took

A story of love... 💀

They are using the music box music … the fuckers

Awwww Armand being “punished” to watch… nawwwwww glad Daniel is not buying it either... and by Sam, the playwright... with a scythe... nawww. Okay, everybody buying that after that little restaurant display raise their hands, lmao.

That Lestat sleeping in the dirt is just... wrong. We already KNOW he returned to Paris twice. Another hint!!!

The repeated hint at the “ancient blood”… very on the nose

Their eye contact

Them trying to make it seem as if Louis “hunted” Lestat… lmao. As if Louis could have if Lestat would not have wanted him to????

Santiago prompting Lestat…. they seem to have pushed the narrative into his mind

on a random note: the blue contacts look so much better this season???

Oh…. Lestat SNAPPING at “fags” - loved it - so fantastically intense and creepy

“where lies their disgust now”?

Lestat making that man feel what he feels - WHY didn’t you just show this to Louis?????

THE HAIR CHANGED!!! There is that strand again! And the perfect hair in other scenes!!! INFLUENCED!! Manipulated!! I’ve been fucking saying.

OOOOHHHHH MY GOD Claudia’s turning … Louis knowing about the laws, did Louis really promise to stay???? I mean that’s just bargaining, and Louis just… begging… oh god, AND THEN THE FUCKING CUT TO ARMAND’s LOOK OH YOU FUCKER

“you were manipulated into it”… yeah. Say it, Santiago

God. Lestat there. And Louis the way he sees him.

Lestat confirming that Louis did not share affection with him anymore, as said, for years

Yeah, no, Lestat’s pose there for the Antoinette reveal is totally… natural 💀

God, Claudia cackling at Lestat saying “she’s the best of my vampiric self”… 😭

Ep5 revisit. Uhhhhh boy did they expand on what we already knew. And I KNEW something happened in the coffin room that made Lestat snap!! I KNEW IT! Okay, they kept the weird logistics of the fall (for now at least), but… yeah. This makes at least… more sense than before, I guess. Also, Lestat fully breaking script and admitting it. KNOWING he had hurt Louis there. Knowing. (I still stand by the Amel theory for the outside part and the comment in 1x06. Since they are taking from Prince Lestat….)

“A wolf congratulated for not killing her pup”!!!!!!!!

Louis is wearing something other than black again!!!!

“and then - something real” - and Armand chiming in… how… inconspicuous 💅🏼

A Stoning. Indeed.

I’m not sure how much I believe of them waking Lestat tbh… like... with the supposed trial rehearsals... and the crossing over... nawwwww

That eating blood with a spoon is so… inefficient. Like, they drink so much more???? What kind of blood is that to savor it like that? Must be special??? Or it's just show.

Oh god. Madeleine choosing Claudia. She is my coven. God.

Ugh. Lestat breaking script for Claudia. AND BY GOD I HOPE CLAUDIA FULFILLS THAT PROMISE

Oohhhhwwwwwww and Armand working SO HARD ON SAVING LOUIS!!!!! YOU LITTLE…. GNAAAHHHHH I don’t even have a word. "bites something"

God the pebbles/rocks. The entombment. And the SAME stones at the Dubai tree…

Lestat, swaying on his feet

So. Armand tells us of Claudia facing her death bravely. And defiantly. And the stare of shock and pain on Lestat’s face. Armand… the last to know the truth… for now. -.-

PREVIEW

And Armand getting Louis out.. afterwards. When… the coven did not care anymore, right??????? Mh hmmm.

Louis getting their asses

Louis going to kill Lestat??? MHHHH

EPISODE INSIDER

"it’s a fake setup - props in a play". Yeah. THAT.

Claudia doesn’t give an inch - "she knows she’s right"

“She has Lestat’s blood - if they do anything, it’s come back with a vengeance”!!!!!!!!!!! YES PLEASE 😭

Claudia’s death represents Louis’ last connection to this world

“[Claudia] was a brilliant vampire.

IN - fucking - DEED

God, what an episode.

I am... somewhat irritated that the reshot the turning and did not really revisit murder night, because the discrepancies there still stand. Except they have always intended to return to it in s3, which might make sense. Still. A bit weird, all of it. And Lestat breaking out of the control and script to admit to hurting Louis. 😭

God.

[polarity-disturbed]

Disclaimer: I’m not a mythology expert, but mythology was (and kind of still is) my special interest, so this is basically me info-dumping lovingly, not academically.

Anansi, Sága, Dionysus—Oh My. A quick-ish dive into the gods mentioned in the Doctor Who episode The Story and the Engine.

Neat things about them, more accurate gods he could have picked ect....

Anansi (West African and Caribbean)

Anansi is the blueprint for trickster gods. A spider (sometimes a spider-man, sometimes just a guy with major eight-legged energy), he’s clever, chaotic, and absolutely unbothered by the idea of playing by the rules. He’s not exactly a hero, not exactly a villain—he’s just Anansi. And that’s kind of the point.

He shows up in West African folktales—especially among the Akan people of Ghana—and later all over the Caribbean and the Americas, carried through the stories of the enslaved. In those stories, he outsmarts bigger, stronger enemies using nothing but his brain and his mouth. He tricks the gods, he cheats death, he starts problems just to see what happens—and somehow, even when he loses, he wins. Because he gets to tell the story.

And here's the thing: he doesn't just appear in stories—he creates them. In Ghana, “anansesem” literally means “spider stories.” The dude is synonymous with storytelling. When enslaved people brought his tales to the Caribbean and Americas, they carried more than folklore—they carried survival strategies. Anansi became a symbol of resistance: the powerless using their minds to flip the script.

(Though I'm afraid to ask how regularly claiming to be your wife's father affects things behind closed doors.)

Bastet (Egyptian)

Okay, this one’s a one for his list. Bastet is a goddess of protection, fertility, the home, and.....cats. She's more “fierce guardian” than “master of storytelling and illusion.” After the episode, I even went back to double-check—maybe there’s some obscure myth where she whispers divine truths into scribes’ ears or something? But I couldn’t find anything.

If anything, Thoth would’ve been a far more fitting Egyptian deity for The Barber to name-drop. Thoth is literally the god of writing, knowledge, and recording everything that happens. He’s also a divine mediator between gods and mortals—basically exactly the role The Barber plays. But admitting that might’ve tipped his hand. So instead, he throws out a random god name that sounds cool and mysterious.

Bastet’s inclusion feels less like a calculated mythological reference and more like The Barber scrolling through a pantheon wiki page, closing his eyes, and going, "That one." (Unless, of course, she was a god he specifically worked for—and had beef with.)

Sága (Norse)

Sága is one of the more mysterious Norse goddesses. She’s linked to storytelling, wisdom, and memory, and spends her time drinking and trading tales with Odin at her hall, Sökkvabekkr—a place described as a peaceful, flowing haven where “cool waves resound.” It's often interpreted as a poetic, almost dreamlike realm associated with knowledge, reflection, and perhaps even the subconscious. Some scholars think Sága might just be another name or aspect of Frigg (Odin’s wife), especially since Frigg’s own hall, Fensalir, shares similar symbolic traits.

Either way, Sága’s domain is lore and preservation—less flashy than Loki, but no less important.

The Barber name-dropping her is likely a play to borrow credibility as a keeper of ancient knowledge.

Dionysus (Greek)

This one isn’t wrong, exactly. Dionysus is the god of wine, chaos, theatre, and dramatic flair—all of which line up with The Barber’s love of spectacle and obsession with a good story. He’s unpredictable, a bit unhinged, and thrives on attention. So yes, thematically, it fits.

Some might argue that Apollo would’ve been a more accurate name-drop—after all, Apollo is the god of knowledge, prophecy, poetry, and the arts. On paper, that makes sense. He’s a patron of reason, order, and enlightenment. But that’s also the problem. Apollo represents clarity and control. The Barber isn’t about clarity—he’s about distortion, manipulation, illusion. He doesn’t want to preserve meaning, he wants to warp it. Apollo would be a fine guess if you’re just thinking “art” or “poetry,” but thematically? He’s too clean, too lawful, too… sterile. The Barber isn’t playing a lyre in the sun; he’s setting the stage on fire and laughing in the smoke. So sure, Apollo would’ve made sense—but not the most sense.

If The Barber were going for mythological accuracy—and let’s be honest, he absolutely wasn’t—he’d have been better off claiming to be Mnemosyne, the Titan of memory. She’s the reason stories got passed down in the first place. As the mother of the Muses—the goddesses of poetry, song, and storytelling—in Greek mythology, she’s basically the blueprint for oral tradition. She didn’t just tell stories—she made sure they were remembered.

So Dionysus works if you want flash. But Mnemosyne would’ve made more sense if The Barber wanted to tell on himself. Which he very much didn’t.

Loki (Norse)

Okay, this one almost makes sense. Loki is the trickster god of Norse mythology—chaos, mischief, shapeshifting, storytelling in the “oops I broke the world again” kind of way. So yeah, claiming to be Loki fits The Barber’s whole “I’m so mysterious—fear me but also applaud” vibe.

But what about storytelling? Does Loki have connotations there?

Sort of. He’s not a storyteller in the Anansi sense—he doesn’t weave tales to survive or preserve cultural memory. Nor is he like Sága, who listens and remembers. Instead, Loki is the story. He doesn’t narrate; he catalyzes. He’s the spark that sets everything in motion.

And here's the often-overlooked bit: in Norse myths, Loki isn’t just the guy who causes problems—he’s also the one the gods turn to when things go sideways. He builds solutions as often as he builds disasters. When the gods need something impossible, it’s Loki who finds a way (usually with some chaotic side effects). He’s a fixer and a firestarter. A manipulator who still gets invited to the table because, for all his unpredictability, he gets results.

That makes his connection to storytelling a bit indirect—but still potent. He’s not just part of the narrative; he ensures there is one. You remember the myth because Loki made it unforgettable.

However… The Barber already claimed to be Sága.

And Sága is also Norse.

So… two different gods from the same pantheon? Bit suspicious. Sure, you could do that, but it’s like lying about your job twice in the same interview. You’re gonna get caught—especially when one job is “keeper of stories” and the other is “guy who gleefully sets things on fire (and then puts it out with a wink).”

In fact, switching it up mid-pantheon feels like a tell—like he’s just pulling names from a list and hoping no one in the room took Mythology 101.

So why these particular gods?

Anansi and Loki are classic tricksters—manipulators of stories who use narrative to shape the world or sow chaos.

Sága, on the other hand, is about preservation and memory—less trickery, more timelessness. She’s a relatively obscure figure, only mentioned once in the Prose Edda (in Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál), which makes her a curious choice unless you’re deliberately trying to flex obscure myth knowledge.

Dionysus shows The Barber’s love of spectacle. He doesn’t just observe stories—he wants to be the story, to cause chaos and draw all eyes to him.

The pantheon he draws from reflects what he’s trying to control: memory, chaos, stories, and even the gods themselves.

But Bastet? Her role as a fierce protector doesn’t mesh with The Barber’s chaotic, manipulative nature. Her inclusion feels out of place—unless, again, she’s someone he once served. Someone he now opposes.

The fact that he pulls names from multiple pantheons without consistency or care for accuracy only reinforces that he’s not divine—he’s playing the part. And hoping we’ll believe the story.

[herecirmsims]

Questions For Storytellers

I have (I think) finally caught up on my list of poses to make, so I wanted to do something a little fun (for me, not for anyone else LMAO) and entirely self-indulgent. I read stories and tell my own over on Instagram, but of course it's harder to post long-form text like this over there.

Special thanks to @freezerbnuuy as I'm copying their post. ❤️

What’s the last screenshot you’ve taken for your story?

This is from the middle of my last post, but it's the last screenshot I took because I went back and added this scene in after finally caving and making my own stupid poses for it hahah.

2. Describe your story in three words or less: Needlessly long tbh

3. Describe (insert character here) in three words or less: Uhhh I'll pick Saxen since he's my MC... wet cat energy (which I think is something @nefaricussims said actually??). Or "90s cocaine chic" as @southernsimmin so beautifully described him. 🤣

4. How did you choose the name of your story? It's called The Cottage because it's... based in and around a cottage. 🥲 I have a very imaginative mind!! 🤣 But also, the cottage plays an important role throughout the whole story and especially in the upcoming finale.

5. How do you choose your characters’ names? My Sim story is based on a novel I never had the confidence to finish - in that version, Sax is an ælf based on Anglo-Saxon belief. I made him a vampire in Sims because that was the only pack I owned at the time, besides base game, and for gameplay purposes I thought vamp put him close to how I imagined him. I now realise I could have easily used CC and my own damn imagination to make him an ælf but I didn't know much about CC at the time, either. 🤣 Because of this, the original story leant into fae lore and the stuff about never revealing your true name. Saxen isn't his real name anyway, but for an added layer it also isn't spelt how you might imagine if you heard it spoken. The same for Thom and Jac who are also characters who came over from the 'original'.

6. How long have you been working on your story for? A little over three years! I have learned soooo much in that time.

7. Whats the biggest risk you’ve taken with your story? Did it pay off? I dunno that I've taken any risks, other than putting it out there in the first place.

8. What about your story are you proud of? I think the fact it exists at all. I've been writing stories since I was a kid, but at some point I lost confidence in myself and have never finished anything/wanted to share it with people because I end up overthinking and deleting it. So I am proud of myself for having maintained a continuous story for three years, and for having other people read it. I think because there was no pressure with a Sims story - with a novel I kept thinking, this has to be perfect and polished so that I can publish it someday. With a Sims story, I'm free to just write the silly tropes I enjoy and allow myself to suck and learn and get better at it.

9. What about your story are you looking to improve on? I read a fantastic article about ma - including pauses in your visual storytelling, space for the characters to sit and breath and reflect. It's ma that makes Ghibli movies so wonderfully distinctive. Being able to make my own poses means that I can show a character's expression or body language in response to a situation, without the need for overlaying text. I'm trying really hard to move away from the "talking heads" style that reads more like a script, and letting the visuals tell the story for me instead. I'm not very good at it because I enjoy my blah blah, but it's fun to try!!

10. Is your story fully planned or are you still working things out? Is there a definitive end? I'm approaching the end of it now, which has been planned for the last three years, so yes - I know pretty much everything that's going to happen. Sometimes the characters still throw a little surprise for me though.

11. Why have you decided to tell this story? Are there any messages or meanings within it? When I got the Sims almost 4 years ago, I had absolutely no idea that there was a) a whole community around it or b) that people used it for storytelling. I'd already made Sax, Thom, and Jac in the game, because I'd wanted to see them come to life during gameplay. Then I discovered poses and started sharing random staged screenshots on Instagram, and became friends with the exceptionally talented TheSimmerKay (now making machinimas!) who showed interest in my silly little characters and suggested that I try telling a story too. I owe her a lot!! As for messages and meaning... I'm very interested in what makes people do the things they do, and how the hero of a story often depends on whose POV we're hearing the story from. There's a fine line between hero and villain sometimes, and a hero acting out of love can cross from protectiveness into control.

12. Do you actually play the game or do you just use it as a storytelling medium? Yep - I have a designated story save, which is the one I take all my screenshots in and which never has gameplay. Then I have a Happy Ever After save for Sax and Fen and another save for for my Globetrotter Challenge Sim, both of which are gameplay only. I think it's important to have that outlet; I can work on my story, make poses, or just play the game, depending on what I fancy.

13. From basic planning to a finished post, how long does that take you? 2-3 evenings. I tend to get everything laid out and text added, then let it sit for a day because I inevitably think of a way to do something better if I give it chance to breath. 🤣

14. Do you have any regrets about your story so far? If you could go back in time, how would you fix these? Not regrets, really, but there are some threads that I put in - fully intending to complete them later in the story - but never did, due to them just not fitting with the story or wanting to try and bring things to an end sooner. But similarly, there are times when I was going to put in a little hint or foreshadowing in and didn't, and then later in my story have wished I had! The tricky part of serialised storytelling is you have to just live with what you have (or don't have), you can't go back and remove or add scenes like you would with a drafted novel.

15. What have been the highlights of creating your story? I've met so many incredible people due to it, oh my goodness. Truly extraordinary Simmers who've shared their time and knowledge with me. We have a little mutual reading group on Insta where we all read and geek out over each other's stories and it's just wonderful. I was honestly shocked when i went to other platforms and realised how much drama there can be in the Sims community. 🤣

16. What about the process do you enjoy? Not that I don't enjoy the process... but I mostly love it when it's finished and I can share it, hahaha.

17. What about the process do you hate? I don't hate any of it... it's a hobby and I do it because I enjoy it. That being said, it does fuck me off when I have multiple Sims in a scene, everyone is in place and has poses queued, and then MCCC Dresser FREEZES MY GAME NOOOOOOOO WHY

18. Choose a song that reminds you of your story:

This is the unofficial theme... specifically this version in Old English, which is Saxen's first language. "It's our destiny then to find love again / Where we failed once before now we'll win"

19. Choose a song that reminds you of (insert character here):

Another one for Sax I guess because he's special. 😌🤣 "But you, a cinder of the fire that's yet to come / Will you just sit and mourn this fragile thing that you've become / Or instead will you consume the very things you can't outrun / Until you finally see all of the strength that you draw from?"

20. Choose your favourite shot from your story so far: Hmmm I think this one, which was me being lazy and reusing a screenshot from an older scene during a flashback-style narration. 🤣 I was trying to achieve something else with the editing but did this by accident and liked it.

21. Choose your least favourite shot so far: Too many to pick from LMAO

22. Choose a favourite character from your story so far: Sax, obviously, he's my lil chew toy/punching bag. But then there's also Idris, for whom I only wish the best. She's going through some trouble right now and I don't enjoy it. It's much more fun to bully Sax.

23. Choose your least favourite character so far: I don't have one! Although Vlad makes me deeply uncomfortable tbh. I find him to be a really creepy villain, and unlike any of my other villains, he's not in any way misrepresented or redeemable. I'm using a makeover version of him by WistfulCastle (I would link, but I don't think he's available anymore?)!

24. Are there any characters who remind you of yourself? No... well. Whenever baby El randomly info-dumps on a niche subject, that's mostly me taking advantage of a captive audience to tell them about karkadanns or medieval torture items or dead bodies on Everest. 🥲

25. What inspirations have you drawn on for your story? I honestly don't know - I can't name anything that I've consciously drawn on, though I know for sure I must have. Funnily enough people have told me things like "oh that's like in Vampire Diaries" or "that's like that part in the Harry Potter films" and I haven't watched either of those, so I think what's happening is we're all drawing from the same well of folklore and mythology and trope. There is occasional story drama about being copied and the thing is... unpopular opinion alert... many of us aren't as unique as we think we are. 😅 What we are unique at is taking a trope and telling it in our own distinctive way. No one else can tell your story quite like you can.

26. Have other sim stories inspired you? I have soooo many talented friends who inspire me to do better when it comes to visuals and storytelling!! @callmedomino is the queen of silent storytelling and a huge inspiration on my journey to discover ma. I really love how well she can tell a story with no words.

27. What genres would you describe your story as? I call it rural fantasy lmao

28. If you could reproduce your story in another medium (movie, novel, comic, etc.) what would you choose and why? I mean obviously I'd say movie because HOW COOL would that be?! Especially an animated one!

29. What would your story’s rating be? (G, PG, M etc.) Ummm probably M because there is the occasional spicy scene. Sometimes three a year LMAO.

30. If you were leaving simblr Simsta and had to choose another creator to continue the story for you, who would you ask? Well tbh I've given Sax and Fen to several good friends already; some of them have them in ongoing cameos in their own stories. I wouldn't ask anyone to continue mine, but I like to think that Sax and Fen could live on in my friend's stories and games if anything were to ever happen to me.

31. Drop some random trivia about your story: When I started I only meant to do short, random vignettes about daily life at the cottage. Somehow it snowballed into a three year epic. 🤣

32. Give a light spoiler: "This is who I am. If I was any other way, I would not be myself."

[asteralexpress]

- ͙۪۪̥˚┊❛ shiftblr intro ❜┊˚ ͙۪۪̥◌

╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗ ╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗╔═*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═╗

✧.* i'm aster, aka aeryth, and i'm new to ( posting on ) shiftblr / tumblr .ᐟ

✧.* basic info :: 20y , he / him prns but i do change my gender a lot in drs , INTP , leo , pagan witch , total extrovert online ( i love replying to dms / comments / asks.ᐟ )

✧.* shifting since about 2020 ( yes i was in the shifttok trenches ) , took a break in 2022 for about a year , still have not shifted to a desired reality for a desired amount of time but have shifted to countless alternate timelines as well as random different realities for up to an hour , minishifted ( to drs or otherwise ) countless times .

✧.* i do not use a method, i just do whatever feels right in the moment . i will go over what aspects i use interchangeably in another post later / if there is demand for it .ᐟ

✧.* most ( if not all ) of my drs to fictional universes are NOT for the plot and mainly for the world without the plot . i always script safeties for this , and all of my drs are just really chill . for example :: my mha drs have the whole war scripted out , and all for one is always scripted out as well . you get the idea . if you see me not mention that i scripted out a traumatic plot , just know that i did . i also love scripting multiple lives for the same universe .

✧.* otherwise a very spiritual person ; i don't bite .ᐟ we can totally be friends :))

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚DR LIST˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

( not all of my drs )

✧.*avatar dr ;; i have 3 drs on pandora :: one where i am an avatar and sully triplet -- this dr is mainly for learning purposes , as i want to learn about na'vi culture , language , etc . my second dr on pandora is just as a native na'vi where the humans never come to pandora in the first place . i am an insignificant na'vi , but it's mainly for the na'vi experience . oh to live like them . third is a group shift dr with my best friend ( that i am married to in that dr ) and another friend that we adopted as a child . we are friends with the sullies in that dr .

✧.* bungou stray dogs ;; this dr has a TON of lore , but to sum it up , i am with the decay of angels . i scripted the plot out ( duh ) and it's a dr that is mixed with royalcore . instead of the casino being just a casino , it's a castle as well , and we host balls / masquerades . i am dazai's sister in this , and this was NOT scripted .

✧.* mha ;; i have two active drs for this universe :: one is an mha student ... i just want to experience being a high schooler at UA . i do not have a scripted s/o , and i made my own class as well ( sorry class 1-a, y'all are kind of boring ) . i am tamaki amajiki's sister in this , also unscripted . second is a pro hero ( sort of ) dr . i am roommates ( and best friends ) with hawks , and we are both considered pro heroes but we both do vigilante type work . again , just calm UA universe shenanigans .

✧.* haikyuu ;; you guessed it .ᐟ two drs :: one is a dr i made back in early 2021 , and have minishifted there multiple times , so i can't just let it go . i go to inarizaki here , and my scripted s/o was suna . this dr is somewhat on the back burner , for now at least . cozy japanese life . two is a more recent dr , where i go to itachiyama . me and the i schools , man ... anyway , i actually play volleyball in this one , and am a setter . i did script itachiyama's school colors to be magenta and lavender instead of the neon green and yellow .

✧.* hoyoverse ;; grouped these tgt cs it makes sense .ᐟ 4 drs :: one is genshin impact , where i am tartaglia's twin sister ( again , not scripted , it just happened ) and i basically travel around teyvat and meet everyone . no scripted s/o , i'll just see who i hit it off with . second is also genshin impact , but i am a sumeru native , and tighnari is my best friend . i scripted that i am khaenri'ahn ( i hyperfixated on khaenri'ah back in 2022 ) and nari took me in basically . no s/o again , but my friend group is 4ggrevate . i adore hot and humid climates , so i am very looking forward to living in the jungle . third is honkai : star rail . i have two drs for hsr , but i will only talk about one , as the second is not quite fleshed out yet . in this dr i am an avgin that got adopted by the nameless very early in life ( not experiencing that trauma , no thank you ) and grew up with them . i am in a polycule with aventurine , sunday , and ratio in this dr . could not choose . fourth is a modern college au of genshin impact . my s/o is scaramouche ( very specifically , noah's version ) . just your average college au .

✧.* k-pop ;; i made an original kpop group ( called NYX , as that was my name a while ago ) . it is very diverse , and i spent a really long time scripting all of the members . there are 6 members . if you want to know more i can yap about this dr for ages and ages .

✧.* acotar ;; ( a court of thorns and roses ) adore this dr . i have once again been bestowed with a brother ( rhysand ) without scripting it . my s/o is lucien . very obviously scripted out the plot . i just wanna be a fae in prythian , man .

that is all of the drs i feel comfortable sharing atm . likely more to come , and i do have other drs i have yet to fully flesh out , but i certainly have other ideas .

.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ ..·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .

other places you can find me ::

pinterest | @ aery.th on tt (it won't let me link it for some reason) | instagram | bluesky | spotify

i am most active on tiktok .

enough yapping and happy shifting :))

╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝╚═.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.═╝

[rippleberries]

(Jeffrey teased this at Star Trek San Francisco)

Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Anna Lore, Nikki Hahn, and Anna Camp behind the scenes of HYSTERIA! (Photo courtesy Barbara Crampton)

[x]

HYSTERIA! Reunites RE-ANIMATOR Duo Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs

Surprise! The legendary genre pair turn up to add some ’80s cred to Peacock’s new Satanic Panic series.

BY

PHIL NOBILE JR.

OCTOBER 18, 2024 6:00 AM

By now you’re aware of Peacock’s Hysteria!, and that it features Bruce Campbell, who’s been promoted heavily in the marketing of the new show (which dropped today). But turns out he’s not the only genre icon appearing on the series.

Early viewers of Hysteria! have been excited to spot among its ensemble cast none other than Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs, playing a bit against type as suburban parents. Speaking to FANGORIA, Crampton says that “showrunner/creator Matthew Scott Kane is a big Re-Animator fan, and it was his idea to reunite Jeff and myself for the first time since 1995!”

The duo have of course appeared in various unassailable horror classics over the years, beginning with Stuart Gordon’s aforementioned Re-Animator and its follow-up, From Beyond. Placing the pair in an ’80s-set, moral panic horror comedy made all the sense in the world to Kane.

“I'm a very devoted genre fan. All of Barbara and Jeff’s work with Stuart Gordon is so near and dear to my heart that, when these two roles came up, they were the first people that came to mind,” Kane says. “It was kind of a pipe dream. It was like, ‘Wouldn't it be nice if?’ I never thought they would pick up the phone.” To his surprise, the pair agreed, and their devotion to their relatively brief appearance surprised the showrunner.

“We all got dinner with each other, and Barbara and Jeffrey were asking me, ‘What's my motivation here?’ and ‘Here's what I'm thinking for this guy.’ Keep in mind, they’re in one scene — a pivotal scene, one which sets up the entire series — but they're really drilling it into me in ways that no other member of our cast did,” Kane shares. “The night before we were shooting the scene, I got a text from Barbara that could have easily filled a column in your magazine,” he laughs. “It was enormous, and it was brilliant. She was bringing so much — not just to the character, but she was so intelligent in terms of checking out the entire script, understanding what the themes of the show are, and understanding how she could fit into that.”

The series focuses on a struggling teen band called Dethkrunch who, in the wake of their high school quarterback’s disappearance, rebrand themselves as “Satanic” to ride the wave of moral panic sweeping their town. It works until it doesn’t, and they soon find themselves the target of a literal witch hunt. The project, which also boasts Julie Bowen, Anna Camp, Garret Dillahunt, Emjay Anthony and Milly Shapiro among its cast, was instantly alluring to Crampton. “I read the first three scripts of Hysteria! when I was cast and they were all fantastic,” Crampton says. “Fun, spooky, dark and thrilling.” For Crampton, the gig offered other pleasures. “We were giddy with excitement for our parts… and costumes!” (Anyone who’s seen the sartorial choices in Jakob’s Wife or The Last Stop in Yuma County knows Crampton loves a bold wardrobe choice.)

Her co-star Combs was also easily sold, calling the project “a lovely experience… short but sweet.” Like Crampton, Combs was drawn to the quality of the material. “Matthew is a very gifted writer,” he says. “I was thrilled to be part of this, and it would be a delight to work with him again.”

Though the pair both appeared in last year’s Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Crampton and Combs shared no scenes together in that film, making this their first onscreen appearance together since 1995’s Castle Freak (where they also played a married couple). “It was an absolute joy to work on screen with Jeffrey again,” Crampton exclaims. “We play the parents to an important character on this show (you’ll have to watch to see which one!) and this lady is amazing. I just adore her!”

Casting the iconic performers, even for just one episode, meant a lot to Kane. “We wanted Barbara and Jeff there for a reason. We wanted them there because we're all huge fans, but also because we know they're great actors and that they can come in and deliver something awesome so that, if we get a second season, they can come into the fold and be more regular characters. If there's a reason to get us a season two, it's to get Jeff Combs and Barbara Crampton back on the screen together for more than just five minutes.”

As to what happens over the course of the series, Crampton is as excited to find out as we are. “I’ve viewed the first episode and it’s a blast,” she shares. “I’ll be watching and posting about all the episodes and enjoying the show along with you all!”

All episodes of Hysteria! are now streaming on Peacock.

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence Devlog 3:💙Final touch ups to the Afternoon route!💙

Hi and welcome new followers, it doesn't feel like it's been a while month! Here's an update to progress of the game! :]

There will be spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the afternoon route. Click here if you would like to play! :]

*To avoid confusion from my last game development post, please note that game updates about the game will be every two weeks to possibly 1 month(???) this year since I didn't clarify that correctly in devlog 2.

This post will be a little all over the place since there was week and a half where I wasn't able to work on the game mixed in with drawing practice. :,]

The cooking scene:

Outside of testing everything, this section won't be tampered with any further! Woohoo!

While I went to clean up this section with new and updated content I unfortunately had really bad writers block and it took a while before I was finally able to adjust. What caused most of this was redoing a lot of the old code and new callbacks. In the [Extended Demo] I didn't specify them correctly and tweaking it with new situations was hard to do. Once completed I went back and did a couple of test runs and there were still issues with Noah's responses. In the end I decided to just keep what I managed to fix and remove the rest. There was left over new content I forgot to take out in certain choices and pushed it further into Day 4+ to keep the pacing balanced. *Callbacks in canon with how Noah reacts to what's added into the soup are still here! :[]

The sewing scene:

Around this section is when the writers block was really getting to me. I really loved what was originally here along with the new content but not being able to go back and continue from where I left off for almost a week and a half was hard to get used to.

At some point while I was working on all of this I lost the new script I created for this scene and I thought I saved over it by accident and would have to start all of it from scratch if I couldn't find it. In very good news, I found it! I accidently saved it in a different folder. :,P For now I decided to combine the new content with the version from the [Extended Demo] which includes quality of life changes to the dialog/scenes/choices etc. This will take some time to go through and I want to be extra careful not to misplace anything this time. :P

Animated scene:

I finally got the chance to add in a animation scene! Yay! :D

I talked about this some time last year about wanting to animate this part of the game to give that immersive view of how bad the storm is outside. Originally I had planned to animate the morning, afternoon, and evening scenes too but after going over it with my play tester we both agreed that it should only be animated during parts of the game when it's genuinely needed.

Weird glitch/bug encounter solved?:

I have no idea how this happened but at some point through testing out the game, 3 CG's turned completely black, specifically CG's where the player(Y/N) would turn out the lights. I didn't catch it at first until I noticed the screen was too dark and you literally couldn't see anything. I went through the images folder and all of them were pitch black. I thought I would have to go back and remake the images but it somehow fixed itself?

More stuff was added behind the scenes BUT I'm not ready to share it just yet and I don't want this update post to be too long. I'm going to take some time out and complete everything else I didn't get the chance to work on and hopefully by the next game development post I'll be working on the morning route! :,D

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

I had a lot of fun answering recent asks I've been sent!

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

That's all I have to share right now. Thank you everyone for the support and patience! :,]

[literallyjusttoa]

Hey guys! I'm putting out a call for my commissions again for two big reasons: One, Emergencies have caused me to be low on funds when I wasn't expecting it, and that kind of sucks actually. Two, I have a project that I've been dreaming about for years but have actually been able to start working towards in the last couple of months, but to finish it I need to not be living paycheck to paycheck for like a month at the very least, which brings me back to point one :(. I will talk more about the big project under the cut, bc I think it's something you all might really enjoy!

But for now, I will link my commission sheet: Here (It's also my pinned post)

And my new Ko-fi!: Here for if you just want to donate, which would be literally incredible and I would owe you my soul actually.

Ok now for big Project Time!!!

I am in the process of editing and revising my first Youtube video! This has been an on and off dream of mine for like 7 years at this point, but I've finally taken the plunge and gotten to work on a channel. I wanna talk about all sorts of fandoms (including the riordanverse ofc) With videos ranging from plot and character analysis, to trends in fandom culture in general, to fun little ranking videos and speedpaints. All around, I just want the channel to be a fandom hive, where everyone can find something they enjoy.

I already have PNG's created of my sona to use as assets (And I have a sparkly new sona, the one in the pic above!) and I have two finished scripts, with the first one being fully recorded as well! One for my first video, which will be a retrospective on Gravity Falls, and one for a video about the Percy Jackson TV show, the inherent differences between TV and books as mediums, how I think the TV show could improve, and the things I think it got perfectly. I also have a bunch more ideas, such as:

BIG Trials of Apollo video essay, with a focus on how the books and the fandom have effected me over the years.

Ranking all of my favorite characters from all of the media I've been a fan of over the years (This would be over 70 characters)

Explaining the Iliad, but make it funny (with a side of Troy apologia)

Reading Lore Olympus and pointing out how it deviates from myth (the things I'm willing to do for you people /j)

Canon vs. Fanon, where I compare a characters canon characterization with their fanon counterpart and try to figure out how things turned out the way they did.

And more, but I don't want this post to be 5000 words long.

Now here's the big question. As I said in the part above, I'm struggling a bit now money-wise. And I really wanna make this project work, but there's also, you know. Tuition. Rent. Food. Stupid other adult stuff. So if anyone is amenable (and this is totally up to demand, I don't wanna pressure anyone into doing anything!) I was also thinking of maybe making a Patreon. Now, I'd have to do research for this, bc I wanna make sure anyone who signed up would get the right rewards and really get the bang for their buck. I'm pretty sure there's not gonna be much interest in this rn, cuz like, I'm not that big of a blog oof. But if anyone is interested! Here are some of the perks I would definitely be implementing! (sry it's another list)

Early access to videos, and behind the scenes looks at art assets and video creation

the ability to request topics for videos

Patrons names being shown in the videos. And higher tiered patrons getting custom chibis that will be shown in videos as well (and given to the patrons obv)

This ones a bit complicated, but I want to create a cover of a song that has to do with each video to play during their outros. So like, for the gravity falls video, I'm gonna record a quick cover of the Disco Girl song from the show. Only a small section of the song would be in each video, but patrons would get access to the full covers, and be able to request songs to be covered.

Discounts on commissions

A monthly speedpaint that would be exclusive to patreon. Patrons would be able to vote on what the drawing would be.

All of these ideas I'm 100% sure I want to add to a patreon if I make one, but obv there could be more that comes up later. I'm just gauging interest on this idea rn, so let me know if that's something you'd be down to sign up for! Maybe I'm jumping the gun here but I'm just really excited to create and give back to the community and aaahhhhh

Now, no matter what, I'm gonna have this first video out by mid-September at the latest. Because stupid money troubles are not gonna stop me from making this a thing dangit. So look out for that, I'll link the vid here when it releases! But I am just really stressed rn and any support would go a long way towards making this dream come true. And on that note, one more sappy real talk if I am allowed it?

If you've read this far, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This community and fandom is truly incredible. My blog is about to reach 5 years old, and I've never seen a group of people so accepting and creative and just fun to be around. You guys have truly changed my life, and I wouldn't have the courage to try for this if I didn't have the support you've given me. I know this is super dramatic for just trying to make a youtube channel, but making a place where I could just talk about all the nerdy and overly specific things I care about and share them with the world is something I've wanted for my whole life. You guys gave me that with this blog, and if this channel works out, it'll be thanks to you, so you'll have given it to me twice. I don't have the words to express how much I love this community and all the incredible people in it. So even if you can't support, just know that being here for however long you have been, whether it's the whole five years or the last two days, has done more than you'll ever know. You guys are the best, thank you for everything <3

[getvalentined]

What’s your opinions of the various ffvii compilation games?

Oh I am a huge proponent of the Compilation as a whole; I know that opinion is rare for someone who's been in the fandom from the beginning, but I'm an insufferable lore gremlin and I just eat up everything the series has to offer. I have three different copies of Advent Children (the original on DVD, ACC on DVD, and ACC on blu-ray) and even still watch Last Order on occasion.

The series itself is really fascinating and staggeringly consistent (I've talked about how the implied timeline of the Jenova Project as presented in-game is so consistent that it matches up with real-world human gestational science), with the exception of the FF7Re series—which I can deal with, since it's canonically on a different timeline and therefore any retcons there are literal in-universe retcons, which is pretty brilliant.

That said, I'mma put ratings for the pieces of the Compilation individually under a cut!

OG FF7: 9/10. would be 10/10 if the English localization were better. Where it all started, still one of my favorite games of all time.

Advent Children (+Complete): 8/10. Not a game, but part of the Compilation! Anyone who says the plot makes no sense doesn't realize that they're watching a sequel that relies very heavily on people understanding the history and characterization of every single character shown.

Last Order: 6.5/10. Also not a game, also part of the Compilation. Love that this is implied to literally be Tseng's coverup of what happened with Zack, presented in anime form. Makes no sense in multiple places as a result, but if you know that's what it is then you can 100% see why it's portrayed that way! Honestly I really enjoyed it and wish more people would appreciate it for what it is.

Dirge of Cerberus: 7/10. The gameplay kinda sucks but honestly the storyline is super good—or it would be, if the entire fucking prologue hadn't been cut from any release outside Japan, thereby leaving the entire issue with DeepGround completely unexplained to all other audiences. Once you know what is going on, the storyline here is fantastic, and I've never really forgiven SE for not releasing the rest of it. I love that Dirge fills in the lore for Vincent that was cut when he was relegated to "optional" in the OG, and that it also helps to clarify why Midgar could have 9 functional mako reactors while every other reactor in the world is either sputtering to nothing or exploding. (It's Omega. Midgar is built over Omega. It's the place where all lines of the Lifestream converge so that Omega can draw it all in and carry it away at the end of the world, and Shinra never discovered that's why the mako well there is so expansive. I love good worldbuilding, and Dirge is a beautiful example of that.)

Before Crisis: N/A. I want this game so bad man where is it give it to meeeee. Honestly tho I've watched playthroughs and read scripts where available, and while I don't think it looks like much fun from a modern gameplay perspective, I have huge respect for it as far as development goes. This is one of the first really mainstream mobile games ever made, it was made for flip phones, and it's super extensive! Also it gave me Veld, who is one half of my favorite ship ever, which means it automatically gets a 7/10 even if I've never played it.

Crisis Core (+Reunion): 9/10. As fun to play as the OG. When I first played this on PSP over a decade ago, it hit me with such an intense feeling of nostalgia that it almost took me off my feet. In spite of the dramatic difference between game mechanics in CC versus the OG, it felt exactly like playing the OG again, and that feeling never really left. Humanized Sephiroth in a beautiful way that pissed off a bunch of fanboys and made me fall in love with him all over again. Also introduced my second favorite FF7 character ever, Genesis, who is one half of one of my core FF7 ships, so A+ on that too!

FF7 Remake (+InterMISSION): 8/10. Had a lot of fun with this one, and it's beautiful, but it doesn't have a lot of replayability in my experience, which is a shame. Would have been 6 or 7/10 if not for InterMISSION, which was a fucking delight.

FF7 First SOLDIER: 6/10. This applies to both the Battle Royale and the title in Ever Crisis. I am not a fan of Glenn & Co. but I love 14 year old Sephiroth and really appreciate that extension of lore and worldbuilding, so it's a decent balance. I love that the opening cutscene for the battle royale literally filled a 20+ year old plot hole in under two minutes.

FF7 Rebirth: 9.5/10. The only things that could make me like this game more would be if Vincent were playable (although I understand why he's not and, in spite of him being my favorite fictional character ever, I agree with this decision), and fewer required minigames. Just cut like one or two. Or fix the controls, maybe. Glide de Chocobo is even more broken now that it's been patched.

[heartavenue]

✎ᝰ. Things That I Scripted Into My Better Cr That Makes Sense, Part 2!

Okay so nobody asked for this but I saw how well the first one did (and because I have more things that I scripted) I decided it was time for another one! And thank you all for the love you gave the first part!

1. Game Room

I did this because my brothers LOVE video games so I thought it would be nice for them to have a room dedicated to it! And plus...I like playing games too so it's a win-win!

2. No Light Pollution

Can you imagine looking up into the sky and seeing galaxies upon galaxies?! I really just want to see the nighttime sky, but really see it! I want to see every wonder the universe has to offer!

3. Local Farm (yes I know I said this in my last part but I have more to say!)

Okay again I'm a country girl, and I will forever be one! Some Love Lore for you I visited a farm once when I was little and I LOVED IT! I forgot to mention this in the last part but I WANNA RIDE HORSES! And feed the baby goats! And to think getting fresh dairy and produce from the farm YES YES YES!

4. Hoedowns/Rodeos

Linedances, country music, cowboy boots, southern eating, and daisy dukes what more can I say?

5. Women can get other women pregnant

Yes I know that this is technically true in this reality but the process is very long and very expensive so unfortunately it is not very affordable/accessible to wlw couples. Let sapphics get other sapphics pregnant!!!!!!!!!!

6. Hidden/Secret Place Just For My S/o and I

Okay, this by far is one of my favorite things ever!

I scripted that it's kind of like The Chronicles of Narnia type situation! Basically there is this weeping willow (one of my favorite trees) and when you go through it there is a enchanted garden waiting for you! There's a flower field, a water fall, fairies, and more! I also scripted that the water has the power to take away an worries/fears basically any negative emotion. And there is a talking tree there where you can vent.

7. Magic Is Real

But like not too much magic. I mean like pixie dust, and the magic that's in a Disney movie. Which leads me into my next thing...

8. Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, etc are Real

Imagine you're a kid and you're baking cookies with your mom on Christmas Eve, that would hit so HARD!

Making reindeer food, the Santa tracer being REAL! Making a list, I mean come on! And imagine you're a little kid and your tooth fall and way up to pixie dust all over your pillows, just beautiful!

9. Plants Can Understand You

Okay call me crazy but I think they already do? You know the rice experiment? (If you don't just type in rice experiment!) A part of me believes that plants are conscious so I put this in my script just to make it definitive. I mean I talk to my plants all the time (it is good for them yk because of photosynthesis and all) but I think it would be need to actually know that they understand me. So speak kindly to your pets.

10. More holidays, "national xyz day"

Who doesn't love holidays? I mean come on so why not script more. Now I do not know exactly what I will script here, as of current I'm thinking holidays to celebrate the seasonal solstices, the moon, nature things like that! As for the "national xyz day" think of pi day! Or national sibling day! I think it would be fun to recognize these type days!

11. Lucky Syndrome

Maybe you find a $10 bill on the floor, or you get out of class early, or maybe someone pays for your meal. Just little things to make your life easier

[aihoshiino]

Oshi no Ko 150: Mistranslation or Miscommunication?

Something I was surprised to see in the aftermath of OnK 150 were accusations from the English fanbase that the chapter had been mistranslated or that the content of it had been misrepresented somehow. I fully admit that I was extremely skeptical of this assertion when I first saw it crop up given but MangaPlus's translations do have an unfortunate habit of flubbing minor details in places that do lead to pretty major cascading errors with the English script. It's possible it could have happened, especially in a chapter operating on dream logic as this one does, so I decided to take a look at the JP text myself and see if this was the case. And what I took away was… no, the English translation is more or less fine. A bit stiff but nothing has been lost or changed from the original text. But since there seems to be a lot of misinfo on this topic going around and I have nothing better to do on a Friday morning I guess, I thought I'd do my best to clear some of it up.

First of all: credentials, I guess? I'm the translator of 45510 and Viewpoint B and I was also part of the team working on Spica, The First Star where I contributed translation efforts as well. Basically I just want to assure folks that I'm not pulling this stuff out of my ass lol

Also apologies that some of these caps from the manga are fucking shmeared with Vaseline, tracking down the JP raws in decent quality was a fucking nightmare this time around for some reason. Anyway!

Black Eyes

The first major point of confusion seems to surround a line from Gorou at the start of page seven, while warning Aqua off from 'Sarina'.

「俺の目が黒い内はさりなちゃんに手ぇ出させねえ からな？」

In initial TLs, this line was translated literally and rendered as "You're not allowed to touch Sarina while your eyes are black!" which immediately caused a flurry of speculation among fans that this was a lore drop, meant to indicate that Aqua was 'not allowed' to be in a relationship with Ruby so long as he had his black hoshigans on - and thus, pursuing a relationship with her would restore them to white. When this line was rendered as "I won't let you make a move on Sarina-chan for as long as I live!" in the official TL, a lot of people assumed this was a mistake or an active omission on the part of MangaPlus. I regret to inform everyone that there was a mistranslation here… but uh, it wasn't MangaPlus!

First of all, Gorou is referring to his own eyes, not Aqua's - and furthermore, he's actually using a euphemistic idiom in the vein of 'over my dead body' or 'when hell freezes over'. There is a bit of missing subtext here in that Gorou is specifically expressing a sort of paternalistic expression and the obvious visual pun of Aqua's black hoshigans but MangaPlus's line gets at what Gorou is actually saying here. So no, unless Akasaka is playing a Ryukishi07 Umineko tier wordplay foreshadowing trick on us, I think we can take this at face value as just a brief gag.

'Good Enough'?

Another point of contention from this same page is a seemingly minor note of potential ambiguity with regards to Aqua's feelings for Ruby. When discussing their relationship at Gorou's prompting, Aqua states that Ruby is 'his precious little sister' with the following phrasing:

「世界でたった一人の大切な妹。それだけで良い。」

MangaPlus renders the 「それだけで良い。」 part of this line as "That's all that matters". Pretty much since the moment this chapter dropped, I've seen people insist that this is a mistranslation and that initial pre-official TLs of "That's good enough for me" are more accurate - that there is some sense of 'settling' or resignation on Aqua's part, that he does want to be with Ruby but he'll settle for being her brother and that the official TL erases this nuance.

My take on this is… eh. That's kind of a stretch.

Obviously, context is everything but if that sense of 'settling for good enough' is what Akasaka was wanting to convey, 「それだけで良い。」 feels off to me - I would say that 「それで十分だ。」 would be a much more natural choice of words and in fact, we already have at least once instance of this phrasing being used in OnK to express a similar sentiment and being rendered similarly in official TLs as "That by itself is enough."

When it comes to 「それだけで良い。」, "that's good enough" is a perfectly fine TL for it… but so is "that's all that matters", honestly! Depending on context, anything from "That's all there is to it", "That's plenty by itself", "That's all I want" or even "Just that is enough" are all perfectly fine ways to render this idea in English and I don't think the official TL is missing any nuance not suggested by the art. If I can be frank, this attachment to the 'good enough' phrasing in the English seems to come from this being the wording that was initially used by leakers and that it is just slightly more favorable to Ruby in terms of potential to be an endgame heroine.

The Japanese text is just as favorable or unfavorable to Ruby as the official TL is and any ambiguities in that regard exist in both versions of the text. Do with that as you will.

Tensing Up

This is moreso something I've see on Twitter as opposed to the sub but I thought it was worth addressing: when discussing Aqua's supposed feelings for Kana, Gorou phrases it as such:

「星野アクアとして、思春期らしい年相応の恋愛感情を抱えていた。」

MangaPlus translates this as "As Aqua Hoshino, you have romantic feelings that are appropriate to your age as an adolescent." This is pretty much exactly as he phrases things in Japanese (i.e, he specifically says 恋愛感情 renai kanjou, romantic feelings not just vaguely defined 'love'), but the point of contention sees to be whether this is still the case and that Gorou was specifically talking in the past tense about something that is no longer the case.

This is actually the opposite of what Gorou is saying here: in the part of the sentence that refers to Aqua having these feelings, Gorou uses the phrasing of 抱えていた, which indicates that this state or action is present tense and ongoing.

If I can speculate, this insistence on past tense phrasing seems to come from the fact that feeding Gorou's original line into MTLs such as Google Translate or DeepL returns this past tense phrasing… oops lol.

Bits and Bobs

Just some smaller bits of confusion I've seen floating around that didn't really warrant their own sections…

There seems to be this weird misinfo scrap going around that Aqua switches to referring to himself as 「僕」 (boku) as his first person pronoun after waking from his dream as opposed to 「俺」 (ore), which is what he'd been using in his dream and what Gorou had been using too - thus implying that 「僕」 (boku) is Aqua's 'true self' with no Gorou influence. This… uh, is flatly not the case! Putting aside that Aqua doesn't say anything at all after waking up, (I FUCKED UP, YES HE DOES SAY SOMETHING AND DOES SWITCH TO BOKU, I'M SORRYYYYYYYY) codeswitching between 'boku' and 'ore' as a first person pronoun is not super uncommon and is more to do with context and politeness than anything else - 'boku' is more polite and more appropriate for formal environments whereas 'ore' is always informal. You might switch back and forth between the two depending on who you're talking to - busting out an 'ore' at work would be like going "hey boss, ya boy just finished those financial reports, bitch" so…!

In addition, Aqua has used 'boku' before when distinguishing between "the reincarnator" and "the identity of Aqua Hoshino", so until we see the next chapter and get more Aqua dialogue, I don't know to what degree (if any!) it indicates about pronoun usage differentiating between Gorou and Aqua.

The other bit of discussion I've seen as pertains to the translation is whether Kana's line in the final page - translated by MangaPlus as 'I'm seriously in love' - was a reference to LoveNow's title or if she used the word 'gachikoi' there in Japanese as Ruby does in 143. The answer to both of those is a resounding 'nope'. Kana's line in that final page is 「私は本気の恋をしている。」, while LoveNow's Japanese title is 「今からガチ恋始めます」. Specifically, Kana describes her feelings as 本気の恋 (honki no koi), i.e, seriously, earnestly, truly in love, whereas both LoveNow and Ruby use the term ガチ恋 (gachikoi), a slang term referring to a fan who considers themselves to be legitimately in romantic love with a celebrity/idol/etc. Gachikoi is also how the first generation of B-Komachi are described in both Viewpoint B and 45510 in the original Japanese text.

Shakers of Salt

This is pretty much everything I saw floating around and I am not personally super interested in litigating every line of text in this chapter, BUT - if there's anything you feel was confusing about this chapter's TL in particular or anything that felt off or crunchy, I'd be happy to clarify stuff in the comments!

Ultimately my motivation here was to sooth the itch triggered by seeing my pet peeve pop up, which is people spreading misinfo about the original language text of a work lol. As I said up top, I was immediately skeptical once claims like this started popping up because "actually, this was mistranslated and the original Japanese text just so happens to word for word support my argument actually" is a song and dance I've done a whole lot of times before. I did my time in the Persona fandom, I'm not going back to this!!!

That being said: absolutely fact check me on this! If any of this smells stinky to you, get a second, third and fourth opinion from other parties, do your own research and come to your own conclusions. "People in fandoms will misrepresent the original language text of a work to support their agendas" is not something I am exempt from just because I have done my own translations and the last thing I want is to inadvertently perpetuate bullshit about a language or culture that is not mine. If you take anything from this, it's to do your own research and ultimately see where you come down on this sort of thing.

[meatball-headache]

Wow. Okay. So. Spoiler alert?

Although, I had it teased for me. In Sseth's video, which I watched five times before I ever played the game and remember nothing, because of his ballistic editing style, he said that he got through Golgotha but "that wasn't the hard part. What do I mean? You'll have to see that for yourself," while zooming in on "Your tongue starts to bleed" text. With my other characters who went through Golgotha, they got a sore throat, but it went away, and nothing became of it and-slash-or they died before it became a disease. Not so with... I forget my name, but I'm still the tree. The tree, of all people, got glotrot and lost his tongue. At first, I though, "Oh shit, does it never stop bleeding?" But then it stopped bleeding. It said it may start bleeding when I eat or drink, but that hasn't happened, and also, I'm a tree, so I don't eat, I just bask in the sun. So I figured, what's the problem?

I... cannot speak. I can go "Nnnn," to indicate I want to trade, but that's it. Not being able to speak is a huge detriment to doing the quest, so, if I want to progress in the game, I'm kind of fucked.

So, my first thought is: okay, I need that book of cures. I don't remember what it's called, but it's yellow, it has two words, and both start with C, I think. Anyway, I checked the Stilt, there's one bookbinder there, but no dice. Nothing at the librarian, either. I checked my starting town's dromad, nothing. There's a dromad hanging out at Golgotha, which is handy and easy to remember, but he's got nothing, either. Nnnnnn.

I figured, okay, this must be, like, scripted, right? Maybe if I go back to Otho or find Q Girl, they'll be all, "Oh hey, Golgotha messed you up, huh? Drink this!" But, no dice there, either. I started in a random town, so no Joppa, otherwise I'd try Argyve, for all the good that would do...

Then I realized: oh, yeah! Ubernostrum thingie! ...but I don't have one. You get two quests when you start in a random town, one gives you the Recoiler, one gives you a grab bag of goodies, which might include a bunch of tonics. I never turned in the latter, because I could not find the goddamned farm they sent me to locate somewhere in the canyons. And now... even if I found it, I can't turn it in, anyway. But I also thought, if the Ubernostrum tonic even works, it would regrow my tongue, but I still have the disease, so it would rot before long, anyway... Nonetheless, I went all over the place looking for one, and no one's selling it. God dammit.

So, now I started to get desperate. I had talked to Otho, he said to go to Q Girl, and the disease took over before I did. So I'm wondering if I was supposed to have talked to her right away, then get diseased, and then that gets solved at Bethesda? Hmmmm. We'll save that for last.

Now, I'm 250+ hours into this game, and if you know me, you know I like to crawl. So I've only been in the desert, the salt marsh, the canyons, the flower fields, that's pretty much it. Haven't touched the jungle or anything beyond. So, the other towns? There's the mushroom one, Kyakukya or something. There's... Yd Freehold, and Ezra. Is that it? That's all that I know of.

Now, if you know Qud—and I don't—you might be thinking, "Whoa, Meatball, Ezra isn't visible on the map! How'd you know it's there?" Well, you see, one of the many Qoomers had, you guessed it, a spacetime vortex accident that put him not 30 strata deep underground, but on the surface. After getting unlost, he went to the world map to find himself one parasang away from Omonporch. "Well," he thought, "as long as I'm here, I may as well get obliterated by level 500 super robots!" I checked the place out, saw the sign, and, well.

So, while I don't have all the lore on this character, I've seen enough about Resheph and Rebekah to know some of the basics. I know Rebekah's grave is at Ezra, that she died of glotrot, and I know Resheph walked "under the chrome arches" to heal the sick. There must be something there... I must have to do some outside-of-the-box thinking... There's that rusted arch that no plot has seemed to point toward. Could that be something? I checked it out again, and found that weird gate that I don't know how to use. If I click on it, I just get a menu to try to deactivate it, attack it, chat with it, and so on. Then I thought... what if I try to use the keyboard to move onto it?

Oh! Well. That worked. That teleported me away to somewhere underground. I went up and reached the surface in a village... but, alas, there was no obvious "Click here to cure glotrot" stuff. However, it was out in the jungle. Rather than pop my Recoiler, I decided to hit up the other towns. I went to Kyakukya to try my luck with their bookshelves and traders. They didn't have anything. Then I figured, fuck it, let's spoil the whole game! So I walked to Ezra—I have all the wilderness lore, so I got there no problem—and tried to do anything there. No one saw me and went, "Oh, you've got glotrot, you poor dear! Well, I have just the thing for you..." And again, their bookshelves were empty and their stores useless. And then I went all the way to the Yd Freehold for the first time and had that spoiled for me... sort of? Because, being unable to talk to anyone, I can't ask "So tell me about yourself and your town and all your plot." All I know is there's a place here with some... weird people hanging around:

Talk about failure to communicate...

So, it's a place, and I have no idea what anyone does there or how it enters into the story, if at all—and, no, no one had the book of cures or any Ubernostrum.

Now we're really getting desperate. So what I did next was this: I went to the desert and I started pacing around the world map to pop random ruins, because I feel like I've had good luck finding desert ruins with lots of bookshelves. I found some books, but not the one I wanted, so I kept prowling... and began to run out of water, to the point where water is becoming a serious concern. When you're going about your business trundling forward with the game it's not so bad, but when you start pacing the desert, grinding and exploring aimlessly, it starts to wear down...

I had to stop at the village and sell off some junk to get some water. Problem is, most of what I'm carrying is light-weight, high-value stuff... well, not that high, but, valuable to me. Credit cards and elastyne glove and stuff. So when I sell it for water, it just increases my weight. In short, I can't carry much water, because anything I sell will put me over the weight limit... I don't even know what half this stuff is, I don't know if I might need it later, or maybe someone will be selling a crysteel hammer and I'll need all the water I can dredge up. But I have all these extra items, I have to ditch them. I'm wearing steel gauntlets, so I guess I can pass on the elastyne gloves. I have three pairs of sneakers, let's get rid of some of them. I'm wearing a knoll skull so I don't need this leather cap, and what's this other helmet? "Ganglionic teleprojector" or something? What the hell even? It's worth a lot, so it must do something, but the description doesn't say. I put it on, and put a battery in it, but it doesn't give me a new ability, so I stuck with my knoll skull, because it has better armor and an Ego bonus.

More exploring the desert, more finding junk, more selling junk for water, more exploring. I'm finding a whole lot of nothing. I keep going back to the Stilt and the dromads to see if they've restocked, but nothing's going my way—until I found a really neat item. It's called Helping Hands, and you equip it on your back—and it gives you two extra robot arms. Yes! I've been wanting to mutate extra arms but had no luck, but now I can finally quadruple-wield folding carbide hammers! ...except I sold all my extra hammers long ago. Also, I'm wearing a backpack for extra carrying capacity, so switching to the hands means, you guessed it, I have to ditch some shit... I checked out that ganglion thing again, and figured it's pretty valuable, so I'll keep it... and part with the knoll skull, since I've seen them around so I could always get another one. I can't be lugging around all these extra pieces of armor "just in case." Only keep what I'm wearing! So I wore the ganglionic teleprojector and sold the knoll skull, and resumed exploring. And then...

...and then, after a few hundred turns, I got a prompt that said the ganglionic teleprojector had adjusted to my physiognomy, and that I could now utility the ability to project my consciousness onto robots. It would allow me to override the robot's consciousness and pilot it while my own body laid dormant. Domination for bots! No wonder it's expensive, it's just a mutation you can wear.

And then I realized... the robot would be able to talk! The only problem was that it only lasted 400 turns, which isn't as much as it sounds. Stepping one square is one turn, and the screen is 80 squares wide. So if I wanted to talk to NPCs, I'd have to find a robot that's near them. Luckily for me, Grit Gate was full of waydroids! Unluckily for me, last time I was back, my waydroid scrambler had been rusted, so they all attacked me and I destroyed them all. Luckily again for me, on the way from Golgotha to Grit Gate I got lost—yeah, I have the wilderness lore, and I managed to get lost taking four steps—and in the spot I got lost at, there was a robot wandering around. I possessed him and drove him to Grit Gate... but traveling on the world map take 300 turns, apparently, so once in Grit Gate, I didn't have enough time to get all the way through. But, it was enough to park the bot somewhere, and then go catch up with him and do it again. Using the bot as my mouthpiece, I was hoping Otho or Q Girl or someone would have some kind of prompt about glotrot, but no dice there, again. I was, however, able to advance the quest with Q Girl! I finally got the data disk stamped so I can go attempt Bethesda, at least. Whether I can do anything there, what with my lack of tongue, I don't know, but...

...and then I realized, what if there just is no cure? What if this is how the game goes? It fucks you over so severely that any other game would just call it quits—in Dishonored, originally Daud was supposed to cut off your hand so you lose your powers, but they realized that wouldn't be fun. But, I wouldn't put it past Qud to just give you this monumental problem, but also give you these elaborate solutions like what I've stumbled upon. No other game—well, no, that's an exaggeration. No other genre, though, other than these really old-school, traditional roguelike games, would really, truly, give you this sandbox system to just find some kind of way around it like this.

...on the other hand, if I could just find a pencil, I could just write things down :p

Anyway, that's been my Qudventures of late. Still the tree, still no tongue. And remember, all my questions and musings are rhetorical, I don't want answers, no backseating, everything's a spoiler >:D

I just want to change my tile to one of the Choose Your Fighter Expansion mods, but you have to talk to the gutsmonger to do that XD

[ytdn]

Finished Veilguard

so, I finished Dragon Age Veilguard having played all 3 previous games right before it (hence why I only started after christmas) and here's my thoughts having finished 5 minutes ago

SPOILERS AHEAD obviously

THINGS I LIKED

SOLAAAAAS. Like, he was the main reason I was excited for this game, how he got treated would be the make or break for me and I'm soooooooo happy that he was written with exactly the respect he deserved. He was proud, he was compassionate, he was a backstabbing dickhead, everything was perfect and I looked forward to every one of his talks with Rook. and I, being a solavellen truther for 8 years now naturally picked the change his mind ending and I got my reunion which is all I really wanted (I would have liked if it was longer but I understand its not solavellan simulator even if I want it to be)

GREY WARDENS I have loved them since Origins and I'm soooo glad they got a big focus along with the blight like in my heart that's what dragon age is all about (and naturally I rolled a Warden so it worked soooo well for me)

On that subject, I was very impressed with how well they integrated the Origins into the plot/dialogue like if I didn't know better I would say the story was written for an Elven Warden (it could be the case that its different for other faction/race combinations but idk)

They put soooo much effort into the character quests like its funny coming from just playing Inquisition where some characters have like a 5 minute character quest and others its an hour, here all 7 playable companions have fully realised multi part quests with bosses and everything

the gameplay is the most fun I've had in DA, sorry I don't like quasi-tactical gameplay so them committing to full action rpg is great for me

this is probably the best "presented" dragon age game and part of that is just because of the passing of time (and also showed me that I really haven't played any recent games except for BG3). There was 0 jankiness, the graphics were beautiful, the music is beautiful and the environments were really fun to run around in

the plot itself was extremely well paced, we didn't have the huge amount of downtime that Inquisition had, the shortness of Origins or the all-over-the-place-ness of DA2

THE LORE! I was so pleased seeing everything we'd speculated about was right :D

I liked pretty much all the companions with Davrin and Bellara being my standouts (Davrin especially bc I romanced him :D)

The whole end section from the Point of No Return was just... stunning. Like, I've never expected DA to have a good ending sequence - the siege of Denerim is laden with bugs, DA2's ending is dramatic on a character level but contrived as fuck, and DAI's ending is so sudden that everyone considers an expansion pack the real ending. Here though we got a 5 hour extravaganza of gauntlets, boss battles, and what I actually did not expect (see my thoughts later) actual character deaths that stuck. It was a complete mood whiplash and I loved it.

The Siege of Weisshaupt is getting a whole bullet point bc as setpieces go it was absolutely stunning, I really felt the panic and the terror fighting the blight and by the end of it I was shaking. Also Giant Ghil'inan face was hilarious.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

You know the line about characters written like they're trying to get a good grade in therapy? well uh if you want an example this is what a significant amount of the dialogue especially in character quests is. Like I was rolling my eyes at multiple points bc the script would just not! let characters get angry and stay angry! The worst was after Weisshaupt when I thought there was gonna be some good friction between Davrin and Lucanis and it was just. cut off. I wasn't expecting DA2 level of character friction (and that wouldn't be good anyway, I have my own problems with DA2's character system) but like. Inquisiton level would have been nice!

Specifically on Lucanis he was very disappointing as a character for me bc they introduced him as a guy with a demon stuck in him and they barely explored. Like the last guy we had with that issue was Anders and well. I was expecting more with Lucanis?

Emmrich was another character I liked but I wish they hadn't made his choice to become/not become a lich be about saving Manfred it felt like a cheap way to avoid the actual moral/ethical concerns.

There felt like a lot of punch pulling in quests with killing people. like I should have got the option for Lucanis to stab his cousin, and in Bellara's quest I groaned when we found out her brother wasn't evil really and all her stressing over having to kill him was for nothing. This is probably why I liked Davrin and (the final part anyway) Taash's character quests my favourite bc they did not pull the gruesome punches. And also why having to kill off two of your companions in the finale shocked me so much bc the game had lulled me into thinking they didn't have the balls.

Some of the "Outings" and "Conversations" felt like the worse parts of a genshin character quest like sorry you are wasting my time going on a date. please tell me your tragic backstory and fuck off thanks.

I'll have to look at what divergences are available but from my PoV the first time round the only "big" choices are Minrathous vs Treviso, how you treat Solas (and I assume you can change your mind on that in the end) and who dies in the finale. Now true, they've been decreasing the amount of choices ever since Origins but like it felt very obvious here especially with character quests, like I should have been able to get Lucanis to kill his cousin (can you tell I hate that guy). This does make me wonder about replay-ability overall.

EDIT: Oh yeah I wish we'd seen more of the Butcher bc that one conversation turned him into THE most interesting villain and its sad thats all we got

EDIT: something that bothered me in early game and I kind of forgot about but now remembered is how like. blase everyone is about the elven gods coming back and being evil? like thats a dozen levels of religious blasphemy there. and it was a real shame they didn't have any elves following them bc like. they should!

THINGS I AM NEUTRAL ABOUT

I am kind of sad there wasn't really a political plot here (like the Landsmeet or Wicked Eyes) but then again I hated Wicked Eyes so I'm not gonna miss it

The absence of the mage-templar conflict makes sense and I absolutely won't miss it but it is crazy playing this right after DA2 and DAI where its such a big part of the plot and people's characterization. Like there's a big inbuilt friction that just isnt there.

I never thought they'd kill off Davrin at Weisshaupt for obvious reasons but like I wish they'd given a better explanation that "blights weird now idk". Like I was genuinely expecting Razikale to pop up again bc Davrin hadn't killed him properly or something

villains were completely one dimensional psychopaths but again, DA has never been known for its good or interesting villains. They were more successful and fun than Corypheus anyway.

I was slightly annoyed that there wasn't an apostate that betrays you and then I realised that's Solas. Again.

I wish there'd been more cameos from previous games but again I understand why they would limit that bc its mostly fanservice. Also since I picked Treviso I assume I miss a lot of Dorian content with the Shadow Dragons.

Taash's storyline did have me rolling my eyes at various bits bc well, its pretty on the nose. But her voice actress is amazing and really sold it and her whole final quest made my cry buckets.

Varric felt a little boring for me for most of the story but then we got the reveal at the end and I was like huh. that makes sense.

so, thats my thought vomit immediately after playing, I will probably change my mind a bit after letting it settle but basically like every other DA game, its got good bits and bad bits. and I will admit that the final questline ups my rating of the game a LOT like before I would have given it a 6-7 but now I might even give it an 8. idk.

anyway now I can finally unmute the tags and see what people are discoursing about lmao.

[kaija-rayne-author]

Review 11 in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

84 hours in, 82 actual playtime.

Obligatory disclaimer, feel free to skip to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though., every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard (and everything else Dragon Age, I'm a Lore fiend).

Part 10.3 here.

Wow. Talk about plot hole city in Cyrian's fate. Oh... no... the dying brother is conscious enough to talk (which means swallow). Rook is standing there with 3 healing potions left over and there's at least three green jars scattered about the room. Eyebrow raise of doom.

It would've been far more poignant, and, y'know, would actually have made a lick of sense if no one had any potions left and there weren't any in the room. Rook has been really close to dead, and those potions brought him back to fighting ability. No, I don't expect writers to know what the sets will look like. But at some point, someone, probably multiple someone's saw that and decided it wasn't worth fixing. I can even think of a single line that would've fixed it. Just. One.

Like... did any thought go into this game? At. All? It really doesn't feel like it.

Goddess, that scene just feels so unintelligent and thoughtless. And not because of the writing. If it had been blocked out properly to support the script, it would've been fine! (We use the term 'blocking it out' in writing and acting, not sure if it's the same for games.) It could have been sooooo good! But. Welp. Bioware apparently has no idea how to hire writers and editors and playtesters for quality control. Y'know, if I even thought they gave a shit about quality, because after playing most of this game? I highly doubt it.

I believe everyone can learn how to write. I don't think you need to have advanced degrees or anything silly like that to do it. But there is quite a bit of science behind writing well. No one is good at it from the start. And no... not everyone can just turn their hands to writing and be good at it. That's just not how the science of writing works. You need to dedicate the time and effort to learning how to write well. Reading a lot helps. Same goes with editing. And I know at least one (more than) of the writers played this before release. They talked about it on their socials. So either they didn't notice that massive fucking plot hole, or they just didn't care enough to fix it.

I don't know how else to put it. If someone had hired me to edit this? I would've sent sooooo much of it back to the writers with fix-it notes. (I even give suggestions on HOW to fix stuff in fix-it notes.)

I'm just gonna call the Solavellan ending now. It's so fucking obvious it's sad. The world will be saved (somehow leaving the veil up? Still not sure how that's gonna work given stuff they've said in this game). And then Inky will either join Solas in his prison because that's twue wuv. OR Solas will sacrifice his mortal form because he never wanted one anyway and Inky will poof turn into a spirit and go with him. And we probably won't get the intimate scene.

And NO that does NOT count as a happy ending! Or even the suggestion of a happy ending! That's them either going to prison or dying! A happy ending would be them living quietly until Inky's natural time, with her gardening and him painting. Or working in secret to help fix some shit, or insert absolutely anything other than what I'm pretty sure will happen. Only when Inky naturally passes would a happy ending be going poof into spirit land. What if she'd wanted a family? What if he had? Uuuuuugh. What if they wanted to enjoy life before becoming spirits? Hang with their friends? Let Solas deliver some overdue apologies? Sigh.

Well. I suppose I'm not just guessing. It wouldn't surprise me if I have more than a little savantism when it comes to writing, editing, and prediction.

And when I'm not recovering from almost dying, editing media is my actual job. One I'm pretty good at.

I dunno. Whenever I look at a piece of media, it's like it forms a 4d puzzle in my head. I can see the problems and where the story is likely to go. I actually read encyclopedias for fun (yes, I'm totally serious).

I also may have been dubbed a walking encyclopedia a time or million. So not only can I see the issues? I can usually figure out several ways to fix them. Very little surprises me in fiction. Making the ones that do incredibly rare and precious to me. It should go without saying that absolutely nothing in this game has surprised me except how bad it is.

But that 4d puzzle thing my brain does with fiction makes it far too easy to guess things. Especially when the writers and devs, at every turn, decided to pick the most banal, most uninspired choices available.

If that's what happens with the Solavellan ending, I'm never trusting Weekes again. They were Lead writer. They had to have had some control. Not just because we likely won't get the only two things Solavellans have wanted for what is it now... 10 years? But that they claim to love their character, Solas. And this entire gods damned game has been doing absolutely nothing but shitting on him. It's honestly been difficult to play as a person who deeply identifies with Solas's neurodivergent traits and his story. And who romanced him.

I'm solidly in a relationship with Lucanis and he's made me dessert. Don't get me wrong, a guy who can cook AND who makes me dessert? A+! But I don't play rated M games with romanceable characters for dessert scenes. I'm starting to wonder if there's even any kissing in this game. There's probably only a day or two at most left for me before I finish it. (And thank everything holy that this is probably true. This is painful at this point. But I need to see the ending for myself.)

Y'know? With all of the betrayals this game has dished out to a die hard Solavellan DA fan? I think no intimate scenes would be the shit cherry on top of the shit sundae of this game.

My kids have started being able to tell when I'm playing without looking at my screen by what they term the 'thousand yard stare of horror'. Honestly? They've probably nailed my expression. How can this be so awful?

Oh and yes, Isseya was ooooooh so eeeeevil. (Insinuating mental illness as evil? Yeah, that's rank ableism. It's not even remotely okay, and both whoever wrote that sequence and whoever approved it should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Perhaps if they'd actually found and hired some diversity editors along with some better developmenal and copy editors, like I told Epler he needed, someone would've caught that.) Though I have no idea why I'd hoped for better from Bioware. They have absolutely awful ableism issues and always have. Psst. Bioware. It's 2024, might want to fix that.

If you've read Last Flight, the Isseya sequence is such a disrespectful, awful story arc. Even beyond the shitty ableism against mentally ill people. 3% of violent crime (pretty sure we can call that sequence 'violent crime') is committed by mentally ill people. All you neurotypicals need to own the other 97%. And a much better villain was still likely kicking around the deep roads. It hasn't been that long since the 5th Blight.

A much better story would've been stopping the Architect. Permanently. They basically just took his motivation and plans, tacked them (in a very badly fitting suit) to a character that didn't deserve that dirty treatment.

I'm honestly not sure if I can even find words for how fucking disappointing this game is.

I do have to say that other than a few teensy details, the sequence of Taash's rescue efforts for their mom was well written. Pacing was a little off, and the bad guy at the end not having a separate battle was a little anticlimactic, but it's absolutely one of the best written sequences in the game.

And my biggest disappointment for that sequence was that both Taash and my Rook are Lords of Fortune. I know it was all emotional, but why did they both run into one of the most basic trap set-ups in existence? Aren't Lords of Fortune supposed to be sorta, y'know, good at both detecting and avoiding traps?

I forgot to say earlier that Isabela is basically the only previously shown character who actually looks sort of like herself.

Oh, and I was pleased with Bellara talking about figuring out what to keep from the past and what's better about the present. I'd have really liked more than a few sentences on what is truly a massive area they could've explored, but at least they did mention it.

Haven't seen a thing about generational trauma and abuse, though. Nor about what’s happening with all those elves and agents Fen'harel had who joined his fight to free the elves in modern THEDAS. Did the writers forget about that part too? Or just decide the closing scenes of DAI weren't important? It wouldn't matter if this were a stand alone game. It might even be a decent, albeit poorly designed, standalone fighting game.

But a Dragon Age game cannot be a standalone. There's far too much history and Lore and previous decisions that need to be considered when you're making series material.

I honestly don't know how much I have left. I keep thinking I'm almost done, and more quests pop up. I've got the final sequence at the top, then maybe 6 others? Two are treasure hunts I'm not sure if I'm going to bother to finish.

And still. The best part of this game? Is still the sets, scenery, backgrounds, and environments. I can't find a single thing I'd change about any of it.

The rest? Eeeeenh.

Section 12 here.